It was in this election that the statement published in another chapter of this book was made public by Judge John Overton in reference to the marriage of General and Mrs. Jackson; but with all the denunciation, abuse and villification that was hurled at him, Jackson received 178 electoral votes, and Adams 83; for Vice President Calhoun received 171 votes out of 261; in Tennessee Jackson and Calhoun received every vote cast except something less than three thousand.

The hero of New Orleans was now at the loftiest summit of the ambition of an American citizen, and had attained a position which enabled him to make his wife Mistress of the White House, a place aspired to by every American woman.

Of course Mrs. Jackson knew that her marriage to the General was an issue in the election, and that she had been denounced by the opposition newspapers all over the Union, and who can blame the poor woman for expressing the opinion which she gave:

"Well, for Mr. Jackson's sake, I am glad; for my own part I never wished it.

Of course, the people of Nashville determined to have a grand banquet and celebration in honor of the unparalleled triumph of Tennessee's great hero, and General Jackson accepted the invitation to be present. On December 17th Mrs. Jackson had an attack of illness, but on the 22d she was improved and the General thought he could attend the banquet in Nashville the next day, but that night, when it was thought that her improvement was real, and that the General could take a little rest, and hope began to revive in the household, she uttered a loud cry and all at once thought that the end had come, and so it proved. The woman who had been the issue in an American Presidential campaign, and for thirty-seven years had been the faithful, devoted wife of a great man, whom the voters had just decreed should be their Chief Executive for four years, gave up the ghost, and was dead. The Hermitage in the twinkling of an eye was changed into a house of mourning, and the great banquet arranged for the next day in Nashville was never held.

General Jackson left the Hermitage for his inauguration January 17, 1829, and was accompanied by Andrew Jackson Donelson, his nephew, who was to be his Private Secretary; by Mrs. Andrew Jackson Donelson, who was to preside at the White

House; by Henry Lee who had helped in the campaign, and who expected an appointment; and by Major Lewis, his friend.

They left Nashville Sunday afternoon by steamboat to go down the Cumberland and up the Ohio River to Pittsburg, and thence to Washington. On March 4th, General Jackson took the oath of office, administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; drove thence to the White House to begin the duties of Chief Executive, which were to continue until March 4, 1837.

Andrew Jackson-Correspondence with Gen. R. G.
Dunlap of Knoxville on the Removal of
William B. Lewis and
John H. Eaton.

The letters that passed between General R. G. Dunlap, practicing lawyer of Knoxville, Tennessee, and Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, constitute a unique and interesting and historically important correspondence which will repay careful reading. It illuminates Jackson's character, especially the feature of his great loyalty to his friends, and his obscure. vision of their faults and shortcomings.

General Dunlap was a native of Knox County, Tennessee, and served under Jackson in the Seminole War, and was recognized as a Jackson man. His effort in his letters to get "Old Hickory" to throw overboard his two tried friends, Major W. B. Lewis and Major John H. Eaton, failed as might have been expected. His letters show strong personal prejudice against Lewis and Eaton. While Jackson's replies are courteous, it is not hard to conclude that he saw Dunlap's prejudice, for he called on him to give some incident of wrong-doing by Lewis and Eaton to justify his advice that Jackson get rid of both. No successful political leader ever lived who did not have friends who were jealous of and antagonistic to each other-each recommending that the leader get rid of the other for the leader's welfare-to which personal differences no wise leader pays any attention.

Jackson utterly repudiated all of Dunlap's suggestions, but gave full and candid replies to them. One concludes that he valued Dunlap's friendship, for, while his replies are strong, unyielding and well argued from his standpoint, they do not exhibit that fiery intolerance of Dunlap's advice which one would expect, especially when Lewis and Eaton had been so superlatively and successfully useful to Jackson's political fortunes. The good temper and the patient detailed rejection of Dunlap's advice, exhibit Jackson at his best, both in argument and in

diplomacy. The discussion ranged away from Dunlap's antagonism to Lewis and Eaton and took in many of the political issues of Jackson's administration, and throws light upon the issues as Jackson viewed them.

