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From the B »ton Statesman.
Gen. Jackson’s Birtli.Dny.
f march 15th, 1844.]
The Jackson Jubilee, atFaneuil Hall,
to celebrate the 77th birth day of Gener
al Andrew Jackson, came off, in great
splendor, on Friday night. The hall
was magnificently decorated for the oc
casion. " At the upper end stood a large
transparency of the pre-eminent civil and
military patriot, superscribed with a
characteristic sentence from one of his
messages“ It is my settled purpose to
ask nothing that is not clearly right, and
to submit to nothing that is wrong.”—
On each side of this commanding figure
werctwo smaller transparencies represent
ing a hickory tree and the Hermitage.—
On the rostrum were placed busts of
Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and
Van Buren, and in the centre of the floor
were the following epochs inscribed f—
“Andrew Jackson—born March 15th,
1707;” and “Andrew Jackson, March 15,
1844.”
About seven o’clock the carriages be
gan to arrive, and soon the square be
came the scene of life and activity, but
ev«ry thing was conducted in the most
orderly manner. Shaw’s cotillon band
was engaged for the occasion, and danc
ing commenced about eight o’clock, and
a more splendid spectacle,was never pre
sented in Old Fancuil Hall.
The company was composed of our
most substantial and respectable citizens.
The ladies dressed with admirable taste,
looked charmingly, and appeared to lie
exceedingly joyous and delighted with
the idea of being called upon to unite in
doing honor to the hero of New Orleans.
There was a handsome sprinkling of
gentlemen in uniform, just sufficient to
give a pleasing variety to the scene.—
There were full a thousand present, and
among the invited guests were the Hon.
David Henshaw, Capt. Henry, U. States
Navy, Hon Mr. Gardner, of the Senate;
Rev. O. A. Brownson, &c., who all ap
peared to enjoy the animating scene
presented.
A little after 11 o'clock, Col Macomber
marshalled the officers of the celebration
and the guests to the supper room, above,
followed by as many of the company as
as it would accomodate. ; Wing tables
were set in the armories on each side of
the hall, for die accomodation of those
who could not get a place at the main
table, and very pretty little parties did
they form.
After some three quarters of an hour
spent in an attack on the edibles, J. H.
Dustin, Esq. the toastmaster, presented
Mr. Rautoul to the company at the table,
and that gentleman then proceeded to re
mark as follows. He spoke with great
animation, and we repeatedly recognised
in his tones the crack of that same old
rifle which used to carry dismay into
the ranks of the wliigs when he was in
the legislature:—
MR. RANTOUL’S REMARKS.
We have assembled Indies and gentle
men, to celebrate the seventy-seventh an
niversaryofthebirthday of the great man
of our nation. Who, that yet breathes
the vital air, so well deserves this tribute
of respect, as the venerable hero whom
we this night delight to honor. If the
master spirits who haveguided the bloody
controversies, that, in indifferent ages,
have decided the woild’s destiny, have
never failed to command the admiration
of man kind, for the energy and jiower
which their career has displayed, even
though unredeemed by a spark of virtu
ous patriotism, how much higher the ti
tle to our applause, when courage and
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AND A STRICT ADHERENCE TO THE C. C*ILHOUJT.
martial genius, unsurpassed, are conse
crated wholly to the service of a confid
ing country. Peace hath her victories
no less than war, and since the first of
American generals lias proved, through
the ordeal of a most arduous service,
the most successful of American states
men, he has earned the civic wreath as
richly as his laurels.
This Union of characters, seemingly
opposite in the same individual, is by no
means unnatural. The quick discern
ment, prompt decision and energetic exe
cution which characterize a man fitted
to command an army, make him com
petent also to discern and adopt the mea
sures calculated to promote the welfare
of his country in his civil administration.
A strong mind will soon graspanew sub
ject to which it turns its attention, and
Caesar, Napoleon, Wellington, Washing
ton and Jackson have demonstrated, that
human nature is the same in the forum
as in the camp; and that the same quali
ties which win the confidence of an army,
will command also the heart of a nation.
That Gen. Jackson was one of these
spirits cast in Nature’s choicest mould,
was recognised by those who kuew how
tojudgeofmen long before the nation
had set her seal upon his worth by call
ing him to fill her highest office. It
would be difficult to collect for any oth
er man now living such flattering testi
monials from such diverse authorities.
