ginning to develope themselves in the administration of the federal government, he (Jackson) would be found entirely faithful to the object.” These were the grounds on which he was presented to the country, and in the election of 1828, he was placed by the people in the presidential chair.

The duties of his administration, though less arduous, in many respects, than those of his military command, yet required all the fortitude and sagacity, which his previous command had so conspicuously displayed." He accordingly declared, that to guard against the evils which Mr. Jefferson had shadowed forth, to retract the government back to its republican track; and give it stability and energy, and preserve to his country her blessings of union and peace, should be the first and great object of his duty. And, as his friends had rightly supposed, few men had clearer conceptions of the public good, or greater discernment in the selection of measures and men to promote it, than General Jackson. None knew better the great interests of his country—its history-domestic and foreign relations--the points of its public policy--the temper of the people—the genius of our political institutions, and the spirit of free government! He knew that the genius of our own institutions; the experience of other governments; the records of history; and the sad and melancholy fate of a long train of fallen republics, admonished us that liberty was only safe, when guarded by the wisdom and vigilance of frugal, industrious, and virtuous freemen! And it is not, therefore, wonderful, that the result of his administration should have been, that as a statesman he was no less distinguished than as a warrior. Throughout his whole public career, we look in vain for any of those vices, which oppose the prosperity of nations, and the peace of the world, and which, at one time, was so much apprehended, from his rule, by his political opponents. His state papers and administration, afford abundant proofs of the purity, as well as solidity, of his principles; and it is impossible to read them, and trace the whole course of his public career, without admitting that he performed justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all the offices, both public and private, of peace and war. That there was a considerable, nay, a large portion of his countrymen, who had settled down in the conviction that General Jackson committed great errors in his administration, and inflicted deep injuries upon his country, is true; but this hostility was to be expected, and must therefore be regarded as the result of party feeling, under our institutions and form of government, rather than the evidence of deliberate and candid judgment. Indeed, in a government like ours, where opinions are free and spontaneous as the light which surrounds us, who expects that we should all agree in the means to produce any given end ? It is this difference which creates, and must ever continue to create, parties in free governments. To time

and experience must, therefore, be left the decision of many of these great questions. But who knows that these convictions and opinions, even when uninfluenced by party feelings, may not have been the result of less profound views of the understanding of many of those measures of his administration National virtue, national

om and greatness, and the issue of a mighty experiment in free government—these were the great objects and

purposes

which absorbed most of this great man's attention, and in connexion with which, his administration must be regarded. May not the views of others be too much overstrained to national wealth and national display? Have they looked to the consequences, as regard posterity, as well as our free institutions ? What, if avarice, and selfishness, and national vanity, should supplant the love of country! What, if these vices should be cherished and nurtured into a growth that shall chastise those simple and manly virtues, without which, men care little by whom, or in what manner, they are governed ! Our warriors and patriots of the Revolution, were not dandled in the lap of pleasure, or pampered with foreign luxuries. They sought not substance and wealth amidst the skirts and quicksands of monied institutions, nor fought for the trappings which deck factitious greatness, only to conceal the miseries accumulated in its train. No man ever dreaded, more than General Jackson, the baleful influence of a passion for gain, in its progress, often so degrading to national character, dangerous to the tranquillity of the world, fatal to every ennobling sentiment, so destructive to social feeling, and which, becoming the vulgar passion of free governments, enslaves their people. He dreaded, moreover, that extension of the spirit of traffic and trade, apart from legitimate commerce, which can only flourish in the intrigues and artifices of remorseless speculators. He had before him, the experience and history of the world; the long catalogue of fallen nations, and the annals of that ruin and decay, produced by the love of gain, and the ravages of luxury and corruption. He had not forgotten that Lacedæmon, with her savage manners, her rigid sumptuary laws, and her stern Ephori, was, at last, so contaminated by wealth and luxury, that the most illustrious virtues and examples could not restore her ancient institutions—and that Rome, the mistress of the world, and the arbiter of the fate of nations, was overturned, more by the excessive love of wealth, and the profligacy of her manners, than the arms of the Goths and Vandals! It was under these views, and to these ends, that some of the most important and efficient measures of his administration were directed. It was the boast of one of the Roman emperors,

that he found the city of brick, and left it of marble. It was General Jackson's, that he found the government one of paper, and he determined to leave it one of gold ! I know, fellow-citizens, that it has been charged against him, that he mistook the lust of power for the love of liberty; and that power and ambition, were the predominating passions of his soul; to acquire which, he would sacrifice everything else — that he sought to govern by terror, rather than opinion, and that one great passion swallowed up every other—the means of acquiring and perpetuating his own authority. Never, never were there more unfounded accusations. His ambition was to deserve, not acquire, the admiration of his fellow men; and it was, therefore, never too strong to leave him, at all times, honest. His ambition was to serve his country, which he had loved too well, as his whole life attests. He never ceased to remember, that those who would do public service, must forget themselves—that their reward was from within. When did he ever attempt the artifices of the demagogue, to enlist the passions and feelings of the people? Whom did he ever court? To whom did he ever bow? What dissimulation did he ever practise ? What office did he ever solicit? What office did he ever fill, in which he proved himself unworthy of power, or public confidence? When did he ever attempt to disguise his designs, or, under the pretence of consulting the public good, gratify his own selfish passions or venal wants ? Let his unstained and spotless life answer these questions. That he desired his administration to be popular, is admitted—but it was not for his own selfish purposes, but the general good. He knew that, in every country, however despotic, much must depend on the will of the governed, and that no government, much less a free one, could long hope for success, whose measures did not fall in with the wishes and feelings, nay, the passions of the people: that, in our country, this must ever be the case. No one knew better than this great man, that, with a people laborious, long trained to freedom and independence, and in the possession of that liberty and industry which enables wealth and influence to be disseminated amongst all classes of society, the voice of such a people formed, and must ever form, the support of free government; and hence it is not to be wondered at, that his administration should have been one of the most popular that this country ever had. So far, the principle of his heart was democratic!

