allatin, was appointed minister to England, Adams returning
to the United States to take the portfolio of State in President
Monroe's cabinet. Gallatin was joined to Rush, for the conduct of
negotiations with Great Britain, rendered necessary by the approaching
expiration of the commercial convention of July 3, 1815, which had been
limited to four years. The general field of disputed points was again
entered. It included the questions of impressment, the fisheries, the
boundaries, and indemnity for slaves. The commissioners were supported
by a temper of the American people different from that which prevailed
when Jay and Gallatin respectively undertook the delicate work of
negotiation in 1794 and 1814. A compromise was arrived at, which was
signed on October 20, 1818. The articles on maritime rights and
impressment were set aside. A convention was made for ten years in
regard to the fisheries, the northwest boundary, and other points, and
the commercial convention of 1815 was renewed. The English claim to the
navigation of the Mississippi was finally disposed of, and the article
concerning the West India trade was referred to the President. The
arrangement of the fishery question disturbed Mr. Gallatin, who found
himself compelled to sign an agreement which left the United States in a
worse situation in that respect than before the war of 1812. But as the
British courts would certainly uphold the construction by their
government of the treaty of 1783, our vessels, when seized, would be
condemned and a collision would immediately ensue. This, and the
critical condition of our Spanish relations, left no choice between
concession and war. A short time afterward Lord Castlereagh and the Duke
of Wellington expressed friendly dispositions, and the mooted points of
impressment and the West India trade were considered by them to be near
an arrangement. The right of British armed vessels to examine American
crews was abandoned in the convention itself.

In July, 1818, the capture of Fort St. Mark and the occupation of
Pensacola in Florida by General Jackson made some stir in the quiet
waters of our foreign diplomacy. Uncertain as to whether the act would
be disavowed or justified by the American government, Mr. Gallatin
explained to the European ministers that the forcible occupation of the
Spanish province was an act of self-defence and protection against the
Indians, but Richelieu replied that the United States "had adopted the