return."

The President assured them, that they should return, after which they were delivered to Col. Eustiss, commander of Fort Monroe, with whom Black Hawk became intimately acquainted. On leaving him, Black Hawk presented him with a hunting dress and some feathers of the white eagle, and said: "The memory of your friendship will remain, until the Great Spirit says, that it is time for Black Hawk to sing his death song. Accept these, my brother; I have given one suit like them to the White Beaver (Gen. Atkinson). Accept them from Black Hawk, and when he is far away, they will serve to remind you of him. May the Great Spirit bless you and your children. Farewell."

By order of the President, these Indian prisoners were set free on the 4th day of June, 1833. They made the tour of the Northern States, attracting everywhere great attention; and returned, by way of the Northern lakes, to their people west of the Mississippi. Black Hawk died on the 3d of October, 1840, at the age of 80 years, and was buried on the banks of the Mississippi river, where he had spent his life, and which had been so dear to him.

After the termination of the Indian war, nothing worthy of notice occurred until the month of August, 1834, when Senator Duncan was elected Governor of the State. A new Legislature was also elected, which met at Vandalia in December, 1834. As, in consequence of Gen. Jackson's veto, the United States Bank was then on the eve of being dissolved, the Secretary of the Federal Government, presuming, that a deficiency of currency would be produced by its dissolution, induced the State Banks to discount liberally, in order to avoid such deficiency, thus in a manner creating an impression among the "Jackson men," as if Gen. Jackson's administration was favorable to the establishment of State Banks, wherever the same did not exist. Besides these politicians, there were many others in Illinois, who, from motives of personal interest, would have delighted in seeing the charter of the bank at Shawneetown revived, and a new State Bank created, and were clamorous for their re-establishment. Many of the members of the Legislature, who at first opposed the banks, were, it is probable, won over by bribes, so that, when the "State Bank charter" was brought before the House of Representatives, it was approved and passed, and the banks chartered; the State Bank with a capital of over

F

a million, and the bank at Shawneetown with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars, although the banks were certainly superfluous, if not even dangerous; since, at that time, the commerce of Illinois was still very undeveloped, and, there being no surplus of capital in the State, the capital for banking had to come from, and the stockholders to reside, abroad; in consequence whereof, the management of the affairs of the bank was entrusted to agents, but too apt to provide for their own interests far better than for those of their employers, or of the people. At a subsequent session of the Legislature, the capital of the State Bank was increased two millions of dollars, and the capital of the Illinois Bank, at Shawneetown, one million four hundred thousand dollars. The subscriptions to the stock of the State Bank surpassed by far the amount fixed by its charter, owing, partly, to the extensive arrangements made to induce capitalists of the Eastern States to invest their money in this stock. After the stock had been all taken, the State Bank began to transact business, in 1835, under the chief control of Thomas Mather and Godfrey Gilman & Co., merchants, of Alton. The city of St. Louis having monopolized almost the entire trade of Illinois, inasmuch as nearly the whole of the surplus produce of the State was exported to St. Louis for a market, and the merchants of the State purchased their assortments and their bills of exchange on the Eastern cities in St. Louis, a want was felt by many Illinoisians, of a similar emporium of commerce in their own State, to supply which, and attach, at the same time, Godfrey Gilman & Co. entirely to their own interests, the bank undertook to furnish them, and other Alton merchants, with large sums, to carry on enterprises intended to divert the channels of trade from St. Louis to Alton. The Alton merchants commenced operations by making extensive purchases of lead-mines and smelting establishments in the vicinity of Galena, with a view of monopolizing the lead trade altogether. Whilst they succeeded in raising the price of lead to some sixty per cent. at Galena, being unable to regulate, in a like manner, its price in the Eastern States, to which their lead was destined to be shipped, the Alton merchants were at last compelled to sell at an immense sacrifice, which proved equally ruinous to them and the bank, although the fact of the insolvency of the latter was unknown to the people.

