/ 
 
 REV. PETER CARTWRIGHT, D. D. 
 
 AN 
 
 ADDRESS D[[lf[RED BEFORE IHE llElilS STIIIE HISIORlCfli SOil! 
 
 AT ITS 
 
 i. ILL 
 
 January 23, 1902. 
 By President M. H. Ohamberlin, of McKendree College.
 
 REV. PETER CARTWRIGHT, D. D. 
 
 [By President M. H. Chamberlin. of McKendree college.! 
 
 Peter Cartwright was born in Amherst county, Va., Sept. 1, 1785; died at 
 his home in Pleasant Plains, Sangamon county, Sept. 25, 1872, aged 87 years 
 and 24 days. 
 
 His father was, for two years, a soldier in the Revolution, and his mother — 
 orphaned when a child — was a devoutly pious woman. 
 
 In 1791 the Cartwrights, with 200 other families, turned their faces toward 
 the setting sun in search of new homes in the then western wildernesses of 
 Kentucky. They were accompanied by 100 well mounted and armed young 
 men, who acted as an escort and defense against the hostile Indians that in- 
 fested the country, and, as compensation for their services, they were pro- 
 visioned on the pilgrimage. 
 
 The migration at that time was largt-, and, as there were no wagon roads, 
 the pack animal was the only method of transportation. The trail over 
 which they passed was literally red with the blood of the slain victims of the 
 aborigines. In one place the company struck their camp fires in the presence 
 of the dead, only recently murdered, while in another they halted to bury six 
 men, emigrants returning to Virginia, and, again, seven families, from 
 among their own number, who voted to camp where nightfall found them — 
 rather than continue their journey an added seven miles to the first white 
 settlement, where Fort Crab Orchard was located— were all, with the excep- 
 tion of a single individual, cruelly slaughtered and plundered of their 
 belongings. 
 
 Kentucky, at that time, was claimed by no one tribe of Indians, but was 
 held by them all as a common hunting ground, abounding in every variety of 
 game, for which reason its invasion by the white man was contested in a 
 warfare of the utmost malignancy. In the struggle for the occupancy of Ken- 
 tucky the number of the slain reached such proportions that it was known to 
 both contesting parties as the "Land of Blood," and it is not improbable 
 that that State is the reddest battlefield of our earlier western pioneer history. 
 
 The Cartwrights settled on a little farm, in Lincoln county, where they re- 
 mained for two years when they removed to the county of Logan, about nine 
 miles south of the present city of Russellville. This locality was known as 
 "Rogues' Harbor" for the reason that men of desperate character, fugitives 
 from justice, from all parts of the Union, had taken refuge there — gamblers, 
 horse thieves, robbers and murderers — until they actually outnumbered the 
 population favoring good order. It was almost impracticable, on trial, to 
 convict these offenders since their associates would swear them clear of their 
 offenses, and, when inculpating verdicts were secured, the courts were pow- 
 erless to execute their judgments. Indeed anarchy prevailed, and the 
 Cartwrights, having escaped the perils incident to the raids of the murderous 
 Indian, seemed to have fallen into a society where life and property were as 
 insecure as when they were surrounded by the hostile aborigines, which, at 
 that time, were happily driven from Kentucky territory. The reign of terror 
 which prevailed led to an armed organization of the friends of good order, 
 which was promptly met by a like organization of the malevolent forces, the
 
 first bnltle resulting in victory for the latter, with slain victims on both sides 
 of thii contest. Indeed many peoi)lf wvrt' killed befor*' the L'ood order party 
 secured control of the county. 
 
 Tnder the best of circumstances, in tliat country, ilie Cartwntjhls wcnild 
 liave had i)Ut little encoura^'eiuent. If the liorrorsot an almost c<jnlinuous war 
 attended with blootl and carnage, had been eliminated, you wouM still have 
 found this family 40 miles distant from a jurist mill, without a nearby school, 
 and no newspaper in all Kentuiky, south of (Jreen river. The father and 
 son trrew the flax anil cotton, which was stripped from the reed of the one, 
 anil picked and grinned from the bowl of the other, bv the fingers of mother 
 ami sister. The same hands turned these products into thread on the spin- 
 ning wheel, made it into cloth on the loom, cut it into pattern, an«l after 
 Bewing it together, the strange evolution of a pioneer garment was effected. 
 The couch on which they rested from the toils of the day, made by sinking 
 two forks in the grounil, on which three poles were placed, the wall of the 
 cabin making the fourth support, a dining table constructed in like manner, 
 the jfrain, of which their bread was made, broken with pestle and mortar and 
 sieved through a perforated deer skin stretched upon sticks, is an inventory 
 of the chief articles of furniture in the Cartwright family. 
 
