Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1824-03-11
From :lt Richmond Enquire.
GENERAL JACkSON-Nv

his pursuits, Gen. Jackson can scarce
" be qualified as statesman, 10 sd.
| minister the high functions Of the ehiv!
magistrate Of this nation.
Is he calculated, in the I'd place, by
the habits of his mind, the GOODNESS ct
his temper. the sedateness of his judg-
ment, to supply the place of experience
and of study. to select good ministers.
adopt good measures, aud to admins.
ter the government according to the
principles of the constitution Il the in
terests of the peopleP
Let Us judge him by facts. We shall
state them briefy-leaving the reader
to draw his own conclusions.
In the first scene, in which this off.
Ger appeared during the late war with
G, Britain, we find him disregardiDg
the orders Of the Secretary at War:
"Un6sr these acts. authorising tho
President to accept the services of 50,-
600 volunteers, he addressed the eiti.
Gems of his division, and twenty. Eve
hundred focked to his standard. A
tender of them having been made, ip
November he received orders to de.
scend The Mississippi, for the defence Of
the lower country, which was then
thought to be in danger" Reds Life
of Gen. Jackson, p. Is.
"de arrived and halted at Natchez.
Here Jackson was instructed to remain
until he should receive further orders.
Having chosen healthy site for the
encampment of his troops, about ten
miles from Washington, he devoted his
time, with the utmost industry, to
training and preparing them for active
service. The clouds Of war, however.
in that quarter, having blown over, he
received an order from the Secretary
of War, dated the 5th Of January, di-
recting him on the receipt thereof, to
dismiss those under his command from
service, and to take measures for de-
livering over every article Of public
property, in his possession, to major
general wilkinson"
The situatien Of his volunteers was at
that time most distressing. There
we're $50 on the sick report, IS Of
whom we're unable to raise their heads,
and almost the whole of them destitute
of the means Of defrdying the espenses
of their return; the consequence, there
fore, of a strict compliance with the
secretary's order, must have been, that
many of the sick would have persisted,
whilst most of the rest would, from
necessity, have been compelled to On.
list in the regular army under general
wilkinson" In this situation, he de-
termined to disregard the secretary's
order. The necessities Of his troops
would have excused the responsibility
which be assumed--but it was the
manner of the act which constitutes
tie objection. Had he civilly and res.
uectfully communicated his dIsobedi-
ence, with the reasons Uf it, to the war
de apartment, he must have stood fully
justified before his country. But tho
strict rules of discipline are not suffi.
GENTLY understood by general J.--Re-
speet to a superior officer 10 among tho
most essential rules of an army.
He lost no time (says his biographer)
in making known to the secretary Of
war, the resolution he had adopted. to
disregard the order he had given, end
return his army to the place he had re.
ceiyed it. He painted in strong terms
the evils it was calculated to produce.
and expressed the. astonishment he felt
that it should have originated with the
famous author Of the "Newburg Let
ters." the then redoubted advocate for
soldiers rights"
However justly Gen. Armstrong
might have deserved tho taunt from any
other quarter; yet he was at that time
Secretary Of War, and Gen. Jackson's
ought to have been the last band to in
flict such blow.
We pass over the earlier scenes that
were exhibited At New Orleans in De-
cember and January lSl4-l5. We
shall not enter into an examination OF
the question, whether martial law
ought to have been proclaimed, or the
Legislative body put in . state OF
surveillance. These extraordinary
measures, however harsh. might have
been necessary-and there are crises
whom ",he safety Of tho people 10 the
supreme law" But Why 50 rigorous
" maintain martial law, when this me-
costly seemed to vanish? The British
army had withdrawn. "Mr. Livings.
ton had arrived on the 10th lot March,
from the British feet, WHITTIER he had
gone to effect = general cartel: through
him, Admiral Coohrane had announce
ed the arrival Of . vessel from Jama'cs,
with newa Of peace having bean agreed