ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 525 himself received a multitude of callers. On March 4th he was inaugurated President, made it known that he would reverse the recent policy of removing officials without cause, issued a call for a special session of Congress for May 31st—and died in the White House at 12 :30 A. M. on April 4th. This shocking news did not reach Ohio until April 9th. All the papers went into mourning by "turning rules," making heavy black lines between their columns. The dead President's body was placed in the receiving tomb at the Congress Burying Ground at Washington. In July the remains were taken to Cincinnati, received from the river steamboat on the 5th of that month, and after a solemn funeral procession and services, were conveyed to his old home at North Bend, and consigned to the grave. By proclamation of President John Tyler May 14th was appointed as a day of humiliation and prayer throughout the Nation, in commemoration of the famous soldier and statesman. The financial crisis, which had been approaching for two or three years, came in 1841. Items similar to the following, which was published in the Hamilton Intelligencer of July 23d, were general in Ohio newspapers: "Money.—Several banks are in very doubtful credit just now, and have no doubt been put to it by the tricks of Brokers. Whether they will recover or not we cannot say. West Union, Circleville (charter 1818) and Bank of Steubenville are very doubtful. Otis and Arnold's checks on the Savings Institution and Exchange Bank are not much better. Lebanon is two per cent discount." A little later it was announced that the Circleville bank had "broken," and before long five others closed their doors. Long lists of heavy discounts on bank paper made their appearance regularly in the news columns. It was stated that twenty-one banks had suspended in New York, and many more in other states. Meanwhile, flour at Cincinnati fell to $3.90 a barrel, whiskey to 16 cents a gallon, lard to 6 1/2 cents a pound, wheat to 60 cents a bushel, corn on the ear to 18 cents a bushel. Difficulties of life came to all except the rich. In a published list of cities of more than 5,000 inhabitants—about sixty in number in the Nation—Ohio had five: Cincinnati, 46,338 ; Cleveland, 6,071; Dayton, 6,067; Columbus, 6,048, and Steubenville, 5,203. On December 24, 1841, this little news story was given prominent display in the Hamilton Intelligencer: "Little Miami Railroad.—This improvement is now so far forward that cars are running from Cincinnati to Milford, a distance of fifteen miles. On the 14th inst. the city council and some others took a trip in the first car, and went over the distance in an hour and a half, though some impediments existed to retard their progress." FORTIETH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 6, 1841, to March 7, 1842 The speaker of the Senate was James J. Faran, of Hamilton County. Rufus P. Spakling, of Summit County, was chosen speaker of the House. The latter became a supreme judge in 1849, and in 1862 was sent to Congress, where he served for six years. Governor Corwin's message was almost entirely devoted to questions of finance and the currency, owing to the unfavorable condition of banking institutions throughout the country. The finance committee took up the subject in real earnest, but refused to recommend a state bank, which many thought the only solution of the difficulty, and the Assembly accepted the committee's judgment. The only action was the passage of a law placing further restrictions upon existing incorporated banks, and requiring the strictest accountability on the part of bank directors and officers. 526 - HISTORY OF OHIO The records of the session include a memorandum that Edwin M. Stanton, of Steubenville, was appointed official reporter of the Supreme Court—the first mention of the name of the future great war secretary in Lincoln's cabinet. The new census (1840) again made necessary a special session of the General Assembly to redistrict the state for congressional election purposes. This was assembled on July 25th. The session was full of excitement, and it adjourned on August 12th without accomplishing the purpose for which it was called. The journal of the House of Representatives reveals that on that date only thirty-one members responded to the call of their names, and a quorum to transact business could not be secured. The sergeant-at-arms was sent out with warrants of the speaker to bring in the absent members, but they all resigned their membership and defied the sergeant-at-arms. The speaker asked Governor Corwin what should be done. The governor responded that the sufficiency of the resignations rested with the House. Thereupon Speaker Spalding adjourned the House with an impassioned speech in which he denounced the action of the recalcitrant members as subversive of law and order and as threatening the institution of representative self government. The formal official House journal did not state the cause of these almost revolutionary proceedings, and one must turn to the newspapers of the day for an explanation of them. The democrats held a majority of the members. Their committee brought in a bill dividing the state into the twenty-one districts required under the new apportionment, but the whig members denounced it as an outrageous gerrymander. They claimed that although the last election had shown a whig majority in the state the democrats proposed in their bill to establish the districts in such a manner as to allow the whigs only seven congressmen, while they, the democrats, would have fourteen. Rather than submit to this the whigs broke up the session in the way described, before a vote could be taken upon the bill. The redistricting was necessarily deferred until the next session. Under the new apportionment Ohio was third among the states in its numerical standing in the Lower House of Congress, being exceeded only by New York, with thirty-four members, and Pennsylvania, with twenty-f our. During this year of 1842 the news concerning the banks was truly alarming to the people. On January 1st it became known that the notes of the Lebanon Miami Bank had stopped circulating, and the next week the bank failed. This was followed a few days later by the closing of the doors of the great Miami Exporting Company (a bank in Cincinnati), the Bank of Cincinnati and the Exchange Bank of Cincinnati. Rumors as to the condition of many other banks created great excitement and uneasiness, and it was not long until the banks at Hamilton, Urbana and Wooster, all previously considered perfectly sound, went down. On June 3d a bank list was published showing that ten in Ohio had broken, sixteen still remained good, and the notes issued by eight were subject to discounts of from 50 to 75 per cent. In the middle of January there were scenes of the greatest excitement in Cincinnati. A mob of several hundred broke into the house of the Miami Exporting Company's bank, destroyed the books, papers and everything of value, as well as the windows. They took out large quantities of the bank's worthless notes and scattered them over the street. "Then they attacked the Exchange Bank and the Bank of Cincinnati, and served them in much the same manner." The Cincinnati Chronicle of January 12 described these scenes, and concluded its account as follows : "After riddling the offices of the Cincinnati and Miami banks the ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 527 mob proceeded to the Bates Exchange office, corner of Main and Third streets, where they were for a time restricted by a dozen of the Citizens Guard and a few firemen. As these were, however, wholly unsupported, they gave way and the rioters finished their work during the afternoon by robbing the offices of Messrs. Bates and Lougee, and demolishing the woodwork. Bags of money were seized and carried off by men and boys—some were found with them." SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR WILSON SHANNON FORTY-FIRST LEGISLATIVE SESSION DECEMBER 5, 1842, TO MARCH 3, 1843 James J. Faran, of Cincinnati, was chosen speaker of the Senate, and John Chaney, of Fairfield County, Speaker of the House. The latter had been a Jackson presidential elector in 1832, and a member of Congress from 1832 to 1838. Upon his retirement from the Legislature at the end of this session he returned to his home in Canal Winchester, became a member of the Ohio Constitutional Convention, 18501851, and thereafter contented himself with official life confined to membership of the village council. The vote for governor as officially canvassed by the General Assembly showed that former Governor Shannon had received 119,774, a plurality of 1,872 over Corwin. But returns from Highland, Butler and Montgomery counties had not been received, and when they were counted later Shannon's plurality was increased to 3,120. The neglect to send the returns on the parts of the officers of the three counties aroused the ire of the legislators, and they passed a law placing a penalty of from $500 to $1,000 upon county clerks for derelictions of the same kind for the future. Report was made by the penitentiary directors that the contract system, which was now firmly established there, had caused friction between contractors and Warden Van Hook, and that the warden had had to be removed in the interest of harmony. Under the contract system 'the convicts were hired from the state, at stipulated prices per day, and they labored under the supervision of the contractors. The system was continued for more than half a century, but was finally abolished, largely through the efforts of the labor unions. A joint resolution of the assembly provided that a Chinese girl should be maintained by the state at the school for the blind. She had been brought from her native land by a Mrs. Gutzlaff, probably a missionary, and she was, in all likelihood, the first Mongolian ever to reside in Ohio. William Allen was returned to the United States Senate, again defeating Thomas Ewing by a vote of sixty-three to forty-four. The system of internal improvements in the state, including the canals, was practically completed, and the General Assembly authorized the governor to borrow $1,500,000 more to pay outstanding bills of contractors. A congressional redistricting bill was finally passed in March of this session, as planned by the democratic majority, and the whig papers blew their final blast against it. It was characterized by them as "one of the foulest deeds of the session," and as "marking the majority with the most abandoned political dishonesty." But the result of the next congressional election did not justify this abuse, for the whigs elected ten members of the Congress and the democrats ("locofocos") eleven. 