Madison County, Illinois - Biographical sketches (1 of 2 so headed), 1882 (part 2 of 3)

General St. Clair, the appointed Governor of the North west not having yet arrived, a set of laws were passed, writtea out, and published by being nailed to a tree in the embryo town, and Jonathan Meigs appointed to administer them. Washington in writing of this, the first American settlement in the Northwest said : " No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at Muskingum. I know many of its settlers personally, and there were never men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community." On the 2,1 of July a meeting of the directors and agents was held on the banks of the Muskingum, " for the purpore of naming the new born city and its squares." As yet the settlement was known as the " Muskingum," but was afterwards changed to the name. Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette. Two days after, an oration was delivered by James M. Varnum, who with S. H. Parsons and John Armstrong had been appointed to the judicial bench of the territory on the IGth of October 1787. On July 9, Governor St. Clair arrived^ and the colony began to assume form. The act of 1787 provided two distinct grades of government for the Northwest, under the first of which the whole power was invested in the hands of a governor and three district judges. This was immediately formed on the governor's arrival, and the first laws of the colony passed on the 25th of July: these provided for the organization of the miiitia, and on the next day appeared the Governor's proclamation, erecting all that country that had been ceded by the Indians east of the Scioto River into the county of Washington. From that time forward, notwithstanding the doubts yet existing as to the Indians, all Marietta prospered, and on the second of September the first court was held with imposing ceremonies. The emigration westward at this time was very great. The commander at Fort Harmer, at the mouth of the ]\Iuskingum reported four thousand five hundred persons as having passed that post between February and June 17S8, many of whom would have purchased of the " Associates," as the New England Company was called, had they been ready to receive them. On the 2Glh of November 1787 Symmes issued a pamphlet stating the terms of his contract and the plan of sale he intended to adopt. In January 1788, Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, took an active interest in Svmmes' purchase, and located among other tracts the sections upon which Cincinnati has been built. Retaining onethird of this locality, he sold ihe other two-thirds to Robert Patterson and John Filson, and the three about August commenced to lay out a town ou the spot, which was designated as being Licking River, to the mouth of which they proposed to have a road cut from Lexington ; these settlements prospered but suffered greatly from the flood of 1T&9. Ou the 4th of March 1789, the Ci.nflitution of the United States went into operation, and on April oOih, George Washington was inaugurated President, and during the next summer an Indian war was commenced by the tribes north of the Ohio. The President at first used pacific means, but these failing, he sent General Harmer against the hostile tribes. He destroyed several villages, but was defeated in two battles, near the present city of Fort Wayne, Indiana From this time till the close of 1795, the principal events were the wars with the various Indian tribes. In 1790, General St. Clair was appointed in couimand, and marched against the Indians ; but while he was encamped on a stream, the St Mary, a branch of the Maumee, he was attacked and defeated with a loss of six hundred men. General Wayne was then sent against the savages. In August, 1794, he met them near the rapids of the Maumee, and gained a complete victory. This success, followed by vigorous measures, compelled the Indians to sue for peace, and on the oOth of July, the following year, the treaty of Greenville was signed by the principal chiefs, by which a large tract of country was ceded to the United States. Before proceeding in our uarra.ive, we will cause to notice Fort Washington, erected in the early part of this war on the site of Cincinnati. Nearly all the great cities of the North-west, and indeed of the whole country, have had their nuclei in those rude pioneer structures, known as forts or stockades. Thus Forts Dearborn, Washington, Ponchartrain, mark the original sites of the now proud cities of Chicago, Cincinnati and Detroit. So of most of the flourishing cities ea t and west of the Mississippi. Fort Washington, erected by Doughty in 1790, was a rude but highly interesting structure. It was composed of a number of strong'y-built hewed log cabins. Those designed for soldiers' barracks were a story and a half high, while those composing the oiBeers' quarters were more imposing and more conveniently arranged and furnished. The whole was so placed as to form a hollow square, enclosing about an acre of ground, with a block house at each of the four angles. Fort Washington was for some time the headquarters of both the Civil and Military governments of the North-western Territory. Following the consummation of the treaty various gigantic land speculations were entered into by difierent persons, who hoped to obtain from the Indians in Jlichigan and northern Indiana, large tracts of lands. These were generally discovered in time to prevent the schemes from being carried out, and from involving the settlers in war. On October 'II, 1795, the treaty between the United States and Spain was signed, whereby the free navigation of the Mississippi was secured. No sooner had the treaty of 1795 been ratified than settlers began to pour rapidly into the west The great event of the year 179G, was the occupa'ion of that part of the North-west including Michigan, which was this year, under the provisions of the treaty, evacuated by the British forces. The L'nited States owing to certain conditions, did not feel justified in addressing the authorities in Canada in relation to Detroit and other frontier posts. When at last the British authorities were called upon to give them up, they at once complied, and General Wayne who had done so much to preserve the frontier settlements, and who before the year's close, sickened and died near Erie, transferred his headquarters to the neighborhood of the lakes, where a county named after him was f jrmed, which included the north-west of Ohio, all of Michigan, and the north-east of Indiana. During this same year settlements were formed at the present city of Chillicolhe, along the Miami from Middletowu to Piqua, while in the more distant West, settlers and speculators began to appear in great numbers. In September the city of Cleveland was laid out, and during the summer and autumn, Samuel Jackson and Jonathan Sharpless, erected the first manufactory of paper - the " Kedstone Paper Mills" - in the West. St. Louis contained some seventy houses, and Detroit over three hundred, and along the river, contiguous to it, were more than three thousand inhabitants, mostly French Canadians, Indians and halfbreeds, scarcely any Americans venturing yet into that part of the North-west. The election of re[)resentative3 for the territory had taken place, and on the 4th of February, 1799, they convened at Losantiville - now known as Cincinnati, having been named so by Gov. St. Clair, and considered the capital of the territory, - to nominate persons from whom the members of the Legislature were to be chosen in accordance with a previous ordinance. This nomination being made, the Assembly adjourned until the 16. h of the following September. From those named the President selected as members of the council, Henry Yandenburg, of Yincennes, Robert Oliver, of Marietta, James Findley, and Jacob Burnett, of Cincinnati, and David Yauce, of Yanceville. Ou the IGth of September, the Territorial Legislature met, and on the 24:h, the two houses were duly organized, Henry Yandenburg being elected Prejident of the Council. The message of Gov. St. Clair, was addressed to the Legislature September 20th, and on October l-'Jth, that body elected as a delegate to Congress, General Wra. Henry Harrison, who received eleven of the votes cast, being a majority of one over his opponent, Arthur St. Clair, son of General St. Clair. The whole number of acts passed at this session and approved by the Governor, were thirty-seven - eleven others were passed but received his veto. The most important of those l)assed related to the militia, to the administration, and to taxation. On the 19th of December this protracted session of the first Legislature in the West closed, and ou the SOlh of December the President nominated Charles Willing Byid, to the office of secretary of the Territory, vice Wm. Henry Harrison, elected to Congress. The Senate confirmed his nomination the next day.

Division Of The North-West Teekitoey

The increased emigration to the north-west, and extent of the domain, made it very difficult to conduct the ordinary operations of government, and rendered the efficient action of courts almost impossible ; to remedy this it was deemed advisable to divide the territory for civil purposes. Con-

Tliis committee on the 3d of March reported : " In the western countries there had been but one court luiviug cognizance of crimes, iu five years, and the immunity which offenders experience attracts, as to an asylum, the most vile and abandoned criminals, and at the same time deters useful citizens from making settlements iu such society. The extreme necessity of judiciary attention and assistance is experienced in civil as well as in criminal cases. * * * * To remedy this evil it is expedient to the committee that a division of said territory into two distinct and separate governments should be made, and that such division be made by beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami river, running directly north until it intersects the boundary between the United States and Canada."

The report was accepted by Congress, and, in accordance with its suggestions, that body passed an act extinguishing the north-west territory, which act was approved May 7th. Among its provisions were these :

" That from and after July 4 next all that part of the territory of the United States north-west of the Ohio river, which lies to the westward of a line beginning at a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence North until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and Canada, shall for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a separate territory and be called the Indian Territory."

Gen. Harrison (afterwards President), was appointed governor of the Indiana Territory, and during his residence at Vincennes, he made several important treaties with the Indians, thereby gaining large tracts of land. The next year is memorable iu the history of (he west for the purchase of Louisiana from France by the United States for $15,000,- 000. Thus by a peaceful manner the domain of the United States was extended over a large tract of country west of the Mississippi, and was for a time under the jurisdiction of the north-western government. The next year Gen. Harrison obtained additi )nal grants of land from the various Indian nations in Indiana and the present limits of Illinois, and on the 18th of August, 1804, completed a treaty at St. Louis, whereby over 51,000,000 acres of land were obtained.

During this year. Congress granted a township of land for the support of a college and began to offer inducements for settlers in these wilds, and the country now comprising the state of Michigan began to fill rapidly with settlers along its southern borders. This same year a law was passed organizing the south-west territory, dividing it into two portions, - the territory of New Orleans, which city was made the seat of government, and the district of Louisiana^ which was annexed to the domain by General Harrison.

