246 ANDREW JACKSON 



British fleet and might have compelled it to surrender ; 

 but the enemy forestalled him by blowing up the fort 

 and beating a precipitate retreat. For thus driving 

 the British from Florida, a most necessary and useful 

 act, Jackson was stupidly and maliciously blamed by 

 the Federalist newspapers. After clearing the enemy 

 away from this quarter, he found himself free to devote 

 all his energies to the task of defending New Orleans ; 

 and there, after an arduous journey, he arrived on the 

 2d of December. The British expedition directed 

 against that city was much more formidable than any 

 other that we had to encounter during that war ; and, 

 moreover, its purpose was much more deadly. In the 

 North the British warfare had been directed chiefly 

 toward defending Canada and gaining such a foothold 

 upon our frontier as might be useful in making terms 

 at the end of the war. The burning of Washington 

 was an exasperating insult, but its military importance 

 was very slight. But the expedition against New 

 Orleans was intended to make a permanent conquest 

 of the lower Mississippi, and to secure for Great Britain 

 in perpetuity the western bank of the river. Napoleon 

 had sold us the vast Louisiana territory in order to 

 keep Great Britain from seizing it. As part of his 

 empire it was a vulnerable spot which the mistress of 

 the seas could strike with impunity so far as he was 

 concerned. He preferred to put it into the hands of 

 a power which was at that time hostile toward Great 

 Britain. But the latter power felt quite competent to 

 take it away from Napoleon's ally, and as the emperor 

 had just been dethroned and sent to Elba, the whole 

 strength of England, if needed, could be put forth against 

 the United States. The war had now lasted more than 



