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tion of the powers of deliberation and execution, almost necessarily rendered him the leading spirit in all the positions which he occupied through life. While yet a mere youth of thirteen years of age, he bore an active and conspicuous part in several severe and sanguinary skirmishes with the English troops and Tories, in his native state, South Carolina. In 1788, at the age of twenty-one, he removed to Tennessee, and in a very few years, we find him a member of the convention elected to frame a constitution for the state, of the House of Representatives, and of the Senate of the United States. Thus, at the age of thirty, a period of life when ordinary men have but just entered upon their career, he had already filled some of the most important and exalted offices in the gift of the people, amongst whom he had made his residence.

Yet he never courted offices or honours. Those that were be. stowed upon him by his fellow-citizens, were granted by their unbought suffrages, and naturally resulted from the general sense of his incorruptible integrity, and his superior qualifications. These were equally manifest in all situations, in peace, and in war, in the cabinet, and in the field. Wherever he appeared, the people beheld in him, the man of the age, who, more than any other, was qualified to direct the helm on important or difficult occasions. So little did he covet official station, that, in 1799, while yet a young man, he voluntarily resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States, one of the most honourable, dignified, and desirable offices, which this country affords. Soon after, he also resigned his seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, to which he had been appointed on his retirement from the Senate. It has been said, that he resigned these offices in consequence of his own sense of a want of suitable qualifications. If so, this is but another proof of the innate greatness and magnanimity of his mind. What ordinary men resign high and lucrative offices from such motives? It is rare, indeed, that common men retire from such positions from a sense of personal unfitness, or a disinterested desire to make way for others better qualified to promote the public interest. It is, perhaps, still more rare, that men of common minds can perceive their own deficiencies, when possessed of the unbounded confidence of the community, and elevated to distinguished station, without desire or solicitation on their own part. Experience proves that it is only men of superior intellect and capacity, who are thus liable to doubt their own abilities, and such men, notwithstanding their distrust in themselves, have always been found to be the most faithful and able depositories of public trusts.

Andrew Jackson was not ambitious, in the ordinary sense of the term. Had he been so, it would be impossible to account for his absolute relinquishment of the abundant means which were thus early placed within his reach for the gratification of that passion,

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and that too, at the very period of life when most men are strongly influenced by its promptings. He preferred peaceful tranquillity, and domestic felicity, in the bosom of his own family, to all the allurements of ambition. Nothing had power to call him forth but necessity. While his country enjoyed peace and prosperity, he only aspired to be the humblest of its citizens, and to dispense around him the comforts and blessings of domestic life. A lover of peace, he was yet prompt to obey the first calls upon his duty as a man and a patriot. When all was calm and peaceful, interest or ambition could not lure him from his privacy; but when dangerous clouds darkened the horizon, and the alarms of war broke upon the startled ears of his countrymen, then were all eyes turned to him, the master-spirit of the times, whose unerring sagacity, dauntless courage, and resistless energy of purpose, plainly marked him out as the man, of all others, most fitted to take the lead in the hour of danger. How nobly, and how well, he fulfilled the hopes and expectations which were thus inspired, is written on many bright pages of our national history.

Well may the nation mourn for Andrew Jackson. We shall not soon behold his like again. All sections of our wide extended country, will feel the loss it has sustained. The people of the southern states grieve for their most gallant and chivalric defender. When the lone settlers upon the frontier wilderness, were exposed to the horrors of savage warfare, he was the guardian genius who protected and avenged them. Their trials and dangers have long passed away, but they are not forgotten by the inhabitants of that section of the country. Many an aged veteran still sits by his fireside, and recounts to his children the history of those troubled days. He tells them how men were wakened in the dead of night by the wild and fearful warwhoop—how they were shot down upon their own thresholds, or fled by the light of their burning cabins—how old men, and women, and helpless babes, were put to death with cruel tortures — how distracted mothers, with their trembling children, wandered many a weary mile through the wild woods, seeking refuge and shelter — all these, and many other stirring scenes of Indian wars, he will narrate in the long winter evenings and the summer noons. And when their young blood boils at these recitals, he will tell also of the gallant deeds of the heroic chieftain who is now no more—how promptly and expeditiously he flew to their relief-how victory followed his banners wherever he appeared, and how, from place to place, and with many a bloody and hard fought contest, he drove back the savage warriors into the recesses of their forests, and gave permanent peace and tranquillity to the distressed country.

The people of the west have also lost, in him, their bravest and most successful champion-and thousands who followed under his

victorious standard will mourn him as their chieftain, father, friend. A rigid disciplinarian, and of iron inflexibility of purpose, he was yet all these to those who faithfully served under his command. Cheerfully he shared all their dangers and their privations. The sick and wounded always found in him a most faithful and attentive guardian, watchful to provide for their security, and anxious to relieve their slightest necessities. He possessed a heart overflowing with kindness to his friends, and an attachment to his comrades-inarms that no distance could weaken, no time could eradicate. The tears of those faithful companions of his perils and his glory will fall like rain drops upon his grave. They knew him well, and none knew him but loved him. Sooner might the heart's blood be extracted from an old western soldier than his love and reverence for the memory of Andrew Jackson.