But he was simply a military chieftain, and like Alexander, and Cæsar, and Cromwell, and Bonaparte, must be ambitious and dangerous! Yes, he was a military chieftain, and a glorious one too, as I trust I have shown; but where were the armies of Alexander? the legions of Cæsar ? the soldiers of Cromwell ? or the guards of Napoleon ? I'll tell you, my beloved countrymen; they were only to be found in the brave and honest citizens of this free country, whom he led to battle and victory, in vindication of its liberties and glory! This was the ambition of Andrew Jackson! But was he ambitious? No! His spirit soared beyond ambition's reach,

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He loved clory, but still more loved his country: That was his master-passion; and, with resistless might, it ruled his every thought, and word, and deed. But he was vindictive to his opponents and to those whom he disliked! Of those whom he regarded as dangerous and bad men, he certainly had great distrust. He regarded distrust, in public life, as a defensive principle, and thought with Burke, that there was no safety for honest men but in believing all possible evil of bad men, and acting with decision and steadiness on that belief. So far, and no farther, was he distrustful.

With all his fondness and acquired propensity for military glory, and with every incentive to the exercise of arms, peace was the ruling principle of his conduct, and the tranquil prosperity of his country the dominant object of his ambition. This was finely illustrated throughout his whole administration, and especially in its intercourse with foreign states. And I shall never forget, in the moment of my departure for England in 1836, his last words to me as he bid me adieu, and it proved to be for ever, and which still ring in my ears: “Take care, my good friend, to defend manfully the rights and honour of your country; but, for God's sake, keep the peace!" How often was it said to me, while abroad, by the most enlightened and distinguished men-“Why, this General Jackson of yours must be an extraordinary man—we expected from what we heard, that he was to be the terror of the age, and the disturber of the peace of the world—that war was to be the great object of his administration. As it is, he has taken us all by surprise, and may now be regarded as the great pacificator, and the most illustrious and peaceful of all your rulers!” All Europe felt and acknowledged his pacific policy. They saw the wisdom and vigour of his measures, and acquiesced in his neutral peaceful po licy. And it may not be unworthy of notice, that one of the greatest gratifications which he felt in laying down his high trust, as I know, was, that he had preserved the peace of his country! He often said, that he came in with that determination, and had looked to it with unsleeping anxiety. He felt it was necessary to our prosperity, and thought, with Fox, that there was no justifiable cause of war with civilized and enlightened nations, but national honour!

With respect to his administration, it is, perhaps, impossible, at the present moment, to make up an impartial opinion, as to its effects and benefits. It is not the time for calm and deliberate judgment in relation to those troubled scenes. The tendency and effects of some of his great measures, posterity, probably, will alone be able to appreciate. But when the angry passions shall have been allayed; the judgment unwarped by excitement and prejudice; the heart no longer embittered with disappointment or revenge; nor the mind carried away by the imputation of unwor

thy motives; when the tendency of opinion and measures shall be examined by the test of reason and experience, then, and not till then, will full justice be done to this great man, and the distinguished actors in those troubled scenes. Then will the full nature and the extent of public obligation be felt and acknowledged.

It is, however, honourable to him and his opponents that, amidst all the contests and collisions of party, and those storms and strifes which, for so many years, agitated our country, his integrity and patriotism remained unsuspected and unimpeached. Even those who believed his political errors to have been the most numerous and mischievous, yet acknowledge that they were errors of the mind, actuated by the purest wishes, and pursuing, with undeviating rectitude of intention, the public good.

And all now must admit one thing, and it is this, that at the close of the eight years of his administration, he laid down his high trust in the midst of the wealth, prosperity, and happiness of his country, and his own most unbounded popularity. Indeed, his popularity seemed to be that of eternal youth-like the sun, its light was always new, yet always the same.

The question will doubtless be agitated by posterity, whether he was the greater general or statesman. Those who read attentively the history of his administration and his official papers, will be inclined to pronounce in favour of the latter; while those who may not have duly considered them, but, more narrowly scanning his difficulties and sacrifices in war, will be inclined to decide in favour of the former. The controversy will therefore only be solved by admitting, as all must do, that he was great in war, and great in peace.

We come now, in conclusion, to say a few words of this venerable man, in retirement, and of his private and domestic virtues.

In March, 1837, General Jackson retired from public life to his residence in Tennessee, followed by the fervent admiration and gratitude of a devoted country. And what liberal and generous mind might not have been deeply moved, in seeing the man whose whole life had been devoted to his country, now abandoning power and dedicating himself in retirement to his family and his God?

And it was here that he exhibited a striking illustration of the truth, that true greatness is perfectly compatible with every thing that is amiable and engaging in man!

He who had occupied so important a page in his country's history, who had possessed a popularity and influence exceeded only by Washington's, who had filled every high station of dignity and trust which his country could confer, both civil and military, became, when in the domestic circle and around the social hearth, as simple as a child, distinguished by the suavity of his deportment and an intuitive felicity of making every one around him happy.