Near two-thirds of a century ago, one of the best-known lawyers in
Illinois was Justin Butterfield. He was one of the most eloquent of
the gifted Whig leaders of the State when the list included such
names as Lincoln, Stuart, Hardin, Browning, Baker, and Linder. He
was the earnest champion of General Zachary Taylor for the Presidency
in 1848, and his party devotion was rewarded by appointment to the
commissionership of the General Land Office. The only appointment
for which Mr. Lincoln was ever an applicant was that given to
Butterfield soon after the inauguration of President Taylor.
Of few lawyers have brighter things ever been told than of
Justin Butterfield. During the fierce anti-Mormon excitement--
which resulted in the destruction of the Nauvoo Temple and the
expulsion of the Mormons from the State--the "Prophet," Joseph
Smith, was placed upon trial for an alleged felony. The Hon.
Nathaniel Pope was the presiding judge, and Butterfield counsel
for Smith. A large audience, including many elegantly dressed
ladies, was in attendance.
When he arose to address the Court, Butterfield with great dignity
began:
"I am profoundly impressed with the solemnity of the situation and
the awful responsibility resting upon me. I stand in the presence
of his Holiness the Pope, surrounded by angels, _to speak in defence
of the Lord's anointed Prophet!"_
While in active practice, Butterfield was upon one occasion opposing
counsel to the Hon. David A. Smith in the Supreme Court of the
State. The latter had concluded his argument and with head resting
upon the table in front, had fallen asleep while Butterfield was
speaking. A gleam of sunlight which had found its way through the
window opposite, had fallen upon the very bald head of Smith,
causing it to shine with unwonted brilliancy. Suddenly pausing
and with arm extended toward his sleeping antagonist, Butterfield
solemnly observed:
"The light shineth upon the darkness _and the darkness comprehendeth
it not!"_
As the Old State Bank was about to expire by reason of limitation,
the General Assembly passed a bill extending its corporate life
fifteen years. In litigation in which Butterfield was counsel,
the legal effect of the Act mentioned being involved, the opposing
counsel insisted that the legal effect of said Act was the creation
of a _new_ bank. Butterfield in reply insisted that "a new bank
had not been created, but simply the life of the old one prolonged.
A case in point, your Honor, precisely 'on all-fours' with this,
is the well-authenticated one of the good Hezekiah when the Lord
lengthened out his life fifteen years for meritorious conduct.
Now, sir, did he thereby make a _new_ Hezekiah, _or did he leave
him just the same old Hezekiah?"_
"GOING OUT WITH THE TIDE"
Soldier, lawyer, and wit was Colonel Phil Lee of Kentucky. When
it is borne in mind that he was of exceedingly small stature the
following incident--one he often related--will be appreciated.
Immediately upon attaining his majority he was a candidate for the
Legislature. On election day he was quietly seated on a barrel in
the room where the election for his precinct was being conducted, when
an old Deacon from the Tan Bark settlement came in to vote. His
choice for the State officers and for Sheriff was called out after
some little parleying as to who were the _best men,_ and the voter
was about to retire, when one of the judges said,
"Deacon, ain't you going to vote for a candidate for the
Legislature?"
"Yas, of course, I like to forgot all about that; who is running
for the Legislature?"
At which Phil, hopping down from the barrel, said, "Deacon, I am
a candidate."
"Who, _you?"_ inquired the Deacon--with half contemptuous gaze
at the diminutive-looking aspirant; then turning to the judge he
said, _"Just put me down for the other fellow!"_
Admitted to the bar at Shepherdsville in his native county of
Bullitt, when barely of age, his first appearance was as attorney for
the plaintiff in a breach-of-promise case of much local celebrity.
His speech held the jury and by-standers literally spellbound, and
it was confidently asserted that the classic banks of Salt River
will probably never witness such flights of eloquence again. At
its close Phil was warmly congratulated by an old Squire from
the "Rolling Fork."
"Phil, that was a mighty fine speech, a mighty fine speech, Phil, now
mind, I tell you. That speech reminded me of Henry Clay."
At the first mention of _that_ name, the Squire was promptly invited
out to take a drink. The first round of hospitality happily
concluded, Phil was in readiness for any additional observations
from the Squire.
"Yes, Phil, when you kinder rared back and throwed your right hand
straight up, thinks I, Henry Clay, Henry Clay!"
Whereupon the Squire was without unnecessary delay invited to take
another drink. This accomplished, the Squire still held the floor.
"Yes, Phil, yes, Phil, todes the last when you made that big swoop
with both arms and 'peared like you was gwyen right up to the
rafters, thinks I, Shore 'nough, Henry Clay come back from his
grave!"
As flesh and blood could not stand everything, the old Squire
was promptly invited to take another drink. Number three being
property placed to his credit, the Squire continued:
"Yes, Phil, you peared to me to be Henry Clay right over again
_with jist one leetle difference."_
At this Mr. Lee, curious to know what could be the _one_ possible little
difference, when there were so many points of resemblance between two
such orators as himself and Henry Clay, ventured to inquire. "I
think," said the Squire, "this, Phil,--_you peared to kinder lack his
ideas!"_
And now comes the tragic ending of a brilliant career. Lee, while
Commonwealth's attorney, was in the last stages of that dread
disease, consumption. A murder case was on trial in which he felt
a deep interest. The case was one of unusual atrocity, and the
accused--a man of some local prominence--had been exceedingly
defiant towards the wan and emaciated prosecuting attorney from
its beginning. With much difficulty Colonel Lee succeeded in
getting to the court-room in order to make the closing speech to
the jury. Utterly exhausted,--after depicting the horrible crime in
all its enormity and demanding the extreme penalty of the law upon
its perpetrator,--at its close, in tones that touched the hearts
of all who heard him, he exclaimed:
"Gentlemen of the jury, I have prosecuted the pleas of this
Commonwealth until the blood has dried up in my veins, and the
flesh has perished from my bones!"
