Ohio History Journal

MAJOR-GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR.

 

 

 

HON. ALBERT DOUGLAS, M. C.

[A brief synopsis of this address was delivered by Mr. Douglas at

the annual meeting of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical So-

ciety, Page Hall, O. S. U., March 22, 1907. -EDITOR.]

At the centennial celebration of Ohio statehood, held at

Chillicothe in May, 1903, I had the pleasure of offering the fol-

lowing preamble and resolution:

"Recognizing that the people of Ohio have for one hun-

dred years done injustice to the name and fame of Major Gen-

eral Arthur St. Clair, valiant soldier of the Revolution, beloved

friend of Washington, president of the Continental Congress,

and for fourteen arduous, formative years the devoted governor

of the Northwest Territory:

"Believing that, whatever his mistakes or faults, his work

and his accomplishments in that critical period of our history

deserve our gratitude, and should receive formal acknowledg-

ment from the men of our time; and,

"Encouraged by the just and eloquent utterances from this

platform of our present governor, George K. Nash; therefore,

"Be it Resolved, By us, citizens of Ohio, assembled at this

centennial celebration of our statehood, that the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, and the governor of

Ohio, be and they are hereby most earnestly requested to urge

upon the General Assembly of Ohio, at its next session, the pro-

priety of erecting, in the State House grounds at Columbus, a

bronze statue of General Arthur St. Clair in recognition of his

great services to this commonwealth, whose firm foundation he

helped to lay."

These suggestions were endorsed and adopted with enthu-

siasm; and I presume that I am indebted to this incident for

the compliment of being asked by your Society to prepare an

address for this occasion, with St. Clair as a subject. I have

(455)

• 1
 

456      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   done so with pleasure. For not only do I share the common opinion that bitter injustice was done St. Clair by his country while he lived; but I do very sincerely believe that the clouds which gathered about the closing days of his public career have unjustly obscured, through the century that has intervened, the memory of his noble character and splendid services to his country. The true character of the controversy that was carried on in 1801 and 1802 between St. Clair and those who believed with him, and what is known as "the Chillicothe party," has been

much misunderstood and misrep- resented; and the significance of it inordinately magnified. It has been characterized by various writers as a contest between dem- ocracy and aristocracy; as a con- test between tyranny and self-gov- ernment; between the right of the people to govern themselves and the right of one or more to gov- ern all; and the triumph of the immediate statehood or Chillicothe party over St. Clair has actually been compared to the triumph of the barons at Runnymede over King John. All of this seems to be utterly

beside the matter. No one for a moment questioned that Ohio should be a state. St. Clair no more opposed ultimate statehood for the eastern part of the Northwest Territory than he opposed the ordinance of 1787, under which such statehood was absolutely guaranteed to the people without conditions and as matter of right whenever the population of a certain part of it amounted to sixty thousand people. He did believe, though I do not insist that he was unselfish in his belief, that it was unwise to accept of Congress the conditions of the act of 1802, offering statehood, and with this opinion many of the leading men of the time fully agreed. It is true that he was born (as indeed his principal oppo-

• 2
 

Major-General Arthur St. Clair.           457

 

nent Tiffin was also born) under the British flag. It is true

that he had, for many years, been a soldier and an officer, ac-

customed to give orders and to receive obedience; that when

not actually a soldier he had long been in positions of power and

authority. It is true that he was Federalist, sharing something

of the prejudices and mistakes of that great political organization,

of which Washington and Hamilton were the acknowledged

leaders. But no one can read the story of his life, no one can

read his congratulations to the first territorial legislature of the

Northwest Territory, upon the fact that the people were coming

to their birthright in the territory, the right of all Anglo-Saxon

men to live under laws of their own making; no one can study

his career and character and believe that he desired anything

but the fullest good for the people of the Northwest Territory;

and that he desired statehood in due time and under proper con-

ditions under the Ordinance of 1787.

The reasonable limits of this paper will not permit an elab-

orate and detailed discussion of this interesting episode in the

life of St. Clair and in the history of Ohio; but the result of

that struggle, the heat and misrepresentation it engendered have

done so much to obscure the just claims upon our gratitude and

applause to which the character, labors and accomplishments of

St. Clair justly entitle his memory, that some review of it may

seem essential.

But what I desire particularly to insist upon is this: that

no just opinion of St. Clair's attitude and utterances during that

controversy can substantially affect his claim to be esteemed

and honored as one of the great and grand figures of the heroic

days of American history; and especially his claim upon the

lasting gratitude of the fair, well-informed and patriotic people

of the Northwest Territory.

Certain facts, and enough for our purpose, are commonly

known as to the early years of the life of Arthur St. Clair: that

he was born in Scotland in 1734, that he was a scion of a very

distinguished Scottish family, that he attended the University

of Edinburg, that it was designed that he should be a physician,

and that he was apprenticed in London to the most celebrated

doctor of his generation, William Hunter.

