America, its
resources and its political morality, I am not wrong in the belief that
its public funds are more secure than those of all European powers."

In spite of the protests of Mr. Goulburn, who felt the ground on which
he stood daily less stable, and in his letters to his chief was
unsparing in his denunciations, Lord Liverpool accepted the proposed
settlement of the Indian question. Nothing remained but to incorporate
in a treaty form the points agreed upon. Lord Bathurst, who seems
throughout the negotiation to have forgotten the old adage, that "fine
words butter no parsnips," and with true British blindness never to have
appreciated how thoroughly he was overmatched by Mr. Gallatin, submitted
a preliminary notification that the British terms would be based on the
principle of _uti possidetis_, which involved a rectification of the
boundaries on the Canadian frontier. To this the Americans returned a
peremptory refusal. They would not go one step farther except on the
basis of the _status quo ante bellum_. Lord Liverpool considered this as
conclusive. A vigorous prosecution of the war was resolved upon by the
cabinet. Only for reasons of expediency was a show of negotiation still
kept up.

But when the cabinet took a survey of the general field they felt little
complacency in the prospect of a struggle which sooner or later must
interest the maritime powers. France, compelled by the peace of Vienna
to withdraw from what even Lafayette considered as her natural frontier,
was restive, and there was a large party in Russia who would gladly see
the emperor take up the American cause. Moreover the chancellor of the
exchequer saw before him an inevitable addition of ten millions of
pounds sterling to his budget, the only avowable reason for which was
the rectification of the Canadian frontier. In their distress the
cabinet proposed to Wellington to go to the United States with the
olive-branch and the sword, to negotiate or conquer a peace. The desire
of the cabinet to bring the war to an honorable conclusion was avowed.
But Wellington, before accepting this proposal, gave Lord Liverpool a
very frank opinion of the mistake made in exacting territorial
concessions, since the British held no territory of the United States in
other than temporary possession, and had no right to make any such
demand. Lord Liverpool was not tenacious. He was never, he wrote Lord
Bathurst, much inclined to give way to the Americans, but