These were his _last_ words--and his life went out that same night
just as the clock struck twelve. At the self-same hour the steps of
the jury were heard slowly ascending to the court-room which had
witnessed his last effort--their verdict, _"Guilty, the penalty,
death!"_
LI
THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON
McLEAN COUNTY'S READINESS TO WELCOME HER CHILDREN--HONOR TO THE
EARLY SETTLERS--BEAUTY OF THE COUNTY--ITS PROGRESS--ITS ORGANIZATION
--PRAISE OF JOHN McLEAN--HIS CAREER IN CONGRESS, IN THE ILLINOIS
LEGISLATURE, AND IN THE SENATE--McLEAN COUNTY'S HEROISM--REMINISCENCES
OF THE OLD COURT-HOUSE--FRENCH EXPLORERS IN THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY
--MARQUETTE AND JOLIET EXPLORE THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI--LA SALLE
EXPLORES THE ST. LAWRENCE, THE OHIO, AND THE MISSISSIPPI TO ITS
MOUTH--EXTENT OF FRANCE'S POSSESSIONS IN AMERICA--THE STRUGGLE
BETWEEN FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN--GEORGE R. CLARK CAPTURES KASKASKIA
FROM THE BRITISH--VIRGINIA CEDES TERRITORY, INCLUDING ILLINOIS, TO
THE UNITED STATES--THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE--ILLINOIS ORGANIZED--
SUMMARY OF SUCCEEDING EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
The McLean County (Illinois) "Home-Coming" of June 15, 1907, was
an event of deep significance to all Central Illinois. On that
occasion I delivered the welcoming address, as follows:
"These rare days in July mark an memorable epoch in the history of
this good county. The authoritative proclamation has gone forth
that her house has been put in order, that the latch-string is out
--all things in readiness--and that McLean County would welcome
the return of all her children who have in days past gone out from
her borders.
"In the same joyous and generous spirit in which the welcome was
extended, it has been heeded, and from near and far, from the land
of flowers and of frosts, from the valley of the Osage, the Colorado,
and the Platte, from the golden shores of California, and 'where
rolls the Oregon'--sons and daughters of this grand old county have
gladly turned their footsteps homeward.
"'When they heart has grown weary and thy foot has grown sore,
Remember the pathway that leads to our door.'
"As in the ancient days all roads led to Rome, so in this year
of grace, and in this glorious month of June, all roads lead back to
the old home; to the hearthstones around which cling the tender
memories of childhood, and of loved ones gone--to the little mounds
where sleep the ashes of ancestral dead.
"The 'Home-coming' to which you have been invited will leave its
lasting impress upon all your hearts. The kindly words that
have been spoken, the cordial grasp of the hand, the unbidden tear,
the hospitality extended, have all given assurance that you are
welcome. Here, for the time, let dull care and the perplexities
that environ this mortal life be laid aside, let whatever would in
the slightest mar the delight of this joyous occasion be wholly
forgotten; so that in the distant future, to those who return and to
those who stay, the recollection of these days will be one of
unalloyed pleasure; and so that, when in the years to come we tell
over to our children of the return to the old home, this reunion
will live in our memories as one that, like the old sun-dial,
'marked only the hours which shine.'
"No place so fitting for this home-coming could have been selected
as this beautiful park, where the springing grass, transparent
lake, and magnificent grove--'God's first temple'--seem all to join
in welcoming your return. How, from a mere hamlet, a splendid city
has sprung into being during the years of your absence! No longer
a frontier village, off the great highway of travel, with the mail
reaching it semi-weekly by stage-coach or upon horseback,--as our
fathers and possibly some who now hear me may have known it,--it
is now 'no mean city.' Its past is an inspiration; its future
bright with promise. It is in very truth a delightful dwelling-place
for mortals, and possibly not an unfit abiding-place for saints.
Whoever has walked these streets, known kinship with this people, called
this his home--wherever upon this old earth he may since have
wandered--has in his better moments felt an unconquerable yearning
that no distance or lapse of time could dispel, to retrace his
footsteps and stand once more within the sacred precincts of his
early home. Truly has it been said: 'No man can ever get wholly
away from his ancestors.' Once a Bloomingtonian, and no art of
the enchanter can dissolve the spell. 'Once in grace, always in
grace,' whatever else may betide! Eulogy is exhausted when I
say that this city is worthy to be the seat of justice of the grand
old county of which it is a part.
"Upon occasion such as this, the spirit of the past comes over
us with its mystic power. The years roll back, and splendid farms,
stately homes, magnificent churches, and the marvellous appliances
of modern life are for the moment lost to view. The blooming
prairie, the log cabin nestling near the border-line of grove or
forest, the old water-mill, the cross-roads store, the flintlock
rifle, the mould-board plough, the dinner-horn,--with notes sweeter
than lute or harp ever knew,--are once more in visible presence.
