Alexander I, czar of Russia from 1801 to 1825, attempted to mediate a peace between Great Britain and the United States during the War of 1812 (1812-15). From the time he ascended the throne to 1815, Alexander was preoccupied with Napoleon Bonaparte. Although Alexander had made peace with Napoleon in 1807, he recognized that his participation in the Continental System, excluding trade with Great Britain, would be limited and might lead to a break with France. In fact, Alexander sought better relations with Great Britain. He also recognized that an expanding Baltic trade with the United States, encouraged by Ambassador John Quincy Adams after 1809, was also important to Russia's economy. The deterioration of Anglo-American relations in 1811 and 1812 was thus of concern to Alexander, who asked the British to repeal the Orders in Council.

In summer 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia, and Alexander signed an alliance with Great Britain and Sweden. Faced with this international and military crisis, the czar sought to mediate a peace between the United States and Great Britain. The British rebuffed these efforts, but the United States responded positively. Adams forwarded the offer to Washington, D.C., where it arrived in February 1813. President James Madison accepted the offer and appointed James Bayard and Albert Gallatin as envoys to join Adams in St. Petersburg. In May 1813 Madison called a special session of the Senate to confirm these appointments, although the Senate refused to confirm Gallatin until he resigned his post as secretary of the treasury. In the meantime, Gallatin and Bayard had headed for Russia, where they arrived on July 21, 1813. By that time the situation had changed. Napoleon's foray into Russia had turned into a disaster during the previous winter, and he was now in retreat. Alexander, heavily subsidized by Great Britain, was in pursuit in Germany, bent on Napoleon's complete defeat. The British remained uninterested in Russian mediation and suggested direct negotiations with the United States in November 1813. This overture led to the meeting at Ghent that culminated in the Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814.

Alexander helped to oversee Napoleon's defeat and became immersed in European diplomacy and Russian politics. He did not pay much attention to the United States for the remainder of his reign. He died on November 25, 1825.

Bibliography:

Nikolai N. Bolkhovitnov, The Beginnings of Russian-American Relations, 1775-1815 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975)

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