War of 1812: Difference between revisions

American public opinion was outraged when Madison published the demands as even the Federalists were now willing to fight on. A British force burned Washington, but it failed to capture Baltimore and sailed away when its commander was killed. In northern New York State, 10,000 British veterans were marching south until a decisive defeat at the [[Battle of Plattsburgh]] forced them back to Canada.{{efn|The British were unsure whether the attack on Baltimore was a failure, but Plattsburg was a humiliation that called for court martial ({{harvnb|Latimer|2007|pp=331, 359, 365}}).}} British Prime Minister RobertLord JenkinsonLiverpool, aware of growing [[Opposition to the War of 1812 in Britain|opposition]] to wartime taxation and the demands of merchants for reopened trade with America, realized Britain also had little to gain and much to lose from prolonged warfare especially given growing concern about the situation in Europe.{{sfnm|1a1=Latimer|1y=2007|1pp=389–391|2a1=Gash|2y=1984|2pp=111–119}} The main focus of British foreign policy was the [[Congress of Vienna]], at which British diplomats had clashed with Russian and Prussian diplomats over the terms of the peace with France and there were fears that Britain might have to go to war with Russia and Prussia. Export trade was all but paralyzed and France was no longer an enemy of Britain after Napoleon fell in April 1814, so the Royal Navy no longer needed to stop American shipments to France and it no longer needed to impress more seamen. The British were preoccupied in rebuilding Europe after the apparent final defeat of Napoleon.{{sfn|Mahan|1905}}

Consequently, JenkinsonLord Liverpool urged the British negotiators to offer a peace based on the restoration of the pre-war status quo. The British negotiators duly dropped their demands for the creation of an Indian neutral zone, which allowed negotiations to resume at the end of October. The American negotiators accepted the British proposals for a peace based on the pre-war status quo. Prisoners were to be exchanged and escaped slaves returned to the United States, as at least 3,000 American slaves had escaped to British lines. The British however refused to honour this aspect of the treaty, settling some of the newly freed slaves in Nova Scotia{{sfn|African Nova Scotians}}{{sfn|Whitfield|2005}} and New Brunswick.{{sfn|Black Loyalists in New Brunswick}} The Americans protested Britain's failure to return American slaves in violation of the Treaty of Ghent. After arbitration by the [[Alexander I of Russia|Tsar of Russia]] the British paid $1,204,960 in damages to Washington, to reimburse the slave owners.{{sfn|Taylor|2010|p=432}}