fact, and of its blessed issues, how rich, how unfailing our sources of consolation! In notes as melodious and sublime as those which wafted to the skies, by the aid of Milton's immortal genius, the departing spirit of the Hebrew martyr, the chorus of American sympathy sends up from our Jackson's bed of death its pean of mournful exultation Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail, Or knock the breast; no weakness, no contempt, The valley of the Mississippi, the theatre of his youthful valour and his meridian renown-the sanctuary of his declining agefolds within her bosom the ashes of her hero. In the centre of that young but vigorous state, whose destinies, once his anxious care, were long the objects of his satisfied regard; on the sunny banks of the Cumberland, where the strong verdure of the West begins reluctantly to yield to the luxuriant beauty of the South; embosomed in a sacred solitude, stands the tomb of the Hermitage, -henceforth to divide with Mount Vernon the respect, the admiration, and the reverence of mankind. The simplicity of his life, the calm dignity of his death, are exemplified by the humility of his grave. You remember how he rejected the imperial honour that was proffered to his bones. "I cannot permit my remains to be the first in these United States to be deposited in a sarcophagus made for an emperor or king. I have prepared an humble depository for my mortal body beside that wherein lies my beloved wife; where, without any pomp or parade, I have requested, when my God calls me to sleep with my fathers, to be laid; for both of us there to remain until the last trumpet sounds to call the dead to judgment, when we, I hope, shall rise together, clothed with that heavenly body promised to all who believe in our glorious Redeemer, who died for us that we might live, and by whose atonement I hope for a blessed immortality." This was the answer of Christian meekness, of republican simplicity, of American patriotism. Catching the strain from the lips of the dying hero, we may echo its lofty inspiration. More than this, we may give it to-day a new and sublimer significance. Sleep sweetly, aged soldier, statesman, sage, in the grave of kindred and affection. It matters little where his body is laid, whose memory is enshrined in all our hearts; the monument of whose fame is the country that he served; the inscription of whose greatness are the praises of the world. But if there be any solace in memory; if any virtue in the contemplation of heroic deeds; any purity in the lessons of sublime example; to the sepulchre of JACKSON let the pilgrimage of hu-manity be made in the ardour of a generous enthusiasm, the sympathy of a fraternal love, the consolation of a Christian faith. EULOGY DELIVERED AT PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, JULY 2, 1845, BY THE HON. LEVI WOODBURY. MY FELLOW-CITIZENS :-This is no ordinary occasion, when a whole nation is in mourning. The solemn toll of the bell-the funeral dirge the shroud-the crape-and the minute-gun-all, over every hill and valley of our wide republic, bespeak some great public loss as well as public grief. We come together this evening to express in language, still stronger, if possible, than these melancholy tokens, our own deep sense of the bereavement the country has sustained in the death of one of the noblest of her children. It is no overstrained eulogy to add, that so many testimonials of respect and real love from a whole people would be offered, at this time, to the memory of but a single man on the western continent. That man, the history of all around tells us, was the hero of New Orleans. He is no more. The victor in a hundred battles has at last fallen. The pilot, who weathered the storm in the fiercest hurricanes of political strife, looks no longer to the compass or the clouds to guide us; and the Christian as well as sage and patriot of the Hermitage who still prayed for his country, after the power to do aught else had ceased-has gone to his great and glorious reward, while we linger a little longer to offer, it is hoped, some deserved tribute to his memory, and try to profit by his bright example. How can we do this best, in the few mournful moments now allotted to that object? Most of the incidents in a life so distinguished as that of General Jackson, are too familiar to make a repetition of them either necessary or useful. We all-from lisping childhood to palsied age-know that he was one of the survivors of those who bled in our glorious Revolution, and that his character was one of that strong cast-run in that iron mould formed amidst its trials and dangers. We have all heard, when not seen, of the hardy habits, and almost heroic powers, which belonged to that great struggle, and which, so strikingly embodied in the majestic form of our patriot chief, lived to bless a later age, and aid our country in other trials of the cabinet as well as the camp. Statuary and painting and history, no less than the school-room, the humble fireside, the village husting, and every anniversary of the independence he helped to win and defend, have all vied in making us acquainted with the principal outlines of his figure, his mind, and those signal victories both in peace and war, that have enrolled him so high among the warriors and statesmen of the era he adorned. We all know, also, that, retiring from the public stage, covered with the plaudits and honours of a grateful people, he has for years pursued the peaceful employment of a planter, shedding a benign influence by his example on all around him; and though not mingling in the turmoil of politics, still lending an anxious eye and heart to advance his country's greatness-till the lamp of life at last burnt out in its socket; and in sight of the grave of her he loved best, his spirit departed to join hers, as he hoped, in a happier and a holier abode. Thus did the patriarch sink to his last rest. But, after the close of such a life, all is not over with it, even here. Though the cold clay sleeps as insensible to our praise and grief as the veteran's sword in its scabbard-though "He knows not-he heeds not"-and 06 No sound can awake him to glory again" yet such a life is still powerful; it continues to speak to the world. And a fit, a grateful, and a beneficial inquiry is, what does it speak? What lessons do its thrilling trials teach? What were its great characteristics, tendencies, and example? What do we derive from it of good, and what are the private and public