 Now let me paut;e to ask what destiny have you to predict for a lad raised 
 amid such scenes of blood and deprivation, particularly when, before he was 
 1.") years of age, his first presents, from his own father, were a race horse 
 and cards for gaming? 
 
 If he should turn out as bad as the worst element in "Rogues Harbor'' 
 surely our judgment shoulil be tempered with merciful moderation; while, on 
 the other haiul, if he sIhjuKI grow up into a life of integrity and usefulness, 
 our approbation should not fall a whit short of admiration and unstinted 
 praise. 
 
 Young Cartwright ran a short career of horse racing and gambling, for 
 which he had a passionate fondness, and in which he was very successful as 
 a winner of money. After attending a certain wedding, accompanied by his 
 father, where the hilarity rose to a height little short of a carousal, he fell 
 under the deepest conviction over the life he was leading. His agony of 
 mind wa^' so great that he was pronounced "crazy" bj' his neighbors. He 
 turned his race horse over to his father, gave his cards to his mother, who 
 burned them, and, after several weeks of mental distraction, attended a sacra- 
 mental meeting, held umler the auspices of a4*resbyterian clergyman, where 
 he was converted and joined the church of his mother — the Methodist Episco- 
 pal. In his determination to lead a new life he had the counsel and prayers 
 of his mother, while his father — be it said to his credit— offered nt) oppo- 
 sition. 
 
 In ISOl he was licensed as an exhorter. The same year he moved with his 
 father to Lewiston county, locating near an academy taught by a Scotch 
 seceder. whose liatred of the Methodists was only equalled by his excellence 
 as a teacher. Cartwright made rapid progress in his studies, in the mean- 
 time, occasionally, exercising his gifts as an exhorter. This incurred not 
 only the displeasure of his teacher but the ridicule of his pupils, and it was 
 determined by two of the latter, to decoy him to a steep bank on a nearby 
 creek aiid tlirow him into a pool of deep water. The suddenly developed 
 kindness of his heretofore persecutors aroused young Cartwnght's godly 
 alertness and tensioneil his convertetl muscles so that, in due time— though 
 never a believer in immersion as a saving ordinance — he administered to his 
 persei'utors the baptism which it was their purpose the young Methodist 
 should experience. The utter lack of encouragement received from his 
 teacher, and the hitter's sympathy with Cartwriglit's fellow student persecu- 
 tors, caused him to abandon the school, and, at the age of 18 he entered 
 upon a ministerial career, than which there has been none other more re- 
 markable in the history of this country, nor none more effective, or useful, 
 in all that broail empire known as the Mississippi, vallej'. 
 
 To follow his lonely career as an itinerant — the faithful horse which he be- 
 strode being his onlj' companion — through storm and tempest, cold and hun- 
 ger, scantily clad; on circuits measured by hundreds of miles, through a
 
 sparsely settled country, where only an occasional waggon road was known, 
 and across unbridgfed streams, would be an intensely interesting study, did 
 my time admit of the delineation. He was allowed, under the rules of his 
 church, a salary of $80 per year, the payment depending: upon the benevo- 
 lence of his parishioners, and, in his "Autobiography," he states that for 
 each year of the first three of his service he received but one half of that 
 allowance; indeed during his long ministerial history, stretching over a 
 period of 65 years — though in the meantime clerical salaries were advanced 
 with the growth of his church — he tells us that in but three instances was his 
 annual salary paid to fullness. 
 
 His ministrations, from the outset, were attended with phenomenal success. 
 Many of his public meetings, because of the opposition he met with from 
 rival denominations, as well as those who were enemies of good order, were 
 dramatic, some of which gave promise of a tragic ending, and would have so 
 resulted but for his rare mental alertness and physical courage — the latter, in 
 all cases, being simply a reflex of the moral force in the make-up of Cart- 
 wright's character. 
 
