Ohio History Journal

A FAMILIAR TALK ABOUT MONARCHISTS

AND JACOBINS.

AN ADDRESS BY WILLIAM HENRY SMITH.

WHEN I received an invitation to address the Historical

Society here to-night, the suggestion was made by a mem-

ber of your committee that I take the life and public

services of John Brough for my theme. Born within the

limits of your city, the son of one of the pioneer fathers,

it were fitting that he should be remembered on an occa-

sion of such historical interest. It was gratifying to be

remembered in connection with one whom I knew and

loved so well. But the greatness of his abilities, the

eminent services he rendered the State in early manhood,

and the self-sacrificing and patriotic devotion to the

National cause during the final struggle which resulted in

the restoration of the Union, required more careful atten-

tion than a very busy man could devote to the subject on

such brief notice. Furthermore, my library, papers, and

private memoranda of conversations during those eventful

years were a thousand miles away, and inaccessible.

Instead of addressing you on that larger and, to me

personally, more interesting subject, I am to talk to you

in a desultory way of the men and parties that controlled

Ohio as a territory and for some years as a State, with

special reference to the life and public career of Jeremiah

Morrow.

The members of the little colony planted here one hun-

dred years ago were ardent Federalists. Their strong per-

sonality was impressed upon every measure establishing

social order, and the settlements made by the Ohio Com-

pany, as well as those on the Scioto and Miami rivers,

and the Lake, grew up and flourished under this influence,

The French on the Wabash, the Illinois and Mississippi,

when they received the Ordinance of 1787 from Governor

187

188   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

St. Clair, gave assurance of loyal support. The selection

of the President of the Congress that passed the Ordi-

nance- the last Continental Congress - for Governor, was

a wise one. The enterprise was essentially an experiment.

A wilderness controlled and peopled by savages was to be

subdued, and out of it five Commonwealths, the equal of

the thirteen colonies, created. The task was an arduous

one, and certainly hazardous, requiring courage, endur-

ance, patience, and a high order of intelligence. Con-

gress had provided the most perfect charter yet devised

for republican government-the first charter distinctly

proclaiming the brotherhood of man -a charter declaring

in plain terms that religion, morality and knowledge are

necessary to good government and the happiness of man-

kind. New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Vir-

ginia provided the men and women, among the very best

members of their respective communities, to establish

government under it. Their chief magistrate was a man

of ripe experience, as well as of thorough education. A

soldier under Wolfe, a trusted agent of the proprietors of

Pennsylvania, a magistrate over an extensive district, a

Major General during the Revolutionary war, honored by

the friendship of Washington, a friend and associate of

La Fayette, President of the Continental Congress, and,

because of his brilliant conversational powers, a favorite

in the drawing room; handsome in form and dignified in

bearing, he was a leader calculated to win the hearts of

all. St. Clair, during the years of war, sacrificed a fortune

for his country; in taking upon himself the labor and

risk of administering a government over a vast territory

stretching from the Ohio to the Mississippi, he sacrificed

the comforts of home, the social advantages of the East,

and brilliant political prospects which would have justified

him in refusing the office.

It is worth our while to review some of his opinions of

government, to enable us to judge correctly of his fitness

for this important administrative office. We find these

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins.     189

expressed in pamphlets and communications to the press,

written after the Peace and in the reports and recommend-

ations of the majority of the Council of Censors, of which

he was a member.

One of Dr. Franklin's political hobbies was, that the

supreme legislative power of the State should be vested

in a single body. This principle was incorporated in the

Constitution of the Province of Pennsylvania, which was

formed and adopted in 1776, under the influence of that

great man. It led to much mischief and oppression, and

yet to the great surprise of the students of history, the de-

bates in the convention that framed the Federal Constitu-

tion in 1787, show that he was not convinced, at that

period, that it was not the best form of government.¹

In the colonial days the principles of Republican gov-

ernment, by which harmony is preserved between the

legislative, executive and judicial departments, and all

made immediately responsible to the people, were not

everywhere accepted and not in Pennsylvania in 1776.

The leaders in the constitutional convention of that year

devised an ingenious and unique plan for bringing the

government of Pennsylvania under popular review. It

was a provision for the election in 1783, and thereafter

every seven years by the freemen of the cities and coun-

ties, of a body of review and recommendation to be called

the Council of Censors. This council was to inquire

whether the constitution had been preserved inviolate in

every part; whether the legislative and executive branches

of the goverment had performed their duties as guardians

of the people, or assumed to themselves greater powers

than they were entitled to; and whether the public taxes

had been justly laid and collected. This was a device

1This statement is based upon rather vague passages in the Madison paper

and Elliot's Debates. If correct, it would show that Dr. Franklin had

changed his opinion on this subject a second time, as in a foot note in one of

his pamphlets issued from the press in 1783, General St. Clair speaks of the

"inconsistency of that great man "-Dr. Franklin at that time being classed

with the opponents of a single legislative body.

190   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

worthy of a speculative philosopher, but impracticable,

as the Council had no power to enforce its findings.

The Pennsylvania constitution provided that a new

constitutional convention could not be called unless rec-

ommended by a two-thirds vote of the Council of Censors.

This could not be secured, because six of the members

were office holders under the old system, who were sure

to lose by any change, and they voted steadily with the

minority against a new convention, and against all recom-

mendations for reform  of the civil service.  St. Clair,

indignant at the corruption, addressed the public in a

pamphlet, in which he laid bare the fact that these six

men had been found unfaithful to their trust, and by their

unwarranted presence in the Council prevented reform

and prosecutions for violations of law. This failure of

the scheme to protect the people is a striking illustration

of the impracticable in politics, and invites to humorous

reflections at the expense of the philosopher, who was

undoubtedly the author of it.