“Towards that distinguished Captain,
who has shed so much glory on our
country, whose renown constitutes so
great a portion of its moral property, I
never had,” said Henry Clay, the great
western orator, “I never can have any
other feelings than those of profound re
spect, and of the utmost kindness.” John
Quincy Adams pronounced him to be
“an officer whose services entitle him to
the highest rewards, and whose whole
career has been signalized by the purest
intentions, and most elevated purposes.”
James Monroe spoke of him as “a man
fit for any emergency; a statesman, cool
and dispassionate; a soldier, terrible in
battle and mild in victory; a patriot, whose
bosom swelled with the love of country;
in fine, a man whose like, we shall scarce
look upon again.”
Not less emphatic are the words of the
patriarch of democracy, Thomas Jeffer
son : “Andrew Jackson is a clear-head
ed, strong-minded man, and has more of
the old Roman in him than any other
man now living.” The adopted child of
America, the great and good Lafayette,
sympathized most ardently with Jeffer
son in this enthsiasm for the hero. “Gen.
Jackson is the very man fitted for the
present crisis,” said that experienced ob
server of human affairs. “His stern and
uncompromising republicanism and high
sense of honor will prove the best securi
ty for our republican institutions. Gen
eral Jackson possesses the honesty of a
Rcgulus, the patriotism of a Washington
and the firmness ofa Timoleon—in fact,
I am unacquainted with any character in
ancient or modern history which com
bines so much excellence with so few of
the errors of hmanity.”
What then has been the history of this
man, who thus unites the voluntary suf
frages of those holding the most opposite
sentiments upon questions where it is
possible to differ? To what accident of
birth or fortune does he owethis dazzling
preeminence ?
Like Washington, he is a self-made
man. It is undeniable that he has been
emphatically the artificer of his own for
tunes. He has built up his enviable and
surpassing fame, not by aid of family
connections, hereditary wealth, or favor
able opportunities; but in despite of ad
verse circumstances, and inveterate op
position. Having been honored with
the confidence of every president from
Washington down to his own immediate
predecessor, having three times received
far the largest number of votes for the
highest office in the gift of the people, h
has twice been called by an overwhelm
ing majority of suffrages to fill the Pre
sidential chair, has so discharged its du
ties as to eclipse the lustre of his military
glory by the brightersplendor of hiscivic
fame: and now that, the hoarse roar of
party animosity is hushed, no voice is
heard to interrupt the universal harmo
ny ofa nation’s gratitude and praise.
By his own unaided merit has he arisen
to that proud eminence. Having seen
his only brother perish by the cruelty of
the enemy, in the war of the revolution,
and his broken-hearted mother follow
her son to the grave, he went alone,
friendless and pennyless, from his native
state to Tennessee, where he had not a
single blood relation, and when scarcely
more than a boy, we find him selected to
assist in forming a constitution for that
state—a member of the first legislature
of Tennessee, chosen by Washington,
endowed like himself with a wonderful
sagacity in the discrimination of charac
ter, for the responsible office of district
attorney; soon after delegated as the first
representative in Congress from the State
of Tennessee; and as soon as he was con
stitutionally eligible, being only thirty
years of age, he was placed in the Senate
of the United States.
In this early and rapid promotion of a
friendless stranger, we may see the evi
dence of talents for civil service, for he
' was not yet a military chieftain, and it
MACON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1844.
was the ability evinced in these stations
which led, no doubt, to his military ap
pointment during this period as major
general, commanding the militia of Ten
nessee, and afterwards to be brigadier,
and finally major general in the United
States service.
When a great work is to be done, God
in his providence brings forth the man to
do it, and the country instinctively turns
her eyes to him- History has recorded
how Washington was summoned by
the spontaneous voice of the people to
conduct to an honorable close the war of
the revolution. So it was within our
memory with Jackson.