On the 11th of January, 1805, the territory of Michigan was formed, and Wm. Hull appointed governor, with headquarters at Detroit, the change to take effect June 30th. On the 11th of that month, a fire occurred at Detroit, which destroyed most every building in the place. When the officers of the new territory reached the post, they found it in ruins, and the inhabitants scattered throughout the country. Rebuilding, however, was commenced at once. While this was being done, Indiana passed to the second grade of government. In 1809, Indiana territory was divided, and the territory of Illinois was formed, the seat of government being fixed at Kaskaskia, and through her General Assembly had obtained large tracts of land from the Indian tribes. To all this the celebrated Indian Tecumthe, or Tecumseh, vigorously protested,* and it was the main cause of his attempts to unite the various Indian tribes in a conflict with the settlers. He visited the principal tribes, and succeeded in forming an alliance with most of the tribes, and then joined the cause of the British in the memorable war of 1812. Tecumseh was killed at the battle of the Thames. Tecumseh wa.s, iu many respects, a noble character, - frank and honest in his intercourse with General Harrison and the settlers ; in war, brave and chivalrous. His treatment of prisoners was humane. In the summer of 1S12, Perry's victory on Lake Erie occurred, and shortly after, active preparations were made to capture Fort Maiden. On the 27th of September, the American army under command of General Harrison, set sail for the shores of Canada, and, in a few hours, stood around the ruins of Malilen, from which the British army under Proctor had retreated to Sandwich, intending to make its way to the heart of Canada by the valley of the Thames. On the 20th, General Harrison was at Sandwich, and General McArthur took possession of Detroit and the territory of Michigan. On the 2d of October following, the American army began their pursuit of Proctor, whom they overtook on the 5th, and the battle of the Thames followed. The victory was decisive, and practically closed the war in the north-west. In 1806, occurred Burr's insurrection. He took possession of an island in the Ohio, and was charged with treasonable intentions against the Federal government. His cajsture was effected by General AVilkinson, acting under instruction of President Jefferson. Burr was brought to trial on a charge of treason, and, after a prolonged trial, during which he defended himself with great ability, he was acquitted of the charge of treason. His subsequent, career was obscure, and he died in 1836. Had his scheme succeeded, it would be interesting to know what effect it would have had on the north-we teim territory. The battle of tiie Thames was fought October 6th, 1813. It effectually closed hostilities in the north-west, although peace was not restored until July 22J, 1814, when a treaty was made at Greenville, by General Ilarri.son, between the United States and the Indian tribes. On the 24th of December, the treaty of Ghent was signed by the representatives of England and the United States. This treaty was followed the next year by treaties with various Indian tribes throughout t!ic north-west, and quiet was again restored.

Present Conditiox Of The North-West

In former chapters we have traced briefly the disoveries, settlements, wars, and most important events which have occurred in the large area of country denominated the north-west, and we now turn to the contemplation of its growth and prosperity. Its people are among the most intelligent and enterprising in the Union. The population is steadily increasing, the arts and sciences are gaining a stronger foothold, the trade area of the region is becoming daily more extended, and we have been largely exempt from the financial calamities which have nearly wrecked com nmnifSes on the seaboard, dependent wholly on foreign commerce or domestic manufocture. Agriculture is the leading feature in our industries. This vast domain has a sort of natural geographical border, save where it melts away to the southward in the cattle-raising districts of the southwest. The leading interests will be the growth of the food of the world, in which branch it has already outstripped all competitors, and our great rival will be the fertile fields cf Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico.

To attempt to give statistics of grain productions for 1880 would require more space than our work would permit of. Manufacturing has now attained in the chief cities a foothold that bids fair to render the north-west independent of the outside world. Nearly our whole region has a distribution of coal measure which will in time support the manufactures necessary to our comfort and prosperity. As to transportation, the chief factor in the production of all articles except food, no section is so magnificently endowed, and our facilities are yearly increasing beyond those of any other region.

The principal tradeand manufacturing centres of the great north-west are Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Detroit, and Toledo, with any number of minor cities and towns doing a large and growing business. The intelligence and enterprise of its people ; the great wealth of its soil and minerals ; its vast inland seas and navigable rivers ; its magnificent railroad system ; its patriotism and Jove of country will render it ever loyal in the future as in the past. The people of the Mississippi Valley are the keystone of the national union and national prosperity.

Chapter

EGINNING the history of this great State we direct attention briefly to the discovery and exploration of the MUaksipjn. Hernando De Soto, cutting his way through the wilderness from Florida, had discovered the Mississippi in the year 1542. Wasted with disease and privation, he only reached the stream to die upon its banks, and the remains of the ambitious and iron-willed Spaniard found a fitting resting-place beneath the waters of the great river. The chief incitement to Spanish discoveries in America was a thirst for gold and troa?ure. The discovery and settlement of the Missicsippi Valley on the part of the French must, on the other hand, be ascribed to religious zeal. Jesuit missionaries, from the French settlements on the St. Lawrence, early penetrated to the region of Lake Huron. It was from the tribes of Indians living in the West, that intelligence came of a noble river flowing south. Marquette, who had visited the Chippewas in 1GG8, and established the mission of Sault Ste. Marie, now the oldest settlement within the present commonwealth of ilichigan, formed the purpose of its exploration.

The following year he moved to La Pointe, in Lake Superior, where he instructed a branch of the Hurons till IGrO, when he removed south and founded the mission at St. Ignace, on the Straits of Mackinaw. In company with Joliet, a fur-trader of Quebec, who had been designated by M. Talon, Intendent of Canada, as chieftain of the exploring party, and five French voyagcurs, Marquette, ou the 10th of June, 1G73, sot out on the expedition. Crossing the water-shed dividing the Fox from the Wisconsin rivers, their two canoes were soon launched ou the waters of the latter. Seven days after, on the 17tli of June, they joyfully entered the broad current of the Mississippi. Stopping six days on the western bank, near the mouth of the Des Moines River, to enjoy the hospitalities of the Illinois Indians, the voyage was resumed, and after passing the jierpendicular rocks above Alton, on whose lofty limestone front were painted frightful representations of monsters, they suddenly came upon the mouth of the Missouri, known by its Algonquin name of Pekitanoni, whose swift and turbid current threatened to engulf their frail canoes. The site of St. Louis was an unbroken forest, and further down the fertile plain bordering the river rejjosed in peaceful solitude, as, early in July, the adventurers glided past it. They continued their voyage to a jioiut some distauee below the mouth of the Arkansas, and then retraced their course up the river, arriving at their Jesuit Mission at the head of Greeii Bay, late in September.

Robert Cavalier de La Salle, whose illustrious name is more intimately connected with the exploration of the Mississippi than that of any other, was the next to descend the river, in the early part of the year 1682. La Salle was a man of remarkable genius, possessing the power of originating the vastest schemes, and endowed with a will and a judgment capable of carrying them to successful results. Had ample facilities been placed by the king of France at his disposal, the result of the colonization of this continent might have been far different from what we now behold. He was born in Rouen, France, in 1C43, of wealthy parentage, but ho renounced his patrimony on entering a college of the Jesuits from which he separated and came to Canada a poor man in 1666. The priests of St. Sulpice, among whom he had a brother, were then the proprietors of j\[ontreal, the nucleud of which was a seminary or convent founded by that order. The Superior granted to La Salle a large tract of land at La Chine, where he established himself in the fur trade. He was a man of daring genius, and outstripped all his competitors in exploits of travel and commerce with the Indians. In 16G9 he visited the hea'lquarters of the groat Iroquois Confederacy, at Onondaga, i:i the heart of New

In order to understand the intrepid genius of La Salle, it must be remembered that for many years prior to his time the missionaries and traders were obliged to make their way to the North west by the Ottaway River (of Canada), on account of the fierce hostility of the Iroquois along the lower lakes and Niagara River, which entirely closed this latter route to the Upper Lakes. They carried on their commerce chiefly by canvas, paddling them through the Ottaway to Lake Nipissing, carrying them across the portage to French River, and descending that to Lake Huron. This being the route by which they reached the North-west, accounts for the fact that all the earliest Jesuit missions were established in the neighborhood of the Upper Lakes. La Salle conceived the grand idea of opening the route by Niagara River and the Lo^er Lakes to Canadian commerce by sail vessels, connecting it with the navigation of the Mississippi, and thus opening a magnificent water communication from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. This truly grand and comprehensive purpose seems to have animated him in all his wonderful achievements and the matchless difliculties and hardships he surmounted.

As the first step in the accomplishment of this object he established himself on Lake Ontario, and built and garrisoned Fort Frontenac, the site of the present city of Kingston, Canada. Here he obtained a grant of land from the French crown and a body of troops by which he beat back the invading L-oquois and cleared the passage to Niagara Falls. Having by this masterly stroke made it safe to attempt a hitherto untried expedition, his next step as we have seen, was to advance to the falls with all his outfit for building a ship with which to sail the lakes. He was successful in this undertaking, though his ultimate purpose was defeated by a strange combination of untoward circumstances. The Jesuits evidently hated La Salle and plotted against him, because he had abandoned them and co-operated with a rival order. The fur traders were also jealous of his superior success in opening new channels of commerce. At La Chine he had taken the trade of Lake Ontario, which but for his presence there would have gone to Quebec. While they were plodding with their bark canoes through the Ottaway he was constructing vessels to command the trade of the lakes and the Mississippi. These great plans excited the jealousy and envy of the small traders, introduced treason and revolt into the ranks of his own companions, and finally led to the foul assassination by which his great achievements were prematurely ended. In 1082, La Salle, having completed his vessel at Peoria, descended the Mississippi to its confluence with the Gulf of Mexico. At its mouth he erected a column, and decorating it with the arms of France, placed upon it the following inscription : empire in extent, stretching from the Gulf to the Lakes, and from the farthest sources of the Ohio to where the head waters of the Missouri are lost in the wild solitudes of the Rocky Mountains. La Salle bestowed upon the turritory the name of Louisiana, in honor of the King of France, Louis XIV.