 His ministerial career, after taking regular orders, covered a period of 
 more than 65 years, 20 of which were, for the most part, given within the 
 limits of the southern states, he, in the meantime, being domiciled in Ken- 
 tucky; and 45 in the State of Illinois, during all of which latter period he 
 made Pleasant Plains, in Sangamon county, his place of constant residence. 
 Fifteen years of his entire minstry he did duty as a circuit rider in parishes 
 which involved hundreds of miles of itineration, the rude cabins of the 
 frontier being his places for preaching. The remaining 50 years of his cler- 
 ical life were given to the duties of presiding elder, a post to which he was 
 first appointed in 1812, and, thereafter, with almost unbroken succession, was 
 repeatedly re-appointed by the bishops, until, in that important office, second 
 only to the bishopric, he rounded out a half century of inestimable service. 
 
 His earlier districts, as presiding elder, were even larger than his circuits, 
 the former, at times, covering portions of territory now embraced within 
 several states of the Union. Much of the country was without roads — in some 
 instances even devoid of trails — the lonely itinerant having to gauge his 
 course by general direction, across trackless wastes, by certain fixed objects 
 on constantly expanding horizons, until destination was reached in some iso- 
 lated cabin. The heat of summer's sun, and the more inhospitable rigors 
 of the winter's blasts, unbridged, swollen and turbulent streams seemed 
 never to have impeded his progress, since it is said of him that he seldom 
 missed an appointment. Coming, at long intervals into these lonely frontier 
 homes, with such uniform punctuality, must indeed have made his visitations 
 seem to their occupants like those of an evangel. And why not? He was 
 their highway commissioner, their newspaper, their railroad, telegraph and 
 telephone; he was indeed the voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare 
 ye the way and make the path straight," for a dispensation of which he was 
 the prophet and which he lived to see in fulfilment. 
 
 He was 13 times elected, by the respective annual conferences to which 
 he belonged, a delegate to the quadrennial session of the general conference — 
 the chief legislative council of his church — wherein representatives held sit- 
 tings from all parts of the world where his denomination had an organiza- 
 tion. In the meantime he served his church, in both the annual and general 
 conferences, on committees covering the widest range of subjects, and, in 
 the absence of the bishops, was twice elected presiding officer of his annual 
 conference. He was treasurer of the Metropolitan church in 1853, custodian 
 of the centenary funds, in 1840, 1841 and 1845; for two years he served, and 
 without compensation, as superintendent of the Pottawattomie Indian mis- 
 sion; he served for six years as visiting trustee to McKendree college, and 
 the records show that in 1830, he acted as president of its board, and that 15 
 years later that body, not unworthily, honored him with the degree of Doctor 
 of Divinity. He was also for three years visiting trustee of Illinois Wesleyan 
 university, one year to the Garrett Biblical institute, and a like period presi- 
 dent of the Pleasant Plains academy.
 
 A fact shf)ul<l not iro unmeiif i«)ii»nl lu-re. to which my attention has been 
 called by I)r. .1 F Stiyler, vice-president of this society, ('aitwri^rht. to- 
 gether with ( lOVjMnors Cole, lieynolds, Kdwards; .IiKij^es Bre»'se and Hall; 
 Prof. .lohn Kus«<ell and others, were, in \H'27, th(* ortratuzers of the first State 
 historical society. This was but three years after his advent to the State, 
 and shows, even at that early date, how important a factor he was rejjarded 
 anion^r the pioneer public men, independent of the qaestion of church affilia- 
 tion. 
 
 He was a chaplain in General Jackson's armv, and was present at the battle 
 of New Orleans. On the authority of Judtre Zane, of I'tah, for many years 
 a neijfhbor of I)octor ('artwrit;ht. the followinj^ incident is wortliy of note: 
 liefore entering; into the battle, tlie general called his chaplains toj^ether and 
 exh(»rteil them, "to preach to the soldiers the justice of their cause and as- 
 >ure them, if they died in battle, they would ^o straipht to Heaven." Cart- 
 wriirht replied, "General, I can't t^o quite that far, but I can say I believe 
 our cause is of (Jod, and that if any of them should be killed, iiud in the last 
 account would jjive them credit for their sacrifices.'' A very conservative 
 statement. 
 
 In 1823, because of the baleful influence of slaveiy, he determined to leave 
 Kentucky, assitjninpr the followinp: reasons therefor: "I would jret entirely 
 clear of the evil of slavery; could raise my children where work was not 
 thoutrht a de«^radation. and could better my temporal circumstances, and pro- 
 cure land for my children as they f^rew up, and could Icarry the gospel to 
 needy, destitute souls, in some new country, deprived of the means of p^race." 
 
