son a note, in his name, requesting him either to declare the story respecting the threatened chastisement untrue, or to hold himself in readiness to give him personal satisfaction. We both looked upon this as offering him a chance of withdrawing from his boasts, by a couple of friendly words addressed to me. So I took Nott's letter to the dwelling of Mr. Saul, but not finding him at home, looked for him in the street, and met him coming back from the cricket ground. I proceeded to hand him the little note with all due politeness. He read it through apparently without any agitation, and replied in a defiant, arrogant tone that he would send a reply. " Through whom, Mr. Saul 1 I ask, in order that I may have an interview with your friend." " That is none of your business !" he answered with persistent insolence. " Well, then," I rejoined, " give me a line to show that my friend's letter has reached your hands, and my mission is then completed!" Saul's response to this demand was a furious blow of his fist in my right eye—he had always boasted of his skill and practice as a boxer— and I, whom the fracture of my arm, a couple of months before, had rendered utterly unable to make any resistance, broke away from him and hurried across the street; however, he followed me, and seizing me by the' collar, jerked me backwards to the ground. While I was in this position he beat my head against the edge of the curb-stone with such violence that I lay there senseless and bleeding. A couple of acquaintances, who found me in this condition, brought me, not without some trouble, to my home, and I was there confined to bed by my wounds and bruises during a whole fortnight.
Nott called to see me at once, and remarked that he knew what was reserved for him to do, and that he hoped, in the course of the next morning, to bring me some gratifying news of my assassin, as he called him. About 10 o'clock on the ensuing day he came into my room, with the words : " Your assassin, Mr. Nolte, is weltering in his blood !" " What!" I exclaimed, " dead V " No!" he answered, " not dead, but shot through the body !" And here he went on to tell me, that the moment he heard of the treatment I had received, he sent Saul a challenge to meet him the next morning, with pistols, and at the same time declaring
that the whole business must be done within twelve hours. Saul had agreed to meet him at 8 o'clock, and I now knew the result. It appeared, upon examination, that Saul's wound would have been mortal had he not, contrary to all the rules of the duello, wrapped a silk bandage around his body ; Nott's bullet had struck him, but its force was broken by the band of silk, which was ten yards in length, and wrapped several times about Saul's person, and glanced aside, lodging beneath one of his right ribs. A fortnight afterwards I was well, and did not delay 24 hours in demanding personal satisfaction from Mr. Saul, for the mal-treatment he had inflicted on me. His reply was that " he had already given Mr. Nott personal satisfaction for what had occurred between him and me, and that he was not bound to render account to any one else." The reader will at once perceive that this was a reply not calculated to meet my wishes. I again wrote to Saul, that I would not accept such a reply ; that Mr. Nott had looked upon the treatment I had received as a personal insult to himself, bu that I was not accustomed to settle my accounts at the cost ot other people, and that what I expected from him was instant sat isfaction. I waited three days for a reply, but in vain. I then resolved to have my two letters and his reply printed, with the words beneath them: " I do, therefore, hereby declare Joseph Saul to be a worthless rascal and a coward!" This card, signed by me, was then posted on all the public places and street corners, and by seven o'clock the following morning they were everywhere visible. The excitement in the city was very great; public opinion—that is to say, all those who were not afraid of having the discounting of their notes refused, for it was generallv believed that their acceptance or rejection depended upon the disposition of the cashier—spoke loudly in my favor. I, however, felt unhappy to the last degree, so long as I had not got satisfaction from the aggressor, and for some time knew scarcely what to do, as my crippled arm deprived me of the possibility of encountering him in any other way than with the pistol; and, consequently, I could not venture to lay the cowhide over his shoulders. At length I bethought me of a plan which I considered infallible, for the attainment of my object. It was as follows s—
9
Among the generals on the American side who had been sent to the Canadian frontiers, not merely for the purpose of defending them, but also to carry on offensive operations against the English army then extended along the lines, was one named William Hull, who, upon the first approach of the English corps, although it was inferior to his own, retreated, and at last surrendered, without striking a blow. He was soon afterwards exchanged, and immediately upon his return brought before a court-martial, which sentenced him to be degraded from the service, and, by public proclamation, declared him to be a poltroon and coward. I had a letter published in the " Ami des Lois," purporting to be from the condemned general to one of his friends in New Orleans, in which he bitterly complained of his hard lot, but more particularly of the wretched position in which he was placed by his sentence ; since, from the moment when he was proclaimed a coward, no one would have anything to do with him, much less extend a hand to grasp his. He could, therefore, continued the letter, no longer remain in Boston, and was longing to find some other place where people did not think so much of such affairs ; and, if it were true, as he had learned, that Joseph Saul, cashier of the Orleans Bank, was about to resign his place and retire, he would be glad to fill the vacancy, as he had been told that, in spite of the disgraceful reputation of being a cowardly knave, a man could carry on business with the greatest boldness ; and that there were even some folks there who, on discounting day, would hold out a friendly hand; and that, as he was not a whit better or worse than this Saul, he deserved to be placed upon as good a level. In common with every honorable man in New Orleans, I had a right to expect that this letter, the authorship of which the newspaper editor was empowered to reveal, would bring the individual on whom it bore into the field, but I counted without my host.
Mr. Saul, and the clique that counselled him did not look upon matters in that light. They were, indeed, anxious to wipe out the dishonor put upon him, but without danger to him, and at all events, not at their own expense. They imagined that I would not be so rash as to fight, notwithstanding my crippled arm, and that it was only recessary to provide some vent for my ill
humor. So they hit upon the plan of hunting up some one whom they could, without great difficulty, persuade to send me a challenge, not for any reasonable cause, so that I, as they presumed would happen, should decline it, and yield them all the pleasure of posting me at the corners of the streets, as I had done to their friend Saul. With this intention, they looked about them for some time without success; but after the lapse of a fortnight, chance favored their sinister project. A nephew of General Hull, named Allen, who was then at Mobile, in the capacity of under Paymaster to a regiment of United States troops, quartered there, came on to New Orleans to attend to some regimental business. They found him out, and the endeavor to work up sufficiently, terminated as they wished. At the same time I received warning that family friends of General Hull were preparing to wreak vengeance on me. The editor of the " Ami des Lois," let me know that there had'been some one inquiring of him who it was that had written the offensive letter, and that the person wishing to know was called Allen. On the next day, while at table, I received a visit from Captain Perry, who handed me an open letter, signed by Mr. Allen; and informed me that the latter on his own behalf, and in the name of his family, demanded personal satisfaction of me for having disrespectfully used the name of their unfortunate relative, General Hull. I replied, that I was ready to grant it, and that if he would be at the French Exchange by 8 o'clock, I would send him my friend Nott, to make the necessary preparations for the meeting. Nott at once expressed his willingness to act as my second in the affair, and met Captain Perry that evening at the Exchange. They arranged that the duel should take place at 7 o'clock the next morning, on the road to the Bayou* St. John; that pistols should be the weapons used, the distance ten paces, and that we should both fire at the same moment, upon the given word. Nott returned to the Exchange while I remained at home to write some letters, and make some needful preparations. An hour later, Nott came back to me and said :—" They appear to rue the step they have
* Bayou is the local name for a small river or creek.
taken." "How is that?" I asked. "Well," replied Nott, "I have just net Captain Perry, at the Exchange, and he came right up to me, with a very friendly air, expressing his regret that things had gone so far. He confessed that he had been led into error by people representing that you were an insolent European, who imagined that he could say or do anything to Americans ; he then went on to say that the only thing required was a slight correction of language, rather than anything serious, and that you would assuredly decline the challenge." (I should then have had the pleasure of beholding my name figuring on all the street corners !) " Instead of finding a disagreeable person, he continued, he was received by you in the politest manner possible; and, after promptly accepting the challenge, you had offered a glass of d—d good Madeira; it would be a pity to see two clever men, who had no real cause of animosity against each other, fighting for a mere piece of s^ort, which had been misunderstood ! Is there no way, he said, in conclusion, of settling the matter peaceably 1 I replied," continued Nott," that I could see no possibility of such an arrangement, now that the challenge had been sent in and accepted. He then rejoined, that if the challenge were returned with a simple declaration that there had beeii no intention of offending the Hull family, he would take it upon himself to have the thing set right. And now, it depends upon you ; will you return the challenge V
" Not at all," I answered, adding that I would have accepted this offer without hesitation, if they had acted in some other fashion; but that now, since the challenge had been given and taken up, no retraction was to be thought of; I, at the same time, remarked to Nott, that I had already perceived how it was in New Orleans, where so many adventurers and worthless men from distant regions, flocked in, and endeavored, although rogues, to pass for honest men; no other way w r as open for them than to attack the personal courage of a man, so that because they w r ere always ready to fight, they might put forward higher claims to consideration than the good and prudent citizen who was unwil-ling to jeopard his life, and the fortunes of his family at any and every moment for nothing For that reason, said I to Nott,
I have resolved to let slip no opportunity of making such a sacrifice, in duty to myself and my own peace of mind, — the first course I had taken was the best, and I would not recede from it." Nott admitted that I was perfectly right; he confessed that in view of the usages and customs prevailing where a man is living, no other means of securing his tranquillity is open to him than to bow sometimes before necessity, even should he do it, with a protest in his heart, and without respect for the system he was thus compelled to obey.
The next morning, I met my antagonist, whom I had never before seen, at the appointed rendezvous. He was accompanied by Captain Perry and Dr. Hermann, a German, employed as a surgeon in the American army. My medical attendant was a Frenchman named Gros, now a resident at Tarbes, among the Pyrenees. At the first fire, the barrel of my adversary's pistol was struck by my ball, and fell broken to the ground. Before the second, I was asked by Captain Perry if I had anything to say: I, of course, replied in the negative, adding that I should remain in my present attitude until parties declared themselves satisfied. The bullets crossed without effect. At the third fire, when my ball grazed my adversary's right sh^hlder, and glanced past the back of his skull, he exclaimed :—" By God ! that seems enough!" Our seconds then had a brief consultation together, and at length announced to me that Mr. Allen would approach me unarmed, and with outstretched hand, and that if I would then step forward to meet him in the same way, and declare that in the letter I had got the Ami des Lois to publish, I had not meant to insult the family of General Hull, the affair would be at an end. I consented to this, and the next day my disclaimer to this effect, appeared in the Ami des Lois with the addition, that the real object of that letter had been no other than to lash Mr. Joseph Saul with the scourge of ridicule, for his pitiful cowardice.
About three days after the duel, I met Mr. Allen. He approached me, with tears in his eyes, and taking my hand in a friendly way, confessed that he had acted in a hostile spirit towards me, but that he had been set on to do it, and become the blind instrument of persons whose secret purpose he bad not at
first divined. I begged him to tell me the names of these honorable people, and learned just as I had all along taken for granted, that they were no other than Mr. Saul, and his clique.
I have narrated the story of these personal difficulties, which can have no very great interest for my readers, with a certain degree of minuteness, so as to present a fair view of the social condition of things in New Orleans, at that period. It was not only a nest of pirates, but a place of resort for every description of schemers and scamps, against whom nearly every other community was closed. Nott, an American by birth, who had lived for some time in France, and could boast a degree of culture, and I, held ourselves aloof as much as possible from such a population, and visited only some of the older and most respectable families, never going near any of the drinking establishments, gambling saloons, &a, &c. For this very reason, we were hated and persecuted by the mass of the population, and looked upon with suspicion. " Inimical to the best interests of the country," was the usual phrase applied to us, although the existence of such an idea long remained unknown to us.
Just about this time there was a rumor afloat of a large expedition fitting ou^in England, against the southern coasts of the United States, especially the seaboard of Louisiana. A freebooter gang, under an English major named Nicholas, had placed itself in communication with the pirates of Barataria, and English cruisers were from time to time seen in the Gulf of Mexico, and off the mouths of the Mississippi. Navigation on the two lakes, Borgne and Pontchartrain, back of New Orleans, had never been disturbed, and to the entrance of Mobile Bay or Mobile Point, as it is called, to the harbor of Pensacola, which remained opened to the English and their flag, was about six hours sail. At Pensacola, Louisiana cotton could not be procured by the English for less than from 22 to 24 cents per pound, while in New Orleans it cost only half that rate. Intercourse was then carried on between the country bordering the lakes, and even between New Orleans and Pensacola, by means of small craft, counting from ten to fifteen tons, which conveyed flour, wine, spirituous liquors, etc., etc., to and j. The whole flotilla amounted to about
twenty-five sail. One morning I chartered the larger .£ these, loaded them with cotton, to the extent of about 250 bales in all, and dispatched them to Mobile Bay, there to await my arrival. A day or two afterwards I reached the place, in a small empty schooner, and lay close to Fort Mobile, before which a small English squadron was cruising, and at length began to make preparations for bombarding the fort. The attack came at last, and continued, right before my eyes, from one o'clock in the afternoon until seven in the evening. The little fort withstood the cannonade of five war vessels most bravely, and responded to it with such effect as evidently to occasion them very great damage. I now brought the whole of my little flotilla from the middle of the bay close to the fort, and waited in my little clipper for the retreat of the British squadron. When this occurred, at sundown, I sailed along close at its heels, yet at a certain distance, and saw that it bore direct for Pensacola, where, thought I, they would be more likely to occupy themselves with repairing their damage than in capturing small craft like mine. So I returned to the bay, hauled out my flotilla, and, favored during the night by a cloudless moon and fair wind, brought it by sunrise safe into the harbor of Pensacola. Here I sold my cotton, on the spot, at twenty-two cents per pound, and in return purchased three packs woollen blankets at five and a half to six dollars. With these I went through Mobile Bay and the small lakes back to New Orleans, where the blankets were worth from ten to eleven dollars. The proper period for the sale of that article is in December, at the beginning of the sugar crop. Everybody thought this little venture of mine a pretty thing, and greeted me on 'Change with, "Ah, you have been to visit your friends the English ?"
