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ing, the hunt and the slaughter “were resumed, j
and sixteen,” (all that could he round, J “-of the
enemy slain , who had conceal and themselves un
der (hr hanks."* Yet I will not urge that as a
peculiar reproach against general Jackson, which
1 lather regai(l as a -.tain upon my country. —
Ills ory will record, tnat nis bioody deeds were
received by his conn rymen wim general ap
plause, winie the clemency oi colonel Pearson
was regarded with contempt and resentment. —
Truly, sir, American ava ie of Indian muds ts
ccjuul to Spainsn avarice of Indian gold.
1 am sorry, sir, to say a.iy thing mat may seem
to affect general Jackson’s p. ivate cnaractei; hut
I must remark, that the grant of lands he after
wards obtained front muse same Creeks (me wil
ling tribute of gratitude, no doubt, for his tender !
nt ire ies towards tneir name and mce) was con-!
traiy to the known policy of tne government. It j
wjs not the executive, nowever, out tne senate,!
tii.il refused to give it sanction.
f have here, sir, to mention a fact, which, strik-|
ing as it is, and decisive ol tne character of tne ]
man, is hardiy remembered, if it be not abso
soiutely lorgoiten, except by a lew curious on
servers. General Jackson’s recent seizure of;
St. Mark’s and Pensacola, is not tlie first in
stance in w hich ne has, of ms own independent
sovereign authority, declared and waged war a
gainst a nation with which Ins country was at
p a, e. In Novcinher, 18 14, ne look Pensacola by
storm, inoiigh ne c onfessedly knew at the time,
that tne act was contrary to tiic views and poiß
oy of the government.f The executive Whose
commission be abused, congress, whose powers
lie usurped, looked on in profound silence. As
to the American people, they have ever seemed
to imagine it impossible, that an invasion ol tne
rigius of Spain could be accompanied with an
invasion ol their ow n.
rum your eyes now,sir, to the principal scene
ol general Jackson’s glory: happy! it it were
not aiso the scene ol unrestrained violence anil
t). mi). 1 would detract nothing from tne real
in >it ne displayed in his memorable d> fence of
]S ew-Orleans in 1814 15. 1 would not, il tne
occasion were proper, enter into any criticism of
Ins military operations; or attempt to ascribe to
fortune, any portion of the glory, which skill and
vamr claim, l’nut nis success was compute,
that iiis victory was no less beneficial in its
consequences man brilliant in its achievement;
ali t.us 1 glauiy acknowledge. But to that
extravagance of national giatitudc, umich lias
manifested itself in a tame suilender of the
constitution though but for a lime, and of the
civil liberty ol any portion ol tne good people of
.tins union now distant and small soever, I never
Win assent while 1 have breath to make my pro
test heard.
General Jackson’s first step, after his arrival
at New-Oileans, was to propose to t ie legisla
ture oi Louisiana, then m session, a suspension
ol tne hubras corpus, induced, it is said, to re
commend tnat odious measure, by representa
tions made to aim uy governor Claiborne, of tne
disaffection ol the people. 11 the governor’s ap*
prehensions were not inspired by tiie general
hnnscll, the general knew as well as any body,
wnat reliance w as io he placed on the governor’s
judgment. The legislature knew its constiui
ents as wall as the governor, and better than the
general: that body certainly was n@t disaffected:
it was, doubtless, tiie best judge, wuetner the
proposed measure was necessary or even expe
dient; and it was deliberating weave toicl,‘‘wuh
great caution ’ (as well it might) “upon its rig .t {
an ! power to adopt such a measure,” wnen gc- j
mial Jackson not only suspended the habeas]
| c r ie but proclaim l martial law. forthwith
hLrj eity ot New-Orleans and its environs were
v. i Cd into a camp, ami put under a rigorous
police, j
---Is lus dcf iwc, rs course, iipop Uk x\ •
."■(•• lea, me **>>/. I'i i.n Mii'ii a iih'.wir’ v. as
B• V, I il.tV < aIP :||!! ; \ 11 til. ! ,nll|si4H;i
l and v'Clicr.ll J
’ B I Mil); ‘ > l i.’ ii
that (joi.ni!i, ‘
HHu to be ii'll.' 7 1 si.ould hi;i j deny me mciv
mm. During tilt* arduous situggie o‘. tiio :vvo-
martial law was never once pi oc.nuiied.
