A PRESIDENT NOT MERELY IN NAME.

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foes. Some who looked for a rough specimen of the border, a sort of untamed barbarian, were surprised to find "a gentleman of the old school," with a fine soldierly presence, a natural dignity, and courtly manners. It was soon discovered that he was to be President not merely in name; that he was not to be simply an ornamental personage, a mere figure-head of the ship of State, but an embodiment of power, that would be felt in every department of the Government. And how did he use this vast power? Wisely and well? or capriciously and to the injury of his country? There can be no doubt that the imperious temper which fitted him for military command, to some extent unfitted him for civil administration. Military power is not the best preparation for a more restricted authority. It has often been said of General Grant that he thought he could conduct a government as he commanded an army, simply by issuing his orders to his lieutenants. The same could have been said with more truth of Jackson, as he was of a temper more arbitrary. He was not a man to weigh public questions in the balance with slow and cautious judgment. He could not brook opposition. He had strong likes and dislikes: he loved his friends and hated his enemies; and viewing public questions in their personal relations, his administration ran into a personal government. That the powers and the emoluments of office should be enjoyed by those who were hostile to the head of the Government, seemed to him an injustice to himself and to his loyal supporters, though the saying which has been imputed to him, "To the victors belong the spoils," was in fact the utterance (such I believe is the truth of history) of Governor Marcy of New York, whom its people at least regard as being entitled as much as any man of his day, to the name of a statesman and a patriot. He may have spoken it in jest, but it was a most unfortunate phrase,

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WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES BANK.

and declares a vicious principle. While condemning it in the strongest terms, it is but simple justice to Jackson to say, that his faults grew to some extent out of his virtues; that they were the faults of a generous nature. If he had been a man with no hot blood in his veins, but cold and passionless, he might have been saved from mistakes into which he was led by his ardent temperament. If he had not loved his friends so well, he might have served his country better. But his friendships, like his hatreds, warped his judgment. So in his political views, whichever side he took, he took strongly; he was sure that he was right; and his fierce determination to do right often led him to do wrong.

In the glass case which contains the personal relics, is a pen which has a history, that makes it as interesting as a pen that has been used in the signature of a treaty of peace or a declaration of war. It is the pen with which he signed his veto of the bill that had passed Congress to renew the charter of the United States Bank! It is a plain quill pen, for, as the old darky said, "The Gineral allus wrote with a quill; he didn't use none o' them fine gold pens, like you 'uns." But though it was only a gray goose quill, it was enough to write a decision which shook the country. His enemies claimed that it caused a financial convulsion, which spread ruin and disaster far and wide. Certain it is, that it precipitated a fierce conflict; and when he followed it up by removing the deposits from the United States Bank, the bitterness of feeling was such as has rarely been known in the history of the country. The Senate recorded its disapproval in a Resolution offered by Mr. Clay, that "the President had assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the Constitution and laws, but in derogation of both "—a censure which stood upon its record till, after a long agita

HE PUTS DOWN NULLIFICATION.

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tion, it was formally "expunged!" This was effected chiefly by the efforts of Col. Benton, who atoned for the bullet he had once sent into the body of General Jackson by this determined and at last successful effort to remove a blot upon his name!

It was at such times as this that the old Whig Party vented its rage in wrathful imprecations upon the head of one whose purpose they could not change. But even they had to confess that there were times when the country was all the safer because of "Old Hickory's" fiery temper and tremendous will. It was in the year 1832 that nullification raised its head in South Carolina-a demonstration that, if unchecked, might have ended in civil war.

For such a crisis Jackson was the man of all men, for he permitted no trifling. He did not meet it with soft phrases, but with a decision and energy that soon put an end to this incipient rebellion. His proclamation was one of the most masterly State papers ever issued in the history of the Government. It dealt with the argument of nullification in a calm, judicial manner, ending with this conclusion: "I consider the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great objects for which it was formed." These were solemn words, and they were made more impressive by a knowledge of the personality which stood behind them, ready to enforce them with all the power of the Government; for Jackson had declared his purpose, if the movement of nullification were persisted in, to treat its leaders as "traitors," whom he "would hang as high as Haman"! This mild suggestion set the nullifiers a-thinking, and they soon concluded that it would be more prudent to

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RETURNING TO HIS HOME.

wait for another time, when a weaker man should sit in the Presidential chair. That time was yet to come when the executive power was in the hands of one of infirm purpose, who saw the country drift to ruin, and felt himself impotent to stay its course. In the last days of Buchanan, when the Government was falling to pieces, because there was a weak old man in the White House, there were millions of voices that cried in despair, “Oh for one hour of Andrew Jackson!" The obligation of the country to him for his prompt action in a like crisis, cannot be measured. True, it did not prevent the reappearance of Secession after he was in his grave, but it staved it off for a whole generation, till the country was strong enough to deal with it.

When after these stormy years he came back to his quiet home, he was still interested in public affairs, and the Hermitage was a shrine to which politicians came from all parts of the country. But for him the work of life was over. He lived chiefly in memories of the past. He used to walk slowly through the long avenue of trees, his servant following with a chair for him when he chose to sit under the refreshing shade, where he could talk with the friends who came to see him, or muse in silence on the events of former years. It was then his mind took a turn of meditation on the great hereafter. Of Scotch-Irish descent, he had never forgotten the faith of his childhood. In all the wild passion of former years, he had never lost his reverence for sacred things. While he was President, it was said by one who was a frequent visitor at the White House, that he would not partake of a meal without a grateful recognition of the Giver of all good. If there was no clergyman present, or any one whom he could request to ask a blessing, he would ask it himself. And now, as he sat in the twilight of his years, the old man became

BURIED BESIDE HIS WIFE.

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a child again, and went back to the prayers and the hymns that he learned at his mother's knee. Near his house he erected a small Presbyterian church, that he might worship God according to the way of his fathers. In it he was wont to meet every Sabbath day, with a little congregation made up of his neighbors and their servants. It was proposed to make him a ruling elder, which he said he should consider the greatest honor of his life, but of which he thought himself unworthy. Looking to the future, it was natural that his anticipations should be connected with her who had been the light of his home and the joy of his existence. As often as he visited her grave, and bent over her dust, he thought, without pain, that he should soon be laid beside her. An American Commodore, who had been in the Mediterranean, had brought home a sarcophagus, said to have been that of the Emperor Severus, which he desired to present to General Jackson, as worthy to contain the remains of one so dear to his countrymen. To this he replied, acknowledging the courtesy, but declining the honor, saying, "I cannot consent that my body shall be laid in a sarcophagus made for an emperor or a king. I have prepared a humble depository beside that wherein lies my beloved wife, where, without any pomp or parade, I have requested, when God calls me to sleep with my fathers, to be laid, to remain until the 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." The anticipation was soon to be realized. In a few weeks after this letter was penned, the end came. The old servant took us to the room in which his master breathed his last. It is a very modest room on the ground floor. All his surroundings were plain and