In the senate Mr. Clay offered the following resolution, to test the disposition of the administration party to conform to the expression of public opinion, by repealing the sub-treasury law: "Resolved, That the act entitled, an act for the collection, safe-keeping, transfer, and disbursement of the public revenues,' ought to be forthwith repealed, and that the committee on finance be instructed to report a bill accordingly." This resolution was rejected by the senate, and the repeal of the law was left for the new administration.

The public expenditures during this administration greatly exceeded those of any preceding four years, since the war with Great Britain, exclusive of the public debt and the Florida Indian war. Public agents were multiplied, and increased compensation, in many cases, allowed them for their services. Large sums were lost to the national treasury by the defalcation of public officers, and the failure of deposite banks.

The character of Mr. Van Buren's administration is, of course, differently estimated by his countrymen, according to their political bias or preferences, and our readers may form their own estimate, from a perusal of the preceding brief narrative of the leading political events of this exciting period.

Although a majority of the house of representatives, in the twentyfifth Congress, was opposed to his administration, or some of his leading measures, Mr. Van Buren did not exercise the veto power during the four years of his presidential term.

A writer in the Democratic Review for April, 1840, makes the following comparison of this with former democratic administrations :

"The great event of President Jackson's administration was the contest with the bank of the United States, and its destruction as a federal institution-that of Madison's was the war-while Jefferson's was rather a general revolution of the anti-democratic spirit and policy of the preceding administration, than marked by any single salient point of such historical prominence as to give its character and name to the period. The great event of Mr. Van Buren's administration, by which it will hereafter be known and designated, is the divorce of bank and state, in the fiscal affairs of the federal government, and the return, after half a century of deviation, to the original design of the constitution."

The same writer informs us that Mr. Van Buren remarked to a friend, previous to writing his message recommending the independent treasury: "We can not know how the immediate convulsion may result, but the people will, at all events, eventually come right, and posterity at least will do me justice. Be the present issue for good or for evil, it is for posterity that I will write this message."

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

OF

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.

THE family of Harrison is one of the most ancient and honorable in the history of Virginia. Among the early settlers of the colony was a lineal descendant of that General Harrison who bore a distinguished part during the civil wars of England, in the army of the Commonwealth.

Benjamin Harrison (of the same stock), the father of the subject of this memoir, was one of the signers of the declaration of independence, and among the most prominent of the illustrious men of his eventful day, having filled the executive chair of the "Old Dominion" at a period when moral daring and personal fearlessness were essential to the incumbent of that station. He was previously an active and influential member, both of the house of burgesses in Virginia, and of the continental Congress. Of the former body he was repeatedly chosen speaker, and in the latter, in June, 1776, he introduced the resolution which declared the independence of the colonies, and on the following fourth of July, as chairman of the committee of the whole, he reported the more formal declaration to which his signature is affixed. Governor Harrison died in 1791, after the most eminent public services, and the expenditure of an ample fortune in the cause of his country.

William Henry Harrison, the third and youngest son of the preceding, and ninth president of the United States, was born on the 9th of February, 1773, at Berkeley, on the James river, in Charles city county, Virginia. On the death of his father, he was placed under the guardianship of his intimate friend, Robert Morris, of Pennsylvania, the great financier of the revolution. Young Harrison was educated at Hampden Sidney college, in his native state, and afterward applied himself to the study of medicine as a profession. But before he had completed his course of studies as a physician, the barbarities of the Indians upon the western frontiers excited a feeling of indignation throughout the country. Har

rison resolved to give up his profession and join the army raised for the defence of the Ohio frontier. His guardian, Mr. Morris, attempted to dissuade him from his purpose, but his resolution was not to be shaken, and on communicating with General Washington, that distinguished man cordially approved of the patriotic determination of the son of his deceased friend and associate.

At the age of nineteen, Harrison received from President Washington the commission of ensign in a regiment of artillery, and joined his corps at Fort Washington, on the Ohio, in 1791. A reinforcement was ordered to march for Fort Hamilton, on the Miami, a task which it required no ordinary degree of courage to accomplish, as they had to pass through forests infested by hordes of the hostile tribes, and Harrison was chosen to the command of the body of men forming the escort. The dexterity and skill which he displayed in the prosecution of this arduous duty, gained for him the approbation of his commanding officer, General St. Clair. He rapidly gained the entire confidence of his officers, and in 1792 was promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

During the following year Harrison joined the new army under the command of General Anthony Wayne, an officer whose intrepidity and daring impetuosity, accompanied at the same time with consummate skill, during the war of the revolution, obtained for him the title of "Mad Anthony." It was a period, indeed, worthy of such a man, for the repeated successes and incursions of the savage enemy had not only infused among the people generally, but even throughout the army itself, such terror and dread of these merciless foes, as greatly to paralyze their energies, and to render the duties of the commander extremely arduous and difficult. The instructions, indeed, which were forwarded by Congress to General Wayne, contained the following ominous expression: "Another defeat would prove inexpressibly ruinous to the reputation of the government;" and consequently, in such a critical juncture, every avail able facility was rendered him. On the 25th of May, 1792, he repaired to Pittsburg, which was selected as the place of rendezvous. The newly-organized army consisted of a major-general, four brigadier-generals, with their respective staffs, the commissioned officers, and over five thousand rank and file; which was designated," the legion of the United States." Although this collective force had the effect of partially restoring the spirit and energy of the soldiers, they continued to desert in considerable numbers. To remedy this evil, General Wayne applied himself at all intervals of leisure, to the disciplining of his troops, with unremitting assiduity. Thus it must be obvious, that the early military career of Harrison had but few attractions for those who were not, like him, actuated solely by the true spirit of generous patriotism.