At such an hour little stretch of the imagination is needed to
recall from the shadows forms long since vanished. And what
time more fitting can ever come in which to speak of those who have
gone before,--of the early settlers of this good county?
"It was from the beginning the fit abode for men and women of God's
highest type--and such, indeed, were the pioneers. Their early
struggles, their sacrifices, all they suffered and endured, can
never be fully disclosed. But to them this was truly 'the promised
land'--a land they might not only view, but possess. From New
England, Ohio, the 'Keystone,' and the 'Empire' State, from the
beautiful valley of the Shenandoah and the Commonwealths lying
westward and to the south, came the men and women whose early homes
were near the banks of the little streams and nestled in the shades
of the majestic groves. Here they suffered the hardships and
endured the privations that only the frontiersman might know. Here
beneath humble roofs, their children were born and reared, and here
from hearts that knew no guile ascended the incense of thanksgiving
and praise. The early settlers, the pioneers, the men who laid
the foundations of what our eyes now behold, builded wisely and
well. Their descendants to-day are in large measure the beneficiaries
of all that they so wisely planned, so patiently endured. These
names and something of what they achieved will go down in our annals
to the after times. Peace to their ashes; to their memory all
honor! They were the advance guard--The builders--and faithfully and
well they served their race and time. Upon nobler men and women
the sun in all his course hath nowhere looked down.
"And where upon God's footstool can domain more magnificent than
this good county be found; one better adapted to the habitation of
civilized man? The untrodden prairies of three-quarters of a
century ago, as if touched by the wand of magic, have become splendid
farms. And groves more beautiful the eye of man hath not seen.
"Containing a population of less than two thousand at the time
of its organization, there are more than seventy thousand souls
within the bounds of this good county to-day. The log cabin has
given way to the comfortable home. The value of farm lands and
their products have increased beyond human forecast or dream.
As shown by the last Governmental report, McLean County contains
four thousand eight hundred and seventy-three farms, aggregating
seven hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred and seventy-eight
acres. The corn product for the year 1899 exceeded fifteen millions
of bushels, being near one-twentieth of that of the entire State.
In the value of its agricultural products it is third upon the list
of counties in the United States.
"The life of the farmer is no longer one of drudgery and isolation.
Modern conveniences and appliances have in large measure supplanted
the hard labor of human hands, lessened the hours of daily toil,
and brought the occupant of the farm into closer touch with the
outer world. More than all this, our schoolhouses, universities,
churches, and institutions for the relief of the unfortunate and
dependent, all bear witness to the glad fact that in our material
development the claims of education, of religion, of charity, have
not been forgotten. It is our glory, that in all that tends to human
progress, in all that ministers to human distress, in whatever appeals
to and develops what is best in man, or brings contentment and happiness
to the home--in a word, in the grand march of civilization--McLean
County moves in the van.
"Possibly no occasion more fitting can arise in which briefly to
speak of the organization of McLean County, and something of
important events of its history. At the session of the Legislature
at Vandalia in the winter of 1830-31, a petition--borne to the
State capital by Thomas Orendorff and James Latta--was duly presented,
praying for the organization of a new county to be taken from
Tazewell and Vermilion. The territory embraced in the proposed
county included the present limits of McLean and large portions of
neighboring counties organized at a later day. In accordance with
the petition, a bill was passed, and its approval by the Governor on
the twenty-fifth day of December, 1830, marks the beginning of the
history of this good county.
"The name of 'McLean' was adopted upon the motion of the Hon.
William Lee D. Ewing, some of whose kindred have for many years
been residents of this city. Mr. Ewing had been the close friend of
the man whose name he thus honored, and was himself in later years
a distinguished Senator in Congress.
"By the terms of the bill mentioned, the seat of justice of said
county was to be 'called and known by the name of Bloomington.'
It was further provided that until otherwise ordered the courts of
said county should be held at the house of James Allen. The first
term of the Circuit Court was held in April, 1831, at the place
indicated, the historic 'Stipp House,' but recently standing, a
pathetic reminder of by-gone days. The presiding judge of that
court was the Hon. Samuel D. Lockwood, of Springfield--an able and
eminent jurist of spotless record. By legislative enactment, five
times since its organization, valuable portions of McLean--aggregating
nearly four-sevenths of its original territory--have been carved
in the formation of the counties of Logan, Livingston, Piatt,
De Witt, and Woodford. Notwithstanding all this, McLean County yet
remains--and by constitutional inhibition and the wisdom of our
people will for all time remain--the largest county in the State.
"A word now of the man whose name was upon every invitation to this
home-coming, in honor of whom this county was named, John McLean, one
of the ablest and most distinguished of the first generation of
public men in Illinois. Born in North Carolina in 1791, his early
years were spent in Kentucky. In the last-named State he studied law
and was admitted to the Bar. He removed to Illinois in 1815 and
located in Shawneetown upon the Ohio River for the practice of his
profession. The county of Gallatin, his future home, was then one
of the most populous in the Illinois Territory. In fact, at the
time mentioned, and for some years after the organization of the
State, there were few important settlements one hundred miles north
of the Ohio River.
"In the largest degree Mr. McLean was gifted with the qualities
essential to popular leadership in the new State. He was present at
all public assemblages whether convened for business or pastime,
and a leading spirit in all the amusements and sports of the hour.
