CUxacUr .U pA\ic Ser- Vices f- KndiTCNA/ jAcksoTi. Pass ^3 9. g. Book -- •' i VINDICATION CHAniLCTER AND PUBXIC SERVICES iiir®iBiiw ^A®i^i®ir 3 IN REPI-T TO THE RICHMOND ADDRESS, SIGNED BY CHAPMAN JOHNSON, AND TO OTHER ELECTIONEERING CALUMNIES. ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED !N THE NASHVILLE REPUBLICAN, AND ATTRIBUTED TO MAJOR HENRY LEE, II OF VIRGINIA. ^f BOSTON : True and Greene, Printers 183S. TO THE FEOFIii:. The following is a' most ably written and conclusive argument. It has not had, in that respect, its superior during the present canvass. We solicit for it the candid perusal of all men, who are willing to know the truth, and knowing it, to vindicate it against error or designed mis- representation. No man has rendered more important services to his country, than Andrew Jackson. They have shed upon that country and upon his own name, imperishable glory. For these services, his country is grateful ; and for them and his merits, for his republican character and attachments, and for his determination to bring into the councils, of the nation the old Democracy instead of the Federalism and Aristocracy which now govern us, his country will plai',e the highest of her gifts within his hands. But thes*> great services and deeds of devotion to the general welfare, and the perilous defence of his native soil, are the sources of envy in the minds of malignant partizans and bad-hearted men. They hate what they cannot imitate ; and in nearly all cases they condemn now what they condemned during a war which they opposed, and the defenders and supporters of which thoy then vilified. Such men have filled the country with gross misrepresentations of the character and conduct of Gen Jackson. Every act of his life is gainsayed or perverted. No man, elevated and noble as has been his devotedness under great emergencies and in the most trying times, has been so much traduced. No man has been more foully slander- ed. The inmost recesses of his family, the honor of his wife, his domes- tic peace, — all have been invaded, to serve the purposes and prop up the hopes of a falling party — to sustain an administration, which coming into power without the consent of the people, seeks by such means to deceive that people into its support. Like Tompki.ns, he has been hunted down by his enemies and the enemies of his country. Not content with these assaults and calumnies upon the private character and domestic life ofa ven- erable citizen, they attempt even to scandalize the countiy, and in the very language and manner of the pensioned writers of the British press, de predate the honors and underrate the victories of the nation. These calumnies have called out the following vindication. It is worthy of the author, of the subject, and of the country. Let every lover of his coun- try read it. — Albany Argus. [From the Nashville Republican.] To the Editors of the Richmond Enquirer. Gentlemen : — The address of the Adams men in Richmond, published in your paper of the 2Gth November, is not more remarkable for the re- spectnble names attached to it, than for its prodigious errors, boih of fact and inference. Such a conflict between persuasive authority and repul- sive misrepresentations, is rarely seen, and is difficult to account for, unless we suppose the address was fabricated by the editor of the Wfiio-, and sijrned under the influence of some unhappy hallucination. Mr. Chapman Johnson appears to have given in his adhesion with scruples and reserva- tions, inconsistent with that act of fraternit}'^, and incompatible witii the sentiments of the party he joins. But his standing as a local pc)litician being high, and his name not unknown as an attorney, the signers, devo- ted to their cause, and careless of their principles, receive him with open arms. They have peifect confidence in tlio probity and honor of Messrs. Adams and Clay — he has none. They apprehend no attack on public lib- erty, or immediate danger to our institutions, from the election of (Jeneral Jackson — he is solemnly convinced [poor man !) tliat " General Jackson is al- together unfit and eminently dangerous." Thty consider the opposition factious and unprincipled — he does not. These discordances are hard to reconcile — unless we reflect on the improbability of finding any varieties, of opinion sufficient to place the brother-in-law of the Attorney-General, the Attorney of the United States, ann the would-be-successor of Chief Justice Marshall, in fair opposition to the Court. One of the first positions taken in the address, is, that the election of General Jackson is to be de- precated, " as ominous of the decay of that spirit by which alone our in- stitutions can be upheld and perpetuated ;" and I perceive, at a trashy meeting of Mr. Southard's King George's, this spurious sentiment is adopted, and traced to a jealousy of military fame, discoverable in the constitution of the United States — an instrument which was framed under the eye and auspices of General Washington, and was by him recommend- ed to the American people, who made him their first President, when his sword was scarce cold in his scabbard, and when the sounds of war were just hushed in the land ! It is neither more nor less than another repetition of Mr. Clay's charge of Military Chieftainship — an avowal that General Jackson's services in repelling the invaders of his country, constitute a just ground for his exclusion from civil office. The Legislature of this state, wiio know the General at least as well as the readers of the Whig, did not think so, when they made him Senator of the United States ; nor did iVIr. A'unroe, when he appointed him Minister to Mexico. The laws of society require of every man ttie exertion of his abilities and the hazard of his life, in defence of the community of which he is a member. The laws of this country place arms in the linnds of the citizen, and devoto his life to this most sacred d'lty. If he shrinks from the glorious task, he is consigned to ignominy : if "he performs it with su|iorior skill and courage, he forfeits for ever, in the opinion of the Richmond meeting, public confi- dence and civil honors. In their political ethics, the best and the worst conduct arc equally culpable ; and the only military .services wliich entitle a citizen to political promotion, are such as some of themselves perform- ed — viz. wearing uniform, taking pay, and doing nothing. So, because (iovernor Harliour tied liimself to a broadsword, and rode behind pistols two or three times to Norfolk, and two or three times back, sounding louder than an empty barrel, all the while, he was made Senator of the United States, in postponement of Mr. Wirt, a man of acknowledged ability. It is very true, that neither Mr. Adams nor Mr. Clay is obnoxious to this ostracism of the Richmond meeting. While General Jackson was braving the ambushed shaft of the Indian, and foiling the discipline shock of Brit- ish columns ; was performing toilsome marches ; was enduring thirst and hunger, relieved only by the fruit of the oak and the wave of the tonent; was°penling his life and pledging his fortune, to save the lives and fortunes of his countrymen, these diplomatic gentlemen " were brewing mysteries of ruin" against each other, in sumptuous chambers at Ghent — were prepar- ing that hostile rivalship, which, in due dramatic succession, rose into the production ot separate interests, and sunk into the soft catastrophe of the coalition. Mr. Adams carefully duplicating his charges against our " weak and penurious government," and Mr. Clay gratifying his love of pleasure by excursions to Paris ! Such are the s^^rvices, and such the am- bition, which, according to Messrs. Call, Cabell, and Stanard, it is the interest of the American people to cherish and reward, in preference to the noble patriotism and incorruptible virtue of the laurelled farmer of Tennessee ! Absurdity and injustice like this, gentlemen, can never find favour in the renowned commonwealth which gave birth to Washington, and was the theatre of his greatest military exploit. The state of public intelligence is so high in Virginia, that politicians who attempt to effect a delusion, prefer hazarding a downright mis-state- ment to a train of sophistical reasoning — counting more on want of suspi- cion, than want of judgment in the people. With this view, and with a claim to this desperate excuse, the Richmond meeting charge General Jackson with " an unreasonable desire to fill the office of President." I should like to know what circumstances in the conduct of General Jackson, indicate even colourably, the " unreasonable desire " here spoken of. How are the Richmond meeting to palliate such defamation ? Will they refer to his letter to Carter Beverly, which was expressly intended to pre- vent misrepresentatiuns. and was published under circumstances of indeli- cacy by Mr. Clay himself; or will they rely on his colloquial answer to the intrusive question of that person, which having been shown to be true, by the testimony of Messrs. Trim de, Buchanan, Isacks and Eaton, is cer- tainly blameless. Was General Jackson bound in violation of his princi- ples, and his nature to conceal by evasion or falsehood, any facts connectec with the last election, out of tenderness to the reputation of Messrs. Ad- ams and Clay, who had been for months paying the public money to Binns, Hammond and Gales, for slandering himself and his wife ? Or was he to commit the incivility of refusing an answer to Mr. Owen's letter of inquiry upon points of his public conduct, against an official misrepresentation of which, from the war- office, that gentleman was contending at the risk of his political fortune ? Would it have been criminal or censurable in Mr. Jefferson, to reply to a letter asking for information respecting any topic of his history, when his claims were opposed to the elder Adams, and his person and his fame vilified by the younger ? No man, enjoying in so large a degree, as General Jackson, the admiration and gratitude of the public,ev- er endeavoured so studiously to elude its gaze. Curied in our western woods he remains, and though unrestrained by the dignity or duty of office, resists the importunity of his eminent friends in all quarters of the Union, and even his own liberal curiosity ; and has forborne for many years, the usual recreation of tours for health or pleasure. While Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay, in the enjoyment of salaries, and under the responsibility of office, can find time for frequent and distant excursions — to a festival in this state — a parade in that — an election in Kentucky — a review in Massachusetts — 6 and an ehoivi and topaz entertainment in Baltimore. The discernment of the Richmond meetinor is so keen, that they can discover eg'reg;ious ambi- tion and a lust for office, in the noiseless retirement and rural pursuits of General Jackson ; wliile i" the shameless and unexampled electioneering of the cabinet, they see nothing- but Political chastity, and concious recti- tude. Is this the exercise of "that benevolence and Christian charity" which they plea * in favour of the coalition ? Is it not rather an eruption of that abominable spirit, which, to use their own words, "ascribes an ac- tion to the worst and most dishonourable motive that could produce it ?" However delightful it may be to them,looiFer this sacrifice of truth and jus- tice to the o-ods of their idolatry, they are too wise not to calculate on pro- voking by it, general ridicule, if not public contempt. On this subject, they have another assertion which has about as much reality for its foun- dation, as Banquo's ghost, or RedhefFer's perpetual motion. They declare that they have " seen with inevitable regret. General Jackson descend from his high dignity, to mingle in person in the contest waged for his own election." The sincerity of their regret may be best estimated, by reflect- ing on the torture to which their invention must have been subjected, for the incident from which it flows — the pain of which operation, might have been spared them, had the delicacy of General Jackson not been illustrated by contrast, with the meddlesome effrontery and corrupting circulation of the executive officers; had he met Mr. Adams at Baltimore, Mr. Clay in Pitts- burgh, Mr. Southard in Virginia, Mr. Barbour at Annapolis — or had it not required the invitation of a sovereign state to draw him from his home, to participate in the celebration of a great event in his own and his coun- try's story. But the temper of the Richmond meeting, their attention to the progress of events, the phases of character, and all the circumstances belonging to the problem involved in the comparison of General Jackson with Mr. Adams, and in the designation of the latter for President, is best explained by their own declaration — viz : that they " now think of General Jackson as they always did." Tt is very well known that about the time Algernon Sidney drew his impatient pen e.t inceleres iamhos misitfnrentem against the Hero of New- Orleans, the latter was regarded by many persons in Virginia with much such sentiments as during the heat of the revolution prevailed in England towards General Washington. They believed the execution of Arbuthnot and Anibrister to be. in the language of Mr. Clay, (who was then attack- ing Mr. Mimroe, through the reputation of General Jackson, for appoint- ing Mr. Adam^ Secretary of State in preference to himself,) murder.* That the pursuit of the Seminole Indians to their places of refuge and recruit in Florida, was lawless and unauthorized — and tiiat General Jack- Fon's character was ferocious — his propensities vicious — habits profligate, and conduct outrageous. Whereas, now that the excitement of that sea- son has subsided, and that time has cast its impartial light upon the matter, it is universally known that the execution of Arbuthnot and Anibrister was ill strict conl'onnity with tlie laws of nations and usages of war ; was perf( ctlv ju.stifiable upon tlie principles of a prudent retaliation ; and was a meafuire of justice far loss opposed to mercy than the execution of the unfiTttmate Andre. That the invasion of Florida was no violation of the neutrality of Spain — it being necessary that neutrality should exist before it can bo vioh/tcd, and it being both notorious and attested, that the sove- reignty of thit province was. like tiie embraces of a harlot, "open to all comers."' and particularly prostituted to our enemy. That this prudent ♦ Mr. <,'lay uttered iliis outrageous charge in ilebale, but. in tlie report of bis speed) sup- prcHRcd it. and effective measure corresponded with the orders and policy of the government, and like the execution of Arbuthnot and Ainbrister, gave serious offence to no statesmen on earth but our own designing politicians. It is also known that by the quiet foice of virtue General Jackson has lived down the calumnies of his private character, and that a jury of his vicinagre, unbought and unsolicited — as respectable for numbers, for knowl- edge, for talents, and for worth, as the Adams men of Hichmond, have furnished undeniable evidence of his spotle^^s integrity, amiable virtues, and unblemished honor. And yet Messrs. Cabell, Call, Stanard & Co. "think of General Jackson as they always did !" Examples of intellectual perfection ! On a subject so complex, progressive and variable as human character — to fix which the canonizing seal of death is required, and to ascertain which the patient research of the historian is often insufficient, their impeccable opinions are neither to be enlightened by time nor modi- fied by evidence ! They listen not to the increasing plaudits of his coun- trymen, 01 to the unvarying testimony of his neighbours — they regard not the faithful energy with which he has filled civil offices, nor the easy grandeur with which he resigned them — and they turn their eyes from an act of moderation and magnanimity which has no parallel in the history of Grecian or of !