• 3
 

458      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

But the tastes of the young Scotsman lay in other direc-

tions; He was connected by family ties with General Thomas

Gage, commandant of the British forces in New England, and

probably through his influence he obtained in 1757, at the age of

twenty-three, a commission as ensign in the Sixtieth Royal

American Regiment of Foot.

Young St. Clair's soldier days in America fell upon heroic

times. The half century of conflict between France and Eng-

land for the possession of the fairest parts of the new world

was drawing to a close. This grand drama was to end in two

stirring scenes; and at both Louisburg and Quebec our young

subaltern had the opportunity to show his metal. It rang fine

and true. For his services under General Amherst at Louis-

burg he was promoted; and on the Plains of Abraham the

young lieutenant was conspicuous for his gallantry.  As the

colors of his regiment fell from the hands of their stricken

bearer, young St. Clair caught up the flag and bore it in the

front of the struggle, till the field was won; and his King was

King from Labrador to Florida.

St. Clair shared the stress and privations of the winter of

1759-1760 at Quebec; and in the spring when the siege was

raised he went, either upon some military mission, or upon fur-

lough, to Boston.

Among his companions in arms was Major William Ewing,

an aide-de-camp to General Wolfe and a brother of Mrs. Bow-

doin, wife of the Massachusetts governor of that name. Through

his connection with General Gage, St. Clair was welcomed to the

social life of Boston; and probably through Major Ewing he

was welcomed to the home of Belthazer Bayard, whose wife was

a sister of Mrs. Bowdoin.

That he enjoyed the young society of the New England

capital goes without saying. "The descendant of an ancient

and distinguished family; tall, graceful, dignified, with chest-

nut hair, blonde complexion, handsome blue-gray eyes," and

wearing modestly the fresh laurels of war, the young officer

doubtless appeared something of a hero to the fair maids of

Boston. That he was so to one of them, and that he quickly

fell before her charms is demonstrated by the fact that in May,

• 4
 

Major-General Arthur St. Clair.          459

 

1760, Arthur St. Clair and Phoebe Bayard were united in mar-

riage in the presence of a distinguished company at Trinity

Chapel.  With his own savings and the fourteen thousand

pounds received with his bride, St. Clair found himself, for that

day, a man of wealth; and, as children came soon to the young

couple, St. Clair resigned in the spring of 1762 his commission

in the army, and became a citizen of Boston.

Now came a critical period in the life of this young man

of thirty. Surrounded by a congenial society, amidst many

warm friends and relatives, with means adequate to all the ne-

cessities and even luxuries of life in an attractive and growing

city, with a charming wife devoted to the life and surroundings

in which they found themselves, with the just excuse of a young

and growing family, it would not be matter of surprise had St.

Clair yielded himself to a life of quiet ease and usefulness as a

citizen of Boston. Had he done so, who could blame him? But

had he done so the pioneer life of western Pennsylvania, the

mighty scenes of the American Revolution, the heroic age of

the Northwest Territory would never have known the perpet-

uated name of Arthur St. Clair. Had he done so he would

in all probability have been among that host of wretched and

disappointed Tories who fled with Howe from Boston in the

spring of 1776, before the triumphant army of George Wash-

ington of Virginia.

But St. Clair was made of sterner stuff. The instinct for

action and adventure which led him into the American army

from Dr. Hunter's London office, lured him again from the

peace and ease of Boston to the bracing air and stirring scenes

of the far frontier of Pennsylvania.

There, during the course of ten or more active years, he

was an acknowledged leader among the vigorous, self-reliant

redoubtable men who met the difficulties and dangers of that

pioneer life. Honors, offices, responsibilities, and wealth all

came to him in full measure and he deserved them all. As a

soldier he was commandant of Ft. Ligonier, and a leader in the

struggles with the hostile Indians. As justice of the peace his

integrity and good sense gave to his decisions finality among his

neighbors and throughout his jurisdiction; and his fearless cour-

• 5
 

460       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

age as a magistrate was illustrated in his memorable dealings

with Dr. John Conolly, the agent of Lord Dunmore, at Pitts-

burg. As a citizen he was a leader in every enterprise for the

general weal, and foremost in the life of the country.

Partly by purchase and partly by locating lands granted

him for his services to the Crown, he became the owner of a

large tract of land in the beautiful valley of the Ligonier, in

Bedford, afterwards Westmoreland county. There he built a

substantial and comfortable home upon a charming site. There

he brought his somewhat reluctant wife, with their children,

from the safety and comfort of Boston, to the discomforts and

perils of the frontier. He cleared his lands, raised stock, and

built the first grist mill in all that region. Other Scotch families

settled about him. To all the "newcomers" he was an unselfish

friend and wise counsellor.  He was the trusted friend and

agent of the Penns in their protracted dispute with the Virginia

authorities over the limits of Pennsylvania's territory in the

West; and when Lord Dunmore demanded his dismissal for the

arrest of Conolly, John Penn peremptorily declined, and in his

reply wrote of St. Clair--"he is a gentleman who for a long

time has had the honor of serving his Majesty with reputation

and distinction in every station of life; and preserved the char-

acter of an honest, worthy man."

