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Show LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. waste the lower coul)try. What was to be hoped, VIII. from the clemency and generous conduct of such a ~foe their march to the city of Washington already an- 1814" no~nced; while the imagination painted in l~vely colours the repetition, here, of scenes of desolat10n, even surpassing what had there been witn~ssed. . . Louisiana, he well knew, was ill supplied With arms and contained a mixed population, of different t~ngues, who perhaps felt not a sufficient attachment for the soil or government, to be induced to de· fend them to the last extremity. No troops, arms, or ammunition, had yet descended from the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. His only reliance for defence, if assailed, was on the few regulars he had, the volunteers of general Coffee, and such troops as the state itself could raise. 'iVhat might be the final re· suit of things, under prospects gloomy as the present, should an enemy shortly appear, was no difficult con· jecture. His principal fears, at present,_ ':er~, ~hat Mobile might fall, the left bank of the MtssiSSippi be gained, all communication with the western states cut off and New Orleans be thus unavoidably reduced. Al~hough continually agitated by such fo~ebodings, he breathed his fears to none. Closely lockmg all apprehensions in his own breast, he appeared constantly serene, and as constantly endeavoured to impress a general belief, that the country could and would be successfully defended. The manifestation of such tra_n· quillitv, and apparent certainty of success, under c~rcumstances so unpropitioos, excited strong hopes, ~s· pelled every thing like fear, and impressed all With additional confidence. LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. 24S vVitli the remnant of -force he had at command, CJ:!AP. and the additional strength to be a1J~r 0rd ed lu . m fr om'-"'\" I"I"I.' -' Kentucky and Tennessee, 'uncertain in its arrival, un- 1814• disciplined, and unarmed ; to oppose an enemy who might be already on the coast, and of whose exceeding valour great and wondrous stories had been already told; might have sunk into inaction any mind not gift-ed with uncommon energy, and made it to retire from a contest, where seemingly insurmountable diff1culties rendered delusive every hope of resistance : yet, fi1m and resolute, an increase of difficulties but occasioned an increase of exertion, and he entered on his forlorn undertaking, with no other determination than to leave nothing unessayed,-to ride out tl1e threatening storm in safety. While engaged in his operations on tl1e Mobile, and correseven while at Fort Jackson, he had kept up a corres- ;,~~;~~';;'_" pondence with the governor of Louisiana, persuading vcrnor d . l . . Cla>bome. an urgmg um to the adopt10n of such measures, as might be calculated to give security to the state. From the information derived through tl1is source, he felt assured, that little reliance was to be placed on the great body of the citizens; and that, to gain any deci-sive advantages from tl1eir services, it would be neces-sary to abandon any thing like temporizing policy, and pursue a course at once steady and unwavering. Ma-ny, indulging the belief that vVest Florida would shortly be restored to Spain; and a still greater num-ber, resting in the opinion that the country could not be successfully defended, had led most well designing men astray; while Englishmen, Spaniards, and innu-merable other foreigners, feeling no attachment to th~ |