CHAPTER VI.

Mr. Jackson appointed a major-general. Negotiation with the Mus cogees. Correspondence with governor Manriquez. General Jackson invades Florida; takes Pensacola. Barrancas destroyed. The troops evacuate Florida. General Jackson repairs to New Orleans. Measures of defence. Arrival of the enemy. Capture of the flotilla on Lake Borgne. Conduct of the people of Louisiana. General Jackson proposes to suspend the right of Habeas Corpus. Reply of the Legislature. Proclamation of martial law.

The successes of general Jackson attracted the attention of the nation, and in the latter part of May he received a major-general's commission in the regular army. It was promptly accepted.

Since the conquest of the Muscogees no treaty had been made with them by which their future conduct might be regulated. The first service our hero was required to perform in his new capacity was to negotiate a peace with them, in which he was to prescribe the conditions as to a conquered people. In this treaty, which was held on the banks of the Alabama about the middle of August, the Muscogees promised to hold no intercourse with foreign emissaries, or with British or Spanish garrisons; to allow to American citizens a free navigation of all their waters; and to allow no agent or trader to come among them, unless sanctioned by the legal authorities of the United States. They were further required to cede a large portion of

their territory; but to this article they made a vehement opposition. They were aware that it would preclude the possibility of their existence as hunters. General Jackson would listen to no remonstrance, and they were compelled to yield their lands west of the Coosa, which now form the greater part of the State of Alabama. The chiefs of the friendly Creeks also proposed that two tracts of land should be reserved for two individuals to whom they were attached, and another for general Jackson himself, in token of their gratitude for the protection he had afforded them during the war. The general forwarded the article to the Government, and recommended its adoption, telling the Creeks that if it should be admitted, the president might if he would' apply the value of his part to the relief of those Creeks who had suffered most in the war. * The senate never sanctioned the proposal, and the president was consequently deprived of an opportunity to prove his regard for the distressed Muscogees.

Now comes a part of general Jackson's career, in which his ignorance of and disregard for the laws of nations were made shamefully manifest. The Creeks, who had not agreed to the national capitulation, were about Pensacola and on the Escambia river. It was alleged that they were dangerous to the American frontier; whether truly or not we have no means to determine. At any rate they were suffered to remain undisturbed by the Spanish authorities, and received comfort and countenance from them. In this the governor of

* Minutes of the treaty by colonel Hawkins, which do not agree with the account Mr. Jackson himself gave his biographer.

Florida was not singular. The same policy has been, and still is observed by the British and American governments toward the Indians near their common boundary, who are furnished with arms, &c. on both sides. The system did not meet the approbation of general Jackson, whose wrath, moreover, against the fugitive Creeks was not yet assuaged. He wrote to the secretary of war for authority to take possession of Pensacola, but received no encouragement, or more properly no answer. His choler was farther aggravated by hearing that a British force had been permitted to land in the bay of St. Rose. Forthwith he addressed a peremptory letter to governor Manriquez, demanding that the hostile Indian chiefs should be delivered into his hands.* By what right? If these men had taken refuge in France or Spain the laws of hospitality and of nations would not have justified those powers in delivering them up; and why should those laws be less obligatory on a colony than the parent country?

The answer of the Spanish officer urged these considerations, and demanded if Mexican insurgents were not received in the United States, and there suffered to plot and act against the government of Spain. The analogy was perfect. As to having suffered British subjects to distribute arms among the Indians, he justified it, on the ground that the obligations of a treaty between Great Britain and certain Muscogees had devolved on Spain. The pirate La Fitte, he also urged, brought Spanish vessels into the ports of Louisiana, and there sold them and their cargoes without let or molestation.

* Eaton.

It seems from this, that the cause of complaint was as much on the side of Spain as on that of the United States. The arguments of governor Manriquez were not easily to be answered; and the tone of general Jackson's rejoinder, proved that he found them so. He threatened to pay the governor a visit, and entreated him not to consider him a diplomatist, 'till he should have proclaimed himself such at the mouth of his cannon. 1* It is probable that governor Manriquez, if he had at first considered him such an official, was now convinced of his mistake by our hero's want of knowledge and dignity.

After the failure of the attack on Fort Bowyer, which it is no part of our plan to describe, the British fleet put into the harbor of Pensacola to refit.† As Spain and Great Britain were then at peace, governor Manriquez was surely justifiable in receiving them. We should hardly have thought such a remark necessary, if the fact had not been made a subject of complaint by our hero. Indeed, that learned Theban major Eaton, says that in this Spain put herself in a belligerent attitude, and deserved to be treated accordingly. The general wrote again to the secretary of war, to urge the necessity of advancing on Pensacola, but no answer was returned. He then resolved to take the responsibility on himself, and sent his adjutant-general to Tennessee, with orders to raise volunteers. General Coffee contributed his aid, and on the 28th of September, arrived at the place of rendezvous with two thousand men. The adjutant-general was also successful in his levies, and a considerable body

See the Correspondence.

† Annals of the late war.

were collected from the forts established by general Jackson in the conquered Muscogee territory. The whole joined the general near Mobile, and made, together with the regular troops and Creek allies, upwards of three thousand men.

General Jackson immediately took up the line of march for Pensacola, which he reached on the 6th of November. If this measure, setting aside what followed, was not equivalent to a declaration of war against Spain, on the responsibility of one unauthorized individual, then have we a wrong view of the subject.

The Spanish governor was advised of his approach, and had taken measures, in conjunction with the British forces there present, to resist. The forts commanding the town were manned, batteries were laid in the principal streets, and the British vessels were moored in the bay, so as to command the approaches to the town. The American general paused for a moment.

He sent major Piere with a flag to Fort St. Michael, to expain the object of his visit. The Spanish garrison fired on the gallant major, and compelled him to retire. The general was then obliged to send his letter by a Spanish prisoner he had taken the day before. Governor Manriquez answered that he was willing to listen to any overtures, and at midnight, Major Piere was again sent to assure the Spaniards of the friendly and peaceful intentions of his chief, and to demand the surrender of Pensacola and its forts within an hour, on pain of storm and massacre. The answer to this very friendly and pacific proposal not. being satisfactory, general Jackson prepared to put his threat in execution.

It had been expected in Pensacola, that he