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Show AIIIIIRSARY -TODAY OFTHE WAR OF 1812 - Declaration - of Hostilities Was Made Just Ninety- nine Years A.o. UNNECESSARY AND NOW SEEMS FOOLISH United States Won Its Real lr r Glorious Victory After - Peace Was Signed.- i BT.rBDBBI0. HABKnt ' ' Ninety-Bine years ago today, . on June .17, 1818, congress passed a resolution reso-lution deelsf ins wr against .-Oreat Britain. Two daya later the deelara-tioa deelara-tioa was signed by President Madison and the second war for independence was formally began. . The war . was terminated by the . ratification of the treaty of fihent ea February 17, 1S15, although the treaty of peace actually had beea signed ia the previous December, De-cember, before the most importsat battle of the war had been fought at New Orleans on January S. At this particular time, when President Presi-dent Taft is urging the negotiation of -an .all comprehensive arbitratioa treatv with. Great Britain; whea ' preparations have been begun for the ' celebration in 1815 of the century of peace between the two great English speehiag peoples, and whan efforts are being . made te bring the United States and Caned into closer relationship, rela-tionship, it ia Interesting to eoasider the fact that the progress of . civilisation civil-isation aad the improvement of transportation trans-portation and communication facilities facili-ties has been, so great that in the light of modern knowledge the war of 1813 was absurdly foolish and entire-lv entire-lv unnecessary. ' Bow It Waa Ceased. , Aa nearly a century' ' hat ' ' elapsed since the end of the war, end as the laet survivor hof the' American forcer participating in it,. .Hiram .Crook of New York, has beea in his grave for si i years, H is perhaps now safe to admit that ihe' record of the struggle is not altogether a glorious one for the United States. Strange as it .may seem to, us. .our cousins of' Canada have- the - impses-i jeioo- that the Ysakees were everlaat-' everlaat-' " faigly whipped is that war and that the whipping was . administered by . Canadians. Can-adians. Ia the pageantry of the fee-, k tivl of empire now going oa in Lon-a Lon-a don, the1 Canadians decide te omit the picture of the battle of Chateauguay because it might wound the feelings of American visitors te be thus reminded re-minded of their inglorious defect. A-s aot one American ia ten thousand haa ever heard of the battle or the defeat, the action of the Canadians is particularly particu-larly generous. , As a matter , of fact, the . United States in the war of 1812 waa defeat-, ed ia a military sense, although victorious vic-torious moral! v.. The war -was caused by the uawillingneM of Great Britain to accord to her. late colonies the' full rights of a sovereign nation. Was-TJiiBsessiary Btrmggla. The boarding of American ships for the search and . seizure of Americas ' ssilors to be impressed into the service serv-ice of the British navy ander the doe-trine doe-trine "once aa Englishman, always aa ' Englishman," was the immediate pro-vocatioa pro-vocatioa for. the war. The grievances of the young action were peinted in lurid style to the voters of the country by a clique of young politicians desiring to gain control con-trol of the government, among whom were Henry Clay, John d Calhoua and others of almost equal ability. New England waa opposed to the agitation, agi-tation, resisted the declaration of war, and waa lukewarm during the struggle.. strug-gle.. If there had been a cable under the Atlantic or even such a thine as swift - steamships, that war of 112 nsver would hsve been begun. Before Clsv and his gorv . "voting Republicans" had mustered "sumrient strength to declare de-clare war the British parliament 'already 'al-ready wsa disenaaing the abandonment cf tbe obieetionable preetieee of which tha Americana complained. ' If. tbet fact had been kaowa in Washington the actios takea by congress ninety-nine ninety-nine years aro today would have beea made impossible." .-."' Forgot War Slogan. ' L Whea the peace commissioners met J " ia jRhent in 1S14 the Americans wsrs , willing to accept peace en terms mnet I edvantageous to Great Britain. The American arms had beea notoriously unsuccessful en land, and although the naval victories were most glorious, the wiser brads of tbe Msdisoa administration adminis-tration were reairv to quit. The cap ilal had been captured aad sacked, tbe public buiMinea burned nnd the president presi-dent forced to flee into the country. The-laai fercea had proved to be moat Incapable, and there had beea acaadal - after srsndal in tbe army. Therefore, the American commissioners commis-sioners were willing to eign a treaty ef peace which said a great deal about the boandarv between tbe United States snd Canada, but never a word about the right of Croat Britain to eeareh Americea ahina . aad impress American seamen. The war slogsa of "Bailors' Bights" was forgot. . Agatat there bad beea a trace Atlantic cable or a fact steamship, ' ths history af - the relations between the twe countries would have) been changed. The British public deemed the treerv of Ghent to be a complete victory for England.