The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-05-24
GENERAL JACKSON.
A SKETCH OF OLD HICKORY.
BY PRESTON HAY.
CHAPTER II.


CHAPTER II. ~
4 The canvass which preceded the election
!. of 1928 was characterized by vindictive
q ness and personal rancor, such as has no
: been witnessed at any other time in the his
: tory of the country. As both the administra
tion and the opposition claimed to be of th'
, same party, that is, the Jeffersonian Repub'
lican, it followed that there was nothing il
, the political record of either, which could
be consistently assailed by the other. They
were, therefore, driven to attacks upon
private character, and unfortunately for the
individuals concerned, their past lives fur
nished abundant material for animadver-
sion. More particularly was this the case
as between Gen. Jackson and Mr.. Clay, the
Ajax and Achilles of the fight. AS to Mr..
Adams, a quiet, cultivated, undemonstrative
gentleman, he was regarded as little better
than pigmy i'll battle of giants. He
owed all his importance to the position he
held, the prize to which the others aspired,
and nothing to his personal qualities.
In the case of Gen. Jackson, there was
much in his private career which the moral
ist is bound to condemn, and which can
only be paliated on the ground of the rude
society in which he lived. He got his wife
by driving off her husband and taking her
to himself He was engaged in more than
one deadly feud, and had deliberately TAX
en- the life of one adversary no longer
standing on the defensive. He had ridden
roughly and sworn loudly ON many race
| field He had elbowed for himself wide
space around many q crowded cockpit,
where, with his favorite bird perched on his
bare arm, he had been heard to raise shouts
which resounded to the distance of half
milo. In his military capacity he had ex-
ercised much arbitrary authority such as
holding men, both volunteers and militia,
beyond their terms of service, and treating
as mutineers those who only asserted their
rights AS these stretches of power were
for the public good, they were susceptible
of defense but they did not the less make
him many bitter enemies. He had also
charged with cowardIce or inefficiency in
the field, some of his subordinates who
were men of pride of character, belonging
to influential family connections, and in
this way had made himself odious to many
In prosecuting his Indian wars he had
found in Florida, then neutral territory, two
British traders, Arbuthnot and Ambrister,
whom he convicted of arming the Indians
and melting them to hostilities, and had
hanged them.
These are few and the most prominent of
the charges which could be truthfully made
against the then idol of the people. They
and others of minor Importance, were pro-
duced and reproduced. magnified and COM
mented upon, during that memorable cam
vass, until, according to the literature of
the administration organs, Gen. Jackson
became monster, compared with whom |
Nero, Caligula and Commodus were harm
less and unoffending citizens Nor was
there anything in his civic career to re-
deem these grave defects in his private life.
On the contrary, it was rather calculated to
provoke the ridicule of his enemies, than {
He was a member of the Convention which
framed the Constitution of Tennessee, but
is not known to have taken any prominent
part in its deliberations. He was one of
the first Senators in Congress from that
State, and served in that capacity in the
session of 1897. He took no part in the
debates of that body, and resigned his seat
at the end of the session, saying that there
was too much intrigue going on to suit him.
It may be doubted whether he gave the
rue reason for his course on that occasion.
None who knew him could fail to perceive
MS unftness for such position, for he had
not the gift of persuasive oratory, and he
rather jumped to conclusions than reached
hem by the laborious process of reasoning.
His strength lay in action rather than in
and he doubtless found him
,elf out of place in the Senate. He was
llso, for short time, Judge of a District
Court; but the only memorable incident
connected with that service, is his leaving
he bench, as part of Sheritf's posse, to {
Irrest disorderly character in the Court
ard, whom he had ordered to be brought |
,efore him. This duty was in his line, and {
le performed it with eclat.
On the other band, the private life of ,
lr. Clay, though not stained with anything
which the world regards as criminal, was {
ar from sanity. He was reputed bold
nd reckless gambler, and stories were cur
ent of his winning and losing thousands
pon his favorite game of brag. The op~
'osition press seldom applied to him '
nilder epithet than that of ''blacklee-
Whilst, that he was as corrupt in everything :
lse as he was assumed to have been in the
argain for the Secretaryship, was matter r
f course He was stung to the quick by {
he constantly reiterated charges of "bar- '
ain, intrigue and corruption" and waited v
My for some responsible party to give :
oice to them, in order that he might call :
i'm to account. :
IL was not long before John Randolph, I
n embodiment of talent and venom, in
peech in the House of Representatives, Q
escribed the administration as an alliance