Saul and his set, who never rested in their hostility to me, had fished up another dupe, in the person of a certain purser Shields, of the navy, whose head they had filled with stories of the intrigues and treasonable plots, in which they represented Nott and myself to be engaged. This half-crazy fellow had repeatedly gone so far, in conversation with Dr. Morris—a surgeon in the navy, who freqi ently visited us—as to say that he had testimony in his possession which would convince him (Dr. Morris) that we were
regular traitors, hostilely disposed towards the American government, and unfair in our dealings. Peremptorily called upon to come forward with this testimony, he retracted, so for as Nott was concerned ; " Since," said he, " Nott was a native, and not, like me, an adopted American, and consequently must love his own country more than any other; but what he had asserted respecting me he would maintain. The real motive that impelled him to draw this distinction between Nott and myself lay in the fact that Nott was one of the best marksmen in the city, while, in my case, owing to my crippled arm, there was not so much risk to be incurred. A polite letter which I wrote to him, requesting him to name a place and hour, where he would unfold to a friend, whom I would dispatch to him for that purpose, the proofs of my " hostile intentions" and my " unfairness," remained during several days unanswered—he was compelled to visit Mobile on business, and would have to postpone the desired information until his return. Having, at length, got back from Mobile, a fortnight elapsed before he took any step, and he then employed the pen of an attorney to write me a letter, full of the most pitiful subterfuge, and declaring that he had not made himself responsible for the production of those proofs before any one but Dr. Morris. A second letter from me, of a less mild but rather very positive character, also remained for some time unanswered. At this moment our civil and military authorities received information, from the government at Washington, that an English fleet, with a considerable body of troops on board, and bound for Louisiana, had not only sailed from England, but had even left Jamaica, and that we had to expect its speedy appearance in our waters, and must be prepared for it. Now came some lines from Mr. Shields, informing me that at this conjuncture he must devote all his attention to the country's service, and therefore let our differences rest until the critical moment had passed. The whole affair was, in Itself of so contemptible a description, the individual with whom 1 had to deal such a silly jackanapes, and my disgust for the business so profound, that I determined to throw no difficulty in the way of his doing what he mentioned in his letter, but to wait with * hope that he would, in the meanwhile, come to the use of his
senses, and make some reparation. The presence of any narrative touching this contemptible affair, in the place where the reader finds it, is due to nothing but the influence it exercised upon my second duel. Moreover, it completes the picture of the then existing social relations at New Orleans—a state of things which seems scarcely credible at the present day.
CHAPITER XII. JACKSON'S DEFENCE OF THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS.
His arrival there on the 1st of December, 1814—Simultaneous arrival of the English fleet in the waters of Florida—Capture of our gunboats by the English, on the 14th of December—March of our militia battalions to the Bayou St. John, on Lac Borgne—On the 23d of December, the first intelligence is received that the British had landed on the plantation of General Villere"—We are ordered to the spot with all the troops under Jackson's command—The night engagement of December 23d—The burning of our cutter, the Carolina, by an English battery, on Christmas day—The heavy cannonade on New-Year's day, 1815—The complete discomfiture of the British force, under General Pakenham, on the occasion of its attack on our first line, January 8th, 1815—Immensely disproportionate loss of the English—Completion of the British retreat, on January 16th.
The crisis was indeed a serious one. The President of the United States had commissioned General Jackson, who com-„ manded the militia of the State of Tennessee, to defend the southern coasts against the anticipated invasion of the British. This personage had never enjoyed the least opportunity of obtaining any regular military instruction. He had passed a great portion of his earlier years in the political contests and broils of the regions in which he lived ; and had even been accustomed to carry and use his pistols in the very courts where he had sat as judge ; while of the art of war he knew nothing but its fortitude and perseverance, although well acquainted with the barbarity of combats with the Indian tribes, and the cold-blooded massacre ard extirpation meted out to the savage race.
It was on the 1st of December, 1814, that Jackson made his appearance in the neighborhood of New Orleans with somewhat less than 1500 men. This feeble force embarked on flats and
keel-boats at Nashville, in the State of Tennessee, had floated out of the Cumberland river, and thence descended the Mississippi to its destination. It was made up partly of volunteers and partly of drafted militia, drawn by lot from among the male inhabitants of Tennessee and Kentucky. Among the volunteers was a body of about five hundied men, who had taken part with Jackson in the Indian wars. They were commanded by General Coffee, and formed what was called Coffee's Brigade. They were the best and most practised men of the 1500, and were subdivided into companies of riflemen, which were under the command of captains, lieutenants, and sergeants, elected by themselves; a system that applied to the whole mass. These men carried nothing but their pieces, their cartouch-boxes and powder-horns—their bullets were usually in their pantaloons pockets—they had no idea whatever of military organization and discipline: they paid attention only to the more important part of their calling, which, according to their notions, was quietly to pick out their man, fix him in their aim, and " bring him down."
General Jackson had a Captain Haines and a Major Reed, of the militia, for military adjutants, and a Colonel Butler, of an American regiment of the line for quarter-master. Not one of these gentlemen, Jackson himself included, understood one word of French, which was the language then generally spoken in Louisiana, much less were they in the slightest degree acquainted with the way of thinking, ideas, manners, and customs of the population, which was chiefly of French origin. Upon this occasion, the lawyer, Edward Livingston, whom J have already mentioned, and who was then residing at New Orleans, renewed his acquaintanceship with Jackson; who at once saw of what invaluable service this skilful and experienced man, who had for more than ten years lived in close contact with the mixed population of Louisiana, might then be, and afterwards become, to him. Again, the General knew much better how to handle the sword than the pen, and although he had been both a lawyer and a judge, wrote his native tongue in a very imperfect and unorthographic style: how, then, could he have hit upon a better hand to prepare his dispatches for the government, than the author of the Criminal Code in Lou-
isiana, his friend, the renowned writer and orator, Edward Livingston 1 This was sufficient reason for a joyful acceptance of his offer to act as Jackson's volunteer aid and private secretary! Livingston had himself dubbed colonel, and, in addition to his services, those of his brother-in-law Davezac, elsewhere mentioned, and of two other lawyers, A. L. Duncan and John R. Grymes, by name, along with Duplessis, the district marshal, or five persons in all, were accepted in the capacity of volunteer adjutants ; the two lawyers, with the title of colonel, and the district marshal and Livingston's brother-in-law, as majors. Among this quintuple staff of adjutants, Livingston himself was the most distinguished and really useful man, while Grymes was the intrepid one of their number ; the other three were of very little, if any service, as the sequel will show, and were entirely out of their element, when it came to confronting the hostile fire. Livingston had until then lain under the suspicion of poltroonery, and if the celebrated French academician and historian Mignet, speaks, in his obituary of Edward Livingston, published in the Journal des Debats, of the daring courage which distinguished that gentleman amid the perils of battle, he had no other authority for the narrative than Livingston himself. As Jackson once said, " Fighting, not writing, is my business!" Livingston might have exclaimed in the inverse sense, " Writing, not fighting, is my business!" Again, as to this matter, the reader will learn, in the course of the present history, with what zeal the volunteer adjutants, of whom only one showed any real bravery, applied themselves to the work of informing their contemporaries and posterity after them of their personal prowess. The excellent proclamations addressed by Jackson to the country, to the inhabitants of the city, and to the citizen militia ; all the dispatches sent to the President, at Washington, in relation to the events and operations transpiring until the invading British force had withdrawn, were from Livingston's pen. The dispatch at the close of the brief campaign is from the hand of Mr. Grymes.
On December 14th, 1814, intelligence was received at New Orleans that the English squadron, under the command of Cochrane and Malcolm, with a considerable body of troops on
board, had appeared in the waters of the Florida Gulf. At once all was bustle at New Orleans—Jackson was untiringly active. A mile and a half in the rear of the city flows the Bayou St. John into the small Lac Borgne, of which I have already spoken. From this lake the Gulf of Florida is reached by a narrow pass, called " Les rigoletsP At the mouth of this bayou stands a small fort, and another is placed half way up the pass, but both together do not count more than ten cannon. The entrance to this pass was guarded by five small gunboats, of which each one carried a 24 pounder and two small carronades, and was commanded by officers of the United States navy.
On the 14th of December these gunboats were attacked by the English, in boats filled with seamen and marines, and after a brief struggle overpowered. The English had not one single piece of cannon in their small craft, but sustained the fire of the gunboats with great coolness as they approached, and took them by boarding. It was on the morning of the 16th, or two days after this occurred, that Jackson learned the capture of his flotilla.
The only perfectly armed, well equipped, and really disciplined corps of the citizen militia under the general's command, was the little first battalion of the first regiment, consisting of about 550 men, and counting, among its officers some who had fought beneath the eye of Napoleon in Egypt; as, for example, Mr. P. Roche, at that time a French bookseller at New Orleans. My situation had become a critical one. I was entitled to complete exemption from military duty, owing to the fact of having been disabled by my fall of the preceding year. I could have folded my arms with a good conscience; and, not as many of the young inhabitants of New Orleans would have liked to do with flimsy pretexts, have remained inside of the city : but, as the suspicion of entertaining a secret preference for the English and English interests rested on me, I could not have done so without incurring malicious remarks, and, very probably, persecution. Apart from this inferior motive for action, I could not coolly have listened to the near roll of musketry and the thunder of cannon without excitement. For this reason, then, I determined to join the small corps referred te. as a member of the so-called Carabineer company.
The little battalion was sent, on that very same day (December lGth) by Jackson, to Bayou St. John, and placed under the command of Major J. B. Planche, a native of Louisiana, who had hitherto commanded the Carabineers. A second company, the Chasseurs, was put under the order of St. Romes, an emigrant from St. Domingo, and at that time one of the editors of the Courrier de la Louisiane, instead of their captain, Daquin, who had commanded them up to that moment; a third was intrusted to St. Geme, another French emigrant, who had been for some time in the English service at Jamaica; a fourth, consisting entirely of Irishmen, had one of their countrymen, called Maunsel White, at their head; and the remainder of the battalion, was composed of volunteer mulattoes and negroes, who had selected Daquin, formerly a baker at St. Domingo, for their commander. Jackson's whole force consisted of these two half battalions, a brace of companies belonging to the second regiment of United States regulars, one company of artillerists, also from the regular army, and under the command of Captain Humphries, a company of marines led by Major Carmick, and the 1,500 riflemen from Tennessee and Kentucky, who were stationed above the city. At that moment, too, there was formed a company of volunteer riflemen, under the command of a Mr. Beale, a man of advanced years, a native of Virginia, and then residing in New Orleans, where he had some reputation as a fine marksman. This company was principally made up of Americans from the northern states, and people of some instruction: it numbered among its ranks Mr. B. Lewis, Judge of the first District Court in Louisiana, B. Chew, Director of the Custom House, Messrs. Montgomery & Touro, still living, and known as wealthy and respectable merchants, the deceased merchants, Story, Kenner, and Henderson, the lawyer Pouter de Peystee, and many others. The carabineers, under the orders of Roche, also contained many of the elite of the population, among them Messrs. Millaudon, Musson, McCall and Shepherd, the former three still living. Jackson's perseverance and energy, in availing himself of every resource at his command, were indefatigable ; and all the more necessary too, that the government, owing to the lack of pecuniary resources, had left Louisiana almost unprovi
ded ; but again, more especially, in its arrangements, for the land troops and marines had displayed a most astonishing ignorance and carelessness. Thus, they had sent molasses from Boston by land and down the western rivers to New Orleans, apparently entirely forgetting that Boston and the northeastern States procured that very article by sea from New Orleans! What I am about to relate in the next paragraph will convey an idea of the use Jackson managed to make of his scattered and merely adventitious resources, as well as the skill Livingston displayed in turning them to account.
I have already referred to the colony of pirates, which infested the little islands that are dotted along the southern shores of Louisiana, and had their main resort at Barataria during the earlier years of the American occupancy of that province. At the head of these marauding bands were the two brothers Lafitte, from Ba-yonne, the elder of whom called himself the emperor of Barataria, and often published parodies of the Napoleonic proclamations in the paper of his friend Leclerc. I have also intimated that Lafitte, his brother Beluche, and others, celebrated pirates, frequently showed themselves in the streets of New Orleans, which they usually paraded arm in arm with Livingston's brother-in-law, Davezac, and with Leclerc, both of whom they regarded as bosom-friends. Several times caught, as they were, Livingston and his brother-in-law always managed to get them released. The native-born citizens of French origin, or Creoles, as they are called, and the French and Spaniards who had settled there, could not appreciate the superiority of a jury, but fourd it a rather burdensome arrangement. It is better, said they, to have salaried judges : and when a case arose, where pirates were to be liberated, the success was almost a certainty. Ces gens la, said most of the French, font leurs affaires, pour qu oi g frier leur metier I —those people have their own pursuit, why interfere with it % Their accomplice and • business agent in New Orleans was called Sauvinet (I have named him before), and also hailed from Bayonne. He had a counting-room in the suburb of Marigny, where he employed a bookkeeper, named Laporte, who worked for me in the years 1806 and 1807. When the pirate settlement in the island of Barataria had been
driven out by the American navy, Beluche, who afterwards entered the service of the young Venezuelan republic as a commodore, and a certain Dominique, took the piratical business into their own hands as an inheritance, by default of other heirs. The latter, a remarkably bold man, had been captured by the American revenue cutters, and when the English fleet, under Admirals Cochrane and Malcolm, appeared in the waters of Florida, was confined in the jail at New Orleans. Countless proofs of his piracies, even against American shipping, and of the cooperation of Beluche, who had escaped in time, were in the hands of the American government, and the gallows seemed unavoidable. Investigation had led to the discovery that Major St. Geme (referred to above), of our battalion, was Dominique's partner and go-between. This man was, like Sauvinet, in good circumstances, and owned several houses in the city. Dominique, in jail, and Sauvinet, outside of it, applied to Livingston, and made him their legal adviser and attorney. The sum offered to him, if he should succeed in procuring their liberation, of course could never be exactly ascertained. Common report throughout the city put it as high as 15,000 Spanish dollars. The overwhelming evidence against Dominique rendered his judicial release impossible ; but his liberation, and the quashing of all further proceedings against him, St. Geme, Beluche, and all the rest who were suspected of being pirates, was brought about by Livingston, who resorted to the very simple means of getting Dominique and Beluche to offer their services to Jackson against the English, in the name of their bands, under condition that he would apply to the President of the United States for their pardon. Jackson was too keen not to see through Livingston's object at once; he had found in him a man who was not troubled by any scruples of conscience, and to whom, as to himself, all means were good that led to the accom plishment of an object. Moreover, good fighting men were wanted, and Livingston represented the advantages that were to be anticipated from the cooperation of these men, from their influence with the lower classes of the French population, from their intrepidity, and their skill in handling the heavier description of artillery, ir such glowing colors, that the general at length gave his
consent, all the more readily that he was aware of the negotiations that the English adventurer, Edward Nicholas, had ere this been carrying on with them. The prison-door was thrown open to Dominique, Beluche presented himself, and in a few days the two received the command of a battery, which was afterwards called No. 3, and with which I was brought into close contact.
