Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1828-04-08

country have found fruitful theme for po-
litical discussion in the pamphlet which has
recently been published, giving detailed
account of the proceedings of the Court
Martial which tried the six Tennessee militia
men, who were shot during the late war, for
desertion. The trials have been published
at this late day, by order Of Congress, at the
call, we believe, of Mr.. Sloane, of Ohio, in
order that the hand which Gen. jackson had
in the affair might be made to appear dis
tinctly before the people, and have conse-
quent bearing upon the presidential question.
Though it must strike every one as strange
if it be true that these men were so lille
gally and barbarously put to death, as they
are now said to have been, and that the
measure is attributable to the cruelty OF
Gen. Jackson-that the men who are now
loudest in their COMBINATIONS, are the very
men who have till this time kept a veil be-
tween the affair and the eyes of the people.
Still there is no reason Why the matter
should not now be fully examined and I'M
derstood. The manner in which the leading
administration papers have made use Of the
subject, for political purposes, we are con-
strained to say, does not appear to be war
ranted by the facts, and cannot be beneficial
in advancing the cause of Mr.. Adams The
presses are teeming at this moment with
charges against Gen. Jackson at which hui
mainly shudders. He is openly charged
with being murderer! cruel, relentless,
murderer, who has made use of the laws of
his country, and perverted them to give an
air of legality to his murderous deeds-to
glut his revenge--and quench his thirst
for blood And this character, deserving,
to say the least, of the gallows, is attached
to man who has, and by the self-same pa
pers too, hundreds and hundreds of times
since the events TRANSFERRED, been hailed as
the saviour of his country-the second
Washington-and been recommended to his
fellow-citizens as possessed of all the quail
ties and virtues which could endear him to
his countrymen, and gain for him name
which should perish only with the history of
his country! The cause of the present ad-
ministration cannot need to be supported by
such gross violations of consistency.
The truth probably lies in the medium
and the true character of Gen. jackson will,
we think, be found, by the impartial inquir-
er, to be undeserving such sweeping and
dreadful denunciations; much less do we.
imagine that it will be found to claim for
him an elevation to the presidential chair.
No: his character has been as much over
valued as it has been DETAINED; and, impair
tial as we pretend to be in matters ofpolitics,
we are bold to say that we deprecate the
prospect of his election.
The representations of the affair of the
Six Militia Men have appeared to us to par
take so much of the colouring of party zeal
as to preclude the possibility of extracting
from them the true merits of the case and
we know not that we should have adverted
to the subject at all, had not our attention
been directed to it by the politeness of the
Representative in Congress from this dis
trict, in forwarding us from Washington the
pamphlet alluded to.
The facts, as we gather them from the
pamphlet, are-that on the Goth of Septem-
Der, 1914, there was mutiny among the
Tennessee militia at Fort Jackson, which
arose in consequence of an apprehension on
the part of the soldiers that their term of
service had expired. More than one hun
dred soldiers joined in the mutiny, and de-
serted. The san, who are the subjects of
the present controversy, appear to have been
the ringleaders. They were tried separate
ly, at Court Martial held at Mobile on the
9Th December, 1914, found guilty, and SEN
fenced to receiue the punishment Of death by
shooting. The remainder, more than one
hundred in number, pleaded guilty, and
were sentenced to remunerate the govern
ment for the time lost by their absence from
duty; stoppage of one third of their pay /;
and at the expiration of their term of service
to have one half Of the hair Of their heads
shaved close of, and be drumn,ed out Of camp.
A captain and lieutenant of the same regi-
ment were also tried and found guilty of ex-
citing and conniving at the mutiny, and sem
fenced to be dismissed from the service
the lieutenant to have his sword broken
over his head, with total disqualification of
ever holding a commission in the United
States army.
Of these proceedings and sentences Gen.
jackson approved, and ordered the senten-
ces to be carried into execution four days
after the PRONUNCIATION of his order, which