him, urging that he
hasten there with his army and at once begin measures for the defense of
that city. Information had been received by W.C. Claiborne, then
Governor of Louisiana, from a highly credited source--most unexpected,
but most fortunate and welcome--that the vast British armament of ships
and men rendezvousing in the West Indies was about ready to sail, and
that New Orleans was assuredly the objective point of the expedition.

LAFITTE, THE PIRATE OF THE GULF, AND HIS SEA-ROVERS, LOYAL TO THE
AMERICAN CAUSE.

The informant was the celebrated Captain Jean Lafitte, the leader of the
reputed pirates of the Gulf, who had been outlawed by an edict of our
Government. The circumstances were so romantic, and displayed such a
patriotic love for and loyalty to our country, that they are worthy of
brief mention. As Byron wrote, he

Left a corsair's name to other times,
Linked with one virtue and a thousand crimes.

But this does injustice to these _marauders of the sea_, who put in a
plea of extenuation. The disparity of their virtues and their crimes is
overwrought in the use of poetic license. Before the period of the
conquest of Guadeloupe by the English, the French Government in force
on that island had granted permits to numerous privateersmen to prey
upon the commerce of the enemy, as our own Government had done in two
wars. Now they could no longer enter the ports of that or of any other
of the West India islands, with their prizes and cargoes. Lafitte and
his daring sea-rovers made of the Bay of Barataria, on the Gulf coast
sixty miles south of New Orleans, a place of rendezvous and headquarters
for their naval and commercial adventures. From this point they had
ready and almost unobserved communication by navigable bayous with New
Orleans and the marts beyond. They formed a sequestered colony on the
shores of Barataria, and among the bold followers of Lafitte there were
nearly one hundred men skilled in navigation, expert in the use of
artillery, and familiar with every bay and inlet within one hundred
miles of the Crescent City. Their services, if attainable, might be made
invaluable in the invasion and investment of New Orleans contemplated by
the British, who through their spies kept well informed of the
conditions of the environment of the city. The time seemed opportune to
win them over. If not pirates under our laws, they were smugglers who
found it necessary to market the rich cargoes they ca