The Sun.
London, England, 1819-01-28 00:00:00

at his disposal, to terminate the war. It. was ascertained that
the Spanish force in Florida was inadequate for the protec-
tion even of the Spanish territory itself, against this mingled
horde of laWless Indians and Negroes : and, although their
devastations were committed within the limits of the United
States, they immediately sought refuge within the Florida
line, and there only were to be overtaken. The necessity of
crossing the line was indispensable; for it was from beyond the
line that the Indians made their murderous incursions within
that of the United States. It was there that they bad I heir
/shod e,and the territory belonged in fact to them, al tho' within
the borders of the Spanish jurisdiction. There it was that the
American commander met the principal resistance from them ;
XXXVIII.] there it was, that were found, the still bleeding
scalps of our citizens, freshly butchered by them ; there it was
that he released the only woman who bad been suffered to
survive the massacre of the party under Lieutenant Scott.
But it was not anticipated by this Government, that the corn-
manding-officers of Spain,in Flurida,wbose especial duty it was,
in conformity to the solemn engagements contracted by their
nation, to restrain by force those Indians from hostilities
against the United States, would be fonud encouraging, aid-
ing, and abetting them, and frirnishing them with supplies
for carrying on .such hostilities. The officer in command im-
mediately before General Jackson, was, therefore, especially
instructed to respect, as far as possible, the Spanish Autho-
rity, wherever it was maintained, and copies of these orders
were also furnished to General Jackson upon hit taking
the commaud. In the course of his pursuit, as he approach-
ed St. Mark's, he was informed direct from the Governor of
Pensacola, that a party of the hostile Indians had threatened
to seize that fort, and that he apprehended the Spanish Gar-
rison there was not in strength sufficient to defend it against
them. This information was confirmed from other sources, and
by the evidence produced upon the trial of A mbrister, , it proved
to have been exactly true. By all the laws of neutrality and
of war, as well as of prudence and of humanity, be was war-
ranted in anticipating his enemy, by the amicable, and that
being refused, by the forcible occupation of the fort. There
will need no citations from printed treatises on international
law, to prove the correctness of this principle. It is engraved
in adamant on the common sense of mankind : no writer
upon the laws of nations ever pretended to coattradict it ;
none of any reputation or authority ever omitted to assert it.
XXXIV.] At Fort St. Mark's, Alexander Arbuthnot, the
British Indian trader from beyond the seas, the firebrand, by
whose torch this Negro Indian war against our borders had
been rekindled, was found an inmate of the Commandant's
family; and it was also found that, by the Commandant him-
self, Councils of War had been permitted to be held within it,
by the Savage Chiefs and Warriors; that the Spanish store-
houses had been appropriated to their use ; that it was an
open market fur cattle„known to have been robbed by them
from citizens of the United States, and which had been con-
tracted for and purchased by the Officers of the garrison ;
that information had been afforded from this fort by Atbuth-
not, to the enemy, of the strength and movements of the
American Army : that the date of the departure of express
had been noted by the Spanish Commissary, and ammunition,
munitions of war, and all necessary supplies furnished to the
Indians.

The conduct of the Governor of Pensacola was not less
marked by a disposition of enmity to the United States, and
by an utter disregard to the obligations of the Treaty, by
which he was bound to restrain, by force, the Indians from •
hostilitjes aghinst them. When called 'Ton to vindicate the
territorial rights and authority of Spain, by the destruction
of the Negro fort, his predecessor bad declared it to be not
less annoying and pernicious to the Spanish subjects in Flo-
riela, than to the United States, but had pleaded his inability
to subdue it. He himself had
expressed his apprehensions
that Fort St. Mark's would be forcibly taken by the savages,
from its Spanish garrison; yet, at the same time, he had re-
fused the passage up the Escambia river, unless upon the
payment of excessive duties, to provisions destined as sup-
by the detention
9p
fl i e
them,s for t
wh
ae s
subjected American
o
Army,tliewin'obs; distressing priva-
tions. He had permitted free ingress and egress at Pensacola,
to the avowed savage enemies of the United States. Supplies
of ammunition, munitions of war, and provisions, had been
received by them from thence. They had been received and
sheltered there front the pursuit of the American forces, and
suffered again to sally thence, to 'enter upon the American
territory, and commit new murders. Finally, on the ap-
proach of General Jackson to Pensacola, the Gover-
XXXIII.I nor sent him a letter, denouncing his entry upon
the territory of Florida as a violent outrage upOn the rights
of Spain, commanding him to depart and withdraw from the
same, and threatening, in case of his non-compliance, to em-
ploy force to expel him.
It became, therefore, in the' opinion of General Jackson,
indispensably necessary to take from the Governor of
UV.] Pensacola the means of carrying his threat into exe-
cution. Before the forces under his command, the savage
enemies of his country had disappeared; but he knew that
the moment those-forces should be disbanded, if sheltered by
Spanish fortresses, if furnished with ammunitions and sup-
plies of Spanish officers, and if aided and supported by the
instigation of Spanish encouragement, as he had every reason
to expect they would he, they would reappear, and fired, in
addition to their ordinary ferociousness, with revenge for the
chastisement they had so recently received, would again rush
with the war hatchet and scalping knife into the borders of
the United States, and mark every footstep with. the blood of
their defenceless citizens. So far as all the native resources
of the savage extended, the war was at an end; and General
Jackson was about to restore to their families and their
homes, the brave volunteers who had followed his standard,
and who had constituted the principal part of his force.—
This could be done with safety, leaving the regular portion
• of his troops to garrison his line of forts, and two small de-
tachments of volunteer cavalry,to scour the country round
Pensacola, and sweep off the lurking remnant of savages who
had been scattered and dispersed before him. This was suffi-
cient to keep in check the remnant of the banditti against
whom he had Marched, so long as they should be destitute of
other aid and support. It was, in his judgment, not sufficient,
if they should he suffered to rally their numbers under the
protection of Spanish forts, and to derive new strength from
the impotence or the against the United States of the
Spanish Authorities.

He took possession, therefore, of Pensacola and of the Fort
of Barrancas, as he had done of St. Mark's, nut in a spirit
of hostility to Spain, but as a necessary measure of self-de-
fence ; giving notice, that they should be restored whenever
Spain should place commanders and a force there, able and
willing to fulfil the engagements of Spain towards the United
States, of restraining by force the Florida Indians from hos-
tilities against their citizens. The President of the United
States, to give a signal manifestation of his confidence in the
disposition of the King of Spain to perform with good faith