528 - HISTORY OF OHIO ADMINISTRATION OF ACTING GOVERNOR THOMAS W. BARTLEY FORTY-SECOND LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 4, 1843, to March 13, 1844 Thomas W. Bartley, of Richland County, was chosen speaker of the Senate, and John M. Gallagher, of Clark County, speaker of the House of Representatives. Bartley became acting governor when Governor Shannon, within a month after the close of the session, resigned to become minister to Mexico, and he later served two terms as judge of the Supreme Court ; for three years as chief justice. The question of the salaries of state officials had for some years been a subject of much dispute in the general assemblies, but notwithstanding the cry for retrenchment, they were now increased. It is curious to note that the increases, made against great opposition, raised the salaries of the governor and judges of the Supreme Court to only $1,500 per year each. Those of other high officials were all much below that amount—the secretary of state, for instance, receiving only $1,000. But even the provision for these meager salaries was not allowed to stand. There was a vigorous "Retrenchment Committee" and upon its recommendation the compensations were reduced again before the session closed—governor and judges of the Supreme Court, $1,000 each ; secretary of state, $500 ; state auditor and state treasurer, $700 each. County officers were also placed on salaries which must have been regarded as paltry even for those times : County commissioners, $2 per day ; auditors, not to exceed $730 per year ; recorders, not to exceed $500 ; treasurers, a Maximum of $600, and sheriffs, $700. State officials were now permitted, for the first time, to have one or more assistants or employes in their offices—a secretary to the governor and clerks for the other departments—whose salaries ranged from $300 to $600 each. A "porter of public buildings" was also authorized, with pay of $20 per month. Interest in railroads had been declining in years then recent, and most of the charters formerly granted to railroad companies had lapsed. But the development and success of a few roads already in progress revived interest in that sort of enterprise and several of the dormant charters were revived by this assembly. There were numerous murder trials in Ohio at which the 'plea of insanity was set up by lawyers for the defense, and many such pleas were successful. The General Assembly, with a view to discouraging this practice, enacted the law of March 6, 1844, requiring that persons acquitted of the charge of murder on the ground of insanity should be confined permanently in county jails, as protection. against further violence. The editors also exhibited impatience with the success of insanity pleas. An unusual incident disclosing the interest in this subject was the theme of an editorial in the Hamilton Intelligences of February 27, 1844, and it was doubtless in the minds of the assemblymen when they enacted the law referred to above : "Monstrous Farce.—Within two months 'two persons were hanged in Columbus for murders committed in the penitentiary, the culprits having been found guilty under the law. One of these persons was defended under the usual plea of insanity ; which plea was not sufficient to save him. He was executed, but after the execution a committee of learned doctors examined his brain for evidence of. insanity ! ! ! They disagree, however, among themselves, and so the matter ends. It is one of the few cases of a trial after execution, and is quite as unsatisfactory as that made before." The journals continued to publish much matter concerning the great 530 - HISTORY OF OHIO use made of the canals, and the merchandise shipped over them. It was stated as an evidence of great prosperity that the tolls paid for canal service during the six months ending November 12, 1844, amounted to $172,659.41. But the era of railroads was now fast approaching, and items as to their progress were frequent. By July 11 the Little Miami Railroad had been finished from Cincinnati to within four miles of Lebanon, and contracts were let for construction as far as Xenia. The Urbana Gazette urged its extension to Toledo. "The traveling custom alone," declared the editor, "coming from and going to the West and Northwest, will be an immense source of profit to the company." Cars were running over short distances in Northern Ohio, and the managers of the Michigan Central had offered a free ride to citizens of Western Michigan to Detroit, a distance of 110 miles. Great interest was aroused by the newspaper descriptions of another wonder—"Morse's Electro Magnetic Telegraph"—wires for which had just been strung from Baltimore to Washington. The editors and people of Ohio were not slow to understand and appreciate what this would mean later in the advancement of their own state. An article copied from the Baltimore Patriot, filling more than two columns, describing in detail how it worked, appeared in many Ohio papers : "This beautiful and wonderful invention was made by Professor Morse in 1832, five years before anything of the kind in Europe. The electric telegraph now used in England, and invented by Professor Wheatstone, does not record its communications. The attendant is obliged to watch the movements of several magnetic needles upon which are the letters of the alphabet, and as they appear in sight to note them down. If one should escape his eye it is lost and cannot be recalled. Therefore the superior advantage of Morse's Electro Magnetic Telegraph in recording its intelligence without even the attendance of anyone, can be easily appreciated. * * * Thousands behold its sure and perfect performance awe struck and confounded, having asked 'what are we coming to ?"what next can the inventive and restless genius of man produce more beautiful and destined to work greater advantages in this broad land of liberty ?' " The political campaign of 1844 was another strenuous one. The whigs and "locofocos" of the state began in January to get ready for the battle. State conventions of both parties were held in January at Columbus, to express their preferences for men for governor and for president and to elect delegates to the national conventions. The issues were the tariff and the annexation of Texas. Mordecai Bartley was the whig popular candidate for governor, and Henry Clay for president. The democrats had a bitter contest in the nomination for governor, but finally named David Tod. For president they were at sea until their national convention at Baltimore nominated James K. Polk of Tennessee, on the ninth ballot. The whig papers screamed throughout the rest of the time until election day for Clay and Frelingheysen, and those of the democratic faith for Polk and Dallas. The result was : Polk, 149,061; Clay, 155,113 ; Birney, 8,050. Total, 312,224. The gubernatorial succession was a remarkable one. Acting Governor Thomas W. Bartley was succeeded in the office by Mordecai Bartley, his father. The son was a democrat, the father a whig. The son had been a candidate for nomination in the democratic convention, and had been beaten there by only one vote. The elder Bartley was sixty-one years old, and the younger, thirty-two. Mordecai Bartley had been a captain and adjutant under General William Henry Harrison in the War of 1812, state senator in 1817-18, and congressman from 1831 to 1833. He died in Mansfield in 1870. The vote in the gubernatorial election was : Bartley, 146,333 ; Tod, 145,062 ; scattering, 11. Total, 300,214. ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 531 ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR MORDECAI BARTLEY FORTY-THIRD LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 2, 1844, to March 13, 1845 Officers of the two houses of the General Assembly were chosen as follows : Speaker of the Senate, David Chambers, of Muskingum County ; speaker of the House of Representatives, John M. Gallagher, of Clark. The most pressing question of this time was, "Should Texas be annexed ?" The slave states were insistent for it, but most of the northern states were bitterly opposed. The General Assembly received committee reports both for and against it, and there was a division of sentiment, chiefly along party lines. A state bank was provided for, after years of agitation of the subject. The act was dated February 24, 1845. It limited the total capitalization to $6,150,000, and at least 30 per cent of this was to be paid in gold or silver coin. The state was divided into twelve banking districts, and branches were to be established in them only by the consent, and under the supervision, of a state commission of five members. Issues of notes were to be secured by reserves and by deposits with the state of approved bonds and stocks. The state was to provide the notes to be issued, and was to pay, from the securities deposited, the notes of such banks as should find themselves unable to redeem them. This institution was believed to be safe and to provide a sufficient volume of currency, but a protest against the law was made by twenty-six members of the House of Representatives and spread upon the journal of that body. Thomas Corwin, the great whig, was easily elected United States senator over David T. Dinsey, democrat, that mechanic of Cincinnati who had, since his election to the House by his fellow workmen of that city, advanced very far. His was a highly successful political career, notwithstanding his defeat by Corwin. A sweeping reform was made in the election laws. For the first time registration of voters was required as a condition of the right to vote. This act, dated March 13, 1845, was the forerunner of those changes made nearly a half century later, by the introduction of the Australian ballot system in Ohio. Seven new railroad companies were incorporated, and the counties of Wyandot and Defiance were organized. That the lunatic asylum had accomplished much good was evident from statistics reported to the general assembly this year, covering the full six years of its existence-up to November, 1844. The whole number of patients admitted to its walls had been 541 ; of this total 243 had been discharged as having recovered their mental health, and twenty-three as having been improved. Fifty-eight had died. The population of the asylum was now 148—seventy-seven males and seventy-one females. The population of the state was between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000 at that time. When this had reached 5,500,000, three-quarters of a century later, the number of patients in the state hospitals for the insane was more than 25,000. When Texas was annexed to the Union by act of Congress in 1845, the feeling in Ohio was intense. It was a great victory for the slave power, which was more and more regarded as a menace, and public feeling was very greatly aroused. The Ohio State Journal, in February, thus commented : "Texas Annexed ?—Well may the interrogation be turned into an exclamation ! But is it annexed ? Aye, so far as the representatives of eighteen million of men claiming to be Freemen, can effect it ! Our blood curdles at the reflection. Recollections of the past, the dreams of youth, when liberty was worshipped as a divinity—our hopes of the ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 533 future—all rush upon our mind, and we confess ourselves overwhelmed, stupefied, at the prospect now before us." The new state bank law passed by the General Assembly on February 24th was quickly put into effect. The newspapers recorded all the acts of the commission which had charge of its administration. By the first of June the new notes, printed for the state to be furnished banks for issue, were ready, and they were finally described in the public prints. "The specimen bills are beautiful," said the Ohio State Journal. "The engraving is on steel and the impression is faultless. The general appearance is better, we think, than any heretofore issued in the state." On bills of the various denominations were shown admirable portraits of the old governors, Duncan McArthur, Thomas Worthington, Jeremiah Morrow and Edward Tiffin, as well as those of Henry Clay and Thomas Corwin. New banks were organized very rapidly under the law, and they soon existed in all parts of the state. A reform of great interest to the people was announced in the papers of July 3, 1845—reduced postal rates. Thereafter a letter could be mailed a distance of 300 miles for 5 cents, and beyond that distance for 10 cents. The editors rejoiced because under the new postal law their papers could be mailed to subscribers at no charge whatever ! As the year 1845 drew to a close it was evident that the annexation of Texas was likely to bring on a war with Mexico. The whig editors were outspoken in their deprecation of it. They were unsparing in their condemnation of the annexation. Meanwhile, it was noted that United States troops were going through Ohio and taking boats at Cincinnati en route to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, to replace those sent from that station, and news of military movements in Louisiana began to fill the papers. FORTY-FOURTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 1, 1845, to March 2, 1846 Seabury Ford, representing Cuyahoga and Geauga counties, afterwards governor, was chosen speaker of the Senate. Elias F. Drake, of Greene County, a capitalist, president of the Dayton & Xenia and the Dayton & Western railroads, and president of the Columbus Insurance Company, was chosen speaker of the House of Representatives. Later he built the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad, and in 1873 was a state senator in Minnesota. The Senate, for the first time since the state was organized in 1803, was willing to have a chaplain, and it authorized the services of a minister in that position—but without paying him any salary. Railroads had now come to be regarded as having a real future, and a committee made a report in favor of taxing their properties and establishing a better system of granting them charters. The session was a stormy one, and was marred by many discreditable incidents. Jacob Flinn, a member from Cincinnati, was called before the House to answer for an assault upon William H. Trimble, member from Highland, and narrowly escaped expulsion, but was let off with severe censure. Other affairs of a similar character occurred, though not so flagrant, and the air was continuously charged with excitement. The office of attorney general was created, and Henry Stanberry was appointed to the place. He was afterwards named by President Andrew Johnson as attorney general of the United States, but his confirmation was refused by the Senate in pursuing its policy of opposing that chief magistrate on all possible occasions. A uniform standard of weights and measures was fixed, by an act of February 21, 1846, and the standards were placed in the office Of the secretary of state, where they have since remained. A first movement was made at this session for state care of imbeciles, 534 - HISTORY OF OHIO and a commission of three men appointed to prepare and present a system for providing that benevolence. Ashland County was erected and organized. The legislative news correspondents, who had now become numerous, reported all proceedings of the Legislature in great detail for their papers. One of them commented upon the fact that "a torrent of petitions for repeal or modification of the Black Laws is pouring in," but said they were "so monotonous in their form and so unreasonable in their requests that but little of reform can be expected in that way." The absolute need of making changes in the constitution of the state was occupying the thoughts of many editors, and the references to the subject at this time and subsequently, contributed to the movement which resulted in the constitutional convention of 1850-51. Many items were published about the extension of the systems of electric telegraph in the East, and an urgent hope was expressed by the editors that Ohio might soon enjoy the advantage of having it. The Mexican war began, and, of course, became the chief object of public interest. Congress had appropriated $10,000,000 to carry it on, and had authorized- the President to call for 50,000 volunteers. A few regiments from Ohio embarked at Cincinnati for the seat of war, but there was very little in the newspapers concerning activities of Ohio soldiers. There was no indication of personal inconvenience of the people other than that prices of farm products were greatly depressed for the reason that the war made shipments out of New Orleans hazardous and brought about an immense accumulation in that city of goods that could not be moved. ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR WILLIAM BEBB FORTY-FIFTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 6, 1847, to February 25, 1848 Ex-Speaker Seabury Ford was defeated by one vote by Edson B. Olds, of Lancaster, as speaker of the Senate, and William P. Cutler was elected speaker of the House after a sharp contest. Olds was subsequently a member of Congress—from 1849 to 1855. Cutler, whose home town was Marietta, and who was a prominent railroad executive of that time, held a seat in the constitutional convention of 1850-51, and in 1861-63 represented his district, as a republican, in Congress. Among the democrats who received votes for speaker of the House (receiving thirty-two votes) was Clement L. Vallandigham, of Dayton, afterwards the central figure in sensational proceedings brought on by his disloyalty to the Union cause during the war between the states. The canvas of votes for governor, officially made in joint session of the assembly, gave William Bebb, whig, of Butler County, 118,869 David Tod, democrat, 116,484 ; and Samuel Lewis, abolitionist, 10,797. Governor Bebb was immediately inaugurated before the two houses. Expressions of sincere regret were called forth in every section of the state by the announcement of the death in the Mexican war of Gen. Thomas L. Hamer, formerly prominent in the assembly and in Congress. Appropriate resolutions were adopted, eulogies pronounced by members, and a committee appointed to proceed to Mexico and convey his body to Ohio. In 1847 there were still in Ohio a number of veterans of the Revolutionary war, which had closed sixty-five years before. The General Assembly now acknowledged the services of these venerable men by exempting from taxation their property to the amount of $500 each. In the first week of January, 1847, occurred a memorable flood which did great damage in some sections of the state. The Scioto at Columbus and the Mad River at Dayton rose to such heights that they 536 - HISTORY OF OHIO washed away bridges and did enormous damage to canals, warehouses, packing houses, and live stock. Several lives were lost. Boats were used in rescuing people from their houses. In both cities the lower floors of homes, store rooms and warehouses were several feet deep in water. Precisely the same localities suffered that were most injured by the great floods of 1913—sixty-nine years later. "The national road between Columbus and Franklinton" and "from the canal to Jefferson street" in Dayton were deeply inundated. An interesting picture of travel on a railroad is found in a letter from a Cincinnati visitor to Columbus, written to the editor of the Hamilton Intelligencer and published January 12, 1847: "We left Cincinnati yesterday at one o'clock A. 'VI., in the cars—none of your common country sugar camp cars that were very much used in the early settlement of the country and thought to be a great invention. We seated ourselves in the baggage car, where we remained during the route ; for here, you know, we could smoke and chew tobacco, throw our legs across the seats, and make ourselves at home. Not so in the passenger cars. There you are bound to the observance of rigid rules of politeness. We arrived at Xenia about three A. M., and took the stage on to Jefferson and Springfield." In April, 1847, a movement was well under way in Ohio, as well as in other parts of the country, to make Gen. Zachary Taylor the whig candidate for president in 1848. He had been removed by President Polk from general command of the army in Mexico, and was a popular idol. The whig papers in Ohio had some time before commenced a boom for Thomas Corwin, and some of them were .unwilling to support anybody else. But many Taylor meetings were held throughout the State, and he grew in popular favor until he was chosen to lead his party to victory. Thomas Corwin had, on February 11, 1847, delivered his famous address in the United States Senate against the Mexican war. He was at the acme of his career as an orator, and this speech set aflame all that part of the people who believed the war then in progress unjust and oppressive of a "sister republic." The address was published in full in all the whig papers—ten columns in small type—from a copy of it prepared by Corwin himself after the first reports by newspaper correspondents at Washington were found to be incomplete. It contained that passage which for half a century afterwards appeared in most of the collections for recitation, and which every school boy of that period knew by the title of "Retributive Justice." But all the people did not approve the sentiments expressed by Senator Corwin. Soldiers in Mexico burned him in effigy, as reported in the papers, and in the assembly of Ohio a petition was offered by a democratic member of the Senate requesting him to resign. This petition excited the greatest rage in the breasts of Ohio's whig editors, and their comments upon it were extremely bitter. "Reemelin presented a petition to the Ohio Senate," said the Hamilton Intelligencer of February 30, "asking an inquiry into the propriety of requesting Hon. Thomas Corwin to resign his seat in the United States Senate and to confine him in the penitentiary. It will receive the rebuke it deserves at the hands of an insulted people whose favorite these craven hearted wretches would seek to disgrace." The portion of Corwin's speech to which serious exception was taken included the following : "The senator from Michigan (General Cass) says we will have two hundred millions in a few years, and we want room. If I were a Mexican I would tell you, 'Have you not room in your own country to bury your dead men ? If you come into mine we will greet you with bloody hands, and welcome you to hospitable graves.' " This bold speech cost him a measure of his popularity. Men who strongly opposed the war policy of the administration were still unwilling ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 537 to have our soldiers greeted "with bloody hands" and welcomed "to hospitable graves." FORTY-SIXTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 6, 1847, to February 25, 1848 Charles B. Goddard, of Muskingum, was made speaker of the Senate, and Joseph S. Hawkins, of Preble, speaker of the House. The proceedings and enactments of the session were for the most part unimportant. The usual memorials to repeal civil disabilities of colored persons were received and ignored.—Documents from the governor concerning "plank roads" as an improvement in construction and repairs of highways, together with memorandum from New York's General Assembly on the same subject, were received and ordered printed for distribution.—Dr. Alfred Stille, an eminent physician of Philadelphia, on behalf of the National Medical Society, asked the Ohio Assembly to establish a system of registration of births, deaths and marriages. Such a system had never been provided in Ohio and there is no record that Doctor Stille's memorial received any attention.—On February 24, 1848, an act was passed authorizing the employment of convicts on the new state house, the erection of which was about to be resumed after some years of delay.—The Committee on Federal Relations made a report upon the acquisition of Texas, and declared in favor of prohibiting slavery in that state and in all territory acquired by the United States as a result of the Mexican war, which was still in progress. —A Superior Court was established in Cleveland.—An appropriate joint resolution was adopted touching the death of ex-President John Quincy Adams, which had occurred at Washington on February 2.—Auglaize and Morrow counties were organized. One act of real moment provided for the creation of a sinking fund for the ultimate payment of the large debt contracted in the building of the canals. The loans to carry through that enterprise had been made with a proviso that they could be paid after the year 1850. The debt was now refunded to make it payable after 1860, and $100,000 was placed in the sinking fund which was to be increased 6 per cent each year. A commission was created to have charge of the fund. As usual during campaigns for the election of a president, the people of Ohio were inundated with political news and comment in the newspapers. The whig and democratic parties both held state conventions in January, and for the first time adopted formal "platforms" declaring their positions on public questions. The papers informed their readers that the national convention held by the democrats at Baltimore, May 22-24, had nominated Gen. Lewis Cass for president and Gen. William 0. Butler for vice president. The whigs, in Independence Hall at Philadelphia, on June 7th, had named Gen. Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, who was the comptroller of the State of New York. An event of great moment in Ohio was the publication of the proceedings in these conventions by part of the Ohio press the day after they occurred, for the telegraph wires had reached this state, and they brought surprisingly complete reports, considering that the service was so new. From this time forward news of the East was fresh when printed in Ohio, and that from Europe, which in the oid days did not reach western readers in less than two or three months, was now less than two weeks old owing to the greatly improved trans-atlantic steamship service. The presidential campaign was a furious one in the state. Although a northern man, Cass was a defender of slavery, but the whig party was declining and the democratic candidate received 154,773 votes to 138,359 for Taylor. Martin Van Buren, who had become a free soiler, received 35,347 votes. The total number of voters in the Ohio election was 328,479. 538 - HISTORY OF OHIO The newspapers of the state carried an item, early in the summer of 1848, listing the names of ten boys appointed from Ohio to the military academy at West Point, and among them was that of Philip H. Sheridan, of Somerset, Perry County, appointed by Congressman Thomas Richey, whose home was in the same village. Among the ten names three others later became generals in the Civil war—August V. Kautz, Charles R. Woods, and David S. Stanley. The last named distinguished himself by defeating the famous Confederate General Hood, at the battle of Franklin, and won his generalship for that achievement. No one in 1848 could possibly have foretold the wonderful career of the boy Sheridan. He was at that time seventeen years old. ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR SEABURY FORD FORTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 4, 1848, to March 26, 1849 Brewster Randall, representing Ashtabula and Lake counties, was chosen speaker of the Senate ; John G. Breslin, of Seneca, speaker of the House. The clerk of the House was Stanley Matthews, of Cincinnati, who now, at the age of twenty-four, entered upon a public career of high importance in the history of the nation. In 1877 he became a United States Senator from Ohio and in 1881 a justice of the Supreme Court of the nation, in which exalted position he remained until his death in 1889. This session, in both branches of the General Assembly, was the stormiest, and filled with the greatest excitement, in the history of the state thus far. The officers of the Senate were elected only after repeated balloting which occupied the entire time for almost two weeks. It required sixteen ballots to choose a speaker, 121 to elect a clerk, and sixty-nine to decide upon a sergeant-at-arms. The organization of the House was far more difficult than that of the Senate. On the first roll call only forty-two members answered to their names—less than a quorum. Each faction held separate meetings. Benjamin L. Leiter, of Stark, presiding over one, and A. T. Holcomb, of Jackson, over the other. Not until December 23 did the rival houses come together, and then did not effect an organization until January 23, 1849, because of a number of extremely bitter contests for their right to seats. On the eighth of January the two houses met jointly to canvass the vote for governor, and another battle was fought out. There were charges of irregularity on the part of Speaker Randall of the Senate, who was the constitutional presiding officer of the joint session, and a committee was appointed to supervise the count and to correct errors which appeared in the returns of the election. The next day the committee reported the vote to be: Seabury Ford, 145,816; John B. Weller, 146,105. This would have placed Weller in the governor's office, but it was known that the returns from Defiance and Lorain counties had not been included in the count for reasons given that they were not made in conformity with the law. After another controversy over the situation a joint committee was instructed to examine the returns in the actual presence of the two houses, and it was not until January 22 that the footings were agreed to, as follows : Total vote, 297,943 ; for Ford, 148,756; for Weller, 148,445 ; scattering, 742. This gave Ford a plurality of 311 votes, and he was declared elected. It had taken seven weeks of continuous conflict to arrive thus far, and the contest out of which it all grew—the election of a United States senator—was yet to be fought out. William Allen was the democratic candidate. Senator Thomas Ewing had resigned in order to accept the position of secretary of the interior, offered him by President-elect Taylor. Four ballots were taken in deciding upon his successor. The 540 - HISTORY OF OHIO result was certainly not even dreamed of when the General Assembly convened. How it was brought about has been told by one of the leading actors and forms one of the most interesting stories in the political annals of Ohio. It was in this session that the shrewd exercise of the "balance of power" controlled by two members of the House of Representatives—Dr. N. S. Townshend, of Lorain County, and Col. John F. Morse, of Lake County—brought about results that were little short of revolutionary. These two men had been elected as independent free soilers, over whig and democratic opponents. In the Senate the two dominant political parties were a tie. In the House each of these parties lacked one of having half the entire membership. Townshend and Morse could, therefore, by joining the combined vote of either party, decide the election of a United States senator and the judges of the Supreme Court, who were then chosen by the two houses of the General Assembly in joint session. What these two members insisted upon was the election of a man of pronounced anti-slavery views to the United States Senate and the repeal of the Black Laws. They first made this proposal to the whigs, naming as their choice for senator Joshua R. Giddings, a whig abolitionist. Four of the whigs refused to support him. They then went to the democrats with the suggestion that they combine forces in support of Salmon P. Chase, whose anti-slavery views were well known. Their proposal was agreed to and Chase was elected United States senator. In return for this favor Townshend and Morse supported the two democratic candidates for the Supreme Court and they were duly elected. Chase had drawn the bill for the repeal of the Black Laws. The democrats, true to their pledges, voted for it and these laws were repealed. 1 Rarely has so small a minority accomplished so much in a legislative body. The Black Laws, as explained elsewhere, were the enactments grossly discriminating against the colored people of the state. In addition to the repeal of the Black Laws another measure of importance was passed. On March 23, 1849, a resolution was adopted submitting to the people, at the October election, the question of holding a constitutional convention. Party spirit ran high, and the uproar in the Legislature awoke responding echoes from every section of the state. Neither whigs nor democrats could muster sufficient strength to accomplish their ends. Each party desired to strengthen its position by deciding contests for seats in the Assembly in such a way as to give it the advantage. Long public statements were issued by assemblymen on both sides. Editors were in an excited state. A whig paper (The Hamilton Intelligencer) said while the trouble was at its height : "Judge Read, at an unusual hour (eight o'clock) while all the Whigs were absent, swore in all the Democrats who claimed a seat, enough to give them a majority. The Whigs were sworn in by Judge Avery. What the outcome will be no one can tell. The Whigs have no right to surrender. They would be craven if they did. The contemptible trick by which the Locos sought to secure control of the house has no parallel in the annals of legislation." And the democratic editors were quite as bitter in their denunciations of the whigs. A genuine interest seems to have been aroused on the calling of a constitutional convention, a question which had been submitted to the electors of the state. The vote at the polls in October was : For the convention, 145,698; against the convention, 51,161. Cholera again visited some Ohio cities in this year. In Cincinnati it became a scourge, and thousands fled. On July 8 it was reported in the Gazette of that city that deaths had numbered more than 1,000, and 1 - Dr. Townshend has left a full account of this political achievement in Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications, vol. i, pp. 117-119. ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 541 were then averaging about 100 daily—as many as 134 on one day. On the 17th the same paper stated that the fatalities for the month ending July 16th had been 3,618, that the epidemic in Columbus and Dayton was very severe, and that "the mortality in the penitentiary had been fearful." But by the end of July the epidemic was abating, people were returning to their homes, and we read the assurance that "business is being aroused from the long nap it has been taking." The electric telegraph still had its appeal as the latest miracle of invention. Full news of President Taylor's inauguration, March 4, 1849, including his long address, was published the next day, with a conspicuous head, "By Magnetic Telegraph." Many parts of the state were provided with it, and a company was organized to connect Cincinnati and St. Louis, via Indianapolis. Railroads were rapidly growing in numbers, and there were advertisements of schedules of trains, all headed by a stock illustration of ,a train of three cars drawn by a locomotive which looked much too small to pull them. The American Express Company announced its service of forwarding by rail packages of fifty pounds or less with great speed and promptness. The excitement over the discoveries of gold in California was intense in Ohio. The Intelligencer of Hamilton reflected this in many articles, the first of which appeared February 8, 1849: "Gold Fever.