The pilot. [volume], April 13, 1840, Image 1

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Vol. 1.
THE PILOT,
EDITED BY
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RICHARD J. MATCHETT, PRINTER.
SLANDERS REPUTED.
The Cheviot and Vincennes Speeches; Letter from
Gen. Harrison, endorsing the latter —refutation
of the slander of selling while men for debt.
From the Yeoman.
We are gratified in being able to lay before
our readers that part of Gen. Harrison's Cheviot
speech, in 1833, which relates to Abolition. The
reader will see how grossly this eminent patriot
has been wronged, by the publication of the gar
bled extract which the Administration presses
have given, and which the Van Buren Conven
tion have also detached from its context. Every
impartial mind will be struck with the soundness
of Gen. Harrison's views, and !*>• -- J
eloquent style ill which he expressed them. Let
it be remembered, too, that this speech was de
livered the year subsequent to the memorable
agitation in Virginia, when so many of the pre
sent supporters of the Administration were clam
orous for abolition.
Extracts from his Speech at Cheviot, Ohio, July
4th, 1833.
"There is, however, a subject now beginning
to agitate them (the Southern States) in relation
to which, if their alarm has any foundation, the
relative situation in which they may stand to
some of the States, will be the very reverse to
what it now is. I allude to a supposed disposi
tion in some individuals in the non-slaveholding
States to interfere with the slave population of the
other Slates, for the purpose of forcing their e
mancipation. Ido not call your attention to this
subject, fellow citizens, from the apprehension
that there is a man amongst you who will lend
his aid to a project so pregnant with mischief:
and still less that there is a Slate in the Union—
which could be brought to give it countenance.
But such are the feelings of our Southern breth
ren upon this subject—such their views, and their
just views, of the evils which an interferance of
this kind would bring upon them, that long before
it would reach the point of receiving the sanction
of a State, the evil of the attempt would be con
summated, as far as we are concerned, by a disso
lution of the Union. Ifthere is any principle of
the Constitution of the United States less disput
able than any other, it is, that the slave popula
tion is under the EXCLUSIVE CONTROL of the Stales
which possess them. If there is any measure
likely to rivet the chains, and blast the prospects
ofthe negroes for emancipation, it is the inter
ference of unauthorized persons. Cau anyone
who is acquainted with the operations ofthe hu
man mind doubt this I We have seen how res
tive our Southern brethren have been ftom a sup
posed violation of their political rights. What
must be the consequence of an acknowledged vi
olation of these rights, (for every man of sense
must admit it to be so,) conjoined with an in
sulting interference with their domestic concerns'?
"Shall I be accused of want of feeling for the
slaves, by these remarks'! A further examina
tion will elucidate the matter. I take it for
granted that no one will say, that either the Go
vernment of the United States, ot those of the
non-slaveholding States, can interfere in any
way with the right of property in the slaves.—
Upon whom, then, are the efforts of the misgui
ded and pretended friends of the slaves to oper
ate! It must be either on the governments of the
slaveholdingStates.the individuals who hold them
or upon the slaves themselves. And what are to
be the arguments, what are the means by which
they are to influence the two first of these ! Is there
a man vain enough to go to the land of Madison,
of Macon, and of Crawford, and tell them that
they either do not understand the principles of
moral and political rights of man; or that,under
standing, they disregard them! Can they ad
dress an argument to the interest or fears of the
enlightened population of the slave States, that
has not occurred to themselves a thousand and a
thousand times! To whom, then, are they to
address themselves, but to the slaves! And what
can be said to them, that will not lead to an in
discriminate slaughter of every age and sex, and
ultimately to their own destruction! Should
there be an incarnate devil, who has imagined,
with approbation, such a catastrophe to his fel
low citizens as I have described, let him look to
the result to those for whose benefit he would
produce it. Particular sections of the country
may be laid waste, all the crimes that infurated
man, under the influence of all the black pas
sions of his nature, can omit, may be perpetra
ted for a season; the tides of the oeeans however
will more certainly—change than that the flood
of horrors will be arrested, and turned upon those
who may get it in motion.
"I will not stop to inquire into the motives of
those who are engaged in this fatal and uncon
stitutional project. There may be some who
have embarked in it without properly consider
ing its consequences, and who are actuated bv
benevolent and virtuous principles. But, if
such there are, I am very certain that, their fel
low citizens will, ere long, "curse the virtues
which have undone their country."
