(lass 
 
 )()<>k 
 
 •RESENTED l!V 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 SKETCHES 
 
 OF 
 
 Distinguished Marylanders, 
 
 BY ESMEKALDA BOYLE, 
 
 Author of Thistle- Down, Felice, and Songs of tlie 
 Land and Sea. 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 KELLY, PIET & COMPANY, 
 
 174 W. Baltimore Street, 
 
 1877, 
 

 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 187? , by 
 
 KELLY, Piet & Co. 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Gift 
 
 */s. t7/k^> 
 
 7 SEP 1906 
 
TO THE 
 
 tate of Maryland 
 
 This Book is Dedicated, 
 
PREFACE 
 
 
 
 N these sketches are embraced only a few of 
 the many Marylanders whose acts have gone 
 far towards establishing the greatness of our 
 country. Yet through this small volume the 
 author hopes that the soldiers, statesmen, and singers 
 of " The Old Land " may become familiar as household 
 friends to the children of their native State. Let us 
 never be so ungrateful as to forget those whom we should 
 first remember — the men and women whose illustrious 
 names glorify the pages of our history. 
 
 In the material furnished to the present writer, only 
 the true worth of great actions was considered. It is 
 not incumbent upon an author to make laborious 
 search for the petty weaknesses or greater faults com- 
 mon to all humanity. The better work is to discover, 
 as clearly as possible, those nobler traits of soul that 
 elevate men and women to a standard that inspires rev- 
 erence towards our heroes and heroines of History. 
 When in daily life we are familiar with sorrow wrought 
 through the words or acts of evil-intentioned " mischief 
 makers," how earnestly should we guard from slander 
 the names of those whose fame we love. 
 
 We should rejoice that in this century the story of 
 
b PREFACE. 
 
 the great Dulany has again been found and rescued 
 from the dust. The two letters from George Washing- 
 ton to Governor Johnson, contained in these pages, have 
 never before been published. This work, done for old 
 Maryland's sake, has brought its own reward and com- 
 fort to the writer. If, while referring with proud satis- 
 faction to the deeds of our acknowledged great ones, 
 we would sometimes remember the unnamed valor of 
 untitled lords, it would be well. Not far need we seek, 
 perhaps, an "inglorious Milton:" 
 
 Some silent, uncrowned poet 
 Upon whose unknown grave, 
 No fame-bestowing laurels 
 Their gracious homage wave. 
 
 Where no unsullied marble 
 Doth mark the hallowed ground, 
 Within whose heart unuttered 
 Is grief the most profound. 
 
 Where Spring's first roses scatter 
 Their perfume, sweet and wild, 
 About the earthly temple 
 Of Nature's cherished child. 
 
 E. B. 
 
 June 24th, 187G. 
 
THE 
 
 Thanhs of ths Author 
 
 ARE DUE FOR ASSISTANCE IN THIS "WORK TO 
 
 George Delany, Chevalier de St. Maurice and St. Ligmas,d'Italia, 
 
 Dublin, Ireland; The Hon. Judge Pinkney, Baltimore; 
 
 The Hon. Montgomery Blair, of Montgomery County ; 
 
 General Benjamin Alvord, Paymaster-General of 
 
 the United States Army; The late Reverdy 
 
 Johnson, LL. D. ; Samuel Tyler, LL. D., 
 
 Georgetown, D. C; Otho Holland 
 
 Williams, Esq., Baltimore ; H. M. 
 
 Fitzhugh, Esq., Bay City, 
 
 Mich. ; James M. Garnet, 
 
 President of Saint 
 
 John's College, 
 
 Annapolis, 
 
 AND OTHERS. 
 
AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 R. BANCROFT, the historian, says: "The 
 mild forbearance of a Proprietary adopted 
 religious freedom as the basis of the State." 
 McMahon says, in his " History of Mary- 
 land : " " The Freemen of Maryland, as they were 
 called, were emphatically so from their origin. They 
 never permitted the Proprietary to entrench upon what 
 they considered to be their rights ; and the records of 
 this period furnish many instances in which they op- 
 posed and defeated the designs of the Proprietaries." 
 
 The first of every land in all the world 
 Where love of G-od, in peace, each creed defined, 
 And freedom of the heart was certified 
 By freedom of the mind ! 
 
 Where Christian, each, might worship as he willed, 
 Where temples throning different faiths arose, 
 Where bigot and where martyr, side by side, 
 Were shielded from their foes ! 
 
 From the Charter of Maryland, granted by King 
 Charles the First, of England, it is evident how Mary- 
 land and her children were esteemed by that monarch, 
 though he was a Protestant, and the recipients of his 
 bounty Catholics : " Whereas, our right trusty, and well 
 
10 AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 beloved subject, Cecilius Calvert, Baron of Baltimore, 
 in our Kingdom of Ireland, son and heir of Sir George 
 Calvert, Kt., late Buron of Baltimore, in the same King- 
 dom of Ireland, pursuing his father's intentions, being 
 excited with a laudable and pious zeal for the propaga- 
 tion of the Christian faith, and the enlargement of our 
 empire and dominion, hath humbly besought leave of 
 us, by his industry and charge to transport an a mple 
 colony of the English nation unto a certain country 
 hereafter described, in the parts of America, not yet 
 cultivated and planted, though in some parts thereof 
 inhabited by certain barbarous people having no knowl- 
 edge of Almighty God." 
 
 And again, in reference to the "remote country" 
 among "barbarous nations:" "Therefore, we have 
 given, and for us, our heirs and successors, do give 
 power by these presents, unto the now Lord Baltimore, 
 his heirs or assigns, by themselves or their captains, or 
 others, their officers, to levy, muster and train, all sorts 
 of men, of what condition, or wheresoever born, in the 
 said province of Maryland for the time being, and to 
 make war and to pursue the enemies and robbers afore- 
 said, as well by sea as by land, yea, even without the 
 limits of the said province, and (by God's assistance) to 
 vanquish and take them, and being taken, to put them 
 to death by the law of war, or to save them at their 
 pleasure ; and to do all and everything which unto the 
 charge and office of a captain-general of an army be- 
 longeth, or hath accustomed to belong, as fully and 
 freely as any captain-general of an army hath ever had 
 the same." 
 
 And again: "Furthermore, that the way to honors 
 and dignities may not seem to be altogether precluded 
 and shut up to men well born, and to such as shall 
 prepare themselves unto this present plantation and 
 
AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 1 1 
 
 desire to deserve well of us, and our kingdoms, both in 
 peace and war, in so far distant and remote a country; 
 Therefore we, for us, our heirs and successors, do give 
 free and absolute power unto the said now Lord Balti- 
 timore, his heirs and assigns, to confer favors, rewards 
 and honours, upon such inhabitants within the prov- 
 ince aforesaid, as shall deserve the same; and to invest 
 them with what titles and dignities soever as he shall 
 think fit, (so as they be not such as are now used in 
 England.") And further on occurs the following: — 
 "we give and grant license unto the said now Lord 
 Baltimore and his heirs to erect any parcel* of land 
 within the province aforesaid into manors, and in every 
 of the said manors to have and to hold a Court Baron 
 with all things whatsoever which to a Court Baron do 
 belong, and to have and to hold view of Frank-Pledge 
 (for the conservation of the peace and the better gov- 
 ernment of those parts) by themselves or their stewards, 
 or by the lords for the time being of other manors to be 
 deputed, when they shall be erected: And in the same, 
 to use all things belonging to View of Frank-Pledge, 
 and further, our pleasure is, and by these presents for 
 us, our heirs and successors, we do covenant and grant 
 to and with the said now Lord Baltimore, his heirs and 
 assigns ; that we, our heirs and successors, shall at no 
 time hereafter, set or make, or cause to be set, any impo- 
 sition, custom or other taxation, rate or contribution 
 whatsoever in or upon the dwellers and inhabitants of 
 the aforesaid province, for their lands, tenements, goods 
 or chattels, or in or upon any goods or merchandizes 
 within the said province, or to be laden or unladen 
 within any of the ports or harbours of the said province ; 
 and our pleasure is, and for us, our heirs and success- 
 ors, we charge and command, that this our declaration 
 shall be henceforward from time to time received and 
 