 His wife — a native Kentucky lady, whose maiden name was Miss Frances 
 Oaines, to whom he had then been married for 1(3 years, and to whom he sub- 
 mitted all his plans before decisions for action — was in entire accord with his 
 suprcestions to chaufre their habitation. So, in the spring? of 1S23, with his 
 brother in-law. Mr. (laines, and Rev. Charles Holidaj', he set out on horse- 
 back to "explore Illinois," with the result of tixinp: on Santramon county as 
 his future home, to which locality he moved in the fall of 1824. Here he lived 
 for more than a generation and a half, identified with the interests and his- 
 tory of the State, and an important factor in its material growth and relig- 
 ious civilization. At that time Sangamon was the northernmost organized 
 county in tfie State. All nortli of it was an Indian country, and though not 
 occupied by hostile tribes, in th:^ sense of those we have already alluded to 
 as infesting Kentucky, they were degraded and shiftless, having adopted 
 "civilization" only to the extent of accepting the "firewater" of their pale 
 faced brelhern. He immediately took work in the conference, was assigned 
 to a circuit, sparsely populated, and not unlike those he had known in his 
 Kentucky experience. 
 
 Reverting to the slavery <}uestion, the inducing cause of his removal from 
 the south, and <|Uotnig from his "Autobiography," he says: "1 will not at- 
 tempt to enumerate the moral evils that have bt'cn produci'd by slavery; their 
 name is legion. And now, notwithstanding these are my honest views of 
 slavery, I have never seen a rabid abolitionist or free-soil society that I could 
 join, because they resort to unjustifiable legislation, and the means they em- 
 ploy aie generally unchristian." 
 
 His abhorrence of slavery was only e(jualled by his detestation of anti-slav- 
 ery agitation and "underground railroads." It is not dillicult to .see how his 
 views at that period should have proven unsatisfactory to both sides of this 
 controversy. By some in the north he was considered in sympathy with the 
 pro-slavery element, while by others in the south he was reganled as a con- 
 federate of the al)olitionists. " His views, in 1S24, in effect »^imply anticipated 
 tlie position of the Republican party at the tinn» of its organi/.atum in 1S,'>G — 
 "non in»erfrrence with slavery where ii exists, an I its restri<'tiou from free 
 territory"— he believing, as did the fathers, its peaceable extinction would 
 ultimately be accomplished. 
 
 The session of the General Conference which met in New York in 1844, and 
 of which body Cartwright was a conspicuous member, was one which created 
 intense excitement thrtiughout the entire country. The Baltimore Annual
 
 Conference, but a short time before, suspended one of its ministerial mem- 
 bers for failing to manumit certain slaves received by him through a recent 
 marriage. On appeal to the General Conference, after a debate of intense 
 acrimony, the action of the lower conference was sustained, followed at the 
 same session by legislation, of a provisional nature, which was equivalent to 
 a recognition of the rights of that portion of the church adhering to slavery to 
 detach itself from the parent church organization . Cartwright opposed this with 
 all the intensity of his nature, but on a vote of 110 to 68 was defeated — his 
 four associate delegates from the Illinois conference voting with the majority. 
 He took the position that no portion of the church had the constitutional right 
 to secede, and that, after having so done, no rights could attach by which the 
 seceding element could justly claim possession of any of the property of the 
 original organization. Indeed, his position here was, in an important sense, 
 anabgous to that of our general government in its contention with the south 
 over the doctrine of secession which led to the Civil War. 
 
 He was a life long democrat; first an adherent of Jackson, subsequently of 
 Douglas, and later, on the breaking out of the civil war, an uncompromising 
 Union democrat, believing in the most vigorous prosecution of the war until 
 complete conquest was made of secession. 
 
 He was a devout believer and defender of the polity of his church. He 
 was strongly opposed to laj' representation in its legislative bodies, for 
 which cherished opinion he was frequently called ''unprogiessive." When 
 it is stated that it was his conviction that the ministerial function was one 
 purely spiritual — the preaching of the word — and that the "book concern" 
 and other like agencies, even the colleges of denomination, should be manned 
 by a godly laity, instead of the clergy, he had much better warrant for his 
 views on the question of lay representation than the very strong minority 
 which so long and tenaciously opposed it. 
 