In the forenoon of December 23d, Jackson received the first intelligence of the landing of the British. The news was sent to him by the militia general Villere, a sugar planter. Five or six hundred of the invading troops had landed on his estate, which they had reached by the small canal Villere, flowing into Lac Borgne. A picket guard of young planters had been intrusted with the charge of watching the entrance to this small canal, although no one had thought it likely that the enemy would attempt to land there. These young gentlemen, persuaded that there was nothing to apprehend, meanwhile amused themselves in hunting through the neighboring woods, so that, during their absence, the English boats were enabled to pass unperceived up the channel, and land their troops. General Villere discovered them, one morning when he went out to examine his sugar fields. The English had thus been on shore for three days before the fact was known in New Orleans. But Jackson's resolution was now taken. " We will," said he ; " now give them a little taste of what they may expect! They shall find out whom they have to deal with !" When he heard the women and children crying for terror, in the streets, he ordered Livingston to tell them that " he was there, and that the British should never get into the city, so long as he held the command !"
In some accounts of that epoch, it is affirmed that the general, at once, arrested and imprisoned suspicious citizens; but such a thing was not thought of, as there was neither time nor occasion for the adoption of any such measure. The general was burning with impatience to come to close quarters with the red coats, as he called them. He wanted to fight. There was no computation of relative force, and not much idea of tactics, or plan. Jackson had bent all the strength of his will on one single point, and that was to meet, and drive off the red coats. " I will smash them,"
he would exclaim, " so help me God !" Two field-pieces, with the few companies of regulars, were at once ordered, under Captain Humphries, to pass down the only military road, which runs along the left bank of the Mississippi river, from and to the city. They were to proceed as far as Villere's plantation, and were followed by the companies of sharp-shooters, under Beale, whose directions were to throw themselves into the thickets and low-woods, cyprieres, as they are termed ; next to these came the 1200 riflemen from Tennessee, who had been provided with horses from all the neighboring plantations. These men joined Beale's command, and extended themselves through the woods, called cyprieres, which border all the plantations, until the mulatto-corps, which marched up after them, and formed their right wing, reached the extremity of their long line, and joined them. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon, both the battalions stationed at Bayoi. St. John, received orders to come to the city, with all possible speed. They arrived about 4 o'clock, were immediately inspected before the Fort St. Charles, between the city and the suburb of Marygny, fully provided with powder and ball, and directed at once to follow the mounted Tennessee riflemen. It took these men more than an hour to file past, two by two, with their rifles in their hands and resting on their knee, each following the other step by step. Our Major, Planche, was very much agitated. He turned round to me and said, in almost piteous tone, " Alas ! I scarcely feel that I have courage enough to lead fathers of families to battle!" But our Captain, Roche, who was " made of sterner stuff," and might be called a practiced soldier, rejoined: " Don't talk in that way, Major! Come now ! that's not the kind of tone to use, at this time!" With these words, he wheeled about to us, and shouted :—" Come, lads ! forward ! Do your duty like brave fellows!" The Villere plantation was about eight or nine miles from the city. We hurried towards it with a zeal, which, for inexperienced militia who had not yet smelt powder, might have been called almost heroic, had not Jackson's own example spurred us on, or had not many remained in careless ignorance of what awaited them. With our silent band of musicians in front, almost at a running pace, we reached Villere's
plantation within about two hours, just as twilight was drawing on, and in profound silence ; in advance of us, on the road, stood the two companies of regulars, headed by Captain Humphries, with his two field-pieces, and matches lit. The regulars were to have this small battery on their right wing, the battalion of New Orleans volunteers, i. e. the one to which I belonged, joining them, the mulatto corps, under Major Daquin, next to us,—the movement was to be made by echelons, thus forming a connected line with the Tennessee sharp-shooters, who had inarched off to one side; the firing was not to commence until the battery had opened, and the regulars had set the example. At this moment, Captain Roche stepped in front and commanded " Sergeant Roche!" this was his brother. The latter advanced and was met by the Captain, who said, " Let us embrace, brother ! It may be for the last time !" The request was complied with. Then came a second word of command, " Sergeant Roche !—to your post!" We had only completed our echelon march, and taken our posi tions for a few minutes, when the cannon roared ; the return fire rapidly followed, and it was by the flash of the muskets that w r e, for the first time, got a sight of the red coats of the English, who were posted on a small acclivity in front of us, about a gun-shot distant. I noted this circumstance, and at the same moment observed the peculiar method of firing adopted by the English, who still kept up the old custom of three deep: one row of men half-kneeling, and two other ranks firing over their shoulders. This style of firing, along with the darkness of the evening, explained to me the reason why the enemy's balls, w T hich we heard whistling by, mostly flew over our heads, and only seven men were wounded, five of them belonging to our own company. After the lapse of about twenty minutes, the word w r as passed to cease firing. On the English side only a few r retreating discharges were dropped in, from time to time. We saw about sixty English captured by the Tennessee riflemen, and led off towards the road, and at the same time, learned that about one half of our own sharp-shooters, from the city, had fallen into the hands of the English. Their Captain, Beale, a great braggart, who was the ally and friend of my miserable enemy, Saul, had
completely disappeared, so that he was supposed to be dead; for that he would hide, and leave his little command in the lurch, as was afterwards ascertained, no one at that moment believed ; but not one of these volunteers was really shot, excepting Parmlee, a merchant.
The night was very cold. Wearied by our long march, and standing in the open field, we all wanted to make a fire, and at length, at the special request of our major, permission to kindle one was obtained. Within twenty minutes we saw innumerable watchfires blazing up in a line extending, like a crescent, from the shores of the Mississippi to the woods, and stretching far away behind the plantations of Villere, Lacoste, and others, occupied by the English, on whose minds, as well as on our own, the impression must have been produced, that Jackson had many more troops under his command and near the spot than any one had supposed. Shortly before daybreak an order came for a general retreat, which our battalion was to cover, and which was to be made in the same order as we observed in assuming our position on the field—Humphries' field-pieces in front, then the regulars ; behind them the mulatto corps, followed by the mounted riflemen, and our battalion bringing up the rear. About three o'clock in the morning we halted, and, as the sun rose, we found ourselves about a mile and a half distant from the little battle-field, and on the plantation of Mr. E. Macarty, where we took up position in the same order as on the previous evening behind the small canal that leads from the military road to the woods or cyprieres which border the shores of Lac Borgne. General Jackson occupied the planter's house as his head-quarters. Our company was stationed at a distance of about 180 steps from it, on the canal. Measures were immediately taken to form intrenchments; i. e., the ground along the canal was thrown up in a sort of parapet or breastwork, to cover the little army. I now, for the first time, learned from my friends, who surrounded the general's person, what had occurred during the night. It had been Jackson's anxious desire to renew at daybreak the conflict, which night had interrupted, and to attack the British vigorously. But he learned, from scouts, that the English Major-< - sneral Keane, who commanded the 1200
men first disembarked, head received a reinforcement of 3500 men. Jackson was, nevertheless, as much as ever disposed to assail the English, with his small force of inexperienced militia, but his aide, Livingston, very prudently advised him to consult Major St. Geme. The latter had gone about a good deal with Moreau, when the latter visited New Orleans a few years before, and had examined its situation with the critical eye of a tactician ; had studied its capabilities for defence in case of a hostile attack, and, hence, was peculiarly fitted to give Jackson some excellent advice. This he did, and had the great merit of making Jackson comprehend that Keane, with his 6,000 men, would, in the open field, surround, defeat, and capture him and his small force of raw levies, who had not much more of the soldier about them than the mere name; he then pointed out the Macarty canal or channel, so called, behind which we had assumed position, as the very spot that Moreau himself had indicated as the best one adapted to a defence of the city, particularly by unpractised troops. Jackson listened to this advice, and, highly as we may prize the merit of his unwearied energy, perseverance, and intrepidity, his self-command upon this occasion is worthy of still loftier praise, as it was a quality which he did not always exhibit during the course of his life; nor must we forget the keen-sightedness that ever distinguished, him, when, as in this case, his own inclinations and passions had to yield to the dictates of calm, calculating reason. He felt that his reputation was at stake—a reputation which he had still to establish, and, consequently, could not trifle with, excepting at the risk of meeting with a fate similar in some respects to that of the unfortunate General Hull, at the beginning of the war; a vicissitude which Jackson's haughty and impatient spirit could scarcely have endured. What obligations, however, the whole country, the State of Louisiana, and particularly the inhabitants of the city, owe to Edward Livingston, the author of its criminal Code, for this sage advice, my readers will be able to judge for themselves, and posterity cannot, without injustice, ignore. I have elsewhere remarked that this accomplished statesman and jurist did not possess the quality of valor, and it consequently awakened the astonishment of every one, when he, on the evening
of the 23d, and through the ensuing night, appeared on horseback, among the whizzing bullets of the British, and seemed by no means an inactive combatant. This was the first, but also the last time he exposed himself, in a similar manner.
On Christmas Day, December 25th, 1814, about 7 o'clock in the morning, we perceived that a small battery of 24-pounders had been put up by the English, on the road skirting the shore and opposite to the little revenue schooner Carolina, which they had been firing into on the preceding evening. This, as we afterwards learned from the British dispatches, had been done under the direction of Admiral Malcolm, the second officer in command of the fleet. He was at the battery in person, and, without loss of time, directed so hot and well-aimed a cannonade at the schooner, that we saw it blow up, in about twenty minutes. While this was transpiring, the English made a very feeble demonstration on the high road, but again fell back. On board of the schooner was the commander of the whole station, my intimate friend, Captain Daniel T. Patterson, now dead; he had left the doomed craft a few moments before the flames reached her magazine, and at once repaired on board of the Louisiana, a small corvette, with an armament of about 16 guns. This vessel had grounded in a shallow, but could sweep the road with her fire, as the Mississippi is scarcely half a mile wide, at that point.
The Legislature was, just at this time, holding its sessions in the city. Jackson had openly declared that he would imitate the example of the Russians at Moscow, and consign the whole city to the flames, should he not be able to defend it, for he was deter mined the English should reap no profit from their success. Several members of the Assembly had talked together about this menace, in the antechamber of the State House, and had consulted together whether it would not be better, should the British prove too strong, to surrender the city, than to have it destroyed in the way proposed; but, no formal .leliberation had taken place. However, Jackson, who had heard what was going on, authorized Governor William C. Claiborne to arrest any of the members who should be heard advocating such a course, in case the deliberation were h«\d. The Governor was no friend of Jackson's: he
feared his superiority, and followed his orders, only, because resistance was impossible. Jackson, who would not tolerate any evasion, dictatorially ordered the Governor, who was a weak, intriguing, spiritless man, more concerned about his personal popularity than for anything else, to make no exception, but to disperse the Assembly, and Claiborne obeyed with visible reluctance, as if he would say: " You see, gentlemen, it is not my fault," and closed the doors of the Legislative Hall.
A general order was now issued, requiring every one who had superfluous arms in his possession, to bring them to the arsenal, and all ab'e-bodied men, between the ages of eighteen and fifty to hold themselves in readiness for military service. No distinction whatever was made between regular inhabitants of the city and strangers who had just come down the river and lodged in the various taverns. These were armed and enrolled in the second regiment Louisiana militia; but were not disciplined. Among them was a Scotch merchant, Andrew Milne by name, of the house of H. Munro and Co., and resident of New Orleans, where he had remained in the quality of a British subject; this man now saw himself compelled to bear arms against his own countrymen, and subjects of the same government.
On the morning after our retreat from the plantation of Villere, where we had attacked the British on the preceding evening, attempts, as I have already stated, were made to throw up a oreast-work along the Macarty canal. The whole soil, in that neighborhood, consists of soft marshy ground, and when you have dug to the depth of three feet, you find nothing but mud and water. Hence, when the effort was made to make an intrench-ment around the camp, and to erect the five or six redoubts which were to have been raised along the Macarty canal, the miriness of the soil rendered all exertions utterly fruitless. A French engineer then suggested to Jackson the idea of filling up the hollowed redoubts with cotton-bales, laid, to the depth of three or four, one above the other: the wooden platforms which were to sustain the heavy cannon which had been dragged from the arsenal, could then be placed upon the cotton-bales, and there secured, while the crenellated openings on both sides of the redoubt could
be constructed with six or eight bales fastened to the main-body of the redoubt by iron rings, and covered with adhesive earth. After the retreat of the English, we heard that they had thought of a similar device; but, as they could find no cotton, they had used, the sugar in casks which they had picked up on the various plantations. Jackson, who at once adopted the plan, was anxious to lose no time. It was intimated to him, that, in the city, he could procure plenty of cotton, at from seven to eight cents per pound; but, that it would cost a whole day to bring it to the spot: he was then told that not far from the camp, and in the rear of his position, there lay a bark in the stream laden with cotton, for Havana: the name of this vessel was the Pallas, unless my memory, after the lapse of thirty-eight years, deceives me, and she was to have sailed before the arrival of the British force. Her cargo consisted of 245 bales, which I had shipped previously to the invasion, and the remainder, about sixty bales, belonged to the Spaniard, named Fernando Alzar, resident at New Orleans. It was only when the cotton had been brought to the camp, and they were proceeding-to lay the first bales in the redoubt, that the marks struck my attention, and I recognized my own property. Adjutant Livingston, who had been my usual legal counsel at New Orleans, that same evening inspected Battery No. 3, where the men were arranging some bales. I was somewhat vexed at the idea of their taking cotton of the best sort, and worth from ten to eleven cents, out of a ship already loaded and on the point of sailing, instead of procuring the cheaper kind, which was to be had in plenty throughout the suburbs of the city, at seven or eight cents, and said as much to Livingston, He, who was never at a loss for a reply, at once answered: " Well, Mr. Nolte, if this is your cotton, "you, at least, will not think it any hardship to defend it." This anecdote, which was first related by myself, gave rise to the story that Jackson, when a merchant was complaining of the loss of his cotton, had ordered a sergeant to hand the gentleman a rifle, with the remark: " No one can defend these cotton-bales better than their owners can, and I hope that you will not leave the spot!"
