The presidential election was at hand, and it was of the utmost importance to the party of General Jackson that the states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois be conciliated and the differences regarding their northern boundaries be settled to their satisfaction. Actuated by this view of the situation, Congress ended the controversy by act of June 15, 136, which, among other things, gave to Ohio the northern boundary as claimed by that state, and after accepting the constitution of Michigan which had been adopted the previous year by the people, admitted the state with a proviso that the state should first assent by a convention of delegates elected for that purpose, to certain new boundaries proposed in the act.

These new boundaries gave Indiana and Ohio all that they had claimed, and gave Michigan in lieu thereof the larger part of what is now known as the upper peninsula.

Governor Mason called an extra session of the legislature, and the excitement over the question of accepting the provisions of the proviso was intense, and on the whole hostile to the action of Congress, which was looked upon as a piece of robbery. The legislature directed a convention to meet at Ann Arbor on the fourth Monday in September. This convention refused to purchase admission on the terms offered by Congress, which action very much disturbed the plans of leaders of the democratic party, and soon various anonymous and semi-official expressions came from Washington to the effect that it would be for the best interests of the state and particularly the democratic party, that a different action be had and that it be taken immediately. The interests favoring admission are very clearly expressed by Judge Cooley as follows: "The president's wishes on the subject were well known to his active partisans, who constituted a strong and growing party, and had chosen the state officers. A presidential election was pending and a very natural desire existed to participate in it. A distribution of the public lands or their proceeds was one of the issues of the day, and if it took place it would be unfortunate if Michigan should fail to receive its share. The senators and representatives chosen to seats in Congress were naturally anxious to occupy them, and politicians were equally anxious to be recognized in the distribution of federal patronage."

There was an evident determination to have the state admitted, and October 29, 1836, a democratic convention of Wayne county called for another convention, and a similar expression was made by a Washtenaw convention. The governor replied that the legislature could not be again convened for want of time, and intimated that a "popular" convention might satisfy the Washington authorities. Acting on this suggestion a call was issued for a convention signed by several individual leaders of the Jackson party. In

response to this call a convention, called in ridicule the "Frost-bitten Convention," met at Ann Arbor, December 14, and at once assented to the proposition of Congress and forwarded the result of their deliberations to Washington.

After considerable debate and much delay, Congress finally accepted the action of the "Frost-bitten Convention" as sufficient, by an act, the preamble of which recites it as a convention "elected by the people," and Michigan was formally admitted as a state with its new boundaries, January 26, 1837.

Michigan throughout the controversy was the weaker party, but having on its side all the right. I cannot close my story better than to quote the words of John Quincy Adams: "Never in the course of my life have I known a controversy of which all the right was so clearly on one side, and all the power so overwhelmingly on the other; never a case where the temptation was so intense to take the strongest side, and the duty of taking the weakest so thankless."

JOHN S. BARRY.

BY H. H. RILEY.

John Stewart Barry was born at Amherst, New Hampshire, on the 29th day of January, A. D. 1802. Horace Greeley was born in the same township. When he was a year and a half old his father moved to Bellows Falls, Vermont, and died there, leaving John Stewart, Charles H., and Aldis Barry, his sons.

Mr. Barry married Mary Kidder, who died on the 30th day of March, 1869. He studied law, and removed to Georgia in 1827 or 1828, where he practiced about two years, and finally removed to White Pigeon, Michigan. In 1831 he abandoned his profession, and went into the mercantile business with Isaac Willard, at that place. Afterwards, in 1834, upon a dissolution of the copartnership, he removed to Constantine, opened a store, and did a large business up to the time of his death.

At this time Michigan was endeavoring to arise out of its territorial condition into a state. Mr. Barry went into the work with all his might, and was one of the leaders in the movement. He was elected state senator, and took his seat in 1835, and was in the sessions of 1836, 1837 and 1838, and was also a senator in the session of 1841. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1835, and held the office of governor of the state three terms, from 1842 to 1844, from 1844 to 1846, and from 1850 to 1852.

It is no exaggeration to say that John S. Barry was one of the strongest men who ever resided in our state. No other man has done more in laying broad and deep the foundations of our government. No man was more competent to grapple with the questions that disturbed us when a territory and those which occupied our attention after we became a state. It was a work just adapted to his mind and he had the patient industry, and dogged resolution to probe every proposed measure to the bottom. He was very slow in coming to a conclusion, believed nothing that he could not demonstrate, and was never willing to express an opinion until every authority had been consulted and every fact examined. He was skeptical on all subjects. I have heard him say, more than once, that history was not to be trusted-it was written in the interest of some party or sect, and the only way was to read all, from all sides, and get as near the truth as possible. He was never carried away by the blandishments of men, flattery did not disturb him, and it may be remembered by some persons still living that he refused promotion to some of the most active democratic politicians who were instrumental in his election, because, as he said, they were unfit to hold office under him.

