USA > Indiana > Early Indiana trials: and sketches. Reminiscences > Part 25
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" One thing at least is clear, that the wretched system of Government paper which is now terminated, as all systems of Government paper must terminate inevitably, in depreciation and bankruptcy, was of their begetting and nourishing. They began it -they instituted the- system of Treasury notes. The late administration is the first in the history of our Government, that in time of profound peace, was com- pelled to resort to borrowing, and chose that most fallacious, dangerous and ruinous mode of borrowing by the issue of Treasury notes. They destroyed the equilibrium between expenditures and income, and thus
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deranged the whole finaneial order. From the beginning, they have lived and had their being on Treasury notes. To use the word of the Senator from New Hampshire, more expressive perhaps than pure, they fed their spendthrift-nest throughout on this paper. Session after ses- sion they rushed into this hall, proclaiming that the country was in danger ; that the Treasury was empty ; that credit would fail ; and beg- ging and supplicating for a few more Treasury notes. They were always in debt, and paid by giving their notes. After the first terrific explosion in 1837, the Treasury was a mere crater, which no man might look into, throwing up at irregular periods, masses of Treasury notes, with flashes of lurid light from the agonized Secretary, who writhed below like the giant under Etna.
" It is curious and mournful to see what an amazing extent of wide- spread and multifarious embarrassments they transmitted to us-a gen- eral pressure and bankruptcy ; a deplorable relaxation of morals ; a rotten navy ; an army exhausted by ineffectual toils, and thinned by malignant diseases; a treasury empty and discredited; a system of finance exploded ; a miserable, inglorious and most expensive war with savages, and all around the horizon of our foreign relations, angry and darkening elements. Yes sir, in respect to our foreign relations every difficulty has been inherited from our predecessors-every one.
" The Senator (Mr. Buchanan), whispers the Creole case ; even that is not new. Here are the northeast boundary and the northwest houn- dary questions, of many years standing, and with difficulties which necessarily augment by time aud neglect. Here is the Caroline case, in regard to which the patriotic wrath and fury of the gentlemen, after having been securely bottled up for three years, has lately burst out with so much foam and splutter. You saw your vessel iu flames-you saw the smoking blood of your murdered citizen-you looked down on his mutilated body, whirled about in the eddies of Niagara, and calmly referred for redress to distaut and equivocal negociation ; and when years had passed by, and indignation cooled, and sorrows subsided, and you were no longer responsible, your wailings broke forth ; your indignation burst into spontaneous combustion, and you were ready 'to weep, to fight, to tear thyself, to drink up Eisel and eat a crocodile.
" As to the Creole, you left ns that too ; for precisely the same ques- tions and principles were involved in the Bermuda cases of the Comet and the Enterprise, the negociations upon which (ably conducted no doubt), by a distinguished and lamented Secretary, terminated in a re- jeetion by the British Minister, of a proposition to permit our vessels un- der certain circumstances, to lie in the roadstead under the guns of Brit- ish forts, because such service would be dishonorable to British affairs.
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THE SWORD AND STAFF.
SWORD OF WASHINGTON AND STAFF OF FRANKLIN.
I HAVE thought the reader might like to see a sketch of the presen- tation of the sword of Washington, and the staff of Franklin, in the House of Representatives, of the United States, in February, 1843. I witnessed the scene, it was truly imposing. The House was filled to overflowing, the galleries a jam, the President and Cabinet, the Supreme judges, the foreign Ministers, and crowds of citizens, filled every aisle. George W. Summers, one of the most distinguished representatives of Virginia, was selected by the donors to present the sacred relics to Congress, and John Quincy Adams was expected to second Mr. Sum- mers. The address of Mr. Summers, and the remarks of Mr. Adams, were so brief and full of interest that I give them entire to the reader.
PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON, February 7th, 1843.
MR. SUMMERS, one of the Representatives from the State of Vir- ginia rose, and addressed the House as follows :
" Mr. Speaker; I rise for the purpose of discharging an office not con- nected with the ordinary business of a Legislative assembly. Yet, in asking permission to interrupt for a moment the regular order of parliamentary proceedings, I can not doubt that the proposition which I have to submit will prove as gratifying to the House as it may be unusual.