St. Clair, as the leader of the majority, made an exhaus-

tive report on the Constitution of 1776, pointing out its

defects, and subsequently submitted a plan of government

embodying his views of what the fundamental law of a

State should be. It is not my purpose to traverse his re-

ports to-night; suffice it to remark that his plan was similar

as to a division of the powers of government to that em-

bodied in the Federal constitution and in most of the State

constitutions; and that this and his arguments in its sup-

port were made public four years before the Federal Con-

vention of 1787. Many of the arguments advanced in the

discussions in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and

in the Federalist, which have been applauded by writers

and statesmen, were made use of in 1783 by St. Clair.

His comment on a many-headed executive, as exempli-

fied in the Pennsylvania Executive Council, which choose

one of their number President, deserves to be repeated.

He said:

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins. 191

"An Executive Council is a monster. It may do great

harm, and never can do any good; it will ever want that

energy and promptness that are essential to an executive

body, for it is not executive, but deliberative. It destroys

all responsibility, and is a very useless expense. If the

President has abilities, the Council are but the solemn

witnesses of his acts; if he is ambitious at the same time,

they will be found to be his useful instruments; if he is

cruel or revengeful, at once his ready tools and a defense

behind which he at any time can shelter himself; if rapa-

cious, they will share with him in the plunder, of their

country. I wish for the honor of human nature, no such

combination could ever be found; but we know they have

existed together in other countries; they may exist together

in this."

Justices of the peace, he thought, should be elected by

the freemen, but as the lives and property of the citizens

depended in a great degree upon the judges of the higher

courts, he held that they should be appointed for life, or

during good behavior, in order that they might be made

independent of political influences.

He held that the Legislature should consist of an upper

and a lower house-or a Senate and an Assembly-and

that the action of the majority should be final, except in

the case of the exercise of the veto power by the Governor,

when a two-thirds vote should be required to pass a bill

over the executive negative. It was his opinion that no

reasons against a law ought to appear upon the minutes.

"If," said he, "the bill passes by a majority of one only, it

is as binding as if it had passed with unanimous consent.

A dissent, with reasons, on the minutes can answer no end

but to foment party disputes and weaken the force of the

law and impede its execution. But the happiness of a

State is so intimately combined with a vigorous execution

of, and prompt obedience to, the laws that, where these are

wanting, anarchy must ensue. If the laws are found im-

perfect or oppressive, they should be amended or repealed.

192   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

The privilege of entering the yeas and nays is all that any

member should desire, and is as much as is consistent

with order and good government."

All very trite to-day, but over a hundred years ago in

Pennsylvania a desperate contest followed this public

utterance of St. Clair's-Smilie, Findlay and others who

took on the character of a fierce democracy, declared that

such a restriction would prove to be the instrument of a

corrupt aristocracy leading to tyranny, and filling the lands

with their cries.

St. Clair also held advanced views on other questions

which to-day very much disturb the peace of politicians

wearing Democratic and Republican labels. He objected

to the clause in the Constitution of '76 which provided for

rotation in office, as he declared it to be against the public

good, for the following reasons:

1. Because the hope to reappointment to office is

amongst the strongest incentives to the due execution

of the trust it confers.

2. Because the State is thereby necessarily deprived of

the services of useful men for a time, and compelled to

make experiment of others who may not prove equally

wise and virtuous.

3. Because the check intended by such principle of rota-

tion can be of no good effect to repress inordinate ambition,

unless it were extended so as to preclude a man from hold-

ing any office whatever.

4. Because the privilege of the people in elections is so

far infringed as that they are thereby deprived of the right

of choosing those persons whom they would prefer.

St. Clair objected to giving to immigrants all of the

privileges of citizens after only a brief residence, as it was

calculated to prevent the establishment of a goverment by

habits and prejudices, "which often bind mankind more

powerfully than laws." Coming from monarchial and

aristocratic governments, they brought with them ideas at

sr with republican principles, and being the victims of

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins. 193

oppression they would be too often moved to view all forms

of law as unjustly restraining and threatening personal

liberty. A period should be allowed for educating the new-

comers before entrusting them with all the responsibilities

of American citizenship. A moderate share of property

he deemed essential to make an elector independent. "I

do not count independence and wealth always together,"

said he, "but I pronounce poverty and dependence to be

inseparable."

These views enable us to estimate the ability and char-

acter of the leader chosen to establish Government in the

Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, under the first

purely Republican-the first purely American-charter

formed on the Western continent.  For thirteen years he

never faltered; for thirteen years he had the support of

the little colony headed by Rufus Putnam, whose landing

on this spot you celebrate to-morrow-and in the end the

work was crowned with success.

Although so distant from the centre of political strife,

Washington's former companions in arms here located,

sympathized with the National administration and gave it

loyal support.

Soon political affairs in the territory took on the charac-

ter of those east of the mountains, and the dominating

power was Federal; the opposing Anti-Federal. The act

defining the boundaries of a county, the selection of a site

for a county seat, the appointment of justices, attorneys,

and sheriffs, arrayed men against each other on the lines

of national politics, notwithstanding the real motive often

originated in personal gain or loss. The whisky rebels of

Western Pennsylvania received no sympathy from the

loyal people of the territory, whose officers joined in

search for the fugitives from justice. As population in-

creased, and the victims of baffled ambition multiplied,

the Anti-Federalists took on a bolder front, and in some

places defied the territorial administration. They received

encouragement from the Kentucky Republicans, who were

Vol. 11-13

194    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

building up a commonwealth under conditions less favor-

able, in important respects, than those enjoyed by the

people north of the Ohio. "News, we have none," wrote

St. Clair to his son Daniel in 1798; " but the madness of

Kentucky, and of that you will hear enough from the

public papers without my troubling either you or myself

with it.  Everything in the political hemisphere is as

right on our side of the river as I could wish it. Although

we are so near neighbors, the people on this side of the

river are the very antipodes of Kentuckians."

It will be seen that four years wrought a change that

must have surprised the Federalists of the territory.

They did not hold their supremacy, as they confidently

expected. The contests led to irregularities in.the admis-

sion of Ohio into the Union, to which I will now invite

your attention.

