BETWEEN HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY
AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

"[Ratified and confirmed by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate, Feb. 11, 1815.]

"Article I. * * * Shall be restored without delay, and
without causing any destruction, or carrying away any of the
artillery or other public property originally captured in
the said forts or places, and which shall remain therein
upon the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, or
any '_slaves or other private property_.' * * * *

"Done, in triplicate, at Ghent, Dec. 24, 1814.

"GAMBIER, [L.S.]
"HENRY GOULBURN, [L.S.]
"WILLIAM ADAMS, [L.S.]
"JOHN OUINCY ADAMS, [L.S.]
"J.A. BAYARD, [L.S.]
"H. CLAY, [L.S.]
"JONA. RUSSELL, [L.S.]
"ALBERT GALLATIN. [L.S.]"[610]

It was not a difficult matter to retake Negroes captured by the enemy,
and then treat them as prisoners of war. But no officer in the
American army, no member of Congress, had the moral courage to
proclaim that property ceased in a man the moment he donned the
uniform of a Revolutionary soldier, and that all Negro soldiers
captured by the enemy should be treated as prisoners of war. So, all
through the war with Britain, the Negro soldier was liable to be
claimed as property; and every bayonet in the army was at the command
of the master to secure his property, even though it had been
temporarily converted into an heroic soldier who had defended the
country against its foes. The unprecedented spectacle was to be
witnessed, of a master hunting his slaves under the flag of the
nation. And at the close of hostilities many Negro soldiers were
called upon to go back into the service of their masters; while few
secured their freedom as a reward for their valor. The following
letter of Gen. Washington, addressed to Brig.-Gen. Rufus Putnam,
afterwards printed at Marietta, O., from his papers, indicates the
regard the Father of his Country had for the rights of the master,
though those rights were pushed into the camp of the army where many
brave Negroes were found; and it also illustrates the legal strength
of such a claim:--

"HEAD QUA