the Republic from its foundations. Rightly or wrongly, these troubles were attributed to President Van Buren and his party, as resulting from the policy they had pursued. His popularity waned rapidly, and at the Presidential election in 1840, in which he was a candidate for re-election, he was overwhelmingly defeated.

Retiring to Lindenwald, his fine estate near Kinderhook, Van Buren, in 1844, endeavored to procure a re-nomination for the Presidency, but was unsuccessful, though a majority of delegates was pledged to support him. His defeat was due to the opposition of Southern members, based on the fact that he had written a letter adverse to the annexation of Texas.

In 1848, he was brought forward by the Free-soil Democrats. Though not elected, the party which had nominated him showed unexpected strength, nearly three hundred thousand votes having been cast in his favor.

Mr. Van Buren now retired from public life. Fourteen years later, at the age of eighty, on the 24th of July, 1862, he died at Lindenwald. He was a man of more than ordinary ability, of cultivated manners, and genial disposition. Though shrewd, he was not a dishonest politician. His private character was beyond reproach. He deserves a conspicuous position among those who have been worthy successors of our immortal first President.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.

W

ILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, ninth President of the United States, was born at Berkeley, on the banks of the James River, in Virginia, on the 9th of February, 1773. His father, Benjamin Harrison, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and for several years Governor of Virginia. Having received a good education at Hampden-Sidney College, young Harrison began the study of medicine; but the barbarities of the savages on our northwestern frontier having excited his sympathies in behalf of the suffering settlers, he determined to enter the army, as being a place where he could do good service. Accordingly, in 1791, shortly after St. Clair's defeat, he obtained from President Washington a commission as ensign in the artillery. Though winter was coming on, he at once set out on foot across the wilderness to Pittsburg, whence he descended the Ohio to Fort Washington, now Cincinnati. He soon became a favorite with his superiors, and by his bravery in battle speedily attained the rank of captain. In 1797, when but twenty-four years old, having recently married, he resigned his commission, to accept the secretaryship of the Northwest Territory. In 1801, he was appointed Governor of "the Indiana Territory," comprising the present

States of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. This office he filled satisfactorily to both whites and Indians for twelve years, during which time he negotiated many excellent treaties.

During the summer of 1811, the Indians of the Northwest, under the lead of the celebrated Tecumseh, and instigated, it is thought, by the emissaries of England, with whom we were upon the point of going to war, broke out into open hostility. Collecting a considerable force of militia and volunteers, Harrison took the field. On the 7th of November, he encountered and defeated. Tecumseh on the banks of the Tippecanoe River. This was one of the most hotly contested battles ever fought between the Indians and the whites. Its victorious results added greatly to Harrison's already high reputation; and in 1812, after Hull's ignominious surrender of Detroit, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Army of the Northwest. Invested with almost absolute power, he displayed an energy, sagacity, and courage which justified the confidence reposed in him. By almost superhuman exertions, he managed to collect an army. Perry, on the 10th of Septemer, 1813, having defeated the British fleet on ke Erie, Harrison, who had been waiting the se of events, now hastened to take the field. ing into Canada, he repossessed Detroit, shing on in pursuit of the flying enemy, ought them to a stand on the banks of

the Thames. Here, after a brief but sanguinary contest, the British and their savage allies were defeated with heavy loss. Tecumseh, the leading spirit of the Indians, was left dead on the field. Harrison's triumph was complete and decisive.

Shortly after this victory, which gave peace to the Northwest, Harrison, having had some difficulty with the Secretary of War, threw up his commission, but was appointed by the President to negotiate a treaty with the Indians. In 1816, he was elected to the lower house of Congress, where he gained considerable reputation, both as an active working member and as an eloquent and effective speaker. In 1824, he was sent from Ohio to the United States Senate. In 1828, he was appointed by John Quincy Adams Minister to the Republic of Colombia; but President Jackson, who bore him no good-will, the following year recalled him. On his return home, he retired to his farm at North Bend, on the Ohio River, and was presently elected clerk of the Hamilton County Court. In 1836, he was one of the four candidates who ran against Van Buren for the Presidency. Jackson's favorite, as we have seen, came out ahead in this race. But, though Harrison was not elected, there was such evidence of his popularity as to warrant the Whigs in uniting upon him as their candidate in the campaign of 1840. That campaign was a memorable one. It was, perhaps, the most exciting, yet, at the same time,

439

one of the freest from extreme partisan bitterness, of any Presidential canvass ever known. As "the hero of Tippecanoe" and "the log-cabin candidate," which latter phrase was first used in contempt, Harrison swept everything before him, securing two hundred and thirty-four out of the two hundred and ninety-four electoral votes cast, and this, too, in spite of all the efforts of Jackson to prevent his success. His journey to be inaugurated was one continued ovation. His inauguration, which took place on the 4th of March, 1841, was witnessed by a vast concourse of people from all parts of the Union. His address, by the moderation of its tone, and by its plain, practical, common-sense views, confirmed his immense popularity. Selecting for his Cabinet some of the most eminent public men of the country, he began his Administration with the brightest prospects. But, in the midst of these pleasing anticipations, he was suddenly attacked by a fit of sickness, which, in a few days terminated in his death, on the 4th of April, just one month after his inauguration. His last words, spoken in the delirium of fever, were characteristic of the conscientiousness with which he had accepted the responsibilities of the Presidential office. "Sir," he said, as if, conscious of his approaching end, he were addressing his successor, "I wish you to understand the principles of the Government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more."