The Ordinance of 1787 was a compact made between

the government of the thirteen colonies and the inhab-

itants of the Territory, and could not be changed without

the consent of both parties. It was so perfect an instru-

ment that there was no warrant for tampering with it.

Effort was made repeatedly to change it, at the instance

of inhabitants of Southern origin, for the purpose of intro-

ducing slavery, and it came near meeting with success in

Ohio, Indiana and Illinois as well as in Congress. That

disaster was averted through the labors of a few wise men

who looked beyond their day and generation. We shall

see that there was tampering for political purposes, and

because of this Ohio was admitted at an earlier day than

would otherwise have been possible. Mr. Jefferson's first

election was secured on a very narrow margin-it was by

the grace and personal interposition of his old enemy,

Alexander Hamilton. It was desirable that a new Repub-

lican State should be formed before the next election, in

1804. The parties were so evenly divided in the Terri-

tory that the political complexion of the electoral vote of

the State would depend on whether it was admitted

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins. 195

through the instrumentalities of the Republican or the

Federalist party. The Virginia colony in Ross county

were ambitious to give the State to Jefferson and win the

right to share in the national councils. They were young

and ambitious and skillful in the manipulation of politics.

At first they proposed to make Ohio a Republican State,

with St. Clair as Governor, but Symmes and Findlay and

John Smith (the Smith of Burr's conspiracy) protested so

vigorously, the scheme was abandoned. St. Clair had

offended Symmes by insisting that he should set apart the

university section in his purchase, as he had contracted to

do. He had removed Findlay from an office he had dis-

graced, and later he had reported Thomas Worthington

for violation of the land laws and the rights of settlers.

St. Clair was stiff and uncompromising, and these poli-

ticians determined to break his neck, as they could not

bend it. They assailed his character, and preferred

charges against him, only one of which proved serious,

and that was due to a misunderstanding of the instruc-

tions of the State Department. Mr. Jefferson refused

to act on these, and the scheme was likely to fail, when

the Federalists themselves, by imprudence in counter-

mining, made a breach through which the enemy

marched to victory.   St. Clair, General Putnam, Dr.

Cutler and Judge Burnet, who were the real founders

of Ohio, were anxious that when admitted as a State

Ohio should be Federalist. They got up a scheme so

to alter the boundaries of the eastern division of the

Territory as to make the Scioto the western boundary

line. This would have reduced the population of the

Eastern division, and kept it in territorial condition for

some years longer. A bill, drafted by Judge Burnet,

was passed by the Territorial Legislature. This gave the

Republicans a fulcrum at Washington, and they used it

with such effect as to knock the Federalists out in the

second round.

The Ordinance of 1787 provided for the State lines, and

196   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

for the admission of the territorial divisions into the Union

as States. The language is mandatory:

" Whenever any of the said States shall have 60,000

free inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted by

its delegates into the Congress of the United States on an

equal footing with the original States, in all respects what-

ever; and shall be at liberty to form a permanent consti-

tution and State government."

An enabling act was not called for. All necessary

authority was already provided, and hence the act of Con-

gress of April 30, 1802, was a direct interference in the

internal affairs of the territory. If General Putnam and

Dr. Cutler had stood stoutly up to this, and had not set

the example of departing from the work of the Conti-

nental Congress, the result would have been different.

They were masters of the situation, as they had all of the

machinery in Federalist hands. But they made a fatal

mistake in attempting to compete with the Virginians in

political intrigue; a mistake often made since in succeed-

ing generations.

The leaders of the Virginia (or Republican) party were

Nathaniel Massie, Thomas Worthington, Dr. Edward

Tiffin, Jeremiah Morrow, and Return J. Meigs, Jr., young

men of high character, who were actuated by an honor-

able ambition to give to the new State a more liberal form

of government than they believed the Federalists would

or could give. They denounced the latter as monarchists

with as glib a tongue as the followers of St. Thomas east

of the mountains, and in return were denounced as

Jacobins, sympathizers with the reign of blood and anarchy

in France. The partizanship of the beginning of the nine-

teenth century was a blind, unreasoning partizanship, that

turned brother against brother, and filled the land with

hate and unhappiness. That is a striking picture Dr.

Cutler gives us of Martha Washington pouring tea and

coffee for visiting Federalists, while entertaining them

with sarcastic remarks on the new order of things. We

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins. 197

are assured that " she spoke of the election of Mr. Jeffer-

son, whom she considered as one of the most detestable

of mankind, as the greatest misfortune our country had

ever experienced."

Dr. Cutler himself thought at first, from the tone of

Jefferson's inaugural, that he would disappoint the Jacob-

ins, and give the country a conservative administration;

but when the bill for remodeling the Judiciary passed Con-

gress he was certain that the Cabinet had decreed the

destruction of the Constitution.

On the other hand if we were to read the original draft

of a letter on file in the State department from James

Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, written one month after the

inauguration of the latter, we would find the party of

Washington denounced as enemies of a Republican gov-

ernment, and the new President advised to turn out the

rascals who had been commissioned by that great man, and

fill their places with trustworthy Democrats.

Having sent Governor Arthur St. Clair, the leader of the

Federalists, back to his Pennsylvania hermitage, I crave

your attention for a few moments longer while I introduce

to your notice another Pennsylvanian, one of the ablest of

the leaders of the Democracy, whose honorable career is a

part of the history of Ohio.

LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF JEREMIAH MORROW.

While looking over some old manuscripts the other day,

I chanced upon the following sentence in a letter to John

Sargeant, from a correspondent in 1827, who was canvas-

ing the names of persons mentioned for the office of Vice

President:

"Governor Morrow," he said, "is an estimable, but

assuredly not a strong man." This is the judgment of a

contemporary who was favorable to the pretensions of

another. We shall see whether it is correct.