"Should I be asked if there is no way by which
the General Government can aid the cause of
emancipation; I answer, that it has long been an
object near my heart to see the whole of its sur
plus revenue appropriated to that object. With
the sanction of the States holding the slaves, there
appears to me to be no constitutional objection
to its being thus applied, embracing not only the
colonization ofthose that may be otherwise freed,
THE PILOT.
but the purchase of the freedom of others. By a
zealous prosecution of a plan formed upon that
basis, we might look forward to a day, not very
distant, when a North American sun would not
look down npon a slave. To those who have re
jected the plan of colonization, I would ask. if
they have well weighed the consequences of
emancipation without it? How long would the
emancipated negroes remain satisfied with that?
Would any of the Southern States then (the ne
groes armed and organized) be able to resist their
claims to a participation in all their political
rights' Would it even stop there! would they
not claim admittance to all the social rights and
privileges of a community in which, in some in
stances, they would compose the majority! Let
those who take pleasure in the contemplation of
such scenes as must inevitably fellow, finish out
the picture.
"11" I am correct in the principles here advan
ced, I support my assertion, that the discussion
on the subject of emancipation in the non-slave
holding States is equally injurious to the slaves
and their masters, and that it has no sanction in
the principles of the Constitution. I must not be
understood to say, that there is any thing In that
instrument which prohibits such discussion. I
know there is not. But the man who believes
that the claims which his fellow-citizens have
upon him, are satisfied by adhering to the letter
of the political contract that connects them, must
have i very Imperfect knowledge of the princi
ples upon which our glorious Union was formed,
and by which alone it can be maintained. I mean
those feelings of regard and affection which were
manifested in the first dawn of the Revolution,
which induced every American to think that an
Ipiiiiw tuttWiit „„„„
j—j mi} xciiuw-cniztJii, nowever
distant his location, was an injury to himself;
which made us, in effect, one people, before we
had any paper contract, which induced the ven
erable Shelby, in the second war for independ
ence, to leave the comforts which his age requi
red,to encounter the dangers and privations inci
dent to a wilderness war; which drew from the
same quarter the innumerable battallions of vol
unteers which preceded and followed him; and
from the banks of the distant Appomattox, that
band of youthful heroes, which has immortalized
the appellation by which it was distinguished.—
Those worthy sons of immortal sires did not stop
to inquire into the alleged injustioe and immor
ality of the Indian war. It was sufficient for
them to learn their fellow-citizens were in dan
ger, that the tomahawk and scalping kuife were
suspended over the heads of the women and
children of Ohio; to induce them to abandon
the case, and in many instances, the luxury and
splendor by which, from infancy, theyffiad been
surrounded, to encounter the fatigues and dan
gers of war, amidst the horrors of a Canadian
winter."
Extract from Gen. Harrison's Speech at Vincen
nes, Indiana, July 4th, 1835.
"I have now, fellow-citizens, a few words
more to say on another subject, and which is, in
my opiniou, of more importance than any other
that is now in the course of discussion in any
part of the Union. I allude to the societies which
have been formed, and the movements of certain
individuals in some of the States, in relation to a
portion of the population in others. The conduct
of these persons is the more dangerous, because
their object is masked under the garb of disinter
estedness and benevolence; and their course vin
dicated by arguments and propositions which in
the abstract no one can deny.
Bui, however fascinating may be the dress
with which their schemes are presented to their
fellow-citizens, with what purity of intention
they may have been formed and sustained, they
will be found to carry in their train mischief to
the whole Union, and horrors to a large portion
of it, which, it is probable, some of the projectors
and many of their supporters have never thought
of; the latter, the first in the series of evils which
are to spring from their source, are such as you
have read of, to have been perpetrated on the fail
plains of Italy and Gaul by the Scythian hords
of Attila and Alaric; and such as most of you
apprehended upon that memorable night, when
the tomahawks and war clubs of the followers of
Tecumseh were rattling in your suburbs. I re
gard not the disavowals of any such intention
upon the part of the authors of these schemes
since, upon the examination of the publications
which have been made, they will be found to
contain the very facts, and very arguments,
which would have been used, if such would have
been their object. lam certain that there is not
in this assembly, one of these deluded men and
that there are few within the bounds of the State.