 A feature in the career of our subject, which I am surprised has not 
 elicited special comment — except its bare mention in his "autobiography" — 
 is the fact that he represented Sangamon county in 1828, 1829, 1832 and 1833 
 in the Lower House of the Illinois General Assembly. At the time of his 
 first election that county returned three members. There were nine candi- 
 dates voted for, the three highest receiving the following votes: J. H. Pugh, 
 649; Peter Cartwright, 560; William Elkin, 554. At the same election Jack- 
 son received 682 aud Adams 431 for president. In 1830, Cartwright stood for 
 re-election, and out of eight candidates, his vote took the fourth place, and 
 he was therefore defeated. In 1832, he was again a candidate, with eleven 
 others, four of whom, under a new apportionment, were to be elected. The 
 four highest votes were as follows: G D. Taylor. 1,127; John T. Stuart, 991; 
 Achilles Morris, 945; Peter Cartwright, 815. At this time Mr. Lincoln was 
 one among the candidates, and eighth on the list, receiving 657 votes. At 
 the same election Jackson received for president 1,033, and Henry Clay 810. 
 In 1846, Mr. Cartwright ran for Congress against Mr. Lincoln, receiving 
 4,827 votes, against the latter's 6,340. 
 
 The House journal, during his first year's service, shows him to have been 
 an active member in matters of legislation. He was the author of a bill, 
 "To prevent immorality and vice;" also one concerning "Distribution ot 
 school funds;" another, "To amend the act relating to criminal jurispru- 
 dence." as well as various resolutions covering, "The protection of seminary 
 lands. State banks, etc." On the organization of the House in 1833, he was 
 made spes.ker pro te7n. He was chairman of the committee to notify the 
 Governor of the organization of the House, also of the committee on "rules," 
 and the chairman of the standing "committee on education" and a member 
 of the standing committee on "petitions and grievances." He was aho a 
 member of 19 select committees and chairman of a number of the same, and 
 was the author of various important bills and resolutions. A bill to establish 
 a "State Seminary," presented by him went to a second reading, after which 
 it disappeared from the records; was likely smothered in committee. It is a 
 curious bit of history that the object of one of the select committees to which 
 be was appointed contemplated an investigation, and report upon some 
 method by which the prairie lands of the State might be used for agricul- 
 tural purposes.
 
 He was the author of a preamble and resolutions against South Carolina 
 nullitication, in response to a luessajje on that subject from President Jack- 
 son, which for ila excellence of composition, diplomatic verbiai^*', judicial 
 temper and patriotic impulses, is especially notable. It went to the "Com- 
 mittee of the Whole," was discussed, an«i upon motion the subject was 
 referred to a joint committee of ihe Senal»* an«l House, Mr. ( 'artwriglit hav- 
 injf been appointed a member trum the latter body. 
 
 The Journal shows him to be one of the four most active members of the 
 House, and particularly interested in schools, roa«ls, eilucational le^ii^lHtion 
 and the varied phases of internal improvements. His punctuality, as shown 
 bv the roll-call, was phenomenal. Thi> same characteristic was peculiar to 
 his ministerial career, for it is said that in but a single instance, (and that on 
 account of the serious sickness of his wife) durinj^ the forty- five years of his 
 connection with the Illinois conference, did he fail to meet at its annual 
 ses'iions, and in only three instances did he miss the first roll-call, two of 
 which sessions found him present on the second, while through all those 
 years he was not off iluty to exceed a six month's period. 
 
 That Cartwright should have left an estate valued at $40,000 will prove a 
 surprising statement when set over against the one already made, viz: that 
 in but three in.stances of his long ministerial history was his annual salary, 
 parsinnmiously estimated, paid to fullness. In explanation of this apparent 
 
 Earadox we have furnished a side-light on the character of the man >howing 
 ow effectually, from the beginning of his settled woik, he provided against 
 contingencies which might thwart the all-absorbinir purpose of his soul. 
 With his Qualifications as preacher, evangelist and administrator, his church 
 recognized his added efficiency as a financier. He constantly impressed 
 upon his parishioners the importance and duty of their meeting with punct- 
 uality the appointed apportionments for the various benevolences of the 
 church, but never pressed his own claims in the matter of salary. He 
 merely took what was given him by those appointed to see to the collection. 
 In this connection call to mind the fact already recited, that, from the date 
 of his marriage to his death, he never had but two residences — both being 
 farm homes— where by the toil of his own hands, he supplemented the defic- 
 iencies of his earlier unpaid salaries. As a family grew up about him its 
 members became factors in the matter of the common support of the house- 
 hold, and the surplus earnings of this aggregation of forces were invested in 
 the cheap lands of early times, so that, at the time of his death, he left to his 
 widow and the eight children who hat! grown to maturity, an inheritance — the 
 product <jf more than a half century's accretive values — far fiom being suf- 
 ficiently great to admit of having imputed to him the reputation of a "grasp- 
 ing" character or to, in any sense, dim the lustre of the fame he won in 
 having led a sacrificial life for the good of others. In these tacts are found 
 an important lesson. His church never, in a single instance, furnished him 
 a parsonage. His circuits and districts were of such extent that the places 
 he chose for permanent homes were practically central to his work, and the 
 foresight in providing himself with a fixed habitation, as a base of operation, 
 assured the resources for support which enabled him to carry on the wonder- 
 ful work which he accomplished during two generations — ihe first of wliich 
 was essentially pioneer m character. It should not go unsaid that in the 
 meantime he was a dieerful contributor to the benevolences to which he 
 urged others to become patrons, especially priding himself in what he had 
 given for education — a cause to which he had so often, and unjustly, been 
 accused of antagr)nizing. 
 
