Tlie Civil Services of 
 WliUiaTTi KcBvy HarrisOTi 
 vs/vtU Extracts irro-m liis aidires5es| 
 
Glass. 
 Book. 
 
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 THE 
 
 CIVIL SERVICES 
 
 ^- 
 
 OP 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 
 
 WITH EXTRACTS FROM H[S 
 
 ADDRESSES, SPEECHES, AND LETTERS, 
 
 AND A 
 
 SKETCH OF HIS LIFE. 
 
 The scales have at last fallen from tlie eyes of the people ! Relieved from the moral 
 ophthalmia that has so long blinded them, they now see that those to whom they 
 have confided the administration of their government have abused their high trust. 
 The people at length KNOW their faithless and ungrateful rulers, and to KNOW 
 them is to determine to REJECT them. 
 
 Before the men who are now in power came into office, they were lavish in their 
 promises of REFORM ; — they have been guilty of the grossest CORRUPTION. 
 They spoke loudly of RETRENCHMENT and ECONOMY ;— they have increased 
 the public expenditures from THIRTEEN millions to THIRTY-NINE millions of 
 dollars ! and have not only wasted the revenues of the country by this unparalleled 
 EXTRAVAGANCE, but, by their reckless policy, they have diminished her re- 
 sources, and have again encumbered her with a NATIONAL DEBT. They held 
 out the most flattering assurances of a continued and increased PROSPERITY 
 throughout the land. How have they kept their promise? By their criminal mis- 
 management and abuse of power they have checked manufactures, crippled com- 
 merce, destroyed credit, deprived agriculture of its due reward, and blighted the 
 prospects and paralyzed the industry of the honest labourer ; and when the farmer, 
 the merchant, or the mechanic, points to his fallen fortunes and ruined hopes, his 
 just complaints are hurled back by his pampered rulers with laughing scorn — (their 
 salaries are increased in value^thp iron enters not into their souls) — and he is de- 
 ridingly told, in the language of toeio u'ch-leafier, Mr,' Bint on, oflVljssouri, to "study 
 the financial history of Holland, France,' and' (^tiba—t'oWow their example — imitate 
 
1 1 sjj^ L:)YZ 
 
 2 Corruption of the present ^Administration. ^,6 
 
 them." The citizens of a FREE REPUBLIC are told to follow the example of 
 TYRANNICAL MONARCHIES! to imitate them ! to reduce the price of produce, 
 of property, and of labour to one-fourth of what it has been, and to debase the con- 
 dition of FREEMEN to that of abject SLAVES ! While seeking office, they bowed 
 low to the people, and professed to be republicans of the purest school of democracy. 
 Since they have attained their object, they have pursued unblushingly the most 
 arbitrary measures, and have even dared to cite the example of foreign despotisms 
 as good authority for their misdeeds. They have already seized upon the PUBLIC 
 PURSE, in their practical anticipation of their favourite scheme, the Sub-Treasury, 
 and have endeavoured to grasp the SWORD OF TFIE NATION by iheir new 
 Militia System, as proposed and urged by the Secretary of War, and as recom- 
 mended by the Chief Executive in his last annual message to Congress; — an iniqui- 
 tous attempt to raise a STANDING ARMY of 200,000 men— 100,000 of whono 
 should be drafted and called into service whenever the PRESIDENT chose to order 
 them out, and should be under HIS control, and subject to such regulations as HE 
 might see ft to prescribe. The celebrated historian of the Decline and Fall of the 
 Roman Empire, says: "In whatever State an individual unites in his person the 
 execution of the laws, the command of the army, and the management of the revemie, 
 that State may be termed a MONARCHY." Has not this administration aimed at 
 a MONARCHY then ? Does it not possess " the execution of the laws'!" Has it 
 not pursued its infamous Sub-Treasury scheme, though thrice rejected by the people, 
 until it has acquired an absolute control over "the management of the revenue T' 
 And has it not taken cunningly devised steps to obtain "the command of the army!" 
 And had it succeeded in all its wild and reckless attempts, would it not have con- 
 verted our free government into a DESPOTISM in fact, even were it suffered siilJ 
 to retain a republican name 1 
 
 But, happily, this monstrous scheme of grasping ambition has failed. Our noble 
 country, whose freedom was purchased by the wisdom and valour of our patriotic 
 sires, is not yet doomed to become the prey of a designing despot, whose sole en- 
 deavour, since his election to office, has been, not to promote the welfare »f the, 
 people, but to perpetuate his own power, to pamper and reward his unscrupulous 
 partisans, and to humble the labouring classes of his fellow-citizens to the miserable 
 condition of European serfs. 
 
 Of these facts the people are now aware. They have been too long deluded by 
 specious pretences and flattering hopes, and are at length aroused to a just sense of 
 the injuries that have been heaped upon them by the evil measures and corrupt 
 policy of this administration, and have determined to redress their wrongs. 
 
 The political position of our country, as it now exists, presents a very singular 
 anomaly. It can scarcely be said that party is now striving with party for the 
 ascendancy; but rather that THE PEOPLE, the GREAT MASS OF THE 
 PEOPLE, of all parties and all conditions, have united in opposition to the drilled 
 ranks of the administration office-holders, and their host of hired and subservient 
 myrmidons — and not for the purpose of regaining their power merely, but for the 
 welfare, almost the existence of their country as a free republic, and for the preser- 
 vation of her most cherished institutions. 
 
 THE PEOPLE, before whom all tyrants tremble, have arisen in their majesty to 
 assert their indeppn^xe-nce; ani^ia 'shake off ithe; iron fetters which they had almost 
 suffered to be riveted -upon rh^ftl."' "This it is 'which has struck dismay and terror 
 
Harrisoji's Civil Services. 3 
 
 into the hearts of the administration office-holders, and has calmed the fears, excited 
 the hopes, and restored the confidence of all true lovers of their country. 
 
 The fiat has gone forth ! The omnipotent voice of the people — a voice of many- 
 thunders — is heard in startling echoes from State to State along the Atlantic shore, 
 and is answered back in lengthened and reverberating peals from every section of 
 the mighty Empire of the West ! From mountain to mountain, — from river to river, 
 — from sea to sea,— in prairie, valley, and glen, — the joyful shout is prolonged, daily 
 swelling in volume and strength, and proclaiming with irresistible truth, that the 
 days of this evil administration are numbered,— that the People and the Government, 
 so long virtually divorced, are once more to be firmly united, — and that on the 
 4th of March, 1841, WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, the patriot, the statesman, v 
 the hero, the honest farmer, and the Poor Man's Friend, will be inaugurated 
 PRESIDENT OF THESE UNITED STATES. 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
 
 Political indications, the " shadows of 
 coming events," now clearly point out that 
 General Harrison is to be our next Pre- 
 sident. The People are therefore very 
 naturally desirous to become familiar with 
 the opinions and sentiments he has hereto- 
 fore avowed, that lliey may more fairly es- 
 timate the principles on which he will ad- 
 minister the Government. His patriotism, 
 his well-tried integrity, his devotion to the 
 interests of the people, and his distinguished 
 services as a citizen soldier, are now wide- 
 ly known, and are freely admitted by all 
 but the most reckless of his opponents. But 
 the more brilliant always overshadow the 
 more quiet, but not less useful services ; — 
 and hence it is that the merits of William 
 Henry Harrison as a Civilian and Legis- 
 lator, are less known than his achieve- 
 ments as a patriot soldier and successful 
 commander. Many of our fellow-citizens 
 have neither time nor opportunity to ex- 
 amine our public documents and histories 
 relating to his civil services, nor to search 
 for and read the various letters and ad- 
 dresses in which he has frankly and ho- 
 nestly avowed the pure republican princi- 
 ples which have always been his guide and 
 rule of action : to their attention this sketch 
 is offered. 
 
 William Henry Harrison was born on 
 the 9ih day of February, 1773, at Berke- 
 ley, on James River, in the county of 
 Cliarles City, in the Slate of Virginia. The 
 family from which he is descended settled 
 
 in that province in the year 1640. At an 
 extremely early period in the history of 
 Virginia, the name of Harrison appears 
 among the most prominent mentioned in 
 the public annals ; and the honourable sta- 
 tion which it then held has descended unsul- 
 lied to our own times. 
 
 Benjamin Harrison, the father of the 
 subject of this sketch, was one of the fore- 
 most and most conspicuous patriots of our 
 country. He was a very distinguished 
 member of the Continental Congress, in 
 1774, 1775, and 1776; was chairman of 
 the Committee of the whole House when 
 the Declaration of Independence was finally 
 agreed to ; and his signature is annexed to 
 that celebrated document. This eminent 
 patriot died in 1791. During the Revolu- 
 tion, he had expended a large fortune in 
 the service of his country, and therfore left 
 his children but little inheritance save his 
 noble example and the memory of his de- 
 votion to patriotism and liberty. 
 
 Harrison's education. 
 
 Young Harrison was left under the guar- 
 dianship of Robert Morris, the great finan- 
 cier of the Revolution. He was educated 
 at Hampden Sydney College. He then 
 repaired to Philadelphia, and commenced 
 the study of medicine under the instruction 
 of the learned and patriotic Dr. Benjamin 
 Rush. Both Morris and Rush were friends 
 of his father, and, like him, were Signers 
 
Harrison a Delegate to Congress. 
 
 of the Declaration of Indepentlence. Un- 
 der their guardianship and influence, the 
 love of liberty and devotion to his country, 
 which his father had early instilled into his 
 mind, were nourished and increased. 
 
 HARRISON RECEIVES A COMMISSION FROM 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 About this period, the barbarous hostili- 
 ties of the Indians on our northwestern 
 borders began to excite public indignation; 
 and our young student, full of generous 
 impulses, resolved to relinquish his profes- 
 sional pursuits and join the army destined 
 
 , to the defence of the Ohio frontier. Our 
 military service was then both toilsome and 
 perilous ; but the determined courage and 
 elevated motives of Harrison induced him 
 to overlook every such obstacle, and devote 
 his life to the defence of his country. His 
 intention was opposed by his guardian and 
 by many of his friends ; but it was con- 
 firmed by the cordial approval of the im- 
 mortal TFashington, to whom he applied 
 in person ; and from the hands of the re- 
 vered Father of his Country, Harrison re- 
 
 ' ceived the commission of ensign in the first 
 regiment United Slates Artillery; and in 
 November, 1791, when but nineteen years 
 of age, he marched on foot to Pittsburgh, 
 and descending the Ohio, joined his regi- 
 ment at Fort Washington. 
 
 As it is not our purpose to dwell upon 
 the military career of Harrison, we will 
 merely say, that during the ensuing war 
 with the Indians, he greaUy distinguished 
 himself by his daring energy, his fearless 
 intrepidity, and his strict attention to dis- 
 cipline. He was officially noticed m terms 
 of the highest encomium by General St. 
 Clair, and by General Wayne, who selected 
 him as one of his aides ; and at the close 
 of the war, having been promoted to a cap- 
 taincy, he was left in command at Fort 
 Washington, the most important post in 
 our western country. 
 
 HARRISON RETIRES TO PRIVATE LIFE. 
 
 In 1797, the war being ended, and there 
 existing no longer an opportunity to serve 
 his country in the field. Captain Harrison 
 resigned his commission, and retired to his 
 log cabin at North Bend, on the banks of 
 the Ohio. Turning his sword into a plough- 
 share, he commenced the cultivation of the 
 soil, and identified himself with the people 
 
 whose battles he had fought, and whose 
 lives he had perilled his own to defend. 
 
 HARRISON AS SECRETARY OF THE NORTH- 
 WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 In 1798, Mr. Harrison was appointed 
 Secretary, and became ex o^cio lieutenant- 
 governor of the Northwestern Territory. 
 In the absence of Governor St. Clair, he 
 discharged the executive duties in a man- 
 ner that won him the approbation and 
 warm esteem of the people. In the fol- 
 lowing year, the Territory was admitted to 
 the second grade of government, and the 
 legislative council elected him their dele- 
 gate to Congress. 
 
 HARRISON AS A DELEGATE TO CONGRESS. 
 HIS LAND BILL. 
 
 He took his seat in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, at the first session of the sixth 
 Congress, in December, 1799. There 
 were then in Congress some of the ablest 
 and most enlightened statesmen, and some 
 of the most eloquent men, our country has 
 ever produced. Yet in this severe ordeal, 
 the abilities and manly energies of Mr. 
 Harrison soon commanded universal re- 
 spect. At this period, the all-engrossing 
 subject in the West, and one in which our 
 whole country had a deep interest, was the 
 sale of our public lands. The manner in 
 which these lands had hitherto been di»> 
 posed of, had created great dissatisfaction 
 among the people. They had been sold 
 only in large tracts ; the smallest of which 
 included, at least, four thousand acres ; and 
 as the minimum price was at that time two 
 dollars per acre, a great majority of the 
 new settlers were utterly precluded from 
 becoming possessors of land by an original 
 purchase from the government. Our hardy 
 yeomanry, with limited pecuniary means, 
 were thus entirely shut out from all chance 
 of competition with wealthy speculators 
 and grasping monopolists, — the poorer em- 
 igrants were becoming disheartened at the 
 chilling prospects before them, and the set- 
 tlement of the new country was greatly re- 
 tarded. Fully aware of the impolicy and 
 injustice of this state of things, and true to 
 the trust confided to him, Mr. Harrison's 
 earliest legislative eflTorts were made to 
 overthrow this exclusive and pernicious 
 system. He aroused the attention of Con- 
 gress to the consideration of this important 
 
Harrison the Poor Man's Friend. 
 
 subject, and evinced so iiilimate an acquaint followed up the principle thus introduced 
 tance with the facts and business details by Mr. Harrison, until now our public 
 connected with it, that he was appointed lands may be bought in tracts of but eighty 
 chairman of a committee raised to examine acres each, and at a price of only one dol- 
 into and report on the existing mode of lar and twenty-five cents per acre— where- 
 disposing of the public lands ; the only in- las, but for the first blow at the old system 
 stance, it is believed, in which that honour: struck by Mr. Harrison, and but for the 
 has been conferred on a territorial delegate.! wise and just principle first introduced by 
 After a proper investigation, he presented him, that exclusive system might perhaps 
 a report, accompanied by a bill, the princi- still have continued— in which case we feel 
 
 pal object of which was to reduce the size 
 of the tracts of public land offered for sale, 
 to such a smaller number of acres as would 
 place them within the reach of actual set- 
 tlers. This masterly report, which was 
 the joint production of himself and Mr. 
 Gallatin, together with the great ability and 
 eloquence with which he defended his bill 
 from the powerful opposition it encountered 
 in the House, gained Mr. Harrison a repu- 
 tation rarely attained by so young a stales- 
 man. The bill was carried triumphantly 
 in the House, and finally, after some 
 amendments, passed the Senate. The re- 
 sult was, that the public lands, instead of 
 being offered only in large tracts, of which 
 four thousand acres was the smallest size, 
 were now to be sold in alternate sections 
 and half sections — the former containing 
 640, and the latter 320 acres each. The 
 point gained was of immense importance, 
 since, from the low price of these lands, 
 and the small amount of purchase money 
 required to be paid, they were now, with 
 the aid of industry, within the reach of 
 nearly all the poorer emigrants and actual 
 settlers, who felt a natural desire to own 
 the fee simple of their homes, and of the 
 lands they subdued from the wilderness. 
 Thousands of the hardy and industrious 
 farmers of our Northern and Middle States, 
 and many of the poorer planters of the 
 South, availed themselves of the fair field 
 which was now opened for emigration and 
 enterprise; and we may justly consider 
 this happy result, which Mr. Harrison was 
 so instrumental in producing, as one of the 
 leading causes of the rapid settlement and 
 prosperity of our western country. Mr. 
 Harrison is therefore jusdy enlided to the 
 proud appellation of being the Father of 
 the Land System, and the Poor Man's 
 Friend. 
 
 The justice and true policy of reducing 
 the size of the tracts of public lands offered 
 for sale having been once admitted, subse- 
 quent legislators have found it not only a 
 politic, but a popular measure, and have 
 
 assured of being within bounds in assertmg 
 that the great valley of the Mississippi, the 
 mighty empire of the West, would not, at 
 this day, have numbered one half the popu- 
 lation, nor boasted a moiety of the wealth 
 it now contains. 
 
 On this important subject Mr. Harrison 
 addressed a circular to the people of the 
 Territory, dated the 14ih of May, 1800, 
 from which we make the following quota- 
 lion. 
 
 *' Amongst the variety of objects which en- 
 gaged my attention, as particularly interesting 
 to our Territory, none appeared to me of so 
 much importance as the adoption of a system 
 for the sale of the public lands, which would 
 give more favourable terms to that class of 
 purchasers who are likely to become actual 
 settlers, than was offered by the existing laws 
 upon that subject. Conformably to this idea, 
 I procured the passage of a resolution, at an 
 early period, for the appointment of a com- 
 mittee to take the matter into consideration; 
 and shortly after, I reported a bill containing 
 terms for the purchaser as favourable as could 
 have been expected. The bill was adopted by 
 the House of Representatives without any ma- 
 terial alteration ; but in the Senate, amend- 
 ments were introduced obliging the purchaser 
 to pay interest on that part of the money for 
 which a credit was given, from the date of the 
 purchase, and directing that one half the land 
 (instead of the whole, as was provided by the 
 bill from ihe House of Representatives) should 
 be sold in half sections of three hundred and 
 twenty acres, and the other half in whole sec- 
 tions of six hundred and forty acres. All my 
 exertions, aided by some of the ablest mem- 
 bers of the lower house, at a conference for 
 that purpose, were not sufficient to induce the 
 Senate to recede from their amendments ; but 
 upon the whole, there is cause of congratula- 
 tion to my fellow-citizens, that terms so fa- 
 vourable as the bill still contains, have been 
 procured. This law promises to be the foun- 
 dation of a great increase of population and 
 wealth to our country ; for although the mini- 
 mum price of the land is still fixed at two dol- 
 lars per acre, the time for making payments 
 has been so extended as to put it in the power 
 of every industrious man to comply with them ; 
 it being only necessary to pay one-fourth part 
 
6 
 
 Harrison as Governor of Indiana. 
 
 of the money in hand, and the balance at the 
 end of two, three, and four years ; besides this, 
 the odious circumstance of forfeiture, which 
 was made the penalty of failing in the pay- 
 ments under the old law, is entirely abolished, 
 and the purchaser is allowed one year after 
 the last payment is due to collect the money ; 
 if the land is not then paid for, it is sold, and 
 after the public have been reimbursed, the 
 balance of the money is returned to the pur- 
 chaser. Four land offices are directed to be 
 opened, one at Cincinnati, one at Chilicothe, 
 one at Marietta, and one at Steubenville, for 
 the sale of the lands in the neighbourhood of 
 those places. In a communication of this 
 kind, it is impossible to detail all the provi- 
 sions of the law. I have, however, sent a 
 copy of it to the printers at Cincinnati, with 
 a request that they would publish it several 
 weeks." 
 
 HARRISON AS GOVERNOR OF INDIANA. 
 
 In the year 1800, the Northwestern 
 Territory was divided. That part of the 
 old territory, included within the present 
 boundaries of Ohio and Michigan, retained 
 its former name ; and the immense extent 
 of country northwest of this, was erected 
 into a separate government, and received 
 the name of Indiana. Soon after this 
 division had taken place, Mr. Harrison 
 resigned his seat in Congress, and was 
 appointed governor of the new territory. 
 This appointment gave great satisfaction 
 to the people of Indiana, with whom the 
 patriotic exertions of Mr. Harrison had 
 rendered him deservedly popular ; and it 
 was, at the same time, the strongest evi- 
 dence of the confidence with which the 
 General Government relied upon his inte- 
 grity, prudence, and capacity for civil 
 government. 
 
 The vast extent of this new territory 
 included what now constitutes the states 
 of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, and the 
 territory of Wisconsin. But the small 
 population it then contained was thinly 
 scattered through a vast widerness, and 
 only three white settlements of any note 
 existed within its boundaries. One of 
 these was at the seat of government, Vin- 
 cennes, a small town originally built by 
 the French, and beautifully and advanta- 
 geously situated on the banks of the Wa- 
 bash; the second, known as Clark's Grant, 
 was at the Falls of the Ohio, nearly oppo- 
 site Louisville, about one hundred miles 
 from Vincennes ; and the third was the 
 French settlement on the banks of the 
 
 Mississippi, near St, Louis, and more than 
 two hundred miles distant from the seat of 
 government. The communication between 
 these remote points was, at all times, diffi- 
 cult and toilsome, and often attended with 
 great danger. There existed no practi- 
 cable roads, and nearly all the intermediate 
 country was occupied by the Indians, or 
 overrun by their hunting parties. Most 
 of these savage tribes, though professing 
 to be friendly, were restless and dissatis- 
 fied ; and their leading chiefs still nursed a 
 moody hope of revenge for the mortifying 
 defeat they had sustained, six years before, 
 at the battle of the Maumee Rapids. Art- 
 ful and treacherous, numerous, warlike, 
 and thirsting for plunder, they kept this 
 remote frontier in continual excitement and 
 alarm. The angry feelings of our hardy 
 borderers were frequently roused by some 
 robbery or atrocious aggression committed 
 by the more evil-disposed among their 
 savage neighbours, and quarrels often en- 
 sued, which threatened the peace of the 
 wiiole community. 
 
 Such was the existing state of things in 
 Indiana Territory, when Mr. Harrison was 
 appointed to the administration of its go- 
 vernment. As governor of a frontier terri- 
 tory so peculiarly situated, .Mr. Harrison 
 was invested with civil powers of the most 
 important nature, as well as with military 
 authority. Besides the ordinary powers 
 which he held, ex-qfficio, as governor, he 
 had the sole power uf dividing the distn.ct 
 into counties and townships; and, with 
 the aid of the judges, had full authority to 
 adopt and publish such laws, both civil and 
 criminal, of the original states, as might 
 be necessary and best adapted to the wants 
 and situation of the district; and he had 
 the appointment of all the magistrates and 
 other civil officers. He was made com- 
 mander-in-chief of the militia, and all the 
 officers below the rank of general received 
 their commissions from him. He was like- 
 wise appointed superintendent of Indian 
 affiiirs, and agent and representative, of the 
 General Government; in performance of the 
 duties of which office, he was required to 
 keep up a constant and voluminous corre- 
 spondence with the Cabinet at Washington. 
 He had also the unusual power of confer- 
 ring on a numerous class of individuals, a 
 legal title to large grants of land, on which 
 they before held merely an equitable claim. 
 His sole signature was sufficient, without 
 any other formality, to give a valid title to 
 
Governor Harrison's Treaties with the Indians. 
 
 these extensive and valuable tracts of land. 
 No oilier formality or publicity was re 
 quired, and whatever secret collusion might 
 have existed between the claimant and the 
 governor, the title would still have been 
 unquestionable before any. legal tribunal. 
 Possessed of this immense power, without 
 check or limitation, opportunities were 
 continually before him of accumulating a 
 princely fortune ; but the scrupulous sense 
 of honour, which has always characterized 
 Mr. Harrison, would never permit him to 
 speculate in lands over which he had any 
 control. During the whole of the time 
 that he held this important trust, he never 
 availed himself of his peculiar advantages 
 to promote his own interests either directly 
 or indirectly ; and it is a fact worthy of 
 particular note, that, even to the present 
 time, he has never owned a single acre of 
 land, the title to which, originally, ema- 
 nated from himself as the representative of 
 the government. No shadow of suspicion 
 has ever clouded his honour, his honesty 
 or disinterestedness ; and not a murmur 
 ever accused him of partiality, or even of 
 unnecessary delay, in the performance of 
 this delicate duty. We allude to this to 
 show that the integrity of Mr. Harrison is 
 well-tried and practical ; and that it has 
 always shone with the purest lustre when 
 assailed by the strongest temptations. 
 
 HARRISON IS APPOINTED BY JEFFERSON" TO 
 TREAT WITH THE INDIANS. 
 
 In 1803, Governor Harrison was ap- 
 pointed a commissioner to treat with the 
 Indians, and thus, a further and more ex- 
 traordinary power was conferred on him in 
 addition to those already enumerated. His 
 nomination to this office was made on the 
 3d of February, 1803, in the following 
 words : 
 
 "I nominate William Henry Harrison, 
 of Indiana, to be a commisioner to enter 
 into any treaty or treaties, tvhich may be 
 necessary, with any Indian tribes north- 
 west of the Ohio, and within the jurisdic- 
 tion of the United States, on the subject of 
 boundary or lands. 
 
 " Thomas Jefferson." 
 
 Harrison's treaties with the Indians. 
 
 By virtue of this authority, in the fol- 
 lowing year Harrison succeeded in nego- 
 tiating a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes ; 
 
 and besides the amicable relations esta- 
 blished with those tribes, he obtained the 
 cession of an extensive tract of country, 
 including the whole of the valuable region 
 between the river Illinois and the Missis- 
 sippi, with a norihern boinidary, stretching 
 from the head of Fox river to a point on 
 the VVisconsin, thirty-six miles above its 
 mouth. This was the\ largest cession of 
 lands that had ever yet been made by the 
 Indians at any one time. Considerable 
 tracts of land between the Ohio and the 
 Wabash, and extending from Vmcennes 
 westward to the Mississippi, were like- 
 wise purchased by annuities from the 
 Delawares and the Miamies. We may 
 here appropriately remark, that during the 
 entire course of his administration, Harri- 
 son, effected thirteen important treaties 
 with the different tribes, on the most ad- 
 vantageous terms; and obtained from them, 
 at various times, the cession of large tracts 
 of land, amounting in all, to more than 
 sixty millions of acres, and embracing 
 a large portion of the richest region in 
 our country. 
 
 In their frequent intercourse with Gover- 
 nor Harrison, the Indians had learned to 
 respect his undaunted firmness, and were, 
 at the same time, conciliated by his kind- 
 ness of manner and considerate forbearance. 
 This, with his intimate knowledge of the 
 Indian character, is the true secret of the 
 remarkable success invariably attendant 
 upon every treaty he has attempted to 
 negotiate. 
 
 The various and arduous duties of the 
 Governor of Indiana, required for this office 
 a man of very superior abilities and qualifi- 
 cations, and of a rare temperament — one 
 possessed of a stern integrity and prudent 
 moderation, with wisdom in the exercise 
 of the extensive powers entrusted to him, 
 accompanied by the most unwavering firm- 
 ness. Such a man Governor Harrison, in 
 the long course of his administration, fully 
 proved himself to be. The plainest evi- 
 dence that can be presented to those who 
 are not familiar with the history of Indiana, 
 during this eventful period, of the peculiar 
 fitness of Governor Harrison for this im- 
 portant station, of the confidence reposed 
 in him, and of the great popularity he at- 
 tained while in the exercise of so delicate 
 a trust, is the unquestionable fact, that, for 
 thirteen j^ears, at every successive expira- 
 tion of his term of office, he was re-appoint- 
 ed, at the earnest solicitation of the people 
 
8 
 
 Harrisoyi's Address to the Legislature. 
 
 of liie Territory, and with the public ex- suffrage and self-government, he was true 
 pression of the most flattering approbation j to his principles even when against his 
 on the part of our chief Executive. Audi interest and he strenuously urged this 
 this loo, notwithstanding the entire change | change of government, 
 which had taken place within tliat time in; Nearly two years prior to this time, by 
 the ruling politics of the country — his first, a brilliant negotiation, a treaty had been 
 appointment having been made by Mr. effected in Paris, by which I>ouisiana was 
 
 Adams, his second and third by Mr. Jeffer 
 son, and his fourth by Mr. Madison. The 
 following extract from the resolution, 
 unanimously passed by the House of Re- 
 presentatives of Indiana, in tiie year 1809. 
 requesting the re-appointment of Governor 
 Harrison, will show the estimate which a 
 long acquaintance had taught them of his 
 worth : "They (the House of Representa 
 
 purchased by our government from France 
 (to whom it had been ceded by Spain) for 
 eighty millions of francs, or about fifteen 
 millions of dollars; and we were thus finally 
 enabled to realize the boundaries of the 
 ancient charters granted by the British 
 monarchs to their American colonies, and 
 extend the limits of the territory of the 
 United States " from sea to sea." Upon 
 
 tives) cannot forbear recommending to, and our obtaining actual possession of Loui- 
 
 requesting of, the President and Senate, 
 most earnestly in their own names, and in 
 the names of their constituents, the re-ap- 
 pointinent of the present governor, William 
 Henry Harrison, — because lie possesses 
 the good wishes and afl'ection of a great 
 majority of his fellow-citizens; — because 
 they believe him sincerely attached to the 
 Union, the prosperity of the United Slates, 
 and the administration of ils government; 
 because they believe him in a superior 
 degree capable of promoting the interest of 
 our Territory, from long experience and 
 laborious attention to its concerns, from 
 his influence over the Indians, and wise 
 and disinterested management of that de- 
 partment; and because they have confi- 
 dence in his virtues, talents, and repub- 
 licanism." 
 
