An assassin confronted him in the Capitol with a double-barrelled pistol as he was making his way out of a funeral gathering. After one barrel had been snapped within ten feet of his face and the other was pointed at him, Jackson advanced upon the madman with uplifted cane, and would have struck him but for the interference of friends. He was never taken by suprise; he never counted odds. "I doubt," says an old friend of his, "if ever a man lived of such immovable nerve, who was so unconscious of personal danger, so wholly forgetful of himself and his perils." An incident illustrative of this happened one afternoon during his presidency. An exasperated mob surrounded the President's house and threatened his life. The marshal offered him a score of constables; the military and naval officers volunteered to guard him; the members of his Cabinet and other friends desired to watch with him in his house. He declined all these offers. Toward evening he collected two or three guns, and with only his nephew and a servant in the house went to sleep "as quietly," says one who witnessed the affair, "as an infant in his cradle." Louis Phillippe, during the war of the Revolution, contracted a debt with the United States. This obligation he had refused to meet and it was still uncanceled when Jackson entered the Presidential office. He sent over a Minister and got a note for the amount. When the note came due Louis allowed it to go to protest. Jackson got mad. The French Minister to Washington at that time was a little chap, who had married the daughter of Colonel William B. Lewis, a warm friend of Jackson. He went over to the President's house the day the note was protested and found him raging like one mad. A Specimen of "I will get one of the biggest ships we've got," Jackson said, "and go and see Louis Phillippe. He owes the United States money and I'll go and collect it myself," and he stormed worse than ever. The Frenchman was very much alarmed. He took his brother-in-law, Mr. Joseph Peyton, out of the room and asked with anxiety: "What is it zat ze President wants? Does he want ze Congress to make him one grand high sheriff to go across ze ocean and collect ze money from my master, ze king?" "That's it exactly," Colonel Peyton replied, "and he'll make the damnedest sheriff you ever saw. If he goes over there after that money you may bet he'll have it before he leaves." The Frenchman thoughtfully scratched his head and in a tone of amazement found voice to utter, "Ain't he one remarkable man?" In 1844 a very panicky neighbor of General Jackson visited the Hermitage one day about the time that the trouble with Mexico was brewing. "The Mexicans are the most stubborn race in the world," excitedly remarked the visitor, "and if we get into a war with them I am afraid it will last forty or fifty years." "Give yourself no uneasiness about that," calmly replied the General; "I can go to Sumner County, raise 2,000 volunteers and run every Mexican into the Pacific Ocean in six months." The panicky man's nervousness seemed to be almost entirely allayed by this expression of confidence. At Clover Bend a mob got after Patton Anderson, who was a warm friend of the general. They were determined on taking his life. Anderson had retreated and entered the yard, with the mob in close pursuit. Jackson intercepted the angry crowd, and with an explanation of warning threw his hand to his hip pocket, and withdrawing a spectacle case opened it with a snap which could be distinctly heard some distance. "By the eternal God," he shouted, "the first man that puts his foot on this step is a dead man!" This effectually checked the mob. "I had no pistol," said Jackson to an intimated friend afterward, "but the snap of the spectacle case deceived them." Jackson's Farewell Address. "The corporations and wealthy individuals who are engaged in manufacturing establishments desire a high tariff to increase their gains. Designing politicians will support it to conciliate their favor and to obtain the means for profuse expenditure for the purpose of purchasing influence in other quarters. Do not allow yourselves, my fellow-citizens, to be misled in this subject. It is a system of injustice, and, if persisted in, will lead to corruption and must end in ruin." The counsel which Jackson gave in his farewell address exhibits his lofty patriotism no more than his wise statesmanship. Among other impressive observations he said: "In presenting to you, my fellow-citizens, these parting counsels, I have brought before you the leading principles upon which I have endeavored to administer the government in the high office with which you have twice honored me. Our growth has been rapid beyond all former example in numbers, in wealth, and there have never been millions of people associated in one body who have enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of the United States. You have no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad; your strength and power are well known throughout the civilized world, as well as the high and gallant bearing of your sons. It is from within, among yourselves from cupidity, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst of power-that factions will be formed and liberty endangered. It is against such designs that you have especially to guard yourselves. "My own race is nearly run. Advanced age and failing health warn me that before long I must pass beyond the reach of human events and cease to feel the vicissitudes of human affairs. I thank God that my life has been spent in a land of liberty, and that He has given me a heart to love my country with the affection of a son." OUR MOST SERIOUS BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. T HAT our government entered upon a grave undertaking, which, though great in the beginning, has assumed a more serious aspect than could be foreseen, was clearly proved by events directly fol-. lowing conclusion of the peace treaty with Spain. The Filipinos quickly manifested their intention to form an independent government, and when Aguinaldo's request of the United States to make a declaration of purpose respecting the acknowledgment of a Filipino republic was refused, that ambitious leader took the offensive by preparing to continue the struggle for independence which the conclusion of our war with Spain had interrupted. In an earlier article to be found in this work, description is given of the battle precipitated by the Filipinos on the night of February 4, and of the capture of Iloilo and the engagements near Manila to February 10, resulting in a defeat of