The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-04-12
\ TO OLD
Hickory's Work

|. has become fashionable among the
hypocritical historians of today to shat
ter the idols that we loved to worship
in our youth, or at least to dispel tho
halo that time has r%eversntially placed
aroundthem. The spirit of investiga-
ton is abroad. The great are being
BUNDLED; the lowly are being exalted,
and the characters we became ac.
quainted with years @ are becoming
so changed that it is difficult to recog-
niZe them in the cold light Of the pres
ent. 1t is we'll, however, that the truth
should he known. 10 il part of the
historians duty to tell it, and it is ours
to accept 1t, But it ia sonetim mes un.
wise to accept too much. We should
not reject the reasonable and probable
unless we are satisfied that what we
get in exchange ia neither unreasona.
BILE or improbable.
II is something of q highly improb-
able order that IAN elderly gentleman"
asks us to accept in an article in the
New York Times. reprinted in last
Thursdays Truth. Fortunately for his
reputation, the name Of the elderly
gentleman" was not given, for his story
Is so absurd that, If it did not concern
one OF our greatest Americans, it would
be scarcely worth contradicting. The
Times man gravely asserts that the
battle of New Orleans, which was
fought on Jan. s, 1915, was wop, not
through the generalship Of "Old Hick-
DRY" Jackson, but through the engi-
neering skill Of General Moreau, once
among the greatest Of Nspoleon's war
riors. 1t Is reasonable to infer that
Moreau, in order to have taken part in
the battle or its preliminaries was 10
the vicinity of New Orleans at that
time. but this could not DO possible I'm.
less New Orleans be included in tho
region wherein his martial spirit
dwelt, and even this is an open quss-
tion.
Moreau was banished from France
in 1904 and lived in New Jersey until
1913, when he was invited by the Gar
Alexander | to engage in the struggle
then being waged in Europe against
Napoleon. At Dresden on August ~,
1913, he was 30 severely wounded that
he died on September % following,
more than fifteen months before the
battle of New Orleans. All the recog-
nized authorities agree on these points.
Since there is no evidence that Moreau
had a premonition Of a battle of New
Orleans, or that he ever instructed
Jackson in the art of war, a description
of the process by which he won the
battle, would be ITO put it mildly" Ms
the elderly gentleman says, some
what surprising"
1t seems strange that such extrays-
CANT statements as those Of the elderly
gentleman and his authority, Victor
Nolte, should DO permitted to pass un.
~contradicted, especially at this period
when everything relating to Napoleon
and his period is being subjected to
such minute treatment. 1t is doubtful
if any greater weight can be attached
to what Nolte says concerning Jack
sons Kentucky riasmen. While it is
true that Lsfitte's men participated In
the battle and fought bravsly, it is not
certain that all the glory Of the victory
belongs to them, MIR. E. ?. Mitchell
in a comprehensive article on Laftts in
the New York Sun of June %, 1898,
says it is doubtful if Laftte himself
was in the battle Of New Orleans. He
bears testimony, however. to the bray
cry Of the Baratarians, but is not quite
so unqualified in his approval OF their
conduct ut the BATHS as is Mr.. Nolte,
For the present, at least, the admirers
Of jackson need not fear that his we'll
earned laurels will wither before the
y uny blasts Of Victor Nolte and the
elderly gentleman Of New Orleans"
p. A. PHlLBIN.