He was trusted and esteemed even by the fierce and sus-

picious red men of the forest; and in all his dealings with them

either in private or in his capacity as a treaty-maker for the

public, he sympathized with their wrongs, endeavored to pro--

tect them from wanton aggression, and to secure a just regard

for their treaty rights.  A policy from  which, to his eternal

honor, he never departed under much stress and temptation when

he came to great power in the newer West.

Thus passed eleven eventful, prosperous, honorable and

doubtless happy years. St. Clair in some of the correspondence

and memoirs of this time is described as a man of noble bearing

and imposing appearance, graceful, cultured and self-reliant;

a man whose agreeable and intelligent conversation, captivating

manners and honorable principles, won all hearts; a man who

• 6
 

Major-General Arthur St. Clair.          461

 

had habitual respect for the feelings of others, as well as gen-

uine politeness, courtesy and refinement.

And now we approach another crisis in the life of this

young man of forty, this well-to-do citizen, this friend of the

Penns, this soldier of the Crown, this loyal and prosperous sub-

ject of King George. With keen interest from his far away

seat among the Westmoreland hills, among the active pursuits

of his frontier life he had watched the course of the controversy

between the King and the Colonies. Like thousands of other

free, liberty loving and brave men he had not believed that sep-

aration was either wise or desirable.

But with Lexington and Concord, with Hessians and In-

dians employed by an English king to crush his rights as an

Englishman, he turned his back upon the memories, the glories

and the sentiments of the past, and gave his loyalty, his heart,

his voice and his sword to his adopted country. It was no light

and easy thing for such a man to do. His letters show clearly

the moral and mental struggle through which he passed; and

we must honor him for it, as well as for the resolution to which

he came; just as we should honor especially those men of the

border, who in 1861 were compelled to choose between their

state and the Union, and chose aright.

On May 16, 1775, there assembled at Hannastown in west-

ern Pennsylvania, a meeting of citizens which has become

memorable in the annals of America. The fate of the frontier

was in the balance. Toryism was rife. Many of the settlers

were fresh from the mother country. The troubles and excite-

ment of the seaports had not reached them. They were as near

in time to British Detroit as to American Philadelphia; and Phil-

adelphia was not a Boston in patriotism by any means. St. Clair

was at Hannastown. His mind and heart were made up. With

his own hand he drafted those wise, moderate, patriotic, mem-

orable resolutions; with his quiet, earnest voice and persuasive

manner he secured their adoption, and western Pennsylvania

was committed to the right side.

He urged upon the Congress when assembled at Philadel-

phia an immediate expedition against Detroit, which he offered

• 7
 

462      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

to lead; and we know how eminently wise this suggestion,

though disregarded at the time, was proved to be by subsequent

events.

Soon after St. Clair was called to Philadelphia by Presi-

dent Hancock, and commissioned to raise a Pennsylvania regi-

ment on continental establishment. This commission was dated

January 22, 1776, and on the 12th of March Colonel St. Clair

left Philadelphia for Canada with a fine regiment fully equipped

for service.

It is not within the limits of this address to follow St. Clair

through all the years of war that followed. His name is in-

deed writ large in the history of that sad, heroic and glorious

struggle; and as we follow up and up and up with kindling

eyes and beating hearts that roll of consecrated names, there,

nearly at the top, close to the topmost name of all, we find that

of Major General Arthur St. Clair

The story of his battles, sieges and fortunes is well-nigh

the history of the American Revolution. From that disastrous

Canada campaign in '76, clear to Yorktown-yes, and beyond

Yorktown, with Greene in the Carolinas,-St. Clair was liter-

ally "in at the death."

There is no act of his in all that long eight years to palliate

or excuse; nothing but honor and faith and wisdom and hero-

ism. Even the retreat from Ticonderoga, for which at the time

he was so violently assailed, when it came under the calm and

searching criticism of an able committee of Congress, redounded

to his fame, both as a man of high moral courage, and as a gen-

eral eminently fitted for the highest command. Well might the

committee declare, "We do unanimously acquit him of every

charge with the highest honor."

Pending this investigation General Washington, who knew

the facts and the man, took him into his immediate military

family; and there began a warm and mutual esteem and friend-

ship which lasted without a cloud until the death of his great

chief.

He shared in the disaster at Brandywine, and in all the suf-

fering at Valley Forge. In the memorable battles of Trenton

and Princeton he took prominent part. According to General

• 8
 

Major-General Arthur St. Clair.          463

 

Wilkinson and others who should know the facts, as well as

the statement of St. Clair in his own narrative of these events,

"it was he who in council suggested the idea of marching by

our right and turning the left of the enemy." This movement,

resulting most successfully, gave to the patriot cause that mem-

orable campaign in New Jersey; which, in the darkest hour of

the war once more brought hope and courage to a disheartened

and perplexed people. Cabals were checked. The prestige of

Washington was restored never to fall again. Troops flocked

again to his standard, and the crisis was passed.

When at last the war was over, and peace had come, and

independence, and with it all a new order, Major General St.

