The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 184?-1851, 1845-07-16
ELOQUENT GRAFTON.
EULOGIUNI
UPON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF
Gen. e49gGz2'e2U jackson.
BY HON. GEORGE BANCROFT,
The .4uaerica, Historian, and Secretary ofHe Mary

The american Historian, and Secretary of the Nary.
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The men of The American revolution are no
more, That age of creative power has passed
away. The last surviving sgner of the Declara-
ton ofIndependence has long since left the earth.
Washington lies near his own Potomac, surround
ed by his family and his servants, Adams, the
colossus of independence, reposes i'll the mo-
dest grave yard of his native region. Jefferson
sleeps on 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 i'm
age ofGod shone most brightly, do not live for
ever? They were filled with the vast conccp-
lions which called America into being; they H.
Yed for those conceptions; and their deeds praise
them.
We are met to commemorate the virtues of
one who shed his blood for our independence,
took part in winning the territory and forming the
early institutions of the west, and was mbued
with all the great ideas which constitute the mo-
raj force of our country. On the spot where lie
gave his solemn fealty to the people--here, ),
where he pledged himself before the world TO
freedom, TO the constitution, and TO the laws
we meet TO pay our tribute TO the memory Of the
last great name, which gathers around itself all
the associations that form the glory of America.
South Carolina gave birth place TO Andrew
Jackson. On its remote frontier, far up ON the
forest clad banks of the CaaWba in region
where the settlers were just beginning to clus-
fer, his eye first saw the light. There his nfan-
cy sported in the ancient foreGts, and his mind
was nnrsed to freedom by their influence. He
was the youngest son Of an Irish emigrant OF
Scottish origin, who, two years after the great
war of Frederick of Prussia, fled to America for
relief from indigence and oppression. His birth
was in 1867, at a time when the people of our
land were but body of dependent colonIss,
scarcely more than Two millions in number, scat
tered along an immense coast, with no amy, or
navy, or union; and exposed to the attempts of
England 10 control America by the aid of mill
tary force. His boyhood grew up in the midst
Of the contest with Great Britain. 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 coun-
try's independence.
The strife, as it increased, came near the
shades Of his own upland residence. As boy
of thirteen, he witnessed the scenes of horror
that accompany civil war; and when but a year
older, with an elder brother, he shouldered his
musket. and went forth to strike blow for his
country.
Joyous era for America and humanity! But
for him, the orphan boy, the events were full ofI
agony and grief His father was no more His
Oldest brother fell a victim to the war of the re-
voluton; another (his companion in arms) died
of wounds received in their joint captivity; his
mother went down 10 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 emancipated itself from Br-
tsh rule organizes ITSELF the confederation gives
way to the constitution: the perlectng of that
constitution--that grand event of the thousand
years of modern history-is accomplished. Anne
rica exists as a people, gains unity as govern.
ment, and takes its place as nation among The
powers of the earth.
The next great Office TO be performed by Anne
rica, is the taking possession of the wilderness
The magnificent western valley cried out TO the
civilization Of popular power, that it must be oc
cupiedby cultivated man.
Behold, then, our orphan hero, sternly earnest,
,consecratcd TO humanity from childhood by sor-
row, having neither father, nor mother, nor sis
Ter, 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
go forth and assist in laying the foundations of
society in the great valley of the Mississippi.
AT the very time when Washington was pledg-
ing his own and future generations to the sup.
port of the popular institutions which were TO be
the light of the human race--at the time when
the institutions of the old world we're 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 intrepidity off
twenty-one, plunged into the wilderness, cross.
ed the great mountain barrier that divides the
western waters from tne Atlantic, followed the
paths of the early hunters and fugtives, and, NOT
conten; with the nearer neighborhood 10 his pa
rent State, went still further and further to the
west, till he found his home in tho most beauti-
ful region on the Cumberland There, from the
first, he was recognised as the great pioneer
under his courage, the coming emigrants were
sure 10 find shield
The lovers Of adventure began to pour them
selves into the territory, whose delicious climate
and fertile soil invited the presence Of social