Full text of "A history of Illinois : from its commencement as a state in 1814 to 1847 ; containing a full account of the Black Hawk War, the rise, progress, and fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy riots, and other important and interesing [sic] events"

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Presented to the

LIBRARY of the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

by
:TTA?.IO LEGISLATIVE LIBRARY!

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS,^

J»

FROM ITS

COMMENCEMENT AS A STATE IN 1814 TO 1847.

CONTAINING A

FULL ACCOUNT OF THE BLACK HAWK WAR, THE RISE, PROGRESS,

AND FALL OF MORMONISM, THE ALTON AND LOVEJOY RIOTS,

AND OTHER IMPORTANT AND INTERESING EVENTS.

BY THE LATE

** fM^V. THOMAS FORD.

d|p\ \
\ VSS^'1X^'

CHICAGO :
PUBLISHED BY S. C. GRIGGS & CO.,

1 I I LAKE STREET.

NEW YORK: IVISON & PHINNEY.
1854.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by
S. C. GRIGGS & CO.,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District of
New York.

8TEREOTTPED BT

THOMAS B. SMITH,
5216 William St.

PRINTED BY
JOHN F. TROW,

49 Ann St.

INTRODUCTION

BY GEN. JAMES SHIELDS

IN 1850, while the author of this work was on his
death-bed, he placed in my hands a manuscript, with
the contents of which I was then wholly unacquainted,
with the injunction that after his decease I should have
it published for the benefit of his family. He soon after
departed this life, leaving his orphan children in a des-
titute condition.

In compliance with his dying request, I made re-
peated efforts to have the work published on terms that
might secure some percentage to the orphans, but until
my arrangements with the present publishers, all these
efforts proved unsuccessful. By this arrangement the
children will receive a liberal percentage on the sales of
the work.

The author, during his whole life, had very favorable
opportunities for observing events and collecting infor-
mation connected with the history of his State. He
was yet a child when his parents emigrated to Illinois.
On arriving at maturity he was there admitted to the
bar, and practised his profession for many years with

Vi INTRODUCTION.

very considerable success. He was afterwards elected
an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the State,
and discharged the duties of that responsible station
with distinguished ability. Subsequently he was chosen
Governor of the State, which was the last public office
he held. From this office he retired to private life, and
during his retirement prepared this history for publica-
tion. His opinions of men and measures are very freely
and unreservedly expressed ; but they may be regarded as
the opinions of a man of strong feelings, who took such
an active part in many of the scenes which he repre-
sents, that it was impossible for him to describe them
with ordinary moderation.

I regret the severity of some of the author's judg-
ments, and the censure with which he assails the char-
acter of some of our public men, who are both my per-
sonal and political friends ; but I feel it to be incumbent
upon me, by the very nature and circumstances of the
trust, not only to have the work published according to
his injunction, for the purpose intended by him, but
also to abstain from making any alteration in the text.
I therefore give it to the public just as I received it
from the hands of the author, and with the sincere
hope, for the sake of his destitute children, that it may
meet with an indulgent and generous reception.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3d, 1854.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

isin to the

fourteen northern counties — Reasons for extending the boundaries — Call of a Con-
vention— Constitution adopted — E. K. Kane — Petition of the Covenanters — Organi-
zation of the State Government— Gov. Bond recommends the Canal to Lake Mich-
igan—Judge Foster — Judge Thomas — Legislature of 1819 — Code of laws — Removal
of the Seat of Government to Vaudalia — Origin of the name Vandalia — Charac-
ter of the people— Notice of the French villages and of the early American set-
tlers— Schools, learned professions — The early preachers — Pursuits and business of
the people — Their ingenuity — Anecdote of James Lemon— Commerce — Money —
Speculation— Banks in Ohio and Kentucky— General indebtedness— Money crisis
—Creation of the State Bank of 1821— Its history— Col. Menard— John M'Lean—
Judge Young — First duel — Judge Lockwood 19

CHAPTER II.

Gov. Coles, Judges Philips and Brown, and Gen. Moore— The question of Slavery—
The Missouri question— Immigrants from the Slave States to Missouri— Growing
desire for the introduction of Slavery — The Slavery party— Effort for a Convention
to amend the Constitution — Hanson and Shaw — Resolution for a Convention pass-
ed— The riotous conduct of the Slave party — The free State party rally — Contest be-
tween them in the election of 1824— Principal men of each party — The Convention
defeated— Character of early political contests— No measures ;" and no parties of
Whig or Democrat, Federalist or Republican — Effect of regular political parties —
Reorganization of the Judiciary — Circuit Courts established — First case of pro-
scription — Causes the repeal of the Circuit Courts — Road law and School law pro-
viding for a tax ; operated well, but were repealed— Hatred of taxation— School
law of 1840; of 1845— Wm. Thomas, H. M. Wood, John S. Wright, and Thomp-
son Campbell — Present state of Schools — Revision of the laws by Judges Lock-
wood and Smith— Gov. Edwards— Mr. Sloe— Lieut. Gov. Hubbard— Hia speech,
as a candidate for Governor— His speech about Wolf scalps— The old State Bank
again — Effort to investigate its management — Resisted by the Bank officers — Gov.
Edwards' messages— A packed committee report against the Governor— Power of
a broken Bank — Combinations to commit crime or resist law — Daniel P. Cook —
Gov. Duncan — Change of political parties — Gen. Jackson's defeat, and subsequent
election— Influence of this upon parties— Gov. Duncan's change— Winnebago War
—Galena—" Suckers"—" Pukes"— The chief, Red Bird— Gov. Edwards' claim to
the public lands — Sale of School lands — Borrowing of the School fund 50

CHAPTER III.

Review— Election of State Treasurer in 1827— Election and defalcation of Sherifls—
Courts— Judges— Sentence of Green— Instructions to juries— The hung jury— Law
of 1846— Eminent lawyers— Character of litigation— Election by ballot— The keep-
dark system— The u butcher-knife boys"— Influences in the Legislature— Greasing

yiii CONTENTS.

PA OK

and swallowing, &c— Aims of politicians and of the people— Anecdote of Senator
Crozier— Good and bad self-government— Rule to test the capacity of the people
for either— Educated ministers of the Gospel— Ill-will towards them of some of
the old ministers— Room enough for both— Benevolent institutions and education
--Colleges— Change of dress among young people— Regrets of the old folks— Ef-
fects of attending church on Sundays — Effects of not attending church on Sundays
upon young people — Progress in commerce — Character of first merchants — Sell-
ing for money supplied by emigration— Nothing raised for or shipped to foreign
markets— Flat-boats— Farmers taking their own crops to market, and bad effects
of it— Foreign markets— Steamboats and high rates of exchange encourage the
merchants to become exporters— Bad effects of farmers holding their produce from
market, expecting a higher price — This practice contrasted with the New England
practice of selling at the market price— Good effects of this practice— Prosperity
of northern Illinois in a great measure owing to this 81

CHAPTER IV.

Extent of settlements in 1830— Election for Governor that year— Judge John Rey-
nolds— William Kinney — Further development of party — Description of an elec-
tion of contest — Reynolds elected by Jackson and anti-Jackson men — Legislature
of 1831 bound to redeem the notes of the old State bank-Horror of increasing
taxes— Fears of the Legislature— The Wiggins' loan— All the members broke down
—The little bull law— Penitentiary punishments— Curious contest for State Treas-
urer— Indian disturbances — Treaties with the Indians — Black Hawk's account of
them — His character — He invades the Rock river country — Call for volunteers —
March to Rock Island — Escape of the Indians — New treaty with them — Next year
Black Hawk returns— Volunteers again called for— March of Gov. Reynolds and
Gen. Whiteside— Burning of Prophet's town— Arrival at Dixon— Majors Stillman
and Bailey — Route at Stillman's run — Account of it by a volunteer Colonel — Coun-
cil of war— Gen. Whiteside marches in pursuit of the Indians — Massacre of In-
dian Creek— Two young ladies captured and restored— Gen. Whiteside buries the
dead and marches back to Dixon — Meets Gen. Atkinson — Dissatisfaction of the
men — Marches to Ottawa— Army discharged — New call for volunteers — Volunteer
regiment left as a guard of the frontiers — Col. Jacob Fry — Capt. Snyder— Battle
with the Indians — Bravery of Gen. Whiteside — Gen. Semple and Capt. Snyder —
Indian murders— St. Vrain and others — Siege of Apple-river Fort — Col. Strode —
Galena — Martial law there — Gen. Dodge's successful attack — Capt. Stephenson —
Martial spirit of the Indians— Major Dement— Defence of Kellogg's Grove— Gen.
Posey's march — Gen. Alexander — Gen. Atkinson— Gen. Henry — March up Rock
river— Turtle village— Burnt village— Lake Keshkonong— Search for the Indians
— Two regular soldiers fired on — Expedition to the " trembling lands" — Army dis-
persed in search of provisions 102

CHAPTER V.

Gen. Posey marches to Fort Hamilton — Gens. Henry and Alexander, and Major Dodge,
to Fort Winnebago— Gen. Atkinson remained behind to build a fort— Description of
the country and the rivers at Fort Winnebago — Gen. Henry informed as to the posi-
tion of Black Hawk — Council of war — Agreement to violate orders and march after
the Indians — Alexander's men refuse to march — Dodge's horses broke down — Ar-
rival of Craig's company — Protest of officers and signs of mutiny — Put down .by
Gen. Henry— His character as a military man— March for Rock river— Description
of Rock river— March for Cranberry lake— Express to Gen. Atkinson— Discovery
of the retreat of Black Hawk to the Wisconsin— Confession of the Winnebagoes
— March for the Wisconsin — Thunder storm — Privations of the men — Arrival at
the four lakes — False alarm — Description of the four lakes — Gen. Ewing and the
spies — Major Dodge — Ardor of the men — Come close upon the Indians — Battle of
the Wisconsin heights— Defeat of the Indians— Their retreat across the river-
Reasons why Gen. Henry and the Illinois volunteers never received credit abroad
for what they deserved — Gen. Henry's death — His singular modesty — Return of
the troops to the Blue Mounds— Bad treatment of Henry and his brigade by Gen,

CONTENTS. IX

FAQE

Atkinson — Gen. Atkinson pursues the Indians across the Wisconsin — Order of
march — flenry'a meu put in charge of the baggage — They resent, but submit —
Gen. Atkinson in front decoyed by the Indians— Drawn off on a false scent— Henry
advances on the main trail— Comes upon the main body of the Indians, and again
defeats them before Gen. Atkinson arrived with the rest of the army — Retreat of
Black Hawk Indians — Sent in pursuit of him— The one-eyed Decori — Capture of
Black Hawk and the Prophet— Description of I he Prophet — Indian speeches —
Gen. Scott— Discharge of the volunteers— Treaty of peace— Black Hawk and other
prisoners taken to Washington — Makes the tour of the Union, and are returned to
their own country, west of the Mississippi 136

CHAPTER VI.

First efforts for a Railroad system— Central Railroad— Impeachment of Judge Smith
— Benjamin Mills — Other efforts to impeach judges — Effect on the public mind —
Election of Governor — Gov. Duncan — Creation of a new State Bank — Conrad Will
— Means of passing its charter — Road tax — Hooking timber — Preachers employed
to preach against trespasses — Veto power — Banking in Illinois — Increase of the
Bank Stock— Stock readily taken— Intrigues of the subscribers— State Bank goea
into the hands of Thomas Mather and his friends— Effort to build up Alton— The
Lead trade — Unfortunate speculations — Real estate fund — Hostility of the Demo-
crats—Illinois and Michigan canal— George Forquer's report— Bill to borrow mo-
ney— Passed with an amendment to borrow on the credit of canal lands — Great
speculation in 1835-'6 — Internal Improvement system — Means of passing it — Cal-
culations of its funds— Election of Board of Public Works— Bank suspensions, ne-
gotiations—Election of Governor in 1838— Thomas Corlin — Cyrus Edwards — Max-
im of politicians— Explosion of the Internal Improvement system — Presidential
election of 1840— Further history of parties— Work on the canal— Payment of in-
terest—Mr. Cavarly's bill 166

CHAPTER VII.

Reform of the Supreme Court — Chief Justice Wilson — Justices Lockwood and Brown
—Secretary of State and alien questions— Alexander P. Field— John A. McClernand
— Decision of the Supreme Court — Popular excitement — Decision of a Circuit Judge
on the alien question — Commotion among the Democrats — Suspicions of the Su-
preme Court— Mode of deciding political questions— Mode of reforming the Court
— Violence of the measure — Reluctance of some Democrats — Obstinacy of others
—How a polilician must work in a party— Judge Douglass' speech in the lobby-
Evasive decision of the Court — Judge Smith's intrigues and character — Passage of
the bill — Motives of both parties — Prejudice against the Supreme Court — Moral
power with the people of the Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts— Break-
ing of the banks — Causes which lead to it — Bank suspensions — Power of the State
Bank over the Legislature — Special session — Struggle to forfeit the Bank Charters
—Whigs secede— Call of the House— Jumping out of the windows— Democratic
victory — Thrown away before the end of the session — New suspensions — Small bills
—Fierceness of parties against each other— Views of both parties concerning bank-
ing, and of each other 212

CHAPTER VIII.

I CONTENTS.

PAGE

Bank— Mormons return to Missouri— Mormon war there— Expulsion from Mis-
souri—Settlement of the Mormons in Illinois— Politics of the Mormons— Martin
Van Buren— Henry Clay— John J. Stuart— Dr. Bennett— Senator Little— Stephen
A. Douglass — Mormon Charters — Nauvoo Legion— Popular clamor against the
Mormons — Arrest of Joe Smith — Trial before Judge Douglass— Nomination of Mr.
Snyder as the democratic candidate for Governor— Gov. Duncan again a candidate
— The Mormons declare for the Democrats— Gov. Duncan attacks the Mormons
and the Mormon Charters — Death of Snyder — Ills character — Nomination of the
author in his place— Reasons for this nomination— Further examination into the
practical operations of government— Election of the author— The Governor, Audi-
tor, and Treasurer forbid the receipt of Bank paper for Taxes— Condition of the
State in 184^ 228

CHAPTER IX.

Character of the people — North and South — Causes of discord —Principle upon which
elections were made— Character of candidates — Reasons for preference — Further
maxims of politicians— John Grammar — Want of unity in the democratic party —
Want of great leaders— Members of the Legislature — Legislative elections — Neg-
lect of other business — Love of popularity — Account of lobby members— Their
motives and influence — Professional politicians — Ultraists and " Milk and water
men" tending to repudiation — Plans for public relief— Illinois Canal — Justus But-
terfield — Michael Ryan— Arthur Bronson — Compromise with the Banks — Proposed,
repeal of their Charters — Gov. Carlin's message — Arguments for compromise and
for repeal— Ayes and Noes in the House-j-John A. McClernand — Lyman Trumbull
— James Shields — Feuds among politicians growing out of the appointment of
Secretary of State— Amalgamation of the co-ordinate branches of government —
Opposition to the Compromise Bill in the Senate— Character of the leader of this
opposition — Removal of Trumbull from the office of Secretary of State— Humbug
set off against humbug — Improvement of public affairs — Execution laws ; debtor
and creditor 259

CHAPTER X.

Mormons — New warrant for the arrest of Joe Smith — Tried before Judge Pope — In-
trigues of the Whigs — The Mormons determine to vote for Whig candidates for
Congress— Cyrus Walker— Joseph P. Hoge— Dr. Bennett— Prejudices against the
Mormons— New demand for the arrest of Joe Smith — Arrest and discharge by the
Municipal Court — Walker's speech — Walkers and Hoge's opinion — Mormons al-
ways prefer bad advice— Demand for a call of the Militia — Reasons for not calling
them— Intrigues of the Democrats— Backinstos— Hiram Smith— William Law-
Revelation in favor of Hoge— Joe Smith's speech— Hoge elected— Indignation of
the Whigs — Determination to expel the Mormons — Stephen A. Douglass — City or-
dinances— Insolence of the Mormons — Joe Smith a candidate for President — Con-
ceives the idea of making himself a Prince — Dauite band — Spiritual wives — At-
tempt on William Law's wife — Tyranny of Joe Smith— Opposition to him — "Nau-
voo Expositor"— Trial of the press as a nuisance— Its destruction— Secession of the
refractory Mormons — Warrant for Joe Smith and Common Council— Their arrest
and discharge by the Municipal Court — Committee of anti-Mormons—Journey to
Carthage— Militia assembled — Complaints against the Mormons — Cause of popular
fury— False reports and camp news— Pledge of the troops to protect the prisoners
—Martial law— Conduct of a Constable and Civil Posse— Council of officers— The
great flood of 1841— Surrender of Joe Smilh and the Common Council— Warrant
for treason— Commitment of Joe and Hiram Smith — Preparations to march into
Nauvoo— Council of officers — Militia disbanded — Journey to Nauvoo — Guard left
for the protection of the prisoners— Further precautions— The leading anti-Mor-
mons By false reports undermine the Governor's influence— Governor's speech in
Nauvoo— Vote of the Mormons— News of the death of the Smiths— Preparation
lor defence of the country— Mischievous influence of the press. . . \ 313

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER XI.

PAGE

Account of the assassination of the Smiths — Done by the forces at Waraw — Treach-
ery of the Carthage Greys— Franklin A. Worrell— Attack on the Jail— Murder of
Joe and Hiram Smith — Character of Joe Smith — Character of the leading Mormons
— Character of the Mormon people— Affairs of the Church — Sidney Rigdon's proph-
ecies—The Twelve Apostles— Triumph of the Twelve— Increase of Mormouism—
Causes of it — Gov. Ford and Herod and Pilate— The Mormons quit preaching to
the Gentiles — Character of their preaching — Increased hostility of the "Saints" —
Determination to expel the Mormons— Both parties ready to set aside free govern-
ment— Natural inclination to despotism — Presidential election of 1844 — Infatuation
of the people— State election — Col. Taylor's visit to the Mormons induces them to
vote the democratic ticket— The fault laid on the Governor— Fresh determination
to expel the Mormons — Conduct of the Whig press — Pusillanimity of politicians —
Gen. Hardin — Col. Baker — Col. Weal herford— Col. Merriman — Anti-Mormon wolf-
hunt— Military expedition to Hancock— Militia infected with an'i-Mormonism—
Surrender of two persons accused of the Murder — Terms of surrender arranged by
Col. Baker — Incompeteiicy of a Militia force in such cases — Prosecution of the mur-
derers— Riotous trials-^Constitution in relation to changes of venue — Trial of the
Mormons for destroying the press — Both parties get a Jury to suit them.— All ac-
quitted— Anarchy in Hancock 353

CHAPTER XII.

Canal Negotiations— Appointment of Oakley and Ryan to go t^ Europe— Factious-
ness of the letter-writers and newspapers — Proceedings of the Commissioners —
David Leavitt — Meeting of American Bond-holders — Journey to Europe — Condi-
tional agreement there — Appointment of Gov. Davis and Capt. Swift to examine
and report on the Canal — Gov. Davis attacked by the Globe newspaper — Ryan's
answer and attack on the Globe— Favorable Report— Ryan's second trip to Europe
— Gov. Davis sent for — Failure of the negotiation — Ryan's attack on Gov. Davis —
Letter from Baring, Brothers & Co. to Ryan — Letter of Wm. S. Wait, Esq., against
taxation— Answer thereto— Visit of Mr. Leavitt and Col. Oakley to Europe— New
negotiations successful — Opposition to the Governor likely to defeat the Canal —
Nature of this opposition— How to get up an opposition to any Administration-
Scandalous conduct of a Committee of Investigation— Trum bull and others— Con-
duct of the opposition — All their projects defeated — Visit of Gov. Davis and Mr.
Leavitt to Springfield— Jealousy of the Legislature against monied men and foreign
influence— They are well received— Propositions of the public creditors— Opposi-
tion arrayed — Miserable intrigues of George T. M. Davis and other Whigs — Patri-
otic conduct of Judge Logan and other Whigs— North and South again— Messrs.
Strong, Adams, Janney, and Dunlap— The Canal Bill defeated in the Senate— Talk
of bribery — Vote reconsidered and divided — Good management of Senator Kil-
patrick — The Canal Bill passed — The money for the Canal obtained — Election and
organization of the Board of Trustees— Rate of Interest reduced to six per cent.—
Repeal of the Mormon Charters — Resolution calling on the Governor and Judges
to relinquish their Salaries— The Governor's answer— Mistaken notions of Econo-
my—Buncomb resolutions and speeches on this subject— Shavvneetown Bank-
Conditional contract with that Institution— Dr. Anderson— The true art of riding
hobbies .. 370

CHAPTER XIII.

The city of Nauvoo— The Temple— New causes of quarrel— The " Oneness"— Anti-
Mormon meeting fired at by themselves— Character of the anti-Mormons— New
mobs— House burning— Sheriff's posse— Backinstos —Plundering— McBratney—
Death of Worrell— Danbeneyer— Durfee— Trial of the Sheriff for murder— Gen.
Hardiu sent over with 500 men— Stops the disorders on both side? -Anti Mormon
Convention— The Mormons agree to leave the State— Maj. Warren with two com-
panies left as a Guard— Good conduct of Major Warren— Indictments against the

ii CONTENTS.

PAOC

Twelve Apostles for counterfeiting— Exodus of the Mormons— Anti-Mormons anx-
ious to expel the few that were left — Cause of a new quarrel — Writs sworn out —
Old trick of calling the posse — The matter adjusted — Mormon vote in 1846— New
excitements— New writs sworn out — The posse again — The new citizens petition
for protection — Order to Major Parker — Order to Mr. Brayman — Treaty between
the parties — Not agreed to by the Anti-Mormons — Mr. Drayman's letter — James
W. Singleton — Thomas S. Brockman — Order to Major Flood — His proceedings
under it— Numbers of each party— Battles — Not many hurt — The Mormons sur-
render the City— Triumphant entry of the anti-Mormons — Their brutal conduct-
Sufferings of the Mormons — Excitement against the anti-Mormons — Moderate men
not to be relied on in times of excitement— Difficulties of the Executive— Expedi-
tion to Nauvoo — The anti-Mormon posse dispersed — Violence of the anti-Mormons
against the Governor — Anti-Mormon meetings — Their resolutions— Anti-Mormon
Committee of rogues and blackguards— The Irish Justice and Constable— Capt. Al-
len's expedition to Carthage — Major Webber — Attempts to arrest a Spy — Writs
sworn out to arrest him and Capt. Allen — The old trick of the posse again — Insta-
bility of popular feeling — No disposition anywhere to assist, but a disposition
everywhere to censure government, for not performing impossibilities — Popular
notions of Martial Law — Like master like man — Anarchy and despotism — Lib-
erty and slavery 403

CHAPTER XIV.

Riots in Massac county in 1846 — Robbery in Pope county — The regulators — Their pro-
ceedings— Arrests made by them — The torture and confession of their prisoners —
The rogues vote for the county officers of Massac in 1846 — Extorted and bribed
evidence to implicate the sheriff and others, by the opposing candidates — The sher-
iff and others ordered to leave the. county— Many whipped, tarred and feathered,
and some drowned — Arrest of the rioters — They are rescued by the regulators-
Judge Scales' charge to the grand jury — Indictments against the regulators —
Threats to lynch the judge and the grand jury — Order to Dr. Gibbs, and reason
for such an order— His proceedings under it — The Militia refuse to turn out — In-
efficiency of well-disposed moderate men in such times — A few bold, violent men
can govern a county, and how they do it — The reasons why the Militia would not
turn out — Attack on old Mathis, his wife shot, he is carried away, supposed to
have been murdered — The regulators arrested, given up by the sheriff, prisoners
taken to Kentucky — Some of them drowned — Proceedings of the new Governor
and the Legislature, then in session— District Courts provided to evade the Consti-
tution against changes of the venue in criminal cases — The disturbances die away
of themselves — The situation in 1842 compared with its condition in December,
1846... .. 437

TO THE PUBLIC.

THE author of this history has lived in Illinois from
the year 1804 up to this time ; he attended the first ses-
sion of the Legislature under the State government, at
Kaskaskia, in 18 18-' 19 ; and has been present at every
session from 1825 up to 1847. He has not only had the
means of becoming acquainted with events and results,
but with the characters and motives of those who were
the most active in bringing them about, which is the
hidden soul and most instructive part of history. The
events of such a government as that of Illinois, and the
men of its history, must necessarily be matters of small
interest in themselves. But the author has been encour-
aged to give some account of them by remembering
that history is only philosophy teaching by examples ;
and may, possibly, teach by small as well as large ones.
Observation of the curious habits of small insects has
thrown its light upon science, as much as the dissection
of the elephant. Therefore, if any one is curious to see
what very great things may be illustrated by very small
matters, this book will give him some aid.

XIV TO THE PUBLIC.

The author has written about small events and little
men for two reasons : first, there was nothing else in the
history of Illinois to write about ; secondly, these small
matters seemed best calculated to illustrate what he
wanted to promulgate to the people. The historical
events and personages herein recorded and described, are
related and delineated gravely and truthfully ; and by
no means in a style of exaggeration, caricature, or ro-
mance, after the fashion of Knickerbocker's amusing
history of New York ; but like a tale of romance, they
are merely made a kind of thread upon which to string
the author's speculations ; being his real, true, and genu-
ine views, entertained as a man, not as a politician, con-
cerning the practical operation of republican government
and the machinery party, in the new States of the West.
He has not ventured to call his book a history, for the
reason that much heavy lumbering matter, necessary to
constitute it a complete history, but of no interest to the
general reader, has been omitted. Indeed, every history
is apt to contain much matter not only tiresome to read,
but mischievous to be remembered ; and it is often the
unprofitable task of the antiquarian to busy himself in
raking and carefully saving from oblivion some stupid
or mischievous piece of knowledge, which the good
sense of the cotemporary generation of mankind had
made them forget.

TO THE PUBLIC. XV

The account of our very unimportant mobs and wars,
and particularly the Mormon wars, — in which the au-
thor had the misfortune to figure in a small way him-
self,— is here introduced, with the single remark, that
little events are recorded with a minuteness and particu-
larity which, it is hoped, will not tire, but will certainly
astonish the reader, until he sees the great principles
which they illustrate. The author has earnestly endeav-
ored to be as faithful and impartial as he well could,
considering that he was himself an actor in some of the
scenes described. For the history of the last four years,
embracing the term of his own administration of the
State government, the most difficult period of our his-
tory, he must bespeak some forbearance. The internal
improvement system, the banks, the great plenty of
money, had made every one morally drunk. The fail-
ure of all these brought about a sobering process, which
just began when the author came into office. The dif-
ferent modes of relief for unparalleled calamity, brought
about by unparalleled folly, which were proposed ; the
hideous doctrine of repudiation, and its apposite of in-
creasing the taxes to pay our just debts ; the everlasting
intrigues of politicians with the Mormons ; the serious
disturbances and mobs which these lead to ; and the
strife between the north and the south about the canal,
and their contests for power, were difficult subjects to

TO THE PUBLIC.

deal with. The author aimed to act positively, and not
negatively, in all these matters, which brought him into
fierce collision with many prominent men. He will go
down to the grave satisfied, in his own mind, that he
was right, and they wrong ; and therefore it may be,
that he has not spoken so flatteringly of some of them
as they may have wished. But he has set nothing
down in malice. It is believed that many public men
in Illinois aim to succeed only for the present, and have
acted their parts, with no idea of being responsible to
history ; and of course they have acted much worse than
they would have done, had they dreamed that history
some time or other would record their selfish projects,
and hand them down to another age. They were en-
couraged, by their insignificance, to hope for oblivion ;
and it is, perhaps, after all, not very fair to take them
by surprise, by recording their miserable conduct, giving
a small immortality to their littleness.

In all those matters in which the author has figured
personally, it will be some relief to the reader to find,
that he has not attempted to blow himself up into a
great man. He has no vanity of that sort ; and no one
thinks more humbly of him than he does of himself.
If he has been solicitous about anything concerning
himself, it has been to be considered " a well-meaning
sort of person ;" though-he knows that this, of all oth-

TO THE PUBLIC. XVU

ers, is the most uncommon character in public life, and
is the most despised by your men of rampant ambition.
Insignificant as he may be, yet, during his public life,
many volumes of billingsgate, in the newspaper style,
have been written against him ; but he has all the time
had the satisfaction of knowing his own errors and im-
perfections better than did his revilers. And, like an
Indian warrior about to be tortured, he could have point-
ed out vulnerable places and modes of infliction which
even the active, keen eye of malice itself failed to dis-
cover. He has effectually abandoned all aim to succeed
in public life in the future, having learned by long ex-
perience that in the pursuit of public honors " the play
is not worth the candle." He will therefore but little
regard malicious criticisms which may be the effect of
the remains of bad feelings excited by former contests ;
being assured that no such criticisms can in any wise
affect injuriously any of his plans for the future.

THE AUTHOR.
PEORIA, Illinois, April 12, 1847.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

CHAPTER I.

Petition of the Territorial Legislature to Congress to be admitted into the Union — Bill
reported by Judge Pope, the territorial Delegate— Amendments proposed by him—
Boundaries of the State enlarged — Ordinance of 1787 — Claim of Wisconsin to the
fourteen northern counties— Reasons for extending the boundaries— Call of a Con-
vention— Constitution adopted — E. K. Kane — Petition of the Covenanters — Organi-
zation of the State Government — Governor Bond recommends the Canal to Lake
Michigan — Judge Foster — Judge Thomas — Legislature of 1819 — Code of laws — Re-
moval of the Seat of Government to Vandalia— Origin of the name Vandalia— Char-
acter of the people — Notice of the French villages and of the early American set-
tlers—Schools, learned professions— The early preachers— Pursuits and business of
the people — Their ingenuity — Anecdote of James Lemon — Commerce — Money —
Speculation— Banks in Ohio and Kentucky — General indebtedness — Money crisis —
Creation of the State Bank of 1821— Its history— Col. Menard— John M'Lean— Judge
Young— First duel— Judge Lockwood.

IN the month of January, 1818, a petition was received from
the territorial Legislature of Illinois by Nathaniel Pope, the
delegate in Congress, (now district judge,) praying for the ad-
mission of the territory into the Union as an independent State.
Judge Pope immediately brought the subject before Congress ;
and at an early day thereafter was instructed, by the proper
committee, to report a bill in pursuance of the petition. Ow-
ing to the great amount of business which had matured, this
bill was not acted on until the month of April, when it became
a law, with certain amendments proposed by Judge Pope.
The amendments were, 1st, to extend the northern boundary of
the new State to the parallel of 42° 30' north latitude ; and,

20 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

2d, to apply the three per cent, fund, arising from the sales of
the public lands, to the encouragement of learning, instead of
the making of roads leading to the State, as had been the case
on the admission of Ohio and Indiana. These important changes
were proposed and carried through both houses of Congress
by Judge Pope, upon his own responsibility. The territorial
Legislature had not petitioned for them ; no one at that time
having suggested or requested the making of them ; but they
met the unqualified approbation of the people of Illinois.

By the Ordinance of 1787, there were to be not less than
three, nor more than five States in the territory north-west of
the Ohio river. The boundaries of these States were defined
by that law. The three States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
were to include the whole territory, and were to be bounded by
the British possessions in Canada on the north. But Congress
reserved the power, if they thereafter should find it expedient,
to form one or two States in that part of the territory which
lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly
bend of Lake Michigan. That line, it was generally supposed,
was to be the north boundary of Illinois. Judge Pope, seeing
that the port of Chicago was north of that line, and would be
excluded by it from the State ; and that; the Illinois and Michi-
gan canal (which was then contemplated) would issue from
Chicago, to connect the great northern lakes with the Missis-
sippi, and thus be partly within and partly without the State of
Illinois, was thereby led to a critical examination of the Ordi-
nance, which resulted in a clear and satisfactory conviction,
that it was competent for Congress to extend the boundaries
of the new State as far north as they pleased ; and he found
no difficulty in convincing others of the correctness of his views.

As it is now understood that the new State of Wisconsin
puts in a claim under the Ordinance to the fourteen northern
counties in Illinois, embracing the richest and most populous
part of the State, it may be worth while to examine a little

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 21

whether Judge Pope and (he Congress of 1818 were right in
their conclusions.

It appears that Congress retained the power, under the Ordi-
nance, if they should thereafter deem it expedient, to establish
a State north of Illinois, in that part of the north-western ter-
ritory which lies north of the parallel running through the
southern bend of the Lake. Upon this provision is founded
the claim of Wisconsin. But there is nothing in the Ordinance
requiring such additional State to be 'formed of the territory
north of that line. Another State might be formed in that dis-
trict of country, but not o/it ; it need not necessarily include
the whole. By extending the limits of Illinois north of the
disputed line, Congress still had the power to make a new State
in that district of country north of it, not including the portion
given to Illinois. But the fallacy of the claim for Wisconsin
is further apparent from the facts, that the Ordinance establish-
ed the northern limits of Illinois to extend to the British pos-
sessions in Canada, in other words, to the northern boundary
of the United States ; that the creation of a new State north
of it, was made to depend upon the subsequent discretion of
Congress, and upon their ideas of expediency. Undoubtedly,
Illinois could have been limited to the southern bend of Lake
Michigan. But Congress has never, as yet, established that line ;
but, on the contrary, has established one upwards of fifty
miles north of it, which line so established by Congress, the
people of Wisconsin say is void, as being against the Ordi-
nance. If we take the ground assumed by Wisconsin as the
true one, and admit that the line of 42° 30' is void, as being
against the Ordinance, then it is plain that there is no northern
limit to Illinois, except the British possessions in Canada ; thus
making Illinois include all Wisconsin. If the people of Wis-
consin can show that the line of 42° 30' is void, they do not es-
tablish any other ; their line was not established by the Ordi-
nance ; that law merely authorized Congress to establish it if

22 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

they saw proper and deemed it expedient. But Congress has
never deemed it expedient to establish it. If, therefore, the
only line which Congress ever did establish is void, then Illi-
nois cannot be limited by a line which has never been establish-
ed, but must extend to the northern boundary of the Union, in-
cluding all Wisconsin. Premises from which such arguments
can fairly be drawn, must necessarily be suicidal to the claim
of the new State of Wisconsin, as they inevitably result in its
annihilation, and in extending the jurisdiction of Illinois over
the whole of its territory.

But there were other and much more weighty reasons for
this change of boundary, which were ably and successfully urged
by Judge Pope upon the attention of Congress. It was known
that in all confederated republics there was danger of dissolu-
tion. The great valley of the Mississippi was filling up with a
numerous people; the original confederacy had already ad-
vanced westward a thousand miles, across the chain of moun-
tains skirting the Atlantic ; the adjoining States in the western
country were watered by rivers running from every point of
the compass, converging to a focus at the confluence of the
Ohio and Mississippi at Cairo ; the waters of the Ohio, Cum-
berland and Tennessee rivers, carried much of the commerce
of Alabama and Tennessee, all of Kentucky, considerable por-
tions of that of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, and the
greater portion of the commerce of Ohio and Indiana, down by
the Point at Cairo, (situate in- the extreme south of Illinois,)
where it would be met by the commerce to and from the lower
Mississippi with all the States and territories to be formed in
the immense country on the Missouri, and extending to the
head waters of the Mississippi. Illinois had a coast of 150 miles
on the Ohio river, and nearly as much on the Wabash ; the
Mississippi was its western boundary for the whole length of
the State ; the commerce of all the western country was to pass
by its shores, and would necessarily come to a focus at the

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 23

mouth of the Ohio, at a point within this State, and within the
control of Illinois, if, the Union being dissolved, she should see
proper to control it. It was foreseen that none of the great
States in the west could venture to aid in dissolving the Union,
without cultivating a State situate in such a central and com-
manding position.

What then was the duty of the national government 1 Illi-
nois was certain to be a great State, with any boundaries which
that government could give. Its great extent of territory, its
unrivalled fertility of soil, and capacity for sustaining a dense
population, together with its commanding position, would in
course of time give the new State a very controlling influence
with her sister States situate upon the western rivers, either in
sustaining the federal union as it is, or in dissolving it, and es-
tablishing new governments. If left entirely upon the waters
of these great rivers, it was plain that, in case of threatened
disruption, the interest of the new State would be to join a
southern and western confederacy. But if a large portion of
it could be made dependent upon the commerce and navigation
of the great northern lakes, connected as they are with the eastern
States, a rival interest would be created, to check the wish for
a western and southern confederacy.

It therefore became the duty of the national government, not
only to make Illinois strong, but to raise an interest inclining
and binding her to the eastern and northern portions of the
Union. This could be done only through an interest in the
lakes. At that time the commerce on the lakes was small, but
its increase was confidently expected, and indeed it has exceeded
all anticipations, and is yet only in its infancy. To accomplish
this object effectually, it was not only necessary to give to Il-
linois the port of Chicago and a route for the canal, but a con-
siderable coast on Lake Michigan, with a country back of it
sufficiently extensive to contain a population capable of exer-
cising a decided influence upon the councils of the State.

24 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

There would, therefore, be a large -commerce of the north,
western, and central portions of the State afloat on the lakes,
for it was then foreseen that the canal would be made ; and
this alone would be like turning one of the many mouths of
the Mississippi into Lake Michigan at Chicago. A very large
commerce of the centre and south would be found, both upon
the lakes and the rivers. Associations in business, in interest,
and of friendship would be formed, both with the north and
the south. A State thus situated, having such a decided in-
terest in the commerce, and in the preservation of the whole
confederacy, can never consent to disunion ; for the Union can-
not be dissolved without a division and disruption of the State
itself. These views, urged by Judge Pope, obtained the un-
qualified assent of the statesmen of 1818 ; and this feature of
the bill, for the admission of Illinois into the Union, met the
unanimous approbation of both houses of Congress.

These facts and views are worthy to be recorded in history,
as a standing and perpetual call upon Illinoisians of every age
to remember the great trust which has been reposed in them,
as the peculiar champions and guardians of the Union, by the
great men and patriot sages who adorned and governed this
country in the earlier and better days of the republic.

In pursuance of this Act of Congress, a Convention was called
in Illinois, in the summer of 1818, which formed our present
Constitution. The principal member of it was Elias K. Kane,
late a senator in Congress and now deceased, to whose talents
we are mostly indebted for the peculiar features of the Con-
stitution. Mr. Kane was born in the State of New York, and
was bred to the profession of the law. He removed in early
youth to Tennessee, where he rambled about for some time,
and finally settled in the ancient village of Kaskaskia, in Illinois,
about the year 1815, when he was about twenty years of age.
His talents were both solid and brilliant. After being appointed
Secretary of State under the new government, he was elected

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 25

to the Legislature, from which he was elected and again re-elect-
ed to the United States Senate. He died a member of that body,
in the autumn of 1835 ; and in memory of him the County of
Kane, on Fox river, was named, as was also the County of
Pope, on the Ohio river, in honor of Judge Pope, the able and
faithful delegate in Congress from the Illinois territory. Dur-
ing the sitting of the Convention of 1818, the Reverend Mr.
Wiley and his congregation, of a sect called Covenanters, in
Randolph county, sent in their petition, asking that body to
declare in the Constitution about to be made, that "Jesus
Christ was the head of the government, and that the Holy
Scriptures were the only rule of faith and practice." It does
not appear by the journals of the Convention that this petition
was treated with any attention ; wherefore the Covenanters have
never yet fully recognized the State government. They have
looked upon it as " an heathen and unbaptized government"
which denies Christ ; for which reason they have constantly re-
fused to work the roads under the laws, serve on juries, hold
any office, or do any other act showing that they recognize the
government. For a long time they refused to vote at the elec-
tions ; and never did vote until the election in 1824, when the
question was, whether Illinois should be made a slave State,
when they voted for the first time, and unanimously against
slavery. In the election of members to the Convention, the
only questions made before the people were, the right of the
constituent to instruct his representative, and the introduction
of slavery, which were debated with great earnestness during
the canvass.

The Constitution, as formed, required the Governor and
Lieutenant Governor to have been citizens of the United States
for thirty years before their election. It also gave power to the
governor to nominate, and the Senate to confirm, all officers
whose appointments were not otherwise provided for by the
Constitution ; the only exceptions to, this rule being the judges

26 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

of the supreme and inferior courts, State treasurer, and public
printer. But motives of favor to particular persons, who were
looked to to hold office under the new government, induced the
Convention to make exceptions in both these cases, which in
the case of appointments to office in the hands of the legislature,
became the general rule.

Col. Pierre Menard, a Frenchman, and an old settler in the
country, was generally looked to to fill the office of lieutenant
governor ; but as he had not been naturalized until a year or
so before, the Convention declared in a schedule to the Consti-
tution, that any citizen of the United States who had resided in
the State for two years might be eligible to this office.

It was expected that Shadrach Bond would be the first gov-
ernor ; and the Convention wished to have Elijah C. Berry for
the first auditor of public accounts, but as it was believed that
Governor Bond would not appoint him to the office, the Con-
vention again declared in the schedule that " an auditor of pub-
lic accounts, an attorney general, and such other officers of the
State as may be necessary, may be appointed by the General
Assembly." The Constitution, as it stood, vested a very large
appointing power in the governor ; but for the purpose of get-
ting one man into office, a total change was made, and the.
power vested in the legislature. It was for many years a ques-
tion, what was an " officer of the State." Were States' attor-
neys of the circuits ? Were the canal commissioners officers
for the State 1 The legislature afterwards decided that all these
were State offices, and passed laws from time to time, vesting
in their own body all the appointing powers they could lay
their hands on. In this mode they appointed canal commis-
sioners, fund commissioners, commissioners of the board of
public works, bank directors for the principal banks and branch-
es, canal agents, States' attorneys, and all sorts of agencies
which seemed to be necessary. Sometimes such agents were
appointed by election, then again the legislature would pass a

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 27

law enacting them into office by name and surname. They
contrived to strip the governor of all patronage not positively
secured to him by the Constitution ; such as the appointment
of a secretary of State, and the filling of vacancies during the
recess of their sessions. At first the legislature contented them-
selves with the power to elect an auditor and attorney general.
The governor appointed all the States' attorneys, the recorders
of counties, all State officers and agents occasionally needed,
and many minor county officers. But in the administration of
Governor Duncan he was finally stripped of all patronage, ex-
cept the appointment of notaries public and public administra-
tors. Sometimes one legislature, feeling pleased with the gov-
ernor, would give him some appointing power, which their
successors would take away, if they happened to quarrel with
him. This constant changing and shifting of powers, from one
co-ordinate branch of the government to another, which rendered
it impossible for the people to foresee exactly for what purpose
either the governor or legislature were elected, was one of the
worst features of the government. It led to innumerable in-
trigues and corruptions, and for a long time destroyed the har-
mony between the executive and legislative departments.
And all this was caused by the Convention of 1818, in the at-
tempt to get one man into an office of no very considerable
importance.

According to general expectation, Shadrach Bond was elected
the first governor, and commenced his term of four years in
October, 1818. Governor Bond was a native of Maryland,
was bred a farmer, and was a very early settler amongst the
pioneers of the Illinois territory. He settled on a farm in the
American Bottom, in Monroe County, near the Eagle Creek.
He was several times elected to the territorial legislature, and
once a delegate to represent the territory in Congress. He was
also receiver of public moneys at Kaskaskia, but was never
elected or appointed to any other office after his term as gov-

28 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

ernor. Indeed, of the seven first governors of Illinois only one
has ever held any office since the expiration of their respective
terms of service ; though I believe they have all, except myself,
tried to obtain some other office. Governor Bond was a sub-
stantial, farmer-like man, of strong, plain common sense, with
but little pretensions to learning or general information. He
was a well-made, well-set, sturdy gentleman, and what is re-
markable at this day, his first message to the legislature con-
tains a strong recommendation in favor of the Illinois and
Michigan canal. At that early day the people north of Kas-
kaskia, then the seat of government, were northern people, and
in favor of northern interests. The inhabited parts of the State
then extended north, a little above Alton ; and at that time the
people of Randolph, Monroe, St. Clair and Madison, then north-
ern but now southern counties, were as anxious for the canal as
the people of Lasalle have been since. In like manner when
the seat of government was removed, first to Vandalia, and
afterwards to Springfield, the people north of those places, re-
spectively, whilst the seat of government remained at them,
were in favor of the canal and northern interests ; but when re-
moved from Vandalia to Springfield, the northern men between
Springfield and Vandalia were immediately converted into
Southerners, and most of them ever afterwards opposed the
canal. It seems that an imaginary east and west line will, in
the imagination of politicians, be drawn through the seat of
government, and all north of it will be north, and all south of
it will be south, with some trifling exceptions. Governor Bond
died about the year 1834 ; and for him was named the county
of Bond, lying on the waters of Shoal Creek.

The legislature was convened at Kaskaskia in October, 1818,
and organized the government by the election of Joseph Phil-
ips to be chief justice, Thomas C. Brown and John Reynolds,
and William P. Foster associate justices of the Supreme Court.
Judges Brown and Reynolds will be spoken of hereafter. Phil-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 29

ips had been a captain in the regular army, and was afterwards
appointed secretary of State of the territory ; and, being a
lawyer and a man of high order of talent, was therefore elected
chief justice. Being afterwards a candidate for governor and
defeated, he left the State in such disgust as defeat is apt to
inspire, and went to reside in Tennessee, where he is yet alive.
Foster, who was elected one of the judges, was almost a total
stranger in the country. He was a great rascal, but no one
knew it then, he having been a citizen of the State only for
about three weeks before he was elected. He was no lawyer,
never having either studied or practised law ; but he was a man
of winning, polished manners, and was withal a very gentle-
manly swindler, from some part of Virginia. It might be said
of him, as it was of Lambro, " he was the mildest mannered
man that ever scuttled ship or cut a throat, with such true
breeding of a gentleman, that you never could divine his real
thought." He was believed to be a clever fellow, in the
American sense of the phrase, and a good-hearted soul. He
was assigned to hold courts in the circuit on the Wabash;
but being fearful of exposing his utter incompetency, he never
went near any of them. In the course of one year he resigned
his high office, but took care first to pocket his salary, and
then removed out of the State. He afterwards became a noted
swindler, moving from city to city, and living by swindling
strangers, and prostituting his daughters, who were very beau-
tiful.

Ninian Edwards, now no more, and Jesse B. Thomas, who
at this time resides in the State of Ohio, were elected our first
senators in Congress. Elias K. Kane was appointed secretary
of State, Daniel P. Cook was elected the first attorney general,
Elijah C. Berry auditor of public accounts, and John Thomas
State treasurer. Under the auspices and guidance of these
names, was Illinois launched on her career of administration,
as an independent State of the American Union. Among these

30 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

gentlemen, I will at this time speak of Judge Thomas only.
He is first distinctly known when he resided in the territory
of Indiana, and was a member of the territorial legislature at
the time Indiana territory included all the Illinois country.
William Biggs and John Messenger, of St. Clair county, rep-
resented the Illinois country hi that legislature, and were de-
sirous to obtain a division of that territory, and to erect a
separate territorial government for Illinois. The Indiana leg-
islature then met at Vincennes, a town on the Wabash, for
which reason it was long afterwards, by the vulgar, known by
the name of the " Vinsan legislator ;" and the laws of the ter-
ritory during that period were called the laws of the " Vinsan
legislator." The Illinoisians wanted a legislature of their own
to meet at Kaskaskia, then vulgarly known by the name of
" Kusky," a corruption and contraction of the real name.
Whether the territory could be divided or not, depended upon
the election of a delegate to Congress. The Illinoisians were
anxious to elect one favorable to a division, and they selected
Mr. Thomas for this purpose. But being determined not to
be cheated, they made him give his bond to be in favor of a
division. With the aid of the Illinois vote and his own, Mr.
Thomas had a bare majority, and was elected. True to his
pledges and his bond, Mr. Thomas procured a division of the
territory, the erection of a separate territorial government for
Illinois, and came home with the appointment of one of the
judgeships of the supreme court of the new territory for him-
self. Judge Thomas then removed to Illinois, where he con-
tinued to be one of the judges during the existence of the ter-
ritory. He was elected from St. Clair county a member of the
Convention which formed the Constitution, and had the honor
to be chosen president of that body. He was twice elected to
the United States Senate, and in the year 1827 left the State
to reside in Ohio. During his senatorial career, he was a great
favorite with William H. Crawford, the secretary of the treas-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 31

my, and was a warm advocate of Mr. Crawford's election to
the presidency ; but after Mr. Adams was declared to be elected
by the House of Representatives, he came over to the support
of Mr. Adams' administration. He was a large, affable, good-
looking man, with no talents as a public speaker ; but he was
a man of tact, an adroit and winning manager. It was a maxim
with him, that no man could be talked down with loud and bold
words, " but any one might be whispered to death."

It appears by the journals of this first legislature that a
committee was appointed to contract for stationery, who re-
ported that they had purchased a sufficient stock at the cost of
$13 50. For every dollar then paid, we now pay hundreds
for the same articles ; but this was in the days of real frugality
and economy, and before any of the members had learned the
gentlemanly art of laying in, from the public stock, a year or
two's supply at home. The assembly having organized the
State government and put it in motion, adjourned, to meet again
in the winter of 181 8-' 19. At this adjourned session a code
of statute law was passed, mostly borrowed from the statutes
of Kentucky and Virginia. Upon examining the laws of that
day, it will be seen that they are generally better drawn up
than those which were passed at a later and more enlightened
period. The members were mostly ignorant and unpretending
men ; there was then some reverence for men of real knowl-
edge and real abilities ; the world was not then filled with au-
dacious and ignorant pretenders ; and the sensible and unpre-
tending members were content to look to men of real talents
and learning to draw their bills. But in these days of empir-
icism and quackery in all things, when every ignorant pretender
who has the luck to " break" into the legislature imagines him-
self to be a Lycurgus or a Moses, very few good laws have been
made ; and those which have, were drawn by men of talents
who were not members, for the most part.

But this code, as a whole, did not stand long. For many

32 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

sessions afterwards, in fact until the new revision in 1827, all
the standard laws were regularly changed and altered every two
years, to suit the taste and whim of every new legislature. For
a long time the rage for amending and altering was so great,
that it was said to be a good thing that the Holy Scriptures did
not have to come before the Legislature ; for that body would
be certain to alter and amend them, so that no one could tell
what was or was not the word of God, any more than could
be told what was or was not the law of the State. A session
of the legislature was like a great fire in the boundless prairies
of the State ; it consumed everything. And again, it was like
the genial breath of spring, making all things new.

One of the most remarkable laws of this first code was the
act concerning negroes and mulattoes. It is to be observed
that the ordinance of Congress of the year 1787, and the deed
of cession of the country from Virginia, were interpreted so as
to secure the French settlers in a right to their slaves, and
the legislatures of the Indiana and Illinois territories had passed
laws allowing a qualified introduction of slavery. For instance,
it had been enacted that emigrants to the country might bring
their slaves with them, and if the slaves, being of lawful age
to consent, would go before the clerk of a county, and volun-
tarily sign an indenture to serve their master for a term of
years, they should be held to a specific performance of their
contracts. If they refused to give such consent, their masters
might remove them out of the territory in sixty days. The
children of such slaves, being under the age of consent, might
be taken before an officer and registered ; and then they were
bound by those laws to serve their masters until they were
thirty-two years old. Such slaves were then* called indentured
and registered servants ; the French negroes were called slaves.
Many servants and slaves were held under these laws, but
the number of negroes was very small, compared with the num-
ber of the white inhabitants. Nevertheless, this first legislature

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 33

re-enacted in Illinois all the severe and stringent laws to be
found in a slave State, where the number of negroes was equal
to, or greater than the number of white people, and where such
severity might be necessary to prevent rebellion and servile
war. For instance, it was enacted that no negro or mulatto
should reside in the State until he had produced a certificate of
freedom, and given bond, with security, for good behavior, and
not to become a county charge. No person was to harbor or
hire a negro or mulatto who had not complied with the law,
under the penalty of five hundred dollars fine. All such free
negroes were to cause their families to be registered. Every
negro or mulatto not having a certificate of freedom, was to
be deemed a runaway slave ; was liable to be taken up by any
inhabitant ; committed by a justice of the peace ; imprisoned
by the sheriff; advertised ; sold for one year ; and, if not
claimed within that time, was to be considered a free man, un-
less his master should afterwards reclaim him. Any person
bringing a negro into the State, to set him free, was liable to a
fine of two hundred dollars. Riots, routs, unlawful assemblies,
and seditious speeches of slaves, were to be punished with
stripes, not exceeding thirty-nine, at the discretion of any jus-
tice of the peace ; also, slaves were to be punished with thirty-
five lashes for being found ten miles from home without a pass
from their master ; also, it was made lawful for the owner of
any dwelling or plantation to give, or order to be given, to
any slave or servant coming upon his plantation, ten lashes upon
his bare back ; and persons who should permit slaves and ser-
vants to assemble for dancing or revelling, by night or day,
were to be fined twenty dollars. It was made the duty of all
sheriffs, coroners, judges, and justices of the peace, on view of
such an assemblage, to commit the slaves to jail, and to order
each one of them to be whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine
stripes, on the bare back, to be inflicted the next day, unless
the same should be Sunday, and then on the next day after.

34 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

In all cases where free persons were punishable by fine under
the criminal laws of the State, servants were to be punished by
whipping, at the rate of twenty lashes for every eight dollars
fine. No person was to buy of, sell to, or trade with a slave or
servant, without the consent of his master ; and for so doing,
was to forfeit four times the value of the article bought, sole};
or traded. Lazy and disorderly servants were to be corrected
by stripes, on the order of a justice of the peace.

These provisions have been continued in all the revisions of
the law since made, and are now the law of the land. It was
partly the object of these laws to prevent free negroes from be-
coming numerous in the State, by discouraging their settlement
here, and discouraging runaway slaves from coming to Illinois,
to become free ; and when we consider the importance, for the
purposes of harmony and good government, of preserving a
homogeneous character amongst the people, such an object was
a wise one. But for what purpose such severities were de-
nounced against slaves and servants, when their numbers were
so few that they could not be dangerous, can only be conjec-
tured. The most plausible account of the matter may be, that
as the early legislators were from the slave States ; they im-
ported this law, as they did others, without considering its want
of application to the condition of the country. In the same
manner, we find early laws imported from the slave States for
the inspection of hemp and tobacco, when there was neither
hemp nor tobacco raised in the country. And no doubt the
feeling and habit of domination over the slave acquired in a
slave State, and brought by the settlers into a free one, had its
full share of influence. These laws would have been modified
or repealed long ere this, if it had not been for the abolition
excitement of modern times, which has made it dangerous to
the popularity of politicians to propose their repeal, since such
a proposition might indicate a leaning to that unpopular party.
But as it is, the severe points of them are now, and for a long

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 35

time past have been, a dead letter upon the pages of the statute
book, there being no instance, within the memory of the pres-
ent generation, of putting them in force.

This legislature also provided for the removal of the seat of gov-
ernment from the town of Kaskaskia, the ancient seat of empire
for more than one hundred and fifty years, both for the French
and American inhabitants. Commissioners were appointed to
select a new site, who made choice of a place, then in the midst
of the wilderness, on the Kaskaskia river, north-east of the set-
tlements, which they called " Vandalia." After the place had
been selected, it became a matter of great interest to give it
a good sounding name, one which would please the ear, and at
the same time have the classic merit of perpetuating the mem-
ory of the ancient race of Indians by whom the country had
first been inhabited. Tradition says that a wag who was pres-
ent, suggested to the commissioners that the " Vandals" were
a powerful nation of Indians, who once inhabited the banks of
the Kaskaskia river, and that " Vandalia," formed from their
name, would perpetuate the memory of that extinct but re-
nowned people. The suggestion pleased the commissioners,
the name was adopted, and they thus proved that the name of
their new city (if they were fit representatives of their con-
stituents) would better illustrate the character of the modern
than the ancient inhabitants of the country.

In the year 1818, the whole people numbered about forty-
five thousand souls. Some two thousand of these were the
descendants of the old French settlers in the villages of Kaskas-
kia, Prairie Du Rocher, Prairie Du Pont, Cahokia, Peoria, and
Chicago. These people had fields in common for farming, and
farmed, built houses, and lived in the style of the peasantry in
old France an hundred and fifty years ago. They had made
no improvements in anything, nor had they adopted any of
the improvements made by others. They were the descend-
ants of those French people who had first settled the country,

36 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

more than a hundred and fifty years before, under Lasalle, Ib-
berville, and the priests Alvarez, Rasles, Gravier, Pinet, Marest,
and others, and such as subsequently joined them from New
Orleans and Canada ; and they now formed all that remained of
the once proud empire which Louis XIV., king of France, and
the regent Duke of Orleans, had intended to plant in the Illi-
nois country. The original settlers had many of them inter-
married with the native Indians, and some of the descendants
of these partook of the wild, roving disposition of the savage,
united to the politeness and courtesy of the Frenchman. In
the year 1818, and for many years before, the crews of keel
boats on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers were furnished from
the Frenchmen of this stock. Many of them spent a great part
of their time, in the spring and fall seasons, in paddling their
canoes up and down the rivers and lakes in the river bottoms,
on hunting excursions, in pursuit of deer, fur, and wild fowl,
and generally returned home well loaded with skins, fur, and
feathers, which were with them the great staples of trade.
Those who stayed at home, contented themselves with culti-
vating a few acres of Indian corn, in their common fields, for
bread, and providing a supply of prairie hay for their cattle
and horses. No genuine Frenchman, in those days, ever wore
a hat, cap, or coat. The heads of both men and women were
covered with Madras cotton handkerchiefs, which were tied
around, in the fashion of night-caps. For an upper covering
of the body the men wore a blanket garment, called a " capot,"
(pronounced cappo) with a cap to it at the back of the neck,
to be drawn .over the head'for a protection in cold weather, or
in warm weather to be thrown back upon the shoulders in the
fashion of a cape. Notwithstanding this people had been so
long separated by an immense wilderness from civilized so-
ciety, they still retained all the suavity and politeness of their
race. And it is a remarkable fact, that the roughest hunter and
boatman amongst them could at any time appear in a bull-

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 37

room, or other polite and gay assembly, with the carriage and
behavior of a well-bred gentleman. The French women were
remarkable for the sprightliness of their conversation and the
grace and elegance of their manners. And the whole popula-
tion lived lives of alternate toil, pleasure, innocent amusement,
and gaiety.

Their horses and cattle, for want of proper care and food
for many generations, had degenerated in size, but had acquired
additional vigor and toughness ; so that a French pony was a
proverb for strength and endurance. These ponies were made
to draw, sometimes one alone, sometimes two together, one
hitched before the other, to the plough, or to carts made en-
tirely of wood, the bodies of which held about double the con-
tents of the body of a common large wheel-barrow. The oxen
were yoked by the horns instead of the neck, and in this mode
were made to draw the plough and cart. Nothing like reins
were ever used in driving ; the whip of the driver, with a han-
dle about two feet, and a lash two yards long, stopped or guided
the horse as effectually as the strongest reins.

The French houses were mostly built of hewn timber, set
upright in the ground, or upon plates laid upon a wall, the in-
tervals between the upright pieces being filled with stone and
mortar. Scarcely any of them were more than one story high,
with a porch on one or two sides, and sometimes all around,
with low roofs extending with slopes of different steepness from
the comb in the centre to the lowest part of the porch. These
houses were generally placed in gardens, surrounded by fruit-
trees of apples, pears, cherries, and peaches ; and in the villages
each enclosure for a house and garden occupied a whole block
or square, or the greater part of one. Each village had its
Catholic church and priest. The church was the great place
of gay resort on Sundays and holidays, and the priest was the
adviser and director and companion of all his flock. The peo-
ple looked up to him with affection and reverence, and he upon

88 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

them with compassion and tenderness. He was ever ready to
sympathize with them in all their sorrows, enter into all their
joys, and counsel them in all their perplexities. Many good
Protestant ministers, who stoutly believed these Catholic priests
to be the emissaries of Satan, would have done well to imitate
their simple-heaf ted goodness to the members of their flocks.

The American inhabitants were chiefly from Kentucky, Vir-
ginia, and Pennsylvania. Some of them had been the officers
and soldiers under General George Rogers Clark, who conquer-
ed the country from the British in 1778, and they, with others
who afterwards followed them, maintained their position in
the country during the Indian wars in Ohio and Indiana in the
times of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne. This handful of peo-
ple, being increased in the whole to about twelve thousand
souls, by subsequent emigration, with the aid of one company
of regular soldiers, defended themselves and their settlements,
during the war of 1812, against the then numerous and power-
ful nations of the Kickapoos, Sacs, and Foxes, Pottawattomies
and Shawnees, and even made hostile expeditions into the heart
of their territories, burning their villages, and defeating and
driving them from the country. In the year 1818, the settled
part of the State extended a little north of Edwardsville and
Alton ; south, along the Mississippi to the mouth of the Ohio ;
east, in the direction of Carlysle to the Wabash ; and down the
Wabash and the Ohio, to the mouth of the last-named river.
But there was yet a very large unsettled wilderness tract of
country, within these boundaries, lying between the Kaskaskia
river and the Wabash ; and between the Kaskaskia and the
Ohio, of three days' journey across it. There were no schools
in the county, except for reading, writing, and arithmetic, and
one school for surveying and book-keeping. The lawyers and
professional men came from abroad. Preachers of the gospel
frequently sprung up from the body of the people at home,
without previous training, except in religious exercises and in

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 39

the study of the Holy Scriptures. In those primitive times it
was not thought to be necessary that a teacher of religion
should be a scholar. It was thought to be his business to preach
from a knowledge of the Scriptures alone, to make appeals warm
from the heart, to paint heaven and hell to the imagination of
the sinner, to terrify him with the one, and to promise the
other as a reward for a life of righteousness. However igno-
rant these first preachers may have been, they could be at no
loss to find congregations still more ignorant, so that they were
still capable of instructing some one. Many of them added to
their knowledge of the Bible, a diligent perusal of Young's
Night Thoughts, Watts' hymns, Milton's Paradise Lost, and
Hervey's Meditations, a knowledge of which gave more com-
pass to their thoughts, to be expressed in a profuse, flowery lan-
guage, and raised their feelings to the utmost height of poetical
enthusiasm.

Sometimes their sermons turned upon matters of controver-
sy ; unlearned arguments on the subject of free grace, baptism,
free will, election, faith, good works, justification, sanctification,
and the final perseverance of the saints. But that in which they
excelled, was the earnestness of their words and manner, leav-
ing no doubt of the strongest conviction in their own minds,
and in the vividness of the pictures which they drew of the in-
effable blessedness of heaven, and the awful torments of the
wicked in the fire and brimstone appointed for eternal punish-
ment. These, with the love of God to sinful men, the sufferings
of the Saviour, the dangerous apathy of sinners, and exhorta-
tions to repentance, furnished themes for the most vehement
and passionate declamations. But above all, they continually
inculcated the great principles of justice and sound morality.

As many of these preachers were nearly destitute of learning
and knowledge, they made up in loud hallooing and violent ac-
tion what they lacked in information. And it was a matter of
astonishment to what length they could spin out a sermon em-

40 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

bracing only a few ideas. The merit of a sermon was meas-
ured somewhat by the length of it, by the flowery language of
the speaker, and by his vociferation and violent gestures. Nev-
ertheless, these first preachers were of incalculable benefit to
the country. They inculcated justice and morality, and to the
sanction of the highest human motives to regard them, added
those which arise from a belief of the greatest conceivable
amount of future rewards and punishments. They were truly
patriotic also ; for at a time when the country was so poor
that no other kind of ministry could have been maintained in
it, they preached without charge to the people, working week
days to aid the scanty charities of their flocks, in furnishing
themselves with a scantier living. They believed with a posi-
tive certainty that they saw the souls of men rushing to per-
dition ; and they stepped forward to warn and to save, with
all the enthusiasm and self-devotion of a generous man who
risks his own life to save his neighbor from drowning. And
to them are we indebted for the first Christian character of the
Protestant portion of this people.

The long, loud, and violent declamations of these early
preachers, seemed to be well adapted to the taste of the in-
habitants. In course of time their style became the standard
of popular eloquence. It was adopted by lawyers at the bar,
and by politicians in their public harangues ; and to this day,
in some of the old settled parts of the State, no one is accounted
an orator unless he can somewhat imitate thunder in his style
of public speaking. From hence, also, comes the vulgar notion
that any bellowing fellow, with a profusion of flowery bombast,
is a " smart man," a man of talents, fit to make laws, govern
the country, and originate its policy. The public exercises in
religion were greatly aided by the loud and wild music made
by the singing of untutored voices. He was considered the
best singer, who could wake up the echoes to his voice from
the greatest distance, in the deep woods around ; so that in pro-

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 41

cess of time, when the New England singing masters began to
establish singing schools, many people looked upon their scien-
tific and chastened performances with perfect scorn. One of
these itinerant teachers of music called his scholars together,
they being large, loud-voiced young men and women, trained
to sing at camp meetings. As he stood out in their midst, and
began a tune in a low, melodious voice, sawing the air with his
hand, to beat the time, sliding gracefully about the room, after
the fashion of a singing master, his scholars lifted up their loud
voices, and struck into the tune before him, overwhelming him
with a horrible din of sound, such as he had never heard be-
fore, drowning his feeble voice and his fine music, both together.
The scholars were vastly pleased with their own performance,
and held that of their teacher in utter contempt. Whereupon,
they all concluded with one accord, that each one of them was
already far superior to his teacher, and the school broke up.

The pursuits of the people were agricultural. A very few
merchants supplied them with the few necessaries which could
not be produced or manufactured at home. The farmer raised
his own provisions ; tea and coffee were scarcely used, except
on some grand occasions. The farmer's sheep furnished wool
for his winter clothing ; he raised cotton and flax for his sum-
mer clothing. His wife and daughters spun, wove, and made
it into garments. A little copperas and indigo, with the bark
of trees, furnished dye stuffs for coloring. The fur of the rac-
coon, made him a hat or a cap. The skins of deer or of his
cattle, tanned at a neighboring tan-yard, or dressed by himself,
made him shoes or moccasins. Boots were rarely seen, even
in the towns. And a log cabin, made entirely of wood, with-
out glass, nails, hinges, or locks, furnished the residence of many
a contented and happy family. The people were quick and in-
genious to supply by invention, and with their own hands, the
lack of mechanics and artificers. Each farmer, as a general
thing, built his own house, made his own ploughs and harness,

42 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

bedsteads, chairs, stools, cupboards, and tables. The carts and
wagons for hauling, were generally made without iron, without
tires, or boxes, and were run without tar, and might be heard
creaking as they lumbered along the roads, for the distance of
a mile or more.

As an example of the talents of this people to supply all de-
ficiencies, and provide against accidents by a ready invention,
the following anecdote is related of James Lemon, one of the
old sort of baptist preachers, formerly of Monroe county, but
now deceased. Mr. Lemon was a farmer, and made all his own
harness. The collars for his horses were made of straw or corn
husks, plaited and sewed together by himself. Being engaged
in breaking a piece of stubble ground, and having turned out
for dinner, he left his harness on the beam of his plough. His
son, a wild youth, who was employed with a pitchfork to clear
the plough of the accumulating stubble, staid behind, and hid
one of the horse collars. This he did that he might rest whilst
his father made a new collar. But the old man, returning in
the afternoon and missing his collar, mused for a few minutes,
and then, very much to the disappointment of his truant son,
he deliberately pulled off his leather breeches, stuffed the legs
of them with stubble, straddled them across the neck of his
horse for a collar, and ploughed the remainder of the day, as
bare-legged as he came into the world. In a more civilized
country, where the people are better acquainted with the great
laws which control the division of labor, a half day would have
been lost in providing for such a mishap.

Such a thing as regular commerce was nearly unknown.
Until 1817, everything of foreign growth or manufacture had
been brought from New Orleans in keel boats, towed with ropes
or pushed with poles, by the hardy race of boatmen of that
day, up the current of the Mississippi ; or else wagoned across
the mountains from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and from thence
floated down the Ohio to its mouth in keel boats ; and from

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. - 43

there shoved, pushed, and towed up the Mississippi, as from
New Orleans. Upon the conclusion of the war of 1812 the
people from the old States began to come in, and settle in the
country. They brought some money and property with them,
and introduced some changes in the customs and modes of liv-
ing. Before the war, such a thing as money was scarcely ever
seen in the country, the skins of the deer and raccoon supplying
the place of a circulating medium. The money which was now
brought in, and which had before been paid by the United
States to the militia during the war, turned the heads of all the
people, and gave them new ideas and aspirations ; so that by
1819 the whole country was in a rage for speculating in lands
and town lots. The States of Ohio and Kentucky, a little be-
fore, had each incorporated a batch of about forty independent
banks. The Illinois territory had incorporated two at home,
one at Edwardsville and the other at Shawneetown ; and the
territory of Missouri added two more, at St. Louis. These
banks made money very plenty ; emigrants brought it to the
State in great abundance. The owners of it had to use it in
some way ; and as it could not be used in legitimate commerce
in a State where the material for commerce did not exist, the
most of it was used to build houses in towns which the limited
business of the country did not require, and to purchase land
which the labor of the country was not sufficient to cultivate.
This was called " developing the infant resources of a new
country."

The United States government was then selling land at two
dollars per acre ; eighty dollars on the quarter section to be
paid down on the purchase, with a credit of five years for the
residue. For nearly every sum of eighty dollars there was in
the country, a quarter section of land was purchased ; for in
those days there were no specie circulars to restrain unwar-
rantable speculations ; but, on the contrary, the notes of most
of the numerous banks in existence, were good in the public

44 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

land offices. The amount of land thus purchased, was increased
by the general expectation that the rapid settlement of the
country would enable the speculator to sell it for a high price,
before the expiration of the credit. This great abundance of
money also, about this time, made a vast increase in the amount
of merchandise brought into the State. When money is plenty
every man's credit is good. The people dealt largely with the
stores on credit, and drew upon a certain fortune in prospect
for payment. Every one was to get rich out of the future
emigrant. The speculator was to sell him houses and lands ;
and the farmer was to sell him everything he wanted to begin
with and to live upon, until he could supply himself. Towns
were laid out all over the country, and lots were purchased by
every one on a credit ; the town maker received no money for
his lots, but he received notes of hand, which he considered to be
as good as cash ; and he lived and embarked in other ventures,
as if they had been cash in truth. In this mode, by the year
1820, nearly the whole people were irrecoverably involved in
debt. The banks in Ohio and Kentucky broke, one after an-
other, leaving the people of those States covered with indebted-
ness, and without the means of extrication. The banks at home
and in St. Louis ceased business. The great tide of immigrants
from abroad, which had been looked for by every one, failed to
come. Real estate was unsaleable ; the lands purchased of the
United States were unpaid for, and likely to be forfeited. Bank
notes had driven out specie, and when these notes became
worthless, there was no money of any description left in the
country. And there was absolutely no commerce by means
of which a currency could be restored. For in those days we
exported nothing ; and if there had been any property fit for
exportation, there was no market for it abroad, and if there had
been a market, there was no capital with which to purchase it
and take it to market. The people began to sue one another
for their debts ; and as there was absolutely no money in the

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 45

country, it was evident that scarcely any amount of property
would pay the indebtedness.

To remedy these evils, the legislature of 1821 created a
State Bank. It was founded without money, and wholly on
the credit of the State. Tt was authorized to issue one, two,
three, five, ten and twenty dollar notes, in the likeness of bank
bills, bearing two per cent, annual interest, and payable by the
State in ten years. A principal bank was established at Van-
dalia, and four or five branches in other places ; the legislature
elected all the directors and officers ; a large number of whom
were members of the legislature, and all of them professional
politicians. The bank was directed by law to lend its bills to
the people, to the amount of one hundred dollars, on personal
security ; and upon the security of mortgages upon land for a
greater sum. These bills were to be receivable in payment of
all State and county taxes, and for all costs and fees, and sala-
ries of public officers; and if a creditor refused to endorse on
his execution his willingness to receive them in payment of
debt, the debtor could replevy or stay its collection for three
years, by giving personal security. So infatuated were this
legislature with this absurd bank project, that the members
firmly believed that the notes of this bank would remain at par
with gold and silver ; and they could readily prove their be-
lief to be well-founded ; for the most difficult argument to an-
swer is one founded partly upon fact, but mostly upon guess
work and conjecture. As an evidence of the belief of the legis-
lature to this effect, the journals show that a resolution was
passed, requesting the secretary of the treasury of the United
States, to receive these notes into the land offices in payment
for the public lands. When this resolution was put to the vote
in the Senate, the old French lieutenant-governor, Col. Menard,
presiding over that body, did up the business as follows : " Gen-
tlemen of de Senate, it is moved and seconded dat de notes of
dis bank be made land office money. All in favor of dat mo-

46 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

tion, say aye ; all against it, say no. It is decided in de affirm-
ative. And now, gentlemen, / bet you one hundred dollar he
never be made land office money" The county of Menard, on
the Sangamon river, was named in honor of him; and the
name could not have been more worthily bestowed.

John McLean, of Shawneetown, was then the speaker of the
House of Representatives. He was opposed to this bank, and
was possessed of a fertility of genius, and an overpowering
eloquence, of which the bank party were justly afraid. For
this reason, that party being in the majority in the House, re-
fused to go into committee of the whole, so as to allow Mr.
McLean to participate in the debate. Mr. McLean, indignant
at such treatment, resigned his office of speaker, and in a speech
remarkable for its ability and eloquence, predicted all the evil
consequences which resulted from the bank, and put in motion
an opposition to the prevailing policy of crippling creditors in
the collection of their debts, which thereafter prevented the
repetition of such measures during that generation. But the
majority were for the bill. The governor and judges, acting
as a council of revision, objected to it as being unconstitutional
and inexpedient, but it was afterwards repassed through both
houses, by the constitutional majorities. It was passed in the
spirit of brute force triumphing over the power of intellect.
The Supreme Court of the United States afterwards decided, in
the case of Craig against the State of Missouri, that the bills
payable at a future day of all such banks representing a State
only, were bills of credit, and prohibited by the constitution.

The most distinguished advocate for the creation of this bank,
amongst the members of the House of Representatives, was
Judge Richard M. Young, who has since been so prominent in
Illinois ; and who is one of the very many examples in our
history of the forgiving disposition of the people, to such of
their public servants as have been so unfortunate as to be in
favor of bad measures, or opposed to good ones. Mr. McLean

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 47

was also afterwards, as long as he lived, very prominent in the
politics of Illinois. He was several times elected to the legis-
lature, once elected to the lower house of Congress, and twice
to the United States Senate, and died a member of the Senate
in 1830. He was naturally a great, magnanimous man, and
a leader of men. The comity of McLean was named in honor
of him.

In the summer of 1821, the new bank went into operation.
Every man who could get an endorser borrowed his hundred
dollars. The directors, it is believed, were all politicians ; and
either were then, or expected to be, candidates for office. Lend-
ing to everybody, and refusing none, was the surest road to
popularity. Accordingly, three hundred thousand dollars of
the new money was soon lent without much attention to secu-
rity or care for eventual payment. It first fell twenty-five
cents, then fifty, and then seventy cents below par. And as
the bills of the Ohio and Kentucky banks had driven all other
money out of the State, so this new issue effectually kept it out.
Such a total absence was there of the silver coins, that it be-
came utterly impossible, in the course of trade, to make small
change. The people, from necessity, were compelled to cut
the new bills into two pieces, so as to make two halves of a
dollar. This again further aided to keep out even the smallest
silver coins, for the people must know that good money is a
very proud thing, and will not circulate, stay, or go where bad
money is treated with as much respect as the good. For about
four years there was no other kind of money but this uncur-
rent State bank paper. In the meantime, very few persons
pretended to pay their debts to the bank. More than half of
those who had borrowed, considered what they had gotten from
it as so much clear gain, and never intended to pay it from
the first.

By the year 1824, it became impossible to carry on the State
government with such money as the bills of this bank. The

48 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

State revenue varied from twenty-five to thirty thousand dol-
lars per annum, which was raised almost exclusively by a tax
on lands, then owned by non-residents, in the military tract
lying north-west of the Illinois river. The resident land tax in
other parts of the State, was paid into the county treasuries.
The annual expenditures of the State government were about
equal to the annual revenues ; and as the taxes were collected
in the bills of the State bank, the legislature, to carry on the
government, were compelled to provide for their own pay, and
that of all the public officers, and the expenses of the govern-
ment, by taking and giving enough of the depreciated bills to
equal in value the sums required to be paid. So that each
member, instead of receiving three dollars per day, received
nine dollars per day. The salaries of the governor and judges,
and all other expenses, were paid in the same way. So that
if $30,000 were required to pay the expenses of government
for a year, under this system it took $90,000 to do it. And
thus, by the financial aid of an insolvent bank, the legislature
managed to treble the public expenses, without increasing the
revenues or amount of service to the State. In fact, this State
lost two-thirds of its revenue, and expended three times the
amount necessary to carry on the government. In the course
often years, it must have lost more than $150,000 by receiving
a depreciated currency, $150,000 more by paying it out, and
$100,000 of the loans, which were never repaid by the borrow-
ers, and which the State had to make good, by receiving the
bills of the bank for taxes, by funding some at six per cent, in-
terest, and paying a part in cash in the year 1831.

The year 1820 was signalized by the first and last duel
which was ever fought in Illinois. This took place in Belleville,
St. Clair county, between Alphonso Stewart and William Ben-
nett, two obscure men. The seconds had made it up to be a
sham duel, to throw ridicule upon Bennett, the challenging par-
ty. Stewart was in the secret ; but Bennett, his adversary,

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 49

was left to believe it a reality. They were to fight with rifles ;
the guns were loaded with blank cartridges ; and Bennett some-
what suspecting a trick, rolled a ball into his gun, without the
knowledge of the seconds, or of the other party. The word to
fire was given, and Stewart fell mortally wounded. Bennett
made his escape, but two years afterwards he was captured in
Arkansas, brought back to the State, indicted, tried and convict-
ed of murder. A great effort was made to procure him a par-
don ; but Governor Bond would yield to no entreaties in his
favor ; and Bennett suffered the extreme penalty of the law, by
hanging, in the presence of a great multitude of people. This
was the first and last duel ever fought in the State by any of its
citizens. The hanging of Bennett made duelling discreditable
and unpopular, and laid the foundation for that abhorrence of
the practice which has ever since been felt and expressed by
the people of Illinois. The present Judge Lockwood was then
the Attorney General of the State, and prosecuted in this case.
To his talents and success as a prosecutor, the people are in-
debted for this early precedent and example, which did more
than is generally known, to prevent the barbarous practice of
duelling from being introduced into this State.

CHAPTER II.

Governor Coles, Judges Philips and Brown, and General Moore — The question of Slave-
ry—The Missouri question— Immigrants from the Slave States to Missouri— Growing
desire for the introduction of Slavery — The Slavery party — Effort for a Convention
to amend the Constitution— Hanson and Shaw— Resolution for a Convention passed
—The riotous conduct of the Slave party— The free State party rally ; contest be-
tween them in the election of 1824— Principal men of each party — The Convention
defeated — Character of early political contests — No measures ; and no parties of
Whig or Democrat, Federalist or Republican — Effect of regular political parties —
Reorganization of the Judiciary— Circuit Courts established— First case of proscrip-
tion— Causes the repeal of the Circuit Courts — Road law and School law providing
for a tax, operated well but were repealed— Hatred of taxation— School law of
1840 ; of 1845 ; William Thomas, H. M. Wood, John S. Wright, and Thompson
Campbell— Present state of Schools— Revision of the laws by Judges Lockwood and
Smith — Governor Edwards, Mr. Sloe, Lieutenant Governor Hubbard — His speech,
as a candidate for Governor— His speech about Wolf scalps.— The old State Bank
again— Effort to investigate its management— Resisted by the Bank officers— Gov-
ernor Edwards' messages — A packed committee report against the Governor — Power
of a broken Bank— Combinations to commit crime or resist law— Daniel P. Cook-
Governor Duncan — Change of political parties — General Jackson's defeat, and sub-
sequent election — Influence of this upon parties — Governor Duncan's change — Win-
nebago War— Galena— " Suckers"— " Pukes"— The chief, Red Bird— Governor Ed-
wards' claim to the public lands— Sale of School lands— Borrowing of the School
fund.

IN the year 1822, another Governor was elected, and this re-
sulted in again agitating the question of the introduction of
slavery. There were four candidates for the office, Joseph
Philips, the chief Justice ; Thomas C. Brown, one of the judges
of the Supreme Court ; Major-General James B. Moore, and
Edward Coles, who was at that time Register of the Land office
at Edwardsville. Mr. Cales was a Virginian, had been private
secretary to Mr. Madison, had travelled in Europe, was well
informed, well bred, and valuable in conversation ; had emanci-
pated his slaves in Virginia, was appointed to a land office in

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 61

Illinois, through the influence of Mr. Crawford, the Secretary of
the Treasury, had brought his slaves with him to Illinois, and
settled them on farms, and was a thorough opponent of slavery.
At that early day, Mr. Crawford and John C. Calhoun, of South
Carolina, and others, were looking forward as candidates for the
Presidency. Ninians Edwards, one of our Senators, favored
Mr. Calhoun ; and Jesse B. Thomas, our other Senator, was in
favor of Mr. Crawford. To counteract the influence of Edwards,
Mr. Coles was sent out to Illinois. Philips and Brown were
from the slave States, and were in favor of slavery. General
Moore run also, as an opponent to slavery. Mr. Coles was
elected by a mere plurality vote over Philips, his highest com-
petitor ; and, of course, was so unfortunate as to have a majority
of the legislature against him during his whole term of service.
This election took place not long after the settlement of the
great Missouri question ; a question which convulsed the whole
nation, and came near dissolving the Union. The Illinois Sen-
ators in Congress had voted for the admission of Missouri into
the Union as a slave State, without restriction, whilst Mr. Cook,
then our only representative in the lower House, voted against
it. This all helped to keep alive some questions for or against
the introduction of slavery. About this time, also, a tide of im-
migrants was pouring into Missouri through Illinois, from Vir-
ginia and Kentucky. In the fall of the year, every great road
was crowded and full of them, all bound to Missouri, with their
money, and long trains of teams and negroes. These were the
most wealthy and best-educated immigrants from the slave States.
Many of our people who had land and farms to sell, looked
upon the good fortune of Missouri with envy ; whilst the lordly
immigrant, as he passed along with his money and droves of ne-
groes, took a malicious pleasure in increasing it, by pretending
to regret the short-sighted policy of Illinois, which excluded him
from settlement amongst us ; and from purchasing the lands of
our people. In this mode, a desire to make Illinois a slave

52 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

State, became quite prevalent. Many persons had voted for
Brown or Philips with this view ; whilst the friends of a free
State had rallied almost in a body for Coles.

Notwithstanding the defeat of the party at this election, they
were not annihilated. They had only been beaten for Governor
by a division in their own ranks ; whilst they had elected a
large majority in each house of the Assembly, and were now
determined to make a vigorous effort to carry their measure,
at the session of the legislature to be held in 1822-3. Gov-
ernor Coles, in his first message, recommended the emancipa-
tion of the French slaves. This served as the spark to kindle
into activity all the elements in favor of slavery.

Slavery could not be introduced, nor was it believed that the
French slaves could be emancipated, without an amendment of
the constitution; the constitution could not be amended with-
out a new convention ; to obtain which, two-thirds of each
branch of the legislature had to concur in recommending it to
the people ; and the voters, at the next election, had to sanction
it by a majority of all the votes given for members of the leg-
islature. When the legislature assembled, it was found that
the Senate contained the requisite two-thirds majority ; but in
the House of Representatives, by deciding a contested election
in favor of one of the candidates, the slave party would have
one more than two-thirds ; but by deciding in favor of the other,
they would lack one vote of having that majority. These two
candidates were John Shaw and Nicholas Hanson, who claimed
to represent the county of Pike, which then included all the
military tracts, and all the country north of the Illinois river
to the northern limits of the State.

The leaders of the slave party were anxious to re-elect Jesse
B. Thomas to the United States Senate. Hanson would vote
for him, but Shaw would not ; Shaw would vote for the Con-
vention, but Hanson would not. The party had use for both
of them, and they determined to use them both, one after the

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 53

other. For this purpose, they first decided in favor of Han-
son, admitted him to a seat, and with his vote elected their
United States Senator ; and then, towards the close of the ses-
^ sion, with mere brute force, and in the most barefaced manner,
they reconsidered their former vote, turned Hanson out of his
seat, and decided in favor of Shaw, and with his vote carried
their resolution for a convention.

The night after this resolution passed, the convention party
assembled to triumph in a great carousal. They formed them-
selves into a noisy, disorderly, and tumultuous procession,
headed by Judge Philips, Judge Smith, Judge Thomas Rey-
nolds, late governor of Missouri, and Lieutenant Governor Kin-
ney, followed by the majority of the legislature, and the hang-
ers-on and rabble about the seat of government ; and they
marched, with the blowing of tin horns and the beating of
drums and tin pans, to the residence of Governor Coles, and to
the boarding houses of their principal opponents, towards whom
they manifested their contempt and displeasure by a confused
medley of groans, wailings, and lamentations. Their object
was to intimidate, and crush all opposition at once.

But they were mistaken : the anti-convention party took new
courage, and rallied to a man. They established newspapers to
oppose the convention ; one at Shawneetown, edited by Henry
Eddy ; one at Edwardsville, edited by Hooper Warren, with
Gov. Coles, Thomas Lippincott, George Churchill, and Judge
Lockwood, for its principal contributors ; and finally, one at
Vandalia, edited by David Blackwell, the secretary of State.
The slave party had established a newspaper at Kaskaskia, un-
der the direction of Mr. Kane and Chief Justice Reynolds ; and
one at Edwardsville, edited by Judge Smith ; and both parties
prepared to appeal to the interests, the passions, and the intel-
ligence of the people. The contest was mixed up with much
personal abuse ; and now was poured forth a perfect lava of
detraction, which, if it were not for the knowledge of the peo-

54 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

pie that such matters are generally false or greatly exaggerated,
would have overwhelmed and consumed all men's reputations.
Morris Birkbeck, an Englishman, who settled an English colony
in Edwards' county, Gov. Coles, David Blackwell, George
Churchill, and Thomas Lippincott, wrote fiery hand-bills and
pamphlets, and the old preachers preached against a convention
and slavery. Elias K. Kane, Judge Thomas Reynolds, Judge
Samuel M'Roberts, Judge Smith, and others, wrote hand-bills
and pamphlets in its favor. These missive weapons of a fiery
contest were eagerly read by the people. The State was al-
most covered with them ; they flew everywhere, and everywhere
they scorched and scathed as they flew. This was a long, ex-
cited, angry, bitter, and indignant contest. It was to last from
the spring of 1823 until the August election of 1824 ; the rank
and file of the people were no less excited than their political
leaders. Almost every stump in every county had its bellow-
ing, indignant orator, on one side or the other ; and the whole
people, for the space of eighteen months, did scarcely anything
but read newspapers, hand-bills, and pamphlets, quarrel, argue,
and wrangle with each other whenever they met, and meet to-
gether to hear the violent harangues of their orators.

The principal partisans in favor of a convention, were Judges
Philips, Brown, and John Reynolds, Jesse B. Thomas and Gov.
Edwards, our senators in Congress, Lieut. Gov. Kinney, Judge
Smith, Chief Justice Thomas Reynolds, John M'Lean, Elias
K. Kane, Judge M'Roberts, and Gov. Bond. And the princi-
pal men opposed to a convention and slavery, were Morris
Birkbeck, Gov. Coles, Daniel P. Cook, our member of Congress,
David Blackwell, George Churchill, Samuel D. Lockwood,
Thomas Lippincott, Hooper Warren, George Forquer, Thomas
Mather, and Henry Eddy. The odds in the array of great
names seemed to be in favor of the convention party. The
question of slavery was thoroughly discussed. The people took
an undivided and absorbing interest in it ; they were made to

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 55

understand it completely; and as this was long before the
abolition excitement of modern times, the introduction of slavery
was resisted, not so much upon the ground of opposition to
it in general, as simply upon the grounds of policy and expe-
diency. The people decided, by about two thousand majority,
in favor of a free State. Thus, after one of the most bitter,
prolonged, and memorable contests which ever convulsed the
politics of this State, the question of making Illinois a slave
State was put to rest, as it is hoped, forever.

Nothing of any interest occurred after this struggle until
the session of the legislature in 1824^'5. The people had been
so long under the influence of an intense excitement, that they
required rest. And as a general thing, they had not then be-
come inured to a political warfare, which has latterly become
interminable. The contests in those days were of short dura-
tion, and were scarcely ever repeated on the same grounds or
questions. There were no parties of Whig and Democrat,
Federalist and Republican. The contests were mostly personal,
and for men. As for principles and measures, with the excep-
tion of the convention question, there were none to contend
for. Every election turned upon the fitness and unfitness, the
good and bad qualities of the candidates. The only mode of
electioneering for a friend then known, was to praise one set
of men, and blacken the characters of the other. The candi-
dates were not announced until within a few weeks of the elec-
tion ; the contest was soon over, and then peace and quiet
reigned until the next election, two years afterwards.

There are those who are apt to believe that this mode of
conducting elections is likely to result in the choice of the best
materials for administering government. But experience did
not prove the fact to be so. The idea of electing men for
their merit has an attractive charm in it to generous minds ;
but in our history it has been as full of delusion as it has
been attractive. Nor has the organization of regular parties,

56 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

and the introduction of the new principle in elections of
" measures not men," fully answered the expectation of its
friends. But if the introduction of such parties, supposed to
be founded on a difference in principles, has done no other good,
it has greatly softened and abated the personal rancor and as-
perity of political contests, though it has made such contests
increasing and eternal. It is to be regretted, however, if there
be evils attending the contests of party, that society cannot re-
ceive the full benefit from them by the total extinction of all
mere personal considerations, personal quarrels, and personal
crimination, not necessary to exhibit the genius and tendency
of a party as to measures, and which are merely incidental to
contests for office. The present doctrine of parties is measures,
not men, which if truly carried out would lead to a discussion
of measures only. But parties are not yet sufficiently organ-
ized for this ; and, accordingly, we find at every election much
personal bitterness and invective mingled with the supposed
contests for principle. The political world is still full of those
men who believe, and perhaps believe correctly, that the at-
tachment to principle is not yet so general and perfect as to de-
stroy all chance of overthrowing the principles of a candidate
by overwhelming his reputation with falsehood. Perhaps the
time may come when all these personal contests will be con-
fined to the bosom of one party, in selecting the best candidates
to carry out its principles.

At the session of 1824r-'5, the legislature, under the provis-
ions of the Constitution, re-organized the judiciary, by creating
five circuit court judges, who were to hold all the circuit courts
in the State ; and the supreme court, composed of four judges,
was to be held twice a year at the seat of government. Wil-
liam Wilson was elected chief justice ; Thomas C. Brown, Sam-
uel D. Lockwood, and Theophilus W. Smith were elected asso-
ciate judges of the supreme court ; John York Sawyer, Samuel
M'Roberts, Richard M. Young, James Hall, and James O.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 57

Wattles, were elected judges of the circuits ; and James Tur-
ney to be attorney general. Of these ten great officers, it is
believed that Wilson, Brown, Smith, Sawyer, M'Roberts,
Young, Hall, and Turney, had belonged to the convention
party ; but such was the nature of party, at that day, that they
had not lost their popularity even with the party opposed to
them. The anti-convention party had a large majority in this
legislature ; but upon the principle of men, not measures, they
put their opponents into office.

Proscription for opinion's sake was then but little known.
The first instance of it was shortly afterwards put in practice by
one of the circuit judges. Judge M'Roberts removed Joseph
Conway, an opponent, and appointed Emanuel J. West, a friend
of his own, to be clerk of the circuit court of Madison county.
Mr. Conway was well known, and popular in several of the
adjacent counties. The people of his own county elected him
to the Senate without opposition, and kept him there, by re-
election, for eight years. A great outcry was raised against
the extravagance of the judiciary system, the prodigal waste of
the public money to pension unnecessary life officers upon the
people ; and a talented young lawyer, of stirring eloquence in
the southern part of the State, a man possessing many qualities
which admirably fitted him for a demagogue of the highest
order, mounted the hobby, and rode it in a storm of passion
through several counties in the south. The legislature of 1826— '7
repealed the circuit system, turned the circuit judges out of
office, and required the judges of the supreme court to hold
the circuit courts. The chief reasons for the repeal of the
system, were its cost and the proscription of a popular clerk.
It was thought to be the height of extravagance to maintain
nine judges, though the salaries of all of them together amounted
only to six thousand two hundred dollars. The salary of a
judge of the supreme court was eight hundred dollars, and that
of a circuit judge was six hundred dollars. Such were then the

58 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

popular notions of economy and extravagance in public expen-
ditures.

The effort to repeal the circuit judges out of office was aided
by a decision of Judge M'Roberts on the circuit. It has been
said before that Gov. Coles had emancipated his negroes. The
law required him to give a bond for their good behavior, and
that they should not become a county charge. This he omitted
to do, and thereby subjected himself to a penalty of two hun-
dred dollars for each negro, to be sued for by the county in
which they were set free. The county commissioners of Madi-
son county, during the convention contest, were instigated to
bring a suit against him for this penalty, and obtained the ver-
dict of a jury in the suit for two thousand dollars ; but before
any judgment was rendered, the legislature, by law, released
him from the penalty. At the next term of the court, Gov.
Coles, in pursuance of the act of the legislature for his relief,
plead it in bar of a judgment on the verdict. But Judge
M'Roberts, being under the erroneous belief that the legal doc-
trine of vested rights was applicable to municipal corporations
created solely for purposes of government, decided that the law
was unconstitutional and void. The decision made a great noise
at the time, as it naturally would directly after a fierce contest
about slavery. It was taken to the supreme court and reversed,
as a matter of course.