Clair found himself financially ruined. At the beginning of the

war the Indians urged on by the British at Detroit had fallen

upon the frontier settlements. General Washington sent Colonel

Broadhead to Pittsburg, where a small force was maintained,

but this defense proved ineffective, and the isolated settlements

of western Pennsylvania were repeatedly visited with fire and the

tomahawk.

St. Clair early in the war removed his wife and family to

Pottsgrove (now Pottstown) where he bought a house and es-

tablished them in comparative safety; but his mill and house,

indeed all of his buildings were burned, his lands laid waste

and his beautiful estate ruined. Moreover, at a critical time dur-

ing the war, when called upon by Governor Reed to assist in

raising and equipping Pennsylvania troops, he had advanced

his private credit for funds, and, owing to the disordered state of

the finances, he never obtained indemnity from the Government.

In a pathetic letter which he wrote to Washington in 1785 he

describes himself as "a poor, indeed a very poor man;" and so

indeed he was, and poor he continued to be all the remaining

days of his life. Eight of the best years of that life from its

forty-second to its fiftieth year, he had given loyally to the

service of the country of his adoption, and he had sacrificed his

fortune cheerfully upon the same altar. Few men gave as much

to the cause of independence as St. Clair, and no man was sub-

sequently treated by his Government with more ingratitude.

He returned to his home in Westmoreland county and man-

• 9
 

464       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

fully set about repairing as best he might the havoc that absence

and war had wrought upon his mortgaged lands in the Ligonier

Valley. But he had played too distinguished a part upon too

wide a stage to be permitted to remain long in private station.

In 1783 he was elected a member of the "Council of Censors,"

a board of somewhat peculiar but formidable powers under the

constitution of the new state of Pennsylvania. In February,

1786, he was elected member of the Continental Congress; and

one year later he was exalted to the presidency of that body-

a position, as has been well said, but little short of the chief

magistracy of the nation not yet formed.

In July of this year was passed by the Congress over which

St. Clair presided that historic measure which will ever be

known to American history as "The Ordinance of 1787." A

statute which erected the vast territory northwest of the Ohio

River into a civil government, dedicating it forever to freedom;

and St. Clair was unanimously chosen by Congress to be the

chief executive officer of the new Territory.

It is undoubtedly true that St. Clair sacrificed much in ac-

cepting this office. Not only was the territory vast and almost

uninhabited, but it was far away, much further in that age than

Darkest Africa today from the centers of human interest and

political activity.  He had achieved by his heroic character,

services and sacrifices, an exalted position among the foremost

men of the new nation about to be formed. In the full prime

of a noble manhood, urbane, brave, capable and self-reliant, it

is indeed hard to overestimate to what place in the councils of

the new nation he might not have attained, had he stayed in the

East and cultivated his own advancement.

But "He followed his star;" and duty still tinged by ad-

venture once more lured him westward. It is also most proba-

bly true that he hoped by legitimate means in the new country

to retrieve for "wife and weans" his now shattered fortune.

Preceded by Putnam, and the other leaders and settlers

of the Ohio Company, Governor St. Clair landed at Fort Har-

mar, at the mouth of the Muskingum, on the ₉th day of July,

1788.

He was received amid the roar of the little guns of the

• 10
 

Major-General Arthur St. Clair.          465

 

fort, and with military honors, and on the next day before the

assembled soldiers and citizens at Marietta he delivered his

noble inaugural address.

In his public utterances St. Clair was habitually inclined

to be somewhat verbose, as indeed was rather the fashion of

his time, but he concluded his address in these simple and manly

words: "Would to God I were more equal to the discharge of

the duties of government; but my best endeavor shall not be

wanting to fulfill the desire and expectations of Congress, that

you may find yourself happy under it. * * * And at all

times and places it shall be my duty and my desire to do every-

thing within the compass of my power for the peace, good order

and establishment of these settlements."

And from that day forward right well did he fulfill the

resolve then expressed upon Campus Martius. Possessed, under

the ordinance, of great power and a larger influence, and ever

conscious of their possession, he never failed in their exercise

to be governed by the same uprightness of purpose and high

sense of duty which he that day set before the people and before

himself. "Plain and simple in his dress and equipage, open

and frank in his manners, and accessible to persons of every

rank," as Judge Burnet described him, yet without descending

from his manly dignity to court popularity, he continued until

after the establishment, under the ordinance, of a territorial

government in 1799 "in the possession of a greater share of the

confidence and respect of the people of the Territory than any

other individual in it,"-and even though he proved at the last

that high talents united with unfaltering integrity are not al-

ways sufficient to guide a man in the path of political safety;

nevertheless, even at the end, his enemies, bitter as they proved,

never assailed his pure and lofty character.

It would be hard to overstate the labors and the accomplish-

ments of St. Clair in the Northwest Territory. With the judges

named by Congress he promulgated laws for the new country

upon almost every conceivable subject. He made and remade

treaties with the Indians. He led armies against them, and

strove in every way to protect the growing settlements from

their incessant depredations. He resolutely preserved and main-

Vol XVI - 30.

