kind assistance of his grace, the ' duke,' who is the son-in-law of Mr. Bod-
ley, have haunted me ever since, like the ghost or specter did Brutus at
Phillippi. Hence, the desire of Governor Owsley to get me out of the
office, and, hence, the difficulty of pleasing him and the ' duke.' There is
nothing I could do would please their mightinesses, because George B. Kin-
kead must be secretary of State, at all events. You all recollect how he
was smuggled into the office last winter for a few days. How Mr. Mitchell
came to be appointed, and where I was from the time of the appointment
until after the Presidential election, I have already stated.

''I remained in Frankfort, in the winter of 1845, about ten days after
the end of the session of the Legislature. I then left for the Nelson Cir-
cuit Court. I remained there three weeks, and went to the Hardin Circuit
Court, which commenced the third Monday in March. On Tuesday of the
second week of the court, I received a letter from Governor Owsley ; for I
had, when I left Frankfort, told him the courts I was about to attend, and
when ; and if he wanted me, to write to me. The letter requested me to
come to Frankfort to sign State bonds and coupons. I left Hardin court
immediately — Mr. Helm states that fact — two weeks of the time yet unex-
l)ired. I passed through Bardstown, directing my office there to be broken
up, and my law and political books to be sent after me to Frankfort, which
was accordingly done. These facts are proven by John Morton. I got to
Frankfort three or four days after I left Hardin court, and remained there
until the fourth Monday in April, making about five weeks.

" During my stay in Frankfort that time, I signed one hundred and fifty
State bonds, and sixty coupons for each bond, making nine thousand one
hundred and fifty bonds and coupons. I lost two weeks of the Hardin
Circuit Court, one week of the Bullitt court, and two weeks of the Marion
Circuit Court, which was a loss of at least two hundred dollars a week.

"The fourth Monday in April, 1845, I went to Washington court;
remained there about four days. I went from there to the Meade Circuit



THE OWSLEY SPEECH. 38/

Court ; staid about one week ; then I went to Vicksburg, took the railroad,
and went immediately to Jackson, and the next morning entered the man-
date of the Supreme Court in the case of Vick's heirs against Prentiss, etc.,
and returned the same day to Vicksburg, and the same evening took a boat
and came to Kentucky. When I got to Bardstown, I found that Mrs. Har-
din had removed our daughter to Bardstown, and that she was expected to
die every day; it was during those cold rains which frequently come in
May.

"I wrote to Mr. Mitchell and requested him to show the letter to Gov-
ernor Owsley, stating where I had been, and stating that I was then at Bards-
town waiting on my daughter, and that I would return to Frankfort as soon
as I could leave her. Mr. Mitchell wrote back immediately that he had
shown the letter to the governor; that they sympathized with me on account
of my daughter's bad health, and requested me not to leave her until she got
better. As soon as the summer set in she got better, and I came to Frank-
fort. All appeared right. I heard no complaint. I was here during that
summer, except when I went to court. I was not at Bardstown during the
whole year, except when the Nelson Circuit Court was in session, more than
three weeks. This is proved by Mr. Morton.

" Mr. Mitchell swears that in the letter the governor wrote to me at Eliz-
abethtown, he urged me to move to Frankfort. I do not believe that was in
the letter. All he said in the letter was, to come to Frankfort to sign State
■bonds and coupons. I intended, at that time, to move to Frankfort, where
I had opened an office, and engaged in law business in all the courts in
Frankfort, and some of the adjoining counties. I shortly after engaged
boarding for myself and wife with Mr. Stealy, at the Mansion House. The
governor stated in his message that I had been gone for months together,
and that I had been in the State of Mississippi, thereby intending to make
the impression that I had been for months in Mississippi, when he knew that
was not so. How did he know that I had been in Mississippi? From my
letter to Mr. Mitchell, which was shown to him ; and that letter stated I had
not been there more than a day or two. When he stated my absence, why
did he not state that I remained with my daughter, who was then at the point
of death, by his permission ? And why did he use the word months, when
he knew that whole time I was gone from Frankfort did not exceed five or
six weeks ? The answers to these questions are obvious — it is in keeping
with the whole message — that is, not to give the facts fairly as they are.

