Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/509

ANDREW JACKSON 491 loss, 7 killed and 6 wounded. On the right bank neither party suffered much, but even there the loss was mostly on the side of the enemy. Jackson watched the enemy until the 18th, when they retreated, abandoning their guns, and leaving 80 wounded men to the care of the Americans. Jackson was involved in much trouble by the conduct of many civil- ians during the campaign, who forgot that a dictatorship alone could save the state, which the enemy, had they been victorious, would possibly have tried to retain, in spite of the treaty of Ghent, on the ground that the treaty of 1803, by which France had ceded Louisiana to the United States, was void, because she had no claim to the territory. A Frenchman, M. Louaillier, a member of the legislature of Lou- isiana, was conspicuous among the general's ene- mies, and Jackson had him arrested on March 5. Judge Hall, of the United States district court, granted Louaillier's petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and was himself arrested and imprisoned, and then banished from the city. On March 13 martial law was abrogated by Jackson's order, and Hall returned. Jackson was then arrested on a charge of contempt of court, and fined $1,000. He refused the offers that were made from all sides to pay the fine, and paid it himself, protecting the court, which could not have stood a moment against his op- position. After his retirement from public life some of his friends requested congress to re- fund the amount. After considerable opposi- tion, the bill refunding the money, principal and interest, was passed in February, 1844. The brilliant successes of the Louisiana cam- paign made Jackson very popular throughout the country. He was appointed commander- in-chief of the southern division of the United States in April, 1815, and received the thanks of congress. Even at that early day he was thought of as a candidate for the presidency, and his political prospects were not injured when it was known that he advised President Monroe to pursue a liberal course toward the federalists, whose political importance had van- ished, and to select his cabinet without regard to party. Toward the close of 1817 a war with the Seminoles was commenced, and Jack- son was ordered to take the field in person. He formed a large force, consisting of regular troops, militia from Tennessee and Georgia, and Creek Indians. He was successful, and without much fighting. He seized the Spanish fort of St. Mark's, where he found a Scotch- man named Arbuthnot; and at the Indian town of Suwanee he captured one Ambrister, a native of the Bahamas. These British sub- jects were tried before courts martial, and con- demned on the charges of having stirred up the Indians against the United States, and of supplying them with the means of war; and they were executed. The court softened Am- brister's sentence to whipping and imprison- ment, but Gen. Jackson hung him nevertheless. Two Indian chiefs, one of them the prophet Francis, were promptly hanged by his orders. He then marched upon Pensacola, and, in spite of the remonstrances of the Spaniards, seized it. These proceedings created great sensation. The execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister was the cause of much irritation in England, and Lord Castlereagh, secretary of state for foreign affairs, told Mr. Rush, the American minister, that he could have had war with the United States merely by holding up his hand. The administration of President Mon- roe was divided on the subject. J. Q. Adams, secretary of state, ably defended the course of Jackson in his correspondence with the Span- ish minister, who had demanded an apology and an indemnity for the seizure of the two places in Florida, and in the cabinet against Mr. Calhoun, secretary of war, who was in favor of putting him on his trial; which last fact was unknown to Jackson, who believed that Calhoun had acted with Adams, and that Mr. Crawford, secretary of the treasury, was his enemy. In congress his conduct was the subject of vehement debates, but resolutions of censure and condemnation were rejected by the house of representatives, and the sen- ate did not come to any decision on the ques- tion. The report made to the senate, by Mr. Lacock of Pennsylvania, was very full and very severe, but was never acted upon. So offensive was it to Jackson that, it is said, he threatened to cut off the ears of certain sen- ators. His anger was caused by his belief that he had acted in strict conformity to the wishes of the administration ; and it is by no means certain that he did not. In 1819 he made a visit to the north, proceeding as far as New York, and was everywhere well received. The government of New York city employed Van- derlyn to paint his portrait. When Spain ce- ded Florida to the United States, Jackson was appointed governor of that territory, March 10, 1821, and took possession of it July 18. He held the office only a few months, but during that time he had a dispute with Col. Callava, late Spanish governor of Florida, relative to certain judicial papers which the latter was en- deavoring to carry out of the country. Callava was imprisoned, but released on the seizure of the papers. Judge Fremontin granted him a habeas corpus, which Gov. Jackson disregard- ed, and summoned the judge before him. The judge did not obey the summons, and the gov- ernor's course was condemned by some mem- bers of congress, in debate ; but they failed to obtain a formal censure. President Monroe offered the post of minister to Mexico to Gen. Jackson, which he would not accept. In 1823 the Tennessee legislature elected him a United States senator, and nominated him for the presidency. "At first," says Mr. Tucker, " this nomination afforded matter of jest and merri- ment rather than of serious animadversion in other states, since, unquestionable as were Gen. Jackson's military qualifications, he was not thought to possess the information, or respect