MARTIN VAN BUREN. EIGHTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. URNING from General Jackson's to Martin Van Buren's life is like leaving the turbulent ocean and gliding into a peaceful, land-locked harbor. Between the two men there could not be sharper contrasts; yet they were ardent personal friends. Jackson was nearly sixteen years the senior, and had the combined feelings of a father and elder brother, after their acquaintance, toward his young friend and political co-worker. It is instructive to trace the history of men so different, reared in the same country, accepting the same political principles and trained in the same school of partisan life. It shows the power of original endowment and social surroundings. ANCESTRY, BIRTH AND BOYHOOD. As the name indicates, the ancestors of Martin Van Buren were Germans. They belonged to that thrifty and solid-sensed class which settled in the valley of the Hudson and put so much good blood, muscle and character into the society of the New World. The emigrants from Holland and Germany have had a strong life in America. Holland was quite abreast of England in advanced ideas in the seventeenth century. The men of the Mayflower went first to Holland, and then came to the new con |