In his friendships he was almost fanatical.  The humblest individual, who was his friend, and who had proven it, could command him in any manner, and to the full extent of his capacity to serve him.

A remarkable instance of this trait was manifested in his conduct as President, toward a young friend, Mr. Gwinn, who was reared in the neighborhood of the Hermitage, and whose father had long been a trusted friend of Jackson.  In 1832, when the lands obtained from the Choctaws in Mississippi were being brought into market, the office of register in the land-office in that State was an important one.  It was given to Gwinn by Jackson, who was then President.

When the nomination was sent to the Senate, opposition was made to its confirmation by George Poindexter, a senator from Mississippi.  It had always been the practice of all preceding Presidents, when suitable persons could be had, to nominate them from the State in which the United States office to be filled was located.  Poindexter insisted that this custom, from long usage, had become law; and to send a citizen from one State into another, there to fill a national office, was an indignity to her citizens, and a manifestation, to say the least of it, of distrust and suspicion as to the capacity or honesty of the people of the State.  This opposition was successful, and Gwinn was rejected.  The nomination was renewed, and again rejected.  Jackson wrote to Gwinn, who was already by executive appointment discharging the duties of the office, to continue to do so.  I was present when the letter was received, and permitted to read it.  “Poindexter has deserted me,” he said, “and his opposition to your nomination is to render, as far as he can, my Administration unpopular with the people of Mississippi; and a majority of the Senate are more than willing to aid him in this.  They are only destroying themselves, not me, and some of them will soon find this out.  Do you hold on to the office; I will make no more nominations; but commission you ad interim as soon as Congress adjourns, which will be in a few weeks at farthest.  Very soon my friends will be in a majority in the Senate—­until then, I will keep you in the office, for I am determined you shall have it, spite of Poindexter.”  The result was as he had promised.

This is but one of a thousand instances which might be enumerated to attest the same fact.  Such traits are always appreciated as they deserve to be; they address themselves to the commonest understanding, and are esteemed by all mankind.  It is a mistake the world makes, that Jackson’s popularity was exclusively military.  Those great qualities of mind and soul which constituted him a great general, were not only displayed in his military career, but in all his life; and to them he was indebted for the friends of his whole life; they made him a man of mark before he was twenty-five years of age.  His courage, intrepidity, frankness, honor, truth, and