The line of redoubts, running from the shore to the Cyprieres,
which extended forwards from our left wing to the rear of the English camp, gave shelter to about 1500 men. The whole left wing, by the Cyprieres, was covered with the picked men of Jackson's Tennessee rifle corps. These marksmen had thrown themselves in, among the thickest of the Cyprieres, and had cut narrow openings in every direction, so as to get fair sight, and in these openings they quietly rested their rifles in such a way that they could, to use their own expression, bring down every " redcoat who showed himself within range of their unerring weapons." There could be no pleasanter or more useful way of passing the time, these sharpshooters thought, than in practising their skill upon the enemy's sentinels and outposts, at sunset, and by the first dawn of morning. Even in the night-time, the English post had to be resupplied. How often at sunrise did the invaders find as many corpses stretched on the ground as they had sentinels stationed there, the preceding night!
Some attempts were made to establish a second line of redoubts to the rear of Jackson's first position : but these did not succeed.. At this point were placed the unarmed Kentucky volunteers, who had come down the river, and, as already inti mated, the undisciplined second regiment of Louisiana militia. Communication was by no means cut off between the two lines, no matter how many stories may be told about the second line remaining in complete ignorance of what the first was doing. On the contrary, it was easy to obtain permission from the commanding officers, at any time to visit an acquaintance in the second line, or even in the city. It could not long remain unknown to the English that Jackson had his headquarters in Macarty's house, but the shots they directed against it did very little damage. The house was still standing in the year 1838, when I visited it, and saw the cannon-balls still embedded in its walls, where the owners had, in their enthusiasm, caused them to be gilt, in the year 1822.
At sunrise, on New Year's Day, 1815, both camps were covered by a heavy fog. Through the night we heard a deadened hammering from the English quarters, and when about 8 o'clock the mist began to dissipate, a fearful cannonade commenced upon
10
us. They had brought heavy guns from the fleet, and had erected large batteries of twenty-four and twenty-six pounders. The largest British battery had directed its fire against the battery of the pirates Dominique and Beluche, who had divided our company into two parts, and were supplied with ammunition by it. Once, as Dominique was examining the enemy through a glass, a cannon shot wounded his arm; he caused it to be bound up, saying, " I will pay them for that!" and resumed his glass. He then directed a twenty-four pounder, gave the order to fire, and the ball knocked an English gun-carriage to pieces, and killed six or seven men. Our company lost that day but one man, our least, a French hatter, called Laborde. For predestinarians I would mention that the young notary, Philippe Peddesclaux, was standing exactly in front of Laborde, and the latter would not have been hit had he not been bending forward at the moment to light his cigar by my neighbor, St. Avit's. When the latter turned he saw La-borde's scattered brains and prostrate body. The flash of a gun reaches the eye long before the report gets to the ear, and thus the ball can sometimes be avoided. I have watched both the flash and the report, and I have seen the best tried soldiers, both officers and men, even the utterly fearless Jackson himself, getting out of the way of the Congreve rockets, which were sent in great quantities from the British camp, and which were particularly abundant on the morning of the eighth of January. Others, again, either actuated by a different principle, or less prudently observant of danger and less anxious to avoid it, like my friend St. Avit for instance, remained, confident in their fate, in the same position, and stood quietly, as if all the roar of the cannon and the hissing of missiles about their ears, was entirely without interest for them.
On this day, which saw our whole line, except the batteries, exposed to the fire from 8 o'clock A. M. to 3 o'clock P. M., my worthy friend, Major Carmick, who commanded the volunteer battalion, and was near the pirates' battery, was struck by a Congreve rocket on the forehead, knocked off his horse, and both his arms injured. I asked leave to accompany him to the guardhouse, and as we reached the low garden-wall behind Jackson's
headquarters, I saw to my great amazement two of the General's volunteer adjutants, Duncan the lawyer, and District Marshal Duplessis, lying flat on the ground to escape the British balls. Livingston was invisible—writing and reading of proclamations kept him out of sight. The General, during this five hours cannonade, was constantly riding from one wing to the other, accompanied by his usual military aids, Reed and Butler, and the two advocates, Grymes and Davezac. Only four of the Tennessee riflemen were left in the wood.
The first week of the new year was occupied in strengthening our defences, and it was particularly ordered to have plenty of ammunition in readiness. The munitions were in charge of Gov. Claiborne, who was so frightened that he could scarcely speak. On the first of January ammunition was wanting at batteries Nos. 1 and 2. Jackson sent in a fury for Claiborne, who was with the second division, and said to him, " By the Almighty God, if you do not send me balls and powder instantly, I shall chop off your head, and have it rammed into one of those field-pieces."
On the 8th of January the battle took place which compelled the English to resign all hope of attacking the city, and to retire. The reader will remember that on the evening of the 23d of December half of the volunteer corps, thirty in number, had been taken prisoners; among them were Story and Robert Montgomery, merchants, and Porter, the lawyer. The same evening they were questioned by Major General Keane, about the strength of Jackson's forces, and then taken to the fleet before Dolphin Island, and to the admiral's ship; where the Commander-in-Chief, Pakenham, a brother-in-law of Wellington, and for some time head of his staff, in the Spanish Peninsular, examined them anew in presence of Admiral Cochrane. They would give but one answer —that Jackson had under him about 30,000 men—12,000 in Mobile and the rest in the neighborhood of the city: for he had said, before the arrival of the British, with one or more oaths, " I'll flog them, so help me God." The prisoners were examined separately, but all gave the same answer. It was no wonder, then, that the semi-circle of watch-fires in the rear of the English camp appeared to General Keane to confirm these statements.
He could not suppose but that all these watch/trers were surrounded by troops. Thus, a mere carelessness became of great advantage; and the English believed that they were opposed to at least 15,000, although in truth there were not more than half that number. They knew, from deserters from our line, that what regulars Jackson had were in the right wing, and that the left was composed of militia. As the report of Major Gen. Lambert afterwards proved, Pakenham determined to attack with three columns; of which the smallest, of 800 men, was commanded by Major Rennie, and was to make a demonstration only against the redoubt facing the British left wing. The centre column, under General Gibbs, numbered 4000 men, and the right wing 6000—which ought easily to have overthrown the undrilled militia, and attacked Jackson in the rear. At the same time, 1000 men, under Colonel Thompson, were to cross the river, drive the Americans from their defences on the right bank, and so fall upon the rear of the American left. Two rockets from the camp were to give the signal for the march of the columns, and the attacks were to be simultaneous, so soon as the signal should be answered by Col. Thompson, from the right bank of the river. This plan was arranged on the 6th of January, at Pakenham's head-quarters, in Mr.Vil-lere's house, and on that day, Epiphany, the three generals dined together. One of the guests was the American planter, Dela-ronde, Major-General of the militia of his parish, who had visited the English, on their landing. They supposed him to be inimical to the American government, and therefore spoke freely before him, and drank to the toast of " Booty and Beauty," as they had heard of the great beauty of the fair Louisianians. Delaronde returned at night to his plantation, and at daybreak crossed the river in a canoe, and travelled, most of the way on foot, to the American defences; he reached Jackson's camp about 1 o'clock, P. M., and told the whole plan to the general. Jackson instantly took energetic measures for stubborn resistance. The position of the second division was a few hundred steps behind the first. Only a few of these men were armed.. My friend, Commodore Patterson, who had been attending Jackson's council of war, but who had returned on board the frigate Louisiana, came to me about four
in the afternoon, called me from my post, and shaking hands with me, said, " I expect you will see some fun between this and to-morrow."
After the cannonade, January 1, night service in the defences was trusted to half companies by turns. But this evening Jackson ordered the entire troops to lie upon their arms. A little before sunset he visited the whole line, looking occasionally at a musket to see if it were loaded. " Don't fire till you see the whites of their eyes, and if you want to sleep, sleep upon your arms.' 1 Only a few were prepared for the morrow's tragedy, among whom was myself, thanks to Commodore Patterson's information. A little before daybreak two rockets were sent up from the British camp, the meaning of which not many understood. Then as the mist arose we saw the British host marching slowly towards us in three columns. The first company of the middle column carried storming ladders and fascines, with muskets slung at their backs. The redoubt upon the highway on the right shore was first reached by the little division commanded by Major Rennie, who was the first to mount it, sword in hand, and as he shouted " Come, my boys, the day is ours!" he was pierced by three bullets, and met the death of a brave gentleman. It was about half-past 8, A. M. Our whole line kept up a heavy uninterrupted fire, and as there was a dead calm in the atmosphere the smoke soon formed itself into thick clouds, and we scarcely saw the British mounting the redoubt at the right. On the left wing Jackson had posted the best of the Kentucky riflemen, lately arrived, under General Adair, the same who had been arrested in 1807 as a fellow conspirator of Aaron Burr's. They stood in five close lines, kneeling to load and rising to fire ; their rifles being loaded with two or three buckshot besides the ball. The heaviest firing was of course here. The Cyprieres were filled with riflemen, who were protected by the thick bushes, and dealt death from behind them to the British platoons, whose officers were falling fast but who saw no enemy. The whole right of the British column was mowed down by these invisible riflemen, and their front was exposed to the fire of both our batteries. Now and then, as the smoke rose we could see them flying, throwing away musket and fascine,
while a staff-officer, mounted on a black-charger, strove to drive them back with the chapeau which he held in his hand. At last, riddled by bullets, he fell backwards from his horse and a soldier caught him and bore him away. We learned in the evening that it was General Pakenham in person. An Irish regiment, the 44th, fled with its colonel, M. Mullins, at the head; and he was afterwards tried by court-martial in Havana, and cashiered for cowardice. Upon the left wing, as 1 have already remarked at the commencement of this description, Major Ren-nie and no less than eighty of his men had lost their lives, in a gallant although ineffectual attempt to mount the redoubt. After an hour at least had elapsed, the firing ceased—the field of slaughter was covered with the bodies of British soldiers, lying either dead or wounded. I called it the field of slaughter; for it really was slaughter, and not battle as on an open plain where foe meets foe ; for here the British troops were perfectly exposed to the deadly and accurate bullets of our riflemen; and the latter were entirely invisible, being not only protected but absolutely hidden from view, either by the thickets of undergrowth and bushes or by the parapets and breastwork of the entrenchments. In the distance we could see the retreating English troops, concealing themselves behind the shrubbery, or throwing themselves into the ditches and gullies. In some of the latter indeed they lay so thickly that they were only distinguishable in the distance by the white shoulder belts, which formed a line along the top of their hiding place.
About two o'clock they sent a flag of truce demanding time to bury the dead belonging to both armies. Jackson sent naval lieutenant Crawley with the proud words that he had no dead to bury, but that the British might have truce until the next forenoon. On his return Mr. Crawley reported that Generals Pakenham and Gibbs had fallen; that General Keane was dangerously wounded, and General Lambert was now Commander-in-chief. The British left 700 dead upon the field, and had as many wounded, of whom we took some eighty prisoners; six hundred more had thrown away their arms and fled. I was present for a while when they were trying to recognize the bodies, and when they found
that of Major Whittaker the soldiers burst mto tears, saying, " Ah, poor Major Whittaker! he is gone, the worthy fellow." The American loss was but 9 killed and 19 wounded, a scarcely credible number, were it not for so many eyewitnesses, and for the fact that the Americans were all hidden behind bushes or parapets.
The Americans in war are peculiar. In Napoleon's day, the French fought for the " glory of the great Nation." Now, perhaps, they fight for " the glory of our arms." The British fight for "king and country," or " God and country ;" but the Americans " for the good of my country." After the peace, an officer in this war, the Marquis of Tweeddale, who was taken prisoner on the Canadian frontier and brought to New York, said to me: " I hope it will never fall to my lot again to fight Americans; every one of them always fights his own individual battle, and is a most dangerous enemy."
On the right bank matters went otherwise. Col. Thompson had been delayed with his boats by the sudden falling of the river in the night, owing to the cold weather, and he did not reach the shore until the fight on the left wing was over. Before the half finished defences lay about one thousand unarmed Ken-tuckians, and some hundreds of undisciplined militia of the first regiment of New Orleans, under their Colonel, a grocer named Dejean, who had brought the flag with him, and had it in his tent. As Thompson appeared, the Kentuckians ran ; the militia followed, and forgot their flag, which now hangs among the trophies taken by Wellington in the Peninsular war, in the Chapel of Whitehall, with this inscription : " Taken at the Battle of New Orleans, 8th January, 1815." Thompson, who saw what was going on in the left wing, returned to the camp. Jackson, Grymes and Davezac remained near the left wing. Durino-the fight the others were invisible.
After the military council of the 7th, Livingston had retired to the city on pretence of a violent colic, I, myself, who was sergeant, commanding the piquette, had the honor of opening the barrier for him. There he remained until next day, in his dressing-goAvn, upon the balcony of his house, until he heard of Jackson's sue-
cess, when the colic left him and he re-appeared in the camp. His comrade, Duncan, who quit the camp at daybreak on the 8th, to look for reinforcements, rode about the streets at a gallop as long as the fight lasted, crying out, " Up! up! the foe is upon us. To the field ! To the field !" All active people were in the field. A corps of veterans, many of whom had not yet seen thirty years, guarded the Bank and Arsenal. My heroic antagonist, Mr. Cashier Saul, already frequently named in these volumes, had, as the story goes, for the truth of which I do not however vouch, the greatest possible difficulty in restraining his warlike ardor. Indeed an order, obtained by his friend Duncan from General Jackson, was found absolutely necessary to keep him in town, where his presence was essential to the safety of the Bank.
