YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

HISTORY

SECOND WAR

BETWEEN THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AND
GEEAT BEITAIi^,
DECLARED BY ^
ACT OF CONGRESS, THE 18th OF JUNE, 1812,
AND CONCLUDED BY PEACE, THE ISth OF FEBRUAEY, 1815.
BY
CHARLES J. INGERSOLL.
SECOND SERIES. — VOL. IL

EMBRACING THE EVENTS OF 1814 AND 1815.

PHILADELPHIA:
LIPPINCOTT, GKAMBO & CO.
1852.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO.,
in the Clerk's OfBce of the District Court of the United States, in and
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
STEREOTYPED BY J. FAGAN. .X-. a.. AND P. G. COLUNS, PRINTERS.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE 1.
NEQCTIATIONS AT GHENT — lEEATT AND PEACE.
British surprised by War — Unprepared — Seek Peace — Foster, from Halifax,
proposes an Armistice — Accepted by Dearborn — Rejected by Madison —
Admiral Warren renews Pacific Overtures — Rejected by Madison — American »
Terms of Peace — Rejected by Britain — British War Manifesto — Embittered
Hostilities — Congress exclude British Seamen, after War, from American
Vessels — Cartel, from England, ofl^ers to treat — Clay and Russel commis
sioned — Original Instructions — British Triumph in Europe — Instructions,
changing Terms — Ghent substituted for Gottenburg, as Place of Conference
— First Conference — British Demands — Indian Basis sine qua non — Second
Meeting of Commissioners ^— No Maritime Topic — Altogether Territorial —
Castlereagh at Ghent — British Demands increased — Rupture threatened —
Suspension of Conferences — Correspondence — American Terms proposed,
24th of August — British Terms, 13th of October — Uti Possidetis — Rejected
by the Americans — Effect of the British Defeats at Plattsburg and Balti
more — Change of Tone — Adoption of American Terms — Congress of Vienna
— Its Distractions — Maritime European Inclinations — Dissentiment at
Ghent between Adams and Clay — Fisheries — Navigation of the Mississippi
— Further Negotiations — Final Settlement — Subsequent Treaties, Offspring
of the Negotiations at Ghent — Indemnity for Spoliations — For Slaves —
Boundaries — Oregon — Louisiana — Congress of Vienna — Project of Treaty —
Dispute in the American Mission — Posterior Treaties — Fisheries — Missis
sippi — Final Conferences — Treaty signed — Its European Effect — American
Welcome of Peace — Effects and Character  Page 7

CHAPTER IL
INVASION OF LOUISIANA.
Nicholls at Pensacola — English at Barataria — Lafitte — Fort Bowyer — Jack
son — Spanish Complicity — Seizure of Pensacola — New Orleans — Tennessee
and Kentucky Volunteers — Legislature of Louisiana — Governor Claiborne
— Population — British Squadrons — Gun-boats on the Lake overpowered —
(3)

IV CONTENTS.
Jackson declares Martial Law— Inactivity of the Legislature— British laud
—Surprised on the 23d of December —Vanguard worsted — Jackson's En
trenchments — Pakenham — British Repulse, on the 28th of December —
Division, if not Disaffection, in the Legislature — Their Session closed
forcibly- British Repulsed on the first of January— Continually harassed—
British Narratives of their Disasters — British Forces — Lambert's Rein
forcement—Battle of the eighth of January — Thornton's Success— Paken-
ham's Defeat and Death — British Evacuation — Capture of Fort Bowyer —
Repulse at Fort St. Philip — American Thanksgiving on Jackson's Return
to New Orleans — Tidings of Peace — Their disorganizing Effects — French
Insubordination — Louallier arrested — Judge Hall issues a Writ for his
Release — The Judge imprisoned by Martial Law — Law of Contempt —
Jackson punished by Fine — Refunded by Congress — His Death  69

CHAPTER III.
LAST SESSION OF WAB, C0NGEES3.
Seat of Government — Jefferson's Library — Pensions — Despatches from Ghent
— American Misapprehension of British Power — Monroe — Dallas — Halifax
Campaign — Conscription proposed by Monroe — Opposed by Jonathan Ma
son and Christopher Gore — Death of Vice-President Gerry — ^Amalgamation
of Parties — Army Bills — Debates — Richard Stockton's Speech — English
Views of American Conscription — Congress reject it — Military Substitutes
— State Support of War-measures — South Carolina — New York — Maryland
— Western States — State Troops — Naval Measures — Bill to suppress Smug
gling — Peace — Lewis B. Sturges — Welcome of Peace — Failure of Congress
to sustain the Executive — President's Drawing-room — Military Peace Es
tablishment — Discussion and Dissension on Reduction of the Army — BUl
to limit Navigation to American Seamen — Restrictive Laws repealed —
Naval Rewards — Military Academy — Consequences of War  264

CHAPTER IV.
WAB WITH THE BAKBAET POWEES.
Algiers — Barlow's Treaty — Tribute — Frigate George Washington sent to
Constantinople — Lear, the Consul, sent away — Consuls Noah and Jones 
Prizes of the Absellino at Algiers — President's Message — War declared
— Decatur's Squadron — Treaties of Peace, renouncing Tribute, dictated
to Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli — Consul Jones's Journal — Bainbridge's
Squadron  3g2

CHAPTER I.
NEGOTIATIONS AT GHENT — TREATY AND PEACE.
British surprised by War — Unprepared — Seek Peace — Poster, from Hali
fax, proposes an Armistice — Accepted by Dearborn — Rejected by Madi
son — Admiral Warren renews Pacific Overtures — Rejected by Madison
— American Terms of Peace— Rejected by Britain — British War Mani
festo — Embittered Hostilities — Congress exclude British Seamen, after
War, from American Vessels — Cartel, from England, offers to treat —
Clay and Russell commissioned — Original Instructions — British triumph
in Europe — Instructions, changing Terms — Ghent substituted for Gotten
burg, as Place of Conference — First Conference — British Demands —
Indian Basis sine qua non — Second Meeting of Commissioners — No Ma
ritime Topic — Altogether Territorial — Castlereagh at Ghent — British
Demands increased — Rupture threatened — Suspension of Conferences —
Correspondence — American Terms proposed 24th of August — British
Terms 13th of October — Uti possidetis — Rejected hy the Americans —
Effect of the British Defeats at Plattsburg and Baltimore — Change of
Tone — Adoption of American Terms — Congress of Vienna — Its Dis
tractions — Maritime European Inclinations — Dissentiment at Ghent
between Adams and Clay — Fisheries — Navigation ofthe Mississippi —
Further Negotiations — Final Settlement — Subsequent Treaties, Oifspring
ofthe Negotiations at Ghent — Indemnity for Spoliations — For Slaves —
Boundaries — Oregon — Louisiana — Congress of Vienna — Project of
Treaty — Dispute in the American Mission — Posterior Treaties — Fish
eries — Mississippi — Final Conferences — Treaty Signed — Its European
Effect — American Welcome of Peace — Effects and Character.
Surprised by the American declaration of war, enacted by
a weak power quite unprepared, against a strong power com
pletely armed and formidable, but without sufficient forces in
America, because made to believe that the United States dared
not venture such a conflict, the British government held off
hostilities, and tried to pacify the United States, during several
months after they feebly essayed war, disastrously by land for
conquest, gloriously for defence at sea. The British minister
at Washington, who assured his government that there would
be no war, nor any thing worse than angry complaints, stopped
at Halifax, on his way home, to try and make peace. Within

8 IMPRESSMENT.
a week of the declaration of war, the offensive Orders in
Council being repealed, nothing remained to fight about but
impressment. Foster, the plenipotentiary, therefore induced
Prevost, the Canadian governor-general, to despatch his adju
tant-general, Baynes, with terms, which misled General Dear
born to subscribe an armistice, rejected by the President m
August, 1812. With the first British forces arrived in Ame
rica, Admiral Warren, in September, 1812, more of pacificator
than combatant, repeated pacific overtures, which the Presi
dent again rejected. Beside repeal of the obnoxious Orders
in Council, involving only the commercial question, Madison
and Monroe, solit9,ry and alone, constituting nearly the whole
government in the desert capital when Congress were not in
session, firmly and fortunately required that the Orders in
Council should not be repeated ; and, in addition to removal
of that commercial cause of war, that the personal question of
impressment must be settled, by not only cessation pf its prac
tice and liberation of its American victims, but also some set
tlement of the principle in conflict. Those terms were scouted
by Great Britain, and probably would never have been sub
mitted to by a nation much more unanimous and powerful to
assert the right, than the United States were the wrong, of im
pressment. Surprised by unlooked-for war, and provoked by
reiterated rejection of their terms of accommodation, the
ministerial successor of Pitt's insuperable anti-Gallican policy,
long after his death, at last marvellously successful, and elated
by Napoleon's reverses of 1813 m Saxony, following those of
1812 in Russia, met Parliament in 1814, in haughty exaspera
tion against an insolent and despised transatlantic assailant.
Their long-deferred manifesto, fabricated by the admiralty
judge Scott, afterwards Lord Stowell, was pointed with the
common British malediction, denouncing to British abhorrence
American subserviency to the French jacobin usurper, the
defeated Emperor, and to the Irish Americanized traitors who
contaminated American politics. Embittered hostilities began, '
with ruthless retaliation. Notwithstanding a few precious un
looked-for naval victories, universal defeat by land, want of
funds, dread of taxes, inaptitude of the executive for war, and

AMERICAN SEAMEN. 9
legislative fear to vote its exigencies, co-operated with British
power and determination avowed to punish and crush their un
natural American offspring.
The Congress which declared war, without voting adequate
means for waging it, hoping with the executive to escape its
hardships, by one of their last expedients, on the the 3d of
March, 1813, excluded, from and after the war, all British
persons — not only seamen, but all British persons — from all
American vessels, private and public ; in the vain hope, by the
removal of the subjects of impressment, that its odious practice
might expire in the mere assertion of a harmless principle,
against which we need not contend in arms. That unavailing
concession then became, as I believe it yet remains, a dead
letter on our code ; discriminating, contrary to the American
Declaration of Independence, between native and naturalized
citizens, and by repression mostly inoperative, since discounte
nanced by the doctrines of that declaration, vainly attempting
to domiciliate seafaring people, and overcome their habitual
propensity to rove and serve without much regard to birth or
allegiance. That concession to power enacted, however, a
striking refutation of the most common British apology for
their surprising naval defeats, by excluding altogether from
American vessels the supposed British seamen, to whom
British national prejudice attributed American naval victories.
There were very few of them in our vessels, and those few very
inferior to our mariners. The instructions to our peace-
ministers, dwelling on that act of Congress, stated that, for
the supply of our ships-of-war and merchant-service, we ought
to depend on our own population, which experience had shown
to be an abundant resource.
England, refusing the Russian mediation, despatched, with
out notice to Russia, or to our minister there, but probably less
to propitiate the United States than Russia, and separate our
negotiations from all the powers of the armed neutrality and
assertors pf neutral sea-rights, the cartel brig Bramble, which
arrived at Annapolis the last day of December, 1818, with an
offer to treat for peace at London or elsewhere, but without
any mediation. Mr. Clay and Mr. Russell were thereupon

10 TERMS OF PEACE.
added to Mr. Adams, Mr. Bayard, and Mr. Gallatin, as the
legation ; and Gottenburg, in Sweden, designated as the place
of meeting. The British government suggested London, ours
Washington, as the place ; to which Ghent, in Flanders, was
preferred. The original instructions, dated 15th of April,
1813, taken by Mr. Gallatin and Mr, Bayard to Mr. Adams,
were copiously reargued by others, dated 8th and 28th of
January, 1814, without material alteration, and sent by Mr.
Clay and Mr. Russell, who sailed from New York in February,
and arrived at Gottenburg in April, 1814. Impressment and
blockades, the principal causes of the war, were the topics of
all these instructions ; abiding by Mr. Russell's proposition in
London to the British government as soon as war was declared,
and Mr. Monroe's answer to Admiral Warren from Washing
ton, when he offered terms soon afterwards, as the grounds on
which alone the United States would adjust the conflict for
impressment ; with the modifications afforded by the Act of
Congress of March, 1813, excluding after the war all Britons
from American vessels. Express relinquishment of illegal
blockades was required, and indemnity for losses. But the
peace-mission were instructed not to let that claim defeat the
primary object entrusted to them.
Such were in substance our terms of peace, viz., relinquish
ment of impressment, both in practice and principle, together
with liberation of its victims ; for which we engaged never to
suffer Englishmen to navigate our vessels after the war ; and
some arrangement of blockades, which two were cardinal and
originally indispensable conditions. Indemnity for losses,
though demanded, was not to be insisted on to the detriment
of the chief terms. None of these conditions were even taken
into consideration. Before the commissioners met at Ghent,
in August, 1814, Great Britain, with her allies, conquered
peace in Europe, and resenting America^ hostilities, insisted
on degrading terms of peace, mutilating our territories, re
stricting our commerce, punishing, reducing, and humbling
the United States. Our original demands were exclusively
maritime, concerning blockade and impressment alone. Never
foreseeing that boundaries, fisheries, Indians, the lakes, or other

TERMS OF PEACE. II
territorial issues, would supersede the marine controversies,
no instructions were given to our ministers as to any other
than the latter topics. In January, 1814, although the nego
tiation was deprived of Russian countenance, and our mighty
enemy much more powerful than in April, 1813, our demands
were not only increased, but two new ones added, neither of
them maritime, both occurring after and by the war : by what
was charged as England's unwarrantable mode of waging its
inflictions. Our reconstructed mission was directed, on the
28th of January, 1814, to propose stipulations on both sides
of indemnity for destruction of unfortified towns and other
private property, contrary to the laws and usages of war, and
to ask for return to their owners or paying at full value for
all negroes taken from the Southern States, of whom, accord
ing to the instructions, a shameful traffic had been carried on,
in the West Indies, by their sale by those who professed to
be their deliverers. These were not, however, terms to be
insisted on. That for unwarrantable destruction was not lis
tened to ; that respecting stolen slaves was ultimately realized
by the treaty of 1818. In agreeing to treat directly with
Great Britain, not only is no concession, said the instructions,
contemplated of any point in controversy, but the same desire
cherished to preserve a good understanding with Russia and
the other Baltic powers, as if the negotiation had taken place
under the mediation of Russia. To cultivate the aid of those
powers was a constant direction to our ministers, as their
anti-English sea-laws concerning blockade, search, and par
ticularly their doctrine that free ships make free goods, and
that the flag protects both the crew and cargo of a vessel, are
maritime principles of international peace and marine property
which it should be the just pride and true glory of the United
States to establish as laws of nations, to be no longer violated
by the only one that disputes them.
At St. Petersburg, at Gottenburg, and at Ghent, onr minis
ters were instructed and empowered almost exclusively on ma
ritime questions. In 1812, the President repeatedly refused
to negotiate because the Orders in Council were revoked, in
sisting on resistance to impressment. In 1813, indemnity for

12 PEACE IN EUROPE.
spoliations was, moreover, required, though without being in
sisted on. In 1814, indemnity was demanded for spoliations
ashore as well as at sea, and for slaves purloined. Till the
middle of February, 1814, our demands increased, although
our successes by no means encouraged such enhancement. By
that time. Great Britain's European allies, offensive and defen
sive, enthusiastic and desperate, supplied by her immense
resources, and emboldened by her invincible resolution, at last
turned the tide of fortune, which for twenty years had inun
dated and submerged all further insular dominion ; and there
was reason to believe that London would dictate a peace at
Paris, as was soon done. All accounts from our ministers,
together with all other intelligence, were alarming to us. Still,
throughout January, February, and March, 1814, the original
instructions to our peace-ministers remained the same, notwith
standing great changes ascertained in Europe and still greater
apprehended. On the 7 th of June, 1814, tidings from Hali
fax reached Boston of the peace of Paris, which put an end to
the war-right of impressment, as we understood it, and, our
government flattered itself, would put an end to the practice.
On the 9th of June, 1814, the restored Bourbon king, Louis
XVIII. 's vessel of war, under his flag, arrived at New York.
The French minister at Washington struck the imperial and
hoisted the royal standard. The United States, always with
out an ally or a sympathy of any avail in Europe, were de
prived of the French counteraction of Great Britain and of
the Russian mediation. Large bodies of experienced and ad
mirable troops poured in upon us from Europe, to wage vin
dictive, uncivilized, and conquering war, when all its causes
had ceased. There were no illegal blockades. There was no
belligerent right or pretext for impressment. England had
herself removed all causes or pretexts for war ; and, at the
same time, had become vastly more terrible than she was two
years before, when it was declared. Meantime, American
mariners had done more than any treaty possibly could do to
put an end to impressment for ever. Peace was the obvious
policy of the United States ; for Great Britain threatened and
might execute ruinous warfare. Continued and exacerbated

IMPRESSMENT. - 13
hostilities were, if not her policy, at all events, her determina
tion ; and, from the peace of Paris to that of Ghent, prosecuted
to her constant disgrace, while our terms were accotnmodated
adroitly, and not without dignity, to altered circumstances.
The tone of the American government conformed to circum
stances, but not ignominiously. Still, without the victories of
Plattsburg and New Orleans, the able negotiations of Ghent
would have been less valuable, and the peace much less for
tunate. On the 25th of June, 1814, as the President thought it pro
bable that the late events in France would increase the hostile
pretensions, in case no stipulation could be then obtained from
the British government, either to relinquish the claim to im
press from American vessels, or discontinue the practice, our
ministers were instructed to concur in an article referring the
subject of impressment, together with that of commerce between
the two countries, to a separate negotiation, to be undertaken
immediately or without delay, at some place to be agreed on ;
meantime, each party to retain its own rights, and all Ameri
can citizens impressed into the British service to be forthwith
discharged. Such a treaty would have done little more than
revive the twenty years' fruitless negotiations between the
United States and Great Britain, except only that American
citizens impressed would be forthwith discharged. The reason
for substituting that, little more than cessation of hostilities,
without settlement of the cause of war, was thus given by the
Secretary of State : " The United States, having resisted by
war the practice of impressment, and continued the war till
that practice ceased by peace in Europe, their object has been
essentially obtained for the present ; and it may reasonably be
expected that the arrangements contemplated and provided
for will take effect before a war in Europe will furnish an oc
casion for reviving the practice. Should the arrangement fail
and the practice be again revived, the' United States will again
be at liberty to repel it by war ; and that they will do so can
not be doubted ; for after the proof they have already given
of a firm resistance in that mode, jpersevered in till the prac
tice ceased, it cannot be presumed that the practice will ever

14 ALTERED TERMS. '
be tolerated again. Every day will render it more ineligible
for Great Britain to make the attempt." It was natural and
unavoidable that our government should be somewhat discon
certed by the prodigious successes of Great Britain's conti
nental stipendiaries. By receding from terms of peace stipu
lating acknowledgment of what we went to war for, to mere
peace without any stipulation, even though circumstances
altered the case, we should have been no gainers by war, but
for the naval exploits, modestly pleaded by the instructions
above mentioned, and completed by land-victories. War, indeed,
tnade peace, which, without what had been directly done by
hostilities, would' have been neither honorable, grateful, nor
durable. I have said, in another place, that none of the many
treaties made by this country with Great Britain have been to
our advantage. The only treaty we can boast of is that which
acknowledged our independence. In all the rest. Great Bri
tain has had the best of it, as in all hostilities the advantage
and the glory have been American. Treaties seldom either
make or maintain peace, of which they are the registers.
They are more apt to make war than peace. History abounds
with wars caused by treaties, thoroughly negotiated and care
fully reduced to writing. The treaty of Ghent, stipulating
little more than cessation of hostilities, confirmed by the bat
tles that preceded, accompanied, and followed it, made, and
has kept peace for nearly forty years, which few treaties
would do ; for words originate disputes, mostly put an end
to by blows.
Abandonment of the terms required by all our instructions,
before the change directed by those after the 25th of June,
1814, was suggested by Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Bayard, who,
in their journey from St. Petersburg, by Berlin and Amster
dam, to London, could not fail to be forcibly struck with the
changes throughout Europe, just then foreshadowing the cap
ture of Pal'is and peace there soon, dictated by England. Two
days after Monroe's letter of the 25th of June, 1814, he
therefore wrote again to our ministers, still further yielding
to their urgent representations of the necessity of altered
conditions, according to circumstances. Though England

IMPRESSMENT WAIVED. 15
made the offer to treat, which produced our mission to Gotten
burg, yet she sent no minister there. Our instructions, by
letter of the 27th of June, 1814, alluding to that ominous
omission, and intimating that a dilatory policy was obviously
England's scheme, stated, therefore, that the President had
again taken the subject into consideration, and given to the
views of Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Bayard all the attention they
so strongly required. The result was, instruction to omit any
stipulation on the subject of impressment, if found indispen
sably necessary to terminate it; not, however, recurring to
that expedient till all the efforts of our ministers to adjust the
controversy in a more satisfactory manner had failed. As, in
suffering the treaty to be silent on the subject of impressment,
it was not the intention of the United States to admit the
British claim thereon, it was highly important to preclude
entirely any such inference, by a declaration or protest, in
some form, that the omission should not have such effect or
tendency; and any modification of the practice, to prevent
abuses, being an acknowledgment of the right in Great Bri
tain, was expressly forbid, as wholly inadmissible. Gottenburg
need not be the place of negotiation. Amsterdam and the
Hague were mentioned as preferable to any place in England.
If, however, the commissioners were of opinion that, under
all circumstances, the negotiation in that country would be
attended with advantages outweighing the objections to it,
they were at liberty to transfer it there.
Thus the mission might treat at London for peace, without
any terms beyond putting an end to war. The last letter of
instructions, dated the 11th of August, 1814, reiterating those
of the 25th and 27th of June, and forwarding copies of them,
strongly preferring a treaty with stipulations against impress
ment, or post bellum commission to arrange such stipulations,
still left it optional with the commissioners to conclude a treaty
silent on the subject of impressment; adding, however, that
the government could go no further. "If Great Britain does
not terminate the war on those conditions, she has other ob
jects in view," the instructions added, "than those for which
she had professed to contend, as there is much reason to pre-

16 FISHERIES — LOUISIANA.
sume. Whatever they might be, they would be resisted by
the United States ; and, however severe the conflict, it would
be borne with firmness, and, as was confidently believed, with
success," The letter of instructions of the 27th of June, 1814,
closed with like determination, not without uneasiness ; for the
conjunction was extremely perilous. " Information has been
received," said that letter, "from a quarter deserving atten
tion, that the late events in France have produced such an
effect on the British government as to make it probable that a
demand will be made at Gottenburg to surrender our right to
the fisheries ; to abandon all trade beyond the Cape of Good
Hope ; and to cede Louisiana to Spain. We cannot believe
that such a demand will be made. Should it be, you will of
course treat it as it deserves. These rights must not be
.brought into discussion ; if insisted on, your negotiations will
cease." Impressment was tolerated illegal violence, which that
conflict settled- for ever, never to be practised, attempted, or
endured to any extent again. It was a British pretension
common in England, to obtain sailors, as in France, Prussia,
and almost everywhere else in Europe, seizure of men to compel
them to serve as soldiers was common. Soon , after the ac
knowledgment of the independence of the United States, it
was exercised by the English on board of American vessels,
to retake deserters ; then to take all British seamen ; soon ex
tended to all British subjects; to Irish emigrants from British
dominion ; and at last to Swedes, Danes, and other foreigners
in American vessels. Though not pretended that native Ame
rican citizens could be taken forcibly from American vessels,
yet numbers of them were taken ; and British born naturalized
Americans, England insisted on her right to take as her sub
jects, whose native allegiance could not be thrown off. Be
tween the British claim to indissoluble allegiance, and the
American claim to naturalize foreigners, an issue was formed,
which no argument or arrangement could settle. Resisted as
it was by war by the Americans, and suspended as it was by
the English, making peace without including the Americans,
was the best, if not the only way in which the question could

BRITISH TERMS. 17
be peaceably and permanently disposed of. Great Britain
was in no temper to yield. The American commissioners
went to Ghent, and there held their first conference with the
British without their instructions of the 25th and 27th of
June, 1814, authorizing them to yield, which did not reach
them till after that conference. Their orders were to require
stipulations, by treaty, against the principle of impressment,
and to insist on the cessation of its practice. The British
commissioners followed ours to Ghent, instructed not only
to yield nothing, but to demand large concessions from us.
The Admiral Gambler, who commanded the bombardment
of Copenhagen, well represented the mighty, haughty, and
confident determination of his great country, by enormous
' exactions, to protract the negotiation, while, by invasion. New
York and the war-supporting States should be cut off from
New England, Baltimore captured, or peradventure Washing
ton, Louisiana subdued, and perhaps transferred by Spain to
England, or exchanged for Cuba, and the conquered part of
Massachusetts annexed to British-American dominion, without
suffering the right to it to be discussed. ^ Blows were to be
struck by British forces in America, as fatal and memorable
as those inflicted by their stipendaries on subjugated France.
American republicanism was to be chastised and crushed, like
French jacobinism. Great Britain, greatest of the great Eu
ropean empires, by. paeans of her intangible insularity, inex
haustible credit, and marine ubiquity ; more terrible as assail
ant, less vulnerable as defendant, than any other power ;
concentrated all her force, energy, indignation, and pride, to
expel the United States from the lakes, from the fisheries,
from colonial trade in the East and West Indies, to mutilate
their territories by reduction of one-third, to set up their
Indian borderers as intestine tormentors, to dictate such a
peace as should deter and disable this country from ever again
venturing war with that.
From such an enemy to extort, persuade, or by any means
obtain explicit relinquishment of her alleged right to compel
the service of her subjects, and for that purpose to take them,
wherever found, in American vessels as elsewhere, was impos-
VOL. IV.— 2

18 IMPRESSMENT.
sible — at that moment a hopeless and absurd attempt. But,
after repelling that pretension, as had been done, in arms, to
cease further conflict, when England herself put a stop to her
belligerent right of impressment, was a resulting consumma
tion worth much more than all the bloodshed and all the
charges of the war ; constraining neither belligerent to record,
by treaty stipulation, any mortifying concession. Even with
out our land-victories of Plattsburg and New Orleans, it was
pacification consecrated to us by constant naval triumphs.
Requiring nothing more than peace, without a single point
yielded by Great Britain, was no dishonor to her. Fortu
nately, our successes during the negotiation illustrated the
treaty, and rendered it infinitely more conservative than any
written engagement, however sanctified, as treaties used to be,
by oaths. It put an end to impressment, not only at sea on
board American Vessels, but probably at home in British ports.
The British navy^ to cope hereafter with the American, was
taught that it must add moral to physical strength ; the
British tar must be not only able, rbut willing to serve, and not
merely brave, but cordial in action ; not seized along shore,
forced to ship, and flogged to fight. To the honor of that
great nation, the British navy has been as much improved by
disaster in war, as the American has been established by suc
cess. The good sense of two free nations, kindred, but rival
and, as all experience proves, not because -kindred the less apt
to quarrel, appears in mutual conformity to circumstances;
and great has been the consequent advantage of each to the
other, but most signally of this to that, both by the war for
sailors' rights, and the peace which sailors and soldiers made.
Neither at Ghent, at London, nor at Washington, was peace
made, but 'on the ocean, on the lakes, and in battle-fields.
And, as is common, misfortune has done more to' improve the
British navy, by changing its condition, than success has done
for the American navy, which may yet have to undergo' its
period of tribulation, like American commerce prior to that
war, in order to its greatest advancement.
When the first conference took place, the 8th of August,
1814, at Ghent, the American commissioners, not having re-

INDIAN SINE QUA NON. 19
ceived their instructions of June, 1814, changing those of
April, 1813, and January, 1814, met the British commission
ers, without authority to yield any thing. They were to
require impressment not only to cease in practice, but to be
relinquished in principle ; blockade and search to be defined
and arranged ; . and to. demand, though not peremptorily, in
demnity for spoliations. The British commissioners preluded
the conference with expression of the sincere and earnest desire
of their government that the negotiation might result in a solid
peace, honorable to both parties. Furthermore, they declared
that no events which had occurred since the first proposal for
the negotiation had altered the pacific disposition of their
government, or varied its views as to the terms on which they
were wiUing to conclude the peace. Extremely dishonorable
and impracticable terms thereupon demanded, sine qua non, at
that first conference, showed that British ideas, then, of solid
and honorable peace, contemplated the United States yielding
the point for which they went to war, and making other humi
liating concessions, satisfied if their independence was not de
manded, but left with, ho*(rever, reduced territories, restricted
commerce, no fisheries, and enfeebled ability for hostilities.
They were to be left sovereign, but no more. Not to be recolo-
nized was as much as they had any right to expect ; but pun
ished, mutilated, humbled, and enfeebled they must be. Such
was the prevailing English sentiment, and their minister's
determination. Otherwise their preliminary professions and
exactions at Ghent were mere double-dealing contrivances to
provoke rejection and protract war. It must have been con
fidently believed that the United States would yield to the
enormous demands made, if those demands were made in good
faith. As consigned to the protocol settled by both parties
they were, that peace should be extended to the Indian allies
of Great Britain, and that the boundary of Indian territory
should be distinctly marked out, as a permanent barrier be
tween the dominions of Great Britain and the United States.
The arrangement on that subject was an ultimatum, sine qua
non. It was the preliminary basis of any peace. All discus
sion would be fruitless, the British commissioners snid, without

20 FIRST CONFERENCE.
first settling that basis. Although the British mentioned im
pressment as their first subject, yet the Americans did not
understand them to intimate that the British government pro
posed that as a point they were particularly desirous of discus
sing ; but, as it had occupied a prominent place in the dispute
between the two countries,, it necessarily attracted notice,- and
was considered one that would come under discussion. But that
not dwelt upon by the Americans, hardly adverted to again,
never discussed or considered at all, the subject of Indian bound
ary, indistinctly stated when first proposed, the British expla
nations of it obscure, always given with reluctance, and from
the first the requirement declared to be sine qua non, so as to
render any discussion of it unprofitable, until it was admitted
as a basis, was the first, and for a long time the only question.
As explained and connected with the right of sovereignty
ascribed to the Indians over the country, that peremptory and
preliminary ultimatum amounted to the absolute cession of
American rights both of sovereignty and soil. Impressment
discarded, search, blockade, commerce, scarcely alluded to,
and never considered, the double "sine qua non 'for Indian
peace and Indian boundaries usurped the whole conference,
not to be discussed, but conceded. To that the British, at the
first meeting, added, as another demand, a revision of the
boundary line between the British and American territories,
with a view to prevent further uncertainty and dispute ; and
they gave notice, that the Americans would not be allowed the
privilege of landing and drying fish within the territorial ju
risdiction of Great Britain, without an equivalent. Announcing
those terms, the British commissioners assumed the initiative
as complainants or demandants at the first conference, which,
after that preliminary ultimatum, was adjourned till next day,
without any statement of the views or terms of the American
mission. That evening, after the first and startling . conference, they
received their altered instructions of June, 1814, which,
though nothing was said as to Indians, or boundaries, or as
to fisheries, except positive orders not even to discuss them,
authorized the Amerioan ministers to make peace without any

SECOND CONFERENCE. 21
provision for impressment, commerce, or indemnity — to make
mere peace by merely putting an end to war. For that con
clusion the British were by no means willing. They had not
then heard of even Brown's successes in Canada. Prevost's
reverses in Vermont did not occur, or Ross's repulse ahd death
at Baltimore, till some, weeks afterwards ; nor the censures
teeming from most of the capitals of Europe on the, solitary
British triumph that year in the sack of Washington. The
information of Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Bayard that England
would yield nothing, and that the United States must consent
to peace without any British concession, or undergo furious
hostilities, being confirmed by the President's directions to the
mission conforming to that altered state of hopes, fears, and
affairs, our ministers asked for a meeting next day, the 9th
of August, for conversation, which took place, but with no
improvement on the day before. The British were lofty and
inflexible. Extremely anxious to prevent the sudden close of
the , congress, after diffidently submitting for consideration a
definition of blockade, and, as far as might be mutually agreed,
a definition of other neutral and belligerent rights, together
with claims for indemnity in certain cases of capture and
seizure, the Americans invited statement and discussion of the
British points, which the Americans, declaring that they had
no instructions, yet were willing to submit to their government
for consideration. Striving to no purpose to persuade the
British that the American government had always treated the
Indians kindly, always endeavored to be at peace with them,
and had appointed a commission which had then probably
made peace, our ministers did not hesitate to- say, that they
should deeply deplore a rupture of the negotiation on any
point ; that it was their anxious desire to employ all possible
means to avert an event so serious in its consequences; and
that they had not been without hopes a discussion might cor
rect the effect of any erroneous impression which the British
government might have received on the subject which they
proposed as a preliminary basis.
Thus the two first conferences were extremely unpromising.
The questions which the American mission crossed the Atlantic

22 THIRD MEETING.
to discuss were not allowed by the British to be argued, but
supplanted by unexpected and wholly inadmissible British
demands. Pursuant to agreement at the second pieeting,
there was a third, on the 10th of August, not to propose or
debate any thing, but merely to submit statements, in order
to settle a protocol of the proceedings of the two first con
ferences ; and even that proved no easy matter. The British
objected to the insertion of their answer to the American
question respecting the effect of the proposed Indian boundary,
and the statement that the second conference was adjourned
until they could consult their own government. The Ameri
cans openly, earnestly^ and anxiously deprecated a rupture of
the negotiation, for any cause, on any point; entreated, though
uninstructed, discussion of whatever novel and unexpected
demand the British might make, and offered to refer it to their
government for consideration. The British would not discuss
any maritime question till their territorial exaction was first
entertained ; insisting on some provisional arrangement of
that to precede all mention of any other subject ; nor must it
be consigned to the registry of a protocol that they wanted
time to consult their government about it. They were ready
for rupture, without hesitation. Finally, an abridged protocol
was settled, but much changed from that proposed by the
Americans. The British despatched, that- evening, a special
messenger to London ; and, after ten days' delay, the suc
cessful and comm&,nding British prime minister, who had de
throned Napoleon, appeared at Ghent, peremptorily to remove
every doubt as to British ideas of solid peace with the United
States on terms equally honorable to both parties. They wei:e
so degrading and insulting, that, while at Ghent they dis
abused our mission of all delusive iopes of peace, when pub
lished at Washington, they roused and nearly united the whole
American nation to the necessary war-spirit, and, when repub
lished in Europe, induced the allies of Great Britain to contrast
her lofty pretensions with her frequent defeats.
Offensive as the substance of these demands was, there
was in the manner of their presentment remarkable indica
tion of that British haughtiness, which insular security from

CASTLEREAGH AT GHENT. 23
attack and ages of successful warfare have together impressed
on the English character, both individual and national, mani
fested throughout Europe and, America, Asia and Africa.
Lord Castlereagh arrived from London in Ghent the night
of the 18th of August, 1814, on his way to Brussels and the
Congress of Vienna, where all the sovereigns, great and small,
of Europe were to assemble, in congress, to distribute the spoils
of their victories. Without British gold, British insular con
stancy better than gold, and, it may be added, without such a"
prime minister as Castlereagh, less adroit than Walpole, less
eloquent than either Pitt, less wise than many other British
statesmen, but more resolute and fearless than most, and more
fortunate than all. Great Britain's stipendiaries would probably
have never met their paymaster at Vienna, to distribute those
spoils. His transit by Ghent was to enable that polite, fear
less, haughty, exalted, and fortunate minister of Britain, with
revengeful contempt for America, in person and by peremptory
order, in face of all Europe, and on his way to the congress
of all its sovereigns at Vienna, to dictate humbling peace to
Madison, as at Chatillon, not long before, he did to Bona
parte, when, periaps, Wellington hesitated. As the American
commissioners had, perhaps, affected to be surprised at the
terms obscurely, if not diffidently, laid down as the British
ultimatum, announced at the first conference, the Irish ruler
retorted what he deemed impertinent surprise by loftier
exaction. On the 12th of August, when the British mission
proposed a suspension of the conferences until they received
an answer from their government, it was understood that
each party might call a meeting whenever either had any pro
position to submit. Accordingly, at one o'clock on the 19th
of August, the British secretary summoned the Americans to
meet the British in two hours, that d^iy at three o'clock,
having received, the secretary said, their further instructions
that morning. Lord Castlereagh, surrounded at breakfast by
numerous attendants, civil and military, on the prime minister
of really the greatest, in his and their opinion, transcendently
the greatest empire of the world, in the soft and passionless mood
by which his lordship's imperious commands were imparted, inti-

24 BRITISH TERMS.
mated that American surprise must be met by harder condi
tions. A meeting was to be forthwith called, and peremptorily,
not to modify or mitigate, but increase and specify demand? ;
not to make peace, but break up the negotiation, unless the
Americans submitted at once. They dreaded a rupture. What
had Great Britain to dread? Whatever exteniiation there
might be for English impressment of their natives from Ame
rican vessels,, seldom has grosser outrage been perpetrated than
the acknowledged seizure, confinement, and compulsion to fight
against their country, of several hundred unquestionably Ame
ricans ; nor ever was viler enormity than arming the ruthless
savages to murder Americans resisting such a wrong. But when
the two missions met, that afternoon, the British began by sur
prise that the American government should expect that of Great
Britain would leave their Indian allies, in their comparatively
weak situation, exposed to American resentment. The least
Great Britain could demand was, that the American ministers,
without instructions, should sign a provisional article, admit
ting the principle, subject to the ratification of their govern
ment. On their assent or refusjil to admit such an article
would depend, said the British, by Castlereagh's fresh orders,
the continuance or suspension of the negotiation. It was a
sine qua non that the Indians should be included in the paci
fication, and, as incident thereto, the boundaries of the two
countries permanently established, by revision to cut off
about a hundred thousand citizens of the United States and
one-third of their territories. They were not only to keep no
armed naval force on the western lakes, from Lake Ontario to
Lake Superior, nor dny fortified or military post or establish
ment on the shores of those lakes, but to discontinue those
then there. The boundary line west of Lake Superior, and
thence to the Mississippi, Was to be revised, and the treaty-
right of Great Britain to the navigation of the Mississippi con
tinued. A direct communication from Halifax and the pro
vince of New Brunswick to Quebec must be secured to Great
Britain by cession of that portion of the district of Maine, in
the State of Massachusetts, which intervenes between New
Brunswick and Quebec. The islands in the Passamaquoddy

RUPTURE. 25
bay, lately captured from the United Spates, belonging of right
to Great Britain, were not to be subjects of discussion. They
belonged to England, said one of the British commissioners,
as much as Northamptonshire. When our ministers inquired
whether the interdiction of any naval force by the United
States on the lakes or their shores was, like that concerning
the Indians, sine qua non, the abrupt reply, declining more
explicit answer, was, that the British ministers had given thc
Americans one sine qua non, and when they had disposed of
that it would be time enough to give them another. Finally,
after all this catalogue of insolent, absurd, and ignominious
requisitions, reverting to the preliminary Indian sine qua
non, the British concluded by stating that, if the conferences
should be suspended by the Americans refusing to agree to
such an article, without having obtained further instructions
from their government. Great Britain would not consider her
self bound to abide by the terms which she then offered, but
at liberty to vary and regulate her demands according to sub
sequent events, and in such manner as the state of the war at
the time of renewing the negotiations might warrant.
Rupture contemptuously provoked, conquests threatened by
barbarous warfare officially declared, at the same time, from
Admiral Cochrane's ship, near Washington, and executed
there, unless the American ministers of peace submitted to
what the American executive had no constitutional power,
if the inclination, to accept, in another volume, I have cha
racterized, as a huge British blunder, which excited in the
American mission indignation as fortunately patriotic and con
servative as that which their communication of such igno
minious terms spread throughout the American nation. " We
need hardly say," was their official letter of the 19th of Au
gust, 1814, " that the demands of Great Britain will receive
from us a unanimous and decided negative." Before the con
ference closed, the Americans asked the British, and they pro
mised, to reduce their proposals to writing, before the Ameri
cans answered them. Castlereagh's insolent absurdities were
accordingly despatched in a note delivered on the 20th, but
d3,ted the 19th of August. Its closing menace, to vary the

26 NEGOTIATION SUSPENDED.
terms as the state of the war, whenever conferences were
resiimed, might rend.er^'advisable, signified, in flagrant antici
pation, Ross's conquests in the centre, Prevost's in the north,
Pakenham^ in the south,, Louisiana invaded and subdued, New
England separated from the war-suppocrting States — in a word,
the reverse of all the American triumphs then in progress.
There was no protocol of the conference of the 19th of
August, 1814 ; nor any. other meeting of the commissioners
during more than three of the ensuing months. Fjom the
19th of August to the 1st of December, they did but angrily
write at each other. On the 24th of August, 1814, while the
British invaders were sacking the American metropolis, our
commissioners, in an admirable letter to the British, answered
theirs of the 19th of that month, and proposed the basis of
peace, to which the latter eventually^came. The lake demand,
the Indian demand, and the boundary, with eloquent ¦ calm
ness, of invincible repugnance, were not merely rejected, but
in high-toned repudiation of all the British exactions. To
strike, for ever, the American military flag on the lakes, Ame
rica never would consent. The ministers had no authority to
cede any part ofthe territory' of theUnited States, and to no
stipulations to that effect would they subscribe. " The condi
tions proposed by Great Britain," added the American note,
"have no relation to the subsisting difficulties between the two
countries ; they are inconsistent with acknowledged principles
of public law ; they are founded neither on reciprocity nor any
of the usual bases of negotiation, neither on that of uti pos
sidetis or status ante helium. They would inflict the most
vital injury on the Uiiited States, by dismembering their ter
ritory, by arresting their natural growth and increase of popu
lation, and by leaving their northern and western frontier
equally exposed to British invasion and to Indian aggression..
They are, above all, dishonorable to the United States, in de
manding from them to abandon territory and a portion of their
citizens, to admit a foreign interference in their domestic con
cerns, and to cease to exercise their natural rights on their
own shores and in their own waters. A, treaty conducted on
such terms would be but an armistice. It cannot be supposed

LETTER OE AUGUST TWENTY-FOURTH. 27
that America would long submit . to terms so injurious and
degrading. It is impossible, in the natural course of events,
that she should not, at the first favorable opportunity^ recur to
arms for the recovery of her territory, of her rights, of her
honor. Instead of settling existing difficulties, such a peace
would only create new causes of war, sow the seeds of a per
manent hatred, and lay the foundation of hostilities for an
indefinite period. It is, therefore, with deep regret," said the
American ministers, "that they saw that other views were
entertained by the British government, and that new and un
expected pretensions were raised, which, if persisted in, must
oppose an insuperable obstacle to a pacification. It is not
necessary to refer such demands to the American government
for instruction. They will only be a fit subject of deliberation
when it becomes necessary to decide on the expediency of an
absolute surrender of national independence."
Immense as Great Britain then was, formidable, terrible,
and threatening; defeated and divided as the United States
had been, with a part of Massachusetts subjugated, and nearly
all New England disaffected, if not treasonable, that noble
letter was a declaration of independence, entitling its signers
to national gratitude and historical illustration. But what
most signalizes their letter of that crisis is that, together with
wise defiance of the British demands, it adroitly embodied the
instructions of June, in a well-couched suggestion of pacifica
tion, on the basis which the British eventually conceded, but
not till after all their mighty projects of conquest and punish
ment were completely discomfited. "Essentially pacific,"
said that suggestion, "from her political institutions, from the
habits of her citizens, and from her physical situation, America
reluctantly engaged in the war. She wishes for peace ; but
she wishes for it on those terms of reciprocity, honorable to
both countries, which can alone render it permanent. The
causes of the war between the United States and Great
Britain having disappeared by the maritime pacifications of
Europe, the government of the United States does not desire
to continue it in defence of abstract principles, which have, for
the present) ceased to have any practical effect. The Ame-

28 CORRESPONDENCE.
rican ministers have accordingly been instructed to agree to its
termination, both parties restoring whatever territory they may
have taken, and both reserving all their rights- in relation to
their respective seamen. To make the peace between the two
nations solid and permanent, the American ministers are also
instructed and prepared to enter into the most amicable dis
cussion on all those points on which differences or uncertainty
existed, and which might hereafter tend, in any degree, to
interrupt the harmony of the two countries, without, however,
making the conclusion of the peace at all to depend upon a
successful result of the discussion."
After the invariable ten or twelve days' time to send from
Ghent to London for instructions, the British commissioners,
on the 4th of September, 1814, replied, justifying the Indian
sine qua non by arguing, and not without reason, that, since
the United States had invaded Canada with declared inten
tions of its conquest and annexation, the American policy could
no longer be deemed pacific or defensive, but aggrandizing, as
proved by their Indian aggressions and by attempts on Florida
and Canada ; and, after a full exposition, the note concluded,
of the sentiments of his majesty's government, leaving it to
the American plenipotentiaries to determine whether they
were then ready to continue the negotiations, disposed to refer
to their government for further instructions, or, lastly, whether
they would take upon themselves the responsibility of breaking
off the negotiation altogether. The American negotiators an
swered this last communication by a somewhat extensive argu
ment ; replying to the threatening conclusion of the British
note by adhering to their determination not to refer to the
American government demands pronounced inadmissible : but
declaring their readiness to continue the negotiation, and dis
cuss all the points of difference. On the 19th of September,
1814, the British note declared that its authors were instructed
not to sign a treaty of peace, unless the Indians were included,
and restored to all the rights, privileges, and territories which
they enjoyed in 1811. From that point the British pleni
potentiaries declared that they could not depart; but they
disavowed that the lake demand was sine qua non, and

CORRESPONDENCE. 29
offered to discuss the boundary question. The Americans, on
the 26th of September, 1814, sent a note, largely arguing the
Indian question and some others. On the 8th of October,
1814, the British, by an angry note, presented their ultimatum
on that question : awaiting, they said, with anxiety the answer
of the American plenipotentiaries, on which their continuance
at this place will depend : reiterating with much aggravation
the charge of American aggrandizement, in the illegal acqui
sition of Louisiana and of Florida, on the most frivolous pre
tences ; and obviously indicating that, if Louisiana or New
Orleans had been taken by the British invaders during that
negotiation, they were not to be restored by the treaty of
Ghent. Louisiana, part of Massachusetts (which they eventu
ally got, in 1842, by the treaty of Washington), nearly all
the West beyorid the Ohio, the fisheries exclusively, naviga
tion of the Mississippi, and interdiction of the United States
from all Indian purchases, were, till October, 1814, the Eng
lish basis of the peace of Ghent. The American note of the
13th of October, 1814, refuting the British remarks concern
ing Louisiana and Florida, accepted the British Indian ulti
matum of the 8th of that month. The previous exaction
that the Americans should not make purchases from the In
dians being relinquished, was no more than a reciprocal stipu
lation, English as well as American, to put an end, immedi
ately after the ratification of the treaty, to hostilities with all
the tribes or nations of Indians with whom they were at war,
and forthwith restore to such tribes or nations all the posses
sions, rights, and privileges which they enjoyed or were enti
tled to in 1811, previous to such hostilities. Not including,
said the American note, the Indian tribes or parties to the
¦peace, and leaving the United States free to effect its object
in the mode consonant to the relations which they had con
stantly maintained with those tribes ; partaking, also, of the
nature of an amnesty, and being at the same time reciprocal,
it accorded precisely with the views uniformly expressed, by
the American ministers, of placing' those *ribes precisely and
in every respect in the same situation as that in which they
stood before the commencement of hostilities. The article

30 UTI POSSIDETIS.
proposing only what the American mission so often assured
the British would necessarily follow, and, as was highly pro
bable, had already preceded peace between the United States
and Great Britain, they did not object to admit it in substance,
subject to the approbation or rejection of their government,
which, having given no instructions, could not be bound by
any article their ministers might admit on the subject. It
was, however, accepted by the Americans, not without much
hesitation, as the only alternative for a rupture of the negotia
tion, and with a perfect understanding that their government
was free to reject what their ministers had no authority to
subscribe. That ultimatum, sine qua hon, modified so as to
seem harmless, formed an epoch in the negotiation, for the
first time putting on a pacific aspect.
Throughout August and September and till late in October,
there was no prospect of peace. Neither party knew of what
had taken place in America, beyond Brown's Canadian battles
of the 5th and 26th of July, and the capture of Washington
the 24th of August. Still, the British demands and tone con
tinued offensively inadmissible. Their note of the 8th of Oc-
tober was angry, reproachful, irritating, and peremptory, The
American answer of the 13th of October, rather than rupture
the negotiation, reluctantly acquiesced in a questionable ulti
matum, sine qua non, on a subject concerning which our minis
ters were without instructions ; but with that acquiescence
coupled a request for the British project of a treaty embracing
all the points ; engaging to deliver immediately the American
counter-project. Just then the British ministry got tidings of
their capture of Eastport and Moose island, by the tame sub
mission of the inhabitants to subjugation, and the base welcome
of hostile invasion by the constituted authorities of that dis
honored State. Taking advantage, thereupon, of an expres
sion in the American note of the 24th of August, that the
conditions proposed by Great Britain were not founded on any
of the usual bases of negotiation, neither uti possidetis nor
status ante bellum,, the British note of the 13th of October,
agreeing to every thing else in question, without argument or
expatiation, briefly,, with seeming amity,, artfully accepted the

UTI POSSIDETIS. 31
basis of uti possidetis, as if proposed by the Americans, who
had positively, frequently, and constantlyrejected.it. Im
pressment the British agreed to leave, as suggested by the
Americans, on the 24th of August, where left practically by
the maritime pacification of Europe. The fisheries they re
ferred to their first notice concerning them. As to the fron
tier boundaries, they anticipated no objection ; and then said,
in regard to other boundaries, the American commissioners
appearing in some measure to object to the British proposition,
as not being on the basis of uti possidetis, the British were
willing to treat on that basis. They trusted that the Ameri
cans would show, by their ready acceptance of it, that they
clearly appreciated the moderation of his majesty's govern
ment, in so far consulting the honor and fair pretensions of
the United States, as, in the relative situation of the two
countries, to authorize such a proposition. The American
note of the 21st of October, of course, instantly repelled the
uti possidetis, as all their notes had done, and repeated their
request for the British project. of a treaty, offering to exchange
the American project simultaneously. After ten days, on the
31st of October, the British replied, requiring the American
counter-project, before the British would enter on the discus
sion of the American objection to the British project. Having
waived etiquette as to the communication of projects, and their
ultimatum as to pacification of the Indians having been ac
cepted, their prior British nOte of the 8th of October brought
forward, they said, all the propositions they had to offer ;
they had no further demands to make ; no other stipulations on
which they were instructed to insist ; and they were empowered
to sign a treaty of peace forthwith, in conformity with those
stated in their former note.
This resolution of all disputed questions into uti possidetis
was no doubt caused by British conquests in Massachusetts,
and the acquiescence, which Lord Liverpool stated, in the
House of Lords, the conquerors found in the inhabitants. On
the lllh of July, 1814, pursuant to notice officially given to
the governor of Massachusetts, through the local authorities,
the British took possession of Eastport and Moose island.

32 UTI POSSIDETIS.
Their notice declared that the British government intended to
take possession of the islands in Passamaquoddy bay, in con
sequence of their being considered within the British bounda
ries : but that there was no intention of offensive operations
against the people of the continent, who would not be dis
turbed, if remaining quiet. The people remained only too
quiet, under their military and civil leaders of the State of
Massachusetts, actively and despicably willing to welcome their
British conquerors. More willing submission by many of the
vile multitude of titled and ennobled French, who welcomed
the Russians and Prussians to Paris, did not disgrace that
city, than the British conquerors met at Eastport. Early in
September, they completed the conquest of all the islands in
Passamaquoddy bay, Washington county, comprehending a
hundred miles in Maine : by which shameful American sub
serviency the British government were, not without reason,
encouraged to delude or terrify the American mission at
Ghent into a treaty stipulating the uti possidetis. The British
ministry were well advised, by their military agents, that the
American inhabitants cordially welcomed British subjugation
of territories to which one of their Ghent ministers petulantly
declared they had as good a right as to Northamptonshire.
The army, under Governor-General Prevost, co-operating
with the fleet on Lake Champlain, on the first of September,
1814, began its movements from Canada towards Crown Point,
confident, as ordered from London, that it would be able to
penetrate far enough into the State of New York to separate
all New England from the war-supporting States. On the Gth
of September, 1814, the army which, led by General Ross and
Admiral Cockburn, captured Washington the 24th of August,
proceeded, with a large naval force, to the attack of Baltimore.
That army and fleet were destined, after the capture of Wash- '
ington and Baltimore, with large reinforcements from Europe,
to invade Louisiana, seize and hold New Orleans, which was
deemed the easiest of those three conquests. Louisiana, with
much, of the cotton-growing region, might have been held by
the captors, or transferred by them to Spain in exchange for
Cuba, claimed by England as her due for the aid she gave

UTI POSSIDETIS. 33
Spain in expelling the French and saving the Spanish king
dom. Such were the tempting British inducements for making
peace at Ghent by a treaty leaving to each belligerent the pos
sessions it should happen to hold when war ended. Unsuccess
ful as the United States had been in their military attempts in
America, and triumphant as England was in her European
hostilities, the British ministry were not without reason for
considering such terms as solid peace dishonorable to neither
party. They left America the naval palm, which was an equi
valent for many territorial concessions. When, therefore, the
British ultimatum, at Ghent, of a provisional Indian article
was yielded by the American mission, subject to the sanction
of their government, the British mission, waiving almost every
thing else, and refraining from all reproachful and irritating
discussion, with bland assurances of their readiness to sign a
treaty at once, asked for nothing more than the uti possidetis.
Whatever might be the result of invasions in other places,
of New York and Louisiana, incursions to Washington and
Baltimore, a high-way from Halifax to Quebec was already
captured and held by British troops. In their letter of the 8th
of October, 1814, the British mission dwelt with reproachful
emphasis on the protest of the Legislature of Massachusetts,
in June, 1813, as undeniable proof of the, avowed design of
the American government to conquer and annex Canada.
British right to counteract such American aggrandizement was
triumphantly pleaded as an American confession. The con
quered part of Massachusetts was British territory by prior
title, by present conquest, and by the will of the people there.
The American mission were sharply told, at Ghent, that it was
not debatable ground. In all their prior notes, the British
mission disclaimed all desire or idea of territorial acquisition.
But, when assured that disaffected Massachusetts joyfully
yielded part of her soil, that the inhabitants with alacrity took
the oath of British allegiance, that the government of the
State favored the British conquest, and that other British
forces were marching, with every prospect of success, upon
other parts of the United States, the Indians having been pro
vided for, and all maritime questions disposed of, nought
Vol. IV. — 3

34 SECOND DESPATCHES.
remained SO important or captivating as, that each belbgerent
should, by treaty, be entitled to keep what he had taken.
The peace and the treaty would take complexion from military
success. Brown's brilliant battles in Canada were known;
but they were barren of all but glory, and the only territorial
conquests were known to be British.
On the 17th of October, 1814, intelligence reached England
of the British reverses, on the 11th of September, at Pitts
burgh and Baltimore ; armies and fleets all defeated. Still,
by their note of the 21st of October, the British mission
pressed uti possidetis. But just then, the American mission
had, however imperfect yet encouraging reports of Ame
rican victories in September. When, therefore, on the 24th
of October, they answered the British note of the 21st of that
month, for the first time during the negotiations, the American
tone, always firm, rose to comminatory. The British, in Au
gust, had threatened that, unless we yielded the Indian sine
qua non as a preliminary, negotiation must cease. The Ame
ricans, in October, retorted that its continuance depended
on British adherence to their promises to refrain from all de
mand for territory repeatedly rejected on our part. American
victories, British opposition, and abortion of the Congress of
Vienna, had, by that time, wrought great change in the Eng
lish policy. To the American peremptory rejection of the
British possessory basis, with warning that its reiteration
would dose the negotiation, the British mission, on the 31st
of October, replied that they were authorized to waive the
etiquette and advantage of a prior American communication ;
that they had no further demands to make ; all they required
was delivery of the American counter-project, in the form of
articles or otherwise, before the British could take into consi
deration the American objection to one essential part of the
British project.
To that stage the negotiations had reached ; sine qua non
was withdrawn; uti possidetis was rejected; the threatening
appearances of August had disappeared, when the cartel brig
Chauncey, detained at Ostend, was despatched for America
with the second and more pacific advices, as mentioned in a

BRITISH PROCRASTINATION. 35
former volume of this Historical Sketch. Upon the first
despatches, the President, meantime, had taken his stand, by
publishing them through Congress, with an appeal to his
country, to England, and to the world. On the 19th of
October, the Secretary of State wrote to inform our' ministers
at Ghent of that exposure of British pretension, and that
several copies of the correspondence were forwarded for dis
semination in Europe. There, as in America and in England,
that bold departure from ordinary diplomatic routine worked
the desired effects. The British parliament and people, and
the American nation, were shocked at intolerant terms, which,
as Alexander Baring said in Parliament, were as absurd,
without victory to sustain them, as they were unjust at all
events. On the 25th of October, 1814, our commissioners wrote
from Ghent, " Our request for a project of a treaty has been
eluded, and, in their last note, the British plenipotentiaries
have advanced a demand, not only new and inadmissible, but
totally incompatible with their uniform previous declarations,
that Great Britain had no view, in this negotiation, to any
acquisition of territory. It will be perceived that this new
pretension was brought forward immediately after the accounts
had been received that a British force had taken possession of
all that part of the State of Massachusetts situate east of the
Penobscot River. The British plenipotentiaries have inva
riably referred to their government every note received from
us, and waited the return of their messenger, before they have
transmitted to us their answer ; and the whole tenor of the
correspondence, as well as the manner in which it has been
conducted on the part of the British government, have tended
to convince us that their policy has been delay. Their motives
for this policy we presume to have been to keep the alternative
of peace, or of a protracted war in their own hands, until the
general arrangement of European affairs should be accom
plished at the Congress of Vienna, and until they could
avail themselves of the advantages they have anticipated
from the success of their arms during the present campaign in
America."

36 PEACE IN EUROPE.
Great Britain, by superior resources, insular power, and re
presentative government, had reduced the Old World to peace;
for which the advocates of Continental war had promised re
lief, repose, and prosperity. Incredible expenditures, taxes
which only popular representation could extract from any na
tion, overcame French immensity of despotism. But, when
the day of respite and reckoning came, there was no relief
from inordinate taxation ; which, on the contrary, was aggra
vated by an income-tax, galling the necks of the well-born,
yoked to burdens mostly borne by the mass. Income-tax
argued peace with America; for, with peace, relief from it
was promised. Why should war be protracted with a distant
people, not from any maritime dispute, but for territory, for
Indians, and for vengeance — to remove Madison and to punish
democracy ? The attempt had already proved disastrous. Bri
tish defeats disparaged Great Britain at the Congress Of Vi
enna. There was no plea for war, unless at sea, to reverse
admiralty direction to decline equal combat with American
cruisers, of whom dread had become the order of the day and
nightmare of the sailor's hammock in the once mighty wooden
walls of Old England. "Are we," said that sturdy opposition
by which in turns party in England often saves the country,
" are we to abandon the sceptre of the seas, at the same time
that we endure enormous burdens to conquer more transatlan
tic territory? The infatuation which lost us our American
colonies — is it to establish manufactures, discipline armies,
and create a navy there ?"
Both missions at Ghent, American nationality, British good
sense, all European perception, felt the total change in a con
flict, when Great Britain endeavored, by territorial conquests,
to crush American efforts to free the ocean. Mr. Adams wrote
from Ghent to his father, the 27th of October : " The situation
in which I am placed often brings to my mind that in which
you were situated in 1782. I am called to support the same
interests, and, in many respects, the same identical points and
questions. The causes in which the present war originated,
and for which it was on our part waged, will scarcely form the
most insignificant item in the negotiation for peace. It is not

TERMS OP PEACE. 37
impressment and unalienable allegiance, blockades and orders
in council, colonial trade and maritime rights, or belligerent
and neutral collisions of any kind, that form the subjects of
our discussion. It is the boundary, the fisheries, and the
Indian savages." Calhoun said the same in Congress. It
was obvious to all, in both Europe and America, that Great
Britain was trying, in 1815, to do what she totally failed to
effect in 1782. Public sentiment was against that ' attempt,
which, fortunately for this country, elicited national prowess
to corroborate the otherwise less honorable or durable treaty
of peace. The might of Great Britain never was mightier
than in 1814. With a revenue of five hundred millions of
dollars, a fleet of a thousand vessels of war, she unfurled the
British banner in victory, during the same twelve months, at
Vittoria, at Toulouse, at Washington, and at Waterloo. But,
just at that epoch of tremendous culmination, when fortune
frowned on the same glorious banner at Plattsburg, at Balti
more, and at New Orleans, was the very moment for this
country to make peace ; and, by transcendant good luck, our
mission at Ghent, after resisting, not unterrified, nor quite
unshrinking, the demands by which the British prime minister
in person there stirred up American independence, the terms
of treaty ultimately adopted by Great Britain were pre
sented by the American mission, the 24th of August, while
the only successful British army in America was sacking
Washington. In a former volume, I have stated how firmly our ministers,
at the outset of their negotiation, resisted even a merely formal
concession to the British. I have, since its publication, been
assured that, with the first despatches sent by Mr. Dallas,
breathing nothing but war and destruction, Mr. Clay wrote a
private letter- to Mr. Monroe, giving his reasons for believing
that peace would soon take place, and upon terms satisfactory
to him and those who with him assumed all the responsibilities
of the conflict : confident that England would recede from her
exactions. When thCvOarly conferences were most hostile,
and the British ultimatum was thrown on the table with haughty
defiance, Mr. Bayard asked if they had any more ultimatums.

38 CONGRESS OF VIENNA.
While the American and British commissioners were nego
tiating at Ghent, another and more imposing congress was
convened at Vienna, of which a cursory view belongs to this
narrative. From Ghent, Lord Castlereagh proceeded to Vi
enna, the representative of the only one of the crowned heads
there assembled not at peace with all the world. The war of
Great Britain with the United States was the only hostile
conflict which disturbed otherwise universal peace, restored by
brief and final outburst of universal hostilities, the last act of
a long era of exterminations. England appeared at Vienna
still and alone belligerent, and that for the dominion of the
seas. The American ministers at Ghent had no correspond
ence with Vienna. Captain Shaler, sent with them for any
clandestine purpose, was to have gone to Vienna, ostensibly as
a mere private traveller, but in fact as the American secret
agent there ; but he was not sent ; and the only reliable infor
mation of the American mission at Ghent was what little Mr.
Crawford could furnish from Paris. It was obvious, however,
that the Congress of Vienna was a convention of crowned
heads which could never harmonize. The Emperor of Austria,
at his own expense, entertained all the sovereigns, princes,
ministers, and their generals, with one hundred thousand
attendants crowding his capital. The surface of their con
gress was splendid ; but furies of dissension and overreaching
serpents lay beneath the roses. Meeting was put off from
day to day, week to week, and month to month, from Septem
ber, the appointed time, nor was organization possible, till
Napoleon called to order. An official letter from the Ameri
can mission at Ghent, of the 25th of October, thus intimated
their impressions r —
" Although the sovereigns who had determined to be present at the Con
gress of Vienna had been several weeks assembled there, it does not appear
by the last advices from that place that the Congress has been formally
opened. On the contrary, by a declaration from the plenipotentiaries of the
powers who were parties to the peace of Paris, of the 30th of May last, the
opening of the Congress appears to have been postponed till the first of
November. A memorialis said to have been presented by the French am
bassador, Talleyrand, in which it is declared that France, having returned
to the boundaries in 1792, can recognise none of the aggrandizements of

CONGRESS OF VIENNA. 39
the other great powers of Europe since that period, although not intending
to oppose them by war.
" These circumstances indicated that the new basis for the political sys
tem of Europe wilt not be speedily settled, as had been expected. The
principle thus assumed by France is very extensive in its effects, and opens
a field for negotiation much wider than had been anticipated. We think it
does not promise an aspect of immediate tranquillity to this continent, and
that it will disconcert, particularly, the measures which Great Britain has
been taking with regard to this country, among others, and to which she
has attached, apparently, great importance."
France, conquered, paralysed, and mortified, unable to dis
play armed force at Vienna, appeared there by a principle
more powerful than many armies ; and America too, though
unknown by representation among the potentates, hovered
over their heads by another mighty principle. Maritime
emancipation from British sway, from her sea-laws and
industrial monopolies, were ardent desires of all Europe and
settled determinations of many sovereigns. They felt that
their commercial interests were identical with those of the
United States, and that the American flag was triumphantly
vindicating their cause from British supremacy. Europe, not
by alliances or treaties, but virtually, divided itself into con
tinental and maritime, as soon as Napoleon was dethroned, by
forcing his continental system ; and the greatest continental
power was at the head of the commercial system. The Em
peror of Russia was resolved to maintain peace and liberalize
commerce. Nor was there a nation represented at Vienna
that had not humiliating recollections of English maritime
wrongs. Holland, Denmark, Naples, Spain, France, all had
suffered by English sea-domination. The transatlantic people
therefore, republican though they were, and unseen by any
agent at Vienna, were felt there by their cause and the tri
umphs achieved by themselves in its vindication. Without
those triumphs by sea and land the cause would have been
less welcome. But they gave it weight ; and Ghent was influ
enced from Vienna. After the treaty was signed, Mr. Galla
tin wrote to Mr. Monroe that "the British government long
fluctuated on the question of peace. A favorable account
from Vienna, the report of some success in the Gulf of Mexico,

40 CONGRESS OF VIENNA.
or any other incident, might produce a change in their dis
position." "Of the probable result, of the Congress of Vienna we had no correct
information. The- views of all the European powers were precisely known,
from day to day, to the British ministry.- From neither of them did we, in
any shape, receive any intimation of their intention, ofthe general prospects
of Europe, or ofthe interest they took in the contest with Great Britain. I
have some reason to believe that all of them were desirous it might con
tinue. They did not intend to assist us. They appeared indifferent to our
difficulties. But they rejoiced at any thing that might occupy and eventu
ally weaken our enemy."
The conclave of sovereigns, met as victors to divide the
spoils, could agree in no partition. The rapacities of Napoleon
and Alexander at Tilsit and Erfurth were outdone by the for
mer's imperial and royal conquerors at Vienna. The dominant
powers, Russia and Great Britain, were insatiable, intractable,
and unassailable. No power, no coalition, could deprive Great
Britain of Malta, Heligoland, the Cape of Good Hope, and
other marine footholds, by which the mistress of the seas belts
the globe. Asiatic Russia put her foot on the neck of Poland,
where the Archduke Constantine openly threatened that, with
five hundred thousand men in arms, he would cut short any
question of Russian right. Austria insisted on more of
Italy, Prussia on more of Saxony and some of France. Sar
dinia coveted Genoa. Numberless petty sovereignties, tram
pled to pieces by the iron hoofs of French conquerors, clamored
for restoration. France, reduced to her old monarchical limits
before revolution, republicanism, and empire enlarged them,
protested against aggrandizement of other powers. " Almost
every power at the Congress," said the London Times, as late
as the 30th of December, 1814, " seems to have its separate
views, and we are sorry to say that they seem almost aU to be
equally selfish and equally to set at defiance their pretended
principles of equity and moderation." The views thus de
nounced were unfavorable to England. Castlereagh and,
Wellington found Talleyrand, Mettemich, and Nesselrode
quite forgetful of the subsi"dies with which England had
supported successive coalitions. While a French soldier was
enthroned, in place of the lineal heir of Gustavus Vasa, as

CONGRESS OF VIENNA. 41
King of Sweden, a Bourbon monarch was dethroned from
Etruria. Murat, solemnly assured by treaty of the throne of
Naples, for betraying Napoleon, was cast out, hunted, and
shot like a wild beast. Talleyrand, representing the Bourbon
monarchs of France, Spain, and Naples, fomented maritime
jealousy of England and continental fear of Russia. Napo
leon at Elba being too near Italy, within hearing of France,
treaties with him were to be violated by his relegation to St.
Helena. The despotic aggrandizements for which he was con
demned and incarcerated were exceeded by his imperial and
royal executioners by Castlereagh, Nesselrode, Mettemich,
and Talleyrand, more inordinate in council than Napoleon in
arms. Castlereagh could not dictate at Vienna, as he did at
Chatillon and attempted at Ghent. The Emperor Alexander
did not like either British or Bourbon rule ; would not learn
policy or accept peace as British and French ministers incul
cated. Resolved to keep the peace and to keep Poland, to re
establish a continental system and check Great Britain, he
contemplated even that great German Empire by which all the
German States, united under one sovereign, should form a
central, solid keystone to the arch of European edifice, too
strong to serve as a theatre for either French or English
management of European politics. England apprehended hos
tility from the northern maritime powers, unable to resist her
by war, but by commercial restrictions, and except -at sea, the
strongest. England might weld Holland with Belgium, under
a British prince, as a bulwark against France. But Belgian
habits and prejudices forbade the shortlived amalgamation.
Mettemich and Talleyrand strove to render France harmless,
if not impotent, by giving her in custody to Bourbon keepers,
incapable of controlling such fierce and restless subjects. Nes
selrode wished to render France respectable, to check Austria
and England. In short, without entering into further details,
these mere glimpses of the Congress of Vienna may suffice to
show that its distractions threatened to break up the meeting
of potentates. A letter from Vienna, published in the London
Chronicle and republished at Ghent, stated that "the Congress
would be obliged to dissolve, without coming to any definitive

42 CONGRESS OF VIENNA.
arrangement ; not with an intention of renewing the war, but
to reassemble anew, in order to form a great European Con
vention, to devise the means of reorganizing twelve States to
be united in Europe." Beginning all smiles and hopes, the
Congress of Vienna was about breaking up, with frowns and
threats, in hopeless discord, just as the Congress at Ghent,
which began with angry quarrels, was closed in peace. Lin
gering and feasting at the German capital, tarrying at Vi
enna, from September, 1814, to March, 1815, at an expense
of many millions, wrung from poor Germany, to defray
the magnificence which decorated monarchical anarchy, the
agrarian Congress, at last, was about to break up in confusion
and appeal to the last resort of kings, when suddenly seized
and terribly held together, panic-struck, by Napoleon. Alex
ander, always sympathizing with him, held the Bourbons in
sovereign contempt, and intimated to the companion of all
his recreations, Eugene Beauharnois, that it was designed
to violate the treaty of Fontainebleau, and forcibly relegate
Napoleon to St. Helena. Apprised by his stepson of that per
fidy, he instantaneously took his departure from Elba. When
the tidings first electrified Vienna, the sovereigns were solaced
with the belief that he had gone to Italy or Egypt. But, a
few nights afterwards, it was whispered, at Prince Metternich's
ball, that the object of their dread had been enthusiastically
welcomed in France. To abandon the despised Bourbons, sub
jugate and partition France, were the first ideas of the Congress
of Vienna. But our American denizen, Talleyrand, succeeded
in convincing the potentates that to abandon the legitimate
king of France was to relinquish the principle of legitimacy
everywhere, and that war for Louis was vindication of their
own crowns. With that selfish consideration. Napoleon was
outlawed, by the decree which armed all Europe against a
single individual. His outlawry and capture pacified and
localized the coalition of his conquerors : but not until most
of them promised their subjects constitutional liberty as part
of the wages of their services in Napoleon's overthrow : in his
very downfal, heir of that French revolution, of which as child

FISHERIES — MISSISSIPPI. 43
and champion he laid the broad foundation by sovereignty of
people to supplant divine right of kings.
His overthrow, however, did not establish British marine-
sway. A London journal of October 28th, 1814, stated
that "a select committee would be moved, during the ensuing
session of Parliament, to investigate the state of the navy,
both in its civil and military branches, and in its entire
internal economy; also, with a principal view to counteract
the causes of American abduction of our seamen. Let us hope
that this interesting subject will meet all that close attention
and research which its great importance demands, and particu
larly in the present state of the world, when, in addition to
the rising transatlantic navy, such marked and direct jealousy
6f our naval ascendency is evidently evincing itself in every
cabinet of the continent of Europe, and when, under our very
eyes, the various maritime powers of the globe are, at this
moment, ardently straining every nerve to re-establish their
marine, in order to dispute with us the trident of the
ocean, and to force on us their own construction of maritime
laws." Dread of British naval domination was as natural, as ra
tional, and as universal as that of French continental aggran
dizement. The United States had allies everywhere for the
restoration of the ancient, recognised, and pacific laws of the
sea, which Great Britain had so long trampled upon by ages
of unjust but triumphant wars.
From the date of the British note of the 31st of October, at
Ghent, assuring the American mission that the British mission
were authorized to state distinctly that they had no further
demands to make, but empowered to sign a treaty of peace"
forthwith, difficulties rapidly disappeared, and, in a few weeks,
solid and honorable peace ensued.
But, just with that/note, unexpected embarrassments sprang
up in the American mission. Local and sectional diversities,
which everywhere in the world antagonize North and South,
but in the American Union rebuke instinctive aversion by
overruling community of dependent continental and national

44 PROJECT OP TREATY.
interests, instigated conflict between Mr. Adams, urging the
north-eastern fisheries, and Mr. Clay, espousing the navigation
of the great western waters. The British note of the 31st of
October, professing readiness to sign a treaty forthwith, assert
ing no further demands, calling for the American project of a
treaty, and taxing our mission with hesitation to produce it,
compelled them to daily sessions among themselves, during
the earlier part of November, first, to determine whether they
would submit a counter-project, when their adversaries, who
demanded it, had presented none themselves. That point, of
form, like many matters of substance, was yielded for peace.
Their note of the 10th of November expressed surprise that
the British considered their note of the 21st of October ks the
project of a treaty to which the Americans were pledged to
return a counter-project. But believing, the American note
added, that when both parties are sincerely desirous of bring
ing a negotiation to a happy termination, the advantage of
giving or receiving the first draft is not of a magnitude to be
made a subject of controversy, and convinced that their govern
ment was too sincerely anxious for that auspicious result to
approve of its being delayed for a moment upon any question
of etiquette, the American counter-project was communicated,
in the form of a treaty, complete in fifteen separate articles ;
embracing cessation of hostilities, restoration of places and
property, commissions for settling boundary lines, fixing a
western frontier, the Indian preliminary as required by the
British, impressment, search, blockade, indemnities, prisoners,
provision for persons who during the war had changed sides,
and a period for exchange of ratifications.
Sixteen days after receiving that, the only, project of a
treaty drafted by either party, having meantime sent it to
London, the British returned it and their note of the 26th of
November, with many articles rejected as inadmissible, others
modified or materially altered, the maritime questions all cast
aside, except fisheries, before excluded, and a demand of the
Mississippi. Two days before the Americans received that
answer, they got fresh instructions, by Mr. Monroe's short

FISHERIES — MISSISSIPPI. 45
letter of the 19th of October, authorizing them to make the
state before war the basis of a treaty. That basis had been
proposed, by anticipation of the instruction, by the American
note of November 10th, accompanying the project, declaring
the readiness of the American commissioners to extend the
principle of mutual restoration of territory to other objects in
dispute between the two nations, and to sign a treaty placing
the two countries, in respect to all the subjects of difference
between them, in the same state they were in at the com
mencement of the war, reserving to each party all its rights,
and leaving whatever might remain of controversy between
them for future pacific negotiation. The American reply of
the 30th of November agreed to most of the alterations, sup
pressions, and suggestions margined by the British and re
turned, the 26th of that Tnonth, on the American project ; and
asked a conference, which the British immediately fixed for
next day, the first of December, requested by the Americans,
to discuss the points they indicated as debatable.
An article, the Sth of the American project, proposed a line
from the north-western point of the Lake of the Woods until
it intersect the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, and along
that parallel west, as the dividing line between the territories
of the United States and Great Britain, to which article a
British marginal amendment, after changing the demarcation,
added, that British subjects should at ali times have access
from their territories, by land or inland navigation, into the
territories of the United States to the, river Mississippi, and
enjoy its free navigation. Thus the question, on which the
American mission was perhaps irreconcilably divided, was
put directly before them, for their unavoidable determination.
At the first conference, on the 8th of August, the British
ministers, then in their haughtiest, most triuniphant and rapa
cious mood, insisted that the American fishermen's privilege,
as stipulated by the treaty of 1783, to dry and cure fish on
the British shores, was a grant by that treaty forfeited by the
war of 1812. And now they repeated the demand for the
navigation of the Mississippi, dictated the 19th of August, by

46 AMERICAN DISCORD.
Castlereagh's personal direction at Ghent, as an indispensable
requirement. More than one member of the-American mis
sion, and on more than one occasion, Mr. Adams, as his sub
sequent controversy with Mr. Russell published, signified his
determination to decline signing the treaty, if particular mea
sures proposed by the British plenipotentiaries should be ac
ceded to by a majority of the American mission. A refusal
of any one member to concur in any measure would have in
duced the majority at least to reconsider and in all probability
to cancel their vote ; and to that disclosure, made by one of
the contestants,, it may be added that the majority fluctuated.
The minority avowed, and insuperable was Mr. Clay, who in
sisted on refusing British navigation of the Mississippi ; and
Mr. Russell coinciding, but by less pronounced opposition.
Mr. Gallatin, trans-Alleghanian, and who, in the territorial
development, then so far short of what it has since become,
of the United States, might be deemed a citizen of the West,
sided mostly with Mr. Adams, on the question between the
fisheries and the Mississippi. Mr. Bayard took his stand, and
shifted it, as seemed best to prevent dissension in the Ameri
can mission, and to counteract the efforts of the British. The
contest was one of the many wherein the minority constrains a
majority to give way. Each of the five members of the Ame
rican mission put his signature to official papers which he did
not entirely approve, but acquiesced in, rather than distract
the negotiation. Far removed from the fountain of their in
formation and instructions, the Americans were often obliged
to act without knowing the state of public affairs, public opi
nion, or the desires of their government; and to counteract the
British mission, constantly apprised of what was occurring at
London, at Vienna, and even in America, much sooner and
better than the American mission. While the majority of the
American mission changed sides as necessity for union clan
destinely required, the British mission changed tone and terms
according to every variation of European crisis disclosed at
Vienna, or British sentiment transpiring in London.
The American instructions of the 25th of June, 1814, were
not received by the mission at Ghent till after their first con-

FISHERIES — MISSISSIPPI. 47
ferences of the 8th and 9th of August, at which the British
took the earliest opportunity of announcing then- position as to
the fisheries : saying that the British government did not in
tend to grant to the United States, gratuitously, the privileges
formerly granted by treaty to them of fishing within the limits
of the British sovereignty, or of using the shores of the British
territories for purposes connected with the fisheries. Such
interdict might be, and probably was intended to embrace sixty
miles of sea, besides the shores of Newfoundland : which
would, therefore, bereave New England of much-cherished
subsistence, important, if not vital, to the whole United States.
France and Great Britain in turn ruled the ocean, as each
possessed those fisheries, the great American nurseries of navi
gation and commerce. To the shores of their territories the
British had exclusive right. But, according to the law of
nations, the United States, or the people of any other country,
had a right to fish at sea on the banks of Newfoundland.
The American instructions of June, 1814, were peremptory
that, should the British demand surrender of our right to the
fisheries, it was of course to be treated as it deserved ; not to
be brought into discussion ; if insisted on, the negotiation was
to cease. But by the last instructions, of the 19th of October,
1814, if the British were found disposed to agree to the status
ante bellum, the Americans were to understand that they were
authorized to make it the basis of a treaty ; by which the
British treaty of 1783, and the first ten articles of that of
1794, would have been restored: British navigation of the
Mississippi, with free ingress to American territories, ahd free
trade with American Indians ; and American freedom of dry
ing and curing fish on British territory. Mr. Adams was
extremely anxious for the fisheries ; Mr. Clay resolved not to
surrender the Mississippi; Mr. Gallatin's chief anxiety was
for peace, even at some sacrifices ; Mr. Bayard shared with
him a similar anxiety ; Mr. Russell coincided with Mr. Clay,
and corresponded with Mr. Crawford, the American minister
at Paris, contending that the fisheries were less important than
the Mississippi. Mr. Adams insisted that British right to
share the navigation of the Mississippi was altogether specu-

48 TREATY OF 1783.
lative and imaginary, whereas the eastern interest in the
fisheries was of very great importance to the Union. By a
homely, gambling comparison, Mr. Bayard called it bragging a
million against a cent. The British demand of the fisheries
was at first advanced, Mr. Adams said, in the artful atnd en
snaring form, that the war of 1812 forfeited the British grant
of them by the peace of 1783, and that the British would not
renew the grant without an equivalent ; by which was supposed
to be intended the navigation of the Mississippi granted, to
them in exchange for their grant of the fishing liberty. Fish
ing at sea was treated as a common right ; but drying and
curing fish by Americans on British shores, as a fishing liberty
or privilege existing only by grant. After much debate, and
some discussion in the American mission, Mr. Adams suggested
a principle to obviate what he called the insidious British
assumption of their right to grant or withhold the fishing pri
vilege. That principle was, that the Treaty of Independence,
of 1783, was of that class of treaties, and the right in question
of that character, which are not abrogated by subsequent war.
The argument of the American mission, to which the British
gave no answer, was, that the whole treaty of 1783, by which
Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the United
States, does not grant, but only recognizes American national
sovereignty, which was proclaimed by the declaration of 1776,
and established by war. The whole treaty of 1783 is, there
fore, an entire and permanent compact, containing the terms
and conditions on which the two parts of one empire agreed to
constitute, thenceforth, two distinct and separate nations : not
like an ordinary treaty, to be abrogated by a subsequent war
between the parties. Before the mission adopted that prin
ciple, as they did at last, unanimously, there was much division
among them, by repeated and thorny discussion in their daily
sessions. By the votes of Mr. Adams, Mr. Bayard, and Mr.
Gallatin, the project of a treaty was framed, by which the
Americans would have all the fishing rights and liberties as
theretofore, and the British the right to navigate the Missis
sippi. But Mr. Clay declared that he would not sign that
project ; and Mr. Russell sided with him. In order to obviate

CONFERENCES. 49
the consequences of such a dissidence, Mr. Bayard modified
his position, and voted for Mr. Clay's draft of that part of the
American letter of the 10th of November, accompanying the
project of a treaty, which, adopting Mr. Adams' suggestion,
said, in answer to the British declaration respecting the fishe
ries, that the American mission were not authorized to bring
into discussion any of the rights or liberties which the L^nited
States had theretofore enjoyed in relation thereto. From
their nature, and from the peculiar character of the treaty of
1783, by which they were recognized, no further stipulation
was deemed necessary by the government of the United States
to entitle them to the full enjoyment of all of them.
The British note of the 26th of November, returning the
American project, having required the navigation of the Mis
sissippi, and the American answer of the 30th of that month,
asking a conference, it took place next day, the 1st of De
cember, when the Americans left with the British, for con
sideration, an amendment to the Sth article, granting the
fishing liberty to the United States, and the Mississippi navi
gation to Great Britain, as by the treaty of 1783, but with
modifications of the latter. At a conference on the 10th of
December, the British proposed articles stipulating that the
United States and Great Britain should enter into negotiation
respecting the fisheries, and respecting the Mississippi ; which
negotiation, by a note of the 14th of December, the Americans
declined as unnecessary ; stating that the article they had pro
posed, they viewed as merely declaratory : but they did not
want any article on those subjects, and had offered to be silent
respecting them. The British note of the 22d of December
made no difficulty in withdrawing their article ; but, returning
to their declaration at the conference of the Sth of August,
that the privileges of fishing within the limits of the British
sovereignty, and of using the British territories for purposes
connected with the fisheries, were what Great Britain did not
intend to grant without an equivalent, they were not desirous
of introducing any-article on the subject. Thus the difficult
questions of the fisheries and the Mississippi disappeared from
the negotiation, and proved no obstacle to speedy peace at that
Vol. IV.— 4

50 FISHERIES.
time, much desired by both parties. Subsequently, during his
mission in England, Mr. Adams had the satisfaction ,to prepare
a treaty, completed, on the 20th of October, 1818, by Mr.
Gallatin, then minister in France, and Mr. Rush, who suc
ceeded Mr. Adams in the English mission, by which, with Mr. '
Gouldburn, one of the British commissioners at -Ghent, with
whom, in 1818, was associated Mr. Robinson, it was settled,
that the inhabitants of the United States shall have, for ever,
in common with British subjects, the liberty to take fish of
every kind on that part of the southern coast of Newfoundland
which extends from Cape Ray to the Ranseau islands ; on the
western and northern coast of Newfoundland, from the said
Cape Ray to the Quinpou islands, on the shores^ of the Mag
dalen islands, and also on the coasts, bays, harbors, and creeks,
from Mount Joly, on the southern coast of Labrador, to and
through the Straits of Belle Isle, and thence northwardly, in
definitely, along the coasts, without prejudice, however, to any
of the exclusive rights pf the Hudson Bay Company. And
the Americans also have liberty, for ever, to dry and cure fish
in any -of the unsettled bays, harbors, and creeks, of the
southern part of the coast of Newfoundland, above described,
and of the coast of Labrador. But as soon as any portion
thereof shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fish
ermen to dry and cure fish on such portion so settled, without
previous agreement for such purpose with the inhabitants, pro
prietors, or possessors of the ground. And the United States
thereby renounced for ever any liberty theretofore enjoyed or
claimed by their inhabitants to take, dry, or cure fish, on pr
within three marine leagues of the coasts, bays, creeks, or
harbors of the British dominions in America, not included
within the above-mentioned limits: provided, that the Ame
rican fishermen are permitted to enter such bays or harbors
for the purpose of shelter or repairing damages therein, of
purchasing wood and obtaining water ; but for no other pur
pose, and under such restrictions as may be necessary to pre
vent their taking, drying, or curing fish therein, or abusing
the privileges thereby reserved to them.
In August, 1817, Mr. Adams was transferred from the

BOUNDARY — '¦ OREGON — SLAVES. 5 1
English mission, to succeed Mr. Monroe as Secretary of State,
Mr. Monroe having been elected to succeed Mr. Madison as
President. In 1822, when Mr. Adams was contemplated as
Mr. Monroe's presidential successor, Mr. Russell being then a
member of the House of Representatives, on motion of Mr.
Floyd, that House requested the President to lay before Con
gress the correspondence not then made public which led to
the treaty of Ghent. A controversy thereupon ensued in the
public journals between Mr. Russell and Mr. Adams, con
cerning the Ghent negotiation, particularly as regarded the
fisheries and the Mississippi ; in which Mr. Adams' great
powers as a controversial writer were signally displayed, to
the disadvantage of Mr. Russell, charged by his overpower
ing antagonist with invidious aggression, perversion, and
falsification. The same treaty of October, 1818, restored, by its second
article, a modification of the omitted eighth article of the Ame
rican project of the treaty of Ghent, fixing the boundaries
north-.west of the United States and British America from the
Lake of the Woods to the Stony Mountains. The third article
of the treaty of 1818 made provisional arrangement for ten
years' occupation, by the United States and Great Britain, of
the country on the north-west coast, westward of the Stony
Mountains, since called Oregon, concerning which another
treaty between the United States and Great Britain was
settled at Washington, on the 15th of June, 1847. The treaty
of 1818 furthermore referred to the umpirage of some friendly
sovereign or, state the claim of the United States for their
citizens, as their private property, for the restitution, or full
compensation for all slaves who, at the exchange of ratifications
of the treaty of Ghent, were in any territory, places, or pos
sessions, directed, by said treaty, to be restored to the United
States, but then still occupied by the British forces, whether
such slaves were on shore or on board of any British vessel
lying in waters within the territory and jurisdiction of the
United States. Finally, the treaty of 1818 extended from
four to lev. years the provisions of a convention signed at
London, on the 3d of July, 1815, by Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay,

52 RECIPROCITY — MISSISSIPPI.
and Mr. Gallatin, with Mr. Robinson, Mr. Gouldburn, and
Mr. William Adams, to regulate the commerce between the
territories of the United States and Great Britain— equalizing
all but the colonial trade between the two countries. The
preamble to the treaty of 1818 truly recited that the United
States and Great Britain were desirous to cement the good
understanding which happily subsisted between them. For
the immediate and permanent effects of the treaty of Ghent,
and the war it terminated, were strongly pacific and harmo
nious; producing such amity as is much to be wished, and
always to be sought, between kindred free nations ; but such
as, without that war, never could have taken place.
The Mississippi question, disturbing the American mission at
Ghent, and intractable by them with the British, vanished by
the succeeding lights of better geographical knowledge of the
vast western country. By that ascertainment, it appeared
that the inhabitants of British America had no access to the
Mississippi, without rights of way to be conferred on them
through territories of the United States, which they had no
inclination to part with, and which, if granted, would probably
have only embroiled American and English trade, on the
western waters, in perpetual conflicts.
By their note of the 26th of November, the British mission
relinquished the basis of uti possidetis. But, instead of a clear
general restitution of captured territory, as offered by the Ame
ricans, the British at first wished tO confine it to territory
taken by either party which belonged to the other. Their
object, they acknowledged, was that each party should hold,
until decision on the title, all territory claimed by both par
ties, taken during the war by the possessor. As it was mutu
ally agreed that the title to the islands in Passamaquoddy bay
was in dispute, they -w-ere excepted from the general provision
for mutual restitution by a provision for an amicable settle
ment of that dispute. The British insisting on that arrange
ment, for the Americans to reject it would have endangered
the whole pacification. The Americans, therefore, submitted,
with a clause that their consent was not to be understood as
in any manner impairing the right of the United States to

ISLANDS — INDEMNITY. 53
those islands. Mr. Gallatin wrote to the Secretary of State,
after the treaty was signed, that "the exception of Moose island
from the general restoration of territory being insisted on by
the British government, we thought it too hazardous to risk
the peace on the question of the temporary possession of that
small island, since the question of title was fully reserved ; and
it was, therefore, no cession of territory." On the 24th of
November, 1817, John Holmes, the American, and Thomas
Barclay, the British commissioner, appointed under the treaty
of Ghent, ' decided that Moose island, Dudley island, and Fre
derick island, in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of
the Bay of Fundy, belong to the United States ; and that all
the other islands in the said bays, and the island of Grand
Menan, in the Bay of Fundy, belong to Great Britain. The
commissioners also signified to Mr. Adams, Secretary of State,
their belief that the navigable waters of the Bay of Passama
quoddy, which by the treaty of Ghent is said to be part of the
Bay of Fundy, are common to both parties for the purpose of
all lawful and direct communication with their own territories
and foreign ports. The territorial contest was thus satisfac
torily adjusted.
The eleventh and twelfth articles of the American project of
a treaty provided for impressment and blockade. They were
both margined by the British as inadmissible; and those
causes of the conflict were no more mentioned. The thir
teenth article of the American project proposed British in
demnities for illegal captures and condemnations before the
war ; mutual indemnity for losses and damages after its com
mencement by seizure and condemnation of vessels and car
goes which, in the ordinary course of commerce, happened to
be in the ports of the other party ; for the destruction of un
fortified towns, and the pillage or destruction. of private pro
perty; and the enticement and carrying away of negroes,
contrary to the known and established rules and usages of war
between civilized nations. Sixteen days after receiving the
American project, with those proposals, all those for indemni
ties were indignantly rejected by the British government, as
so unprecedented and objectionable, applied to the actual cir-

54 UNSATISFIED CLAIMS.
cumstances, as that, by any further perseverance of the Ame
rican plenipotentiaries in requiring them, all hope of bringing
the negotiation to a favorable issue must prove abortive. The
British were willing to agree to a stipulation by which it
should be provided that the courts of justice in each country
should be open to the just demands of the respective peoples,
and that no obstruction should be thrown in the way of their
recovery of the rights, claims, or debts of any kind. That
alternative by the British for the American proposal of mutual
indemnity was formally presented by the British at a confer
ence held the 10th of December; but declined, by an Ameri
can note of the 14th, as unnecessary. The courts of the
United States, they said, would be equally open without such
stipulation, and they presumed the British courts likewise.
After the British rejection of the American proposals re
specting impressment and indemnity for damages prior to the
war, the American note of the 30th of November waived those
Subjects : it being understood that the rights of both powers,
it stated, on the subject of seamen and the claims of the citi
zens and subjects of the two contracting parties to indemnities
for losses and damages sustained prior to the commencement
of the war should not be affected or impaired by the omission
in the treaty of any specific provision in respect to these two
subjects. By reason of that explicit reservation, American
claims remain valid, as before the war, for irregular and ille
gal British seizures, captures, and condemnations of American
vessels and cargoes. If relinquished, expressly or tacitly, at
Ghent, the American nation, through its government, would
be answerable for those claims, as recognised by Congress, in
1847, when a bill passed both houses (refused by President
Polk on other considerations) for indemnifying American citi
zens for French spoliations, prior to the treaty of 1800, -^rith
France, supposed to relinquish those claims. The ascertain
able claims against England must be much larger than those
against France. Such claims have been realized against Na
ples, Mexico, several South American States, and are at this
time (1850) prosecuted against Portugal. Time does not ex
tinguish them. Whether recovery of those against England

UNSATISFIED CLAIMS. 55
should be attempted will be a grave question of state-policy.
But the debts are justly due to the American sufferers by
either the British or the American government. And it is
the obvious policy of the latter, never having released, to per
petuate -these claims, till allowed by England. English sub
jects hold claims on several of the American States for debts
which, though unquestionably due, are not all of the highest
moral, or any of them of national obligation. The United
States, as a nation;" may not offset claims of their citizens on
England against claims of English creditors of American
States ; yet, in the course of international transactions, the
American claims against England may become available to
set off against demands that peradventure may be made by
England or otherwise. The contingency might occur, when it
would be proper to enforce their payment.
Indemnity for losses suffered by American citizens by pil
lage or destruction of their private property, during the war,
contrary to the rules and usages of war between civilized na
tions, seems to be due to the sufferers by the American govern
ment. If so, inhabitants of Washington and of whatever other
places, who suffered by such pillage and destruction, have a
right to the compensation which their government demanded,
and then relinquished, at Ghent. The destruction was not
only done, but officially proclaimed by the British perpetrators.
There were also seizures of American vessels and cargoes in
British ports after the war, for which the American govern
ment, having demanded indemnity at Ghent, and then re
leased it, may be liable.
The American project of a treaty proposed as the fourteenth
article, which the British marked as inadmissible and rejected,
that no resident within the dominions of one of the parties,
who had taken part with the other party in the war, should,
on that account, be prosecuted, molested, or annoyed, either
in person or property ; and that all such persons, disposed to
remove into the dominions of the other party, should be
allowed to sell their property and remove. The British also
marked as inadmissible and rejected the tenth article of the
American project, stipulating that both parties, by all means