A vast plan of invasion, sketched by
military genius, and begun to be execu
ted with a boldness that did not dream of
defeat; by solid columns of picked men,
from the veterans of more than twenty
years’ warfare, officered by the flower of
British chivalry; led by generals of un
doubted talent, tried valor, and consum
mate skill; trained to conquer, and exult
ing in their anticipated success, on the
Bth of January, 1815, received from An
drew Jackson’s arm its fatal check, its
wreck, andoverthrow. Out last arduous
contest with Great Britain, to use the
words of Governor Brooks, was “termin
ated gloriously.”
The bottle which secured forever our
independence of British influence, natur
ally associates itself in our minds with
our own Massachusetts battle, with which
the first struggle for independence open
ed, after the prelude at Lexington and
Concord. These two battles are the two
pivots of American history.
Ask a Yankee when absent from his
native land, what thrice holy spot of all
New England’s hallowed soil rises readi
est to his recollection, if ever the foreign
er tells him tauntingly that the American
continent is barren of historical scenes ?
With a swelling heart and a beaming
eye, he will answer Bunker Hill. Put
the same question to the hunter of the
west, or the quick and fiery southron,
and you know his answer well: it is
New Orleans
It is fortunate for us, fellow citizens,
that the two great battles in our history
happened in opposite extremities, almost,
of our Union. The north cannot re
proach the south, neither can the south
vaunt it over the north. .Each possesses
one imperishable glory, before which the
lustre of the brightest victories won in
battles between contending tyrants turns
pale ; but neither can assert, and neither
attempts to arrogate peculiar and exclu
sive possessions of either portion of the
splendid inheritance. Both claim a com
mon property in the trophies of these two
memorable days, the seventeenth of June
and the eighth of January, the first of
which cut out work for the fourth of
July, and the last completed it. Both
walk together in the light of these two
glowing beacon fires kindled on that
stormy coast where liberty has taken up
her eternal abode, to illuminate with the
cheering radiance of hope her benighted
pilgrims, who can look nowhere else for
hope but to this western world.
Yes, my friends, Warren falling in his.
prime, in a sad and sanguinary defeat—
sad, yet more glorious than any victory
the muse of history had ever yet record
ed—Jackson, balancing at New Orleans,
the account that was opened at Bunker
Hill—closing the last act of the bloody
drama of our strife with the mother coun
try, with a fighting catastrophe for
sublime a tragedy—Jackson, achieving
a victory doubly disastrous to the inva
ders, more than satisfying the highest ex
pectations of a confiding country, putting
to silence for a while the clamorous
tongue of envy, and extorting sincere
ancTheartfelt praise from the vanquished
brave—these are names that are and ever
must be dear to the whole people of the
republic. No sectional jealousy shall be
suffered to monopolize them; no party
madness shall shut our eyes against
their lustre. Tneir fair fame is the na
tion’s common property; priceless, for
gold could not buy it; secure, for no re
verse of fortune can tear it from us so
long as language shall be faithful to its
trust; so long as tradition shall preserve
the outline after history has forgotten
the detail; so long as one generous emo
tion shall warm the human heart ; after
the monument shall have crumbled,, but
while Bunker Hill shall stand; after
New Orleans shall have sunk in the dust,
but while the Mississippi shall flow,
Warren and Jackson shall be watch
words in the armies of Liberty—the
memory of our two great battles shall
eternally be renewed to cheer the fainting
courage of desponding patriotism, to re
vive and invigorate hope when almost
extinguished in the breast of the despairing
lover of his kind, and to restore and re
animate his confidence in God.
Illustrious for the crowning victory of
the war, respected for his talents and en
ergy of character, and trusted for bis in
tegrity and the soundness of his political
views, there was much work that yet re
mained for Andrew Jackson to do.—
Having on a former occasion received a
plurality of the elected votes, he was at
last called by an overwhelming majority
of suffrages to fill the presidential chair.