 If necessary, we might fill a goodly 
 volume wilh extracts from public docu- 
 ments of a similar nature; but what strong- 
 er proof than ihis could we have of the 
 popularity of Governor Harrison, and of 
 the entire confidence wilh which the peo- 
 ple relied on his experience, his integrity, 
 and his ability as a statesman ? 
 
 In 1805, the Territory of Indiana -was 
 advanced to the second grade of govern- 
 ment under the new system. The citizens 
 were allowed to elect a Territorial House 
 of Assembly, by which ten persons were 
 
 siana, the jurisdiction of Governor Harri- 
 son became greatly enlarged, and the re- 
 sponsibility and laborious duties of his sta- 
 tion were consequently much increased. 
 The governor refers to this annexion of 
 Louisiana to the United States, in his 
 address at the first session of the territorial 
 legislature — a document so remarkable for 
 high-minded and purely republican spirit, 
 and for its clearness and fluency of style, 
 that notwithstanding our narrow limits we 
 cannot refrain from laying some portions 
 of it before oui readers. 
 
 Harrison's address to the legislature. 
 
 " Upon a careful review of our situation," 
 said Governor Harrison, " it will be found tl^t 
 we have much cause of felicitation, whether it 
 respects our present enjoyments or our future 
 prosperity. An enlightened and generous 
 policy has for ever removed all cause of con- 
 tention with our western neighbours. The 
 mighty river which separates us from the 
 Louisianians will never be stained with the 
 blood of contending nations, but will prove the 
 bond of our union, and will convey upon its 
 bosom, in the course of many thousand miles, 
 the produce of our great and united empire. 
 The astonished traveller will behold upon 
 either bank a people governed by the same 
 laws, pursuing the same objects, and warmed 
 with the same love of liberty and science. 
 And if, in the immense distance, a small point 
 nominated, out of whom the president; should present itself, where other laws and 
 appointed five as a legislative council to| other manners prevail, the contrast it will af- 
 complete the territorial legislature. This ford will serve the useful purpose of demon- 
 measure deprived Governor Harrison of ^fating the great superiority of a republican 
 ■ 1 . . • •, government, and how far the uncontrolled and 
 
 much power and jrreai patronage, since it" ,. ,.', , .e „ ., „.-„.i^ .i ^ „„ , 
 , •. , i^irii 1 unbiassed industry of freemen excels the cau- 
 
 threw into the hands of the people the ^j^^^ ^^j ^3^5^,^/^ exertions of the subjects 
 election of many ofiicers who were before ofjgspoiic power. 
 
 appointed by the executive — but always a] "The acquisition of Louisiana will form an 
 ready advocate for the republican rights of, important epoch in the history of our country. 
 
Governor Harrison's Address in 1807. 
 
 9 
 
 It has secured the happiness of millions, who 
 will bless the moment of their emancipation, 
 and the generous policy which has secured to 
 them the rights of men. To us it has pro- 
 duced immediate and important advantages. 
 We are no longer apprehensive of waging an 
 eternal v/ar with the numerous and warlike 
 tribes of aborigines that surround us, and per- 
 haps being reduced to the dreadful alternative 
 of submitting to their depredations, or of ex- 
 terminating them from the earth. 
 
 "By cutting off their communication with 
 every foreign power, and forcing them to pro- 
 cure from ourselves the arms and ammunition, 
 and such of the European manufactures as 
 habit has to them rendered necessary, we 
 have not only secured their entire dependence, 
 but the means of ameliorating their condition, 
 and of devoting to some useful and beneficial 
 purpose the ardour and energy of mind which 
 are now devoted to war and destruction. 
 The policy of the United Stales, with regard 
 to the savages within their territories, forms a 
 striking contrast with the conduct of other civil- 
 ized nations. The measures of the latter ap- 
 pear to have been well calculated for the effect 
 which has produced the entire extirpation of 
 the unhappy people whose country they have 
 usurped. It is in the United States alone that 
 laws have been passed, not only for their 
 safety and protection from every species of 
 injury, but considerable sums of money have 
 been appropriated, and agents employed, to 
 humanize their minds, and instruct them in 
 such arts of civilized life as tiiey are capable 
 of receiving. To provide a substitute for the 
 chase, from which they derive their support, 
 and which, from the extension of our settle- 
 ments, is daily becoming more precarious, has 
 been considered a sacred duty. The humane 
 and benevolent intentions of the government, 
 however, will for ever be defeated, unless ef- 
 fectual measures be devised to prevent the 
 sale of ardent spirits to those unhappy people. 
 The law which has been passed by Congress 
 for that p\irpose has been found entirely inef- 
 fectual, because its operation has been con- 
 strued to relate to the Indian country exclu- 
 sively. In calling your attention to this sub- 
 ject, gentlemen, I am persuaded that it is 
 unnecessary to remind you, that the article 
 of compact makes it your duty to attend to it. 
 The interests of your constituents, the interests 
 of the miserable Indians, and your own feel- 
 ings, will sufficiently urge you to take it into 
 your most serious consideration, and provide 
 the remedy which is to save thousands of our 
 fellow-creatures. So destructive has the pro 
 gress of intemperance been among them, that 
 whole villages have been swept away. A 
 
 through their country, and threatens the anni- 
 hilation of the whole race. Is it then to be 
 admitted as a political axiom, that the neigh- 
 bourhood of a civilized nation is incompatible 
 with the existence of savages '\ Are the bless- 
 ings of our republican government only to be 
 feft by ourselves"? And are the natives of 
 North America to experience the same fate 
 with their brethren of the southern continent? 
 It is with you, gentlemen, to divert from those 
 children of nature the ruin that hangs over 
 them. Nor can 1 believe that the time will 
 be considered misspent, which is devoted to 
 an object so consistent with the spirit of Chris- 
 tianity, and with the principles of republican- 
 ism." 
 
 The reply of the Territorial Assembly to 
 this address, manifested the high estimation 
 in which Governor Harrison was held ; and 
 is one of the many proofs of his singular 
 popularity, and of the entire confidence re- 
 posed in his abilities, and in his disinte- 
 restedness and moderation in the exercise 
 of the extensive authority entrusted to him. 
 
 Tiie following quotations are made from 
 an address delivered by Governor Harrison 
 to the Legislature in August, 1807. 
 
 "I have directed the auditor to lay before 
 you, gentlemen, a statement of the causes 
 which have produced the embarrassments in 
 the collection of the taxes for the present year, 
 which will enable you to determine more cor- 
 rectly on the remedy to be applied. An amen- 
 datory act to the one which is now in force, 
 may answer for the present; but nothing less, 
 in my opinion, than a total change in the sys- 
 tem, will save us in the future from the dis- 
 agreeable consequences of a deficit revenue 
 and an empty treasury. The defects in the 
 present system were early foreseen ; and at 
 the opening of the last session, 1 strongly re- 
 commended to the two houses the adoption of 
 a different plan. The combination of so many 
 circumstances, such as this law requires, must 
 always render the execution of it uncertain and 
 precarious. It appears to me, also, that it is 
 bottomed on an improper principle. The 
 quantum and the ratio of the tax should be 
 fixed by the legislature alone, and not by an 
 executive officer. This important subject, 
 gentlemen, claims your earliest attention. It 
 will require the exercise of much industry and 
 patience to remedy the evils which have arisen 
 from the present unfortunate system, and to 
 provide one which will give certainty and 
 stability to your revenue. In affairs of this 
 miserable remnant is all that remains, to mark kind, experience is the best guide that the 
 the names and situation of many numerous legislator can follow. He will seek out cases 
 and warlike tribes. In the energetic languagej that are parallel to the one on which he is 
 of one of their orators, it is a d'readful contla- caUed to act, and will thus possess himself of 
 gration, which spreads misery and desolation' sure h.idmarks to guide him to his object, la 
 
10 
 
 Harrison's wise Policy with the Indians. 
 
 the present instance, there is no necessity for 
 a recurrence to foreign or distant examples; 
 the neiofhbouring states afford precisely what 
 we seek — a people similar in manners, in 
 habits, and in the state of information, raising 
 their revenue from the same objects. Not- 
 withstanding the embarrassments which have 
 hitherto attended our financial operations, there 
 is oneconsolatory circumstance which has been 
 fully established : that a revenue equal to 
 all our necessities can be raised; and that too 
 without oppression or inconvenience to the 
 people." 
 
 In referring to the law regulating marriage 
 licenses, Governor Harrison proceeds to say : 
 
 " Connected in some measure with this sub- 
 ject, is the law authorizing the general and 
 circuit courts to grant divorces. The propriety 
 and policy of a law of this kind have been 
 strongly contested in many parts of the United 
 States; and it is believed that the principle 
 has been every where condemned, save in one 
 or two States only. It cannot be denied that 
 the success of one applicant for a divorce, has 
 always the effect of producing others, and that 
 the advantages which a few individuals may 
 derive from the dissolution of this solemn con- 
 tract, are too dearly purchased by its injurious 
 effects upon the morals of the community. 
 The scenes w-hich are frequently exhibited in 
 trials of this kind, are shocking to humanity. 
 The ties of consanguinity and nature are 
 loosened ; the child is brought to give testi- 
 mony against his parent; confidence and af- 
 fection are destroyed ; family secrets dis- 
 closed ; and humanity exhibited in its worst 
 colours. In the time of the Roman republic, 
 divorces might be obtained by a summary and 
 easy process ; but so great was the abhorrence 
 of them amongst that enlightened people, that 
 in a period of five hundred years, but one per- 
 son had been found to take advantage of the 
 privilege which the law allowed. But when 
 their manners became corrupt by luxury, di- 
 vorces became so common that applications 
 were frequently made to the college of augurs, 
 to ascertain the father of a child born in law- 
 ful wedlock. A few years ago, there were 
 but two instances on record, in the State of 
 Virginia, of applications for divorce. One only 
 of these had been successful; and although 
 that was acknowledged to be a case which had 
 as strong claims to indulgence as any that 
 could happen, it was nevertheless opposed by 
 some of the most enlightened patriots of that 
 State, upon the principle that it was better for 
 an individual to suffer some inconvenience, 
 than that an example should be established, 
 60 injurious, as they supposed, to the morals 
 of the coKimunity." 
 
 In explaining his policy towards the In- 
 dians, he says : 
 
 ment is not far distant when every cnpable 
 man will be called on to assume the character 
 of a soldier. The situation of our affairs oa 
 the Atlantic coast, as well as on this frontier, 
 makes it necessary that there should be n& 
 delay in preparing ourselves for the worst that 
 may happen. A restless and dissatisfied dis- 
 position has manifested itself amongst some 
 of the neighbouring tribes, and a hw indivi- 
 duals are believed to be decidedly hostile. It 
 gives me pleasure, however, to state that I 
 have, within a ievf days, received from two of 
 the tribes, the most positive assurances of 
 friendship, and their unalterable determination 
 to submit themselves entirely to my direction. 
 These assurances, though in my opinion sin- 
 cere, ought not to be relied upon ; and the pre- 
 parations for defence ought still to go on, until 
 the real disposition of all the tribes is perfect- 
 ly ascertained. Although the agency of a 
 foreign power in producing the discontents 
 among the Indians cannot he questioned, I am 
 persuaded that the utmost endeavours to in- 
 duce them to take up arms would be unavail- 
 ing, if one only of the many persons who have 
 committed murders on their people, could be 
 brought to punishment. Whilst we rigorously 
 exact of them the delivery of every murderer 
 of a white man, the neglect on our part to 
 punish similar offences committed on them, 
 forms a strong and just ground of complaint, 
 for which I can offer no excuse or palliation. 
 A powerful nation rendering justice to a petty 
 tribe of savages, is a sublime spectacle, worthy 
 of a great republic, and worthy of a people 
 who have shown themselves as valiant in war, 
 as in peace moderate and forbearing." 
 
 TECDMTHE AND THE PROPHET. / 
 
 About this time our friendly relations 
 with the Indians were broken in upon, and 
 the plans our government had formed to 
 civilize them, and ameliorate their condi- 
 tion, were entirely destroyed by a new and 
 very remarkable influence. 
 
 Two twin brothers of the Sliawnee tribe, 
 Teciimthe, the Crouching Panther, and 
 01-li-wa-chi-ca, the Ojyen Door commonly 
 known as the Prophet, commenced a series 
 of artful and daring intrigues among the 
 Indians on our northwestern frontier, which 
 finally involved them in a war with our 
 country, destined to result in the expulsion 
 of many of these warlike tribes from all 
 their old and favourite hunting-grounds. 
 
 Tecumthe was a bold and skilful warrior, 
 sagacious in council, and formidable in 
 battle, — an active, daring, energetic man, 
 but one who preferred tact and secret 
 management to open violence. The 
 
 'It is probable, gentlemen, that the mo- Prophet was a shrewd impostor ; cunning, 
 
Harrison's Interview with Tecumthe. 
 
 11 
 
 arlful and treacherous. lie was no warrior, 
 but an accomplishpd and persuasive orator, 
 who announced himself as a medicine man 
 or magician, possessed of vast and miracu- 
 lous powers, and as having been specially 
 sent by the Great Spirit to reform the con- 
 dition of the red people, and to restore them 
 to their former prosperity. 
 
 These crafty intriguers were leagued to- 
 getlier by the lie of mutual interests and a 
 common hatred to the whites ; and their 
 object was to form a general combination 
 of all the northwestern and southwestern 
 tribes of Indians, for the purpose of pre- 
 venting the whites from extending any new 
 settlements west of those already existing; 
 and with the vain hope, too, that by a 
 simultaneous attack on the whole of our 
 extensive, thinly inhabited, and ill-defended 
 western frontier, they might force back the 
 whites from the valley of the Mississippi, 
 and regain a portion of their lost hunting- 
 grounds. But the designs of these intriguing 
 spirits were soon known to Governor Har- 
 rison ; and, aware of his dangerous and 
 critical position, his prudent forbearance 
 and wise policy enabled him, for several 
 years, to hold his savage neighbours in 
 check. 
 
 Harrison's treaty at fort wayne. 
 
 In September, 1809, Governor Harrison 
 held a council at Fort Wayne, and nego- 
 tiated a treaty with the Miamies, Delawares, 
 Polawalomies, and Kickapoos, by which 
 he succeeded in purchasing from those tribes 
 an extensive tract of country on both sides 
 of the Wabash, and extending up that river 
 more than sixty miles above Vincennes. 
 The tribes who owned these lands were 
 paid for them by certain annuities which 
 they considered a satisfactory equivalent. 
 
 Harrison's interview with tecumthe. 
 
 Tecumthe was absent when this treaty 
 was made, and the Prophet not feeling 
 himself interested, had not opposed it; but 
 on the return of Tecumthe, some months 
 after, both he and his brother expressed 
 great dissatisfaction, and even threatened 
 lo put to death ail those chiefs who had 
 signed the treaty. Hearing this, and 
 anxious too to ascertain their intentions 
 from themselves, if possible. Governor 
 Harrison despatched messengers to invite 
 ihera both to Vincennes, and lo assure 
 
 them that any claims they might have to 
 liiese lands were not affected by the treaty; 
 but that if they would come to Vincennes 
 and exhibit their pretensions, and they 
 should be found to be valid, the lands 
 would be given up or an ample compensa- 
 tion made for them. Tecumthe came, 
 without his brother — and though the go- 
 vernor, having no confidence in his good 
 faith, had requested him not to bring with 
 him more than thirty warriors, he came 
 with four hundred, completely armed. The 
 governor held a council on the 12th of 
 August, 1810, at which Tecumthe and 
 forty of these warriors were present. The 
 governor was attended by the judges of the 
 supreme court, several officers of the army, 
 Winnemack, a friendly chief, and a few 
 unarmed citizens. A sergeant's guard of 
 twelve men was likewise placed near him, 
 but as the day was exceedingly sultry, and 
 they were exposed to the sun, the governor, 
 with his characteristic humanity, directed 
 them to remove to a shaded spot at some 
 distance. 
 
 Tecumthe addressed this council with a 
 speech, in which he openly avowed the 
 designs of himself and his brother. He 
 declared it to be their intention to form a 
 coalition of all the red men, to prevent the 
 whites from extending their settlements 
 farther west — and to establish the principle 
 that the Indian lands belonged in common 
 to all the tribes, and could not be sold with- 
 out their united consent. He again avowed 
 their intention to put to death all the chiefs 
 who had signod the treaty at Fort Wayne, 
 yet, with singular inconsistency, he at the 
 same time denied all intention to make war, 
 and declared that all those who had given 
 such inform.ation to the governor were liars. 
 This was aimed particularly at Winnemack, 
 from whom the governor had received a 
 timely notice of the designs of Tecumthe 
 and his brother. 
 
 Governor Harrison replied to Tecumthe 
 in a mild and conciliatory tone; explaining 
 the treaty at Fort Wayne, and clearly prov- 
 ing that all the chiefs whose tribes had any 
 claims upon the lands ceded at this time to 
 the United States, were present at the treaty 
 and had voluntarily signed it — and that they 
 had sold these lands for an annuity which 
 they considered a sufficient compensation. 
 The interpreter of the Shawnees explained 
 the governor's speech to the warriors of 
 that tribe, but when the interpreter to the 
 Potawatomies was about to begin, Tecum- 
 
12 
 
 Governor Harrison exposes Tecumthe. 
 
 the interrupted liira in a rude and insulting 
 manner, using the most vehement language 
 and the most violent gesticulation, and 
 loudly declaring that all the governor had 
 said was false, and that he and the United 
 Slates had cheated and imposed upon the 
 Indians. As he uttered this, his warriors 
 sprung to their feet and began to brandish 
 their tomahawks and war-clubs, their eyes 
 all fiercely turned upon the governor. Har- 
 rison rose immediately and drew his sword. 
 The friendly chief Winnemack cocked a 
 pistol with which he was armed, and some 
 of the officers in attendance drew their 
 weapons and stood on the defensive. 
 During this critical moment not a word 
 was spoken, until the guard hastily ap- 
 proached and were about to fire on the 
 Indians, when the governor, with singular 
 coolness and presence of mind restrained 
 ihem. He then turned to Tecumthe and 
 calmly but authoritatively told him tliat 
 *' he was a bad man — that he would hold 
 no further talk with him — and that he must 
 now return to his camp, and take his de- 
 parture from the settlements without delay." 
 The council was immediately broken up, 
 and Tecumthe and his warriors, awed by 
 the coolness and intrepidity of the gover- 
 nor, withdrew in silence. 
 
 The next morning, Tecumthe, finding 
 that he had to deal with a man of firmness 
 and undaunted bravery, whom he could 
 neither intimidate by his audacious violence 
 nor disconcert by his cunning manoeuvres, 
 solicited another interview with the gover- 
 nor, and apologized for the improprieties 
 he had committed at the council the day 
 before. 
 
 Still anxious to conciliate this haughty 
 savage, the governor afterwards paid him 
 a visit at his own camp, with no other at- 
 tendant than the interpreter, Tecumthe 
 received him with courtesy and much at- 
 tention ; his uniform kindness and inflexi- 
 ble firmness having won the respect of the 
 rude warrior — but he still persisted in 
 rigidly adhering to the policy he had 
 avowed at the council table on the pre- 
 ceding day. 
 
 Meanwhile his brother was using every 
 exertion to advance their mutual object. 
 His reputation as a prophet with his cun- 
 ning pretensions to supernatural powers, 
 gave him a strong hold on the superstitions 
 of his red brethren, and enabled him to at- 
 tach several of the tribes warmly to his 
 interests. Governor Harrison alludes to 
 
 this in his message to the Legislature of 
 Indiana, in the ensuing winter of 1810, 
 from which the following is an extract: 
 
 Harrison's address to the legislature. 
 
 " Presenting as we do," said Governor Har-. 
 risen, ''a very extended frontier to numerous 
 and warlike tribes of the aborigines, the stale 
 of our relations with them must always form 
 an important and interesting feature in our 
 local politics. It is with regret that 1 have to 
 inform you, that the harmony and good under- 
 standing which it is so much our interest to 
 cultivate with these our neighbours, have, for 
 some time past, experienced a considerable 
 interruption, and that we have indeed been 
 threatened with hostilities, by a combination 
 formed under the auspices of a bold adven- 
 turer, who pretended to act under the imme- 
 diate inspiration of the Deity. His character 
 as a prophet would not, however, have given 
 him any very dangerous influence, if he had 
 not been assisted by the intrigues and advice 
 of foreign agents, and other disaffected persons, 
 who have for years omitted no opportunity of 
 counteracting the measures of the government 
 with regard to the Indians, and filling their 
 naturally jealous minds with suspicions of the 
 justice and integrity of our views towards 
 them." 
 
 " The circumstance which was laid hold of 
 to encourage disafTeclion, on a late occasion, 
 was the treaty made by me at Fort Wayne in 
 the autumn of the last year. Amongst the 
 difficulties which were to be encountered, to 
 obtain those extinguishments of title which 
 have proved so beneficial to the treasury of 
 the United States, and so necessary, as the 
 means of increasing the population of the ter- 
 ritory, the most formidable was that of ascer- 
 taining the tribes which were to be admitted 
 as parties to the treaties. The object was ac- 
 cordingly discussed in a long correspondence 
 between the qrovernment and myself, and the 
 principles which were finally adopted, were 
 made as liberal towards the Indians as a due 
 regard to the interests of the United States 
 would permit. Of the tribes which had formed 
 the confederacy in the war which terminated 
 by the peace of Greeneville, some were resi- 
 dents upon the lands which were in the pos- 
 session of their forefathers, at the time that 
 the first settlements were made in America by 
 white people, whilst others weie emigrants 
 from distant parts of the country, and had no 
 other claim to the tracts they occupied, than 
 what a few years' residence, by the tacit con- 
 sent of the real owners, could give. Upon 
 common and general principles, the transfer of 
 the title of the former description would have 
 been sufficient to vest in the purchaser the 
 legal right to lands so situated. But in all its 
 transactions with the Indians, our government 
 
Governor Harrison's liberality. 
 
 13 
 
 has not been content with doing that which 
 was just only. Its savage neighbours have, 
 on all occasions, experienced its liberality and 
 benevolence. Upon this principle, in several 
 of the treaties which have been made, several 
 tribes have been admitted to a participation of 
 their benefits, who had no title to the land 
 ceded, merely because they had been accus- 
 tomed to hunt upon, and derive part of their 
 support from them. For this reason, and to 
 prevent the Miamies, who were the real owners 
 of the land, from experiencing any ill effects 
 from their resentment, the Delawares, Pota- 
 watomies, and Kickapoos were made parties 
 to the late treaty at Fort Wayne. No other 
 tribe was admitted, because it never had been 
 suggested that any other could plead even the 
 title of use or occupancy of the lands, which 
 at that time were conveyed to the United 
 States. 
 
 "It was not until eight months after the con- 
 clusion of the treaty, and after his design of form- 
 ing a hostile combination against the United 
 States had been discovered and defeated, that 
 the pretensions of the Prophet, with regard to 
 the lands in question, were made known. A 
 furious clamour was then raised by the foreign 
 agents among us, and other disaffected per- 
 sons, against the policy which had excluded 
 from the treaty this great and influential cha- 
 racter, as he is termed ; and the doing so, ex- 
 pressly attributed to personal ill-will on the 
 part of the negotiator. No such ill-will did in 
 fact exist. I accuse myself, indeed, of an 
 error, in the patronage and support which I 
 afforded him upon his first arrival on the Wa- 
 bash, before his hcrstiliiy to the United States 
 had been developed ; but on no principle of 
 propriety or policy could he have been made 
 3 party to the treaty. The personage called 
 the Prophet is not a chief of the tribe to which 
 he belongs, but an outcast from it, rejected 
 and hated by the real chiefs, the principal of 
 whom was present at the treaty, and not only 
 disclaimed on the part of his tribe any title to 
 the lands ceded, but used his personal influ- 
 ence with the chiefs of the other tribes to effect 
 the cession. 
 
 "As soon as I was informed that his dis- 
 satisfaction at the treaty was assigned as the 
 cause of the hostile attitude which the Pro- 
 phet had assumed, I sent to inform him that 
 whatever claims he might have to the lands 
 which had been purchased for the United 
 States, were not in the least affected by that 
 purchase; that he might come forward and 
 exhibit his pretensions, and if they were really 
 found to be just or equitable, the lands would 
 be restored, or an ample equivalent given for 
 them. His brother was deputed, and sent to 
 me for that purpose ; but far from being able 
 to show any colour of claim, either for him- 
 self or any of his followers, his objections to 
 the treaty were confined to the assertion, that 
 ail the lands upon the continent were the com- 
 
 mon property of all the tribes, and that no sale 
 of any part of it could be valid, without the 
 consent of all. A proposition so extremely 
 absurd, and which would forever prevent any 
 further purchase of lands by the United Slates, 
 could receive no countenance from any friend 
 of his country. He had, however, the inso- 
 lence to declare, that by the acknowledgment 
 of that principle alone could the effects of his 
 resentment be avoided." 
 
 * * * * u I [^.^ve been thus particular, 
 gentlemen, in giving you information upon 
 the present state of affairs with the neighbour- 
 ing Indians, that you may have them fully be- 
 fore you, in case you should think proper to 
 make them in any shape the subject of your 
 deliberations." 
 
 CALUMNY TRIUMPHANTLY REFUTED. 
 
 In the course of this address, the whole 
 of which we regret that tlie limited space 
 allowed us will not permit us to quote, 
 Governor Harrison alluded to some idle 
 complaints and malicious calumnies which 
 had been spread abroad by certain disaf- 
 fected persons within the territory — the 
 totally unfounded nature of which was soon 
 made apparent in a court of justice. There 
 are in every community, individuals who 
 are incapable of appreciating or are unwill- 
 ing to admit the existence of disinterested 
 and patriotic motives of action— and who, 
 if they are too dull or perverse to compre- 
 hend the wise policy and strict justice of 
 any public measure, are inclined by the 
 whisperings of their own hearts to attribute 
 that measure to the promptings of base or 
 unworthy motives. It is not a matter of 
 surprise, therefore, that some such were 
 found in the territory over which Governor 
 Harrison presided. Among these was one 
 M'Intosh, who openly asserted that Go- 
 vernor Harrison had cheated the Indians 
 in the treaty at Fort Wayne, by which the 
 United States had the year before obtained 
 so large a cession of lands from the Mi- 
 amies, Delawares, Potawatomies and Kicka- 
 poos. As this calumny was industriously 
 circulated, Governor Harrison thought it 
 due both to his own character and to that 
 of the General Government that the charge 
 should be fully and judicially investigated, 
 while the subject was still fresh and the 
 testimony in relation to the treaty at Fort 
 Wayne was still within reach. An action 
 for slander was therefore brought against 
 M'Intosh, in the Supreme Court of the ter- 
 ritory, and every possible measure was 
 
14 
 
 Harrison's March to the PropheVs Town. 
 
 adopted to obtain a fair and an impartial 
 decision. To insure lliis, two of the judges 
 left the bench during the trial — one being 
 a friend of the governor and the other of 
 the defendant — leaving the case to be ad- 
 judicated by the third judge, who had but 
 recently arrived in the territory and was 
 but slightly acquainted with either of the 
 parties. Ail the facts connected with the 
 negotiation of tiie treaty of Fort Wayne 
 were critically inquired into, and the de- 
 fendant was allowed every opportunity to 
 examine all persons engaged in the Indian 
 Department, or who were acquainted with 
 the circumstances attendant upon the 
 raaking of this treaty. But the more this 
 subject was inquired into, the more clearly 
 did it manifest the strict honour and in- 
 tegrity of Governor Harrison ; until, at 
 length, convinced of this, the counsel of 
 M'Intosh abandoned all plea of justification, 
 and asked only for a mitigation of damages. 
 The jury returned a verdict of four thousand 
 dollars against the defendant ; a heavy ver- 
 dict in a new country, where money is 
 always scarce, and damages given by juries 
 in such cases are generally very small. A 
 large amount of the defendant's property 
 %vas sold the following year to satisfy this 
 judgment, and was bought in by the agent 
 of the governor, while he himself was ab- 
 sent in command of the army. Two-thirds 
 of this property Governor Harrison after- 
 wards returned to M'Intosh, and the re- 
 
 energetic measures within his limited re- 
 sources, to place the territory in a posture 
 of defence. At his own earnest request, 
 and at the solicitation of tlie people, the 
 President soon after directed him to march 
 with an armed force towards the principal 
 place of rendezvous of the hostile Indians, 
 the Prophet's town, on the Wabash, near 
 the mouth of the Tippecanoe — where this 
 crafty impostor had gathered together a 
 body of more than a thousand fierce war- 
 riors, ready to obey his will. 
 
