Part 52

On the morning of the 8th, signals, intended to produce concert in the enemy's movements, were descried. Sky-rockets shot up. Preparations, as if for immediate action, were observed. And thus it proved. The important day had arrived, and operations were commenced on the part of the British, by showers of bombs and balls upon the American line: while congreve-rockets, in multitudes, went whizzing through the air. The two divisions, under command of Sir Edward Packenham in person, and supported by Generals Keane and Gibbs, now moved forward. A dense fog enabled them to approach within a short distance of the American intrenchments without being discovered. Their march was dignified--their step, firm--their bearing, lofty. Meanwhile, all was silence among the Americans behind the parapets. The guns were loaded--the matches were ready--all were waiting, with breathless anxiety, for the word of command. Jackson stood an intent observer of the scene. He watched every movement--weighed every circumstance--measured the lessening distance. They had reached the critical spot to which the guns were pointed--the voice of Jackson was heard, as in tones of thunder, "Fire!" and, in an instant, such a storm of death rolled over the astonished British, as was scarcely ever before witnessed. The front ranks were mowed down, and their advance arrested. At this critical juncture, Sir Edward Packenham threw himself in front of the astonished columns, and urged them on. But at that instant, he fell mortally wounded, and, nearly at the same time, Generals Gibbs and Keane were borne from the field, dangerously wounded. The troops now fled. In their flight, they were met by General Lambert, on the advance with a reserve force, and urged once more to renew the attack; but his commands were unheeded.

There were, indeed, other attempts made upon the American works in other quarters, and they were partially successful; but, in the sequel, the British were every where repulsed--the American flag waved in triumph--the city of New Orleans was safe--and, that night, joy and gladness were in every family.

The American effective force, at the time, on the left bank, was three thousand seven hundred; that of the enemy, at least nine thousand, and, by some authorities, they were reckoned still more numerous. The killed, wounded, and prisoners, as ascertained on the day after the battle, by Colonel Hayne, the inspector-general, was two thousand six hundred. General Lambert's report to Lord Bathurst, stated it to be two thousand and seventy. Among the killed was the commander-in-chief, and Major-general Gibbs, who died of his wounds the following day; besides many other valuable officers. The loss of the Americans, in killed and wounded, was but thirteen.

It is certainly surprising that generals so distinguished for their sagacity, and so experienced in military tactics, as were the British, should have hazarded such an assault. It seems probable that the enterprise was one of great magnitude and danger, in their view; but warranted by the circumstances in which they were placed. But, on the other hand, the Americans were entitled to all possible praise. Their bravery and zeal were conspicuous through the entire contest. It was fortunate that their commander was possessed of great courage and equal skill. General Jackson acquired greater reputation, on this occasion, than he had gained at any previous period of his life, distinguished as his military fame had become.

To the benevolent heart, there will ever be connected with this battle one sad, sad reflection. The carnage of that day--the groans, sorrows, sufferings caused by that conflict--might have been spared. Peace between the two nations had actually been agreed upon. Oh! could some breeze have wafted the intelligence to these Western shores ere the dawn of that 8th of January, 1815, what streams of blood had been stayed! how many precious lives would have been spared! what despair and destitution averted from families and individuals!

_Treaty of Ghent._--The brilliant successes of the Americans were duly appreciated, and joy and exultation pervaded the nation. Tidings of peace soon followed. A negotiation, which had been opened at Ghent in the Netherlands, towards the close of 1814, between the American commissioners, J. Q. Adams, Bayard, Clay, Russel, and Gallatin, and the British commissioners, Gambier, Goulburn, and Adams, resulted in a treaty of peace, which was signed on the 24th of December. It immediately received the approbation of the prince regent, and was ratified by the president and senate on the 18th day of February. This was a welcome event to all parties. Among a portion of the people, the war had never been popular. A large debt had been contracted, and the commerce of the country had greatly suffered. There was a general joy that the war had terminated; yet some were disposed to inquire, what object had been gained? It was true, the credit of the country in respect to military skill, but especially as to naval tact, had been greatly increased. An arrogant, invading foe had been driven from our shore. Our national honor vindicated--but, in the end, the treaty negotiated and ratified was silent as to the subjects for which the war was professedly declared. It provided only for the suspension of hostilities--the exchange of prisoners--the restoration of territories and possessions obtained by the contending powers during the war--the adjustment of unsettled boundaries--and for a combined effort to effect the entire abolition of traffic in slaves. But, notwithstanding several important omissions, the treaty was joyfully received, and the various classes of society once more began to turn their attention to their accustomed trades and occupations.