At the session of 1825, also, William S. Hamilton introduced
a new road law, which passed the legislature. Hitherto the
law had required every able-bodied man to work on the roads
five days in the year. The new law levied a tax in proportion
to property, to be applied in money or labor to the construc-
tion and repair of roads. Gov. Duncan, then a member of the
Senate, introduced a bill which became a law, for the support
of schools by a public tax. Both of these laws worked ad-
mirably well. The roads were never, before nor since, in such
good repair, and schools flourished in almost every neighbor-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 59

hood. But it appears that these valuable laws were in advance
of the civilization of the times. They were the subject of much
clamorous opposition. The very idea of a tax, though to be
paid in labor as before, was so hateful, that even the poorest
men preferred to work five days in the year on the roads
rather than to pay a tax of twenty-five cents, or even no tax
at all. For the same reason, they preferred to pay all that was
necessary for the tuition of their children, or to keep them in
ignorance, rather than submit to the mere name of a tax by
which their wealthier neighbors bore the brunt of the expense
of their education. Both of these laws were repealed and the
old systems restored, by the legislature of 1826— '7. Since
then, the legislature has been constantly engaged in making and
amending laws for roads and schools, but there has been no
good system of either. Each subsequent attempt has been only
a vain effort to accomplish its purpose by inadequate means.
To come forward a little, in 1840 Judge William Thomas, of
Jacksonville, prepared a school bill which became a law, but
for want of the taxing power, which the legislature refused to
grant, it had but little effect. In the summer of 1844, John
S. Wright, of Chicago, H. M. Weed, of Lewiston, Thomas M.
Kilpatrick, of Winchester, and others, got up a common school
convention at Peoria, which prepared a very enlightened memo-
rial to the legislature in favor of common schools ; and as a
means of furthering the common object, the governor, at the
session of 1844, recommended the appointment of a superin-
tendent of common schools, to stir up the people and to col-
lect information for the use of the legislature. The whole re-
sulted in a new school law, making the secretary of State ex
offido the superintendent of common schools, and authorizing
a school tax to be levied in each district. Mr. Thompson
Campbell, the secretary of State, made an able report to the
legislature of 1846-'7, from which it appears that information
had been collected from fifty-seven counties only, out of the

60 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

ninety-nine in the State, and that, with the exception of Chicago
and some other places, the common schools were nowhere in a
very flourishing condition. The school commissioners and other
agents of schools in the counties, receiving no compensation
for their services, were generally negligent of their duties, or
not qualified to perform them. Almost everywhere the people
had refused to tax themselves under the law ; and in almost
all the south part of the State there were complaints that the
legal standard of qualifications for teachers was too high, the
law requiring a knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic,
English grammar, geography, and history ; and the people,
being scarce of materials for such learned teachers, werfe de-
sirous of getting back to the old standard of reading, writing,
and ciphering, to the rule of three, or at farthest through the
arithmetic.

And now to go back again; at the session of 1824-'5, the
judges of the supreme court were appointed to prepare a re-
vision of the laws, and present it at the next session. At the
session of 1826-'7, Judges Lockwood and Smith presented the
result of their labor, which was adopted, and the laws then
presented by them, have been standard laws in every revision
since. It is believed that they were the authors of the laws in
the revised code, under the titles Abatement, Account, Amend-
ments and Jeofails, Apprentices, Attachments, Attorneys, Bail,
Bills of Exchange, Chancery, Conveyances, Courts, Criminal
Code, Depositions, Detinue, Dower, Evidence, Forcible Entry
and Detainer, Fugitives from Justice, Habeas Corpus, Jails
and Jailors, Limitations, Mandamus, Minors and Orphans, Ne
Exeat and Injunctions, Oaths and Affirmations, Practice, Prom-
issory Notes, Replevin, Right of Property, and Sheriffs and
Coroners. Judge M'Roberts prepared the act concerning
frauds and perjuries; Judge Sawyer, the act concerning in-
solvent debtors; Judge Young, the act concerning wills and
testaments ; and Henry Starr, Esq., now of Cincinnati, pre-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 61

pared the act concerning judgments and executions. It is iribst
probable that all these laws were more perfect when they came
from the hands of their authors, than after they were amended,
somewhat out of shape and system, by the legislature.

A new election for governor took place in 1826, for which
office there were three candidates — Thomas C. Sloe, now of
New Orleans, was one of them. He was a well-informed mer-
chant, and a man of good character and strong sense, and
withal was a well-bred, courteous gentleman. Ninian Ed-
wards, and the then lieutenant-governor, Adolphus Frederick
Hubbard, were the other two candidates. As a part of a pic-
ture of the times, and as illustrative of what a candidate for
governor thought of himself and the people, I preserve a few
words of one of Mr. Hubbard's public addresses during the
canvass. In his speeches he said : " Fellow-citizens, I offer my-
self as a candidate before you, for the office of governor. I do
not pretend to be a man of extraordinary talents ; nor do I
claim to be equal to Julius Csesar or Napoleon Bonaparte, nor
yet to be as great a man as my opponent, Governor Edwards.
Nevertheless, I think I can govern you pretty well. I do not
think that it will require a very extraordinary smart man to
govern you ; for to tell you the truth, fellow-citizens, I do not
think you will be very hard to govern, no how." Mr. Hub-
bard could not have made this last assertion with much show
of fjruth, for several years part.

This gentleman had made himself famous for a number of
odd sayings, and by a speech in the legislature on a bill to pay
a bounty on wolf-scalps. Tradition has preserved this speech
as follows : " Mr. Speaker, I rise before the question is put on
this bill, to say a word for my constituents. Mr. Speaker, I
have never seen a wolf. I cannot say that I am very well ac-
quainted with the nature and habits of wolves. Mr. Speaker,
I have said that I had never seen a wolf. But now I remem-
ber that once on a time, as Judge Brown and I were riding

62 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

across the Bonpas prairie, we looked over the prairie about
three miles, and Judge Brown said, Hubbard ! look ! there
goes a wolf ! And I looked, and I looked, and I looked, and I
said, Judge, where 1 And he said there ; and I looked again,
and this time, in the edge of a hazle thicket, about three miles
across the prairie, I think I saw the wolf's tail. Mr. Speaker,
if I did not see a wolf this time, I think I never saw one. But
I have heard much and read more about this animal. I have
studied his natural history. By-the-bye, history is divided
into two parts ; there is, first, the history of the fabulous, and
secondly, of the non-fabulous, or unknown ages. Mr. Speaker,
from all these sources of information, I learn that the wolf is a
very noxious animal; that he goes prowling about, seeking
something to devour ; that he rises up in the dead and secret
hours of the night, when all nature reposes in silent oblivion,
and then commits the most terrible devastations upon the rising
generation of hogs and sheep. Mr. Speaker, I have done, and
return my thanks to the house for their kind attention to my
remarks." These speeches are truly characteristic of the man ;
and they are given as being illustrative of the state of civiliza-
tion which existed, when such a man could be elected to the
office of lieutenant-governor, and gain such popularity in his
office as to be encouraged to become a candidate for governor.
Ninian Edwards, the other candidate at this election, was
born in Maryland and brought up in Kentucky. He was bred
to the legal profession, and became attorney-general of Ken-
tucky at an early age. At the age of twenty-eight, he was ap-
pointed chief justice of the High Court of Appeals. He held
this office when the late Chief Justice Boyle, of Kentucky, was
appointed the first governor of the Illinois territory in 1809.
Mr. Edwards preferred to be governor of the territory, and
Mr. Boyle preferred to be chief justice ; so in the end they ex-
changed offices. Edwards was sent out to Illinois by the pres-
ident as first governor of the territory, and Boyle was made

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 63

chief justice by the Governor of Kentucky. Edwards was a
large, well-made man, with a noble, princely appearance, which
was a circumstance greatly in his favor, as governor over a rude
people, of whom it may be said, that the animal greatly predom-
inated over the intellectual man. In fact, it may well be ques-
tioned whether mankind ever will become so intellectual and
spiritual, that mere size, vigor of muscle, and consequent ani-
mal spirits, will cease to have more influence with the multi-
tude than mere intellect, unaided by these fleshly advantages.
Gov. Edwards had been governor of the Illinois territory for
nine years, and was then elected to the United States Senate.
In this office he showed an extensive knowledge of public affairs,
and became distinguished as a man of fine talents throughout
the Union. Whilst in the Senate, he was appointed by Mr.
Monroe to be minister to Mexico, and shortly after this ap-
pointment, whilst on his way home to Illinois, to prepare for
his mission, he wrote out and sent back to the House of Rep-
resentatives in Congress, various charges against William H.
Crawford, secretary of the treasury, accusing him of a corrupt
administration of the treasury department, in aid of his election
to the presidency. A committee of investigation was appointed,
a messenger of the House was sent after Mr. Edwards, with
whom he was required to return to Washington. Mr. Edwards
failed to make good his charges to the satisfaction of the com-
mittee, and as this happened just before the presidential election
of 1824, when the whole country was convulsed with excitement,
it resulted in prostrating his character abroad, and very much
affected his standing at home. Public opinion was so much
against him in the nation, that he resigned his mission to Mex-
ico. Gov. Edwards has often informed me himself, that he
made the charges against Mr. Crawford under a promise of
support from President Monroe, Gen. Jackson, John C. Cal-
noun, and John Quincy Adams. I merely give his words,
without pretending to know whether he spoke the truth or not,

64 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

But one thing makes his statement the more probable. Mr.
Crawford had been nominated for the presidency by a caucus
of fifty or sixty of fehe republican members of Congress. Before
that time, this had been the usage of the republican party. But
Gen. Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and Henry Clay, were in-
dependent candidates, John C. Calhoun had been one and de-
clined ; and many people believing caucus nominations by
members of Congress to be utterly corrupt and corrupting, a
powerful party was formed to break up the usage. Upon this
principle all the other candidates and their friends were rallied
against Mr. Crawford.

This defeat very much injured the influence of Gov. Edwards,
and now, when, as a candidate for Governor he attacked the finan-
cial system which had hitherto prevailed ; and committed him-
self to press an investigation into the corruptions of the old
State bank, he was not listened to, or confided in to the extent
required by a reformer, in the work of reforming public abuses.
He was opposed by all the old members of the legislature,
who had supported the many unwise measures of finance, and
by the whole bank influence, from the Presidents down to the
lowest agents, who had in anywise cause to fear an investiga-
tion. But his great talents and fine personal appearance en-
abled him to triumph over his adversaries. He was elected by
a mere plurality vote over Mr. Sloe, his principal opponent.
It is worthy of remark here, that he never condescended to the
common low arts of electioneering. Whenever he went out
among the people, he arrayed himself in the style of a gentle-
man of the olden times, dressed in fine broadcloth, with short
breeches, long stockings, and high, fair-topped boots ; was drawn
in a fine carriage, driven by a negro ; and for success he relied
upon his speeches, which were delivered with great pomp, and
in a style of diffuse and florid eloquence.

When he was inaugurated in 1826, he appeared before the
General Assembly wearing a gold-laced cloak, and with great

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 65

pomp he pronounced his first message to the two houses of
the legislature. In this address he merely repeated the grounds
which he had taken as a candidate. But in several messages
afterwards, he pointed out to the House of Representatives
specific acts of mismanagement and corruption on the part of
the officers of the old bank. A committee of investigation was
appointed. The bank directors and officers, new and old, were
sent for from every quarter. The charges of corruption were
directed more particularly against Judge Smith, who, as cashier,
had administered the Edwardsville branch. Smith was a saga-
cious, active and blustering politician, and managed to make all
persons who had been connected with the bank, believe that
they were all involved in a common danger. A powerful com-
bination of influential men was thus formed to thwart the in-
vestigation, and ensure their common safety from impeachment.
And now commenced such a running to and fro, about the seat
of government by day and night, as can only be equaled by
a swarm of bees when rudely attacked in their hive. The Gov-
ernor was openly and boldly charged with base motives ; and
that kind of stigma was attempted to be cast on him, which is
apt to fix itself upon a common informer. His charges against
Mr. Crawford were remembered ; and he was now charged with
being influenced by hostility towards Judge Smith, who had
been a friend to Mr. Crawford's election. Judge Smith, with
others involved in the charges, as a sure mode of defence raised
a cry of persecution, and alleged that the whole weight of the
executive power and influence, directed by the spirit of revenge,
had been pointed to overwhelm them. Without pronouncing
here upon either the guilt or innocence of the accused, it may
be remarked that it is no uncommon thing for rogues, when
about to be held accountable for crime, to seek sympathy and
aid by raising a cry of persecution. And as strength is sup-
posed to be on the side of men in high office, and weakness on
the side of private persons, it is sure to happen that in contests

66 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

between them the public sympathy inclines in favor of the
weakest party ; so that the strength of the one, is apt to make
him weak, and the weakness of the other, makes him strong.
And now, at this day, if a politician can get up a cry of perse-
cution to operate in his favor, it is a tower of strength ; although
in truth he be only suffering an exposure of his folly or villany.

The evidence before the committee undoubtedly showed great
mismanagement of the bank. But a committee of investigation
had been packed for the purpose, and such was the influence of
a combination of the officers of even an insolvent bank, that a
report was made without hesitation against the Governor's-
charges. Such was the influence of a bank conducted by public
officers, being the first, but not the last time in the history of
Illinois, in which it was proved that any considerable number
of men of influence, acting in combination, to whom the monied
affairs of the State are entrusted, are above all accountability ; for
which reason it has not as yet been safe for the State to have
any great complicated interests to be managed by public offi-
cers ; nor was it the last time, when it has been proved that any
considerable combination of men are irresistible, and not to be
made accountable when associated to commit crime, or to pro-
cure impunity from punishment. See future chapters upon the
history of banking in this State, fund commissioners, internal
improvements, mobs and Mormons, for this proof.

It was during Gov. Edwards' administration in the summer
of 1827, that the first Indian disturbances occurred, since the
war of 1812. This was called the Winnebago war. The Win-
nebagoes, Sacs and Foxes, Sioux, Menominies, and other north-
ern nations towards the head waters of the Mississippi, had been
at war with each other most of the time for more than a centu-
ry ; and the United States had undertaken to act as mediators
between them, and restore peace. In fact, it has been the policy
of the United States government latterly, to compel the Indian
tribes to live in peace with one another ; for experience has

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 67

shown that war cannot exist amongst the Indians without its
being inconvenient and dangerous to white people. But despite
all the remonstrances of the United States government, hostili-
ties were continued, and murders frequently committed. In
the summer of this year, a party of twenty-four Chippeways
were surprised by a war party of the Winnebagoes, and eight
of them were killed or wounded. The United States command-
er at Saint Peter's, caused four of the offending Winnebagoes to
be arrested and delivered to the Chippeways, by whom they
were shot for the murder. The white people had also a little before
begun to overrun the Winnebago lands in the lead mines above
Galena ; many of the miners having pushed their searches for
mineral as far as the Wisconsin river. This was a further
source of irritation to the Winnebagoes. Red Bird, a Winne-
bago chief, was determined to revenge the shooting of the four
Winnebagoes, and for this purpose he lead a war party against
the Chippeways, by whom he was defeated ; and now returning
disgraced and disappointed of his vengeance, he resolved to re-
pair his disaster by an attack on the white people who had
abetted his enemies, and, as he believed, invaded his country.
On the 27th of June, two white men were killed and another
wounded, near Prairie Du Chien ; and on the 80th of July, two
keel-boats carrying supplies to Fort Snelling, situate at the
mouth of the St. Peter's, were attacked by the Indians, and two
of the crew were killed and four wounded.

The intelligence of these murders alarmed the frontier settle-
ments at Galena, and in the mining country around it. Galena,
as a town, had been settled about eighteen months before. Col.
James Johnson of Kentucky, had gone there with a party of
miners in 1824, and had opened a lead mine about one mile
above the present town. His great success drew others there
in 1825 ; and in 1826 and 1827, hundreds and thousands of
persons from Illinois and Missouri, went to the Galena country
to work the lead mines. It was estimated that the number of

68 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

miners in the mining country in 1827, was six or seven thou-
sand. The Illinoisans run up the Mississippi river in steam-
boats in the spring season, worked the lead mines during warm
weather, and then run down the river again to their homes, in
the fall season ; thus establishing, as was supposed, a similitude
between their migratory habits and those of the fishy tribe
called " Suckers." For which reason the Illinoisans were called
" Suckers," a name which has stuck to them ever since. There
is another account of the origin of the nick-name " Suckers," as ap-
plied to the people of Illinois. It is said that the south part of
the State was originally settled by the poorer class of people
from the slave States, where the tobacco plant was extensively
cultivated. They were such as were not able to own slaves in a
slave State, and came to Illinois to get away from the imperious
domination of their wealthy neighbors. The tobacco plant has
many sprouts from the roots and main stem, which if not strip-
ped off, suck up its nutriment and destroy the staple. These
sprouts are called " suckers," and are as carefully stripped off
from the plant and thrown away, as is the tobacco worm itself.
These poor emigrants from the slave States were jeeringly and
derisively called " suckers," because they were asserted to be a
burthen upon the people of wealth ; and when they removed to
Illinois, they were supposed to have stripped themselves off
from the parent stem, and gone away to perish like the " sucker"
of the tobacco plant. This name was given to the Illinoisans at
the Galena mines, by the Missourians. Analogies always abound
with those who desire to be sarcastic ; so the Illinoisans, by way
of retaliation, called the Missourians " Pukes." It had been
observed that the lower lead mines in Missouri had sent up to
the Galena country whole hoards of uncouth ruffians, from
which it was inferred that Missouri had taken a " Puke," and
had vomited forth to the upper lead mines, all her worst popu-
lation. From thenceforth the Missourians were regularly called
" Pukes ;" and by these names of " Suckers " and " Pukes," the

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 69

Illinoisans and Missourians are likely to be called, amongst the
vulgar, forever.

The miners in all the surrounding country, upon the alarm
of Indian hostilities, collected into Galena. By order of Gov.
Edwards, Gen. Tom M. Neale marched there with a regiment
of volunteers from Sangamore county ; a considerable mounted
force was raised amongst the miners, which elected Gen. Dodge
to be their commander. The inhabitants fortified the town of
Galena, and Gen. Atkinson, of the U. S. army, with a body of
regulars and volunteers, marched into the Winnebago country,
on the Wisconsin river, in pursuit of the offending Indians.
The chief, called " Red Bird," with six other Indians of the
tribe, voluntarily surrendered themselves prisoners, to save
their nation from the miseries of war. They were kept in jail
a long time at Prairie Du Chien, awaiting their trials for mur-
'der. Some of them were acquitted, and some were convicted
and executed. It was the fate of " Eed Bird," who is described
as having been a noble-looking specimen of the savage chieftain,
to pine away and die in prison, not from the fear of death, but
by a gradual wasting away, the victim of regret and sorrow for
the loss of his liberty, as he had been accustomed to enjoy it in
the fresh green woods.

By the session of the legislature of 1828-'9, the excitement
of the politicians at the previous session had somewhat sub-
sided, as men had time to forget and forgive each other for the
causes of their animosity. Gov. Edwards, in the electioneering
campaign previous to his election, had run athwart the views
and conduct of many of his best friends, by attacking the vari-
ous public abuses ; and his attempt to impeach the managers
of the old State bank had resulted in a signal failure. The
lieutenant-governor, Kinney, one of his opponents, truly said of
him, " that he was like unto an old crippled horse, which being
no longer able to jump a fence, had fallen over into a corn-field,
but was hurt so much by the fall that he was not able to eat

70 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

the corn after he had thus broken into it." So the governor
sought to repair this disaster, by starting a new hobby at this
session. It is true that there was but little of political party in
those" days, but this did not prevent great men from having
their hobbies, or rather from proposing measures upon the con-
sideration of which they preferred the elections should turn,
rather than on their own merits ; and it was singular that Gov.
Edwards, the gifted and eminent man of talents, with every
personal advantage necessary to command success, should think
it necessary to ride a hobby. With a person and manner well
calculated to win popular admiration and favor, and talents ac-
knowledged by all to be superior to any of his competitors, it
was somewhat strange that he could not be content to throw
himself before the people upon his own merits, upon his repu-
tation for talents, as an aspirant for office. As it was, his
course could not be sensibly justified upon any ground, except
that of pointing the public attention to matters with which he
stood connected, and thereby diverting it from himself.

Generally it is the men without merit, the men of small pre-
tensions, without natural gifts to conciliate favor, who ride hob-
bies and most insist upon measures as artificial helps to dis-
tinction. But if such appliances are necessary to make small
things great, so they may be used to lift great weights from the
low level of bad character, to high and respectable positions in
government.

The hobby which Gov, Edwards selected on this occasion,
was to claim for the State all the public lands of the United
States lying within its limits. This claim was put forth in his
message at this session with great earnestness, and is elabo-
rately sustained upon the ground of State sovereignty, to which
eminent domain it must necessarily belong; and upon the
ground that Illinois had been admitted into the Union upon an
equal footing with the original States.

I have been informed on good authority, that the governor

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 71

put forth this claim, without having any confidence in its valid-
ity, and that it was fabricated in the first instance only to em-
barrass his enemies. The question was new ; it had never been
discussed before the people, and it was unknown whether they
would regard it with favor or otherwise. However, the gov-
ernor's enemies were not to be entrapped ; they were too cun-
ning to oppose what might be a popular measure, out of mere
spite against its author. It is believed* that no one had any
confidence in the claim, and yet the legislature were nearly
unanimous in sustaining it. But this resulted in breaking down
the opposition to Gov. Edwards' administration, for the mem-
bers, thinking themselves compelled to support his humbug,
were more than ordinarily docile and obsequious, supporting
all his measures and electing all his candidates to office.
Having laid a broad foundation to enrich the State with the
public lands, they returned to their constituents swelling with
importance and high expectations of future favor. But the peo-
ple were not such big fools as they were believed to be, for
many of them were indifferent on the subject, and most of them
laughed at their representatives in very scorn of their preten-
sions. Governor Edwards died of the cholera in Belleville, in
the year 1833. The county of Edwards, in the Wabash coun-
ty, and the town of Edwardsville, in Madison county, were
named in honor of him ; and I had forgotten to mention in its
proper place, that the county of Coles, on the head waters of
the Embarrass river (pronounced Ambraw) was named in
honor of Governor Coles.

In looking back over this period of time, and calling to mind
the prominent actors in the scenes of that day, the fierce strug-
gles and quarrels amongst them, the loves and the hatreds, the
hopes, fears, successes and disappointments of men, recently,
but now no more on the stage of action, one cannot but be
struck with the utter nothingness of mere contests for office.
Of the men who then figured, Jesse B. Thomas, Gov. Coles,

72 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

Chief Justice Philips, Henry Starr, and Judge Hall, have left
the State; John McLean, Morris Birkbeck, Governor Bond,
Elias K. Kane, Governor Edwards, Daniel P. Cook, Governor
Duncan, Chief Justice Reynolds, George Forquer, Samuel
M;Roberts, and John Yorke Sawyer, are dead, reposing in their
graves. But whilst they lived they were full of bustle and agi-
tation, contending with each other for pre-eminence and place,
as if they divided the earth amongst them, and office was im-
mortal. Since their time, they have had successors in the con-
test who have fluttered and shone for a few years, and then dis-
appeared forever, either by death, removal from the country,
or loss of popularity. It is somewhat melancholy, but highly
instructive, to look back upon the long list of popular names
of those who, for a time, rioted in power, with a fair prospect
of continued pre-eminence, but who have gone the way of all
flesh, to the grave, or to oblivion, the way of the great mass of
politicians.

About these times political parties began to form in Illinois.
Hitherto Governor Edwards, Daniel P. Cook, and Judge Pope,
had constituted the heads of one party ; whilst Governor Bond,
Elias K. Kane, John M'Lean, Judge Thomas, and Judge Smith,
constituted the heads of the other. The parties which called
forth their struggles were merely personal, and for men ; meas-
ures and principles of national politics had nothing to do with
them. Upon the election of Mr. Monroe in 1816, and during
his long, successful, and glorious administration, the angry ele-
ments of party were quelled, and the nation rested in peace.
The noise of the battle between federalist and republican had
never reached Illinois. It is true that during the war of 1812
we had heard a rumor of the existence of such a people as the
federalists in the old States. We had heard of their opposition
to the war, of the Hartford Convention, and of the burning of
blue lights in Connecticut as a signal to the enemy, and the
unsophisticated republicans of the territory, being at war with,

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 73

and surrounded by thousands of hostile savages, naturally con-
cluded that the federalists were second in atrocity only to the
great beast with the seven heads and ten horns. A federalist
was hated with a most fervent hatred, as being an enemy to his
country, and an aider and abettor of the savages in slaughter-
ing defenceless women and children ; but as there were none
of them in Illinois, it was impossible to rally parties here upon
the principles of federalists and republicans. I have already
mentioned Daniel P. Cook as being the first attorney general.
He was elected to Congress in 1819, and was re-elected bi-en-
nially until 1826, when he was beaten by the late Gov. Dun-
can. Mr. Cook was a man of eminent talents and accomplish-
ments. In person he was small and erect. He was a man of
great social powers, whojly without guile, and kindness, sin-
cerity, and truth animated every motion of his body, making
his face to shine, and giving his manners a grace and a charm
which the highest breeding will not always give. He was a
complete gentleman, and in all his electioneering intercourse
with the people he had the rare talent of making himself sin-
gularly acceptable and agreeable, without stooping to anything
low, or relaxing in the slightest degree the decorum or the car-
riage of a high-bred gentleman. His mind was uncommonly
supple, wiry, and active, and he could, as he pleased, shoot his
thoughts readily over the great field of knowledge. As a
speaker, his voice, though not strong, was soft, melodious, and
of great compass and variety of tone. He rose to a high
reputation in Congress, and the last session he was there, he
acted as chairman of the important committee of Ways and
Means of the lower house. To his services, at this last session,
the people of Illinois are indebted for the donation by Con-
gress of 300,000 acres of land, for the construction of the Illi-
nois and Michigan canal. For him the county of Cook was
appropriately named, as more than half of its great prosperity
is owing to his exertions in Congress in favor of the canal.

74 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

The defeat of Mr. Cook, in 1826, by Gov. Duncan, makes a
kind of turning point in the politics of Illinois. It is a new era
in our elections, and marks the origin, though not the comple-
tion, of a great revolution in men's motives for political action.
It is the point where the old system of electing public officers
upon merit and personal preference was about to terminate,
and the new principle of " measures, not men," was to begin.
The opponents of Mr. Cook had run a candidate against him at
every election ; first John M'Lean, after him Elias K. Kane,
and after him Gov. Bond. They had even endeavored to make
Illinois a slave State, somewhat with a view to his eventual
defeat. But they had failed on every occasion. Defeat only
inspired new courage, and prompted them to the use of addi-
tional energy. They kept up their organization from year to
year, and as parties were founded on the principle of personal
affection to one set of men, and personal hatred of another, and
as men are more attached to their friends than to their principles,
it followed that there was less defection and treachery in the
ranks, and more fidelity and devotion to leaders, than have been
since, under the new system.

At last the time came for the Cook and Edwards party to go
down, and their enemies to rise. And this was the occasion
of the revolution. Gen. Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Wil-
liam H. Crawford, and Henry Clay, were candidates for Presi-
dent of the United States at the election of 1824. No one of
the candidates received a majority of the electoral votes. The
election, therefore, came into the House of Representatives in
Congress. Mr. Cook gave the vote of Illinois to Mr. Adams,
by which he was elected. Gen. Jackson had received more of
the electoral votes than any other candidate. He had received
two in Illinois, and Mr. Adams had received but one. The
people believed that Gen. Jackson had been cheated out of his
election by bargain, intrigue, and corruption ; and whether their
belief was well or ill-founded, they resented his defeat with a

HISTORY OF ILLLtfOlS. 75

generous indignation which consumed all opposition, and which
has continued to burn and consume until this day. The old
opposition to the Cook and Edwards party, and all the Craw-
ford men, now rallied in favor of Gen. Jackson. They brought
out the late Gov. Duncan as a candidate against Mr. Cook,
and by means of Gen. Jackson's great popularity, and the re-
sentment of the people against the vote for Mr. Adams, he was
elected by a small majority.

At this time Gov Duncan was a thorough' Jackson man, as
the friends of Gen. Jackson were then called. He was what
was called an original Jackson man, that is, he had been for
Gen. Jackson the first time Gen. Jackson was a candidate.
He was attached to Gen. Jackson from admiration of his char-
acter, and the glory of his military achievements. As yet,
there were no principles or measures, nor even the names of
federalist and republican, involved in the election. Gen. Jack-
son had not as yet declared his opinions on the tariff, except
that he was in favor of " a judicious tariff;" nor upon internal
improvements by Congress, the bankrupt law, the distribution
of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands ; nor upon the
constitutionality or expediency of a United States Bank. Nor
did parties, in Illinois, rally upon these subjects for some years
afterwards. A few years after Gov. Duncan's first election,
Gen. Jackson attacked the United States Bank, vetoed its char-
ter, and removed from it the deposits of the public moneys.
He also vetoed appropriations for the Maysville road, and for
the improvement of the Wabash river. Gov. Duncan now,
differing from him in opinion on these subjects, began to with-
draw from his support ; and his aversion to Gen. Jackson's ad-
ministration was finally completed by his objections to Mr.
Van Buren, an influential favorite of the President, likely to
succeed him in office, and in the control of the Jackson party.
A public man has a perfect right to his own opinions and
predilections. Gov. Duncan was a brave, honest man, a gen-

76 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

tleman in his intercourse with society, and possessed a rare
talent for conciliating affection and inspiring confidence. But
his great error was in becoming attached to a party and a
cause, in the first instance, without knowing the principles by
which he was to be governed. Thousands of others were in
the same predicament, many of whom, both before and after
Gov. Duncan, left as he did, when the Jackson policy began
to be developed ; and many, equally ignorant when they began
in favor of Gen. Jackson, finding themselves suited by his
measures and principles, adhered to him with more devotion
than ever. Afterwards, when Gov. Duncan had thoroughly
identified himself with the opponents of Gen. Jackson, an old
friend of his rebuked him and lamented over him as follows :
" Now, Gov. Duncan, we Jackson men took you up when you
was young, poor, and friendless ; we put you into high office,
and enabled you to make a fortune ; and for all this you have
deserted us, and gone over to the Adams men. You was like
a poor colt. We caught you up out of a thicket, fed you on
the best, combed the burrs out of your mane and tail, and
made a fine horse of you ; and now you have strayed away
from your owners." Such were, and are likely to be, the
opinions of mankind upon changes of political relations. No
allowance is made for the altered circumstances of the times,
for the oblivion of old questions of dispute, or the springing up
of new ones not dreamed of in former contests. Neither is
any allowance made amongst fierce partisans for the fallibility
of human judgment, nor for the results of a more matured,
careful, and candid examination of political questions. Man-
kind adopt their principles when they are young, when the pas-
sions are strong, the judgment weak, the mind misinformed,
and are generally influenced in their adoption by mere prejudice
arising from attachment to friends. The mind has nothing to
do with it. If afterwards they attain to more knowledge and
capacity, they are required to persevere in their first impress-

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 77

ions, or to be branded with inconsistency. Without asserting
that Gov. Duncan was right in his change, for such would not
be my opinion, yet it would seem from his example and that
of many others, that it would be better for politicians, if they
could reverse the order of their existence, come into the world
in their old age, and go out when they are young. As it really
is, a man comes into the world without knowledge, experience,
or capacity to think, and before he gets them, under the influ-
ence of his attachments to men, he is required to make up his
opinions upon all the grave questions which are to affect him-
self or his country. He is to take a party name, and however
much he may afterwards become enlightened, or parties shift
grounds, he is never to change, under the penalty of being
branded as a traitor to his party. But perhaps this is one of
the means appointed by providence, and implanted in man's
nature, to keep the opinions of the men of the governing or
majority party united, and give some stability to the councils
of republican government. The fact that there is such a num-
ber who even down to old age are never capable of forming
opinions of their own, would seem to favor such a conclusion.

In the year 1828, and afterwards, the policy of selling the
school lands and borrowing the school fund, was adopted.
From the very first organization of the State government, the
legislature had been too fearful of its popularity to provide ade-
quate revenues by taxation. At first the State treasury relied
upon taxes upon lands in the military tract, then unsettled and
owned by non-residents. The land tax in other parts was given
to the counties to aid them in building court-houses and jails,
and paying county expenses. This system kept the State treas-
ury in debt. But it so happened that Congress had donated to
the State a township of land for a seminary of learning ; three
per cent, of the nett proceeds of the sale of the public land, and
the sixteenth section in every township, for the support of com-
mon schools ; that is, they had granted to the State one whole

78 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

township of six miles square, and the thirty-sixth part of all the
residue of the land in the State, and three per cent, of the nett
proceeds of the sales of the remainder to promote education in
this new country. This was a most magnificent provision for
education. The sixteenth section, amounting to near a million
of acres, is destined to be worth a large sum of money. The
man is now alive and full grown, who will see the day when
these lands will be worth from fifteen to twenty millions of
dollars. So far as the sales have proceeded, it may be judged
that the whole of them will not sell for more than one million
and-a-half, or two millions of dollars ; and before the end of this
generation, it is to be feared that, under the system adopted of
selling, and then lending out the price, most frequently on per-
sonal security, there will be no trace or vestige of this beneficent
donation remaining either in money or lands.

Laws were first made for leasing out these lands, the rents
to be paid in improvements ; but the lessees soon desired a
more permanent title. Every township throughout the inhab-
ited parts had settlers on the school section, either as lessees
or squatters, who were entitled to a vote at elections ; and in a
newly-settled country where the whole people came merely to
better their individual fortunes as to property, with but little
devotion to the public interest, or to that of posterity, these
lessees and squatters were likely to have great influence in gov-
ernment. And this is only one instance out of a thousand in
Illinois in which a very small minority, united by interest, pas-
sion, prejudice, or clanship, and acting with bold vigor, has
controlled the majority, and sacrificed the public interest to in-
dividual interest. I speak what I know when I say that the
laws to sell school lands were passed to please the people who
were settled on them, who wanted to purchase them at the Con-
gress price, whilst the other inhabitants being divided into little
factions, and thinking more of success at one election, than the
interest of all posterity ; and acting upon the principle that,

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 79

what is everybody's business is nobody's business, aided or suf-
fered the mischief to b^ done. It is true that other reasons
were alleged in the legislature. It was said that if these lands
were not sold, the children of that generation must lose all
benefit from them, and their value would be destroyed by be-
ing stripped of their timber. These were the reasons assigned
in debate, but they were not the true reasons for these laws. It
Has been often the case in an Illinois legislature that a majority
of the members, for secret and selfish reasons of their own, first
resolve upon a measure and then invent the reasons to be given
to the public for it afterwards ; and these invented and artificial
reasons are always the reasons assigned in debate. So, too, to
relieve the State treasury from debt, the legislature, to save the
popularity of members by avoiding the just and wholesome
measure of levying necessary taxes, passed laws for the sale of
the seminary township, and for borrowing the proceeds of the
sale and the three per cent, school fund ; and for paying them
out as other public moneys, and for paying an annual interest
thereon to the several counties, for the use of schools. By
which means the debt of the State, for these moneys alone,
amounted, in 1842, to $472,493. Thus, as I conscientiously be-
lieve, was a township of land sacrificed at low prices ; the school
fund robbed, and a debt of near half a million of dollars fixed
upon the State, rather than that the members would run the
risk of not getting back to the legislature, or of being defeated
for some other office. This money was paid into the treasury
in sums averaging $20,000 per annum. The annual interest
now paid on it is $28,000. And so, to save the popularity of
members of the legislature, the State has received about $20,000
a year for about twenty-five years ; by which she has become
bound to pay $28,000 per annum, forever ; the difference against
the State being the difference between twenty thousand dollars
borrowed, and twenty-eight thousand dollars annual interest ;
and the difference between eternity and tweirty-five years. The

80 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

only good which can result from these unwise and selfish meas-
ures is, that they will inevitably compel the State into a system
of taxation for the support of schools ; and the payment of in-
terest on these borrowed moneys will furnish the pretext and
excuse for it.

CHAPTER III.

Review— Election of State Treasurer in 1827 ; election and defalcation of Sheriffs—
Courts— Judges— Sentence of Green— Instructions to juries— The hung jury— Law
of 1846— Eminent lawyers— Character of litigation— Election by ballot— The keep-
dark system— The " butcher-knife boys "—Influences in the Legislature— Greasing
and swallowing, &c— Aims of politicians and of the people— Anecdote of Sen-
ator Crozier— Good and bad self-government— Rule to test the capacity of the people
for either— Educated ministers of the Gospel— Ill-will towards them of some of
the old ministers— Room enough for both— Benevolent institutions and education
—Colleges— Change of dress among young people— Regrets of the old folks-
Effects of attending Church on Sundays— Effects of not attending Church on Sun-
days upon young people— Progress in commerce— Character of first merchants-
Selling for money supplied by emigration — Nothing raised for or shipped to foreign
markets— Flat-boals— Farmers taking their own crops to market, and bad effects of
it— Foreign markets— Steamboats and high rates of exchange encourage the mer-
chants to become exporters— Bad effects of farmers holding their produce from
market, expecting a higher price — This practice contrasted with the New England
practice of selling at the market price— Good effects of this practice— Prosperity of
northern Illinois in a great measure owing to this.

NOTHING more of importance occurred in the history of the
State than what is related in the last chapter, until 1830. A
few miscellaneous facts and a slight review of the progress of
society and the workings of government during this time, may
not be uninteresting.

In 1827) there was a very excited election before the legisla-
ture for a State treasurer, in which the former incumbent of the
office was defeated. After the election was over the Assembly
immediately adjourned ; but before the members got out of the
house, the unsuccessful candidate walked into their chamber
and administered personal chastisement upon four of the largest
and strongest of his opponents, who had voted against him.
The members generally broke one way or another out of the

82 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

house, and fled like sheep from a fold, invaded by a wolf. No
steps were ever taken to bring the offender to punishment,
but the same session he was appointed clerk of the circuit
court, and recorder for Jo Davies' county.

During all this time, from 1818 to 1830, a very large num-
ber of sheriffs elected by the people, were defaulters to the
State or to counties for taxes, or to individuals for moneys col-
lected on execution. The practice was to take the moneys col-
lected on execution, and with them pay up for taxes, for without
getting certificates of having paid all moneys charged to them
for taxes, the sheriffs were not allowed to be commissioned
when re-elected. The people generally felt but little interest
in the collection of moneys for debt, and paying it over, so that
a defalcation here was not apt to injure the popularity of an
officer, who would tend the people money to pay their taxes,
and who was compelled, by his official duty, to be constantly
around among them, giving him ample opportunity to make
friends, contradict charges^ and thus secure his election.

In those days justice was administered without much show,
parade, or ceremony. In some countries, the people are so
ignorant and stupid, that they have to be humbugged into a
respect for the institutions and tribunals of the State. The
judges and lawyers wear robes, and gowns, and wigs, and ap-
pear before them with all the " excellent gravity" described by
Lord Coke. Wherever means like these are really necessary
to give authority to government, it would seem that the bulk
of the people must be in a semi-barbarous state at least, and
must so lack intelligence and capacity, as to be influenced more
by mere outside show than by the realities of wisdom and real
dignity of character in the judge. The judges in early times in
Illinois, were gentlemen of considerable learning and much good
sense, and held their courts mostly in log-houses, or in the bar-
rooms of taverns, fitted up with a temporary bench for the
judge, and chairs or benches for the lawyers and jurors. At

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 83

the first circuit court in Washington county, held by Judge
John Reynolds, the sheriff, on opening the court, went out into
the court-yard and said to the people : " Boys, come in, our
John is going to hold court." This was the proclamation for
opening the court. In general, the judges were averse to de-
ciding questions of law if they could possibly avoid doing so.
They did not like the responsibility of offending one or the
other of the parties, and preferred to submit everything they
could to be decided by the jury. They never gave instructions
to a jury unless expressly called for ; and then only upon the
points of law raised by counsel in asking for them. They never
commented upon the evidence, or undertook to show the jury
what inferences and presumptions might be drawn from it ; for
which reason they delivered their instructions hypothetically,
stating them thus : " If the jury believe from the evidence that
such a matter is proved, then the law is so and so." This was
a clear departure from the practice of the judges in England
and most of the United States ; but the new practice suited the
circumstances of the country. It undoubtedly requires the
highest order of talent in a judge to " sum up" the evidence
rightly to a jury, so as to do justice to the case, and injustice to
neither party. Such talent did not exist to be put on the bench
in these early times ; or at least the judges must have modestly
believed that they did not possess it.

I knew one judge, who when asked for instructions, would
rub his head and the side of his face with his hand, as if per-
plexed, and say to the lawyers, " Why, gentlemen, the jury
understand the case ; they need no instructions ; no doubt they
will do justice between the parties." This same judge presided
at a court in which a man named Green was convicted of mur-
der ; and it became his unpleasant duty to pronounce sentence
of death upon the culprit. He called the prisoner before him,
and said to him : " Mr. Green, the jury in their verdict say you
are guilty of murder, and the law says you are to be hung.

84 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

Now I want you and all your friends down on Indian Creek, to
know that it is not I who condemns you, but it is the jury and
the law. Mr. Green, the law allows you time for preparation,
and so the court wants to know what time you would like to
be hung." To this the prisoner replied, " May it please the
court, I am ready at any time ; those who kill the body have
no power to kill the soul ; my preparation is made, and I am
ready to suffer at any time the court may appoint." The judge
then said, " Mr. Green, you must know that it is a very serious
matter to be hung ; it can't happen to a man more than once
in his life, and you had better take all the time you can get ;
the court will give you until this day four weeks. Mr. Clerk,
look at the almanac, and see whether this day four weeks comes
on Sunday." The clerk looked at the almanac, as directed, and
reported that " that day four weeks came on Thursday." The
judge then said, " Mr. Green, the court gives you until this
day four weeks, at which time you are to be hung." The case
was prosecuted by James Turney, Esq., the attorney-general of
the State, who here interposed and said : " May it please the
court, on solemn occasions like the present, when the life of a
human being is to be sentenced away for crime, by an earthly
tribunal, it is usual and proper for courts to pronounce a formal
sentence, in which the leading features of the crime shall be
brought to the recollection of the prisoner, a sense of his guilt
impressed upon his conscience, and in which the prisoner should
be duly exhorted to repentance, and warned against the judg-
ment in a world to come." To this the judge replied : " O !
Mr. Turney, Mr. Green understands the whole matter as well
&s if I had preached to him a month. lie knows he has got to
be hung this day four weeks. You understand it in that way,
Mr. Green, don't you ?" " Yes," said the prisoner ; upon which
the judge ordered him to be remanded to jail, and the court
then adjourned.

If some judges were unwilling to risk censure by giving in-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 85

structions to juries, there was at least one who was very posi-
tive in his mode of instructing them. This one being more am-
bitious to show his learning and ability, gave very pointed in-
structions on one occasion ; but the jury could not agree on a
verdict. The judge asked to know the cause of their difference,
whereupon the foreman answered, with great apparent honesty
and simplicity, " Why, judge, this 'ere is the difficulty. The
jury want to know whether that ar what you told us, when we
first went went out, was raly the law, or whether it was onyjist
your notion." The judge of course informed them that it was
really the law, and they found a verdict accordingly.

Some other judges through fear of doing wrong, or feeling a
timid anxiety to avoid censure if they were compelled to give
instructions, which might decide the verdict on one side, were
careful to accompany them with such exceptions and explana-
tions as served to mystify what they had previously said, and
destroy its force with the jury. Others again were accused of
partiality, and when a principle of law was in favor of the party
whom they desired to lose the case, they took this mode when
compelled to give instructions, of rendering them of no force or
value. To this day some of the judges are reluctant to give
proper instructions to juries. This arises from a want of con-
fidence felt by the judge in his own capacity ; from a pusillan-
imous fear of giving offence, or a desire to avoid doing any-
thing in favor of a side which the judge has determined shall
not win if he can help it. It appears that this practice must
have continued down to a late period, for the legislature of
1846 passed a law, requiring all instructions to juries to be
given in writing, and that there should be no exceptions or ex-
planations but such as should be given in writing also. Whether
this will be an improvement of the law remains to be seen.

In this period there were many eminent lawyers in the State.
Messrs. Cook, M'Lean, Starr, Mears, Blackwell, Kane, Lock-
wood, Mills, and Chief Justice Thomas Reynolds, would have

86 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

ranked respectably as lawyers at any bar in the United States.
The character of the litigation was somewhat different from
what it has been since. Except during one time of general
indebtedness, the lawsuits were principally small appeal cases,
actions of trespass, trover replevin, slander, indictments for as-
sault and battery, aifrays, riots, selling liquor without license,
and card playing ; but there was a natural leaning on the part
of jurors against convictions for these minor offences, and so it
was a rare thing that any one was convicted. There was now
and then an indictment for murder or larceny, and other felo-
nies, but in all cases of murder arising from heat of blood or
in fight, it was impossible to convict. The juries were willing
enough to convict an assassin, or one who murdered by taking
a dishonorable advantage, but otherwise if there was a' conflict
and nothing unfair in it. This same spirit prevailed in Ken-
tucky and Tennessee, and was the cause of the great success
of Clay, Rowan, and Grunday, in defending trials for murder.

During a part of this time, all elections were by ballot.
This mode of voting has always been most insisted on in old
settled countries, in which wealth is accumulated in the hands
of the few, where there are a few landlords, and the great body
of the people tenants, where some are capitalists and employers,
and others laborers and dependents. In such countries, the
ballot is supposed to preserve the independence of the poor,
and make them irresponsible to their wealthy superiors. But
in Illinois, the ballot mode of voting came near destroying all
manly independence and frankness. As there were no meas-
ures to be contended for in elections, suffrage was bestowed as
a matter of favor. To vote against a candidate was equivalent
to an insult, by telling him that he was not so worthy or so
..well qualified as his opponent. Therefore many - of the voters
never let it be known how they voted at elections. And this
was the origin of the " keep dark" system of former times,
which is thus explained. Each candidate for office, and his

HISTOKT OF ILLINOIS. 87

more immediate friends, kept their preference for other candi-
dates for other offices, to be filled at the same election, a pro-
found secret. There were many offices to be filled at each
election, and the candidates made secret combinations amongst
each other for mutual support, a few days before, or on the day
of election. But as these engagements for mutual support were
secret, and could only be carried out and fulfilled in secret,
many were the frauds and breaches of faith among the candi-
dates and their friends. That candidate who was the most in-
triguing and unprincipled, in common cases, was the most likely
to be elected. In the course of a few years' practice under the
system, it was difficult to find any aspirant for office who would
risk the expression of an opinion about any person or thing.
Each one sought to keep himself in a position of non-commit-
talism, in which he would be at liberty to make the best bar-
gains for himself, to fulfil such engagements as would result
most to his advantage, and to cheat such other candidates as he
might be obliged to sacrifice. This " keep dark" system less
or more pervaded the whole office-seeking tribe, from the high-
est to the lowest, so that it was a rare thing to find amongst
the humble expectants of the office of constable any degree of
frankness of conversation or independence in the expression of
opinion. No doubt this result was as much produced by the
want of the influence of " measures," the want of party lines, as
by the ballot mode of voting ; but the two together made an
election, so far as the candidates and their immediate friends
were concerned, one great fraud, in which honor, faith, and truth
were freely sacrificed, and politicians were debased below the
standard of the popular idea of that class of men. The ballot
system of voting was repealed in 1828-'9.

In the primary elections by the people, many influences were
at work to thwart the stablishment of a wise policy. In almost
every county there was a race of the original pioneers, many
of whom were ignorant, illiterate, and vicious. These were apt

88 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

to be such as wore the hunting-shirt, the buckskin trowsers, the
raccoon skin cap, and leather moccasins. These delighted to
wear a butcher knife, as an appendage of dress. They claimed
unbounded liberty, and were naturally hostile to any action of
government tending to their improvement and civilization. It
is true that this class of people formed but a small minority,
but the better informed and more civilized portion were so di-
vided by faction, and split up by contests amongst themselves
for power and office, that these " butcher knife boys," as they
were called, made a kind of balance of power party. These
people, from their propensity to fight and to lead uproarious
lives, were also called "the half horse and half alligator men."
In all elections, and in all enactments of the legislature, great
pains were taken by all candidates and men in office to make
their course and measures acceptable to these " butcher knife
boys ;" and most of the elections in early times were made un-
der " butcher knife influence ;" not that these instruments were
actually wielded to force an election, but only the votes of those
who carried them. The candidate who had the " butcher knife
boys" on his side was almost certain to be elected. Since the
butcher knife has been disused as an article of dress, the fash-
ion has been, to call this class of people " the bare-footed boys,"
" the flat-footed boys," and " the huge-pawed boys," names with
which they seem to be greatly tickled and pleased, and their in-
fluence is yet considerable in all elections.

Personal politics, intrigue, and a disregard of the public wel-
fare, were carried from the primary elections into the legisla-
ture. Almost everything there was done from personal mo-
tives. Special legislation for the benefit of friends occupied
members, and diverted their attention from such measures as
were for the general benefit. The man of the most tact and
address, who could make the most friends and the most skilful
combinations of individual interests, was always the most suc-
cessful in accomplishing his purposes. A smooth, sleek, supple.

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

friendly manner, which by gaining favor imposed upon credu-
lity, made a politician formidable. Truly, the man who could
approach another with a graceful and friendly impudence, and
readily conciliate good-will, was potent indeed. The genius
and humor of the times mvented or imported a slang language,
very expressive of the achievements of these political heroes.
Such an operator in politics was said to carry " a gourd of pos-
sum fat" with which to " grease" the members. It is not known
why the fat of the opossum was selected for the emblem of
this kind of tact, unless because it was the most fluid and slip-
pery of oils then known in the country. The easy, facile,
credulous fool who was the victim of artful fascination, was
said to be " greased and swallowed" A man was " greased"
when he was won over to the purposes of another by a feigned
show of friendship and condescension ; and he was " swallow-
ed" when he was made to act to suit the purposes of " the in-
trigue," whatever it might be. Sometimes the act of lubrica-
tion, by which a man was fitted to be " swallowed," was sup-
posed to be performed with " soft soap." It was no uncommon
thing to hear that such a one " had a great deal of soft soap
about him," and was a " great hand to swallow people." Gov.
Edwards was said to be the greatest hand to swallow people
in all the country ; and when he was last a candidate for gov-
ernor, it was charged on him that he had not only swallowed
a great many of his former'enemies, but that he had actually
performed the grand operation of swallowing himself. The
simpleton who suffered himself to be made a mere instrument
in the hands of another to do something discreditable or un-
popular, whereby he was unable to be elected again, was said
to be " used up," meaning that he had been used like the afore-
said soft soap, or other household article, until there was no
more of him left.

During this period of twelve years, neither the people nor
their public servants ever dreamed that government might be

90 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

made the instrument to accomplish a higher destiny for the
people. There seemed to be no aim to advance the civilization
and real happiness of the human family. Government was
supposed to be necessary, not because any one understood or
cared for its true object, but because men had been in the habit
of living under government. The people looked around, and
they saw that everybody, everywhere else, lived under some
kind of government, and they merely submitted to it, to be in
the fashion with other States and nations ; but they did not
want government to touch them too closely, or in too many
places : they were determined upon the preservation and enjoy-
ment of their liberties. So that government made no encroach-
ment upon liberty, they inquired no further into its true aim
and object. But not so with politicians ; they had a definite
destiny to accomplish, not for the people, but for themselves.
In fact, the great mass of the people, politicians and all, had a
mere selfish destiny in view. The people were, most of them,
pioneers and adventurers, who came to a new country hoping
to get a living with more ease than they had been accustomed
to, or to better their condition as to property. Such persons
cared but little for matters of government, except when stirred
up by their demagogues ; and then they had no definite object
to accomplish except to punish their representatives for a single
act or vote, which was, nine times out of ten, a good one. The
politicians took advantage of this lethargic state of indifference
of the people to advance their own projects, to get offices and
special favors from the legislature, which were all they busied
their heads about. The people asked nothing and claimed no-
thing but to be let alone, and the politicians usually went to
work to divide out the benefits and advantages of government
amongst themselves ; that is, amongst the active men, who
sought them with most tact and diligence. Offices and jobs
were created, and special laws of all kinds for individual, not
general benefit, were passed, and these good things were divided

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 91

out by bargains, intrigues, and log-rolling combinations, and
were mostly obtained by fraud, deceit, and tact.

It is related of Mr. Samuel Crozier, a former Senator from
Randolph county, who was a remarkable example of the most
pure, kind, and single-hearted honesty, that after serving two
sessions in the Senate, at the close of the second, and after he
had been bought and sold a hundred times without knowing it,
he said he " really did believe that some intrigue had been
going on." So little as this are honest men aware of the ne-
cessity of keeping their eyes open, in sleepless watchfulness, or
otherwise the few will monopolize all the advantages of govern-
ment, and it will be done in the most unfair and corrupt man-
ner. Thus it was that a corrupt, cunning, and busy activity,
blinded the eyes of the people and their representatives, gov-
erned in the name of the people, and divided out amongst those
who practiced it, nearly all the benefits and advantages of gov-
ernment. In every government the administration of it will,
in the long run, reflect the true character of the people ; and
this is one thing which I desire to illustrate in this histoTy.
Many persons erroneously believe that good laws will make a
good government; whereas, if the genius of the people will
permit it, the best laws will be badly administered, and will
make a bad government. Reformation is not to begin with
the laws or with the politicians, but with the people themselves;
and when they are reformed, they will reform everything else.
An indifferent, selfish, and ignorant people, will be made known
by selfish and corrupt politicians, who administer their govern-
ment and pervert the best of laws to the worst of purposes.
If we could find a people truly wise, incapable of being misled,
deceived, or humbugged, we should find statesmen instead of
intriguing politicians, and a government where all the people
enjoyed equal benefits and advantages arising from it, and
where none would be permitted by fraud, tact, deceit and hum-
bug, to exceed their just share. If this rule be observed, it will

92 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

be the true test by which to judge of the capacity of a people
for a good or bad self government. Up to the year 1840, 1 can
say with perfect truth, that considerations of mere party, men's
condescensions, agreeable carriage, and professions of friendship,
had more influence with the great body of the people, than the
most important public services. The capacity to be grateful
for public services, short of fighting the battles of the country,
existed to but a limited extent. But some could be grateful
for individual benefits, and all resented individual injury.

About the year 1820, and perhaps a little before, one or two
educated ministers of the gospel removed to this State. The
Rev. John M. Peck, of Rock Spring, in St. Clair county, I be-
lieve, was the first one. By the year 1830, quite a number of
them had come in from other States. They were either sent
or encouraged to come by the missionary societies at the North
and East ; and being animated themselves by the principles of
charity, which have formed the religious world into benevolent
societies of various sorts, they immediately began to make ac-
tive efforts to get up Bible societies, tract societies, missionary
societies, and Sunday-schools in Illinois. For a long time they
were looked upon with jealousy and bad feeling by some of
the old race of uneducated preachers. These last had been the
pioneers of the gospel, at a time when educated ministers, with
salaries, could not have been supported. They had preached
the doctrine of a free salvation, truly and literally without
money and without price. At their own expense had they
traversed the wilderness, slept in the open air, swam rivers,
suffered cold and hunger, travelled on horseback and on foot,
to preach the gospel and establish churches. They were now
about to be superseded, as some of them feared, and thrown
aside, for nice, well-dressed young men from college, whom
they stigmatized as having no religion in their hearts, and with
knowing nothing about it, except what they had learned at
school. A daintier taste for preaching had grown up in the

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 93

towns, which could be satisfied only by a more polished and
intellectual ministry. The new preachers settled themselves
mostly in the villages and towns, where a more enlightened
preaching was most in demand. They obtained here what lit-
tle salary the people were willing and able to pay ; but drew
their chief support from the contributions of charitable societies
in the old States ; and from the towns they occasionally made
short excursions to preach in the country places. They were
charged by some of the old ministers with exercising their min-
istry for the lucre of gain ; with selling the gospel to those who
were able to pay for it ; with desiring the salvation of the gen-
teel, well-dressed, rich people who lived in the towns, and with
being utterly unconcerned about the salvation of the rough poor
people in the country, who were unable to pay them a salary.
Nevertheless, the new ministers persevered in their labors,
without taking any notice of these persecutions, and rapidly
succeeded in forming congregations, organizing churches, and
building places of worship. And now at this day the truth is
apparent, that both sorts of preachers were needed. Compe-
tition between them was not called for by the interest of either.
The educated minister of the town, with his learning and better
information, and his more chaste and subdued style of elo-
quence, would have been but an indifferent teacher of religion
in many country places ; whilst the unlearned, rough and bois-
terous speaker of former times, was as little suited to carry
the message of grace to " ears polite" in town.

I have said already that these new ministers were active in
establishing all those kinds of societies, which have been made
to illustrate the spirit of benevolent enterprise, characteristic
of the first part of the nineteenth century. Everywhere they
endeavored to promote education among the people, and in a
few years they undertook to build colleges and seminaries of
learning ; and to obtain acts of incorporation for them from the
legislature. But such was the prejudice against them, on the

94 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

part of the people, that they did not succeed in getting any
charters for several years, and when they did get them, each
charter contained a prohibition of a theological department, so
determined were the people that no institution should be en-
couraged by law, for educating a sectarian ministry at home.

A most remarkable change occurred during this period and a
little before, in the habits of dress and appearance of the peo-
ple. Before the year 1830, a man dressed in the costume of
the territory, which was a raccoon-skin cap, linsey hunting-shirt,
buckskin breeches and moccasins, with a belt around the waist,
to which the butcher-knife and tomahawk on the side and back
were appended, was rarely to be seen. The blue linsey hunting-
shirt with red or white fringe, had given place to the cloth coat ;
the raccoon-skin cap with the tail of the animal dangling down
behind, had been thrown aside for hats of wool or fur. Boots
and shoes had supplanted the deer-skin moccasin, and the leather
breeches strapped tight around the ancle, had disappeared be-
fore unmentionables of more modern material. The female
sex had made a still greater progress in dress. The old sort
of cotton or woollen frocks, spun, wove and made with their
own fair hands, and striped and cross-barred with blue dye and
turkey red, had given place to gowns of silk and calico. The
feet, before in a state of nudity, now charmed in shoes of calf-
skin or slippers of kid ; and the head formerly unbonnetted but
covered with a cotton handkerchief, now displayed the charms
of the female face, under many forms of bonnets of straw, silk
or leghorn. The young ladies, instead of walking a mile or two
to church on Sunday, carrying their shoes and stockings in their
hands to within a hundred yards of the place of worship as
formerly, now came forth arrayed complete in all the pride of
dress, mounted on fine horses, and attended by their male ad-
mirers.

With the pride of dress came ambition, industry, the desire
of knowledge, and a love of decency. It has been said that

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 95

civilization is a forced state of man, to which he is stimulated
by a desire to gratify artificial wants ; and it may be truly said
that the young people of that day were powerfully advanced in
the way of civilization by the new wants created by the new
spirit by which they were animated. But the old people re-
gretted the change. They would have been better contented to
live in their old log cabins, go bare-footed, and eat hog and
hominy. From such were heard complaints that the spinning-
wheel and the loom were neglected, and that all the earnings
of the young people were expended in the purchase of finery.
The old world political economist foretold the ruin of the coun-
try. He was certain that all these new trappings and orna-
ments should be disused or manufactured at home ; for if pur-
chased from other States, all the money which came in must be
sent out of the country as fast as it came.

But to the philosophical observer it appeared that those who
adopted the new habits were more industrious and thrifty than
those were who held on to the old ones. For this advancement
in civilization, the young people were much indebted to their
practice of attending church on Sundays. Here they were reg-
ularly brought together at stated times ; and their meeting, if
it effected no better end, at least accustomed them to admire
and wish to be admired. Each one wanted to make as good a
figure as he could ; and to that end came to meeting well-dressed
and clean, riding on a fine horse elegantly caparisoned. This
created in them a will to exert more than the old measure of
industry ; and taught them new notions of economy and ingenui-
ty in business, to get the means of gratifying their pride in this
particular. This again lead to settled habits of enterprise, econ-
omy and tact in business, which once acquired and persevered
in, were made the cause of a thriftiness unknown to their fathers
and mothers.

As to the practice of attending church on Sunday, I am confi-
dent that it produced these effects I have observed very care-

96 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

fully, in the course of thirty-five years spent on the extreme
frontiers ; that in those neighborhoods where the people habit-
ually neglect to attend public worship on Sundays, such im-
provements rarely, if ever, take place. In such places the young
people feel no pride, and do not desire improvement. They
scarcely ever throw aside their every-day rough apparel to
dress up neat and clean on Sunday. On that day the young
men are seen with uncombed heads, unshorn beards, and un-
washed linen, strolling in the woods hunting ; or on the race-
course, or at a grocery contracting habits of intoxication, or
lounging sullenly and lazily at home. The young women
in appearance, dress, manners and intelligence, are the fit com-
panions for their brothers. Sunday to them brings no bright
skies, no gladness, no lively and cheerful thoughts, and no
spirits renovated by mixing in the sober, decent, quiet, but
gay assemblage of youth and beauty. Their week of labor is
not cheered by anticipations of the gay and bright fete with
which it is to close. Labor through the week to them is a drudge-
ry ; and is performed with surliness and grudging ; and their
Sabbaths are spent in heedless sleepy stupidity. The young
people of both sexes are without self-respect, and are conscious
of not deserving the respect of others. They feel a crushing
and withering sense of meanness and inferiority mingled with
an envious malignity towards all excellence in others, who ex-
hibit an ambition for improvement. Such neighborhoods are
pretty certain to breed up a rough, vicious, ill-mannered and
ill-natured race of men and women.

Commerce from 1818 to 1830, made but a small progress.
Steamboats commenced running the western waters in 1816,
and by the year 1830, there were one or two small ones run-
ning on the Illinois river as far up as Peoria, and sometimes
further. The old keel-boat navigation had been disused ; but
as yet there was so little trade as not to call for many steam-
boats to supply their place. The merchants of the villages, few

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 97

in number at first, were mere retailers of dry-goods and grocer-
ies ; they purchased and shipped abroad none of the produc-
tions of the country, except a few skins, hides and furs, and a
little tallow and beeswax. They were sustained in this kind of
business by the influx of immigrants, whose money being paid
out in the country for grain, stock and labor, furnished the
means of trade. The merchant himself rarely attempted a
barter business, and never paid cash for anything but his
goods. There was no class of men who devoted themselves to
the business of buying and selling, and of making the exchanges
of the productions at home, for those of other States and coun-
tries. The great majority, in fact nearly all the merchants, were
mere blood-suckers, men who with a very little capital, a small
stock of goods, and with ideas of business not broader than
their ribbands, nor deeper than their colors, sold for money
down, or on a credit for cash, which when received they sent
out of the country. Since their time a race of traders and mer-
chants has sprung up, who use the money they receive for
goods in purchasing the wheat, corn, beef, and pork of the farm-
ers ; and ship these articles to the eastern cities. Mather Lamb
& Co., late of Chester, in Randolph county, but now of Spring-
field, were the first to engage in this business ; and they were
lead to it by the refusal of the United States Bank at St. Louis
to grant them the usual facilities of trade. As they could get
no accommodation from the bank, they fell upon this course to
avoid going to St. Louis to purchase eastern enchange.

The money which they received being again paid out, re-
mained in the country, and the produce went forward in its
place, to pay for stocks of goods. The traders in this way
made a profit on their goods which they brought into the State,
and another profit on the produce which they sent out of it.

But, as yet, the merchants generally had neither the capital
nor the talents for such a business ; and it was not until a more
recent period, upon the going down of the United States Bank,

98 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

the consequent withdrawal of facilities for exchange in money,
and the high rates of exchange which came in with local banks
of doubtful credit, that they have been very extensively forced
into it. When they could no longer get either money for re-
mittance to their eastern creditors, or bills of exchange, except
at ruinous rates of premium, they at once saw the advantage of
laying out the local currency received for their goods in pur-
chasing the staples of the country and forwarding them in the
place of cash. In very early times there were many things to
discourage regular commerce. A want of capital, a want of
capacity for the business, the want of a great surplus of pro-
ductions, the continual demand for them created by immigrants,
and facility of carrying on a small commerce with the money
supplied by emigration alone, all stood in the way of regular
trade. New Orleans, at that time, was our principal market
out of the State. It was then but a small city, and shipped
but a trifle of the staple articles of Illinois to foreign countries.
Such shipments as were made to it were intended for the sup-
ply of the local market ; and here the Illinoisians had to com-
pete with Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, and Missouri.
Any temporary scarcity in this market was soon supplied, and
the most of the time it was completely glutted.

For want of merchants or others who were to make a busi-
ness of carrying our staples to market, our farmers undertook
to be their own merchants and traders. This practice prevailed
extensively in the western country. A farmer would produce
or get together a quantity of corn, flour, bacon, and such arti-
cles. He would build a flat-bottomed boat on the shore of some
river or large creek, load his wares into it, and, awaiting the
rise of water, with a few of his negroes to assist him, would
float down to New Orleans. The voyage was long, tedious,
and expensive. When he arrived there, he found himself in a
strange city, filled with sharpers ready to take advantage of
his necessities. Everybody combined against him to profit by

HISTORY OP ILLINOIS. 99

his ignorance of business, want of friends or commercial con-
nexions ; and nine times out of ten he returned a broken mer-
chant. His journey home was performed on foot, through
three or four nations of Indians inhabiting the western parts of
Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. He returned to a deso-
late farm, which had been neglected whilst he was gone. One
crop was lost by absence, and another by taking it to market.
This kind of business was persevered in astonishingly for sev-
eral years, to the great injury and utter ruin of a great many
people.

In later times, after the steamboat had taken the place of
other species of navigation, after regular dealers and business
men had made their appearance on the theatre of trade, and
after New Orleans had become a great city, and a great mart
of foreign commerce, there were still other difficulties to be en-
countered of a very formidable character. These were, the
disposition of the people not to sell their produce for the mar-
ket price, and to raise no surplus whatever unless the prices
were high. If the trader offered one price, the farmer would
ask a little more, and more than the trader could afford to
give and make a reasonable profit. Let the price be what it
might, many would hold up their commodity a whole year, ex-
pecting a rise in the market ; and if the price was low, they
would cease producing. If a farmer had a surplus of corn,
wheat, hogs, or cattle, in the fall season, and could not sell
them for the full price he demanded, he would keep them until
next year, expecting to get more for them then. In the mean-
time, he would lose more by the natural loss and waste of his
property, than he could possibly gain by increased prices the
next season. I have known whole stacks of wheat and whole
fields of corn to rot, or to be dribbled out and wasted to no pur-
pose ; and whole droves of hogs to run wild in the woods so
as never to be reclaimed, whilst the owner was saving them
for a higner price. He suffered, also, by laying out of the

100 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

present use of the money, and by being compelled to purchase
many necessary articles on a credit, at a higher price than they
could be bought for with cash. By holding back for a higher
price, he suffered loss by the natural waste of his property, by
laying out of the use of his money, by losing the many good
bargains he could have made with it in the meantime, and by
being compelled to purchase dear on a credit, and pay a high
interest on the debt if not paid when due. *In all these ways he
lost more than he would by borrowing money on compound
interest. And yet he could never be persuaded that it was
for his advantage to sell as soon as his article became market-
able, and at the market price.

This practice of holding up property from the market unless
the owner can receive more than the market price, still prevails
extensively in the southern and some of the eastern parts of
the State, and fully accounts for much of the difference in the
degree of prosperity which is found there, and in the middle
and northern part of the State.

The New England population make it a rule to sell all their
marketable property as soon as it becomes fit for market, and
at the market price. By this means the farmer avoids the loss
and expense of keeping it on hand. He has the present use
of its value in money, and makes many good bargains and
speculations which could not be made without a little ready
money. He avoids buying on credit, or rather, paying interest
on his debts after they become due. Money is more plenty,
and the whole people are enabled to be more punctual in the
payment of their debts. The local merchant is enabled to do
an active business. He is always sure that he can purchase
to the extent of his capital, and at rates which will put it in his
power to sell at a profit. In this manner the farmer prospers,
the local merchant prospers, the miller and manufacturer pros-
per. Towns grow up rapidly. Employment is furnished for

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 101

mechanics and laborers. By such means our northern people
are enabled to build up a country village in three or four
years as large as a country seat in the south of twenty years'
standing.*

* The people in many parts of the State have another practice which
they must abandon before money can be plenty among them. They
make their contracts to be. paid in " trade at trade rates." This prac-
tice, by dispensing with the use of money in business, discourages its
presence: whereas, the opposite course, by creating a necessity for
money, is the means of forcing it into the country. And accordingly,
in all those countries where debts are punctually paid in cash, bar-
gains all made to be paid in cash, laborers all paid in cash, at short
intervals, say at the end of the week, money is always the most plenty ;
and in those countries where the contrary course is pursued, it is the
most scarce. It is useless to say that plenty of money enables one
country to do a cash business, and that scarcity prevents it in the
other. Money will go where it is most prized, used, and needed in
business, and will refuse to go where its use is dispensed with, or to
be used only to be hoarded. If any people want to be prosperous and
have plenty of money, let them remember this.

CHAPTER 17.

Extent of settlements in 1830— Election for Governor that year— Judge John Reynolds,
William Kinney ; further development of party— Description of an election of contest
—Reynolds elected by Jackson and anti-Jackson men— Legislature of 1831 bound
to redeem the notes of the old State Bank— Horror of increasing taxes— Fears of the
legislature— The Wiggins' loan— All the members broke down— The little bull law-
Penitentiary punishments — Curious contest for State Treasurer — Indian disturbances
—Treaties with the Indians— Black Hawk's account of them— His character— He
invades the Rock river country— Call for volunteers— March to Rock Island— Escape
of the Indians— New treaty with them— Next year Black Hawk returns— Volunteers
again called for— March of Governor Reynolds and Gen. Whiteside— Burning of
Prophet's town— Arrival at Dixon— Majors Stillman and Bailey— Route at Stillman's
run — Account of it by a volunteer Colonel — Council of war — Gen. Whiteside marches
in pursuit of the Indians— Massacre of Indian Creek, two young ladies captured and
restored — Gen. Whiteside buries tbe dead and marches back to Dixon — Meets Gen.
Atkinson— Dissatisfaction of the men— Marches to Ottawa— Army discharged— New
call for volunteers— Volunteer regiment left as a guard of the frontiers— Col. Jacob
Fry— Captain Snyder— Battle with the Indians, bravery of Gen. Whiteside— Gen.
Semple and Capt. Snyder — Indian murders — St. Vrain and others — Siege of Apple-
river Fort— Col. Strode— Galena— Martial law there— Gen. Dodge's successful attack
— Capt. Stephenson — Martial spirit of the Indians — Major Dement, defence of Kel-
logg's Grove — Gen. Posey's march — Gen. Alexander — Gen. Atkinson — Gen. Henry —
March up Rock river — Turtle village — Burnt village — Lake Keshkonong — Search
for the Indians— Two regular soldiers fired on— Expedition to the "trembling
lands"— Army dispersed in search of provisions.

THE population of the State had increased by the year 1830,
to 157,447 ; it had spread north from Alton as far as Peoria,
principally on the rivers and creeks ; and in such places there
were settlers sparsely scattered along the margin of the Missis-
sippi river to Galena, sometimes at the distance of an hundred
miles apart ; also on the Illinois to Chicago, with long intervals
of wilderness ; and a few sparse settlements were scattered
about all over the southern part of the military tract. The
country on the Sangamon river and its tributaries had been
settled, and also the interior of the south ; leaving a large wil-

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 103

derness tract yet to be peopled between Galena and Chicago ;
the whole extent of the Rock river and Fox river countries,
and nearly all the lands in the counties of Hancock, M'Donough,
Fulton, Peoria, Stark, Warren, Henderson, Knox, Mercer,
Henry, Bureau, Livingston, Champaign, Piatt, and Iroquois,
comprising one-third of the territory of the State. As yet but
few settlements had been made anywhere in the open wide
prairies, but were confined to the margins of the timber in the
vicinity of rivers and streams of water.

A new election for governor was to be held in August, 1830.
The candidates for the office were John Reynolds, late a judge
of the supreme court, and William Kinney, then lieutenant-
governor, both of them of the dominant party. All general
elections since 1826, had resulted in lavor of the friends of Gen.
Jackson. The legislature always contained a large majority of
Jackson men ; but parties were not as yet thoroughly drilled
and consolidated. On the one side, there was a kind of idol-
atrous devotion to General Jackson ; on the other, a mere per-
sonal opposition and dislike, with but little reference on either
side to the principles of government. When the great popular
movement commenced, which resulted in the elevation of Gen-
eral Jackson to power, many politicians ranged themselves
under his banner as that of a popular and fortunate leader,
upon whose shoulders they themselves could climb into power
and office. Such persons were influenced in but a small degree
by the spite and malice of party ; so that if they could provide
for themselves, they were disposed to be kind and tolerant to
their opponents. With many such it was the height of ambi-
tion to get to the legislature ; and when they got there, the
sleek, smooth, pleasant men of tact and address in the minority,
seduced them from the majority ; and so the legislative acts of
public officers were as likely to result in favor of one party as
the other. This was a matter of wonder and astonishment to
the new immigrants from the older States, who came blazing hot

104 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

like brands plucked from the burning, heated with the fiery con-
tests, in the States from whence they came, between the old
organized parties of federalists and republicans.

But party lines were so far drawn that no anti-Jackson man
could be elected to Congress, to the United States Senate, or
to be governor of the State. For this reason the anti-Jackson
party proposed no candidate for governor at this election ; some
of them preferred one candidate of the dominant party, and
some the other ; but the great body of the anti-Jackson party
supported Governor Reynolds. Mr. Kinney was one of the old
sort of Baptist preachers ; his morality was not of that pinched
up kind, which prevented him from using all the common arts
of a candidate for office. It was said that he went forth elec-
tioneering with a Bible in one pocket and a bottle of whiskey
in the other ; and thus armed with " the sword of the Lord and
the spirit," he could preach to one set of men and drink with
another, and thus make himself agreeable to all. In those days
the people drank vast quantities of whiskey and other liquors ;
and the dispensation of liquors, or " treating," as it was called,
by candidates for office, was an indispensable element of success
at elections. In many counties, the candidates would hire all
the groceries at the country seats and other considerable vil-
lages, where the people could get liquor without cost for several
weeks before the election. In such places, during the pending
of elections, the voters in all the neighboring country turned
out on every Saturday, to visit the country seat, to see the can-
didates, and hear the news. They came by dozens from all
parts, and on every road, riding on their ponies, which they
hitched up or tied to the fences, trees, and bushes in the village.
The candidates came also, and addressed the people from wag-
ons, benches, old logs, or stumps newly cut, from whence comes
the phrase " stump speeches," used to signify a popular harangue
to the people, by a candidate for office. The stump speeches
being over, then commenced the drinking of liquor, and long

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 105

before night a large portion of the voters would be drunk and
staggering about town, cursing, swearing, hallooing, yelling,
huzzaing for their favorite candidates, throwing their arms up
and around, threatening to fight, and fighting. About the time
of this election, I have seen hundreds of such persons in the
town of Springfield, now the polished seat of government of the
State. Towards evening they would mount their ponies, go
reeling from side to side, galloping through town, and throwing
up their caps and hats, screeching like so many infernal spirits
broke loose from their nether prison, and thus they departed
for their homes.

This had been the case for many years in many counties at
all the circuit courts, elections, and public gatherings ; but thank
God, such scenes are no more to be witnessed in Illinois.

Mr. Kinney had the name of being a whole hog, thorough-
going original Jackson man. Politicians in those days of the
Jackson party were divided into whole hog men, and nominal
Jackson men. Mr. Kinney belonged to the first division ; he
possessed a vigorous understanding, an original genius, and was
a warm and true friend, and a bitter enemy. He was a witty,
merry and jovial man, who studied fun and was highly esteem-
ed by his neighbors and acquaintances. The anti-Jackson men
hated him more than they did Reynolds, and hence their prefer-
ence for the latter. They did not so much vote for Reynolds
as against Kinney. They were like the man who said that he
had not voted for any candidate for the last ten years, never-
theless he had always voted at every election ; but instead of
voting for any one person, he had always voted against some
rascal.

Judge Reynolds was made of more good-natured, easy and
pliable materials. He had received a classical education, and
was a man of good talents in his own peculiar way ; but no one
would suppose from hearing his conversation and public ad-
dresses, that he had ever learned more than to read and write

106 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

and cypher to the rule of three ; such acquisitions being sup-
posed to constitute a very learned man in the times of his early
life. He had been a farmer, a lawyer, and a soldier, a judge,
and a member of the legislature. He had passed his life on
the frontiers among a frontier people ; he had learned all the
bye-words, catch-words, old sayings and figures of speech in-
vented by vulgar ingenuity, and common among a backwoods
people ; to these he had added a copious supply of his own, and
had diligently compounded them all into a language peculiar to
himself, which he used on all occasions, both public and private.
He was a man of remarkably good sense and shrewdness for
the sphere in which he chose to move, and possessed a fertile
imagination, a ready eloquence, and a continual mirthfulness and
pleasantry when mingling with the people. He had a kind
heart, and was always ready to do a favor and never harbored
resentment against any human being. Such a man was certain
to be successful against the Baptist preacher, and sure enough
he was elected by a most triumphant majority.

A new legislature was elected at the same time ; it contained
a majority of Jackson men ; a majority of whom again had
been opposed to Reynolds' election ; but the union of Reynolds'
Jackson friends with the anti-Jackson members, constituted a
small majority of the legislature. It is not remembered that
the new governor put forth or advocated any measure of pub-
lic policy, as a measure of his administration. But during this
first session the legislature had to make provision for the re-
demption of the notes of the old State Bank, which became due
in the course of the next summer. No former legislature had
dared to risk their popularity by providing for the redemption
of these notes, by taxation or otherwise.

The subject had been put off from time to time, each legisla-
ture willing to shift the odious task upon their successors in of-
fice, until further delay would amount to a breach of the public
faith. Something must now be done, and that immediately.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 107

The popularity-loving members of this legislature came up to
the work with fear and trembling. They feared to be denounced
as a band of perjured and faithless men if they neglected their
duty, and they dreaded to meet the deep roar of indignant dis-
approbation from their angry constituents, by performing it.
But a majority in each house acted like men. They passed a
law authorizing the celebrated Wiggins' loan of one hundred
thousand dollars. The money was obtained and the notes of
the bank were redeemed, the honor of the State was saved, but
the legislature was damned for all time to come. The mem-
bers who voted for the law were struck with consternation and
fear at the first sign of the public indignation. Instead of bold-
ly defending their act and denouncing the unprincipled dema-
gogues who were inflaming the minds of the people, these mem-
bers, when they returned to their constituents, went meanly
sneaking about like guilty things, making the most humble ex-
cuses and apologies. A bolder course by enlightening the pub-
lic mind might have preserved the standing of the legislature,
and wrought a wholesome revolution in public opinion, then
much needed.

But as it was. the destruction of great men was noticeable for
a great nnmber of years. The Wiggins' loan was long a bye-
word in the mouths of the people. Many affected to believe
that Wiggins had purchased the whole State, that the inhabit-
ants, for generations to come, had been made over to him like
cattle ; and but few found favor in their sight who had anything
to do with the loan. There has never been anything like this
destruction of great men in Illinois, except on a subsequent oc-
casion, when the legislature passed a law for the improvement
of the breed of cattle, by which small bulls were prohibited,
under severe penalties, from running at large. On this last oc-
casion no one dreamed that a hurricane of popular indignation
was about to be raised, but so it was : the people took sides
with the little bulls. The law was denounced as being aristo-

108 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

cratic, and intended to favor the rich, who, by their money, had
become possessed of large bulls, and were to make a profit by
the destruction of the small ones ; and besides this, there was
a generous feeling in the hearts of the people in favor of an
equality of privileges even among bulls. These two laws over-
threw many a politician, never to recover again or be seen in
the public councils. The " Wiggins' loan" and " the little bull
law" will be long remembered by numerous aspirants for of-
fice, who were sunk by them so low in the public favor, that
the " hand of resurrection has never reached them."

At this session of 1830-'!, the criminal code was first adapted
•to penitentiary punishment, and ever after the old system of
whipping and pillory for the punishment of crimes has been
disused. In the course of fifteen years' experience under the
new system, I am compelled to say that crime has increased out
of all proportion to the increase of inhabitants.

At this session there was a curious contest hi the election
of a State Treasurer. Judge Hall was the candidate of the
Kinney men ; John Dement was the candidate of Governor
Reynolds. Hall was a violent anti-Jackson man, but had been
editor of a newspaper in favor of Kinney. Dement was an
original Jackson man, but had warmly supported Governor
Reynolds. The Kinney men were the ultraists, the proscrip-
tionists, and the whole-hog-men of the party, but yet they
fought manfully for Hall, whilst the anti-Jackson members
fought as manfully for Dement. On this question the two par-
ties exchanged positions and candidates.

Not long after the adjournment of this session, news came
of disturbances by the Indians, in the Rock river country. It
appears that a treaty had been made by Gen. Harrison at St.
Louis, in November, 1804, with the chiefs of the Sac and Fox
nations of Indians, by which those Indians had ceded to the
United States all their land on Rock river, and much more
elsewhere. This treaty was confirmed by a part of the tribe

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 109

in a treaty with Gov. Edwards and Auguste Chouteau, in Sep-
tember, 1815, and by another part in a treaty with the same
commissioners in May, 1816. The United States had caused
some of these lands, situate at the mouth of Rock river, to be
surveyed and sold. These lands included the great town of
the nation, near the mouth of the river. The purchasers from
the government moved on to their lands, built houses, made
fences and fields, and thus took possession of the ancient me-
tropolis of the Indian nation. This metropolis consisted of
about two or three hundred lodges made of small poles set up-
right in the ground, upon which other poles were tied trans-
versely, with bark at the top, so as to hold a covering of bark
peeled from the neighboring trees, and secured with other strips
of bark, with which they were sewed to the transverse poles.
The sides of the lodges were secured in the same manner. The
principal part of these Indians had long since moved from their
town to the west of the Mississippi.

But there was one old chief of the Sacs, called Mucata Mu-
hicatah, or Black Hawk, who always denied the validity of
these treaties. Black Hawk was now an old man. He had
been a warrior from his youth. He had led many a war party
on the trail of an enemy, and had never been defeated. He
had been in the service of England in the war of 1812, and had
been aid-de-camp to the great Tecumseh. He was distinguished
for courage and for clemency to the vanquished. He was an
Indian patriot, a kind husband and father, and was noted for his
integrity in all his dealings with his tribe and with the Indian
traders. He was firmly attached to the British, and cordially
hated the Americans. At the close of the war of 1812 he had
never joined in making peace with the United States, but he
and his band still kept up their connection with Canada, and
were ever ready for a war with our people. He was in his
personal deportment grave and melancholy, with a disposition
to cherish and brood over the wrongs he supposed he had re-

110 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

ceived from the Americans. He was thirsting for revenge
upon his enemies, and at the same time his piety constrained
him to devote a day in the year to visit the grave of a favorite
daughter buried on the Mississippi river, not far from Oquaka.
Here he came on his yearly visit, and spent a day by the grave,
lamenting and bewailing the death of one who had been the
pride of his family and of his Indian home. With these feel-
ings was mingled the certain and melancholy prospect of the
extinction of his tribe, and the transfer of his country, with
its many silvery rivers, rolling and green prairies, and dark
forests, the haunts of his youth, to the possession of a hated
enemy ; whilst he and his people were to be driven, as he sup-
posed, into a strange country, far from the graves of his fa-
thers and his children.

Black Hawk's own account of the treaty of 1804 is as fol-
lows. He says that some Indians of the tribe were arrested
and imprisoned in St. Louis for murder, that some of the chiefs
were sent down to provide for their defence ; that whilst there,
and without the consent of the nation, they were induced to sell
the Indian country ; that when they came home, it appeared
that they had been drunk most of the time they were absent,
and could give no account of what they had done, except that
they had sold some land to the white people, and had come
home loaded with presents and Indian finery. This was all that
the nation ever heard or knew about the treaty of 1804.*

* It may be well here to mention, that some historians of the Black
Hawk war have taken much of the matter of their histories from a life
of Black Hawk written at Rock Island in 1833 or 1834, purporting to
have been his own statements written down on the spot. This work
has misled many. Black Hawk knew but little, if anything, about it.
In point of fact, it was got up from the statements of Mr. Antoine Le
Clere and Col. Davenport, and was written by a printer, and was never
intended for anything but a catch-penny publication. Mr. Le Clere
was a half-breed Indian interpreter, and Col. Davenport an old Indian
trader, whose sympathies were strongly enlisted in favor of the Indians,

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. Ill

Under the pretence that this treaty was void, he resisted the
order of the government for the removal of his tribe west of
the Mississippi. In the spring of 1831, he recrossed the river,
with his women and children and three hundred warriors of
the British band, together with some allies from the Pottawat-
omie and Kickapoo nations, to establish himself upon his an-
cient hunting-grounds and in the principal village of his nation.
He ordered the white settlers away, threw down their fences,
unroofed their houses, cut up their grain, drove off and killed
their cattle, and threatened the people with death if they re-
mained. The settlers made their complaints to Governor Rey-
nolds. These acts of the Indians were considered by the gov-
ernor to be an invasion of the State. He immediately addressed
letters to Gen. Gaines of the United States army, and to Gen.
Clark the superintendent of Indian affairs, calling upon them to
use the influence of the government to procure the peaceful re-
moval of the Indians, if possible ; at all events to defend and
protect the American citizens who had purchased those lands
from the United States, and were now about to be ejected by
the Indians. Gen. Gaines repaired to Rock Island, with a few
companies of regular soldiers, and soon ascertained that the In-
dians were bent upon war. He immediately called upon Gov-
ernor Reynolds for seven hundred mounted volunteers. The

and whose interest it was to retain the Indians in the country for the
purposes of trade. Hence the gross perversion of facts in that book,
attributing this war to the border white people, when in point of fact
these border white people had bought and paid for the land on which
they lived from the government, which had a title to it by three dif-
ferent treaties. They were quietly and peaceably living upon their
lands when the Indians, under Black Hawk, attempted to dispossess
them. As yet, I have seen no excuse for Black Hawk's second inva-
sion of the State in breach of his own treaty with Gen. Gaines in 1831 ;
but the sympathizers with the Indians skip over and take no notice of
that treaty, so determined have they been to please their own country-
men at all hazards.

112 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

governor obeyed the requisition. A call was made upon some
of the northern and central counties, in obedience to which fif-
teen hundred volunteers rushed to his standard at Beardstown,
and about the 10th of June were organized and ready to be
marched to the seat of war. The whole force was divided into
two regiments, an odd battalion and a spy battalion. The 1st
regiment was commanded by Col. James D. Henry, the 2d
by Col. Daniel Lieb, the odd battalion by Major Nathaniel
Buckmaster, and the spy battalion by Major Samuel Whiteside.
The whole brigade was put under the command of Major Gen-
eral Joseph Duncan, of the State Militia. This was the largest
military force of Illinoisians which had ever been assembled in
the State, and made an imposing appearance as it traversed the
then unbroken wilderness of prairie.

The army proceeded in four days to the Mississippi, at a place
now called Rockport, about eight miles below the mouth of
Eock river, where it met Gen. Gaines in a steamboat, with a
supply of provisions. Here it encamped for one night, and
here the two generals concerted a plan of operations. Gen.
Gaines had been in the vicinity of the Indian town for about a
month, during which time it might be supposed that he had
made himself thoroughly acquainted with the localities and
topography of the country. The next morning the volunteers
marched forward, with an old regular soldier for a guide.
The steamboat with Gen. Gaines ascended the river. A battle
was expected to be fought that day on Vandruff 's Island, oppo-
site the Indian town. The plan was for the volunteers to cross
the slough on to this island, give battle to the enemy if found
there, and then to ford the main river into the town, where they
were to be met by the regular force coming down from the
fort. The island was covered with bushes and vines, so as to
be impenetrable to the sight at the distance of twenty feet.
General Gaines ran his steamboat up to the point of the island,
and fired several rounds of grape and canister shot into it to

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 113

test the presence of an enemy. The spy battalion formed in
line of battle, and swept the island ; but it was soon ascertained
that the ground rose so high within a short distance of the bank,
that General Gaines's shot could not have taken effect one hun-
dred yards from the shore. The main body of the volunteers,
in three columns, came following the spies ; but before they had
got to the northern side of the island, they were so jammed up
and mixed together, officers and men, that no man knew his
own company or regiment, or scarcely himself. Gen. Gaines
had ordered the artillery of the regular army to be stationed on
a high bluff which looked down upon the contemplated battle-
field a half mile distant, from whence, in case of battle with
the Indians in the tangled thickets of the island, their shot were
likely to kill more of their friends than their enemies. It
would have been impossible for the artillerists to distinguish
one from the other. And when the army arrived at the main
river, they found it a bold, deep stream, not fordable for a half
mile or more above by horses, and no means of transportation
was then ready to ferry them over. Here they were in sight
of the Indian town, with a narrow but deep river running be-
tween, and here the principal part of them remained until scows
could be brought to ferry them across it.

When the volunteers reached the town they found no enemy
there. The Indians had quietly departed the same morning in
their canoes for the western side of the Mississippi. Whilst in
camp twelve miles below the evening before, a canoe load of
Indians came down with a white flag to tell the General that
they were peaceable Indians, that they expected a great battle
to come off next day, that they desired to remain neutral, and
wanted to retire with their families to some place of safety, and
they asked to know where that was to be. General Gaines an*
swered them very abruptly, and told them to be off and go to
the other side of the Mississippi. That night they returned to
their town, and the next morning early the whole band of hos-

114 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

tile Indians re-crossed the river, and thus entitled themselves to
protection.

It has been stated to me by Judge William Thomas, of Jack-
sonville, who acted as quartermaster of the brigade of volun-
teers, that Gaines and Duncan had reason to believe, before the
commencement of the march from the camp on the Mississippi,
that the Indians had departed from their village, that measures
had been taken to ascertain the fact before the volunteers cross-
ed to Vandruff 's Island, that Gen. Duncan in company with the
advanced guard, following the spies preceded the main army
in crossing, and that this will account for the want of order and
confusion in the march of the troops.

I was myself in company with the spies, I arrived at the river
a mile in advance of the army, I saw Gen. Gaines ascend with
his boat to the point of the island, was within one hundred
yards of him when he fired into the island to test the presence
of the Indians ; I marched ahead with the spies across the island,
saw with my own eyes the elevation of the land near the shore,
which would have prevented cannon-shot taking effect more
than one hundred yards. I also know the condition of the island
as to bushes and vines, and saw the artillery force from the fort
stationed on the high bluff on the opposite side of the river. I
was on the bank of the main river when Gen. Duncan came up,
followed, soon after, by his brigade in the utmost confusion, and
heard him reprimand John S. Miller, a substantial and worthy
citizen of Rock Island, for not letting him know that the main
river was on the north side of the island ; and I heard Miller
curse him to his face at the head of his troops, for refusing his
services as guide when offered the evening before ; and then
censuring him for not giving information which he had refused
to receive. I give the facts as I personally know them to be
true, and leave it to others to judge whether the two Generals
knew of the departure of the Indians ; had taken proper meas-
ures to ascertain the presence of an enemy, or had made the

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 115

best disposition for a battle if the Indians had been found either
at their village or on the island. Much credit is undoubtedly
due to Gov. Reynolds and Gen. Duncan for the unprecedented
quickness with which the brigade was called out, and organized,
and marched to the seat of war, and neither of them are justly
responsible for what was arranged for them by Gen. Gaines.

The enemy having escaped, the volunteers were determined
to be avenged upon something. The rain descended in torrents,
and the Indian wigwams would have furnished a comfortable
shelter ; but notwithstanding the rain, the whole town was soon
wrapped in flames, and thus perished an ancient village which had
once been the delightful home of six or seven thousand Indians ;
where generation after generation had been born, had died and
been buried ; where the old men had taught wisdom to the
young ; whence the Indian youth had often gone out in parties
to hunt or to war, and returned in triumph to dance around the
spoils of the forest, or the scalps of their enemies ; and where
the dark-eyed Indian maidens, by their presence and charms,
had made it a scene of delightful enchantment to many an ad-
miring warrior.

The volunteers marched to Rock Island next morning, and
here they encamped for several days, precisely where the town
of Rock Island is now situated. It was then in a complete
state of nature, a romantic wilderness. Fort Armstrong was
built upon a rocky cliff on the lower point of an island near the
centre of the river, a little way above ; the shores on each side
formed of gentle slopes of prairie extending back to bluffs of
considerable height, made it one of the most picturesque scenes
in the western country. The river here is a beautiful sheet of
clear, swift-running water, about three quarters of a mile wide,
its banks on both sides were uninhabited, except by Indians
from the lower rapids to the fort, and the voyage up-stream af-
ter several days' solitary progress through a wilderness country
on its borders came suddenly in sight of the white-washed walls

116 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

and towers of the fort, perched upon a rock surrounded by the
grandeur and beauty of nature, which at a distance gave it the
appearance of one of those enchanted castles in an uninhabited
desert, so well described in the Arabian-Nights Entertainments.