"I left this place in August, 1845, by the advice of the governor, and
went to the Marion Chancery Court, and from there to the Meade Chancery
Court, and from there to the Nelson court. At the end of that court I
returned to Frankfort, and remained there until the 5th of October. On
the night of the 4th it commenced raining ; at two o'clock the wind shifted
to the north; the rain continued, but the weather was cold. When I went



388



BEN HARDIN.



to breakfast, I told Colonel Davidson's family that my daughter had died
that night ; that I knew it from the change of the weather. After breakfast
I got on my horse in the rain, without great coat, cloak, or umbrella ; rode
to Bardstown — fifty miles — without eating, drinking, or getting off my
horse. I got to my gate just after dark, and looked through the shade trees
to the window of the room I left her in ; there was no light ; all was dark ;
I looked below to the parlor, where my other children had been laid out ; I
saw a dim and gloomy light. The melancholy tale was told. My heart
sank within me. I went to the house and mingled sorrow and grief with
my family. I followed her mortal remains next day to the grave. I was
unfit for business for some days. I recovered my spirits a little, and
returned to Frankfort about the middle of November, where I remained




Ben HARDIN'S Home.

until the 24th of February, 1846. On that day the Legislature adjourned.
After the adjournment I went to Bardstown. When I got there the Nelson
court was in session. I attended the Nelson court the balance of the term.
I attended the Hardin court, and then went to Bullitt court, staid one week,
and returned to this place about the loth of April. I staid here about two
Aveeks, and went to Washington court ; staid one week ; then went to
Meade court, and staid about a week ; then to Spencer court, which com-
menced the third Monday in May, and there I heard the call for volunteers,
and came to this place about the 20th. I remained until June ; went then
to the chancery court in Nelson ; ''rom there to the chancery court in Har-
din. I attended a call court in Marion for the trial of Thomas H. Chand-
ler. From there I came here about the ist of July, staid until the i ith, and
then I went to the chancery court in Washington. I remained there some-



THE OWSLEY SPEECH. 389

thing like a week ; left there, and came by Harrodsburg to this place, where
I remained until the 7th of August. The last of June, I had two young
negro men, who engaged in a fight. One stabbed the other seven times,
and left him apparently dead, stole a horse, and fled to the county of Larue,
where he had been raised. I got Mr. George Dixon to go in pursuit of
him, and to advertise him. He was, however, unsuccessful. I heard the
negro was at the ^tna Furnace, with some of his relations, who belonged
to Mr. Churchill, who owned the furnace. I went to Larue and Hart m
search of him; from Hart back to Larue, and from there to Hardin; then
•to Grayson, and from there to Breckinridge, and struck the Ohio at Stephens-
port, and then up the river to Meade. I there learned that the horse the negro
stole and rode away was posted near Flint Island. I then became satisfied
he had crossed the Ohio. I gave up further pursuit and returned to Bards-
town. When I got back I learned, in about two days, that the governor
had removed me from the office. My situation is rather a novel one. I
have lost my negro by reason of not pursuing him in time, and I have lost
the office of secretary of State for pursuing him out of time.

"The governor says: 'And though occasionally present, he was not,
after his appointment, in Frankfort, except while the Legislature was in ses-
sion — in all not more than about five months of the time.' I came to Frank-
fort each year, about the middle of November, and never left until the 24th
of February ; that includes the time the Legislature was in session. If he
means five months exclusive of those periods, which is the governor's mean-
ing, I suppose, then I apprehend he is not much wrong. These two
sessions, commencing with the time I came, and calculating up to the time
I went away, would make about six months and one-half; add that to the
five months, would make eleven and one-half months out of one year and
nine months and a half. Because the first two months, while I was a candi-
date for an elector, the lost time in consequence thereof ought to be
deducted out, as by an agreement with the governor, before I accepted the
office, I was to be absent until the presidential election was over.