< oman greatness. To preserve the freedom of Corinth, Timoleon permitted the assassinaticn of his own brother. In defence of liberty and law, Brutus stabbed his friend in the capitol ; and poetry and oratory delight to portray him brandishing his bloody dagger over the body of Csesar, and congratulating Cicero on the freedom of the state. But this splendid act, though described in the immortal eloquence of TuUy, or in the classical numbers of Akenside, must lose its lustre if compared with General Jackson's rejection of Buchanans' overture.* The highest object of human ambition was placed within reach of the American patriot. No law of the republic was to be violated, no feeling of the heart to be outraged, no prejudice of mankind to be shocked — but the secret virtue of his inmost soul could not be turned from the path of honor, and he subdued the powerful temptation as he subdued the foes of his country. Still he is charged with an '■ unreasonable desire to fill the office of Presi- dent" — is thought of "just as he always was" by the Richmond meeting! It is impossible to conceive that this noble act of General Jackson was un- known to the gentlemen. Nor are they bound to dissent from the general admiration of it, in order to arrive at a perfect faith in the purity of the coalition. The most favourable account that can be given of their en- deavour to undervalue or discredit it, is to impute it to a feeling, like that of the Athenian citizen, who voted for the banishment of Aristides because he could not bear to hear him called the Just. Bui^ men who show no mercy to facts, can do little justice to character. In approaching the subject of Mr. Adams' merits, they found their zeal in his favour upon sympathy excited by the strong and general opposition which his election and his measures have provoked — a sentiment for which they justly claim the credit of generosity, it being evident that zeal for the re-election of Mr. Adams, cannot proceed from a noble love of liberty, a prudent regard to the interests of the country, or a proper respect * " Ccesare interfetto inquit statim cruentum altc cxtollens Marcus Brutus pugionem Ciceronem nominatim exclamavit atque ei recuperatam libertatem est gratulatus." — 2d Philippic. " Brutus rose, Kefulgent from the stroke of Ctesar's fate, Amid the crowd of patriots and his arm Aloft extending, like rternal Jove When guil; brings down the thunder, call'd aloud On I ully's name, and shook his rrimgon steel, And bade the father of his country hail ! For, lo ' the tyrant ! prostrate in the dust, And Rome again is free." 8 for its institutions. They thus sum up their articles of faith in the divine right of John the 2(1 ; " He is pure and upright in intention — patriotic, howevei occasionally mistaken — prudent and indefatitrable in the discharge of his public duties — blameless and irreproachable in private life." Tiiat honest and sagacious traveller Lemuel Gulliver, dechired that the shade of Komer was introduced to the shades of his commentators, in his presence; and that the parties appeared to have been totally unacquainted before. Should the shade of Lemuel ever visit our country, know Mr. Adams, and read this character of him, he would sware he was a stran^-er to his best friends. They have drawn the cliaracter of Madison, and given it to the public for that of Adams. — Was Vli. Adams, pure and upright in br>b- ing Mr. Clay to elect him ; in betraying the federal party with falsehoods to Mr. .Teifersoti, and reclaiming it by promises to Mr. Webster — in charg- ing a double salary and for a constructive journey, while minister, and pay- ing that dishonest charge to himself while Secretary of State ? Was he pat- riotic when writing his letter to l^evitt Harris, undervaluing the resources and ridiculing the spirit of his country, when that country was involved in the casualties of a bloody war? Did patriotism inspire his mind when he urged the surrender to England of the free navigation of the Mississippi; or when he negotiated away the Colonial trade ; Was he patient and faith- ful in the discharge of his duties when he forced on the Post Master Gen- eral tlie appointment of the present deputy at Nashville, and repulced with petulence tlie representations of this state, whilst respectfully deprecating that act of oppression ? His private life, in so far as it can be seperated from his public conduct, does not reach beyond the years of puberty — for his youth, his manhood, and his age, have been spent in lucrative connex- ion with the public treasury. But if the Richmond meeting will answer the questions above proposed, with only a "small approach" to acknowl- edged facts in the conduct of Mr. Adams, they will render perfectly harm- less a warmer zeal and a larger minority, than they represent or express. The opposition in this free and enlightened country, stern and general as it is, it comports with the modesty and tolerance of these gentlemen, to de- nounce, " as a studious misrepresentation of the President's measures," " a perversion of his most careless language" — a wanton attack on his character and that of his cabinet, as premature and unsupported by the real character of the Administration. In such estimation are the motives of Macon, Calhoun, Van Buren, and Tazewell, held by gentlemen, who see in the career of Mr. Clay nothing but patriotism and virtue! It is very true that an opposition to the re-election of Mr Adams, was manifested in the country, before his Administration was organized, or the course of his policy had pointed Hwards arbitrary power and cabinet succession. But the Richmond meetTng do not require to be told, that this opposition was the natural effect of his unfair election, and was therefore necessarily an- terior to the organization of his government, and independent of the char- acter of his measures. An equitable, enlightened and prudent administra- tion, might indeed have allayed this original opposition ; but the prudence of Mr. Adams' measures has not exceeded the purity of his election, and his friends, who are continually boasting of his skill and experience, have the mortification to find the policy of his government as fruitful a source of opposition as its origin. And it may be fairly affirmed, that when we consider his impure election, his extravagant doctrine.--, and mischievous im- policy, the opposition is as temperate, as a sentiment so strong and general, actuating a body politic as scnsative and robust as the American public, can well bo expected to be. Which of his measures are conceived to have been " studiously misrep- resented" 1 cannot conjecture, but if the Panama mission, and the negotia- tion respecting the Colonial trade, are the subjects of this misrepresenta- 9 tion, the advisers of Mr. Adams in Richmond, would relieve his reputation, and add to their own very much, if they would hasLen to convince the coun- try, that the mission of Mr. Serircant eventuated in any tliinu- better than indelible ridicule and prodigal expense — and that our profitable trade with the British West Indies has really not been transferred to the ports ol the St. Lawrence — and the north of Europe. But they tell the people of Virgin- ia that the monarchial declarations of Mr. Adams, in his first message, weie not serious, were merely " his highness's levity" — " his most careless lan- guage." What must ie think of the heads of these loyal Virginians, who can invent no better apology for his solemn and considerate expressions ; or what must we think of his, for having forced his advocates to such damn- ing extremities of excuse. — It is, however, easier to suppose that these gentlemen indulged in " most careless language" in framing this absurd apology, than that Mr. Adams did, when he asserted in a message to both Houses of Congress, and re-asserted to the Senate on the nomination of Messrs. Anderson and Sergeant, the " constitutional coinpetancy of the executive" to institute embassies and to commission envoys, without the ad- vice or consent of the senate ; and when he counselled the national repre- sentatives to proceed in promoting the general welfare and in executing schemes of internal improvement — in building " Light houses of the sky," and watching the radiance and revolutions of the planets — without being " palsied by the will of their constituents." The object of these and other apologists of the President, is to reconcile the country to his unwarrentable pretensions upon the ground that they are mere abstract opinions, casually conceived and " carelessly" expressed ; which he has never attempted and never will attempt to reduce to practice, and which, in the instance of the Panama mission, he actually abstained from enforcing. As if the principle were not every thing, and the prac- tice in any particular case, nothing ? Hamden did not regard tlie amount of ship money levied upon him, but he resented and resisted, at great cost and peril, the principle which this tax of 2O3. involved. And his factious opposition is called by the loyal Hume himself, " a bold stand in defence of the laws and liberties of his country"—" by which he merited great re- nown with posterity." The factious opposition of our ancestors to the Stamp Act, was not to the particular law or to the modicum of exaction, but to \\ie 'principle of taxinsr the people of this countri/ iDiihoui the consent of their representatives, as the Adams men may learn by consulting Marshall's history of the American Colonies. The same important work will remind them, that when that irritating measure was exchanged for the more in- vidious one of duties on certain articles of importation, the same principle of oppression was descried by the sagacity, and opposed by the indepen- dence, of our fathers ; and that when it was attempted to conciliate them, by a repeal of all the duties except that on tea, it was regarded as an as- .sertion, not a surrender, of the odious principle of taxation without repre- sentation, and that the spirit of patriotic resistance, instead of being as- suaged, rose higher and higher, untd it flamed forth in open rebellion. Marshall observes (page 38t<) " The contest with America was plainly a contest of principle, and had been conducted entirely on principle by both parties. The amount of taxes proposed to be raised was too inconsidera- ble to interest the people of either country. But the principle was, in the opinion of both, of the utmost magnitude." So the contest between the President and the People of the United States is " plainly a contest of prin- ciple," and as such has been " conducted by both parties." He maintains the twice declared doctrine of his " constitutional competancy." They complain that it militates directly against that principle of the constitution, which limits the control of the executive over the objects and expense of m 10 our diplomatic intercourse. — This principle is of the " utmost magnitude," and it differs from that maintained with so much blood and treasure by our forefithers, in this, that it is expressly defined and guaranteed by that written constitution, which Mr. Adams swore " to preserve, protect, and defend." Now Mr. Marshall, who placed Mr. Adams under the '• solem- nities of this oath," tells us that so far from the right insisted onby our an- cestors, being defined and settled by any written instrument, it existed only in their natural sense of justice, and inbred love of liberty, (p. 352.) " The deti-ree of authority, which might rightfully be exercised by the motlier country over her colonies, had never been accurately defined. In Britain it had always been asserted that Parliament possessed the power of binding them in all cases whatever. In America, at different times and in different provinces, different opinions had been entertained on this sub- jeft." The enforcement of this plausible authority, going only to the col- lection of an inconsiderable tax, and infringing no written charter of liber- ty, roused our ancestors to arms. And yet their sons are persuaded by the Richmond meeting to submit to a palpable violation of their bond of Union and rnaed tliat since the order authorizing!; Gen. Gaines "to march across the Florida line, and attack the Indians within its limits" were issu- ed, the Government had learnt " their increasing display of hostile inten- tions," in the murder of Mrs. Garret and family, and nf Lieut. Scott and his men, that therefore (j>en. Gaines had been directed to penetrate from Amelia Island througt) Flonda, and co-operate in an attack on the Semi- nole towns, if his force were sufficient for that offensive operation ; and that "with this view" he himself was expected "to concentrate his force, and adopt the necessary measures to terminate the conflict." IFith ivhat vieiv, let me ask Messrs. Cabel, Call, and Stanard, was General Jackson "to concentrate his force and adopt his measures ?" They can only answer, with the view of " penetrating into Florida," and carrying on within its limits such military operations, as might be " necessary to terminate the conflict." — Wliat justification, rather what apology, can they offei against the indignation of their readers, and the reproaches of truth, for declaring, with the affectation of i-egret too, that this act of Gen. Jackson was " in defiance of orders!" The orders themselves correspond with the act, and the act conforms to the intei probation given to the orders by the govern- ment that issued them. On the 25t!i of March, 1818, the President, in a message to Congress, adverting to the course and spirit of the Indian hos- tilities, says. Gen. Jackson " was ordered to the theatre oT action, charged with the management of the war, and vested with the powers necessary to give it effect." And on the l.'lth May, following, the Secretary of War writes to Gov. Bibb, " General Jackson is vested with full powers to con- duct the war in the manner he may judge best." Now, how could General Jackson's discretion, which was intrusted with these " full powers," fail to determine on crossing the Florida line, in or- der to comply with his instructions '• to beat the enemy" and to " termirr- ate the conflict," when that enemy was situated "within the limits of Flor- ida?" It is counting nothing on the justice of the Richmond meeting to affirm, that even they will admit it was ivipossibl-.. As this act of General Jackson was authorized and commanded by tlie President of the United States, whom, as a iMajor General in the service, he was bound to obey, it is no part of his defence, to disprove the allegation of its being in violation of a provision in the constitution. This charge were it sustainable, would evidently miss General Jackson and hit Mr. Monroe. But it was debated in the House of Representatives with intense eagerness for about three weeks; was discussed by 32 members, and inforced by all the boasted management and eloquence of Mr. Clay ; and yet was decided in the neg- ative by a vote of 100 to 70, with the votes of Messrs. Sergeant, Southard, and Newton among the nays. To them I beg to refer the meeting for its further discussion, rcniarkin<; only, tliat the entrance of the Arnei-ican 13 army into Florida, and their provisional assertion of our belligerent rights. in place of tl;e abused or the direlict authority of Spain, was no violation of neutrality, much less an act of war ; but an act strictly defensive ; author- ized by the principle of self-preservation, which is derived from the law of nature itself; is recognized by the law of nations, and conduces to their mutual safety, and under the oblig-ations of which the President, to whom the constitution commits the defence of the nation, and the assertion of its risrhts, was bound to prosecute the war with the Seminole Indians, to a speedy and successful issue. The right of self-defence, belonging to the nation, and committed to the President, carried with it a right to the means of its exercise.