A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume II, Part 80

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1006

USA > Indiana > A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume II > Part 80

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On the 20th of March, 1867, General Shanks intro- duced in the House the following resolution :

" Resolved, That the Committee on Foreign Affairs be, and they are hereby, instructed to investigate the cause of, and any facts connected with, the imprison- ment for life in Canada of Rev. John McMahon, a citi- zen of Anderson, Indiana, and pastor of a Catholic Church at that place, and what means, if any, should be taken for his relief; and for such purpose have power to send for persons and papers; and that said Commit- tee report the result of their investigation to the House as early as possible."

It had been claimed by the British authorities that McMahon was a Fenian, and was sentenced to impris- onment for life as a British subject, though he had been an American citizen by adoption under our naturalization laws. These proceedings in Congress brought about an investigation of the facts, and consequently a release of the prisoner. In a speech in support of the resolution mentioned, he considered the duties of the right of ex- patriation-the right of all persons to choose their own place of residence. On the 31st of October, 1861, Gen- eral Shanks's attention was drawn to the acts of the English, French, and Spanish governments, which he

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believed to desire that the free government of the United | States should be destroyed, and were willing to aid in that destruction. Soon after the rebellion of IS61 had assumed tangible form these governments entered into a written agreement to seize, and did seize by force, and establish an empire over, the republic of Mexico, on our southern border; and through the entire war military and other supplies were admitted through Mexico into the United States, under the Maximilian government, which was only the creation of this intervention. The compact was entitled, "Convention between Her Majesty the Queen of Spain, Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the Emperor of the French;" and the written agreement was "to seize and occupy the several for- tresses and military positions on the Mexican coast." And this was done while our hands were tied with the war of the rebellion, and Maximilian, a foreign - born prince, was thus made emperor over the Mexican repub- lic by the power of foreign bayonets. After a severe and protracted struggle the Mexican people wrested their government from foreign rule, and executed Max- imilian and his principal coadjutor. General Shanks had been sent with his cavalry force to Texas in Sep- tember, 1865, to look after our national interests in that direction. In support of Mexico, and against this foreign rule, July 8, 1867, he introduced in the House, and asked to have referred, the following resolutions :

" Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States, in Congress assembled, I. That the people of every nation of right have the con- trol of their own governments, respectively, and in their sovereign capacity, to create, maintain, or alter their principles and workings in accordance with their own judgment.

" Resolved, 2. That this right includes that of quell- ing insurrections and repelling invasions, with the right to punish treason at home and usurpation from abroad. " Resolved, 3. That all people have the right to choose their own officers; and that all orders of nobility, and all assumed right to rule based on birth or accident, are in opposition to republican government, and obnox- ious to a free people.

" Resolved, 4. That we look with anxious hope for the prosperity of all republican governments, and at this time especially for that of our sister republic of Mexico, and that we view with pleasure the restoration to power of the government of her people over the self -styled emperor, Maximilian.

" Resolved, 5. That, waiving all expression of opinion as to any particular acts of the government of Mexico, it is the opinion of Congress that the attempt recently made to establish an empire in Mexico on the ruins of a republic would not have been made had not the United States at that time been engaged in a civil war of great magnitude; and that said effort was part of a gigantic attempt to overthrow and destroy the republic of the United States, in which the slave power of America and its natural ally, the aristocracy of Europe, labored with preconcerted and united interest; and that the over- throw of the usurper Maximilian was necessary to the

success of republican principles and government in Mexico and elsewhere, and was eminently right and proper.

" Resolved, 6. That the people of the United States can not look with unconcern upon an attempt to con- trol the destinies of Mexico by a power or by powers in antagonism with republican government."

On the 28th of November, 1867, General Shanks submitted in the House of Representatives the follow- ing resolution :

" Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs be, and is hereby, instructed to examine into the expe- diency of providing by law for procuring through the Pension Bureau all necessary artificial limbs and other supports, at the expense of the government, to the sol- diers and seamen from time to time, when needed, dur- ing their natural lives, who are now or may hereafter be disabled from the effects of wounds received or disease incurred in the service of the United States."

This measure afterwards became substantially the law. On the 11th of January, 1870, in considering this subject, he said : "There are five thousand and six per- sons who have lost one arm; thirty-three have lost both arms; four thousand six hundred and twenty-seven have lost one leg ; forty-two have lost both legs; twenty-one have lost one arm and one leg ; twenty - five hundred and sixteen have been afflicted with hernia, caused by service in the army,-a total of twelve thousand two hundred and forty-five persons who would be recipients under the substitute I have offered. When the soldier entered the service of his country he had limbs that under ordinary circumstances would have lasted him his life-time." He favored the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. The impeachment measures had been before the House for some time, when he took the floor and said : "Mr. Speaker, my opinion is that in this grave emergency this House should speak but one word and strike but one blow, and I desire that the blow should come first. I am tired, sir, of this protracted discussion, which postpones an hour that which the people have long desired to see. I am in favor of the official death of Andrew Johnson, without debate. I am not sur- prised that one who began his Presidential career in drunkenness should end it in crime." Crete, once a part of the great Greek confederacy, had partially main- tained with modern Greece its emancipation from Turk- ish rule in the general insurrection of 1824 to 1828, and in 1830 it was by English intervention transferred to Egypt, and finally to Turkey; and in 1866 it revolted and secured a limited independence, with a provisional government. General Shanks, anxious to maintain the Christians against the oppression of the Moslem, and desirous of emancipating the grain trade of the country of the Black Sea from English, French, and Turkish control, so that American grain could come in free com- petition with the trade of the Levant, wisely sought to secure free navigation of the waters near and adjoining

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Crete, and connecting the Mediterranean with the Black Sea, by making that island free and independent, and in December, 1868, introduced in the House of Repre- sentatives the following resolution :

" Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representa- "tives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That it is the duty of the government of the United States to recognize the existence of the provis- ional government of Crete as an independent political state, and to treat with it as such."

He desired by this means to moderate the financial revulsion that he saw must come upon the country, as a consequence of the shrinkage of values and overtrading due to the inflation of prices during the war, by open- ing a wider market for our grain trade. The wisdom and foresight of General Shanks in his advocacy of this measure are fully justified by the logic of events. Russia having by force opened those water - channels of trade to commerce, no longer under the control of England and France, the enterprise of our merchant- men has utilized these increased facilities for distributing our surplus grain product, and is at this time success- fully competing in the markets hitherto supplied by England and France, as well as by Russia herself, with the general result of a. large balance of trade, secured in large degree by our exports of cereals. On the 7th of January, 1869, in a speech in the House of Repre- sentatives, he advocated the adoption of his resolution for the recognition of Cretan independence with such ability that the Greek government and the Cretan pro- visional government tendered him a vote of thanks for his resolution, his speech, and sympathy in their behalf. In the opening of his remarks on the occasion General Shanks said, "I do not rise to defend the provisional government of Crete, but to vindicate its cause and to dlemand its rights." He believed his government should avail itself of all proper occasions to express its sympa- thy for all persons, wherever situated, in their struggle to throw off the oppressor's yoke and free themselves from tyranny; and he believed in this case that the best interests of the country were in harmony with our duty, by endeavoring to utilize a wider commerce for our grain trade, and to assist in freeing the market in question from the exclusive control of English, French, Russian, and Turkish nations. He advocated the bill to declare forfeited the lands granted to certain Southern railroad companies, and he favored the forfeiture of all similar grants that had lapsed in default of the conditions not being observed, maintaining that as the vital object of the grants-namely, to precede and favor settlement of lands-had failed, it was not right to allow the corpora- tions to await settlement, and then speculate on the opportunities afforded by their own non-compliance with the terms of the franchise accorded them by the grants in question, and thus to defraud those who had borne

the burdens of frontier life and made their settlements without the aid of the railroad companies. He opposed and spoke against the treaty conveying to a railroad company, through its agent, J. F. Joy, the neutral lands of the Osage Indians, by which over two counties in Kansas were transferred to a corporation, in violation of the rights of settlers and without reservation of school lands. In a speech in the House of Representatives on the suffrage amendment of the Constitution, he declared it as his opinion that an act of Congress would be suffi- cient to give full power of the ballot to citizens. He said : " I have long thought that it was not only the constitutional right, but that it was the duty of Con- gress to protect the elective franchise to all the people against any attempt by state or local legislation, or by force or fraud, to abridge, embarrass, or defeat the free exercise of the right of suffrage by all adult citizens." He urged a strict conformity to law in the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad as a condition precedent to the payment to it of the subsidies granted, and that they be withheld until the road was completed in strict conformity with the terms of the law. He also opposed the granting of lands to railroad companies, as a measure fraught with injustice and danger to the interests of the people. January 18, 1869, he introduced a bill to ap- portion equitably the government employés in Wash- ington City among the several states and territories, and in a speech in the House, accompanying its introduc- tion, he showed the inequality of the distribution of these appointees, and urged that the representative char- acter of these employés was as legitimate a source of information and of interest to the people as was any other branch of the public service. He favored the reduction of the number of army officers to the regula- tion standard. He uniformly sustained the Freedmen's Bureau, believing it a measure of simple justice to the freedmen, and a means of aiding to secure progress, edu- cation, and good order among a class of people long and unjustly oppressed and grievously wronged, and to make them self-sustaining citizens, by inculcating a knowledge of freedom and the benefits and duties arising from that situation. He denied that the treaty-making power of the government could, under the Constitution, dispose of any part of the public lands, and that the sales already made of these lands, by means of treaties with Indian tribes, were frauds and without warrant. In a speech in the House, July 2, 1870, he said : " I have investigated this question very carefully, and I do not believe that, under the Constitution of the United States, there is any power granted in the treaty-making provision of that instrument to dispose of one foot of the public domain to any person or corporation. That power is vested in Congress alone, and its exercise in this relation is not merged in the general treaty-making prerogative of the Executive and Senate." The people's Repre-

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sentatives in the House are entitled to a say on a ques- tion of disposing of the people's property. General Shanks was opposed to the pardoning of those persons who engaged in rebellion against the government, till they should severally ask for that pardon. When the subject was before Congress, February 1, 1871, he said in the House: "As I understand this bill it works a pardon, and it works that pardon without any request from the parties to be pardoned. Christianity, in the school in which I learned it, taught me to grant pardon only when it was asked for. I believe, sir, that He who should be the standard in such matters never granted pardon until it was asked for. Even as he expired on the cross he forgave the man who asked his pardon, while the other culprit went not into paradise, because he did not ask the pardon ;" and he insisted that writ- ten applications for pardon, by the person or persons desiring it, should alone have consideration. On the 11th of February, 1871, on the subject of restoring those pensioners of the War of 1812 who had at any time adhered to the enemies of the government, he said : " When we are forgiving those who never did any thing for the support of the government in war, I think we ought to forgive those who at some time have done some- thing in defense of the country. I hope that no voice will be raised against extending this measure of forgive- ness to those who in their old age may have sympa- thized with the rebellious acts of their children, but who did not themselves participate in treason." Feb- ruary 22, 1871, on the motion of Fernando Wood, of New York, to strike out of the deficiency bill a provision " for the support of the Freedmen's Hospital and Asy- lum at Washington City, District of Columbia, five thou- sand dollars," General Shanks said :

"The gentleman from New York tells us that this Bureau, the Freedmen's Bureau, has cost us twenty mill- ion dollars. Sir, for what purpose was this Bureau estab- lished ? It was to take care of five millions of people who had been robbed from their cradles to the hour when the American people set them free. But, sir, accepting the statement of the gentleman to be true, though I believe the amount overstated, what does it show ? That these people have been transferred from slavery to freedom, have been placed upon their feet and are to-day living, acting citizens of the Republic, and this has been done at a cost of four dollars for each individual, on the estimate stated. I call the attention of the country to the fact that but five thousand dollars are asked to take care of the remnants of five million slaves, whom the gentlemen on the other side of the House sought to keep in slavery, and who were rescued by the strong arm of the people."

General Shanks is opposed to every phase and sem- blance of royalty, and on the 27th of March, 1871, he introduced a bill providing for substituting the words " The People " in all writs issued from the United States Courts, in place of the words "The President," now, and ever since the organization of the government,

used, a practice doubtless copied from the old English writs containing the words "The King." Raised to hard labor himself, he has always taken a deep interest in those who toil for a livelihood, and seeing a growing want of confidence and a proper understanding between labor and capital, the employed and employer, that would work an injury to both, he sought to establish a Bureau of Labor Statistics, as a division of the Interior Department of the government, so that the people could at all times be supplied with means of knowing the true relations and mutual dependence of capital and labor ; and, December 11, 1871, and January 26, 1874, he intro- duced biils in Congress for the purpose named, providing for carefully prepared reports from every county, and also from every town of five hundred inhabitants and over, showing the price for land and labor, the price of grain, rents, interest on money ; local and through rail- road fares, freights, through and local; the amount, kind, and value of general merchandise, cost of cloth- ing, food, and general supplies, and all matters con- nected with industrial interests, as amount, kind, and value of all stock, as cattle, sheep, swine, horses, etc. All these and similar statements should be tabulated and published at stated intervals, and disseminated among the laboring masses, thus awakening an interest and affording the means of diffusing information on subjects of general concern, and doing what all just govern- ments should do, manifesting an active, practical sym- pathy with the wants of the producing classes. The General holds that there is no necessary antagonism between labor and capital, and that they are two com- plementary parts of a healthy whole; and that if the dictates of exact justice were duly observed, and impar- tial legislation only were had, giving no industry or commercial interest precedence, the current of material prosperity would run smoothly. When a young man, in 1847, he was employed in making rails on an island in the Kankakee River, a wet overflowed country, and was compelled to wade one mile and a half from the main-land to the island, carrying his tools and supplies. He then formed the opinion that a ship canal could be constructed across the country from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River, thus connecting the lakes with New Orleans by water communication. In after years, as a member of Congress, March 14, 1870, and again December 18, 1871, in support of this measure in the House, he said : " I believe, from observations I made in my younger days, when traveling, working, and wad- ing through Northern Indiana, that the waters from the north once passed, through Lake Michigan, across the country south into the Mississippi River. I believe that the obstructions in that direction are only temporary, and that by the expenditure of a reasonable amount of money a ship canal can be constructed connecting Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River at the mouth of the

