of the white men had not taught these deluded wretches the absolute impossibility of obtaining, even, justice by force. Stimulated by their late defeats, by the arts of wicked emissaries, by the hopes of regaining their country, and, we fear, we must in justice add, by repeated injuries from the bordering whites, the Seminoles, in the summer of 1817, re-comnienced a barbarous war: for terminating which, the services of General Jackson were again, commanded.

121. On the 26th of December, 1817, the War Department issued orders to him, then at Nashville, to repair to Fort Scott, and assume the command of the forces in that quarter of the Southern division; to call upon the Executives of the adjacent States, if, in his opinion, the troops of the United States were too few to beat the enemy; and to adopt the necessary measures to terminate the conflict. On the receipt of this order, General Jackson, instead of calling. for the militia, summoned to his aid 1200 volunteers from Tennessee and Kentucky. This corps was organized, and officered, under his directions, and mustered into the service of the United States. About the same period, General Gaines, also, raised 1600 men, among the friendly Creeks. General Jackson entered upon the campaign with a force of about 3000: that, of the enemy, at the utmost, did not exceed one thousand; and, at no time did half that number present themselves to oppose his march. Of course, little resistance was made. The Indian towns were destroyed, and their inhabitants dispersed.*

122. În his progress, he captured, caused to be tried by court martial, and executed, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, two Englishmen, residents among, and averred to be instigators of the hostility of, the Seminoles; and he hung without trial, two Indian chiefs, who, by wiles, had been drawn into his power. He invaded the Spanish territory of Florida, reduced the forts of St. Mark and Barrancas, and the city of Pensacola, and commanded the reduction of St. Augustine; transported the Spanish officers, civil and military, to the Havana; abolished the revenue laws of Spain, instituted those of the United States; and, on his own mere authority, established civil and military officers.

123. The preceding sentence records, almost as many of

* In this campaign the troops of the United States suffered no loss, save in the death of six militia men, executed with the approbation of the General, for desertion.

fences as facts; and if it were separated from the context, the reader might readily suppose that he was perusing an account of the progress of an independent sovereign, or of a Roman Consul bearing the eagles of the "gowned nation" over new conquests. Whilst the events were fresh before the nation, the following charges were alleged, by our most eminent statesmen, against the General.

1. That, in substituting volunteers, raised upon his own authority, for the militia, he assumed a power which did not legally belong, either to him or to the administration of the Government; for, that, whilst the general law, provided for the use of the militia, no statute warranted the evocation of volunteers; and that, whatever the law provided, whether in form or substance, was obligatory upon its agents:

2. That, by the organization of the volunteer corps, the officers and privates were independent of the Government and dependent upon the General:

3. That, the invasion of Florida was unwarranted; that if warranted, it was only in pursuit or reduction of an enemy, who overpowered the neutral or was sustained by him; that, if such canse justified the capture of St. Marks, it did not extend to the seizure of Fort Barrancas nor the city of Pensacola; that, if it even extended to them, it did not give a right to conquer the country, expel the Governor, abolish the laws, and convert the territory into a colony of the United States; that, by these acts, the General had made war upon Spain, had changed the relations between us and that Government, and had, thus, assumed powers which could be exercised only by Congress:

4. That, although, it might be true, that, the cruelties practised in war by one belligerent, might, lawfully, be retaliated by the other, and that, white men associating themselves with savages were associated with their fate; yet, that, in the present case, the retaliation was unnecessary, the war being over, and was forbidden by the rule of mercy which a practice of three hundred years had established in North America; that, if the law of nations, in this respect, had not been thus abrogated, it had been executed without the knowledge or the sanction of the Government; and that, if the General had a right, without specific authority, to enforce this law, it was exercised with indecorous and cruel precipitation.

5. That, in the cases of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, he had alike, grossly, mistaken, the law, under which their offences

were cognizable, the mode in which they should be prosecu ted, and the evidence necessary to their conviction; that, the principle assumed by him, "that, they, by uniting in war with the savages against the United States, whilst we were at peace with Great Britain, became outlaws and pirates, is not recognized in any code of national law; that, if it were, La Fayette, De Kalb, Pulaski, and a host of foreigners, who had aided in our Revolution, were outlaws and pirates, liable, if captured by the British, to suffer death; That, though, these unfortunate men might, be subjected to the extremity of pain under the lex talionis, they were not the proper subjects of a court martial, being at the disposal of the commanding General, or more properly of the Government of the United States; that, as the court martial was resorted to, for the protection of the General, he had delegated his authority and should have been concluded, thereby; that his rejection of the sentence of the court, decreeing stripes and imprisonment for Ambrister, and substituting the punishment of death, was arrogant, despotic and cruel; and that, the testimony upon which the sentence was founded would have been rejected in every Court governed by established rules of evidence.

