The Continental Monthly, Vol. III, No. V, May, 1863 | Page 3

the war, is forbidden, under heavy penalties, to set foot
within her boundaries--the threat of slavery, like a flaming sword,
guarding the entrance of this paradise of the laborer.
Illinois has not suffered as much in tone and character from
unprincipled speculators as some others of the new States. Her early
settlers were generally men of muscle, mental as well as bodily; men
who did not so much expect to live by their wits and other people's
folly, as by their own industry and enterprise. Among the early
inhabitants of Chicago and other important towns, were some whose
talents and character would have been valuable anywhere. Public spirit
abounded, and the men of that day evidently felt as men should feel
who are destined to be the ancestors of great cities. In 1837, when the
business affairs of Chicago were in a distressing state, and private
insolvency was rather the rule than the exception, many debtors and a
few demagogues called a public meeting, the real though not the
avowed object of which was to bring about some form of repudiation.
Some inflammatory suggestions, designed to excite to desperate
thoughts those whose affairs were cruelly embarrassed, having wrought
up the assembly to the point of forgetting all but the distresses of the
moment, a call was made for the mayor, who came forward, and in a
few calm and judicious words besought all present to pause before they
ventured on dishonorable expedients. He entreated them to bear up with
the courage of men, remembering that no calamity was so great as the
loss of self-respect; that it were better for them to conceal their
misfortunes than to proclaim them; that many a fortress had been saved
by the courage of its defenders, and their determination to conceal its
weakened condition at all sacrifices. 'Above all things,' he said, 'do not
tarnish the honor of our infant city!'
These manly words called up manly thoughts, and the hour of danger
passed by.
At one time the legislature were induced, by means of various tricks,
together with some touches of that high-handed insolence by which
such things are accomplished, to pass a resolution for a convention to
alter the constitution of the State, with a view to the introduction of

SLAVERY. One of the newspapers ventured an article which exposed
the scandalous means by which the resolutions had been carried
through the House. The 'proofs' of this article were stolen from the
printing office, and the parties implicated in this larceny attempted to
induce a mob to demolish the office and the offending editor. But the
pluck which originated the stinging article sufficed for the defence of
the office. The effort to establish slavery in Illinois was kept up for a
year or more, but the bold editor and other friends of freedom labored
incessantly for the honor of the State, and succeeded at length in
procuring an overwhelming vote against the threatened disgrace.
Laws against duelling are laughed at in other States, but Illinois made
hers in earnest, affixing the penalty of death to the deliberate killing of
a man, even under the so-called code of honor. This severe law did not
suffice to prevent a fatal duel, the actors of which probably expected to
elude the penalty with the usual facility. The State, however, in all
simplicity, hung the survivor, and from that day to this has had no
further occasion for such severity.
Of late, the same Personage who has in all ages been disposed to buy
men's souls at his own delusive price, and to make his dupes sign the
infernal contract with their blood, has been very busy in certain parts of
the State, trying to get signatures, under the miserable pretence that
party pays better than patriotism, and that times of whirlwind and
disaster are those in which he, the contractor, has most power to
advance the interests of his adherents. But some of those who listened
most greedily to the glozings of the arch deceiver begin already to
repent, and are ready to call upon higher powers to interfere and efface
the record of their momentary weakness. In all diablerie the fiat of a
superior can release a victim, so we may hope that godlike patriotism
may not only forgive the penitent, but absolve him from the
consequences of his own rash folly. To have been instrumental in
dimming for one moment the glorious escutcheon of Illinois, requires
pardon. To such words as have been spoken by some of her sons we
may apply the poet's sentence:
'To speak them were a deadly sin! And for having but thought them thy

heart within A treble penance must be done.'
The recent Message of Governor Yates is full of spirit, the right spirit, a
warm and generous, a