The public estimation of John S. Barry as a man has always been a mistake. I know that in the discharge of his official duty he was cold and reserved, and always held himself in check, and was careful not to commit himself, until he was ready to act. He had no friends who could bring him in conflict with what he regarded his public duty. But in private, at home among his people, in his own house, no man ever lived who was more approachable, who talked more, or who was more hospitable under his own roof. I have heard him time and time again, sitting in his store, a half a dozen farmers around him, discussing, as he could discuss, some important question before Congress; some problem in European affairs or some domestic matter, political, economical or financial, and I well remember what earnestness and enthusiasm he pressed into his arguments and how thoroughly he was posted in what he said.

There was no sentiment about him. He reasoned from the head, not the heart. Poetry did not trouble him much. He wasted no thought on the fine arts. He did not know one tune from another, and said he supposed that

what Shakespeare meant when he said that "a man who had no music in his soul, was fit for treason, stratagem and spoils," referred to the soles of his shoes, because a thief could thus move without making a noise.

I desire now to go into some particulars illustrating more forcibly, per. haps, the character of the man. While in Georgia practicing law, a conflict sprang up between the state and the federal government on the Cherokee question. Mr. Barry at the time was captain of a military company, and he was called out with the other troops to uphold the dignity of the state. A barbecue was held, an ox roasted, and among things done, the obnoxious act of Congress was burned. Mr. Barry said, in reviewing the history of this affair, many years after: "I knew, sir, that the general government was in the right, and Georgia was wrong-I knew that burning an act of Congress did not repeal the law. But what could I do, sir! I was the captain of a company and was ordered out. But I made up my mind, then and there, sir, that if it came to a fight, I would run, because, sir, Georgia was in the wrong, in the wrong, sir!"

During the Black Hawk war Mr. Barry was a justice of the peace, and resided at White Pigeon. About midnight he was aroused by a neighbor of very mercurial temperament, but a man of large influence, with the cry, "Black Hawk is upon us! Black Hawk is upon us! Get np Mr. Barry! Turn out! Arouse the neighbors! and let us defend ourselves!" Mr. Barry threw up the window, clad in his nightdress, and screamed out "Who's there?" Mr. replied, "It is I," and went over again the same story about Black Hawk.

"Is that what all this noise is about?" exclaimed Mr. Barry. "You go home, sir-go to bed, and go to sleep. Black Hawk is this minute on the other side of the Mississippi and will never cross the river. Go home, sir! Go home. Good night, sir!" and down went the window with a slam. Mr. Barry was right. Black Hawk was at that very time on the west side of the Mississippi river.

Governor Barry had a grim kind of humor, mixed with sarcasm, which he sometimes used to complete his purpose. In 1851, among the reports of the public institutions of the state was one in which, among other things, the agent congratulated the state upon the fact that his institution was out of debt. The governor was informed that this was not true, that there was quite a large quantity of unpaid scrip floating about against the concern, and that it might be well to look into the matter. "Send, sir," said he, "and procure for me some of this scrip," which was done.

The governor, armed with quite a large quantity of the stuff, sent for the officer in charge, who met him at his room at Lansing. He said to him that

he was rejoiced to know that the state owed nothing-that his report showed a clean record, and that as they were out of debt, he hoped he would keep out, and he then went on and talked about matters in general. The governor bade the gentleman good morning, walked with him to the door, and all of a sudden broke in upon him with "I had forgotten one thing, sir! Come back a moment; I wish to show you something. This state institution may be out of debt-you say it is," and opening his drawer, pulled out a handful of scrip and showed it to him. The joke was so good the victim himself told it afterwards, and seemed to enjoy it as much as any one. Governor Barry frequently resorted to this roundabout way to reach his end, and although it was awkward, it was effective, and often very severe.

Mr. Barry knew how to keep his secrets. I once asked him, while he was governor, to meet me in my office, as I wishel to ask him a question. He came. I laid out the circumstances and reasons why I desired the information in my most happy, and as I supposed, convincing way. The governor sat quietly, his eyes fixed on the floor, listening most intently. I concluded my little speech. The governor jumped up, and pointing to a map of the United States which hung on the wall, said: "I think, sir, the finest climate in the country is along the Blue Ridge Mountains," and thereupon darted out of the office like a shot.

He was a strong writer, very concise and pointed, and he could wrap up an arrow in a paragraph that hit and stung like an adder. He labored over that kind of work, understood the force of words, knew how to use them, and no person had any difficulty in knowing just what he meant.

His messages were very affirmative, nothing compromising about them; he sat down squarely on every measure proposed and enforced it with all his power. Many persons now living remember how violently he attacked the banking corporations of the day in his first and second administrations. He never did anything for political promotion. He had too much pride of opinion to sacrifice his convictions to personal ends.

He kept his eye on the state, as a state. Whatever may have been the opinion of him politically-however much he may have differed with his opponents on many questions-his financial policy was endorsed and supported by all parties. It is not too much to say that he was the salvation of the state. He brought order out of chaos. He found the state practically bankrupt. Scrip was everywhere, and much depreciated, and credit was refused for iron to lay the road from Jackson to Marshall, until the governor gave his personal guarantee of the bonds issued for its payment.

While his mind was Websterian, and while he loved to study and handle wide and sweeping questions, especially those growing out of constitutional