56 INDIANS — SLAVE-TRADE.
in their power, should restrain the Indians within their do
minions from committing hostilities against the other party ;
and, if war should break out, that neither party would employ
the Indians, nor admit of their aid or co-operation. A few
years afterwards, the British government peremptorily refused
a proposal, urged by the American, to discontinue privateer
ing. Instead of the amelioration of war by sea and land which
the suppression of Indian and privateer-hostilities would pro
duce, the British mission, at the conference of the 10th of De
cember, substituted, and the Americans, slightly modifying,
adopted, as the tenth article of the treaty, that both the con
tracting parties shall use their best endeavors to accomplish
the entire abolition of the traffic in slaves, as irreconcilable
with the principles of humanity and justice. Another treaty
between the United States and Great Britain, at Washington,
in 1842, stipulated that naval squadrons of a prescribed force
shall be kept by both nations, on the coast of Africa, for the
suppression of that traffic, which it is now generally acknow
ledged that the coercion applied by Great Britain to extirpate
has but increased and aggravated ; and which, if destructible,
must be dealt with ashore, in Africa, by better means than at
sea by force.
The American instructions, the 25th of June, stated that,
by information " received from a quarter deserving attention,
the late events in France had produced such an effect on the
British government as made it probable that a demand would
be made, at Gottenburg, to cede Louisiana to Spain." No
such demand transpired at Ghent. But after the American
note of the 24th of August, in terms of calm infiexibility, re
pudiated the British condition dictated by Lord Castlereagh in
person there, the 19th of that month, the British reply of the
4th of September introduced the acquisition of Louisiana, and,
what it stigmatized as the more recent attempt to wrest by
force of arms, from a nation in amity,' the two Floridas,
which, like the attempted conquest of Canada and progres
sive occupation of Indian territories, were charged as part of
a system of conquest and aggrandizement, with which the
British government reproached the United States as an

LOUISIANA. 57
avowed principle of their policy. In their letter of the Sth
of October, that charge was repeated, with the aggravation
that the instrument had never been made public by which
Spanish consent was alleged to have been given to the cession
of Louisiana. His catholic majesty, the British accusation de
clared, was no party to the treaty of cession ; and any subse
quent sanction obtained from him must have been involuntary.
His minister, Yrujo, formally protested, at Washington, in a
letter to the President, against the cession, and against the
right of France to make it : in the face of which protest, so
strongly marking the decided opinion of Spain as to the ille-
gahty of the proceeding, tfte President ratified the treaty. Al
though the fact of acquisition was made known by the United
States to Great Britain, yet the conditions were not, under
which France acquired Louisiana from Spain ; the refusal of
Spain was not known ; the protest of her minister had not been
made, and many other circumstances attending the transac
tion, there was good reason to believe, were industriously
concealed. With that distinct enforcement of the charge of
fraudulent and illegal acquisition of Louisiana, the same Bri
tish note repeated that the occasion and circumstances of that
unwarrantable act, and hostile seizure of great part of the two
Floridas by the United States, under the most frivolous pre
tence, had given rise throughout Europe to but one sentiment
as to the character of the transaction.
At the time of those angry British declarations of American
unjust aggrandizement and spoliation of the Spanish posses
sions of Louisiana and Florida, there were many other indica
tions, in Europe and America, of hostile determinatiofi to take
and to keep New Orleans, with part of Louisiana, 'whither a
large expedition, naval and military, was on the way. The
opinion prevailed, in Paris, that Louisiana, conquered by Great
Britain, was to be ceded to her by Spain for British aid to
expel the French from Spain. The British long insisted, in
the Ghent negotiations, on the principle of each party to the
war holding by treaty whatever should be got by conquest.
And RESTORATION was the universal cry of all the conquerors of
France. The first article of the American project for a treaty

58 PEACE.
was, that all territory, places, and possessions, without excep
tion, taken by either party from the other, during the war, or
after the signing of the treaty, should be restored. The Bri
tish alteration margined to that article substituted, all terri
tory, places, and possessions belonging to either party, and
taken by the other, &c. Though the significant word lelong-
ing was not retained in the treaty, nor the uti possidetis ap
plied, sine qua non, to any but the north-eastern coast, still
the word restore might warrant .withholding New Orleans, if
captured by the British invaders: for, never having been
legally possessed by the United States, it could not, or should
not, be restored to their le^al possession. At all events, time
was an indispensable ingredient for the stipulation ; and
though Great Britain promised restoration without delay, yet
the promise of her treaties of 1783 with the United States, to
withdraw all British troops, was not performed for many year?
afterwards. Throughout the negotiations at Ghent, Great Bri
tain uniformly avowed her determination to hold certain parts
of north-eastern America : and it is difficult to reconcile her
large, expensive, and confident invasion of the South with no
other or wiser plan than that of barren conquest of territory
declared to be fraudulently acquired from France and ille
gally withheld from Spain.
The American project proposed peace on the ratification of
the treaty, which time the British enlarged till exchange of
ratifications; and after the treaty, duly executed and ex
changed, was sent to London, the ministry dwelt on the pro
vision that hostilities were to continue till exchange of the
ratifications. After closing conferences of the missions altogether, the
10th, the 12th, and the 23d of December, and notes exchanged
the 14th and 22d of that month, the treaty was signed, and
copies delivered on Christmas eve, as stated in the second
volume of this Historical Sketch.
The personal intercourse of the two missions had always
been courteous and respectful. As soon as their business was
done, the American ministers, on the 28th of December, enter
tained the British at what; the Ghent Journal described as a

PEACE. 59
magnificent dinner, at which the Intendant and numerous
Hanoverian staff-officers were present, and every thing indi
cated that perfect reconciliation had taken place between thc
two nations. Lord Gambler gave as a toast. The United
States of America; and Mr. Adams's toast was. His Majesty,
the King of Great Britain. The music played God save the
King and Hail Columbia. Mr. Adams and Lord, Gambler
requested the Intendant to assure the City of Ghent of the
gratitude which both legations felt for the attentions of the
inhabitants. On the following Thursday, the Intendant enter
tained the respective ministers.
How peace and the treaty were received and judged in
England has been stated, from English testimony, in the
second volume of this Historical Sketch. There was no more
open and unyielding opponent of the war, in this country,
than Mr. Gallatin : Albert Gallatin, as he is known in Ame
rican annals ; a native of Geneva, in Switzerland, of aristo
cratic parentage, with several surnames besides Albert, highly
educated and informed, who, having adopted this as his coun
try and democratic politics as his preference, was too wise to
disparage either. But he had no confidence in the country or
democratic politics to withstand the fearful shock of that war
with Great Britain ; did all he could to prevent it ; was be
lieved to have suggested the Russian mediation ; certainly
abandoned the Treasury for a pilgrimage to Europe in search
of peace ; and importuned it at St. Petersburg, at London,
and everywhere, with the urgency of one convinced that the
war was more than the United States could bear. His con
fessions of its effects in Europe are therefore testimony enti
tled to consideration.
Before the most brilliant exploit of American arms was
achieved at New Orleans, or several of the final naval victo
ries, surveying Europe from Ghent, with the imperfect know
ledge there of the ascertained triumphs, Mr. Gallatin, in his
Christmas letter to Mr. Monroe, thus stated the European im
pression : " The manner in which the campaign terminated,
the evidence afforded by its events of our ability to resist alone
the very formidable military power of England ; and our

60 ¦ EFFECTS OF PEACE IN EUROPE.
having been able, without any foreign assistance, and after
she had made such an effort, to obtain peace on equal terms,
will raise our character and consequence in Europe. This,
joined with the naval victories, and the belief that we alone
can fight the English on their element, m\l make us to be
courted as much as we have been neglected by foreign govern
ments. As to the people of Europe, public opinion was already
most decidedly in our favor." Mr. Gallatin anticipated a set
tlement with Spain on our own terms, and the immediate chas
tisement of the Algerines. " Permit me to suggest," said he,
" the propriety of despatching a squadron for that purpose,
without losing a single moment." The American states
man who dreaded, and was not alone in that apprehension,
that American frigates should venture to sea, as insuring their
inevitable capture, was converted to the belief that Europe
generally deemed them able to contend with the English on
their element. By his suggestion, not a moment was lost in
despatching an American squadron to chastise the Algerines.
And, before his return home, those Barbary powers, which
for centuries defied all maritime Europe, were subdued by
American naval prowess, soon imitated first by England and
then by France. '
Before the treaty of Ghent, American successes had already
attracted European sympathy to the American cause ; espe
cially in France, whose capital, on that continent, dictates ge
neral impressions. During the Congress of Vienna and that of
Ghent, as to the success of this country in vindicating great
principles, and the irresistible obligation of Great Britain to
concede peace on reasonable terms, a French publication said,
" Whilst Europe, thus agitated, impatiently awaits the deter
mination of that senate of sovereigns, the Congress of Vienna,
whose exalted wisdom suspends its destinies, America affords
it a fine example; alone, struggling successfully against the
whole power of England. This war, unless speedily termi
nated by a peace honorable to the United States, will be as
fatal to the British government as the Spanish war to Napo
leon. All the treasures of Great Britain, all the powers of
her fleets and armies, will fail under the energies of a free

PEACE AT HOME. 61
people, armed to maintain their just rights. We understand
that the English have again been defeated in Upper Canada.
The flower of 'the British troops, who were to inundate the
United States, without meeting any resistance, have yielded
to a republican militia, and will bring back to Europe only
tarnished laurels. The report seems to be confirmed, that the
English ministers have renounced their pretensions, and will
accept peace on terms most honorable to the United States.
Such a result was inevitable."
The treaty was approved and peace cordially welcomed al
most unanimously throughout the United States. Both were
unexpected, and consecrated by brilliant victories to grace the
end of war with the most formidable power in the world, waged
till honorable peace, with no loss of territory, union of the
States strengthened, national character greatly enhanced, and
respectful amity between kindred nations for the first time
estabhshed. " The attitude taken by the State of Massachu
setts, and the appearances in some of the neighboring States,"
Mr. Gallatin stated, in his before-mentioned letter, " had a
most unfavorable effect." Retribution for that disloyalty has
been such, that Massachusetts, with uncommon means to be,
never since that war has been, as theretofore, a leading State
of the confederacy ; nor able, notwithstanding annual efforts
by her members in Congress, to prevail on that body to vote
her payment as other States have received for their militia.
It was the State of Massachusetts, as well expressed by Mr.
Gallatin, the State, by constituted authorities, which by virtual
rebellion and sedition thwarted the national government, and
encouraged the enemy. Even after the peace, the Legislature
of that State still strove in vain to disparage the war and the
treaty by publishing a pamphlet, prepared by resolution of
that body, containing all the treaties between the United
States and Great Britain, to show that the war effected no
thing, inasmuch as Canada was not conquered, and the treaty
of Ghent obtained from England less than the treaty of 1807,
negotiated by Monroe and Pinkney, which President Jeffer
son would not permit to be laid before the Senate.
Some few faint denials, also, issued from the press of the

62 PEACE AT HOME.
merits ot the trenty and tho advantnges of the war, but they
were very generally applauded. For the contest proved that
republican government, with more popular liberty and less
executive authority than elsewhere, is not inconsistent with
war and its exigencies. A war, not declared b^ any execu
tive authority, in passion, by intrigue, to enrich or pro
mote individuals, or further any private end, but after public
deliberation by those really representing a people to bear
its burdens, outrageously denounced and opposed, was never
theless strenuously waged, and successfully, by not exceeding
two-thirds of the nation, without one-half its pecuniary means
and probably not more than that proportion of its culti
vated intelligence ; all the rest opposing it. Begun and con
cluded by the same administration, there were no executive
chaijges, except two in each of the departments of the
Navy, War, and Treasury; whereas one American minister
in England has corresponded with as many as five different
ministries in two years, and an American minister in France
with still more. All taxes were promptly and economically
realized, without resistance, and little litigation: the people
everywhere, of all parties, paying them cheerfully, though
their representatives in Congress failed to lay them soon
enough and heavy enough, and, sometime after the war, re
pealed them hastily, when some of them should have been
continued permanently. With extreme freedom of speech and
the press, there was no prosecution for libel or for treason, no
violent commotion, and excessive and often factious contention
was overruled by means of free suffrage. During the first
sixteen months, though tried b.y severe reverses, the people
remained constant in adherence to their government, and its
stability was unshaken. In less than two campaigns, the art
of war was acquired, which it took the people of Great Britain
seventeen of their twenty years of the last war with France
to learn. The United States began hostilities with less than
thirty experienced officers to marshal their forces. \i there
had been a third campaign. Brown, Jackson, Scott, Macomb,
Gaines, with troops of other tried young offi-cers, would have
led from forty to fifty thousand men, at least one-third of

PEACE AT HOME. 63
them regular troops, into Canada, to carry the American
standard to Halifax; when the British armies in America,
indispensable in Europe, were nearly all transported thither.
Our financial atrophy had probably been cured. Taxes were
actually laid by Congress to secure a considerable revenue,
and our public credit was not as low as that of England had
been ; nor near so low as that of France during some of her
most successful years of war. If hostilities had continued an
other year, there was no reason for apprehension. The popu
lar elasticity of a free, intelligent nation is amazingly recupe
rative. Armament, discipline, enterprise, fortitude, achieve
ment, seem natural to them. War had just begun, when it
ended. Such at least was then, and yet is, my humble opinion.
By the editor of the National Intelligencer, Mr. Gales, one of
its supporters, whose position enabled him to judge correctly,
in that paper of the 25th of August, 1849, the welcome tidings
of peace are thus graphically described : —
"Never, from the beginning of this government to the present, has a
more gloomy day dawned upon it than the thirteenth day of February, in
the year 1815.
" Some time about noon of ihat memorable day mysteriously arose a
rumor, faint at first as the earliest whisper of the western breeze on a sum
mer's morn, but freshening and gathering strength as it spread, until, later
in the day, it burst forth in a general acclaim of Peace ! Peace ! Peace !
Startled hy a sound so unexpected and so joyful, men flocked into the
streets, eagerly inquiring of one another whence and how came the news,
and, receiving no answer, looking up into the Heavens with straining eyes,
as though expecting a visible sign of it from the seat of that Omnipotence
by whose interposition alone they could, but a short moment before, have
even hoped for so great a blessing.
" When, at length, the rumor assumed a more definite shape, the story
ran than a private express had passed through the city at some time during
the day, bearing to merchants in the South the glad tidings that a treaty
of peace had actually reached the shores of the United States. It was still
but a rumor, however, and wanted that consistency which was necessary to
justify full confidence in it.
"Unable to procure any information which should even confirm the report
that an express of any kind had actually passed through the city (so vague
was the rumor), one of the editors of this paper waited upon the President
to obtain from him, who must be certainly informed, such information as he
might possess on the subject. Mr. Madison, however, knew little more of
the matter than the public : he had been, of course, among the first apprized

64 PEACE AT HOME.
of the rumor, and. was inclined to believe it true^ but deemed it prudent to
suspend opinion upon the subject until it should be authentically confirmed;
and, in the National Intelligencer ofthe following morning, that advice was
accordingly given to the public. Having thus had occasion to allude to this
interview with Mr. Madison, it may not be foreign to the subject of this
article to state, that we found that great man sitting alone, in the dusk of
the evening, ruminating, probably, upon the prodigious changes which the
news, if true (as he believed it to be), would make in the face of public
affairs. Affable, as he always was, he conversed freely upon the proba
bilities of the news which had reached us, and showed a natural interest in
its being confirmed. But it could not escape remark, at the same time, that
any one not familiar with that calm fortitude which, in the most trying
scenes, had ever sustained him, and that equality of temper which on no
occasion ever deserted him, might have deemed, from the unruffled compo
sure of his countenance, his manner, and his discourse, that he was the per
son in the city who had the least concern iri the reported event, though cer
tainly, could personal considerations have heen suffered to influence him at
such a moment, no man living could have a greater.-
" Steam conveyances and electric telegraphs had not then been invented,
to realize the lover's prayer to the gods to ' annihilate both time and space ;'
and all classes in Washington had, with the President, no choice but to
await the comparatively slow process pf travel by horses and carriages from
New York to Washington, for confirmation or contradiction of the report.
The interval of suspense, it may well be imagined, was sufficiently tedious,
though it was brought to an end as early as could have been reasonably
expected. Late in the afternoon of Thursday, the 14th of February, came
thundering down the Pennsylvania avenue a coach and four foaming steeds,
in which was Mr. Henry Carroll (one of the secretaries at Ghent), the
bearer, as was at once ascertained, of the Treaty of Peace concluded at
Ghent between the American and British commissioners. Cheers and con
gratulations followed the carriage, as it sped its way to the office of the
Secretary of State, and, directly thence, with the acting Secretary of State,
to the residence of the President.
*x ******
"The reader, who has followed our narrative thus far, will begin to
wonder how the demise of Mrs. Madison could have brought all this so
vividly to mind. The relation which she bore to Mr. Madison, and her
entire identification with him in all the memories of the past, would be suf
ficient to account for it. But the particular incident in the inauguration of
the treaty of peace, the memory of which dwelt upon our minds, comes now
to be t61d, in its place.
" The other members of the Cabinet having joined the Secretary of State
at the President's residence, the treaty was of course taken into immediate
consideration by the President and the Cabinet.
"Soon afier night-fall, members of Congress and others, deeply interested

PEACE At HOME. 65
in the event, presented themselves at the President's house, the doors of
which stood open. When the writer of this entered the drawing-room, at
about 8 o'clock, it was crowded to its full capacity, Mrs. Madison (the Pre
sident being with the Cabinet) doing the honors ofthe occasion. And wliat
a happy scene it was! Among the large proportion present of the members
of both Houses of Congress, were gentlemen of most opposite politics, but
lately arrayed against one another in continual conflict and fierce debate,
now with elated spirits thanking God, and with softened hearts cordially
felicitating one another, upon the joyful intelligence which (should the
terms of the treaty be acceptable) re-established peace, and opened a cer
tain prospect of a great prosperity to their country. But the most con-
, spiouous object in the room, the observed of all observers, was Mrs. Madison
herself, then in the meridian of life and queenly beauty. She was, in her
person, for the moment, the representative of the feelings of him who was,
at this moment, in grave consultation with his official advisers. No one
could doubt, who beheld the radiance of joy which lighted up her counte
nance and diffused its beams around, that all uncertainty was at an end, and
that the government ofthe country had, in very truth (to use an expression
of Mr. Adams on a very different occasion), ' passed from gloom to glory.'
With a grace all her own, to her visitors she reciprocated heartfelt con
gratulations upon the glorious and happy change in the aspect of public
affairs; dispensing, with liberal hand, to every individual in the large
assembly the proverbial hospitalities of that house.
********
The Cabinet being still in session, the writer of this article was presently
invited into the apartment in which it was sitting. There were, beside the
President himself, Mr. Dallas, Mr. Monroe, Mr. Crowninshield, and Mr.
Rush ; that is to say, the Secretaries of the Departments of the Treasury,
of War, of the Navy, and the Attorney-General. [The Department of
State being vacant, its duties were at that time discharged by Mr. Monroe,
as Acting Secretary : the Postmaster-General was not at that day a cabinet
minister.] Subdued joy sat upon the face of every one of them. The
President, after kindly stating the result of their deliberations, addressed
himself to the Secretary of the Treasury, in a sportive tone, saying to him,
'Come, Mr. Dallas, you, with your knowledge ofthe contents of the treaty,
derived from the careful perusal of it, and who write with so much ease,
take the pen, and indite for this gentleman a paragraph for the paper of to
morrow, to announce the reception and probable acceptance of the treaty.'^
"Mr. Dallas cheerfully complied, and, whilst we sat by in converse, in a
few minutes produced and read the following paragraph, which, being ap
proved by all , present, appeared in the National Intelligencer the next
morning : —
" ' We have the pleasure to announce that the treaty of peace between
the United States and Great Britain, as signed by all the commissioners of
both parties at Ghent, on the 24th of December, 1814, was last evening
Vol. IV. — 5

66 PEACE AT HOME.
delivered by Mr. Carroll to the Secretary of ^tate, who immediately sub
mitted it to the President. The general principle of the treaty is a resti
tution and recognition of the rights and possessions of each party as they
stood before the war, with adequate provisions to settle all the disputed
poiirts of boundary by commissioners, subject to the decision of an amicable
Sovereign, in case the commissioners do not agree in opinion. The title to
the islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy being controverted, the possession
will remain with the parties respectively which now hold them, until the
commissioners decide upon the title, but without prejudice to the claim qf
either party. Periods are fixed for the restitution of maritime captures in
different latitudes, and hostilities are to cease as soon as the ratifications of
the treaty are exchanged at Washington. It is understood that Mr. Baker
is the bearer of the treaty ratified by the Prince Regent, arid will be, ready
to exchange the ratifications when the President and the Senate have
passed upon the subject. We are happy to add that the treaty is thought,
in all respects, to be honorable to the nation and to the negotiators. The
President will probably lay it before the Senate this day.'
" The treaty was laid before the Senate on that day, that is, on the 15th.
On the 16th, the consent and advice of the Senate was given, by a unani
mous vote, to its ratification. At 8 o'clock at night, on the 17th, Mr. Baker
the British commissioner for the purpose, having reached Washington, the
ratifications of the treaty by Great Britain and the United States were
exchanged, and the treaty was finally proclaimed and published on the 18th
day of February.
"And so most happily ended a war, the pressure of which was but just
beginning to be felt by this government and people."
Peace was welcomed with more than popular, for it was
filial, gratification. While exulting in triumphs by war, peace,
to a large majority of the American people, was endeared by
kindred attachment to the people with whom they deemed it
their misfortune to be involved in war. Two extremely bitter
confiicts have not extinguished the reverential feeling of this
country for that of their forefathers, to which it clings by in
numerable ties, and far prefers beyond all others. Joy for
peace with it broke forth with universal manifestations. Every
city and considerable town, most villages, and many single
houses, were illuminated. As I journeyed homewards, on the
28th of -February, 1815, the whole country was alive with
rejoicings, in which Boston soon took part. On the first day
of March, 1815, the Governor, Judges, Legislature, and a
numerous company, dined together at the Boston Exchange,

BRITISH VIEWS OE PEACE. 67
with the American and the British officers in that vicinity as
guests. A procession paraded a team loaded with cotton, with
"New Orleans," and "Jackson," in large letters on the bags.
A newspaper sarcasm declared that more cannon were fired,
and more persons wounded, in Massachusetts rejoicing for
peace, than throughout the whole war. Those who risked life
or property in their country's cause not only rejoiced for peace
more cheerfully than those who did not, but with more respect
from former enemies. Rejoicing was universal and enthusi
astic ; by the disaffected, for peace ; by the patriotic, for vic
tory too. " It is inconceivable," said the Montreal Herald,
" to see to what a pitch illuminations and rejoicings are carried
on throughout the United States — a positive proof that the
mass of the people are satisfied with the conditions of the late
treaty of peace, and that they would have been content if the
terms were much harder. What a contrast is exhibited in this
country ! You scarcely see a cheerful countenance from one
end of the province to the other, when you speak of the
peace." That extremely hostile journal had just before said,
"This war will not be of short duration; and, could one but
suppose the rumored peace to be correct, we may pronounce it
to be disgraceful to Britain. What Britain has. yet done is
insufficient to insure an honorable and lasting peace. Before
that can be effected, torrents of Mood must yet flow, both on
sea and land." Such unnatural animosity is not American, and
it is to be hoped is not commonly British. Yet that war with
this country was then, and even still is, the distempered dream
of some eminent Britons, is from time to time manifested, as
by the subjoined, lately published by one of their most distin
guished officers, Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Napier : —
" What an opportunity was lost (in 1815) of then dealing with Ame
rica! An able minister would have continued the war; the Northern
States would have withdrawn from the Union, and, declaring themselves
independent, have made a separate peace with Great Britain. The latter
mi|ht then have raised the negroes of the South, and, at the head of an
immense force of armed and disciplined black regiments, have dictated
peace at Washington ; erecting the Delaware into an independent black
State, in alliance with Englahd, and supported by the Northern States, of
which it would form the left flank against the Southern. *****

68 TERMS OF PEACE.
This line of policy may be adopted yet, ifwe have a war with the United
States. It may be effected at any time while slavery exists ; a nation that
is not governed by fools, may do what it likes against another nation in
which it has two millions of true friends. ***** It is true, they
may be blacks, but blacks make capital soldiers. *******
From my knowledge of both, I will venture to say, that the docile, intel--
ligent, eager, liberated slave would be drilled in less time by half than the
free-born American citizens, the republican slave-drivers, that are so proud
of being without a standing army. ***** But let war come,
and we shall see what the dingy race can do against the slave-drivers in
the Southern States. America fears war ; does England fear war T Let it
come, and we shall see which constitution is the best."
The treaty of Ghent was the arrangement of a few nego
tiators, who settled cessation from hostilities on terms not dis
honorable to either party. The peace it consecrated was^ the
work of nations who had felt each other's prowess in war.
Treaty and peace together have proved lasting benefits to both
belligerents. This country gained, by the treaty, a settlement
of boundaries, which had been unsettled since its independence ;
exclusion of British vexatious trade with our Indians ; and, it
may be added, exclusion of British trade from the river Mis
sissippi. Peace, the result of war, put an end to British im
pressment from American vessels ; abrogated constructive, and
all but actual blockade ; and reduced to inoffensive police, if
not extinguishing dubious right of search, or visit at sea.
These inestimable gains, worth much more than the blood and
treasure they cost, are, by achievement, guarantied more
effectually than by any treaty founded on concession, and
liable to naisunderstanding. When other British pacification
suspended naval coercion, the United States tacitly waived
further resistance to it, and Great Britain yielded nothing.
But war had formidably proved that the United States will
not submit to impressment of men, search of vessels, or con
structive blockade. To enforce either, inevitably producing
war. Great Britain must prefer profitable commercial relations
with the United States, as developed by several treaties since
that of Ghent, and by the amity of kindred nations. To that
war, peace, and treaty, have followed lasting intimacy- and
constantly-increasing intercourse, with great improbability of
further hostilities.

LOUISIANA. 69

CHAPTER VI.
INVASION OP LOUISIANA.
Nicholls at Pensacola — English at Barataria — Lafitte — Fort Bowyer —
Jackson — Spanish Complicity — Seizure of Pensacola — New Orleans —
Tennessee and Kentucky Volunteers — Legislature of Louisiana — Go
vernor Claiborne — Population — British Squadrons — Gun-boats on the
Lake overpowered — Jackson declares Martial Law — Inactivity of the
Legislature T- British land — Surprised on the 23d of December — Van
guard worsted — Jackson's entrenchments — Pakenham — British repulse
on the 28th of December — Division, if not Disaffection, in the Legisla
ture—Their Session closed forcibly — British repulsed on the first of
January — Continually harassed — British Narratives of their Disasters —
British Forces — Lambert's Reinforcement — Battle ofthe Sth of January —
Thornton's Success — Pakenham's Defeat and Death — British Evacua
tion — Capture ofFort Bowyer — Repulse at Fort St. Philip — American
Thanksgiving on Jackson's return to New Orleans — -Tidings of Peace —
Their disorganizing Effects — French Insubordination — Louallier arrested
— Judge Hall is.'iues a writ for his Release — The Judge imprisoned by
Martial Law — Law of Contempt — Jackson punished by Fine — Refunded
by Congress — His Death.
Why the British so formidably invaded Louisiana is not
easy to explain. Mr. Gallatin's letter of the 13th of June,
1814, from London, which apprised our government that a
disposable force of 20,000 men would be thrown on the At
lantic States, did not mention New Orleans, but New York and
Washington as the places in danger ; and such was the Ex
ecutive apprehension. When the invasion was undertaken,
we do not know what was its object. Whether to hold, as well
as take New Orleans ; whether to restore Louisiana or part of
it to Spain ; whether to deprive this country of the cotton,
destined so soon to supersede iron, as the most vital of staples ;
whether to reinstate the pristine colonial union between Flo
rida, Louisiana, and Canada ; or whether a large army, with a
large fleet, were sent over the Atlantic in mere wantonness of
overweening power, to inflict ruthless injuries on a repubhcan

70 BRITISH SAVAGE ALLIES.
and naval rival empire, must be left to conjecture, Castle
reagh, then at the helm, was a daring adventurer; Great
Britain a mighty and vindictive nation, flushed with prodigious
triumphs, fond of war, embarrassed with, supernumerary mili
tary and naval forces, which it harmonized more with ministe
rial and national prepossessions to employ in degrading this
country than to disarm at home. The capture of Wash
ington was a mere warlike accident, when Cockburn prevailed
on Ross to make the attempt. The Scots historian, Mr.
Alison, though absurdly ignorant and despicably invidious of
this country, may nevertheless be right when, apologizing for
the enemy's retirement after their repulse at Baltimore, he
alleges that it was to preserve their troops for the capture of
New Orleans.
The studied silence of the British government as to their
reverses, of which often no official accounts were published,
increases the obscurity involving the invasion of Louisiana.
My researches have failed to find any official, authentic, or
other British account of the first steps taken by the enemy in
that attempt, whatever its object was. But in the course of
the summer of 1814, pending the incursion to Washington, if
not preceding it, measures were adopted for the most atrocious
of all the belligerent efforts of Great Britain to convulse, de
vastate, and dismember the United States. The Indians they
had throughout the contest excited to their most horrible out
rages. In April, 1814, Admiral Cochrane made, by procla
mation, a direct appeal to the negro slaves, by their revolt to
aggravate Indian barbarities. In the summer of 1814, the
British brig Orpheus debarked 22,000 stand of arms, with
munitions of war and officers, in the Bay of Apalachicola, Flo
rida, for the purpose of arming the Creek Indians, seduced
from the peace they had just made with the United States, and
enlisting them to renew hostilities ; who were embodied, armed,
and, in British uniform, drilled in Pensacola by Captain Wood
bine, of the marines. All the Indian tribes east of the Choc
taws were rallied to the British standard by British officers,
diligent in that vile subornation. Having secured the savages
as allies, and invoked the slaves, it only remained that the

BRITISH AT PENSACOLA. 71
British should engage the Baratarian pirates of that region,
to complete a force of Indians, revolted slaves, and pirates,
probably the most profligate combination ever got together for
inhuman hostilities.
As early as the 4th of August, 1814, some hundred men,
commanded by Colonel Edward Nicholls, either an artillery or
a marine officer of tried courage, a brave, enterprising, blus
tering Irishman, touched at Havana, on their way from Ber
muda to Pensacola : being the vanguard of the large expedi
tion then preparing in England to follow under Admiral
Cochrane and General Pakenham. Nicholls's force, on board
the sloop-of-war Hermes, Captain Percy, senior naval officer in
the Gulf of Mexico, and the sloop-of-war Charon, Captain
Spencer, stopped at Havana, to procure gun-boats and other
small vessels, together with the Spanish Captain-General's per
mission to use Pensacola as the place of rendezvous, prepara
tion, and departure, which the Captain-General refused. But
Nicholls declared, probably in the spirit of his orders, that,
disregarding Spanish authority and neutrality, he would use
Pensacola for his purposes ; and accordingly landed his force
from the British vessels-of-war there, established his head
quarters, and drilled the Indians in British regimentals.
Having taken a Spanish place of arms and secured the In
dians for his operations. Colonel Nicholls, on the 29th of
August, 1814, issued, from what he called his head-quarters,
Pensacola, a proclamation, as commander of his Britannic ma
jesty's forces in the Floridas, addressed to the natives of Lou
isiana, to assist in liberating their paternal soil. Spaniards,
Frenchmen, Italians, and British, in Louisiana, he called to .
aid him, to abolish the American usurpation in that country.'
and put the lawful owners of the soil in possession. "I am
at the head," said his proclamation, "of a large body of In
dians, well armed and disciplined, and commanded by British
officers, a good train of artillery, with every requisite, seconded
by the powerful aid of a numerous British and Spanish squad
ron of ships and vessels of war. Those brave red men only
burn with an ardent desire of satisfaction for the wrongs they
have suffered from the Americans, to join you in liberating

72 NICHOLLS'S INCURSION.
these southern provinces from their yoke, and driving them into
those limits formerly prescribed by the British sovereign."
The proclamation proceeded, in a similar strain,- to. address
the Kentuckians, by which denomination Nicholls probably
intended to designate all inhabitants of the West, whom hp
called on to be neutral, instead of bearing the brunt of an un
natural war, promising them the free navigation of the Missis
sippi, and good pay for whatever provisions they brought him.
How far Nicholls was to venture, before the arrival of the
large force then on the way from Europe, British history does
not inform us : for nothing of his considerable prelude to
Pakenham's expedition is to be found in Enghsh publications,
official or historical, probably deterred by and ashamed of its
atrocity a.nd abortion. At all events, to enlist the Indians,
slaves, and pirates, to sound the dispositions and seduce the
inhabitants of Louisiana and Florida, to engage pilots to con
duct enterprises on the American coast and waters, and in other
respects pave the way for invasion, were within the scope of
Colonel Nicholls's orders and ability. His proclamation openly
avowed Spanish co-operation, and that the United States were
to be dispossessed of Louisiana ; whether for restoration to
Spain or British retention does not appear and remains undi-
vulged by English authority.
Spanish help, whether by duress or free, and Indian alliance
Nicholls had ; revolted slaves he expected. Several regiments
of fine black troops, under British officers, were to join him
from Nassau, which afterwards made part of Pakenham's
army : acclimated and designed, as would seem, to garrison
New Orleans. It is certain that Nicholls knew and declared
that he was the precursor of a formidable expedition, sent
chiefly from Europe, while negotiations for peace were going
on at Ghent, opened by Lord Castlereagh in person by de
mands, and accompanied by disclosures incompatible with paci
fication. Nicholls, by authority, promised the Indians restora-
. tiOn to all the lands Jackson had subdued from them, and
offered freedom to the slaves for revolt. With means, there
fore, deemed not inadequate to some decisive enterprise ; the
capture of Fort Bowyer, to control the Gulf of Mexico; of

BRITISH APPEAL TO PIRATES. 73
Plaquemines, to command the waters of the Mississippi ; and,
perhaps, of New Orleans, should the Spaniards or the French
of Louisiana incline to his support. Colonel Nicholls sought
further reinforcements from the pirates of Barataria. His
naval co-operators in that ignominious attempt were Eng
lishmen of noble blood, so high in social rank that their posi
tion deserves to be contrasted with the vile uses to which they
were degraded. Captain William Henry Percy, of the sloop-
of-war Hermes, senior British officer then in the Gulf of
Mexico, was the son of Lord Beverly, connected by family
ties with the Duke of Northumberland. Captain Spencer,
of the sloop of war Charon, was said to be son of Earl
Spencer, and related to the Duke of Marlborough. So low
did the most noble lineage of Great Britaia stoop, to solicit
Indians, slaves, and pirates for comrades in that war; de
nounced by many Americans as unnatural for being waged
at all against their British kinsmen : but much more unna
turally waged by them against their American offspring.
Hostilities begun, as for several ages British wars have been
begun, without declaration or notice, by fleets despatched to
capture ships and colonies unaware, as New York was wrested
from the Dutch in 1660, the Spanish galleons subdued in
1804, and the Danish fleet, in 1807, taken from Copenhagen,
blunt the moral sense. Else the refined and elegant aristo
cratic Old World, which regards with disdain and abhorrence
what it decries as the brutal vulgarities of the democratic
New, would be ashamed of gentlemen of the highest ancestral
and historical distinction suing to Indians, slaves, and pirates
for alliance in the royal, noble, and chivalric vocation of
arms. They, and any government, guilty of such enormities,
should be discountenanced by all gentlemen of the New World
and the Old.
Colonel Nicholls and Captain Percy, on the 30th of August,
1814, directed Captain Nicholas Lochyer, in the brig of war
Sophia, with Captain M'Williams, of the Colonial marines, to
proceed to Barataria, bearing an official letter from Colonel
Nicholls, dated. Head- Quarters, Pensacola, 31st of August,
1814, to Mister Lafitte, or the Commandant at Barataria, call-

74 PIRATICAL ALLIES.
ing on him, with his brave followers, to enter into the service
of Great Britain, "in which you shall have," it assured him,
" the rank of a captain. Lands will be given to you all, in
proportion to your respective ranks, your property guarantied,
your persons protected: your ships and vessels to be placed
under the orders of the commanding officer on this station,
until the commander-in-chief's pleasure shall be known; but I
guaranty their fair value at all events. The bearers of this
letter. Captain M'Williams and Captain Lochyer, will satisfy
you on any other point you maybe anxious to' learn. We
have a powerful reinforcement on its way here." On the first
of September, 1814, Captain Percy, on board his majesty's
ship Hermes, at Pensacola, issued another manifesto to the pi
rates, offering them the option of war, instantly destructive to
them, and, on the other hand, should they be inclined to assist
Great Britain, the security of their property, the blessings
o,f the British constitution, and lands, at the conclusion of
the war, in his majesty's colonies on the continent of Ame
rica. Should any be inclined to volunteer their services
in his majesty's forces, they will be received. By Captain
Percy's instruction to Captain Lochyer he was to hold out to
the pirates that, if they threw themselves under the protection
of Great Britain, they would be considered British 'subjects,
and lands allotted to them : the junction of their small, armed
vessels was to be secured for the capture of Mobile, &c.
Thus the British government, which, throughout that con
test, employed the Indians as their most efficient allies, in
voked, as a last resort, the negro slaves to revolt and join the
British standard, and sent an embassy to a horde of piratical
outlaws, proffering for their warlike aid all that munificent
government bestowed on the Duke of Wellington, Earl Nelson,
and other heroical beneficiaries — military promotion, pecu
niary rewards, landed estates, national protection, and histo
rical renown. The envoys on that vile mission and bearers of
those base offers were members of the noblest families of Great
Britain. Their mission was performed, braving the pestilent
marshes of the Gulf of Mexico, at the very time when their
principal constituent. Lord Castlereagh, was professing peace.

BARATARIA. 75
while provoking war, through the instrumentality of his minis
ters at Ghent. Official information to oux government of the
breaking up of that piratical establishment stated, that vessels
clearing from New Orleans with passengers had been cap
tured and every soul on board murdered, and that the Bara
taria pirates took indiscriminately every vessel was perfectly
known at Pensacola. Such were the new allies whom noble
Britons solicited to unite with the Indians, whose subjugation,
after their hostilities began by the massacre at Fort Mimms,
is described in the first volume of this Historical Sketch. In
duced by British subornation to break the peace they had been
compelled to make, their British allies had them again in arms.
Piles of human bones, from decrepid age to infants at the
breast, bleaching in the rain and wind, at Fort Mimms, were
monuments, which stirred up every American breast, in that
quarter, to vindictive resistance of the instigators of such
shocking barbarities, whose invariable and sanguinary discom
fitures in the invasion of 1814 seemed retributive justice for
their iniquities the year before.
A small island on the Gulf of Mexico, and several lakes
extending from it, sometimes by a basin thirty miles wide,
through cypress swamps and prairies sixty miles north, behind
the plantations on the west bank of the river Mississippi, are
called respectively the island and lakes of Barataria. At the
mouth of the lower lake, the island of Grande Terre, six miles
long and between two and three miles wide, about two leagues
from the open sea, affording a shallow, but the only safe har
bor on that part of the gulf, was well selected by a common
wealth of French privateersmen for their anchorage, when
expelled by its conquest, in February, 1810, from the island
of Guadaloupe, deprived of' shelter in any ports of the Ameri
can seas. Taking refuge there at first, when they could re
fresh nowhere else, they made it soon a home and mart of
some importance. The Lafittes were men not without educa
tion or refinement, whose location at Barataria was near a
region remarkable and attractive. A prairie sixty miles in
extent, and Lake Carcasi, a beautiful sheet of transparent
water, six miles long, some of it forty feet deep, afforded them

76 BARATARIA.
all the enjoyments and luxuries of the chase and of fishing.
Deer, grouse, varieties of wild duck, fine fish, orange-trees, and
tropical fruits, in a climate of which the heat was tempered by
sea-breezes, supplied the fare; of the pirates. An isolated and
uncultivated, but gentle and hospitable race of Spanish lineage
now occupies that region in harmless seclusion from the rest
of mankind. They could not dispose of British prize-property
in any port of the United States, as this country was then
at peace with Great Britain. But they might surreptitiously
sell their booty to persons in New Orleans. As their Gua-
daloupe-French commissions expired, they took out new ones
from Carthagena, soon after that South American Republic
declared independence of Spain. Some of them captured
English and Spanish prizes, probably without any commis
sion : although, when ultimately pardoned by President Madi
son, they alleged that they never were pirates, but private
armed vessels, cruising by lawful authority. The Carthage-
nians welcomed them with enthusiasm as valuable coadjutors
in the cause of American independence, familiar with all the
American seas, particularly the Gulf of Mexico and the West
India islands, disposed and able to contend for republicanism
against royalism. The Baratarian cruisers blockaded the
royal ports, vexed and injured their commerce, made many
valuable captures, took them into Barataria, and, by the time
our war with England began, had created there a market overt
to which the inhabitants of Louisiana and other places resorted,
to purchase goods, wares, and merchandise much cheaper than
they could be bought elsewhere. For several years, Barataria
was a tolerated resort for smugglers and other lawless inter-
lopers. Three French brothers, named Lafitte, held some sort
of authority over about one thousand seafaring freebooters,
settled, in amphibious independence, in forty dwellings erected
by them, thatched with palmetto-branches : a commonwealth
of outlaws, not unlike that of the buccaneers, who, two centu
ries before, from inaccessible haunts at Tortuga and Jamaica,
sallied forth to prey on the floating commerce of all nations
and enrich themselves by marvellous exploits of daring navi
gation. At Grand Terre, too, there was what was called a

BARATARIA. 77
Temple, one of those inexplicable mounds discovered in many
parts of this continent, constructed, this one, of shells and
bones, indicating that, before European settlement of America,
it was probably a monument dedicated to religious and funereal
purposes. Wherever there is an impost on importations, by
land or water, there is contraband. Contraband is nowhere
very disreputable. At Barataria, by several years' impunity,
it had become part of the system of Louisiana. The Barata-
rians sold their captures at public auction, without disguise or
concealment. Orders on Barataria for the delivery of goods
illegally imported were as common at New Orleans as lawful
orders on Philadelphia or New York. The most respectable
people purchased smuggled goods from Barataria. During
several years, those illegal dealings were unmolested by go-
Ternment, whose officers were sometimes accused of complicity.
And though seizures were occasionally made, yet the great
profits of the contraband trade generally much more than
compensated for infrequent losses by condemnations.
The privateersmen of Barataria were generally called pi
rates ; and frightful accounts were current of their imputed
atrocities. But they sailed under the flag of Carthagena, and
always avowed their lawful authority by commissions to make
captures. Originally French, then Americans and Carthage-
nians, they became republican, as men love to do : and, when
accosted by British seduction, evinced invincible aversion to
that royal standard. The year before, on the 23d of June,
1813, a British sloop of war attacked a couple of the Barata
rian privateers, at anchor off Cat island, and exasperated
their hostility by bloodshed ; the British being beat off -with
loss of life. Captain Percy's letter of orders to Captain
Lochyer, a hectoring and coaxing official compound, Lafitte
forthwith communicated to the State authorities, and Jack-
soji's adroit conversion to his purposes rendered quite a
dramatic incident in a complicated crisis. He was without
arms for numbers of his men. Lafitte had some arms and
7500 flints, more wanted than even muskets. Those inesti
mable materials the privateer chief freely offered, with the
services of several hundred hardy mariners, for American par-

78 , LAFITTE.
don and adoption. Jackson at once embraced the proffers.
The outlaws were naturalized as Louisiana was consecrated
into the American Union : all well-disposed inhabitants, whe
ther pirates, negroes, Spaniards, French, or Creoles, amal
gamated, as American , citizens, to repel invaders, whom, in his
general orders, by eloquent reprobation, the citizen-chieftain
stigmatized as foreign mercenaries, the common robbers of
mankind. As soon as Captains Lochyer and M'Williams appeared, off
the pass into Barataria, on the 2d of September, 1814, their
maladroit and untoward negotiation commenced by an act of
absurd hostility. The Sophia fired into a Baratarian privateer
there, and compelled her to escape by running ashore : which
wanton aggression was immediately followed by Lochyer and
M'Williams, in a boat, with a fiag of truce under the British
standard, making for the island, whom the younger Lafitte,
John, in his pinnace, put out to meet. They inquired of
him for Mr. Lafitte, who made answer that he was ashore,
as the elder, Peter Lafitte was, find absent. Handing John
the package to Mister Lafitte, and telling him to take care
that it was safely delivered, he desired them to go ashore
with him: and, when out of reach of the Sophia, told them
who he was, and not to let their errand be known ashore.
Overreached in their first attempt at circumvention, the two
British envoys were received on the beach by several hundred
of inimical Baratarians, murmuring that the strangers were
British spies, come to examine the coast and passages, with a
view to invasion, who ought to be detained, in spite of their
, flag of truce, and sent as prisoners of war to New Orleans.
Lafitte, with difficulty, got them lodged in his house ; where,
reading their despatches, and finding that their mission was to
deprive the Baratarians of all their vessels, and marshal the
freebooters with negro slaves and Indians, for the invasion of
Louisiana, by whose sufferance and intercourse the Baratarians
had for several years enjoyed a prosperous existence, young
Lafitte at once determined, by frustrating their hostile design,
to make his own peace with the American government and
domiciliate his associates among the French Creoles of Louisi-

LAFITTE. 79

ana, as Mpntbar, the French buccaneer, had done in France,
and M^organ, the Welshman, in England, long before. Cap
tains Lochyer and M'Williams urged the pirate-chief, by all
the motives tliat could be suggested for seduction, to become
an English officer : offered him thirty thousand dollars, pay
able either at Pensacola or New Orleans, the rank of captain,
and, as they said, opportunity for prompt and enviable promo
tion in British service. Lafitte asking for time to consider
these proposals, Lochyer replied that no time could be necessary
for a Frenchman to decide, France being at peace with Great
Britain and Lafitte proscribed by the American government,
which then held his brothers in prison at New Orleans ; and
Lafitte's knowledge of the country would be of such service in
the contemplated operations as to ensure their success and his
rapid promotion. As soon as possession was obtained of Lower
Louisiana, the plan of the British government, Lochyer said,
was, for their army to penetrate into the upper country and
act in concert with the British forces in Canada. Every thing
was prepared for carrying on the war with the greatest vigor,
and no doubt with success. The French and Spanish popula
tion would make little or no opposition. The invaders were
confident of being joined by the revolted slaves. The Creek
Indians were already in arms with the British.
To all these villanous arguments, Lafitte pleaded that he
must have a few days before he could determine. As soon as
he left his residence for a short time, the mob outside seized
the two British officers in his absence, and, together with their
boat's crew, put them all in confinement. The prisoners sent
to entreat Lafitte's interposal. But he thought it best not to
see them till he had first prevailed on their captors to release
them. Arguing with them the infamy of disregarding a flag
of truce, Lafitte furthermore told them that by violence they
prevented his more effectual policy of learning the whole extent
of their plan of invasion. The night was spent in these pro
ceedings ; the British all under guard ; the Sophia lying at an
chor off the pass ; and it was not till morning that Lafitte suc
ceeded in restoring the prisoners to liberty. With many
apologies for their rough reception, which, he said, he much

80 LAFITTE.
regretted, he put in their hands his answer, dated the 4th of
September, 1814, to Captain Lochyer's letter, stating that
"the confusion which prevailed in our camp yesterday and
this morning, of which you have full, knowledge, has prevented
my answering, in a precise manner, the object of your mission,
nor can I now give you all the satisfaction you desire. But,
if -you grant me a fortnight, I would be entirely At your dis
posal at the end of that time. The delay is indispensable to
get rid of three men who caused all the disturbance. Two
who were the most troublesome are to leave this in eight
days, and the other is going to town. The rest of the time is
necessary for me to put my affairs in order. You can com
municate with me by a boat sent to the eastern point of the
pass, where I will be found. You have inspired me with more
confidence than your admiral could have done. I wish to deal
with you alone : and from you, in due time, I will claim the
reward of the service I may render you." Lafitte's object in
asking time by that letter was, to inform the American govern
ment and get their directions what further to do. Accord
ingly, on the same day, by letter dated September 4th, 1814,
he enclosed to Mr. Blanque, a respectable member of the
Legislature of Louisiana, aU the papers received from Loch
yer, making Blanque, as Lafitte wrote, the depositary of a
secret on which might depend the tranquillity of the country ;
desiring Mr. Blanque to make such use of it as his judgment
should direct. " Though proscribed by my adopted country,
I will never let slip any occasion of serving her and proving
that she has never ceased to be dear to me. I could expatiate
on this proof of patriotism ; but let the fact speak for itself
I may have evaded the payment of custom-house duties, but
have never ceased to be a good citizen. What I now do may
obtain some amelioration of the condition of an unfortunate
brother, dear to me, whom I especially recommend to your
good offices. Our enemies endeavored to work on me by mo
tives few men could have resisted, when they represented to
me a brother in irons, of whose deliverance I might render
myself the author. I asked fifteen days' time of the flag of
truce, assigning plausible pretexts, and am waiting for the

LAFITTE. 81
British officer's answer, and yours, begging you to be good
enough to aid me with your judicious advice in so weighty
an affair." On the 7th of September, 1814, John Lafitte
wrote again to Mr. Blanque, sending him an intercepted letter
from Havana, dated Sth of August, 1814, containing import
ant disclosures respecting Colonel Nicholls's arrival and de
parture there, on his way to the attack of Mobile and invasion
of Louisiana. By this second letter to Blanque, Lafitte stated
that, after his first letter, two other British vessels appeared
off Barataria, and were still there in sight : and that, though
that important point was in a state of respectable defence, yet
the British might use force beyond the strength of the Bara
tarians. With that letter, John Lafitte addressed one to Go
vernor Claiborne, offering to restore to the State several
citizens, who, perhaps, in his view, had lost that sacred title ;
but offered such as he would desire to find them, ready to
exert their utmost efforts in defence of their country. " The
point I occupy of Louisiana is of great importance in the
present crisis. I tender my services to defend it : and the
only reward I ask is, that a stop be put to the proscription
against me and my adherents, by an act of oblivion for all
that has been hitherto done. I have never sailed under any
fiag hut that of the Republic of Carthagena, and my vessels
are perfectly regular in that respect. Should your answer not
be favorable to my ardent desires, I will instantly leave the
country, to avoid the imputation of having co-operated towards
an invasion." Before John Lafitte's letter to Governor Clai
borne was sent, the elder, Peter Lafitte, arrived at Barataria,
and approving all that his younger brother had done respect
ing the British overture, Peter Lafitte, on the 10th of Sep
tember, 1814, wrote to Blanque, enclosing John Lafitte's letter
to the governor open, commending his brother's conduct, and
stating his determination to follow up the plan that might re
concile them with the government : but submitting to Blanque's
judgment whether to deliver the letter to the governor. La
fitte's letters, privately conveyed to New Orleans by a man
named Rancher, were safely delivered to Blanque, who handed
them to Governor Claiborne : whereupon he convened a con-
VoL. IV. — 6

82 BARATARIA.
fidential committee of respectable persons, who gave their ad
vice, contrary to the governor's opinion, he alone being for
treating with the outlaws, but the rest against it. It is said
by one historian of these transactions, Latour, that Rancher
was sent back with a verbal answer to Lafitte, desiring him to
do nothing till it could be determined what was best to be
done, and that in the mean time no steps would be taken
against him for his past offences. If so, faith was broken to
the Baratarians. The governor forwarded Lafitte's disclosures
to the President. But, without waiting for his orders, on the
11th of September, 1814, a combined naval and military force
sailed from New Orleans, under Commodore Daniel T. Patter
son, of the Navy, and Colonel George T. Ross, of the forty-
fourth regiment of the infantry of the United States, to break
up what was called and treated as the nest of pirates at Bara
taria. The opinion of most of those consulted by the governor
was, that the pirates could not be trusted ; but would join the
English and prove extremely injurious as their allies in the
attack of New Orleans.
At the expiration of the fortnight's delay requested by La
fitte, the British returned to the vicinage of Barataria, and
remained some time, waiting for his expected co-operation.
But, receiving no communication from the shore, they at last
slunk away ; their abortive attempt to enlist such allibs being
the first of their series of disasters in Louisiana.
Soon after their departure, on the 16th of September, 1814,
a squadron of six gunboats, the Carolina sloop of war, under
Commodore Patterson, and Colonel Ross, with a detachment
of his regiment, attacked the outlaws' hamlet, captured all
their seven vessels there, with some goods, dispersed their
crews, and retumed to New Orleans with their prizes, on the
10th of October, 1814. The pirates were subdued, expelled,
and much of their booty seized by other captors. Two months
afterwards, Jackson, at his utmost need, in terrible want of
arms and men to handle them, was given to understand that
the Baratarians proffered both. Instantly, through Edward
Livingston, he gave the pledge of pardon they solicited ; which
was recommended by a resolution of the Legislature, moved

THE PRIVATEERSMEN PARDONED. 83
in the Senate by Sebastian Hiriart, at the evening session of
the 17th of December, and rapidly carried, overruling forms,
through both houses. The Baratarians, accordingly, enlisted
in the service of the United States, proved excellent artiller
ists and marksmen, and were deservedly applauded, in general
orders, for their good conduct. On the 6th of February, 1815,
the President eloquently proclaimed their full pardon. "It
had been long ascertained," he said, "that many foreigners,
flying from the dangers of their home, and that some citizens,
forgetful of their duty, had co-operated' in forming an esta^-
blishment on the island of Barataria, near the mouth of the
river Mississippi, for the purpose of a cliindestine and lawless
trade. The government of the United States caused the esta
blishment to be broken up and destroyed : and, having ob
tained the means of designating the offenders of every descrip
tion, it only remained to answer the demands of justice by
inflicting an exemplary punishment. But it since has been
represented that the offenders have manifested a sincere re
pentance ; that they have abandoned the prosecution of the
worst cause for the support of the best, and, particularly, that
they have exhibited, in the defence of New Orleans, unequi
vocal traits of courage and fidelity. Offenders who have re
fused to become associates of the enemy in the war, upon the
most seducing terms of invitation, and who have aided to repel
his hostile invasion of the territory of the United States, can
no longer be considered as objects of punishment, but as ob
jects of a generous forgiveness." Thus, while the hostile Bri
tish attempt to enlist outlaws by seducing promises of protec
tion and promotion failed, their proffered and important Ame
rican service was not accepted till after their unlawful haunt
was broken up by American force, and then, in a crisis of
supreme emergency, all they received for highly meritorious
aid was pardon and opportunity of citizenship, which they
preferred to British allegiance and promotion. Most of those
men were by birth Europeans, who, from that spirit of liberty
which seems to be stronger than any allegiance, chose to be
American citizens rather than British subjects.
Disappointed in their attempt to engage the pirates, the

84 FORT BOWYER.
British, after hovering some days off the island of Barataria,
withdrew to Apalachicola and Pensacola, thence to make an
other effort and again to be defeated. In April, ,1813, Gene
ral Wilkinson, by the President's direction, surprised and Cap
tured the Spanish fort Conde, near the present city of Mobile,
by virtue of the American assertion that it was in Louisiana,
not Florida, as Spain contended, and therefore acquired with
Louisiana by the United States. A redoubt at the end of a
tongue of ' land on Mobile bay, called Fort Bowyer, was im
perfectly raised, and garrisoned by 130 men of the second
regiment of United States infantry, commanded by Major
William Lawrence. The twenty cannons mounted were with
out casemates or other protection from bombardment by sea
or the surrounding sandhills. The men were not artillerists.
Their means were extremely slender. But Major Lawrence
; gallantly repulsed the formidable assault by land and water,
Avhich began there the invasion of Louisiana ; though, after the
/ victories of New Orleans, he was at last compelled to surren
der his fort by capitulation to the final hostilities on this
continent. Colonel Nicholls's object and the British plan of
the invasion yfere, beginning with the capture of that fortress,
thence, and from Mobile and Pensacola, all convenient to
Bermuda, Havana, and other bases of arsenals and granaries
of the expedition in that region, to possess themselves of a
large part, if not the whole of the territories of the United
States south and west of the thirteen old States. The value
of Fort Bowyer for that purpose had been overlooked till
Jackson took command of tbat military district, when, at once
perceiving its importance, he had it partially prepared for
defence. In the campaign which began and ended at Fort
Bowyer, General Jackson acted without specific, if indeed any
orders, sometimes almost against orders ; performing exploits
of warfare and civil administration which paved his way to the
presidency. On the 12tb of September, 1814, some hundred Indians,
with one hundred and thirty British marines, were landed
from a squadron of two sloops and two brigs of war, near
Fort Bowyer. On the 15th, the ship Hermes, Commodore

FORT BOWYER. 85
Percy, the ship Charon, with two brigs, the Sophia and the
Anaconda, mounting altogether ninety cannons, and manned
by six hundred men, in order of battle, attacked the fort,
within musket-shot. Captain Woodbine, who commanded the
marines and the trained Indians, employed those forces at a
mortar-battery ashore, well served while the vessels main
tained a heavy firing from the water, during an action of
three hours, well sustained on both sides. But the Hermes's
cable being cut by a shot from the fort, she drifted so much
under its fire that Commodore Percy was obliged to desert and
burn her. One of the brigs also narrowly escaped destruction ;
and the attack was abandoned, with severe loss. The British
killed and wounded exceeded two hundred and thirty. Of the
garrison only four were killed and four wounded. The ma
rines embarked, and were taken by the three remaining vessels,
much battered and crowded with the wounded, to Pensacola ;
where, as well as at Havana and New Orleans too, it had
been a common expectation among the Spaniards that the
capture of Fort Bowyer would soon lead to restoration of all
Florida, with most of Louisiana, to Spanish control. Six
hundred Indians, deserted by their British allies, were left to
wander in the sands and woods, completely disappointed and
discomfited. Colonel Nicholls lost an eye by a splinter.
Jackson, at Mobile, was almost within sound of the furious
cannonade which during three hours raged at Fort Bowyer. A
boat which he sent from Mobile to succor the fort, not being
able to get there, but returning, gave him his first impression
that the fort was taken by the enemy. Whereupon he was
making preparations for its recapture, when the joyful tidings
reached him of the signal repulse of the British. Delighted
with that first of what might be considered his success against
them. General Jackson instantly cordially congratulated Major
Lawrence, its more immediate achiever; and, from that begin
ning, never paused, faltered, or failed till he drove the enemy
from America. Of the four months' brilliant and in many
respects unexampled campaigning, which that victory under his
auspices introduced, Jackson was so distinctly the genius, su
preme and individualized executor, that his presence of mind

86 , JACKSON.
and of body, his surpassing ability, admirable fitness for the
part he performed, by courage blended with prudence, clemency
with sternness, and good fortune withal, make him a constant
and grateful theme. Fortune, which in all human affairs is
chief element, and in war more than any other, seemed to
begin by putting out of his way no less than six generals, to
make room for an extraordinary man, of whom it is no dispa
ragement to all his predecessors at New Orleans to say that,
above all others, he was the man for the exploits of that crisis ;
by, a series of insignificant occurrences providentially appointed
to snatch the country from at least prolonged hostilities, the
Union from dismemberment, republican government from jeo
pardy, and close the imperilled war in a blaze of glory, which
has never since, for more than thirty years, ceased to shed
not only unequalled prosperity on these United States, but
beneficent light upon all mankind. General Wilkinson was
ordered from the south-western military district, of which the
head-quarters were New Orleans, to take command of the
northern army, where his failure authorizes fear that he
would have failed in the South. Harrison's resignation made
a place for Jackson ; to which Hampton's resignation super
added a higher place, warranted by his Creek campaign, which
disciplined him for the British. Neither Harrison nor Hamp
ton would probably have commanded at New Orleans, no one
will affirm, as Jackson did. General Flournoy, who succeeded
Wilkinson there, retired, as Harrison did, upon a pique of
hierarchical etiquette ; his military talent never tried. Gene
ral Benjamin Howard, of Kentucky, once Governor of Mis
souri, who was ordered to succeed General Flournoy, died be
fore he got to his post. General Gaines, dispatched, with great
haste, to New Orleans, when apprehension for it seized the
Executive, did not arrive till Jackson had expelled the enemy.
General Winchester, once Jackson's superior in the regular
army, ordered to the South, and impatiently expected by him
at Mobile, if sent to New Orleans, when Jackson repaired
thither, could not have supplied his place there. Accident,
mortality, vanity, various insignificant causes removed, one
after another, all these commanders, to make room for the one

LOUISIANA. 87
whose genius fitted him for many places, but especially for
that, where enemies and difficulties, in the mob which he armed
and organized as an army, were much more formidable than
the army he led them to vanquish. None but a man of iron
nerve could have saved the country in one of those conjunc
tures when national sovereignty, reduced to popular elements,
succumbs; and people, cities, states, persons spontaneously
step forward, by local, individual, and unauthorized heroism,
to assume cominand, and save from ruin that transcendent
thing, the commonwealth. For such a crisis Andrew Jackson
was born ; and for its four months' duration in the South, he
was the government.
From the reception of Gallatin's alarming London letter of
the 13th of June 1814 (see page 193 of vol. ii.), in the sultry
solitudes of Washington, all was alarm there for the country,
the administration, the war, and the Union. The capital
sacked, Baltimore attacked, the Penobscot Valley subdued
and basely surrendered, all the Atlantic cities, coasts, and
harbors beleaguered. New York invaded by land and water
at Plattsburg, the Hartford Convention avowed in its treason
able designs, the banks all broke south and west of New Eng
land, credit and confidence suspended, the federal treasury
collapsed and exhausted, three or four persons at the seat
of government, alone administering it, were aware of the
real danger, more than ignorant of where the greatest pres
sure was to be, when, or how the fatal blow would be
struck. Gallatin's letter did not hint. That uncommonly
intelligent and observing watchman on the tower, at the
very edge of the enemy's camp, through Alexander Baring
in communication with Castlereagh, through Madame de Stael
with many of the best informed ministers of the great poten
tates in London, with all his own pre-eminent shrewdness and
anxiety to learn, yet had no idea that the South and West
were the destined theatre of military operations. His warning
letter cautioned New York, Washington, Baltimore, looked as
far south as Norfolk ; but gave no alarm for the great cotton-
fields; although Admiral Cochrane's atrocious invitation to
the slaves of that region to revolt preceded it by some months.

88 THE CRISIS.
The national executive, absorbed by apprehensions for its own
poor seclusion, distracted in its councils, exhausted of all
means, totally depopularized, utteriy discomfited, Ufied Con
gress, specially convened, the 19th of September, under fear
ful responsibilities.
After his victorious apprenticeship to war by the Creek
campaign of 1813, '14, Jackson, promoted to a division in the
regular army, but feeble in health, having dismissed his volun
teer followers, was stationed with a small regular force at
Mobile. Clear-sighted as was his illiterate sagacity, and with
all his natural comprehension of view, he could hardly con
ceive, nor had the government at Washington, or their minis
ters in Europe an idea that, 'from New Orleans to Plattsburg,
through the valley of the Mississippi to the eastern lakes,
British armies, sent from Europe, were to penetrate, concen
trate, and meet each other, at the cities of New York, Balti
more, and New Orleans, after achieving vast continental sub
jugation. But, by overruling Providence, Cochrane's pro
claimed appeal to the slaves roused, alarmed, provoked, and
united all the south-west as one man. Opposition to the ad
ministration yielded to dread and hatred of so detestable an
enemy. The south-western press called local as well as na
tional patriotism to arms. The mass, fermenting with resolves
of resistance, enlightened the public mind by that common
sense often in advance of individual intelligence. .As Bona
parte inherited from the French Revolution much of the fe
verish energy which enabled him to lead France to prodigious
efforts, so Jackson, like Bonaparte, one of the plebeian multi
tude, caught from their ar,dent mother-wit enthusiastic resource
for a great occasion. The detestation England excited by
employment of Indians, attempted insurrection ^ of slaves, and
appeals to pirates, produced admirable counteraction, which
Jackson wielded with a master's hand. While stationed 'at
Mobile, learning through a merchant there, and his mercan
tile correspondents at Havana, that the few hundred men
and Indians whom Nicholls was to lead were probably the
advance of a much larger force, whose object was New Or
leans, he apprised government at Washington, and thought

PENSACOLA. S9
that his repeated warning was not heeded as it deserved to be.
There is reason to believe that he likewise secretly sent an
agent to Havana to discover, and was convinced that large
British forces from Europe were preparing for New Orleans.
Still it was altogether conjectural where they would land, what
places they would first attack, and to what extent their inva
sion was designed to go.
One thing, however, was certain, to wit, Spanish connivance,
if not co-operation : and there was reason to suppose that the
restoration of Louisiana to. Spain by British conquerors was an
understanding of Spain and England. Old Spain was deeply
indebted to England for emancipation from French conquerors.
The alliance between those two kingdoms was extremely inti
mate. The Creek war of 1S13 was by Spanish co-operation,
if not instigation. Pensacola, a Spanish place of arms on the
Gulf of Mexico, was convenient for British dealing with the
Indians, arming and urging them against the United States.
The dreadful massacre at Fort Mimms was prepared at Pen
sacola. British vessels of war and troops were continually
there, in full alliance with Spaniards. Jackson deemed the
expulsion of the British from Pensacola indispensable. His
daring forecast, and judicious, if extra-legal, assumption of
authority, when the supreme law of pubhc safety required it,
prompted his determination to deprive the British enemy of
Spanish Pehsacola. Before NichoUs attacked Fort Bowyer,
Jackson complained to the Spanish Governor of the unlawful
aid and comfort given at Pensacola to those Creeks, who,
rejecting the treaty Jackson had imposed on that vanquished
nation, were welcomed, succored, armed with British weapons,/
and drilted by British ofccers at Pensacola. To that remon
strance the Spanish Governor haughtily replied that he should
protect, clothe, and feed his Indians, and that the American
general would hear more of it ; alluding, as was supposed, to
the large British force from Europe, advancing with revolted
slaves and excited savages to invade Louisiana. Angry and
reproachful correspondence ensued between the Spanish go
vernor and General Jackson, in the course of which the Ge
neral's complaint was retorted by the Governor with force.

90 PENSACOLA.
" Revolutionists have been allowed," said he, " to plot, in New
Orleans, the insurrection of Mexico, and pirates allowed, at
Bara,taria, a foothold whence to depredate on Spanish com
merce : causes of offence to Spain more unwarrantable than
the alleged harboring of Indians, and arming of English at
Pensacola." The bearer of that Spanish retort had hardly
left Mobile when combined British and Indian forces, equipped
at Pensacola, attacked Jackson's outpost at Fort Bowyer.
Before leaving Pensacola, they boasted that they would soon
bring back the garrison as prisoners of war. Returning de
feated, they were succored as allies, their shattered vessels
were refitted, their wounded nursed, and every relief to them
extended by the Spanish authorities, who seemed to cast
aside the veil of neutrality. The jJublic stores were put
at their disposal. Colonel Nicholls was domesticated in the
Spanish Governor's family. British soldiers garrisoned the
Spanish forts. In short, Pensacola was made a British sta
tion. The south-western population and press indignantly
denounced such Spanish subserviency to British hostility as a
flagrant violation of the law of nations and our treaty with
Spain ; both of which, the written and unwritten law, justified
the immediate abatement of so intolerable a nuisance. Jack
son repeatedly, in June, July, and August, 1814, wrote to
government for leave' to drive the British from Pensacola, and
to substitute an American for the Spanish garrison there, to
hold the place for Spain till, by adequate force, that power
maintained her neutrality ; than which double dealing, no
alliance is more injurious. The President, wisely averse to
risking war with Spain, was still disposed to authorize Jack
son's dislodging the enemy from a Spanish fortress, ' whose
pretended neutrality they so injuriously abused. On the 18th
of July, 1814, therefore, the Secretary of War's letter was
addressed to Jackson, with permission cautiously, perhaps
reluctantly, given. But that letter never reached Jackson till
the 17th «f January, 1815, six months after it bore date, when
the British had been driven out of Louisiana, and the war was
over. Soon after that letter was written, the Secretary of
War, General Armstrong, incurred the public odium, of which

JACKSON'S PRESCIENCE. 9]
m.uch fell to his share, for the capture of Washington, and was
driven from his place there, as he deemed, with President
Madison's unworthy acquiescence. Armstrong always claimed
the merit of selecting and promoting Jackson, someAvhat in
despite of Madison's wish. And in Armstrong's Memoirs of the
War, not published till many years after events still rankling
in his breast, he charges Madison with the gross offence of
detaining the letter of the 18th of July, authorizing Jackson
to seize Pensacola, till after the war. Madison was incapable
of such paltry duplicity. Most probably that letter, like
many others, was mislaid in the post-office, or by some other
accidental hindrance detained so long from its destination.
At all events, without authority, Jackson resolved to act on
that personal and daring responsibility which he never hesi
tated to assume in any emergency, when he deemed it right,
and to throw himself, life and character, upon popular vindi
cation. Having advised the President of the British design to
invade the country, beginning with an attack from Pensacola
on Fort Bowyer, which was repelled, and getting no answer to
his reiterated advices and entreaties for leave to dislodge the
invaders from their Spanish fortress, Jackson, at Mobile, with
small detachments from the third, the thirty-ninth, and forty-
fourth regiments of United States infantry, and a few militia,
eonceived and executed the bold but well-contrived and com
pletely successful design of raising, combining, and leading an ,
army of sufficient force from Mobile for the capture of Pensa
cola. His authority to call out militia was exhausted or ful
filled. Military chest or funds he had none or scarcely any.
But he knew that the Tennessee riflemen were always ready for
action, and that his faithful followers, under General Coffee,
throughout the Creek campaign, would, with alacrity, rally
again to his standard at the first sound of his trump. Accord
ingly, he called for them ; they flew to his support ; and it is
a memorable fact, to be preserved by history, that the British
plan of invading New Orleans from Mobile was foreseen and
frustrated by Jackson, without the orders, the aid, and hardly
the consent of government. With a few recruits of three re
gular regiments, Major Hind's battalion of Mississippi dra-

92 JACKSON'S POSITION.
goons, some militia, and Coffee's brigade, embodied at Mobile,
Jackson marched for Pensacola, near which place he pitched
his audacious tents, on the 6th of November, 1814.. After
seizing the place, whereby he cleared his left flank of the
enemy, and was enabled to take post at New Orleans,' without
danger or apprehension from that quarter, still it was alto
gether uncertain by which way the British would approa-ch, —
the avenues by water and land were so many to that key of the
south-west, that great military providence' was necessary to
determine how best {o station the few troops Jackson had at
command. His position was excellent, according to mili
tary judgment, when, leaving General Winchester, with some
troops, at Mobile, and fixing Coffee, with his brigade, at Baton
Rouge, the wary commander-in-chief stationed himself at New
Orleans. There, like the American eagle perched, surveying
the vast expanse of sea and shore, forest, morass, rivers, and
lakes, of an alluvial region, anxiously watching the approach
of the British lion, a Tennessee warrior, who had hardly ever
encountered a regular soldier, took post. With characteristic
secrecy, he nevertheless took special care to inform all his
officers that, resolved to strike the ruthless invaders as com
mon robbers of mankind (as every day he taught his raw
troops to consider their foes), to strike them fatally, in their
first position, the instant they touched the American soil, he
would harass, torment, and annoy them till expelled. His
Creek campaign, and what may be called his Spanish cam
paign, were salutary lessons for the British campaign. Too
far removed from the general government to be controlled or
much aided by it, even if its own embarrassments had not
incapacitated it for such superintendence, Jackson learned
from the Creeks and from the Spaniards how to wage war
with local support and by his own resources.
From his encampment near Pensacola, sending Major Peire,
with a flag of truce, to Governor Manriques, that officer was fired
upon and driven back unheard. A message from the governor
however soon following, with an excuse for that insult to the
flag. Major Peire was sent again, at midnight, with assurance
that General Jackson designed no more than defence against

PENSACOLA CAPTURED. 93
English hostility; and that all the American commander
required, but that he insisted upon, was leave to hold Forts
St. Michael and Barancas till Spain could man them so as to
maintain the neutrality she professed, but had not practised.
Till Jackson's approach, the British flag floated with the Spa
nish flag on the ramparts. Captain Gordon, whom he made a
pretext for introducing with a flag tb Pensacola, in order to
report the state of thipgs, saw British troops and Indians in
British uniforms, with new muskets, drilled by British officers
there ; and confidential Indians, sent by Jackson, returned to
him from Pensacola with the same accounts of British hostile
agency. The Spanish governor, Manriques, after holding a council of
war, rejected Jackson's proposals, which were repeated a
second time, who thereupon forthwith led his troops to assault
the town, and at the point of the bayonet carried a street-
battery which fired on his column, soon silencing the musketry
assailing him from blockhouses and enclosures : a few men be
ing killed on both sides in the conflict : the British firing
from their shipping silenced by cannonade. The governor,
terrified by such unexpected aggression, surrendered in con
sternation, and despatched orders to the Spanish Colonel Soto,
commanding Fort St. Michael, to do so likewise ; Jackson
offering the same terms on which Manriques surrendered, which
Soto accepted. But, after capitulating by them, then, by Eng
lish subornation, as Jackson affirmed, the actual surrender of
the forts was delayed till night, to afford time for destroying
the fortifications and the English an opportunity to escape.
Colonel NichoUs, who had lost an eye at the attack of Fort
Bowyer, with the British troops, thus got off in their shipping,
after the cannon in the forts were spiked and the forts blown
up. Some of the Indians fled on shipboaM. The rest, left
to themselves, wandered, half starved, to the Apalachicola,
whither Jackson, on the 16th of December, 1814, despatched
Major Blue, of the thirty-ninth regiment, with a thousand
mounted men, in pursuit, to hunt, harass, and give the savages
no rest ; which was the last of their discomfitures in that war.
The Indians being thus demolished, and the negroes, bond and

94 JACKSON RESTORES PENSACOLA.
free, dismayed, the pirates of Barataria Jackson employed in
many useful ways at New Orleans.
After occupying Pensacola two days, entirely disarmed as
it was by the Spaniards, and deprived of efficient forces, both
land and naval, by the fiight of the British, there being no
longer any means there of hostile annoyance. General Jackson
wrote to Governor Manriques that there was no occasion for
an American garrison in the place, which he therefore restored
to the Spaniards ; for it was out of his power to protect their
neutrality in forts treacherously destroyed by the British after
having been surrendered by the Spanish, and then deserted
by the enemy whom it was his duty to drive away. The Bri
tish offered to rebuUd and reinstate the fortifications. But
the Spanish governor, disgusted by their rule, and thankful
for Jackson's restoration of the forts, not only refused aU
British assistance, but added that, if he needed it, he would
rather apply to General Jackson, whose conduct had been
much less offensive than that of the British.
By that bold stroke, Jackson's first for repelling invasion,
the Spanish authorities, taken in flagrant delict, were silenced
by his argument and subdued by his arms. The British, foiled,
duped, and disgraced by the pirates, totally defeated at Fort
I Bowyer, and expelled at Pensacola from every foothold on the
I southern coasts, their Indian allies reduced, dispersed^ and ter
rified, their negro a,uxiliaries, bond and free, roused, armed,
and marshalled against them, Jackson began his career, in that
short and brilliant campaign, with auspices and strokes of
success : the Spaniards being dealt a severe lesson of the
necessity of neutrality, and the British a foretaste of the con
tinual discomfitures, which his admirable generalship soon con
summated by their greatest disaster in America.
The first and the last of that natural warrior's collisions with
civiUzed, disciplined, and formidable foes displayed the habi
tual boldness, quickness, the moral as well as physical courage
of his aggressive warfare, planned with forecast, regulated by
prudence, and justified by good cause well pleaded. Eager
and restless for action, wary, silent, and politic, aware that
nothing less than an act of Congress would authorize offensive

JACKSON. 95
hostilities, and that the Executive shrunk from adding Spain
to an already redoubtable enemy, still, planting his standard
on the Spanish treaty and the common law of national self-
preservation, without authority from his superiors, when to
succeed might, and to fail would, inevitably, disgrace him,
from the wilds of his encampment, with no counsellor but
his own excellent sagacity, Jackson took the responsibility,
which on so many conjunctures he delighted to assume ; and,
once resolved, struck with all his might. Though the British,
Indian, and Spanish forces in the forts and shipping amounted
to considerable numbers, with vastly superior armaments and
warlike accomplishments, he led his troops, warily but openly,
at once into the very teeth of their guns, and, carrying a
battery by assault, forthwith subdued the Spanish, expeUed
the British, and dispersed the savages. Much inferior in all
the science and experience of arms to most of those he assailed,
he faced European soldiery, uneducated in American appre
hension of inferiority to such antagonists, the might, majesty,
and dominion of whose historical renown did but on the contrary
steel his fierce desire for bloody encounter with noble tacticians
of the Old World, whose countrymen, Spanish and English,
owed a large debt of atonement for cruel conquests perpetrated
in the New. Born a British subject, his, stripling sword had
been fleshed against haughty and elegant transatlantic masters,
whose renewed hostilities in the second war of independence
were his daily theme of reprobation. By ultramontane life
relieved from colonial reverence, living where regular soldiers
were almost unknown, but nearly every man was trained to
arms, the Tennessee barbarian, as Jackson was sometimes called,
fought without that unmanning infirmity which disqualified
many- Americans, as brave and perhaps as patriotic as he, for
eqiial combat with British foes. As he affirmed, the British
at Pensacola, after treacherously inducing the Spaniards to
violate their capitulation and destroy the forts, moreover car
ried off in their flight several hundred negro slaves of the
Spaniards, which so exasperated them, that Jackson's first
official account of Englishmen, in his despatch to Governor
Blount, of Tennessee, indignantly characterized them, as pro-

96 JACKSON AT NEW ORLEANS.
nounced by the Spaniards, " no more civiUzed' than our Choc
taws." Without fearing, he hated those he stigmatized as
tyrants of the seas and disturbers of the world, by whose loud
and unanimous plaudits that salutary enmity did not prevent
the magnanimous kindness with which he treated those van
quished whom he defied as conquerors. Similar mixture of
stern with fond treatment of his own troops subdued refractory
freemen to his sway and endeared them to his person. Profuse
of praises when deserved, his censures fell with merciless seve
rity when provoked. The same despatch to Governor Blount,
by a terrible parenthesis, blasted a Colonel Lowry as having
deserted and gone home: than which no sentence of court-
martial could more effectually punish. But few commanders
venture to cast such censure among forces composed mainly
of volunteers and militia, with respectable citizens serving as
privates, and all regimental officers chosen from the ranks.
With the peculiar aptitude which qualifies a general for con
fronting any enemies and commanding free troops, the Ten
nessee mUitia general was also duly sensible of the superiority
of regular soldiers and more than ordinary militia-service for
most military duties ; and of the more than mortal peril of
such episodes as his capture of Pensacola, without which, as
he effected it, that place might have continued, and thereby
New Orleans become, a British station.
The whole coast thus cleared of enemies, English, Spanish,
and Indian, with wholesome lessons of disquiet to them all and
of encouragement to our people ; and General Winchester, for
whom or some other brigadier Jackson had written, having
arrived near at hand, to take his place in command at Mobile,
on the 22d of November, he set off thence for New Orleans,
where he arrived the first day of December, 1814 ; fatigued,
uneasy, out of health, but cheerful, indefatigable, stifling all
alarm, and uttering none but assurances of safety and triumph,
provided the proper measures of defence were forthwith put in
force. Before leaving MobUe, he had been constantly en
deavoring, by correspondence with the Governor of Louisiana,
to prepare the faltering spirits and organize the supine facul
ties of that State for approaching, inevitable, perilous, and

KENTUCKY AND TE.N.XLSSEE VOLUNTEERS. 97
precarious conflict. The President's order of the 4th of July
called forth one hundred thousand militia and volunteers.
Those from the States of Kentucky and Tennessee, destined
to descend the western waters for the defence of New Orleans,
were promptly embodied by Governor Shelby, of Kentucky,
and Governor Blount, of Tennessee. Zealous and cordial co
operation of the authorities and citizens of both those States
marshalled many more than the requisite numbers. One-third
of the whole militia of Tennessee took the field, ready to
march anywhere, eager to face any foe. Drafted men refused
to sell their places for money which others offered who were
anxious to go. More substitutes appeared than enough to fill
the places of the few excused. To march a thousand miles
and more to encounter enemies whose successes in the war had
been terrible and their barbarities atrocious, was the universal
desire of that western chivalric commonalty, less educated,
learned, and refined than their eastern fellow-countrymen, but
much more patriotic. All they wanted was arms and ammuni
tion. Regimentals, epaulettes, and ornaments they cared lit
tle for. There being a deficiency of funds for the Kentucky
troops, gentlemen of property volunteered their personal
responsibility for their payment. Never was a march of more
than a thousand miles undertaken with more alacrity, or per
formed with more celerity, good order, and good effect, than
that of these troops. The Kentuckians, under General
Thomas, and the Tennesseans, under General Carroll, were
driUed in the boats, while floating do-wn the Mississippi river :
overcoming the vast distance of their wild journey with mar
vellous expedition^ They reached New Orleans just in time,
their ardor yet unchilled by camp-hardships and untried by
delays, to follow Jackson, surprising the enemy by assault
the first night he set foot on our shore, and harassing him with
incessant, daily and hourly discomfitures, till he clandestinely
fled by night to his shipping, with dismay as egregious as the
boldness with which he first landed. Government, either na
tional or state, could not achieve those triumphs, though in the
States of Kentucky and Tennessee it did well. They were ex
ploits of individuals and institutions, of freedom and patriotism.
Vol. IV. — 7

98 LOUISIANA.
bringing forth with enthusiasm from the popular mass numbers,
arms, courage, and discipUne, organized for the rescue of a
country in jeopardy, by a man of genius performing miracles,
which government alone cannot accomplish without the raw
materials of liberty, equality, and universal zeal.
The first session of the second legislative Assembly, held
under a free constitution in Louisiana^ specially convened by
the Governor's proclamation of the 5th of October, to make
provision against invasion of the State, was opened at New
Orleans, on the 10th of November, 1814. Those famiUar with
legislative bodies are aware by how many selfish, sordid, fac
tious, partisan, and grovelUng jealousies they are exercised,
hindering despatch, and difficult to manage ; the leading few
constrained to humor the idle or timid many, who commonly
follow. The offices of Louisiana were held by persons of
various nativities and different tongues, American, Creole,
French, Spanish, and English. Many were alarmed and
supine, not a few disaffected, some mercenary, and perhaps
treacherous. WiUiam C. C. Claiborne, the Governor, was not
popular. Several years before, he had given offence by exe
cuting President Jefferson's commands for suppressing the
imputed treason in which Burr and General Wilkinson were
charged with complicity. The Governor's correspondence with
General Jackson, before his arrival, teemed with complaints
of the evil spirit prevailing in Louisiana. " There were
those," he wrote, "in whose attachment he could not confide,
devoted to the interests of Spain, and whose partiality, even
to the EngUsh, was as observable as their dislike of the Ame
rican government." There was great dis affection, at the me
tropolis ; and, among the faithful, despondency paralyzed his
preparations. The population was so mixed, that as much was
to be feared within as without. The Legislature disregarded
the Governor's requisition for mUitia. The country was full
of spies and traitors. It caused him indescribable chagrin,
the Governor declared, that he was not at the head of a
wUling and united people. Americans, Louisianians, French
men, and Spaniards, with some Englishmen, composed the
mass of the population, among whom there was great jealousy,

LOUISIANA. 99
and as great differences of > public sentiment as of languages
and habits. Even faithful citizens persuaded themselves that
Spain would soon repossess herself of Louisiana by a combined
Spanish and English force. Papers, taken from the pirates at
Barataria, implicated considerable merchants at New Orleans
in gross offences. Colonel Coliel, from the Spanish garrison
of Pensacola, on a visit to his son-in-law Lacroix, a rich planter
of Louisiana, was detected in correspondence with Pensacola,
giving his impression of the extreme weakness of Louisiana,
and his assurance that it would fall an easy prey to the inva
ders : for which the Governor, with the Attorney-General's
sanction, without any other law than that of mere necessity,
expelled the Spanish colonel from the State. The United
States Judge, Dominick A. Hall, and Attorney John Dick,
were both Englishmen naturalized, liable to be hanged, accord
ing to English law, if takeii in arms fighting for their adopted
country. One of the judges of the Supreme Court, Francis
Xavier Martin, was a Frenchman by birth, as were many
others in office and authority. Tousard, a French officer of
Rochambeau's army of the American Revolution, who remained
residing and married in this country, recently rewarded for his
fidelity to the Bourbons by the appointment of Consul at New
Orleans, with therefore, at that moment, inclinations more
EngUsh than American, was importunate in his demands of
exemption from military duty for French inhabitants, some of
whom had been naturalized, and held office in Louisiana. The
inhabitants of south-eastern Louisiana were considered less
reliable than those of the coast and the western parishes. The
militia of other States were, in fact, the main reliance for that
State. In his speech at the opening of the Legislature, the Go
vernor was obliged to make the best of bad things. There
was reason, he informed them, to apprehend an attack by from
twelve to fifteen thousand British troops, but whom he hoped
to be able to defeat. Not only, however, till after Jackson's
arrival, but till after thoroughly alarmed by the capture of
the gun-boats, which were the only defence of the city from
the enemy's approach by the lakes, did the Legislature shake

100 JACKSON AT NEW ORLEANS.
off its lethargy. They needed a chief to whom aU could look
up for direction and confidence, with that concentration of
power which, on such emergencies, is indispensable. There
were no funds, and no credit. The banks paid no coin,, of
which the rich hoarded what they had. Comm.ittees of the
Legislature and self-constituted committees of safety differed
in their projects. All' business was at a stand,' confidence
annihilated. Jackson was looked for with a desponding and
gloomy expectation, which prepared ,public sentiment for his
seizui-e of absolute command. Although some wished for a
commander of more military experience, with several years'
service against civilized enemies, instead of the general of but
a single campaign, and that with mere savageg, yet nearly all
acquiesfeed in the necessity of some leader, and welcomed one
heralded by reputation for decision and intrepidity.
Jackson's "instantaneous, constant, and judicious labors of
preparation, personal examination of the most vulnerable
points of exposure by the river' and the lakes, unremitting
vigilance, strict discipline, stern control, and serene confidence,
soonf satisfied most people that he was the man for the crisis.
Induced by the Governor tb doubt the loyalty of the inha
bitants, he counselled with the most respectable, asking their
advice respecting the important and delicate problems he had
promptly to solve, some of them Snots to be cut by the sword.
A stranger in the midst of a motley, indolent, and despondent
population, of various tongues, habits, and prejudices, most
of them bred in the apathy of oppression, unused to liberty
and self-government, ignorant of their language, Uttle aided,
if not thwarted by the local government, and too far from
that of the nation to receive much of its succor, reduced to
his ©-(vn individual energy, sagacity and resource, seldom has
one man's spirit been more efficacious in rousing that of an
apathetic community for its preservation. Indolence, supine-
ness, distraction, and despondency, were the elements from
which he had to raise up unanimity of effort and ambition of
exploit ; if possible to fanaticize, at all events to organize and
arm, in the same ranks, men who could hardly, in one lan
guage, tell each other their fears. Their city was without

JACKSON'S PREPARATIONS. 101
fortifications ; their militia in want of arms ; many of the
muskets xhad no fiints ; some persons were armed, with pikes ;
the whole regular force fell short of a thousand raw recruits ;
and whether and when the Kentucky and Tennessee militia
would arrive, if ever, in time, was uncertain. The Legisla
ture, in session, full, as such bodies are, of little great men,
was intractable to authority, and, crude in function. The
whole population were to be marshalled, in spirit as well as
arms, against enemies seducing and undermining state loyalty
by proclaiming peace, deliverance from oppression, restoration
to accustomed allegiance, and ameliorated prosperity.
Under- these discour9,gements, Jackson's greatest merits
were composure and serenity. The silence of fear is weakness.
But the taciturnity of infiexible resolution is a great method
of achievement. Racked by doubts, and enfeebled by disease,
Jackson kept his countenance without a look of complaint or
discouragement, and his detesminations profoundly secret from
all but those to whom it was necessary to disclose parts of
them. Discountenancing all apprehension, he severely con
demned inaction ; declared those against who were not for us ;
treated despair as disloyalty ; proclaimed victory or death ;
that we must die, if necessary, in the last ditch ; that the key
of the south-west. New Orleans, must, could, would, and should
be saved. While at Mobile, he had written to the Governor
to place impediments in all the creeks that led from the lakes.
His first proclamation, issued there on the 21st of September,
1814, summoned the free people of color to embody them
selves and arm for the defence of the country, of which, though
inhabitants, they were not, and never could be, citizens. He
offered them the same pay and bounty as were allowed to
United States troops ; the selection, from among themselves, of
then' own non-commissioned officers, promising to appoint com
missioned officers from their white fellow-countrymen ; and to
employ the colored troops as an independent corps, exposed to
no uncomfortable associations, or unjust sarcasms. Soon after
his arrival at New Orleans, he called, through the Governor,
for large gangs of slaves, the only workmen to withstand the
climate, and, in the marshes, erect fortifications, who were

102 ARMED NEGROES.
furnished in greater numbers than required ; ready, if necessary,
to be embodied and led to action against the British, proclaim
ing their emancipation from bondage, and other inducements to
revolt. The relation of master and slave in the United States
countenances the common European impression that American
slaves would revolt at the instigation of foreign invaders to
join them in attacking their masters. But they would be
much more apt to defend, than assault their mas_ters, under
foreign instigation. Russian serfs, two years before that
British attempt on American slaves, proved of great service to
their country by laying waste their masters' possessions
through which the French invasion proceeded. Throughout
our war of 1812, the free colored people of the United States
served with fidelity, both by sea and land, against the common
enemy. In the peculiar relation between African slaves and
American masters, while insurmountable estrangement prevents
social equality, and postpones indefinitely the abolition of
slavery, powerful inducements cause mutual kindness between
master and skve. Exotic sympathy with slaves deteriorates
their condition. Foreign forcible interference must be destruc
tive. Abrupt emancipation is more detrimental to the slave
than bondage. Kindness to the red and black races of this
country is the duty of an American union of States, where
slavery, not merely local, is national concern. The United
States must unitedly repel the pragmatic interference of
foreigners with the Indians or slaves of this country, and,
as a national obligation, prevent those Europeans who planted
African slavery on this continent, now that it is deeply rooted
in our soil, from meddling to tear out, by violence, what time
and Providence alone can change.
New Orleans, defenceless as it was, and hopeless as its case
seemed to be, was not more so than Washington, a few months
before, and the magnificent capital of the French Empire,
Paris, twice within the preceding twenty months. Among
that homogeneous and strictly governed population, disaffected,
mercenary, and treacherous creatures abounded, male and fe
male, noble and vulgar, military and civil. Paris swarmed
with spies and traitors, who, with members of the legislature

TERRITORIAL DEFENCES. 103
in both branches, vapid orators, short-sighted patriots, and in
triguing functionaries concluded Napoleon's fourteen years of
overarmed depotism by ignominious surrender. The metro
polis of the most disciplined country of Europe was taken rela
tively less provided with arms, troops, warlike munitions, forti
fications, public spirit, energy of command, or cordiality of
service, than a provincial town of the American Republic, fif
teen hundred miles from the seat of government. One prodi
gious man, by established dictatorship, protracted beyond en
durance, unmanned and disheartened France, disaffected and
lost Paris. Another uncommon man, by momentary and
necessary dictatorship, saved New Orleans. The same heroic
remedy, that was fatal to an overgoverned, saved a free
people ; though, in both instances, overruling circumstances
did more than any individual to produce the great results
which shape the course of human events. While there can
be no question of Jackson's peculiar talents for the glorious
part he performed, the British apology for their defeat is not
without foundation. Natural hindrances were almost insu
perable. Vast swamps protected New Orleans. A winter of
unprecedented severity paralysed some of the invading troops,
particularly the black regiments. The army could get no food,
ammunition, or artillery, but what the soldiers or the sailors
had to carry in open boats, or drag, with distressing toil, almost
a hundred miles, through morasses, creeks, and pathless wilds.
They had no tents, barracks, hospitals, fresh or sufficient food.
They marched through regions strange, barren, and desolate,
contending with what Napoleon called, in his Polish cam
paign, the new element of mud, much worse than he found it.
Destructive vicissitudes of weather, warm, enervating days,
drenching rains, cold freezing nights, without protection, must
be acknowledged as advantages of the American general, to
whose genius, nevertheless, so much admirable achievement is
justly ascribable, in personally superintending the minutest
details, and his fertility of resource supplying numberless
deficiencies. The flints were taken from Lafitte's pistols and
applied to muskets. The old men of the city gave their mus
kets to the young, and armed themselves, for fireside service,

104 INDIVIDUALS OF LOUISIANA.
with fowling-pieces. Pikes were used, as weapons. And, what
was much more important than any supply of materials, the
general spirit of fierce defiance to the enemy was soon infused
into nearly all. Old and young, native and naturalized, French
and Creole, black and mulatto, bond and free — aU were roused
from lethargy to action. MiUtia and volunteers flocked, by
forced marches from all parts of Louisiana, to New Orleans,
The planters for several mUes round that city, on both sides
of the river, furnished their slaves by thousands, and sent them
wherever wanted for any labor. Most of the artiUery, ammu
nition, and provisions were transported by slaves voluntarUy
furnished for these purposes. Whenever military detachments
or others on public service stopped at any plantation, they were
abundantly supplied with food, forage, and other necessaries.
Those planters whose estates were occupied, rifled, and ravaged
by the enemy were among the foremost in generous contribu
tion to the public exigencies. Messrs. Villere, Delaronde, La
coste, and Bienvenu, whose sugar-plantations were entirely
devastated, their dweUings burned, their slaves by hundreds
stolen, were active and efficient, with their sons and depend
ants, in the battles. The uniform-companies of the city, com
manded by Captains Roche, St. Geme, Hudry, White, and
Guibert, with Major Plauche, Captain Beale's rifle-corps, and
two troops of horse, headed by Captains Chaveau and Ogden,
Captain Dubaclay's troop from Attakapas, Captain Smith's
from Feliciana, and Captain Griffiths' from Bayou Sara, all
volunt,eered, and served with constant distinction. The old
men of New Orleans, headed by Mr. Debuys, senior, formed
themselves into companies of Veterans, to preserve the peace
and civil order of the city and expedite the transportation of
whatever was sent to the camp below. General Labatut com
manded in town, with honorable zeal and activity. Mr. Ni
cholas Girod, the mayor, and the city council, so providently
managed the supplies of sustenance that not the least want of
it was felt. The ladies and all females of the city, even those
least . used to work, made clothing for the soldiery, par^
ticularly the sick and disabled. The nuns of an Ursuline con
vent were, as that class of females appear to be always, inde-