regin i < eluge e sand toTlcs were embodied
iikhdu service of the enemy, aiid their friends and
k’ofiied dispersed over the country, general
\\ asmngton, though for a time clothed wiui ai
r.i.'Ht dictatorial power, never proclaimed mar
tial taw. When general Green'was flying be
fit c iohl Cornwallis through the Carolinas, and
his enemy was deriving almost as much aid from
tin torii s as lie could obtain from tnc whigs of
tiiai country, he yet never proclaimed niailiai
law. Did they want prudence, circumspection,
eiu igy? No, sir; but victory over the enemy
wouid h -ve had no charms for them, it acliii veil
a; tin expense of liberty. The ready resort to
violent measures in ail situations ol difficulty, is
generally tnc result of weakness of understand-’
ing and wickedness of heatt combined.
1 snail make one more remark upon the prin- ;
cipm oi this measure,windi muse Mho ha\c stu- j
died our institutions only will think absurdly su
perfluous, but which whoever have studied our
history aiso, will allow to be seasonable. Tnere
is no man or body of men in mis nation, compe- i
H , under any circumstances, to proclaim mar
w within our own ten rite,ry. The piesi
t; congress cannot; < oticurring
BDBB I. .I-! m \ ian po.d
: ’ iw ‘’ o. - ‘i “’ •. 11.l 1 . \.; -
‘ ; . -
■* ‘ I
- : 1. .
11
ssA.
whether In the actual exercise of the high pre 1
rogative with w . c.i ie nad eiotued aimself, he
preserved any bounds of moderation? whether
lie stopped short of xtremes, Which ho necessi
ty required, which no expediency recummend
ed, and to which he could hav e been incited, on-1
ly by tne intoxication of absolute power, the wan
tonness of cap, ice, or the madness ot passion?
While the event of the contest was yet doubt
ful, on the vague information of one of iiis aids!
(the noted Dun- an) that a design was agitated
among the in moc s oi the legislature, to p.o
----p -sc a capitulation and sin , ender to the invading
tir iii^^ si rui j act.son, though he must have
kno m the actual state ol things (martial
law still prevailing) such a design couid not be
executed without Ins consent, “ ordered governor!
Claiborne closely to watch the conduct of the le-l
gislatuie, and the moment the project of offering 1
a capitulation to the enemy, should be ftiky dis
closed, to arrest the tiie members, ami hoid them
subject to nis luture orders, i’he governor, in
his zeal to execute the command, and from aj
tear ol the consequences involved in such con- 1
duct, construed as imperative an order which!
was merely contingent; and placing an armed
lo.ce at the door of tne capitol, prevented die
piemoers from convening and their senemes from
matmin I'lie historian does not assign a
not.ier reason for governor Claiborne’s precipi
tancy, winert I have heard, and have no doubt
was the true one; that general Jackson had be
fore threatened to nang mm, if he should hesi
tate to do whatever lie was commanded, or pre
sumed to exert isc nis own judgment. But if
the governor be responsible for shutting the
doors of tne legislature in the first instance, who
is to bear tne biame ol keeping them shut? For,
in fact, they Wire ke/it shut, from the 28tn of
December, 1814, tiii about the 20tli of January,
18 15, when the enemy retired to his ships.f
After tne enemy, foiled and broken, had aban
doned the cntci prise, surely, sir, tne suspension
ot civil law and justice, and the tyranny ol mar
tial law, count no onger be necessary. Was ci
'il liberty ye restored to the city? No: military
despotism wassail sternly maintained.
On me 10th oi March, admi al Cochrane an
nounced inrough Mi. Livingston, who nad been
sent to tne British fleet io settle a cartel, that
news of peace nad arrived at Jamaica. Certain
ly, sir, the necessity ol military despotism was
now at an end. Did general Jackson relax his
absolute authority? ft was only the occasion of
enslaving the /tress to nis im/irimatur.
