On the 1st of August, the enemy proceeded to Fort Stevenson, at Lower Sandusky, garrisoned by 150 men under Maj. Croghan. The fort had the use of but one piece of cannon. The enemy with Tecumseh's Indians numbered 3,300 strong, with six pieces of cannon.

Gen. Proctor again tendered the offer to surrender, adding that a refusal would only bring about a useless resistance, and a massacre by the Indians. The reply was, that before the fort went over to the British, not an American would be left to be massacred, as they should hold out to the last man. Proctor opened fire. The first movement was an assault upon the northwest angle of the fort, as if to make a breach and thus carry the works. The commandant strengthened that point by bags of sand, and during the night stealthily placing his one cannon in a concealed position, he filled it with slugs.

The following day, the fire again swept the northwest corner, and, evening approaching, a column of 350 men swept up within twenty yards of the walls. They were met by the musketry, which had little effect, and the ditch was soon filled with men. The next instant the hidden cannon, so placed as to sweep the ditch, suddenly began action, and the surprised assailants quickly recoiled, and the fort was saved, with the loss of only one man.

The next morning, the enemy had disappeared, evidently in haste, as guns, clothing and stores were left behind. They had lost over one hundred and fifty men by this useless attempt. Croghan had previously received orders to evacuate the fort from Gen. Harrison, and his determination to hold the position. merited Harrison's reprimand and remand of commission. Such was the severity of military law. However, the rank of Colonel was immediately conferred upon him by the President, for his gallantry. The ladies of Chillicothe presented him with an elegant testimonial in the shape of a sword.

It was decided to make a naval warfare effectual in the recovery of the Northwestern Territory, and accordingly vessel-building began under Commodore Perry's supervision.

The British looked upon this proceeding with derision, fully intending to use these boats for their own purpose. They publicly proclaimed their intention. By the 1st of August, 1813, Commodore Perry set sail a flotilla, the Lawrence and the Niagara, of twenty guns each, with smaller vessels following. Some difficulty was encountered in launching the larger vessels, on account of the shallowness of the water.

Perry's first destination was Put-in-Bay, thirty miles from Malden, where the British fleet lay under the guns of the fort. On the 10th of September, the British fleet-exceeding the American by ten guns-under Commodore Barclay, appeared off Put-in-Bay, distant about ten miles. Perry immediately set sail. The wind shifting, the Americans had the advantage.

Perry hoisted the Union Jack. A general preparation was made for the conflict. An ominous silence settled over all as the fleets approached. A bugle sounded on the enemy's ship Detroit, and a furious fire was opened upon

the Lawrence. The frightful and desperate battle that ensued is so familiar that it is not necessary for us to repeat its details. It forever remains in history as a prominent, desperate struggle that turned the tide most decisively in favor of the Americans. Hand to hand, for three hours, this furious struggle surged, resulting in a pronounced victory for the Americans.

Commodore Perry immediately requested parole for his severely wounded antagonist, Commodore Barclay. Capt. Elliott was at this engagement highly commended by Perry for his bravery.

Gen. Harrison now made preparations to follow Proctor, and reached Malden on the 27th of September.

Proctor had retreated to Sandwich, and thence Harrison followed him, overtaking the enemy on the 9th of October, on the bank of the Thames. An engagement ensued, which was not particularly marked in its events, but which practically terminated the war in the Northwest.

Tecumseh fell during this battle, and his death disheartened the savages to such an extent that they were willing to make terms of peace. Accordingly a treaty was concluded on the 22d of July, 1814, with the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Senecas and Miamis, the tribes engaged in hostilities.

Again Ohio was able to turn her attention to the improvements within her own boundaries. Weary and disabled though she was, her ambition and energy were unimpaired. The struggle had been severe, but a grand reward had been won, and peace and independence belonged to these sturdy, earnest, pioneers.

In 1815, a town was founded near Fort Meigs, and, in 1816, Gen. John E. Hunt and Judge Robert A. Forsythe located at Maumee.

BANKING.

Up to the year 1817, Ohio had no banking system, and on the 28th of January of that year, the United States Bank opened a branch at Cincinnati, and yet another during the following October at Chillicothe. These branches found a large amount of business to transact, and while being of assistance in various ways to the State, also received a fine revenue themselves. The State therefore resolved upon a tax levy, and, in 1819, the branches were to pay $50,000 each, and the State Auditor was authorized to issue his warrant for the collection of the same.

The bank branches demurred, but the State was decided, and the banks accordingly filed a bill in chancery, in the United States Circuit Court, setting forth reasons whereby their prayer that Ralph Osborn, State Auditor, should be restrained from making such collection, should be seriously considered.

Osborn being counseled not to appear on the day designated in the writ, an injunction was obtained, with the security given in the shape of bonds from the bank, to the amount of $100,000. On the 14th of September, the bank sent a commissioner to Columbus, who served upon the Auditor a copy of the petition

for the injunction, and a subpoena to make an appearance before the court on the first Monday in the following January. Osborn submitted both the petition and the injunction to the Secretary of State, with his warrant for collecting the tax. Legally, the matter was somewhat complicated.

The Auditor desired the Secretary of State to take legal advice, and if the papers did not actually amount to an injunction, to give orders for the execu tion of the warrant.

The decision was that the papers did not equal a valid injunction. The State writ for collection was therefore given over to John L. Harper, with directions to enter the banking-house and demand the payment of the tax. In case of a refusal, the vault was to be entered and a levy made upon the amount required. No violence was to be used, and if force was used to deter the act, the same was to be reported to a proper magistrate and an affidavit made to that fact.