Finding all amicable negotiations with the Indians unavailing, no alternative was left to General Wayne but to adopt the most rigid and decisive

measures; accordingly we find him breaking up his winter quarters, about the end of April, 1793, and transporting his army in boats down the Ohio to Fort Washington, an outpost situated upon the site now occupied by the city of Cincinnati. Having at length received instructions from the secretary of war to commence active operations, he left Fort Washington in October, 1793, and advanced with his army along the southwestern branch of the Miami, where he took up his position, and erected fortifications. To this post he gave the name of Greenville, and here the army went into winter quarters. General Wayne sent a detachment to take possession of the ground on which General St. Clair and his army had been defeated by the Indians two years before. Harrison volunteered for the service, and was accepted by the commander.

The battle-ground was taken possession of by the troops, and a fortification erected, to which the name of Fort Recovery was given. The bones of the soldiers slain on the fatal 4th of November, 1791, were collected, and interred with military honors. The artillery lost on that occasion were recovered; and on the return of the troops from the expedition, the name of Lieutenant Harrison, among others, was mentioned by General Wayne, in his general order of thanks to the officers and men for their gallant conduct on the occasion.

On the 30th of June, 1794, a fierce attack was made by large numbers of the Indians, upon the newly-constructed works at Fort Recovery; they were, however, repeatedly repulsed, and the arrival of a body of militia from Kentucky enabled General Wayne to force them to retreat with great loss.

Being reinforced by a body of mounted volunteers from Kentucky. General Wayne advanced seventy miles to Grand Glaize, in the very heart of the Indian territory. Here he erected a fort which he called Defiance, at the confluence of the Maumee and Au Glaize rivers.

Agreeably with his instructions, General Wayne renewed his overtures of peace, which again being rejected by the Indians, he prepared to bring them to a decisive settlement. In the heroic engagement or battle of the Maumee rapids, which ensued, on the 20th of August, 1794, the consummate skill of the general, as well as the valor of his troops, were alike resplendent with the important consequences which resulted from the action. In the official account of this battle, we also find the name of Lieutenant Harrison complimented by the commander-in-chief as his "faithful and gallant aid-de-camp," in having "rendered the most essential service by communicating his orders in every direction, and for his conduct and bravery, in exciting the troops to press for victory." The Indians now proposed to capitulate with General Wayne, and the result was, a treaty of peace was concluded, by which the United States obtained cessions of considerable tracts of land, as well as secured tranquillity to the border settlements. The news of Wayne's victory had a favorable effect upon

our pending negotiations in London, and was supposed to have enabled the American special minister, Mr. Jay, to secure the assent of Lord Grenville to the surrender to the United States of all the forts held and occupied by the British in the northwest, within the jurisdiction of our government. Thus undisputed possession of the territory northwest of the Ohio was obtained, and emigration to that country received a new and favorable impulse.

Not long after the close of this campaign, Harrison was promoted to the rank of captain; and as an additional proof of the confidence reposed in his discretion and ability, by General Wayne, he was placed in command of Fort Washington. While at this place (where Cincinnati now stands), being now about twenty-one years of age, he married the daughter of John Cleves Symmes, the founder of the Miami settlements. "She has been," says Mr. Hall in his memoir," the faithful companion of this distinguished patriot during the various perils and vicissitudes of his eventful life, and still lives to witness the maturity of his fame, and the honors paid him by a grateful country."

He continued in the army till the close of the year 1797, when, soon after the death of General Wayne, as peace had been ratified with the Indians, and the opportunity to serve his country in the field appeared to exist no longer, he resigned his commission. Scarcely had this event transpired, than he was appointed, by President Adams, secretary and ex officio lieutenant-governor of the northwestern territory. While in this station, in October, 1799, he was elected, by the legislature of that territory, their first delegate to Congress. He was at this time about twentysix years of age, and took his seat in the house of representatives, at the first session of the sixth Congress, in 1799. Previous to proceeding to the seat of government, he resigned his office of secretary of the territory. In 1798, the northwestern territory contained five thousand white male inhabitants, and was admitted as a matter of right to the second grade of government, provided for in the ordinance of 1787. At that time great unanimity prevailed in the territory on political questions; though the states were rent, and almost torn asunder, by party strife. The election of the elder Adams had met with general approbation among the people of the territory, and resolutions had been passed at popular meetings to sustain his administration, against the encroachments of France. An address was adopted by the legislature of 1799, to John Adams, president of the United States, approving of his administration. But few individuals were to be found who then advocated the election of Mr. Jefferson against Mr. Adams. Harrison having early imbibed democratic opinions, was one of the few who preferred Jefferson. His election as delegate to Congress was not effected by a party vote; the same legislature which adopted the address to Mr. Adams with only five dissenting votes, elected Harrison by eleven votes, against ten for Arthur St. Clair, Jr.