STATE LEGISLATURE. 105
fatigable in their attentions to the sick, for whom a monastery
was used as a hospital. All the physicians and surgeons of
the city gave their gratuitous assistance, not only in the town,
but at the camp. To the six thousand dollars voted by the
Legislature eight thousand more were added by private sub
scription, and applied in the purchase of clothing for the suffer
ing, ill-clad soldiery. Three gentlemen, Mr. Fortier, the elder,
Mr. Joseph SouUe, and Mr. Louallier, an important member
of the Legislature, appointed by the Veterans a committee
to relieve the sick and needy, performed that service with
untiring assiduity. Governor Claiborne, as a military officer
and a civil magistrate, was always in the field or the cabinet,
performing his eminent part with exemplary fidelity.
The State Legislature were of little service in repelling the
invasion. Procrastination and languor palsied their measures,
which, till five weeks of their session elapsed inactively, were
much more a hindrance than a help to the military operations.
The governor officially urged in vain their adjournment. Both
houses persisted in session from five weeks before the enemy's
arrival until .three weeks after his departure. Of the forty
and more members only four served in arms, although some
few performed other useful services. The Sergeant-at-arms
and Door-keeper of the Senate got leave of absence in
order to do military duty. But the example of those humble
patriots was followed by few of their superiors in station, and
the Speaker of the House of Representatives had leave of ab
sence under very suspicious circumstances. Merely perfunc
tory legislation was the order of the day in both houses, nearly
every day, and night, for they often held sessions at night,
and sometimes on Sunday. After each of the battles of the
23d and 2Sth of December and Sth of January, a quorum did
not meet during several days. On the 25th of December, an
untoward controversy arose between the commanding general
and the legislative bodies, which thenceforth engrossed more
of their attention than any thing else. And when they finally
adjourned,. on the 6th of February, 1815, they dispersed with
out the customary acknowledgments so justly due to General
Jackson ; leaving him, moreover, involved in a quarrel with the

108 STATE LEGISLATURE.
United States judge, which, as weU as that with the Legisla
ture, forms a memorable part of the occurrences of the conjunc
ture. Not a tax was levied. The tardy report of the Finan
cial Committee of the House for taxes oh botton and siigar was
never taken into consideration. The presiding officer of the
Senate had recourse to the unusual act of a public rebuke of
the committees of that body for their neglect of the duties
assigned to them. During several days preceding and foUow
ing the battle of the 23d of December, the Speaker of the
House of Representatives was absent by leave of the house,
but not to take part in that "battle, and charged with treasonable
disaffection. UntU the gunboats were captured and jeopardy
was at their doors, the Legislature made scarcely any provision
for the crisis. What they did at last was but tardy and ina
dequate, if not unjust interference with private rights, instead
of timely public anticipation of common danger. Taking im
pressions from the press or individual statements, there might
andT no doubt would be diversity of opinion on this subject.
But the face of their Journals, which are my guide, leaves no
question that the Legislature of Louisiana were unequal to the
contest. Two weeks before Jackson arrived at New Orleans,
a joint Committee of Defence was appointed by both houses,
and they voted thanks to him. But next day, the vote of
thanks was reconsidered ; and the Committee of Defence did
not report until nearly a month after their appointment. On
the 23d of November, fourteen of the Senators, on motion to
that effect, took an additional oath to the Constitution of the
United States. But next day, a motion that the Members of
the House of Representatives should do so Ukewise was .post
poned till the first Monday in December, by fourteen, as would
seem from the names, French members, overruling ten, inost
of whose names are American. Although as soon as Jackson
arrived, on the 2d of December, both houses unanimously voted
thanks to him, yet little more was done till jeopardy, which
alarmed the Legislature, empowered him to execute, without
much aid from them, indispensable precautions. On the 5th
of December, Fulwar Skipwith, President of the Senate,
stated the necessity wherein he found himself of renewing prior

BRITISH OBJECT BY INVASION. 107
complaint of the neglect of the several chairmen of committees
to report on the business referred to them ; he had applied to
every chairman, and required a more diligent discharge of their
duties; but, except in one particular instance, none of them
had reported. On the 22d of November, Louis Louallier,
Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, in the House,
reported a still stronger rebuke of their supineness. " Shall
we always confine ourselves," said that report, " to addresses
and proclamations? Are we without dangers to dread ? Is
our population such as to ensure our tranquillity ? Are we
always to see the several departments entrusted with our de
fence languishing in inactivity which would be inexcusable
even in time of peace ? No proof of patriotism appears, but
in a disposition to avoid all expense, all fatigue. Nothing has
yet been done. No success can be )ioped for, but by a, course
the very opposite of that hitherto. If the Legislature super
adds its inaction to that of the community, capitulation, like
that of Alexandria, must before long be the result of such
culpable negligence."
Without free access to British archives of state, it is not in
my power to explain why Great Britain invaded Louisiana
whUe negotiating for peace at Ghent. British accounts, official
and historical, extremely rare and ineagre on the subject,
by their reticence put us to conjecture. The public journals,
public reports, individual assertions, are all we can appeal to.
Was conquest the object, or plunder ? Was there concert
between Great Britain and Spain ? Was the royal French
government engaged or solicited to co-operate in the restora
tion of Louisiana to Spain ? Or, was England to take and to
hold the region of cotton ? As early as August, when Ross
marched to Washington, Nicholls making the descent on Flo
rida, proclaimed an expedition to restore Louisiana to Spain.
The London Courier, ministerial journal, stated, for the benefit
of English manufacturers, complaining of the want of cotton,
that it was the design of governmentto take a certain district
where it abounded. The American seaport impression "was
general that New Orleans would be taken by the British, if
only for plunder. One hundred thousand bales of cotton,

108 BRITISH DESIGN.
•worth an average of ten cents a pound there, and two shUlings
a pound in England, each bale containing 320 pounds, amount
ing to 32,000,000 pounds, were estimated as in store at New
Orleans ; and forty thousand bales more in the hands of plan
ters, 'the crop of 1814. Ten thousand hogsheads of sugar,
each containing 1400 pounds, estimated at nine cents a pound ;
half a miUion of "doUars worth of shipping, together with some
tobacco, hemp, lead, and other produce, were booty enough,
perhaps, to justify the expedition for mere plunder. But Bri
tish colonial as well as metropoUtan journalism assigned mo
tives more extensive and permanent than the prize-money to
be gained. A Barbadoes paper of the 7th of November, 1814,
stated : —
" On Friday last, arrived at this port, in forty-eight days from Plymouth
(having taken a route, for secrecy, different from that usually followed by
vessels from Europe), his majesty's ships Bedford, Norge, Alceste, Buce
phalus, Belle Poule, Dover, Hydra, Gorgon (a store-ship), and Norfolk (a
transport), with 2300 troops and military stores, under the command of
Major-General Keane. Dr. Thompson, formerly deputy-inspector of hospi
tals on this station, is attached to the division as inspector of hospitals.
" The expedition, it is supposed, will leave this in the course of the pre
sent week. At this place they take on board about 1200 troops, and then
proceed to collect those at Martinique, Guadaloupe, St. Thomas, and Santa
Cruz ; comprising in total about 6000 men. They then proceed direct to
Jamaica, and take in munitions and stores for their final destination.
" As this is only the van of a grand expedition, which must ere this have
left England, consisting of three hundred sail of men-of-war and transports,
it developes an extensive and magnificent system of operations, highly cre
ditable, and consistent with the grandeur of the British empire. And as
there is no other point, in these latitudes, to afford an ample field for the
exercise of so large an armament, their destination is undoubtedly for New
Orleans, the capital of Louisiana ; and it is but fair to conjecture that it is
the purpose of our ministers to extend the line of military operations along
up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers till they meet and communicate with our
forces contiguous to Lakes Michigan, Erie, and Ontario on Upper Canada,
and thus completely encircle the United States."
Large territorial conquests and acquisitions, distinctly
enunciated by that publication, seem to conform with
the intrinsic improbability of so great a military and naval
enterprise being undertaken for any ephemeral or shortlived
purpose. General Keane, with the van of the army, left

BRITISH CONJECTURES. 109
England about the - middle of September, soon after Ross
marched to Washington and NichoUs to Florida, all prelimi
naries to the winter-invasion of Louisiana, apparently designed
for its permanent occupation.
A Montreal journal of the 14th of January, 1815, specu
lated to the same effect : —
" An evening paper of the 3d, from New York, adds, that an express had
arrived from the southward stating the British force to have passed the
Balize, to the number of 150 sail of vessels of all descriptions ; the master
ofthe schooner affirms that he actually saw 70 of them from his vessel. It
may be concluded, in consequence, that hot work would soon follow, or that
the place would be an easy conquest. We may calculate upon the latter,
as it is well known that the bulk of the population is averse to the tyranny
which has been exercised by the American government in that quarter. In
fine, the occupation of New Orleans will be the means of securing the
friendship and commerce of the States west of the Apalachian mountains,
which contain more than a million of inhabitants, whose ruling passion is
interest. They will be loyal to the nation which can best protect them and
secure to them the most gain. We see an example of this in the late
acquisition east ofthe Penobscot river: there the people are alreadyt(to ap
pearance at least) become loyal through interest. Castine is the key of
protection to thera as New Orleans is to the country above it. The 'West
ern States, according to a law now pending in Congress, will be saddled
with war-taxes to the amount of 823,000 dollars annually, which they may
elude by declaring neutrality. There cannot be much doubt of their dispo
sition to resist taxes as much as they would the British arms. We might
enlarge on this subject, but shall, for the present, close our speculations and
wait another period, when things will be better developed."
No absurdity of conjecture or calculation, no English igno
rance of the temper, spirit, unanimity, and integrity of the
Western States, should be suffered to prevent the conclusion,
to which such British colonial speculations lead, that the inva
sion of Louisiana contemplated more than a mere irruption for
temporary purposes. In 1851, when this is written, and the
Valley of the Mississippi is become vast beyond our own anti
cipations, with people and progress, we can hardly realize the
infatuation of European ignorance of it in 1814.
Our own opposition journals affirmed the fall of New Or
leans, and calculated the worth of the capture. The George
town Federal Republican of the same 14th of January, 1815,
said, " The suspicion gains ground that the government is in

110 AMERICAN CONJECTURES.
possession ofthe official account ofthe capture of New Orleans."
On the 17th of that month, it declared "that Mr. Madison
wiU find it convenient, and wiU finally determine, to abandon
the State of Louisiana, we entertain no doubt. Let the issue
decide whether we do the man injustice. An inquiry by Con
gress into the fall of New Orleans or of Mobile, when the intel
ligence transpires, will fix the blame on the Executive." On
the 20th of that month, it said, " A few African arid West
India regiments, accustomed to such a climate, will be sufficient
to garrison New Orleans, whUe the WeUington troops will re--
turn to the Chesapeake, and those in Canada, like another
horde, rush into New York and overrun the Northwest." The
New Y''ork Evening Post of the 30th of January, 1815, pub
lished a letter from Washington, dilating on the terrible mis
management of the government in permitting the Kentucky
troops to arrive at New Orleans without arms, adding, "It is
the general opinion here (Washington) that the city (Orleans)
must fall." A member of Congress said absolutely that go
vernment was in possession of information that the British
had taken New Orleans.
While such were British plans and American impressions,
the rescue of that region was gloriously effected : but not till
misfortune and terror supplied the General with authority,
military and civil, which was indispensable.
A preliminary stroke of adversity fortunately enabled Jack
son to accomplish, with the Legislature, the community, and
the unorganized soldiery, what, without that alarm, he had
been, and might have remained, unable to effect. On the
14th of December, when the Assembly refused to suspend
the writ of habeas corpus, 1200 picked British seamen, in
43 barges, mounting as. many cannon, under Captain Loch
yer, who commanded, the brig of war Sophia, in the attack
repulsed at Fort Bowyer, and in that vessel attempted to
seduce the pirates of Barataria, overtook and captured the
five gun-boats and a schooner, manned by 182 men, under
Lieutenant Thomas Ap Oatesby Jones, at Malheureux Islands,
on Lake Borgne ;, by that capture, opening the enemy's way,
without resistance,' let or hindrance, to the immediate vicinage

THE LAKES. ill
of the metropoUs of Louisiana, and to that city itself, if the
first detachment had not halted by the way.
An anonymous letter, dated Pensacola, December 5th, 1814,
apprised Commodore Daniel T. Patterson, who had for some
time commanded the southern naval station, that Admiral
Cochrane, the British commander-in-chief, arrived there the
day before in his ship the Tonnant, -with more than eight saU,
and double that number momentarily expected, vessels of aU
descriptions, with a large force, having swept the West Indies
for troops, leaving no means untried to obtain their object,
which was generally understood to be the attack of New Or
leans. As it was impossible to foresee whether the attack
would be made by the river Mississippi or the lakes Borgne and
Pontchartrain, the points and passes of both river and lakes
had been as weU fortified or obstructed as they could be ¦with
inadequate means, in a short time, to prevent approach by
either. Twenty-five gun-boats on the lakes would have ren
dered it impossible to approach by their shallow waters, where
large vessels could not go. Perfectly aware of that, the
enemy came prepared with a great number of large barges
and launches, adapted to the na'^igation of shoal waters ;
which barges and launches gun-boats enough would have ren
dered unavailing, and driven the enemy to Mobile and Florida
for a landing and starting point, whence a march through the
pine forests and swamps to New Orleans must have subjected
tbem to inevitable destruction by the riflemen and sharp-
shooting irregulars at Jackson's disposition. Yet the naval
commander had Only five gun-boats for the lakes, owing to
unpardonable improvidence of government. A large fiat-
bottomed frigate had been partly built at Tchefonte, on the
eastern shore of lake Pontchartrain, which vessel alone, armed
as intended with forty-two heavy cannons, might have secured
the lakes from hostUe molestation, and thereby New Orleans
from attack. But the building of that frigate was stopped by
General Flournoy, the United States' brigadier in command ;
and aU the representations of the Governor and Commodore
Patterson failed to procure from government any adequate
naval force. The consequence, probably, would have been the

112 BRITISH IN THE LAKES.
capture of New Orleans, if the enemy had made the attempt
a few weeks sooner, before the Tennessee and Kentucky troops
arrived for .its rescue,' or General Jackson had time to organize
and prepare such means as were at his command. Inevitable
capture of the only five gun-boats we had, left the approach
from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi with little or no
obstacle or impediment.
By many terrible warnings that war seemed to be provi
dential. For, while royal government generally overdoes mili
tary precaution, republican as often is remiss in preparation
against hostile injury. Steam was then just beginning to be
applied to navigation ; and though government can hardly be
blamed for not using it to protect New Orleans, yet a flat-
bottomed heavy frigate, to guard the lakes, was a cheap and
simple floating fortification, which should not have been neg
lected ; and discontinuing which, after it was partly built, was
a crying instance of that costly parsimony so often detri
mental to American administration. If the British had en
tered Lake Pontchartrain on the 15th of November instead
of December, 1814, and taken New Orleans, as they might
easily have then done, it would have cost more than the price
of a fleet of ships of the line to recover it, if, indeed, it had
not cost the union of these States.
As soon as Commodore Patterson was anonymously apprised
of the probable approach of the enemy, he- sent the five gun
boats, with a tender and despatch boat, under Lieutenant
Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, to look out for them on Lake
Borgne, with orders to return to the Rigolets, which were
fortified at,Petit CoquiUes, where Lakes Borgne arid Pontchar
train meet, there to resist, to the last, the attempt of the
British, should it be made, to penetrate further towards New
Orleans. On the 10th of December, the gun-boats reconnoi
tred the British fleet, between Cat arid Ship Islands, entering
Lake Borgne from the Gulf of Mexico. By the 12th, the
fleet had increased so much that it was deemed imprudent
for the gun-boats to remain near, and Lieutenant Jones put
back for the Rigolets. On the 13th, a great number of large
British barges and launches moved up Lake Borgne, to-

BATTLE OP THE BOATS. 113
wards Lake Pontchartrain. The wind and tide were so unfa
vorable to the gun-boats, that they could not sail further than
Malheureux Island, were they were forced to anchor fast in
the mud, unable to manoeuvre, and await the coming of the
enemy. On the 14th of December, 1814, Captains Lochyer,
Montressor, and Roberts, with forty-three barges and launches,
almost as large as the gun-boats, mounting forty-three cannon,
and three gigs, altogether manned by 1200 chosen seamen,
and skilfully manoeuvring with oars, attacked the five gun
boats at anchor, armed with twenty-three cannon, and manned
by 182 men. As Jones's boat had drifted ahead of the )ine,
it was attacked by fifteen of the British barges, several of
which were beat off and sunk with great slaughter. Captain
Lochyer's official report stated that the greater part of the
officers and crew of his boat were either killed or wounded,
himself, among the latter, severely ; and that his boat did not
succeed in overpowering Jones's gun-boat, by boarding, tUl
seconded by the Seahorse's first barge, and aided by the boats
of the admiral's ship, the Tonnant, with the loss of many of
his brave companions. The admiral's official despatch also
announced the loss as severe, particularly in officers. When
the British got possession of Jones's gun-boat, who was dis
abled by a severe wound, they kept her flag flying, and fired
her cannon at the other American gun-boats, still maintaining
the unequal contest, which lasted, altogether, nearly two hours.
Ten Americans were killed, and thirty-five wounded. Ac
cording to the British official reports, three of their midship
men, thirteen seamen, and one marine, were killed ; one cap
tain, four lieutenants, three master's mates, seven midshipmen,
fifty seamen, and eleven marines, wounded. The belief of the
Americans was, that several more of their enemies were lost
by drowning than those reported killed, by resistance so obsti
nate and destructive, that, though we lost all our gun-boats,
and thereby the lake avenue was laid open to New Orleans,
yet the never-faiUng impression of American nautical courage
and capacity made on the British, added one more ominous
¦ffarning against their invasion of Louisiana.
As soon as the capture of the gun-boats was known at New
Vol. IV. — 8

114 JACKSON'S PREPARATIONS.
Orleans, Commodore Patterson despatched Purser Shields and
Surgeon MorreU, of the navy, with a flag of truce, to the
British fleet, to offer surgical aid, and any other comfort that
might be desired, to the wounded, and to treat for an exchange
of the prisoners, whom Admiral Cochrane detained till after
the British defeat of the 8th of January, keeping and treating
them as prisoners tUl the 12th of that month, when his inso
lent disregard of a flag of truce, and pf the regulations of
civilized warfare, was rebuked by the chastening sentiments of
complete discomfiture. Till then those messengers of hu
manity were confined and treated with contempt of their flag
of truce, as the admiral told them he had dealt with Mr. Key,
when he went on board the British fleet on a similar errand,
before the attack at Baltimore.
At New Orleans, alarm and admiration combined worked
admirably. The British triumph certified which way their
approach was to be expected,' how soon, and that all the re
sources of the country must be instantly put in force to resist
it ; while the courage of the American crews inspired all the
well-disposed with emulous and manly sentiments. As the
American prisoners were taken back to the British shipping,
the captors were cheered on their success. Jackson, receiving
the tidings as he was returning from a tour to the river Chef
Menteur and the Lakes, far from being disheartened, was
only roused to redoubled vigilance, energy, and demonstration
of confidence, by the misfortune : instantly despatched spe
cial messengers to Generals Coffee, Carroll, and Thomas, to
hasten their march to New Orleans ; to Winchester, to be more
than ever careful to prevent surprise or reverse at MobUe;
and, stationing additional forces at all assailable positions
on Lake Pontchartrain, caused every stream, creek, and way,
leading from the lake to the Mississippi, to be blocked up,
obstructed, guarded, watched, and garrisoned ; with orders to
the commanding officers to defend their posts to the last.
Nothing but the treason which, by martial law, he Ukewise
mainly suppressed, together with mere accident, brought the
enemy to the banks of the Mississippi, where Jackson's pro
claimed determination, from the first, was to attack -them as

MARTIAL LAW. 115
soon as, and wherever, they landed, and in whatever force.
The lake naval defeat, after so brave a contest, with fearful
odds, instead of discouraging, enabled him to rouse the torpid,
animate the brave, disarm the disaffected, get rid of inefficient
legislation, and erect the dictatorship in his own person, by
which the city was snatched from destruction, the country
and the Union saved, and the war closed by glorious feats of
arms, just as peace was honorably made by judicious and
fortunate treaty of Ghent.
Before Jackson reached New Orleans, an opinion prevailed
among the best-informed persons, that the city and surround
ing region ought to be put under martial law, as the best, if
not the only means of saving them from subjugation. He
was expected as their deliverer from the jeopardy which dis
tracted the Legislature and benumbed a heterogeneous commu
nity with despondency. The hope and conviction prevailed,
that General Jackson would restore order and revive confi
dence. To cut off all intercourse with the enemy, whose pro
clamations were scattered broadcast throughout the country,
whose instruments of treason, the governor and other respon
sible persons assured the mUitary chieftain, were all about,
martial law was deemed indispensable. Jackson, always pru
dent and willing to take counsel, conferred with the most in
telligent and respectable men ; and, during his laborious cir
cuits in every direction, to see for himself and give orders for
military operations, still found time to ponder carefully the
question of power as well as policy to stop due course of law
and ordinary transactions of business, and by force of arms
turn the whole country into a camp. Among the wise and
patriotic counsellors summoned to his confidence, one, who
served with him in all his battles as a volunteer aid-de-camp,
and whose elegant style was employed to clothe the general's
masterly despatches in the most attractive diction, Edward
Livingston, a jurist of large celebrity, instinctively attached
to the supremacy of the law, but without the bigotry of the
bar, gave his written opinion that "martial law can only be
justified by the necessity of the case. The general proclaims
it at his risk and under his responsibility, not only to the go-

116 MARTIAL LAW.
vernment, but to individuals, because it is a measure unknown
to the Constitution and laws of the United States. The effect
of its proclamation is to bring all persons within the district
comprised by it within the purview of such law, so that all
those in that district capable of defending the country are
subject to such law by virtue of the proclamation, Eind may be
tried by it during its continuance." Coinciding in that opi
nion, the constituted authorities both of the Union and the
State, the governor, the judge of the United States District
Court, judges of the State courts, both local and general,
eminent lawyers, and nearly all good citizens, without dissent
ing voice, recommended the establishmerit of martial law. All
the lake-defences of New Orleans were gone by the capture
of our little flotiUa, which exposed the key of the whole South
west to immediate seizure. The Legislature were inactive,
distracted, and said not to be without traitors among the mem
bers. They rejected the governor's call for militia and the
general's appeals for legislative aid in his need. British emis
saries were beUeved to abound in and about New Orleans.
The commanding general had less than one thousand regular
troops ; the volunteers and militia from Kentucky, Tennes
see, and Mississij)pi had not arrived, and it was uncertain when
they would ; there was great deficiency of arms ; there were
apprehensions of the revolt to which the British invited the
slaves. The alternatives were temporary assumption of arbi
trary power to save the State, or jeopardy of its destruction
for want of such usurpation. For martial is jiot, as it often is,
to be confounded with common mUitary law. MUitary law
has been at times nothing but the declaration of a prince's
will, or a general to whom his authority is deputed, instead of
commands of the legislature by special and positive enactments.
But martial law is the mere temporary offspring of necessity,
covered with the garb, taking the name and place of M.
In reality it is subversion or occasional supercession of legis
lative enactments, justified, and only justifiable by perilous
and critical conjuncture, when social order is vitally threat
ened with destruction ; when violence is indispensable to resist
violence ; when the sense of danger is so imminent as to over-

MARTIAL LAW. 117
come every Other consideration. The end or existence of so
ciety is then sustained by natural and spontaneous resort to
the means which brought, and hold it together, and public
safety is preserved- at the expense of the pubUc ordinances.
To this explanation of the difference between military and mar
tial law, for which I am indebted to Samuel's Treatise on the
subject, may be added, from Blackstone's Commentaries, that
overruling necessity, is familiar as a principle of jurisprudence
in respect to private wrongs. Attack may be lawfully repelled
by force when indispensable to self-defence of either person or
property. Future process of law is then an inadequate re
medy ; and it is permitted to repel immediately one violence
by another. Martial law, as thus explained, is not a code of
military regulations for permanent enforcement, but, Uke war,
is declared and enforced in violation of all ordinary rules and
laws, as the best, if not only method of safety, as war, by vio
lating all common sanctions, is the last resort for peace. War
and martial law are exceptions, not rules. Neither can be
justly resorted to till all other means of security fail, and
arbitrary force becomes indispensable. Society and good order
require that martial law shall be mere usurped authority, un
recognized by regular government, which, as soon as the crisis
ends for which martial law was declared, resumes all its rights
and duties, to pardon, perhaps reward, or puriish the author
of transcendental suppression of ordinary and enforcement of
overp.ow*ering rule, as circumstances warrant.
On these principles, with general, if not universal approba
tion, judges, lawyers, and considerate men applauding the step,
the enemy at hand, his force unequal to cope with them, dis
loyalty and treachery counteracting his measures, Jackson, as
soon as the gun-boats were lost, on the 15th of Decenlber, 1814,
declared martial law, by a published invocation to the pride
and patriotism of his countrymen of all nations and complexions
about New Orleans. He ' eloquently appealed to that public
spirit, without which, among free people, mUitary force and
science oft-times prove ineff'ectual, and to which the most en
slaved and debased nations are never inaccessible. Religion,
patriotism, liberty, civic and domestic attachments, and hatred

118 THE LEGISLATURE.
of a cruel enemy, were themes from which he wrought enthu
siastic ardbr.
It was not tiU. the 13th of December, that the joint Com
mittee of Defence at last reported, in both hoUses, and then to
no great purpose. All they proposed was a small loan from
the banks to complete certain defensive works contemplated
by General Jackson, and authorizing the governor to invite
the owners of slaves to place such numbers as they could spare
at his disposal to do the work. After a day spent considering
biUs to remove the seat of government, to regulate the police
of slaves, to incorporate the Mississippi and Ohio Steamboat
Company, — measures extremely out of place at that junc
ture — both houses adjourned till next day, having in more
than a month's session done almost nothing to avert the perU
which burst upon them, in all its terror, when assembled again
next morning. The house was then passing bills to regulate the
price of baking a barrel of flour, apportioning a land-tax within
the State, granting a divorce, the resolution appropriating bor
rowed money to erect works of defence, and a bill to preve;tit
all persons from being sued in certain cases, — and the Senate
was occupied with similar local and unimportant legislation —
when the governor's confidential message was delivered, with
closed doors and the galleries cleared, communicating Commo
dore Patterson's despatch ofthe 14th, and Lieutenant Jones's
of the 11th' of December, announcing the near approach of a
large British fleet, in great force, with a species of voxels well
adapted for their approach to the city ; stating that he was
greatly in need of seamen, who could only be obtained by co
ercive measures ; wherefore he suggested to the governor to
recommend to the Legislature to suspend the writ of habeas
corpus during the period of danger from the enemy; which
the governor accordingly recommended to the Legislature, and,
moreover, their enabling the commander of the troops to ap
prehend and secure disaffected persons. A joint committee of
both houses, appointed to consider the governor's message,
reported against both of his recommendations ; instead of which
the two houses, at a session that night, passed an act, proposed
by the joint committee, laying an embargo for fifteen days,

LEGISLATURE. 119
and authorizing $24 bounty for every able-bodied seaman.
WhUe in night session on such inadequate measures, the go
vernor communicated General Jackson's requisition of that
day for the militia of the State, to be held in complete readi
ness to take the field in mass. At the next day's session, on
the 15th of December, when the Senate rejected a proclama
tion, passed by the House, calling upon the people ofthe State
to fly to arms, flock immediately to the standard of General
Jackson, and invest him with all their confidence, the govern
or's message waS received; announcing the capture of the gun
boats. Jackson thereupon declared martial law. The general
government had not done and could not do miich to protect
that remote and ill-supplied region. The state government
did less. The population was extremely questionable — the
governor considered them unsafe. The commanding general's
only alternatives were defeat or the strongest measure of war.
A general, well-nigh universal impression prevaUs that
Jackson urged a suspension of the habeas corpus act by the
Legislature. But that impression is a mistake. It was Com
modore Patterson who suggested it to the governor, and by the
governor it was recommended to the Legislature, in order to
enable the naval commander to impress seamen. On the 14th
of December, 1814, the commodore's letter to the governor
was communicated to the Legislature, recommending that
measure. A joint committee of both houses was thereupon
raised, to take it into consideration, who unanimously reported
against it, and that an embargo, together with $24 a month
for seamen, would do better ; for which purpose immediate
enactments followed. What Jackson did, was, as soon as the
gunboats were captured, to call out, on the 14th of December,
the whole militia of the State in mass, and next day to issue
his memorable order establishing martial law: — "Major-
General Andrew Jackson, commanding the seventh military
district, declares the city of New Orleans and its environs un
der strict martial law, and orders that the following rules be
rigidly enforced," &c. On the 15th of December, the go
vernor's special message called on the Legislature "to in
crease and enlarge the measures of defence. To this end the

120 JACKSON'S PROCLAMATION.
gaUant and experienced chief to whotn the command of the
district has been confided is exerting aU his means, and I shaU
support him with aU the powers with which the Constitution
and laws invest me." Martial daw was then in force, by the
general's sole order and on his individual responsibility. Next
day the governor, by another Special message to the Legisla
ture, "as the moment is certainly inauspicious for that cool
and mature deliberation which is essential to the formation of
laws, and every hand must be raised to repel the enemy,"
therefore suggested the expediency of adjourning the two
houses for fifteen Oi" twenty days. But the committee at once
reported unanimously against such adjournment, alleging,
among other Objections, that their journeys to and from home
would cost more than their stay. The House also passed a
resolution for a highly exciting appeal, in the form of a legis
lative proclamation to the people, to fly to arms, which the
Senate rejected when they adopted the embargo act and the
act for inducing seamen by better pay to enlist.
It has ever since been much disputed whether the ,Legisla-
ture of Louisiana, in that crisis, were true to their country.
Be that as it may, as far as loyalty is in question, it is clear
that their rescue from impending peril was due, not to their
measures, but to the energy, activity, patriotism, and resource
of the man whom they refused to thank for snatching them
from capture ; withholding thanks from whom for that service
was, like the question of acknowledging the French Republic
at the treaty of Campo Formio, when Bonaparte declared it
as unnecessary as to own that the sun shines. To his order
for martial law Jackson added the following proclamation : —
Citizens of New Orleans:
The major-general commanding has, with astonishment and regret,
learned that great consternation and alarm pervade your city. It is true',
the enemy is on our cdast, a.nd threatens an invasion of our territory. But
it is equally true, with union, energy, and the approbation of heaven, we
will beat him at every point his temerity may induce him to set foot upon
our soil. The general, with still greater astonishment, has heard that Bri
tish emissaries have been permitted to propagate seditious reports among
you, that the threatened invasion is with a view of restoring the country to
Spain, from a supposition that some of you would be willing to return to

DEFENSIVE MEASURES. 121
your ancient government. Believe not such incredible tales. Your govern
ment is at peace with Spain. It is the vital enemy of your country, the
common enemy of mankind, the highway robber ofthe world, that threatens
you, and has sent his hirelings among you with this false report, to put you
off your guard, that you may fall an easy prey to him. Then look to your
liberties, your property, the chastity of your wives and daughters. Take a
retrospect of the conduct of the British army at Hampton and other places
where it has entered our country, and every bosom which glows with pa
triotism and virtue will be inspired with indignation, and pant for the arrival
of the hour when we shall meet and revenge those outrages against the
laws of civilization and humanity.
The general calls upon the inhabitants ofthe city to trace this unfounded
report to its source, and bring the propagator to condign punishment. The
rules and articles of war annex the punishment of death to any person hold
ing secret correspondence with the enemy, creating false alarm, or supply
ing him with provisions; and the general announces his unalterable deter
mination rigidly to execute the martial law in all cases which may come
within his province.
The safety of the district entrusted to the protection of the general must
and will be maintained with the best blood ofthe country; and he is confi
dent that all good citizens will be found at their posts, with their arms in
their hands, determined to dispute every inch of ground with the enemy ;
that unanimity will pervade the country generally. But should the general
be disappointed in this expectation, he will separate our enemies from our
friends. Those who are not for us are against us, and will be dealt with
accordingly. (By command.) THOMAS L. BUTLER, Aid-de-camp.
The privateersmen of Barataria, together with all other per
sons under arrest or accusation for breach of the revenue-laws,
through Lafitte, tendered their services to General Jackson to
fight against the enemy. On the 17th of December, 1814, the
Senate by resolution, in which the other house forthwith con
curred, requested him to use his endeavors with the President
to procure an amnesty for, and the governor and attorney-
general of the State were also desired to enter nolle prosoquis
iri favor of those useful auxiliaries, of whom some served guns
in Jackson's lines and others in other places, as- stationed.
On Sunday, the 18th of December, 1814, Jackson reviewed
a battalion of city troops, commanded by Major Plauche, who
¦volunteered the day before and were mustered into the service
of the United States ; reviewed together with part of the bat
talion of men of color and the city mUitia. To all of them

122 LEGISLATION.
Mr. Livingston, as the general's aid, read an eloquent appeal
to their feelings : for the imagination of all men Jackson
deemed an. important instrument, to which he always appealed
in mUitary operations. Not then, I beUeve, the devout Pres
byterian he some years afterwards became and lived and died,
yet always pious and patriotic, piety and patriotism were chords
of fervent influence which, with striking power, he touched in all
his belligerent invocations and transactions. Detestation and
denunciation of the cruel foe they had to encounter was likewise
another note he sounded effectually. Base and perfidious Bri
tons, the common enemy of mankind, the highway robbers of
the world, avowing a war of vengeance and desolation, carried
on and marked by cruelty, lust, arid horrors unknown to civil
ized nations, were among the invectives fired from Jackson's
magazine for Southern hearts, as Washington, seventy years
before, by similar epithets of abhorrence, awoke and roused
Northern excitement from colonial idolatry.
On the same Sunday when Jackson reviewed the city troops,
the Legislature, by that time controlled by the martial law
proclaimed two days before, and alarmed by the capture of the
gunboats, passed through the forms of legislation, what cir
cumstances and necessity provided without such enactment, a
law adapting, as the preamble recited, measures to circum
stances of the crisis, annuUing all protests of biUs, notes, and
obUgations for the payment of money ; all sales of property
by judicial execution ; all suits and actions, including those
begun, and aU sales of land or slaves, till the ensuing first day
of May. In March, 1815, when a controversy was raging
between the District Judge of the United States ,and General
Jackson, concerning his enforcement of martial law, the con-
stitutionaUty of the act of the 18th of December, 1814, was
affirmed by the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State.
" The enemy was approaching and within five days made his
appearance within five mUes of New Orleans. The whole mi
litia of the State was caUed, en masse, into service. The
object was to prevent ill administration of justice by keeping
courts open whUe the presence of the enemy disaUowed any
other attempts but to expel him, and to faciUtate to every

MARTIAL LAW. 123
member and officer of the court and every individual of the
community the means of renderirig himself as useful as he could
iri repelling him. Suspension of civil proceedings under some
authority or other, for a short time, was a measure imperiously
called for. The Legislature seeing the very existence of the
Republic at stake, the enemy at our doors, and the whole po
pulation under arms, thought it necessary to suspend, during
a reasonable time, the ordinary course of justice ; which was
no more than would have resulted from the state of things.
Without an act of the Legislature suspension of judicial pro
ceedings would have taken place." The District Judge of the
United States Court not only adjourned and closed it, but dis
charged, without bail,. -men in prison, committed for capital
offences. When martial law was declared, further delay in the
adoption of that or any other measure necessary to save the
city, however painful, severe, and arbitrary, would have been
criminal neglect of duty. Martial law was expected whenever
Jackson came. A meeting of the most respectable citizens,
civil and military, at his quarters. Hall the District Judge of
the United States, together with other judges and eminent
lawyers among them, unanimously recommended it, and de
clared, as soon as it went into effect, that it would save the
State. Its operation was instantly excellent. All the brave
and patriotic thronged to Jackson's banner. The whole of
Louisiana became at once' one vast camp, animated by one
superior spirit, controlled by his iron will. The genius and
firmness of one man constrained the prejudices and concen
trated the energies of the entire chaotic community. From
heterogeneous, inert, discordant, and even traitorous materials,
a mass of invincible force was combined, which crushed a for
midable invasion.
The forts and bayous on Lake Pontchartrain were reinforced.
By an order of the day of the 19th of December, the com
mander-in-chief directed persons confined in the different mi
litary prisons, for various offences, to be set at liberty, when
ever they were within two months of completing the term of
their imprisonment. With martial law every thing Avorked
weU, without inconvenience or complaint. Every person was

124 MARTIAL MEASURES.
Stationed at his proper post The veterans and firemen took
guard of the city. The privateersmen of Barataria and others
accused of offences against the revenue-laws tendered their
services to Jackson. The younger Lafitte waited on him for
that purpose : whereupon the general got from Judge Hall and
the United States marshal a safe-conduct for those offenders,
formed them into corps under experienced officers, and found
them among his most skilful artillerists. All classes and both
sexes were filled with enthusiasm. Martial music, American
and French national airs, corps of militia and volunteers con
stantly drilling from morning till night, prayers in the churches,
whatever could prepare and encourage for aCtioHj were the
occupations of all. After nine o'clock at night, none could be
abroad without special permission ; nor at any time, without
it, leave the city. The rigor of such martial government
was felt fo be just, and complained of by no one as long as
danger was imminent. On the contrary, the activity, vigil
ance, inflexibility, and assurance of the commander-in-chief
were shared by the whole population, wrought to the highest
pitch of detestation of their enemy and defiance of his arms.
The barbarities of Hampton, the plunder of Alexandria, the
conflagration of Washington, were on every tongue, with pledges
to resist to the uttermost such ruthless invaders. Nothing was
removed from town, put away, or concealed. The shops and
churches were open as usual. Business was not interrupted,
except by mUitary exercises. Though the winter was uncom
monly harsh and wet, neither the old nor young shrunk from
any exposure, labor, or sacrifice. Not a thousand regular sol
diers, nor five thousand mUitia, constituted the whole force;
But white and black, native and naturalized, Jackson had im
parted to all his confidence that, with good order and due pre
paration, they could beat the detestable barbarians, whom as
such he stigmatized, about to assail them.
On the 19th of November, 1814, the British squadron from
the Chesapeake, with the land-troops aboard that had been
commanded by General Ross, to whom Colonel Brooke suc
ceeded, joined, in NegrU bay on the extreme west coast of the
island of Jamaica, the fleet arrived there from England, under

BRITISH VAN. 125
Admirals Cochrane and Malcolm, with General, Keane's de
tachment of troops. They were the 93d regiment, a fine corps
pf Highlanders, 900 strong, six companies of the 95th rifle
corps, two West India regiments of 800 men each, two squad
rons of the 14th light dragoons dismounted, detachments of
artillery, rockets, sappers, and engineers, together with recruits
for the several corps in the United States. The 4th, 44th,
and 85th regiments, which had been at Washington and Bal
timore, and the 21st, which joined them at Bermuda, reduced
by casualties and the absence of the marines who served with
them there, numbered 2500 men, under Colonel Brooke. The
whole combined force amounted to 6000 combatants, largely
provided with staff-officers and every thing necessary, com
manded by Major-General Keane, a distinguished young
officer. General Ross's junior, under whom he left England
to serve in America; but at Madeira, during the voyage,
informed of Ross's death and that he was to take that com
mander's place. It had been intimated by the English press,
and was currently reported at Kingston, Jamaica, that New
Orleans was the object of the expedition; and that Ross's
movements about the Chesapeake were but preliminary, if not
blinds to the main design. It has been said, too, that Jack
son was apprised, by direct intelligence from Kingston to Mo
bUe, of the intention to invade Florida and Louisiana. A large
British fleet, many ships of the line and other war-vessels, to
gether with numerous transports, conveying an army from
Jamaica, magnificently sailed by St. Domingo and Cuba, car
rying aloft the proud banner of Great Britain, and filled with
confidence of success. The Russian army, before the battle
of Austerlitz, were not more gayly eager for anticipated tri
umph, nor the Prussians before Jena, than the brave Britons
Steering for the capture of New Orleans.
The naval conductors of the enterprise seem to have had no
hesitation in selecting Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain as the
avenue of their onset, instead of the river Mississippi. Deep
and navigable for large vessels as that river is, when once
fairly entered, yet the water is so shallow at the mouths, the
course of the stream is so crooked, snags and floating timber

126 BRITISH LANDING.
I
were so much dreaded, and the fortifications at English Tarn,
a few mUes below the city, where the river almost doubles,
were deemed so redoubtable, that the lakes were chosen as
much better for approach. After undergoing severe change of
weather, from the tropical heat of Jamaica to the chilly wind
and rough sea of the Mexican Gulf, and encountering a storm
of sleet and frost as their first visitation on the coast, the fleet
anchored off the barren and inhospitable shores of Chandeleur
island, at the entrance of Lake Borgne from the. gulf.'- From
the 10th to the 13th of December, 1814, little progress was
made on that lagoon, which the larger vessels could not navi
gate. It was necessary to tranship the troqps iritp the smaller
vessels. The five American gunboats were soon perceived
watching the fleet, and their capture was indispensable. After
it was effected, there-was no longer any obstacle — the fl^et
weighed anchor and stood up the lake. But ship after ship
grounded, until at last the lightest stuck in the mud. The
boats of all the "fleet were then filled with soldiers, and for ten
tedious hours rowed thirty miles, in a pelting rain, which fell
in torrents, to a miserable, barren spot of ground, called Peas
island, where it was determined to collect the whole army pre
vious to its crossing over to the main. One of the British
officers of the expedition thus describes impressions of their
first landing in Louisiana : —
" Than this spot it is scarcely possible to imagine any pla'ce more com
pletely wretched. It was a swamp, containing a small space-of firm ground
at one end, and almost , wholly unadorned with trees of any description.
There were indeed a few stinted firs, upon the very edge of the water; but
these were so diminutive in size as hardly to deserve a higher classification
than among the meanest shrubs. The interior was the resort of wild ducks
and other water-foWl ; and the pools and creeks with which it was inter
sected abounded in dormant alligators.
" Upon this miserable desert the army was assembled, without tents or
huts, or any covering to shelter them from the inclemency of tbe weather;
and, in truth, we may fairly affirm that our hardships had here their com
mencement. A^er having been exposed all day to a cold and pelting rain,
we landed Upon a barren island, incapable of furnishing even fuel enough
to supply our fires. To add to our miseries, as nighfclosed, the rain gene
rally ceased and severe frosts set in ; which, congealing our wet clothes
upon our bodies, left little animal warmth to keep the limbs in a state of

SPANISH FISHERMEN. 127
activity ; and the consequence was, that many of the wretched negroes, to
whom frost and cold were altogether new, fell fast asleep, and perished
before morning.
"For provisions again we were entirely dependent upon the fleet. There
were here no living creatures which would suffer themselves to be caught ;
even the water-fowls heing so timorous that it was impossible to approach
them within musket-shot. Salt meat and ship-biscuit were therefore our
daily food, moistened by a small allowance of rum, a fare which, no doubt
very wholesome, was not such as to reconcile us to the cold and wet under
which we suffered.
" On the part of the navy, again, all these hardships were experienced in
a fourfold degree. Night' and day were boats pulling from the fleet to the
island and from the island to the fleet ; for it was the 21st before all the
troops were got on shore ; and as there was little time to inquire into men's
turns of labor, many seamen were four or five days continually at the oar.
Thus they had not only to bear up against variety of temperature, but
against hunger, fatigue, and want of sleep in addition, — three as fearful
burdens as can be laid upon the human frame. Yet, in spite of all this, not
a murmur nor a whisper of complaint could be heard throughout the whole
expedition. No man appeared to regard the present, while every one looked
forward to the future. From the general down to the youngest drum-boy,
a confident anticipation of success seemed to pervade all ranks; and in the
hope of an ample reward in store for them, the toils and grievances of the
moment were forgotten. Nor was this anticipation the mere offspring of
an overweening confidence in themselves. Several Americans had already
deserted, who entertained us with accounts of the alarm experiencefl at
New Orleans. They assured us that there were not at present 5000 sol
diers in the State ; that the principal inhabitants had long ago left the
place; that such as remained were ready to join us as soon as we should
appear among them ; and that therefore we might lay our account with a
speedy and bloodless conquest. The same persons likewise dilated upon
the wealth and importance ofthe town, upon the large quantities of govern
ment stores there collected, and the rich booty which would reward its
capture; subjects well calculated to tickle _the fancy of invaders and to
make them unmindful of immediate afflictions, in the expectation of so great
a recompense." The miscreants welcomed as deserters were not Americans,
as the English supposed : some of whom took Spanish fisher
men for officers from Jackson's army : not only so, but Ame
rican deserters, disgusted with their own government, Jackson's
severity, and anxious to embrace British allegiance. There
were no such Americans. A few Spaniards of the lowest de
gree of mankind, fishermen, who Uved in isolated huts and
desolate swamps, hardly mixing with feUow-citizens, were the

128 CHOCTAW INDIANS.
mercenaries of whom the deluded British purchased conductors
from Lake Pontchartrain to the banks of the Mississippi. Those
semi-savages, together with a few Choctaws, disposed of them
selves more profitably than they could of fish to the inhabitants
of New Orleans, and misled their seducers by stories of the
certainty of their success. As is often the case, the educated,
wise, and refined were befooled by the low cunning of the
ignorant, stupid, and despicable.. Rejected by the pirates of
Barataria, wise and mighty Britons thought themselves more
fortunate with some Spanish fishermen and Florida Indians.
It required several days, from the 16th to the 21st of De
cember, to land all the forces on Peas island, to refresh and
brigade them, to arm and prepare a hundred boats for their
conveyance across Lake Borgne to the neighborhood of New
Orleans, and thus enter upon the proposed assault of that City.
A van or advance was organized, under command of Colonel
Thornton, always one of the most enterprising and successful
officers of the British army, who had. been wounded and cap
tured at Washington — the only one who had any success at
New Orleans.
With the audacious simplicity by which intelligent, and
respectable Englishmen expose to the world their profligate
subornation of savage alliance, one of their best printed nar
ratives of that invasion states that, while sojourning at Peas
island, " an embassy was despatched to the Choctaws, a tribe
of Indians with whom our government chanced to be in aUi
ance. With these men Colonel Nicholls, of the marines, who
conducted the embassy, was well acquainted, having been pre
viously appointed generalissimo of all their forces, and they
therefore extended to us the right hand of friendship." The
English narrator adds that he was " compelled, almost in spite
of himself, to regard those half-naked wretches with venera
tion." A diplomatic feast entertained the British embassy,
minutely described : " Raw flesh, to which," the English
man says, "he could riot overcome his loathing. When
the remnant of the food was removed, an abundant supply
of rum, which these peoplq had received from our fleet, was
produced. Of this they swallowed large potations." A

SPANISH FISHERMEN. 129
drunken orgy is then particularized: "After which," says the
donor of such gifts, " we returned for the night to a hut as
signed for our accommodation, leaving our wUd hosts to con
tinue the revel as long as a single drop of spirits remained.
On the following morning, having presented the warriors with
muskets and ammunition, we departed, taking with us two
chiefs, at their own request. For this joumey they had
equipped themselves in a most extraordinary manner : making
their appearance in scarlet jackets, which they had obtained
from Colonel Nicholls, old-fashioned steel-bound cocked hats,
and shoes. Trousers they would not wear, but permitted their
lower parts to remain with no other covering than a gir
dle tied round their loins; and sticking scalping-knives in
their belts, and holding tomahawks iri their hands, they ac
companied us to the fleet, and took up their residence with
the admiral."
By such beastly propitiation of brutish creatures, as gross
and barbarous as worship of idols or cannibal appetites, did
British nobles, gentlemen, and devout men seduce a remnant
of savages to their standard, displayed, with all its attractions,
for pirates, revolted slaves, and inebriate Indians, to be com
bined against American kindred.
The bayou Bienvenu or river St. Francis is a considerable
stream, which, by many branches and other creeks, winds
through the cypress swamps, prairies, and reed-brakes that lie
between New Orleans and the lakes. Not far from where the
Bienvenu joins Lake Borgne, on a tongue of land, was a vil
lage of twelve large cabins, built of stakes, thatched and en
closed with palmetto-leaves, inhabited by Spanish fishermen,
who caught fish on the lake and sold them at New Orleans.
Not one of these people was either American or French, but
all Spanish. There was nothing strange or reprehensible in
the British buying their services as lake-pilots, nor very un
usual in such men selling their local knowledge as land-guides
even to enemies. Such treachery is common everywhere. The
Spanish fishermen were easily bought — their whole settlement.
And they served not only as pUotS but spies too : going daily
to New Orleans to sell fish, they picked up there whatever
Vol. IV. — 9

130 " GENERAL KEANE'S FORCES.
information they could, and took it to the British at Peas
island. There were also three natives of Louisiana, Spanish
officers of the garrison at Pensacola, named GuUlemard, Regie,
and St. Pre, accompanying the Britisli army, to render aU the
aid and give all the information they could. On the 20th of
December, 1814, Captain Peddle, of that army, was conducted,
disguised, by three of the principal fishermen, named Marin-
guier, Luis, and Francisco, all the way to the river Mississippi.
The best course to take by the lakes and by land, in order to
get the army to the river, was perfectly well known to the
admiral and general, who were attended the whole distance by
guides familiar with the way and prodigal of assurances of
success whenever the British reached the city.
Indian allies and Spanish guides being provided, all of whom
re'lpresented the conquest of Louisiana as perfectly easy, no
obstacles to be apprehended but in the natural obstructions of
bogs and trembling prairies to be overcome, the troops in high
spirits, notwithstanding their privations and tempestuous an
noyances on the barren waste where they suffered several days,
were reviewed by General Keane, on the 21st of December,
1814, and by their ardor for movement and exploit gave every
promise of glorious achievement. They were distributed into
three parts. The light brigade, or advance, was composed of
the 4th, the 85th, and 95th regiments. Captain Lane's rocket-
men, and two light three-pounder cannon, commanded by Co
lonel Thornton. Of the two remaining brigades, the first,
comprising the 21st, the 44th, and one black regiment, was
assigned to Colonel Brooke ; and the second, containing tho
93d regiment, with the rest of the black troops, to Colonel'
HamUton, of the 7th West India regiment; with portions of
artillery and rockets allotted to each brigade; and the 14th
dismounted dragoons constituted the general's body-guard:
altogether about two thousand fighting men.
The distance to go in boats was computed eighty mUes.
From eighty to one hundred boats, the barges of all the ships,
the captured gun-boats, some Craft brought from, the Chesa
peake, the gigs of the captains, and a schooner for the ad
miral and general, were got ready on the beach ; and, in the

BRITISH MOVEMENT. 131
morning of the 22d of December, 1814, as many soldiers as
could be cuowded into them were put on board. Salt beef,
hard bread, and bad rum, without tents, barracks, huts, or dry
clothing, had been their fare since they went ashore. But,
though victims going to greater hardships, they rejoiced in any
change, especially one so promising of amelioration as con
quest, booty, plenty, and repose. Not more than 2000 soldiers
could be wedged into all the boats ; from 70 to 80, sailors in
cluded, being in a single barge, so that, once seated, there was
rio room for any change of position. Nevertheless, they em
barked in high spirits, and though cheering was forbid, as
silence and secrecy were commanded, yet the soldiery evinced
delight by all means not interdicted, and bore every hardship
without a murmur. Soon after their departure from the
island, the rain fell in such floods as Britons had never under
gone. When drenched thoroughly, the storm of rain was fol
lowed by a snap of cold weather, with keen, cutting, north
wind, sleet, and ice, freezing their wet clothes, and petrifying
their limbs. StiU, there were no complaints, but martial pity,
ironically bestowed by veterans on each other's powerless
bodies. Pans of coal, ignited in the sterns of the boats, were
allowed, for a while, to them, to dry their saturated and frozen
clothing. But as soon as night came on, all fires were ordered
to be extinguished, lest the lights should betray the expe
dition. All night long, the troops, benumbed and silent, were
tugged over the water in darkness, by seamen at the oars.
The Spanish fishermen served as pilots. The Spanish officers
and Indian chiefs were the admiral's select companions.
On the 21st of December, when Jackson's orders were to
obstruct and watch, as much as possible, the numberless creeks
that led out of the cypress swamps and prairies north of New
Orleans from the lakes to the city. Major Viller^, son of the
general of militia, who commanded between the lakes and the
Mississippi, by whose canal the enemy effected his unperceived
arrival at that gentleman's plantation, nine miles below the
city, sent eleven men, with a sergeant, in a boat, to the Spanish
fishermen's village, to ascertain and keep watch there. If the
bayou had been obstructed, as General Jackson directed, it

132 BRITISH MOVEMENT,
might have prevented the enemy's irruption that way. But,
though somewhat guarded, it was not obstructed; and the
consequence was hostile entrance by that channel. Major
ViUere's piquet found the viUage deserted. Only one sick
fisherman and the dogs remained; the dogs shut up by the
sick man to prevent their giving alarm by barking at the
British as they came, and the other inhabitants, said, by the
sick man, to have all gone fishing, but, no doubt, to pUot the
British. Soon after midnight, of the 22d of December, -1814,
when the moon went down, and Major ViUere's party were
guarded, as they supposed, by a sentinel, five barges, under
Captain Spencer, sent ahead, while the rest of the fleet slopped
awhile, to surprise any force, if any, at the fisherman's viUage,
rowed upon the cabins so suddenly, that the Americans, with
hardly time to spring into their boat and attempt to escape
from numbers they could not resist, were all captured except
one, Mr. Rey, who contrived to hide among the cane-brakes ;
and, after much fatigue and hardship, through bogs, lagoons,
and trembling prairies, to get off, though not towards New
Orleans ; so that he could not give notice of the enemy's
approach. Mr. Ducros, one of those captured, was taken by
Captain Spencer to the general and admiral, and interrogated
by them as to Jackson's force, the state of the country, and
other such inquiries ; and assured that the invasion was not
aimed at the people, who would not be molested, but at their
bad government, which would be overthrown ; that the inha
bitants would be protected in their property and slaves ; and
the war carried up the Mississippi against the Kentuckians
and other promoters of it, while Louisiana was to be restored
to its lawful owners. Similar language was held by the British
commanders to other prisoners besides Mr. Ducros.
By capturing Major ViUere's advance, stationed at the
fishermen's viUage, the invaders deprived Jackson of his first
protection ashore, as, by the capture of the gun-boats, he lost
the only one on the lakes ; and there was no hindrance to
the British penetration of the country unperceived. The fleet
of barges therefore hastened forward to the .bayou Mahant, a
fork of the Bienvenu, to where the former joins ViUere's

BRITISH LANDING. 133
canal, where, at four o'clock in the morning of the 23d of
December, 1814, they effected their landing. The boats, on
the lake, were several abreast. In the creek, they had to
change that order till only one could move, using the oars to
scull, instead of rowing, through the narrow stream. Sailors,
sent ashore to ascertain whether the army might land without
being swallowed up in the vast wilderness of reeds surrounding
them in every direction, reported that the banks of the stream
were firm enough to bear i^en, provided that they did not
diverge from the banks. The troops were thereupon landed ;
and, for the first time after a day and night of unusual exp6-
sure to excessive moisture, sharp frost, hunger, thirst, and irk
some confinement, were allowed to walk, though not much, and
neither to make any noise, or any fire, but merely to stretch
their weary limbs, in wonder at the enormous bog their march
began with.
In that 'wild covert, it was proposed to await the arrival of
the two other brigades, before proceeding further. But that
prudent pause, the Spanish counsellors overruled.' They in
sisted that there was no danger. There were not 5000 men
in arms in all Louisiana, they said, scarce 1000 regular troops.
Such as there might be were scattered about at distant stations,
without the least apprehension of an attack in the way the
army was going. Yielding to these not altogether misrepre
sentations. General Keane, with his fiery second. Colonel
Thornton, argued that, on the marsh where they stood, choked
and blinded by reeds, it was impossible to form or manceuvre,
and enemies, familiar with those impediments, would have
great advantages in surprising and worsting the British.
They marched forward, therefore, the boats returning to Peas
Island for the other brigades. Before going many miles, the
reeds disappeared, a few cypress trees were seen, presently
forests, and then among sugar-canes, stubble, and orange-
groves, habitations and culture. At length the neck of land
was discovered on which New Orleans stood, and a road to it ;
an isthmus, about three-quarters of a mile wide from the Mis
sissippi to the marsh, and General ViUere's mansion, with the
negro-huts about it. The alluvial region they traversed, with

134 BRITISH MARCH.
its amphibious inhabitants, was altogether strange to European
observation. Some of the officers, and perhaps old soldiers
of. the British advance, had probably served with WeUington
in Asia, with Abercrombie in Africa, and lately with Keane in
different parts of Europe. But in neither of those three
continents had they seen such marvels of earth and water as
the swamp-lands of Louisiana. Most of that region, if not
once part of the ocean, is, at all events, the creation of the
prodigious floods, which, from the Rocky Mountains of Oregon,
wash the imm-ense and shifting land-marks of the Mississippi
valley, and occasionally dilate that father of rivers from one
mile wide to fifty. Its overfiows, 'with those of all its great
affluents, periodically deposite slime on the banks of the
streams in which they vent themselves, continually raising the
banks several feet above the soil, between the streams. An
nual deluges soak the earth, covered with interminable and
impervious tall reeds. When the rain and floods flnd no issue
by the streams, whose banks are higher than the', intervals of
ground between them, the soil becomes meadow, sometimes so
wet and loose that what are known as trembUng prairies float
about, on which neither man nor beast can venture, except in
very dry seasons. The British, to their amazement, found the
margins of the creeks not only firm and practicable, but high
ground. But if they ventured to leave the edge of a ditch
for what, in other countries, is mostly higher ground, it was
not only several feet below the banks of streams, but nearly
all mere quagmire. Forests of reeds as high as their heads
covered the whole waste of barren and treacherous mud, upon
which there was no foot-hold. Not, a habitation, not a human
being, not an animal, scarcely a tree was to be seen. All was
wUderness, and nearly all impassable morass. The strip of
ground they stood on seemed firm ; but to step beside it from
the ditch was fatal. Concealed by the reeds, not aUowed
to make any observation, they groped their way, some miles,
to ViUere's canal, which they reached about nine o'clock in the
morning of the 23d, stUl unperceived. So far their progress,
though comfortless and strange, was fortunate and encou
raging. Before eleven o'clock, at ViUere's house, they surprised

BRITISH ARRIVAL. 135
and took a company of the third regiment of Louisiana militia
stationed there, whence, with much difficulty, his son, Major
Villere, escaped -from a window ; running the gauntlet of. a
volley of pistol-shots, and hastened to New Orleans, to an
nounce the enemy's arrival.
Further concealment was then not only unnecessary, but
impolitic: the strategy being to make their forces seem as
formidable as possible, and for that purpose look larger than
they actually were. Their arrival would soon be known at
New Orleans. But they had no fears. Their Spanish con
ductors had raised British assurance to the highest pitch.
Jackson, a mere militiaman, had by his severity rendered him
self extremely odious. The whole population were ready to
embrace their deliverers from his arbitrary rule and all Ame
rican government. Bloodless conquest awaited the British
founders of Spanish restoration. Piles of cotton, stores of
sugar, immense supplies of public property, almost in sight,
held forth their tempting allurements. Colonel Thornton re
minded General Keane of Washington, and Vice-Admiral Coch
rane of Rear-Admiral Cockburn there : urging immediate march
to New Orleans, to follow fast the bearers of news of the Bri
tish coming, and with their own muskets proclaim their advent.
But the common difference between physical and moral resolu
tion deterred the young general from assuming a responsibility
more fearful than death, and of which Thornton would have
no share. His supplies were eighty miles off; so was his main
body ; Jackson's reputed intrepidity was not, perhaps, without
some influence. If Jackson had been surprised that afternoon,
what would have resulted ? At all events, Keane peremptorily
refused to hazard it. Within pistol-shot of the river, without
cdvering and without alarm, their arms piled up, men and offi
cers lying about, just as Jackson desired, Keane pitched them.
Concealment no longer prudent, but demonstration exaggerated
become stratagetive, the soldiers and officers cooking, eating,
bathing (for it was a fine mild day that saluted them), smoking,
drinking, carousing, rambling about the banks of the magnifi
cent Mississippi, a mile wide and a hundred faithoms deep, were
entertained with martial music and patriotic anthems — God

136 BRITISH MARAUDERS.
save the King, Rule Britannia, and the roast-beef of old Eng
land; amusing themselves in boastful security and fiatter-
ing anticipations. The British flag was hoisted, in proud salu
tation to the city and vicinage. The general estabhshed his
head-quarters, with Colonel Thornton, in Mr. ViUere's man
sion, and feasted on its plentiful fare. Two of the British
officers shaU teU how those gentlemen enjoyed themselves ; two
gentlemen not satisfied with mere mUitary renown, but ambi
tious moreover of Uterary celebrity, who published their feats
in books. " Bare rations," says one of them, " did not content
them. Spreading themselves over the country, as far as regard
to safety would permit, they entered every house, and brought
away quantities of hams, fowls, and wines of various descrip
tions, which being divided among them, all fared, well, and
none received too large a quantity. In this division of good
things they were not unmindful of their officers ;" and so this
king's evidence proceeds to tell that the officers were grateful
receivers of their share of what the men stole. That disgrace
ful boast is part of the journal of an officer who served in the
expedition, and revised its contents for publication at London,
in 1821. The other informer, whose title-page styles him " A
Subaltern in Arnerica : comprising his Narrative of the Cam
paigns of the British Army," confirms, in other words, the
same account of the larceny, which distinguished the universal
British pillage and uniform barbarities in America. " As the
weather chanced to be remarkably favorable, and as no traces of
an enemy could be perceived, we very naturally looked forward
to a peaceable and pleasant tour of duty ; and we made no
scruple, as well officers as men, to wander so far from the
head-quarters of our post as the prospect of a few luxuries in
the way of eating and drinking invited. With a few followers,
the narrator's friend hurried off to the chateau, for the purpose
of ascertaining the state of its cellar and larder. An ample
supply of wine, with a cheese, a piece of bacon, and a turkey,
fell to our share :" with which petty thefts delighted, the
thieves, not content with that meanness, enjoy the vanity of
transmitting its boast to historical narration.
The advance of the British army thus luxuriated, for a few

BRITISH DISASTERS. 137
hours that afternoon, in their only quiet, or, comfort, or even
freedom from distress and disgrace, in Louisiana. That night
fall their defeats, destruction, and consternation began, never
ceasing, night or day, during the three disastrous weeks they
lingered on the Mississippi, struggling with incessant discom
fitures, till at midnight, the 18th of January, 1815, skulking
through the bogs and reeds, they escaped to their shipping,
utterly demolished. Their operations were conducted with
bravery, skill, and fortitude ; certainly, too, the weather and
the region were unpropitious. Still, not merely all Americans,
but all civilized mankind, should rejoice in the bloody retribu
tion visited, through them, on the detestable letter by which
the British Admiral Cochrane, commander-in-chief, gave official
notice of barbarian hostiUties to be perpetrated. And Jack
son's rescue of New Orleans ' was a master-piece of military
resistance to invasion, a model of defensive warfare, which
ought to be celebrated, as a memorable lesson that regular
may be vanquished by irregular troops well commanded ;
that aggression is the best method of defence ; and attesting
fer free institutions, how militia overcome veteran soldiers.
If Napoleon had encouraged the suburban workmen of im
perial Paris, calUng for arms to save it, his dynasty, and
faithless nobility, new and old, as Jackson armed and roused
the motley, Ustless, and dispirited inhabitants of a remote
provincial town, would the French metropolis have fallen
as it did ? But Jackson, whose weapons were as much sen
timental as material, put liberty and religion, with country,
on his banners, while the Emperor of the French, dreading
popular prepotency, reluctantly conceded partial freedom, and
substituted his own, with a few more favored families, for
country. The vast operations of Waterloo and Paris eclipse
in extrinsic magnitude the comparatively insignificant military
transactions at New Orleans. Yet the results of Napoleon's
enormous overthrow may not be more momentous than those
of Jackson's success. Waterloo reorganized royal Europe, just
when New Orleans had vouchsafed a repubUcan empire, endan
gered by intestine and foreign enmity. Popular sovereignty
was secured in America simultaneously with counteracted resto-

138 ¦¦ JACKSON ATTACKS.
ration of dynastic sovereignty in Europe. And, which will last
longest, representative or individual government ? Is not the
American sentiment stronger than European polity ? WiU not
the self-government of all well-nigh extinguished individuahty
overcome the self-government of one and his chosen few subju
gating that of nearly all ? Waiving the question which is best,
which is inevitable ? Since Waterloo and New Orleans, nearly
all Europe and all America, including the Empire of BrazU,
have been governed by representatives chosen by populations,
with public assemblies in which to speak, and public presses
to print what is spoken.
Colonel De la Ronde, whose plantation, below New Orleans,
joined that of General Villere, and who commanded the third
regiment of Louisiana militia, of which one company was sur
prised and taken in ViUere's house, escaped from them, as
well as young Villere — both crossing the river in boats, and
hastening to the city to announce the enemy's arrival. The
evening before. Colonel De la Ronde sent to inform General
Jackson that several sail of vessels had been seen off the point
of the three bayous, behind Terre aux Beufs. On the morning
of the 23d, therefore, the general despatched two engineer-
officers. Majors Latour and Tatum, to ascertain whether that
report was true. Meeting several fugitives, bearers of the
tidings, Major Tatum returned, and, before two o'clock in the
afternoon, Jackson was made acquainted with the fact. His
determination to attack the enemy in whatever might be his
first position and whatever force, had not only been formed
before, but made known to his officers. The British, long
cooped up in shipping, he deemed unused to action. The
American troops were inured to active movements and mostly
irregulars, impatient of sedentary serviae. To his calculation
may be added that Jackson himself, however prudent, was
eager for conflict and had no misgivings. The alarm-gun was
fired forthwith. The city uniformed troops, under Major Plan-
ch(5, sent for from Bayou St. John, ran part of the distance to
New Orleans. General Coffee, with the Tennessee mounted
riflemen, four mUes above the city, arrived in an hour after
he received orders. The 7th United States regiment, under

JACKSON ATTACKS. ' 139
Major Peire, the 44th under Captain Baker, a few marines,
under Lieutenant Bellevue, some artUlerists, with two field-
pieces, conducted by Lieutenant Spotts and Colonel M'Rae,
a battalion of men of color, commanded by Major Daquin,
Major Hind's volunteer-dragoons of Mississippi, the Orlea,ns
rifle-company, gentlemen of the city, Captain Beale,- with
whom Colonel De la Ronde served as a volunteer — altogether
2131 fighting men, were hastUy marshalled. Of these the ca
valry, 107, were never engaged, and two companies of the
Tennessee mounted riflemen remained to take cave of the
horses when the rest of that brigade dismounted for action ;
so that the combatants were about eighteen hundred. Com
modore Patterson, at Bayou St. John, superintending the
erection of batteries there, by Captain Henley, of the United
States schooner Carolina, being also sent for by General Jack
son, hastened to New Orleans, and, with Captain Henley,
dropped that vessel with the current down the river towards
the British encampment ; ordering the sloop-of-war Louisiana,
Lieutenant-commandant C. B. Thompson, to follow. The crews
of these vessels were, many of them, lately impressed and of
such various nations, that they could not understand each
other's language, nor, by words, the commands of their
officers. New Orleans was greatly excited. As Jackson rode through
the streets to attack the enemy, Creole women, of southern
sensibilities, loudly " bewailed the departure of their fathers,
husbands, brothers, sons, and lovers, to provoke what many
brave and well-disposed men deemed a rash and desperate
encounter, some disaffected treacherously counteracted, and
not a few deplored, as a sanguinary sacrifice, about to be made
by a reckless commander, who cared not what destruction of
property or life was made for his ruffian glory. A negro was
captured with British proclamations, which he was fastening
along the fences, signed by Admiral Cochrane and General
Keane, calling on all Louisianians to remain quiet, and they
would be unmolested, in their houses, as the British made war
only against Americans. As Jackson rode, confident and
composed, along, he desired his aid, Mr. Livingston, to assure

140 TWENTY-THIRD OF DECEMBER.
the affrighted ladies, in French, that the enemy should never
get to New Orleans ; that' freemen, defending their fire-sides,
could not be conquered. The few inhabitants of the city who
went with him, rushed, with almost feverish alacrity, to battle.
But their number was not large. Less than 300 white, and
rather more than 200 colored, were all who, from the city,
shared their leader's perUs on that perilous night.
Men of several nativities, various sympathies and colors,
with discordant cheers,, in a Babel of tongues, led by a com
mander strange to nearly all ; a few of the officers having some
military experience, but most of the men and officers, like their
leader, never in conflict with trained and accomplished enemies.
How many English they were to attack, no one knew. A
smg,ll piquet of five mounted men, ^sent to reconnoitre, were
soon driven back, without being able to approach the enemy.
Adjutant-General Hayne, with a considerable force, then
despatched on the same errand, returned with a merely con
jectural estimate that they did not exceed 2000. As the sloop
of war Louisiana could not be got down the river, for want of
wind, the armed United States schooner Carolina dropped
down toward the encampment, her captain, Henley, and Com
modore Patterson, having hastened aboard from the bayou St.
John, where they were erecting naval batteries when apprised
of the British arrival. About dusk, Mr. Livingston boarded
the Carolina, with General Jackson's direction to anchor
abreast of the encampment, at a spot indicated by Mr. Living
ston, and there open her fire, which was to be the signal for
the, onset ashore. The Carolina leisurely swept to her desired
anchorage, so as to give time for the land operations, floated
past the British sentinels, without suspicion of her purpose,
and was hailed in a low tone, as if beUeved to come on no un
friendly errand. Right opposite their central camp-fires she
took her station. Then what was intended as a signal was
rendered a surprising commencement of the onslaught, as one
of the British sufferers thus describes the action : —
" Having fastened all her sails, and swung her broadside toward us, we
could distinctly hear some one cry out, in a commanding voice, 'Give them
ihis for the honor of America .'' The words were instantly followed by the
flashes of her guns, and a deadly shower of grape swept down numbers in

BRITISH SURPRISED. 141
the camp. , Against this dreadful fire we had nothing whatever to oppose.
Tho artillery which we had landed was too light to bring into competition
with an adversary so powerful ; and, as she had anchored within a short
distance of the opposite bank, no musketry could reacli her with any pre
cision or effect. A few rockets were discharged, which made a beautiful
appearance in the air; but the rocket is an uncertain weapon, and these
deviated too far from their object to produce even terror among those
against whom they were directed. Under these circumstances, as nothing
could be done offensively, our sole object was to shelter the men as much as
possible from this iron hail. With this view, they were commanded to
leave the fires, and to hasten under the dyke. "Whither all, accordingly,
repaired, without much regard to order and regularity, and, laying ourselves
along wherever we could find room, we listened, in painful silence, to the
pattering of grape-shot among our huts, and to the shrieks and groans of
those who lay wounded beside them.' "
With the variations unavoidable in such descriptions, and
which indicate their truth, another English historian, on the
spot, confirms the first quoted one's account of that surprise.
Both confess the consternation in which all fled instantly from
the camp-fires, where they reposed gaily, and hid under a
ditch, as shelter from the iron hail. There, half-frozen and
starving, the latrocinious soldiery of that noon laid panic-
struck all night, and all the next day, half-buried, to crawl out
at last to bury their dead.
The naval signal for onslaught ashore sacrificed a hecatomb
of 100 soldiers killed or wounded by the first broadside for the
honor of America. The English camp-fires, blazing for supper
and slumber, lighted American gunnery from the Carolina,
aimed point-blank with deadly certainty. For a short time,
partially recovering from consternation, the astounded enemy
attempted to retort with rockets and musketry. But rockets,
which, at Bladensburg, put the militia to flight in a panic, were
harmless, and almost amusing fire-works, let off in the dark,
at the schooner. And random volleys of musketry, though a
good many balls struck her masts and rigging, only wounded
one man slightly. Instantaneous flight and concealment were
indispensable, according to all the British accounts, official and
historical. So egregious had been British mistake that Loui
siana would embrace the invaders as deliverers, and that,
except a few North Americans, all the inhabitants of that
Spanish-French province longed for British and Spanish rulers,

142 BRITISH WORSTED.
that not a misgiving of any harm disturbed the invaders' ca
rousals. The Carolina, in the dusk, quietly swept in near her
victims, cast anchor, and, in profound sUence, calmly prepared
for carnage. The merry victims to be sacrificed hailed her
with some doubt, but greater welcome, believing that it was a
vessel loaded by Louisiana friends with supplies for their deh-
verers. Their Spanish guides had led them to expect friends,
with plenty of good cheer, and treasures of lawful prize. A
terrible broadside dispelled that delusion, driving. General
Keane's despatch stated. Colonel Thornton and Colonel
Brooke precipitately to hurry the men under the slope of the
river bank. Both the British narratives, by sufferers in that
severe first lesson of defeat, particularise the many distressing
deaths, and stUl more frightful wounds, it inflicted. The
British official report of casualties that night, acknowledges 305
killed, wounded, or missing. Yet General Keane's despatch,
for the London Gazette, treated the first onslaught as unim
portant, and far from inglorious. The retreat he represented
as so rapid that the colonels saved the men under the bank
with but a single casualty ; thereby saving the UveS of hia
army at the cost of their honor. For, if the retreat was so
precipitate as to be effected when but a single man was hurt,
it was more nimble than honorable. At the midnight battle
of Bridgewater, General Scott's rule of retreat was, that it is
unwarrantable till at least every third man is struck down.
If it were possible that General Keane's statement could be
true, the best British troops, when but one of them was hurt,
fled from the first fire in a fright, and hid in a ditch. At all
events, British contempt of American militia, hope of French
co-operation, and reUance on Spanish guides, turned at once
to sudden and continually-increasing dread of American sharp
shooters, doubt of French aid, and acrimonious suspicion of
Spanish betrayal. Still, the Spanish predictions were sincere,
and not quite unfounded ; while French disloyalty, and Ame
rican despondency, had some existence, till the overture of
that decisive night united all the inhabitants of all races,
colors, and degrees, to repulse the English invasion.
General Keane's official despatch for the London Gazette is
so egregious a falsification, that it is not only lawful to be

BRITISH LAMENTS. 143
taught by other enemies, but instructive to collate his with
their narratives. The British had hardly taken refuge under
the levee, when Jackson and Coffee struck their pre-concerted
blows. "The night," says British narrative, "was now as dark as pitch, the
moon being"' but young, and totally obscured by clouds. Our fires, deserted
by us, and beat about by the enemy's shot, began to burn red and dull, and,
except when the flashes of those guns that played upon us cast a momen
tary glare, not an object could be distinguished at the distance of a yard.
In this state we lay for nearly an hour, unable to move from our ground, or
offer any opposition to those who kept us there, when a straggling fire of
musketry called our attention towards the piquets, and warned us to prepare
for a closer and more desperate strife. * * * * The dropping fire,
having paused for a few moments, was succeeded by a fearful yell, and the
heavens were illumined on all sides by a semi-circular blaze of musketry.
It was now clear that we were surrdunded, and that by a very superior
force; and therefore no alternative remaining but either to surrender at
discretion or to beat back the assailants. The first of these plans was
never, for an instant, thought of, and the second was immediately put in
force. Rushing from under the bank, the 85th and 95th flew to support the
piquets, while the 4th, stealing to the rear ofthe encampment, formed close
columns, and remained as a reserve. But to describe this action is alto
gether out of the question, for it was such a battle as the annals of modern
warfare can hardly match. All order, all discipline, were lost. Each
officer, as he was able to collect twenty or thirty men round him,' advanced
into the middle of the enemy, when it was fought hand to hand, bayonet to
bayonet, and sword to sword, with the tumult and ferocity of one of Homer's
combats." After rather a long and not very striking episode, detailing
the Homeric adventures and exploits of a .comrade, the same
British chronicler thus resumes his Epic : . —
"Attacked unexpectedly and in the dark, surrounded by enemies before
any arrangements could be made to oppose them, it is not conceivable that
order or the rules of disciplined war could be preserved. We were mingled
with the Americans frequently before we could tell whether they were
friends or foes ; because, speaking the same language with ourselves, there
was no mark by which to distinguish them, at least none whose influence
extended beyond the distance of a few paces. The consequence was that
more, feats of individual gallantry were performed, in the course of this night,
than many campaigns might have afforded an opportunity of performing,
while, viewing the affair as a regular action, none can be imagined more
full of blunders and confusion. No man could tell what was going on in
any quarter, except where he himself chanced immediately to stand ; no one
part of the line could bring assistance to another, because, in truth, no line

144 BRITISH LAMENTS.
existed. It was, in one word, a perfect tumult, resembling, except in its
fatal consequences, those scenes which the night of an Irish fair usually
exhiDits much more than an engagement between two civilized armies.
" The combat had been long and obstinately contested, having begun at
eight in the evening and continuing till three in the morning, [the firing
ceased about half-past nine, though in the dismay of this narrator it lasted
several hours longer,] but the victory was decidedly ours, for the Americans
retreated in the greatest disorder, leaving us in possession of the field [of »
field they did, but not the field of battle.] Our loss, however, was enormous.
Not 16ss than 500 men had fallen, many of whom were our finest soldiers
and best ofiicers ; and yet we could not but consider ourselves fortunate in
escaping from the toils, even at the expense of so great a sacrifice.'? After
he adds, these victors passed the night under arms, " in the morn, to avoio
the fire of the vessel, we again betook ourselves to the bank, and lay down. . ,
Daylight was beginning to appear, when we retreated to the bank. Here
we lay for some hours, worn out with fatigue and want of sleep, and shiver
ing in the cold air of a frosty morning, without being able to light a fire or
prepare a morsel of provisions. Whenever an attempt of the kind was
made, as soon as two or three men began to steal from shelter, the schoon
er's guns immediately opened ; and thus was the whole division kept, as it
were, prisoners for the space of an entire day.
"While our troops lay in this uncomfortable situation, I stole away, with
two or three more, to find out and bury a friend who was among the slain.
In wandering over the field for this purpose, the most shocking and disgust
ing sights everywhere presented themselves. Many had met their deaths
from bayonet-wounds, sabre-cuts, or heavy blows frora the butt-ends of mus
kets. Friends and foes lay together, in small groups of four or six. Such
had been the deadly closeness of the strife that, in one or two places, an
English and American soldier might he seen with the bayonet of each
fastened in the other's body. I strolled into the hospital, and visited the
wounded. Every room in the house was crowded with wretches mangled. ..
Prayers, groans, and, I grieve to add, the most horrid exclamations, smote
upon the ears wherever I turned. . . Passing through the apartments where
the private soldiers lay, I next came to those occupied by the officers. Of
fhese there were five or six in one small room. There were many others,
some severely, and others slightly hurt."
These descriptive confessions, together with General Keane's
official despatch, thst he was attacked by at least five thousand
men,, when there were not two thousand, and the Enghsh
veterans at least doubled the number of their inexperienced
assailants, are indubitable attestations of the impetuous and
destructive bravery by Avhich the invaders were surprised,
dispersed, astonished, terrified, and routed. But men and
officers they were too well practised in warfare not to make

BRITISH ACCOUNT. 145
stout resistance, especially as they had no retreat. At four
in the morning, when Jackson drew off his men, the British
officers might, without much exaggeration, state that the
Americans retreated, and from their retirement claim the vic
tory. Nor is it great discredit to the bravest soldiers that,
completely surprised and demoralized, they were unable to
cope with assailants ardent, self-possessed, brave, and upon
their own ground. The British Subaltern thus coincides in
the distress, acknowledged by the other narrator, of their dis
asters : —
"I hardly recollect to have spent fourteen or fifteen hours with less com
fort to myself than these. In the hurry and bustle of last night's engage
ment, my servant, to whose care I had entrusted my cloak and haversack,
disappeared ; he returned not during the entire morning ; and, as no provi
sions were issued out to us, nor any opportunity given to light fires, I was
compelled to endure,"all that time, the extremes of hunger, weariness, and
cold. As ill luck would have it, too, the day chanced to be remarkably
severe. There was no rain, it is true, but the sky was covered with gray
clouds ; the sun never once pierced them, and a frost, or rather a vile blight,
hung upon the atmosphere from morning till night. Nor were the objects
which occupied our senses of sight and hearing quite such as we should
have desired to occupy them. In other parts of the field, the troops, not
shut up as we were by the enemy's guns, employed themselves in burying
the dead and otherwise effacing the traces of warfare. The site of our en
campment continued to be strewed with carcasses to the last ; and so watch
ful were the crew of the schooner, that every effort to convey them out of
sight brought a heavy fire upon the party engaged in it. I must say that
the enemy's behavior, upon the present occasion, was not such as did them
honor. The house which General Keane had originally occuffied as head
quarters, being converted into an hospital, was filled at this time with
wounded, both from the British and American armies. To mark its uses, a
yellow flag, the usual signal in such cases, was hoisted oh the roof; yet the
Americans continued to fire at it as often as a group of six or eight persons
happened to show themselves at the door. Nay, so utterly regardless were
they of the dictates of humanity, that even the parties which were in the
act pf conveying the wounded from place to place escaped not without mo
lestation. More than one such party was dispersed by grape-shot, and more
than one poor, maimed soldier was in consequence hurled out ofthe blanket
in which he was borne.
"The reader will not doubt, when I say, that seldom has the departure
of daylight heen more anxiously looked for by me than we looked for it
now." Complaints of uncivilized warfare, by firing on hospitals.
Vol. IV. — 10

146 JACKSON'S ASSAULT.
come with ill grace from soldiers who, at Raisin, suffered
wounded prisoners to be murdered ; at Niagara, put to death
men asleep in bed and others helpless in the hospital ; who, at
tlijeir bombardment of Fort Bowyer, redoubled their fire when
it struck down the American flag, soon after Colonel Lawrence
humanely suspended his fire when the British flag was shot
away, in order to,, ascertain whether it denoted surrender.
Such complaints are puerile and insolent from men serving
under Admiral Cochrane, who gave our government by order
of his own official notice of barbarous hostilities to be waged, from
the same ship Tonnant in the Chesapeake that carried him to
Lake Borgne. Without truce to bury the dead, it is not Ulegi-
timate warfare to disturb those interring them. And, if hospi
tals are privileged from cannonade, they would be the common
stratagem of every army.
Confused, tumultuous, and fragmentary as, by their own
officers' confessions, the British conflict, retreat, and conceal
ment were that night, the American attack was well precon
certed, and victorious ; and would probably have been com
pletely successful, but for some mishap, which damaged the
general's plan of operations.
Although Commodore Patterson was deliberate, and gave,
as he supposed, sufficient time for the troops before he fired
the signal for their action, yet it was rather too soon for Ge
neral Coffee, who had to take his brigade round, by a consi
derable circuit, toward the swamp, before he fell upon the
enemy. With the first fire, Jackson's division rushed into
action, near the river : the 7th regiment, led by Major Peire,
who did not belong to it, but was assigned for that purpose,
and the 44th regiment, the two together numbering 763 bayo
nets ; Major Blanche's battalion of city-volunteers, 287 ; Major
Daquin's battalion of men of color, 210 ; 66 marines, under
Lieutenant Bellevue, and 22 artUlerists, with two field-pieces,
well managed by Lieutenant Spotts — the marines and artil
lery superintended by Colonel M'Rae. With these, altogether
not more than 1400 fighting men, Jackson attacked the British,
overcame their strenuous resistance, drove them, after a succes
sion of close conflicts, a mile from their first position, and left

JACKSON PAUSES. 147
them under the cover of a bank, where they took shelter, with
out an effort on , their part to assail him when he deemed it
prudent to draw off his victorious followers. At one moment,
when the British seemed inclined to charge, the Americans
were eager to meet them with the bayonet, and the drums of
Major Plauche's battalion beat to charge. But experienced
officers deemed it too hazardous by untried ?igainst veteran
troops : Colonel Ross, of the 44th regimen^, acting by Jack
son's appointment as brigadier-general, a brave and regular
soldier, especially forbidding it. At another time, when the
British were about seizing our two cannon and the marines
with them faltered, Colonels Hayne and Piatt, with Major
Chotard and some of the 7th regiment, gallantly rescued the
artillery. General Jackson was in the fire, among the fore
most ; and, if his orders had been executed, the action would
probably have been still more successful. But Colonel Ross
omitted to preserve the junction between Jackson's wing and
Coffee's, as arranged by Jackson, which caused some confusion.
Instead of keeping the right wing in compact communication
with the left, it wa/S suffered to spread to a wide, thin line,
which, as the troops advanced and the ground changed, forced
the city^battaUons to the rear, pressing upon the two regular
regiments, thus pushed before instead of being alongside of the
volunteers, and so confused the whole movement. A heavy
fog had risen from the river during the battle, and nothing but
darkness was visible. Separated from Coffee, Jackson was,
nioreover, ignorant of what he had done. Although Coffee's
rifles and the enemy's musketry had signified sharp contest in
that quarter, yet there too the firing ceased, the CaroUna's
fire nea,rly stopped, as her officers could not direct it in the
dark, and General Jackson deemed it prudent to suspend fur
ther action till he could hear from General Coffee, and ascer
tain more than he comprehended as things then appeared.
With, altogether, 648 rifiemen, including the city rifle com
pany of Captain Beale, Coffee, for his onset, had to lead his
men round the British piquets, beyond their encampment,
near the cypress swamp. Major Hind's Mississippi cavalry
were stationed in that quarter, as cavalry could not be used in

148 GENERAL COFFEE.
the dark among so many ditches. Coffee left two of his com
panies to watch the horses turned loose and the clothing there
deposited. With the rest, not exceeding 500 men, as soon as
the Carolina fii-ed the signal, though not then exactly where
he intended to begin, he moved upon the British encampment ;
from which the Carolina's fire having driven them, such as re
treated towards the swamp soon came into conflict with Coffee.
Volleys of the rifle and the musket were exchanged. The Bri
tish retreated, after several collisions, toward their camp;
compelled by close sharp-shooting to take post under a bank,
which protected them from shot. General Coffee having no
other means than bullets for dislodging them, and apprehend
ing that, if assaulted at close quarters, the British bayonet
might prove an overmatch for the Tennessee rifle, stopped in
his victorious career, as Jackson had done elsewhere, ceased to
fire, and resolved to wait till he heard from Jackson. His
answer to Jackson's inquiry made known a mishap which befel
Coffee's wing, and threatened at first to be more serious than it
proved. In the last coUision with the British, Colonels Dyre
and Gibson's command, with Captain Beale's compq,ny of city
riflemen, pushing forward with the extravagant ardor of in
experienced troops, separated in the dark from the rest of
Coffee's brigade, of which they were the extreme left, and
rushed into the midst of the British, making as weU as losing
a good many prisoners. The greater portion of the detach
ment, however, broke through their enemies, but, not knowing
in the dark where to rejoin Coffee, returned to where Hind's
cavalry were stationed. Coffee's tidings to Jackson mentioned
this mishap, and that Colonel Lauderdale, a fine young officer,
who served through the Creek war with Jackson, was kUled.
Thus the battle, after between one and two hours' severe con
test, was suspended. The firing ceased. Jackson was in posses
sion of the field, from which he and Coffee had driven the British.
In tumultuary, obscure, and fractional confiict, much had been
done. The British, though worsted and demoralized, were still
unsubdued and formidable. The Americans, flushed with tri
umph, desired more; and their commander thought that he
might by renewed exertions compel the enemy to surrender ;

BRITISH REINFORCEMENTS. 149
for they could not retreat. But, separated from Coffee, who
had perhaps lost a great many of his men, deranged as Jack
son's wing had been by not being kept in the order he pre
scribed, and impertiously dark as was a night half spent,
so that the light to guide our own men was the flashes of their
enemy's guns, Jackson had done too well to risk all in aggres
sive for defensive operation. Invisible enemies, under shelter,
could not be reached but with the bayonet, in the use of which
weapon they were probably superior to our untried troops, and
Coffee's men had no bayonets. Superadded to these consider
ations another, finally, induced Jackson to forbear any further
attempt, for some time seriously contemplated. From British
prisoners and deserters he learned that during the action the
second British division arrived on the battle-ground, took part
in its vicissitudes, and that the enemy outnumbered our sixteen
or seventeen hundred men stiU under arms at least two, if not
three to one. By opportune reinforcements the British force
was doubled that evening. Admirals Cochrane and Malcolm
remained all day, the 23d, at the fishermen's huts, to hasten
the transportation of more troops arriving there from Peas
island. The boats, which landed General Keane and his ad
vance at daylight, returned immediately for more. Another
squadron of vessels from Peas island heard, on the lake, the
guns fired by the Carolina, which so hastened their transit
that, by four o'clock that afternoon, 2500 men more, under Co
lonel Brooke, arrived. The 21st regiment of British fusileers,
900 ; the 44th regiment, 750 ; the 93d regiment, 1100, and
about 150, artillerists, soon after seven o'clock in the evening,
landed where General Keane landed with the advance that
morning; and, challenged by the great guns, soon hastened
over the short distance from the landing-place to the encamp
ment. That reinforcement is mentioned in the Narrative of
the British -Campaign ; and General Keane's report to Ge
neral Pakenham of the night-action applauds Colonel Brooke,
who was not of the first detachment, for rapidly removing the
4th regiment from the Carolina's fire to behind some buildings
which were near ; as Colonel Thornton is honorably exhibited,
in the same official report, for "in the rnost prompt and judi-

150 JACKSON'S PROJECT.
cious manner placing his brigade under the inward slope of the
bank of the river." Beyond question, the two brigades were
there in the begiftning of the action, and parts of both concealed
under the levee and behind buUdings : refuge not untnUitary,
yet attesting their presence and rapid retreat" in considerable
disquiet. From four to five thousand British troops were,
therefore, opposed to Jackson's original two thousand, both
sides by midnight somewhat reduced by casualties : but, in
cluding the crew of the Carolina, the Americans not half the
British, if a third. Nevertheless, Jackson, encouraged by suc
cess, had resolved to renew the attack, with reinforcements,
at daylight. Before leaving the city, apprehensive that it
might be attacked from above, by British forces coming from
the lake in that direction — that such might be their main
design, and the forc^ on ViUere's plantation only intended to
divert attention from the principal attack — he had stationed
the Louisiana militia, under Governor Claiborne, and the Ten
nessee militia, under General Carroll, on the Gentilly road,
between the city and the swamp, to guard New Orleans in
that quarter, should that apprehension be realized. After he
had driven the enemy from the field and held them confined
under cover, whence it was difficult to retreat, believing it
practicable to force them to surrender, at one o'clock at night,
he despatched an officer to General Carroll, ordering him,
provided he saw no danger of attack from above, to hasten,
with thfe Tennessee militia, to the field of battle, leaving Go
vernor Claiborne with the Louisiana militia as they were.
With Carroll's reinforcement and united with Coffee, General
Jackson intended to attack the British in their hiding places
at daylight.
But the order to Carroll was soon countermanded, and the
design of attacking again at daylight relinquished, in conse
quence of intelligence, disclosed by prisoners and deserters, of
the arrival of Colonel Brooke's brigade, and that there were
from five to six thousand British troops on the ground, while
Jackson had not more than some seventeen hundred at any
rate, and, if Dyre and Gibson had been taken prisoners, as
apprehended, but fifteen hundred tO second him ; so that, even

GENERAL MORGAN. 151
with Carroll's mUitia, Jackson would stUl be largely outnum
bered. Three hundred and fifty Louisiana militia had indeed ar
rived on the ground about midnight, but without Jackson's
order or knowledge ; and whose imprudent enterprise in the
dark came to nothing.
Some mUes below New Orleans, the Mississippi winds almost
round in a circle, caUed English Turn. Three hundred and
fifty militia stationed there, learning, soon after two o'clock,
of the British landing at VUlerd's plantation, insisted on being
led against them. As General David Morgan, who commanded,
had no orders, he overruled so wild a movement. But when
at night the Carolina's guns infiamed their ardor, neither men
or officers could be restrained, and Morgan was constrained to
lead them to the field of battle. But, near midnight, when
they got there, the firing had ceased, and it was so dark that
they could find neither friends nor enemies. After a few
random shots fired between them and the British, to the sur
prise of Jackson's troops, who could not imagine what firing it
was, before daybreak, the officers led the men back to English
Turn, there to await events and orders. Several of the men,
in their eagerness to meet the enemy, who went sick from
their hospital, after their muddy, dark march, were so ex
hausted as to be unable to return, and were left near the
battle-ground, reported that six hundred British had been near
enough to engage Morgan's corps, but refrained for fear they
were too many.
Without knowledge of Morgan's proximity, which at all
events would not have affected his deterrnination to retire, at
four o'clock in the morning of the 24th of December, Jackson
withdrew his forces to a position, two miles from the British
encampment, between them and the city. His men had felt
the redoubtable enemy, and ascertained their own untried
fighting capacity. Confidence was inspired by collision, much
diminishing the personal danger which to unexperienced men
always seems more terrible than to those who know how much
less it is than it seems. The admirable judgment of General
Jackson, no less than his daring courage, effectually achieved

152 GENERAL KBANE'S CONFESSIONS.
his plan of operations. Assailing, instead of defending, and
assaUing in their first position, astonished, confounded, and,
morally StiU more than physically, subdued the veteran fo.e,'
who never recovered from the shock of that tiger's leap upon
their throat. AU that foUowed, till their bloody defeat ofthe
8th of January, was but corollary to the problem solved by
that master-stroke.
General Keane's report of it did not pretend to claim a vic
tory, though affirming that his troops repulsed Jackson's
assault ; reiterated, he owns ; checked, for a time, but renewed;
persevered in with unexampled ardor and intensity. He de-'
clared, in his carefully-couched letter ^of the 26th of Decem
ber, for publication, that " A more extraordinary conflict, per
haps, never occurred." " The enemy now determined on
making a last effort, and, collecting the whole of his force,
moved against the light brigade. At first this drove in all the
advanced, posts. But Colonel Thornton was at hand, and,
moving forward, appalled the enemy, who thought it prudent
to retire, and did not again dare to advance. It was now
twelve o'clock, and the firing ceased on both sides." Certainly
the firing ceased when so ordered by general Jackson ; nor
would he venture to advance further, when the British could
be reached in their hiding-places by the bayonet only ; which,
notwithstanding his unquestionable daring, it was deemed im
prudent to try with raw troops, who had never served together,
most of them not at all, against old soldiers^ perfected by
miUtary training, by several campaigns, and numerous battles.
But, as confessed by the two British historians, that was a
.. dreadful night; when, after being driven from the fieldj aU
the British did was to hide in wet ditches, perishing with cold
and hunger, and so alarmed as not to venture out even the
next day. General Keane's official estimate of his terrible
assailants more than doubled their number. " From the best
information I can obtain," was his report, on the 26th of De
cember, to General Pakenham, " the enemy's force amounted
to FIVE THOUSAND men, and was commanded by Major-General
Jackson," That unconscious homage to a, superior foe might
have furthermore acknowledged that, when Jackson drew off