 Thus you have a running sketch, or skeleton, of this remarkable man's 
 career, worthy of a filling by the pen of a painstaking biographer. Opin- 
 ions are so diverse as to what manner of man he was, that, if tradition onlv 
 were relied upon, it would be but a generation or two until he would fall 
 within the category of apocryphal characters. If he were to come from the 
 
 {rrave, into this presence, I know of no conspicuous character, ether than 
 limself, who could more fittingly ask the question, "Who do men sav that 
 lam?"
 
 9 
 
 Cartwright was five feet nine inches in height, weighing, in his prime, 
 about 180 pounds; muscular, erect, dark brown hair, dark grey eyes — with 
 that flashing characteristic peculiar to men of intense natures — well poised 
 head, and with the firm set lips of a man having great resolution. 
 
 As a judge of men and the motives by which they were actuated, he was 
 unsurpassed. He seemed to have an ex-ray gift by which he divined the 
 secret thoughts of the bully holding evil intent toward him, as also the self- 
 asserting and patronizing essay-writing preacher from the theological sem- 
 inary; for the one, as was ofttimes proven, be had, in his consecrated muscu- 
 lar arsenal the weapons which never failed for his defense, and for the other 
 a righteous ridicule equally effective. 
 
 He did not like to be patronized, and despised sham and pretense with a 
 holy hatred. To be approached by one with the bearing of asserted superi- 
 ority, because of his being a frontiersman, aroused his indignation, not alone 
 that it was a personal reflection, but because of the fact that it was at the 
 same time an aspersion on a constituency of which he held himself but a typ- 
 ical member. I think his motto must have been: "Every man my equal, 
 and no one my superior." Both morally and physically he was absolutely 
 fearless. All of his physical encounters — in every one of which he was vic- 
 torious, and with some ('f the worst characters of his time— he was never the 
 aggressor. They were either in personal defense or in vindication of the 
 rights of his religious gatherings — more frequently the latter. In defense of 
 his congregations may be named the incident of his unhorsing with a club a 
 desperate character, who sought, at the head of a squad of improvised cav- 
 alry, to break up one of his campmeetings, only after his assailant had failed, 
 by a misdirected stroke, to brain him with a weapon of like character; and, 
 also, the putting to ignominious flight two stalwart Kentucky brothers, who 
 Clime to administer a horsewhipping to the preacher, because he, while speak- 
 ing at a campmeeting, had given the *'jerks" to their two sisters, together 
 with many others, by turning loose from a phial some volatile essence, which, 
 as they believed, cast a kind of "hoodoo" spell upon all the people. His ac- 
 cepting the challenge to duel of the chivalric Kentucky lawyer, by choosing 
 cornstalks as the weapons, to the utter discomfiture of the latter, and his 
 ducking in the middle of the river the bellicose ferryman who had published 
 his purpose to flog Cartwright on their first meeting, are among the cases in- 
 volving personal grievances. It is a fact, singular as true, that nearly ail of 
 his vanquished subsequently became his spiritual subjects. 
 
 A typical illustration of the individuality of his moral courage is found in 
 an incident given of General Jackson's presence at one of his meetings. 
 Cartwright was about to enter upon his discourse, when an associate preacher 
 seated on the rostrum— presumably as an admonition to temper his remarks 
 so as not to give offense to the distinguished visitor— whispered a knowledge 
 of his presence. To the amazement of the entire audience, Cartwright called 
 out: "Who is General Jackson? If he does not repent of his sins and be- 
 come converted, he will go hell like anyone else." It was generally believed 
 that a challenge for duel would be sent the preacher by the general. On the 
 contrary, the latter, after the close of the service, invited Cartwright to dine 
 with him, and congratulated him on his sincerity and high moral courage. 
 At the table was a young infidel lawyer, who embarrassed the preacher with 
 questions which he, out of respect to the proprieties of the occasion, refused 
 to answer. Failing to involve him in a controversy, he turned to the host 
 and asked, "General, do you believe there is a hell?" to receive in quick re- 
 sponse; "If there is not, there ought to be, to put such d— d rascals as you 
 are in." 
 