"I would inquire, if even the secretaries of State, whose famihes reside
in Frankfort, were in the secretary's office more hours, in one year nine
months and a half, than I was? In the secretaries I will include Judge
Owsley, who was secretary to Governor Morehead. He practiced law in
the Court of Appeals, General Court, Federal Court, and Franklin Circuit
Court, and also in the Garrard Circuit Court, and got a full practice in all
the courts he attended. He, it is true, I have no doubt, was in Frankfort
more hours each year than I have been, but he was in his law office and in
the courts a great part of that time. Was Mr. Harlan, who was secretary
to Governor Letcher, in the office of secretary of State more hours than I
have been ? I should suppose not. He practiced law in the Court of
Appeals, Federal Court, General Court, Franklin Circuit Court, and also in



390 BEN HARDIN.

the Boyle, Mercer, Anderson, and Jessamine Circuit Courts, and got a full
practice. Now, count the number of days those courts were in session, and
the time he would be employed in his law office, in Frankfort, and engaged
in the courts at Frankfort, and then you will perceive he did not devote as
many hours to the secretary's office as I did, within the same time. I think
I may say the same thing in reference to the other secretaries who were
lawyers and attended to their professions. The only difference between
Judge Owsley, Mr. Harlan, and some other secretaries and myself, is this :
that when I attended the courts, I was off at a distance, and my wife was
not living here — they lived in Frankfort, and their families were here.
When I was here I was always in the secretary's office ; when they were
here, they were in their law offices, and with their families.

"After I was secretary, I discontinued my practice in Mississippi, in the
winter, and also quit practicing law in Breckinridge and Grayson counties.
These facts are proved by Messrs. McFerran, Smith, and Helm. I lost half
of the term times of Marion, Washington, and Bullitt counties. These facts
are proven by Parker C. Hardin, Doctor Palmer, and Henry C. Thomas. I
lost two weeks of the Hardin Circuit Court, and part of the two terms of the
Nelson Circuit Court. I have no doubt I could prove by lawyers well
acquainted with my practice, that, in their opinion, I have lost two thousand
dollars a year since I have been made secretary of State, by quitting some
courts and only partially attending others. The law business I undertook in
this region of country I gave up for reasons which I will give in another part
of this speech.

"I contend, Mr. Chairman, that since the presidential election, up to the
ist of September, 1846, 1 spent as much time in the secretary's office as any
other secretary who practiced law ; and I made heavier sacrifices in doing it
than any other secretary. I am well aware that Mitchell states that from the
end of the last Legislature up to the ist of September, 1846, I was here but
three times. That is not a fact. I was here in April ; stayed about two weeks
here in May, from the 20th to the ist of June; and here about the ist of
July, and stayed until about the nth, and returned again the 24th, and left
the 7th of August, 1846.

" How does Mr. Mitchell know the time I was in Frankfort, and how long I
stayed each time ? Did he keep a memorandum of the times ? When questioned
on that, he said he did not. He was asked if there was any public memoran-
dum kept that would give the time ? He said there was not. He was asked
then, how did he know ; had he any data to go by ? He said he had not ; but
he said he knew the governor's calculations were correct. He was then asked
if the governor, in his message, said I was only here five months in the two
years or five months in each year ? He said he could not state, but still per.
sisted that he knew that the governor's statements in his message were right.
These questions were put by myself and some of the committee three times,



THE OWSLEY SPEECH. 39 1

and three times he gave the same answer. Mr. Kinkead beckoned to him ; he
then left the witness' stand and went to him. They whispered together ; he
returned to the stand, and the first thing he said was : I will ask Mr. Har-
din if the governor's statement is not correct ? The chairman of the com-
mittee instantly said : You have no right to put a question to Mr. Hardin.
He then, for the first time, said he found a paper in the drawer of the table
at which I sat, when in the secretary's office, in my handwriting, from which
he and the governor, on the ist of September, 1846, made the calculations
as to the lost time; and by those calculations made his statements in his
message. He was asked by one of the committee : was it a private or pub-
lic paper ? He said it was a statement made by me of the time I boarded at
Colonel Davidson's; that some time before the ist of September, 1846, he
saw the paper in the table drawer, and when the governor, on the day he
made the entry of my removal, asked him if he (Mr. Mitchell) had any note
or memorandum showing my lost time, he said there was this account of
mine in the table drawer, and at the request of the governor he got it out of
the drawer, and from it they made a great part of their estimates; that the
governor kept the paper until some time in September. I came to Frank-
fort and asked him to get all my private papers out of the secretary's office ;
that he went and got them ; that upon looking them over I asked for this
memorandum; that he went into the secretary's office and asked the gov-
ernor for it. He handed it to him, and, at the request of the governor, he
took a copy of it, gave the governor the copy to keep, and then brought me
the original. That he did not get my permission to take a copy, nor did he
tell me he had taken a copy ; that the governor has the copy now. I believe
upon that part of Mr. Mitchell's evidence, I have recited it about as he gave
it in ; however, if I am incorrect in any particular, the recollection of the
committee will enable them to correct me. It is not my intention to mis-
represent one word said by Mr. Mitchell.

