USA > Iowa > Report of the organization and first reunion of the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, 1884 > Part 25
USA > Illinois > Report of the organization and first reunion of the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, 1884 > Part 25
USA > Missouri > Report of the organization and first reunion of the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, 1884 > Part 25
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
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scattered through the hostile settlements, and along the open frontier, than an equal force of our own. We shall find in the bowels of the States a mischief that wants only the touch of a well-directed spark, to involve in its explo- sion, the utter ruin of their nation. Such will be the powers which we shall derive from a military station, and a growing colony on the Mississippi-a province cheaply purchased at ten times the cost to which it will subject us." Who shall say that all this, and perhaps more, would not have been realized had circumstances in Europe not taken a turn that made it advisable for Bonaparte to abandon his hopes of dominating the western hemisphere.
It will be remembered that our government was endea- voring to purchase only the territory around the mouth of the river. The proposition was to give France 10,000,000 livres, or $1,666,666 for all the French possessions east of the Mississippi, that river to be the boundary, with its navigation free to France, with right to deposit at New Orleans for ten years. Yet, moderate as was this proposi- tion-humiliating, the opposition party did not hesitate to call it -- word came that Talleyrand assured our minister that no sale would be heard of. The position was becoming critical. The feeling among our countrymen' for forcible measures was growing. Hamilton again urged the seizure of the Floridas and New Orleans, and negotiations after- wards.
About this time the relations between Great Britain and France were at the utmost tension, and a renewal of war was inevitable. A British fleet was put into readiness for the capture of New Orleans, and assurances were given the American ministers that it was with the design of turning it over to the United States. Bonaparte now began to see the danger which threatened him of an alliance of the American republic with his enemies -- a danger which was made more apparent to the tenor of a series of very warlike resolutions, which had been presented in the United States - senate, and came near being adopted. His minister then suggested to the American representatives the purchase of the whole of Louisiana, with what result the world knows and is the better because thereof.
There was some opposition to the purchase on constitu- tional grounds. Jefferson himself denied the authority of
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the government to acquire territory, and suggested the adoption of a constitutional amendment to validate it. But the occasion was one of those supreme moments, and like Lincoln, that illustrious successor of him, who first saw the light of the day the last month of his administration, President Jefferson made the necessities of the republic his justification for appearing to overstep constitutional limita- tions. In his second inaugural address he used this apolo- getic language : "I have said, fellow citizens, that the income reserved had enabled us to extend our limits, but that extension may possibly pay for itself before we are called on, and in the meantime, may keep down the accru- ing interest ; in all events it will repay the advances we have made. I know that the acquisition of Louisiana has been disapproved by some, from a candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory would endanger its union. But who can limit the extent to which the federative principle may operate effectively ? The larger our association, the less it will be shaken by local passions ; and in any view is it not better that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our own brethren and children, than by strangers of another family ? with which shall we be most likely to live in harmony and friendly intercourse ?"
But so marked were the accruing benefits of the pur- chase in the minds of the people, that all opposition to it rapidly died out.
It is worthy of remark here, that the most advanced white settlement to the west was at La Chanette, now Warren county, Missouri, and to the north was at Dubuque, in Iowa, the latter having been made by Julien Dubuque in 1788. While it is but little over a century since the terri- rory east of this river was acquired by conquest, and not quite eighty-four years since that to the west was obtained by purchase from France, yet so great has been our increase by natural law and immigration, that to-day in the vast tracts thus acquired, nineteen great states, cach "imperium in imperio" which have been added to the union, together with nine territories, some of them containing a large popu- lation and knocking at the door of congress for admission. These states that is, those at one time claimed by France, to-day contain nearly, if not quite a majority of the popula- tion of the United States. As our population has increased,
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so have we grown in influence, until to-day we have a leadership in the nation, the flag of which shelters sixty millions of free people, recognized as among the foremost of the earth. What a wonderful series of events have taken place during eighty-four years which have elapsed since this territory was acquired by our government.
About the time that our sister States of Illinois and Missouri came into the union, one of the great scientists of that day ridiculed the idea that ocean navigation by steam would be practicable, and even at so recent a period as the settlement of Iowa, a leading British statesman, a man of prominence among the aristocracy, the father of the present Earl of Derby, promised to eat the boiler of the first steamer that crossed the Atlantic. Yet, to-day, every known ocean "is vexed" by the keels of the steamship, until they have almost monopolized the carrying trade of the sea, and Jule Verne's trip "Round the Wolrd in Eighty Days'' is no longer a myth. Moreover, the modern war vessel is a steamer of 10,000 tons burden, armored with steel. Since 1830 the "Northumbrian" engine, built by Geo. Stephenson, made her trial trip on the Manchester and Liverpool . railway hauling a train of cars ; and in the same year, the engine "Best Friend," typical in its name of the benefits foreshadowed to the people of this country, made its first trip of three miles on the Quincy railroad in Massachusetts, yet to-day we have 150,000 miles of railway, and the continent fairly shakes with the tread of the iron horse as he wends his way to and fro, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, carrying the people and the traffic, not only of our own country, but from China, Japan and the "Isles of the Sea." Time and space have been annihilated. The wild electric flash of the lightning, heretofore considered an unconquerable agent, has, by the genius of Morse, Edison and other distinguished men, been chained and utilized, until to-day its ductile wire not only gives case to the pain of the ailing child, but it also propels our vehicles, lights our streets and houses, guides the sea-tossed vessel into harbor, delivers messages of sorrow and gladness far and near, and has made Puck's promise to "put a girdle around the earth in forty minutes," an accomplished fact. The telephone, the power printing press, the sewing machine, and in all the agencies which facilitate trade, correspondence and communication ; the
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machinery for gathering and utilizing the crops ; the tools and implements of the mechanic arts, the apparatus for heating and lighting our homes and cooking food, even the little match with which we kindle the fire, each and all of which have contributed so largely to our expansion and individual comfort and luxury (which is nearly all the result of the triumphant inventive genius of Americans) have come to us since the admission of the States whose pioneers are here present to-day. So rapidly, indeed, have all these inventions, to which I have alluded, come to us, that although we are living witnesses of their results, and some some of us have seen it all transpire, that we find it difficult to realize that it has all occurred in so short a time. Truly was it said that "Man hath the tiller in his hand," for these grand victories of mind over matter, which were thought to be beyond our knowledge, and therefore impossible, have not come by chance, but by hard study and close reasoning from cause to effect, and they, carry with them a lesson which should impress the student not only of to-day, but of the future, that there are yet depths of nature to be sounded and made to yield from her arcana treasures for the benefit of mankind:
Moreover, in addition to the material advancement I have called your attention to, you have seen our nation con- vulsed in the throes of civil war, unparalleled in the history of the world. You have seen, incident to that war, by the use of that weapon which the poet tells us is mightier than the sword, the manacles fall from four millions of slaves. You have seen the nation emerge from the mighty conflict "purified by blood and sanctified' by sacrifice" to a higher plane of universal freedom.
None but you who are pioneers in the great development of this trinity of States can properly measure the steps by which it has been accomplished.
"You crossed the prairies As of old your fathers crossed the sen, To make the west as they the east, The homestead of the free."
Imbued with the spirit of the song, you have built up these States. You laid the foundations wide and deep and built thereon a structure, which be an enduring monument to your labors. You found it a "wilderness of centuries,"
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you will leave it blooming as a garden; you have planted here those institutions of education, which contribute in so marked a degree to the happiness and moral elevation of our people; you have now come to that period of life when nature reminds us that it is time to cease from your labors and to turn over the good work begun by you in your youth, to those who will come after you.
I have said the work of the pioneer is done. Though he may long survive (which God grant), it is to watch the growth of the superb structure, the foundations of which he laid so securely. It is no discredit to him to say that he built wiser than he knew. In this he resembles all who have done like work.
Honest, earnest effort rarely fails of reward, and often even when the object aimed at is not attained: beyond the vail'of disappointment there lies a vista brighter than that hoped for. If we, of to-day, can hardly realize that so much has actually been accomplished in the years we have re- viewed, how much less could those who came here fifty years ago to these solitudes to wrest therefrom subsist- ence for themselves and families and to rear their homes. How could they, I say, anticipate half the glories to the revealed ! True, they soon learned what Douglas Jerrold said of another land (our antipodes) "tickle the earth with a hoe and it laughs with a harvest," might justly be said of this their new home, and as the years rolled on, and . con- stantly surpassed their expectations, they got accustomed to the metamorphosis, and were carried along by the sweep of the progress they had inaugurated. To this fruition, others, such as I see before me, younger men and women, have come and are coming to take hold of the work neces- sary to perpetuate and broaden the magnificent inheritance prepared for them by the pioneers. They come to a work of which in the nature of things they cannot hope to such speedy and marvelous results as you have seen. The epoch through which we and our whole country, and indeed, the whole world have passed, is an exceptional one, not likely soon to be paralleled. What is now to be done, therefore, must come by slow steps. I need not say it will be none the less secure by reason thereof. If there be no more great strides, there will yet be solid advance before us, and let us not doubt it will be made. Not to do so would be to
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stagnate; and this may not be feared of the children of the pioneers.