12 AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 allowed in all our courts, and before all the judges of 
 us, our heirs and successors, for a sufficient and lawful 
 discharge, payment and acquittance ; commanding all, 
 and singular, our officers and ministers of us, our heirs 
 and successors, and enjoining them upon pain of our 
 high displeasure, that they do not presume at any time 
 to attempt anything to the contrary of the premises, or 
 that they do in any sort withstand the same, but 
 that they be at all times aiding and assisting, as is 
 fitting, unto the said, now Lord Baltimore, and Ms 
 heirs, and to the inhabitants and merchants of Mary- 
 land aforesaid, their servants, ministers, factors, and 
 assigns, in the full use and fruition of the benefit of 
 this our Charter." 
 
 That all doubts and restrictions interfering with the 
 future prosperity of Maryland should be rendered im- 
 practicable barriers, the Charter concludes in thiswise: 
 "If perchance hereafter it should happen that any 
 doubts or questions should arise concerning the true 
 sense and understanding of any word, clause or sen- 
 tence contained in this our present Charter, we will 
 ordain and command, that at all times, and in all 
 things, such interpretation be made thereof, and al- 
 lowed in any of our courts whatsoever, as shall be 
 judged most advantageous and favourable unto the 
 said now Lord Baltimore, his heirs and assigns. Pro- 
 vided always, that no interpretation be admitted thereof, 
 by which God's holy and truly Christian religion, or the 
 allegiance due unto us, our heirs and successors may in 
 any thing suffer any prejudice or diminution." 
 
 This grant witnessed and signed at Westminster, the 
 20th day of June, 1632, was executed for the benefit of 
 Cecilius Calvert, first Lord Proprietary and Governor of 
 the State of Maryland, and the second Lord Baltimore, 
 son of Sir George Calvert, who was created Lord Balti- 
 
AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 13 
 
 more by James I of England, on the 20th day of 
 February, 1624. 
 
 Lord Baltimore, George Calvert, was born in York- 
 shire in 1582. When quite young he became the Sec- 
 retary of Sir Robert Cecil, through whose influence and 
 recommendation he afterward obtained the position of 
 Clerk to the Privy Council. He finally rose to the 
 office of Secretary of State to King James I. In 1624, 
 he became a convert to the Roman Catholic faith. 
 ♦"Moved by conscientious scruples he determined no 
 longer to hold the office of Secretary of State, which 
 would make him, in a manner, the instrument of perse- 
 cution against those whose faith he had adopted, and 
 tendered his resignation to the King, informing him 
 that he was now become a Roman Catholic, so that he 
 must be wanting to his trust or violate his conscience 
 in discharging his office." Not long after his resigna- 
 tion he was created Lord Baltimore of Baltimore in 
 Ireland. The persecution of the Catholics in England 
 at this time was so cruel that they longed for a refuge 
 from the storm. This Lord Baltimore sought and 
 obtained for them through his gracious intercession 
 with the King. A grant was made, and the form pre- 
 pared by Lord Baltimore only awaited the great seal as 
 its mark of verity when he died. George Calvert pos- 
 sessed that true greatness of mind and soul which can 
 only be the inheritance of the good. So profound was 
 his wisdom that he sought by the means of peace and 
 justice alone to forward and accomplish the happiness 
 of those intrusted to his care, and subject to his rule. 
 So broad was his liberality that he looKed above that 
 miserable bigotry which is the breeder and disseminator 
 of distrust, tyranny, and persecution. So pure were his 
 principles that he desired, the elevation and mainte- 
 
 *McSherry. 
 
14 AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 nance of truth in all high offices of trust and dignity 
 within his control. 
 
 His son and successor, Cecilius, the Second Lord 
 Baltimore, fitted out two vessels bearing the suggestive 
 names of the " Ark " and " The Dove," and under the 
 command of his brother, the Honorable Leonard Cal- 
 vert, a party of emigrants departed for the shores of 
 America. They set sail from Cowes, in the Isle of 
 Wight, England, on the 22nd day of November, in the 
 year 1638. It was Saint Cecilia's day, and Father An- 
 drew White says: "After committing the principal 
 parts of the ship to the protection of God especially, 
 and of His most Holy Mother, and St. Ignatius, and all 
 the guardian angels of Maryland, we sailed on a little 
 way between the two shores, and the wind failing us, 
 we stopped opposite Yarmouth Castle, which is near 
 the southern end of the same island (Isle of Wight). 
 Here we were received with a cheerful salute of artillery." 
 *The ship spoken of is supposed to have been the Ark, 
 as the Pinnace was the Dove, Father White tells of a 
 storm that overtook the Ark on the broad bosom of the 
 deep, and of the consternation of the sailors. In the 
 midst of the angry waves and winds he remembered the 
 One of whom it is written :f " Rising up. He rebuked the 
 wind, and said to the sea: Peace; be still. And the 
 wind ceased ; and there was made a great calm." He 
 sought refuge and assistance in prayer, and relating this 
 in the simple language of his faith, he says : " I had 
 scarcely finished when they observed that the storm 
 was abating. That, indeed, brought me to a new frame 
 of mind, and filled me at the same time with great joy 
 and admiration, since I understood much more clearly 
 the greatness of God's love toward the people of Mary- 
 
 Bancroft, f St. Mark, Chap. IV., 39 verse. 
 
AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 15 
 
 land, to whom your Keverence has sent us. Eternal 
 praises to the most sweet graciousness of the Re- 
 deemer ! ! " 
 
 As the principal portion of the crew was Roman 
 Catholic, they consecrated their landing by the sacra- 
 fice of the Mass. On page 33, of the journal of the 
 missionary Priest above quoted, is the following beau- 
 tiful passage: "After we had completed the sacrafice, 
 we took upon our shoulders a great cross, which we 
 had hewn out of a tree, and advancing in order to the 
 appointed place, with the assistance of the Governor 
 and his associates, and the other Catholics, Ave erected a 
 trophy to Christ the Saviour, humbly reciting, on our 
 bended knees, the Litanies of the Sacred Cross, with 
 great emotion." In this narration of events, which is 
 evidently intended as a record of the Catholic Missions 
 in Maryland, the general reader will perhaps find 
 little of interest. The Indians were reported as gentle 
 and tractable, easily won by the friendship of the white 
 man, and keeping an unbroken faith while the pledge 
 was honored by the Christian. The early settlers of 
 Maryland were unchanging in their gentle treatment of 
 the Indians, those untutored children of nature, who 
 awaited the guidance of teachers " more wise in their 
 day and generation." From the records left to us it is 
 evident that these teachers endeavored by all mild and 
 lawful means to elevate the hearts of the Indians to a 
 knowledge of the true God. The Indian of the present 
 day, dwelling on the border-lands of civilization, deems 
 the white man a traitor to his word, an enemy to the 
 Indian race, and a breaker of compacts, whose perfidy, 
 must be retaliated upon the innocent by fire and toma- 
 haivks. This is rather a sad commentary upon the 
 Savage, or the Christian, of our times Which is it ? 
 
