CHAPTER XXII.

The Election of Gov. Coles-Third General AssemblyThe Struggle to make Illinois a Slave-State-Election of United-States Senator-1822-1826.

HE career of Edward Coles in Illinois constituted a remark

THE

able episode in his own life, and an era in the history of Illinois signalized by a series of events as imposing as they were important in their results. Of the fourscore years which his span of life exceeded, only thirteen were passed in the State; but these were years of unexampled industry, and heroic conflict, in which he made a record as valuable as it is imperishable.

He was born in Albermarle County, Virginia, Dec. 15, 1786; and was descended from a prominent and influential family. After attending the college of Hampden Sidney a short time, he entered that of William and Mary, where he remained two years, but was compelled to leave before graduation on account of a severe fracture of his leg.. He was nearly six feet in height, of a slender build, with brilliant eyes, and stronglymarked but agreeable features. After two years study at home, President Madison tendered him the appointment of private secretary, which position he acceptably filled six years; when, at the urgent request of the president, he accepted the appointment of special messenger to Russia, in which capacity, to use the language of James Monroe, "he discovered sound judgment, united to great industry and fidelity."

He first visited Illinois in 1815, while making a tour of the western country, seeking a location; and again in 1818, stopping a while at Waterloo. He was at Kaskaskia while the convention to form a constitution for the new state was in session. Although an hereditary slave-holder he had determined to remove from Virginia and no longer remain an owner of human chattels. Impressed with the advantages which Illinois offered to new settlers, he became deeply interested in the deliberations of the convention on the subject of slavery, and

exerted his influence to secure the adoption, in the organic law of the commonwealth where he intended to make his home, of the anti-slavery article in pursuance of the requirement of the Ordinance of 1787.

Having finally decided to remove to Illinois, his preparations all completed, on April 1, 1819, he set out from his Virginia plantation for the more inviting fields of the Prairie State. The little caravan which he headed was of modest proportions, consisting of canvas-covered wagons, which conveyed his ten negroes, with their offspring, and his household effects; himself riding on horseback. Arriving at Brownsville, Pa., he purchased two flat-boats in which the journey was continued to a point below Louisville, where the party disembarked, and continued their way by land to Edwardsville.

Mr. Coles had carefully refrained from giving his slaves any intimation of his intention to enfranchise them until after they had passed Pittsburg. The manner of its announcement, and the dramatic scene which followed, are best portrayed in his own language. He says: "Being curious to see the effect of an instantaneous severing of the manacles of bondage, and letting loose on the buoyant wings of liberty the long pent-up spirit of man, I called on the deck of the boats which were lashed together all the negroes and made them a short address; in which I commenced by saying, that it was time for me to make known to them what I intended to do with them, and concluded my remarks by so expressing myself that by a turn of the sentence I proclaimed in the shortest and fullest manner possible that they were no longer slaves, but free-free as I was, and were at liberty to proceed with me, or to go ashore at their pleasure. The effect was electrical, they stared at me as if doubting the accuracy or reality of what they heard. In breathless silence they stood before me, unable to utter a word, but with countenances beaming with expression, which no words could convey, and which no language can now describe. After a pause of intense and unutterable emotion, bathed in tears, and with tremulous voices, they gave vent to their gratitude, and implored the blessings of God on me."

His former vassals having expressed a desire to remain with him until they had seen him "comfortably fixed" in his new

home, he kindly but firmly declined the offer, and to their further bewilderment assured them that upon arriving at their destination now the Eldorado of their hopes-as a reward for their past services, and as a stimulant to future exertions in the struggle for self-support, it was his intention to give each head of family one hundred and sixty acres of land; which promise he redeemed to the letter, against the protests of his beneficiaries.

Upon arriving at Edwardsville, Mr. Coles at once entered upon the discharge of the duties of the office of register of the land-office, to which position he had been appointed, March 5. by President Monroe, before leaving Virginia, and which he filled not only faithfully, but to the satisfaction of the public.