"Mr. Chairman, the history of that paper is this: Colonel Davidson
occupied the house he now lives in, as my tenant for near eighteen years,
until July, 1844, when he purchased it. He had a lease for one year, which he
kept, and no more ; he took good care of the premises — made some repairs.
He stayed after the first year upon the same terms, without any lease; he kept
all the accounts; he paid money for the town tax, and charged me with it;
he paid my own taxes to the sheriffs of Nelson, and also the taxes on some
■ non-residents' lands that I was agent for, and gave me, at times, money. I
kept no account, and knew nothing of the state of our moneyed matters ; I
trusted all to him ; I have no doubt he did me justice; we never settled, and
I expect we never will, as to the renting. I believe Colonel Davidson is one
of the most upright persons I ever knew, and his heart is as near the right
place as any person I ever saw, unless it be Mrs. Davidson, and, if possible,
her heart is nearer right than his. When in Frankfort I generally stayed with



392



BEN HARDIN.



him ; he was the owner of the house when I was made secretary. I told
him I wanted him to fit up my oi^ce for me, and that I would board with
him until Mrs. Hardin came to Frankfort to live. When 'I was first made
secretary I stayed at the Weisigar House until my office was ready for me.
I took possession of it and commenced boarding with Colonel Davidson
about the ist of December. I made no bargain with him as to the price I
was to pay. I paid him from time to time, and he generally drew my salary
as secretary and handed over to me what he said was coming to me. I
know not now how our accounts stand.

"Last May I asked him how my boarding account stood. He said he
did not know. I asked him the price of my board. He answered, and said
he did not know that, but that we would fix it. He said he kept no account
of the time I had been at his house since I was secretary. He then requested
me to make some estimate, which I did, when I went to the secretary's office,
with the intention of showing it to Colonel Davidson and Mrs. Davidson, to
correct it, if there were any errors in it. The original will show it only to
be a mere guess as to when I went first to board, and each time I left there,
and when I returned. The first writing has no date, but the same pen and
ink are used down to last May, which shows the first writing was done then.
The next writing was done the 7th of August, as will appear by the same
pen and ink being used in setting down the account from May till August.
The paper will show conclusively, from the wording of it, that it was only a
mere estimate, without any attempt at certainty. Upon looking it over, the
date as to the time I came here last May is wrong by seven days, as will
appear by commissions which I signed, and entries on the executive journal,
and also by a letter I got on the 23d of May; 1 hold it now in my hand,
and will exhibit it hereafter.

" How could Mr. Mitchell tell how much of my time I was here before
I went to board at Colonel Davidson's, after my appointment as secretary ?
He was not here until near Christmas. Mr. Tilford acted for him. I have
the original estimate now in my hand — if the committee want to see it, I will
show it to them. Governor Owsley has what Mr. Mitchell calls a copy.
Why does he not show it, that we may compare it with the original, and see
whether it is a true copy or not ? But the same men who could be base
enough to look o\'er a man's private papers, and take copies from them to
base a false accusation against him upon, could take a false copy; and that,
I have no doubt, is the reason why the copy is not produced.