General Gaines threatened to pursue the Indians across the
river, which brought Black Hawk, and the chiefs and braves of
the hostile band, to the fort to sue for peace. A treaty was here
formed with them, by which they agreed to remain forever after
on the west side of the river, and never to recross it without
the permission of the president or the governor of the State.
And thus these Indians at last ratified the treaty of 1804, by
which their lands were sold to the white people, and they agreed
to live in peace with the government.

But notwithstanding this treaty, early in the spring of 1832,
Black Hawk and the disaffected Indians prepared to reassert
their right to the disputed territory.

The united Sacs and Fox nations were divided into two parties.
Black Hawk commanded the warlike band, and Keokuk, another
chief, headed the band which was in favor of peace. Keokuk
was a bold, sagacious leader of his people, was gifted with a wild
and stirring eloquence, rare to be found even among Indians, by
means of which he retained the greater part of his nation in
amity with the white people. But nearly all the bold, turbu-
lent spirits, who delighted in mischief, arranged themselves
under the banners of his rival. Black Hawk had with him the
chivalry of his nation, with which he recrossed the Mississippi
in the spring of 1832. He directed his march to the Rock river
country, and this time aimed, by marching up the river into
the countries of the Pottawattomies and Winnebagoes, to make
them his allies. Governor Reynolds, upon being informed of
the facts, made another call for volunteers. In a few days
eighteen hundred men rallied under his banner at Beardstown.
This force was organized into four regiments and a spy bat-
talion. Col. Dewit commanded the 1st regiment, Col. Fry

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 117

the 2d, Col. Thomas the 3d, Col. Thompson the 4th, and Col.
James D. Henry commanded the spy battalion. The whole
brigade was put under the command of Brigadier Gen. Samuel
Whiteside, of the State militia, who had commanded the spy
battalion in the first campaign.

On the 27th of April, Gen. Whiteside, accompanied by Gov.
Reynolds, took up his line of march. The army proceeded by
way of Oquaka, on the Mississippi, to the mouth of Rock river,
and here it was agreed between Gen. Whiteside and Gen. At-
kinson, of the regulars, that the volunteers should march up
Rock river, about fifty miles to the Prophet's town, and there
encamp to feed and rest their horses, and await the arrival of
the regular troops in keel boats with provisions. Judge Wil-
liam Thomas, who again acted as quartermaster to the volun-
teers, made an estimate of the amount of provisions required
until the boats could arrive, which was supplied, and then Gen.
Whiteside took up his line of march. But when he arrived at the
Prophet's town, instead of remaining there, his men set fire to
the village, which was entirely consumed, and the brigade
marched on in the direction of Dixon, forty miles higher up the
river. When the volunteers had arrived within a short dis-
tance of Dixon, orders were given to leave the baggage wagons
behind, so as to reach there by a forced march. And for the
relief of the horses, the men left large quantities of provisions
behind with the wagons. At Dixon, Gen. Whiteside came to
a halt, to await a junction with Gen. Atkinson, with provis-
ions and the regular forces ; and from here parties were sent
out to reconnoitre the enemy and ascertain his position. The
army here found upon its arrival two battalions of mounted
volunteers, consisting of 275 men, from the counties of M'Lean,
Tazewell, Peoria, and Fulton, under the command of Majors
Stillman and Bailey. The officers of this force begged to be
put forward upon some dangerous service, in which they could
distinguish themselves. To gratify them they were ordered

118 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

up Rock river to spy out the Indians. Major Stillman began
his march on the 12th of May, and pursuing his way on the
south-east side, he came to " Old Man's" creek, since called
" Stillman's Run," a small stream which rises in White Rock
Grove, in Ogle county, and falls into the river near Blooming-
ville. Here he encamped just before night; and in a short
time a party of Indians on horseback were discovered on a
rising ground about one mile distant from the encampment.
A party of Stillman's men mounted their horses without orders
or commander, and were soon followed by others, stringing
along for a quarter of a mile, to pursue the Indians and attack
them. The Indians retreated after displaying a red flag, the
emblem of defiance and war, but were overtaken and three of
them slain. Here Major Samuel Hackelton, being dismounted
in the engagement, distinguished himself by a combat with one
of the Indians, in which the Indian was killed, and Major Hack-
elton afterwards made his way on foot to the camp of Gen.
Whiteside. Black Hawk was near by with his main force, and
being prompt to repel an assault, soon rallied his men, amount-
ing then to about seven hundred warriors, and moved down
upon Major Stillman's camp, driving the disorderly rabble, the
recent pursuers, before him. These valorous gentlemen, lately
so hot in pursuit, when the enemy were few, were no less hasty
in their retreat, when coming in contact with superior numbers.
They came with their horses in a full run, and in this manner
broke through the camp of Major Stillman, spreading dismay
and terror among the rest of his men, who immediately began
to join in the flight, so that no effort to rally them could possi-
bly have succeeded. Major Stillman, now too late to remedy
the evils of insubordination and disorder in his command, did
all that was practicable, by ordering his men to fall back in
order, and form on higher ground ; but as the prairie rose be-
hind them for more than a mile, the ground for a rally was
never discovered; and besides this, when the men once got

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 119

their backs to the enemy, they commenced a retreat, without
one thought of making a further stand. A retreat of undis-
ciplined militia from the attack of a superior force, is apt to be
a disorderly and inglorious flight ; and so it was here, each man
sought his own individual safety, and in the twinkling of an eye
the whole detachment was in utter confusion. They were pur-
sued in their flight by thirty or forty Indians, for ten or twelve
miles, the fugitives in the rear keeping up a flying fire as they
ran, until the Indians ceased pursuing.

But there were some good soldiers and brave men in Still-
man's detachment, whose individual efforts succeeded in check-
ing the career of the Indians, whereby many escaped that night
who would otherwise have been the easy victims of the enemy.
Amongst these were Major Perkins and Captain Adams, who
fell in the rear, bravely fighting to cover the retreat of their
fugitive friends. But Major Stillman and his men pursued
their flight without looking to the right or the left, until they
were safely landed at Dixon. The party came straggling into
camp all night long, four or five at a time, each fresh arrival
confident that all who had been left behind had been massacred
by the Indians. The enemy was stated to be just behind in full
pursuit, and their arrival was looked for every moment. Eleven
of Stillman's men were killed, and it is only astonishing that
the number was so few.

It is said that a big, tall Kentuckian, with a very loud voice,
who was a colonel of the militia, but a private with Stillman,
upon his arrival in camp gave to Gen. Whiteside and the won-
dering multitude the following glowing and bombastic account
of the battle : " Sirs," said he, " our detachment was encamped
amongst some scattering timber on the north side of Old Man's
creek, with the prairie from the north gently sloping down to
our encampment. It was just after twilight, in the gloaming
of the evening, when we discovered Black Hawk's army coming
down upon us in solid column ; they displayed in the form of a

120 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

crescent upon the brow of the prairie, and such accuracy and
precision of military movements were never witnessed by man ;
they were equal to the best troops of Wellington, in Spain. I
have said that the Indians came down in solid column, and dis-
played in the form of a crescent ; and what was most wonder-
ful, there were large squares of cavalry resting upon the points
of the curve, which squares were supported again by other
columns fifteen deep, extending back through the woods and
over a swamp three-quarters of a mile, which again rested upon
the main body of Black Hawk's army bivouaced upon the
banks of the Kishwakee. It was a terrible and a glorious sight
to see the tawny warriors as they rode along our flanks at-
tempting to outflank us with the glittering moonbeams glisten-
ing from their polished blades and burnished spears. It was a
sight well calculated to strike consternation into the stoutest
and boldest heart, and accordingly our men soon began to break
in small squads, for tall timber. In a very little time the route
became general, the Indians were upon our flanks and threaten-
ed the destruction of the entire detachment. About this time
Major Stillman, Col. Stephenson, Major Perkins, Capt. Adams,
Mr. Hackelton, and myself with some others, threw ourselves
into the rear to rally the fugitives and protect the retreat. But
in a short time all my companions fell, bravely fighting hand
to hand with the savage enemy, and I alone was left upon the
field of battle. About this time I discovered not far to the left
a corps of horsemen which seemed to be in tolerable order. I
immediately deployed to the left, when leaning down and
placing my body in a recumbent posture upon the mane of my
horse, so as to bring the heads of the horsemen between my
eye and the horizon, I discovered by the light of the moon that
they were gentlemen who did not wear hats, by which token I
knew they were no friends of mine. I therefore made a retro-
grade movement and recovered my former position, where I
remained some time meditating what further 1 could do in the

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 121

service of my country, when a random-ball came whistling by
my ear and plainly whispered to me, ' stranger, you have no
further business here.' Upon hearing this, I followed the ex-
ample of my companions in arms, and broke for tall timber,
and the way I run was not a little, and quit."

This colonel was a lawyer, just returning from the circuit
with a slight wardrobe and Chitty's Pleadings packed in his
saddle-bags, all of which were captured by the Indians. He
afterwards related, with much vexation, that Black Hawk had
decked himself out in his finery, appearing in the wild woods,
amongst his savage companions, dressed in one of the colonel's
ruffled shirts drawn over his deer-skin leggings, with a volume
of Chitty's Pleadings under- each arm.

Major Stillman and his men were for a long time afterwards
the subject of thoughtless merriment and ridicule, which were
as undeserved as their battle, if so it may be called, had been
unfortunate. The party was raw militia ; it had been but a
few days in the field ; the men were wholly without discipline,
and, as yet, without confidence in each other, or in their officers.

This confidence they had not been long enough together to
acquire. Any other body of men, under the same circum-
stances, would have acted no better. They were as good a
material for an army, if properly drilled and disciplined, as
could be found elsewhere.

In the night, after their arrival at Dixon, the trumpet sounded
a signal for the officers to assemble at the tent of Gen. White-
side. A council of war was held, in which it was agreed to
march early the next morning to the fatal field of that even-
ing's disaster. In consequence of the ill-advised and misjudged
march from the Prophet's town, the wastefulness of the volun-
teers, and leaving the baggage wagons behind to make a forced
march without motive or necessity, there were no provisions in
the camp, except in the messes of the most careful and ex-
perienced men. The majority had been living upon parched

122 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

corn and coffee for two or three days. But Quartermaster
Thomas, anticipating the result of the council, went out in
search of cattle and hogs, which were obtained of Mr. John
Dixon, then the only white inhabitant on Rock river, above its
mouth. By this means, before daylight the next morning the
army was supplied with some fresh beef, which they ate with-
out bread, and now they began their march for the scene of
the disaster of the night before. When the volunteers arrived
there the Indians were gone. They had scattered out all over
the country, some of them further up Rock river, and others
towards the nearest settlements of white people.

A party of about seventy Indians made a descent upon the
small settlement of Indian creek, a tributary of Fox river, and
there, within fifteen miles of Ottawa, they massacred fifteen
persons, men, women, and children, of the families of Messrs.
Hall, Davis, and Pettigrew, and took two young women pris-
oners. These were Silvia and Rachel Hall, the one about sev-
enteen and the other about fifteen years old.

This party of Indians immediately retreated into the Win-
nebago country, up Rock river, carrying the scalps of the slain
and their prisoners with them. Indian wars are the wars of a
past age. They have always been characterized by the same
ferocity and cruelty on the part of the Indians. To describe
this massacre is only to repeat what has been written a hundred
times ; but the history of this war would be imperfect without
some account of it. The Indians approached the house in
which the three families were assembled, in the day time.
They entered it suddenly, with but little notice. Some of the
inmates were immediately shot down with rifles, others were
pierced through with spears or despatched with the tomahawk.
The Indians afterwards related with an infernal glee, how the
women had squeaked like geese when they were run through
the body with spears, or felt the sharp tomahawk entering their
their heads. All the victims were carefully scalped ; their

HISTOKT OF ILLINOIS. 128

bodies were mutilated and mangled ; the little children were
chopped to pieces with axes ; and the women were tied up by
the heels to the walls of the house ; their clothes falling over
their heads, left their naked persons exposed to the public
gaze.

The young women prisoners were hurried by forced marches
beyond the reach of pursuit. After a long and fatiguing jour-
ney with their Indian conductors, through a wilderness country,
with but little to eat, and being subjected to a variety of for-
tune, they were at last purchased by the chiefs of the Winne-
bagoes, employed by Mr. Gratiot for the purpose, with two
thousand dollars, in horses, wampum, and trinkets, and were
safely returned to their friends.

Gen. Whiteside, finding no Indians in the vicinity of the
recent battle-field, and being destitute of provisions, contented
himself with burying the dead. He gathered up their muti-
lated bodies as well as he could, and buried them in a common
grave, on a ridge of land on the old trace, south of " Stillman's
run," and put up a rude board, hewn from a tree, as a memo-
rial of the slain. He then returned to Dixon, where, on the
next day, Gen. Atkinson arrived with provisions and the regu-
lar forces. The army now amounted to twenty-four hundred,
and had the men been willing to serve longer, the war could
have been ended in less than a month, by the capture or de-
struction of all Black Hawk's forces. But the volunteers were
anxious to be discharged. Their term of service had nearly
expired. Many of them had left their business in such a con-
dition as to require their presence at home ; and besides this,
there was much dissatisfaction with the commanding general.
To require further service from unwilling men was worse than
useless, for a militia force will never do any good unless their
hearts prompt them to a cheerful alacrity in performing their
duty. The militia can never be forced to fight against their
will. Their hearts as well as their bodies must be in the

124 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

service ; and to do any good, they must feel the utmost con-
fidence in their officers. They were first marched back to the
battle-field in pursuit of the Indians, and then, by Pawpaw
Grove and Indian creek, to Ottawa, where the whole, at their
urgent request, were discharged by Governor Reynolds, on the
27th and 28th of May.

The governor had previously issued orders for raising two
thousand additional volunteers, to rendezvous at Beardstown
and Hennepin. In the meantime, he called for a volunteer
regiment from amongst those recently discharged, to remain in
defence of the country until the new forces could be assembled.
Such a regiment was readily raised, of which Jacob Fry was
elected colonel, James D. Henry lieutenant-colonel, and John
Thomas major. Whiteside, the late commanding general, vol-
unteered as a private. The different companies of this regiment
were so disposed of as to guard all the frontiers. Captain Adam
W. Snyder was sent to range through the country between
Rock river and Galena ; and whilst he was encamped not far
distant from Burr Oak Grove, on the night of the 17th of June,
his company was fired upon by the Indians ; the next morning
he pursued them, four in number, and drove them into a sink-
hole in the ground, where his company charged on them and
killed the whole of the Indians, with the loss of one man mor-
tally wounded. As he returned to his camp, bearing his
wounded soldier, the men suffering much from thirst, scattered
in search of water, when they were sharply attacked by about
seventy Indians, who had been secretly watching their motions,
and awaiting a good opportunity. His men, as usual in such
cases, were taken by surprise, and some of them commenced a
hasty retreat. Captain Snyder called upon Gen. Whiteside,
then a private in his company, to assist him in forming his
men ; the general proclaimed, in a loud voice, that he would
shoot the first man who attempted to run. The men were soon
formed into rank. Both parties took position behind trees.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 125

Here General Whiteside, an old Indian fighter and a capital
marksman with a rifle, shot the commander of the Indians, and
they from that moment began to retreat. As they were not
pursued, the Indian loss was never ascertained ; but the other
side lost two men killed and one wounded. Captain Snyder,
General Whiteside, and Colonel (now General) Semple, are
particularly mentioned as having behaved in the most honor-
able and courageous manner in both these little actions.

On the 15th of June, the new levies had arrived at the places
of rendezvous, and were formed into three brigades ; General
Alexander Posey commanded the 1st, General Milton K. Alex-
ander the 2d, and General James D. Henry commanded the
3d. On the march each brigade was preceded by a battalion
of spies, commanded by a major. The whole volunteer force
this time amounted to three thousand two hundred men, besides
three companies of rangers, under the command of Major Bo-
gart, left behind to guard the frontier settlements. The object
in calling out so large a force was to overawe the Pottawatto-
mie and Winnebago Indians, who were hostile in their feelings
to the whites, and much disposed to join Black Hawk's party.

But before the new army could be brought into the field, the
Indians had committed several murders. One man was killed
on Bureau creek, some seven or eight miles above Princeton ;
another in Buffalo Grove ; another between Fox river and the
Illinois ; and two more on the east side of Fox river, on the
Chicago road, about six miles north-east of Ottawa. On the
22d of May, Gen. Atkinson had despatched Mr. St. Vrain, the
Indian agent for the Sacs and Foxes at Rock Island, with a few
men, as an express to Fort Armstrong. On their way thither,
they fell in with a party of Indians led by a chief well known
to the agent. This chief was called " The little bear," he had
been a particular friend of the agent, and had adopted him as a
brother. Mr. St. Vrain felt no fear of one who was his friend,
one who had been an inmate of his house, and who had adopted

126 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

him as a brother, and approached the Indians with the greatest
confidence and security. But the treacherous Indian, untrue in
war to the claims of gratitude, friendship, and brotherhood, no
sooner got him in his power, than he murdered and scalped
him and all his party, with as little compassion as if he had
never known him or professed to be his friend.

Not long after the new forces were organized on the Illinois
river, Black Hawk, with a hundred and fifty warriors, made
an attack on Apple River Fort, situate about a quarter of a mile
north of the present village of Elizabeth, within twelve miles
of Galena, and defended by twenty-five men, under the com-
mand of Captain Stone. This fort was a stockade of logs stuck
in the ground, with block-houses at the corners of the square,
by way of towers and bastions. It was made for the protection
of a scattering village of miners, who lived in their houses in
the vicinity during the day, and retired into the fort for protec-
tion at night. The women and children, as usual in the day-
time, were abroad in the village, when three men on an express
from Galena to Dixon, were fired on by the Indians lurking in
ambush within a half mile of the village, and retreated into
the fort. One of them was wounded ; his companions stood
by him nobly, retreating behind him, and keeping the Indians
at bay by pointing their guns first at one and then at another
of those who were readiest to advance. The alarm was heard
at the fort in time to rally the scattered inhabitants ; the In-
dians soon came up within firing distance ; and now commenced
a fearful struggle between the small party of twenty-five men
in the fort, against six times their number of the enemy. The
Indians took possession of the log-houses, knocked holes in the
walls, through which to fire at the fort with greater security to
themselves, and whilst some were firing at the fort, others
broke the furniture, destroyed the provisions, and cut open the
beds and scattered the feathers found in the houses. The men
in the fort were excited to the highest pitch of desperation ;

HISTORY OP ILLINOIS. 127

they believed that they w^-re contending with an enemy who
never made prisoners; and that the result of the contest must
be victory or death, and a horrid death too, to them and their
families ; the women and children moulded the bullets and
loaded the guns for their husbands, fathers, and brothers, and
the men fired and fought with a fury required by desperation
itself. In this manner the battle was kept up about fifteen
hours, when the Indians retreated. The number of their killed
and wounded, supposed to be considerable, was never ascer-
tained, as they were carried away in the retreat. The loss in
the fort was one man killed and one wounded. One of the men
who first retreated to the fort, immediately passed on to Galena,
and there gave the alarm. Col. Strode of the militia, who com-
manded in Galena, lost no time in marching to the assistance
of the fort, but before his arrival the Indians had raised the
siege and departed. Galena itself had been in imminent danger
of attack ; at that time it was a village of four hundred inhab-
itants, surrounded on every side by the enemy. Col. Strode,
like a brave and prudent commander, took every possible
measure for its defence. Even here in this extremity of dan-
ger, a number of the inhabitants yielded their assistance un-
willingly and grudgingly; There were a number of aspirants
for office and command ; and quite a number refused obedience
to the militia commander of the regiment ; but Col. Strode
took the most effectual mode of putting down these discontents.
He immediately declared martial law ; the town was converted
Into a camp ; men were forced into the ranks at the point of
the bayonet ; and a press warrant from the colonel, in the hands
of armed men, procured all necessary supplies ; preparations
for defence were kept up night and day ; and the Indian spies
seeing no favorable opportunity for attack, no considerable
body of Indians ever came nearer the town than Apple Fort.

About the time of the siege of the fort a party of Indians
made an attack on three men near Fort Hamilton in the lead

128 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

mines, two of the men were killed and the other escaped. Gen.
Dodge, of Wisconsin, who happened to arrive at the fort soon
after with twenty men under his command, made quick pursuit
after these Indians, who were chased to the Pekatonica, and
there took shelter under the high bank of the river. General
Dodge and his party charged upon them in their place of con-
cealment and shelter and killed the whole party, eleven in num-
ber, with the loss of three of his own brave men mortally
wounded, and one who afterwards recovered. This little action
will equal any for courage, brilliancy and success, in the whole
history of Indian wars.

About this time, also, Capt. James W. Stephenson, of Galena,
with a part of his company, pursued a party of Indians into a
small dense round thicket in the prairie. He commenced a
severe fire upon them at random, within firing distance of the
thicket, but the Indians having every advantage, succeeded in
killing a few of his men, he ordered a retreat. Neither he nor
the men were willing to give up the fight ; and they came to
the desperate resolution of returning and charging into the
thicket upon the Indians. The command to charge was given ;
the men obeyed with ardor and alacrity ; the captain himself
lead the way ; but before they had penetrated into the thicket
twenty steps, the Indians fired from their covert ; the fire was
instantly returned ; the charge was made a second and third
time, each time giving and receiving the fire of the enemy, until
three more of his men lay dead on the ground, and he himself
was severely wounded. It now became necessary to retreat, as
he had from the first but a small part of his company along
with him. This attack of Capt. Stephenson was unsuccessful,
and may have been imprudent ; but it equalled anything in
modern warfare, in daring and desperate courage.

The Indians had now shown themselves to be a courageous,
active and enterprising enemy. They had scattered their war
parties all over the north, from Chicago to Galena, and from

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 129

the Illinois river into the territory of Wisconsin ; they occupied
every grove, waylaid every road, hung around every settle-
ment, and attacked every party of white men that attempted to
penetrate the country. But their supremacy in the field was of
short duration ; for, on the 20th, 21st and 22d of June, the
new forces assembled on the Illinois river, were put in motion
by Gen. Atkinson of the regular army, who now assumed the
command over the whole. Maj. John Dement, with a battalion
of spies attached to the first brigade, was sent forward in ad-
vance, whilst the main army was to follow and concentrate at
Dixon. Maj. Dement pushed forward across Bock river, and
took position at Kellogg's Grove, in the heart of the Indian
country.

Major Dement, hearing by express, on the 25th of June, that
the trail of about five hundred Indians leading to the south,
had been seen within five miles the day before, ordered his
whole command to saddle their horses and remain in readiness,
whilst he himself, with twenty men, started at daylight next
morning to gain intelligence of their movements. His party
had advanced about three hundred yards when they discovered
seven Indian spies ; some of his men immediately made pursuit,
but their commander fearing an ambuscade, endeavored to call
them back. In this manner he had proceeded about a mile ;
and being followed soon after by a number of his men from the
camp, he formed about twenty-five of them into line on the
prairie, to protect the retreat of those yet in pursuit. He had
scarcely done this before he discovered three hundred Indians
issuing from the grove to attack him. The enemy came up
firing, hallooing and yelling, to make themselves more terrific,
after the Indian fashion ; and the major seeing himself in great
danger of being surrounded by a superior force, slowly retired
to his camp, closely pursued by the Indians. Here his whole
party took possession of some log-houses, which answered for a
fort, and here they were vigorously attacked by the Indians for

130 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

nearly an hour. There were brave soldiers in this battalion,
among whom were Major Dement himself, and Lieut. Gov.
Casey, a private in the ranks, who kept up such an active fire
upon their assailants, and with such good aim, that the Indians
retreated with the certain loss of nine men left dead on the field,
and probably five others carried away. The loss on the side
of the whites was five killed and three wounded. Major De-
ment had previously sent an express to Gen. Posey, who
marched with his whole brigade at once to his relief; but did
not arrive for two hours after the retreat of the Indians.. Gen.
Posey moved next day a little to the north in search of the In-
dians, then marched back to Kellogg's Grove, to await the ar-
rival of his baggage-wagons ; and then to Fort Hamilton, on the
Pekatonica.

When the news of the battle at Kellogg's Grove reached
Dixon, where all the volunteers and the regular forces were then
assembled under command of Gen. Atkinson, Alexander's brig-
ade was ordereql in the direction of Plumb river, a short stream
with numerous branches, falling into the Mississippi thirty-five
miles below Galena, to intercept the Indians if they attempted
in that direction to escape by re-crossing the river. Gen. At-
kinson remained with the infantry at Dixon two days, and then
marched, accompanied by the brigade of Gen. Henry, towards
the country of the four lakes, farther up Rock river. Colonel
Jacob Fry, with his regiment, was despatched in advance by
Gen. Henry, to meet some friendly Indians of the Pottawatto-
mie tribe, commanded by Caldwell, a half-bred, and Shaubanie,
the war-chief of the nation.

Gen. Atkinson having heard that Black Hawk had concen-
trated his forces at the four lakes and fortified his position, with
the intention of deciding the fate of the war by a general battle,
marched with as much haste as prudence would warrant when
invading a hostile and wilderness country with undisciplined

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 131

forces, where there was no means of procuring intelligence of
the number or whereabouts of the enemy.

On the 30th of June he passed through the Turtle village, a
considerable town of the Winnebagoes, then deserted by its
inhabitants, and encamped one mile above it, in the open prai-
rie near Rock river. He believed that the hostile Indians were
in that immediate neighborhood, and prepared to resist their
attack, if one should be made. That night the Indians were
prowling about the encampment till morning. Continual
alarms were given by the sentinels, and the whole command
was frequently paraded in order of battle. The march was
continued next day, and nothing occurred until the army arrived
at Lake Kuskanong, except the discovery of trails and Indian
signs, the occasional sight of an Indian spy, and the usual abun-
dance of false alarms amongst men but little accustomed to
war. Here the army was joined by Gen. Alexander's brigade ;
and after Major Ewing and Col. Fry, with the battalion of the
one and the regiment of the other, had thoroughly examined
the whole country round about, and had ascertained that no
enemy was near, the whole force again marched up Rock river
on the east side, to the Burnt village, another considerable town
of the Winnebagoes, on the "White Water river, where it was
joined by the brigade of Gen. Posey, and a battalion of a hun-
dred men from Wisconsin, commanded by Major (now Gen-
eral) Dodge.

During the march to this place the scouts had captured an
old blind Indian of the hostile band, nearly famished with hun-
ger, who had been left behind by his friends, (for want of ability
to travel,) to fall into the hands of his enemies, or to perish
by famine. Being, as he said, old, blind, and helpless, he was
never consulted or advised with by the other Indians, and could
give no account of the movements of his party, except that they
had gone further up the river. One historian of the war says
that the army magnanimously concluded not to kill him, but

132 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

to give him plenty to eat, and leave him behind to end his life
in a pleasant way by eating himself to death. The old man,
however, was denied this melancholy satisfaction ; for falling
in the way of Posey's men as they were marching to the camp,
he was quickly despatched, even before he had satisfied his nat-
ural hunger. This barbarous action is an indelible stain upon
the men of that brigade. At this place, also, Captain Dunn,
at present a judge in Wisconsin, acting as officer of the day
of one of the regiments, was shot by a sentinel, and dangerously
wounded.

Up to the time of reaching the burnt village, the progress of
the command had been slow and uncertain. The country was
comparatively an unexplored wilderness of forest and prairie.
None in the command had ever been through it. A few, who
professed to know something of it, volunteered to act as guides,
and succeeded in electing themselves to be military advisers to
the commanding general. The numbers of the hostile party
were unknown ; and a few Winnebagoes who followed the camp,
and whose fidelity was of a very doubtful character, were from
necessity much listened to, but the intelligence received from
them was always delusive. Short marches, frequent stoppages,
and explorations always unsatisfactory, were the result, giving
the enemy time to elude the pursuing forces, and every oppor-
tunity of ascertaining their probable movements and intentions.

The evening the army arrived at the Burnt village, Captain
Early, with his company of spies, returned from a scout, and
reported the main trail of the Indians, not two hours old, to be
three miles beyond. It was determined to pursue rapidly next
morning. At an early hour next day, before the troops were
ready to march, two regular soldiers, fishing in the river one
hundred and fifty yards from camp, were fired upon by two
Indians from the opposite shore, and one of them dangerously
wounded. A part of the volunteers were immediately marched
up the river in the direction indicated by Captain Early, and

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 133

Col. Fry's regiment, with the regulars, were left behind to con-
struct bridges, and cross to the point from which the Indians
had shot the regular soldier. A march of fifteen miles up and
across the river, (fordable above,) proved Captain Early 's re-
port to be incorrect : no trail was discoverable. On crossing
the river, the troops entered upon the trembling lands, which
are immense flats of turf, extending for miles in every direction,
from six inches to a foot in thickness, resting upon water and
beds of quicksand. A troop, or even a single horseman passing
over, produced an undulating and quivering motion of the land,
from which it gets its name. Although the surface is quite
dry, yet there is no difficulty in procuring plenty of water by
cutting an opening through the stratum of turf. The horses
would sometimes, on the thinner portions, force a foot through,
and fall to the shoulder or ham ; yet, so great is the tenacity
of the upper surface, that in no instance was there any trouble
in getting them out. In some places the weight of the earth
forces a stream of water upwards, which carrying with it and
depositing large quantities of sand, forms a mound. The
mound, increasing in weight as it enlarges, increases the press-
ure upon the water below, presenting the novel sight of a foun-
tain in the prairie pouring its stream down the side of a mound,
then to be absorbed by the sand and returned to the waters be-
neath.

Discovering no sign of an enemy in this direction, the de-
tachment fell back to the Burnt village, and the bridges not
being yet completed, it was determined to throw over a small
force on rafts the next day. The Winnebagoes had assured the
general that the shore beyond was a large island, and that the
whole of Black Hawk's forces were fortified on it. In conse-
quence of this information, Captain Early's company were
crossed on rafts, followed and supported by two companies of
regulars, under the command of Captain Noel of the army,
which last were formed in open order across the island, while

134 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

Captain Early proceeded to scour it, reporting afterwards at
Head Quarters that he had found the trail of a large body of
Indians ; but Col. William S. Hamilton, having crossed the
main river three miles below with a party of Menominies, re-
ported the trail of the whole tribe on the main west shore, about
ten days old, proceeding northward ; and it was afterwards as-
certained that no sign had been seen upon the island but that
of the two Indians who had fired upon the regular soldiers.

Eight weeks had now been wasted in fruitless search for the
enemy, and the commanding general seemed further from the
attainment of his object than when the second requisition of
troops was organized. At that time Posey and Alexander
commanded each a thousand men, Henry took the field with
twelve hundred and sixty-two, and the regular force under Col.
Taylor, now Major General, amounted to four hundred and fifty
more. But by this time the volunteer force was reduced nearly
one half. Many had entered the service for mere pastime, and
a desire to participate in the excellent fun of an Indian cam-
paign, looked upon as a frolic ; and certainly but few volun-
teered with well-defined notions of the fatigues, delays, and
hardships of an Indian war in an unsettled and unknown country.
The tedious marches, exposure to the weather, loss of horses,
sickness, forced submission to command, and disgust at the un-
expected hardships and privations of a soldier's life, produced
rapid reductions in the numbers of every regiment. The great
distance from the base of operations ; the difficulties of trans-
portation either by land or water, making it impossible at any-
time to have more than twelve days' provisions beforehand,
still further curtailed the power of the commanding general.
Such was the wastefulness of the volunteers, that they were
frequently one or two days short of provisions before new sup-
plies could be furnished.

At this time there were not more than four days' rations in

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 135

the hands of the commissary, the enemy might be weeks in ad-
vance ; the volunteers were fast melting away, but the regular
infantry had not lost a man. To counteract these difficulties,
Gen. Atkinson found it necessary to disperse his command, for
the purpose of procuring supplies.

CHAPTER V.

Gen. Posey marches to Fort Hamilton— Generals Henry and Alexander, and Major Dodge,
to Fort Winnebago— Gen. Atkinson remained behind to build a fort— Description of
the country and the rivers at Fort Winnebago — Gen. Henry informed as to the posi-
tion of Black Hawk — Council of war — Agreement to violate orders and march after
the Indians — Alexander's men refuse to march — Dodge's horses broke down — Arri-
val of Craig's company — Protest of officers and signs of mutiny — Put down by Gen.
Henry— His character as a military man— March for Rock river— Description of
Rock river — March for Cranberry lake — Express to Gen. Atkinson — Discovery of the
retreat of Black Hawk to the Wisconsin— Confession of the Winnebagoes— March
for the Wisconsin — Thunder storm— Privations of the men — Arrival at the four
lakes— False alarm— Description of the four lakes— Gen. Ewing and the spies— Maj.
Dodge— Ardour of the men— Come close upon the Indians— Battle of the Wisconsin
heights— Defeat of the Indians— Their retreat across the river— Reasons why Gen.
Henry and the Illinois volunteers never received credit abroad for what they deserv-
ed— Gen. Henry's death — His singular modesty — Return of the troops to the Blue
mounds — Bad treatment of Henry and his brigade by Gen. Atkinson — Gen. Atkinson
pursues the Indians across the Wisconsin — Order of march — Henry's men put in
charge of the baggage— They resent but submit— Gen. Atkinson in front decoyed by
the Indians — Drawn off on a false scent— Henry advances on the main trail — Comes
upon the main body of the Indians and again defeats them before Gen. Atkinson ar-
rived with the rest of the army— Retreat of Black Hawk Indians— Sent in pursuit of
him — The one-eyed Decori — Capture of Black Hawk and the Prophet — Description
of the Prophet— Indian speeches— Gen. Scott— Discharge of the volunteers— Treaty
of peace— Black Hawk and other prisoners taken to Washington— Makes the tour
of the Union, and are returned to their own country, west of the Mississippi.

ACCORDING to previous arrangements, the several brigades
took up their lines of inarch on the 10th of July, for their re-
spective destinations. Col. Swing's regiment was sent back to
Dixon as an escort for Captain Dunn, who was supposed to be
mortally wounded ; Gen. Posey marched to Fort Hamilton on
the Peckatonica, as a guard to the frontier country. Henry,
Alexander and Dodge, with their commands, were sent to Fort
Winnebago, situate at the Portage, between the Fox and the
Wisconsin rivers ; whilst Gen. Atkinson himself, fell back with

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 137

the regular forces near to Lake Kush-Konong, and erected a fort,
which he called by the name of the lake. There he was to re-
main until the volunteer generals could return with supplies.
Henry and Alexander made Fort Winnebago in three days,
Major Dodge having preceded them a few hours by a forced
march, which so fatigued and crippled his horses, that many of
them were unable to continue the campaign. Their route had
been in a direct line, a distance of eighty miles, through a coun-
try which was remarkably swampy and difficult. On the night
of the 12th of July, a stampede occurred amongst the horses.
This is a general wild alarm, the whole body of them breaking
loose from their fastenings, and coursing over the prairie at full
speed, their feet all striking the ground with force and sounding
like rolling thunder, and by this means an hundred or more of
them were lost or destroyed in the swamps, or on a log cause-"
way, three miles in length, near the fort.

A view of the country from the camp at Fort Winnebago,
presented the most striking contrariety of features. Looking
towards the fort, a neat and beautiful erection among the green
hills east of Fox river, were seen the two streams, the Fox and
the Wisconsin, with sources several hundred miles apart, the
former in the east, the latter in the north, gliding as if to mingle
their waters, until, when within three miles of each other they
sweep, the one to the northeast, the other to the southwest, as if
they had met only to take a gallant adieu before parting in
their adventurous journey, the one to deposite his sweet and
limpid waters in the gulf of St. Lawrence, the other to contrib-
ute his stained and bitter flood to the gulf of Mexico. The
course of the Fox is short, crooked, narrow and deep, and
abounds with the finest varieties of fish ; whilst the Wisconsin
is long, wide, and comparatively straight, and is said to have no
fish ; this, perhaps, is owing to its passage through the cypress
swamps which render it unwholesome to the finny tribes, and
is also the cause of the discoloration of its waters. This river

138 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

is shallow, and abounds in sand-bars, which, by constant shifting
renders its navigation by steamboats, dangerous, if not impracti-
cable. Besides the rivers, the face of the country is no less re-
markable. The strip of land between the two rivers is low, flat,
and swampy, with no other growth but a coarse variety of rush,
and at high-water so completely overflowed by the two streams as
to convert all that part of the United States east of the Missis-
sippi into a great island ; a wisp of straw being thrown into the
flood where the two currents meet, will be divided, and one
portion floated to the northern, the other to the southern sea.
East of Fox river, the land is gently undulating, presenting an
equable distribution of prairie of the richest mould, and timber
of the finest growth, unobstructed by underbrush, and furnish-
ing an abundance of a plant called pea-vine, an excellent food
for cattle. West of the Wisconsin, at the water's edge, com-
mence those frowning steps of rugged and barren rock, garnish-
ed with black and bristling pines and hemlock, which, as the
hunter progresses towards the Mississippi, he finds to terminate
in a region mountainous, dreary, terrific, and truly alpine in all
its features.

Two days were occupied at the fort in getting provisions ; on
the last of which the Winnebago chiefs there reported that
Black Hawk and his forces were encamped at the Manitou vil-
lage, thirty-five miles above Gen. Atkinson, on Rock river. In
a council held between Alexander, Henry, and* Dodge, it was
determined to violate orders, by marching directly to the en-
emy, with the hope of taking him by surprise ; or at least put-
ting him between them and Gen. Atkinson ; thus cutting off
his further retreat to the north. Twelve o'clock on the 15th,
was appointed as the hour to march. Gen. Henry proceeded
at once to reorganize his brigade, with a view to disencumber
himself of his sick and dismounted men, that as little as possi-
ble might impede the celerity of his march. Gen. Alexander
soon announced that his men were unwilling, and had refused

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 139

to follow ; and Major Dodge reported his horses so much dis-
abled by their late inarch, that he could not muster a force
worth taking along. Gen. Henry was justly indignant at the
insubordination and defection of his companions in arms, and
announced his purpose to march in pursuit of the enemy alone,
if he could prevail upon but fifty men to follow him. But
directly after this, a company of mounted volunteers, under the
command of Capt. Craig, from Apple river and Galena, in Illi-
nois, with fresh horses, arrived at Fort Winnebago to join Major
Dodge's battalion, which now made his force of men and horses
fit for service, one hundred and twenty in the whole. General
Henry's brigade, exclusive of Dodge's battalion, amounted to
between five and six hundred men, but not more than four
hundred and fifty had horses fit for service.- On returning to
his own brigade, Gen. Henry discovered that his own men,
infected by association with those of Gen. Alexander, were on
the point of open mutiny.

Lieutenant-colonel Jeremiah Smith, of Fry's regiment, pre-
sented to Gen. Henry a written protest, signed by all the offi-
cers of the regiment, except the colonel, against the intended
expedition ; but these mutineers had to deal with an officer of
rare abilities as a commander of militia. General Henry was
a complete soldier ; he was gifted with the uncommon talent
of commanding with sternness, without giving offence ; of for-
cing his men to obey, without degrading them in their own esti-
mation ; he was brave without rashness, and gave his orders
with firmness and authority, without any appearance of bluster.
In his mere person he looked the commander ; in a word, he
was one of those very rare men, who are gifted by nature with
the power to command militia ; to be at the same time feared
and loved : and with the capacity of inspiring the soldiery with
the ardor, impetuosity, and honorable impulses of their com-
mander. General Henry made no other reply to this protest
than to order the officers under arrest for mutiny ; appointing

140 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

at the same time Collins' regiment as a guard, to escort them
to Gen. Atkinson. Colonel Smith, in great trepidation, pro-
tested that he did not know what the paper contained when he
signed it, and implored the general's permission to consult a
few moments with the officers before further steps were taken.
This being accorded, in less than ten minutes they were all col-
lected at the general's quarters, manifesting the utmost contri-
tion, many of them with tears, and pledging themselves, if for-
given, to return to their duty and never be guilty of the like
offence again. The general, than whom none better understood
human nature, or had more capacity to act on it, made them a
few remarks, tempered with dignity and kindness ; the officers
returned to their duty, and it is but doing them justice to say,
that from that hour, no men ever behaved better. Alexander's
brigade marched back to General Atkinson.

From this place Gen. Henry took up his line of march on
the 15th of July, accompanied by Poquette, a half-breed, and
the " White Pawnee," a Winnebago chief, as guides, in quest
of the Indians. On the route to the head waters of Rock river
he was frequently thrown from a direct line by intervening
swamps extending for miles. Many of them were crossed, but
never without difficulty and the loss of horses. After three
days' hard marching, his forces encamped upon the beautiful
stream of Rock river. This river is not exceeded by any
other in natural beauty. Its waters are clear ; its bottom and
banks rocky or pebbly. The country on each side is either
rolling, rich prairie, or hills crowned with forests free from un-
dergrowth, and its current sweeps to the Mississippi, deep and
bold. Here three Winnebagoes gave intelligence that Black
Hawk was encamped at Cranberry lake, further up the river.
Relying upon this information, it was settled by Gen. Henry
to make a forced march in that direction the next morning.
Doctor Merryman of Springfield, and W. W. Woodbridge of
Wisconsin, were despatched as expresses to Gen. Atkinson.

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 141

They were accompanied by a chief called Little Thunder, as
guide ; and having started about dark, and proceeded on their
perilous route about eight miles to the south-west, they came
upon the fresh main trail of the enemy, endeavoring to escape
by way of the Four Lakes across the Wisconsin river. At the
sight of the trail, the Indian guide was struck with terror, and,
without permission, retreated back to the camp. Merriman
and Woobbridge returned also, but not until Little Thunder
had announced his discovery in the Indian tongue to his coun-
trymen, who were in the very act of making their escape when
they were stopped by Major Murray M'Connell, and taken to
the tent of Gen. Henry, to whom they confessed that they had
come into camp only to give false information, and favor the
retreat of the Indians ; and then, to make amends for their per-
fidy, and perhaps, as they were led to believe, to avoid imme-
diate death, they disclosed all they knew of Black Hawk's
movements. Gen. Henry prudently kept the treachery of
these Indians a secret from his men, for it would have taken all
his influence and that of all his officers to save their lives, if
their perfidious conduct had been known throughout the camp.
The next morning (July 19th) by daylight, everything was
ready for a forced march, but first another express was despatch-
ed to Gen. Atkinson. All cumbrous baggage was thrown away.
The tents and most of the camp equipage were left in a pile in
the wilderness. Many of the men left their blankets and all
their clothes, except the suit they wore, and this was the case
in every instance with those who had been so unfortunate as to
lose their horses, such as these took their guns, ammunition,
and provisions upon their backs, and travelled over mountain
and plain, through swamp and thicket, and kept up with the
men on horseback. All the men now marched with a better
spirit than usual. The sight of the broad, fresh trail, inspired
every one with a lively hope of bringing the war to a speedy
end ; and even the horses seemed to share somewhat in the

142 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

general ardor. There was no murmuring, there was no excuse
or complaining, and none on the sick report. The first day, in
the afternoon, they were overtaken by one of those storms
common on the prairies, black and terrific, accompanied by
torrents of rain, and the most fearful lightning and thunder ;
but the men dashed on through thickets almost impenetrable,
and swamps almost impassable, and that day marched upwards
of fifty miles. During this day's march, Gen. Henry, Major
M'Connell, and others of the General's staff, often dismounted
and marched on foot, giving their horses to the footmen.

That night, the storm raged till two o'clock in the morning.
The men, exhausted with fatigue, threw themselves supperless
upon the muddy earth, covered with water, for a little rest.
The rain made it impossible to kindle a fire or to cook, so
that both officers and men contented themselves with eating
some raw meat and some of the wet flour which they carried
in their sacks, and which was converted into a soft dough by
the drenching rains. A similar repast served them next
morning for breakfast. The horses had fared but little better
than the men. The government furnished nothing for them
to eat, and they were obliged to subsist that night upon a
scanty grazing, confined within the limits of the camp.

Next morning (July 20), the storm had abated, and all were
on the march by daylight, and after a march as hard as that
on the day before, the army encamped at night upon the
banks of one of the four lakes forming the source of the
Catfish river in Wisconsin, and near the place where the In-
dians had encamped the previous night. At this place the men
were able to make fires and cook their suppers, and this they
did with a hearty good will, having travelled about one hun-
dred miles without tasting anything but raw food, and without
having seen a spark of fire. That night they again laid upon the
ground, many of them with nothing but the sky for a covering,
and slept soundly and sweetly, like men upon their beds at

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 143

home. All were in fine spirits and high expectation of over-
taking the Indians next day, and putting an end to the war by
a general battle. The night did not pass, however, without an
alarm. One of the sentinels posted near the bank of the lake,
fired upon an Indian gliding in his canoe slyly and stealthily to
the shore. Every man was aroused and under arms in an in-
stant, but nothing followed to continue the alarm. A small
black speck could be seen by aid of the star-light on the sur-
face of the lake, but no enemy was visible.

The march was continued by early light in the morning, (July
21,) with unabated ardor ; passing round the lake on the edge
of the water ; and after crossing a tongue of land running
down between two of the lakes, the army forded a considerable
stream, the outlet of one lake running into another. After
this, they ascended a rising ground from whence could be seen,
at one view, three of these beautiful sheets of water. The
lakes and the surrounding country of sloping prairies and wood-
ed hills stretching away in the distance, presented some very
striking and beautiful scenery. The hand of civilization had
not then disfigured its natural beauty. The smoke of the log
cabin and the ragged worm fence were not then to be seen.
All was wild and silent save the distant roar of surging waters
lashed into motion by the constant, but ever-varying winds.
The men, however, had but little time to contemplate the beauty
of the scenery around them. They were hurried forward by
the continual cry of " Close up your ranks," as the officers,
whose duty it was to direct and accelerate the march, rode
along the lines, admonishing them to keep up with the advanced
guard. This day's march was still harder than any which pre-
ceded it. The men on foot were forced into a run to keep up
with the advancing horsemen. The men on horseback carried
their arms and baggage for them by turns.

Major William Lee D. Ewing (since a Major General) com-
manded the spy battalion, and with him was joined the battalion

144 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

of Major Dodge, of Wisconsin. These two officers, with their
commands, were in the advance ; but with all their ardor they
were never able to get out of sight of the main body. Gen.
Henry, who remained with the main body, despatched Major
M'Connell with the advance guard, so as to get the earliest
intelligence of any unusual occurrence in front. About noon
of this day, the advance guard was close upon the rear-guard of
the retreating enemy. It is to be regretted that we have no
account of the management, the perils, and hair-breadth escapes
of the Indians in conducting their retreat. All that we know
is, that for many miles before they were overtaken their broad
trail was strewn with camp kettles and baggage of various kinds,
which they had thrown away in the hurry of their flight. The
sight of these articles encouraged Henry's men to press for-
ward, hoping soon to put an end to this vexatious border war
which had so much disturbed the peace of our northern frontier
settlements. About noon, also, the scouts ahead came sud-
denly upon two Indians, and as they were attempting to escape
one of them was killed and left dead on the field. Doctor
Addison Philleo coming along shortly after, scalped this Indian,
and for a long time afterwards exhibited the scalp as an evi-
dence of his valor. Shortly after this, the rear guard of the
Indians began to make feint stands, as if to bring on a battle.
In doing so, their design was merely to gain time for the main
body to reach a more advantageous position. A few shots
would be exchanged, and the Indians would then push ahead,
whilst the pursuing force would halt to form in the order of
battle. In this way the Indians were able to reach the broken
grounds on the bluffs of the Wisconsin river, by four o'clock in
the afternoon, before they were overtaken.

About this time, whilst the advanced guard was passing over
some uneven ground, through the high grass and low timber,
they were suddenly fired upon by a body of Indians who had
here secreted themselves. In an instant Major Swing's battal-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 145

ion dismounted and were formed in front, their horses being
removed into the rear. The Indians kept up a fire from behind
fallen trees, and none of them could be discovered except by
the flash and report of their guns. In a few minutes Gen.
Henry arrived with the main body. The order of battle was
now formed. Col. Jones' regiment was placed on the right,
Col Collins' on the left, and Col. Fry's in the rear, to act as a
reserve. Major Swing's battalion was placed in front of the
line, and Major Dodge's on the extreme right. In this order
Gen. Henry's forces marched into battle. An order was given
to charge upon the enemy, which was handsomely obeyed by
Swing's battalion and by Jones' and Collins' regiments.

The Indians retreated before this charge obliquely to the
right, and concentrated their main force in front of Dodge's
battalion, showing a design to turn his flank. General Henry
sent an order by Major M'Connell to Major Dodge, to advance
to the charge ; but this officer being of opinion that the foe was
too strong for him, requested a reinforcement. Col. Fry's
regiment was ordered to his aid, and formed on his right. And
now a vigorous charge was made from one end of the line to
the other.

Colonel Fry's regiment made a charge into the bush and high
grass where the Indians were concealed, and received the fire
of their whole body. This fire was briskly returned by Fry
and Dodge and their men, who continued to advance, the In-
dians standing their ground until the men came within bayonet
reach of them, then fell back to the west, along the high broken
bluffs of the Wisconsin, only to take a new position amongst
the thickest timber and tall grass in the head of a hollow, lead-
ing to the Wisconsin river bottom. Here it seemed, they were
determined to make a firm stand ; but being charged upon in
their new position, by Swing's battalion, and by Collins' and
Jones' regiments, they were driven out of it, some of them
being pursued down the hollow, and others again to the west,

146 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

along the Wisconsin heights, until they descended the bluffs to
the Wisconsin bottom, which was here about a mile wide and
very swampy, covered with thick tall grass, above the heads
of men on horseback. It being now dark night, further pursuit
was stopped, and Gen. Henry and his forces lay upon the field
of battle. That night, Henry's camp was disturbed by the
voice of an Indian, loudly sounding from a distant hill, as if
giving orders or desiring a conference. It afterwards appeared
that this was the voice of an Indian chief, speaking in the Win-
nebago language, stating that the Indians had their squaws and
families with them, that they were starving for provisions, and
were not able to fight the white people ; and that if they were
permitted to pass peaceably over the Mississippi, they would
do no more mischief. He spoke this in the Winnebago tongue,
in hopes that some of that people were with Gen. Henry, and
would act as his interpreter. No Winnebagoes were present,
they having run at the commencement of the action ; and so
his language was never explained until after the close of the war.

Next morning early, Gen. Henry advanced to the Wisconsin
river, and ascertained that the Indians had all crossed it, and
made their escape into the mountains between that and the
Mississippi. It was ascertained after the battle, that the Indian
loss amounted to sixty-eight left dead on the field, and a large
number of wounded, of whom twenty-five were afterwards found
dead along the Indian trail leading to the Mississippi. General
Henry lost one man killed and eight wounded. It appeared
that the Indians, knowing that they were to fight a mounted
force, had been trained to fire at an elevation to hit men on
horseback ; but as Gen. Henry had dismounted his forces, and
sent his horses into the rear, the Indians overshot them ; and
this will account for the very few men killed and wounded by
them.

We have now to account for the fact that Gen. Henry never
received abroad the credit which was due him as the com-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 147

xnander, in this battle, or in any other during the war. In the
morning after the battle, Col. Fry heard Major Dodge and Dr.
Philleo consulting privately about writing an account of it to
be published. He immediately conveyed this intelligence to
Gen. Henry, suggesting that Dodge would claim all the credit,
and advising Gen. Henry, as the only means of securing his
rightful claim, to send an express immediately to Galena, with
his own account of the battle. This prudent advice Henry
neglected.

Doctor Philleo was the editor of a newspaper at Galena,
called " the Galenian," then the only newspaper published north
of Springfield, either in Illinois or Wisconsin. The war news
always appeared first in this paper. The editor belonged to
Dodge's battalion, and when he wrote home the news to be
published in his paper, he never mentioned Henry, except as a
subordinate, or any other officer but Dodge. His letters chron-
icled the doings of Gen. Dodge only, and by calling him Gen-
eral Dodge, it was made to appear that he was the commander
of the whole brigade, instead of a single battalion attached to it.
These letters were copied into all other newspapers throughout
the United States, as the authentic news of the war ; and never
having been contradicted, the people abroad were thus deluded
into the belief that Dodge was the great hero of the war.
Henry was lost sight of; and now, in many histories, we find
it asserted that Dodge was the commander in this war ; thus
throwing out of sight both Generals Henry and Atkinson, as
well as General Zachary Taylor, who, as colonel, commanded
the regular force. The world loves to be humbugged. This
delusion was of immense advantage to Gen. Dodge; for al-
though he was a man of very high merit, yet would he have
been more fortunate than thousands of others equally meritori-
ous, if this delusion did not assist much in getting the great
name he afterwards obtained. He was first appointed a colo-
nel of dragoons ; then to be governor of Wisconsin territory ;

,»

148 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

then he was elected a delegate from the territory to Congress ;
and after this he was again appointed governor of the territory.
And it is but just to say of him, that independently of the re-
nown he acquired in the Black Hawk war, he enjoyed great
popularity and influence.*

* DODGEVILLE, March 17th, 1847.
HON. THOMAS FORD, —

SIR, — The enclosed paragraph taken from the " Milwakee Senti-
nel and Gazette," of the 17th ult., purports to have been a lecture read
by you in the Senate chamber, during the late session of the Illinois
legislature, giving the " true history of the Black Hawk war." "Will
you please inform me at your earliest convenience, if you made the
statements attributed to you in the paragraph in question ?

Respectfully, your servant,

HENRY DODGE.

VERSAILLES, BROWN COUNTY, ILLINOIS, )
April 13, 1847. f

SIR, — After an absence of two weeks, on my return to this place, I
had the honor to receive your note of the 7th ult., which was forward-
ed to me from Springfield. The extract cut from the Wisconsin paper,
endorsed in your letter, does not contain a correct account of my lec-
ture on the Black Hawk war. It is erroneous in many important par-
ticulars. That lecture was prepared from my own personal knowledge
of the campaign in 1831 ; and from information of the various opera-
tions in 1832, from various persons ; more particularly from Maj. Gen.
Jacob Fry, of Lockport ; Maj. Murray McConnell, of Jacksonville ; Dr.
E. H. Merriman, of Springfield ; Maj. Gen. "Wm. Lee D. Ewing, late of
Springfield, and the Hon. John J. Stewart, late a member of Congress.
Gen. Fry commanded a regiment under Gen. Henry ; Gen. Ewing com-
manded the spy battalion of Henry's brigade; Maj. McConnell was
brigade-major of Henry's brigade; Dr. Merriman was adjutant of Col-
lins' regiment in Henry's brigade ; and Mr. Stewart commanded a bat-
talion in it. I have not had an opportunity to see and converse with
Cols. Collins and Jones, who commanded the other two regiments be-
longing to Henry's command in the battle of the "Wisconsin. But Gen.
Fry, Gen. Ewing and Maj. McConnell, were with Gen. Henry through-
out the war. In collecting the facts and writing out the history of this
war, my only object has been to arrive at, and state the truth ; for his-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 149

General Henry's subsequent career was less brilliant, but
this was because it was cut short by death. Although he was
a man of very powerful and muscular make, not long after the
war he was attacked with the consumption. He went to the
South for his health, and died at New Orleans on the 4th day

tory without truth, is of but little value. I concluded, therefore, be-
fore publishing anything on the subject, I would deliver this portion
of the history of Illinois as a lecture, at Springfield, during the session
of the legislature, there being then many persons present, who had
been out in the war, and who might be able to correct me when I might
be in error. Such corrections were invited ; and accordingly I have
received many, of which I have freely availed myself since.

It is my intention to publish a history of Illinois in the course of the
summer, but as yet I have neither directly nor indirectly authorized any
of the newspaper notices of it made last winter ; nor have I given any
sort of publicity to the matter more than a lecture can give. In the mean-
time, I will be glad to avail myself of any information which you may
have it in your power to communicate ; and if I cannot, consistently
with other evidence, follow your statements implicitly, they will be
published entire, if not too voluminous.

According to my present information I have felt it to be my duty to
insist that Gen. Henry was the principal man in this war ; that he com-
manded and directed all the movements of the troops from Fort Winne-
bago to Rock river, and from thence to the Wisconsin, and throughout
the battle which there ensued ; that he commanded a brigade of three
regiments and a spy battalion ; and that you commanded but a single
battalion of one hundred and twenty men. I have stated that on the
march, your command, and the spies commanded by the late Gen. Ew-
ing, were in front as the advance guard ; that in the battle you was
stationed on the extreme right, but when a charge of the whole line
was ordered by Gen. Henry, the Indians collected on the right in front
of your battalion, showing a design to turn your flank, which caused
Gen. Henry to order Col. Fry's regiment to form on your right ; which
being done, you and Gen. Fry charged upon and drove the Indians into
the head of a hollow leading down from the bluffs of the Wisconsin, and
from thence, upon the charge of the whole brigade they were routed, and
fled down the bluffs and across the bottom to the Wisconsin river.
Gen. Fry and Maj. McConnell say, that your battalion did not come

150 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

of March, 1834. Such was the amiable modesty and unpre-
tending merit of this man, that he never let it be known to the
strangers among whom he resided, in his last sickness, that he
was Gen. Henry of the Black Hawk war. This fact was dis-
covered to them only after his death. He left no family to in-

into the action until re-enforced by Fry's regiment. Maj. McConnell
says that he bore the order from Gen. Henry to you to charge on the
Indians, but that you thought you was not strong enough. He return-
ed with this answer to Gen. Henry, and then Henry sent Fry to re-en-
force you. Gen. Fry says, that when the Indians first began the attack
you was in advance with Gen. Ewing's battalion, and that you and
your battalion immediately fell back into line. This last fact, I see
that I omitted to state in my lecture. I have also been informed that
you would not agree to march from Fort Winnebago in pursuit of the
Indians, thereby disobeying the orders of Gen. Atkinson, without a
written order from Gen. Henry. This, also, I see I have omitted in my
lecture. I see upon examination, that I said nothing whatever about
written orders.

I have also stated that when Gen. Atkinson pursued the Indians
across the Wisconsin, your battalion was put in advance with the reg-
ulars; and that Gen. Henry's brigade was put in the rear with the bag-
gage, by way of degrading him and his men, as they understood the
matter; that when Atkinson's advance reached within four or five
miles of the Mississippi, it was fired on by about twenty Indians ; that
he pursued them with all his forces, (yours included,) except Henry's
brigade, to a place on the river, about two or three miles above the en-
campment of the main body of Indians ; that Henry coming up in the
rear, and as yet being without orders, pursued the main trail of the In-
dians directly to the river, where his brigade was the first to attack
their main body, and had killed or driven the principal part of them
into the river, or over a slough on to a little willow island, before Gen.
Atkinson came up with his forces, including your battalion. These are
the principal matters stated by me, so far as you and Gen. Henry are
concerned.

I have been informed by Gen. Fry, that directly after the battle of
the Wisconsin, he heard you and Dr. Philleo, talking about writing out
and sending away an account of the battle ; that he mentioned the cir-
cumstance to Gen. Henry, and urged Henry immediately to write out

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 151

herit his honors and vindicate his fame. After his death, the
selfishness of the many suffered the matter to rest. No one
felt interested to vindicate the rights of the dead against the
false claims of the living. If I had not undertaken to write
this history, I am certain that I never should have thought of

his report, and send it to Galena by express to be published, as the only
mode of securing the credit due to himself ; but Henry neglected to do
so. This I have stated. I am informed also, by Fry, Merriman, Mc-
Connell and Stuart, that you did write a letter to Gen. Street, or some
other person, giving an account of the battle, in which you said nothing
of Gen. Henry. But as I do not remember seeing the letter, I have not
attempted to speak of its contents. It is said that this letter was pub-
lished in the St. Louis papers, and from them was extensively copied
throughout the Union, I have made no search as yet in St. Louis for it,
and do not intend to speak of its contents unless I can find it ; and then
they will be stated correctly.

I do not personally know that Doctor Philleo was with you in this
campaign ; but during the war I was a reader of the " Galenian" news-
paper of which he was editor. It contained many letters from the Doc-
tor giving accounts of your operations, and saying but little of other
officers. I remember, also, that these letters in the " Galenian" were
extensively republished in other papers, from which I have inferred
that this is the true cause why Gen. Henry and the Illinois volunteers
have never received credit abroad for what they deserved in this war.

It is not true that I stated you were first brought into notice by this
war, as is asserted in the "Wisconsin paper ; or that honors and offices
were showered upon you and your family in consequence of your re-
nown acquired in this war. But it is true that I have traced the par-
allel between your good fortune and that of Gen. Henry, and I stated
expressly in my lecture that independently of the renown which you
acquired in the Black Hawk war, you have enjoyed great popularity
and influence.

It has been stated to me that after the war you endeavored to get
Doctor Philleo the appointment of surgeon in the army, but that he
could not pass an examination before the Medical Board. Will you
allow me to ask you how is this ?

Doctor Merriman has informed me in writing, that when Henry, Alex-
ander, and yourself, were sent to Fort "Winnebago for supplies, you pre-

152 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

doing it. And now whilst I attempt it, I wish to do General
Dodge no injustice. That he is a brave, meritorious officer, I
make no doubt ; and in this history I have cheerfully given him
all the credit he is entitled to. But / deny most positively that
he was the principal man, either in rank or merit, in the Black

ceded the others a few hours by a forced inarch, by which most of your
horses were disabled ; that after agreeing to march with Henry in pur-
suit of the Indians, and after Alexander's brigade had mutinied and
refused to march, you reported to Gen. Henry that you could raise no
more than forty horses ; that Henry insisted that you should go even
with that number ; that you replied you would see what you could do ;
and just at that time some fresh horsemen came up, making your com-
mand, which you took along, one hundred and twenty effective men.
I would be pleased to have your statement concerning this.

I have noticed in the most flattering manner your engagement, or
rather charge upon the Indians at Peckatonica. A short statement of
this affair will be thankfully received.

The Illinois volunteers, when they returned from the war, unani-
mously gave Gen. Henry the credit of being the principal man in it,
and such has been the current and universal belief in this State ever
since — now nearly fifteen years. This has undoubtedly had its influ-
ence on my mind, and as yet I perceive no good reason why it ought
not to have an influence. Be pleased to direct your future correspon-
dence to Peoria, to which place I intend to remove my family in a few
days.

I am, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOMAS FORD.
His EXCELLENCY HENRY DODGE, )
Dodgeville, Wisconsin. )

I regret exceedingly that after waiting about five months, nothing
has been received from Gov. Dodge in answer to the foregoing letter.
From the evidence before me, I have been conscientiously of opinion
that Gov. Dodge was not, and that Gen. Henry was, entitled to the
credit of being the hero of the Black Hawk war ; that Dodge, whether
designedly or not on his part, has been for the last fifteen years wear-
ing the laurels due to Henry ; and I have endeavored to set forth that
opinion with manly independence. If, however, Gen. Dodge, after

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 153

Hawk war. In doing so, I have no motive but a generous one.
It is simply to do justice to the memory of the great and meri
torious dead — to the memory of him who, being removed from
the scene of action, has no further power to do me either good
or harm. And in doing so, I may be fortunate not to expose
myself to the enmity of the powerful living, who can do me
both or either.

In Illinois, General Henry's merits have been always duly
appreciated. He was the idol of the volunteers and the people,

commencing a correspondence on the subject, had seen proper to con-
tinue it in answer to the foregoing letter, and had communicated any
facts calculated to weaken the force of that opinion, he should have had
the full benefit of his communications.

Since writing the foregoing, I have found the following in Mies'
Register of the 18th August, 1832 : " INDIAN WAR. We have received
the ' Missouri Republican' extra of the 1st instant, confirming the in-
telligence published in our paper of Thursday of the defeat of the In-
dians by General Dodge at the Wisconsin. The following letter from
General Dodge gives a hope that the remnant of the Indians may be
overtaken :

"CAMP WISCONSIN, July 22, 1832.

" We met the enemy yesterday near the Wisconsin river, and oppo-
site the old Sack village, after a close pursuit for near a hundred miles.
Our loss was one man killed and eight wounded. From the scalps taken
by the Winnebagoes as well as those taken by the whites, and the In-
dians carried from the field of battle, we have killed forty of them.
The number of wounded is not known. We can only judge from the
number of killed, that many were wounded. From their crippled sit-
uation, / think we must overtake them, unless they descend the Wis-
consin by water. If you could place a field-piece immediately on the
Wisconsin that would command the river, you might prevent their
escape by water. Gen. Atkinson will arrive at the Blue Mounds on
the 24th, with the regulars and a brigade of mounted men. / will
cross the Wisconsin to-morrow, and should the enemy retreat by land,
he will probably attempt crossing some twenty miles above Prairie
du Chien. In that event the mounted men would want some boats for
the transportation of their arms, ammunition, and provisions. If you

154 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

and if he had lived, his numerous friends would never have per-
mitted him to submit to the unworthy artifices used to deprive
him abroad and in history, of his well-earned glory. If he
had lived, he would have been elected governor of the State in
1834, by more than 20,000 majority, and this would have been
done against his own will, by the spontaneous action of the
people.

The next day after the battle of the Wisconsin, for want of
provisions, it was determined to fall back to the Blue Mounds.
The Winnebagoes, who accompanied Henry during his forced
march, had displayed their usual treachery and cowardice, by
retreating at the commencement of the battle. No one, then
in the brigade, knew enough of the country to act as guide.
Henry had marched one hundred and thirty miles through an
unknown and hitherto unexplored country, without roads or

could procure for us some Mackinaw boats in that event, as well as
some provision supplies, it would greatly facilitate our views. Excuse
great haste. I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,

H. DODGE,
Col. commanding Michigan Volunteers."

The fact that Gen. Dodge wrote the foregoing letter, beginning, " We
met the enemy," continuing " Our loss was," <fec., " We have killed
forty of them," "/think we must overtake them," "/ will cross the
"Wisconsin," &c., the fact that he points out to the officer at Prairie du
Chien what to do to intercept the Indians and aid the whites, as if
Dodge was in reality the commander, the fact that he signs himself
" Col. commanding Michigan Volunteers," when he only commanded
a small battalion, the fact that he says nothing of Gen. Henry, who
was present, but does speak of Gen. Atkinson, who was absent, the fact
that this letter was republished as war news in all the newspapers
in the United States, and the fact that Henry himself never made any
report of the battle, will, whether Gen. Dodge designed it or not, suf-
ficiently explain the reason why Gen. Henry did not get the credit
abroad which was and is justly due him, and also the reason why Gen,
Dodge did get credit, which he never was entitled to, of being the
nero of the Black Hawk war.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 155

land-marks, and now found himself in a position from which no
one with him could direct his way to the settlement. He was
without provisions for his men, or surgeons or accommodations
for the wounded ; horses and men were worn down with fatigue,
and they might be a week or more blundering through the wil-
derness, before they found their way out. A council was called
to consider these difficulties; and whilst it was debating the
course to be pursued, some Indians approached with a white
flag, who were ascertained to be friendly Winnebagoes. Their
services were secured as guides. Litters were made for the
wounded ; and the army was soon on the march for the Blue
Mounds, which were reached in two days. Here Gen. Henry
met Gen. Atkinson, with the regulars and Alexander's and Po-
sey's brigades. It was soon apparent to Gen. Henry and all
his officers, that Gen. Atkinson and all the regular officers,
were deeply mortified at the success of the militia. They did
not intend that the militia should have had any of the credit in
the war. The success of Henry, too, was obtained by a breach
of orders, and in defiance of the counsels of those who professed
exclusive courage and knowledge in the military art. The reg-
ular officers evidently envied those of the militia. General At-
kinson had always relied most upon the regulars ; they had all
the time been kept in advance, and now it was too much to be
borne, that whilst they were forted at Lake Kushkowng, the
Indians had been discovered, pursued, overtaken, and victory
obtained, by the Illinois militia.

After spending two days in preparation at the Blue Mounds,
the whole force, now under the direction of Gen. Atkinson, was
again on the march in pursuit of the Indians. The Wisconsin
river was crossed at Helena, and the trail of the Indians was
struck in the mountains on the other side. And now again the
regulars were put in front ; Dodge's battalion, and Posey's and
Alexander's brigades, came next ; and Henry was placed in the
rear, in charge of the baggage, the commanding general thus

156 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

making known the ungenerous envy which burned in his bosom
against the brave men who had distinguished themselves in the
previous battle. It was plain that if other laurels were to be
won, they were to be worn on other brows. Henry's brigade
felt that they had been visited with undeserved insult, for they
well knew that they deserved better treatment, and with one
voice claimed the post of honor and of danger. But Henry
was too good an officer to utter a word of complaint, and his
officers and men, though lately the victors in a well-fought field,
following his noble example, quietly trudged on in the rear,
doing the drudgery of the army by taking charge of the bag-
gage trains.

Day after day the whole force toiled in climbing and descend-
ing mountains covered with dense forests, and passing through
swamps of deep, black mud lying in the intervening valleys.
But the march was slow compared with that preceding the bat-
tle of the Wisconsin. In this march were found, all along the
route, the melancholy evidences of the execution done in that
battle. The path of the retreating Indians was strewn with
the wounded who had died on the march, more from neglect
and want of skill in dressing their wounds than from the mor-
tal nature of the wounds themselves. Five of them were found
dead at one place where the band had encamped for the night.

About 10 o'clock in the morning of the fourth day after
crossing the Wisconsin, Gen. Atkinson's advance reached the
bluffs on the east side of the Mississippi. The Indians had
reached the bank of the river some time before. Some had
crossed, and others were now making preparations to cross it.
The steamboat " Warrior," commanded by Captain Throck-
morton, descended to that place the day before. As the steam-
boat neared the camp of the Indians, they raised a white flag ;
but Captain Throckmorton, believing this to be treacherously
intended, ordered them to send a boat on board, which they
declined doing. In the flippant language of the Captain, after

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 157

allowing them fifteen minutes to remove their squaws and chil-
dren, he let slip a six-pounder at them, loaded with canister shot,
followed by a severe fire of musketry ; " and if ever you saw
straight blankets, you would have seen them there." Accord-
ing to the Captain's account, the " fight" continued for an hour,
and cost the lives of twenty-three Indians, and a large number
wounded. The boat then fell down the river to Prairie du
Chien ; and before it could return the next morning^ the land
forces under Gen. Atkinson had come up and commenced a
general battle.

It appears that the Indians were encamped on the bank of
the Mississippi, some distance below the mouth of the Bad Axe
river. They were aware that Gen. Atkinson was in close pur-
suit ; and to gain time for crossing into the Indian country west
of the Mississippi, they sent back about twenty men to meet
Gen. Atkinson, within three or four miles of their camp.
This party of Indians were instructed to commence an attack,
and then to retreat to the river three miles above their camp.
Accordingly, when Gen. Atkinson, the order of march being as
before, came within three or four miles of the river, he was
suddenly fired upon from behind trees and logs, the very tall
grass aiding the concealment of the attacking party. Gen. At-
kinson rode immediately to the scene of action, and in person
formed his lines and directed a charge. The Indians gave way,
and were pursued by Gen. Atkinson with all the army, except
Henry's brigade, which was in the rear, and in the hurry of
pursuit left without orders. When Henry came up to the place
where the attack had been made, he saw clearly that the wily
stratagem of the untutored savage had triumphed over the
science of a veteran general. The main trail of the Indians was
plain to be seen leading to the river lower down. He called
a hasty council of his principal officers, and by their advice
marched right forward upon the main trail. At the foot of the
high bluff bordering the river valley, on the edge of a swamp

158 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

densely covered with timber, drift-wood, and underbrush,
through which the trail led fresh and broad, he halted his com-
mand and left his horses. The men were formed on foot, and
thus advanced to the attack. They were preceded by an ad-
vanced guard of eight men, who were sent forward as a forlorn
hope, and were intended to draw the first fire of the Indians,
and to disclose thereby to the main body where the enemy was
to be found, preparatory to a general charge. These eight men
advanced boldly some distance, until they came within sight of
the river, where they were fired upon by about fifty Indians,
and five of the eight instantly fell wounded or dead. The other
three, protected behind trees, stood their ground until the ar-
rival of the main body under Gen. Henry, which deployed to
the right and left from the centre. Immediately the bugle
sounded a charge, every man rushed forward, and the battle
became general along the whole line. These fifty Indians had
retreated upon the main body, amounting to about three hun-
dred warriors, a force equal if not superior to that now contend-
ing with them. It was soon apparent that they had been taken
by surprise. They fought bravely and desperately, but seem-
ingly without any plan or concert of action. The bugle again
sounded the inspiring music of a charge. The Indians were
driven from tree to tree, and from one hiding-place to another.
In this manner they receded step by step, driven by the ad-
vancing foe, until they reached the bank of the river. Here
a desperate struggle ensued, but it was of short duration. The
bloody bayonet, in the hands of excited and daring men, pur-
sued and drove them forward into the waters of the river.
Some of them tried to swim the river ; others to take a tem-
porary shelter on a small willow island near the shore.

About this time Gen. Atkinson, with the regulars and
Dodge's battalion, arrived, followed by Posey's and Alexan-
der's men. But the main work had been done before they
came up. It had been determined that Henry's men should

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 159

have no share in this day's glory, but the fates, taking advan-
tage of a blunder of Gen. Atkinson, had otherwise directed.
After the Indians had retreated into the river and on to the
island, Henry despatched Major McConnell to give intelligence
of his movements to his commander, who, whilst pursuing the
twenty Indians in another direction, "had heard the firing where
Henry was engaged. Gen. Atkinson left the pursuit of the twenty
Indians, and hastened to share in the engagement. He was met
by Henry's messenger near the scene of action, in passing through
which, the dead and dying Indians lying around bore fright-
ful evidence of the stern work which had been done before his
arrival. He, however, lost no time in forming his regulars and
Dodge's battalion for a descent upon the island. These forces,
together with Ewing's battalion and Fry's regiment, made a
charge through the water up to their armpits on to the island,
where most of the Indians had taken their last refuge. All
the Indians who attempted to swim the river were picked off
with rifles or found a watery grave before they reached the op-
posite shore. Those on the island kept up a severe fire from
behind logs and drift-wood upon the men, as they advanced to
the charge ; and here a number of regulars and of volunteers
under Dodge, were killed and wounded. But most of the In-
dians there secreted were either killed, captured, or driven into
the water, where they perished miserably, either by drowning
or by the still more fatal rifle. During these engagements a
number of squaws were killed. They were dressed so much
like the male Indians, that, concealed as they were in the high
grass, it was impossible to distinguish them. It is estimated
that the Indian loss here amounted to one hundred and fifty
killed, and as many more who were drowned in the river, and
fifty prisoners were taken, mostly squaws and children. The
residue of the Indians had escaped across the river before the
commencement of the action. The twenty men who first com-
menced the attack, led by Black Hawk in person, escaped up

160 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

the river. The American loss amounted to seventeen killed,
one of them a captain of Dodge's battalion and one a lieutenant
of Fry's regiment, and twelve wounded.

It appears that Black Hawk, with his twenty men, after the
commencement of the battle by Gen. Henry, and after Gen.
Atkinson had ceased pursuit, retreated to the Dalles on the
Wisconsin river. A number of Sioux and Winnebago Indians
were sent in pursuit of him. These tribes, though sympathiz-
ing with the hostile band, were as accomplished in treachery
to their friends, when friendship was most needed, as are a more
civilized people. They had lately seen so striking a display of
the strength of the white man, that, like a more polished race,
their mean and crafty natures clung to the side of power.
Headed by the one-eyed Decori, a Winnebago chief, they went
in pursuit of Black Hawk and his party, and captured them
high up on the Wisconsin river. The prisoners were brought
down to Prairie du Chien and delivered up to Gen. Street, the
United States Indian Agent. Amongst them was a son of Black
Hawk, and also the Prophet, a noted chief who formerly re-
sided at Prophet's town, in Whiteside county, and who was one
of the principal instigators of the war. He has perhaps been
correctly described as being about forty years old, tall, straight,
and athletic ; with a large, broad face ; short, blunt nose ; large,
full eyes ; broad mouth ; thick lips ; and an abundance of thick,
coarse, black hair. He was the priest and prophet of his tribe,
and he mingled with his holy character the cruel feelings of a
wild beast of the feline tribe ; exhibiting in his looks a delib-
erate ferocity, and embodying in his person all our notions of
priestly assassination and clerical murder. He was dressed in
a suit of very white deer-skin, fringed at the seams, and wore
a head-dress of white cloth, which rose several inches above his
head, and held in one hand a white flag, whilst the other hung
carelessly down by his side.

The prisoners were presented by the two chiefs, Decori and

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 161

Cheater. The Decori said to Gen. Street : " My father, I now
stand before you ; when we parted, I told you we would return
soon. We had to go a great distance, to the Dalles of the
Wisconsin. You see that we have done what we went to do.
These are the two you told us to get (pointing to Black Hawk
and the Prophet). We always do what you tell us, because
we know it is for our good. My father, you told us to get
these men, and it would be the cause of much good to the
Winnebagoes. We have brought them, but it has been very
hard for us to do it. That one, Mucatah Muhicatah, was a
great way off. You told us to bring them alive ; we have done
so. If you had told us to bring their heads alone, we would
have done it. It would have been easier to do than what we
have done. My father, we deliver these men into your hands ;
we would not deliver them even to our brother, the chief of the
warriors, but to you, because we know you, and believe you
are our friend. W^e want you to keep them safe. If they are
to be hurt, we do not wish to see it. My father, many little
birds have been flying about our ears of late, and we thought
they whispered to us, that there was evil intended for us ; but
now we hope the evil birds will let our ears alone. My father,
we know you are our friend, because you take our part ; this
is the reason we do what you tell us to do. My father, you
say you love your red children ; we think we love you more
than you love us. My father, we were promised much good
if we would take these people. We wait to see what good will
be done for us. My father, we have come in haste, and are
tired and hungry ; we now put these men in your hands."

The foregoing is not given as a specimen of Indian eloquence ;
but may serve as a fair example of the mean spirit, cringing,
fawning, and flattering of these rude barbarians, when their nat-
ural ferocity is overpowered by fear.

It may at this day be interesting to hear the answer of the
great Gen. Taylor, who was then a colonel of the regulars, to

162 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

this speech. He said : " The great chief of the warriors told
me to take the prisoners, when you should bring them, and
send them to him at Rock Island. I will take them and keep
them safe, and use them well ; and will send them down by
you and Gen. Street, when you go down to the council, which
will be in a few days. Your friend, Gen. Street, advised you
to get ready and go down to the council. I advise you to do
so too. I tell you again, that I will take the prisoners, keep
them safe, and do them no harm. I will deliver them to the
great chief of the warriors, and he will do with them and use
them as he may be directed by your great father the president."
Cheater addressed Gen. Street as follows ; " My father, I am
young, and don't know how to make speeches. This is the sec-
ond time I have spoken to you, before the people. My father,
I am no chief, I am no orator, but I have been allowed to speak
to you. My father, if I should not speak as well as others, still
you must listen to me. My father, when you made the speech
to the chiefs Waugh-kon Dacori, Caramanee, the one-eyed Da-
cori and others, the other day, I was there and heard you. I
thought what you said to them you also said to me. You said
if these two (pointing to Black Hawk and the Prophet) were
brought to you, a black cloud would never again hang over the
Winnebagoes. My father, your words entered into my ears
and into my heart. I left here that very night, and you have
not seen me since until now. My father, I have been a great
way. I have had much trouble. But when I remember what
you said, knowing you were right, I kept right on, and did
what you told me to do. Near the Dalles on the Wisconsin
river, I took Black Hawk. No one did it but me. I say this
in the ears of all present ; they know it to be true. My father,
I am no chief, but what I have done is for the benefit of my
nation ; and I now hope for the good that has been promised
us. My father, that one, Wabokishick, (the prophet,) is my
kinsman. If he is hurt, I do not wish to see it. The soldiers

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 163

sometimes stick the ends of their guns into the backs of the
Indian prisoners, when they are going about in the hands of the
guard. I hope this will not be done to these men." This is a
more manly specimen of Indian oratory, showing much gener-
ous feeling, delicately expressed.

General Atkinson, with the regulars, had gone down to
Prairie Du Chien, in the steamboat Warrior ; the volunteers
had marched down by land. Here they met Gen. Scott, who
had been ordered from the East to take the chief command in
this war. In eighteen days, Gen. Scott had transported a reg-
ular force from Fortress Monroe, on the Chesapeake Bay, to
Chicago. On their route up the lakes, they were dreadfully
afflicted with the Asiatic cholera, then a new and strange dis-
ease, making its first appearance on the continent of America.
It suddenly broke out among his troops at Detroit, about forty
miles from which place two hundred and eight men were landed,
under the command of Colonel (now General) Twiggs, of whom
it is said only nine survived. The main body under Gen. Scott
came on to Chicago, but were attacked with the same disease at
Mackinaw, and by the time they arrived at Chicago, the con-
tagion was general ; and within thirty days, ninety more were
carried to their graves. Gen. Scott staid at Chicago about a
month, and reached the Mississippi at Rock Island, some time
in August 1832 ; but not until the decisive affair at the Bad
Axe had terminated the war.

Upon the arrival of the troops at Prairie Du Chien, the vol-
unteers were ordered to Dixon, where they were discharged,
and then each merry, brave man, hastened as he pleased to his
home, his kindred and friends. Black Hawk and his son,
Naapape, Wishick, and the Prophet, were sent down to Rock
Island ; and with them went many of the Winnebago chiefs to
meet Keokuk, and the other chiefs of the Sacs and Foxs.
But when they arrived at Rock Island, the place appointed for
a treaty, the cholera had broken out there, so that Gen. Scott

164 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

and Gov. Reynolds, with the prisoners and other chiefs, fell
down to Jefferson Barracks ; where a treaty was made, by
which the Sacs and Foxs ceded to the United States a large
tract of land bordering on the Mississippi, from the Desmoine
to Turkey river, in the territory of Iowa. The prisoners named
were held as hostages, for the peaceable behayior of the hostile
Indians. They were taken to Washington City, where they had
an interview with President Jackson, to whom, it is reported,
Black Hawk said : " I am a man and you are another. We
did not expect to conquer the white people. I took up the
hatchet to revenge injuries, which could no longer be borne.
Had I borne them longer, my people would have said, Black
Hawk is a squaw ; he is too old to be a chief. He is no Sac.
This caused me to raise the war-whoop. I say no more of it.
All is known to you. Keokuk once was here ; you took him
by the hand, and when he wanted to return you sent him back
to his nation. Black Hawk expects, that like Keokuk, we will
be permitted to return too." The President told him, that
when he was satisfied that all things would remain quiet, they
should return. He then took them by the hand and dismissed
them. They were then sent to Fortress Monroe, where Black
Hawk became much attached to Col. Eustiss, the commander
at the fort. On parting with him, Black Hawk said : " The
memory of your friendship will remain until the Great Spirit
says, that it is time for Black Hawk to sing his death song ;"
then presenting him with a hunting-dress, and some feathers
of the white eagle, he said : " Accept these, my brother ; I
have given one like them to the White Beaver," (Gen. Atkin-
son.) " Accept them from Black Hawk, and when he is far
away, they will serve to remind you of him. May the Great
Spirit bless you and your children. Farewell."

By order of the President, these Indian prisoners, on the 4th
day of June, 1833, were returned to their own country. They
were taken to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and other

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 165

cities, to show them the numbers and power of the white peo-
ple. In all these places they attracted great attention ; crowds
everywhere collected to see them ; and they even divided the
attention and curiosity of the public with Gen. Jackson him-
self, who was then making the tour of the northern States.
Amongst others, the ladies universally sought their acquaint-
ance ; and one young lady, (said to be respectable,) in her ad-
miration' of Black Hawk's son, actually kissed him, before
crowds of people. In return for their politeness and sympathy,
Black Hawk told them that they were " very pretty squaws."
They were returned by way of the New York canal and the
northern lakes, to their own people in the wilderness west of
the Mississippi. Black Hawk lived until the 3d of October,
1840, when he was gathered to his fathers at the age of eighty
years, and was burried on the banks of the great river where
he had spent his life, and which he had loved so much.

CHAPTER VI.

First efforts for a Railroad system— Central Railroad— Impeachment of Judge Smith-
Benjamin Mills — Other efforts to impeach judges — Effect on the public mind — Elec-
tion of Governor— Governor Duncan— Creation of a new State Bank— Conrad Will-
Means of passing its charter — Road Tax — Hooking timber — Preachers employed to
preach against trespasses — Veto power — Banking in Illinois — Increase of the Bank
Stock— Slock readily taken— Intrigues of the subscribers— State Bank goes into the
hands of Thomas Mather and his friends — Effort to build up Alton — The Lead trade
—Unfortunate speculations— Real estate fund— Hostility of the Democrats— Illinois
and Michigan canal — George Forquer's report — Bill to borrow money — Passed with
an amendment to borrow on the credit of canal lands— Great speculation in 1835-'6
— Internal Improvement system — Means of passing it — Calculations of its funds —
Election of Board of Public Works— Bank suspensions, negotiations— Election of
Governor in 1838 — Thomas Corlin — Cyrus Edwards — Maxim of politicians — Explo-
sion of the Internal Improvement system— Presidential election of 1840— Further
history of parties — Work on the canal — Payment of interest — Mr. Cavarly's bill.

AFTER the Black Hawk war, nothing of importance occurred
until the session of the legislature of 1832-'3 ; which was dis-
tinguished for the first efforts seriously made to construct rail-
roads, and to impeach one of the judges. Several charters
passed to incorporate railroad companies; and an effort was
made to procure a charter for a railroad from Lake Michigan
to the Illinois river, in place of a canal. The stock in none of
these companies was ever taken. At this session also were
first proposed in the Senate, surveys for a railroad across the
State through Springfield ; and the central railroad from Peru
to Cairo, George Forquer proposed the first, and the last was
proposed by Lieutenant Governor Jenkins, though the central
railroad had before been suggested in a newspaper publication
by Judge Breese, now Senator in Congress.

Numerously signed petitions from the people were sent up
to this legislature, praying the impeachment of Theophilus W.

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 167

Smith, one of the justices of the Supreme Court, for oppressive
conduct and misdemeanors in office. Witnesses were sent for,
and examined by the House of Representatives. Articles of im-
peachment were voted and sent up to the Senate, charging the
judge with selling a clerk's office, of one of the circuit courts ;
with swearing out vexatious writs returnable before himself, for
the purpose of oppressing innocent men by holding them to
bail, and then continuing the suits for several terms in a court
of which he was judge ; with imprisoning a Quaker for not
taking off his hat in court ; and with suspending a lawyer from
practice for advising his client to apply for a change of venue
to some other circuit, where Judge Smith did not preside. A
solemn trial was had before the Senate, which sat as a high
court of impeachment, and which trial lasted for several weeks.
The judge was prosecuted by a committee of managers from
the House of Representatives, of which Benjamin Mills was
chairman. This highly-gifted man shone forth with uncommon
brilliancy, in three days summing up, by way of conclusion, on
the side of the prosecution. At last the important day and
hour came when a vote was to be taken, which was to be a
sentence of doom to one of the magnates of the land, or was to
restore him to his high office, and to the confidence of his
friends. But during the progress of the trial, Judge Smith pro-
cured some one to go into the Senate chamber regularly after
every adjournment and gather up the scraps of paper on the
desks of the senators, upon which they had scribbled during the
trial. From these, much information was obtained as to the
feelings of senators, their doubts and difficulties ; and this en-
abled him and his counsel to direct their evidence and arguments
to better advantage. The whole country looked with anxious
expectation for the result of this trial. The vote being taken,
it appeared that twelve of the senators concurred in believing
him guilty of some of the specifications ; ten were in favor of
acquitting him ; and four were excused from voting. It ap-

168 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

pears from the journals, that fifteen senators, being a majority
of two-thirds of the senators voting, had voted him guilty of
one or the other of the specifications ; but as twelve was the
highest vote against him, on any one specification, he was ac-
quitted. The House of Kepresentatives, by a two-thirds vote,
immediately passed a resolution to remove him by address, but
the resolution failed in the Senate.

Afterwards, other efforts were made to impeach judges for
misconduct, but without success. So that latterly the legisla-
ture has refused even to make an effort to bring a judge to trial ;
knowing that whether guilty or innocent, such an effort can
have no other result, than to increase the length and expenses
of the session. This conviction has been so general among in-
telligent men, that it has had a wonderful effect in creating a
feeling in favor of limiting the term of service of the judges.

In August, 1834, another election came on for Governor,
which resulted in the choice of Governor Duncan. Lieutenant
Governor Kinney was again the opposition candidate. By this
time Governor Duncan had become thoroughly estranged from
the friends and administration of Gen. Jackson. But as he was
absent in Congress when he became a candidate, and never re-
turned until after the election, the rank and file of the Jackson
party had no means of ascertaining his defection. It was known
to the anti-Jackson men, and to the leading men of the Jackson
party. These last had not credit enough with their party friends
to make them believe it, nor would they believe it, until the
publication of the new governor's inaugural message, which
took bold and strong ground against the measures of Gen. Jack-
son's administration. About this time the anti-Jackson party
began generally to take the name of Whigs ; and attempted to
base it, as did the whigs of the revolution, upon opposition to
the executive power. It may be well here to give some further
account of Governor Duncan. He was a native of Kentucky ;
and when quite young, obtained an ensign's commission during

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 169

the war of 1812. He was with Col. Croughan and his handful
of men, at the defence of Fort Stephenson, against ten times
their number of British and Indians. This brilliant affair was
the means of distinguishing all the inferior officers engaged in
it, and immortalized their commander.

Governor Duncan was a man of genteel, affable, and manly
deportment ; with a person remarkably well adapted to win
the esteem and affections of his fellow-citizens. He had not
been long a citizen of this State, before he was elected major-
general of the militia, and then a State Senator, where he dis-
tinguished himself in the session of 1824-'5, by being the author
of the first common school law which was ever passed in this
State. He was next elected to Congress, in which he continued
as a member of the House of Representatives, until he was
elected governor in 1834. He was a man of but little educa-
tion or knowledge, except what he had picked up during his
public services, and he had profited to the utmost by these ad-
vantages. He had a sound judgment, a firm confidence in his
own convictions of right, and a moral courage in adhering to
his convictions, which is rarely met with.

A new legislature was elected at the same time with Gover-
nor Duncan, which met at Vandalia in Dec. 1834. At that
time, the State was in a very flourishing and prosperous condi-
tion. Population and wealth were pouring into it from all the
old States. The great speculation in lands and town lots,
shortly afterwards so rife, had made only a beginning, and that
at Chicago alone. The people were industrious, and contented
with the usual profits of labor, skill, and capital. They were
free from debt ; and the treasury of the State, for once, had
become solvent, paying all demands in cash. If the prevalent
speculations, further east, had not commenced in Illinois, there
were certainly very many persons who were anxious that they
should begin ; for at this session, the legislature undertook to
better the condition of public and private affairs, by chartering

170 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

a new State BanK, with a capital of one million five hundred
thousand dollars ; and by reviving the charter of the bank at
Shawneetown, with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars,
which had once broke, and had ceased to do business for twelve
years. This was the beginning of all the bad legislation which
followed in a few years, and which, as is well known, resulted
in general ruin. At the commencement of this session, no one
could have anticipated the creation of a bank. The people,
with one accord, ever since the failure of the old State Bank of
1821, had looked upon local banks with disfavor. And the
whigs at that time, contending as they were, for a national
bank, were thought to be hostile to banks of any other kind.
But a large majority of them in both branches of the legisla-
ture, voted for these bank charters. The United States Bank,
vetoed by Gen. Jackson, was about to go out of existence. Mr.
Woodbury, the United States secretary of the treasury, had
encouraged the State and local banks to discount liberally, with
a view to supply the deficiency of currency, anticipated upon
the discontinuance of the United States Bank. From this, very
many democrats inferred it to be the wish of Gen. Jackson's
administration, that State banks should be created where they
did not exist ; and with this view, these democrats were now
in favor of the creation of banks. The intrigues practised to
pass these charters, are but imperfectly known to me. The
charter for the State Bank was drawn by Judge Smith, and
presented in the Senate by Conrad Will, of Jackson county.
It was in honor of him that the county of Will was subse-
quently named. He was not remarkable for anything except
his good-humor, and for having been long a member of the
legislature. One member of the Senate, who was bitterly hos-
tile to all banks, and was opposed to the Shawneetown Bank
bill on constitutional grounds, as he declared from his place in
the Senate, gave both the bank charters his hearty support in
consideration of assistance in passing a law to levy a tax on

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 171

land in the military tract, for road purposes ; and a member
of the House supported them, because the bank men made him
a State's attorney.

It may be thought strange, that an increase of taxes was so
earnestly insisted on at that early day, as to be made the sub-
ject of log-rolling in the creation of a bank. But it is to be
remembered, that the military lands were then owned princi-
pally by non-residents, who were unwilling to sell except at
high prices. Every town built, farm made, road opened, bridge
or school-house erected by the settlers in their vicinity, added
to the value of these lands, at no expense to the non-resident.
The people persuaded themselves that in improving their own
farms, they were putting money into the pockets of men who
did nothing for the country, except to skin it as fast as any hide
grew on it. This tax was called for, to make the non-resident
owner contribute his share to the improvement of the country,
and thus by burdening his land with taxes, render him more
willing to sell it. A very bad state of feeling existed towards
the non-resident land-owners; the timber on their land was
considered free plunder, to be cut and swept away by every
comer ; the owners brought suits for damage, but where the
witnesses and jurors were all on one side, justice was forced to
go with them. The non-residents at last bethought themselves
of employing and sending out ministers of the gospel, to preach
to the people against the sin of stealing, or hooking timber, as
it was called. These preachers each had a circuit, or district
of country assigned them to preach in, and were paid by the
sermon ; but I have never learned that the non-resident land-
owners succeeded any better in protecting their property by
the gospel, than they did at law.