the insurgents at Caloocan and Malate. These conflicts were believed, for a while, to have so discouraged Aguinaldo that he was well disposed to treat for peace, and overtures to this end were actually made, but General Otis refused to consider any terms except such as provided for an unconditional surrender of all the insurgents, and their unqualified submission to the dictates of the United States government. Aguinaldo, as has been previously shown, is a man of unbounded ambition; who having risen to not only the position of leadership, but to the presidency of the newly organized Filipino republic, was Aguinaldo Encourages His People to Fight. unwilling to descend from the high estate which he had gained by the fortunes of war, and elected to continue a war for independence against the United States, hopeless as it appeared, rather than relinquish the power he had achieved, which to him was the pearl of great price. Resolutely therefore he reformed his shattered ranks, and set all the machinery of his influence in motion to stir up and encourage the several tribes of the archipelago to wage war against the American army of invasion. So well did he succeed that insurrections followed in the islands of Mindanao, Panay and Cebu, and all the tribes in Luzon acknowledged allegiance to him, and flocked to the support of his banner. There was almost constant skirmishing after February 10, but the Filipinos always retired before the Americans, endeavoring to lure their enemies into the interior, beyond the range of Admiral Dewey's fleet, and to points where it would be most difficult for our army to manœuvre effectively. It was not therefore until Saturday, March 25, 1899, that a movement was made to engage the Filipinos, the main army of which was known to be concentrated in the vicinity of Polo, twenty miles north of Manila, and supposed to be 25,000 strong, by which position they were able to guard the approach to Malolos, the Filipinos Capital. The movement of our troops was begun by General MacArthur advancing with two brigades towards Novaliches, which is twenty-five miles northeast of Manila, and then swinging to the left to strike Polo from the north. Wheaton's brigade, which lay in front of Caloocan, pressed forward at the same time, and Hall's brigade on the old line north of Pasig made a demonstration towards the left. The enemy in our immediate front was estimated to be 12,000 strong, with a reserve of as many more, while east of Pasig there was a force of 5,000, which had to be reckoned with, the line being thus a semi-circle with a radius of twenty miles and a sweep of fifty miles. The troops engaged were the Third Artillery, as infantry; the Montana, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota and Oregon volunteers; the Third, Fourth, Seventeenth and Twenty-second regulars; the Utah Artillery battalion and Twenty-third regulars. Volunteers and Regulars Engaged. The Nebraska and Colorado volunteer regiments encountered the first strong resistance. This was at San Francisco del Monte, four miles from Manila, and in the surrounding trenches. The cavalry outflanked the enemy, who broke and ran, suffering a severe loss, but they directly reformed and made a stubborn stand in the woods north of the Laloma Church. General MacArthur's division, composed of General Harrison Gray Otis' brigade on the left, made up of the Third Artillery and the Twentieth Kansas and First Montana regiments, and General Hale's brigade, which included the First South Dakota, Tenth Pennsylvania and First Nebraska regiments, led the advance. As this force moved forward beyond the trenches that had been deserted by the Filipinos, the reserves occupied the trenches, prepared to advance when their services might be needed. The reserve force was made up of General Wheaton's command, composed of the Second Oregon Regiment and the Twenty-second and Third Infantry, and General Hall's brigade, which included the Fourth Infantry, two battalions of the Seventeenth Infantry and the Thirteenth Minnesota and First Wyoming regiments. General MacArthur advanced to the eastward, encountering sharp and immediate opposition from the Filipinos, who were massed in considerable force in that direction and poured a heavy small-arm fire upon the Americans. General Hale quickly extending his A Stubborn Resist. ance by the Enemy. front, Otis' artillery rushed to the firing line two guns of the Utah battery of light artillery under Lieutenant Naylor, two guns of the Sixth Artillery under Lieutenant Flemming and a Colt automatic field gun in command of Ensign Davis. While the artillery vigorously shelled the village of Masambong, the infantry charged across the level open fields in utter disregard of the terrible volleying of the insurgents, and with a great cheer carried the trenches, driving the enemy from them in disorder. The Filipinos gave ground stubbornly, but they could not withstand the impetuous rushes of the United States troops, which continually advanced in the face of the most galling fire. They stood the assaults for a time, but the relentless oncoming of the Americans was demoralizing; they could not understand such deadly, earnest work, and at last they fell back. After carrying the trenches the Americans swung to the northward, capturing in splendid style the fortified towns of Balintauac, Baeza and Cathuhan, and finally driving the enemy before them through the swamps bordering the Juliaha River toward the town of Novaliches. The rough character of the country, with its dense undergrowth, and the determined resistance of the enemy, prevented further advance in this direction, and the line swung to the left along the river. General Wheaton began operations from Caloocan, which is seven miles due north of Manila. He was met with a heavy fire from Malabon, about a mile to the west and slightly north of Caloocan, and from the trenches directly in front, where the enemy were stationed in large numbers. Fighting in the Malabon Trenches. At 8.30 o'clock the Twenty-second regulars advanced with the purpose of forming connection between Colonel Egbert's regiment on the right and the Third Artillery, which formed the left of General MacArthur's division. The attempt was a daring one, and was pluckily maintained under a galling fire, but the end was failure, which left a gap of a mile on the extreme left of the American line. The Oregon regiment advanced almost to the confines of the town of Malabon, thus receiving the heaviest fire of any of the United States troops who were engaged. The natives fought like demons, at times actually |