DECEMBER 24th, 25th, 26th. 153
his men, eager to be led to more and closer conflict, he left
Colonel Hinds, with the Mississippi cavalry and some other
light troops, to hold the ground from which the Americans
drove the British, as a demonstration, and tq watch any of
their movements. But more than five thousand exceUent
British troops, disconcerted and indeed dismayed, attempted
no movement whatever during that night nor the next day
after their reverse. On the 24th, the 25th, and the 26th of
December, largely reinforced, and completely reorganized by
their new coinmander-in-chief. General Pakenham, not an
attempt was made to disturb Jackson ; while, on the contrary,
his Tennesseans, and other irregular soldiery, by what British
history calls disorderly, but confesses was most effectual, on
slaught, day and night affronted the British camp, drove in their
piquets, killed numbers of their men, fomenting the amaze
ment and demoralization inflicted on those who expected little
resistance, and were assured of kind welcome. The war was
virtually ended that night, the metropolis of the south-west
rescued, the State of Louisiana snatched from subjugation.
But for Jackson's masterly blow struck then, the enemy would
probably the next morning, if not sooner, have assaulted and
peradventure captured New Orleans ; where Jackson had only
5000 troops altogether, most of them raw militia ; and where,
if there were not many traitors, there certainly were many
men of the first respectability, and in the highest stations,
who openly deprecated what they pronounced ruinous resist
ance, and urged the necessity and wisdom of judicious capitu
lation. The loss officially acknowledged by the British that
night was 4 captains, 1 lieutenant, 7 Serjeants, 1 drummer, 33
rank and file — 46 killed; 1 lieutenant-colonel, 1 major, 2
captains, 8 lieutenants, 10 Serjeants, 4 drummers, 141 rank
and file — 167 wounded ; 1 major, 1 lieutenant, 1 ensign, 3
Serjeants, 58 rank and file — 64 missing; total, 277. The
British narrative, before mentioned, puts it down as at least
500. The American casualties were 24 kiUed, 115 wounded,
and 74 prisoners ; total, 213.
Jackson pitched on the bank of what was called Rodriguez
canal for his station, four miles below New Orleans ; and the

154 JACKSON'S POSITION.'
line to be fortified, for preventing the British marching in that
way to the city.' But apprehending their approach also by the
river Mississippi, and moreover by Lake Barataria, deserters
and prisoners imputing such designs to them, his vigUalice
and energy were exercised, therefore, to guard, by those he
sent for the purpose, several avenues, besides fortifying what
was called his line, to which his personal attention was given
during four days, from the morning of the 24th, when he en
camped there, to the 28th, when the enemy made their first
unsuccessful attempt to force his positioii. During those four
days and nights he took no rest, but, day and night, superin
tended the digging, trenching, arming, and otherwise render
ing available that rude fortification, of which, as he justly said,
a rampart of brave freemen was, after all, the best bulwark;
Lafitte was sent with Major Reynolds to fortify Barataria;
the forts on the Mississippi were deemed sufficient to keep the
enemy from ascending that stream'; and Jackson was inde
fatigable in the fortification of the avenue they chose, which
recommended itself for his selection by the morass skirting all
the way from Baton Rouge the strip of dry land on which
New Orleans stands, approaching, there, so near the Missis
sippi that there were but about 400 yards to be guarded across
from the river to the swamp, and by a deep canal, of which
the mud thrown upon the bank already formed the beginning
of a rude glacis.
The enemy's plan was to collect all their forces where Ge
neral Keane landed, and thence assault New Orleans. With
undisturbed command of the lakes, and foot-hold on the Mis
sissippi, they had all they needed for collecting troops, muni
tions, provisions, and whatever else they wanted from Peas
Island, at the plantations below the city. Their most imme
diate and alarming obstacle, after Jackson withdrew, was the
batteries afloat, on board the Carolina and Louisiana, on the
river. During the 24th of December, all that General Keane
endeavored was to avoid the fire from the water, so fatal the
night before, and which still annoyed his troops whenever they
showed themselves. Early on the morning of Christmas day,
Generals Pakenhain and Gibbs arrived ; and all the advance

GENERAL PAKENHAM. 155
corps, which, under General Keane, had been roughly handled,
if not discredited, was dissolved by General Pakenham, the
troops altogether newly organized into two brigades or
columns, and, with another commander, better hopes were
inspired. But General Pakenham gave vent to his disappoint
ment and mortification in no measured terms, so loudly fulmi
nated that they were known to every officer and soldier in the
bivouac. A wide, rapid river on one flank, an impassable
wood on the other, the Americans close by in front, and not
boats enough with the fleet to carry off one-third of the
British forces at a time — Pakenham was disconcerted at the
first blush of things.
"All things," says theBritish narrative, "had turned out diametrically
opposite to what was anticipated; and it appeared that, instead of a trifling
affair, more likely to fill our pockets than to add to our renown, we had em
barked in an undertaking which presented difficulties not to be surmounted
without patience and determination. . . . Being placed beyond the risk of
serious annoyance from the shipping, the whole army remained quiet for the
night. ... In our guides, to whose rumors we had listeaed before with
avidity, no further confidence was reposed. It was perfectly evident, either
that they had purposely deceived us, or that their information was gathered
from a most imperfect source ; therefore, though they were not exactly
placed in confinement, they were strictly watched, and treated more like
spies than deserters. Instead of an easy conquest, we had already met with
vigorous opposition ; instead of finding the inhabitants ready and eager to
join us, we found the houses deserted, the cattle and horses driven away,
and every appearance of hostility. . . . After a rapid and prosperous voyage,
Sir Edward Pakenham, with Genel-al Gibbs as his second in command, ar
rived in time to see his troops brought into a situation from which all his
abilities could scarcely expect to extricate them. Nor were the troops
themselves ignorant of the unfavorable circumstances in which they stood.
Hoping, therefore, every thing from a change, they greeted their now
leader with a hearty cheer; while the confidence, which past events had
tended, in some degree to dispel, returned once more to the bosoms of all.
it was Christmaa day, and a humber of ofiicers, clubbing their little stock
of provisions, resolved to dine together, in memory of farmer times. But at
so melancholy a Christmas dinner I do not recollect at any time to have
been present. . . . The want of many well-known and beloved faces gave
us pain. . . . Though far removed from the river, we were still within
cannon-shot of our eneriiy. Nor was she inactive in her attempts to molest.
Elevating her guns to a great degree, she contrived occasionally to strike
the wall of the building, a barn, in which we sat. . . . While thus sitting
at table, a loud shriek was heard, after one of these explosions, and, on

156 the CAROLINA BURNED.
running out, we found that a shot had taken effect in the body of an unfor
tunate soldier. Though fairly cut in two, the poor wretch lived for nearly
an hour.''
To remove the cause of such hindrance and annoyance, the
schooner Carolina must be destroyed ; for which purpose a bat
tery was erected, during the night of the 25th of Deceinber,
of nine field-pieces, two howitzers, and one mortar, planted on
the brink of the river after dark ; which, at dawn on the 26th,
fired red-hot shot on the schooner — Captain Henley having
moved her to the other side. The shot soon took effect among
her ropes ; the fiames burst forth ; there was danger of the
magazine exploding, and it became necessary for the captain
to blow her up and land with his crew. The guns of the bat
tery were then turned against the Louisiana, whose commander.
Lieutenant Thompson, by towing and other means, managed
to get that vessel higher up the stream and out of danger.
By the destruction of one of those vessels and removal of the
other, the way was clear for General Pakenham to New Or
leans, provided he could overcome General Jackson, to which
all the enemy's efforts were Strenuously directed during the
26th, 27th, and 28th of December. Both parties were fully
aware that time was a vital element, of advantage to Jack
son and detriment to the enemy. The Kentucky miUtia were
expected soon, and other reinforcements were continually join
ing Jackson, whose position was every hour gaining additional
strength, by deepening and widening the ditch or canal, heap
ing up mud from it on the bank, and fortifying the whole.
The physical force constantly gained by the Americans was,
however, the least of their melioration. Successful battle,
while it increased their numerical, quadrupled their moral
force. On the other hand, surprise, disappointment, and dis
comfiture, diminished, stUl more morally than physically, the
power of their enemies, of whose apprehensions of their bold,
wily, and terrible adversaries, their own histories tell, what
from any American narrator would be quite incredible impu
tation on renowned, veteran British troops.
Jackson had the levees or river-banks between him and the
British cut, so as to let in the water from the Mississippi and

BRITISH DISQUIET. 157
overflow the ground. By his order. General Morgan did the
same thing below and near the enemy, who would thus be con
fined, by water two or three feet deep, to an island, artificially
formed, for their only fodthold. That hydrocele of their posi
tion might have prevented their attacking either Jackson's camp
or the city, with any effect, and compelled them to retire to their
shipping, but for the river falling, instead of rising, soon after
its ruptures were effected. By that contravention, his purpose
was not only frustrated, but the plan and operations of the
enemy much facilitated. The waters let into the fields, with
out flooding them, filled the creeks, rendered them more navi
gable, and enabled the seamen, by boats, to transport artUlery
and other necessary supplies from the lake to the encampment.
In that arduous service they were incessantly employed during
the 26th and 27th ; and, as the official despatches of their
commanding officers attest, labored day and night, with an
assiduity and cheerful toil seldom exceeded. A battery having
been erected by night, to protect them from the Louisiana,
should that vessel attack the camp, on the morning of the
28th of December, the whole army, probably nine thousand
strong, in two columns, — that on the swamp side commanded
by General Gibbs, and that resting on the river led by Gene
ral Keane — moved forward, for the first time, to attack Jack
son, and underwent their second defeat. How he prepared
them for it, by continual torments and terrors, one of their
historians, among the sufferers, thus informs us : —
" All this was done quietly enough, nor was there any cause of alarm till
after sunset; but, fi'om that time till towards dawn, we were kept in a con
stant state of anxiety and agitation. Sending down small bodies of riflemen,
the American general harassed our piquets, killed and wounded a few of
the sentinels, and prevented the main body from obtaining any sound or
refreshing sleep. Scarcely had the troops lain down, when they were
aroused by a sharp firing at the outposts, which lasted only till they were
in order, and then ceased. But as soon as they had dispersed, and had once
more addressed themselves to repose, the same cause of alarm returned, and
they were again called to their ranks. Thus was the entire night spent in
watching, or at least in broken and disturbed slumbers, than which nothing
is more trying both to the health and spirits of an army. With the piquets,
again, it fared even worse. For the outposts of an army to sleep is consi
dered at all times a thing impossible ; but, in modern and civilized warfare,

158 AMERICAN RIFLEMEN.
they are nevertheless looked upon in some degree as sacred. Th,us,-while
two European armies remain inactively facing each-other, the outposts of
neither are molested, unless a direct attack on the main body be' intended;
nay, so far is this tacit good understanding carried, that 1 have myself be
held French and English sentinels not more than twenty yards apart. But
the Americans entertained no such chivalric notions. An enemy was to
them an enemy, whether alone or in the midst of five thousand companions ;
and they therefore counted the death of every individual as so much taken
from the strength of the whole. In point of fact, they no doubt reasoned
correctly, but, to us at least, it appeared an ungenerous return to.barbarity.
Whenever they could approach unperceived within proper distance of our
watchfires, six or eight riflemen would fire amongst the party that sat round
them, while one or two, stealing as close to each sentinel as a regard tp
their own safety would permit, acted the part of assassins, rather than of
soldiers, and attempted to murder them in cold blood. For the officprs, like
wise, when going .their rounds, they constantly lay in wait; and thus, by a
continued dropping fire, they not only wounded some of those against whom
their aim was directed, but occasioned considerable anxiety and uneasiness
throughout the whole line."
Inhabitants of Tennessee, at that time, before- other States
west of it prevented their being frontier settlers or borderers,
were used to continual confligt with the Indians, whom, by
force of arms, they dispossessed of their lands. Individual,
subtle, and sanguinary petty warfare became their passion,
like hunting. Chase of Indians, instead of wild beasts, was
part of their livelihood, much of their pleasure, and still more
of their glorification, In Jackson's lines there were always
numbers of these Birty Shirts, as the English called them,
ready to hunt Englishmen, singly, as well as in military corps,
armed with rifles, and as eager for shooting them, as English
gentlemen, privileged to shoot game, are every year to fill their
public prints with accounts of their exploits in the destruction
of deer, foxes, pheasants, and partridges. Much of the Bri
tish torment and American achievement before New Orleans
proceeded from that frontier habitude of hunting and destroy
ing men instead of other animals. Among other stories of
these mostly nocturnal hunting parties, it was related of an
old Tennessee rifleman that, stealing along through ditches
and underwood tUl he got near an English sentinel, he shot
and stripped him of his arms and ^accoutrements, which the
assassin, as he would be called by English mUitary morals,

BRITISH DISTRESSES. 159
laid down where he could find them ; and, quietly waiting in
his covert till another sentinel was posted in place of the dead
one, then in like manner killed and stripped him, and laid his
equipments where he had deposited the other captures. A
third sentinel was shot in the same way ; and, after waiting a
good whUe, without another sentinel's being posted, the Ten
nessee rifleman returned to his comrades, with the spoUs of
his three victims and the pride of a successful hunt. The
prince regent. Lord Castlereagh, and Admiral Cochrane, by
whom official notice was given to our government of barbarous
hostilities, no doubt, condemned such individual atrocities as
inhuman. Like the more atrocious enormities they proclaimed,
it is to be hoped that neither may prove useless in deterring
kindred nations from renewal of savage warfare.
" Having," the British Narrative adds, " continued this detestable system
of warfare till towards morning, they retired, and left us at rest. But, as
soon as day began to break, our piquets were called in, and the troops
formed in order of attack."
Having thus, by the narrative of one of the British suffer
ers, shown how Jackson by night unmanned his assailants for
battle next day, another, the Subaltern, tells with what alarm,
hesitation, and perplexing timidity the invaders made their first
essay on Jackson's entrenchments, and gave his troops their
second lesson in the art, becoming easy, of defeating enemies
superior in numbers, science, experience, and all the elements
of war, but courage and familiarity with fire-arms and wilder
nesses. Carroll's Tennessee militia. Coffee's riflemen, the Ca
rolina's officers and crew, and the Baratarians at several bat
teries, were, on the 28th, in position ; excellent cannoneers,
as well as riflemen ; and Morgan, with most of his men, with
drawn from English Turn, were stationed on the other side of
the Mississippi, at a battery, opposite the British encampment.
"It was not," says the Subaltern, "the custom of Americans, you must
know, to protect the front of the army, either by day or night, by a regular
chain of outposts. Every morning, indeed, as soon as it was light, a corps
of some five or six hundred mounted riflemen came down, which, spread
ing themselves over the plain, watched our movements in a very irregular
and unsoldierlike manner. The head-quarters of this corps invariably esta-

160 i BRITISH , COMPLAINTS.
blished itself in a house, distant about Jong musket-shot from our sentries
and close to the main road, \yhilst the rest wandered here and there, as in
clination or caprice seemed to direct. Regularly as night closed in again,
these mounted men withdrew, and then began that system of irritation, in
which General Jackson appeared to take much delight, and which, without
in any essential degree influencing the issues of the campaign, served to
harass and annoy our troops severely. Why no attempt was made on our
part, during either of the days above Mentioned, to driv.e back these strag
glers, and to obtain a view of tbe enemy's position, I know not. All that I
do know is, that'nothing of the kind was thought of; and that, even on the
27th, when the whole army was put in motion, our progress was for awhile
as slow, and as circumspect, as if a thousand ambuscades had been on all
sides of us. The right column, for example, which skirted the wood, after
moving forward about three or four hundred paces, was commanded to halt.
The house which it appeared the enemy usually occupied, had not been
examined, and it had not been deemed prudent to pass it by without exami
nation. Instead, however, of leaving this to be effected by the light troops,
a couple of pieces of cannon were ordered to the front, and the empty man
sion had the honor of being several times perfdi-ated with round shot. This
being done, and no troops seen to evacuate it, the columns again pressed
forward. The day was clear and bright; there was just enough of frost in
the air to be agreeable, and we were all in the highest spirits. On we went,
therefore, for about three miles, without any halt or hindrance, either from
man or inanimate nature, coming in our way. But, all at once, a spectacle
was presented to us, such indeed as we ought to have looked for, but such
as manifestly took our leaders hy surprise. The enemy's army became
visible. It was posted about forty yards in rear of a canal, and covered,
though most imperfectly, by an unfinished breastwork. The outlines of seve
ral batteries had been traced, a ditch was marked out and partly begun —
in a word, the rudiments of an intrenched position were before us. We,
who were on the right, felt neither astonishment nor regret at the prospect.
We saw that the works were contemptible, and we made no doubt of carry
ing them as soon as we should fairly attempt it, — above all, we met with,
no interruption to our progress. But the case was otherwise on the leli.
The head of that column had no sooner arrived within range of the lines
than a tremendous cannonade, not only from the guns in position, but from
the ship and a flotilla of armed boats, opened upon it. We could perceive,
plainly enough, that the fire was not harmless ; for the column instantly de
ployed into lines of battalions, and the lines, after pushing forward some lit
tle way, halted, and lay down. On our side, however, an opposite course
was pursued. Though the column paused, for what purpose is, I confess, a
mystery to me, our skirmishers dashed in increased force into the wood, and
became immediately engaged with a body of riflemen, who were posted
there for the purpose of covering the right of the enemy's centre. For an
instant, the firing was tolerably sharp; but we drove them before us, in gal-

BRITISH ACCOUNT. 161
lant style, and had penetrated as far as their outer defences, when an order
arrived that we should proceed no farther. Whilst I live, I shall never
cease to regret that such an order was issued. Contrary to all expectation,
we found the bog within the cypress wood perfectly passable ; whilst the
entrenchments, which it behoved us to carry, consisted then of nothing more
than a few abattis, with a low mound of earth thrown up in the rear. One
spirited dart, such as we were preparing to make, must have carried us
through them. But our ardor was repressed ; we were even directed to fall
back, and we spent full four hours standing or sitting idly under cover of the
trees, and listening to the sound of the enemy's guns, which played inces
santly upon our comrades. To complete the business,.we were informed,
about three o'clock in the afternoon, that the main body was retiring, and, a
little before dark, we followed the example. Thus, without so much as one
effort to force through them, was a British army baffled and repulsed by a
horde of raw militiamen, ranged in line behind a mud-.wall, which could
hardly have protected them from musketry, far less from roundshot. There
was not a man among us who failed to experience both shame and indigna
tion, when he found himself retreating before a force for which he enter
tained the most sovereign contempt.
" I have said, or I ought to have said, that the retrograde movement, of
which I am now speaking, was conducted in the most disorderly manner.
To save the men as much as possible from the cannonade, which still con
tinued, the different regiments were directed to break off' in files and small
parties from the right. This was done, and to the Americans it doubtless
conveyed the idea that we were not retiring, but flying, for they rent the air
with shouts, and plied us more and more briskly with grape, roundshot, and
shells. It was impossible that so many missiles could be thrown without
causing some loss. About thirty men out of our column fell, and at least as
many out of the other. One unfortunate fellow, who was walking before
me, received a nine-pound shot on the knapsack, and it literally dashed him
to pieces. But we were, on the whole, fortunate to escape so well, more
fortunate perhaps than our want of resolution deserved."
When Jackson surprised and worsted the British in their
first position, the night of the 23d, and defeated them when
they attacked him in his first position by day, the 28th, — on
both occasions, the navy performed conspicuous service, and
afterwards, at all times, batteries of ships' cannon, mounted
ashore, were manned by seamen and superintended by naval
officers. The crew of the Louisiana was composed of people
of all nations, except EngUsh, most of them picked up, some
impressed, in the streets of New Orleans not a fortnight before
the action in which their discipline and gunnery were admira
ble. Two-thirds of them could not understand what Lieutenant
Vol. IV. — 11

162 BATTLE OE THE 28tH OF DECEMBER.
Thompson, their handsome and gallant first-officer, said, who,'
nevertheless, had brought them to exceUent aptitude. As soon
as he perceived the British army advancing, the Louisiana was
¦warped round, so as to bring her broadside to bear on them,
and, for seven hours, she kept up a constant cannonade, firing
eight hundred shot, killing and wounding a great many men,
and driving the rest at last to seek refuge in the distant fields,
out of reach, of her guns. Red-hot shot were continuaUy fired
at her, but without effect. Only one of her men was sUghtly
hurt. Marine batteries ashore, managed by, the naval Lieute
nants Norris and Crawley, and Captain Dominique, with a
party of his Baratarian seamen, at another battery, all skilful
cannoneers, did great execution. The British columns ad
vanced with the imposing regularity of veteran cohorts, march
ing with pride to battle, though not quite confident of victory..
Their artillery, musketry, and rockets, made a terrific fire ; but'
the experience of the 23d enabled the American raw troops
to defy such redoubtable parade of battle, and they stood
cheerfully and firmly to their guns, retorting with greater
destruction from their cannon and rifles. While their casual
ties, like those of the 8th of January, were extremely small,
only seven killed and ten wounded, the British, more exposed,
were believed to have lost many more, killed or wounded, be
fore they gave up the contest in disorderly retreat.
The defence of Louisiana and rescue of New Orleans will
not be appreciated as they should be, or well understood,
without a clear and correct view of the difficulties General
Jackson had to contend with in the State, in the city, and in
the legislative assembly. Enemies behind, which nearly every
commander must control, are often more dangerous than those
to be repulsed from without. According to Voltaire, scarcely
any thing great has ever been done, but by the genius and
firmness of some one man struggling against the prejudices of
a community. Certainly, on such an occasion as that which
put the multifarious population of that unfortified place on
Jackson's responsibility to defend, a single will was the method
of safety. Among the intelligent and respectable citizens of.
the State, all such as were patriotic, there was a unanimous

DISAFFECTION. 163
desire that ¦ the generaP should establish martial law. Mr.
Maunsel White, a merchant, who commanded a company of
volunteers in Major Plauche's battalion, testified that the
fearful reports, before and after Jackson's arrival, of servile
insurrection, as well as disaffection, induced all who felt an
interest in the safety of the State to desire that the general
should have full power to call all the citizens indiscriminately
into action, and, in order so to do, martial law was strongly
recommended. Before the 17th of December, therefore, the
officers of the city volunteer-battalion went to the general's
head-quarters, and there, together with a number of others of
the most respectable inhabitants, including the United States
judge. Hall, on deliberation, unanimously recommended mar
tial law. Several, if not all, of the judges, local, state, and
federal, declared, immediately afterwards, that the State was
saved by its declaration. Before Jackson's arrival. Governor
Claiborne had despatched confidential agents through the
State, warning the civil authorities against the British at
tempts to enlist and arm the slaves, whose insurrection was
dreaded ; and the governor warmly approved the declaration
of martial law. Under a firm conviction that the exercise of
ordinary power would be insufficient for the crisis, a patriotic
obligation to the country, and a religious sense of duty, with
the sanction of the most respectable and intelligent inhabitants,
Jackson therefore superseded civil by martial law, which, in
one word, was but the substitution of his will for all other law.
But constitutional forms were suspended for a moment in order
to prevent their destruction for ever. Personal freedom was
incompatible with the necessity that every citizen should serve
as a soldier. Private property belonged to the occasions of
puhlic security. Liberty of the press and of speech 'w'ere
much more dangerous than their temporary suppression, in
such a crisis, when, the ordinary rights and enjoyments of
peace were unavoidably postponed to the exigencies of war,
h,nd withheld frdm freemen for that crisis lest they should be
altogether lost. Governor Claiborne's patriotism and good
sense indicated obedience to General Jackson as his duty.
And the Legislature, though they refused to adjourn when

164 LEGISLATORS DISLOYAL. ^
the governor urged it, would have best executed their trust
for the people by cordial and energetic support of the com
mander-in-chief. Though animated for the most part by a
spirit of patriotic good will, yet there were panic-struck mem
bers of the Legislature. Their inaction, unpardonable parsi
mony, and several of their public proceedings, justly excited
suspicion of their loyalty. In the language of the governor's
answer to their resolution of the 3d of January, 1815, " it was
apparent that suspicions highly injurious to the Legislature
had gone forth." Sebastian Hiriart, who vacated his seat as
a member of the Senate, to enrol himself a volunteer-private
in Plauche's battalion and take part in the battle of the 23d
of December, was invited, as he declared, by Jean Blanque, a
member of the House of Representatives, on the 26th of that
month, to a private meeting of seven or eight members of the
Legislature, in a room at the Statehouse, that evening, at
which Colonel Alexander Declouet, who commanded a regi
ment of militia, was present. The topics were the arrival of
the British, the combat of the 23d, and, more particularly.
General Jackson's determination to make desperate battle,
even in the streets of the city, if necessary. The Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Magloire Richard, who was one
of that darker than crepuscular and inexcusable meeting, held
language extremely derogatory to his station ; saying, that
Jackson's commission as commander was a tnisfortune to them,
for he seemed no better than a desperado, resolved to make
war like a savage, and bring destruction by fire and sword on
the city and neighboring plantations, one of which Was the
speaker's residence. Suspicions of such legislators cannot be
deemed unfounded or unjust. American legislators, empow
ered, are apt to exaggerate their right, to condemn, approve,
and control the executive branch of government. The Legis
lature of Louisiana, which did little for military operations,
inclined to direct them, and caused untimely conflict between
them and the commanding general. Naturally high-toned,
Jackson, inflexibly honest and patriotic, was probably some
times overbearing; and his success on the 23d of December
did not tend to lower his tone or his confidence.

THE SPEAKER. 165
Three days before the British landed, but when their unim
peded approach by the lakes, after the capture of the gun
boats, had been officially announced by the governor to the
Legislature, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, on
the 20th of December, asked for and obtained leave of absence,
"until after to-morrow," is the Journal. During the inchoate
sessions of the House for several days after that morrow, on
the 22d, as weU as the 21st, the 23d, the 24th, the 25th, and
the 26th, the speaker did not attend. The sessions were hardly
nominal — for a week, there was rarely a quorum in either
house. On the 27th, the speaker's return is thus journaUzed :
'- The hon. speaker made his appearance and resumed the
chair." While he was gone, a dragoon vidette, James M.
Bradford, whose beat or range on horseback was below the
city, on the left bank of the Mississippi, reported to General
Jackson that one morning, about daylight, cautiously ap
proaching the enemy's lines on the bank ofthe river, the fog
being very dense at the time, he met the speaker, apparently
coming from the enemy's camp, who, after saluting Mr. Brad
ford, seemingly in haste, entered a small skiff or canoe, put
out into the river, and soon disappeared. The speaker's plan
tation was below ViUere's, near the place where then seen ;
and he might have been going from his own residence to New
Orleans when the vidette discovered him, as Mr. Bradford con
ceived, under suspicious circumstances.
After having at the night-meeting of the few members of
the Legislature, on the 26th of December, heard the speaker's
denunciation of General Jackson for the Roman virtue that
should have commended him to the speaker's regard. Colonel
Declouet, next day, lodging at the speaker's plantation, with
out implicating, but, on the contrary, exonerating him, as the
speaker declared, from all blame and suspicion, nevertheless
complained to him that the Legislature, in whom he had no
confidence, continued in session, without reason, contrary to
the governor's wish, full of intriguers, who would seize all
authority or see the country overthrown. The speaker, in
reply, charged Declouot with proneness to suspicion, and said
that, though the session of the Legislature was prejudicial to

166 TRAITORS IN THE CITY.
his private affairs, yet he defended it as right, because they
were the people's sentinels, in a crisis, to take such measures
as the circumstances and calamities of war rendered necessary.
Richard and Declouet appear to have both been men of good
character : but the striking difference between them was, that
whereas the colonel served gallantly in all the battles and
exposures, the speaker absented himself from all. Major
Eaton's Life of Jackson allows but four members of the Legis-
ture the honor of bearing arms against the enemy; whose
names, if so, deserve the more laudable mention. They were
Garrigues Flaujeac and Sebastian Hiriart, of the Senate, and
Thomas Bradford, of the House of Representatives, to whom
Eaton adds one he caUs Eziel. The Journal of neither house
contains that name, which may be a mistake for AchiUe.
The Journal also mentions Mr. Harper as going to the lines
with his gun; and, probably, other members served in the
field. Still, the few who appear to have done so, confirming
the governor's official accounts to General Jackson of the dis
loyalty or inertness of much of the population, tended to im
press Jackson with doubts of their representatives as well as
of the community.
Quarter-master Peddle, of the British troops, soon after
peace partly withdrew the veil of belligerent secrecy, told
Charles K. Blanchard, as he informed General Jackson, that
the commanding officers of the British forces were daily in tbe
receipt of every information, from the city of New Orleans,
required in their operations; that they were perfectly ac
quainted with the situation of every part of our forces, the
manner in which they were posted, the number, strength,
and position of our fortifications. He described the battery
on the left bank of the Mississippi, and offered Mr. Blanchsiird
a plan of the works : stating that the information was received
from seven or eight persons in the city of New Orleans, from
whom he could at any hour procure any information necessary
to promote his majesty's interest. Hortaire Andry, being
sent from his father's plantation, directly opposite the British
camp, on the 7th of January, 1815, to ascertain the fate of
three or four companies of militia, was taken prisoner, on the

FULWAR SKIPWITH. 167
8th of January; and, while as such in confinement, saw, he
said, a market established in the British camp, by citizens of
Louisiana arid others, as well supplied as the market of New
Orleans. Under such circumstances, not to be armed with suspicion
would have been imbecile. Between the 23d and 28th of
December, according to Eaton's Life of Jackson, Major But
ler, who still remained at his post in the city, was applied to
by the Speaker of the Senate, Fulwar Skipwith, to ascertain
the commanding general's views, provided he should be driven
from his line of encampment and compelled to retreat through
the city : would he, in that event, destroy it ? Major Butler
asking why Mr. Skipwith inquired, be replied, that it Was
rumored and believed that, if driven from his position and
made to retreat through the city, General Jackson had it in
contemplation to lay it in ruins ; and the Legislature, Mr.
Skipwith said, desired information on the subject, in order, if
such were his intentions, that they might, by offering terms of
capitulation to the enemy, avert so serious a calamity. Be
fore that unwarrantable inquiry by the presiding officer of the
Senate, Eaton furthermore states, doubtless on Jackson's au
thority, that a special committee of the Legislature called on
him, to know what his course would be, should necessity com
pel him to leave his position. The appointment of no such
committee appears by the Journal of either house ; if any
members of the Legislature made the inquiry, they did it
as individual members. There is nothing, by their records,
to reproach tho Legislature, or any authorized emanation of
it, for such impertinent aberration from their sphere, though
affrighted, or disaffected, or, possibly, traitorous individual
members might have so demeaned themselves.
The Speaker of the Senate, Fulwar Skipwith, was a Vir
ginia gentleman, of respectable family and position, selected,
as gentlemen of education and respectability mostly were by
President Jefferson, for official station. After being, by his
appointment, some time American Consul at Paris, and mar
rying there a French wife, Mr. Skipwith settled in Louisiana,
and represented East Baton Rouge in the Senate of that

168 JACKSON'S MEASURES.
State. But it was no part of his duty" or right as senator to
interrogate the military chieftain,. stiU less his inferior officer,
and in a tone of authority inquire what were, the general's
mUitary plans or intentions. Eaton's Life of him gives Jack
son's answer to the supposed committee of the Legislature,
"* stern, oracular, and mystified : he would cut the hair from
his head, he said, if he thought lit knew what he would do.
" You may return, and tell your honorable body that, if ,the
fate of war drives me from my lines to the city, the Legisla
ture may expect a warm session." By daily and nightly mea
sures of wise, however painful, restraint, Jackson gave offence,
and rendered himself obnoxious to the charge of despotic aspe
rity. Understanding that many of the young men, under vari
ous pretexts, had failed to appear in arms, he directed Nicholas
Girod, the Mayor of New Orleans, to make a register of every
male less than fifty years old in the city, in order that steps
might be taken to compel their military service. Much hin
dered , by deficiency of arms, he ordered the mayor to have
every house searched, and every store and building, for mus
kets, fowling-pieces, pistols, bayonets, axes, spades, or other
weapons and implements. The owner of some cotton complain
ing to him of its loss by use in the fortifications, he compelled
him to shoulder a musket, take, his place in the ranks and his
part in fighting for the property at stake. After nine o'clock
at night, no person was suffered to be abroad without special
permission. These, and other acts of repression, made com
plainants and enemies. Nor, with all his military rigor, did
the general, or could he, put a stop to treasonable intercourse
and frequent betrayal. By the swamps and by the river, in
terlopers communicating with the enemy continually apprised
them of Jackson's movements. "Nothing," said a British
officer, after the peace, " was kept from us, except your num
bers, which we never could find out." By positively restricting
all information on that subject to the adjutant-general and
himself, Jackson, extremely anxious to prevent knowledge of
the smallness of his force, contrived to impress the enemy with
apprehensions that it was much larger , than it ever was.
Arbitrary, but indispensable military rule, and success in the

JACKSON'S DETERMINATION. 169
first encounter, instead of the disaster predicted by the timid
and desired by the treacherous, but aU the while thwarted by
provoking counteraction that could not be reached, and wants
he labored anxiously to supply, heated Jackson's soldierly
pride and iron wiU to ferocious resolution. His mind was
made up to burn the city rather than let the enemy take it ;
to lay waste all the habitable vicinage, and retreating above
the town, there"'cut off aU suppUes for the British, confine them
to a narrow strip of devastated ground, and force them to
retire to, or, at least, entirely depend upon their shipping.
The entire Southwest, nearly to a man, would have rushed
to his succor, even if deserted by the East, to drive away
the invaders and recover the key to the Mississippi VaUey.
There were with Jackson, as he afterwards said, "men of
wealth, owners of property, who would have been among the
first to apply the torch to their own buUdings, and what they
left undone," said he, "I should have completed." If driven
back from his entrenchments, he had snatched all, but the
ruins of a city burned to ashes, from thc abortive grasp of dis
appointed conquerors, the brands of that conflagration would
have inflamed the patriotism of the country, and Uluminated
the reno'wn of that ruin's artificer even more than the weU-
nigh bloodless victory by which he rescued New Orleans at
the cost of so much hostUe carnage. The triumphs of Maren
go and Waterloo are not historical monuments more memorable
or useful than the defence of subdued Saragossa and the burn
ing of captured Moscow. Greatly and cheaply they contri
buted, StUl more by moral than by mUitary impression, to save
Spain and Russia from subjugation. If Paris had been burned
to prevent its avaUable capture by enemies, soon after Jackson
nobly resolved to sacrifice rather than surrender New Orleans
to 'some of the same enemies to whom the French capital sub
mitted, with aU its magnificent civilization, that holocaust would
have cheaply purchased, ere now, a metropoUs, Uke the Rus
sian, more populous, stately, opulent, and prosperous, than
ever, and saved France from restorations, revolutions, and
convulsions, national debt, and sanguinary degradation, infi
nitely more oppressive than the momentary loss of any city.

no COLONEL DECLOUET — MAJOR DUNCAN.
It requires Spanish, Russian, or American uncontaminated pa
triotism to overcome the effeminate refinement which preferred
the preservation of Paris to that of France ; and fortunate is
the nation, in such a crisis, defended by a man who regards
country more than property or Ufe.
Besides the vulgar underlings who, in all wars, are wUling,
like the Spanish fishermen, to sell their service to enemies,
there were many disaffected inhabitants, and respectable per
sons, neither treacherous nor disaffected, but who, dreading the
confiict and doubting the result, honestly, however unwisely,
deemed it right to rescue, their lives and property froiia jeo
pardy by capitulation. Some of the Legislature were said to
argue that, as the -British promised to respect property and
spare life, and Jackson was resolved to sacrifice both to what
they miscalled his military pride, it would be wiser to make
terms with the enemy than undergo those of their own com
mander. That state of insubordinate disquiet on their part,
and of stern determination on his, was aggravated by an unto
ward misunderstanding between him and the Legislature, which
entirely estranged them. After meeting with the six or eight
members, on the night of the 26th of December, where he
heard the speaker's suspicious decrial of General Jackson,
and getting his equivocal explanations next day at the planta
tion, Colonel Declouet, on the morning of the 28th of Decem
ber, just as the British attack on Jackson's lines was raging,
with cannonade from, the river to the swamp, so fiercely that
many behind the imperfect ramparts feared they must be
forced, and some even thought they were — Colonel Declouet
denounced the Legislature to the general. As one of his
volunteer-aids, Abner L. Duncan, [a fellow-student, whom I
well knew before his removal from Philadelphia to New Or
leans,] was near the lines, hastening to take part in the action.
Colonel Declouet, with his horse in full run, in very great
haste and agitation, overtaking Duncan, begged him to inforni
General Jackson that a plan ivas on foot, among several mem
bers of the Legislature, for the surrender of the country to
the enemy. To Duncan's saying that it could not be possible,
Declouet emphatically replied that he would be answerable for

DUNCAN'S REPORT TO JACKSON. 171
the truth of it, and he begged Duncan for God's sake to com
municate it to the general. Duncan urged Declouet to go with
him, and make the communication himself. But Declouet re
joined that he would tell the governor, and begged Duncan to
tell the general. Duncan had no reason to doubt a gentleman
whose standing was so respectable ; and he had just been told,
by several persons on their way to town, that our lines had
been forced. Some time before, several members of the Legis
lature had told him that an attempt would be made, and re
sisted with violence, to dismember the State, by depriving that
part of Florida annexed to Louisiana of its representation in
the Legislature. Amidst the roar of artillery and the tumult
of battle, terror, and even some fiight, to confirm Declouet's
alarming disclosures, Duncan, Catching his excitement, hurried
forward, to inform the general, as he understood Declouet was
going to the governor, in that moment of agitation, on the
same errand of bad tidings. Pale and excited, running up to
Major Plauche, whose battalion covered head-quarters, Duncan
hastily inquired of him where to find the general. Struck with
his alarm, Plauche asked what was the matter. " Governor
Claiborne has just informed me," said Duncan, "that the Le
gislature intend capitulating." Indignantly exclaiming that it
was impossible, Plauche pointed out General Jackson, to whom
Duncan rode up instantly. But Governor Claiborne was not
Duncan's informer, as he erroneously told Plauche. His in
former was Colonel Declouet, who imparted nothing more than
his own impression of a design of certain members of the Le
gislature, which might indeed have been carried into effect at
their meeting that day, but w&S as yet no more than a, design,
if that, of some of the members.
The next stage of that apprehension, exaggerated by Dun
can, as imparted by Declouet, was Duncan's inflamed report
of it to Jackson. He was galloping along from the left, where
he had just ordered Coffee against an assault there, and in
momentary expectation of an attempt to carry his whole line
by storm, when Duncan accosted him under such excitement
that the general at once inquired, as Plauche had done, what
was the matter. Duncan's answer, as the general understood

172 JACKSON'S MISUNDERSTANDING.
it, was, that he bore a message from Governor Claiborne^ that
the Assembly were about to give up the country to the enemy.
Have you a letter from the govemor ? said the general. Dun
can saying that he had not, the general inquired where the
colonel was, saying that he ought to be apprehended and shot,
if the information was not true, and that he, the general, did
not believe it. Duncan said the Colonel had returned to town,
and requested him to deliver the message. As the general
hastened along the Une, Mr. Duncan called after him, say
ing that the governor expects orders what to do. The general
repeated that he did not believe the intelligence, but to desire
the governor to make strict inqiiiry into the subject, and, if
true, to blow them up. That hasty and excited colloquy, on a
field of battle, led the general to believe that Duncan reported
that the governor sent him to deliver the communication, which
impression of the general Mr. Duncan pronounced a mistake.
There seems to be some want of clearness in the General's
statement that Duncan told him that " he was the bearer of a
message from Governor Claiborne," and that yet the general
interrogated the bearer of a message from the governor " as
to the person from whom he received the intelligence." For,
if the message was from the governor, it mattered not from
whom the intelligence came. General Jackson and Major
Plauche both say that Mr. Duncan told each of them that his
communication came from the governor. And Mr. Duncan
not only confessed but pleaded the imperfection of his account,
by giving it "as far as his agitation permitted him to under-
staind and remember." The weight of testimony is, that Dun
can said he had his information from the governor. The tes
timony is clear that General Jackson told him to blow them
up, if they, the Legislature, attempted capitulation ; meaning,
by that figurative expression, that such attempt, if made,
should be prevented by force, if necessary. So vehemently
was that indignant order uttered, that its ejaculation, by the
general, was at once caught up by the troops, And echoed
throughout the encampment, the soldiers repeating their com
mander's brief sentence of condemnation, " if they should per
sist, let him blow them up."

DUNCAN'S MISTAKE. 173
Still, the general's order, and the cry of the soldiers, were
hypothetical. The Legislature were to be tried before their
confinement ; till Mr. Duncan, who was certainly w;rong, if he
told the general, as he believed, that the alarming message
was from the govemor, again erred by turning the general's
provisional into an absolute command. Instead of strict
inquiry as to intelligence which the general disbelieved, Mr.
Duncan caused the governor, by a peremptory order from the
general, forcibly to prevent the meeting of the Legislature.
Half-way between camp and town, Mr. Duncan met Mr. For
tier, one of the governor's aids, of whom he inquired if he had
met Colonel Declouet, and whether he told him that the Legis
lature had met, or were about meeting, to deliver up the
country to the British. Colonel Fortier answered that he had
seen Colonel Declouet, who told him nothing but that our
affairs went on well at Camp Jackson, and that the British
were retreating. The Legislature, Mr. Fortier said, he did
not beUeve would meet that day, because he had seen several
members, not- long before, and he named one of them, Mr.
Harper, marching io the camp with his gun. Mr. Duncan
told Mr. Fortier that the general had just been informed that
the Legislature had met, or were about meeting, in order to
propose capitulation to the enemy ; that he, Mr. Duncan, was
the bearer of an order from General Jackson to Governor
Claiborne that a strong guard be placed at the door of the
Legislature, and the members prevented from meeting and
proceeding to business, by means of the armed force. Mr.
Duncan requested Mr. Fortier, who consented, to transmit
that order as coming from the general-in-chief to the go
vernor. Accordingly he did so, meeting the govemor and
suite, escorted by a troop of horse, going to the camp, whither
he was attracted" by the artillery and musketry firing. Mr.
Fortier told the governor that the Legislature were about
assembling for the purpose of surrendering the country, and
that the general's orders were that the governor should imme
diately shut the doors of the government-house, place a guard
there, and, if the Legislature attempted to assemble, to use
force, to fire on them. The orders, Mr. Fortier told the go-

174 LEGISLATIVE HALL FORCIBLY CLOSED.
vernor, had just been communicated to him by General Jack
son's aid, Mr. Duncan. Thus Colonel Declouet's neither
unfounded nor unreasonable apprebension, but no mor.e, was
distorted, by Mr. Duncan, into a governor's message, pervert
ing what was, at most, but a design into 9, fact, and that said
to be stated in the governor's message, 'viz., that the Assembly
were about to give up the country. The general's prudent
reception of that alarming apprehension, nevertheless, premised
thorough investigation before belief, condemnation, or action.
Yet, when the second edition of the apprehension reached the
governor, it was an order from the general, -not to inquire, but
to act, and to act, not only forcibly, but offensively. The vior
lent method of prevention prescribed for the governor to exe
cute, was offensive and insulting, if not bloody. A strong
guard was to be placed at the door, and, by armed force, 'the
Legislature prevented from proceeding to business — if they
attepipted to assemble, to fire upon them. Astonished at such
an order, and disbelieving the cause .alleged for it, the go
vernor, after some hesitation and^consultation, considered him
self bound, when, as he said, the enemy was at the door, and
their cannon thundering there, to turn back from going to the
camp, return to the city, and personally put in force an order
so imperative from the commander-in-chief. Accompanied by
Mr. Macarty, the Secretary of State, and several other per
sons, the governor accordingly repaired to the government-
house. It was about ten o'clock in the morning, and that
being the hour of meeting, several of the members were there.
After, first communicating to them what he was about to do,
the governor ordered General Labatut — speaking in English,
which was turned into French by the Secretary of State -^ to
place a sentinel at each of the doors of the Senate and House
of Representatives, and to permit no one, members or others,
to eiiter, and to use violence in case any resistance was offered.
General Labatut immediately executed that order, which was
enforced by soldiers in the most offensive manner. Levi Wells,
a member of the House of Representatives, mounting the
stairs, was opposed by an armed sentinel, whotn, on explaining
his right of entrance, the sentinel, in a tone of voice as insult-

LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS. 175
ing as possiblcj ordered to retire, or be would run him through
with his bayonet, which he pushed at him, so as to show that
the threat would be executed.
In the course of that day, the Governor withdrew the inter
dict as to the presiding arid other officers of both houses, who
were permitted to enter, and in the evening it was removed
altogether. No quorum of the House of Representatives attended on
the 24th, the 25th, the 26th, the 27th, or the 29th of Decem
ber. The journal of the 28th is, that the speaker and other
members having presented themselves at the government-
house, the ordinary place of sitting of the Legislature, the
said speaker and members were arrested by an armed force,
who said they had or ders. to prevent the Legislature from there
aSSenjbling, whereupon the speakei* and the four attending
members assembled, as the imperfect entry adds, at the prin
cipal place, and it appearing that there was not a quorum, the
said members adjourned the House of Representatives till next
day. On that day, the 29th, no quorum attending, the House
adjourned again till next day.
The Senate, after a short session on the 23d, adjourned till
the 26th, when, a quorum not appearing, those present ad
journed till next day ; and then, without proceeding to busi
ness, adjourned till the 28th, at twelve o'clock. On the 28th,
at half-past five o'clock in the afternoon, as was journalized on
the 30th of December, there being no meeting on the 29th, a
statement was drawn up, and signed by six senators, including
Mr. Skipwith, the Speaker, that, on his coming to the Senate
chamber to meet, he was stopped and prevented by force ; that
the speakers of the two houses called together on the governor,
to know the reason of so extraordinary a measure, who told
them that his 'orders w^re from the general. On the 30th of
December both houses appointed a joint committee to wait on
General Jackson, and inquire the reasons of the violent mea
sures against the Legislature, what was the order, and by
whom given. His written explanation of next day was laid
before the two Houses on the 2d of January. The governor
was then required, by resolutions in both houses, to answer

176 ' EXPLANATIONS.
certain int.errogatories, which he did by a written message, on
the 4th of January. A joint committee of both Houses was
then raised, with power to send for persons, take their exami
nation, ijnd report to the Legislature ; whose principal busi-.
ness, from that time till the 6th of February, when they ad
journed finally, seemed to be to vindicate themselves from
imputed disloyalty, expose Alexander Declouet, as author of
the imputation, and Abner L. Duncan, by whose misconcep
tions they declared that the legislative bodies had been insulted.
If they were irreproachable, certainly they were treated
most unjustly. If obnoxious to suspicion, still, without inves
tigation, to treat them as guilty, was unwarrantable. The
nebulous spots on the case are, that it is not clear whether
some members of the -House of Representatives did not
harbor doubts whether what was complained of as Jackson's
Russian, barbarous mode of warfare was not worse than the
hostilities of the English ; and, although he might not have
ordered the Legislature to be forcibly controUed, until their
disloyalty was ascertained, still, whether his strong inclination
was not to consider, at least, some of them guilty, and to deal
with them accordingly. None of the Senate were suspected,
notwithstanding their Speaker's untoward inquiry of Major
Butler. But what was called the French party, in the House
of Representatives, including the Speaker, except Mr. Loual
lier and Mr. Rouffinac, were, whether justly or not, chairged
with a desigh to save property by capitulation. Jackson
insisted that Claiborne misunderstood, if he did not misrepre
sent, his direction, which was not to do anything beyond in
vestigation first, and then, if guilty designs appeared, not to
prevent the Legislature meeting, but to surround them, when
assembled, by troops, and confine them to their place of meet
ing. Capitulation was impossible without his consent. The
Legislature could not capitulate if he and his troops refused*
But a disposition for it, in any part of the Legislature, much
more any act of theirs, might have discouraging effects on the
troops, and disastrous on the defence. Taking leave, for the
present, of this part of the narrative, till we reach the con
clusion of the war, and adjournment of the Legislature, the

BRITISH DEFEATED, JANUARY FIRST. 177
most remarkable circumstance in that controversy between the
general and the Legislature, is its little sensation out of Loui
siana. The military issue between Jackson and the enemy
was so much more interesting to the country than a quarrel
between the civil and military authorities, that, while the
former filled the public mind, not only in this country but
Great Britain, the latter was either unknown or unheeded, so
that everi the public press, which lives on excitement, and
seizes every particle of ingredients for food, seemed, by silence
on this subject, scarcely aware of its existence.
Jackson bore the testimony of his experience, as Wash
ington did during the War of the Revolution, against militia-
troops and short enlistments. War is a science ; and those
trained to it must be generally the best and by far the cheap
est soldiers. But the democratic institutions and continental
remoteness of these United States from European standing
armies render it certain that most of our men in arms will
always be militia, volunteers, or other troops, held by short
enlistments. It is, therefore, important that the best uses to
be elicited from such forces should be exhibited historically.
Jackson's Louisiana campaign was short — from the time of
his taking command at New Orleans, it did not exceed six
weeks. For service so brief, and withal so active, irregular
troops are always fitter than for more protracted or sedentary
employment. Still, after making that allowance for the supe
rior performance of those under Jackson, we should hardly be
able to convince their own countrymen how excellent it was,
by American testimony, without indubitable proof furnished
by the enemy, and that, of a kind the most satisfactory in its
source. If the generals or admirals who commanded had
given us an account of their transactions, it would have been
much less particular than those of inferior officers.
' Passing from the second engagement, on the 28th of De
cember, to the third, on the first of January, we shall find the
superiority of Jackson's tactics still more remarkable ; inspi
ring his followers with daily increasing confidence, and im
pressing their assailants with continually increasing diffidence,
till their last despairing effort. To the excerpts before incor-
VoL. IV. — 12

178 BRITISH COMPLAINTS. ,,
porated with this Sketch from the Narrative of probably a
field-officer, some of a Subaltern's views of American desultory,
but destructive warfare, are here added, preliminary to the
third battle on New Year's day : — ,
" During the 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st, strong detachments from the dif
ferent corps were employed in bringing a train of heavy ordnance from -the'
boats, with ample supply of powder and ball. The labor and difficulty of
accomplishing it were beyond all calculation. Noi; was it the only irksoffle
duty in which we were engaged. The piquets never mounted without suf
fering, sooner or later, an attack. Sometimes the enemy contented themT
selves with cannonading the outposts; sometimes they advanced large, corps
in the day, who amused themselves and us with long and unprofitable skirr
mishes. But their more usual system was to steal forward in sections, after
dark, and to harass us with a desultory and troublesome fire of musketry till
morning. ...
"As yet, neither I nor the men had ventured to light a fire. . . .But the
day was piercingly cold. A heavy shower fell from time to time, and the
absolute discomfort of our situation proved too much for the whispers of pru
dence. Two fires were made to blaze up — one for the men, the other for
myself and my companion. It seemed as if the American artillerymen had
waited for some such object to direct their aim, for the smoke had hardly
begun to ascend, when they played upon us, from a battery of "five guns, as
perfect a storm of grape-shot as ever whistled past the ears of men so situ
ated, and in five minutes the fires were abandoned. Biit with this the
enemy were not contented ; under cover of the cannonade, a body of some
two or three hundred infantry advanced,.in extended order, from the lines...
A most uninteresting skirmish ensued. The Americans, it was perfectly
manifest, were raw troops. They made no determined efibrts; probably it
was not intended they should make any efforts to drive us in. But they
pressed forward from time to time, creeping along the ground, and running
from ditch to ditch, and retreating again as soon as they had discharged
their pieces. On our side no movement whatever was made. The men
lay down, as I directed, behinda row of bushes, which served at least to
conceal them from their opponents, and each file regularly shifling its
ground, a pace or two to the right or left, as soon as it had fired. By this
means many lives were saved, for the Americans regularly returned our
fire, and they never failed to direct their aim to the spots from whence our
smoke ascended. The affair having lasted four or five hours, the enemy at
length saw fit to withdraw, and we returned to our ditch, with the trifling
loss of only two wounded. . . . Their cannon continued to annoy us to the
last, insomuch that the very sentinels were under the necessity of hiding
themselves. . . . It was now about midnight, and the darkness had becpme,
almost without a metaphor, such as might be felt. . Worn out with fatigue,
1 had returned to the ditch, not to seat myself beside a comfortable blaze —
for no fire had been lighted, and it would have been madnqss to think of

BRITISH ACCOUNT. 179
lighting one — but to rest my limbs a little, and to smoke a cigar. . . The
enemy, finding that their heavy artillery hardly reached our camp, had
moved two field-pieces and a mortar without their lines, and, advancing
them aa near lo .the sentries as a regard for their own safety would allow,
were now cannonading, not the outposts, but the main body of the British
army. It was easy to perceive that the balls fell not short of their mark.
Jjooking back towards the position, I saw that the fires were hastily covered
np, and the murmur of voices which arose gave testimony that they were
not'thus stifled before it was necessary."
Thus were old soldiers so tormented, harassed, deprived of
rest and fire and food, terrified, perplexed, and dismayed, that
in every one of the last three battles they stood awed in the
presence of their enemies, however raw and disorderly, till at
the final catastrophe, as pleaded by their own officers, to apo
logise for total defeat, whole regiments of British troops, led
by officers with noble blood in their veins, shrunk inglorlously
from the carnage they dreaded. Their own account of them
selves would be incomplete without adding their description of
the buoyancy, hilarity, and confidence, which animated the Ame
rican camp. Jackson knew how much imagination has to do
with military operations, — how martial music and the national
flag elevate the soldier's spirit. The frost was as sharp, the
mire as deep, the labor as arduous, behind his lines as before
them. Yet, while the besiegers, benumbed with cold and dis
tressed with wet, were dispirited by continual alarms, the be
sieged worked and fought confident, merry, and indefatigable.
" About two hours before daybreak," says the Subaltern, " a general stir
took place in the American lines. It was their mustering time. They
were getting under arms; not for the purpose of attacking us, but to oppose
any attack which we might hazard ; and they did so to the sound of drums
and trumpets and other martial instruments. The effect of this warlike
tumult, as it broke in all at once upon the silence ofthe night, was remark
ably fine. Nor did the matter end there. The reveille having ceased, and
the different regiments having taken their ground, two or three tolerably
full bands began to play, which continued to entertain both their own people
ahd us till broad daylight came in. Being fond of music, particularly the
music ofa military band; I crept forward, beyond the sentries, for the pur
pose of listening to it. The airs which they played were, some of them,
spiritless enough — the Yankees are not famous for their good taste in any
thing — but one or two of the waltzes struck me as being peculiarly beau
tiful. The tune however which seemed to ^please themselves the most was

180 THIRD BRITISH DEFEAT.
their national air, known among us by the title of Yankee Doodle, for they
repeated it at least six times in the course of their practice."
That was the eighth night the American troops, behind
Jackson's lines, had spent in mud-beds, cold rains continually
faUing, the mire twelve inches deep or more, tents pitched
where only Uttle hillocks from the flooded ground could be dis
covered, the weather extremely inclement, the clothing and
other covering of the men, scanty, tattered, and foul. But,
when New Year's day was ushered in by a dismal fog, while
their enemies were burrowing in the wet earth hard by, pre
paring for their penultimate assault, men of nearly all regions,
except Yankees (for there was scarcely a New Englander in
Jackson's camp), rose gayly from their beds of mud, to the
homely, but stirring air of Yankee Doodle, overheard by
the British Subaltern ; and worse armed, less sheltered, worse
clothed, less disciplined, and less numerous, than their mighty
assailants, drove them from America, never again, in all pro
bability, to be invaded by Britons. For an account of their
second attempt on Jackson's lines, and his third victory, my
brief description will be best prefaced by that of a British suf
ferer, added to the other British confession already incorpo
rated with my Sketch : —
"At length we found ourselyes," he says, "in view of the enemy's army,
posted in a very advantageous manner. About forty yards jn their front
was a canal, which extended from the morass to within a short distance of
the high road. Along their line were thrown up breastworks, not indeed
completed, but even now formidable. Upon the road and at several other
points were erected powerful batteries; while the ship, with a large flotilla
of gun-boats, flanked the whole position from the river.
" When I say that we came in sight of the enemy, I do not mean that he
was gradually exposed to us, in such a manner as to leave time for cool
examination and reflection. On the right, indeed, he was seen for some
time, but on the left, a few houses, built at a turning ofthe road, entirely
concealed him ; nor was it till they had gained that turning and beheld the
muzzles of the guns pointed towards them, that those who moved in this
direction were aware of their proximity to danger. But, that danger was
indeed near, they were quickly taught, for scarcely had the head of the
column passed the houses, when a deadly fire was opened from both the bat
tery and the shipping. That the Americans are excellent shots, as well
with artillery as rifles, we have had frequent cause to acknowledge ; but,
perhaps, on rio occasion did they assert their title to good artillerymen more

BRITISH CONFESSIONS. 181
etfectually than on the present. Scarce a bullet passed over or fell short
of its mark, but all striking full into the midst of our ranks occasioned ter
rible havoc. The shrieks of the wounded, therefore, the crash of firelocks,
and the fall of such as were killed, caused at first some little confusion ; and
what added to the panic was, that from the houses, beside which we stood,
bright flames suddenly burst out. The Americans, expecting this attack,
had filled them wifh combustibles for the purpose ; and, directing one or two
guns against them, loaded with red-hot shot, in an instant set them on fire.
The scene was altogether sublime. A tremendous cannonade mowed down
our ranks and deafened us with its roar; while two large chateaux and
their out-buildings almost scorched us with theflames and blinded us with
the smoke they emitted.
" The infantry, however, was not long suffered to remain thus exposed ;
but, being ordered to quit the path and ^ form line in the fields, the artil
lery was brought up and opposed to that of the enemy. But the contest
was in every respect unequal, since their artillery far exceeded ours both
in numerical strength and weight of metal. The consequence was, that, in
half an hour, two of our field-pieces and one field-mortar were dismdunted ;
many ofthe gunners were killed; and the rest, after an ineffectual attempt
to silence the fire of the shipping, were obliged to retire."
"In the mean time, the infantry, having formed line, advanced, under a
heavy discharge of round and grape-shot, till they were checked by the ap
pearance of the canal. Of its depth they were of course ignorant, and to
attempt its passage, without having ascertained whether it could be forded,
might have been productive of fatal consequences. A halt was therefore
ordered, and the men were commanded to shelter themselves as well as
they could from the enemy's fire. Por this purpose they were hurried into
a wet ditch, of sufficient depth to cover the knees, where, leaning forward,
they concealed themselves behind some high rushes which grew upon its
brink, and thus escaped many bullets, which fell around them in all direc
tions. " Thus fered it with the lefl of the army, while the right, though less
exposed to the cannonade, was not more successful in its object. The same
impediment which checked one column forced the other likewise to pause ;
and, after having driven in an advanced body of the enemy and endeavored
without effect to penetrate through the marsh, it also was commanded to
halt. In a word, all thought of attacking was, for this day, abandoned ; and
it now only remained to withdraw tho troops from their present perilous
situation with as little delay as possible.
" The first thing to be done was to remove the dismounted guns. Upon
this enterprise a party of seamen was employed, who, running forward to
the spot where they lay, lifted them, in spite of the whole of the enemy's
fire, and bore them off in triumph. As soon as this was effected, regiment
after regiment stole away, not in a body, but one by one, under the same
discharge which saluted their approach. But a retreat thus conducted

182 BRITISH CONFESSIONS.
necessarily occupied much time. Noon had therefore long passed before
the last corps was brought off; and when we again began to muster, twilight
was approaching. We did not, however, retire to our former position ; but,
having fallen back only about two miles from the canal, where it was sup
posed we should be beyond reach of annoyance-^from the American artillery,
we there established ourselves for the night, havipg suffered less during the
day than from our exposed situation and the enemy's heavy fire might have
been expected."
To these tribulations I shaU subjoin another British histo
rian's account of their defeat on the first of January, which,
less vain-glorious, is likewise more candid, in several particu
lars, showing that the disorderly trepidation was greater than
above confessed : —
" A long parapet, composed entirely of earth, riveted with thin planks
and supported by stakes, aboiit thirty or forty yards behind a canal ten or
fifteen feet wide, covered about two-thirds of the entrenchment. Upon the
high road, out of the line, a. flanking redoubt ; a semicircular battery in the
middle, and an inverted rideau' (curtain) protecting the extremity, which
joined the wood. On the summit of the central work, a lofty flag-staff,
from which a large American ensign constantly 'waved ; in the rear of the
breastwork, a crowd of white tents, not a few of which bore flags at the top
of their poles. The American camp exhibited as much ofthe pomp and cir
cumstance of war as niodern camps are accustomed to exhibit; and the spi
rits of its inmates were kept continually in a state of excitement by the
bands of national music. How different was tho spectacle in the British
army, without tents, without works, without show,- without parade, upon
the ground ! Throughout the whole line, not more than a dozen (tents were
erected, and these, which consisted only of pieces of plank torn from the
houses and fences near, furnished but an inefKcient protection against the
inclemency ofthe weather. . . . No band played among our men, nor did a
bugle give its sound, except to warn the hearers of danger. On the con
trary, the routine of duty was conducted in as much silence as if there had
been no musical instruments in the camp.
" The object of bringing up cannon from the fleet was to enable the artil
lery and engineer-officers to try the effect of a scheme, which they sug
gested, regularly to breach the enemy's lines ; and they undertook, provided
proper dispositions were made, to silence their batteries in three hpurs. To
erect the batteries, detachments from each brigade threw aside their arms,
and worked in the dark all night, Every one, officers and men, wielded a
spade or pickaxe, knowing, as well all knew, that we worked for life and
death. Long before the first streaks of dawn, thirty pieces of heavy ord
nance were in readiness. Never was any failure more remarkable or un
locked for. The sun, as if ashamed to shine on our disgrace, was slow in

BRITISH CONFESSIONS. 183
making his appearance. ... By and by, the enemy's salutations gradually
surpassed our own, both in rapidity and precision. . . . The enemy's shot
penetrated the sugar-hogsheads, imprudently rolled into our parapets, as if
so many empty casks, killing our artillerymen in the very centre of their
works. . . . After not more than two hours and a half firing, our batteries
were all silehced. The American works remained as little injured as ever,
and we were completely foiled. ... As our fire ceased, they directed theirs
at the infantry in the rear. Our men were commanded to lie down ; but
even thus all the shot passed not harmless. . . . The promises of the engi
neer-department were not likely to be fulfilled ; the army fell back, and
took up its ground again, foiled, irritated, and disheartened. . . . We were
all thoroughly worn out. . . . Five guns were left behind, rendered useless,
it is true, but it cannot be said that the British army came off 'Without the
loss of some of its artillery. During three whole days and nights, I had
never closed an eye. My food, during all that space, consisted of a small
quantity of salt-beef, a sea-biscuit or two, and a little rum; and even tbat I
could hardly find time or leisure to consume. . . . When pork and beans
ran short, it was no uncommon thing for both officers and men to appease
the cravings of hunger by eating sugar taken out of the casks and moulded
into cakes. . . . The confidence of success, which once prevailed on our
part, manifestly abated. A line of works was begun by the Americans, on
the opposite side of the river, from which they continued to enfilade our
bivouac with no fewer than eighteen pieces of cannon. On their main po
sition, likewise, they labored night and day. ... It was understood, too,
that two additional lines, in rear of that before us, were in progress of com
pletion." [Such was the effect of Jackson's camp or station of men without
arms to rally on.] " While rafts, boats, and vessels of all sizes and dimen
sions, crowded the Mississippi, and commanded the whole flat."
After the Subaltern received, on the evening of Saturday,
the 7th of January, the general . orders for the assault next
morning, for which the troops were all to be ready two hours
before daylight,' though " danger had been too long familiar
with him not to have lost most of its terrors," he "was not
ashamed to confess that he felt, that evening, more singularly
oppressed, not with alarm, but with awe, than I recoUect ever
to have been under similar circumstances. The society of my
brother-officers was not agreeable, and I walked away alone,
having striven in vain to divert my melancholy."
Such circumstantial and graphic British confessions render
it superfluous to add much American description of their de
feats on the 28th of December, 1814, and first of January,
1815. During the last night of the expiring year, they con-

184 FIRST OF JANUARY.
tinned, with great labor, difficulty, and alarm, to raise bat
teries, within six hundred yards of Jackson's lines, from which
next day to make a breach in them, if possible, and then by
assault to force their way through. The dawn of New Year's
d-.iy began with a thick fog, so that it was imppssible, tiU 'eight
o'clock, to see any thing. Meantime, whUe the Americans
were gayly saluting the approaching day, their enemies were
clandestinely at work in the dark, busy with preparation for the
storming. The infantry and other troops for the assault were
drawn up in parallel lines, between the batteries and behind
ditches, sheltered from American fire, there to await the order
to emerge, advance, and rush on our entrenchments. Regular
sojdiers, by judicious evasion, are often saved from danger,
which inexperienced troops are ignorant how, perhaps ashamed,
to avoid by concealment. As soon as the horizon lighted up,
two twelve-pounders on the road, eight eighteen-pounders,
with carronades in the centre, and eight heavy guns, with
carronades toward the wood, opened a tremendous burst of
fire, with clouds of Congreve rockets; and, for a couple of
hours, the British artillery was served with great quickness,
uproar, and some execution. Macarty's house, in which Jack
son had his head-quarters, was pierced, in less than ten mi
nutes, by more than a hundred balls, bombs, and rockets,
knocking bricks, spUhters of wood, the portico, and furniture
to pieces, in all directions, and compelling the general's staff
to evacuate so untenable a station, where however no one
was hurt. He was not himself in the house at the time, having
gone, with the first gun, to the lines. The attempt to destroy
him, by that fire on the dweUing where, from deserters, the
enemy were informed he might be found, was not, perhaps,
conformable to those principles of military forbearance which
have been repeatedly invoked by the British officers, whose
histories are before quoted, for the protection of their senti
nels, piquets, and hospitals, from molestation. War is an effort
to do each party as much harm as possible, and, within certain
bounds of mischief, the more destructive, certainly the more
conducive to peace.
Hogsheads of sugar, rolled into and stood upright, formed

coffee's camp. 185
part of the British batteries ; and cotton-bags, in the embra
sures, were used in Jackson's lines. But neither of those
staples of that region proved as effectual as subsequent impres
sion has erroneously ascribed to them. The sugar-hogsheads
were easily perforated by cannon-balls, which also scattered
the cotton in all directions. The British batteries being on
ground several feet lower than the American lines,|had thereby
an advantage : and being separated, in detached places, were
less palpably exposed, than the long continued line of our en
trenchments, to point-blank shot. But they were never fired
with the precision of our artiUery. Many of their shots passed
over Jackson's Unes, killing and wounding some of the few
sufferers as they were entering or leaving the camp. When
the rockets set fire to a couple of artillery-caissons, one of
which contained a hundred pounds of powder, and blew up,
with great noise, the British suspended their volleys, while all
their men at the batteries and in the ditches rent the air with
triumphant hurrahs. But, as on a like occasion at Fort Erie,
of which an account is given in another volume of this Sketch,
the whole American line, from end to end, instantly responded
with unanimous fire, and still heartier cheers ; from that
time, the British fire began to slacken ; and their officers were
soon convinced that, unless Jackson could be taken in fiank,
he must have another victory. About ten o'clock, the body
of sharp-shooters, before mentioned by the British Subaltern,
tried the wood on the left, to ascertain if our line might not
be turned there ; where, the Subaltern says, they found the
ground firm, and could easily have carried the American lines
by assault. But his superiors thought otherwise. Jackson had
stationed Coffee's riflemen there. Cutting down the under
wood for thirty or forty yards in front, they built a breast
work of it, over which they could discover the enemy's ap
proach, and where, on the logs and brush, those hardy moun
taineers resided several days, raised by such dwellings above
the water below them, and, like beavers in their dams, indus
triously guarded their amphibious abode. The riflemen thus
stationed to support our artillerists, and prepared to repel any
attack that might be made in that quarter, the British com-

183 BRITISH DEFEAT.
manders felt that, in a forest of cypress-trees three hundred
miles long and knee-deep with mud, tangled with thickets, the
best British sharp-shooters would be no match for Western
riflemen, rejoicing in such repose, and having so many
days and nights harassed and perplexed their invaders. Fo
rests of impervious morass, longer than the whole island of
Old England, covered with cypress-trees and teeming with
laurel-bushes, constituted Jackson's flank on one side, with
the prodigious Mississippi on the other. Stupendous nature
and the genius of American liberty confounded European phi
losophy : and, though in 1814 it would have been rash to
aver, can it be boastful, in 1852, to pronounce Jackson's untu
tored capacity as superior to that of the British commanders he
vanquished, not more by- arms than arts, as the Mississippi to
the Thames, or the vast wilderness skirting it to Windsor forest?
— By noon, so many of his assailant's cannon were dismomited
that, soon after, they abandoned two of, their three batteries ;
while so sustained and overpowering was the American fire,
so entire, unhurt, and unapproachable their still imperfect
entrenchments, that General Pakenham was forced to retife
from' his second attempt more hastUy than even from his'first.
His batteries were dismantled; regiments, one by one, stole
aiv.ay, as one of their officers states ; and, though he avers
that seamen bore off the cannon in triumph, yet, when our
people went out the next day, as several parties did, without
apprehensiofi or molestation, to examine the battle-ground,
they found there barrels of powder, large quantities of can
non-balls and artillery-implements, shattered carronades, and
broken naval gun-carriages, — the demolished remains of dis
comfiture, abandoned, in flight, by those who triumphed only
by escaping. So entirely reversed, in the week after the Bri
tish arrival on the 23d of December, and before their final
defeat on the 8th of January, was the moral of both armies,
that Wellington's veterans were dwarfed to timorous militia,
and Jackson's militia raised to well-trained veterans. A week
of intense, desponding, and useless labor foUowed, preparatory
to the catastrophe by storm — the only alternative left, all
other resource being exhausted. Deceived by their Spanish

BRITISH DISQUIET. 187
spies and other traitors, disenchanted Of American submission,
disappointed by their own scientific corps, half- frozen, and
half-starved, they were more than half-beaten by the three
defeats which produced the fourth, and which are not, with
any justice, to be undervalued by its greater enormity of
slaughter. The incessant fire maintained from Jackson's lines, from
the water and from the other side of the river, gave the enemy
no rest day or- night, broke their slumbers, tormented their
workmen, and absolutely prevented their reconnoitring. When
ever they attempted to raise a battery, or any number of men
appeared together, grape-shot dispersed the group, and cannon-
baUs damaged the work. Their piquots and sentinels cowered
and hid in continual terrors. Such was their dread of the
deadly rifle, that they hardly ventured to station piquets near,
or enter the thickets. If they made a fire in the cold night
air, it attracted shot like lightning by the rod. They could
work only by night, and then without either fire or light.
WhUe our people were constantly abroad in reconnoitring par
ties, singly and in detachments, the British were confined to
their holes, and there continually assaulted. At last their
working parties were protected by an officer who stood above
the men at work, to watch the flash of our guns, and then,
st90ping down, gave the men orders to dodge. Ridges or
shoulders of earth, in successive rows, were raised to enable
them to work safely behind the last embankment. While
Jackson's men gloried in the mire, Pakenham's burro'wed,
groaning, under it, in ditches and behind levees, all the time
in terror, and, after three defeats in one week, extremely dis
couraged. The weather was more trying to them than to our
people. Their black troops were almost petrified by cold. All
supplies must be fetched from afar. Their naval and mUitary
chieftains were believed, at length, to be discordant ; Pakenham
deeming assault by day too hazardous, which Cochrane taunt
ingly said he would make with his sailors, and carry Jackson's
fines with pistols and boarding-pikes. Discord was added to
dismay in the British camp, while a single iron will, and that,
although wary and forecasting, even to uneasiness within

188 AMERICAN REINFORCEMENTS.
itself, yet, uttering nothing but assurances of victory, wielded
and inspired the American forcfe.
WhUe Jackson, with sleepless anxiety to hold and continue
the advantage endeared so nobly by the three preUminary con
flicts, was watching and trying to guard a hundred avenues,
and incessantly working at his Unes, the militia of Louisiana,
soon followed by those of Kentucky, were hastening to his
succor. On the 30th of December, Major-General ViUer^,
who commanded the first division of the State of Louisiana,
retumed from the Acadian coast, whither he had been to for
ward their coming, and aiunounced the approach of 300, who
arrived next day. Major-Geperal Thomas, who commanded
the second division of that State, arrived on the first .of
January with 500 more from Baton Rouge. Next day, Ge
neral Adair came in advance, to forward the Kentuckians,
whom he left at La Fourche, and who reached New Orleans on
the first of January ; 2250 men under another Major-General
Thomas ; but mostly without arms. On the 5th of January,
750 of them, but only 550 armed, were stationed at the lines,
near the river. Unpardonable negligence] in sending arms
from Pittsburg, deprived two-thirds of the Kentucky troops
of them. The rest, badly provided with weapons, under com
mand of General Adair, took part in the battle of the Sth of
January. But most of those brave men Jackson was con
strained to station, without arms, at a post he established near
the city, two miles behind his fortified lines, where the unarmed
men might be used at least as a demonstration of numerical
strength, and in that way act upon the enemy's apprehension,
if not practicaUy resist them. At that second station, there
fore, a considerable number of unarmed militia were exhibited,
as a rallying point in case Jackson should be compeUed to
retreat from his lines, and as a show of force or reserve,
which actually had no force. Omission to provide New Or
leans with arms was an unpardonable offence. Jackson was,
however, not more deficient in arms than the defenders of
Paris, when first Captured by the aUies. Arms were ordered
from Pittsburg to New Orleans, but not forwarded. That is
to say, as appeared by the trial of Maples, the government

WANT OF ARMS. 189
agents refused to give the seventy-five cents, which would have
been the price per hundred weight, if sent by steamboat, and
chose to have the arms shipped by boats without steam, at
fifty cents per hundred weight, with leave to the freighters to
stop and trade by the way down the rivers. I believe it is a
fact that twenty-five cents a hundred, thus saved in trans
portation, which would not probably amount to one hundred
dollars altogether, was the scandalous reason why the Ken
tucky and Tennessee mUitia, many, if not most of them,
arrived and served at New Orleans without arms. Republican
economy is sometimes reckless extravagance. Though, at that
moment, government was almost pennUess, still, there were
individuals enough, in both Kentucky and Tennessee, who
would have paid the transport by steam, which government
agents shamefully faUed to do. With the cavalry to cover his
retreat, if compelled to fall back from his Une, and the num
bers at the second camp ready to receive his retreating troops
raUied there, Jackson hoped to make another stand at that
point, where the cavalry were to check the advance of the
enemy, and thereby give him time to marshal his men for
further conflict. Some of the Kentuckians had fowling-guns,
but not muskets or rifles. Many of the Louisiana militia were
also without arms. Colonel Josiah S. Johnston supplied his
regiment 'with muskets, for which he advanced the cost. To
prevent its being known to the enemy, or in his own fortified
camp, or in the city, that the men at the second position were
without arms, the strictest measures were taken to prohibit
any one, without special permission, going from the city to
either of the camps, or from either of them to the city. To
prevent any one going from Jackson's forces to the enemy was
also severely interdicted, and hindered as much as possible.
But a soldier, nevertheless, contrived to desert from the lines,
on the Gth of January, by whose treacherous revelations the
British assault of -the 8th of January was supposed to be
directed on what he reported, and led the enemy to believe,
the weakest part of our position.
On the 6th of January, 1815, General Lambert, from Eng
land, arrived at the British camp with the 7th and 43d regi-

190 BRITISH FORCES.
ments, each 800 strong, and fine soldiers. Large bodies of
saUors and marines were added from the shipping ; and, on the
7th of January, 1815, Pakenham was at the head of more than
14,000 men in arms. In Wellington's official despatch from
Waterloo, General Lambert is soon after particularised as
having, on that great occasion, especially deserved t;he favor
of his monarch. The British forces, of which he commanded
the reserve, when the enemy attacked Jackson on the 8th of
January, 1815, as far as can be ascertained from unofficial, but
many other credible sources of information, were the 4th regi
ment, 750 men, Lieutenant-Colonel Brooke ; the 7th, 850, Lieu
tenant-Colonel Blakeney ; the 14th light dragoons, 350, Lieute
nant-Colonel Baker ; the 21st fusileers, 900, Lieutenant-'Colonel
Paterson; the 40th, 1000, Lieutenant-Colonel H. Thornton;
the 43d light infantry, 850, Lieutenanit-Colonel Patrickson;
the 44th, 750, Lieutenant-Colonel MuUen; the 85th hght
infantry, 650, Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. Thornton ; ~ the 93d
Highlanders, 1100, Lieutenant-Colonel Dale ; the 95th rifle
corps, 500, Major Mitchell ; the 1st West India regiment, 700,
Lieutenant-Colonel Whitby ; the 2d West India regiment, 700,
Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton ; 350 of the 62d regiment, 1500
of the rocket brigade, artillery, drivers, engineers, sappers
and miners ; 1500 marines, and 2000 saUors ; altogether, some
14,450 men, with staff enough for an army of 50,000. Recent
and long experience familiarised both officers a,nd men with all
the necessities of mUitary life. Completely equipped, pro
vided, and accomplished, they came from Europe to America
to finish a career of triumphs, glory, and undeniable supe
riority. The four generals were in the prime of life; aU
of approved courage. Lieutenant-Colonel Dixon commanded
the artillery ; Lieutenant-Colonel Burgoyne, the engineers.
The adjutant-general was Lieutenant-Colonel Stoven; Lieu
tenant-Colonel Bell, the quarter-master general ; Mr. Saone,
purveyor-general ; Mr. Hunter, paymaster-general ; Mr. Moo
dy, commissary-general. Dr. Robb was inspector-general of
hospitals, assisted by Dr. Thompson. I do not know whether
Colonel Burgoyne was the son of the general who surrendered at
Saratoga. One of these troops. Admiral Codrington, commanded

BRITISH FORCES. 191
the combined English and French fleets, which destroyed the
Turkish at Navarino. Admiral Napier, now commanding the
British Channel fleet, was captain , of a frigate in that expe
dition. 'Delacy Evans, who commanded an iUegal English
expedition to -assist the pretender in Spain, in 1840, was a
lieutenant of dragoons, wounded before New Orleans. But,
excepting these few names, I am not aware of any of all the
British aspirants for glory there, in 1814, '15, who have a
place in history : so sparing are the annals of fame. Jackson
ilot only eclipses tliem all, but, of them all, is the only one
historical. The British artny was, however, in all respects
well officered and provided, led by experienced commanders,
fresh from flelds of distinction. The troops were so confined
in Louisiana by rivers, morasses, and forests, that desertion
was difficult ; the usual diminution inconsiderablo, by absence
of numbers from actual service, under 'various pretexts, and
the commander-in-chief had the whole within his grasp, to
wield as he thought proper ; 14,450 fighting men ; all (except
the two black regiments, who, though benumbed by cold, were
stiU fit for many important duties) capable of great exploits.
There was scarcely a battle in Spain where some of these vete
rans had not distinguished themselves ; Talavera, Albufera,
Badajos, Salamanca, Vittoria, Busaco, Ciudad Rodrigo, and
thence to Toulouse, where Wellington's numerous victories
effected his entrance into France ; from Marmont to Soult,
having vanquished nearly all the French marshals. The 85th,
Colonel Thornton's regiment, with Bladensburg proudly and
deservedly engraved on their coat of arms, but which had not
been distinguished till by the capture of Washington, was the
least celebrated of the twelve regiments, and other forces,
naval as well as military, concentrated before New Orleans.
Their checks and mortifications of the 23d and 28th of De
cember, and 1st of January, disconcerted rather the responsible
leaders than the well-disciplined soldiers, still fiercely unsub
dued, who reproached their commanders for not leading them
to storm the American lines, much less formidable than ma.ny
they had carried by assault, and which every hour's delay en
abled their round-hatted enemies, whom they had been tajight

192 GENERAL PAKENHAM.
to despise, to fortify, with redoubled danger to the assaUants.
Their commander-in-chief, Pakenham, was of a noble Irish
famUy, brother to an Earl of Longford, and brother-in-law of
the Duke of Wellington, which probably influenced his selection
to lead the American expedition, instead of WeUington, for
whom it w^s proposed. But Pakenham owed his lieutenant-
generalship not to family or favor, but earned it in many hard-
fought fields, and, in the prime of manhood, commanded the
finest British army ever defeated in America ; superior to Bur
goyne's at Saratoga, Cornwallis's at Yorktown, and Prevost's
at Plattsburg. Unlike those predecessors in misfortune, Pa
kenham felt no confidence in his success. On the contrary, he
did not hesitate to avQw his disappointment and mortification
at the condition in which he found the army he was to lead,
whose whole encampment among the sugar-houses, as soon as
he joined them on Christmas day, were made acquainted 'frith
their leader's angry apprehensions . Surprised and worsted in
their first position, before they had slopt a night there, no less
than 5000 aggressors had destroyed 500 , of their best men,
and struck the rest with amazement, if not awe. That num
ber. General Keane assured his superior, broke into the British
camp on the night of the 23d ; and how many more Jackson
had behind them, no one knew. But General Keane's per
sonal, confidential account of his misfortune to General Paken
ham was no doubt at least as alarming as the official report
concocted between the two generals, for pubUcation, of the
disasters with which their operations began. And what was
their predicament? Hemmed in upon a narrow tongue of
wet ground by a vast, rapid river on one side, and boundless,
unpenetrable morasses on the other, both belted by immense
forests, the British army had no retreat; for there were not
boats enough attached to the whole fleet to hold one-third of
them at a time. Penned in a blind alley, eighty mUes from
their suppUes, they had no option but to go forward and cap
ture New Orleans, or be captured themselves. The few neigh
boring plantations soon exhausted of what little meat or other
provision could be got from them ; the earth so spongy that,
two feet below the surface, water was the basis ; the weather

BRITISH MISMANAGEMENT. 193
extremely severe, wet, chilly, changeable, and unwholesome ;
the soldiers without tents, huts, or covering — the army was
in jeopardy. Sir -Edward, as the English styled their com
mander, promised to do all he could to rescue them, but he
augured iU of the result. As retreat was hardly practicable,
and would be disgraceful, he must do his best to take the city.
But, as another English chronicler, who did not arrive till the
Oth of January, 1815, published some time after, " General
Jackson had shown his profound military and naval skiU, as a
gifted tactician, on the night of the 23d, by counter-manoeu
vring, and putting the reserve of the British to the very acme
of disorder, before their front was attacked ; a victory which
was only lost to the American general owing to the individual
bravery of the British veteran troops over his raw levies.
General Jackson, throughout those operations, displayed the
art of the engineer, wielding the weapons of war with vigorous
decision." "Instead of that," said the same English officer,
"indecision trammelled the movements of the British generals,
who, instead of repairing Keane's primary and capital error,
by instantly marching on the city, assaulting and carrying
Jackson's miserable mud ramparts by the way, set themselves
down to besiege a schooner, while Jackson was allowed to fortify
his fines with indefatigable labor and consummate skill. The
wretched abortion of the 28th of December," the same Eng
lish complainant says, "was softened, by technical phrase
ology, to the army and their country, as a mere reconnoissance,
when it was but too severely felt as a sanguinary repulse ;"
the American cannon destroying nearly all the men at the
British guns, and the round-hatted Yankees so elated as to be
almost inclined to a sortie, when they saw the backs of the
red-coats. In vain Admirals Cochrane, Malcolm, and Codring
ton, Captains Hardy, Trowbridge, and Gordon, with other naval
commanders of the highest rank, assisted to bring up provi
sions and ammunition, and carry away the wounded and
maimed. To no purpose, on the 1st of January, a 'whole
brigade of infantry burned to be ordered to the assault,
and, \vith loud cries, demanded why they were not led
on': to their utter astonishment, no such order was given.
Vol. IV. — 13

191 BEAUTY AND BOOTY.
Ladders and materials had been brought up for the passage
of the ditch ; an^ there is no doubt that the British troops,
rushing, under cover of their guns, with a few planks, would
have obtained possession of the enemy's works with facility."
" The most extravagant reports flew through our ranks : that
the ditch in front of the American line was a canal ; and be
hind the first line were two others.[the unarmed Kentucky ahd
other unarmed militia, stationed by Jackson in terrorem] ; the
edge of the ditch was proclaimed with the high-sounding title
of a glacis ; the numbers of the Americans were highly exag
gerated [another of Jackson's stratagems] ; the fortifications
had existed before the troops landed at all ; and, to crown all,
desertion began from the ranks of his Britannic majesty's troops
to the enemy." "At last," adds this bold captain, with an
honest and perhaps just sneer, " the British general considered
that the American barricade was too strong to attack in front,
with his present force, therefore science was resorted to. —
This was the state of things fifteen days after the first land
ing of the British troops."
Pakenham's memory has been aspersed by an imputation,
originating with a gentleman eminent as a judge and senator
of the United States, Mr. George Poindexter, by whom
the watchwords "Beauty and Booty" were ascribed to him.
Generals Lambert, Keane, Thornton, Blakeney, and Dickson,
v,ho were with him at New Orleans, pubUshed, in 1833, a de
nial of that imputation. StiU, the name of the unfortunate
Pakenham has been the theme of many coarse vulgarities in
this country. No just American can deny his gallantry and
heroism. But justice does not allow of eulogy to his .general
ship, which, I think, clearly indicated that, however brave
and noble, he was incapable of the great trust which probably
Vv'"ellington's influence procured for him.
On the 7th of January, 1815, General Lambert reviewed
the two gaUaiit regiments, landed with him the day before —
1700 bayonets, every one of which had bristled over con
quered French troops in numerous battles. " General Jack
son," says our British witness, "had shown himself a ge
neral of the first class, both in attack and defence, since

BRITISH PLAN. 195*
his first surprise. And although so far the Americans pos
sessed the most consummate and able tactician, stiU tbe Bri
tish general commanded the best troops, as they had shown
themselves to be on the very ground they now stood upon.
For discipUne and briUiant feats in the field, their conduct
could not be surpassed. Their ranks were composed of vete
rans from Great Britain and Ireland, the very elite of all his
Britannic majesty's dominions ; men, who, like the Romans
of old, had travaUed with pick and spade at trenches and bat
teries, fought sanguinary battles in the plains on the Nile,
and scaled the mountain-side, crowded the deadly breach,
topped the ladders of escalade, forded rivers under hostUe
balls, fought and starved and starved and fought : if they had
not been in fight before, they were sufficiently baptised at the
two whole days' feints before the American barricade." At
the review of this reinforcement. General Pakenham was not
present. "The men, who inquired why their commander did
not appear, were told that he was up a tree, in a pine wood,
examining the works of the Americans." At the same mo
ment. General Jackson was on the top of the house in which
his head-quarters were, with a telescope, examining the move
ments of the British, then obviously preparing for the assault
next morning. " The music played," says one of them, " the
vapor of the swamp had cleared off, the sun shone brilliantly,
and the officers and soldiers of the two regiments just come
were in the highest spirits at the near probability of their be
ing led on to the assault."
During the first week of the year 1815, a fortnight after
the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent, and had been some
days on its passage from London to Washington, the two
armies at New Orleans diUgently prepared for desperate con
flict. The British had found, by two abortive efforts, that the
Americans were impregnable on the swamp-fiank, and pro
bably in front — at any rate, without assault from the other
side of the Mississippi. Which was to be the main attack,
and whether that against the battery over the river was not
to be effected before Jackson's lines were attempted, is not
quite certain, from aU the British disclosures. The British

196 BRITISH PLAN.
Subaltern pubUshes expressly that the orders were for " a
general assault upon the enemy's lines;" but whether the as
sault did not take place before it was planned that it shrald
be, is StiU problematical. The "British Campaign" informs us
that " a new scheme was invented, worthy, for its boldness, of
the school in, which Sir Edward Pakenham had studied his
profession. It was determined to divide the army; to send
part across the river, who should seize the enemy's guns, and
turn them on themselves, while the remainder should, at the
same time, make a general assault along the whole entrench
ment. But, before this plan could be put into execution, it
would be necessary to cut a canal across the entire neck of
land, from the bayou de Cataline to the river, of sufficieiit
width and depth to admit of boats being brought up from the
lake. Upon this arduous undertaking were the troopS imme
diately employed, laboring by day and night. The fatigue
undergone, during the prosecution of this attempt, no words
can describe — at length, by unremitted exertions, accom
plished by the 6th of January." On that day, the reader
will recollect, General Lambert arrived, with sixteen hundred
fresh troops. "With the addition," says theBritish Officer,
" of a body of sailors and marines ffom the fleet, our numbers
amounted to little short of eight thousand men ; a force which
in almost any other quarter of America would have been irre
sistible." It was not for want of men enough that Pakenham
hesitated : he attacked Jackson's lines twice — once on the
28th of December, and again, the first of January — before
Lambert's reinforcements arrived. The assault was put off
from the 23d to the 28th of December, apparently, for fear of
the a,rmed American vessels on the river ; from the 28th of
December to the first of January, for heavier cannon ; and
then from the first to the Sth of that month, because another
method of attack was deemed indispensable. But the genius
of Jackson pervaded the whole procrastination, — dangerous,
when the enemy, instead of surprising New Orleans, were
themselves surprised, on their arrival; and fatal, when, after
intervening discomfitures, having no retreat, their effort of
despair was not made tUl too late. Our defence of Washing-

BRITISH LABORS. 197
toi), not long before, and that of the French of Paris, not long
after, like the British faUure at New Orleans, were disasters
which seemed to be the lot of those with success in hand, but
losing it by their own mismanagement, or the superior talent
of their enemies.
' MiUtary arithmetic is seldom trustworthy. Reckoning the
British army but eight thousand men, and the American
twenty-five thousand, was as wrong as General Keane's com
puting Jackson's two at five thousand. The assault of the Sth
of January was made, counting reserve and all employed at it,
by more than fourteen thousand, upon lines defended by less
than four thousand, taking part in the engagement. The
plan of combined attack, on both sides of the river, was un
doubtedly the best, if not the only way to succeed. But the
time and labor misspent in preparing for it, doomed, says the
Subaltern, the British jaded and dispirited troops — " doomed
them to a continuance of that system of vascillation and delay
hy which we had so long suffered." "Never were men so
severely or so uselessly harassed as in that undertaking."
Highly approving the scheme, as the only one which offered
any chance of success, he adds, " But why break the spirits
and wear out the strength of the troops by setting men to ex
cavate a trench full two miles in length and six feet deep ?
We had dragged heavy twenty-four pounders overland from
the mouth of the creek ; where would have been the difficulty
of transporting any number of light boats in a similar man
ner ?.. . Toil and trouble were never so thoroughly wasted.
Had a few rollers been framed, barges, gigs, cutters, and even
launches, might have been run through the bog with perfect
ease ; and all the risks and uncertainty of artificial navigation
avoided. But the chief thought otherwise. Or rather, the
thought of moving boats otherwise than through water never
occurred to him," for what the Subaltern calls his "gigantic
undertaking." " This work," says another British narrator,
" was worthy of a Roman general and the indefatigable labor
of his cohorts." That hydraulic elaboration of the British com
mander seems to be justly condemned by one of his followers,
unless Pakenham, like Hannibal scaling, or Napoleon turning.