—This epidemic is raging fearfully. Companies are forming in almost every town of any size in Ohio. The fever is not confined to the United States. It rages in Europe, England, South America and the 'isles of the sea.' The stories we hear from California exceed anything of history or romance that we have ever heard. They are wholly incredible. * * * Multiply Baron Munchausen by Gulliver's Travels and add Arabian Nights to the product, and the result will be far below the reports that come from the gold region." FORTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 3, 1849, to March 25, 1850 There was again great difficulty in organizing the Senate, and 300 ballots were taken before Harrison Gray Otis Blake, of Medina, was elected speaker. The political parties were evenly matched, with eighteen votes each, until the 301st ballot, when six senators failed to vote, giving Blake a majority of the votes cast. He afterwards represented his district as a republican in Congress (1859-1863), and was noted as the author of the postal money order system. He was a colonel in the Union army. Benjamin F. Leiter, of Stark County, the same who presided over one body of the divided House the year bef ore, was made speaker of the Lower House at this session. Among the influential members of the Assembly was Henry B. Payne, senator from Cleveland. He had been a presidential elector in 1848, but this was his first appearance in a state position. Afterwards he served as congressman and United States senator. Blake resigned as speaker on January 18th of this session, offended at charges reflecting upon his conduct which were made from the floor of the Senate. Fulton and Vinton counties were erected at this session, the eighty-sixth and eighty-seventh counties in the state. Very little legislation of a general character was enacted. Scores of "plank road" companies were incorporated, as well as numerous new railroad companies, and a large number of local and private acts were passed. A joint resolution was adopted petitioning Congress to grant surviving soldiers of the War of 1812, and their widows, 160 acres of land each out of the public domain. The constitutional convention which was to meet this year was granted the use of the hall of the House of Representatives in which to hold its sessions, and by resolution J. V. Smith was provided as official 542 - HISTORY OF OHIO reporter for that body. The necessary law preliminary to the meeting of the convention was passed, naming the first Monday in April, 1850, as the day for electing members by vote of the people, and the third Monday in May as the time for beginning its session. The election was duly held, on a strictly party basis, and the newspapers recorded the fact that the personnel consisted of fifty-eight democrats, forty-three whigs, and seven free soilers. If we may judge from the press reports, the constitutional convention attracted much attention. The proceedings and debates became so voluminous and complicated, however, that some of the editors frankly admitted that they did not know what was really being done. Many of them were highly impatient over the length of the time the convention took to reach a conclusion of its labors, and when the new constitution was finished the whig editors were outspoken in their denunciation of it, because, they thought, the democrats had got all the best of it in the provisions made. The federal census of 1850 gave Ohio a population of 1,980,329, an increase of 461,862 during the preceding decade. The state was well intrenched in third place in the Union, no other having a population within 500,000 of it. New York had 3,097,394, and Pennsylvania, 2,311,786. The five most populous counties in Ohio were : Hamilton. 156,844 ; Cuyahoga, 48,099 ; Muskingum, 45,059 ; Franklin, 42,909 ; and Stark, 39,878. Cincinnati had within its limits 115,435 people ; Columbus, 17,822 ; Cleveland, 17,034 ; and Dayton, 10,977. All of these cities have maintained a high position in regard to population ever since. Akron was very low in the list, and Toledo, for many years one of the five leaders, contained only 3,829 in 1850. Ohio cities as a group were the largest in the West. The population of Louisville was 43,194; that of Chicago, 29,963 ; and that of Detroit, 21,019. No other western cities could compare with these except St. Louis, which contained 41,000 fewer people than did Cincinnati. ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR REUBEN WOOD FORTY-NINTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 2 to March 28, 1851 This was the last session of the General Assembly held under the old constitution. Thereafter there were only biennial meetings, except in cases of temporary adjournments or in extraordinary sessions called by the governor. Charles G. Conyers, of Muskingum County, who had presided over the Senate at the preceding session after the resignation of Speaker Blake, was now reelected to the place, and John F. Morse, of Ashtabula, was made speaker of the House of Representatives. The canvass of the vote for governor at the preceding election showed the following result : Reuben Wood, democrat, 133,093 votes ; William Johnston, whig, 121,105 ; Edward Smith, candidate of the abolition party, 13,747 ; scattering, 93. Total, 268,038. There was a prolonged struggle in the election of a United States senator. Voting began January 30, was postponed from time to time, and the election of Benjamin F. Wade was finally accomplished on March 15. Rufus P. Ranney, of Cleveland, was elected Supreme Court justice by the Assembly. The next year he was elected to the same office by popular vote, and served until 1857, when he was appointed United States district attorney for Ohio. In 1859 he was a candidate for governor, but was defeated. From 1862 to 1864 he was again on the Supreme bench, but resigned to resume practice of the law in Cleveland. Judge Ranney was noted as one of the great lawyers of his time. George Hoadley first became prominent at this time—by his selection 544 - HISTORY OF OHIO by the General Assembly as judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati. He was actively before the public thereafter, and became governor in 1883. During this legislative session the initial effort was made to curb indiscriminate sale of intoxicating liquors. An act passed on March 12, 1851, made it unlawful to sell, vend, or give away any spirituous liquors to be drunk on the premises where sold, or in any quantity less than one quart. The penalty imposed was a fine of $5 to $25. It was not effective in accomplishing results, but it was accepted by the temperance people, who had been unceasing for years in their war against the traffic, as a step in the direction of reform of the grog shops. By a law of March 11, 1851, Noble County was set aside and organized. This made the total number of counties eighty-eight, at which it still stands. A special election on acceptance or rejection of the new state constitution was held on June 17, 1851. At the same time a separate vote was taken on the question whether or not licenses should be granted for the sale of intoxicating liquors. The vote on the constitution was reported as 125,564 for it, and 109,276 against it—so it was adopted by a majority of 16,298 in a total vote of 234,840. No-license was adopted by 113,237 to 104,255. The temperance advocates voted against license, believing that without license the liquor traffic would be outlawed, but the result was disappointing, and the traffic continued practically without restriction. A pleasing and interesting event of the year was the tour of Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale." P. T. Barnum, who was her manager, has shown in his memoirs the advertising methods by which he made famous the name of this young woman before her arrival from England, and created such a desire to see and hear her that people paid fabulous prices for the privilege. The papers of Ohio contained columns about her before she reached the state in her travels, and when she appeared in Cincinnati, on April 17 of this year, the event assumed the proportions of a very great occasion. The first choice of a seat was sold at auction to a Cincinnatian for $580, and it became known later that he had taken $1,500 to the sale with the intention of bidding up to that amount, if necessary, to get the coveted right to make his selection of a seat before the box sheet was opened to the general public. The total receipts for the concert were more than $20,000, according to the newspaper reports. Almost a riot occurred. A large crowd outside the hall on the night of the concert broke the windows and then tried to force an entrance through the stage door. Policemen, stationed there in anticipation of such an event, fired on the crowd, and the fire was returned. This occurred while Miss Lind was singing, and it "stopped her in the midst of her piece." There was great uneasiness in the audience, some of whom rose preparatory to escaping from possible danger, but Jenny stepped forward, "with a burst of melody caught the multitude, and held them entranced." One primitive music critic wrote that "you could hear a pin drop." jenny Lind sang in Columbus and other Ohio cities, with successes worthy of her tremendous reputation. FIFTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY Regular Session, January 15 to May 3, 1852; Adjourned Session, November 15, 1852, to March 14, 1853 Lieutenant Governor William Medill, by virtue of his office, became president of the Senate ; James C. Johnson, of Medina County, was chosen speaker of the House. Medill had previously served as assemblyman and congressman ; had been assistant postmaster general and United States Commissioner of Indian affairs, and was chairman of the Constitutional Convention of 1850-51. In 1853 he became governor. His home was at Lancaster, Fairfield County, where he died in 1865. ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 545 Under the new constitution all state officers were elected by the people. The joint session of the Assembly canvassed the vote cast for them in the October election, and declared the results as follows : Reuben Wood, democrat, with 145,654 votes, reelected governor, over Samuel V. Vinton, whig (119,548), and Samuel Lewis, abolition-ist (16,918). The total vote was 282,182, of which 62 were "scat-tering." Lieutenant Governor—William Medill, 146,053 ; Ephriam R. Eckley, 119,984; Nicholas Spindler, 15,839. Secretary of State—William Trevitt, 145,636; Earl Bill, 120,256 ; Henry W. King, 15,768.            - Auditor of State—William D. Morgan, 145,617; John Woods, 123,583 ; Jacob Heaton, 13,633. Treasurer of State—John G. Breslin, 145,331 ; Albert A. Bliss, 124,554 ; Tobias A. Plants, 13,127. Attorney General—George E. Pugh, 147,482 ; Henry Stanberry, 119,429 ; William A. Rogers, 12,883. Attorney General Pugh afterwards became United States senator from 1855 to 1861, and one of the most prominent figures in the councils of the democratic party. The need of far greater accommodations for insane persons now made the subject a pressing one, and a commission appointed at this session of the Assembly to take it up resulted in a few years in the building of a large asylum at Columbus and others at Cleveland and Dayton. An occasion of importance in the Legislature was the official reception on February 17, 1852, of Louis Kossuth, the famous Hungarian patriot, who was touring the country. Before a joint session he delivered an address, as did also Governor Wood, Lieutenant Governor Medill, and Speaker Johnson. A much belated adjustment, on a better basis, of the salaries of state officers was now made. Although they were considerably higher than those paid before, they were still insignificant by modern standards. The governor received $2,000 per year; lieutenant governor, $800 ; supreme judges, $1,700 each ; members of the board of public works, $1,700 each ; secretary of state, $1,400 ; treasurer, $1,500 ; auditor, $1,600 ; attorney general, $1,000 and 3 per cent for collections up to a total (salary and commissions) of $1,400 ; members of the Legislature, $4 per day each. Fees and salaries for all county officers throughout the state were also readjusted, generally at an increase. Wolves were still very numerous in some parts of Ohio in 1852, and provision was made at this session to encourage their destruction by raising to $4.25 each the price paid for their scalps. On July 15, 1853, Governor Wood resigned from his office in order to accept the post of United States consul at Valparaiso. By this act William Medill became governor, to serve until the next election, when he succeeded himself. The state house was burned on Sunday morning, February 1, 1852. It was now very generally referred to as although it had existed but thirty-six years and had, when new, been the great pride of the state. Had it been built in the classic style age would not have detracted from its appearance, for "a thing of beauty is a joy forever." But not having been modeled after the temples of Greece or Rome, it had ceased to be attractive. Besides it was no longer adequate to the needs of the state. It was in the way and somewhat obstructed the view of the newer structure that had been rising in stately proportions, and no serious regret was felt when it went up in smoke and flame. A local paper on the day following thus described the burning of the capitol : "Yesterday morning, about four o'clock, the cry of fire rang through our streets. It was soon ascertained that the Old State House was on fire. The watch first discovered it in the center of the Senate 546 - HISTORY OF OHIO Chamber and on the floor. This was nearly extinguished when it was discovered that the timbers overhead and near the belfry were on fire. Soon it burst out through the roof, and the entire belfry was quickly in flames. The engines could not reach the fire, and it was then evident that the venerable old edifice in which the legislature of Ohio has met for the last thirty-five years was doomed to destruction. The belfry, after burning brilliantly for a few minutes, came down with a crash upon the floor of the senate chamber. The roof then gradually fell in and the upper story of the building was a mass of flame. An effort was made to confine the fire to the senate chamber and the upper rooms, but there was too heavy a mass of burning matter on the floor to be extinguished and soon the flames reached the Hall of Representatives. The origin of the fire has not been ascertained. The desks, chairs and furniture had been removed, and the entire building was then resigned to its fate. In the senate chamber very little was saved. We learn that the clerk's papers were all secured, but that a large mass of documents, journals, constitutional debates, etc., were consumed. The loss of the state is not great, as it is hoped that by 1853-4 the State House will be so far completed as to permit the session of both houses in the new halls." 1 The United States courthouse, which was on the public square near the ruined state house, was used for the sessions of the senate, and the "Odeon hall," directly opposite on High Street, was secured for the use of the House of Representatives. KOSSUTH'S VISIT TO OHIO A nation that has achieved its freedom and independence naturally sympathizes with those who aspire to the realization of like ideals. In the United States there has always been a prompt and cordial response to the appeals of those who would be free, even as we are free. Our sympathy with, oppressed people found expression in behalf of the South American republics in their effort to sever the bond that held them to Spain ; in the early struggles of Greece to regain her independence; in the appeal of the great Hungarian, Louis Kossuth, for the liberation of his native land from Austrian rule; in the earlier and later struggles of Cuba for freedom under the flag of the single star. The visit of Kossuth is notable as a tremendous manifestation of sympathy for the oppressed struggling to be free under republican institutions. The cause and the man helped to swell the acclaim. Louis Kossuth was at the zenith of his intellectual powers. The story of his patriotic effort and exile in behalf of Hungarian independence had preceded him. His presence and bearing won the multitude and his fervid eloquence reached all hearts. Speaking in a language other than his native tongue, he was soon pronounced by critics who heard him as the greatest of the world's orators. The crowds that came forth to see and hear him rivaled in enthusiasm those who had welcomed Lafayette. Governors, congressmen and cabinet officers delighted to honor him. The vice president of the United States presided at a banquet at which Daniel Webster, then secretary of state, paid eloquent tribute to the illustrious visitor. Landing in New York City on December 5, 1851, his progress through the country was a continual ovation. In Philadelphia he was received at Independence Hall. A vast concourse of people welcomed him to Baltimore. In Washington he appeared before the Senate and House of Representatives where he was the recipient of marked demonstrations of favor. A congressional banquet was given him at the National Hotel, at which the vice president of the United States presided and Daniel Webster closed a brief speech with the sentiment, "Hungarian independence, Hungarian control of her own destinies and 1 - Ohio State Journal, February 2, 1852. ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS- 547 Hungary as a distinct nationality." He made three speeches at Faneuil Hall, the first of which appears at length in "Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History." In all his numerous addresses he showed a most intimate knowledge of American history and American institutions. On the morning of February 4, 1852, Kossuth left Cleveland for Columbus. The people of Ohio along his route came forth to greet him with offerings of money for the support of his cause. He was presented to crowds at Berea, Grafton, Lagrange, Wellington, New London, Shelby, Cardington and Ashley. In Columbus extensive preparations had been made for his reception. On February 5, from a platform on High Street opposite the state house grounds, he delivered a notable address to a vast assembly of people that extended far beyond the reach of his sonorous voice. In this address he made reference to the fact that on his way hither through the state he had received gifts of money. Two brief extracts from his speech must suffice : 2 "Citizens of Columbus, the namesake of your city, when he discovered America little thought that he would liberate, by his discovery, the Old World (chews) ; and those exiles of the Old World who, sixty-four years ago, first settled within the limits of Ohio at Marietta, little thought that the first generation which would leap into their steps would make despots tremble and oppressed nations rise. (Great cheering.) And yet thus it will be. The mighty outburst of popular feeling which it is my lot to witness is a revelation of that future too clear not to be understood. The Eagle of America beats its mighty wings ; the Stars of America illumine Europe's night ; and The Star Spangled Banner, taking under its protection the Hungarian flag, fluttering loftily and proudly in an imposing attitude, tells the tyrants of the world that the right of freedom must sway. * * * "I came to the shores of your country pleading the restoration of the law of nations to its due sway, cruelly violated in my downtrodden fatherland; and as I went on pleading I met flowers of sympathy. Since I am in Ohio I meet fruits (great cheering) ; and as I go on thankfully gathering the fruits new flowers arise still promising more and more beautiful fruits. (Renewed cheering.) That is the character of Ohio, and you are the capital of Ohio." Two days later Kossuth addressed the two houses of the General Assembly in joint session. His speech in manuscript form is still preserved. In thanking the Assembly for its resolutions of sympathy and support he said among other things: "Ohio has given its vote by the resolutions I had the honor to hear, and Ohio is one of the brightest stars of the Union. Ohio's vote is the vote of two millions and it will have its constitutional weight in the councils where the delegates of the people's sovereignty find their glory in doing the people's will. (Applause.) "Sir, it will be a day of consolation and joy Hungary when my bleeding nation reads these resolutions which I will send her. (Applause.) They will spread like lightning over the gloomy land and my nation, unbroken in courage, steady in resolution, firm in confidence, will draw still more courage, more resolution from them." According to the newspaper report there was at the conclusion of this speech "tremendous applause." Kossuth delivered other addresses while in Columbus. He left the capital city on the morning of February 9 on his way to Cincinnati. 