The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-03-10
GENERAL HARRISON vINDICATED.
SPEECH
OF
MR.. GOODE, OF OHIO.

i MR. GOODE, OF OHIO,
IN reply TO Mr.. Crary's attack upon Genera
i Harrison, deiipered in The House or Repre
senfatiues Of the U. s., February 1870
/ a proposition 10 instruct The Comn;t,ee q
i Ways and Means 10 report an nppreDriat,o,
/ for the Cumberland Road, 5eing under con
sheraton.
mr.. GooDE, OF Ohio, observed that he hat
at hrst been anxious TO obtain the floor. ii,
mad had no other object in view. but to max,
some remarks on the instructions proposed Il
De given to a committee of this House. in re-
iauen to the Cumberland Road but since
that time, the question had assumed differ.
emf shape An attempt had been made to give
70 TINS, as, indeed, 10 all other subjects durina
the present session, political bearing. And
here' ne must be permitted to express his re-
gret mat, whenever q Presidential election
was IN near prospect, subjects Of every pos
s'Die KIND, when coming up in debate, were
mixed with political matter, intended to infiu-
ence the election Of President. No question
could be stated, however absorbing its inte-
rests-however vital its importance to large
portions Of the country, but it was at once
eeHerglsA rwish questions of party pol;,;cs
sn'nls ground the gentleman from Michigan,
mr.. Crary,) had been called to order, the
day before, Ply gentleman from Massachu-
sets, MIR. Lincoln, for introducing into the
debate on tho Cumberland Road, a wanton
attack on the military reputation Of General
Harrison. The House, however, had assent
ed to that gentleman's proceeding, and in tina,
assent, Mr.. q. said, that though he most sin.
cerely lamented that the gentleman from
Michigan should have chosen to embarrass
the interests of the Cumberland Road; vet.
SO far as General Harrison is concerned. he
heartily conceded. The more such attacks
were multiplied, the more ilIustrously would
the character OF that great man be made TO
SHINE III Its own intrinsic glory. No friend
OF General Harrison felt any other sensation
than one of satisfaction and pleasure. when.
ever an attempt Of this kind was made. Let
gentlemen advance to the charge let them
endeavor to subs,antia,e their assertions bv
all the testimony they could accumulate. the
issue must be their certain defeat and merted
exposure. The reputation Of Gen. Harrison,
both military and civil, had become portion
of the history Of the country: it needed no
Mr.. G. did not rise to yindca.e
t I; and he was sorry that it became proper
or him to allude to the subject at all but
when bold assertions were made in the face
II Congress, and of the Nation, it was fit and
becoming that the truth should be produced
n reply, and this must be Mr. G's apology
or occupying any portion of the time of the
House, in adverting to subjects so well known,
ind events which were familiar to every man
It all acquainted with the history Of his coun-
ry
ID Tt e saaRlftmsn fdfn yiiGahigap had yeulur-
Harrison and had charged him with want
,f skill, and gross deficiency in oflicer-iike
conduct In endeayoring TO substantiate the
charge, that gentleman had entered upon
learned crtique upon the tactics of the cele-
brated battle of Tippecanoe, and on the war
rant of his own high military standing, had
undertaken TO tell the Housa what General
Harrison ought to have done on that memora-
BILE occasion AS MIR. G. did not belong to
the military profession, he would not pretend
to follow the very learned gentleman in that
disouisition He was no militia general
nor did he profess TO be acquainted with those
profound depths in the military art which were
requisite in directing the evolulions OF lew
military companies on parade day. NO
doubt, the long experience and celebrated
achievements of that gentleman, especially
in the late border wars Of Michigan with
Ohio. (which achievements, unfortunately,
the pen OF the historian had, by an unpardon-
able negligence, failed to record,) entitled him
to assume the position Of Judge, and to pass
sentence with modest confidence, on such
veteran soldiers as William Henry Harrl-
son.
In advancing the stale and oft reluted
charges against the military arrangements and
personal courage Of the hero OF the Thames
the gentleman from Michigan was probably
not the sole author of his own movement.
Mr.. g. would not positively assert that that
gentleman had acted in combination with
others, and in the accomplishment OF de-
liberate plan directed against the wel-earned
fame of an American General, nor would he
suggest that the movement itself was evidence
of that terror which began to invade the coun-
sells of the party now in power, on witnessing
the throb Of joy, the pulsallon OF enthusiasm,
which the late nomination at Harrisburg had
sent from one extremity to the other OF this
wide republic That the attack made by the
gentleman was not original with him was very
plain. from the fact that The substance of it
had been given in (if indeed it had not been
taken from) paragraph in a late Baltimore pa
paper, which read as follows:
"Governor Harrison marched within the sight OF the
Indian towns and halted Davies, Taylor, and others,
held conference with the Indians whom they found in
no uncomfortable alarm at the imposing force before
them This fact communicated TO Governor Hsr-
risoa Nevertheless, after delay, during which the
Indians permitted TO strengthen themselves by ac-
cessions from neighborng tribes, Governor Harrison
,pfuc IN ancan INN ouff In HIM
BY the Indians, and most ielicousIy adapted TO the
purpose for which they had chosen it, On this spot the
whole force encamped, in sight of willy deadly, ant
treachcrous foe They encamped without even tn,