198 EIGHTH OF JANUARY.
the Alps, designed to immortaUze his triumph by an immense
work of marveUous labor. Perhaps, the miUtary commander,
taunted by the admiral, was goaded to an attempt which he
deemed extremely perUous, and undertook with reluctance, as
the British naval defeat, not long before, on Lake Champlain,
was precipitated by a taunt from the miUtary commander.
Sunday, the Sth of January, 1815, at Washington, was not
kept with the Presbyterian strictness which President Jackson
introduced there in 1829. President Madison's houSe was
always open to company on Sunday ; President Jackson's was
closed, with entire seclusion from secular occupation. We
had no tidings there, on the Sth of January, 1815, of Jack
son's battle on the 23d of December, scarcely any hope of that
of the Sth of January. Prayers were not put up in any pulpit
at Boston, I believe, for his defeat : but it was anticipated
there with assurance, if not pleasure, the morning when the
British underwent their bloody overthrow. In that hand to
hand, grappling, desperate encounter, wherein the nations, of
antiquity surpassed modern combatants, before fire-arms super
seded in great measure the Roman short sword, so like the
American bowie-knife, the intrepid Briton claimed, and per
haps had by superior prowess proved, his right to peculiar
renown. Many of his New England offspring, in 1814 -'15,
notwithstanding the events of the American Revolution, con
sidered Louisiana the certain conquest of invincible Britons.
Numerous well-educated and well-disposed Americans, more
over, deemed republicanism a visionary experiment, as they
pronounced Louisiana an unjust and baleful extension of these
United States. On the sugar-fields and with the cotton-bales
of that erst French and Spanish province American preference
for British method of government underwent iconoclastic blows
from which that faith has never recovered. Overweening then
in the North-east, it was nearly extinguished in the South-west.
Wellnigh unanimous republican loyalty and aversion to Euro
pean prepotency have since become prevalent throughout this
country. An uneducated Celtiberian chieftain, supported
by troops of half-armed wooflmen and sugar or cotton planters,
with little Anglo-Saxon blood in their veins, in spite of the

Jackson's lines. 199
Eastern Anglo-Saxon offspring of Old England, at the same
time, crushed, in the South-west, the last English attempt to
conquer or sever the United States ; and, rousing the North
east from subserviency to England, saved from disruption the
union of many States. Gloriously closing the savage contest
which Great Britain provoked, protracted, and rendered bar
barous, the closing victories rebuked disloyalty as they de
feated invasion. Numbers of disaffected' Americans, and stUl
more Europeans, became convinced that government may be
strong without a monarch or nobility. That conviction may
be still unfounded : but it struck deep root in the events of
that ¦frar, of which Jackson's victories were the last, though
least expected, the most opportune and decisive.
Five miles below New Orleans, a disused mill-race extended
from near the Mississippi to the cypress-swamp, along which,
on the morning of the 24th of December, 1814, the Americans
began to raise breastworks, about a mile long, and of various
height and thickness. Thrown up in haste, in bad weather,
by workmen often changed as exigencies required, and always
working in mire, these entrenchments were irregular and so
imperfect, that, on the first of January, they were pierced by
British balls. "It was a long parapet," says the Subaltern,
"composed entirely of earth, which was riveted with thin
planks and supported by stakes. About thirty or forty yards
in advance of it ran a canal, from ten to fifteen feet in width,
ending considerably to the left of the river, whilst upon the
high road, somewhat out of the line, was erected a fianking
redoubt ; a semicircular battery about the middle ; and a third
protected the extremity which joined the wood. On the sum
mit of the central work a lofty fiag-staff was erected, from
which a large American ensign constantly waved. . . . The
American camp exhibited as much of the pomp and circum
stance of war as modern camps are accustomed to ; and the
spirits of its inmates were kept continually in a state of excita
tion by the bands of martial music. The British army pre
sented exactly the same extent of front, without tents, without
works, without show, without parade, upon the ground. Not
more than a dozen huts, of pieces of plank torn from the

200 JACKSON'S LINES.
houses and fences , near, furnished an insufficient protection
against the inclemency of the weather. No band played
among them, nor did a bugle give its sound, except to warn
the hearers of danger. The routine of duty was conducted
with as much silenee as if there had been no musical instru
ments in the camp. It was impossible not to be struck 'with
the contrast."
This British description is accurate enough of our lines;
which, the week Pakenham consumed in cutting a canal, Jack
son employed in their fortification. On the 8th of January,
they were cannon-proof, except at the elbow near and along
the swamp, where Coffee's men constructed their beaver-dams
of felled trees and brush, at any rate musket-proof. Captain
Beale's small company of city-rifiemen, with a company of the
44th regiment of United States infantry, under Lieutenant
Marant, were stationed at the redoubt beyond the lines, near
the river, which was not begun till the 6th, and was 'not
finished the Sth of January. The battery there was com
manded by Captain Humphreys, of the United States artil
lery, with some of his company and Major St. Gome's volun
teer-dragoons. The next battery was served by the crew of the
Carolina, under Lieutenant Norris, of the navy. At the third
battery -Captains Dominique and Beluche, Baratarian priva-
teeersmen, were 'Stationed, with some of their mariners. The
fourth battery was commanded by Lieutenant Crawley, of the
navy, ifvith crew of the Carolina. At the fifth battery were
stationed Colonel Perry and Lieutenant Kerr,- of "the artiUery.
The sixth battery was managed by General Flaujeac, one of
the Louisiana senators, with a company of Francs, under Lieu
tenant, Bertel. The seventh battery was served by United
States artUlerists, under Lieutenants Spotts and Chauvau, with
fifty marines, under Lieutenant Bellevue ; and the eighth bat
tery, nearest the swamp, was manned by a few of CarroU's
Tennessee mUitia, under a corporal of the regular artUlery.
The ground at that end was under water ; the troops were en
camped knee-deep in mud. The British did not attack there,
but concentrated their assault upon the centre, where Carroll's
Tennessee mUitia were stationed, reinforced by Kentuckians,

JACKSON'S FORCE. 201
under- Adair, ,and against the river-redoubt. The 7th regi
ment of United States infantry, 430 men, under Major Peire,
covered the first three batteries and a powder-magazine. From
the fourth to the fifth batteries the 44th regiment of United
States infantry, 240 men, under Captain- Baker, were posted.
Colonel Ross, of that regiment, commanded from the 7th regi
ment to the 44th, both included. Captains Ogden and Chau-
vau's troops of horse, 50 altogether, and some 30 from Atta-
capas, were stationed near Jackson's head-quarters. Colonel
Hind's Mississippi cavalry, 150, were in the rear. 250 of
Colonel Young's regiment of Louisiana mUitia were placed, in
several detachments, on the skirts of the wood, behind the line.
The American outposts extended five hundred yards in front
of it ; and there were sentinels all about. Jackson had 4000
men at hand: of whom 3200- were at his lines; the other 800
being distributed in various positions hard by. Constant firing
from our batteries exercised and improved the men in gun
nery, kept the enemy from even venturing within cannon-
range of our lines, broke their rest at night, prevented
their working by day at their fortifications, dispersed them
whenever collected anywhere in groups, and subjected them
to continual annoyance and disquiet. Morgan's battery, on
the other side of the river, and Patterson's there, increased
the British disturbance by enfilading fire ; and their week
before, the last battle was as distressing from incessant can
nonading as from uninterrupted labor. The soldiers were
restless for relief, by rather storming Jackson's lines at any
cost of^life than being day and night harassed by their artil-
fery. The officers doubted the practicability of carrying them
by assanlt. But Admiral Cochrane suggested, and offered with
his sailors to enlarge ViUere's canal, and float through it fifty
barges, with which to cross the Mississippi in force enough to
carry the batteries on that side, and perhaps by an armed flotilla
command the river up to the city. It was rumored that at a
council of war Admiral Cochrane spoke disparagingly of the
miUtary endeavors at long shot to vanquish American resist
ance, and said that with a couple of thousand sailors, with
boarding pikes, he would carry Jackson's lines. Whether

202 BRITISH ARRANGEMENTS.
Pakenham was goaded to unwUling action by marine sarcasm,
at all events, the best part of his plan, that of rendering the
ViUere canal practicable for barges, and sending troops in
them across the Mississippi,'was the admiral's suggestion. As
at Washington, the bold design at ,New Orleans was naval.
Captain Trowbridge commanded the naval officers and seamen
serving ashore with the army. But, of a long list of distin
guished admirals and captains, Malcolm, Codrington, Hardy,
Dashwood, Gordon, and others, the only one hurt was Captain
Money, with Colonel Thornton, assaulting General Morgan's
battery ; both of whom were at Bladen-sburg. Not a saUor is
mentioned among the kUled or wounded, nor an officer, except
one of the marines. At Washington and Baltimore, Cockburn
was instigator and leader, conspicuous on all occasions, urging
Ross at Bladensburg, and with him when killed at Baltimore.
Admirals Cochrane and Malcolm were both with Pakenham
when his battles were fought : but did not appear, like Admi
ral Cockburn, eager to take part in every fray. Perhaps the
barges might have been taken from the bayou to the river
easier by land than by an elaborated canal. But the admiral
avers that the boats were all there ; and, at any rate, Thorn
ton succeeded in his enterprise. The 85th regiment, with
armed sailors and marines, and the West India corps of blacks,
in all 1200 men, were making the greatest exertions, during
the night, to get the boats out of the canal. The , canal had
been cut, a thousand yards in length, broad and deep. The
work was worthy of a Roman general and the indefatigable
labor of his cohorts ; and, had there been a breastwork throwU
up behind, it would have constituted a position of ten times
the strength of the lines of the Americans. Under the mask
of this canal, the British general, if necessary, might have
continued on the defensive against the world in arms ; while
feeding and succoring, from time, to time, those that had al
ready crossed the river, and within one mUe and a half of the
American lines, he could have debouched to attack at midday,
should the result across the river prove fortunate. " There
was no time to be lost," significantly adds the British Officer
of the Expedition, to whom I am beholden for these reasonable

BRITISH ARRANGEMENTS. 203
suggestions," as the .Americans, like the ancients, entrenched,
barricaded, and re -entrenched, according to passing exi
gencies." The battle of the 23d of December, disenchanted the con
fident Briton of all illusions of easy and profitable conquest, and
struck him with alarming apprehensions of a formidable foe.
Surprised in position, he was first worsted at close quarters.
Then the battles of the 28th of December and the 1st of
January demonstrated that artillery could not force the Ame
rican lines. To storm them became the only remaining alter
native, not resorted to till all others failed. British narratives
confess that, after their third discomfiture, on New Year's day,
all further attempt or hope was abandoned, except the san
guinary assault so often triumphant in Spain ; and they ap
plaud a plan of operations well conceived, partly well exe
cuted, but which resulted in the most signal and fatal of all
their defeats — their bloody adieu to America.
General Pakenham distributed between fourteen and sixteen
thousand fighting men, soldiers, sailors, and marines. Into four
columns, fOr the, attack of the Sth of January. Colonel
Thornton, with his own, the 85th regiment, the 5th West India
regiment, 200 sailors, under Captain Money, and 400 marines,
under Major Adair, and four pieces of artiUery, was ordered
to cross the Mississippi at nightfall, surprise, before day, and
carry General Morgan's batteries, on the othcr side, which
might then be opened on Jackson's forces ; who were not to be
assaulted by Pakenham till Thornton led the way. But, by
mishap, Pakenham's attack preceded Thornton's, which was
probably a derangement of the whole plan. General Gibbs,
with the 4th, the 21st, and the 44th regiments, was to conduct
the principal assault upon Jackson's lines in the centre, where
they were supposed to be weakest, because manned by Ken
tuckians, under General Adair. A deserter was believed to
have directed General Pakenham's attention, to that point, as
what the British commander considered the weakest. General
Keane, with the 93d, and part of the 95th regiments, was to
sustain General Gibbs. Some of the black troops were destined
to skirmish in the woods. The reserve, consisting of the 7th

204 COLONEL MULLEN'S REGIMENT.
and 43d regiments, was entrusted to General . Lambert, the
only one of the four generals who survived' unhurt to take part
in the battle of Waterloo. One of the English narratives states
that the 3d West India regiment also composed part of the
reserve. The 44th regiment, which had experience in Ame
rican warfare, was to carry forward the scaling-ladders and
bound bundles of fagots, called fascines, made of sugar-canes,
with which to fill or bridge the ditch or water-course In front
of the lines, and, upon those bundles and ladders, mount the
entrenchments. Not long before the British arrived, the place
of- and around their encampment was covered with sugar-
stalks, of which the stubble still remained; the orange-trees
were in their perennial bloom and fruitage, the woods were
vocal with nightingales, and the lakes covered with wild fowl.
To carry fascines and scaUng-ladders to an assault is a perilous
service, requiring the stoutest and bravest men, whose exposure
is greater, and labor more arduous than others. The 44th, or
East Essex regiment, commanded by the honorable Colonel
Mullen, of some noble family, was charged with the disgrace
of the defeat, by neglecting or shrinking from that duty.
Several of the British unofficial accounts of the battle concur
in that charge ; some of them with positive averments of the
colonel's cowardice and absence. But General Lambert's offi
cial report slightly, if at all, alludes to that excuscfor a, rout
which most of those disgraced by it were, no doubt, anxious
to impute to some scape-goat. And, although the losses of
the 44th regiment, compared with others, may not absolve Co
lonel Mullen's from discredit, the kUled, wounded, and cap
tured of the 44th show that it suffered as much as any other
regiment. If it had borne the bundles and ladders, as ordered,
the result would nevertheless have been the same. The Ame
rican fire was too deadly for any effectual hostile approach or
access to Jackson's lines. Not more than about eighty Eng
lish ever reached them ; of which number one half were kUled,
and the rest captured. All the private unofficial British ac
counts, however, agree that the 44th regiment disobeyed Ge
neral Pakenham's orders, and disturbed his arrangements, as
well as his composure, by not carrying forward, at first, the

THORNTON'S DISAPPOINTMENT. 205
fascines and scaling-ladders. But one of the narratives exone
rates that regiment and their Colonel from all blame for it, by
an explanation which Involves much more General Paken
ham's self-possession and generalship than Colonel Mullen's
courage, or the misconduct of his regiment, who certainly were
in the thickest of the confiict, and suffered severely.
Two days before the assault, Jackson was warned of, and
prepared for it, by his sleepless vigUance, and some of the
good luck which never forsook him. Deserters apprised him
of General Lambert's arrlvjil, on the 6th of January, with a
considerable reinforcement. On that day, sailing-master John
son, with three boats, captured a British brig on Lake Borgne,
with ten prisoners, from whom he ascertained that the enemy
were digging out ViUere's canal, for boat navigation. Com
modore Patterson, after these disclosures, went down the Mis
sissippi, and from the bank could perceive, with his glass, the
British movements on the other side ; which, on the 6th and
7th of January, were also discernible with a telescope fixed in
the upper part of Macarty's house, where Jackson had his
head-quarters. Both sides of VlUerd's canal could be seen
thronged with soldiers, drilUng and exercising. Sailors were
dragging boats through It. The whole camp was In operation.
A supernumerary staff were bustling about, giving orders to
troops much less confident than when they first landed ; less
orderly and more noisy than those less disciplined, behind
Jackson's rude entrenchments ; where one supreme wUl reigned,
whUe the British general, disappointed in the predicament in
which he found his army, and perhaps goaded by the admiral,
was hastening its extrication by desperate, though dilatory,
yet premature and imperfect transaction. The work on the
canal was extremely arduous. Still, the excavation was not
complete ; and when Thornton marched down to the river,
his official report states that he found but one-third of the ex
pected transportation. But Admiral Cochrane's official report
declares that " The canal was widened and extended to the
river, and about fifty barges, pinnaces, and cutters, having, on
the day of the 7th, been tracked, under cover, and unper
ceived, close up to the bank, at night the whole were dragged

206 BRITISH DEJECTION.
into the Mississippi, and placed under the command of Captain
Roberts, of the Meteor." The vanquished were naturally
anxious to excuse or explain their misfortune ; for which va
rious causes are assigned by the official and historical accounts
of the expedition, But, though Colonel Thornton states that
he had not more than a third of the force he was promised, as
Admiral Cochrane declares that all the promised boats were
ready, which is to be beUeved, the army or the navy ? Both
army and navy were fatigued, disappointed, and discouraged.
The easy and lucrative conquests expected had proved ex
tremely hard work, hard fare, and poor promise. The navy
were mere laborers for the army. On the lake, in the fields
and ditches, wherever the British flag floated, both navy and
army felt Saturday night spread its misty, chilly, and insalu
brious pall over an uneasy, discontented multitude, more ap
prehensive than sanguine of the approaching Sabbath's per
formances. About midnight, the riflemen stole noiselessly out,
to take their isolated stations along the front, in Indian file,
while some hundred infantry were set to work, in the dark, at
an unfinished battery, about seven hundred feet from Jack
son's lines, where water met their spades a few Inches under
ground, on the same spot where, twice within a few days be
fore, British veterans had recoiled from the showers of shot,
and were again to be exposed, as soon as daylight rendered
them visible to point-blank gunnery from Jackson's lines, and
cross-fire from the opposite side of the mighty stream that
rolled by their camp. Every night and day of their uncom
fortable sojourn had been continuaUy disturbed by cannonade.
And, according to the confessions of all those who suffered in
that campaign, dismal dreams and f6rebodings haunted then-
partial repose the night before so many were slain, maimed, or
reduced to captivity.
" In my encampment," said Jackson's exulting official report
of the 9th of January, " every thing was ready for action."
Expecting to be attacked at the same time on both sides of
the river, he felt able to repel the enemy; and desired
the encounter, without further delay, while his raw levies,
fliashed with recent and covi.'tant successes, were still unani-

COLONEL THORNTON. 207
mously ardpnt for another and flnal trial. As soon as it was
certain that the enemy would attack on both sides of the river,
reinforcements were sent to General David Morgan, who com
manded 800 Louisiana militia on the other side, most of whom,
in the course ofthe 7th 'of January, he stationed at a battery
hastily raised, where, and as Major Latour, the engineer-
officer, sent by Jackson to select a position, did not consider
the best, having despatched 100 men, under Major Arnaud,
of the 6th regiment Louisiana militia, to go down along the
river, look out for the enemy, and oppose their landing, armed
with only fowling-pieces, loaded with cartridges which did not
fit their guns — some of them without any arms. On the
evening of the 7th of January, 600 Kentuckians, under Co
lonel Davis, were ordered across the river, to reinforce General
Morgan, of whom, for want of arms, only 180 could b^ sent,
who did not reach the opposite shore till the morning of the
8th ; and then, without rest or refreshment for a long time,
were despatched. In the mud, to support the Louisiana militia
further down the shore, under Major Arnaud.
Saturday afternoon, the 85th regiment, some 350 men, in
fine order, headed by their gallant colonel, Thornton, an ami
able Irishman, moved from their quarters, through the rest of
the British forces, to the bank of the Mississippi, to embark at
dusk, with the before-mentioned detachments of sailors and
marines. - They were to embark at nightfall, so as to reach the
opposite shore before midnight, to surprise and capture Mor
gan's and Patterson's batteries, turn them on Jackson's lines,
and so Introduce Pakenham's direct assault on the other side.
Not distinguished, but rather the reverse, in Europe, the laurels
of the 85th regiment were of American gi-owth. With Bla
densburg on their arms, and proud of their capture of Wash
ington, Thornton led his regiment to the river-side, supercili
ously regarded by the Peninsulars, as most of their comrades
were entitled, from distinguished services in Spain. But, on.
that day, the renowned Peninsulars were totally defeated,
whde the heroes of Bladensburg were the only British con
querors. Such are the fortunes of war. The difficulties of
getting the boats into the river, and over it, were more than

208 - GENERAL MORGAN.
had been expected,' as aU the, British accounts agree. Accord
ing to Colonel Thornton's report, they were Insuperable.
There was not water-conveyance, he said, for more than half
of his force ; nor could that reduced number be taken across
the river tlU several hours after the time appointed. Captain
Money with difficulty kept the boats together. The current
was strong, and forced the expedition down the stream. The
troops could not be landed till dayUght ; nor then at the pro
per place. They got ashore, however, unperceived and unop
posed by our people. But Pakenham's patience was exhausted,
and his plan deranged, before Thornton touched the opposite
shore.. Instead of being first, he was the last in action. Pa
kenham's artiUery fiashed upon Thornton loud intelligence
that he was, if not too late, at any rate bound to make amends
for lost time, by bold, rapid, and decisive movements -^ as he
did. General Morgan had an ill-stationed battery — Commodore
Patterson a better one ; and Major Arnaud, of the Louisiana
militia, commanded a detached piquet, behind a bridge, secured
by a small work, hastily thrown up the night before. But
whether he thought repose indispensable for his few ill-armed
men, some of them without guns, and all with only fowluig-
pleces, or that there was no danger at hand, they were suf
fered to fall asleep — the whole detachment, with but a single
sentinel awake ; and, in that unlucky slumber, were surprised,
roused, and put to fiight, by Colonel Thornton. Apprised, by
the cannonade on the other side, that he was late, that ener
getic officer pushed impetuously forward, Captain Money, with
his three gun-boats, flanking the march ashore, and enfilading
the Americans with grape-shot from his carronades.
The battle was lost and won, on the other side, before
Thornton's attack took place. Urged by what he heard over
the river, after quickly overpowering Arnaud's small forces,
Thornton, pushing along the bank to attack Morgan's battery,
soon came up with the Louisianians and Kentuckians, posted
together behind one of the many mill-races with which the
region abounded. He attacked.' They repelled. He was
renewing the attack, when General Morgan's aid-de-camp,

MORGAN ROUTED. 209
apprehensive that our people would not stand the assault,
impetuous by the troops, and warmly seconded by the gun
boats, ordered a .retreat, which instantly took place, 'in confu
sion ; nor could its bad effects be repaired at aU. Terrified
and tired, the mUitia, falling back on Morgan's battery, were
posted by him at his untenable position, one flank towards the
swamp allotted to the exhausted and unnerved Kentuckians,
who were soon turned by the British, and fled. The Louisiana
mihtia, after a volley or two, also fled, under a shower of rockets
which set the sugar-stubble on fire. A burst of rockets, acting
on the fears, without hurting the bodies of our militia, as at
Bladensburg, put thein again to flight, notwithstanding all
that General Morgan and some of his officers could do to rally
and encourage them. The whole force, some 1500 men, ran
away from about 800 assailants, leaving all their sixteen can
non and redoubts, and the colors of one of the regiments of
Louisiana mUitia, in the hands of the conquerors. There
again, too, as at Bladensburg, but one or two Americans were
klUed or wounded, while a considerable number of the enemy
were destroyed, in the encounter on that side of the river.
Colonel Thornton, hardly recovered from his bayonet-thrust
near Bladensburg, was severely wounded, as also Captain
Money. Commodore Patterson and Captain Henley, from a battery
directly on the bank of the Mississippi, mounted with heavy
guns from the ship Louisiana, and manned by a few seamen
and mihtia, had kept up a destructive fire on the English across
the river. 'But, deserted by the main force at Morgan's bat
tery, all the naval men could do was to prevent their heavy
guns being turned by the victors on that side against the vic
tors on the other side, and thus snatching all the fruits of one
victory, when completely won, by the counteraction of another.
They therefore spiked the cannon, and threw the ammunition
into the river, before they abandoned a position which had
been very useful, and might, but for that precaution, have
been extremely injurious to Jackson, whose triumph Morgan's
rout jeoparded. If Patterson had not disarmed his battery,
it might have been made by Thornton as fatal to us as It was-
Vol. IV. — 14

210 JACKSON IN JEOPARDY.
made by Patterson injurious to them. The enemy, for several
hours, had undisputed command over against Jackson's en
trenchments, "and not far from New Orleans. Jackson's self-
possession, and Lambert's demoralization by the total over
throw of the British army and downfall of three of their four ge
nerals, might not have saved the day, but for stratagem, often
as profitable as force in warfare. Before Thornton succeeded,
Pakenham was killed, Gibbs mortally, Keane severely wounded,
and Lambert could not, If he would, rally the survivors of the
terrible carnage of Uttle more than half an hour's conflict.
Still, it Is hard to say what might have been the issue of the
duplicate and diversified engagement on the opposite sides of
the Mississippi, had not Thornton been deprived of artUlery,
and Lambert, during suspension of arms, outgeneralled by con
trivance. The sensation of disappointment, alarm, and indig
nation, was intense, on the one side, when it was known, as
was universally believed^, that cowardly flight on the other
had endangered, probably undone, all the American success.
" Ten armed boats, with carronades In their bows, floated
on the waters of the Mississippi, and forty more boats were
ready to follow them, if necessary, and batter the whole right
bank of the Americans, to the very portals of New Orleans, who
did not possess a flotilla to engage them," says the Narrative
of a British officer present. " The British troops swept the
right bank of the Mississippi, and were ready to move on with
in eight hundred yards of New Orleans, and might on that
side have built another city of the same name, if so IncHned.
General Jackson had lost more than half his artillery, and his
troops were in the utmost dismay and confusion within his
Unes," &c. " Had all the generals brought their troops Into
action like Colonel Thornton and Lieutenant-Colonel Rennie, a
most brilliant conquest would have crowned the enterprise, and
closed this bloody war by an achievement as worthy of record
as it is now unworthy." Such British speculations attest the
extreme peril to which our cause was brought by the loss of
Morgan's and Patterson's batteries over the river.
All the official despatches charged the mostly gallant, though
vain-glorious, Kentuckians with shameful cowardice. " I had

THE KENTUCKY MILITIA. 211
the extreme mortification and chagrin," was Commodore Pat
terson's responsible report of the action, " to observe General
Morgan's right wing, composed of the Kentucky militia, com
manded by Major Davis, abandon their breastwork, and fiying
in a most shameful and dastardly manner, almost without a
shot ; which disgraceful example, after firing a few rounds, was
then followed by the whole of General Morgan's command."
To which General Jackson's more polished, but not less pointed,
censure added, " At the very moment when their entire dis
comfiture was looked for with a confidence approaching to cer
tainty, the Kentucky reinforcements, on whom so much reli
ance had been placed, inglorlously fied, drawing after them,
by their example, the remainder of the forces, and thus yield
ing to the enemy that most formidable position." In an elo
quent address to the soldiers on the right bank, which he found
time duriU-g the busy Sth of January to compose, Jackson
ascribed their misconduct to insubordination, which he de
nounced as being as fatal as cowardice, and which, he assured
them, he would punish as severely.
Alleged recreancy of the Kentuckians, on that occasion,
became a public topic, much contested, which, even at Wash
ington, made its impressions. The President sent to Congress,
Informally, before its official promulgation, Jackson's despatch,
for otir gratified perusal. Some of us supporters of the war
were Invited into a committee-room to hear it read ; among
the rest. General Desha, of the Kentucky delegation, a stout,
rough, frontier militia-officer, of fierce countenance and fiery
temper, to whom fear was the most debasing of all human in
firmities. His local prepossessions were vehemently offended
by disparagement of Kentucky volunteers, whom he esteemed
much more reliable than mercenary soldiers, disciplined, by
officers in regimentals^ to the grovelling tactics of regular
troops. The explanation of the Kentucky precipitate flight,
which was undeniable, was, that, half-famished, jaded, and not
recovered from the emotion of another retreat, the Kentucki
ans were placed in a position entirely unprotected and easily
turned, whence hasty escape was hardly censurable. But some

212 E'VE OF THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY.
Kentucky dislike of General Jackson, from that occurrence,
never ceased.
Alternate watches of our men relieved each other, during
the night between the 7th and Sth of January ; General Jackson
and his officers were at their posts two hours before day ; and
every body cheerfully awaited the anticipated, assault, in that
spirit which is much more anxious and less sustaining than
after conflict animates combatants. It was, as usual, a foggy
night ; the river was invisible ; but the works of preparation
in the British camp were plainly audible in ours ; and the
cannonading began before either party could see the other.
Before Thornton had reached the other shore, for which the
boats were pulling with all their might, with muffled oars,
between nine and ten thousand men were marched out, under
Pakenham, Gibbs, and Keane, to their appointed stations;
and, till the first British cannon boomed over the plain,
ensued an interval of intense and fearful suspense. No signal
or sign of Thornton's attack came over. An advanced bat
tery of six eighteen-pounders, clandestinely and hastily fin
ished during the night, about eight hundred yards from Jack
son's entrenchments, was manned ; the men's tools were thrown
down ; and the whole army, under arms, in sUent and tremu
lous anxiety, looked for daylight and the signal for onset.
Pakenham, impatient, if not nervous, without tidings from
Thornton, just as day dawned, ordered the signal-rocket, which
shot upward. The British battery opened its fire ; the Ame
ricans instantly reposted, while yet a veil of vapor still short
ened the horizon, and neither party could see as far as the
other. The roar of artillery broke forth, and the battle be
gan, but not as had been preconcerted. Instead of Thornton's
arranged co-operation, Patterson's battery, from that side,
played on the British, whose whole movements, from first to
last, according to their own accounts, official and historical,
were both hasty and slow, confused and terror-stricken.
It was a chilly, and, according to all British recoUectioiis, a
dismal night. One of them, after describing the stealthy depar
ture of their riflemen in the dark, silently gliding past the right
of the temporary battery, to take up their ground, form a chain of

VARIOUS BRITISH ACCOUNTS. 213
outposts, watch the American lines, and be ready to open their
fire at daybreak — adds, "I do not remember ever looking for
the first signs of daybreak with such intense anxiety. The
dew lay on the damp sod, the soldiers were carefully putting
away tjieir entrenching tools, and laying hold of their arms,
to be up and ready. The mor'n was chilly. I augured not of
victory. An evil foreboding crossed my mind. All was tran
quil as the grave. No camp-fires glimmered from either friends
or foes. We had only quitted the battery two minutes, when
a Congreve rocket was thrown up, whether from the enemy or
not, we could not tell. This rocket, although we did not know
it, proved the signal of attack. The troops halted simultane
ously — all eyes were cast upward, each man looking earnestly
to see, by the instinct of his own imagination, in what parti
cular quarter the anticipated firing would begin. All smiled
at some sailors dragging a two- wheeled car, which had brought
up ammunition to the battery, who, by common consent as it
were, let go the shaft, and left it, the instant the rocket was
let off, which whizzed backwards and forwards, a noisy har
binger, breaking in upon the solemn silence that reigned
around." That a battle is like a ball, is reported as one of WeUing-
ton's sayings, of which no one present can see the whole, or
more than what occurs under his own eyes. General Lam
bert's modest and prudential despatch to Lord Bathurst, the
Colonial Secretary, says that " the ensemble of the general
movement was lost by delay, in a point of the last importance,
on the left bank of the river, so that the main attack did not
take place till the columns were discernible from the enemy's
line, at more than two hundred yards distance." The British
Campaign states that " day had already broke, and the signal-
rocket was seen in the air, while Thornton's party were yet
four miles from the batteries, which ought, hours before, to have
been taken." The Subaltern, after mentioning the universal
surprise at the advance not being commanded, adds, " a feel
ing of apprehension arose lest matters should have gone
wrong, and we should be doomed to a continuance of that
system of vacillation and delay which we had so long endured.

214 PAKENHAM CENSURED.
At length the word was given to push on ; but not tlU the
eastern sky began to redden, and, though we obeyed it imme
diately, we arrived not within musket-shot of the works tlU
the day had dawned." Another British officer, present. Im
putes, in his publication, all their misfortunes and man^ egre
gious errors to the commander-in-chief: "Sir Edward Paken
ham was on the bank of the Mississippi, listening, and waiting
the result of the passage of the boats — in a central position,
to order the main attack, on his own side of the river, to go
on, or be checked. The thick mist on the ground and over
the river was most fortunate for his plans. It prevented the
Americans seeing and firing on the boats passing, and con
cealed the columns to advance for attack. The mist proved
the most lucky screen imaginable, and really made amends for
the want of water in the canal, which prevented the boats
passing. The silence from the other side was a good omen.
Not -a cannon, not a single musket, had been fired. There
was nothing to bewilder the British general, or throw him off
his guard. In the excitement of the moment, when Sir Edward
declared that he would wait his own plans no longer, and com
manded that the fatal, ever fatal, rocket should be dis
charged, as a signal to begin the assanlt on the left. The
consequence was, that every thing was disorganized before a
shot was fired." The same officer thus alludes to the moral
disadvantageous Influence, after spending so much time and
labor to get the boats over the river, for simultaneous
attack on both sides, and thus Impressing the soldiers with a
belief of their officers that Jackson's lines were impregnable,
If attacked in front only, of then, nevertheless, ordering that
attack, without the attack on the other side too : -v- " Part of
the troops, with Herculean labor, tolling, knee-deep and co
vered with mud, for a week, while cutting the canal, were the
soldiers who twice before, from superior orders, had' retired
from the exact spot, at a time they all thought they were go
ing on, and led to beUeve, whUe excavating the canal, that the
American works had become too strong to attach in front, and
that they were making this passage by way of turning theh
works. Every one was on tiie tiptoe of expectation — every

BRITISH CONFUSION. 215
eye was turned toward the bank of the river, and all was
quiet." However easy and invidious it may be for inferiors
to criticise, censure, and expose the conduct' of their superiors,
especially after a misfortune, for which human malediction
always craves a victim, yet these views by military men of the
same army, at the time, are worthy of notice.
As Thornton was delayed, and had done nothing when the
time arrived for Pakenham's appointed commencemen't, he,
might, while his army was veiled by the fog, have ordered
them back, tQ> await tidings from Thornton. But he had gone
too far, as he probably thought, to recede, and therefore
rashly, as it proved, gave the fatal order for assault.
"Owing," says one ofthe British chroniclers, "to the boats being aground
in the canal, daylight broke before Thornton's force could land on the oppo
site side, which totally altered all the plans laid down; and it behooved Sir
Edward Pakenham to wait patiently until the. success of those crossing the
river was known. The silence which reigned was a happy harbinger that
all went on well. Although day had broke, still a sort of fog hung upon
the surface of the earth, and the British general might have withdrawn his
front columns with the utmost ease and facility, and then have quietly
waited to see the upshot of those sent across the river.''
There was certainly either misconduct or mistake about the
fascines and scaling-ladders; although, as already remarked,
if there had been neither, the result must have been the same.
General Jackson's official letter of the 13th of JanUary says,
" Our flre was so, deliberate and certain as to render their
scahng-ladders and fascines useless." Major Latour says the
British advanced, all carrying fascines, and some with scaling-
ladders. The author of the Campaigns of the British Army
represents Sir Edward Pakenham as disappointed, not only by
Thornton's delay, but adds —
"Not a ladder or fascine was on the field. The 44th, which was ap
pointed to carry them, had either misunderstood or neglected their orders;
and headed the column of attack, without any means being provided for
Crossing the enemy's ditch or scaling his rampart. The indignation of poor
Pakenham on this occasion may be imagined, but cannot be described.
Galloping towards Colonel Mullen, who led the 44th, he commanded him
instantly to return with his regiment for the ladders; but the opportunity
of planting them was lo^t ; and though they were brought up, it was only

216 Mullen's regiment.
to be scattered over the field by the frightened bearers. For' our troops
wpre by this time visible to the enemy. A dreadful fire was accordingly
opened upon them, and they were mowed down by hundreds while they
stood waiting orders. Seeing that all his well-laid plans were frustrated,
Pakenham gave the word to advance, and the other regiments, leaving the
44th with the ladders and fascines behind them, rushed on to the assault."
The Subaltern says thajt —
"To enable the troops to pass the ditch, a number of fascines, gabions,
and scaling-ladders, had been constructed, which were all deposited in a
rude redoubt. These the 44th regiment was appointed to carry ; they were
desired to pack them up while iri the act of advancing, and to form, thus
armed, the head ofthe storming party. The 44th regiment disobeyed their
orders. They led us, indeed, into the fight ; but they lefl all their imple
ments behind them. General Pakenham instantly despatched an aid-de
camp with orders to Colonel Mullen to lose no time in remedying the, evil.
But before the aid-de-camp came up, the enemy had opened their fire,- and
the 44th, broken and dispersed, had become completely unmanageable."
A third British actor in that drama states that — -
" By some mistake, the ofiicer commanding the 44th regiment had passed
the redoubt during darkness, where the ladders and fascines were scattered
about for his use, and indeed had halted along side of it for ten minutes,
without an engineer officer coming forth, or even sending a message after
the regiment when it had gone. Nay, a sergeant of the royal artillery
stepped out of the redoubt, and acted as a guide to the 44th regiment,
during the darkness, to the advanced battery. How was it that this mis
take was not rectified, with staff-oflicers enough for ten times the number
of men present 1 The 44th regirhent was ordered back, nearly three hours
after they had taken vp their ground, more than a quarter of a mile, for
ladders and fascines, at daybreak, having lost their breath with running and
hurrying. Half these soldiers had not gained their proper position in front
of the, column of attack; hence they were hurried into action, and opened
out, struggling as they were to place fascines and ladders across a ditch, in
face of some of the best marksmen in the world, and at broad daylight."
The same person adds to this difficulty of the fascines an
other Incident. As soon as the cannonade began, —
"At that momentous crisis, a company of blacks emei'ged out ofthe mist,
carrying ladders, which were intended for the three light companies of the
left attack, but so confounded with the multiplicity of noises, that they
dropped the ladders, and fell flat on their faces, and would have scratched
holes and buried themselves, had their claws been long enough. To see
the ladders put on the shoulders of these poor creatures, who were nipped

CANNONADE. 217
by the j:old, excited our gravest astonishijient, knowing that it requires the
very elite of an army for such an undertaking; for soldiers that will place
ladders under a heavy fire are capable of anything. If these blacks were
only intended to carry the ladders, they were too late. The great bulk of
the three light companies were cut to pieces before the ladders were within
reach of them ; even if the best troops in the world had been carrying them,
they would not have been up in time."
It seems certain, from all the testimony, that the general's
orders and calculations were, that fascines should be carried
to fiU the ditches, and ladders to scale the ramparts, but that
neither fascines nor ladders were carried to the ditch. StiU,
as less than a hundred British were able ever to reach the
ditch, the want of means to cross it was of no importance, and
theh- burden, if carried, would have been a disadvantage.
All these preliminary errors, abandoning the excellent plan
suggested by the admiral to the general, impatiently ordering
his assault without waiting for Thornton, making the leading
regiment run back a quarter of a mile for implements, storm
ing lines which he had treated as impregnable — all these were
mistakes of the brave commander, who seems to have lost his
self-possession. With loud cheers his soldiers marched for
ward, as commanded, to be sacrificed. Heavily loaded with
arms (the British musket was heavier than ours), with large
knapsacks on their backs, carrying long scaling-ladders and
weighty fascines, all made of ripe sugar-canes, which are very
ponderous, several thousand British veterans moved steadily
but deliberately forward, some sixty in front of the column,
and, driving in the American out-posts, advanced rather
slowly toward the entrenchments. The British batteries,
erected for the 28th of December and the 1st of January,
together with that mounted on the night of the 7th, all can
nonaded: the guns in Jackson's lines, and from Patterson's
battery over the river likewise, and the commotion, was awful,
as described by all who heard it. "The echo," one of the
British officers says, " from the cannonade and musketry was
so tremendous in the forests, that the Adbration seemed as if
the earth was cracking and tumbling to pieces, or as If the
heavens were rent asunder'by the most terrific peals of thun
der. It was the most awful and the grandest mixture of

218 PAKENHAM KILLED.
sounds to be conceived. The woods seemed to crack to an
interminable distance ; each cannon-report was answered one
hundred fold, and produced an intermingled roar surpassing
strange. And this phenomenon can neithet be fancied nor
described, sav,e by those who witnessed the fact. The flashes
of fire looked as if coming out of the bowels of the earth, so
little above its surface were the batteries of the Americans.''
To the appalling noise caused by rolling, unintermitting fires
of artillery, musketry, and rifies, like incessant peals of the
heaviest thunder^ reverberated through the recesses of Inter
minable forests, and over the expanse of large bodies of, water
in lakes, rivers, and immediately under all the ground, shaking
like an earthquake, the enemy added, showers of Congreve
rockets, bursting through the mists of the morning, and the
thick smoke that mantled the horizon. More than a mile from
the designated place of attack, for which Gibbs's brigade was
ordered, Pakenham had nothing to do but to keep cool, and
give orders according to exigencies. But, disappointed by
Thornton's delay, and provoked by Mullen's disobedience, the
commander-in-chief rushed impatiently and unwisely to the
front, actually leading, one British account says, the faltering
44th regiment, to throw away, ,as a brave soldier, the life which
belonged 1;o his army and their country, as a prudent com
mander. " The brave commander of the forces," said General
Lambert's description of the disaster, " as soon as, from his
station, he made the signal for the troops to advance, galloped
on to the front to animate them by his presence, and was seen,
with his hat off, encouraging them on the crest of the glacis."
Leading his men through the overwhelming havoc they en
countered, a wound in the knee, which killed his horse, brought
the general to the ground. He had hardly mounted another,
when a more fatal ball struck him lifeless into the arms of his
aid-de-camp. Major McDougall; his fine English charger,
bounding' forward, cleared the entrenchments, was captured
and taken, with his rich housings, spoUa opima, to his illiterate
vanquisher, who, with Roman courage, had read little of Ro
man triumphs or scientific strategy. Even In Lambert's nar
ration there is confusion. Pakenham was seen, it says, with

GIBBS AND KEANE WOUNDED. 219
his hat off, on the crest of the glacis. But if he feU into the
arms of McDougall, surely it was known precisely where he
was slain, when his rash valor rendered the fall ofthe commander-
in-chief one of the earliest and most discouraging occurrences.
His bleeding corpse, borne off the field In the midst of terrified
soldiers, was a dreadful sight for those who soon fled. General
Lambert's official report stated, "in the greatest confusion."
I shall not pretend to make clear, in description, such
rapid, almost instantaneous, overpowering, and confounding
slaughter, in less than half an hour that morning. One of
the British sufferers assigns as a reason for General Paken
ham's hasty advance from his station to the front, In the very
beginning, that a panic cry of alarm broke out In the rear,
and was about to disconcert the whole.
Isike sauve qui pent, on the disastrous night of Waterloo,
words of affright circulated, he says, early among the British
soldiery before New Orleans.
" Baneful effects of past occurrences, bursting forth in the most glaring
colors. A cry sprung up from the rear of the cplunin of retire, retreat;
there is an order to retreat. At this critical moment. Sir E. Pakenham
rode up fi-om the banks of the Mississippi, and Major-General Gibbs de
clared, in despair, that the troops would not follow him. The musketry of
the enemy increased. General Gibbs was mortally wounded, and, with im
precations on his lips, was carried off" the field. The confused column,
after Pakenham's death, soon gave way on all sides. The misty field of
battle was inundated with wounded officers and soldiers going to the rear.
Little more than 1000 of the 3000 who attacked were left unscathed ; and
they fell like the very blades of grass beneath the scythe of the mower.
Pakenham was killed, Gibbs was mortally wounded, and his brigade dis
persed like the dust before the whirlwind, and Keane was wounded. The
fire of the Americans, from behind their barricade, had been indeed, rnost
murderous, and had caused so sudden a repulse that it was difficult to per
suade ourselves that such an event had happened-^ the whole aflfair being
more like a dream, or some scene of enchantment, than reality. Three
generals, seven colonels; seventy-five oflBcers, making a total of 1781 officers
and soldiers, had fallen in a few minutes."
Accounts by other British sufferers of that marveUous
butchery and incredible matinaj despatch confinn that just
quoted. "Some few," says the Campaign, "by mounting on
one another's shoulders, succeeded In entering the works ; but

220 BRITISH CONSa;ERNATION.
these were instantly overpowered ; most of them kUled, and
the rest taken. To scale the parapet, without ladders, was
impossible ; while as many as stood without were exposed to
a sweeping fire, which cut them down by whole companies.'
It was in vain that the most desperate courage was displayed."
The Subaltern adds : " We advanced at double-quick time,
under a fire which mowed us down by whole sections, and were
approaching the ditch, when suddenly a regular line Was cut
from front to rear of the column. There was a thirty-two-
pound gun exactly In our front. This the enemy filled to the
very muzzle with musket-balls, and laid it with the nicest
accuracy. One single discharge served to sweep the centre
of the attacking force into eternity. In the whole course of
my military career, I recollect, no such instance of desperate
and immediate slaughter as then. Our column remained where
it first had been checked, and was a mere mass of confusion.
The ground was literally covered with dead. They were so
numerous that to count them seemed impossible. General
Keane hurried his brigade to the support of that which had
suffered so severely. But his arrival only added to the con
fusion. A desperate attempt, indeed, was made to renew the
charge. But Sir Edward Pakenham having fallen. General
Gibbs having been borne, mortally wounded, to the rear, and
Keane himself disabled, the attempt failed of success. Both
columns wavered, retired, and at last fled."
Seldom have any troops, especially regulars and veterans,
and more than all, as becomes their American offspring to
add, British regulars and veterans, been so soon,' so totally,
and so fatally, confounded, as these, by the irresistible gun
nery of our people. Nothing less than their own confessions
would be credible testimony of their confusion, dismay, and
mob-like flight. Our miUtla did not run from Bladensburg
more affrighted or more tumultuously.
"All at once," says one of these witnesses, "many soldiers were met
wildly rushing out of the dense clouds of smoke, lighted up by a sparkling
shot of fire, which hovered over the ensanguined field. Regiments were
shattered, broke, and dispersed — all order was at an end. And the dismal
spectacle was seen of the dark shadows of men, like skirmishers, breaking

THE NINETY-THIRD HIGHLANDERS. 221
out of the clouds of smoke, which slowly and majestically rolled along the
even surface of the field. So astonished was I, at such a panic, that I said
to a retiring soldier, ' Have we or the Americans attacked V for I had never
seen troops in such a hurry without being followed. 'No,' replied the man,
with a countenance of despair, and out of breath, as he ran along, ' we at
tacked, sir;' for still the reverberation was so intense toward the great
wood, any one would have thought the great fighting was going on there,
instead of immediately in front. The flrst officer we met was Lieutenant-
Colonel Stoven, of the staff, unhorsed, without his hat, and bleeding down
the left side of his face, who said, ' Forty-third, for God's sake ! save the
day.' Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, who,took from Washington the despatphes
of its capture to England, and at New Orleans was attached to Pakenham's
staflF, riding up at full gallop, said, " Did you ever see such a scene 1 There
is nothing lefl, but the 7th and 43d' (the regiments in reserve). ' Just draw
up here, for a few minutes, to show front, that the repulsed troops may re
form.' The black troops behaved in the most shameful manner, to a man,
and, though hardly exposed to fire, were in utter and abominable consterna
tion, lying down in all directions. One broad beaver, with the ample folds
of the coarse blanket thrown across the shoulders of the American, was as
terrible in their eyes as a panther springing among a timid multitude."
After the remains of the crushed column took shelter in the
ditch, a noble regiment of Highlanders, 1100 strong, was
nearly exterminated, as described by a British eye-witness : —
" By some strange error, which still remains a mystery, and perhaps ever
v^ilI, the 93d Highlanders, being isolated, were marched up within good
musketry-range of the American lines, instead of supporting the three vic
torious companies on the highroad ; and, being then ordered to deploy into
line, stood like statues, until they had lo^t, in killed and wounded, including
those that fell of their light company, 544 soldiers, and the residue of
the regiment, about 300, were obliged to vacate. The junction of that
gallant regiment, during the assault, was to be a movable column, to threaten
the front of the American lines, and act otherwise as circumstances might
require. Perplexed by the abrupt and universal consternation, they were
left without orders. 'When their colonel, Robert Dale, was killed, and many
more of their officers, as appears by the deputy adjutant-general's ofBcial
report of their casualties, the regiment stood like a target or a fort, till
nearly demolished — a remarkable instance of admirable training."
If Colonel MuUen did flinch, as some of his companions In
misfortune aver, he seems to have been the only British officer
who did not bravely lead his men into the thickest of the
destruction. The number of officers kiUed and wounded at
tests, beyond doubt, that fact. But very few, however, men

222 AMERICAN ENTRENCHMENTS.
or officers, ever reached Jackson's lines ; not more than eighty
altogether, "of whom forty were killed or captured. Mowed
down by whole files, the vacancies were bravely replenished ;
but before they got to the ditch, the columns all, overwhelmed,
broke, fled, dispersed, and hid, some among bushes, others in
the ditch from which they first moved. There, reinforced by
others from behind, the officers rallied the soldiers, with difii
culty, for another effort. Ordered to lay down their knapsacks
and all othei* incumbrances, persuaded, scolded, "struck, bela
bored, and urged forward, a second attempt was submitted to, biit
reluctantly, and soon gave way, under the fatal rolling fire of
cannon and musketry, repeated till the assaUants broke again
and fied In greater consternation than ever. All explanation
and apology for their defeat, by imputing it to Colonel Mullen
and his regiment, are annulled by the fact that not a hundred
men ever reached the ditch, which they were to bridge with
bundles, on them cross with ladders, and with these mount a
mud-bank, which it would have been hard to do, if not opposed
or endangered or burdened at all. The truth is, that all three
of their generals and so many more of their leaders were forth
with killed or wounded, disabled, and withdrawn, that the Bri
tish were crushed before they got near Jackson's defences.
"A man unincumbered and unopposed," Major Latour avers,
"would have found it difficult to mount our breastwork, at
leisure and carefully, so extremely slippery was the soU."
"Riding through the ranks," says the Campaign, ".Generals
Gibbs and Keane (General Pakenham then dead) strove by all
means to encourage the assailants, and recall the fugitives, till
at length both were wounded and borne off the field. All was
now confusion and dismay. Without leaders, Ignorant of what
was to be done, the troops first halted, then began to retire,
till finally the retreat was changed into a flight, and they
quitted the ground in the utmost disorder." They were a
mere flock of frightened sheep, without a shepherd, from the
moment Pakenham fell.
Some remarkable Individual cases of death and disregard of
it are given by a British witness, whose narrative is recom
mended by a lively actuality.

COLONEL RENNIE. 223
" For five hours, the enemy plied us with grape and roundshot. Some
of the wounded, lying in the mud or on the wet grass, managed to crawl
away. But every now and then some unfortunate wounded man was lifted
off the ground by roundshot, and lay killed or mangled. During the tedious
hours we remained in front, it was necessary to lie on the ground, to cover
ourselves frdm the projectiles. An officer of our regiment was in a reclining
posture, when grapeshot passed through both his knees. At first he sunk
back faintly ; but at length, opening his eyes and looking at his wounds, he
said, 'Carry me away; I'm chilled to death.' A wounded soldier, lying
among the slain, continued, without any cessation, for two hours, to raise his
arm up and down, with a convulsive motion, which excited the most painful
sensations amongst us. The moving arm was a dreadful magnet of attrac
tion, which even caught the attention of the enemy, who fired several shot
at it. A black soldier received a blow from a cannon-ball, which obliterated
all his features. Although blind and suffering the most terrible anguish, he
was scratching a hole to put his money in. A tree, about two feet in dia
meter and fifteen in height, with a few scattered branches at the top, was
the only object to break the monotonous scene. The Americans, seeing
some persons clustering round it, fired a thirty-two-pound shot, which struck
the tree exactly in the centre, and buried itself in the trunk, with a loud
concussion. Lieutenant Augustus D'Este, ofthe royal fusileers, and aid-de
camp to General Lambert, rode up to our regiment, his countenance full of
animation, declaring that he had never enjoyed himself more, and protesting
that he would rather hear the halls whistle through the air than the finest
band of music."
The young soldier, thus serene and jocular in the midst of
death, confusion, and dismay, was, I believe, a grandson of King
George IIL, being a son of his youngest son, the Duke of Sussex.
One fragment of delirious and shortlived success the enemy had,
that morning, the particulars of which, as well as all their calcu
lations of what its results might have been, but for brave General
Pakenham's death, they are entitled to tell In their own way.
The two light companies of the 7th royal fusileers, one com
pany of the 93d Highlanders, and one of the 43d light infan
try, altogether 240 picked soldiers, put under command of a
very brave officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Rennie, of the 21st fu
sileers, as soon as the British artillery began to fire, rushed
forward, under a murderous fire of cannon, musketry, and
rifles, to the crescent battery, just beyond our lines, near the
river. And " although bravely defended," says the British
Officer's account, " muzzle to muzzle, by some of the American
regulars of the 7th regiment, the New Orleans rifle-company,

224 BRITISH ESCAPE.
and also some Kentucky riflemen, and notwithstanding the
obstinate defence, the British soldiers, with fixed bayonets,
forced themselves Into the battery by one of' the embrasures,
the very moment after a cannon defending It had been fired.
At the moment of reaching this battery, the janks of the sol
diers were wellnigh crushed and annlhUated : for 8 officers and
180 men, out of the previous 240, were extended kiUed and
wounded. When the remainder took the battery, the Ameri
cans only gave ground because the attackers were seized with
phrensy." That gallant exploit is acknowledged by Major
Latour. "But," he says, "to get into the redoubt was not
a very arduous achievement. The difficulty was to keep It,
and then clear the entrenchment behind It, which remained to
be attacked, and which several British officers, though wound
ed, bravely advanced to encourage their men to do." "Only
three British officers," the British account says, " escaped un-
wounded, and they not without shots which tore their caps,
belts, and accoutrements." Colonel Rennie and two more offi
cers were killed, mounting the entrenchment, by Beale's rifle
men. Meanwhile, Captain Humphreys, from battery No. 1,
Lieutenant Norris, from No. 2, and the 7th regiment of regu
lars, the only one within musket-shot, kept up a tremendous
fire on the assaUants of that redoubt. "The handful of sol
diers," says the English Narrative, " (60 survivors of the 240)
tenaciously clung to the battery, which was open behind, and
exposed to the American fire, in hopes of succor ; and it was
only when the grand attack had failed that they thought of
retreating. By tha^t time all their generals, many colonels
and other officers were no more, and the brave fellows in t'rie
redoubt effected their escape by a stratagem and scamper,
thus described by one of t|ielr comrades : ' Raising their caps
on their uplifted bayonets, they uttered a shout, which drew
aia American volley, when, before the smoke cleared away,
these intrepid soldiers,' (as their comrade justly calls them,)
' at full speed, took to their heels, and ran .beyond musket-
range.' It has been erroneously asserted that some of these
troops even reached the main line of the enemy's entrench
ments, but this was not the case."

.CAPTAIN WILKINSON. 225
Such Is the fact as to that fragment of the action. The
same candid, but sanguine, English officer speculates on that
occurrence : — " Thus it was that the moment of victory eluded
our grasp, owing to the loss of General Sir E. Pakenham, who
undoubtedly would have pushed forward the reserve, and de
cided the fate of the day. The 7th fusUeers and 43d regiment
were formed within less than six hundred yards of the enemy,
filled with enthusiasm, and waiting impatiently in vain for an
order to force a passage, but there they stood, like idle specta
tors of the direful defeat. Had they been moved forward, the
fortune of the day would have been effectually restored, and
the victory clenched." The Subaltern also thinks that Gene
ral Keane should have supported Lieutenant-Colonel Ronnie's
successful capture of the redoubt. . " Our column remained,"
he says, " where It first,had been checked, and was now a mere
mass of confusion. The ground was literally covered with
iead. But what astonished me above all things was, to be-
"iold General Keane's brigade in full march across the plain,
md hurrying to the support of that which had suffered so
severely. Never Avas any step taken more Imprudently or
with less judgment. The adyance of his o-wn corps had already
stormed and-,taken a six-gun battery upon the road. Had Ge
neral Keane supported them, instead of seeking to support us,
there cannot be a doubt that the American lines would have
been forced in that quarter. But he did not support them ;
and these brave men, after having maintained themselves in
their conquest till they were almost cut to pieces, were com
peUed to retreat. His arrival, besides, in this part of the field
only added to the general confusion. A desperate attempt
was, indeed, made to renew the charge, but failed of success.
Both columns wavered, retired, and at last fled."
The first quoted British officer mentions Captain Wilkinson,
brigade-major of General Gibbs, who had his horse shot under
him, but, with an eagle-eye, saw the American fire slackening,
and rushed forward on foot. A ball pierced his body, and he
fell into the shallow ditch; mortally wounded, and, while gasp-
itlg for breath. Said to the only officer who had accompanied
him,,-" Now, why don't the troops come on ? The day Is our
Vol. IV. — 15

226 BRITISH ERRORS. .
own." After relating the exploit of a lieutenant, who scram
bled up the entrenchment, and, seeing the Americans flying In
a disorderly mob, called on two officers to surrender, the Bri
tish statement adds, that "the Americans got entangled, one
'with the other, and were in the most extraordinary confusion,
while crowding their parapets, eight or ten feet deep, and as
the front men let off their pieces, and fell back to reload, to
make place for other- aspirants to take a shot, as they called It,
those that had taken a shot were afraid to return to the para
pet ; and it is a singular fact that, during the melee, both hos
tile bodies were flying, one from the other, at the same time,
but under very different circumstances ; the British having
wellnigh lost twO thousand men, whilst their opponents, en
sconced up to their chins,, had only sustained a loss of some
fourteen persons kUled and wounded — a circumstance unpa
ralleled in modern, history." Such delusions are common in
all conilicts. That Brigade-Major WUkinson should flatter
himself, as he expired in the ditch, that the day was their own,
was not the unnatural hallucination of a brave Briton mistaking
death for victory. But it is not easy to account for another's
impression that the Americans were flying In confusion. Why
should they ? The assailants had made no impression on their
lines or lives. Why, then, so great Impression on their fears ?
A small exterior battery was taken : but a feeble, however
brave, attempt to scale the lines was instantly crushed; so
that It is difficult to understand why those behind them should
run away. No other British narrative says so ; though one,
the Campaigner, Is not sparing of disparagement. " The Ame
ricans, without as much as lifting their faces above the ram
part," it declares, " swung their firelocks by one arm over the
wall, a'nd discharged them directly on their heads." Such
handling of firelocks with one arm, swung over a wall, besides
being impossible. Is contradicted by another British eye-witness,
who says, " the Americans crowded tlie parapets to get a shot."
That they took deliberate aim and fired with terrible precision,
the number of officers shot down, and the very great number
of men, proved. Few -n-ill believe, no American can, that Jack
son and his troops were ever put to the stubborn and sangui-

OVER THE RIVER. 227
nary resistance which he and they were prepared to undergo,
if necessary, before yielding a victory never for one instant in
doubt. General Lambert's official report of the British dis
aster, excused himself for not taking the reserve Into action,
thinking that " it- could not be done without loss which might
have made the attempt of serious consequence, as he knew it
was General Pakenham's opinion that the carrying the first
line would not be the least arduous service."
" About an hour and a half," says one of the British narra
tives, " after the principal attack had failed, three distinct
British cheers gladdened our ears from the right bank of the
river. Colonel .Thornton's gallant troops were successful.
Every one spontaneously said, ' Bravo ! the batteries are
taken, and the Americans are done for.' " But which was
the principal attack ? In Brigade-Major Wilkinson's pocket
¦were found letters, written the evening before the assault. In
dicating that the British commanders had not then determined
on which side of the river to strike first, and, in the same
pocket, a, general order, by which It seemed that on both sides
the assault was to be simultaneous. Confidence in the result,
at all events, was the tenor of the letters; which assurance
the writer persevered in nearly till both letters and order were
taken from his corpse.
Both parties were totally defeated : but Morgan's people
only scared from their batteries — Pakenham's army stunned
by the destruction of 2000 officers and men, early in the
morning of a raw, cloudy, disagreeable Sunday. " It was no
time," says a British officer, "to count the dead, cover the
drum with crape, or sound the blast of a dead-march. The
reserve were joking together, ready to go ahead. The road
to New Orleans was wide open, when a fiag of truce was sent
to General Jackson, by the British general, at the very mo
ment when such a proposition might have been expected from
him, for a truce. While the Interment of the slain was taking
place, the Americans, when they found out by the flag of truce
the great extent of our loss, were so elated that some of them
indulged in many jokes and jeers. But, to their credit, let it
be admitted that the wounded, when once within their lines,

228 JACKSON'S STRATAGEM.
were treated with the greatest humanity, put into good houses,
and their wants supplied -with unsparing hand." General
Lambert considered further confiict impracticable, when the
chief command fell as unexpectedly as distressingly to his lot,
unused to such a charge, with responsibUity much more griev
ous thati the personal risk and predicament. " It was impos
sible," he said, "to restore order in the regiments as they
were." Whether before he left his men, crouched in position
on the ground, to go to the admiral, or Sfter his return from
that visit, but at all events soon. General Lambert despatched
a flag of truce, to ask General Jackson's leave to send a party
of men, unarmed, to bring away the dead and dangerously
wounded. About the same time. General Lambert ordered
the chief artillery-officer. Colonel Dickson, to cross the river,
and ascertain whether the batteries Thornton had taken could
be held. During these transactions an occurrence must be
mentioned, which would be incredible, but that it appears by
Jackson's letter to Lambert, and by Latour's History, who was
all the time on the spot and in all the actions. Soon after the
British were routed and ran away, many individuals from Our
lines, to whom the shocking sight of so many men lying near,
killed and wounded, was entirely new and extremely painful,
rushing out to their relief, the British, from their ditches and
other biding places, fired on these kind assistants. "When,
therefore, Jackson answered Lambert's letter requesting leave
to bury the dead and carry off the wounded, though the Bri
tish general was no doubt unaware of that outrage, it was
charged on his troops, and reprobated with strong abhorrence.
At the same time, the Tennessee warrior practised one of those
bold stratagems by which older soldiers sometimes carry their
ends. As the loss of Morgan's batteries threatened to be fatal
to Jackson, and blast his brilliant triumph, reinforcements had
been at once ordered to Morgan's aid. But, without knowing
whether they had got over the river, and apprehending that,
if they had, it would still be difficult and sanguinary to recap
ture our batteries there, Jackson's answer to Lambert stipu
lated that, while hostilities might cease on the city side of the
river, they should not only not be suspended on the other side,

GENERAL LAMBERT. 229
but neither party should reinforce there. Besides that inti
mation that Jackson felt strong enough to recover his batteries
on the other side, and perhaps also to cut off Thornton's
retreat, Jackson's answer to Lambert's request of a truce
required an immediate reply. He had sent General Humbert,
a French officer of experience, to, take the command on the
other side. But General Morgan and other mUItia-officers
refused to yield the command to a foreigner with no American
commission. Things were In confusion over there. But Lam
bert's star was on the wane. Delaying his reply to Jackson
tlU next day, Lambert, on the Sth, despatched his chief officer
of artillery. Colonel Dickson, across the river, to ascertain if
Thornton's conquest could be held. Dickson reported that It
would require 2000 more men. Whereupon Lambert ordered
Thornton's detachment to abandon that side and return, which
they did under cover of that night. Next day, Lambert agreed
to the terms of truce as prescribed by Jackson, who was thus
conqueror on both sides of the Mississippi, in arms and by
stratagem. Lambert supposed that he had saved Thornton,
when in fact he lost that officer's conquest. If,"Instead of that
mistake, the enemy could have fortified the batteries over the
river, and restored something like confidence to the survivors
on the city side, there were still enough of them left to have
endangered it. But General Lambert's predicament was ex
tremely discouraging and embarrassing. With the dead bodies
of his two superiors, and the third disabled, in his panic-struck
camp, their brigades terribly reduced and totally demoralized,
a respectable general, applauded for his good conduct soon
after by Wellington at Waterloo, was unable to accomplish,
and did not attempt, what Wellington himself, if at New Or
leans, would have found impossible. An act of unjust British
vengeance, with which probably General Lambert had nothing
to do, was the last bloodshed, as currently reported and be
lieved in the American camp, of that fatal Sunday. The un
lucky deserter from Jackson's lines, who had truly told the
enemy, when Interrogated, that the centre of our entrench
ments was manned by Kentucky militia, was hanged on a tree,
without trial, proof, or reason, — summarily condemned and

230 BRITISH RETIRE.'
executed for having misled the British to direct their principal
assault where they expected to find the least resistance. What
ever might be said of the Kentucky militia on the other side
of the river, their fire from the entrenchments on the city side
was admirable, and the poor victim sacrificed to British mis
apprehension and vengeance, ho-R-ever deserving of death for
treason, suffered unjustly at the hands of British executioners,
— the victim of a military mob, avenging their defeat by an
act of violence, which would only have been just, if decreed
by an American court-martial.
About two hours after nightfall, the British troops were
ordered to rise from their beds of mud, and led back to the
encampment, from which they marched before day that morn
ing. Such of the officers as till then had flattered themselves
that Thornton's success over the river might enable the sur
vivors on the city side to restore the fortune of the disjointed
battle, convinced, by the abandonment of Thornton's conquest,
that all was lost, gave themselves up to the shame, distress,
and dejection, which filled ^he camp with lament and impreca
tion. The dead, handed over by the victors, were interred in
their wet gra'ves, the wounded were crowded into • Imperfect
hospitals, and sailors once more compelled to sweat by day,
and freeze by night, at the oar, were employed in the trans
portation of some of the wounded, some few horses, and some
distinguished dead bodies, to the shipping beyond Lake Borgne.
The Americans had no adequate conception, during the day of
the battle, of the carnage they had made, which, terrible as it
was, the defeated felt in exaggerated wretchedness. As Jack
son could not tell whether the confiict was at an end, or to be
renewed, his vigilance continued unremitted, his fortifications
of various points, and his preparations for further hostilities,
greater than ever. The British camp was therefore constantly
tormented. Sleep, meals, funeral-services, whatever the enemy
tried to do, was interrupted by continual bombardment.
"Although," says a Britis-fi sufferer there, "the distance from us vvas a
mile and a quarter, still they contrived to elevate their cannon so that the
halls sometimes ffew over or lobbed into our frail huts, arid the heavy shells
from a large mortar dropped among us in a similar manner. Three days

BRITISH SUFEERINGS. 231
after the attack, a grave was dug for a lieutenant of our regiment, who
expired in great agony from a wound in the head, and, being sewed up in a
wet blanket, he was consigned to a clayey reSting-place. An officer stood
at the head of the wet grave, reading the funeral service, with a prayer-
book in his hand ; the rest of the officers were standing round ihe grave,
with caps off, when a shell from the enemy came whistling through the air,
and was descending, apparently, upon our heads, but fortunately exploded
a hundred yards in the air, with a dreadful crash, showering down a thou
sand iron fragments. The noise having subsided, the prayer was then con
cluded, the grave covered over, and we retired from the solitary ceremony.
The night after this burial, a shell exploded over our hut, in which two
officers of our regiment were sleeping, which cut off' both the feet of one,
who crawled out of the hut in a horrible situation. A round-shot knocked
the cookingtkettle off the fire, which was surrounded by officers' servants,
without further damage than spoiling the soup, which was a serious incon
venience ; for, owing to adverse winds, and the necessity of carrying the
wounded down to the shipping, by Lake Borgne, a distance of sixty miles,
and bringing up, in return, provisions, the sailors were quite exhausted ;
consumption was beyond the produce ; on some days we did not taste food,
and when we did, it was in small quantities. One morning, before daylight
(having been kept awake all night by the usual salutations of shot and
shells), we were disturbed by the water pouring into our huts ; the Missis
sippi had overflowed its banks, and nothing but a sheet of water was to be
seen, except a few straggling huts and one house, the lines of the Ameri
cans and forest trees. It was nearly dark before the waters subsided. The
whole day the troops were enveloped in muddy blankets, shivering with
cold, as hungry as hunters, looking like polar bears standing upon their
hind legs. A grove of lofty orange-trees grew near the scattered houses,
covered with' Oranges nearly ripe. In lack of other food we cast them into
iron pots, half filled with sugar, mixed-with a little water, by which process
we converted them into candied orange-peel, which in some measure satis
fied the cravings of hunger, but brought on complaints, added to the cold
and wet,, which sent many officers sick on board ship. The sugar in the
hogsheads was crystallized with the alternate rains, frost, and the occa
sional gleams of sunshine, and eat very like candied sugar."
, Such were the annoyances and sufferings from climate,
want, unwholesome food, and, above all, passive exposure
to wounds and death by fire-arms, without using them in
return, that, adds the same Englishman, " we raked out our
small fire, to throw the enemy off the range ; and the soldiers
were so irritated that they fell in simultaneously, and de
manded to be marched to the front or to the rear.^ I never
saw the troops more Indignant. They vociferated in loud

232 EORT ST. PHILIP.
sneers at the whole process of the operations ; and it was
truly amusing to hear the quaint remarks of some of those
veterans." These ebullitions of insubordinate irritation broke forth
when the retreat began, notwithstanding ¦ many sufficient in
ducements to that clandestine flight, which have already ap
peared. But a final cause occurred in^ the repulse of a
squadron of vessels of war, with land-troops, which attempted
the ' capture of Fort St. Philip, an irregular work at Plaque
mines, on the Mississippi, some mUes below New Orleans,
nearly surrounded by impracticable morass, and the bayou
Mardi Gras, forty-five yards wide, tolerably well garnished
with heavy guns, and garrisoned by about 400 men, artillerists,
regular infantry, Louisiana volunteers, and some free negroes,
commanded by Major Overton, of the rifie corps, who was sta
tioned there on the 15th of December, 1814. Simultaneously
with the advance, by the lakes, on New Orleans, Admiral
Cochrane had sent the Nymph, Herald, .Sltna, Meteor, Thistle,
and Pigmy, six vessels ; of which a sloop of war, a gun-brig,
and a schooner, together with two bomb-vessels, ascended the
• Mississippi, to create a diversion, co-operate, if possible, in
the land attack of New Orleans, at any rate, make whatever
impression they could by the river. The lakes were in Eng
lish possession, and the river was much more navigable than
the lakes. The river squadron succeeded in passing the Ba
lize, at the entrance of the Mississippi, captured the detach
ment of our people there, and made good their way np the
stream ; but not in time to be of any use to Pakenham, either
on or before the Sth of January. Next day, however. Fort
St. Philip was attacked by the river squadron, and, during the
eight following days, an incessant bombardment was kept up,
but from such a distance, for fear of our guns, that no serjous
harm was done. Many tons of projectiles were thrown and
fell Into the fort, but with trifling Injury to the garrison, who,
during nine nights and days, had little repiose, and stood ready
for any trial of their force. The cannonade could be heard
at Jackson's camp, where, however, it occasioned no uneasi
ness. One dark, stormy night, the enemy attempted to pass

BRITISH DEPARTURE. 233
the fort, but were readily repulsed ; and when our artUlerists
contrived, at length, a mortar that would reach the besiegers,
tired of their ineffectual and almost harmless endeavors, they
retired on the 17th of January, 1815, more afraid than hurt,
but entirely defeated.
The troops were in the batteries nine days, without cover,
exposed to the rain and weather, which was extremely cold
during bombardment almost Incessant. Perhaps the siege
would not have been so long, had the fusees, sent from the
northward, been of a good quality. But, for several days,
the mortar was nearly useless ; and, from the effect produced
after good fusees arrived, probably the siege might have been
much shortened. Upwards of one hundred shells buried them
selves within the fort. The surrounding buildings, workshops,
stores, and the hospitals, were almost in ruins ; and the
ground, for half a mile round, was literally torn up in every
direction. But the enemy took care to keep out of the range
of our shot all the time, till the evening of the 17th of Janu
ary, when Captain Wolstoncraft, of the artillery, having got
a mortar to reach them, dealt such blows 'that they soon
retired. Major Overton nailed his own colors to the standard,
and placed those of the enemy underneath them, determined
never to surrender the post.
It is only conjectural what effect that final discomfiture on
the Mississippi had on the determination of commanders of the
fleet on the lake and the army ashore, to abandon Louisiana ;
though it is probable that Cochrane and Lambert begaU, on
the 9th of January, their arrangements for retreat, as several
places were fortified by them at a distance from New Orleans,
apparently to prevent their molestation on the way to Cat
Island. The marshes were explored and bridges thrown over
many of the creeks. Bundles of reeds were made, to be used
as occasional walking-ways in the swamps. And, in all proba
bUity, General Lambert felt it so indispensable to withdraw,
without further effort, that even the capture of Fort St. Philip
would not have induced him to remain. On the night of the
18th of January, 1815, at all events, the army decamped in
profound secresy, and great trepidation, leaving eighty of the

234 FLIGHT BY NIGHT.
worst wounded officers and men with surgeons, addressed
by General Lambert's special entreaty, to General Jackson's
care and kindness, and abandoning , some of the British
cannons. Within less than five months, three British armies fled from
the United States ; for in neither instance could it be caUed a
retreat, as they absconded by night, clandestinely and in great
dismay, from much inferior numbers, and nearly all of these
mUitia or volunteers — one army from Washington, another
from Plattsburgh, and the third from New Orleans. About
32,000 veteran soldiers, and not less than 20,000 mariners,
British, fled from not 10,000, the American aggregate, and
not. more than three of that ten thousand regular soldiers:
On three occasions, in flight so precipitate, disorderly, and, but
for panic, inexplicable, that, without British accounts of them,
the history would be incredible. In the British version, it be
came at last ludicrous in the wilds of Louisiana.
" On the 18th, it was intimated that we were to retire during the night.
A day or two before, the brigade of field artillery were put on board the
boats (which took place during the night) ;.some straw was loosely strewed
over the guns, that their departure might not be noticed by any of the ne
groes wandering about the houses, and to prevent their giving any informa
tion to the enemy that we were about to, decaiiqp. , The old ship-gims were
abandoned, and left in the advanced batteries, as trophies to the Americans."
[Among the cannons captured by Thornton, was one which Washington
took at the surrender of CornwaUis; which uncommon trophy was also
abandoned by the British more than thirty years after they firsts- surrendered
it.] "As a matter of course, the few horses, and other materials apper
taining to the army, had been previously conveyed on shipboard. Tor a
short way we proceeded on the hard road, following the preceding column,
and then enteired the swamp, and the first step sunk up to the knees in mud,
and we continued to drag one leg after the other, sometimes falling on our
faces, and at others sinking in up to our hips, and any one unluckily step-
' ping off the road was almost certain of going over head and ears. At one
spot the men came to a dead stop ; an officer, more valiant than wise, pushed
every one aside, and boldly stepped forward to lead the way; but courage,
availed him little, for in an instant he was up to his neck, and, had it not
been for the timely exertion of those present, in two seconds he would have
disappeared. The soldiers were obliged to carry their firelocks in both
hands, horizontally, so that when they lost theirfooting they might hang to
their arms until assisted by their comrades. During the whole of the night

LUDICROUS BRITISH RETREAT. 235
we scrambled and tumbled about in this bog; and when morning broke, a
scene presented itself which beggars all description. The straggling files
of the soldiery extended along the quagmire for miles, enclosed by high
reeds; every countenance was plastered with mire; in fact, the whole array
was covered with a cake of mud, from the crown of the head to tbe sole of
the foot; and, to increase the agreeahles of this most extraordinary of all
marches, the air « as darkened by flights of wild ducks, and a dead alligator,
nine feet in length, lay across the way ; each leg was nearly twice as thick
as a man's arm ; the back and tail of these amphibious anihials are covered
with a dark shell, like a coat of mail, which is musket-ball proof"
The retributive justice seems to be specially providential,
by disastrous reverses, sanguinary routs, terrified fiights, and,
at last, ridiculous fears, of the iniquitous double-dealing which
proclaimed and prosecuted inhuman war while protesting to
negotiate honorable peace ; postponing peace for many months
for the sole purpose of waging such wa'r, after every cause of
war was removed by overruling Providence. And that is
morbid American feeling, of which, however, much still lin
gers, that would bury the recollection of such memorable
events in idolatrous oblivion. They are pledges of peace and
international amity, most grateful to those who triumphantly
Overcame British arms and influence. No administration of
the American government ever was on terms of more cordial
amity with Great Britain, than that of the President who as
commander at New Orleans defled her arms, reprobated her
enormities, with uniform courtesy dealt with her officers, and,
by their umanimous acknowledgments, with constant humanity
treated her captives.
"At ten o'clock," the same British narrator adds, "the following morn
ing, we reached a place called the Fishermen's Huts. Here we passed
some wretched days, upon half-allowance, without any fuel, save the reeds,
to kindle the fire with, which flared up with a puff and went out in an
instant, without conveying any warmth to our shivering bodies. An officer
ofthe rifle-corps shot a wild duck, which, without sauce, was so much talked
of, that I really believe half the troops dreamed of it. I passed a nig-ht near
this spot, and such a night as I shall not easily forget. Just before dark, 1
saw an alligator emerge from the water. The very idea of the monster,
prowling about in the stagnant swamp, took possession of my mind ; to look
out for the enemy was a secondary consideration. The word was, ' Look
out for alligators.' Nearly the whole night, I stood a few paces from the

236 Jackson's continued preparations.
entrance of the hut, not daring to enter, lest an alligator might gobble
me up.''
In the same strain of serio-comic narration, this officer
recites the farce of the flight which followed the tragedy of
the battles. One of their entertainments was a negro-dance,
by the slaves they carried into much worse slavery, " accom
panied by a sort of rude pipe and tabor." The British strip
ped all the plantations they occupied of all the slaves they
could lay their hands on, some perhaps not unwilling to change
their masters, others and all the women forced to go, and
every one taken as property to which the captors had a right.
" On the morning of the 28th of January, we quitted the morass," says
the Narrative, " after twenty days' bivouacking, and, with rotten Shoes, we
were put aboard the Bucephalus frigate, anchored off Cat island. A boat's
crew of Americans contrived to kidknap and make prisoners three officers
and fifty privates of the 14th dragoons, while comfortably snoozing and
covered with a tarpaulin, as they were passing down the lake, one dark
night, to go on board the shipping.''
That clever feat was performed by Doctor Morrell and Pur
ser Shields, who, in four boats, manned by volunteers, sailors,
soldiers, and citizens, captured six prizes, one of them a
schooner, and sixty-three prisoners, on Lake Borgne. The
Louisiana levy en masse arrived daily at New Orleans ; and
the long-delayed arms and other supplies from Pittsburg
some time after the Sth of January. A thousand English
muskets were taken from the ground after the battle of the
Sth ; and Jackson wrote to government that, if the arms
destined for New Orleans had reached him in time, the whole
British army might have been captured or destroyed. Forti
fying many points before unprotected, and distributing forces
where there had been none, — If the enemy had made another
attempt, our means of repulsion, physical as well as moral,
were much greater than during the thirty days whUe the inva
ders were confined to the tongue of mud on which they en
camped, and from which, with most Imperfect means, they
were driven, contrary to their own confident and almost uni
versal expectation.

PEACE. 237
The last and only successful action of the British, in that
region, was the capture of Fort Bowyer. Having entirely
evacuated the lakes, rivers, and land of Louisiana, the fleet
landed 5000 of the army, near that fort, on the Sth of Febru
ary, 1815 ; and, during the four following days, regularly ad
vanced upon it by trenches and scientiflc military approaches,
with the loss of some 40 men. On the 11th, General Lambert
proposed fair terms of capitulation, which were accepted ; and,
on the 12th, the garrison, 350 men, surrendered themselves
prisoners of war. Before that, on the 10th of February, Ed
ward Livingston had returned from the British fleet to New
Otleans, with authentic intelligence of peace, brought by the
Brazen sloop-of-war, of which, on the 13th of February, 1815,
Admiral Cochrane officially informed General Jackson by a
letter from on board the Tonnant, at Mobile bay. Thus, from
the same ship whence, by order of his govemment, he issued,
in August, the notice to ours of inhuman warfare, the same
officer, six months afterwards, had what he termed " the ex
ceeding satisfaction of offering his sincere congratulations on
a treaty of peace, of which he had that moment received from
Jamaica a copy of the bulletin proclaiming it."
The treaty, to be sure, was to be accepted by our govern
ment before hostilities were to cease. But that ratification
soon followed ; when the reduction of Fort Bowyer, hardly a
shortlived trophy, became soon useless. General Winchester
had sent from Mobile 1000 men, under Major Blue, to succor
Colonel Lawrence, which reinforcement might have protracted
and ensanguined the siege ; though the result must probably
have been the same, as the garrison was too small and the fort
too frail to withstand the force General Lambert arrayed
against it. But Major Blue did not reach the neighborhood
of the fort till the surrender had taken place. "It is true,"
said Jackson, in an address to his troop's, announcing peace,
"Fort Bowyer has fallen: but it must, and will be, speedily
regalped. We Will expel the invader from every foot on our
soil" On the 19th of January, soon after Jackson had sent out a
reconnoitring party to ascertain whether the enemy had eva-

238 JACKSON'S RELIGIOUS GRATITUDE.
cuated, as there was reason to beUeve, a British surgeon,
Wadsdale, caUed, with Lambert's letter, assuring him that
they had gone, and recommending to Jackson's generosity
eighty of the worst wounded British, who could not be re
moved, and for whom three surgeons were left. Doctor Kerr,
our surgeon-general, was forthwith sent to the British hospi
tal ; Colonel Hinds, with some cavalry, despatched to harass
the retreating enemy, and a dejtachment of native Louisianians,
expert hunters, to scour the neighboring woods for stragglers.
Jackson then, with his staff, rode out to the British encamp
ment, visited and consoled their wounded, and, returning from
that office of mercy to his own entrenchments, gave his first
thoughts to devout acknowledgment of gratitude to God for .
the wonderful success of which he had been an instrument.
That mixture of devout religious with constant belligerent
duties characterizes not only the uneducated chieftain, to whose
individual genius this country owes so much, but furthermore
indicates and vindicates the country itself from imputed repub
lican tendencies, misunderstood, as regards the influence of
free government on religion. Jackson was sincerely and re
verently devout; presbyterian and -extremely puritanical in
his opinions and habits. Before he left his encampment to re
turn, with his armed comrades, to the rescued city, and there
indulge in the demonstrations of joy usual and proper on such
occasions, his first care was to thank the Creator for victories
ascribed to his merciful providence. But not only so : rigid
protestant as he was against the Roman Catholic church, from
his camp, smoking with bloody deeds, he entreated the prin
cipal functionary of that church, the Reverend Abb^ Dubourg,
to cause the service of public thanks to be performed, in the
Cathedral, In token of the great assistance received from the
Ruler of all events in giving success to our arms against the
enemy, and of our humble sense of It. Europe has deemed
republican America irreligious, and to prevent that public
detriment, maintains the church as part and parcel of the
state. Collating, in this respect, the condition of European
armies, of all nations, and their leaders, at the battle nearest
In date to those of New Orleans, the difference deserves his-

RELIGIOUS GENERALS. 239
torical explanation. In the modern French armies, which
overran Europe, religious sentiments or observances were little
known. French revolt from priestcraft, denounced as an
Instrument of kingcraft, rushing to excesses against religion,
naturally induced hostile European, states to impute similar
infidelity to American emancipation from royalty. Real tole
ration ..kui universal representation are cardinal points of the
American experiment of self-government. But, whUe Jack
son, the Puritan, humbly ascribing his success to God, en
treated the church, of which he was far from being a member,
to suffer him there to return thanks for it, was there any com
mander at Waterloo who ever set an example of pious rever
ence ? The great Prussian victor, Blucher, was as notoriously
vicious as he was fearless ; the greater British commander,
Wellington, by no means conspicuous in morals ; and the still
greater French Emperor died, it has been said, conscious that,
though he had done much to revive religion, he had not done
enough. General Washington, in the army of the American
Revolution, General Jackson, at New Orleans, and General
Scott, in Mexico, were all exemplary as religious leaders.
Nor was it, I believe, ever imputed to either of those generals
that his religion was not sincere and unaffected, as undoubt
edly Jackson's was, who long lived, and at last died, a devout
Christian. In other respects' too, his character compares to
advantage with many of his celebrated European military
contemporaries. Illiterate and little refined, that rough bor
derer was polite, humane, dignified, and honorable, beyond
not a few of those bred in camps, but fashioned in courts.
While I am thus sketching the barbarian, as some of his dis
tinguished countrymen called Jackson, a leading European
journal, Galignani's Messenger, of the 14th of March, 1851,
republishes. In the polite capital of France, from a respectable
journal, the Sun, of the capital of Great Britain, with ap
plause, that one of the most eminent British generals, Sir
Charles Napier, on a public occasion, said, "'The low, lying
presses may all go to  ,' saying which, Sir Charles gave a
significant shake of his head, indicative of the word which he
would not utter. ' I teU you,' said he, (and here the general

240 COMPARISONS.
threw his hands together, with a most expressive gesture,j
' that this is an infamous, a damnable, a worse than damnable
Ue. If general officers are unfit for command, and I must say
there are nine out of ten who ought not to be appointed,' "
&c. The Emperor Napoleon's homely metaphor of dirty
clothes washed at home, when addressing the legislators of
France, and numerous other vulgarities, that might be cited,
show that inhabitants of American frontiers are not, compa
ratively, always ruder than some of those apt to be deemed
superior. The scandalous correspondence of Admiral Napier,
captured and published in 1815, exposes conduct and letters
in flagrant contrast with the elegant despatches and noble de
portment of Jackson. English individuality, more independent
than American, may not be unedlfied, nor should national pride
take offence at these historical recollections of parts of the hos
tilities between kindred nations, indispensable to their durable
amity. In the last naval engagement of that war, the young Heu
tenant who commanded the American squadron, on Lake
Champlain, rose to battle from prayers said according to the
ritual of the Church of England. After the last victories near
New Orleans, the American general, a strict Presbyterian,
returned thanks to God in the church and ¦with the forms of
the Roman Catholic creed. These remarkable instances of
piety and toleration are part of the history of the time. Co
lonel Drummond feU, storming Fort Erie, and General Gibbs,
at New Orleans, each breathing profane, imprecations — also
occurrences of which impartial history may record the instruc
tive contrast.
Though the British surgeon, Wadsdale, brought word from
General Lambert that all further operations, for the present,
would cease, yet Jackson's first proceeding on that advice was
to strengthen old and fortify new positions, to provide against
any further attempt that might be made : nor would he leave
his entrenchments tlU every precaution was effectually taken
against surprise or stratagem.
When all these measures of prudence were completed, but
not till then, on the 20th of January, Jackson accompanied

THANKSGIVING. 241
such of his troops as were not left at the entrenchments or
stationed elsewhere, in their triumphant return to New Or
leans, where their reception was as cordial as their campaign
had been briUiant. On the 23d, the ceremony of solemn
thanksgiving was performed in the Cathedral by the Reverend
Mr. Dubourg, Administrator-Apostolic of the Diocess of Lou
isiana, who addressed General Jackson, and was answered by
him, in eloquent congratulations. Citizen-soldiers restored,
with little loss of life, to their families, after a month's severe
service, both active and passive ; their terrible enemies totally
defeated, with prodigious Carnage, and forced to fiy by night
from the land ; the patriotic delighted, the disaffected rebuked
— all delivered from alarm, and united in individual and na
tional rejoicing — rendered Jackson's return most grateful to
a city, where, during six and twenty alarming days and nights,
the discordant population were continually kept In dread by
cannonade of which the bravest had much to fear. But in this
account of their deliverance. It is due to their invaders to insert
their denial, that dread of captivity was aggravated by threat
of plunder, rape, and other miseries of a sacked place. For
several years, it was common belief, and on respectable autho-
i;ity, that General Pakenham had sharpened his soldiers' lust
for plunder, and roused their efforts to desperation, by the
atrocious 'watchwords Beauty and Booty, given out as the
inducement to take New Orleans. In 1833, all the surviving
British commanders, namely, Lleutenant-Generals Lambert and
Keane, Major-Generals Thornton and Blakeney, and Colonel
Dickson, deemed it proper to publish, in an English journal,
that, serving, and actually present. In the army commanded
by General Pakenham, they unequivocally denied that any
such promise was ever held out to the army, or that the watch-
'word, asserted to have been given out, was ever Issued. The
reason why that denial was not made known till eighteen years
after the aUeged occurrence, they added, was, that they never
heard of it till repeated in a respectable English work, Mr.
James Stuart's " Three Years In America." That Beauty
and Booty were the British watchwords that day was the
YoL. IV. — 16

212 BEAUTY AKD BOOTY.
uniform belief and constant assertion " of Generals. Jackson,
Coffee, and CarroU,.who got their information from prisoners,
confirmed by the books of two of the British orderly-serjeants
taken in the battle.^ On such authority, it was the universal
belief of the Americans,- and never contradicted till by the
publication of the British generals before mentioned. Bar
barities of their forces at Hampton, at Raisin, and at Wash
ington, Admiral Cochrane's official proclamation of inhuman
warfare — in fact, the whole course of British hostilities in this
country, together with American ¦ ultimate successes, had so
disgraced the British that the instruments of such outrages and
victims of defeats became naturally anxious to esca.pe some of
the odium. General Lambert and the other protesting gene
rals testify in their own cause, under that anxiety. There was
record-proof. In the books of the orderly-serjeants, of the fact.
At the same time, the usual animeslties of war were so much
aggravated by the British manner of waging it, with Indians,
slaves, pirates, larcenies, burglaries, and other felonious viola
tions of all its recognised severities, that Jackson and his asso
ciates may have been hasty In adopting their belief in a cir
cumstance which ig unequivocally denied by respectable, though
. certainly Interested, persons.
Jackson's amazing success over foreign foes, effected by
severe pressure on a lukewarm and in part disaffected popula
tion, not broke to coercive authority, excited, as soon as danger
appeared to be at an end, Intestine enemies, whom he subdued
by measures, some account of which belongs to the history of
his eventful life and that memorable campaign. The French
residents of Louisiana, the French consul there, the press, the
legislature, and the judiciary, all contended with the com
mander-in-chief for supremacy : and, formidable as such anta
gonists are, they were, one and all, vanquished by the rough
and ready chieftain, whom their British assaUants found always
invincible. Power, so triumphantly exercised as that he as
sumed, could hardly be ungrateful to one so fit for it : but who
vindicated prolongation of his dictatorship by reasons so cogent
that even they who think him wrong cannot doubt that he
thought himself right, as weU in the first assumption of martial

. "PEACE. 243
law as In continuing it some time after war seemed to be at
an end.
Mr. Livingston returned from the British fleet to New Or
leans the 18th of February, 1815, with perfectly credible and
nearly official news that a treaty of peace had been signed, at
Ghent, the 24th of December, 1814. War, however common,
and even agreeable to many, is such general derangement that
in all countries, at all times, peace, even though not in terms
satisfactory, is warmly welcomed, and, both throughout Europe,
in thc spring of 1814, and North America, in 1815, the end
of tl.! ir war first, and of ours afterwards, was hailed with en
thusiastic delight. At New Orleans, popular commotion broke
out like reprieve from death, Emancipation from danger was
succeeded by wild insubordination to all military restraints.
The heterogeneous masses of militia, volunteers, and altogether
raw levies, constrained by Jackson and jeopardy to organize
themselves as an army, intoxicated with -victory and confident
of security, almost disbanded themselves, in defiance of all
their commander could do to keep them in order. The day
after Mr. Li'vlngston's return from the British fieet, with news
of peace, Jackson attempted and was resolved to put down
that perilous exultation for peace till peace was ascertained to
be certain, as he had overcome dangerous and disaffected ap
prehensions of war. On the 19th of February, he published
warning against being disarmed by what might be false hopes
and fancied safety. Till the alleged treaty was ratified, the
commander-in-chief, responsible for all events. Insisted that
there must be no relaxation of the military attitude, however
irksome and disagreeable. "But for bis prudence and tenacity,
the city and vicinage, the whole State Indeed, might have re
lapsed into fearful llabUItles. AU his energy was necessary to
hold what was hardly won. Nor was it held without six weeks
of Intestine controversy, as trying as war.
That most privileged and meddlesome of American classes,
the public press, would no longer submit to restraint. The
very day after the general's warning, the Louisiana Gazette
pubUshed to its four hundred subscribers, scattered over the
State, and to the English fieets and armies, stiU hard by, that

244 THE PRESS.
a flag of- truce nad arrived from Admiral Cochrane, officially
announcing to General Jackson the conclusion of peace (when
peace was not concluded), and virtually requesting a suspen
sion of hostilities (which was totally untrue). No flag of truce
had arrived. On the contrary, some days afterwards, on the
6th of March, when General Jackson, by flag of truce, sug
gested a suspension of hostilities to General Lambert, he pro
perly declined it, because, till the treaty was ratified, and that
officially made known to him, his orders were, he said, to pro
secute hostiHties. Three of the four New Orleans' battles, the
bombardment of Fort St. Philip, the capture of Fort Bowyer,
and several naval engagements, took place after the treaty
was signed at Ghent and ratified at London, but not at Wash
ington. Jackson immediately, on the 21st of February, ad
dressed Mr. Cotton, editor of the Louisiana Gazette, requir
ing him to remove the improper Impression of his unauthor
ized and incorrect statement ; and, at the same time, made
It publicly known that no such publication was to appear In
any paper of the city, unless the editor had previously ascer
tained its correctness and gained from the proper source per
mission for Its Insertion. Thus, the press was curbed, which,
if left to Its own licentious tendencies, might derange pubHc
order, by fomenting the prevailing spirit of resistance to mar
tial law, and perhaps inducing reinvaslon. Types are so often
more dangerous than fire-arms, that a man in authority in this
country not deterred by the press is rarer than one not afraid
of fire-arms. Constrained to forego its common food, the press
revolted against martial law, which the general maintained, in
spite of that assailant, till peace became unquestionable. Ti
dings of peace universally accredited, and which the general
neither did, would, or could gainsay, threatened to unstring i;he
nerves of belligerent tension. MUitia and volunteers, men and
officers, in gangs, without leave, left their posts, and refused,
when ordered, to return to them. The precious few who re
mained faithful were under the evil example of those who
deserted. Speculation In trade and in politics, agitation, and
disorganization, surged .up from all quarters. The press was
not the only enemy that defied the general In what he stUl In-

THE FRENCH. 245
sisted on treating as his camp, governed by martial law, which
was merely his word of command ; a word which, during six
weeks of war, had preserved the community in safety and
led them to victory, but a word intolerable and unconstitu
tional when war was over ; and editors and writers, lawyers
and judges, insisted that they had as good, if not better
right to determine when danger was over than the commander-
in-chief. French Inhabitants of Louisiana, some of them naturalized
as American citizens, who nearly all served with characteristic
gallantry against their inveterate English foes, became ex
tremely restless and troublesome, when the fighting was done,
and almost rebellious against martial law, as soon as the war
was believed to be over. Jackson had with them a more diffi
cult contest than with the printers ; and was led on, step by
step, to measures of such rigor as involved questions of great
moment. The French consul, Tousard, undertook to protect
some of his fellow-subjects from military service ; and indeed
threw his official mantle over others, who, as naturalized Ame
rican citizens, had voted at elections in that State. However
irksome and inglorious military service might be to those mer
curial people, when there was no fighting, the general's right
was to compel all inhabitants to do milita'ry duty, from which
the consul had no right to exonerate them. France and Eng
land having recently made peace, the consul's Interference
with American hostiHties against the English was the more
offensive. And the controversy between the general and the
disaffected French waxed warm, as his contests mostly did, and
theirs are also apt to do. Resolved to subdue them, as he did
the printers, on the 2Sth of February, 1815, by a general
order, all French subjects, having the certificate of their con
sul, were ordered to leave New Orleans, and retire so far into
the interior as not to be able either to seduce the well-disposed
in the city, or communicate with the enemy. That order
caused strong repugnance among most of the French, who
found a warm and able champion in Mr. Louis Louallier, a
naturalized Frenchman, who represented the parish of Ouachita,
In the State House of Representatives, where he was appointed

246 LOUALLIER — HALL.
to the leading place of chairman of the committee of ways and
means, and proved one of the most active and efficient mem
bers of a body unequal to the crisis. His rebuke has been
already mentioned of their culpable procrastination and inac
tivity. Oh the 22d of November, 1814, he reported, from the
committee of ways and means, by far the most. If not the only,
adequate proposal of the session ; taxes of fifty cents on every
bale of cotton, to produce $40,000, and ten dollars on every
thousand weight of sugar, to produce $25,000. Printed, de
bated, and subjected to many modifications, that vigorous mea
sure was supplanted by Insufficient bank-loans, through the
usual dread of republican legislatures to tax their constituents.
Though Mr. Louallier voted against suspension of the habeas
corpus, and against the additional oath to support the Consti
tution of the United States, yet there was no reason to doubt
his patriotism. Remaining in New Orleans after the final ad
journment of the Legislature, his exertions then, as before, In
behalf of ihe soldiery, the wounded, and the needy, were
praiseworthy, and his untoward resistance to martial law may
not have been otherwise. Still it was remarkable, as Jackson
had occasion to plead in his vindication, that Frenchmen and
Englishmen, by coercion, insisted on teaching him and other
Americans the laws of this country, and the principles of free
dom, of which they denounced him as an ignorant violator.
: Dominick A. Hall, Judge of the United States Court for
the District of Louisiana, by birth an English subject, was
suspected by Jackson of connivance with Louallier to annul
martial law by color of judicial condemnation of it, which
brought about a conflict of laws at the close of the Louisiana
campaign, never settled during twenty-eight years, till at last,
in 1848, an act of Congress, of which I was the draughtsman,
awarded the victory to the chieftain who resisted an unjust
judgment. On the ISth of February, news of peace reached New Or
leans ; against the dangerous effects of which General Jackson
next day warned the" community. The French inhabitants and
their consul proving especially refractory to his continuance
of martial law, on the 28th of February, he banished them