I would not have spoken of these casual instances of cowardice, were it not for the fact, that in the report of this battle, contained in the dispatches of General Jackson to the President of the United States, and which were drawn up by Livingston himself, the General thanks his staff and his military and volunteer adjutants, for their cool and deliberate bravery. When 1 first saw this paragraph, it was impossible for me to suppress the thought of what a queer look Duncan and Livingston must have exchanged, when they read it together—those two birds of a feather—those two scoundrels who played so well into each other's hands.
For eight days we heard no more of the British army. A scouting party, under Adjutant Grymes, brought word that they were erecting redoubts, and that the sugar-fields were full of riflemen.
Jackson wanted another fight, but he had prudence enough to follow Livingston's patriotic counsel. " What do you want more," said he ; " your object is gained—the city is saved—the British have retired. For the pleasure of a blow or two, will you risk against those fearless troops your handful of men, composed of the best and worthiest citizens, and rob so many families of their heads !" The General was guided by this remonstrance. On the 16th General Lambert sent a messenger to say that the British army was about to re-embark and to beg kind treatment for eighty-four wounded left behind. One of these, an
Irishman, who had lost both legs, rejoiced over ; t. He could not live, he said, on the pension granted for the loss of one limb, but having fortunately lost both, "I shall live now," he said, " like a prince." Eighty of these suffered amputation in our City Hospital, and not one died; while of eighty-one British prisoners, who suffered the same operation, not one survived. A Mr. Lawson, brother-in-law of District Judge Lewis, and belonging to our corps, lost his right arm and died. When this was announced to the American field-surgeon Campbell, he said: " Bad luck ! I took more than ordinary pains with him. With those British prisoners, you know it was a case of plain sailing, a right to cut off."
It is true that no comparison is fair between the British surgeons, educated under Wellington, in many a long and varied campaign, and the improvised American surgeons, who were picked up wherever they could be found, and the most of whom had had no further experience than that which they had obtained in an apothecary's shoD.
10*
CHAPTER XIII.
RETURN OF OUR SMALL ARMY INTO THE CITY.
The first news of the peace concluded at Ghent, December 24th, 1814—Martial law in New Orleans—Jackson's violent measures—The arbitrary course pursued by him toward myself—Characteristic traits—Source of his hatred to the National Bank—The peace rejoicings in the city—-Present to Mrs. Jackson—Fitting out of the ship Horatio—Renewal of my quarrel with Mr. Shields—Effect of my publication of the correspondence between him and myself—Another and unfortunate duel with the son of Mr. Saul—Arrival of intelligence from Paris, announcing Napoleon's entry into that capital—Prudential arrangements in relation to the cargo of the ship Horatio, on board of which I finally embark.
' On January 19, Jackson brought back our little army to the city. A Te Deum was sung in the cathedral, at the doors of which the most prominent of the Catholic clergy received the general, and Madame Livingston, with studied enthusiasm, did herself the pleasure of setting a laurel crown upon his head, which, however, the destroyer of Indians, unused to similar marks of honor, somewhat unwillingly put away. The retreat of the English had drawn away many negroes from the sugar plantations of C. Macarty, Villere, Delaronde, Lacoste, and others, and they were now on board the fleet. Jackson sent his adjutant, Livingston, and a merchant, by the name of R. D. Shepherd, to Admiral Cochrane, to demand the slaves. These two ambassadors returned from the fleet early in the morning of January 21, and brought to General Jackson the official news of the treaty which had been concluded on the 24th December, 1814, at Ghent, between the American and English ministers. The English commanders, Cochrane and Paken-ham, received this news by a swift frigate in twenty-three days, with orders to cease all hostilities, and to return. This news was,
as one may see, official, on the English side, but Jackson refused to acknowledge it as such until instructed by his own government in Washington. He dared not, however, doubt much about it, inasmuch as Cochrane, who had informed Livingston of his instructions, was a good friend of the adjutant. They had been acquaintances in New York, and Cochrane had taken a wife from the very numerous Livingston family. But the arbitrary and now utterly unnecessary martial law, which had never for one moment been needed since the English came to Louisiana, pleased Jackson eo much that he could not willingly abrogate it.
Livingston and Shepherd had brought from the fleet, and given to Cotten, editor of the Louisiana Gazette, Lord Bathurst's (then Secretary for Foreign Affairs) official announcement to the Lord Mayor of London, which contained a copy of the preliminary articles settled at Ghent. Cotten at once printed, and put into circulation, handbills containing the following:—
" A truce-boat from Admiral Cochrane, commander of the English fleet, has just brought to General Jackson, official news of a treaty concluded at Ghent, between the United States and Great Britain, and the request for a cessation of hostilities."
The next day the editor received the following order from head-quarters:—
" Sir :—It is expected that you will give immediate publicity to the enclosed, by printing it in handbills, as you have printed that which this is meant to counteract, and also by inserting it in your next paper. JOHN KEEP, Aid-de-Camp.
" Mr. Cotten, Editor Louisiana Gazette"
" Head- Quarters Kth Military District,) New Orleans, February 21, 1815. j " Sir :—As the commander-in-chief has been informed of the announcement which has appeared in your paper, as follows— * A truce-boat from Admiral Cochrane, commander of the English fleet, has just brought to General Jackson, official news of a
treaty concluded at Ghent, between the United States and Great Britain, and the request for a cessation of hostilities'—he requests that you will hasten to destroy every copy of so unauthorized and improper a notice. No direct or practical request for a truce has been received from the commanders of the British land and sea forces.
" The letter from Bathurst to the Lord Mayor, which contains the only official news as yet received, by no means declares that such truce is to take place, until the treaty be signed by the Commissioners, and ratified by the Prince Regent and the President of the United States.
[Here the letter adduces some common arguments, and closes as follows] :—
" It is expected, that in future no kind of publication, which resembles the foregoing and blamable one, will be made, until the editor shall be convinced of its correctness, and shall be permitted, by the proper authority, to publish it in his sheet.
"JOHN REED, Aid-de-Camp.
*' Mr. Cotten, Editor Louisiana Gazette"
When this letter was given to the editor he was officially in formed, that New Orleans existed only as a battle-field, and that the word of the commander-in-chief was the only law. It is clear that the even momentary resignation of his command, of which some ignorant chroniclers have spoken, was not even thought of by the general. On the contrary, it was at this time that Jackson ordered, that the city of New Orleans and all its environs, from the frontier line, two miles up, to the encampment, seven miles below, upon the river, should be considered as his camp, and that none might claim authority within its limits—he being the only commander. The late William C. Claiborne, who alone would have opposed this, was so frightened, that he did not dare raise his voice, nor do his duty ; but, in the most fainthearted way, left the civil authority to take care of itself.
When Jackson brought back our little army into the city, he
left a few men behind him in the intrenchments. He had chosen them out of those militia whom he had forcibly taken out of the taverns, where they were staying as travelling strangers, in order to punish them, he said, for having spoken so fiercely against the military service. Among them were many Frenchmen, who were not even citizens, and who were torn from their daily business, their wives, and their families. An appeal was made in writing to the French Consul, Toussard, who waited upon General Jackson, and notified him that he had received orders, from the Minister at Washington, to extend his protection over the French subjects. The consul also asked, whether he might communicate with the Frenchmen then in the intrenchments, and free them from this military service. The general said yes, and Colonel Toussard immediately had his requisition printed. There were forty men in all. Then Jackson arrested Colonel Toussard, with the forty Frenchmen; and, forty days after the news of peace had been received, on the fifth of March, sent them, not only out of the limits of the camp, but off to the interior plantations, not nearer than Baton Rouge.
The deputy, Louaillier, a native Frenchman, but naturalized in America, and member of the Legislative Assembly, published a letter in the Journals, in which he remarked upon this highhanded measure of General Jackson's, that the permission and safe-guard given to Col. Toussard was in direct opposition to this arbitrary step : " For," " said he, " if the general were not content to allow the Frenchmen to be released, why did he empower the French consul to make a requisition for his countrymen, or even to visit them; or with what motive did he himself, sign the certificate of release." This argument did not trouble the general; he simply arrested Louaillier and confined him in the barracks, to be tried for exciting mutiny in the camp, by a court-martial. Mr. A. Hall, Judge of the U. S. District Court, a fearless man, immediately issued a writ of habeas corpus to liberate the person of M. Louaillier. This was his duty as highest judicial officer in the State. The general at once arrested Judge Hall, and sent him outside of the camp lines, into the country, with the notification that his authority was at an end. All this, as has been
already said, occurred six weeks after reception of the news of the treaty at Ghent, which no one in the city for an instant doubted to be true, simply to gratify a lust for despotic power, and without one word of remonstrance from the mouth of the man who knew the Codex of the United States better than any other person,—Edward Livingston.
At the end of Jackson's proclamation of March 5, 1815, were these words:—" All and every officer and soldier is hereby strictly commanded to give the earliest possible information about all mutinies, or contemplated mutinies, all inducements to desert, or attempts to desert or to mutiny; and to arrest all persons implicated therein, that they may be brought to court-martial."
This command concerned only the officers and soldiers. But I must tell at least one anecdote in proof of the entire submission of the general's satellites to his will. My partner, Mr. Hollander, was at the door of the Bank Coffee-House, conversing about Louaillier's letter, and praising it, and its writer's courage. " Why," said he, " did General Jackson allow Col. Toussard to print his requisition in the Journals, when he had no intention to free the Frenchmen from military service ?" " Ah," replied a bystander, " his only idea was to find out all who were disposed to side with the consul, in order that he might punish them." " It was a dirty trick," said Hollander. This answer was carried to the general, who immediately » rdered the arrest and trial of Hollander, because, " he excited insubordination and mutiny in the camp, and talked disrespectfully of his superior officer." Just as Hollander and I were dining together on the next day, my house was surrounded by a hundred men, and Major Davezac,— so often mentioned,—with squinting eye and golden epaulettes, stalked in to arrest and carry off Hollander. I went at once to Adjutant Livingston, to procure the liberation of my friend, and he persuaded the general to accept my bail for $2,000, for the future appearance of Hollander, before the court-martial. Livingston himself drew up the bond, and no man in the United States knew how to do it better, so that the sum mentioned never could be demanded by law from the bailer. A couple of days
later a council of war was called. Hollander was present, and Davezac, as representative of the general, was accuser; but the next day, March 13, the ratification of the treaty of Ghent arrived, and put an end to the farce. Jackson issued a proclamation, pardoned Judge Hall, Louaillier, Hollander, and all others who had interfered with his authority, and so laid down his power. But he ruled with arbitrary and despotic power for fifty days after there was the slightest use or necessity for martial law at all.
This was scarcely ended when sixty of the citizens united to form a cavalcade, which should escort Judge Hall publicly, from his place of exile to the court-house. Of all the lawyers in the city, Livingston, Duncan, Hennius, and others, only one, Mr. Grymes, joined this manifestation, and he marched at the head of the troop, although he too, had been an adjutant of the general, and although Hall had determined on the re-opening of his court to cite Jackson to appear and answer the charges of interference with civil authority, and contempt of court and the writ of habeas corpus. This happened immediately. Jackson appeared and was fined $1,000, which he paid in one bank note; then bowed to the Judge, and left the court. He found at the threshold Davezac with his friends, Dominique, Beluche, and the whole band of liberated pirates, fifty in number. They lifted the general upon their shoulders and bore him triumphantly to the Exchange Coffee-House. American citizens blushed to see this procession, and the general himself seemed to dislike it, and to find himself as uncomfortable as Madame Livingston's laurel crown had made him at the church door. By the suggestion of lawyer Duncan, his nephew, Nicholson, an understrapper in Hall's court, carried a subscription list about the town the next day to make up the amount of the general's fine ; and in order to make the subscription appear to be the unanimous voice of the citizens, in condemnation of the fine, it was resolved that no man should subscribe more than one dollar. The collector started, and out of the necessary $1,000, he succeeded in accumulating $160. My captain, Roche, who commanded the battalion of New Orleans Carabineers, to whom I belonged, was visited by young
Nicholson. " If the general," replied the gentleman , " is in need of money I will lend him willingly, to the best of my ability, but I will not give a sixpence for such a farce as this." Nicholson assured him that it was not his dollar but his signature that was wanted.
