d to be no hope for release. At
last came the news of the declaration of peace. How great then was the
rejoicing! Thoughts of home, of friends and kindred, flooded the minds
of all; and even strong men, whom the hardships of prison-life had not
broken down, seemed to give way all at once to tears of joy. But the
delays of official action, "red-tape," and the sluggishness of travel
in that day, kept the poor fellows pent up for months after the treaty
of peace had been announced to them. Nor were they to escape without
suffering yet more severely at the hands of their jailors. Three
months had passed since peace had been declared; and the long delay so
irritated the prisoners, that they chafed under prison restraint, and
showed evidences of a mutinous spirit. The guards, to whom was
intrusted the difficult task of keeping in subjection six thousand
impatient and desperate men, grew nervous, fearing that at any moment
the horde of prisoners would rise and sweep away all before them. An
outbreak was imminent; and the prisoners were like a magazine of
gunpowder, needing but a spark of provocation to explode. On April 6,
1815, matters reached a crisis. The soldiers, losing all presence of
mind, fired on the defenceless Americans, killing five men and
wounding thirty-four. Thus the last blood shed in the War of 1812 was
the blood of unarmed prisoners. But the massacre, horrible and
inexcusable as it was, had the effect of hastening the release of the
survivors; and soon the last of the captives was on his way home to
the country over which peace at last reigned again.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE LONG PEACE BROKEN BY THE WAR WITH MEXICO. -- ACTIVITY OF THE
NAVY. -- CAPTAIN STOCKTON'S STRATAGEM. -- THE BATTLE AT SAN JOSE.
-- THE BLOCKADE. -- INSTANCES OF PERSONAL BRAVERY. -- THE LOSS OF
THE "TRUXTON." -- YELLOW FEVER IN THE SQUADRON. -- THE NAVY AT
VERA CRUZ. -- CAPTURE OF ALVARADO.

The period of peace which followed the close of the War of 1812 was,
perhaps, the longest which any nation has ever enjoyed. For the navy
of the United States, it was a time of absolute peace, inactivity,
even stagnation. The young nation was living literally up to
Washington's rule of avoiding entanglements abroad, and its people
looked with suspicion on the naval branch of the service which had
rendered such a good account of itself in the war with Great Britain.
They feared to build and man ships lest possession of a