MARTIAL LAW. 247
frOm the city. On the 3d of March, Louallier published
anonymously, in the Louisiana Courier, under the signature
of a citizen of French origin, a provoking defiance of the man
who never declined a challenge : calling on the French to rally
, to their consul, and resist martial law, which the judiciary
would pronounce unconstitutional and void. Invoking that
virtue and courage which in France, as once in Rome, stands
for so many more, Louallier pronounced it cowardly for
Frenchmen to disown their country, In order to please a mili
tary commander, and escape his illegal proscription. They
would not be frightened Into submission by martial law, which
only the President of the United States could impose on alien
enemies, and General Jackson had no right to infiict on alien
friends. The great writ of English liberty was a method for
reversing martial law, which was equally incompatible with
French dignity and American constitutional right.
Such an assault on the general; by a member of the Legis
lature which had refused to thank him for saving the country,
was a challenge to him by a firebrand thrown into a combustible
population. If the intimation ' which it broadly bore, that the
judiciary would repeal martial law, was published by authority,
the jiidge who authorized it must also have taken up arms
against the general : and both legislator and judge were ob
noxious, like the printers, to necessary restraint. So the ge
neral considered, and, as he believed, was well advised by law
yers as good legists as any judge. There was no option but to
submit to such assailants or subdue them. If, trusting to un
certain peace, he had revoked martial law, disaffection, if not
treason, must have triumphed. Uninfluenced by clamor, ex
cept to be provoked by it to redoubled vigilance, he was re
solved to run no risk for the country, but assume any respon
sibility on himself during the few days that must elapse before
official tidings of peace, if ratified. No one suffered, mean
time. None but the restless complained. And If he Avas
guilty of any breach of law, or wrong to any one, every one
had legal redress against him as the wrong-doer.
On the 5th of March, therefore, he addressed to Mr. Le-
clerc, a printer, for publication, a sharp and stern reply to all

248 LOUALLIER ARRESTED.
who, through the press or otherwise, attempted to invalidate
martial law, undermine or overthrow his protection by It of the
country. The lurking traitor, he said, was laboring to feed
with fresh fuel a spirit of discontent, disobedience and mutiny,
too long secretly fomented. Not a few, and their numbers
increasing, under the guise of subjects of the French monarch
allied with Great Britain, suffer themselves to be seduced from
their duty, thereby realising the hopes, and aiding the projects
of the enemy. Wherefore all officers were ordered strictly to
enforce his order of the 2Sth of February against them, and
to arrest all guilty of mutiny. On the same day (5th of
March) Louallier was arrested, at noon, in the street, stoutly
protesting against unlawful violence, and taken as a spy to the
barracks, where he was placed under military guard. A
French lawyer at hand, named Morel, forthwith engaged by
Louallier to effect his liberation by legal process, applied first
to Martin, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the
State, for Jiis interposition, it does not distinctly appear in
what form, either by prohibition or habeas corpus. That
judge and court having decided that they had no jurisdiction
in such a case. Morel then applied to Hall, the United States
District Judge, after the prior application to Martin indicated
the French feeling at the moment. Fran9ois Xavier Martin,
the judge, a man of considerable learning and talents, in his
written history of the war in Louisiana, depicts- in strong colors
Jackson's vulgarity, ignorance, ferocity, and violence, and klso
disparages his chief adviser, Edward Livingston. Hall's firm
ness, it says, defeated General Wilkinson's arbitrary measures,
when urged by President Jefferson against Burr, eight years
before ; and he was looked upon as the man to put an end to
Jackson's usurped authority.
After considering Loualiler's petition for a writ of habeas
corpus, presented to Judge HaU shortly after Loualiler's arrest,
that Sunday afternoon (5th of March) the judge aUowed it,
suggesting, however, to Morel, who presented It, that a letter
had better be sent to Jackson, to apprise him of it, which was
accordingly done at once by a, written note from Mr. Morel.
Thus apprised, some twenty-four hours before the writ was

JUDGE HALL ARRESTED. 249
served on him, that it was to be done by allowance of Judge
Hall, the general instantly ordered the judge's immediate ar
rest, and confinement In the barracks, for aiding and abetting
and exciting mutiny within his camp ; which order was exe
cuted on the same Sunday evening, the 5th of March ; and,
during that night, the two prisoners, LoualUer and HaU, were
confined in the same room. For some cause, not distinctly
apparent from the several affidavits afterwards taken ex parte
by Judge Hall's direction, the date of the writ was altered by
the judge, before service, from the 5th to the Gth, but left stUl
returnable, as at first, " at eleven o'clock to-morrow morning,"
which would be Monday, the 6th, whereas the alteration from
the 5th to the Oth rendered It returnable Tuesday, the 7th.
When, therefore, served on Monday evening, the 6th, dated
that day, and returnable in the morning, Jackson laughed, and
asked if the time had not passed ; and kept the original; giving
the clerk a copy, because, he said, there was some juggle in
the matter, and that Hall had concerted it with Louallier.
The judge was arrested and confined by the general's order
some time before the writ was served, but after it was Issued,
and the general, by the judge's direction, was informed that it
had Issued and would be served. A conflict of laws thus en
sued, between ordinary and martial law. In which nothing less
than indispensable necessity will justify the force applied by
the military to arrest the person and proceedings of the judi
cial officer. The judge, together with nearly all the other
respectable and most Interested citizens, having advised recur
rence to martial law as the best, if not only, method for saving
the State,' and that happy result having been accomplished. If
not by, at any rate during, martial law, the questions on the 5th
of March were, whether the exigency of the 15th of December
remained on the 5th of March ; and who was to determine
those questions. When the quarrel between the judge and
the general became acrimonious, as it did, and unsparing,
Jackson accused Hall of concerting, with Louallier, the writ
of habeas corpus, for the purpose of overthrowing martial law,
which charge neither of them denied, as they would have done,
if unfounded. Louallier made oath, before Hall, that he had

250 CONELICT OF LAWS.
nothing to do with the publication of the 5th of March ; and
Hall, by newspaper pubUcation, denied leaving the city in
affright and alarming the country. Both, anxious to vindicate
themselves from Jackson's aspersions, seemed to admit that the
threat ofthe publication was authorized, that the judiciary would
annul, martial law. Its abnegation, and indeed prostration,
had become a pnblic clamor, threatening the ¦mllltai-y ascend
ency with overthrow, — vehemently urged by a whole class of
inhabitants : which, one of them. Judge Martin, well Informed,
states that Judge Hall was looked upon as the magistrate with
sufficient firmness to effect. A formidable combination ex
isted — disaffected legislators, offended judges, indignant law
yers, encouraged by the French consul, stimulated by the
press, and enjoying the Creole sympathies of some of the
general's best troops, — who were bent on his being forced to
relinquish what he had repeatedly declared he would not, and
could not, 'without both disgrace and danger. Martin's His
tory says the Exchange was thronged by a concourse of people,
who destroyed Jackson's transparency there. A legislator
and a judge were both arrested and confined by the general's
orders, for conspiring, by judicial contrivance, to restore corii-
mon law. In defiance of the dictator who upheld martial law.
" It was suggested," Martin's History states, " that the go
vernor should call out the militia, and ^ut himself at their head ;
that the marshal should summon the posse comltatus of the
whole district, to support the judiciary." "It Is not easy,''
he adds, " to say tb what extremity matters would have been
carried, if the good sense of the most influential characters of
the city had not induced them to Interfere. They represented
to those disposed to run all hazards, that a few days,'. per
haps hours, would bring the ratified treaty; that Jackson's
day of reckoning would then arrive; Hall would soon have
the power to punish the violators as in 1807."
Thus, many were disposed to 7-un all hazards, at all events;
Jackson's day of reckoning y/&s to come ; and Hall was to put
him down as he did Wilkinson, In 1807, when President Jef
ferson called on Congress to suspend the habeas corpus privi
lege, in order to enable him to deal with Burr. Sedition and

MARTIAL LAW. 251
threatened revolution were, by popular tumult and judicial
law-making, to take the place of the wholesome disorganiza
tion instituted six weeks before by general consent : to be up
rooted, when the only grievance was Its continuance a few
days or hours longer. For an Act of Legislature, in Decem
ber, had suspended all process till May ; the State courts were
therefore all shut up ; and, in December, Judge Hall, fiying
from danger, closed his court, by general adjournment, till
April ; so that, except perhaps some local police, there was
none but martial law, with universal tranquillity, safety, and
triumph. The theory, not the administration, hardly the po
tentiality, of common law was assailed, by arresting two con
siderable individuals, one a member of the Legislature, the
other a judge, whose confinement could not faU to rouse public
feeling, and especially that of their particular supporters.
But no legislative or judicial power, federal, state, or munici
pal, was in action. The Legislature had suspended suits.
The judge arrested had closed his court. Martial law had
been instituted, and was the only law in force till revoked.
Judge Hall had precisely the same right to reverse it by ha
beas corpus the 15th of December, when proclaimed, that he
had the 5th of March, when he was arrested. Roughly en
forced on him and Mr. Louallier — with such violence as to
elicit the complaints of Its victims and the clamor of their
numerous sympathizers — nevertheless, martial law was the
only law in force ; and the confiict between that and common
law resolves jtself into mere questions of expediency, viz., was
it indispensable to uphold what it was deemed indispensable to
institute ? and, who were best judges of that expediency ?
That issue was fiercely joined on the Sth and Oth of March.
But neither justice nor history must be driven from the right
hy the shock of the collision. On the 6th of JIarch, while
Louallier and Hall were together in confinement, and the
court-martial was organized for Loualiler's trial by military
tribunal, Jackson received the Postmaster-General's equivocal
and perplexing despatch, which left little doubt, but yet did
leave It in doubt, whether peace had actually taken place.
Instantly, without losing a moment, he despatched a letter to

252 MARTIAL LAW,
the British commander. General Lambert, with an exact state
ment of the intelligence as received from Washington, sug
gesting an agreement, by cessation of hostilities, to anticipate
the happy return of peace. Far from any desire, such as love
of power might induce, to continue absolute, with an alacrity
showing his anxiety to put an end to martial law, and in terms
of elegant courtesy, the most attractive to the hostile com
mander, peace was solicited. But General Lambert declined
the pacific overture, till officially Instructed by his own govprn-
ment that ours had ratified the treaty. Thus refused the sus
pension of hostilities he sought, Jackson nevertheless, on the
7th of March, submitted the Washington despatch, just as he
received it, to public Interpretation ; rendering, he stated, the
pleasing Intelligence of peace almost, though not entirely, be
yond doiibt. Next day, Sth of March, at the solicitation of
the city uniformed volunteer companies, French or Creoles,
who had so bravely fought, he revoked his banishment of all
the French inhabitants, except the consul ; and, at the same
time, disbanded, with eloquent encomiums on their patriotic
assemblage, the militia whom he had called out in mass several
weeks before.
Still, martial law was maintained ; and, as might truly be
averred, by order of the enemy, not too far off to return, and,
with reinforcements on the way to join them, atone for all
their disasters by terrible blows. Judge Hall and Mr. Lou
allier were therefore kept in confinement : and, on the 6th of
March, Loualiler's trial by court-martial began. Protesting
against the jurisdiction, he refused to answer. The court
rejecting most of the charges specified against him, tried and
acquitted him, on the 11th of March, of the only one taken
intO' consideration, viz., article 57th of the Rules and Articles
of War, established by Act of Congress, against holding cor
respondence with, or giving intelligence to, the enemy, either
directly or indirectly. Mr. Louallier was found not guUty
of that charge ; which was, however, by his publication,
within range of proof. Before news of peace reached the
general, both Louallier and Hall were enlarged, on the 11th
of March; but the judge banished four miles above New

MARTIAL LAW. 253
Orleans. On the 12th or 13th of March, official InteUigence
arrived of the ratified treaty, which Jackson instantly pub
lished, with the most lively emotions of joy and gratitude to
Heaven; whereupon he lost not an Instant in annulling the
general order of the 15th of December, proclaiming martial
law ; pardoning all military offences comioitted in the district ;
and discharging all persons in confinement under such charges.
Tenacious of right, yet studious of public approbation, his
first appeal to it, after peace, was by disapprobation of Lou
aliler's «,cqulttal. In a general order of the 14th of March, by
an argument that martial law, which makes every man a sol
dier, would have no force, but must be inoperative, if all the
press may denounce, and every person defy It with impunity.
Unwarrantable, unless indispensable, is the plea of dire ne
cessity, which alone can substitute one man's arbitrary will for
the consent of all developed In deliberate legislation and ad
ministration of justice. Still, the Constitution of the United
States contemplates such exigencies. Nor could Jackson, fif
teen hundred miles from the seat of government, needing four
weeks to receive orders, wait such procrastination to cope with
the crisis that beset him. " For an Act of Congress to suspend
habeas corpus. President Jefferson, in the height of his popu
larity, was able to induce but very few votes. And it is better,
when martial law Is declared, that It be done on individual
responsibility. Twelve years after that proclaimed by Jack
son, Mr. Louallier, by a pamphlet, complained of his wrongs
to the public, to Injure Jackson's candldatCshlp for the Presi
dency of the United States. But public sentiment cannot
settle a question for which a court of justice would be a more
suitable tribunal. Even courts of justice are constrained by
emergencies to recognise what the law considers wrong with
out injury. Every judge must pronounce as the law that no
man has a legal right to set up his will as martial law, which
every considerate freeman must deprecate as a dreadful la^t
resort. Yet, juries might lawfully find that Loualiler's con
finement was not the violation of personal liberty for which
perpetrators are mulcted in damages by courts of justice.
Loualiler's confinement involved the right of personal free-

254 CONTEMPT OF COURT. »
dom, constitutionally guarded, highly prized, and deemed a
right of man by every republican American. Arrest and con-
' finement of a judge, frustrating the writ of habeas corpus,
— resented, prosecuted, and punished, by the judge inflicting
a fine for them on the general — involves still more Important
principles. In that conflict of laws, the arbitrary and despotic
power of martial law was retorted by the equally arbitrary
and despotic judicial power to repress what is known as con
tempt of court. Self-defence Is a right Inherent wlth^every
Individual, and all associations oi persons, especially branches
of government, legislative , and judicial, civil and mUitary.
Courts of justice are, and must be, invested with the faculty
of self-preservation. The Supreme Court of the United States
carefully defined that authority, as universally acknowledged
to be vested by their very creation, to impose silence, respect,
and decorum In their presence, and submission to their lawful
mandates. Such power, like that of martial law to defend a
country from ruin. Is aboriginal and indispensable, not. the
offspring of any grant. No common law or statute Is required
for what comes with the creation of the court, and which the
Acts of Congress organizing courts do not give, but define ;
limiting It to any cause on hearing before them, as their opin
ion confines it to their presence or their lawful mandates. In
consequence of an abuse of the power by a judge. Congress,
in 1880, still further, and perhaps overmuch, restrained it to
misbehavior in or near the court, obstructing the~ administra
tion of justice, and disobedience to its process. In England
and this country, it has always been begrudged by the people,
disgusted by excesses of judges prone to use as a sword what
belongs to them only as a shield': and that not for themselves,
but as representing government in the administration of jus
tice. The king in England, the people here, are the only
•offended parties. The angry judge, who resents and punishes
his own offended dignity, is a law-breaker as unjustifiable as
the soldier who resorts to martial law from any personal mo
tive. The tyrant's plea of necessity is the only reason for
repressing contempt, as much as for the enforcement of mar
tial law. Judicial abuse or excess may be as detrimental as

CONTEMPT OP COURT. 255
mUitary. While the judicial power is unquestionable, and no
court can administer justice '^vithout it, yet power so enor
mous, so liable to abuse, is odious in all communities. With
out citation, indictment, imparlance, ordinary proof, or trial,
for a judge, by authority common to the lowest as well as the
highest tribunals, to punish undefined offence, by fine or im
prisonment, at discretion, however Indispensable, like martial
law, yet is jurisdiction which can not be strained or extended
without public detriment, when the judge makes and executes
the law, in his own case. Royal usurpation, in England, pro
duced the reaction which thus subjects military to civil autho
rity, more however, in modern times, theoretically than in re
ality : for the navy and army of Great Britain, much Increased
since then, were, even then, by so true a royalist as Blackstone,
pronounced Inconsistent with the principles of the British go
vernment. The American army and navy have little power
of harm : yet this country Inherited and exaggerates a mother-
country's jealousy of army, and keeps the military In strict
subordination to the civil authority. No military usurpation
has ever occurred, and public welfare remains undisturbed by
martial law ; while, in several States and In the Union, laws,
provoked by judicial abuse of the power to repress contempts,
have reduced the power perhaps beyond what is Indispensable
to judicial self-preservation. Lawyers have so much, and sol
diers so little, to do In our legislation and ^public opinion (ex
cept occasionally, by heroic popularity), that, while martial
law is generally deprecated as insufferable, the English law of
contempt is upheld by most of the more infiuential portion of
the American community. Sprung from the Star-Chamber,
that Inquisitorial law militates with all the principles of British
and American justice. And, when passing on the confiict be
tween General Jackson and Judge Hall, calm, philosophical
judgment must bewaroxof the prejudices of professional bigotry
as well as the seductive delusion of military glory.
Whether, as Jackson charged, and Hall did not deny, he
concerted the habeas corpus with Louallier, which, if so, was
derogatory to his station, at all events he knew that he had
been Instrumental, t-nth most respectable lawyers, judges, and

256 NO CASE OF CONTEMPT.
other considerate citizens, in the imposition of martial law.
He was aware that LoualUer's arrest v/as not a case of wanton,
ordinary, or malicious restraint of liberty, but< that a good
cause was publicly pleaded for it. He had closed his court.
The State Legislature had closed all others. The only law
was martial law ; and however Irksome or annoying it may
have been, the judge knew that neither person, property, nor ,
common business were suffering severely. Though the judge
might think, with Louallier, that it was time to restore common
law ; that there was no longer necessity, and therefore no right
to maintain martial law, still the judge was apprised that the
general thought otherwise ; that he was anxiously resolved to
prolong martial law ; wherefore, the confiict between it and the
law asserted by the judge, involved the principle of general
safety, more important than that of personal liberty.- Loual
iler's application for relief,- by habeas corpus, from Jackson's
arrest, was allowed In March by a judge who would not have
allowed it in December ; but who assumed to determine that
the necessity of December no longer remained in force in
March. The judge's Immediate arrest, therefore, and confinement for
several days, with banishment, finally, from the city, were acts
of extreme rigor, which, if illegal or unjust, rendered th'e
general responsible to legal punishment. But was he punish
able for contempt of court ? After martial law was abrogated
by the general's order of the 13th of March, the judge re
turned to the city bent on vengeance. There was no cause or
hearing In court before him. No court was in session from
the 15th of December, 1814, tUl the 22d of March, 1815.
Although the Constitution of the United States forbids sus
pension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, unless
when public safety requires it, in case of rebellion or invasion,
<and an act of Congress authorises courts to grant the writ, yet
no act of Congress defines or regulates either the privilege or
the process. In Louisiana, the practice in such a case was
unbroken ground. Spanish and French births attached the
inhabitants to other than English or American forms of pro
ceeding ; and Judge Hall's resentment was to be satiated as

ATTACHMENT FOR CONTEMPT. 257

he might break the way on such an occasion. He and Dick,
the United States Attorney, both English born, were probably
attached to English methods. Though the District Attor
ney, as public prosecutor, had no authority to act against
Jackson, yet, as the judge's adviser and Instigator, we are
informed, by Judge Martin's history, that Dick wanted Hall,
by some unheard-of Imitation of the vengeance of royal restora
tions, to take cognizance of Jackson's proceedings, not in any
specified case, time, or Instance, but during the whole week
that followed the arrival of the messenger of peace. Strange,
and, 'without further explanation, unintelligible as so unexam
pled a prosecution would have been, it was not, nevertheless,
substantially beyond the judge's revengeful determination to
punish the offender. Martin assures us that Hall's return to
the city was greeted by the acclamations of the Inhabitants ;
that, by his firmness eight years before, having arrested Wil
kinson's illegal meaSui-es, he was therefore looked upon to show
that, if he had been unable to stop Jackson's arbitrary steps,
he would prevent him from exulting in the impunity of his
trespass. Thus no Interrupted suit was to be prosecuted, or
judicial action sustained ; but, without cause or hearing in court,
a special court was opened, and proceedings, ex parte, insti
tuted to punish a prior 'wrong. As Judge Martin accurately
expresses it, Jackson's offence, if guilty, was what the law de
nominates trespass, but not contempt. And all courts of jus
tice, except his own. Were open to redress an injured man for
what he undertook to punish as contempt of court in his own.
Accordingly, on the 22d of March, his court, tUl then closed
since December, was specially opened; and, as the record
states, on several affidavits or depositions, all ex parte, the
district attorney; Dick, moved, and the judge ordered, that
Major-General Andrew Jackson show cause why an attachment
should not Issue, against him for contempt of this court, in
having disrespectfully wrested from the clerk an original order
for issuing a writ of habeas corpus ; for detaining it ; for dis
regarding the writ when issued and served ; in having impri
soned the judge ; and for other contempts, as stated by the
witnesses. Such were the offences, as specified by the judge
Vol. IV. — 17

258 EXTRA-JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS.
and attorney. On testimony taken without notice to the ac
cused, two angry individuals put him on his trial for strange
misdemeanors. Detaining the petition, but giving a copy of
it, did not defeat or retard the writ. Not served till after It
w-as returnable, the writ was void. A judge arrested and con
fined after allowance, but before service of the writ, was sub
jected to personal Indignity. But was it contempt of com-t,
when none was in session, and no process had issued ?
In respectful obedience to the rule of court, General Jack
son appeared, and offered to show cause, on, oath, why the
attachment should not issue against him. But the district-
attorney interrupted the reading of the affidavit, and the
judge, without hearing it, adjourned the court, to consider
whether he would allow it to be read. Next day, again, he
stopped the reading of, and rejected it, unless on certain con
ditions which he laid down as applicable to such cases. Al
though assured that it respectfully complied with those condi
tions, the affidavit was nevertheless not allowed by the judge
to be read; but, after hearing arguments by the district-
attorney and two more lawyers for making the rule-absolute,
no defenda,nt or accused party bein^ present, the judge again
adjourned, apparently to determine in what form to consum
mate the enforcement. Next day, the 29 th of March, declar
ing that sufficient cause had not been shown. Judge Hall or
dered the attachment to issue, returnable the 31st of the
month. As this was, as the judge stated, the first proceeding
of any importance for contempt instituted in that court, it Is
not perhaps important to ascertain whether the forms he in
troduced conform to established technicalities of such occa
sions. Certainly, they conflict with fundamental prmclples
of English and American jurisprudence. On testimony, taken
without notice to the accused, to condemn, without aUowiug
him to be heard. Is Inconsistent with English and American
justice. To apply such harsh regulations to circumstances
which it may well be doubted whether they constitute what
our law recognises as contempt of court aggravates . unprece
dented and arbitrary proceedings.
The court was opened on the Sist of March, 1815, for pun-

THE GENERAL SENTENCED. 259
ishment of the offender, appearing before his accusers as never
before culprit did, and submitting to be fined as never was
contempt punished. The court crowded with Jackson's com
rades in arms, and the avenues encumbered by their alarm
ing presence, disturbed the judge's self-possession by cheer
ing their general. A number of interrogations, for his an
swers, were filed by the district-attorney, designed to extract
from the accused confession of his alleged offences ; which,
when tendered to him by the judge, the general refused to
answer, because, he said, the court would not hear his defence,
although advised that it contained sufficient cause to show why
the attachment should not issue ; wherefore the general ap
peared before the court, he added, meaning no disrespect, to
abide its sentence. The law of contempt, as vindicated by
English judges, is, that, by authority transcending power, a
brilliant lustre is to surround courts and awe bystanders. Just
the reverse of that philosophy characterized the Intended pun
ishment of Jackson. The judge, instead of seizing a fine oc
casion for illustrating judicial dignity, disconcerted, was about
to abandon his duty, by adjourning the court, for fear of the
military throng, when the general calmly rose, and, queUing
the tumult, encouraged the judge' to proceed by assurance of
submission. But for that interposal, there would have been
no judgment, at any rate, that day, if at all. The culprit
protecting the magistrate, enabled him to execute the law,
powerless without such intervention. But the judge, though
partially restored to authority by such aid, was not sufficiently
redintegrated to infiict punishment according to law. The
judgment was, that Major-General Andrew Jackson pay a fine
of one thousand dollars to the United States. But It was no
part of the judgment that he stand committed till it was com
plied with, nor was he delivered into custody, or otherwise
restrained of his liberty ; but, the offender at large, the court
adjourned, and, instead of being punished, the condemned
left the court as free as he entered it. At the door, he again
admonished the throng to respect the law, repeated that lesson
to the people when arrived at his quarters, and, but for his
subsequent voluntary payment of the fine, it is doubtful whe-

260 ¦ FINE PAID.
ther It could . have been recovered. Admirers of Jackson's
services and conduct subscribed and offered to pay it : but he
declined their aid, and paid it himself. The sum was large, for
one not rich. The judge did not mal;e imprisonment any
part of his sentence, as Incarcerating the hero, for whose great
victories in their defence all Louisiana was then exulting, must
have further endeared him ttf them. Judicial authority, which
every considerate republican' must desire to uphold unimpaired
in Its utmost force and veneration, derives neither from the
fine imposed on Jackson. All the circumstances of that judi
cial usurpation or abortion (whichever It be, if not both) tend,
on the contrary, to degrade the court and dignify its victim.
Of all Jackson's contests in Louisiana, with tbe British, the
French, the press, and the judge, no one resulted more to his
honor than the latter.
Jackson's campaigns of 1813 - '14, against the Indians, and
of 1814 -'15, against the British, developing prominent fea
tures of an extraordinary man. Induced his fellow-countrymen
to make him their chief magistrate in 1829, and by re-election
in 1835, he continued during two successive presidential terms.
Four years after his retirement from the presidency, memorials
presented by individuals, in 1842, to the, 27th Congress, re
commended that the fine imposed on him by Judge Hall should
be refunded. Involved in the expensive hospitalities which
are part of a President's liabilities, and also, I believe, by
some debts assumed for others, Jackson was in need, when his
popularity was greater than any living American's. Having
always, from his first appearance In the war of 1812, been
among his admu-ers, acting on the memorials in' his behalf, I
was permitted by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House
of Representatives of that Congress, of which I was a minority-
member, to submit a, report for repaying the fine to him. At
the folio wingv session of that Congress, Mr. James Pearce, of
Maryland, from the majority of the same committee, made, in
January, 1843, an elaborate report against refui;idlng the fine :-
asserting, as I conceive, mistaken doctrines of the law of con
tempt and of martial law, applauding Judge Hall beyond his
deserts, and depreciating General Jackson below his, not as a

FINE REFUNDED. 261
military man, but as one of overbearing nature, disposed tc
sacrifice great principles of free government to his inordinate
love of rule. As I thought that Mr. Pearce's report mistook
the facts, the law, and the policy of a great occasion, I pre
sented the subject in a pamphlet, appealing, not to merely
popular, but legal and dispassionate consideration. In the
28th Congress, by change of parties, I was transferred from
a minority to the majority : and, public attention being dra^wn
to the subject, the Legislatures of several States, and the act
ing President of the United States, John Tyler, urged Con
gress to refund tbe fine. My pamphlet was laid on the table
of every member of the 28th Congress, when it assembled, the
Sth of December, 1843 ; and, next day, as soon as the House
of Representatives was organized, before the standing commit
tees were appointed, or any business done, I asked and ob
tained leave to report a bill to refund the fine. The bill was
considered, on several successive days, and efforts made by
various members to defeat it. John Quincy Adams, by oppo
sition unbecoming his position, said, that we should rather sub
scribe ourselves and raise some money for the old man. His
position, generally, and that of others who opposed my bill,
was, that it disparaged the judiciary; for which branch of
American government they claimed the worst, and, as I con
sider, untenable British power to punish contempt. On the
anniversary of the last battle of New Orleans, Sth of January,
1844, then become a national festival, my bill was finally
passed by the House of Representatives, 158 of whose mem
bers recorded their votes for It, and no more than 28 voted
the contrary. On the 31st of January, 1844, John ]\Iaepher-
son Berrien, who had been General Jackson's Attorney-General
at the outset of his presidential administration, reported my
biU from the Judiciary Committee to the Senate, with an
amendment providing that it should not be construed to imply
any censure on Judge Hall, by whom the fine was imposed :
which proposed amendment was rejected by a vote of 26 to 18 ;
and, on the 14th of February, 1844, my biU, without the least
alteration, precisely as I reported it, finally passed the Senate,
by 30 votes to 16 — was, of course, approved by acting-Presi-

262 JACKSON'S DEATH.
dent Tyler, and became a law. The money, in gold, then not
common currency, principal and interest, -was sent to General
Jackson : and, what was stIU more grateful, a stigma removed
from his repubUcan reputation. No qualified repa;yment of
the fine, approving the judgment, would have satisfied the
beneficiary of that Act of Congress, who protested uniformly,
with characteristic infiexibility, that as he had not appUed to
Congress, and desired no favor at their hands, so he would not
accept the public tribute of repayment of the sum unjustly ex
acted of him, unless it did full justice to his right to declare
and continue martial law as he had done.
My personal acquaintance with General Jackson was slight;
and I am not well qualified accurately to describe his manners,
which appear to have sometimes given offence by want of re
finement. But uneducated and Illiterate as he was, and coarse
as he may have been, there were rectitude, sagacity, patriot
ism, courage, and charity enough in his nature to render him
a superior man.
General Jackson died the Sth of June, 1846, and was buried
the 11th of the month, as he had arranged, in the garden at
his seat, the Hermitage, about twelve miles from Nashville, the
capital of Tennessee. His disease was dropsy, with which he
long suffered : but with constant fortitude, and never-failing
confidence of future beatitude. A devout Christian, but with
out humility. Death was no king of terrors to him ; nor bad he
any doubt of blissful immortality. The day of his Interment
was one of those still, balmy, beautiful mornings of early south
ern summer, when every tree was In full foliage, the earth
Covered with flowers, and the air perfumed with delicious
odors. From thirty miles round, the neighborhood were col
lected to the funeral, filling the surrounding woods with vehi
cles, and horses fastened to branches, the horses neighing, and
pawing the ground with impatience. The corpse was laid so
as to present the bust to view, the face deathly pale, but fuller
than life, owing to the disease, the bushy gray hair turned
back over the head, the countenance perfectly serene, and
looking more like sleep than death. General Armstrong,, who
had been one of Jackson's most faithful comrades in his

Jackson's burial. 263
Creek war, and Judge Catron, of the Supreme Court of the
United States, stood at the head of the coffin, regulating the
throng as they approached in couples and were moved off, after
gazing at the body. None were excluded or prevented : slaves
and all had their tum, and many tears were shed.
A vault had been constructed, by General Jackson, in the
garden, where his much-beloved wife was laid, and his remains
were to repose with hers. Enclosed in two coffins of lead and
mahogany- wood, they were laid together, the marble slab then
placed over the vault, and the simple solemnities closed with
customary religious exercises.

264 CITY OF WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER VII.
LAST SESSION OF WAR CONGRESS.
Seat of Government — Jefferson's Library — Pensions — Despatches from
Ghent— American misappreliension of British Power — Monroe — Dallas-
Halifax Campaign — Conscription proposed by Monroe — Opposed by
Jonathan Mason and Christopher Gore — Death of Vice-President Gerry
— Amalgamation of Parties — Army Bills — Debates — Richard Stockton's
Speech- English views of American Conscription — Congress reject it-
Military Substitutes — State support of 'War-measures — South Carolina-
New York — Maryland — 'Western States — State Troops — Naval Mea
sures—Bill to suppress Smuggling — Peace — Lewis B. Sturges— Wel
come of Peace — Failure of Congress to sustain the Executive — Presi- ,
dent's Drawing-room — Military Peace Establishment — Discussion -and
Dissension on reduction of tjie Army — Bill to limit Navigation to Ame
rican Seamen — Restrictive Laws repealed — Naval Rewards — Military
Academy — Consequences of War.
Congress assembled in September, 1814, in discomfort.
AU the public buildings of Washington were destroyed, except
the patent-office. In which we met. And one of the first reso
lutions proposed was by Jonathan FIsk, for removal of the
seat of government to some more convenient and less disho
nored place. As PhUadelphia was that generally preferred as
the substitute, I voted for it ; though now, if not then, con
vinced that to abandon Washington would be detrimental to'
the national interest, at any time, and at that crisis especially.
At first Mr. FIsk, and Mr. Grosvenor, who was his chief sup
porter in the movement, obtained considerable majorities in
the House. But dwindling at every successive vote tUl finally,
by eighty-three to seventy-four, the project was defeated.
Executive influence was strong against it, and local feeling
intense. Mr. Thomas Law, a brother of the EngHsh chief
justice, Lord Ellenborough, and who married a grand-daughter

CITY OF WASHINGTON. 265
of Washington's wife, and by his advice, as Law said, invested
a hundred thousand guineas, which he brought from India,
where he governed a province, to this country, in city lots of
the federal metropolis, a man of eccentric behaviour, consi
derable attainments, and addicted to newspaper publications,
was particularly alarmed and protestant against what he repro
bated as a breach of public faith, that would ruin him and
many other innocent, meritorious property-holders of vested
rights. The National Intelligencer, lampooned as the Court
Gazette by the Federal RepubUcan newspaper. Intimated
that the President's veto was ready for any bill that Con
gress might pass for remo-ving the seat of govemment from
where Washington had fixed and named it by an act of Con
gress, in which Madison took an active part, by compromise
and compact ; to deracinate which, would violate national faith,
like repudiation of public debt. Since then, Washington has
quintupled Its population, and, in that respect, is rendering
itself obnoxious to the objection to populous towns, which was
a leading inducement for transferring the seat of government
from Philadelphia. While writing this (AprU, 1848), mobs,
several thousand strong, besiege, and even assault, every night,
a printing-office, stoutly defended by the occupant, accused of
countenancing illegal emancipation of slaves, concerning which
Inauspicious topic both Houses of Congress have been daily
disturbed by fierce controversy.
From the destruction of the library of Congress, as is the
common result of violent injustice, sprang a library ever since
accumulating, till already one of the greatest ornaments and
most rational enjoyments of the Capital. On the lOth of
October, 1814, Robert Goldsborough, from the joint library
committee of both houses of Congress, communicated to the
Senate Jefferson's letter of the 21st of September, 1814,
addressed to Samuel Harrison Smith, offering his library to
Congress ; for the purchase of which, a resolution was imme
diately introduced, by unanimous consent/ in the Senate,
forthwith passed through the three readings, and on the same
day sent to tho House, there read twice and committed to a
committee of the whole.

266 JEFFERSON'S LETTER.
"I learn," Jefferson wrote from Monticello, his Virginia retirement,
"that the Vandalism of the enemy has triumphed, at Washington, over
science as well as the arts, by the destruction of the public library, with
the noble edifice in which it was deposited. You know my collection, its
condition, and extent. I have been fifty years making it, and have spared
no pains, opportunity, or expense, to make it as if is. While residing ia
Paris, I devoted every afternoon I was disengaged, for a summer or two, in
examining all the principal bookstores, turning over every book with my
own hands, and putting by every thing which related to America, and,
indeed, whatever was rare and valuable in evfery science. Besides this, I
had standing orders, during the whole time I was in Europe, in all its prin
cipal book-marts, particularly Amsterdam, Frankfort, Madrid, and London,
for such works relating to America as could not be found in Paris. So that
in that department, particularly, such a collection was made as can ne-lfer
be again effected, because it is hardly probable that the same opportunities,
the same time, the same industry, and perseverance, and expense, with
some knowledge of the bibliography of the subject, would again happen in
concurrence. During the same period, and after my return to America, I
was led to procure, also, whatever related to the . duties of those in the
highest concerns ofthe nation ; so that the collection, which I suppose is of
between nine and ten thousand volumes, while it contains what is chiefly
valuable in science and literature generally, extends mbre particularly to
whatever belongs to the American statesman ; in the diplomatic and parlia
mentary branches, it is particularly full. It is long since t have been sen
sible it ought not to continue private property, and had provided, at my
death, Congress should have the refnsal of it at their own price ; but the
loss they have now incurred makes the present the proper moment for their
accommodation, without regard to the small remnant of time, and the barren
use of my enjoying it. I ask of your friendship, therefore; to make for me
the tender of it to the library committee of Congress, not knowing, myself,
of whom the committee consists. I enclose you a catalogue, which will
enable them to judge of its contents ; nearly the whole are well bound, —
abundance of them elegantly, and of the choicest editions. They may be
valued by persons named by themselves, and the payment made convenient
to the public. It may be, for instance, in such annual instalments as the
law of Congress has lefl at their disposal, or in stock in any of their late
loans, or of any loan they may institute at this session, so as to spare the
calls of our country, and await its days of peace and prosperity. They
may enter, nevertheless, into immediate use of it, as eighteen or twenty
wagons' load would place it in Washington, in a single trip of a fortnight.
I should be willing to retain a few of the books to amuse the time I have
yet to pass, chiefly classical and mathematical, some few in otlier branches,
and particularly one of the five encyclopEedias, in the catalogue'. I have
not revised the library since I came home to live, except in the chapters of
law and divinity. I do not know that it contains any branch of science

WASHINGTON. 267
which Congress should wish to exclude from their collection. There is, in
fact, no subject to which a member of Congress may not have occasion to
refer. Any agreement you shall be so good us to take the trouble of enter
ing into with the committee, I hereby confirm."
Jefferson was the President of genius and reform ; the only
one of our first ten with whom I had no personal acquaintance.
Iii my boyhood, but, old enough to consider and remember, I
saw Washington ; In his coach, going to church, and at other
times when drawn by six horses, with several servants in showy
Hveries ; in his graceful and commanding seat on horseback ;
in a court-dress, small sword, and hair in a bag, delivering his
fareweU address to Congress ; In his drawing-room, with his
secretaries, Pickering, Hamilton, and Knox, smoking the pipe
of peace with a tribe of Indians, all solemn as he was ; and
once, as school-fellow and playmate of his wife's grand-son,
Mr. Custis, I had the casual honor of dining with him in the
grave and nearly taciturn dignity of his .family circle, with
several servants in attendance, and a secretary, Mr. Dan-
dridge, officiating as carver. General Washington's Revolu
tion camp-table chest, presented to Congress on the 18th of
April, 1844, as a relic to be preserved, is one of many proofs
that he not only loved good cheer, but, as governor or manager
of men, promoted convi-viallty as an affair of state and con
venience for business. Almost all accounts represent him as
grave and stately. But I have known. Intimately, ladles who
danced with him ; have heard companions of his pastime hours
describe his enjoyment of not only the pleasures of the table,
but those songs of immodest merriment, then so common a
part of such pleasures. I heard an officer of his military
family entertain La Fayette with a recital of some of the oaths
which General Washington uttered with passionate outbreak,
when disobeyed and disappointed in battle ; I have seen his
minute, written directions for the liveries of his servants, and
conceming the choice and rent of a house ; and have been
assured, by a gentleman who spent some days with him at
Mount Vernon, when no longer on his guard, that the once
reser-yied and solemn statesman chatted freely on all subjects.
Chief founder of cheap and simple government, by chary

268 EX-PRESIDENTS.
modifications of the mother-country monarchy, Washington's
fortune enabled hun to dispense with pubUc bounty — to de
cline pay as a general and a house as President. Jefferson,*
incurring malediction by reforming a parsimonious repiibHc;
lived fourteen years beyond his presidency, without adequate
means for unavoidable hospitality, and left his famUy in the
bondage of debt, deploring the dure necessity of sacrificing his
library. The Constitution, Acts of Congress, and custom,
open the chief magistrate's mansion to great resort, after as
well as during a presidency ; and Monticello was a shrine for
social and literary, scientific and political votaries. However
beautiful, even to sublimity, in theory, is that demonstration
of republican virtue, by which a ruler voluntarily, retires from
executive authority to powerless seclusion, it was practically
attempted, in vain, by Jefferson and his presidential disciples,
Madison and Monroe. Tumultuary conventicles to select pre
sidential candidates falsify the theory of republican government
like impoverished retirement forcing the sale of libraries to
pay debts. Endowed with similitude to regal majesty, not
only in power, but by a palace to inhabit, richly furnished at
public expense, and the incumbent salaried for dignity, to be
thence degraded to shifts for livelihood, and insolvent appHca--
tions to Congress for relief, are vicissitudes more fatal to
republican virtue than pensions. A pension-fund for those
who " by long and faithful services deserve the gratitude of
their country" was soon found indispensable to this; and,
during Jefferson's presidency, a permanent pension system was
arranged by Act of (j!longress : but, confined to fighting men,
essentially unrepubllcan ; rewarding warriors alone, encourag
ing hostilities, and altogether monarchical. Public servants,
Hke Jefferson, who spend life in inculcations of peace and de
velopment of prosperity, are left to struggle, pine, and die, in
base indigence, while the militant are profusely provided for,
and nearly all their kindred. The franklng-privilege for cor
respondence, insignificant boon, involving the whole principle
of a pension, has been granted to all past Presidents and ex
tended to their widows. But, while the value of Jefferson's
moderate landed property was reduced, by his inestimable

, ALTERNATIVES FOR PENSIONS. 289
acquisition of immense Louisiana, the purchaser, left, after his
presidency, burdened with the inevitable hospitality of high
position, died, fifty thousand dollars in debt. Ignominious
attempts failed by private subscriptions, thereupon urged at
public meetings, to relieve his family — for whom the States
of South Carolina and Louisiana made some provision. But,
after his granddaughters, by the drudgery of keeping school,
extinguished part of their hard inheritance, his respectable
grandson and executor appHed at last to Congress to buy some
of the manuscripts of the illustrious author of the Declaration
of Independence, whose library, thirty odd years before^ had
been sacrificed in vain for similar relief. In some of the last
precarious hours of the expiring long session of the 30th Con
gress (August, 1848), when the voluminous annual appropria
tion bUl was, neither considered or discussed, but passed In the
confounding chance-medley of precipitated legislation, few of
. the calmest, most experienced, and attentive members able to
tell what takes place ^ the allowance for Jefferson's manu
scripts, appearing in that statute, was, according to my recol
lection, negatived by the noisy votes of that niggard majority
which consists of all parties, but mostly democratic, in Ame
rican legislatures. Voting for the grant, and regretting what
I believe was clamorous rejection, I presume that it must have
been afterwards, without my perception, sanctioned by one of
the many Irregular methods by which, on such occasions, mi
norities enact laws. For practice often contravenes the theory
of making, laws, as it does that of choosing Presidents.
That surreptitious alternative for a pension is not the first
or only instance when virtue, said to be vital to republics, dis
appears from legislation, lest republican virtue should be pre
judiced by a pension. In the confusion of the last day of the
first session of the 16th Congress (22d May, 1826), a biU, en
titled for the relief of James Monroe, neediest of all the Pre
sidents, was hurried to enactment, granting nearly $30,000 to
him, "in full of all demands against the United States." Per
haps it does not confiict with that condition that, on the last
day of the last session of the 30th Congress (March 3d, 1849),
^20,000 more were^granted, "to purchase the books and

270 PENSION SYSTEM.
manuscripts of the late James Monroe." At the same tirae,
another $20,000 were appropriated, " to purchase the remain
ing manuscripts, books, and papers of General George Wash
ington." For, long after his death, that clear and venerable
name appears on another Act of Congress, granting money for
effects, which, however valuable, if Uving, he would never have
sold. On the 31st of May, 1848, an Act of Congress appro
priated $20,000, " to purchase of Mrs. D. P. Madison, widow
of the late James Madison, formerly President of the ITnited
States, all the unpublished manuscript-papers of the said"
James Madison in her possession," and created trustees for
the preservation of the sum granted, because a like sum, given
by a prior Act of Congress, had been squandered by a mem
ber of her family. Congress, in 1814, as before stated, re
fused any allowance to the indigent family of Vice-President
Gerry, who, after a long life spent in public service, almost
died in his seat in the Senate,. A subsequent Congress granted
a considerable sum to the family of Vice-President Tompkins,
in full payment of certain claims for military expenditures by
him in the. war of 1812; notwithstanding which payment in
full, a subsequent Congress granted another considerable sum.
The widow qf President Harrison was allowed $25,000. The
sum granted by Congress to reimburse past President Jackson
the amount of the fine imposed on him at New Orleans, besides
being deemed an act of justice, was also not without the know
ledge that his home at the Hermitage was overrun by guests,
sixty of whom in one day would claim his hospitality.
These sorry subterfuges, by which pensions to public bene
factors have been avoided, for civilian services, while the mi
litary are pensioned with extravagant profusion, demonstrate,
I think, crude politics, and falsify. In practice, the theory of
republican government. Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and
Jackson, survived the presidency, to suffer by the position
exacted of them as much in retirement as In office. Would
public virtue suffer more from an allowance to past Presi
dents, for decent dignity, than by the erratic contrivances, for
their relief from debt, which our code exposes ? Shortly be
fore his death, when too feeble to leave his couch, but his in-

PENSIONS. 271
tellect still as bright and his patriotism warm as ever, with
out the possibility of a selfish motive, — with no feeling but
for the honor of his country — Madison said to me, that pen
sions for past Presidents ought to be part of our republican
system : he even named the amount — $5000 a year. " They
cannot," he said, "without discredit to their country, shut
their doors against the numerous guests, whom they must
receive with respectable welcome." Clandestine and surrep
titious grants, wrung from Congress at midnight, react from
the rejection of permanent provision for the proper support
of those who, when out of office, are still before the public ;
and to whom individuated allowances by annual Acts of Con
gress would be liable to none of the well-founded objections
creating just prejudices against pensions as often misapplied
in Europe.
Washington declined the residence proposed for him as Pre
sident. Modern Presidents might imitate that wise reserve.
For why should a President inhabit a palace to-day. If liable
to dwell in an almshouse to-morrow? — keep a palace of public
entertainment as President, and then be reduced to a hermit
age ? Luxurious and ostentatious living Is no part of the pre
sidential function.- But not to spend in refined hospitality all
that Congress allow a President, Washington, Jefferson, Ma
dison, and Jackson, deemed inconsistent with an elevated po
sition. The fate of impoverished families may Induce suc
cessors to hoard what was given to spend: till, for want of
a just and moderate pension-system, the presidency is sought,
not for honor, but gain.
As a democratic member of Congress uniformly voting for
those irregular, but indispensable gratuities, I submit them as
deplorable consequences of the retrograde reform and costly
parsimony sometimes deranging republican government and
impairing its virtue. The sale of Jefferson's library was the
first step in that decline, of all others the most dangerous,
which renders ambition the slave of want, and avarice
wisdom. The discussion and votes In the House of Representatives
on the purchase of Jefferson's library betrayed the English

272 JEFFERSON'S LIBRAliT.
prepossessions of some, the narrow parsimony of others, the
party-prejudices of nearly all. We went into committee the
17th of October, 1814, Joseph Lewis, of Virginia, in the chair.
Mr. Thomas Oakley, now judge in the city of New York, Mr.
John Reed, now Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, and
Mr. Grosvenor, opposed the biU, objecting to the number of
books in foreign languages, particularly French, and many of
them the writings of Voltaire, Rousseau, and the other literary
apostles of the French Revolution. Nor did English works
of progress and speculative freedom, such as Locke's, escape
animadversion. , The downfall of the French Empire, -which
crowned the Revolution of that country, — the triumph of
absolute government, said to be the natural offspring of revo
lution — and the alleged failure thereby of Jefferson's political
doctrines, which have since so generally been established in
the Old World and New, encouraged those who admired those
American institutions which are least original and most Euro
pean to repudiate his as dangerous novelties and modern demo
cratic experiments. There were eminent lawyers in the House
of Representatives disposed to banish from American know
ledge the great lights of literature which have shed, with the
American Revolution, their vivifying infiuence on the stagnant
pool of European intellectuality. To these shortsighted views
answers were made by Dr. Seybert, Governor Wright, Boiling
Robertson, Mr. Clay's successor, Joseph Hawkins, and John
Forsyth. When the committee, after negativing several at
tempts to frustrate the purchase, rose, and reported the biU
as it came from the Senate, without amendment, Cyrus King
moved, in the House, to limit the purchase to " such parts as
the Library-Committee might judge suitable," which was de
signed to exclude French progressive and philosophical works,
and for which motion John Reed, Timothy Pickering, Timothy
Pitkin, Richard Stockton, and Daniel Webster, with, altoge
ther, 47 members, voted ; while William Gaston, Moss Kent
(brother of Chancellor Kent), and other Federalists, voted
for the books. Mr. John Reed then made an appeal to the
well-known parsimony of tnany RepubUcans ; and, on his mo
tion to limit the price to $25,000, the House adjourned. Next

Jefferson's library. 273
day, the debate was sharply resumed by Mr. Oakley, Mr.
Pickering, and Mr. John Reed, warmly opposed by a young
Federalist of the Massachusetts delegation, John C. Hurlbut,
who,' In a maiden-speech of much vivacity and force, advocated
the purchase of the library. Only 37 voted to reduce the
price one-half; among them Nathaniel Macon, who never failed
to demonstrate his always peculiar, often eccentric, and some
times extravagant, economy. Mr. Gaston, Mr. Hanson, Mr.
Webster, Mr. Kent, even Cyrus King, Mr. Oakley, and Mr.
Pickering, Mr. Sturges, and Mr. Law, sided with us on this
money- vote. Mr. Pickering then moved to insert " such books
in the library of Mr. Jefferson as in the opinion of the Library
Committee would be proper to be received and deposited at
the seat of government for the use of the two houses of Con
gress," for which several of our side, Macon, and a few more,
voted, with most of the federal party, including Mr. Webster ;
but Mr. Gaston, Mr. Hurlbut, and Mr. Kent, to the last, ad
hering to the books. By 66 to 52, the bill was finally sus
tained and'became a law. But of the kind of opposition that
it underwent, literary and political, the speech of Cyrus King,
a sincere and not uninformed gentleman, affords ideas of the
vehement hatred of- French literature prevalent, through Eng
Hsh prejudices, in this country. "It might be inferred," he
said, "from the character of the man who collected It, and
France, where the collection was made, that the library con
tained irreUglous and immoral books, works of the French
phUosophers, who caused and influenced the volcano of the
French Revolution, which had desolated Europe and extended
to this country. He was opposed to a general dissemination
of that infidel philosophy and of the principles of a man [Jef
ferson] who had infilcted greater Injury on our country than
any other, except Mr. Madison. The biU would put $23,900
Into Jefferson's pocket for about 6000 books, good, bad, and
indifferent, old, new, and worthless. In languages which many
cannot read, and most ought not ; which is true Jeffersonian,
Madisonian philosophy, to bankrupt the Treasury, beggar the
people, and disgrace the nation."
For that library and its subsequent accretions, a good apart-
VoL.IV. — 18

274 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.
y
ment,. 92 feet long, 34 feet wide, and 36 feet high to an arched
ceUing, with an outlet into a western colonnade overlooking
the city of Washington, was added to the centre of the Capi-
"tol, in 1825, as first contemplated, in 1814, in which the
library, now exceeding 40,000 volumes, is conveniently kept,
in a series of alcoves, supporting galleries divided into twelve
recesses to correspond with the alcoves, containing, by Jeffer
son's plan, the books arranged according to the mental faculty
producing them : first, history, from memory ; second, reason,
from philosophy ; third, fine arts, from imagination ; and thus
classed, in the many branches of literature and science, con
nected with each principal mental division. Yet small, com
pared with the great European libraries, the Congress-library
is nevertheless a comfort to those members who prefer books
to the sensual dissipations of Washington, — a repository of
information indispensable for all, and, among the architectural
pomps of the Capitol, an intellectual luxury the most rational
and edifying in that republic of letters which should flourish
most under republican governments : and which the American
Republic, eldest and stablest of modern representative and
federal republics, should strive to fulfil the destiny of develop
ing, beyond Greek and, Roman, ancient or modern, by render
ing learning a power greater than arms or any other physical
faculty. The first despatches from Ghent seemed almost to unite
both parties in Congress for vigorous hostUities, even though
Madison's administration should wage the war, enjoy its official
patronage, and disburse its large expenditures. StUl, Eastern
disaffection continued implacable, and the Hartford Conven
tion was hastening- to disastrous consummation. The Presi
dent's adroit communication to Congress, In October, of insuf
ferable British demands at Ghent, converted a few Federalists
to vote for suppUes ; but not many ; nor did the fit of patriot
ism last long. Mr. Oakley said that,- though the terms were
inadmissible, yet union of pa,rtles In war-measures could not
be expected under a party-administration. On the 24th of
October, 1814, speaking on the land-tax, Mr. Webster said,
the war was not of his making, nor would he help by his votes

CONGRESS. . 275
to wage it. He did not believe that Mr. Madison's adminis
tration could make any peace. But, as the war was Its con
trivance, so must peace be; both war and such peace as it
could bring about, without any of his agency. The National? "
Intelligencer, constantly, since the Ghent despatches,- beating
for recruits from the opposition, published, next ^ay, that Mr.
Webster would vote for taxes. But, on the following day,
27th of October, was obliged, by unquestionable authority, to
confess its error. Cyrus King, on the 22d of October, gave
us the full blast of Bay-State virulence. " This is a French
war," said he, " which I cannot support. All Europe so con
sider it, especially the great and good Alexander ; and Eng
land will make no peace 'with this administration. I shall vote
against all war-taxes. Massachusetts is commanded by Dear
born, disgracefully recalled from Canada, and New Hampshire
by Chandler, disgracefully captured in Canada. Madison's
administration is less hostile to Old England than New Eng
land, not one of whose members, in this House, has been put
on the Committee of Ways and Means."
Still, the first despatches from Ghent had great effect upon
the country ; and but for the second despatches, communicated
on the first of December, perhaps Congress might have been
raUied to support the Executive. For with the first despatches
came intelligence that a large army was on its way to invade
the South, and the crisis was unquestionably alarming for the
whole country. In the midst of our slow deliberations. Colonel
Brooke, who, by General Ross's death, succeeded to the com
mand of his division, sailed with it from the Chesapeake, on
the 14th of October, for Jamaica, to join the great expedition
preparing for St. Augustine and New Orleans. Pursuant to
orders of the 10th of October, from Washington, Governor
Early caUed out 2500 Georgia miUtia, under Generals Macin
tosh and Blackshear, to rendezvous at Fort Hawkins, and co
operate with General Jackson,- whose brilUant campaign began
soon after by the capture of Pensacola, on the 7th of No
vember. Other chapters of this Historical Sketch have sho'wn how
triumphant our war was, by simultaneous victories at New

276 CONGRESS.
Orleans and abortion at Hartford. But as the tide of triumph
turned in our favor,' and, except in one disgraceful discomfi
ture, American arms arid diplomacy were wonderfuUy success
ful. Congress, misrepresenting the people, as they often do,
deserted the Executive, whose mUitary plans were frustrated,
Uke their financial. Taxes, volunteers, and miUtIa, ships of
war, privateers, and on the lakes noble fleets, . the President
got from Congress. But a regular army he could not Induce
all the war-supporting members to vote. And our faUure in
Congress was ascribable more to relaxation of hostile compul
sion than any other cause. As our forces by sea and land
worsted the British, their ministers at Ghent lowered their
tone. And as they moderated, we ceased to be determined
and united. When Great Britain, intoxicated by prodigious
successes, and blinded by incurable contempt for the United
States, treated our ministers at St. Petersburg, London, and
Ghent, as suppliants from a distracted and dismayed people,
whose life and property were demanded at the mouth of British
arms, a spirit of general national resistance was ellcite^. The
realizable means of the United States required only vigorous
government for their development. The American body-politic
was youthful, patriotic, 'and confiding. The nation was not
more impeded by Eastern disaffection than England by Irish.
Our currency, the vascular system" of common'wealths, was not
much more distempered than the English. British credit, In-
•deed, was immense, while American credit was extremely fee
ble. But our resources were real, while theirs were factitious.
Their unjust hostilities made our war defensive, whatever
casuistry might say to the contrary of its beginning. All
maritime Europe looked on, coldly to be sure, but, from the
Congress of Vienna in all directions, to perceive that our flag
on the ocean was that of emancipation from the British domi
nion which by sea subjugated all before it as offensively as
ever Napoleon did by land. A never-sleeping English oppo
sition watched and arraigned government. All considerate
Englishmen saw that the ministry were waging a war of con
quest, of vengeance, and of inhumanity. Why they persisted,
whether for spoils, or only for revenge, we do not know. But,

ENGLISH MISAPPREHENSIONS. 277
even when their largest expeditions were on the way across
the ocean for the greatest efforts of invasion, the British go
vernment and their ministers at Ghent must have received,
from various quarters, remonstrances and admonitions like the
following, pubUshed In the Quebec Mercury of the 29th of
November, 1814, complaining of English ignorance of Ameri
can boundaries and distances, and the difficulties of defending
such vast territories, truly describing It as —
" A seat of war, compared with which, Europe is of little more extent
thaaa German principality. How many ships of war are on the American
coast, and yet how inadequate are they to a full blockade! How many
British troops shipped off to America, yet how small a part ofthe Canadian
border are they able to cover ! Late European wars have taught the sci
ence of numbers, but England must come to America to understand space.
With some idea of this vast continent, let them learn the difficulties of con
centrating forces on its borders, the still greater difficulties of supplying
them, the hardships and diseases to be suffered ; the annoyances of British
commerce, whitened as the ocean is with it, by American privateers, hard
. to catch, poor prizes when taken, and whose mischiefs cannot be retaliated
on a nation, though deprived of its foreign commerce, still living in plenty
without it."
Such English warnings to their own government are inesti
mable lessons to ours, which that war taught that In conflict
between the United States and Great Britain, this Is the
strongest party, suffers least, and Inflicts most injury ; although
a contrary sentiment Is the chorus of American colonial and
seaport misapprehension. If the boundaries of Maine or
of Oregon are in question with England, such occurrences as
those of the Caroline and the Creole, arranged by the Ash
burton treaty In 1842, the false position of all our administra
tions is, that the alternative is treaty or war. No such alter
native has ever been presented. Since the peace of Ghent,
there has been very little danger of war with England, because
she knows that nothing is to be gained by It. English boasts,
and American fears, indeed, abound to the contrary, of which
some extracts are here inserted.
" The Confederacy, it is well known, was on the very verge of being dis
solved when, at the conclusion of the late general war, from a generous
feeling and, we may say, an heroic spirit of forgiveness, England held cut

278 THE EXECUTIVE.
favorable terms of , peace. What England might at that time have done most
justly, she could have done with all imaginable ease, namely, crushed the
whole fabric ofthe federal government, already tottering, through the disaf
fection ofthe Eastern States. Ten thousand of the men that had fought at
Waterloo would have marched through North America; but the world was
already glutted with war ; and instead of pursuing the revenge of past
injuries, England had the magnanimity to offer the olive-branch to her only
remaining and feeble enemy." — Quarterly Review, Jan. 1828, p. 264, 265;
" The few months ofhojstility that ha.\e passed since the termination of
the revolutionary war excited, at the time, no rancor, and but little notice,
in this country ; our rancor, our affections, and our hopes, were all too much
concentrated in the magnificent contest carried on in the theatre of Europe
to allow any considerable portion of attention being directed, or any ani
mosity extended to," &.c. &c.
" We need hardly say there is not a captain in the British navy that
would not, in the event of a contest, be delighted to meet with the Pennsyl
vania, while in command ofthe Caledonia,."— Quar.-Rev. Jan. 1828, p. 274.
" We will not suppose that America is so insensible of the benefits of
peace, as to be rash enough to commit any direct act of hostile aggression
that can possibly call down, upon her so tremendous a scourge as that of
war with England, a war that might be fatal," &c. — Quarterly Review,
Jan. 1828, p. 290.
These sentiments, natural, perhaps laudable in England,
become extremely pernicious by Ariierican adoption. Per
petual peace with that country, so much to be desired, and. If
possible preserved, will always be endangered by perpetual
fear of war. Peace, always grateful, war, always dreadful,
yet the treaty of Ghent put an end to the war of 1812, before
the United States were constrained, by hostiUties, to put forth
all their energies. The war was just beginning when it ended.
The capture of Washington was the grand cHmacterIc that
closedthe cycle of American disaster and disgrace. The first.
demands at Ghent put an end to further Importunity for peace.
Monroe in the War Department, and DaUas In the Treasury,
lifted the Executive to conceptions of device, exertions of
labor, and assumptions of responsibUity, commensurate ^wlth
the crisis. Congress were caUed upon for acts, which. If even
of questionable constitutionality, were indispensable, and
popular as energetic measures always are : the dormant
resources of republican abUIty, called ^forth from severely-

MONROE. 279
tried, but rather exasperated than disheartened freemen. A
country, like an individual, must be put to trial, in order to
realise its power of endurance and fertility of resource. A
free country, throbbing with the prodigious vitality of repre
sentation, in millions of manly bosonis, discovers unknown
resources, far exceeding the faculty of arbitrary government,
whose greatest efforts are primordial, whereas popular courage,
inert at first, greatest when most tasked, becomes fortitude,
and endures. Increasing, to the end. If Congress had sus
tained the Executive, and England had persisted in her first
demands at Ghent, indeed at any rate, a great endeavor would
have been made to drive her from the American continent.
Failing, as Congress did, to enact all the Executive recom
mended, and a large majority of the people desired, still, with
the events of 1814, American and European, the nation having
no occupation but war, in 1815, inured to, would have waged
it with vastly greater force than theretofore.
A plain, slow, laborious statesman, without visions or fan
cies, James Monroe returned from his French, Spanish, and
English missions, deeply impressed with a bitter conviction that
nothing but war would ever make England do justice to, or
Europe respect, his country. His revolution and republican
aversion was sharpened to personal, if not patriotic malice,
by social as well as political indignities, which, as he com
plained, a representative of the United States underwent in
England. During the twelfth Congress, he urged the com
mittee of foreign affairs, and all the young and ardent advo
cates of war, the Clays, Calhouns, Porters, Cheves, Lowndes,
Grundys, and others, to appeal to arms ; and was largely in
strumental in overcoming Madison's reluctance for that resort.
The report of the committee of foreign affairs vindicating it,
commonly ascribed to Mr. Calhoun, I have reason to beUeve,
was Mr. Monroe's composition. > The original fair draft. In
the hand-writing of Thomas L. Brent, Monroe's confidential
clerk and amanuensis, afterwards charge d'affaires in Portugal,
is now in the office of the clerk of the House of Representa
tives. During the last days of the contest, at past midnight
hours, stolen from the eternal labors and harassing cares of

280 MONROE — DALLAS.
the Treasury Department, Dallas wrote his admirable mani
festo of the causes of the -n-ar, largely cited in my first volume,
intended for official publication, if the war continued; the
production of a tropical American, born In the Island of Ja
maica, with all the fire of an ardent clime. To those two
members of the administration, Dallas, a man of genius, learn
ing, and elegant address; Monroe, without either of those
qualifications, but with the practical training of a whole life'
spent In public service and high stations, legislative, diplo
matic, and executive, together with some military experience,
the war is much beholden : both men of great moral resolution.
Taking lessons from his predecessor's failure in the War De
partment, and assuming it when the army had passed from
novitiate to confidence In itself and the confidence of the
country, Monroe's scale and method of operations were much
more comprehensive, bold, and original. Like his presidential
stand, as Madison's successor in 1823, against further Euro
pean encroachment in America, his project for raising an army
of a hundred thousand regular soldiers by classification, with
out enlistment, and marching them, under Brown and Jack
son, through and with the aid of New England, for the capture
of Halifax, achieving, thereby, conquest of Canada and expul
sion of the English from the nortH-east of this continent, were
schemes of bold importance ; an account of which, though
neither was carried Into effect, are Interesting parts of the
legislative, constitutional, and military, history of that period.
'"he Halifax campaign, mentioned in my first volume, page
75, was Monroe's design for the hostUities of 1815 ; to exter
minate transatlantic power on the American continent, both
territorial and maritime ; transfer the empire of the seas from
Old to New England ; convert the treacherous disaffection at
Hartford into patriotic development of the war, and combine
the East with all the rest of the Union for the national expul
sion of England from America. The early suggestion of Wil
kinson and Pike, both soldiers of considerable attainments,
submitted to Eustis as Secretary, of War, and rejected by him,
when the whole army of the United States did not contain
forty officers of scientific or adequate capacity ; then, through

HALIFAX CAMPAIGN. 281
Colpnel William Duane, a man of extensive military theoretical
information, communicated to Armstrong, who was too much
absorbed in the selection of capable officers for organizing a
good army, which was his work as War-Secretary, to meditate
other undertakings — the project was finally' embraced, appre
ciated, and undertaken by Monroe, with tranquil conviction,
and blended with a political counteraction of the Hartford
Convention, to convert that plot Into patriotism. The rank
and file, the yeomanry, the peculiar but patriotic plebs, of New
England, to a man' republican, and nearly all infiexibly at
tached to the American Union ; the talismanic trident of British
naval supremacy shivered to atoms, for all moral influences,
while still predominant by mere superior force, scattered
in fragments on every sea, lake, and river, from Canada to
Louisiana ; the once terrible mariners and soldiers of England,
no longer invincible, vanquished by land and water In unequal
combat with American victors ; the savage allies of Great Bri
tain, from Mobile to Lake George, reduced by sanguinary de
feats to abject subjugation: — yet England seized the New
foundland fisheries, held part of Massachusetts conquered, in
sisted on the impressment of American seamen, the sovereignty
of Indian tribes within the States, and the exclusive possession
of all the lakes. Then and therefore it was that Halifax was
to be wrested from her by New England; and Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, and Canada, added as new pleiads to the Northern
Constellation. An expedition from New England to Halifax,
even as a mere demonstration, would draw the enemy from the
Atlantic coast and the Western frontiers, and disturb his South
ern designs. Hostilities transferred from the centre and West,
localized In the East, with large public expenditures there, were
to engage and enrich a calculating population, by adding the
temptation of individual gain to that of the aggrandizement of
all New England. Halifax, a seaport of one of the Eastern
States, would put an end to British dominion in the New
World, and much reduce its naval ascendency in the Old.
Without Halifax, there could be no British refitting, victual
ling, or smuggling. In America. Neither British army nor
navy could be retained in this hemisphere. One winter, with-

282 CONGRESS FALTERING.
out Halifax, would annex Canada to the North-eastern States
by the mere exclusion of all European communication. Hali
fax, the nursery of English fisheries, the landing place. If not
head-quarters, of their armies, the best harbor for their navies,
is the right arm of- Anglo-American power, the quarter whence
she searches the sea, by proclamation blockades whole coasts,
establishes Illegitimate contraband, and all the other unjust
police of British admiralty-law, against which every maritime
people of Europe have by turns in vain contended, and which
it is the destiny of this republican empire to put an end to.
There never will be perfect peace or undisturbed prosperity
for the American people represented in Congress assembled at
Washington, or unquestioned stability of their Union, till Hali
fax has a member in that Congress.
In the middle of October, Monroe, acting-Secretary of War,
submitted his plans to Congress. Powerfully and fiercely re
sisted as they were In both houses, denounced and defied by
State legislatures and others in Ne'w England, I believe they
would have been enacted and effected, but for the second des
patches from Ghent, communicated to Congress on the first
of December. Much more moderate and pacific than the
prior despatches, laid before Congress In October, the last feU
from sine qua non to uti possidetis, and, if New Orleans had
fallen, were more dangerous than the first. But, at all
events, they acted lamentably on Congress. The war-pitch
fell as much at Washington as it did in London. The salutary
apprehension of October turned to hopeful confidence In De
cember. The nerve of opposition was strung afresh. Taxes
the war-party could carry, and double them. But a mUitary
organization, such as the crisis and the Executive demanded,
could not be accomplished. Dallas was refused his bank, and
Monroe his regular army : both by votes of their own party,
uniting with the opposition. Indeed, perhaps the intensity of
effort for a bank proved detrimental to the exertions Indispeur
sable for an army.
On the 17th of October, 1814, the new Secretary of War,
Monroe, by letter to George M. Troup, Chairman of the Mili
tary Committee, submitted the executive plan for reorganizing

CLASSIFICATION. 283
and increasing the military force of the country. On the 27th
of October, Mr. Troup, from that committee, reported to the
House of Representatives, a bill for classification, a second bill
to Increase the regular army, and a third bill to authorize
the President to accept volunteers. " Great Britain," said the
War-Secretary, "requires terms spurned by the American na
tion, preliminary to negotiation and sine qua non to peace.
The regular army is too small to resist her vast power ; the
process of recruiting too slow to fill the ranks in time ; to call
out masses of militia and march them far from home too op
pressive and expensive, without taking into account a constitu
tional objection to it." The first bill then proposed to divide
the white male population of the United States, between 18
and 45 years of age, by assessors, into classes of 100 each,
compellable, under penalty of a considerable fine, to furnish,
within thirty days, each class one man and keep him in na
tional service. The second bill proposed to add forty regi
ments to the regular army, estimated at a nominal number of
i-ather more than 60,000 men then, so as to make It exceed
100,000. Comparing the expense of mUitia with regular troops, to re
sist the combined land and water attacks of England, the
Secretary estimated that of the militia as three times greater
than regulars. Not less than 100,000 regular troops, there
fore, must be in the field next campaign, with which to deter
the enemy from predatory and vexatious inroads on our At
lantic coasts and towns, by carrying the war into his Canadian
possessions. Classification was the method of raising these
recruits, from which no one was to be exempted, except the
President of the United States and governors of States. The
bounty, in land and money, paid to idle, drunken, vagrant re
cruits, to seduce them into service and secure them by force,
in money amounted to $126, and in land to 160 acres, each
one. Instead of tbat, not government, but the inhabitants
within the precinct of tbe class from which the draft was taken
were to pay equally, according to the value of their property :
if not paid within a given number of days, to be levied on their
property, and repeated, in like manner, whenever a substitute

284 CLASSIFICATION.
was to be raised for the first recruits. Recruits thus provided
were to be delivered to the recruiting officer of the district,
and marched to places of rendezvous designated by the War
Department. Three modes were suggested for the classifica
tion : 1. by the county courts ; 2. by the county militia officers;
3. by persons in each county appointed for the purpose ; and
the Secretary's fourfold plans were thus argued : —
Firstly. The constitutional right to compel recruits, by
drafts, cannot be doubted. Congress may raise armies, without
restriction of the mode; and it would be absurd to suppose
that it can be done only by volunteers. Discipline is indis
pensable; courage, mechanical; all the citizens composing a
commonwealth have a right, collectively and individually, to
each other's services to repel danger, as legislation may pre
scribe the manner, of which the militia is conclusive proof and
example, and drafting is not more compulsive. The federal
power of the militia Is limited, but that to raise armies is
granted without limitation. Drawing men from the militia into
the regular service, under regular officers, does not violate the
constitutional right of the militia to choose their own officers ;
for the men are not drawn or drafted from the militia, but from
the whole population. When enlisted, they do so as citizens,
not as militia ; which, nevertheless, they all are by enrolment.
All the people of the United States are enrolled as mlHtia,
and if they cannot be drafted into the regular army, how can
they be enlisted ? Setting forth the merits of this method, in-
its complete equality, and rapidity of execution, the Secretary
intimated that, should it be objectionable on account of the
proposed tax on property, it might be paid by the federal
government, fifty dollars In money to the recruit when engaged,
and one hundred acres of land to the drafted man, in addition
to his then land-bounty, during every year of the war's con
tinuance. Secondly. Distribute the whole militia of the United States,
according to age, into three classes, to serve each two years,
when called into actual service.
Thirdly. Exempt every five men from militia service who
supply one to serve during the war ; a mode, by the advan-

CONSCRIPTION. 285
tages it gave to wealth, admitted to be unequal, and otherwise
injurious. Fourthly. If these three modes are rejected, then recruit
as heretofore : but, instead of one hundred and sixty acres of
land, give one hundred every year the war lasts. The first
plan the Secretary preferred, as likely to be found more efficient
against the enemy, less expensive, and less burthensome to
the people. It has the venerable sanction of our Revolution,
in which great struggle It was resorted to, and with effect, to
fill the ranks of the regular army ; and, he added with great
but unavailing truth, If the United States make this exertion,
it is probable that the contest will soon be ended.
Many, though never a majority of even the war-party,
seconded this plan, which was resisted and denounced by the
peace-party with extreme aversion, as conscription, though. In
fact, no more than a direct tax of two dollars worth of military
service, or the alternative in money, contributed by each of the
whole people of the United States ; but so like a measure of
revolutionary France, used and abused by Bonaparte, as to be
obnoxious to the most fallacious misrepresentation, as soon as
proposed. Early in November, the Senate of Connecticut
resolved that the conscript-bill before Congress was unconsti
tutional, tyrannical, and oppressive ; and directed the Go
vernor, as soon as informed of its enactment, speedily to con
vene the Legislature, to pass such laws as should be necessary
to protect citizens of that State from such oppression. The
House of Representatives concurred in that resolution by a
large majority, including many democratic votes; and vexa
tious legal resistance to an act of Congress would have ensued,
if the conscription had been attempted in Connecticut.
Instead of that plan, which was not favored In the Senate,
the chairman of the military committee, William B. Giles, on
the 5th of November, 1815, reported a bill making further
provision for filling the ranks of the regular army, and a bill
authorizing the President to call on the States and Territories
for their respective quotas of eighty thousand militia, to de
fend the frontiers of the United States. But in the House of
Representatives, the chairman of the mUitary committee, Mr.

286 JONATHAN mason's SPEECH.
Troup, who was a zealous and able advocate of classification,
on the 27th of October, 1814, reported the bill for filling" the
ranks of the regular army by classing the free male population
of the United States ; a second biU to provide for the further
defence of the frontiers of the United States, by/authorizing
the President to augment the miUtary estabUshment ; and a
third bill to authorize the President to accept the service of
volunteers. Classification, denounced as conscription, never
was fairly the subject of discussion, though largely debated In
both houses, on the milltia-blU, which alone was taken Into
consideration, and finally passed. On the 14th of November,
1814j the vote in the Senate on the militia-bill was but six
teen to fifteen against Joseph Anderson's motion to strike out
two years, the proposed term of service. Senate debates,
since so much more copious and profusely published than those
of the House, were then little published, and rarely matters
of the public attention since given to them. The National
InteUigencer published but few Senate speeches, especially
from the time when a national bank became the engrossing
topic. Long and able arguments, however, were presented to
the Senate against the military bills,. by several of the federal
members, among whom Mr. Jonathan Mason took the lead.
" Authority for Congress to raise and support armies," he said, " is all the
jjower they have on the subject. Can they by it force such part of the po
pulation and for such period as they please into the regular army f Power
so transcendant and dangerous should be derived from plain terms. The
military power of the 'United States consists of a regular army, without limi
tation, and the militia of the States, in certain emergencies and with certain
limitations. The militia must serve under their own officers, within the
States, and for short periods : three conditions inseparable from their service.
Over the regular army the United States have unlimited power. But volun
tary enlistment, as derived frora England, is the only method contemplated
by the Constitution for the mode of raising it. Forcibly to raise armies
prostrates rights of person and property, by authority not given by the Con
stitution. If the power to raise armies be unlimited, it is greater than the
po.wer to tax, which must be uniformly exercised ; whereas Congress might,
if the power of conscription be granted, exercise it altogether in any one
State, or even part ofa State. If government may forcibly raise an army^
why not forcibly support it at free quarters 'i Empowered by the Constitution
to provide and maintain a navy, may the men for it be impressed 1 when it
is- against impressment. the nation is now at war. Conscription annuls the

mason's SPEECH. 287
State-power over militia : for it is power to take by force, for the reo-ular
army, all persons capable of militia-service. The States, in time of war,
may constitutionally maintain regular armies: which, abandoned by the
federal government, several States are now organizing. May the federal
government force them all into its regular army) Thus deprived of their
militia and regular army too, what would be left for defence of the States?
If, as ig asserted, every government has a right to the personal service of
its citizens, and may compel it, that right exists, in this country, in the
States only, and is not one of the powers delegated to their Union. The
Secretary of War admits that men cannot be forcibly taken as militiamen,
contending that they may be as citizens. But that is a distinction without
a difference, which even Mr. Giles does not rely upon. That part of the
project which proposes a tax to raise the bounty within the precinct is in
compatible with the whole taxing authorities of the Constitution. The
French Emperor's cruel conscription for the subjugation of Europe allowed
certain exemptions. But ours has none. Judges are to be taken from the
courts, professors and scholars from seminaries of learning, to make a mili
tary nation, an ambitious government, and perpetual war. Such a measure
cannot be submitted to, biit ought to be resisted. Although the present is
not the conscription-bill, yet the militia-bill authorizes the enlistment of mi
nors. But enlistment is a contract, which can be made only with persons
capable of contracting. No legal enactment can remove the disability of
idiots or infants. Twenty-one years of age, established by the feudal sys
tem as the period for military service to begin, has been adopted by the
English common law and by the laws of all these States. All contracts of
apprenticeship regard that period : and the federal Constitution is made with
a view to it, when it authorizes the raising of armies by voluntary enlist
ment. Has this government the power to break the contract of apprenticeship?
The Congress of 1776 ordered all minors to be discharged from their army.
Our Act of the 16th of March, 1802, punishes their enlistment with penal
ties. And the English statute, which Mr. Giles has produced to show that
minors are enlisted in England, allows four days for release from incautious
and hasty enlistment. It is extremely impolitic, moreover, thus to debauch
our youth and to deprive our infant manufactures of their help. An army
of 140,000 men, most of them educated to military habits, will be dangerous
to liberty. Mr. Giles spoke of the regiment of London apprentices by which
Cromwell gained the battle of Naseby : but the same regiment aided him
to overthrow Parliament and introduce an odious usurpation, which some
military demagogue may imitate here. Strong measures are said to be in
dispensable to save the country. Strong measures, beginning with the
restrictive system and ending in this deplorable war, have brought it to the
brink of ruin. The administration, by the terms of peace they offer, aban
don the alleged causes of their war as declared. Without satisfaction for
the past, or security for the future, they long to go back to where they be
gan; a war unnecessarily begun, and badly carried on, with profuse waste
of treasure and destruction of public credit — what has it all done ) When

288 CHRISTOPHER GQRE'S MOTION.
the nation passed into the hands of the party in power, it was prosperous,
With extensive commerce and ample revenues. Repeajing judicious taxes,
they still had impost enough. Yet now, even by borrowing, we can get
nothing; and the war-debt will double that at the end of the Revolution.
Even the cannon for the two ships of the line built in New England are to
be transported from Washington, 500 miles, at enormous expense. Waste
and profusion are as notorious as the empty treasury. What the navy and
army have done is their work, for which the administration deserve no cre
dit. An army is employed to protect the fleet on LakeOntario. The large
vessels of war last year authorized by Congress are none of them sent to
sea, but cooped up in harbors, most of them of New England, protected by
militia unpaid, and a large part of Massachusetts held by 'the enemy, with
out an effort to retake it. Idle and fruitless attempts to conquer Canada
have employed the army and navy, and exhausted the' funds of the nation.
During three campaigns nothing has been gained. Yet the Secretary of
War calls for more men for Canada, — he who lately fled with disnjay from
the handful of men that took this capital. For defence, and restricted to it,"
Mr. Mason said, " he would vote to Madison's administration means as long
as they are clothed with constitutional authority. But only for defence,
which, if abandoned by it, the State governments would undertake."
Joseph Varnum, Robert Goldsborough, Jesse Bledsoe, Chris
topher Gore, Obadiah German, and WUliam B. GUes, continued
the debate in the Senate. Mr. GUes pronounced the French
conscription, " but for the bad uses made of it, the best and
most equitable system ever devised." Mr. Gore declared that,
if there remained any of the spirit of liberty which impelled
our ancestors to deeds of glory, and, under Providence, achieved
our liberties, the militia-law would be resisted, and he had no
difficulty in adding that It ought to be resisted. In the name
of his venerable friend, Mr. King, confined to bed by illness,
Mr. Gore moved to recommit the bUl, with instructions to
"caU forth mlUtia for nine months, with an option to the
several States, in lieu of such detachments of militia, to raise
and furnish for the service of the United States, for the term
of two years, unless sooner discharged, bodies of State troops
equal In number to their respective quotas of miUtia; such
State troops, to be organized, armed, and equipped, according
to law; their officers to be appointed by the respective States;
their services to be Umited within the States in which they
should be raised, or within an adjoining State ; to be subject
to the rules and articles of war; to receive the same pay,

CHRISTOPHER GORE. 289
clothing, rations, and forage, and to be entitled to the same
privileges and immunities as the troops of the United States."
Christopher Gore, one of the Massachusetts Senators, was a
gentleman of good appearance, manners, and repute, not vio
lent or excessive by nature or habit ; but, from several years'
residence In England, during that country's land-reverses and
sea-successes in war with France, shut up in her insular seclu
sion, and overpowered by English prejudices, had imbibed
English aversion to every thing French. During most of the
seven years of Mr. King's American mission in London, Mr.
Gore lived there, as one of the commissioners under Jay's treaty
concerning claims, in close Intimacy with Mr. King, who shared
Mr. Gore's English notions of Bonaparte, conscription, and
other French objects of English abomination. Their famUies,
intimate in England, lodged together at Georgetown, in the
District of Columbia ; gentlemen both of fortune, figure, and
respectability, whose position and predilection on the war-
measures fairly represented the least factious portion of East
ern opposition. Mr. King's constitutional opinions, having
been, when yet young, an active and leading member of the
Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States,
¦were received with, and entitled to, much respect. Original
federalism was well represented in him : a patriotic American
preference, strongly tinctured with admiration of English in
stitutions and repugnance \o France.
Mr. Gore premised that the power of the States over the militia remains
with them always, uncontrolled, except in certain specified cases, when
, Congress may call them forth, preserving their ofEcers and organization,
and excluding from their command all other persons than the President of
the United States. Insurrection and invasion are the cases specified ; the
United States are empowered to govern the militia only when in their ser
vice, and then commanded by none but the President as commander-in-chief,
naraed in the Constitution as such. There heing no insurrection, it is only
to repel invasion that the militia can be called for; and Mr. Gore contended
that Congress had no power to call forth the militia to serve two years in
protection of the frontiers. To repel invasion implies sudden and short ser
vice, such as that which is commonly performed by militia, not regular
troops, trained and disciplined to longer and greater service. The United
States are bound to protect each State from invasion and provide for the
common defence, which must be done by armies, but cannot be done by
. Vol. IV. — 19

290 MILITIA-BILL,
militia who belong to the States. If they can be called into service for two
years, then they may for ten, or for life. To protect frontiers, as this bill
provides, is more than to repel invasion.
The second section, which classifies, undertakes to govern them before '
they are in service. It is the first step on the odious ground of conscription,
which never will or ought to be submitted to, but, if attempted, will be re
sisted in many States, at every hazard, by all who have any regard for pub
lic liberty or State rights. To class the militia into divisions, and take from
each an individual by compulsion, avowedly, but pretendedly, for protection,
will be followed by misapplication of the thus conscribed individuals to un
constitutional purposes. This militia-bill is only preliminary to the conscrip
tion-bill to follow it, and absorb the militia in the regular army. Mr. Gore
closed by proposing Mr. King's instructions, before mentioned.
Robert Goldsborough, of Maryland, and David Daggett, of
Connecticut, supported Mr. Mason and Mr. Gore in this de
bate with elaborate speeches, revised and published, in which
the arguments against the constitutionality and the policy of
any compulsory military system were repeated ; the army be
ing, they insisted, to be raised by enlistment, and the militia
to be controUed by the States. •'
During several days, the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th,
19th*, and 21st of November, 1814, this subject was debated
In the Senate, where amendments were submitted by Robert
Goldsborough and Joseph Anderson, which it Is unnecessary
to particularize. At length, on the 22d of November, the de
bate closed, with the rejection of Mr. Gore's motion to recom
mit, and the bill passed' — 19 ayes to 12 nays.
The long-continued and anxious sessions of several days
proved too much for the aged and slight frame of the Vice-
President, Elbridge Gerry, who died, on the morning of the
23d of November, 1814, very suddenly, in his seventieth year.
At one of the public offices, feeling unwell, he was taken home
in a carriage, insensible when he got there, and expired soon
after. Elbridge Gerry, a native of Marblehead, Massachu
setts, was the son of a merchant, and bred a merchant, after
being educated and honorably graduated at Harvard Univer
sity. Soon elected by Marblehead to the Massachusetts Le
gislature, he became an active and efficient member, associated
with Adams, Hancock, Warren, and other eminent Repub-

VICE-PRESIDENT GERRT. 291
licans. The day after the battle of Lexington, he escaped
from a house attacked by the British ; and slept with Warren
the night before the battle of Bunker's hiU, whose last words
to him were, "Dulce et decorem est pro patria mori." Elected
to Congress, he signed the Declaration of Independence, and
continued a member during the whole Revolution, always con
stant and 'assiduous. As a member of the Convention of 1787,
which formed the Constitjitlon of the United States, Mr. Gerry
warmly opposed Hamilton's, deemed aristocratical, suggestions,
and refused his signature, because the instrument was less re
publican than he desired. But elected to Congress under the
Constitution, he gave it, as the will of the national majority,
an open and hearty support. In 1798, during the hostilities,
without declaration of war, by the United States against France,
President Adams sent Mr. Gerry, with Generals Pinckney and
Marshall, to France, as commissioners ; where Gerry saved
the peace, as Adams declared, by opposing the inclinations of
his colleagues to promote war. In 1810, he was chosen Go
vernor of Massachusetts by a majority over Christopher Gore,
the federal candidate. Elected Vice-President In 1812, after
being defeated by Caleb Strong as Governor of Massachusetts,
he closed nearly half a century of eminent public service by
dying at his post, honorably poor. His person was slender,
features large, disposition gay, and manners engaging. Play
ing bllndman's buff, with the young ladles where he lodged,
the night before his death, that excess of recreation, at his
advanced age, after the fatigues of several successive days
of arduous presidency in the Senate, probably hastened a de
mise which was at all events near at hand.
On the 15th of December, 1815, Mr- Gore introduced a bill
to pay Vice-President Gerry's widow such salary as would
have been payable to him during the residue of the term for
which he was elected, had he so long Uved: which, on the
17th of December, was passed by 14 ayes to 12 nays ; all the
federalists, and a few liberal democrats, voting for it, the great
body of the democratic party represented in the negative vote.
On the 20,th of February, 1815, Mr. Eppes moved, in the
House of Representatives, the indefinite postponement of that

292 JOHN GAILLIARD ELECTED.
bUl, which was carried by 86 ayes to 44 nays ; not party votes,
members of both parties voting on each side ; some from per
sonal dislike to the deceased ; many, like Eppes, from aversion
to the principle of any approach to a civil pension, nearly all
of whom would vote military pensions for wounds received by
mercenaries ; sustaining the monarchical encouragement of
war by rewards for It, withheld from a long Hfe of much more
useful and important civil service. The Vice-President's pomp
ous funeral cost several hundred dollars, a sum much needed
by his numerous, poor family. Congress gave him a costly
interment at public expense, but refused any allowance to his
distressed widow and children. A long train of hired car
riages ; the President, with his cabinet, and Congress, in
mourning ; the Russian and French ministers, in their coaches
and four, contending, almost in a race, for precedence in the
train, followed the Vice-President's hearse, also drawn by four
horses, ¦which nearly ran away with the corpse, under the ex
citement of the diplomatic commotion — all that so poor a city
as Washington could exhibit of shabby parade for the obse
quies of the second magistrate of the Union, to whose impo
verished family not a Cent of gratuity was allowed, when his
salary would have saved "them from degrading vfa.nt, and the
cost of the marble monument Congress erected to his memory,
in the public grave-yard, from inconsistency.
The Vice-President's death was seized upon, by the opposi
tion, to disclose part of their plan for carrying on defensive
war by a united country. The militia, denounced as a con
scription bill, passed the Senate on the 22d of November,
1814 ; his death followed on the 23d, and funeral on the 24th.
On the 25th, Obadiah German, a New York senator of the
democratic party, but extremely inimical to Madison's admin
istration, moved that the Senate should, on the 28th, proceed
to the choice of a president protempore ; his design, and that
of the opposition generally, being that, by way of compromise
of parties, Mr. King should be elected. But the motion was
instantly negktived, by 20. to 10; and by the same vote, on
motion of Richard Brent, to proceed at once to an election,
John GalUiard, of South Carolina, was elected. The admlnis-

FUSION -OF PARTIES. 293
tration had it In their power, said the opposition press, to have
disarmed it by magnanimity. ' The possibUity that the tempo
rary president of the Senate might be caUed on to discharge
the executive power, was an occasion for magnanimous concUi-
ation. By the selection of Mr. King, his party would have
seen evidence of that desire for harmony, said by the adminis
tration to be so desirable, ^nd all that was wanting to union.
Such an advance -would have been cordially reciprocated;
would have soothed the irritations of New England, and set an
example of union gladly foUowed ; cheered the country, and
disconcerted the enemy. But the delusion is over, said the
federal press. It is plain that to exclusive power the adminis
tration mean to cling, and the party opposed to their war is
driven to antagonism. By Mr. Gerry's death. Providence
afforded an opportunity to preserve the Union, and prevent,
other-wise, inevitable civU commotion. The bill passed by the
Senate, the last day he presided in that body, must lead to
fatal consequences, unless advantage is taken of his demise to
cultivate indispensable union.
Fusion, or amalgamation of parties, was one of the expe
dients, in that exigency, urged by the party out of power,
and taken into consideration by the Executive, or parts of it.
When the first great reverses occurred. In 1812, Jefferson was
thought of as Secretary of State, and Monroe as Lieutenant-
General, for which purpose Dearborn was to be restored to the
War Department, and Eustis placed in the State Department.
Whether Madison or Jefferson contemplated these changes, I
am not able to say. But Monroe certainly desired, early in
the war, to be appointed Lieutenant-General. In the latter
part of 1814, when an intimate friend suggested to him the
introduction of some of the federalists Into the administration,
he answered : —
"An amalgamation of parties in the administration? With whom would
the treaty he formed T Men of principle, who had signalised themselves by
their patriotism, or who, after having formerly asserted those rights in public
stations, had given them up in the present war, denied the justice of the
cause, and done every thing in their power to prevent its success, short of
joining the standard of the enemy and bearing- arms against their own

294 FUSION OF PARTIES.
country. Could a compact he made in good faith on their part, ojie whicn
bound them to change their policy, to wheel completely round for a price 1
Would their associates, who got nothing, go with them 1 They would sup
port those who got into the cabinet only on the principle that a breach had
been made in the wall, which would open it to the whole party, and they
would support the vanguard only while they saw they were not betrayed.
As soon as these new administration men adopted a system of- policy whiph
they had before opposed, they would be abandoned ; and if they adhered to
the former policy, they would paralyze every ef&rt, and, either producing a
useless change, overthrow the republican administration and party, or force
on it and the party new struggles, to extricate themselves from new dangers.
The republican administration act under a charter not to be violated. It is
no justification to it to say that it is thrown into great difficulties by a vir
tuous struggle with a foreign power, which have been greatly augmented by
the unprincipled conduct of an internal party, to bargain with the latter to
lessen its difficulties, to force itself, under a pretext of saving the country.
Such a bargain would ruin the administration, the party, and perhaps the
cause of free government. There can be no change- of administration but
by the people. That must be by change of party. Compacts may be made
in England, where the ministry takes its power from the king. But [here]
it proceeds frona the people. A compact by the administration, to admit
into the cabinet (not to act under it in the army, or a foreign mission), in a
participation of power, would not be justified on any correct view of the
subject. The theory, or motive as suggested [by you] is benevolent and
patriotic, but would be ruinous in practice."
On the 30th of November, 1814, the House went Into com
mittee of the whole on the army bills, Nathaniel Macon In the
chair : but as it was late in a dark day, and the attendance
thin, little more was done than to read the Senate militla-bill,
and the House classification bUl. Next day, first of December,
the President sent in the second despatches from Ghent, which
had the effect of undoing whatever of energy and unanimity
the first despatches wrought in Congress. While invasion and
conquest frowned upon us, resistance' was roused. But as soon
as the negotiations at Ghent assumed a more pacific aspect.
Congress relapsed into that state of indecision, procrastination,
and inaction, which are apt to Infect large assemblies.
StIU, on the 2d of December, 1814, the House, on Mr.
Troup's motion, went into committee of the whole on the mili
tary biUs, Roger Nelson In the chair ; but, on Mr. Calhoun's mo
tion, overruled Mr. Troup's endeavor that the classification blU
should be first considered, to which, with Mr. Calhoun, it pre^

MILITIA-BILL. 295
ferred the Senate's mUitia-biU ; whereupon the mUitary chair
man aimed at once at the vitals of that biU, by moving to
strike out the first section. He warned the committee against
the yesterday's disclosures," by which the enemy might, at
Ghent, deceive, disarm, and conquer us. The Senate bUl had
not even been referred to the miUtary committee. It proposed
mUItla and mere defence, when regulars and offensive opera
tions' were Indispensable ; for which latter, classification and
draft were the best, the safest, and only effectual method.
Though the opposition objected to this as a party war, yet
Europe, posterity, and history, would look to the result alone,
regardless of which party waged the war. The enemy must
be struck where most vulnerable, in his commerce and territo
ries, for which neither militia nor enlisted soldiers will suffice.
Thirteen thousand men, at an expense of two millions, is all
we have enlisted In the last twelve months ; and we must have
a hundred thousand regulars, besides volunteers and militia.
The plan of the Secretary of War, Mr. Troup insisted, was
the only effectual one. Without going into the military argu
ment, Mr. Calhoun replied that the Senate mlUtla-blU, already,
by passing that body, almost a law, was not Inconsistent with
the classification scheme : and a majority of two votes went
with him to prefer the Senate bill fo'r consideration, nearly
every opponent of the war voting with Mr. Calhoun to post
pone the . classification bill, from which rising blow it never
recovered. By Mr. Calhoun's love to lead, and dislike to fol
low, the principal plans of the administration, military and
financial, were frustrated that session : both army and bank
failing much by his means. On Samuel McKee of Kentucky's
motion, the section was struck out of the bill which confined
the militia to their own or next adjoining States. After Inef
fectual motions, by Joseph Lewis, to reduce the term of service
from two years to' six months, and by Timothy Pitkin, to
strike out the enUstment of minors, the bill was reported to
the House, but never received its sanction.
Only one general military bill was carried that session — the
act for filling the ranks of the regular army ; but neither the
militia,., the classification, nor the volunteer-blU, became laws.