R. G. DUNLAP TO JACKSON.

"Lea Springs, Tennessee, June 30th, 1831.

"Dear Sir: This week affords me leisure from our courts and our elections to visit these valuable springs. My health is feeble and has been for this season.

"This gives me a favorable opportunity to give you some plain hints.

"Seated at the head of power, but few will say anything to you calculated to have any other effect but to please your pride or feed your vanity. All men have both.

"My motive for first and last wishing you at the head of our great and happy nation, was that I believed you to be the best instrument to correct the growing evils and to bring back to first principles the wandering action of the Federal government. As this is and was my motive, I feel a deep solicitude in preserving unimpaired the whole useulness of your public station, which is the most honorable and responsible within the range of human power.

"Mr. Eaton leaves the War Dept. by the common consent and wish of all parties. While the nation may admire the firm friendship by you manifested for Mr. Eaton, they cannot but rejoice at the hope of his retirement. Mr. W. B. Lewis, almost too small to write about, occupies a position before the nation alone from his presumed and assumed intimacy with you, which merits a little attention. Send him home, and no longer hold yourself accountable to a free and enlightened people for his arrogant follies of such a small but busy man as he is.

His only importance is that by his hinting impudence, when out of your presence, of being in the President's confidence, he assumes the mask of an adviser. This holds you responsible for his silly conduct.

"To speak plain, the opinion prevails at large that W. B. Lewis is one of your most confidential concillors. This fact does, whether it be true or false, seriously affect the public, it raises a suspicion of your fitness to rule; it paralizes every noble feeling of your friends, when it is said Billy Lewis is your President's councillor. As have as little to ask as any other of your friends, I write this letter, which I know speaks the voice of Tennessee, as well as of every fragment of any party in this union. Your connection with Messrs. E and L have injured you more in public opinion, than all the acts of your friends and enemies combined.

The nation looked not to these feeble ministers for aid in directing the glorious destiny of the American people, when by the noblest feelings of patriotism they rallied on you to sustain the brightening prosperity of their country. The nation will be pleased to learn that Mr. Van Buren will go to England; this will quiet the fears of conflicting aspirants and give the country some peace.

If Judge White's daughter, Mrs. Alexander, should change her situation as it is more than probable that she will, I am induced to believe that he would accept the War Dept., as it is urged on him by public feeling as well as by your wishes. I am satisfied that he would not like to take any step that would have an unhappy effect on our elections. If he were to accept during the canvass, it would no doubt have some influence on the elections, as the claims of aspirants for his place would be before the people and our people are peculiar and not like any other.

"For one I believe it is important for your administration to have Judge White in the War Dept. It will silence the rumors that you have discarded your old friends and sought counsel amongst your new converts.

"It will do still more for the country. The dignity of White's character, blended with talents and integrity acknowledged by all parties, will give strength and confidence to his opinions and official acts.

"His opinion on the incidental and constructive powers of the Federal government coming through the War Dept., will have the happiest effect.

"It was the influence of this department that enabled Mr. Calhoun to rally the war fever and war phrensy to the scheme of natural magnificence, that enabled him to command the whole energies of the nation to a preparation for war after the war was over and thus beguiled republicans from republican duties.

"I understood that Governor Floyd wrote to a certain gentleman in E. Tenn., urging him and the Clay people to drop Clay and take up Mr. Calhoun. I did not hear the effects of the letter. A highly respectable gentleman of Charleston (Mr. H. W. Conner) wrote me a few weeks since that the nullifiers have determined to run Mr. Calhoun for the Presidency. He thinks it would be a hard battle in S. C., but believes that the victory would be awarded to Tennessee's chief.

"The union of the American system and nullification, if Mr. Calhoun be a nullifier, will be almost a demonstration of the old maxim that two extremes very nearly approach each other. This will certainly require a Yankee patent to make them stick, unless it be that two absurdities have an affinity for each other.

"Unless usurpation be put down by the weight and influence of your administration, we may bid farewell to the lawful and peaceful action of the govt. Hence it becomes indispensable