USA > Indiana > Early Indiana trials: and sketches. Reminiscences > Part 57
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ELDER JOHN O'KANE.
THE subject of this sketch was one of my early neighbors and friends in the Whitewater Valley. He was then, as now, an able minister in the Christian church, preaching by day, and by night, with great power, throughout the country. I knew Mr. O'Kane well. I have often heard him preach, and have thought that he had few superiors as a strong doctrinal sermonizer. He always preached from the Scrip- tures, never from himself. As a speaker, Mr. O'Kane was clear, plain, strong, emphatic ; with a voice loud, full-toned and well trained, always good, at times eloquent. His person was tall and command ing, full six feet in hight, hair dark, capacious forehead, wide month, prominent features. He had worn his rather delicate body almost out, by his great efforts in the field of his labors some years ago, but the last time I saw him he was quite well again, and was laboring in connection with the North Western Christian University at Indiana- polis, a most valnable literary institution.
EBENEZER SHARPE.
AMONG the first settlers of the capital was Ebenezer Sharpe, the father of Thomas H. Sharpe, and James M'Cord Sharpe now of the city. He was one of the purest men I ever knew; an elder in the Presbyter- ian church, a devoted friend to the Sabbath school, he threw the whole weight of his influence into the scale of education, morality, and reli- gion. Mr. Sharpe for many years faithfully discharged the duties of Agent of Indianapolis, and retired with clear hands from large mone- tary transactions connected with the city; such men can always be referred to, by their friends, with pleasure. He died at a good old age, and was gathered like a ripe sheaf into the garner of his Father.
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DR. ISAAC COE-JAMES BLAKE.
DR. ISAAC COE.
THE first time I attended court at Indianapolis I was introduced to the subject of this sketch. The capital was then in the woods. We walked together over the town plat through the brush as well as we could. The Dr. was sanguine that the town would some day contain five thousand inhabitants. I laughed at him. Cincinnati at that time only contained eight hundred. The Dr. was a colaborer with Mr. Sharpe, in the cause of education, morality, and religion ; an elder in the Presbyterian church, and a leader of the Sabbath schools. The tall figure of Dr. Coe, with his snow-white head, will long be cherished and remembered by the citizens of Indianapolis ; perhaps few men did so much as the Dr. to form society at Indianapolis, upon the true basis. He lived to see the capital contain a population of twenty thousand souls, to see twenty-five churches of the different denomina- tions, sustaining full congregations, and to see twenty-five hundred Sabbath-school scholars marching to the grove on the birth-day of our Independence. At a good old age Dr. Coe left us, to reap his reward for an active and well-spent life.
JAMES BLAKE.
WHENEVER I take my walk through the streets of Indianapolis, I have the pleasure of seeing the manly form of James Blake, one of the early settlers at the capital. I became early acquainted with Mr. Blake. We were both from Pennsylvania. I had preceded him some years to the State, but he came early. Indiana has received into her bosom few such men as James Blake. With a strong common-sense mind, an energy that never tired, he took a strong hold of the work before him; believing in the doctrine that honest labor is honorable, he shunned no personal labor that was necessary to the success of his enter- prise. While he threw his strength of body and mind, into the field of improvement of the city, he did not forget the moral and religious culture of the minds of the rising generation. He was a strong sup- porter of the Sabbath, and common schools, an elder in the Presbyte- rian church. His presence was every where that he could promote the interest of the city, and the welfare of its youth.
. Of late years since Indianapolis has taken her position as a manufac- turing and commercial city, Mr. Blake has efficiently discharged the duties of president of the Board of Trade, devoting his time, talents, influence, to the prosperity of the capital of the State ; where I leave him, in fine health, with his locks as white as the driven snow.
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EARLY INDIANA TRIALS.
JOHN BROUGH.
