The Creek Indians (Part 5)

But while the war and the treaty had failed to secure certain immediate and important incidental advantages, the events of that war did secure the far more important advantage of the positive and permanent independence contended for many years in vain. It secured to posterity a guarantee for the perpetuation and growth of free institutions; and Great Britain was taught the useful lesson, more puissant in its effects upon the topic of search and impressment than any treaty obligation, that the young republic of the West, the offspring of her oppressions, growing more lusty every hour, would no longer tolerate an insult, nor suffer its sovereignty to be questioned without resenting the offence. Great Britain was compelled to sign a bond, was it were, to keep the peace, in the form of an acknowledgment that she had, in this republic, a formidable rival for the supremacy of the seas, which she was bound to respect. The concessions made to the Americans by the treaty were equally offensive to British pride, for it seemed like stooping to "insolent Yankees;" and the spirit of a portion of the London press was manifested by the following "advertisement extraordinary:"

"Wanted--The spirit which animated the conduct of Elizabeth, Oliver, and William.

"Lost--All idea of national dignity and honor.

"Found--That every independent State may insult That which used to call herself Mistress of the Seas."

The treaty of peace ended the war which had continued two years and eight months; it also modified the partisan warfare in the republic. We have been how persistently the Federalists opposed the declaration of war when it was proposed, and denounced it during its progress; also how unpatriotic was the conduct of a portion of that party known as the Peace-Faction. The mischievous conduct of that faction ceased only with the conflict of arms, while a more patriotic portion of the opposition adopted a measure which created suspicions of their loyalty at the time, and caused unjust vituperations for many years afterward. The event alluded to is known in history as "The Hartford Convention," the authentic history of which is as follows: