Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-05-31

or too patriotic, to hire the service OF a sub
%stitute, and who must go when your country
calls-are you willing to confer the power 81
life and Death, ouer yourselves, to one who mas
so Aagran:ly abused his former trust, and who,
by long habit, has made himself familiar with
blood? l ask Of you, Fathers Of families: Are
you willing, in some future war, the occurrence
Of which might be expedited by his y love
Of martial glory, to see your sons dependent on
the merciless DEGREES OF a military autecrat!
And of you, sons Of these fathers, ask, will
you, like the perverse children of Israel, cry out
"We will have king over US, that we also may
be like all the nations, and that OUT king may
judge US, and go out before us and jfgM our bat.
Ties" Their prophet warned this obstinate
people, that if they persevered in their folly, in
the day of their calamity when they should cry
aloud to the Lord, he would not hear them.
Four o,Un prophet, the great apostle OF Liberty,
Jefferson himself, has also tca,ned you He has
said, that in the day that you choose Jackson,
the Military Chieftain, to rule over you, TO
Judge you, and to fight your battles, ia that day
shall your liberties begin to depart from you
Will YOU be wise, and hearken to his counsel?
Or will you be obstinate, and incur the penalty
of his prophetic denuncialion?
] have seen, since ! wrote thus far, a feeble
attempt in the Washington "Telegraph," of the
Oath instant, to sustain the Nashville Commit-
Tee, and TO prove by quotations from the "Arti-
cles of War;" that Col. PIpkin deserved 10 be
believed yhrn he said shat Gen. Jaekson had
bu, little more to do in this business than John
Q. Adams I" The change of illustration here
nade, i, may be presumed, was intended by the
editor oil the Telegraph as an effort at wit -
But he has greatly mistaken his WI talent, and
under, aiued the character ofthe American peo-
pie, If he believes that such frivolity will pass
for vii, or that they can be diverted, by a taunt-
ing ~allusion, ION the serious consideration oil
a grave and solemn matter of accusation against
Gen Jackson.
The editor of the Telegraph quotes the ssth
ArlIcle OF War, in which il is prescribed that
severy officer authorized 10 order a general
court martial. shall have power to pardon or
mitigate any punishment ordered by such court
except the sentence Of death, or Of cashiering an
officer Dhich, in the cases where he has autho-
riry (by article 65,) TO carry them into execu
ton, he may suspend, until the pleasure Of the
President OF the United STATES can De known."
Now it is clear from This article, that, though
Gen. Jackson had no, the power 10 pardon or
iUlliSdlc TIC puHlS 'ilntUt OTucTfu Wy iUF SUuIl,
he uas moi bound 10 enforce the sentence; and the
observation cannot ESCAPE The r. fleeing reader,
that a man less hahitua,ed to scenes Of cruelty
and c%arnage-one who duly weighed and pro-
perly felt she awful responsibility OF deciding
upon the life or death of a fellow creature
would have eagerly seized the alternative which
the law presented 10 him, Of suspending the SEN
tence Of death until the pleasure Of the President
could be knotDn.
If ever there was a case in which a procras-
tinating, meroiiul, alternative ought to have
been embraced, it was this Putting altogether
out OF the question the dubious legality OF the
trial. and the many circumstance thst might
have palliaied even an unl.--Ai.d-ac of rnuss-
| ny, the number OF men embraced IN the sentence
of death was beyond all former example in this
country. 1t was a new thing to see sir men, ard
these militia men-tow whom il had been custom
arv to allow a latitude of indulgence neither ex.
pected nor desired by regular soldiers-con
d-mned TO death for mut,ny. This fact OF it.
self ought TO have induced some hesitation in
! approving, and Fastening 10 its execution, a
sentence thus Unprecedented in its prodigal de.
struciiop of human lie. But so far was this
consider alton from producing hesitation or pro-
cras'ira'ion, il seems 10 have operated as a spur
Wv ~ So'oo'iOpuN ~ d q Nv ~
distinction, to be the first and obly American
General 10 order cir militia men 10 be executed,
for dating to exercise the privilege Of thinking
themsel,estree! If The sentence had been sus.
pended, and the proceedings Of the court sub.
mit,ed 10 the Presiden' of the United States,
there vas good reason 10 be ieve that this chance
Of prr-eminence in deeds Of blood would have
been los, to him. James Madison was then Pre-
sident of the Uaitrd States! And let it be re-
membered, that in 1912, General Jackson had
opposed the election Of Mr. Madison, on the ground,
as afterwards ayowed in his letter 10 Mr.. Mon
roe, that he (Mr Madison) "couid not d,ceA on
blood and carnage wih any composursf" To have
submitted the proceedings to such'a man, Ge-
neral Jackson was we'll aware, would have been
10 have saved the lives Of six human beings;
and that belonged 10 a philosophy Of which he
professed not to be a disciple. TRUTH.
From the National LfeMgencer.
ANDROSCOGGlN, &c.
Messrs. Gales Il .SeQton. The late debates I'm