I CAN not pass by John Brough, the great railroad king, long a res- ident of Indiana, now of Cleveland, Ohio. Soon after the railroad mania took possession of the West, Mr. Brough became identified with the success of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, and while that road was without competition, he managed its affairs so as to keep its stocks above par, but as the competition of our other roads arose one after another in quick succession, the business was diminished; the stock of the company fell rapidly, and ultimately was of mere nominal value. Mr. Brough resigned the presidency of the company, became president of the Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Company, which was afterward united with the Bellefontaine and Iudiana Road, giving a through line from Indianapolis to Crestline, Ohio, there to intersect the Cleveland and Pittsburg lines. Mr. Brough was elected to the presidency of the consolidated road, a position he now occupies. He is one of the most untiring, energetic men I ever knew; strong, com- mon-sense views; thoroughly acquainted with the management of rail- roads in all their minutia, he is eminently qualified to fill his position. In person Mr. Brough is remarkable, once seen and you will never forget him ; about five feet eight in hight, large rotund body, unusually large head, with high retreating forehead, inclined to baldness, carna- tion-colored face, large fleshy double-chin hanging down his neck. Mr. Brough is in the middle of life, in fine health. I saw him a few days since looking at one of his engines.
WILLARD CARPENTER.
FROM the first settlements in Indiana up to the present time she has had no citizen within her boundaries of greater energy of charac- ter than Willard Carpenter, of Evansville. Ile is under the common hight, well built, large expanded chest, broad shoulders, large round head, high square forehead, thin sandy hair, light eyes and brows, good features, short neck, pleasant countenance. Mr. Carpenter was the leading man in procuring the grant of land from the United States to extend the Wabash and Erie canal to Evansville, was the heaviest stockholder in the Evansville and Crawfordsville Railroad Company ; and at an after period the great moving spirit and heaviest stockholder in the Evansville, Indianapolis and Cleveland straight-line railroad com- pany, in which he became the principle contractor, and visited England, Ireland, Wales, France and Belgium, in the year 1857, on the business of the contractors; but owing to the depressed state of money matters
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WILLIAM ALLEN.
there at the time, failed to make his negotiations, and returned home without any abatement of his energy or perseverance. The great change of the times, the depression of monetary affairs, the depreciation of railroad securities and stocks, the almost impossibility of building new roads, may even defeat the persevering efforts of Willard Carpenter, to build the great work in which he is engaged, and like thousands of other men, he may be ultimately embarrassed, in consequence of the enterprising character of his nature. But Willard Carpenter will long be remembered, honored and respected, as one of the enterprising citizens of our State. I saw him yesterday in fine health, in the mer- idian of life.
WILLIAM ALLEN.
THE subject of this sketch was the junior Senator from the State of Ohio. Thomas Morris and Benjamin Tappan were at different times his colleagues. I was qualified at the same time with Mr. Allen in March, 1837, and being from adjoining States, though differing in politics, we became personally intimate. Mr. Allen soon attained a prominent standing in the Senate. In person, he was tall and eom- manding, features prominent, hair and eyes light, high retreating fore- head. As a debater, his manner, voice, action, were peculiarly his own. Ilis voice was loud, full toned, too loud I have sometimes thought for the Senate Chamber, but well adapted to the stump. His facetious colleague, Judge Tappan, on one occasion was asked by a gentleman from Ohio, whether a certain individual had gone home. " Yes," said the Judge, " he started this morning ; but if you want to see him, get Mr. Allen to put his head out of the window, and call him back, he must be on this side of the mountains yet." Mr. Allen took part in most of the heavy debates in the Senate, and sustained him- self with signal ability. He had a strong leaning to Mr. Calhoun, and seldom differed from that distinguished Senator, especially on the tariff was he strongly anti-protective. I had the pleasure of seeing Mr Allen last October at Indianapolis in fine health, though his head was silvered over with age.
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EARLY INDIANA TRIALS.
JOSEPH BONAPARTE.
LATE in the month of November, 1828, as I stepped aboard a steamer at Chestnut street wharf, Philadelphia, on my way to Congress, I noticed a group of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen walking aft to the ladies' cabin. Joel B. Sutherland, the representative of the Phil- adelphia District, remarked that one of them was ex-King Joseph Bonaparte, and proposed to introduce me. Of course I accepted the offer .. He gave me his hand with a slight bow and pleasant smile. Turning to his son-in-law, Charles Louis Bonaparte, 'son of Louis, ex-King of Holland, Achille Murat, son of Joachim Murat, ex-King of Naples, who stood by him, he made me acquainted with them. It is said that Joseph Bonaparte, although a few inches taller than Na- poleon, looked more like him than any other of his brothers. His manners were full of ease, elegance and grace. He was very pleasant and quite disposed to free conversation, about five feet nine or ten inches high, heavy set, dark complexion, black eyes and hair, heavy brows, large round head, square high forehead. Charles Louis, his son-in-law, was rather taller, but not so thick ; black hair and eyes, dark complexion. Achille Murat strongly resembled Charles Louis, about the same size and complexion. I could distinguish them at once, both by their appearance and accent, to be foreigners.
