The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-06-06

General the permission of the company to wal
upon him, and TO present their respects. TIL
ZION. ttarmar Denny was one, who Introduce,
the others, and we had very agreeable Dime
party, on good farmers fare, with fund of re
marks and anecdotes of times present and past
IN which no one led Off with more yivacity thar
Gen. Harrison himself We talked Of every
thing else but poitics-all politicians as wa
Were such as the raising of cattle-and the &c
neral Is proud Of his, particularly Of a Durham
bull, for which he paid $850-the making of ca
mails, the amazing progress Of this wilderness
country, the growth Of which all Gen Harrison
had seen with his own eyes !; and by the time
dinner was over, band OF music in the dis
lance heralded the approach OF The steamboat
Pennsylvania. with large company Of gentle
men and ladies on board, and body Of United
States troops, ON their way 10 Fort Levenworth
The gentlemen soon landed, and their commit
Tee walked with them from the boat 10 the
house, where they were introduced; but the in
clemency OF the weather, and the difficulty OF
passing the mud of new canal just dug be-
tween the river and the house, with the grass all
saturated with rain, prevented the call of the
upon them. The gentlemen depopulated the
rose bushes about Of their buds as their offer
ings from the Log Cabin to their ladies fair, and
IN few minutes the whole party Were on board
again, with the General in their escort, the band
of music giving him lively greeting, and the
ladies livelier one still, when general intro
duction took place. A half hour passed in So
cial intercourse, in the playfulness and tact of
which but few, very few men are the equal of
Gen. Harrison. The company Of United States
troops being but briefly reviewed. whom he
scanned with soldiers eye, and saluted with
soldiers courtesy, he took his leave, amid the
WE nj hiafo tha oh Of sha
gentlemen, and the loud peals Of not inefii-
Client band, the General standing upon the shore
amid large bodies Of workmen on the canal, who
had rushed to see the to them novel scene.
The hospitality of Gen. Harrison was not
such as to permit me to leave his house in one
day or two, or three, and have seldom, if ever,
passed any time in my life so agreeaby. To an
Eastern man his conversation is the most de-
lightful history. His colloquial powers are re-
markable, and his memory is wonderful To
me 1t was more entertaining than the most de-
lightful romance, for romance that seems,
wherein he has been the hero-his youth as an
ensign, as did-de-cdmp under Gen. Wayne
his manhood as the Governor Of Indiana and
commander-in-chief of our armies in the West
and Northwest. where Madame Trollope's
Bazaar now stands in Cincinnati" said he,
many time have wheeled and marched my
company in what was then Fort Washington y
% Philadelphia and New York. he added,
g were long after approached only on horseback,
through Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia .
From the Manu." pointing to the Miami river,
not far from his own farm, and on which his
sons farm lies, Mr.. Jefferson, by his commits
sion as Governor Of Indiana and Upper Lousi-
ana, vested me with an authority greater than q
Roman Pro-consul, and commission of mine
could make magistrate whose jurisdiction
should stretch from thence to Mackinaw, where
il was too cold for corn to grow, even to regions
productive of cotton, and almost of sugar" 81
think have personally obtained for the country,
from the Indians more millions of acres of land
than the sword of a conquerer ever permanently
won, and trust never dishonesty To hear
and see plain farmer talk thus, all history more
than confirming, his every remark, and that
farmer, too, IN the vigor OF ripe old age, now
reaping the rewards of honest industry amid
his own well-earned fields, seemed to me like a
dream, and can hardly realize that this Ohio,
this Indiana, is not vision created by some
Magi. When Napoleon conquered a city
when the tr-coor was carried by his legions
upon the battlements of Berlin or Vienna, Pa
ris was in ecstacy, and all France rang with
accamations, but here is an American Caesar
at work on his own farm, now making for him
his own commentaries, who carried the Ameri-
can flag the furthest il was carried in his own
time, further than from Rome TO the Danube
among terrible savages, too, and who only laid
down his sword when the forest was cleared of
them, and that flag stood waving in triumph in
the uppermost Canada-further in advance in
the British dominions than since the DAYS Of
Montgomery, and more than all this though
where this wilderness was here is not one city,
but wilderness of cities now, the most beauti-
full of which is that where this young ensign
wheeled his company. Farmers innumerable
al. too onI .,f,
among the happiest, the weathiest and freest on
earth | say all this seems TO me like vision,
and when dwell on it, and think Of the ser
vices OF Harrison and his armed pioneers, can
not but feel that the true glory of the Caesars Of
Rome and Of France dwindle into nothing, as
compared with the wonderful achievements of
the man whose toll and blood have made SO
many people happy
We Eastern people know nothing Of how this
country was won and settled, and hence we
cannot understand the enthusiasm with which
General Harrison inspires his friends. We love
those who have been brought up with us at home
and in school--but how much more is the love
of them, who have been rocked and Graded in
home has been the common
bed the bark of trees
whose music but the yell and howl of the paint.
ed savages, and whose welcome but the toma-
hawk and rifle, and how intense is the love of
the masses for that slight and attenuated and
youthful leader, who shares all this danger
whose valor is pattern for them, whose tongue
inspires them to action, and whose pen records
their worth This is the story of Harrison, and
upon such principles, the affection Of the West
for him is founded And now think Of the ter
rible Indignation that awaits those who decry
these deeds, and denounce the actor as pol
troon or coward, so many Of the eye-witnesses
being yet alive and on the stage of busy action.
g II shall cost any man his life" exclaimed an
indignant Hoosier in my hearing, when over
heated by anger, 'who calls my old Commander
a coward
took out Of General Hanison's Library the