vidual and by governments. He contracts it only after frequent repetition. A single instance fixes the habit and determines the direction of governments. Against the alarming doctrine of unlimited discretion in our military commanders, when applied even to prisoners of war, I must enter my protest. It begins upon them; it will end on us. I hope our happy form of government is destined to be perpetual. But if it is to be preserved, it must be by the practice of virtue, by justice, by moderation, by magnanimity, by greatness of soul, by keeping a watchful and steady eye on the executive; and, above all, by holding to a strict accountability the military branch of the public force.

We are fighting a great moral battle for the benefit not only of our country, but of all mankind. The eyes of the whole world are in fixed attention upon us. One, and the largest, portion of it is gazing with contempt, with jealousy, and with envy; the other portion, with hope, with confidence, and with affection. Everywhere the black cloud of legitimacy is suspended over the world, save only one bright spot, which breaks out from the political hemisphere of the west, to enlighten and animate, and gladden the human heart. Obscure that, by the downfall of liberty here, and all mankind are enshrouded in a pall of universal darkness. To you, Mr. Chairman, belongs the high privilege of transmitting, unimpaired, to posterity, the fair character and liberty of our country. Do you expect to execute this high trust by trampling, or suffering to be trampled down law, justice, the constitution, and the rights of other people? By exhibiting examples of inhumanity, and cruelty, and ambition? When the minions of despotism heard, in Europe, of the seizure of Pensacola, how did they chuckle, and chide the admirers of our institutions, tauntingly pointing to the demonstration of a spirit of injustice and aggrandizement made by our country, in the midst of amicable negotiation. Behold, said they, the conduct of those who are constantly reproaching kings. You saw how

those admirers were astounded and hung their heads. You saw too, when that illustrious man, who presides over us, adopted his pacific, moderate and just course, how they once more lifted up their heads, with exultation and delight beaming in their countenances. And you saw how those minions themselves were finally compelled to unite in the general praises bestowed upon our government. Beware how you forfeit this exalted character. Beware how you give a fatal sanction in this infant period of our republic, scarcely yet two score years old, to military insubordination. Řemember that Greece had her Alexander, Rome her Cæsar, England her Cromwell, France her Bonaparte, and, that if we would escape the rock on which they split we must avoid their errors.

How different has been the treatment of general Jackson and that modest but heroic young man, a native of one of the smallest states in the union, who achieved for his country, on Lake Erie, one of the most glorious victories of the late war. In a moment of passion he forgot himself and offered an act of violence which was repented of as soon as perpetrated. He was tried, and suffered the judgment to be pronounced by his peers. Public justice was thought not even then to be satisfied. The press and Congress took up the subject. My honorable friend from Virginia, (Mr. Johnson,) the faithful and consistent sentinel of the law and of the constitution, disapproved, in that instance as he does in this, and moved an inquiry. The public mind remained agitated and unappeased until the recent atonement so honorably made by the gallant commodore. And is there to be a distinction between the officers of the two branches of the public service? Are former services, however eminent, to preclude even inquiry into recent misconduct? Is there to be no limit, no prudential bounds to the national gratitude? I am not disposed to censure the President for not ordering a court of inquiry or a general court martial. Perhaps, impelled by a sense of

gratitude, he determined by anticipation to extend to the general that pardon which he had the undoubted right to grant after sentence. Let us not shrink from our duty. Let us assert our constitutional powers, and vindicate the instrument from military violation.

I hope gentlemen will deliberately survey the awful isthmus on which we stand. They may bear down all opposition; they may even vote the general the public thanks; they may carry him triumphantly through this House. But, if they do, in my humble judgment, it will be a triumph of the principle of insubordination—a triumph of the military over the civil authority-a triumph over the powers of this Housea triumph over the constitution of the land. And I pray most devoutly to heaven, that it may not prove, in its ultimate effects and consequences, a triumph over the liberties of the people.

SPEECH OF GEORGE POINDEXTER,

ON THE SEMINOLE WAR,

DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE

UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 1, 1819.*

I rise, Mr. Chairman, under the influence of peculiar sensibility, to offer my sentiments on the subject before the committee. We are called upon to disrobe a veteran soldier of the well earned laurels which encircle his brow, to tarnish his fame by severe reproaches, and hand down his name to posterity, as the violater of the sacred instrument which constitutes the charter of our liberties, and of the benevolent dictates of humanity, by which this nation has ever been characterized and distinguished. Were the sacrifice of this highly meritorious citizen the only evil with which the proposed resolutions are fraught, I should derive some consolation from the reflection, that there is a redeeming spirit in the intelligence and patriotism of the great body of the people, capable of shielding him against the deleterious consequences meditated by the propositions on your table. But there is another, and a more serious aspect, in which the adoption of these resolutions must be viewed; the direct and infallible tendency which they involve, of enfeebling the arm of this government, in our pending negotiation with Spain; of putting ourselves in the wrong, and the Spanish monarch in the right, on the interesting and delicate points which have so long agitated and endangered the peace of the two countries. I wish not to be understood as attributing to honorable gentlemen, who advocate the measure, such motives: they are, doubt

* See page 93.

less, actuated alone by a sense of duty. I speak of the effects which our proceedings are calculated to produce, without intending to cast the slightest imputation on those who entertain different opinions. Sir, do we not know with what delight and satisfaction the minister of Spain looks on the efforts which are made on this floor to inculpate the executive of the United States, for having committed against his immaculate master an act of hostility, in the entrance into Florida, and the temporary occupation of St. Marks and Pensacola? With what avidity and pleasure he peruses the able and eloquent arguments delivered in the popular branch of the government, in support of the weighty allegations, which he has already exhibited, of the hostile and unwarrantable conduct of the commander of our army, during the late campaign against the Seminole Indians? And, sir, whatever may be the purity of intention, which I shall not presume to question, on the part of gentlemen who censure the course pursued by the commanding general, this debate will afford a valuable fund, on which Spain will not fail to draw on all future occasions, to show that the pacific relations which she has endeavored to maintain have been violated, without an adequate cause, by the United States. Shall we put it in her power to make this declaration to the civilized world, and establish the fact by a reference to the journal of the House of Representatives? I hope and believe we shall not. Sir, the nature of our free institutions imperiously requires that, on all questions touching controversies with foreign powers, every department of this government should act in concert, and present to the opposite party one undivided, impenetrable front. The observance of this rule, accords with every dictate of patriotism; and is the basis on which alone we can preserve a proper respect for our rights among the great family of nations. Internal divisions are often fatal to the liberties of the people; they never fail to inflict a deep wound on the national character; the lustre and purity