If there are any, I would earnestly entreat them
to forbear; to pause in their career, and deliber
ately considered the consequence ol their con
duct to the whole Union, and to those for whose
benefit they profess to act. That the latter will
be the victims of the weak, injudicious, presump
tuous and unconstitutional efforts to serve them,
a thorough examination of the subject must con
vince them. The struggle (and struggle there
must be) may commence with horrors such as I
have described, but it will end with more firmly
riveting the chains, or in the utter extirpation, of
those whose cause they advocate.
Am I wrong, fellow citizens, in applying the
terms weak, presumptuous & unconstitutional, to
the measure of the emancipators! A slight ex
amination will,l think, show that lam not. In a
vindication of the objects of a Convention which
was lately held in one of the towns of Ohio, which
I saw in a newspaper, it was said that nothing
more was intended than to produce a slate of
public feeling which would lead to an amend
ment of the Constitution, authorizing the aboli
tion of Slavery in the United States. Now can
an atnendmendmenl of the Constitution be effac
ed without the consent of the Southern States?—
What then is the proposition to be submitted to
them? It is this:—"The present provisions of
the Constitution secured to yon the right (a right
which you held before it was made, which you
have never given up,) to manage your domestic
concerns in your own way, but as we are con
vinced that you do not manage them properly,
we want you to put in the hands of the General
Government, in the councils of which we have
the majority, the control over these matters, the
effect of which will be virtually to transfer the
power from yours into our hands."
Again—in some of the States, and in sections
"POWER IS ALWAYS STEALING FROM THE MANY TO THE FEW."
BALTinO!t£, MONDAY, APRIL I It, 184©
of others, the black population far exceeds that
of the white.—Some of the emancipators propose
an immediate abolition. What is the proposition
then, as it regards these Stales and parts of
States, but the alternatives of amalgamation with
the blacks, or an exchange of situations with
them! Is there any man of common sense who
does not believe that the emancipated blacks, be
ing a majority, will not insist upon a full partici
pation of political rights with the whites; and
when possessed of these, they will not contend
for a full share of social rights also! What but
the extremity of weakness and lolly could induce
any one to think, that such propositions as these
could be listened to by a people so intelligent as
the Southern States! Further.—The emancipa
tors generally declare that it is their intention to
effect their object (although their acts contradict
the assertion) by no other means than by con
vincing the slaveholders that the immediate
emancipation of the slaves is called for, both by
moral obligation and sound policy. An unfledg
ed youth, at the moment of his leaving (indeed
in many instances before he has left it,)' his The
ological Seminary, undertakes to give lectures
upon morals to the countrymen of Wythe, Tuck
er, Pendleton and Lowndes, and lessons of polit
ical wisdom to States, whose affairs have so re
cently been directed by Jefferson and Madison,
Macon and Crawford. Is it possible, that in
stances of greater vanily and presumption could
be exhibited! But the course pursued by the
emancipators is unconstitutional. Ido not say
that there are any words in the Constitution
which forbid the discussions they are engaged
in; —1 know that there are not. And there is
even an article which sec""" *-• ■ •'
right to express and publish their opinions with
out restriction. But in the construction of the
Constitution, it is always necessary to refer to
the circumstances under which it was framed,
and to ascertain its meaning by a comparison of
its provisions with each other, and with the pre
vious situation of the several States who were
parties to it. In a portion of these, slavery was
recognized, and they took care to have the right
secured to them, to follow and reclaim such of
them as were fugitives to other States. The laws
of Congress passed under this power, have provi
ded punishment to any who shall oppose or inter
rupt the exercise of this right. Now can any one
believe, that the instrument which contains a pro
vision of this kind, which authorizes a master to
pursue his slave into another State, take him
back, and provides a punishment for any citizen
or citizens of that State who should oppose him,
should, at the same time, authorize the latter to
assemble together, to pass Resolutions and adopt
Addresses not only to encourage the Slaves to
leave their masters, but'to cut their throats before
they do sol
I insist that if the eitizens of the non-slave
holding States can avail themselves of the arti
cle of the Constitntion which prohibits the res
triction of speech or the press, to publish any
thing injurious to the rights of the slave-holding
Stales, that they can goto the extreme that 1 have
mentioned, and effect any thing further which
writing or speaking cotifd effect. But, fellow
citizens, these are not the principles of the Con
stitution. Such a construction would defeat one
of the great objects of its formation, which was
that of securing the peace and harmony of the
