introduced into the Senate by Mr. Lloyd, of Maryland, in June, 1798, and passed that body on the 4th of July following; hence the name of Jackson, owing to the leave of absence which had been granted him in April, does not appear on the journals. On the alien law, however, and the effort to repeal the stamp act, he was present, resting in the minority, and on the side of the republican principles of the country.

The State of Tennessee, on its admission into the Union, comprising but one military division, and General Conway, who commanded it as major-general, dying about this time, Jackson, without being consulted on the subject, and without the least intimation of what was in agitation, was, as the constitution of the State directs, chosen by the field-officers to succeed him; which appointment he continued to hold until May, 1814, when he was constituted a majorgeneral in the United States' service.

Becoming tired of political life, for the intrigues of which he declared himself unqualified, and having for two years voted in the minority in Congress, he resigned, after the first session, his seat in the Senate. To this measure he was strongly induced, from a desire to make way for General Smith, who he conjectured would in that capacity be able to render more important services to the government than himself. His country, unwilling that his talents should remain inactive and unemployed, again demanded his services. Immediately after his resignation, he was appointed one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the State. Sensibly alive to the difficult duties of this station, distrusting his legal acquirements, and impressed with the great injury he might produce to suitors by erroneous decisions, he advanced to the office with reluctance, and in a short time resigned, leaving it open for those who he believed were better qualified than himself to discharge its intricate and important duties. Unambitious of those distinctions and honors, which young men are usually proud to possess, and finding too that his circumstances and condition in life were not such as to permit his time and attention to be devoted to public matters, he determined to yield them into other hands, and to devote himself

to agricultural pursuits: and accordingly settled himself on an excellent farm ten miles from Nashville, on the Cumberland river, where for several years he enjoyed all the comforts of domestic and social intercourse. Abstracted from the busy scenes of public life, pleased with retirement, surrounded by friends whom he loved, and who entertained for him the highest veneration and respect, and blessed with an amiable and obedient wife, nothing seemed wanting to the completion of that happiness which he so anxiously desired while in office.

CHAPTER II.

FROM THE BEGINNING OF 1812, TO THE MONTH OF MAY IN THAT YEAR.

He is called from his retirement-Assembles 2500 volunteers-Descends the Mississippi 300 miles-Is ordered to disband his troops and give up his stores to the regular army stationed there—Refuses to comply with the order-Fulfills his compact with his volunteers, by taking them back safely to their homes.

THE repose of Jackson, and the pleasures derived from his farm, were now destined to be abandoned for the duties of public life. After many years of negotiation and entreaty with Great Britain,-after forbearance such as no country in the world ever showed before,--the Congress, unanimously called upon by the people for that purpose, declared war against Great Britain.

The Government of the United States, during the same year in which they declared the war, made preparations for calling out volunteers for the defense of the country. Jackson, then happy on his farm in the neighborhood of Nashville, which lies in about the middle of the fine State of Tennessee, which is bounded on the north by Kentucky, on the east by the Allegany mountains, on the south by the States of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and on the west by the great river Mississippi,-Jackson, happy on his farm, in the midst of this fine and flourishing State, and retired as he apparently thought for ever, from all public affairs, though only forty-five years of age, was again roused by the insults that had been so repeatedly offered to his country, by the wrongs inflicted upon her citizens, and by the recollection, no doubt, of the death of his mother, of the death of his brother Robert, of the cause of those deaths; and, if he could have forgotten the horrid account of the injuries inflicted upon the country of his father and his mother, there was that scar on his hand, inflicted by a British officer, who had aimed a blow at his life because he had refused to clean the dirt off his boots; there was that scar to keep his virtu

ous resentment alive, even if he could have forgotten the wrongs of Ireland, and the ruin and extermination of every relation in the world.

Nevertheless, he did not seek a command in the regular army which was about to be raised; but the Congress having passed an act in February, and another in July, 1812, authorizing the President (then Madison) to accept of the services of fifty thousand volunteers, he addressed the citizens of his division, and twenty-five hundred flocked to his standard. A tender of them having been made, and the offer accepted, in November, 1812, he received orders to place himself at their head and to descend the Mississippi, for the defense of the lower country, which was then supposed to be in danger. Accordingly, on the 10th of December, 1812, those troops rendezvoused at Nashville prepared to advance to the place of their destination; and although the weather was then excessively severe, and the ground covered with snow, no troops could have displayed greater firmness. The general was everywhere with them, inspiring them with the ardor that animated his own bosom. The cheerful spirit with which they submitted to hardships and bore privations on the very onset of their military career, as well as the order and subordination they so readily observed, were happy presages of what was to be expected when they should be directed to face an enemy.

Natchez is a town on the banks of the Mississippi, full three hundred miles from Nashville, and about a hundred miles from New-Orleans, which is near the mouths of the Mississippi. Natchez was the place of rendezvous. He arrived there in the month of January; and very soon afterward, there took place a transaction which gave the Government of the United States a specimen of that inflexibility of character in him which has since been so fully developed, under circumstances of greater peril than any other man has ever encountered.

Having procured supplies, and made the necessary arrangments for an active campaign, they proceeded the 7th of January, 1813, on their journey; and, descending the Ohio and Mississippi through cold and ice, arrived and halted

at Natchez. Here Jackson had been instructed to remain until he should receive further orders. Having chosen a healthy site for the encampment of his troops, he devoted his time, with the utmost industry, to training and preparing them for active service. The clouds of war, however, in that quarter having blown over, an order was received from the Secretary of War, dated the 5th of January, 1813, directing him, on the receipt thereof, to dismiss those under his command from service, and to take measures for delivering over every article of public property in his possession to Brigadiergeneral Wilkinson. When this order reached his camp, there were one hundred and fifty on the sick report, fifty-six of whom were unable to rise from their beds, and almost the whole of them destitute of the means of defraying the expenses of their return. The consequence of a strict compliance with the Secretary's order inevitably would have been, that many of the sick must have perished, while most of the others, from their destitute condition, would of necessity have been compelled to enlist in the regular army, under General Wilkinson. Such alternatives were neither congenial with their general's wishes nor such as they had expected, on adventuring with him in the service of their country. He had carried them from home, and, the fate of war and disease apart, it was his duty, he believed, to bring them back. Whether an expectation that, by this plan, many of them would be forced into the regular ranks, had formed any part of the motive that occasioned the order for their discharge at so great a distance from home, cannot be known; and it would be uncharitable to insinuate against the Government so serious an accusation, without the strongest evidence to support it. Be this as it may, General Jackson could not think of sacrificing or injuring an army that had shown such devotedness to their country; and he determined to disregard the order, and march them again to their homes, where they had been embodied, rather than discharge them where they would be exposed to the greatest hardships and dangers. To this measure he was prompted, not only by the reasons already mentioned, but by the consideration that many of the troops under his command were young men, the children of