 Governor Karrison immediately assem- 
 bled five hundred of the militia and volun- 
 teers of Indiana. These, with a regiment 
 of United States infantry, consisting of 
 three hundred and fifty men, commanded 
 by Colonel Boyd, and a small body of 
 volunteers from Kentucky, constituted his 
 whole available force — amounting in all to 
 scarcely nine hundred effective men. As 
 soon as he had disciplined these troops, 
 and trained both the regulars and militia in 
 the Indian mode of warfare, he took up his 
 line of march towards the Prophet's town. 
 
 Harrison's march to the prophet's 
 
 TOWN. 
 
 He left Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, 
 about sixty miles above Vincennes, on the 
 28th of October, 1811. Profiting by his 
 own early experience, and the remembered 
 example of his old friend and commander, 
 
 tmiinder he distributed among the orphanl General Wayne, his march through a jsin 
 
 children of some of his gallant fellow-citi- 
 zens who fell in battle during the last 
 war! Such acts need no comment — while 
 magnanimity, disinterestedness, and gene- 
 rosity are prized ainong men, the tongue 
 of praise even can scarcely do them justice. 
 
 INDIAN HOSTILITIES — GOVERNOR HARRISON's 
 MEASURES OF DEFENCE. 
 
 In 1811, from petty aggressions, the 
 Indians proceeded to more open violence, 
 and acts of decided hostility. The war- 
 whoop was again heard yelling within the 
 limits of the territory, and every day brought 
 fresh accounts of the perpetration of those 
 ruthless deeds of depredation and murder, 
 which always give the first intimation of a 
 savage war. From motives of hun)anity 
 as well as policj*, Governor Harrison had 
 always soug!:t to avoid a war with the In- 
 dians ; but when this result became una- 
 voidable, he promptly adopted the most 
 
 gularly wild country to Tippecanoe, was 
 conducted with so much skill and prudence, 
 that he avoided all danger of ambuscade or 
 surprise from the savage foe. On the 6lh 
 of November, the army arrived within five 
 or six miles of the Prophet's town. Ac- 
 cording to the instructions he had received 
 from the President, Governor Harrison 
 immediately sent in a flag of truce, to en- 
 deavour to open an amicable negotiation 
 with the hostile Indians. To this overture, 
 the Prophet returned a pacific but deceitful 
 reply — professing, all the while, the most 
 amicable intentions, and agreeing to meet 
 the governor the next day in council, with 
 his chiefs, to settle definitely the terms of 
 peace. But Harrison knew too well the 
 treachery of his artful antagonist, to allow 
 himself to be deceived by his specious 
 professions, or lulled into any fancied se- 
 curity. He carefully selected the most 
 eligible and defensible position for his en- 
 campment, and posted his troops in a hoi- 
 
The Victory of Tippecanoe. 
 
 15 
 
 low square, with his cavalry drawn up in 
 rear of the front line. He then ordered 
 his men to lie upon their arms all night, 
 that they might be in constant readiness to 
 repel any sudden attack; and he sur- 
 rounded the entire camp with a chain of 
 sentinels, placed at such a distance as to 
 give timely notice of the approach of the 
 enemy, yet not so remote as to prevent 
 their retreat in case they should be over- 
 powered by numbers. The officers were 
 likewise ordered to sleep with their clothes 
 and accoutrements on, and their arms by 
 their sides ; and the governor himself was 
 ready to mount his horse at a moment's 
 
 warning. 
 
 THE VICTORY OF TIPPECANOE. 
 
 The night passed without any interrup- 
 tion ; and the governor and his aids rose 
 at a quarter before four o'clock, and were 
 sitting in conversation about the fire. The 
 moon had risen, but afforded little light, 
 in consequence of being overshadowed by 
 heavy clouds, from wiiich occasionally fell 
 a drizzling rain. At this moment the at- 
 tack commenced. The treacherous Indians 
 had stealthily crept up near our sentries, 
 with the intention of rushing upon them 
 and killing them before they could give the 
 alarm. But fortunately one of the sentries 
 discovered an Indian creeping towards him 
 through the grass, and fired at him. This 
 was immediately followed by the Indian 
 yell, and a furious charge upon the left 
 flank. So sudden and fierce was this on- 
 set, that the guard stationed in that quarter 
 gave way, at first, to their savage assailants; 
 but, notwithstanding the severe fire, they 
 soon rallied, and maintained their ground 
 with desperate valour. The camp-fires 
 were immediately extinguished, as their 
 light only served to expose our men to the 
 deadly aim of the Indians. Upon the first 
 alarm, the governor mounted his horse, and 
 proceeded to the point of attack ; and find- 
 ing the line much weakened there, he 
 ordered two companies from the centre and 
 rear line to march up to their support. 
 About this time, Colonel Joseph Hamilton 
 Daviess, of Kentucky, informed the gover- 
 nor that the Indians, concealed behind 
 some trees near the left of the front line, 
 were severely annoying the troops in thai 
 quarter, and requested permission to dis- 
 lodge them. In attempting this hazardous 
 exploit, he charged the Indians on fool, but 
 
 unfortunately the flash of his pistol exposed 
 him to the deadly aim of the savages, and 
 he was shot down almost instantly, pierced 
 with three balls, either of which would 
 have proved fatal — and thus fell one of the 
 most gallant and chivalric spirits, and one 
 of the most daring and intrepid officers in 
 the whole army. Colonel Isaac White, of 
 Indiana, another brave officer, who served 
 as a volunteer under Colonel Daviess, like- 
 wise fell in this sanguinary charge. A 
 heavy fire now commenced upon the right 
 flank, upon a part of the rear line, and upon 
 the entire front as well as upon the left 
 flank. Finding that many of our officers 
 were killed by the severe fire on the right 
 flank, and that our men there were warmly 
 pressed, the governor led another company 
 to their aid, which enabled them to defend 
 their position during the rest of the attack. 
 While the governor was leading this com- 
 pany into action, his gallant aid. Colonel 
 Owen, of Kentucky, was killed at his side. 
 The battle was now maintained in every 
 direction with desperate valour. The In- 
 dians advanced and retreated by a rattling 
 noise made with deer-hoofs. They fought 
 with great enthusiasm, and seemed deter- 
 mined to conquer. Our men maintained 
 the fight with even more than their accus- 
 tomed bravery, and the governor was un- 
 wearied in his active exertions. Amid all 
 llie din of battle, the fierce shoutinsf of our 
 troops, and the fiend-like yellings of the 
 savages, his clear and manly voice was 
 heard encouraging and supporting his men 
 where they were most severely pressed, 
 and cheering them on to victory. He re- 
 peatedly, during the engagement, changed 
 their position to meet the varying attacks 
 of his desperate assailants, and in all these 
 evolutions the troops were formed and led 
 into action bv himself. 
 
 When the day dawned, the left flank, 
 the most assailable part of the encamp- 
 ment, was reinforced by four companies 
 drawn from the rear and centre; the right 
 flank was strengthened by two companies; 
 the dragoons were mounted, and, supported 
 by them, a simultaneous charge was made 
 upon the enemy on both flanks. And so 
 vigorous and determined was this attack, 
 that the enemy gave way on all sides — the 
 Indians on the left flank were driven into 
 a swamp impenetrable to cavalry, vi^hile 
 those on the right were put to flight with 
 great loss; and this severely contested vic- 
 tory was at last gained by our oallanl troops. 
 
16 
 
 President Madison's Opinion of Harrison. 
 
 The Prophet look no active part in this 
 battle, but during the whole of the contest, 
 he remained secure on a neighbouring emi- 
 nence, chanting a war-song. He had pro- 
 mised his warriors that "the Great Spirit 
 would turn the powder of the whites into 
 ashes, and charm their bullets, so that tliey 
 should drop harmless, and that the red men 
 should have light, while their enemies were 
 involved in uller darkness." Soon after 
 the battle commenced, he was told that his 
 warriors were falling in great numbers, but 
 he bade them fight on, and they would soon 
 see the fulfilment of his predictions. 
 
 Tecumlhe was not present at this battle, 
 being on a visit to the southern tribes, 
 whom he was endeavouring to unite in his 
 combination agrainst the United States. 
 
 The battle of Tippecanoe was unques- 
 tionably one of the most spirited and well- 
 fought actions recorded in the annals of our 
 Indian wars. The ntimbers and weapons 
 on either side were nearly equal; and the 
 Indians, contrary to their usual custom, 
 fought hand to hand, and with the most 
 desperate ferocity ; displaying a boldness 
 and reckless daring, during the engagement, 
 that can only be accounted for by their re- 
 liance on the specious promises held nut to 
 them by the Prophet. Every man in this 
 bailie^ encountered his share of danger, but 
 no man was in more personal peril than 
 Governor Harrison himself — well known 
 to many of the Indians, and the object of 
 their peculiar attack, his fearless and un- 
 shrinking exposure, makes it seem almost 
 a miracle that he should have escaped un- 
 wounded. In referring to the coolness and 
 intrepidity of Governor Harrison, on this 
 occasion, we cannot refrain from making 
 the following extracts from a journal pub- 
 lished in Keene, New Hampshire, by 
 Adam Walker, a private soldier, who 
 fought in this battle, and who could have 
 had no interested motives for his publica- 
 tion : " General Harrison," he says, " re- 
 ceived a shot through the rim of his hat. 
 In the heat of the action, his voice was fre- 
 quently heard, and easily distinguished, 
 giving his orders in the same calm, cool, 
 and collected manner, with which we had 
 been used to receive tliem on drill or pa- 
 rade. The confidence of the troops in the 
 General was unlimited." The same writer, 
 in speaking of Harrison's kindness to the 
 soldiers, and his influence over them, re- 
 marks : " He appeared not disposed to de- 
 tain any man against his inclination ; being 
 
 endowed by nature with a heart as humane 
 as brave, in his frequent addresses to the 
 militia, his eloquence was formed to per- 
 suade ; appeals were made to reason as 
 well as feeling, and never were they made 
 in vain." 
 
 GOVERNOR Harrison's magnanimity. 
 
 An incident that occurred at this time 13 
 worth recording. The night before the 
 battle, a negro man belonging to the camp, 
 who had been missing, was arrested near 
 the Governor's marquee, under very sus- 
 picious circumstances. He was tried by 
 a court-martial for desertion to the enemy, 
 and for an attempt to assassinate the Gover- 
 nor. Sufficient evidence was found to con- 
 vict him, and he was sentenced to death ; 
 yet such were the humane feelings of 
 Harrison, that he could not induce himself 
 to sififn the order for his execution. As the 
 criminal attempt had been made against his 
 own life, he felt himself privileged to exer- 
 cise his benevolence towards the ofl"ender, 
 and the misguided wretch was sufTered to 
 escape the just punishment of his crime. 
 It would have been more in accordance 
 with the principles of strict justice, to have 
 allowed tlie law to take its own course in 
 this instance — but the circumstances of the 
 case were very peculiar, and Governor 
 Harrison's conduct evinced a magnanimity 
 and humanity of heart rarely equalled. 
 
 The importance of the victory at Tippe- 
 canoe cannot be too highly estinfated. It 
 quelled the haughty spirit of the discon- 
 tented and hostile Indians, and defeated the 
 plan, which they had almost matured, of 
 attacking and destroying our scattered bor- 
 der settlements in detail. Had we lost this 
 battle, our army must have been annihi- 
 lated — the whole extent of our defenceless 
 frontier would have been left to the mercy 
 of sanguinary and unsparing savages, and 
 the consequent loss of life and destruction 
 of property would have been almost incal- 
 culable. 
 
 President Madison, in his message to 
 Congress, dated December 18th, 1812, 
 makes the following honourable mention of 
 this battle : " While it is deeply to be la- 
 mented," says the President, " that so 
 many valuable lives have been lost in the 
 action which took place on the 9th ult., 
 Congress will see, with satisfaction, the 
 dauntless spirit and fortitude victoriously 
 displayed by every description of troops 
 
Governor Harrison chosen to command the Kcntuchy troops. 17 
 
 engaged, as well as the collected firmness 1 
 which dislinguislied their commander, on 
 an occasion requiring the utmost exertion 
 of valour and discipline." 
 
 The. Legislature of Kentncky, at their 
 ensuing session, on llie motion of John J. 
 Crittenden, now a distinguished member 
 of the United States Senate, expressed 
 their high sense of Governor Harrison's 
 good conduct on this occasion, by the fol- 
 lowing complimentary resolution: 
 
 "Resolved, That in the late campaign 
 against the Indians, on the Wabash, Gov- 
 ernor W. II. Harrison has, in the opinion 
 of this legislature, behaved like a hero, a 
 patriot, and a general; and that for his 
 cool, deliberate, skilful, and gallant con- 
 duct, in the late battle of Tippecanoe, he 
 deserves the warmest thanks of the nation." 
 
 This high encomium came from those 
 whose friends and neighbours had partici- 
 pated in the late campaign, and who were 
 consequently familiar with all its details, 
 and with the merits of the coinniander-in- 
 chief. 
 
 WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 War was declared with Great Britain in 
 June, 1812. Prior to this event, British 
 agents had, for a long time, been tampering 
 with the discontented Indians within our 
 terrilorj-, and had bribed them with pre- 
 sents, and furnished them with firearms, to 
 induce them to renew their hostilities 
 against our country. The crafty and daring 
 'J'ecumthe, loo, was once more in the field. 
 Urged on by his savage eloquence, by their 
 own natural love for war and plunder, and 
 by the atrocious intrigues of foreign agents, 
 the northwestern Indians again raised the 
 war-whoop, and commenced their barba- 
 rous system of warfare. Their cruel mur- 
 ders and depredations became of frequentf 
 occurrence, and the waitings of bereaved 
 mothers and orphans, and the bitter com- 
 plaints of those who had escaped from the 
 conflagration of their plundered homes, 
 excited the commiseration of our hardy 
 borderers, and roused a general feeling of 
 indignation. Such was the state of excite- 
 ment in our frontier settlements in the 
 summer of 1812. 
 
 Immediately after the declaration of war, 
 our western governors promptly adopted 
 every measure in their power, for the de- 
 fence of their respective States and Terri- 
 tories. But conscious of the great abilities 
 
 and experience of Harrison, they placed 
 the utmost reliance on his coun^iols, and 
 lo>)ked to him as the leader, under whom 
 they might hope for success against the 
 common enemy. lie aided Governor Ed- 
 wards in placing the frontier of Illinois in 
 a posture of defence, and soon after, was 
 invited by Governor Scott of Kentucky, a 
 distinguished revolutionary officer, to a con- 
 ference in relation to the Kentucky troops, 
 which had been raised for the defence of 
 the frontier. He accepted this invitation, 
 and met Governor Scott at Frankfort; 
 where he was received with the acclama- 
 tions of the people, and with the highest 
 civil and military honours. These public 
 marks of the high estimation in which 
 Harrison was held by the people, were 
 shortly after followed by proofs still more 
 flattering of their confidence in his patri- 
 otism. Ills abilities, and his military skill. 
 
 Governor Scott had levied an armed 
 force of more than five thousand miliMa 
 and volunteers, commanded by some of 
 the ablest men and most experienced offi- 
 cers in the Stale. Two thousand of these 
 troops were ordered for immediate service; 
 and they had no sooner learned that they 
 were destined to march to the aid of their 
 fellow-countrymen on the frontier, than 
 they at once unanimously expressed the 
 most earnest desire to be placed under the 
 command of Governor Harrison. This 
 feeling was responded to by the wishes of 
 the whole mass of the people throughout 
 the Slate. The laws of Kentucky, how- 
 ever, would not permit any other ihan a 
 citizen, to hold a command in the State 
 mililia. In this dilemma. Governor Scott 
 consulted with the venerable Shelby, (ihe 
 governor elect), the Hon. Henry Clay, and 
 other distinguished citizens of the stale, 
 and by their unanimous advice he gave 
 Harrison a brevet commission of major- 
 general in the Kentucky mililia, with ex- 
 press authority to lake command of the 
 gallant troops about to march to the fron- 
 tier. This was a bold and unprecedented 
 measure, but one that gave unbounded 
 satisfaction to both soldiers and citizens, 
 and one fully warranted by the peculiar 
 exigencies of the case. These facts speak 
 volumes in favour of the remarkable popu- 
 larity and high military reputation which 
 Governor Harrison enjoyed in a population 
 of brave and chivalric people, boasting ati 
 unusual proportion of highly gifted and 
 distinguished men» 
 
18 Gov. Harrison appointed commander-in-chief of N. W. ^^rmy. 
 
 About this time, the cowardice and im-Iferson, had been in constant correspon- 
 
 dence with him in relation to tlie territo- 
 rial affairs of Indiana, and had thus enjoy- 
 ed an ample opportunity of forming a fair 
 estimate of his abilities and qualificnlions. 
 
 The duties that devolved on General 
 Harrison, in his new station, were arduous 
 beyond description. The troops uniier his 
 command, though brave, were either vo- 
 lunteers for a limited period of time, or in- 
 experienced and undisciplined recruits ; 
 and the army was badly equipped, and 
 nearly destitute of baggage and military 
 stores. With these inadequate meai\s, and 
 under these unfavourable circumstances, he 
 was required to defend an immense extent 
 of frontier, stretching along the shores of 
 the great northern lakes, whose numerous 
 harbours and rivers were easy of access to 
 the enemy. In addition to this, (he roads 
 leading to those points which most re- 
 quired defence, were nearly impassable, 
 and lay, for hundreds of miles, through a 
 wilderness swarming widi lioslile liidians, 
 and through gloomy and dangerous swamps, 
 where the troops, though Hide encumbered 
 widi baggage, could advance but slowly, 
 and with great labour. Hut under all these 
 difficulties, the spirits of the soldiers were 
 sustained by the presence and example of 
 
 becility of General Hull tamely surren- 
 dered to the British the important post of 
 Detroit, with the gallant force which com- 
 posed its garrison. 'J'his event spread con- 
 sternation far and wide through the west- 
 ern country, and greatly increased the 
 difficulty and arduous nature of Governor 
 Harrison's duties. He immediately, how- 
 ever, organized the brave troops under his 
 command, and commenced a course of 
 rigid discipline and military training; with 
 the confident hope of retrieving the disasters 
 consequent upon the cowardly surrender 
 of Detroit. 
 
 HARRISON IS APPOINTED COMMANDER-IN- 
 CHIEF OF THE NORTHWESTERN ARMY. 
 
 As it is our intention merely to glance 
 at the military achievements of General 
 Harrison, we shall pass rapidly over this 
 brilliant portion of his career. He was 
 appointed brigadier-general of the army of 
 the United Stales, and soon after, in com- 
 pliance with the solicitation of the volun- 
 teer troops and the almost unanimous wishes 
 of the western people, he was made com- 
 mander-in-chief of the northwestern army. 
 
 The powers conferred on Harrison by 
 this last appointment were of great extent,! their favourite commander, who animated 
 and he was left to exercise them according] them in their fatigues, and cheerfully en- 
 to his own unrestricted judgment. In ihe|dured the same hardsfiips and privations 
 despatch containing tliis appoiiitment, dated which they encountered. 
 September 17ih, 1812, the Secretary of The publishjed accounts of our recent 
 War says: — " You will command such: war with the Seminoles in Florida, the dis- 
 means as mav be practicable' — exercise your] astrous details *of which have been made 
 own discretion, and act in all cases accord-' but too familiar to us, will convey to our 
 ing to your own judgment"' — thus confer- readers some idea of the peculiar dangers 
 ring upon him extraordinary and almosti and difficulties of this campaign, and of the 
 unlimited powers. We refer to this, mere- skill and fortitude required to overcome 
 ly that we may here notice the renjarkable; them. In either case, we were opposed by 
 fact, that, though vested with unusual pow- the same savage foe, and the country was 
 
 ers. General Harrison was never known, 
 during the whole of his command, to ex- 
 ercise his authority in an unjust or oppres- 
 sive manner. His measures were ener- 
 getic, but always qualified by his charac- 
 teristic moderation and humanity, and by a 
 
 almost inaccessible from the same causes 
 — its unhealthiness at that season of the 
 year and its extensive and treacherous 
 swamps, the passes through which were 
 known only to the lioslile Indians by whom 
 they Avere occupied — with perhaps, in the 
 
 due regard for the feelings of every soldier two cases, but this difference only, that the 
 in his camp. northern Indians are well known to be 
 
 This appointment, it should be remem- much fiercer and more formidable warriors 
 bered too, was not obtained by General than their southern brethren, and that, du 
 Harrison by any party or personal infln- ring the whole of this campaign, they were 
 
 ence, but was conferred upon him in com- 
 pliance with the almost unanimous wishes 
 of the western people ; and by a President 
 who, when Secretary of Stale under Jef- 
 
 kept constantly supplied, by the British, 
 
 with more effective arms and ammunition. 
 
 Yet all these difficulties and obstacles 
 
 gave way to the activity and enterprise of 
 
Victory of the Thames. 
 
 19 
 
 General Harrison. During the ensuing 
 campaign, his vigilance and intrepidity, 
 wiih tlie bravery of l;is soldiers, enabled 
 him to keep a far superior force in check, 
 and to protect the wide extent of our ex- 
 posed frontier. Otir forts were ably de- 
 fended, and our troops gallandy repelled 
 every attack of the enemy, except in some 
 few instances, where they were assailed 
 by overwhelming numbers. 
 
 As General Harrison increased his strength, 
 he began to act on the offensive ; and after 
 forcing the enemy to abandon our territory, 
 lie commenced making preparations to 
 carry the war into their own country. 
 
 Commodore Perry had been instructed 
 to co-operate with General Harrison, with 
 the fleet under his command, and by a 
 happy coincidence, that gallant hero gained 
 fiis glorious victory on Lake Erie, and cap- 
 tured the entire squadron of the enemy, 
 just about the time when General Harrison 
 had matured his plans for the invasion of 
 Canada. 
 
 INVASION OF CANADA. 
 
 On the 27th of September, 1813, our 
 troops embarked at Sandusky Bay, and 
 crossing lo llie Canada shore, took posses- 
 sion of Maiden, which stronghold Proctor, 
 the British general, had abamloned on their 
 approach. 
 
 Our army advanced rapidly in pursuit of 
 the enemy, and overtook them on the 5th 
 of October, near the Moravian town, on the 
 river Thames, a place which is destined to 
 be remembered as the battle ground of one 
 of the most remarkable and decisive actions 
 fought during the war. 
 
 VICTORY OF THE THAMES. 
 
 General Proctor, having had his clioice 
 of ground, occupied a strong position, 
 well selected lo resist the progress of our 
 army. It was flanked on the left by the 
 river Thames, and supported by artillery, 
 find on the right, by two extensive swamps, 
 running nearly parallel to the river. The 
 British regtdars were formed in open order, 
 in two extended lines. The Indians were 
 commanded by Tecumthe in person. Their 
 left flank was posted on the isthmus between 
 the two swamps, and their riglit extended 
 down the principal marsh. 
 
 General Harrison drew up one division 
 of his infantry in a double line reaching 
 from the river to the swamp, opposite 
 
 Proctor's troops, and tlie other division at 
 right angles to the first, with its front ex- 
 tending along the swamp, with the view of 
 preventing the Indians from turning his 
 left flank, and attacking him in the rear, 
 Johnson's mounted regiment was placed in 
 front of the infantry. 
 
 The American army advanced in order 
 of battle, and when in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of the enemy, the reconnoitering 
 parlies brought in intelligence of the dis- 
 positions Proctor had made. Harrison, 
 witli the rapid decision of an able general, 
 saw at once the egregious error of his op- 
 ponent, and instantly took advantage of it. 
 Aware that troops formed in open order 
 could not resist a vigorous charge of caval- 
 ry, he immediately ordered Colonel John- 
 son to form his regiment of mounted men, 
 and dash through the enemy's line in close 
 column. The charge was rapidly made, 
 and with tlie most biilliant success. The 
 extended and weakened line of the enemy 
 could off'er but a feeble resistance lo the 
 charge of these gallant troops, who dashed 
 through their ranks with overwhelming im- 
 petuosity, and formed and attacked them in 
 the rear. Panic-struck by this bold and 
 unexpected manoeuvre, and at being assailed 
 both in front and rear, the British threw 
 down their arms in dismay, and the whole 
 army was captured, with the exception of 
 a few who escaped by an early flight with 
 Proctor. The Indians attacked our troops 
 on the left, and fought with great fierceness 
 and daring, until their renowned chief Te- 
 cumthe was slain, when they fled precipi- 
 tately from the contest, after sutrering a 
 severe loss. 
 
 This decisive and important battle was 
 thus fought and won, in a space of time 
 almost incredibly short, and with a very 
 trifling loss only on our side. All the bag- 
 gage of the enemy, and their valuable mili- 
 tary stores, together with the oflicial papers 
 of Proctor fell into our hands ; and several 
 pieces of brass cannon, which had been 
 taken from the British in our revoli;lionary 
 victories at Saratoga and Yorklown, but 
 which Hull had shamefully surreiidcreu at 
 Detroit, were again captured from our an- 
 cient foe. 
 
 The united force of the British regulars 
 and Indians engaged in this battle, amount- 
 ed to more than 2800 ; the number of our 
 troops was less than 2500, and these were 
 principally militia and volunteers. Tho 
 venerable Governor Shelby commanded the 
 
20 
 
 Eesignation of General Harrison. 
 
 Kentucky volunteers in this bntilc, sn<\\ scalping knife of the ruthless savage of 
 Creneral Cass, oiir present minister iothe wilderness, and fom the slill more 
 France, nnd the heroic Perry, acted as ] sf/yf/g-e Proctor, rest on Harrison and 
 vohinteer aids to General Harrison. This his gal/ant army.'' But ilie feelings that 
 briliianl victory, following »ip the capture! prompted these frratefiil expressions were 
 of their fleet on Lake Erie by the gallanljnot confined to those Slates in the more 
 Perry, entirely destroyed the force of the' immediate neighbourhood of llie seat of 
 enemy in Upper Canada, and put an end war, but were universal throughout the 
 to the war on our norti)western frontier. countr}\ 
 
 Upon tliis, as well as former expeditions,; Having entirely defeated the enemy in 
 General Harrison adopted a rule, on all oc-; Upper Canada, General Harrison advanced 
 casions, to favour himself in nothing, butjwitli a part of his army to the Niagara 
 
 share equally with the common soldiers 
 the fatigues and hardships of the campaign. 
 
 frontier, and thence to Sackett's Harbour, 
 where he left the troops and proceeded to 
 
 A small valise contained all his baggage,; the seat of government. On his way 
 except his bedding, which consisted of a' thither, he passed through New York and 
 single blanket only, fastened over his sad-' Philadelphia ; in which cities he was re- 
 dle ; and even tliis he gave to Colonel | ceived, by the whole population, with the 
 Evans, a British officer, who was wounded most flattering marks of public honour and 
 and taken prisoner in this battle. Thirty- 1 distinction. Afier the necessary delay of 
 five British officers, prisoners of vvar,|a few days at Washington, General Har- 
 supped with General Harrison, on ihe| rison proceeded to Ohio, where important 
 night after the battle, and all the fare he: duties required his presence, 
 had it in his power to offer them was fresh 
 beef, jilainly roasted before a camp-fire,] 
 
 without either bread or salt. This had ^ general Harrison resigns his commission 
 been the food of the army during the cxpe-: in the army. 
 
 dition, and the rations of the General werej 
 
 always precisely iliose of the soldiers. On; In the plan for the ensuing campaign, to 
 every occasion, indeed, he made it a point, the surprise and regret of the public, Gene- 
 to set an example of fortitude and patience ral Harrison was designated for a service 
 to his men, and to share with them every far inferior to that which he had a right U> 
 hardship, difficulty, and danger. Whether expect. Regardless of the memorable vic- 
 encamped or marching, the whole army! lories which ihis gallant and experienced 
 was regularly under arms at daybreak; and! officer had won, and unmindful of the va- 
 liowever severe the weather, he never rious and important services which he had 
 
 failed to be present, and indeed was gene- 
 rally the first officer on horseback in the 
 whole army. 
 