States which were parties to it. The liberty of
speech and of the press, were given as the most
effectual means to preserve to each and every
citizen their own rights, and to the States the
rights which appertain to them at the time of
their adoption. It could never have been ex
pected that it would be used by the citizens of
one portion of the States for the purpose ol de
priving those of another portion of the rights
which they had reserved at the adoption of the
Constitution, and in the exorcise of which none
but themselves have any concern or interest. If
slavery is an evil, it is with them. If'there is
guilt in it, the guilt is theirs, not ours, since nei
ther the States where it does not exist, nor the
Government of the United States, can, without
usurpation of power, and the violation of a so
lemn compact, do any thing to remove it without
the consent of those who are immediately inter
ested. Butthev will neither ask for aid, nor con
sent to be aided, whilst the illegal, persecuting
and dangerous movements are in progress, of
which I complain; the interest of all concerned
requires that these should be stopped immediate
ly.—This can only be done by the force of pub
lic opinion, and that cannot too soon be brought
into operation. Every movement which is made
by the Abolitionists in the non-slave-holding
States, is viewed by our Southern brethren as an
attack upon their rights, and which, if persisted
in. must in the end eradicate those feelings of at
tachment and affection between the citizens of all
the States, which was produced by a community
of interests and dangers in the War of the Rev
olution, which was the foundation of our happy
union; and by a continuance of which, it can
alone be preserved. I entreat you then, to fiown
upon measures which are to produce results so
much to be deprecated. The opinion which 1
have now given, I have omitted no opportunity
for the last two years to lay before the people of
my own State. I have taken the libetty to ex
press them here, knowing that even il they
should unlbrtunately not accord with yours, they
would be kindly received."
Gen. Harrison has just addressed a letter, of
which the following is an extract, to a distin
guished member of Congress from South Caro-
lina.
"I saw some time since an article from the
Charleston Courier, stating that my Vincennes
speech contained all the South had a right to ex
pect on the abolition question. In a subsequent
arlicle, however, the Editor says that I " a d c ® n ~
cealed my sentiments on the subject, after I had
been brought out as a candidate tor the Piesiden
cv. In this, the Editor greatly errs. The speech
was delivered at Vincennes, in June, ledj. At
that time my name was upon every anti-admin
istration paper in Indiana, as the opposition can
didate, and upon most of those in Ohio, audi
ha& been nominated, in a very considerable num
ber of public meetings, many months before.—
My first nomination at Harrisbarg, Pa. took
place in the fall of 1834. I enclose you an Al
bany paper of February 7, 1835, to she\t how
extensive I was then regarded as a candidate lor
the Presidency."
We copy the extract from the Charles on
Courier, a Van Buren paper, the honorable edi
tor of which paper, accompanies it with the fol
lowing remarks, to which we invite public at
tention.
"We said a short time ago, in one of our edi
torial articles, that but aline was needed from
Gen. H. to clear his skirts, so utterly and thor
oughly front abolitionism, as to disarm even his
bitterest foes of that weapon against him, and to
render ihern ashamed lo wield it any longer.—
THAT LINE HAS NOW BEEN GIVEN;
and Gen. HARRISON stands before the republic
"redeemed, regenerated and disenthralled" irom
Ihe diabolical genius of Northern abolitionism.
We proclaim it, as we promised, and sound it
from hill top, with loud and joyous peals, in tri
umph through the land.
From the National Intelligencer.
We have the pleasure of laying before out,
readers a letter from an honrable Member of the
House of Representatives, which has been hap
pily drawn out irorn him by a letter!from a friend
at Philadelphia, who asked for Information in
reference to a statement there made that, in the
year 1817, the thanks of Congress were refused
to General Harrison, on the ground of some im
proper interference of his, whilst in command on
the frontier, with the supplies for the Army.—
Mr. Cashing, with characteristic industry,-stim
ulated by a laudable zeal to do justice to the
Whig candidate for the Presidency, has investi
gated the whole history of this tale, and in the
following letter, placed it in its true light.
ii jujMiMwrorr, iviarcn 11, imv.
Dear Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter, in which, referring to
the alleged refusal of Congress to pass a vote of
thanks to General Harrison for his services in
the last war with Great Britain, you request in
formation from me on the subject; and I shall,
with great pleasure, communicate to you the
facts, as they stand proved, incontestibly by the
journals and debates of Congress and the records
of the Government.
It is not true that Congress refused a vote of
thanks to General Harrison. On the contrary,
such a vote was passed, and may be found, by
any one who chooses to look for it, in the publish
ed volumes of the acts of Congress for the proper
year.