The assertion has been made that on La Salle's return up the river, in the summer of 1682, a portion of the party were left behind, who founded the village of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, but the statement rests on no substantial foundation.

The First Settlements In Illinois

The gentle and pious Marquette, devoted to his purpose of carrying the gospel to the Indians, had established a mission among the Illinois, in 1^75, at their principal town on the river which still bear stheir name. This was at the present town of Utica, in La Salle County. In the presence of the whole tribe, by whom, it is recorded, he was received as a celestial visitor, he displayed the sacred pictures of the Virgin Mary, raised an altar, and said mass. On Easter Sunday, after celebrating the mystery of the Eucharist, he took possession of the land in the name of the Saviour of the world, and founded the "Mission of the Immaculate Conception." The town was called Kaskaskia, a name afterwards transferred to another locality. The founding of this mission was the last act of Marquette's life. He died in Michigan, on his way back to Green Bay, May 18, 1675.

La Salle, while making preparations to descend the Mississippi, built a fort, on the Illinois River, below the Lake of Peoria, in February, 1680, and in commemoration of his misfortunes, bestowed upon it the name of Creveca:ur, "broken-hearted." Traces of its embankments are yet discernible. This was the first military occupation of Illinois. There is no evidence, however, that settlement was begun there at that early date.

On La Salle's return from this exploration of the Missis- .=ippi, in 1682, he fortified " Starved Rock," whose military advantages had previously attracted his attention. From its summit, which rises 12.5 feet above the waters of the river, the valley of the Illinois speeds out before the eye in landscape of rarest beauty. From three sides it is inaccessible. This stronghold received the name of the Fort of St. Louis. Twenty thousand allied Indians gathered round it on the fertile plains. The fort seems to have been abandoned soon after the year 1700.

Marquette's mission (1675), Crevecosur (1680), and the Fort of St. Louis (1G32), embrace, so far, all the attempts made towards efi'ecting anything like a permanent settlement ia the Illinois country. Of the second few traces remain. A line of fortifications may be faintly traced, and that is all. The seed of civilization planted by the Jesuit, Marquette, among the Illinois Indians, was destined to produce more enduring fruit. It was the germ of Kaskaskia, during the succeeding years of the French occupation - the metropolis of the Mississippi Valley. The southern Kaskaskia is merely the northern one transplanted. The Mii^ion of the Immaculate Conception i.s the tame.

Founding Of Kaskaskia

On the death of Marquette, he was succeeded by Alloiif z, and he by Father Gravier, who respectively had charge of the Mission on the Illinois River Gravier is said to have been the first to reduce the principles of the Illinois language to rules. It was also he who succeeded in transferring Marquette's Mission from the banks of the Illinois south to the spot where stands the modern town of Kaskaskia, and where it was destined to endure. The exact date is not known, but the removal was accomplished some time prior to the year 1685, though probably not earlier than 1G82.

Father Gravier was subsequently recalled to Mackinaw, and his place was supplied by Biueteau and Pinet. Pinet proved an eloquent and successful minister, and his chapel was often insufficient to hold the crowds of savages who gathered to hear his words. Bineteau met with a fate similar to that which befell many another devoted priest in his heroic labors for the conversion of the savages. Ho accompanied the Kaskaskias on one of their annual hunts to the upper Mississippi, that his pastoral relations might not suffer intermission. His frame was poorly fittfd to stand the exposure. Parched by day on the burning prairie, chilled by heavy dews at night, now panting with thirst and agiin aching with cold, he at length fell a victim to a violent fever, and " left his bones on the wilderness range of the buffaloes." Pinet shortly after followed his comrade.

Father Gabriel Morrest had previously arrived at Kaskaskia. He was a Jesuit. He had carried the emblem of his faith to the frozen regions of Hudson's Bay, and had been taken prisoner by the English, and npon his liberation returned to America, and joined the Kaskaskia Mission. After the deaths of Bineteau and Pinet, he had sole charge until joined by Father Mermet shortly after the opening of the eighteenth ceutur}*.

The devotion and piety of Mermet fully equalled those of his compauion. He had assisted in collecting a village of Indians and Canadians, and had thus founded the first French port on the Ohio, or, as the lower part of the river was then called, the Wabash. At the Kaskaskia Mission his gentle virtues and fervid eloquence seem not to have been without their influence. " At early dawn his pupils came to church dressed neatly and modestly, each in a large deerskin, or in a robe stitched together from several skins. Afler receiving lessons they chanted canticles ; mass was then said in presence of all the Christians in the place, the French and the converts - the women on one side and the men on the other. From prayer and instruction the missionaries proceeded to visit the sick and administer medicine, and their skill as physicians did more than all the rest to win confidence. In the afternoon the catechism was taught in the presence of the young and the old, when every one, without distinction of rank or ago, answered the questions of the missionary. At evening all would assemble at the chapel for instruction, for prayer, and to chant the hymns of the church. On Sundays and festivals, even after vespt rs a homily was pronouncsd ; at the close of the day parties would meet in houses to recite the chaplet in alternate choirs, and sing p=alms until late at night. These psalms were often homilies with words set to familiar tunes. Saturday and Sunday were days appointed for confession and communion, and every convert confessed once in a fortnight. The success of the mission was such that marriages of French immigrauts were sometimes solemnized with the daughters of the Illinois according to the rites of the Catholic Church. The occupation of the country was a cantonment of Europeans among the native proprietors of the forests and the prairies.* A court of law was unknown for nearly a century, and up to the time of Boisbriaut there was no local government. The priests possessed the entire confidence of the community, and their authority happily settled, without the tardy delays and vexations of the courts, the minor difficulties which threatened the peace of the settlement. Of the families which formed part of the French population in the early history of Kaskaskia, there is some uncertainty. There is, however, authority for believing that the following were among the principal settlers: Bazyl La Chapelle, Derouse, (called St. Pierre), Jean Baptiste St. Gemme Bcauvais, Baptiste JIoiitreal, Boucher de Moutbrun, Charles Danie, Francois Charlesville, Antoine Bienvenu, Louis Bruyat, Alexis D<iza, Joseph Paget, Prix Pagi, Michael Antoyeu, Lauglois De Lisle, La Derrou to and Nova!-

The settlements of Illinois had been a separate dependency of Canada. In 1711, together with the settlements on the Lower Mississippi, which had been founded by D'lherville and Bienville, they becama united in a single province under the name of Louisiana, with the capital at Mobile.

The exclusive control of the commerce of this region, whose boundless resources, it was believed, were to enrich France, was granted to Anthony Crozat, a merchant of great wealth. "We permit him," says the king in his letters patent, " to search, open, and dig all mines, veins, minerals, precious stones and pearls, and to transport the proceeds thereof into any part of France for fifteen years." La Motte Cadillac, who had now become royal Governor of Louisiana, was his partner. Hopes of obtaining great quantities of gold and silver animated the proprietors, as well as agitated France. Two pieces of silver ore, left at Kaskaskia by a traveler from ]\Iexico, were exhibited to Cadillac as the produce of a mine in Illinois. Elated by this prospect of wealtli, the Governor hurried up the river to find his anticipations fiule away in disappointment. Iron ore and the purest lead were discovered in large quantities in Jlissouri, but of gold, and silver, and precious stones not a trace was found. After Crozat had expended 42.3,000 livres, and realized only 300,000, he, ia 1717, petitioned the king for the revocation of his charter. The white population had slowly increased ; and at the time of his departure it was estimated that the families comprising the Illinoi.s settlements, now including those on the ^V abash, numbered three hundred and twenty souls.

The commerce of Louisiana was next transferred to the Mississipjii Company, instituted under the auspices of the notorious John Law. The wild excitement and visionary schemes which agitated France during Law's connection with the Cjrapany of the West, and while at the head of the Bank of France, form the ruost curious chapter in the annals of commercial speculations. These delusive dreams of wealth were based mainly upon the reports of the fabulous riches of the Mississippi Valley. Attempts to colonize the couutry were conducted with careless prodigality. Three ships landed eight hundred emigrants in August, 1718, near Mjbile, whence they were to make their way overland to the Mississippi. Bienville, on the banks of that river, had already SL'lected the spot for the Capital of the new Empire, which, after the Regent of France, was named New Orleans. From among the emigrants, eighty convicts from the prisons of France were sent to clear away the coppices which thickly studded the site. Three years after in 1721, the place was yet a wilderness, overgrown with cauebrakes, among which two hundred persons Lad encamped.

Phillip Renault was created Director-General of the mines of the new country, and an expedition was organized to work them. Renault left France, in 1719, with two hundred mechanics and laborers. Touching at Ban Domingo he bought five hundred negro slaves for working the mines. On reaching the Mi.ssissippi, he sailed to Illinois, the region in which gold and silver were supposed to abound. A few miles from Kaskaskia, in what is now the south-west corner of Monroe Count}'^, was the seat of his colony. The village which he founded received the name of St. Phillip's. From this point various expeditions were sent out in search of the precious metals. Drewry's Creek, in Jackson County, was explored ; St. Mary's, in Randolph ; Silver Creek, in Monroe; and various parts of St. Clair County, and other districts of Illinois. On Silver Creek, tradition has it that considerable quantities of silver were discovered and sent to France, and from this the stream has its name. By the retrocession of the territory to the crown, Renault was left to prosecute the business of mining without means. His operations proved a disastrous failure.