3 At Xenia, Springfield, Dayton and Hamil- ton immense crowds came to meet him. The crowning event of his tour through the state was his reception at Cincinnati, where "it is estimated 2 - For full text of speech and extended account of the visit of Kossuth to Columbus, see Alfred E. Lee's "History of the City of Columbus," Vol. II, pp. 38-48. 3 - For extended account of Kossuth's visit to Cincinnati, see Charles T. Greve's "Centennial History of Cincinnati, Vol. I, pp. 725-729. 548 - HISTORY OF OHIO that one hundred thousand people assembled to welcome the great Magyar." Here he was formally received February 12. While traveling through the state Kossuth 4 is said to have received in contributions for the Hungarian cause about $16,000. The private secretary who accompanied him on this remarkable tour was William T. Coggeshall, afterward state librarian of Ohio and minister to Ecuador. On March 22, 1852, occurred the death of former Governor Jeremiah Morrow at his home in Warren County. His great services to the state were much extolled. The Cincinnati Atlas concluded a long editorial on the man in these words : "It has been one of the peculiar advantages of Ohio that she had some such men as Morrow to lay the foundations of the state. They have laid them on the rock of Integrity, Intelligence and Faith. The winds cannot shake the solid fabric they have erected ; and its prosperity, character and strength are the monuments by which the memory of Morrow and his compeers will, we trust, be long perpetuated." The presidential campaign in 1852 was less exciting in Ohio than any since that of 1816. There was no great personal enthusiasm among the whigs for Gen. Winfield Scott, nor among the democrats for Franklin Pierce. Both parties held state conventions, named "senatorial delegates" and announced the representatives from the various districts to the national conventions. Those for the whig party were : John Sherman and Samuel V. Vinton, representing the state at large, and the following from the respective districts: Charles Anderson, W. H. P. Denny, E. F. Drake, Rodney Mason, George B. Way, William H. Gibson, James H. Thompson, Seneca W. Ely, P. Van Trump, Samuel Galloway, A. B. Norton, William E. Finck, Dr. M. Green, D. D. T. Cowen, H. A. Guild, Cyrus Spink, Cyrus Prentiss, J. A. Harris, and W. F. Lockwood. Ohio whigs strove to have Cincinnati selected for the national convention, but Baltimore was chosen, the date June 16. General Scott was nominated after a week of balloting, the final vote giving him 159. Millard Fillmore, 112, and Daniel Webster, 21. Samuel V. Vinton, of Ohio, was the chairman of the National Whig Committee during the campaign. The democrats also held a strenuous convention and when they finally named their candidate the question in Ohio papers was "Who is Franklin Pierce ?" Ohio's vote in November was : Pierce, 168,933 ; Scott, 152,523; John P. Hale, free soiler, 31,732. Total, 353,188. The defeat in the country of General Scott was looked upon by the democrats as the death blow to the whig party—and such it proved to be. But the whig editors were far from being willing to concede this. They made a bold stand, and did much fine and vigorous writing. An example of this was a long editorial in the Scioto Gazette, from which the following extract is taken : 4 - Louis Kossuth, Hungarian patriot, was born in Hungary, April 27, 1802. He died in Turin, March 20, 1894. He was a member of the Hungarian Diet 1832-1836; imprisoned for political reasons by the Austrian government 1837-1840; reelected to the Diet in 1847; became minister of finance in the Hungarian ministry in 1848. When the Hungarians rose in insurrection against Austria and the Diet declared Hungary independent, Kossuth was appointed governor. On August 11th of the same year he resigned to General Gorgei, who surrendered two days later to the Austrians. Kossuth fled to Turkey, where he remained a prisoner in exile until 1851, when through the influence of Great Britain and the United States he was given his freedom. While in prison he studied the modern languages and was thus able to address his audiences in the English, German, French and Italian languages. He visited Great Britain and the United States and appealed to Napoleon III and Victor Emanuel in behalf of his fatherland. While these nations were in hearty sympathy with him, they refused to go to the extent of intervention in behalf of his country. In 1867 he was granted amnesty and might have returned to his native land. He, however, refused to do this. Shortly before his death he published "Memories of My Exile." His visit to America ended in July, 1852. ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 549 "The Whig party die out ! What fool believes it ? The party which enrolls among its worthies Clay, Webster, Clayton, Crittenden, Fillmore, Harrison, Taylor, Scott, Badger, Mangum, and a host beside cease to exist ? The party on which, even in its darkest hours the hopes and expectations of national liberty depended, and around which they now cling, as the ivy clings around the riven but sturdy oak ! Thank God for the Whig party of the United States, for so long as it exists, neither ourselves nor our children will want for proud recollections or precious principles to love, honor and cherish." The papers of the year 1852 were twice in mourning. Henry Clay died at Washington on Tuesday, June 29, and Daniel Webster at Marshfield, Massachusetts, on Sunday, October 24. Although they had failed to reach the goal of the presidency, which both intensely desired, they were held in the highest honor in Ohio. Clay was a familiar figure in most parts of the state, and Webster had spoken frequently before great Ohio audiences. When Clay's remains were conveyed to his Kentucky home they passed through Ohio, stopping at Columbus and Cincinnati. The demonstration of respect in the latter city took the form of an immense procession. An item of genuine interest to newspaper readers was published in the Cincinnati Gazette of December 14, 1852. Warren Stagg, a noted "ham curer" of that city, had the previous summer sent a dozen choice specimens of his product to Queen Victoria in England. They were served at her majesty's table, and in December he received the following note on stationery bearing the royal coat of arms : "Windsor Castle, Oct. 29, 1852. Sir :  "Some weeks ago a cask, containing twelve sugar cured hams, was presented by you, through the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, to her Majesty the Queen. "I have the satisfaction to inform you that these hams have been so much approved-of that you are requested to forward, on the receipt of this letter, twenty-four hams of precisely the same description, addressed to The Queen, Buckingham Palace, London. "I will at the same time beg of you to forward me the bill for the same. "I am, Sir, Your ob't humble servant, "THO. BIDDULPT, "Master of the Household. "Mr. Warren Stagg,  "Cincinnati, Ohio, U. S." The Gazette spread all this conspicuously, and in its editorial columns trusted "that Mr. Stagg will allow his children to play with his neighbors' children as heretofore, notwithstanding his sudden elevation in the world of trade." During the year 1852 much interest was manifest in the consideration of the advantages of coal over wood as a fuel. Mining had been under way to some extent in Jackson County, and the only obstacle to using coal in the larger cities was the lack of transportation. "Coal Roads" were now agitated, and it was not many months before the mining districts were reached by a few railroads. Coal was thereafter available in all sections where railroads were in operation. Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which was drawn from her observations while for many years a resident of Cincinnati, had become a subject of enormous interest by the end of 1852, when the book was fresh from the press after the story had been published in serial form by the National Era, of Washington. The Ohio papers were filled with accounts of it, of its author's life in Cincinnati, and of its reception in England. The Hamilton Intelligencer of December 23, 1852, said : "Everybody has heard of this book, the greatest celebrity of modern times. Bayard Taylor says, in a recent letter from London,