* And the inability of the Sfianish authorities, or their unwillingness to preserve tow- ards us the general obligations of neutrality, or to comply with the positive stipulations of a treaty binding them to restrain the Indians, within their limits, from hostilities against the citizens of the United States, brought Geneial Jackson's military operations, in Florida, strictly within the num- ber of these means. But whether regarded as they relate to the constitu- tion of this country, or as they effected the rights of Spain, they are equal- ly insufficient to inculpate General Jackson. He acted like other com- manders, under the orders of his government, and these orders he execu- ted with his usual enersry and address. He was not responsible for their nature, or for the extent of operations which they commanded, and therefore needed no defence. And thefactis, that in the flespatch of Mr. Adams, when Secretary of State, to our Min- ister in Spain, dated Q8th November, 1818, (which has been so invidiously — and I may say ignorantly landed as an able and libeial defence of Gen- eral Jackson, and which so far as it reg-ards this matter, is nothing more than a verbose and declamatory rehersal of the evidence and arguments furnished by the General himself, in explanation of his measuref) the name of Jackson is introduced for no other than the usual diplomatic purpose of making the officer the scape-goat for the government. The next charge of the Richmond meeting, *' he has suspended the writ of habeas corpus upon his individual authority," besides the fault of expression, in using individual where official was required, and the glar- ing incongruity between a belief in these charges and the e^rly declara- tion of the meeting, that they apprehend from the General " no attack on public liberty," and " repose undiminished confidence m his love of coun- try ;" an incongruity which shows that tlic end of their address had for- gotten the begining, contains a positive mis-statement of fact. General Jackson did not suspend the writ of habeas corpus. I am perfectly aware, that the true question growing out of the defence of New-Orleans, is not whether the writ of habeas corpus was or not suspended, but whether Gen- eral Jackson did or did not, on that memorable occasion, perform his duty. I am also satisfied, that no friend to his country, can lay his hand on his heart and say, he did not perform it. — But his merit is so rich in relation to that defence, that I am willing to pursue the criminal inquiry set on foot by the unfounded and irrelevant charge of the meeting, confident of being able to show, that their own mode of investigation must demonstrate the General's renown, and their own injustice. It appears to me, that the public writers in Virginia, who have been shivering their lances against the "broad circumference" of General Jackson's fame, and especially the * Vattel, page 241. t For the arguments and evidences here referred to, See documents (25) accompanving the President's Message, December 2d, 1818 ; particularly the General's despatches of tlie 5th of May and the 2d of June, 1818, and their enclosures, and compare them with Mr. Adams' letter to George Washington Irving. 14 contrivers of this address, imitate the acts of necromancers, who, in calling" up the dead and communicating with the devil, are represented to begin by alarming the spectators with exhibitions of skulls and skoletons.proiigi- ous shadows on the wall, magical circles on the floor, blue flames, livid smoke, and other such fearful sights. So, the politicians alluded to, always endeavour to terrify and mislead the judgment of their reader, by parad- ing a number of technical phrases — the writ of habeas corpus, the liberty of the citizen, tiie liberty of the press, &c. as if these constitutional blessings had been destroyed by General Jackson, and had not, in fact, been pre- served to the people of N«w-Orleans, by his prudence, patriotism,and valour. This pernicious sophistry results, in part from the absence of facts for the foundation of their attack ; in part, from the brood of attornies produced by their ponderous jurisprudence ; and, in part, from their exclusive read- ing of English history and English law wherein the'se safe-guards of free- dom are frequently seen struggling under the gripe of oppression, and faintly dawning out after a night of darkness. But here, where they are the staflTof our political life as general and current as the air we breathe, they should be contemplated without agitation, and handled with- out hysterics. If the Richmond meeting would condescend to follow the advice of Dr. Franklin to Buffbn, and would ascertain facts before they philosophized, they would find, that General Jackson did not suspend the writ of habeas corpus. On the contrary in order to prevent any interfer- ence of this delicate process of civil authority, at a crisis so dangerous, with the military power, he recommended to the legislature of Louisiana, as they had assumed the power of laying an embargo and of closing the courts of justice, to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. His recommen- dation was not complied with.* But, let me ask, did the writ of habeas corpus ever discharge a soldier under confinement in the camp of General Washington, or of General Greene, or of any other commander, in time of war and invasion ? General Jackson had found it necessary, as there was a levy, en masse, of the citizens, to incorporate the City of New- Orleans within the limits of his camp, by encompassing it with a chain of centinels, and extending, of consequence, over it, (what the attornies call martial law,) the influence of the rules and articles established by Con- ress for the government of the armies of the United States, whether of regulars or militia. But this extensive castrametation, which made a popular city seem to revolve around a small army, is objected to. Pacts will show, with what justice. When General Jackson arrived at New- Orleans, he found the population prostrate with fear and despondency. His presence, prowess, and activity, awakend a very difl^erent spirit ; the patriotic citizens manifesting ardour and confidence, and gradually dis- tinguishing themselves from the disaffected French, who, under the aus- pices of the French consul, and out of gratitude to the English for the restoration of the Bourbons, were discovering " an awful squinting at monarchy." Governor Claiborne had written to General Jackson, " the country is said to be filled with spies and traitors" — "there is in this city a greater spirit of disaflfection than 1 had anticipated" — *' my greatest diffi- culty is with the European Frenchmen, who, after giving their adhesion to Louis the Eighteenth, have, through the medium of the French consul, claimed exemption from the drafts, as French subjects," though they had come into the American family of choice, under the treaty of cession, and exercised the rights of citizenship ever since, as General Jackson discov- ered by inspecting the election polls. The Governor adds, that, after consulting legal advisers, he had taken upon himself to banish a suspected • Eaton's Life of Jackson, page 278. 15 inhabitant, by ordering him "to depart from the state in forty-ei^ht hours." So sensible, indeed, were all the faithful citizens, and every prominent authority in New-Orleans, of the necessity of removmg all obstructions to the enforcement of the paramount law of self-defence, that the Legisla- ture having no power under the constitution to regulate or restrain com- merce, passed an act laying an embargo, which the Governor sanctioned, and the ci.izens acquiesced in. In that case, the Legislature acted, and wisely acted, on the principle of self-preservation, recognized in the pream- able to the constitution, "to provide for the common defence ;" and did that for their constituents whicli Congress, to whom they had delegated the power, would if they could, have done for them. The Legislature also passed a law, closing the courts of justice for four months, which the Governor assented to, and the judiciary solemnly approved. And Judge Hall himself, discharged without bail or recognizance, persons committed and indicted for capital offences, against the United States — concurring with the other departments of power, in their conviction of the legal necessity of superseding the less essential and elementry provisions of law, by the great law of self-defence. And was General Jackson, who held all the power which the United States could exert in defence of this important and vulnerable position, to resist these practical analogies, and revolt from this great law. at a moment when the writof /laieas corpus was perverted to endanger liberty, when the hopes of the nation, the in- terests of millions, the lives of thousands, rested on his single arm ? Was he to repeat for his country the Bladensburgh races, or to fight for her the battle of New-Orleans ? Had he fashioned his conduct to suit the taste and win the applause of the Richmond meeting, he might have had Generals and Attorney-Gene- rals, Barristers and Merchants, from the city, capering about his lines, discouraging his men, disconcerting his measures, and scampering away from the enemy. He chose rather to have citizen soldiers, and to make those who owned the power contended for, share in the toil and danger of its protection. A rich and testy dealer in cotton, who looked as if ■' but for these vile guns he would himself have been a soldier," accosted the General, who was piling up cotton bales against Wellington's invincibles, and requested that he '■^ appoint a guard for his cotton.^' "Certainly," replied the General, " your request shall be complied with — here, sergeant, give this gentleman a musket and ammunition, and station him in the line of defence ; no one can be better qualified to guard the cotton, than the owner of it." Thus the dealer was delt with. This commanding- spirit, confirmed by the example of the other authorities, and by the pres- sure of the moment, suggested to General Jackson the prudence of com- prehending New-Orleans itself in his camp : of taking the city he was to defend under his protection. The measure was discussed with eminent citizens in the presence of Judge Hall, and approved by others, was not excepted to by him. It was advised and adopted distinctly on the ground of public necessity, of which all were convinced, and none even now can doubt. If the noted LoUaillier, under the influence of the royalist Blan- que, and the officious Judge (whose fault is atoned by the fact that he soon repented it, and he died a sincere friend and admirer of Jackson) brought without necessity, and upon a secondary principle, the civil authority into collision with the millitary power ,when exerted /rom necessity and for the primary objects of the constitution, it was no fault of the General. It is not the first time that enactments, pvovided for the liberty of the citizen, have been found temporarily incompatible with the safety of the state. Hence the well known maxim of the civil law. Inter arma silent leges. It is not the only conflict that has or can be found between separate provis- 16 ions, or between the end and details of our constitution. Treaties, when approved by the Senate and ratified by the President, are declared to be "the supreme law of the land," and yet members of the House of Repre- sentatives claim, and justly too, the rijrht of disregarding this supreme law, and of interposing their power ov^r bills of revenue. The right of proper- ty is secure under the constitution ; and yet, in certain cases, a military officer may seize the means of subsistence or of transportation, leaving only a fair compensation to the owner, on the just ground of necessity. The trial by jury is the birth-right of the citizen, and a dearer right than that secured by the habeas corpus, and yet the judicial power sets tliis right at defiance, and punishes for contempt, without the intervention of a jury, upon the ground of legal necessity. In violation of the same right, our legislative bodies punish abitranly any citizen who may attempt an abuse of their dignity or privileges, and Mr. Clay himself exercised this power in the case of John Anderson. The truth is, these anomalies must be tol- erate.! even in our fair and effective system, on the ground of necessity. The}' are essential to the principles they seem to oppose. The inconsisten- cy of military power witii the spirit of our institutions, arises from the na- ture of things — not from the character of tiiis or that commander — from the oppo ite characters of