Mr. Samuel T. Washington, a citizen of Franklin county, in the Com- monwealth of Virginia, and one of my constituents, has honored me. with the commission of presenting in his name and on his behalf, to the Congress of the United States, and through that body to the people of the United States, two most interesting and valuable relics connected with the past history of our country, and with men whose achievments both in the field and in the Cabinet, best illustrate and adorn our annals. One is the sword worn by George Washington, first as a colonel in the Colonial service of Virginia, in Forbes' campaign against the French and Indians, and afterward during the whole period of the war of Independence as Commander-in-chief of the American army. It is a plain couteau or hanger, with a green hilt and silver guard. On the upper ward of the scabbard is engraven, 'I. Bailey, Fish Kill.' It is accompanied by a buckskin belt, which is secured by a silver buckle and clasp, whereon are engraven the letters ' G. W.' and the figures ' 1757.' These are all of the plainest workmanship, but substantial and in keeping with the man and with the times to
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which they belonged. The history of this sword is perfectly authen- tie, and leaves no shadow of doubt as to its identity. The last will and testament of General Washington bearing date on the 9th day of February, 1799, contains, among a great variety of bequests, the fol- lowing clause.
"'To each of my nephews, William Augustine Washington, George Lewis, George Steptoe Washington, Bushrod Washington and Sam- uel Washington, I give one of the swords or couteaux of which I may die possessed; and they are to chose in the order they are named. These swords are accompanied with an injunction not to unsheathe them for the purpose of shedding blood, except it be for self-defense, or in defense of their country and its rights, and, in the latter case, to keep them unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands to the relinquishment thereof.'
" In the distribution of the swords hereby devised among the five nephews therein enumerated, the one now presented fell to the share of Samuel Washington, the devisee last named in the elause of the will which I have just read.
" This gentleman, who died a few years since, in the county of Kanawha, and who was the father of Samuel T. Washington, the donor, I knew well. I have often seen this sword in his possession, and received from himself the following account of the manner in which it beeome his property in the division made among the devisees. HIe said that he knew it to have been the side-arm of General Wash- ington during the Revolutionary War; not that used on occasions of parade and review, but the constant service sword of the great chief; that he has himself seen Gen. Washington wear this identical sword, he presumed for the last time, when, in 1794, he reviewed the Maryland and . Virginia forees, then concentrated at Cumberland under the command of General Lee, and destined to co-operate with the Pennsylvania and New Jersey troops, then assembled at Bedford, in suppressing what has been called the ' Whisky Insurrection.' Gen. Washington was the President of the United States, and as such was commander-in-chief of the army. It is known that it was his inten- tion to lead the army in person upon that occasion had he found it necessary, and he went to Bedford and Cumberland prepared for that event. The condition of things did not require it, and he returned to his civil duties at Philadelphia. Mr. Samuel Washington held the commission of a captain at that time himself, and served in that campaign, many of the incidents of which he has related to me. He was anxious to obtain this particular sword, and preferred it to all the others, among which was the ornamented and costly present from
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the great Frederick. At the time of the division among the nephews, without intimating what his preferenee was, he joeosely remarked, ' that inasmuch as he was the only one of them then present who had participated in military service they ought to permit him to take choice.' This suggestion was met in the same spirit in which it was made, and the selection being awarded him, he chose this, the plainest, and, intrinsically, the least valuable of any : simply because it was the ' Battle Sword.' I am also in possession of the most satisfactory evidence furnished by Colonel George C. Washington, of Georgetown, the nearest male relative now living of General Washington, as to the identity of this sword.
This information, as to its history, was derived from his father, William Augustine Washington, the devisee first named in the elause of the will which I have read ; from his uncle, the late Judge Bush- rod Washington, of the Supreme Court; and Major Lawrence Lewis, the aeting executor of General Washington's will-all of whom con- curred in the statement that the true service sword was that selected by Captain Samuel Washington. It remained in this gentleman's possession until his death, esteemed by him the most precious me- mento of his illustrious kinsman. It then became the property of his son, who, animated by that patriotism which so characterized the ' Father of his Country,' has consented that such a relic ought not to be appropriated by an individual citizen, and has instructed me, his representative, to offer it to the nation, to be preserved in its public depositaries as the common property of all, since its office has been to achieve and secure the common liberty of all. IIe has, in like manner, requested me to present this cane to the Congress of the United States, deeming it not unworthy the public acceptance. This was onec the property of the philosopher and patriot, Benjamin Franklin. By a codicil to his last will and testament, we find it thus disposed of :
"' My fine erab-tree walking-stick, with a gold head, euriously wrought in the form of the eap of liberty, I give to my friend, and to the friend of mankind, General Washington. If it were a seepter, he has merited it and would become it.'
