JACKSON GRANTS AN ARMISTICE.

391

eral Lambert's construction was such as had been anticipated. Although the armistice contained a request that it should be immediately signed and returned, it was neglected to be acted upon until the next day; and Thornton and his command were in the mean time, under cover of the night, recrossed, and the ground they had occupied left to be peaceably possessed by the original holders. The opportunity thus afforded of regaining a position on which, in a great degree, depended the safety of those upon the opposite shore, was accepted with an avidity its importance merited, and immediate measures were taken to increase its strength, and prepare it against any future attack that might be made.

Early the next morning (January 9th), General Lambert returned his acceptance of what had been proposed, with an apology for having failed to reply sooner; and an armistice was concluded, to continue until two o'clock in the afternoon. The dead and wounded were then removed from the field, which, for three hundred yards in front of Jackson's line, they almost literally covered. The American soldiers within the line of demarcation between the two camps delivered over to the British, who were not permitted to cross it, the dead for burial, and the wounded on parole, for which it was stipulated an equal number of American prisoners should be restored.

There is one fact told, which clearly shows the opinion entertained by the British of the American militia, and the little fear they had of any determined opposition from them. When repulsed by them, the British officers were fully persuaded that the informa

tion given them by the deserter on the night of the 6th was false; and that instead of pointing out the ground defended by the militia, he had referred them to the place occupied by the best troops. Enraged at what they believed to be an intentional deception, they called their informant before them to account for the mischief he had done. It was in vain he urged his innocence, and, with the most solemn protestations, declared he had stated the fact truly as it was. They could not be convinced,-it was impossible that they had contended against any but the best disciplined troops; and, without further ceremony, the poor fellow, suspended in view of the camp, expiated on a tree, not his crime-for what he stated was true-but their error in underrating an enemy who had already afforded abundant evidences of valour. In all their future trials with Americans, may they be no less deceived, and may they discover in the yeomanry of the country a determination to sustain with firmness a

RETREAT OF THE BRITISH.

393

government which knows nothing of oppression; but which, on an enlarged and liberal scale, aims to secure the independence and happiness of man. If the people of the United States-free almost as the air they breathe-shall at any time omit to maintain their privileges and their government, then, indeed, will it be idle longer to speak of the rights of men, or of their capacity to govern themselves: the dream of liberty must fade away and perish for ever, no more to be remembered or thought of.

After the battle of the 8th of January, Jackson could have captured every man of the British force that was upon the land, if he had been supplied with arms, according to his own repeated urgent requests, and agreeably to the promises that were made him. Not having arms, he was compelled to let the remainder of the "heroes of the Peninsula" escape. They reached Lake Borgne, and there they embarked, leaving behind them the contempt of the faithful Americans, and the sympathetic sorrows of the traitors.

"No great merit is to be attached to the fact that the flash of gunpowder and the whiz of bullets had no terrors for Andrew Jackson. There were thousands that feared them as little as he did; while not one in a whole generation could be found with his powers of command, that fecundity of genius, by which, under the most trying circumstances, he created unforeseen resources—raised, as it were, from the ground, hosts of intrepid warriors, and provided every vulnerable point with ample means of defence-that instinctive superiority, self-reliance, and impulsive energy, which at once rallied around him universal confidence, im

pressed one irresistible movement on all the jarring elements of a mixed population; roused their slumbering spirits, and diffused through every rank the noble ardour that flowed in his own bosom-that consummate prudence which defeated all the combinations of a sagacious enemy-entangled them in the very snares they had spread for him, and succeeded in effecting their utter destruction, without exposing the lives of his own soldiers. These qualities of mind constitute his greatness, and not brute courage.

"When the 8th day of January came the work was done. The greatest enemy had been conquered. By his wise plans and indomitable energy, Jackson had made certain and inevitable the glorious results of that day. He had already fought the battle and won the victory before the day of carnage came.

"But it has been said that there is no great merit in fighting behind cotton-bags. And some are ungenerous enough to detract from that glorious achievement, on the ground that those who accomplished it stood in comparative security. Why then were not the results on the opposite side of the river as brilliant as those on the left? There were like fortifications, and the friends, neighbours, and companions of those on the left to defend them. No difference in the strength of position or the spirit of the men; yet, on the right bank, though opposed by one division only, they fled at the first fire-while those on the opposite side never flinched from their duty; though they had to meet the whole force of the British army, led on by the most renowned generals. Why this difference? On the one side there was Jackson to awe into obedience,

BOMBARDMENT OF FORT ST. PHILIP. 395

animate, and direct; while on the other, there was no master-spirit like him to ride upon the whirlwind and direct the storm.' All praise, then, is due to the great chieftain, who won a victory as brilliant as any recorded in the annals of warfare; as important, in its consequences to the present and future generations, and to all mankind, as any battle ever fought in the tide of time."*

In the morning of the 9th of January, a British squadron, consisting of two bomb-vessels, a brig, sloop, and schooner, appeared below Fort St. Philip, and commenced a bombardment of that fort, with the intention of forcing a passage up the river, and aiding the beaten army. The fire was returned from the fort with such effect as to cause the vessels to retire to the distance of two miles, out of range of the American guns; but having it in their power to reach the fort with the shot from their large mortars. The bombardment continued without intermission from the 9th until the night of the 17th, when a heavy

*Garland's Eulogy.