The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-04-07


XXTILLIAM HENRY HARRI-
w SON, as Governor of the
Indiana Territory, in having had
enacted the Harrison land law
May 10, 1900, wrought a piece of
legislation that was to bring far
reaching results in attracting
fresh waves of immigration into
Indiana from the east and south.
Down the Ohio river they came,
past Pittsburgh, and through
Cumberland Gap. From the south
they came by way of the Tennes-
see and Cumberland rivers.
Another contributing factor
which helped to draw settlers to
Indiana was the enactment of
what is called the Northwest Ordi-
nance Of 1887 in which the Ohio
Associates and the Virginia as
sembly wanted to make the
western frontier more attractive
to prospective settlers.
In this ordinance of unalter-
able rights, it's first clause was
freedom of religion as follows:
mo person demeaning himself in
a peaceable and orderly manner
shall ever be mOlested on account
of his mode of worship or reli-
giouS sentiments in said Territor-
les" The bill also included the
writ of habeas corpus, the right
of trial by jury and right of COM
penSation from property seized.
This brief summary of civil
progress in Indiana, up to its adj
mission to statehood, would be
incomplete without some account
of the part played by Father Gil
bault. who, with Francis Vigo,
the Italian merchant trader and
patriot, enabled General George
Rogers Clark to win forever pos
session of the Northwest Terri
tory for the United States.
Gibault had the confidence of
the people of Vincennes and the
Creoles through ten years of
vigorous, devoted service among
them. When General Clark, at
the head of the American Army
of invasion, told Father Gibault
that he would extend religious
freedom to ali peoples in the
region Father Gibault at once
threw his whole influence to the
support of the American cause.
MYTH the moral support of
w Gibault in VincenneS and
the active support and financial
help of Francis Vigo in KaSkas-
kia, who loaned Clark $4,000 in
money and supplies, Clark
launched his desperate march
from Kaskaskia Feb. 5, 1779 and
demanded the surrender of Fort
Sackville at VincenneS from the
British Governor Hamilton. He
surrendered Feb. 25, 1779.
Perhaps the truest characterize
ton of Father Gibault is that
given him by Judge Law when he
wrote: To Father Gibault, next
to Clark and Vigo, the United
States are more indebted for the
accession of the states comprised
in what was the original North
west Territory
The Northwest Territory COM
prised the states of Indiana. Hi
noiS, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin
and part of Minnesota. Ross
Lockridge, in his book on Clark
says:
The winning of the Northwest
Territory made our western
boundary the Mississippi instead
of the Alleghenies and it brought
under our dominion a new en-
pire almost as vast as the entire
thirteen original colonies"
Father Gibault, unjustly sus-
picioned through calumnies Of the
English. who claimed he had be-
trayed them, died in poverty at
New Madrid, Mo, in 1904.
With the narration of the Clark
Gibault-Vigo achievements, we
again resume our story with the
appointment of Bishop Brute in
1884 as the first Bishop of the
Diocese.
A brief sketch of this sanity
and learned bishop is necessary
in order to get the correct back
ground of later events. Bishop
Brute was consecrated in st. Louis
Oct. %, 1884 by Bishops RoSati,
Flaget and Purcell. He was es-
corted TO Vincennes and there
met at the Cathedral by repre-
sentative men. Nov. 8, 1884.
He was slight of build and
somewhat bald, but what he
lacked in personal appearance, he
more than made up by his innate
piety and brilliant educational
achievements. Born at Rennes,
France in 1779, he studied medi-
cine, then turned to theology and
was ordained in 1903. then assigned
a professorship in theology in the
Diocesan Seminary of RenneS.
He felt the call of Divine Provi-
dence to the American missions
and sailed for America June O.,
1910. Landing at Baltimore he
was welcomed by Archbishop Car
roll, who appointed him a profess
scr at St. Mary's College and
Seminary in Baltimore.
. o
THERE he taught two years.
u He then was called to Mount
st. Mary's, near EmmitSburg, a
newly established seminary. In
1915 he was called back to st.
Marys college in Baltimore to be-