Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1819-02-02

Il 81
| 10 lac above The laws Of this land.
We maintain these positions upon the
| documents presented 10 Congress. We
have read them with attention; and we
have read all The illustrations which Mr..
| Adams, Mr.. Johnson and Mr.. Homes
have attempted 10 strike Out.-We are
| still uncouviBced.--Wed do moi see that
absolute necessity Which is requisite TO jus
! fiiy t!irse acts.-Spain has violated i,cr
treaty. She has nor k-pl her Indians in
order. Her officers have given Them az:
and harbour in their Iiosiilities against
us. Spain should answer for these things.
The President should demand redress;
and Congress may direct Florida 10 be
held until she does us justice But in
vain we look for tina, extreme necessity
which should justify the capture of her
posts by a commanding General, without
law, and contrary to his orders. For full
proof ct this, we refer 10 The speeches OF
| Messrs. Nelson and Johnson which we
this day publish, and of MIR. CLAY, which,
we shall give in our next. AT present,
we shall only say, that as to ST. Marks, it
was not in the hands Of the Indians, nor
was il likely tobe so. The commandment
suggested that some of our troops might
he left in this vicinity, who may assist
| (him) in the defence of this post on any
| unforeseen event."-At Pensacola, il APP
| pears evident that no such necessity ex-
listed and tliatii would moi have been cap
tnrrd II Gen. Jackson had not taken fire al
| IN insulting letter which he received from
itsGovernor. He then besitated 10 lon
! ger on the measures TO be adopted" File
marched for il and entered il on the oath
| May.-Yet ii was hut few days after 81.
Marks was taken, that lie dismissed the
1 lie al. H. IL
tosli, and the volunteers Of Tennessee
Does this argue necessity ?-Necessitv ex-
cludes all cheice; all alternative. Now,
why did not Jackson keep all his troops
| together; form cordons around The Span
ish posts; cut off all communication with
them and the enemy; nay call for more
| recruits; sooner than fly in The face of
| his orders? Those orders were drawn
| with the utmost discretion they were
| drawn with an eye 10 the constitution,
and to the peace OF ihe nation; and vel
| without taking one moment TO notify his
| situation and ask for new Instructions, he
violates his orders and nsurps the pow
| ers OF Congress itself. His motives we
have no doubt were pure; but we have
| as little, that his acts were wrong.
| AS 10 the cases of ArbutbnOt and Am
| brisier, we said nothing; because we
| Wdltcu TOT TIE iActS. we WiSUcu 10 see III
| what situation our army was, whether
there was any extreme necessity 10 sacrifice
| Tie lives of these prisoners in cold blood
for it is reason as well as national law,
which tells us that whenever severity is
not absolutely necessary, clemency is to be
| used" When. we saw the record of the
| trial OF these men, we were astonshed at
| the transgreSsion OF martial law i'm the
| case of Ambristrr. He was executed i'm
| tue very teeth OF a court martial. But il
was not until we saw the correspondence
! on the Seminole war; until we saw that
on the Goth April the general thought the
war at an end for the present :" and if
renewed, 7" a small party" may put il
| down prompily;" and OIL the goth April,
the very day when the trial was ordered,
he says his presence in that country "can
be no longer necessary" that we made up
our mind irrevocably that their execution
was not absolutely necessary, and that
their lives might have been spared. These
| wrefches have been called miscreanis-
Indians, nonsters-and we shall not dis
pute these epitllefs bnf il snot for them
we feel. We feel for the honor of our
country which is as much distinguished
for the humanity as The gallantry OF her
sons; a people, who, old Gage ofMas-
sachusetts declared, with call their sins
we're not a bloody minded people -
| people, WHO have never shed Tie cold
blood of a captive, unless he be spy.
| And shall ii now be said that this exccu-
| ton was necessary " for terror and for
example 2" Shall this be said now when
II has been declared by the highest autho-
riiy in his naiion,f that Indian HOSTILE
ties, IT they do not altogether cease, will
henceforili lose their terror" that these
hostiliiies must soon terminate in for
midable shape at least" when, 10 use the
words of Henry Clay, they "haye been
| driven by the great wave which has flowed
| IN from the Atlantic ocean 10 almost the
| base of the Rocky Mountains ?"--lfit be
necessary now, what then must we think
| of til" mistaken leniiy of our predeces-
sors? what, oftl,e generosity Of Col. Camp
| bell, who after taking the Mississinaway
towns during The late war, thanked his
| heroic band that they had respected tie
hoes IF their prisoners ?"
| There is one other act of Gen Jack
| sons yet to be noiiced-His correspon-
dence with high fnnciionary of the
state OF Georgia is so obnoxious to crti-
cism, that il is almost without defenders.
| 1t is the most censurable of all his acts.
II is a direct insult upon the sovereignty
of The states. Had it-bcen addressed TO
the Governor Of Virginia, she would not
SO tamely have slept over this indigniiy.
From these acts Of Gen. Jackson we
have dissented, and we still dissent. The
more we thiHk of them. the less we like
ihem.-We humbly think they are such
az ought to he enquirrd into; moi that we
wish him injured for we honor him too
much to wish it ibe man who saved N.
Orleans and his country from disgrace,
will ever he dear 10 us; bur because such
| acts ought not to be nassed over without