There was a certain peculiar might of will in Jackson's character and dictatorialness that had become a second nature in him, and to convince him of the injustice of any act contemplated or performed by him, was impossible. The two examples following will prove this :-—
Marched out from the city on December 16, I had quitted the camp but once. On this occasion I learned from my housekeeper that during my absence, a military command had come to my house, where the officer peremptorily demanded the key of the warehouses. Hereupon, they seized all the woollen goods that I had brought from Pensacola, and carried them off, leaving me a receipt therefor. This receipt was signed by a name that I had never heard of, belonging to the Tennessee sharp-shooters. It was for the clothing of these sharp-shooters that they had taken the woollen goods. Immediately after the retreat of the English, Jackson had named a commission, consisting of his quartermasters and two merchants, who were looked to for the provision of the army, and to whom all who had had any property taken away, were to complain. My claim was a double one, first, for 750 woollen coverings, taken out of my warerooms; second, for 250 bales of cotton taken from the brigantine Pallas. For the first I received the price that was current on the day that the landing of the English was announced, $11 per pair. All settlements required the general's ratification and signature. On this occasion he gave both, but with the remark that, as my goods had been taken to cover the Tennessee troops, I should be paid in Tennessee bank notes, upon which there was a discount of nearly 10 per cent. I was silent. With regard to the claim for the 250 bales which had been used for fortifications, I produced my books. Two years before they had been purchased from the richest cotton planter, Poydras, at 10 cents. The price meanwhile, had never been less than 10 to 11 cents, and the day before we received the news of
their seizure, I had bought two small lots at 11J and 12 cents. Interest for two years at 5 per cent, and storage had been added to my claim. On the day of our march from the city, just as I had put on my uniform and taken my musket, a broker ran after me to offer me a lot which must be sold that day, because the owner feared that they would fall into the hands of the English. " Offer something, Mr. Nolte," said the broker. I had not the heart to offer 50 per cent, lower than the price, and therefore, offered 7 cents, more with the view of getting rid of the broker than of speculating. In a few moments he came back, notes in hand, and said, " Mr. Nolte, the cotton is yours." There was no time to deliver it, however, for we were obliged to march. This little affair was spoken of at Jackson's head-quarters, as a proof of my trust in a fortunate result of the hostilities. When the commission laid my claim before the general, he said that the price was too high ; that I must be paid at the price on the day of the march from the city. I made a Written protest but the general would not notice it Then I determined to call on him in the hopes of awakening a sense of justice in him. He heard me but that was all. " Are you not lucky," he asked, " to have saved the rest of your cotton by my defence 1 ?" "Certainly, general," I said, " as lucky as any body else in the city whose cotton has been thus saved. But the difference between me and the rest is, that all the others have nothing to pay and that I have to bear all the loss." " Loss," said the general, getting excited, " why, you have saved all." I saw that argument was useless with so stiff-necked a man, and remarked to him that I only wanted compensation for my cotton, and that the best compensation would be to give me precisely the quantity that had been taken from me, and of the same quality; that he might name one merchant and I another, who should buy and deliver to me the cotton; and that he should pay the bill. " No, no, sir," he answered, " I like straight-forward business, and this is too complicated. You must take 6 cents for your cotton. I have nothing more to say." As I again endeavored to explain, he said, " Come sir, come, take a glass of whisky and water, you must be d—d dry after all your arguing." For me there remained
nothing but to say : " Well general, I did not expect such injustice at your hands. Good morning, sir," and so to go away. Three days after, came the news of the treaty of Ghent, and cotton rose at once to 16 cents, at which price I bought several lots. The commission for the regulation of claims for loss and damages were rather embarrassed now to offer me 6 cents. Finally, I was asked by a member of the commission, Mr. W. W. Montgomery, whether I would be content if they would pay me my claim, as presented. I consented, because I would have been obliged to complain to Congress, at Washington ; and the affair might have dragged on for years.
The time had now arrived when I could quit my battalion. I got permission to do so, and received the following certificate from my commanding officer.
Battalion of Uniform Companies of the N. 0. Militia, | Company of Grenadiers. ) The undersigned Captain, commanding the above named Grenadiers, certifies that Mr. Vincent Nolte, grenadier of the said company, made as such the campaign against the English; that he performed all the duties of his service without omission from Dec. 16, 1814, until this day : that he took part in the affairs of 23d and 28th Dec, 1814, of the 1st and 8th January, 1815, and that he conducted himself as a brave and loyal soldier, and to the contentment of his superiors and his comrades. This I have signed with my own hand to be used as he shall find it necessary.
New Orleans, April kih, 1815.
[Signed,] ±>ETER ROCHE.
The undersigned, commander of the Uniformed Battalion of
New Orleans Militia, certifies to the authenticity of the signature
of Captain Roche, while he adds that the excellence with which the
said Vincent Nolte performed his duty is personally known by him.
New Orleans, April 4lh, 1815.
[Signed,] J. B. PLANCHE, Major.
Approved, ANDREW JACKSON,
Major General and Commander-in Chief.
I may be allowed a few further remarks on Jackson's character, that man so much more fortunate than naturally distinguished, because I had so many opportunities of observing him nearly, so that in my early observations I easily found the key to many actions of his public life, especially while he was President. That great student of men, Chamfort, who ordinarily far surpasses the philosophic de la Rochefoucault in his remarks, says, " In great matters men show themselves, as they wish to be seen, in small matters, as they are." Correct as is the maxim in general, Jackson's manner of dealing is an exception to the rule, and only in one instance can it be applied to him. It is true, that I refer to what was in his eyes a great matter, his elevation to the Presidency. On this occasion it was his object to play the part of a quiet, peaceful, unpretending man; a part which required the greatest self-control, and power of will. While the necessity lasted he ruled himself with remarkable power; but so soon as it was over, his character of unbridled despotism resumed its freedom, and never bowed again. In this work will be seen many an instance of his self-restraint and self-control: it was not a courageous will, but fierce despotic power which he exhibited when the foe had retreated from New Orleans; which, after the news of the treaty of Ghent had arrived, still made him refuse all constitutional rights to the citizens without necessity, without benefit to the city ; imprisoning some, exiling others, putting the whole city under strict and causeless martial-law. He saw the citizens only through the colored glasses of his partisans, who, like Livingston, could not let slip this opportunity of taking vengeance on their enemies—and therefore, in this he may be excused. But his barbarous course in the destructive Seminole war, towards those independent Indians, who were not rebels, and towards the two Englishmen, Arbuthnot and Armbrister, of Nassau, Bahama Islands—because they carried on, without unfriendly feelings towards Americans, a harmless trade with the Indians, in all sorts of goods, among which were powder, lead, fowling-pieces, and rifles—proved how much he thought himself above the law on all occasions. In time of peace with England, he had these two men tried, with orders to hang them The commission appointed, asserted their incom-
petency, and refused. Jackson then named another commission, and as commanding general, ordered them to do their duty and hang those seditious men. They obeyed, but recommended both to the mercy of the general, who must have been convinced of their innocence,—they were dealers in old clothes, or slop-shop keepers. Above all, it was desired to refer the matter to the President of the United States, as this was a duty belonging to higher authority than theirs, and as such reference was usual. But Jackson would not hear of it; they must die instantly, and without further loss of time, one was hanged, and the other shot.
The destruction of the National Bank,—not the Pennsylvanian United States' Bank, but the first that was so-called,—and the withdrawal of the government deposits from it, belonged to the most absolute, and fury-dictated of Jackson's measures, and opened the way for the ruin of the whole bank and finance system in the United States. There have been people who have found plausible excuses, both by word and pen, for this bit of despotism. The pretence was to destroy the power of money in elections, and put an end to foreign influence, which depended upon such power. But the true cause, the original source of the persecution against the Bank of the United States, was the personal hatred of Jackson for its president, Nicholas Biddle, who afterwards won so unfortunate a celebrity, and of whom we will speak on another occasion. All that followed was but the result of Jackson's first and fast resolve to crush the bank and Biddle's influence at any price ; and the following simple occurrence gave free course to this obstinate determination, which was so terrible in its consequences. The Globe, a Washington paper, stood in the first rank of those who were in the general's interests, who defended his politics, and knew how to put a good face on his blunders. None could so pleasantly flatter Jackson and his cabinet as the editor of this journal. He blew the general's trumpet much as Granier de Cassagnac blows Louis Napoleon's now. Not having made much by this for some years, he determined to remove to New York, and publish his journal there. He soon turned his coat, and began to abuse and blame the general as much as he had
praised him. Thoroughly acquainted with Jackson's views and sentiments, it was the delight of the editor to stir up the general's gall by a light, short article, which presented no points for an answer. Jackson raged in quiet until an opportunity for vengeance upon the turn-coat came. The Bank of the United States, at Philadelphia, was then a government bank, not like Biddle's bank later, the private Bank of Pennsylvania. A quarter of the capital belonged to the government, and one fourth of the directors were appointed by it, the others being elected by the directors. Besides the government directors, a commission was occasionally sent from the treasury department to overlook the accounts. This commission discovered that among the discounted paper, there was a note of the editor of the Globe for $20,000, bearing Biddle's indorsement, and by his influence renewed from time to time. As the aforesaid editor's credit was by no means in a condition to explain this, it was evident that the whole favor was a consequence of Biddle's indorsement. This was a ray of light to Jackson. From that moment he resolved the destruction of the bank, and did all in his power to prevent a renewal of its Act of Incorporation. Twice it received the assent of Congress, and twice did Jackson Veto it. To carry the measure, a two-third vote was necessary. But as Jackson's influence was on the increase, this necessary majority could not be obtained. The bank fell, and with it the dam which divided the good from the bad paper in circulation, through the United States. Biddle's views were not then evident, and his motive for not allowing the destruction of the Globe man, had an object which was not against the interest of the state, and which should not have called down the unlimited wrath of the general, which produced the common shipwreck of the whole money system, and of the credit of the country.
The spectacle which the city of New Orleans offered when no further doubt remained of the treaty of Ghent, was a remarkable one. At the head of the party then forming, with a view to make Jackson president, stood naturally, Edward Livingston. He had expressed a wish to see the general in the chair, and in fulfilment of the wish, he built his hope of restoration of his own broken
credit and fortune. He was joined by A. L. Duncan, a lawyer, learned and eloquent, but who was the soul and representative of all American popular intrigues. Then followed all those who hoped sooner or later for a good fat office under the Jacksonian administration,—as for instance, District Marshal, Duplessis, who wanted the Collectorship, and P. K. Wagner, editor of the N. O. Gazette, who wished to be Naval Officer. A few Creoles closed the list. The influence which Governor Claiborne once had over these latter, was evidently decreasing; he hated Jackson as he hated every rival, but on this occasion he did not show his ill-will, but was first in all the demonstrations of welcome and honor that greeted the victorious general. The most prominent citizens united to give the general a grand ball in the French Exchange, which would have to remain closed for three days, in order to give opportunity for the necessary preparations. Already were men intriguing for the honor of a place in the ball committee: the treasurer Saul, for instance. Some held that none but natives should be chosen; finally, however, the two first chosen, Major D. Carmick and Commodore Patterson, both great friends of mine, declared that they could not get along without me, and to this circumstance, in connection with the fact that I had seen more great festivities than any other man in New Orleans, was I indebted for my nomination on the ball committee. The upper part of the Exchange was arranged for dancing, and the under part for supper, with flowers, colored lamps, and transparencies with inscriptions. Before supper, Jackson desired to look at the arrangements unaccompanied, and I was appointed to conduct him. One of the transparencies between the arcades bore the inscription, " Jackson and Victory : they are but one." The general looked at it, and turned about to me in a hail-fellow sort of way, saying, " Why did you not write ' Hickory and Victory : they are but one.'" After supper we were treated to a most delicious pas de deux by the conqueror and his spouse, an emigrant of the lower classes, whom he had from a Georgian planter, and who explained by her enormous corpulence that French saying, " She shows how far the skin can be stretched." To see these two figures, the general a long, haggard man, with
limbs like a skeleton, and Madame la Generale, a short, fat dumpling, bobbing opposite each other like half-drunken Indians, to the wild melody of Possum up de Gum Tree, and endeavoring to make a spring into the air, was very remarkable, and far more edifying a spectacle than any European ballet could possibly have furnished.
Certain ladies of the city, unrecognized by either the American or French population, had determined to present Mrs. Jackson with jewels to the value of $4,000, which sum was to be made up by private subscriptions.
First, came the wife of Benjamin Morgan, President of the Bank of New Orleans. This lady headed the subscription list with $500. Some others followed, but scarce $1,600 had been raised when the jewels were purchased and presented. It was, however, found to be exceedingly difficult to accumulate the other $2,400, a difficulty, however, which they managed to conceal.
Some of the French settlers in New Orleans had long waited for the moment, to return with what fortune they had gained to France. The breaking out of the war had hindered this.
Among others, a Provencal, by the name of Fournier, who had once served in Egypt under Napoleon, and who had been a porcelain Fayence and glass-ware dealer in New Orleans, had gained large sums. He had sold his warehouses, had sent his capital to France, and was about to follow them when the English appeared. Then he at once entered our company, saying to me, " Ah, je serai Men aise de leur tirer encore une fois mon coup de fusil — ces matins d"Anglais." He wore his French cockade, not on, but in his bearskin shako.
Two other Frenchmen, the first a dentist, named Robelot, and the second a little pitiful lawyer, called Paillette, who had gained something, not by their practice, but by long years of usury, disappeared during the English invasion, but turned up again immediately on the cessation of hostilities, ready to go to France with the product of their industry
Their capital, as no exchanges were to be had, was invested in cotton, which had cost some twelve cents a pound. During the war there were no ships in port; and although it was to be expected that merchant ships would now come in such numbers as to make freights very low, yet the two men were in such extreme haste, that they freighted two old unseaworthy ships for Havre, at the rate of seven and a half to eight cents on the pound of cotton. The ship Oliver Ellsworth carried out 800 bales of cotton, which had cost $38,000, and the freight amounted to $26,880, about three times the entire value of the vessel.
In the second year of the war, the 900 tons burthen, new, copper-bottomed, English West India ship, Lord Nelson, was taken by the American privateer Saratoga, and brought into New Or leans. This vessel, which must have cost from £16,000 to £18,000, was sold at public auction, and was purchased by me, in partnership with a New York firm, for $18,000, was immediately equipped, and got ready, and sent to Nantes with a cargo of cotton and deer hides. The stern of the ship bore the name of Lord Nelson, which we could not allow to remain under the American flag, and so we called her Horatio, which was Lord Nelson's baptismal name. The vessel's draft was twenty feet; and as there was only eighteen feet at the mouth of the Mississippi, I sent her round to the other side of the Balize, the guard-house at the mouth of the river, had her anchors cast there, and sent the most of her lading out to her.
I must recall to the reader, that during the preparations to receive the invaders, just at the moment of their appearance in our neighborhood, I had received a note from Mr. Shields, requesting a truce until the danger that threatened Louisiana and New Orleans should have passed over. This note, of December 14, was intended as an answer to my letter of November 26, which he had thus kept eighteen days, and in which I had informed him, that his whole conduct towards me had been so contemptible, that I considered him unworthy the notice of a gentleman. It was handed to my friend Nott by J. K. Smith, the marine paymaster, under his guaranty, that so soon as either party should desire to renew the difficulties, the matter should be notified to the other,
and the whole .affair brought to an honorable end. On this occasion Mr. Smith remarked, that nothing was more foolish than to mix into the quarrels of others, and to fight about matters that do not concern us,
I was busy with my preparations for a visit to Europe, as 1 published in the journals, with the notification, that during my absence my partner Hollander would conduct the business. On the 12th of April, the day on which this publication appeared, I received a letter from Mr. Shields, declaring that his patience had come to an end, and that he now officially notified me of his intention to exact corporal satisfaction from me, cane in hand. My reply was that I would publish the whole correspondence, and let the public judge between us: and as he sent my letter back unopened, I put it in the papers. Before this, however, Mr. Shields had everywhere declared that nobody would take such a course but a liar and a cowardly scoundrel. My answer took the same course, and was in these words :—
" As Mr. Thomas Shields has seen fit to mention publicly my name, coupled with epithets which rather describe his own character, I hereby inform all who believe him a man of courage and honor that they are in error ; and I request those who hear both sides, before judging, to wait a few days for the publication of the correspondence between us. VINCENT NOLTE."
