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Show 576 LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CJI AP. was an immaterial circumstance: he had a mind incaXI. pable of being inflated.tly applause, or depressed by ~unmerited censure. He knew, full well, that his 1815. countrymen would duly appreciate his cond uct, trace his actions to proper motives, and extend " honour to whom honour was due." Humanum est errare, was a maxim from which he claimed no exemption; but a conviction resting on his mind, and which alone had prompted him to the course he had taken, \~as, t~t if he had erred, it was for the general good : If legislative prerogative had been invaded, it was to save the actors from themselves : if constitutional forms and provisions had been violated, the country had been thereby protected from outrage, dishonour, and ruin. These afforded consolatory reflections, which the ne~ lect or censures of none could disturb, or take away. Mindful of what he owed to his country, and what was expected at his hands, he continued a course, calculated to preserve the advantages he had secured, regardless of the cabal and intrigue of party. . Appearances in the American camp were about tlus ~- tda tents time assuming an unfavourable aspec: : presen . . n- ~;;r1c~; ger and alarm being removed, confusiOn was ansmg, troops. and disaffection spreading through the ranks. Pretexts were sought after, to escape the drudgery of the fi_eld. Many naturalized citizens, who had been brought mto the service, and made to aid in the general defence, were now seekinoo an exemption fi·om further controlJ and claiming to \e subjects of the king of France. Some were indeed foreigners : but most of them had, by naturalization, becomecitizensoft~e United States .. Notwithstanding this, as French subJects, they were LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. $77 seeking, and actually procuring, exonerations tiu-ough Cf~AP. Monsieur Toussard, the consul resident at New Or-~ leans. No applicant ever went away unsupplied, mid 1815• hundreds had obtained his protections, which were to relieve them from the drudgery of the field, and the ties due to their adopted country. Harassed by such evils, that were every day increasing; and having strong and satisfactory reasons to believe that the enemy, ti1en within a few hours sail of the shore, were constantly advised of his situation, Jackson de- . termincd to adopt such measures, as would at once put down the machinations of the guilty and designing. Monsieur Toussard, thus manifesting a warmth of attachment to ti1e English, and a desire to aid them, for the service~ they had given in the restoration of his monarch, was ord~red to leave the city,-retire to ilie interior of the country, nor ven,ture to retmn, until peace were restored. His countrymen, too, who were disposed to claim his protection, and abandon the service, were ordered to follow him, and not to appear again about New Orleans. The general did this, witl1 a vie}V to his own security, and from a conviction, that those who thus shamefully sought to avoid a contest, threatened against a country which they had adopted, m1d whose privileges and benefits they had so long enjoyed, would not scruple, if an occasion offered, to inflict any injury in their power :-he believed his camp, or its vicinity, by no means a proper place, where such characters should be permitted to loiter. Otir own citizens, too, were giving rise to difficulties, and increasing the danger of the moment. Mr. Livingston had arrived on ti1e lOth, from the British 3 B ' |