killed, and so many wounded that it was with difficulty that Capt. Allan Lindsay, the officer in charge at this time, and the remnant of his crew were able to reach Galena.

The arrival of Gen. Atkinson prevented any further outbreak. Red Bird, with six other Indians, voluntarily surrendered to save their nation from a war which could prove only disastrous to them. Some were acquitted and some convicted, but it was the fate of Red Bird, who died in prison, Feb. 16, 1828, and is described as one of the noblest of savage chieftains, having willingly sacrificed his liberty, the loss of which he could not survive, to his patriotic devotion to his race. After all, it was not much of a war.

The Winnebago "scare" having been disposed of, the people once more turned their attention to questions of state and national policy. The constitutent elements of party strife began for the first time to form themselves into that shape and consistency which soon afterward developed into the distinct divisions of the whig and democratic parties. There were but two candidates for the presidency in 1828, Jackson and Adams, and, as the vote of the four years previous had foreshadowed, the extraordinary popularity of the great military hero, carried everything before it. The fact that such a man was their leader, gave the democrats an advantage in national affairs which they easily maintained for the next twelve years. In Illinois, Joseph Duncan was again elected to congress defeating George Forquer by over 4000 votes.

The sixth general assembly, containing a large majority of Jackson men, convened Dec. 1, 1828. Robert K. McLaughlin and Conrad Will had been transferred to the senate, and among the large number of old members returned to the house were John Reynolds, George Churchill, A. P. Field, Thomas Mather, and John McLean. Peter Cartwright, Wm. L. May, and John Dement were among the new ones. John McLean was for the third time elected speaker an honor he alone has achieved in the legislative history of the State. Wm. L. D. Ewing was elected clerk, and Emanuel J. West, for the third time also, secretary of the senate.

The message of Gov. Edwards-the longest ever delivered to any legislature in this State, occupying as it did thirty-nine

SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

349

printed pages of the house journal-was principally devoted to a discussion of the right of the State to the public lands within its limits. A movement having been made at the previous session to memorialize congress to reduce the price of the public lands, and a committee having reported in favor of calling upon the United States to surrender the same "unconditionally," the governor set forth at great length and with much earnestness the arguments in support of the claim that they belonged to the State, founded upon the doctrine of state sovereignty. This was a master-stroke upon the part of the governor and awakened the liveliest interest. If his position were correct, and his reasoning sound, which but few believed, yet which no one had the temerity to controvert, and if he were sustained by congress and the courts, here would be laid the foundation for enriching the State with the ownership of her vast tracts of rich farming-lands. No one dared to oppose a measure so popular; accordingly resolutions were adopted by the general assembly in which it was declared that "the United States can not hold any right of soil within the limits of the State, but for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings." As it would be equally impolitic to oppose the author of this wonderful political discovery, the governor had but little difficulty in securing a favorable hearing for his measures, and the confirmation of his nominations for office.

It was at this session that the policy was adopted of selling the school and seminary lands, the State borrowing the proceeds at six per cent interest, to be used in meeting the current expenses of the State government.

In revising the election law, a return to the viva-voce method of voting, was provided for.

A new judicial circuit was created, the fifth, and Richard M. Young appointed its judge.

It was at this session also that the law, approved Jan. 22, 1829, was passed, providing for the appointment of commissioners to fix upon the route of the Illinois-and-Michigan Canal, and to select the alternate sections of land granted to the State to aid in its completion, to provide for their sale, and to begin the work of its construction. The commissioners appointed by the

governor were, Charles Dunn, Gershom Jayne, and Edmond Roberts.

For the first time, a United-States senator was elected by a unanimous vote-the honor having been conferred upon John McLean.

State officers were appointed or elected as follows: Alexander P. Field secretary of state, James Hall reëlected treasurer, and George Forquer attorney-general.

The administration of Gov. Edwards closed amid general expressions of satisfaction and good-feeling. Although he had not accomplished the reforms he advocated, the bitterness attending the commencement of his term had passed away and many of those who had strongly antagonized his course were outspoken in their encomiums, among them being exGov. Bond and John McLean.

It would perhaps have been wiser for him to have ended his public career, as he had originally intended, at the close of his executive term, but such were his relations to public affairs, that he did not feel at liberty to refuse the request of many old friends to become a candidate for congress in 1832. Four other gentlemen had already entered the field: Charles Slade, Sid-. ney Breese, Charles Dunn, and Henry L. Webb. Had the governor announced himself earlier and made an active canvass he would no doubt have met with better success. As it was,

he was defeated by Mr. Slade, the vote standing: Slade 2470, Edwards 2078, Breese 1670, Dunn 1020, Webb 551. In the counties where he was best known, St. Clair and Madison, he received a larger vote than that of all the other candidates combined.