296 MILITIA-BILL.
After fastening the merely defensive mllltla-blU by precedence
on the House, the opposition maintained and improved their
advantage during several days of animated controversy. Ti
mothy Pitkin, Cyrus King, Thomas Grosvenor, Artemus Ward,
and Mr. Webster, by reiterated assaults, endeavored to prevent
the enlistment of minors, though always defeated, mostly by
considerable majorities. A fatal blow was given to the militia-
blU by Mr. Eppes's motion, which carried, to reduce the term
of service from two years to one. Morris Miller followed it
up by proposing six months, which he supported by a very long
speech against conscription, succeeded by Richard Stockton's
motion to postpone the bill indefinitely, on which motion he
argued the constitutional questions with much ability. On
Saturday, the 10th of December, 1814, the House sat from ten
in the morning till eight at night, in ardent discussion, over
coming numerous efforts for amendment and adjournment, till
at length Macon, who voted against us on every division, threw
in the most perplexing of all discords by a motion to change
the apportionment of mUitia among the States from the basis
of congressional representation to that of free white popula
tion, which Intractable controversy at last compelled the House
to adjourn. On Monday, the 12th of December, 1814, Ma
con's motion was rejected, but an adroit motion of Mr. Web
ster, to reduce the term of service to six months, was within
one vote of carrying ; and, finally, their term of two years'
service reduced by one vote to one, the House returned their
bill to the Senate, with other alterations, — a mere mllltla-bin,
as it was, and nothing more, assajled by the whole body and
best talents of the Federalists, reinforced by not a few of the
war-members, as an odious conscription, which horror they
evoked from another miUtary bill, not debated, and opposed
every mUitary measure with an acrimony and alarm th?it spread
abroad through the country. The militia, they contended, is
a merely State force, disposable by the national govemment
only in case of actual invasion, or insurrection, which they
denied to be the exigency then. The federal government was
thus to depend on the States for its defence. Committees of
conference between the two houses were resorted to. The

CLASSIFICATION. 297
Senate disagreed to our reduction of the service from two years
to one : the conference proposed to compromise at eighteen
months, to which the House would not agree. The House
authorized the President to call directly on all mUitia-officers,
by requisition. In case of faUure of the governor of a State to
comply with It ; to which the Senate disagreed, and on which
the House insisted. The day before Christmas, the House
took it's stand, and on the 28th of December, 1814, the Senate,
on Mr. King's motion, by a vote of 14 to 13, postponed fur
ther consideration of the bill to a day beyond the session.
Further attempts were made to revive the subject, but without
success. Prospects of peace, contrivances of party, and differ
ences of opinion in the dominant party, with motions and votes
of some of Its most leading men, not only prevented the militia
being turned into conscripts, but repudiated them altogether.
During these controversies, Mr. Troup produced, from the
forgotten files of the War Department, President Washington's
message to Congress, the 31st of January, 1790, presenting his
Secreta,ry Knox's plan of a militia-army, and designating a
well-organized militia as the best national reliance ; condemn
ing as Immoral, inadequate, and vicious, the system of volun
tary enlistment — 'producing armies unfavorable to equality
and liberty ; suggesting a division of the whole militia of the
United States into classes of twelve men each, from each of
which the federal government should draft one man for the
regular army. Such a view of the constitutional power and
the policy of Congress, suggested by Washington, with Knox
as Secretary of War, Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury,
the Revolution-recollections of Madison and Monroe enabled
them to urge with force : but without much effect on the party
claiming Washington as their patron, whose opposition to the
war, and more vehement resistance of what was denounced as
French conscription, emboldened the unscrupulous to intimate
that Washington was not the wisest interpreter of political in
struments; but a mere soldier, misled by Steuben, another
soldier, a drlU-serjeant, incapable of appreciating constitu
tional liberty, not to be followed as guides on Its questions.
Grosvenor said that the plan was General Knox's, not Presi-

298 CLASSIFICATION.
dent Washington's. WiUiam Gaston, in the course of an elo
quent protest against classification, said — ^
"The monstrous and detestable doctrine asserted by our Secretary of
War, that the general government has an uncontrolled power to force every
American into the ranks of a regular army has been enforced by the autho
rity of Washington. Mine be the task," said Gaston, " to rescue his revered
name from that reproach. The plan was that of Washington's Secretary
of War, General Knox ; not President Washington's, as his letter of the
31st of January, 1790, submitting it to Congress, shows. It was a plan de
vised under the Confederation, when the only power of Congress to raise
militia was hy drafts on the States. Washington submitted it to Congress
for their consideration, and they never sanctioned or acted on it. It was a
mere report on militia from the head of the War Department — of militia
as preferable to a standing army, for the military establishment of a free
people ; a bold plan of militia-organization ; an army of militia, not regular
soldiers ; an army to be formed by requisitions on the States, to be employed
only in tho exigencies of the Constitution, and to be commanded by officers
appointed by the State authorities. No draft was recommended of militia
into a regular army. Knox's plan proposes a similar classification of sea
men for maritime defence, for which,, he says. State regulation would be
necessary, which proves that he did not suppose that the federal government
is empowered to embody either land or sea-forces without State co-opera
tion." To constitutional objections were superadded those against
the policy and practicability of the measure. Joseph Lewis
condemned its making no distinction in favor of the sect of
Friends and other religious denominations, conscientiously op
posed to bearing arms. Jonathan Mosely, acknowledging that
the character of the war had changed from offensive to defen
sive, by no merit however of those who declared and prose
cuted It, denied that the change made any difference In the
duty of those who opposed it, whose support is no more neces
sary than ever for its maintenance. Let the majority vote sup
plies. He had never voted for any bill to carry on war, and
never Would. When, as Mr. Webster had said, we wage the
war, we will vote for Its supplies, but not till then. The ma
jority must carry it on : which they could do, not by force of
reason, but the previous question. \ But, if it was to be done
by such measures as that in question, Mr. Mosely predicted
that there would be no occasion for committees of investigation
to inquire Into the causes of the failure of our arms. With

CONSCRIPTION. 299
long lugubrious German and English descriptions of French
conscription, Morris Miller denounced it as worse than death.
Governor Tomkins, one of the pioneers of the system, had par
doned a horse-thief on condition of his enlistment. Are Ame
rican youth to be associated with such scum of the earth to
fight the sweepings of Europe for the conquest of Canada ?
What have we got there, at Niagara and Bridgewater, but bar
ren, bloody, blasted honor ? MichiUimacinac and Fort Niagara,
our Western keys, both lost, without an effort to regain them.
General Brown fighting for the mere point of honor, instead
of being sent to reinforce Izard, by unpardonable folly marched
away to the relief of Brown. In the midst of the smouldering
fires of this miserable metropolis, the government sits down to
the madness of another attempt on Canada, more hopeless than
ever, with an army of conscripts, to be led by knights of the
spur, breathless from the races of Bladensburg, who will not
take warning by Bonaparte's colossal split on the rock of con
scription. If the Secretary's plan is adopted, personal free
dom is no more, and the Union destroyed for ever. A New
York merchant, William Irving, answered his colleague. Miller,
that by disgraceful terms, which no member of Congress would
accept, the enemy had put an end to all difference between
offensive and defensive war, and peace out of question. War
thus the only alternative. Was not classification the best way
to wage it, and where to wage it mere matter of military
policy? The IncUnation, which in October displayed itself,
generally to resist the demands of England disappeared under
the influences of peace-prospects and strong war-measures,
which in December paralyzed legislation. In October opposi
tion to the war much abated, and Its advocates were quite
ascendant. In November and December they were vanquished
In votes, if not in reason. Mr. Wm. P. DuvaU, of Kentucky,
one of the last speakers of an elaborated view of the subject,
in vain tried ridicule of Mr. Miller's speech, in addition to ar
guments. Conscription was a chimera, more dreadful than the
Gorgon's head. That the whole people wojild be compelled to
serve, or pay a tax for a substitute, thus to fight for their

300 WEBSTER — OAKLEY — CALHOUN.
country, or lose part of it — that simple alternative was tor
tured into insuperable objection.
" The federal party," Mr. Webster said, " has all the talents and confi
dence of the country. Our army must be withdrawn from the invasion of
Canada, and the whole restrictive system renounced."
" We have not an ally," said Mr. Oakley, " not a friend, in the world.
All Europe looks coldly on, while Gre4t Britain puts forth her immense
might to crush us. Under such circumstances and her unjust demands, we
may be constrained, he now confessed, to vote taxes, which this administra
tion ill deserves, and will be sure to mismanage, as they have done, and do
everything; who, in their instructions to the commissioners at Grhent not
to insist on relinquishment of impressment, have struck their flag.'*
Mr. Calhoun, though apparently opposed to classification,
and strongly to Dallas's plan of a bank, uniformly sustained
the war of invasion.
" Oiir finances," said he, in October, " are deranged, and can be restored
only by rigorous taxation. One hundred thousand militia are now in the
field. Fifty thousand regular troops would cost much less, and much better
defend the seaboard ; and we must invade Canada with fifty thousand more.
He hoped the miserable objections to that invasion were abandoned, till he
heard Mr. Webster repeat them. It was so obviously the cheapest and
most effectual mode of operating on our enemy, that thinking men of all
parties agreed in it. No man, with an American hesirt, can hear of the
enemy's terms of peace without indignation. Let us baffle his vain hopes,
for which we have abundance of means, if we do but use them, which de
pends altogether on the promptitude of Congress, not to waste time in
debate, but act at once. That is the way to honorable peace, which is
always at England's option, notwithstanding Mr. Webster's unfair and un
founded insinuations to the contrary. Preparations for resistance will give
peace, even without using what may be prepared. England does not expect
or desire peace on the terms demanded. She is repossessed of her wishes
of '76, revives the war of the Revolution, and puts us again to struggle for
independence. It is a struggle for existence."
But probability of peace, and exigencies of war. Increased
taxation, much increased expenditures, larger armies of regu
lar soldiers, and severer methods of their embodiment, disturbed
the unity of the war-party, and emboldened their opponents.
The course of the author of this Historical Sketch is no other
wise Important than as It indicates that of others, and events
of which he endeavors to give as fair an account as a party to

INGERSOLL — KING. 301
their excitements, after a long interval to allay prejudice,
can do.
" Last year," said he, on the 9th of December, 1814, " Mr. Webster told
us what New England would do, if war invaded her. Yet, now that it is
in their plantations and towns, and rings* the curfew every night there,
what resistance do they make in defensive, more than battle in offensive,
warl They threaten us with disunion for passing a mere militia-law. Mr,
Webster's threat of that calamity, or the event itself, would be a less evil
than the Middle Free States being deterred by such menace from their right
and duty. Disunion was their threat against the embargo-laws, till, with their
repeal, they brought on war. The enemy is warring, not against our Union
and resources, which are invincible, but our divisiops and prejudices. Pos
terity will register the declaration of this much-abused war as the wisest of
American measures. Were it to declare anew, after all that has happened,
I would vote for it. But Canada is not conquered, and Mr. Webster taunt
ingly recalls Mr. Calhoun's prediction that it would be. As the means of
peace, has it not been 1 Russia now, like France after the battle of Saratoga,
in 1777, will come to our aid when we can do without it. The campaign on
the Niagara ensures us peace. Still, we must have armies, mere provision
for which by Act of Congress will give it, without raising them. Let Mr.
Webster look to English statutes, and he will find Chatham by conscription
raising the army by which Wolfe conquered Canada. The French is not
the only conscription. It was Roman — is essentially republican and uni
versal. The fenciful, however eloquent, distresses of it depicted by Mr.
Webster will be nothing compared to those ofthe country without its indis
pensable reinforcement. There is no danger and little distress to be feared,
if we are united in Congress, to marshal the means of the country, as was
done in the Revolution, and urged by President Washington, even in time
of peace, merely to prepare for war. War-votes and acts will cheaply ren
der superfluous war-actions and sufferings."
Cyrus Kmg replied, that the captured part of Massachusetts felt the fede
ral government, which was bound to defend it, only by its taxation, insults,
and oppression. That part is not recaptured indeed : but why is not Nia
gara"! Why is the way from this seat of government to the President's
residence dammed up by enemies '! Do the friends of the miscreants who
submit to this dare to reflect on the valor and patriotism of New England,
proved in the old French war and in the present French war? It is indeed,
says the historian of the former war, laughable to see a few dissipated
bashaws, tyrants over a parcel of negro-slaves, give themselves airs on the
subject of liberty.
AU that government could effect was, the act originating in
Senate, and passed into a law the 10th of December, 1814,
making further provision to fill the ranks of the regular army.

302 WAR-BILLS.
by which recruiting officers were authorized to enlist all free,
able-bodied, effective men, from eighteen years of age to fifty,
allowing the minor recruit four days after enlistment to with
draw It, and giving the masters of apprentices enlisted part of
the bountyTmoney; 320, instead of 160, acres of land to each
non-commissioned officer and soldier when honorably discharged
from service, if killed or dying in service, to accrue to his
widow, children, or parents ; and exempting from militia-ser
vice any person subject to it who furnished a recrUit for the
army of the United States, at bis own expense, to serve during
the war, delivered to some recruiting officer,"receipting for such
recruit, who was entitled to the 360 acres of bounty-land. That
inadequate provision, together with an act passed the 27th of
January ,< 1815, authorizing the President to accept the services
of not exceeding eighty thousand State troops and volunteers,
which, soon after peace, on the 27th of February, 1815, was
repealed, were all the military sinews allowed by Congress for
the war during that Session, lasting five months before the
peace. The report by the Federal Republican, Alexander Hanson's
journal, of the final passage in the House of that bill, was that,
" after Fiske, of Vermont, moved to recommit it, as a milk and
water affair, which was opposed with animation by Richard M.
Johnson, and three /times the previous question was defeated
by the casting vote of the Speaker, Cheves, Mr. IngersoU
called for the previous question, which was sustained, and by
a vote of 91 to 71 — but one member from all New England
for It — the bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third read
ing. Thus," said that journal, " this pretended miUtla-biU, the
pioneer of conscription, was carried by force; the coffin of
State sovereignties, whose last nail was driven by that Infernal
hammer, the previous question."
In the Senate, although out of place on the mlHtia-biU, the
classification-question was gravely and well argued. In the
House there was not much discussion, upon which none of the
leading adherents of the administration ventured. Nor did Its
opponents go much beyond declamatory attacks on French

RICHARD STOCKTON. 303
conscription, except Richard Stockton, whose elaborate speech
was published at large.
Disclaiming party-motives, and acknowledging the difficulties the govern
ment had to contend with in an awful crisis, when an honorable peace can
not be made, — without money, credit, or adequate force, we must try an
other campaign ; overlooking the insanity of its declaration and imbecility
of its prosecution, and voting for every rational increase of revenue or troops,
Mr. Stockton said, that, still he could not go beyond the Constitution, which
no state-necessity would justify. The monstrous device of drafts from the
militia to fill the ranks of the army is not now before us : public repugnance
having damned it to eternal sleep. But tbe militia, for whom we are now
legislating, belong to the States, and not to the United States — compre
hending the whole male population capable of bearing arms, exemptions of
some being matter of grace and favor. This militia belonged to the States
before their present Union, to which they have never surrendered it. They
have given Congress leave, in certain cases, to call for the militia, to arm
and organize and discipline them: but only thereby to enforce the laws,
suppress insurrections, and repel invasions : a mere concurrent power. The
bill provides for calling forth eighty thousand militia for defence, and com
pels that eighty to furnish forty thousand regular soldiers. But the Consti
tution does not authorize calling forth the militia to defend our frontiers
from invasion, which would be unlimited power to make use of the militia
during war. If such power exist, the militia may be marched anywhere
within, or even -without, the United States, to defend them while war lasts ;
nay, to call them out, as would be prudent and proper, before the war begins
or is declared. No such power exists ; no power at all to call for militia
till actual invasion. The old system, under the confederation, was by
requisition on the States; whereas Congress have now the entire war-powers
of sword and purse, without State intervention, by regular armies to defend
the States : but not by converting the State militia into United States regu
lars. The Constitution contains no grant of the militia to the general go
vernment for defence. I may be asked, cannot the militia be called forth
till invasion takes place? The act of 1795 answers, if invaded or in immi
nent danger of it; by which is meant, danger at hand. War is not that
exigency, because it may not be attended by invasion. For those parts of
the United States captured and held by the enemy, the militia are not pro
vided. They are to repel invasion, not to expel occupation.
The other, not avowed, but obvious, design of the bill to compel the mili
tia to furnish regulars, what is it but coercion, conscription, still more odious
and indefensible than even unconstitutional 1 The term of service reduced
from two years to one leaves the principle the same. Congress have no
right to prescribe any term of service, which the Constitution liuiits to the
mere short time necessary to repel invasion — no longer — which the act
of 1795 properly fixes at not exceeding three months. The emergencies
contemplated by the Constitution are not only limited in time, but in place

304 THOMAS S. HARRIS.
too. As this bill came from the Senate, the militia were confined to conti
guous States. The House having rejected that constitutional provision,
there is nothing in the bill to prevent the militia of Maine from- being
marched to Louisiana, or from the latter to the former. Again^ the bill
destroys the constitutional principle of rotation, by which no militiaman is
to be kept long in camp. It is not his function to become a regular soldier,
but, after short service, to be succeeded by another citizen-soldier. The
militia are farmers and mechanics, whose habits and livelihood are not to be
destroyed, in order to substitute the vicious trade of a soldier. That is liot
the way to save, hut to ruin, the country. Besides these individual wrongs,
the bill prostrates State rights, and will not be submitted to. Connecticut
has said so. I utter no menace, but entreaty, that all endeavors to raise
armies by compulsion may be abandoned. Raise armies by voluntary en
listment. A few well-appointed regiments will do wonders, aided by mili
tia, — at Plattsburg you have seen this. But, suppose you drive New Eng
land, by compulsion, to resistance, what unequal burden it leaves on all the
other States. Pursue constitutional and conciliatory measures, and rely on
the patriotism ofthe people.
Stockton's speech made an impression, not only In Congress,
but throughout the community : conspicuous member of the
federal party as he was, representing a central and patriotic
State, and presenting his views with power, both In argument
and sentiment. War forced parties to change places : the
Federalists to dispute federal powers they had always attri
buted to government; the Republicans to demand and exer
cise them.
Mr. Stockton's impressive views were denied by one of the
many obscure members, whose plain good sense prevaUs in
Congress more than brilliant harangues. At our first session,
the seat of a Tennessee member, Thomas S. Harris, was con
tested by a rough, young competitor, WUliam Kelly, who ap
peared at the bar of the House, and urged his pretensions in
the rude garb and with the imperturbable self-possession of
ultramontane simplicity. Mr. Harris was maintained in the
seat, but took little part In debate, till moved to refute what
he deemed Mr. Stockton's constitutional errors. Like most
representatives from the then frontier-states, Tennessee, Ken
tucky, and Ohio (Oyo, as the Indians and French originally
termed it), bred to arms and conflicts with the savage border
ers, and unacquainted with regular soldiery, Mr. Harris had a
strong Impression of the worth of miUtia, whom he deemed suf-

HARRIS S SPEECH. 305
ficlently disciplined by six months' service, and as freemen not
to be subjected to twelve. But he denied that It was uncon
stitutional to draft them for twelve months or two years, or
that classification, though called conscription, was unconstitu
tional. Refuting Mr. Stockton's assertion that militia can be
called forth only in actual invasion, and not to be prepared
against it when the danger is imminent, he showed that such
interpretation would render nugatory all reUance on militia ;
for invasion would do its mischief and be gone before the force
to repel it appeared.
" As to actuality of invasion, the country," said Mr. Harris, " is now ac
tually invaded by inroads in many parts ; scarcely a day elapses without
accounts of their depredations. Imminent danger of invasion imports that
it must be repelled when approaching, not waited for till overpowering the
United States.
" Government may call forth the militia in the specified contingencies :
and why not draft them into a regular army? Authority to raise armies is
given without limit — the whole power ofthe people and the States. The
militia may all be called forth, in mass, if necessary : and the power to raise
armies, anyhow, from any body of people, is unqualified. The Constitution
does not specify or mention voluntary enlistment : nor, probably, did it con
template that method ; certainly, not as the only one. In the Revolution,
the more efficient method by classification and drafts was resorted to ; and
the framers of the Constitution must have had that in view, when confer
ring on Congress unlimited power to raise armies, without restriction, ex
cept as to pay, limited to two years or one Congress-term. Before the Con
stitution, drafts by coercion, by lot, were the method, but through State-
instrumentality. The Coiistitution empowers Congress to raise armies, and
taxes to pay them, without State-intervention or instrumentality. The
States may have their militia and their taxes ; but the federal power over
both is supreme. Under the Confederation, drafted militia by State-agency
was a familiar resort. The Constitution, in terms, gives unlimited power
to raise armies, without appeal to States. One of Washington's first re
commendations was to exercise this power, and what is now stigmatized as
hateful conscription was his plan, fresh from the Convention, with Hamil
ton, another member of it, in his cabinet, for supplying a military establish
ment to the United States. By the enormous charges of militia, in vain
striving to defend fifteen hundred miles of seacoast, the enemy is waging
war, not on our forces, but our resources, wasting them and exhausting our
patience. One hundred thousand regular soldiers marched into Canada,
supported by volunteers and militia in their appropriate sphere, would soon
put an end to the contest : when, if a third campaign were attempted, like
the two former, with militia, we may be again worsted, at ruinous expense."
Vol. IV. — 20

306 BRITISH VIEW OF CLASSIFICATION.
But the administration and their adherents never could ac
complish their mUitary measures. The bank-bill, three times
overthrown, was revived, and, but for peace, might possibly
have succeeded In a very bad act. But classification, stigma
tised as conscription, was a mere abortion. And even a toler
able militia-bUl did not survive the blows of party misunder
standing between the two houses, defections of some of the
war-party, and, above all, the overweening hope of peace with
out such severe" Resistance. After our continued and preca
rious controversies in the House, on the 9th, 10th, 12th, and
13th of December, 1814, concerning the military subject, in
all its forms, It was suffered' to rest till the 22d of that naonth ;
and thereafter, tax-bills, and bank-bills, consumed the ensuing
six weeks, till tidings of peace came, to put an end to all war-
projects. The enemy gave us a lesson on tlie subject of Our attempted
classification, which is worth inserting in my narrative. Ame
rican conscription was denounced, in London, with furious
apprehension. Probably some ministerial contributor to the '
editorial columns of the Times newspaper uttered- English
dread of so bold a plan as that which we failed to organize ;
the very power to organize which would have been an argu
ment for peace more powerful than could have been otherwise
presented- An act of Congress to raise one hundred thousand
men, by classification, for the avowed purpose of driving the
English from North-Eastern America, would have made peace,
probably.,, ¦^Ithout putting the army In the field. The Times
said of it/—- ¦
"The bill for-the.' conscription of the whole American population is a
measure that cannot be rhistaken. Whilst'tuch a bill is in progress, and
before it is known whether people will submit to its being carried into exe
cution, it would be madness to expect a peace. It would be madness tb
expect a peace with persons who have made up their minds to propose so
desperate a measure to their countrymen. For, either they must succeed,
and then the intoxication of their pride will render them utterly intractable ;
or (which is indeed more probable) they must fail, and their failure must
precipitate them from power, and consequently render- treating with them
impossible. When an American gentleman, of splendid attainments, some
years since, composed his celebrated review ofthe Conscription Code of that
monster, Bonaparte, he could not possibly foresee 'that his own country

THE LONDON TIMES. 307
would, in so short a time, be subjected to the same barbarous humilialion.
The prime and flower of the American citizens are to be taken by lot! and
delivered over to the marshals, who are to deliver them over to the officers
authorized to receive them, wlio are to act at the discretion, and under the
arbitrary direction of the President. Thus does Mr. Madison, from a simple
republican magistrate, suddenly start up a military despot of the most san
guinary character — a double ofthe blood-thirsty wretch of Elba. We are
convinced that this sudden and violent shock to all republican feelings, to
all the habits of the people in all parts of the Union, cannot be made with
impunity. Certain it is that this law cannot stand alone. To give it the
least chance of being put into execution, it must be accompanied with all
the other chapters of that bloody code, by which France was disgraced, and
barbarized, and demoralized. Who is to hunt down the refractory con
script 1 Who is to drag them, chained together in rows, to the head
quarters of the military division ? Who is to punish them, their parents,
relations, friends? Even Bonaparte was many years in bringing to its dia
bolical perfection the machinery of his system ; arid, carefully as Mr. Monroe
may have studied in that accursed school, it cannot be supposed that he has,
at one flight, placed himself on a level with his great instructor. It is
highly probable that many of the men who have labored in the details of
oppression and violence, under the Disturber of Europe, may have, by this
time, made -their way to America, where they will, doubtless, receive a cor
dial welcome from Mr. Madison, and be set to work to rivet the collar on
Ihe necks of American citizens ; but we own that, with all appliances and
means to boot, the President, in our opinion, must fail. Nevertheless, it
would be most dangerous to suffer such an opinion to produce the slightest
relaxation in our efforts. The British government should act as if it saw
Mr. Monroe at the head of his hundred thousand regulars, well disciplined
and equipped, carrying the war, as he threatens he will do, into the very
heart of Canada. Late as it is, we must awake. Eight months ago, the
Duke of Wellington, with his army, might have fallen like a thunderbolt
upon the Washington Cabinet, leaving them no time for conscriptions ; no
means for collecting French officers to discipline their troops; no oppor
tunity to intrigue for firiendship and support among the continental powers
of Europe. It is not too late for striking a decisive blow ; but that blow
must be struck with all our heart, and with all our strength. Let us but
conceive the proposed hundred thousand regulars embodied in the course of
the ensuing spring. Does any one believe that, without a mighty effort on
our part, the Canadas could be retained another year ? Would not- the ex
ultation of seeing himself at the head of such a force urge Mr. Madison, at
all hazards, to complete his often-tried invasion t Even if his scheme should
but partially succeed, and we should be only able to drag on a defensive war
for another twelve-month, who knows what allies that period may stir up
for him, under the false pretences of regard for neutral rights, and for the
liberty of the seasi On our side, to conclude a peace at the present mo
ment, would be to confess ourselves intimidated by the warlike preparations

308

ENGLISH PAROLE.

of the enemy. It seems, therefore, that we have but one path to follow.
Whatever was the force destined to act against America, before this darling
bill of Mr. Monroe's was thought of, let that force instantly be doubled;
let us cast aside all European politics that cross this great and paramount
object of our exertions. Let a gentleman of commanding name be at once
despatched to the seat of war. We have often said, and we repeat it, that
America is a scene on which the Duke of Wellington's talents tnight be
displayed far more beneficially to his country than they can possibly be in
the courtly circles of the Tuileries: but if his Grace mu^t necessarily be
confined lo the dull round of diplomatic business, at least let some officer be
sent, whom the general voice of the army may designate as most like in
skill and enterprise to our great national hero. Fatal experience has 3hown
us that no effort of such an enemy is to be overlooked. When the flag of
the Guerriere was struck, we saw in it that disastrous omen, which has
since been but too sadly verified on the ocean and on the lakes. The tri
umphs of the American navy have inspired even their privateers with
remarkable audacity. The present papers mention the cruises of the Pea
cock, the Chasseur, and the Mammoth, all of which were very successful,
and all ventured on the coasts of England and Ireland. The two latter be
ing American built, outsailed every thing that gave them chase. This is a
circumstance requiring strict attention on the part ofthe admiralty. Surely
there must be some discoverable and imitable cause of a celerity in sailing,
which is so important a point of naval tactics. ' Mr. Fulton, of catamaran
memory, appears to have employed himself on a naval machine of singular
powers. It is described' as a steam-frigate, and is intended to carry red-hot
shot of one hundred pounds weight. When we remember how contrary to
expectation was the tremendous effect of the batteries of the Dardanelles,
we cannot entirely dismiss from our minds all apprehension of the effects
of this new machine of Mr. Fulton's." ,
English prejudice against wli^'^^ver was apprehended as
means of French hostility or power, often betrayed itself in
strange antipathies, and those antipathies were not unfre
quently impressed on Americans. Dread of conscription, even
ludicrous, appeared in an argumentative parole, given, early
in the war, to an American merchant by a British officer, next
year heading the marauding incursions from the Chesapeake.
William R. Swift, a merchant of Maryland,, happened to be in
the Island of Barbadoes when the war was declared. B^Ing a
non-combatant, and on commercial business, he was entitled to
leave to return to his country. But the governor of the
island, after detaining him many months as a prisoner of war,
at last enlarged him on parole, by a certificate stating that, —

GENERAL BECKWITH. 309
"By the laws of the several States, all persons of a certain age are mili
tiamen ; but the nature of their consequent duties were hitherto purely de
fensive, within the limits of the State to which they belonged. By the
present gigantic system, however, introduced by the federal government,
drafts from the militia are required to be furnished, not only beyond these
limits, not only beyond their States, but for the purpose of foreign war of
the most unprovoked description; and the armies which have invaded the
Canadas were, to a great extent, so constituted. All the States which have
acceded to the measure of war and ambition, I view it to operate as a
French conscription, although under a different name, and in a manner
somewhat less obnoxious. But every man within the prescribed age is
liable to this draft,.and, if he does not march himself, must flnd a substitute.
The consequence is, that I search in vain, in the conceding States, for a
non-combatant; and I therefore feel it my duty, in addition to the usual
parole which will be furnished to Wm. R. Swift, by the agent of the trans
port board, to require him not to bear arms in any shape, either by sea or
land; or to embark in any vessel armed for war against his Britannic
Majesty, or his subjects, until duly exchanged.
" Given, under my hand and seal, at arms, this thirteenth day of
November, one thousand eight hundred and twelve.
"GEORGE BECKWITH.
"By command of Ijis Excellency, Sir George Beckwith, commander of the
forces in the Windward and .Leeward Islands, Captain-General and
Governor-in-Chief of the Island of Barbadoes, &c.
"WM. HENRY WILBY, Secretary."
The logic, the blunders, and the perversions of this State-
paper are remarkable. Its reason for making a merchant a
prisoner of war, viz., that he was a citizen of a State con
senting to call out the militia for general defence ; the consti
tutional deiilal of the right of militia to wage foreign wars,
together with the preposterous doctrine of the whole Instru
ment, are among the memorable evidences of the British
infatuation which justified such violations of the rules of
civilized warfare, and the American infatuation, which deemed
them consistent with those rules. The Times newspaper, and
General Beckwith's certificate of parole, are among Innumerable
proofs that the severities of war were necessary to eradicate
that Inordinate licentiousness with which a mother-country was
allowed to treat those once her colonies.
Classification, stunned, if not stifled, slumbered till the Oth
of February, 1815, when a Vermont member, neither conspi-

310 CONGRESS FALTERI'nG.
CUOUS nor influential, but one of those individuals who often
unexpectedly evoke and sometimes effect signal things, Charles
Rich, introduced a project of his own, which, if enacted, might
have answered every purpose ; but of which the scheme need
not be particularized, as It was. never taken into consideration.
Peace came before the House took it up ; and the day after
intelligence of that joyful event, which rendered all armies un
necessary, Mr. Rich himself moved the indefinite postponement
of his own project. That of the Secretary of War, almost
stillborn, lingered, and hardly that, suffering from constitu
tional scruples, personal apprehensions of public, condemna
tion, and flattering impressions of approaching peace, tUl It
expired. Without more alarming intelligence than came from
Europe, after the first terms at Ghent, it could never have
been revived. The Secretary of War and miUtary committees
gave it up, and turned their attention to three other methods
of raising troops, viz. : mlUtia, to serve for a year or more ;
State-troops, to be taken into the service of the United States ;
and volunteers — by which means a moveable army of one
hundred thousand regulars and volunteers. It was thought,
could be embodied for active and offensive operations, whUe
the ordinary militia and State-troops might be relied upon for
protecting the seaboard and frontiers.
Congress were then the defaulting department of govern
ment. The people, the army, navy, volunteers, militia for the
most part. Executive, and all, except Congress, were equal to
the crisis, and fulfilled the obligations regarded by.all as indis
pensable. But, convelied by the President before the previ
ously appointed time, to furnish adequate means for another
campaign, the Legislature failed to bring forth the energies of
the nation, and the country was fortunate in the speed of
pacification, brought about by neither legislation nor negotia
tion,' but Canadian and tnaritlme American successes, the dis
grace and reaction of English triumph at Washington, Euro
pean and English disgust at English designs of conquest as
exposed by the American government, the inclination of aU
maritime Europe to countenance the United States to check
England at sea, the discontent of the manufacturing class of

STATE TR00i>S — VOLUNTEERS. 311
Great Britain, and the improved spirit of national vigor obvious
throughout the United States, notwithstanding the default of
Congress. Southern victories, simultaneous with peace, covered
with charitable exultations the defections of Congress, stified
the cries of party and the designs and efforts of disaffection,
rendering harmless, if not useful, the speculative conflict of
opinion in the Legislature, which procrastinated and jeoparded
measures of pubUc safety demanded by the crisis.
After the Act of the 10th of December, 1814, for filling the
ranks of the army, no important military enactment took place,
except the Act of the 27th of January (repealed, after peace,
the 2Tth of February, 1815), to authorize the President to ac
cept the services of State-troops and of volunteers. In some
shape or other, a militia-law would probably have been accom
phshed. If the war ¦ had continued. The Act of Congress of
the 27th of January, 1815, authorized and required the Pre
sident to receive into the service of the United States not
more than forty thousand men of any corps of troops raised,
organized, and officered, under the authority of any of the
States, for not less than twelve months ; when received into
the United States service to be subject to the rules and ar
ticles of war, and employed in the State raising them or any
adjoining State, and not elsewhere, except with the assent of
the Executive of the State raising them ; the number in each
State, apportioned to its population, to be considered as part
of its quota of militia, when called upon by the President,
through the governor, to be held in readiness ; to be armed
and equipped at the expense of the United States, paid, clothed,
and otherwise provided for, except bounties, like the regular
army. By the same act, the President was authorized to re
ceive into the service of the United States forty thousand
volunteers, to be organized as the regular army, and paid, &c.,
except bounty, subject to the rules and articles of war ; the
officers to be commissioned by the President, with consent of
the Senate ; the volunteers, at their option, to arm, equip, and
clothe themselves, by commutation ; and. If kUled or wounded
in service, for two years, or honorably discharged, allowed
pensions and the bounty of 160 acres of land.

312 AMERICAN FORCES.
These inadequate arrangements were all the military provi
sions that could be effected. Fiscal centralism of the federal
government imparted power over the money-sinew of war,
which State-jealousy withheld from the sinew of men : whether
constitutionally, actually, or wisely withheld, my sketch of the
debates on classification, defeated as conscription, may enable
the reader to judge. The army, to the number of 62,000 men,
was said to be rapidly fiUIng up, under the Impulses of large
land-bounty, general want' of employment, and as general pa
triotic ameliora|ion, together with the improved character and
energy of the recruiting officers. 40,000 volunteers, fOr at
least a year's service, would probably have been added to the
regular army ; and perhaps 40,000 State-troops, much superior
to ordinary militia, superadded to them for local defences.
Hostile forces in such numbers it was far beyond the power
of Great Britain to place in America, where she had lost the
great reinforcement of her Indian alliances, and the entire
illusion of her arms, both by land and water, transferred to
ours. We had reason, therefore, to look forward with confi
dence to the campaign of 1815 for expelling England from
this continent — a task which would have been certainly un
dertaken, and, I believe, achieved by DaUas's Treasury-notes
and taxes, Monroe's troops and plans of campaign, the whole
country turned from private pursuits to martial enterprises,
the tide of fortune with us, the moral infiuences and physical
superiority. No part of the United States has so much cause
to regret that this consummation was prevented by peace as
the seafaring, enterprising population of New England, by
some of whom It was frustrated ; for even all the blunders and
failures, in 1812 and '13, the spirit of New England might
and would have redeemed, by the cordial and united co-opera
tion with their fellow-countrymen and government, of a people,
ingenious and strenuous, seldom failing in whatever they un
dertake — the Pilgrim-progeny, mighty either to do or to mar.
The great reserve of State-authority maintained the Union
and supported the war, when, by a mighty continental effort
of national power, war may be said to have been just begin
ning in earnest. The Governors of Kentucky, Georgia, Lou-

THE STATES. 313
isiana, South Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsyl
vania, and New York, addressed their respective Legislatures,
breathing defiance of Great Britain, and urging the States to
support the Union in waging war. Even if victory had not
soon disarmed, and peace crushed, local and threatening dis
affection, and though Congress failed to draw forth and organ
ize the whole resource and power of the country, still, and the
more on that account, the State-sovereignties proved for the
crisis admirable reserves and invincible bulwarks. On the 23d
of December, 1814, the Secretary of the Treasury officially
advertised that it had no specie-funds, with which to pay divi
dends on the public debt at Boston, for which there were only
Treasury-notes, then much depreciated. But a letter of the
22d of December, 1814, to the Secretary of the Treasury from
the Governor of South Carolina, David R. WiUiams, made
known that, on General PInckney's statement that the United
States' funds to pay their troops there were exhausted, the
Legislature of that State immediately appropriated the requi
site sum, $260,000, for the purpose. Furthermore, on the
20th of December, 1814, South Carolina enacted a law for
raising a brigade, two regiments of State-troops, to serve
during the war, and to be tendered to the Secretary of War,
to be employed In that or any neighboring State : for which
$500,000 were appropriated. Daniel EUiott Huger was ap
pointed general, Andrew Pickens and James N. Pringle colo
nels, of the forces thus tendered by tbat exemplary State.
Virginia passed a law to raise troops, in like patriotic and
national spirit, of whom Robert B. Taylor and Armistead
T. Mason were appointed major-generals, John H. Cocke,
Charles F. Mercer, David CampbeU, and John W. Green, bri
gadiers. Unlike the army of 10,000 men voted by Massachu
setts, State-troops of New York, Virginia, Maryland, and
South Carolina, were put by their respective Legislatures at
the service of the Union. Pennsylvania would soon have
raised a simUar corps to be so disposed of. The Governors
of Kentucky and New Jersey strongly recommended those
States to do so likewise. The terms in which some of the
Governors addressed their Legislatures were remarkable. Ad-

314 GOVERNORS OF STATES.
dressing the Legislature of Georgia, specially convened by
him to prepare for the invasion approaching that State, Go
vernor Early said —
" The enemy mistake us ; the spirit of party is rapidly vanishing ; union
and resistance becoming the watchwords of the day. Humanity must de
plore one effect of the struggle. The bitter animosities of the Revolution
were wearing out, and with thera the remembrance of British atrocities
then. But the course her commanders now pursue, of unrelenting confla
gration, devastation, and plunder, making war on females and infants, pro
faning the temples of the Most High, revives animosities which ages cannot
efface, teaching the American child in his cradle to abhor the British name,
and hand down that hatred to the latest generation." i
William S. Pennington, Governor of New Jersey, in his
Message, thus denounced the ignominious terms of peace : —
" An insidious offer of peace was made, to paralyse our exertions ; and
then conditions fit only for a conquered people. To the dominion ofthe sea
Great Britain now adds her claim to sovereignty of the land. We are to
dismantle our ships, demolish our fortifications, and surrender our territory.
It is vain to reason wiih such tyrants. The controversy must be settled in
the field. The only plain, direct road to peace is vigorous war, now become
purely defensive. Not an American but spurns terms outrageously humili
ating, without reference to the original causes ofthe war."
Defiance was the nearly universal tone, which even Eastern
governors were constrained to assume.
The federal minority divided between a few stiU for peace
at all- events and Madison's removal as indispensable to It,
and the many who, without reconcilement to his administra
tion or the wisdom. of the war, sustained the majority and the
govemment as inseparable from their country. The popular
sentiment was almost unanimous to defend the soil : that wise
and noble Saxon war-sentiment, ascribed by Csesar to the
ancient Germans, rather to fight than sue for peace.
As New York was the Immediate theatre of hostUities, so
the people and government of that State were most distin
guished for activity and enterprise in Its maintenance. On
the 27th of September, 1814, the Legislature met at Albany,
pursuant to the special call of Governor Tompkins ; who was,
at that conjuncture, the pivot on which the war and the Union
turned, more than any other Individual. His speech to the

NEW YORK — GOVERNOR TOMPKINS. 315
Legislature was commensurate with the emergency : denouncing
the increased arrogance of hostility, predatory and wanton,
destitute of all generous principle, disgraced by pillage and
conflagration, the avowal of laying waste our cities, and making
common ruin of public and private property. Their object
was, by a northern army penetrating from Lake Champlain to
the Hudson, to meet a maritime force, to capture the city of
New York, and thus sunder the States. To defeat such de
signs, said that noble-spirited young man, to whom a great
State confided its destiny, it was necessary to exercise, imme
diately, fuller powers, and ampler resources, than the Legis
lature had placed In his hands, transcending the means and
authority vested by law in the Governor, satisfied of the Legis
lature's eventual approval. WhUe the illegar measures of
Massachusetts, craftily ordained, were hatched with clandestine
apprehension, patriotic vigor, beyond law, in New York, was
openly announced to the Legislature, and before the world, in
full confidence of indemnity from the one, and approval of
both. While, in the Legislature of Massachusetts, their pro
ceedings were absurdly disorganizing, the day after Governor
Strong's message, Mr. Low having moved for a committee to
confer with all the New England States, and repair to Washr
ingtOn, personally to make known to the President that he
must either resign his office or remove those ministers who, by
their nefarious plans, ruined the nation, that crudity was con
trasted with the orderly and federal spirit which animated the
republican; Legislature of New York. At Boston, a committee
was appointed to Inquire and report whether any members of
the Senate voluntarily assumed on themselves any obligations
to the king or government of Great Britain incompatible with
their duty as members of the Legislature of Massachusetts, or
their oath to support the Constitution of the United States.
At Albany, energetic and rational legislation characterized a
trying conjuncture, eliciting from a large republican assembly,
measures of more rigor and dispatch than often proceed from
royal dictation, or despotic unity of action. After a short and
memorable '"^session of only four weeks, the Legislature ad
journed, having enacted laws —

316 NEW YORK — GOVERNOR TOMPKINS.
To authorize the raising of troops for the defence of the State ;
To encourage privateering ;
To authorize the raising a corps of sea-fencibles ;
To provide for the repayment of certain sums of money, advanced by the
corporation of the City of New York, for the defence of the State, and for
other purposes ;
To prevent the apprehension of British deserters ;
To authorize the raising of two regiments of men of color;
Authorizing additional pay to the volunteers and militia, called into ser
vice by the State authority ;
To aid in the apprehension of deserters from the army and navy of the
United States.
Both houses, on motion of Mr. Monell, —
" Resolved, unanimously. That the General Assembly of the State of New
Xork view, with mingled emotions of surprise and indignation, the extra
vagant and disgraceful terms proposed by the British commissioners at
Ghent ; that, however ardently they may desire the restoration of peace to
their co4ntry, they can never consent to receive it at the sacrifice of na
tional honor and dignity ; that they therefore strongly recommend to the
National Legislature the adoption of the most vigorous and efficacious mea
sures in the prosecution of the war, as the best means of bringing the con
test to an honorable termination, and of transmitting, unimpaired, to their
posterity, their rights, liberty, and independence."
There' are few, if any, other instances of a Legislative body
applying the whole time of an industrious session to warlike
measures, exclusive of all others. In that spirit, several of
the States dedicated their time, resources, and talents ; redu
plicating and stimulating, by States, the then redoubled efforts
of the Union. Repeating, as a republican govemor, the sen
timent uttered by Governor Chittenden as a federal governor,
Tompkins told the Legislature that, " The acrimony of party
has disappeared In combined exertion for the maintenance of
national honor and common safety." With patriotic fervor,
predicting the future grandeur of that empire commonwealth,
more populous, richer, and more powerful, incomparably more
enhghtened, orderly, and prosperous, than most of the minor
kingdoms, stronger than aU together of the sovereign princi
palities of Europe, " The present," Tompkins predicted, " wIU
be a proud era in the history of New York, develope her
vast resources and strength of her population, the liberality
of her Legislature, the patriotism of her citizens, impart vigor

MARYLAND. 317
and efficiency to their national arm, secure and perpetuate the
independence of the United States."
By measures, and likewise by words, which, uttered in
earnest, are often equivalent to acts, the States and their con
stituted authorities nobly rallied to the Union. In that ex
tremity of need which war sometimes brings home to every
nation, and when it is even yet error to suppose that repub
lican confederated government is weaker than consolidated
monarchy, not only the people, but the States of the American
nation stood erect and undismayed.
Among the most comprehensive, efficient, and satisfactory
of all the several acts of the State Legislatures for raising
forces, was that adopted by the Legislature of Maryland, on
the 31st of January, 1815 : late. Indeed, and therefore not car
ried into effect, but nevertheless deserving of notice and com
mendation. For the defence of that and any adjoining State,
and the District of Columbia, there was to be forthwith raised
and kept up, by voluntary enlistment for five years, unless the
war terminated sooner, five regiments of infantry, distributed
in one division of two brigades, infantry, artillery, and rifle
men, with liberal pay, rations, and pensions for the disabled ;
subject to the rules and articles of war of the United States,
then or thereafter established. The Govemor and CouncU
were authorized and required to place the said troops under
the control, direction, and authority, of the President of the
United States, to be employed In conformity with the provi
sions of the act, which laid no other festrictions on their em
ployment, than that it should not be west of the Susquehanna,
nor north of the counties of Lancaster, Berks, and Northamp
ton, in Pennsylvania, nor in Virginia, west ofthe Blue Rhjge,
or south of James River. There was also provision that the
government of the United States should declare, before the
Maryland troops were required to serve, that they should be
paid, clothed, and subsisted, at the expense of the United
States, and reimburse the State what it might pay for them,
or to assume the debt it incurred for that purpose. Such a
law from a State whose- government was polrticaUy unfriendly
to that of the nation, is striking proof that war, if continued.

318 MARYLAND.
would have been effectuaUy sustained by the whole Union ; —
authorizing expectations that even the Massachusetts troops, If
raised, would, like those of Maryland, unite with all pther. State
troops tp afford adequate defence for all the Atlantic region,
and allow the President to employ the whole army of the United
States In offensive operations. Jlobert Goodloe Harper, Mr.
Taney, the present Chief Justice of the United States, the
venerable Charles Carroll, Colonel John Eager Howard, nearly
all the eminent federalists of Maryland; rallied to the national
governmeUt, and supported the war, however opposed, to Madi
son's administration. Alexander Hanson's speeches in Con
gress were national, notwithstanding the extreme violence of
his journal, the Federal Republican.
Opposed to classification, which was generally dreaded as
French conscription, the Legislature of Maryland, by resolu
tion, addressed Rufus King, thanking him for his constitutional
resistance of a bill requiring the State miUtia to furnish
recruits for the regular army of the United States ; to which
Mr. King replied, on the memorable 8th of January, 1815,
that he had " felt himself obliged, by a faithful regard for the
general safety, at a period of great public difficulty, without
reference to the past, to vote for supplies of men and money,
and other important measures, within, the pale of the Consti
tution." William B. Martin, acting Governor of Maryland, in his
message to the Legislature, arguing, indeed, that the war was
defensive, as in that region It was, and denouncing the InefB.
ciency of the federal administration, still called the people to
action, and vaunted their triumphs.
" In the third year ofa war, which we ever deprecated as unnecessary in
its origin, and ruinous in its consequences, we behold our national treasury
exhausted, our councils confused and vacillating, and the people borne down
with difficulties, while the administration are as far from obtaining the
ostensible object of contention as when they issued the first Canadian pro
clamation ; nay, they have even abandoned it as a forlorn hope ; for, in the
late instructions to our envoys, it is no longer insisted on as a sine qua non
of a treaty, that Great Britain shall relinquish the right of impressment.
Amidst this general Suffering we have, however, the consolation to perceive
a spirit of liberty, and love of country, animating the hearts of our citizens.

NEW YORE — VIRGINIA — MASSACHUSETTS, ETC. 319
Though we are baffled in our attempts at foreign conquest, success attends
our gallant navy, and (with one disgraceful exception) victory has crowned
us in every conflict undertaken in defence of our homes. Here we fight
the cause of virtue, and may therefore rely on the protection of Heaven."
Thirty-three years after that crisis, an Act of Congress, on
the 3d of March, 1847, appropriated $60,000, in addition to
former grants by Congress, to Governor Tompkins and his
famUy, for his noble services in 1814 : so that repubUcs are
not always ungrateful. At the same session of Congress, and
almost every other session before and since, a claim of Massa
chusetts, for pay of militia-services in 1814, has been con
stantly rejected : so true is It that a bad name Is unprofitable
as well as odious; that the worthy do not always go unre-
qiuted, or the unworthy unpunished, even if not as guilty as
supposed to be, when their misconduct rouses suspicion in the
political world, which, like the moral, is not without its retri
butions. A great majority of the confederated States rallied to the
Union, to save it from one anarch-State, in effect combining
with their common enemy. In the tranquil dignity of regular
governments. New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, stepped
forward to rescue and maintain their national existence, and
uphold, by the transcendental sovereignty of States, a national
empire erected on their broad bases. Nor could any disor
ganizing State, however mischievous and embarrassing, coun
teract their force, or escape the odium of its own false position.
Like an unsphered star, or deserter from his post, Massachu
setts was more demonstrative than formidable, less dangerous
than alarming. Tompkins's dictatorial usurpation, to save a
State, was popular and rational : Strong's tergiversation, to
dismember one, odious, and remorseful to himself and his abet
tors. Tompkins repelled invasion, which Strong invited and
submitted to. Chittenden's proclamation was virtual panegy
ric of Tompkins, and reproach of Strong. Conspiracy and
treachery, always abhorred, were the means of Massachusetts
to enlist other States in what was stigmatized and ridiculed as
the Kingdom of New England, discredited and prevented by
a harmonious union of States, by the same means that defeated

320 KENTUCKY ^-SHELBY AND STRONG.
the foreign enemy. Strong's dark and ungenerous sugges
tions, further disclosed, but stUl in portentous mystification,
by Otis's resolutions, Tompkins's bold recommendations con
tradicted by constitutional acts, proposed by Mr. Van Buren's
report in the Senate of New York, and effected by thp propo
sition of Erastus Root, to raise 20,000 men, with other such
w^ar-measures, as put the occult and treacherous schemes of
Massachusetts at defiance, even though seconded by all New
England, the abortion of whose separate confederacy New
York insured.
The West and the South stood forth in strong contrast with
the East. For sailors' rights the West had none but national
occasion for action ; nor the South much. Yet Kentucky and
South Caroliha nobly rallied to the country's standard, when
deserted by Massachusetts, though unfurled in her cause and
at her instance. Governor Shelby, on the 25th of January,
1815, by special message to the Legislature of Kentucky,
called forth that local power of the American people which
has at all times proved so reliable when the State-authorities,
whatever their party-politics, are well disposed.
"We have too deep an interest," said this patriotic invocation, "at stake,
to rest our sole reliance on the general government. A lengthy session of
Congress is drawing to a close, and no adequate provision for raising forces
for the defence of the country. Whilst they are disputing about the details
of a bill, the time for acting may pass away, not again to return. In this
situation, it would be criminal neglect of duty not to use the means in our
own power. I therefore recommend the immediate passage ofa law for
detailing and organizing 10,000 men from the militia of this State, to serve
six months, — camp equipage, and boats for their transportation, and for any
corps of volunteers who may offer their services. I have strong reliance on
the justice of the general government, and that any necessary expense in
curred in sending any reinforcement to General Jackson will be repaid by
the United States."
No two surviving officers of the Revolution, become govern
ors of States, appeared In contrast so striking as Shelby and
Strong, nor any two States more than Kentucky and Massa
chusetts. While not a man moved, and Strong discouraged
every attempt, to retake the captured part of Massachusetts,
all Kentucky would have rushed a thousand miles, with Shelby
at their head, to rescue New Orleans.

THE COUNTRY. 321
Every judgment, even recollection, is affected by individual
feeling. Many respectable persons, opposed to the war, thought
then, and said afterwards, that the country was in jeopardy,
the Union on the verge of destruction, and American exer
tions, nearly exhausted, about to be paralyzed. I never thought
so. Young, and ardently devoted to the war, I believed the
nation sufficiently united and ,abundantly able to vindicate it
self. The crisis was fruitful of nationality. Local, factious,
and State or provincial antipathies yielded to national influ
ences and were absorbed by general sympathies. Disaster at
Washington, dishonor in Massachusetts, peril In Louisiana,
triumphs in Canada and everywhere by water, touched every
fibre of a nation formed to be one and Indivisible, not only
ideiitlfied by its State-sovereignties, but corroborated by ex
cessive and unconstitutional State and party opposition. The
enemy, by universal invasion and atrocious hostilities, rendered
the war undeniably defensive and unsparingly dreadful. While,
in salutary perturbation, part of Massachusetts was conquered
territory, unresisting, Boston, when the State-authorities had
refused to defend the State or the national ships of war, was
compeUed to arm for its own defence against ruthless, undis-
crlmlnatlng national enemies. While Washington was a heap
of ruins. New Orleans struck glorious blows, which vibrated In
every national fibre throughout New England. While Con
gress faltered, under fiattering expectations of peace, fearing
to risk sickly popularity, the people and the States, like the
most reliable corps of armies reserved for the turning point
of battles, stepped forward, the people In their sovereign,
States in their transcendental capacities, to rescue the Union,
rebuke its opponents and hesitating functionaries, and strike
the final strokes of victory. Patriotic States put forth- re
doubled resources. Disaffected States hesitated, and were
overwhelmed by reaction. The earliest colonial consociations,
with aboriginal sympathies, prevaUed. Parties, severely tried,
were constrained to renounce or change some of those pro
fessed as principles. Jefferson's saying that a federal Consti-
tutioti might have been accomplished by three or four articles
added to the good old fabric of Confederation was disproved
Vol. IV. — 21

322 PATRIOTIC FEDERALISTS.
by some of his nearest adherents in Congress, who clogged
the wheels of war. How much its money-sinew was improved
by the present Constitution was demonstrated by adequate
taxation, levied directly on the. people, and everywhere weU
paid. If the man-sinew was found left too much with the
States, yet that consolidation and centraUzatlon are more
dangerous than localized power was admirably displayed at
most of the State seats of government. When Congress
shrunk from great efforts for raising armies, the States prof
fered them. If the war had continued through another year,
in all probability, soldiers, equipped by the States, from the
South-west would have triumphantly fiashed their arms in the
furthest North-east, and the yeomen of Tennessee united with
those of Maine to reconquer the Penobscot Valley and super
add Nova Scotia. States enough to maintain the Union and
victoriously wage its war rallied to the President, when vehe
mently opposed by party and deserted by some of his own in
Congress. There were, too, numerous instances of individual patriotism
of which some deserve to be mentioned. General Thomas
Pinckney, commander-in-chief of the South, was of the federal
party ; and WiUiam Polk, of North Carolina, who published
his determination to sustain the government against the de
grading terms demanded by Great Britain. Daniel Huger,
appointed to command the troops voted by South Carolina,
and Robert Taylor, appointed to command those voted by
Virginia, were likewise taken from that party. In the Senate
of Pennsylvania, Nicholas Biddle, in that of Massachusetts,
John Holmes, renounced party for country, Washington
Irving served as one of Governor Tompkins' aids-de-camp.
, James Lloyd, of Massachusetts, and John Randolph, of Vir
ginia, appeared In the publication of long letters on the crisis,
in which the war was disapproved and the administration con
demned, but neither the Union nor the country. The ignoble
retreat of the emissaries appointed by the Governor of Massa
chusetts to represent the Hartford Convention at Washington
— their almost clandestine transit through New Jersey, home
wards from their mission of disunion, encountered the Indig-

THE NAVY. 323
f
nant rejection by that State of the proceedings of the Conven
tion, officially communicated by tho Governor of Connecticut
to the Governor of New Jersey, and by him to the Legisla
ture. A committee, of which Jonathan Dayton, once federal
Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States,
was chairman, reported. In strong terms of condemnation, a
resolution to reject the odious suggestions of the Convention.
The Navy of the United States was. If not the offspring, at
least the resurrection of the war of 1812. WiUiam Jones, who,
some time after it began, succeeded Paul Hamilton, and, shortly
before it closed, retired, to be succeeded by Benjamin W. Crown
inshield — WiUiam Jones did not leave it without a depart
mental testament, by which many of its subsequent Improve
ments were suggested. The Senate, on the 14th of March,
1814, on motion of John GaUliard, passed a resolution which
produced Secretary Jones's report, dated the 15th of November,
1814, just preceding his resignation, on the first of December.
The Navy Department then was but the beginning of the im
portant branch of government it has since become. Before
the war of 1812, the Department of State was the principal
medium of the intercourse of the United States with foreign
nations, with whom, while the United States were weak, rea
son was the principal and almost only method of remonstrance.
Raised on the basis then laid, the Navy, with their growth,
since contributes to the cheaper and more effectual prevention
of hostilities by the display of a flag In foreign places, more
impressive than the arguments of negotiators. Captain Jones,
a merchant and ship-master. In his farewell report, suggested
several improvements, particularly a Board of Assistants for
the Naval Department, such as has since been found necessary
and adopted in the War and Treasury Departments, and. In
some analogous form, is almost as much required to'relleve the
overtasked and confused functions of the Department of State.
In efficiency, equipment, and good qualities generally, Mr.
Jones declared the navy not excelled by any other; the sea
men better paid, fed, and accommodated. Notwithstanding
wages of labor double the EngUsh, and prices of other things
enhanced by war, an equal number of tons, guns, and men. In

324 NAVAL ESTABLISHMENTS.
our service, cost less, he said. In proportion, than the same
number In "the British navy of 145,000 men, costing annually
$100,000,000. The vast distances of our local service, sea
and lake, the Secretary estimated, besides weakening it, de
prived us of seameni enough to man thirteen ships of the line,
sufficient, if concentrated, to keep our coast clear of blockade,
our waters of Invasion, to Injure ruinously the British com
merce, if not invade British harbors, and supersede the neces
sity of large military establishments ashore, to combat preda
tory incursions by expensive, harassing, and Ineffectual Calls of
militia. Such, the Secretary said, were the unreformed defects
in British naval construction that, of Nelson's 17 ships of the
line, there were seven different classes of the same kind (74-gun
ships), so differently masted, sparred, and rigged, that, if one
was disabled, all the other six could not supply her wants.
Of 538 .ships, in the British navy, only 69 were In reaUty su
perior to some of the American frigates, to which they were
inferior in saiUng ; leaving 459 British vessels, out of 558, un
able to contend with those frigates. Twenty American ships
of the line, therefore, the Secretary estimated an overmatch
for the whole immense and seemingly overwhelming British
navy. The British military organization, sea-regulations and
service, he considered much better than their system of con
struction, in which he ascribed superiority to the French.
American commercial and navigating enterprise impart their
energy, skill, vigilance, security, and intrepidity to the Navy,
with superiority of build and celerity of sailing, indigenous to
America, and obvious in the commercial as in the military
marine. One 74-gun ship requires 57 acres of 2000 large
oak-trees, such as are found only on our southern seaboard.
The Secretary recommended a register of American seamen
in the several districts of the United States, and provision by
law for classing and calling them by turns into the public ser
vice, in certain numbers and for settled periods. Instead of
voluntary enlistment, on which there is no reliance for any
given object, time, or place. Mr. Jones recommended also a
naval academy, for the instruction of officers in those branches
of the mathematics and experimental philosophy. In the science

^. WAR-PROVISIONS. 325
and practice of gunnery, theory of naval architecture, and art
of mechanical drawing. His opinion was likewise that Admi
ral should be one of the grades of the American Navy, which
was also his successor Benjamin Crownlnshield's first report to
Congress, the 17th of December, 1814. Accordingly, Charies
Tait, from the Senate naval committee, reported, and that
body passed, a bUl for three admirals, which was reported to
the House of Representatives by James Pleasants, from our
naval committee, the 3d of January, 1815 : but, before it was
taken up for consideration, peace came, to undo much naval
and more mUitary organization. At that time there were
1300 guns in the Navy, and 500 on the lakes. That war has
much augmented since the number on the ocean, and super
seded the necessity of any future extravagance of naval opera
tion on the lakes. The London Times of the 12th of February,
1815, said of this naval report : —
" In the extracts we give from the National Intelligencer our readers will
notice a report from the Secretary of the American Navy, which is deser
ving of their most serious attention. The American cruisers daily venture
in among our convoys, seize prizes, in sight of those that should afford them
protection, and, if pursued, put on their sea-wings, and laugh at the clumsy
English pursuers. To what is this owing ? And will we not learn ? Or,
are there some fees of office, some stupid, senseless routine-regulations, in
virtue of which our vessels are condemned to be unequally matched against
the enemy, either by fight or flight 1"
The few more acts of belligerent legislation, during the last
session of the War Congress, may be summarily stated. The
West Point Academy ; a board of navy-commissioners ; an
Act for the better regulation of the ordnance department,
putting the public armories under Its direction, and adding
various other provisions since in force ; additional allowances
for bringing home destitute and distressed American seamen ;
an Act making It the duty of staff-officers of the army to pro
vide rations and camp-equipage for the officers, seamen, and
marines of the navy, co-operating with land-troops on shore ;
and for quarter-masters of the army to furnish such naval co-
operators with horses, accoutrements, and forage, when serving
ashore ; an appropriation of three mUlions more, in addition
to two preceding appropriations, for the mUitary establishment

326 SLOOPS OF WAR,
of 1814 ; finally, the much-contested Act fixing the military
peace-establishment, were the enactments of that session, be
sides some collateral provisions, of which a fuller account may
be proper. On the 8th of November, 1814, when the House
of Representatives authorized the building of twenty small
vessels of war, the question, so frequent and natural in our
legislation, arose between the regular and private marine,
which, like that between the regular army, volunteers, and
militia, and between other public services by individual instead
of national contract and arrangement, will long be contro
verted. If ever determined. Many judicious persons argue
that all the operations of government may be perfornted by
private contract and transactions better and cheaper than by
public management. The chairman of the naval committee
urged that, for injuries to British commerce, privateers had
been more successful and effectual than the navy ; for glory,
he said, the frigates had fought with great success. WiUiam
Reed, of Massachusetts, a Salem merchant, if I do not mis
take, declaring his want of confidence in the Secretary of the
Navy, William Jones, whose intended resignation was that day
announced, and complaining of the defenceless, as well as
inactive condition of our large vessels of war, the Independence
and Constitution at Boston, the Washington at Portsmouth,
protected, he said, from hostile capture by cannon which Mas
sachusetts and New Hampshire furnished, opposed any appro
priation for building small vessels, till the larger were equipped
and sent to sea.
Would you degrade, said he, our gallant officers, such as
Perry and Macdonough, to service in a musquito-fleet ? a force
which,' like the cowardly and ravenous hawk, is not to fight,
but pounce on prey, and then take to flight. Sloops of war
would be preferable to the schooners, which are unsafe, as weU
as inefficient craft. Of the 558 vessels of war in British com
mission, 290 would be an overmatch for them. In his nautical
experience, square-rigged vessels were better sailers. He
moved to reduce the minimum force to twenty, and the maxi
mum, twenty-four guns : which amendment I moved to amend
by taking eight guns and twenty-two as the range, correcting

SLOOPS OF WAR. 327
Mr. Reed's misapprehension that the biU called for schooners.
I reviewed the cruises of our frigates and sloops of war, and
pronounced the capture of the Guerriere by the Constitution,
in its naval, political, national, and moral effects, more im
portant to us, and injurious to England, than, all the ' captures
of all our privateers, brUliant and destructive as they undoubt
edly were. The most effectual cruise of all certainly was that
of the little frigate Essex. Alexander McKim considered the
smaller vessels the most valuable. They had annoyed the
enemy's commerce much more than larger ; which vessels,
having reached the pinnacle of naval renown, he would send no
more of them to sea, to be unavoidably overhauled by superior
force, but attack England by small vessels, where she is most
vulnerable, in her commerce, of which she now enjoys a mo
nopoly, including the whole carrying-trade. Governor Wright,
with his accustomed ardor, and considerable force, advocated
small vessels, which Mr. Reid had compared to hawks, but
Mr. Wright thought more like eagles ; sailing, as they do, like
birds, which cannot be caught or caged by blockade. It would
be absurd to trust frigates at sea, against overpowering odds :
and what discredit is there in running from superior force,
falling back, as these schooner skirmishers do, on the main
body ? They can beat any square-rigged vessel. One of eight
guns can capture a merchantman armed with forty. So pecu
liar Is the Baltimore trim and rig, Mr. Wright had no doubt.
If the enemy took one, that he would upset her, from ignorance
how to manage her. Liquid fire, too, might be used, a con
trivance which Mr. Wright was sure Mr. Reed's constituents
would soon render available. If they were reconciled to the
war. Mr. Lowndes supported my amendment, which would
leave the size of the vessel to the Navy Department, surely
more competent than this House to judge. Mr. Wright, he
said, was mistaken in his preference for schooners. Captain
Perry had told him that, in every case within his knowledge.
United States brigs had overtaken schooners. My amendment
was adopted ; though the maximum was reduced. In the Senate,
by General Smith's infiuence, to sixteen guns, in which shape,
after committees of conference between the two houses, that

328 ACT TO PREVENT FRONTIER FRAUDS.
Is, twenty vessels, from eight to sixteen guns, the bill became
a law, on the 15th of November, 1814. WhUe writing this
account of that addition to the naval establishment of the
United States, May, 1848, the naval' committee of the House
have just reported for twenty war-brigs, of not less than 450
tons, which are to be armed with not less than sixteen heavy
guns. On the 5th of January, 1815, a bill passed the House, to ,
engrossment, which provoked all its party animosities. Fif
teen hundred miles of conterminous territories, separated by
Ideal .lines, whose governments, lawyers, traders, and clergy,
proclaimed the iniquity of the war, encouraged treasonable
supplies to the enemy with audacious, and sometimes ludicrous
impunity. Against this system, James Fisk, foremost In war-
zeal of the republican delegation of Vermont, expended his
denunciations with a vehemence that could hardly faU to pro
voke recrimination. Vermont was a market overt for British
supplies, effected with all the craft and dexterity of uncon
querable avarice. Dead oxen, frozen stiff, sUd from a hill into
the enemy's territory, and then represented as going there,
when impossible to stop them, was one of the many fraudulent
contrivances by which money was made, in the very midst of
American troops, and In spite of military and civil vigilance
to prevent and punish it. Comprehensive and sufficient enact
ments of federal Interdict were not effected till the 4th of
February, 1815, only ten days before the peace, when It be
came necessary to repeal them, in great measure, almost as
soon as enacted, and limit, the modifications to a single year.'
Nor was the bill, at last, achieved without one of those disor
derly legislative commotions, if not the only one of that' Con
gress, like all passionate occurrences, differently represented
by the conflicting parties. After motions by Mr. Grosvenor,
Mr. King, Mr. Stockton, and Mr. WUson, to strike out the
strongest, and, to them, most odious features of the blU, about
night-fall, nearly the whole federal party left the House, de
serted also, by that time, by many of our party, so that it was
without a quorum. A caU of the Plouse produced but ninety-
two members ; enough, however, to pass the biU, and fix on

BLACK TROOPS. 329
the absent, of whom I happened to be one, but not a refractory
absentee, the odium of malicious departure. 'So, at least, our
party and papers loudly declared. As most of the absentees
were of the opposition, worsted through the day in reiterated,
angry confiicts, we charged them with an iUegitimate endeavor
to defeat a law. Minorities sometimes descend to such contri
vances. The law which occasioned so desperate a resort, was
an indispensable exercise of federal authority, if the war had
continued. So audacious were the uses made of State-laws,
to fetter and annul hostilities, and even punish their most me
ritorious heroes, that, a few days after the Plattsburg victories,
McDonough was arrested by a sheriff's officer, and forcibly
taken out of a procession, of which he had been invited to form
a conspicuous part, at Burlington ; compelled to answer for a .
trespass alleged against him by a person who sued the Ame
rican naval commander for illegal Injury to his property, by
beUigerent operations. Freaks of freedom, and licentious liti
gation, by process of State courts, were among the many
Eastern impediments opposed to the war, which were just
sinking under victory and energy when the war closed.
Among the devices for supplying the paucity of regular
troops, it was suggested by a Western militiaman, who had
been taken prisoner, and while so, learned from the British
their nefarious plan to land a large force In the South, there
free and arm the slaves, and, with negroes, Indians, Italians,
French, and other freebooters recruited In Europe, under
English officers, overrun the slave-states — that, to counteract
such a plan, an army of slaves should be raised, the bounty
and pay given to their owners ; the slaves eventually to be set
free, and endowed with public lands. By consolidating the
regular regiments, and transferring their supernumerary
officers, to command the slave-regiments, it was supposed that
a considerable additional regular force might be raised. Ex
perience having shown that blacks, accustomed to obedience,
and Inured to hardships, need only discipline and practice to
become good soldiers, the suggester of this method of recruit
ing urged It on public attention. General Jackson made ex
ceUent use, both of slaves and free blacks, on the fortifications,

330 WAR CAPACITY.
and in the battles by which he repelled the English, who
brought black regiments with their army. There were, toward
the end of the war, companies of black troops In the north.
The State of New York contemplated raising a regiment of
free blacks, whose excellence as sailors was well established.
Their hardy constitutions, habits of subordination, muscular
strength, and great numbers, were held forth as Inducements
of their employment in military service. Exempt from militia-
duty, and mostly too poor to pay any taxes, they were a class
of the community contributing nothing to public purposes. It
was even suggested that the casualties of military life would
be useful to diminish the numbers of an anomalous race, whose
fecundity and longevity were public grievances. Those who
held blacks as slaves were not afraid of the effects of such em
ployment of the free blacks.
Belligerent resources, ingenuity, capacity, and power, we.re
just awakening in the United States the mighty developments
which war elicited from distressed, beleaguered, and alarmed,
but unconquerable. Great Britain. ^ The energies and spirit
of popular representative government, of confederated States, ,
and a much more homogeneous people, were just coming to
maturity when hostilities ended. At the worst. Eastern dis
affection was no more embarrassing or alarming here than
Irish to England. All we wanted was what they had, a go
vernment not afraid to call forth the utmost effort of the peo
ple. In the spring of 1815, 100,000 regular soldiers would
have taken the field, under Brown and Jackson, ready to
march anywhere : and 100,000 good militia would have
guarded the coasts, freed however by the stress of war else
where. 600 carpenters had laid the keels of one 98-gun ship,
another of 74 guns, and a third of 44 guns on Lake Ontario,
tbe only lake not in our possession. And when, on the first
of May, lake-navigation opened, the largest American fleet
that ever floated, completely armed and equipped, fully
manned and admirably officered, would have effectually put
down all British contest for our inland seas.
The mere ruffianism of war was indeed in Issue : but prin
ciples were staked, and large part of a continent to be fought

PEACE. 33J
for. The Southern victories, superadded to many others, the
undeniable fact that all our battles were victories, that with
f9wer forces our arms never failed to overcome the British 
that vast iUusion of ascendency — filled our ranks with sol
diers, our soldiers with confidence, and gave our cause all the
force of imagination. The sword, the word, the world, were
aU with us. The British press, metropolitan and provincial,
was groaning under defeat and disaster. After what was done
at New Orleans, what coiUd not be done ? The triumph of
triumphs there was the death-knell to factious or traitorous
disaffection, when, most unexpectedly. Great Britain lowered
her terms, and gave us a tolerable peace at Ghent, which mi
htary accompaniments at home rendered highly favorable, sa
luted by British groans and American exultation. To be sure
our whole country was delighted when war ended, like a child,
chastised by a severe parent, rejoicing in the parental smile
restored, however unmerited the punishment. Ainerlcan dis
gust with England it required more than two cruel wars, with
many years of intermediate contumelious wrongs to provoke ;
and It was always in English power, by mitigations, to renew
our first love. When, therefore, there was nothing but ven
geance and hatred to fight about, and peace and victory came
together, the American nation, ambitious and sensitive, but
not Ill-natured or hateful, and elated by universal victories,
embraced peace with eager, unanimous, and cordial welcome.
Peace came indeed with great welcome. We were still
faintly discussing a bank, — classification, as proposed, had
entirely failed ; and though taxation was doubled, still the New
Orleans triumphs were the only pleasant end of congressional
inaction, when, in the evening of Monday, the 13th of Febru
ary, 1815, a rumor of peace agitated the welkin. No one
could tell where it came from, with what probability, on what
terms, or any thing about it. The President knew nothing of
it, and Congress had no reason to believe it ; yet the rumor
embalmed the atmosphere, and hopes of Its reaUty overcame
aU objections. During the preceding fortnight, there had been
many favorable reports, from various British sources; and,
though the President and the Court-Gazette (as the Federal

332 UNION.
Republican called the National InteUigencer) discredited all
such fond lUusions, yet their consoling unction was taken to
heart, and soon proved delightful reality. We aU desired
peace. Jackson's victories indeed sensibly diminished both
patriotic and party-anxiety. After the campaign of Louisiana,
superadded to those of Canada, we believed ourselves able to
cope with the British by land as well as by water. The serene
and much-abused chief magistrate never lost> his confidence;
his right arm, Monroe, was one of those tempers which rise
with an exigency to a pitch of resolution ; his left arm, Dallas,
often excited to tears, was loftier every day, as financial diffi
culties and congressional vexations thwarted him ; and while
it is easy and common to say that government was at its last
gasp, I believe that Congress, however intractable, would at
last have seconded the Executive by powerful acts. If Indis
pensable. The only ruinous calamity of the struggle, disunion
by civil war, was no longer to be feared, when the small cabal
of Boston malcontents, so long ruling several Eastern States,
confounded, terrified, and coerced into the Union by Southern
success and universal confidence, laid down their arms, and the
Hartford Convention, once dreaded as a tragedy, became a
mere farce. Washington, ruined, was the heart of a nation,
whose pulsations at the New Orleans extremity throbbed at
Boston. Material interests proved their bonds stronger than
political compacts. Louisiana became part of the United States,
in spite of constitutional difficulties, by a great continental con
vulsion. Southern staples began their plea "with Eastern na
vigation, and State-attachments followed, like personal friend
ships, from similar likes and dislikes. Massachusetts felt that
her prosperity depended on Kentucky and Tennessee rescuing
New Orleans from English power. The 70,000 boasted militia
of Massachusetts, with folded arms, suffering, almost rejoicing
in the hostile occupation of part of their State, beheld, with
national shame, whole brigades of unarmed Western soldiers,
whom they had disclaimed as fellow-countrymen, starting, like
men of Cadmus, from the earth, and rushing a thousand miles to
rescue French Creoles, whom the degraded and intolerant East
were forced, by community of danger and exploit, to acknow-

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER. 333
ledge as their deliverers from renewed colonization. War con
stituted a nation, one and the same, from the Sabine to the St.
Johns, which destiny was soon to carry to the Rio Grande and
the Pacific, as that war, if not first deserted by New England,
and then by Old, would have carried American confines beyond
Halifax and Quebec, and Eastern navigation and commerce far
beyond those of Great Britain. — Paper-money, never beat,
would do for us against England what England with paper-
money had done against all Europe — paper-money, according
to one of Macon's axioms, never beat.
Approaching now the end of the conflict, appreciating too
the transports of relief and joy with which peace was wel
comed, the truth will not be told without declaring that there
were considerate Americans who regretted that the genius of
our government was not put to the trial of another campaign,
of which the military spirit, though it might have been dan
gerous to our free institutions, would have been much more
fatal to Great Britain. That inscrutable and inexplicable
mystery, called credit, with which Great Britain vanquished
Napoleon, as with that similar talisman, which Danton recom
mended to the French, as daring. Napoleon conquered all but
England — confidence had become an American faculty. The
navy, the army, the people, all, but the government, were con
fident, and although Congress faltered, the Executive was re
solved. The result might have been military ascendency and
national debt, instead of peaceful prosperity. But the end
would have been victorious.
The editors of the National Intelligencer having (on the oc
casion of Mrs. Madison's death) given a much gloomier account
than my Impression of the last session of the War-Congress,
and their opportunities of knowledge having been as good as
mine, I think proper to incorporate then- view, as follows : —
"Congress had assembled on the 19th of September preceding — not, as
might be supposed from the date, in consequence of the then recent capture
ofthe city by the enemy, but in pursuance of a requisition by the President
anterior to that event, calling Congress together (as the President informed
the two'houses in his message at the opening of that session) for the purpose
of supplying the inadequacy of the finances to the existing wants of the
Treasury, and of making further and raore effectual provisions for prosecut-

334 NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
ing the war. During the recess of Congress, the honor of the arms of the
United States had been gallantly sustained in every conflict by land and
sea: politically considered, the capture of Washington itself, and the de
struction of the Capitol and the otlier public buildings, so far from heing a
misfortune, was for the administration a fortunate event, by its effect in ex
citing indignant feeling throughout the country, uniting the people in sup
port of the common cause, and preparing their minds for thp additional bur
den of taxation which it had become obvious that they must be called upon
to bear. All that was wanting to the vigorous prosecution of the war was
the provision of men and money for the purpose. The progress of recruiting
for filling the ranks of the regular army iiad already proved entirely too
slow, if not a total failure, as had the resource of loans for the support ofthe
government as well as for carrying on the war. The army, whose organi
zation was, on paper, more than 62,000 men, comprised an actual force o?
only 32,000, exclusive of officers, of which force probably not more than one-
half could be relied upon for effective service ; and the credit of the govern
ment had sunk so low that plummet could hardly sound the depth of its
degradation. "At the opening of the session, the President, in his communication to
the two houses of Congress, with eloquent persuasion, endeavored to impress
upon them the necessity of making immediate provision for filling the ranks
of the army and replenishing the public Treasury. In this purpose he was
earnestly seconded by Secretary Monroe, of the War Department, and the
new Secretary (Mr. Dallas) ofthe Treasury Department.
" Towards the first of these objects a bill was soon matured, and after
wards received the assent of Congress, extending the age at which recruits
might be enlisted to fi.ly years, doubling the bounty in land to each, and re
moving the interdiction upon the recruiting of minors and apprentices. This
measure was a mere experiment, of no practical value, as the event showed.
The plan for filling the ranks of the army upon which the Executive relied,
and which was placed before the Senate in a bold and energetic report from
the War-Secretary, was to form into classes, of 100 each, all the population
ofthe United States fit for militia-duty, out of every class of which four men
' for the war' were to be furnished within thirty days afier the classification,
by choice or ' by draught,' and delivered over to the recruiting officer of
each district, to be marched to such places of general rendezvous as might
be directed by the Secretary of War. This plan, which, as the reader will
perceive, comprised all the essential features of the French conscription,
though perhaps the only one which at the time promised effective resulte,
found from the first no favor, especially in the Housei of Representatives;
and became more and more obnoxious the more the administration seemed
to have it at heart. Hardly any one in Congress had the courage to allude
to it. Mr. Troup did indeed prevail upon the Military Committee, of which
he was chairman, to allow him to report a bill, conformable to the Executive
recommendation, by the pregnant title of 'An Act making provision for

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER. 335
filling the ranks of the regular army by classing the fiee male population
ofthe United States;' and the bill was referred to a committee ofthe whole
House — and never afier heard of In the course of the session some Acts
had passed looking to the employment of volunteers and detachments of mi
litia, under the old plan, for short terms; and one of more importance, 'to
authorize the President of the United States to accept the service of State
troops and of volunteers.' This last was not only the most effective measure
which had passed towards the supply of men for carrying on the war, but it
was the most so that was likely to pass.
" In the flrst three months of the session, Congress also had, in conformity
with the recommendations of Mr. Secretary Dallas, in his first report (made
on the 17th of October), passed Acts laying direct taxes and excises on va
rious objects,-which, it was calculated, would produce annually sixteen mil-
. lions of dollars of revenue ; which taxation, however, — though wise legis
lation, as far as it went, and indispensable as a basis for future loans or cre
dits in any form — could not become available for purposes of immediate
necesessity, nor to any important amount within the year. It is of the
essence of direct taxes and excises, besides their being oppressive and vexa
tious, and the most expensive in collection, that they cannot be relied upon
for any emergency, because of the time that is requisite to make them begin
to be productive.
" These were all the measures, adapted to the existing state of war, which
had been matured in Congress up to the middle of February.
" The truth to say, indeed, notwithstanding the nature of the emergency,
a dogged inertness seemed to paralyze the action of Congress during the
latter part of that session. The recommendation to recruit the army by
drafts from the militia was not only unwelcome, as we have said, but revolt
ing to the inclinations ofthe popular branch of Congress; so much so that a
great proportion ofthe members of that body (and among them some of the
leading and most conspicuous members ofthe republican party) shrunk from
it as from the plague : and, as though the leprous influence of that proposi
tion contaminated every other part ofthe plans ofthe administration, it was
with almost equal reluctance that the House approached the consideratign
oi adequate measures (such as Mr. Secretary Dallas frankly and fearlessly
recommended) for the support of the public credit and for strengthening the
sinews of the war. Three months of the session were spent, and lost, be
tween the two houses, in the discussion ofa bill to incorporate a Bank ofthe
United States, upon a plan recommended by the Secretary of the Treasury
as a fiscal measure ; the contestation concerning which resulted in the
passage of a bill for a bank of entirely different construction from that re
commended by the Treasury. To this project of a bank, when presented
for his approbation, the President refused his signature, for the sufficient
reason that, instead of promising any aid to the government in its time of
need,, the bank, as proposed to be constituted, could not be relied on during
the war to provide a circulating medium, or to furnish loans or anticipations

336 NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.

li*

of the public revenue. Much time was consumed, besides, in debates lyion
questions which ought never to have been sufi'ered to interfere with the dis
cussion of measures of vital consequence, demanded by the alarming state
of prostration and financial debility to which the government was reduced.
Several days were passed in the consideration of an abortive proposition to
remove the iseat of government from Washington ; and, whilst the enemy
was almost actually in sight from the windows of the building in which
Congress was temporarily sitting, gentlemen found time to make and argue
idle propositions for amending the Constitution, and to squabble about private
claims older than the government itself At the very most critical moment,
for example, one whole day was spent in debating, a bill, with the merits of
which all the members were by long acquaintance made familiar, to pay for
Amy Dardin's horse !
" President Madison, and his firiends and faithful counsellors, were fully
aware of the dangers by which the Ship of State was surrounded. They
saw the breakers ahead, and heard their roar upon the rocks. With all the
anxiety and apprehensiveness for the safety of the country with which such
warnings of danger filled their minds, no exertion was spared by them, in
public and in private, to induce the two houses of Congress to set themselves
earnestly to the completion of the task for which, in anticipation of the
regular time of meeting, they had been convened six months before.
" The National Intelligencer, representing the views of the administration
of that day, put forth appeals, the high authority of which could not well be
mistaken, to the patriotism, the sense of duty, the pride of consistency, of
the representatives of the people. In those appeals, the magnitude, and the
power, and the resources of our adversary, augmented by his late successes,
by the overthrow of the colossal power of Napoleon, and the consequent
general pacification, were not underrated. But, it was urged, experiment
had already shown that even the conquerors in the wars of Europe, in all
the numbers that could he transported over a sea three thousand miles in
width, would not be a match for the heroism and discipline of American
soldiers, fighting for their homes and their altars — for the honor and glory
of their country ; that nothing, it was certain, was necessary to our success
in this contest but the organization of an adequate military force, and of an
effective fiscal system, both easily practicable ; and that nothing was neces
sary to supply both these wants hut a liberal spirit of accommodation,
essential in all deliberative bodies, among those who sincerely wished to
save the country, to establish its rights, and to vindicate the reputation of
free forms of government. The lion-hearted and uncompromising Monroe,
then Secretary of War, never failed to repeat to committees, and to indi
vidual members of Congress, on all occasibijs that offered, the same argu
ments which he had, early in the session, pressed upon Congress in an official
letter to the military committee of the Senate ; such as, that the United
States must, in this conflict, relinquish no right, or perish in the struggle ;
that there was no intermediate ground to stand upon ; that the contest was

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER. 337
oiile for existence, all doubt of which, if any remained, had been dissipated
by the latest despatches from our ministers at Giient ; that the only way to
bring the war to a close was by a vigorous prosecution of it, carrying it into
the northern possessions of the enemy on this continent; and that, if the
means placed at the disposition of the government were not fully adequate
to that end, discomfiture must ensue. Nor was President Madison at all
behind Mr. Monroe in courage or in firmness of resolve. Mr. Monroe in all
things — even in his military plans, which Congress would not carry out
spoke the language of the President, which the President himself repeated
on all opportunities which his station allowed to him.
"The month of January was already far advanced. One month of the
session only remained ; and yet nothing effective had been done in Congress.
The Secretary of the Treasury (Mr. Dallas), ever faithful and fearless in
the discharge of his official duty, addressed to Congress, on the 17th of
January, through the committee of ways and means of the House of Repre
sentatives, a report, in which, after informing the committee that he should
still respectfully and deferentially have awaited the necessary action of
Congress upon his report of the 17th of October preceding, but for the near
approach of the day at which the term of existence of the present Congress
was to expire, he placed before them, in naked figures, these startling facts :
that the amount of money required for the service of the government for
the year 1815 was fifly-six millions of dollars ; that all the means at the
command of the government for the same period — including the revenue
from customs and internal taxes, as well as the proceeds of loans and trea
sury notes — was but fifteen millions of dollars; and that there existed,
therefore, a deficiency in the means required for the service of the current
year of upwards of forty mUlions of dollars; and that provision of adequate
means to supply this deficiency was necessary to save thfr government from
bankruptcy and disgrace. These were not the words he used, but they ex
press his meaning. To enable the government to accomplish this object,
besides the resource of loans, and a further issue of treasury notes to the
amount of fifleen millions (heing the largest amount which was deemed
available), the Secretary recommended that taxes be laid on 'income?, on
inheritances, law processes, mortgages, dividends on stocks, and on manu
factured flour.
"This report, instead of stimulating Congress to a vigorous efibrt, such as
the emergency required, seemed to have the same staggering effect as the
proposed conscription had had in regard to filling the ranks of the regular
army. The members stood aghast at the proposition for heavy taxation
upon objects so sensitive as those proposed by the Secretary. Up to the
13th day of February, no report was made to Congress by the committee of
ways and means upon any one of the Secretary's propositions, except by a
bill to authorize an issue of treasury-notes; and, as if a flood of those could
compensate for the absence of revenue, or substitute it, that bill contem
plated an issue to the amount of twenty-five millions, instead of the fifleen
Vol. IV. — 22

338 NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
millions which the Secretary had advised, though it was notorious that the
treasury-notes were at that very moment selling at from twenty to thirty
per cent, below par, and, at that depreciation, constituted the only resource
of the government for the payment of the expenses of the, army, the navy,
and the civil list, and even the dividends of stocks upon the public debt.
Thus, tvvo weeks only of the Session remaining — at the moment when
Great Britain was, according to the latest accounts from Europe, baring her
arm against us, resolved to exert her whole land and naval power for our
annoyance — what was the condition of the country 1 The spirit of the
people was up; but the spirit of Congress was below that ofthe people, and
the Executive was left powerless. The only means at its command for pro
secuting the war, or even to pay the civil list, consisted, in the financial
department, ofa treasury with nothing in it, the chief reliance for supplying
it being the proceeds of six per cent, stock, sold to speculators at the rate of
one hundred dollars in stock for eighty dollars, payable in the notes of sus
pended banks, which notes were selling in the market at thirty per cent
below the par of specie ; so that for every hundred dollars in stock (when
purchasers for it could be found) the government was in reality getting only
fifty dollars in value ! The circulating medium, at the same time, was alto
gether made up of the depreciated notes of suspended banks, and trumpery
bills, of less denominations, issued by Tom, Dick, and Harry, the broker,
the baker, the barber ; by every individual, in short, who found it convenient
to emit them.
"As to the military department, the paucity of means at the command
of the Executive may be justly appreciated by the fact that Major-General
Jacob Brown (then commanding in chief on the northern frontier), travel
ling all the way hither over roads which were, at that season, almost im
practicable, for the purpose of conferring with the Executive in regard to
the approaching campaign, arrived in Wasliington, accompanied by several
members of his staflT, on the 6th day of February ; and that, wasting no time
in vain ceremony at so critical a moment, refusing the compliment of a
public entertainment proposed to him by Congress, he departed, on the 11th
of the month, on his return to his post of honor and of peril, generally un
derstood to have obtained from the Executive — all that the Executive had
to give — not the needed reinforcements of men and money, but plenary
powers to call, in the name of the general government; upon the State
governments, but especially upon the States of New York and Vermont,
for State troops and volunteers (under the authority of the Act mentioned
in a preceding part of this article), to constitute, with the small regular
force at his disposal, a grand army for the invasion of Canada; and
instructed besides, probably, to avail himself of the credit of the former of
these States (which had, during the preceding campaign, done so much for
the common cause) to obtain advances of money, to defray the expense of
maintaining the force so to be called out. Such were the circumstances
under which the campaign was about to open.

LEWIS B. STURGES. 339
" The 13th day of February, down to which we have brought our sketch,
found the House of Representatives engaged upon another Bank Bill,
designed to assist the Treasury in anticipating the revenue to a sufficient
atnount to carry on the government — with small hope, however, though it
was the last card of the Treasury, of being able to pass it in any shape to
be useful either to the government or people."
My impressions differ from those of the editor of the Na
tional Intelligencer. There are errors of dates in his narra
tive, which I need not point out, because I think its errors of
argument are much more striking. He does not even allude
to Jackson's success at New Orleans, of which the intelligence,
a few days before that of peace, put us perfectly at ease,
both as to country and party. There was nothing to fear
worse than another year's war, through which we were almost
certain of going triumphantly. And Mr. Gales overlooks the
two weeks then yet remaining of the session of Congress, in
which final fortnight all that was wanting might, and probably
would, have been done. These finishing two Weeks are always
the period of Congressional performance. The war-party had
majorities In both houses. Adequate taxes were actually
enacted. The country teemed with martial confidence. No
elections to Congress were impending. If there had been, the
war was popular. The national spirit, executive determina
tion, military ascendency, and, it may be added, the obligations
of Oongress, all guarantied effective hostiUties.
Official announcement of peace at Washington was preceded
by the foUowing occurrence : — The British sloop of war Fa
vorite arrived at New York, Saturday, the 11th of February,
and landed there Mr. Henry Carroll, the American bearer of
the treaty, and Mr. Anthony St. John Baker, bearer of the
English copy. Mr. Carroll did not leave New York tUl Sun
day, the 12th, nor reach Washington tiU Tuesday afternoon,
the 14th of February — good speed for those days of stage
coaches and bad roads. But private interest, as usual, out
stripped pubUc service ; and one or more New York merchants
despatched a secret messenger, preceding Mr. Carroll, to Wash
ington. On Monday morning, Lewis B. Sturges, one of the
Connecticut members of the House of Representatives, called
on Mr. Thomas Monroe, the city postmaster, and asked him

340 LEWIS B. STURGES.
to delay for a short time, half an hour or so, the departure of
the mail from Washington for' Alexandria, which had not been
unusual, when requested by a meipber of Congress or other
responsible person, for any unexceptionable purpose. Mr.
Sturges's purpose was to anticipate Carroll's arrival, by afford
ing opportunity for speculations in Southern produce and other
goods, largely changed in prices by peace. Mr. Monroe asked
for a reason why the departure of the mail should be put off,
which, he said, could not be done without sufficient cause. Mr.
Sturges replied that he would give it, if Mr. Monroe would
first give his word of honor not to divulge the purpose. Mr.
Monroe, influenced by the respect due to a member of Con
gress, gave the promise of secrecy. Whereupon Mr. Sturges
told him that peace was made at Ghent, and intelligence of it
shortly coming to Washington, which New York merchants
desired to anticipate by profitable purchases. Mr. Monroe
said, if that was the fact, it ought not to be kept secret. But
as Mr. Sturges insisted on the promise given, the postmaster
said that he must consult the Postmaster-General ; to whom
accordingly they went together, his apartment being in the
same building with the city post-office. The Postmaster-Gene
ral, Return Jonathan Meigs, declining to accede to the pro
posed arrangement, unless the President authorized it, repaired
at once, as the occasion was urgent, to the President's resi
dence, then In Mr. Tayloe's house, and there stated the matter
to Edward Coles, the President's secretary, by whom Governor
Meigs was introduced to the President's study. On hearing
what had passed between Mr. Sturges, Mr. Monroe, and Mr.
Meigs, Mr. Madison was much more excited than usual with
his calm temper. Instantly declaring his determination to make
the matter public. Perhaps, he said, it was a mere trick for
speculation, and wholly untrue. But, whatever it was, it should
be Instantly made as public as possible. He ordered Mr. Coles,
therefore, to hasten to the War-Office and there make known
the circumstance just as told ; to vouch for nothing but the
fact that such a statement had been made, and let every one
form his own opinion of it. On Mr. Coles' getting to the War-
Office he found there, among several other persons to whom he

ARRIVAL OF THE TREATY. 341
proclaimed the circumstance, an officer of the army, named
Stone, who at once -said that, if allo-wed by his superiors to go,
he would immediately mount his horse, and publish the story
all along the road, as far as he could ride. Permission being
forthwith given, he set off and rode all the way to Fredericks
burg, publishing the news wherever necessary. Meantime,
Mr. Sturges, disappointed of the maU, despatched an express
also on horseback ; who, with Stone, reached Fredericksburg,
fifty miles from Washington ; but Stone pubUshIng the news,
so as to prevent all speculation; and an innkeeper there,
named Farls, forwarded it to Richmond, so that the whole de
sign of Eastern speculation was frustrated, except at Norfolk
and some few other places on the coast. The British squadron
off Amelia Island gave Intelligence of peace at Savannah on
the 11th of February, which got to Charleston by the 13th :
so that, even if the New York operation had succeeded at some
of the intermediate places, the Southern ports were all apprised
of the truth before it left New York.
Not long after this occurrence at the post-office, which pre
pared the President's mind, still however incredulous, for the
news, Mr. Carroll, on the same day, arrived with it at the
Department of State. That evening the President and his
constitutional counsellors read the -treaty, and he signed it late
at night, after the conference, of which Mr. Gales, who was
present on that occasion, has published some remarkable dis
closures in the National Intelligencer of the 25th of August,
1849. When I inserted from that journal the paragraph an
nouncing the treaty, at page 312 of the second volume of this
Historical Sketch, I was not aware that Mr. Dallas wrote it,
by request of Mr. Madison, in council — indicating how some
times anonymous newspaper publications proceed from high
sources. Napoleon's pen in the Moniteur, some British minis
ter's in the London papers, and still more frequently Ameri
can simUar contributions, mark an era when the pen does more
than the sword, and the press gives destiny to nations.
The day of these memorable events was one of those Febru
ary conclusions of winter, when the ground covered with ice
made walking extremely difficult and dangerous. StUl, every

342 TREATY RATIFIED.
body was abroad ; the solitary and dismal metropolis was fuU
of bustle and animation; the post-office of Congress was
thronged with members impatient for letters, newspapers, and
news ; and. In spite of the weather, the day was devoted to
rejoicing. On the evening of its re,ceptIon at the President's, the treaty,
rapidly read, was hastily signed: after, by his signature, fix
ing it as of that date, the President stipulated that the paper
he signed should be exchanged for a fairer copy next day ;
which was then, on the 15th of February, submitted to the
Senate, while, engaged on resolutions, unanimously passed,
thanking Jackson, Patterson, and Carmick, — the army, navy,
marines, volunteers, militia, land people of Louisiana and New
Orleans ; which resolutions that same day came to us In the
House of Representatives. Rufus King expressing a desire
to see the President's instructions, after adopl^ing a resolution
for their production, the Senate, without further action on the
treaty, adjourned that day. Next day, 16th of February, it
was unanimously confirmed by the journalized votes of thirty-
five Senators, the whole body, except one absent. On the
15th, the House of Representatives sat but a couple of hom's,
much moved with patriotic pride, party exultation and disap
pointment. On the 16th of February, Mr. Troup, Chairman
of the Military Committee, and Thomas Boiling Robertson,
the member from Louisiana, addressed the House In strains
of congratulation, -as the Senate was addressed by Elijius Fro-
mentin, one of the Senators from Louisiana. Mr. Fromentin
was a native of Paris, a Frenchman, educated for the church,
who spoke broken English. Mr. Robertson was a Virginian,
descended from Pocahontas, with the straight, dark hair of an
Indian. But a fortnight of the third and last session of the thirteenth
Congress then remained. Twice convened by special caU of
the Executive, when we came together in September, 1814,
the aspect of Washington was as gloomy as it was gay when
we separated in March, 1815. The seat of government was
a mass of ruins. The President, during much of the winter,
had his face muffled In a handkerchief for some disease of the

FEDERAL REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER. 343
jaw. The Secretary of State, acting-Secretary of War, was
prostrated by severe illness, and the Attorney-General too,
brought on probably by excitement, malaria, fatigue, and mor
tification. The capture of Washington discredited the chief
magistrate to the lowest point of abuse, as irresolute, incapable,
totally unfit for his station. The Hartford Convention was in
portentous progress. Th-at New Orleans was inevitably lost
was a common cry. A letter from a member of Congress was
published in a New York newspaper, stating that while that
member was dining with the President he was called out of the
room to be Informed of the capture of that city, and when taxed
with it, denied the fact, with atrocious falsification. The Federal
Republican newspaper, edited, in the District of Columbia, by
one member of Congress, and no doubt filled with contributions
by other members, on the 5th of December, 1814, hailed the
expected close of the Congress of Vienna as ending In " a
merry Christmas to the allied powers and. the little Island that
has- helped them to their long-lost liberties. New Orleans will
be taken, Louisiana wrested from us, and the war-States of the
West bleed at every pore. Before the next 4th of July, New
England will be enjoying all the advantages of a separate
peace, the Western and Southern States left alone to fight the
British, Spaniards, Indians, and Blacks, on the Western fron
tier. The poor Creeks and Canadians will yet see a just Pro
vidence avenging all their wrongs and cruel sufferings." On
the 17th of January, 1815, it predicted that Madison would
abandon Louisiana, and that the fall of New Orleans would fix
the blame on the Executive. On the 20th of that month It
stated that " a few African and West India regiments, accus
tomed to such a climate, would be sufficient to garrison New
Orleans, while the WeUington troops would return to the Che
sapeake, and those In Canada, like another horde, rush Into
New York, and overwhelm the North-west." Even after the
stunning blow to such assaUants, the very day we had the first
credible rumors of peace, on the 13th of February, 1815, that
journal published that " fifty such battles as General Jackson
fought would have no other effect than to raise the reputation
of our arms, not to wipe out the stain of dishonorable peace,
which, come when it may, wUl be disgraceful to Mr. Madison."

