organized. Many, feeling no attachment to the republic, had refused to enter the ranks. No fortifications existed on the various routes by which the place could be approached; and fears were entertained that the reinforcements of militia, which were expected from Kentucky and Tennessee, could not arrive in time to take part in the contest. 38. Undismayed by the difficulties which surrounded him, general Jackson adopted the most decided and efficient means for the safety of this rich and important city. He visited in person every exposed point, and designated the positions to be fortified. He mingled with the citizens and infused into the greater part his own spirit and energy. By his presence and exhortations, they were animated to exertions of which before they were not supposed to be capable. All who could wield a spade, or carry a musket, were put to work upon the fortifications, or trained in the art of defending them. 39. The Mississippi, upon the east bank of which New-Orleans stands, flows to the ocean in several channels. One, leaving the main stream above the city, runs east of it and forms, in its course, lake Ponchartrain and lake Borgne. Early in December, the enemy entered this channel. Their whole force amounted to about 8000 men, a part of whom had just left the shores of the Chesapeake, and the remainder had arrived directly from England. A small squadron of gunboats under lieutenant Jones, was despatched to oppose their passage into the lake. These were met by a superior force, and after a spirited conflict, in which the killed and wounded of the enemy exceeded the whole number of the Americans, they were compelled to surrender. 40. This disaster required the adoption, in the city, of more vigorous measures. Disaffection growing bolder, martial law was proclaimed; the authority of the civil magistrate was suspended; and arbitrary power was assumed and exercised by the commander-in-chief. May no emergency hereafter occur, in which a military officer shall consider himself authorized to cite, as a precedent, this violation of the constitution. 41. On the 21st of December, four thousand militia arrived from Tennessee. On the 22d, the enemy, having previously landed, took a position near the main channel of the river, about eight miles below the city. In the evening of the 23rd, general Jackson made a sudden and furious attack upon their camp. They were thrown into disorder; but they soon rallied and fought with bravery equal to that of the assailants. Satisfied with the advantage first gained, he withdrew his troops, fortified a strong position four miles below New-Orleans, and supported it by batteries erected on the west bank of the river. 42. On the 28th of December, and first of January, vigorous but unsuccessful attacks were made upon these fortifications, by the enemy. In the mean time, both armies had received reinforcements; and general Packenham, the British commander, resolved to exert all his strength in a combined attack upon the American positions on both sides of the river. With almost incredible industry, he caused a canal, leading from a creek emptying into lake Borgne to the main channel of the Mississippi, to be dug, that he might remove a part of his boats and artillery to the latter. All things being prepared, the 8th of January was assigned for the assault. 43. In the night, a regiment was transported across the river, to storm the works on the western bank, and turn the guns on the American troops on the eastern. Early in the morning, the main body of the enemy, consisting of seven or eight thousand men, marched from their camp to the assault. While approaching, fearless and undaunted, showers of grape-shot thinned their ranks. When they came within musket shot a vivid stream of fire burst from the American lines. General Jackson having placed his troops in two ranks, those in the rear loaded for those in front, enabling them to fire with scarcely a moment's intermission. The militia of the west, trained from infancy to the use of the rifle, seldom took unsteady or uncertain aim. The plain was soon covered with dead and wounded. Some British regiments faltered and fell back; but others advanced and presented new victims. While bravely leading to the walls the regiment which bore the ladders, general Packenham was killed. In attempting to restore order and to rally the fugitives, general Gibbs, the second in command, was wounded mortally, and general Keene severely. Without officers to direct them, the troops first halted, then fell back, and soon fled in disorder to their camp. In little more than an hour, two thousand of the enemy were laid prostrate upon the field; while of the Americans but seven were killed and six wounded-a disproportion of loss without a parallel in the annals of warfare. 44. The events of the day, on the west side of the river, present a striking instance of the uncertainty of warlike operations. There the Americans were thrice the number of the assailants, and were protected by intrenchments; but they ingloriously fled, They were closely pursued, until the British party, receiving intelligence of the defeat of the main army, withdrew from pursuit and recrossed the river. They then returned and resumed possession of their intrenchments. 