A few days after this intelligence, Mr. Louail
lier, a member of the legislature, published a
pa. agraph in tiie newspapers, calculated, we are
tend, to excite mutiny among the troops, and to
aflurd tne enemy intelligence of tne situation and
disposition of tne army. Tne printer is incon
tinently brought before the general, and compel
led (tne poor printer afterwards told the story to
ins country, but it had no cars to hear) to dis
close the author’s name. Mr. Louaiiiier is forth
” itarrested by a file of soldiers, without care
or tiiought ot the privileges of the assembly to
wnich lie belonged dragged to camp, put into
strait confinement,f audai raigned before a court
murtaii as for a capital offence.s
Mr. Louatilier was nor absolutely friendless,
nor nad iiis friends entirely lost the sense of free
dom. They applied to Mr. Hall, district judge
ot tne United States, for an habeas corpus, winch
he accordingly issued. The general knew (lie
has been a judge himself) that judge Hall was
i bound by nis oath of office and at iiis peril, to is
[ sue this writ. Every end he could have reason
! ab.y desired ~ad been answered by simply disre
gaiding the preeepi. But ue was not content
with mat; and, as if for tne purpose of showing
that martial law. was something more than the
suspension of the habeas corpus, he seized the
person of the judge; exposed him and his func
tion to ridicule and contempt; brought him un
der guaml to camp; detained him lbr a time in
close custody; and then sent him, by force, beyond
tiie limits of ms encampment, which included
the cuy of Ncw-Orieans and environs, with or
ders to remain in exile from Ins family and his
home, til; peace should be regularly announced;
lor it seems from the order itself, that the gene
ral knew that pc ace was in fact concluded, though
not yet formally communicated to him. The
district attorney, Mr. Dick, a brave and honora
ble man, (I know him well) applied to judge
Lewis for a /minus corpus to liberate judge Hall,
which judge Lewis granted. The general in
stantly arrested Mr. Dick and issued an order to
arrest judge Lewis also. Both these gentlemen
had recently borne arms, under the general,
enemy.||
j At wrth, sir, civil liberty was l estorcdiWui
‘peace, Jackson was by
j the judge for thiscontenipUm the laws
in Lite his personjflMEmlhority. —
“It,” said- the illustrate, object to
the jurisdiction of tV befbeard:
! if his defence be a dental of the facts cimrired, or
j that tney amount to a contempt; be
: heard: it it he an apology tH the court?®mhow
j that by the
States, he had a i ivmrio do as the court
will hear him.” Fa nis is not
allowing enough! lie do
-e i-i^Fih.ly
:h r ;. hi
printed, and is before liie public. I
at its wTftched sophistry, if I were not alarmed
at its audacity, and disgusted at the impudence
with which he pleads, as his protection from
summary punishment, the very constitution and
laws he had so long and so recklessly trampled
under foot, and denies his own plea of necessity
as a proper foundation or the known settled prac
* Life of Jackson, p. 319, 321.
t Life of Jackson, p. 874.
i I ife of Jackson, p. 878, 381.
§ Niles’ Register, VIII, 274.
Lile of Jackson, p. 881 —Ndes’ Register, VIII, 372,
tice of our courts of justice in cases of contempt. 1
He was fined a thousand dohars; interrupted, in
sulted, and blow-beat tne judge on the judgment
s at; and retired amid the huzzas of a people
whom lie had tamed to wiougs, or this had been
his iast.*
Did the legislature of Louisiana remonstrate,
or demand redress? In the unermost abjection
of slavery, they durst hardly withhold from
him theirt hanks. Did the people, in any part
of the union, murmer or complain? The Tucks
; had not remained more quiet and contented.
Did the press, the watchman of liberty (especial
ly of its ow n) the warder on the wail, give the
alarm? lie was either talking or pursuing , or
fieradvcnture he slept and could not be awoke. —
j Did the general humble himself at the feet of the
! constitution and pray an inquiry, into his conduct
1 and motives ? Did the executive of the United
Spates order any trial, any inquiry or utter any
censure, any disapprobation? Did congress pass
act which, acknowledging the
j purity of bis motives and the necessity of his
measures, but affirming their illegality, obviated
in some measure the dangerous consequences of
the example, at the same time that it protected
the officer from being punished or questioned?—
No! history, sir, that records his ninety day’s tv- j
ranny, records also, that his whole conduct stands
unquestioned to this day, as if it were the regu
lar exercise of undoubted authority.
Still, 4r, many wise and good men may be in
clined to linn an excuse for us all, in the circum
stanc ‘s attending and following the transactions
at New-()r-leans. But what will they -say, if in
time of profound peace, without the least pre
text of necessity, and contrary to all reasons of
expediency, he has shewn the same disposition
to set himself above all the constituted authori
ties?