• 11
 

466       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

tained, against the demands of old settlers in the West who had

slaves, and against immigrants from the South who insisted

upon bringing slaves, that unique provision of the great ordi-

nance which forbade slavery or involuntary service except for

crime, in all the vast extent of his domain. He assiduously

looked after the settlement of Revolutionary soldiers.  He

formed counties, and insisted upon his right to re-form them,

until Congress, after many years, and much of bitterness en-

gendered between the governor and his opponents, declared he

had not this right. He issued proclamations against invasion

of Spanish Louisiana when Citizen Genet conspired with West-

ern firebrands to bring this about.

He persistently and consistently strove to prevent outrage

and injustice to peaceable Indians.  He resolutely preserved

the lands provided by the ordinance and by Congress for the

future maintenance of schools and colleges.  He labored to

keep peace between rival judges and officers near and far

through the territory. He visited the ancient posts and settle-

ments on the Wabash, Detroit and Mississippi rivers, relieving

their destitute inhabitants, and settling so far as he might their

ancient and conflicting land titles under French, English and

Congressional grants. He traveled back and forth from Phila-

delphia, New York and Washington, reporting to Congress,

or to the President, and interceding in the interest of his terri-

tory and its people. "He made repeated journeys from one part

of the territory to another, sleeping upon the ground or in open

boats, and living upon coarse and uncertain fare. At one time

he travelled in this manner a distance of five thousand miles

without means of protection against inclement weather and

without rest." Such hardships were a strain upon even his fine

constitution; and in 1795 he was prostrated by a fever which

brought him near to death. During the earlier years of his ad-

ministration he lived at Marietta, where the citizens built him

a comfortable home, which was presided over by a daughter;

for it is questionable whether his wife ever even visited the

Territory. Afterwards he made his home at Cincinnati, and

finally perhaps at Chillicothe.

In 1791, when the Indians encouraged by the British at

• 12
 

Major-General Arthur St. Clair.          467

Detroit had become unbearably hostile and aggressive, St. Clair

was appointed commander-in-chief of the army organized to

march upon the Maumee towns and destroy them. The miser-

able organization of that army, especially in its commissariat,

resulted in one of the most harrowing disasters ever inflicted

by the Indians upon an American army. As in every such case

the first storm of reproach fell upon the commanding general;

but the conclusions of the committee appointed by the House

of Representatives to inquire into the cause of the disaster, a

committee which at the outset was in no wise partial to St.

Clair, have ever since been accepted by unprejudiced historians

as a true statement of the facts. The conclusion of this com-

mittee, after the most patient and careful investigation was,-

that the disaster was due chiefly "to the gross and various mis-

management of others," and should "in no wise be imputed to

the commander." St. Clair soon after resigned his commission

as commander-in-chief of the army, and Wayne's memorable

victory at "The Fallen Timbers" not only brought final and last-

ing peace to the Ohio settlements, but restored the good humor

of the nation and the West.

In 1798 it being ascertained that his territory contained

five thousand white male inhabitants, Governor St. Clair, pur-

suant to the ordinance, issued his proclamation, calling upon

the voters to elect representatives who should meet at Cincin-

nati in February, 1799. This body met accordingly and selected

ten freeholders whose names were returned by the Governor

to the President for his selection of five from the list, as the

"Legislative Council" of the Territory; and in September, 1799,

the first territorial legislature, consisting of the representatives

and legislative council, met with the Governor at Cincinnati.

The earnest and eloquent address delivered by Governor

St. Clair upon this occasion can be found in full in the published

"St. Clair Papers," and should be read by any one who is de-

sirous of seeing this distinguished pioneer governor at his best.

He at this time enjoyed the unlimited respect and confi-

dence of all the people. He was known to be one of the most

valued personal and political friends of both President Adams

and of the retired president, George Washington, whose influ-

• 13
 

468       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

ence in the country still remained paramount. Political strife

and bitterness were substantially unknown in the territory; and

St. Clair could turn his thoughts and his statesmanship solely

to the interests of the fast growing settlements over which he

presided.

He began by earnestly congratulating the people of the

Territory that "having been heretofore governed by laws

adopted and made by persons in whose appointment they had

no participation and over whom they had no control, that the

time had now come when their laws should be made by their

own representatives." Certainly a somewhat anomalous state-

ment from one so steadfastly accused of enmity to all demo-

cratic principles! With great force he urged upon this new and

untried body of western legislators the benefits to result, through

the years to come, from timely education, and the early instruc-

tion of the people in the principles of religion. He urged them

to restrain the traffic in intoxicating liquors. He urged justice

and humanity to the Indians; the preservation of the rights and

liberty of the people by the writ of habeas corpus; that minor

courts be established for the local administration of the laws;

and, after touching upon many other objects of legislation which

he deemed of importance, he concluded with the following earn-

est words: "The providing for and the regulating the lives and

forces of the present and of the rising generations, for the re-

pression of vice and immorality, for the promotion of education

and religion, for the protection of virtue and innocence, for the

security and property and the punishment of crime is a sublime

employment. Every aid in my power will be afforded; and I

trust we shall bear in mind that the character and deportment

of the people and their happiness hereafter depends much upon

the genius and spirit of their laws."