 From the "Annals of Annapolis," by Daniel Ridgely, 
 
16 AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 of Maryland, is the following : " For several years pre- 
 vious to 1675, the inhabitants of the province of Mary- 
 land, and the Indians within and upon her border 
 county, lived upon terms of peace and amity. Indeed, 
 it could not well be otherwise, such being the nature 
 and benevolent character of the laws and resolutions of 
 the province for the protection of the friendly Indians. 
 From the proceedings of the assembly, the strongest 
 disposition was manifested to cherish and protect them ; 
 and. in no instance did the government take from the abo- 
 rigines one acre of land without a remuneration perfectly 
 satisfactory to them. 
 
 John G. Morris, Esquire, in his pamphlet entitled 
 " The Lords Baltimore," says : " In his views of es- 
 tablishing foreign plantations, he thought that the 
 original inhabitants, instead of being exterminated, 
 should be civilized and converted ; that the Governors 
 should not be interested merchants, but gentlemen not 
 concerned in trade, and that every one should be left to 
 provide for himself by his own industry, without de- 
 pendence on a common interest." 
 
 Although Cecilius was the first Proprietary Governor 
 who ruled over Maryland, the colony was indebted to 
 George Calvert for its polity. 
 
 Hughes, in his "Brief Sketch of Maryland," has 
 quoted the following: 
 
 " The mild, liberal, and moral spirit of the father was 
 characteristically impressed upon the charter thus 
 granted to the son, which strongly corroborates the 
 opinion that he himself was its author. Although, very 
 naturally, imbued to a considerable extent with the 
 aristocratic and loyal spirit of an English subject, still 
 he made ample provision for the rights and liberties of 
 the colonists. Although, too, he had felt the sting of 
 religious intolerance, and had been numbered amongst 
 
AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 IT 
 
 the * Proscribed ' on his conversion to the faith of the 
 Catholic religion, still he insured to all Christian men 
 the most perfect exercise of the rights of conscience. 
 Nor was it a mere parchment guarantee. Never, from 
 the first settlement of Maryland, down to the period 
 when her Proprietary was suspended, could she blush 
 for the commission of one act of authorized intolerance 
 against any denomination of Christians. To be sure 
 Christianity was made the law of the land ; and was, in 
 some measure, the boundary line of political franchise. 
 The unhappy child of the Synagogue was still doomed 
 to bear the mark of an outcast, and was unjustly de- 
 barred the privileges of a freeman. * Even so, Calvert 
 and his colonists made giant strides in advance of the 
 age. Maryland established the principle, and, above 
 all, the practice of Christian toleration in the new 
 hemisphere, and laid the ground-work for the complete 
 superstructure, which was afterward reared by the 
 hands of Jefferson and his illustrious co-laborers in the 
 cause of truth. She was the first to give ' religious 
 liberty a home, its only home in the wide world,' where 
 ' the disfranchised friends of prelacy from Massachu- 
 setts, and the Puritans from Virginia, were welcome to 
 equal liberty of conscience and political rights.'' Such 
 is a sample only of the honorable and impartial testi- 
 mony of Bancroft, who is more than sustained by the 
 eloquent historian of Maryland. I say it not in triumph. 
 It is a recorded truth. Indeed, the contrast is too 
 mournful for triumph. It was truly most lamentable 
 to see men who had fled from the old world to secure a 
 peaceful enjoyment of civil and religious freedom, them- 
 selves, and their children after them, persecuting their 
 fellow-men for a difference in creed. Maryland did not, 
 
 * Bancroft's History, U. S., Vol. I, p. 247. 
 
18 AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 and could not rejoice in the contrast. She only en- 
 deavored to teach a better lesson and to exemplify her 
 teaching by her practice." 
 
 The best and most forcible pens of the day have been 
 employed in giving honor to George Calvert, who " de- 
 serves to be ranked among the most wise and benevolent 
 lawgivers of all ages." * And from his name, which 
 was kept bright by just deeds, falls the lustre illuminat- 
 ing the record of the Lords Baltimore who followed. 
 
 The wise rule of the Proprietary Government diffus- 
 ing the happiness of peace throughout the Colony of 
 Maryland is due to him ; to his great example also is 
 due much of the justice of Cecil ins, the moderation 
 and endurance of Leonard, and all that was most ad- 
 mirable in the rule of the Proprietary Domain until its 
 overthrow, and from its resumption till the Revolution. 
 The Honorable Charles Browning, grandson of Charles 
 VI, Lord Baltimore, gives a few items in his records 
 of the Baltimore family, and in reference to the emi- 
 grants " between two and three hundred gentlemen, 
 their wives, families and attendants." 
 
 On page 87, among the " Brief Explanations," we 
 are told that " Cecilius Lord Baltimore was particularly 
 attentive in the selection of those whom he first engaged 
 with, and who came over with his brother, that they 
 should be sober, virtuous men, his lordship not looking 
 so much for present profit as reasonable expectation." 
 
 Prom these men, and in appreciation of Lord Balti- 
 more's generosity, the following vote was offered and 
 confirmed, and placed among the perpetual laws of the 
 State of Maryland in the year 1671 : 
 
 " Great and manifold are the benefits wherewith Al- 
 mighty God hath blessed the colony, first brought and 
 
 * Bancroft. 
 
AN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER, 
 
 19 
 
 planted within this province of Maryland at your Lord- 
 ship's charge, and continued by your care and industry 
 in the happy restitution of a blessed peace unto us, 
 being lately wasted with a miserable dissension and an 
 unhappy war. But more inestimable are the blessings 
 thereby poured on this province in planting Christianity 
 among a people that knew not God, nor had heard of 
 Christ,-" 
 
 " No ceremony that to great oues belongs, 
 Not the King's crown, nor the deputed sword, 
 The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, 
 Become them with one-half so good a grace 
 As mercy does." 
 
DANIEL DULANY. 
 
 Where are the heroes of the ages past? 
 
 Where the brave chieftains, where the mighty ones 
 
 Who flourished in the infancy of days ? 
 
 All to the grave gone down." — Kikke White. 
 
 OHN V. L. McMAHON, the distinguished 
 lawyer and historian, says in a note to his 
 Maryland history: "If lessons upon the 
 vanity of human hopes would avail, here is 
 an individual over whose history we might pause to 
 learn how insufficient are all the brightest qualities of 
 the mind to rescue the memory of their possessor from 
 the common doom of mortality. But half a century 
 has gone by, and the very name of Daniel Dulany is 
 almost forgotten in his native State, where the unques- 
 tioned supremacy of his talents was once the theme of 
 every tongue, and the boast of every citizen. 
 
 "In the colonial history of Maryland, the name of 
 Dulany is associated with virtue and ability of the 
 highest order. Daniel Dulany the elder, the father of 
 the distinguished person alluded to in the text, was as 
 conspicuous amongst his contemporaries as bis more 
 accomplished son, and enjoyed a reputation in the 
 province, Burpassed only by that of the latter. Of his 
 origin and early history I have been unable to collect 
 
DANIEL DULANY. 21 
 
 any accurate information. He was admitted to the bar 
 of the Provincial Court in 1710, and from that period 
 his career was one of uninterrupted honor and useful- 
 ness. For nearly forty years he held the first place in 
 the confidence of the proprietary, and the affections of 
 the people. During that period he filled the various 
 offices of Attorney General, Judge of the Admiralty, 
 Commissary General, Agent and Receiver General, and 
 Counciller, the latter of which he held under the suc- 
 cessive administration of Governors Bladen, Ogle, and 
 Sharpe. He was also, for several years, a member of 
 the Lower House, in which capacity he was distin- 
 guished as the leader of the country party, in the con- 
 troversy about the extension of the English Statutes. 
 
