The treaty of peace was signed at Ghent on December 24th, 1814, but,
owing to the slow means of communication in those days, it was not known
in America until the following February, or the battle of New Orleans
would never have been fought.
CHAPTER XX.
CONCLUSION.
Though the United States of America had sustained their honor in the war
of 1812, the fight was never fought to a finish, nor were the results as
satisfactory as might have been hoped.
Had peace been made a little later, America might have obtained much
better terms. The war had been waged under great difficulties by the
Americans, who were not wholly united, and lacked money, men, arms,
ships and experience, yet, under all these great difficulties, the
United States came out of the war with the respect of the world, such as
it had never before enjoyed. It became formidable to Europe as a great
and vigorous power, with which it was not safe to trifle.
This was still more apparent, when the government declared war on the
dey of Algiers, one of the pirate princes of North Africa, who, for
hundreds of years, had made war on the commerce of all nations almost
with impunity. Having violated their treaty, President Madison sent a
naval force to the Mediterranean, which, on June 17th and 19th,
captured two Algerian vessels-of-war and threatened Algiers. The dey
made peace and gave liberty to all prisoners without ransom, and full
satisfaction for damages to commerce.
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