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Ohio." On January 22, 1872, he introduced a bill in the House to repeal the laws granting lands and certain privileges in the Indian Territory to railroad companies. April 5, 1872, he introduced a bill to establish a United States Court in the Indian Territory, in accordance with treaty stipulations, and thus relieve the Indians from the oppression that attends the appointment of marshals from adjoining and unfriendly states. April 15, 1872, he introduced a bill, which became a law, and a much needed measure, to protect Indian tribes and individ- uals against exorbitant contracts made by them with attorneys and sharpers, who took advantage of them and succeeded, through the Indian Department, in getting the moneys and lands of the Indians. In submitting to the House his able and exhaustive report on the treat- ment of prisoners of war, February 12, 1872, he intro- duced a joint resolution authorizing and requesting " the President of the United States to open friendly correspondence and negotiations with any or all civil- ized nations, with the view to secure the adoption, in the laws of nations, of a provision that captives in war shall not be personally retained as prisoners, but shall, under flags of truce, be returned at the earliest possible time to their own lines or vessels, and be paroled until duly exchanged ; so that the registers of the commissioners of exchange of 'the respective belligerents shall deter- mine the relative numbers of captives, and thus the onerous burdens and sacrifices consequent on prison life would be prevented ;" and on the 8th of June, 1872, he supported the measure in a speech showing great research and a thorough knowledge of the subject, which was ably and fully elucidated. Disclaiming any disparagement of others, it may be truthfully said that no other person has studied this subject more thoroughly or treated it more clearly. The researches necessitated in the progress of preparing his report, and the official evidence proving the horrors of Southern prison life, appealed strongly for the demands of humanity in this relation, and in a peculiar manner qualified him for dis- cussing the matter intelligently. As chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs of the House, having labored zealously and with much success to correct the abuses that had become a part of the Indian management of the country, he determined, so far as possible, to expose the authors of the frauds which had seriously tended to retard the Indians in their progress in civilized habits, and, by betraying their confidence in the white man, had greatly lessened our influence over them. On the 8th of January, 1872, he introduced in the House a resolution, which was passed, instructing the Commit- tee on Indian Affairs to investigate the condition and management of Indian matters, touching annuities, pen- sions, bounties, bounty lands, and moneys due and paid the Indians under treaties and laws of Congress, with power to send for persons and papers, and make a report

to the House. In obtaining material for the report he traveled extensively among Indian tribes, visiting their reservations from the Indian Territory and New Mexico, through the states and territories, to British Columbia, and on the 3d of March, 1873, on behalf of the com- mittee, he laid before the House the most comprehen- sive showing of Indian affairs ever presented to the government, in a document (House document No. 93, third session, Forty-second Congress) of eight hundred closely printed pages, giving fully and in detail every phase of Indian management, with a recommendation for the correction of its errors and frauds. It was widely circulated, and created a sensation among the guilty par- ties. The demand for the report largely exceeded the supply, and it soon became known that great numbers of copies had been destroyed, doubtless by persons inter- ested in its suppression. A large number in the room of the clerk of the House mysteriously disappeared at one time. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs informed the General that he was compelled to keep his copy under lock in order to preserve it. With a persevering industry and tenacity of purpose that challenged the approval of members of the House, Republican and Democratic alike, he gave the devious ways of the In- dian rings an airing from which they never recovered, and he received the complimentary execrations of the human land sharks who had been fattening, like cormo- rants, on the spoils and depredations of the Indian. He opposed the proposed appropriation of sixty-five thou- sand dollars asked for to reimburse William and Mary's College, in Virginia, for damages said to have been done it during the Rebellion; and on the 13th of December, 1872, he offered the following amendment to the bill:

" Resolved, That no part of said sum of sixty-five thousand dollars shall be paid or delivered, or warrant or order issued therefor, under the provisions of this act, until a regular meeting of the stockholders or cor- porate authority of said William and Mary's College, after proper consideration, have adopted, and caused to be entered upon the records of said corporation, a res- olution declaring said college to be open, and that it shall be for all time thereafter open, for the admission on equal terms of all persons, irrespective of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; and that a copy of said resolution, duly certified by the proper authorities of said corporation, shall be filed with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, and entered upon the records of his office."

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A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume II, Part 80

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1006

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1006