This is an extremely unjust imputation upon a gentleman who in all the affairs of life showed himself to be the very soul of honor. That it is false in every particular, a bare recital of the above facts, coupled with the additional fact that Dr. Cutler in the daily journal he kept makes no reference to General St. Clair in connection with the governorship until the evening of the 23rd, ten days after the passage of the ordinance, is clear and sufficient proof. The extract from the journal containing this reference is as follows:
July 23rd. * * * * Spent the evening with Colonel Grayson and members of Congress from the southward, who were in favor of a contract. Having found it impossible to support General Parsons as a candidate for Governor, after the interest that General St. Clair had secured, and suspecting that this might be some impediment in the way (for my endeavors to make interest for him [Parsons] were well known), and the arrangements for civil officers being on the carpet, I embraced the opportunity frankly to declare that for my own part—and ventured to engage for Mr. Sargent—if General Parsons could have the appointment of first judge, and Sargent secretary, we would be satisfied; and I heartily wished that his excellency, General St. Clair, might be governor, and that I would solicit the eastern members to favor such an arrangement. This I found rather pleasing to the southern members, and they were so complacent as to ask repeatedly what officer would be agreeable to me in the western country.
That General St. Clair should have received the Ohio Company’s agent coolly on the 6th day of July, and on the 9th of the same month appointed as chairman of the committee to treat with Dr. Cutler the very man the latter wished appointed, Col. Carrington, a personal friend; that General St. Clair wanted the governorship, and remained hostile to Dr. Cutler’s plans, until Dr. Cutler gave up Parsons and came to his support on the 23rd day of July, is on the face of it so improbable that, without any direct evidence to the contrary, no fair minded person at all familiar with St. Clair’s character could give it credence. However, we have the very best proof of the untruthfulness of Mr. Poole’s statement in General St. Clair’s own words. [[12]]In a letter to the Hon. William Giles, written some time after his election as governor, he says the office was forced upon him by his friends; that he did not desire it and would not have accepted it but for “the laudable ambition of becoming the father of a country, and laying the foundation for the happiness of millions then unborn.”
All this shows conclusively that General St. Clair was friendly to the land negotiation from the start; that he clearly saw the advantages to the government of the sale of so large a body of western lands; that he received Dr. Cutler cordially, and warmly espoused his cause from the first; that he had no thought of the governorship until pressed by his friends for the office; that Dr. Cutler discovering the drift of sentiment in his favor concluded it would be futile to longer endeavor to obtain interest for General Parsons, the man of his choice. St. Clair, before Dr. Cutler announced himself in his favor for the governorship, appointed a committee favorable to the land negotiation to draft the ordinance for the government of the Territory; and in fact there is good reason for believing that some of the grand principles of that great charter owe their incorporation in that instrument to his wisdom and foresight. Everything convinces that General St. Clair’s relation to Dr. Cutler, to the land negotiation and to the governorship, was in all respects creditable to the dignity of his office and to his personal honor.
The Ordinance of 1787 was the product of the highest statesmanship. It ranks among the grandest bill of rights ever drafted for the government of any people. It secured for the inhabitants of the great States formed from the Northwest Territory religious freedom, the inviolability of private contracts; the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus and trial by jury; the operation of the common law in judicial proceedings; urged the maintenance of schools and the means of education; declared that religion, morality and knowledge were essential to good government; exacted a pledge of good faith toward the Indians; and proscribed slavery within the limits of the Territory. It provided for the opening, development and government of the Territory, and formed the basis of subsequent State legislation. Chief Justice Chase says of it: “When they (the people) came into the wilderness, they found the law already there. It was impressed on the soil while as yet it bore up nothing but the forest. * * * Never probably in the history of the world did a measure of legislation so accurately fulfill, and yet so mightily exceed, the anticipation of the legislators. * * * The Ordinance has well been described as having been a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night in the settlement of the Northwest States.” Judge Timothy Walker, in 1837 in an address delivered at Cincinnati, says: “Upon the surpassing excellence of this Ordinance no language of panegyric would be extravagant. The Romans would have imagined some divine Egeria for its author. It approaches as nearly absolute perfection as anything to be found in the legislation of mankind. * * * It is one of those matchless specimens of sagacious foresight which even the reckless spirit of innovation would not venture to assail.” Daniel Webster, in his famous reply to Hayne, bore this testimony to the excellence of this measure: “We are accustomed to praise the lawgivers of antiquity; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus; but I doubt whether one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787. We see its consequences at this moment, and we shall never cease to see them, perhaps, while the Ohio shall flow.”
The people of Ohio, of the farther west, and of the whole country cannot become too familiar with a measure which has received so great praise from such high sources. We publish the Ordinance in full.
An ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio:
Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the said Territory for the purpose of temporary government be one district, subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient.
Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates both of resident and non-resident proprietors in said Territory dying intestate, shall descend to and be distributed among the children, and the descendants of a deceased child in equal parts—the descendants of a deceased child, or grandchild, to take the share of the deceased parent in equal parts among them; and where there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal parts to the next of kin in equal degree; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have, in equal parts among them, the deceased parent’s share, and there shall in no case be a distinction between kindred of the whole and half blood, saving in all cases to the widow of the intestate her third part of the real estate for life, and [where there shall be no children of the intestate] one third part of the personal estate; and this law relative to descents and dower shall remain in full force until altered by the legislature of the district. And until the governor and judges shall adopt laws, as hereinafter mentioned, estates in the said Territory may be divided or bequeathed by wills, in writing, signed and sealed by him or her, in whom the estate may be [being of full age] and attested by three witnesses; and real estate may be conveyed by lease or release, or bargain and sale, signed, sealed and delivered by the person, being of full age, in whom the estate may be, and attested by two witnesses, provided such wills lie duly proved, and such conveyance be acknowledged, or the execution thereof duly proved, and be recorded within one year after proper magistrates, court and registers shall be appointed for that purpose; and personal property may be transferred by delivery, saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers of the Kaskaskies, St. Vincent’s and the neighboring villages, who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them, relative to the descent and conveyance of property.
Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be appointed, from time to time, by Congress, a governor, whose commission shall continue in force for the term of three years, unless sooner revoked by Congress. He shall reside in the district and have a freehold estate therein in one thousand acres of land while in the exercise of his office. There shall be appointed, from time to time, by Congress, a secretary, whose commission shall continue in force for four years, unless sooner revoked; he shall reside in the district and have a freehold estate therein in five hundred acres of land while in the exercise of his office; it shall be his duty to keep and preserve the acts and laws passed by the legislature, and the public records of the district, and the proceedings of the governor in his executive department; and transmit authentic copies of such acts and proceedings every six months to the secretary of Congress. There shall also be appointed a court to consist of three judges, any two of whom to form a court, who shall have a common law jurisdiction, and reside in the district, and have each therein a freehold estate in five hundred acres of land while in the exercise of their offices; and their commissions shall continue in force during good behavior.