Jeremiah Morrow was a member of the Legislature of

the Northwest Territory; a member of the Constitutional

198  Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

Convention of November, 1802; of the first General As-

sembly of Ohio; he was the first, and for ten years the sole

representative of the State in the lower house of Congres;

six years a member of the United States Senate; was

elected Governor of the State for two terms, and at the

earnest solicitation of his neighbors served them again in

his old age in Congress and in the Legislature. This is

not the record of an ordinary man.

Governor Morrow was of Scotch-Irish descent, his fam-

ily being a branch of the Scotch family of Murray. His

ancestors are traced through the north of Ireland to Scot-

land. Some of his ancestors bore a conspicuous part in

the siege of Londonderry in 1689, and from this place his

grandfather, Jeremiah Murray, emigrated to America in

1730. He had but one son, John, who first adopted the

present orthography of the name, and who was a well-to-do

farmer of Adams county, Pennsylvania. This John Mor-

row, or Murray, had three sons, the eldest of whom,

named after the grandfather, is the subject of my sketch.

He was born near Gettysburg, October 6th, 1771. Jere-

miah had the experience of all farmers' boys, plenty of

work to do and limited terms at such schools as the coun-

try afforded. Like other ambitious young men he acquired

enough of mathematics to become an efficient surveyor,

and thus equipped, with a taste for reading, he entered on

practical life and soon made up for the lack of the extrin-

sic aids of a college education. He went to the Ohio

valley in about the year 1796, and was employed as a

school teacher and surveyor at Columbia. While thus

engaged he purchased a considerable tract of land on the

Little Miami, about thirty miles from its mouth, in what

is now Warren county. He returned to Pennsylvania for

a wife, and on the 1₉th of February, 1799, he married

Mary Parkhill of Fayette county, who accompanied him

to the west to share the privations of a pioneer life. He

had erected a log cabin, and was soon busy felling trees

and preparing the land for cultivation.

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins. 199

Mr. Morrow won the confidence of his neighbors, and in

1801 they sent him to represent them in the Territorial

Legislature-the first legislative body that met in the old

State House at Chillicothe.

Mr. Morrow had been in correspondence with Colonel

Worthington, and although the Federalists were very

strong in Hamilton county, which he represented, he was

recognized as belonging to the Republican party, which

had been organized in the new country by the Virginians.

When Jacob Burnet, of the Council, had succeeded in get-

ting his bill providing for a division of the territory

enacted into a law, the minority protested so vigorously

that Congress refused to approve of the measure, and the

Federalists never afterwards recovered. Within one year

a convention had convened, and Mr. Morrow participated

in the work of framing the Constitution for the new State.

He was Chairman of the committee that prepared and

reported the fourth article of the Constitution prescribing

the qualifications of electors.

After the admission of the State into the Union, Mr.

Morrow, as member of the first State Senate, bore a dis-

tinguished part in the work of adapting the territorial

laws to the new order of things introduced by the adoption

of a State government. At the special election, held on

the twenty-first of June, 1803, he was elected a represen-

tative in Congress, and held that office for ten consecutive

years. When, under a new apportionment, the State was

allowed a larger representation, Mr. Morrow was trans-

ferred to the Senate.

When Mr. Morrow entered the House he was assigned

to the Committee on Public Lands, the very first standing

committee charged with the care of this important interest

appointed in the House. He subsequently served in both

Houses as Chairman of the Committee on Public Lands.

He was by nature and experience well fitted for this

work, which required a practical mind and a sound judg-

ment. He knew thoroughly the wants of the settlers, and

200  Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

possessed the firmness, independence and moral courage

to resist the lobby-scheming of land speculators. His

opinion on any subject relating to the public domain uni-

formly commanded the respect of Congress, so that it

came to pass that almost all of the laws providing for the

survey and disposal of the public lands during the period

he was in Congress, were drafted by him.

Let us pause to hear the estimate put upon this part of

Mr. Morrow's public services by the most competent

authority of his day: " During the long period in the

House of Representatives and in the Senate," said Henry

Clay, "that Ohio's upright and unambitious citizen, the

first representative of the State, and afterwards Senator

and Governor, presided over the Committee on Public

Lands we heard of no chimerical schemes. All went on

smoothly, quietly and safely. No man in the sphere within

which he acted ever commanded or deserved the implicit

confidence of Congress more than Jeremiah Morrow.

There existed a perfect persuasion of his entire impartial-

ity and justice between the old States and the new. A few

artless but sensible words pronounced in his plain Scotch-

Irish dialect were always sufficient to insure the passage

of any bill or resolution which he reported."

In 1806, Mr. Morrow, in the House, in connection with

Mr. Worthington, of Ohio, and General Samuel Smith, of

Maryland, of the Senate, introduced measures which led

to the improvement known as the Cumberland road. It is

scarcely possible at this day, when every part of the conti-

nent is accessible by railroad or steamboat, and almost

every neighborhood has its paved or macadamized road for

wagons and pleasure carriages, to conceive of the great

commercial importance this macadamized highway, con-

necting the navigable waters of the Atlantic with a tribu-

tary of the Mississippi, was to the people of Ohio and

Kentucky. The policy of internal improvements was one

that Washington had much at heart, and as a part of a

general system, especially a road connecting the Potomac

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins. 201

with the Ohio. It remained for particularists to deny

to the national government under the Constitution any

power to aid in the work of internal improvements. Mr.

Morrow and Colonel Worthington, although active mem-

bers of Mr. Jefferson's Republican party, continued zealous

in seeking governmental aid in the extension of commerce.

At the opening of the Fourteenth Congress-a congress

celebrated not less for the important measures it orig-

inated than for the distinguished men enrolled as mem-

bers-Mr. Morrow was placed at the head of a committee

in the Senate to whom was referred so much of the Presi-

dent's message as related to roads and canals, and on the

6th of February, 1816, he presented an able and lucid

report on the whole subject, the first, I believe, ever pre-

sented in either house recommending a general system of

internal improvements.