 As a preacher Cartwright was logical, forcible and convincing— his audi- 
 ences, ofttimes, being moved into tumultuous excitement. He had a deep 
 rich bass voice, which, even in his intensest moments, he, unlike most of the 
 preachers of his day, never strained to fullest tension He was always self- 
 possessed and, in his advice to young preachers gave them counsel, as to the 
 use of the voice, worthy a place in an elocutionary treatise. As a debater he 
 had few equals, and, on the floor of the general and annual conferences, his 
 intellectual strength was conceded by both colleague and competitor, and, in
 
 10 
 
 shaping Ipfrislation. Hp was amon(f the foremost in these rfpresentative 
 bodies. Thoiiirh dt'tVnieil on the slavery issue in the j^eneral eonferfiire. of 
 1B44— all four of his Illinois (•oiieaj^ues voting aj;ain>t hitn— on his return 
 home he carried his annual c-onfj^rence aj^ain^t ratifying: the action of the 
 former body. He was wholly fair in controversy, conceded all stron^j points 
 of an opponent, never eijuivocnted, and, while in the leijislature. the recorded 
 votes show that he was not disposed to filibuster. He was resourceful, liav- 
 wg an amassment of information on almost all questions which was truly sur- 
 prising;, and, in an extremitv. could promptly summon to his aid the sources 
 of relief t«) meet emerjjencies. 
 
 His faculty for adapting; himself to environment was remarkable. He 
 could, in the apostolic sense, be all thintrs to all men. To the rude, rude: to 
 the one disposeil to bluff, he was a re^^ular "liabcock Kxtiutfuisher'' — in all 
 such cases, maintainintr his own self-respect perfectly. In social circles of the 
 cultured, on the authority of Doctors McElfresh, McElroy, and Judpe Zane — 
 all of whom were Cart wriglit's latter-day contemporaries — he was dij;nitie<l, 
 courteous and refined in both bearing and speech, and chivalric to the 
 ladies. 
 
 He was a threat reader, a strong; forcible and terse writer. His "Autobio- 
 jrraphy" is not to be taken as an example. This is tjiven out as a rambling; 
 account, or diary, of his current experiences, and it was not until years of per- 
 sistent persuasion, by the leadin^r men of his church includintr the bishops, 
 that lie <"onsented to prepare it for publication. For his personal experiences, 
 its side liijhts on the history of his time, it should be held invaluabl\.% and its 
 very incoherency makes it all the more interesting, and, in an important 
 sense, a model of its kind in literature. 
 
 His "Letter to the Devil." in answer to one devised and published b}' three 
 anti-Arminian preacliers, who made Cartwri^'ht the subject of severe 
 animadversion, is a document of strenjrth, fjood, well-sentencetl Enj:lish, and 
 as an ar^rument — in a day, t(jo, when denominational controversy was at its 
 heitrht— holds hierh rank among the papers which successfully combated Cal- 
 vinism. 
 
 He was frequently spoken of as an enemy to education— a statement far too 
 commonly accepted. The record I have already furnished of his acts, in both 
 church and Slate service, is a complete refutation of that accusation. Cart- 
 wright was very sincerely opposed to theological schools, measurintr their 
 merit by the preacher product they sent to the west, in early tunes. He lost 
 no opportunity to publicly empliasize his opposition, and, in so doing, pro- 
 voked their adherents to a defense and the use of arguments, whether unwit- 
 tingly or not, which gave color to the idea that he was an enemy to the cause 
 of education in general. 
 