But 'men are as the time is.' At all events, if the testimony
of his contemporaries is to be taken, his popularity knew no bounds.
The late General McClernand, his fellow-townsman, said of Mr.
McLean:
"'His personality interested and impressed me. The image of it
still lingers in my memory. Physically, he was well developed,
tall, strong, and stately. Socially, he was affable and genial,
and his conversation sparkled with wit and humor.'
"The following words of another contemporary, Governor Reynolds,
are of interest:
"'Mr. McLean was a man of gigantic mind, of noble and manly form, and
of lofty, dignified bearing. His personality was large, and formed
on that natural excellence which at all times attracted the attention
and admiration of all beholders. The vigor and compass of his
intellect was exceedingly great, and his eloquence flowed in
torrents, deep, strong, and almost irresistible.'
"At the election immediately succeeding the adoption of the
Constitution under which Illinois was admitted into the Union, Mr.
McLean was chosen the Representative in Congress. Soon thereafter,
he presented to the House of Representatives the State Constitution
then recently adopted at Kaskaskia; and upon its formal acceptance
by that body, Mr. McLean was duly admitted to his seat as the first
Representative from Illinois in the Congress of the United States.
He was defeated for re-election by the Hon. Daniel P. Cook, one of
the most gifted men Illinois has known at any period of her history.
"Rarely have men of greater eloquence than Cook and McLean been
antagonists in debate either upon the hustings or in the halls
of legislation. With the people of the entire State for an audience,
the exciting issues of that eventful period were argued with an
eloquence seldom heard in forensic discussion. In very truth, each
was the worthy antagonist of the other. It is not too much to say
that, with the single exception of the masterful intellectual combat
more than a third of a century later between Lincoln and
Douglas, Illinois has been the theatre of no greater debate.
"Upon his retirement from Congress, Mr. McLean was elected to
the Lower House of the Illinois Legislature and subsequently chosen
Speaker of that body. The valuable service he there rendered is
an important part of the early history of the State. He resigned the
speakership in order the more effectually to lead the opposition
to a bill chartering a State bank. His predictions as to the evils
to the state, of which the proposed legislation would be the sure
forerunner, were more than verified by subsequent events. More
than a decade had passed before the people were relieved of the
financial ills which John McLean ineffectually sought to avert.
No other evidence of his statesmanship is needed than his masterly
speech in opposition to the ill-timed legislation I have indicated.
"Apart from the fact that his name is continually upon our lips,
the career of Mr. McLean is well calculated to excite our profound
interest. During the fifteen years of his residence in Illinois, he
held the high position of Representative in Congress, Speaker of
the popular branch of the State Legislature, and was twice elected
to the Senate of the United States. At his last election he received
every vote of the joint session of the General Assembly--an honor of
which few even of the most eminent of our statesmen have been
the recipients.
"His personal integrity was beyond question, and it may truly be
said of him that he ably and faithfully discharged every public
duty. He died at the early age of thirty-nine, the period when,
to most public men, a career of usefulness and distinction has
scarcely begun. Upon the occasion of the announcement of his death
to the Senate his colleague, Senator Kane, paid an eloquent tribute
to his lofty character, his ability, and his worth, and deplored
the loss his State had sustained in his early death.
"He lies buried in the State that had so signally honored him, near
the beautiful river upon whose banks he found a home when Illinois
was yet a wilderness. Such, in brief, was the man McLean, whose
honored name this good county will hand down to the after times.
No higher tribute need be paid to his memory than to say, his name
was worthy of this magnificent domain to which it was given.
"In no part of this broad land has there been more prompt response
than in this to the authoritative call to arms. In the largest
measure McLean County has met every requirement that patriotism
could demand. Full and to overflowing has been her contribution
of means and men.
"In almost the last struggle with the savage foe, as he burned his
wigwam and disappeared before the inexorable advance of civilized men;
in the War with Mexico, by which States were added to our national
domain; in that of the great Rebellion, where the life of the nation
was at stake, and in our recent conflict with Spain--four times
during a history that spans but a single life, McLean County has
sent her full quota of soldiers to the field. Few survive of the
gallant band who stood with Bissell and Hardin at Buena Vista,
or followed Shields and Baker through the burning sands from the
Gulf to the City of Mexico. And at each successive reunion of
comrades in the great civil strife, there are fewer, and yet fewer,
responses to the solemn roll-call.
"'On Fame's eternal camping-ground,
Their silent tents are spread.'
"And what a record is that of this glorious county during the
eventful years of '61-'65! With a population of but forty per cent
of that of to-day, more than four thousand of her brave sons marched
gallantly to the front. They gathered from farm, from shop,
from mart and hall--to die, if need be, that their country might
live. On many fields now historic, where brave men struggled
and died, soldiers from this grand county were steadily in line.
Along every pathway of danger and of glory they were to be found.
In every grade of rank were heroes as knightly as ever fought
beneath a plume. Even to name the heroes that old McLean equipped
for the great conflict would be but to call over her muster rolls of
officers and men.