The enduring fertility of the soil of these three States in its entirety unsurpassed, and with whose exuberance the fathers were so generously rewarded, will forever make agriculture their principal industry. But it is not sound economy, nor wise statesmanship to rely upon even that great industry alone. Indeed, as we diversify employ- ments, so will we enhance the value of the products of the soil. A work before us then is the encouragement of every manufacture which can be at all profitably domesticated among us. The multiplied iron roads give us increased facilities therefore; while these natural facilities at our hands, the great waterways, should be judiciously cared for; and even artificial ones opened where needed.
By such means, and above all, by multiplying the num- bers of attractive homes and augmenting a love for home life, can this fabric of States, so majestic in its outline, so superb ín its developed climate, be made the seat of a thriving population, the abiding place of an intelligent, prosperous, God-fearing and man-loving people; an encour- agement to every struggling nationality; a beacon of hope to the down-trodden everywhere. And as our sympathies so go out to suffering and defrauded humanity the world over, so let our hearts be always ready to give a cordial western welcome to the true and the good of all lands, who, attracted by the ever open portals of this great valley of the new world, make therein homes for themselves and posterity for enduring ages.
Old Settlers, Ladies and Gentlemen : It is with pleas- ure that I introduce to you a representative of not only this city but a gentleman well known and highly honored throughout all this region, the Hon. John H. Craig :
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : The city of Keokuk is the hostess of three States to-day; and I am com- missioned by her citizens to speak words of welcome to her visitors. It is a most delightful task, and however imper- fectly it may be performed, it is most gladly undertaken. You have all been invited here to-day to share in the enjoy-
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ments of this reunion, and we meet, greet and receive you as our guests, and ask you, in the phrase of the old settlers, "to make yourselves at home."
This is the "Gate City" of the State of Iowa. That gate we throw wide open to-day, and all who enter are thrice welcome. . We greet you-not as strangers, but as neighbors and friends, as citizens of three great separate commonwealths, and yet as fellow-citizens of one great republic. And to you, old settlers, who laid the first foun- dations of these three States, and widened the bounds of freedom by extending American institutions over them, we present exulting congratulations, in view of the splendid realizations which surround us to-day. These three young States, still yet in the dawn of their greatness, are the monuments of your comrades dead, and will stand as yours when you rest with them.
This is the fourth annual reunion of the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association. The organization of this Association was suggested by two considerations. Most of the men who first settled this beautiful and fertile region, and sub- jected it to the uses of man, are now sleeping in its bosom, and their survivors are falling around us like sear and yellow leaves. "That inevitable hour, which awaits us all, " must soon strike for the last old settler, and no surviving com- rade will follow him to the grave. The settlement of the youngest of these States began more than fifty years ago, and that of the other two, still earlier. Of that generation of old settlers, and of the children that they brought with them, and of the children that were born in the humble homes which they reared in this, then unpeopled, region we all know, and you surviving old settlers sadly feel, how few-alas, how very few remain ! Most of these have crossed, some are crossing, and the remaining few are fast approaching that period fixed as the limit of this mortal life. "The days of our years are three-score years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be four-score years, yet is their strength, labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we vanish away "-vanish like a dream of the night or a tale which is told-vanish like the shadow of the clouds which pass over the fields. Therefore, in order that the race of old settlers might not become extinct, and not for the pur- pose of usurping the preeminence of the first settlers, it
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was thought proper and wise to extend the limit, and to include in the term "Old Settler," the second and later generation that followed the first settlers. As "Rome was not built in a day," so it required at least two generations to lay even the first foundations of three such States as Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, hence this Association admits to its membership all persons who were residents of any of these States prior to the year 1860, or who have resided within their boundaries for twenty-five years; also we perpetuate the Association by admitting all our children born in any of the three States, when they become men and women.
1
The Tri-State Old Settlers' Association was organized in harmony with that political union, and real unity, which constitute us one nation. By whatever political and ge- ographical lines we may be divided, we are still one people. This is the leading feature in our political system, and the profoundest sentiment in the hearts of the American people. Heretofore old settlers' associations have been organized on county lines. They are county organizations, bounded by county lines. But this Association laps over county and state lines, and has no limit except impracticable distance. The lines which divide our territory into political divisions do not separate our people; they do not divide our commer- cial and business interests; they do not limit nor mar the friendships, harmony and confidence of social intercourse; they do not destroy the intimacies and relations between those who shared in the incidents, hardships and privations of the early settlement of these States. Hence the second consideration which induced this organization was that we might unite in one association the settlers, old and young, of this whole surrounding region, without regard to county or state lines.