"New Orleans, April 15, 1815."
A friend, who had read the threatening letter of Mr. Shields, had, on his own responsibility, notified the Justice of the Peace. Freval, and he had held Shields to bail, in the sum of $4,000, to keep the peace in general, and towards me in particular.
This correspondence made a great sensation in the city. The unworthy intrigues of Mr. Saul and his companions, to satisfi their own base lust of vengeance, their method of preparing poisoned arrows privately to shoot at me, and their system of em ploying worthless men, like all my antagonists, or half madmen, like Shields, to work underhandedly, and of setting them on me. like so many mad dogs—all this showed the entire respectable and
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honorable population of the city, in the clearest and most convincing manner how small and absurd was the position of this pitiful boaster, who, in the Exchange, and on the street corners, was endeavoring to pass as a judge of manners, and an authority in transactions of this kind. Shields, half cracked before, now went entirely mad, and went about asking everybody how he could answer my publication. It was in vain to tell him that he had already branded me as a liar, that nobody would believe me, that his honor was yet unsullied, etc. He still had sense enough to recognize that for honest men he was branded. The lawyer Grymes, a man thoroughly at home in ingenious financial matters, and always in want of money, said to him, " Now, Shields, if you will give me a thousand dollars, I will answer Nolte's pamphlet in your name." " Done!" was Shields' answer; " it is a bargain.? Fourteen days later appeared a little book, of one sheet, which proved only the impossibility of getting a result from the preposterous instructions of an idiot.
My pamphlet had, however, smitten Saul & Co. harder even than Shields. This man found himself so thoroughly unmasked; his rhodomontades, his manner of speech, proverbial among those who knew him, had been so literally sketched; his want of modesty, as well as of sound logic; the unworthiness of his cabals and private schemes were set so naked in the daylight, that he could hardly contain his rage. It was his only thought by day, it was his nightmare. One day I learned that he was teaching the use of the pistol every afternoon to his oldest son, a stupid and yet conceited booby. " No one knows of what use this may be," was his common expression; and the beloved son was taught that he should one day be his father's avenger. One evening I was on the Levee, with a couple of acquaintances, when suddenly I felt some one spit upon my back. I turned round quickly, and said, " What is that V I saw rapidly retiring the spiritless, corpse-pale face of Saul's eldest son. " You could not prove yourself the true son of your father but by attacking me from behind." I called after him. I was excessively excited, and knew not what to do. The young man was evidently crazy. But how was I to get at the right person, and demand satisfaction from him who
had already refused it. Something must be done ; and I saw no other means than to seek the young man who had so grossly insulted me, the next morning; and as I knew that he was determined in one way or another to get me out of the way, I determined to sell my life as dearly as possible. The inflexibility of my right arm, because of the elbow having been broken, gave too great an advantage to my opponent in a long distance. I wished, therefore, to fight at five paces, and so to settle one or the other. My two friends, Major McCormick, of the Marines, and Mr. St. Avit, were my seconds, and arranged the distance agreeably to my desires. The challenge was accepted, but the distance was protested against, and ten paces insisted on. Finally, after much debate, seven paces was agreed upon. The first toss for choice of position was won by my adversary's second, Beale. The next was equally against me, and gave him the word, which was to be one, two, three. My two seconds—more particularly my not-to-be-forgotten friend, Major McCormick, one of the noblest men whom 1 have ever known—were so annoyed at the position in which they saw me, just come from a three years' war, and on the point of going to Europe to see my friends, and to procure for my firm the position for which I had labored for four years and six months —a position that exposed me to a young man of fiery mood between life and death—that they could scarcely attend to the necessary circumstances of a duel. As we took our places, I asked Major McCormick whether the pistol worked well. " I do not know," he answered, tearfully. " Let me hear," said I; " cock it." He did so, and I heard that all was right, and took the pistol. I have said that my elbow had been broken. This prevented me from holding my arm straight. My adversary's second declared that all the advantage was on my side ; beside, I could not help holding the mouth of the pistol a little elevated, and he insisted that his principal should do the same. Accordingly he placed his arm in that position, the word was given, we fired, and he shot me in the left leg. I lost my shot, and, from loss of blood, fell. I was carried home, and confined to bed for fourteen days. The bail could not be found. Wherever it went, it remains to this day. In the meanwhile the ship Horatio had been loaded. Then we
were told that Napoleon had landed at Cannes, but we had no details. The jubilee of the city was incomprehensible. The French consul, Colonel Toussard, who, a year before, had worn a white cockade, at the news of the restoration of the Bourbons, and who had been hooted by the whole mob, therefore concluded to put on the tri-color again. Once more I was in a condition to be transported. I was put into a hammock. My captain procured me a surgeon, who visited me on board the Horatio, whither I went by moonlight, about twelve o'clock. The ship was ready ; the passengers were the well-known American Consul-General in Paris, Fulwar Skipwith, with his two daughters; Captain Roche, whom I have frequently named; an old French schoolmaster, called Habure, and a Bernese who had married, and was now leaving, a rich planter's widow. The next morning a vessel arrived, after an unusually short passage, and brought us Havre news of March 24. We learned Napoleon's triumphal march through France, the flight of the Bourbons, and his entry into Paris. The papers brought by the vessel gave me the preceding history of Napoleon's acts. I observed that military influence was the cause of this return, and determined to send Captain Bailey back to the city, with the following letter to my partner :—
" Outside the Balize, on board the Horatio, ) "April 22, 1815. \ " Dear Hollander :—The journals that Captain Bailey brings you will inform you of what is newest in Paris. Napoleon will have again, God knows how long, the Tuileries, if not France. I doubt that he will stay long. His whole power, as I think, is with the soldiery. One thing is certain, he will find himself in great need of money on his return. We know, by experience, that he is very unscrupulous ; and I deem it not only possible, but highly probable, that he will lay hands upon all property coming from abroad, under the pretence that it is British. Therefore I send Captain Bailey to get from you ' certificates of origin' for the whole cargo. You know what I mean by certificates of origin ; papers to testify that the wares are American products, and the owners American citizens. These certificates must be sent from
our house, and the others interested, to the French consul, who must testify to their genuineness. Send Bailey back quickly, so that we may take advantage of this wind, and get out to sea. I think I can prophesy, that by the time we arrive on the French coast the whole comedy will have been played out; for my belief grows stronger every day, that Napoleon will not be able to maintain himself. The glory that surrounded him is gone, and cannot be recalled. God be with you. VINCENT NOLTE."
On the fourth day Captain Bailey came back with the certificates, and, wafted by a favorable wind, we sailed from the yellow waters of the Mississippi, out upon the blue bosom of the Gulf of Mexico.
To give a correct idea of manners in New Orleans, is my reason for having given the history of a duel, in itself so uninteresting. I yield it now to oblivion, as one of my saddest and most fruitless experiences, although I cannot avoid mentioning that my first antagonist, paymaster Allen, eighteen months after the duel, became a government defaulter for $4,000 ; that young Saul, who was un-derteller in his father's bank, had the same misfortune, only for double the amount; and that the crack-brained Shields, after finding that his marine cash-box was wanting in heavy sums, which had been expended in costly entertainments, went mad altogetb /r, and ended his life in a lunatic asylum.
CHAPTER XIV.
JOURNEY TO FRANCE—WATERLOO—PARIS IN THE HANDS OF THE ALLIES IN 1815.
Voyage to France—Waterloo—Paris in the hands of the Allies in 1815—I am obliged to run into Havana, on my way to Nantes—First news of the battle of Waterloo, at sea—Consternation and rage of my French shipmates —Confirmation of the news by the pilot of the Belle-Isle—Arrival at Paim-bceuf—The white flag of the Bourbons floating over the forts—a second corroboration of Napoleon's fall—Visit to my old counting-room at Nantes —The Venus Callypyges still in its former place—Journey to Paris—Prussian outposts at Blois—Major Keller, into whose hands Napoleon's chapeau and sword had fallen at Charleroi—The bridge at Tours, and the Grenadiers of the Old Guard on the left bank—Paris—Description of the position of affairs—Anecdote of the Duke of Wellington—The death of Marshal Ney—Review of the Russian Guard, on the Boulevards, from the Barrier du Trone to the Barrier de l'Etoile—The returned Euglish officers from Orleans at Paris—Euglish and French cooking—The American General Scott at Paris—Object of my trip to Europe—Ouvrard again Napoleon's Commissary-General during the Hundred Days—His description of the battle of Waterloo—Second return of the Bourbms — State of financial affairs—The remodelling of the Hope establishment at Amsterdam in 1814, and the entry of Mr. Jerome Sillem into it—Financial embarrassments of the Bourbons—Ouvrard's success in the negotiation of the first loan through the Barings in Londou, and the Hopes in Amsterdam—Powerful aid of the Duke of Wellington—Ouvrard, the creator of this mine of wealth for all concerned, comes off empty-handed himself.
The favorable wind, which had wafted us out of the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico, still held good," and yet we were, for several hours, surrounded by the muddy water, which, rolling down with much force, sharply cuts the blue crystal waters of the gulf, making a line of division that is distinctly perceptible for some thirty miles from the river's mouth. This phenomenon may likewise be observed at the mouth of the Rio de Janeiro, and, in even
broader and farther-reaching extent, at the embouchure of the Plata river. The depth of the Mississippi at this line of separation was measured in 1845, and found to be 7,800 feet.
Soon after our departure, the unusual heaving and pitching of our ship, which, having a cargo of 2,000 bales of cotton, had not sufficient ballast, Captain Bailey wisely determined to run into Havana to procure more. A return to the mouth of the Mississippi would have occasioned incalculable loss of time, great expense, and possibly the breaking off of a bargain. On the fourth day of our voyage we reached the magnificent fortress El Moro, which commands the entrance of the harbor of Havana, and from which I had parted five years before. Our inquiry for ballast was soon satisfied. The Cuban government had exposed to public sale a quantity of old and useless iron cannon balls ; and, by removing one hundred and fifty bales of cotton from the ship's main-hold, and bringing them on deck, we left a larger space open to receive this very convenient ballast, which could be brought on board so easily and quickly. A sufficient quantity of it was purchased, and in a few days the Horatio was once more ready for sea. The wind still continued favorable, as we stood out upon the open ocean, and brought us, within twenty-eight days, to the vicinity of the English coasts, not far from the Scilly Islands. At this point we saw a large vessel in the distance, which came towards us with half-filled sails, and was soon recognized by Captain Bailey, who belonged to New York, as the monthly packet from London to that city. The captain readily complied with my request, that he would speak her if possible. The two ships came closer together, and we distinctly heard, through the speaking trumpet of the packet captain, these words : " How do you do, Captain Bailey]" the commander of the London vessel proving to be an acquaintance. By means of backing and filling the sails, and using the speaking trumpets, they managed to carry on the conversation for some minutes ; and after mutual replies to some seafaring questions, a passenger, who had taken the speaking trumpet from the captain's hands, suddenly addressed me with, " How do you do, Mr. Nolte V These words, as I discovered, came from the English Consul, Barclay, who was returning to New York, after the
end of the war, and who had recognized me on the quarter deck. I now got Captain Bailey to ask, " What news from France V The answer was, " The Duke of Wellington, with the British army, are in Paris." Hereupon followed the question, " Where is Bonaparte V and the last reply we could catch brought the words, " He has fled, nobody knows whither." At length the two ships separated, each one steering its course. My readers should have seen the countenances of my two French friends ! Incredulity, fury and exasperation were visible, by turns, in the expression of their features. I remarked that I had prophesied correctly, that the whole comedy, as I had said when we started, would probably be played out by the time we reached the shores of France. My former captain, Roche, asked me, with a compassionate shrug jf the shoulders, "So you believe all that, do you % It is nothing but confounded English news, manufactured at London for fools; never mind, you will see !" And hereupon the two Frenchmen fell to demonstrating, for each other's satisfaction, that this intelligence could not be true.
As I afterwards learned, they went still farther in New Orleans, Adhere they had always been fond of calling the Duke of Wellington Vilain-ton, when the news of the battle of June 18th was made known there, without any further particulars. Mr. Thierry, the talented but extremely Bonapartist editor of the French paper, Courrier de la Louisiane, undertook to analyze this news, and to prove, by a series of logical conclusions, that it masked a disastrous defeat of the British army, and that Napoleon had undoubtedly achieved a brilliant triumph, which every good Frenchman was consequently bound to celebrate, without loss of time. Preparations were instantly made to comply with this suggestion, and that same evening busts of Napoleon, crowned with wreaths of laurel, were borne about in procession, surrounded by hundreds of torches, and several bands of music were engaged to play and sing national French airs and hymns. Indescribable was the feeling of these enthusiasts when, as I was afterwards told, they heard the real state of the case ; yet my two French travelling companions gave me a very fair idea of this feeling when we, on the next day, neared the roads of Belle Isle, and took on board a French pilot
from Loire. He was instantly laid hold of by these gentlemen, and overwhelmed with inquiries, if it were possible that the stupid nonsense from England about Napoleon's downfall could be true. The poor fellow had to make the sad reply, "Ah! it is only too true! his great courage has betrayed him !" " But where is he then f. was the next question. " Nobody can tell; they say that he has fled to Rochefort, with the intention of escaping to America." This was the beginning of a very animated conversation between the pilot and our friends, who had scarcely been in time to order the necessary ship manoeuvres, until an oath or two, such as " damn these Frenchmen," from Captain Bailey, released him from their hands. On the banks of the Loire we everywhere saw the white flag of the Bourbons, and at length came to anchor, not far from Painbceuf.