When Mr. Morrow's term in the Senate expired in 1819,

he declined a re-election, and returned to his farm. But

public sentiment was against his retiring, and he was ap-

pointed a Canal Commissioner in 1820, and again in 1822.

As, however, he was elected Governor in this latter year,

he declined to act as commissioner. During the four

years he filled the gubernatorial chair, he was industri-

ously furthering the interests of the State, encouraging

the construction of roads and promoting the great enter-

prise of connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio river by

means of canals, an enterprise that had a remarkable

influence over the future character of the population of

the State and of advancing the grade of the State in the

Union. It was the Fourth of July, 1825, that the work

was begun, De Witt Clinton assisting Governor Morrow

at the ceremonies. Clinton was induced to visit Ohio by

a few over-zealous friends who promised a presidential

boom, but we are assured by the correspondence of the

day that the influence of "Harry of the West" was so

manifest wherever he went as to disturb the mind of the

New York guest. He said many ugly things about Mr.

202  Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

Clay afterwards, and while he did not reach the presiden-

tial chair, he did defeat Mr. Clay in New York, and

thereby broke the hearts of thousands.

During this same year Governor Morrow welcomed

La Fayette to the State - the occasion being made much

of by all who could possibly reach Cincinnati, where the

reception took place. In his account of his tour, La

Fayette speaks pleasantly of the Governor and of the

people of Ohio.

At the close of his second gubernatorial term, Governor

Morrow again tried to retire to public life, but his neigh-

bors sent him to the State Senate. In 1828 he headed

the electoral ticket for John Quincy Adams, and in

1832 the Clay and Sargeant electoral ticket. He was also

the first President of the Little Miami Railroad Company.

In 1840, when Governor Morrow was in his seventieth

year, he was again sent to Congress, under the following

interesting circumstances. That was the log cabin year,

when the people of the State went wild over the brilliant

speeches of America's greatest orator, Corwin, and the

songs of John Griener. Mr. Corwin resigned his seat in

Congress to accept the Whig nomination for Governor,

and a mass convention was held at Wilmington to nomi-

nate a successor.  It is said that ten thousand people

were present on that occasion, and I believe it to be true.

It would have been hard to find a section in Ohio so poor

in people, or in spirit, at any time in 1840 or 1844 where

ten thousand people could not be got together on two

weeks' notice to hear a political discussion. At this Wil-

mington meeting, where Corwin gave an account of his

stewardship, and drew philosophical lessons for the ben-

efit of his auditors in his inimitable style, each county

appointed fifty delegates to select a successor, and Gov-

ernor Morrow was their unanimous choice to fill the

unexpired term and the succeeding term. It was ratified

by the mass convention with great enthusiasm. When

Governor Morrow went to Washington to take his seat he

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins. 203

found in the House but one member who had served with

him in the Eighth Congress when he first entered on a

Congressional career in 1803-and this member, then

a Representative, a Senator in 1803, and subsequently

President, was perhaps the most eminent American citi-

zen of the day-John Quincy Adams, the Old Man

Eloquent, who was then contending for the right of peti-

tion and the freedom of speech. But the change in

manners was not less than in men. " My old associates,"

said Governor Morrow in a tone of sadness to a friend,

"are nearly all gone. I am acting with another genera-

tion. The courtesies which members formerly extended

to each other are, in a great measure, laid aside, and I feel

that I am in the way of younger men."

This service closed the public career of Jeremiah Morrow

-a career that extended over a period of forty years. Dur-

ing this whole time Mr. Morrow never sought an office, nor

did he ever refuse one. His opinion, always modestly

expressed, was that a citizen of a republic should be ready

to discharge any duty to which he was called by the voices

of his fellow-citizens.

I think it well here to repeat the words of General

Durbin Ward on the retirement of Mr. Morrow. He

said:

" I well remember when the venerable old man declined

serving longer in Congress.  With that gravity of

intonation for which he was remarkable, he announced to

his fellow-citizens that he wished to be excused from serv-

ing them longer; that he had lived through his age and

generation and served it as best he could; that new men

and new interests had grown up around him, and that it

was now proper for him to leave those interests to the

keeping of the present generation, who better understood,

and who more warmly sympathized in the wants of the

present age. He made the same response when solicited

to take a seat in the second constitutional convention. He

said he had assisted in forming one constitution; it was

204   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

now worn out, and he was worn out with it. The new

one ought to be formed by those who would live under

it."

These were words of wisdom uttered by one who had

had bestowed upon him the highest honors without him-

self apparently being conscious of possessing any merit

beyond that belonging to the humblest citizen in the com-

munity. In the discharge of a public duty he put forth all

his powers, but place never exalted him; he was superior

to it. Justice John McLean, a neighbor who knew him

intimately in public and private life, said of him: "No

man was firmer in matters of principle, and on these, as

in matters of detail, he always maintained himself with

great ability. His mind was sound and discriminating.

No man in Congress who served with him had a sounder

judgment. His opinions on great questions were of more

value, and were more appreciated in high quarters, than

the opinions of many others whose claims of statesman-

ship and oratory were much higher than his. Mr. Jeffer-

son had much reliance in him, and Mr. Gallatin gave him,

in every respect, the highest evidence of his confidence.

There never sat in Congress a man more devoted to

the public interests, and of a fairer or more elevated

morality."

During the last years of his life Governor Morrow re-

sided in a plain frame house at the foot of a steep hill and

close to the bank of the Little Miami, one of several plain

dwellings he had erected near his mills, which were

turned by that stream. His wife preceded him to the

grave by some years; his children were married and set-

tled. In his old age he preserved the same simplicity of

life and unpretending manners which had characterized

his earlier life. He occupied a single but spacious room

plainly furnished, which was the sitting room, parlor and

library. His library was large and well selected, and here,

occupied with his books and newspapers, in the full use

of his mental faculties, he lived in the enjoyment of a

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins. 205

happy and comparatively healthful old age. He died on

the 22d day of March, 1852, in the 81st year of his age.

