Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1841-05-05

Yorktown determined our national M
dependence. In the next year The
Young soldier settled in the country
hch he had aided TO liberatc; and ior
forty years Of peace and war, IN pnbiic
| life and IN retirement, IA long grada'ion
he prew with the growth and strength
ened wiib the strength Of the Tree and
imperial Northwest, til at last she pre-
scented him to the people ol America,
coinpletely worthy TO iill the foremost
place OF all the world.
His course was identified with the for
tunes OF the West. This was, | think,
the key TO the paramount felicity OF his
public life. He was her adopted son,
and she loved him as her own. 1t was
her children always whom he led to
victory. Ii was from her advancing
cabins, from her luxuriant cornlields,
and primeval forests that he turned back
the fiery tide Of Indian war. IL wasin
the administration Of her ciyll affairs that
he acquire tho capacity and experience
that fued him for the grand trust OF ms
closing life. For half n century, by par
taking and reciprocallpg her boundlcss
inequalities; by watching IN the held so
nany nights while her women and chill
drcn weie sleeping IN safety, by 'ePeii'ng
so many incursionsnf her savage foe; by
assisting To frame the laws { her soil
under hich she has grown up, aud Tho
institutions under which commerce hns
covered her rivers, before bearing only
the light canoe and the newly iailenl
leaves of autumn; by embodylng the
perfection of the local character, its self
devotion, large heart, its frmuess; he
W on that love which brought out at the
last election her enthusiastic support,
which, on this day of grief will carry her
fair daughters to smooth The lonely pill
low OF that aged widow, and would make
half million Of swords leap from their
scabbards TO avenge word or look
that threatened his memory WIN Insult.
4 IL will be enough To refer 10 two incidents
Of his li,e, either at which would entltIc hlin
forever 10 the grateful honors of his coun
\ ltrymcn. The first of these was The victory
over the Indian Prophet in 1871 the most
desperate IN the annals of Indian war.
say nothing of military skill displayed in the
he victory which gave 1t all It's value; which
most exhibits The Characteristic felicity OF
the soldc. who won II. Ii seems io be now
plain that between 1906 and ISI the Pro.
phet and his much more remarkable aud IN
tcresting brother, Iecumseh, had formed the
design Of enlis,lng and unillng into great
Ioniederacy the entire aboriginal race. To
what extent they had hoped To wage success
ful war against the States, Is not SO easy to-
perceive. Perhaps in the gloomy rcccsscs
oi their minds which. although not uniurnish-
ed with certain naive sublimny ot soul.
were not without their deep caves ot re-
vepge sinrg by their tradluonary and m
dlsputabIe wrong, recalling tho days OF Their
fabulous glory, and marking how high and
for how long the tide of civilization had all
vanccd Til II was breaking around their own
dwellings perhaps, when they listened To
the, waich- lire song Of war, to tho dismal
roar of the pines, or the solemn iall OF the
distant river, near which their rugged infancy
had played. but from which their old age
might be removed; and thought ot these
things I'LL tho dread OF the spirits of their
fathers aroused the boiling tide Of hate and
the thirst for vengeance; perhaps T"cumseh.
and certainly his more imaginative brother.
conceived the plan of restoring the whole
country To It's original posscssors.
/ Certain it is that they planned union OF
the entire tribes from the frontier To the
| Gulf of Mexico, and that by the year 1911
/ they had brought it to the verge Of consumma-
,ori. Certain II is also that If the design had
been effected, taken III connection with ihe
war with England 1t would have environcd
our whole frontier with circle OF hre +;
would have turncd those gurdens OF The earth
! into dark and bloody wilderness; and the
strength which wonIo have been Insnifcien'
for permanent re. conquest, might have otsh
insufficient Cor temporary anc terrible devasta'
iion.-I'he dark dream OF the Indian Hunter
at the tomb of his fathers might have been
accomplished -
"Rut behold a fearful sign,
10 which the white mans eyes arc blind
Their race may vanish hence like nine,
And leave no trace behind,
Save ruins DER the region spread,
And the white stones above the dead.
Gen. Harrison, as Governor OF the North
west Territory, detected and defeated TINS
act Of duplici,y. As rejoice more than all,
now tina, he has gone to stand ior Judgment
before the father OF the Indian and the whne
man. that the luureis he thus acquired were
unstained. Hts whole life was unstaincd oy
single act Of cruelty against those races
Conducting as he did the entire intercourse
between the Government and the Indians,
| he committed no act authorized or unau'
thorizrd which violated his faith with the lat.
ter and rejoice that lie so administered
II that trust, so parcntally, SO compasslonateiy
aud so Justly urged peace, and SO temperate
ily followed up his victory, that to day as the
I lidlngs of his death are borne across the
ocean forests of the west, the warriors of II
hundred races shall mourn with us Tor their
father and for ou:s.
/ The other act TO which allude was Of u
different nature the maturing OF Tho sys-
TEN of sales Of tie public lands, which has
\ contributed SD much more than ail things
\ else, to the magical but hcolhiul growth oi
| all that grca, region. In l109, when he en-
\ tered Congress, The system which obtained
|, was to conlinc sales of lands TO large tracts
/ of 1000 acres or more. The effect was to
| place them beyond the reach OF the actual
II rmigrant desiring to settle, aud IN The hands
4 of The capitalists Of whom he must buy OF
\ hire. IL was the first act Of the youthful
delegate, whose eye took in att dncc The
vast interests vi the West, 10 propose q
change of policy, by reducing The minimum
To- $40 arccs. just an industrious poor man
! farm. This became the basis OF the la"
winch has So planted The West. Where, IN
A l.l ,.,t