" General Washington, in his will, devises this cane as follows : Item. ' To my brother, Charles Washington, I give and bequeath the gold- headed cane left me by Dr. Franklin in his will.' Captain Samuel Washington was the only surviving son of Charles Washington, the devisee, from whom he derived, by inheritance, this interesting memo- rial; and having transmitted it to his son, Samuel T. Washington, the latter thus seeks to bestow it worthily, by associating it with the battle
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sword, in a gift to his countrymen. I cordially concur with Mr. Washington in the opinion that they each merit public preservation; and I obey, with pleasure, his wishes in here presenting them, in his name, to the nation. Let the sword of the hero and the staff of the philosopher go together. Let them have place among the proudest trophies and most honored memorials of our national achievements.
" Upon that staff once leaned the sage, of whom it has been said, ' He snatched the lightning from heaven, and the scepter from tyrants.' A mighty arm once wielded this sword in a righteous cause, even unto the dismemberment of empire. In the hand of Washington, this was 'the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.' It was never drawn except in the defense of public liberty ; it was never sheathed until a glori- ous and triumphant success returned it to the scabbard, without a stain of eruelty or dishonor upon its blade ; it was never surrendered except to that country which bestowed it.
Mr. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, one of the Representatives from the State of Massachusetts, then addressed the House as follows :
" In presenting the resolution which I hold in my hand to the House, it may, perhaps, be expected that I should accompany it with some remarks suitable to the occasion ; and yet, sir, I never rose to address this House under a deeper conviction of the want of words to express the emotions that I feel. It is precisely because occasions like this are adapted to produce universal sympathy, that little can be said by any one, but what, in the language of the heart, in tones not loud but deep, every one present has silently said to himself. My respected friend from Virginia, by whom this offering of patriotic sentiment has been presented to the Representative Assembly of the nation, has, it seems to me, already said all that can be said suitable to this occasion. In parting from him, as, after a few short days, we must all do, it will, on my part, be sorrowing that, in all probability, I shall see his face, and hear his voice no more. But his words of this day are planted in my memory, and will there remain till the last pulsation of my heart. The sword of Washington! the staff of Franklin ! Oh ! sir, what associations are linked in adamant with those names ! Washington the warrior of human freedom-Washington, whose sword, as my friend has said, was never drawn but in the cause of his country, and never sheathed when needed in his country's cause ! Franklin, the philosopher of the thunder-bolt, the printing-press, and the plough- share ! What names are these in the scanty catalogue of the bene- factors of human kind! Washington and Franklin! What other two men, whose lives belong to the eighteenth century of Christen- dom, have left a deeper impression of themselves upon the age in
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which they lived, and upon all after time ! Washington, the warrior and legislator ! In war, contending by the wager of battle for the independence of his country, and for the freedom of the human race; ever manifesting, amid its horrors, by precept and example, his rev- erence for the laws of peace, and for the tenderest sympathies of hu- manity ; in peace, soothing the ferocious spirit of discord, among his own countrymen, into harmony and union, and giving to that very sword now presented to his country, a charm more potent than that attributed in ancient times to the lyre of Orpheus. Franklin ! the mechanie of his own fortune, teaching in early youth, under the shackles of indigence, the way to wealth, and in the shade of obscu- rity the path to greatness ; in the maturity of manhood, disarming the thunder of its terrors, the lightning of its fatal blast, and wresting from the tyrant's hand the still more afflictive seepter of oppression : while descending into the vale of years, traversing the Atlantic ocean, braving in the dead of winter the battle and the breeze, bearing in his hand the charter of Independence, which he had contributed to form and tendering, from the self-created nation to the mightiest monarchs of Europe, the olive branch of peaec, the mercurial wand of commerce, and the amulet of protection and safety to the man of peace on the pathless ocean, from the inexorable cruelty and merciless rapacity of war. And finally, in the last stage of life, with fourscore winters upon his head, under the torture of an incurable disease, returning to his native land, closing his days as the chief magistrate of his adopted Commonwealth, after contributing by his eounsels, under the Presi- dency of Washington, and recording his name, under the sanetion of devout prayer invoked by him to God, to that Constitution under the authority of which we are here assembled, as the representatives of the North American people, to receive, in their name and for them, these venerable relies of the wise, the valiant, and the good founders of our great confederated republic-these saered symbols of our golden age.
