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of her defenders, applied the torch to the boat, and sent it in flames over the Falls of Niagara. The circumstance called forth a long and angry correspondence with the British Government; and, in the exasperations of the hour, we barely escaped war.

About the same time, there also arose a contest between Maine and Great Britain respecting boundary-lines; and there was the angry mustering of hosts, in preparation for battle. With all these troubles on his hands, the four years which Mr. Van Buren spent in the White House must have been years of anxiety and toil. Still, he was anxious for a re-election. Gen. Jackson did every thing in his power to aid him. But public sentiment was now setting so strongly against the Administration, that the Whig candidate, William Henry Harrison, was chosen President, and Mr. Van Buren was permitted to retire to the seclusion of Kinderhook. He had ever been a prudent man, of frugal habits, and, living within his income, had now fortunately a competence for his declining years. His unblemished character, his commanding abilities, his unquestioned patriotism, and the distinguished positions which he had occupied in the government of the country, secured to him, not only the homage of his party, but the respect of the whole community. It was on the 4th of March, 1841, that Van Buren retired from the presidency. From his fine estate at Lindenwald, he still exerted a powerful influence upon the politics of the country. In 1844, his friends made strenuous efforts to have him renominated for the presidency. The proslavery portion of the Democratic party, however, carried the day; and James K. Polk of Tennessee received the nomination. Again, in 1848, the Free-soil Democrats brought forward his name for the presidency. Three hundred thousand votes were cast in his favor. Gen. Taylor, however, the Whig candidate, was the choice of the people. From this time until his death, on the 24th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty years, he resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman of leisure, of culture, and of wealth; enjoying, in a healthy, vigorous old age, probably far more happiness than he had before experienced amidst the stormy scenes of his active life. He was surrounded by friends, and his own cheerful disposition gilded every hour. Martin Van Buren was a great and good man; and no one will question his right to a high position among those who have been the successors of Washington in the occupancy of the presidential chair.

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