271. The War on the Sea, 1814.--It was only in the first year or so of the war that there was much fighting between American and British warships. After that the American ships could not get to sea, for the British stationed whole fleets off the entrances to the principal harbors. But a few American vessels ran the blockade and did good service. For instance, Captain Charles Stewart in the _Constitution_ captured two British ships at one time. But most of the warships that got to sea were captured sooner or later.
[Sidenote: The privateers. _Hero Tales_, 129-136.]
272. The Privateers.--No British fleets could keep the privateers from leaving port. They swarmed upon the ocean and captured hundreds of British merchantmen, some of them within sight of the shores of Great Britain. In all, they captured more than twenty-five hundred British ships. They even fought the smaller warships of the enemy.
273. Treaty of Ghent, 1814.--The war had hardly begun before commissioners to treat for peace were appointed by both the United States and Great Britain. But they did nothing until the failure of the 1814 campaign showed the British government that there was no hope of conquering any portion of the United States. Then the British were ready enough to make peace, and a treaty was signed at Ghent in December, 1814. This was two weeks before the British disaster at New Orleans occurred, and months before the news of it reached Europe. None of the things about which the war was fought were even mentioned in the treaty. But this did not really make much difference. For the British had repealed their orders as to American ships before the news of the declaration of war reached London. As for impressment, the guns of the _Constitution_ had put an end to that.
[Illustration: THE OLD STATE HOUSE. Where the Hartford Convention met.]
274. The Hartford Convention, 1814.--While the New commissioners were talking over the treaty of peace, other debaters were discussing the war, at Hartford, Connecticut. These were leading New England Federalists. They thought that the government at Washington had done many things that the Constitution of the United States did not permit it to do. They drew up a set of resolutions. Some of these read like those other resolutions drawn up by Jefferson and Madison in 1798 (p. 175). The Hartford debaters also thought that the national government had not done enough to protect the coasts of New England from British attacks. They proposed, therefore, that the taxes collected by the national government in New England should be handed over to the New England states to use for their defense. Commissioners were actually at Washington to propose this division of the national revenue when news came of Jackson's victory at New Orleans and of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The commissioners hastened home and the Republican party regained its popularity with the voters.