Fhe union was laid off into large military dis
tricts, during the late war; a measure of conve
nience and utility,
(I should think) utWrly unsuitable
ot peace. The same organization, however,
rough listlessness, or Jar
inscrucable-to continued.
liLAprt 1817*, ‘general Jackso^icommander of
tne division of the south, published an order pro
hibiting the officers of his division, from paying
obedience to any order of the war department,
unless coming through him as the proper organ
of communication.! I shall not ston to examine
t4e justness of a pretension, superlatively absurd
eRL ridiculous on its face. I protest 1 discern
motive to account for it. Was it
perversnoss ? or pride ? or military etiquette ?
or did the general design this order, to preserve
by way of continual claim, his independence of,
or rather his ascendant over his lawful superi
ors ? II such were the design, it has for aught
w e know, completely succeeded. T have heard
that this contest for supremacy has been adjust
ed to the satisfaction of the executive. I know
that no atonement has been made for the insult
and injury to the nation. The dignity of the
government is a part of its authority ; with which
it is clothed, as w ith all the rest, not for the per
sonal adv antage or honor of ministers, but for the
public good.
T ask your attention now, sir, to the events of
the present year. Gen. Jackson being again or
dered the command of
army in jWfcon, and to chastis*goireurb the
Seminole's, the stale of doomed to
behold his presence in Constitu
tion of the U. the
state [qinii l<i i %i f|~
ccrs of theiradpJTective militia, ana the consti
tution (like the laws
of State in the Union) appoimS the
govenW, ex-officio, commander in chief of it’s
forces, regular and militia. It is an authority,
indeed, essential to the existence of the state sov
ereignties, and to the integrity of our system.
To the astonishment of the nation, general Jack
son declares that his command virtually sus
pends the constitution of Georgia, in respect to
the military authority of ii’s executive at least ;
and in what other respects, we shall know when
occasions shall occur, as in Louisiana, to dovelope
the full extent of liis pretentions. Governor Ra
bun had issued an order to a militia officer, never
doubling, 1 dare say, Ins own constitutional and
lawful power. The order was most vilely ab
used. General Jackson, not content with as
supaing the power of redressing the abuse (for
that was an usurpation,) questions and denies the
authority of the order itself. In his letter of
May 7, 1818, he tells governor RSbun, in plain
terms—■“ You, sir, governor of a state within my
military division, have no right to give a mili
tary order while lam in the field.” Behold,
sir, the monstrous consequences of this broad and
bold pretension, if it should obtain ! Should an
insurrection occur in any of the states belonging
to the, division of the South, while gen. Jackson
is in the fkld, the governor of the state, and of
course every inferior officer of the militia, must
patiently endure the horrors of a sivil war, till
his high behests can be known ! Sir, I cannot re
press the sentiment of astonishment I feel, that
the legislature or the representatives of Georgia
in congress, have not demanded his immediate
arrest and trial.
But in truth, fir, we have the best reason for
believing that in general Jacksons’s opinion,
whenever he is at the head of an army, all the
powers ol every branch of our governmeffts,
state and federal, are suspended or transferred to
him.—His instructions for the conduct of the
war against the Seminoles may be gathered from
the president’s late message to congress: he
w as authorised to pursue the savage enemy into
the Spanish territory, if he should take refuge
there, taking care not to encroach on the rights
of Spain. According the laws of nations, it is
absolutely unlawful to attack an enemy in a
* Jackson, p. 383, 300, app. F. Niles’ Retns
ill, 245, 253.
jisiles’s Register, Jill. 320 r
neutral country, or commit in it any other hos
iiiiy ; hut if a neutral afford a retreat’to one bel
ligerent, and allow him tme to recover, and
watch a favorable oppurtiuii l )’ of renewing his
attack on the territori-s ot the otner, that other
nuy march into the neutral territory in uiest or
his en my. Tuc orders wnich wer given-to
gen-ral Jackson (as I und rsum them uithor
ised turn o car. y war into Florida again t the
Semino.rs, but not to commit nostility against
the sub oets of Spain; and nis cm respa .dence
shews, that ie himself understood them in ic
the same light. I acquit tiie executive, there
fore, of intending a violation of the constitution,
in waging war without a previous declaration ol
it by congress. Tne merits ot general Jack
son’s conduct may be staged in a few woids.