peace and war, and the adverse dispositions of mind on which these conditions of society are founded. Force is the principle of war. Equity the spirit of peace. These two elements, however elaborated by civilization or ramified into consequences, cannot be divested of their original discordance. The prudence of our magistrates, and the patriotism of our citizen--, have in most instances, prevented their collision ; but Louailiier and Judge Hall determined to bring them into conflict. On the I3ih of February. Admiral Cochrane had written to General Jackson that he had received from Jamaica unoffi- cial intelligence of peace. The General received his letter on the 2lst, and immediately addressed to iiim this inquiry — " whether he considered the intelligence as authorizing a ces-;ation of hostilities ?" which inquiry was answered in the negative. But with the retreat of the enemy to their ships, the danger appeared to many to be over, and the impatience of military duty which tliis impression created, was the motive upon which Louaiilier operated. Although the General in a proclamation had caij;non- ed the citizens " not to be thrown into false security by the intelligence of peace," observing " even if it were true that peace had been signed in Eu- rope, it could not put an end to tiic war until it should be ratified by the two governments,"* — although the British, who had been re-inforced by a larger body of fresh troops, lay in half a day's sail of New-Oi leans, by a passage which the batteries at Chef Menleur and Fart Coquillcs de- fended, Louailiier published a piece that caused the Louisiana compa- nies which mnnned these batteries, to desert, return into the city, and leave it exposed. He was arrested for exciting mutiny and descition in the camp, anlistorical Moinoirg by Latoiir. / 17 iftuching the liberty of the citizen, and being in its nature the Creature of statute, would more properly emanate from the state judiciary. As ail other commanders in this Union, on occasions of less necessity, had done, he kept the civil process out of the camp. And would the gentlemen of Richmond have had him yield to the officious Judge and mal-content citizen — to suffer his troops to desert, and defences to be abandoned, when a supe- rior hostile force, unused to defeat, and intent on " beauty and booty" was not farther from New-Orleans than City Point is from Richmond — New- Orleans far more important to lose and difficult to recover than Richmond .' Was the temporary restraint of Louaillier, the momentary suppression of his cacoethes scribendi, a greater evil than the permanent conquest of New- Orleans.The meeting described the writ of habeas corpus "as the safe-guard of individual liberty," — but at the crisis refered to, the power of General Jackson was the safe-guard of the liberty of thousands, and individual lib- erty was not to endanger so great a stake. He who brought it into collision with this great object, acted like a bitter foe to his country, and was no more entitled to respect than he would have been, had he, on the 8th of January, interposed his person between the American riflemen and the enemy, and insisted on the former not firing for fear of taking his life. The truth is, the Judge, the citizens, the army and the people, were all embarked in the same vessel, and in the same storm. Measures proper for the defence of all, were by the law of necessity, obligatory on all, and the pilot to whose strong arm the helm was consigned, would have been guilty both of crime and folly, had he relinquished it merely because land was in sight. This, General Jackson would not do, and his patriotic firmness has excited the lasting gratitude of the American people. The sentiments which the same people entertain for those who rail at him for serving — nay saving his country — for not permitting his centinels to be suhpmna'd from their posts, or his men removed by writ of habeas corpus from their guns, acts which lawyers enough could have been found to justify — the Richmond meeting will be able to discover, should they, who are so pure from all stain of military glory, ever hereafter make an ap- peal to their fellow citizens for promotion to political honors. But the civil authority, which from its mal-admistration, he was obliged to ofiend, he propitiated in a manner so signal, as to return it greater strength and. sanctity than the folly of its object and iti agent had taken away. When peace was announced, he hastened to appear before Judge Hall in court, and offered an argument to show cause why he should not be punished fot contempt. The Judge refused to hear his defence. At a subsequent day he attend- ed to receive sentence, and when the Judge, trembling at the murmurs or the indignant crowd, hesitated to pronounce it, "fear not,'" said the illustri- ous prisoner, waving the multitude to silence with his hand — " Fear not, your honor : the same arm which repelled the invasion of the enemy, shall protect the deliberations of the court." The sublime humility of the pat- riot General did not end here. The ladies of New-Orleans who^e en- chantments had been saved from terror and pollution, not by tlie habeas corpus, but by his valour, contributed a fund to discharge the fine. But they found he had anticipated them — had paid $1000 out of that small for- tune, the whole of which he had pledged to the banks of New-Orleans, to raise money for its defence. And when their gratitude would force the contribution upon him, he preserved his independence, and displayed his humanity, by requesting that the money should be applied to the relief of the widows and orphans of the brave citizens who had fallen in the cam- paign. Could Washington himself have shown greater respect to the law, or greater fidelity to the country ? It has been said that Washington never 3 18 refused to comply with civil process. But he was a dictator, and who ev- er dared to oppose the civil process against his power ? Did he not exe- cute deserters without even a military trial ? Did he not punish mutineers by decrimination and instant death ?* Did he not forage in New-Jersey as in an enemy's country — in each case, on the ground of necessity ? He did, and his conscience and his country both approved him. While Jack- son, acting with less rigour, under equal necessity, is denounced by the Richmond meeting, as '• this agent of illegal enormities." But Judge Fromentin issued a habeas corpi.s in the case of Callava, and as tl)C meeting had doubtless two strings to their bow, I will give a few worJs to that subject. If the power and the precept of Judge Hall were defective, those of Fromentin were absolutely good for nothing. General Jackson, as Governor of Florida, was invested with " all the powers and authority heretofore exercised by the Captain General and In- tendant of Cuba, and the Governors of East and West Florida, within the said provinces, respectively. "The only limitations are contained in a provi- so, reserving the power of imposing additional taxes and granting of land. Now who ever heard of a writ of habeas corpus being pushed into the face of a Spanish governor ? But in addition, it appears that Judge Fromentin's powers were as limited as Governor Jackson's were ample. In a letter from the department of State he is told by iMr. Adams, "I am instructed by the President to inform you that your commission as Judge, was intended to apply to the execution only of the laws relative to the revenue and its collection, and to the slave trade." Now Merced Vidal had represented on oath to Mr. Breckenridge, the Alcade or Judge of Pensacola, that the testamentary papers of her father had been taken from among the public records before the cession of the province ; that for want of them she could not get possession of the estate which she inherited, a great part of which consisted in a sum of money deposited with the house of Innerarity & Co. and that they were withheld by means of the said Innerarity. The papers were found in possession of Domingo Sousa, an agent or sub- ordinate of Colonel Calliva, a Spanish officer, who had proclaimed himself to be Governor of West Floriila, and acting as such had delivered over the provinces to Jackson. When applied for, they v ported by Mr. Johnson to the Adams convention m Richmond, and I find it to be a fabric of stimulated fears raised on a foundation of antiquated slan- ders. Void of facts, destitute of truth, and patched up with theological zeal and forensic stratagem. It reminds me of the men of straw, dressed in cast off hats and coats,and stationed as scare- crows in the corn-fields of Virginia. Decked in the pap-stained garments of Binns, Gales, and hlammond, it is calculated to deter very close examination, but as it is avowedly the work of Mr. Johnson, and looked on by him with the eyes of Pygmalion, I risk the displeasure of fastidious readers and undertake to expose it. But do not the proceedings of this convention give birth to a reflection too solemn to be unuttered — that in the ruling state of this confederacy, a commonwealth teeming with patriotism, and rich in renown, which, " when asked for her jewels, still points to her sons" — men of high station and re- pute should be found, concerting by an organized effort the renovation of exploded falsehoods, in order to tarnish the fame ofa private citizen, whose great exploits and popular virtues make him formidable to a weak and cor- rupt administration ? And does it not add to the gloom of this reflection, that the holy places of prayer and the exalted tribunals of justice, should furnish recruits to this conspiracy against the character of a venerable patriot, and the liberty of a youthful republic ? But let not the lover of freedom — let not the votaries of truth despair — let not the friends of the country tremble. The People are not only the fountain of political pow- er, but of political hope. Guarded by the press, which, in spite of the expensive efforts of Mr. Clay to seduce or intimidate it, is yet free, the in- stitutions of our country will find strength and perpetuity against the ma- chinations of the few, in the pure love of freedom which animates the great body of the nation. To their sure and sagacious patriotism, it is perhaps fortunate that frequent appeals are necessary. Even the labours of the Richmond convention may in this way prove useful, as the serpents which Hercules strangled in his cradle, may be supposed to have invigorated him for the greater task of cleansing the Augean stable. There is certainly much to admire in the rhetoric and the leason of Mr. Johnson, in founding a claim for the convention to peculiar sincerity and particular attention, up- on the remarkable fact of the month of January (when they chose to assem- ble) being an " inclement season !" But he might have mentioned a much more extraordinary circumstance, and counted on the attraction of more general notice. He might have told the people of Virginia that he and his compatriots were careful to select the day which had been consecrated by more than half the nation to the honor of General Jackson an;^^;j. Ceireral Jackson has liv- ^Tl '''' 1\rr.e of sixtj ;:a rand was bred to the profession best cal- ed beyond the age ot sixty >t- - faculties which civil employments re- ^"^•^^^^rr Sry o t 'Ahc ^i^^^^^^ those cmploymei tsi told in a quire ; but the n-tory " 1 ^.^ biographer. He filled successively few brief lines in a bingi- p^ of member of the Tennessee Conven- ^"•^ '"ncTfotXerr'sta ct:titu"rRepresentative and Senator in t.on, which tormea iiieir ^ ^ j- Tennessee, and agam Senator Congress, Judge of teSupreme^Gourt^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^^^.^ ^^ in Congress ot the United states. vvne of detail might be ex- ^^^V^rTutrereTunyl sttut^^ t^iS; lie far beneath the range pected. «"\.t;^^^f j;,""' the leader who chooses to consult Eaton's work of his romaimc fanc) a thc^e- .^ ^.^.^ employments" is not conta.n- wiUfind. .-"f ^^^^","'r .V,.,. ^ork and Mr. Johnson's summary of it is ed on a " single page of that work, ana ^'^ ^ ^^^^al, which Wash- defective as to the very 'l^P^-" .^"^ ^^^^ot r/^S^ But if we admire the ington, no --^^mL^r ha iTe'^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ -curacy of his rea- sontg' ' He cotSesTthat us capacity for civil offices is in this country General of U.e ^^erraory and sx ye. s Judcc o u.e^^|^ ^^ .^^^^^ ^^^^^^ "="""'"",;: ^',,0', of this lasi station was aceepte on t he Mtn Ju y , , ^^^ v\e^t<-rn country, witli wlu m, 31 "never long concealed and seldom left in retirement," the frequent appoint- ment and repeated election of General Jackson is proof positive of his no- torious incapacity to fill them. There is something transcendental in this syllogism. And if we reflect that in addition to Mr. Johnson's corrected list of civil offices, General Jackson has filled the important ones of com- missioner foi receiving the cession of Florida, of Governor of that Territo- ry under the Spanish laws, and negociator of several of our most important Indian treaties, that he never solicited an office in his life, or abused the confidence which his constituents reposed in him— that Mr. Adams never filled one which connected him immediately with the people, the great central fire which distributes warmth and life to our whole system ; and that his seivices were recommended to one party by descent, and to the other by purchase, its value as a political argument may be correctly es'imated. The evident distortion of Mr. Johnson's judgment seems to be chronically confirmed by the fact, that General Jackson resigned several of these offices, manifesting a preference for private life, in unison with the taste of Cincinnatus, of Washington, and of all the greatest patriots of the world, and in opposition to that low ambition which canned exist out of the purlieus of the treasury. The classical reader will remember how the Roman writers celebrate the reluctance with which the Dictator ab Aratro left his farm, and the satisfaction with which, crowned with laurels, he re- tired to it. The same disposition was seen and admired in our beloved Washington. In a letter to a member of Congress, who was persuading him to accept the office of President, then just created, he thus expressed himself: " You are among the small number of those who know my invin- cible attachment to domestic life, and that my sincere wish is to continue in the enjoyment of it solely, to my final hour. My increasing fondness for agricultural amusements, and my growing love of retirement, augment and confirm my decided predilection for the character of a private citizen." And he concludes — " You will perceive, my dear sir, from what is here ob- served, that my inclinations will dispose and decide me to remain as I am, unless a clear and insurmountable conviction should be impressed on ray mind, that some very disagreeable consequences, must in all human proba- bility result from the indulgence of my wishes." This letter was written when Washington was in his 57th year, and Jackson was 58 when he made his last and most splendid resignation. This is the temper and these are the habits that render " military chieftains" the defenders of the repub- lic in war, and its guardians in peace ; and it is not the least extravagant of Mr. Johnson's paralogisms, that in the same breath he should descant on the dangerous influence of military renown, and reproach its possessor with an obstinate predilection for private life. Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams, it is true, have never yetofl^ered to the world that best and most lovely evidence of merit, which modesty displays, have never resigned one office without the prospect of another, and are not likely to impose on their eulogists the task of portraying the grand but quiet virtue of disinterestedness. Yet, Washington, the military chieftain, served eight years without giving rea- son to doubt his wisdom or integrity, while Messrs. Adams and Clay, the diplomatist and the orator, have efiected in less than half that time, a gen- eral conviction that they are destitute of both. But, says Mr. Johnson, General Jackson not only " resigned three, but passed through all these offices, acknowledging his unfitness in two in- stances, nianifestly feeling it in all, and leaving no single act, no trace be- hind, which stamps his qualifications above mediocrity." Such allegations as these are enough (to use Mr. Johnson's peculiar dialect) "to stamp their author below mediocrity" — as they abound in misstatement and miscon- struction. An individual is appointed to one office, and successively pro- 32 motoJ to two others, and because he vacates the subordinate ones in order to reach the lii^rhest in tlie series, these acts of resignation are interpreted into a confession of his own unfitness. Did Mr. Clay acknowled|e his un- fitness for the Speaker's chair, when he resigned it and took office in tl e cabinet of Mr. Adams ? Does a Colonel evince a conscious incapacity when he accepts the commission of General ? General Jackson resigned his seat in the House of Representatives to fill a place in the Senate, and this station he resigned with a patriotism and liberality highly honorable to him, to make room for General Daniel Smith, his neighbor and tnenu— a oentleman whose superior age and scientific attainments gave him pecu- lial- claims to public confidence, and inspired a hope that he woulJ prove a useful accession to the party which was then opposed to the adnumslration of the elder Adams. This disinterested act, whicli tew of the many Wiio can make long speeches, would be capable of. is urge! m the address as tur- ther proof of mcapacity, and the formidable array ot evidence to that point, is completed by the assertion that "no trace," that is. «o speech is left be- hind him inJiis civil career, placing him above mediocrity. But beto e t he conclusionfere designated can be admitteQ,it mustbe ascertained whether a lono- speech in Congress, is not in nine cases out of ten,at least a proot ol ine- diocritv * A member of Congress, who, without the possession ot rare oiato- rical powers, makes lonir speeches, is known to have given tull exertion to his abilities,and has no claim to a reputation higher than that which is acquu- ed bv a lar reason, considered far above mediocrity. When Patrick Henry was ask- ed " who he thought the L^reatest man" in the famous Coi.gress or /4, tiom which he was just returned, he replied-" If you speak ot eloquence, A.r Rutledcre of South Carolina, is by far the greatest orator ; but it you speak of solid" iudo-inent and sound information, Co'onel Washington is unques- tionably the greatest man on that floor."! Yet Washington "passed throuo-h and resigned" this and other civil offices, without leaving a trace" behind, which in the accurate style and estimation of Mr. Johnson, "stamped his qualifications above mediocrity." It is rather untortunate for one, who undertakos to instruct the people of Virginia, that his most oracular opinions should conflict with the dictates of common sense— the iudament of Patrick Henry, and the example of Washmgton. The temper of General Jackson is said to be as unsuit;ible as /"^ capa- citv,and"the spirit of domination displayed in his ce ebrated letter to Go^' Rabun," is referred to as evidence that the othce ot President should not be entrusted to his " impetuonsity of temper " and "fiery ^i™ In a deep prophetic tone it is added, a foreign war may come, may lage with violence and may find General Jackson at the head of the civd gov- ernment and commander in chief of the land and naval torces. Dissenti- ent views among the statesmen may arise-controversies ^''o^^. "P ,^^f ^^^^^ the state and federal authorities-as discussions and ^o"^'';'^^*^ ,^'''" ''^'"^ heretofore arisen-and who then, we pray you, can answer f^r ;'\^ ^""^f" uenccs of that spirit which sai.l to Gov. Rabun, " when I am in the field ^ou 1 ave no authority to issue a military order." It may be tLonght snigu- L that Mr. Johnson, after having so bitterly reviled ahd l^J^^''^^'}'^.^ ' "- fairness of tearing " from their context "the expressions « '^ ^^^^ f ^ should when urging a charge so personal m its nature f« /^^^ .:^^4'"^5^^^;^ rival, and attaching to it, as a consequence, " the dissolution ot the Union, * Frank Johnson made a speech five daye Ion;;, t Wirt's life of Henry, page 113, 33 anU death to the hopes of every free government upon earth," be guilty of this very unfairness hniiself witii a violence too, which cannot be conceiv- ed without attending to the following summary of facts : When General Jackson assumed the direction ot the Seminole war he found General Gaines near Hartford, in Georgia, at the head ot the con- tingent force of that State, which he speedily put into motion. Advanc- ing with his raw force of one tiiousand men, in the direction ot t ort crcolt, he passed on rude rafts and scarce practicable routes, the tenny swamps and flooded rivers of that region, impelled by the energy ot his character and the hope of findino- the supplies which had been ordered there, at Fort Early, liut when°he reached that place, the danger of famine was not abated, there being only a bai rel and a half of flour and a few bushels ot corn in the Fort. In the neighbourhood lived a small tribe ot Indians, the Chehaws. wliose friendship, though doubted, now proved smcere. To these sons of the forest in his extremity, he applied, desiring thein to bring in such supplies of corn, peas and potatoes as they could spare, and prom- ising liberal pay for them. They immediately brought a small supply, and on the General's encamping near their village, which lay directly in his route to Fort Scott, their aged Chief, Howard, the survivor ot many wars with the kino-s of the forest and the foes of his tribe, received him as a brother, and tlie simple-hearted community emptied almost to exhaus- tion, to relieve the wants of their guests, the small stocK ot food which had been collected for their subsistence through the winter. Enthusiasm succeeding their kindness— the few warriors of the village joined the American standard, and it was only in compliance with Jackson s request, that the grandson of Howard, a youth of eighteen, was left to assist that patriarch of the woods, in attending to the old men, women and children. Thus contidino- in the honor of General Jackson, and in the faith of the United States, the Chehaw villagers were left in complete exposure. But what had they to apprehend, or what had General Jackson to appre- hend for them ? To the command ina" officer of the small garrison lett at Fort Early, he had given instruction to consider the ( hehaws as friends, and there was no power behind him that could be dangerous to the allies of the United States. Having clasped the right hand ot Howard in friend- ship, marshalled the warriors of the tribe, and assured the women of peace and protection, who, with their " young barbarians," witnessed his depar- ture, he hastened onward to the theatre of war. Where the lion walks harmless, the wolf prowls most ferociously. A Captain Wright, of the Georgia militia, upon some false imformation, conceived and communicated to the Governor, the impression, that atler the march of General Jackson from the vicinity of Hartford, hostilities had been committed on that section of the frontier by the Philonees and Oponees— subordinate or rather incorporated septs ot the Chehaw tribe. The Governor, on this erroneous representation, issued a very inconsider- ate order empowering the Captain to march at the head of t«o compa- nies of cavalry, and such infantry as could be drawn from the garrison of Fort Early, ao-ainst the supposed aggressors. It was in vam that the commanding officer there assured Captain Wright of the friendship and innocence ol" the Chehaws, and informed him of tlieir recent aid and hos- pitality to General Jackson. But why prolong the dreadful recital ! The Governor's party had tiie power and the will to destroy. 1 hey burst like a tempest on the devoted vdlage. Helpless age and unresisting infancy they confounded in one torrent of destruction. The bayonet, red with the blood of the infant, was plunged into the breast of the mother. The aged Howard supported by his grand-son, advanced with a white flag, and was shot with that emblem of ftith and peace in his feeble hand. The same 5 34 (Jtuel volley despatched his grand-son — the village was given to the flames —the women and children to the edge of the sword, orthey fled from in- stant slaughter in terror and exile, to famine. Wilder scenes of desola- tion have indeed been spread on the face of the globe, when Hyder de- scended like a thundercloud from the mountains of Mysore, upon the plains of the Carnatio — or when Turreau left La Vendee cshroudedin soli- tude and ashes. But a deeper stain of dishonor or a more intense visita- tion of wo was never seen or inflicted, than at the secluded village of the Chehaws. The massacre of Wyoming was mercy to it, and the revenge of Brandt far less cruel than this amity of the United States. It violated at one blow, humanity, friendship, and the faith of treaties — the obligatione of justice, gratitude and honor — and involved in its consequences the dis- grace of the nation, the murder of our citizens, and the probable renewal of the war, which was then almost concluded. Against this shameful outrage, the heart of Jackson arose, and he resented it with indignation, but not without dignity, complaining to the executive of the United States and remonstrating with that of Georgia. To the former he says, (7th May 1818.) " The outrage which has been committed on the super-anuated warriors, women and children of the Chehaws, whose sons were then in the field, in the service of the United States, merits the severest chastise- ment. The interference too oi" the Governor of Georgia, with the duties imposed on me, claims the early attention of the President. All the ef- fects of my campaign may by this one act be destroyed, and the same scenes of massacre and murder with wliich our frontier settlements have been visited, again repeated."* To tiie latter (Ai ay 7 j after referring to the massacre as " base and cowardly," and to an enclosed copy of General Glascocks letter detailing it, he observes "That a Governor of a State should make war against an Indian tribe at perfect peace with and under the protection of the United States, is assuming a responsibility that I trust you will be able to excuse to the United States, to which you will have to answer," and he adds, "you as Governor of a State within my military division, have no right to give a military order when I am in the field." This last is the phrase which Mr. .Johnson has "torn from its context," and repeated with an aggrevating abbreviation, and in alarming italics. * Oeneral Jackson was informed of this calamity by a lettfir from General Glascock, tiated tlie 30th April 1818, written at Fort Early on his return to eJeorpia, with the contingent of that state. The following is an extract : " On arriving within thirty miles of the Chehaw vil- lage, I sent on Major obinson, with a detachment of twenty men, to procure beef ; On his arriving there the Indians had fled in every direction, the (^hehaw town having been consumed about four days before, by a party of men consisting of 2: !0, under Captain \\'riglit, now in command at Hartford. U appears that after he assumed the command of that plare, he obtained the certificates of several men (ui the frontier, tli.it the f'hehaw liidiiins were engaged in a skirmish on the Big Bend. He immediately sent or went to the (iovernor and obtained orders to de-troy the town of Phillemee and Open' c. Two c nipanies of cavalry were immediately ordered out and placed under his command, and on the 22d he reached this place. He ord red Capt. Bothwell to furnish him witlUwenly-five or thirty men to accompany him ; having been authorized to do so by the Governor, the oide' was complied with. Captain Koth well told him that he could not accompany him himself ; disapproved the | Ian and inf(u nied ( apt. Wright that there could be no doubt .f the friendship of the Indians in tliatquailer and slated thatoponee had on that day, brougiit in a public horse that had been lost. 'J'his availed nothing, mock patriotism burned in their breasts. 'I'hey rrossed the rivei that night and push- ed for the town. Win n arriving near there, an Imlian was discoveied gra/inc -ome rattle ; he was made a prisoner. I am informed l«y sergeant Jones, that the Imlian proposed to go with the interpreter and bring one of the < hiefs, for tlie C^ plaui to talk with. It was not attended to— an advance w:is ordc'rcd the cavalry p.i.