Jasper County Democrat, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1902 — MEN WHO MOST CONTRIBUTED TO GREATNESS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDIANA [ARTICLE]

MEN WHO MOST CONTRIBUTED TO GREATNESS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDIANA

glr William Jones, an Englishman of great learning and experienoe in stats craft, and living during the period when England's American colonies were struggling for independence, wrote his celebrated ode, entitled, "What Constitutes a Stater 1 It has been quoted until it has become eommonplao®. but Is still reproduced when men want a standard by which to measure those who are called upon to build s state In which liberty. Independence and Uw constitute its great raM»ortlng pillars. One stansa of the ode wgMjßfSoe for this article: “What Constitutes a Stater* -Not high-raised battlement or labored mound. Thick wall or moated gatei Nor cities proud with spires and turrets crowned; Nor bays and beoad-armed porta. Where laughing at the storm rich navies ride; Nor starred and spangled eeeits. Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to prlda - No. men. high-minded men. With power* as far shore dull brutes dared In forest, brake or den, km beasts exoel cold rooks and brambles rude. M«n who their duties know. But know their rights, and knowing, dar. maintain. Prtvent tha loiif-tlniafl blow kmA crush the tyrant while they read tha chain. These oonet! tuts the state." Indiana's Position. Contemplating the position of Indians In ths great republic, n state on the foundations of which the Ideas of Sir William Jones first found expression, as the declaration of Independenos demonstrates, and which have been transmitted to all of the states since the union of the thirteen colonies first made us a nation; ths query is, were the founders of the empire state of Indiana in full accord with Blr William Jonea's exposition of "What Constitutes a State?" I think such a conclusion is warranted by all the facts of history. Say what we may, there Is an element of superstition in the mental organism of men, however educated and cultured they may be, and It may be that seeing the wonderful strides the state has made from a wilderness to her present noon-day glory In civilization, wealth, prosperity and Influence, the conjecture may be nursed by some people that the state has had a good genius, a tutulary Deity to preside over Its destiny, guard Its development and shape Its course. But such reflections, perhaps, are too fanciful for this era pf steam and electricity, this utilitarian, practical, mat-ter-of-fact age, when the forge, the plow, the anvil and engine are working wonders which seise upon the publio mind and will not be set aside. Their demand for consideration Is Imperious. They are freighted with encouragement, and only eulogies are tolerated. They Inspire hope;

they vitalise faith In tbe coming of things hoped for, giving assurance that the things already accomplished are to be overshadowed by future achievements In every line of high endeavor. They make the old reminiscent; the past passes In review In panoramic grandeur, and to the young furnish dazzling Ideals to be revealed as the years go by. The Credit.

In such mood the Inquiry Is forced: "To whom, tn the larger measure, la Indiana Indebted for her splendid renown T*’ The facta of history hav# all the glamor of fiction. But yesterday a wtnderness; today the center of advanced civilization, with Its two hundred thousand farms; its three hundred cities and towns; Its thousand factories; its ten thousand school bouses; Its churches, colleges and universities; Its benevolent Institutions and splendid oharltles; Us press and Its writers who have won fame In every department of literature; Its professional educators; Its lawyers, doctors and clergymen; Its merchants and manufactures; Its more than five thousand miles of railroads—a stats In which art science, learning and culture find an invigorating atmosphere; In a word, a state where every prospect pleases, where hIU and dais and rock and vale suggest contentment and where the great masses ars satisfied with being “obscurely good.” Surely, all this advancement this development this moral. Intellectual and material wealth has not come to Indiana by chance, by wizard enchantments, by some Aladdin ring and lamp. History records a different verdict. From the day Indiana was launched as a territory, more than a hundred years ago, the men at the helm were endowed with a large measure of common sense, Integrity, conscience, loyalty to duty and love of country. Who were these men? Where stand the monuments to perpetuate their names and their labors In laying the foundations of Indiana's greatness even before the state was born? Where are their graves? In what sequestered spot of our great domain Is their final resting place, to remain until the last trump opens earth's charnel houses and “the Lamb and the white-vested elders have met’* to pass Judgment? Four Orest Man. There were four of these men— Arthur Saint Clair, John Olbeon, William Henry Harrison, Thomas Posey. They were all native Americans except Saint Clair, who was born in Edinburg, Scotland, in 1735. He was a general In tbe revolutionary war and was appointed governor of Indiana territory In 1757 and remained In office till 1800. He was a gallant and patriotic soldier. He died In 1818 at the age of eighty-three years. His successor by appointment was William Henry Harrison, bet for a year John Olbson. who was secretary of the territory, was acting governor. He was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1740. He served with distinction during the revolutionary war, and was a delegate to the conven-