But to return to the banks. How many other converts were
made in their favor, by similar means, must remain forever a
secret. The State Bank charter was passed in the House of
Representatives by a majority of one vote ; so that it may be

172 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

said that making of a State's attorney made a State Bank. The
vote in the legislature was not a party vote ; the banks were
advocated and supported upon grounds of public utility and
expediency ; and like on the vote upon the internal improve-
ment system, which followed at the next session, both whigs
and democrats were earnestly invited to lay party feelings
aside, and all go, at least once, for the good of the country.
Whenever I have heard this cry since, I have always suspected
that some great mischief was to be done, for which no party
desired to be responsible to the people. As majorities have
the power, so it is their duty to carry on the government. The
majority, as long as parties are necessary in a free government,
ought never to divide, and a portion of it join temporarily with
the minority. It should always have the wisdom and courage
to adopt all the measures necessary for good government. As
a general thing, if the minority is anything more than a faction,
if it has any principles, and is true to them, it will rally an op-
position to all that is done by the majority ; and even if it is
convinced that the measures of the majority are right, it is
safest for the minority to compel the majority to take the un-
divided responsibility of government. By this means there
will always be a party to expose the faults and blunders of our
rulers ; and the majority will be more careful what they do.
But if the minority mixes itself up with the majority in the
support of great measures, which prove unfortunate for the
country, neither party can expose the error without prostrating
its own favorites. In this way, many persons now prominent
as politicians in this State, have gone unwhipped of justice, who
otherwise would have been consigned to an unfathomable ob-
livion. Certain it is, that if this course had been observed in
the enactment of the disastrous measures of this and the suc-
ceeding session of the legislature, the dominant party would
never have dared, as it did not afterwards dare, to risk the con-
tinuance of popular favor, by supporting such a policy.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 173

These banks were brought into existence in violation of the
plainest principles of political economy. The State was young.
There was no social or business organization upon any settled
principles. A large crowd of strangers, as it were, had met
here for adventure. Our most sagacious citizens were of this
sort. We had no cities, no trade, no manufactures, and no
punctuality in the payment of debts. We exported little or
nothing. We had no surplus capital, and consequently the
capital for banking must come from abroad. Some few then
foresaw, what proved true, that it would be difficult to find di-
rectors and officers for two banks and numerous branches, who,
from their known integrity and financial knowledge, would be
entitled to the public confidence. The stockholders would (as
they did) reside abroad, in other States. They could not su-
pervise the conduct of the directory in person. It was probable
that many improvident loans would be made, and that the banks
would be greatly troubled in making their collections.

It appears to me that banking cannot be successful in any
country where the capital comes necessarily from abroad. The
stockholders will be imposed on. They cannot conveniently
meet in proper person to examine the banks, but must from
year to year trust everything to agents, who, the whole world
says, never manage other people's business as well as their own.
Banking cannot succeed except in a state of settled, organized
society, where honesty, truth, and fidelity are paramount ;
where the merchants and business men have all received a
regular commercial training ; where they have been educated
from their youth upwards in the principles and practice of com-
mercial honor and punctuality ; where a bank protest, by break-
ing a man and closing his business, is more terrible than im-
prisonment ; where the laws favor the collection of debts, and
the whole people are in the habit of prompt payment. In such
a society, honest and capable men may be readily found to
manage banks, and those who deal with them may be relied on

174 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

for punctuality. I place great stress upon punctuality, as the
vital principle of safe banking. Because if the debtors of the
bank do not pay, the bank itself cannot.

Nor can banking succeed in a State where the great body of
the people, or any considerable party of them, are opposed to
banks. Some project to repeal their charter, or harass them,
will be started at every session of the legislature, and they will
be strongly tempted to extend their favors further than safety
will warrant, for the purpose of silencing opposition. In a com-
munity like Illinois, there are scores of men in every county
who, from their business, or rather want of business, and want
of punctuality, cannot with safety be favored by a bank. Yet
such men are not destitute of political importance and influence,
and can give the banks great trouble if a loan is refused. Fa-
vor to such persons is a fraud upon the stockholders and the
community which credits the circulation. Nevertheless, banks
are driven to accommodate such persons, and, in fact, to abso-
lute bribery, for the purpose of buying their peace.

I aver, without fear of contradiction, that when these banks
were chartered, there was, in a manner, no surplus capital in
the State ; that the capital came mostly from abroad ; that the
stockholders resided at a distance, and never had a meeting, in
proper person, in this State ; that we had no cities, and but few
large towns ; that, in a manner, we exported nothing, but im-
ported everything except meat and breadstuffs, and indeed much
of these. We had no settled society. The business men were
not generally men of commercial training and education. The
laws did not favor the collection of debts, nor did the public
sentiment frown upon a want of punctuality.

After the internal improvement system was adopted at a
subsequent session, its friends increased the capital of these
banks, by making the State a stockholder in each. The capi-
tal of the State Bank was increased two millions of dollars,
and the Illinois Bank one million four hundred thousand dollars.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 175

The stock in the State Bank was readily and greedily taken,
and the subscriptions greatly exceeded the amount allowed by
the charter. Early in the spring of 1835, John Tillson, jr.,
then of Hillsboro' ; Thomas Mather, then of Kaskaskia ; God-
frey Oilman & Co., then of Alton ; Theophilus W. Smith, then
one of the judges of the Supreme Court ; and Samuel Wiggins,
of Cincinnati, made arrangements to obtain large sums of
money in the eastern cities, principally in New York and Con-
necticut, to be invested in this stock. The charter required the
advance of five dollars on each share subscribed, and gave a
preference to citizens of the State. It also provided against
the undue influence of large stockholders, by reducing their
(proportional) vote for directors. These provisions made it
desirable, not only that all the stock* should be subscribed by
citizens of the State, but also, that all subscriptions should be
small in amount. Accordingly, each of these gentlemen, with
a view of monopolizing the stock and controlling the bank, em-
ployed men all over the country to obtain powers of attorney
from any and all who were willing to execute them, author-
izing one or the other of these persons to act as their agents in
subscribing for stock, and to transfer and control it afterwards.

Many thousands of such subscriptions were made, in the names
of as many thousands who never dreamed of being bankers, and
who do not know to this day that they were ever, apparently,
the owners of bank stock.

The contest for the control of the bank was between Judge
Smith, on the one side, and the other gentlemen named, on the
other. When the commissioners met to apportion the stock, a
motion was made, that all subscriptions by or for the use of
citizens of the State, should be preferred to subscriptions made
for the use of persons residing abroad, and requiring all hold-
ers of proxies to make oath as to the fact of residence or non-
residence. This resolution was advocated by Judge Smith, who
stood ready, as it was said, to swear that all the stock subscrib-

176 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

ed by him, in his own name or by power of attorney, bonafide
belonged to him, and had been paid for by his own money. The
other great operators could not make such an oath, and conse-
quently opposed the resolution, which was defeated. Tillson,
Mather, Wiggins, and Godfrey Oilman & Co., combined against
Smith. They obtained a controlling portion of the stock. Math-
er was made president, and a directory was elected, who were
in the interest of the combination. The directors appointed
were probably as good men for the trust as could have been
found in the State.

As I have said, the stock in the State Bank having been taken,
it went into operation under the control of Thomas Mather and
his friends, in 1835. The Alton interest in it was very large.
Godfrey Gilman & Co., merchants of Alton, had obtained con-
trol of a large part of the stock ; enough, in case of division,
to control the election of directors. To conciliate them, the
bank undertook to lend its aid to build up Alton, in rivalry of
St. Louis. At this time, a strong desire was felt by many to
create a commercial emporium in our own State ; and it was
hoped that Alton could be made such a place. As yet, how-
ever, nearly the whole trade of Illinois, Wisconsin, and of the
Upper Mississippi, was concentrated at St. Louis. The little
pork, beef, wheat, flour, and such other articles as the country
afforded for export, were sent to St. Louis to be shipped. All
the lead of the upper and lower lead-mines was shipped from
or on account of the merchants of St. Louis. Exchange on the
east to any amount could only be purchased at St. Louis ; and
many of the smaller merchants all over the country went to St.
Louis to purchase their assortments.

The State Bank undertook to break up this course of things,
and divert these advantages to Alton. Godfrey Gilman & Co.
were supplied with about $800,000, to begin on the lead busi-
ness. By their agents, they made heavy purchases of lead, and
had it shipped to Alton. Stone, Manning & Co., another Alton

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 177

firm, were furnished with several hundred thousand dollars, with
which to operate in produce ; and Sloo & Co. obtained large
loans for the same purpose. The design of the parties, of course,
was not accomplished. Instead of building up Alton, enriching
its merchants, and giving the bank a monopoly of exchanges on
the east, these measures resulted in crushing Alton, annihilating
its merchants, and breaking the bank. This result ought to have
been foreseen. The St. Louis merchants had more capital in
business than ten such banks, and twenty such cities as Alton.
They were intimately connected, either as owners or agents, in
all the steamboats running on the Illinois and Upper Mississippi.
These boats required an up-river as well as a down-river freight.
The up-river freight could only be got in St. Louis, and would
not be furnished to boats known to be engaged in the Alton con-
spiracy. The merchants in Galena and throughout the Upper
Mississippi and Illinois country, were connected in trade with
the St. Louis merchants, many of them owing balances not con-
venient to be paid, and enjoying standing credits which could
not be dispensed with.

The Alton merchants, however, commenced operations on the
moneys furnished by the bank, and they were so anxious to ob-
tain a monopoly of purchases, that prices rose immediately.
The price of lead rose in a short time from $2 75 to $4 25 per
hundred. This did not appear to be the best way of monopo-
lizing the lead trade. Therefore, Godfrey Gilman & Co. fur-
nished their agent in Galena some two or three hundred thou-
sand dollars to purchase lead-mines and smelting establishments.
This agent was a manly, frank, honorable, and honest man, but
wild and reckless in the extreme. He bought all the mines and
smelting establishments he could get, and some lots in Galena.
He scattered money with a profuse and princely hand. The ef-
fect was apparent in a short time. Property in Galena rose in
a few months more than two thousand per cent. While such
great exertions were making to divert the lead trade to Alton,

178 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

and while such lavish expenditures at Galena raised its price
there, they could not keep up the price in the eastern cities, its
destined market. The lead was kept in store in New York a
year or two, in hopes the price would rise. The owners were
at last compelled to sell at a great sacrifice, and the operation
ruined all concerned. Stone, Manning & Co., and Sloo & Co.,
were equally unfortunate.

I think the bank must have lost by all its Alton operations
near a million of dollars, and was nearly insolvent before the
end of the second year- of its existence, though the fact was un-
known to the people. This is an example of the danger of en-
deavoring to force trade, wholly against nature, out of its accus-
tomed channels. Let it be a warning also to all banks, not to
engage, either by themselves or by their agents, in the ordinary
business of trade and speculation.

The democrats helped to make the banks, but the whigs con-
trolled the most money, which gave them the control of the
banks. The president and a large majority of the directors and
other officers were whigs ; just enough of democrats had been
appointed to avoid the appearance of proscription. Thus the
democrats were defeated at least once in the contest for the
" spoils," and probably it will always be thus when long purses
are to decide who are the " victors."

When the State Bank was created, its projectors, to make it
popular, attached to it a provision for a real estate fund, to the
amount of a million of dollars, to be lent out on mortgages of
land. This was intended to conciliate the farmers, as thereby
the bank would become a sort of farmers' bank, out of which
the farmers could obtain money on a mortgage of their farms.
But this was really the worst feature in the whole project. At
this day it will be generally acknowledged that no farmer ought
ever to borrow money to carry on his farm. The only mode
in which a farmer can be benefited by a bank, is for merchants
and traders to borrow money and pay it out to farmers for their

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 179

produce. But very many farmers did borrow, and very few of
them were able to pay. Their farms were taken away from
them ; and so this popular lure to the farmers operated like set-
ting out huge steel traps to catch their plantations.

The fact that the presidents and cashiers of the principal
bank and branches, and a very great majority of the directors
and other officers, were whigs, was sufficient to dub the bank
a whig concern. It was viewed with great jealousy by the
democrats. Judge Smith headed an opposition to it ; and al-
though he had written the charter, and urged its passage upon
his friends in the legislature, he did not hesitate to declare it
unconstitutional. He was joined by Judge McRoberts, Re-
ceiver of public moneys at Danville, and many other leaders of
the party. The bank made an effort to get the deposits of
public money, but it had become so odious to the democrats,
and such representations had been made at Washington, that
the Secretary of the Treasury refused its application. The con-
sequence was, that a continual run was made upon it for specie,
to enter Government land. To avoid this continual drain of
specie, the bank adopted the expedient of sending its notes,
purporting to have been issued at one branch, to be loaned at
another, and by this means keeping its circulation at a distance
from the place of payment.

Here I will leave the subject of the bank for the present,
and notice another important matter acted upon by the legis-
lature at the session of 1834-'5. This was the Illinois and
Michigan canal. As early as 1821, the legislature appropriated
$10,000 for a survey of the route of this canal. Judge Smith
and others were appointed commissioners, and they again ap-
pointed Rene Paul, of St. Louis, and Justice Post, now of Al-
exander county, as engineers. A survey of the route was
made. The work was reported eminently practicable, and the
cost of construction was estimated at a sum near six or seven
hundred thousand dollars. In 1826, Congress donated to the

180 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

State about 300,000 acres of land on the route of the canal,
in aid of the work In 1825, a law was passed incorporating a
company to make the canal. The stock was never subscribed.
And in 1828, another law was passed, providing for the sale of
lots and lands, for the appointment of a board of canal com-
missioners, and /or the commencement of the work. Nothing
was done under this law, except the sale of some land and
lots, and a new survey of the route and estimate of costs, by
the new engineer, Mr. Bucklin. The estimate this time ran into
millions instead of thousands, but was yet too low, as expe-
rience has subsequently demonstrated. After that time there
were various projects of giving the work to a company, or of
making a railroad instead of a canal. But nothing effectual was
proposed to be done until the session of 1834-'5.

At this session of the legislature, George Forquer, a senator
for Sangamon county, as chairman of the committee on inter-
nal improvements, prepared and made an elaborate report in
favor of a loan of half a million of dollars, on the credit of the
State, to begin with. I call the report an elaborate one, be-
cause it is so : perhaps more able than any similar document
submitted to any of the western legislatures. It contains evi-
dence of vast research, and abundance of facts and probable
conjectures, and is expressed in language at once pleasing, bril-
liant, and attractive. The report was accompanied by a bill
authorizing a loan on the credit of the State, which passed the
Senate, and would certainly have passed the legislature, but for
the fact that the governor, in his general message, and also in
a special message, asserted with confidence that the money
could be obtained upon a pledge of the canal lands alone.
Amended in this particular, the bill passed, and has served as
a model for all the subsequent laws on that subject. The re-
port was justly liable to one criticism. The cost was estimated
too low. The Senate ordered 5,000 copies of it to be published
for the information of the people. This was the first efficient

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 181

movement in favor of the canal. The loan under this law fail-
ed ; but at a special session in 1835, a law was introduced by
James M. Strode, then a senator representing all the country
including and north of Peoria, authorizing a loan of half a mil-
lion of dollars on the credit of the State. This loan was nego-
tiated by Governor Duncan in 1836, and with this money a
commencement was made on the canal in the month of June of
that year. William F. Thornton, Gurdon S. Hubbard, and
William B. Archer, all whigs, were appointed the first canal
commissioners under this law.

In the spring and summer of 1836, the great land and town
lot speculation of those times had fairly reached and spread
over Illinois. It commenced in this State first at Chicago, and
was the means of building up that place in a year or two from
a village of a few houses, to be a city of several thousand in-
habitants. The story of the sudden fortunes made there, ex-
cited at first wonder and amazement, next a gambling spirit of
adventure, and lastly, an all-absorbing desire for sudden and
splendid wealth. Chicago had been for some time only one
great town market. The plats of towns, for a hundred miles
around, were carried there to be disposed of at auction. The
eastern people had caught the mania. Every vessel coming
west was loaded with them, their money and means, bound for
Chicago, the great fairy land of fortunes. But as enough did
not come to satisfy the insatiable greediness of the Chicago
sharpers and speculators, they frequently consigned their wares
to eastern markets. Thus, a vessel would be freighted with
land and town lots, for the New York and Boston markets, at
less cost than a barrel of flour. In fact, lands and town lots
were the staple of the country, and were the only articles of
export.

The example of Chicago was contagious. It spread to all
the towns and villages of the State. New towns were laid out
in every direction. The number of towns multiplied so rapidly,

182 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

that it was waggishly remarked by many people, that the whole
country was likely to be laid out into towns ; and that no land
would be left for farming purposes. The judgments of all our
business men were unsettled, and their minds occupied only by
the one idea, the all-absorbing desire of jumping into a fortune.
As all had bought more town lots and lands than many of them
could pay for, and more than any of them could sell, it was
supposed that if the country could be rapidly settled, its re-
sources developed, and wealth invited from abroad, that all the
towns then of any note would soon become cities, and that the
other towns, laid out only for speculation, and then without in
habitants, would immediately become thriving and populous
villages, the wealth of all would be increased, and the town lot
market would be rendered stable and secure.

With a view to such a consummation, a system of internal
improvements began to be agitated in the summer and fall of
1836. It was argued that Illinois had all the natural advan-
tages which constitute a great State ; a rich soil, variety of cli-
mate, and great extent of territory. It only wanted inhabitants
and enterprise. These would be invited by a system of im-
provements ; timber would be carried by railroad to fence the
prairies ; and the products of the prairies, by the same means,
would be brought to market. The people began to hold public
meetings and pass resolutions on the subject ; and before the
next winter, most of the counties had appointed delegates to an
internal improvement convention, to be assembled at the seat
of government. This body of delegates assembled at the same
time with the legislature of 1836-'7. It devised and recom-
mended to the legislature a system of internal improvements ;
the chief feature of which was, " that it should be commensurate
with the wants of the people." Thus the general desire of
sudden and unwarrantable gain ; a dissatisfaction with the slow
but sure profits of industry and lawful commerce, produced a
general phrenzy. Speculation was the order of the day, and

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 183

every possible means was hastily and greedily adopted to give
an artificial value to property. In accomplishing this object as
to the manner and means, our people surrendered their judg-
ments to the dictates of a wild imagination. No scheme was
so extravagant as not to appear plausible to some. The most
wild calculations were made of the advantages of a system of
internal improvements ; of the resources of the State to meet
all expenditures ; and of our final ability to pay all indebted-
ness without taxation. Mere possibilities appeared highly
probable ; and probability wore the livery of certainty itself.

I have said that our people were moved by these influences ;
but only those are meant who attended these meetings, and
aidfed in sending and instructing delegates to the internal im-
provement convention. It is not true that the whole people
were thus moved or thus acted. These meetings were generally
held in the towns, and mostly attended by the town people.
The great body of the people in the country treated the subject
with indifference. But this silence was taken for consent. The
voice of these meetings was considered as the voice of the peo-
ple, and the voice of the people as " the voice of God," and
many of the members of the legislature felt themselves in-
structed by it to vote for some system of internal improve-
ments.

The legislature at this session took up the subject in full
earnest ; and in the course of the winter passed a system pro-
viding for railroads from Galena to the mouth of the Ohio ;
from Alton to Shawneetown ; from Alton to Mount Carmel ;
from Alton to the eastern boundary of the State, in the direc-
tion of Terre Haute ; from Quincy on the Mississippi, through
Springfield to the Wabash ; from Bloomington to Pekin ; and
from Peoria to Warsaw; including in the whole about 1,300
miles of road. It also provided for the improvement of the
navigation of the Kaskaskia, Illinois, Great and Little Wabash,
and Rock rivers. And besides this, two hundred thousand

184 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

dollars were to be distributed amongst those counties through
which no roads or improvements were to be made. The legis-
lature voted $8,000,000 to the system, which was to be raised
by a loan.

As a part of the system also, the canal from Chicago to Peru
was to be prosecuted to completion, and a further loan of four
millions of dollars was authorized for that purpose. The legis-
lature had already established a board of canal commissioners.
They now established a board of fund commissioners to nego-
tiate the new loans for the railroads ; and a board of commis-
sioners of public works, one for each judicial circuit, then seven
in number, to superintend construction. And as a crowning
act of folly, it was provided that the work should commence
simultaneously on all the roads at each end, and from the cross-
ings of all the rivers.

It is very obvious now that great errors were committed.
It was utterly improbable that the great number of public offi-
cers and agents for the faithful prosecution of so extensive and
cumbrous a system, could be found in the State ; or if found,
it was less likely that the best material would be selected. But
the legislature went on to create a multitude of officers, for a
multitude of men, who were all to be engaged in the expendi-
ture of money, and superintending improvements, as if there
were a hundred De Witt Clintons in the State ; but there is no
limit to the conceit of aspiring ignorance. Indeed, our past ex-
perience goes far to show that it has not yet been safe for Illi-
nois, as a government, to have any very complicated or exten-
sive interests to manage, for the want of men to manage them ;
and for the want of an enlightened public will to sustain able
and faithful public servants, and to hold the unfaithful to a just
and strict account. The legislature were to elect the members
of the board of public works, and these offices were very near
being filled by the election of members of the legislature. It
is true, that the constitution made them ineligible, by providing

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 185

that no member should be appointed to an office created during
the term for which he had been elected. Governor Duncan
announced his determination not to commission members of
the legislature, if elected, to these offices. A law was attempted
to be passed dispensing with a commission from the governor,
although the constitution provides that all civil officers shall be
commissioned by him. It had been ,too much the case, in the
Illinois legislature, that when a majority were set upon accom-
plishing their, purpose, no constitutional barriers were sufficient
to restrain them. Ingenious reasons were never wanting to
satisfy the consciences of the more timid ; so that many regret-
ted that there was any constitution at all, by the violation of
which, members were forced to commit perjury to accomplish
their utilitarian views. A vigorous effort was made in the two
houses to elect members to these offices ; but not quite a ma-
jority could be obtained in favor of it. The joint meeting was
adjourned for one day, and on the next, persons were elected
who were not members of the legislature.

No previous survey or estimate had been made, either of the
routes, the costs of the works, or the amount of business to be
done on them. The arguments in favor of the system were of
a character most difficult to refute, composed as they were part-
ly of fact, but mostly of prediction. In this way I have heard
it proved, to general satisfaction, by an ingenious orator in the
lobby, that the State could well afford to borrow a hundred
millions of dollars, and expend it in making internal improve-
ments. The orators in favor of the system all aimed to argue
their way logically, and the end has showed, that the counsels
of a sound judgment, guided by common sense, jumping at con-
clusions, are to be preferred to ingenious speculation. Nothing
is more delusive in public affairs than a series of ingenious rea-
sonings. In this way John C. Calhoun, in his report on the Me-
morial of the Memphis Convention, proved conclusively that it
is constitutional to build a single pier on the lakes, but it would

186 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

be unconstitutional to build two of them close together, and
parallel, for then they would be a harbor. In the same man-
ner he proved it to be constitutional to improve the channels
of the great Western rivers, but utterly unconstitutional to im-
prove them near shore, so that boats could have a landing ; and
in the same manner he proved that it was constitutional to im-
prove the navigation of rivers common to three or more States,
but unconstitutional to improve a river running through a single
State, although it might be the channel of trade for half the
nation.

The means used in the legislature to pass the system, deserve
some notice for the instruction of posterity. First, a large por-
tion of the people were interested in the success of the canal,
which was threatened, if other sections of the State were denied
the improvements demanded by them ; and thus the friends of
the canal were forced to log-roll for that work by supporting
others which were to be ruinous to the country. Roads and
improvements were proposed everywhere, to enlist every sec-
tion of the State. Three or four efforts were made to pass a
smaller system, and when defeated, the bill would be amended
by the addition -of other roads, until a majority was obtained
for it. Those counties which could not be thus accommodated
were to share in the fund of two hundred thousand dollars.
Three roads were appointed to terminate at Alton, before the
Alton interest would agree to the system. The seat of govern-
ment was to be removed to Springfield. Sangamon county, in
which Springfield is situated, was then represented by two sen-
ators and seven representatives, called " the long nine," all whigs
but one. Amongst them were some dexterous jugglers and
managers in politics, whose whole object was to obtain the seat
of government for Springfield. This delegation, from the be-
ginning of the session, threw itself as a unit in support of, or op-
position to, every local measure of interest, but never without
a bargain for votes hi return on the seat of government ques-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 187

tion. Most of the other counties were small, having but one
representative, and many of them with but one for a whole dis-
trict ; and this gave Sangamon county a decided preponderance
in the log-rolling system of those days, It is worthy of exam-
ination whether any just and equal legislation can ever be sus-
tained where some of the counties are great and powerful and
others feeble. But by such means " the long nine" rolled along
like a snow-ball, gathering accessions of strength at every turn,
until they swelled up a considerable party for Springfield, which
party they managed to take almost as an unit in favor of the
internal improvement system, in return for which the active
supporters of that system were to vote for Springfield to be the
seat of government. Thus it was made to cost the State about
six millions of dollars to remove the seat of government from
Vandalia to Springfield, half which sum would have purchased
all the real estate in that town at three prices ; and thus by log-
rolling on the canal measure, by multiplying railroads, by ter-
minating three railroads at Alton, that Alton might become a
great city in opposition to St. Louis, by distributing money to
some of the counties, to be wasted by the county commission-
ers, and by giving the seat of government to Springfield, was
the whole State bought up and bribed, to approve the most sense-
less and disastrous policy which ever crippled the energies of a
growing country.

The examples of Pennsylvania and Indiana in adopting a sim-
ilar system were powerfully urged by the deluded demagogues
of this legislature, to delude their fellow members, and to quiet
the fears of the people. Now was developed for the first time
a principle of government, or rather a destiny for government
to aim at, which was to keep pace with the grand ideas which
had seized upon the people of other States, — ideas having in
view not the improvement of individual man, by increasing his
knowledge and power of thought, but merely by enriching his
pockets.

188 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

It appears by a report of a committee of the House of Repre-
sentatives, that it was believed that the people were expecting,
and anxious for a system of internal improvements ; that the
system would be of great utility in multiplying population and
wealth ; that such a system was entirely practicable ; that the
cost of it could be easily guessed at without previous surveys ;
that even small sums could be profitably expended upon the
rivers ; that estimates for the railroads could b$ ascertained by
analogy and comparison with similar works in other States;
that the system would cause a great deal of land to be entered,
and increase the land tax, a part of which could go to form a
fund to pay interest ; that the tolls on parts of the roads as fast
as they were completed both ways from the crossings of rivers
and from considerable towns, would yield the interest on their
cost; that the water-power made by improvements on the
rivers, would rent for a large sum ; that lands were to be en-
tered along all the roads by the State, which were to be re-sold
for a higher price ; that eminent financiers were to be elected
fund commissioners, whose high standing and eminent qualifica-
tions were to reflect credit upon the State, and add to its re-
sources ; and with all these resources at command, that no
great financial skill would be required in any future legislature
to provide for paying the interest on the loans and carry the sys-
tem to completion, without burdening the people. Such were
the ingenious devices of this legislature, in all of which they
were totally mistaken, as experience afterwards proved. Not
a solitary one of these propositions has borne the test of experi-
ment ; but all have resulted just contrary to what was predict-
ed. I will mention also, that it was confidently believed, in
and out of the legislature, that the State stock to be issued,
would command a premium of 10 per cent., which would go to
swell the interest fund ; that the stock in the banks would yield
enough to pay interest on the bank bonds and a surplus be-
sides ; and that in fact the system was to be self-acting and self-

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 189

sustaining ; to provide for its own liquidation and payment, and
enrich the State treasury into the bargain.

I mention these calculations, all of which so signally failed ;
all of which were once so confidently believed, but which now
appear so absurd and ridiculous, as a warning to all theoretical,
visionary schemers in public affairs ; and against the counsels of
all impracticable, dreaming politicians. Let posterity remem-
ber it, and engrave it upon their hearts as a lesson of wisdom,
that splendid abilities and the power of ingenious speculation
are not statesmanship ; but they may lead a country to the
verge of ruin, unless guided by solid judgment and plain com-
mon sense ; by which they are rarely accompanied.

As no system could be passed except by log-rolling, and
without providing for a simultaneous expenditure of money all
over the State, it followed that none of the roads were ever
completed. Detached parcels of them were graded on every
road, the excavations and embankments of which will long re-
main as a memorial of the blighting-scathe done by this legisla-
ture ; but nothing was finished, except the road from the Illinois
river to Springfield, which cost about $1,000,000, and which
now is not worth one hundred thousand dollars.

I will here mention that this internal improvement law was
returned by the Governor and council of revision, with their
objections, -but afterwards passed both houses by the constitu-
tional majority. It is a singular fact, that all the foolish and
ruinous measures which ever passed an Illinois legislature,
would have been vetoed by the governor for the time being,
if he had possessed the constitutional power. The old State
Bank of 1821, which ruined the public finances and demoralized
the people ; and by which the State lost in various ways, more
than its entire capital, would have been vetoed by Governor
Bond. The laws creating the late banks and increasing their
capital by making the State a stockholder to a large amount,
and the internal improvement system, would have been vetoed

190 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

by Governor Duncan. In all these cases the veto power would
have been highly beneficial. I am aware that demagogues and
flatterers of the people, have so far imitated the supple parasites
in the courts of Monarchs, whose maxim is that the " king can
do no wrong," as to steal the compliment and apply it to the
people. They are contending everywhere that the people never
err. Without disputing the infallibility of the people, we know
that their representatives can and have erred ; and do err most
grievously. A qualified veto power in the executive, is a whole-
some corrective. It can only operate to delay a good and pop-
ular measure ; for if the people desire it with any unanimity,
they will select representatives who will pass it, notwithstand-
ing the veto.

As I have already said, the capital stock of the State Bank
was increased this session, in the whole, to the amount of
$3,100,000, by making the State a stockholder. The stock of
the Shawneetown Bank was increased to $1,700,000 in all.
The Fund Commissioners were authorized to subscribe for this
increase of stock, amounting to $3,400,000, a portion of which
was to be paid for from the surplus revenues of the United
States, and the residue by a sale of State bonds. And although
the State was to have the majority of stock in both banks, yet
were the private stockholders to have a majority of the direc-
tors. The banks were made the fiscal agents of the canal and
railroad funds ; and, upon the whole, it was a mere chance
that the State did not lose its entire capital thus invested. It
was supposed that the State bonds would sell for a premium
of about 10 per cent., which would go to swell the interest
fund ; and that the dividends upon stock would not only pay
the interest on the bonds, but furnish a large surplus to be
carried, likewise, to the interest fund. However, when these
bonds were offered in market, they could not be sold, even at
par. The banks were accommodating, and rather than the
speculation should fail, they agreed to take the bonds at par,

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 191

as cash, amounting to $2,665,000. The Bank of Illinois sold
their lot of $900,000, but the $1,765,000 in bonds disposed of
to the State Bank, it is alleged, were never sold. They were,
however, used as bank capital, and the bank expanded its busi-
ness accordingly.

In the spring of 1837, the banks throughout the United States
suspended specie payments. The banks of Illinois followed
the example of others. I will not dwell upon the causes of
this movement, as they belong more to the history of the whole
country than to that of a single State. The charter of the State
Bank contained a provision, that if the institution refused spe-
cie payments for sixty days together, it should forfeit its char-
ter. These banks were made the fiscal agents for the canal
and the railroads. A large sum of public money was deposited
in them, and if they went down, they would carry the canal and
the internal improvement system in their train of ruin. Two
of the canal commissioners visited Governor Duncan, and re-
quested a call of the legislature to avert the evil. A special
session was called in July. The governor's message made a
statement of the matter, without any direct recommendation to
legalize the suspension, and did recommend a repeal or classi-
fication of the internal improvement system. The legislature
did legalize the suspension of specie payments, but refused to
touch the subject of internal improvements. It was plain that
nothing could be done to arrest the evil for near two years
more. In the meantime all considerate persons hoped that the
public insanity would subside, that the people would wake up
to reflection, and see the utter absurdity of the public policy.

They were disappointed. Loan after loan was effected, both
in Europe and America. The United States Bank, then dealing
in stocks, by which it was ruined, gave important aid to our
negotiations. This bank itself took some of the loans, and lent
its great credit to effect others. The loans made in America
were at par, but those in Europe were at 9 per cent, discount.

192 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

The banker paid 90 cents on the dollar to the State, and, as is
alleged, 1 per cent, to the Fund Commissioners, for brokerage.
A large contract was made for railroad iron at an extravagant
price. The work continued to be prosecuted upon all the im-
provements. A new governor and new legislature were to be
elected in August, 1838, from whose second sober thoughts re-
lief was to be expected, unless the State should be irretrievably
ruined in the meantime.

At this election the question of the continuance o£ the rail-
road system was but feebly made. Cyrus Edwards, the whig
candidate for governor, declared himself to be decidedly in
favor of it. Thomas Carlin, the democratic candidate, was
charged with secret hostility to it, but never so sufficiently ex-
plained his views, during the pendency of the election, that he
could be charged with entertaining an opinion one way or the
other. A large majority of the legislature was for the sys-
tem. And although Mr. Carlin was elected governor, and
most probably was opposed to it, yet, finding that nothing
could be done with such a legislature, he was at the first session
forced to keep silence.

This legislature not only refused to repeal or modify the
system, but added other works to it, requiring an additional
expenditure of about $800,000. Thus was presented the spec-
tacle of a whole people becoming infatuated, adopting a most
ruinous policy, and continuing it for three years ; in fact, until
the whole scheme tumbled about their ears, and brought down
the State to that ruin which all cool, reflecting men, saw from
the first was inevitable.

A special session was again called in 1838-'9. This session
repealed the system, and provided for winding it up. By this
time it became apparent that no more loans could be obtained
at par. The Fund Commissioner, and those appointed to sell
canal bonds, had adopted some ingenious expedients for raising

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 193

money, all of which most signally failed. Upon the creation
of the New York free banking system, a demand was at once
created for State stocks, to set the swindling institutions under
it in motion. The law required a deposit of State stocks of
double the value of circulation and debt, together with a cer-
tain per centage in specie. Our commissioner enabled several
of these swindling banks to start, by advancing Illinois bonds
on a credit, in hopes that when the banks came into repute,
they would receive payment in their notes. These banks all
failed, I believe, in a short time, and the amount they received
was nearly a total loss. Other State bonds, to a large amount,
were left in various places on deposit, for sale, and others again
freely sold on a credit, although the law required ready pay-
ment in cash at par. A large amount was left with Wright
& Co. of London, for sale. Some half a million was sold, and
then Wright & Co. failed, with the money and the residue of
the bonds in their hands.

The residue of the bonds was returned, but the State was ob-
liged to come in as a creditor and share with others in their
estate, for the money received. The State received a few shil-
lings on the pound.

I do not attempt to write a history of all the bungling, illegal
and ill-advised negotiations of our commissioners. I mean to
say enough to show that, at the special session- in 1838-'9, the
legislature was compelled by inevitable necessity to stop the
system. And in fact that nearly the whole people obstinately
shut their eyes to the perception of plain truths, until these
truths burst upon them terrible as an army with banners.

It may be supposed that this revulsion, this disappointment
of cherished hopes, came upon the people with a crushing effect.
It did so. Nevertheless there was but little discontent. The
people looked one way and another with surprise, and were as-
tonished at their own folly. They looked about for some one

194 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

to blame, but there was no one. All were equally to be con-
demned.

It was a maxim with many politicians, just to keep along even
with the humor of the people, right or wrong. Any measure
was to be considered right which was popular for the time be-
ing. The politician felt assured that if he supported a bad meas-
ure when it was popular, or opposed a good one when it was
unpopular, he would never be called to account for it by the
people. It was believed that the people never blame any one
for misleading them ; for it was thought that they had too good
a conceit of themselves to suspect or admit that they could be
misled. A misleader of the people, therefore, thought himself
safe, if he could give present popularity to his measures. In
fact it is true, that a public man will scarcely ever be forgiven
for being right when the people are wrong. New contests, for-
ever occurring, will make the people forget the cause of their
resentment ; but their resentment itself, or rather a prejudice
which it sinks into, will be remembered and felt when the cause
of it is forgotten. It is the perfect knowledge of this fact by
politicians which makes so many of them ready to prostitute
their better judgments to catch the popular breeze ; and so it
will always be, until the people have the capacity and the will
to look into their affairs more carefully. Any reform in this
particular must begin with the people themselves, and not with
politicians. Reformation must work upwards from the people
through the government, and not from the politicians down.
For I still insist, that, as a general thing, the government will
be a type of the people. The following are the ayes and nays
on the passage of the internal improvement system in the House
of Representatives. The names of prominent men are given in
full. Those in favor of it were : Able, Alduch, Atwater, Ball,
Barnett, Charles, Courtright, Craig, John Grain, John Dough-
erty, John Dawson, Stephen A. Douglass, Dunbar, Edmondson,
Nurean W. Edwards, William F. Elkin, Augustus C. French^

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 195

Galbreath, Green of Clay, Green of St. Clair, Hankins, William
W. Happy, Hinshaw, John Hogan, Lagow, Leary, Abram Lin-
coln, IJ". F. Linder, Logan, Lyons, McCormack, John A. Mc-
Clernand, Madden, Morris, Minor, John Moore, Moore of St.
Clair, Morton, Murphy of Perry, Murphy of Vermilion, Joseph
Naper, James H. Ralston, Rawalt, Reddisk, James Shields, Rob-
ert Smith, Smi-th of Wabash, Dan Stone, Stuntz, Turley, Qur-
ney, Voris, Walker of Cook, Walker of Morgan, Watkins, Wil-
son, Wood, and James Semple, the Speaker. Those opposed to
it were : Bently, Milton Carpenter, Cullom, Davis, Dairman,
Dollins, Dubois, English, Enloe, John J. Hardin^ John Harris,
Lane,McCown, William Me Mar try, William A. Minshall, Adam,
O'Neil, Pace, Paullen, William A. Richardson, Stuart, Thomp-
son, Wheeler, Whitten, and Witt. And John Dement and Wil-
liam A. Minshall afterwards voted to concur in the amendments
of the senate.

Of those who voted for the measure on the final passage, or
by concurring with the senate, Messrs. Grain, Dougherty, Daw-
son, Edwards, Elkin, Happy, Hogan, Naper, and Minshall, have
been since often elected or appointed to other offices, and art
yet all of them popular men. Hogan was appointed Commis-
sioner of the Board of Public Works, and run by his party for
Congress ; Moore was elected to the Senate, and to be Lieut.-
Governor, and afterwards Lieut.-Colonel in the Mexican war :
Stone and Ralston were elected to be Circuit Judges — Ralston
afterwards to be a Senator, and then run by his party for Con-
gress ; Linder has been Attorney-General and Member of the
Legislature; Dement has been twice appointed Receiver of
Public Moneys ; Semple, to be Charge des Affaires at New
Grenada, Judge of the Supreme Court, and Senator in Con-
gress ; Shields, to be Auditor, Judge of the Supreme Court,
Commisssioner of the General Land office, and Brigadier- Gen-
eral in the Mexican war ; French was elected Governor in Au-
gust, 1846 ; Lincoln was several times elected to the Legisla-

196 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

ture, and finally to Congress ; and Douglass, Smith, and Mc-
Clernand have been three times elected to Congress, and Doug-
lass to the United States Senate. Being all of them spared
monuments of popular wrath, evincing how safe it is to a poli-
tician, but how disastrous it may be to the country, to keep
along with the present fervor of the people.*

But the only hope now was that the State might not be able
to borrow the money. This was soon taken away ; for the fund
commissioners succeeded in negotiating a loan in the summer
of 1837 ; and before the end of the year the work had begun at
many points on the railroads. The whole State was excited to
the highest pitch of phrenzy and expectation. Money was as
plenty as dirt. Industry instead of being stimulated, actually
languished. We exported nothing ; and everything from abroad
was paid for by the borrowed money expended amongst us.
And if our creditors have found us slow of payment, they have
been justly punished for lending us the money. In doing so,
they disappointed the only hope of the cool, reflecting men of
the State.

At the same time the work was going on upon the canal.
The board of canal commissioners, in pursuance of law, project-
ed a most magnificent work, and completed portions of it in a
manner most creditable to the engineers and contractors. But
here again the spirit of over-calculation did infinite mischief.
The United States in 1826, had donated about 300,000 acres of
land to this work. This land was estimated at the most exag-
gerated price. It was thought that its value was illimitable.
As the fund appeared to be so great, a very large and deep

* These gentlemen have been excused upon the ground that they
were instructed to vote as they did, and that they had every right to
believe that they were truly reflecting the will of their constituents.
But it appears to me that members ought to resign such small offices,
to sacrifice a petty ambition, rather than become the willing tools of a
deluded people, to bring so much calamity upon the country.

HISTORY OP ILLINOIS. 197

canal was projected, to be fed by the waters of Lake Michigan.
Governor Duncan had recommended the commencement of a
steamboat canal, which according to our present experience,
would have cost some $20,000,000, as a means of improving
the navigation of the Illinois river and rendering its shores
more healthy ; and confidently relied upon Congress for addi-
tional appropriations of money or land to complete it. Such a
recommendation from a distinguished source, bewildered and
depraved the public intellect, and contributed in no small de-
gree to form the inflated and bombastic notions which led to
the extravagances of the internal improvement system. The
legislature refused to sanction a steamboat canal ; but neverthe-
less projected the work after a style of grandeur far beyond the
means of the State. Several magnificent canal basins, and a
steamboat canal and basin at the termination on the Illinois,
were provided for. To complete the whole about $9,000,000
would be required. This sum, however, was regarded as a
mere nothing, when compared with the then inflated ideas of
the value of the canal lands. At the session of 1837, there
were already great complaints of mismanagement on the parts
of the banks ; committees were appointed to examine them, but
the examination resulted in no discovery of any importance. The
only thing worthy to be remembered concerning it, is that one
of the committee to examine the Shawneetown Bank, after his
return, being asked what discoveries he had made, verbally re-
ported that he had seen plenty of good liquor in the bank, and
sugar to sweeten it with.

But to return to the internal improvement system. The
fund commissioners, by taking from the principal sums bor-
rowed, managed to pay interest on the State debt until the
meeting of the legislature in 1840. During the interim be-
tween the fall of the system and this meeting there was a terri-
ble contest between the whigs and the democrats, for a Presi-
dent of the United States. Gen. Harrison was the candidate

198 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

on one side, and Mr. Van Buren on the other. Nothing was
heard in this contest but United States Bank, sub-treasury, tariff,
free trade, patriots, friends of the country, spoilsmen, gold
spoons, English carriages, extravagance, defalcations, petticoat-
heroes, aristocrats, coons, log-cabins, and hard cider. Not one
word of our local affairs. Thus was substituted in the public
mind one species of insanity for another, which had worn out ;
and thus it was that both parties cheated themselves into a for-
getfulness of the dreadful condition of the State. For previous
to the explosion of the internal improvement system, a debt
had been contracted for that and the canal of $14,237,348, not
counting the debt to the school fund, or for deposits of surplus
revenues ; all of which was to be paid by a population of 478,-
929, according to the State census of 1840.

And here is a proper place for some further account of politi-
cal parties. In their origin, such parties seem to be founded
partly in the nature of man, and much upon artifice. There is
undoubtedly a difference in the mental and physical constitu-
tion of men, inclining them one way or the other in political at
fairs. Some distrust the people, others confide in their capaci-
ty for self-government. Some prefer a quiet government, others
a stormy turbulence. The condition of men, also, has much to
do with party ; some are poor and lowly as to property, but
proud in their hearts ; others rich and well-born, with a power
to make their pride felt by others. Some are ignorant and
feeble-minded, others shrewd and intelligent ; some are rough
and ill-bred, others polished and graceful. In a word, some
have superior advantages, which create them into a caste of
their own. That portion enjoying these superior advantages,
are apt to look down upon their less-gifted fellow-citizens with
contempt or indifference ; ajid to feel that as they are superior
in some respects, they ought to be in all. They can have but
little patience with the idea that the rabble is to govern the
country. The people in humble condition look up to them

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 199

with resentment and detestation. These remarks are not in-
variably true of either side, but it will be accorded to me that
almost every neighborhood has some one richer than the rest,
who puts on airs of importance, and manifests such a want of
sympathy with his fellows, as to disgust his humbler neighbors ;
amongst whom there are those who, full of ill-nature, look upon
such pretensions with envious resentment* These little big
men, on both sides, of the neighborhood sort, are apt to feel the
most thorough hatred for each other ; their malice often supply-
ing the place of principle and patriotism. They think they are
devoted to a cause, when they only hate an opponent; and the
more thoroughly they hate, the more thoroughly are they par-
tisans. Here originates the hostility between democracy and
aristocracy, as it is said to exist in this country ; and here origin-
ates the feeling of proscription, which is more violent amongst
mere neighborhood politicians, men who never expect an office,
than among politicians who have risen to distinction. The em-
inent politicians on each side frequently feel a liberality, per-
sonally to an adversary, which cannot be- manifested without
losing the confidence of their humbler friends.

And this state of things are kept up by the party newspapers
on each side, the editors of which well know that their most
profitable harvest is during an excited contest. Newspapers
are then more sought for and read ; and then it is that an ed-
itor's funds best support him with money and patronage. It
may be said with truth that a partisan editor is a continual
candidate for the favor of his party ; for which reason, it is his
interest to make political contests interminable. The great
mass of the people, who take newspapers at all, generally con-
tent themselves with one political paper of their own party.
This and no other, except in the towns, they read from week
to week, and from year to year, until they become thoroughly
enlisted in all the quarrels of the editor, and imbued with all
his malice and prejudice ; and thus they become bound up in

200 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

the most ill-natured, narrow-minded, pedantic conceits; fully
convinced that their way, and no other, is right, and that all
persons of the opposite party know it to be so. They feel
assured that their political opponents, and particularly those of
them who are elected to office, are a set of insufferable rogues,
bent upon the enslavement of the people, or the ruin of the
country. The rascality of the whigs, in the opinion of the dem-
ocrats, is to end in enslaving the people, or to transfer the gov-
ernment to some foreign power ; and the rascality of the dem-
ocrats, in the opinion of the whigs, is to ruin the country. It
is probably true that in something like this, is the natural dif-
ference, founded upon which parties will continue to be built,
and that all efforts to get up third parties, not founded upon
this difference, and all efforts to make new and merely tem-
porary issues the permanent foundation of party, must be
abortive.

Some men are attached to one, and some to the other party,
from conviction, interest, or the prejudices of education. I have
already said that there was no question of principle, such as
now divides parties, involved in the first election of Gen. Jack-
son. I speak only of Illinois. But as the measures of Gen.
Jackson's administration were unfolded, it was discovered that
he favored the doctrines of the old republican party. His at-
tack upon the United States Bank, his veto of its charter in
1832, removal of the deposits in 1833, the expunging resolu-
tions, and the specie circular, rallied all to his party who were
of a nature to be hostile to the power of wealth. This is not to
say that all wealthy men were excluded from, or all poor ones
included in the democratic party. Many wealthy persons still
remained democrats from principle, interest, or ambition ; and
many poor men attached themselves to the opposite party for
like reasons. There is a class of the poor, over whom it is
natural for -the wealthy to exercise an influence ; this class most
generally lack the boldness and vigor to think and feel for

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 201

themselves. Some are attached to the " rich and well-born,"
on account of their accomplishments and virtues, and others
find it their interest to adhere to them. And there is always a
class of wealthy men, who from pure benovolence, or from the
love of the importance their wealth gives them as leaders, at-
tach themselves to the democracy. The Jackson party had
long called themselves democrats ; the other party called them-
selves democratic republicans. The democrats began to call
their opponents federalists ; and these opponents, in 1833 or '4,
began to call themselves whigs, a popular name of the rev-
olution. The whigs, to be even with the democrats for call-
ing them federalists, which they greatly resented, about the
year 1837 gave to the democrats the name of locofocos, which
they have persisted in calling the democrats ever since. The
whigs, knowing the influence of mere words in all human affairs,
gave this uncouth name to the democrats, in hopes thereby to
make them ashamed of it, disavow it, and grefer the name of
whig. It has had no effect whatever on elections; but the
whigs still keep it up, as if it had a power in it to blister and
destroy, and no consideration on earth can induce them to re-
linquish it. In all this, there are just two things which are
remarkable. It is remarkable that the whigs, by the mere in-
fluence of the newspapers, without any open agreement, have
from one end of the Union to the other, adopted this name for
their opponents, and have adhered to it now for nine years as
the only name by which their opponents shall be known ; and
it is remarkable that the democratic party should have no
squeamish men in its ranks, to run away from, or be disgusted
with a party having so uncouth a name.

Our old way of conducting elections required each aspirant
for office to announce himself as a candidate. The more pru-
dent, however, always first consulted a little caucus of select,
influential friends. The candidates then travelled around the
county or State, in proper person, making speeches, conversing

202 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

with the people, soliciting votes, whispering slanders against
their opponents, and defending themselves against the attacks
of their adversaries. But it was not always best to defend
against such attacks. A candidate, in a fair way to be elected,
should never deny any charge made against him ; for if he
does, his adversaries will prove all they have said, and much
more. As a candidate did not offer himself as the champion
of any party, he usually agreed with all opinions, and promised
everything demanded by the people ; and most usually prom-
ised, either directly or indirectly, his support to all the other
candidates for office at the same election. One of the arts was,
to raise a quarrel with unpopular men, who were odious to the
people ; and thus try to be elected upon the unpopularity of
others, as well as upon his own popularity. These modes of
electioneering were not true of all the candidates, nor perhaps
half of them, very many of them being gentlemen of first-rate
integrity. t

After party spirit arose so as to require candidates to come
out on party grounds, there was for a time no mode of concen-
trating the action of a party. A number of candidates would
come out for the same office, on the same side. Their party
would be split up and divided between them. In such a case,
the minority party was almost sure of success, this being the
only case in which one is stronger than many. As party spirit
increased more and more, the necessity of some mode of con-
centrating the party strength became more and more apparent.
The large emigration from the old States, bringing with it the
zeal and party organization in which it had been trained from
infancy, gave a new impulse to the consolidation of the strength
of party. An attempt at this was early made by the New
England and New York people living in the north part of the
State, by introducing the convention system of nominating can-
didates.

This system was first tried in counties and districts in the

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 203

north ; but, on account of the frauds and irregularities which
first attended it, small progress was made in it from 1832,
when its introduction was first attempted, until 1840, the peo-
ple generally preferring the election of independent candidates.
In 1837, Judge Douglass was nominated for Congress in the
Peoria district, and in the winter of 1837, Col. James W.
Stephenson was nominated by a State convention as a candi-
date for governor ; and upon his inability to serve, on account
of sickness, Thomas Carlin was nominated in the same way in
the summer of 1838.

At first, the system encountered the furious opposition of the
whigs, who, being in the minority, were vitally interested to
prevent the concentration of the democratic strength. The
western democrats looked upon it with a good deal of suspicion.
It was considered a Yankee contrivance, intended to abridge
the liberties of the people, by depriving individuals, on their
own mere motion, of the privilege of becoming candidates, and
depriving each man of the right to vote for a candidate of his
own selection and choice. The idea of conventions was first
brought into the middle and lower part of the State by Eben-
ezer Peck, Esq., a member of the bar at Chicago, a man of
plausible talents, who had formerly resided in Canada. He
had there been elected to the provincial parliament by the lib-
eral party, in opposition to the ultra monarchy party. But he
had not been long in parliament before the governor of Canada
appointed him King's Counsel, in return for which favor Mr.
Peck left his old friends, to support the ultra monarchists.
His position was an uneasy one ; so, before long, he resigned
his offices and removed to Chicago. Here he attached him-
self to the democratic party, but, on account of his defection in
Canada, anything coming from him was viewed with suspicion
and prejudice by many.

204 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

At a great meeting of the lobby, during the special session
of 1835-'6, at Vandalia, Mr. Peck made the first speech ever
made in the lower part of the State in favor of the convention
system. He was answered by William Jefferson Gatewood,
democratic senator from Gallatin county, and some consider-
able interest was awakened on the subject among politicians
From this time the system won its way slowly, and now all
the candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and members
of Congress, are brought before the people by conventions, and
it pervades two-thirds of the State in nominating candidates for
the legislature.

The system has some advantages and disadvantages in this
country. Those in favor of it say that it furnishes the only
mode of concentrating the action of a party, and giving effect
to the will of the majority. They justly urge, that since the
organization of parties, the old system of electing from per-
sonal preference is carried into each party in the mere selection
of candidates, which distracts the harmony of a party by in-
troducing competition amongst distinguished men for the mere
privilege of becoming candidates, without any means of decid-
ing between them, except at the polls. Accordingly, it is
strictly true that where two or more men of the same party
are candidates, without a nomination, they are apt to hate each
other ten times as intensely as they do the prominent men of
the opposite party. A whig is to be elected by whigs, a demo-
crat by democrats. The success 'of either depends upon the
number and strength of their respective parties ; but an as-
piring whig or democrat has still to seek support in his own
party, in opposition to his own prominent political friends,
by a canvass of his merits as a man. Such being the case, it
is not likely that the ambitious men of the same party, who
are excited against each other by mere personal contests, will

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 205

decline in favor of others, so as to have but a single candidate
for the same office in the same party. Without a nomination,
a party may be greatly in the majority, but by being divided
on men, the minority may succeed in the elections, and actually
govern the majority. To remedy this evil, it was proposed by
conventions of delegates, previously elected by the people, to
provide but a single set of candidates for the same party. It
was also urged by some, that these bodies would be composed
of the best-informed and principal men of a party, and would
be more competent than the people at large, to select good
men for candidates. This body to the people, would be like a
grand jury to a circuit court. As the court would have no
power to try any one for crime without a previous indictment
by the grand jury, so the people would have no right to elect
any one to office without a nomination by a convention. In the
one case innocent men could not be publicly accused and tried
for crime, without a private examination of their guilt, and es-
tablishing a probability of its existence ; so the people would
be restrained from electing any one to office without a previous
nomination of a body more fitted to judge of his qualifications.
The convention system was said to be a salutary restraint
upon universal suffrage, compelling the people to elect men of
standing, who alone could be nominated by conventions.

On the other side, it was urged, that the whole convention
system was a fraud on the people ; that it was a mere fungus
growth engrafted upon the constitution ; that conventions them-
selves were got up and packed by cunning, active, intriguing poli-
ticians, to suit the wishes of a few. The mode of getting them up,
was for some active man to procure a few friends in each precinct
of a- county, to hold primary meetings, where delegates were
elected to county conventions, who met at the county seats, and
nominated candidates for the legislature and for county offices ;
and appointed other delegates to district and State conventions,
to nominate candidates for Congress and for governor. The great

206 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

difficulty was in the primary meetings in the precincts. In the
Eastern States, where conventions originated, they had town-
ship governments, little democracies, where the whole people
met in person at least once a year, to lay taxes for roads and
for the support of schools and the poor. This called the whole
people of a township together, enlightened their minds and ac-
customed them to take a lively interest in their government ;
and whilst assembled they could and did elect their delegates to
conventions. In this mode a convention reflected the will of a
party, as much as the legislature reflected the will of the whole
people. But how is it in Illinois ? We had no township gov-
ernments, no occasions for a general meeting of the people, ex-
cept at the elections themselves ; the people did not attend the
primary meetings ; a few only assembled, who were nearest the
places of meeting, and these were too often mere professional
politicians, the loafers about the towns, who having but little
business of their own, were ever ready to attend to the affairs
of the public. This threw the political power out of the hands
of the people, merely because they would not exercise it, into the
hands of idlers — of a few active men, who controlled them. If
any one desired an office, he never thought of applying to the
people for it ; but passed them by, and applied himself to con-
ciliate the managers and idlers about the towns, many of whom
could only be conciliated at an immense sacrifice of the public
interest. It is true that a party had the reserved right of rebel-
lion against all this machinery ; no one could be punished for
treason in so doing, otherwise than by losing the favor of his
party, and being denounced as a traitor ; which was almost as
efficacious in restraining the refractory as the pains and penal-
ties of treason, the hanging and embowelling of former times.

My own opinion of the convention system is, that it can never
be perfect in Illinois, without the organization of little township
democracies, such as are found in New York and New England ;
that in a State where the people are highly intelligent, and not

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 207

indifferent to public affairs, it will enable the people themselves
to govern, by giving full effect to the will of the majority ; but
among a people who are either ignorant of or indifferent to the
affairs of their government, the convention system is a most ad-
mirable contrivance to enable active leaders to govern without
much responsibility to the people.

By means of the convention system, and many exciting con-
tests, the two parties of whigs and democrats were thoroughly
organized and disciplined by the year 1840. No regular army
could have excelled them in discipline. They were organized
upon the principles of national politics only, and not in any de-
gree upon those of the State. The first effect of this seemed to
be, that all ideas of State rights, State sovereignty, State policy
and interests, as party questions, were abolished out of men's
minds. Our ancestors had greatly relied upon the organization
of State sovereignties, as checks to anti-republican tendencies,
and national consolidation. For this purpose, all the State con-
stitutions, Illinois amongst the rest, had declared, that no person
holding an office under the United States should hold an office
under the State government. The object of this was, to sever
all dependence of the State upon the national government. It
was not permitted the President to appoint the officers of the
State governments, for this would at once lay the State govern-
ments at the feet of the President. But if the State officers
were not appointed by the President, they were elected upon a
principle which made them, if belonging to his political friends,
as subservient to his will as if he had appointed them. The
President was the leader of his party in the nation, and there
was no principle of party in the State but this. Men were
elected to office upon the popularity of the President, and upon
the principles which the President put forth ; and they were
thus compelled, in self-defence, to support and defend him,
through good and evil, right or wrong, as much as if they owed
their offices to his gift. Besides this, their parties absolutely

208 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

required them to do so. It may be remarked here as a curious
fact, that the politicians all over the nation, pretending to be
most in favor of State rights and State sovereignty, have con-
tributed most to overthrow them, by forever insisting upon the
organization of parties, purely upon national questions.

This dependence of State upon national politics, and the ex-
clusive devotion of State politicians to national questions, was
the true cause why so little attention was paid to the policy of
the State. These remarks are equally applicable to both poli-
tical parties. But it is as necessary that the affairs of the United
States should be attended to by the people as those of the State,
and the misfortunes which a neglect of affairs at home has
caused, may possibly have been the price of government in the
nation.

A new legislature was elected in 1840, which, although they
were chosen under the influence of the presidential election of
that year, were obliged to think somewhat upon the public con-
dition. The fund commissioners stated the difficulty of meeting
the January interest of 1841. As yet the canal had not wholly
stopped, and the canal men were interested to keep up the
credit of the State ; and something desperate must be done for
that purpose.

The canal contractors had taken their jobs when all prices
were high. By the fall of prices, they could make a large profit
on their work, and lose twenty-five per cent. They, therefore,
had agreed to take a million of State bonds at par, in payment
of their estimates. Gen. Thornton was deputed to go to Europe
with the bonds, and sell them for what they would bring, not
less than seventy-five per cent.; the contractors suffering the
loss. This they could well afford to do ; and by this expedient
the work on the canal had been continued, long after that on
the railroads had been abandoned. The canal was not yet
looked upon as dead, and a great effort was to be made to raise
the means to keep it in life, and sustain the credit of the State,

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 209

without which it was known that the canal would not live an
hour.

The time was short, only six weeks until the interest would
become due ; and many expedients were proposed to raise the
money ; but the one which met most general favor, was a new
issue of bonds to be hypothecated for whatever they would
bring in market. This was a desperate remedy, and showed
the zeal of the legislature in sustaining the public honor. It
proposed a plan of raising money, which, if pursued as the set-
tled policy of the State, must end in utter ruin. Nevertheless,
it was but feebly opposed on this ground. The principal ground
of opposition was an objection to paying interest at all ; and
particularly to paying interest upon bonds, for which the State
had received nothing, or less than par. Now was heard for the
first time, any very earnest complaints against the acts of the
fund commissioners, in selling bonds on a credit, and for less
than their face ; and it was seriously and earnestly contended,
first, that the State was hopelessly insolvent, that any effort to
pay would be ridiculous and futile, and secondly, that the State
was not bound to pay interest on more money than had been
actually received. An amendment to this effect was offered,
and strenuously insisted on.

On the other hand, it was insisted with reason, that the State
was bound to do everything in its power to meet its engage-
ments ; that if bonds had been erroneously issued, it had been
done by the State agents, selected and chosen by the State it-
self; for whose conduct the State must be responsible. It was
admitted, that if such bonds remained in the hands of the orig-
inal purchasers, as to them the State would be entitled to a
deduction for money not actually received. But it was as
earnestly contended, that if such bonds had passed into the
hands of bonajide holders, who were no parties to the original
deficiency of consideration, the State was liable in equity, as
well as at law, to pay the face of the bond. There seems to be

210 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

an obvious propriety in this view of the case. Because the
bonds were issued by State agents, appointed by the State, not
by its creditors. The constituted authorities of the State ought
to have chosen better men for public trusts ; and if they did not
do so, the State is justly responsible for their blunders. Tt
seems to be a principle of law, as well as of equity, that if the
State selects bad men, or those who are incompetent to act as
its agents, the State thus abusing its power, and not individuals
who had no hand in their appointment, ought to suffer the con-
sequences of its folly, or want of devotion to its own interests.
This doctrine, if established, will be a lesson to the people, and
teach them to be considerate and careful in electing their public
servants.

These conflicting opinions were near preventing any action
on the subject at this session. At last, Mr. Cavarly, a member
from Greene, introduced a bill of two sections, authorizing the
fund commissioner to hypothecate internal improvement bonds
to the amount of $300,000, and which contained the remarkable
provision, that the proceeds were to be applied by that officer
to the payment of all interest legally due on the public debt.
Thus shifting from the General Assembly, and devolving on
the fund commissioner, the duty of deciding on the. legality of
the debt. And by this happy expedient conflicting opinions
were reconciled, without direct action on the matter of contro-
versy ; and thus the two houses were enabled to agree upon a
measure to provide temporarily for the payment of the interest
on the public debt. The legislature further provided at this
session for the issue of interest bonds, to be sold in the market
for what they would bring ; and an additional tax of ten cents
on the hundred dollars worth of property was imposed and
pledged to pay the interest on these bonds. By these contriv-
ances the interest for January and July, 1841, was paid. The
fund commissioner hypothecated internal improvement bonds
for the money first due ; and his successor in office, finding no

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 211

sale for Illinois stocks, so much had the credit of the State fallen,
was compelled to hypothecate $804,000 of interest bonds for
the July interest ; on this hypothecation he was to have received
$321,600, but was never paid more than $261,500. These
bonds have never been redeemed from the holders, though
eighty of them were afterwards repurchased, and $315,000 of
them were received from the Shawneetown Bank for State stock
in that institution.

CHAPTER VII.

Reform of the Supreme Court— Chief Justice Wilson— Justices Lockwood and Brown-
Secretary ot State and alien questions — Alexander P. Field — John A. McClernand
— Decision of the Supreme Court — Popular excitement — Decision of a Circuit Judge
on the alien question — Commotion among the Democrats — Suspicious of the Supreme
Court — Mode of deciding political questions — Mode of reforming the Court — Vio-
lence of the measure — Reluctance of some Democrats — Obstinacy of others — How
a politician must work in a party — Judge Douglass' speech in the lobby — Evasive
decision of the Court — Judge Smith's intrigues and character— Passage of the bill —
Motives of both parties — Prejudice against the Supreme Court — Moral power with
the people of the Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts — Breaking of the banks
^—Causes which lead to it — Bank suspensions — Power of the State Bank over the
Legislature — Special session — Struggle to forfeit the Bank Charters — Whigs secede
—Call of the House— Jumping out of the windows— Democratic victory— Thrown
away before the end of the session — New suspensions— Small bills — Fierceness of
parties against each other— Views of both parties concerning banking, and of each
other.

THERE were other measures of great interest to the people
which came before the legislature of 1840, the principal of
which was a bill to reform the Judiciary.

The people of the State, at the election of 1840, had sustain-
ed Mr. Van Buren, the democratic candidate for President, and
both branches of the legislature were largely of the same party.
The majority of the judges of the supreme court were whigs.
Judge Smith was the only democratic member of the court,
whilst Chief Justice Wilson, and his associates Lockwood and
Brown, were of the minority party. It is due to truth here to
say, that Wilson and Lockwood were in every respect amiable
and accomplished gentlemen in private life, and commanded the
esteem and respect of all good men for the purity of their con-
duct and their probity in official station. Wilson was a Virgin-
ian of the old sort, a man of good education, sound judgment,
and an elegant writer, as his published opinions will show.

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 213

Lockwood was a New-Yorker. He was an excellent lawyer, a
man of sound judgment, and his face indicated uncommon pur-
ity, modesty, and intelligence, together with energy and strong
determination. His face was the true index of his character.
Brown was a fine, large, affable, and good-looking man, a toler-
able share of tact and good sense, a complimentary, smiling
and laughing address to all men, and had been elected and con-
tinued in office upon the ground that he was believed to be a
clever fellow. Two great political questions had been brought
before this court, one of which they decided contrary to the
views and wishes of the democratic party, and the other ques-
tion was yet pending, but it was believed would be decided in
the same way.

These were the questions : When Governor Carlin was elect-
ed in 1838, he claimed the power to appoint a new Secretary
of State. Alexander P. Field was the old Secretary. He had
been appointed by Governor Edwards ten years before, and had
been continued in office without any new appointment under
both Reynolds and Duncan. He was a whig, and Gov. Carlin
was a democrat ; and as the Secretary of State is not only a
public officer, but a sort of confidential helper and adviser of the
executive, Gov. Carlin claimed the right of selecting this officer
for himself, and from his own party. The governor nominated
to the senate Mr. McClernand of Gallatin county. The whigs
of the senate, and some democrats, enough to constitute the ma-
jority, decided that the tenure of the office might be defined and
limited by the legislature, but that until they did so the Secre-
tary could not be removed and a new one appointed. The gov-
ernor and his friends contended that he had the power of re-
moval and appointment at all times, to be exercised at his dis-
cretion. The governor made five or six different nominations,
all of which were rejected by the senate.

After the legislature adjourned, the governor again appointed
Mr. McClernand, who demanded the office of the old Secretary

214 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

of State, and was refused. Mr. McClernand then sued out his
writ, to try his right to the office. The question was taken to
the supreme court, and decided against him by Wilson and
Lockwood ; Judge Smith dissenting, and Judge Brown giving
no opinion, on account of relationship to Mr. McClernand. This
at the time was supposed to be a great question. The ablest
counsel in the State were employed, and the decision of the
judge is elaborated to such a degree, as to show their opinion
of its consequences. The decision raised a great flame of excite-
ment, and the democrats contended that the odious doctrine of
life-officers had been established by it. In 1840, the governor
found no difficulty in getting his nomination confirmed. The
senate was now largely democratic, probably caused by this de-
cision of the court. But the other great question was still pend-
ing ; and a fear that it might be decided against the democrats,
determined that party to reform the Judiciary.

The Constitution provides that all free white male inhabitants,
over the age of twenty-one years, who have resided in the State
for six months, shall be entitled to vote at all general and
special elections. The whigs had long contended that this pro-
vision did not authorize any but citizens to vote ; whilst the
practice had been, ever since the Constitution was formed, to
allow all to vote, whether citizens or aliens, who had been in the
State six months. This question had been much talked of and
canvassed in every part of the State. It produced much
excitement, as it naturally would when two great parties were
arrayed on it, and when it was believed by both parties that
the alien vote in the State was sufficient to decide the elections.

In this state of the case, two whigs of Galena made an agreed
cause to be decided by the circuit court. It was not argued on
either side, and the judge, who was a whig, decided that aliens
were not entitled to vote. This was all done so quietly, that
it was near passing without notice. But when the decision was
published, it threw the leaders of the democratic party into

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 215

perfect consternation. By this time the alien vote was sup-
posed to be about 10,000 strong, nine-tenths of which was
democratic.

The leaders of the party took measures to carry the case to
the supreme court. Numerous and able counsel on each side
had been heard on it there in December, 1839, and it was con-
tinued until the following June. It was universally believed,
from certain intimations, that a majority of the judges had deter-
mined to decide against the aliens. In June, the democratic
lawyers succeeded in finding an imperfection in the record,
which caused another continuance until December, 1840, and
until after the presidential election. This was thought to be a
great feat of dexterity and management, as by that means the
alien vote was secured at all events for one more election, and
more particularly for the presidential election of that year. In
this, as well as in the other case of the Secretary of State, I
think the whigs were clearly wrong. It is a principle in all
our constitutions, that the appointing power, when exercised by
a single person, or by a body of men who can conveniently
act, must necessarily possess the power of removal from office ;
and, in the other case, it was equally clear that the word in-
habitant must mean an alien as well as a citizen. But it was
also alleged that this provision of our constitution, if construed
to allow an unnaturalized alien to vote, would come in conflict
with the Constitution of the United States, which gives to Con-
gress the power of passing uniform naturalization laws. It was
contended, that as no foreigners by those laws could be natu-
ralized without a residence in the country for five years, the
State could not confer the elective franchise upon one who had
resided in it only six months. The obvious answer to all this
is, that the Constitution of the United States was never intended
to give Congress the power of interfering with the right of
suffrage. If it had contained such a provision, so various were
the different State Constitutions on this subject at the time it

216 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

was adopted, and so jealous were the States of their sovereignty,
that the Constitution of the United States would never have been
ratified. Besides this, citizenship alone was never construed in
any State to confer the elective franchise ; there being many
citizens in every State, in some more and in others less, who
were not allowed to vote. And it seemed to be a legitimate
and unanswerable argument, that if citizenship alone did not
confer the right of voting, the want of it alone could not take
it away.

However, it was believed that the whig judges, right or
wrong, would decide with their party. And here I would re-
mark, that the highest courts are but indifferent tribunals for
the settlement of great political questions, supposing such set-
tlement no longer to rest on physical force, but to rely for its
authority upon the conviction of the public judgment. In this
sense, such questions can never be settled except by the con-
tinued triumph of one party over the other, in which case the
minority yields, from despair of success. The judges are but
men. In all the great questions which arise, and which divide
the people into parties, they will never fail to have their pre-
conceived opinions, as well as others, and those opinions must
necessarily be biased by their political predilections. But it is
said that party men and politicians ought not to be judges of
the courts. It would be better, if this were possible. At a
time when the whole people are divided and convulsed by the
agitation and discussion of great party measures and principles,
it would be strange indeed if gifted and talented men could be
found with a power of thought making them fit for the office,
and yet who have never formed any opinions on such subjects.
The most that the judge can do to disarm the public or party
prejudice, is to conceal his opinions ; but the knowing persons
of the opposite party are no less certain that he has them.
It may, therefore, be said of the ablest and best judges, those
most celebrated for dispensing equity and justice in common

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 217

cases between individuals, that when any great political ques-
tion on which parties are arrayed comes up for decision, the
utmost which can be expected of them is, an able and learned
argument in favor of their own party, whose views they must
naturally favor, for the very reason that they prefer one party
to the other. Such a decision, therefore, can never be satisfac-
tory to the opposite party, which well knows that if the judges
had been of a different political complexion, the decision would
have been otherwise. And, therefore, no such party decisions,
not based upon the power of majorities of the people, can ever
be a satisfactory settlement of this description of questions.

As I have said before, the legislature in 1835 had created
circuit courts, and elected circuit judges, the number of whom
had by this time increased to nine. The plan of reform now
was to abolish these courts, repeal the judges out of office, and
create five additional judges of the supreme court, all of whom
were required to hold circuit courts in place of the circuit
judges repealed out of office. This arrangement would give
the democratic party a majority of two to one on the Supreme
bench. The measure was introduced into the Senate by Adam
W. Snyder, a senator from St. Clair county ; a district contain-
ing a larger foreign vote than any other in the State. A long
and violent struggle ensued; and at times it was doubtful
whether it would pass. It was confessedly a violent and some-
what revolutionary measure, and could never have succeeded
except in times of great party excitement. The contest in the
Presidential election of 1840 was of such a turbulent and fiery
character, and the dominant party in this State had been so
badly defeated in the nation at large, by the election of Gen.
Harrison, that they were more than ever inclined to act from
motives of resentment and a feeling of mortification. The
dominant party therefore came to the work thirsting for re-
venge, as well as with a determination to leave nothing undone
to secure their power in this State at least. Notwithstanding

218 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

this disposition on the part of the democracy, many members
of the legislature belonging to that party, were drawn to the
support of the measure with a great deal of difficulty ; others
opposed it outright, and upon no terms, and with no appliances
of party machinery and discipline, could be brought to support
it. The fate of some of these democrats affords a melancholy
lesson. They were denounced by their friends and turned over
to the whigs. But, so far as I know, they have ever since been
found acting with the party, though they have never been able
to recover its confidence. The excitement has gone by ; the
party itself has been pretty generally convinced that the sys-
tem then adopted, ought to be abandoned ; that the supreme
court ought to be constituted as it was before ; yet these demo-
crats, many of them, are still under the ban ; so true it is, that
in all party matters, a breach of discipline, a rebellion against
leaders, is regarded as infinitely more offensive than the mere
support of wicked or unwise measures, or opposition to good
ones. A party never holds its members to account for sup-
porting the worst sort of measures, or opposing the best ones,
unless the leaders have made them the test of fidelity to party ;
but wo to him whose conscience is so tender that he cannot
support, or opposes the measures decreed by his party. Wo to
him who is guilty of a breach of discipline, or who rebels
against leaders. In all matters of party, there are two things
to be considered ; the principles of the party and its discipline.
A man may hold all the principles of the party, but if he does
not harmonize with its organization, he will not be considered
as belonging to it. And he will be allowed much of his natural
liberty to think for himself, and be forgiven much defection of
principle, if he will only obey leaders, and work in the party
harness. A party may entirely change its principles and meas-
ures whenever the great leaders say the word ; but if it still
keeps up the same organization and name, and has the same
leaders, no member is to doubt but that it is the same party it

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 219

was before. The privilege of changing principles and measures
is only the privilege of the great leaders, upon consultation and
agreement with the lesser ones ; and then all the lesser leaders
and members of the party can safely follow in the change. But
wo to the presumptuous small leader, who sets up to change on
his own account ; or who undertakes to differ with his great
leaders on the adoption of new measures, not before thought of
in former contests. This, gentle reader, is government by moral
means ; and it seems, in the present state of civilization, that
without this kind' of government, imperfect and abhorrent to
the freedom of thought as it may be, we are to have our choice
between anarchy and a government of stern force. In the
democratic party, such rebellious, free-thoughted, independent
little leaders, in the slang language of the day, are called
" tender-footed democrats" and finally, no democrat, at all ; and
this I believe to be the case with the other party whenever they
have the majority.

The bill was finally passed through both houses, and returned
by the council of revision with their objections ; but was again
re-passed through both houses, in the Senate by a large majori-
ty, in the House by a majority of one vote. By this means the
new Secretary of State was secured in his office, and the demo-
cratic party were secured in the continued support of the alien
vote ; for all the new judges elected at this session, were as
thoroughly satisfied of the right of each governor to appoint his
own Secretary of State, and of the right of alien inhabitants to
vote, as the whig judges could be to the contrary.

During the pendency of this question before the legislature,
the whig judges decided the alien case from Galena. They,
however, did not decide the main question. The case went off
upon another point, which it was charged by the democrats
that the whig judges had hunted up on .purpose to dispose of
the case, without deciding it, in the hope that when the domi-
nant party could see that they were no longer threatened with

220 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

a decision contrary to their wishes, they would abandon their
reform measure. This charge was boldly made by Judge
Douglass, in a speech in the lobby of the House, one evening
after an adjournment. Douglass had been one of the counsel
for the aliens ; and it appeared from his speech, that he and
Judge Smith had been in constant communication in relation to
the progress of the case. Judge Smith (I regret to say it of a
man who is no more) was an active, bustling, ambitious, and
turbulent member of the democratic party. He had for a long
time aimed to be elected to the United States Senate ; his de-
vices and intrigues to this end had been innumerable. In fact,
he never lacked a plot to advance himself, or to blow up some
other person. He was a laborious and ingenious schemer in
politics ; but his plans were always too complex and ramified
for his power to execute them. Being always unsuccessful him-
self, he was delighted with the mishaps alike of friends and ene-
mies ; and was ever chuckling over the defeat or the blasted
hopes of some one. In this case he sought to gain credit with
the leading democrats, by the part he took, and affected to take,
in the alien case, as he had before in the case of the Secretary
of State. He it was who privately suggested to counsel the
defect in the record which resulted in the continuance in June,
1840 ; and during the whole time the case was pending, with
the same view he was giving out to Douglass and others, the
probable opinion of the court. He affirmed that the judges at
one term all had their opinions written ready to deliver, and
all but himself deciding against the aliens ; and that the case
would have been so decided, if he had not discovered the afore-
said defect in the record. Upon his authority Douglass de-
nounced the court, and brought all these charges against the whig
judges, and endeavored to make it appear that they had now
only evaded a decision fpr the time being, in the vain hope of
stopping the career of the legislature. The judges, on their part,
denied all these charges; and Judge Smith uniting with the

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 221

whig judges, published their denial in the Sangamon Journal
newspaper, at Springfield. Douglass was immediately sus-
tained as to the statements of Judge Smith, by the published
letters of a half dozen other gentlemen of veracity, to whom
Judge Smith had made similar statements.

But allowing all that was said to be true, and there is now
no doubt that the whole of it was false, it is feared that if the
right mode of reformation had been adopted, the legislature
would have punished an offence which they had themselves
caused the court to commit. The judges may possibly have
feared being put upon the laborious duty of holding circuit
courts, from which they had been relieved for several years ;
and they may have supposed that the reform measure, as it was
called, would be put an end to, as soon as the democrats ceased
to fear a decision against them in the alien case. If they thought
so, they had but little knowledge of the spirit and genius of
party. The democrats, by a thorough change in the constitu-
tion of the court, desired to obtain full security for the future.
Independent of this, when a measure once becomes a party
measure, it cannot be suddenly abandoned. And besides this,
again, a party scarcely ever stops at the accomplishment of its
wishes, unless brought about by its own favorite measures, and
by something that it has done itself. I have more than once
known a party to persist in urging a measure, long after its
wishes had been accomplished by other means.

Ever since this reforming measure, the judiciary has been
unpopular with the democratic majorities. Many and most of
the judges have had great personal popularity ; so much so as
to create complaint of so many of them being elected or ap-
pointed to other offices. But the bench itself has been the sub-
ject of bitter attacks by every legislature since. The two houses
have almost come to the opinion, that as they are numerous
bodies, fresh from the people every two and four years, the
other departments of the government, the executive and judi-

222 HISTORY OP ILLINOIS.

clary, are mere excrescences on the body politic, which ought
to be pruned away. As to Judge Smith, he made nothing by
all his intrigues. By opposing the reform bill, he fell out and
quarrelled with the leaders of his party. He lost the credit he
had gained by being the democratic champion on the bench,
and failed to be elected to the United States Senate ; and was
put back to the laborious duty of holding circuit courts. Thus
bringing upon himself, by his active efforts to destroy the char-
acter and influence of the court of which he was a member, the
just desert of his conduct.

The judges of the supreme court had been withdrawn from
holding circuit courts for six years ; consequently they had lost
their political influence, which now attached itself to the circuit
judges, who had a better opportunity of becoming acquainted
and making friends among the people. The supreme court, as
a co-ordinate branch of government, had become weak ; so true
is it, that the actual power to be exercised by either branch of
government, depends less upon the powers conferred in the
Constitution, than upon the moral power of popularity and in-
fluence with the people and their representatives. For this
reason, many believed it to be necessary to restore the judges
of the supreme court to circuit duties, in order to give political
vigor to the judiciary department ; so as to enable them to act
with independence, and thus preserve the balances of the con-
stitution.

No further attempt was made after July, 1841, to pay inter-
est on the public debt. For want of full knowledge of her
condition abroad, and of the condition of other new States, in
a short time Illinois, and some others in the west, became a
stench in the nostrils of the civilized world. The people at
home began to wake up in terror ; the people abroad who wish-
ed to settle in a new country, avoided Illinois as they would
pestilence and famine ; and there was great danger that the fu-
ture emigrants would be men who, having no regard for their

HISTORY OP ILLINOIS. 223

own characters, would also liave none for that of the State where
they might live. The terrors of high taxation were before all
eyes, both at home and abroad. Every one at home wanted to
sell his property and move away, and but few, either at home
or abroad, wanted to purchase. The impossibility of selling,
kept us from losing population ; and the fear of disgrace or
high taxes, prevented us from gaining materially.

To add to the general calamity and terror of the people, in
February, 1842, the State Bank, with a circulation of three mil-
lions of dollars, finally exploded with a great crash, carrying
wide-spread ruin all over the State, and into the neighboring
States and territories. In June following, the bank at Shawnee-
town " followed in the footsteps of its illustrious predecessor,"
leaving the people almost entirely without a circulating medium.
The paper of these two banks had been at a discount for spe-
cie ever since the United States refused to receive it for the
public lands, and to make the banks depositories of the public
moneys. At first the discount was small, two or three per
cent., but in two or three years advanced to twelve and fifteen
per cent., and then came the crash. The banks, however, man-
aged to make their paper the standard of par ; and specie, and
other paper of less credit, was above or below par. The dis-
count was sufficient, for three years before, to banish all good
money from circulation ; so that when the banks failed, the
people were left without money until supplied by the course of
trade, which, in a country so little commercial as Illinois at
that time, was a slow process. When I came into office in 1842,
I estimated that the good money in the State, in the hands of
the people, did not exceed one year's interest on the public debt.

That which contributed the last spark to the explosion of
the State Bank, was the course of some of the State directors,
who were contractors to finish the northern cross railroad, and
who were to be paid in canal bonds, which at the time were
unsaleable. These interested parties, joining with others in the

224 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

directory, established it as a principle, that the bank could not
issue an excess of its paper whilst in a state of suspension.
This they did to get loans from the bank to carry on their
work on the road ; and having obtained money themselves upon
this principle, they were obliged to vote loans to all others.
But experience soon showed that the principle was false, for no
sooner was more paper put into circulation than could be sus-
tained by the business of the country, than the bank exploded.
It may be added to this, that the State Bank, to obtain favor
from the legislature, was compelled to make loans to the State,
and to advance its bills for auditor's warrants for a large amount,
to defray the ordinary expenses of government ; the revenues
being again insufficient, and the legislature afraid to increase
the taxes. When I came into office, the State owed the bank,
on this account, two hundred and ninety-four thousand dollars.

A somewhat similar connection with the State assisted much
to break the Shawneetown Bank. That bank was first induced
to lend the State about $80,000 to finish the State House ; and
in September, 1839, upon the recommendation and urgent re-
quest of Governor Carlin, and upon his promise to deposit
$500,000 in internal improvement bonds, as collateral security,
which promise was never performed, the bank was induced to
lend the Commissioners of Public Works the further sum of
$200,000, which was never repaid to it.*

Upon the whole, we have heard much said by demagogues
about our swindling banks ; but it would be an easy matter to
show, that if the banks had swindled only one quarter as much
as they have been swindled by the State, and by individuals,
they would have been perfectly solvent, and able to pay every
dollar of their debt ; and what is most remarkable is, that
those who have swindled the banks most, are the most loud in
their cries against them for swindling.

As I have elsewhere said, these banks first suspended specie
* See reports of House of Representatives, 1842-3, pages 203, '4, '6.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 225

payments in the spring of 1837. In that year, the suspension
was legalized to save the canal and internal improvement sys-
tem. I do not know the reason why this favor was continued
by the session of 1838-'9, or any of the following sessions until
1841. But I do know that all, or nearly all, of the leading
democrats opposed the measure. This was a new manifestation
of hostility on the part of the democrats to these banks ; and
this, again, was cause enough to rally the main body of the
whigs in their favor ; and this, again, was of immense advan-
tage to the banks in sustaining their credit. The merchants and
business men all over the country were mostly whigs. They
believed that the banks were unjustly persecuted by the demo-
crats, that they were perfectly solvent, and that all the objec-
tions of the democrats amounted to no more than senseless clamor.
In the meantime the State Bank had been made the deposit-
ory of the State revenues. The collectors had been required
to pay the revenues arising from taxation into this bank, as into
the public treasury. All auditors' warrants were drawn upon
the bank, which were paid in its own paper. In this mode the
legislature and all public officers were paid in the paper of the
bank ; for, as nothing better was paid in, nothing better could
be paid out. This gave the bank a decided advantage over the
legislature. It was in the power of the bank to send the mem-
bers home without their pay, except in auditors' warrants, at
fifty per cent, discount, unless something should be done to sus-
tain the credit of its paper. This lever, and a few opportune
loans to some democrats, together with the aid of the whigs,
commanded relief at the session of 1841. This session was
called two weeks earlier than usual, for the purpose of provid-
ing means to pay the interest on the public debt, becoming due
in January, 1841. The democrats contended that this early com-
mencement was a special session, and that the regular session
must be commenced anew, on the first Monday of December
following the first meeting. The whigs contended that the two

10*

226 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

sessions only made one, and refused to support a sine die ad-
journment on the Saturday preceding the first Monday in De-
cember. This was then supposed to be a very vital question.
The democrats supposed that such an adjournment would put
an end to the banks, as the previous law had provided for a re-
sumption of specie payments before the adjournment of the
next session of the general assembly, or otherwise they were to
forfeit their charters. This was a session of much bitterness and
personal hatred. The democrats came up from the people in-
flamed with the highest degree of resentment against the banks
and the judiciary ; and the whigs came with an equal hatred of
the democrats, and a firm determination, as a general thing, to
oppose whatever the democrats might favor. I believe it is a
principle of all great political parties, that they cannot be very
far wrong if they disagree to everything proposed by their ad-
versaries. The whigs took ground in favor of the banks, the
democrats against them. The question was on the sine die ad-
journment of the special session. The whigs saw that the ad«
journment would carry. To defeat it, they began to absent
themselves from the house, so as not to leave a quorum. A
call of the house was made, and its officers were sent out to
bring in and secure the attendance of the absent members. The
doors were closed to prevent further escapes, but nevertheless
some of the whigs jumped out of the windows, but not enough
to defeat the purpose of the dominant party. The session was
adjourned, and, according to the views of the democrats, the
banks were at an end. The bank party had been defeated, and
the democracy had obtained at last a great and glorious victory.
But the victory could not be secured ; for before the end of the
regular session in December the banks obtained a further priv-
ilege of suspension, and the State Bank obtained an additional
privilege which had never been granted to it before, that of issu-
ing one, two, and three-dollar notes. So much for a democratic
victory. This privilege of issuing small notes, it was thought, -

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 227

would aid the banks in making an earlier resumption. They
immediately flooded the country with small notes in place of
the large ones. This banished the silver dollar from circulation.
It destroyed the specie basis all over the country, and made it
impossible for the banks to increase their stock of precious met-
als except by purchase. All deposits and payments were made
in the only circulation then in the country. The banks might
lose specie, but they could not increase it. I think I hazard no-
thing in saying that this privilege of issuing small notes did as
much mischief to the banks themselves as it did to the people
at large.

During the whole of this long and angry contest, the whigs
accused the democrats of making war upon the commerce and
the currency of the country. These banks were termed the in-
stitutions of the country, and war upon them, in the language
of the whigs, was war upon the institutions of the country. In
whig estimation, the democrats were disloyal, destructive, and
opposed to government. The whigs, in the estimation of the
democrats, were a set of bank vassals, and were frequently call-
ed by the democrats, the ragocracy. The presidents and direct-
ors of banks were called rag-barons ; bank paper was called
bank rags, and written or printed lies ; whilst the whole body
of the whig party were, from an excess of hatred, termed the
British-bought, Bank, blue-light, federal, whig party.

Our whig friends contended that the continual and violent op-
position of the democrats to the banks destroyed confidence ;
which, by-the-bye, could only exist when the bulk of the people
were under a delusion and believed in a falsehood. According
to their views, if the banks owed five times as much as they
were able to pay, and the people owed to each other and to the
banks more than they were able to pay, and yet if the whole
people could be persuaded to believe the incredible falsehood,
that all were able to pay, this was " confidence," which, if once
destroyed, could only be restored by the restoration of a sim-
ilar general delusion.

CHAPTER VIII.

Progress of settlements — Colleges — Education — Society — Religion — Literature — John M.
Peck— James Hall— John Russell— Newspapers— Effects of speculation— Plenty of
money — Credit — Debts — Usury — High rates of interest — History of mobs— Alton —
Mob— Lovejoy — Abolitionists — Mobs in Pope county — Mobs in the north— Ogle
county mob— Cause of mobs in free countries— Jo Smith— Origin of the Mormons—
Their settlement in Missouri— Troubles there— Settlement in Ohio— Kirtland Bank-
Mormons return to Missouri — Mormon war there — Expulsion from Missouri — Settle-
ment of the Mormons in Illinois — Politics of the Mormons — Martin Van Buren —
Henry Clay— John J. Stuart— Doctor Bennett— Senator Little— Stephen A. Douglass
— Mormon charters— Nauvoo legion — Popular clamor against the Mormons — Arrest
of Jo Smith— Trial before Judge Douglass— Nomination of Mr. Snyder as the demo-
cratic candidate for Governor — Governor Duncan again a candidate— The Mormons
declare for the democrats — Governor Duncan attacks the Mormons and the Mormon
charters— Death of Snyder— His character— Nomination of the author in his place-
Reasons for this nomination — Further examination into the practical operations of
government — Election of the author — The Governor, Auditor and Treasurer forbid
the receipt of Bank paper for taxes— Condition of the State in 1842.

BY the year 1840, the whole State had been settled, except
some of the wide prairies far from timber. There was no longer
any more wilderness. The country in Henry county, though
as good as any other part of the State, I believe was the last to
be settled in 1838. Several colleges and academies had been
built and were in successful operation. The Illinois college, at
Jacksonville, under the direction of the Presbyterians, was
built by an association of gentlemen of Boston. Shurtliff col-
lege at Alton, was established under the direction of the Bap-
tists ; McKendree college at Lebanon, under the direction of
the Methodists ; and McDonough college at Macomb, and Knox
college, at Galesburg, were established also by the Presbyte-
rians. The Catholics established a flourishing nunnery at the
ancient town of Kaskaskia for the education of females ; Bishop

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 229

Chase, with the aid of contributions from the members of the
Episcopal church and others, established Jubilee college in
Peoria county; and the Methodists established a flourishing
seminary at Mount Morris, in the county of Ogle. Beside
these there were numerous academies and high schools in many
parts of the State. Opportunities for education in the higher
branches were good for all who were able and willing to profit
by them. Common schools flourished in many places, more
than could have been expected, when all efficient encourage-
ment to them had been abandoned by the Government.

Chicago, Alton, Springfield, Quincy, Galena, and Nauvoo,
had become cities before the year 1842. To these has since
been added the city of Peoria. Most of the county seats had
grown up to be towns of from five to fifteen hundred inhabit-
ants ; and there were many other villages in many of the coun-
ties containing a population of from one hundred to a thousand
souls. The towns contained a good deal of intelligence, polish,
and eloquence. It must not be thought that the people of this
new country had just sprung up out of the ground, with no ad-
vantages of education and society. They were nearly all of
them emigrants from the old States, being often the most in-
telligent and enterprising of their population. As such, they
were just a slice off of the great loaf of the old States. But
they were not apt to be so considered by the latest comers.
These always imagined that they were come to a land of com-
parative ignorance, and that they must necessarily be superior
to the people already here, until they were convinced to the
contrary by finding out that their pretensions had made them
ridiculous ; and if their pretensions were noticed at all, it was
only to be laughed at. It was no uncommon thing to find
families of these last new comers scattered all over the country,
forever complaining of the want of good society ; and of the
many privations they endured in a new country. These com-
plaints were uttered, not so much because they were true, as to

230 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

let people know that those who made them, were somebodies
where they came from. The same kind of people to show
themselves off as something superior to others, were forever
uttering sarcasms and slighting remarks of the State and the
people. It was no uncommon thing to find them in all the
taverns, stages-coaches and steamboats, letting on, that although
their destiny compelled them to live in the State, yet they
knew how degraded the rest of the people were as well as he
who resided in a city, or lived in a palace. Indeed, the bodies
only of a great many people and not their minds lived in the
State. It was difficult to forget the father-land. Most of the
emigrants remembered New York, or New England, or their
other places of nativity, with affection and lively interest. A
man from Massachusetts took a newspaper from his native
town, he watched the progress of politics, the success of men
and parties, and the history of government there, with as much
interest as if he had never removed. And so of the emigrants
from other States. It was natural it should be so. But whilst
it was so, it is to be feared that matters suffered at home.
There was but little State pride for Illinois. Illinois could be
abused anywhere with impunity. I hope yet to live to see the
day in Illinois, as it is in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, South
Carolina, New York, and New England, that no one will be
suffered to abuse the State without being scorned and insulted.
It is true that a State pride must be deserved before it can
exist. The people must have something to be proud of. The
State will never really prosper without this State pride. It is
the greatest incentive to excellence in government, and in every-
thing else, for the people to be proud of their country.*

* It seems to me that the people of Illinois may now justly be proud
of their State. They have with great unanimity put down the hideous
monster of repudiation ; contrary to the instigations of numerous dema-
gogues they have submitted cheerfully to be taxed to pay their just
debts ; they are about to see their canal, one of the greatest works in

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 231

As new people came in they brought with them their religion
and literature. Churches now began to be rapidly established
in the towns, and in many country places. Pastors were regu-
larly settled and paid ; church buildings were erected, divided
off into pews, and the sound of the " church-going bell" began
to be heard. It soon become fashionable to attend some church,
and constant' attendance induced many to join as members.