 On receiving the glorious news of the 
 victory of the Thames, the thanks of Con- 
 gress were expressed to General Harrison 
 
 rendered to his country, the Secretary of 
 War, the notorious John Armstrong, saw 
 fit to assign to him the command of a dis- 
 trict where he would be compelled to re- 
 main inactive, while others were appointed 
 to those more arduous duties which he 
 
 in the warmest manner. Among many! had heretofore fulfilled with so much ho- 
 others, whose grateful feelings found utter- nour to himself, and to the nation. As if 
 ance on this occasion, the Hon. Langdon still unsatisfied with this egregious insult 
 Cheves observed, on the floor of Congress, which he had ofl'ered to General Harrison, 
 ihai — " The victory of Harrison was such the Secretary of War, on the 25th of April, 
 as would have secured to a Roman general | 1814, appointed a subordinate officer to a 
 in the best days of the Republic, the ho-; separate command within his district, and 
 nours of a triumph."— A sentiment which: notified him to that effect. On the receipt 
 was fully responded to in the complimen-, of this notification. General Harrison in- 
 tary notices which he received from every istantly sent in his resignation to the Secre- 
 partof the Union. Simon Snyder, who, tary of War, and at the same time addressed 
 was then Governor of Pennsylvania, and, a letter on the subject to President Madi- 
 the idol of the democracy of that State, son, couched in such simple yet manly 
 said in his message to the Legislature, on language, and expressive of such noble 
 Jhis occasion, "7'AeWc.9sing-so////owsa?i(/?|sentiments, that we cannot refrain from 
 of women and children rescued from the quoting it. 
 
General HarrisoiVs reasons for resigning. 
 
 21 
 
 HARRISON S LETTER TO PRESIDENT 
 MADISON. 
 
 '•1 have this d;iy," said General Harrison, 
 "forvvardeti to the Secretary of War my re- 
 sin^natioii of the commission I hold in the 
 army. 
 
 "This measure has not been determined on 
 without a reference to all the reasons which 
 should influence a citizen who is sincerely 
 attached to the honour and interests of his 
 country, who believes tliat the war in which 
 we are engaged is just and necessary; and 
 that the crisis requires the sacrifice of every 
 private consideration, which could stand in 
 opposition to the public good. But after giv- 
 ing- this subject a most mature consideration, 
 I am perfectly convinced that my retiring 
 from the army is as compatible with the 
 claims of patriotism, as it is wiih those of 
 my family, and a proper regard for my own 
 feelings aiid honour. 
 
 '* I have no other motive for writing this 
 letter, than to assure you, that my resignation 
 was not produced by any diminution of the 
 interest which I have always taken in the 
 success of your administration, or of respect 
 and attachment for your person. The for- 
 mer can only take place when I forget the 
 republican principles in which I have been 
 educated, and the latter, when I shall cease 
 to regard those feelings which must actuate 
 every honest man, who is conscious of favours 
 that it is out of his power to repay." 
 
 As soon as Governor Shelby heard of 
 the resignation of General Harrison, he 
 lost no time in addressing the President in 
 his usual forcible terms, to prevent its be- 
 ing accepted; but, unfortunately for the 
 public interests, the President was then on 
 a visit to Virginia, to which place the letters 
 from General Harrison and Governor Shelby 
 were forwarded, and that of the latter was 
 not received until after Secretary Arm- 
 strong, without the previous consent of the 
 President, had assumed to himself the higli 
 prerogative of accepting the resignation. 
 The President expressed his deep regret 
 that the letter of Governor Shelby had not 
 been received earlier, as in that case the 
 valuable services of General Harrison would 
 have been preserved to the nation in the 
 ensuing campaign. 
 
 GENERAL HARRISOn's MOTIVES FOR 
 RESIGNING. 
 
 In this resignation, General Harrison \ 
 displayed the true patriotism and disinte-i 
 restedness, which have always marked his! 
 conducl. He would cheerfully have de- j 
 voted his services to his country, even in. 
 
 an appointment inferior to thai which 
 should have been assigned to him ; but he 
 was loo high-principled to retain his rank, 
 by yielding assent to a measure, wliich he 
 considered to be subversive of military 
 order and discipline ; and though his own 
 fortune had been shattered by the neglect 
 of his private alTairs, for the benefit of the 
 public, and it would therefore have been 
 exceedingly convenient to have retaineil 
 the rank and pay of a major general ; yet 
 he scorned to receive the emoluments of 
 his office, when he was no longer per- 
 mitted to perform its duties actively and 
 honourably. 
 
 It would be difficult at this period to 
 trace out tlie true motives that induced the 
 Secretary of War to the unjustifiable course 
 he pursued in this affair. But some know- 
 ledge of those events of the war in whieh 
 he bore a part, with a little insight into 
 human nature, would suggest that the lead- 
 ing causes which prompted him, were the 
 envy and jealousy, which a narrow-minded 
 man would naturally feel, on contrasting 
 his own feeble efforts, and abortive at- 
 tempts, with the consummate skill, the 
 brilliant victories, and tlie almost uniform 
 successes of another. That he had acted 
 in an arbitrary and unwarrantable manner, 
 was afterwards clearly proved. And in the 
 investigation which took place in Congress 
 in the winter of 1816-17, it became so 
 evident that General Harrison had been 
 treated with great injustice by the war 
 department, that a resolution, giving him a 
 gold medal and the thanks of Congress, 
 was passed, with but one dissenting voice 
 in both houses of Congress. 
 
 GENERAL HARRISOn's MILITARY SERVICES. 
 
 The leading events in the campaign of 
 1812-13, — the gallant defence of Fort 
 Meigs, and the decisive victory of the 
 Thames, are lasting memorials of General 
 Harrison's military genius. Yet, for those 
 isolated actions, he deserves far less praise 
 than for the skilful operations and the 
 Fabian policy, which led to these and other 
 successes. The prudent care and indefati- 
 gable exertions, by which he provided for 
 his army in a wild and almost impassable 
 country — the promptness and unwearied 
 activity, with which he met and defeated 
 the schemes of his antagonists — and the 
 admirable bkill, with which he held in 
 check an enemy far superior in numbers, 
 
22 
 
 Gov. Harrison elected a Representative to Congress. 
 
 and with a small force [)rotecled an ex- reports; ani], in compliance with his re- 
 tended line of frontier, antl guarded the quest, a committee of seven was appointed 
 lives and properly of thousands of his j for that purpose. This committee, after a 
 fellow-citizens, betokened a genius of the lliiorough and minute examination of every 
 highest order, widi a vigorous mind con-|thing relating to the subject, wnan?wiows/_(/ 
 stantly on the alert. 
 
 GENERAL HARRISON IS APPOINTED COMMIS- 
 SIONER TO TREAT WITH THE INDIANS. 
 
 Having resigned his commission in the 
 army, General Harrison retired to his farm 
 at North Bend, fifteen miles below Cin- 
 cinnati. 
 
 Soon after his resignation, in the sum- 
 mer of 1814, President Madison evinced 
 an unabated confidence in his abilities and 
 integrity by appointing him to treat with 
 the Indians, in conjunction with his old 
 companions in arms. Governor Shelby and 
 General Cass. In the following year, he 
 was placed at the head of another com- 
 mission, appointed to treat with the north- 
 w-estern tribes. The honourable and advan- 
 tageous treaties made in both these cases, 
 afforded new instances of the unfailing 
 success, that has always attended General 
 Harrison's negotiations with t!ie Indians. 
 
 In 181G, he was elected, by a large 
 majority, a member of the House of Re- 
 ])resentaiives in Congress, from Ohio. 
 
 A short time prior to this election, cer- 
 tain malicious and defamatory reports had 
 been widely circulated against General 
 Harrison. His brilliant career, his re- 
 markable popularity, and his almost in- 
 variable success had naturally excited the 
 envy and jealousy of many of those with 
 whom he had necessarily associated, and 
 whose ignorance and incompetency had 
 been rendered more conspicuous in con- 
 trast with the singii^^fr skill and ability 
 evinced by him. In addition to this, he 
 had incurred the bitter enmiiy of certain 
 army-contractors, whose fraudulent designs 
 had been delected and foiled by his care- 
 ful vigilance. Disappointed and moriified 
 by the disgrace of itjis detection and expo- 
 sure, these persons had endeavoured to 
 avenge themselves by spreading abroad 
 reports that General Harrison, while in 
 command of the army, had been partial, 
 unjust, and otherwise improper in h.is con- 
 duct, in relation to the commissariat de- 
 partment. Conscious of his integrity. 
 General Harrison, soon after he had taken 
 liis seat in the House, demanded an inves- 
 tigation by Congress of these calumnious 
 
 reported through their chairman Richard 
 M. Johnson, (now Vice-President of the 
 United States,) that the charged against 
 General Harrison were false and nn- 
 foiinded, — that he " slood above suspi- 
 cion,^' and " that he was, in his measures, 
 governed solely by a proper zeal and de- 
 votion to the public interest.'" 
 
 Soon after General Harrison took his 
 seat in Congress, he was made chairman 
 of the Military (Committee. Early in the 
 session he offered the loUowing resolution, 
 which was aoreed to without a division : 
 
 "Resolved, that the military comniittee be 
 instructed to inquire into the expediency of 
 providing by law for the relief of such of the 
 officers and soldiers, who, having faithfully 
 served in the armies of the United States, are 
 now in distressed circumstances, and who, 
 not having received wounds or disabilities, 
 wliilst in actual service, are excluded from 
 the benefits of the pension laws, and that the 
 said committee report by bill or otherwise." 
 
 On the 30lh of January, he moved that 
 the military committee be instructed to 
 inquire into the expediency of granting a 
 bounty of one hundred and sixty acres of 
 land to all non-commissioned officers and 
 soldiers of the army, who, having been 
 enlisted previous to the 24th of December, 
 1811, are not entitled to said bounty, but 
 who, having served faithfully through said 
 war, have obtained an honourable dis- 
 charge. 
 
 These resolutions laid the foundation for 
 those measures " which encircle the fame of 
 this republic with a glory the ancient re- 
 publics could not boast of, by exhibiting to 
 the world the most beautiful example on 
 record, of a nation's gratitude." 
 
 During the session of 1817-18, a bill 
 was before the house to increase the com- 
 pensation of members of Congress from 
 six to nine dollars per day; and on motion 
 to strike out " nine" and insert " six" 
 dollars as the daily pay, General Harrison 
 said that 
 
 "In explaining what would otherwise ap- 
 pear an inconsistency in the vote lie was 
 about to give, lie was aware that in order to 
 preserve in Congress talents of a proper grade, 
 and to enable men of iTioderaie properly to 
 come to Congress without a loss, a higher 
 conipensatioa was necessary than had hereto- 
 
Harrison'' s Justice to the Solclie?'s of the Revolution. 
 
 23 
 
 fore been allowed to members of Congress, and beloved and respected by the officers for 
 But," said lie, " holding as we do, the key of the goodness of his iicart, and the great 
 the treasury, we ought not to do ourselves qualities of his mind. 
 
 even justice, before we do it to others, wJiose\ "Contributing greatly, by his exertions, to 
 claims are stronger, and of longer standing. \he establishment of the independence of 
 Whenever justice shall be done to the America, he might have remained, and shared 
 SUFFERERS IN THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION, j the blossings it dispensed, under the protection 
 AND NOT TILL THEN, I SHALL BE PREPARED TO of achicf vvho loved and houourcd him, and in 
 
 DO JUSTICE TO OURSELVES. 
 
 On the 2J of January, 1818, General 
 Harrison introduced the following resolu- 
 tion, and supported it by a most touching 
 and eloquent appeal to the house. 
 
 "Resolved, That a committee be appointed 
 jointly with such committee as may be ap 
 
 the bosom of a grateful and affectionate people. 
 " Kosciusko had, however, other views. It 
 is not known that, until the period I am 
 speaking of, he had formed any distinct idea 
 of what could, or indeed what ought, to be done 
 for his own country. But in the revolutionary 
 war, he drank deeply of the principles which 
 produced it. In his conversations with the 
 
 pointed by the Senate, to consider and report intelligent men of our country, he acquired 
 what measures it maybe proper to adopt, to new views of the science of government 
 manifest the public respect for the memory of and the rights of man, he had seen too 
 General Thaddeus Kosciusko, formerly an 'that to be tree it was only necessary that a 
 officer in the service of the United States, and nation should will it, and to be happy it 
 the uniform and distinguished friend of liberty was only necessary that a nation should be 
 and the rights of man. free. And was it not i)ossible to procure 
 
 "The public papers have announced an event these blessings for Poland ? For Poland, the 
 which is well calculated to excite the sym- country of his birth, which had a claim to all 
 pathy of every American bosom. Kosciusko, his efforts, to all his services 1 That unhappy 
 the martyr of liberty, is no more! We are, nation groaned under a complication of evils 
 informed that he died at Soleure, in France, ' which has scarcely a parallel in history, 
 some time in October last. The mass of the people were the abject slaves 
 
 "In tracing the events of this great man's of the nobles — the nobles, torn into factions, 
 life, we find in him that consistency of con- were alternately the instruments and the vic- 
 duct which is the more to be admired as it is^tims of their powerful and ambitious neigh- 
 so rarely to be met with. He was not at one hours. By intrigue, corruption and force, 
 time the friend of mankind, and at another the some of its fairest provinces had been sepa- 
 instrument of their oppression, but he pre-!rated from the republic, and the people, like 
 served throughout his whole career those noble! beasts, transferred to foreign despots, who 
 principles which distinguished him in its | were again watching for a favourable moment 
 commencement — which ii.fluenced him at an ^ for a second dismemberment. To regenerate 
 early period of his life to leave his country and a people thus debased— to obtain for a^country 
 his friends, and in another hemisphere to fight thus circumstanced, the blessings of liberty 
 
 for the rights of humanity. 
 
 " Kosciusko was born and educated in Poland, 
 of a noble and distinguished family — a coun- 
 try where the distinctions in society are per- 
 haps carried to greater lengths than in any 
 
 and independence, was a work of as much 
 difficulty as danger. But to a mind like 
 Kosciusko's, the difficulty and danger of an 
 enterprise served as stimulants to undertake it. 
 "The annals of these times give us no de- 
 
 other. His Creator had, however, endowed tailed account of the progress of Kosciusko in 
 him with a soul capable of rising above thej accomplishing his great work, from the period 
 narrow prejudices of a caste, and of breaking of his return from America to the adoption of 
 
 the shackles which a vicious education had 
 imposed on his mind. 
 
 " When very young, he was informed, by the 
 
 pti 
 the new constitution of Poland, in 1791. 
 This interval, however, of apparent inaction, 
 - . _ ., was most usefully employed to illumine the 
 
 voiceof Fame, that the standard of liberty had mental darkness which enveloped his coun- 
 been erected in America; that an insulted and trymen. To stimulate the ignorant and 
 oppressed people had determined to be free, | bigoted peasantry with the hope of future 
 or perish in the attempt. His ardent and ' emancipation— to teach a proud but gallant 
 generous mind caught with enthusiasm thej nobility that true glory is only to be found in 
 holy flame, and from that moment he became the paths of duty and patriotism— interests the 
 the devoted soldier of liberty. |most opposed, prejudices the most stubborn, 
 
 "His rank in the American army afforded , and habits the most inveterate, were recon- 
 him no opportunity to distinguish himself. | ciled, dissipated and broken, by the ascen- 
 But he was remarked throughout his service,; dancy of his virtues and example. The sitorm 
 for all the qualities which adorn the human; which he had foreseen, and for which he had 
 character. His heroic conduct in the field, been preparing, at length burst upon Poland, 
 could only be equalled by his moderation and A feeble and unpopular government bent 
 affability in the walks of private life. He before its fury, and submitted itself to the 
 was idolized by the soldiers for his bravery,' Russian yoke of the invader. But the natioa 
 
24 
 
 Harrison's tribute to Kosciusko. 
 
 disdained to follow its example; in their 
 extremity every eye was turned on the hero 
 who had already 
 sagfe who had 
 
 fought their battles — the 
 enliirhtened thenj, and liie 
 
 "' Hope for a season bade the world farewell. 
 And freedona shriek'd when Kosciusko fell.' 
 
 " He fell covered with wounds, but still sur- 
 
 patriot who had set the example of personal ) vived. A Cossack would have pierced his 
 gacrifices to accomplish the emancipation of breast, when an officer interposed. 'SufTer 
 
 the people 
 
 " Kosciusko was unanimously appointed jre- 
 neralissimo of Poland, with unlimited powers, 
 until the enemy should be driven from the 
 
 him to execute his purpose,' said the bleeding 
 hero. 'I am the devoted soldier of my country, 
 and will not survive its liberties.' The name 
 of Kosciusko struck to the heart of the Tartar, 
 
 country. On his virtue the nation reposedjlike that of Marius upon the Cimbrian vvar- 
 with the utmost confidence; and it is somejrior. The uplifted weapon dropped from his 
 consolaiion to reflect, amidst the general de-, hand. 
 
 pravity of mankind, that two instances, in the 
 same acre, have occurred, where powers of 
 this kind were employed solely for the pur- 
 poses for which they were given. 
 
 " It is not my intention, sir, to follow the 
 Polish chief throughout the career of victory. 
 
 " Kosciusko was conveyed to the dungeons 
 of Petersburgh — and, to the eternal disgrace 
 of the Empress Catherine, she made him the' 
 object of her vengeance, when he could no 
 longer be the object of her fears. Her more 
 generous son restored him to liberty. The 
 
 which, for a considerable lime crowned his remainder of his life has been spent m vir- 
 eflbrls. Guided by his talents, and led by | tuous retirement. Whilst in this situation in 
 his valour, his undisciplined, iily-armed . France, an anecdote is related of him •which 
 militia charged with effect the veteran Rus-| strongly illustrates the command which his 
 sian and Pru?siari: the mailed cuirassiers of, virtues and his services had obtained over the 
 the great Frederic, for the first time, broke minds of his countrymen, 
 and fled before the lighter and appropriate " In the late invasion of France, some Polish 
 
 cavalry of Poland. Hope filled the breast 
 of the patriots. After a long night, the dawn 
 of an apparently glorious day broke upon 
 Poland. But to the discerning eye of Kosci- 
 usko, the light which it shed was of that 
 sickly and portentous appearance, indicating 
 a storm more dreadful tlian that which he had 
 resisted. 
 
 " He prepared to meet it with firmness, 
 but with means entirely inadequate. To the 
 advantages of numbers, of tactics, of disci- 
 pline, and inexhaustible resources, the com- 
 bined despots had secured a faction in the 
 heart of Poland. And' if that country can 
 boast of having produced its Washington, it 
 is disgraced also by giving birth to a second 
 Arnold. The day at length came which was 
 to decide the fate of a nation and a hero. 
 Heaven for wise purposes, determined that it 
 should be the last of Polish liberty. It was 
 ilecided, indeed, before the battle commenced. 
 The traitor Poniski, who covered with a 
 
 regiments, in the service of Russia, passed 
 through the village in which he lived. Some 
 pillaging of the inhabitants brought Kosciusko 
 from his cottage. ' When I was a Polish 
 soldier,' said he, addressing the plunderers, 
 ♦the property of the peaceful citizen was re- 
 spected.' 'And who art thou,' said an officer, 
 ' who addresses us with this tone of autho- 
 rity ■?' ' I ara Kosciusko.' — There was magic 
 in the word. It ran from corps to corps. 
 The march was suspended. They gathered 
 round him, and gazed, with astonishment and 
 awe, upon the mighty ruin he presented. 
 ' Could it indeed be their hero,' whose fame 
 was identified with that of their country ■? A 
 thousand interesting reflections burst upon 
 their minds; they remembered his patriotism, 
 his devotion to liberty, his triumph, and his 
 glorious fall. Their iron hearts were softened, 
 and the tears of sensibility trickled down their 
 weatherbeaten faces. We can easily con- 
 ceive, sir, what would be the feelings of the 
 
 detachment the advance of the Polish army, j hero himself in such a scene. His great 
 
 heart must have heaved with emotion, to find 
 himself once more surrounded by the compa- 
 nions of his glory ; and that he would have 
 been upon the point of saying to thern— 
 
 abandoned his position lo the enemy, and 
 retreated. 
 
 " Kosciusko was astonished, but not dismay- 
 ed. The disposition of his army would have 
 done honour to Hannibal. The succeeding 
 conflict was terrible. When the talents of 
 the general could no longer direct the mingled 
 mass of combatants, the arm of the warrior 
 was brought to the aid of his soldiers. He 
 performed prodigies of valour. The fabled 
 prowess of Ajax, in defending the Grecian 
 
 " ♦ Behold your general, come once mora 
 To lead you on to laurell'd victory, 
 To fame, to freedom.' 
 
 "The delusion could have lasted but for a 
 moment. He was himself, alas ! a miserable 
 ships, was realized by the Polish hero. Nor cripple ; and, for them ! they were no longer 
 was he badly seconded by his troops. As long, the soldiers of liberty, but the instruments ot 
 as his voice could guide, or his example fire ambition and tyranny. Overwhelmed with 
 their valour, they were irresistible. In this grief at the reflection, he would 
 unequal contest, Kosciusko was long seen. 
 
 and finally lost to their view. 
 
 retire to his 
 cottage, to mourn afresh over the miseries of 
 his country. 
 
Harrisori's Speech on the Seminole War. 
 
 26 
 
 «* Suchwas the man, sir, for whose memory 
 I ask from an AniPrican Congress, a sligltt 
 tribute of respect. Not, sir, to perpetuate his 
 fame — but our <rratitude. His fame will last 
 as long as liberty remains upon the earth ; as 
 loncf as a votary offers incense upon her altar, 
 ihe'name of Kosciusko will be invoked. And 
 
 aorree with me that General Jackson has done 
 wronor, 1 must be permitted to decline the use 
 of the address which he has so oblitrintrly pre- 
 pared for us, and substitute the following, as 
 more consonant to our views and opinions. If 
 the resolutions pass, I would address him thus: 
 ' In the performance of a sacred duty imposed 
 
 if, by the common consent of the world, a by their construction of the constitution, the 
 temple shall be erected to those who have representatives of the people have found it 
 rendered 
 
 most service to mankind, if the 
 statue of our great countryman shall occupy 
 the place of the ' most worthy,' that of Kosci- 
 usko will be found by his side, and the wreath 
 of laurel will be entwined with the palm of 
 virtue to adorn iiis brow." 
 
 GENERAL HARRISON's SPEECH ON THE 
 SEMINOLE WAR. 
 
 During tliis session, there occurred in 
 the House of Representatives, the interest- 
 ing debate on the resolution to censure 
 General Jackson for his conduct in the 
 Seminole war. On liiis occasion General 
 Harrison delivered an able and eloquent 
 speech. It was one of the finest efforts 
 elicited at this time, and was characterized 
 by a spirit of manly independence and 
 patriotic impartiality. It concluded in 
 these words : 
 
 " If the highes't services could claim indein- 
 nity for crime, then mijjht the conqueror of 
 PlalBea have been suffered to continue his 
 usurpations until he had erected a throne upon 
 the ruins of Grecian liberty, Sir, it will not 
 be understood that I mean to compare General 
 Jacksen with these men. No; I believe thai 
 the principles of the patriot are as firmly fixed 
 in his bosom as those of the soldier. But a 
 republican government should make no dis- 
 y-tinctions between men, and should never relax 
 / its maxims of security for any individual, how- 
 ever distinguished. No man should be al- 
 lowed to say that he could do that with im- 
 punity which another could not do. If the 
 Father of his Country were alive, and in the 
 administration of the government, and had au- 
 thorized the taking of the Spanish posts, I 
 would declare my disapprobation as readily as 
 I do now. Nay, more — because the more dis- 
 tinguished the individual, the more salutary 
 the example. No one can tell how soon such 
 an example may be beneficial. General Jacli- 
 6on will be faithful to his country; but I recol- 
 lect that the virtues and patriotism of Fabius 
 and Scipio, were soon followed by the crimes 
 of Marius and the usurpation of Sylla, I am 
 sure, sir, that it is not the intention of any gen- 
 tleman upon this floor to rob General Jackson 
 of a single ray of glory ; much less to wound 
 his feelings, or injure his reputation. And 
 wliilst I thank my friend from Mississippi, 
 (Mr, Poindexier,) in ihe name of those who 
 
 necessary to disapprove a single act of your 
 brilliant career; they have done it in the full 
 conviction that the hero who has guarded her 
 rights in the field, will bow with reverence to 
 the civil institutions of his country — that he 
 has admitted as his creed that the character of 
 ihe soldier can never be complete without 
 eternal reference to the character of the citi- 
 zen. Your country has done for you all that 
 a country can do for the most favoured of her 
 sons. The age of deification is past; it was 
 an age of tyranny and barbarism : the adora- 
 tion of man should be addressed to his Creator 
 alone. You have been feasted in the Pritanes 
 of the cities. Your statue shall be placed in 
 the Capitol, and your name be found in the 
 songs of the virgins. Go, gallant chief, and 
 bear with you the gratitude of your country. 
 Go, under the full conviction, that as her glory 
 is identified with yours, she has nothing more 
 dea^to her than her laws, nothing more sacred 
 than her constitution. Even an unintentional 
 error should be sanctified to her service. It 
 will teach posterity that the government which 
 could disapprove the conduct of a Marcellus, 
 will have the fortitude to crush the vices of a 
 Marius,' 
 
 "These sentiments, sir, lead to results in 
 which all must unite. General Jackson will 
 stiil live in the hearts of his fellow-citizens, 
 and the constitution of your country will be 
 immortal." 
 
 In 1816, a resolution was introduced in 
 the Senate of the United Stales, voting 
 gold medals and the thanks of Congress to 
 General Harrison and Governor Shelby. 
 Owing to the opposition of personal ene- 
 mies, and to certain charges, which as we 
 have before said, were triumphantly refuted, 
 an unsuccessful effort was made to strike 
 out General Harrison's name. On hearing 
 of this attempt. Governor Shelby, immedi- 
 ately wrote to his old commander as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " Don't let the conduct of the Senate disturb 
 your mind. I hope their resolution has been 
 laid over as to both of us. 'I'he moment I 
 heard of the course it was like to take, I wrote 
 instantly to Mr. Clay, and expressed my regret 
 that it had been introduced, and how mortified 
 I should feel to be noticed, if you were not in<= 
 eluded who had rendered ten times more ser* 
 vice to ih9 nation than I had*" 
 
26 
 
 Calumny refuted. 
 
 Soon afier, the select committee, appoint- 
 ed to investigate the charges brouglu against 
 General Harrison, made llie report to wiiich 
 we have before referred — in which they 
 fully acquitted him of all these charges, and 
 staled that in their unanimous opinion, he 
 stood above suspicion, and that he was in 
 his meanires governed by the proper zeal 
 and devotion to the public interest. 
 
 On the 24lh of March, 1818, Mr. Dick- 
 erson, formerly Governor of New Jersey, 
 and late Secretary of War, under an ap- 
 pointment from President Jackson, again in- 
 troduced the resolution votiofj gold medals, 
 and the thanks of Congress to Harrison 
 and Shelby, and sustained the resolution 
 by an eloquent eulogium on the services of 
 General Harrison, It passed the Senate 
 by a unanimous vote, and was concurred 
 in by the House with but one dissenting 
 voice. It is as follows : 
 
 "Resolved, by the Senate and House of 
 Representatives of the United Slates of Ame- 
 rica, in Congress assembled, That the thanks 
 of Congress be, and they are hereby presented 
 to Major-General William Henry Harrison, 
 and Isaac Siielby, late Governor of Kentucky, 
 and through them to the officers and men un- 
 der their command, for their gallantry and good 
 conduct in defeating the combined British and 
 Indian forces, under Major-General Proctor, on 
 the Thames, in Upper Canada, on the fifth' 
 day of October, one thousand eight hundred 
 and thirteen, capturing the British army, with 
 their baggage, camp equipage, and artillery ; 
 and that the President of the United States be 
 requested to cause two gold medals to be 
 struck, emblematical of this triumph, and pre- 
 sented to General Harrison, and Isaac Shelby, 
 late Governor of Kentucky. 
 
