purpose he was clothed with power more nearly imperial than any ever exercised by one man in the Republic. He was authorized to adopt and publish such laws, civil and criminal, as were best * adapted to the condition of the Territory; he could arbitrarily create townships and counties, and appoint civil officers, and militia officers under the grade of general. Most extraordinary of all, however, to him belonged the confirmation. of an important class of land grants. In this regard his authority was absolute. Other approval or countersign was not required. The application was to him originally; his signature was the perfect evidence of title. When one thinks of the temptations to which he was subjected, and of the fortune he might have amassed, the fact that he issued from the trial poor, and without a taint upon his honor, must be regarded as creditable to him in the highest degree. His repuupon this circumstance quite as safely as upon his military record.

tation may be rested

As Governor of Indiana Harrison was exofficio Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to which was shortly added the commissionership for treating with the Indians. These duties brought him into connection with the tribes, and ultimately called him to the field against them.

The sketch, necessarily hurried and brief, presents William Henry Harrison as a civilian; the reader is now invited to study him as a soldier,

He must be brought to mind a young man, tall, slender, handsome, of graceful carriage, military in manner, with large black eyes and an intellectual face. In 1798, when he was ruler of the Territory of Indiana, he was but twenty-five years of age, and of extremely youthful appearance.

From Vincennes, his seat of government, he held communication with the authorities of Washington, and strove to keep the great Indian tribes in check, basing his policy in dealing with them upon a foundation of justice. He could probably have kept peace with them but for the intrigues of the British in Canada, and the ambition of the two brothers, Tecumseh, the Crouching Panther, and Elkswatawa, the Loud Voice or Prophet. In 1806 these children of the forest dreamed of a universal confederation of all the tribes for the redemption of the Western world from the usurpations of the pale-faces, and to that end set a great conspiracy on foot. They had promises of support from the Father beyond the Great Lake. Eventually Tecumseh challenged the young governor at Vincennes to the conflict. There were at that time scalps of white women and children flying on a string at his wigwam door. The defiance was accepted. Harrison

took the field in person.

On the morning of November 7, 1811, he fought and won the battle of Tippecanoe.

The victory, as respects consequence, was

nullified by the war with England, known as the War of 1812.

The first engagement was disastrous to the American arms. The surrender of Fort Detroit by General Hull, after a fight which remains incomprehensible to this day, gave the enemy a base of operations on the soil of the United States. It had the effect, however, of arousing the martial spirit of the entire Northwest. The thoughts of all the men in that region turned to Harrison as their saviour. The jealousy of the then Secretary of War was evaded by his appointment as Major-General of the Militia of Kentucky. On the 1st of September, 1812, the President formally commissioned him Brigadier-General, with instructions to take command of all the forces in the Territories of Indiana and Illinois. His authority was remarkable-"Exercise your own discretion, and act in all cases according to your own judgment." He was already in the field when the instruction was received. Afterwards everywhere that he met the enemy in person he was successful.

He repulsed the British and Indians at Fort Meigs. To a demand for surrender, he replied, "Tell General Proctor that if he shall take the fort it will be under circumstances that will do him more honor than a thousand surrenders." ·

In an open field fight on the banks of the Thames he drove the British from their chosen