the occasion, and his courage mounted with every emergency. His capacity, like the fairy tent, seemed to enlarge so as to contain all it was necessary to comprehend. His first effort was to quell treason at home. He declared martial law. His next, to break the charms of British invincibility. This he effected by his celebrated attack on the night of the 23d of December, 1814. A second battle, fought on the 28th of the same month, gave assurance to hope, and animated anew the courage of his men. But it was reserved for the ever memorable 8th of January, to fill the measure of Jackson's honour, and his country's glory. Nine thousand veterans with the appalling battle-cry of "Beauty and Booty," advanced upon the American lines! The story of that day is known to the world. The sun which dawned upon it shed its setting rays on a city saved from plunder-rescued from pollution! The "Historic Muse," proud of the deeds and name of the patriot defender, "guarding and immortalizing her treasure" shall march down the course of time, imparting it to generations yet unborn! We pass over the campaign of General Jackson in 1817-18 against the Seminoles, enough having been said to enable us to form some estimate of the debt of gratitude due for his services in the field, and at the same time evince the genius and character of the man. The salient points in his character are numerous. In the brief analysis we propose to give of it, we shall direct your attention to three of the most commanding. The events of his military career develope-enthusiasm, promptitude in action, and inflexibility of purpose. The ardour with which, within thirteen days after the declaration of war, he sought to serve his country-the alacrity with which he responded to the call of his state when the rifle and tomahawk had desolated the frontiers of the South-the zeal with which he repeatedly proffered his services, and the eagerness he manifested to march at the head of his detachment from the banks of the Mississippi to those of the Detroit, to plant the American standard on the ramparts of Malden-the indomitable spirit which animated him in his Indian campaigns, though prostrated by physical debility, all attest the enthusiasm of the soldier, the inextinguishable ardour of the man! Promptitude in action was no less developed in his military conduct. Whether we view in him the boy of the Revolution, aroused from his midnight slumber, rushing to the post of danger, challenging and firing upon the advancing foe-whether we accompany him in his Indian expedition, quelling mutinies, following the savages through an inhospitable wilderness, with conflict after conflict, until their power was annihilated in the decisive battle of the Horseshoe-or, whether we see him at New Orleans adopting those "prompt and energetic measures," as they were termed by Governor Claiborne, which quelled treason at home, and beat back the invaders from abroad, we find a promptitude and decision in action unsurpassed in military annals. But it is the inflexibility of purpose, the indomitable will, which beings out in bold relief the character of this wonderful man. Courage of the loftiest kind was his. We speak not of that mere insensibility to danger which belongs to the brute as well as the man, and is the result of mere physical organization; but of that noble faculty of the mind which, poising itself on the emergency of the moment, fearless of consequences, uninfluenced by clamour, moves steadily onward to the accomplishment of its purpose. This it is which places the name of Andrew Jackson high on the scroll of fame, constituting him not only the successful warrior, but entitling him to the name of great! His refusal to disband his men in obedience to the order of government, when honour, policy, and humanity forbade compliancehis invasion of the Spanish territory when his country's peril demanded he "should take the responsibility upon himself"-his declaration of martial law amid the disaffected population of New Orleans, with the certainty that success alone could still the clamour of the "fireside patriots" of his country-all proclaim him a man above his fellows, sent by heaven to save that country! Around the grave of such a warrior his countrymen will gather without distinction of party, and while they drop the tributary tear, exclaim-"Beneath this turf there sleeps a hero!" "Let laurels, drenched in pure Parnassian dews, Turn we now from the blood-stained records of national strife, to peruse the volume of civil life. The victorious general retires to his farm; but the grateful people of Tennessee again call him to the Senate of the United States. In 1824, a majority of the nation expressed a wish through the electoral colleges to elevate him to the exalted station of the presidency, a station, to use his own language, "neither to be sought nor avoided." That wish, however, was frustrated by causes to which we forbear allusion, and another was placed in the presidential chair. At the next election the people spoke in a manner not to be misunderstood, and by a vote in the colleges of 178 to 83, Andrew Jackson was called to preside over the country whose armies he had led to victory. His administration met with the approbation of the nation, and he was enthusiastically re-elected, receiving 219 out of the 261 electoral His government partook of the characteristics of the man. Vigour was impressed upon its councils. France yielded her reluctant treasure to our just demands, and the attitude of our coun votes. try commanded the respect of foreign nations. His policy at home seemed to have for its objects to confine the action of the federal government within the