 " H. Clay, 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
 
 " John Gaillard, 
 President of the Senate, pro tempore. 
 
 " April 4th, 1818 Approved. 
 
 " James Monroe." 
 
 On the expiration of General Harrison's 
 term of service in the House of Represen- 
 tatives of the United States, he was elected 
 to the Senate of Ohio. One of his votes, 
 while serving in this station, has been so 
 perverted as to give rise to the absurd 
 charge that he voted in favour of a law to 
 sell white persons, imprisoned under a 
 judgment for debt, for a term of years, if 
 ihey could not otherwise discharge the 
 execution. This charge is utterly false. 
 But it cannot be better refuted, than by 
 
 inserting the letter written bv General 
 Harrison to the editor of the' paper in 
 which this charge first appeared. 
 
 " North Bend, 22d December, 1821. 
 
 "Sir— In your paper of the 15ih instant, I 
 observed a most violent attack upon eleven 
 other members of the late Senate and myself, 
 for a supposed vole given at the last session 
 for the passatje of a law to ' sell debtors in 
 certain cases.' If such had been our conduct, 
 I acknowledge that we should not only deserve 
 the censure which the writer has bestowed on 
 us, but the execration of every honest man in 
 society. An act of this kind is not only 
 opposed to the principles of justice and hu- 
 manity, but would be a palpable violation of 
 the constitution of the State, which every 
 legislator is sworn to support; and sanctioned 
 by a House of Representatives and twelve 
 Senators, it would indicate a stale of depra- 
 vity which would fill every patriotic bosom 
 with the most alarming anticipations. But 
 the fact is, that no such proposition was ever 
 made in the Legislature or even thought of. 
 The act to which the writer alludes, has no 
 more relation to the collection of 'debts,' than 
 it has to the discovery of longitude. It was 
 an act for the punishment of offences against 
 the State, and that part of it which has so 
 deeply wounded the feelings of your corre- 
 spondent, was passed by the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, and voted for by the twelve Sena- 
 tors, under the impression that it was the most 
 mild and humane mode of dealing with the 
 offenders for whose cases it was intended. It 
 was adopted by the House of Representatives 
 as a part of the general system of criminal law, 
 which was then undergoing a complete revi- 
 sion and amendment; the necessity of this is 
 evinced by the following facts: for several 
 years past, it had become apparent that the 
 penitentiary system was becoming more and 
 more burdensome at every session ; a large 
 appropriation was called for to meet the ex- 
 cess of expenditure, above the receipts of the 
 establishment. In the commencement of the 
 session of 1820, the deficit amounted to near 
 twenty thousand dollars. 
 
 "This growing evil required the immediate 
 interposition of some vigorous legislative 
 measure; two were recommended as being 
 likely to produce the effect; first, placing the 
 institution under better management ; and 
 secondly, lessening the number of convicts 
 who were sentenced for short periods, and 
 whose labour was found of course to be most 
 unproductive. In pursuance of the latter 
 principle, thefts to the amount of fifty dollars, 
 or upwards, were subjected to punishment in 
 the penitentiary, instead of ten dollars, which 
 was the former minimum sum ; this was 
 easily done. But the great difficulty remain- 
 ed to determine what should be the punish- 
 
General Harrison elected to the Senate of the United States. 27 
 
 nient of those numerous larcenies below the 
 sum of fifty dollars. By some, whippinor was 
 proposed, by others, punishment by hard 
 labour in the county jails, and by others, it 
 was thought best to make Ihem work on the 
 highways. 
 
 "To all these there appeared insuperable 
 objections : fine and imprisonment was adopt- 
 ed by the House of Representatives, as the 
 only alternative; and as it was well known 
 that these vexatious pilferings were generally 
 perpetrated by the most worihless vagabonds 
 in society, it was added that when they could 
 not pay the fines and costs, which are always 
 part of the sentence and punishment, their 
 services should be sold out to any person »vho 
 would pay their fines and costs for them. 
 This was the clause which was passed, as 1 
 believe, by a unanimous vote of the House, 
 and stricken out in the Senate, in opposition 
 to the twelve who have been denotiiinated. A 
 little further trouble in examining the journals, 
 would have shown your correspondent that 
 this was considered as a substitute for whip- 
 ping, which was lost in the Senate, and in the 
 House by a small majority, after being once 
 passed. 
 
 "I think, Mr. Editor, I have said enough 
 to show that this obnoxious law would not 
 have applied to ' unfortunate debtors of sixty- 
 four years,' but to infamous offenders, who 
 depredate upon the property of their fellow- 
 citizens, and who, by the constitution of the 
 State, as well as the princijjle of existing 
 laws, were subject to involuntary servitude. 
 I must confess I had no very sanguine expec- 
 tations of beneficial effects from this measure, 
 as it would apply to convicts who had attained 
 the age of maturity. But I had supposed that 
 a woman or a youth, who was convicted of an 
 offence, and remained in jail for the payment 
 
 ciples of our constitution, and ought to be 
 abolished. I am, sir, your hunibie seivant, 
 (Signed) " VVm. Henry Harrison." 
 
 In the autumn of the following year, 
 General Harrison published an eloquent 
 atklress to the voters of his district, from 
 which we make the following quotation : 
 
 "I believe, that upon the preservation of 
 the union of the States depends the existence 
 of our civil and religious lil)erties ; and that 
 the cement which binds it together is not a 
 parcel of words, written upon paper or parch- 
 ments, but the brotherly love and regard 
 which the citizens of the several States pos- 
 sess for each other. Destroy this, and the 
 beautiful fabric which was reared and embel- 
 lished by our ancestors, crumbles into ruins. 
 From its disjointed parts no temple of liberty 
 will again be reared. Uiscord and wars will 
 succeed to peace and harmony — barbarism 
 will again overspread the land ; or, what is 
 scarcefy better, some kindly tyrant will pro- 
 mulgate the decrees of his will, from the seat 
 where a Washington and a Jefferson dis- 
 pensed the blessings of a free and equal 
 government. I believe it, therefore, to be the 
 duty of a representative to conciliate, by every 
 possible means, the members of our great 
 political family, and always to bear in mind 
 that as the union was effected only by a spirit 
 of mutual concession and forbearance, so only 
 can it be preserved.'^ 
 
 In 1824 General Harrison was elected 
 to the Senate of the United Slates ; and 
 soon after taking his seat, he was appointed 
 Chairtrian of the Military Committee, in 
 place of General Jackson, who had re- 
 
 of the fine and costs imposed, might with ^iy,,ed. While serving in this high station, 
 great advantage be transferred to the residence ,^ „ , i„,] ,,,,\„^^^.:,] 
 
 of some decent, virtuous, private family,! 
 whose precept and example would greatly ^ ^'^^^'^' 
 lend to lead them back to the paths of virtue. 
 I would appeal to the candour of your corre- 
 spondent to say whether if there were an 
 individual confined under the circumstances I 
 liave mentioned, for whose fate he was in- 
 terested, he would not gladly see him trans- 
 ferred from the filthy enclosure of a jail, and 
 the still more filthy inhabitants, to the com- 
 fortable mansion of some virtuous citizen, 
 whose admonition v/ould check his vicious 
 
 commanded universal respect. His 
 as a statesman, were liberal and 
 extended, — his remarkalile readiness in 
 debate soon rendered him a prominent 
 mentiber, — and the nervous and impassion- 
 ed eloquence, and classical felicity of illus- 
 tration, with which he enforced his argu- 
 ments, gained him much inlluence. 
 
 As Chairman of the Military Committee, 
 General Harrison introduced a bill h)r the 
 prevention of desertion in the army. 'J'his 
 
 propensities, and whose a\nhority over him [object, with his customary and generous 
 would be no more than is exercised over humanity, he proposed to effect, not by 
 thousands of apprentices in our country, and ii^c-gasing the punishntent, but by raising 
 those bound servants which are tolerated in|,j^g ,,,o,^| character of the armv i by ele- 
 our, as well as in every other State in thel^^jj,^,^ ^,^g .^j^ j,f ^,^g non-commissioned 
 Union. Far from advocating the abominable' " '^ 
 
 principles attributed to me by your correspon- 
 dent, I think that imprisonment for debt, 
 under any circumstances but those where 
 fraud is alleged, is at war with the best prin- 
 
 ofTicer ; by increasing his pay and respon- 
 sibility ; and by holding out additional 
 inducements to the common soldier ^ to 
 perforin his duty faithfully. He likewise 
 
28 
 
 Extempore Address to General Lafayette. 
 
 devoted liimself warmly to the subject of 
 military pensions ; and endeavoured lo pro- 
 cure ilie passage of a uniform law em- 
 bracing the cases of all those who then 
 were, or who should be deservjno' of that 
 species of honourable reward and justice 
 from their country. His efforts, on this 
 occasion, in favour of the surviving soldiers 
 of the revolution, will not soon be forgotten 
 by the descendants of those heroes. 
 
 GENERAL HARRISOn's ADDRESS TO 
 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 On the occasion of La Fayette's visit to 
 Cincinnati, in 1825, General VVintield 
 Scott (if we recollect right) was to have 
 addressed him on behalf of the citizens of 
 that place,"but was prevented by indisposi- 
 tion. General Harrison was then waited 
 on by the Committee of Arrangements, 
 only fifteen minutes before the arrival of 
 La Fayette. He had not lime to prepare 
 for so unexpected an honour, yet he 
 promptly obeyed the call of his fellow- 
 citizens, and delivered the following address 
 extempore : 
 
 " General La Fayette — In the name of the 
 people of Cincinnati, I bid you welcome to 
 their city. 
 
 "In other places, General, your reception 
 has been marked by a display of wealth and 
 splendour which we could not imitate, even if 
 it were not incompatible with (he simplicity of 
 manners and habits, which distinguish the 
 backwoodsmen of America. Uul let me assure 
 you, General, that in no part of the Union, or 
 the whole earth, is there to be found a greater 
 respect for your character, a warmer gratitude 
 for your services, or a more affectionate attach- 
 ment to your person, than in the bosoms ol 
 those who now surround you. 
 
 " But if we cannot rival some of our sister 
 states in the splendour of our exhibition, or in 
 the fascinating graces of a highly polished 
 society, to a mind like yours we can present 
 a more interesting spectacle— the effects of 
 those institutions, for the establishment of 
 which your whole life has been devoted, in 
 producing in the course of a few years a de- 
 gree of prosperity, and a sum of human 
 happiness, which you have seen no where 
 surpassed in the wide circuit of your tour. 
 When you last embarked for your adopted 
 country. General, the bounds of this extensive 
 State, did not contain a single white inhabitant. 
 No plough had yet marked a furrow on its 
 luxuriant soil. One unbroken mass of forest 
 equally sheltered a few miserable savages and 
 the beasts which were their prey, 
 
 " In this immense waste no human being 
 offered the song of praise or thanksgivingr to 
 the throne of the Creator: the country and its 
 inhabitants presented the same appearance of 
 wild, savage, uncultivated nature. But now 
 see the chancre : ' the wilderness and the soli- 
 tary places have been made glad, and the 
 desert to blossom as the rose.' 
 
 "There is no deception, General, in the ap- 
 pearances of prosperity which are before you. 
 This flourishing city has not been built, like 
 the proud capital on the frozen Neva, by the 
 command of a despot, directinjr the labour ot 
 obedient millions. It has been reared by the 
 hands of freemen. It is the natural niart of a 
 highly cultivated country. These crowded 
 streets are filled with the inhabitants of this 
 city and its vicinity, and are a part of the seven 
 hundred thousand Christian people who daily 
 offer up their orisons to Heaven for the innu- 
 merable blessings they enjoy. The youth who 
 form your guard of one hundred thousand en- 
 rolled freemen, whose manly bosoms are the 
 only ramparts of our State — have all assem- 
 bled to present the freewill offering of their 
 aflections to the benefactor of their country. 
 
 "Happy Chief! How different must be 
 your feelings from those of the most distin- 
 iruished commander, who, in the days of 
 Rome, conducted to the capital the miserable 
 captives, and the jrlittering spoils of an un- 
 righteous war. This, your triumph, has not 
 brought to the millions who have witnessed it, 
 a single painfid emotion. Your victories have 
 not caused a sigh from the bosom of a human 
 being, unless it be from the tyrants whose 
 power to oppress their fellow-men they have 
 curtailed. 
 
 " Happy man ! The influence of your ex- 
 ample will extend beyond the tomb. Your 
 fame, associated with that of Washington and 
 Bolivar, will convince some future Caesar, that 
 the path of duly, is the path of true glory; 
 and, that the character of a warrior can never 
 he complete, without faithfully following the 
 character of a citizen. 
 
 " Welcome ! then, companion of Washing- 
 ton, friend of Franklin, of Adams and .Teffer- 
 son ; devoted champion of Liberty, welcome I" 
 
 Harrison's support of the navy of the 
 united states. 
 
 Though early associated with the Army, 
 General Harrison nevertheless evinced an 
 equal degree of zeal and ardour in his sup- 
 port of the Navy of the United States, 
 and convinced of its national importance, 
 he availed himself of every opportunity to 
 uphold its interests and to bear testimony to 
 iis important services, and^io the gallantry 
 and jiood conduct of its officers. The ani- 
 ajaied debate which arosfi in the Senate on 
 
Harrison's sttjyport of the Navy. 
 
 29 
 
 tTie bill for the gratltial improvement of the 
 Navy, t!ie establishment of a Naval Aca- 
 demy, and for the erection of Dry Docks, 
 elicited from General Harrison one of the 
 ablest and most eloqnent speeches delivered 
 on that occasion. On the motion to lay 
 lliis bill on the table, f<ir the purpose of 
 defeating it altogether, General Harrison 
 said, that 
 
 *'Mnch as the people of the interior com- 
 plained that a sufficiency of the funds of the 
 country was not applied to internal improve- 
 ments, he should have given the bill his sup- 
 port, had it gone even farther than it does, in 
 applying the means of the country to the in- 
 crease of the Navy. Indeed, he thought no 
 policy could be better than to apply the whole 
 of the surplus fund to that ohject. No one 
 could be more fully convinced than he was of 
 the absolute necessity existing for the increase 
 of that most valuable part of our national de- 
 fence — the Navy. He could have wished that 
 the gentleman from Maine had gone further, 
 and shown that it was not necessary to pre- 
 serve timber. As to the subject of the dry 
 docks, he considered them equally necessary 
 as the ships themselves, being required for 
 refitting and enabling vessels to take the sea 
 with despatcli. The gentleman from South 
 Carolina (Mr. Hayne,) had gone into a most 
 satisfactory explanation of this portion of the 
 bill, and he should add but a few words. The 
 necessity of being able to refit ships of war at 
 a short notice, had been exemplified often in 
 lustnry ; and had, doubtless, at times decided 
 the fate of sreat victories. It was known that 
 when the English and Dutch were contending 
 for the mastery of the sea, after having fought 
 many battles, and become crippled in some 
 degree on both sides, they retired into their 
 respective ports, and contended with equal 
 vigour for the mastery in refitting. On the 
 subject of naval education, Mr. H. disagreed 
 with tiie gentleman from Maine. He had 
 said that navigation could only be learned on 
 the ocean and on board ship. This was cer- 
 tainly true as to the mere mechanical part of 
 navigation. Our ships could not, it was well 
 known, be brought on land and manoeuvred, as 
 were those of the old Romans preparatory to 
 their being carried into action. But did it 
 follow that navigation could not be learned on 
 shore as well as other sciences ] There were 
 documents before the Senate to show that 
 midshipmen, while out of employment, en- 
 joyed no means of improving themselves for 
 future service, or for cultivating those natural 
 abilities which might eventually increase the 
 renown of our country. It iiad been eloquently 
 said by the gentleman from South Carolina, 
 that the brilliant victories of our gallant navy 
 were mainly attributable to the iolelligence 
 
 of our officers. This was a just tribute to 
 those officers who had gained, during the last 
 war, such permanent glory for themselves and 
 the nation. If, then, so much had already 
 resulted from the employment of officers pos- 
 sessed not only of bravery, but of intelligence, 
 there could hardly be a doubt of the vast utility 
 and eminent policy of establishing a seminary 
 where the nsinds of our young naval officers 
 might be tutored in the science to which their 
 lives were to be devoted." 
 
 The motion was negatived, and the de- 
 bate upon the bill continued. Mr. Smithy 
 of South Carolina, moved to strike out all 
 that part of the bill which provided for the 
 erection and government of a Naval Aca- 
 demy. In support of his motion, he de- 
 livered a speech in which he ridiculed the 
 notion that education was necessary to 
 constitute efficient naval officers ; and lie 
 cited Perry, McDonough, and Rodgers, as 
 striking instances of good officers not edu- 
 cated to the profession. To this speech 
 General Harrison made a brilliant reply, 
 from which we quote the following pas- 
 sages : 
 
 " As to the naval officers, to whom the gen- 
 tleman had alluded, Mr. H. believed ho was, 
 in some of his remarks, in error. For instance, 
 Commodore Decatur did not enter the navy 
 until he was grown to manhood, and had re- 
 ceived a good education. It was also within 
 the knowledge of Mr. H. that Perry was an 
 educated man. It was an argument wiiich 
 had rather surprised him, that education would 
 not render our officers more devoted to their 
 country. He thought, on the contrary, that a 
 liberal course of instruction would serve to 
 attach them to the country. There were other 
 considerations of some importance. Numerous 
 instances might be cited in which the cha- 
 racters of men, engaged in warlike [)ursuits, 
 were humanized by education. Besides, it 
 was loo late in the day to endeavour to depre- 
 ciate the benefits of education in any class of 
 the community. By that alone were the free 
 institutions of onr country sustained ; and 
 when the great objects of science should have 
 been neglected, he should consider this coun- 
 try on the high road to destruction. He could 
 sately say, from personal knowledge of the 
 facts, that the school contemplated in the por- 
 tion of the bill now under discussion was of 
 the most immediate necessity to our navy. 
 He had conversed with many midshipmen, 
 and he found that they were generally of that 
 situation in life in which their parents could 
 not afford to educate them, 'i'he navy was not 
 a service into which rich men sent their sons; 
 and it seemed but proper that the Governmetiij 
 
30 
 
 Harrisori's Mission to Colombia — His Letter to Bolivar. 
 
 shotilJ prepare the officers in their youth for 
 the duties which they would afterwards be 
 called to perforiin. He felt none of the dislike 
 expressed by the fjentlemnn from South. Ca- 
 rolina to the indulorenoe granted these youno 
 men, or the general appearance they were pro- 
 >perly ambitious to support. H^r. H. loished 
 them to be, as far as possible, accomplished 
 men, lolio ivoiild, in foreign countries, do 
 honour to the American character. They had 
 shown a laudable zeal in endeavouring to im- 
 prove themselves, as he was informed that the 
 system had been generally adopted by the 
 officers of the navy to set apart a portion of 
 their pay for the purchase of books. Even 
 this, he had no doubt, was productive of much 
 good to the country, as it conferred much 
 credit on the officers themselves. Many of 
 our naval officers had shown themselves well 
 acquainted with the laws of nations, and their 
 communications with foreign Powers had re- 
 dounded to the honour of themselves and of 
 the nation. Certainly these men deserved the 
 favourable consideration, and the most liberal 
 treatment from the Government. The country 
 was in every respect interested in preparing 
 them, by a proper education for the arduous 
 and perilous duties, to tlie performance of 
 which their lives were devoted. Therefore, 
 he considered the section of this bill which 
 provides for the establishment of a naval 
 school one of its most valuable features, and 
 he hoped it would meet the sanction of tiie 
 Senate." 
 
 Harrison's mission to Colombia — -his 
 letter to bolivar. 
 
 In 1828, General Harrison was appoint- 
 ed by President Adams, envoy extraordi- 
 nary and minister plenipotentiary to the 
 Republic of Colombia. He accepted this 
 appointment, and proceeding immediately 
 upon his mission, landed at Maracaybo on 
 the 22d of December, in that year, and 
 ihence repaired to Bogota, the capital of 
 Colombia. He was received with liie most 
 flattering demonstrations of respect ; but 
 liis liberal ideas, his stern integrity, and 
 the plain republican simplicity of his dress 
 and manners, were too strongly in contrast 
 with the arbitrary opinions, and the osten- 
 tatious display of the Court at Bogota, to 
 permit him long to remain a favourite with 
 the public officers and tiie courtiers of the 
 Colombian Government. They soon 
 began to fear that the people would per- 
 ceive the difference between a real and a 
 pretended patriot, and that a comparison 
 so disadvantageous to themselves might 
 perhaps seriously interfere with their grasp- 
 ing ambition for the future. But though 
 
 too honest and puie-minded to be a favour- 
 ite at this court, General Harrison's intelli- 
 gence, his strict attention to ihe duties of 
 his office, and his manly and gallant bear- 
 ing commanded universal respect. 
 
 The Republic of Colombia was at that 
 time in a very deplorable condition ; the 
 people were ignorant of their rights, and 
 almost in a stale of anarchy ; and Bolivar 
 was apparently about to assume the despo- 
 tic power of a military dictator. Shocked 
 at this state of things, General Harrison, 
 with the frankness of an old soldier, wrote 
 his celebrated letter to Bolivar, not in his 
 diplomatic capacity, but as a personal friend, 
 and addressed him in a strain of noble and 
 tlirilling eloquence which has rarely been 
 equalled. So chaste and vigorous is the 
 language of this letter, and so deeply is it 
 imbued with the purest and most exalted 
 sentiments of republican freedom, that, 
 limited as our space is, we cannot refrain 
 from giving it to our readers entire. 
 
 Bogota, Sept. 27, ISa:!. 
 
 Sir: — If there is any thing in the style? 
 the matter, or the object of this letter which is 
 calculated to give offence to your Excellency, 
 I am persuaded you will readily forgive it, 
 when you reflect on the motives which induce 
 me to write it. An old soldier could possess 
 no feelings but those of the kindest character 
 towards one who has shed so much lustre on 
 the profession of arms ; nor can a citizen of 
 the country of Washington cease to wish that, 
 in Bolivar, the world might behold another 
 instance of the highest military attainments 
 united with the purest patriotism, and the 
 greatest riapacity for civil government. 
 
 " Such, sir, have been the fond hopes, not 
 only of the people of the United Stales, but of 
 the friends of liberty throughout the world. 
 I will not say that your Excellency has 
 formed projects to defeat those hopes; but 
 there is no doubt that they have not only been 
 formed, but are, at this moment, in progress 
 to maturity, and openly avowed by those who 
 possess your entire confidence. I will not 
 attribute to these men impure motives; but 
 can they be disinterested advisers? Are they 
 not the very persons who will gain most by 
 the proposed change ? — who will, indeed, gain 
 all that is to be gained, without furnishing 
 any part of the equivalent? That ^/i«/, the 
 price of their future wealth and honours, is to 
 be furnished exclusively by yourself! And 
 of what does it consist? Your great charac- 
 ter. Such, an one, that, if a man were wise, 
 and possessed of the empires of the Caesars 
 in its best days, he would give all to obtain. 
 Are you prepared to make this sacrifice for 
 such an object ? 
 
Letter to Bolivar. 
 
 31 
 
 "I am persuaded that those who advocate , of power — the executive government remained 
 these measures have never dared to induce! in the hands of those to whom it had heen 
 you to adopt them by any argument founded committed by the people in a fair election, 
 on your personal interests; and that, to sue- 1 In fact, no people ever passed from under the 
 ceed, it would be necessary to convince you yoke of a despotic government, in the enjoy- 
 that no olher course remained to save ihe ment of entire freedom, with a less disposi- 
 
 country from the evils of anarchy. Tiiis is 
 the question, tlien, to be examined. 
 
 " Does the history of this country, since the 
 adoption of the constitulion really exhibit 
 unequivocal evidence that the people are unfit 
 to be free? Is the exploded opinion of a 
 European philosopher of the last age, that 
 " in the new hemisphere man is a degraded 
 being," to be renewed and supported by the 
 example of Colombia] The proofs, indeed, 
 should be strong to induce an American to 
 adopt an opinion so humiliating. 
 
 " Feeling always a deep interest in the suc- 
 cess of the revolutions in the late Spanish 
 America, I have never been an inattentive 
 observer of events pending, and posterior to, 
 the achievement of its independence. In these 
 events I search in vain for a single fact to 
 show that, in Colombia at least, the state of 
 society is unsuiied to the adoption of a free 
 government. Will it be said that a free 
 government did exist, hut, being found inade- 
 quate to the objects for which it had been 
 instituted, it had been superseded by one of a 
 ditferent characier, with a concurrence of a 
 majority of the people? 
 
 " It is the most difficult thing in the world 
 for me to believe that a people in the posses- 
 sion of their rights as freemen would be ever 
 willing to surrender them and submit them- 
 selves to the will of a master. If any such 
 instances are on record, the power has heen 
 thus transferred in a moment of extreme public 
 danger, and then lim.ited to a very short period. 
 I do not think that it is by any means certain 
 that the majority of the French people favour- 
 ed the elevation of Napoleon to the throne of 
 France ; but, if it were so, how different were 
 the circumstances of that country from those 
 of Colombia when the constitution of Cucuta 
 was overthrown ! At the period of the eleva- 
 tion of Napoleon to the first Consulate all the 
 powers of Europe were the open or the secret 
 enemies of France; civil war raged within 
 her borders ; the hereditary King possessed 
 many partisans in every province; the people, 
 continually betrayed by the factions which 
 murdered and succeeded each other, had 
 imbibed a portion of their ferocity, and every 
 town and village witnessed the indiscriminate 
 slaughter of both men and women, of all par- 
 ties and principles. Does the history of Co- 
 lombia, since the expulsion of the Spaniards, 
 present any parallel to these scenes ? Her 
 frontiers have been never seriously menaced 
 — no civil war raged — not a partisan of the 
 former government was to be found in the 
 whole extent of her territory — no factions 
 contended with each other for the possession 
 
 tion to abuse their newly acquired power than 
 those of Colombia. They submitted indeed, 
 to a continuance of some of the most arbitrary 
 and unjust features which distinguished the 
 former government. If there was any dispo- 
 sition on the part of the great mass of the 
 people to effect any change in the existing 
 order of things — if the Colombian acts from 
 the same motives and the same principles 
 which govern mankind elsewhere and in all 
 ages, they would have desired to take from 
 the government a part of the power which, in 
 their inexperience, they had confided to it. 
 The monopoly of certain articles of agricultu- 
 ral produce, and the oppressive duty of the 
 Alcavala, might have been tolerated until the 
 last of their tyrants were driven from the 
 country. But, when peace was restored, 
 when not one enemy remained within its 
 borders, it might reasonably have been sup- 
 posed that the people would have desired to 
 abolish these remains of arbitrary government 
 and substitute for them some tax more equal 
 and accordant with republican principles. 
 
 " On the contrary, it is pretended that they 
 had become enamoured with these despotic mea- 
 sures, and so disgusted with the freedom they 
 did enjoy, that they were more tlian willing to 
 commit their destinies to the uncontrolled will 
 of your Excellency. Let me assure you, sir, 
 that these assertions will gain no credit with 
 the present generation, or with posterity. 
 They will demand the facts which had in- 
 duced a people, by no means deficient in intel- 
 ligence, so soon to abandon the principles for 
 which they had so gallantly fought, and 
 tamely surrender ihat liberty which had been 
 obtained at the expense of so much blood. 
 And what facts can be produced ? It cannot 
 be said that life and property were not as well 
 protected under the republican government as 
 they have ever been ; nor that there existed 
 any opposition to the constitution and laws 
 too strong for the ordinary powers of the 
 government to put down. 
 