" If I had not the original here, the copy would have been produced long
ago, and sworn to by the ' duke.' That cop^, if correct, will show that I was
here four times between the end of the last session of the Legislature and
the I St of September, 1846, instead of three times, as Mr. Mitchell has tes-
tified. The copy, if a true one, will contradict his oath ; and if not true,
the original will contradict the copy. His grace is a cunning man of his



I



THE OWSLEY SPEECH. 393

age, and the governor, his adviser, is a man skilled in adroitness and arti-
fice. Mr. Mitchell went into a long dissertation to prove when a paper was pri-
vate and when public, and so did William Anderson. Their reasons and
ethics are the doctrines of the same person ; and, when simplified, amount
to this : that the table was public property, so was a private paper inside the
drawer. That is about such reasoning as Withers, the landlord, near Law-
renceburg, some years ago employed. Young McKnight came from Louis-
ville, on his way to Danville, with a large quantity of money, sent by the
Bank of Kentucky to the branch at Danville. He came in a public stage,
with the money ; he put up at a public house, with the money ; and as the
stage and house were, to some extent, public, ei-go, the money was public
money, and he had a right to appropriate it to his own use. I care nothing,
Mr. Chairman, about the paper. The manner in which his grace and the
governor got it shows what kind of men I have to deal with.

"Since the days of Algernon Sidney, during the reign of that tyrant,
Charles II., and the judicial despotism of that blood-thirsty monster and
scoundrel, Lord Chief-Justice Jeffries, has any man's private papers, without
his name to them, been taken from the place where he put them, as private
property, and used as evidence against him, to degrade and disgrace him
and his family, by a punishment worse than Sidney suffered, until it has
fallen to my lot ?

" Mr. Chairman, I admit, as I have before remarked, that I intended to
bring my family here. When I formed that determination I had no white
family but Mrs. Hardin and myself. About the ist of May, 1845, the doc-
tors, who attended on my daughter, informed her and her relations that she
must die in a few months of the disease that then afflicted her. In that situ-
ation she desired to be brought to Bardstown, my residence, where she had
been born aijd raised, that she might die there and be buried in the public
graveyard, by the side of her brothers and the rest of my family. Her
request was complied with. She was brought to my house the ist of May,
1845, ^^''d her children, then six in number — one has since died, before its
mother. She died the 5th of October, 1845. K^i" mother promised her to
take care of and raise her children, which she has done.

" Rowan Hardin started to join the army in September, 1845 ; '""^ ^^^^ a
wife and seven children, the eldest not nine years old. Mrs. Hardin has
that family to take care of. She now has twelve grandchildren, and all but
two under ten years. Thus situated, she could not move to Frankfort.

" Why I did not resign, and have not yet resigned my office of secretary
of State, I will explain hereafter; that explanation will be more appropriate
when I come to speak particularly of the manner Governor Owsley has
administered this government.

"Mr. Chairman, I have reluctantly gone into this detail of my fiimily
afflictions, for it only awakens feelings of grief and sorrow, to show that I



394 ^EN HARDIN.

did not act in bad faith when I said in my first letter to the governor that I
would move to Frankfort. Those misfortunes, through the dispensations of
an all-wise and just Providence, were brought upon me ; over which I had
no control, and to which I must, and do, bow with humble and dutiful sub-
mission : ' For the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away — and blessed be
the name of the Lord.'

" Governor Owsley knew that I had abandoned the idea of moving my
family here, when he became reconciled to me on the 3d of January, 1846,
which reconciliation was based on the fact that I was to remain in office the
constitutional time, if I chose; for nothing was said, or even intimated or
hinted at, about my resigning, for if it had, I would not have made it up, but
fought the battle out.

"We are now brought to the inquiry: Where was my residence since
the presidential election ? I had my office here ; I boarded here, and was
here about five months and a half each year. The residue of my time was
spent at courts. Not more than eleven weeks, put all the times together,
were spent at Bardstown ; eight of those weeks were spent at the Nelson
Circuit Courts. The other three weeks, as proved by Mr. Morton, that were
spent at Bardstown, were only calls there, from time to time, when passing
from court to court. Mrs. Hardin resided at Bardstown, taking care of her
helpless grandchildren. I had broken up my office in Bardstown, and
opened it in Frankfort.

" I have not attended any election in Bardstown since 1844. * I have been
at Frankfort at each election for 1845 ^^^ 1S46. I did not vote here,
because I was afraid that some person might indict me for voting out of my
county, and put me to much trouble. I did not go to Nelson county to vote,
because I did not consider myself entitled to vote there. These facts are