During the previous period of our history, our literature was
principally confined to mere newspaper writing, which discuss-
ed mostly the mere affairs of party, or the claims of some man
to an office ; or the demerit of an opponent. John M. Peck,
of Rock Spring, in St. Glair county, published a State Gazetteer,
a work of considerable labor and well written. John Russell,
of Bluff Dale, published some fugitive essays and tales in the
newspapers, which marked him as a man of genius and a fine
writer ; and Judge James Hall early distinguished himself as a
scholar and writer. He published at Vandalia, an Illinois
monthly magazine of high merit ; and an annual called " the
Western Souvenir," a collection of original tales and poetry,
written principally by himself, evincing such merit as to make
him distinguished all over the United States, as an author. But
there was not sufficient patronage in Illinois at that time for the
pursuits of literature ; so Judge Hall removed to Cincinnati,

America, completed. Their legislatures have improved in knowledge,
public spirit and patriotism, ever since 1840 ; which was about the
darkest time in public affairs, And when the services of her sons were
called for in the Mexican war, 8,370 of them in a few weeks answered
the call, though only 3,720 (four regiments) could be taken. Every
one of these regiments afterwards distinguished themselves for unheard-
of courage in the severest battles ever fought on this continent. Har-
din, Bissell, Weatherford, Morrison, Trail, Warren, are proud names as-
sociated with the glorious victory of Buena Vista. Shields, Baker,
Harris, Coffey, and others, will be remembered as long as the capture
of Vera Cruz, or the storming of Cerro Gordo, are remembered. What
did Kentucky ever do more than this ?

232 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

where he now resides. But before he left Illinois he had ac
quired a high reputation as a writer.

The great plenty of money brought here by the work on the
canal and the railroads, set up a great many merchants all over
the country in business ; it increased the stocks of goods brought
to be sold; created unnatural competition amongst the mer-
chants to sell ; who were forced to sell on a credit or not at all.
The people were encouraged to buy on credit, and when their
debts became due, for want of money to pay them, they gave
their notes to the merchants with twelve per cent, interest,
which the reader will observe hereafter was the cause of some
strange legislation on the collection of debts, and caused the
reduction of the rate of interest to six per cent. Until the year
1833, there had been no legal limit to the rate of interest to be
fixed by contract. But usury had been carried to such an un-
precedented degree of extortion and oppression, as to cause the
legislature to enact severe usury laws, by which all interest
above twelve per cent, was condemned. It had been no un-
common thing before this, to charge one hundred and one hun-
dred and fifty per cent., and sometimes two and three hundred
per cent. But the common rate of interest by contract had
been about fifty per cent.

In the year 1840, the people called Mormons came to this
State, and settled in Hancock county, and as their residence
amongst us led to a mobocratic spirit, which resulted in their
expulsion, it is proper here to notice other incidents of this sort,
in our previous history.

In 1816 and '17, in the towns of the territory, the country
was overrun with horse-thieves and counterfeiters. They were
so numerous, and so well combined together in many counties,
as to set the laws at defiance. Many of the sheriffs, justices of
the peace, and constables, were of their number; and even
some of the judges of the county courts ; and they had numer-
ous friends to aid them and sympathize with them, even

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 233

amongst those who were the least suspected. When any of
them were arrested, they either escaped from the slight jails of
those times, or procured some of their gang to be on the jury ; and
they never lacked witnesses to prove themselves innocent. The
people formed themselves into revolutionary tribunals in many
counties, under the name of " Regulators ;" and the governor
and judges of the territory, seeing the impossibility of executing
the laws in the ordinary way, against an organized banditti, who
set all law at defiance, winked at and encouraged the proceed-
ings of the regulators.

These regulators in number generally constituted about a
captain's company, to which they gave a military organization,
by the election of officers. The company generally operated at
night. When assembled for duty, they marched, armed and
equipped as if for war, to the residence or lurking-place of a
rogue, arrested, tried, and punished him by severe whipping
and banishment from the territory. In this mode most of the
rogues were expelled from the country ; and it was the opinion
of the best men at the time, that in the then divided and dis-
organized state of society, and the imperfect civilization which
required such proceedings, were not only justifiable, but abso-
lutely necessary for the existence of government.

There yet remained, however, for many years afterwards, a
noted gang of rogues in the counties of Pape and Massac, and
other counties bordering on the Ohio river. This gang built a
fort in Pape county, and set the government at open defiance.
In the year 1831, the honest portion of the people in that re-
gion assembled under arms in great numbers, and attacked the
fort with small arms and one piece of artillery. The fort was
taken by storm, with the loss of one of the regulators and three
of the rogues killed in the assault. The residue of the rogues
were taken prisoners, tried for their crimes, but I believe were
never convicted.

At a later time, a number of rogues who had located them-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

selves in the county of Edgar, were broken up, whipped, and
expelled by a company of regulators from the Wabash valley,
the present Governor French being a distinguished member of
the regulators.

In 1837 a series of mobs took place in Alton, which resulted
in the destruction of an abolition press, and in the death of one
of the rioters and one of the abolitionists. This affair has made
a great noise in the world, and is deserving of a more extended
notice. It appears that the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, of the
Presbyterian church, had attempted to publish an abolition
paper in St. Louis, but his press had there been destroyed by
a mob, and he himself had been expelled from the city.

Mr. Lovejoy now determined to remove his establishment
to Alton. The press for this purpose was landed on Sunday,
but during that night was thrown into the river by the citizens.
There was much excitement on the subject, and a public meet-
ing was called on Monday evening to be held in the Presby-
terian church, which was attended by an immense concourse of
people.

Mr. Lovejoy first addressed the meeting. He said he came
to Alton to establish a religious newspaper. He was pleased
with the place, and wished to remain ; there most of his sub-
scribers resided in Illinois ; and it would best suit his purposes
and theirs that he should do so. He disliked St. Louis, and he
disliked slavery. He regretted that he had met with such a re-
ception at Alton; he presumed that the people had miscon-
ceived his object. He was no abolitionist; he believed the
abolitionists were injuring the colored race ; he had repeatedly
denounced them, and had been himself denounced by Garrison
and others, as being in favor of slavery, because he was unwill-
ing to go with the abolitionists in favor of all their measures.
He was opposed to slavery to be sure ; he had ever been, and
hoped he always would be opposed to it, and he wished to get
away from the evil of it. Whilst at St. Louis, where slavery

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 235

existed, he felt bound to oppose it. For so doing his press had
been mobbed and himself insulted. He had resolved to come
to a free State, and he thanked his God that he was now re-
moved from slavery. He could now publish a religious news-
paper without meddling with the subject of slavery ; he could
entertain his opinions ; but being removed from the evil, he
would have no cause to express them. Indeed, said he, it would
look like cowardice to flee from the place where the evil existed,
and come to a place where it did not exist, to oppose it.

The people understood this to be a pledge of Mr. Lovejoy,
that he would not mingle the question of slavery with the dis-
cussions in his paper ; and upon this condition he was permitted
to set up the " Alton Observer" without opposition. Time
rolled on : the paper extended its circulation, but solely as a
religious paper, heralding the peaceful gospel of the blessed
God, which is peace on earth and good- will to men. After some
time, slavery was very moderately referred to, and then de-
nounced. Soon after, the paper became moderately abolition-
ist. Next, some of the most respectable citizens were de-
nounced as being in favor of slavery, and held up to public
scorn because they dared to speak their opinions of the aboli-
tionists ; and ultimately, in the course of a year it became
decidedly an abolition paper of the fiercest sort, and religion
was pressed into its service as a mere incident and auxiliary to
the main cause of abolitionism.

The mob spirit of Alton became aroused. The people
thought that they had nurtured a viper to bite them and destroy
their peace. The pledge of Mr. Lovejoy was remembered.
He was urged by his friends to desist from his course, but no
consideration could shake his inflexible resolution. He only
became more violent, and his denunciations more personal. A
public meeting was called to induce him, by peaceable means
if possible, to return to his original pledge. A committee was
appointed to wait on him, and call his attention to his original

236 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

promises. He denied making such promises, and-contended for
the freedom of the press, and his right to unbounded liberty as
one of its conductors. He read to the committee a long homily
on mobs ; and appeared to think that the action of a mob, by
creating sympathy for him, would spread his renown, and im-
mortalize his labors. The positive denial of a minister of the
gospel of what hundreds had heard him declare, increased the
rage of the people, which was blown into a consuming fury by
a letter which appeared in the " Plain Dealer," in which the
leading men of Alton were denounced because they did not
throw themselves into the breach, and protect Mr. Lovejoy at
the risk of their lives in conducting a press employed to vilify
themselves, and to support a cause which they believed to be
fraught with injury to all concerned. The people assembled
and quietly took the press and types and threw them into the
Mississippi. It now became manifest to all rational men that
the " Alton Observer" could no longer be published in Alton
as an abolition paper. The more reasonable of the abolitionists
themselves thought it would be useless to try it again. How-
ever, a few of them, who were most violent, seemed to think
that the salvation of the black race depended upon continuing
the publication at Alton. They called a private meeting to
consult, into which were admitted Messrs. Godfrey and Gilman,
and the Rev. Mr. Hogan, who were not abolitionists. All ex-
pressed their opinions. Some were for re-establishing the press,
and sustaining it at all hazards. Others thought it would be
madness to make the attempt, and they believed that the efforts
already made had come near destroying the religious feeling
of the community, and breaking up the peace and harmony of
the churches. Mr. Lovejoy complained that Mr. Godfrey, who
was a leading Presbyterian, and the Rev. Mr. Hogan, had de-
clared that if the " Observer" were again established they could
do nothing to protect it from the mob ; but he forgot to state
that these gentlemen could not recognize as the cause of God

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 237

that which had done so much evil. They had seen the effect
of abolitionism in the slave States, where, instead of breaking
the fetters of the slave, it had increased their strength and se-
verity. They conscientiously believed that abolitionism was
wrong — they could not risk their lives in its defence.

The majority, however, determined to re-establish the " Ob-
server" as an abolition paper ; and as preparatory thereto, they
put out a call for a convention, to be held in Upper Alton, on
the 26th of October, 1837, of all such persons in Illinois as
were opposed to slavery, and in favor of free discussion. The
convention assembled ; and although the call was for all per-
sons opposed to slavery, yet an attempt was made to exclude
all who would not avow themselves to be abolitionists, all
others being set down as opposed to free discussion. The
trustees of the Presbyterian church would not allow it to as-
semble in their place of worship, unless all were allowed to
come who were opposed to slavery. This was finally acceded
to, and many such took seats in the convention. A committee
was appointed to prepare business, and in the afternoon the
Rev. Mr. Beecher, then President of Illinois College, was to
preach a sermon before the convention. The committee of two
abolitionists and one opposed to them, made a majority and
minority report, and President Beecher held forth in a violent
harangue against slavery. Mr. Beecher was a man of great
learning and decided talents ; but he belonged to the class of
reformers who disregard all considerations of policy and expe-
diency. He believed slavery to be a sin and a great evil, and
his indignant and impatient soul could not await God's own
good time to overthrow it, by acts of his providence working
continual change and revolution in the affairs of men. He con-
tended that slavery was wrong, sinfully and morally wrong,
and ought not to be borne with an instant. No Constitution
could protect it. If the Constitution sanctioned iniquity, the
Constitution was wrong in the sight of God, and could not be

238 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

binding upon the people of this country. For his part, he did
not sanction the Constitution. It was not binding on him ; and
whilst it tolerated slavery it could not be. Several other
speeches of a like nature were made on the same side, which
were answered by Usher F. Linder, the Attorney General, and
by the Rev. Mr. Hogan.

The next day an abolition society was secretly formed at the
house of the Rev. Mr. Hurlbut, in Upper Alton, believed to be
the first ever formed in Illinois. Mr. Beecher was appointed to
preach in the Upper Alton Presbyterian church on the following
Sunday. Here his lectures against slavery were continued un-
til Monday evening. No outbreak had taken place, an(J Upper
Alton was looked upon as conquered. This encouraged a sim-
ilar effort in the main city on the bank of the river. Accord-
ingly, it was announced that on Tuesday Mr. Beecher would
deliver the same lectures in Lower Alton which he had deliv-
ered in the upper town. On this day another abolition press
was expected to arrive in a steamboat. The abolitionists an-
nounced that they were organized with a company of forty
men, armed with muskets, fully determined and prepared to
defend it at every hazard. The people, in a high state of ex-
citement, flocked to the river in great numbers. The steamboat
came, but no press was on board. The evening approached.
Mr. Beecher was to deliver his address. The abolitionists as-
sembled at the church under arms. Armed to the teeth with
muskets and other deadly weapons, they were seen wending
their way to the house of God ; and at the close of the service,
as the people returned to their homes, the moonlight was re-
flected from the swords and guns of fifteen members of the
church, stationed in the vestibule. Such was religion, when
made the mere ally and auxiliary of fanaticism. This was too
much. Men could not endure such .an outrage. I do not apolo-
gize for mobs, all of which I would crush forever, in every part
of this free country. But no language can be loaded with suf-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 239

ficient severity for the fanatical leaders who, by their violence,
by their utter disregard of honest prejudices, drove a peaceful
community to a temporary insanity, and to the commission of
enormous crimes.

On Wednesday was to be observed that peculiar calm which
indicates an approaching storm. The sayings and doings of
Tuesday were talked over. Many who before had taken no
part, were now active on the side of the mob. Indignation
blazed on every face. As no outbreak had yet occurred, the
abolitionists believed that they had triumphed. In a secret
meeting, they determined to re-establish the press at the point
of the bayonet. The people could not bear such threatenings,
and now the waves of excitement rolled to the height of moun-
tains. The Rev. Mr. Hogan, in taking the side he did, re-
tained considerable power with the populace. He was appealed
to, to allay the threatening storm. He called twenty or thirty
of the most moderate on each side, to a meeting at his counting-
house. One party seemed willing to compromise matters,
and bring about an adjustment. Mr. Beecher, at the head
of the other, was unwilling to make the slightest conces-
sion. He contended for all their abstract rights, and demanded
all the guarantees of the government and the Constitution, at
the same time that he and his friends were contending for their
right to trample upon both. He invoked the Constitution for
his protection. He wanted others to be bound by it, whilst
he refused to rendei it obedience himself. He insisted that
all that he claimed should be awarded, to the slightest particu-
lar. He would retract nothing, compromise nothing, and no
consideration could induce him to accede to other terms. In
all this Mr. Beecher displayed that heroic obstinacy, which,
when accompanied by good sense and powerful talents, and
working with the natural current of events, has overthrown gov-
ernments and systems, and revolutionized the moral and almost
the physical world. But here it was exerted in a cause which

240 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

could not succeed, at least at that time. This meeting was
about to adjourn, when it was proposed and resolved to appoint
a committee to devise and report some means of adjustment
to a meeting to be held next day at 2 o'clock.

The committee met, and it was stated to be impossible, after
what had transpired, forTMr. Lovejoy to continue his paper. A
resolution was passed proposing any other editor, and for Mr.
Lovejoy to seek some other field of labor, which was reported
to the meeting next day. It is believed that Lovejoy himself
would have acceded to this arrangement, but not so with Mr.
Beecher and his other friends. Pride and obstinacy were both
aroused to demand a triumph, in which principle was less con-
sidered than victory. Had they made the least concession, the
scene which followed, resulting in the death of two human be-
ings, would probably never have taken place. The hour of two
having arrived, the people assembled in the court-house, and the
committee, by their chairman, made their report, one calculated
to still the troubled elements. Mr. Linder made some remarks
calculated to restore peace, and prepared the large meeting then
assembled to calmly consider the exceedingly serious matters
then before them.

Mr. Lovejoy now arose, and commenced his speech, which
was very mild and affecting, in which he deprecated the action
of the meeting and the report of the committee. He said he
had thought of leaving Alton and going elsewhere, but a voice
came to him from the east, urging him to remain ; here he would
stay ; he could not leave his post, without being pursued by the
Spirit of God to his destruction. The people might mob him,
or do anything they pleased ; he could not, and he would not
be driven away ; he would live there, and die there. The Spirit
of God urged him to contend for his rights, and for a holy cause.
He denied that he had ever given any pledges, and called on
Mr. Hogan to sustain him in this denial. He never had yield-
ed his rights (he had forgotten his flight from St. Louis), he

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 241

never would yield them, and he would die contending for
them.

• Mr. Lovejoy closed his remarks in a state of great excite-
ment, and the meeting was quite in an uproar, when Mr. Hogan
rose, and endeavored to throw some oil on the troubled waters.
He said that the meeting had been convened, not to consider
each man's abstract rights, but to inquire into the doctrine of
expediency, and how far we could relinquish the plea of right
for the sake of peace. The great apostle had said, All things
are lawful for me ; but all things are not expedient. If Paul
yielded to the law of expediency, would it be wrong for them,
for Mr. Lovejoy also, following his example 1 The Spirit of
God did not pursue Paul to his destruction for thus acting ; but,
on the contrary, had commended his course. Paul had never
taken up arms to propagate the religion of his master, nor to
defend himself against the attacks of his enemies. The people
of Damascus were opposed to Paul, but did he augue with the
populace the question of his legal rights ? Did he tell them
that he was a Roman citizen, and would do and say what he
pleased *? Did he say, I am a minister of Christ, and must not
leave the work of my master, to flee before the face of a mob ?
No ; he quietly let himself down in a basket, outside of the
wall, and departed for another field of labor. And God com-
mended and blessed him for his wisdom and humility. Mr.
Hogan expressed himself strongly in favor of peace, and hoped
all present would yield something of their determinations to se-
cure it.

The Rev. Mr. Graves next addressed the meeting. He wished
to allude to the pledge of Mr. Lovejoy, so much spoken of. Mr.
Lovejoy had never given such a pledge; he could not give it,
and he appealed to Mr. Hogan to bear him out in the assertion.
He commended Mr. Lovejoy for his firmness ; he could make
no compromise ; it was in vain to propose one.

Mr. Hogan then repeated what Lovejoy had said at the first
11

242 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

meeting. Mr. Graves admitted that Lovejoy had made such
statements, but they were not binding. Mr. Lovejoy was not
an abolitionist at the time, nor was he himself one then. Since
that time, God had opened their eyes to see the great wicked-
ness of slavery. They now felt it a duty to oppose it. If they
had given such a pledge, they had sinned against God, and ought
to repent of it and forsake it. Their decision was unalterably
made ; they might die, but they -could not compromise the per-
formance of duty.

By such specious arguments, many good men frequently de-
lude themselves. These men had worked themselves up to a
most heroical resolution, and indeed a generous mind finds much
to admire in their inflexible obstinacy. It was the self-sacrificing
spirit of the martyr and the patriot ; and although we may dis-
agree with them, we cannot withhold our admiration from men
who are nobly wrong, whilst we despise him who is meanly
right.

The abolition press was expected to arrive next day after this
meeting, but it did not come. An outbreak was now confident-
ly looked for ; all business was suspended ; nothing was talked
of among the populace but the efforts of the abolitionists. These
last armed themselves, formed a military company, and elected
their officers ; and they mounted guard every night, in expecta-
tion of the arrival of the boat from below with the fatal press.
This great matter of discord arrived on the next Monday night,
and was removed on Tuesday morning to the stone warehouse
of Godfrey Gilman & Co., where its friends were assembled
with arms to guard it. On Tuesday every one knew of its
arrival, and the citizens were goaded on to madness by the
taunts and threats of the abolitionists. They were told that
they dare not touch the press, that powder and lead were not
mere playthings, that the abolitionists were now organized by
authority, and were supplied with thirty rounds of cartridges,
and that the mob should feel their virtue. These threatenings

HISTOET OF ILLINOIS. 243

were doubtless made against the wishes of the leaders, but they
served powerfully to augment the spirit of rebellion.

Towards evening, the excitement in the city had reached a
pitch which made it evident to all that a violent struggle was
soon to come, and blood be shed. The press was in the ware-
house ; the abolitionists, and some others who were not aboli-
tionists, were assembled with powder and ball to defend it unto
death. Between nine and ten o'clock on Tuesday night, a mob
assembled in front of the warehouse, and demanded the press
to be given up to them. The night was clear and beautiful, the
moon not quite risen, but so clear and bright was the sky, that
both parties were distinctly visible during the parley. All crea-
tion seemed to smile, and everything seemed divine but man,
who that beautiful night was converted by his raging and surg-
ing passions into a demon of obstinacy on the one side, and of
destruction on the other. The assailed party returned for an-
swer, that they were well provided with arms and ammunition,
and would defend the press to the last extremity. The house
was then assailed with a shower of stones, and the mob endeav-
ored to carry it by storm. Some one in the building fired from
the second story. This shot was fatal to a young man by the
name of Bishop, producing almost instant death. Some of those
in the house afterwards stated, that this first shot was fired by
Lovejoy. Be this, however, as it may, the result was terrible ;
for, as the populace bore the young man away, loud and bitter
were their imprecations, and the death of all in the house was
boldly threatened by the mob.

Some went to the magazine for powder, to -blow up the build-
ing ; others procured ladders to set the roof on fire ; but by far
the greater number retired to the neighboring grog-shops, to re-
enforce their courage ; and then returned to the assault, with
their hot blood made hotter still, by the power of intoxication.
The bells of the city were loudly rung, and horns were blown,
to assemble yet a greater multitude. Armed men everywhere

244

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

came rushiug to the scene of action. Some were urging on the
mob, and others sought to alloy the tumult.

The ladders were placed on the vacant space, on the southern
side of the building ; one man mounted with a torch to fire the
roof. There were no windows on this side, from which the
party within could fire at him as he ascended. At this time
Mr. Lovejoy came, from the door fronting the river, around the
corner of the building, and fired at the crowd. His shot did'
not take effect, and he instantly retreated into the building, where
he urged his companions on to an attack, and upbraided them
for their cowardice in refusing. A young man by the name of
West, seeing the building on fire, ascended the ladder with a
bucket of water, and extinguished the flames. Whilst he was
so engaged, Mr. Lovejoy again made his appearance from the
same place, again fired without effect, and returned to the build-
ing. Meanwhile, several guns were fired by the mob and sev-
eral by the party in the house through the windows, but all
without effect on either side.

The mob still increased. The ferocity grew upon it in pro-
portion to the increase of its numbers and strength. Another
attempt was made to fire the house, when Mr. Lovejoy and
one of his companions made their appearance from the same
door. The former shots from that quarter, had drawn attention
to this door, and when the figures of two men were seen to
emerge from it, one of them to raise his gun to fire again, they
were fired upon by the mob with fatal precision ; one of them
being wounded in the leg, and the other, the Rev. Mr. Lovejoy,
mortally ; having only time to exclaim, "My God ! I am shot !"
before he expired. With the fall of the chief or master spirit,
the sinking courage of his party seemed utterly to die away.
A general firing was now kept up by the mob ; the roof of the
building was in flames, and the party within seemed to expect
nothing less than utter destruction. In this extremity they
were induced to surrender the obnoxious press. They were

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 245

permitted to make a hurried escape down the river bank, their
retreat being accelerated by several guns fired over their heads.
The press was again thrown into the river.

After the violence of feeling had somewhat subsided, both
parties were indicted for their crimes arising out of these trans-
actions, and all were acquitted ; making it a matter of record,
that in fact the abolitionists had not provoked an assault ; that
there had been no mob ; and that no one had been killed or
wounded.

Previous to the year 1840, other mobs were rife in the north-
ern part of the State. The people there had settled without
title, upon the public lands of the United States, which were
then neither surveyed nor in market, and they had made valu-
able improvements on these lands, by building mills worth ten
thousand dollars, opening farms, frequently of four or five hun-
dred acres, and whole villages of six or eight hundred inhab-
itants, were built on them. By a conventional law of each
neighborhood, the settlers were all pledged to protect each other
in the amount of their respective claims. But there were
mean men, who disregarded these conventional arrangements.
Such as these belonged to that very honest fraternity, who
profess to regulate all their dealings by the law of the land.
Such men had but little regard for public opinion or abstract
right; and their consciences did not restrain them from "jump-
ing" a neighbor's claim, if they could be sustained by law and
protected against force. It soon became apparent to every
one, that actual force was the only protection for this descrip-
tion of property. And although the most of the settlers were
from the eastern States ; from the land of steady habits, where
mobs are regularly hated and denounced, and all unlawful fight-
ing held in abhorrence ; yet seeing themselves left without le-
gal protection, and subject to the depredations of the dishonor-
able and unscrupulous, they resolved to protect themselves
with force. Many were the riots and mobs in every county,

246 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

arising from this state of things. Every neighborhood was sig-
nalised by some brawl of the kind. The old peaceful, staid,
puritan Yankee, walked into a fight in defence of his claim, or
that of his neighbor, just as if he had received a regular back-
woods education in the olden times. It was curious to witness
this change of character with the change of position, in emerg-
ing from a government of strict law to one of comparative an-
archy. The readiness with which our puritan population from
the East adopted the mobocratic spirit, is evidence that men are
the same everywhere under the same circumstances. That
which any man will do, depends more upon his position upon
the laws and government, and upon the administration of the
laws, than to mental or physical constitution, or any peculiar
trait of character or previous training.

Then again the northern part of the State was not destitute
of its organized bands of rogues, engaged in murders, robberies,
horse-stealing, and in making and passing counterfeit money.
These rogues were scattered all over the north ; but the most
of them were located in the counties of Ogle, Winnebago, Lee,
and De Kalb. In the county of Ogle, they were so numerous,
strong, and well-organized, that they could not be convicted for
their crimes. By getting some of their numbers on the juries,
by producing hosts of witnesses to sustain their defence by per-
jured evidence, and by changing the venue from one county to
another, and by continuances from term to term, and by the
inability of witnesses to attend from time to time at a distant
and foreign county, they most generally managed to be acquit-
ted. At the spring term, 1841, seven of them were confined
in the Ogle county jail for trial. The judge and the lawyers
had assembled at the little village of Oregon, preparatory to
holding the court. The county had just completed a new court-
house, in which court was to be held for the first time the next
day. The jail stood near it, in which were the prisoners. The
rogues assembled in the night, and set the court-house on fire,

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 247

in the hope that as the prisoners would have to be removed
from the jail, they might in the hurry and confusion of the peo-
ple in attending to the fire, make their escape. The whole pop-
ulation were awakened at a late hour of a dark and stormy
night, to see the lurid flames bursting from the roof and win-
dows of their newly-erected temple of justice. The building
was entirely consumed, but none of the prisoners escaped.

This produced a great excitement in the country, three of the
prisoners were tried, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary for
a year. But they managed to get one of their confederates on
the jury, who refused to agree to a verdict, until the eleven
others had threatened to lynch him in the jury room. The
other prisoners obtained changes of venue, and were never con-
victed. They all broke out of jail and made their escape. The
honest and substantial portion of the people were now deter-
mined to take the law into their own hands ; they were deter-
mined that delays, insufficient jails, changes of venue, hung
juries, and perjured evidence, should no longer screen the
rogue from punishment. And here it is to be remarked that
the new counties, such as Ogle, were so poor in revenue, and
so much in debt, their orders at so great a discount, that they
were not able to build good jails ; and the other counties which
had them, refused to receive prisoners from the new counties,
unless the cost of tneir keeping were paid in advance. The
people formed themselves into regulating companies, both in
Ogle and Winnebago counties, and proceeding in a summary
way, they whipped <gome of the most notorious rogues, and
ordered others into banishment. Amongst those who had been
ordered away, were the family of the Driscolls, — the old man
and several of his sons. The old man and some of his sons had
been in the Ohio penitentiary, and made their escape from it.
The old man was a stout, well-built, hardened, deliberate man,
and his sons had more than common boldness in the commis-
sion of crime. This family were determined not to be driven

248 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

away, and to this end they and several of their confederates
held a private meeting, in which they resolved to strike terror
into the regulators, by threatening death to all the leading men
in their ranks, and by assassinating their captain. Some of the
Driscolls went to the house of Capt. Campbell, who was a cap-
tain of the regulators, just after dark, of a Sunday evening, just
as the family had returned from church, and pretending to be
strangers inquiring their way, they called Capt. Campbell out
into his door-yard, and there deliberately shot him dead in the
presence of his wife and children. Before day next morning,
the news of the murder had run over the country like lightning.
The people early assembled at the house of the murdered man,
in White Rock Grove, in great numbers ; and there seeing the
dead victim of this secret assassination, his blood yet fresh upon
the ground, his wife and children in frantic agony, they were
thrown into a wild uproar of excitement and frenzy, somewhat
like that which seizes upon a herd of cattle, upon seeing and
scenting the blood of a slaughtered bullock. They spread out
all over the country, in search of the murderers. The actual
murderers who had done the deed had escaped, but they seized
upon the old man Driscoll, and the people of Winnebago coun-
ty, coming down next day afterwards, had seized upon two of
his sons. The prisoners were taken to Washington Grove, in
Ogle county, for trial. The old man and one of his sons were
convicted as being accessories to the murder, and the other was
acquitted. The trial occupied nearly a whole day before the
whole band of regulators, composed of a^bout three hundred
men, many of them being magistrates, and some of them min-
isters of the gospel ; and is described as having been conducted
with much solemnity and seriousness. The condemned were
sentenced to be shot within an hour ; a minister of the gospel
who was present, prayed with them and administered to them
the consolations of religion ; and then they were brought out
for execution. They were placed in a kneeling position, with

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 249

bandages over their eyes, and were fired upon by the whole
company present, that there might be none who could be legal
witnesses of the bloody deed. About one hundred of these
men were afterwards tried for murder and acquitted. These
terrible measures put an end to the ascendancy of rogues in
Ogle county.

There can be no doubt but that the mobocratic spirit origin-
ates in two causes. First, the laws fail to provide remedies for
great evils. The administration of the laws, owing to the checks
and balances in the Constitution, intended for the protection
of innocence and liberty against arbitrary power, is necessarily
slow and uncertain. In framing our governments, it seemed to
be the great object of our ancestors to secure the public lib-
erty by depriving government of power. Attacks upon liberty
were not anticipated from any considerable portion of the peo-
ple themselves. It was not expected that one portion of the
people would attempt to play the tyrant over another. And
if such a thing had been thought of, the only mode of putting
it down was to call out the militia, who are, nines times out of
ten, partisans on one side or the other in the contest. The
militia may be relied upon to do battle in a popular service,
but if mobs are raised to drive out horse thieves, to put
down claim-jumpers, to destroy an abolition press, or to expel
an odious sect, the militia cannot be brought to act against
them efficiently. The people cannot be used to put down
the people. The day may unfortunately come, when the States,
as well as the nation, will be compelled to keep up a regular
force.

In fact, the principal strength of government in free coun-
tries is, that the mass of the people do not need government
at all. Each man governs himself, and, if need be, assists to
govern his neighbor. Religious principles and feelings incline
to justice. Industry inclines to peace. Early training begets
submission to parents, and then to the magistrates and laws ;

11*

250 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

making government quite possible, without much authority in
the magistrate. With the assistance of the well-affected, hon-
est citizens, who are supposed to make a large majority of the
people, the magistrate is able to bring to punishment the
lesser sort of rogues, who belong to no great combination, and
sometimes succeeds, in breaking up the strongest combinations.
But if an association of bankers, of public officers who are
charged with public affairs to disburse money, swindle the
public, or if a number of rogues associate to depredate upon
the community, we are apt to find the old Athenian definition
of law still to be true, " that law is a cobweb to catch the
small flies, but the great ones break through it." The true
reason why the great offenders and combinations of criminals so
frequently go unpunished is, that they are too strong for the
ordinary machinery of government, single handed, without a
vigorous support of that government by the orderly and well-
disposed. The government is too frequently left without this
support. The peaceable and orderly many are so engaged in
separate and selfish, but lawful projects of their own, that it is
hard to -get them to take part in putting down the disorderly
few, except when the disorders become intolerable and insuffer-
able ; and then the power of the many is exercised, as the
limbs of the body are exercised in a spasm, which waits for
neither law nor government.

The second cause of mobs is, that men engaged in unpopular
projects expect more protection from the laws than the laws
are able to furnish in the face of a popular excitement. They
read in the Constitution the guaranty of their rights, and they
insist upon the enjoyment of these rights to the fullest extent,
no matter what may be the extent of popular opposition against
them. In such a case, it may happen that the whole people
may be on one side, and merely the public officers on the other.
The public officers are appealed to for protection, when it is
apparent that, being separated from the strength of the people,

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 251

they form the mere dead skeleton of a government. The
men engaged in projects which may be odious to the people,
call upon government for that protection which it cannot give.
For if government cannot suppress an unpopular band of horse
thieves, associated to commit crime, how is it to suppress a
popular combination which has the people on its side 1 I am
willing enough to acknowledge that all this is wrong, but how
is the evil to be avoided 1 The Alton mob was provoked by
the abolitionists. They read in the Constitution that they had
a right to print and publish whatever they pleased, being re-
sponsible to the laws for the abuse of that right ; and they
planted themselves here as firmly as if government was omni-
• potent, or as if they intended, by way of experiment, to test
the power of government to put down the people, on whom
alone it rests for support. The same may be said of the Mor-
mons. Scattered through the country, they might have lived in
peace, like other religious sects, but they insisted upon their
right to congregate in one great city. The people were de-
termined that they should not exercise this right ; and it will
be seen in the sequel of this history, that in their case, as in
every other where large bodies of the people are associated to
accomplish with force an unlawful but popular object, the gov-
ernment is powerless against such combinations. This brings
us to treat of the Mormons.

The people called Mormons, but who call themselves " the
Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints," began to figure in
the politics of this State in 1840. They were a religious sect,
the followers of a man familiarly called " Joe Smith," who was
claimed by them to be a prophet. This man was born at Sha-
ron, Windsor County, Vermont, on the 23d of December, 1805.
His parents were in humble circumstances, and gave their son
but an indifferent education. When he first began to act the
prophet, he was ignorant of almost everything which belonged
to science ; but he made up in natural cunning and in power of

252 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

invention and constructiveness, for many deficiencies of educa-
tion. When he was ten years old, his parents removed to
Palmyra, Wayne County, New York. Here, his extreme
youth was spent in an idle, vagabond life, roaming the woods,
dreaming of buried treasures, and exerting himself to learn the
art of finding them, by the twisting of a forked stick in his
hands, or by looking through enchanted stones. He, and his
father before him, were what are called " water witches," al-
ways ready to point out the ground where wells might be dug
and water found, and many are the anecdotes of his early life,
giving bright promise of future profligacy. Such was Joe
Smith when he was found by Sidney Rigdon, who was a man
of considerable talents and information. Rigdon had become
possessed of a religious romance, written by a Presbyterian
clergyman in Ohio, then dead, which suggested to him the idea
of starting a new religion. It was agreed that Joe Smith
should be put forward as a prophet ; and the two devised a
story that golden plates had been found, buried in the earth,
in the neighborhood of Palmyra, containing a record inscribed
on them, in' unknown characters, which, when decyphered by
the power of inspiration, gave the history of the ten lost tribes
of Israel, in their wanderings through Asia into America, where
they had settled and flourished, and where, in due time, Christ
came and preached his gospel to them, appointed his twelve
apostles, and was crucified here, nearly in the same manner in
which he was crucified in Jerusalem. The record then pre-
tended to give the history of the American Christians, for a few
hundred years, until the great wickedness of the people called
down the judgments of God upon them, which resulted in their
extermination. Several nations and people, from the Isthmus
of Darien to the extremities of North America, were arrayed
against each other in war. At last the great battle of Cumorah
was fought in Palmyra, New York, between the Lamanites, who
were the heathen of this continent, and the Nephites, who were

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 253

the Christians, in which battle there was a prodigious slaughter
— hundreds of thousands being killed on each side. The na-
tion of the Nephites was destroyed, except a few who had de-
serted, and a few who had escaped into the south country.
Among this number were Mormon and his son Moroni, who
were righteous men, and who, as was said, were directed by the
Almighty to make a record of all these solemn and important
events on plates of gold, and bury them in the earth, to be dis-
covered in a future age, fourteen centuries afterwards. It is
needless to add, that the pretended translation of the hierog-
lyphics said to be inscribed on these pretended plates, was no
more nor less than the religious romance already spoken of,
but which now appeared as the book of Mormon.

The prophet in after-life pretended that at an early age he
became much concerned about the salvation of his soul. He
went to the religious meetings of many sects to seek informa-
tion of the way to heaven ; and was everywhere told, " this is
the way, walk ye in it." He reflected upon the multitude of
doctrines and sects, and it occurred to him that God could be
the author of but one doctrine, and own but one church ; he
looked amongst all the sects to see which was this one. true
church of Christ, but he could not decide ; and until he became
satisfied, he could not be contented. His anxious desires lead
him diligently to search the scriptures, and he perused the
sacred pages, believing the things that he read. He now saw
that the true way was to enquire of God, and then there was a
certainty of success. He therefore retired to a secret place in
a grove near his father's house, and kneeling down, began to
call upon the Lord ; darkness gave way, and he prayed with
fervency of spirit. Whilst he continued praying the light ap-
peared to be gradually descending towards him ; and as it drew
nearer it increased in brightness and magnitude, so that by the
time it reached the tops of the trees, the whole wilderness for
quite a distance around, was illuminated in a glorious and bril-

254 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

liant manner. He expected the leaves of the trees to be con-
sumed, but seeing no such effect of the light, he was encouraged
with the hope to endure its presence. It descended slowly
until he was enveloped in the midst of it. Immediately he was
caught away in a heavenly vision, and saw two glorious person-
ages alike in their features ; and he was now informed that his
sins were forgiven. Here he learned that none of the churches
then in being, was the church of God ; and received a promise
at some future time of the fulness of the Gospel, and a knowl-
edge of the true doctrine. After this, being still young, he was
entangled in the vanities of the world, of which he sincerely and
truly repented.

On the 23d of September, 1823, God again heard his prayers.
His mind had been drawn out in fervent prayer for his accept-
ance with God ; and for a knowledge of the doctrines of Christ,
according to promise, in the former vision. While he was thus
pouring out his desires, on a sudden a light burst into the room
like the light of day, but purer and more glorious in appearance
and brightness ; the first sight of it was, as though the house
had been filled with consuming fire ; this occasioned a shock
felt to the extremities of his body ; and then was followed by
calmness of mind and overwhelming rapture of joy, when in a
moment a personage stood before him, who, notwithstanding
the light seemed to be surrounded by an additional glory, which
shone with increased brilliancy. This personage was above the
ordinary size of men, his raiment was perfectly white, and had
the appearance of being without seam. This glorious being de-
clared himself to be an angel sent to announce the forgiveness
of his sins, and to answer his prayers by bringing the glad
tidings, that the covenant of God with ancient Israel concerning
posterity, was at last about to be fulfilled ; that preparation for
the second coming of Christ, was speedily to commence ; that
the fulness of the Gospel was about to be preached in peace

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 25?

unto all nations, that a people might be prepared for the millen-
ium of universal peace and joy.

At the same time he was informed that he had been called
and chosen as an instrument in the hands of God, to bring
about some of his marvellous purposes in this glorious dispen-
sation. It was made known to him that the American Indians
were a remnant of Israel ; that when they first came here, they
were an enlightened people, having a knowledge of the true
God ; that the prophets and inspired writers amongst them had
been required to keep a true record of their history, which had
been handed down for many generations, until the people fell
into great wickedness ; when nearly all of them were destroy-
ed, and the records by command of God, were safely deposited
to preserve them from the hands of the wicked, who sought to
destroy them. If faithful, he was to be the highly-favored in-
strument in bringing these records to light.

The angel now disappeared, leaving him in a state of perfect
peace, but visited him several times afterwards, instructing him
concerning the great work of God about to commence on earth.
He was instructed where these records were deposited, and re-
quired to go immediately to view them. They were found on
the side of a hill, slightly buried in the earth, secured in a stone
box, on the road from Palmyra to Canandaigua, in New York,
about three miles from the village of Manchester. The records
were said to be engraved on gold plates in Egyptian charac-
ters ; the plates were of the thickness of tin, bound together
like a book, fastened at one side by three rings which run
through the whole and formed a volume about six inches in
thickness. And in the same box with them were found two
stones, transparent and clear as crystal, the Urim and Thummim,
used by seers in ancient times, the instruments of revelations
of things distant, past, or future.

When the prophet first saw these things, being filled with
the Holy Ghost, and standing and admiring, the same angel of

256 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

the Lord appeared in his presence and said, " look !" and he be-
held the devil surrounded by a great train of his associates.
He then, after receiving further directions from the angel,
started home to his father's house where he was waylaid by two
ruffians. One of them struck him with a club, but was re-
pulsed ; but they followed him nearly home when they fled for
fear of detection. The news of his discovery got abroad ; the
new prophet was the sport of lies, slanders, and mobs, and vain
attempts to rob him of his plates. He removed to the north-
ern part of Pennsylvania, where he commenced with the aid of
inspiration and the Urim and Thummim, to translate the plates.
He finished a part which is called the Book of Mormon. It is
pretended that Mormon hid all the old records up in the hill
of Cumorah ; but had first made an abridgment of them, which
was called the Book of Mormon, and which he gave to his son
Moroni to finish. Moroni continued to serve his nation for a
few years, and continued the writings of his father until after
the great battle of Cumorah, when he kept himself hid ; for the
Lamanites sought to kill every Nephite who refused to deny
Christ. The story is remarkably well gotten up, and may yet
unhappily make the foundation of a religion which may roll
back upon the world the barbarism of eighteen centuries passed
away. Whilst there are fools and knaves, there is no telling
what may be accomplished by such a religion.

And the prophet was not without his witnesses. Oliver
Cowdney, Martin Harris, and Daniel Whiteman, solemnly cer-
tifiy " that we have seen the plates which contain the records ;
that they were translated by the gift and power of God, for his
voice hath declared it unto us, wherefore we know of a surety
that the work is true ; and we declare with words of soberness
that an angel of God came down from heaven and brought and
laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates and the
engravings thereon." Eight other witnesses certify that " Jo-
seph Smith, the translator, had shown them the plates spoken

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 257

of, which had the appearance of gold ; and as many of 'the plates
as the said Smith had translated, they did handle with their
hands, and they also saw the engravings thereon, all of which
had the appearance of ancient work and curious workmanship."
The most probable account of these certificates is, that the
witnesses were in the conspiracy, aiding the imposture ; but I
have been informed by men who were once in the confidence
of the prophet, that he privately gave a different account of the
matter. It is related that the prophet's early followers were
anxious to see the plates ; the prophet had always given out
that they could not be seen by the carnal eye, but must be spir-
itually discerned ; that the power to see them depended upon
faith, and was the gift of God, to be obtained by fasting, pray-
er, mortification of the flesh, and exercises of the spirit ; that
so soon as he could see the evidences of a strong and lively faith
in any of his followers, they should be gratified in their holy
curiosity. He set them to continual prayer, and other spiritual
exercises, to acquire this lively faith by means of which the hid-
den things of God could be spiritually discerned ; and at last,
when he could delay them no longer, he assembled them in a
room, and produced a box, which he said contained the precious
treasure. The lid was opened ; the witnesses peeped into it,
but making no discovery, for the box was empty, they said,
" Brother Joseph, we do not see the plates." The prophet an-
swered them, " O ye of little faith ! how long will God bear
with this wicked and perverse generation 1 Down on your
knees, brethren, every one of you, and pray God for the forgive-
ness of your sins, and for a holy and living faith which cometh
down from heaven." The disciples dropped to their knees, and
began to pray in the fervency of their spirit, supplicating God
for more than two hours with fanatical earnestness ; at the end
of which time, looking again into the box, they were now per-
suaded that they saw the plates. I leave it to philosophers to
determine whether the fumes of an enthusiastic and fanatical

258 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

imagination are thus capable of blinding the mind and deceiv-
ing the senses by so absurd a delusion.

The book of Mormon pretended to reveal the fulness of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, as he delivered it to his people in
America. It was to be brought forth by the power of God, and
carried to the Gentiles, of whom many were to receive it ; and
after this the seed of Israel were to be brought into the fold
also. It was pretended that pristine Christianity was to be re-
stored, with the gift of prophecy, and the gift of tongues, with
the laying on of hands to cure all manner of diseases. Many
were the pretended prophets which this sect brought forth.
Many of the disciples spoke an outlandish gibberish, which they
called the unknown tongue ; others again acted as interpreters
of this jargon, for it rarely happened that he who was gifted to
speak in the unknown tongue was able to understand his own
communications ; and many brilliant miracles were pretended
to be wrought, in the cure of diseases, by the laying on of hands
and the prayer of faith.

By the 6th of April, 1830, Joe Smith and his associates had
made a considerable number of converts to the new religion,
who were assembled on that day in the village of Manchester,
and formed into a church. Their numbers now increased rapid-
ly, and in 1833 they removed from New York to Jackson Coun-
ty, Missouri, where they began to build the town of " Indepen-
dence." Here, by pretending that the Lord had given them all
that country, and in fact the whole world, they being his saints,
and by some petty offences, and by their general tone of arro-
gance, the neighboring people became much excited against
them. Some of them were ducked in the river ; some were
tarred and feathered, and others killed ; and the whole of them
were compelled to remove to the County of Clay, on the oppo-
site side of the Missouri river. They also had a place of gath-
ering together at Kirtland, near Cleaveland, in the State of Ohio.
At this last place of gathering, Joe Smith established himself;

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 259

and in 1836 a solemn assembly was held there of several hun-
dred Mormon elders, who, in their own language, " had an inter-
esting time of it, as it appeared by the reports of the elders that
the work of God had greatly increased in America, in England,
Scotland, and Wales, and in the islands of the sea."

At this place Joe Smith got up a bank, called " The Kirtland
Safety Bank," of which he was president ; and the notes of which
were made to resemble the notes of the safety fund banks of
New York. The bank failed, for a large amount, for want of
capital and integrity in its managers ; and its failure was ac-
companied by more than ordinary depravity. The residence
of the prophet at this place, after the failure of the bank, became
irksome and dangerous. He determined to leave it, and accord-
ingly, accompanied by his apostles and elders, for he had apos-
tles and elders, and the great body of the " saints," he shook the
dust off his feet, as a testimony against Ohio, where he was
about to be persecuted, and departed for Missouri. This time,
the Mormons settled in Caldwell and Davis Counties in Mis-
souri, far in the north-west part of the State. Here they pur-
chased large tracts of land from the United States, and built
the city of " Far West," and many smaller towns. Difficulties
again attended them in their new place of residence. They did
not fail to display here the usual arrogance of their pretensions,
and were charged by the neighboring people with every kind
of petty villany. In a few years the quarrel between the " saints"
and the Gentiles became utterly irreconcilable. The Mormon
leaders declared that they would no longer submit to the gov-
ernment of Missouri. The clerk of the circuit court, being a
Mormon, was ordered by the prophet to issue no more writs
against the " saints ;" and about this time Sidney Eigdon preach-
ed before the prophet a Fourth of July sermon, called " The
Salt Sermon," in which he held forth to the Mormons that the
prophet had determined no longer to regard the laws and gov-
ernment of Missouri. The neighboring people of Missouri as-

260 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

sembled under arms, to drive the Mormons from the State.
Armed Mormon parties patrolled the country, robbing and plun-
dering the inhabitants ; all the plunder being deposited in one
place, called " the Lord's treasury." One of these plundering
parties met a hostile party, commanded by Captain Bogart, who
had formerly been a Methodist preacher in Illinois. He had
run away from Illinois, directly after the Black Hawk war, and
was the same Major Bogart heretofore mentioned as command-
ing a battalion of Rangers in the Black Hawk war, left to guard
the frontiers. Bogart's party and the Mormons came to a battle,
in which the Mormons were defeated. The Mormons, however,
burnt and plundered two small towns belonging to their ene-
mies, and plundered all the neighboring country. At last Gov.
Boggs of Missouri called out a large body of militia, and order-
ed that the Mormons should be exterminated or driven from
the State. A large force was marched to their country, under
Major-Gen. Lucas and Brig.-Gen. Doniphan, where the Mor-
mons were all assembled under arms, with the declared inten-
ion of resisting to the last extremity. They were soon sur-
rounded in their city of " Far West" by a much superior
force, and compelled to surrender at discretion. Much plunder
was re-captured, and delivered to its former owners. The great
body of the Mormons, in fact all except the leaders, were dis-
missed under a promise to leave the State. The leaders, includ-
ing the prophet, being arrested, were tried before a court-mar-
tial, and sentenced to be shot for treason. But Gen. Doniphan,
being a sound lawyer and a man of sense, knowing that such -e
proceeding was utterly unconstitutional and illegal, by boldly
denouncing and firmly remonstrating against this arbitrary mode
of trial and punishment, saved the lives of the prisoners.*

* This is the same Gen. Doniphan who, as Colonel of a regiment of
Missouri volunteers, afterwards conquered Chihuahua, and gained the
splendid victories of Bracito and Sacramento. Among all the officers of
the Missouri militia, operating against the Mormons, Gen. Doniphan

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 261

The leaders were then carried before a circuit judge, sitting
as an examining court, and were committed to jail for further
trial, on various charges ; such as treason, murder, robbery, ar-
son, and larceny, but finally made their escape out of jail and
out of the State, before they could be brought to trial. Those
who wish to consult a more minute detail of the history of this
people, are referred to a volume of printed evidence and docu-
ments published by order of the legislature of Missouri.

The whole body of the Missouri Mormons came to Illinois
in the years 1839 and 1840 ; and many of the leaders who had
escaped, came through perils of flood and field, which, accord-
ing to their own account, if written, would equal a tale of ro-
mance. As they were the weaker party, much sympathy was
felt and expressed for them by the people of Illinois. The
Mormons represented that they had been persecuted in Mis-
souri on account of their religion. The cry of persecution, if
believed, is always sure to create sympathy for the sufferers.
This was particularly so in Illinois, whose citizens, until some
time after this period, were justly distinguished for feelings and
principles of the most liberal and enlightened toleration in mat-
ters of religion. The Mormons were received as sufferers in
the cause of their religion. Several counties and neighborhoods
vied with each other in offers of hospitality, and in endeavors to
get the strangers to settle among them.

At last the Mormons selected a place on the Mississippi river,
afterwards called Nauvoo, in the upper part of the county of
Hancock, as the place of thei» future residence. On this spot
they designed to build up a great city and temple, as the great
place of gathering to Zion, and as the great central rendezvous
of the sect ; from whence was to originate and spread the most
gigantic operations for the conversion of the world to the new

was the only one who boldly denounced the intended assassination of
the prisoners under color of law. So true is it that the truly brave
man is most apt to be merciful and just

262 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

religion. However, in this history. I have nothing to do with
the religious, but only the political considerations connected
with this people.

In the State of Missouri, the Mormons had always supported
the democratic party. They had been driven out by a demo-
cratic governor of a democratic State ; and when they appealed
to Mr. Van Buren, the democratic President of the United
States, for relief against the Missourians, he refused to recom-
mend it, for want of constitutional power in the United States
to coerce a sovereign State in the execution of its domestic
polity. This soured and embittered the Mormons against the
democrats. Mr. Clay, as a member of the United States Sen-
ate, and John T. Stuart, a member of the House of Representa-
tives in Congress, from Illinois, both whigs, undertook their
cause, and introduced and countenanced their memorials against
Missouri ; so that, when the Mormons came to this State, they
attached themselves to the whig party. In August, 1840, they
voted unanimously for the whig candidates for the Senate and
Assembly. In the November following, they voted for the
whig candidate for President ; and in August, 1841, they voted
for John J. Stuart, the whig candidate for Congress in their
district.

At the legislature of 1840-'41, it became a matter of great
interest, with both parties, to conciliate these people. They
were already numerous, and were fast increasing by emigration
from all parts. It was evident that they were to possess much
power in elections. They had already signified their intention
of joining neither party, further than they could be supported
by that party, but to vote for such persons as had done or were
willing to do them most service. And the leaders of both
parties believed that the Mormons would soon hold the balance
of power, and exerted themselves on both sides, by professions,
and kindness and devotion to their interest, to win their sup-
port.

HISTOEY OP ILLINOIS. 263

In this state of the case Dr. John C. Bennett presented him-
self at the seat of government as the agent of the Mormons.
This Bennett was probably the greatest scamp in the western
country. I have made particular enquiries concerning him, and
have traced him in several places in which he had lived before
he had joined the Mormons in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and
he was everywhere accounted the same debauched, unprincipled
and profligate character. He was a man of some little talent,
and then had the confidence of the Mormons, and particularly
that of their leaders. He came as the agent of that people, to
solicit a city charter ; a charter for a military legion ; and for
various other purposes. This person addressed himself to Mr.
Little, the whig senator from Hancock, and to Mr. Douglass,
the democratic secretary of State, who both entered heartily
into his views and projects. Bennet managed matters well for
his constituents. He flattered both sides with the hope of
Mormon favor ; and both sides expected to receive their votes.
A city charter drawn up to suit the Mormons was presented to
the Senate by Mr. Little. It was referred to the judiciary com-
mittee, of which Mr. Snyder, a democrat, was chairman, who
reported it back recommending its passage. The vote was
taken, the ayes and noes were not called for, no one opposed it,
but all were busy and active in hurrying it through. In like
manner it passed the House of Representatives, where it was
never read except by its title ; the ayes and noes were not
called for, and the same universal zeal in its favor was mani-
fested here which had been so conspicuously displayed in the
Senate.

This city charter and other charters passed in the same way
by this legislature, incorporated Nauvoo, provided for the elec-
tion of a Mayor, four Aldermen, and nine Counsellors ; gave
them power to pass all ordinances necessary for the peace,
benefit, good order, regulation, convenience, or cleanliness of
the city, and for the protection of property from fire, which

264 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

were not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or
this State. This seemed to give them power to pass ordinances
in violation of the laws of the State, and to erect a system of
government for themselves. This charter also established a
mayor's court with exclusive jurisdiction of all cases arising
under the city ordinances, subject to an appeal to the municipal
court. It established a municipal court to be composed of the
mayor as chief justice, and the four aldermen as his associates ;
which court was to have jurisdiction of appeals from the mayor
or aldermen, subject to an appeal again to the circuit court of
the county. The municipal court was also clothed with power
to issue writs of habeas corpus in all cases arising under the
ordinances of the city.

This charter also incorporated the militia of Nauvoo into a
military legion, to be called " The Nauvoo Legion." It was
made entirely independent of the military organization of the
State, and not subject to the command of any officer of the
State militia, except the Governor himself, as commander-in-
chief. It was to be furnished with its due proportion of the
State arms ; and might enroll in its ranks any of the citizens of
Hancock county who prefered to join it, whether they lived in
the city or elsewhere. This last provision, I believe, was not
in the original charter, but was afterwards passed as an amend-
ment to a road law. The charter also established a court-mar-
tial for the legion, to be composed of the commissioned officers
who were to make and execute all ordinances necessary for the
benefit, government, and regulation of the legion ; but in so do-
ing, they were not bound to regard the laws of the State, but
could do nothing repugnant to the constitution ; and finally, the
legion was to be at the disposal of the mayor in executing the
laws and ordinances of the city. Another charter incorporated
a great tavern to be called the Nauvoo House, in which the
prophet Joe Smith, and his heirs, were to have a suite of rooms
forever.

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 265

Thus it was proposed to re-establish for the Mormons a gov-
ernment within a government, a legislature with power to pass
ordinances at war with the laws of the State ; courts to execute
them with but little dependence upon the constitutional judicia-
ry ; and a military force at their own command, to be governed
by its own by-laws and ordinances, and subject to no State
authority but that of the Governor. It must be acknowledged
that these charters were unheard-of, and anti-republican in many
particulars ; and capable of infinite abuse by a people disposed
to abuse them. The powers conferred were expressed in lan-
guage at once ambiguous and undefined ; as if on purpose to
allow of misconstruction. The great law of the separation of
the powers of government was wholly disregarded. The mayor
was at once the executive power, the judiciary, and part of the
legislature. The common council, in passing ordinances, were
restrained only by the constitution. One would have thought
that these charters stood a poor chance of passing the legisla-
ture of a republican people jealous of their liberties. Never-
theless they did pass unanimously through both houses. Messrs.
Little and Douglass managed with great dexterity with their
respective parties. Each party was afraid to object to them
for fear of losing the Mormon vote, and each believed that it
had secured their favor. These, I believe, were the principal
subjects acted on by the session of 1840-'41.

But we will continue a little farther the history of the Mor-
mons. A city government under the charter was organized in
1841. Joe Smith was elected mayor. In this capacity he pre-
sided in the common council, and assisted in making the laws
for the government of the city. And as mayor also he was to
see these laws put into force. He was ex-officio judge of the may-
or's court, and chief justice of the municipal court, and in these
capacities he was to interpret the laws which he had assisted to
make. The Nauvoo Legion was also orgaaized, with a great
multitude of high officers. It was divided into divisions, bri-

266 HISTOBY OF ILLINOIS.

gades, cohorts, regiments, battalions, and companies. Each di-
vision, brigade, and cohort, had its general, and over the whole,
as commander-in-chief, Joe Smith was appointed lieutenant-gen-
eral. These offices, and particularly the last, were created by
an ordinance of the court-martial, composed of the commission-
ed officers of the Legion.

The common council passed many ordinances for the punish-
ment of crime. The punishments were generally different from,
and vastly more severe than, the punishments provided by the
laws of the State.

In the fall of 1841, the governor of Missouri made a demand
on Gov. Carlin for the arrest and delivery of Joe Smith and
several other head Mormons, as fugitives from justice. An ex-
ecutive warrant was issued for that purpose. It was placed in
the hands of an agent to be executed ; but for some cause, un-
known to me, was returned to Gov. Carlin without being exe-
cuted. Soon afterwards the governor handed the same writ to
his agent, who this time succeeded in arresting Joe Smith upon
it. But before this time Mr. Douglass had been elected one of
the judges of the supreme court, and was assigned to hold cir-
cuit courts in Hancock and the neighboring counties. This had
given the democratic party the advantage in securing the Mor-
mon vote. Judge Douglass immediately appointed Dr. Ben-
nett a master in chancery. Bennett was then an influential
Mormon, and had, before he joined the Mormons, been appoint-
ed by Gov. Carlin adjutant-general of the State militia. He
had also been elected an alderman of the city, and a major-gen-
eral in the Legion. Upon his arrest, Joe Smith was carried be-
fore Judge Douglass, upon a writ of habeas corpus, and was
discharged upon the ground that the writ upon which he had
been arrested had been once returned, before it had been exe-
cuted, and w&sfunctus officio. Whether the decision was right
or wrong, Joe Smith was not lawyer enough to know, and was

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 267

therefore the more inclined to esteem his discharge as a great
favor from the democratic party.

The Mormons anticipated a further demand from Missouri,
and a further writ from the governor of this State, for the arrest
of their prophet and leaders. They professed to believe that
the public mind in Missouri was so prejudiced against them, that
a fair trial there was out of the question, and that if their lead-
ers were taken to Missouri for trial, and not convicted upon
evidence, they would be murdered by a mob before they could
get out of the State. Some mode of permanent protection,
therefore, against the demands of Missouri, became a matter of
vital importance ; and they set their ingenuity to work to de-
vise a scheme of protection, by means of their own city ordi-
nances, to be executed by the* own municipal court. Gov.
Carlin had issued his writ again in 1842. Joe Smith was arrest-
ed again, and was either rescued by his followers or discharged
by the municipal court on a writ of habeas corpus. The com-
mon council passed an ordinance, declaring, in effect, that the
municipal court should have jurisdiction in all cases of arrests
made in the city by any process whatever. The charter intend-
ed to give the jurisdiction only in cases where imprisonment
was a consequence of the breach of some ordinance. But it
was interpreted by the Mormons to authorize the enlargement
and extension of the jurisdiction of the court, by ordinance.
This ordinance will figure very largely in the proceedings of the
Mormons hereafter.

In December, 1841, a State democratic convention assembled
at Springfield, and nominated Adam W. Snyder as the demo-
cratic candidate for governor, to be elected in August, 1842.
Mr. Snyder was a native of Pennsylvania, and a distant rela-
tive of Gov. Snyder of that State. In his early youth, he learn-
ed the trade of a fuller and wool-carder. He came to Illinois
when he was about eighteen years old ; settled in the French
village of Cahokia ; followed his trade for several years ; stud-

268 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

led law ; removed to the county seat, where he commenced his
profession, in which he was successful in getting practice. In
1830 he was elected to the State Senate, and was afterwards
elected to Congress, from his district ; and was again elected to
the State Senate in 1840. Mr. Snyder was a very showy, plausi-
ble and agreeable man in conversation, and was gifted with a
popular eloquence, which was considerably effective. He was
a member of the senate when the Mormon charters were passed,
and had taken an active part in furthering their passage. In the
spring of 1842, Joseph Duncan, former governor, became the
candidate of the whig party for the same office.

In a very short time after the two parties had their candidates
fairly in the field, Joe Smith published a proclamation to his fol-
lowers in the Nauvoo papers, creelaring Judge Douglass to be
a master spirit, and exhorting them to vote for Mr. Snyder for
governor. The whigs had considerable hope, of the Mormon
support until the appearance of this proclamation. The Mor-
mons had voted for the whig candidate for Congress in August,
1841. But this proclamation left no doubt as to what they
would do in the coming contest. It was plain that the whigs
could expect their support no longer, and that the whig party
in the legislature had swallowed the odious charters without
prospect of reward.

The Mormons, however, were becoming unpopular, nay
odious, to the great body of the people. As I have already
said, their common council had passed some extraordinary or-
dinances calculated to set the State government at defiance.
The Legion had been furnished with three pieces of cannon and
about two hundred and fifty stand of small arms ; which popu-
lar rumor increased to the number of thirty pieces of camion
and five or six thousand stand of muskets. The Mormons
were rapidly increasing by emigration. The great office of
Lieutenant General had been created for the commander of
the Legion, of higher rank, as was said, than any office in the

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 269

militia, and higher than any office in the regular army. A
vast number of reports were circulated all over the country, to
the prejudice of the Mormons. They were charged with nu-
merous thefts and robberies, and rogueries of all sorts ; and it
was believed by vast numbers of the people, that they enter-
tained the treasonable design, when they got strong enough, of
overturning the government, driving out the old population,
and taking possession of the country, as the children of Israel
did in the land of Canaan.

The whigs, seeing that they had been out-generaled by the
democrats in securing the Mormon vote, became seriously
alarmed, and sought to repair their disaster by raising a kind of
crusade against that people. The whig newspapers teemed with
accounts of the wonders and enormities of Nauvoo, and of the
awful wickedness of a party which would consent to receive the
support of such miscreants. Governor Duncan, who was really
a brave, honest man, and who had nothing to do with getting
the Mormon charters passed through the legislature, took the
stump on this subject in good earnest, and expected to be
elected governor almost on this question alone. There is no
knowing how far he might have succeeded, if Mr. Snyder had
lived to be his competitor.

However, Mr. Snyder departed this life, much lamented by
numerous friends, in the month of May preceding the election.
The democratic party had now to select another candidate for
governor. The choice fell upon me. I hope to be excused
from saying anything in these memoirs in relation to my own
personal qualities and history. If it should ever be thought
important that a knowledge of such humble matters should
be perpetuated, I will trust the task of doing it to other
hands. I will merely mention, that at the time I was nomi-
nated as a candidate for governor, I was one of the judges of
the Supreme Court engaged in holding a circuit court on Fox
river, in the north. So soon as I heard of my nomination, I

270 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

hastened to the seat of government, resigned the office of judge,
and became the candidate of my party. Here permit me to
remark, I had never before been much concerned in the politi-
cal conflicts of the day, and never at all on my own account.
It is true that I had been much in office. I had been twice ap-
pointed to the office of State's Attorney, and four times elected,
without opposition, to the office of judge by the legislature.
I had never been a candidate for the legislature, for Congress,
or for any office elective by the people, and had never wanted
to be a candidate for such offices. I had never been an appli-
cant for any office from the General Government, and had
always avoided being a candidate for any office which was de-
sired by any respectable political friend.
" And here again I must be permitted to indulge in some fur
ther reflections upon the practical operation of republican gov
ernment. The history of my administration but serves to illus-
trate what has already been demonstrated by two administra-
tions of the federal government. I mean the administrations
of 'Tyler and Polk. Neither of these gentlemen were placed in
the office of president because they were leaders of their respec-
tive parties. Tyler was accidentally made vice-president by
the whigs, and accidentally became president, by the death of
Gen. Harrison. He had the position as to office to govern, but
the moral power of government was in the hands of Henry
Clay, the great leader of the whig party, and the embodiment
of its principles. During all of Tyler's administration he ex-
erted no moral force ; government was kept in motion merely
by its previous impulse, and by the patriotism of Congress,
voluntarily subduing so much of its factious spirit as was ab-
solutely necessary to keep government alive. Polk was acci-
dentally nominated by the Baltimore convention, after it was
ascertained that none of the great leaders of the democratic
party could be nominated ; and so far during his time the gov-
ernment has been carried on by the mere force of the demo-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 271

cratic party, which has been in the majority in Congress, the
great leaders, for fear of division in their ranks, uniting some-
times in his support, and sometimes dictating to him the policy
of his administration. Neither Tyler nor Polk had much dis-
tinguished themselves in their respective parties. They had
neither of them fought their way in the party contests to the
leadership, and to the moral power which the leadership alone
can give. So it was with the humble person who was now to
be elected governor of Illinois. Mr. Snyder had been nomi-
nated because he was a leader of the party. Mr. Snyder died,
and I was nominated, not because I was a leader, for I was not,
but because I was believed to have no more than a very ordi-
nary share of ambition ; because it was doubtful whether any
of the leaders could be elected, and because it was thought I
would stand more in need of support from leaders, than an ac-
tual leader would. To this cause, and perhaps there were
others, I trace the fact which will hereafter appear, that I was
never able to command the support of the entire party which
elected me.

From such examples as these, I venture to assert, that the
moral power belonging to the leadership of the dominant party,
is greater than the legal power of office conferred by the Con-
stitution and the laws. In fact it has appeared to me at times,
that there is very little power of government in this country,
except that which pertains to the leadership of the party in the
majority. Gen. Jackson not only governed whilst he was pres-
ident, but for eight years afterwards, and has since continued
to govern, even after his death.*

* In forming a constitution it is almost impossible to anticipate how
much power is delegated to the government, and particularly to the
executive branch. The power of the executive branch depends some-
what upon the legal authority with which the officer is clothed, but
more upon his personal character and influence. To illustrate this,
take the administrations of John Quincy Adams, Gen. Jackson, and

272 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

When men who are not leaders are put into high office, it is
generally done through the influence of leaders, who expect to
govern through them. They are expected to need support more
than if they were actual leaders ; and are preferred sometimes
to actual leaders, on account of being more available as candi-
dates, and sometimes because those leaders who cannot get the
office themselves, hope through them to help to be president or
governor, as the case may be. Soon after my election, I ascer-
tained that quite a number of such leaders imagined that they,
instead of myself, had been elected ; and could only be con-
vinced to the contrary, on being referred to the returns of the
election.

A pusillanimous man, willing to take office upon any terms,
is ever disposed to submit to this kind of influence and dicta-
tion. He calls it consulting his party when he consults only a
few leaders, and this he is obliged to do, or find himself without
the power to govern. In a government where the democratic
spirit is all-powerful, this power to govern consists in being
able to unite a majority of opinions ; but where the people are
free, each man to choose for himself, it is extremely difficult to

John Tyler. These presidents were all clothed with the same identical
legal powers. John Quincy Adams, although a man of great abilities,
acknowledged the feebleness of his administration, in consequence of
not being elected by the people, but by the House of Representatives.
Gen. Jackson exercised the power of an autocrat, because he was sup-
ported by the confidence and affections of the American people. And
John Tyler, though a man of very respectable talents, converted the
executive department into a kind of anarchy, because he had no party
in his favor. The election, therefore, of a strong man or a weak one,
to this office, is equivalent to an amendment of the Constitution, by
which great powers are given or withheld, as the case may be. Or,
rather, it is more like a revolution, by which a dictator is appointed at
one time, and at another the authority of the executive office is so re-
stricted as to convert the government into an anarchy. And yet dur-
ing the whole time there has been really no change in the fundamental
law.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 273

induce a majority to co-operate for the common benefit. Va-
rious reasons, and passions, and prejudices, will lead different
ways ; and very often all reason will be confounded by a com-
bination of clamor and prejudice. It is generally the work of a
few leading minds to bring order out of this chaos, and to get a
majority to think and feel alike. These leaders, therefore, as
effectually govern the country as if they were born to rule.

The best and purest mode in which leaders exercise their
power, is by instruction and persuasion. This kind of govern-
ment can exist only over a very intelligent and virtuous people.
And as a government is always a type of the people over
whom it is exercised, so it will be found that when the people
are less enlightened and virtuous, the means of governing them
will be less intellectual. If the people are indifferent to,
and ignorant of what constitutes good government, the mode
which leaders take to unite a majority of them is apt to be as
follows : There is in every county, generally at the county
seats, a little clique of county leaders, who aim to monopolize or
dispose of the county offices. Some of them expect to be elect-
ed to the legislature, and in time, to higher offices. Others
expect to be recipients of some county or State office ; or to be
appointed to some office by the President through the influence
of members of Congress. These lesser leaders all look to some
more considerable leader, who is a judge, member of Congress,
United States Senator, or Governor of the State. The State
leaders again look to some more considerable man at Washing-
ton city, who is actually president, or who controls the presi-
dent, or who is himself a prominent candidate for that office.
The great leader at Washington dashes boldly out in favor of,
or against some measure ; the class of leaders whose influence
as yet, is bounded by a single State, fall into line behind the
great leader. These State leaders are kept together by a fear
of the opposite party. For instance, if they are democratic
leaders, they fear that a division amongst themselves will divide

12*

274 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

the democratic party, and thereby cause its defeat and the suc-
cess of the whigs. They therefore make sacrifices of opinion to
keep up unity, the least influential leader having to make the
greatest sacrifice.*

The State leaders, whether democrat or whig makes no dif-
ference, then give the word to the little cliques of leaders in
each county ; these county leaders convey it to the little big men
in each neighborhood, and they do the talking to the rank-and-
file of the people. In this way principles and men are put up
and put down with amazing celerity. And gentle reader do
not be astonished ; THIS is GOVERNMENT ! and if there is in point

* The organization of men into political parties under the control of
leaders as a means of government, necessarily destroys individuality
of character and freedom of opinion. Government implies restraint,
compulsion of either the body or mind, or both. The latest improve-
ment to effect this restraint and compulsion is to use moral means, in-
tellectual means operating on the mind instead of the old mode of using
force, such as standing armies, fire, sword and the gibbet, to control
the mere bodies of men. It is therefore a very common thing for men
of all parties to make very great sacrifices of opinion, so as to bring
themselves into conformity with the bulk of their party. And yet
there is nothing more common than for the race of newspaper states-
men to denounce all such of the opposite party as yield their own opin-
ions to the opinions of the majority, as truckling and servile. They
may possibly be right in this. But undoubtedly such submission is
often necessary to the existence of majorities, entertaining the same
opinion. A little further experience may develop the fact, that when
this means of securing majorities shall fail, the government will fall
into anarchy.

Either moral or physical force must be used for purposes of govern-
ment. When a people are so gross that moral power cannot operate
on them, physical force must be resorted to. Also, when the officers
of government lack talents and moral power, physical force may there-
by be made necessary ; so that it may be said, that a people may stand
in need of being governed by absolute violence, just in proportion to
their want of a proper civilization ; and sometimes also just in propor-
tion to the want of moral power in the government

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 275

of fact any other sort, its existence cannot be proved by me,
and yet I have been governor of the State for four years.

It may be thought that these leaders, of course, are men of
great and magnanimous natures. But such is not always the
fact. To make a leader, nothing more is necessary than a pleas-
ing address, added to zeal for a party, and unceasing activity
and enterprise. The world is governed by industry more than
by talents. True great men are leaders only in times of great
trouble, when a nation is in peril. In quiet times, the active,
talking, enterprising and cunning manager is apt to be the lead-
er. This kind of leader always claims more than his just share
in the benefits and advantages of government. When he has
elected some man to high office, who is not a leader, he claims
every service from him which he has it in his power to render.
Many such must have offices which they are not fit for ; others
have a scheme to make money out of the public ; others invoke
aid in procuring the enactment of laws for private advantage ;
and others again require a hundred things which an honest man
ought not to do. And if their unreasonable requests are re-
fused ; if the true interests of the people are consulted, and the
man elected refuses to be a mere instrument in the hands of
leaders, to make an unequal distribution of the advantages of
government, they immediately denounce him, they send out all
sorts of falsehoods against him, and, for being honest and de-
voted to the public interest, they get many people to believe
that he is a greater rogue than he would really have been if he
had done all the villanous things they required him to do. I
could relate some amusing instances of this sort in the course
of my administration.*

* The condition of a modern governor in party times, is well describ-
ed in Knickerbocker's history of New York : " He is an unhappy vic-
tim of popularity, who is in fact the most dependent, hen-pecked being
in community ; doomed to bear the secret goadings and corrections of
his own party, and the sneers and revilings of the whoie world be-

276 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

It is no part of my object to overthrow the power of leaders,
if I could ; for I am persuaded, that without it, a governing ma-
jority of the people would rarely be found. A government of
leaders, however defective it may be, is better than no govern-
ment, upon the same principle that despotism is better than an-
archy. But reformation of this power is earnestly desired. For
as long as the great body of the people do not investigate, and
take so little interest in matters of government, as long as men
of influence will endeavor to appropriate the benefits and advan-
tages of government to themselves, and can and do control the
people, making it necessary for men in office to lean upon lead-
ers instead of the intelligence of the people for support, there
will never be any good government, or if there is, the people
will not think so.* Fortunate is that country which has great

side. Set up like geese at Christmas holidays, to be pelted and shot at by
every whipster and vagabond in the land." From this condition nothing
can save a governor but his personal insignificance, the idea that he is
not worth making war on. As soon as a governor is elected, he receives
the congratulations of his friends, and there are generally about ten of
these, and sometimes more, in each county, each one of whom claiming
to have elected him. Each one writes to the governor, or goes to see
him, to tell him how well and cunningly he fought and managed, and
how many sacrifices he made to carry the election. Each one is sure
that he did it all himself, and claims to be rewarded accordingly. If
the governor cannot do everything for every one as required, the disap-
pointed ones are more earnest in their enmity than they were before in
their friendship. Something of this kind has happened to me. I do not
complain of it, but merely mention it but to show how difficult it is for
a governor to have any policy of his own for the general advantage of
the people, and pursue it steadily without incurring the censure of such
politicians as have no public benefits in view, but merely their own
selfish projects.

* Just now the public mind is in a great ferment concerning amend-
ments of the constitution, as if amendments of the laws were a cure for
every ill that flesh is heir to. Without undertaking to prove, I will
venture to assert^ that there may be a very bad government with very

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 277

and good men for leaders of parties, upon whose measures a
majority of the people can safely unite, and the greater the ma-
jority the better. If the power of leaders is ever to be reform-
ed, it will be by beginning with the people themselves. The
people, whether good or bad, will have a government which, in
the main, truly represents the state of civilization which they
have attained to. The democratic party professes to be the
party of progress in matters of government ; it has much to
reform ; but it is sincerely hoped that at no distant day its at-
tention may be directed to the evils of this machinery, and cor-
rect them. At present, the people may be said to govern them-
selves only by being the depository of power, which they can
exercise if they choose ; but which, for most of the time, they
choose to give into the hands of their leaders, to be exercised
without much responsibility to them. The responsibility is all
to attach to their leaders, and not to the people.

As soon as I was announced as a candidate for governor, the
Mormon question was revived against me, as being the heir of
the lamented Snyder. But it could not be made to work much
against me. I had been as little concerned in the passage of the
Mormon charters as my opponent. Of course, in a State so

good laws. The laws may be amended, but if human nature is vicious
and selfish, it will find a way to pervert the best of laws to the worst
of purposes. I assert again, that if government is to be reformed, the
work must begin with the people, who are, in a kind of way, the source
of power. If it is once given up that the people can never be persuad-
ed to vote wisely and judiciously, to sustain such of their servants as
may be faithful, and put aside all selfish demagogues, who seek to live
merely by the profits of office, then we may make up our minds to see
government very imperfect in its practical operation, under any form
of constitution whatever. The Utopians and Perfectionists then will
have nothing to do but to lay aside their fine, sun-shiny theories, and
live in the world the little time that is allotted to them, contented
with the imperfections of government, as they are obliged to be with
the imperfections of everything else.

278 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

decidedly democratic, I was elected by a large majority. The
banks, the State debt, the canal, and the Mormons, together
with the general politics of the Union, were the principal topics
of discussion during the canvass. Topics of local interest, how-
ever, had but little interest on the result of the election. The
people of Illinois were so thoroughly partisan, upon the great
question of the nation, that matters merely of local concern,
though of vital importance to the people, were disregarded.

To sum up, then, this was the condition of the State when I
came into office as governor. The domestic treasury of the
State was indebted for the ordinary expenses of government to
the amount of about $313,000. Auditor's warrants on the
treasury were selling at fifty per cent, discount, and there was
no money in the treasury whatever ; not even to pay postage
on letters. The annual revenues applicable to the payment of
ordinary expenses, amounted to about $130,000. The treasury
was bankrupt ; the revenues were insufficient ; the people were
unable and unwilling to pay high taxes ; and the State had bor-
rowed itself out of all credit. A debt of near fourteen millions
of dollars had been contracted for the canal, railroads, and other
purposes. The currency of the State had been annihilated;
there was not over two or three hundred thousand dollars in
good money in the pockets of the whole people, which occa-
sioned a general inability to pay taxes. The whole people were
indebted to the merchants ; nearly all of whom were indebted
to the banks, or to foreign merchants; and the banks owed
everybody ; and none were able to pay.

To many persons it seemed impossible to devise any system
of policy, out of this jumble and chaos of confusion, which would
relieve the State. Every one had his plan, and the confusion
of counsels among prominent men was equalled only by the
confusion of public affairs.

CH.APTER IX.

Character of the people— North and South— Causes of discord— Principle upon which
elections were made — Character of candidates — Reasons for preference — Further
maxims of politicians — John Grammar — Want of unity in the democratic party —
Want of great leaders — Members of the legislature — Legislative elections — Neglect
of other business — Love of popularity — Account of lobby members — Their motives
and influence— Professional politicians— Ultraists and " Milk and water men," tend-
ing to repudiation — Plans for public relief— Illinois canal— Justus Butterfleld — Mi-
chael Ryan — Arthur Bronson— Compromise with the banks — Proposed repeal of
their charters — Governor Carlin's message— Arguments for compromise and for re-
peal— Ayes and Noes in the House — John A. McClernand — Lyman Trumbull —
James Shields — Feuds among politicians growing out of the appointment of Secre-
tary of State— Amalgamation of the co-ordinate branches of government— Opposi-
tion to the compromise bill in the Senate — Character of the leader of this opposition
— Removal of Trumbull from the office of Secretary of State— Humbug set off
against humbug— Improvement of public affairs— Execution laws, debtor and
creditor.

OBSTRUCTIONS to the success of wise policy, which would re-
lieve the State from these multiplied evils, were to be found in
the character, varieties, and genius of the masses of the people ;
and in the motives, aims, and enterprises of politicians ; some
account of which is necessary to a right understanding of the
future action of government. The State is about four hundred
miles long from north to south, and about one hundred and fifty
miles wide from east to west. This shape of the State natu-
rally divided the legislature into representatives from the south
and representatives from the north, and under any circum-
stances, a State so long in proportion to its breadth, must con-
tain much of the elements of discord. The southern portion of
the State was settled principally by people from the slavehold-
ing States ; the north, principally from New York and New
England. The southern people were generally poor; they

280 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

were such as were not able to own slaves in a slave State, and
who came here to avoid slavery. A poor white man in a slave
State, is of little more importance, in the eyes of the wealthy,
than the negroes. The very negroes of the rich call such poor
persons " poor white folks." The wealthy immigrant from the
slave States rarely came here. He moved to some new slave
State, to which he could take his negroes. The consequence
was, that our southern settlements presented but few specimens
of the more wealthy, enterprising, intellectual, and cultivated
people from the slave States. Those who did come were a
very good, honest, kind, hospitable people, unambitious of
wealth, and great lovers of ease and social enjoyment.

The settlers from the North, not being debarred by our Con-
stitution from bringing their property with them, were of a dif-
ferent class. The northern part of the State was settled in the
first instance by wealthy farmers, enterprising merchants, mil-
lers, and manufacturers. They made farms, built mills, church-
es, school-houses, towns, and cities ; and made roads and bridges
as if by magic ; so that although the settlements in the southern
part of the State are twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty years in ad-
vance, on the score of age, yet are they ten years behind in
point of wealth, and all the appliances of a higher civilization.

This of itself was cause enough for discord between the two
ends of the State. The people of the south entertained a most
despicable opinion of their northern neighbors. They had never
seen the genuine Yankee. They had seen a skinning, traffick-
ing, and tricky race of pedlers from New England, who much
infested the West and South with tin ware, small assortments
of merchandise, and wooden clocks ; and they supposed that
the whole of the New England people were like these speci-
mens. They formed the opinion that a genuine Yankee was a
close, miserly, dishonest, selfish getter of money, void of gen-
erosity, hospitality, or any of the kindlier feelings of human
nature. The northern people formed equally as unfavorable

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 281

an opinion of their southern neighbors. The northern man
believed the southerner to be a long, lank, lean, lazy, and igno-
rant animal, but little in advance of the savage state ; one who
was content to squat in a log-cabin, with a large family of ill-
fed and ill-clothed, idle, ignorant children. The truth was, both
parties were wrong. There is much natural shrewdness and
sagacity in the most ignorant of the southern people ; and they
are generally accumulating property as fast as any people can
who had so little to begin with. The parties are about equal
in point of generosity and liberality, though these virtues show
themselves in each people in a different way. The southerner
is perhaps the most hospitable and generous to individuals.
He is lavish of his victuals, his liquors, and other personal fa-
vors. But the northern man is the most liberal in contributing
to whatever is for the public benefit. Is a school-house, a
bridge, or a church to be built, a road to be made, a school or
a minister to be maintained, or taxes to be paid for the honor
or support of government, the northern man is never found
wanting.

This misconception of character was the cause of a good deal
of misunderstanding. The great canal itself, from Lake Mich-
igan to the Illinois river, was opposed by some at an early day,
for fear it would open a way for flooding the State with Yan-
kees. Even as popular a man as the late Lieutenant-Governor
Kinney, opposed it in a speech in the Senate on this ground.
He said the Yankees spread everywhere. He was looking
daily for them to overrun this State. They could be Tound in
every country on the globe ; and one strong proof to him that
John Cleves Symmes was wrong in his theory of the earth,
was, that if such an opening at the north pole as that theory
supposed really existed, the Yankees would have had a big
wagon road to it long before its discovery by Mr. Symmes.
This want of concord in the two races of people was unfavor-
able to the adoption of the wisest means for public relief. In

282 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

framing a wise policy for the future, the success of the canal in
the north was one indispensable item. But because it was in
the north, and for no other reason that I can discover, it was
liable to objection in other quarters.

Another obstacle of a like character was to be found in the
motives, aims, and designs of politicians. As yet the people
rarely elected members of the legislature with reference to any
well-defined notions of State policy. As I have said before,
both parties were so thoroughly partisan upon the great con-
tests upon national questions, that local affairs were but little
considered. Sometimes some question about the removal of a
county seat, or the division of a county, might influence an elec-
tion. As between the different parties it seemed to be more
important to know whether a candidate for the legislature was
for or against a United States Bank, a protective tariff, internal
improvements by the federal government, or distributing the
proceeds of the public lands ; in fine, to know whether he was
a whig or a democrat, than to know his opinions of State poli-
tics. Of all the local questions calculated to influence elections,
that of the banks, I believe, was the only one which was gen-
erally considered.

But the great prevailing principle upon which each party
acted in selecting candidates for office was, to get popular men.
Men who had made themselves agreeable to the people by a
continual show of friendship and condescension ; men who were
loved for their gaiety, cheerfulness, apparent goodness of heart,
and agreeable manners. Surly and stubborn wisdom stood no
chance for office. The proud and haughty were proscribed.
The scripture proverb, " Be humble that ye may be exalted,"
was understood altogether in a political sense.

One would think that nature herself had fitted out and indi-
cated those who were to be the governors of this country ; that
in making some men mild, humble, amiable, obliging, and con-
descending, in other words, in fitting some men to be popular

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 283

and others to be unpopular, Providence itself had selected our
rulers. This, however, would be a mistake. There are hun-
dreds of popular men who have none of these gifts by nature.
I have known numbers who in spite of nature could be kind,
humble, friendly, and agreeable, as the best. These are talents
which can be acquired by a diligent practice. A friend of mine
once informed me that he intended to be a candidate for the
legislature, but would not declare himself until within a few
days of the election, and assigned as a reason, " that it was so
very hard to be ' clever ' for a long time at once." This same
man by dint of practice afterwards acquired the art of being
" clever " all the time. Of all the talents which most recom-
mends a man to his friends is that of being merry, and of
laughing agreeably. Even this may be acquired. I have seen
hundreds of men who were morose, serious, sour, and even
sulky by nature, commence by forcing themselves into merri-
ment and laughter, and so go on that in process of time it takes
the nicest discernment to determine whether their cachinations
are genuine or counterfeit.

Politicians generally knew better how to get an office than
how to perform its duties. Statesmanship was but little
studied ; and indeed there is this difference all the world over,
between a statesman and a mere politician, that the true states-
man looks to his whole country ; he devises a system of meas-
ures, he sees the connection of one measure with another, and
he makes them all work together for the common good;
whilst the mere politician busies himself altogether in selfish
projects to get office without caring much for the policy or
measures he advocates after he gets into power. If he dabbles
in measures at all he confines himself to something local or
temporary, or to measures of mere party ; he is a one-idea
man, for the view of his mind can never take in the whole field
of public interest. Hitherto in Illinois the race of politicians
has been more numerous and more popular with the people,

284 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

than the race of statesmen. The main reason of this has been,
that too many people vote to elect men as a favor to the officer,
not with a view to require service from them. The elections
have been made upon the principle that the officer is to be
served, not the people.

Many of these politicians in the legislature made it a rule to
vote against all new measures, about which the opinions of the
people were unknown; shrewdly calculating that if such a
measure passed and became popular, no one would inquire who
had opposed it ; but if it turned out to be unpopular, then they
could show by the journals that they had voted against it.
And if the measure failed of success and became popular, the
members who opposed it excused themselves to the people by
pretending ignorance of the will of their constituents, and by
promising to be in its favor if again elected.

This kind of policy is said to have originated with John
Grammar, long a representative or senator from Union, county.
He was elected to the territorial legislature about the year
1816, and was continued in the legislature most of the time for
twenty years. It is said that when he was first elected, lacking
the apparel necessary for a member, he and his sons gathered
a large quantity of hazle-nuts, which were taken to the Ohio
Saline and sold for cloth to make a coat and pantaloons. The
cloth was the blue strouding used by the Indians for breech-
cloths. When it was brought home the neighboring women
were assembled to make up the garments of the new member.
The cloth was measured every way, cross, lengthwise, and from
corner to corner, but still the puzzling truth appeared that the
pattern was scant. The women concluded to make of it a very
short bob-tailed coat, and a long pair of leggins, which being
finished, and Mr. Grammar arrayed in them, he started for
Kaskaskia, the seat of government. Here he continued to wear
his leggins over an old tattered garment until the poetry bill
(a partial appropriation) passed, when he provided himself with

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 285

a pair of breeches. Mr. Grammar was a man who could
neither read nor write, and yet he had the honor to originate a
practice which has been much followed by men of more pre-
tensions.

Such demagoguism could not succeed in any very enlighten-
ed country. The Valley of the Mississippi had so constantly
increased in numbers, so far beyond the means of education,
that it is doing ourselves no injustice to admit that there is
some ignorance amongst us. But this evil must be corrected ;
education must be more encouraged ; knowledge must be made
more abundant ; more of the people must be taught the power
of thinking. An elevated, numerous democracy must be cre-
ated, which shall destroy the power of the few who monopolize
intellect. Intellectual power is power of the most fearful kind ;
and it is folly to talk of " equal rights and equal laws" where
some few have it and the many have it not. Where this is the
case, it is folly to talk of self-government. An ignorant people
who attempt self government, are, by a fixed law of nature, ob-
liged to fail in the attempt ; they may think that they govern
themselves, when they are only led by the nose by their dema-
gogues. A government of demagogues is only better than
anarchy.

The members of the legislature, after having been elected,
feeling victorious and triumphant over their adversaries at home,
come up to the seat of government in a happy state of exulta-
tion of mind and self-complacency, which make the compliments
and flattery with which they are received most soothing and
agreeable. The whole world of aspirants for office comes with
them. A speaker of the lower house, and officers of the two
houses, are to be elected, the first thing. For these offices
there are many candidates. I have known more than a hundred
candidates for door-keepers of the two houses. Besides these,
there are numerous candidates for secretaryships and clerkships.
The members exhibit themselves in public places, where they

286 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

can be approached, complimented, flattered, supplicated, and
teased, by the several aspirants for office, who fly round from
one member to another, with great glee and activity, making
themselves agreeable, until after the election. After these elec-
tions are over, there is, in two sessions out of three, an United
States Senator to be elected ; and every session the legislature
elects an auditor of public accounts, State treasurer, public print-
er, attorney-general, and States' attorneys for the several cir-
cuits ; and fills vacancies on the bench of judges. These elec-
tions are not all brought on at once, but a few of them at a
time only, so as to keep a number of aspirants at the seat of
government during the whole session, and husband the import-
ance of the members of the legislature, which in a great meas-
ure would be expended and gone by more prompt action in dis-
posing of the seekers for office.

It is during a session of the legislature that all political ar-
rangements are made for the next campaign. Here it is decid-
ed who are to be the next candidates for governor and United
States Senator, and who to go to Congress from the various
districts. It is true that conventions are afterwards held to make
the nominations in conformity to what is here agreed ; and here
too it is determined who are to be recommended for office to
the general government. However much the members of the
legislature may lack in learning, they are generally shrewd,
sensible men, who, from their knowledge of human nature, and
tact in managing the masses, are amongst the master spirits of
their several counties. They are such generally as have culti-
vated the arts of popularity ; know how to shake hands with
the appearance of cordiality and friendship ; are good-natured
and social ; possess a talent for smiling and laughing in a pleas-
ing way ; and of saying agreeable things in conversation. The
great majority of them are fired with an ambition, either to get
back to the legislature, or to be elected or appointed to some
other office. This puts them upon the alert to preserve their

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 287

popularity. New measures are considered more with reference
to the reception they may meet with at home than to their util-
ity or wisdom. The question in such a case is, how will such a
measure take with the people ? how can an adversary, in his
own or the opposite party, build an objection on it to the mem-
ber who has voted for or against it ? and how is it to affect his
next election, or his party standing] Many members thus
guess their way through a whole session ; and experience has
proved that they have oftener guessed wrong than right ; for a
fifth part of them never get back to the legislature, and those
who do are such as consider the wisdom and soundness of meas-
ures, such as have the courage, the ability, .and go home with
the determination, to defend their acts, by an appeal to the judg-
ments of their fellow citizens.

Very many public men, for the sake of present popularity,
do wrong knowingly, to secure future power, which they may
never get. If it were the practice for no one ever " to seek or
decline office," to be contented without it, and to accept it as a
mere duty, then there would be no motive to do wrong, but
every motive to do good, during a short continuance of power.
But this I fear can never be carried out in practice. The office-
seeking propensity is wonderful indeed ; there seems to be no
sufficient reason for it. Office is not clothed with the profit,
power, or honor to make it desirable for either. We every day
see private men who are more honored and wealthy than any
who are in office. In our government, the jealousy of liberty
disarms all offices of power ; the popular notions of economy
will not allow them to be profitable ; nearly one half the peo-
ple in party times, so far from honoring a public officer, take a
pleasure in despising him ; and the leaders among his own polit-
ical friends, unless he is the great leader of a party, will take
care that he shall not have much credit.

The out-door politicians, who are called " lobby members,"
and who come up to the seat of government for office, are much

288 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

like the members themselves, except that they are more talent-
ed and cunning. They are men who take to politics as a trade,
and business, and means of living. They seek to control the
legislature in the disposal of offices, and are themselves divided
into a hundred little cliques and factions, working with or
against each other, as concurrence or opposition may be most
advantageous.