Unappalled by the difficulty of the task,
he proceeded steadily to his great pur
pose, and obstacles seemingly insur-
mountable gave way before him. The
growth of deep rooted abuses was stayed
at once, and he exerted all his energy and
decision to eradicate diem from our sys
tem; the reforms in office reduced to
practice the great truth that place men
not possessors of office for their own
emolument, but holders of a trust to be
administered for the benefit of the peo
ple; and in every department,method,
order, punctuality and economy super
ceded negligence, carelessness, procras
tination and prodigality. In his inter
course with foreign nations, hebuilton the
foundation of the national policy laid
by Washington “the immutable princi
ples of private morality,”—proclaiming
at the outset as a fundamental rule of
his conduct, “to ask nothing but what
was clearly right, and to submit to no
thing that was wrong.” To this golden
rule he unalterably adhered, and the
smiles of. heaven abundantly approved
his honest and magnanimous policy ; his
frank and manly advances to other gov
ernments met a ready and cordial recep
tion, and obtained for his country advan
tages which the tortuous diplomcy that
some admire, would either not have
dared to attempt, or attempted in vain.
But 1 perceive, that should I pass on
with a review, however brief, of the poli
cy of his glorious administration, I should
be treading on unextir.guished fires
smouldering beneath the. recent allies. —
I will not then go on to discuss the top
ics which suggest themselves to my
mind because of the lateness of the hour,
for we are close upoti midnight, and also
because this is an occasion of festivity,
and not for political argument. I pass
by these great measures not because I
have any wish to keep back my opinions
upon them, which I believe are pretty
well knowu to all who could possibly
feel any curiosity about them, nor be
cause of my obligation to refrain from
the free discussion of any question what
ever, for I acknowledge no such obliga
tion.
It may perhaps be as well to. say what
it is strange that any American citizen
should ever have doubted, that there is
no post under our government which
disfranchises him who holds it; uo post
which does not allow a citizen to express
any opinion upon any and every subject,
whenever and wherever lie may find a
fitting occasion. I will go one step fur
ther, though perhaps it may not be neces
sary. There exists no disposition on the
part of the present administration, or of
the head of that administration, to desire
any man to say what he does not think, or
to leave unsaid what he honestly -thinks.
If such were the tenure of office, no man
of honor would hold office for a day.—
The president of the United States is not
the man to offer such conditions to any
one; lam not one of the men to whom
such conditions would be offered by any
one.
If 1 do not review, as in another time
and place I should delight to do, the
measures of the administration of the
man who filled the measure of his coun
try’s glory, it is for the reasons I have
given and for no other. Yet there is one
act of that administration to which I can
not allude, but the rather, because a sen
timent of unanimity is rapidly growing
up in this community where lately we
were so widely divided. Who that now
hears me, who if my voice could reach
the chambers of alfthat are sleeping in
this great city—who does not rejftice that
Gen. Jackson set his foot upon-the neck
of the monster Bank? He prostrated,
he wounded, he crippled the leviathan.
His immediate successor took for his
motto “ uncompromising hostility to the
United States Bank, the interests and the
honor of the people demand it,” and Mr.
Van Buren kept his word. But it was
reserved to the present President of the
United States to strike tlie last blow, the
death wound, to crush the last head of
the hydra, and with an unflinching nerve
he dealt that blow, for which democracy,
aye the whole people owe him a debt of
heartfelt gratitude—a debt not to be de
nied. I say not to be denied, and it is
not denied. Those who used to call the
bank a regulator of the currency, and a
regulator of commerce, understand now,
most of them, that it was the grand dis
turber of currency and of commerce, and
have ceased to regret tlie wholesome ac
tion of our patriot Presidents Jackson,
Van Bureti and Tyler, in delivering us
from its misrule.
I will touch/m one other topic a mo
ment, and then detain you no longer, for
it is as unpleasant for me to make long
speeches, as it can be for any one to hear
them. (Cries of go on !go ahead!) I
speak of that celebrated fine, the history
of which is fresh in all your memories.
Is it not a blessed day for tlie country;
was it not a great blessing vouchsafed to
the hero himself, that lingering as he is
upon the borders of the grave, he should
have been spared till this last act of tar
dy justice had been rendered to him?
And is it not among the most fortu
nate circumstances of the fortunate Mr.
Tyler, that he has recommended and set
his signature to the act, blotting out the
only imputation cast upon his bright ca
reer from the judicial record, and there
by certifying to him the final plaudit of
the nation, “ well done good and faithful
servant.”
Not to detain you longer when so ma
ny around me can entertain and instruct
you so acceptably, I will only ask leave
to offer the following sentiment:—
Andrew Jackson.—The country owes
to him her soil defended, her territory en
larged, her honor vindicated, her consti
tution rescued ftom violation.