For ten years, endowed with large powers by the great

Ordinance of 1787, Arthur St. Clair, as governor, had con-

ducted affairs of the Northwest Territory; until now, under

the territorial government foreordained by the ordinance itself,

the people had come to the point of substantially governing

themselves.

These had been years of vast importance to the future

• 14
 

Major-General Arthur St. Clair.         469

of the western country.   It would be difficult to point to

any act of St. Clair's as governor, during the whole of that

formative period which should be harshly criticised. It would

not be just to say that nothing was left undone that might have

been done, and that nothing was done amiss; but that St. Clair

had truly and faithfully kept his word given to the soldiers

and citizens at Marietta in 1788 will not be denied by the student

of these most interesting years in the history of the Northwest.

But a time had now come in the life of the new American

Republic when party spirit was breaking forth with a bitterness

and intensity such as has scarcely been known since in the his-

tory of the country. This spirit of bitter and almost malevolent

partisanship which had been inaugurated even during the clos-

ing years of Washington's second administration, had now

begun to reach the far and isolated West; and in the closing

days of this first session of the Territorial legislature of 1799

an incident occurred which was somewhat ominous for the fu-

ture.

At the close of the session an address, complimentary to

President Adams, was introduced. It was unanimously passed

by the legislative council, but against it five members of the

House cast their votes. The names of these five members in-

cluded those of the members from Ross county and Chillicothe,

and this was the nucleus of the new Republican party in the West.

The accession to power of their leader, Jefferson, in the years

soon to come, enabled them to destroy the prestige and almost

the character of St. Clair and to remove him from office. That

he helped somewhat by his own intemperance of language to

contribute to this result the sequel will show.

In the year 1800 the Northwest Territory was divided and

the new district, known as Indiana Territory, was separated

from what is now the state of Ohio. William Henry Harrison

was appointed governor of the new territory; and thereupon

St. Clair's official connection with the Wabash and the Missis-

sippi country terminated.

The territorial legislature assembled in the fall of 1800 in

the town of Chillicothe; then a rude but rapidly growing set-

tlement of but four years old, and the capital of that interesting

• 15
 

470       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

portion of the state of Ohio known to historians and to lawyers

as the Virginia Military District.  Some considerable friction

and heat had been evolved by the moving of the meeting place

of the legislature from Cincinnati to Chillicothe. And indeed

it is apparent that very much of the bitterness that arose out of

the controversy between St. Clair and the Chillicothe party had

its roots in local and territorial questions and in his too un-

yielding opposition to the legitimate schemes of town site and

land speculators.  These questions had aroused the personal

enmity of several of the Chillicothe men, and as they were at

the same time members of the new Republican party, led by

Jefferson, while St. Clair, like all of the Revolutionary veterans

and friends of Washington, was an earnest Federalist, the bit-

terness of feeling between them had already grown intense.

St. Clair referred to this in his address to the legislature

which assembled in Chillicothe in November, 1800, and to "the

baseness and malevolence of the aims of certain slanders and false-

hoods circulated against him." With great earnestness he con-

cluded, "I am not conscious that any one act of my administration

has been influenced by any other motive than a sincere desire to

promote the welfare and happiness of the people of this Terri-

tory ;" and, to the student of the history of the time, it seems clear

that this declaration of St. Clair's expressed but the truth with re-

gard to the sincerity and purity of his motives.

But it is John Quincy Adams who says in his diary, "In pub-

lic affairs it appears to me there is no quality more useful and im-

portant than good humor;" and this quality, which some call tact

and some good humor, and others the ability to yield in the right

place, was the quality, as Judge Burnet in his just and conserva-

tive narrative points out, that St. Clair in this crisis of his affairs

failed to exhibit. His own consciousness of his own integrity led

him to mistrust both the wisdom and the integrity of the men

who opposed him; and also led him to an intemperance in speech

and in the prosecution of his own designs, which stood greatly in

the way of his political success.

The local feeling against him in Chillicothe about this time,

and indeed until his ultimate downfall, was very bitter. It was

known that he not only antagonized the men of Ross county per-

• 16
 

Major-General Arthur St. Clair.         471

 

sonally and politically, but that he was also opposed to the per-

manent location of the capital of the Territory and state at Chilli-

cothe. His appointment by President Adams to be governor of

the new territory was strongly opposed by his enemies in the West

and in Washington, but was finally confirmed by the Senate.

When the new legislature assembled on November 24, 1801,

much friction was soon developed between the House of Repre-

sentatives and the Governor. His honest but ill-advised insist-

ence upon his right to re-form and subdivide counties already

established, as well as other matters of dispute, had begun to

dishearten his own partisans, and added to the number of his

enemies. The bitterness against St. Clair in Chillicothe had

become especially intense owing to the proposed removal of

the seat of government to Cincinnati. At one time during the

session of the legislature, party and local spirit became so turbu-

lent that a mob, led by men not without standing and influence

in the community, broke into the house where the Governor and

some friends boarded, and were only prevented from doing vio-

lence to the person of St. Clair by the intercession of Thomas

Worthington, and when confronted by cocked pistols in the

hands of one of St. Clair's friends. As it was, he was burned in

effigy on the public square, openly insulted upon the streets of

the town; and his enemies, encouraged, as the correspondence

shows, by partisans in Washington, proceeded to open hostilities

against him.