_Close of Mr. Madison's Administration._--The remainder of Mr. Madison's administration was marked by few events or measures of national importance. Yet, we may briefly notice the conclusion of a treaty, conducted at Algiers, with the dey of Algiers, by William Shaler and Commodore Stephen Decatur, on the 30th of June, 1815--a "convention by which to regulate the commerce between the territories of the United States and of his Britannic Majesty," concluded at London, July 3--and the incorporation of a national bank, with a capital of thirty-five millions of dollars.

February 12th, the electoral votes for Mr. Madison's successor were counted in the presence of both houses of congress, when it appeared that Mr. Monroe was elected by a large majority. The following is a summary of the votes:

Key: A. James Monroe, of Virginia. B. Rufus King, of New York. C. D. D. Tompkins, of New York. D. John E. Howard, of Maryland. E. James Ross, of Pennsylv'a. F. John Marshall, of Virginia. G. Robt. G. Harper, of Maryland.

+-----------------+----------+------------------------ No. of | |PRESIDENT.| VICE-PRESIDENT. Electors | STATES. |----------+------------------------ from each| | A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. State. | | | | | | | | ---------+-----------------+----+-----+----+----+----+----+---- 8 | New Hampshire, | 8 | | 8 | | | | 22 | Massachusetts, | | 22 | | 22 | | | 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | | 4 | | | | 9 | Connecticut, | | 9 | | | 5 | 4 | 8 | Vermont, | 8 | | 8 | | | | 29 | New York, | 29 | | 29 | | | | 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | | 8 | | | | 25 | Pennsylvania, | 25 | | 25 | | | | 3 | Delaware, | | 3 | | | | | 3 8 | Maryland, | 8 | | 8 | | | | 25 | Virginia, | 25 | | 25 | | | | 15 | North Carolina, | 15 | | 15 | | | | 11 | South Carolina, | 11 | | 11 | | | | 8 | Georgia, | 8 | | 8 | | | | 12 | Kentucky, | 12 | | 12 | | | | 8 | Tennessee, | 8 | | 8 | | | | 8 | Ohio, | 8 | | 8 | | | | 3 | Lousiana, | 3 | | 3 | | | | 3 | Indiana, | 3 | | 3 | | | | ---------+-----------------+----+-----+----+----+----+----+---- 217 | Whole No. of | | | | | | | | electors, |183 | 34 |183 | 22 | 5 | 4 | 3 | Majority, 109 | | | | | | |

FOOTNOTES:

[71] Life of William Henry Harrison.

[72] Breckenridge's History of the War.

[73] Hale's History of the United States.

[74] Willard's Republic.

[75] Hinton.

X. JAMES MONROE, PRESIDENT.

INAUGURATED AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 4, 1817.

DANIEL D. TOMPKINS, VICE-PRESIDENT.

HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.

John Q. Adams, Massachusetts, March 5, 1817,} Secretary } of State.

William H. Crawford, Georgia, March 5, 1817,} Secretary } of Treasury.

Isaac Shelby, Kentucky, March 5, 1817,} Secretaries John C. Calhoun, South Carolina, December 15, 1817,} of War.

Benjamin W. (_continued_ } Crowninshield, Massachusetts, _in office_), } Secretaries Smith Thompson, New York, November 30, 1818.} of the Navy. Samuel L. Southard, New Jersey, December 9, 1823,}

Return J. Meigs, Ohio, (_continued_ } Postmasters _in office_), } General. John M'Lean, Ohio, December 9, 1823,}

Richard Rush, Pennsylvania, (_continued_ } Attorneys _in office_), } General. William Wirt, Virginia, December 15, 1817,}

SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Henry Clay, Kentucky, Fifteenth Congress, 1817. Henry Clay, Kentucky, Sixteenth do. 1819. John W. Taylor, New York, Sixteenth do. 1820. Philip P. Barbour, Virginia, Seventeenth do. 1821. Henry Clay, Kentucky, Eighteenth do. 1823.

The elevation of Mr. Monroe to the presidency was an event highly auspicious to the interests of the nation. Besides having been employed for many years in high and responsible stations under the government, he possessed a sound and discriminating judgment, and a remarkably calm and quiet temperament. In not a few of the qualities of his mind, he resembled Washington, and, like that great and good man, apparently had the true interests of his country in view in the acts and measures of his administration. He may be said to be fortunate in respect to the time and circumstances of his accession to the presidency. A war, of whose justice and expediency a respectable portion of the country had strong doubts--and as to which, therefore, loud and even angry debate had existed, both in congress and throughout the country--that war had terminated, and the asperities growing out of different views entertained of it, were fast subsiding. Commerce, too, was beginning to revive, and the manufacturers were hoping for more auspicious days. In every department of industry, there was the commencement of activity; and, although the country had suffered too long and too seriously to regain at once her former prosperity, hopes of better times were indulged, and great confidence was reposed in the wise and prudent counsels of the new president.

