Class E-'MO i^i4 / GENERAL CASS. LIFE OF GENERAL LEWIS CASS: COMPRISING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS MILITARY SERVICES IN THE NORTH-WEST DURING THE WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN, HIS DIPLOMATIC CAREER AND CIVIL HISTORY. TO WHICH IS APPENDED A SKETCH OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HISTORY OF MAJOR-GENERAL W. 0. BUTLER, OF THE VOLUNTEER SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. WITH TWO PORTRAITS, PHILADELPHIA: G. B. Z I E B E R & CO 1848. Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by G. B. ZIEBER &. CO. in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for * the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. STEREOTYPED BY J. FAG AN PRINTED BY C SHERMAN. (2) PREFACE. The following pages profess to be nothing more than a compilation thrown together within a brief space of time, to illustrate the career of the distinguished men nominated as candidates for the two first offices of the na- tion. Without aspirations after literary merit, it has been sought to give a popular account of the eventful lives of these personages, and to place them in a proper position before the people, without dwelling too long on the in- tricacies of politics and party. When these became the subject, General Cass has been caused, as far as possible, to speak for himself, (iii) iv PREFACE. and extracts from his many printed speeches and essays have been made, to which the reader will not object, it* he has a perception of power and eloquence. In the account of General Butler, little more has been done than to expand the well- written sketch of Mr. Blair, which at the time of its publication attracted such general atten- tion. With these brief explanations, this book is presented to the public. Philadelphia, June, 1848. LIFE OF GENERAL LEWIS CASS. 1* (v) — CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Biography of Lewis Cass — His Father — Early emigration to the North-west — Character of that country, etc. Studies law — Admitted to the Bar — Burr — Marshal of the State, etc Page 11 CHAPTER II. Preparations for War — March to the Frontier —War — Invasion of Canada — Hull's procrastination — Battle at Aux Canards — Retreat from Canada — Cass's Remon- strance — Detached Service — Surrender of Detroit — Visit to Washington — Letters — Promotion — Thanks of the Legislature of Ohio 23 CHAPTER III. Joins General Harrison's army — Moves to the Frontier — Crosses into Canada — Advance — Battle of the Thames, etc. — Cass complimented by General Harrison — Anec- dotes — Governor of Michigan 52 (vii) — Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Michigan after the War — Commissioner to treat with the Indians — Improved condition of Michigan, etc. Literary Matters 76 CHAPTER V. General Cass's Civil Services — Literary History — John Hunter — General Jackson — Nullification —Alabama Black Hawk War— Creek War — Seminole War — Minister to France 85 CHAPTER VI. Letter from General Jackson — Diplomatic Services — Indemnity — Eastern Tour — Quintuple Treaty 96 CHAPTER VII. Mr. Cass in the United States — Visit to General Jackson — Letters — Course in the Senate—-Nomination by the Baltimore Convention — Correspondence, &c 132 LIFE OF GENEEAL CASS CHAPTER I. emigration to the Bioo-raphy of Lewis Cass—His Father—Early North-west—Character of that country, etc.— Studies law- State, etc. Admitted to the Bar—Burr—Marshal of the should at- It has become an axiom, that no one individual, until tempt to write the biography of any of the career the tomb should have become the seal be given of of the subject. Manv examples might annals of our the truthfulness of this, both in the own land and of other nations, well known to all elder who read and think. The biography of the and se- Adams, previous to the passage of the alien his defeat and dition laws, the career of Burr before but subsequent treason, and of many less important prove how equally significant personages, would on men, from different often is the estimate placed occasions their sterling value. There are, however, become the when the name and history of a man varied events ot property of the nation ; when the senate, or service his career, whether in the camp, property of the of his country abroad, become the discuss in people, who have a right to canvass and 12 LIFE OF detail each item of his history, and when it becomes almost a duty to ascertain and fix positively the landmarks of his social and public history. This is a consequence of the peculiar character of our country, which, setting aside, if not the ex- perience, at least the practice of the old world, in the selection of its rulers, looks rather to the traces left by the feet of the living, than to inscriptions laudatory of the dead. When a great people, to whose intelligence are confided not only their own rights and those of their children, but, in a great degree, the future of hu- manity, it called upon to select its chief magistrate and holder of the executive power, it becomes each member of the community to acquire, if not a tho- rough knowledge, at least a general acquaintance with the events of the lives of the candidates for the high position, especially when they appear be- fore the community, endorsed by the recommenda- tion of either of the great classes, into which party and opinion have divided the nation. The history of parties in the United States inculcates a sad les- son, and if we believe the journals of the day, dur- ing each political canvass, we must think either that the candidates are god-like and unequalled heroes, Nestors in experience, Ulysses in wisdom, and Achilles in courage, or deem them disgraces to hu- manity and opprobriums to society. Except Gene- ral Washington, and perhaps Mr. Jefferson, no one who has occupied the seat of the president, has es- caped this indiscriminate censure and laudation, each of which has often been so indiscreet and in- discriminate, that victims have fled for shelter to their enemies, and cried in agony, " Save me from my friends." The United States stand on the eve of one of the great convulsions which, occurring on every fourth year, shake society, break down the divisions of party, and lately have amounted to n total revolu- GENERAL CASS. 13 tion in all of the ministerial departments. The pe- culiar structure of the organization of government should bring makes it necessary that new presidents with them new secretaries, and the latter new offi- cials in important and minor capacities, more or less affecting each individual of the community, and makino- from their natural dependence, each circum- stance°of the career of the candidates of either of the two great parties important. The democratic spirit of our government is not a thing of theory, a mere expansion of words, but a principle, pervading the idea and action of both of the two great powers. Nothing makes this more apparent than the organization of parties, which almost recalls to us the conduct and condition of those countries, in which two races, each having condensed. its own peculiar ruler and code, were a We find them meeting and acting alone, with party constitution as well defined as the law of the land* submissive to the principle that the wish and interest of the many is the interest and should be erected itself the wish of the few : each party has into a subordinate republic, and established the rule that a majority, greater or less, as the case might be, shall control its decision in the selection of a candidate. The party annals of the United States for in no have shown how absolute is this decision ; case, since the establishment of these sub-republics, has the mass of either party failed to use its influ- ence, or cast its voice, for the person who had been designated as a candidate. On the propriety of this, great and good men of either party have differed — party, it being notorious that, after the fiat of the the people vote according to the suggestion of the convention, to which they adhere almost as blindly as canons and deans in ecclesiastical corporations, abroad, cast their suffrages for the person, whom, by a chancellor's writ, they are permitted to elect* This mav be wron£. Both parties, however, are 2 14 LIFE OF liable to reproach, and show that they are aware of it, by the fact of their applying to the convention of their opponents opprobrious epithets, which are equally appropriate to their own cases.* It is un- fortunately but too true, that this party allegiance has proved more powerful, and exerted more influ- ence, than the call of the higher and undoubted appeal of patriotism. This is a statement which needs no proof; each one, within his own experience, being able to recall a recent and striking instance. We have seen the whole democratic party cry for war for indemnity, and the satisfaction of our na- tional claims on Mexico ; on the other hand, almost without an exception, we have seen the wr hig party brand the government, and the party which sup- ported it, as an oppressor of the weak abroad, and the labouring man at home ; we have listened to its loud declamation against the war, its causes, con- duct, purposes and results. Now, not only Brutus, but Caesar, " is an honourable man," yet one or the other is undoubtedly mistaken ; and it becomes the duty of the friends of both to ascertain each item of the history of the two persons presented to them as exponents of the two great political churches which solicit their adherence and support.