Hull, and made the first report of the affair to the U. S. government. After being exchanged he was appointed to the 27th regiment of infantry, and was shortly promoted to brigadier-general. He took part in the defeat of the British under Gen. Proctor, at the battle of the Thames in Cana- da, 5 Oct., IHlfi. At the close of the campaign he was left in command of Michigan, with his head- quarters at Detroit, and almost immediately was appointed civil governor of the territory. In 1814 he was associated with Gen. Harrison in a comnus- sion to treat with the Indians, who had been hostile to the United States during the war. The number of white inhabitants in the territory was scarcely 6,000 ; no land had been sold by the United States, and the interior was a vast wilderness, the abode, it was estimated, of 40,000 savages. Settlers could not obtain sure titles to their locations, no surveys had been made, no roads opened inland, and the savages were relentless in their hostility to the whites. Under these discouraging circumstances Cass assumed the responsibilities of governor, and ex officio superintendent of Indian affairs, his juris- diction extending over the whole teri'itory. Dur- ing eighteen years his management of Indian affairs was governed by remarkable wisdom and prudence. He negotiated twenty-two distinct treaties, securing the cession to the United States, by the vai'ious tribes, of the immense regions of the northwest, instituted surveys, constructed roads, established military works, built light-houses along the lake shore, organized counties and town- ships, and, in short, created and set in motion all the machinery of civilized government. In the administration of the extensive financial trusts in- cident to his position. Gov. Cass displayed the most scrupulous honesty, never permitting even the small sum allowed him by the government for contingent expenses to be transferred to his pri- vate account until the vouchers had been formally signed and transmitted to Washington. As yet the northwestern territory was imperfectly known, and at his suggestion an expedition was planned in 1820, in which he himself bore a conspicuous part. Accompanied by the ethnologist, School- craft, and six other gentlemen, with Indian guides, they left Detroit in three canoes, for the explora- tion of "the upper lakes and the head-waters of the Mississippi, and traversed 5,000 miles before their return. The results of this and subsequent expe- ditions were published in the " North American Review " in 1828-'9, and added not a little to the fame of the author. In 1831, when President Jack- son reconstructed his cabinet, Cass was appointed secretary of war, and cordially approved all the distinctive features of that administration. Dur- ing his incumbency the Black Hawk war occurred, and was vigorously suppressed. The Indian ques- tion, too, passed through a dangerous crisis in the removal of the Cherokees from their hereditary lands in Georgia and Mississippi. In the nullifi- cation troubles of 1832, the nullifiers derived no benefit from his presence in the war department. In 1836 Gen. Cass submitted a celebrated report to congress upon the military and naval defences of the United States, embracing an elaborate sum- mary of existing resources, both ofi'ensive and de- fensive. He recommended the erection of a strong chain of coast fortifications, and the maintenance of a powerful navy. Shortly after this, finding his health impaired, he resigned his secretaryship, and was appointed U. S. minister to France. The diplomatic relations between the two countries were at that time in a critical condition, owing to complications regarding the spoliation claims. Gen. Cass temporarily settled the matter by pay- ment of interest. His most important act as min- ister was his vigorous protest against the quintuple treaty, whereby Britain sought to maintain the right of search on the, high seas. Mainly owing to his representations, France refused to ratify the treaty. The protest, in pamphlet form, had an enormous circulation, and the English were greatly incensed. Lord Brougham assailed him in parlia- ment, and Cass replied very effectively in the sen- ate. During an interval of his diplomatic duties he made a long voyage in the U. S. frigate " Con- stitution," visiting Constantinople and the Medi- terranean ports. Resigning his mission to France, he returned home in 1842, and was given a public welcome at New York and Philadelphia. The country was greatly excited over the annexation of Texas. He had been talked of as a democratic candidate for the presidency, and his opinions upon the inipoi'tant questions of the day were eagerly sought. In the democratic national convention of 1844, James K. Polk received the nomination, and was elected to the presidency in the following No- vember, Mr. Cass cordially supporting him through- out the canvass. In January, 1845, he was elected to the U. S. senate, which place he resigned on his nomination, in May, 1848, as democratic candidate for the presidency. After the election of his op- ponent. Gen. Taylor, he was, in 1849, re-elected to the senate for the unexpired portion of his original term of six years. Here he wielded a powerful in- fluence. He was a strong advocate of compro- mise, became the chief ally of Henry Clay, and opposed both the southern- rights dogmas and the Wilmot proviso. The latter of these he had been instructed by the legislature to support ; but he declared in the senate that he should resign his seat in case of a direct cor.flict between his duty and his principles. Originally Gen. Cass was the most prominent candidate for the chaiimanship of the committee of thirteen, but himself urged the appointment of Mr. Clay to that place. The pas- sage of the resolution constituting that committee was, by the testimony of its mover, Henry S. Foote, chiefly due to his prompting and assistance. He supported the various measures that it originated, save the fugitive-slave law, on the passage of which, in the senate, he declined to vote, though present in his seat. Being re-elected a senator from Michigan for a second term of six years from March, 1851. he still continued a prominent demo- cratic candidate for the presidency, but, in 1852, as in 1844, he was unsuccessful. This defeat termi- nated Gen. Cass's aspirations for the chief magis- tracy, and he remained a member of the senate until the expiration of his term. In 1857, when Mr. Buchanan entered upon his administration. Gen. Cass accepted the office of secretary of state- In the secession movements that followed Mr. Lin- coln's election, he was, as in 1850, a friend of com- promise, sustaining what were then known as the Crittenden resolutions. President Buchanan's mes- sage, denying the existence of any power in the constitution by which the general government can coerce a state, was not openly disapproved by ftlr. Cass in the cabinet meeting where it was first read. Eight days afterward, however, he re-asserted the Jacksonian principles of 1832-'3, and, when ]\lr. Buchanan refused to re-enforce Maj. Anderson and reprovision Fort Sumter, he promptly re- signed. His resignation terminated a public career of fifty-six years' duration. After that period he mingled little in society, save in the exercise of the hospitalities of his own home. Daring the civil war his sympathies were with the national arms.