124. We do not purpose to investigate, at this day, all or either, of these charges. But we will state the manner in which they were disposed of. The irregularity in raising the troops was unobserved by the Government, or if observed, was, disregarded, nay, commended, in the hope, that a more speedy termination of the campaign would be thereby attained. The seizure of Florida was condemned; the colony, with all its towns and fortifications, were delivered up to the Spanish authorities. The homicide of the Indian and white agitators, was deemed an event too good for banning and too bad for blessing. Those who suffered were held to have merited their fate; but every man of sensibility deplored, that, the reputation of the country, for civilization and humanity, had been stained by the execution; all responded to the following sentiment, of an eloquent gentleman, who, ably, discussed the subject before Congress: "When," said he, "the fever of resentment shall have subsided in the breast of the General, and the exultation of conquest has passed away, and he shall look back upon the transaction with the feeling of man stripped of the pride of the conqueror, this deed of bloody justice, will weigh heavy upon his heart, and embitter his days. I would not endure the remorse that is in store for him, for all his laurels and all his eulogiums."

The justice and humanity of this sentiment will not be disputed, but its prophetic, character may be questioned. Your true hero is always so constituted, that he "looks with composure upon blood and carnage.' Your ambitious men, your Alexanders, your Cæsars, your Cromwells, your Bonapartes, your Attillas, your bandits of every species, who will, intensely, march resolutely to their goal, though every step extinguish a life. The love of glory eradicates the love of man. Remorse comes, only, when fortune deserts them. 125. But we have, in the events of this campaign, the most satisfactory evidence of the General's disregard of the Constitution and laws, as of his ignorance of the principles upon which the powers of his office, should have been applied. In the levy of his troops he looked only to the end, disregarding the illegality of the means; in the invasion of Florida, he violated the rights of a friendly nation, and the Constitution of his own country; in the unnecessary execution of the wretched savages and their more criminal seducers he stained the reputation of his nation; and in all, he trod beneath his feet every principle save his own will. Here, as at all times, his motto was legible upon his sword,

"Sic volo, sic jubeo; stet pro ratione voluntas.',

which may be freely rendered,

"Not thine, O Lord, but let my will be done."

126. It may be observed here, that whilst our language scarce affords words strong enough to convey the flatteries upon the conduct of the General at New Orleans, his flatterers never speak of the glories of the Seminole war or of the Florida conquest. Thus, whilst the honest, decorous, and veracious Cobbett, the last, and, perhaps, the best paid Biographer of the General, assures us, "That the battle of New Orleans broke the heart of European despotism; and the man who won it did, in this one act, more for the good and the honour of the human race, than ever was yet done by any other man besides himself," he has passed over the Seminole war in total silence. Not so the Congress. Committees of both Houses, made reports disapprobatory of his proceedings. The whole delegation of Georgia, a majority of that from

*Letter of General Jackson to Mr. Monroe commenting on the character of Mr. Madison.

South Carolina, among whom was the ever to be lamented Lowndes, and a decided majority of that from Virginia, joined in the condemnation.. Mr. Adams, as Secretary of State, in a diplomatic correspondence with the Spanish Minister, defended the invasion, palliating, as an advocate of his country, what as a judge he would have conscientiously condemned in the perpetrator.

127. The next public station, holden by General Jackson was that of Governor of Florida, and Commissioner under the treaty with Spain, of 1821. By an act of the 3d of March of that year, provision was made for the temporary government of the province, authorizing all the military, civil and judicial powers, exercised by the officers of the existing Government, to be vested in such person or persons, and to be exercised in such manner, as the President should direct. The commission of General Jackson, dated the 10th of March, 1821, gave him the powers, theretofore exercised by the Governor and Captain General and Intendant of Cuba, and by the Governors of East and West Florida. Judges were also commissioned by the President, who were instructed to regulate their functions by the laws of the United States. Accustomed, as we are, in the United States, to the separation of the judicial, from the executive power, it ought not to have been possible for any man to suppose, that when he designated several officers for these several depart ments, the President designed to unite the powers of both in an individual. Yet, General Jackson, always construing his powers in the largest sense, assumed, to himself, all the departments of the Government, legislative, executive, and judicial.

128. The Spanish ex-Governor, after the surrender of the province, being called upon, informally, as he supposed, to deliver up certain papers, which should have been surrendered pursuant to treaty, refused; whereupon the General caused his dwelling to be forcibly entered, by a military detachment, his papers to be seized, his person to be imprisoned, and the sealed boxes in which the papers were, to be broken open. Upon application to the Judge of the District, an habeas corpus to bring up the prisoner, was issued, directed to the General, which he not only refused to obey, but, threatened to punish the Judge for contempt. The Spanish officers, at Pensacola, took part with their chief, and dared to breathe their griefs through the public press. This too was an offence, a libel, to be punished, not by the law, but by the will