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Show gg LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. his pledge ;-I should disgrace myself, without beneIll. fiting you. ~ " I can only deplore the situation of those officers, who have undertaken to persuade their men, that their term of service will expire on the lOth. In giving their opinions to this effect, they have acted indiscreetly, and without sufficient autl1ority. It would be the most pleasing act of my life, to restore them with honour to their families. Nothing would pain me more than that any other sentiments should be felt towards ~em,. than those of gratitude and esteem. On all occas10~s, 1t has been my highest happiness to promote ~e1r mte:est, and even to gratify their wishes, where, w1th propn~ty, it could be done. When in the lower country, beheving that, in the order for their dismissal, they had been improperly treated, I even solicited ~he ?ove~nment. to discharge them, finally, from the obhgat10ns mto wluch they had entered. You know the answer ~f the secre· tarv of war ;-that neither he nor the president, as he beiieved had the power to discharge them. How, then,. can' it be required of me to do so ?. " The moment it is signified to me, by any competent authority, even by the governor of Tennessee, ~o whom I have written on the subject, or by general Pmckney, who is now appointed to the command, that the volun· teers may be exonerated from further service,. that moment I will pronounce it, with tl1e greate~t sansf~ction. I have only the powe! of pronouncmg a dis· charge,-not of giving it, in any case ;-a distinction which I would wish should be borne in mind. AI· ready have I sent to raise volunteers, on my own responsibility, to complete a campaign which has been LlFE OF GEN. JACKSON. 83 so happily begun, and.t);ms far, .~ fortunately prose-, C~~~'· cuted. The moment they arrive, and I am assured,~ that, fired by our explpits, they will hasten in crowds, .r • on the first intimation that we need thell; services, they,. will be substituted iT) the place of those who are dis-, contented here ; the latter will then. be permitted to re-turn to their homes, with all the honour, which, under such circumstances, they can carry along with them. But I still cl)erish the hope, that tl1eir dissatisfaction and complaints have been greatly exaggerated. I ~- not, must not believe, mat the " Volunteers of Tennessee," a name .ever dear to fame, will disgrace them-selves, and a country which they have honoured, by abandoning her standard, as mutineers and deserters ; but should I be disappointed, and compelled to resign this pleasing hope, one tiling I will not resign-my dvty. Mutiny and sedition, so long as I possess the po~ver of quelling tl1em, shall be put down ; and even when left destitute of this, I will still be found, in the last extremity, endeavouring to discharge the duty I owe my country and myself." To the platoon officers, who addressed him on the same subject, he replied in nearly the ~\me manner; but discontent had taken too deep a hold, and had, by designing men, been too artfully fomented, to be removed by any thing like argument or intreaty. At Mu,;nv. ength, on the evening of the 9th, general· Hall hastened · to ilie tent of Jackson, with information that ills whole ~rigade was in a state of mutiny, and making prepara-tiOns for moving forcibly off. Tllis was a measure which every consideration of policy, duty, and honour, required Jackson to oppose ; and to this purpose, he |