Fort Chaetees

Meanwhile war had sprung up between France and Spain and to protect the Illiuois settlements from incursions of Spanish cavalry across the Great De.sert, it was thouo-ht advisable to establish a fort in the neighborhood of Kaskaskia. A Spanish expedition had, indeed, been fitted out at Santa Fe, but their guides, leading it by mistake to the Missouri Indians, instead of the Osages, enemies instead of friends, the whole party was massacred, with the exception of a priest who escaped to relate the fate of his unfortunate omrades. Previous to this La Salle, on the occasion of his visit to Paris, had shown the necessity of building a chain of forts from Canada to the Gulf, in order to secure the territory to the crown of France. lu 171s, Boisbriant was despatched to Illinois. He began the building of Fort Cbartres, long the strongest fortress on the Western Continent, and of wide celebrity in the subsequent history of Illinois.

Fort Chartres stood on the east bank of the Mississippi, seventeen miles north-west of Kaskaskia, and between three and four miles from the location of the present village of Prairie du Rocher. The Company of the West finally built their warehouses here. In 1721, on the divi.sion of Louisiana into seven districts, it became the headquarters of Boisbriant, the first local Governor of Illinois. Fort Chartres was the seat of the Government of Illinois, not only while the French retained possession of the country, but after it passed under English control. When the fort was built, it st)od about one mile distant from the river. In the year 1724 an inundation of the Mississijipi washed away a portion of bank iu front of the fort.

Captain Philip Pitman visited Illinois in 1766. He was an engineer in the British army, and was sent to Illinois to make a survey of the forts, and report the condition of the country, which had recently passed under British control. He published in London, in 1770, a work entitled, " The present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi," in which he gives an accurate description of Fort Chartres :

" Fort Chartres, when it belonged to France, was the seat of the governmeut of the Illinois. The headquarters of the English commanding officer is now here, who, in fact, is the arbitrary governor of the couutry. The fort is an irregular quadrangle. The sides of the exterior polygon are four hundred and ninety feet. It is built of stone, and plastered over, and is only designed for defence agaiust the ludians. The walls are two feet two inches thick, and are pierced with loopholes at regular distances, and with two port holes for cannon in the facies, and two in the flaaks of each b.astion. The ditch has never been finished. The entrance to the fort is through a very handsome rustic gate. Within the walls is a banquette raised three feet, for the men to stand on when they fire through the loopholes. The buildings within th». fort are, a commandant's and a commissary's house, the magazine of stores, corps de garde, and two barracks. ^ ,These occupy the square. Within the gorges of the bastion are a powder-magazine, a bake-house, and a prison, in the floor of which are four dungeons, and in the upper, two rooms and an out-house belonging to the commandant. The commandant's house is thirty-two yards long and ten broad, and contains a kitchen, a dining-room, a bed-chamber, one small room, five closets for servants, and a cellar. The commissary's house is built on the same line as this, and its proportion and the distribution of its apartments are the same. Opposite these are the store-house, and the guardhouse, each thirty yards long and eight broad. The former consists of two large store rooms, (under which is a large vaulted cellar), a large room, a bed-chamber, and a closet for the storekeeper. The latter of a soldiers' and officers' guard-room, a chapel, a bed-chamber, a closet for the chaplaiu, and an artillery store-room. The lines of barracks have never been finished. They at present consist of two rooms each for officers, and three for soldiers. They are each twenty-five feet square, and have betwixt a small passage."

Such was Fort Chartres, believed at the time to be the most convenient and best built stronghold in Xorth America ! Just before the French surrender, forty families lived in the neighboring village, in which stood a parish church, under the care of a Franciscan friar, and dedicated to St. Anne. At the time of the surrender to the English, all, with the exception of three or four families, abandoned their homes, and removed to the west bank of the Mississippi, preferring the government of La Belle France to the hated English rule, ignorant that by secret treaty the territory west of the Mississippi had been ceded to Spain, even before the transfer of the region eastward was made to the English.

But the glory of the old fortress soon departed! In 1756 nearly half a mile intervened between Fort Chartres and the bank of the Mississippi. A sand bar, however, was forming opposite, to which the river was fordable. Ten years later the current had cut the bank away to within eighty yards of the fort. The sand-bar had become an island, covered with a thick growth of cottonwoods. The channel between it and the eastern bank was forty feet in dep^h. In the great freshet six years afier, in 1772, in which the American Bottom was inundated, the west walls and two of the bastions were swept away in the flood. It was abandoned by the British garrison, which took up its quarters in Fort Gage, on the bluff opposite Kaskaskia, which then became the seat of government. From this date its demolition proceeded rapidly. In 1820 the south-east angle was still remaining. Only vestiges of the old Fortress can now hi traced. Much of the stone was carried away, and used for building purposes elsewhere. Trees of stately growth cover the foundations. The river has retreated to its original channel, and is now a mile distant from the ruins. A growth of timber covers the intervening land, where less than a century ago swept the mighty current of the Father of Waters.

Under French Rule

During the few years immediately succeeding the completion of Fort Chartres, prosperity prevailed in the settlements between the Kaskaskia and the Miss'ssip|)i rivers. Prairie du Rocher, founded about the year 1722, received considerable accessions to its population. Among the earliest French settlers to make their homes here were Etienne Langlois, Jean Baptiste Blais, Jean Baptiste Barbeaux, Antoine Louvier, and the La Compte and other families, whose descendants are still found in that locality. New settlements sprang up, and the older ones increased in population. At Kaskaskia, the Jesuits established a monastery, and founded a college. In 1725 the village became an incorporated town, and the king, Louis XV., granted the inhabitants a commons. The Bottom land, extending upward along the Mississippi, unsurpassed for the richness of its soil, was in the process of being rapidly settled by the larger number of new arrivals in the colony. Fort Chartres, the seat of government and the headquarters of the commandment of Upper Louisiana, attracted a wealthy, and for Illinois, a fashionable population.

of the Western Company, in April, 1732, the king issued a proclamation by which Louisiana was declared free to all his subjects, and all restrictions on commerce were removed. At this time many flourishing settlements had sprung up in Illinois, centering about Kaskaskia, and the inhabitants were said to be more exclusively devoted to agriculture than in any other of the French settlements in the West.

M. D'Artaguette, in 1732, became commandant of Fort Chartres, and Governor of Upper Louisiana. Between New Orleans and Kaskaskia the country was yet a wilderness. Communication by way of the Mississippi w'as interrupted by the Chickasaws, allies of the English and enemies of France, whose cedar barks shooting boldly out into the current of the Mississippi, cut off the connection between the two colonies. It was in an attempt to subdue these that M. D'Artaguette, the commandant, lost h's life. An officer arrived at Fort Chartres from M. Prerrier, Governor-General at New Orleans, in the year 1736, summoning M. D'Artaguette, with his French soldiers, and all the Indians whom he could induce to join him, to unite in an expedition against the enemy. With an army of fifty Frenchmen, and more than one thousand Indians accompanied by Father Senat and the gallant Vincennes, commandant of the post on the Wabash, where now stands the city bearing his name, D'Artaguette stole cautiously in the Chickasaw country. His Indian allies were impatient, and the commander consented, against his better judgment, to an immediate attack. One fort was carried - another - and then in making the assault on the third, the j'oung and intrepid D'Artaguette fell at the head of his forces, pierced with wounds. The Indian allies made this reverse the signal for their flight. The Jesuit Senat might have fled, Vincennes might have saved his life, but both preferred to share the flite of their leader. The captives afterward met death at the stake under the slow torments of fire.

La Buissoniere succeeded as commandant at Fort Chartres. In 1739 a second expedition was undertaken against the C.iickasaw country. La Buissoniere joined Bienville, then Governor-General of Louisiana, with a force of two hundred Frenchmen and three hundred Indians. The whole force under Bienville was twelve hundred French and five hundred Indians and negroes. His men suffered greatly from malarial fevers and famine, and returned the following spring without conquering the Chickasaws, with whom afterward, however, amicable relations were established.

The period from 1740 to 1750 was one of great prosperity for the colonies. Cotton was introduced and cultivated. Regular cargoes of pork, fljur, baaon, tallow, hides and leather, were floated down the Mississippi, and exported thence to Frauoe. French emigrants p)ured rapidly into the settlements. Canadians exchanged the cold rigors of their climate for the sunny atmosphere and rich soil of the new country. Peace and plenty blessed the settlements.

La Bui-ssoniere was followed, in 1750, by Chevalier Macarty as Governor of Upper Louisiana, and Commandant of Fort Chartres. Peace was soon to be broken. The French and English war, which terminated in 1759 with the defeat .jf Montfalm on the plains of Abraham, and the capture of

QuebeCj began with a struggle for tlio territory on the Upper Ohio. Fort Chartres was the depot of supplies and the place of rendezvous for the united forces of Louisiana, and several expeditions were fitted out and dispatched to the scene of conflict on the border between the French and English settlements. But France was vanquished in the struggle, and its result deprived her of her princely possessions east of the Mississippi.