Thomas Worthington, afterwards senator of the United

States from, and governor of, Ohio, went to Washington in the

interest of the party in the West opposed to St. Clair, of which

Edward Tiffin was the leader, and preparations were actively

pushed forward for presenting to President Jefferson specific

charges against the Governor.

St. Clair was soon advised not only of the purpose of his

enemies, but also of the presence of Worthington in Washington

in furtherance of their plan, and he wrote to President Jeffer-

son a manly and earnest letter of protest. After advising the

President of the hostility of the men who had opposed his nomi-

nation, he told him that they were "now endeavoring by like

means to ruin me with you, and scruple not to opine that my

• 17
 

472       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

removal is decided upon." He begs the President, in case his

enemies have found their way to him, not to give credit to their

suggestions until he himself might have a hearing. He feel-

ingly refers to his twelve years of service in the Northwest Ter-

ritory and concludes: "I dare challenge the whole world to

produce one action in my administration in which a single indi-

vidual has met with opposition in any one act to further the inter-

ests and welfare of the people. To the accomplishment of these

objects I have given the best years of my life at the expense of

my health and fortune."

The charges which were ultimately presented to the Presi-

dent by Worthington on behalf of himself and his colleagues,

and as the "agent of the state party and Republican leaders"

were ten in number. They refer principally to what are insisted

upon as abuses of his power over the legislature, the judiciary

and other officers of the Territory, the taking of excessive fees,

the appointment of improper persons to office, the obstruction

of the organization of the militia, and lastly his general "hos-

tility to the form and substance of Republican government."

No one can read the correspondence that took place between

Worthington in Washington and his colleagues in Chillicothe

without something of shame for the methods which were

adopted for the degradation of St. Clair in the eyes of Jeffer-

son. Private conversations held in unconstrained social inter-

course were collected in the form of affidavits and used against

St. Clair; and were met by him with counter-affidavits of other

gentlemen who happened to be present. After St. Clair had

seen President Jefferson in person the charges seem to have been

in substance ignored.

But while the immediate statehood party, led by Worth-

ington and Tiffin, failed at the time in casting St. Clair from his

place, they did succeed in their main object of bringing about

statehood to Ohio prior to the time contemplated by the original

Ordinance of 1787.

The ordinance distinctly provided that whenever the east-

ern portion of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio River con-

tained sixty thousand inhabitants, it should have the right to

adopt a constitution and to come into the Union as a new state.

• 18
 

Major-General Arthur St. Clair.          473

 

A census taken about this time had shown a population,

including all the inhabitants of Wayne county, which is now

that part of the state of Michigan in which the city of Detroit

is situated, but which was then a part of the territory of Ohio,

of about forty-five thousand souls.

St. Clair and others were strongly of the opinion that it

was wise to defer statehood until the people of the Territory

were entitled to it under the ordinance; and influenced doubtless

by his wish to defer statehood, he favored a resolution which

passed the legislature by a two-third majority, suggesting the

line of the Scioto river as the western boundary of the new

state. For reasons which now seem erroneous St. Clair subse-

quently gave his hearty endorsement to this measure, to which

the Chillicothe, or immediate statehood party, was very violently

opposed. In writing to his confidential friends in regard to this

question, St. Clair gave as reasons for the proposed division of

the Territory and the consequent delay of statehood: That the

people were ill-qualified to form a constitution and government

for themselves; were too far removed from the seat of govern-

ment to be fully impressed by the power of the United States;

that their connection, owing to the great distance and other in-

terests, with the general government was very slender, and their

loyalty likely to be affected thereby, and that many of them held

sentiments in opposition to the general government. Whatever

may be thought of the political wisdom of these arguments,

they cannot be said either to reflect upon his character as a man,

nor are they such as might not have been entertained at the

time with perfect honesty by even the most ultra Democratic.

There are those who hold self-government to be in itself

an end. There are others who hold that the end and aim of

government is protection of persons and property, the mainte-

nance of peace, order, and such religious liberty and such an

educational system as give promise of the speediest intellectual

and moral development; and that self-government is or ought

to be simply a means to this end. It is probable that St. Clair

would have declared himself in favor of the latter view; but

certainly it was and still is quite erroneous to say that such an

• 19
 

474       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

opinion constituted St. Clair an aristocrat, an autocrat and a

despiser of the people.

At any rate, with the administration at Washington upon

their side, and their triumphant partisans in power in Congress,

the immediate statehood party was able to secure the passage

by Congress of the famous enabling act of 1802, through which

Ohio became a state of the Union; though just how or just

when, has ever since remained a subject for academic discussion.