A popular member of the lobby is apt to be some lawyer
who practices in several counties. He gets acquainted with the
leading men of his party in each county. He aids in getting
popular men nominated as candidates for the legislature. He
makes speeches for the cause, and aids his friends to be elected.
As he is naturally superior to them, it is no wonder if they look
to him for advice and assistance in performing their arduous
duties. By such means he will contrive to control four or five
members of the legislature. This he will make known to all
the world but the members themselves. He is then looked to
as a man of importance. He has so many transferable votes
in the legislature. He is courted, caressed, and promised sup-
port in his own views, in return for his countenance to the pro-
jects of others. A lobby member will make but a poor figure
without some such capital ; and as he comes to the seat of gov-
ernment only as a seeker of office, he never troubles himself
about measures, unless they are strictly of a party character.
Other great measures which may make or ruin the country, he
takes no interest in, unless they can be made helpers to office.
In and out of the legislature, the machinery of government is
more considered than the measures of government. The fre-
quent legislative elections ; the running to and fro of the various
cliques and factions, before each election ; the anxiety of mem-
bers for their popularity at home ; the settlement of plans to
control future elections, to sustain the party in power, on the
one side, and to overthrow it, on the part of the minority, ab-
sorb nearly the whole attention of the legislature, and leave but

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 289

little disposition or time to be devoted to legitimate legislation.
So much is this the case, that the most important measures, such
as may have the greatest influence upon the well-being of the
present and all future generations, pass through the two houses,
or are rejected, almost without debate, and frequently without
notice. Of the many common-school laws which have passed
our legislature, I have never known but one which called forth
any general interest.

There are two kinds of professional politicians ; though they
both aim at the same thing, — the acquisition of office. The one
sort are clever, timid, moderate, and accommodating ; the other
kind are bold, sanguine, and decided. The first sort will agree
for the time being, to anything, and with anybody. These men
aim to be affable, pleasant, facetious, and agreeable. They
make it a matter of calculation never to contradict, to advocate
no opinion, to give no offence, to make no enemies, and to be
amiable and agreeable to all. They are called by the others
" milk and water men," and are much despised by the bold,
decided, ultraist. Sometimes the " milk and water" man has
the advantage ; for as he swims and slides easily and smoothly
along, never contradicting, accommodating to all, and friendly
to all, he has frequently to be taken up in party contests, as the
" most available candidate." The other sort of professed poli-
ticians are the men of energy and action. They are the fore-
most in the fight with the common enemy. They are the ora~
tors for the people; the writers for the newspapers; the
organizers and disciplinarians of party ; the denouncers of
treachery and defection ; and work night and day for victory
in the party contests. They are always much despised by the
opposite party in politics ; and are always selected as especial
objects of abuse and detraction. The minority party frequently
have credit enough to destroy the popularity of a champion of
the enemy, even with his own party. He is hated among the
best men of his opponents. These opponents may have no di-

290 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

rect political influence out of their ovrn ranks ; but many of
them are credited as gentlemen of veracity ; their statements
in relation to mere persons are believed even by political op-
ponents. These statements, though often prompted by political
hatred, are uttered boldly, and with an appearance of candor,
by men who are fair dealers, good neighbors, and known to
speak the truth in all matters of neighborhood concernment.
The popularity of the champion is destroyed. He cannot get
all the votes of his own party, and not one from amongst his
-opponents. He is no longer considered to be an available can-
didate, and has to give place, in all doubtful contests, to his in-
offensive " milk and water" compatriot. For it is a rule with
all parties to select only such candidates as can get the largest
vote.

A politician, however, of the decided, sanguine kind, if he is
a man of sense and tact, if he knows how far to go in the ad-
vocacy of his own party, and when to stop ; if he knows how to
abuse the opposite party, without giving personal offence ; is in
the surest road to advancement. This kind of politician is most
usually for extreme measures. Nothing moderate will suit
him. He must be in advance of everybody else. He aims to
be a leader; and to be one he thinks he must be ahead in
everything. In the democratic party he is an ultraist ; he can
hardly find measures sufficiently democratic to suit him. He
is a tactician, a disciplinarian ; ever belongs to some organiza-
tion; never bolts a nomination, and never votes against his
own party. In the whig party, he is an old federalist ; he has
no confidence in the people for self-government ; he is in favor
of a property qualification for electors, and is always against
the democrats, right or wrong, and against everything demo-
cratic, and firmly believes all the time that the country is just
going to be ruined. But in whatever party he may be, when-
ever that party is dominant, he aims to be considered a better
party man, to work truer in the party harness than any one

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 291

else, and if he can so distinguish himself, he mounts at once to
the leadership. All the active office-seeking tribe are first his
allies, and afterwards his followers. It is a fact well known,
that one party is governed by the office-holders, and the other
by the office-hunters.

Under such circumstances it would be strange indeed if there
had been much disposition anywhere to make the "future pros-
perity of the State a consideration paramount to all others.*

Before I came into office, the public mind was settled on
nothing as the future policy of the State. The people of Bond
county, as soon as the internal improvement system passed,
had declared in a public meeting, that the system must lead to
taxation and utter ruin ; that the people were not bound to pay
any of the debt to be contracted for it ; and that Bond county
would never assist in paying a cent of it. Accordingly, they
refused to pay taxes for several years. When the system went
down, and had left the State in the ruinous condition predicted
by the Bond county meeting, many people remembered that
there might be a question raised as to the obligation of pay-
ment. Public men everywhere, of all parties, stood in awe of
this question ; there was a kind of general silence as to what
should be done. No one could foresee what would be popular
or unpopular. The two great political parties were watching
each other with eagle eyes, to see that one should not get the
advantage of the other. The whigs, driven to desperation by
repeated ill success in elections, were many of them in favor of
repudiation as a means of bettering their party. The Sanga-
mon Journal and the Alton Telegraph, the two leading whig

* When Galena was first settled, it is said that the only question
asked concerning a new comer was, whether he would steal or not ?
If it was answered that he would not steal, he was considered a very
honest man. So in elections it was now asked only whether a candi-
date was a whig or a democrat ? If the answer to this was satisfactory,
the candidate was considered to be safe and a great statesman.

292 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

newspapers of the State, boldly took ground that the debt never
could and never would be paid, and that it was of no use to say
anything more about it. Very many democrats were in favor
of the same course, for fear of losing the power the democratic
party already possessed. It was thought to be a very danger-
ous subject to meddle with. At a democratic convention which
nominated Mr. Snyder for governor, a resolution against repu-
diation, offered by Mr. Arnold of Chicago, was laid on the table
by an overwhelming vote of the convention, so as not to com-
mit the party one way or the other. It was evident that this
was to be a troublesome question ; and a great many of the
politicians on both sides were as ready to take one side of it as
the other ; and their choice depended upon which might finally
appear to be most popular. The whigs were afraid if they ad- .
vocated the debt-paying policy, the democrats would take the
other side, and leave the whigs no chance of ever coming into a
majority. And the democrats feared that if they advocated a
correct policy, the other side might be more popular, and might
be taken by the whigs. I speak only of the leaders of parties,
amongst whom on all sides there was a strong suspicion that
repudiation might be more popular than taxation.

Ifc is my solemn belief that when I came into office, I had the
power to make Illinois a repudiating State. It is true I was not
the leader of any party ; but my position as governor would
have given me leadership enough to have carried the demo-
cratic party, except in a few counties in the north, in favor of
repudiation. If I had merely stood still and done nothing, the
result would have been the same. In that case a majority of
both parties would have led to either active or passive repudia-
tion. The politicians on neither side, without a bold lead to
the contrary, by some one high in office, would never have
dared to risk their popularity by being the first to advocate an
increase of taxes to be paid by a tax-hating people.

Such were the people and such were the great mass of politi-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 293

cians of the State of Illinois in 1842. In general, the legisla-
ture meant to do right, and to do the best for the country ; but
here, as everywhere else, there were serious obstacles to con-
tend with before the policy of the country, in reference to the
deplorable state of public affairs, could be settled upon the best
footing. I have already said that every one had a plan of his
own to restore the State to prosperity ; and it may not be im-
proper to devote a page or two to some of them.

All parties proposed some mode of putting the banks into
liquidation, except a few whigs and a very few democrats, who
would have been willing to compel them to a resumption of
specie payments, and continue their business. Of those who
were in favor of winding them up, a small portion declared in
favor of repealing their charters ; of the appointment of com-
missioners on the part of the State, who were to take charge of
their specie and other effects, pay their debts, and collect what
was due to them. But much the larger portion finally favored
a compromise, by means of which the State would at once be
paid for its stock, or nearly so ; and the banks would settle
their business and go out of existence under the direction of
their own officers. The State Bank held $1,750,000 of State
bonds, .and $294,000 in Auditor's warrants, together with scrip
amounting in the whole to $2,100,000, which it was willing to
surrender at once, and dissolve all further connection with the
State. The bank at Shawneetown was willing to surrender a half-
a-million immediately, and to engage to pay the residue on a
short credit. This bank held $469,998 in Auditor's warrants,
which were to be surrendered as a part of the first payment.

There was no party in the legislature of 1842-'3, in favor of
an immediate increase of taxation to pay interest on the public
debt. Many there were who wanted to do nothing for five
or ten years ; and to trust to luck and accident for the means
of improvement. There were a very few who were in favor
of repudiating the whole debt of the State, who denied the

294: HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

power of the legislature to bind the people by contracting it ;
and who were in favor of giving up to the public creditor all
the property purchased with the borrowed money, and all the
public works constructed by it, as all that ever could or ought
to be done in the way of payment. But the great majority of
the legislature held different opinions. Resolutions were passed
which clearly stated the inability of the State to meet its en-
gagements, and fully recognized our moral and legal obligation
to provide for ultimate payment. The pay immediately was
out of the question. Heavy taxation then would have depopu-
lated the country, and the debt would never be paid.

The State had purchased 42,000 acres of land under the in-
ternal improvement system ; the United States had given us
210,000 acres more under the distribution law of 1841 ; we
owned 230,467 acres of canal lands, and 3,491 town lots in
Chicago and other towns on the canal ; we owned what work
had been done on the canal itself; and various pieces of unfin-
ished railroad in all parts of the State. And we also owned a
large quantity of railroad iron, and the stock in the banks. This
property was our only resource, short of taxation to pay the
whole debt, and it became us to apply it to the best advantage.

One party proposed that an offer to the public creditors
should be made of this property upon condition that they would
finish the canal, and as many of the railroads as they might
choose to finish, and grant an acquittance of the whole debt by
a surrender of public securities. It was evident that this plan
could not succeed. Many of the State bonds were held in trust
for orphans and for charitable purposes. The holders of such
could not consent to, and if they did, they could not comply
with such an arrangement. But the larger portion of our debt
was owned by heavy capitalists, whose business it was to lend
money to States and nations, on a mere pledge of the public
faith. It was clear that this class could better afford to lose all
we owed them than to set the example of such a compromise

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 295

to the borrowing world. t If they made such an arrangement
with Illinois, they must toon expect similar propositions from
all other indebted States. Such an example would be conta-
gious, and would put an end to their business of lending by de-
stroying the only security a nation can give — an unsullied pub-
lic faith.

There were some few persons who were in favor of repudiat-
ing the whole debt, of setting the moral sense of mankind at
defiance, and of absolutely doing nothing, and worse than no-
thing ; for they proposed, that in winding up the banks, by a
total repeal of their charters, the public securities held by these
institutions, and which they were willing to surrender to the
State, in payment of its stock, should be put into the market
and sold as assets ; and that if, after payment of the debts of
the banks, anything should be left, to be divided among the
stockholders, the share coming to the State should be used to
purchase an equal sum in bonds.

During the summer of 1842, Justin Butterfield, an eminent
lawyer of Chicago, had conversed with Arthur Bronson,* one

Extract of a letter from George R. Babcock, Esq., of the city of
Buffalo, K Y., to Justin Butterfield, Esq., of Chicago, Illinois :

. . . . " I have a distinct remembrance that Mr. Bronson spoke
to you in the summer of 1842 at Chicago, on the subject of the unfinish-
ed canal ; and asked if anything to render available the large expendi-
ture which had been made upon ; and to rescue the credit of the State
from the abyss in which it was plunged. You replied, in substance,
that the work would sooner or later be resumed ; that a State so large
and containing such elements of future greatness as Illinois, would at
some day not distant complete a work so essential to its prosperity,
and that the canal and the canal lands would reimburse the cost of its
construction. Mr. Bronson seemed gratified to find you so sanguine in
your expectations, and invited you to meet him at the Lake House that
evening, to confer farther on the subject of its details. In the evening
there was a long discussion, mainly between Mr. Bronson and yourself,
of the project, which, as I understand it, has been subsequently carried
out by the State and its creditors. The leading feature of the plan, as

296 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

of the great capitalists of New York, who was interested in our
State stocks, and a large land-holder in the northern part of the
State. Mr. Bronson was said to be a man of fine talents, deep-
ly skilled in finance, and to possess the confidence of capitalists
both in Europe and America. Mr. Butterfield suggested to Mr.
Bronson that if the canal property could be conveyed in trust,
to secure a new advance of money, and if the State creditors
could be assured that the State intended to do something by
way of taxation or otherwise, to sustain its credit, something
might be done to obtain money to complete the canal ; which
was agreed to by Mr. Bronson. Mr. Butterfield repeated this
conversation to Mr. Michael Ryan ; and Mr. Ryan, being after-
wards at New York, became acquainted with Mr. Bronson, Mr.
Leavitt, and other wealthy persons of the eastern cities, and of
London. A plan was then devised, and approved by them, in
pursuance of the suggestions of Mr. Butterfield, to the effect

I recollect it, was to induce the bond-holders to advance the funds ne-
cessary to complete the canal, by a pledge of the canal, its lands, and
revenues, for the payment of the advance, and a stipulated priority of
the payment of the stocks then held by the persons so making the ad-
vance ; while those creditors who refused to contribute were to be post-
poned until the preferred debt should be discharged. I cannot say who
suggested this plan, as I was not in the room when the conversation com-
menced. Mr. Bronson frequently expressed fears that the foreign bond-
holders would regard the offered priority as a lure to obtain more cash,
as well as a fraud on those of their fellow sufferers who should not
make the required advance. For this reason, I am of opinion that the

plan was not suggested by Mr. Bronson

" GEOEGE R. BABCOCK."

It is due to Mr. Butterfield to say, that he mentioned this plan of
getting money for the canal, and of the foregoing conversation with Mr.
Bronson, some considerable time before Ryan's visit to New York in
the fall of 1842. Mr. Butterfield also is entitled to the credit of draw-
ing the canal bill of 1842-3, which was much more perfect when it
came from his hands than after it had passed the legislature

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 297

that the holders of canal bonds would advance $1,600,000 (the
sum reported to be necessary by the chief engineer) to com-
plete the canal. In return for which, the State was to convey
the canal property in trust, to secure the new loan, as well as
for the ultimate payment of the whole canal debt ; and was to
lay some moderate tax to pay some portion of the accruing in-
terest on the whole debt.

Intimately connected with the success of this plan was the
legislation we might adopt on the subject of the banks. If we
proceeded with an insane violence, by repealing their charters,
at the very moment that we were chartering a company and in-
viting the investment of money to complete the canal, we could
expect no less than to frighten capitalists away from the under-
taking. We would show them at once that we professed to have
the power, and in all probability would exercise it, to repeal
the new one as well as the old. But there were a part of the
democrats who believed in the right of the legislature to repeal
all acts of incorporation, as well private as public. They had
been fighting on this question for years, and now was a good
opportunity for putting it in force. The banks were odious to
the people for long-continued and repeated delinquencies. It
was certain to be popular to be in favor of the most extreme
measures against them; so that when it became a question
whether they should be strangled to death by slow degrees, or
delivered over to be scalped and tomahawked with barbarian
ferocity, many of the professional politicians decided for the
most ultra course. This course was indeed the best for the
politician, but it was the worst for the country. The politician
might increase his reputation in his party, he might earn the
name of a smashing democrat, but the canal would never be
made, and nothing would be done to restore the public credit.

Gov. Carlin, my immediate predecessor, though confessedly an
honest man in his private dealings, recommended repeal in his
valedictory message. When he first came to the scat of gov-

13*

298 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

eminent, he showed me his message, recommending wise, just,
and honorable measures to the banks. He also showed me
what he had prepared on the subject of repeal, assuring me
that he had decided not to put it in. But shortly afterwards
some of the ultraists got hold of him, and induced him to alter
his message, by recommending repeal. This recommendation
embarrassed me then, and has embarrassed me ever since.
Here was a respectable recommendation of something more
ultra than I thought was warranted by the best interests of the
State. It gave countenance to the ultraists ; they could rally
around it, — win a character for stern and inflexible democrats.
It at once put them ahead of the new governor and his friends.
By the way, I will here remark, that it is the constant trick of
the wily, artful politician, to affect ultraism. Many of them
are without talents or merits of any other sort ; and if they
were not a little ahead of everybody else in espousing extreme
measures, there would be nothing of them at all. Gov. Carlin
also, in his last message, despaired of the canal. He had not the
genius to see how money might be raised to complete it, except
by petitioning Congress for an increased donation of land, then
certain never to be granted.

There was quite a party out of the legislature expectants of
office, and others who hoped that if the banks were repealed
out of existence and put into forcible liquidation, some of them
might be appointed commissioners, and put in charge of their
specie and effects. It was known that if the bank debts were
paid pro rata, a large amount of specie would remain on hand
for a year or more ; the use of which could be made profitable
in the meantime. Then there were to be bank attorneys and
agents in collecting and securing debts ; and the whole would
furnish a handsome picking for the buzzards and vultures who
hang about lobbies and surround legislatures.

As for myself, I decided at once in favor of a compromise ;
and I gave notice to all these greedy expectants of office who

HISTORY OP ILLINOIS. 299

were hanging around with eyes straining to devour their sub-
stance, that if the banks were repealed, and the appointment of
commissioners were vested in me, none of them could expect
an appointment. This I know cooled some of them.

This was the most important subject which came before the
legislature of 1842. State stock to the amount of $3,100,000
was at stake ; the canal depended upon it ; and it may be worth
while to give a short statement of the argument on each side of
the question.

It was said in favor of repeal that the banks had so many
times baffled the legislature, the most decisive steps ought to
be taken with them, so as to put them to an end at once. The
legislature ought to make sure work of it once, now that they
were assembled and had the power. The fact that they had
violated their charters was notorious ; the decision of which
ought not to be left to the doubtful chance of a suit at law in
the courts. That the charters ought to be repealed totally, so
as forever to prevent the chance of their revival or resurrection
by any future legislature. The bonds held by the banks ought
to be sold to help pay their debts. The State as a stockholder,
had no more right than another to be paid for its stock and re-
tire from the concern before the bank debts were paid. The
specie would never be paid out pro rata ; the circulation had
been purchased and was now held by private stockholders, who
would refuse to present it for payment, in hopes that another
legislature would renew their charters. The most stringent
laws might be passed for the government of the banks, yet ex-
perience had shown that as long as they had life they would set
all laws at defiance as soon as the Assembly adjourned ; and
the legislature would have to do at the next session what they
had omitted to do now. The compromise proposed was a bad
bargain for the State. The stock was worth more than the
bonds ; the assets of the banks were amply sufficient to pay all

300 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

their debts, and a dividend to the State as a stockholder, which
would greatly exceed the value of these bonds.

On the side of a compromise it was argued that if the banks
had ever baffled the legislature, it was in the day of their power
when their bills were in credit, and they had money to lend to
individuals and to pay the legislature. In the day of their
power they had friends, many of whom were the first to desert
them in their troubles and weakness. They were shorn of their
strength. There were none so poor now as to do them rever-
ence. It was folly to talk of the power of a broken bank in
universal discredit with the people. They were too deeply and
generally despised for any legislature of any party to revive
them. It was just as likely that the internal improvement sys-
tem would be revived. It would be the height of folly to suf-
fer the bonds held by the banks to be sold. At present they
were selling for only fourteen cents on the dollar. If $2,500,-
000 were added to those already in the market, the price must
be greatly reduced. If we rejected an offer to get them up at
once on such favorable terms, and depended on a doubtful divi-
dend to re-purchase them at a discount, if we declared it our
policy to go into the market like a common swindler to pur-
chase our own paper at less than its face, the whole world
would know that we never intended to pay one cent of the pub-
lic debt. A sale under such circumstances would be of but
little use to the banks or their creditors, but would subject the
State to certain loss or disgrace.

The advocates of repeal say that the banks are insolvent, and
cannot pay their debts if the bonds are not sold ; in the next
breath they say that the State is making a bad bargain ; that
the stock is worth more than the bonds, when it is plain that
the stock is worth nothing, unless the banks pay every dollar
of their debt. But the truth is, the banks can pay their debts,
and will have something left for the stockholders. The credit-
,tors are in no danger of eventual loss. But if repeal is to sue-

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 301

ceed ; if their specie and other effects are to be given in charge
to public officers ; neither creditors nor stockholders may ever
get anything. Who are these public officers to be 1 Are they
to be the public officers who mismanaged the old State Bank
of 1821, and lost to the State more than its entire capital 1 Are
they to be some of the late fund commissioners, whose blun-
ders saddled the State with a million and a half of dollars in
debt, for which the first cent was never received ? Are they
to be the commissioners of the board of public works, whose
reckless squandering of the public moneys will be memorable
while time lasts 1 Or are they to be any of the same descrip-
tion of persons 1 And more particularly, are they to be taken
from the hangers-on about the seat of government ? We have
had enough in our history of the management of money mat-
ters by public officers.

The legislature might repeal, but they were not clothed with
all the power of this government. The banks were determined
to contest their right to repeal. The Supreme Court of the
United States had already declared against it in the Dartmouth
College case. They would get an injunction from the federal
court against our commissioners. The case would be litigated
for years at home ; it would then be carried to the Supreme
Court of the United States. It would be years again before a
final decision, and then it was as likely to be against us as for
us. In the meantime, if the bank officers were so little to be
trusted, what security had we that their assets would not be
devoured by the expenses of litigation, or squandered by dis-
honesty.

More than all this, repeal was a violent measure. It was
calculated to alarm capitalists. We were about to incorporate
a company to complete the canal. We were not able to do it
ourselves ; our only hope was in a company. Capitalists, from
whom alone the money to do it could be expected, would rea-
sonably conclude that such a government could not be trusted.

302 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

They might subscribe to the stock, expend their money, make
the canal, and then some hurra of a popular excitement would
result in repealing them out of their rights.

It seemed to me that the arguments in favor of a compromise
were conclusive on every point. The villanies charged upon
the new owners of the Shawneetown Bank, before the compro-
mise bill passed, were no worse than what could have been
committed before any law whatever could have been passed by
this legislature. No such law can be passed in less than six
weeks, and before the end of such a period, a roguish directory
could have committed much worse villanies than any which
have been charged, and such would most probably have been
committed, and no repealing act or after legislation could, as it
did not, reach the mischief. But what availed argument or
reason against the rapacity of hungry buzzards hunting profit-
able office, or against the low ambition of the professed poli-
tician, who ever stands ready to sacrifice the best interest of
his country, so that he may be reckoned a first-rate party man ;
one of your " whole hog" fellows ; and by such means stand on
vantage ground as a candidate for office. Thank God, there
were but few such patriots in the legislature.

A bill was brought into the House of Representatives in
favor of a compromise with the State Bank, and this important
measure passed that body by a vote of 107 in the affirmative,
and 4 against it, on the ayes and noes as follows : Those who
voted in the affirmative, were Messrs. Adams, Aldrich, Andrus,
Arnold, Bailhache, Bibbons, Bishop, Blair, Blakeman, Bone,
Bradley, Brown of Pike, Brown of Sangamon, Browning, Bry-
ant, Burklow, Busey, Caldwell, Canady, Cloud, Cochran, Col-
lins, Compton, Cartwright, Davis of Bond, Davis of William-
eon, Dickinson, Dollins, Dougherty, Douglass, Dubois, Ed-
wards, Epler, Ervin, Ewiug, Ficklin, Flanders, Fowler, Garrett,
Glass, Gobble, Graves, Gregg, Green of Clay, Green of Greene,
Haley, Hambaugh, Hannaford, Hanson, Harper, Hatch, Hick,

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 303

Hicks, Hinton, Horney, Howard, Hunsaker, Jackson of M'Hen-
ry, Jackson of Whiteside, Jonas, Kendall, Koerner, Kuyhendall,
Longworthy, Lawler, Lockhard, Logan, M'Bride, M'Clernand,
M'Donald of Calhoun, M'Donald of Joe Davies's. M'Millan,
Manning, Miller, Mitchell, Murphy, Nesbit, Norris, Owen,
Penn, Pickering, Pratt, Scott, Sharp, Shirley, Simms, Smith of
Crawford, Smith of Hancock, Spicer, Starne, Starr, Stewart,
Stockton, Tackerberry, Thompson, Vance, Vandeveer, Vin-
yard, West, Weatherford, Wheat, Whitcomb, White, Whitten,
Wood worth, Yates, and Mr. Speaker — 107.

Those who voted in the negative were : Messrs. Ames, Bell,
Brinkley, and Loy — 4.

This bill was drawn up by myself, and agreed to by the bank.
It was then shown to Mr. McClernand, the chairman of the
finance committee of the lower house. The chairman called a
meeting of the democratic members of his committee. Gen.
Shields, Judge Douglass, and myself, were invited to be pres-
ent at their meeting. I was desirous of having the measure in-
troduced as a democratic measure, and for this reason the whigs
of the committee were not invited to be present. The project
was stated to the committee, and all the members agreed to it
but one, and he was soon argued out of his objections by Judge
Douglass. The next day it was introduced into the lower house
as a report from the finance committee. This circumstance put
Mr. McClernand in the position of being its principal advocate ;
and it was soon known to be a favorite measure of the new ad-
ministration. It at once met the approbation of all men of
sense in the house ; and in saying this, I say only the truth of
those four gentlemen who opposed it, none of whom, though re-
spectable in other matters, to my certain knowledge, were capa-
ble of entertaining two ideas about public affairs at the same
time, of tracing the connection between them, or of conceiving
the bare idea of a comprehensive system of State policy.

The opposition to the bill as yet was confined to the out-door

304 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

hangers-on about the seat of government, many of whom ex-
pected, if the banks were repealed and put into forcible liquida-
tion, to get some profitable jobs as commissioners and attor-
neys. Lyman Trumbull, Secretary of State, put himself at the
head of this opposition. In taking this ground, Mr. Trumbull
was probably less influenced by a hope of pecuniary advantage
to himself, than by a desire to serve his friends, to be consider-
ed a thorough-going party man, and by a hatred of McCler-
nand and Shields, who both favored the measure. His quarrel
with McClernand sprung out of his appointment to the office of
Secretary of State two years before.

McClernand was a member of the legislature in 1840, but
not being an applicant then, Judge Douglass was appointed at
the beginning of the session without opposition. But when
Douglass was elected a judge of the supreme court towards the
end of the session, McClernand incited his friends to get up in
his favor a strong recommendation from the members of the
legislature for the vacant office. It had been much the practice
heretofore for the legislature to dictate to the governor by rec-
ommendation. A popular man in former times would be an
applicant for an office. He got his friends in the legislature to
sign a request that he might have the appointment. The gover-
nor was feeble, and clothed with but little authority. The legis-
lature came fresh from the people, and were clothed with almost
the entire power of government. They were soon to return
again to their constituents. If the governor refused to oblige
them, they calumniated and denounced him, and endeavored to
render him odious to the people after their return home. Be-
sides this, the legislature possessed most of the appointing pow-
er themselves. The governor might want some office himself
in future, and he always had a number of friends for whose
sake he desired an influence with the assembly. In this view,
the governor, for the time being, himself was usually obliged to
be a kind of lobby member ; and not unfrequently might be

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 305

classed as one of the hangers-on about the seat of government,
seeking to control the legislature in the bestowment of offices.
He dreaded the anger of the members, and would do everything
to please them, or to avoid their displeasure. In this mode the
independence of the executive government was subverted, the two
houses were tampered with and controlled, and the two branches
of government, intended to be kept separate in their action, were
blended and almost amalgamated into one. This will be look-
ed upon as an evil. But as there are three distinct wills to be
consulted in all matters of legislation, it is perhaps, in the pres-
ent state of imperfection of human nature, necessary that they
should thus mutually operate on each other, in order to produce
that harmony of action which leads to concurrence in one direc-
tion. It is true that the executive and legislative powers are in-
tended to be kept separate, and although they are in point of
fact frequently blended into one, yet, on great occasions, when
the public liberties might be endangered by their union, the
power of resistance is still capable of being exerted by each de-
partment.

But to go back to the quarrel between McClernand and
Trumbull. Governor Carlin had already allowed the members
of the legislature and his political friends to dictate to him the
appointment of McClernand on a former occasion. He had
lately yielded to similar dictation in the appointment of Doug-
lass, in opposition to his own wishes ; for he had previously
promised the office to Isaac N. Morris, of Quincy. He had in
fact invited Morris to Springfield to receive the appointment.
But on the arrival of the governor at the seat of government,
he was saluted with a legislative recommendation in favor of
Douglass, which at that time, the beginning of the session, he
was unwilling to refuse. Douglass was appointed; and the
governor in his turn subsequently used his influence with the
legislature to get Morris elected to the office of president of the
board of canal commissioners.

306 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

But this contest between McClernand and Trumbull took
place at the close of the session, when the governor had nothing
more to hope or to fear from that legislature, or any other
during the balance of his term. This made him more inde-
pendent, and he now resolved to resist legislative dictation.

Trumbull was nominated to the Senate ; and McClernand and
Shields as immediately went to work in that body to procure
the rejection of his appointment. They came within a vote or
two of defeating his nomination.

Ever since this there had been no good feeling between Mc-
Clernand and Trumbull. As soon as McClernand took his
position on the bank question, Trumbull arrayed himself in op-
position. He pretended that McClernand's measure was not
sufficiently democratic ; in fact, that nothing could be democratic
in relation to the banks, but to tear them up and destroy them
root and branch ; and he hoped to fasten upon McClernand the
imputation of being a " milk and water democrat," and thus
lower him in the estimation of the party. At the instance of
Ebenezer Peck, the clerk of the supreme court, and some others,
he put up a notice that he would address the lobby on the sub-
ject in the evening after the legislature had adjourned. Most
of the members attended to hear his discourse. In this speech
he put forth many of the common arguments against banks ;
and most of the objections heretofore stated to the compromise
bill.

The next day McClernand, who possessed a kind of bold
and denunciatory eloquence, came down upon Trumbull and
his confederates in a speech in the House ; which for argument,
eloquence, and statesmanship, was far superior to Trumbull's.
This speech silenced all opposition thereafter to the bill in the
House of Representatives.

The out-door opposition after this, foreseeing a signal defeat
in the House, turned their attention to the Senate. This body
was composed of fewer members, and it was hoped would be

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 307

more easily managed than a more numerous assembly like the
lower House. One of the Senators was put at the head of it,
who was a man of but a poor education and narrow capacity,
and had adopted the profession of the law. His first schooling
in the practice was as a justice of the peace, in the course of
which he learned more of the captious pettifogging arts of his
profession than of the science of jurisprudence. He was after-
wards elected to the legislature, and here he supported the rail-
road system. He had been one of the most zealous supporters
of that disastrous measure ; but he was yet impudently confi-
dent in the infallibility of his own judgment, just as though he
had never so greatly erred. He was next elected by the legis-
lature to be a judge of the circuit court. As a judge, he knew
just enough of law, and had practiced enough in its quibbles, to
obliterate from his heart the instinct in favor of natural justice,
without supplying its place by the lights of science. In this
capacity he seemed to think that the great secret of judicature
consisted in giving full effect to quibbles and technical objec-
tions, so much so that it was a rare thing for substantial justice
to be done in any case before him. An unlearned lawyer or
judge with a cramped understanding like his, is 'almost sure to
take up the idea that the true way to win a reputation is to
show a superior dexterity in finding and giving effect to learned
quibbles and trifles, to the total neglect of the great principles
of law and justice. He forgets that courts were established to
do right between man and man, and only remembers the forms
of proceeding. These forms he looks upon as something sacred
and holy, and are not to be jostled aside by the demands of nat-
ural right. A more enlightened judge places his glory in
showing that he is not ignorant of the little sort of learning, and
in finding good legal reasons for making it all bend to the great
object of all judicature, the administration of substantial justice.
This man was also one of those small-minded men, who, as
speakers, are always equal on every subject. If he spoke upon

308 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

a small subject, he would raise it and magnify it ; if upon a
large one, he would reduce it and belittle it to suit his capacity.
If he spoke upon a great subject, involving the discussion of
great principles, and the expression of great ideas, his mode
would make them look small. Any one seeing such things
through the medium of one of his speeches, would think he saw
a large object through a telescope with the little end foremost,
which makes objects that are large and near at hand appear to
be very far off and very little.

He was elected to the senate in 1840. At that session he
voted under executive influence for the bank suspension of that
year, and for the State Bank to have the privilege of issuing one-
dollar notes. In 1841 he was a candidate for Congress, and
found himself very unpopular with the democratic party in con-
sequence of this vote, so that he was beaten in his election by
a very large majority. In 1842 he undertook to recover the
confidence of the party by more than ordinary violence against
banks. He must have persuaded himself that as he had lost
the confidence of his friends by too much servility to banks, the
way to recover it, and wipe out the memory of former delin-
quency, was to err as far on the other side by a senseless oppo-
sition, now that they had lost their power ; and the interests of
the State required that they should be dealt with upon principles
of sound wisdom. His effort, however, did not succeed, for he
has never had the confidence of any party since.

In the Senate, the whole out-door opposition was let loose
upon the bill. Trumbull took his stand in the lobby, and sent
in amendments of every sort to be proposed by Grain of Wash-
ington, Catlin of St. Clair, and others. The mode of attack was
to load it down with obnoxious amendments, so as to make it
odious to its authors ; and Trumbull openly boasted that the
bill would be so altered and amended in the Senate, that its
framers in the house would not know their own bantling when
it came back to them. From this moment I determined to re-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 309

move Trumbull from the office of Secretary of State. From
the nature of his office, he ought to have been my confidential
helper and adviser ; and when he found that my course was
against his principles, if really it was against them, he ought to
have resigned. If he did not do so, I was bound, in duty to my-
self and to the public, to remove him and get some other per-
son who would be willing to render this assistance. This was
the principle established by the democratic party in the memo-
rable contest between Field and McClernand.

The obnoxious amendments were rejected, and the bill passed
by a large majority, and was approved by the council of revis-
ion. Judge Douglass, notwithstanding he had advised the meas-
ure before the finance committee, voted against it in the coun-
cil. A bill somewhat similar passed in relation to the Shawnee-
town Bank. By these two bills the domestic treasury of the
State was at once relieved, and another debt of $2,306,000 was
extinguished immediately.

The legislature at this session also passed laws for the sale
of State lands and property ; for the reception of the distribu-
tive share of the State in the proceeds of the sales of- the pub-
lic lands ; for the redemption of interest bonds hypothecated to
Macalister and Stebbins ; and for a loan of $1,600,000 to com-
plete the Illinois and Michigan canal. By these various laws
provision was made for the reduction of the State debt to the
amount of eight or nine millions of dollars. This was the best
that could be done, and it is wonderful, under the circumstances,
that so much could be accomplished.

From this moment the affairs of the State began to brighten
and improve. Auditors' warrants rose to 85 and 90 per cent.
State bonds rose from 14 to 20, 30, and 40 per cent. The
banks began to pay out their specie, and within three months
time the currency was restored, confidence was increased in the
prospects of the State, and the tide of emigration was once
more directed to Illinois.

310 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

These were all measures of intrinsic wisdom ; but it is amus-
ing to read over the high-sounding titles of the laws which were
passed to carry them into effect, as if it were absolutely neces-
sary to humbug the people into the support of the wisest meas-
ures of public policy. Accordingly, we read in the statutes of
" An act to dimmish the State debt, and to put the State Bank
into liquidation." " An act to diminish the State debt one mil-
lion of dollars, and to put the Bank of Illinois into liquidation."
" An act to provide for the completion of the Illinois and Mich-
igan canal, and for the payment of the canal debt." " An act
to provide for the sale of the public property, and for the pay-
ment of the public debt ;" and " An act to provide for a settle-
ment with Macallister and Stebbins, and further to diminish
the State debt." These high-sounding titles were given to
these several laws with a view to set off the strong and anxious
desire of the people for the reduction of the State debt, against
the popular prejudice against the defunct banks, which it was
foreseen would be invoked to humbug the people into an oppo-
sition to these acts, and those who supported them, and to build
up the reckless men who had opposed them. It was probably
a fair game of humbug against humbug.

The legislature at this session passed a very important law
on the subject of the collection of private debts. During the
inflation of the bank currency and the credit system, so called,
every one had got into debt. The merchants had purchased on
a credit, and they had again sold on a credit. This system
brought a great many goods into the State ; more than the peo-
ple, according to their means, ought to have consumed. But
the merchants were anxious to sell, and freely credited the peo-
ple up to about the value of their property. The destruction
of the currency made payment impossible. Such a calamity
had fallen on the people only about twenty years before ; and
if a capacity had existed of being profited by experience, it
ought now to have been avoided. But it is lamentably true

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 311

that communities in the aggregate scarcely ever profit by the
lessons of experience. The same evils and calamities, and from
the same causes, occur again and again, and find the people as
little expecting them, every time they are repeated, as they
were before ; and they are every time just as blind about the
remedy.

The people in 1820 had brought the same evils on themselves.
They then sought a remedy in a State bank with stays of exe-
cution. The bank policy was now too odious to be thought of;
but the legislature this time adopted a novel expedient, which
had not been thought of by any former legislature in the world.
They passed a law providing that when an execution was levied
upon property, the property should be appraised by three house-
holders under oath, to its value in " ordinary times ;" and no
such property could be sold for less than two-thirds of its value
thus ascertained. The Supreme Court of the United States
afterwards pronounced this law to be unconstitutional and void.
In the meantime it had some good effects. A vast number of
debts were paid by arrangements and trades of property, vol-
untarily made between debtor and creditor. It destroyed and
checked up unwarrantable credit, by alarming the creditor part
of the community, and has made them more careful in extend-
ing credit in future.

It has appeared to me that there are two modes in which a
sound credit may be established. One mode may be to let
loose the full vigor and severity of law, as in England, upon the
debtor, and thus make mankind afraid to go in debt beyond
their ability to pay with ease. The other may be to take away
all efficient remedies from the creditor to recover his debt, and
make him rely upon the honor and integrity of his debtor for
payment. In this mode no one would get credit on account of
being rich. Credit would be no longer given to the mere pos-
session of property. Because such an one might be a rogue
and deny his debt ; but if honest, he would never contract for

312 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

more than he was able to pay ; and he would make extraor-
dinary exertions to meet his engagements. In this mode the
advantages of credit would be a reward for integrity and
punctuality.

The system for the collection of debts by law in Illinois, has
never been one thing or the other. A kind of inefficient rem-
edy has been held out to the creditor, which might succeed in
making a debt from an honest man, but never from a rogue.
The ease with which it could be evaded, put the debtor part of
the community under strong temptation to dishonesty. If a
creditor, no longer to be put off by fair promises, sued for his
debt at law, the debtor leaves him to his remedy thus chosen.
He satisfies his conscience by a train of reasoning of this sort :
" If I had not been sued I would have paid as soon as I possibly
could. My creditor is not disposed to rely on my honor, he
has sued me at law, and thereby chosen mere legal means to
recover his debt. He does not rely upon me any longer. Now
let him get his money as soon as the law will give it to him. I
feel absolved in conscience from making any further efforts to
pay, and will be justified in throwing all the obstacles in his
way which the forms and delays of the law can furnish." He
immediately goes to work to continue the cause from term to
term, to appeal the judgment, when obtained, from court to
court ; and, as a last resort, he has a favorite mode of defeating
his creditor in legal proceedings, as it is generally called, by
beating him on the execution. This mode of defence supposes
the debtor to make fraudulent sales of his property, or to run
it out of the country. All such delusive remedies ought to be
abolished immediately. It were better to have none. They
can only serve to make rogues and demoralize the people.

CHAPTER X.

Mormons— New warrant for the arrest of Joe Smith— Trial before Judge Pope— Intrigues
(f the whigs— The Mormons determine to vote for whig candidates for Congress-
Cyrus Walker— Joseph P. Hoge— Dr Bennett— Prejudices against the Mormons-
New demand for the arrest of Joe Smith — Arrest and discharge by the municipal
court— Walker's speech— Walker's and Hoge's opinion— Mormons always prefer
bad advice — Demand for a call of the militia — Reasons for not calling them — In-
trigues of the democrats — Backinstos — Hiram Smith — William Law — Revelation in
favor of Hoge— Joe Smith's speech— Hoge elected— Indignation of the whigs— De-
termination to expel the Mormons — Stephen A. Douglass — City ordinances — Inso-
lence of the Mormons— Joe Smith a candidate for President— Conceives the idea of
making himself a Prince— Danite band — Spiritual wives — Attempt on William
Law's wife — Tyranny of Joe Smith — Opposition to him — "Nauvoo Expositor" — Trial
of the press as a nuisance — Its destruction — Secession of the refractory Mormons —
Warrant for Joe Smith and common council — Their arrest and discharge by the mu-
nicipal court — Committee of anti-Mormons — Journey to Carthage— Militia assembled
—Complaints against the Mormons— Cause of popular fury— False reports and
camp news — Pledge of the troops to protect the prisoners — Martial law — Conduct of a
constable and civil posse — Council of officers — The great flood of 1844 — Surrender of
Joe Smith and the common council— Warrant for treason— Commitment of Joe and
Hiram Smith — Preparations to march into Nauvoo — Council of officers — Militia dis-
banded— Journey to Nauvoo — Guard left for the protection of the prisoners — Fur-
ther precautions — The leading anti-Mormons by false reports undermine the Gov-
ernor's influence — Governor's speech in Nauvoo — Vote of the Mormons — News of
the death of the Smiths — Preparation for defence of the country — Mischievous in-
fluence of the press.

WE turn again to the history of the State as connected with
the Mormons. This people had now become about 16,000
strong in Hancock county, and several thousands more were
scattered about in other counties. As I have said before, Gov-
ernor Carlin in 1842, had issued his warrant for the arrest of
Joe Smith their prophet, as a fugitive from justice in Missouri.
This warrant had never been executed, and was still outstand-
ing when I came into office. The Mormons were desirous of

314 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

having the cause of arrest legally tested in the federal court.
Upon their application a duplicate warrant was issued in the
winter of 1842-'3, and placed in the hands of the sheriff of
Sangamon county. Upon this Joe Smith came to Springfield
and surrendered himself a prisoner. A writ of habeas corpus
was obtained from Judge Pope of the federal court, and Smith
was discharged.

Upon this proceeding the whigs founded a hope of obtaining
the future support of the Mormons. The democratic officers in
Missouri and Illinois were instrumental in procuring his arrest.
He was discharged this time by a whig judge ; and his cause
had been managed by whig lawyers. As in the case decided
by Judge Douglass, Smith was too ignorant of law to know
whether he owed his discharge to the law, or to the favor of
the court and the whig party. Such was the ignorance and
stupidity of the Mormons generally, that they deemed anything
to be law which they judged to be expedient. All action of the
government which bore hard on them, however legal, they
looked upon as wantonly oppressive ; and when the law was ad-
ministered in their favor, they attributed it to partiality and
kindness. If the stern duty of a public officer required him to
bear hard on them, they attributed it to malice. In ( this man-
ner the Mormons this time were made to believe that they
were under great obligations to the whigs for the discharge of
their prophet from what they believed to be the persecutions
of the democrats ; and they resolved to yield their support to
the whig party in the next election.

An election for Congress in the Mormon district was to come
off in August, 1843. Cyrus Walker was the candidate on the
part of the whigs, and Joseph P. Hoge on the part of the demo-
crats; both of them distinguished lawyers. The Mormons
very early decided to support Mr. Walker, the whig. But
owing to causes which I will relate, they were induced to change
their resolution ; and this was the cause in a great measure of

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 315

that wonderful excitement which subsequently prevailed against
that people.

Dr. John C. Bennett, heretofore mentioned as an influential
favorite of the Mormon leaders, had been expelled from the
Church in 1842. By publications and lectures delivered in va-
rious parts of the United States, he undertook to expose the
doctrines, designs, and government of the Mormons, and to do
them all the injury in his power. A part of his plan was to
get up a new indictment against Joe Smith and Orrin P. Rock-
well for an attempt to murder Gov. Boggs in Missouri. An in-
dictment was found in Missouri against Smith and Rockwell on
the 5th of June, 1843. On the 7th, a messenger from Missou-
ri presented himself to me with a copy of the indictment, and
a new demand from the governor of Missouri A new warrant,
in pursuance of the constitution of the United States, was issu-
ed, and placed in the hands of a constable in Hancock.

This constable and the Missouri agent hastened to Nauvoo to
make the arrest, where they ascertained that Joe Smith was on
a visit to Rock river. They pursued him thither, and succeed-
ed in arresting him in Palestine Grove, in the county of Lee.
The constable immediately delivered his prisoner to the Mis-
souri agent, and returned his warrant as having been executed.
The agent started with his prisoner in the direction of Missouri,
but on the road was met by a number of armed Mormons, who
captured the whole party, and conducted them in the direction
of Nauvoo. Further on they were met by hundreds of the
Mormons, coming to the rescue of their prophet, who conduct-
ed him in grand triumph to his own city. Cyrus Walker, the
whig candidate for Congress, was sent for to defend him as a
lawyer ; a writ of habeas corpus was sued out of the municipal
court ; Mr. Walker appeared as his counsel, and made a won-
derful exertion, in a speech of three hours long, to prove to the
municipal court, composed of Joe Smith's tools and particular
friends, that they had the jurisdiction to issue and act on the

316 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

writ under the ordinance of their city. Mr. Hoge also, the
democratic candidate, had gone to Nauvoo seeking the votes of
the Mormons. He and Mr. Walker were both called upon, in
a public assembly of the Mormons, to express their opinion as
to the legality of this ordinance of the city giving to the muni-
cipal court power to issue writs of habeas corpus in all cases of
imprisonment, and both of them gave their solemn opinion in
favor of the power. Thus the Mormons were deluded and de-
ceived by men who ought to have known and did know better.
It was a common thing for this people to be eternally asking
and receiving adviee. If judicious and legal advice were given
to them, they rejected it with scorn, when it came in conflict
with their favorite projects ; for which reason all persons de-
signing to use them, made it a rule to find out what they were
in favor of, and advise them accordingly. In this mode the
Mormons relied for advice, for the most part, upon the most
corrupt of mankind, who would make no matter of conscience
of advising them to their destruction, as a means of gaining
their favor. This has always been a difficulty with the Mor-
mons, and grew out of their blind fanaticism, which refused to
see or to hear anything against their system, but more out of
the corruption of their leaders, whose objects being generally
roguish and rotten, required corrupt and rotten advisers to keep
them in countenance.

The municipal court discharged Joe Smith from his arrest ;
the Missouri agent immediately applied to me for a militia
force, to renew it ; and Mr. Walker came to the seat of gov-
ernment, on the part of the Mormons, to resist the application.
This was only a short time before the election. I was indis-
posed from the first to call out the militia, and informed Mr.
Walker that my best opinion then was, that the militia would
not be ordered ; but as many important questions of law were
involved in the decision, I declined then to pronounce a definite
opinion.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 317

The truth is, that, being determined from the first not to be
made a party to the contest between Walker and Hoge, and
knowing that Walker only wanted my decision to carry back
to the Mormons, as a means of his success, I ought to have with-
held it if for no other reason but this. It was afterwards, upon
mature consideration, decided not to call out the militia, be-
cause the writ had been returned as having been fully executed
by the delivery of Joe Smith to the Missouri agent ; after which
it was entirely a question between Missouri and Smith, with
which Illinois had nothing to do, except to issue a new warrant
if one had been demanded. The governor, in doing what he
had done, had fulfilled his whole duty under the constitution and
the laws. And, because Smith had not been forcibly rescued,
but had been discharged under color of law, by a court which
had exceeded its jurisdiction, and it appeared that it would have
been a dangerous precedent for the governor, whenever he sup-
posed that the courts had exceeded their powers, to call out the
militia to reverse and correct their judgments. Yet, for not do-
ing so, I was subjected to much unmerited abuse.

However, the democratic managers about Nauvoo, after the
usual fashion of managing the Mormons by both parties, terri-
fied them if they voted for the whig candidate, as they were
yet determined, with the prospect of the militia being sent
against them.

Backinstos, a managing democrat of Hancock county, was
sent as a messenger to Springfield to ascertain positively what
the governor would do if the Mormons voted the democratic
ticket. I happened to be absent at St. Louis, but I heard
some weeks after the election, that Backinstos went home pre-
tending that he had the most ample assurances of favor to the
Mormons, so long as they voted the democratic ticket. And I
was informed by the man himself, a prominent democrat of
Springfield, on the 9th day of October, 1846, for the first time,
that during my absence he had given a positive pledge, in my

318 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

name, to Backinstos, that if the Mormons voted the democratic
ticket, the militia should not be sent against them. This pledge,
however, he took care never to intimate to me until more than
three years afterwards. Since the Mormons have become so
unpopular, and since the most of them have left the State, so
that they can no longer be a support to any one, this man, fol-
lowing the example of hundreds of others of a similar
class, has joined the anti-Mormon excitement, and has been a
strong advocate for the expulsion of the Mormons and all who
sought to do them but simple justice. This indicated only that
the power in Hancock had got into the hands of the anti-Mor-
mons. The mission of Backinstos produced a total change in
the minds of the Mormon leaders. They now resolved to drop
their friend Walker and take up Hoge, the democratic candi-
date. Backinstos returned only a day or two before the elec-
tion, and there was only a short time for the leaders to operate
in. A great meeting was called of several thousand Mormons
on Saturday before the election. Hiram Smith, patriarch in
the Mormon Church, and brother to the prophet, appeared in
this great assembly, and there solemnly announced to the peo-
ple, that God had revealed to him that the Mormons must sup-
port Mr. Hoge, the democratic candidate. William Law, an-
other great leader of the Mormons, next appeared, and denied
that the Lord had made any such revelation. He stated that,
to his certain knowledge, the prophet Joseph was in favor of
Mr. Walker, and that the prophet was more likely to know the
mind of the Lord on the subject than the patriarch. Hiram
Smith again repeated his revelation with a greater tone of au-
thority. But the people remained in doubt until the next day,
being Sunday, when Joe Smith himself appeared before the
assembly. He there stated that " he himself was in favor of
Mr. Walker, and intended to vote for him ; that he would not,
if he could, influence any voter in giving his vote ; that he con-
sidered it a mean business for him or any other man to attempt

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 319

to dictate to the people who they should support in elections ;
that he had heard his brother Hiram had received a revelation
from the Lord on the subject; that for his part he did not much
believe in revelations on the subject of elections ; but brother
Hiram was a man of truth ; he had known brother Hiram inti-
mately ever since he was a boy, and he had never known him
to tell a lie. If brother Hiram said he had received such a rev-
elation, he had no doubt it was a fact. When the Lord speaks,
let all the earth be silent."

This decided the Mormon vote. The next day Mr. Hoge
received about three thousand votes in Nauvoo, and was elected
to Congress by six or eight hundred majority. The result of
the election struck the whigs with perfect amazement. Whilst
they fancied themselves secure of getting the Mormon vote for
Mr. Walker, the whig newspapers had entirely ceased their
accustomed abuse of the Mormons. They now renewed their
crusade against them, every paper was loaded with accounts of
the wickedness, corruptions, and enormities of Nauvoo. The
whig orators groaned with complaints and denunciations of the
democrats, who would consent to receive Mormon support, and
the democratic officers of the State were violently charged and
assaulted with using the influence of their offices to govern the
Mormons. From this time forth the whigs generally, and a
part of the democrats, determined upon driving the Mormons
out of the State ; and everything connected with the Mormons
became political, and was considered almost entirely with refer-
ence to party. To this circumstance in part, is to be attributed
the extreme difficulty ever afterwards of doing anything effect-
ually in relation to the Mormon or anti-Mormon parties, by
the executive government.

It appears that the Mormons had been directed by their
leaders to vote- the whig ticket in the Quincy, as well as the
Hancock district. In the Quincy district, Judge Douglass was
the democratic candidate, O. H. Browning was the candidate of

320 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

the whigs. The leading Mormons at Nauvoo having never
determined in favor of the democrats until a day or two before
the election, there was not sufficient time, or it was neglected,
to send orders from Nauvoo into the Quincy district, to effect
a change there. The Mormons in that district voted for Brown-
ing. Douglass and his friends being afraid that I might be in
his way for the United States Senate, in 1846, seized hold of
this circumstance to affect my party standing, and thereby gave
countenance to the clamor of the whigs, secretly whispering it
about that I had not only influenced the Mormons to vote for
Hoge, but for Browning also. This decided many of the dem-
ocrats in favor of the expulsion of the Mormons.

No further demand for the arrest of Joe Smith having been
made by Missouri, he became emboldened by success. The
Mormons became more arrogant and overbearing. In the
winter of 1843-'4, the common council passed some further
ordinances to protect their leaders from arrest, on demand
from Missouri. They enacted that no writ issued from any
other place than Nauvoo, for the arrest of any person in it,
should be executed in the city, without an approval endorsed
thereon by the mayor ; that if any public officer, by virtue of
any foreign writ, should attempt to make an arrest in the city,
without such approval of his process, he should be subject to
imprisonment for life, and that the governor of the State should
not have the power of pardoning the offender without the con-
sent of the mayor. When these ordinances were published,
they created general astonishment. Many people began to be-
lieve in good earnest that the Mormons were about to set up a
separate government for themselves in defiance of the laws of
the State. Owners of property stolen in other counties, made
pursuit into Nauvoo, and were fined by the Mormon courts for
daring to seek their property in the holy city. To one such I
granted a pardon. Several of the Mormons had been convicted
of larceny, and they never failed in any instance to procure

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 321

petitions signed by 1,500 or 2,000 of their friends for their
pardon. But that which made it more certain than everything
else, that the Mormons contemplated a separate government,
was that about this time they petitioned Congress to establish
a territorial government for them in Nauvoo ; as if Congress
had any power to establish such a government, or any other,
within the bounds of a State.

To crown the whole folly of the Mormans, in the spring of
1844, Joe Smith announced himself as a candidate for presi-
dent of the United States. His followers were confident that
he would be elected. Two or three thousand missionaries
were immediately sent out to preach their religion, and to
electioneer in favor of their prophet for the presidency. This
folly at once covered that people with ridicule in the minds of
all sensible men, and brought them into conflict with the zealots
and bigots of all political parties ; as the arrogance and extrav-
agance of their religious pretensions had already aroused the
opposition of all other denominations in religion.

It seems, from the best information which could be got from
the best men who had seceded from the Mormon church, that
Joe Smith about this time conceived the idea of making himself
a temporal prince as well as a spiritual leader of his people.
He instituted a new and select order of the priesthood, the
members of which were to be priests and kings temporarily
and spiritually. These were to be his nobility, who were to be
the upholders of his throne. He caused himself to be crowned
and anointed king and priest, far above the rest ; and he pre-
scribed the form of an oath of allegiance to himself, which he
administered to his principal followers. To uphold his preten-
sions to royalty, he deduced his descent by an unbroken chain
from Joseph the son of Jacob, and that of his wife from some
other renowned personage of Old Testament history. The
Mormons openly denounced the government of the United
States as utterly corrupt, and as being about to pass away, and

14*

322 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

to be replaced by the government of God, to be administered
by his servant Joseph. It is now at this day certain also, that
about this time the prophet reinstituted an order in the church,
called the " Danite band." These were to be a body of police
and guards about the person of their sovereign, who were sworn
to obey his orders as the orders of God himself. About this
time also he gave a new touch to a female order already exist-
ing in the church, called " Spiritual Wives." A doctrine was
now revealed that no woman could get to heaven except as the
wife of a Mormon elder. The elders were allowed to have as
many of these wives as they could maintain ; and it was a doc-
trine of the church, that any female could be " sealed up to
eternal life," by uniting herself as wife or concubine to the elder
of her choice. This doctrine was maintained by an appeal to
the Old Testament scriptures ; and by the example of Abra-
ham and Jacob, of David and Solomon, the favorites of God in
a former age of the world.

Soon after these institutions were established, Joe Smith be-
gan to play the tyrant over, several of his followers. The first
act of this sort which excited attention, was an attempt to take
the wife of William Law, one of his most talented and princi-
pal disciples, and make her a spiritual wife. By means of his
common council, without the authority of law, he established a
recorder's office in Nauvoo, in which alone the titles of proper-
ty could be recorded. In the same manner and with the same
want of legal authority he established an office for issuing
marriage licenses to the Mormons, so as to give him absolute
control of the marrying propensities of his people. He pro-
claimed that none in the city should purchase real estate to sell
again, but himself. He also permitted no one but himself to
have a license in the city for the sale of spirituous liquor ; and
in many other ways he undertook to regulate and control the
business of the Mormons.

This despotism administered by a corrupt and unprincipled

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 323

man, soon became intolerable. William Law, one of the most
eloquent preachers of the Mormons, who appeared to me to be
a deluded but conscientious and candid man, Wilson Law, his
brother, major-general of the legion, and four or five other Mor-
mon leaders, resolved upon a rebellion against the authority of
the prophet. They designed to enlighten their brethren and
fellow-citizens upon the new institutions, the new turn given to
Mormonism, and the practices under the new system, by procur-
ing a printing press and establishing a newspaper in the city, to be
the organ of their complaints and views. But they never issued
but one number ; before the second could appear the press was
demolished by an order of the common council, and the con-
spirators were ejected from the Mormon church.

The Mormons themselves published the proceedings of the
council in the trial and destruction of the heretical press ; from
which it does not appear that any one was tried, or that the
editor or any of the owners of the property had notice of the
trial, or were permitted to defend in any particular. The pro-
ceeding was an ex parte proceeding, partly civil and partly
ecclesiastical, against the press itself. No jury was called or
sworn, nor were the witnesses required to give their evidence
upon oath. The councillors stood up one after another, and
some of them several times, and related what they pretended
to know. In this mode it was abundantly proved that the
owners of the proscribed press were sinners, whoremasters,
thieves, swindlers, counterfeiters and robbers ; the evidence of
which is reported in the trial at full length. It was altogether
the most curious and irregular trial that ever was recorded in
any civilized country ; and one finds difficulty in determining
whether the proceedings of the council were more the result of
insanity or depravity. The trial resulted in the conviction of
the press as a public nuisance. The mayor was ordered to see
it abated as such, and if necessary, to call the legion to his as-
sistance. The mayor issued his warrant to the city marshal,

324: HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

who, aided by a portion of the legion, proceeded to the obnox-
ious printing office and destroyed the press and scattered the
types and other materials.

After this it became too hot for the seceding and rejected
Mormons to remain in the holy city. They retired to Car-
thage, the county seat of Hancock county ; and took out war-
rants for the mayor and members of the common council and
others engaged in the outrage, for a riot. Some of these were
arrested, but were immediately taken before the municipal
court of the city on habeas corpus^ and discharged from custody.
The residue of this history of the Mormons, up to the time of
the death of the Smiths, will be taken, with such corrections as
time has shown to be necessary, from my report to the legisla-
ture, made on the 23d of December, 1844.

On the seventeenth day of June following, a committee of a
meeting of the citizens of Carthage presented themselves to me.
with a request that the militia might be ordered out to assist in
executing process in the city of Nauvoo. I determined to visit
in person that section of country, and examine for myself the
truth and nature of their complaints. No order for the militia
was made ; and I arrived at Carthage on the morning of the
twenty-first day of the same month.

Upon my arrival, I found an armed force assembled and
hourly increasing under the summons and direction of the con-
stables of the county, to serve as a posse comitatus to assist in
the execution of process. The general of the brigade had
also called for the militia, en masse, of the counties of Mc-
Donough and Schuyler, for a similar purpose. Another as-
semblage to a considerable number had been made at Warsaw,
under military command of Col. Levi Williams.

The first thing which I did on my arrival was to place all the
militia then assembled, and which were expected to assemble,
under military command of their proper officers.

I next despatched a messenger to Nauvoo, informing the

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 325

mayor and common council of the nature of the complaint
made against them ; and requested that persons might be sent
to me to lay their side of the question before me. A commit-
tee was accordingly sent, who made such acknowledgments that
I had no difficulty in concluding what were the facts.

It appeared clearly both from the complaints of the citizens
and the acknowledgments of the Mormon committee that the
whole proceedings of the mayor, the common council, and the
municipal court, were irregular and illegal, and not to be en-
dured in a free country ; though perhaps some apology might
be made for the court, as it had been repeatedly assured by
some of the best lawyers in the State who had been candidates
for office before that people, that it had full and competent
power to issue writs of habeas corpus in all cases whatever.
The common council violated the law in assuming the exercise
of judicial power ; in proceeding ex parte without notice to the
owners of the property ; in proceeding against the property in
rem ; in not calling a jury ; in not swearing all the witnesses ;
in not giving the owners of the property, accused of being a
nuisance, in consequence of being libelous, an opportunity of
giving the truth in evidence ; and in fact, by not proceeding by
civil suit or indictment, as in other cases of libel. The mayor
violated the law in ordering this erroneous and absurd judg-
ment of the common council to be executed. And the munici-
pal court erred in discharging them from arrest.

As this proceeding touched the liberty of the press, which is
justly dear to any republican people, it was well calculated to
raise a great flame of excitement. And it may well be ques-
tioned whether years of misrepresentation by the most profli-
gate newspaper could have engendered such a feeling as was
produced by the destruction of this one press. It is apparent
that the Mormon leaders but little understood, and regarded
less the true principles of civil liberty. A free press well con-
ducted is a great blessing to a free people ; a profligate one is

326 HISTOEY OP ILLINOIS.

likely soon to deprive itself of all credit and influence by the
multitude of falsehoods put forth by it. But let this be as it
may, there is more lost to rational liberty by a censorship of
the press by suppressing information proper to be known to the
people, than can be lost to an individual now and then by a
temporary injury to his character and influence by the utmost
licentiousness.

There were other causes to heighten the excitement. These
people had undertaken to innovate upon the established systems
of religion. Their legal right to do so, no one will question.
But all history bears testimony that innovations upon religion
have always been attended by a hostility in the public mind,
which sometimes has produced the most desolating wars ; al-
ways more or less of persecution. Even the innocent Quakers,
the unoffending Shakers, and the quiet and orderly Methodists
in their origin, and until the world got used to them, had enough
of persecution to encounter. But if either of these sects had
congregated together in one city where the world could never
get to know them ; could never ascertain by personal acquaint-
ance the truth or falsity of many reports which are always cir-
culated to the prejudice of such innovators ; and moreover, if
they had armed themselves and organized into a military legion
as the citizens of Nauvoo, and had been guilty of high-handed
proceedings carried on against the heretical press, the public
animosity and their persecutions must have greatly increased
in rancor and severity.

In addition to these causes of excitement, there were a great
many reports in circulation, and generally believed by the peo-
ple. These reports I have already alluded to, and they had
much influence in swelling the public excitement.

It was asserted that Joe Smith, the founder and head of the
Mormon church, had caused himself to be crowned and anoint-
ed king of the Mormons ; that he had embodied a band of his
followers called " Danites," who were sworn to obey him as

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 327

God, and to do his commands, murder and treason not except-
ed ; that he had instituted an order in the church, whereby those
who composed it were pretended to be sealed up to eternal life
against all crimes, save the shedding of innocent blood or con-
senting thereto. That this order was instructed that no blood
was innocent blood, except that of the members of the church ;
and that these two orders were made the ministers of his ven-
geance, and the instruments of an intolerable tyranny which he
had established over his people, and which he was about to ex-
tend over the neighboring country. The people affected to be-
lieve that with this power in the hands of an unscrupulous
leader, there was no safety for the lives or property of any one
who should oppose him. They affected likewise to believe that
Smith inculcated the legality of perjury, or any other crime in
defence, or to advance the interests of true believers ; and that
himself had set them the example by swearing to a false accu-
sation against a certain person, for the crime of murder. It
was likewise asserted to be .a fundamental article of the Mor-
mon faith, that God had given the world and all it contained
to them as his saints ; that they secretly believed in their right
to all the goodly lands, farms, and property in the country ;
that at present they were kept out of their rightful inheritance
by force ; that consequently there was no moral offence in an-
ticipating God's good time to put them in possession by steal-
ing, if opportunity offered ; that in fact the whole church was a
community of murderers, thieves, robbers, and outlaws ; that
Joseph Smith had established a bogus factory in Nauvoo, for
the manufacture of counterfeit money ; and that he maintained
about his person a tribe of swindlers, blacklegs, and counter-
feiters, to make it and put it into circulation.

It was also believed that he had announced a revelation from
heaven, sanctioning polygamy, by a kind of spiritual wife sys-
tem, whereby a man was allowed one wife in pursuance of the
laws of the country, and an indefinite number of others, to be

328 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

enjoyed in some mystical and spiritual mode ; and that he him-
self, and many of his followers, had practiced upon the precepts
of this revelation by seducing a large number of women.

It was also asserted that he was in alliance with the Indians
of the western territories, and had obtained over them such a
control, that in case of a war he could command their assist-
ance to murder his enemies.

Upon the whole, if one-half of these reports had been true,
the Mormon community must have been the most intolerable
collection of rogues ever assembled ; or, if one-half them were
false, they were the most maligned and abused.

Fortunately for the purposes of those who were active in cre-
ating excitement, there were many known truths which gave
countenance to some of these accusations. It was sufficiently
proved in a proceeding at Carthage, whilst I was there, that
Joe Smith had sent a band of his followers to Missouri, to kid-
nap two men, who were witnesses against a member of his
church, then in jail, and about to be tried on a charge of lar-
ceny. It was also a notorious fact, that he had assaulted and
severely beaten an officer of the county, for an alleged non-
performance of his duty, at a time when that officer was just
recovering from severe illness. It is a fact also, that he stood
indicted for the crime of perjury, as was alleged, in swearing
to an accusation for murder, in order to drive a man out of
Nauvoo, who had been engaged in buying and selling lots and
land, and thus interfering with the monopoly of the prophet as
a speculator. It is a fact also, that his municipal court, of
which he was chief justice, by writ of habeas corpus had fre-
quently discharged individuals accused of high crimes and of-
fences against the laws of the State ; and on one occasion had
discharged a person accused of swindling the government of the
United States, and who had been arrested by process of the
federal courts ; thereby giving countenance to the report, that
he obstructed the administration of justice, and had set up a

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 329

government at Nauvoo independent of the laws and govern-
ment of the State. This idea was further corroborated in the
minds of the people, by the fact that the people of Nauvoo had
petitioned Congress for a territorial government to be estab-
lished there, and to be independent of the State government.
It was a fact also, that some larcenies and robberies had been
committed, and that Mormons had been convicted of the crimes,
and that other larcenies had been committed by persons un-
known, but suspected to be Mormons. Justice, however, re-
quires me here to say, that upon such investigation as I then
could make, the charge of promiscuous stealing appeared to be
exaggerated.

Another cause of excitement, was a report industriously cir-
culated, and generally believed, that Hiram Smith, another
leader of the Mormon church, had offered a reward for the
destruction of the press of the " Warsaw Signal," a newspaper
published in the county, and the organ of the opposition to the
Mormons. It was also asserted, that the Mormons scattered
through the settlements of the county, had threatened all per-
sons who turned out to assist the constables, with the destruc-
tion of their property and the murder of their families, in the
absence of their fathers, brothers, and husbands. A Mormon
woman in M'Donough county was imprisoned for threatening
to poison the wells of the people who turned out in the posse ;
and a Mormon in Warsaw publicly avowed that he was bound
by his religion to obey all orders of the prophet, even to com-
mit murder if so commanded.

But the great cause of popular fury was, that the Mormons
at several preceding elections, had cast their vote as a unit ;
thereby making the fact apparent, that no one could aspire to
the honors or offices of the country within the sphere of their
influence, without their approbation and votes. It appears to
be one of the principles by which they insist upon being gov-
erned as a community, to act as a unit in all matters of govern-

330 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

ment and religion. They express themselves to be fearful that
if division should be encouraged in politics, it would soon ex-
tend to their religion, and rend their church with schism and
into sects.

This seems to me to be an unfortunate view of the subject,
and more unfortunate in practice, as I am well satisfied that it
must be the fruitful source of excitement, violence, and mob-
ocracy, whilst it is persisted in. It is indeed unfortunate for
their peace that they do not divide in elections, according to
their individual preferences or political principles, like other
people.

This one principle and practice of theirs arrayed against them
in deadly hostility all aspirants for office who were not sure of
their support, all who have been unsuccessful in elections, and
all who were too proud to court their influence, with all their
friends and connections.

These also were the active men in blowing up the fury of the
people, in hopes that a popular movement might be set on foot,
which would result in the expulsion or extermination of the
Mormon voters. For this purpose, public meetings had been
called ; inflammatory speeches had been made ; exaggerated re-
ports had been extensively circulated ; committees had been ap-
pointed, who rode night and day to spread the reports, and so-
licit the aid of neighboring counties. And at a public meeting
at Warsaw, resolutions were passed to expel or exterminate the
Mormon population. This was not, however, a movement which
was unanimously concurred in. The county contained a goodly
number of inhabitants in favor of peace, or who at least desired
to be neutral in such a contest. These were stigmatized by the
name of "Jack Mormons" and there were not a few of the more
furious exciters of the people who openly expressed their inten-
tion to involve them in the common expulsion or extermina-
tion.

A system of excitement and agitation was artfully planned

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 331

and executed with tact. It consisted in spreading reports and
rumors of the most fearful character. As examples : — On the
morning before my arrival at Carthage, I was awakened at an
early hour by the frightful report^ which was asserted with confi-
dence and apparent consternation, that the Mormons had already
commenced the work of burning, destruction, and murder ; and
that every man capable of bearing arms was instantly wanted at
Carthage, for the protection of the country. We lost no time in
starting ; but when we arrived at Carthage, we could hear no more
concerning this story. Again : during the few days that the mili-
tia were encamped at Carthage, frequent applications were made
to me to send a force here and a force there, and a force all
about the country, to prevent murders, robberies, and larcenies,
which, it was said, were threatened by the Mormons. No such
forces were sent ; nor were any such offences committed at that
time, except the stealing of some provisions, and there was
never the least proof that this was done by a Mormon. Again :
on my late visit to Hancock county, I was informed by some of
their violent enemies, that the larcenies of the Mormons had
become unusually numerous and insufferable. They indeed ad-
mitted that but little had been done in this way in their imme-
diate vicinity. But they insisted that sixteen horses had been
stolen by the Mormons in one night, near Lima, in the county
of Adams. At the close of the expedition, I called at this same
town of Lima, and upon inquiry was told that no horses had
been stolen in that neighborhood, but that sixteen horses had
been stolen in one night in Hancock county. This last inform-
ant being told of the Hancock story, again changed the venue
to another distant settlement in the northern edge of Adams.

As my object in visiting Hancock was expressly to assist in
the execution of the laws, and not to violate them, or to witness
or permit their violation, as I was convinced that the Mormon
leaders had committed a crime in the destruction of the press,
and had resisted the execution of process, I determined to exert

332 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

the whole force of the State, if necessary, to bring them to jus-
tice. But seeing the great excitement in the public mind, and
the manifest tendency of this excitement to run into mobocracy,
I was of opinion, that before I acted, I ought to obtain a pledge
from the officers and men to support me in strictly legal meas-
ures, and to protect the prisoners in case they surrendered. For
I was determined, if possible, that the forms of law should not
be made the catspaw of a mob, to seduce these people to a
quiet surrender, as the convenient victims of popular fury. I
therefore called together the whole force then assembled at
Carthage, and made an address, explaining to them what I could,
and what I could not, legally do ; and also adducing to them va-
rious reasons why they as well as the Mormons should submit
to the laws ; and why, if they had resolved upon revolutionary
proceedings, their purpose should be abandoned. The assem-
bled troops seemed much pleased with the address ; and upon
its conclusion the officers and men unanimously voted, with ac-
clamation, to sustain me in a strictly legal course, and that the
prisoners should be protected from violence. Upon the arrival
of additional forces from Warsaw, McDonough, and Schuyler,
similar addresses were made, with the same result.

It seemed to me that these votes fully authorized me to prom-
ise the accused Mormons the protection of the law in case they
surrendered. They were accordingly duly informed that if they
surrendered they would be protected, and if they did not, the
whole force of the State would be called out, if necessary, to
compel their submission A force of ten men was despatched
with the constable to make the arrests and to guard the prison-
ers to head-quarters.

In the meantime, Joe Smith, as Lieut.-General of the Nauvoo
Legion, had declared martial law in the city ; the Legion was
assembled, and ordered under arms ; the members of it resid-
ing in the country were ordered into town. The Mormon set-
tlements obeyed the summons of their leader, and marched to

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 333

his assistance. Nauvoo was one great military camp, strictly
guarded and watched ; and no ingress or egress was allowed,
except upon the strictest examination. In one instance, which
came to my knowledge, a citizen of McDonough, who happen-
ed to be in the city, was denied the privilege of returning, until
he made oath that he did not belong to the party at Carthage,
that he would return home without calling at Carthage, and
that he would give no information of the movement of the Mor-
mons.

However, upon the arrival of the constable and guard, the
mayor and common council at once signified their willingness
to surrender, and stated their readiness to proceed to Carthage
next morning at eight o'clock. Martial law had previously been
abolished. The hour of eight o'clock came, and the accused
failed to make their appearance. The constable and his escort
returned. The constable made no effort to arrest any of them,
nor would he or the guard delay their departure one minute be-
yond the time, to see whether an arrest could be made. Upon
their return, they reported that they had been informed that
the accused had fled and could not be found.

I immediately proposed to a council of officers to march into
Nauvoo with the small force then under my command, but the
officers were of opinion that it was too small, and many of them
insisted upon a further call of the militia. Upon reflection, I
was of opinion that the officers were right in the estimate of
our force, and the project for immediate action was abandoned.
I was soon informed, however, of the conduct of the constable
and guard, and then I was perfectly satisfied that a most base
fraud had been attempted ; that, in fact, it was feared that the
Mormons would submit, and thereby entitle themselves to the
protection of the law. It was very apparent that many of the
bustling, active spirits were afraid that there would be no occa-
sion for calling out an overwhelming militia force, for marching
it into Nauvoo, for probable mutiny when there, and for the ex-

334 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

termination of the Mormon race. It appeared that the con-
stable and the escort were fully in the secret, and acted well
their part to promote the conspiracy.

Seeing this to be the state of the case, I delayed any further
call of the militia, to give the accused another opportunity to
surrender ; for indeed I was most anxious to avoid a general
call for the militia at that critical season of the year. The
whole spring season preceding had been unusually wet. No
ploughing of corn had been done, and but very little planting.
The season had just changed to be suitable for ploughing. The
crops which had been planted, were universally suffering ; and
the loss of two weeks, or even of one, at that time, was likely
to produce a general famine all over the country. The wheat
harvest was also approaching ; and if we got into a war, there
was no foreseeing when it would end, or when the militia could
safely be discharged. In addition to these considerations, all
the grist mills in all that section of the country had been swept
away, or disabled, by the high waters, leaving the inhabitants
almost without meal or flour, and making it impossible then to
procure provisions by impressment or otherwise, for the sus-
tenance of any considerable force.

This was the time of the high waters ; of astonishing floods
in all the rivers and creeks in the western country. The Mis-
sissippi river at St. Louis, was several feet higher than it was
ever known before ; it was up into the second stories of the
warehouses on Water street ; the steamboats ran up to these
warehouses, and could scarcely receive their passengers from
the second stories ; the whole American bottom was overflowed
from eight to twenty feet deep, and steamboats freely crossed
the bottom along the road from St. Louis to the opposite bluffs
in Illinois ; houses and fences and stock of all kinds, were swept
away, the fields near the river, after the water subsided, being
covered with sand from a foot to three feet deep ; which was
generally thrown into ridges and washed into gullies, so as to

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

spoil the land for cultivation. Families had great difficulty in
making their escape. Through the active exertions of Mr.
Pratt, the mayor of St. Louis, steamboats were sent in every
direction to their relief. The boats found many of the families
on the tops of their houses just ready to be floated away. The
inhabitants of the bottom lost nearly all their personal property.
A large number of them were taken to St. Louis in a state of
entire destitution, and their necessities were supplied by the
contributions of the charitable of that city. A larger number
were forced out on to the Illinois bluffs, where they encamped,
and were supplied with provisions by the neighboring inhab-
itants. This freshet nearly ruined the ancient village of Kas-
kaskia. The inhabitants were driven away and scattered, many
of them never to return. For many years before this flood,
there had been a flourishing institution at Kaskaskia, under the
direction of an order of nuns of the Catholic Church. They had
erected an extensive building, which was surrounded and filled
by the waters to the second story. But they were all safely
taken away, pupils and all, by a steamboat which was sent to
their relief, and which ran directly up to the building and re-
ceived its inmates from the second story. This school was now
transferred to St. Louis, where it yet remains. All the rivers
and streams in Illinois were as high, and did as much damage
in proportion to their length and the extent of their bottoms, as
the Mississippi.

This great flood destroyed the last hope of getting provisions
at home; and I was totally without funds belonging to the
State, with which to purchase at more distant markets, and
there was a certainty that such purchases could not have been
made on credit abroad. For these reasons I was desirous of
avoiding a war, if it could be avoided.

In the meantime, I made a requisition upon the officers of
the Nauvoo legion for the State arms in their possession. It
appears that there was no evidence in the quartermaster-gen-

336 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

eral's office of the number and description of arms with which
the legion had been furnished. Dr. Bennett, after he had been
appointed quartermaster-general, had joined the Mormons, and
had disposed of the public arms as he pleased, without keeping
or giving any account of them. On this subject I applied to
Gen. Wilson Law for information. He had lately been the
major-general of the legion. He had seceded from the Mormon
party ; was one of the owners of the proscribed press ; had left
the city, as he said, in fear of his life ; and was one of the party
asking for justice against its constituted authorities. He was
interested to exaggerate the number of arms, rather than to
place it at too low an estimate. From his information I learned
that the legion had received three pieces of cannon and about
two hundred and fifty stand of small arms and their accoutre-
ments. Of these, the three pieces of cannon and two hundred
and twenty stand of small arms were surrendered. These arms
were demanded, because the legion was illegally used in the
destruction of the press, and in enforcing martial law in the
city, in open resistance to legal process, and the posse com-
itatus.

I demanded the surrender also, on account of the great prej-
udice and excitement which the possession of these arms by
the Mormons had always kindled in the minds of the people.
A large portion of the people, by pure misrepresentation, had
been made to believe that the legion had received of the State
as many as thirty pieces of artillery and five or six thousand
stand of small arms, which, in all probability, would soon be
wielded for the conquest of the country ; and for their sub-
jection to Mormon domination. I was of opinion that the re-
moval of these arms would tend much to allay this excitement
and prejudice ; and in point of fact, although wearing a severe
aspect, would be an act of real kindness to the Mormons them-
selves.

On the 23d or 24th day of June, Joe Smith, the mayor of

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 337

Nauvoo, together with his brother Hiram and all the members
of the council and all others demanded, came into Carthage
and surrendered themselves prisoners to the constable, on the
charge of riot. They all voluntarily entered into a recognizance
before the justice of the peace, for their appearance at court to
answer the charge. And all of them were discharged from
custody except Joe and Hiram Smith, against whom the magis-
trate had issued a new writ, on a complaint of treason. They
were immediately arrested by the constable on this charge, and
retained in his custody to answer it.

The overt act of treason charged against them consisted in
the alleged levying of war against the State by declaring mar-
tial law in Nauvoo, and in ordering out the legion to resist the
posse comitatus. Their actual guiltiness of the charge would de-
pend upon circumstances. If their opponents had been seeking
to put the law in force in good faith, and nothing more, then
an array of a military force in open resistance to the posse com-
itatus and the militia of the State, most probably would have
amounted to treason. But if those opponents merely intended to
use the process of the law, the militia of the State, and the posse
comitatus, as cats-paws to compass the possessions of their per-
sons for the purpose of murdering them afterwards, as the sequel
demonstrated the fact to be, it might well be doubted whether
they were guilty of treason.

Soon after the surrender of the Smiths, at their request I de-
spatched Captain Singleton with his company from Brown
county to Nauvoo, to guard the town ; and I authorized him to
take command of the legion. He reported to me afterwards,
that he called out the legion for inspection ; and that upon two
hours' notice two thousand of them assembled, all of them
armed ; and this after the public arms had been taken away
from them. So it appears that they had a sufficiency of private
arms for any reasonable purpose.

After the Smiths had been arrested on the new charge of

338 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

treason, the justice of the peace postponed the examination, be-
cause neither of the parties were prepared with their witnesses
for trial. In the meantime, he committed them to the jail of
the county for greater security.

In all this matter the justice of the peace and constable,
though humble in office, were acting in a high and independent
capacity, far beyond any legal power in me to control. I con-
sidered that the executive power could only be called in to as-
sist, and not to dictate or control their action ; that in the hum-
ble sphere of their duties they were as independent, and clothed
with as high authority by the law, as the executive department ;
and that my province was simply to aid them with the force of
the State. It is true, that so far as I could prevail on them by
advice, I endeavored to do so. The prisoners were not in mili-
tary custody, or prisoners of war ; and I could no more legally
control these officers, than I could the superior courts of justice.

Some persons have supposed that I ought to have had them
sent to some distant and friendly part of the State, for confine-
ment and trial ; and that I ought to have searched them for con-
cealed arms ; but these surmises and suppositions are readily
disposed of, by the fact, that they were not my prisoners ; but
were the prisoners of the- constable and jailer, under the direc-
tion of the justice of the peace. And also by the fact, that by
law they could be tried in no other county than Hancock.

The jail in which they were confined, is a considerable stone
building ; containing a residence for the jailer, cells for the close
and secure confinement of prisoners, and one larger room not
so strong, but more airy and comfortable than the cells. They
were put into the cells by the jailer ; but upon their remon-
strance and request, and by my advice, they were transferred
to the larger room ; and there they remained until the final
catastrophe. Neither they nor I, seriously apprehended an at-
tack on the jail through the guard stationed to protect it. Nor
did I apprehend the least danger on their part of an attempt to

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 339

escape. For I was very sure that any such an attempt would
have been the signal of their immediate death. Indeed, if they
had escaped, it would have been fortunate for the purposes of
those who were anxious for the expulsion of the Mormon popu
lation. For the great body of that people would most assured-
ly have followed their prophet and principal leaders, as they
did in their flight from Missouri.*

The force assembled at Carthage amounted to about twelve
or thirteen hundred men, and it was calculated that four or five
hundred more were assembled at Warsaw. Nearly all that
portion resident in Hancock were anxious to be marched into
Nauvoo. This measure was supposed to be necessary to search
for counterfeit money and the apparatus to make it, and also to
strike a salutary terror into the Mormon people by an exhibi-
tion of the force of the State, and thereby prevent future out-
rages, murders, robberies, burnings, and the like, apprehended
as the effect of Mormon vengeance, on those who had taken a
part against them. On my part, at one time, this arrangement
was agreed to. The morning of the 27th day of June was appoint-

* I learned afterwards that the leaders of the anti-Mormons did much
to stimulate their followers to the murder of the Smiths in jail, by al-
leging that the governor intended to favor their escape. If this had
been true, and could have been well carried out, it would have been
the best way of getting rid of the Mormons. These leaders of the Mor-
mons would never have dared to return, and they would have been
followed in their flight by all their church. I had such a plan in my
mind, but I had never breathed it to a living soul, and was thus
thwarted in ridding the State of the Mormons two years before they
actually left, by the insane frenzy of the anti-Mormons. Joe Smith,
when he escaped from Missouri, had no difficulty in again collecting
his sect about him at Nauvoo ; and so the twelve apostles, after they
had been at the head of affairs long enough to establish their authority
and influence as leaders, had no difficulty in getting nearly the whole
body of Mormons to follow them into the wilderness two years after
the death of their pretended prophet.

340 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

ed for the march ; and Golden's Point, near the Mississippi riv-
er, and about equi-distant from Nauvoo and Warsaw, was se-
lected as the place of rendezvous. I had determined to prevail
on the justice to bring out his prisoners, and take them along.
A council of officers, however, determined that this would be
highly inexpedient and dangerous, and offered such substantial
reasons for their opinions as induced me to change my resolu-
tion.

Two or three days' preparations had been made for this ex-
pedition. I observed that some of the people became more
and more excited and inflammatory the further the preparations
were advanced. Occasional threats came to my ears of destroy-
ing the city and murdering or expelling the inhabitants.

I had no objection to ease the terrors of the people by such
a display of force, and was most anxious also to search for the
alleged apparatus for making counterfeit money ; and, in fact,
to inquire into all the charges against that people, if I could
have been assured of my command against mutiny and insub-
orglination. But I gradually learned, to my entire satisfaction,
that there was a plan to get the troops into Nauvoo, and there
to begin the war, probably by some of our own party, or some
of the seceding Mormons, taking advantage of the night, to fire
on our own force, and then laying it on the Mormons. I was
satisfied that there were those amongst us fully capable of such
an act, hoping that in the alarm, bustle, and confusion of a mili-
tia camp, the truth could not be discovered, and that it might
lead to the desired collision. x

I had many objections to be made the dupe of any such or
similar artifice. I was openly and boldly opposed to any attack
on the city, unless it should become necessary, to arrest prison-
ers legally charged and demanded. Indeed, if any one will re-
flect upon the number of women, inoffensive and young persons,
and innocent children, which must be contained in such a city
of twelve or fifteen thousand inhabitants, it would seem to me

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 341

his heart would relent and rebel against such violent resolu-
tions. Nothing but the most blinded and obdurate fury could
incite a person, even if he had the power, to the willingness of
driving such persons, bare and houseless, on to the prairies, to
starve, suffer, and even steal, as they must have done, for sub-
sistence. No one who has children of his own would think of
it for a moment.

Besides this, if we had been ever so much disposed to com-
mit such an act of wickedness, we evidently had not the power
to do it. I was well assured that the Mormons, at a short no-
tice, could muster as many as two or three thousand well-
armed men. We had not more than seventeen hundred, with
three pieces of cannon, and about twelve hundred stand of small
arms. We had provisions for two days only, and would be
compelled to disband at the end of that time. To think of be-
ginning a war under such circumstances was a plain absurdity.
If the Mormons had succeeded in repulsing our attack, as most
likely would have been the case, the country must necessarily
be given up to their ravages until a new force could be assem-
bled, and provisions made for its subsistence. Or if we should
have succeeded in driving them from their city, they would have
scattered ; and, being justly incensed at our barbarity, and suf-
fering with privation and hunger, would have spread desolation
all over the country, without any possibility, on our part, with
the force we then had, of preventing it. Again : they would
have had the advantage of being able to subsist their force in
the field by plundering their enemies.

All these considerations were duly urged by me upon the
attention of a council of officers, convened on the morning of
27th of June. I also urged upon the council, that such wanton
and unprovoked barbarity on their part would turn the sym-
pathy of the people in the surrounding counties in favor of the
Mormons, and therefore it would be impossible to raise a vol-
unteer militia force to protect such a people against them.

342 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

Many of the officers admitted that there might be danger of.
collision. But such was the blind fury prevailing at the time,
though not showing itself by much visible excitement, that a
small majority of the council adhered to the first resolution of
marching into Nauvoo ; most of the officers of the Schuyler
and McDonough militia voting against it, and most of those of
the county of Hancock voting in its favor.

A very responsible duty now devolved upon me, to determine
whether I would, as commander-in-chief, be governed by the
advice of this majority. I had no hesitation in deciding that I
would not ; but on the contrary, I ordered the troops to be dis-
banded, both at Carthage and Warsaw, with the exception of
three companies, two of which were retained as a guard to the
jail, and the other was retained to accompany me to Nauvoo.

The officers insisted much in council upon the necessity of
marching to that place to search for apparatus to make coun-
terfeit money, and more particularly to terrify the Mormons
from attempting any open or secret measures of vengeance
against the citizens of the county, who had taken a part against
them or their leaders. To ease their terrors on this head, I
proposed to them that I would myself proceed to the city, ac-
companied by a small force, make the proposed search, and de-
liver an address to the Mormons, and tell them plainly what
degree of excitement and hatred prevailed against them in the
minds of the whole people, and that if any open or secret vio-
lence should be committed on the persons or property of those
who had taken part against them, that no one would doubt but
that it, had been perpetrated by them, and that it would be the
sure and certain means of the destruction of their city and the
extermination of their people.

I ordered two companies under the command of Capt. R. F.
Smith, of the Carthage Grays, to guard the jail. In selecting
these companies, and particularly the company of the Carthage
Grays for this service, I have been subjected to some censure.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 343

It has been said that this company had already been guilty of
mutiny, and had been ordered to be arrested whilst in the en-
campment at Carthage ; and that they and their officers were
the deadly enemies of the prisoners. 'Indeed it would have
been difficult to find friends of the prisoners under my com-
mand, unless I had called in the Mormons as a guard ; and this
I was satisfied would have led to the immediate war, and the
sure death of the prisoners.

It is true that this company had behaved badly towards the
brigadier-general in command, on the occasion when the prison-
ers were shown along the line of the McDonough militia. This
company had been ordered as a guard. They were under the
belief that the prisoners, who were arrested for a capital offence,
were shown to the troops in a kind of triumph ; and that they
had been called on as a triumphal escort to grace the procession.
They also entertained a very bad feeling towards the brigadier-
general who commanded their service on the occasion. The
truth is, however, that this company was never ordered to be
arrested ; that the Smiths were not shown to the McDonough
troops as a mark of honor and triumph, but were shown to
them at the urgent request of the troops themselves, to gratify
their curiosity in beholding persons who had made themselves
so notorious in the country.

When the Carthage Grays ascertained what was the true
motive in showing the prisoners to the troops, they were per-
fectly satisfied. All due atonement was made on their part,
for their conduct to the brigadier-general, and they cheerfully
returned to their duty.

Although I knew that this company were the enemies of the
Smiths, yet I had confidence in their loyalty and integrity;
because their captain was universally spoken of as a most re-
spectable citizen and honorable man. The company itself was
an old independent company, well armed, uniformed, and
drilled ; and the members of it were the elite of the militia of

344 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

the county. I relied upon this company especially, because it
was an independent company, for a long time instructed and
practiced in military discipline and subordination. I also had
their word and honor, officers and men, to do their duty accord-
ing to law. Besides all this, the officers and most of the men
resided in Carthage ; in the near vicinity of Nauvoo ; and, as I
thought, must know that they would make themselves and their
property convenient and conspicuous marks of Mormon ven-
geance, in case they were guilty of treachery.

I had at first intended to select a guard from the county of
McDonough, but the militia of that county were very much dis-
satisfied to remain ; their crops were suffering at home ; they
were in a perfect fever to be discharged ; and I was destitute of
provisions to supply them for more than a few days. They
were far from home, where they could not supply themselves.
Whilst the Carthage company could board at their own houses,
and would be put to little inconvenience in comparison.

What gave me greater confidence in the selection of this com-
pany as a prudent measure was, that the selection was first sug-
gested and urged by the brigadier-general in command, who
was well known to be utterly hostile to all mobocracy and vio-
lence towards the prisoners, and who was openly charged by
the violent party with being on the side of the Mormons. At
any rate I knew that the jail would have to be guarded as long
as the prisoners were confined ; that an imprisonment for trea-
son might last the whole summer and the greater part of the
autumn before a trial could be had in the circuit court ; that it
would be utterly impossible in the circumstances of the country
to keep a force there from a foreign county for so long a time ;
and that a time must surely come when the duty of guarding
the jail would necessarily devolve on the citizens of the county.

It is true, also, that at this time I had not believed or suspect-
ed that any attack was to be made upon the prisoners in jail.
It is true that I was aware that a great deal of hatred existed

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 345

against them, and that there were those who would do them an
injury if they could. I had heard of some threats being made,
but none of an attack upon the prisoners whilst in jail. These
threats seemed to be made by individuals not acting in concert.
They were no more than the bluster which might have been ex-
pected, and furnished no indication of numbers combining for
this or any other purpose.

I must here be permitted to say, also, that frequent appeals
had been made to me to make a clean and thorough work of
the matter, by exterminating the Mormons, or expelling them
from the State. An opinion seemed generally to prevail, that
the sanction of executive authority would legalize the act ; and
all persons of any influence, authority, or note, who conversed
with me on the subject, frequently and repeatedly stated their
total unwillingness to act without my direction, or in any mode
except according to law.

This was a circumstance well calculated to conceal from me
the secret machinations on foot. I had constantly contended
against violent measures, and so had the brigadier-general in
command ; and I am convinced that unusual pains were taken
to conceal from both of us the secret measures resolved upon.
It has been said, however, that some person named Williams, in
a public speech at Carthage, called for volunteers to murder the
Smiths ; and that I ought to have had him arrested. Whether
such a speech was really made or not, is yet unknown to me.

Having ordered the guard, and left General Deming in com-
mand in Carthage, and discharged the residue of the militia, I
immediately departed for Nauvoo, eighteen miles distant, ac-
companied by. Col. Buckmaster, Quartermaster-General, and
Capt. Dunn's company of dragoons.

After we had proceeded four miles, Colonel Buckmaster inti-
mated to me a suspicion that an attack would be made upon the
jail. He stated the matter as a mere suspicion, arising from
having seen two persons converse together at Carthage with

15*

346 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

some air of mystery. I myself entertained no suspicion of
such an attack ; at any rate, none before the next day in the af-
ternoon ; because it was notorious that we had departed from
Carthage with the declared intention of being absent at least
two days. I could not believe that any person would attack
the jail whilst we were in Nauvoo, and thereby expose my life
and the life of my companions to the sudden vengeance of the
Mormons, upon hearing of the death of their leaders. Never-
theless, acting upon the principle of providing against mere pos-
sibilities, I sent back one of the company with a special order
to Capt. Smith to guard the jail strictly, and at the peril of his
life, until my return.

