er years President--drove Pakenham from New Orleans.
The taking of Mobile by British ships was the closing incident of the
war on the Atlantic coast. In fact peace was happily declared by the
Treaty of Ghent on the 24th December, 1814, or a fortnight before the
defeat of the English at New Orleans. The two nations gladly came to
terms. It is questionable if the heart of either was ever deeply
enlisted in this unhappy war which should never have been fought
between peoples so closely connected by language and race. It was
mainly a war of Western and Southern politicians, and when it ended New
England, whose interests had been so seriously affected, was showing
signs of serious restlessness which had broken out in the Hartford
convention, and might have even threatened the integrity of the Union.

Although the war ended without any definite decision on the questions
at issue between the United States and Great Britain, the privileges of
neutrals were practically admitted, and the extreme pretensions of
Great Britain as to the right of search can never again be asserted.
One important result of the war, as respects the interests of Canada,
was the re-opening of the question of the British American fisheries.
Certain privileges extended by the Treaty of 1783 to American fishermen
on the coasts of British North America were not again conceded, {336}
and the convention of 1818, which followed the peace of 1815, is the
basis of the rights which Canadians have always maintained in disputes
between themselves and the United States as to the fisheries on their
coasts. Looking, however, to its general results, the war gave no
special advantages to the Canadian people. When peace was proclaimed
not an inch of Canadian territory, except the village of Amherstburg,
was held by the American forces. On the other hand, Great Britain
occupied the greater part of the sea-board of Maine, and her flag flew
over Michillimackinac, the key to the Northwest. Had British statesmen
seized this opportunity of settling finally the western boundary of New
Brunswick, Canada would have obtained a territory most useful to the
commercial development of the present Dominion. England, however, was
very desirous of ending the war--perhaps the humiliating affair at
Plattsburg had some effect on the peace--and it was fortunate for the
provinces that they were allowed in the end to control their most
valuable fisheries.

The people of Canada will al