 " His son Daniel, the greater (if we may use such a 
 term), is said to have been educated in England, and 
 was admitted to the bar of the Provincial Court in 
 1747. In 1757, he was appointed one of the Council, 
 and in 1761, the Secretary of the Province, which 
 offices he held in conjunction from the latter period 
 until the American Revolution. For many years be- 
 fore the fall of the proprietary government, he stood 
 confessedly without a rival in this colony as a lawyer, 
 a scholar, and an orator, and we may safely hazard the 
 assertion that in high and varied accomplishments 
 which constitute these, he has had amongst the sons 
 of Maryland but one equal, and no superior. We may 
 admit that tradition is a magnifier, and that men seen 
 through its medium and the obscurity of half a century, 
 like objects in a misty morning, loom largely in the 
 distance; yet with regard to Mr. Dulany, there is no 
 room for such illusion. " You may tell Hercules by his 
 foot" says the proverb, and this truth is as just, when 
 applied to the proportions of the mind as to those of 
 the body. The legal arguments and opinions of Mr. 
 2 
 
22 DANIEL DULANY. 
 
 Dulany, which yet remain to us, bear the impress of 
 abilities too commanding, and of learning too profound 
 to admit of question. Had we but these fragments, 
 like the remains of splendor which linger around some 
 of the ruins of antiquity, they would be enough for 
 admiration; yet they fall very far short of furnishing 
 just conceptions of the character and accomplishments 
 of his mind. We have higher attestations of these in 
 the testimony of contemperaries. For many years be- 
 fore the Eevolution he was regarded as an oracle of the 
 law. It was the constant practice of the courts of the 
 Province to submit to his opinion every question of dif- 
 ficulty which came before them, and so infallible were 
 his opinions considered, that he who hoped to reverse 
 them was regarded " as hoping against hope." Nor was 
 his professional reputation limited to the colony. I 
 have been credibly informed that he was occasionally 
 consulted from England upon questions of magnitude ; 
 and that in the Southern counties of Virginia, adjacent 
 to Maryland, it was not unfrequent to withdraw ques- 
 tions from their courts, and even from the Chancellor 
 of England, to submit them to his award. Thus un- 
 rivaled in professional learning, according to the rep- 
 resentations of his contemporaries, he added to it all 
 the power of the orator, the accomplishments of the' 
 scholar, the graces of the person, and the serenity of 
 the gentleman. Mr. Pinkney, himself the wonder of 
 his age, who saw but the setting splendor of Mr. 
 Dulany's talents, is reported to have said of him, "that 
 even amongst such men as Fox, Pitt, and Sheridan, he 
 had not found his superior." 
 
 The above was written in 1830 by Mr. McMahon, yet 
 in 1876 much of a historical nature hitherto obscured by 
 the dust of time, has been rescued for the benefit of 
 future generations. 
 
DAMEL DULANY. 23 
 
 As age comes upon us we fondly recall the friends 
 and associates of childhood ; so our Nation in its hun- 
 dreth year reverts with tender and noble pride to the 
 bright days of its infancy, to those who gave lustre to 
 its name, to those who raised the wide -spreading banner 
 above the bulwark of Liberty. 
 
 Maryland in her sublime dignity has ever revered 
 the brave, the strong and the good amongst her chil- 
 dren. To none of all her great ones is more respect 
 due than to Daniel Dulany. The distinguished Phila- 
 delphia lawyer, Horace Binney, says in " The Leaders 
 of the Old Bar of Philadelphia,"—" Mr. Tilghman was 
 also an advocate of great powers, a master of every 
 question in his causes, a wary tactician in the manage- 
 ment of them, highly accomplished in language, a 
 faultless logician, a man of the purest integrity and of 
 the highest honor, fluent without the least volubility, 
 concise to a degree that left every one's patience and 
 attention unimpaired, and perspicuous to almost the 
 lowest order of understanding, while he was dealing 
 with almost the highest topics. How could such quali- 
 ties as these fail to give him a ready acceptance with 
 both courts and juries, and to make him the bulwark 
 of any cause which his judgment approved ? An in- 
 vincible. aversion to authorship and to public office has 
 prevented this great lawyer from being known as he 
 ought to have been, beyond the limits of his own 
 country. He has probably left nothing professional 
 behind him but his opinions upon cases, now in vari- 
 ous hands, and difficult to collect; but which if col- 
 lected and published would place him upon the same 
 elevation with Dulany of Maryland." Having recited 
 the numerous virtues, talents, and qualifications of 
 Chief Justice Tilghman, a Marylander by birth, he 
 concludes the recital by comparing him to Daniel 
 
24 DANIEL DULANV. 
 
 Dal any, which in the opinion of Mr. Binney seems the 
 most exalted praise that he could bestow upon a great 
 man. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, in his Memoir of Chief Justice Taney, in 
 speaking of an important case in the Court of Appeals 
 of Maryland, argued by Taney and Harper on the one 
 side, and Pinkney and Winder and Williams on the 
 other, says : " It is worthy of note, that among the 
 authorities cited by Messrs. Harper and Taney, in their 
 brief, is the opinion of Daniel Dulany." The opinions 
 of this great Maryland lawyer had almost as much 
 weight in courts in Maryland, and hardly less with the 
 crown lawyers of England, than the opinions of the 
 great Roman jurists, that were made authority by the 
 edict of the Emperor, had in Roman Courts. This 
 was due, in some degree, to the fact that there were no 
 reports of Maryland decisions until 1809 : 1 Harris & 
 McHenry. In that volume the opinions of Daniel 
 Dulany are published along with the decisions of the 
 Provincial Court and the Court of Appeals. The high 
 reputation of this great Maryland lawyer stimulated 
 the ambition of the Maryland bar, while his opinions 
 were models of legal discussion for their imitation." 
 
 With the full force of a newly-awakened pride, strong 
 efforts are being made to recover from the common dust 
 of destructive time those old and honorable traditions 
 of the past that are the crownings of our glory. As if 
 by threads, or piece by piece, an almost forgotten story 
 is brought to view. The chief heroes of this story, 
 heroes that had wellnigh become as myths, are Daniel 
 Dulany and Daniel Dulany " of Dan." These two men 
 stand at the head of the Bar of America. This opinion 
 is but the reiteration of an opinion expressed by the 
 great lawyers of our land. At the time of the elder 
 Dulany's birth the population of Maryland was not 
 
DANIEL DULANY. 25 
 
 thirty thousand. When the younger Daniel appeared 
 among the " children of men " the number of souls in 
 the colony of Maryland did not count fifty thousand, 
 nor was there a town in the colony of two thousand 
 inhabitants. The Dulanys were thorough English law- 
 yers, with the most profound legal learning of West- 
 minster Hall, The younger lawyer of the two has 
 perhaps never been excelled in the accomplishments of 
 the forum, and it has been asserted that not previous to 
 his time, nor since its close, has his superior appeared 
 before the Bar of Westminister. 
 
