THE period has already arrived when the character and actions of ANDREW JACKSON can be reviewed by all parties of his countrymen with candour and fairness. He has passed to that tribunal where all must appear, to give an account of the work which they have performed in this state of being. Sustained by a consciousness of patriotic and honourable intentions, and by the hope of mercy through the Redeemer, he died in the assured hope of a glorious im mortality. His countrymen mourned his loss with unaffected and universal sorrow. They have already begun to realize that he was a man of that character and calibre of which one example in an age is all that we can hope for. As time rolls on he will be more highly appreciated. Another war with England, and another threatened dismemberment of the Union, whenever they come, will cause men to look back upon the past, and to wish that another Jackson might arise to guide our armies, and preserve the unity of the Republic. But such events are not necessary to direct attention to his merits. The eager spirit of inquiry which is beginning to show itself respecting the past history of the country and its leading men, will cause every action of Jackson's life to be thoroughly scrutinized. And they will bear the scrutiny. It will appear that he was thoroughly disinterested and patriotic in every public act; that he was so admirably just and noble in his private relations that he became in every circle where he moved the delight of his friends; that he had, like a true and faithful American statesman, a thorough faith in the people, a thorough sympathy with the people; and that through these qualities, he became, more than any other since the Father of his Country, the favourite hero of the people. The present attempt to sketch the leading events of his life has been undertaken from a conviction of his real greatness, and from the writer's assent to the doctrine which is thus eloquently laid down by one who has made heroes his study: "Universal history, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom, the History of the Great Men who have worked here. They were the leaders of men, these great ones; the modellers, patterns, and, in a wide sense, creators of whatsoever the general mass of men contrived to do or to attain; all things that we see standing accomplished in the world are properly the outer material result, the practical realization and imbodiment, of thoughts that dwelt in the Great Men sent into the world: the soul of the whole world's history, it may justly be considered, were the history of these. "Great men, taken up in any way, are profitable company. We cannot look, however imperfectly, upon a great man, without gaining something by him. "He is the living light-fountain, which it is good and pleasant to be near. The light which enlightens, which has enlightened the darkness of the world: and this not a kindled lamp only, but rather as a natural luminary shining by the gift of Heaven; a flowing light-fountain, as I say, of native original insight, of manhood and heroic nobleness; in whose radiance all souls feel that it is well with them." If the doctrine of Carlyle is applicable as a general rule, it is specially applicable in the case of Jackson. His life is full of instruction for his countrymen. It speaks volumes in proof of the genial influence of free institutions in developing real genius and providing for it a grand theatre of action. The unprotected orphan, without family, friends, fortune, or even a finished education, rising by regular gradations, and always by the unsought suffrages of his countrymen, from a private station to the highest civil and military rank which the nation could bestow, affords a subject of proud contemplation to the American patriot, and a lesson full of instruction for every child of the republic. This broad fact is not more instructive than the many details which it embraces. The several actions in Jackson's life afford examples for the guidance of his countrymen. They show the irresistible strength which heaven has granted to an honest purpose. They show the homage which men pay to an iron will, based upon the consciousness of right intentions. They show the value of moral courage. They show that the safeguard of the republic consists in a right understanding between its really great men and the millions whom they are destined to lead on to victory and national prosperity. The biography of such men as Andrew Jackson is a profitable study. THE multiplied wrongs inflicted upon the people of Ireland by their haughty rulers, the fearful oppression which for ages they had endured, are matters familiar to the most superficial reader of their history. Their sufferings at home caused the eyes of many of the Irish patriots to be turned at an early period to the American colonies; and numbers availed themselves of the asylum offered by the wilds of America, to secure peace to themselves and their children. Among the emigrants from the Emerald Isle, previous to the war of Independence, was Andrew Jackson, the father of him whose actions form our theme. He arrived at Charleston in the year 1765, accompanied by his wife, |