On September 17, Mr. Harper went about his errand, taking with him T. Orr and J. MacCollister. After securing access to the vault, a demand was made for the payment of the tax. This was promptly refused, and a notice given of the granting of the injunction. This was disregarded, and the officer seized $98,000 in gold, silver and notes. This was placed in charge of the State Treasurer, Mr. H. M. Curry.

The officers were arrested and imprisoned by the United States Circuit Court, and the money returned to the bank. The case was reviewed by the Supreme Court, and the measures of the Circuit Court were sustained. The State, therefore, submitted. In the mean time, the Legislature had prepared and passed a resolution, as follows:

Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That in respect to the powers of the Governments of the several States that compose the American Union, and the powers of the Federal Government, this General Assembly do recognize and approve the doctrines asserted by the Legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia in their resolutions of November and December, 1798, and January, 1800, and do consider their principles have been recognized and adopted by a majority of the American people.

Resolved further, That this General Assembly do assert and will maintain by all legal and constitutional means, the rights of States to tax the business and property of any private corporation of trade, incorporated by the Congress of the United States, and located to transact its corporate business within any State.

Resolved further, That the bank of the United States is a private corporation of trade, the capital and business of which may be legally taxed in any State where they may be found.

Resolved further, That the General Assembly do protest against the doctrines that the political rights of the separate States that compose the American Union and their powers as sovereign States, may be settled and determined in the Supreme Court of the United States, so as to conclude and bind them in cases contrived between individuals, and where they are, no one of them, parties direct.

The bank was thus debarred from the aid of State laws in the collection of its dues and in the protection of its rights. An attempt was made to effect a change in the Federal constitution, which would take the case out of the United States Courts. This, however, proved ineffectual.

The banking system in Ohio has, by reason of State surveillance, not been subjected to those whirlwind speculations and questionable failures which have marked many Western States, in the establishment of a firm basis upon which a banking law could be sustained, with mutual benefit to the institution and the people.

THE CANAL SYSTEM.

In the first part of 1817, the Legislature considered a resolution relating to a canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. No action was taken and the subject was not again agitated until 1819. Gov. Brown appointed three commissioners in 1820, for the purpose of employing an efficient engineer and such assistants as he deemed necessary, for the purpose of surveying a practical route for this canal. The commissioners were restricted in their actions until Congress should accept a proposition in behalf of the State, for a donation and sale of the public lands lying upon and near the route of the proposed canal. A delay was thus occasioned for two years.

In 1822, the matter was referred to a committee of the House of Representatives. This committee approved and recommended the employment of the engineer. They furthermore added illustrations to prove the feasibility of the project.

James Geddes, a skillful engineer of New York, was in due time appointed to the position and instructed to make the necessary examinations and surveys.

The surveys were made, and estimates given of the expenses, which documents were laid before the Legislature at several sessions

In 1825, an act was passed providing for the internal improvement of the State by navigable canals. Directly thereafter, the State set vigorously about the work of constructing two canals, one leading from the Ohio to Lake Erie, by way of the valleys of the Scioto and Muskingum, the other from Cincinnati to Dayton.

The first canal-boat from Cincinnati to Dayton, reached her destination in 1829, on the 25th of January. This outlet of communication was extended to Lake Erie, and was completed in 1845. The largest artificial lake now known is on the elevation between the Ohio and the lake, in Mercer County, and supplies the St. Mary's feeder of the Miami Canal, about three miles distant, eastwardly. This reservoir is about nine miles long, and from two to

four broad.

Two walls of earth, from ten to twenty feet high, were formed, on the east and west, which united with the elevations north and south, surrounded this basin. When the water was admitted, whole farms were submerged, and the "neighbors" complained lest this overflow should tempt miasma. So great was the excitement, that over one hundred and fifty residents of the county united, and with shovels and spades, made a breach in the embankment. Many holding prominent positions in the county were engaged in this work,

and all laid themselves liable to the State laws, which made the despoiling of public works a penitentiary offense.

The matter was taken up by the courts, but a grand jury could not be found in Mercer County to find a bill of indictment.

The officers who had charge of the work, ignored the law requiring the cuting and saving of the timber on lands appropriated, for canal reservoirs. The trees were ruthlessly girdled, and thousands of acres of valuable timber that might have been highly desirable in the building of bridges, etc., were destroyed. However, an adjustment was finally effected, and the work was prosecuted with the entire approbation of the people, who were convinced that convenient transportation was to be desired.

OHIO LAND TRACTS.

After the Indians relinquished all claims against the lands of those States west of the Alleghanies, as they had been obtained by conquest, the United States, as a government, owned the soil. When Ohio was admitted into the Union, a stipulation was made that the fee simple to all the lands within its boundaries, with the exception of those previously sold or granted, should vest in the General Government. At the present writing, but few tracts remain that can be called "public lands." In this, as in other States, tracts are designated by their pioneer signification or the purpose to which they were originally devoted. In Ohio, these tracts are known as:

The lands sold by the direct officers of the Government, under the direction of Congress, according to the laws, are known as Congress lands. They are properly surveyed, and laid out in townships six miles square, under the direction of the Government, and the expense incurred settled by Congress. These townships are subdivided into sections, containing 640 acres. One section is reserved, in every township, for educational purposes, to be utilized in any manner approved by the State as being the best to aid the cause for which they are assigned.

The Western Reserve will be remembered as the tract originally belonging to Connecticut. It lies in the northeast quarter of the State. A half-million acres were donated by the old Eastern State, when her claim was in force, to sufferers from fire during the Revolutionary war, which created the name, "fire lands.” Many settled here whose homes were destroyed by the British during the war.

It will be remembered, that on account of discoveries by subjects of empires, in the New World, the "Old World" kings laid claim to different portions