 " If the insurrection of General Paez, in 
 Venezuela, is adduced, I would ask by what 
 means was he reduced to obedience? Your 
 Excellency, the legitimate head of the repub- 
 lic, appeared, and in a moment all opposition 
 ceased, and Venezuela was restored to the 
 republic. But it is said that this was effected 
 by your personal influence and the dread of 
 your military talents; and that, to keep 
 General Paez and other ambitious chiefs from 
 dismembering the republic, it was necessary 
 to invest your Excellency with the extraordi- 
 nary powers you possess. There would be 
 some reason in this if you had refused to act 
 
32 
 
 Letter to Bolivar. 
 
 without these powers; or, having acted as 
 you did, you had been unable to accomplish 
 any lhin<j without them. But you succeeded 
 completely, and there can be no possible rea- 
 son assiifiied why you would not have suc- 
 ceeded w iih the same means against any future 
 attempt of General Paez, or any other general. 
 
 *' There appears, however, to be one senti- 
 ment in which all parlies unite : that is, that, 
 as matters now stand, you alone can save the 
 country from ruin, at least, from much cala- 
 mity. They ditFer, however, very widely as 
 to the measures to be taken to put your Excel- 
 lency in the way to render this important ser- 
 vice. The lesser and more interested party 
 is for placing the government in your iiands 
 for life; either vviiii your present title, or with 
 one which, it must be confessed, better ac- 
 cords with the nature of the powers to be 
 exercised. If they adopt the less offensive 
 title, and if they weave into their system some 
 apparent checks to your will, it is only for the 
 purpose of masking, in some degree, their real 
 object — which is nothing short of the esta- 
 blishment of a despotism. The plea of neces- 
 sity, that eternal argument of all conspirators, 
 ancient or modern, against the rights of man- 
 kind, will be resorted to, to induce you to 
 accede to their measures ; and the unsettled 
 elate of the country, which has been design- 
 edly produced by them, will be adduced as 
 evidence of that necessity. 
 
 "There is but one way for your Excellency 
 to escape from the snares which have been so 
 artfully laid to entrap you, and that is, to stop 
 short in the course which, unfortunately, has 
 been already commenced. Every step you 
 advance under the influence of such counsels 
 will make retreat more difficult, until it will 
 become impracticable. You will be told that 
 the intention is only to vest you with authority 
 to correct what is wrong in the administration 
 and to put down the factions, and that, wiien 
 the country once enjoys tranquillity, the 
 government may be restored to the people. 
 Delusive will be the hopes of tho«e who rely 
 upon this declaration. The promised hour of 
 tranquillity will never arrive. If events tend- 
 ed to produce il, they would be counteracted 
 by the government itself. It was the strong 
 remark of a foririer President of the United 
 States, that ' Sooner will the lover be content- 
 ed with the first smiles of his mistress than a 
 government cease to endeavour to preserve 
 and extend its powers.' With whatever re- 
 luctance your Excellency may commence the 
 career — with whatever disposition to abandon 
 it when the objects for which it was com- 
 menced have been obtained — when once fairly 
 entered, you will be borne along by the irre- 
 sistible force of pride, habit of command, and, 
 indeed, of self-preservation, and it will be 
 impossible to recede. 
 
 " But it is said that it is for the b'enefit of 
 the people that the proposed change is to be 
 
 made: and that, by your talents and influence 
 alone, aided by unlimited power, the ambitious 
 chiefs in the different departments are to be 
 restrained, and the integrity of the republic 
 preserved. I have said, and I most sincerely 
 believe, that, from the state into which the 
 country has been brought, you alone can pre- 
 serve it from the horrors of ananthy. But I 
 cannot conceive that any extraordinary powers 
 are necessary. The authority to see that the 
 laws are executed, to call out the strength of 
 the country to enforce their execution, is-,all 
 that is required and is what is possessed by 
 the Chief Magistrate of the United States, 
 and of every other republic; and is what was 
 confided by the constitution of Cucuta. Would 
 your talents or your energies be impaired in 
 the council or the field, or your influence les- 
 sened, when acting as the head of a republic? 
 
 " I propose to examine, very briefly, the 
 results which are likely to flow from the pro- 
 posed change of government: 1st, in relation 
 to the country; and 2d, to yourself person- 
 ally. Is the tranqiiillity of the country to be 
 secured by it 1 Is it possil)le for your Excel- 
 lency to believe that, when the mask has been 
 thrown off and the people discover that a 
 despotic government has been fixed upon them, 
 they will quietly submit to hi Will they 
 forget the pass-word which, like the cross of 
 fire, was the signal for rallying to oppose their 
 former tyrants] Will the virgins at your 
 hiddino- cease to chant the songs of liberty 1 
 Was the patriotic blood of Colombia all ex- 
 pended in the fields of Vargas, Bayaca, and 
 Carebobo? The schools may cease to enforce 
 upon their pupils the love of country, drawn 
 from the examples of Cato and the Bruli, 
 Harmodius and Aristogiton ; but the glorious 
 example of patriotic devotion exhibited in 
 your Hacienda will supply their place. De- 
 pend upon it, sir, that the moment v.'hich shall 
 announce the continuance of arbitrary power 
 in your hattds will be the commencement of 
 commotions which will require all your 
 talents and energies to suppress. You maj' 
 succeed. The disciplined army at your dis- 
 posal may be too powerful for an unarmed, 
 uodisc-iplined, and scattered population; but 
 one unsuccessful effort will not content them, 
 and your feelings will be eternally racked by 
 being obliged to make war upon those who 
 have been accustomed to call you their father 
 and" to invoke blessings on your head, and for 
 no cause but their adherence to principles 
 which you yourself had taught them to regard 
 more than their lives. 
 
 "If by the strong government which the 
 advocates for the proposed change so strenu- 
 ously recommend, one without responsibility 
 is intended, which may -put men to death and 
 immure them in dungeons without trial, and 
 one where the army is every thing and the 
 people nothiiig, I must say that, if the tran- 
 quillity of Colombia is to be preserved in this 
 
Letter to Bolivar. 
 
 33 
 
 way, llie wildest anarchy would be preferable. 
 Oiil of thai anarchy a better jjoverninent mirrht 
 arise; but the chains of military despotism 
 once fastened upon a nation, acres might pass 
 vuvay before tliey could be shaken off'. 
 
 " But I contend that the stroiijrest of all g-o- 
 vernmenls is that which is most free. We 
 consider that of the United States the stronir 
 f-st, precisely because it is most free. It pos- 
 sesses ttie faculties, equally, to protect itself 
 from foreign force or domestic convulsion. In 
 both it has been sufficiently tried. In no coun- 
 try upon earth would an armed opposiiitm to 
 the laws be sooner or more efTectually put 
 down ; not so much by the terrors of the 2"''- 
 lotiiie and the gibbet, as from the aroused de- 
 termination of the nation exhibiting their 
 strengtli, and convincing the factious that 
 their cause was hopeless. No, 'sir, depend 
 upon it, that the possession of ariiitrary power 
 by the government of Colombia will fiot he 
 the means of securing its tranquillity: nor 
 will the danger of disturbances solely arise 
 from the opposition of the people. The 
 power and the military fnrce'Whirh it will be 
 necessary to put into the hatids of the gover- 
 nors of distant provinces, added to the nature 
 of the country, will continually present to 
 those officers the temptation and the means to 
 revolt. 
 
 " Will the proposed change restore pros- 
 perity to the country ? With the best inten- 
 tions to do so, will you be able to recall com- 
 merce to its shores, and give new life to the 
 drooping state of agriculture ? The cause of 
 the constant decline in these great interests 
 cannot be mistaken. It arises from the few- 
 ness of those who labour. To support a swarm 
 of idle and luxurious monks, and an army 
 greatly disproportioned to the resources of 
 the country — with a body of officers in a ten- 
 fold degree disproportioned to the army, every 
 branch of industry is oppressed with burdens 
 which deprive the ingenious man of the profits 
 of his ingenuity — the laborer of his reward. 
 To satisfy the constant and pressing demands 
 which are made upon it, the Treasury seizes 
 upon every thing within its grasp, destroyino- 
 the germ of future prosperity. Is there any 
 prospect that these evils will cease with the 
 proposed change? Can the army be dis- 
 pensed with 1 Will the influence of the 
 monks be no longer necessary 1 Believe me, 
 sir, that the support which the government 
 derives from both these sources will be more 
 than ever requisite. 
 
 " But the most important inquiry is, the 
 effect which this strong government will have 
 \ipon the people themselves. Will it tend to 
 improve and elevate their character, and fit 
 them for the freedom which it is pretended is 
 e.ltimalely to be bestowed upon them ] The 
 question h,is been answered from the age of 
 Homer. Man does not learn under oppression 
 those noble qualities and feelings which fit 
 
 I him for tlie enjoyment of liberty. Nor is 
 I despotism the proper school in which to ac- 
 I quire a knowledge of the p inciples cf repub- 
 lican government. A trovernment who5e re- 
 venues are derived from diverting the very 
 sources of wealth frem its subjrcis, will not 
 find the means of iiij|)roving lire morals and 
 enlightening the minds of youth by sii|)porting 
 systems of liberal education ; and, if ii would, 
 could not. 
 
 " In relation to the eflfect which this invest- 
 ment of power is to have upoir your hapjiiness 
 and your fame, will the ponrp and glitter of a 
 court and the flattery of venal courtiers, re- 
 ward you for the troirhies arrd anxieties attend- 
 ant upon the exercise of sovereignty, every 
 where, and those which flow from your pecu- 
 liar situation 1 — Or power supported by the 
 bayonet, for that willing homage which you 
 were wont to receive fronr your fellow-citizens 1 
 The groans of a dissatisfied aird oppressed peo- 
 ple will penetrate the inmost recesses of your 
 palace, and you will be tortured by the reflec- 
 tion that you no longer possess that place in 
 their afl^ection which was once your pride and 
 your boast, and which would have been your 
 solace under every reverse of fortune. Uti- 
 supported by the people, your authority can 
 be maintained only by the terrors of the sword 
 and the scaff'old. Arrd have these ever been 
 sirccessful under sinrilarcircunrstairces? Blood 
 may smother for a period, but can never extin- 
 guish, the fire of liberty which you have con- 
 tributed so mrrch to kindle in the bosom of 
 every Colombian. 
 
 "1 will not urge, as an argutment, the per- 
 sonal dangers to which you will be exposed. 
 But I would ask if you could enjoy a life 
 which would be preserved by the constant 
 execution of so many humarr beings — your 
 countrymen, your former friends, and almost 
 your worshi|>pers ] The pangs of such a 
 situation will be made more acute by reflect- 
 ting upon the hallowed motive of many of 
 those who would aim their daggers at yonr 
 bosom ; that, like the last of the Ronrans, 
 they vvoirld strike, not from hatred to the man, 
 but Idve to the coirntry. 
 
 " From a knowledge of your own disposi- 
 tion and personal feelings, yoirr Excellency 
 will not be willing to believe that you could 
 ever be brought to commit an act of tyranny, 
 or even to execute jirsiice with uir necessary 
 rigour. But trust nie, sir, that there is nothing 
 more corrupting — nothing more destructive of 
 lire noblest feelings of our natirre, than the 
 exercise of unlimited power. The man who, 
 in the beginning of such a career, might shud- 
 der at the idea of taking away the life of a 
 fellow-being, might soon have his conscience 
 so seared by the repetition of crime, that the 
 agonies of his murdered victim might become 
 nrusic to his soul, and the drippings of his 
 scaffold micrht aff'ord ' blood enough to swim 
 in,' History is full of such examples. 
 
34 
 
 Letter to Bolivar. 
 
 " From tliis disgusting picture permit me to 
 call the attention of your Excellency to one of 
 a different character. It exhibits you as the 
 
 "To yourself the advantage would be as 
 orreat as to the country — like acts of mercy, 
 the blessings would be reciprocal : your per- 
 
 constitutional magistrate of a free people, I sonal happiness secured, and elevated to a 
 giving to their representation the influence of height which would leave but a single compe- 
 your great name and talents to reform theUition in the estimation of posterity. In be- 
 abuses which, in a long reign of tyranny and stowing the palm of merit the world has 
 
 misrule, have fastened upon every branch of 
 the administration. The army and its swarm 
 
 become wiser than formerly. The successful 
 warrior is no longer regarded as entitled to 
 
 of officers reduced within the limits of real i the first place in the Temple of Fame, 
 usefulness — placed on the frontiers, and no Talents of this kind have become too com- 
 longer permitted to control public opinion and mon, too often used for mischievous purposes, 
 be the terror of the peaceful citizen; by the ^ to be regarded as they were once. In this 
 removal of this incubus fiom the treasury, and : enlightened age, the mere hero of the field 
 the establishment of order, responsibility and and the successful leader of armies, may for 
 economy in the expenditures of the govern- 'a moment attract attention. But it will be 
 ment, it would soon dispense with the odious such as is bestowed upon the passing meteor, 
 monopolies, and the doty of the Alcavala, ' whose blaze is no longer remembered when it 
 which have operated with so malign an effect lis no longer seen. The qualities of the hero 
 upon commerce and agriculture, and, indeed, and the general must be devoted to the good 
 upon the revenues which they were intended of mankind, before he will be permitted to 
 to augment. No longer oppressed by these assume the title of their benefactor, and the 
 shackles, industry would every where revive ; station he will hold in their regard and affec- 
 the artisan, cheered by the prospect of ample tions will depend not upon the number and 
 reward for his labour, would redouble his the splendour i(»f. his victories, but upon the 
 exertions ; foreigners, with their capital and results and the use he makes of the influence 
 skill in the arts, would crowd hither to enjoy he acquires from them. 
 
 the advantages which could scarcely else-! " If the fame of our Washington depended 
 where be found: and Colombia would soon [upon his military achievements, would the 
 exhibit the reality of the beautiful fiction of [common consent of the world allow him the 
 Fenelon : Salentum rising from misery and pre-eminence he possesses ? The victories at 
 oppression to prosperity and happiness, under Trenton, Monmouth, and York, brilliant as 
 the counsels and direction of the concealed they were, exhibiting, as they certainly did, 
 goddess. the highest grade of military talents, are 
 
 " What objection can be urged against this [scarcely thought of. The source of the vene- 
 course? Can any one acquainted with the ration and esteem which is entertained for his 
 circumstances of the country, doubt its sue- character, by every description of politicians 
 cess in restoring and maintaining tranquillity 1 — the monarchist and aristocrat, as well as 
 The people would certainly not revolt against j the republican — is to be found in his unde- 
 Ihemselves; and none of the chiefs who are viating and exclusive devotedness to the 
 supposed to be factiously inclined, would interest of his country. No selfish considera- 
 think of opposing the strength of the nation , tion was suffered to intrude itself into his 
 when directed by your power and authority. , mind. For his country he conquered; and 
 But it is said that the want of intelligence ; the unrivalled and increasing prosperity of 
 among the people unfits them for free govern- that country is constantly adding fresh glory 
 ment.° Is it not rio-ht, however, that the ex- to his name. General — the course which he 
 
 periment should be fairly tried "? I have 
 already said that this has not been done. For 
 
 pursued is open to you, and it depends upon 
 yourself to attain the eminence which he has 
 
 myself, I do not hesitate to declare my firm reached before you. 
 belief that it will succeed. The people of "To the eyes of military men, the laurels 
 Colombia possess many traits of character [you won on the fields of Var, Bayaca, and 
 suitable for a republican government. A more Carebo, will be for ever green ; but will that 
 orderly, forbearing, and well-disposed people content you? Are you willing that your 
 are no where to be met with. Indeed, it may I name should descend to posterity, amongst 
 safely be asserted that their faults and vices Uhe mass of those whose fame has been de- 
 may be attributable to the accursed govern- rived from human blood, without a single 
 
 ment to which they have been so long sub- 
 jected, and to the intolerant character of their 
 
 advantage to the human race 1 Or shall it be 
 united to that of Washington as the,, founder 
 
 religion, whilst their virtues are all their own. i and father of a great and happy people '•The 
 But admitting the present want of intelligence, I choice is before you. The friends of liberty 
 no one has ever doubted their capacity to ac- 1 throughout the world, and the people of the 
 quire knowledge, and under the strong mo- United States in particular, are waiting your 
 tives which exists to obtain it, supported by decision with intense anxiety. Alexander 
 the influence of your Excellency, it would toiled and conquered to obtain the applause ot 
 soon be obtained. the Athenians ; will you regard as nothing 
 
Harrison's Address before an Jlgricultural Society. 
 
 35 
 
 the opinions of a nation which has evinced its 
 superiority over that celebrated people, in the 
 science most useful to nnan, by having carried 
 into actual practice a system of government 
 of which the wisest Athenians had but a 
 glimpse in theory, and considered as a bless- 
 ing never to be realized, however ardently 
 desired ] — The place which you are to occupy 
 in their esteem depends upon yourself. 
 
 "Farewell. W. H. Harrison." 
 
 ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL 
 OF COLOMBIA TO GENERALHARRISON. 
 
 Soon after the inaiigaration of President 
 Jackson, early in March, 1829, General 
 Harrison was recalled from liis mission to 
 Colombia. At his audience of leave, the 
 President of the Council addressed him in 
 the following words ; 
 
 "In expressing to you. Sir, the sentiments 
 of the Council towards your Government, it is 
 agreeable to me to declare, that the hopes 
 formed by Colombia, when the appointment 
 was announced of so distinguished a general, 
 and one of the most eminent citizens of the 
 oldest republic of America, have been realized 
 by your residence in this capital, as envoy 
 extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary 
 near this government; and therefore it is 
 highly satisfactory to me, to show the high 
 esteem which your personal qualities have in- 
 spired." 
 
 desolation, and of blood, what wonders have 
 now succeeded ! More than the efforts of 
 unaided man could have accomplished — the 
 hand of heaven is to be distinctly traced. 
 Yes ! it is to thy influence, fair Liberty, 
 
 'Daughter of Heaven ! who with indignant eye, 
 On pomp and pageant royalty looks down,' 
 
 GENERAL HARRISON AS A FARMER — HIS AD- 
 DRESS TO THE HAMILTON COUNTY AGRICUL- 
 TURAL SOCIETY. 
 
 After General Harrison's return from Co- 
 lombia, he retired to North Bend, and 
 devoted himself to the peaceful pursuits of 
 a farmer. 
 
 In June, 1831, he was chosen to deliver 
 an Address before the Hamilton Agricultural 
 Society, at their annual exhibition on the 
 15lh of that month. From this valuable 
 production we make the following quo- 
 tations : 
 
 " Thirty-eight years ago, the spot on which 
 we are now assembled was a dreary wilder- 
 ness. Not a habitation was to be seen save 
 a solitary, deserted cabin, which only added 
 to the gloom by which it was surrounded. 
 No sound of voices, as now, was heard from 
 men busied in the fulfilment of the commands 
 of the Creator, to cultivate and improve the 
 earth. The silence was unbroken, save by 
 the shout of the Christian warrior, or the ap- 
 
 thaf we ascribe these wonders, only to be 
 effected under institutions which leave the 
 actions of man unfettered, and his mind as 
 free as the air he breathes." 
 
 ****** 
 
 "The encouragement of agriculture, gen- 
 tlemen, would be praiseworthy in any country ; 
 in our own it is peculiarly so. Not only to 
 multiply the means and enjoyments of life, 
 but as giving greater stability and security to 
 our political institutions. In all ages and in 
 all countries it has been observed that the 
 cultivators of the soil are those who are least 
 willing to part with their rights, and submit 
 themselves to the will of a master. I have 
 no doubt also, that a taste for agricultural 
 pursuits, is the best means of disciplining the 
 ambition of those daring spirits, who occa- 
 sionally spring up in the world, for good or 
 for evil, to defend or destroy the liberties of 
 their fellow-men, as the principles received 
 from education or circumstances may tend. 
 As long as the leaders of the IJoman army 
 were taken from the plough, to the plough 
 thoy were willing to return. Never in the 
 character of general, forgetting the duties of 
 the citizen, and ever ready to exchange the 
 sword and the triumphant purple, for the 
 homely vestments of the husbandman. 
 
 "The history of this far-famed republic is 
 full of instances of this kind ; but none more 
 remarkable than our own age and country have 
 produced. The fascinations of power and the 
 trappings of command were as much despised, 
 and the enjoyment of rural scenes and rural 
 employments as highly prized by our Wash- 
 ington as by Cincinnatus or Regulus. At the 
 close of his military career, he says, 'I atn 
 preparing to return to that domestic retirement, 
 which it is well known I left with the deepest 
 regret, and for which I have not ceased to sigh 
 through a long and painful absence.' 
 
 " Your efforts, gentlemea, to diflTuse a taste 
 for agriculture amongst men of all descriptions 
 and professions, may produce results more 
 important even than increasing the means of 
 subsistence, and the enjoyment of life. It 
 may cause some future conqueror to end his 
 career 
 
 ' Guiltless of his country'' s blood.'' " 
 
 The greater part of this address is of a 
 more practical nature — conveying to the 
 
 palling yell of the savage, as they mingled In [society before whom it was delivered, a 
 mortal combat. To this scene of solitude, of .valuable fund, of useful information, well 
 
36 
 
 General Harrison nominated for the Presidency. 
 
 and forcibly explained by appropriate illus- 
 trations, and giving the most convincing 
 evidence that General Harrison is liimselt 
 a GOOD FARMER, Combining theory and 
 practice in the most eflicient manner. 
 
 COLONEL RICHARD M. JOHNSOn's OPINION OF 
 GENERAL HARRISON. 
 
 In the year 1831, Colonel Richard M. 
 Johnson, now Vice-President of the United 
 States, said, in Congress — 
 
 " Who is General Harrison ■? The son of 
 one of the signers of Ihe Declaration of In- 
 dependence, who spent liie greater part of his 
 large fortune in redeeming the pledge he tiien 
 gave, of his ' fortune, life and sacred honour,' 
 to secure the liberties of his country. 
 
 " Of the career of General Harrison I need 
 not speak— the history of the West, is his 
 history. For forty years he has been iden- 
 tified with its interests, its perils and its hopes. 
 Universally beloved in the walks of peace, 
 and di«tinguished by his ability in the coun- 
 cils of his country, he has been yet more 
 illustriously distinguislied in the field. 
 
 "During the late war, he was longer in 
 active service than any other general ofllcer ; 
 he was, perhaps, ofiener in action than any 
 one of them, and never sustained a defeat." 
 
 Harrison's discourse on the adorigines of 
 the valley of the ohio. 
 
 " It is in youth, and in early youth, that the 
 seeds of that patriotism must be sown, which 
 is to continue to bloom through life. No one 
 ever began to be a patriot in advanced age. 
 That holy fire must be lighted up when the 
 mind is best suited to receive with enthusiasm, 
 generous and disinterested impressions. If it 
 is not then ' the ruling passion' of the bosom, 
 it will never be at an age when every action is 
 the result of cool calculation, and the basis of 
 that calculation too often the interest of the 
 individual. This has been the prevailing opi- 
 nion with every free people, throughout every 
 stage of civilization, from the roving savage 
 tribe to the numerous and polished nation; 
 from the barbarous Pelasgi to the glorious era 
 of Milliades and Cymon, or the more refined 
 and luxurious age of Pericles and Xenophon. 
 By all, the same means were adopted. With 
 all, it was the custom to present to tlieir youth 
 the examples of the heroic achievements of 
 their ancestors, to inspire tiiem with the same 
 ardour of devotion to the welfare of their 
 country. As it regards the argument, it mat- 
 ters not whether the history was written or 
 unwritten ; whether in verse or in prose ; or 
 how communicated ; vvhcllier by naiion-il an- 
 nals, to which all iiad access ; by recitation in 
 solemn assemblies, as at the Olympic and 
 otlier games of Greece; in the songs of bards, 
 as among the Celts and Scandinavians ; or in 
 the speeclies of the aged warriors, as was 
 practised by tlie Wyandnis, Delawares, fc^haw- 
 necs, and other tribes of our own country. 
 
 Much fiction was no doubt passed off on these 
 occasions, as real history ; but as it was be- 
 lieved to be true, that was sufficient to kindle 
 
 the spirit of emulation in the cause of pa- 
 
 in th6.aiUumn of 1837, at the request of , , ., 
 
 the Philosophical and Historical Society of triotism among those to whom thj^se /e^'l^ 
 uic 1 MiiuouiMii _ -i tmns. snnas. and soeeches were addressed. 
 
 Ohio, General Harrison delivered a dis- 
 course on the Aborigine? of the Valley of 
 the Ohio. In this discourse he contests 
 the opinion advanced by the Hon. Cadwal- 
 lader Golden, in his " History of the five 
 Indian Nations of Canada," and which is 
 likewise asserted by Governor Pownal, and 
 by many others, that the original inha- 
 bitants of that valley were conquered by 
 the Iroquois. He proves that this alleged 
 subjugation of the uorthweslern tribes by 
 that warlike confederation, rests on no 
 competent authority ; and he brings for- 
 ward convincing evidence to show tliat the 
 favoured region through which the Ohio 
 flows, as well as the contiguous country, 
 has been for many centuries as it now is, 
 
 "The land of the free and the home of the 
 brave." 
 
 In endeavouring to enforce the great im- 
 portance of a proper study of history. Ge- 
 neral Harrison says, in this discourse : 
 
 tious, songs, and speeches were addressed. 
 
 "In the remarks 1 have made, it is by no 
 means my intention to deny the good effects 
 wh ch have been derived from some works of 
 fiction, and that they have greatly assisted 
 
 » To raise the genius and to mend the heart.' 
 Cut this result is better effected by authentic 
 history." 
 
 'IMiroughout the whole of this discourse 
 there is a vein of deep thought and eahn 
 reflection, aided by a profound research 
 and scholastic knowledge rarely attained. 
 It abounds too, in that ready and happy elo- 
 quence for which its author has always been 
 peculiarly noted. We regret that our limits 
 will not permit us to indulge more freely 
 in quotations from this able production. 
 
 GENERAL HARRISOn's NOJilNATION AS A CAN- 
 DIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 
 
 In the spring of 1836, General Harrison 
 was nominated as a candidate for the Pre- 
 
Letter to the Hon. Sherrod Williams. 
 
 37 
 
 siJency, by a spontaneous movemenl of 
 the people in various parls of the Union. 
 Notuillislanding the late period al whicli 
 iliis nomination was made, in tlie fifteen 
 Slates in wliich Mr. Van Buren and Ge- 
 nera! Harrison were opposed to each other, 
 the latter received five hundred and fifly- 
 two thousand, and the former but five liun- 
 dred and eighty tliousand voles — a very 
 small majority under existing circumstances. 
 It is now very clearly ascertained that but 
 for the want of a combined action on the 
 part of Ills, friends, and their supineness 
 arising from a' distrust of their own 
 strength, General Harrison would have 
 been elected to the Presidency at that time, 
 and the people would have been spared tiie 
 mortification and misery, tliey have been 
 compelled to endure under the present ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 GENERAL IIARRISON's LETTER TO THE HON. 
 SHERROD WILLIAMS. 
 
 Wliile this election was pending, the 
 Hon. Sherrod Williams, a member of 
 Congress from Kentucky, addressed a letter 
 of inquiry to General Harrison, which 
 drew from iiiin the following reply : 
 
 "Norili Bend, May 1, 1831. 
 
 "Sir — I have the iionour to acknowledge 
 the receipt of your letter of the 7th ultimo, in 
 which you request me to answer the following 
 questions : 
 
 " First: ' Will yon, if elected President of 
 the United (States, sign and approve a bill 
 distributing the surplus revenue of the United 
 States, to each state according to the federal 
 population of each, for internal improvement, 
 t^ducation, and to such other objects as the 
 legislatures of the several states may see fit to 
 apply the same V 
 
 " Second : ' Will you sign and approve a 
 bill distributing the proceeds of the sales of 
 the pul)lic lands to each state, according to the 
 federal population of each, for the purposes 
 above specified ]' 
 
 "Third: 'Will you sign and approve bills 
 making appropriations to improve navigable 
 streams above ports of entry ]' 
 
 "Fourth: 'Will you sign and approve (if 
 it becomes necessary to secure and save from 
 depreciation the revenue and finances of the 
 nation, and to alford a. uniform sound cur- 
 mjency to the people of the United Stales) a 
 bill, with proper modifications and restrictions, 
 chartering a bank of the United States?' 
 