“ The hero is immortal, and our coun
try has the blessing.”
REGULAR TOASTS AND LETTERS.*
The toast master, D. H. Dustin, Esq.,
then announced the first regular toast
The President of the United States.
The following correspondence was
read between the committee of arrange
ments and President Tyler
Boston, March Bth, 1844.
lion. John Tyler, President of the Ignited States:
Sir—The birthday of the illustrious
Andrew Jackson, your predecessor, in
the office which you now hold, will be
celebrated in Faneuil Hall, the “old cra
dle of liberty,” in this city, on the 15th
instant, with appropriate festivities.
The committee of arrangements re
quest the honor of your company on this
interesting occasion in behalf of their fel
low citizens, to join them in this tribute
of respect to the man, whom you so late
ly had the pleasure to congratulate upon
the long delayed act of justice towards
him, at last consummated by your ad
vice and with your signature.
With sentiments of the highest consid
eration, we have the honor to be your
obedient servant,
J. SHACKFORD KIM BALI-,
In behalf of the Committee of Arrange
ments.
Washington, March 12, 1844.
Sir—l have to acknowledge the invi
tation of your committee of arrangements,
and many of your fellow citizens, to be
present at Faneuil Hall, on the 15th ol
March, in celebration of the birth-day ol j
Andrew Jackson; and I need scarcely i
attempt to express the pleasure I should
experience from obeying your summons, j
if to do so was in my power; but this
pleasure is denied me, and all that re
mains to me is to tender yon my sincere
good wishes upon the occasion. For any
agency which I may have had in bring
ing about the remission of the fine impo
sed upon him in immediate connexion ■
with the defence of New Orleans, I am
sufficiently rewarded in tlie expression
of your favorable opinion concerning it.
It seemed to me to be every way due to :
the gallant defender of his country, now j
in the winter of life, that there should be j
nothing left on the judicial records which .
could in arty manner obscure the lustre
of his noble achievement.
I pray you, sir, to accept for yourself
and your associates, my cordial saluta
tions. JOHN TYLER. !
J. Shackford Kimball, Esq., Boston.
David Hensh rw : Where he is most ;
known there lie is most respected; his :
personal and political enemies have done |
their worst, and the shafts of their malig
nity return upon themselves.
The Hon. Mr. Henshaw being intro- 1
duced to the company by the president, J
said he could not but feel gratified and
grateful at the friendly greeting with
which the sentiment complimentary to
himself had been received by the compa
ny. He was rejoiced to meet on this fe
licitous occasion so many old friends— .
persons whom he had known and with ;
whom he had been associated from his
boyhood to the present time—men, some
of whom he knew to be staunch demo
crats during the last war—and many who
had gone through that glorious political
period which brought into power and
sustained in his administration, the sage,
soldier, and statesman—tlie man who
was always true to his principles, his
country, and his friends—whose birth
and deeds we were here assembled to
celebrate. I am rejoiced, too, said Mr.
Henshaw, to meet the young democracy
of Boston —to meet so many intelligent |
young persons taking an active interest
in the celebration and in political affairs
—and yet, Mr. President, perhaps I ought
not to rejoice at this, for theirs is the only
party from which I ever apostatised.—
Time was when I belonged to the young
men's party ; but I nm compelled to ad
mit that I have abandoned their party
and have joined the old men’s party.
And, perhaps, on this occasion, Mr. j
H. said he might be permitted to say a !
word on politics, to which this train of
thought naturally led him. Twenty ’
years ago lie belonged to tlie young ■
men’s party. He then took nn interest,
and was active in politics. The political
organization of tbafc-day was in some re
spects unalagons to the organization of
the present day. It was an old organiza
tion that the times had outgrown. It had
like that of the present day ceased to rep
resent public opinion. Its office was to
control and not to represent it.
