Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1919 — AMERICAN PEACE CONFERENCES of PAST [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AMERICAN PEACE CONFERENCES of PAST

Noted Citizens Have Represented Nation in Four Held Since Close of the Revolution

list of peace conferences I I I with foreign nations, excluL ,„*,J sive of Indian tribes, to which the United States as a belligerent was a party reduces strictly to the following: The Peace of Paris after the Revolution; the Peace of Ghent with Great Britain after the War of 1812; the Peace of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico. 1848, and the Peace of Paris after the war with Spain. Of some pertinence, however, are the peace treaties forced on us by the Barbary pirates, 1794-97, and by us on them 20 years later; and the Peace convention with France made in 1800. Technically in the latter case we had not been at war. even though our frigate Constellation had captured the French frigate Insurgente and had destroyed another, La Vengeance. Our Independence Recognized. Our peace with Great Britain after the Revolution was concluded by commissioners of congress under the Articles of Confederation, and of course before an American president or constitution existed. Washington was simply commander in chief. The provisional treaty was signed at Paris November 30. —1782, - the definitive treaty September 3, 17S3,—General Washington having declared cessation of hostilities in January. 1783. The American commissioners in the first conference were John Adams, Franklin, Jay and Henry Laurens; in the second the same without Laurens. Richard Osgood negotiated for the king’ in the first conference. David Hartley. M. P.. In the second. The four main questions in both were the boundaries of the United States, fishing rights off Newfoundland.-the payment of private debts of American citizens to British and compensation by the United States to British loyalists (tories) whose property had been confiscated by the colonies during the war. The two former questions had *to be further adjusted later on. although presumably conclusive agreements were then arrived at. the United States getting the territory between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, and getting the right to fish off the Newfoundland coast, but not to dry the catches on those shores. There was to be no lawful impediment to the recovery of debts either way, and American legislation was 'to recommend making the loyalists,, immune from confiscations or prosecutions. It is unlikely that there will ever be an American peace commission of greater ability than this one. Franktin. our representative at Paris, had won for ’ the struggling colonies the Invaluable friendship and aid of the French government. John Adams was to be president. Jay to be'chief justice of the United States Supreme court, Laurens was a former president of the council of safety of South Carolina and of the continental congress. Our convention of peace, commerce and navigation with’ France, which on

September 30, 1800. ended a war that was not a war,-was-negotiated for the United States by Oliver Ellsworth, William Richardson Davie and William Vens Murray; for the first consulate by the following counselors of state: Jerome Bonaparte, Charles Pierre, Claret Fleurien and Pierid Louis Roederer. The quarrel, on the French side, was a legacy from the directory to Napoleon’s first con-* sulate. - . < The change in the French government made possible a x Reconciliation without formal progress Into war. By the convention France recognized the rights of neutral vessels and promised Indemnities for her navy’s depredations. Depending on what historian you read, America’s success in the conference was mainly the work of Ellsworth or that of Murray. John Adams, Federalist, was president at the time. The vice president was Jefferson. Two of President Adams’ commissioners. Ellsworth, who han just resigned the office of chief justice, and Murray, who had been Washington’s minister to the Netherlands, were strong Federalists. Davie. English born, a former governor of North Carolina and a veteran of the Revolution, seemed to have heen a free lance in early politics. The scene of the convention was Paris. ''' ■ ' Becoming tired of piracy and blackmail, American squadrons attended to the Barbary coast, and between 1805 and 1815. when Decatur finally made the whole thing sure, treaties were made with the deys and bashaws. The Peace of Ghent. The peace of Ghent was concluded December 24, 1814. The United States commission appointed by President Madison, who was a Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican, included John Quincy Adams, then our minister to Russia: James A. Bayard, former United States senator; Henry Clay, speaker of the house ; Albert Gallatin, who had been secretary of the treasury from 1891 to 1813, and Jonathan Russell, our minister to Norway"and' Sweden John Quincy Adams was a former Federalist from Massachusetts, ' a strong Federalist state. That is. he had been originally in opposition to Madison In politics. Later he had come into accord with Madison’s government. Baya rd was another former Federa 1 - Ist. but he was the man who had brought about Jefferson’s victory over Aaron Burr when that pfesidentlal election was thrown into'the house of representatives. Clay was a concpicuous Madisonian, and so was Gallatin, the eminent financier. Russell was a second Massachusetts commissioner of Madisonian partisanship. Ten years later he was elected to con-

gress' as a Democrat, in the presentday party sense. For the achievement of our commission much of the credit has been given to Clay. The best opinion nowadays overshadows him with Gallatin. The late Henry Adams, grandson of the American chairman on the occasion, and a conscientiously just New England historian, writes; “Far more than' contemporaries ever supposed or than is now imagined, the treaty of Ghent was the especial work and the peculiar triumph of Mr. Gallatin.” E /' —~~ The peace with Mexico, concluded in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,. was h curious specimen of such negotiatlons. The lone hand American, commissioner was Nicholas PhilipTrist, chief clerk of the state department under President Polk, and. like Polk, a thoroughgoing Democrat as Democrats are today. There was nothing very intricate to negotiatewith Mexico. We had gone to war to« establish the boundary at the Rio Grande as against The Mexican contention for the Nueces. The peace that w-as made not only satisfied our government as to that portion of the boundary but also fixed the remainder of it, giving us NewMexico and what was then called Upper California. Trist's_Job_was 12L make those stipulations and conclude a treaty yielding to them. He fir st met Santa Anna’s commissioners in the summer of 1847. General Scott 50(1’ not been notified of Triest’s mission,__ and quarreled violently with him when Jie appeared. Treaty Made Without Authority. During an armistice in August Trist, whose instructions as to New Mexico and California had followed him. failed to come to an agreement with the Santa Anna commission, which madecounter proposals and rejected all the American demands. At the end of the armistice fighting was resumed, and in deference to Scott Trist was recalled by the authorities at Washington. Before the order reached him, however, he had made friends with Scott and by Scott’s advice he remained on the ground regardless of theorder. At Christmas time, 1847. Scott’s army took the city of Mexico and Santa Anna resigned the Mexican presidency. Trist then, without any authority except Scott’s, resumed negotiations, procured the treaty that was wanted and took it back to Washington. Polk submitted It to the senate on February 23. Senatorial opposition caused modlflcations to which Mexico acceded, and ratification came on March 16. Our treaty of peace with Spain was concluded at Paris. December 10, 1898. The American commissioners wera William R. Day; late secretary of state, chairman ; Senators Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye and George Gray, and Whitelaw Reid. All but one of the men appointed by McKinley were of his own party. Senator Gray was a Democrat. Spain relinquished sovereignty over Cuba, ceded Porto Rico, the Philippines and Guam, and received $20,000,000.