tion which framed tbs first constitution of Pennsylvania. He died at Pittsburg In 1822, at aixty-threa years of age. It Is scarcely required to more than mention the name of William Henry Harrison—who served as governor of the Indiana territory from 1801 to 1812, and during his term of office fought the battl# of Tippecanoe, and In' 1840 was elected president of the United States. This reward for his services to his country came lato tn life, but It came with scripture measure at last. He was made governor of ths Indiana territory at the age of twenty-seven. He fought the great battle of Tippecanoe at thirty-eight and the still more renowned battle of the Thames, where Tecuxnsch fell, at forty. He was elected president at sixty-seven years of age, add died In office at the age of sixty-eight. N. I’. Willis, the poet, wrote of Harrison’s death In the white house: "Death! Death in the white housel Ah. never before Trod his skeleton foot on the president’s floor! Put Harrison's death fills the climax of story— He went with his old stride—from glory to glory. Lay his sword on his breast 1 There's no spot on Its blade In whose cankering breath his bright laurels will fade; •Twas the first to lead on at humanity's ca lilt was stay’d with sweet mercy when “glory" was all; As calm In the council as gallant In war, He fought for his country, and not its “hurrah.” In the path of the hero with pity he trod— Let him pass—with his sword—to the presen,’e of God " Thomas Posey. Thomas Posey was the last governor of the Indiana territory. Like Saint Clair and Gen. Gibson, he was a revolutionary soldier and fought for Independence. He was with Wayne at the storming and capture of the fort at Stony Point, N. Y., In 1779. regarded as one of the most brilliant exploits of the revolutionary war. Posey was the first to give the watchword, "The fort's our own." After hie retirement from the office of territorial governor In 1816, he returned to Illinois, where, two years later, be died. From 1787 to 1816— twenty-nine years—tho four men named were the chief architects In laying the foundations of Indiana In legislation and law and In molding publio opinion In matters pertaining to education, religion and morals. They were high-minded men. measuring up splendidly to the standard of Sir William Jones. They knew' their duty and the rights of their fellow men. They mapped out the course of events. Indiana has more than fulfilled their Ideals, and Indian lans may tune their throats snd sing with Longfellow: “We know what masters laid thy keel. What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel. Who made each mast, and sail and rope, What anvil rung, wbat hammers beat, In what a forge and what a heat Were shaped the anchors of our hope." Yes, ell of the present generation know it all. and the grand men who were at the forge and the anvil, who wielded the hamm'ers—St. Clair, Gibson, Harrison and Posey—are entitled to everlasting gratitude for the work they performed.

Honors Given. True, the nation rewarded Harrison. It raised him to the most august station known to the nations of the earth, and then, by a decree of fate, he pitched his tent on “Fame's eternal camping ground.” But what of the other men 4gho were his associates In laying the foundations of Indiana? The state has done something to rescue the names of Gibson and Posey from oblivion (.and other states have done the same for St. Clair) by conferring their names upon counties. Indiana has her counties of Gibson and Posey and Harrison; Michigan her river and lake bearing the name of St. Clair. Is that enough? The present Is an era of government reservations. There Is a patriotic spirit abroad which finds expression in monuments on battlefields where Indiana soldiers fought and fell. The present Is a monument building era In the United States, and Indiana is abreast of the most advanced of all our commonwealths. The ancient custom Is being revived In all its glory. Egypt, Greece, Rome and other lands and peoples were not more under the influence of the desire to perpetuate the names and deeds of their rulers and heroes. Pyramids were built for tombs and temples for gods. Egypt had her pyramids and obelisks, Greece her acropolis and Parthenon, Rome her pantheon and coliseum. Byron wrote the legend of Rome: “While stands the coliseum Rome shall standi When falls the coliseum Rome shall fall. And when Rome falls—the world.” Rome, Greece. Egypt have fallen, and all their monumental grandeur Is a ruin, sans Cheops In the sand by the Nile. It has stood defying elements since time was young, and Is likely to remain Intact when forty more centuries are gone. In this regard the old Egyptians have had no rivals. In piling up great rocks, square and ponderous, ono upon another, they solved a problem where others failed, and Cheops stands to keep In everlasting remembrance a race of Titans whose infancy defies the researches of antic'"“laris. In this they taught a lesson 1 ■ lodern monument builders which should not be disregarded.

The First Capitol. The builders of the first capltol of Indiana at Corydon, Harrison county, seem to have had the Egyptian idea of architecture They built the unpretentious state house to resist decay, and there It stands after the lapse of elghty-slx years as firmly fixed on Its foundations as It was when the first legislature of Indiana met within Its massive walls, eighty-five years ago. It Is a relic of Indiana in Us dawn. In the morning of the first day of its triumphal march the sun baptised It In auroral light. StandIn./ forty feet square in the walls of stone two and a half fee: thick, there Is no reason why It may not stand a thousand years. Already this old capitol Is attracting attention, and people are beginning to reverence It. and aa the years go by this feeling of veneration will Increase and become Intensified. It Is the only memorial of Indiana’s early history aa a state, the only aouvenlr the past has placed In possession of the present to keep fresh and green the remembrance of the birth of the state. Such reflections suggest the propriety of a movement for the acquisition by the state of the old capltol at Corydon and Its preservation from decay.. The grounds around the building should m Improved and art and culture taxed to, the utmost to make them beautiful with wklka and flowers, shrubs and trees. This at the four corners of the park let art do Its best In placing statues of ft. Clair, Gibson, Harrison and Posey, *ie Illustrious men who for more tharyn quarter of a century devoted their 11 ve*. to laying broad and doep the founds! ion of the state. The various rooms of the building cc hid be set apart for a museum where i nementoes of the early days could be served to delight future generations, uAd Corydon would become a sort of Mecca A And In time thousands of pilgrims would resort thither to see the only monument \ of early Indiana preserved by the state j to perpetuate memories of Its primitive ' history.