OCR Text |
Show 42~ NOTI~i'!. efforts. A treaty, it is true, had been probably signed; yet it might not be ratified. Its contents had not tran•pired, antl no reasonable conjecture coulrl be formed, that it would be acceptable. The influence which t~1e account of its signature had on the army, was deleterious in the extreme, and showed a necessity for increased energy, instead of a relaxation of discipline. Men, who had shown themselves zealous, in the preceding part of the campaign, now became lukewarm in the service. Those whom no danger could appal, an'd no labour discourage, complained of the hardships of the camp. When the enemy were no longer im: mediately before them, they thought themselves oppres;'ed, by being detained in service. 'Vicked and weak men, who, from their situation in Hfe, ought to have furnished a better example, secretly encouraged thts spirit of insubordination. They atTected to pity the hardships of those who were kept in the field; they fomented discontent, by insinuating that the merits of those ta whom they adrlres!!ed themselves, had not been sufficiently noticed or applauded; and to so high a degree had the disorder at length risen; that at one period, only fifteen men and one officer, out of a whole regiment, stationed to guard the very avenue through which the enemy had penetrated into the country, were found at their post. At another point, equally important, a whole corps, on which the greatest reliance had been placed, operated upon by the acts of a foreign agent, suddenly deserted their post. If, trusting to an uncertain peace, the respondent had revoked his proclamation, or ceased to act under it, the fatal security by which we were lul1ed, might have dastroyed all discipline, have dissolved all his force, and left him without any means of defending the country against an enemy, instructed, by the traitors within our own bosom, of the time and place, at which he might safely make his attack. In such an event, his life might have been offered up; yet it "..-ould have been but a feeble expiation, for the disgrace and misery, into which, by his criminal negli· gence, he had permitted the country to be plunged. He thought peace a prob:tblo, but by no means a certain event. If it had realty taken place, a few days must bring the official advice of it; and he believed it better to submit, during those few d.ays, to the salutary restraints imposed, than to put every thing dear to ourselves and country at risk upon an uncertain continA gency. Admit the ch~n~es to h~ve been~ hundred or a thousand to NOTES. 421 one in favour of the ratification, and against any renewed attempts of the enemy; what should we say or think of the prudence of the man, 1Yho would stake his life, his fortune, his country, and his honour, even with such odds in his favour, against a few days' anticipated enjoyment of the blessings of peace? The respondent couht not bring himself to play so deep a hazard; uninfluenced by the Clamours of the ignorant ami the designing, he continued the exercise of that law, which necessity had compelled him to proclaim; and he still t~inks himself justified, by the situation of affairs, for the course which he adopted and pursued. Has he exercised this power wantonly or improperly? If so, he is liable; not, as he believes, to this honourable eourt for contempt, but to his go· Yernment for an abuse of power, and to those individuals whom he has injured, in damages proportioned to that injury. About the period last described, the consul of France, who ap· pears, by governor Claiborne's Jetter, to have embarrassed the first drafts, by his claims in favour of pretended subjects of his king, renewed his interference; his certificates were given to men in the ranks of the army; to some who had never applied, and to others who wished to use them as the means of obtaining an inglorious exemption from danger and fatigue. The immunity de4 .rived from these certificates not only thinned the ranks, by the withdrawal of those to whom they were given, but produced the desertion of othe,·s, who thought themselves equally entitled to the privilege; and to this cause must be traced tho abandonment of the important post of Chef Menteur, and the temporary refusal of a relief ordered to occupy it. Under these circumstances, to remove the force of an example which had already occasioned such dangerous consequences, and to punish those who were so unwilling to defend what they were so ready to enjoy, the respondent issued a general order, direct· ing those French subjects, who had availed themselves of the con~ sui's certificates, to remove out of the lines of defence, and far enough to avoid any temptation of intercourse with our enemy, whom they were so scrupulous of opposing. This measure wa; resorted to, as the mildest mode of proceeding against a danger~ ous and increasing evil; and the respondent had the-Jess scruple · of his power, in this instance, ns it was not quite so strong as that which governor Claiborne had exercised, before the invasion, by the atlvice of his attorney-general, in the case of colonel Coliel. |