E now enter upon General Jackson's career as a statesman. This part of his life it is our purpose to treat, not in the spirit of party, but of history-to regard his acts, as far as it may be possible to do so, in the same point of view in which they will be regarded by

posterity. It is not to be expected that the chief magistrate of a great nation shall escape censure for those important political measures which he may consider it his duty to adopt. Washington was charged with being bought with British gold, because he signed Jay's treaty; Adams was strongly censured for chas

tising the insolence of the French Directory; Jefferson for purchasing Louisiana; Madison for recommending the declaration of war with England; and Monroe for sanctioning the conquest and acquisition of Florida; and yet these measures were all justified, not only by the general voice of the American people, but by their obvious public utility. An impartial survey of Jackson's most important measures, precisely the measures which were most loudly censured, will conduct us to the same result. They have been equally justified by the voice of the people, and by their effects on the prosperity of the nation.

General Jackson arrived at Washington in February, and on the 4th of March, 1829, entered on the duties of the office of President of the United States. About twelve o'clock of that day he was waited upon by a few of the surviving officers and soldiers of the revolutionary war, who came to escort him from his lodgings at Gadsby's hotel to the capitol. One of them, speaking for all, delivered an address, congratulating him upon his election, and expressing sentiments of deep attachment. He replied to them by saying:"Respected friends: your affectionate address awakens sentiments and recollections which I feel with sincerity and cherish with pride. To have around my person, at the moment of undertaking the most solemn of all duties to my country, the companions of the immortal Washington, will afford me satisfaction and grateful encouragement. That by my best exertions I shall be able to exhibit more than an imitation of his labours, a sense of my own imperfections, and the reverence I entertain for his virtues,

INAUGURATION.

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forbid me to hope. To you, respected friends, the survivors of that heroic band, who followed him so long and so valiantly in the path of glory, I offer my sincere thanks, and to Heaven my prayers, that your remaining years may be as happy as your toils and your lives have been illustrious.”

Escorted by this band of heroes he arrived at the capitol, where, in presence of the Senate, the members of the House of Representatives, the heads of departments, the judges of the Supreme Court, foreign ministers, and an immense concourse of citizens, he delivered his inaugural address; and having concluded it, the oath faithfully to execute the duties of the presidency, and to the best of his ability to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution, was administered to him by Chief-Justice Marshall. His induction into office by taking this oath was immediately proclaimed by the firing of salutes by artillery stationed near the capitol, which were echoed and re-echoed from the forts and plains around. The paragraph which excited most interest in his inaugural address was in the following terms.

"The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on the list of executive duties, in characters too legible to be overlooked, the task of reform; which will require particularly the correction of those abuses that have brought the patronage of the federal government into conflict with the freedom of elections, and the counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the rightful course of appointment, and have placed, or continued power in unfaithful or incompetent hands. In the performance of a task thus