The early French inhabitants were well adapted by their peculiar traits of character for intercourse with their savage neighbors of the forest, with whom they lived on terms of peace and friendship. For this reason, the French colonists almost entirely escaped the Indian hostilities by which the English settlements were repressed and weakened. The freest communication existed between the two races. They stood on a footing of equality. The Indian was cordially received in the French village, and the Frenchman found a safe resting-place in the \r^dg^ of the savag3. In sce-ies of social pleasure, in expeditions to remote rivers and distant forests, in the ceremonies and exercises of the church, the red men were treated as brothers, and the accident of race and color was made as little a mark of distinction as possible. Frequent intermarriages of the French with the Indians strongly cemented this union. For nearly a hundred years the French colonis's enjoyed continual peace, while the English settlements on the Atlantic coast were in a state of almost constant danger from savage depredations.

It was doubtless greatly owing to the peculiar facility with which the French temperament adapted itself to surroundings, and the natural address with which Frenchmen ingratiated themselves in the favor of the savages, that this happy condition of afiliirs existed. But something must be ascribed to the differences of character between the French and English in regard to their aggressiveness. The English colonists excited the jealousy and fear of the Indians by their rapid occupation of the country. New settlements were constantly being projected, and the white population pushed farther and farther into the wilderness. When the Indians saw tlieir favorite haunts broken up, and their hunting grounds invaded, a natural feeling of distrust and jealousy led them to warfare against the English. With the French it was different. There was but little disposition to found new settlements, or occupy the wilderness. They were essentially a social people, and the solitary life of a pioneer in the forest was repugnant to their disposition. They lived in compact villages. Their houses were in close proximity. With abundant room for spacious streets, they yet made them so narrow that the merry villagers could converse with ease across the street, each from his own cottage. Hunting was a favorite pursuit, and the chief means of support. With this mode of life the French were content. Ambition failed to incite them to conquer the wilderness, and push their settlements to unknown regions, and avarice was wanting to lead them to grasp after great possessions. The development of the " territorial paradise," as La Salle had called the region through which he passed on his first voyage down the Mississippi, was to be accomplished by another race.

A Possession Of Great Britain

By the treaty of Fountainbleau, 1762, the vast possessions of France, east of the Mississippi, with the exception of the island of New Orleans, passed under British control. Fort Chartres and the other Illinois posts were surrounded by an impenetrable barrier of hostile savages, friends to the French and enemies to the English, and the French officers were authorized to retain command until it was found possible for the English to take possession. M. Neyon de Villiers was commandant of Fort Chartres, and upon his retiring in 1764, St. Ange d'Ballerive took upon himself the duties of that position. It was the time of Pontiac's conspiracy, when the Indian tribes, inflamed by the savage spirit of that warrior, were precipitating themselves on the English settlements from Canada to Carolina. The French commandant of Fort Chartres was besieged for arms and ammunition to be used against the English. The French flag was still flying over the Fort, and the fact of the territory having been ceded to Great Britain was not generally known except to those in authority. The commandant was visited by embassies from the Illinois, the Delawares, Shawnees and Miamis, and finally Pontiac himself, at the head of four hundred warriors, entered the council hall. St. Ange d'Bellerive, unable to furnish arms, offered instead his good will. The reply was received with dissatisfaction. The Indians pitched their lodges about the Fort, and for a time an attack was seriously apprehended. Finally Pontiac dispatched a chosen band of warriors to New Orleans to obtain from the Governor there the assistance St. Ange refused to grant.

Pontiac was killed a fdw years after. Disappointed by the failure of his plans against the English, he retired to the solitude of the forests. In the year 1769, he suddenly made his appearance in the neighborhood of St. Louis. Arrayed in the French uniform given him by the Marquis Montcalm a short time previous to the latter's death on the Plains of Abraham, he visited St. Ange d'Bellerive, who at that time had removed from Fort Chartres to St. Louis, where he had become one of the principal inhabitants and commandant of the Spanish garrison. While at St. Louis, he crossed the Mississippi to attend a social gathering of Indians at Cahokia. Becoming iutoxicated he started to the neighboring woods, when an Indian of the Kaskaskia tribe, bribed by an English trader with a barrel of whiskey, stole up behind him and buried a tomahawk in the brain of the renowned warrior. St. Ange procured the body, and buried it with all the honors of war near the fort under his command in St. Louis. The tramp of a great city now sweeps over his grave.

Two attempts, on the part of the English, to take possession of Illinois and Fort Chartres, had been made by way of the Mississippi, but hostile Indians on the banks of the river had driven back the expeditions. Meantime a hundred Highlanders of the Forty-second Regiment, those veterans " whose battle cry had echoed over the bloodiest fields of America,'' had left Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg, and descending the Ohio, appeared before Fort Chartres while the forests were yet rich with the varied hues of autumn. St. Ange yielded up the citadel. It was on the tenth day of October, 1765, that the ensign of France on the ramparts of the Fort

On the surrender of Fort Chartres, St. Ange with his garrison of twenty-one soldiers retired from the country, and became commandant at St. Louis, an infant settlement just founded. A large number of the French residents of Kaskaskia and other settlements refused to live under English rule. Many of the wealthiest families left the country ; some removed across the Mississippi, to the small village of Ste. Genevieve, under the impression that on the west bank of the Mississippi they would still find a home under the government of France, while in truth that territory had been ceded to Spain by a secret treaty in 1762. Others joined in founding the city of St. Louis. The French settlements in Illinois, at a period immediately preceding this date, were at the zenith of their prosperity. From that day the French inhabitants have declined in numbers and influence. In 1705, the population of the Illinois settlements was computed as follows : White men able to bear arms, seven hundred ; white women, five hundred ; white children, eight hundred and fifty ; negroes, nine hundred ; total, two thousand nine hundred and fifty. One-third of the whites, and a still larger proportion of the blacks, removed on the British taking possession. A population of less than two thousand remained. Few English, or Americans, with the exception of the British troops, were in the country.

Captain Stirling, who now had command of the Fort, issued a proclamation guaranteeing the inhabitants the liberty of the Catholic faith, permission to retire from the country, and enjoyment of their full rights and privileges, only requiring an oath of fidelity and obedience to Ilis IMajesty, the English King. Captain Stirling died .some three months after his arrival. In the period that elapsed before the coming of his successor, St. Ange d'Bcllerive returned from St. Louis, and discharged the duties of commandant. Major Frazier, from Fort Pitt, exercised for a time an arbitrary power, and his successor, Col. Reed, proved still worse. He held the office eighteen months, and during that time aroused the hatred of the settlements by his oppressive mea.sures. Lieutenant Colonel Wilkins assumed command in 17G8.

Captain Pitman, to whose book on " The Present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi " reference has already been made, gives the following description of Kaskaskia, as it appeared in 17GG.

The vilage of Notre Dame de Cascasquias is by far the most considerable settlement in the country of the I linois, as well from its number of inhabitants as from its advantageous situation.

" Mons. Paget was the first who introduced water mills in this country, and he constructed a very fine one on the river Cascasquias, which was both for grinding corn and sawing boards. It lies about one mile from the village. The mill proved fatal to him, being killed as he was working it, with two negroes, by a party of Chcrokees, in the year 17G4.

" The principal buildings arc the church and the Jesuits' house, which has a small chapel adjoining it; these, as well as Rome of the other hou.scs in the village, are built of stone, and, considering this part of the world, make a very good appearance. The Jesuits' plantation consisted of 240 arpents (an arpent is 85-100 of au acre) of cultivated land, a very good stock of cattle, and a brewery which was sold by the French commandant, after the country was ceded to the English, for the crown, in consequeuce of the suppression of the order.

" Mons. Beaiivais wa? the purchaser, who is the richest of the English subjects in this country; he keeps eighty slaves; he furnishes 86,000 weight of flour to the King's magazine, which was only part of the harvest he reaped in one year. Sixty-five families reside in this village, besides merchants, other casual jjeople, and slaves. The fort which was burnt down in October, 1766, stood on the summit of a high rock opposite the village and on the opposite side of the river. It was an oblong quadrangle, of which the extreme jwlygon measured 290 by 251 feet. It was built of very thick square timber, and dove-tailed at the angles. An officer and twenty soldiers arc quartered in the village. The officer governs the inhabitants under the direction of the commandant at Fort Chartres. Here are also two companies of militia."

Of Prairie du Rocher, Pitman writes that " it is a small village, cousistiu^ of twenty-two dwelling-houses, all of which are inhabited by as many families. Here is a little chapel, formerly a chapel of ease to the church at Fort Chartres. The inhabitants are very industrious, and raise a great deal of corn and every kind of stock. The village is two miles from Fort Chartres. It takes its name from its situation, being built under a rock that runs parallel with the Jlississippi river at a le.ague distance, fjr forty miles up. Here is a company of militia, the captain of which regulates the police of the village."

In describing the distance from Fort Chartres, the author, doubtless, refers to Little Village, which was a mile or more nearer than Prairie du Rocher. The writer goes on to describe "Saint Philippe" as a "small village about five miles from Fort Chartres on the road to Kaoquias. There are about sixteen houses and a small church standing; all of the inhabitants, except the captain of the militia, deserted in 1765, and went to the French side (Missouri ) The captain of the militia has about twenty slaves, a good stock of cattle, and a water mill for corn and planks. The village stands on a very fine meadow about one mile from the Mississippi.