Dis. cgajxlii.g his orders, usuiping the power, ol
congress, which alone by our constitution is ea
pab.e of declaring war, he took St. Marks by
by assault, and Pensacola by capi •nation; t.c
first on the 7th of April, and the latter on the
27th of May. Wir tner in the interval of fifty
days which elapsed between the seizure oi .lie
two posts, the executive bad time to get intelli
gence of nis proceedings, and send new orders to
the General ? wnetlier it did send him such Or
ders ? and whether he was instructed to persist
in or to forbear further aggressions against Spam ?
are questions, which well deserve a solution but
which arc not to be discussed in the actual state
of the information before the public. This only
we know, that the president, while to presm-ve
peaceful relations with Spain, ae
eral Jackson’s proceedings, at the saincmnie ex
cuses and .applauds that officer for these
very acts. Whether the w hich
I came to general Jackson’sknowledge, during
the campaign, w just cause of
a declaration Spain, is not the
those ( ‘ ’WLUric
. il in
’ . I!' :
i \
I” . I ‘ • ‘
nor denies iiis right to
make an Indian tribe in peace with
tne protection of the United States..
his own mouth I condemn him.
The laws of nations, sir, afford no more pro
tect* on to individuals against the violence, of Luis
officer, than to sovereign states. I allude to the
trial and execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister.
To give a general character of these strange pro
ceedings ; they were indictments , convictions and
capital executions , of foreigner .for high trea
son against the United States , to which they owed
no allegiance, committed , and prosecuted in a
foreign territory und jurisdiction!
The first objection, to w'i.ich those proceed
ings are liable, is, that admitting these men were
guilty of all the offences alledged against them ;
admitting, that, according to the law sos nations,
they by such guilt incurred the forfeiture of their
lives they were not amenable to the tribunal
before which they were arraigned. Our courts
martial have no lawful jurisdiction, beyond that,
which is given them by the acts of congress es
tablishing die rules and articles of war ; and it
will hardly he pretended, that these have vested
in them any cognizance over crimes of the
nature of those imputed to these unhappy men.
If the jnrsisdi- tion be adinitt cl, the sentence
against both of them was unjust in law; and the
sentence against Arbuthnot was unjust in point
of fact.
Arbuthnot was found guilty by the court mar
tial, on two chaiges: Ist, < f inciting the Creek
Indians to war against the United States, he him
self being a British subject and his nation at
peace with ours; 2d, of aiding, abetting ancl
comforting the enemy, supplying them w ith the
means of war. It will hardly be believed, that
the only proof adduced, applicable to the first of
these two charges, was, the evidence of John
Winslet, detailing the contents of a letter the
witness had interpreted for an Indian Chief call
ed Little Prince, which the witness said was
signed by a Mr. Arbuthnot, without stating that
it was signed by the Arbuthnot who stood accus
ed, though it appears he was acquainted with iiis
hand writing; and the evidence of William
Hambly (Arbuthnot’s known and mot.nl enemy)
that the wi ness had been told by the Indians,
that Arbuthnot had instigated them to war
against the United States, and to the murder and
plunder of our citizens. When the public is
informed, that the rules of evidence are the same
hi courts martial, as those that prevail in courts
of law, it will be at no loss to make a fair esti
mate of the merits of this conviction. As to the
second charge (discarding the hearsay evidence
ot the same \\ . Hambly) the principal proof of
the charge was drawn from the prisoner’s own
correspondence, and some other documents. I
say, confidently, that those papers contain not the
least proof, that he ever incited the Indians to
offensive war, or aggression of any kind, against
th<rUnited States or their citizens;
to measures of defence and
aggressions upon the Indians, fijfr froija insti
gating them to war, he consjdtred
their utter ruin asUn*€ertahi jronsequcndWlfra
war withthe y.4*fftes. He lexers,'therefore,
toimftHWsAipon their minds, upon OTh British
minister at Washington, and on other correspon
dents, that the a nci oachments of our itizens were
not countenanced by the president. In his whole
correspondence there is not to found one word
stronger than the following letter to our Indian
agent, General Mitchell, of January 19, 1818 :
“ In taking the liberty of addressing you, sir, in
“ behalf of the unfortunate Indians, believe me I
“ have no wish but to see an end put to a war,
“ which if persisted hi, I foresee must eventually
u their ruin; and, as they arc not the aggress
ors, if in the height, of their rage they have
“ committed any excesses, that you will overlook
u them, as of an indignant
efSk