 He was an ardent friend of l>otli academies and colleges and. since full 
 training in the latter is supposed to result in a mental iliscipline titling the 
 tinished product for original investigatit)n along scienlilic and other lines, it 
 was undoubtiMllv his l)elief that a like process of training would (lualify tlie 
 college graiiuale for llie interpretation of a science, which, because of its 
 simplicity, bore the legend that the "wayfaring man, though a fool, need not 
 err therein," In other words, it si'emed his conviction that the college 
 grailuate ought to be suflicienlly e(juipped to receive a revelati(»n without 
 speciali/.ing, as is recjuireil in cases where scientific subjects of investigation 
 are contested mysteries. Carlwright evidenllv thought that after a young 
 man lia<l titled him-ielf with a thoroiigli collegiate e<iucatiMn. specializing in 
 a theological school would devt'Iop ecclesiastical conceit at the expense of the 
 pure gospel 
 
 Cartwriu'ht was himsell an educated man. Mark you. I am iioi saying he 
 was sclmlarly. Scholarsliip and ediica!n»n. in common parlance, are illogi- 
 cally used as convertible terms. Scholarship is a means to an end — educa- 
 tion. It o'ten occurs that scholars ar«* not educated, ami. occasionally, tliat 
 educated mt'ii are not scholars. Lincoln is an illu->lration of the latter class 
 — likewise < 'arlwriirht. The truth is, education is only a necessitv for the 
 common mind; with the uncommon mind, a powerful auxiliary.
 
 11 
 
 Furthermore, as an evidence of his insistence in behalf of popular educa- 
 tion, he was one of the chief advocates favoring the establishment of a 
 literary and religious paper, for the use of the more western church constit- 
 uency, and continued his labors in behalf of the enterprise, until he, with his 
 CO- laborers, had successfully lodged the Central Christian Advocate on the 
 banks of the Mississippi. He carried good literature in the proverbial sad- 
 dle-bags of the early-day Methodist preacher, and tells us he was instrumen- 
 tal in the sale of $10,000 worth of books in pioneer homes, adding that he 
 verily believed their distribution had done more good than all his preaching. 
 This last thought, together with the oft-repeated recognition in his "autobio- 
 graphy" of the value and power of his associate preachers — as well as the 
 like service of broadminded clergy of other denominations — effectually dis- 
 poses of the frequent aspersion that he was egotistical. 
 
 It may be a surprise to you that I should speak of Cartwright as unsym- 
 pathetic. If, added to his judical and logical mind, he had possessed the 
 warm summer glow of sympathy, his fertile brain would have minted a coin- 
 age of words which would have made him a commanding orator. In his 
 family, where he always knew himself to be understood, especially by his 
 wife, the portcullis of his heart was always wide open to an exhibition of the 
 utmost tenderness. On all questions of doubt his wife was the supreme court 
 of his earthly affections and to its decisions he rendered cheerful obedience. 
 
 He did everything from a sense of duty, inspired by principle. He had 
 faults, made mistakes, but no one was more prompt than he to acknowledge 
 the one and make reparation tor the other, when convinced of error, and his 
 mind was always open to conviction. Judge Zane, in writing to me, gives a 
 notable, indeed pathetic instance of this in a case where Cartwright had gone 
 to law, in the belief that he had been wronged, and on the advice of two at- 
 torneys, who assured him that his cause was that of justice. After the testi- 
 mony was all in, and the court had given the verdict against him, he arose, 
 apologetically addressed the judge, confessed he was wrong, footed the bill 
 and returned to his home. 
 
 Some letters I have received speak of him as "peculiar" and "eccentric." 
 So he was, and so is any man, who, in performance of duty goes forward to 
 a goal of principle, or righteousness, in the meantime, having, necessarily, 
 to trample under foot the impediments of popular environments. 
 
 What now have you to say of this child born during the closing scenes of 
 the Revolutionary war; this lad who listened about the campfire to the tragic 
 tales of danger which beset the families with whom he traveled over a crim- 
 son trail in search of homes in the wilderness, and the young man whcse as- 
 sociates were citizens of "Rogues Harbor?" 
 
 If, with his great natural abilities, he had continued his career as a gam- 
 bler, he would, doubtless, have come to the head of some formidable Monte 
 Carlo; if, with his judicial mind, he had been schooled for Ihw, he might 
 have taken a seat in our highest tribunal : if he had adopted the business of an 
 iron monger, he might have anticipated the career of Carnegie. He was a 
 born leader, and, had he devoted himself to politics, he might have held 
 any office in the gift of the people. He accepted rather, and from a sheer 
 sense of duty, the humbler life of an itinerant preacher, ignoring the glamor 
 of earthly honor, title, and emoluments — the things which inspire the great 
 bulk of the race to highest emleHVor — in the belief that, though the laurel 
 wreath were denied him here, he would, in the heieafter, be crowned with 
 one, the leaves of which would never wither.