you saw,
too, when that illustrious man, who presides over us, adopted his
pacific, moderate, and just course, how they once more lifted up their
heads with exultation and delight beaming in their countenances. And
you saw how those minions themselves were finally compelled to unite
in the general praises bestowed upon our government. Beware how
you forfeit this exalted character. Beware how you give a fatal
sanction, in this infant period of our Republic, scarcely yet twoscore
years old, to military insubordination. Remember that Greece had her
Alexander, Rome her Caesar, England her Cromwell, France her
Bonaparte, and that if we would escape the rock on which they split
we must avoid their errors.
How different has been the treatment of General Jackson and
that modest, but heroic young man, a native of one of the smallest
States in the Union, who achieved for his country, on Lake Erie, one
of the most glorious victories of the late war. In a moment of passion
he forgot himself and offered an act of violence which was repented of
as soon as perpetrated. He was tried, and suffered the judgment to be
pronounced by his peers. Public justice was thought not even then to
be satisfied. The press and Congress took up the subject. My
honorable friend from Virginia, Mr.
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