This, all too briefly related, is the story of a useful life.

There is not a trace of genius; nothing of evil to attribute

to eccentricity. It is clear that Mr. Morrow was not " a

child of destiny," but a plain man who feared God and

loved his fellow-men. And here, friends of Ohio, I wish

to proclaim in this age of unbelief, of the false and mere-

tricious, the ancient and divine doctrine of CHARACTER as

being the highest type of manhood. Wit may edify,

genius may captivate, but it is truth that blesses and en-

dures and becomes immortal. It is not what a man seems

to be, but what he is that should determine his worth.

It is in the light of this doctrine, that I wish you to

form an opinion of Jeremiah Morrow. A few additional

words descriptive of his person and of traits of character

will bring the man more plainly before you.

He was of medium stature, rather thin, very straight,

strong and active, and capable of enduring much fatigue.

His eyes and hair were dark, but in the last years of his

life the latter was nearly perfectly white. In dress he was

exceedingly careless, even while in public life. At home

his usual attire was as plain and homely as that worn

by his neighbor farmers, or his work-hands. At no

period of his life did he consider manual labor beneath

him, and few men with a sickle could reap more grain

in a day than he. These homely ways occasionally led

ambitious and officious politicians to the conclusion that

he would be as potters' clay in their hands. His pastor,

the Rev. Dr. Mac Dill, of the Associate Reformed, or

United Presbyterian Church, of which Mr. Morrow was a

life-long and consistent member, relates that "when his

first gubernatorial term was nearly expired, some gentle-

men about Columbus, who seemed to regard themselves

as a board specially appointed to superintend the distri-

bution of offices in the State of Ohio, had a meeting, and

appointed a committee to wait on him and advise him as

206  Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

to his duty. The committee called, and speedily made

known their business. It was to prevail on him (for the

public good, of course) not to stand as a candidate for a

second term, but to give way in favor of another. They

promised that if he would do this they would use their

influence to return him to the United States Senate,

where, they assured him, he would be more useful to the

State. Having patiently heard them through, he calmly

replied: 'I consider office as belonging to the people. A

few of us have no right to make bargains on the subject,

and I have no bargain to make. I have concluded to

serve another term if the people see fit to elect me, though

without caring much about it.'"

A friend relates this anecdote of the Governor: "On

one occasion, an officer from one of the Eastern States

came to Columbus as the agent in an important criminal

case. The Governor was on his farm, and as the case

admitted of no delay the agent went post-haste to find him.

Arriving at the old mansion he asked for Governor Morrow.

A lady directed him to the barn. Feeling that he was be-

ing humbugged the man went under protest, as directed.

He found two men busy with a load of hay, one pitching

to the mow, the other mowing away. He looked in vain

for Governor Morrow, and a little out of humor, asked of

the man on the wagon of his whereabouts. The individ-

ual addressed pitched his last fork full to the mow, and

taking off his hat, wiping the perspiration from his brow,

said: 'I am Governor Morrow, what can I do for you,

sir?' The agent, now sure of the humbug, became indig-

nant, said he wished to see Governor Morrow on business,

and none of his servants. The farmer descended from the

wagon, directed 'John' to drive the oxen out to the

meadow; assured the man that he was the Governor; led

the way to the house, and being one of the best talkers of

the day, he soon convinced the indignant agent that the

Governor of Ohio was the right man in the right place, and

that he understood the dignity of the gubernatorial chair

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins. 207

as well as the mysteries of the hay-mow. Years afterwards

I met this man in Boston, and he said that the strangest

adventure in his career was his meeting with Governor

Morrow in the barn."

One more illustration and I am done: When Charles

Anderson was Governor, and I Secretary of State, we repre-

sented the State government at Urbana on the occasion of

the removal of the remains of Simon Kenton to the new

cemetery of that place, where a handsome monument had

been erected to the famous pioneer. And here I interrupt

my narrative to remark parenthetically, and not as perti-

nent to my subject, that while the dignified officers of the

State and hundreds of worthy citizens followed the remains

of the pioneers to their final resting place in solemn

silence, the descendants of Kenton were enjoying them-

selves at a feast-a grim commentary, you will say, on

family pride. But so far as the public were concerned, the

ceremony had its sentimental, its patriotic side.

The occasion was calculated to inspire reminiscences

and anecdotes of early Ohio days, and Governor Anderson

proved to be in his happiest mood, the full meaning of

which will be appreciated by those here present to-night

who were ever so fortunate as to listen to the conversation

of that brilliant man. He had a great deal to say about

Governor Morrow, who, as Trustee of Miami University,

often visited that institution and invariably, from choice,

roomed with young Anderson.   He therefore came to

know him well, and within a few months, at my request,

has put in writing his opinion of Mr. Morrow. He says:

" If I were compelled to choose and name the one ablest

and best of all the Governors whom I knew it would be

this Jeremiah Morrow) of Warren county. * * * * *

* * I believe I have known but one man who had so

little of the spirit 'to show off'--of false pretense; of

selfish vanity or ambition--as he had. And as for his

merely intellectual powers and culture, without being, as

far as I know, very profound or original, and surely being

208     Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

neither brilliant nor eloquent, he had so many exact, yet

various and extensive, knowledges, with such accuracy

and aptness of memory and citation, that I am compelled

to adjudge him a high place as well in scholarship as

statesmanship."

The anecdote I am about to relate will give you the esti-

mate of an intelligent foreigner of this Ohio pioneer. Gov-

ernor Anderson said in the conversation, to which I have

referred, that after he had graduated at Oxford he went

abroad to spend a year in Europe. Some time in the

month of October of the year 1845 he chanced to meet at

Prague, in Bohemia, an English party of three gentlemen

-a couple of barristers traveling for pleasure, and a Scotch

commercial traveler. They together visited all the noted

places throughout that country, and by these associations

became welded into a sufficient homogeneity to be called

"Our Party." At an early hour on a fine autumn day

they turned their faces homeward, and followed the Mol-

daw toward, but not as far as the river Elbe, until they

reached the little steamboat on which they were to em-

bark, some distance above the junction of these classic

streams. While they were lounging around the dock

awaiting the arrival of the "captain," as we Americans

always dub such officers, a sudden shower came up and

drove the passengers into the close quarters of the cabin.