 Such were the founders of the strength and fame of 
 the Maryland Bar. To the glorious height of the 
 younger Dulany the youthful aspirants of the Pro- 
 vincial Court strove to rise ; yet as children that 
 stretch their hands toward the stars in the mighty 
 space above them, the hopes of the many were never 
 realized. Only two ever approached him in success- 
 ful greatness, and these were Luther Martin and 
 William Pinkney. The last-named, and the greater 
 intellect of the two, is said to have stood in the very 
 place of the younger Dulany in the point of effective 
 eloquence ; indeed it is a disputed question with the 
 majority whether William Pinkney is not entitled to an 
 equal amount of praise, and to as high a place on the 
 Roll of Honor as the Star Lawyer of older renown. 
 
 As those men who dwell in the region of mountains 
 are ever given to looking upward, so are elevated the 
 thoughts and desires of those who have constantly 
 around them the great in mind and deeds : To the 
 Government of the United States of America, the Bar 
 of Maryland has given five such Attorney- Generals as 
 William Pinkney, William Wirt, Roger Brooke Taney, 
 John Nelson, and Reverdy Johnson ; to the Bench of 
 the Supreme Court of the United States a Taney and a 
 
26 1>ANIEL DULANY. 
 
 Chase. Thus from the staunch foundation-stone ros 
 this most "mighty tower, the Bar of Maryland ! Wit] 
 the progress of society, and the development of nations, 
 the power of intellectual superiority must be recognized. 
 Intelligence is the mediator, the agent that effects the 
 great designs of a divine Providence. In the patri- 
 archal days the leaders of the people were chosen as 
 well for the ruling qualities of mind as for their moral 
 attributes : The open way still winds forever onward 
 and upward ! 
 
 In the struggle for intellectual supremacy in the 
 contest of argument between the adherent subjects of 
 the mother country and the Colonies, Daniel Dulany 
 stood pre-eminent. McMahon thus writes of " Daniel 
 Dulany, the fit advocate of such a cause: " 
 
 " Conspicuous amongst all the essays of that day in 
 opposition to the Stamp Act, is one to the honor of 
 which Maryland lays claim, as the production of her 
 most distinguished son. It came from the pen of one 
 whose very name was a tower of strength. Abilities 
 that defied competition, learning that ranged with an 
 eagle-flight Over every science, accomplishments that 
 fascinated, and gentleness that soothed even envy, all 
 conspired to render Daniel Dulany the fit advocate of 
 such a cause. His celebrated essay against the Stamp 
 Act, entitled "Consideration on, the propriety of impos- 
 ing taxes in the British Colonies, for the purpose of rais- 
 ing a revenue by Act of Parliament" was published at 
 Annapolis on the 14th of October, 1765. It was not 
 an argument calculated merely for the meridian of 
 Maryland. This |- rovince had a peculiar charter ex- 
 emption, but the claims founded on this did not enter 
 into the consideration of the general question, and rest- 
 ing upon express grant, they were rather in conflict 
 with those in support of which no such grant could be 
 
DANIEL DULANY. 2*7 
 
 adduced. Mr. Dulany had a higher aim. His purpose 
 was to show that under the principles of the British 
 Constitution, and by force of their condition as British 
 subjects, the colonists generally were exempt from the 
 tax imposed ; and he has accomplished this by a mode 
 of argument the most irresistible.'' He concludes his 
 legal argument in these words : " This right of exemp- 
 tion from all taxes, without their consent, the colonists 
 olaim as British subjects. They derive this right from 
 the common law, which their charters have declared 
 and confirmed ; and they conceive that when stripped 
 of this right, whether by prorogation or by any other 
 power, they are, at the same time, deprived of every 
 privilege distinguishing free men from slaves." 
 
 Not alone to the mere legal question involved in the 
 famous Stamp Act did Mr. Dulany confine his views, 
 but with the outlook ing glance of the statesman, he 
 suggests a remedy against English oppression. He ad- 
 vises the colonies to manufacture for themselves, rather 
 than to depend for the mere necessaries of life upon the 
 mother country : 
 
 "In this very considerable branch, so little difficulty 
 is there, that a beginning is half the work. The path 
 is beaten, there is no danger of losing the way, there 
 are directors to guide every step. But why should they 
 stop at the point of clothing laborers ; why not proceed 
 when vigor and strength will increase with the progres- 
 sion to clothe the planters ? When the first stage is 
 arrived at, the spirits will be recruited, and the second 
 should be undertaken with alacrity, since it may be 
 performed with ease. In this, too, the experiment hath 
 been made, and hath succeeded. Let the manufactures 
 of America be the symbol of dignity, the badge of 
 virtue, and it will soon break the fetters of distress. A 
 garment of linsey-woolsey, When made the distinc- 
 
28 DANIEL DULANY. 
 
 tion of real patriotism, is more honorable and attractive 
 of respect and veneration than all the pageantry, and 
 the robes, and the plumes, and the diadem of any em- 
 peror without it. Let the emulation be not in the 
 richness and variety of foreign productions ; but in the 
 improvement and perfection of our own. Let it be de- 
 monstrated that the subjects of the British Empire in 
 Europe and America are the same, that the hardships 
 of the latter will ever recoil upon the former. In 
 theory it is supposed that each is equally important to 
 the other, that all partake of the adversity and depres- 
 sion, if any. The theory is just, and time will certainly 
 establish it; but if another principle should be ever 
 hereafter adopted in practice, and a violation deliberate, 
 cruel, ungrateful, and attended with every instance of 
 provocation, be offered to our fundamental rights, why 
 should we leave it to the slow advances of time (which 
 may be the great hope and reliance, probably, of the 
 authors of the injury, whose view it may be to accom- 
 plish their selfish purposes in the interval) to prove 
 what might be demonstrated immediately ? Instead of 
 moping, and puling, and whining to excite compassion, 
 in such situations, we ought, with spirit, and vigor, and 
 alacrity, to bid defiance to tyranny, by exposing its 
 impotence, by making it as contemptible as it would be 
 detestable. By a vigorous application to manufactures, 
 the consequence of oppression in the Colonies to the in- 
 habitants of Great Britain would strike home, and im- 
 mediately. None would mistake it. Craft and subtilty 
 would not be able to impose upon the most ignorant 
 and credulous; for if any should be so weak of sight 
 as not to see, they would be so callous as not to feel it 
 Such conduct would be the most dutiful and beneficial 
 to the mother country. It would point out the dis- 
 temper when the remedy might be easy, and a cure at 
 once effected by a simple alteration of regimen." 
 
DANIEL DULANY. 29 
 
 The foregoing extract gives evidence of the wise view 
 taken by Mr. Dulany of a great political question. He 
 is acknowledged as the father of that policy of the 
 Federal Government which a half a century later em- 
 braced the principle of the genuine American System. 
 
 Dulany's advice, though bold and fearless as his 
 view was broad, was only intended to be of the most 
 pacific nature. The proposition for the erection of 
 a separate and independent government, would have 
 startled the bravest. Neither the minds of the people, 
 nor the resources of the Colonies, were at that time 
 prepared for a war with the home-land. Eight was the 
 chosen text when Dulany's Essay was written ; and Eight 
 alone was the inspiration of every loyal heart that looked 
 forward to ai* ultimate reconciliation with England. 
 
