Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1854-03-01

ttellIgence Of+tne country was VIII llmS
and sustained him in retrieving the couu-
try from the deplorable condition in which
the enlightened classes" had sunk it
and in advancing to that state of felicity
at home and respect abroad, which has
made it the envy and admiration of the
Ecivilzed world, and the absorbent Of the
populations of Europe. I pass on -
q Raised to the presidency and maintained
there solely by the recollection of the vic
tory at New Orleans :.
Here, recollection and military glare, re
verse their ever previous attributes, and
become stronger instead of weaker, upon
the lapse of time. The victory at New
Orleans was gained in the first week of
the year 1915; and did not bear this
Presidential fruit until fourteen and eigh-
teen years afterwards, and until three
previous good seasons had passed without
production. There was Presidential
election in 1916, when the victory was
fresh, and the country ringing, and ina
ginations dazzled with it. but it did not
make jackson President, or even bring
him forward as candidate. The same
four years afterwards, at the election of
182O-not even candidate then. -Four
years still later, at the election of 1924,
he became candidate and was not cleo.
ted, receiving but SO electoral votes out
iof 261 In the year 1923, he was first
elected, receiving I78 out of 961 votes ;,
and in 1882 he was second time elected,
receiving 219 out of 2S8 votes. Surely
there must have been something besides
an old military recollection to make these
two elections so different from the other,
end there was. That something else was
principle, and ..he same that 1have stated
in the beginning of this chapter as enter
ing into the canvass of 1926, and ruling
its issue. 1 pass on to the last disPar-
agemert: " A victory which was a very
ordinary achievement, and only to be re-
membered where battles were rare
Such was not the battle of New Or
tleans. 1t was no ordinary achievement.
1t was a victory of 4. 600 citizens just cal
led from their homes, without knowledge
of scientific war, under a leader as little
schooled as themselves in that particular,
without other advantages than slight
field work "a ditch and bank of earth)
, hastily thrown up-oyer double their
numbers of British veterans, survivors of
the French revolution, vittors in the Pc
ninsula and at Tolouse, under trained ge-
nerals of the Wellington school, aud with
a disparity of loss never before Witnessed
On one side seven hundred killed, (inclu
ding the first, second and third generals)
400 wounded, and FIVE hundred taken
prisoners. - On the other, six privates
, killed and seven wounded and the total
+ repulse of an invading army which in
stantly fed to its "wooden walls" and
never again placed hostile foot on Ame-
rican soil. Such an achievement is not
ordinary, much less, every ordinary
Does Mons. de Tocqueville judge the i'm
portance of victories by the numbers en-
: gagged, and by the quantity ofblood shed
by their consequences If the former,
the cannonade on the heights of Walmy
(Which was not battle, nor even a COM
: bat, but distant cannon firing in which
: few were hurt, must seem TO him We
( ry insignificant affair. Yet it did what
: the marvellous victories of Champaubert,
c Montmiraill, Chateau Thery, Vanchamps
: and Montreau could not do-turned back
Y the invader, and saved the soil of France
: from the ironhoofed conQueror's horse +!
I and was commemorated twelve years af-
terwards by the great Emperor, in a du-
C cal title bestowed upon one of the gene
r nerals. The victory at New Orleans did
what the cannonade at Valmy did-drove
\ back the enemy, and also what it did not
/ do-destroyed one-fourth of his force
( And therefore not to be disparaged, and
a will not be, by any one who Judges victo-
2 ries by their consequences instead of by
= the numbers engaged. And SO the vic
I, tory at New Orleans will remain in histo-
4 ry as one of the greatest achievements OF
the world in spite Of the low opinion which
r the writer on American Democracy en-
!, tertains of it. But Mons. de Tocqueville' s
e disparagement of General Jackson and his
] achievement does not stop at him and his
S victory. II goes beyond both, aud reach
5 es the American people, their republican
: institutions, and the elective franchise
r 1t represents the people as incapable OF
; selfgovernment, as led off by little mill
tary glare to elect man twice President,
= who had not one qualification for the place
i who was violent and mediocre, and whom
t the enlightened classes opposed all most
: unjustly said, but still TO pass for Ameri.
: can history in Europe, and with some
( Americans at home.
: Regard for Mons. de Tocqueville is the
: cause of this correction Of his errors it
= is a piece of respect which I do not ex-
tend to the riffraff of European writer's,
:; who come here to pick up the gossip OF
4; the highways, TO sell in Europe for Ame-
&; ricau history. and to requite with defama-
n tion the hospitalities of our houses. He
} is not of that class; he is above it; he is
evidently not Intentionally unjust. But
t he is the victim of the company he kept
while among US and his book must pay
e the penalty of the impositions practised
g upon him, The character of our country,
f and the cause of republican government,
s require his errors to be corrected. and un-