May they be deposited among the archives of our Government ! and may every American who shall hereafter behold them, ejaculate a min- gled offering of praise to that Supreme Ruler of the universe, by whose tender mercies our Union has been hitherto preserved through all the vicissitudes and revolutions of this turbulent world, and of prayer for the continuance of these blessings, by the dispensations of his Providence, to our beloved country, from age to age, till time shall be no more! 18
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LEVI WOODBURY.
I BECAME personally acquainted with Judge Woodbury the sub- ject of this sketch, when he took his seat in the Senate of the United States, as the colleague of Franklin Pierce. Judge Woodbury brought with him to the Senate, a high reputation for industry, strong common sense, and great financial ability, with a long and matured experience on the Supreme Bench of his own State, and as Secretary of the Treas- ury of the United States : as a speaker, he was not known. In per- son Judge Woodbury was about the common hight, heavy and strongly built, large chest, broad across the shoulders, short neck, capacious brain, head bald, retreating forehead, thin hair on the back of his head, features fine, eye-lashes heavy, blue sunken eyes. His countenance expressed much study and continued mental labor. The first time he rose to speak, all eyes were upon him. I listened to him with much interest. I had heard all the other distinguished Senators, and I was then about to hear one of the favorite sons of New Eng- land.
He commenced calmly and slowly, clear, plain, and distinct in his annunciation, and without the least attempt at what is termed eloquence ; as he progressed he warmed with his subject, his voice rose, higher and higher, until he filled the chamber ; he became more and more interesting as he developed his powers : they were not those of impassioned eloquence, his was the eloquence of facts and conclusions, presented in plain, vigorous language, understood by all. His mind had so long dwelt upon figures aud finance, that it was not expected that he would plunge into the whirlpool of exciting political debate, that sometimes rocked the Senate from center to circumference. His was the field of usefulness. He was emphatically a working utilitarian, with little imagination, except what was closely connected with the facts with which he was dealing. Judge Woodbury, like all the other great men of our nation was made so by self-labor, no man is created great, any more than the main-spring of the watch is created by nature alone. It is labor that makes both. I have often thought that Mr. Wirt's life of Patrick Henry had done much injury, as it seemed to say, that study and preparation, were not essential to true greatness. If Patrick Henry was an exception to the rule, which I very much doubt, it was one that it will not do for our young men to follow, unless they are sure that they are by nature Patrick Henrys.
I give an extract from a speech of Judge Woodbury, that the reader may see his style.
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LEVI WOODBURY.
EXTRACT FROM HIS SPEECH ON THE LOAN BILL.
MR. PRESIDENT :- All admit that this is an alarming exigency in our financial affairs. The bill on your table, as well as the proposed amendment to it, both look to the dire necessity of borrowing some- thing, not only in a period of profound peace, but at a moment when our credit has suddenly become depreciated ; friends and foes must, therefore, be anxious to effect a loan on the best terms which are practicable. As a general rule, the loan should be small in amount as possible, and the best terms would certainly be the lowest rate of interest and the shortest period which are attainable in so critical a position. We can hardly appreciate the change, in that position and its present deplorable character, unless we advert to our situation one short year ago, with no permanent debt of our own, with a small tem- porary one of only five or six millions, and that above or at par, with a reduced and reducing expenditure, with a revenue from lands and customs, ample under slight revisions in the latter to meet such an expenditure, and extinguish the whole debt, and with a national credit untarnished, undepreciated, and unsuspected.