"The chords of memory are touched as the vision of the Old Courthouse
rises before us. Its walls were the silent witnesses of events
that would make resplendent the pages of history. Here assembled lawyers,
orators, statesmen, whose names have been given to the ages. Here,
at a critical period in our history the great masters of debate
discussed vital questions of state--questions that took hold of
the life of the republic. Here, at times, debate touched the
springs of political power. Here in the high place of authority
sat one destined later to wear the ermine of the greatest court
known to men. During his membership of that court in the eventful
years immediately following the great conflict, questions novel
and far-reaching pressed for determination; questions no less
important than those which had in the infancy of the republic
exhausted the learning of Marshall and its associates. It is
our pride that our townsman, David Davis, was among the ablest
of the great court, by whose adjudication renewed vigor was given to
the Constitution, and enduring safeguards established for national
life and individual liberty.
"To the Old Courthouse in the early days came the talented and
genial James A. McDougall, then just upon the threshold of a brilliant
career, which culminated in his election as a Senator from California;
also John T. Stuart, the able lawyer and gentleman of the old
school. He was a Representative in Congress more than two-thirds of
a century ago, when his district embraced all Central and Northern
Illinois--extending from a line fifty miles south of Springfield to
Chicago and Galena. In Congress he was the political associate
and friend of Webster, of Crittenden, and of Clay. Many years ago,
upon the occasion of Mr. Stuart's last visit to Bloomington, he
told me, as we stood by the old 'Stipp' home, that he there, in
1831, witnessed the beginning of the judicial history of McLean
County, when Judge Lockwood opened its first court. With deep
emotion he added that he was probably the last survivor of those
then assembled, and that his own days were almost numbered. His
words were prophetic, as but a few months elapsed before he,
too, had passed beyond the veil. There came also Edward D. Baker,
Representative from Illinois and Senator from Oregon. To him Nature
had been lavish with her gifts. His eloquence cast a spell about all
who heard him. As was said of the gifted Prentiss: 'the empyrean
height into which he soared was his home, as the upper air the
eagle's.' Our language contains few gems of eloquence comparable to
this wondrous eulogy on the lamented Broderick. His own tragic
death in one of the early battles of the great war cast a gloom over
the nation.
"In his official capacity as prosecuting attorney came also to the
Old Courthouse the youthful Stephen A. Douglas. A born leader
of men, with a courage and eloquence rarely equalled, he was
well equipped for the hurly-burly of our early political conflicts.
Save only in his last great contest, he was a stranger to defeat.
Public Prosecutor, Member of the Legislature, and at the age of
twenty-eight Judge of the Supreme Court of the State; later a
Representative, and at the age of thirty-three a Senator in Congress.
Amid storms of passion such as, please God, we may not see again,
he there held high debate with Seward, Chase, and Sumner; and
measured swords with Tombs, Benjamin, and Jefferson Davis upon
vital issues which, transferred later from forum and from Senate, were
to find bloody arbitrament by arms. Beginning near the spot where
we have to-day assembled, the career of Douglas was indeed marvellous.
Defeated for the great office which had been the goal of his
ambition; amid the war-clouds gathering over the nation, and the
yet darker shadows falling about his couch, he aroused himself
to the last supreme effort, and in words that touched millions of
responsive chords, adjured all who had followed his political
fortunes to know only their country in its hour of peril. With
his pathetic words yet lingering, and 'before manhood's morning
touched its noon,' Douglas passed to the great beyond.
"Out of the shadowy past another form is evoked, familiar once
to some who hear me now. Another name, greater than any yet spoken,
is upon our lips. Of Abraham Lincoln the words of the great orator,
Bossuet, when he pronounced his matchless elegy upon the Prince of
Conde, might truly be spoken:
"'At the moment I open my lips to celebrate the immortal glory
of the Prince of Conde, I find myself equally overwhelmed by the
greatness of the theme and the needlessness of the task. What part
of the habitable globe has not heard of the wonders of his life?
Everywhere they are rehearsed. His own countrymen, in extolling
them, can give no information even to the stranger.'
"Of Lincoln no words can be uttered or withheld that could add
to or detract from his imperishable fame. His name is the
common heritage of all people and all times.
"When in the loom of time have such words been heard above the din
of fierce conflict as his sublime utterances but a brief time before
his tragic death?
"'With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness
in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care
for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and
his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and
lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.'
"The men who knew Abraham Lincoln, who saw him face to face, who
met him upon our streets, and heard his voice in our public
assemblages have, with few exceptions, passed to the grave. Another
generation is upon the busy stage. The book has forever closed
upon the dread pageant of civil strife. Sectional animosities,
thank God, belong now only to the past. The mantle of peace is
over our entire land, and prosperity within all our borders.
"'Till the war-drum throbs no longer,
And the battle-flags are furled
In the parliament of man,
The federation of the world.'
"Through the instrumentality in no small measure of the man personally
known to some who hear me, the man McLean County delighted to honor,
no less as a private citizen than as President, this Government,
untouched by the finger of time, has descended to us. Let it never
be forgotten that the responsibility of its preservation and
transmission will rest upon the successive generations of his
countrymen, as they shall come and go.
"Truly it has been said: 'To-day is the pupil of yesterday,'
and also 'History is the great teacher of human nature by means of
object-lessons drawn from the whole recorded life of human nature.'
There is, then, no dead past. Every event is in a measure significant.
The annals of the ambitions, the crimes, the miseries, the wrongs,
the struggles, the achievements of men in the long past are fraught
with lessons of deep import to all succeeding generations. Each
age is the heir to that which preceded. We make progress in
proportion as we wisely ponder significant events.
