The Madisonian., 1840-02-18
parake Of The genius and conform 10 tue hA''
character oil The parts.
IIg be continued
LIFE or wILLIAM IA. HARRISON
BY c. CUSHING.

candidate for the Presidency, II naturally io-
lo,ys iha. the events OF his life, and the public
services he has performed, should become OBJ
;-c,s OF general interest and attention. Hap
nily there exist ample means OF authentic
information To satisfy The public curiosity
concerning him for the history OF the West
ern States, during the period of their early
struggles aud trumphs, is also his history
aud his fame is identified with that OF the
,eeming ,nyriads of the Valley of the Missis-
sippi A brief retrospect of his career, ciVn
and military, while it exhibits the character
and acts of an able statesman, high minded
patriui, brave soldier, and successful com
mander will approve and justify the oonh-
dence and respect OF his counirymen, IN pro-
!. passing 10 raise him TO the eminent post OF
Chief Magistrate OF the Union.
BIRTH AND EDUCATION.
HARRisoN was born Of the blood, and bred in
the school, OF the patriots OF the Revolution.
That was period when slngie-hearted
purity OF purpose and lofty self-deyo,ion
OF principle animated the public men Of the
day In the Congress of the Thirteen States,
each State and every Representative of
either State contended to see which would
mos; disinteresiedly serve their common
country When a Commander-in-C Chief OF
the armies OF Independence was TO be ap-
pointed, Massachusetts, FASTENED 10 sacrifice
her own local claims and preferences IN be-
half of George Washington, OF Virginia
When John Hancock, elected President oi
Congress, modestly hesitaied 10 assume that
important station, Benjamin Harrison, OF Vlr-
ginia, placed him with gentle force IN The
Presidential chair, exclaiming, We VIII
SHOW mother Britain how little we care Tor
her by making Massachusetts man our
President, whom she has excluded from par
don, by public proclamation. In fact BenJa-
min Harrison, acting in the spirit OF The
times, postponed his own preiensions In
favor of Hancock. His name is enrolled Tor
immortality among the signers OF the Decla-
ralion of Independence. AT a subsequent
period, as Governor of Virginia, he exer'ed
all he energies OF his decided and powerful
mind in The application Of the resources Of
that great Commonwealth TO the promotion
OF the cause OF the Revolution.
William Henry, third son Of Benjamin
Harrison, was born at Berkley, in Charles
city county, Virginia, the 9th of February,
1873, and educated al Hampden Sidney Col
lege His father died in 1921, having ex
pended large fortune in the service OF his
country during the Revolution, in Congress,
as Chairman of The Board of War, and other
wise, and as Governor of Virginia and thus
leaving 10 his children little inheritance save
the example and the lessons of his patriotism
and love of liberty. Dependent on his own
exerions, and preparing 10 enter lie at an
interval of peace, he had applied himself
assiduously to the study of medicine; but be-
fore long the hosiiities of the Indians in the
Northwest began TO awaken public solici-
iude; and he felt irresistbly impelied TO re-
liuqulsh his professional pursuits, and TO de-
dicate his life TO the defence of his country
This inclination was combaited. but in vain,
by his guardian, Robert Morris. 1t was
heartily approved however, by General
Washington, the intimate friend of his father,
and then President of the United States, who
appreciated the generous motives of young
Harrison, and gave him an appointment of
ensign OF artillery in the troops destined to
operate on the Ohio.
SERVICES UNDER WAYNE.
II was no holiday service in which Harri-
son was 10 learn the duties Of soldier. The
Northwest, al that time ihinly inhabited by
the hardy pioneer settlers, was overrnn by
numerous bands Of hostile Indians their en-
nifty 10 the United States simulated and
fosiered by the intrigues OF Great Britain
Indeed the British ministers treated the years
Immediately following the war of lndepend-
ence as an imperfect truce, rather than an
assured peace. Notwithstanding the efforts
of the United States, during the war of Inde-
pendence, to induce the British Government
to allow the Indians to stand neutral during
that ontest-notwithstandlng the indignant
denunciation Of the policy Of Great Britain in
this respect by such men as Chatham and
Burke, in the British Parliament Minis
ters armed the Indians on the frontier, and let
loose upon ,ur defencelcss women and chill.
dren, the savage instruments Of massacre and
conhagration. Thus, the life of the early
settlers in the West was one of fearful dam
ger, or Of continual contest with foe who
recognized no rules Of civilized warfare.
When the independence of the United States
was at length acknowledged by Great Britain
our people considered in good faith that peace
was come, and the tide of their emigration
began to set in a steady stream to the fertile
fields of the West Bun they found that the
British Government persisted, in violation Of
treaty, in retaining military possession of the
great frontier posts III the Northwest; that
she still ionented the hostile passions of the
indians, aud supplied them with arms; and
that she was prompting and combining them
in a project To drive our people out of the
Northwest, and TO establish between the Ohio
and the Lakes, great independent Indian
Empire, looking to her for protection, and
thus restoring 10 her influence one half Of the
territory nominally recognized as ours BY the
Treaty of Peace Between 1888 and l7S9,
ii is estimated that fifteen hundred men, wo-