As the period approached for the election of State officers in August, 1822, candidates for gubernatorial honors began to multiply. They were definitely announced as follows: Joseph Phillips, chief-justice of the supreme court, supported by the friends of ex-Gov. Bond, who was not eligible to reëlection; Thomas C. Browne, a justice of the supreme court, supported by the followers of Gov. Edwards; Gen. James B. Moore, a noted Indian fighter, supported by the old rangers; and Edward Coles. While the direct issue of making Illinois a slave-state was not raised in the canvass for governor, "it was in the air," and its consideration undoubtedly exercised more or less influence upon the choice of candidates. It was felt that the question could not long be deferred, and indeed was even then being agitated by some aspirants for the legislature. Of the candidates, Phillips and Browne were known to be pro-slavery, while the action of Coles had identified him very squarely with the anti-slavery party.

His position as register had brought him into direct personal contact with his fellow-citizens from all sections of the State, and the acquaintances thus formed proved to be of no small advantage to his political prospects. When the time came for voting, he found that he could count upon the support of many of those rough, plain farmers, clad in homespun, whose interests he had protected and who had found him attentive in the discharge of his duties, courteous in manner, and, if somewhat stiff and angular, intelligent and sympathetic.

It was supposed that the contest lay between Phillips and Browne, and that Coles had but very little chance of success. The result was one of those political surprises which have not been infrequent in elections in this State, when the candidate. least expected came out ahead in the race. The canvass showed that Coles had received 2854 votes, Phillips 2687, Browne, 2443, and Moore, 622-Coles plurality being only 167, while on the total vote cast he was in a minority of 4752.

Under the circumstances it was a great triumph. Coles had not been identified with either the Edwards or Bond factions, and was opposed by both. He had no official patronage, nor the advantage of any "machine." But, which was much better, he had the sympathy and cordial support of the anti-slavery element among the voters, who remembered with gratitude the practical and generous evidence he had given of his abiding faith in free soil and free men.

To the discharge of his duties as governor, Coles brought an unimpeachable integrity, an unswerving fidelity to honest convictions, and a conscientious solicitude for the welfare of the people. At the same time he lacked that experience in public affairs which might have enabled him to tide over more than one of those stormy waves which at times threatened to engulf his administration. Prior to his appointment as register, as has been seen, his life had been uneventful and but little calculated to develop those qualities indispensable to an executive management, at once wise and popular in a young and growing state. Without previous training in either the executive or legislative departments of such a commonwealth, he entered upon the discharge of his grave duties at a serious disadvantage.

The candidates for congress at this election were Daniel P. Cook, and John McLean, who made the race against each other for the third time; the former was again successful, by a majority of 876 votes.

The slavery question was by no means a new one in Illinois. It had been the subject of frequent and always exciting discussion in and out of the legislature from the time of the territorial organization. African slaves were first introduced, as heretofore stated, by Renault in 1722; and in 1724, the government of, police over, and traffic in negro slaves in Louisiana of which

SLAVERY IN ILLINOIS.

311 Illinois was a part, was regulated by ordinance of the King of France. When Louisiana was transferred to Great Britain in 1763, that government by proclamation of Gen. Gage, declared that the late subjects of France should enjoy the same rights and privileges, "the same security for their persons and effects," as the old subjects of the king. As slavery was at that time recognized in her colonies by Great Britain, there was no interference in Illinois with slave-property. Negroes were continued in servitude as before. It was also expressly stipulated in the Virginia deed of cession to the United States "that the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of the Kaskaskias, St. Vincents, and the neighboring villages who have professed themselves citizens of the State of Virginia, shall have their possessions and titles confirmed to them, and be protected in their rights and liberties,"-which was understood and interpreted at the time to mean that the right of property in slaves should be recognized and protected. And in pursuance of this stipulation, while slavery was prohibited in all that territory by the Ordinance of 1787, that instrument contained a clause as follows: "saving however to the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers of the Kaskaskias, St. Vincents, and the neighboring villages, who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them relative to the descent and conveyance of property." The effect of these provisions was considered by the inhabitants, and construed by Gov. St. Clair to mean that while the extension of slavery was prohibited, existing property relations, including slavery, were recognized and upheld-that is that the slaves in the Territory, and their descendants, should remain in their previous condition, but that no more slaves should be imported into the Territory. This was the conservative view; others, and among them Gov. Edwards, went still farther, and contended that the Ordinance of 1787 was unconstitutional, congress having exceeded its power in adopting the sixth article. Others again claimed that the children of all slaves born after 1787 became free by virtue of the ordinance.

Slaveholders began to exhibit uneasiness on the subject of their tenure, and as early as 1794 the question was raised of repealing or superseding the prohibitory clause of the ordi