A review of the principal measures and events during the presidency of Mr. Monroe, will require us to notice the following topics:

Tour of the President, Revision of the Tariff, Admission of Missouri, Visit of Lafayette, Provision for indigent officers, &c., Review of Mr. Monroe's Rëelection of Mr. Monroe, Administration, Seminole War, Election of Mr. Adams.

_Tour of the President._--This took place in the summer and autumn following Mr. Monroe's inauguration, and extended through the Northern and Eastern states of the Union. It was an auspicious measure, and contributed, no doubt, in a degree, to his popularity. He had in view, the better discharge of his duty as president, in superintending the works of public defence, and most probably the cultivation of friendly feelings with the great mass of the people. These objects were happily accomplished. The works of public defence, which he wished personally to inspect or to provide for, were the fortifications of the sea-coast and inland frontiers, naval docks, and the navy itself. For all these objects, congress had made liberal appropriations, and by personal observation, he sought the means of guiding his judgment as to the best mode of promoting the interests thus committed to his care.

The president made two other visits of a similar kind, during his first term, viz: one in the summer of the following year, and the other in the summer of 1819. The former was to the Chesapeake bay and the country lying on its shores. The other was to the Southern and South-western states of the Union. In the course of a few weeks he visited Charleston, Savannah, and Augusta, as also the Cherokee nation, Nashville, Louisville, and other places. The same national objects commanded his attention as during his other tours, and the same spirit of courtesy and deference was manifested towards him.

_Admission of Missouri._--In another place, (p. 538,) we have had occasion to notice the periods at which the several states, formed since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, have been admitted into the Union, and Missouri among them; but, as in respect to this state, there were new and peculiar considerations involved, it is deemed important to speak of them in this place more at large.--The proposition to admit Missouri into the Union, was considered at the same time with Maine; but, although congress passed the act of admission for both at once, it was _conditional_ in regard to Missouri. A clause in the constitution of this state, requiring the legislature to enact a law "to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming to and settling in the state," was obnoxious to a majority of the members of congress. After a long debate in that body, it was decided that Missouri should be admitted, on the condition that no laws should be passed, by which any free citizens of the United States should be prevented from enjoying the rights to which they were entitled by the constitution of the United States.

There had previously been a long and exciting debate in congress, on the subject of the restriction of slavery in the bill admitting Missouri. The bill for admitting that territory, contained a provision prohibiting slavery within the new state; but, having passed the house of representatives, it was arrested in the senate. Strong sectional parties, in reference to this subject, appeared, not only in congress, but throughout the country. It was deemed imminently a time of danger to the general interests of the nation and the Union itself. The dissolution of the general government seemed to be threatened. That the pernicious system of involuntary servitude should be further extended, seemed to be abhorrent to the minds of most of the wise and good. On the other hand, the rights of the slave-holding states were thought by themselves, at least, to be invaded. Accordingly, members of congress from the non-slave-holding states, strenuously advocated the restriction; while members from the slave-holding portion of the country as strenuously opposed it.

The long and earnest debates on the subject, were concluded, only by the parties accepting a _compromise_, in consequence of which, slavery was to be tolerated in Missouri, but forbidden in all that part of Louisiana as ceded by France, lying north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, except so much as was embraced within the limits of the state. The vote in the house of representatives was several times given for excluding slavery; but the senate disagreed, and would not yield to the house. When the house yielded, at length, to the opinion of the senate, it was by a majority of _four_ only, in favor of the bill, omitting the clause of exclusion, and containing that of the interdiction of slavery elsewhere, as already defined. The compromise happily averted whatever danger there might have been to the union of the states.

When Missouri, by a solemn act of her legislature, had accepted the fundamental condition imposed by congress, that she would not authorize the passage of any laws excluding citizens of other states from enjoying the privileges to which they were entitled by the constitution of the United States, she was declared a member of the Union. This occurred August 10th, 1821.

