and strong mind of Andrew Jackson entirely relieved him. In the discharge of his duties he was not only agreeable, but remarkably complaisant. He was bold and original in his designs, but not arrogant; and although decided and firm, he proved that his premises were the result of reason and thought, and not of arbitrary will and perverseness. Strong and fervent attachment to his friends, sometimes brought down upon him the censure of those who were less fortunate. But if there be any trait in the human character which recommends itself as the peculiar object of praise and commendation, it is the conduct of the man who knows how to appreciate an invaluable friend, and knowing so, has the magnanimity to acknowledge it in a suitable and appropriate way. The whole course of the life of Andrew Jackson is a rife example and a bold and prominent testimony to the fact that his friendship was enduring, and that no man ever had cause to censure him even of forgetfulness, who had enjoyed his confidence and good opinion. With the man possessing such a trait of character you can bury up an ocean of faults. It is this that ennobles the human mind, and a desertion of it sinks the possessor to the creature whose only estimate of personal worth is added up and multiplied into pounds, shillings and pence! Borne into power by the strong feelings and the affections of the people, the millions who live by dint of hard labour and continual industry-the great aim and object of the president seemed to be to devise the best means during his administration to serve the people-emphatically THE PEOPLE; to pursue that course of policy which would confer the "greatest good upon the greatest number;" and no president ever seemed to have so deep at heart the object of providing for the masses by proper and judicious legislation to the same extent. This spirit runs through all his messages and state-papers, and with him it was a theme of constant remark. Neither was it the offspring of a mean and selfish design.

Accustomed to share the coarse food with the commonest soldier, and lay side by side with him in the tempest and the storm, he not only learned to feel for men in the lower walks of life, but to enter most keenly into their wants, and devise means for their protection and happiness. Andrew Jackson was the friend of the poor man. He was so from the generous impulse of his heart, not from a sinister design, and out of this feeling mainly, he advanced those notions with regard to a solid currency which have for a series of years agitated the country.

As this, however, is neither the time nor the place to speak of the policy of this and other prominent measures, about which there may be, and is a difference of opinion, my audience will excuse me in alluding to them for the purpose of showing the design with which their author and originator brought them forward. Through honesty of purpose none, I think, will deny. But while here and

there may be a state measure about which political men may cavil, let me refer to the question of French indemnity, and I hazard the assertion, that from the pine clad hills of Maine, to the sands and everglades of sun-burned Florida, there is but one opinion in the public mind. All must agree in sentiment, that the tone of the president on this occasion was that of a high and lofty statesman. The stern and decided manner of the executive silenced opposition, and a word brought to final conclusion a subject, in which half of the nation saw the spark of war.

With him there was no temporising policy; prompt, efficient, and decided, he first thoroughly examined, and then acted with that peculiar firmness which ever characterized the man on the field amidst the din of arms and the deadly embrace of foes, or in the council hall of his country.

His views, too, on the great question of the construction of the constitution, were the result of an anxious desire to protect the states in their sovereign capacity, and prevent the encroachment of the general government, and in this, secure individual rights and privileges. A desire that sought out the means of individual good, and the welfare of the states. This manifestation, openly and privately exhibited to serve the great cause of popular government, endeared the man as much to the masses, as driving the foot of invasion from our soil; and now that the head of the hero and statesman is laid low, I feel as though, having undertaken to speak his eulogy, I would be derelict in my duty to the dead, as well as the living, were I not to speak openly, and in defence of the character of this man, who has commanded the public eye, and public attention, for more than half a century. It is seldom, indeed, the country goes into mourning at the decease of her sons. Now and then, the death of a distinguished and illustrious man produces a universal shock, and reaches the hearts of the whole people, but it is indeed seldom. There are few men, who, by their public acts and private virtues, can become familiar to twenty millions of inhabitants. Within the limits of our own knowledge, few and far between, have been the occasions that have thrown the black pall of grief over the whole land. In the enumeration of the deaths of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, La Fayette, Harrison, and Jackson, we have them all. All told in this brief catalogue. The feeling of deep regret, and the public sorrow in each case, showed that these patriots had a deep hold on the affections not only of the American people, but through the civilized world, wherever a bosom throbbed for universal freedom. What a proud and enviable distinction! What a rich and glorious renown! lives of these glorious men have been the theme of history, and the inspiration of song, the models after which the most profound statesmen of Europe have copied, and copied largely. Think you

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not that the most humble devotee at liberty's shrine in the isles of Greece, down-trodden, forsaken, obliterated Poland, or the Alpine hills of frozen Switzerland, has not heard of the acts and deeds of these Anglo-Americans—has not studied their creed with the same devotion he did the book of his religion!

Nor has their fame been confined to the pale of civilized life— it has entered the tents of savage and barbarous hordes: it has rung in the ear of the swarthy Moor, the black and ill-favoured African, and the despised and beastly inhabitant of the South Sea Islands. To their fame, it is not in the power of man, civilized or barbarous, to set up a barrier; it pervades the space of "the great globe itself," and is eternal as the vast and heaving ocean!

But the history of Andrew Jackson establishes two points beyond disputation. The first, that true merit, sooner or later, meets a suitable reward-the second, that the oft-repeated charge that republics do not reward men who have served their country faithfully, is an idle and empty allegation, meaning nothing.