The act of Congress which offered statehood to the people

of the eastern district, now the state of Ohio, cut off a large

territory which is now embraced in the state of Michigan, and

made conditions with reference to the taxation of lands sold by

the Government, and other matters, which certainly might have

been avoided had the people been content to wait but a short

time for the operation of the provision of the Ordinance of

1787. The position taken by St. Clair and those who acted with

him, in opposition to the acceptance of the offer made by Con-

gress in the act of 1802, was based upon these grounds, and can

be found set forth with great clearness by Judge Burnet in his

"Notes ;" but it certainly seems to me that no difference of opin-

ion upon this question should, after the lapse of more than a

century, obscure from us of this generation the splendid services

that St. Clair had rendered to his country and especially to the

Northwest Territory.

When the convention, provided for by the act of Congress,

met at Chillicothe in November, 1802, St. Clair, upon his own

motion, delivered to it an address, by which he played immedi-

ately into the hands of his enemies.

Animated by what he conceived to be a righteous indigna-

tion, he indulged in a tirade against the action of Congress, and

in bitter prophecies as to the future of the country, which ill-

became a man in his position. Unfortunately for himself he

was not one who could acquiesce where he believed speech and

opposition to be his duty, and his utterances upon this occasion,

however honest and sincere they may have been, were certainly

such as to excuse, if not to justify, the action of President Jef-

ferson in removing him from his office as governor of the Terri-

tory, even though he had still but a short time to serve. The

• 20
 

Major-General Arthur St. Clair.          475

 

circumstances attending his removal were, however, somewhat

harsh, and added greatly to his bitterness of spirit.

"To the victors belong the spoil;" and the victors in that

contest got, as indeed they fairly deserved, the spoils of victory

and of office. But we may perhaps agree with Judge Burnet,

who sums up his review of those incidents, in which he himself

had borne a part, in the following paragraph:

"But on a calm review of those party conflicts, after a lapse

of more than half a century, many circumstances over which

the mantle of oblivion has been thrown, might be uncovered

which would account for the conduct of the leaders of both par-

ties without ascribing to them more of self-interest or less of

honesty of purpose than falls to the lot of those who are now

called consistent politicians. Some part of the Governor's con-

duct was condemned by his best friends and was well calculated

to excite a warmth of feeling in his opponents which might have

led upright men beyond the limits of moderation and even of

justice."

With his dismissal from office, November 22, 1802, the

public life of Major General Arthur St. Clair terminated. He

returned, a man now sixty-eight years of age, much the greatest

part of which had been spent in the active service of his country,

broken in health and fortune, to the Ligonier Valley.

He had never been reimbursed by his Government for the

private means spent by him during the war of the Revolution.

In addition to this, during the Indian Campaign in 1791, he

had again advanced his personal credit in the public service, and

the officers of the Government, for more or less technical reasons,

now and thereafter turned a deaf ear to his appeals for reim-

bursements or succor. He struggled earnestly from year to year

to retrieve his broken fortunes, but when the years of the em-

bargo came and the values of all property in America suffered

such terrible depreciation, he was compelled to stand by and see

the last of his property, both real and personal, sold by the sher-

iff; and himself left, at nearly eighty years of age, absolutely

penniless, dependent upon the charity of his family and friends.

In referring to this execution, St. Clair himself wrote: "They

left me a few books of my classical library, and the bust of John

• 21
 

476       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Paul Jones which he sent me from Europe, for which I was very

grateful."

One of his sons built for him a log cabin on a small piece

of land on Chestnut Ridge five miles west of Ligonier, and here

he lived in honorable poverty until the summer of 1818, when,

on his way to town for provisions, his wagon upset, threw him

out and he was carried back to his home to die. And so this

hero of two wars, this hero of countless deeds of faithfulness

and bravery and self-denial in times of peace, was quietly in-

terred in the little burying ground of the neighboring hamlet

of Greensburg.

When the American, French and British commissioners

were negotiating the treaty of Paris in 1782, by which our in-

dependence was acknowledged, the     British  commissioners

insisted upon the Ohio river as the northwest boundary of the

United States. Count de Vergennes, the French commissioner,

favored this claim, and tried to induce Dr. Franklin and the

other American commissioners to accept this, rather than fail

in the main object. But Franklin, Adams and Jay, the American

commissioners, successfully resisted this importunity; and the

chief argument by which they save that splendid domain to

their country, was, that the territory northwest of the Ohio

river had been conquered by George Rogers Clark, an American

general, in 1778; and was even then in the occupancy of the

troops of the United States.

General Clark, the conqueror of the great Northwest, was

permitted to die in poverty, neglect and obscurity; and, by a

strange and sad coincidence, General Arthur St. Clair, the pio-

neer governor and organizer of that vast domain, shared, the

very same year, a similar fate.

The language of the epitaph upon the simple stone, which

was afterwards erected over the grave of St. Clair by his Ma-

sonic brethren has often been quoted, and should still carry

its earnest appeal to men of our time. It is as follows:

"The earthly remains of Major General Arthur St. Clair

are deposited beneath this humble monument which is erected

to supply the place of a nobler one due from his country."

Amen! "So mote it be !"

• 22