- and if the news ef the eoneloMon of peace had reached America' a, eaee there ia little doubt but that evea Americana woald have - admitted virtual defeat. ' But eVeal Victory After Treaty. But juxre thaa three weeks after the treaty woe aigaexi. and long before sews ef it bad reached American shores, Gen. Andrew Jackson at New Orleans bad deetroved- the. -British; -arnrv aeC , bad restored the glory ef Americea anna by a victory whose glory ia as-oumesaed as-oumesaed la the a a sals af war. . jf modern means ef eoeamnslcatlea ' - (Ceatiaaed ea page 4.) ANNIVERSARY TODAY (Continued from peg 1) bad existed a entury ago the war of 1813 eould not hav begun a it tu began, nor eoald it have aadcd M it did aid. Thi i as example of how murk wore difflrult Itiiti bgia s wsr in the times thaa it od to M. The proposal to celebrate the eentnry of pear in 1915 baa received hearty i-d i-d or truant is England, ia Caaada aid ia the United 8tate. It ia hoped by the advocate of world peat that the proponed treaty of arbitration between the. British empire and the American republic will have been adopted before that time, aad then the celebration may be made to take oa the-character of a great peac jubilee for the entire He-glisk He-glisk speaking race. Since the end of the war of ISIS there have been no hostilities between Great Britain and tbe United State, although al-though the war rloude bay lowered more than one. - Bat during all thee years the two countries hare been so mutually trustful that the great boua-dary boua-dary between the United Btatcs aad Caaada baa been practically unguarded. Treat of Peac Still Holds. A treaty was signed on April !3. 1817 which provided for the restriction f naval equipment an the great lakes. Only thre small war vesael war per- mitied, on on Lak Ontario aad two an th upper lake. Nona might iced a capacity of 100 tons and none might hav a greater armament than ona 18-pound 18-pound cannon. Thie treaty ia still in force, although it provided that it might b terminated on six months' satire sa-tire by ithr party. Of course the littl wooden vessels with their antique eighteen pounders aia sow aa obsolete as th war galley of Cleopatra, but nevertheless ther is much fore in what Andrew Carnegie lately said: "The most powsrful ship in th British Brit-ish navy is not th mighty Dread-aaught Dread-aaught with its haary armament. It is that little boat oa the great lake tying ty-ing tha union jark and carrying but on tiny gun used only for th exchange of friendly salute of peac and good will with a similar little eraft flying th stars and stripes. That is th most Cowerful ship of th British navy, aad erauee of tha power it displays, never sgain shall English speaking men stand fac to face ia battla." panaanant Arbitration Treaty. Th moral victory won by tha Unitad States in th war of 1S1! might easily hav "been achieved by diplomacy, for it was not in battle, aor yet ia the treaty of Ghent, that tha Victory was recorded. Ita first record is in th treaty af July 8, lgl5, sigasd aftr th news of the battle of New Orleans had reached London, and which was called a commercial treaty. It provided for amicable intercourse between th merchant mer-chant ships of both nations and opened th British ports of th Weat Indira to American vessels. This waa followed by th treaty of 1817, limiting th armament ar-mament on the Canadian border. Advocate of peace everywhere hop that tb hundred year of paae will be msrksd by th ratiflratidn of the permanent per-manent arbitration treaty, by the terms of which all diaput of whataoever character between the United States and Great Britain will be submitted to arbitration. President Taft initiated ini-tiated th movement, which was heartily heart-ily indorsed by Sir Edward Grey, head of the department of foreign affairs in the British goverameat. Ther is opposition ia both countries by thee who fear -that th abaadoa-m'ent abaadoa-m'ent af war will make me weak, but tbe raaks of tha advocates ef peace are being augmented daily. Tha instrumentalities instru-mentalities af madera civilisation, th steamship and th telegraph, airships and th sewepapera, tha very things that would have mad th war of 1812 impossible a hundred year ago, now sre operating to make all war impossible. impos-sible. Between th twa great English speaking speak-ing people th bonds of friendship are becoming stroager aad atronger all th time. Both nation axpr thsir patriotic pa-triotic lovalty in tb same musical terms and in 1915 both will sing, to th tun of "God v. th King" and "My Country Tis of Th" th new peac anthem written by a Minneaota Anglo-Saxon Anglo-Saxon of Scandinavian doses t: . Two empires by tbe sea. Two nations, great and free, Ttirlr anthem ralec si ill ssaesstasBSBassaa |