transportation could be conducted only by means of portages, the water route being interrupted by a vexatious "carrying" by land; but even this route could become available only by securing a safe passage of the rapids below, and now the project of constructing a canal to connect the two rivers was conceived by bold speculators and urged upon the attention of the two States. The need of wagon roads was keenly felt, and the Federal Government was urged to continue the great national road, so as to connect the capitals of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. By the act of admission, the Congress had set apart five per cent. of the net proceeds of the public lands in Indiana which should be sold after the following Ist of December, for the purpose of constructing roads and canals. Three-fifths of this amount was to be controlled by the General Assembly, and expended within the State. The remainder was to be applied under congressional direction to the building of a road leading to Indiana. It was too early to expect much of the counties in the way of road-making. The increase in the taxable land in 1822 was 456,159 acres. Land was held at two

dollars per acre.

The educational condition was extremely disheartening. The Congress of the old Confederation had in 1785 granted to the inhabitants of each congressional township the sixteenth section of land, as an endowment of public education. The common school lands of the State were estimated at 680,207 acres, supposed to be worth, in the aggregate, $1,260,414. But they were wholly unavailable as a means of revenue. By joint resolution of the General Assembly of 1821, a committee of seven had been appointed to draft a general school law for the State, but had not yet reported, although the limit of time had long since expired.

The first message of the new Governor was awaited with deep interest. It was an able paper, full of encour

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agement to the despondent and of caution to the over sanguine, and contained valuable suggestions of practical measures. It referred to the unsettled condition of monetary matters and the attendant embarrassment of the government and of individuals, but congratulated the people upon the agricultural and social happiness of the State;" that the productions of the soil had never been more abundant, and the necessaries and comforts of life were secured to all; that the population was growing, as immigration had begun to revive; that the people, depending mostly upon agricultural and home products, were enjoying a fair degree of prosperity. On the subject of internal improvements, it said:

"We ought to leave free and untrammeled, as far as we can, our resources, for improvement and for the purposes which the interests of the State may hereafter require if not at our hands, at the hands of those who succeed us. Let us not lose sight of those great objects to which the means of the State should at some future day be devoted—the navigation of the falls of the Ohio, the improvement of the Wabash and White rivers and other streams, and the construction of the national and other roads through the State."

The Assembly was thus cautioned to practice economy, to avoid haste in the matter of public works, and to keep in view for thought and discussion a few enterprises important to growth and industry. Among the earlier measures approved by Governor Hendricks were bills creating the counties of Montgomery, Johnson, Madison, and Hamilton. On the 11th of January, 1823 was enacted a measure for financial relief, which for its modesty will provoke a smile, though it proved an enactment of excellent wisdom. It authorized the State Treasurer to re-issue fifteen thousand dollars of six-per cent. treasury notes, receivable for taxes and officers' fees, and enacted penalties for counterfeiting them. At the same

time two extensive State roads were determined upon, one to extend from Brookville through Connersville and Centerville to Fort Wayne, the other to pass from Terre Haute through the wilderness of the Wabash to the same terminus. Nineteen other roads of lesser importance were decreed. The General Assembly set an example of economy, and completed its work with commendable dispatch. The entire expenses of the session amounted to but $8,500, while the Executive Department was allowed for the year two thousand five hundred dollars. The Governor was authorized to draw out the State's deposit of five thousand dollars from the Bank of Vincennes and assume charge of it, lending it or investing it in property for the State, at discretion—the idea being that at such a time a government had no right to hoard money. The revenue of the State for this year was $36,010.74, the taxable land was about 3,000,000 acres.

At the next session the new county of Allen was formed, December 17, 1823, aud three days later the Governor signed with pardonable pride the bill establishing a new county which bears in his honor the name of Hendricks. Another bill which at that time received his signature was the charter of a seminary at Aurora, in Dearborn county, organized through the efforts of James Walker, Jesse Holman, and a few other men of enterprise and influence. An attempt to organize education was made in the "act to incorporate congressional townships, and providing for public schools therein," but as for years there were no State revenues for distribution, the schools could not be free.

A subject of absorbing interest was the establishment. of a new capital. Corydon had been adopted only for a term of years. The Government, by the enabling act of 1816, agreed to donate to the State four sections of land at whatever point might be preferred, for a town plat. Thus the State, rather than an individual or com

pany, was to receive the profits arising from the sale of lots. The new capital had been located in the preceding administration, and, on the suggestion of Judge Sullivan, called Indianapolis. It was in the geographical center of the State, and in the midst of a vast wilderness. It is advantageous in many ways to plan in advance a town in a comprehensive plat, before a settlement forms without order or general design. Engineer Ralston, who had assisted to lay out the city of Washington, made the most of his opportunity. To him we owe the central circle, the great diagonal avenues, and the boulevard of Washington street. All through the administration of Governor Hendricks the work of preparation went on at Indianapolis, and its successful outcome was due largely to his prudent and thoughtful care.

Corydon had been deemed an isolated place because it was thirteen miles distant from the river. Indianapolis was remote indeed—one hundred and twenty miles in the wilderness, due north from the old capital. It was accessible only through terrible roads, afforded but few comforts, and seemed all the time to be suffering from a pestilence. Worse than all, the isolation of the settlement was such that only tardy aid could be rendered in case of an attack from the Seneca Indians to the northward. It was hoped, however, that there would be nothing to invite hostilities. This hope was doomed to disappointment. Fiendish outrages of border ruffians were perpetrated in 1824 upon a peaceable and friendly tribe, which called loudly for vengeance and excited wide-spread terror throughout the new settlements in central Indiana. Governor Hendricks was much disturbed for the peace of the frontier, and was determined. that justice should be done. Never was a distressing State difficulty more admirably managed. One of the murderers escaped, it is true, but through no fault of the officers pursuing. Others were executed in the following

winter, this instance being the first in American history where a white man was judicially put to death for the murder of a savage. The spirit of justice evinced by the citizens and officers was entirely satisfactory to the Indians, who caused no further alarm.

The legislation of the session of 1823-4 was rendered more memorable by the adoption of a complete revision of the statutes of the State, made by Benjamin Parke, to whom the work had been entrusted at the preceding session. Among the joint resolutions passed was one favoring a Federal tariff which should encourage the home production of staples hitherto furnished mostly by Europe, and another the stock request to Congress for the westward extension of the national road. A third referred to the remarkable message of President Monroe, which had reached the village some weeks before.

The particular part of the message which most occupied attention related not to State or even national affairs, but to matters of international moment. That an Indiana Legislature should occupy itself with the settlement of the Eastern Question will not seem strange when we remember the time and the circumstances. The year 1823 had been one of world-wide excitement. A republic was rëestablished in Mexico, on the ruins of Iturbide's brief empire. South America was ablaze with revolution. Byron was aiding the Greeks against the Turks. Our Republic was universally called a confederacy, and the States were designated as sovereign. It long continued customary for Governors to discuss in their messages matters strictly national or international, and for legislatures to throw the moral weight of independent States for or against measures far remote from their sphere. Thus it was that the following joint resolutions came to be:

Resolved, That the General Assembly of Indiana, on the eve of closing their legislative labors, are impelled