obligations to its memory, both of ourselves and our posterity? Whether we look to his early years, or to their meridian splendour or their beautiful close, they seem to me equally full of instruction. Without the wealth or powerful connexions, which even in republics are sometimes passports to fame, he first appeared on the theatre of public action as an orphan. However inauspicious this may have seemed for that brilliant destiny which afterwards awaited him, he soon displayed an energy and perseverance in laying the foundations of an education, which are full of encouragement to the most lowly and unfriended. How much was his condition at that time emblematic of his country's-both surrounded by privations and perils-and both, by the exercise of those vigorous efforts which deserve success, soon enabled to emerge, and, through many adverse gales of fortune, advance to those high honours and greatness which have since crowded their career? After a hurried preparation for the bar, he soon becomes launched into the breakers and storms of professional life. Only a few years, spent in the agitating scenes of business, were necessary to develope his integrity and genius in such bold relief, as to attract that general confidence which paved the path to so many responsible trusts. His companions at that time have mostly gone before him to a better world; but I have frequently heard the late Judge Anderson describe the early appearance at the bar of the future hero and president. Prominent among his characteristics, were the same inflexible fidelity to the interests intrusted to his care, as since the same watchful preparation and modest courage, which marked him in the discharge of all duties till the close of his eventful career. But the teachings of his meridian life were more conspicuous. As the conqueror of the Creeks, the defender of the Mississippi valley, the chief magistrate of a great people, the sun of his fame ere long lighted the whole horizon. New scenes constantly developed new traits of character; new trials elevated him still higher in popular favour; new victories, in the cabinet as well as the field, crowned him with new laurels from Europe no less than America; and, if any man, left among us till the present age, can be said to possess a European reputation as a warrior or executive officer, it is he who, with raw militia, vanquished veterans flushed by foreign triumphs, and who piloted the ship of state safely through political storms, that made the stoutest hearts quail. to These tests of his maturer years were useful, if not necessary, fix his character for patriotism above all suspicion. And the labours performed in these-often so Herculean—and all the sacrifices made, and tribulations endured, evinced such devotedness in duty, and were accompanied by such tried honesty of purpose, that many of every party and sect over our wide republic now hasten to bestow grateful commendation for those high qualities, however differing from him while alive on many points of public policy or private belief. How beautifully, in some cases, did the chequered scenes of his middle age ripen what were only natural impulses in youth, and mature them into settled principles of action, and impart to them a modified, softened, and moral tone, calculated to render them useful guides to future generations, and leave a deep impress behind on our national character and national institutions! But, in some respects, still more attractive were the features in the last period of his career. The closing scenes of the drama show (office and pomp voluntarily relinquished) domestic pleasures and deeds of humble usefulness sought for; all the tender charities of life and neighbourly friendship cherished; religion illustrated in his daily walk, as well as professed at the altar; his country still near and dear, and her welfare watched over with parental solicitude; acknowledgments and memorials of respect for benefits conferred, a daily solace in his retirement; and troops of friends spared to the end, to soften the pillow of declining health and all brightened still higher in his departing moments, by the richest hopes beyond the grave. What a beautiful progress in improvement and usefulness in true glory, from the dawn of life to its close! What a happy destiny and example! And how admirably does the grave, thus closed, bury in its bosom most of the enmities and jealousies of a turbid life, and tend to harmonize his countrymen in paying just tributes to his memory, and in feeling a pride in those high qualities which have reflected no less honour on the land of his birth than on himself! But there are other aspects of his character very impressive. Viewed in some prominent capacities or pursuits, rather than in the different stages of life, his destiny has been no less interesting, and is more familiar to the minds of most of us. Some have been accustomed to contemplate him as a soldier, others as a statesman, and a few as a man, without regard to station. Though little is usually said of private character in connexion with public benefactors, I have no doubt, from a long acquaintance with General Jackson, that he felt much more solicitude as to his independence, worth, and standing as a man, than for all the honours ever lavished on him by a grateful people. Yet such is the structure of society --such the eclipsing tendency of public life, that he has long been known over most of the globe as a successful soldier, and appreciated highly by millions as a statesman, without much inquiry as to those great principles which he had nourished in retirement, and which fitted him so ably for public usefulness. But it was those principles, and the habits formed by those—and not, as many suppose, accident or fortune-which afterwards insured to him victories in the field, and wreathed his brow with civic laurels. Hence his example is so much more to be venerated and transmitted to coming generations for emulation and encouragement. Starting in life with a few strong natural endowments, everything beside was, with him, self-made. It was he himself that improved what God had bestowed or placed near him. It was his practical sense that seized on all the opportunities which occurred for instruction, however few and fleeting, and made the most of the agitating circumstances amidst which his lot in life was cast. It was his idea of moral obligation, that made him patiently study his duties, till inspired with confidence in himself; and then be so firm in their |