At this session of the Legislature, the first step was taken to carry the project of the Illinois and Michigan Canal into execution. To aid in its construction, Congress, in the year 1826, had donated about 300,000 acres, on the route of the proposed canal, of which a survey had already been made. Nothing was done, however, to carry the work into effect, until this session, when George Forquer, a member of the Senate, in a report remarkable for its sagacious reasoning, as well as the masterly eloquence of its language, proposed the negotiation of a loan of half a million of dollars, to begin the work with. The proposed loan was negotiated on the credit of the State, by Gov. Duncan, in 1836, and the construction of the canal commenced in the same year. During that very year, the mania for speculation in land and town lots, after having rested for several years, broke out anew, and spread all over Illinois. The dazzling example set by the people of Chicago, who, by fostering and advocating this spirit of speculation, had, within less than two years, built up and converted a village of a few houses into an elegant, industrious city of several thousand inhabitants, was well calculated to excite the surprise and amazement of the people, and to revive their old bias for speculation in real estate. Nor could the people of the Eastern States be prevailed upon to stay at home, after it had become known to them, in what a rapid manner fortunes were. amassed in Chicago; but looking upon Illinois as a modern El Dorado, large numbers of them immigrated into the State, bringing their money and property with them. The example of Chicago was imitated throughout the State, lots and towns being laid out in every direction. And since the great majority of the speculators had bought far more, than they could hope either to sell or to pay for, it occurring to their minds, that by facilitating immigration, and by attracting wealth and industry from abroad, they would soon transmute the villages into populous cities, and be enabled to sell their lots, either at once, or after a short time, they accordingly commenced agitating, with great ardor, the subject of internal improvements in the State, delivering speeches and holding public meetings, and arguing their cause with such success, that before the next winter a majority of the counties had appointed delegates, who assembled at the same time with the Legislature of 1836-1837, in order to discuss and deliberate thoroughly upon the subject of internal improvements.

and to take good care, that the system to be carried into effect "should be commensurate with the wants of the people." Pressed on all sides, the Legislature passed a law authorizing the construction of about 1300 miles of railroad, commanding, that improvements be made in the navigation of several rivers, and a large sum be paid as indemnification to the counties in which no improvements were to be made. Eight millions, to be raised by a loan, were voted for the execution of the system. A further loan of four millions was negotiated for the completion of the canal from Chicago to Peru, and boards of commissioners, superintending the construction of the works, having been established, to make the folly complete, the works were ordered to be commenced simultaneously on all the roads, at each end. Private interests, intrigues, and corruption, had been actively at work to ensure the adoption of this system. Thus it was, that the friends of the canal were made to give their consent to other improvements, in order to secure the support of their own; and thus politicians would endeavor to obtain the consent of every county in the State, by promises of roads and improvements, allowing the counties which were to be without such, the sum of $200,000 as indemnification: and thus politicians, who were anxious to have the seat of government removed to Springfield from Vandalia, would support or oppose any scheme of improvement, if they could or could not obtain votes in favor of the removal of the seat of government to Springfield in return for it.

In the spring of 1837, the banks throughout the United States suspended specie payments, the banks of Illinois not excepted. Now, since the charters of the Illinois banks, which had been made the fiscal agents for the railroad and canal, and had a large sum of public money on deposit, expressly declared, that the banks, upon refusing specie payments for sixty consecutive days, should be considered as dissolved, it being feared, that such dissolution, whenever it should take place, would necessitate the ruin of the whole improvement system, measures were proposed, and adopted, to have this unavoidable suspension of specie payments duly legalized. The people then firmly believing, that the internal improvement system, which wasted the best energy of the State, was indispensable to her welfare, no modification or alteration was made in it, but, on the contrary, loans were effected, both in Europe and America, large quantities of rail

road iron were bought up at an extravagant price, and the work, upon all the improvements, carried on with unabated energy.

In August, 1838, another election came on for Governor; Cyrus Edwards, the whig candidate, openly declaring himself in favor of the improvement system, whilst Thomas Carlin, who had been nominated as the democratic candidate for Governor, by a State convention, upon the principles of the convention system, which, introduced by the immigrants from the Eastern States, to consolidate the strength of party, was then rapidly superseding the hitherto customary election of independent candidates, who had announced themselves as such, cautiously refrained from expressing his opinion, either in favor of, or against the improvement system. Thomas Carlin was elected Governor, and a new Legislature with him, which not only refused to abolish the system, but even authorized new loans for additional works, projected in a style of magnificence far beyond the means of the infant State. Thus, in expectation, that the value of the lands granted by the United States for the construction of the canal, would prove illimitable, a very large and deep canal, to be fed by the waters of Lake Michigan, was proposed to be built, and portions of it were even completed. Thus canal-basins, and other works, for the improvement of navigation on the Illinois river, the execution and completion of which would have absorbed no less than ten millions of dollars, were nevertheless readily provided for. Soon, no more loans could be obtained at par, and the State bonds, notwithstanding the law rigidly enforced their payment in cash at par, were sold on credit, or at a large discount, or deposited for sale with bankers of Europe and America. The firm of Wright & Co., of London, with whom a large amount of them had been left, sold about half a million of dollars worth, and then failed, returning the residue of the bonds; at the division of whose estate, the State being obliged to share with others, received but a few shillings on the pound. In consequence of these calamities, which might have been easily foreseen, the Legislature, at a special session, in 1838-1839, found themselves obliged to discontinue the "internal improvement system." The work on the canal, however, was not wholly abandoned; a million of State bonds having been sold at some 25 per cent. discount in Europe, the fund commissioners were enabled to persevere in it, for some time after the railroads had