[THE Seminoles were a tribe of Indians inhabiting Florida, and
parts of the adjacent country. During the war between the United
States and Great Britain, from 1812 to 1815, the Seminoles and
Creek Indians made attacks upon our frontier settlements in the
southwest, and in consequence, general Andrew Jackson, then a
major-general of militia in Tennessee, was sent against them, at
the head of a considerable force, by which, after a sanguinary
contest, the Indians were subdued, and a treaty concluded
with the Creek nation, in 1814. After the peace of 1815, the
Seminoles, being sheltered in Florida, at that time a Spanish
province, made frequent depredations upon the people of the
United States. In December, 1817, the department of war ordered
general Jackson, who in 1814 was appointed a major-general in
the United States army, to assume the command of the forces
in the southwest, and march against the Indians; also to adopt
the necessary measures to terminate a conflict which has since
been called ‘the Seminole war.’ In the early part of 1818,
general Jackson took command of an army of regulars, militia,
and friendly Creeks, and pursued the Seminoles into Florida,
destroying their towns, and killing and capturing many Indians
and run-a-way negroes. He also took possession of the Spanish
fortresses of St. Marks, Pensacola, and the Barancas, during a
period of peace between Spain and the United States. Two Indian
traders, Arbuthnot, a Scotchman, and Ambrister, an Englishman,
were taken prisoners, (being found among the Indians and
Spaniards,) tried by a court martial, and executed by order
of general Jackson. Two Indian chiefs, who were captured, were
also put to death by his order, and sundry other cruel and
high-handed acts committed, to which the attention of congress
was called, at the session of 1818–19.
The subject having been referred to the committee on military
affairs, that committee brought in a report, concluding
with the following resolution: ‘Resolved, that the house of
representatives disapproves the proceedings in the trial and
execution of Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister.’ To
this resolution, Mr. Cobb, of Georgia, moved to add others,
disapproving of the execution of Indian captives, and declaring
that the seizure of the Spanish posts was contrary to the
constitution, and so forth. The discussion on these resolutions
caused one of the most exciting and interesting debates ever
known in congress. Thirty-one of the most distinguished members
of the house participated in the debate, which was opened on the
eighteenth of January, in committee of the whole, and concluded
on the tenth of February, when the question on the resolutions
was taken, and decided in the negative, by majorities varying
from thirty to forty-six, in a house of one hundred and seventy
members present. General Jackson, besides his own popularity, as
the victor of New Orleans, had the advantage of being sustained
by the influence and power of Mr. Monroe’s administration, the
president being considered as implicated with him in some of
his transactions in Florida, by having sanctioned the same.
Among those who coincided with Mr. Clay, in condemning these
proceedings, were Messrs. Cobb, of Georgia, Storrs, of New York,
Colston, J. Johnson, T. M. Nelson, and Mercer, of Virginia,
Hopkinson, of Pennsylvania, Williams, of Connecticut, Harrison,
of Ohio, Tyler, of Virginia, (the two latter since presidents
of the United States,) Lowndes, of South Carolina, and Reed,
of Maryland; while, on the other side, Messrs. Holmes, of
Massachusetts, Tallmadge, of New York, P. P. Barbour, and
Floyd, of Virginia, Baldwin, of Pennsylvania, R. M. Johnson,
of Kentucky, and others, made able speeches in support of the
administration, and general Jackson’s military course in this
campaign.
Mr. Clay twice addressed the committee of the whole on the
subject; the first speech only, is reported at length, as
follows.]