-lied forward and < omiuenced the massacre. Even after the firing and mi.rder coiuiuenrcd, .Major llowaid, an old ( hief, who ftjrnished you with considerable corn, came out fnuu his luMise with a white Hag. It was not respected ; an order for a i:eneral fire was given and nearly four hundred grns were dis- chargi-il at him befiue it look effect. He fell and was bayi'ncltrd. His son >grAnd son) was also killed." After conlinuing «uch horrid details as above, General (Mascock adds. " !?ince then, three of my cominaud, who i< ere left at Fori Scott, ol>l,iined a furlough, and on their way to tliis plaii', one of them was shot." So that the outrage produced by Uiu order of the Governor of Georgia, waa already being retaliated on his fellow citi^eus. 35 ^^When I am in the field yov have no right to issite a military order." Now, altliough the negation may at first appear too general, yet the context plainly hmits it to the field of command on which Jackson was then em- ployed. It obviously was not his intention to say that the Governor had no right to regulate the militia concerns of his State, or to order out quotas in the service of the United States, but that he had no right, as Governor of Georgia, to interfere with his duties, by operations extraneous to the sovereignty of the btate, and hostile to the Indians at peace with and under the protection of the United States. In this he was perfectly right, and evinced a disposition to preserve rather than to disturb the harmony so desirable between the States and the general government. The power of miking war is vested exclusively by the constitution in the fed- eral government, and the equivalent duty imposed on it of guaranteeing the integrity and independence of the several States. This duty, the federal government was then in the act of discharging in favor of the State of Georgia ; and yet, according to Mr. Johnson, the Governor of Georgia was to interrupt its military operations, and to murder its friends and allies, without the voice of remonstrance or admonition. Let us sup- pose for a moment, that after General Brown had concluded a friendly agreement with the BufTaloe Indians, and with their supplies of provisions and men, had invaded Canada. Governor Tompkins had come on his track, burnt the friendly village, and destroyed or dispersed its inhabitants. Would it have been an unpardonable offence in General Brown to remon- strate against that outrage, and to inform Governor Tompkins that he had transcended his authority ? Would it have displayed a " dangerous spirit of domination," or an honorable feeling of justice and humanity ? And would it have exposed Gen. Brown to the suspicion and execration of his fellow citizens, or entitled him to their approbation and support ? Mr. Johnson's acquaintance with history will remind him that the taking of Saguntum, while in alliance with the Romans, was the immediate cause of the second Punic war, and that the destruction of that city excited a dignified resentment in the Roman people, which defeat after defeat, and slaughther after slaughter, could not subdue, and gave a moral interest as well as a political force to the vengeful expression of the elder Cato, " de- lenda est Carthago." Not to mention other examples of feeling repugnant to the sentiments with which Mr. Johnson contemplates the sensibility of General Jackson for the fate of the Chehaws, the pride which on a late occasion England took in stretching forth her power as an agis over her " ancient ally" may be cited — when Mr. Canning, as the organ of his country, declared to the nations in a tone of generous defiance, that lohen the march of foreign conquest touched the frontiers of Portugal, it must stay its haughty step. Yet, while we admire the spirit of the Roman people and of the English Statesman, we are persuaded to believe, by Mr. John- son and his star chamber judges, that when our own patriot protested against an outrage on humanity a violation of faith, and usurpation of au- thority, acquiescence in which would have stained with disgrace our com- mon sense, our common nature and our common country, he displayed a "fiery misrule of temper," and "a dangerous spirit of domination." It may perhaps, be within the extensive circle of his sophistry to contend that the Governor of Georgia, as the head of a sovereign state, had a rio-ht to make war on the Indians, the right of war being an inci- dent inseparable from sovereignty. Waiving the constitutional pact be- tween the sta,tes and the federal government, and the laws of Congress, placing the Indian tribes under the control and keeping of the United States, which would at once defeat this course of argument, it will be enough to observe, that even if the Governor had the right of waging' this 36 war, he was bound to prosecute it according to the law of nations and the usages of war. These would have rendered it his duty to ascertain first, whether the injury he complained of was really committed by the Che- haws — and if it were, secondly, whether the authorities of that tribe would make or refuse proper reparation. This is the practice of all civi- lized states — is that of the United States — and was exemplified in the late disturbance with the Winnebasfoes. So that, conceding the right of war to the Governor, his violation of the laws and usages of war to the injury of the Chehaws, justly exposed him to the remonstrances of General Jackson, who, as an officer of the United States, the guest of the venera- ble Howard, and the commander of the Chehaw warriors, was in strict alliance with that tribe, and bound to protect it. The fact is, that the Governor of Geor^fia was for a time, so infatuated, as to consider his offi- cial dignity mvaded, and hi^ power encroached upon by this reraonsirance of the General, and under that impression wrote a letter to him, remind- ing him of Georgia s " bleeding frontier,'' and taunting him with affecting " a military despotism." The fact is too, that this his letter, made its gas- conading appearance in a Georgia Journal, before it was received by the General, an ! fell into disreputable oblivion soon after. And the probabil- ity is. that Mr. Johnson, wlio though prodigal in charges, is penurious in proofs, has been guided to this buried slander by a sense for defamation as keen and creditable as that which leads certain winged gnostics to the carcases of the dead. But it has as little truth as fragrance. For from the time the Georgia Brigade encamped on the Oakmulgee, and under the conduct of General Jackson, marched by the way of Fort Early to Fort Scott, up to the close of the war, the southern frontier of that State could neither have bled nor been exposed. A thousand men either sta- tioned on that frontier, or penetrating from it into the Indian country, na- turally bore off any thing like hostility ; and accordingly General Jackson met with no opposition until he reached the Mickasuky towns, at least 150 miles south of Hartford. Besides, the Tennessee contingent consist- ing also of 1000 men, had marched on the 14th of February from Fay- etteville in Tennessee, under the command of Colonel Hayne, of the Uni- ted States Army, and after reaching Fort Mitchell, on their way to join General Jackson at Fort Scott, had from information that their rationg which had given out could not be replenished in the direction of Fort Scott, filed off to the left, and by a route nearly parrallel to the advance of Jackson," had passed into Georgia, at Hartford ; where Colonel Hayne with 400 men remained for the protection of that frontier, until after the period of which Governor Rabun represented it to be " bleed- ing "* There could therefore have been no real cause, as there was no possible justification for the attack on the Chehaws ; and of this the Gov- ernor himself was soon sensible, for in a letter of the 11th May, from Milledgeville, General Glascock says to General Jackson — " I had an in- terview with the agent and the Governor, and they have concluded that a talk will immediately be held with the chiefs of that place — ascertain the amount of property destroyed, and make ample reparation for the same. This is at once acknowledging the impropriety of the attack, and not in the least degree throwing off the stigma that will be attached to the State." The next charge is headed with the following important dictum. " Mi- litary men should never be allowed to forget tliat the obligation to obey, being the sole foundation of the authority to command, they should incul- *Pec Uie dcKpatch of General J.ickBOn to the war departiiioiit of the -JStli Mtirch, from Fort (Jadsdcii, three weeks before the inaBsacro of the Chehaws, and also his letter of lh« tlth of August to Cjovetnor Uabun. ^7 cate subordination not by precept only, but by example." And it is alleg- ed that in defiance of it, General Jackson has committed a threefold of- fence. " He has offered indignity to the Secretary of War in the very let- ter assijrning his reasons for disobeying the order to disband hi- troops — he has placed his own authority in opposition to that of the War Depart- ment, by a general order forbiding tlie officers of his command, to obey the orders of the Department, unless they passed through the channel which he had chosen to prescribe — and he disobeyed the order of the Go- vernment in his military operations in the Spanish territory." Sweeping charges are ahnost always unfounded, because in order to make them plausible it is necessary lo suppress the very circumstances which qualify the actions tliey inculcate. In the precise tone of Mr. Johnson, an E,r\g- lish essayist mig!it say that the Congress of '76 offered an indignity to the King of Great Britain, in the declaration of independence as.iigning their reasons for disobeyivsc his authority. Every case of the kind is character- ized only by its circumstances, and when an expert disputant trained to the tricks of the forum, advances a charge and omits the circumstances explanatory of its foundation, it is strong evidence th&t he is himself con- scious of its injustice. Now it turns out that the alleged disobedience of General Jackson was justified by the circumstances of the case, was ap- proved by the government and sanctioned by events. Under the acts au- thorising the President to accept the services of .50,000 volunteers. Gen- eral Jackson, then commanding the 2d division of that militia which he soon rendered so famous — tendered to the Government of the United States the services of himself and two thousand five hundred men of his division, and the tender was accepted The detachment having been em- bodied and organized, was ordered to proceed by water to New Orleans. Subsequently to his departure, General Jackson was advised to halt near Natchez, and in compliance with it, he took a position in the neighbor- hood of that city. Here while attending to the health and discipline of the corps, he received the laconic mandate from the War Department, with disobedience to which he is so grievously reproached. It is first to be noticed, that as all men have some degree of fallibility, and some de- gree of discretion, and as the imperfections of language and the interpo- sition of distance, give ample scope for the operation of both, it may well happen that the non-execution of an order is the best possible mode of obeying the government. When an officer receives an order, which the exercise of a sound discretion convinces him, would not have been issued had the condition of the circumstance in which it was to operate been known to the authority from which it proceeded, the spirit of his duly comes in direct opposition to the letter of his order. Obedience in such a ease, consists not in a blind submission to the words, but in a zealous fulfilment of the intentions of the government. The order of the Empe- ror, it is true, authorized Grouchy to continue his unprofitable contest with the Prussians, but the spirit of his duty required his presence and exertions at Waterloo. By disregarding the signal which recalled him from fight. Lord Nelson fulfilled th<- wishes of his Government, shook the throne of Denmark, and shattered the confederacy of northern powers. So obvious is the distinction between nominal and real obedience, that it could not have escaped the attention of Mr. Johnson, but for the loyal amazement with which he is affected at the idea of indignity to the head of a department. This seems to overcome all his better faculties, and te leave him nothing but the powers of genuflection and obloquy. He for- gets that an order may be obscure, and therefore liable to misconstruction, and that it may contain imperfections of date, or expression which bring into doubt its genuineness. In the case now considered, all these causee 38 operated against a strict pxecution of the order. General Jackson could not be easily convinced that it was the intention of the President, after accepting the services of his volunteers, and removing them six hundred miles from their homes in an inclement season, pregnant with disease, and beyond a vast wilderness filled with hostility, to deprive them of food to save them from hunger — to strip them of tents to cover them from the weather, and of arms to defend them from savages. Yet, on the I5th March, he received the duplicate of an order addressed to him at New- Orleans, requiring him, '• on its receipt, to consider his corps dismissed from public service," and to " deliver over to General Wilkinson all arti- cles of public property which may ha\'e been put into its possession" — not leaving the men a mouthful of food — in the hands of the detachment a musket or cartridge — in the possession of the corps a single tent or wa- gon, or the smallest accommodation for their sick, of wh )m there were more than 150. He received another copy of the same order, which was dated nearly a month earlier (before General Armstrong, whose signature it bore, had come into the war department,) and contained variations of expression which made it appear not to be an exact copy. However he determined to obey it with as much exactness and as little delay as possible. He saw, what Mr. Johnson does not perceive, that its declara- tory part effected itself. He and his detachment were dismissed the ser- vice of the United Slates. The order was not a direction to disband, but a notification of dismissal, so far effected itself, and required in no degree the agency of General Jackson. This Mr. Johnson may assure himself of by conceiving that General Jackson, or any other General, were di- rected to consider himself and his corps engas;ed with the enemy, and re- flecting whether that would be deemed an order for attack. Its manda- tory clause relating to public property and admitting of some exceptions, he conceived it his duty, both to the government and to his men, not to carry into full execution. Viewing ours as a just and paternal govern- ment, he considered his detachment pretty much as the law considers a pre-termitted child, and determined to do that for his men which the go- vernment had, it appeared forgotten to do. In a letter to the Governor of Tennessee, under whose authority the order of the .Secretary had repla- ced him, he says, " I have, however from the necessity of thp ca^e, deter- mined to keep some of the tents, and to march the men back in as good order as pos.