344 VICTORY AND PEACE.
The session of Congress from September to the 3d of Febru
ary was extremely unpromising. The taxes were doubled in
deed ; but a direct tax falling heavily on the staples of the
South, where the -war had its principal supporters, gave them
no pleasure. The banks had failed ; classification was not
allowed to be even considered. Several of the war-party
shrunk from the strong measures it required. There was no
circulation but discredited bank-paper. Opposition recovered
from the first shock of the Ghent despatches, and the war-
majority sunk once more Into that torpid fear of their sovereign
masters, which from first to last was the paralyzing republican
infirmity. All at once came victory, when hardly hoped, fif
teen hundred miles from our sloth, to electrify Congress. The
scene changed, like a beautiful vision, with dramatic sudden
ness. The British were totally and wonderfully defeated, by
mUitia and half-armed, undisciplined volunteers. Before there
was time to thank them, or commemorate their exploits, peace
followed over the ocean, and there was nothing more to fear
or to do. Republican government and the democratic admi
nistration were not even put to their greatest trial ; but
marched off the field with drums beating, colors flying, cannon
firing, serenades, and Illuminations — all the honors of war
and all the advantages of peace, without having undergone
the severest sufferings of the crisis : much more frightened
than hurt. Whether the people's representatives In Congress
assembled would ever, if put to the utmost need, have proved
equal to the spirit of the people. Is a problem which men
will resolve according to their various prepossessions. Madi
son contemplated three methods of dealing with Congress.
Either, first, by a special message, to lay bare the exigencies
of the country, without any reserve, as Dallas had the condi
tion of the finances, and, rebuking the inaction of Congress,
call on them for what war-plan they might prefer for raising
adequate armies and pecuniary means : telling them that the
Executive was not tenacious of its own projects, but would
cordially carry out whatever plan Congress might enact. Or,
secondly, suffering the thirteenth Congress to expire on the
4th of March, In discredit, to Issue, on the very day of their

PEACE. 345
dissolution, his proclamation, calling the fourteenth Congress
to meet as soon as possible, and endeavor to stimulate them
to better conduct than that of their predecessors of the thir
teenth and twelfth Congresses. Or, thirdly, try to prevail on
the Congress in session to adopt the Executive recommenda
tions during the last fortnight, always the operative period of
every session ; which Madison stUl hoped to render productive
of efficient acts. Fortunately, none of these resorts became
necessary. On the 18th of February, 1815, President Madison, by spe
cial message to both houses of Congress, laid the ratified treaty
of peace with Great Britain, through them, before the Ame
rioan people, and congratulated them on an event highly
honorable to the nation, terminating with peculiar felicity a
campaign signalized by the most brilliant successes. Peace,
at all times a blessing, is peculiarly welcome, said the message,
when the causes for war have ceased, government has demon
strated the efficiency of Its powers of defence, and the nation
can review its conduct without regret or reproach. The gal
lant men whose achievements In every department of military
service, on land and water, contributed to the honor of the
American name and restoration of peace, he recommended to
the care and beneficence of Congress, whose wisdom would
provide for maintaining an adequate regular force, the gradual
advance of the naval estabUshment, adding discipline to the
distinguished bravery of the militia, and cultivating the mili
tary art in its essential branches. Commerce and navigation
were also recommended to the care of Congress, and manufac
tures sprung Into existence during the war, as a source of
national independence and wealth, entitled to their prompt
and constant guardianship. He prayed Congress, about to
be restor-ed to their constituents, to bear with them his hope
that the peace would be not only the foundation of the most
friendly Intercourse between the United States and Great Bri
tain, but productive of happiness and harmony to every portion
of our own country, grateful for the protection which Provi
dence had never ceased to bestow, never ceasing to inculcate
obedience to the laws and fideUty to the Union as the paUa-

346 PEACE.
dium of the national Independence and prosperity. On the day
of the reception of that message, John Culpeper, a North Ca
rolina member, moved, and, on the 21st of February, the
House passed, a resolution for a joint committee of both houses
to wait on the President, and request him to recommend a day
of thanksgiving, to be observed by the people of the United
States with religious solemnity, and the offering of devout
acknowledgments to Almighty God for his great goodness,
manifested in restoring to these United States the blessings
of peace.
On the 25th of February, notwithstanding royal salutes for
peace, the Montreal Gazette deplored Its announcement. " Our
error was, expeditions too small," it said, " under Generals
Ross and Pakenham,'! that by Prevost not mentioned, "in
stead of armies on the coast In large bodies. We have failed,
and had recourse to, such a peace as could be made. When
shall the measure of our humiliation be filled ? It is full to
the brim. The nation which struck all Europe with terror has
succumbed to the pitiful Republic of America, a people yet in
the cradle." On the 28th of February, Major-General Stovin,
commanding on the Niagara frontier, communicated to the
American officer commanding at Buffalo that he had. ordered
a cessation of hostilities, and congratulated him on the event
of peace. "With peace," said the AVilUamsville Gazette, "this
region will revive, and the pleasant village of Buffalo must
invite capitalists for its embellishment. " On the first of
March, Adjutant-General Baynes, by general order, dismissed
the Canadian troops ; and, on the 9th of that month, the
Governor-General Prevost proclaimed at the Castle of Quebec
the ratified treaty. On the 6th of March, Admiral Cockburn
despatched the schooner Alligator to General Pinckney, ac
knowledging his announcement of the treaty ratified by our
govemment, with the Admiral's assurance that he had given
immediate orders to put a stop to hostiUties. On the 12th
of that month, he left Cumberland island and the American
waters, to be employed, in the following August, to super
intend the conquered French Emperor's conveyance. In the
ship Northumberland, to St. Helena. About the time of his

PEACE. 347
departure from the Southern coast. Admiral Hotham, with his
squadron, retired from that of New England: since when,
after ten preceding years of incessant insulting hostUities, in
peace and in war, in the waters and upon the shores and
ports of the United States, taught respect by that war, scarcely
an offensive act of British marine annoyance has been suffered
in America. Hotham was the admiral under whose superin
tendence Napoleon surrendered to Captain Maitland, on board
the Bellerophon.
Our country was all blazing with demonstrations of joy for
Jackson's victories, when peace broke upon us, to crown
national exultation with immense delight. When I left Wash
ington for Philadelphia, the 28th of February, 1815, I found
the highways and towns sparkling with bonfires and illumina
tions, and every face radiant with smiles of victory — as, when
I passed over the same way to Congress, In May, 1813, all
was drilling, marching, British buccaneering, and hostility.
European applause and English lamentation much contributed
to our enjoyment. "The spirit," said a London journal, "is
no more, which Inspired Elizabeth, Oliver, and WUliam. Eng
land wants better negotiators or more gunpowder, has lost all
idea of national honor and dignity, and suffers an Insignificant
State to insult and defy that which styles itself mistress of the
seas." In another chapter, some of the fiagellations of the
press laid on the backs of the emissaries of the Hartford Con
vention are mentioned as those unlucky disorganizers slunk
home. The Boston press was happy in its witty contrasts
between Massachusetts and Louisiana. The administration
had been, not unjustly, charged with neglecting to supply
Jackson with arms, particularly flints. Having destroyed so
many without them, said one journal, how much more com
plete will be the next victory ! and the same press, with a
sarcasm earned by the East, advertised for a thousand Ken
tuckians, without flints, arms, or ammunition, to retake Cas
tine for Massachusetts.
Seldom has the justification of success been more signalized
than by Madison's restoration from extreme disparagement to
the highest approbation. Mr. Madison's drawing-rooms were

348 president's drawing-room.
held on Wednesday evening. On that of Wednesday, the 22d
of February, Washington's birth-day, the rooms were crowded
with ladies and gentlemen, to congratulate the triumphant
President and his wife ; to rejoice with them on the glorious
conclusion of a war. In which he embarked with reluctance,
but maintained, in spite of distressing reverses and indignities,
with constant fortitude. Excellent in the delicate and difficult
proprieties of plain and simple, familiar hospitality to the
mixed company of a republican attendance of both sexes, with
out ushers, chamberlains, established forms or ceremonies,
crowding round a personage, sometimes called a monarch in
disguise, and .who has much of the power, with none of the
pomp, of royalty — Mrs. Madison, that grateful evening, per
formed her conspicuous part with indefatigable courtesy and
to universal satisfaction. Madison's wrinkled and withered
face wore a placid smile, as he received the compliments of
political adversaries and the homage of adherents. None but
the bitterest antagonists stayed away from such a jubilee.
Nearly all the eminent members of Congress, the Supreme
Court and distinguished lawyers attending It, — all gay, some
merry, more than one excited, even to convivial vivacity, pressed
round the chief magistrate, whom, with few personal advan
tages, a political opponent, Chief Justice Marshal, character
ized as a model for American statesmen. It was one of those
moments when joy or grief, and even bodily illness, hush the
bad passions of human nature. All could generously applaud
a man of peace, constrained to go to war, and make the first
essay of its terrible trial on the pacific government of which
he was the chief architect.
The resolutions of thanks for the New Orleans victories led
to one of those controversies between the two houses, which
are Indicative of the peculiarity of American national situation
and opinions concerning the military power of the country.
The chairman of our miUtary committee, Mr. Troup, objected
to them, as tending to mislead posterity and strangers in the
most Important feature of those briUiant exploits, that not
regular soldiers, but mUitIa, constituted the principal force,
and chiefly contributed to the brilliancy of the triumph. The

PEACE-ESTABLISHMENT. 349
House would not concur in the Senate resolutions, as reported
there by WUliam B. Giles, chairman of the Military Com
mittee. A conference ensued ; and it was not tiU the 25th of
February, nearly a fortnight after the resolutions passed the
Senate, that they adopted the House amendment, adding to
the Senate resolution, that the greater proportion of the troops
consisted of mUItla and volunteers, suddenly collected together.
Without that amendment, the resolution could not have been
carried, the popular branch of the Legislature insisting that
it would be preferable to forego the resolution altogether, than
to misinform history ; that the people in arms were the real
victors, not mere soldiers. In the debate, Macon mentioned
to the House his personal knowledge of General Jackson ; then
so Httle known, that Macon's assurance that Jackson was a
high-minded and honorable man was heard, with surprise, of a
personage then as middle-aged as Csesar, when his warrior-
renown began, and,, from two battles, become great.
More serious difficulty, of similar character, occurred be
tween the two houses, fixing the military peace-establishment.
On the 22d of February, Mr. Troup, from the MiUtary Com
mittee, reported to the House a bill for not exceeding 10,000
men, in such proportions of infantry, artillery, and rifiemen,
without cavalry, as the President should think proper ; retain
ing the corps of engineers, two major-generals, and four briga
diers ; the President to select from the existing officers, and
discharge supernumeraries, with three months' extra pay, and
considerable allowances of land to every officer and private,
either retained or discharged ; which was read twice, as usual,
and referred to the committee of the whole. On the 25th,
the House took it up in that committee, Macon in the chair,
when General Desha moved to reduce the army from ten to
six thousand men ; on which motion an animated and protracted
debate, till late tha,t night, and through several days after,
ensued, branching off Into the merits of the treaty and the
war (which I shall not notice here), and the expediency of
a standing army for the United States ; a perplexing subject,
of which a digest of the discussion is both pertinent and Im
portant. Executive confidential recommendation, partly read

350 PEACE-ESTABLISHMENT.
to the House, caUed for a mUItary peace-establishment of
20,000 men ; the House mUitary committee proposed 10,000 ;
the Senate, Inclining to 20,000, for some time adhered to
15,000 ; and it was not tiU near the last hour of the last night
of that session that, after various meetings of committees of
conference of the two houses, they finally compromised on the
bUl, which became a law, for not more than 10,000 men.
Mr. Troup said the mUItary system had just been perfected,
when it became necessary to reduce one of the finest armies
in the world, from a cause of universal congratulation. In
doing so, we had to consider the security and interest of the
country, and justice to the army. The' army might be reduced
by retaining skeletons of all the regiments, by reducing their
numbers, or by consolidating the whole ; which latter method
was that of the bill. Ten thousand men, at $200 a year for
each man, which was the peace-estimate, as $300 was for war,
would cost $2,666,764 per annum. Mr. Calhoun and othersj
having called for official information, Mr. Troup afterwards
read part of g- letter from the War Department, which, he
said, any member might examine, but which it would be im
proper to make public, distinctly and earnestly calling for
20,000 men as the peace-establishment. Mr. Desha said that
3000 would be enough for garrisons, and 3000 more for all
other purposes in peace. The yeomanry are the country's
best reliance, as they have proved. Taxes should not be
riveted on them, to keep up a standing army in peace.
Western riflemen are the best force to keep the Indians In
order. Mr. Wright objected to less than 10,000 men, till the
treaty was executed, especially while the congress of European
sovereigns was still In session, with unknown designs. Mr.
Sharp said that old officers had not proved as useful as those
appointed after war began, and that the most important ele
ment of mUItary preparation was scientific improvement. For
peace, 5000 were enough ; for war, 10,000 wer^ too few. Elisha
R. Potter insisted that 2000 were enough, and he wished the
army reduced to that number. Mr. Pickering objected to
¦leaving any discretion with the President as to the time of
reduction, which, Mr. Lowndes insisted, was indispensable.

PEACE-ESTABLISHMENT. 351
Mr. Barbour said that, from 1783 to 1794, the British, con
trary to the Treaty of Independence, held possession of our
frontier posts, and we should not be hasty in stripping
ourselves, of means of enforcing the present treaty. Mr.
Pickering said they held one of our posts because we did not
comply with one of the terms of the treaty, for payment of
debts, to which, in some States, difficulties were made. Mr.
Eppes was opposed to leaving discretion to reduce with the
Executive, because we know Avhat the Executive opinion is.
Estimating the receipts for 1815 at $18,000,000, and the ex
penditures, exclusive of army and navy, at near $17,000,000,
the whole expense of army and navy must be borrowed. The
cost of the army and fortifications would be more than
$6,000,000, at $300 a man, which, he said, was the peace
cost; and the three months' pay to the disbanded, $2,000,000
more ; he was, therefore, for 6000 men. John G. Jackson said
there were unadjusted territorial and commercial questions
pending between the United States and Great Britain. Still,
he had no idea of an armed neutrality. Europe cannot' bridge
the Atlantic, and If we keep up an army as long as, or because
they do, it will be perpetual. General Hopkins, of Kentucky,
made a striking speech against hasty reduction, or any army
less than 10,000 strong. There is no magic, said he, In the
word peace, with the enemy all around us. In 1783, when
that word was spoken, it cost rivers of blood and treasure to
drive from our frontiers the Indians suborned and fed by
British posts, within our borders, contrary to treaty. The
British now hold Fort Erie, the American Gibraltar, MlchlUI-
hiaclnac, the key of the lakes, and the Penobscot. The Creek
Indians, and their Spanish Instigators, at Havana and Vera
Cruz, are they, too, to be confided in ? What are 10,000 men,
to cover the vast belt of our surroundings, by sea and land ?
General Desha contends that western riflemen will overcome
the Indians ; but at what enormous cost of blood and suffering
first, he did not say. New Orleans, alone, would require one-
sixth ofrthe 6000 men. The people would much rather pay
for an aririy to protect them, than be perpetually caUed from
their fields and firesides by harassing warfare. A standing

352 PEACE-ESTABLISHMENT.
army of 10,000>men — a force. In his opinion, much too small-
would be much less apt to degenerate Into that kind of stand
ing army, which is dangerous to liberty, than the mlHtia,
organized as it should be, to be avaUable, into a vast miUtary
host, infinitely more dangerous than any moderate-sized stand
ing army to government. John Forsyth,, chairman of the
committee on foreign affairs, strongly condemned the incon
siderate haste which would cut down an army from forty or
fifty to six thousand men, without allowing the Executive any
discretion as to the time or mode. In defiance of the Presi
dent's prudent, yet significant intimation, and the Secretary of
War's expHcit caU for 20,000. What is the condition of Eu
rope ? Are not our affairs with Spain whoUy unsettled ? The
treaty with England stipulates no more than suspension of
hostUities, without providing against repetition of any of the
causes of the late war, which nothing but her wounded pride
will restrain, and that may as well provoke her to renew.
Mortification for the failure of New Orleans is no peace pro-
babUIty. It may change the ministry, and renew the war.
Mr. Sheffey warmly opposed Mr. Forsyth's argument, particu
larly that which would induce the House to take its lessons
from the President. To that federal doctrine of a former day,
James FIsk tartly replied by reference to, the federal votes,
in Jefferson's administration, for increasing the army, and
plunging us into war, when England first began to molest our
commerce. Mr. Calhoun advocated 10,000, and Mr. Charles
Goldsborough 6000^ Though the Atlantic cannot be bridged,
said Mr. Calhoun, yet European powers have large possessions,
in which they keep numerous forces, in our immediate neigh
borhood. The loss of Detroit, at the commencement of the
war, had entailed more expense than half the war cqst ; a loss
attributable to the want of adequate preparation for war. Mr.
Goldsborough contended that no one could seriously apprehend
war from Spain. In 1805, when our difficulties with England
began, our army was but 3000 ; and It was not till this un
lucky war that it was increased to 10,000. What reason, now,
is there to prepare for war ? Mr. Pickering, in a long and
Instructive speech, explained the difficulties between the United

DEBATE ON THE ARMY. 353
States and Great Britain, from 1783 to 1794, not settled, in
fact, till 1800, when she withheld posts, and we debts, con
trary to treaty. Impediments to justice removed together. But
now, when the President informs us that we have no enemy,
an army is to be kept up to contend with Great Britain. If
there is peace in fact, why renew the Irritation by words, fears,
and threats ? Suspicions might tend to hostilities. Peace was
ascribable to the opposition, and manufacturing Interests, in
England, and their conviction that their interest is peace with
i}s. Her merchants found Europe shut to their trade and
manufactures, and sought vents for them here. Her defeat
at New Orleans will deter Great Britain, and much more so
feeble a power as Spain, from again molesting us. Spain,
weak everywhere, is most so in her provinces bordering on us.
Six thousand men are all we want for defence and security.
Except New York, no place requires more than 200. Colonel
Pickering said he knew he should be called a British advocate,
but his whole life, particularly revolutionary services, attested
that his predilections were always American. Mr. Grosvenor
and Mr. Gholson opposed hasty action, by reduction below
10,000 men at once. The expense of an additional 4:,000 men
for a short time was trifiing, compared to what it would be to
replace them, if hastily disbanded^ merely because peace was
signed, but while the enemy retained our forts and from 20 to
30,000 troops in Canada. General Desha's motion was carried
In committee of the whole by a majority of 19 votes. When
the debate was renewed in the House, he said, those who thought
most and spoke least were convinced that his amendment was
right.. But there were advocates of permanent taxation to be
riveted on the people by means of a standing army. He re
plied to Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Forsyth, and Mr. Troup. Mr. Rhea
was for 10,000. Militia often do well, he said; but there was
a large part of our territory then occupied by the enemy, from
which militia had not even attempted to expel them. He was
gratified with Mr. Grosvenor's disposition to take Executive
recommendation, and warned his party that. If any thing to
complain of should result, the democratic majority and admi
nistration would be responsible. Mr. Alfred Cuthbert denied
Vol. IV. — 23

354 DEBATE ON THE ARMY.
that mUitia are to be reUed on for garrison-duty, to which they
are averse ; and deprecated the effect of precipitation as encou
raging England and dispiriting our own people. The repub
lican party disapproved of armies and taxes : but 10,000
men he accounted neither dangerous nor burdensome. Mr.
Stuart said it was much easier to disband than raise troops :
and, whUe we have some of the best in the world, if we
want to avoid hostility, 10,000 are not too many. Mr. Potter
thought we had better be at war than support large armies
to beggar us in peace. Estimates of the cost were much
too low. They should be doubled. All our internal resources
had not yielded as much as the 10,000 men would cost in one
year. Mr. Calhoun insisted that reducing the army to one-
sixth of the war-establishment, from 60 to 10,000, was enough.
He contradicted the suggestions of Mr. Grosvenor and other
Federalists, that the treaty had gained nothing, and that the
peace was not acceptable either in this country or England,
on which branch of the subject long and ardent controversy
ensued, which for the present is pretermitted. . Mr. Jackson
charged Mr. Stockton with throwing this firebrand of discord
into the question. Mr. Forsyth, in one of his impassioned
strains, denounced the ambition of Great Britain as an adder,
always coiled, with fiery eye eternally fixed on its object.
Her Secretary of Legation at Ghent, he said — retorting a re
mark of Mr. Stockton — to treat of peace during "the immense
expedition to the Mississippi, and the bearer of the treaty
of peace, Mr. Baker, had smuggled himself out of the United
States, for fear of a criminal prosecution about to be instituted
against him, when war began, for violation of the laws of the
country by whose hospitality he was protected. Mr. Hanson
fiercely repelled Mr. Forsyth's censure of those members who
defied Executive recommendations. There were no Vanslttarts,
Cannings, or Castlereaghs, here, whose word was law. He
feared no other war by this administration, which would be
like a scalded cat jumping Into a boiling cauldron. Cyrus
King expected, he said, strong opposition to-day to the vote
of the other day in committee of the whole. As he approached
the hall this moming, he saw ominous birds of the palace cir-

THE ARMY. 355
cling about. The President would not wiUingly give up 60,000
bayonets. Be not deceived by bursts of joy for peace flowing
from utter abhorrence of this disgraceful war, from which the
people are glad to escape with their lives at any rate. But
the badge of disgrace is on It, without one solid benefit. Ten
thousand widows and orphans, its victims. Imprecate curses on
Madison for it. Cry glory over thirty thousand slain, wUl it
revive them, or clothe their beggared families ? Cry glory to
your ruined creditors, wIU it stop their mouths? Is there
glory in the ruink of yonder Capitol ? — In the wreck of your
Treasury ? Are the laurels of your heroes a mantle of cha
rity to cover the sins of your miserable administration ? shouted
Mr. King, in his stentorian voice, at victory and peace cloth
ing government in the purple of success and glory. At last,
when less of the session remained than was Indispensable for
the business to be transacted, and the subject, instead of being,
as at first, a pertinent discussion of what number the army
should consist, degraded into party-recriminations on the war
and the treaty, the House became impatient of further dispute,
the question was loudly called for from all parties, and, by 75
ayes to 65 nays, Desha's reduction from 10 to 6,000 was car
ried. The committee had reported considerable donations of
land for disbanded officers, which were also rejected by a
majority of one vote, 57 to 56, and the bUl, thus changed from
what it was reported, sent to the Senate. On the 2d of March,
it returned to the House with the Senate's amendments, insert
ing 15,000 men, which got but 18 votes to 100 against it, the
House again rejecting the land-donation and all the other
Senate -amendments. Committees of conference were then
appointed, who finally agreed upon 10,000 men, without the
land-grants, in which state the bill passed the Senate, 15 to 8,
and the House, 70 to 38, for 10,0.00 men, and 57 to 55, against
the land-grants, in the last hour of the last night of the ses
sion. On these divisions, John Wilson, who represented that
part of Maine then held by the enemy, voted every time
against the largest force. Had he a right to vote at all ? not
representing an American, but British, constituency ?
The foundations of a naval estabUshment were laid as plan-

356 NAVY — FULTON — EVANS.
tation and democratic aversion gave way. James Pleasants,
from the Naval Committee of the House of Representatives,
on the motion of Adam Seybert, both respectable converts to
the naval policy, reported an appropriation of $400,000, to
purchase Macdonough's prizes on Lake Champlain, and dis
tribute the amount among the captors. While the foundations
of naval power were laid, intelllgerit nautical men suggested
marine militia as a feasible improvement, conforming to repub
lican government. The exploits of privateers, extensive com
mercial navigation, proposed convertibility, by both Great
Britain and the United States, of private steamers to war-
purposes in the time of need, countenance that suggestion.
During the war of 1812, Robert Fulton was often at Wash
ington concerning torpedoes and steamboats. On the 3d of
March, 1813, Congress enacted bounties for hostile destruc
tion by submarine explosion. In the debate on Lord Darn-
ley's motion concerning the American navy (vol. i. of this
Sketch, p. 365), Lord Grey stated that he had negotiated a
compromise of Fulton's contract with the Admiralty : con
vinced that the invention was useless; "but such," his lord
ship added, " was my dislike to that mode of warfare, that I
passed many uneasy nights for fear of its practicability."
Disappointed in England, Fulton tried France, with no better
success, and then his own country. In 1813, an attempt was
made to blow up the Plantagenet ship of the line, lying off
Cape Henry lighthouse, and the Ramilies, off New London ;
but neither with success. John Scudder, junior, of Ohio, who
proclaimed himself the author of the latter, pleaded that It
was retaliation for blowing up General Pike at York, and for
the British enormities at the Raisin. Eastern discontent
decried such dreadful experiments. "If," cried a Boston,
press, " these shocking artifices are persisted in, not only wIU
they be retorted on our vessels, but on our towns, so far
respected. We have been spared war's most sanguinay ex
cesses — shaU we provoke its dogs to be let loose in havoc
and confusion ? "
Oliver Evans, patentee of machinery to improve flour, then
the greatest American staple, was also frequently at the seat

EVANS — WHITNEY. 357
of government, in 1813 -'14, soliciting Congress. A plain
old Delaware millwright, without Fulton's polished deport
ment and attractive manners, Evans had even more faith in
the miracles of steam. I have heard him often, at that time,
confidently predict not only its application to land-carriages,
but their speed three times that of steamboats, which Fulton
then had made to go six miles an hour. There was then a
short tram-road in England, of a few mUes, from London to
Croydon, for horse-power ; and it was projected to make one
to, Manchester. In France, Scotland, and America, Fulton
had been anticipated. But his steamboats on the Hud
son and the Ohio were the first to achieve practical success.
Before there was a locomotive on a railway in the world,
Evans, in 1813, published in American newspapers that car
riages might and would be moved from Philadelphia to New
York by land, by steam, with velocity, certainty, and safety,
above all labor-saving, transcending animal force and human
power. Eli Whitney was, at that time, another public benefactor,
dependent on the negligence and caprice of Congress for pro
tection of his cotton-gin, an invention, like steam, of inesti
mable political and national importance : the basis of American
wealth. Independence, union, power, and peace. His patent-
right violated with ruinous Impunity by lubberly law, as Jeffer
son termed it in a letter to Oliver Evans, and appeaUng in
vain to Congress for relief, Whitney turned his versatile genius
to the fabrication of arms, and founded the establishment at
Springfield, in Massachusetts, which has ever since furnished
the principal supplies of the United States.
In 1814, General Jackson impressed a steamboat for the
conveyance of suppUes to New Orleans. Congress, prodigal
of military bounties and pensions, sometimes almost profligate
of gratuities to themselves, could not be prevaUed on till 1846,
after long, precarious, and expensive entreaty by Fulton's
daughters, to make stinted and inadequate compensation for
that seizure of their illustrious father's property. Half a mil
lion was voted almost unanimously to La Fayette for certainly
important military services. But for genius, science, and in-

358 DEPRECIATED CURRENCY,
valuable pacific utility, indirect method had to be resorted to
for grudging and niggard allowance.
In juxtaposition with that too common disregard of Congress
for meritorious public improvements, may be mentioned a most
unworthy attempt, that session, by some of the members, to
benefit themselves. Dilapidation of the currency was so
extreme, that the losses on bank-notes, the only medluni for
paying members, were large at the seat of government, and
increased by additional depreciation as they travelled home
wards from State to State. To obviate that inconvenience, a
New York member, Zebulon Shiperd, moved, on the 7th of
February, 1815, a resolution to inquire Into the expediency of
making a reasonable compensation to members of Congress
for their travel to and from and their attendance during the
session. To consider that scandalous proposition to separate
from the common pecuniary annoyances those whose duty it
was to remove them by law, only eight votes were cast. On
the 23d of February, James FIsk renewed the attempt, though
not quite so censurably, to pay members in money current in
the States in which they respectively belonged. On Joseph
Hawkins's motion, that modification of an unbecoming effort
was indefinitely postponed. The twenty-five millions of Trea
sury-notes and eighteen miUions loan authorized by Acts of
that session, were all received and paid in depreciated bank
notes. The war did not contaminate morals, tax the people,
or drain their resources, more than that degraded currency.
During the night of the last day of the session, a Senate-
blU passed the House much contested ; which Vermont FIsk
ardently urged, supported by Eppes, Alston, and others,
warmly opposed by William Reed, Stockton, and Sheffey.
It provided against violations of the collection-laws, for and
during twelve months after peace, by searches and seizures
on suspicion, beyond as weU as within the district of any col
lector; empowering ooUectors to call on the marshals and
posse comltatus for aid to enforce the law, and, if sued in the
State courts, which was a very vexatious hindrance, to remove
the suit to the court of the United States. A simUar act,
reported by Mr. Eppes, of a more important and permanent

LAST OF THE SESSION. 359
kind, at the same time, passed without discussion or division ;
such are ofttimes the vagaries, chances, and uncertainties of
law-making, upon the meaning of which so much forensic acu
men and judicial interpretation are expended. That act gave
county-courts of the States within or next adjoining any tax-
collection district jurisdiction of complaints, suits, and prose
cutions for taxes, duties, fines, penalties, and forfeitures arising
under acts of Congress; authorizing the District- Attorney
of the United States to appoint deputies for all such county-
courts, without regard to the sum in controversy ; such juris
diction to be concurrent with that of the United States Dis
trict-Courts. No such suits or prosecutions, the law provides,
in behalf the United States, in any State-court, should be de
layed, barred, suspended, or defeated by any State-law ; and
all final judgments are examinable in the Circuit-Courts of the
United States, according to the act of September, 1789. State
and county courts are empowered to exercise all the powers
conferred on Judges of the United States District-Courts for
mitigating or remitting forfeitures, and District-Courts of the
United. States are invested with jurisdiction, concurrent with
State-courts and magistrates, of all suits at common law, where
the United States sue, though the matter in dispute does not
amount to $100. On this and similar acts of Congress various
conflicting decisions- have been pronounced, at different times,
by the courts. State and federal. Whether Congress are em
powered by their legislation to require State-courts to enforce
federal laws remains among the unsettled questions of the
occasionally jarring jurisdiction of our mixed jurisprudence.
The daily pay of members of Congress is a premium for
procrastination. Time wasted in languid, listless, idle weeks
at the beginning of a session is to be atoned for by hurried
and excited transaction in a few days towards the end, by
paroxysm of legislation like death-bed repentance. Two hours
a day are about the daily average, which, if four hours, would
not leave a pile of unfinished business, crowds of distressed
petitioners, and a disappointed community. Of about one
hundred bills and resolutions of that session more than thirty
received the President's signature the last night — some of

SGO ADJOURNMENT OE CONGRESS.
them very late. I believe, however, that the British ParUa
ment, in Uke manner, heaps many enactments into the last
few days of a session.
Near midnight, the 3d of March, 1815, three days after I
left Washington, the thirteenth Congress closed their third
and last session. Peace had Softened party-asperities and
removed party-divisions. A bill from the Senate to pay the
Massachusetts militia momentarily revived them : but, on For
syth's motion, the angry subject was referred to the Secretary
of War for examination ; and, memorable retribution ! though
that claim has been, I beUeve, almost annually repeated since,
it has never been aUowed : for the Supreme Court of the
United States unanimously adjudged that the positions of that
State-government respecting militia were unconstitutional.
Congress were resolved Into a peaceable, gratified, and con
tented nation. In spite of the strenuous opposition of one-
third, two-thirds carried war, through all its perils, trials, and
vicissitudes, to acceptable peace. The most formidable empire
in the world unexpectedly descended from haughty to mode
rate terms ; where opposition too had its effect ; and general
European jealousy of British sea-sway contributed to Ameri
can success. Still, democratic hostilities triumphed. War
and peace, extravagant opposition to war, and victorious
acquisition of peace, demoralized one party and elevated the
other. Mutation of men in public place, then less excessive
than since, prevented reappearance of most of the members
of that Congress in another. But from that era the national
advance of republican govemment has been onward, like a
victorious army over heaps of slain. Democrats disappear,
while democracy moves on. Licentious press, insubordinate
population, despotism of party, the evil tendencies of repub
lican self-government — all this is palpable. Perhaps reactions
may ensue. But in the occult and perverse science of govern
ment, if all good is but relative, a sovereign people are more
rational, tractable, and dispassionate, than individual sove
reigns, whether regal or aristocratic ; less accidental than the
happy accident which a monarch may be.
Seldom denied In England since that war, universally de-

PEACE. 361
clared throughout the r^est of Europe, and nearly unanimously
acknowledged In the United States, that struggle developed
and enhanced not only the military power of the country, but
its general welfare in every way. To be just, war must be
indispensable. Causeless wars, made by ambitious monarchs,
ministers, or mistresses, should not be confounded with those
deliberately and reluctantly undertaken by a people. Less
than fifteen hundred Ameripans slain during that war were not
¦too dearly sacrificed to the vindication of a nation from foreign
wrong by a hostile nation, which confessed more than that
number of Americans impressed ; whose war-charges were less
than prior losses by British marine-depredations ; less also
than the cost of a restrictive system, by which it was attempted
to avoid war.

362 ALGIERS.

CHAPTER VIII.
WAR WITH THE BARBARY POWERS.
Algiers — Barlow's Treaty — Tribute — Frigate George Washington sent
to Constantinople — Lear, the Consul, sent away^ — Consuls Noah and
Jones — Prizes of the Absllino at Algiers — President's Message — War
declared — Decatur's Squadron — Treaties of Peace, renouncing Tribute,
dictated to Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli — Consul Jones's Journal — Bain
bridge's Squadron.
A DECLARATION of War, recommended by President Madison,
was one of the last acts of the thirteenth Congress ; for which
a bill passed both houses, and was approved by him in the last
hour of that session, on the 3d of March, 1815. Hostilities,
and triumphs, which distinguished the American flag In the
Mediterranean betokened lingering recollections of the contest
just closed with England ; and proud feelings, less of resent
ment than power, by corollary to the great naval problem,
solved in spite of Great Britain, to display American inde
pendence of all maritime dominion.
Algiers, the principal of several of those regencies, for cen
turies established and triumphing, if not flourishing, in ancient
Mauritania, or Numidia, on the northern coasts of Africa,
stretching towards Gibraltar and Morocco on the Atlantic,
Alexandria in Egypt, Cairo and Suez at the Red Sea, and in
the Interior of Africa to the great desert of Sahara, was a
military democracy, by rude despotic institutions, resembling
American government, as extremes meet. In perfect equality,
and by universal suffrage, certain classes of a mongrel popu
lace, Turkish, Moorish, and European, chose a chief magis
trate, called the Dey, from the whole body of the Inhabitants,
Algerine suffragans, without even the prior condition of na
turalization. Bearing arms seemed to be the chief, if not the

ALGIERS. 363
only, qualification for a voice in the election, by tumultuous
inauguration, informally proclaimed, much as the succession
of legitimate monarchs to inherited thrones is done. The
Dey, thus chosen by aU those^ bearing arms, was sworn into
office, not by a priest, or religious rite, according to the ordi
nary coronation, but by the chief Cadi, or chief justice, just as
the American President Is ; and a Senate, called a Divan, were
his appointed counsellors.
This miUtary, despotic, and piratical democracy, to which,
after the example of all the maritime nations of Europe, the
American republic paid annual tribute, governed, attached to
the considerable city of Algiers, a territory less extensive or
populous, and much less po-werful, than any one of several of
the States of this Union. The Algerine army did not exceed
5000 undisciplined and ill-paid militia. The government had
only one vessel of war, a half-armed frigate, not a third of the
size or force of an American frigate. The rest of the Alge
rine navy was made up of private armed corsairs, in whose
plunder the Dey shared, as the pay for tbeir authority to de
predate. Genoese, Venetians, Sicilians, Portuguese, Spaniards,
Dutch, Danes, Swedes, and French, were subjected to the
arbitrary captures of Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis, the three
neighboring regencies, confederated by no bond of union, but
each State sending forth cruisers, as it were, to fish for sup
plies, whenever wanted. The Algerine public revenues, from
taxation, did not exceed $300,000 a-year. All the rest of
the budget was provided by sea-plunder. Overthrow of such
inveterate, contemptible, yet formidable freebooting, by easy
and unresisted abatement of the nuisance, was reserved, after
ages of its endurance, for the work of a trans- Atlantic navy.
Soon after It crossed the Atlantic, penetrated the Mediterra
nean, and showed how easy it was to put down the piratical
despotism, the English navy reduced the pirates, by still
greater discomfitures, to well-nigh annihilation ; and then the
French, with navy and army, followed, conquered the terri
tory, colonized, and hold it as a school of tactics for young
soldiers, and, perhaps, a highway to Egypt and British East
India.

364 ' ALGIERS.
The Emperor Charles V., when Spain was the most warlike
and powerful empire of Europe, with all the treasures of Ame
rica at command, and Louis XIV., in all the pride of his
French majesty, tried in vain to root out these nests of African
pirates. By treaties. In 1662, Charles II. made peace with
them for England, which lasted ever after, by some unpub
lished understanding, preserving English commerce from their
depredations, while, acknowledging no law of nations, and
subsisting by sea-pillage, those barbarians defied and plun
dered all other nations. During the negotiations for the
Treaty of Amiens, in 1802, Joseph Bonaparte proposed a plan
of concert, between France, England, Spain, and Holland,
for the suppression of that system of rapine and piracy,
whereby, to the disgrace of the great powers of Christendom,
the smaller States were annoyed by the corsairs of Barbary, to
which the British negotiator, CornwaUis, acceded ; but his
government rejected the suggestion. To Joseph's confidential
letters to the First Consul, his brother's answer was, "Mo
derate your joy. CornwaUis Is a man of feeling, and so are
you ; but the Sylla party never had any. You will not suc
ceed, and CornwaUis will be censured. Here we all approve
of your plan." By tbe Sylla party, Napoleon meant the
English aristocracy. He and Joseph often designated the
Roman patricians and plebeians as the parties of Sylla and
Marlus, by Roman illustration, much more usual in French
than in English or American argument. At St. Helena, Na
poleon told O'Meara, when speaking of Pellew's expedition to
Algiers, " I proposed to your government to unite with me,
either to destroy entirely those nests of pirates, or, at least, to
destroy their ships and fortresses, and make them cultivate
their country, and abandon piracy. But your ministers would
not consent to it, owing to a mean jealousy of the Americans,
with whom the barbarians, were at war. I wanted to anni
hilate them, though It did not concern me much, as they
generally respected my flag, and carried on a large trade with
Marseilles." In 1802, when that French suggestion was re
jected by England, the first hostilities prevailed between the
United States and those barbarians. If, as Napoleon averred,

TREATIES OF TRIBUTE. 365
the English ministry preserved the pirates from destruction, in
order to take advantage of them against the Americans, seldom
has selfish jealousy proved more short-sighted, for it was con
tests with those enemies which prepared the American navy
for its triumphant resistance to that of Great Britain, some
years after Preble and his pupUs undoubtedly laid the founda
tion. Most of the officers distinguished in the war with Eng
land had been to school in that with Tripoli.
As American commerce spread throughout the Mediterra
nean, endangered by the Barbary powers, early attention of
government to the subject, urged by the navigation interest,
and by party opponents reproaching Washington's adminis
tration with neglect of it, was afforded by an ignominous treaty
with Algiers, in 1795, stipulating payment of annual tribute;
disadvantageous terms, but the best that could be obtained,
says Washington's confidential historian, Chief Justice Mar
shall. Next year, under John Adams's administration, a still
more discreditable treaty, with Tripoli, was effected by Joel
Barlow, commissioned for that purpose by President Washing
ton, the settlement with TripoU being guarantied by the Dey
of Algiers. The French Revolution was then consummate ;
by whose disrupture from old abuses many considerate men,
English and American, as well as French, breaking loose from
what they deemed priestcraft as odious as kingcraft, vibrated '
from servility to licentiousness, and substituted infideUty for
Christianity. Accordingly, Joel Barlow, aggravating a grant
of tribute by treaty, incorporated with it, by way of concili
ating Moslem favor, that "the government of the United
States is in no sense founded on the Christian religion ;"
terms, however true, liable to offensive misconception, but
unanimously ratified, together -with tribute, by the Senate, to
whom President Adams submitted the treaty. A practical
commentary on that offensive phrase was given by Monroe,
Secretary of State's, letter, of the 25th of AprU, 1815 (the
day Decatur's squadron sailed from New York, to punish the
Algerine breach of faith), revoking the consular commission
of Mordecai Manasses Noah, and ordering him to leave Al
giers, because he was not of the Christian reUgion; it not

366 THE FRIGATE WITH TRIBUTE.
being known, as intimated by his official revocation, when he
was appointed, that he was a Jew, which was deemed a disad
vantage to his consular functions. In 1797, a third treaty was
made, with the remaining regency, Tunis, also promising tri
bute, of which not less than 1,000,000 of dollars was paid
before the pirates made war on the United States, on various
frivolous pretexts, for plunder more lucrative than tribute.
The three American treaties, in many of their stipulations,
resemble the three English treaties of England, in 1662, with
Algiers, Tunis, and Morocco, called Fez, except that none of
the English treaties promises tribute, as all the American
treaties do.
Among the strange-Impositions by these barbarians on mari
time powers, the most capable of defying and suppressing them,
was, their requiring British and other vessels of war to convey
agents and contributions to Constantinople: the African re
gencies acknowledging the suserelgnty of the Asiatic Sultan
of Turkey. In 1800, the United States frigate George Wash
ington being sent with the annual tribute to Algiers, the Dey
insisted on Captain Bainbiidge going with that vessel, his
American officers and crew, and the American flag in a less
conspicuous position than the Algerine, to carry the Dey's
ambassador and presents to Constantinople, and then, fm-ther-
more, return on the business to Algiers. Captain Bainbridge
objected, and the American consul, an Irishman, named O'Brien,
remonstrated. But the Dey insisted. The British consul. Fal
con, assured the Dey that Lord Keith, the British admiral, had
promised to send a ship of war for the purpose, which might
be daily expected. The Dey consented to wait a few days, to
see if the British ship would arrive. But when she did arrive,
a 24-gun sloop of war, sent from Mahon, by Admiral Keith's
orders, to carry the Algerine ambassador and presents to the
Sultan, the Dey and his ministers, besides several other per
sons of influence, made many objections to it, and the Ameri
can consul was finally told that the Dey's mind and his minis
ters were soured against the English, and the American ship
must carry the ambassador and presents, or the Dey would no
longer hold to his friendship with the United States.

TRIPOLI. 367
England, by refusing to put down these pirates, may have
deemed them a check on all the feeble maritime states of the
Mediterranean, and thereby useful to her monopoly of the
ocean. Whether, as Napoleon stated, the British government
countenanced them also as injurious to American commerce, it
was Tobias Lear's official representation to the President, and
laid by him before Congress, when, on the declaration of our
war of 1812 against Great Britain, the Dey of Algiers sent
away Mr. Lear from the consulate there, and threatened war
against the United States, that " under present circumstances,
it must be gratifying to the British, with whom there is every
reason to believe the Dey has a treaty, offensive and defen
sive." We were thus made, in Congress, to beUeve that the
Algerine hostilities were the direct offspring of ours with Eng
land. Mr. Noah, who went to Tunis as American consul in
1814, Is of opinion that such was not the case. Mr. Richard
Jones, who was a midshipman on board the Philadelphia when
that frigate was stranded and captured at Tripoli in 1802, and
imprisoned there, appointed consul to that regency in 1812,
was captured on his way there, the first of November of that
year, by the Grampus, British vessel of war. Captain Barrle,
who informed Mr. Jones that Algiers had declared war against
America. Mr. Jones's opinion is, from much experience in
Tripoli, that the Barbarians of that coast were British Instru
ments of hostility against the United States. On the 30th of
November, 1814, a new British consul, Warrington, landed at
TrIpoU, with intelligence, according to Mr. Jones, that the
English .had taken Washington, and with 1500 men defeated
20,000 Americans. On the 5th of February, 1815, advices
reached Tripoli that preliminaries of peace were signed at
Ghent the 24th of December. On the 14th of February,
1815, the Bey's ministers told Mr. Jones, in answer to his
official Inquiry, that American prizes taken from the English
and sent into TripoU might be disposed of there. On the 9th
of March, 1815, two prizes to the Absellino privateer of Boston
arrived. The British flag having been hoisted on those vessels
for their protection from l^ritish recapture or Tripolitan moles
tation as the prizes entered the port, and when they anchored

368 president's message.
within it, the flags being struck by Mr. Jones's direction, the
Bashaw Immediately sent to him inquiring, for the British con
sul's information, why the British flag was struck. The British
consul at the same time sent his drogoman, and took the two
EngUsh captains from the prizes. Next day the AbaeUino,
Captain Wyer, entered the port,, followed by the British brig
of war Pauline, Captain Mainwaring. Much controversy en
sued between the American consul and the Bashaw, who refused
to suffer the Abselllno's prizes to be either sold, or safely laid
up till; as Mr. Jones proposed, the American and British
governments should determine whether, as the American, con
sul insisted, it was an American right, according to treaty with
Tripoli, to dispose of them there, or, as the Bashaw affirmed,
forbid by his treaty with England. On the 20th of March,
1815, British troops arrived from Malta, took forcible posses
sion of the American prizes, and sailed with them from Tripoll.-
In Mr. Jones's journal many aggravations are noted of that
retaking by English military force of American prizes in the
harbor of Tripoli. Whether the wrong was done by arrange
ment with the Bashaw and his full concurrence may be made
a question. The English marine was so powerful, that per
haps the Tripolitan government found It necessary" to submit
to its violation of territorial jurisdiction. But, In Mr. Jones's
judgment, who Instantly struck the American flag on the occa
sion, according to all appearances, there was not only an
understanding, but, as the Bashaw pleaded, a treaty, between
England and Tripoli, which required what was done.
On the 28d of February, 1815, a confidential message from
the President called the attention of Congress to the long-
forgotten letter of Consul-General Lear, of Algiers, laid before
a prior Congress, the 17th of November, 1812, concerning the
hostUe proceedings of the Dey, and recommending an act of
war between the United States and the Regency of Algiers,
with provisions for its vigorous prosecution. Next day, the
House of Representatives went Into secret session accordingly,
and John .Forsyth, from the Committee on Foreign Relations,
reported a biU, which WiUiam Gaston moved to recommit, for
a detaUed report of facts, and Boiling HaU moved to postpone

DECATUR'S SQUADRON. 369
indefinitely. Hall's motion being negatived by a large major
ity, 108 to 21 votes, he then moved to amend Gaston's motion
for recommitment to the Committee on Foreign Relations by
reference to a Select Committee, which motion succeeded,
and, thus amended, Gaston's motion was adopted by 79 votes
to 42. The Special Committee was composed of Messrs. Gas-
toh, Forsyth, Ward, Grosvenor, Seybert, M'KIm, and Newton.
On the 28th of February, 1815, Mr. Gaston reported a biU,
with a detail of circumstances. Charles Goldsborough moved
to defer hostilities, if the Dey, on demand, delivered up the
American captives he held, and returned to a state of peace
with the United States ; which was negatived by 92 votes to
47 ; and then the bill passed by 94 ayes to 32 nays — all
parties mixed together on both sides. The Senate at once
concurred, without amendment, and the bill was signed by the
President the 3d of March, 1815, authorizing all such acts of
precaution and hostility as the state of war will justify, inclu
ding privateering, to subdue, seize, and make prize of all ves
sels, goods, and effects of the Dey of Algiers and his subjects.
Our war with Algiers enabled a government which, com
pared with others, is sparing of naval or military rewards, not
only to display In Europe the triumphant navy of the United
States, but elevate some of its officers who had been^ distin
guished by valor and fortitude, either in victories or defeats —
some in both. Decatur, just brought home from captivity,
after his noble defence of the frigate President, who had served
so heroic an apprenticeship at Tripoli, was selected to command
the squadron for the Mediterranean, and ordered to hoist his
broad pennant on board the frigate named after that which the
English captured from the French, and the Americans from
the English — the Guerriere. The Epervler, another capture
by Americans from English, after being captured by English
from French, was also of Decatur's squadron, together with
his prize, the Macedonian. When instigating hostUities against
the United States, " the whole American navy wIU be ours In
six months," said the British consul to the Dey ; " and now,"
said one of his officers to the consul, "they attack us with two
of the prizes taken from you." The Algerine retort might
Vol. IV. — 24

370 DECATUR AT ALGIERS.
have said three : the Guerriere, Macedonian, and Epervler. If,
as might and should have been done, frigates caUed the Java,
the Confiance, and other trophy ships, had composed Decatur's
squadron, every vessel under his command would have been
distinguished by the British flag it bore being struck to an
American victor : credential from the New to the Old World,
borne by that gallant, handsome young seaman.
The Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Cro^wninshleld, proposed to
Congress to equip two seventy-fours, six frigates, three sloops
of war, and six or eight smaller vessels for the expedition to
the Mediterranean, in two squadrons. The first was coUected
at New York, whither the Guerriere proceeded from PhUadel
phia, the Constellation from Norfolk, and the Ontario from
Baltimore. The Congress, Captain Morris, destined eventu
ally for the Mediterranean, was equipped at Portsmouth, to
take, in the first place, William Eustis as minister to Holland,
and, as passenger, the Reverend Edward Everett, of the Bos
ton Brattle-Street Church, since distinguished as a member of
Congress and minister plenipotentiary of the United States in
England, whose brother, Alexander Everett, afterwards minis
ter to Spain and to China, was secretary of Dr. Eustls's lega
tion. Mrs. Bonaparte, the American wife of the dethroned
King of Westphalia, was also a passenger in the Congress.
On the 25th of April, 1815, Decatur's squadron put to sea
from New York — three frigates, two sloops of war, and four
smaller vessels ; on the 17th of June, 1815, captured the Al
gerine frigate Massouda, after a short engagement. In the
course of which the Algerine admiral, the famous Hammida,
a Bedouin Arab of the Desert, who had become celebrated at
sea, was cut in two by a chain-shot ; and two days after, the
squadron drove ashore and burned another Algerine cruiser.
On the 28th of June, 1815, Decatur dictated, on board the
Guerriere, an extremely humiliating peace to the Dey of Algiers,
whose minister was compelled to sign It on board the American
frigate, exactly as Decatur and Mr. Shaler, the new consul
there, presented It to him, as they took it from Washington.
Tribute renounced for ever, prisoners emancipated, compensa
tion for whatever losses were stated, together with stipulations

CONSUL JONES'S JOURNAL. 371
for humanities of international law, were the terms of a treaty,
which served as a model to similar conditions soon after sub
mitted to, unresistingly, by Tunis and Tripoli, to which places
Decatur quickly proceeded from Algiers.
Mr. Jones's journal for the month of July, 1815, states that,
" 13th July, one of the Bashaw's cruisers arrived spoke five
days ago, off Cape Passero, nine Algerine vessels of war
cruising for Americans." Decatur made much use of that
circumstance in effecting the treaty. He told the Bashaw,
daUy expecting the return of his cruisers, that they would be
captured by the Americans, if caught at any time before the
treaty was signed. 26th of July, two vessels, under English
colors, from Malta, gave information at Tripoli of the capture
of an Algerine frigate by Commodore Decatur, and destruction
of an Algerine brig. "August 6th, 1815," the journal is,
" arrived, American squadron, three frigates, one sloop of war,
and two schooners, under Commodore Decatur." On board
his ship it was arranged with the consul to demand $20,000
for the prizes which the Bashaw had permitted the English to
take out of the port, and for the detention of the Abselllno
more than two months in Tripoli, after Mr. Jones demanded
the detention of the EngHsh brig Pauline twenty-four hours,
till the AbselUno could in that time go to sea. On this demand
by Decatur, the town was filled with more than 10,000 Arabs,
for the defence of the place. A sheik or officer accompanied
Mr. Jones on board the Guerriere, and entreated some abate
ment of the sum demanded, from which $5000 were finally
deducted, on condition that ten slaves, Danish, Neapolitan, and
Calabrlan, should be released, as they were, and sent on board
the Guerriere. Next day, August 9th, 1815, the American
flag was reholsted at the American consulate, as the journal
states, with aU due honor and solemnity. The journal entry
is: —
"Wednesday Oth. The band was sent on shore, men to sway up the top
mast, and put the American arms up. At half past nine o'clock, A. M., the
flag was hoisted, while the band played the President's march on the con
sular house, the consul in full uniform, and all under its protection being
present, with a numerous concourse of Tripolitans, and saluted with thirty-
one guns, which was returned from the commodore's ship. The number of

372 bainbridge's squadron.
thirty-one guns was insisted on, because the same number had been once
fired on the rehoisting of the French fiag. At 11 o'clock, the commodore,
with a number of his officers, came on shore, after receiving the visits ofthe
consuls, waited on the Bashaw, with all officers he thought proper. The
Bashaw then expressed his satisfaction at the adjustment of our differences,
and his determination to live in peace with the United States, which the
commodore assured his excellency was equally the wish of our government.
On retiring from the castle, the commodore was saluted with nineteen guns
from the castle, which was returned from the commodore's ship, being ten
more than are generally fired on such an occasion, but as it had been given
to the English ambassador two years ago, I required the same number,
observing that we did not require any more than any other nation, but that
no nation should be entitled to more respect than the United States and her
representatives. The commodore and his officers dined in the American
consulate, amid the acclamations of the Tripolitans, who were rejoiced at
the peace, and with evening they went on board, and made sail for Sicily."
When Algiers made war on America (such was the common
phrase), an English idea was Inculcated at Algiers, that In six
months the whole militant American marine would be destroyed.
And the impression was also general that, by British interdict,
the Americans were prevented ever to send any ship of the
line to sea. Soon after Decatur's easy subjugation of the three
Barbary Regencies, Commodore Bainbridge succeeded him, in
the first ship of the line ever manned by the United States, the
Independence, attended by a second squadron. Peace with
Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, had then been made on our own
terms, dictated by Decatur, and submitted to by the Barba
rians, whose dread of the Americans induced them to yield at
once, without an effort at resistance.
Prodigious changes had taken place in marine dominion
throughout Europe, America, and Africa, from American con
tests with the African Barbarians, about the time of the treaty
of Amiens, In 1802, to that of Fontalnbleau, in April, 1814,
by which Napoleon was deposed. Soon after he stated, at St.
Helena, that at the treaty of Amiens his plenipotentiary,
Joseph Bonaparte, proposed to suppress the piratical regen
cies, he said to O'Meara, " the sea is yours ; your seamen are
as much superior to ours as the Dutch were once to yours. I
think, however, that the Americans are better seamen than
yours, because they are less numerous." O'Meara repUed,

AMERICAN PROGRESS. 373
" The Americans have a considerable number of English sea
men in their service, who pass for Americans, which is remark
able, as. Independent of other circumstances, the American
discipUne on board of men of war is much more severe than
ours. If the Americans had a large navy, they would find
it impossible to have as many seamen in each ship as they
have at present. On the remark that American naval dis
cipUne is severer than British, Napoleon smiled, and said it
was very hard to beUeve." What would have been his incredu
lity, if, in 1802, told that In 1814, dethroned from the greatest
empire In the world, his own, or rather a French treaty, con
cerning the place of his confinement on the coast of Italy, the
treaty of Fontainbleau, would stipulate that all the powers,
Russia, Prussia, Austria, England, " engage the employment
of their good offices to make the Barbary powers respect the
flag and territory of the island of Elba, and to cause its rela
tions with the Barbary regencies to be assimilated to those of
France"? The French dictator, who, as Emperor, in those
prodigious ten years, subdued aU Europe, except the British
Islands, Spanish provinces and people. In 1802 proposed to
England to suppress the African pirates, In 1814 was con
strained to ask for his own protection from them, just when a
transatlantic marine, which he only then, when too late, began
to appreciate, amazed Europe and Intimidated the African
regencies by triumphs over the British navy, become, since
1805, irresistible.
Buoyant with confidence and progression, boundless In re
source, the United States began a new maritime and industrial
career. Great Britain, still material, but no longer moral,
mistress of the sea, with vast artificial means and unmense
national character, had closed her second attempt to subdue
the United States of America, developing capacity inexhaust
ible for maritime, manufacturing, agricultural, commercial ad
vancement, with the irrepressible energy of freemen. Ameri
can fieet after fieet was despatched over the Atlantic into the
Mediterranean, to subdue and humble African pirates, tole
rated, if not encouraged, by Europe, whom Charles V., greatest

374 AMERICA AND ENGLAND.
of European emperors, Louis XIV., Napoleon, and Nelson,
tried in vain to overthrow.
The Montreal Herald flung this British sarcasm at our Al
gerine war : —
"In the courts and cities of Algiers there are no American factions and
money-interests to counteract the administration, as there were in London
and other towns and cities of Britain when the late war was commenced.
The dispute is at length left to nations worthy of one another — prevail
who will."
When this recollection of that unworthy envy, its own exe
cutioner, is put on paper, a large party in Canada is calhng
for annexation with the United States, and nearly all England*
for union of this country with that to uphold free government
against the combined despots of Europe : for the mother and
daughter, in the language of prime minister Canning to an
American minister, to stand together for liberty against the
world.

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SAMUEL B. WYLIE. D. D., Pastor of the Reformed PresbyteiMn Church.
N. LORD, D. D., President of Dartmouth CoUegB.
JOSHUA BATijg, D. D., President of Middlebury College.
H. HUMPHREY, D. D., " Amherst College.
E-. D, GRIFFIN, D. D., « WiUiamstown College.
J. WHEELER, D. 'D., " University of Vermont, at Burlington.
J. M. MATTHEWS, D. D., " " ' New York City Univelsity.
GEORGE E. PIERCE, D. D., " Western Reserve CoUegB, Ohio.
Rev. Dr. BROWN, " Jefferson CoUege, Penn.
LEONARD WOODS, D. D., Professor of Theology, Andover Seminary.
THOS. H. SKINNER, D. D., " Saa. Rhet " "
Rev. RALPH EMERSON, • Eccl. Hist. " "
Rev. JOEL PARKER, Pastor of Presbyterian Church, New Orleani.
JOEL HA WES, D. D., " Congregational Church, Hartford, Conn.
N. S. S. BEAMAN, D. D., " Presbyterian Church, Troy, N. Y.
MARK TUtKBR, D. D., " « « " "
Rev. E. N. KIRK, " • " Albany, N. Y.
Rev. E. B. EDWARDS, Editor of Quarterly Observer.
Rev. STEPHEN MASON, Pastor First Congregational Church, Nantucket.
Rev. ORIN FOWLER, « •< .. u p^y jfi„,_
GEORGE W. BETHUNE, D. D., Pastor of the First Reformed Dutch Church, Philada.
Rev. LYMAN BEECHER, D. D., Cincinnati, Ohio.
Rev. C. D. MALLORY, Pastor Baptist Church, Augiista, Ga.
Rev. S. M. NOEL, " " . " Frankfort, Ky.
From the Professors at Princeton Theological Seminars.
The Comprehensive Commentary contains the whole of Henry's Exposition in a condensed form,
Scott's Practical Observations and Marginal References, and a large number of very valuable philo
logical and critical notes, selected from varions authors. Tho work appears to be executeij ^vith
jtulgment, fidelity, and care ; and will furnish a rich treasure of scriptural knowledge to the
Biblical student, and to tlie teachers of Sabbath-Schools and Bible Classes. A. ALEXANDER, D. D.
SAMUEL IHLLER, D. D.
CHARLES HODGE, D. D.

LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
t Companion to t^'e SihU.
In one super-royal volume.
DESIGNED TO ACCOMPANY
THE FAMILY BIBLE,
OR HENRY'S, SCOTT'S, CLARKE'S, GILL'S. OR OTHER COMMENTARIES:
GONTAININff
1. A new, full, and complete Concordance;
niuatrated with monumental, traditional, aud oriental engravings', founded oil Butterworth's, with
Cruden's definitions ; forming, it is believed, on many accounts, a more valuable work than either
Butterworth, Cruden, or any other similar book in the language.
Tbe value of a Concordance is now generally understood ; and those who have used one, con
sider it indispensable in connection with' the Bible.
2. A Guide to tbe Reading and Stiidy of tlie Bible;
being Carpenter's valuable Biblical Companion, lately published in London, containing a complete
history of the Bible, and forming a most excellent , introduction to its study. It embraces the evi
dences of Christianity, Jewish antiquities, maimers, customs, arts, natural history, &c., of the Bible,
with notes and engravings added.
3. Complete Biograpbies of Henry, by Williams; Scott, by his
son ; Doddridge, by Orton ;
with sketches of the lives and chai^ters, and notices of the wbrks, of the vmters on the Scriptures
who are quoted in the Commentary, living and dead, American and foreign.
This part of the volume not ohly affords a large quantity of interesting and useful reading for
pious families, bat will also be a source of gratification to all those who are in the habit of consult
ing the Commentary ; every one naturally feeling a desire to know some particulars of the lives and
characters of those whose opinions he seeks. Appended to this part, will be a
BIBLIOTHECA BIBLICA,
or list of the best Works on the Bible, of all kmds, arranged under their appropriate heads.
4. A complete Index of the Matter contained in the Bible Text.
5. A Symbolieal Dictionary.
A very comprehensive and valuable Dictionary of Scripture Syiribols, (occupying about Jjfiy-ax
closely printed pages,) by Thbinas Wemyss, (author of " Biblical Gleanings," Sx.) Comprising'
Daubu'z, Lanca5ter,'Hutcheson, &c.
6. The Work contains several other Articles,
Indexes, Tables, &c. itc, and is,
7. Illustrated by a large Plan of Jerusalem,
identifying,ns far as tradition, &c., go, the original sites, drawn on the spot by f . Catherwood, of
London, architect. Also, two steel eilgravings of portraits of seven foreign and eight American
theolbgical writers, and numerous wood engravings.
The whole forms a desirable and necessary fund of instruction for the use not only of clergymen
and Sabbjith-sohool teachers, but also for families. When the great amount of matter it must
contain is considered, it will be deemed exceedingly cheap.
" I have examined ' The Companion to the Bible,' and have been surprised to find so much mfonn-
ation introduced into a volume of so moderate a size. It contains a library of sacred knowledge
and criticism. It will be useful to ministers who own large I'branes. and cannot fail lo be an
invaluable help to every reader of the Bible." ^^^^ ^^ Congrega"S ChSfve'rmont.
The above work can be had in several styles of binding. Price varying
from $1 75 to S5 00.

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ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES,
In one super-royal volume.
DERIVED PRINCIPALLY FROM THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, ANTIQUITIES, TRADITIONS,
AND FORMS'OF SPEECH, RITES, CLIMATE, WORKS OP ART, AND
LITERATURE OF THE EASTERN NATIONS;
EMBODYIN& ALL THAT IS VALUABLE IN THE WORKS OF
ROBERTS, HARMER, BURDER, PAXTON, CHANDLER,
And the most celebnited oriental travellers. Embracing also the subject of the Fulfilment of
Prophecy, as exhibited by Keith and others ; with descriptions of the present state
of countries and places mentioned in the Sacred Writings.
ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS LANDSCAPE ENGRAVINGS,
FROM SKETCHES TAKEN ON THE SPOT.
Edited by Eev. George Bush,
Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature in the New York City University.
The importance of this work must be obvious, and, being altogether iUustrative, without reference
to doctrines, or other points in which Christians differ, it is hoped it will meet with favour frora all
who love the sacred volume, and that it will be sufficiently interesting and attractive to recommend
itself, not only to professed Christians of oil denominations, but also to the general reader. The
arrangement of the texts illustrated with the notes, in the order of the chapters and verses of the
authorized version of the Bible, will render it convenient for reference to particular passages ;
while the ctmotts Index at the end will at once enable the reader to turn to every subject discussed
in the volume.
This volume is not designed to take the plfice of Comfftentaries, but is a distinct department of bibUcal
instTuction, and may be wed as a companion to the Comprehensive or any other Conwuntary, or the
Holy Bible.
THE EN.GEAVINGS
in this volume, it is believed, will form no small part of its attractions. No pains have been spared
to procure such as should embellish the work, and, at the same time, illustrate the text. Objec
tions that have been made to the pictures commonly introduced into the Bible, as being mere crea
tions of fancy and the imagination, often unlike nature, and frequently conveying false impressions,
cannot be urged against the pictorial illustrations of this volome. Here the fine arts are made
subservient to utility, the landscape views being, without an exception, matter-of-fact vieios of places
mentioned in Scripture, as they appear at the present day ; thus in many instances exhibiting, in the
most forcible manner, to tJ^p eye, the strict and literal fulfilment of the remarkable prophecies ; '** the
present ruined and desolate condition of the cities of Babylon, Nineveh, Selah, &c., and the coun
tries of Edom and Egjrpt, are astonishing examples, and so completely exemplify, in the most
minute particulars, every thing which was foretold of them in the height of their prosperity, that
no better description can now be given of them than a simple quotation from a chapter and verse
of the Bible written nearly two or three thousand years ago." The publishers, are enabled to select
from several collections lately published in Loudon, the proprietor of one of which says that "seve
ral distinguished travellers have afforded him the use of nearly Three Hundred Original Sketches^
of Scripture places, made upon the spot. *' The land of Palestine, it is well known, abounds in
scenes of the most picturesque beauty, Syria comprehends the snowy heights cf Lebanon, and the
majestic ruins of .Tadmor and Baalbec."
The above work can be had in various styles of binding.
Price from $1 50 to $5 00,
THE ILLUSTRATED CONCOEDANCE,
In one volume, royal Svo.
A new, fiill, and complete Concordance; iUustrated with monumental, traditional, and oriental
engravings, founded on Butterworth's, with Cruden's definitions ; forming, it is believed, on many
accounts, a more valuable work than either Butterworth, Cruden, or any other simQar book in the
language. The value of a Concordance fs now generaUy understood ; and those who have used one, con-i
rider it indispensable In connection with the Bible. Some of the many advantages the Illustrated
Concordance has over all the others, are, that it contains near two hundred appropriate engravings : .
it is printed on fine white paper, with beautiful large type.
Price One Dollar.

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' LIPPiNCOTT'S EDITION OF
BAGSTER'S COMPREHENSIVE BIBLE,
In order to develope the peculiar nature of the Comprehensive Bible, it will only be necessary
to embrace its more prominent features.
1st. The SACRED TEXT is that of the Authorized Version, and is printed from the edition cor
rected and improved by Dr. Blaney, which, from its accuracy, is considered the standard edition.
2d. The VARIOUS READINGS are fiiithfuUy printed from the edition of Dr. Blaney, inclusive
of the translation of the proper names, without the addition or diminution of one.
3d. In the CHRONOLOGY, great care has been taken to fix the date of the particular transac
tions, which has seldom been done with any degree of exactness in any former edition of the Bible.
4th. The NOTES are exclusively philological and explanatory, and are not tinctured with senti
ments of any sect or party. They are selected from the most eminent !l3iblical critics and com
mentators. It is hoped that this edition of the Holy Bible will be found to contain the essence of Biblical
research and criticism, that lies dispersed through an immense nuitiher of volumes.
Such is the nature and design of this edition of the Sacred Volume, which, from the various
objects it embraces, the freedom of its pages fi'om aU sectarian peculiarities, and the beauty, plain
ness, and correctness of the typography, that it cannot fail of proving acceptable and useful to
Christians of every denomination.
In addition to the usual references to parallel passages, which are quite fall and numerous, the
student has all the marginal readings, together with a rich selection of PliUological, Critical, Histo
rical, Geographical, and other valuable notes and remarks, which explain and illustrate the ,sacred
text. Besides the general introduction, containing valuable essays on the genuineness, authenticity,
and inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and other topics qf. interest, there are introductory and con
cluding remarks to each book— a table of the conteuts of the Bible, by which the different portions
are so arranged as to read in an historical order.
Arranged at the top of each page is the period in which the prominent events of sacred history
took place. The calculations are made for the.year of the world before and after Chnst, Julian
Period, the year of the Olyinpiad, the year of the building of Rome, and other notations of time.
At the close is inserted a Chronological Index of the Bible, according to the computation of Arch
bishop Ussher. Also, a full and valuable index of the subjects contained in the Old and New Testar
ments, with a careful analysis and arrangement of texts under their appropriate subjects,
Mr. Greenfield, the editor of this work, and for some time previous to his death the superintend
ent of the editorial department of the British and Foreign Bible Society, was a most extraordinary
man. In editing the Comprehensive Bible, lus varied and extensive learning was called into suc
cessful exercise, and appeara' in happy combmation with sincere piety and a sound judgment. The
Editor of the Christian Observer, aUuding to this work, in an obituary notice of its author, speaks
of it as a work of " prodigious labour and research, at once exhibiting his varied talents and pro
found erudition." ,
LIPPINCOTT'S EDITION OP
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The Publishers have spared neither care nor expense in their edition of the Bible ; it is printed
on the finest white vellam piper, with large and beautiful type, and bound in the most substantial
and splendid manner, in the following styles : Velvet, with richly gUt ornaments ; Turkey super
extra, with gilt clasps; and in numerous others, to suit the taste of the most fastidious.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. ^
"In our ooinion, the Christian pnblic generally will feel under great obligations to the publishers
of this wnrS for the beautiful taste, arrangement, and delicate neatness with which they have got
it out The intrinsic merit of the Bible recommends itself; it needs no tinsel omament_^to adorn
its sacred oaees. In this edition every superfluous ornament has been avoided, and we have pre
sented us a perfectly ciiasre specimen of &e Bible, without note or comment. It appears to be just
what IS needed in every family—'thcBjiiopMs(icai«J word of God.' „.,,,„„
"'The size is quarto, printed with beautiful type, on white, sized veUum paper, of the finest texture
and most beantiful surface. The publishers seem to have been solicitous to make a perfectly
uSione book, and they have acconlplished the object very successfuUv. We trust that a liberal
rmmuni™*ill affonl them ample remuneration for all the expense ami outhiy they have necessa-
rilv incurred in its publication. It is a standard Bible. -»t _.,. r, .,. _* . Dt.;i»^ i
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phia." — Baptist M£Cord.
"A beautiful Quarto edition of, the Bible, by L., G. & Co. Nothing can exceed the type in clear
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No iUustrattons or ornamental type are used. Those who prefer a B'^e «iecuted in per^ct sim-
plicity" yet elegance of style, w-ithout adornment, will probably never find one more to their taste.
— M. Magazute.

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Baxter's Comprehensive Bible,
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book; philological and explanatory notes ; table of contents, arranged in historical order; a chro
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In neat plain binding, from t4 00 to 85 00. — In Turkey morocco, extra, gilt edges, from , $8 00 to
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Cr<^n Octavo Bible,
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE;
OR, DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE, THEOLOGY, RELIGIOUS BIOGRAPHY, ALL RELIGIONS,
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, AND MISSIONS.
Designed as a complete Book of Reference on kll Religious Subjects, and Companion to the Bible;
forming a cheap and compact Library of Religious Knowledge. Edited by Rev. J. Newton Brown.
Illustrated by wood-cuts, maps, and engravings on copper and steel. In one volume, royal 8vo.
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The Errors of Modern Infidelity Illustrated and Refuted.
BY S. M. SOHMUCKER, A. IVI.
In one volume, 12mo. ; cloth. Just published.
We cannot but regard this work, in whatever ijshi we view it in reference to ite design, as one
of the most masterly productions of the age, and fitted to uproot one ot, the most- fondly cherished
and dangerous of all ancient or modern errors. God must bless such a work, armed with his own
truth and doing fierce and successful battle •against blacll infidelity, which wpnld bring His Majesty
and Word down to the-tribunal of human reason, for condemnation and annihilation.—.^. Spectator.

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GION IN THE UNITED STATES,
BY JOSEPH BELCHER, D. D.,
Editor of " The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller," " Robert HaU," See.
" This very interesting and instructive collection of pleasing and solemn remembrances of many
pious men, illustrates the character of the day in which they lived, and defines the men more
clearly than very elaborate essays." — EaUitnore American.
"We regard the collection as highly interesting, and judiciously made."^ — Presbyterian.

JOSEPHUS'S (FLAVIUS) WORKS,
FAMILY EDITION.
BY THE LATE •WIIiLIAlVI 'WHISTON, A. IVT.
FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION, COMPLETE. , '
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As a matter of course, every family in our country has a copy of the Holy Bible ; and as the pre-
«Umptipn is that the greater portion often consult its pages, we take the liberty of saying to all those
that do, that the perusal of the writings of Josephus will be found very interesting and instructive.
All .those who wish to possess a beautiful and correct copy of this valuable work, would do well
to purchase this edition. It is for sale at all the principal bookstores in the United States, and by
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BURDER'S YILLAG.E SERMONS;
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converting many ihdividuals, but also of introducing the Gospel into districts, and even into parish
churches, where before it was comparatively unknown."
" This work fully deserves the immortality it has attained."
This is a fine library edition of this invaluable work j and when we say that it should be found in
the possession of every family, we only reiterate the sentiments and sincere wishes of all who take
a deep interest in the eternal welfare of mankind.
FAMILY PEATERS AND HYMNS,
ADAPTED TO FAMILY WOESHn",
AND
TABLES FOR THE REGULAR READING OF THE SCRIPTURES.
Sy Bev. S. C. Winchester, A. M.,
Uta Pastor of the Sixth PniBbyterian Church, Philadelphia; and the Presbyterian Church at
Natchez, Miss.
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BYRON'S WORKS,
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, OCTAVO.
INCLUDING ALL HIS SUPPRESSED AND ATTRIBUTED POEMS ; WITH SIX BEAUTIFUL
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This edition has been carefully compared with the recent London edition of Mr. Murray, ond
made complete by the addition of more than fifty pages of poems heretofore unpublished in Eng
land. Among these there are a nuniber that have never appeared in any American edition; and
the publishers believe they are warranted in saying that this is (Ac most complete edition of Lord
Byron's Poetical Works ever published in the United States.

Complete in one volume, octavo; with seven beautiful Engravings.
This is a new and complete edition, with a splendid engraved likeness of Mrs. Remans, on steel,
and coniains all the Poems in the last London and American editions. With a Critical Preface by
Mr. Thatcher, of Boston.
"As no work in the English language can be commended with more confidence, it will argue bad
taste in a female in this country to be without a complete edition of the writings of one who was
an honour to her sex and to humanity, and whose productions, from first to last, contain no syllable
calculated to call a blush to the cheek of modesty andVirtue. There is, moreover, m Mrs. Hemans's
poetry, a moral purity and a religious feeling which commend it, in an especial manner, to the dis
criminating reader. No parent or guardian will be under the necessity of imposing restrictions
with regard to the free perusal of every production emanating from this gifted woman. There
. breathes throughout the Whole a most eminent exemption from impropriety of thought or diction ;
' and there is at times a pensiveness.of tone, a winning sadness in her more serious compositions,
which tells of a soul which has been lifted from the contemplation of terrestrial things,, to divme
communings with beings of a purer world."
MILTON, YOUNG, GRAY, BEATTIE, AND COLLINS'S
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COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, OCTAVO.
Including two hundred and^fifty Lettera, and sundry Poems of Cowper, never before published in
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new Poems, for the first time printed frora his own Manuscripts, taken from
alate Edition of the Aldine Poets, now publishing in LSndon.
WITH SEVEN BEAUTIFUL ENGRAVINGS.
The distinguished Professor Silliman, speaking of this edition, observes :" I am as much gratified
DV the elegance and fine taste of your edition, as by the noble tribute of genius and moral exoel-
lenM which these delightful authors have left for aU future generations ; and Cowper, especially,
is not less conspicuous as a true Christian, moralist and teacher, than as a poet of great power and
exquisite taste.''

LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
THE POETICAL WORKS OF ROGERS, CAMPBELL, MONTGOMERY,
LAMB, AND KIRKE WHITE.
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, OCTAVO..
WITH SIS BEAUTirUL EWGRAVIWaS.
The beauty, correctness, and convenience of this fayourite edition of these standard authors are
BO well known, that it is scarcely necessary to add a word in its favour. It is only necessary to say,
that the publishers have now issued an illustrated edition, whict^ greatly enhances its former value.
The engravings are excellent and well selected. It is the best library edition extant.

CRABBE, HEBER, AND POLLOK'S POETICAL WORKS.
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, OCTAVO.
WITH SIX BEAUTIFUL ENGRAVINGS.
A writer in the Boston Traveller holds the following language with reference to these valuable
editions : —
** Mr. Editor : — I wish, without any idea of puffing, ta say a word or two upon the ' Library of
English Foets' that is now published at Philadelphia, by Lippincott, 'Grambo <Sc Co. It is certainly,
taking into consideration the elegapt manner in which it is printed, and the reasonable price at
which it is afforded to purchasers, the best edition of the modem British Poets that has ever been
published in this country. Each volume isan octavo of about 600 pages, double columns, stereo
typed, and accompanied wilh fine engravings and biographical sketches ; and most of tbem are
reprinted, from Galignani's French edition. As to its value, we need only mention that it contains
the entire works of Mon^mery, Gray, Beattie, Collins, Byron, Cowper, Thomson, Milton, Young,
Rogers, Campbell, Lamb, Hemans, Heber, Kirke White, Crabbe, the Miscellaneous Works of Gold
smith, and other masters of the lyre.. The publishers are doing a great service by their publication,
and their volumes are almost in as great demand as the fashioname novels of the day; and they
deserve to be so : for they are certainly printed in a style superior to that in which we have befoi^e
had the works of the English Poets."
No library can be considered complete without a copy of the above beautiful and cheap editions
of the English Poets ; and persons ordering all or any of them, will please say Lippincott, Grambo
& Co.'s illustrated editions.

A COMPLETE
iitttotiarti of ^mWml (tuMmr.
COMPRISING THE MOST EXCELLENT AND APPROPRIATE PASSAGES IN
THE OLD BRITISH POETS; WITH CHOICE AND COPIOUS SELEC-
TIONS FROM THE BEST MODERN BRITISH AND
AMERICAN POETS. i
EDITED BY SARAH JOSEPRA HALE.
As nightingales.do upon glow-worms. feed,
So poet^, live upon the living light
. Of Nature and of Beauty. Bailey's Festug.
Beautifully illustrated with Engravings. In one super-royal octavo volume, in various
bindings. ^
The publishers extract, from the many highly complimentary notices of the above valuable and
beautiful work, the following:
" We have at last a volume of Poetical Quotations worthy of the' name. It contains nearly sii
hundred octavo pages, carefully ahd tastefully selected from all the home and foreign authors of
celebrity. It is invaluable to a writer, while to the ordinary reader it presents every subject at a
glance." — Godey's Lady's Booh.
" The plan.or idea of Mrs. Hale's work is felicitourf. It is one for ivhich her fine taste, ber orderly
habits of mind, and her long occupation with literature, has given her peculiar facilities ; .and tho
roughly has she accomplished her task in the work before nsy ~ Sartam's Magazine.
"It is a choice collection of poetical extracts from every English and American author worth
perusing, from the days pf Chaucer to the present time." — washivigtdn Union.
" There is notMng negative about this work^ it is positively good." — Evening Bulletin,
10 — -^

LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
THE DIAMOND E_D1_TI0N OF BYRON.
THE POETICAL WORKS OF LOED BYRON,
¦WTITH A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.
COMPLETE IN ONE NEAT DUODECIMO VOLUME, WITH STEEL PLATES.
The type of this edition is so perfect, and it is printed with so much care, on fine white paper,
that it can be read with as much ease as most of the larger editions. This work is to be had in
plain and superb binding, making a beautiful volume for a gift.
'" The,Foeticai Works of Lord Byron, complete in one volume ; published by, L., G, & Co., Phila
delphia. We hazard nothins: in saying that, take it altogether, this is the most elegant work ever
issued from the American press.
" * In a single volumsLiiot larger than an ordinary duodecimo, the publishers have embraced the
whole of Lord Byron's Poenis, usually printed in ten or twelve volumes; and, what is more remark
able, have done it with a tjrpe so clear and distinct, that, notwithstanding its necessarily snudl .size,
it may be read with the utmost fiicihty, even hv faiUng eyes. The book is stereotyped ; and never
have we seen a finer specimen of that art. Everything about it is perfect— the paper, the print
ing, the binding, all correspond with each other ; and it is embellished with two fint engi'uvings,
well worthy/the- companionship in which they are placed.
" "I'his will make a beautiful Chiistmas present.' \
" We extract the above from Godey's Lady's Book* The notice itself, we are given to understand,
is written by Mrs. Hale. '
" We jiave to add our commendation in favour of this beautiful volume, a copy of which has
been sent us by the publishers. The admirers of tlie noble bard will feel obliged to the enterprise
which has prompted the publishers to dare a competition with the numerous editions of his works
already in circulation; and we shall be surprised if this convenient travelling edition does not in a
great degree supersede the use of the large octavo works, which have little advantage in size and
openness of type, and are much iilferior in the qualities of portability and lightness." — InteUigencer,

THE DIAMOND EDITION OF MOORE.
(CORRESPONDING WITH BYRON.)
 fi
THE POETICAL WORKS OF THOMAS MOORE,
COLLECTED BY HIMSELF.
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME.
This work is published uniform with Byron, from the last London edition, and is the most com
plete printed in the Country.
THE DIAMOND EDITION OF SHAKSPEARE,
(complete in one volume,)
XZrCX.U'DIITG' A SKETCH OP HIS UFE.
UNIFORM WITH BYRON AND MOORE.
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GOLDSMITH'S ANIMATED NATURE.
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THE MOST COMPLETE NATURAL HISTORY EVER PUBLISHED.
This is a work that should be in the libraiy of every family, having been written by one of the
most talented authors in the English language. , ,. - .
"Goldsnnth eari never be made obsolete while tfelicate genius, eiquisite feelmg,fine mvention,
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BIGLAND'S NATURAL HISTORY
Of Animals, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, and Insects. Illustrated with numerous and Ueautifql Engrav-
Of Ammals^WU ^^?^^^^ bIGLAND, author of a " View of the Worid," "Letters on
Universal History," io. Complete m l.Vol., lamo. 

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THE POWER AND PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE UNITED STATES; Its Power and Progress.
BV G-UIIiliAUSdE TELI. I^OTTSSIN,
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FIRST AMERICAN, PROM THE THIRD PARIS EDITION.
TRANSLATED FEOM THE FRENCH BT EDMOND L. DU BAEET, Ml D.,
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SCHOOLCRAFT'S GREAT NATIONAL WORK ON THE INDIAN TRIBES OF
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HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION
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OF THB '
fn.Man ^ribjH of ttie ^nlUh ihltL
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plants suitable for Live Hedges, with the best methods of making them, io. Towhich are annexed
catalogues of Kitchen Garden Plants and Herbs; Aromatic, Pot, and Sweet Herbs; Medicinal
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their cultivation. Together with a copious Index to the body of the work.
BY BEENARD M'MAHON.
Tenth Edition, greatly improved. In one volume, octairo.
THE PORTFOLIO OF A SOUTHERN MEDICAL STUDENT.
BY GEORGE M. WHARTON, M. D.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY CROOME.
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T2 ~ 

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THE FARMER'S AND PLANTER'S ENCYCLOPyfDIA.

BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON.
ADAPTED TO THE UNITED STATES BY GOUVERNEUR EMERSON.
Illustrated by seventeen beautiful Engravings of Cattle, Horses, Sheep, the varieties of Wheat,
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This standard work contains the latest and best information upon all subjects connected with
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IN ONE LABQB OCTAVO VOLUME.
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THE PRACTICAL FARRIER, FOR FARMERS:
COUPRISINO A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OP THE NOBLE AND USEFUL ANIMAL
THE HORSE;
WITH MODES OF MANAGEMENT IN ALL CASES, AND TREATMENT IN DISEASE.
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
A PRIZE ESSAY ON MULES • AND AN APPENDIX,
containing Recipes for Diseases of Horses, Oxen, Cows, Calves, Sheep, Dogs, Swine, ic. io.
BV BICHARS 3VIASOI7, M.D.,
Formerly of Snny County, Virginia.
Ia one volume, 12ino.; bound in cloth, gilt.
MASON'S FARRIER AND STUD-BOOK-NEW EDITION.
THE GENTLEMAN'S NEW POCKET FARRIER:
COMPRISING A GENERAI. DESCRIPTION OP THE KOBLE AND DSEFHL ASIMAL,
THE HORSE;
WITH MODES OF MANASEMENT IN ALL CASES, AND TREATMENT IN-DISEASE.
B7 KICHJEI.BD IVI.ASOSl', XX. S.,
Formerly oC Snrry County, Virginia.
To which Is added, A PRIZE ESSAY ON MULES; and AN APPENDIX, containing Recipes for
Diseases of Morses, Oien, Cows, Calves, Sl.eep, Dogs, Swine, ic. ic, ; with AnnaU
of the Turf, American Stud-Book, Rules for Training, Racing, ic ,
WITH A SUPPLEMENT,
Comorising an Essay on Domestic Animals, especially the Horse ; with Rema, ks on Treatment and
Breeding- together with trotting and Racmg Tables, showing the best time on record at one,
two three and four Bile heals; Pedigrees of Winning Horses, since 1839, and of the most
celebrated Stallions and Mares; with useful Calving and Lambing Tables. By
J. S. SKUiNEH, Editor now of the Farmer's Library, New York, io. ic.
— -^-  =  —13 ^

LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
HINDS'S FARRIERY AND STUD-BOOK-NEW EDITION.

FARRIERY,
TAUGHT ON A NEW AND EASY PLAN:
BBINO " ^
% '^miim m tjit ikasrs nni Smtonts ilf tire Inrie;
With Instructions to the Shoeing Smith, Farrier, and Groom ; preceded by a Popular Description of
the Animal Functions in Health, and -how these are to be restored when disordered.
BY JOHN HINDS, VETERINARY SURGEON. _
With considerable Additions and Improvements, particularly adapted to this country,
BY THOMAS M. SMITH,
Veterinaiy Surgeon, and Member of the London Veterinary Medical Society.
WITH A SUPPLEMENT, BY J. g. SKINNER.
The publLahers have received numerous flattering* notices of the great practical value of these
works. ' The distinguished editor of the American Farmer, speaking of them, observes:— "We
cannot too highly recommend these books, and therefore advise every 6wner of a horse to obtain
them." "There are receipts in-those books that show how Founder may be cured, and the traveller pur
sue his journey the next day, by giving a tablespoonful o/ahim. This was go.t ffom Dr. P. Thornton.
of Moutpeli^,Rappahai^ock county, Virginia, as founded on his own observation in several ^es.''
" The constant demand for Mason's and Hinds's Farrier has induced the publishers, Messrs. Lip
pincott. Grambo & Co., to put forth new editions^ with a 'Supplement' of 100 pa?es, by J. S. Skinner,
Esq. We should have sought to render an acceptable'service to our agricultural readers, by giviug
a chapter from the Supplement, ' On the Relations- between Man and the Domestic Animals, espe
cially ti\e Hpijse, an;^ the Obligations they impose;' or the one on 'The Form pf Animals ;',bu^ mat
either one of them w6liild overrun the space here allotted to such subjecls^" / v 1 , 1
" Lists of Medicines, and other articles wt^ich ought to be at hand about every training a.n^ livery
stable, and every Farmer s and Breeder's establishment, will be found in these valuable works."

TO CARPENTERS AND MECHANICS.
Just PulDlished.

A NEW AND IMPROVED EDITION OP
THE CAEPENTER'S NEW GUIDE,
BEING A COMPLETE BOOK OF LINES FOB
CARPSXTTRir AJfTH JOIXTSRV;,
Treating fully on Practical Geometry, Saflit's Brick and Plaster Groins, Niches of every description,
Sky-lights, Lines for Hoofis and Domes : with a great variety of Designs for Roofs,
Trussed Girders, Floors, Domes, Bridges, <tc.. Angle Bars for Shop
Fronts, &ja., and Raking Mouldings.
AL SO,
Additional Plans for various Stair-Cases, with the Lines for producing the Face and Palling MoOias,
never before publishfed, and greatly superior to those given in a former edition of this work.
BY WILLIAM JOHNSON., ARCHITECT,
OP PHILADELPHIA.
The whole founded on true Geometrical Principles ; the Theory and Practice well erplained and
fully exemplifled, on eighty-three copper plates, including some Observations and Calculations on
the Strength of Timber. BY PETER NICHOLSON,
Author of **The Carpenter and Joiner's Assistant," ""The Student's Instructor to' the Piye
Orders," <tc. >
Thirteenth Edition. One volume, 4to., well bound.
14 ' 

LIPPINCOTT, GEAMBO & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
A DICTIONARY OF SELECT AND POPULAR QUOTATIONS,
WHICH ARE IN DAILY USE.
TAKEN FROM THE LATIN, FRENCH, GREEK,, SPANISH AND ITALIAN LANGUAGES.
Together with a copious Collection of Law Maxims and Law Terms* translated into
English, with Illustrations, Historical and Idiomatic.
NEW AMERICAN EDITION. CORRECTED, WiTH ADDITIONS.
One voUime, 12mo.
This volume comprises a copious collection of legal and other terms which are in common use,
with English translatio|i3 and historical iUustrations; and we should judge its author had surely
been to a great " Feast of Languages," and stole all the scraps. A work of this character should
have an extensive sale, as it entirely obviates a serious difficulty in wliioh most readers are involved
by the frequent occurrence of Latin, Greek, and French passages, wliich we suppose are introduced
by authors for a mere show of learning— a difficulty very perplexing to readers in general This
** Dictionary of Quotations," concerning which too much cannot be said in its favour, effectually
removes the difficulty, and gives the reader an advantage over the author ; for we believe a majority
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will insult their readers by introducing Latin or French quotations in their writings, when " plain
English" will do as well ; but we will not enlarge on this point.
If the book is useful to those unacquainted with other languages, it is po less valuable to the
classically educated as a book of reference, and answers all the purposes of a Lexicon — indeed, on
many accounts, it is better. It saves the trouble of tumbling over the larger volumes, to which
every one, and especially those engaged in the legal profession, are very often subjected. It should
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RUSCHENBEffGER'S NATURAL HISTORY,
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t (BlmtnU of HSatnral listen],
EMBRACING ZOOLOGY, BOTANY AND GEOLOGY:
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THE POET'S OFFERING.
EDITED BT MRS. HALE.
With a Portrait of the Editress, a Splendid Illuminated Title-Page, and Twelve Beautiful Engrav
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"We comrtiend itfo all who desire to present a friend with a volume not only very beautiful, but
of solid intrinsic value."— WosAiiwion t/nioa.. „ „ .. ,. tj . n^k
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paper and printini; are beautiful, and the binding rich, elegaiit. and substantial; the most sensible
ind attractive of all the elegant gift-books we have seen." — SfBiin!/ BiiJWm. . . „^
" The cuhlisb'et^ deservj the thanks of the public for so happy a thought, so we 1 executed. he
engravings are by the best artists, and the other portions of the work correspond m elegance. ' —
¦ ^^"'ttm^^an book of selections so diversified and appropriate within our knowledge."-/'CTM3(to')i.
'¦ It is one of the most valuable as well.as elegant books ever pubhshed in this country." — Godey's
^ft'ls''tht^'most beautiful and the most useful offering ever bestowed on the public. No individual
of literary taste will venture to be without it." — The City Item.
—  15

I
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THE YOUNG DOMINICAN;
OR, THE MYSTERIES OF THE INQUISITION,
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SAY'S POLITICAL ECONOMY. ^
A TREATISE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY;
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BT JEAVl BAPTISTS SAT.

B.Y C. C. BIDDLE, Esq.
In one, volume, octavo. /,. , ,
It would be beneficial to our country,if all those who are aspiring to office, were required by their
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The distinguished biographer of the author, in noticing this w^^, observes : " Happily for science,
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volume is a very handsome one. , , '
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