 Yet an open and forcible resistance was soon con- 
 templated to the Stamp Act by the province of Mary- 
 land. It was now determined to put an end to its 
 operation in the transaction of public business. With 
 this purpose, on the 24th of February, 1766, a large 
 number of the principal inhabitants of Baltimore 
 county assembled at Baltimore town, and organized as 
 an association for the maintenance of order and the 
 protection of American liberty, under the name of the 
 Sons of Liberty. They entered into a resolution to 
 meet at Annapolis on the first of March ensuing, for 
 the purpose of compelling the officers there to open 
 their offices and to transact business without stamped 
 paper. This design was immediately communicated to 
 the inhabitants of the neighboring counties, who were 
 invited to co operate in it by the formation of similar 
 associations. The officers, at whom their resolutions 
 were aimed, were notified of their coming, and advised 
 to be ready to receive them. On the first of March the 
 association met at Annapolis. They sent a written 
 
30 
 
 DANIEL DULANY. 
 
 communication of their purpose to the Chief Justice of 
 the Provincial Court, the Secretary, the Commissary 
 General and the Judges of the Land Office. The 
 answers returned were not satisfactory. After issuing 
 invitations to the other counties to form similar associ- 
 ations, the assembly adjourned to meet again at Annapo- 
 lis to ascertain what the officers intended to do in re- 
 gard to their application, at their previous meeting. 
 On the day appointed the association repaired to the 
 Provincial Court to present and enforce their petition. 
 The Court at first refused to comply, but finally passed 
 an order in conformity to the petition, and the other 
 officers immediately acceded. Thus the Stamp Act 
 was nullified in Maryland. 
 
 " Mr. Dulany, during this period, was (says McMahon) 
 the Secretary of the Province, and when the association 
 of the Sons of Liberty was formed, he, and the other 
 officers of the province, were notified of their intention 
 to come to Annapolis and compel the officers to trans- 
 act business without the use of stamped paper. Thus 
 notified, he submitted himself to the advice of the 
 Governor and Council, apprising them at the same 
 time that in acceding to this measure he would act 
 against his own sentiments, and would not hesitate to 
 lay down his office to avoid such an issue, were it not 
 that by so doing, he would cast upon the Governor the 
 necessity of making a new appointment requiring the 
 use of stamped paper, and with it a responsibility 
 which might bring even the person of the latter into 
 jeopardy. 'He (says Mr. Dulany in his letter to the 
 executive) seems to have as little power to protect him- 
 self as I have; but if that respect should be openly and 
 violently trampled upon, and personal indignities be 
 offered, the example and the consequences would be 
 much worse in his case than in that of a subordinate 
 
DANIEL DULANY. 
 
 31 
 
 officer constrained to yield to the times.' The Council 
 seems to have put this application under ' an advisave,' 
 and in the meantime the Sons of Liberty came and 
 placed Mr. Dulany, as well as the others, in the con- 
 dition of 'officers constrained to yield to the times. 9 
 Thus to have thrown himself into the breach for the 
 protection of the Governor, and at the hazard of all the 
 reputation he had acquired, evinced a magnanimity 
 which even his enemies must admire. The honors 
 lavished upon Mr. Dulany by the repeal of the Stamp 
 Act abundantly demonstrate that his . course on this 
 occasion had in no degree diminished the respect and 
 affection of the colony, and furnish the strongest pos- 
 sible attestation to the purity of his .motives and the 
 consistency of his course." Mr. Dulany possessed the 
 highest element of heroic character — moral courage — 
 without which no man can be a statesman, telling the 
 people what is the best for their country and not what 
 pleases them. This generation, so full of pusillanimity, 
 should study the life of this great leader of a great 
 generation* in the most trying period of American 
 history. He did more than any man of the time -to 
 expose the usurped power of England either by pre- 
 rogative or legislation, to tax the colonies for revenue. 
 " He became (says McMahon), the Pitt of Maryland, 
 and whilst his fellow citizens hailed him with one 
 voice as the great champion of their liberties, even 
 foreign colonies, in their joyous celebrations of the 
 repeal of the Stamp Act, did not hesitate to place him 
 in their remembrances with a Camden and a Chatham." 
 To the last hour of discussion, Daniel Dulany op- 
 posed by the strong expression of his opinion the 
 separation of the colonies from England. He doubted 
 the wisdom of so bold an endeavor at that time. Right, 
 to be available to the workers of it, must sometimes 
 
32 DANIEL DULANY. 
 
 await a propitious season. He feared for this seeming 
 bantling that dared raise its voice against the veteran 
 army and "wooden walls" of Britannia. Reason, and 
 not force, was the weapon that he urged. 
 
 The result is known. When the royal authority was 
 overthrown, Daniel Dulany, junior, who had long held 
 the high office of First Secretary of the Province, 
 retired into the quietude of private life. The exten- 
 sive property possessed by the family was confiscated 
 to the use of the new government. A portion of the 
 estates situated in Frederick county, and known as 
 Prospect Hall, is now in the possession of a family 
 alien in race and name to the original distinguished 
 owner. In Baltimore county, a tract of land known as 
 Dulany's Valley, extends for a distance of about five 
 miles. It is watered by small streams, and is noted for 
 its fertility and rich natural beauties. 
 
 A writer in one of the Baltimore county papers 
 recently contributed the following information : "Just 
 above you is a beautiful valley, which you and every- 
 body, including the postoffice authorities, always write 
 * Dulaney's Valley.' The name is derived from a 
 member of the Dulany family, who, at the time of the 
 Revolution, owned some 5,000 acres in a body, cover- 
 ing what is now known as Dulany's Valley, with some 
 of the surrounding hills. Dulany being a loyalist or 
 tory, this property was confiscated and sold by the 
 State. Five hundred acres apiece were, however, 
 granted by the State to each of his three sisters — 
 Mrs. Hanson, Mrs. Fitzhugh and Mrs. Belt, compris- 
 ing the beautiful farms owned at present by Messrs. 
 Peerce, Matthews, Payne and others. The official 
 name of the Dulany tract, if I remember rightly, was 
 the ' Valley of Jehosaphat.' " 
 
 In this valley, and embraced in the estate, is the 
 
DANIEL DULANY. 
 
 33 
 
 homestead of a branch of the Fitzhngh line, known as 
 " Old Windsor Hill." In the graveyard, on the brow 
 of this hill, lie the remains of Mrs. Walter Dulany, 
 who was first the wife, and afterward the beautiful 
 widow of Lloyd Dulany, killed in a duel with the 
 Eeverend Bennet Allen. 
 
 Many valuable mementoes belonging originally to 
 this family, and now scattered here and there, attest to 
 the high social standing of the Dulanys in this country 
 and in England. 
 
 The relation of a romance in which the Dulanys 
 have a leading part will not here be inappropriate. 
 
 Before the breaking out of the Eevolution, the Epis- 
 copal benefice, including Annapolis, was held by Mr. 
 Bennet Allen, a clergyman of the established church. 
 The revenue of this parish not being so great as that of 
 some others in the colony, Mr. Allen sought to add 
 another living to his charge. The Frederick parish 
 is said to have been the object of his aim. A plurality of 
 livings being contrary to the laws, much opposition to 
 the reverend gentleman's wishes was evinced. Amongst 
 those who thus opposed him was Walter Dulany, the 
 son of the elder Daniel. The matter under discussion 
 found its way into Green's Gazette, and what had be- 
 gun in words ended in blows. Young Lloyd Dulany, 
 the half-brother of Walter, being incensed by a publi- 
 cation of Mr. Allen's, horse-whipped the clergyman in 
 the streets of Annapolis. The war breaking out im- 
 mediately, Mr. Allen left for England. Mr. Dulany, 
 by his haughty demeanor toward the American pa- 
 triots, rendered himself obnoxious. His house on Main 
 street (now occupied as a hotel) was several times sur- 
 rounded by the indignant " freemen " of the day. Al- 
 though no violence had yet been done, the threats of 
 the people induced his departure. Accompanied by his 
 
34 TANIEL DULANY. 
 
 youthful and beautiful wife, be sailed for London. 
 After establishing himself in London, the quarrel be- 
 tween Lloyd Dulany and Mr. Allen was renewed. 
 