From the same authority we learn that the soil of the country is in general rich and luxuriant. It was favorably adapted to the production of all kinds of European grains which grew side by side wit'i hops, hemp, flax, cotton and tobacco. European fruits arrived to great perfection. Of the wild grapes a wine was made, very inebriating, and in color and taste much like the red wine of Provence. In the late wars. New Orleans and the lower parts of Louisiana were supplied with flour, baef, wines, hams, and other provisions, from this country. At present, its commerce is mostly confined to the peltry and furs which are got in traffic from the Indians ; for which are received in turn such European commodities as are necessary to carry on that cjiaracrcc and the sujiport of its inhabitants."

Conquest By Clarke

On the breaking out of tlie War of the Revolution, it is probable that the British garrison (removed in 1772 from Furt Chartres to Fort Gage, opposite Kaskaskia,) had been withdrawn. Illinois was remote from the theatre of action, and the colonists were little disturbed by the rumors of war which came from the Atlantic coast. The French inhabitants were rather in sympa'hy with the Americans than the English, but probably understood little of the nature of the struggle. Illinois belonged to the jurisdiction of Virginia. George Rogers Clarke, who visited Kentucky in 1 775, seems to have been the first to comprehend the advantages which would result from the occupation of Illinois by the Americans. He visited Virginia, where he laid his plans before Patrick Henry, the Governor of the State. Clarke received his instructions, January, 1778, and the following month set out for Pittsburg His instructions were to raise seven companies of men, but he could only succeed in enlisting four commanded by Captains Montgomery, Bowman, Helm, and Harrod. On Corn Island, opposite Louisville, on the Ohio, Clarke announced his destination to the men. At the mouth of the Tennessee, a man named John Duff was encountered, with a party of hunters, who had recently visited Kaskaskia, and also brought the intelligence that one Rocheblave, a French Canadian, was in command at that point, that he kept the militia well drilled, and that sentinels were posted to watch for the " Long Knives," as the Virginians were called, of whom the inhabitants were in terror. Securing his boats near Fort Massacre (or Massac,) Clarke undertook the journey across the country, one hundred and twenty miles, to Kaskaskia. It was accomplished with difficulty. On the afternoon of the fourth of July, 1778, the exhausted band of invaders came to the vicinity of Kaskaskia, and concealed themselves in the hills to the east of the town. After dark Clarke proceeded to the old ferry-house, three-fourths of a mile above the village, and at midnight addressed his troops on the banks of the river. He divided his force into three parties. Two were to cross to the west side of the river, and enter the town from different quarters. The third, under the direction of Clarke himself, was to capture the fort on the east side. Kaskaskia at that time was a village of about two hundred and fifty houses. The British commander last in charge had instilled in the minds of the people the impression that the Virginians, otherwise the " Long Knives," were a ferocious band of murderers, plundering houses, slaughtering women and children, and committing acts of great atrocity. Clarke determined to take advantage of this, and so surprise the inhabitants by fear as to induce them to submit without resistance. Clarke effected an entrance to the fort without difficulty. The other parties at a given signal entered Kaskaskia at the opposite extremities, and with terrible outcries and hideous noises, aroused the terrified inhabitants, who shrieked in their alarm, " The Long Knives ! ' " The Long Knives are here !" The panic stricken townsmen delivered up their arms, and the victory was accomplished without the shedding of a drop of blood. M. Rocheblave, the British commandant, was unconscioui of the presence of the enemy, till an officer of the detachment entered his bed-chamber, and claimed him as a prisoner. In accordance with his original plan of onquering the inhabitants by terror, and then afterward winning their regard and gratitude by his clemency, Clarke, the next day, withdrew his forces from the town, and sternly forbade all communication between it and his soldiers. Somo of the principal militia officers, citizens of the town, were next put in irons. The terror now reached its height. The priest, and a deputation of five or six elderly men of tha villigs, called on Clarke, and humbly requested permission to assemble in the church, to take leave of each other and commend their future lives to the protection of a merciful G^d, since they expected to be separated, perhaps never to meet again. Clarke gruffly granted the privilege. The whole population convened at the church, and after remaining together a long time, the priest and a few others again waited upon the commander of the American forces, presenting thanks for the privilege they had enjoyed, and desiring to know what fate awaited them.

Clarke now determined to lift them from their despair, and win their gratiiuda by a show of mercy. " What!" said he; " do you take us for savages ? Do you think Americans will strip women and children, and take bread from their mouths? My countrymen disdain to make war on helpless innocents." He further reminded them that the King of France, their former ruler, was an ally of the Americans, and now fighting their cause. He told them to embrace the side thoy deemed best, and they should be respected in the enjoyment of their liberty and the rights of property.

The revulsi )u of feeling was complete. The good news spread throughout the village. The church-bell rang a merry peal, and the delighted inhabitants gathered at the chapel, where thanks were offered to God for their happy and unexpected deliverance. The loyalty of the inhabitants was assured, and ever after they remained faithful to the American cause. The French inhabitants of Kaskaskia were readily reconciled to a change of government. In October, 1778, the Virginia Assembly erected the conquered territory into the County of Illinois. This County embraced all the region north-west of Ohio, and five large states have since been formed from it. Colonel Clarke was appointed military commander of all the western territory north and south cf the Ohio, and Colonel John Todd, one of Clarke's soldiers, who next to Clarke had been the first man to enter Fort Gage, was appointed lieutenant-commander of Illinois. la the spring of 1779, Colonel Todd visited Kaskaskia, and made arrangements for the organization of a temporary government. Many of the French inhabitants of Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, and the other settlements, readily took the oath of allegiance to Virginia. Colonel Todd was kilkd at the famous battle of Blue Licks, in Kentucky, August, 1782, and Timothy deMontbrun, a Frenchman, succeeded him as commandant of Illinois County. Of his administration but little is known.

la 1G82 Illinois became a pos.session of the French crown, a dependency of Canada, and a part of Louisiana. In 1765 the English flag was run up on old Fort Chartres, and

Illinois was counted among the treasures of Great Britain. In 1779 it was taken from the English by Col. George Rogers Clark : this man was resolute in nature, wise in council, prudent in policy, bold in action, and heroic in danger. Few men who have figured in the early history of America are more deserving than he. Nothing short of first-class ability could have rescued " Vincins " and all Illinois from the English, and it is not possible to over-estimate the influence of this achievement upon the republic. In 1779, Illinois became a part of Virginia. It was soon known as Illinois county. In 1784 Virginia ceded all this territory to the general government to be cut into states, to be republican in form, with "the same right of sovereignty, freedom and independence as the other states."

In 1787 it was the object of the wisest and ablest legislation found in any merely human records. No man can study the secret history of The Compact of \1%1 and not feci that Providence was guiding with sleepless eyes these unborn states. ^ The ordinance that on July 13, 1787, finally became the incorporating act, has a most marvelous history. Jefferson had vainly tried to secure a system of government for tho north-western territory. He was an emancipationist of that day, and favored the exclusion of slavery from the territory Virginia had ceded to the general government, but the south voted him down as often as it came up. In 1787, as late as July 10, an organizing act without the anti-slavery clause was pending. This concession to the south was expected to carry it Congress was in session in New York city. 0\ July 5, Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler, of Massachusetts, came into New York to lobby on the northwestern territory. Everything seemed to fall into his hands. Events were ripe : the state of the public credit, the growing of southern prejudice, the basis of his mission, his personal character, all combined to complete one of those sudden and marvelous revolutions of public sentiment that once in five or ten centuries are seen to sweep over a country like the breath of the Almighty. Cutler was a remarkable man ; a graduate of Yale, he had studied and taken degrees in the three learned professions, law, divinity and medicine. Harvard had given him his A. M., and Yale had honored herself by adding his D. D. He had thus America's best literary indorsement. He had published a scientific examination of the plants of New England. His name stood second only to that of Franklin as a scientist in America. He was a courtly gentleman of the old style, a man of commanding presence, and of inviting face. The southern members were captivated by his genial manners, rare and profound abilities. He came representing a company that desired to purchase a tract of land now included in Ohio, for the purpose of planting a colony. Government money was worth eighteen cents on the dollar. This Massachusetts company had collected enough to purchase 1, .500, 000 acres of land. Other speculators in New York made Dr. Cutler their agent ; on the 12th he represented a demand for 5,500,000 acres. This would reduce the national debt. Jefferson and Virginia were regarded as authority concerning the land Virginia had just ceded. Jefferson's policy wanted to provide for the public credit, and this was a good opportunity to do something. Massachusetts then owned the territory of Maine, which she was crowding on the market. She was opposed to opening the north-western region. This fired the zeal of Virginia. The South caught the inspii'ation, and all exalted Dr. Cutler. The English Minister invited him to dine with some of the Southern gentlemen. He was the centre of interest ; the entire South rallied around him. Massachusetts could not vote against him, because many of the constituents! of her members were interested personally in the western speculation ; thus Cutler, making friends with the south, and doubtless using all the arts of the lobby, was enabled to command the situation. True to deeper conviction, he dictated one of the most compact and finished documents of wise statesmanship that ever adorned any human law book ; he borrowed from Jefferson the term " Articles of Compact," which preceding the federal constitution, rose into the most sacred character. He then followed very closely the constitution of Massachusetts, adopted three years before, - its most marked points were :

2d. Provision for public schools, giving one township for a seminary, and every section numbered IG in each township ; that is, one thirty-sixth of all the land for public schools.