_Provision for indigent Officers and Soldiers._--In 1818, a law was passed by congress, granting pensions to the surviving officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary war, which included all who had served nine months in the continental army at any period of the war, provided it was at one term of enlistment. Another act of congress, following at the expiration of two years, modified, and in some degree restricted this law, by confining the pension to those who were in destitute circumstances. Still, under this condition, the number who received the bounty, or rather the justice of their country, was very large, not less than thirteen thousand having experienced the grateful relief. Through the inability of the government, soon after the war, these soldiers who had so largely contributed to the liberties of their country, had never been duly compensated. They now received a welcome, though late remuneration.

_Rëelection of Mr. Monroe._--In March, 1821, Mr. Monroe entered upon his second term of office, having been rëelected president by nearly an unanimous vote. Mr. Tompkins was also continued in the vice-presidency. The following table exhibits the vote of the several electoral colleges:

Key: A. James Monroe, of Virginia. B. John Q. Adams, of Massa'tts. C. D. D. Tompkins, of New York. D. Rich'd. Stockton, of New Jersey. E. Robt. G. Harper, of Maryland. F. Richard Rush, of Pennsylv'a. G. Daniel Rodney, of Delaware.

+-----------------+----------+------------------------ No. of | |PRESIDENT.| VICE-PRESIDENT. Electors | STATES. |----------+------------------------ from each| | A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. State. | | | | | | | | ---------+-----------------+----+-----+----+----+----+----+---- 8 | New Hampshire, | 7 | 1 | 7 | | | 1 | 15 | Massachusetts, | 15 | | 7 | 8 | | | 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | | 4 | | | | 9 | Connecticut, | 9 | | 9 | | | | 8 | Vermont, | 8 | | 8 | | | | 29 | New York, | 29 | | 29 | | | | 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | | 8 | | | | 25 | Pennsylvania, | 24 | | 24 | | | | 4 | Delaware, | 4 | | | | | | 4 11 | Maryland, | 11 | | 10 | | 1 | | 25 | Virginia, | 25 | | 25 | | | | 15 | North Carolina, | 15 | | 15 | | | | 11 | South Carolina, | 11 | | 11 | | | | 8 | Georgia, | 8 | | 8 | | | | 12 | Kentucky, | 12 | | 12 | | | | 8 | Tennessee, | 7 | | 7 | | | | 8 | Ohio, | 8 | | 8 | | | | 3 | Lousiana, | 3 | | 3 | | | | 3 | Indiana, | 3 | | 3 | | | | 3 | Mississippi, | 2 | | 2 | | | | 3 | Illinois, | 3 | | 3 | | | | 3 | Alabama, | 3 | | 3 | | | | 9 | Maine, | 9 | | 9 | | | | 3 | Missouri, | 3 | | 3 | | | | ---------+-----------------+----+-----+----+----+----+----+---- 235 | Whole No. of | | | | | | | | electors, |231 | 1 |218 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 4 | Majority, 118 | | | | | | |

No president, since Washington, has received so decided an expression of the public will. His popularity seemed to be the result of his moderation in politics, his candid temper, and his wise and useful measures. His administration throughout was the era of good feeling.

_Seminole War._--Within the southern limits of the United States, but mostly in Florida, lived a tribe, or confederacy of Indians, named _Seminoles_. They consisted, originally, of fugitives from the northern tribes, resident within the limits of the United States. To these fugitives, additions were made from the Creek Indians, numbers of whom were dissatisfied with the provisions of the treaty of 1814, and negroes, who had absconded from their masters. The resentments enkindled in the breasts of these miserable people, are believed to have been fanned by foreign emissaries, of whom the most noted were two Englishmen, Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister. The consequence was, that outrages were committed upon the inhabitants of the states on our southern borders, the progress of which it became necessary to arrest.

General Gaines, the United States' officer in that quarter, made a demand to deliver up the authors of these outrages, but the Indians refused to comply. In consequence of this refusal, the Indians, who were still on the lands ceded to the United States by the Creeks, in 1814, were placed at the disposal of General Gaines, to remove them or not, as he should see fit.

The general availed himself of his discretionary power to take an Indian village called Fowl Town, near the Florida line. In this undertaking, one man and one woman were killed, and two women made prisoners. It was executed by a detachment under Major Twiggs. A few days after, a second detachment, who were on a visit to the town to obtain property, were fired upon, and a skirmish ensued, in which there was a loss of several on both sides. Shortly after, a large party of Seminole Indians formed an ambuscade upon the Appalachicola river, attacked one of the American boats, ascending near the shore, and killed, wounded, and took the greater part of the detachment, consisting of forty men, commanded by Lieutenant R. W. Scott, of the seventh infantry. There were also on board, killed or taken, seven women, the wives of soldiers. Six of the detachment only escaped, four of whom were wounded.[76]