"We proceeded on our journey four miles further. By this
time I had convinced myself that no attack would be made on
the jail that day or night. I supposed that a regard for my
safety and the safety of my companions would prevent an at-
tack until those to be engaged in it could be assured of our de-
parture from Nauvoo. I still think that this ought to have ap-
peared to me to be a reasonable supposition.

1 therefore determined at this point to omit making the
search for counterfeit money at Nauvoo, and defer an examina-
tion of all the other abominations charged on that people, in or-
der to return to Carthage that same night, that I might be on
the ground in person, in time to prevent an attack upon the jail,
if any had been meditated. To this end we called a halt ; the
baggage wagons were ordered to remain where they were until
towards evening, and then return to Carthage.

Having made these arrangements we proceeded on our march
and arrived at Nauvoo about four o'clock of the afternoon of
the 27th day of June. As soon as notice could be given, a
crowd of the citizens assembled to hear an address which I pro-
posed to deliver to them. The number present has been vari-
ously estimated from one to five thousand.

In this address I stated to them how, and in what, their fuuc-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 347

tionaries had violated the laws. Also, the many scandalous re-
ports in circulation against them, and that these reports, whether
true or false, were generally believed by the people. I dis-
tinctly stated to them the amount of hatred and prejudice which
prevailed everywhere against them, and the causes of it, at
length.

I also told them plainly and emphatically, that if any ven-
geance should be attempted openly or secretly against the per-
sons or property of the citizens who had taken part against their
leaders, that the public hatred and excitement was such, that
thousands would assemble for the total destruction of their city
and the extermination of their people ; and that no power in
the State would be able to prevent it. During this address
some impatience and resentment were manifested by the Mor-
mons, at the recital of the various reports enumerated concern-
ing them ; which they strenuously and indignantly denied to be
true. They claimed to be a law-abiding people, and insisted
that as they looked to the law alone for their protection, so
were they careful themselves to observe its provisions. Upon
the conclusion of this address, I proposed to take a vote on the
question, whether they would strictly observe the laws, even in
opposition to their prophet and leaders. The vote was unani-
mous in favor of this proposition.

The anti-Mormons contended that such a vote from the Mor-
mons signified nothing ; and truly the subsequent history of
that people showed clearly that they were loudest in their pro-
fessions of attachment to the law whenever they were guilty of
the greatest extravagances ; and in fact, that they were so ignor-
ant and stupid about matters of law, that they had no means of
judging of the legality of their conduct, only as they were in-
structed by their spiritual leaders.

A short time before sundown we departed on our return to
Carthage. When we had proceeded two miles we met two in-
dividuals, one of them a Mormon, who informed us that the

348 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

Smiths had been assassinated in jail, about five or six o'clock
of that day. The intelligence seemed to strike every one with
a kind of dumbness. As to myself, it was perfectly astound-
ing ; and I anticipated the very worst consequences from it.
The Mormons had been represented to me as a lawless, infatu-
ated, and fanatical people, not governed ty the ordinary mo-
tives which influence the rest of mankind. If so, most likely an
exterminating war would ensue, and the whole land would be
covered with desolation.

Acting upon this supposition, it was my duty to provide as
well as I could for the event. I therefore ordered the two mes-
sengers into custody, and to be returned with us to Carthage.
This was done to get time to make such arragements as could
be made, and to prevent any sudden explosion of Mormon ex-
citement before they could be written to by their friends at
Carthage. I also despatched messengers to Warsaw, to advise
the citizens of the event. But the people there knew all about
the matter before my messengers arrived. They, like myself,
anticipated a general attack all over the country. The women
and children were removed across the river ; and a committee
was despatched that night to Quincy for assistance. The next
morning by daylight the ringing of the bells in the city of
Quincy, announced a public meeting. The people assembled
in great numbers at an early hour. The Warsaw committee
stated to the meeting that a party of Mormons had attempted
to rescue the Smiths out of jail ; that a party of Missourians
and others, had killed the prisoners to prevent their escape ;
that the governor and his party were at Nauvoo at the time
when intelligence of the fact was brought there ; that they had
been attacked by the Nauvoo legion, and had retreated to a
house where they were then closely besieged. That the gover-
nor had sent out word that he could maintain his position for
two days, and would be certain to be massacred if assistance
did not arrive by the end of that time. It is unnecessary to

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 349

say that this entire story was a fabrication. It was of a piece
with the other reports put into circulation by the anti-Mor-
mon party, to influence the public mind and call the people to
their assistance. The effect of it, however, was that by ten
o'clock on the 28th of June, between two and three hundred
men from Quincy, under the command of Major Flood, em-
barked on board of a steamboat for Nauvoo, to assist in rais-
ing the siege, as they honestly believed.

As for myself, I was well convinced that those, whoever they
were, who assassinated the Smiths, meditated in turn my assas-
sination by the Mormons. The very circumstances of the case
fully corroborated the information which I afterwards received,
that upon consultation of the assassins it was agreed amongst
them that the murder must be committed whilst the governor
was at Nauvoo ; that the Mormons would naturally suppose
that he had planned it ; and that in the first outpouring of their
indignation, they would assassinate him, by way of retaliation.
And that thus they would get clear of the Smiths and the gov-
ernor, all at once. They also supposed, that if they could so
contrive the matter as to have the governor of the State assas-
sinated by the Mormons, the public excitement would be greatly
increased against that people, and would result in their expul-
sion from the State at least.

Upon hearing of the assassination of the Smiths, I was sensi-
ble that my command was at an end ; that my destruction was
meditated as well as that of the Mormons ; and that I could not
reasonably confide longer in the one party or in the other.

The question then arose, what would be proper to be done.
A war was expected by everybody. I was desirous of preserv-
ing the peace. I could not put myself at the head of the Mor-
mon force with any kind of propriety, and without exciting
greater odium against them than already existed. I could not
put myself at the head of the anti-Mormon party, because they
had justly forfeited my confidence, and my command over them

350 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

was put an end to by mutiny and treachery. I could not put
myself at the head of either of these forces, because both of
them in turn had violated the law ; and, as I then believed,
meditated further aggression. It appeared to me that if a war
ensued, I ought to have a force in which I could confide, and
that I ought to establish my head-quarters at a place where I
could learn the truth as to what was going on.

For these reasons, I determined to proceed to Quincy, a place
favorably situated for receiving the earliest intelligence, for
issuing orders to raise an army if necessary, and for providing
supplies for its subsistence. But first, I determined to return
back to Carthage and make such arrangements as could be
made for the pacification and defence of the country. When I
arrived there, about ten o'clock at night, I found that great
consternation prevailed. Many of the citizens had departed
with their families, and others were preparing to go. As the
country was utterly defenceless, this seemed to me to be a
proper precaution. One company of the guard stationed by
me to guard the jail, had disbanded and gone home before the
jail was attacked ; and many of the Carthage Grays departed
soon afterwards.

Gen. Deming, who was absent in the country during the
murder, had returned ; he volunteered to remain in command
of a few men, with orders to guard the town, observe the prog-
ress of events, and to retreat if menaced by a superior force.

Here also I found Dr. Richards and John Taylor, two of the
principal Mormon leaders, who had been in the jail at the time
of the attack, and who voluntarily addressed a most pacific ex-
hortation to their fellow-citizens, which was the first intelligence
of the murder which was received at Nauvoo. I think it very
probable that the subsequent good conduct of the Mormons is
attributable to the arrest of the messengers, and to the influ-
ence of this letter.

Having made these arrangements, I departed for Quincy.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 351

On my road thither, I heard of a body of militia marching
from Schuyler, and another from Brown. It appears that or-
ders had been sent out in my name, but without my knowledge,
for the militia of Schuyler county. I immediately counter-
manded their march, and they returned to their homes. When
I arrived at Columbus, I found that Capt. Jonas had raised a
company of one hundred men, who were just ready to march.
By my advice they postponed their march, to await further
orders. 1 arrived at Quincy on the morning of the 29th of
June, about eight o'clock, and immediately issued orders, pro-
visionally, for raising an imposing force, when it should seem
to be necessary.

I remained at Quincy for about one month, during which
time a committee from Warsaw waited on me, with a written
request that I would expel the Mormons from the State. It
seemed that it never occurred to these gentlemen that I had no
power to exile a citizen ; but they insisted that if this were not
done, their party would abandon the State. This requisition
was refused of course.

During this time also, with the view of saving expense, keep-
ing the peace, and having a force which would be removed from
the prejudices in the country, I made application to the United
States for five hundred men of the regular army, to be stationed
for a time in Hancock county, which was subsequently refused.

During this time also, I had secret agents amongst all parties,
observing their movements ; and was accurately informed of
everything which was meditated on both sides. It appeared
that the anti-Mormon party had not relinquished their hostility
to the Mormons, nor their determination to expel them, but
had deferred further operations until the fall season, after they
had finished their summer's work on their farms.

When I first went to Carthage, and during all this difficult
business, no public officer ever acted from purer or more patri-
otic intentions than I did. I was perfectly conscious of the ut-

352 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

most integrity in all my actions, and felt lifted up far above all
mere party considerations. But I had scarcely arrived at the
scene of action before the whig press commenced the most vio-
lent abuse, and attributed to me the basest motives. It was al-
leged in the Sangamon Journal, and repeated in the other whig
newspapers, that the governor had merely gone over to cement
an alliance with the Mormons ; that the leaders would not be
brought to punishment, but that a full privilege would be ac-
corded to them to commit crimes of every hue and grade, in
return for their support of the democratic party. I mention
this, not by way of complaint, for it is only the privilege of the
minority to complain, but for its influence upon the people.

I observed that I was narrowly watched in all my proceedings
by my whig fellow-citizens, and was suspected of an intention
to favor the Mormons. I felt that I did not possess the confi-
dence of the men I commanded, and that they had been induced
to withhold it by the promulgation of the most abominable
falsehoods. I felt the necessity of possessing their confidence,
in order to give vigor to my action ; and exerted myself in
every way to obtain it, so that I could control the excited mul-
titude who were under my command. I succeeded better for a
time than could have been expected ; but who can control the
action of a mob without possessing their entire confidence ? It
is true, also, that some unprincipled democrats all the time ap-
peared to be very busy on the side of the Mormons, and this
circumstance was well calculated to increase suspicion of every
one who had the name of democrat.

CHAPTER XI.

Account of the assassination of the Smiths — Done by the forces at Warsaw — Treachery
of the Carthage Greys— Franklin A. Worrell— Attack on the Jail— Murder of Joe
and Hiram Smith— Character of Joe Smith— Character of the leading Mormons-
Character of the Mormon people — Affairs of the Church — Sidney Rigdon's prophe-
cies— The twelve apostles — Triumph of the twelve— Increase of Mormonism — Causes
of it— Governor Ford and Herod and Pilate— The Mormons quit preaching to the
Gentiles — Character of their preaching— Increased hostility of the "Saints" — Deter-
mination to expel the Mormons — Both parties ready to set aside free government —
Natural inclination to despotism— Presidential election of 1844— Infatuation of the
people— State election— Colonel Taylor's visit to the Mormons induces them to vote
the democratic ticket — The fault laid on the Governor — Fresh determination to ex-
pel the Mormons — Conduct of the whig press — Pusillanimity of politicians — General
Hardin— Colonel Baker — Colonel Weatherford — Colonel Merriman — Anti-Mormon
wolf-hunt — Military expedition to Hancock — Militia infected with anti-Mormonism
—Surrender of two persons accused of the murder— Terms of surrender arranged
by Colonel Baker — Incompetency of a militia force in such cases — Prosecution of
the murderers — Riotous trials — Constitution in relation to changes of venue— Trial
of the Mormons for destroying the press— Both parties get a jury to suit them— All
acquitted— Anarchy in Hancock.

IT was many days after the assassination of the Smiths be-
fore the circumstances of the murder fully became known. It
then appeared that, agreeably to previous orders, the posse at
Warsaw had marched on the morning of the 27th of June in
the direction of Golden's Point, with a view to join the force
from Carthage, the whole body then to be marched into Nau-
voo. But by the time they had gone eight miles, they were
met by the order to disband ; and learning at the same time
that the governor was absent at Nauvoo, about two hundred of
these men, many of them being disguised by blacking their
faces with powder and mud, hastened immediately to Carthage.
There they encamped, at some distance from the village, and
soon learned that one of the companies left as a guard had dis-

354 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

banded and returned to their homes ; the other company, the
Carthage Greys, was stationed by the captain in the public
square, a hundred and fifty yards from the jail. Whilst eight
men were detailed by him, under the command of Sergeant
Franklin A. Worrell, to guard the prisoners. A communica-
tion was soon established between the conspirators and the com-
pany ; and it was arranged that the guard should have their
guns charged with blank cartridges, and fire at the assailants
when they attempted to enter the jail. Gen. Deming, who
was left in command, being deserted by some of his troops, and
perceiving the arrangement with the others, and having no force
upon which he could rely, for fear of his life retired from the
village. The conspirators came up, jumped the slight fence
around the jail, were fired upon by the guard, which, according
to arrangement, was overpowered immediately, and the assail-
ants entered the prison, to the door of the room where the two
prisoners were confined, with two of their friends, who volunta-
rily bore them company. An attempt was made to break open
the door ; but Joe Smith being armed with a six-barrelled pis-
tol, 'furnished by his friends, fired several times as the door was
bursted open, and wounded three of the assailants. At the
same time several shots were fired into the room, by some of
which John Taylor received four wounds, and Hiram Smith
was instantly killed. Joe Smith now attempted to escape by
jumping out of the second-story window ; but the fall so stun-
ned him that he was unable to rise ; and being placed in a sit-
ting posture by the conspirators below, they despatched him
with four balls shot through his body.

Thus fell Joe Smith, the most successful impostor in modern
times ; a man who, though ignorant and coarse, had some great
natural parts, which fitted him for temporary success, but which
were so obscured and counteracted by the inherent corruption
and vices of his nature, that he never could succeed in establish-
ing a system of policy which looked to permanent success in

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 355

the future. His lusts, his love of money and power, always
set him to studying present gratification and convenience, rather
than the remote consequences of his plans. It seems that no
power of intellect can save a corrupt man from this error. The
strong cravings of the animal nature will never give fair play
to a fine understanding, the judgment is never allowed to choose
that good which is far away, in preference to enticing evil near
at hand. And this may be considered a wise ordinance of
Providence, by which the counsels of talented but corrupt men,
are defeated in the very act which promised success.

It must not be supposed that the pretended prophet practiced
the tricks of a common impostor ; that he was a dark and
gloomy person, with a long beard, a grave and severe aspect,
and a reserved and saintly carriage of his person ; on the con-
trary, he was full of levity, even to boyism romping ; dressed
like a dandy, and at times drank like a sailor and swore like a
pirate. He could, as occasion required, be exceedingly meek
in his deportment ; and then again rough and boisterous as a
highway robber ; being always able to satisfy his followers of
the propriety of his conduct. He always quailed before power,
and was arrogant to weakness. At times he could put on the
air of a penitent, as if feeling the deepest humiliation for his
sins, and suffering unutterable anguish, and indulging in the
most gloomy forebodings of eternal woe. At such times he
would call for the prayers of the brethren in his behalf, with a
wild and fearful energy and earnestness. He was full six feet
high, strongly built, and uncommonly well muscled. No doubt
he was as much indebted for his influence over an ignorant peo-
ple, to the superiority of his physical vigor, as to his greater
cunning and intellect.

His followers were divided into the leaders and the led ; the
first division embraced a numerous class of broken down, un-
principled men of talents, to be found in every country, who,
bankrupt in character and fortune, had nothing to lose by de-

356 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

serting the known religions, and carving out a new one of their
own. They were mostly infidels, who holding all religions in
derision, believed that they had as good a right as Christ or
Mahomet, or any of the founders of former systems, to create
one for themselves ; and if they could impose it upon mankind,
to live upon the labor of their dupes. Those of the second
division, were the credulous wondering part of men, whose
easy belief and admiring natures, are always the victims of
novelty, in whatever shape it may come, who have a capacity
to believe any strange and wonderful matter, if it only be new,
whilst the wonders of former ages command neither faith nor
reverence ; they were men of feeble purposes, readily subjected
to the will of the strong, giving themselves up entirely to the
direction of their leaders ; and this accounts for the very great
influence of those leaders in controlling them. In other respects
some of the Mormons were abandoned rogues, who had taken
shelter in Nauvoo, as a convenient place for the head-quarters
of their villany ; and others were good, honest, industrious peo-
ple, who were the sincere victims of an artful delusion. Such
as these were more the proper objects of pity than persecution.
With them, their religious belief was a kind of insanity ; and
certainly no greater calamity can befall a human being, than to
have a mind so constituted as to be made the sincere dupe of a
religious imposture.

The more polished portion of the Mormons were a merry
set of fellows, fond of music and dancing, dress and gay assem-
blies. They had their regular dancing parties of gentlemen
and ladies, and were by no means exclusive in admitting any
one to them on the score of character. It is a notorious fact,
that a desperado by the name of Rockwell, having attracted
the affections of a pretty woman, the wife of a Mormon mer-
chant, took her from her husband by force of arms, to live with
him in adultery. But whilst she was so living notoriously in
adultery with a Mormon bully, in the same city with her bus-

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 357

band, she was freely admitted to the best society in the place,
to all the gay assemblies, where she and her husband frequently
met in the same dance.

The world now indulged in various conjectures as to the fur-
ther progress of the Mormon religion. By some persons it was
believed that it would perish and die away with its founder.
But upon the principle that " the blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the church," there was now really more cause than ever
to predict its success. The murder of the Smiths, instead of
putting an end to the delusion of the Mormons and dispersing
them, as many believed it would, only bound them together
closer than ever, gave them new confidence in their faith and
an increased fanaticism. The Mormon church had been organ-
ized with a first presidency, composed of Joe and Hiram Smith
and Sidney Rigdon, and twelve apostles of the prophet, repre-
senting the apostles of Jesus Christ. The twelve apostles were
now absent, and until they could be called together the minds
of the " saints " were unsettled, as to the future government of
the church. Revelations were published that the prophet, in
imitation of the Saviour, was to rise again from the dead. Many
were looking in gaping wonderment for the fulfilment of this
revelation, and some reported that they had already seen him,
attended by a celestial army coursing the air on a great white
horse. Rigdon, as the only remaining member of the first
presidency, claimed the government of the church, as being
successor to the prophet. When the twelve apostles returned
from foreign parts, a fierce struggle for power ensued between
them and Rigdon. Rigdon fortified his pretensions by alleging
the will of the prophet in his favor, and pretending to have
several new revelations from heaven, amongst which was one
of a very impolitic nature. This was to the effect, that all the
wealthy Mormons were to break up their residence at Nauvoo,
and follow him to Pittsburg. This revelation put both the rich
and the poor against him. The rich, because they did not want

358 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

to leave their property ; and the poor, because they would not
be deserted by the wealthy. This was fatal to the ambition of
Eigdon ; and the Mormons tired of the despotism of a one-man
government, were now willing to decide in favor of the apos-
tles. Rigdon was expelled from the church as being a false
prophet, and left the field with a few followers, to establish a
little delusion of his own, near Pittsburg ; leaving the govern-
ment of the main church in the hands of the apostles, with
Brigham Young, a cunning but vulgar man, at their head, occu-
pying the place of Peter in the Christian hierarchy.

Missionaries were despatched to all parts to preach in the
name of the " martyred Joseph ;" and the Mormon religion
thrived more than ever. For awhile it was doubtful whether
the reign of the military saints in Nauvoo would not in course
of time supplant the meek and lowly system of Christ. There
were many things to favor their success. The different Chris-
tian sects had lost much of the fiery energy by which at first
they were animated. They had attained to a more subdued,
sober, learned, and intellectual religion. But there is at all
times a large class of mankind who will never be satisfied with
anything in devotion, short of a heated and wild fanaticism.
The Mormons were the greatest zealots, the most confident in
their faith, and filled with a wilder, fiercer, and more enterpris-
ing enthusiasm, than any sect on the continent of America ; their
religion gave promise of more temporal and spiritual advan-
tages for less labor, and with less personal sacrifice of passion,
lust, prejudice, malice, hatred, and ill-will, than any other per-
haps in the whole world. Their missionaries abroad, to the
number of two or three thousand, were most earnest and indefati-
gable in their efforts to make converts ; compassing sea and
land to make one proselyte. When abroad, they first preached
doctrines somewhat like those of the Campbellites ; Sidney Rig-
don, the inventor of the system, having once been a Campbell-
ite preacher ; and when they had made a favorable impression,

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 359

they began in far-off allusions to open up their mysteries, and
to reveal to their disciples that a perfect " fulness of the gospel"
must be expected. This " fulness of the gospel " was looked
for by the dreamy- and wondering disciple, as* an indefinite
something not yet to be comprehended, but which was essen-
tial to complete happiness and salvation. He was then told
that God required him to remove to the place of gathering,
where alone this sublime " fulness of the gospel " could be fully
revealed, and completely enjoyed. When he arrived at the
place of gathering, he was fortified in the new faith by being
withdrawn from all other influences ; and by seeing and hearing
nothing but Mormons and Mormonism; and by association
with those only who never doubted any of the Mormon dogmas.
Now the " fulness of the gospel " could be safely made known.
If it required him to submit to the most intolerable despotism ;
if it tolerated and encouraged the lusts of the flesh and a pru-
rality of wives ; if it claimed all the world for the saints ; uni-
versal dominion for the Mormon leaders ; if it sanctioned mur-
der, robbery, perjury, and larceny, at the command of their
priests, no one could now doubt but that this was the " fulness
of the gospel," the liberty of the saints, with which Christ had
made them free.

The Christian world, which has hitherto regarded Mormonism
with silent contempt, unhappily may yet have cause to fear its
rapid increase. Modern society is full of material for such a
religion. At the death of the prophet, fourteen years after the
first Mormon Church was organized, the Mormons in all the
world numbered about two hundred thousand souls (one half
million according to their statistics) ; a number equal, perhaps,
to the number of Christians, when the Christian Church was of
the same age. It is to be feared that, in course of a century,
some gifted man like Paul, some splendid orator, who will be
able by his eloquence to attract crowds of the thousands who
are ever ready to hear, and be carried away by, the sounding

360 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

brass and tinkling cymbal of sparkling oratory, may command
a hearing, may succeed in breathing a new life into this modern
Mahometanism, and make the name of the martyred Joseph
ring as loud, and stir the souls of men as much, as the mighty
name of Christ itself. Sharon, Palmyra, Manchester, Kirtland,
Far West, Adamon Diahmon, Ramus, Nauvoo, and the Car-
thage Jail, may become holy and venerable names, places of
classic interest, in another age ; like Jerusalem, the Garden of
Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, and Mount Calvary to the
Christian, and Mecca and Medina to the Turk. And in that
event, the author of this history feels degraded by the reflection,
that the humble governor of an obscure State, who would other-
wise be forgotten in a few years, stands a fair chance, like Pilate
and Herod, by their official connection with the true religion,
of being dragged down to posterity with an immortal name,
hitched on to the memory of a miserable impostor. There may
be those whose ambition would lead them to desire an immor-
tal name in history, even in those humbling terms. I am not
one of that number.

About one year after the apostles were installed into power,
they abandoned for the present the project of converting the
world to the new religion. All the missionaries and members
abroad were ordered home ; it was announced that the world
had rejected the gospel by the murder of the prophet and patri-
arch, and was to be left to perish in its sins. In the meantime,
both before and after this, the elders at Nauvoo quit preaching
about religion. The Mormons came from every part, pouring
into the city ; the congregations were regularly called together
for worship, but instead of expounding the new gospel, the zeal-
ous and infuriated preachers now indulged only in curses and
strains of abuse of the Gentiles, and it seemed to be their design
to fill their followers with the greatest amount of hatred to all
mankind excepting the " saints." A sermon was no more than
an inflammatory stump speech, relating to their quarrels with

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 361

their enemies, and ornamented with an abundance of profanity.
From my own personal knowledge of this people, I can say
with truth, that I have never known much of any of their lead-
ers who was not addicted to profane swearing. No other kind
of discourses than these were heard in the city. Curses upon
their enemies, upon the country, upon government, upon all
public officers, were now the lessons taught by the elders, to in-
flame their people with the highest degree of spite and malice
against all who were not of the Mormon church, or its obse-
quious tools. The reader can readily imagine how a city of fif-
teen thousand inhabitants could be wrought up and kept in a
continual rage by the inflammatory harangues of its leaders.

In the meantime, the anti-Mormons were not idle ; they were
more than ever determined to expel the Mormons ; and being
passionately inflamed against them, they made many applica-
tions for executive assistance. On the other hand, the Mor-
mons invoked the assistance of government to take vengeance
upon the murderers of the Smiths. The anti-Mormons asked
the governor to violate the constitution, which he was sworn to
support, by erecting himself into a military despot and exiling
the Mormons. The Mormons, on their part, in their newspa-
pers, invited the governor to assume absolute power, by taking
a summary vengeance upon their enemies, by shooting fifty or
a hundred of them, without judge or jury. Both parties were
thoroughly disgusted with constitutional provisions, restraining
them from the summary attainment of their wishes for ven-
geance ; each was ready to submit to arbitrary power, to the
fiat of a dictator, to make me a king for the time being, or at
least that I might exercise the power of a king, to abolish both
the forms and spirit of free government, if the despotism to be
erected upon its ruins could only be wielded for its benefit, and
to take vengeance on its enemies. It seems that, notwithstand-
ing all our strong professions of attachment to liberty, there is
all the time an unconquerable leaning to the principles of mon-

362 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

archy and despotism, whenever the forms, the delays, and the
restraints of republican government fail to correct great evils.
When the forms of government in the United States were first
invented, the public liberty was thought to be the great object
of governmental protection. Our ancestors studied to prevent
government from doing harm, by depriving it of power. They
would not trust the power of exiling a citizen upon any terms ;
or of taking his life, without a fair and impartial trial in the
courts, even to the people themselves, much less to their gov-
ernment. But so infatuated were these parties, so deep did they
feel their grievances, that both of them were enraged in their
turn, because the governor firmly adhered to his oath of office ;
refusing to be a party to their revolutionary proceedings ; to
set aside the government of the country, and execute summary
vengeance upon one or the other of them.

Another election was to coine off in August, 1844, for mem-
bers of Congress, and for the legislature ; and an election was
pending throughout the nation for a President of the United
States. The war of party was never more fierce and terrible
than during the pendency of these elections. Tne parties in
many places met separately almost every night ; not to argue
the questions in dispute, but to denounce, ridicule, abuse, and
belittle each other, with sarcasm, clamor, noise, and songs, dur-
ing which nothing could be heard but hallooing, hurrahing, and
yelling, and then to disperse through town, with insulting taunts
and yells of defiance on either side.

In all this they were but little less fanatical and frantic on the
subject of politics, than were the Mormons about religion. Such
a state of excitement could not fail to operate unfavorably upon
the Mormon question, involved as it was in the questions of
party politics, by the former votes of the Mormons. As a
means of allaying the excitement, and making the question
more manageable, I was most anxious that the Mormons should
not vote at this election, and strongly advised them against do-

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 363

ing so. But Col. E. D. Taylor went to their city a few days
before the election, and the Mormons being ever disposed to
follow the worst advice they could get, were induced by him
and others to vote for all the democratic candidates. Col. Tay-
lor found them very hostile to the governor, and on that account
much disposed not to vote at this election. The leading whig
anti-Mormons, believing that I had an influence over the Mor-
mons, for the purpose of destroying it had assured them that
the governor had planned and been favorable to the murder of
their prophet and patriarch. The Mormons pretended to sus-
pect that the governor had given some countenance to the mur-
der, or at least had neglected to take the proper precautions to
prevent it. And yet it is strange that' at this same election,
they elected Gen. Deming to be the sheriff of the county, when
they knew that he had first called out the militia against them,
had concurred with me hi all the measures subsequently adopted,
had been left in command at Carthage during my absence at
Nauvoo, and had left his post when he saw that he had no
power to prevent the murders. As to myself, I shared the fate
of all men in high places, who favor moderation, who see that
both parties in the frenzy of their excitement are wrong — es-
pousing the cause of neither ; which fate always is to be hated
by both parties. But Col. Taylor, like a skilful politician, de-
nied nothing, but gave countenance to everything the Mormons
said of the governor ; and by admitting to them that the gov-
ernor was a great rascal ; by promising them the support of
the democratic party, an assurance he was not authorized to
make, but which they were foolish enough to believe, and by in-
sisting that the governor was not the democratic party, he over-
came their reluctance to vote. Nevertheless, for mere political
effect, without a shadow of justice, the whig leaders and news-
papers everywhere, and some enemies in the democratic ranks,
immediately charged this vote of the Mormons to the governor's
influence ; and this charge being believed by many, made the

364 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

anti-Mormon party more famous than ever in favor of the expul-
sion of the Mormons. In the course of the fall of 1844, the anti-
Mormon leaders sent printed invitations to all the militia cap-
tains in Hancock, and to the captains of militia in all the neigh-
boring counties in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, to be present
with their companies at a great wolf hunt in Hancock ; and it
was privately announced that the wolves to be hunted were the
Mormons and Jack Mormons. Preparations were made for
assembling several thousand men, with provisions for six days ;
and the anti-Mormon newspapers, in aid of the movement, com-
menced anew the most awful accounts of thefts and robberies,
and meditated outrages by the Mormons. The whig press in
every part of the United States, came to their assistance. The
democratic newspapers and leading democrats, who had received
the benefit of the Mormon votes to their party, quailed under
the tempest, leaving no organ for the correction of public opin-
ion, either at home or abroad, except the discredited Mormon
newspaper at Nauvoo. But very few of my prominent demo-
cratic friends would dare to come up to the assistance of their
governor, and but few of them dared openly to vindicate his
motives in endeavoring to keep the peace. They were willing
and anxious for Mormon votes at elections, but they were un-
willing to risk their popularity with the people, by taking a
part in their favor, even when law and justice, and the Consti-
tution, were all on their side. Such being the odious character
of the Mormons, the hatred of the common people against them,
and such being the pusillanimity of leading men, in fearing to
encounter it.

In this state of the case I applied to Brigadier General J. J.
Hardin, of the State militia, and to Colonels Baker and Merri-
man, all whigs, but all of them men of military ambition, and
they, together with Colonel William Weatherford, a democrat,*

* Of the officers who were out with me in this expedition, General
Hardin, Colonels Baker and Weatherford, and Major Warren, after-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 365

with my own exertions, succeeded in raising about five hundred
volunteers ; and thus did these whigs, that which my own politi-
cal friends, with two or three exceptions, were slow to do, from
a sense of duty and gratitude.

With this little force under the command of General Hardin,
I arrived in Hancock county on the 25th of October. The
malcontents abandoned their design, and all the leaders of it
fled to Missouri. The Carthage Greys fled almost in a body,
carrying their arms along with them. During our stay in the
county the anti-Mormons thronged into the camp, and conversed
freely with the men, who were fast infected with their prejudices,
and it was impossible to get any of the officers to aid in ex-
pelling them. Colonels Baker, Merriman and Weatherford,
volunteered their services if I would go with them, to cross
with a force into Missouri, to capture three of the anti-Mormon
leaders, for whose arrest writs had been issued for the murder
of the Smiths. To this I assented, and procured a boat, which
was sent down in the night, and secretly landed a mile above

wards greatly distinguished themselves in the Mexican war. Major
"Warren is noticed by General Taylor in his despatches to the war de-
partment, as a prudent and gallant officer. Lieutenant-Colonel Weath-
erford was left a whole day with a few companies to guard the main
pass at Buena Vista, where he and his men stood, during all that time,
the fire of the Mexican artillery, without being allowed to advance near
enough to return it. Colonel Baker, after the fall of General Shields,
commanded a brigade of two Illinois regiments and one New York re-
giment, in storming the last stronghold of the Mexicans at the battle
of Cerro Gordo, in which he and his men behaved most gallantly, car-
rying everything before them, which completed the entire route of the
Mexican army. General Hardin at the battle of Buena Vista, in com-
mand of two Illinois regiments in conjunction with a regiment of Ken-
tucky volunteers, made a most gallant charge upon a large body of
Mexican infantry and lancers, five times the numbers of the Americans,
which decided the victory on our side ; but in which Hardin and many
other gallant officers and men lost their lives. But they will live in
the affectionate remembrance of their countrymen, to the latest time.

366 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

Warsaw. Our little force arrived at that place about noon ;
that night we were to cross to Missouri at Churchville, and
seize the accused there encamped with a number of their
friends ; but that afternoon Colonel Baker visited the hostile en-
campment, and on his return refused to participate in the expe-
dition, and advised all his friends against joining it. There
was no authority for compelling the men to invade a neighbor-
ing State, and for this cause, much to the vexation of myself
and several others, the matter fell through.

It seems that Colonel Baker had already partly arranged the
terms for the accused to surrender. They were to be taken
to Quincy for examination under a military guard ; the attorney
for the people was to be advised to admit them to bail, and
they were to be entitled to a continuance of their trial at the
next court at Carthage ; upon this, two of the accused came
over and surrendered themselves prisoners.

But at that time I was held responsible for this compromise
with the murderers. The truth is, that I had but little of the
moral power to command in this expedition. Officers, men,
and all under me, were so infected with the anti-Mormon prej-
udices that I was made to feel severely the want of moral power
to control them. It would be thought very strange in any other
government that the administration should have the power to
direct, but no power to control. By the constitution the gov-
ernor can neither appoint nor remove a militia officer. He
may arrest and order a court martial. But a court martial
composed of military officers, elected in times of peace, in many
cases upon the same principles upon which Colonel Pluck was
elected in New York city, is not likely to pay much attention
to executive wishes in opposition to popular excitement. So,
too, in Illinois, the governor has no power to appoint, remove,
or in anywise control sheriffs, justices of the peace, nor even a
constable ; and yet the active co-operation of such officers with
the executive, is indispensable to the success of any effort the

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 367

governor may make to suppress civil war. If any one supposes
that the greatest amount of talents will enable any one to
govern under such circumstances, he is mistaken. It may be
thought that the governor ought to create a public sentiment in
favor of his measures, to sway the minds of those under him to
his own course, but if any one supposes that even the greatest
abilities could succeed in such an effort against popular feeling,
and against the inherent love of numerous demagogues for pop-
ularity, he is again mistaken.

I had determined from the first that some of the ring-leaders
in the foul murder of the Smiths should be brought to trial.
If these men had been the incarnation of Satan himself, as was
believed by many, their murder was a foul and treacherous ac-
tion, alike disgraceful to those who perpetrated the crime, to the
State, and to the governor, whose word had been pledged for
the protection of the prisoners in jail, and which had been so
shamefully violated ; and required that the most vigorous means
should be used to bring the assassins to punishment. As much
as anything else the expedition under General Hardin had been
ordered with a view to arrest the murderers.

Accordingly, I employed able lawyers to hunt up the testi-
mony, procure indictments, and prosecute the offenders. A
trial was had before Judge Young in the summer of 1845. The
sheriff and pannel of jurors, selected by the Mormon court, were
set aside for prejudice, and elisors were appointed to select a
new jury. One friend of the Mormons and one anti-Mormon
were appointed for this purpose ; but as more than a thousand
men had assembled under arms at the court, to keep away the
Mormons and their friends, the jury was made up of these mil-
itary followers of the court, who all swore that they had never
formed or expressed any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of
the accused. The Mormons had one principal witness, who
was with the troops at Warsaw, had marched with them until
they were disbanded, heard their consultations, went before them

368 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

to Carthage, and saw them murder the Smiths. But before the
trial came on, they had induced him to become a Mormon ; and
being much more anxious for the glorification of the prophet
than to avenge his death, the leading Mormons made him pub-
lish a pamphlet giving an account of the murder ; in which he
professed to have seen a bright and shining light descend upon
the head of Joe Smith, to strike some of the conspirators with
blindness, and that he heard supernatural voices in the air con-
firming his mission as a prophet ! Having published this in a
book, he was compelled to swear to it in court, which of course
destroyed the credit of his evidence. This witness was after-
wards expelled from the Mormons, but no doubt they will cling
to his evidence in favor of the divine mission of the prophet.
Many other witnesses were examined, who knew the facts, but,
under the influence of the demoralization of faction, denied all
knowledge of them. It has been said, that faction may find
men honest, but it scarcely ever leaves them so. This was veri-
fied to the letter in the history of the Mormon quarrel. The
accused were all acquitted.

During the progress of these trials, the judge was compelled
to permit the court-house to be filled and surrounded by armed
bands, who attended court to browbeat and overawe the admin-
istration of justice. The judge himself was hi a duress, and in-
formed me that he did not consider his life secure any part of
the time. The consequence was, that the crowd had everything
their own way ; the lawyers for the defence defended their cli-
ents by a long and elaborate attack on the governor ; the arm-
ed mob stamped with their feet and yelled their approbation at
every sarcastic and smart thing that was said ; and the judge
was not only forced to hear it, but to lend it a kind of approv-
al. Josiah Lamborne was attorney for the prosecution ; and
O. H. Browning, O. C. Skinner, Calvin A. Warren, and William
A. Richardson, were for the defence.

At the next term, the leading Mormons were tried and ac-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 369

quitted for the destruction of the heretical press. It appears
that, not being interested in objecting to the sheriff or the jury
selected by a court elected by themselves, they in their turn
got a favorable jury determined upon acquittal, and yet the
Mormon jurors all swore that they had formed no opinion as to
the guilt or innocence of their accused friends. It appeared
that the laws furnished the means of suiting each party with a
jury. The Mormons could have a Mormon jury to be tried
by, selected by themselves ; and the anti-Mormons, by object-
ing to the sheriff and regular pannel, could have one from the
anti-Mormons. From henceforth no leading man on either side
could be arrested without the aid of an army, as the men of
one party could not safely surrender to the other for fear of be-
ing murdered ; when arrested by a military force the constitu-
tion prohibited a trial in any other county without the consent
of the accused. ' No one would be convicted of any crime in
Hancock ; and this put an end to the administration of the crim-
inal law in that distracted county. Government was at an end
there, and the whole community were delivered up to the do-
minion of a frightful anarchy. If the whole State had been in
the same condition, then indeed would have been verified to the
letter what was said by a wit, when he expressed an opinion
that the people were neither capable of governing themselves
nor of being governed by others. And truly there can be no
government in a free country where the people do not volunta-
rily obey the laws.

16*

CHAPTER XII.

Canal negotiations— Appointment of Oakley and Ryan to go to Europe— Factiousness of
the letter-writers and newspapers — Proceedings of the Commissioners — David Lca-
vitt— Meeting of American bond-holders— Journey to Europe— Conditional agree-
ment there — Appointment of Governor Davis and Captain Swift to examine and re-
port on the canal — Governor Davis altacked by the Globe newspaper — Ryan's an-
swer and attack on the Globe— Favorable report— Ryan's second trip to Europe-
Governor Davis sent for — Failure of the negotiation — Ryan's attack on Governor
Davis— Letter from Baring Brothers & Co. to Ryan— Letter of William S. Wait,
Esq., against taxation — Answer thereto — Visit of Mr. Leavitt and Col. Oakley to
Europe— New negotiations successful— Opposition to the governor likely to defeat
the canal — Nature of this opposition — How to get up an opposition to any adminis-
tration— Scandalous conduct of a committee of investigation — Trumbull and others
— Conduct of the opposition — All their projects defeated — Visit of Governor Davis
and Mr. Leavitt to Springfield — Jealousy of the legislature against monied men and
foreign influence — They are well received — Propositions of the public creditors — Op-
position arrayed — Miserable intrigues of George T. M.Davis and other whigs — Patri-
otic conduct of Judge Logan and other whigs — North and South again — Messrs.
Strong, Adams, Janney, and Dunlap — The canal bill defeated in the Senate — Talk
of bribery— Vote reconsidered and divided— Good management of Senator Kilpat-
rick — The canal bill passed — The money for the eanal obtained — Election and organ-
ization of the board of trustess — Rate of interest reduced to six per cent. — Repeal of
the Mormon charters — Resolution calling on the governor and judges to relinquish
their salaries — The governor's answer — Mistaken notions of economy — Buncomb
resolutions and speeches on this subject— Shawneetown Bank— Conditional contract
with that institution — Dr. Anderson — The true art of riding hobbies,

HAVING in the last chapter brought down the history of Mor-
mon disturbances to the summer of 1845, we turn again to the
civil history of the State. In March, 1843, Col. Charles Oak-
ley and Senator Michael Eyan were appointed agents to nego-
tiate the canal loan; the first of these gentlemen was appointed
because the friends of the measure in the legislature insisted on
his appointment; Mr. Ryan was appointed because he had
commenced the negotiation the year before, and having been

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 371

an engineer on the canal, could give explanations as to its prog-
ress and statistics, which could not so well be given by Colonel
Oakley. The first, Col. Oakley, was a man of good sense and
middling intelligence, and was patient, gentlemanly, and plau-
sible in his manners ; whilst his associate had more mind and
ambition, with greater information, but less tact in managing
business. The next thing was to raise money, some three
thousand dollars, to pay their 'expenses. There was not a dol-
lar in the treasury, and the money had to be taken, a part of it
from the school fund, to be replaced in a short time by other
moneys coming into the treasury. This was the first charge I
had to answer, urged in the south, by Trumbull, the lately re-
moved Secretary of State. Messrs. Oakley and Ryan pro-
ceeded to New York, but the negotiation was for a time likely
to be defeated by partisan editors and letter-writers at home ;
who, in a desperate effort to make political capital, were anxious
that the canal measure might fail in the hands of the dominant
party. These writers misrepresented the action of the legisla-
ture, revamped the old charge of destructiveness upon the party
in power, and boldly asserted that if the creditors of the State
advanced the money to make the canal, they would be repealed
out of their rights by another legislature. This was the first
difficulty the agents had to encounter ; they commenced a series
of publications in the New York papers, many of which were
secured to speak favorably of the loan. The legislation of the
last winter, the real condition of the State, its future prospects,
and the means adopted to reduce the debt, by a compromise
with the banks, and a sale of the public property, were truly
set forth. Confidence immediately began to revive ; our State
stocks rose in a week from fourteen to twenty per cent., and in
a few weeks more, to thirty and forty per cent. This awakened
a universal inquiry, and men began to believe that there was
some little glimmering prospect that Illinois, lately so low in
the slough of universal discredit and contempt, was about to

372 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

come forth like a phoenix from its ashes. The American Ex-
change Bank in New York held $250,000 of canal bonds.
David Leavitt, the president of this institution, a gentleman of
great credit in the financial world, and being a far-seeing and sa-
gacious financier, assisted in calling a meeting of the American
bond-holders. At this meeting it was resolved that the Amer-
ican creditors would subscribe for their proportion of the loan.

With this assurance, and backed by this expression of confi-
dence at home, Messrs. Oakley and Byan departed for England,
carrying letters to Magniac, Jardine, & Co., and Baring, Broth-
ers & Co., of London, and to Hope & Co. of Amsterdam, who
were creditors of the State, and amongst the wealthiest capital-
ists in Europe. These gentlemen were found well disposed to
use their great influence in favor of the loan ; but they wanted
to be thoroughly satisfied as to the value of the canal property,
as a security for the money, and ultimately for the payment of
the whole canal debt of $5,000,000 ; nor were they willing to
abandon the exaction of some legislation manifesting the will-
ingness of the people to submit to taxation, if necessary, to pay
some part of the interest on the public debt.

A provisional arrangement was entered into during the sum
mer of 1843, the main articles of which were, that Abbott Law-
rence, Thomas W. Ward, and Mr. William Sturges, of Boston,
should be a committee to appoint two competent persons in
America to examine the canal and canal lands, estimate their
value, and the amount of debt already contracted ; that if four
hundred thousand dollars could be subscribed, and if the gov-
ernor would pledge himself to recommend taxation to the next
session of the legislature, this sum should be expended in the
meantime, leaving the subscribers at liberty afterwards to in-
crease their subscriptions if they saw proper. With this ar-
rangement Messrs. Oakley and Ryan returned home in Novem-
ber, 1843 ; the Boston committee appointed Gov. John Davis
of Massachusetts, and William H. Swift, who was an eminent

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 373

engineer and a captain in the United States army, to come out
to Illinois and make the required examinations. These gentle-
men came on early in the winter. The appointment of Gov.
Davis was no sooner known than it was fiercely attacked by the
Globe newspaper at Washington city, the great organ of the
democratic party in the United States. Gov. Davis was at
that time extensively spoken of as the whig candidate for Vice-
President at the ensuing election ; and the zealots of the oppo-
site party pretended to believe that he had been selected by the
foreign bond-holders for this particular work, so as to give him
the power to coerce the government and people of Illinois into
the support of the whig party, and to favor the assumption of
State debts by the general government, or the distribution of
the proceeds of the sales of the public lands. As it turned
out, nothing could have been more basely false and contempti-
bly ridiculous than this charge, but it was made with such bold-
ness and savage ferocity, that if it had been seconded in Illinois,
it could not have failed to have disgusted our foreign creditors,
and defeated the negotiation. It seemed that the demon of
party, on both sides, insinuated itself into everything, to defeat
all rational efforts for the public welfare. To this charge of the
Globe, Senator Ryan published a reply, characterized by much
boldness and vigor, in which the foreign bond-holders and Gov.
Davis were defended with considerable ability, and the editor
of the Globe was castigated for his impertinent interference in
our State affairs, with little less ferocity than the charge of the
Globe itself.

Governor Davis and Captain Swift proceeded with their ex-
aminations ; found the representations of Messrs. Oakley and
Ryan to be substantially true ; and in their report, occupying
about one hundred pages, strongly recommended the loan. On
my part, I agreed to recommend taxation to the legislature ;
and it was now confidently believed that success would crown
our efforts early in the following summer. It became necessary

374 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

to send an agent back to London to complete the arrangement,
but there was no money to pay his expenses. The sum of
$1,500 was soon obtained, with my sanction, by Gen. Fry, on a
pledge of canal scrip, which enabled Senator Ryan to return to
London in the spring of 1844. But as the subscription of
$400,000 had not been made up according to agreement, the
foreign bond-holders refused to proceed further with the loan,
until some substantial evidence should be given by the legisla-
ture, that the population of the State had some regard to their
obligations and to the claims of their creditors, and should
make at least a beginning to pay interest on all her debts. It
seemed to be the great object of our foreign creditors, not so
much to secure the amount of their claims, as to procure a res-
toration and practical recognition of the obligation of public
faith among States and nations ; and, in the meantime, the Lon-
don committee sent out to America for Gov. Davis, as, they
said, by the details he might give, to inspire with greater confi-
dence the parties from whom subscriptions were solicited. This
put off the negotiation until late in the summer ; and as it was
now near the regular session of the legislature in December,
1844, the London committee broke off the negotiation, to await
the further action of that body. During the pendency of the
last negotiation, Col. Oakley had also returned to London ; and
now both he and Senator Ryan returned home, the unlucky
ministers of a broken and discredited State ; Oakley to New
York, to urge further efforts, and Ryan to his seat in the
Senate.

Ryan was ambitious of political distinction. Whilst he re-
mained in an humble position, his manners and pretensions had
been humble and amiable ; but so soon as he was elevated, he
became irascible, dictatorial, and overbearing. He placed his
heart on getting the money to make the canal ; success was to
make him the greatest man in the State ; failure was to return
him to his original obscurity ; for this reason he had no patience

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 375

with the delays incident to this kind of business ; every little
delay irritated and soured his temper, which he was at no trou-
ble to conceal ; so that his demeanor towards the foreign bond-
holders was more calculated to disgust than to win their favor.
His ambition for exclusive credit had led him, in anticipation
of a triumph, to quarrel with and abuse his colleague ; but
now that both had failed, that there was no credit to quarrel
about or divide, he looked around for some convenient person
to bear the censure. Instead of coming home to be met with
smiles and congratulations, he fancied that he returned only to
breast the frowns of an indignant people, and to answer for his
bad success. In this extremity he submitted to a weakness
which I regret to relate, but as the matter made much noise at
the time, some account of it is necessary to the completeness
of this history. In looking around for a person to throw the
blame on, he selected Gov. Davis, the man he had defended be-
fore against the attacks of the Globe. Gov. Davis was a very
distinguished whig politician ; as such, there was great prejudice
against him in the opposite party, which prejudice had been in-
creased by newspaper accounts of his opposition to the war of
1812. He was called an old federalist, which, I have already
said in another place, meant, in the minds of western democrats,
everything that was atrocious and abominable. Here then was
the very man to attack. Gov. Davis would defend, as a mat-
ter of course ; the people would be divided in the quarrel ; the
whigs for Gov. Davis and the democrats for Eyan ; and thus
he would sustain himself at least with the democracy. This is
a trick which, when hard run, unprincipled politicians frequent-
ly practise, and cannot be too much condemned by all honor-
able men. Ryan no sooner arrived in America than he revived
the calumnies of the Globe newspaper, which he had refuted be-
fore, and now openly charged, in the New York papers, that the
Boston committee had sent out Gov. Davis to delay the loan
until after the pending Presidential election, so as to favor the

376 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

election of Mr. Clay ; and that Gov. Davis did delay it for that
purpose. The falsity of this charge is apparent from the follow-
ing extract of a letter from Baring, Brothers & Co. to Ryan
himself, a copy of which is now before me : — " Since writing
what precedes, a copy of the Ottawa Free Trader newspaper
of September 12, has been put into our hands, with a publica-
tion bearing your signature. At this distance, we cannot appre-
ciate the party or personal motives which have dictated your
statements, nor the effect they may produce on the people of
Illinois ; but to those who are acquainted with all the circum-
stances of the case, the coarseness of language and the perver-
sion of facts contained in this article will be more prejudicial to
the writer than to those whom it is intended to injure. We
sincerely regret the appearance of such a manifesto from you,
on account of the feelings it displays, and of the continued hos-
tility which it seems we must expect from you and your friends,
to the trustees, and to the measures which we believe to be
most conducive to the satisfactory completion of the canal ; to
the ultimate payment of the creditors, and to the general wel-
fare of Illinois. It is more probable that, had we anticipated
all your vexatious proceedings, we should have declined all in-
terference with the loan, and have left you and Col. Oakle*y to
regret the failure of your negotiation ; but having once embark-
ed in the undertaking, we shall continue the course which we
consider to be in conformity with our duty, regardless of un-
founded charges and insinuations, from whatever point they may
proceed ; and we trust and believe that our friends on your side,
who are entrusted with the administration of the affairs of the
canal, will pursue the same line of conduct.

" You are incorrect in stating that the subscription for $400,-
000 was completed, even if the report of Governor Davis and
Capt. Swift had proved satisfactory at the time of your depar-
ture, after your first visit to this country ; and you are further
mistaken in supposing that Governor Davis was influenced by

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 377

any party views in his communications with us, or in his pro-
ceedings under our direction. He never advised the delay of
the loan on account of the pending presidential election; he
never stated that it would be desirable to wait to see whether
Mr. Clay, if elected, would support the assumption of State
debts by the federal government ; he never held out any hope
that he would accept the trusteeship, although we were most
desirous that he should be appointed ; and his advice always
was that the canal bond-holders should accept the canal and
canal lands in trust, and advance the money required, with or
without taxation for the payment of interest. But we as uni-
versally insisted that before any further sums of money were
lent for the public works of Illinois, some substantial evidence
should be given that the population of the State had some regard
for their obligations and to the claims of their creditors. We
know very little of the party politics of the United States, and
still less of those of your State ; and politics never interfere
with our dealings either with States or individuals. Our mo-
tive for inducing Governor Davis to visit Europe, was that he
might by the details he would give, inspire with more confi-
dence the parties from whom subscriptions were solicited ; and
we still believe that his report and verbal statements were
mainly instrumental in preparing us and others for the in-
creased subscriptions to which we agreed during Mr. Leavitt's
visit here. As we are anxious that our communications with
you should not be exposed to misconstruction, we forward this
letter open to Mr. Ward of Boston, to be sent, after perusal
and copy, to you."*

* As Ryan may probably attempt to reply to the statements in the
text, it may be proper once for all to make a full statement of his con-
duct. Before he made his charges against Governor Davis, he balanced
the matter in his mind, whether it would not be better policy to lay
the blame of the failure of the canal negotiation on me ; but he finally
decided that he could attack a whig with more success than a demo

378 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

In the fall of 1844, Mr. William S. Wait, of Bond county,
addressed a letter through the newspapers to the governor
against taxation for the payment of the public debt ; this gave
me a decent pretext for coming before the people with my
views in favor of the measure, in advance of the meeting of the
legislature, then to convene in December following. I knew
that nothing could be more unpopular than to favor an increase

erat. The grounds upon which he designed to attack me were, first, for
appointing Col. Oakley to be his colleague ; he alleged that Col. Oakley
having formerly been one of the fund commissioners, many of the bond-
holders believed him to be dishonest, and to have swindled the State.
It is true that Governor Carlin and others had boldly made this charge
at home ; but it is doing Col Oakley but simple justice to say, that his
guilt had never been established to the satisfaction of the people. Sec-
ondly, that I had promised to send Ryan a power of attorney in. 1844,
to negotiate and close the terms of the contract, which was never sent.
For which reason he found himself in London confined in his power to
negotiate with the bond-holders alone. He alleged that if he had pos-
sessed such a power of attorney, he could have withdrawn the negotia-
tion from the bond-holders, and made application for the money else-
where, and thereby could have coerced the bond-holders to make a
favorable decision before the arrival of Governor Davis. To all which
I reply, first, that whether Col. Oakley's appointment was good or bad,
it was dictated by the friends of the canal ; by those most particularly
interested in the negotiation ; and was recommended to me at the time
by Ryan himself. Second, I never promised to send Ryan a power of
attorney to negotiate and close the terms of the contract. This is a
power which I would have trusted to no one. I always intended that
Ryan, or Ryan and Oakley might negotiate for the loan, but the con-
tract no one should make for the State but myself. I did promise to
send Ryan a power of attorney to settle with the estate of Wright &
Co., which was sent, and was the only one ever promised. Third, if
Ryan had possessed ever so many powers of attorney, he could have
made nothing by withdrawing the negotiation from the bond-holders.
They were the only persons in the wide world, from whom there was
any chance to get the money ; and this was well known to both Ryan
and to the bond-holders. The bond-holders had an interest which
others had not. We already owed them money, which they had no

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 379

of taxes ; in so doing, I knew that I came into immediate col-
lision with every demagogue, and incurred imminent hazard of
making myself utterly odious to a tax-hating people. I clearly
saw that to be opposed to taxation might be the better for my-
self, but certainly worse for the State.

The following is the substance of the letter addressed to Mr.
Wait, through the newspapers : "I am much pleased that your

expectation of getting paid to them, without making a new advance.
And yet Ryan pretended to believe that if he had had the power to
withdraw the negotiation from them, and threaten them with an ap-
plication to other capitalists, that they would at once have quailed,
and closed the contract before the arrival of Governor Davis. Fourth,
Oakley afterwards returned to London, he and Ryan were there to-
gether, and had a joint power of attorney given the year before, which
would have authorized them to withdraw the negotiation from the
bond-holders and applied elsewhere.

If the money could have been obtained from others, or if the bond-
holders could have been alarmed into terms by their threatenings, why
now did they not succeed ? They both failed in the negotiation with
the bond-holders, and never pretended to apply elsewhere, or if they
did, they were bound to fail again, and they knew it ; for no man in
the whole world would at that time have lent Illinois money, without
having an interest which compelled him to do it. After the canal bill
finally succeeded, Ryan wanted to be State trustee ; for which reason
he made friends with Governor Davis, who was expected to be one of
the trustees on the part of the bond-holders. I refused to appoint Ryan,
and no sooner did he ascertain this refusal, than I found him urging the
appointment of Col. Oakley, the man he had charged as being a thief
and a swindler, whilst he*was fund commissioner, a man in whom he
said the bond-holders had so little confidence, that his appointment to
negotiate with them had caused the failure of the negotiation. I have
always believed that Ryan had hopes of being appointed chief engineer
on the canal, if Oakley could be appointed trustee. These statements
are made merely to illustrate the civilization of the times, and not at
all to affect Mr. Ryan injuriously ; for I am well aware that the state
of political morals among politicians is such, that a man may do many,
yes, very many worse things than these, and still be very respectable
as a politician. God grant that it may not be so long.

380 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

esteemed favor of September 20th, published in the 'State Reg-
ister ' yesterday, has made a proper occasion for some sugges-
tions of mine on the payment of the State debt, before the
meeting of the next legislature. A deeper interest than what
is yet manifest, ought to be felt in this subject. It ought to be
discussed more than it has been ; the people ought to begin to
move in it, and make known their will before the meeting of
the next legislature.

"You object to increased taxation to pay any portion of in-
terest, believing that the sum within our ability to pay without
driving the people to desperation by oppressive taxes, will be
so small that the effort will be without utility ; and also, be-
cause the general failure of crops for the last two years in a
great portion of the State, the high waters of the last spring,
the destruction of farms, stock and crops thereby, and the un-
precedented severe sickness of this summer and fall, will render
it absolutely impossible to collect the present taxes, to say no-
thing of increased taxation.

" During the last two years many persons have anxiously
looked to the next general Assembly, expecting that body to
settle forever the question as to what shall be done with the
public debt. The question may be postponed ; but putting off
the evil day will not settle it. It will present itself to every
succeeding legislature. We can never get clear of it by post-
poning it. The men of this day may attempt to throw it upon the
future ; they may decide to do nothing, but if we decide against
the honest claims of our creditors, it will be forever rising again
to annoy us. The moral sense of the world will be against us,
and will forever remind us that such a question cannot be
settled except in conformity to justice. The fact will stare
us in the face, that we have had the money of our creditors,
and that they have had nothing in return. Like the ghost of
Macbeth, every time the legislature meets it will rise to glare
upon their vision, and will not down at their bidding. It will

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 381

make itself seen, heard, and felt, until mankind can eradicate
their memories and consciences. There is no possibility of de-
stroying the fact, or the question to which it gives rise. All
that we can do is to postpone the evil day ; and in the mean-
time, we keep ourselves and the world in the fearful apprehen-
sion that blighting ruin will sooner or later fall upon this fair
land, in the shape of high taxes.

" This has been our condition for years past ; the mere be-
lief that taxes may be oppressive has lost us many citizens.
The high and palmy days once were when we doubled our pop-
ulation in a few years ; when if a man had more land than he
wanted for cultivation, or if he wanted to leave the country or
remove from one part of the State to another, he could sell his
land for cash. But these days are gone. What has produced
this 1 has it been high taxes 1 No ! it has been only the fear
of them. Is it because industry has been burdened, and the
country drained of its money, to pay either principal or inter-
est of the debt 1 No ! not one cent has yet been paid by taxa-
tion. Nevertheless, the people have lived in more alarm than
if all the evils they imagined, had actually existed. Let us then
settle the question, and know the worst at once, for the worst can
never be so bad as that unmanly fear which blights all enterprise.

" There are but two modes of settling this question ; one will
be to begin at once a system of taxation which we mean to
pursue ; the other is by direct repudiation. This last mode
will expose us to the merited scorn and contempt of the civil-
ized world. It defies the internal principles of sacred justice,
and will establish for us among all men a reputation as odious
and detestable as that of a nest of pirates. Mankind will never
forget, and we can never ourselves forget, that we have had the
money of our creditors, that we owe them, that they have lost
that much ; and that with a heaven-daring impudence and scorn-
ful defiance of the moral principles of manV nature, we deny
the debt and refuse to pay it.

382 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

" Suppose that the question can be settled in this manner,
what better will we be off? It is true that the fear of high
taxes would be removed for the present ; but will this invite
immigration ? Will it enable us to sell our property ? Men
with means to buy, would not come to the State. Such persons
would never venture themselves here. No man would bring
here a good character to be swallowed in our infamy. If any
did come, they would be the worthless of mankind; such as we
ought to desire to keep away. Our State would become a
catchall for passing rogues and vagabonds. The men of charac-
ter already here, would soon lose all self-respect for the charac-
ter of the State. The State itself would be a place of refuge,
where swindlers, horse-thieves and counterfeiters could resort
to, be received, and treated as gentlemen. Who of our present
population desires to see this *? Who desires to raise a family
of children in the atmosphere of dishonor, to grow up among
swindlers and vagabonds, and leave them at his death an in-
heritance of infamy ? None of us. I am satisfied that all of
us, and you in particular, duly appreciate the advantages to a
State of a character for honor and uprightness. We look to
Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, New York and New England,
and why are they great and honorable among States ? It is
their intelligence, justice, sense of honor, and an all-consoling
State pride, which make them so. We all wish to see Illinois
have a just State pride, let this feeling be cultivated here, let
us have something to be proud of, let us vindicate ourselves
in our own eyes, by acting in such a manner as to deserve to
be proud of our State. Until we do this, a State pride cannot
exist without this, a people may boast, but their boastings will
be but the empty swagger of vulgar vice and ignorance, not the
complacent, dignified self-respect of the upright citizen. The
successful robber exults ; and we may exult in the infamy of
repudiation, but we cannot exult like a Kentuckian, Virginian,
or Yankee. Our sons will never be able to show themselves

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 383

abroad exulting in the character of their native State, as young
men do who are conscious of creditable parentage. This State
pride is of great worth to any people. It inspires them to make
noble efforts at improvement and excellence, which efforts are
totally paralyzed by the contrary feeling of a sense of degrada-
tion.

" Many persons regret that this sacred feeling of State pride
is not more on. the increase in Illinois. We frequently hear
strangers speak disparagingly of our people ; they do it to our
faces in our towns and villages. We ourselves do the same.
Every one may speak ill of us with impunity. In Kentucky
or Virginia, this would not be hazarded. There the perpetra-
tors of such obloquy would be certain to be insulted, and in
great danger of physical injury. We are a new State, and
therefore something of this kind must be expected. Many of
our citizens are so recent that as yet they can hardly realize
that Illinois is their country. As a new State, we have a char-
acter to make. We may choose a good or a bad one. But we
may be certain that no just State pride can ever exist where it
is not really deserved. We have to deserve the good opinion
of the world and our own, before we can have it. And I do
anxiously hope to see the day when Illinois, a State in which I
have lived for forty years, may have and deserve a good old-
fashioned State pride, like some of the older States of the
Union ; so that her people may feel it, be animated by it to im-
provement and noble enterprise, and be solaced by it both at
home and abroad. I am sure that repudiation of our just debts
can never bring us this ; but must drag us down like the weight
of the nether mill-stone to the abyss of self-abasement, to the
great whirlpool of the contempt and scorn of all right-minded
and civilized people. It can only degrade us ; it can never settle
the question of the public debt ; that question will arise at every
session of the legislature, and in the counsels of every new set
of men put into power. The memory of the debt will never

384 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

be lost ; our obligation to pay it is imperishable. We may
deny it, and plead non estfactum to our bonds ; but like the
rogue who seeks to cheat his creditor in private life, we will
still owe the debt, the damning consciousness of which, being
registered in our hearts and in heaven's high chancery, will
stick there to plague us forever.

" Such a settlement of the question, if it could be made, would
be of no use, but full of mischief. It would invite neither
wealth nor people to come among us. It would not increase
the value of our property, nor make it more saleable ; but in
my humble judgment it would debase us and belittle us in our
own estimation ; make us deserving of the detestation and scorn
of the world, and fill our State with the low dregs, the scum,
the refuse population of other countries — refugees from justice
and others, who leave their country for their country's good.
How then can this question be settled 1 I answer that there is
but one way, and that is to nerve our hearts and arms, and
meet it like men. If we can do but little, let us do that little.
I am not now in a situation to know how much can be done.
The legislature will be the best judge of this when they meet,
and as the fear and not the existence of high taxes constitutes
our embarrassment, it is hoped that the legislature will provide
such a settlement of the question as will ascertain the whole
height and depth, length and breadth, and thickness, of the ap-
prehended evil, for until this is done, the fancies, the fears, the
imaginations of men will conjure up evils, exceeding the reality.
The reality, whenever it comes, can never be so terrifying as
the undefined, dreamy imaginations of men, looking for an un-
known and untried evil."

This letter arrived at New York in course of mails, and was
very extensively republished in the eastern newspapers. It at-
tracted the attention of Mr. Leavitt, and encouraged him and
Col. Oakley to return to Europe early in the winter. Upon
their arrival in London, the letter had preceded them, and, Mr.

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 385

Leavitt informed me, had already produced a very favorable
change in the minds of our creditors ; as by it they were con-
vinced that the public men in Illinois were not all of them dem-
agogues. It was now agreed by Mr. Leavitt, Magniac, Jardine
& Co., and Baring, Brothers & Co., to complete the subscriptions
to the loan, these gentlemen each subscribing for a much larger
share of it than they had originally intended.* Mr. Leavitt
and Col. Oakley, with Gov. Davis, hurried on to Illinois, and
arrived in Springfield about the middle of February, 1845, dur-
ing the session of the legislature, and about sixteen days before
it was to adjourn.

Upon the meeting of the legislature, I found that quite an op-
position had been organized to the administration. The whigs,
from party motives, were compelled to be against me. The
democrats were in a majority of about two-thirds in each house ;
and here, as everywhere else, the larger the majority the less is
the tenacity of its parts. When majorities cease to fear the
minority, they are the readier to quarrel amongst themselves.
Nothing more promotes union in a party than the fear of de-
feat ; and nothing more promotes anarchy in its members than
over-confidence of strength. In my case, there was still another
cause for a factious opposition. I had within the last two years
to make several important appointments ; such as, two bank
commissioners, a Secretary of State, three judges of the supreme
court, and one United States Senator. This was just enough of
patronage to make the executive more enemies than friends.
For these offices there were many applicants ; those who were

* It is not known in Illinois how much credit is due to Mr. Leavitt
for the success of these negotiations. Being a man of great wealth and
well-established integrity, and being also himself the owner of $250,000
or more of the Illinois canal stocks, he was able to hare an influence
with the foreign bond-holders which could have been exerted by no
citizen of Illinois. To Mr. Leavitt's visit to Europe, and his own lib-
eral subscription, are we undoubtedly indebted for the final success of
the loan.

386 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

disappointed became bitter enemies ; and now a great effort was
to be made by these disappointed fuctionists of the democratic
party to defeat the confirmation of the senator and judges be-
fore the legislature, and in conjunction with the whigs to oppose
and discredit the administration.

It is an easy matter to raise an opposition to any administra-
tion. It is only to assume that all men are perfect, or ought to
be so ; that in fact the millenium has already come ; and a
standard of perfection is to be adopted in judging of all mat-
ters of government, as if the millenium had come in very deed.
It is to turn away your eyes from everything which is right in
an administration, and to exaggerate all little errors, and bring
them forward as an evidence of corruption ; it is to promulgate
falsehood, and, if need be, swear to its truth ; and in this spirit
to find fault with everything and approve nothing. Lies should
be uttered boldly, with no appearance of doubt ; and in num-
ber they should be as legion ; for it is a maxim with factionists
that where a great quantity of mud is thrown upon a man, some
of it must certainly stick. As to measures, the administration
is obliged to choose some out of many, supposed to be equally
well adapted to bring about some result. And in every gov-
ernment there are frequent occasions when it is exceedingly
doubtful whether one course or another ought to be pursued.
The administration is obliged to decide in favor of One course,
or one set of measures ; the factionist is then to take the other
side, and as his measures are not to be tried by the test of ex-
periment, he has every advantage. If the measures of the ad-
ministration fail of giving the most perfect satisfaction, the dif-
ficulties attending them, after they are tried, will be visible to
the meanest capacity. But the insufficiencies of rejected meas-
ures will never be seen, or at least can never be demonstrated.
They may be conjectured, but not proved. The factionist is to
make no allowance for all this, but is to charge all the little in-
sufficiencies which too often accompany the most perfect means,

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 387

and which actual experiment has developed, to imbecility and
want of judgment ; and is stoutly to insist upon the absolute
perfection of other measures and other means not chosen. And
this he can do with the greater plausibility, as the measures not
tried can only be conjectured. An administration in new and
difficult positions, goes on like men opening a road through
heavy timber ; all behind can be seen, but all before is hidden
from the sight ; and it is as easy to conjecture one thing as an-
other of an unknown and unexplored country. The factionist
is he who goes before and prophecies evil ; and comes after,
when the obstructions to sight are removed, and cavils at the
small hills and ravines in the way. If fault-finding is the only
art of the factionist, he is to imitate the humble genius of the
swine, which, although they cannot build fences, are sure to find
such large cracks and holes in them as have unluckily been left
unstopped by the builder.

Upon this plan, an opposition was raised to my administra-
tion. The disappointed office-seekers succeeded in getting a
committee of my personal enemies appointed in the lower
house to examine the executive offices. This committee enter-
ed into an alliance with a notorious lying letter-writer, and pre-
tended to give him information of the enormities which they
had discovered in the government, which he wrote out and pub-
lished for the information of the people. • They went sneaking
about through the executive offices with the stealthy step of
one who wanted to steal, hunting up matters of accusations. I
paid no attention to their inquisitorial search, but treated them
with perfect contempt, knowing that they would never dare to
make a report against me. The committee continued their ex-
amination all the session, -giving out wonderful accounts to be
published in the newspapers, but they never made any report.
As they really found nothing to report against, they thought it
best not to report at all. This was the newest way of discredit-
ing an administration practiced upon me on three different occa-

888 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

sions, exclusive right to which ought to be secured to the in-
ventors forever. This opposition amounted to nothing, so far
as I was concerned myself; "but it came near defeating the
canal.

The opposition was put on foot in part by Mr. Trumbull,
late Secretary of State, who had his private griefs to assuage ;
and by an ambitious aspirant for the United States Senate, who
though often assured to the contrary, would never believe but
that I would be a candidate for that office in 1846. Trum-
bull being a good lawyer, but no statesman was literally de-
voured by ambition for office, and was rather unfitted to be
popular by any natural means, with the people amongst whom
he resided. He seemed to have the opinion that the only
means of success, was to be a demagogue ; and he was unfitted
by nature to be a demagogue. So far from possessing that ap-
pearance of generosity and magnanimity, which often recom-
mends a man to the people, his manners were precise, and his
appearance would be called by many puritanical. He was a
man of strong prejudices, and not remarkable for liberal
views. No such man can very successfully play the dema-
gogue ; he may manage well with politicians, but he can never
establish a broad foundation of support among the people, as
there is nothing in such men to attract the people to their
opinions and character. Such men might be respectable, act-
ing in accordance with their natural gifts, but must always
fall when acting a part for which they were never fitted by
nature.

After Trumbull was removed from the office of Secretary of
State, in the spring of 1843, he hurried off to the Belleville dis-
trict, to be a candidate for Congress, calculating to secure all
the rabid democrats who were most hostile to banks, to be in
his favor. But he failed in getting more than two votes in the
nominating convention. The next year he quarrelled with his

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 389

old friend, Governor Reynolds, for the privilege of being a can-
didate, and at this session he became a candidate for the United
States Senate, but declined before the election, as it became
evident he would get but a few votes. After that, again he
became a prominent candidate for governor, but being again
defeated, he immediately became a candidate for Congress in
the Belleville district, obtained the nomination from his party,
and in a district where the democratic party is in a majority of
three or four thousand votes, he was defeated by more than two
thousand majority against him. Up to this time, Trumbull was
looked upon as a man of great promise in the democratic party.
He was believed to be an active, ambitious, and rising man, one
who was to possess considerable power. And although, with-
out this belief in his favor, he would have had no power, yet
the idea that he was to be great, naturally gave him power.
Men love to worship the rising sun, and are careful about
making enemies of one who either is now, or who it is believed
will soon be great. Politicians estimate the value of such a
man as the speculators estimated the value of Chicago lots in
1836. Chicago was then but a village; but it was believed
that it would soon be a city, which made lots there sell for
more than they are worth, now that it has become a city of
fifteen thousand inhabitants. Or rather, politicians value such
a man as a farmer values a favorite colt ; he measures it from
the fetlock to the knee, and from the knee to the shoulder
blade, and from thence to the withers, and from thence to the
loins and around the body, and if he can see in it the promise
of a fine horse, he asks more for it than he would if it were al-
ready a horse. But when Trumbull was defeated for Congress
by so large a majority, thus disappointing the popular belief in
his destiny, his power and consequence vanished in a moment.
It was now certain that the village was not to be a city, nor the
colt a fine horse. A man's strength is not always real, but
greatly depends upon the continued run of a general belief that

390 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

he is strong, or will be strong some time in his life. For which
reason, when a public man is once prostrated, right or wrong
he rarely ever rises again. The charm of his power is gone.

The ambitious aspirant for the United States Senate, before
alluded to, became alarmed when I first came into office, lest I
might be in his way in 1846 ; and no assurance from me would
convince him to the contrary. As I really did not intend to be
a candidate, I never suspected the system of tactics he put in
operation against me. For the amusement of the reader, I will
state some of his doings. He advised the compromise with the
banks, to get it introduced into the legislature as an administra-
tion measure, and he then opposed it as not being sufficiently
democratic. He advised and insisted upon the removal of
Trumbull, and when it was done, he denounced the act as being
an unjustifiable act of power, by means of which he procured
Trumbull and his friends to be my enemies and friends to him-
self. He went to leading men in the south, with a view to put
them against me, by insisting that as I resided in the north, I
must be the representative of northern interests. To the north-
ern men he insisted, that as I had been brought up in the South,
with southern feelings and prejudices against Yankees, every
northern man was interested in opposing me. One other man
desired to make a vacancy for himself in the Lower House of
Congress, by the election of a member of that body to the Sen-
ate ; and fearing that I might be in the way of his favorite, this
will account for packing a committee against me at the session
of 1844-'5.

The opposition aimed to defeat my appointments for United
States Senator and judges of the supreme court in the elections
by the legislature, and to defeat the election of friends of mine
who were candidates for public printer, auditor and treasurer ;
but they were most anxious to get a majority against the meas-
ures of the administration. For this purpose the leaders as
usual opposed everything they supposed the governor was in

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 391

favor of. The election of United States Senator was first
brought on; Trunibull himself was the candidate against my
appointment. The election of public printers came next ; the
election of auditor and treasurer afterwards, and last of all
came the election of judges. The plan was to keep the election
of judges to the last, and in the meantime, to add a little to the
opposition strength by gathering the discontented in every pre-
ceding election; and then to swell it up again by enlisting such
as were opposed to the measures recommended by the execu-
tive. My friends were all elected to office ; but the opposition
came near defeating the canal.

Amongst the most important measures recommended by the
governor were the canal bill, and a bill to increase the taxes.
It has been claimed by Trunibull and his friends that they
never opposed the canal, they were only hostile to all canal
measures proposed by its friends, without proposing any of
their own. As I have said before, about the middle of Febru-
ary, Governor Davis and Mr. Leavitt arrived in Springfield,
during the session. The opposition were ready to open their
eyes and stare with wonder at these envoys of the public cred-
itors. The words federalists, aristocrats, monied kings, were
freely whispered about. It was given out that a brace of proud
aristocrats, the representatives of the monied aristocracy, had
arrived to wheedle, coerce, or bribe the legislature, as best
might suit their purposes. Many who were most active in
spreading these dire alarms, took sly peeps at the strangers,
hoping to find confirmation for their fears ; and one or two of
them at least with the hope that bribes might be offered. But
contrary to their hopes they found Governor Davis and Mr.
Leavitt plain, sensible gentlemen ; modest and retiring, though
kind and familiar, when familiarity could be indulged in with
propriety. Many of the opposition members took quite a fancy
to Governor Davis, to his natural manners, evident kindness
of heart, and air of sterling integrity. One of them, after

392 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

making his acquaintance, was so struck with his good qualities
that he offered, if Governor Davis would remove to Illinois, to
have him right at once made a justice of the peace ; and if he
behaved well in that, promised that he should be elevated to
higher office, with rapid promotion.

Governor Davis and Mr. Leavitt made the proposition of the
public creditors, which was communicated to both Houses
through the executive. A bill was prepared by the committee
of finance, and reported by Mr. Arnold of Chicago, proposing
some amendments of the canal law of the previous session, and
provision for a permanent tax to pay a portion of the interest
on the public debt. This bill passed the House by some twen-
ty majority ; but whilst there pending, Messrs. Trumbull & Co.,
arrayed themselves in opposition to it ; their main power and
art in so doing, being to alarm the timid by holding up the
terrors of an unpopular vote in favor of taxation. Trumbull
took his stand in the lobbies of the two Houses, for the purpose
of calling out and lecturing members, and threatening them
with the indignation of the south for showing it the least favor.

Besides this, the whig party were very undecided as to what
course they would take. That party contained in it many am-
bitious gentlemen of fine talents, well qualified to serve their
country in the highest offices ; but the overwhelming majorities
against them had kept them down. Many of them had become
disheartened, or embittered to the last degree. Such as these
were ready to adopt any expedient for breaking up the thorough
organization of the democratic party. This portion of the
whig politicians was led on by George T. M. Davis, a whig
lawyer and editor, a man of great activity and enterprise ;
but rather unscrupulous as to the means he employed. A
secret meeting of the whig leaders was called. In this Mr.
G. T. M. Davis insisted that the whig party should oppose
the canal, oppose an increase of taxes, and all measures to pay
the public debt. He insisted upon an alliance of the whigs

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 393

with the southern democrats on these questions as a means of
overthrowing the organization of the democratic party ; of
making a new division of the parties, geographically between
the north and the south. There was to be a southern party
and a northern party, and the whigs were to take the side of
the south. But N. D. Strong of Alton, and Judge Logan, be-
ing both of them talented whigs and members of the legisla-
ture, had too much self-respect to enter into such a miserable
intrigue. They were threatened with expulsion from the whig
party for their contumacy. They succeeded, however, in break-
ing up Davis' arrangement. Judge Logan's support of the
canal measures, was the means of carrying them through the
legislature. To the honor of the south I record the names of
four members from that quarter who voted in favor of these
measures. These members were Strong of Madison, Adams
of Monroe, Janney of Crawford, and Dunlap of Lawrence ; one
of them a whig, and three of them democrats. These gentle-
men ought to, and will be long remembered for their integrity
and moral courage. It is due also to Messrs. Gregg and Ar-
nold of the House of Representatives, and Messrs. Judd and
Mattison of the Senate, that their names should be recorded in
history, and long remembered for their efficient advocacy of
these measures.

After the bill had passed the House, it was sent to the Senate ;
here it was defeated, two or three days before the close of the
session, by a single vote. Its enemies now triumphed in a most
uproarious manner. Its friends rallied, and procured a recon-
sideration of the vote. It was predicted that nothing but brib-
ery could now carry the bill ; and senators were clamorously
warned that any change in their votes would subject them to
the strongest suspicion of bribery ; two of the opposition sen-
ators had helped to defeat it in the hope of creating a necessity
for the offer of bribes. One old senator who desired to be
bribed was as clamorous as the rest. A few of the friends of

17*

394 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

the canal living in Lasalle and Cook counties made up a subscrip-
tion of eighty acres of land and some money to bribe him, and
would have done so if they had not been advised to the con-
trary. Such a course towards one senator would have been un-
just towards others who lent the measure their honest support,
by subjecting them to injurious suspicions.

The vote on the bill in the Senate, by which it had been de-
feated, being reconsidered, the bill was referred to a select com-
mittee, together with another bill of an unimportant character,
which had already passed the House of Representatives. It was
known that one senator would not vote for the tax and the
canal both in the same bill. By their connection the tax was
made to appear as a local measure, intended only for the bene-
fit of the north. The committee, therefore, divided the bill.
They struck out of the canal bill all that related to a tax, and
they struck out all of the bill referred with it, and inserted the
taxing part into that. And these two bills being now reported
back to the Senate, the Senate concurred in their passage as thus
amended by them. They were sent back to the House of Repre-
sentatives the same hour, for the concurrence of the House in
the amendments of the Senate, which was given ; and thus these
important measures passed into laws ; or, instead of saying that
they passed, I ought rather to say, that they wabbled through
the legislature. To Thomas M. Kilpatrick, late senator from
Scott county, is the honor due, of the good management hi the
Senate, in dividing and amending the measure, and thus secur-
ing its passage. I give these facts, curious as they may appear,
to illustrate the fertile genius of western men, and as a speci-
men of the modes of legislation in a new country.

The legislature adjourned in a day or two after this, and the
opposition members returned to their constituents in the worst
humor imaginable. They threatened a rebellion of the whole
south ; but, as usual in such cases, they were much more excited
than their constituents. A few of the disappointed ones, Trum-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 395

bull amongst the number, threatened to make speeches all aronud
the regular circuit, and excite the people against these new meas-
ures. But Walter B. Scates, the judge of that circuit, announced
his intention to answer them, and chastise them, as their dema-
goguism deserved, which made them abandon their design. In the
summer afterwards, two great conventions of the southern peo-
ple were held, one at Marion and the other at Fairfield, and upon
motion of Judge Scates, nearly unanimously declared in favor
of the canal, and of taxation for the payment of the public debt.
Thus did the people of the south nobly redeem themselves from
the aspersions of the demagogues who misrepresented them in
the legislature ; and thus perished the last hope of repudiation
in Illinois. When Trumbull afterwards became a candidate for
governor, he was as much in favor of taxation and the canal as
any man in the State.

It now only remains to be said on this subject, that the canal
arrangement was perfected under the laws passed at this ses-
sion, in June, 1845. Two trustees were elected by the bond-
holders, and one was appointed by the governor ; the board was
organized, the work on the canal was let to contract, money was
obtained as it was wanted ; and now there appears to be a mor-
al certainty that the canal will be completed in the course of a
year.

At this session the legislature put down the rate of interest
on money to six per cent. This was caused by the conduct of
the merchants in the middle and southern parts of the State.
In the time of bank suspensions, when money was plenty, the
merchants well supplied with goods encouraged the people to
buy on a credit ; the merchants were forced to this by the great
amount of goods on hand, and the consequent increased compe-
tition amongst themselves in their retail business. They readi-
ly credited almost any one up to about the value of his prop-
erty ; and when the debtor was unable to pay, they took notes
at twelve per cent, interest, so that nearly the whole people

396 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

«.

were indebted more than they were able to pay, and to save
themselves from being sued for their debts, they were forced to
pay a ruinous rate of interest on them.

At this session, also, the Mormon charters were totally re
pealed by the legislature. This was then supposed to be a rem
edy for all the evils of Mormonism.

In 1844r-'5, also, the legislature undertook various reforms
and retrenchments. They passed resolutions calling on the gov-
ernor and judges to relinquish portions of their salaries, secured
to them by the constitution. The governor and judges refused.
The reply of the judges is too long for insertion here ; but I
will give my own, as it was a shorter document : — " A resolu-
tion of the two houses has been communicated to me, request-
ing the governor and the judges of the supreme court to relin-
quish to the State such an amount of their salaries as will be
equivalent to 25 per cent, thereon, to begin with the year 1845.

" The mere matter of money with me is of but little con-
cern. I could perhaps live as much to my satisfaction upon a
little as upon a greater amount. And if I could be left to act
freely and voluntarily, as befits the incumbent of the executive
department, one of the independent co-ordinate departments of
the government, equal in its sphere to the legislature in theirs ;
and if I could be assured of payment in good money for the
residue of my salary, no member of the legislature would be
more willing than I am to make sacrifices of self-interest at the
shrine of patriotism. But before I consent to this, I have a
right to be assured, that whatever sum I do agree to receive,
will be worth something. In fact, I have been acting upon this
principle for the last two years, by receiving less salary than
was guaranteed by the laws and the constitution. It seems to
me that a true economy would consist in providing adequate
revenues, so as to keep auditor's warrants at par. Everything
then for the State could be done cheaper, as in that case no one
would have to be shaved by the brokers. I for one would pre-

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 397

fer a reduction of salary, and thereby save a portion to the
State, than to suffer loss on auditor's warrants for the benefit
of brokers.

" In making these observations, I do not intend to be under-
stood as making any kind of promise to relinquish any portion
of my salary. This I state for the sake of the principle which
I believe is involved in this request of the two houses. I re-
spectfully protest against the right of the legislature to make
such a request. There is a principle of constitutional law of
free government, of the separation of the powers of government
into three departments, of the independence of each one depart-
ment of the other two, and of the system of checks and balances
which all free constitutions must contain, which ought not to
allow the governor, even if it were for his advantage, to com-
ply with your resolution. The separation of the powers of
government into legislative, judicial, and executive departments,
and confiding these departments to separate bodies of magis-
tracy, so that each may be exercised independently of the other,
is justly esteemed to be the grandest discovery in the science
of government ; and the practical operation of this discovery,
in modern times, has done more for human liberty than all
other discoveries put together.

" With a view to secure the independence of the executive
and judicial departments, the Constitution has provided that the
governor and judges shall receive an adequate salary, which
shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. It is
true that the legislature do not propose a reduction of salaries
without the consent of the incumbents, nor does the request of
your honorable bodies express on its face any threat to extort
this consent, but the moral influence of such a request, coming
as it does from a numerous assembly, the immediate represen-
tatives of the people, and composed of the principal men in the
State, it might have been supposed would carry with it some-
thing of coercion to a governor and judges, anxious for a good

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

understanding with the legislative power, and for the good opin-
ion of their fellow-citizens. In this mode such a request might
amount to coercion. There are other modes of coercion besides
the employment of physical force. An appeal to the interests,
to the fears, or to the love of popularity, inherent in each de-
partment, may be as efficacious in destroying the balances of
the Constitution, as violence itself.

" Considering the matter in this light ; feeling my obligation
under the Constitution to sustain the independence of the execu-
tive department, which I have the honor to represent, and being
unwilling, from any want of firmness on my part, to be acces-
sory to a precedent, which I believe is now for the first time
attempted in the United States, and which, if followed up, may
lead to a consolidation of all power in the hands of a single de-
partment, I have felt it to be my duty, at the risk of being mis-
interpreted, and of forfeiting somewhat of the good will of my
fellow-citizens, respectfully but firmly to resist this temptation
now offered, to court public favor, that I may thereby pre-
serve the independence of the executive department."*

The legislature, then following up these projects for retrench-
ment, attempted to remove the judges by address, so that
whilst the offices of all of them were vacant, their salaries could
be reduced. They reduced the salaries of all the other officers
of the government, and of the judges thereafter to be elected ;
and they agitated a bill all winter, to reduce the fees of the
county officers. In this mode they lengthened out the session
for more than a month, and increased their own pay about
twenty thousand dollars, whilst they aimed to save several

* The resolution calling upon the governor and judges to relinquish
a portion of their salaries, was written by Trumbull, and put into the
hands of 1ST. "W. Nunnally, Senator from Edgar county, to be offered to
the Senate. Mr. Nunnally, instead of making himself popular, as he
supposed he would, could not get the privilege from his party of being
a candidate for re-election two years afterwards.

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 399

hundred to the public treasury. The rage for economy was
great indeed, the members appearing to think that the State
debt might be paid off by stealing small sums from the already
small salaries of public officers. There are those in matters of
government, as well as in religion, who tythe annis, mint, and
cummin, and neglect the weightier matters of the law. Accord-
ingly, the members who were the most fierce for this kind of
economy, had no capacity to see that the canal measure was a
great financial measure, for the benefit of the whole State, by
means of which five millions of debt will be paid; a sum
greater than could be paid by an eternity of such legislation as
was proposed by them. If the State debt is ever paid, it will
not be done by the puny licks of this description of econo-
misers.

Another subject of interest at this session was the Shawnee-
town Bank. After the failure of that institution in 1842, the
stock in it had been purchased by a company of speculators,
who caused themselves to be elected ^president and directors.
After having paid five hundred thousand dollars, it yet owed
the State a half a million of dollars for the State stock in it, to
be paid in State indebtedness. In anticipation of the passage
of the liquidation law of 1842-'3, a few favored directors secret-
ly borrowed from it one hundred thousand dollars of its specie,
with which to purchase State bonds to pay this remaining debt.
The money was sent to New York, and invested in the purchase
of scrip and three hundred and thirty-three thousand dollars of
the bonds, which had been hypothecated with Macalister and
Stebbins in 1841. The reader will remember that $804,000
of these bonds were hypothecated, upon which the State receiv-
ed $261,500. The law authorized them to be sold, but not to
be hypothecated. The few favored directors, in a secret meet-
ing of the board, paid into the bank $100,000 of these bonds,
then worth thirty cents on the dollar, in discharge of their notes
for the $100,000 in specie previously borrowed. They next

400 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

paid in another portion of them, in discharge of their stock
notes ; and amongst others, Orville Sexton, a member of this
legislature, and a flaming declaimer against bank corruption, had
a note of near $10,000 paid in this way. The whole sum of
bonds, being now the property of the bank, or of the private
stockholders, were tendered to the governor in the spring of
1844, in payment of the debt from the bank to the State. There
were then two reasons why they ought to have been refused.
To receive them was to defeat the law for a settlement with
Macallister and Stebbins ; and it was plain that the State was
not bound to pay the full amount of their face. They were ac-
cordingly refused. But in the fall of 1844 it became fully
known that Macallister and Stebbins would never be able to
comply with the law for their relief; that the president of the
bank was about to return these bonds to New York ; and the
bank was so insolvent, that if they were permanently rejected
and suffered to pass out of its hands and beyond its control, the
State would never get anything for its half million of stock. To
keep the bonds at home, subject to the control of the legisla-
ture, I entered into a conditional contract with the bank to re-
ceive them, if the contract was ratified by the legislature. For
this prudent and judicious measure, I was much abused and de-
nounced at the time by many ultra democrats, who preferred
that the State should lose the whole of its stock in this bank
than impliedly to sanction the conduct of its officers.

The matter was referred to the committee of the House of
Eepresentatives on banks and corporations ; of which Dr. An-
derson of Lawrence county had been appointed chairman. He
was a man who acted partly from spite, but mostly from a self-
ish policy. He had seen that banks were wofully unpopular
with the people ; and that many men had successfully ridden
the hobby of popular prejudice against them ; and he now de-
termined to have his turn of riding also. But there is some
art in riding a hobby as well as a horse, and much depends

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 401

upon the time when you mount it. A man of sagacity discov-
ers a hobby, and rides it as long as the popular feeling will
carry him ; he then throws it aside and gets a new one. The
short-lived and variable feelings and prejudices of the public
make the life of a hobby a short one. The master spirit rides
it only whilst the public mind is in an earnest fervor concerning
it. He takes it when it is young and active ; and when it be-
comes old and lame he leaves it for another. In this mode he
keeps all the time along with the fervor of the popular mind ;
and this is the true " tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at
the flood, leads on to fortune." The people of Illinois were
still much against banks ; but the day had passed when hatred
to banks was the one idea which ruled the popular mind. In
the meantime, the Texas, and Oregon, and tariff questions had
arisen, and the master equestrians had quit the banks, for one
or the other or all of these. But not so with the small-fry poli-
ticians, who never perceive the advantages of a hobby until it is
jaded down by other riders, who have ridden to distinction upon
it ; and then they all mount on, and if the animal be not already
dead, they soon exhaust its remaining vitality ; and find them-
selves again trudging along on foot. On this occasion, it was
pitiable to see Dr. Anderson and the small geniuses of his tribe
ungracefully jolting along upon their worn-out nags, mimicking
the airs of accomplished equestrians upon their young and met-
tlesome steeds. Under such influences, it was at first decided,
by a majority of both houses, to be better to lose the whole
amount which the bank owed to the State than to countenance
in the least degree the villany of its officers by receiving these
bonds. The people, however, failed to appreciate the vast
merits of these members at the next election. Not over a half
dozen of them were re-elected. Dr. Anderson expected to
be sent to Congress at least ; but failed to get the nomination
of his party even for the legislature of 1846, there not being a
half dozen men in his county favorable to his re-election. And

402 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

shortly afterwards, in utter rage against the people and the cor-
ruptions of the democratic party, he shook the dust off his feet
as a testimony against them, and departed from the State.
The legislature afterwards allowed these bonds to be received
at forty-eight cents to the dollar, which was a good bargain for
the State.

The population of Illinois in 1845, according to the census of
that year, amounted to 662,150 souls, being an increase in five
years of 183,221.

CHAPTER XIII.

The city of Nauvoo — The Temple— New causes of quarrel — The " Oneness" — Anti-Mor-
mon meeting fired at by themselves— Character of the anti-Mormons — New mobs —
House burning— Sheriff's posse— Backinstos— Plundering— McBratney— Death of
Worrell — Daubeneyer— Durfee — Trial of the sheriff for murder — General Hardin sent
over with 500 men — Stops the disorders on both sides — Anti-Mormon convention —
The Mormons agree to leave the State— Major Warren with two companies left
as a guard — Good conduct of Major Warren — Indictments against the twelve apos-
tles for counterfeiting — Exodus of the Mormons— Anti-Mormons anxious to expel
the few that were left— Cause of a new quarrel— Writs sworn out— Old trick of
calling the posse — The matter adjusted — Mormon vote in 1846 — New excitements —
New writs sworn out — The posse again — The new citizens petition for protection —
Order to Major Parker— Order to Mr. Brayman— Treaty between the parties— Not
agreed to by the anti-Mormons — Mr. Brayman's letter — James W. Singleton — Thomas
S. Brockman— Order to Major Flood— His proceedings under it— Numbers of each
party— Battles — Not many hurt — The Mormons surrender the city — Triumphant
entry of the anti-Mormons — Their brutal conduct — Sufferings of the Mormons — Ex-
citement against the anti-Mormons — Moderate men not to be relied on in times of
excitement — Difficulties of the executive — Expedition to Nauvoo — The anti-Mormon
posse dispersed — Violence of the anti-Mormons against the governor — Anti-Mormon
meetings — Their resolutions — Anti-Mormon committee of rogues and blackguards —
The Irish justice and constable — Captain Allen's expedition to Carthage — Major
Weber — Attempts to arrest a spy — Writs sworn out to arrest him and Captain Al-
len— The old trick of the posse again — Instability of popular feeling — No disposition
anywhere to assist, but a disposition everywhere to censure government for not per-
forming impossibilities — Popular notions of martial law — Like master like man —
Anarchy and despotism — Liberty and slavery.