We passed on together to New Castle, crossed the State of Delaware in stages to Frenchtown, and there took the steamer to Baltimore, where we parted. I had a most interesting conversation with all these distinguished men, much of which I distinctly recollect, and may briefly state before this sketch closes.
I looked upon the group at the time with deep interest. I had just finished reading the French Revolution, and the incidents of the Bonaparte dynasty, and now the elder brother of Napoleon, with two of his nephews, stood before me. I looked upon Joseph Bonaparte not merely as the ex-King of Naples and of Spain, but as the brother of the Great Napoleon, whom I had seen in the history of his times, rise from a poor boy, at the military school at Brienne, to the greatest monarch on carth, shaking the whole civilized world, causing the kings of the old world to tremble on their thrones, and dispensing erowns to his family at pleasure. I had seen him at Notre Dame, at the Bridge of Lodi, the Battle of Lonato, the Pyramids, Austerlitz, Marengo, Jena, Montmail, Aboukir, Arcola, Eckmuhl; I had seen his legions crossing the frozen Alps, and pouring themselves upon the plains of Italy ; I had seen the Bourbon dynasty at his feet at one moment, at the next he was a captive on the sea-girt Isle of Elba. With a few followers, he escapes, lands in France, and marches upon
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JOSEPH BONAPARTE.
Paris. The army of the Bourbons rush to his standard, bearing aloft the tri-colors and the eagle. The Bourbons fly from the Tuilleries. He takes the fallen reins, ascends the throne of empire, and again holds the destinies of France. I had read a thrilling account of his fatal march upon Moscow; had seen in imagination that great city in flames, and the French army retreating. The battle of Waterloo, where he met single-handed the combined army of the allies, with Wel- lington and Blucher in command, where his eagles trailed in the dust, was before me, and his sun began to decline. I had followed him to St. Helena, the royal captive of the Allies ; had seen his sun set at Longwood in the tomb, not as Lord Byron says, " without one parting ray," but leaving ten thousand brilliant rays behind.
While I looked upon Joseph Bonaparte, as the elder brother of Napoleon, and the strongest living image of his person, I did not forget that I had before me a man who had risen like his brother, from an humble origin, to wear the crown of Naples, and of Spain. As my mind glanced over the incidents of his eventful life, I thought I could see his character stamped upon his countenance. I had seen him in the council of Five Hundred, as envoy to Rome, a member of the Council of State, a commissioner to treat with the United States, to treat with Great Britain at Amiens; at the head of his reg- iment at the camp of Boulogne, refusing the crown of Lombardy ; at the head of forty thousand French troops at the surrender of Capua ; triumphantly entering Naples, and becoming King ; in Sorrentum at the house of Tasso. He leaves Naples, enters Madrid and becomes King of Spain. He defeated the Spanish forces at the foot of the Sierra Morena; at the battle of Salamanca at the head of 100,000 men ; at Vittoria attacked hy the combined armies under the Duke of Wellington ; he returns to Paris ; surrenders the crown of Spain. He joins Napoleon after his return from Elba. As a Prince of France he takes his seat in the House of Peers. He embarks from Bor- deaux in an American vessel and lands in New York; fixes his resi- dence at Bordentown, on the Delaware river, between Philadelphia and Trenton, with a large attendance of servants, who were warmly attached to his person. I had seen his mansion in the midst of the forest of shade trees that surrounded it. It was consumed by fire in the year 1820, but was afterward rebuilt in a much plainer and less costly style. IFe was tendered the crown of Mexico, but rejected it. He returned to France, and died in Florence in 1844. Such was Joseph Bonaparte with whom I was conversing, and such the associa- tions that filled my mind.
