The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-06-28


like the gems which are buried in the "dark I'M
fathomed caves of ocean," or like flowers "born
to blush unseen" under the dull and whitening at
mosphere Of monarchical government The only
wonder with US is, how the orator could have found
time to pour forth SO long and admirable prsduc-
ton. We know that he never put pen to paper un-
Ill Monday; that he has been compelled 10 attend
to all the duties and details of two of the executive
departments--the Navy and the War. We know
that he dined out on Tuesday, at one of the most
agreeable parties in the city, where he remain
ed until late hour; that he was also visiting
three evenings in the week, and was compelled to
attend as witness upon Captain Voorhees,
court martial at Colemans on Thursday; and
yet Mr. Bancroft has con,rived to produce an ora
ton which would do honor to any orator in Amer
lea. II is only an evidence of the astonishing rapid
iy of the pen of the "historian Of America-so far
beyond anything that we had anticipated, and SO
agreeably disappointed have we been with the re-
suit of his labors
During the whole time which was occupied in its
delivery, the vast crowd were silent as in house
of worship; and the tones Of his fine voice penetra.
ted the immense multitude, and sank deep into the
hearts and minds of all present. Among the most
attentive and affected auditors within feet Of the
orator, another pioneer OF the western forests,
whose manly brows are also "crowned with victo-
rious wreaths"--whose blood was shed in the same
wars in which Jackson fought, and whose heart is
devoted to his country-Col Richard M. ] ohnson,
the ex-vice President of the United States.
At the conclusion of the exercises of the day. the
procession again formed, and, having marched to
the grounds in front of the Presidents mansion,
were dismissed. All the places of business in the
city continued closed during the residue of the day;
and SO still and solemn a night was never before
passed in Washington. The city was completely
hushed, as though its people were engaged in the
sacred Offices of religion.
GRAFTON.
The men of the American revolution are no more.
That age of creative power has passed away. The
last surviving signer Of the Declaration Of Indepen-
dence has long since left the earth. Washington
lies near his own Potomac, surrounded by his
family and his servants. Adams the colossus of
independence, reposes in the modest graveyard OF
his native region. Jefferson sleeps the heights of
his own Monticello, whence his eye overlooked his
beloved Virginia Madison the last survivor of the
men who made our constitution, lives only in
our hearts. But who shall say that the heroes, in
whom the image Of God shone most brightly, do
not live forever! They were filed with the vast
ceptons which called America into being; they lived
for those conceptions; and their deeds praise them
We are met to commemorate the virtues of one
who shed his blood for independence, took part
in winning the territory and forming the early in
stitutions of the West, and was mbued with all the
great ideas which constitute the moral force of our
country. On the spot where he gave his solemn
fealty to the people-here where he pledged himself
IL. a. A.
to the lawswe meet to pay our tribute to the memo
ry Of the last great name which gathers round itself
all the associations that form the glory of America.
South Carolina gave birthplace to Andrew
Jackson. On its remote frontier, far up on the for
est-clad banks of the Catawba, in region where
first saw the light. There his infancy spored in the
ancient forests, and his mind was nursed to freedom
by their influence. He was the youngest son of an
Irish emgrant, Of Scottish origin, who two years af
ter the great Of Frederic of Prussia fled to Amer
lea for relief from indulgence and oppression His birth
was in l767, at a time when the people of our land
were but body Of dependent colonists, scarcely
more than two millions in number, scattered along
immense coast, with no army, or navy, or union;
and exposed to the attempts of England to control
America by the aid Of military force. His boyhood
grew up in the midst Of the contest with Great Brit
ain. The first great political truth that reached his
heart was that all men are free and equal; the first
great fact that beamed on his understanding, was
his country's independence.
The strife, as it increased, the shades Of
his own upland residence. As boy of thirteen, he
witnessed the scenes of horror that accompany civil
war and when but year older, with an elder broth
err, he shouldered his musket, and went forth to
strike blow for his country.
Joyous era for America and for humanity! But
for him, the orphan boy, the events were full Of ag-
ony and grief. His father was no more. His old
est brother fell victim 10 the of the revolution;
another (his companion in arms) died of wounds
received in their joint captivity; his mother went
down to the grave victim to grief and efforts to
rescue her sons; and when peace came, he was
alone in the world, with no kindred to cherish him,
and little inheritance but his own untried powers
The nation which emancpated itself from. British
rule organizes itself the confederation gives way to
the constitution: the perfecting of that constitution
that grand event Of the thousand years OF modern
history--is accomplished; America exists as peo-
ple gains unity government, and takes its place
as nation among the powers of the earth.
The next great Office 10 be performed by Ameri-
ca, is the taking possession Of the wilderness The
magnificent western valley cried out to the civiza-
ton of popular power, thai Il must be occupied by
cultivated man.
Behold, then, our orphan hero, sternly earnest,
consecrated to humanity from childhood by sorrow,
having neither father, nor mother, nor sister, nor
surviving brother SO young and yet so solitary and
therefore bound the more closely to collective man
behold him elect for his lot to 60 forth and assist
in laying the foundations of society in the great val
ley Of the Mississippi.
At the very time when Washington was pledgng
his own and future generations to the support Of the
popular institutions which were to be the light OF
the human race--at the time when the institu-
tons of the Old World were rocking to their centre,
and the mighty fabric that had come down from
the middle ages was falling in--the adventurous
Jackson in the radiant glory and boundless hope and
confident intrepidty oftwenty-one, plunged into the
wilderness, crossed the great mountain-barrer that
divides the western waters from the Atlantic, follow
ed the paths of the early hunters and fugives, and
not content with the nearer neighborhood to his
parent State, went still further and further to the
west, till he found his home in the most beautiful
region on the Cumberland. There, from the first
he was recognised as the great pioneer: under his
courage, the coming emgrants were sure to find q
shield.
The lovers Of adventure began to pour themselves
into the territory whose delicious climate and fer
tile soil invited the presence of social man. The
hunter with his rife and his axe, attended by his
wife and children; the herdsman driving the few
l hat tho,x brou II,