"McLean County had its historical beginning as a dependent but
distinct political organization on the joyous Christmas Day of
1830. Stretching backward from that date, its history is bound up
solely in that of Illinois, under its various organizations and
names. A brief time upon occasion such as this given to a hurried
review of the masterful epochs in the history of the great State
of which our own county is so important a part, cannot be wholly
misspent.
"Bearing in mind that 'that which comes after ever conforms to that
which has gone before,' significant events of the past must be
known, to the end that we intelligently comprehend the present,
and are enabled, even in scant measure, to forecast the future.
"No State of the American union has a history of more intense
interest than our own. Its early chapters, indeed, savor of the
romantic rather than of the real. I do not speak of the long-ago time
when Illinois forest and prairie were the house and hunting-ground
of the red men, and his frail bark the only craft known to its
rivers. That period belongs to the border-land age of tradition
rather than of veritable history. It is of Illinois under the
domination of civilized men I would speak.
"For near a century preceding the Treaty of Paris in 1763, 'the
Illinois country' was a part of the French domain. Inseparably
linked with that portion of its history are names that will live
with those of the Cabots and Columbus. The great navigator in his
lonely search for a new pathway to the Indies was buoyed by a
courage, a yearning for discovery, scarce greater than that which in
the heart of the new continent sustained the later voyagers and
discoverers, Marquette, Joliet, Hennepin, and La Salle.
"America's obligation to France is enduring--for explorers in
the seventeenth century no less than for defenders in that which
immediately followed. The historic page which tells of the
lofty heroism of Lafayette has for us no deeper interest than that
which records the daring achievements of the early French pathfinders
and voyagers. Two centuries and a half ago Marquette and
Joliet, bearing the commission of the French Governor of Quebec,
embarked upon their expedition for the discovery of new countries to
the southward. Animated by the earnest desire of extending the
blessings of religion no less than that of adding to the domain of
their imperial master, they set out upon an expedition which has
become historic. The bare recital of what befell them would
fill volumes. Now meeting with the scattered tribes of Indians,
bestowing presents and in turn sharing the hospitality offered;
now speaking words of admonition and of instruction; now gathering
up the crude materials for history; now reverently setting up
the cross in the wilderness; again threading the pathless forests,
or in frail barks sailing unknown waters, they pursued their perilous
journey.
"In time, after looking out upon the waters of Lake Michigan,
crossing Lake Winnebago, visiting the ancient villages of the
Kickapoos, 'with joy indescribable,' as Marquette declared, they
for the first time beheld the Mississippi. In June, 1673, upon
the east bank of the great river, they landed upon the soil of what
is now the State of Illinois. At the little village they first
visited they received hospitable treatment. Its inmates are known
in our early history as 'the Illini'--a word signifying _men._
The euphonic termination added by the Frenchmen gives us the
name Illinois. It is related that, upon the first appearance of
Marquette and Joliet at the door of the principal wigwam of the
village, they were greeted by an aged native with the words: 'The
sun is beautiful, Frenchmen, when you come to visit us; you
shall enter in peace into all our cabins; it is well, my brothers,
you come.' In the light of the marvellous results of the visit,
the words of the aged chieftain seem prophetic. We, too, may say it
was well they came.
"The glory of having discovered the upper Mississippi and the valley
which bears its name belongs to Marquette and Joliet. It was theirs
to add the vast domain under the name 'New France' to the empire
of _le Grand Monarque._ In very truth a princely gift. But no
history of the great valley and the majestic river would be complete
which failed to tell something of the priest and historian, Hennepin,
and of the knightly adventures of the Chevalier La Salle.
"Much, indeed, that is romantic surrounds the entire career of
La Salle. Severing his connection with a theological school in
France, his fortunes were early cast in the New World. From Quebec,
the ancient French capital of this continent, he projected an
expedition which was to add empire to his own country and to cast a
glamour about his own name. It has been said that his dream was
of a western waterway to the Pacific Ocean. In 1669, with an outfit
that had cost him his entire fortune, with a small party he ascended
in canoes the St. Lawrence, and a few weeks later was upon the broad
Ontario. Out of the mists and shadows that enveloped much of
his subsequent career, it were impossible at all times to gather
that which is authentic. It is enough that, with Hennepin as one of
his fellow-voyagers, he reached the Ohio and in due time navigated
the Illinois, meantime visiting many of the ancient villages.
"But his great achievement--and that with which abides his imperishable
fame--was his perilous descent of the Mississippi from the Falls
of St. Anthony to the Gulf of Mexico. On the sixth day of April, 1682,
upon the east bank of the lower Mississippi, with due form and
ceremony and amid the solemn chanting of the _Te Deum_ and the
plaudits of his comrades, La Salle took formal possession of the
Louisiana country in the name of his royal master, Louis the
Fourteenth of France.
"For the period of ninety-two years, beginning with the discoveries
of Marquette and Joliet, the Illinois country was a part of the
French possessions. Sovereignty over the vast domain of which
it was a part was exercised by the French King through his commandant
at Quebec. But as has been truly said, 'The French sought and
claimed more than they had the ability to hold or possess. Their line
of domain extended from the St. Lawrence around the Great Lakes and
through the valley of the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, a
distance of over three thousand miles.' Truly a magnificent domain,
but one destined soon to pass forever from the possession of the
French monarch and his line.
