FROM 1778 TO 1833; AND LIFE AND TIMES OF NINIAN EDWARDS. BY HIS SON, SPRINGFIELD: PUBLISHED BY THE ILLINOIS STATE JOURNAL COMPANY. 1870. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy, by NINIAN W. Edwards, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE. When I commenced this work, it was to comply with the request of the Chicago Historical Society to prepare, for publication, a memoir of the late Governor NINIAN EDWARDS. To this request was added a desire of my brothers to have a copy of his speeches, messages, and his extensive .correspondence with many of the most eminent men of the country. Whilst I had no doubt that it would add much to the interest of the work, as simply a memoir of Governor Edwards, to make him the corresponding center, around which all the important historical facts may be grouped, yet, as such a course would have been very difficult and embarrassing to me, I have concluded to make it more comprehensive by including, also, a history of the County, Territory and State of Illinois, from the year 1778 to the time of his death, in 1833. Satisfied that such a work would be of great interest, and of the highest importance for the historical facts it would contain, and that the character of the materials I had collected, with the numerous papers in my possession, were accurate and of great value, I submitted my manuscript to the Chicago Historical Society, for their examination and approval, and expressed the desire that some one more competent should take my materials and rewrite the work. It was referred to a committee consisting of the Hon. M. Skinner and Hon. I. N. Arnold, with the Secretary, and in their report (which explains the character and object of the work) the following resolutions were, at a regular meeting of the Society, unanimously adopted: "WHEREAS Ninian W. Edwards, Esq., has submitted to this Society, for their examination and approval, a manuscript memoir, entitled 'A Memoir of the Life and Times of the Hon. Ninian Edwards, first Governor of the Illinois Territory,' and the same has been examined with attention and care by a committee duly appointed for that purpose; "Resolved, That this Society express their cordial and high estimation of the laborious, faithful and judicious manner in which Mr. Edwards has executed the work now submitted, and that, in their opinion-in the importance of the particular subjects treated by him, the full and authentic character of the materials collected by him for their illustration, with the numerous and extended details recovered by him and now first brought to the public attention—the work, viewed as a History of Illinois, may be regarded as in several respects the most important contribution yet made to the history of this State. "Resolved, That the collected correspondence of the late Gov. Edwards, accompanying the above named memoir—including numerous letters from William Wirt, John C. Calhoun, J. McLean, and other statesmen of eminent standing in the United States, hitherto unpublished — possess a high national interest, as connected with important events and movements in the history of our Federal Government, and are well worthy of publication, while adding in a material degree to the public estimation of Mr. Edwards' work. "Resolved, That the Society's thanks are due and be returned to Mr. Edwards, for the patriotic zeal and filial devotion with which he has. engaged in this just tribute of honorable commemoration to the late Gov. Edwards, who, from his long-continued public service of the State of Illinois-both in the councils of the State and the Nation-merits an honored place in the esteem and gratitude of the people of this State." In communicating the above to me, the Secretary says he "has the pleasure to state, that at the meeting at which the above was adopted, the warmest interest was expressed by gentlemen in the progress and desired success of the work-for whose satisfactory completion and successful issue the most cordial wishes were indulged;" and adds, "I may be allowed to state my individual impression of the very great value of the epitome of our carly legislation, which will have a high degree of interest to strangers and be a desirable acquisition to our own citizens. Even as regards the sketch of the carly history of the Territory, from the time of its organization by Virginia as a county, it appears to me a natural introduction to the main work, viewed, as you regard it, in the light of a historical sketch of the Territory and State, rather than a personal memoir." Another motive I have in its publication is, to correct the misrepresentation of Gov. Edwards' real sentiments on the subjects of slavery, the public lands, and other important measures. NINIAN W. EDWARDS. SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, 1870. |