numerous, and the great scarcity of money within the State, made it difficult for the collector to realize on the demands of

the State upon the property assessed. This difficulty was urged upon the attention of the legislature, in 1818, when Governor Jennings remarked that in order to "enforce the payments of the revenue of the State, on the part of those charged with collections, it is recommended that all suits connected therewith be instituted in the Harrison Circuit Court, and that the appointment of an Attorney General be authorized by law, whose duty it shall be to prosecute thereon, and in the Supreme Court when the State may be à party."

During Governor Jennings' administration the subject of internal improvements was agitated. As early as 1818, in his message to the legislature, he used these words: "The internal improvement of the State forms a subject of the greatest importance and deserves the most serious attention. Roads and canals are calculated to afford facilities to the commercial transactions connected with the exports and imports of the country, by lessening the expenses and time attendant, as well on the transportation of the bulky articles which compose our exports as on the importation of articles the growth and manufacture of foreign countries, which luxury and habit have. rendered too common and almost indispensable to our consumption. They enhance the value of the soil, by affording the agriculturalist the means of deriving greater gain from its cultivation, with an equal proportion of labor, thereby presenting stronger inducements to industry and enterprise, and at the same time, by various excitements, invite to a more general intercourse between the citizens. * The success which has attended the exertions of the Jeffersonville and Ohio Canal Company affords the flattering prospect of a speedy commencement upon the great object for which the corporation was created, and presents still stronger claims upon the general assembly to aid its ultimate execution."

* *

In November, 1821, Governor Jennings convened the legis lature in extra session, to provide for the payment of the interest on the State debt, and a part of the principal, amounting to twenty thousand dollars. It was then believed that an

amount sufficient for these purposes would be realized by the State treasurer, in the notes of the State bank and its branches, and it was urged upon the legislature, by the Governor, that the public debt could be conscientiously discharged with these depreciated notes. In support of this view he said: "It will be oppressive if the State, after the paper of this institution was authorized to be circulated in revenue, should be prevented by any assignment of the evidences of the existing debt, from discharging at least so much of that debt with the paper of the bank, as will absorb the collections of the present year; especially, when their notes, after being made receivable by the agents of the State, because greatly depreciated by great mismanagement on the part of the bank itself. It ought not to be expected that a public loss to the State should be avoided by resorting to any measures which would not comport with correct views of public justice; nor should it be anticipated that the treasury of the United States would ultimately adopt measures to secure an uncertain debt, which would interfere with arrangements calculated to adjust the demand against the State, without producing any additional embarrassment."

The condition of public affairs that called for these sentiments from the Executive was not flattering. An assignment of the bonds executed in behalf of the State had been effected and the general credit of the State greatly embarrassed. The State bank a history of which will be found further on owing to bad management had depreciated the bank paper of the State, and injured the public credit. The means employed to produce this result are said to have been designed by unprincipled speculators. The Governor, in reference to this painful phase of the question, held that "whatever disposition the principal bank may have made of the funds deposited by the United States, it must be admitted that the connection of interest between the steam mill company and the bank, and the extraordinary accommodations, on account of the manner in which they were obtained, as well as their amount, effected by arrangements of the steam mill agency and some of the officers of the bank have been among the principal causes which have prostrated the paper circulating medium of this

State, so far as it was dependent on the State bank and its branches. And from the direction which for a time past has been given to the funds as well as to the credit of the State bank, it would seem as if it had been an object to produce depreciation of her own credit, as well as that of her branches, producing thereby, among other mischievous consequences, the means of direct gain to a certain portion of the community, equal to the loss which the innocent and disinterested holder of the paper inevitably sustains.”

It is undoubtedly true that the panic of 1821, which cast a gloom over the infant industries of the State of Indiana, was in a great measure the result of dishonest speculation, as well as of an unwise financial policy. At all events the public affairs were in a very unsettled condition when Governor Jennings, at the summons of the popular voice, handed the government of the young State over to his successor, Hon. William Hendricks.*

CHAPTER XIX.

IN

ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR WILLIAM HENDRICKS.

N 1822, in his first message to the legislature, Governor Hendricks, notwithstanding the discouraging state of the public affairs, was disposed to regard every prospect full of promise for the new State. He regretted the unsettled condition of the pecuniary affairs of the State and citizens, but in a happy mood, congratulated the people upon "the agricultural and social happiness of the State." At no period in the previous history of the State had the productions of the soil been more abundant in the necessaries and comforts of life

* Governor Jennings having been elected to Congress, in 1822, Lieutenant-Governor Boone was acting Governor of the State of Indiana for several months previous to the election of Governor Hendricks.

than during the year 1822. At this time emigration was affording the State considerable accessions to her population, and despite the financial troubles which engaged the attention of the legislature, the people who for the most part depended wholly upon agricultural products, were enjoying moderate

prosperity. Nevertheless, the payment for the lands, the extensive consumption of European goods in Indiana, and the want of a market for the surplus produce, had placed the balance of trade largely against the people, and produced general and individual distress; but the subsequent develop

ment of the resources of the State, the steady pursuit of agricul ture, the resort to domestic fabrics to the exclusion of foreign merchandise, combined to produce the most favorable results.

On the question of internal improvements, Governor Hendricks, in his first message to the legislature, said: "We ought to leave free and unshackled, as far as we can, our resources for improvement and 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, the White river, and other streams, and the construction of the National and other roads through the State.”

Governor Hendrick's administration extended over a period from December 1822, to February 1825, during which the several industries of the State enjoyed considerable prosperity.

Although a complete history of the educational institutions of the State is given in other parts of this volume, it will not be improper to note, in this connection, the condition and prospects of the educational facilities of the State as they existed at the close of the administration of Governor Hendricks in 1825. By a grant of Congress, a section of land in each township in the State was invested in the inhabitants of such townships for the support of common schools; two entire townships were invested in the legislature for the use of a "State Seminary," and by a provision of the State constitution, all fines assessed for a breach of the penal laws, and all commutations for militia service, were appropriated to the use of the "County Seminaries." The common school lands were estimated, at this date, at six hundred and eighty thousand two hundred and seven acres, which, at two dollars an acre, (their value in 1825,) would produce a fund of one million two hundred and sixteen thousand four hundred and forty-four dollars. Such were the facilities for establishing common schools, viewed from the standpoint of 1825.

At this time the seminary at Bloomington, supported in part by one of these township grants, was in a flourishing con