Life of Andrew Jackson. 359 



the loss of the Americans in killed and wounded was but thirteen. 

 Our effective force at the line on the left bank was three thousand 

 seven hundred ; that of the enemy at least nine thousand. The force 

 landed in Louisiana has been variously reported ; the best information 

 places it at about fourteen thousand. A part of this acted with 

 Colonel Thornton ; the climate had rendered many unfit for the 

 duties of the field, while a considerable number had been killed and 

 wounded in the different contests since their arrival. Their strength, 

 therefore, may be fairly estimated on the 8th at the number we have 

 stated; at any rate not less." 



This description of a battle so glorious to the American general is 

 certainly not told in a boasting or exaggerated strain. The writer 

 of this notice has the advantage of a personal knowledge of the field 

 and surrounding country, and can state that the exposition of the 

 localities by Mr. Eaton is clear and graphic. The position of Jack- 

 son was one of the most judicious and impregnable ever taken up, 

 and the assault by our troops was a most rash and senseless affair. 

 No chance at any time existed of forcing a passage to the city through 

 the American lines, unless when the moat should be bridged with the 

 bodies of the dead. On the other hand, the defences on the right 

 bank of the Mississippi were so slight, that Sir Edward Pakenham, 

 by crossing the river in full force, might have sat down in front of 

 New Orleans, and soon, by means of shells and hot shot, laid in ashes 

 or reduced to capitulate a city lying on a plain with extensive ranges 

 of wooden erections, and containing numbers of influential persons 

 not disaffected to the English cause. It is apparent that Jackson 

 was therefore favoured by the incapacity of the opposite commander; 

 for Sir Edward Pakenham was possessed of no enlargement of mind, 

 no genius for strategy, and scarcely any knowledge whatever of the 

 art of war. His valour, however, cannot be denied, for he died 

 whilst cheering on his men, and in the midst of the carnage of his 

 own creation. 



It is due to the memory of this unfortunate commander, and to the 

 improving spirit which now exists between the people of England 

 and America, that we should here notice the reflections in which Mr. 

 Eaton indulges upon the reported promise of Sir Edward Pakenham 

 to give up the city of New Orleans to be plundered by his troops. 

 It has long been believed in the United States that " Beauty and 

 Booty" were the words of the British commander at the commence- 

 ment of the battle of the 8th January. Mr. Eaton indignantly 

 exclaims : " Let it be remembered of that gallant but misguided 

 general, who has been so much deplored by the British nation, that, 

 to the cupidity of his soldiers he promised the wealth of the city as 

 a recompence for their gallantry and desperation ; while, with brutal 

 licentiousness, they were to revel in lawless indulgence, and triumph 

 uncontrolled over female innocence." Now in this edition of the 

 work of Mr. Eaton, published in March 1834, it is an unpardonable 

 omission of Mr. Cobbett not to have inserted the following declara- 

 tion made in 1833 by the distinguished officers whose names it bears. 

 To repair the defalcation of Mr. Cobbett, and to do justice to all 

 parties, we think it our duty to place this declaration in our pages : 



