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."

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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 departments, 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

of the Governor. The officers were banished, being compelled to leave Florida in four days. Throughout the whole of this transaction the deportment of the Governor was fierce, and his language and actions grossly rude and intemperate.

129. Admitting, that, the conduct of the Spanish Intendant was wholly in the wrong; in declining the delivery of the papers, he was acting as a public officer or as a private individual; if as a public officer, he was accountable to his own Government; if as a private individual, he was entitled to the privileges of an inhabitant, or citizen of the United States. Who then amongst us is prepared to say, that if the Government of the United States had a claim upon any individual, and to make the case stronger, upon a foreigner, for valuable papers belonging to the public archives or to private estates, that the President might, with justice and propriety, send an armed force to break open his dwelling, seize his papers and effects, and drag him from his bed to prison? Would not any man regardful of the most precious of natural rights, personal liberty and security, have proceeded by means of the civil authority, where he possessed the choice, even though he might have vested in himself, the Turkish, the despotic power, of simultaneously making the law, and trying and punishing the offender. But when General Jackson entered the field, in whatever character, whether as General or Governor, all power centered in his person; the law of nations, the civil law, nay, the law of nature, were at once annihilated, and the bayonet, the prison or exile, rendered the legislator, the judge and the citizen, obedient to his will, or removed them from his path. His conduct in this case could not be supported by the administration that appointed him; and having brought it to the notice of Congress, the President left it with them. The subject was lost sight of and forgotten, when, a few months afterwards the oppressive Governor was removed, by the establishment of a permanent system of government for the territory. His conduct in this station, in the opinion of the venerable Jefferson, showed him incompetent to an executive trust.

130. The ordinances of Governor Jackson, in Florida, having been made with due deliberation, are, perhaps, the best reflection of his character which has been given. Before the surrender of the province, the councils of its cities were elective, and the inhabitants were free from taxation. When he assumed the government, he appointed those councils by his own will, and filled them with strangers, ignorant of the inter

ests of the people: He constituted Courts, whose judges were nominated by himself, and dependent upon his pleasure, in whom was vested the highest judicial power: He established new rules of naturalization, and though prohibited by his commission to exercise the taxing power, imposed onerous excises, and empowered the councils, he had created, to levy fines, penalties and forfeitures, by ordinance or otherwise, subjecting the property of the citizen to their invasion, without limit and without rule: He exiled many respectable individuals, and caused some of them, who returned in a private character to protect their properties and their families, to be imprisoned. In a word, no Roman Proconsul ever exercised more absolute sway. And so full was the understanding, among the inhabitants, of his character, that, the players flattered him, by heading their play bills "Jacksonian Commonwealth."

131. So oppressive were his ordinances, that the inhabitants, instead of blessing the act which made them citizens of the United States, deeply deplored their fate. More than seven hundred, of the most respectable, preferred to abandon their homes, rather than submit to his tyranny; and an equal number, who were about to remove from Cuba to Florida, abandoned their purpose. The Congress of the United States, when apprized of these measures, so injurious to the honour of the country, not only, indignantly, abolished the ordinances, but made their enforcement highly penal, and directed the President to cause to be refunded all sums of money which had been levied under them. The repealing act was most appropriately entitled, "An Act to relieve the people of Florida from the operation of certain ordinances." The bill received, in Senate, two readings in a single day, by unanimous consent, and was passed through Congress with almost unexampled rapidity.

132. We have, now, seen General Jackson in all the stations of his life, anterior to his election to the Presidency; and, we have the means of judging, with confidence, of his ability. That he possessed the military virtues of promptitude and firmness, and in excess too, may be admitted. But, extremes meet; and excess converts virtue into vice. Thus excessive promptness becomes precipitation, and excessive firmness, obstinacy. We have seen this metamorphosis most fully completed in his relations with the offices and officers, in civil life. But, let us examine this question of ability more closely. Andrew Jackson was 47 years of age when he entered the military service of the United States, in 1814. Pre