's
quarrel was after all not with France, who needed American trade,
but with England, a commercial rival, who could back her restrictions
by naval power. Once France was out of the war, the United States
found it easy to come to terms with England, whose commerce was
suffering severely from American privateers.[1] At the close of the
war the questions at issue when it began had dropped into abeyance,
and were not mentioned in the treaty terms.

[Footnote 1: According to figures cited in Mahan's WAR OF 1812, (Vol.
II, p. 224), 22 American naval vessels took 165 British prizes, and
526 privateers took 1344 prizes. In the absence of adequate motives
on either side for prolonging the war, these losses, though not
more severe than those inflicted by French cruisers, were decisive
factors for peace.]

The view taken of the aggressions of sea power in the Napoleonic
Wars will depend largely on the view taken regarding the justice of
the cause in which it fought. It saved the Continent from military
conquest. It preserved the European balance of power, a balance
which statesmen of that age deemed essential to the safety of Europe
and the best interests of America and the rest of the world. On
the other hand, but for the sacrifices of England's land allies,
the Continental System would have forced her to make peace, though
still undefeated at sea. Even if her territorial accessions were
slight, England came out of the war undisputed "mistress of the
seas" as she had never been before, and for nearly a century to come
was without a dangerous rival in naval power and world commerce.

REFERENCES

For general history of the period see: HISTORIES OF THE BRITISH NAVY
by Clowes (Vols. V, VI, 1900) and Hannay (1909), Mahan's INFLUENCE
OF SEA POWER UPON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND EMPIRE (1892) and WAR
OF 1812 (1905), Chevalier's HISTOIRE DE LA MARINE FRANcAISE
SOUS LA PREMIeRE RePUBLIQUE (1886), Graviere's GUERRES MARITIMES
(1885), Callender's SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN (Vol. III, 1911),
and Maltzahn's NAVAL WARFARE (tr. Miller, 1908).

Among biographies: Mahan's and Laughton's lives of Nelson, Anson's
LIFE OF JERVIS (1913), Clark Russell's LIFE OF COLLINGWOOD (1892),
and briefer sketches in FROM HOWARD TO NELSON, ed. Laughton (1899).

For the Trafalgar campaign see:

British Admiralty blue-book on THE TACTICS OF TRAFALGAR (with
bibliography, 1913), Corbett's CAMPAIGN OF TRAFALGAR (1910), Col.
Desbriere's PROJETS ET TENTATIVES DE DeB