We all know the fact that the distinguished individuals I have named, enjoyed the principal posts of honour and trust in the Union, and that they have been the unsought and unsolicited offering of a grateful people. Their services in the cabinet and in the field, have, time and time again, been rewarded by all those tokens of the popular will, which could satisfy the largest and greatest ambition. It was the fortune of Jackson to go through all the inferior grades in the councils of state, to the exalted post of president of the Union—and it was all gratuitous-conferred upon the man because of his merits and deserving. The duties, too, he discharged with an eye single to the prosperity and happiness of the people.

Connected with his life and history, there is a moral lesson, imposing as it is grand. To the youth of the country, it is a volume written in letters of gold, and establishes a precedent for imitation, that is beyond price. It points to the great highway of fame and distinction-it tells him that the man who honestly serves his country, in whatever position it may be his fortune to be cast, will as surely bring down upon him the gratitude of that country, as the fulfilment of prophecy. In this land of equal rights, the humblest youth, with honesty, talents, and perseverance to recommend him, enjoys the same opportunities with the high-born and the wealthy, for political honours. The first blow at Lexington, in the revolutionary struggle, not only knocked to atoms the bonds and fetters of Great Britain, but also all the orders and titles of nobility— levelled the political condition of the American colonies to a common standard, and made merit, in the place of hereditary fortune, the republican test. Who would have even conjectured, at that early day, that a young man of the tender age of fourteen years, a captive in the British camp, but who had the courage and bravery,

unarmed, to face the same weapon which had already drank the blood of an only brother, rather than stoop to the menial service of becoming the boot-black of an English officer-would be at the head of the grandest government on the face of the earth? An orphan child, unprotected, without friends, without influence. It is this trait in the features of a popular government, that truly makes it the grandest in the world. In following the course of that young man, we find him, when the war is over, pursuing the profession of law-representing his state in the nation's councils-upon the bench-again, at the head of the American troops, pushing on to glorious victory-and finally, the chief executive officer of the United States of America. What a theme for contemplationwhat a subject for thought! Let the young man who is ambitious for durable fame, read and reflect upon the noble example which he will find in the life of Andrew Jackson. Let him believe that the gigantic obstacles that lie between him and the summit of his hopes and anticipations, will vanish like snow-flakes beneath the rays of the sun, by labour-temperance-perseverance, and virtue. There is no ordinary obstacle that can thwart or defeat a welldirected and prudent ambition-momentary it may be, but the courage and determination of the human heart are not easily foiled, and when a point is fixed in the distance, it is almost invariably attained. The subject of our discourse is full proof of the position, and the experience of every day's life confirms it.

The American presidents were all "self-made men"-by perseverance, they were elevated to a point of political prominence, which is above and beyond all others. Let the proud motto of our flag be engraved upon the heart of the American youth: "Virtue, Liberty, and Independence," and the perpetuity of that government, which our ancestors regarded as an "experiment," will be certain. And the illustrious hero of New Orleans, by his acts and deedsby his habits and conduct, has been among the foremost of those who have given a character and tone to our country, that have placed her high upon the great scroll of nations. Let those who would share his honours, imitate his example.

But the voice of wisdom, and patriotism, and advice, from the Hermitage, is hushed-hushed in the deep silence that pervades the grave. That voice which was so powerful and overruling in the affairs of state, has ceased, and the pulse of that heart, which beat quick and strong amidst the shouts of victory on the plains of Orleans, has also ceased for ever.

Full of years, full of honours, and full of gratitude to the great Father of the Universe, the sage has gone to test the realities of that holy religion, without which, the pomp and pageantry of this world is but the dust of the balance; which was his solace upon earth, and the hope of a glorious inheritance in Heaven

"How sleep the brave who sink to rest
With all their country's wishes blest!"

The great valley of the Mississippi contains his sepulchre. That vast region, destined to become the seat of populated millions, contains his funeral pile. Think you not that the consecrated ground that covers the bones of the hero will not become a modern Mecca, where the foot of the pilgrim will pause on his route to his new home in the far and boundless West, and his eye drop a tear upon the tomb of the brave? His warm heart will gush with sympathies once kindred with the inanimate dust that lies beneath it. Virginia has her Mount Vernon, and her Monticello; New England is the repository of the remains of the compeers of Washington and Jefferson; Tennessee has her Hermitage!-as if the decrees of fate had ordained that the ashes of the immortal founders of this giant government should commingle with the soil that drank the first blood of the Revolution, as well as that of our second independence. Let this be the symbol of the mystic tie that shall bind us stronger and stronger together in the union of our confederation. That the wayward, the weak, the vacillating, in whichever part of the land he shall be, may be brought to a sense of duty to the cause of popular right, by casting his eye over the registered marble that covers the last relics of the mighty dead. Think ye that the iron nerve of treason could remain unsubdued at the base of the mausoleum of Washington, or Adams, or Jefferson, or Jackson? Nay! at such a spectacle, if there be a second Arnold, his brain would reel to and fro, as did that of the Babylonian monarch at the feast when the solitary finger upon the wall wrote the awful characters of his destiny.

We have paid this day, the last solemn rites in honourable testimony of the distinguished man whose death brought us together. To you, fellow-citizens, who have joined in the exercises of this occasion, allow me, if it be not arrogance, to thank you in the name of the friends of the departed hero and statesman-in the name of the people of the Union-and in the name of every human creature whose heart throbs for universal freedom throughout the civilized world.