-'ible, and I will make every sacrifice to add to their comfort. I have required of the contractor here twenty days rations, which will take my men to Colbert's ; and I must trust in Providence and your exer- tions to furnish them with supplies from there to Nashville." To General Wilkinson who had enclosed the order, he says, " I have had the honor of receiving your letter of the 8th inst. with its enclosures, containing direc- tions for me to deliver over public property to you, which is in possession of my detachment. The order will be complied with, except a small re- servation of tents for the sick, and some other indispensible articles. I acknowledge the order was unexpected ; but I coincide with you in senti- ment that those who are bound must obey." Let the reader recollect that the law under which the services of this corps had been accepted, made the arms and accoutrements of the soldier his private property at his discharge — operating like a bounty on enlistments — that of course Gen. Jackson had no right to apply it to this species of military property, and that ho only suspended its execution so far as to retain a few tents and other articles indispensable to the care of the sick, until he could get his corps through the wilderness, which was already the scene of those Indian murders that soon brought on the Creek War. That to effect this patri- otic and honorable purpose _he borrowed 500U dollars on his own private 39 theLauderdalesandthe Donelsons who fell Math sVmi^h Srv 1°^^^".^ had Gen. Jackson, through fear of "indio-nifv " ri;.k "'"7' ^^"^^7 and that nity offered to the Secret! rv nf w f ""^ f"'^ ^""°'- ^« *« ^he tW,;o.- dience upon which Mr. Johnson found^ the ri^ht'to command R 1'T S;.) ^nd 'Z:zS!l^^TSi^Ti ^'^^^^^^J^-r^:^ (S Wa/ Department, (3d Feb') assuL the Sel^ret'r^M"''^"^ ^ ^"^« "^« "to obey the orde'r and toilTverove'/to the 1-,.^,^ t.t''''rT^t° partment all public pronortv in mv hnnH^ Vh 7 quaiter master of the de- vemence and health SC^u en ^S;/ '^" ?^ T'"""^ ^''^'^ ^^e con- ^th:iS!7;uEfei::.^i which would a?tend^I';'l„^tlia J d ";^^ ^" *^^ ^-^=^t ^^-tress conviction that tlieir arms belo fed o' hem and uS^T'^'^fr'"'' ^'^ so neo-Iectful of their feelin-s and intPr^T V 1 Jf surprise that an order hand "of an old revolut'onarv Lldier w^^^^^ ^T ^"•"" ^^^^^^ by the on his laconic o^defwhifhrniHithnvph^^ " ^'! "'"p ^'^^^ interpretation safe, near and plentiful i' Sra and NorS'"b"u 'rh'Y'^"^5!?f ^° been incalculably distressin^r to ILtIZ ' but which would have is taken into consideration t"? thlttJfZT'T.^' ^'^''^<^^- ^hen it cepted in August, thaf they had blej a sembLd in D I'T ^'- ^ barked on the Cumberland in Januarv 7hZ.fl December, had em- floating ice and stormv weather more'than mfn 'T^l^^' .''^^"" ^'^™«gh near Natchez on the 21sTSua?v and h J /? ""k"'' ^^^^ '^^"^ encampid ceremony or accommodation o„ the 15?h March'".h''" "^T''''"^ ^^*^°"t to conclude that more moderation on thp n f rT*^'' '^^'^^'' '""'^^ ^e apt mean spirited, would h^e S " S" P^'^Vl^'^^^'^^on' would have been of friendship 'and neighborhood Sl'f''^'' ^f '^'^^ ''''^' '^^^^' felt-which did him so much honor -^^^ '^ '^ heroically event to his country °"''' ^' ^ "'^°' ^"^ ^^^^ so fortunate in thi *0f a merchant of Natchez. 40 The winding- course of Mr. Johnson's defamation, brings next into view the charoe of "disobedience to the War Department, in the shape of " a p-eneral Srder ;" and if a man can lose reputation by making unjust at- tacks upon the fame of another, it will tend as little to his honor as those which have already been refuted. The circumstances explaming this ca'^e are the following :— while Gen. Jackson was m the seivice of the United States, il occurred several times, and at seasons ot the greatest nressu-e, that officers to whom he had assigned important duties, were silentlv withdrawn from their posts by orders from some subaltern in the line, stationed as a deputy in tlie adjutant and inspector general s ofhce, at Washincrton. On the Isi of October, 1814, for example just a fortnight afte-- the first attack on Fort Bowyer, and while the whole British arma- ment was hovering between Mobile and New Orleans,* an order was is- sued from the War Department, signed John R. Bell, deputy inspector general, directing Col. Sparks, and the officers of the 2d regiment, inclu- dino- the Tailant Major Lawrence, to proceed forthwith on the recruiting service ' "This order was received while Gen. Jackson was effecting the timely expulsion of the British from Pensacola, and had lett Mobile in charna d at ^ew ur leans, which in compliance with Jackson's general "'"•'"/'^f ^^^ ""J^^^^^ Finding one of his officers involved in difficulty by an act of mil.taiy .ub ♦ gco d.spa.rb fron. Mr. Monroe to Gen. J. of tl.e 27lh Sept. a.ul from Gen. J. to Mr. M. •f the 34lli anU 'i7ib Augubt. 41 ©rdination and fidelity, Jackson immediately assumed an attitude which none but a Martinet or an Attorney can fail to admire. In a letter to the President, {V2th Aug. Idl7) he referred to his former communications on this subject, and to the cases which had produced them — repeated the substance of his general order, and stated the dillemma of (jeneral Rip- ley, and with his characteristic spirit and honor thus relieved him from all responsibility. " This has given rise to the proper disobedience of Major Gen. Ripley to the order of the Department of War above alluded to, tor which I hold myself responsible." He adds — "In the view I took of this subject on the 4th of March, I had flattered myself you would coincide, and had hoped to receive your answer before a recurrence of a similar infringment of military rule rendered it necessary for me to call your at- tention thereto. None are infallible in their opinions, but it is neverthe- less necessary that all should act agreeable to their convictions of right. My convictions in favour of the course I have pursued are strong, and should it become necessary, 1 will willingly meet a fair investigation be- fore a military tribunal. The good of the service, and the dignity of the commission I hold, alone actuate me. My wishes for retirement have al- ready been made known to you, but under existing circumstances, my duty to the officers of my division forbids it, until this subject is fairly un- derstood." The final decision when it came was, that orders to inffriors should pass through the commanding officer of the division, always there- after, unless in cast of necessity. Admitting the principle contended for by Jackson, and terminating a practice, which under the aspect of legal authority, was subversive of discipline, injurious to service, and repugnant to justice. It is true that by the Constitution the President is Comman- der in Chief of the army, and that by a custom almost equivalent to law, the orders of the Secretary are considered the orders of the President, and that among the illegitimate descendants of this custom, was the practice of confiding the power of the Department to Lieutenants of the line, whose enormous deviations from propriety, as in the order to Col. Sparks, brought it into question and disrepute. But the President is Com- mander in Chief, only in the same sense in which the General is com- mander of his division, has no stronger claim to the obedience of the General than the latter has to the obedience of the Colonel, and his or- ders, whether issued under his sign manual, or through the Secretary of War, or the imposing instrumentality of a subaltern, are to be restrained by the laws of Congress and the principles of the Constitution. No man will contend that his authority in the army is absolute — that lie can of his own accord inflict capital punishment on a soldier — can make a lieu- tenant command a captain, a colonel a general, or exact duty from either without allowing him his proper rank. Now the essence of rank consists in the superiority of command which it confers, and any order of the President, making an inferior disobey the orders of his superior, is a de- rogation of the rank of that superior, and produces a disorder, the remo- 'fal of which necessarily exposes to disturbance in a similar and equivalent degree, the authority of the President over the superior. The order to Col. Sparks required a direct and violent disobedience to Gen. Jackson's command, as that to Major Long effected it. To have rendered these or- ders entirely legal and expedient, they should have been communicated through t'le commanding General. They would then have preserved the just equality between responsibdity and power, which the nature of dele- gated authority requires. And instead of causing one act of obedience, and one of disobedience, they would have produced two acts of perfect obedience, through agents related in due subordination to each other.— The course pursued by the government moreover, involved the signal in- 42 yisiice of fiKiag publicly the proportion between Gen. Jackson's power and responsibility, upon which proportion, it must be presumed, he con- sented to assume the latter, and then piivatelij, and without his knrwledge reducing the foimer below that proportion, by a proceeding much in the nature of an expost facto law. The silence and hesitation persevered in respecting his lemonstrances, while they tended to produce an impression that the reasons he advanced were not disapproved, created a strong de- mand for the decisive measures he adopted, and the fact which is but too apparent that the irregularity he complained of was calculated, if contin- ued, to disappoint the department, as well as the General, as it might be retorted by the latter in various perplexing ways, furnishes another strong objection to it. Its only excuse is a complete justification of it, where it can be shewn, and a marked condemnation of it, where it cannot be shewn, viz. necessitij. To tliis fair adjustment and full redress, Gen. Jackson brought this abuse in the service, and for the spirit and judgment he displayed on that occasion alone, he deserves the gratitude of the ar- my and the respect of his fellow citizens. Having in a former number shewn to your readers that his military ope- rations in Florida, were in direct obedience to the orders of the War De- partment, I shall not he detained by Mr. Johnson's repetition of that un- founded charge further than to advert to the clumsy dexterity with which he shifts his sfround — at one moment inveighing against the General, for disobedience to the orders of the Department, and at the next reviling him for conduct in direct obedience to them. From this dilemma he cannot escape unless he can prove that the orders vesting General Jackson " with full powers to conduct the vvar in the manner he miffht think best " — au- thorizinsf him " to march across tlie Florida line and attack the Seminoles within its limits " — and requiring him to collect a force sufficient " to beat the enemy and terminate the conflict," did not justify his invasion of Flor- ida, within the limits of which " Ihe enemy " was situated; or his tempora- ry occupation of the Spanish Posts, of which, in defiance of the stipulations of a treaty and the duties of a neutral, the Seminoles held either hostile control or military possessions. A disposition to avoid labor and repeti- tion, suggests the propriety of a similar referrnce for a refutation of the charges grounded upon the mis-called declaralion of martial law — an act of viffor and forecast, which lU its origin and consequences was vindi- cated by urgent necessity, justified by powerful analogies, sanctioned by examples, aTid ratified by events ; covering that city with irlory and pro- tection, endearing its performer to all who were willing to fight in its de- fence, and thrilling every patriotic heart in this Union with emotions ot joy and triumph. These offences against the law and the Constitution being disposed of, we come to those with whicli Mr. Johnson declares " mercy and humanity unite in accusing General Jackson." They stand in his catalogue in (he following order: — "The cold-blooded massacre at the Horse Shoe" — « the decoyed and slaughtered Indians at St. ftlarks " — " tlie wanton and unexampled execution of Ambrister "— " and of the still more injured Ar- buthnot, a trader ami an advocate for peace." With respect to " the cold blooded massacre at the Horse-Shoe," as no order for one was ever given by General Jackson, it is a calumny on the courage and humanity of his otficers and men, who have added unfa.din'apt. Gordon, who commanded the spies discovered, just as the order for storming tlie Indian breast work was about to be given, that the women and childen who were within the woiks, miglit be .■saved by the intervention of Chinnibee, and would otherwise be destroyed in a successful as- sault. .He communicated this to General Jackson, who suspended the order, although his men were suffering from the fiie of the Indians, both those prepared to make the assault, and those who were swimming the river to support it, and desired old Chinnibee to endeavor to get the women and children to a place of safety. Although his son had been murdered so cruelly, with a humanity tt ily christian, this old man mounted the breast woik at the hazard of liis life, and calling to the women, told them he was ready to save them and their children. 'J'hey hastened towards him, he sprang into the fort, and the poor creatures clinging to hih- hunting shirt and clustering around him like a swarm of bees, were brought out of the fort and saved fr^m destruction. The (ieneral then pave the order to stotm, the works were car- riou, the enemy destroyed, and ihe victory g:iined. Does this look like a cold-blooded massa- cre? And yet fifty witnesses will confirm it if Mr. Johnson is incredulous t 'he loss of the Americans in this action, was 55 killed and 146 wounded. Among the former were Major Montgomery, of the regular army, an officer of great promise, and Jjieutenauls Moulton atid ^omerville. Among the litter, the present General* Carroll and Houston, the late and the present (iovernor.of Tennessee. 