THE Mormons next claim our attention. Nauvoo was now
a city of about 15,000 inhabitants and was fast increasing, as
the followers of the prophet were pouring into it from all parts
of the world ; and there were several other settlements and vil-
lages of Mormons in Hancock county. Nauvoo was scattered
over about six square miles, a part of it being built upon the
flat skirting and fronting on the Mississippi river, but the greater
portion of it upon the bluffs back, east of the river. The great

404 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

temple, which is said to have cost a million of dollars in money
and labor, occupied a commanding position on. the brow of this
bluff, and overlooked the country around for twenty miles in
Illinois and Iowa. This temple was not fashioned after any
known order of architecture. The Mormons themselves pre-
tended to believe that the building of it was commenced without
any previous plan ; and that the master builder, from day to day,
during the progress of its erection, received directions immedi-
ately from heaven as to the plan of the building ; and really it
looks as if it was the result of such frequent changes as would
be produced by a daily accession of new ideas. It has been said
that the church architecture of a sect indicates the genius and
spirit of its religion. The grand and solemn structures of the
Catholics, point to the towering hierarchy, and imposing cere-
monies of the church ; the low and broad meeting-houses of the
Methodists formerly shadowed forth their abhorrence of gaudy
decoration ; and their unpretending humility, and the light, airy,
and elegant edifices of the Presbyterians, as truly indicate the
passion for education, refinement, and polish, amongst that
thrifty and enterprising people. If the genius of Mormonism
were tried by this test, as exhibited in the temple, we could
only pronounce that it" was a piece of patch- work, variable,
strange, and incongruous.

During the summer and fall of 1845, there were several
small matters to increase irritation between the Mormons and
their neighbors. The anti- Mormons complained of a large num-
ber of larcenies and robberies. The Mormon press at Nauvoo,
and the anti-Mormon papers at Warsaw, Quincy, Springfield,
Alton, and St. Louis, kept up a continual fire at each other ; the
anti-Mormons all the time calling upon the people to rise and
expel, or exterminate the Mormons. The great fires at Pitts-
burg and in other cities about this time, were seized upon by
the Mormon press to countenance the assertion that the Lord
had sent them, to manifest his displeasure against the Gentiles ;

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 405

and to hint that all other places which might countenance the
enemies of the Mormons, might expect to be visited by " hot
drops " of the same description. This was interpreted by the
anti-Mormons to be a threat by Mormon incendiaries, to burn
down all cities and places not friendly to their religion. About
this time, also, a suit had been commenced in the circuit court
of the United States against some of the twelve apostles, on a
note given in Ohio. The deputy marshal went to summon the
defendants. They were determined not to be served with pro-
cess, and a great meeting of their people being called, outrage-
ously inflammatory speeches were made by the leaders ; the
marshal was threatened and abused for intending to serve a
lawful process, and here it was publicly declared and agreed to
by the Mormons, that no more process should be served in
Nauvoo.

Also, about this time, a leading anti-Mormon by the name of
Dr. Marshall, made an assault upon Gen. Deming, the sheriff
of the county, and was killed by the sheriff in repelling the as-
sault. The sheriff was arrested and held to bail by Judge
Young, for manslaughter : though as he had acted strictly in
self-defence, no one seriously believed him to be guilty of any
crime whatever. But Dr. Marshall had many friends disposed
to revenge his death, the rage of the people ran very high, for
which reason it was thought best by the judge to hold the
sheriff to bail for something, to save him from being sacrificed
to the public fury.

Not long after the trials of the supposed murderers of the
Smiths, it was discovered on a trial of the right of property
near Lima, in Adams county, by Mormon testimony, that that
people had an institution in their church called a " Oneness,"
which was composed of an association of five persons, over
whom " one" was appointed as a kind of guardian. This " one"
as trustee for the rest, was to own all the property of the asso-
ciation ; so that if it were levied upon by an execution for debt,

406 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

the Mormons could prove that the property belonged to one or
the other of the parties, as might be required to defeat the exe-
cution. And not long after this discovery in the fall of 1845,
the anti-Mormons of Lima and Green Plains, held a meeting to
devise means for the expulsion of the Mormons from their
neighborhood. They appointed some persons of their own
number to fire a few shots at the house where they were assem-
bled ; but to do it in such a way as to hurt none who attended
the meeting. The meeting was held, the house was fired at,
but so as to hurt no one; and the anti-Mormons, suddenly
breaking up their meeting, rode all over the country spreading
the dire alarm, that the Mormons had commenced the work of
massacre and death.

This startling intelligence soon assembled a mob. But before
I relate what further was done, I must give some account of the
anti-Mormons. I had a good opportunity to know the early
settlers of Hancock county. I had attended the circuit courts
there as States-attorney, from 1830, when the county was first
organized, up to the year 1834 ; and to my certain knowledge
the early settlers, with some honorable exceptions, were, in pop-
ular language, hard cases. In the year 1834, one Dr. Galland
was a candidate for the legislature, in a district composed of
Hancock, Adams, and Pike counties. He resided in the county
of Hancock, and as he had in the early part of his life been a
notorious horse-thief and counterfeiter, belonging to the Massac
gang, and was then no pretender to integrity, it was useless to
deny the charge. In all his speeches he freely admitted the
fact, but came near receiving a majority of votes in his own
county of Hancock. I mention this to show the character of
the people for integrity. From this time down to the settle-
ment of the Mormons there, and for four years afterwards, I
had no means of knowing about the future increase of the Han-
cock people. But having passed my whole life on the frontiers,
on the outer edge of the settlements, I have frequently seen that

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 407

a few first settlers would fix the character of a settlement for
good or for bad, for many years after its commencement. If
bad men began the settlement, bad men would be attracted to
them, upon the well-known principle that " birds of a feather
will flock together." Rogues will find each other out, and so
will honest men. From all which it appears extremely proba-
ble, that the later immigrants were many of them attracted to
Hancock by a secret sympathy between them and the early set-
tlers. And so it may appear that the Mormons themselves
may have been induced to select Hancock as the place of their
settlement, rather than many other places where they were
strongly solicited to settle, by the promptings of a secret in-
stinct, which, without much penetration, enables men to discern
their fellows.

The mob at Lima proceeded to warn the Mormons to leave
the neighborhood, and threatened them with fire and sword if
they remained. A very poor class of Mormons resided here,
and it is very likely that the other inhabitants were annoyed
beyond further endurance, by their little larcenies and rogueries.
The Mormons refused to remove ; the mob proceeded to burn
down their houses; and about one hundred and seventy-five
houses and hovels were burnt, the inmates being obliged to flee
for their lives. They fled to Nauvoo in a state of utter desti-
tution, carrying their women and children, aged and sick (it
was then the height of the sickly season), along with them as
best they could. The sight of these miserable creatures, aroused
the wrath of the Mormons of Nauvoo. As soon as authentic
intelligence of these events reached Springfield, I ordered Gen.
Hardin to raise a force, and restore the rule of law. But whilst
this force was gathering, the sheriff of the county had taken the
matter in hand. Gen. Deming had died not long after the death
of Dr. Marshall, and the Mormons had elected Jacob B. Back-
instos to be sheriff in his place. This Backinstos formerly re-
sided in Sangamon county. There he had credit to get a stock

408 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

of goods, and set up as a merchant. The goods were imme-
diately transferred to his brother, leaving the debt for them un-
paid. Here, too, he became acquainted with Judge Douglass,
and here commenced that indissoluble friendship between them,
which has continued inviolate ever since. Douglass was ap-
pointed to hold the courts in Hancock county ; and Backinstos,
having broken up in Sangamon, had gone over to Hancock
seeking his fortunes. His brother had already married a niece
of the prophet, and Backinstos immediately attached himself to
the interests of the Mormons. Backinstos was a smart-looking,
shrewd, cunning, plausible man, of such easy manners, that he
was likely to have great influence with the Mormons. In due
time Judge Douglass appointed him to be clerk of the circuit
court, and this gave him almost absolute power with that peo-
ple in all political contests. In 1844, Backinstos and a Mormon
elder were elected to the legislature; in 1845, he was elected
sheriff, in place of Gen. Deming ; and, finally, to reward him
for his great public services, he was appointed a captain of a
rifle company in the United States army. But being just now
regarded as the political leader of the Mormons, Backinstos was
hated with a sincere and thorough hatred by the opposite party.
When the burning of houses commenced, the great body of
the anti-Mormons expressed themselves strongly against it, giv-
ing hopes thereby that a posse of anti-Mormons could be raised
to put a stop to such incendiary and riotous conduct. But when
they were called on by the new sheriff, not a man of them turn-
ed out to his assistance, many of them no doubt being influ-
enced by their hatred of the sheriff. Backinstos then went to
Nauvoo, where he raised a posse of several hundred armed
Mormons, with which he swept over the county, took possession
of Carthage, and established a permanent guard there. The
anti-Mormons everywhere fled from their homes before the
sheriff, some of them to Iowa and Missouri, and others to the
neighboring counties in Illinois. The sheriff was unable or un-

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 409

willing to bring any portion of the rioters to a battle, or to ar-
rest any of them for their crimes. The posse came near sur-
prising one small squad, but Uhey made their escape, all but one,
before they could be attacked. This one, named McBratney,
was shot down by some of the posse in advance, by whom he
was hacked and mutilated as though he had been murdered by
the Indians.

The sheriff also was in continual peril of his life from the
anti-Mormons, who daily threatened him with death the first
opportunity. As he was going in a buggy from.Warsaw in the
direction of Nauvoo, he was pursued by three or four men to a
place in the road where some Mormon teams were standing.
Backinstos passed the teams a few rods, and then stopping, the
pursuers came up within a hundred and fifty yards, when they
were fired upon, with an unerring aim, by some one concealed
not far to one side of them. By this fire, Franklin A. Worrell
was killed. He was the same man who had commanded the
guard at the jail at the time the Smiths were assassinated ; and
there made himself conspicuous in betraying his trust, by con-
senting to the assassination. It is believed that Backinstos ex-
pected to be pursued and attacked, and had previously stationed
some men in ambush, to fire upon his pursuers. He was after-
wards indicted for the supposed murder, and procured a change
of venue to Peoria county, where he was acquitted of the charge.
About this time, also, the Mormons murdered a man by the
name of Daubeneyer, without any apparent provocation ; and
another anti-Mormon named Wilcox was murdered in Nauvoo,
as it was believed, by order of the twelve apostles. The anti-
Mormons also committed one murder. Some of them, under
Backman, set fire to some straw near a barn belonging to Dur-
fee, an old Mormon seventy years old ; and then lay in ambush
until the old man came out to extinguish the fire, when they
shot him dead from their place of concealment. The perpetra-
tors of this murder were arrested and brought before an anti-

410 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

Mormon justice of the peace, and were acquitted, though their
guilt was sufficiently apparent.

During the ascendency of the sheriff and the absence of the
anti-Mormons from their houses, the people who had been burnt
out of their houses assembled in Nauvoo, from whence, with
many others, they sallied forth and ravaged the country, steal-
ing and plundering whatever was convenient to carry or drive
away. When informed of these proceedings, I hastened to
Jacksonville, where, in a conference with Gen. Hardiri, Major
Warren, Judge Douglass, and the Attorney-General Mr. Mc-
Dougall, it was "agreed that these gentlemen should proceed to
Hancock in all haste, with whatever forces had been raised, few
or many, and put an end to these disorders. It was now appa-
rent that neither party in Hancock could be trusted with the
power to keep the peace. It was also agreed that all these gen-
tlemen should unite their influence with mine to induce the Mor-
mons to leave the State. Gen. Hardin lost no time in raising
three or four hundred volunteers, and when he got to Carthage
he found a Mormon guard in possession of the courthouse.
This force he ordered to disband and disperse in fifteen minutes.
The plundering parties of Mormons were stopped in their rav-
ages. The fugitive anti-Mormons were recalled to their homes,
and all parties above four in number on either side were pro-
hibited from assembling and marching over the country.

Whilst Gen. Hardin was at Carthage, a convention previous-
ly appointed assembled at that place, composed of delegates
from the eight neighboring counties. The people of the neigh-
boring counties were alarmed lest the anti-Mormons should en-
tirely desert Hancock, and by that means leave one of the
largest counties of the State to be possessed entirely by Mor-
mons. This they feared would bring the surrounding counties
into immediate collision with them. They had therefore ap-
pointed this convention to consider measures for the expulsion
of the Mormons. The twelve apostles had now become satis-

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 411

fied that the Mormons could not remain, or if they did, the lead-
ers would be compelled to abandon the sway and dominion they
exercised over them. They had now become convinced that the
kind of Mahometanism which they sought to establish could
never be established in the near vicinity of a people whose mor-
als and prejudices were all outraged and shocked by it, unless
indeed they were prepared to establish it by force of arms.
Through the intervention of Gen. Hardin, acting under instruc-
tions from me, an agreement was made between the hostile par-
ties for the voluntary removal of the greater part of the Mor-
mons in the spring of 1846. The two parties agreed that, in
the meantime, they would seek to make no arrests for crimes
previously committed ; and on my part I agreed that an armed
force should be stationed in the county to keep the peace. The
presence of such a force, and amnesty from prosecutions on all
sides, were insisted on by the Mormons, that they might devote
all their time and energies to prepare for their removal. Gen.
Hardin first diminished his force to a hundred men, leaving
Major Wm. B. Warren in command. And this force being
further diminished during the winter to fifty, and then to ten
men, was kept up until the last of May, 1846. This force was
commanded with great efficiency and prudence during all this
winter and spring by Major Warren ; and with it he was enabled
to keep the turbulent spirit of faction in check, the Mormons
well knowing that it would be supported by a much larger force
whenever the governor saw proper to call for it. In the mean-
time, they somewhat repented of their bargain, and desired
Major Warren to be withdrawn. Backinstos was anxious to
be again left at the head of his posse, to. goster over the county
and to take vengeance on his enemies. The anti-Mormons were
also dissatisfied, because the State force preserved a threatening
aspect towards them, as well as towards the Mormons. He was
always ready to enforce arrests of criminals for new offences on
either side ; and this pleased neither the Mormons nor the anti-

412 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

Mormons. Civil war was on the very point of breaking out
more than a dozen times during the winter. Both parties com-
plained of Major Warren ; but I, well knowing that he was man-
fully doing his duty, in one of the most difficult and vexatious
services ever devolved upon a militia officer, steadily sustained
him against the complaints on both sides. It is but just to Ma-
jor Warren to say here, that he gained a lasting credit with all
substantial citizens for his able and prudent conduct during this
winter. Of General Hardin, too, it is but just to say, that his
expedition this time had the happiest results. The greater part
of the military tract was saved by it from the horrors of a civil
war in the winter time, when much misery would have followed
from it, by the dispersion of families and the destruction of
property.

During the winter of 1845-'6 the Mormons made the most
prodigious preparations for removal. All the houses in Nau-
voo, and even the temple, were converted into work-shops ; and
before spring, more than twelve thousand wagons were in readi-
ness. The people from all parts of the country flocked to
Nauvoo to purchase houses and farms, which were sold extreme-
ly low, lower than the prices at a sheriff's sale, for money,
wagons, horses, oxen, cattle, and other articles of personal prop-
erty, which might be needed by the Mormons in their exodus
into the wilderness. By the middle of May it was estimated
that sixteen thousand Mormons had crossed the Mississippi and
taken up their line of march with their personal property, their
wives and little ones, westward across the continent to Oregon
or California ; leaving behind them in Nauvoo a small remnant
of a thousand souls, being those who were unable to sell their
property, or who having no property to sell were unable to get
away.

The twelve apostles went first with about two thousand of their
followers.. Indictments had been found against nine of them in
the circuit court of the United States for the district of Illinois,

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 413

at its December term, 1845, for counterfeiting the current coin
of the United States. The United States Marshal had applied
to me for a militia force to arrest them ; but in pursuance of
the amnesty agreed on for old offences, believing that the ar-
rest of the accused would prevent the removal of the Mormons,
and that if arrested there was not the least chance that any of
them would ever be convicted, I declined the application un-
less regularly called upon by the President of the United States
according to law. It was generally agreed that it would be im-
politic to arrest the leaders and thus put an end to the prepara-
tions for removal, when it was notorious that none of them
could be convicted ; for they always commanded evidence and
witnesses enough to make a conviction impossible. But with a
view to hasten their removal they were made to believe that
the President would order the regular army to Nauvoo as soon
as the navigation opened in the spring. This had its intended
effect ; the twelve, with about two thousand of their followers,
immediately crossed the Mississippi before the breaking up of
the ice. But before this the deputy marshal had sought to ar-
rest the accused without success.

Notwithstanding but few of the Mormons remained behind,
after June, 1846, the anti-Mormons were no less anxious for
their expulsion by force of arms ; being another instance of a
party not being satisfied with the attainment of its wishes un-
less brought about by themselves, and by measures of their
own. It was feared that the Mormons might vote at the Au-
gust election of that year ; and that enough of them yet re-
mained to control the elections in the county, and perhaps in
the district for Congress. They, therefore, took measures to
get up a new quarrel with the remaining Mormons. And for
this purpose they attacked and severely whipped a party of
eight or ten Mormons, which had been sent out into the coun-
try to harvest some wheat fields in the neighborhood of Pon-
toosuc, and who had provoked the wrath of the settlement by

414 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

hallooing, yelling, and other arrogant behavior. Writs were
sworn out in Nauvoo against the men of Pontoosuc, who were
arrested and kept for several days under strict guard, until they
gave bail. Then in their turn, they swore out writs for the ar-
rest of the constable and posse who had made the first arrest,
for false imprisonment. The Mormon posse were no doubt
really afraid to be arrested, believing that instead of being tried
they would be murdered. This made an excuse for the anti-
Mormons to assemble a posse of several hundred men to assist
in making the arrest ; but the matter was finally adjusted with-
out any one being taken. A committee of anti-Mormons was
sent into Nauvoo, who reported that the Mormons were making
every possible preparation for removal ; and the leading Mor-
mons on their part agreed that their people should not vote at
the next election.

The August election came on shortly afterwards and the
Mormons all voted the whole democratic ticket. I have since
been informed by Babbitt, the Mormon elder and agent for the
sale of church property, that they were induced to vote this
time from the following considerations : The President of the
United States had permitted the Mormons to settle on the In-
dian lands on the Missouri river, and had taken five hundred
of them into the service as soldiers in the war with Mexico ;
and in consequence of these favors the Mormons felt under
obligation to vote for democrats in support of the administra-
tion ; and so determined were they that their support of the
President should be efficient, that they all voted three or four
times each for member of Congress.

This vote of the Mormons enraged the whigs anew against
them ; the probability that they might attempt to remain per-
manently in the country, and the certainty that many design-
ing persons for selfish purposes were endeavoring to keep them
there, revived all the excitement which had ever existed against
that people. In pursuance of the advice and under the direc-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 415

tion of Archibald Williams, a distinguished lawyer and whig
politician of Quincy, writs were again sworn out for the arrest
of persons in Nauvoo, on various charges. But to create a ne-
cessity for a great force to make the arrests, it was freely ad-
mitted by John Carlin, the constable sent in with the writs,
that the prisoners would be murdered if arrested and carried
out of the city. This John Carlin, under a promise to be elect-
ed recorder in the place of a Jack Mormon recorder to be driven
away, was appointed a special constable to make the arrests.
And now the individuals sought to be arrested were openly
threatened to be murdered. The special constable went to
Nauvoo with the writs in his hands, the accused declined to sur-
render. And now having failed to make the arrests, the con-
stable began to call out the posse comitatus. This was about
the 1st of September, 1846. The posse soon amounted to sev-
eral hundred men. The Mormons in their turn swore out
several writs for the arrest of leading anti-Mormons, and under
pretence of desiring to execute them, called out a posse of
Mormons. Here was writ against writ ; constable against con-
stable ; law against law, and posse against posse.

Whilst the parties were assembling their forces the trustees
of Nauvoo being new citizens, not Mormons, applied to the
governor for a militia officer to be sent over with ten men, they
supposing that this small force would dispense with the services
of the civil posse on either side. There was such a want of
confidence on all sides that no one would submit to be arrested
by an adversary, for fear of assassination. This small force it
was supposed would restore confidence and order. And here
again was a difficulty, who was to be sent on this delegate ser-
vice. General Hardin, Major Warren, Colonel Weatherford
and Colonel Baker, had gone to the Mexican war. These had
been the officers upon whom I had relied in all previous emer-
gencies ; and they were well qualified for command. And here
I must remark that the President in May, 1846, called for four

416 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

regiments of volunteers from Illinois for the Mexican war. The
call was no sooner published in Illinois, than nine regiments of-
fered their services. Those of them who were doomed to stay
at home were more discontented than men usually are who are
drafted into the armies of their country.

And here, too, I will remark, that the laws do not allow the
governor to exercise his own best judgment in selecting the
most fit person to command. The militia themselves elect
their officers, and all the choice which is left to the governor, is
to select one already elected. In looking round over the State
for this purpose, the choice fell upon Major Parker of Fulton
county. Major Parker was a whig, and was selected partly for
that reason, believing that a whig now, as had been the case
before with Gen. Hardin and Major Warren, would have more
influence in restraining the anti-Mormons than a democrat. But
Major Parker's character was unknown out of his own county.
Everywhere else it was taken for granted that he was a demo-
crat, and had been sent over to Hancock to intrigue with the
Mormons. The whig newspapers immediately let loose floods
of abuse upon him, both in this State and in Missouri, which
completely paralyzed his power to render any effectual service.
The constable's posse refused to give place to him, and the con-
stable openly declared that he cared but little for the arrests ;
by which it was apparent that they intended from the first to
use the process of the law only as a cover to their design of ex-
pelling the Mormons!

The posse continued to increase until it numbered about
eight hundred men ; and whilst it was getting ready to march
into the city, it was represented to me by another committee,
that the new citizens of Nauvoo were themselves divided into
two parties, the one siding with the Mormons, the other with
their enemies. The Mormons threatened the disaffected new
citizens with death, if they did not join in the defence of the
city. For this reason I sent over M. Braymau, Esq., a judi-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 417

cious citizen of Springfield, with suitaole orders restraining all
compulsion in forcing the citizens to join the Mormons against
their will, and generally to inquire into and report all the cir-
cumstances of the quarrel.

Soon after Mr. Brayman arrived there, he persuaded the
leaders on each side into an adjustment of the quarrel. It was
agreed that the Mormons should immediately surrender their
arms to some person to be appointed to receive them, and to
be redelivered when they left the State, and that they would
remove from the State in two months. This treaty was agreed to
by Gen. Singleton, Col. Chittenden and others, on the side of the
anties, and by Major Parker and some leading Mormons on the
other side. But when the treaty was submitted for ratification
to the anti-Mormon forces, it was rejected by a small majority.
Gen. Singleton and Col. Chittenden, with a proper self-respect,
immediately withdrew from command ; they not being the first
great men placed at the head of affairs at the beginning of vio-
lence, who have been hurled from their places before the popu-
lar frenzy had run its course. And with them also great
Archibald Williams, the prime mover of the enterprise, he not
being the first man who has got up a popular commotion, and
failed to govern it afterwards. Indeed, the whole history of
revolutions and popular excitements leading to violence, is full
of instances like these. Mr. Brayman, the same day of the re-
jection of the treaty, reported to me that nearly one-half of the
anti-Mormons would abandon the enterprise, and retire with
their late commanders, " leaving a set of hair-brained fools to
be flogged or to disperse at their leisure." It turned out, how-
ever, that the calculations of Mr. Brayman were not realized ;
for when Singleton and Chittenden retired, Thomas S. Brock-
man was put in command of the posse. This Brockman was a
Campbellite preacher, nominally belonging to the democratic
party. He was a large, awkward, uncouth, ignorant, semi-bar-
barian, ambitious of office, and bent upon acquiring notoriety.

18*

418 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

He had been county commissioner of Brown county, and in that
capacity had let out a contract for building the court-house, and
it was afterwards ascertained had let the contract to himself.
He managed to get paid in advance, and then built such an in-
ferior building, that the county had not received it up to Dec.
1846. He had also been a collector of taxes, for which he was
a defaulter, and his lands were sold whilst I was governor, to
pay a judgment obtained against him for moneys collected by
him. To the bitterness of his religious prejudices against the
Mormons, he added a hatred of their immoral practices, prob-
ably because they differed from his own. Such was the man
who was now at the head of the anti-Mormons,* who were
about as numerous in camp as ever.

After the appointment of Brockman, I was not enabled to
hear in any authentic shape of the movements on either side,
until the anti-Mormon forces had arrived near the suburbs of
the city, and were about ready to commence an attack. The
information which was received, was by mere rumor of travel-
lers, or by the newspapers from St. Louis. And I will remark
that during none of these difficulties, have I been able to get
letters and despatches from Nauvoo by the United States mail,
coming as it was obliged to do, through the anti-Mormon set-
tlements and post offices.

* To the credit of the Campbellites I record, that after this they si-
lenced Brockman from preaching. Before this time, he had frequently
been a candidate for office without success. In 1847, he thought he
could be elected to the convention to amend the constitution, from
Brown county, upon the glory he had acquired in the Mormon wars.
He was nominated by a small meeting of democrats ; and, in a county
of one hundred and fifty majority of democrats, he was beaten by a
whig by upwards of one hundred and twenty-five majority. * *

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 419

But soon after the anties had arrived with their force near
Nauvoo, and after some little skirmishing, Mr. Brayman came
to Springfield with a request for further assistance in defence of
the city. It was now too late to call forces' from a distance, if
they had been ever so willing to come. It was obvious that if
any new forces were to be raised, they must come from the
near neighborhood of the conflict. Orders were therefore issued
to Major William G. Flood, who was commander of the militia
of the adjoining and populous county of Adams, by which he
was authorized to raise a sufficient volunteer force in that and
the surrounding counties, to enforce the observance of law in
Hancock. It turned out, however, that great excitement ex-
isted in Adams and in all the neighboring country, and Major
Flood being of opinion that if he raised a force on the part of
the State, a much larger force would have turned out in aid of
the rioters, declined to act.

To meet such a contingency, he had been instructed that, if
inconvenient for himself to act, he was to hand over his author-
ity to some person who would act, and who could be elected to
the command of the forces thus to be raised. Major Flood,
without handing over his authority to any one in Adams coun-
ty, went to Nauvoo to use his influence with the contending par-
ties, for the restoration of peace ; but failing in this, he handed
over his authority to the Mormons and their allies, who elected
Major Clifford to command them. In issuing this order to Ma-
jor Flood, it was not intended to put the Nauvoo volunteers
under any different command than what was specified in the
orders to Major Parker, as it had already been declared in those
orders that the Mormon force, with the exception of the ten
men from Fulton county, were to serve without pay. The or-
der to Major Flood was for an additional force, and not to give
a different organization to the force already raised. It is my
solemn conviction, that no sufficient force could have been raised
to have fought in favor of the Mormons. But there was still

420 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

another difficulty, and every one felt it. No force under our
present constitution could more than temporarily have sup-
pressed these difficulties. It has been the practice heretofore,
for the ring-leaders of rebellion in Hancock to withdraw from
the State whenever the State forces were marched over there ;
and from experience in former trials they had found out that no
one could be convicted. The result of former expeditions had
been to keep the peace during the presence of the military, but
so soon as they disbanded the disorders were renewed. The
keeping of the peace, therefore, in that county, was some such
labor as the work of Sisyphus, who was condemned by the
gods throughout eternity to roll a stone up hill, and every time
he got it nearly to the top, it broke loose from him, and again
came thundering down to the plain below. The former expe-
ditions had shown this to be the case, and now there was a gen-
eral disposition to let the hostile parties bring matters to a con-
clusion in their own way ; and such was the public prejudice
against the Mormons, that, ten chances to one, any large force
of militia which might have been ordered there, would have
joined the rioters, rather than fought in defence of the Mor-
mons.*

* It has been asked, How did Governor Wright of New York sup-
press the riots of the anti-renters in 1846 ? This is easily answered.
The anti-rent riots were less generally popular than the riots of the
anti-Mormons. The governor there was better supported by public
opinion than the governor of Illinois. He had the power, and he exer-
cised it, to appoint and remove sheriffs, and other county officers in-
tended for his assistance ; and the laws of New York allowed a crim-
inal to be taken without his consent to a distant county for trial. This
last advantage was one worth all the rest.

The history of the law concerning the venue in criminal cases, is a
curiosity. By the ancient common law the jury was to come from the
very town or neighborhood where the crime had been committed ; and
this was because it was supposed that they had a personal knowledge
of the circumstances of the crime, and of the character of the criminal
and the witnesses. It was to guard against oppression, by assuring the

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 421

The forces under Brockman numbered about 800 men ; they
were armed with the State arms, which had been given up to
them by independent militia companies in the adjacent counties.
They also had five pieces of six-pounder iron cannon, belonging
to the State, which they had obtained in the same way. The
Mormon party and their allies, being some of the new citizens,
under the command of Major Clifford, numbered at first about

accused of a trial by his neighbors and acquaintances, who, if he were
a good man, would know it, and deal more gently with him than stran-
gers would. Afterwards, by statute, the jury was to come from the
body of the county. Our State constitution, in imitation of the Eng-
lish law, provides that criminals shall be entitled to a jury of the vicin-
age, which means the same thing. And yet our law says that no man
shall be a competent juror who has formed an opinion as to the guilt
or innocence of the criminal. If the juror is not to bring his private
knowledge, and his bias in favor of the accused, into the jury, but little
good is the privilege of having a jury from the vicinage likely to do
the prisoner. He might just as well be taken to some other county and
tried by strangers, as to be tried by strangers in his own county. It is
true that the law of Illinois allows the accused to remove his trial for
prejudice in the judge or inhabitants, but the State has no right to re-
move the case without the consent of the prisoner. One of the com-
plaints urged against me, and some men who held themselves out, but
rather falsely pretend to be lawyers, have made it, is, that I did not
take the Mormon and anti-Mormon prisoners to some foreign county to
be tried. Some thought they ought to have been taken before the su-
preme court, and others before the United States court at Springfield,
as if either of these courts had the slightest particle of power to try
them. Before I heard of these complaints, I was not aware that there
was so much stupid ignorance in the country, particularly among men
who pretend to be lawyers.

There is now no doubt but the power to change the venue in crim-
inal cases, which the constitution of New York vested in the supreme
court, to be exercised at discretion, has operated well in all cases of lo-
cal excitement ; and probably saved a war with England, which was
likely to grow out of the trial of McLeod for the murder of Durfee and
burning the Caroline steamboat on the Niagara frontier.

But to return to Gov. Wright. Being supported by public opinion,

422 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

two hundred and fifty, but were diminished by desertions and
removals^ before any decisive fighting took place, to about one
hundred and fifty. Some of them were armed with sixteen
shooting rifles, — which experience proved were not very effect-
ive in their hands, — and a few of them with muskets. They
had four or five pieces of cannon, hastily and rudely made by
themselves out of the shaft of a steamboat.

The Mormons and their allies took position in the suburbs,
about one mile east of the temple, where they threw up some
breastworks for the protection of their artillery. The attacking
force was strong enough to have been divided and marched into
the city on each side of this battery, and entirely out of the
range of its shot ; and thus the place might have been taken
without firing a gun. But Brockman, although he professed a
desire to save the lives of his men, planted his force directly in
front of the enemy's battery, but distant more than half a
mile ; and now both parties commenced a fire from their can-
non, and some few persons on each side approached near
enough to open a fire with their rifles and muskets, but not
near enough to do each other material injury.

he put down the anti-renters and protected the property of the wealthy.
In return for this favor, the wealthy men at an election a few months
afterwards united with the anti-renters, and helped them put Governor
"Wright down. Governor "Wright did all he could to secure the convic-
tion of murderers and assassins amongst the anti-renters, who had raised
a rebellion against the laws of property, The men of property imme-
diately helped the anti-renters to defeat Governor Wright's second
election, and to elect a man who was pledged to pardon these same
murderers and cut-throats out of the penitentiary.

The next extensive riot against property in the United States is not
likely to be quelled so easily. Public men will hereafter remember the
fate of Governor "Wright. They will be apt to remember that active
efforts against the rioters will make enemies of them, without making
friends elsewhere. Upon the whole, this example of the men of prop-
erty uniting with the miserable faction of anti-renters to put down
such a man as Gov. Wright, is one of the worst signs of the times.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 423

•

In this manner they continued to fire at each other at such a
distance, and with such want of skill, as that there was but little
prospect of injury, until the anti-Mormons had exhausted their
ammunition, when they retreated in some disorder to their
camp. They were not pursued, and here the Mormon party
committed an error, for all experience of irregular forces has
shown, that however brave they may be, that a charge on them
when they have once commenced a retreat, is sure to be suc-
cessful. Having waited a few days to supply themselves anew
with ammunition from Quincy, the anties again advanced to
the attack, but without coming nearer to the enemy than before,
and that what at the time was called a battle, was kept up three
or four days, during all which time the Mormons admit a loss
of two men and a boy killed, and three or four wounded. The
anties admitted a loss on their side of one man mortally, and
nine or ten others not so dangerously wounded. The Mormons
claimed that they had killed thirty or forty of the anties. The
anties claimed that they had killed thirty or forty of the Mor-
mons, and both parties could have proved their claim by incon-
testable evidence, if their witnesses had been credible. But
the account which each party renders of its loss, ought to be
taken as the true one, unless such account can be successfully
controverted. During all the skirmishing and firing of cannon,
it is estimated that from seven to nine hundred cannon balls,
and an infinite number of bullets, were fired on each side, from
which it appears that the remarkable fact of so few being killed
and wounded, can be accounted for only by supposing great
unskilfulness in the use of arms, and by the very safe distance
which the parties kept from each other.

At last, through the intervention of an anti-Mormon commit-
tee of one hundred from Quincy, the Mormons and their allies
were induced to submit to such terms as the posse 4diose to
dictate, which were that the Mormons should immediately give
up their arms to the Quincy committee, and remove from the

424 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

•

State. The trustees of the church and five of their clerks were
permitted to remain for the sale of Mormon property, and the
posse were to march in unmolested, and to leave a sufficient
force to guarantee the performance of these stipulations.

Accordingly, the constable's posse marched in with Brock
man at their head, consisting of about eight hundred armed
men, and six or seven hundred unarmed, who had assembled
from all the country around, from motives of curiosity, to see
the once proud city of Nauvoo humbled, and delivered up to
its enemies, and to the domination of a self-constituted and irre-
sponsible power. They proceeded into the city slowly and
carefully, examining the way from fear of the explosion of a
mine, many of which had been made by the Mormons, by
burying kegs of powder in the ground, with a man stationed
at a distance to pull a string communicating with the trigger
of a percussion lock affixed to the keg. This kind of a contriv-
ance was called by the Mormons a " hell's half acre." When
the posse arrived in the city, the leaders of it erected themselves
into a tribunal to decide who should be forced away and who
remain. Parties were despatched to hunt for Mormon arms
and for Mormons, and to bring them to the judgment, where
they received their doom from the mouth of Brockman, who
there sat a grim and unawed tyrant for the time. As a general
rule, the Mormons were ordered to leave within an hour or two
hours ; and by rare grace, some of them were allowed until
next day, and in a few cases longer. The treaty specified that
the Mormons only should be driven into exile. Nothing was
said in it concerning the new citizens, who had with the Mor-
mons defended the city. But the posse no sooner obtained
possession, than they commenced expelling the new citizens.
Some of them were ducked in the river, being in one or two
instances actually baptized in the name of the leaders of the
mob, others were forcibly driven into the ferry boats, to be
taken over the river, before the bayonets of armed ruffians ;

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 425

and it is believed that the houses of most of them were broken
open and their property stolen during their absence. Many of
these new settlers were strangers in the country from various
parts of the United States, who were attracted there by the low
price of property, and they knew but little of previous difficul-
ties, or the merits of the quarrel. They saw with their own
eyes that the Mormons were industriously preparing to go
away, and they knew of their own knowledge that an effort to
expel them with force was gratuitous and unnecessary cruelty.
They had been trained in the States from whence they came to
abhor mobs, and to obey the law, and they volunteered their
services under executive authority, to defend their town and
their property against mob violence, and as they honestly be-
lieved, from destruction. But in this they were partly mis-
taken, for although the mob leaders, in the exercise of unbridled
power, were guilty of many enormities to the persons of indi-
viduals, and although much personal property was stolen, yet
they abstained from materially injuring houses and buildings.
The most that was done in this way, was the stealing of the
doors and the sash of the windows from the houses by some-
body ; the anti-Mormons allege that they were carried away by
the Mormons, and the Mormons aver that the most of them
were stolen by the anti-Mormons.

In a few days the obnoxious inhabitants had been expelled,
the warlike new citizens with the rest. This class of citizens
had strong claims to be treated with more generosity by the
conquerors ; but a mob, and more especially the mob leaders,
inflamed with passion, exasperated by a brave resistance, their
vulgar souls seeing no merit in the courage of adversaries, are
not apt to show them much favor in the day of success and tri-
umph. The main force of the posse was now disbanded. Brock-
man returned home. But before he returned, whilst his men
were doubly intoxicated with liquor and by the glory of their
victory, one hundred of them volunteered to remain, to prevent

426 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

the return of those who had been expelled, or who had fled
knowing that they would be forced away, and otherwise cruelly
treated if they remained to face their conquerors. These, of
course, were the lowest, most violent, the least restrained by
principle, of all the anti-Mormons. The most of them were
such vagabonds as had no home anywhere else, no business or
employment, and for that reason were the readiest to stay.
The posse was finally diminished to about thirty men, under
Major McCalla, and continued to exercise all the powers of
government in Nauvoo, committing many high-handed acts of
tyranny and oppression, and, as they said, some acts of charity
to the suffering women and children, until they heard that a
force was coming against them from Springfield.

In the meantime the Mormons had been forced away from
their homes unprepared for a journey. They and their women
and children had been thrown houseless upon the Iowa shore,
without provisions or the means of getting them, or to get away
to places where provisions might be obtained. It was now the
highest of the sickly season. Many of them were taken from
sick beds, hurried into the boats and driven away by the armed
ruffians, now exercising the power of government. The best
they could do was to erect their tents on the banks of the river,
and there remain to take their chance of perishing by hunger,
or by prevailing sickness. In this condition the sick without
shelter, food, nourishment, or medicines, died by scores. The
mother watched her sick babe without hope, until it died ; and
when she sunk under accumulated miseries, it was only to be
quickly followed by her other children, now left without the
least attention ; for the men had scattered out over the country
seeking employment and the means of living. Their distressed
condition was no sooner known, than all parties contributed to
their relief; the anti-Mormons as much as others.

Some of the new citizens who had been driven away, had sev-
eral times attempted to return to look after their property, and

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 427

were each time driven away with more violence than they were
before. The people of the State looked upon these outrages
with calm indifference. A few here and there were anxions
that something should be done to put an end to them. But
such persons were generally moderate men who, because they
are not violent themselves, dislike violence in others ; and for
the same reason, although they desire something to be done,
yet never do anything to aid the authorities of the State. These
moderate men, if force is necessary to put down force, are al-
ways the last whose services can be obtained ; and yet they are
always the readiest to find fault with the government which
they have failed to assist. They are the first to call upon the
governor for prompt action, but the last to bring him any aid ;
and very many of them tremble at the mere idea of venturing
their popularity in such an enterprise. Let no public man in
times of excitement depend upon moderate men for support ;
nor can he in such times justly expect to be supported in mod-
erate measures. All violence is wrong ; the moderate course
is the right one ; the violent men support their measures with
energy ; the moderate men let theirs perish for want of sup-
port. In such a contest a very few, a dozen violent men are
worth a thousand of the moderates. The moderate party never
give any efficient support to their leaders. They will coldly
approve if, upon a very careful and curious looking into mat-
ters, what has been done suits them in the manner and amount
of it exactly ; but if not suited to the eighth of an inch, then
they are not sparing in their censure. This is true not only as
to excitements which lead to civil war, but as to all excitements
attending the contests of party. And it is for this reason that
ambitious politicians are always driven to violent courses, to
extreme measures, and to eschew all moderation. They know
that they can depend upon the men of violence and action for
support. And they know, as La Fayette might have known,
that the moderate men never give a support worth anything

428 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

to any one. The wealthy, who stand most in need of pro-
tection against violence, very rarely ever volunteer to put it
down; most frequently leaving the laws to be enforced, if
enforced at all, by obscure men ; and many times by such per-
sons as have no business of their own, or care for the stability
of law and government. Such men as these are the readiest to
volunteer in a popular service ; some volunteer without consid-
ering the merits of the cause ; and in civil broils as they change
their minds with the changing winds, and have the election of
their own commanders, their attachment to the one or the other
side is not always to be relied on. Now, as long as the wealthy
substantial citizen refuses his aid, the support of government
rests upon such feeble helps as these.

But the people had now waked up to reflection ; they had
seen a mob victorious over the government of the people. The
government in a large district was actually put down and trod-
den under foot. They were willing that the Mormons might
be driven away; but they had not anticipated the outrages
which followed. A re action took place, and such is the incon-
stancy of popular feeling, that men who were before outrageous
against the governor for making any, even an abortive effort to
extend a scanty assistance to an oppressed people, were now no
less clamorous against him for not raising a force before one
could possibly be raised ; and they even went so far as to re-
quire that martial law should be declared ; and that the rioters
should be hung without trial or judgment. Thus they thought
that mob violence might be put down by the illegal mob vio-
lence of government ; and were in favor of converting the gov-
ernment into a mob to put down mobocracy.

There is a vague feeling among the people in favor of martial
law on such occasions. I can find no authoriry in the constitu-
tion, or anywhere else, for the enforcement of martial law out-
side the lines of a military encampment. The civil law is above
the military. But when the civil law shall be utterly disre-

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 429

garded and trampled under foot; when the people become
wholly unfit for self-government ; when anarchy and disorder
shall be forced to give place to despotism ; when our forms of
government shall be utterly overthrown and abandoned, as ex-
periments which have failed, the first dawnings of the reign of
tyrants most likely will be preceded by proclamations- of mar-
tial law, not for the government of armies, but for the govern-
ment and punishment of a people at once rebellious and deserv-
ing to be slaves. The general sentiment in favor of martial
law and the disorders calling it forth, are fearful evidences of a
falling away from the true principles of liberty. Ever since
Gen. Jackson on some great occasions, when the fate of half the
country was at stake, " look the responsibility" the country has
swarmed with a tribe of small statesmen who seem to think
that the true secret of government is to set it aside and re-
sort to mere force, upon the occurrence of the smallest diffi-
culties. It may be well enough on great occasions to have one
great Jackson ; but on every small occasion no one can imagine
the danger of having a multitude of little Jacksons. Jackson's
example is to be admired rather than imitated ; and the first
may be done easier and safer than the last.

Government was obliged to wait for a change in the feelings
of the people. As soon as this change was manifested, one hun-
dred and twenty men were raised in and near Springfield, and
with this small force the governor started to Hancock. Before
this force arrived there, it had increased to the number of two
hundred. The motive for going over this time was to restore
to their homes about sixty families of new citizens, not being
Mormons, who had been driven away from their property, most
of which had been stolen during their absence. The Mormons
could not have been persuaded to return on any terms. The
governor had no expectation of being resisted by the great body
of anties, although he had attempted to bring some of them to
justice for their crimes ; yet were they notoriously indebted to

430 _ HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

him for being recalled to their homes when driven away by the
sheriff and his Mormon posse. He had been mainly instru-
mental in inducing the great body of Mormons to leave the
State ; he had effectually aided in protecting the county revenue
from being collected and most probably squandered by the
sheriff, whose only securities were Mormons about to leave the
country ; he had also given effectual assistance in preventing the
Mormon county court from running the county in debt thirty
or forty thousand dollars, to pay the Mormon posse under
Backinstos ; and he had, for the space of seven months, obsti-
nately refused to recall Major Warren's force stationed in Han-
cock for their protection, though their recall was daily in-
sisted upon by the strongest of the governor's political friends.
During all this time, he had the anti-Mormons at his mercy ;
during the dead, cold winter, when their expulsion from their
homes would have ruined them. It was only to recall the mili-
tary, and restore the charge of keeping the peace to the sheriff.
But the anties did not feel the least grateful for any of the
good which had been done them. They remembered only the
evil. It appeared, that if they had any gratitude, it consisted
alone in a lively expectation of future favor. Indeed, during
the whole winter that the governor was protecting them in their
homes, and keeping their lives in their bodies, they never ceased
cursing and abusing him. But the governor had done these
things because they were right, and was too sensible a man to
expect any thanks ; and they are now mentioned, not to com-
plain, but to illustrate a truth in matters of government, which
is this : that he who will preserve the confidence and affection
of a faction, must be with it every time, through right and
wrong. This course the governor is not at liberty to take in a
civil war, where both parties seek to trample the government
under feet, and where both of them in turn may need restraint.
And yet if he does not take one side and keep it, no allowance
is made for his position ; he is judged of as an individual fac-

HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS. 431

tionist would be ; he is charged with being first on one side,
and then on the other, and on every side ; just as if he had no
public duty to perform, but was at liberty to take sides in the
quarrel like a private man.

Very much to his astonishment, when the governor arrived
in Hancock, the anti-Mormons were exceedingly bitter against
him. Brockman was sent for ; the leaders assembled, and now
commenced a series of the most vexatious proceedings. They
could hardly find words strong enough to express their unaffect-
ed surprise and astonishment at the impudence of the governor
and the people of other counties in interfering, as they called
it, in the affairs of Hancock. So far had the mob-scenes which
they had passed through beclouded their judgments, and so far
had they imitated the Mormons in their modes of thinking, that
they really believed that the people of Hancock had some kind
of government and sovereignty of their own, and that to inter-
fere with this was to invade their sacred rights. In their long,
bitter, and angry contest with the Mormons, they had acquired
most of the vices of that people, being hurried on by the inten-
sity of bad passions to imitate their crimes, that they might be
equal to them in the contest. This is one of the inevitable ef-
fects of long-continued faction ; and, accordingly, the presence
of the Mormons for six years in that part of the country has
left moral blotches and propensities to crime, a total dissolution
of moral principle among the remaining inhabitants, which one
generation passing away will not eradicate, and perhaps will
never be effectually cured until they learn by long and dire ex-
perience that the way of the transgressor is hard.

After the arrival of the governor in the county, two public
meetings were held by the anties, one in Carthage and one in
Nauvoo ; at both of which, it was resolved that they would do
nothing whilst the State forces remain ; but believing that this
force could be kept up only for a short time, they solemnly de-
termined to drive out the proscribed new citizens as soon as the

432 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

volunteers were withdrawn. As yet they were not aware of
the change of opinion against them ; they supposed that the
people were universally in their favor ; and were as arrogant as
a mob usually is when they believe themselves able to triumph
over their government. Our little force encamped at Nauvoo,
on the north side of the great temple, protected to the north by
a high stone wall. And whilst here, our sentinels were fired
upon from a tavern near by, kept by a man who had recently
kept a house in Illinois town as a place of refuge for the rogues
in St. Louis, when hard pressed by the police. At this tavern,
*******^ the murderer of Durfee; *****, a swarthy, grim and
sanguinary tyrant ; ******, fresh from the Quincy jail on a
charge of rape ; ********5 who had lately kept a livery stable
in St. Louis for the sale of stolen horses ; and Van Tuyl, an old
wornout, broken-down, democratic New York politician, took
their stand, as the anti-Mormon committee of the county, to
watch our movements. The lines of the encampment were im-
mediately extended so as to include this tavern ; martial law
was declared, and the inhabitants within the lines of the encamp-
ment were notified, that if the firing was repeated, the offender
would be shot or hung, according to the sentence of a court-
martial, and that the house itself would be demolished by the
artillery. The shooting was not repeated.

Here a laughable matter occurred with a constable and Irish
justice of the peace, lately elected by the anties, to replace those
who had been driven away. These dignitaries broke through
the line of sentinels, and were put under arrest ; but upon giv-
ing their word to be forthcoming in the morning, to answer for
their intrusion, they were discharged. Instead of returning to
their houses, they repaired to the tavern, and having reinforced
their courage by additional quantities of liquor, they came again
to the lines, offering to bribe the sentinels to spike our cannon.
They were again arrested, and kept until next morning, when
Major George R. Weber, now in command, appointed a court-

HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 433

martial to try them. The Irish justice relied much upon his
power and consequence as a magistrate, and wanted to be ex-
ceedingly noisy and disorderly during the trial. Major Weber
ordered him to keep silence until called upon to speak. This
the indignant dispenser of justice refused, with a proud swell
of importance. With some force, Major Weber, taking him
by the shoulders, squat him down in a corner ; but the magis-
trate, rising, and still insisting upon his dignity and right to
make a noise, was knocked down twice in succession by Major
Weber, before he could be forced to keep silence. The magis-
trate and constable were then condemned to be drummed around
and out of the camp, to the tune of the rogue's march, which
was done in good style, one very pretty morning. Such a crea-
ture as this magistrate, was the governor forced by the laws of
the State to commission as a justice of the peace ; and such offi-
cers as these did the anti-Mormons elect to assist him in keep-
ing the peace.

During our stay here, Captain Robert Allen, with parts of
his company and others, to the number of forty-four men, vol-
unteered to make a secret expedition in the night to Carthage,
in search of the State arms, having previously gained intelli-
gence that a large number were concealed in that village. The
anties had stationed a committee near us to watch our move-
ments, and as Capt. Allen's men marched on foot, intelligence
of their coming was conveyed to Carthage, and the arms re-
moved to some other place of concealment before their arrival.
Whilst this was going on, Major Weber, going the rounds out-
side of the camp, discovered one of the anti-Mormon committee
acting as a spy, lying upon a wall, looking into the camp, and
tried to arrest him. Major Weber aimed to make the arrest
without the taking of life, and instead of shooting, only struck
at him with his pistol. This furnished a new pretext for the old
trick of calling out the civil posse against us. Writs were
sworn out, not only for the arrest of Major Weber, but also

434 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

for Capt. Allen, for stopping some persons in the streets of
Carthage, whilst searching for arms. These writs were intend-
ed to be made the foundation of another call for the posse, and
for our expulsion from the county. The effort was made, but
the mob party failed to enlist more than two hundred and fifty
men. We had diminished ours, by discharges, to one hundred
and twenty. But the mob hesitated to attack us without five
or six times our number, and accordingly abandoned their de-
sign of making the arrests.

After staying in the county seventeen days, being in no dan-
ger except from secret assassins, having made diligent search
for the five pieces of cannon and other arms belonging to the
State, without success ; and as our officers and men published
in a handbill, on the ground, having forced the assassins and
cut-throats there to endure the presence of the exiled citizens,
the principal part of the force was disbanded. Major Jackson
and Captain Connelly were left with fifty men to remain until
the 15th of December, 1846, before which day the legislature
was to assemble, and it was expected that the cold of the win-
ter would by that time put an end to the anti-Mormon agita-
tions. This expectation was realized. Nothing puts an end to
the continued enterprises of a mob sooner than the cold of
winter.

We did not think worth while to arrest any one for previous
riots, knowing as we did Jhat the State could not change the
trial to any other county, and that no one could be convicted
in Hancock. In fact, the anties made their boasts that as they
were in the entire possession of the juries and all civil officers
of the county, no jury could be obtained there to convict them.
If Brockman or others had been arrested, no justice of the
peace would have committed them for trial ; if they had been
committed, they would have been turned loose by the sheriff or
the mob. And if they had chosen to stand their trial, they
were certain not to be convicted. An effort to arrest and pros-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 435

ecute these men would have resulted only in another triumph
of the mob over government. In fact, there was no way to
punish them, as former trials had shown, except by martial law ;
and this course was utterly illegal. The governor believed that
he could not declare martial law for the punishment of citizens
without admitting that free government had failed; and as-
suming that despotism was necessary in its place. He believed
that to proceed in such cases by martial law was to overturn
the government, institute monarchy, and make himself a dicta-
tor. If he erred in this, it was an error springing from attach-
ment to the principles of civil liberty. Many were they who
wondered that the governor did not do something to punish
these men ; and held him responsible just as if he actually pos-
sessed the power of government ; just as if he possessed the
power of appointing and removing all the civil and military
officers in the disaffected region, who being independent of the
governor, set up authority against authority ; and just as if he
had a standing army at command, or with his single arm could
make the people put down the people. Let his administration
be what it may in these difficulties, yet it illustrates the princi-
ple which most of all I desire to illustrate in this history ;
which is, that government is naturally forced to be a type of
the people over whom it is instituted. The people are said to
be the masters, and public officers the servants, and such is the
fact ; but with this fact let it be remembered that wherever the
relation of master and servant exists, the proverb of " like mas-
ter like man " will apply. If the people will have anarchy,
there is no power short of despotism capable of forcing them to
submission ; and the despotism which naturally grows out of
anarchy, can never be established by those who are elected to
administer regular government. If the mob spirit is to con-
tinue, it must necessarily lead to despotism ; but this despotism
will be erected upon the ruins of government, and not spring
out of it. It has been said that one great party in this country

436 HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS.

is secretly in favor of monarchy. If this were true, that party
could not sooner or more effectually accomplish their purposes
than to lend their aid in creating a necessity for it. Let them
but encourage " every man to do that which seemeth good in
his own eyes," and God will give them a king, as he gave one
to the Jews for the hardness of their hearts. This simple quo-
tation from Scripture is a vivid description of anarchy ; of that
state of disorder, when men will consent to be slaves rather
than without the protection of government ; when men fly from
the tyranny and misrule of the many -headed monster for pro-
tection to the despotism of one man. The giving of a king to
the Jews is referred to as a special providence of God. But it is
a fundamental law of man's nature from which he cannot escape,
that despotism is obliged to grow out of general anarchy, as
surely as a stone is obliged to fall to the earth when left unsup-
ported in the air. Without any revealed special providence,
but in accordance with this great law of man's nature, Cromwell
rose out of the disorders of the English revolution ; Charles the
Second was restored to despotism by the anarchy which suc-
ceeded Cromwell ; and Bonaparte came forth from the misrule
of republican France. The people in all these cases attempted
to govern ; but in fact, did not. They were incapable of self-
government ; and by returning to despotism, admitted that they
needed a master. Where the people are unfit for liberty ;
where they will not be free without violence, license and injus-
tice to others ; where they do not deserve to be free, nature it-
self will give them a master. No form of constitution can
make them free and keep them so. On the contrary, a people
who are fit for and deserve liberty, cannot be enslaved.

CHAPTER XIV.

Riots in Massac county in 1846— Robbery in Pope county— The regulators— Their pro-
• ceediugs— Arrests made by them— The torture and confession of their prisoners—
The rogues vote for the county officers of Massac in 1846— Extorted and bribed
evidence to implicate the sheriff and others, by the opposing candidates— The sheriff
and others ordered to leave the county — Many whipped, tarred and feathered, and
some drowned— Arrest of the rioters— They are rescued by the regulators— Judge
Scales' charge to the grand jury — Indictments against the regulators — Threats to
lynch the judge and the grand jury— Order to Dr. Gibbs, and reason for such an
order — His proceedings under it — The militia refuse to turn out — Inefficiency of
well-disposed moderate men in such times — A few bold, violent men, can govern
a county, and how they do it — The reasons why the militia would not turn out —
Attack on old Mathis, his wife shot, he is carried away, supposed to have been
murdered — The regulators arrested, given up by the sheriff, prisoners taken to Ken-
tucky—Some of them drowned— Proceedings of the new governor and the legisla-
ture, then in session — District courts provided to evade the Constitution against
changes of the venue in criminal cases— The disturbances die away of themselves—
The situation in 1842 compared with its condition in December 1846.

WHILST the Mormons and their adversaries were at war in the
county of Hancock, a little rebellion, less in numbers but equal
in violence, was raging in the county of Massac, on the Ohio
river. It has heretofore been mentioned, that an ancient colony
of horse-thieves, counterfeiters, and robbers, had long infested
the counties of Massac and Pope. They were so strong and so
well combined together, as to insure impunity from punishment
by legal means. In the summer of 1846, a number of these
desperadoes attacked the house of an aged citizen in Pope
county, and robbed him of about $2,500 in gold. In the act
of committing the robbery, one of them left behind a knife
made by a blacksmith of the neighborhood, by means of which
he was identified. This one being arrested, and subjected to
torture by the neighboring people, confessed his crime, and

438 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.

gave the names of his associates. These again being arrested,
to the number of a dozen, and some of them being tortured,
disclosed the names of a long list of confederates in crime,
scattered through several counties. The honest portion of the
people now associated themselves into a band of regulators,
and proceeded to order all suspected persons to leave the coun-
try. But before this order could be enforced, the election for
county officers came on in August 1846, and those who were
suspected to be rogues all threw their votes one way, and, as it
was asserted, thereby insured the election of a sheriff and other
officers in the county of Massac, who were opposed to the pro-
ceedings of the regulators, and not over zealous in enforcing
the laws. The county of Massac gave about five hundred votes,
and out of these John W. Read, the successful candidate for
sheriff, received about three hundred majority. His opponent
was a wealthy citizen, and, as it appeared, not very popular, but
his influence over his friends was almost unlimited. There was
another unsuccessful candidate for county clerk, of the same
description. These two put themselves at the head of their
friends in Pope and Massac. And being assisted by large
numbers from Paducah and Smithland, in Kentucky, they pro-
ceeded to drive out and punish all suspected persons, and to
torture them, to force them to confess and disclose the names
of their confederates. By this means the numbers implicated
in crime were increased every day. The mode of torture ap-
plied to these people, was to take them to the Ohio river, and
hold them under water, until they showed a willingness to con-
fess. Others had ropes tied around their bodies over their
arms, and a stick twisted into the ropes until their ribs and
sides were crushed in by force of the pressure. Some of the
persons who were maltreated in this way, obtained warrants
for the arrest of the regulators. These warrants were put into
the hands of the sheriff, who arrested some of the offenders ;
but the persons arrested were rescued out of jail in a short time

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 439

by their friends. Shortly after this, the regulators ordered the
sheriff and county clerk, together with the magistrate who issued
the warrants, to leave the country, under the penalty of severe
corporal punishment. It appears that by means of torture and
bribery, some notorious rogues had been induced to accuse the
sheriff, the county clerk, and the magistrate, of being members
of the gang of robbers ; and it was upon this pretext that they
were ordered to leave the country.

In this condition of things, application was made in August
1846, to the governor, for a militia force to sustain the con-
stituted authorities of Massac. This disturbance being at a dis-
tance of two hundred and fifty miles from the seat of govern-
ment, and in a part of the country between which and the seat
of government there was but very little communication, the
facts concerning it were but imperfectly known to the governor,
for which reason he issued an order to Brigadier-General John
T. Davis, of Williamson county, to examine into it, and if he
judged it necessary to call out the militia. Gen. Davis pro-
ceeded to Massac, called the parties together, and, as he be-
lieved, induced them to settle their difficulties ; but he had no
sooner left the county, than violence broke out afresh. The
regulators came down from Pope, and over from Kentucky,
and drove out the sheriff, the county clerk, the representative
elect to the legislature, and many others ; they committed ac-
tual violence by whipping a considerable number, and threat-
ened summary punishment to every one, rogue or honest man,
who spoke against their proceedings. This is the great evil of
lynch law. The lynchers set out with the moderate and hon-
est intention of exterminating notorious rogues only. But as
they proceed, they find opposition from many honest persons,
who can never divest themselves of the belief, that the laws of
the country are amply sufficient for the punishment and pre-
vention of crime. The lynchers then have to maintain their
assumed authority, in opposition to law and regular govern-

440 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

ment, and they are apt to be no less arbitrary and violent in
so doing, than tyranny generally is in maintaining its preten-
sions. For this reason they think they must crush all opposi-
tion, and in this mode, that which at first was merely a war
between honest men and rogues, is converted into a war be-
tween honest men alone, one party contending for the supremacy
of the laws, and the other maintaining its own assumed authority.
Not long after these events, the circuit court was held for
Massac. Judge Scates delivered a strong charge to the grand
jury against the proceedings of the regulators ; the grand jury
found indictments against a number of them. Warrants were
issued upon the indictments ; quite a number were arrested by
the sheriff and committed to jail. The regulators assembled
from Kentucky and the neighboring counties in Illinois, with
the avowed intention of releasing the prisoners. They threat-
ened to lynch Judge Scates, if he ever returned again to hold
court in Massac ; and they ordered the members of the grand
jury and the witnesses before them, to leave the country under
pain of corporal punishment. The sheriff set about summoning
a posse to secure his prisoners, to resist the regulators, and to
maintain the authority of government. But now was the reign
of terror indeed. The regulators by their violence had struck
terror into all moderate men, who, although they disapproved
of their proceedings, were afraid to join the sheriff, for fear of
being involved in the fate of the horse-thieves. These moder-
ate men, who disapproved of the proceedings of the regulators,
were in a majority of three to one in the county ; but such is
the inefficiency of moderate men, that one bold daring man of
violence can generally overawe and terrify a dozen of them.
For this reason the sheriff failed to raise a force among the
reputable moderate men of the county, and was joined only, for
the most part, by sixty or seventy men, who had been ordered
to leave the country, many of whom were known to be noto-
rious rogues.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 441

The regulators marched down to Metropolis city, the county
seat of Massac, in much greater force. A parley ensued be-
tween the sheriff's party and the regulators ; and it was finally
agreed that the sheriff's party should surrender under a promise
of exemption from violence. The regulators then took possess-
ion of the jail, liberated their friends confined in it, carried sev-
eral of the sheriff's posse along with them as prisoners, and
murdered some of them, by drowning them in the Ohio river.
The sheriff and all his active friends were again ordered to leave,
and were driven out of the country.

The sheriff, the representative to the legislature, and another
gentleman, then proceeded to see the governor, who was then
at Nauvoo, in Hancock county, with a military force, endeavor-
ing to reinstate the exiled citizens of Hancock. As he was now
within twenty days of the expiration of his office, he was lothe
to begin measures with the Massac rioters, which he feared
might not be approved or pursued by his successor. Besides
this, from all former experience, he was perfectly certain that
it would be entirely useless to order out the militia for the pro-
tection of horse-thieves. He well knew that the militia could
not be raised for such a purpose. He therefore issued an order
to Dr. William J. Gibbs, of Johnson county, authorizing him
to call upon the militia officers in some of the neighboring coun-
ties, for a force to protect the sheriff and other county officers,
the magistrates, the grand jury and the witnesses before them,
and the honest part of the community. Dr. Gibbs proceeded
to Massac, and calling to his assistance two justices of the peace,
he required the regulators to come before them and establish
their charges, so that he could know who were and who were
not rogues, to be put out of the protection of law. The regu-
lators declined appearing before him, wherefore the doctor ad-
judged that there were no rogues in Massac county, and that
all were entitled to protection against the regulators. He pro-
ceeded to call for the militia of Union and other counties ; but

19*

442 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

notwithstanding the doctor had adjudged that there were no
rogues in Massac, the militia knew to the contrary, and as was
foreseen by the governor, the militia refused to turn out for
their protection. Thus the regulators were again left undis-
puted masters of the county. They now assembled themselves
together, caught a number of suspected persons, and tried them
by a committee ; some were acquitted, others convicted, and
were whipped or tarred and feathered. The numbers impli-
cated with the counterfeiters, increased rather than diminished.
Many persons who had before been considered honest men,
were now implicated, which increased the excitement. Many
who were formerly in favor of the regulators, now left them,
and disapproved of their conduct. The one party was called
" Regulators," the other " Flatheads."

A party of about twenty regulators went to the house of an
old man named Mathis, to arrest him and force him to give
evidence of the guilt of certain persons of the neighborhood,
and of some who had been inmates of his house. He and his
wife resisted the arrest. The old woman being unusually
strong and active, knocked down one or two of the party with
her fists. A gun was then presented to her breast accompanied
by a threat of blowing her heart out if she continued her re-
sistance. She caught the gun and shoved it downwards, when
it went off and shot her through the thigh. She was also
struck several blows on the head with the gun-barrel, inflicting
considerable wounds, knocking her down, in her turn. The par-
ty captured the old man Mathis and carried him away with
them, since which time he has not been heard of, but is sup-
posed to have been murdered. The regulators say that the
shooting of the old lady was accidental, She made the proper
affidavit for the purpose of having the perpetrators of the crime
arrested. The proper authorities succeeded in arresting about
ten of them. They were carried to the Metropolis house in
Metropolis city, and there placed under a guard, while search

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 443

was made for the old man Mathis, who was desired as a witness
against the prisoners. The news of their arrest having gone
abroad, it was rumored all over the country that the Flatheads
intended to put them to death if they failed to convict them.
This brought out a large force of regulators for the avowed pur-
pose of rescuing the prisoners. They marched to Metropolis
city, where they found the sheriff with a party about as numer-
ous as their own. Various attempts to compromise the diffi-
culty without the effusion of blood were made ; but this could
be effected only by the unconditional release of the prisoners.
After getting their friends from the sheriff's party, the regulators
arrested several of the sheriff's guards and delivered them to the
Kentuckians, to be dealt with as they saw proper. In attempt-
ing to arrest one man they fired at him twice without injury,
when he surrendered ; and as he was lead down stairs he was
stabbed from behind by one of the regulators ; and he having
screamed murder in consequence of his wound, a Methodist
preacher who commanded one of the regulating companies ex-
claimed, " Now they are using them as they should be." * The
wounded man was said to be respectable, and upon good
authority, was represented to be an honest, industrious young
man. The man who stabbed him had before had a personal
difficulty with him, and sought this means of getting revenged.
Thus it is, when regular government is prostrated and the laws
trampled under foot, apparently for the best of purposes, men
will avail themselves of the prevalent anarchy to revenge their
private quarrels ; in a short time the original purpose for which
force is resorted to will be forgotten ; and instead of punishing
horse-thieves and robbers, those who drop the law and resort
to force, soon find themselves fiercely contending to revenge
injuries and insults, and to maintain their assumed authority.
The prisoners taken away by the Kentuckians were mostly

* See volume of Illinois Reports for 1846-"7, p. 96. Senate Documents.

444 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

suspicious characters ; one of them resided in Lasalle county
near the Illinois river, but had resided several months at Me-
tropolis in settling the affairs of an estate, and whose only of-
fence was that he had -taken an active part in arresting and
securing the prisoners just now released. He was tied together
with the other prisoners, and all of them taken off towards Pa-
ducah. Letters were received from the regulators by their
friends in Springfield, in which they give an account of what
they had done with several of these persons. They wrote that
several of them " had gone to Arkansas," by which was under-
stood that they had drowned their prisoners in the Ohio river,
and left their bodies to float with -the current in the direction to
Arkansas. On the 23d of December, 1846, a convention of
regulators from the counties of Pope, Massac and Johnson, met
at Golconda, and ordered the sheriff of Massac, the clerk of the
county court, and many other citizens, to leave the country
within thirty days. The sheriff and many others left the coun-
try, and were absent all winter. The new governor and the
legislature then in session, were busy all winter in devising
measures to suppress these disturbances ; but nothing effectual
was done. The legislature passed a law, the constitutionality
of which was doubted by many, authorizing the governor when
he was satisfied that a crime had been committed by twenty
persons or more, to issue his proclamation ; and then the judge
of the circuit was authorized to hold a district court in a large
district, embracing several counties. By this means it was
sought to evade the constitution and take the trial out of the
county where the crime was committed, against the will of the
accused. In other words, it was believed that in this indirect
mode the State could entitle itself to a change of venue in crim-
inal cases, against the will of the prisoner. Our former expe-
rience had abundantly showed that when crimes had been com-
mitted by powerful combinations of men, the guilty never could
be convicted in the counties in which the crimes had been com-

HISTOBY OF ILLINOIS. 445

mitted. I have never learned whether any proceedings have
taken place under the law ; but so it is, no one has yet been
punished ; the disturbances in Massac have died away. And
whether they died away naturally, being obliged like every-
thing else, to come to an end, or whether the rioters were de-
terred by the provisions of Jthe foregoing act of the legislature,
is unknown to the author.

In the conclusion of this history, the author must be permit-
ted to indulge in a slight restrospection of the past. In 1842,
when he came into office, the State was in debt about $14,000,-
000, for moneys wasted upon internal improvements and in
banking; the domestic treasury of the State was in arrear
$313,000 for the ordinary expenses of government ; auditors'
warrants were freely selling at a discount of fifty per cent. ; the
people were unable to pay even moderate taxes to replenish the
treasury, in which not one cent was contained even to pay
postage on letters to and from the public offices ; the great
canal, after spending five millions of dollars on it, was about to
be abandoned ; the banks, upon which the people had relied for a
currency, had become insolvent, their paper had fallen so low
as to cease to circulate as money, and as yet no other money
had taken its place, leaving the people wholly destitute of a cir-
culating medium, and universally in debt ; immigration to the
State had almost ceased ; real estate was wholly unsaleable ;
the people abroad terrified by the prospect of high taxation, re-
fused to come amongst us for settlement ; and our own people at
home were no less alarmed and terrified at the magnitude of
our debt, then apparently so much exceeding any known re-
sources of the country. Many were driven to absolute despair
of ever paying a cent of it ; and it would have required but
little countenance and encouragement in the then disheartened
and wavering condition of the public mind to have plunged the

446 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

State into the irretrievable infamy of open repudiation. This
is by no means an exaggerated picture of our affairs in 1842.

In December, 1846, when the author went out of office, the
domestic debt of the treasury, instead of being $313,000 was
only $31,000, with $9,000 in the treasury ; auditors' warrants
were at par, or very nearly so ; the banks had been put into
liquidation in a manner just to all parties, and so as to maintain'
the character of the State for moderation and integrity ; violent
counsels were rejected ; the notes of the banks had entirely dis-
appeared, and had been replaced in circulation by a reasonable
abundance of gold and silver coin and the notes of solvent
banks of other States ; the people had very generally paid their
private debts ; a very considerable portion of the State debt
had been paid also ; about three millions of dollars had been
paid by a sale of the public property, and by putting the bank
into liquidation ; and a sum of five millions more had been ef-
fectually provided for to be paid after the completion of the
canal ; being a reduction of eight millions of the State debt
which had been paid, redeemed, or provided for, whilst the au-
thor was in office. The State itself, although broken, and at
one time discredited, and a by-word throughout the civilized
world, had to the astonishment of every one been able to bor-
row on the credit of its property, the further sum of $1,600,000
to finish the canal ; and that great work, at one time so hopeless
and so nearly abandoned, is now in a fair way of completion.

The people abroad have once more begun to seek this good-
ly land for their future homes. From 1843 until 1846, our
population rapidly increased ; and is now increasing faster than
it ever did before. Our own people have become contented
and happy ; and the former discredit resting upon them abroad
for supposed wilful delinquency in paying the State debt, no
longer exists.

It is a just pride and a high satisfaction for the author to feel
and know that he has been somewhat instrumental in produc-

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 447

ing these gratifying results. In this history he has detailed all
the measures of the legislature which produced them ; and if
these measures did not all originate with him, he can rightfully
and justly claim that he supported them with all his power and
influence, and has faithfully endeavored to carry them out with
the best ability he could command. For so doing, he has had
to encounter bitter opposition to his administration ; and enmi-
ties have sprung up personally against himself which he hopes
will not last forever. For although he wants no office, yet is
he possessed of such sensibility, that it is painful to him to be
the subject of unmerited obloquy ; and for this reason, and this
alone, he hopes that when those of his fellow-citizens who disap-
proved of his administration in these particulars, have time to
look into the merits of these measures, and see how they have
lifted the State from the lowest abyss of despair and gloom to
a commanding and honorable position among her sisters of the
Union, they will not remember their wrath forever.

THE END.

IVISON & PHINNEY'S PUBLICATIONS.

DAY AND THOMSON'S MATHEMATICAL SERIES,

FOR SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES.

I. TABLE BOOK. (Revised and Enlarged.) This work

is designed for Primary Schools in which the elementary steps of Arithmetic are
usually taught orally or by dictation. It is constructed upon the plan, that as soon
as a pupil learns a fact or principle in Arithmetic, he should be taught its applica-
tion and begin to practice it. To this end the Tables, both in Simple and Com-
pound Numbers, are first made familiar by mental exercises, and then are applied
to exercises upon the slate.

H. MENTAL ARITHMETIC; or, First Lessons in

Numbers. (Revised and Enlarged.) This work is designed to furnish a series of
Mental Exercises in Numbers, adapted to the capacities of beginners. It com-
mences with practical examples relating to objects with which children are famil-
iar ; the numbers at first are small, the transitions gradual, and the first question
involving a new principle is carefully analyzed so as to afford a model of reasoning
for the solution of similar examples. It contains all the Tables in Simple and Com-
pound Numbers.

m. RUDIMENTS OF ARITHMETIC ; or, Slate and

Blackboard Exercises. (Revised and Enlarged.) This work is designed for begin-
ners in Written Arithmetic, and carries them through the Compound Rules.

IV. ARITHMETICAL ANALYSIS; or, Higher Mental

Arithmetic. This work is designed as a Sequel to the First Lessons in Numbers,
and is calculated for older pupils, or those who have had some practice in Intellect-
ual Arithmetic. It takes up the subject where that work leaves it, and applies the
pri nci pies of Analysis to the solution of a great variety of examples not found in other
works of the kind.

Y. PRACTICAL ARITHMETIC. (Revised and En-

larged.) The Practical Arithmetic has just been carefully revised and re-stereotyped.
Several hundred new and ingenious examples have been added, with many other
improvements. This work is designed for general use in Public Schools and Acade-
mies, and contains all the subjects requisite to a thorough business and professional
education In the language of a distinguished teacher, " In nearly every Article, some-
thing is gained in the mode of presenting the subject, perspicuity and precision
being remarkable throughout."

*% This is the first school book in which the standard units of Weights and Meas-
ures adapted by our government, in 1834, were published.

YI. KEY TO PRACTICAL ARITHMETIC. (Revised

and Enlarged.) This work is prepared for the use of Teachers only. In addition
to the answers, it exhibits the method of solving most of the examples, with the
results of the several steps in the operation.

YII. HIGHER ARITHMETIC. This work is intended

for advanced classes in Schools and Academies. It gives a full development of
the philosophy of Arithmetic and its various applications to commercial and scien-
tific purposes.

»% The fact that the Higher Arithmetic is adopted as a Text book in examining
students for admission into Yale College, is a practical recommendation of the work,
which teachers and the friends of that venerable institution cannot fail to appreciate.

IVISON & PHINNEY'S PUBLICATIONS.

Yin. KEY TO HIGHEE AKITHMETIC. This work

is prepared for the use of Teachers only. Besides the answers to all the questions,

it exhibits the mode of solving the more difficult examples, with the results of the

several steps in the operation.

»% Each of the above Arithmetics is complete in itself. While the language of
the rules and definitions of the same thing is purposely the same, the examples in each
are all different from those in the others. This is a dictate of common sense, and it is
believed will meet the approbation of every practical teacher.

IX. PLANE TKIGONOMETKY, AND MENSUKA-

TION OF HEIGHTS AND DISTANCES ; with a summary view of
the Nature and Use of Logarithms ; — Adapted to the method of
instruction in Schools and Academies.

X. ELEMENTS OF SUEYEYING ;— Adapted both

to the wants of the learner and the practical Surveyor. (Pub-
lished soon.)

Distinctive characteristics of Day and Thomson's Series.

1. It is designed to cover the whole ground.

2. It is eminently practical.

3. The definitions and rules are simple, brief, and comprehensive.

4. The subjects are arranged according to the natural order of the science. Hence,

5. It has been a cardinal point never to anticipate a principle or rule ; and,never to
use one principle in the explanation of another until it has itself been explained or de-
monstrated.

6. The principles are arranged consecutively, and the dependence of each on those
that

t precede it, is pointed out by references.

7. The examples for illustration are practical and in point.

8. The series is constructed upon the principle, that there is

The series is constructed upon the principle, that there is a reason for every rule
and operation ; and that this reason should be brought within the reach and comprehen-
sion of the learner. To this end,

9. Nothing is taken for granted which requires proof.

10. Each principle is carefully analyzed, and followed by sufficient examples to
make its application thoroughly understood.

11. The modes of analysis and reasoning are clear and logical.

12. The " whys and wherefores" of the rules and operations are fully given.

13. The rules, as far as possible, are constructed in such a manner as to suggest the
principles upon which they are based.

14. The examples and problems are numerous and progressively arranged.

15. Last, though not least, the series contains much valuable information pertaining
to business transactions and matters of science, not found in other works of the kind.

f % The circulation of Thomson's Arithmetics, during the brief period since their
publication, is believed to be without a parallel, and the rapidly increasing demand for
them is the strongest evidence of their superior merits.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

Among the numerous recommendations in favor of this series, the
publishers respectfully invite attention to the following : —

From H. W. FARNS WORTH, A.M., Principal of New London Female Academy, Ct.

Dear Sir :— I have been and am now too busy to give in detail my reasons for con-
sidering "Thomson's Revised Practical Arithmetic" the best book of its class now in
use. The best evidence I can give of the estimation in which I hold the book, is the
fact, that it is now the text book of the Academy of which I have the charge. I am,
very respectfully, yours, H. W. FARNSWORTH.

New London, Ct., Dec. 14tb, 1853.

IVISON & PHINNEY'S PUBLICATIONS.

From the Teachers of the Female Normal School of the City of New York.
The undersigned have cart-fully examined "Thomson's Revised Practical Arith-
metic," and take pleasure in staling that its definitions and rules are simple, concise, and
comprehensive ; its modes of reasoning and analysis are clear and logical, and the rea-
sons for the rules full and satisfactory.

We have used the former edition of this work for several years past with much sat-
isfaction ; but the Revised edition just issued is enriched by the addition of several hun-
dred new and well selected examples ; also by a number of important principles re-
specting Domestic and Foreign Exchange, Equations of Payments, Duties, &c., with
much valuable information pertaining jo business transactions and matters of science,
not to be found in other books of the kind.

LEONARD HAZELTINB, HENRY KIDDLE,

WM. BELDEN, J. H. FANNING,

DAVID B. SCOTT, J. H. PARTRIDGE.

New York, Dec. 15th, 1853.

From A. W. JOHNSTON, Esq., Principal of Canton Academy, N. Y.
I think " Thomson's Revised Practical Arithmetic" the best Arithmetic published.

From A. L. MACDCFF, A.M., Principal of Bergen Academy, N. J.
Gentlemen:— I have examined the Revised Edition of "Thomson's Practical Arith-
metic" with great pleasure. The perspicuity of its arrangement, its easy and beautiful
connectedness, combined with its happy adaptation to the purposes of practical busi-
ness, render it the ne plus ultra of Arithmetics.

From N. P. STANTON, A.M.., Principal of Brockport Collegiate Institute, N. Y.
" Thomson's Practical Arithmetic" has been the text book in the schools under my
charge in the cities of Syracuse and Buffalo, also in the institution over which I am now
placed. In my opinion, it excelled all other Arithmetics at the time of its first publica-
tion, and the revised edition has no equal. N. P. STANTON.
Brockport, N. Y., Dec. 24th, 1853.

From D. MACAULEY, Esb., Chairman of Book Committee, Public Schools, City of

New Orleans.

Thomson's works require only to be known to be introduced into schools in which
Arithmetic is considered an important branch of study. We have examined them
carefully, and have no hesitation in pronouncing them admirably fitted for schools of
every description, and superior, as a whole, to any we have yet seen.
New Orleans, Nov. 9th, 1853.

From A. D. STANLEY, A.M., Prof. Mathematics, Yale College.
Thomson's " Practical Arithmetic" commends itself to teachers for the clearness
and precision with which its rules and principles are stated, for the number and variety
of examples it furnishes as exercises for the pupil, and especially for the care which the
author has taken to present appropriate suggestions and observations, wherever they
are needed to clear up any difficulties that are likely to embarrass the learner. In rec-
ommending the work as a class book for pupils, it is not unimportant to state, that the
author has himself had much experience in the business of instruction, and has thus had
occasion lo know where there was room for improvement in the elementary treatises in
common use. Without such experience, no one can be qualified to prepare a class book
for schools.

From the Principals of the Public Schools, Albany, N. Y.

Within the last few years, no less than ten different systems of Arithmetic have
been more or less used in our schools. About two years since, in view of this evil, we
examined several of the more prominent Arithmetics, and agreed with perfect unanim-
ity upon Thomson's series, as the best adapted to the wants of the pupil, and the gen-
eral purposes of instruction.

We are happy to say, that after a trial of more than two years, we are confirmed as
to the excellency of the books, that they have grown in favor by daily use, and that we
have succeeded in making belter arithmeticians than by the use of any other books
SAMUEL STEEL, A. T. BALDWIN,

J. W. BULKLKY, WM. H. HUGHES,

WM. JANES, WM. L. MARTIN,

ROBERT TRUMBULL, THOS. W. VALENTINE,

E. S. ADAMS, JOEL MARBLE.

From Rev. S. J. MAY, late Prin. State Normal School, Lexington, Mass.
I have given some time to the examiuation of Thomson's " Practical Arithmetic,"
and am happy in being able to speak of it in terms of high commendation. The plan
is excellent, and the execution of the plan thorough.

IVISON & PHINNEY'S PUBLICATIONS.

From A. S. WELCH, A.B., Principal of Jonesville Union School.
I have used Thomson's Arithmetics nearly one year in the Institution under my
charge, and, as I think, thoroughly tested their excellence. In arrangement, perspicuity,
and precision, they furnish a complete remedy for the defects in all other systems. I
heartily wish that they could be introduced into all our Schools.

From N. W. BUTTS, Graduate of N. Y. State Normal School, Principal of Flint

Union School.

I have given Thomson's Arithmetics a thorough examination, and I am prepared to
say that their equal is nowhere to be found. They are all developed at the right place,
and in the right way to be grasped by the pupil, and suitably to impress his mind.

From Rev. SAM. NEWBURY, Jaekson, Agent for National Board of Popular Education.
These Arithmetics are preferable to any others with which 1 am acquainted, and
are eminently well adapted to school purposes.

From the Principals of the Public Schools, New Haven, Ct.

I have given Thomson's " Practical Arithmetic" as careful a perusal as my time
would permit. I think it a work of very great merit. The plan of it, which has been
ably carried out, appears to me to be natural and philosophical. The definitions and
rules are exceedingly clear, and will be easily understood by those for whose instruction
they are designed. Suffice it to say, that I consider it the bent of all the excellent works
of the kind with which I am acquainted. J. E. LOVKLL.

We fully concur in Mr. Lovell's views respecting Thomson's "Practical Arithme-
tic," and are gratified to know that the Board of Visitors have adopted it for the Public
Schools of thia city. PRELATE DEMICK.

WM. H. WAY.

From N. L. GALLUP, C. HARRIS, GEO. B. COOK, Esqs., Principals of the Public Schools,

Hartford, Ct,

Having carefully examined Thomson's "Practical Arithmetic," with special refert
ence to its adaptation to the wants of our pupils, we are convinced of its superiori-y
over any other work of the kind which has fallen under our observation.

From C. H. ANTHONY. A.M., Principal of Albany Classical Institute, N. Y.
I have never before had so many good arithmeticians under my charge as I have
since I began to use Thomson's " Practical" and " Higher" Arithmetics.

From L. WETHERELL, A.M., Prof, of Math., Collegiate Institute, Rochester, N. T.

I have been using Thomson's " Practical Arithmetic" about a year and a half, and
it gives me pleasure to say, that I find it the best book of the kind that I have ever
used.

From Prof. N. W. BENEDICT, A.M., Rochester Collegiate Institute, N. T.
After a constant use of Thomson's " Practical" and " Higher" Arithmetics in this
Institution for several years, I believe them to be the best books extant, in the depart-
ment to which they belong.

From GEO. G. ROONEY, Esq., Principal of Trenton Grammar School, N. J.
I have formed a class in Thomson's " Higher Arithmetic," and am perfectly satis-
fied that it is just such a text book as every grammar school needs.

From M. WEED, A.M., Principal of Hamilton Academy, N. T.
I have examined with great care and deep interest Thomson's " Higher Arith-
metic," and am prepared to speak with unqualified favor in its behalf. I adopted it
for my teachers' class the autumn past, and can truly say, I never had a book gain so
great favor with a class so well prepared to judge. Both in matter and manner I think
it an admirable book,

From J. W. EARLE, A.M., Principal of Springville Academy, N. Y.
I have found Thomson's " Higher Arithmetic" everything I could wish. It is by
far the best work of the kind that has ever been published, in my opinion.

From S. M. TRACY, A.B., Principal of Syracuse Academy, N. Y.
Thomson's " Practical Arithmetic" has been used by me with marked success.
The matter is simply and judiciously arranged. As a whole, I consider it superior to
any work of the kind I have seen.

From E. D. BARBOUR, Principal of Delcvan High School, Wisconsin.
Thomson's Arithmetics are to be desired as text books above all works on the same
subject.

IVISON & PHINNEY'S PUBLICATIONS.

From W. L. EATON, Prof. Mathematics, Kalamazoo Branch University, Mich.

I have lately been examining several works on the subject of Arithmetic, (among
them Adams', Davies', Perkins', &c.,) with a view to determine their relative merits,
and I must give my unhesitating and decided preference for Thomson's Scries.

From G. P. WILLIAMS, A.M., Prof, of Mathematics in the University of Michigan.

I have examined the "Higher Arithmetic" by James B. Thomson, A.M., and do not
hesitate to say, that it gives a more full and complete development of the philosophy of
Arithmetic, and its application to commercial and business purposes, than any work of
the kind with which I am acquainted.

Resolution of the Board of Education for the City of Detroit, Mich.
Resolved, That Thomson's Series of Arithmetics be adopted as text books in the
Public Schools of this city.

From WM. H. FRANCIS, Principal of the Union School, Detroit.
I am of opinion, after fully testing them — having taken classes through the " Prac-
tical" and " Higher" — that no other text books extant afford equal facilities for acquir-
ing arithmetical knowledge.

From F. P. CUMMINS, A.M., Prof, of Languages in Laporte University, Indiana.

Permit me to say, after a careful examination, that Thomson's Arithmetics are the
very best that have been presented to the literary public ; and as such, I have cordially
adopted them, and would recommend them to the favorable notice of teachers in the
West.

From Prof. EDWARD DANIELS, Geologist to the State of Wisconsin.
I have examined Thomson's Series of Arithmetics, and regard them excellent books
of their kind— far better than Ray's. Thomson's " Higher Arithmetic" is a matchless
book, and should be in the hands of every advanced arithmetical student.

From Prof. C. T. HINMAN, Prin. of the Wesleyan Seminary, Albion, Mich.
Thomson's Arithmetics are the best extant. We have introduced them into our
Seminary.

From A. W. INGALLS, Esq., Principal of Public School, Chicago, III.
I have no hesitation in saying that I consider each number in Thomson's Series of
Arithmetics unrivaled.

I fully concur with the above.

H. J. SKIFF, Prin. Chicago Academy.

From Prof. C. C. OLDS, Prin. of Rock River Seminary, Mount Morris, III.
I have, with much pleasure, examined Thomson's " Practical Arithmetic." It is
admirably adapted to meet the wants of our Schools, and eminently worthy of public
patronage. I hope it may meet with great favor in the growing West, and be regarded
in its true light, as the best Arithmetic yet before the public.

From C. S. RICHARDS, A.M., Prin. Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, JV. H.
We can give no higher recommendation of Thomson's " Practical Arithmetic" than
to say that, after a careful comparison with many other *w«rks of the kind, we intro-
duced it into our Academy a year and a half since. It has exceeded our first estimation
of its excellence, and we'would exchange it for no other text book of the kind with
which we are acquainted.

From J. L. SPENCER, A.B., Principal of Amherst Academy, Mass.
No one can examine Thomson's "Practical Arithmetic," without being convinced
that too much has not been said in its favor. I know of no treatise on Arithmetic so
complete in its arrangement ; none in which the principles are stated with such clear-
ness and precision.

From B. M. HANCE, A.M., Principal of Adrian Union Seminary.
I have critically examined Thomson's Arithmetics, and feel no hesitation in saying
that they are the best text books upon the subject of Arithmetic with which I am ac-
quainted. I have introduced them into the Seminary.

From Porf. ORAMKL HASFORD, of Olivet Institute.

I have no hesitation in saying that Thomson's "Higher" and "Practical" Arith-
metics give a more complete and definite idea of the nature and relations of numbers,
together with their application to business transactions, than any other works which
have as yet been presented to the public.

IVISON & PHINNEY'S PUBLICATIONS.

From Prof. S. S. GREEN, Brown University, late Prin. of Phillips'' Grammar School,

Boston, Mass.

I am particularly pleased with the practical character of Thomson's "Practical
Arithmetic," the systematic and natural arrange: uent of its parts, the exactness of the
definitions, the clearness with which the principles are explained and illustrated, and
the concise, yet explicit language, with which the rules are stated. Mr. Thomson has
done a good service by removing from the tables of Weights and Measures all de-
nominations out of use, and by introducing those adopted by the General Government.
The work, in fine, is well adapted to the purposes of instruction.

From Rev. C. PIERCE, Prin. State Normal School, West Newton, Mass.
Besides happily setting forth and explaining the common principles of numbers and
their applications, illustrating the same by appiopriate examples both abstract and prac-
tical, Thomson's "Higher Arithmetic" contains many suggestions, in regard to the ua-
ture of numbers and modes of operations, which arc 'ingenious and useful.

From Hon. JUDGE BLACKMAN, A.M, Chairman of the Board of School Visitors of the

City of New Haven, Ct.

I have examined with attention Thomson's " Practical Arithmetic," and consider it
decidedly the best work for inculcating and illustrating the principles and practice of
Arithmetic which I have ever seen.

At a meeti
of New Haven, Ct., duly warned and convened—

rated, That the "Practical Arithmetic," by James B. Thomson, A.M., be prescrib-
ed for use by each school of this society. H. G. LEWIS, Sec.

From the Principals of the Public Schools in the City of New York.
After a careful examination of Thomson's " Practical Arithmetic," we cheerfully
express our hearty approbation of it. Having used the work in our Schools, we are
free to say that we deem it better adapted to the purposes of instruction than any other
text book of the kind with which we are acquainted.

WILLIAM BEL DEN, JOHN PATTERSON, ASA SMITH,

LEONARD HAZELTINE, JOHN H. FANNING, THOMAS P. OKIE,

A. K. VAN VLECK, M. J. O'DONNELL, MARVIN W. Fox,

DAVID PATERSON, GEORGE MOORE, J. A. FERGUSON,

WILLIAM H. REUCK. CHARLES S. PELL, B. G. BRUCE,

NATHANIEL W. STARR. WILLIAM H. WOOD, WILLIAM W. SMITH.

From Hon. IRA MAYHEW, Sup't. of Public Instruction, State of Michigan.

For the last thirteen years I have given special attention to the subject of Arithme-
tic— in the school-room and in the study — with reference to supplying (or seeing sup-
plied) deficiencies in existing works, and obtaining a series adapted to the wants of stu-
dents of all grades— a series scientific in theory and practical in its applications.

After the most careful examination, I am fully satisfied that each volume in the
series under consideration is unrivalled. Taken together, as a WHOLE, I regard Day
and Thomson's Series of Arithmetics the best / have ever seen. I shall recommend
their introduction into the Schools of this State. I trust they will go into general use.

From Prof. D. M. GRAHAM, of Michigan Central College, Spring rfrbor.
lough I was highly gratified with Thomson's " Higher Arithmetic," ut

„.„—_ Higher Arithmetic," upon first ex-
amination. I was unable to appreciate its real worth until I had seen the scholar easily
and rapidly mastering, by its help, the difficult parts of Arithmetic. Our Superintendent
of Public Instruction has not said too much in its behalf.

From Hon. D. L. GREGG, Supt. of Public Schools, Illinois.
Day and Thomson's Series of Arithmetics is the best I have ever seen.

From Hon. NEWTON CLOUD, JOSEPH GILLESPIE, WILLIAM TICHENOR, W. B. PLATO,

and J. P. HANDY, Committee of the State Senate on Education.
We have examined Day and Thomson's Arithmetical Series, and find them supe-
rior to any other works of the kind with which we are acquainted, and think that the
interests of education would be advanced by their introduction, generally, into the Com-
mon and High Schools of the State of Illinois.

We cheerfully and fully concur in the above opinion expressed by the Senate Com-
mittee on education.

HON. WM. M'MURRAY, Lieut. GOT. and Pres. of the Senate.

HON. THOMAS M. KILPATRIC, Pres. of the Illinois State Educational Society.

HON. M. BRAMAN, S. W. ROBBINS, A. CAMPBELL, Executive Committee.

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
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Full text of "A history of Illinois : from its commencement as a state in 1814 to 1847 ; containing a full account of the Black Hawk War, the rise, progress, and fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy riots, and other important and interesing [sic] events"

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