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WmTINGS OF. 5AM HOUSTON, 1857
439
would not deprive his glorious memory of the least luster that could possibly attach to it; but comparisons are not pleasant. He, in his glorious achievements, was seconded by a nation. Its resources, whatever they were, if they were not well directed and well husbanded and well supplied to him, were at least subject to his beck and call. He suggested· many measures to supply the resources necessary to the accomplishment of the great design in view, and they were carried into execution. He met the expec- tation of his countrymen, and the proud title was accorded to him of Father of his Country. Of him it was said that he had filled the measure of his country's glory. All this was due to Washington. But, sir, when you come down to other men and other times, you behold Jackson, destitute of everything, surrounded by dif- ficulties, without resources, the nation penniless, having no regu- lar army, but dependent alone upon the militia and the patriotism of the volunteers. He, too, met the expectation of his country- men. In the very city from which the honorable gentleman from Louisiana comes, he has left a memorable impress of his mighty genius there stamped. It was inscribed in the tattered banners of Britain. He was never inadequate to any great object that was before him; and without resources he achieved renown as a general. · Of the character of Jackson as a statesman, I need say nothing. The intelligence of Senators is more familiar with it than I am; because they have been longer acquainted with, and more imme- diate witnesses of, his mighty deeds as a statesman. I do not admit that he was inferior to any man who has lived in the tide of time. Look at his mighty designs, his clear and unerring judgment, his indomitable will, his irresistible energy, and his statesmanship, that grasped a nation's good and executed its high purpose. I acknowledge him inferior to no man. He was equal to every emergency, to every crisis, and shrunk from nothing that was for his country's good. Sir, I do not admit that even Cresar, in his brightest days, was superior to him. Could Alexander have achieved more than Jackson did at New Orleans? Without resources, without arms, without munitions of war, without men, he rolled back the invasive tide of the veterans of the Peninsula, and stamped an impress upon his country's glory, and her chivalry that can never be obliterated whilst his life and deeds are remem- bered in the prosperity of his country, which has been adyancing
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