Among these passengers so packed together was a curi-

ously and elegantly dressed personage, in clean, bright

scarlet coat, buff vest and shirt, fair top boots, a very

jaunty little cap, with an elegant whip in his hand. Being

fresh shaven, except his oiled side whiskers, clean as new

cloth and fine linen could make him, he was, with his

fresh pink complexion, his handsome regular features and

comely stoutish figure, to a novice like young Anderson,

one of the most curious and elegant figures he had ever

seen off the stage. It was a pity he had not remained as a

figure " to be seen, not heard," as parents in the good old

days were wont to say to the boys. But alas! he spoke.

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins. 209

And such grammar, such metallic tones, interlarded with

slang and vulgar profanity, as never before offended mor-

tal ears in the presence of ladies. It is needless to say

that all this outrage was in English. Indeed, declared

Governor Anderson, no other language on earth, dead or

living, ever had the capability of such slang and profanity

as was then heard. Undoubtedly this " Professor" of the

profane branch of the Queen's English did not dream that

any of those present, except his own associates and the

Anderson party, known by their dress, understood a word

of his chaffing. But he was soon to be undeceived in a

surprising manner; for after two or three repetitions, there

arose from his seat between two ladies, of very plain but

most genteel apparel and most quiet, refined appearance

and demeanor, another figure as striking as his own, but

in a very different fashion. He was a very giant in size

and proportions. Very much above six feet in height, he

was broad, straight, compact, sinewy--one of the noblest

and most majestic human beings Anderson had ever be-

held. And he spoke also, to the amazement of the little

party, in the best tones and clearest sense in our own dear

tongue. "Steward," he called calmly. No response.

"Steward," with a slight crescendo. Still no response.

"STEWARD," he shouted, so as to be heard throughout the

boat. Whereupon the steward showed his face. "Where

is the master of this vessel?" The steward replied that

he had not yet arrived from Prague. Then our modern

Ajax announced in effect tha he would usurp that office

for the present occasion. And thereupon pointing his

finger to the ascending steps, he coolly ordered the burly

Britisher in scarlet and buff tights to move up and out.

The free-born Briton refused peremptorily. He said he

had paid for his ticket, that he had equal rights, that it was

raining and he would not go for any man. To all which

the new master said " Go," his stalwart finger still point-

ing the way. After a slight but impressive pause he added

"I know you, sir. You are a low servant of my friend

Vol. II-14

210   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

the Earl of Chesterfield - the head groom of his racing

stud, and you have forgotten that you are not in the pres-

ence of his horses and your other fellow-brutes. Now

move, sirrah! or I will move you." And thereupon out

moved the bold Briton into the rain.

In a short time the shower passed, and the little family-

party of Anglo-Saxons went on deck for the freshened air

and the sunlight. Of course, a squad of four of that race

of bipeds could never be collected in which there would

not, after such a scene, arise a split, a taking of sides; a

discussion of the rights of the parties; much vague refer-

ence to Magna Charta, to the Bill of Rights, etc. And so

in this case there was a division. The Scotchman, keen in

debate and jealous of the English, began the schism by

rejoicing over the discomfiture of the groom. The two

English barristers were inclined, for argument's sake, to

stand upon the free speech of Magna Charta, and as

Anderson, who sympathized with the young ladies and

admired the masterful stranger, sided with the Scotchman,

their discussion became animated. As the words of strife

closed, the Scotchman disappeared below to gather fresh

items. In a little while, as it turned out, he informed our

hero of the debates that they had settled down into

unanimity on his side, but that his American friend, with

whom he had traveled the Danube, had been very warm

in his advocacy of his procedure and admiration of his

bearing. The big stranger then said he would like to be

made acquainted with an American; that this was his

country almost; that he had never seen an American so

far east in Europe, and that having spent many happy

days in the United States, he would be really glad to

chat with this American friend of Campbell's. And

thereupon up came the twain, like Douglas and his

page, and so young Anderson had the honor of a pre-

sentation to the Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar--a soldier

of Waterloo, a relative of the royal family of England,

and, among other distinctions, the author of two of the

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins. 211

most highly esteemed, as well as expensive, volumes of

Americana.

During the trip down the beautiful river to Dresden the

Grand Duke paid marked attention to the young Amer-

ican, and in conversation showed the most accurate

familiarity with our history and institutions, and acquaint-

ance with prominent citizens in every section of the

country. For instance, in relating his experience in

Ohio, he spoke of Governor Morrow, Judge Burnet, Gen-

eral Lyttle, General Findlay, Peyton Symmes, Robert

Buchanan, A. W. Gazlay, Nicholas Longworth, and

others, rightly estimating the ability and characteristics

of each. " Next to your great statesman, Henry Clay,"

said he, "I took the greatest liking to the Governor of

your State-Governor Morrow-whose acquaintance I

made in the most thoroughly American manner." And

thereupon he related how, taking a carriage at Cincinnati,

he traveled to Columbus to pay his respects to the Gov-

ernor, but, on the advice of a Cincinnati friend, he called

en route at the farm of Governor Morrow. When he

reached the farm he saw a small party of men in a

new field, rolling logs.  This scene of a deadening, or

clearing, is familiar to those of us fortunate enough

to have been brought up in Ohio, but to a European

raised in courts, it must have been an amazing sight.