We crossed the State of Delaware from New Castle to Frenchtown
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in separate coaches, but joined again. In conversation, as the steamer was passing down Elk River to the Chesapeake Bay, he spoke in high terms of our Washington, and eulogized our Constitution as a work of consummate wisdom. I asked him if he thought the Bourbon dynasty could long hold the reins of power in France. He said, " No, they are unpopular with the masses; they were put there by the for- eign powers, and not by the French people, and whenever the exter- nal pressure is removed, they must be driven from power. The Bon- aparte dynasty must come into power again in some member of the family-most probably the son of Napoleon." I spoke of the weakness of the monarchical governments of Europe, liable to be overthrown by revolution in a day. He said "they were the only governments suited to the people of Europe; the only kind of governments that they would long submit to. France tried a republican government, but it proved a signal failure. Rome onee enjoyed at least the shadow of the idea, but never the substance. Your government as yet works well. You are the only people on earth that have virtue and intelli- gence enough to maintain a republican form of government. But have you been fully tried ? Your Revolutionary struggle held you together in a common cause. Your Washington was not only a patriot, but his love of the principles of your Government was such that he voluntarily laid down the power that he could have retained, and seated himself permanently on the throne of America." I replied, " I agree with you that it requires a high degree of virtue, intelli- gence, and love of country in the masses, to sustain and carry on our Government, and it may he true, that the people of France, like those of Rome, were not prepared for a representative government like ours, but I differ entirely from your remarks in relation to the power our Washington could have exercised, had he felt so disposed. I am unwilling to believe that any one man, at the period of our Revolu- tion, could have so far smothered the spirit of liberty, that caused the Revolution, as to place on his head a crown. The idea does injustice to the people of the United States." He spoke enthusiastically of the French empire while Napoleon reigned. He said it was the strongest government the world ever saw, and the most beneficial to the people. I replied that " I could not agree with him; that it was a child of revolution and blood, and was only sustained by arms ; that our Government sprang from the people, and was upheld by their will, as expressed at the ballot-box." I can recollect but a few ques- tions touched in our conversation, that lasted for hours, in which Charles Louis, and Achille Murat took part occasionally. The boat struck the wharf at Baltimore, we shook hands and parted.
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CLOSE OF THE WHIG CAUCUS.
CLOSE OF THE WHIG CAUCUS.
IT is known that each of the parties in Congress has, since the organization of the Government, held night meetings, at which the members of the party alone attend. At these meetings the policy of the party, and the measures to be adopted in open session are fully discussed, with closed doors. When a result is come to, cach member stands committed to the measure in open session-hence the united vote of the party for, and against any given proposition. At the called session, in 1841, the Whig party became the dominant party, and, as such, took the initiative, in both branches of Congress, of all important measures. President Harrison had deceased, and John Tyler had been Constitutionally elevated to the executive chair ; strong hopes were entertained by the leaders of the Whigs, in Con- gress, that Mr. Tyler would unite with them in carrying into effect the measures upon which the party had come into power. How they were disappointed I have already stated in my sketch of John Tyler. Following in the custom of the party, the Whig Senators met in the room of the Vice-President, one evening early in the extra session, and organized by the choice of the Hon. Nathan F. Dixon, of Rhode Island, chairman. The meeting was full, every Whig Senator there. Mr. Dixon took the chair ; he was a venerable-looking man, of the old school of gentlemen ; head as white as a snow-bank, long white cue hanging down to his waist, high forehead, large nose, wide mouth, dark grey eyes covered by glasses, black breeches, white silk stockings, white vest, ruffled shirt, black coat. . Mr. Dixon, as a pre- siding officer, at once adopted the idea, that each Senator was bound to keep himself in order, and if he did not, the dignity of the chair would not permit him to interfere. The debates, therefore, at times assumed a personal character not very becoming in brethren of the same political party. Some of the finest speeches I have ever heard from Mr. Clay, Mr. Rives, Mr. Southard, Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Davis, Mr. Choate, Mr. Preston, Mr. Simmons, and many other Senators, I have heard in the Whig caucus. Time rolled on, meeting after meet- ing was held, nightly ; measure after measure, vote after vote resolved upon, and carried out in open session. At length the night had come for the close of the eaucus. I distinctly recollect that night; it was dark and rainy. The Whig Senators were there. Mr. Dixon took the chair early. Every thing around us looked like the weather and the night, dark and gloomy. Our hopes had been blasted; President Tyler had deceived us; our triumphant victory had been turned into ashes in our mouths ; we were about to part, with no cheering. 38
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EARLY INDIANA TRIALS.