Be it forever remembered that this compact declared that " Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and means of education shall always be encouraged." Dr. Cutler planted himself on this platform and would not yield. Giving his unqualified declaration that it was that or nothing - that unless they could make the land desirable they did not want it - he took his horse and gig and started for tho Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. On July 13, 1787, the bill was put upon its passage, and was unanimously adopted, every Southern member voting for it, and only one man, Mr. Yates of New York, voting against it, but as the States voted as States, Yates Jost his vote, and the compact was put beyond repeal. Then the great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin - a vast empire, the heart of the great valley - were consecrated to freedom, intelligence, and honesty. In the light of these ninety-five years, it is evident to all that this act was the salvation of the republic and the destruction of slavery. Soon the south saw their great blunder, and tried to repeal the compact. In 1803 Congress referred it to a committee, of which John Randolph was chairman. He reported that this ordinance was a compact, and opposed repeal. Thus it stood a rock in the way of the on-rushing sea of slavery. With all this timely aid it was, after all, a most desperate and protracted struggle to keep the soil of Illinois sacred to freedom. It was the natural battle field for the irrepressible conflict. In the southern end of the State slavery preceded the compact. It existed among the old French settlers, and was hard to eradicate. The southern part of the State was settled from the slave States; and this population brought their laws, customs, and institutions with them. A stream of population from the North poured into the northern part of the State These sections misunderstood and hated each other perfectly. The Southerners regarded the Yankees as a skinning, trick_y, penurious race of peddlers, filling the country with tinware, brass clocks, and wooden nutmegs. , The Northerner thought of the Southerner as a lean, lank, lazy creature, burrowing in a hut, and rioting in whisky, dirt and ignorance. These causes aided in making the struggle long and bitter. So strong was the sympathy with slavery that in spite of the ordinance of 1787, and in spite of the deed of cession, it was determined to allow the old French settlers to retain their slaves. Planters from the slave States might bring their slaves, if they would give them a chance to choose freedom, or years of service and bondage for their children till they should become thirty years of age. If they chose freedom they must leave the State in sixty days or be sold as fugitives. Servants were whipped for offences for which white men are fined ; each lash paid forty cents of the fine. A negro ten miles from home without a pass was whipped. These famous laws were imported from the slave States, just as they imported laws for the inspection of flax and wool when there was neither in the State. These black laws are now wiped out. A vigorous efibrt was made to protect slavery in the State Constitution of 1818 ; it barely failed. It was renewed in 1826, when a convention was asked to make a new constitution. After a hard fight the convention was defeated ; but slaves did not disappear from the census of the State until 1850. There were mobs and murders in the interest of slavery. Lovejoy was added to the list of martyrs - a sort of first fruits of that long line of immortal heroes who saw freedom a3 the one supreme desire of their souls, and were so enimorcd of her that they preferred to dis rather than survive her.

Land Tenures

The early French settlers held the jjossession of their land in common. A tract of land was fixed upon for a Common Field, in which all the inhabitants were interested.

Besides the Common Field, another tract of land was laid off on the Commons. All the villagers had free access to this as a place of pasturage for their stock. From this they also drew their supply of fuel.

Individual grants were likewise made. Under the French system, the lands were granted without any equivalent consideration in the way of money, the individuals satisfying the authorities that the lands were wanted for actual settlement, or for a purj)ose likely to benefit the community. The first grant of land, which is preserved, is that made to Charles Danie, Maj' 10th, 1722. The French grants at Kaskaskia extended from river to river, and at other places in the Bottom they commonly extended from river to bluff". Grants of land were made for almost all the American Bottom, from the upper limits of the Common Field of St. Phillip's to the lower line of the Kaskaskia Common Field, a distance of nearly thirty miles.

The British commandants, who assumed the government on the cession of the territory hy France, exercised the privilege of making grants, subject to the approval of his Majesty, the King. Colonel Wilkins granted to some merchants of Philadelphia a magnificent domain of thirty thousand acres lying between the village of Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher, much of it already covered by French grants previously made. For the better carrying out their plans, the British officers, and perhaps their grantees, destroyed, to some extent, the records of the ancient French grants at Kaskaskia, by which the regular claim of titles and conveyances was partly broken. This British grant of thirty thousand acres, which had been assigned to John Edgar, was afterward patented by Governor St. Clair to Edgar and John Murray St. Clair, the Governor's son, to whom Edgar had previously conveyed a moiety by deed. Although much fault was found with the transaction, a confirmati(m of the grant was secured from the United States government.

When Virginia ceded Illinois, it was stipulated that the French and Canadian inhabitants, and otlicr settlei's, who had professed allegiance to Virginia, should have their titles confirmed to them. Congress afterwards authorized the Governor to confirm the possessions and titles of the French to their lands. In accordance with this agreement. Governor St. Clair, in 1790, issued a proclamation directing the inhabitants to exhibit their titles and claims of the lands which they held, in order to be confirmed in their possession. "Where the instruments were found to be authentic, orders of survey were issued, the expense of which was borne by the parties who claimed ownership. The French inhabitants were in such poverty at this time that they were really unable to pay the expenses of the Eurveys, and a memorial signed by P. Gibault, the priest at Kaskaskia, and eightyseven others, was presented to Governor St. Clair, praying him to petition Congress for relief in the matter. In 1791, Congress directed that four hundred acres of land should be granted to the head of every family which had made improvements in Illinois prior to the year 1788. Congress had also directed that a donation be given ti each of the families then living at either of the villages of Kaskaskia, Prairie du Eocher, Cahokia, Fort Chartres, or St. Phillips. These were known as the " bead-right " claims.

At an early date, speculation became active in the land claims of different kinds; bead-rights, improvement rights, militia right-, and fraudulent claims were produced in great numbers. The French claims were partly unconfirmed, owing to the poverty of that people, and these were forced on the market with the others. Trie official report of the commissioners at Kaskaskia, made in 1810, shows that eight hundred and ninety land claims were rejected as being illegal or fraudulent. Three hundred and seventy were reported as being supported by perjury, and a considerable number were forged. There are fourteen names given of persons, both English and French, who made it a regular business to furnish sworn certificates, professing an intimate knowledge, in every case, of the settlers who had made certain improvements upon which claims were predicated and when and where they were located. A Frenchman, clerk of the parish of Prairie du Rocher, " without property and fjnd uf liquor," after having given some two hundred depo- sitions iu favor of three land claimant speculators, " was induced,' in thelduguage of the report, "either by compensation, fear, or the impossibility of obtaining absolution on any c-thcr terms, to declare on oath that the said depositions were false, and that in giving them he hud a regard for, something beyond the truth."

The report of the commissioners raised many doubts in regard to the validity and propriety of a number of confirmations by the Governors, and much dissatisfaction among the claimants ; and in consequence, Congress in 1812, passed an act for the revision of these land claims ia the Kaskiiskia district. The commissioners under this law were Michael Jones, John Caldwell, and Thomas Sloo. Facts damaging to persons who occupied positions of high respectability in the community, were disclosed. They reported that the English claim of thirty thousand acres confirmed by Governor St. Clair to John Edgar and the Governor's son, John Murray St. Clair, was founded in neither law or equity ; that the patent was issued after the Governor's power ceased to exist, and the claim ought not to be confirmed. Congress, however, confirmed it.

For a period of several years, emigration was considerably retarded by the delay iu adjusting land titles. The act of Congress passed in 18L3, granting the right of pre-emption to settlers, was influential in bringing the public lands into juarket. Emigrants poured into the country, and improvements were rapidly made.

Physical Features Of The State

In area the State has 55,410 square miles of territory. It is about 150 miles wide and 400 miles long, stretching in latitude from Maine to North Carolina. It embraces wide variety of climate. It is tempered on the north by the great iidand, saltless, tideless sea, which helps the thermometer from either extreme. Being a table-land, from 690 to 1,600 feet above the level of the sea, one is prepared to find on the health maps, prepared by the general government, an almost clean and perfect record. In freedom from fever and malarial diseases and consumptions, the three deadly enemies of the American Saxon, Illinois, as a State, stands without a superior, She furnishes one of the essential conditions of a great people - sound bodies ; we suspect that this fact lies back of that old Delaware word, Illini, superior men. The great battles ofhistory have been determinative; dynasties and destinies have been strategical battles, chiefly the question of position ; Thermopyhc has been the war-cry of freemen for twenty-four centuries. It only tells how much there may be in position. All this advantage belong to Illinois. It is in the heart of the greatest valley in the world, the vast region between the mountains - a valley that could feed mankind for a thousand years. It is well on toward the centre of the continent. It is in the great temperate belt, in which have bcenf)und nearly all the aggressive civilizations of history. It has sixty-five miles of frontage on the head of Lake Michigan. With the Mississippi forming the western and southern boundary, with the Ohio running along the south-ea.stcrn line, with the Illinois river and Canal dividing the State diagonally from the lake to the Lower Mississippi, and with the Rock and Wabash rivers furnishing altogether 2,000 miles of water-front, connecting with, and running through, in all about 12,000 miles of navigable water. But this is not all. These waters are made most available by the fact that the lake and the State lie on the I'idge running into the great valley from the east. Within cannon-shot of the lake the water runs away from the lake to the gulf The lake now empties at both ends, one into the Atlantic and one into tlie Gulf of Mexico. The lake thus seems to hang over the land. This makes the dockage most serviceable; there are no steep banks to damage it. Both lake and river are made for use. The climate varies from Portland to Richmond. It favors every product of the continent including the tropics, with less than half a dozen exceptions. It produces every great nutriment of the world except bananas and rice. It is hardly too much to say that it is the most productive spot known to civilization. With the soil full of bread and the earth full of minerals; with an upper surface of food and an under layer of fuel; with perfect natural drainage, and abundant .springs and streams and navigable rivers; half way between the forests of the North and the fruits of the South ; within a day's ride of the great deposits of iron, coal, copper, lead and zinc: containing and controlling the great grain, cattle, pork, and lumber markets of the world, it is not strange that Illinois has the advantage of position. This advantage has been supplemented by the character of the population. In the early days when Illinois was first admitted to the union, her population were chiefly from Kentucky and Virginia. But, in the conflict of ideas concerning slavery, a strong tide of immigration came in fron the East, and soon changed this composition. In 1880, her now native population were from colder soils. New York had furnished 143,290: Ohio gave 172,623: Pennsylvania 108,352: the entire South gave us only 216,734. In all her cities, and in all her German and Scandinavian and other foreign colonies, Illinois has only about one-fifth of her people of foreign birth.

