The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-11
CENTENARY OF LAST CONFLICT BETWEEN
 U. s. AND ENGLAND

1 Just a century ago today the stage
 was set for the beginning of the last l conflict between the armed forces of 1 the United States and Great Britain. l While New England was clam oring g l for peace, and the commissioners of
 the warning nations were indulging in
 9 long drawn out controversy at Ghent, in Belgium, the pioneer sol diers of the South were still full of
 fight and spelling for a rookus.'' In the Northern States and Canada the war was coming to a, dreary end from
 lack of interest and enthusiasm, but in Louisiana, where Gen.. Andrew
 Jackson had assumed command early
 in the December of 1914, both sides were eagerly preparing for the coming combat. The British forces were con centrating at Lake Borgne, near New
 Orleans, preparatory to attacking the city, and on the eleventh of Decem
 Der, following an indecisive naval skirfnish on the lake, they began their advance.
 Jackson kept 3. close watch on the British forces, and when they began their march toward the city he pre- pared to meet them. By the four
 teenth the British were threatening the city, and captured several gum boats commanded by Lieut.. Thomas
 A. c. Jones. The attacking army army halted on the plain of ChaI-
 mette, five miles from New Orleans,
 and spent several days in prepara-
 ttons for the final onslaught. Jack
 son did not wait for the attack. but
 advanced to meet the invaders, and
 was victorious in sharp engagements at Villere's plantation. Cha1mette and the Rodriguez canal. The first of these engagements was fought the
 day before the treaty of peace was
 signed at Ghent, but, in the absence
 of means of rapid communications both armies were ignorant of the fact that the war was over. The battle
 of New Orleans, one of the most ter rife of the war, was fought on the
 eighth of January, and resulted in a
 complete victory for the defenders of New Orleans.
 While the fiery southerners and their gallant opponents, were thus en-
 gagged, the commissioners at Ghent, after a deliberation of five months, had finally agreed upon terms of peace, and the treaty was a Christmas gift to England and the infant repub- 1 lie, both of which were heartily tired of the conflict President Madison l had instructed the American comnis- sioners to insist upon the abolition of 1 forcibIe inapressrnent at sea, but the l beI1igerent attitude of the New Eng l land states, in which there had been much talk of secession from the re f I1a1nQeF or the COuQITysz 4SAAu A5z SNSAA threats of a voluntary return to Brit 1 fsh rule, made the Washington gov l ernnent more tractao1e. With the
 war clouds again looming up on the
 European horizon. England was also 1 glad to dispose of the troublesome 1 American conflict.
 The utter futi1ity of war was dem
 onstrated by the treaty of Ghent, as both commissions agreed that all l questions between the two nations l two nations should be left essentially where they were when war began = 1 Absolutely nothing was accomplished by the thousands of more thAn two years, beyond the destruction of prop l erty, the loss of thousands Of lives.
 and the temporary ruin of trade and l commerce.
 Looking back at that conflict from 1 the vantage point of a hundred years 1 Of peace, the average American or l EngIishman can find little to be I proud Of in the record of that strug- I gle, which had as it's sole result death l and destruction, blood and tears. l corpses, raaimed men, widows and I orphans.