314 National Life and Character 



assailed a position very much less strong than that 

 held by Soult when Wellington beat him at Tou- 

 louse with the same troops which were defeated by 

 Jackson at New Orleans. The simple truth is that 

 Jackson was a very good general, and that he had 

 under him troops whom he had trained in successive 

 campaigns against Indians and Spaniards, and that 

 on the three occasions when he brought Paken- 

 ham to battle that is, the night attack, the great 

 artillery duel, and the open assault the English 

 soldiers, though they fought with the utmost gal- 

 lantry, were fairly and decisively beaten. 



This one badly chosen premise does not, however, 

 upset Mr. Pearson's conclusions. Plenty of in- 

 stances can be taken from our War of 1812 to show 

 how unable militia are to face trained regulars ; and 

 an equally striking example was that afforded at 

 Castlebar, in Ireland, in 1798, when a few hundred 

 French regulars attacked with the bayonet and drove 

 in headlong flight from a very strong position, de- 

 fended by a powerful artillery, five times their num- 

 ber of English, Scotch, and Irish militia. 



In Mr. Pearson's fourth chapter he deals, from 

 a very noble standpoint, with some advantages of 

 national feeling. With this chapter and with his 

 praise of patriotism, and particularly of that patriot- 

 ism which attaches itself to the whole country, and 

 not to any section of it, we can only express our 

 hearty agreement. 



In his fifth chapter, on "The Decline of the Fam- 

 ily," he sets forth, or seems to set forth, certain 



