St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-19
MINNNEsoTA's CREATOR.
Gen. Sibley's Work in Moulding
the New State.

| in the work of founding new state,
his biographer says:
The 5000 people covering the 10000
square miles alluded to, and among
| whom were men of mark, such as
| Henry Hastings Sibley, Henry NJ. Rice,
| Franklin Steele, Morton S. Wilkinson,
Henry l.. Moss, John McKusick, Joseph
r. Brown, Martin Mcleod, William f..
| Marshall and others, were not content
to abide under narrowed jurisdiction.
much less doubtful one, and remain
as discarded fragment of the last
formed state of the Union. They pro-
posed the organization of another terri
| tory, the territory of Minnesota. 1t was
| the whole objective ultimate point eff
| the contest raised as to the right of Mr..
| Sibley to seat in congress. Should a
second bill fail, as the first
one had done before Mr.. Sib-
| ley's advent to the house, yet
the recognition of the residuum as a
| legal existence would be or value to the
settlers west of the st. Croix. Should
| the seat be won, the second bill was
| sure to succeed through the personal in
| tiuence of Mr.. Sibley and his friends,
among whom were Henry M. Rice and
| Franklin Steele, who, in conjunction
with Mr.. Sibley, labOred most earnestly
to secure the passage Of the bill.
Mr.. Sibley'6 seat once won. he turned
his whole attention to the accomplish
ment Of the Interior object of his advent
| to Washington, viz, the organization of
| Minnesota territory. ALI the more did
he feel the importance of success in
this undertaking, inasmuch as q
bill had already been introduced
| to that end, In 1916. to meet only with
| failure, though reported back to the
house favorably by Hon. Stephen A.
Douglas, then a member of the house,
and chairman of its committee on terri
tories. And, yet again, the disposition
| of certain members of the house, after
voting a1firmatively for the admission
| of Mr. Sibley as delegate from Wis
consin, to qualify their vote by the
courtesy" explanation, omened no
| good to the enterprise in which he was
engaged. With laudable tact and wise
craftsmanship, therefore, Mr. Sibley
personally persuaded Mr.. Douglas him
self, now in the senate, and chairman of
| the senate's committee OIL territories, to
| introduce a bill for the organization OF
the territory of Minnesota, to which Mr..
| Douglas consented, and gave notice on
| the first day of the session, Dec. 4, 1913.
| of his purpose to do So. Mr.. Douglas
insisted that the capital of the new ter
ritOry should be located at Mendoza.
| The success of Mr.. Douglas scheme
would have yielded an immense
fortune to Delegate Sibley, as Men
| dOta was his place of residence and
freghted with large business inter-
ests of his own, but with that UNI
bending integrity and loyalty to the
public interests which ever character
lzed his life, Mr.. Sibley insisted upon
the original programme, and thus the
capital was saved to st. Paul. Delegate
Sibley also secured for the new terri
tory a magnificent land grant. 1t was a
close call by which Delegate Sibley got
his Minnesota bill before congress on
the eve Of adjournment. An effort
was made by its opponents to crowd it
| out. but by personally soliciting the
speaker for recognition. Mr.. Sibley got
| the floor in time to call up his bill, and
succeeded in passing it by scratch;
and it is to his individual effort alone
that Minnesota Sprang into existence.
Speaking of the event, his blOgrapher
says:
Thus, after two among the severest
| struggles i'll congress. one at the open
ing and one at the close OF the session,
and a hand-to-hand contest all the way
| between. was Minnesota organized as
new territory, March 3, lS49, and put in
| possession of separate government
almost equal to that enjoyed by the
people of the states. The relief eXpe-
rienced by Mr.. Sibley and the faithful
| friends from Minnesota who cooper
| ated with him NAV well be Imagined.
| 1t was time for jubilee. And the justi-
| fable go0d-natured eXultatiOn OF the
| tirelesS, faithful and victorious delegate
| from Wisconsin over the adverSarieS of
the Minnesota bill may be repeated, in
his own words, without offense to his
modesty, II tell you walked that day
with the highest head and the lightest
heart and the freeSt step and best face
OF any man in the crowd, from the
house of representatives over to the
capitol" And we'll he might. for. in
words of one of the most influential
journals of the present day. revie wing
the career of Mr.. Sibley, ut is scarcely
possible that any other man i'll the
| Northwest could nave attained the same
! result at that time. By his polished
manners, excellent sense. and knowl-
| edge of men, he speedily made friends.
and succeeded in accomplishing what
! every man regarded as an impoSsi-
| bility."
Mr.. Sibley was unanimously returned
| to congress as the first representative of
the new territory. and rendered most
efficient service during the Thirty-tirst
congress. He was again returned to
the Thirty-second congress, aud par
| ticipated in all the exciting scenes OF
that memorable period of the nations
history, yet always watchful of the
local interests committed to his charge.
| The biOgrapher enters into a lengthy
and detailed account of Mr.. Sibley's
soh ko,,
| immense deal of information of histOr
ical value. Concluding review of his
| five consecutive years in congress, eX-
tending from 1S4S to 1858, DR.. West
says:
"His congressional career was one per-
petual struggle, from first to last, in be-
half of Minnesota. Nothing that g
won for the territory was gained vii .
out battle. Not bill was passed
without opposition, nor a benefit ST.
cured without running conflict. From
his entrance to his exit he succeeded,
by power Of his personal presence, his
commanding talent, parliamentary skill.
and the loyalty Of certain influential
senators and representatives, whose
friendship and help he had conciliated
to his own advantage. None stood more
resolutely and unflinchingly In the gap
than he; none more quickly appreciated
a crisis in debate, and none welded
more effectively, or frequently, the
previous question" against his oppo-
nents. And yet. nothing remained to
him as source of unmixed pleasure
more delightful than this, that, in all
his conflicts, however warm, at times,
as they were, nothing ever occurred to
mar the individual friendships or social
relations that existed between himself
and those against whom he was called
to contend. The record of his con
gressional career is strewn with the
highest compliments, publicly made
and from all parties, to his personal
candor, love of truth, fairness in debate
frankness, ability. manliness, mora