 "Fifth: 'What is your opinion as to the 
 constitutional power of the Senate or House of 
 Representatives of the Congress of the United 
 Stales, to e.xpunge or obliterate from the 
 
 journals, the records and proceedings of a pre- 
 vious session V 
 
 "From the manner in which the four first 
 questions are stated, it appears that you do 
 not ask my opinions as to the policy or pro- 
 priety of the measures to which tiiey respec- 
 tively refer ; but what would be my course, if 
 ihey were presented to me (being in the presi- 
 dential chair of the United States) in the 
 shape of bills, that had been duly passed by 
 the Senate and House of Representatives. 
 
 " From the opinions which I have formed of 
 the intention of the constitution, as to cases in 
 which the veto power should be exercised by 
 the President, 1 would have contented myself 
 with giving an affirmative answer to the four 
 first questions ; but, from the deep interest 
 which has been and indeed is now felt in re- 
 lation to all the subjects, 1 think it proper to 
 express my views upon each one separately. 
 
 "I answer, then, first: That the immediate 
 return of all the surplus money which is, or 
 ought Id be, in the Treasury of the United 
 States, to the possession of the people from 
 whom it was taken, is called for by every 
 principle of policy and, indeed, of safety to 
 our institutions : and I know of no mode of 
 doing it better than that recommended by the 
 present chief magistrate, in his first annual 
 messajje to Connrress in the followinor words: 
 ' To avoid these evils it appears to me that 
 the most safe, just, and federal disposition 
 which could be 7nade of the surplus revenue, 
 would be its apportionment among the several 
 stales according to the ratio of representa- 
 tion.'' 
 
 "This proposition has reference to a state 
 of things which now actually exists, with the 
 exception of the amount of money thus to be 
 disposed of; for it could not have been anti- 
 cipated by the President that the surplus above 
 the real wants or convenient ex{ienditure3 of 
 the government would become so large, as 
 that retainintr it in the treasury would so 
 much diminish the circulating medium as 
 greatly to embarrass the business of the coun- 
 try. 
 
 " What other disposition can be made of it, 
 with a view to get it into immediate circula- 
 tion, but to place it in the hands of the state 
 authorities ] So great is Ihe amount, and so 
 rapidly is it increasing, that it could not be 
 expended for a very considerable time on the 
 comparatively few objects to which it could 
 be appropriated by llie general government ; 
 but the desired distribution amongst the peo- 
 ple could be immediately effected by the 
 states, from the infinite variety of ways in 
 which it might be employed by them. By 
 them it might be loaned lo their own banking; 
 institutions, or even to individuals — a mode 
 of distribution by ihe general government, 
 which I sincerely hope is in the contemplation 
 of no friend to his country, 
 
 "Second; Whilst I have always broadly 
 
38 
 
 Letter to the Hon. Sherrod Williams. 
 
 admitted that the public lands were the 
 common property of all the states, I have 
 been the advocate of that mode of disposing 
 of them, which would create the greatest 
 number of freeholders; and I conceived that 
 in this way the interests of all would be as 
 well secured as by any other disposition ; but 
 since, by the small size of the tracts in which 
 the lands are now laid out, and the reduction 
 of the price, this desirable situation is easily 
 attainable by any person of tolerable industry, 
 I am perfectly reconciled to the distribution 
 of the proceeds of the sales, as provided for 
 by the bill introduced into the Senate by Mr. 
 Clay; the interests of all seem to be well 
 provided for by this bill ; and as, from the 
 opposition which has hitherto been made to 
 the disposition of the lands heretofore contem- 
 plated by the representatives of the new 
 states, there is no probability of its being 
 adopted, I think it ought no longer to be insist- 
 ed on. 
 
 "Third: As I believe that no' money 
 should be taken from the treasury of the 
 United States to be expended on internal im- 
 provements but for those which are strictly 
 national, the answer to this question would 
 be easy, but from the difficulty of determining 
 which of those that are from time to time pro- 
 posed, would be of this description. This 
 circumstance, the excitement which has already 
 been produced by appropriations of this kind, 
 and the jealousies which it will, no doubt con- 
 tinue to produce if persisted in, give additional 
 claims to the mode of appropriating all the sur- 
 plus revenue of the United States in the man- 
 ner above suggested. Each state will then 
 have the means of accomplishing its own 
 schemes of internal improvement. Still there 
 will be particular cases when a contem- 
 plated improvement will be of greater advan- 
 tao-e to the Union generally, and som.e par- 
 ticTular states, than to that in which it is to be 
 made. In such cases, as well as those in the 
 new states, where the value of the public 
 
 to each other, which can create any unfriendly 
 feeling, if the common guardian administers 
 its favours with an even and impartial hand. 
 That this may be the case, all those to whom 
 any portion of this delicate power is entrusted, 
 should always act upon the principles of for- 
 bearance and conciliation; ever more ready 
 to sacrifice the interests of their immediate 
 constituents, rather than violate the rights of 
 the other members of the family. Those who 
 pursue a different course, whose rule is never 
 to stop short of the attainment of all which 
 they may consider their due, will often be 
 found to have trespassed upon the boundary 
 they had themselves established. The obser- 
 vations with which I shall conclude this letter, 
 on the subject of the veto power by the Presi- 
 dent, will apply to this as well as your other 
 questions. 
 
 " Fourth : I have before me a newspaper, 
 in which I am designated by its distinguished 
 editor, ' The hank and federal candidate.'' I 
 think it would puzzle the writer to adduce 
 any act of my life which warrants him in 
 identifying me with the interest of the first, or 
 the pontic's of the latter. Having no means 
 of ascertaining the sentiments of the directors 
 and stockholders of the Bank of the United 
 States, (which is the one, I presume, with 
 which it was intended to associate me) I can- 
 not say what their course is likely to be in 
 relation to the ensuing election for President. 
 Should they, however, give me their support, 
 it will be evidence, at least, that the opposi- 
 tion which 1 gave to their institution in my 
 capacity of representative from Ohio, in Con- 
 gress, proceeded, in their opinion, from a 
 sense of duty which I could not disregard. 
 
 The journals of the second session of the 
 thirteenth and those of the fourteenth Con- 
 gress, will show that my votes are recorded 
 against thetn upon every question in which 
 their interest was involved. I did, indeed, 
 exert myself in the senate of Ohio, to procure 
 a repeal of the law, which had imposed an 
 domain will be greatly enhanced by an im- enormous tax upon the branches which had 
 provement in the means of communication, | been located in its boundaries at the request 
 the general government should certainly of the citizens. The ground of those exertions 
 largely contribute. To appropriations of the was not the interest of the bank ; but to save 
 latter character there has never been a very 
 
 warm opposition. Upon the whole, the dis- 
 tribution of the surplus revenue amongst the 
 states seems likely to remove most, if not all, 
 the causes of dissension of which the internal 
 improvement system has been the fruitful 
 source. There is nothing, in my opinion, 
 more sacredly incumbent upon those who are 
 concerned in the administration of our govern- 
 ment, than that of preserving harmony between 
 the states. From the construction of our 
 system, there has been, and probably ever 
 will be, more or less jealousy between the 
 general and state governments; but there is 
 nothing in the constitution — nothing in the 
 character of the relation which the states bear 
 
 what 1 considered the honour of the state, 
 and to prevent a controversy between the 
 state officers and those of the United States. 
 
 »' In the spring of 1834, I had also the 
 honour to preside at a meeting of the citizens 
 of Hamilton county, called for the purpose 
 of expressing their sentiments in relation to 
 the removal of the public money from the 
 custody of the bank, by the sole authority of 
 the executive. As president of the meeting^. 
 I explained at some length the object for 
 which it was convened, bu* I advanced no 
 opinion in relation to the rechartering of the 
 
 bank. . o • 
 
 " A most respectful memorial to the h'resi- 
 dent in relation to the removal of the depo- 
 
Letter to the Hon. Sherrod Williams. 
 
 39 
 
 sites was adopted, as were also resolutions in 
 favour of rechartering the bank; but, as 1 
 have already said, this was not the purpose! 
 for which the meeting was called, and not 
 one upon which, as presiding officer, I was 
 called upon to give an opinion, but in ihe 
 event of an equal division of the voter. 
 
 " As a private citizen, no man can be more 
 entirely clear of any motive, either for the re- 
 chartering the old institution, or creating a 
 new one^under the authority of the United 
 States. I never had a single share in the 
 former, nor, indeed, in any bank, with one 
 exception ; and that many years ago failed, 
 with the loss of the entire stock. I have no 
 inclination again to venture in that way, even 
 if I should ever possess the means. With the 
 exception above mentioned, of stock in a 
 hank, long since broken, I never put out a 
 dollar at interest in my life. My interest being 
 entirely identified with the cultivation of the 
 soil, I am immediately and personally connect- 
 ed with none other. 
 
 " I have made this statement to show you that 
 I am not committed to any course in relation 
 to the chartering of a bank of the United 
 States: and that 1 might if so disposed, join in 
 the popular cry of denunciation against the 
 old institution, and upon its misconduct, pre- 
 dicate an opposition to the chartering cf an- 
 other. 
 
 *' T shall not, however, take this course, so 
 opposite to that which I hope I have followed 
 through life, hut will give you my sentiments 
 clearly and fully, not only with regard to the 
 future conduct of the government on the 
 subject of a national bank, but in relation 
 to the operations of that which is now de- 
 funct. 
 
 " I was not in Congress when the late bank 
 was chartered, but was a member of the thir- 
 teenth Congress, after its first session, when 
 the conduct of the bank, in its incipient 
 measures was examined into ; and believing. 
 
 rights of the states, I do not entertain a 
 doubt.'' But the period for rechartering the 
 old institution has passed, as Pennsylvania 
 has wisely taken care to appropriate to herself 
 the benefits of its large capital. 
 
 " The question, then, for me to answer, is 
 whether, under the circumstances you state, 
 if elected to the office of President, I would 
 sign an act to charter another bank. I an- 
 swer, I would, if it were clearly ascertained 
 that the public interest in relation to the col- 
 lection and disbursement cf the revenue would 
 materially suffer without one, and there were 
 unequivocal manifestations of public opinion 
 in its favour. 1 think, however, the experi- 
 ment should be fairly tried, to ascertain whe- 
 ther the financial operations of the govern- 
 ment cannot be as well carried on without the 
 aid of a national bank. If it is not necessary 
 for that purpose, it does not appear to me 
 that one can be constitutionally chartered. 
 There is no construction which I can give the 
 constitution which would authorize it, on the 
 srround of affording facilities to commerce. 
 The measure, if adopted, must have for its 
 object the carrying into effect (facilitating at 
 least the exercise of) some one of the powers 
 positively granted to the general government. 
 If others flow from it, producing equal advan- 
 tages to the nation, so much the better ; but 
 tliese cannot be made the ground for justifying 
 a recourse to it. 
 
 "The excitement which has been produced 
 by the bank question, the number and respecta- 
 bility of those who deny the right to Congress 
 to charter one, strongly recommended the 
 course above suggested. 
 
 "Fifth: I distinctly answer this question, 
 that, in my opinion, neither House of Con- 
 gress can constitutionally expunge the record 
 of the proceedings of their predecessors. 
 
 " The power to rescind certainly belongs 
 to them ; and is, for every legitimate purpose, 
 all that is necessary. The attempt to expunge 
 
 from the result of the investigation, that theja part of their journal, now making in the 
 charter had been violated, I voted for the! Senate of the United States, I am satisfied 
 judicial investigation, with a view of annul- could never have been made but in a period of 
 
 ling its charter. The resolution for 
 pose, however, failed ; and shortly after, the 
 management of its affairs was committed to 
 the talents and integrity of Mr. Cheves. 
 From that period to its final dissolution, 
 (although I must confess I am not a very 
 competent judge of such matters,) I have no 
 idea that an institution could have been con- 
 ducted with more ability, integrity, aud public 
 advantage than it has been. 
 
 " Under these impressions, I agree with 
 General Jackson in the opinion expressed in 
 one of his messages to Congress, from which 
 I make the following extract: ' That a bank 
 of the United States, co7npetent to all the 
 duties which may be required by the govern- 
 ment, might be so organized as not to infringe 
 on our delegated powers, or the reserved 
 
 the highest party excitement, when the voice 
 of reason and generous feeling is stifled by 
 long protracted and bitter controversy. 
 
 "In relation to the exercise of the veto 
 power by the President, there is, I think, an 
 important difference in opinion between the 
 present chief magistrate and myself. I ex- 
 press this opinion with less diffidence, because 
 I believe mine is in strict accordance with 
 those of all the previous Presidents to General 
 Jackson. 
 
 " The veto power, or the control of the 
 executive over the enactment of laws by the 
 legislative body, was not unknown in the 
 United States previously to the formation of 
 the present federal constitution. It does not 
 appear, however, to have been in much favour. 
 The principle was to be found in but three of 
 
40 
 
 Letter to the Hon. Sherrod Williams. 
 
 the state constitutions ; and in I)nl one of iJiPm i 
 (Massachusetts) was the oxocniive power | 
 lodged ill liie handsof a sintrlecliit f niagristrale. ' 
 One otiier stale (Souih Carolina) had, indeed, 
 not only adopted this principle, bui had given 
 its single executive magistraie an absohite 
 negative upon the acts of the legislature. In 
 all other instances it has been a qualified 
 negative, like that of the United States. The 
 people of South Carolina seem, however, not 
 to have been long pleased with ibis invest- 
 ment of power in their governor, as it lasieil 
 but two years; having been adopted in 1176. 
 and repealed in 1778; from which time the 
 acts of the legislature of that slate have been 
 entirely freed from executive control. Since the 
 adoption of the constitution of the United 
 States, the veto principle iias been adopted by 
 several states; and until very lately, it seemed 
 to be rapidly growing into favour. 
 
 " Before we can form a correct opinion of 
 the manner in which this power should be 
 exercised, it is proper to understand the rea- 
 sons which have induced its adoption. In ils 
 theory, it is manifestly an innovation upon 
 the first principle of republican government — 
 that the majority should rule. Why should a 
 single individual control the will of a majo- 
 rity ? 
 
 " It will not be said that there is more pro- 
 bability of finding greater wisdom in the ex- 
 ecutive chair, than in the halls of the legisla- 
 ture. Nor can it possibly be supposed, that 
 an individual residing in the centre of an 
 extensive country, can be as well acquainted 
 with the wants and wishes of a numerous 
 people, as those who come immediately from 
 amongst them — the partakers, for a portion of 
 the year, in the various labours and employ- 
 ments ; and the witnesses of the effects of the 
 laws in their more minute as well as genera! 
 operations. 
 
 " As far, then, as it regards a knowledge of 
 the wants and wishes of the people, wisdom 
 to discover remedies for existing evils, and 
 devising schemes for increasing the public 
 prosperity, it would seem that the legislative 
 bodies did not require the aid of an executive 
 magistrate. Rut ihere is a principle, recog- 
 nised by all the American constituiions, which 
 was unknown to the ancient republics. They 
 all acknowledge rights in the niinoriiy, which 
 cannot rightfully be taken from tliem. Ex- 
 perience had shown iliat in large assemblies, 
 these rights were not always respected. It 
 would be in vain that they should be enu- 
 merated, and respect for them enjoined, in the 
 constitution. A popular assembly, under the 
 influence of that spirit of parly which is al- 
 ways discoverable in a greater or less degree 
 in all republics, might and would, as it was 
 believed, sometimes disregard them. To 
 cruard against this danger, and to secure the 
 rights of each individual, the expedient of 
 creating a department independent of the 
 
 nlhers, and amenable only to the laws, was 
 adopted. Stcurity was thus given against 
 any palpable violniion of the constitution, to 
 the injury of individuals, or of a minority 
 party. But it was still possible for a wilful 
 and' excited majority to enact laws of the 
 greatest injustice and tyranny, without vio- 
 lating the loiter of their charter. 
 
 "And this I take to be the origin of the 
 veto power, as well in the state governments, 
 as that of the United States. It appears to 
 have been the inieniion to create an umpire 
 between the contending factions, which had 
 existed, it was believed, and would continue 
 to exist. If there was any propriety in adopt- 
 ing lliis principle in the government of a state, 
 all the reasons in favour of it existed in a ten- 
 fold degree for incorporating it in that of the 
 United Stales. The operations of the latter, 
 extending over an iminense tract of country, 
 embracing the products of almost every clime, 
 and that country divided too into a number of 
 separate governments, in many respects in- 
 dependent of each other and of the common 
 federal head, left but little hope that they 
 could always be carried on in liarmony. It 
 could not be doubled that sectional interests 
 would at times predominate in the bosoms of 
 the immediate representatives of the people 
 and the states, and combinations formed de- 
 structive of the public good, or unjust and 
 oppressive to a minority. Where could a 
 power to check these local feelings, and to 
 destroy ihe efTecfs of unjust combinations, be 
 belter placed than in the hands of that de- 
 jiartment whose authority, being derived from 
 the same common sovereign, is co-ordinate 
 with the rest, and which enjoys the great 
 distinction of being at once the immediate 
 representative of the whole people, as well as 
 of each particular state] 
 
 " In the former character, the interests of 
 the whole community would be rigidly sup- 
 ported, and, in the latter, the rights oi each 
 member steadfastly maintained. The repre- 
 sentation from the state authorities in the 
 electoral colleges, I consider one of the most 
 felicitous features in the constitution. It 
 serves as an eternal memento to the ciiief 
 magistrate that it is iiis duty lo guard the in- 
 terests of the weak against the unjust aggres- 
 sions of the strong and powerful. From these 
 preiTiises, you will conclude that I consider 
 the qualified veto upon the acts of the legisla- 
 ture, conferred by the constitution upon the 
 President, as a cnnservative power, intended 
 only to be used to secure the instrument itself 
 from violation, or, in tiines of high party ex- 
 citement, to protect the rights of the minority, 
 and the interests of the weaker members of 
 the Union. Such, indeed, is my opinion, and 
 such we must believe to he the opinion of 
 nearly all the distinguished men who have 
 filled the executive chair. If I were President 
 of the United Slates, an act which did not in- 
 
General Hari'isoji's opinion of Duelling. 
 
 41 
 
 volveeiiher of ihe principles above enumeraird, 
 must have been passed under very peculiar 
 circumstances of precipitancy, or opposition 
 to the known public will, to induce me to 
 refuse to it my sanction. 
 
 "If the opinion 1 have given of the motives 
 of tlie framers of the constitution, in giving 
 the veto power to the President, is correct, it 
 follows, that they never could have expected 
 that he who was constituted the umpire be- 
 tween contending parties, should ever identify 
 himself with the interests of one of them, and 
 voluntarily raze himself from the proud emi- 
 nence of leader of a nation to that of cliief of 
 a parly. 1 can easily conceive the existence of 
 a state of things by which the chief magis- 
 trate of a state may be forced to act upon party 
 princi[)les; but such a course is entirely op- 
 posed' to all the obligations which the con- 
 stitution imposes on a President of the United 
 States. The immense infiuence he possesses 
 will always give to his party the prepon- 
 derance, and the very circumstance of its 
 being an executive party w ill be the cause of 
 infusing more bitterness and vindictive feeling 
 in these domestic contests. Under these cir- 
 cumsl-inres, the qualified veto given by the 
 constitution may, if the President should think 
 proper to change its character, become as ab- 
 solute in practice as that possessed by the 
 kings of England and France. From the 
 great variety of local interests acting upon the 
 members of the two houses of Congress, and 
 from the difficulty of keeping aU the indivi- 
 duals of a large party under the control of party 
 discipline, laws will often be passed by small 
 majorities adverse to the interests of the do- 
 minant party ; but if tlie President should 
 ihinK proper to use the veto power for the 
 purpose of promoting the interests of his party, 
 it will be in vain to expect that a majority so 
 large as two-thirds in both houses would be 
 f(jund in opposition to his wishes. In the 
 hands of such a President, the qualified veto 
 of the constitution would in practice become 
 absolute. 
 
 " I have, upon another occasion, expressed 
 my views upon the danger of a dominant 
 executive party. It may, perhaps, be said, 
 that the chief magistrate will find it impossible 
 to avoid the influence of party spirit. Several 
 of our chief magistrates, however, have been 
 able to escape its influence; or, what is the 
 same thing, to act as if they did not feel it. 
 As one mode of avoiding it, it would be my 
 aim to interfere with the legislation of Con- 
 gress as litile as possible. The clause in the 
 constitution which makes it the duty of the 
 President to give Congress information of the 
 state of the Union, and to recommend to their 
 consideration such measures as he shall judge 
 necessary and expedient, could never be in- 
 tended to make him the source of legislation. 
 Information should always be frankly given, 
 and recom(neridalions upon such matters as 
 
 come mere immediately under his cognizance 
 than theirs. But there it should end. If he 
 should undertake to prepare the business of 
 legislation for the action of Congress, or to 
 assume the character of code-maker for the 
 nation, the personal interests which he will 
 take in the success of bis measures will neces- 
 sarily convert him into a partisan, and will 
 totally incapacitate him from performing the 
 part of that impartial umpire, which is Ihe 
 character that 1 have supposed the constitution 
 intends him to assume, when the acts passed 
 by the legislature are submitted to his de- 
 cision. 1 do not think it by any means 
 necessary that he should take the lead as a 
 reformer, even when reformation is, in his 
 opinion, necessary. Reformers will be never 
 wanting, w hen it is well understood that the 
 poyvcr which wields the whole patronage of 
 the nation will not oppose the reformation. 
 
 "I have the honour to be, with great con- 
 sideration and respect, Sir, your humble 
 servant, 
 
 " W. H. Harrison. 
 " To the Honourable Sherrod Williams." 
 
 GENERAL HARRISOn's OPINION OF DUELLING. 
 
 In 1838 Aaron B. Howell, Esq. of N(^ 
 Jersey, addressed a letter to General Har- 
 rison on the subject of tkiilling, to which 
 he made the following reply : 
 
 " Norlh Bond. April Ttli, 1838. 
 
 "Dear Sir — Yon ask my opinion 'of the 
 code of honour which decides controversies 
 by a resort to the duel.' I comply with your 
 request, and would do so more readily, if I 
 could suppose that any thing that I could say 
 would have any influence in putting an end to 
 a practice which is the cause of so much indi- 
 vidual distress, and violates so many obliga- 
 tions of the most sacred character. 
 
 " The arguments which may be used against 
 duelling are so obvious, and have been so often 
 urged by persons, much more able to do them 
 justice than I am, that I shall content myself 
 with giving you what may be termed my ex- 
 perience in matters of this kind. And as this 
 certainly does not exhibit the practice in a 
 very fascinating light, it may perhaps have a 
 better eflect than any other mode of treating 
 the subject that I could adopt. 
 
 "I believe that there were more duels in 
 the northwestern army between the years 1791 
 and 1795, inclusive, than ever took place in 
 the same length of lime, and amongst so small 
 a body of men as composed the commissioned 
 officers of the army, either in America, or any 
 other country, at least in modern times. I 
 became an officer in the first mentioned year. 
 at so early a?i age, that it is not wonderful that 
 I implicitly adopted the opinions of the older 
 officers, most of whom were veterans of iha 
 
42 
 
 General Harrison's opinion of Duelling. 
 
 Revolution, upon this as well as upon other I men sensibility, and the principles of hu- 
 
 subjects connected with my conduct and duty.; nianity and honour!— the sad alternatives 
 
 in the profession I had chosen. I believed, I his own death, or a subsequent life of bitter 
 
 therefore, in common with the larger portion 
 of the officers, that no brave man would de- 
 cline a challenge, nor refrain from giving one, 
 whenever he considered that his rights or feel- 
 ings had been trespassed upon. 1 must con- 
 fess, too, that I was not altogether free from 
 the opinion, that even honour might be ac- 
 quired by a well fought duel. Fortunately, 
 however, before I was engaged in a duel, 
 either as principal or second, which termi- 
 nated fatally to any one, I became convinced 
 that all my opinions on the subject were 
 founded in error, and none of them more so 
 than that which depicted the situation of the 
 successful duellist, as either honourable or 
 desirable. It could not be honourable, be- 
 cause the greater portion of that class of man- 
 kind whose good opinion of an individual con- 
 fers honour upon him, were opposed to it. 
 And I had the best evidence to believe that, 
 in the grave of the fallen duellist, was fre- 
 qently buried the peace and happiness of the 
 survivor; the act which deprived the one of 
 existence, planting a thorn in the bosom of 
 the other, which would continue to rankle and 
 %ster there to the end of his days. The con- 
 viction that such was the case with men of 
 good feelings and principles, was produced by 
 my witnessing the menial sufferings of an 
 intimate and valued friend, by whose hand a 
 worthy man had fallen. Several years had 
 elapsed from the date of this affair, before I 
 became acquainted with him. 
 
 " We were soon after associated in the 
 general staff of the army, and for the greater 
 part of two years we shared the same tent or 
 barrack-room, and often the same pallet. I 
 had therefore an opportunity of seeing the 
 agony he often felt, when his mind recurred 
 to the event which had deprived society of a 
 worthy member, and himself of an esteemed 
 and cherished acquaintance. Like the unhap- 
 py hermit in the tragedy of Douglass, he ap- 
 peared, in his sleep, to » hold dialogues' with 
 the ghost of the victim of his superior skill in 
 the use of arms, or more perfect self-posses- 
 sion ; and a witness to them might have 
 adopted the opinion of the youthful Norval, 
 that the happier lot was his who had fallen. 
 Taking the rules which govern such matters, 
 as the criterion, my friend had nothing where- 
 with to accuse himself. The quarrel was 
 indeed 'fastened on him.' Generous as brave, 
 he had done every thing in his power, to in- 
 duce a withdrawal of the challenge, and 
 when, by a first fire, his adversary was 
 wounded, he anxiously desired that the affair 
 might there terminate. His proposition was 
 rejected, his second shot was fatal. What an 
 instructive lesson does this story present to 
 him who would resort to this mode of settling 
 a personal difficulty ; and who possesses com' 
 
 regret and sorrow, A short experience in the 
 army convinced me, also, that fighting a duel 
 was not an undoubted test of true courage. I 
 know instances of duels, and desperate duels, 
 being fought by men who would not have been 
 selected by the officers who knew them, to 
 lead a forlorn hope. On the contrary, I pos- 
 sessed the most positive testimony to prove, 
 that some of the bravest of men would not be 
 engaged in an affair of the kind under any cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 " Conformably to my plan, as stated in the 
 commencement of my letter, to give you facts 
 rather than arguments, I present you with an- 
 other reminiscence of my early military life. 
 1 introduce it not only to sustain my position, 
 but from the respect I entertain for the memory 
 of a gallant brotiier officer, long since called to 
 receive, in another world, his reward for having 
 preferred 'the praise of God to the praise of 
 men.' In the summer of the year 1793, Lieu- 
 tenant Drake of the infantry of the second sub- 
 legion, received a marked insult from another 
 officer. Manifesting no disposition to call him 
 to an account, some of those who wished hira 
 well, amongst whom I was one, spoke to him 
 on the subject, expressing our fears that his 
 reputation as an officer would greatly suffer, if 
 he permitted such an insult to pass unnoticed. 
 The answer that he gave me was, that he cared 
 not what opinion the officers might form of 
 him ; he was determined to pursue his own 
 course. That course was so novel in the 
 army, that it lost him, as I had supposed it 
 would, the respect of nearly all the officers. 
 The ensuing summer, however, gave Mr. 
 Drake an opportunity of vindicating most 
 triumphantly bis conduct and principles. He 
 had been stationed in a small fortress, which 
 had been erected by General Wayne during 
 the winter, upon the spot in which they had 
 the previous day deposited a quantity of pro- 
 visions, which had been rendered remarkable 
 by the defeat of Gen. St. Clair's army, three 
 years before. The garrison consisted of a 
 single rifle company, and thirty infantry, and 
 of the latter Drake was the immediate com- 
 mander. In the beginning of July, 1794, a 
 detachment of the army, consisting of several 
 hundred men, under the command of Major 
 McMahon, being encamped near the fort, 
 which they had escorted from the cantonment 
 of the army at Greenville, were attacked, 
 early in the morning, by upwards of three 
 thousand Indians. The troops made a gallant 
 resistance; but being turned on both flanks, 
 and in danger of being surrounded, they re- 
 treated to the open ground around the fort, 
 
 "From this, too, they were soon dislodged 
 by the overpowering force of the enemy ; in 
 the retreat many wv^unded men were in dan- 
 ger of being left, which being observed from 
 
General Harrison's opin ion of Duelling. 
 