If, more in sorrow than in anger, or in party reproach, we contrast that lofty position with what now stares us in the face-a hideous mass of large permanent debts, and a still larger temporary one- greatly increased expenditures, depreciated stocks, and protest on pro- test for non-payment of ordinary demands, as well as temporary loans, our hearts must recoil at the sight. When we look further, and see the whole land-revenue squandered, and an impossibility of getting onward in such a ruinous career, without further disgrace-further acts of bankruptcy, or further loans at rank usury- it all admonishes us solemnly that something wrong must have produced such disasters, and that something new and efficient must be adopted to remove them. Let us examine the subject, then, in a manner which an emergency so calamitous demands, rising for once above party or the mere poli- ties of the day, and forgetting every thing but what is required of ns as statesmen, patriots, and Senators. I shall, therefore, forbear to crimi- nate or recriminate; and in such a condition of peril to the country, and its high character, I will devote my whole efforts to discover the best mode of relief through a loan, which appears to comport with public honor and public safety ; and which, at the same time, bids fair to be crowned with success. Hence, I am willing to overlook every consideration of form in this bill, and every subordinate objec- tion, if only the main features of it can be made such as are most likely to insure a creditable escape from present ignominy. I say nothing,
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then, as to the extension of the time for a year or two, within which the loan must be made, if made at all. Nor will I be captious con- cerning the amount which the Executive is authorized to borrow, though, in one view, it is much too large, and in another, it is not large enough, by several millions to carry out the policy now in force. Nor will I dwell on the better reasons which exist for a monthly pub- lication of what is done under this bill, as in the case of all our Treas- ury note bill, rather than a report of it to Congress hereafter, which, of course, could call for it without provision. Nor am I tenacious as to the form of advertising and of accepting offers, though, in some respects, exceptionable. Nor will I stop to expose the great danger of issuing certificates virtually to hearer, and also in sums as small as fifty dollars or fifty cents, and thus open the door to infinite difficul- ties, as frauds aud forgeries in respect to the payment of interest, and create a paper circulation, not redeemable at all for twenty years, and for discharging which not even the one dollar of specie to three of paper is required to be kept, which the original exchequer project provided for.
Nor will I, on this occasion, so pressing and momentous, indulge even in reply, aud at any length, to many party strictures, made in the course of this debate, by Senators on the other side. They have been such as swelling the real expenses of the last administration to thirty-five millions, on an average, yearly, when all who examine with care, know and admit them to have been but twenty-seven and a frac- tion. Such as taunting us with the Florida war, when our opponents engaged to end it in a single month. but have not yet finished it, though more than a year has elapsed ; and such as asking for the monuments over the country of our expenses, and declaring that none exist, when all the civil, foreign, judicial, legislative, military, and naval operations of the country, have been promptly sustained; im- mense removals of Indians made to give place to Christian civilization -large pension payments continued to the survivors of the Revolu- tion-numerous public buildings erected-arsenals, armories, barracks, and forts built-roads extended, rivers and harbors in many cases improved, and peace maintained in a most perilous crisis on both our Northern and Northeastern, as well as Southwestern frontiers.
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IDENTITY OF A HORSE.
IDENTITY OF A HORSE.
Ar a term of Marion Circuit Court, William J. Peasley presiding, there came on to be tried an action of replevin, brought by James Musgrove against William Martin, for a brown horse. Gov. Wallace and myself for the plaintiff. Wiek and Barbour for the defendant. The only question in controversy before the Court and jury was, as to the identity of the horse : both parties claimed him, the defendant Martin was in possession, and had been for two years. Our client had lost his horse about the time that Martin purchased the horse in question. There were some forty witnesses, good substantial men, reliable as to truth, and of unquestionable veracity : men who would not have sworn false knowingly for ten such horses. We had the opening and close before the jury, and of course led off with our testi- mony by the examination of some twenty witnesses. We proved the horse positively to belong to our client, tracing our title back to the man that raised him. Ile was a brown horse, fifteen hands high, no white marks, a scratch near his hip. We asked our witnesses how they identified the horse, they answered promptly that he had been scratched near the hip by a sharp root of a blown-up tree when he was ploughing in the field. They had examined the horse in question and found the scratch ; they further identified him by the fact that he was taught when a colt to lean his ears when a finger was pointed at him ; he also had a shuffling pace : our identity was complete, the horse we felt sure was ours. Gov. Wallace rather waggishly winked at Judge Wick, as much as to say " do you give it up." It looked to me, that the day was ours. The witnesses for the defendant swore just as positively as ours had, that the horse belonged to Martin, the defendant. They proved him up from a suckling colt, heyond a shad- dow of a doubt in the minds of the witnesses. The scratch under the hip was proved to have been made by a nail in the stable door. The pacing was proved to be the slow gait of the defendant's horse, and the lean of the ears, was proved to have been contracted when a colt. Thus stood the proof about equally balanced-positive on both sides, when Mr. Barbour asked one of our witnesses how old our horse was. He answered he would be seven years old that fall. This fixed the age of our horse. They then proved that their horse was only five years old. Our client insisted that the witnesses were mistaken as to the age of the horse of the defendant, and we sent experts to look at his teeth, but unfortunately, they testified that the horse was five years old in the fall. This turned the scale against us, and the jury found the horse to be the property of Martin the defendant.
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