There could be no doubt nor hesitation in the selection of the city of Keokuk as the appropriate place for the annual reunions of the Association. The three great States of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, form the heart of the Missis- sippi valley, and the city of Keokuk is in its center. It lies at once on the boundaries of all three States. From it they are all three in sight. It is situated in one of the States, and at the same time is almost surrounded by the other two. Standing on these bluffs you can see the grand curve of the
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Illinois shore, sweeping around this city in a splendid semi- circle, so that Illinois seems to be holding the city of Keokuk in its arms. And the boundary of Missouri prolongs the segment of the circle, till it is almost completed. That segment starts at the north, curves around to the cast, south and west, and ends at the northwest, so that, although we stand on the soil of Iowa here to-day, yet all around us, except in one single direction, lic the rich lands of Illinois and Missouri. Keokuk is at the extremity of a triangular tract of land, not in range with the State of Iowa, but run- ning down between her two sister States, so that Iowa seems as if tendering our city to the State of Missouri. I have heard persons say that we ought to belong to the State of Missouri. I believe that state once claimed and fought for us, in what is called the "Rail War"-happily one of the few bloodless wars known in history.
While we are proud to belong to Iowa, and to share in its greatness and glory, we claim no superiority over our two sister States. They are near to our doors and our hearts. We are of one kindred blood. The fathers trade, and the mothers visit, and the children intermarry without regard to State lines. These divide us into political divisions; but even under these the three States are parts of one great indivisible union, which is not merely a political union, but "a union of lands, and hearts and hands." There is nothing to designate the boundary line between Iowa and Missouri, except the statutes. A stranger pass- ing across it would not know where Iowa ends and Missouri begins. The great river which runs between Iowa and Illinois is not a line of division, but a broad, shining silver band of union, and under the flow of its waters there is a hidden union of the soil of the two States which no earth- quake nor convulsion can destroy-which can only be severed by cleaving the foundations of the earth to the centre, and which will endure until broken amidst the dis- solving throes of nature. These three States can never be separated. Stronger than all material physical ties, the immaterial and invisible ties of blood and kindred, of origin and history, of language, religion and interest, of heroic traditions and the hopes of future power, progress, pros- perity, greatness; liberty and glory-all welded into the tie of nationality, stronger than bands of steel, will unite them
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together, as long as these genial skies, like the benediction of Heaven, shall smile upon them.
The territory comprising the States of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, was first claimed by France, by virtue of the dis- coveries of Marquette, Joliet and LaSalle, and its subsequent occupancy by the French settlements at Kaskaskia, Vin- cennes, and St. Louis. The triumphant and heroic death of Wolfe, at Quebec, changed the destiny of the eastern half of the Mississippi valley. Through it, and the conquest of Kaskaskia and Vincennes by Col. George Rogers Clarke during the Revolution, and the cession of Virginia soon after it, we trace our title to Illinois. The territory constituting the States of Iowa and Missouri, was part of the dowry of Louisiana, when she came, like a bride crowned with orange flowers, bringing the keys of the Gulf in her hand, and the riches of the tropics in her lap, and united with our young Republic in a marriage union from which there is no divorce.
It is not for me to speak to you of these three States singly. That will be done by men who will speak to you with golden lips-cach for his state. I present them to you as one-in their aggregate greatness. They comprise an arca of 173,805 square miles, making 112,315,200 acres. The extreme length of this territory is 543 miles, and its extreme breadth is 518 miles. No equal portion of the earth's sur- face has been so highly favored of Heaven. It is a fair, fertile and blessed land, the natural seat of a vast empire. It is the center and heart of the great Mississippi valley. It is a vast region of rivers and prairies, where nature lavishes her choicest gifts, and genial skies look down on the richest garden of the world. This region is now inhabited by 8,000,000 brave, intelligent and enterprising people, who are living under the most benignant sway that ever blessed the earth. They are the peers of any other equal popula- tion on the globe. Our boundless prairies seem to give enlarged views and free scope to the minds and energies of men. In energy and enterprise, in intelligence and public spirit, in industry and the accumulation of wealth, in patriotism and virtuc, in public education, public institu- tions, and all modern improvements, these three States are not surpassed by any States anywhere. They have 17,000 places of public worship and 32,000 school houses. to say nothing of colleges, universities, and asylums for the un-
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fortunate and afflicted. They produce annually 123,000,000 bushels of wheat and 690,000,000 bushels of corn. They have an unrivaled system of transportation. Nature gave them that. Three great rivers, cach swelled by numerous tributaries-one from the north, one from the cast, and one from the west-flow through or to them, and mingle their waters within or on their boundaries, and thence in a mighty flood flow southward to the Gulf. Their boundary touches the lake at the north, and there they find another outlet to the sea. They thus have two great pathways by water to the trade of the world. The solid city of St. Louis, awaking like a strong man out of sleep, commands the one; and the marvelous city of Chicago, built in less than half a century, is the gate way to the other. Added to this, there are more miles of railroad in these three States than are found on any equal space on the continent. In these are included great systems which, with their connections, form transcontinental lines. Most of the trade which will flow along these water-ways and transcontinental lines, must cross these three States. They will hold the keys to the commerce of the Mississippi valley, the country and the world.
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