limits prescribed by the constitution, and to prevent the aggregation of the moneyed interests in the few. He knew that "Gold is the architect of power," and dreaded its influence upon the characters of his countrymen, and with it that baneful passion for gain which degrades a nation and converts freemen into speculators. His opposition to the incorporation of the moneyed power, raised up enemies more formidable than the foreign foe he had so gloriously vanquished. Amid the strife of contending parties, while many yielded and all wavered, he stood himself the bulwark of what he deemed the interests of the people against the gigantic power of MONOPOLY! "Et cuncta terrarum subacta Præter atrocem animum Catonis." We desire not on an occasion like the present, to discuss parties or their measures. We would not strike one discordant note in the general dirge which proclaims a patriot gone. To say that Andrew Jackson had faults, is simply to say that he was a man. Those faults never deprived him of the confidence of the people. He retired from the helm of state followed by the affections and admiration of a vast majority of the nation. So intimately was patriotism interwoven with the whole texture of the man, that neither age nor approaching death could rend it from its fabric, and from his seclusion his voice was raised in accents of warning to his beloved country. On one great question which has recently agitated the national councils, it was heard, and as of old, impressed itself upon the hearts of the people. When our institutions shall have been extended, and the American eagle spread his pinions over a territory, on which transatlantic policy would fain have established its domination: to the patriot sage of the Hermitage will be due in part, the merit of the great political achievement. Hitherto the conquests of this great man had been confined to the enemies of his country. In his retirement he engages a more stubborn foe, and acquires his most glorious victory. "His warfare is within. There unfatigued His fervent spirit labours. There he fights, Having by the glorious example of his life taught his countrymen how to live, it was reserved for this extraordinary man by the instructive lesson of his death, to teach them how to die. The noble Roman, when death became inevitable, drew his robe around him to die with decency-the aged patriot clothed himself in the garment of faith to die with a Christian's hope. Fear found no place in the bosom of that stern old man. Hypocrisy was alien from his nature. This offering of himself, therefore, was the tribute of the heart paid by the creature to his Creator. That spirit which had never quailed in the presence of man, became broken and contrite before the Father of Spirits! While the perusal of his life inculcates our duty to our country, he teachings of his dying hour appeal to us with urgent power. "Call no man happy until you know the nature of his death," was the saying of the Athenian sage. Standing by the grave of him whom we deplore, we can say, with confidence, his life was glorious, his death was happy. Such was he, the warrior, the statesman, and the patriot, who has obeyed nature's last great inexorable mandate. The ceremonies of this day-the badges of mourning by which we are surrounded-the cypress wreath we have woven to deck his tomb, attest our sorrow. But ours is but a single note in the national requiem. The whole country will cherish him dead who, living, loved her with his heart's devotion. His memory will be enshrined, and when the strifes, the passions, and the men of the present day shall have passed away, the name, services, and character of Andrew Jackson, shall be viewed by those who come after us, as land-marks in the waste of the past to connect it with their love, gratitude, and admiration! EULOGY DELIVERED AT INDIANAPOLIS, JUNE 28, 1845, BY A. F. MORRISON, Esq. FELLOW-CITIZENS :-An interesting and solemn event has caused this vast multitude to assemble. The unerring shaft of death, the conqueror of conquerors, has, at length, reached the heart of Andrew Jackson, and a nation mourns the loss of a cherished and favourite son. His eventful and valuable life was brought to a close at the Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee, on Sunday evening, the 8th day of June instant, at 6 o'clock. He expired in the full possession of his senses, surrounded by his friends, expressing the highest confidence in a happy immortality. On Tuesday evening, after appropriate funeral services were performed, his mortal remains were deposited in the vault prepared for his resting-place, by the side of the wife of his bosom, whom he most affectionately loved. Thus has calmly and peacefully terminated the mortal existence of a great, a good, and a wonderful man. He was born in the Waxhaw settlement, in South Carolina, on the 15th day of March, 1767, and at the day of his decease was seventy-eight years, two months, and twenty-four days old. Well might the most competent and the most learned shrink from the task of attempting to prepare a eulogy upon the life and character of "the man of the Hermitage." No new field is left to be explored, no new compliment can be framed, no new honour can, at this day, be added to the chaplet which adorns his brow. Each page of the history of his country is replete with commendations of his character, and abounds with the records of his fame. For nearly three-fourths of a century, Andrew Jackson has enacted a prominent part on the theatre of life, and for many years has stood as a connecting link between the past and the present. His mighty name has had a talismanic effect upon the feelings of his 12 (133) |