The people of the whole Union will honour him as one who has shed imperishable lustre upon the American name—who raised up the drooping spirit of his countrymen in the hour of their greatest despondency and gloom, and electrified all hearts by the glorious victory he achieved over a foreign foe upon the plains of New Orleans. Ah! what recollections throng around us, as we recall to mind the memorable day when that noble army of western citizens, headed by their dauntless chieftain, met and conquered the choicest veterans of Europe, on the banks of the Mississippi. The despondent fears of our own countrymen, and the vauntings of the enemy, as they came careering on, with their watchword of “Beauty and booty,” and with songs, and jests, and revelry, despising the undisciplined militia of the west, are still ringing in our ears. Conquerors of Spain, veterans in war, and flushed with recent victory over the far-famed legions of France, they but anticipated a march of pleasure, to plunder and ravage a defenceless city. How they were disappointed, is now familiar history to every inhabitant of this country, and England will long remember that bloody field where thousands of the bravest chivalry still sleep, not in the arms of beauty, but in the cold embrace of death. And well do the citizens of that day remember, how the glorious news of that great victory spread from town to town, and from state to statehow shouts of joyful exultation went up, and bonfires and illuminations lightened all the land—and how the heroic Jackson, and the brave hunters of Kentucky and Tennessee, were hailed and cheered as the defenders and saviours of their country. Ah! the glory of that day will never be forgotten, while the star-spangled banner flings its glorious folds “o’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.” When they think of that day, and its results, immediate and remote, all classes and conditions of men who love their country, and are proud of its fame, will honour the memory of Andrew Jackson. How proudly they do think of them, and

how highly they estimate his services, is manifested by the sincerity and unanimity with which they join in the general testimonials of respect a grateful nation now awards him. All join in these funeral solemnities. The plain citizen honours his devotion to his country, his obedience to the laws, and the spotless integrity of his private life; and the citizen soldier comes with martial tramp and muffled drum, to do respectful homage at the tomb of a departed chieftain, whose military achievements will bear bonourable comparison with those of the most celebrated heroes of ancient or modern times.

Of the civil services of Andrew Jackson, although they form so large and important a part of his public life, it is not my purpose now to speak. The time has not yet arrived when the country can form a united judgment with respect to them. At some future time, when the remembrance of the fierce contests and the interests and passions, which came in collision during the party conflicts of the day shall have passed from the minds of men, posterity will do him impartial justice and pronounce a proper verdict upon his political course. To that tribunal let us commit the task of setting the conflicting opinions which now exist in reference to this portion of his public life. It is honourable to those who have entertained sentiments of hostility to his political acts, that they can thus bury all feelings of resentment in his grave, and join in a cordial manifestation of respect for those virtues and services which all can acknowledge and all approve. So may it ever be, with all parties in this country. Certainly, I would deeply regret, on an occasion like the present, to give utterance to a single thought that could mar the general unanimity. We

e may, however, look back upon some of the circumstances connected with his administration of the general government, without disturbing the elements of party discord. Stern and inflexible as he was, in pursuing himself, and in compelling others under his control to pursue the strict line of policy which, in his judgment, was correct, he yet possessed a charm in his manners and deportment, that insensibly won the affection and esteem of all with whom he habitually came in contact. In his intercourse with all men, he was remarkable for his plain republican dignity and graceful courtesy. His kindness of heart and amenity of manners were so apparent and unaffected, that all who knew him, with but few exceptions, personally loved and admired him. Yet no man could approach him, without being sensible of the presence of an individual possessing extraordinary powers of mind and of influence. It was plain, indeed, that the same master-spirit, which all men had recognised and acknowledged in the camp, ruled in the councils of the nation and in the halls of the presidential mansion. The same comprehensive intellect, the same quickness of perception, and the

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same rigid inflexibility of purpose marked him as the leader of other men as well in one situation as the other.

Vehement as he was in despotism, he was yet patient in investigation. No great public measure was ever commenced in rash haste—no individual was ever injured by intentional injustice, or by inconsiderate or careless action. The remarkable powers of influence that he wielded, were not confined to our country or people. They were sensibly experienced by all nations with which we were on terms of intercourse. Negotiations that seemed interminable, were suddenly cut short, and brought to a satisfactory close. Losses sustained by our citizens, by the illegal seizure of their vessels, during the previous wars in Europe, were promptly adjusted and repaid. What all the skill of the most able diplomatists could not accomplish in many years, was brought about at once by the magic influence of his character. These effects were the result of the same convictions of his integrity of purpose, and his inflexible resolution in adhering to his determinations, which had given him such extraordinary power over the minds of the people of our own country. At no period did our national character stand higher abroad than during that of his administration. There was no civilized country where our flag was not honoured and respected. We can look back to the condition of our foreign relations during that period with pride and gratification-confident that we shall find nothing to blush for or regret in any of the transactions of the government with other nations. A liberal, enlightened, and hightoned self-respecting policy was always adhered to. Though strict in requiring even-handed justice, General Jackson on all occasions endeavoured to promote a free and profitable intercourse with all foreign countries.. Advantageous commercial treaties were made with almost all the principal nations of the globe, most of which are still in force. His comprehensive views extended to everything which could improve the old or open new avenues to the enterprise of the people.

But the public life and character of Andrew Jackson, forms a continuous portion of the whole history of the country for a long series of years. I am sensible how extremely imperfect must be any attempt to give even a scanty outline with the means and opportunies at my command. The task of delineating them in full must be reserved for other and much abler pens. They afford abundant materials for the occupation of future historians, philosophers, and statesmen.

Perhaps in no part of the whole career of the venerated patriot, was the greatness and magnanimity of his character more truly manifested, than in the closing years of his eventful life. Providence granted him length of days, and he filled them well unto the end. After enjoying all the fame and honours of a military con

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