The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1843-01-03
GEN. JACKsoN,s FINE.

session TO procure the passage Of an net repay Ger
Jackson one thousand dollars, which il has been al
legged, he paid rs fine for n breach Of law at New
Orleans in the winter oflai5. The President in hi
message at the opening OF the present session, zeal
ousy urges the pnasase Of such an act. The circuu
stances, under which the fine was paid form nm into
osting nnecdotc in our history, and are probably un
known by u great majority OF the present reader" o
ncvspnpers Tho Hartford Courunt has looked bach
to the period when the fine imposed and brought
up the following "reminiscences
The battle of New Orleans was fought. as every
one knows, ON the 9Th Of January, s, (and is
remarkable fact, which perhaps every one does mol
remember that troaty Of peace with Great Hritn'n
had already been signed at Client, on the 2ih Of De-
cember previous. On the 9th of January General
Juc.son wrote to the Secretary ofWar, "lhnt the en-
emys last exeron had been made in that quarter, al
any rate for the present seuson " News OF peace ~
rived at New Orleans onhe tenth of February 'Ihe
o.tac,, and defence Of New. Orleans was long past
and the glitter Of arms of which President Tyler
sreais was over The war cry being thus ended, II
number of French citizens among the louisiana
troops who detained after the battle at an un-
healthy post, became weary of such needless hard
shin, and applied TO Mr. 'ousard the French Consul
for certificates Of French citizenship, by which they
would be exempted from miiiury service. These the
Consul could not refuse without violating his official
duty Gen Jackson, however, was greatly exosper-
a,ed, and charging the soldiers and the Consul with
qantiay and desc fioa, ordered them TO be removed
forthwith TO Baton Rouge, one hundred nnd fifty
miles from New-Orleans, These men had been
among the bravcst at The battle ofthe sth, and MIR.
Tousard, the Consul was fellow ,oldcr of lufiy
cite, aud was wounded while fighting for American
liberty. .......
A member of the I.osisana Legislature, named
Lons l.ouailIer, who had been active and energetic
in support Of the war, published about the first oil
March, 1915, an article in of the papers, disnp-
proving the Of Gen Jackson lie was at once
arrested and imprisoned by the General. On the APP
plication of EQUALIZER, Dominck A. Hall, District
Judge Of the United States Court, issued wit of ha
heas corpus requiring iouailler be brought before
him. for the purpose of nquring into the legality of
his Imprisonment. The Constitution of the United
States provides thatshe privilege orthe wra Of haDc-
as corpus shall not be suspended uicss hcn az cases
of rebellion or iapasioa the public safety acquires
it Gen jackson instead Of obcying the order Of the
Court, seized and imprisoned the Judge. The Dis
trict Attorney, Mr. Dick then applied to Judge Lew
is for orhabeas corpus in favor Of Judge Hall,
whereupon Gen Jackson imprisoned Dick and issued
an order 10 arrest Judge Le,ois! All this was in
March, 1915 nearly two months after the battle Of
New Orleans, and midst shouts Of joy and thanksgv-
ing for the return Of peace. On bring discharged,
Judge Hall, on the 27th OF March, 1915, summoned
o.. r~~L-a- -rr--- h.e--- h;m, mud answer for
contempt Of Court in refusing obey the writ Of ha
beas corpus, and imprisoning The Judge The Cen
eIal. feeling that martial law must come to an
end, obeyed the mandate, but his conduct in Court
characteristic. lie interrupted the Judge
al times with remarks like the following: -'Siate
facts, Fir, and confne yourself TO them q was then
with these brave fellows in arms. (aludng TO the
surrounding crowd,l you were not, sir, Sc &c. CA
full Of the The trial may be found in
Niles Register of June 3, 1915, TO which we refer
the curious Judge Hall then sentenced him to pay
a fine Of $1,000, for which he Immediately gave
the Marshal check. Whether Gen Jackson really
paid the fine cannot say, bit we take the follow
ing from the Niles Register, VOL s, page 252.
1T will be reco'iectcd that this fine was instantly
paid by tho citizens at large no limited the sulscrp
ton FOR that purpose to dollar each, that many
might have the honor Of taking part in the contrbu-
ton, and the business managed that the Gen
erals check the bank returned to him. by the
Marshal, without being p esentcd.'
Such is true history of the fine which President
Tyler says in his message, 'was imposed Gener-
al Jackson at New Orleans, at the time of attack and
dcfencc Of that City, and paid by him. This,
cording to the President is Of those cases, in
which amidst the glitter Of arms the civil law
violated from praiseworhy motives, ard an overrul
ing sense Of public danger and public necessiiyW'-
We say no,hing now Of General Jackson's motives,
but we cannot but wonder that the President of the
United States, in his message TO Congress, should us
that fine imposed on General jackson, on the
3lst of March, 1915, for offence committed after
the 9th of the same month, imposed at .the time
Of the Gttack and defence Of Ne,o Orleans and init
mate that the offence was committed amidst the
glitter Of arms and under overrung sense Of
public danger and public necessityr
For our own part, we have objection that the