The result of that presidential election
we all know. The new organization
then formed still exists ; and in the
mean time all the vast mass of voters,
from twenty-one to forty-one years oi
age, have come into political life. They
have not the weight and influence that
from their numbers, talents, and intelli
gence, they have a right to expect, and
the power to enforce; and yet for
present they must yield to the power of
the old organization. The next presi-
{NO. 47.
dential question was virtually settled air
to candidates, though the party organiza
tion no more represented fixed princi
ples, than public opinion— yet it was vir
tually settled, and the young democracy
must look to a succeeding presidential
term for the possession of that full meas
ure of influence to which they were en
titled, and that they could not look to it
too soon. Whichever of the present can
didates before the people might be elect
ed, he would not expect a re-election;
and the moment lie shall have cnlmina
ted —been elected and distributed the offi
ces—his influence would in a great mea
sure cease.
Very many of the American people, irti
their political worship, are Persians—
they turn from the setting to the rising
sun—the young democracy would hence
see the importance of taking early a far
strefehing view of the political horizon
to make their influence felt in its proper
force and duration. But, Mr. President,
said Mr. Heushatv, I will not tire the
company at this hour with a speech, but,
with your permission, 1 will offer this
sentiment:
The young democracy of Boston—
They have but to pursue the course they
have Commenced to insure to themselves
that social and political influence their
intelligence, integrity, and energy entitle
them to command.
Mr Hailed, one of the vice presidents,
being called up, said that notwithstand
ing the festive occasion, and the beauty
and gayety with which he was surround
ed, he felt inclined to the grave rather
than the gay, and if he responded to the
call it must be in the tram his thoughts
had taken to the home of the veteran
warrior and retired statesman, the good
old man, who in humble resignation was
waiting the will of Heaven to summon
him hence full of honors and of years;
and who himself had predicted, in his
pious and touching acknowledgment of
this last act of justice done him by his
country in the restitution of the fine, that
before another year he must, in all pro
bability, be in the tomb prepared for
him.
It was a noble spectacle for the youth
of our land to witness the example of this
, illustrious man, in his retirement, giving
his last days to love for his country and
devotion to his God. It had been pecu
liarly the lot of Andrew Jackson, as it
had been and always would be, of every
man who fearlessly battled for the demo
cratic ptiriciples, to be villified, without
measure, by its opponents. From the
days of JefDrsou until iiow, the weapon
most used by the enemies of democracy,
tvas detraction and personal abuse of its
champions. The federal party from the
beginning had claimed all the talents and
all the virtues for their .great men, and
attributed all the follies and vices to ours;
with what injustice history had already
recorded in the instance of the immortal
Jefferson, and was about to record in
that of the venerated Jackson, who, if not
so great in mind, was greater in action
than his illustrious predecessor in the
advancement of tlie democratic principle.
Centuries would continue to develope, in
the progress of human government and
equal laws, (lie benefits which the mas
ses owe to tliese two men of their times,-
and of the occasions which called for
them.
But it was a remarkable fact, from
which tlie young men of the country
might see tlie injustice and frand of the
system of personal assault upon private
character that haß always been foremost
in the party tactics of our opponents, that
those men whom they have aliused most
in life, they have eulogized most after
their death. Need I instance Jefferson
and Madison, upon whom the whole tal
ent and the whole malignity of the feder
al party had for years poured out all the
vials of tbeif wrath and denunciation,
but whom, after death, all their talents
and all the eloquence of their orators
were enlisted to venerate, eulogize and
consecrate? Those who had been loud
est in denunciation of tliese great states
men, arc now most emphatic in their
praise; and when death lias hallowed
the fame of Jackson, he too will receive
the like tribute from the like source.
And what is tlie reason for this bnt
that democratic doctrines arc the great
faith of this people; and though they
may be startled for a time, at the terrors
with which tlie interested few seek to
surround the practical operations of that
faith, the popular instinct, when left to its
owfl just influences, never fails to award
in the end the true merit that belongs to
those who, for their sake, have incurred
odium and assumed high responsibility,
though seemingly, at die time, at the risk
of reputation and advancement.
At this moment, and on this day, An
drew Jackson is a living example of this
truth. No man breathing has been more
abused than he, and no man living in otif
land is now more venerated than ne. In
vain did your consuls and minister and
cabinets and congress appeal to the fude
Mexican ruler lor the release of art
American citizen from his dungeons ; but
at the simple request of a private man, at
the name of Jackson, the doors of the
prison were opened, and the captive was
sent to his friends, as a tribute k> the pure
fame of that man.
Mr. President, it is not my purpose to