After twenty years, he gave a quick and picturesque,

almost poetic description of this remarkable scene on

the Little Miami; but I must hasten to the end. Ac-

costing one of the workmen, a homely little man in a red

flannel shirt, and with a smutch of charcoal across his

cheek, he asked, as he did on the Elbe boat, "Where is

your master, sir?" "Master!" exclaimed the other, "I

own no master-no master but Him above." The Duke

then said, rather testily, " It is the Governor of the State,

Governor Morrow, I am inquiring for." "Well, I am Jere-

miah Morrow," replied the son of toil, with unaffected and

unconscious simplicity. The Grand Duke stood amazed.

212   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

This little man, in a red flannel shirt and home-made tow

linen trousers, leaning on a dogwood hand-spike, with a

coal smutched face and the jeweled sweat drops of real

labor now on his brow, and a marked Scotch-Irish brogue

when he spoke! He the Governor of Ohio? Was it pos-

sible? He could scarcely credit his senses. The history

of Sparta and Rome, were as household words to him.

Cincinnatus the model of rural, if not rustic, statesmen and

heroes, had so filled the world with his fame, that he had

indirectly given his name to the neighboring town on the

bank of the Ohio. But here was a real, living farmer, rus-

tic laborer, and a statesman too; not a figure-head of a

Plutarch, nor the dream of a poet fancy, but a present

reality, a man with simple, natural manners and downright

honesty of character, who was quite the equal of any clas-

sic Cincinnatus or Cato of them all. He had seen, as he

had expected in this new and wild country, many institu-

tions in the process of development, all along the line, from

germ to grain; but a real head of a commonwealth, in such

a show of man-or any likeness to it-was a spectacle he

had not seen nor expected to see.

After he had somewhat recovered from his surprise, he

accepted a graceful invitation to go to the house, where he

of the red flannel shirt excused himself, and soon reap-

peared fittingly apparelled for the governor of a republic.

The Grand Duke was his guest in Warren county, and also

at Columbus, for some days, and it was during this time

that a plain head of a plain people made such a profound

impression.

It has come to be the fashion with biographical writers

to dwell upon the unfavorable conditions attending the

growth and education of successful men, who in early

youth had to labor and save, or share with kin the hard-

earned dollars. If a boy voluntarily or of necessity went

barefooted, or, if in manhood, he took a contract to split

rails, it is accepted as evidence that his relations were not

only poor but ignorant and unfamiliar with the decencies

A Familiar Talk About Monarchists and Jacobins.  213

of life, not to say deficient in those delicate sensibilities

inseparable from noble characters. To heighten the con-

trast, humble friends and associates are made to appear

coarse and repulsive-unjustly, we may be sure. Great

souls are not born of evil. Strong characters surmount

difficulties before which weaker ones succumb and the

effort is a valuable aid to intellectual growth. But there

are external influences that help to mold the man. In the

case of Jeremiah Morrow there was an element in his edu-

cation which must not be overlooked, for which he was

indebted to Christian parents. He was by them instructed

by precept and example in the great principles which guide

and control a moral and religious life. Similar conditions

influenced the education of the leading pioneers, who

wrought a mighty work in the Ohio Valley, and of their

successors who have departed, lamented by the whole

American people - Hammond, and Harrison, and Mc-

Lean, and Corwin, and Brough, and Ewing, and Wade,

and Chase, and Garfield. These like those came of

poor but of the best American families, dating back to

the time when there was no marked distinction except

that of human worth; and they died as they lived,

comparatively poor. The history of the lives of these

devoted and patriotic men, of the work wrought by

the pioneers, and of the manly and unpretentious

career of Jeremiah Morrow, to which I have called your

attention to-night, is a precious heritage to the people

of Ohio.

And here, Mr. President, I ought to close my remarks,

as I have already detained you too long. But we are in

the midst of great social dangers, and I am constrained to

dwell a little longer on the central thought of my theme.

New conditions confront each generation, and changes

have to be made to meet them. But there are principles

that an immutable, and a people's history is glorious or

infamous as these are made conspicuous or are trampled

upon in private and official life. We have been accused

214   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

by foreigners of making a fetich of the Constitution. If

we were to live up to the spirit of the Constitution, we

would be strong enough to confront any danger from with-

out or within. But the real American fetich is the pride

of money, which is rapidly destroying the republican sim-

plicity and honesty in which our strength as a people here-

tofore lay. Rufus King, in a private letter in 1803, pre-

dicted that if we had another war, there would be afforded

another opportunity of gaining riches, the consequences

whereof might be an aristocracy of the most odious char-

acter. But the picture he drew falls far short of the real-

ity. It is not likely that Mr. King, or other Americans in

that day, dreamed that men would count their hundred

millions, largely acquired by wrecking corporations and

other questionable methods; or through the power of

combination destroy individual enterprise -the keystone

of the American business arch; or that, through the

selfish greed of a few, and indifference to the just claims

and welfare of the many, we should be brought, at the

close of the first century of the Constitution, face to face

with anarchy and revenge. And yet is not this the condi-

tion of affairs in our country to-day ?

Let us not despair of the Republic, but, acquiring the

faith that strengthened the immortal Lincoln in days as

dark, believe that Providence will find a way for rendering

useful for good the enormous wealth in the possession of

the few, and of transforming into conservative American

citizens the refugees of Europe without the horrors of

crime and bloody revolution. Much depends upon Ohio,

whose central location gives her great power. Heretofore

her leaders have been actuated by a noble ambition; her

citizens have responded to every call of patriotism. Pri-

vate and public virtue still abound. As the example of a

simple, dignified, and useful life, after the enjoyment of

the highest honors, was to be found in the early days of

the Republic at Mount Vernon, Monticello and Montpelier,

so is it to be found to-day at Fremont. The value of this

A Fumiliur Talk About Monurchists and Jacobins. 215

influence cannot be overestimated. Let the citizens of

Ohio not forget the living lesson which is worthy the glo-

rious past; or those to whose hands hereafter shall be con-

fided the power of the State and of the Nation, the words

of the poet:

Goodness and greatness are not means, but ends."