The governor now finally retired to his home in Belleville, where on July 20 of the following year, 1833, he died of cholera, to which dread disease he fell a victim in consequence of his humane exertions for the relief of his afflicted neighbors. He left a large estate of real and personal property.

His earliest places of residence in Illinois were at Kaskaskia and on his farm of "Elvirade"-so named from his wife Elvira -near Prairie du Rocher, where he resided most of the time until 1818. He then removed to Edwardsville where he remained until 1824, when he became a resident of Belleville.

CLOSE OF THE GOVERNOR'S CAREER.

35D He stocked his farm with horses and sheep of fine breeds from Kentucky, and brought with him a choice selection of fruittrees, vines, and shrubbery; all of which encouraged and promoted the raising of improved stock and the adoption of better agricultural methods.

In person, to use the language of his contemporaries, he was large and well made, with a noble and even princely appearance-"a magnificent specimen of a man physically and intellectually." He was dignified and polished in his manners. and courtly and precise in his address. He was a despotic leader, dictatorial, fond of display, impulsive, and arbitrary, yet as sensitive as a child. He was subject to fits of choleric passion which carried him beyond himself, and in one of which he fell to the floor, while making a speech in the United-States senate, and had to be carried out of the chamber and bled.

His speeches evince great research and power of amplification, and, although lacking precision, were ornate, and always. commanded attention.

Relying for success, as he remarked, "upon the candor, good sense, and judgment of the people," his aim was to be guided by that principal of political action, as originally defined by himself, that "an office is a trust, deposited in the hands of an individual, who holds it not for his personal benefit and advantage, but for the public good." *

In private life he was kindly, benevolent, and hospitable. Though not "a professor of religion" he was a patron of temperance and morality, and an attendant upon public worship. He exerted a wide-spread influence in the State during his long connection with public affairs, and will always be remembered as one of the most striking characters among the prominent men of his period.

The receipts and expenditures during Gov. Edwards' administration were as follows: receipts, 1827-8, $96, 106-Disbursements, $79,524; leaving a balance against the treasury, including outstanding warrants and sums not collected, of $45,999. Received during 1829-30 with the balance on hand of $7319—116,452-Disbursements, $84,047; leaving a balance in the treasury Dec. 1, 1830, of $32,404. Amount of outstanding warrants $11,516, school-fund warrants $28,283-balance against the treasury $7396. There was at the same time due the State from nonresident delinquent tax-list $11,600; from A. Field, late treasurer, $12,516; for rents of the Ohio Saline $5866; from sheriffs on judgments $805.

* Edwards' "Illinois," 29.

CHAPTER XXV.

Administration of Gov. Reynolds-The Seventh General Assembly-Black-Hawk War-Receipts and Expen

ditures.

THE

HE contest for gubernatorial honors in 1830, was confined to two candidates, but was even more protracted than the preceding one, which it surpassed in excitement and personal rancor. John Reynolds, then a member of the legislature, announced himself as a candidate in the winter of 1828-9. His experience on the bench and at the bar had made him. popular with the legal fraternity, who generally favored his candidacy. William Kinney, the lieutenant-governor, was put forward as a candidate at the same time. They were both Jackson men, but Kinney was the most ultra, while the moderation and conservatism of Reynolds on this point, won for him the support of the Adams-Clay whigs, who decided, after the poor showing they had made at the polls in 1828, not to offer any candidate. There were, therefore, no principles at stake and no questions of national, or indeed, of State policy at issue, other than the construction of the Illinois-and-Michigan Canal, which project Reynolds favored and Kinney opposed. Both candidates addressed the people in every county, though not together. They spoke in churches, court-houses, and "groceries," but mostly in the open air, the better to accommodate the large crowds which no halls of those days could hold. A tree would be cut down in the forest near the town, and the stump hewed smooth, and on this the speaker took his standhence the origin of the phrase "stump-speech."

John Reynolds was born of Irish parentage in Pennsylvania, Feb. 26, 1788. He removed with his father to Illinois in 1800, and lived with him on his farm until 1809, when he decided to attend college at Knoxville, Tenn. His education previous to that time had been confined to the arts and mysteries of horse- and foot-racing, and shooting-matches, in which he had graduated with first honors. Having remained at college two