army were beauty and booty. Although this report is generally believed in the United States, particularly as it never has been formally denied by those whom it most concerns, I have not thought it sufficiently authenticated to record it as an historical fact. It is indeed a most heinous charge, and if untrue, requires not only a clear and positive denial, but also the proof of the genuine parole and countersign, which may be easily obtained, as it is well known that it is consigned in the orderly books of every corps in the army. It has been said that the British government considers it below its dignity to condescend to refute a calumny which has been only circulated through the medium of newspapers and other periodical publications in the United States. But this will not do; the almost unanimous assertion of the deserters and prisoners on which this report is founded, is a fact too serious to be looked over, and it is but too much supported by the positive and repeated threats of admiral Cochrane in his letters of the 18th August and 19th September 1814, (See Appendix, No. 8,) by the letters of other officers intercepted on board the St. Lawrence, (see also Appendix No. 67) and the conduct of the British at Hampton, Alexandria, and other places. It cannot be considered derogatory to the dignity of any government to undeceive a great nation, among whom every individual exercises a portion of the sovereignty. The voice of that nation will be heard, and its historians, if the British government persists in its unjustifiable silence, will at last no longer be swayed by the motives of delicacy and respect to a vanquished enemy which have actuated the author of these memoirs. The fame of general Packenham and his officers, the moral character of the British military, strongly implicated by a charge of this nature, and the honour of the British government all imperiously demand that it be refuted, if capable of refutation, which may be easily done, if general Lambert, whose honourable conduct in the course of this campaign does not permit the least doubt to be entertained of his veracity, will only come forward and state the real state of the fact-otherwise, and if proof, such as this, cannot be obtained, the report must be considered as true, and, I leave to future historians the unpleasant task of animadverting upon a conduct so shocking to humanity. APPENDIX. Copy of a letter from vice-admiral Cochrane to Mr. Monroe Copy of a letter from Mr. Monroe to vice-admiral Coch- NO. III. Letter from the same to Mr. Laffite, Directing orders by W. H. Percy, captain of the British ship the Hermes, &c. Letter from the same to captain Lockyer, &c. ib. X Letter from Mr. Laffite the elder, to Mr. Blanque, xiv Address by general Jackson to the militia of New Orleans, xxxvŸi Military order from the adjutant-general's office directed to the citizens of New Orleans, Letter from commodore Patterson to the secretary of the Letter from the same to the same, ib. Letter from commodore Patterson to the secretary of the navy, Provisional articles of exchange for prisoners, Letter from general Jackson to the secretary at war, lxvii Jackson to the secretary at war, Copy of a letter from major Overton to general Jackson, ib. Address by the rev. abbé Duborg to general Jackson at the ceremony of thanksgiving ixxi Letter from general Jackson to the mayor of New Orleans, Ixxiii ib. |