Virginia Free Press

COM. ELLIOTT'S SARCOPHAGUS.

We mentioned some time since that Commodore Elliott had deposited in the National Institute at Washington, a marble sarcophagus brought by him from Syria, which was supposed to have contained the mortal remains of Emperor Alexander Severus. It was intended there to remain until the death of Gen. Jackson, when, if he consented, it was to be appropriated to the reception of his body, but the general, in a letter to Com. Elliott, respectfully declines the honor intended him. The letter itself, will, however, be read with interest: Ball. Amer.

HERMITAGE, March 27, 1845.

Dear Sir:—Your letter of the 15th instant together with a copy of the proceedings of the National Institute, furnished me by their corresponding secretary, on the presentation, by you, of the sarcophagus for their acceptance, on condition it shall be preserved, and in honor of my memory have been received, and are now before me.

Although laboring under great debility from which I may not recover, I raise my pen and endeavor to reply. The steadiness of my nerves may perhaps lead you to conclude my prostration of strength is not so great as here expressed. Strange as it may appear, my nerves are as steady as they were forty years gone by; whilst, from debility and affliction, I am gasping for breath,

I have read the whole proceedings of the presentation, by you, of the sarcophagus, and the resolutions passed by the board of directors so honorable to my fame with sensations and feelings more easily to be conjectured than by me expressed— The whole proceeding call for my most grateful thanks, which are hereby tendered to you, and through you to the president and directors of the National Institute. But with the warmest sensations that can inspire a grateful heart, I must decline accepting the honor intended to be bestowed. I cannot consent that my mortal body shall be laid in a repository prepared for an emperor or a king. My republican feelings and principles forbid it; the simplicity of our system of government forbids it. Every monument erected to perpetuate the memory of our heroes and statesmen ought to bear evidence of the economy and simplicity of our republican institutions, and the plainness of our republican citizens, who are the sovereigns of our glorious Union, and whose virtue is to perpetuate it. True virtue cannot exist where pomp and parade are the governing passions; it can only dwell with the people—the great laboring and producing classes, that form the bone and sinew of our confederacy.

For these reasons, I cannot accept the honor you and the president and directors of the National Institute intended, to bestow. I cannot permit my remains to be the first in these United States to be deposited in a sarcophagus made for an emperor or king. I again repeat, please accept for yourself, and convey to the president and directors of the National Institute, my most profound respects for the honor you and they intended to bestow.

I have prepared an humble depository for my mortal body, beside that wherein lies my beloved wife, where, without any pomp or parade, I have requested, when my God calls me to sleep with my fathers, to be laid; for both of us there to remain until the last trumpet sounds to call the dead to judgment, when we, I hope, shall rise together, clothed with that heavenly body promised to all who believe in our glorious Redeemer, who died for us that we might live, and by whose atonement I hope for a blessed immortality.

I am, with great respect,
Your friend and fellow-citizen,
ANDREW JACKSON
To Com. J. D. Elliott, U. S. Navy.