45. General Lambert, upon whom the command of the British army had devolved, having lost all hope of success, prepared to return to his shipping. In his retreat he was not molested: general Jackson wisely resolving to hazard nothing that he had gained, in attempting to gain still more. 46. In the midst of the rejoicings for this signal victory, a special messenger arrived from Europe, with a treaty of peace, which, in December, had been concluded at Ghent. The British government had receded from all their demands; and as the orders in council had been repealed, and all motive for the impressment of seamen had ceased with the war in Europe, no stipulation, in relation to these subjects, was inserted in the treaty, which provided merely for the restoration of peace and the revision of boundaries. The treaty was immediately ratified by the president and senate. 47. The war, however, did not cease on the ocean, until two additional victories had imparted a brighter lustre to the republican flag. In February, the Constitution, then cruising under the command of captain Stewart, captured the Cyane and Levant, whose forces united were superior to hers; and in March, the sloop Hornet captured the brig Penguin, stronger in guns and men than the victor: APPENDIX. THE English colonies of North America were settled under the most favourable auspices. The mind of man had just burst from thraldom, and begun to delight in the free and vigorous exercise of its powers. Religion and government had become themes of animated discussion. The people had boldly questioned the divine right of their rulers to control their actions, and of their priests to prescribe to them articles of faith. They had assumed a higher rank and bolder attitude; and, conscious of their own power, had begun to feel less dependence upon others. 2. From that country, where the advancement of knowledge had been greatest, came those who peopled this western wilderness. They belonged principally to a class, so high as to have participated largely in the advantages which knowledge imparts, and yet not so high as to be above the power of the oppressor. The persecutions they had endured rendered the principles of civil and religious liberty more dear to their hearts; and led to inquiries and reflections, which fixed a conviction of their truth more firmly in their understandings. 3 No occasion could be more fortunate, no men could be better fitted, to lay the foundation of a superstructure entirely new. Their knowledge enabled them to discern the good and the evil of the political institutions, which had existed in the world; and their feelings, chastened by their sufferings, or elevated by their favourable view of human nature, led them to reJect those provisions, which sacrificed the happiness of many to the splendour of a few; and to adopt such only as gave equal rights and privileges to all. 4. In every nation of Europe, ecclesiastical establishments existed, almost co-ordinate with the civil authority. The officers of these establishments were numerous, and their privile ges extensive. For their support, in early times, a tenth part of the income of the laity was appropriated. Possessing wealth, and rank, and learning, their influence was great, and was con stantly exerted to acquire and preserve dominion over the minds and consciences of men. Their success was equal to the means which they employed. They continued to add to their wealth and power, until, corrupted by luxury and idleness, they forgot their duties to God and to man; and encumbered society with a useless and oppressive weight. 5. No part of these establishments have been transferred to America. The first settlers of most of the colonies were too proud of their attainments, in spiritual knowledge, to submit to dictation in matters of faith; and too independent in feeling to acknowledge a superior on earth. Here man resumed his natural and dignified station; and the ministers of the gospel, maintaining an apostolical simplicity of character and manners, have seldom sought to obtain, and possess not the means of obtaining, any greater influence than that which superior virtue and piety confer. 6. The doctrine of hereditary right prevailed also throughout Europe. By the fundamental regulations of nearly every kingdom, the monarch and nobles transmitted to their eldest sons, even though destitute of talents and virtue, their authority, privileges, and rank. The people often saw on the throne men, who were guilty of the most atrocious wickedness, and whose conduct involved communities and nations in misery; but no attempt could be made to remove or punish them without incurring the penalty of rebellion. They saw also, in other exalted stations, men equally wicked and equally beyond their control. 6. The law of primogeniture existed as a part of the hereditary system. The eldest son inherited, not the title only, but also all the lands of the father. By this unjust and unnatural law, the younger sons and the daughters were doomed to comparative poverty. One portion of the people was made rich and another poor. Few were placed in that happy medium_between wealth and poverty, which is most favourable to virtue, to happiness, and to the improvement of the human faculties. 8. The principle, that power could be inherited, was at once rejected by the first emigrants to America. They had witnessed, in Europe, the pernicious operation of this principle; they were convinced of its absurdity; and even had not such been the case, that equality of rank and condition, which existed among them, would have prevented any one from claiming such a privilege for his family, and all others from submitting to it. 9. The law of primogeniture fell of course into disuse, or was abolished. That equality of rights and of rank, which prevailed at first, has continued to prevail; and though, in some of the colonies, the extravagant grants of land, which were made by Z |