 43 
 
 the fort, the commandant, Captain Gibson, 
 
 directed his own lieutenant to take the infan- 
 try (Drake's particular command) and a por- 
 tion of the riflemen, and sally out to their 
 
 relief. To this Drake objected, and claimed 
 
 the right to command his own men, and as a 
 
 senior" to the other lieutenant, his right also to 
 
 the whole command. ' O, very well, sir,' 
 
 said the captain, 'if such is your wish, take 
 
 it.' 'It is my wish, sir, to do my duty, and 
 
 I will endeavour to do it, now and at all 
 
 times,' was the modest reply of Drake. He 
 
 accordingly sallied out; skilfully interposed 
 
 liis detacliment between the retreating troops 
 
 and the enemy ; opened upon them a hot fire ; 
 
 arrested their advance, and gave an oppor- 
 tunity to the wounded to effect their escape, 
 
 and to the broken and retreating companies of 
 
 our troops to re-form and again to face the 
 
 enemy. Throughout the whole affair, Drake's 
 
 activity, skill, and extraordinary self-posses- 
 sion, was most conspicuous. The enemy, of 
 
 course, observed it, as well as his friends. 
 
 The numerous shots directed at him, however, 
 
 like the arrows of Teucer, aimed at the heart 
 
 of Hector, were turned aside by providential 
 
 interference, until he had accomplished all 
 
 that he had been sent to perform. He then 
 
 received a ball through his body and fell; a 
 
 faithful corporal came to his assistance, and 
 
 with his aid he reached the fort; and those 
 
 two were the last of the retreating [>arty that 
 
 entered it; Drake made it a point of honour 
 
 that Tl should be so. Mr. Drake was rendered 
 unfit for duty for a long time by his wound. 
 He had not, indeed, recovered from it, in the 
 summer of 1796, when he was my guest, 
 when in command at Fort Washington, (Cin- 
 cinnati.) on his way, on furlough, to visit his 
 native state, Connecticut. His friends, how- 
 ever, enjoyed his presence but a short time ; 
 having, as I understood, taken the yellow 
 fever, in passing through Philadelphia, he 
 died in a few days after he reached his home. 
 " I have yet another reminiscence, the rela- 
 tion of which may serve the cause you have 
 so much at heart : 
 
 "An officer of the army had so often and so 
 unnecessarily wounded the feelings of another 
 of the same corps, the duties of which made 
 their association indispensable, that he con- 
 sidered himself bound to demand satisfaction 
 in the usual way. They met, and the injured 
 ' man fell, receiving a mortal wound, as it was 
 anticipated he would, from the superior skill 
 of his antagonist in the use of the weapons 
 which they used. Being possessed of a high 
 grade of '.alents and an amiable character, he 
 had the sympathy of all the officers. With 
 others, I visited him after he had been re- 
 moved to his quarters. He expressed a desire 
 to see the officer with whom he had fought, 
 and 1 was present at the interview. 1 wish I 
 could describe, as it merits, this interesting 
 scene. The circumstaoces attending it were formiiy to them. But such, alas! is not the 
 
 so deeply impressed upon my mind that they 
 never can be effaced as long as memory holds 
 its seat. 
 
 "In the tent were some half-dozen officers, 
 the friends of the dying man, (for, as I have 
 said, he had, from his amiable qualities, many 
 and warm ones,) exhibiting unequivocal evi- 
 dences of their sorrow. Conspicuous above 
 the rest, and near the head of the rude couch, 
 was the manly form of the commandant of the 
 corps to which both the duellists belonged, 
 (the beau ideal of chivalrous valour, and the 
 Chevalier de Bayard of the army,) endeavour- 
 ing to stifle, as best he could, the feelings 
 which agitated his bosom. At a little dis- 
 tance, and in full view of the viclitn of his 
 
 passions, sat the insensible : but I must 
 
 restrain the indignation which I still feel. 
 He was my brother officer — we shared to- 
 gether the perils of a difficult war — and, in 
 battle, I know that he did his duty — and, 
 whatever might have been his conduct to 
 others, I never had personally any reason to 
 complain of him. But there he sat, apparently, 
 at least, unaffected by the mischief he had 
 done, by burying in an untimely grave, a man 
 who had never injured him, whose arm might 
 be needed in the pending decisive battle with 
 the hitherto triumphant enemies of his coun- 
 try, and whose intellect might at some future 
 time have been usefully employed in its coun- 
 cils. The severe bodily pain which the dying 
 officer had for some time suffered, had ceased, 
 and that calm and ease succeeded, which is 
 the unequivocal harbinger of approaching 
 death, and which a gracious Providence has 
 provided for the mortally wounded soldier, to 
 enable him to offer a last prayer for his distant 
 family, if he has one, or for the pardon of his 
 own sins. Turning his intelligent ey«5 upon 
 his late antagonist, he mildly said, 'he had 
 desired to see him, for the purpose of assuring 
 him of his sincere forgiveness — that he wished 
 him happiness in this world — and that as the 
 means of securing it, he recommended to him, 
 with the sincerity of a dying man, to endea- 
 vour (0 restrain the violence of his passion?, 
 the indulgence of which had deprived one of 
 life, who had never injured him, in thought or 
 deed.' * 
 
 "I am satisfied that what I have said above 
 does not entirely meet your inquiry, and that 
 you will expect me to state what effect the 
 scenes I have described had in forming my 
 own principles, and governing my own con- 
 duct. I have already stated an entire change 
 in my sentiments on the subject of duelling, 
 from those which I entertained upon my first 
 entering the army; and for which no excuse 
 can be offered, but my extreme youth, and the 
 bad examples continually before me. In 
 almost every other case, possessed of the 
 deliberate opinions of a man, you might safely 
 conclude that his conduct would be in con- 
 
44 
 
 Harrison noviinaled fur the Presidency in 1838. 
 
 ca?e with men of the world, in relation to the 
 laws which form ' the code of honour.' Ah- 
 strartedly considored, ihfy all condemn them, 
 while in practice they adopt them. In all 
 other cases, iiidependent men act "from their 
 own convictions, but in this case, upon the 
 opinions of others. 
 
 "I acknowledfje, then, that the charige of 
 my opinions, which 1 have admitted in rela- 
 tion to duelling, had no other influence on my 
 conduct than to determine me never to be the 
 aggressor. But, although resolved to ofTer no 
 insult nor to inflict any injury, I was deter- 
 mined to suffer none. When I left the army, 
 howeve/, and retired to civil life, I considered 
 myselfaulhorized greatly to narrow the ground 
 upon which I would be willing to resort to a 
 personal combat. To the determinatifin which 
 I had previously made, to offer no insult or 
 inflict any injury to give occasion to any one 
 to call upon me in this way, (for after witness- 
 ing the last scene which i have described, the 
 wealth and honours of the %vorld would not 
 have tempted me to level a pistol at the breast 
 of a man whom 1 injured,) I resolved to disre- 
 gard all remarks upon my conduct which 
 could not be construed into a deliberate insult, 
 or any injury which did not affect my reputa- 
 tion or the happiness and peace of my family. 
 When I had the honour to be called upon to 
 command the northwestern army, recollecting 
 the number of gallant men that had fallen in 
 the former war, in jiersonal combat, 1 deter- 
 mined to use all the authority and all the 
 influence of my station to prevent their recur- 
 rence. And, to take away the principal 
 source from which they spring, in an address 
 to the Pennsylvania brigade, at Sandusky, I 
 declared it to be my determination to prevent, 
 by all the means that the military laws placed 
 in my hands, any injury, or even insult, which 
 should be offered, by the superior to the infe- 
 rior officers. 1 cannot say what influence this 
 course, upon my part, may have produced in 
 the result. But I state, with pleasure, that 
 there was not a single duel, nor, as far as 1 
 know, a challenge given, whilst I retained the 
 command. The activity in which the army 
 was constantly kept, may, however, have 
 been the principal cause of this uncommon 
 harmony. 
 
 "In relation to my present sentiments, a 
 sense of higher obligations than human laws, 
 or human opinions, can impose, has deter- 
 mined me never, on any occasion, to accept a 
 challenge, or seek redress for a personal in- 
 jury, by a resort to the laws which compose 
 the code of honour. 
 
 "I am, very respectfully, 
 
 " Your fellow-citizen, 
 
 " VV. H. HARIilSON. 
 
 *' To Aaron B. Howell, Esq.'' 
 
 GENERAL HARRISON S NOMINA FION BY THE 
 CONVENTION OF 1838. HIS LETTER TO 
 HAUMKR DENNY. 
 
 In i!ie atitiiinn of 1838 Genrrnl Harrison 
 was nominated as a candidate for lire Presi- 
 dency by tiie National Democratic Anti- 
 Masonic Convention, which assembled at 
 Marrisbiirg, iti Pennsylvania. The pro- 
 ceedings of this convention were coninuiiii- 
 cated iifficially ta General Harrison by the 
 Hon. Hariner Denny. Hts reply to this 
 communiciuion, dated December 2il, 1838, 
 which we give below in fnll, will show the 
 princijiles on whicli he will administer the 
 government. 
 
 " Norlli Bend, 2(1 Dec. 1838. 
 
 " Dear Sir : — As it is probable that yon 
 have by this time returned to Pittsburg, I do 
 myself the honour to acknowledge the receipt 
 of your letter from Philadelphia, containing 
 the proceedings of the National Democratic 
 Antimasonic Convention, which lately- con- 
 vened in that city. With feelings of the 
 deepest gratitude, 1 read the resolution unani- 
 mously adopted, nominating me as a candi- 
 date for the Presidency of ihe United Stales. 
 This is the second time that I have received 
 from that patriotic parly, of which yon your- 
 self are a distinguished member, the highest 
 evidence of confidence that can be giveri to a 
 citizen of our republic. 1 would attempt to 
 describe my sense of the obligations I owe 
 them, if I were not convinced that any lan- 
 friiage which I coidd command would fall' far 
 short of what 1 really feel. If, however, the 
 wishes of the convention should be realized, 
 and if I should second their efforts, I shall 
 have it in my })owcr to manifest my gratitude 
 in a manner more acceptable lo those whom 
 you represent, than by any professions of it 
 which I could at this time make; I mean by 
 exerting my utmost efforts lo carry out the 
 principles set forth in their resolutions, by 
 arresting the progress of the measures 'de- 
 structive to the prosperity of the people, and 
 tending to the subversion of their liberties,' 
 and substituting for them those sound demo- 
 cratic republican doctrines upon which the 
 administration of Jefferson and Madison were 
 conducted. 
 
 "Among the principles proper to be adopted 
 by any Executive sincerely desirous to restore 
 the administration lo its original simplicity 
 and purity, I deem the following to be of pro- 
 minent importance. 
 
 " I. To CONFINE HIS SERVICE TO A SINGLE 
 TERM. 
 
 " II. To DISCLAIM ALL RIGHT OF CONTROL 
 
 OVER THE Fi'BLic TREASURE, icith the excep- 
 tion of such part of it as may be appropriated 
 by low to carry on ihe public services, and 
 
Letter to the Hon. Ilarmcr Denny. 
 
 45 
 
 iluii to be applied precisely as the law may 
 direct, and draicn from the treasury agreeably 
 to the long established forms of that dejnirt- 
 tnent. 
 
 " III. That he should never attempt to 
 INFLUENCE THE ELECTIONS, cUhcr by the pcople 
 or the state legislatures, nor suffer the federal 
 offlccrs under his control to take any other 
 part in them than by giving their oicn votes 
 token they possess the right of voting. 
 
 "IV. That in the exercise of the veto 
 power, he should limit his rejection of bills 
 to : 1st. Such as are in his opinion unconsti- 
 tutional. 2d, Such as tend to encroach on 
 the rights of the states or individuals. 3d. 
 Such as, involving deep interests, may in his 
 opinion require more mature deliberation or 
 reference to the ivill of the people, to be ascer- 
 tained at the succeeding elections. 
 
 '* V. That he should never suffer the in- 
 fluence of his ojjice to be used for purposes of 
 a purely party character. 
 
 " VI. That in removals from office of those 
 who hold their appointments during the plea- 
 sure of the Executive, the cause of such 
 removal should be slated if requested, to the 
 Senate, at the time the nomination ef a suc- 
 cessor is made. 
 
 "And last, but not least in importance, 
 
 ''VII. That he should not suffer the Exe- 
 cutive department of the governinent to become 
 the source of legislation ; but leave the whole 
 business of making laivs for the Union to the 
 departmeiit to which the constitution has ex- 
 clusively assigned it, until they liiroe assumed 
 that perfected shape tohere and when alone the 
 opinio7is of the Executive may be heard. A 
 cooimiinity of power in the preparation of the 
 laws between the legislature and Executive 
 (lepartnienls, must, necessarily lead to danger- 
 ous combinali Dns, greatly to the advantage of 
 a President desirous of extending his power. 
 Such a construction of the constitution could 
 never have been contemplated by tiiose who 
 framed it, as they well knew that tiiose who 
 propose the bills, will always take care of 
 themselves, or the interests of their consti- 
 tuents, and hence the provision in the Consti- 
 tution, borrowed from that of England, re- 
 stricting tlie originating of revenue bills to 
 tiie immediate representatives of the people. 
 So far from agreeing in opinion with the dis- 
 tinguished character who lately retired from 
 the presidency, that Congress should have 
 applied to him for a project of a hanking sys- 
 tem, I think that sucji an application would! 
 have manifested not "only great subserviency! 
 upon the part of that body, but an unpardona- 
 ble ignorance of the chief danger to be appre- 
 hended from such an institution. That danger' 
 unquestionably consists in a union of i.itere'sts ! 
 between tiie executive and the bank. Would 
 an ambiiious4ncumbent of the executive chair j 
 neglect so favourable an opportunity as the! 
 preparing of the law would give hira, to insert] 
 
 in it provisions to secure his influence over it ? 
 In the authority given to the President by the 
 Constitution 'to recommend to Congress such 
 measures as he shall judge necessary and ex- 
 pedient,' it was certainly never intended that 
 the measures he recommended should be pre- 
 sented in a shape suited for the immediate 
 decision of the legislature. The sages who 
 made the Constitution, loo well knew the ad- 
 vantages which the crown of England derives 
 from the exercise of this power by its minis- 
 ters, to have intended it to be used by our 
 chief magistrate, or the heads of departments 
 under his control. The boasted principles of 
 the English ('onstiiution, that the consent of 
 the democratic branch is not only necessary 
 to receive money from the people, but that it 
 is its inviolable prerogative also to originate 
 all the bills for that purpose, is true in theory, 
 but rendered utterly false and nugatory in 
 effect, by the participation of the ministers of 
 the crown in the details of legislation. Indeed 
 the influence they derive from silting as mem- 
 bers of the House of Common's, and from 
 wielding the immense patronage of the crown 
 (constitutional or usurped,) gives them a power 
 over that body, that renders plausible, at least, 
 the flattery, or as it is more probable, the in- 
 tended sarcasm of Sir Walter Raleigh, in an 
 address to James I., that the demand of the 
 sovereign upon the Commons for pecuniary 
 aid, was required only 'that the lax might 
 seem to come from themselves.' 
 
 "Having thus given you my opinion of 
 some things which might be done, and others 
 which should not be done, by a President 
 coming into power by the support of those of 
 the people who are opposed to the princifdes 
 upon which the present administration is con- 
 ducted, you will see that I have omitted one, 
 which is deemed by many of as much import- 
 ance as any other. I allude to the appointment 
 of members of Congress to office by the Pre- 
 sident. The Constitution contains no prohibi- 
 tion of such appointments, no doubt because 
 its authors could not believe in its necessity, 
 from the purity of character which was mani- 
 fested by those who possessed the confidence 
 of the people at that period. It is, however, 
 an opinion very generally entertained by the 
 opposition party, that the country would have 
 escaped much of the evil under which it has 
 suffered for some years past, if the Constitu- 
 tion had contained a provision of that kind. 
 Having had no opportunity of personal obser- 
 vation on the conduct of the administration 
 for the last ten years, I am unable to decide 
 upon the truth or error of this opinion. But 
 I should be very willing that the known sub- 
 serviency of the Legislature to the Executive, 
 in several memorable instances, should be ac- 
 counted for in a way somewhat less injurious 
 to the character of the country and of republi- 
 canism itself, than by the admission that the 
 fathers of the land, the trusted servants of a 
 
46 
 
 Letter to the Hon. Harmer Denny. 
 
 virtuous people, could be seduced from the 
 path of duty and honour, by the paltry trap- 
 pings and emoluments of dependent offices. 
 But if the evil really exists, and if there be 
 good reason to believe that its source is to be 
 found in the corruptibility of the members of 
 the Legislature, an effectual remedy cannot be 
 too soon applied. And it happens in this in- 
 stance that there is a choice of remedies. One 
 of those, however, is in my opinion free from 
 the objections which might be offered to the 
 other. The one to which I object is, that 
 which the late President has been so loudly 
 called upon to adopt, in consequence of a pro- 
 mise made at the commencement of liis admi- 
 nistration, viz. that the Executive under no 
 circumstances should appoint to office a mem- 
 ber of either branch of the National Legisla- 
 ture. There are, in my mind, several weighty 
 reasons against the adoption of tiiis principle. 
 I will detain you with the mention of but two 
 of them, because I believe that you will agree 
 with me, that the alternative I shall present, 
 while it would be equally effectual, contains 
 no feature to which a reasonable objection 
 could be made. 
 
 "As the Constitution contains no provision 
 to prevent the appointment of Members of 
 Congress to office by the Executive, could the 
 Executive, with a due regard to delicacy and 
 justice, without usurping power from the peo- 
 ple, declare a disqualification which tliey had 
 not thought necessary ] And where is the 
 American citizen who regards the honour of 
 his country, the character of its people, or who 
 believes in the superiority of a republican form 
 of government, who would be willing to pro- 
 claim to the world, that the youthful nation 
 which has attracted so much of its attention, 
 which it has so much admired for its gigantic 
 strength, its undaunied courage, its high at- 
 tainments in literature and the arts, and the 
 external beauty of its institutions, was within 
 a mass of meanness and corruption ] That 
 even the chosen servants of the people, were 
 ever ready, for a paltry consideration, to aban- 
 don their allegiance to their lawful sovereigns, 
 and to become the servants of a servant. The 
 alternative to this degrading course, is to be 
 found in depriving the Executive of all motive 
 for acquiring an improper influence^pver the 
 Legislature. "v. 
 
 "To effect this, nothing in my opinion is 
 necessary but to re-establish the principles 
 upon which the administration was once con- 
 ducted, with a single addition of limiting the 
 service of the President to one term. A con- 
 densed enumeration of what I conceive these 
 principles to have been, is given above. And 
 I think no one can doubt, that, if faithfully 
 carried out, they would be effectual in secur- 
 ing the independence of the Legislature, and 
 confining the connexion between it and the 
 Executive, to that alone which is warranted 
 
 by a fair construction of the Constitution. I 
 can conceive of but two motives which could 
 induce a President of the United States to en- 
 deavour to procure a controlling influence over 
 the Legislative body, viz. — to perpetuate his • 
 power, by passing laws to increase his patron- 
 age—or to gratify his vanity, by obtaining 
 their sanction to his schemes and projects for 
 the government of the country ; and thus 
 assimilating his situation to that of the 
 limited monarchs of Europe. The principles 
 above suggested, would effectually destroy 
 any disposition of the person elected by the 
 combined votes of the opposition, to place 
 himself in either altitude. Retiring at the 
 end of four years to private life, with no wish 
 or prospect of any 'son of bis succeeding,' 
 legitimate or adopted, he would leave the 
 government as prosperous and pure in its 
 administration, as when it passed from the 
 hands of the great 'Apostle of Democracy,' 
 to the Father of our Constitution. 
 
 "To the duties which I have enumerated, 
 so proper in my opinion to be performed by a 
 President, elected by the opposition to the 
 present administration, (and which are, as I 
 believe, of constitutional obligation,) 1 will 
 add another which I believe also to be of 
 much importance. I mean the observance of 
 the most conciliatory course of conduct to- 
 wards our political opponents. After the cen- 
 sure which our friends have so freely and so 
 justly bestowed tipon the present Chief Magi- 
 strate, for having, in no inconsiderable de- 
 gree, disfranchised the whole body of his 
 political opponents, I am certain that no oppo- 
 sitionists, true to the principles he professes, 
 would approve a similar course of conduct in 
 the person whom his vote has contributed to 
 elect. In a Republic, one of the surest tests 
 of a healthy state of its institutions, is to be 
 found in the immunity with which every citi- 
 zen may, upon all occasions, express his poli- 
 tical opinions and even his prejudice;', in the 
 discharge of his duty as an elector. 
 
 " The question may perhaps be asked of me, 
 what security I have in my power to offer, if 
 the majority of the American people should 
 select me for their Chief Magistrate, that I 
 would adopt the principles which I have 
 herein laid down as those upon which my 
 administration would be conducted, I could 
 only answer, by referring to my conduct, and 
 the disposition manifested in the discharge of 
 the duties of several important offices, which 
 have heretofore been conferred upon me. If 
 the power placed in my hands has, on even a 
 single occasion, been used for any purpose 
 other than that for which it was given, or re- 
 tained longer than was necessary to accom- 
 plish the objects designated by those from 
 whom the trusts were received, I will acknow- 
 ledge that either will constitute a sufficient 
 reason f«r discrediting any promise I may 
 
General Hm^rison's nominaiioyi by the National Convention. 47 
 
 make, under the circumstances in which I am 
 now placed. 
 
 "I am, dear sir, truly yours, 
 
 " W. H. Harrison. 
 " To the Hon. Harmer Denny.'''' 
 
 The noble and purely republican sen- 
 timents of this letter, together with its 
 plain, yet manly and vigorous language, 
 forcibly remind us of the invaluable writ- 
 ings of our revered Washington. 
 
 NOMINATION OF WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 
 BY THE NATIONAL CONVENTION. 
 
 In December, 1839, a National Con- 
 vention of the opponents of the present 
 administration of all parties, assembled at 
 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This Con- 
 vention comprised numerous delegates se- 
 lected from among the most respectable, 
 intelligent, and patriotic citizens o{ Maine, 
 New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, 
 Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
 Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana, Mis- 
 sissippi, JMissouri, Illinois, Mabama, and 
 Michigan. This august and dignified as- 
 semblage, representing every variety of 
 interest in every portion of the country, 
 after a calm and mature deliberation, re- 
 sponded to the wishes of the people of the 
 United Slates, by unanimously nominating 
 William Henry Harrison, as their can- 
 didate for the Presidency, in 1840. Since 
 this nomination was made, the thinned 
 ranks of the administration party, the evi- 
 dent dismay of the office-holders, and the 
 avowed determination of the people to 
 vote for their own candidate, clearly indi- 
 cate that an important change is about to 
 take place — that the nation is at last wearied 
 of the corruption of their present rulers, 
 their dishonesty, and abuse of power, and 
 that the administration of onr government 
 is soon to be confided to the guidance of 
 the brave and skilful commander, the honest 
 and able statesman, and the poor man's 
 friend — William Henry Harrison. 
 
 GOVERNOR EVERETT S OPINION OF GENERAL 
 HARRISON. 
 
 Soon after this nomination. Governor 
 Everett, whose elevated position places him 
 above the charge of being influenced 
 
 distinguished attainments and profound 
 scholarship are widely kn'>wn, in his reply 
 to the committee appointed to inform him 
 of his re-nominalion for the office of Go- 
 vernor of Massachusetts, spoke of General 
 Harrison in the following well-merited 
 terms : 
 
 " Having been familiarly acquainted with 
 General Harrison at Washington, during the 
 four years of President Adams's administration, 
 I have ample and personal knowledge of his 
 ' honesty, capacity, and patriotism.' His ta- 
 lents are of a high order; his general reading 
 particularly in the department of history, is 
 extensive and accurate ; he is a good speaker 
 and a good writer, [witness his discourse on 
 the Aborigines of the valley of the Ohio, in 
 1838,] his practical acquaintance with affairs is 
 exceeded by that of few individuals in the 
 country, and his public services have been 
 extended over a longer period I believe than 
 those of any other man now on the stage. 
 Warmly attached, as I have been to the former 
 candidate of Massachusetts, I still regard the 
 nomination of General Harrison as a most 
 favourable event. The country is under the 
 hiorhest obligations to those distinoruished 
 Statesmen, whose magnanimity has produced 
 a perfect union of the whig party in its support. 
 I feel confident that this nomination will prove 
 the means of effecting that change in national 
 politics, which has became so necessary for 
 the public welfare. The country needs relief 
 from the policy pursued by the General Go- 
 vernment, and the intense party action by 
 which it has thus far been sustained. The 
 continued appeal to the worst passions of men, 
 by the party press, is scarcely less pernicious 
 than the measures in the support of which those 
 passions are enlisted. It is evident, from in- 
 dications too plain to be mistaken, that the 
 peo])le have decreed a change, and that the 
 nomination of General Harrison is the instru- 
 ment by which it will be effected. That it 
 may prove auspicious to our beloved Com- 
 monwealth, and to the whole country, the 
 harbinger of better times and better feelings, 
 is the fervent wish of, 
 
 " Gentlemen, your obliged 
 
 "Friend, and obedient servant, 
 
 " Edward Everett." 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Our confined limits have only permitted 
 us to make short extracts from the nume- 
 rous speeches, addresses, and written pro- 
 ductions of General Harrison, and it has 
 therefore not been in our power to do him 
 full justice. Still, even tiie quotations we 
 
 merely by political motives, and whose jiiave made are enough to convince every 
 
48 
 
 Harrison the candidal e of the People — Conclusion. 
 
 /L 
 
 unprtJudiceJ reaJer that General IIiirrHonj William Henry Harrison, were formed 
 possesses a comprehensive and vigorons under the parent.U instrueiioi) and in the 
 
 nunc!, well cuhivated and improved by 
 uiiK'h study and deep reflection — and that he 
 is a!jable and ready writer, and asnund sclio- 
 iar, familiar vita the literature of llie day, 
 and Weil versetl in the history of the past. 
 From eaily manhood, General Harrison 
 
 Ultimate companionship of the patriolii; 
 sages of the Revolution — and tlie principles 
 he then iml)il)ed have been his unerring- 
 tjuide through life. Enjcwing the con'^- 
 fidenceof Washington, Adams, Jeffkrson, 
 and Madjson, he was, on all occasions. 
 
 lias never had the appearance of possessing Iconspicuous for his moderation in offioe, 
 a robust consiiluiion, but from the aciiviiy jhis scrupulous attention to the public in- 
 and temperate habits of his past life, few ; lerests, his inflexible integrity, and his 
 men ai liis age enjoy their moral and phy- 'extended atid enlightened views'as a states- 
 sical energies in such remarkable vigour. ' man. Repeatedly appointed by the Pre- 
 His manners are plain, frank, and Unas- sidents we h ive named, to stations of gftat 
 suming, and his disposition is cheerful, 'importance and liisfh responsibility, he has 
 kind, and generous, almost to a fault, in always amply fullilled the duties of his 
 {lis private intercourse, he is beloved and various trusts to the entire satisfaction of 
 
 esteemed by all who know him. In 
 the various civil and military offices he has 
 held, hu has always been moderate and 
 forbearing, yet firm and true to his trust. 
 No other commander has ever been more 
 popular with our militia, and the true secret 
 of this cannot be better explained than bv 
 liis own reply, « hen asked how he had 
 gained this influence : " By treating ihcm," 
 fcaid he, '* with afloclion and kimlness ; by 
 always re(r(j!lei'ting that they u-ere n-.y 
 fellow-citizens, whose feelings I was bound 
 to respect ; and by sharing with tliem, on 
 every oci5i\sion, tlie hard-hips which they 
 were obliged to u idcrgo." 
 
 Tlie earliest political sentiments of 
 
 the people and of the Cliief Executive. 
 He has been weighed in the balance and 
 NOT found wanting — IJc haa been tried 
 in the furnace and come out like true 
 gold seven limes purified^ 
 
 Such is the candidate of the people, 
 William Henry Harrison — to whom the 
 administration of the government of the 
 United States is about lo be confidetl, and 
 who, as the gloiious reward of all his past 
 services, will have the highest of all earthly 
 honours — lint of redeeming his country 
 from hei present slate of misery anil de- 
 pression, and of restoring her to that proud 
 position of hapjtiness and prosperity, wh.ch 
 is her natural birihriuht. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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