45 The dramatis personte engaged in the catastrophe which Jackson is ac cusesi of producing were — Lieut. Colonel Nichols, of the British artillery — Woodbine an English adventurer of fine address and desperate morals, trainer of hostile Indians, with the title if not the rank of Captain,* and in that respect, adjunct and successor of Nichols — Arbuthnot, a Scotchman, who had left his wife in Europe, married a colored one in the West Indies, and with a son by the former one taken a trading position, in Florida, got himself elected Chief of the Indians at war with the United States, and as such as had sanctioned the butchery of Lieut.Scott and his party— Am- brister, a half otRcer and half buccaneer, who, with the commission of " auxiliary lieutenant of colonial marines," given by Admiral Cochrane dur- ing the war with his country, wai- taken three years after the peace, leading the Indians and fugitive negroes in battle against the troops of the United Stales. Hambly and Doyle, subjects of Sjiain, agents of a commercial firm in Pensacola, driving the Indian trade in an establishment on the Apilachicola, and favorers of peace — Cook, clerk to Arbuthnot, also ill fauor of peace — Francis or llillis Hadgo, Chief of the prophets of the Creek Nation, appointed by Tecurnseh in his insurrectional visit to the Southern tribes m the fall of 181 "2, an inveterate enemy of the United States, had refused to unite with his countrymen in the capitulation of Fort Jackson, abandoned his country and at the head of the outlawed Redsticks. had taken refuge and protection with the Seminoles in Florida, instigated them to rapine and murder, and witnessed and encouraged the massacre of Lieutenant Scott and his party — Hemithlimaco, a Redstick Chief the principle warrior of the prophet, and principle perpetrator of that massacre.f The motives and liabilities of these men were as various as their names and nations. The motive of Nichols was success in his profession and ser- vice to his country, stained with the desiirn of debasing the chivalry of war, by the employment of savage associates. To this Woodbine added, and in a predominating degree, the infamous desire of plunder and profit. Lucre was the sole object of Arbuthnot, and his means for procuring it, were sai^acious and unscrupulous — proposing to acquire an influence over ail the surroundina- Indian tribes, by means of it to disturb their ex- isting relations with their civilized neighbors, both as to territory and trade, and to engross the entire profits of the latter. A mixed and unprincipled thirst for gain and for fame, seems to have actuated Ambrister. Interest, which incited Arbuthnot and Ambrister to produce confusion, made Ham- bly and Doyle anxious to preserve peace. Cook was engaged to be mar- ried to a girl in New Providence, felt therefore an inordinate attachment to life, and little disposition to run the hazards of his employer, Arbuthnot. The " self exiled" Prophet, loving his country less than he hated her ene- mies, was filled with revenge for the disasters of the Creek war, for the loss of influences which they had occasioned him, for the severities which his refusal to submit to the capitulation^ of Fort Jackson had occasioned * Latour, page 37. t The Redsticks were a powerful tribe of the Creek Indians, wliose national standard wa» a red pole decorated with human scalps. " Besmeared with blood, " Of human sacrifice, and parent's tears." Tlieir possessions once reached from the Alabama to the Mississippi, and one of their princi- ple villages was on the latter river, where Baton Rouge (Red Staff) now stands. The " out- lawed Redsticks" were that poition of this tribe who, refusing to abide by the capitulation of Fort Jackson, were outlawed by the Creeks. JThe agreement commonly called the treaty of Fort Jackson, was in reality, a military ca- pitulation, so designated and prescribed by the government. In a letter from the War depart- ment, of the 20th March, 1814, first addressed to Gen. Pinckney and then communicated to •en. Jackson, it is said — " since the date of my last letter, it has occurred to me that the pro- 46 him and for the '• examplary punishment" denounced against him bv tlie order of the Secretary of War, (16th Jan. 1818) which was committed for execution to Gen. Jackson. He was further stimulated by the pride of character which a late visit to England, and a flattering reception from the rrince Regent had inspired, and by the hope of reviving the hostile spirit ot the Creeks and regaining his former influence and possessions With a hatred to the United States equally passionate and fierce, Himithlimaco was intunated by a natural thirst of carnage, superstitions, reverence for the prophetical dignity of Francis, and habitual eagerness to execute hia most brutal purposes. The agency of these individuals, impelling, moderating or counteract- ing each other, and deriving more or less encouragement and aid from the Spanish authorities had kept up a state of hesitating war, but unremitting robbery and bloodshed on our southern frontier, ever since the terminatiol ot the Creek war, in August 1814. In its least off-ensive but most dan- gerous form, it was repelled by General Jackson, when he dislodged the iJritish armament from Pcnsacola, in November of that year. It is the bu- siness of History to record how, with more than mother's care, a patriot's hre, and a statesman s foresight, on the first intelligence of its appear- ance there, he flew unordered to the protection of Mobile, and fortified and garrisoned Fort Bowyer. How, while he awakened by despatches, the vigilance of the cabinet, just composed after the capture "of Was ino-I ton— he roused the patriotism of the people, and callino- on Coffee and his volunteers with a voice in which they heard the triumph of Fame he for- ced the British to abandon Pensacola, and the Spaniards to maintain their neutrality. How, after securing the left flank of his extensive line of de- fence, penetrable by rivers, and accessable by bays, lie passed with in- credible expedition, to the banks of the Mississippi, with little other aid from the government than slah intelligence, and diplomatic (firerAions* with arms, flints and money, collected by himself, with raw, unfurnished and in- ferior forces, he vanquished both in attack and defence, the most formida- ble veterans of Europe, and surpassed in skill and courtesy, her renowned and accomplished Generals. Since the peace with England these lawless disturbances had been continued by forays of rapine and murder princi- pally on the southern borders of Georgia, which, after some movements of troops, many talks with the Indians, and much diplomacy with f^pain, were posed treaty with the Creeks should take a form aUogcther wUitani, and should be in Uie m *"'.^M ^"P".«'f .«"'•" V'"!''' "'■' '""^ '""''*■■ '^'"'•■'■■^ "'e ">'"« ''''<"' ^^-.i^ concluded. And yet Mr. Clay, in his speech (Jan. 18th, 1819,) on the ^eniinole war.attaches hian.e to Con. J.k k- son for the dictorial terms" of this treaty, as he calls it. So that then as now, if (Jeneral Jackson executed the orders of the government he was censured, and if he onU' appeared lo transcend them, abused. ^ api^uaicu lo ■o^.TI"" .f'"^ ii'te'l'eence which General Jackson received from the government of tlie pro- •f ^^i i' ^''.r,". ^""ly 'J'''^a"«' ^vas "I a letter from .Mr. Monroe, (then Secretarv of wan of the 7th .sept 1814. But as early as the lOtli A„g. he had despatched by expre.'-s ihe same in- tell.gence in a coroborated form to tlie Department, tlie receipt of whicli, and of four other despatches of that month, are acknowledged by Mr. Munroe on the 27th Pent. n the letter of the 7th, r.ener.il Jackson is cmph-itically told, " you should rep.iir to \ewOrleans as soon as your arrangements cai. he completed in the other parts of the district, uuhss vnar presence shovtd he 7e>]u,red at other pc.t.s." In a letter of the lO.h iJecember, he is told in a spirit quite prophetical, considering he had no efficient supplies from the Department, that h, ta- king a suitable jwsitwii m the ruinity of .\>)f Ihleaiis, he irill be enabled " to nrenehcbn the fnemy whenever he prsents himself," and this without the .-ecretarv's having anv definite knowledge of Jackson's strength or giving any information of the enemv's. i-htered" — that is, they were hung. In this punishment, as justice, humanity, and the law of nations were satisfied, it is to be observed that they being out of the United States, our own laws were not concerned. Had they been brought within our limits all their crimes must have gpne unpunished — for they bad not violated our municipal, or maritime, or martial laws. — But the law of nations vests the right of retaliation in tiie commanding general, and the imbecility or dishonour of the Spanish authorities having justified the assertion of our beligerent riglits, it was the duty of Gen. Jackson to fulfil the instructions of his government and bring these mur- derers to punishment.* *AlthoiiKh the feelin^ and common sense of every man must convince him that the death •f the prophet and Himithlimaco was due to humanity and justice, yet it may be proper to 49 Let us now come to the case of Arbuthnot. From the recaptured American woman, who was the sole remaining' survivor of Lieutenant Scott's party — from Cook his Clerk —from Phenix his acquaintance — from letters and papers I'ound in a vessel of his, captured in the mouth of the Snawney, and others obtained from the Indians by our agent, it was prov- ed incontestibly tliat " tins advocate for peace," by misrepresenting the terms of the Treaty of Ghent — the conduct of the American, and tne in- tentions of the British government, had inc ted, in time of peace, the fceminole Indians to hostiUties against the United States. That to aid those hostilities, he had applied in behalf of the Indians, to various func- tionaries of Britain for supplies, and to disguise them for protection. — That he had furnished them with intelligence and ammunition for niilitaiy purposes, and had given them advice and orders in the management of the war. That he had directed the seizure and presided at the condemnation of Harably and Doyle in conseq lence of their being "the advocates for peace" with the United States. That he had instigated and countenanced the massacre of Lt. Scott and his party, consisting of about 40 American citizens. That as an Indian Chief, he had permitted our gallant officers to be assassinated, our brave soldiers to be butchered, and their helpless wives to be murdered, or with more horrible cruelty spared to see their infants " taken by the heels and their brains dashed out against the sides of the boat."* And that when one of the two women who had been spared (the wife of an American serjeant)was from pregnancy no longer able to keep up with the march of her captors, this "advocate for peace" ordered her to be put to death, and that accordingly she was bayoneted through the womb ! From the same and other sources of proof it was demonstrated that Ambrister had not only instigated the Indians to war, against the United States, but had actually joined them with a party of runaway negroes and led them in battle — having used his commission as a British officer (a nation with which we were at peace) to promote his per- nicious influence among them, and having endeavoured by force to convert a Spanish fortress into a place of savage hostility against the United States. These are the men whose crimes had destroyed so many innocent lives, for the sake of Otter skins and runaway slaves, and whose punishment is lamented with such dignified sorrow by Mr. Johnson, for the sake of Messrs. Adams and Clay. The evidence against them satisfied a court of gallant and intelligent officers of their guilt — satisfied the representatives and the government of the nation — and convinced the Courts of Spain and of England of the justice of their punishment. And yet because it is too voluminous and intricate to be readily examined,f Mr. Johnson found fortify that well founded decision by respectable authority. Vattet says (520, 34) "When we are at war with a nation which observes no rules and grants no quarter, they may be cliastised in the persons of those of them who may be taken. They are of the number of the guilty, and by this rigor the attempt may be made of bringing them to a sense of the laws of human- ity." The prophet and Himithlimaco were not only "among the guilty," but the leaders of the guilty. * Vide in the documents hereafter specified, Cook's letter, and the account obtained from the recaptured woman. t For the evidence in these cases, see documents (35) accompanying the President's mes- sage of the 2d Uecember, 1818, and those (65) accompanying that nf the 28th Dec following, particularly the letter from Gen. Gaines of the 2d December, 1817, with its enclosures that from Gen. Jackson, of the 8th April, 1818, and the report of Col. Butler of the 3d May, in the first set. In the second. Nos. 45, 46 and 61, with the depositiun of Lieut M'Keever and the testimony of Phenix and Cook before the Court are chiefly apposite. In addition to the au- thority already produced for their execution, and in illustration of the principle that must have satisfied the foreign governments on the subject ; the following reference is made to Vattel, (52 o. 29.) "We may refuse to spare the life of an enemy whc has surrendered, when the enemy has been guilty (a fortiori when he himself has) of some enormous breach 7 50 upon it imputations which with the rancourous, have the retributive pro- perty of injustice, and though aimed at the reputation of anotiier, will only ariect his own. There is one thing that ought to be mentioned as remarkable both in his ire and his grief — namely, his solemn affirmation that Arbuthnot who was hung, was "more injured" tlian Ambrister, who was only shot — being convinced, as if from experience, that death by hanging, is worse than death by shooting. When a writer has clearly established his title to disbelief, it cannot be necessary to oppose a formal refutation to each of his misstatements, es- pecially if, as in the case of Mr. Johnson, his errors have been exposed before. It appears that in the list of unfounded charges contained in the address, are two which had escaped my notice. They relate to the six militia men, and to the alledged usurpation of power to appoint militia- officeis. The first of these charges is now before the House of Repre- sentatives, and as its determination by that body will not only have the authority of truth but of the nation, I shall not enter on the easy task of refuting it. The second was long ago demolished by the memorial of Gen, Jackson which was presented to the Senate on the 6th of March, 1820, and which convinced Mr. Jefferson of his "salutary energy" in the prosecution of the Seminole War. It will be enough to refer the reader to that document, and particularly to the deposition of Col. Hayne and to the letter of Cols. Dyer and VVilliamson, in its appendix for proof that the charge is absolutely and totally false. Would it were in my power to convince him that Mr. Johnson does not know it to be so. Having thus completed the exposure of this laboured attempt to degrade a great citizen and delude a great state, it remains to look at the charac- ter and condition of the body of which it purports to be the offspring. In individual character it is enviable, in numbers respectable, but in popu- lar influence and constitution, meagre and scant. Like a dying peach tree, it has all leaves and no fruit. It appears to be more numerous than the House of Delegates, the broadest representation known in the state, and yet, consisting as it does of detached and discontented politicians, its constituents would hardly form a brigade of militia — and they would be all against any thing militdry. It is, in truth, a "most forcible feeble," — and the address is the most enterprising experiment on record for pro- pelling falsehood by the force of authority. Of this experiment, it is but justice to say, Mr. Johnson appears to be the organ, the manager, the Mix. But now that his torpid