 The reputations and social standing of several noted 
 Americans being attacked, in the public prints, imme- 
 diately following an article against Governor Thomas 
 Johnson of Maryland, was one relating to the Dulany 
 family. The accompanying anonymous contribution 
 was published in 1782 : 
 
 " Daniel Dulany, Secretary of Maryland, a person of 
 still lower extraction than the former, offered the service 
 of his pen to the Congress, which, as he would not act 
 ostensibly, was rejected, and his name struck out of the 
 list of toasts proposed at an entertainment made during 
 the meeting of the first Congress, upon a motion of the 
 Maryland delegates, as inimical to the cause of liberty. 
 This, and other instances of disaffection to the 
 family, determined them to divide, part coming over 
 to England under the character of sufferers to the royal 
 cause, and part residing in America to take care of their 
 property, and to be ready to close with the winning side. 
 Policy too common on this occasion, as it only serves to 
 prolong the war, and becomes a heavy burthen on this 
 country : there being several of this name and family 
 who Have allowances from Government." 
 
 This was duly responded to by Lloyd Dulany, Esq., 
 the brother of the absent man upon whom the attack 
 had been made. The response was severe and just. 
 Considerable time elapsed before the writer of the 
 anonymous libel was made known. Finally the fol- 
 lowing reply appeared in print from the pen of the 
 clergyman whose name is appended to the letter: 
 
 " Sin : — It is not till the present moment that I find myself at 
 liberty to avow that the character of Daniel Dulany, Secretary 
 of Maryland, published sometime since in the Morning Post, was 
 
DANIEL DULANY. 35 
 
 written by me; the author of which you call an infamous liar 
 and a cowardly assassin; though I know you to be, from facts, 
 what I am only in your imagination, both an infamous liar, and 
 a cowardly assassin. I shall not go about to recriminate, because 
 I do not wish to imitate, but to punish your insolence. If you 
 harbor still the same degree of resentment, the b< ar< r will put 
 you in a way of carrying it into immediate execution. 
 
 BENNEi ALLEN." 
 " Mr. Lloyd Dtjlany." 
 
 This invitation was accepted. A duel was fought 
 and Lloyd Dulany was mortally wounded. Mr. Bennet 
 Allen was tried and found guilty of "manslaughter 
 only." He was fined one shilling and condemned to 
 six months' imprisonment at Newgate. 
 
 It will thus be seen that in those days as in these 
 latter times, the public journals, which should be the 
 instruments of peace and the distrihutors of truth to the 
 people, were made the receptacles of petty spites and 
 malignant hatreds. Many of our journals may there- 
 fore lay claims to an old established precedent in a 
 right to slander. 
 
 From two gentlemen, one the lineal descendant of 
 Daniel Dulany the elder, the other coming from 
 Daniel the younger, the following authentic informa- 
 tion is obtained. That culled from the leaves of a 
 "family history," is quoted first: "The Dulamjs of 
 Maryland, were the Delaneys in Ireland, whence their 
 ancestor came. He was in some way related to the 
 well-known Dr. Patrick Delaney, the friend of Swift, 
 whose name often appears in contemporary literature. 
 The story is, that young Delaney ran away from his 
 friends without money and ' indentured himself/ as it 
 was called, for passage money — in plain English he 
 agreed to be sold into servitude for a time on his 
 arrival on this side to pay his way. His time was 
 bought by a gentleman, a lawyer, in one of the lower 
 
36 DANIEL DULANY. 
 
 counties and he went into service at his master's resi- 
 dence. It was proved, however, that he was seen read- 
 ing Latin by the fire-light in the servants' quarter, 
 which fact led to an investigation, when it was dis- 
 covered that he was master of what was considered a 
 fine education in those days. His studiousness and 
 erudition so wrought on his master, that he took him 
 into his office, and after making him a lawyer, bestowed 
 upon him his daughter in marriage." So runs the 
 family story ; and it was thus that Daniel Dulany, the 
 Irish servant, became the great barrister, and the. pro- 
 genitor of one of the most aristocratic families of the 
 Colony of Maryland. 
 
 This romantic story from the pen of an honorable 
 representative of the " great barrister," gives a twofold 
 interest to the hero, who in a false position, and under 
 difficulties, still preserved his noble ambition. In 
 the account given by the second gentleman referred to, 
 as the descendent of the younger Daniel, the youthful 
 emigrant's departure from home without "a leave of 
 absence" is partly explained: The elder Daniel Dulany 
 was born in Queen's county, Ireland. He was cousin- 
 germanto Patrick Delaney, mentioned frequently in con- 
 nection with Dean Swift. The old remembered couplet 
 of Swift's is familiar to many a reader, 
 " Delaney sends a silver stand ish 
 When I no more a pen can brandish. 
 
 Patrick was born in Ireland in 1686, and died in 1768. 
 He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, where he 
 was educated. He afterward became Chancellor of 
 Christ Church, and Prebendary of Saint Patrick's, in 
 Dublin. He was Dean of Down in 1744. He was a 
 man of great learning, as well as an author of note. 
 He wrote some strictures upon Lord Orrery regarding 
 his " Remarks on the Life and Writings of Swift." 
 
DANIEL DULANY. 
 
 37 
 
 The name of Dnlany, like many others, and especially 
 those of Ireland, has undergone the changes of time 
 and circumstance. After the Siege of Athlone, where 
 the Prince of Orange was defeated, in 1690, a portion 
 of the Delaney family left Ireland and settled in 
 London. Two of the name, said to be cousins, were 
 engaged in this battle, one a Colonel Delany, the other 
 a Captain Dwllany. 
 
 The arms of this family are registered about the 
 period above-named at London. The crest is an up- 
 lifted arm and dagger. The arms a lion rampant in 
 quartered shield. 
 
 One of this family, in 1178, was Felix O'Dullany, 
 (Roman Catholic) Bishop of Ossory, in Ireland. 
 
 The Dulanys of Maryland were Protestants, however, 
 having left the ancient faith. From the same great 
 clan in the Kings and Queens' counties came the 
 O'Delans and the Delanos ; of the same race also is 
 the present distinguished editor of the London Times, 
 Mr. Delane. O'Hart thus refers to the name: — 
 " O'Dubhlaine, or Delaney, Chiefs of Tuath-an- 
 Toraidh : and a clan of note in the barony of Upper 
 Ossory, Queens County, and also in Kilkenny." 
 
 Daniel Dulany was entered at the University of 
 Dublin; but in consequence of his father having 
 married a second time, he left the college without 
 taking his degree. 
 
 In 1710 he was admitted to the Bar of Maryland. 
 
 His first wife was a daughter of Colonel Carter, of 
 Calvert county, Maryland,— by her he had no children. 
 His second wife was Rebecca, daughter of Colonel 
 Walter Smith, of Calvert county. His third wife was 
 the sister of Governor Edward Lloyd, of Maryland. 
 
 He died at Annapolis, December the 5th, 1750, in 
 the sixty-eighth year of his age. He was honorably 
 
38 DANIEL DULANY. 
 
 interred in the vault near the north entrance of Saint 
 Anne's Church at Annapolis. His pall was supported 
 by his Excellency, the Governor of Maryland, four of 
 the Honorable Council and the Worshipful Mayor of 
 Annapolis. 
 