prospects. No new measure was to be introduced; we had met to take a parting leave of each other. All was silent, when the tall and majes- tic form of Henry Clay was seen rising in the west end of the room ; all eyes were upon him ; he wore a bewitching smile upon his coun- tenance. He addressed the Chair in a voice that indicated at once that he was not about delivering a dolorous address, adding to our gloomy feelings. With his peculiar look and tone of voice, he remarked : " Mr. Chairman, this is a dark night. There is no moon, and the little stars are slumbering in their beds, behind the dark canopy that is spread over the heavens. This is not the first time that the heavenly lights have been obscured, and the world kept in tempo- rary darkness. Is this emblematie of our party ? It may be so ; but not of our principles. We, Senators, will soon pass away, but our principles will live while our glorious Union shall exist. Let our hearts be cheerful. Let our minds look through the temporary clouds that overspread the heavens, and see the sun there, as in mid-day, shining upon our principles, fixed above like planets in the firmament. They may be obscured for a time by the cry of the demagogue, by the political treason of those we have cherished in our bosoms-but they must and will prevail in the end. The American people will always be divided between political parties; and leaders may direct the masses, for a time, to measures opposed to their true interest, but in the end the truth of experience will prevail, and justice will be done to the memory of those who have stood firm, as the friends of the peo- ple. My friends, we have done our duty. We have maintained the true policy of the Government. Our policy has been arrested by an Executive that we brought into power. Arnold escaped to England, after his treason was detected. Andre was executed. Tyler is on his way to the Democratic camp. They may give him lodgings in some out-house, but they never will trust him. He will stand here, like Arnold in England, a monument of his own perfidy and disgrace.
" We are soon to separate. We go to our constituents to tell them the story of their wrongs. Let us part with light and not desponding hearts. The sun sets at night under the western horizon, he is obscured by the revolution of the earth, but in the morn he rises in all his majesty in the east; so with our principles. I repeat, they may seem to have set, but like the sun they will rise again, warm, and fructify the United States. We must have for America, an American policy-our people are entitled to the protection and benefits of the Government under which they live. The policy of Europe is not suited to our people ; the doctrines of free-trade preached, but never practiced, by other nations, may do for demagogues to talk about, but
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CLOSE OF THE WHIG CAUCUS.
their effects are to break down our manufactures, paralyze the industry of the people, and drain our country of the precious metals. The currency question is of the highest importance to every industrial interest; without a sound currency there can be no safe, just reward to the industry of the country. I was at one time opposed to the Bank of the United States, it was afterward chartered, I saw and experi- enced the benefits of its operations,-such an institution alone, can give a safe circulating paper medium, of uniform value in every part of the nation. If we use a paper currency at all, that is the kind of paper that we want, the local banks may give a local paper circulation, but they can not furnish a currency of extended uniformity of value. My conviction is confirmed by long observation and experience, that our principles, are right for the best interest for the American people and should prevail.
" Mr. Chairman, before parting, I wish to say a word gratulatory to yourself, as to the presiding officer of the Whig caucus. You took the chair with evident distrust of your ability to discharge its high and important duties. Night after night we have looked upon your good- natured, gentlemanly countenance ; we have seen with high gratifica- tion, the very able and impartial manner in which you have discharged your duty, and especially the: manner in which you have, by a single look, kept order at our meetings ; the most exeited, the most boister- ous, has been quieted at once, and brought into lamb-like docility. Your remarkable qualifications for the chair, the astonishing manner in which you have exercised them, has been a theme of universal commendation by every member of the caucus, and could you have been seen while presiding, by the whole civilized world, Europe, Asia, Africa and Occanica would have raised a united voice in your praise. Gentlemen, one and all, permit me to bid you au affectionate fare- well !" and took his seat amid great applause.
Mr. Dixon at once responded, with inimitable humor : "Gentle- men, I have heard with infinite delight the remarks of the Senator from Kentucky, and more especially those he has been pleased to address directly to myself, so just and so true. I have been fully aware for some time, that I never had but one equal as a presiding officer, and he was the Senator from Kentucky himself, when he pre- sided over the House of Representatives; others might make the Senator an exception, but to be entirely candid, I can not; I believe I am greatly his superior, especially in keeping order. You will all bear me witness. with what promptness, judgment, and energy, I have at all times interfered to keep order among the most disorderly body that was ever assembled. The Senator from Kentucky at one time
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