Progress Of Development

One of the greatest divolopments ia the early history of Illinois, is the Illinois and Michigan canal, connecting the Illinois aad Mississippi rivers with the lakes. It was of the utmost importance to the State. It was recommended by Governor Bond, the first governor, iu his first message. Two bright young engineers surveyed it, and estimated the cost at $600,000 or $700,000. It finally cost $8,000,000. In 1825, a law was passed to incorporate the canal company, but no stock was sold. In 1826, upon the solicitation of Daniel P. Cook, congress gave 800,000 acres of land on the line of the work. In 1828, another law-commissioner was appointed, and work commenced with new survey and new estimates. In 1834-35, George Farquar made an able report on the whole matter. This was, doubtless, the ablest report ever made to a western legislature, and it became the model for subsequent reports and action. From this the work went on until it was finished in 1848. It cost the State a large amount of money ; but it gave to the industries of the State an impetus that pushed it up into the first rank of greatness. It was not built as a speculation. But it has paid into the Treasury of the State an average annual nett sum of over 111,000. Pending the construction of the canal, the land and town-lot fever broke out in the state, in 1834-35. It took on the malignant type in Chicago, lifting the town up into a city. The disease spread over the entire State and adjoining States. It was epidemic. It cut up men's farms without regard to locality, and cut up the purses of the purchasers without regard to consequences. There was no lack of buyers ; speculators and money swarmed into the country. This distemper seized upon the Legislature in 1836-37, and left not one to tell the tale. They enacted a system of internal improvement without a parallel in the grandeur of its conception. They ordered tha construction of 1,300 miles of railroad, crossing the State in all directions. This was surpassed by the river and canal improvements. There were a few counties not touched by either railroad or river or canal, and those were to be comforted and compensated by the free distribution of $200,000 among them. To inflats this balloon beyond credence it was ordered that work should be commenced on both ends of each of these railroads and rivers, and at each river-crossing, all at the same time. The appropriations for the vast improvements were over $12,000,000, and commissioners were appointed to borrow money on the credit of the State. Remember that all this was in the early days of railroading, when railroads were luxuries ; that the State had whole counties with scarcely a cabin, and that the population of the State was less than 400,000, and you can form some idea of the vigor with which these brave men undertook the work of making a great State. In the light of history it appears that this was only a premature throb of the power that actually slumbered in the soil of the State. It was Hercules in the cradle. At this juncture the State bank loaned its funds largely to Godfrey Oilman & Co., and other leading houses for the purpose of drawing trade from St. Louis to Alton. Soon they failed, and took down the bank with them. In 1840, all hope seemed gone. A population of 480,000 were loaded with a debt of $14,000,000. It had only six small cities, really only towns, namely: Chicago, Alton, Springfield, Qiiincy, Galena and Nauvoo. This debt was to be cared for when there was not a dollar in the treasury, and when the State had borrowed itself out of all credit, and when there was not good money enough in the hands of all the people to pay the interest of the debt for a single year. Yet in the presence of all these difficulties the young State steadily refused to repudiate. Gov. Ford took hold of the problem and solved it, bringing the State through in triumph. Having touched lightly upon some of the most distinctive points in the history of Illinois, let us next briefly consider the

Material Resources Of The State

It is substantially a garden four hundred miles long and one hundred and fifty wide. Its soil is chiefly a black sandy loam, varying from six inches to six feet thick. On the American Bottoms it has been cultivated for over one hundred and fifty years without renewal. About the old French towns it has yielded corn for a century and a half without rest or help. It produces nearly everything green in the temperate and tropical zones ; she leads any of the other States in the number of acres actually under plow. Her products from 25,000,000 acresare incalculable. Her mineral wealth is scarcely second to her agricultural power. She has coal, iron, lead, copper, zinc, many varieties of building stone, fire clay, cuma clay, common brick and tile clay, sands of all kinds, gravel, mineral paint, everything needed for a high civilization. Left to herself, she has the elements of all greatness. The single item of coal is too vast for an appreciative handling in figures. We can handle it in general terms, like algebraical signs, but long before we get up into the millions and billions, the human mind drops down from comprehension to mere symbolic apprehension. Nearly four-fifths of the entire State is underlaid with a deposit of coal more than forty feet thick on the average, including all strata (now estimated by recent surveys, at seventy feet thick). You can get some idea of its amount, as you do of the amount of the national debt. There it is, 41,000 square miles, one vast mine into which you could bury scores of European and ancient empires, and have room enough all round to work without knowing that they had been sepulchered there. Put this vast coal-bed down by the other great coal deposits of the world, and its importance becomes manifest. Great Britain, has 12,000 square miles of coal; Spain 3,000; France 1,719; Belgium 578; Illinois about twice as many square miles as all combined. Virginia has 20,000 square miles; Pennsylvania, 16,000 ; Ohio, 12,000; Illinois has 31,000 square miles ; one-seventh of all the known coal on this continent is in Illinois.

Could we sell the coal in this single State for one-seventh of one cent a ton it would pay the national debt. Great Britain uses enough mechanical power to-day to give each man, woman and child in the kingdom the help and service of nineteen untiring servants. No wonder she has leisure and luxuries. No wonder the home of the common arlisan has in it more luxuries than could be found in the palace of good old King Arthur. Think, if you can conceive of it, of the vastarmy of servants that slumber in Illinois, impatiently awaiting the call of genius to come forth to minister to our comfort. At the present rate of consumption England's coal supply will be exhausted in 250 years. At the same rate of consumption (which far exceeds our own ) the deposit; of coal in Illinois will last 120,000 years. Let us now turn from this reserve power to £ho of the State. We shall not bo humiliated in this field. Here we strike the secret of our national credit. Nature provides a market in the constant appetite of the race. For several years past the annual production of wheat in Illinois has exceeded 30,000,000. That is more wheat than was raised by any other State in the Union ; with corn, she comes forward with 140,000,000 bushels, twice as much as any other State, and one-sixth of all the corn raised in the United States. She harvested 2,767,000 tons of hay, nearly onetenth of all the hay in the Republic. It is not generally appreciated, but it is true, that the hay crop of the country is worth more than the cotton crop ; the hay of Illinois equals the cotton of Louisiana.

The valuation of her farm implements is §230,000,000, and the value of her live stock, is only second to the great State of New York. She raises from 25,000,000 to 30,000,- 000 hogs annually, and according to the last census packed about one half of all that were packed iu the United States. This is no insignificant item. Pork is a growing demand of the old world. Illinois marked $04,000,000 worth of slaughtered animals ; more than any other State, and oneseventh of all the States.

Illinois is a grand and wonderful State, peerless in the fertility of her soil, and inexhaustible resources. She is fast marching on towards her predestined 2ilace as first among the sisterhood.

Depth and richness of soil ; per cent, of good ground ; acres of improved land ; large farms - number of farmers ; amount of wheat, corn oats, and honey produced ; value of animals for slaughter; number of hogs; amount of pork; and number of horses.

Illinois excels all other States in miles of railroads and in miles of postal service, and in money orders sold per annum, and in the amount of lumber sold in her markets. She pays a larger amount of internal revenue to the general government than any other state.

Permanent school fund (good for a young State) ; total income for educational purposes; number of publishers of books, maps, papers, etc ; value of farm products and implements, and of live stock ; in tons of coal mined.

The shipping of Illinois is only second to New York. Out of one port during the business hours of the season of navigation she sends forth a vessel every ten minutes. This does not include canal boats, which go one every five minutes. No wonder she is only second in number of bankers and brokers or in physicians and surgeons.

She is fifth in value of real and personal property, in theological seminaries and colleges exclusively for women, in milk sold, and iu boots and shoes manufactured, and in bookbinding.

She is only seventh in the production of wood, while she is the twelfth in area. She now has much more wood and growing timber than she had thirty years ago.

A few leading industries will justify emphasis. She manufactures §210,000,000 worth of goods, which place her nearly equal to New York and Pennsylvania.

In the number of copies of commercial and financial newspapers issued, she is only second to New York, and in her miles of railroads she leads all other States. More than twothirds of her land is within five miles of a railroad and less than two per cent, is more than fifteen miles away.