"The hour had struck, and upon the North American continent the
ancient struggle for supremacy between France and her traditional enemy
was to find bloody arbitrament. Great Britain claimed as a part
of her colonial possessions in the New World the territory bordering
upon the Great Lakes and the rich lands of the Ohio and Mississippi
valleys. As to the merits of the French and English contention as
to superior right by discovery or conquest, it were idle now to
argue. Our concern is with the marvellous results of the long-continued
struggle which for all time determined the question of race supremacy
upon this continent.
"Passing rapidly the minor incidents of the varying fortunes of
the stupendous struggle which had been transferred for the time
from the Old World to the New, we reach the hour which was to mark
an epoch in history. The time, the thirteenth of September, 1759;
the place, the Heights of Abraham at Quebec. There and then was
fought out one of the pivotal battles of the ages. It was the
closing act in a great drama. The question to be determined:
Whether the English-speaking race or its hereditary foe was to
be master of the continent. It was in reality a struggle for empire
--the magnificent domain stretching from the St. Lawrence to the
Gulf of Mexico. The incidents of the battle need not now be told.
Never were English or French soldiery led by more knightly captains.
The passing years have not dispelled the romance or dimmed the
glory that gathered about the name of Wolfe and Montcalm. Dying
at the self-same moment--one amid the victors, the other amid the
vanquished--their names live together in history.
"By the treaty of Paris which followed, France surrendered to
her successful rival all claim to the domain east of the Mississippi
River. In accordance with the terms of the treaty, Gage, the
commander of the British forces in America, took formal possession
of the recently conquered territory. Proclamation of this fact
was made to the inhabitants of the Illinois country in 1764, and
a garrison soon thereafter established at Kaskaskia. Here the rule
of the British was for the time undisputed. British domination in
the Mississippi Valley was, however, to be of short duration. Soon
the events were hastening, the forces gathering, which were in turn
to wrest from the crown no small part of the splendid domain won
by Wolfe's brilliant victory at Quebec.
"In this hurried review I reach now an event of transcendent interest
and one far-reaching in its consequences. While our Revolutionary
War was in progress, and its glorious termination yet but dimly
foreshadowed, General George Rogers Clark planned an expedition
whose successful termination has given his name to the list of
great conquerors. Bearing the commission of Patrick Henry, Governor
of Virginia, the heroic Clark crossed the Ohio and began his
perilous march. After enduring untold hardships, the undaunted
leader and his little band reached Kaskaskia. The British commander
and his garrison were surprised and quickly captured. The British
flag was lowered, and on the fourth day of July, 1778, the Illinois
country was taken possession of in the name of the Commonwealth
whose Governor had authorized the expedition.
"Five years later occurred an event of mighty significance, and of
far-reaching consequence--one that in very truth marks the genesis
of Illinois history. I refer to the cession by Virginia of the
vast area stretching to the Mississippi--of which the spot upon
which we are now assembled is a part--to the general Government.
To the deed of cession, by which Illinois became a part of the
United States, as commissioners upon the part of Virginia, were
signed the now historic names of Arthur Lee, James Monroe, and
Thomas Jefferson.
"The next milestone of Illinois upon the pathway to statehood
was what is so well known in our political history as the Ordinance
of 1787. Not inaptly has it been called 'the second Magna Charta,'
'a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night,' in the settlement
and government of the Northwestern States. Two provisions of
the great ordinance possessed a value that cannot be measured by
words: One, that the States to be formed out of said territory
were to remain forever parts of the United States of America;
the other, that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude should
exist therein, otherwise than for crime whereof the party should
have been duly convicted.
"The value of the great Ordinance to millions who have since found
homes within the limits of the vast area embraced within its
provision cannot be overstated. Our eyes behold to-day the marvellous
results of the far-seeing statesmanship in which it was conceived.
"Momentous events now followed in rapid succession: the disastrous
defeat of General St. Clair, first Governor of the Northwest
Territory, near the old Miami village; the appointment of General Wayne,
hero of Stony Point, to the command of the Western army; his crushing
defeat of the Indian foe at the Maumee Rapids, and the treaty of
Greenville, which for the time gave protection to the frontiersmen
against the savage; the attempt of the French minister, Genet,
to create discord in the western country, and in fact to establish
a Government in the Mississippi Valley, independent of that of the
United States; and the threatened conflict with Spain regarding
the free navigation of the Mississippi--all possess an interest to
Illinoisans which time cannot abate.
"All apprehension, however, was for the time removed by the treaty
between our Government and Spain, by which it was provided that
the middle of the Mississippi should be our western border and that
the navigation of the entire river to the Gulf should be free to
all the people of the United States. Passing over the later
faithless attempt of Spain to abrogate this salient provision of
the treaty, it is enough that the question was forever put at rest
by the purchase by our Government in 1803, for fifteen millions of
dollars, from the great Napoleon, of the entire Louisiana country,
stretching from the Gulf to the domain of Canada--out of which have
been carved sixteen magnificent States, destined to abide and remain
forever sovereign parts of our federal Union.
"And while Spain has sustained crushing and retributive defeat and
her flag has disappeared forever from mainland and island of the
western world, the great river, gathering its tributaries from
northern lake to southern sea, flows unvexed through a mighty realm
that knows no symbol of authority save only our own Stars and
Stripes.