The allegation that the thanks of Congress
were refused to him, is founded upon the autho
tity of an imperfect, and therefore erroneous pa
ragraph iu one of the newspapers of the day, and
upon the artifice of suppressing most of the ma
terial facts of the case, as they appear in the jour
nals of the Senate and House of Representatives.
When the circumstances which have been
seized upon by the political opponents of Gene
ral Harrison as the pretext for this allegation,
are examined, it will be seen that, instend of
justifying ieproach, they are in the highest de
gree honorable to his character and his reputa
tion.
It is the undeniable fact, that, on the 30th of
March 1818, the two houses of Congress passed a
resolution, which as afterwards approved by the
President runs as follows :
'• Resolution directing medals to be struck, and , to
gether with the thanks of Congress, presented to
Major General Harrison and Governor Shelby,
and for olhcr purposes.
"Resolved by the Senate and House of Represent
atives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled, That the thanks of Congress be, and
they are hereby, presented to Major General
William Henry Harrison and Isaac Shelby, late
Governor of Kentucky, and, through them, to
the officers and men under their command, for
their gallantry andgood conduct in defeating the
combined British and Indian forces under Major
General Proctor, on the Thames, in Upper Can
ada, on the fifth day of October, one 'thousand
eight hundred and thirteen, capturing the British
army, with their baggage, camp equipage, and
artillery; and that the President of the United
States be requested to cause two gold medals to
be struck, emblematical of this triumph, and pre
sented to General Harrison and Isaac Shelby,
late Governor of Kentucky.
"H. CLAY,
"Speaker of the House of Representatives.
"JOHN GAILLARO,
"President of the Senate, pro tern.
"Approved, April 4, 1818.
11 "JAMES MONROE."
This resolution is, of course, the final and con
clusive action of Congress upon the whole matter
of a vote of thanks to Generel Harrison; and, as
the journals show, it passed each House on the
same day, and without a division.
Prior to that time, however, in a preceding
Congress, a similar resolution had been reported
to the Senate, by the Committee on Military Af
fairs, of which Mr. James Barbour, of Virginia,
was chairman. The resolution was discussed in
Committee of the Whole, and it is the action in
this Committee of the Whole, separated from
the responsible action of the Senate itself, which
is unfairly cited alone, by those to whom your
letter refer, as evidence against the honor of
General Harrison. The journals of the Senate
show that, instead of striking out the name of
General Harrison from ihe resolution, the Sen
ate, by a vote of ayes and noes, refused to concur
in the amendment of the Committee of the Whole
to that effect; that is to say, the Senate, in the
most formal manner, expressly rejected the pro
position to strikeout the name of General Har
rison. After which, suspending for the present a
final decision on the resolution, the Senate order
ed it to be re-committed without change, to the
Committee on Military Affairs for further con.
sideration. This wss on the '2oth of April, 181t>-
The objections to the adoption of the resolu
tion at that time, on the part of certain of the
members of the Senate, grew out of a groundless
and malicious attack on the integrity of General
Harrison by persons concerned in some of the
army contracts for the supply of the Northwest
ern Army.
Upon the accmation being publicly made bv
the persons in question, General Harrison ad
dressed a letter to the Speaker of the House of,
Representatives, demanding generally investiga-1
tion of his conduct as to the expenditures in the .
Eighth Militiary District while under his com-j
mand, which letter is to be found in the National
Intelligencer of the 22d of March, 1816.
The House at first referred this letter to the
Committee 011 Public Expenditures, and after
watds to the War Department, to have the facts
investigated there, and then reported to Con
gress.
The answer of the War Department, contain
ing the evidence which completely exonerated
General Harrison, came in at the beginning of
the next session of Congress; and the whole mat
ter was referred to a select committee, consisting
of Coi. Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, Mr.
Creighton, of Ohio, Mr. Peter, of Maryland,
Mr. Forney, of North Carolina, Mr. Smith, of
Maryland, Mr. Hulbert, of New Hampshire, and
Mr. Thomas M. Nelson, of Virginia.
The result of their investigations appears by
the tollowiug entry on the journal of the House
of the 23d of January, 1817.
,! Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, from the com
mittee to which was referred the letter and re
port of the Acting Secretary of War, on the ap
plication of Major Geueral William H. Hani
son, respecting the expenditures of public money
while commanding the Northwestern Army,
made a report thereon, stating that the committee
are unanimously of opinion that General Harri
son stands above suspicion as to his having had
any pecuniary or impioper connexion with the
oiheers of the commissarat for the supply of his
army; that lie did not wantonly or improperly in
terfere with the rights of the contractors; and
that, in his whole conduct as the commander of
the said army, he was governed by a laudable
zesl for, and devotion to, the public service and
interest. Which said report was read and con
sidered, whereupon, it was
"Ordered , That the committee be discharged
from the further consideration of the subject, and
that tbe papers be transmitted to the Department
of War.
All the documents from the War Department,
and the report of the Committee of the Ho tse,
may be found in the American State Papers,
(Mil. All", vol. i, pp- 034 and 661.) They consti
tute a triumphant vindication of the fair fame of
General Harrison from the imputations cast up
on it then, and are equally conclusive in answer
to the insinuations of censure, which his adver
saries at the present time seek to extort from the
attending circumstances, without venturing to
revive directly the exploded charge itself.
As these imputations had been the occasion of
suspending the action of Congress upon the pro
posed vote of thanks at the outset, subsequently,
when it was thus proved that the imputations
were false and unfounded, the resolution was
again taken up in the Senate, and passed by that
and the other House, with the unanimity which
has been above stated.
These are the facts, in substance, as exhibited
at length in the journals of Congress and in the
public documents.
1 might refer to the recollection of individuals,
with whom I have conversed or corresponded on
the subject, or to the newspapers, to show the
views and feelings of the time, as these acted
upon the events. But I prefer to adduce a piece
of authehtic contemporaneous evideuce, in the
following extract from the published speech of
Mr. Barbour, of Virginia, delivered the 31st of
March, 1818, on the proposition to pass a vote of
thanks to Colonel Richard M. Johnson.
"As to the objection|oftime, it will at once be
removed by reflecting on that which has just oc
curred, the vote of thanks which has been awar
ded in favor of General Herrison and Governor
Shelby. It is not unknown that rumor, the re
sult of envy, or some other bad passion, had at
tempted to throw a shade around the character
of that distinguished commander. He felt as he
ought, and sought an investigation, to vindicate
his character from the foul aspersions which had
been cast upon it. It, after some delay took
place, and resulted in an honorable acquittal.—
In the mean time the venerable Shelby was, at
his own request, withheld from the notice of the
rtation. asjit is regatded the distinguished servi
ces he had rendered—Shelby, a name which can
never be mentioned without awakening, in every
American bosom, emotions of gratitude. I see
in this illustrious character a display of that love
of country and chivalrous spirit which conceived
and effected ottrindependence; and unabated by
it reappeared to vindicate those rights, to the
establishment of which, in his more youthful
! days, he had so essentially contributed. But he
i is as'generous as he is brave ; and he refused to
accept a tribute of respect whose indirect ct-nsc
! quence might have been a reflection on the com
mander-in-chief, to whose zeal, patriotism, and
capacity in conducting this campaign he always
bore a cheerful testimony. Col. Johnson influenc
ed by the same sensibility peremtorily refused
to his friends the permission of bringing this
subjeet before the Representatives of the People.
I, however will barely remark, in regard to the
commanding General, that, with the regrets
which the delay of justice to this citizen must ne
cessarily create, will be mingled some consola
tion, in the reflection that his character has been
i erftirely purified from the censure which had
been improperly cast upon it; and that the meed
now dispensed has the sanction of the deliberate
judgment of thenation, unbiassed by passion or
the false fire of the moment. He will now re
ceive it with a giateful feeling, as the highest re
ward which freemen can give, or a freeman re
ceive." -N 'at. Intelligencer of 4// i April. 1818.
For ine to enlarge upon the eloquent truth of
plain and simple facts of the case, as 1 have col
lected them lrom the journals and debates of
Congress would be the vain attempt to gild re
fined gold, or to hold a light to the sun.
I will therefore, only add, that while tt is very
common for exalted services to encounter calum
ny—and in this respect General Harrison has
S only shared the ordinary lot of greatness—Jtis
I not in every case that the groundlessness of a
| a calumnious charge can be so amply proved, as
it was in 1817, when his conduct as commander
in-chief of the Northwestern Army was indirect
!lv called in question. All Congress gave its so
j lemn judgement in his favor, not only by us vote
on the charge itself, but also in then passing the
! resolution of thanks, as it were by acclamation,
J I remain, very respectfully. qjjSHING.
i\. a