My first visit in Nantes was, of course, to my former employers, who received me all the more cordially, that I placed in their hands, for sale, a large part of the cargo that I had brought with me. It was not without a certain feeling of interest and curiosity that I again visited the counting-room, where I, ten years before, had consumed both time and pen in learning how to write commercial advices. Mr. Labouchere had not yet lost his taste for butterflies, shells, dried fish, and lizards, for a quantity of these were seen in several cases ranged against the wall. But I was particularly delighted with my old favorite, the plaster-paris statue of Venus— Callipyges-Venus aux belles /esses —as the French call her, which was still standing in its old place on a desk. It was plainly to be seen that Mr. Labouchere prized this not less highly than I had done, but his taste for art yielded to a certain feeling of delicacy, which induced him to leave the artistic beauties of the statue more to the force of conjecture, than to let them be openly exposed to the gaze of the uninitiated; and hence he was in the habit of turning the rear side, namely, that where Venus spreads out the large cloth towards the front. When, ten years before this, I had been accustomed to enter the office in the morning, I never failed to turn the statue around, so that no one might be deprived of the sight of those beauties to which the statue owed its name. However, if, in the course of the day, this change
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happened to be noticed, the old direction was once more carefully given it, and this very thing proved to me, also now as formerly, that love of art and delicacy of feeling had not relinquished a tittle of their mutual rights, nor undergone any diminution. The head of Venus was still looking as it used to do, over her shoulder at a case of butterflies, which hung behind her. At so interesting and important a period of the world's history, I could not linger at Nantes any longer than my business absolutely required. I was burning with eagerness to reach Paris, where the fate of European nations was about to be decided for the second time, and I was therefore soon upon my way to that city. In Blois, where I arrived the same evening about 10 o'clock, I for the first time saw a portion of the Prussian army, intoxicated with victory, whose advanced posts extended to that place. The inn, where I only thought of taking my evening meal, was crowded to overflowing with Prussian officers, who so frequently repeated the w r ord Belle-Alliance that mj curiosity to get some coherent and authentic details of that great battle soon rose to the highest pitch. When I questioned some of the officers, their reply invariably was— " Good heavens, do you not know all about it already V I told them that I lived in America, and had just arrived from there." "Ah! indeed," they said; "well, that's a good reason; we will take you to our major," they added, " he will tell you all about it. It was himself that took Napoleon's chapeau and sword from his carriage at Charleroi, and gave it to General Blucher. He is a clever, pleasant man, is Major Keller, and will receive you well. Come on! he lodges here in the inn." I accompanied them very willingly. The officers led me to their major, and introduced me with the words, "Here, major, is a man who comes from the woods of America, and does not know one syllable about the great battle of Belle Alliance, of which every one else is talking! Be so kind as to tell him how we drove Napoleon out." The major was really very polite. He asked me to be seated, and I at once requested permission to call for a bottle of champagne, in order that we might empty a few glasses to his health and that of the Prussian army. In this way his tongue was loosened, and in one short hour I had learned as much about the battle as he himself knew.
I then took ray leave of him, and proceeded on my way to Paris. On the next morning I reached the bridge at Tours, where I saw the entrance of the Prussian grenadiers upon the hither side, but saw the opposite bank held by the remnants of the old French guard, with their bear-skin caps. This was the corps which Marshal Davoust had led to that spot, in consequence of the capitulation of July 3d, 1815, and had encamped along the left bank of the Loire. In Paris, whose governor was the Prussian General Muffling, I alighted, as I had always done before, at the Hotel de l'Empire, on the corner of the Rue d'Artois and the Rue de Provence, which afterwards became the property of the banker, Lafitte. The Russian Embassy, the so called Hotel Phellusson, lay to the left of it, and was just at that time occupied by the General Pozzo di Borgo, who, as a member of the general staff of the Duke of Wellington, had been present at the battle of Waterloo, and was there wounded. Paris at that time contained the Emperor Alexander, the Emperor Francis II., of Austria, King Frederick William III., of Prussia, the Duke of Wellington, Prince Blucher, the General Field Marshal Prince Von Schwarzenberg, Platoff, the hetman of the Cossacks, innumerable Russian, German and other princes, and the most distinguished English, Russian, Austrian, and Prussian generals and diplomats. The result of the battle at Waterloo had brought these leading celebrities of all nations to Paris, and had made that capital the great centre of universal interest. It swarmed with troops and uniforms of all kinds to such a degree that one could neither look nor turn, in any direction, without his gaze being arrested at once by them. Among these masses of military men, here and there stalked the officers of the disbanded French army, alone, like ghosts, in long blue mantles, buttoned close up to their chins, and booted and spurred, but with their chapeaus pressed low down over their foreheads, and dark, rigid countenances. Even the ribbon of the Legion of Honor had disappeared from their button-holes ; but so soon as a red [English] uniform approached, you would know it at once in the flashing eyes and excited features of these melancholy pedestrians; and when any of these accidental and rtfdeed almost unavoidable jostlings of the elbows, or little collisions of the feet, which happened in the
midst of a moving crowd, occurred, the angry " Je suis Francais, monsieur!" or "Je suis officier Francais!" broke forth with great bitterness ; and if the customary " Pardon, monsieur!" was then omitted, a quarrel, more or less serious, was sure to follow. The French police had the difficult office to discharge to keep these remnants of French valor, upon whom victory had so lately heaped her choicest laurels, away from Paris as much as possible, and they succeeded but indifferently. Notwithstanding this extremely irritated state of feeling on the part of the French military, kept down too as it was by force alone, there was no one in all Paris that rode about more fearlessly than the Duke of Wellington: he showed himself every where, and usually in a simple blue overcoat, with the red English sash around his waist, and the usual military chapeau on his head, decorated with a white and red plume. He was generally followed by a single orderly-sergeant on horseback. I saw him ride thus one morning into the court-yard of the Hotel de l'Empire, whither he had come to inquire for the celebrated London banker Angerstein, who had also put up there. There was no lack of anecdotes concerning the notorious sangfroid of this hero of the day, who, at the battle of Waterloo, had several times rode himself into the midst of his squares, when the French cuirassiers charged in upon them. The Russian Count, Pozzo di Borgo, used to relate that the Duke, when he wanted, in the very beginning of the action, to make an attack upon the French line, with a couple of regiments of Nassau cavalry, suddenly found himself abandoned by them, at the very first cannon shot that was fired, and was left alone with his staff, in the middle of the field. He simply turned to the count, and smilingly said, " What do you think of that % Yet it is with such poltroons that I am expected to gain a battle!" My authority for this anecdote is Mr. Alexander Baring, who heard it himself from the lips of Pozzo di Borgo.
The deepest interest was felt by every one in Paris, at that time, in the trial of Marshal Ney, then pending before the Chamber of Peers; and the sympathy for that renowned soldier was universal. I was sitting at the window of the Cafe Hardy, on the corner of the Rue d'Artois and the Boulevard des Italiens, taking
my breakfast, when a strong detachment of French gendarmes rode past, and an acquaintance of mine, a Swiss, by the name of Sala-din, burst in, greatly agitated, and exclaimed: " There are the gendarmes returning ! All is over! I saw it!" This conveyed to me the first information that Ney had been shot, as my friend had witnessed the execution less than an hour before. It was nothing new to me, nor would it be to any one who had learned to know and estimate Ney's character, that, as Saladin told me, the greatest tranquillity was visible in his countenance at the final moment; but a comparison, used by my informant, struck me with much force: "He was as calm," said my friend, "as though he had just swallowed a glass of water!" Five balls penetrated the marshal's heart and three buried themselves in his brain; and he fell without a tremor. I arose, agitated, from my breakfast, and was a long time before I could get over my anger, at this barbarous execution, which the returned Bourbon government had deemed necessary. All Paris afterwards learned, that at the moment when the marshal's wife, the Princess de la Moskowa, was kneeling at the feet of Louis XVIII., and piteously imploring him to spare the life of her husband, an adjutant entered the room with the words, "The marshal has ceased to live;" and thus terminated the interview, and the embarrassment of the king, who would not hear of granting any pardon. From the manifold spectacle, certainly never witnessed before, which Paris at this moment offered to the eye, no one assuredly can form a correct idea but him who saw it. Let any one summon up before him, if he can, the most populous city in the European continent, the very centre of its elegance and fashion, in the hands of two distinguished foreign armies, the French and Prussian, intoxicated with success, and surrounded by the numerous hosts of the Russian autocrat and of the German emperor—Austrians and Cossacks, Baschkiers and Englishmen, Prussians and Honveds, in variegated combination; the public promenades and places of public amusement, the restaurants and theatres, filled, to overflowing, with the elite of these sons of Mars, and in among them the ever elegant, but more or less respectable female classes of Paris, from the so-called Lionnes to the Lorettes —two names,
which, at tha.t time, had not yet become fashionable, although the ladies who bear them have always existed in these gay creatures, crossing and re-crossing the many-colored scene we have described, with all their own peculiar grace and lightness—the Parisian populace and its " gamins" mingling in harmonious brotherhood with the foreign troopers—these " Alexanders at four sous a head," as Voltaire used to term the common soldiery—let the reader, I say, picture all this to himself, and he will, perhaps, be able to form an idea of the reality. The varied spectacle continued day and night, without intermission—for the brief nights of July sped swiftly away, in the gratification of the curiosity awakened in, and inspired by the stranger guests; then, too, there was not only every species of enjoyment at hand, but also ample means for its indulgence; full purses and the life of Paris are easily reconciled! The four and twenty hours were passed in an uninterrupted dream; and those who were surrounded by this excitement, re-awoke, after brief slumber, to begin another dream, that bore them along with open eyes.
It was curious to observe the selection made by the diplomats and officers who had to dine in the restaurants of the capital. Thus, for instance, the diplomatists and all who belonged to the embassies, the Russian officers of the higher rank preferred the elegant saloons of the restaurateur Beauvilliers, while the celebrated name of Very, drew to his establishment all the English and Prussian gourmets, and you could not travel his long lowersaloon, where, on one side, the English, and on the other, the Prussian officers used to sit, without having to skip over the trailing cavalry sabres that stuck out behind the seats of the company, and crossed each other in a series of figures like the letter X. The uniform usually announced the choice of dishes, before the customer had time to speak, and the garcons were seldom mistaken ; when, as they saw a red uniform, denoting its wearer to be English, enter the room they got their mouths ready to say, Bifsteck aux pommes de terre ? or, as a Prussian came in, at once suggested some kind of a potage. The English officers were somewhat dull of comprehension when the waiters made inquiry respecting the portions they were to order, as for example, where
a simple portion of beef and a double supply of green peas was required. The Englishmen would then ask for a " boeuf pour un, un petit pois pour deux," and seldom comprehended that both could be had without ringing in the additional particle un.
An opportunity to see assembled, at one point, all that Paris contained of military and diplomatic notabilities and royal personages was presented to me, one day, by a review of the Russian Guards, on the Boulevards, which were occupied, along their whole extent, from the Barriere du Trone to the Barriere de l'Etoile. I had stationed myself on the Boulevard des Italiens, close by a Russian colonel who stood there at the head of his regiment, and had engaged in conversation with him. All at once a number of patrolling sentinels spread themselves along behind the front line, and caused the spectators to recede a few steps. I expressed to the colonel my regret at this arrangement, as it would, most probably, deprive me of the chance of seeing the three monarchs of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, who were expected at every moment, to ride past accompanied by their respective staffs. The colonel who was a very good natured man, had a small hump on his back, such as I had not seen before on any military person, politely said :—" Very well, Monsieur, remain where you are, at my side, and no one will meddle with you !" I did so, and was not molested. Suddenly, the three monarchs came riding rapidly along the lines; the Emperor Alexander in the middle, his eyes directed at the ladies in the windows and balconies; on his right the Emperor Francis II. of Austria, with his grave face, looking straight before him; and on his left, King Frederic William III., who seemed to be rather examining the caps among the people, than the ladies on the balconies. The staff consisted, as my clever friend, the colonel, reckoned it, of more than a thousand military personages from all countries, and dressed in every variety of uniform. A lucky chance ordained that their Majesties and the whole procession should halt directly in front of the regiment on my right, and I then partly recognized of my own knowledge, and partly had pointed out to me, by my obliging protector, the following dignitaries :—The Russian Grand Dukes Constantine, Nicholas, and Michael, the Austrian Arch-
dukes Charles and John, several Prussian Princes, the Duke of Wellington, the Austrian Field-Marshal, Prince Von Schwarzen-berg, Field-Marshal Blucher, General Gneisenau, General Mlifting, the Cossack Hetman Platoff, a throng of English, Prussian, and Austrian generals, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Stuart, Prince Met-ternich and others, whose names and physiognomies have escaped me. As I was returning to my lodgings, after the review, I ran against my former Captain and travelling companion Roche, almost in tears. " Ah, mon Dieu !" he exclaimed, " I never imagined that they were such splendid troops,—these so-called barbarians and Cossacks ;—how our bulletins lied about them ! And yet what they said, we took for gospel!"
The division of the English Major-General Lambert, which we had fought in New Orleans, had returned to Europe, in time enough to participate in the Battle of Waterloo, and occupation of Paris. Suddenly, one day, I found myself surrounded by several English officers, who greeted me with a cheery " How do you do, Mr. Nolte !" My newly found acquaintances were Major Mitchell, Lieutenant Dobree, and others, who had fallen into our hands, as prisoners, at New Orleans, and who felt very grateful for the friendly treatment they had experienced there, in my house, during the brief period that elapsed after their capture, until the ratification of peace, at Ghent. These gentlemen, in order to give some expression of their kind feeling in return, invited me to a dinner, which they ordered at Very's, with precise instructions to observe in everything, the English style—a by no means agreeable novelty to one of the " fins cuisiniers de Paris," who was thus deprived of all freedom of invention. This rage for looking upon English habits and customs as the rule and criterion of the excellent, in everything which prevails on the Continent as well as in England itself, is seldom got rid of by a native of the latter country. If there be any nation which can lay claim to such privilege, it is indeed, the English; but this remark has its limits, and cannot apply to every case. The dinner of my hospitable friends passed off as well as was possible under the circumstances; but of course, they did not find the fish so fresh, nor the roast beef so tender and savory as in England,