"Illinois was represented for the first time in a legislative
chamber in the general assembly of the Northwest Territory,
which convened in Cincinnati in 1799. By act of Congress in
May, 1800, a new territorial organization was created, by which
the territory now embraced in the States of Indiana and Illinois
was formed, to be known as 'Indiana Territory,' and the capital
located at Vincennes. In February, 1809, by act of Congress,
the 'Territory of Illinois' was duly organized, its seat of government
established at Kaskaskia. Nine years later--December, 1818--with a
population scarcely one-half that of McLean County to-day, it
was duly admitted a State of the federal Union.
"Beginning with Illinois at the coming of Joliet and Marquette
in the seventeenth century, we have rapidly followed its thread of
history for a century and a half, until it became a State of the
American Union. We have seen it under the rule of the Frenchman, the
Briton, the Virginian, under its various territorial organizations,
until eighty-nine years ago it reached the dignity of statehood.
We have seen its seat of authority at Quebec, at New Orleans, at
Cincinnati, at Vincennes, and finally at Kaskaskia. We have noted
something of its marvellous development, of its wonderful increase
in population.
"Just one hundred and seven years ago, when by act of Congress
Illinois became part of the Indiana Territory, it contained a
population of less than two thousand white persons, only eight
hundred of whom were of the English-speaking race. Less than
two decades later, with a population of less then forty thousand, and
an area greater, with a single exception, than any of the original
States, we have witnessed its admission to the Union. How marvellous
the retrospect at this hour! And yet, 'the pendulum of history
swings in centuries in the slow but sure progress of the human race
to a higher and nobler civilization.'
"Events of thrilling interest and of scarce less consequence
than those already mentioned followed the admission of the State
into the Union. In brief summary: The unsuccessful attempt to
introduce slavery; the fatal duel between Stewart and Bennet and
the trial and execution of the survivor for murder, thereby placing
the ban of judicial condemnation upon the barbarous practice;
the visit of Lafayette to Illinois and his brilliant entertainment
by the Governor and Legislature at the old executive mansion;
the removal of the State capital from the ancient French village
of Kaskaskia to Vandalia, and near two decades later to Springfield;
the memorable contest for Congress between Cook and McLean, each
possessing in large measure the rare gift of eloquence, and both
dying lamented in early manhood; the organization of two
splendid counties that will keep the honored names of Cook and
McLean in the memories of men to the latest posterity; the Black
Hawk War and the final treaty of peace which followed the defeat
and capture of the renowned Sac chief; the riots at Alton and
the assassination of the heroic Lovejoy while defending the right of
free speech and of a free press; the advent of the prophet
Joseph Smith, the rapid growth of the Mormon Church, its power as a
political factor in the State, the building of the million-dollar temple
at Nauvoo, the murder of the Mormon prophet, and the final exodus of
his adherents to the valley of the Wasatch and the Great Salt Lake;
the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, the precursor
of grander material achievements soon to follow; the bravery of
the Illinois troops during the war with Mexico; the wonderful tide
of immigration flowing in from the older States and from Europe;
the invaluable services of Senator Douglas in securing the celebrated
land grant under which the Illinois Central Railroad was
constructed, and Chicago brought into commercial touch with the
River Ohio and the States to the southward; the dawn of the era of
stupendous agricultural development, and of marvellous activity on
all lines and through all channels of trade; the wonderful growth of
Chicago, springing with giant bound, within the span of a single
life, from a mere hamlet to be the second city upon the continent;
the unparalleled railroad construction, giving Illinois a
greater mileage than any one of her sister States; the immense
development of its untold mineral resources, and the advance by
leaps and bounds along all lines of manufacturing; the impetus
given to the higher conception and purpose of human life by the
creation of a splendid system of public schools and universities; the
establishment of institutions and asylums for the considerate care
and relief of the unfortunate and afflicted of our kind; the building
of homes 'for him who hath borne the battle and for his orphan';
the masterful debates between Lincoln and Douglas, the prelude
to events destined to give pause to the world, and to change the
trend of history. And, to crown all, how, when the nation's life was
in peril, Illinois, true to her covenant under the great Ordinance
that had given her being, gave one illustrious son to the chief
magistracy of his country, another to the captaincy of its armies,
and sent her soldier heroes by myriads along every pathway of danger
and of glory.
"As one standing, alas, 'upon the western slope,' let me adjure
the young men of this magnificent county--my home for more than
half a century--to study thoroughly the history of our own State, and
of the grand republic of which it is a part. Illinois, in all that
constitutes true grandeur in a people, knows no superior among the
great sisterhood of States. Her pathway from the beginning has
been luminous with noble achievement. It is high privilege and high
honor to be a citizen of this grand republic. It is in very truth
a government of the people, in an important sense a government
standing separate and apart; its foundations the morality, the
intelligence, the patriotism of the people. Never forget that
citizenship in such a government carries with it tremendous
responsibility, a responsibility that we cannot evade. Study
thoroughly how our liberties were achieved, and the benefits of
stable government secured by the great compact which for more than
a century, in peace and during the storm and stress of war, has held
States and people in indissoluble union; and how, during the great
civil conflict--the most stupendous the world has known--human
liberty, through baptism of blood, obtained a new and grander
meaning, and the Union established by our fathers was made, as
we humbly trust in God, enduring for all time."
INDEX
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