Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1831-02-21

unless they should take shelter under Spanish post,
in which event. he was directed to report immediate
" to the Department, which order Governor Bbb u
directed to consider his authority Tor carrying
the wsr into Florida thus clearly establishing the
fact that the order considered still III force, anu
not superseded by that to you. directing you 10 assume
the coWmand IN the Seminole war
Nor my letter of the 9th of February &c by any
sound rule Of conssnc ion, interpreted INTO an author
ity to occupy the Spanis, posts, or as cohnicnsnch
on my part, such an Interpretation nj inc orders pre-
viousy given to you. Your letter oil The 2oth Janua
ry to which mise is an answer, airs date at ash
ville before set out an the expedition ana con
sists Of narrative Of the measures adopted ny YOU III
order 10 bling your forces INTO the field, where they
were directed to rendezvous the time intended Tor
marching, the orders for supplies gwen to the con-
tractors with other details ot tho same kind, with
out the slightest indca ion of your 'nien9n 10 ac'
against the Spanish posts; and The appreciation OF the
President Of the measures you he'd adopted Could
only be intended to apply to those detailed IN youret
ter do not think that your letter OF the l3ih instant
presents the QUESTION, whether The Executive or your
self placed the true construction, Considered "a MI
litary question the orders under which you acted
But must be permitted to say, that the construction
OF the former in strict conformity with my intention
in drawing up the orders and that they be- suscep-
ible of different construction, it was far from being
my intent ION they should be. did not tcn supposc,
nor have ever. that was IN the p'"er OF the Prc-
sldent under the constitution, 10 order the occupation
/ Of the posts of nation with whom VIC were not
at war; (whatever might be the right of the General,
under the law of nations. 10 attack the enemy she
sered under the prSiS oil nPuirul puwer;l
and had ! been directed by the President TO
issue such order, ] should have been restrained
from complying by the higher authority or the
i constitution. which had sworn TO support Nor
will discuss tho questio. whether The o'"cE W zen
eral Games, inhbitng him from a;tar-r.,, the Span
ish posts, IA copy ofwhica was sen, TO you,) vas
fact, and according E,il;sry usage, an order to
yvu aL al course obligatory until rescindsd Zach
! certainly, was my opiui,i Know that yours was
difsrent. You acted on your cons nut y, ea.'vng
ho opI tn l,-l, l,Nn
done claim equal right TO act on the construction
which conceived to be correct, know to con.iJi
10 my Intentions IN issuing the orders. But waving
now the question othe true cons ructon OF the orders
wish It however 10 he understood il IS only because
do not think It presented by your letter aud hot be-
cause have now, ever had the least doubt of the
correctness ofthe opinion which stain. l have
always been prepared 10 discuss 1t friendly terms
wit5-y1ur as appears ~ the extracts from Mr. Mon
roe's corrrSp'rdence. aud more recently BY my '."'
TO you of The 30:h of prl, lS,5 covcriuS copy of
leter OF Major H. Lee, IN which decline cor
Responsiveness that lie had requested the subject of
the contraction OF your orders. In nv letter TO
Aialnf Lee, stated thu, "as you refer To public Dc
cunents only for the Constructor which tho Elk
ecutive gave to the orders, infer that Oh this sub
Ject you nave not had access TO the Generals lack
sons) private papers, but Y be in an error and if
the construction which the admn.s ration gave to
The orders be not stated with sufficient dstInctness
! IN the then President cOTrrsuontercc with him 7
Will chcerfn.ly give, of the me nbcrs of the
administration my views fully IN relation to the
orders, II II be desired by General Jackson; bit it is
only with him and al his DESIRE thrt under cyIstin,
Circumstances, should feel myseif justified in COR
responding on this aTy iI,r subject cunn,rtpI
with his pnbic Conduct" to which [ aided in nv
letter TO yum. covering cupy of he letter from,
winch the above Is AN pXtfac. "wit! you'll cannot
nave The Sigh rs, obicc'n.n TO CORRESPOND on this
subject, II additional Inf rnaiIun b. desirable You
expressed TO desire for further lnfrr,l iiun and
took for granted that Mr. Monroes correspondence
win YOU and the public docnu nts, furnished you a
iah ana clear conception OF The construc ion which
me Executive gave 10 your orders; under which i'm
preston rcma med Til received YOU. letter of the
18th instant.
CONNECTED with the subject of your orders, there
are CERTAIN exp essions in vonr let cr which, though
am at loss To understand cannon pass over in 81
ience After announcing your surprise at the con-
tents OF y" Craw.orj's letter YOU ask whether the
information be correct 'uner all OF the circums;an
ces of which you and are both informed that anv
attempt seriously to affect II C was moved and srs
tanned by you In cu5!DCt council, when az IS known
To you, was executing the wishes of tie GOVERN
meht' Ii oy wishes, which you have uuJerscurcd
IL be meant that there any intImaton r,ven nv
myself directly. indirectly, of tic dcs re Of the
government that you should occupy the Span,sh
posts, SO lar from beng ''infUrned" Tad not tho
slightest knowledge of any such niinla ton nor did
ever near a Whisper OF any such before. But can
not imagine that 1t Is your intention 10 make dis
tnction between the wishes and the public orders of
me government, as find no such distinction in vour
correspondence with the President nor i'm anv az Tho
puollc documents; but on the contrary 1t is stronrv
reoutted BY your relying for your Justification con-
stanty and exclusively your public orders TIA
King, then, the wishes ofthe government" TO he but
another expression for it's orders must refer 10 the
proof already offered, to show that the wishes of the
government IN relation to the Spanish posts, were
not such as you assume them to be.
Having trust, satisfactorily established that there
mas not been the lels disguise to the construction
Of your orders, will proceed to state the mr.,
which took IN the deliberations of the cabinet Nv
statement VIII be confined strictly myself as do
not feel myself justified speak Of the course of the
other members of the admnis ration; md in fact
only OF my own in self defence, under the extraord,
nary circumstances connected with this corrcspon-
dence. ~f'
anu here must premise, that the object Of cab
net council not to bring together OPINIONS already
formed, but to form opinions the course which the
government ought to pursue, after full and mature
dehoeration. Meeting in this spirit the FIRST object
iree eSehongo Of sentiment in which doubts and