 Daniel Dulany " the greater " was the son of Daniel 
 Dulany the first, by the second marriage. He was edu- 
 cated at Eton, and at Clare Hall, Cambridge, England. 
 He was afterward of the Temple. He was admitted 
 to the Bar of Maryland in the year 1740. His wife 
 was Miss Tasker, the sister of Col. Benjamin Tasker, 
 Jr. He died in the city of Baltimore, March the 19th, 
 1797, aged 75 years and 8 months. 
 
 In Saint Paul's church, Baltimore, there is a monu- 
 ment erected to his memory. His mortal remains are 
 supposed to be interred elsewhere, however, as upon 
 the stone there is no hie jacet. A statue of this great 
 man once stood in the Episcopal Church of Saint Anne, 
 at Annapolis. An accidental fire destroyed this venera- 
 ble building in 1856, and the statue was reduced to . 
 lime. This church was named in commemoration of 
 Queen Anne, of England. In the lofty steeple of the 
 church hung a deep-toned bell, presented by that royal 
 lady. At the time of the destructive fire mentioned, 
 the bell which was made to sway to and fro by the up- 
 ward rush of the heated air, rang out a solemn and 
 dirge-like strain, recalling by turns to the minds of the 
 assembled multitude the peals that had rung through 
 long generations of ye olden time, for the Coming and 
 the Going which we know as Life and Death ; finally it 
 descended with a mighty crash into the leaping flames 
 that illumined the darkness of the night, ringing 
 thenceforth only in memory through the silence, the 
 dust, and the ashes, of the unreturning Past. 
 
THE RAVEN. 
 
 By Edgar Alla^ Poe. 
 
 OP BALTIMOltE, MD. 
 
 NCE upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak 
 
 and weary, 
 Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten 
 
 lore ; 
 
 While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there 
 came a tapping, 
 As of some one gently rapping — rapping at my chamber door. 
 *" Tis some visitor," I muttered, tapping at my chamber door ; 
 14 Only this, and nothing more." 
 
 Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December, 
 And each separate dying ember wiought its ghost upon the floor. 
 Eagerly I wished the morrow ; vainly I had sought to borrow 
 From my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost Lenore, 
 For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore — 
 Nameless here forevermore. 
 
 And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain 
 Thrilled me — filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; 
 So that now, to c-till the beating of my heart, I stood repeating: 
 " 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door — 
 Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door ; 
 This it is, and nothing more." 
 
40 EDGAR ALLAN POE. 
 
 Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, 
 «' Sir," said I, " or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; 
 But the fact is, I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, 
 And so faintly you came tapping — tapping at my chamber door, 
 That I scarce was sure I heard you : " here I opened wide the 
 door : — 
 
 Darkness there, and nothing more. 
 
 Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, 
 
 fearing, 
 Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream 
 
 before ; 
 But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, 
 And the only word there spoken was the whispered word 
 
 "Lenore!" 
 This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word 
 
 " Lenore ! " 
 
 Merely this, and nothing more. 
 
 Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, 
 Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before. 
 44 Surely," said I, " surely that is something at my window lattice ; 
 Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore — 
 Let my heart be still a moment, and this mystery explore: 
 'Tis the wind, and nothing more." 
 
 Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, 
 In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore. 
 Not the least obeisance made he ; not a minute stopped or stayed 
 
 he ; 
 But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door, 
 Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door — 
 Perched, and sat, and nothing more. 
 
 Then this ebon bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, 
 By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore; 
 " Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, " art sure 
 
 no craven ; 
 Ghastly, grim, and ancient Raven, wandering from the Nightly 
 
 shore ; 
 Tell iiie what ihy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian Shore," 
 Quoth the Raven, " Nevumoie." 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE. 41 
 
 Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to bear discourse so plainty, 
 Though its answer little meaning, little relevancy bore ; 
 For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being 
 Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber-door, 
 With such a name as " Nevermore." 
 
 But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only 
 That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour ; 
 Nothing further then he uttered ; not a feather then he fluttered. 
 Till I scarcely more thau muttered, " Other friends have flown 
 
 before ; 
 On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown 
 
 before." 
 
 Then the bird said, " Nevermore." 
 
 Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, 
 41 Doubtless," said I, " what it utters is its only stock and store, 
 Caught from some unhappy master, whom unmerciful disaster 
 Followed fast, and followed faster till his songs one burden bore ; 
 Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore 
 Of " Never— nevermore." 
 
 But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling, 
 Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust 
 
 and door; 
 Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking 
 Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore — 
 What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of 
 
 yore 
 
 Meant in croaking " Nevermore." 
 
 This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing 
 To the fowl, whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core; 
 This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining 
 On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloating o'er ; 
 But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er, 
 S?ie shall press, ah, nevermore ! 
 
 Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen 
 
 censer 
 Swung by seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor. 
 
42 EDGAR ALLAN POE. 
 
 " Wretch," I cried, " thy God hath lent thee— by these angels he 
 
 hath sent thee 
 Respite— respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore! 
 Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore !" 
 Quoth the Raven, " Nevermore." 
 
 "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil !— prophet still, if bird or 
 
 devil ! — 
 Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here 
 
 ashore, 
 Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted— 
 On this Home by Honor haunted— tell me truly, I implore— 
 Is there— is there balm in Gilead ?— tell me, tell me, I implore." 
 Quoth the Raven, " Nevermore." 
 
 " Prophet !" said I, " thing of evil !— prophet still, if bird or 
 
 devil ! 
 By that heaven that bends above us— by that God we both 
 
 adore — 
 Tell this soul, with sorrow laden, if within the distant Aidenn, 
 It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore V ' 
 Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." 
 
 11 Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend ! " I shrieked 
 
 upstarting — 
 " Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian Shore ! 
 Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath 
 
 spoken ! 
 Leave my loneliness unbroken !— quit the bust above my door 1 
 Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off 
 
 my door I" 
 
 Quoth the Raven, " Nevermore." 
 
 And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting 
 On the pallid bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door; 
 And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, 
 And the lamp-light o'er him stealing throws his shadow on the 
 
 floor ; 
 And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the 
 
 floor 
 
 Shall be lifted — nevermore ! 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON, 
 The First Governor oe the State of Maryland. 
 
 & 
 
 3 C^S~k 
 
 HE ABBE ROBIN, one of the Chaplains of 
 the French Army in North America, thus 
 writes of Annapolis as it appeared during the 
 progress of the Revolution : u In that very- 
 inconsiderable town standing at the mouth of the 
 Severn, where it falls into the bay, of the few 
 buildings it contains, at least three-fourths may be 
 styled elegant and grand. Female luxury here exceeds 
 what is known in the provinces of France. A French 
 hair-dresser is a man of importance amongst them, and 
 it is said a certain dame here hires one of that craft 
 at one thousand crowns a year. The State House is a 
 very beautiful building ; I think the most so of any I 
 have seen in America." From the "gossiping" letter 
 of the Abbe, we learn of the customs prevailing in what 
 was then known as the Athens of America. McMahon, 
 the historian, says of it : " Long before the era of the 
 American Revolution it was conspicuous as the seat of 
 wealth and fashion ; and the luxurious habits, elegant 
 accomplishments, and profuse hospitality of its inhabi- 
 tants were proverbially known throughout the Colonies. 
 It was the seat of a wealthy government, 
 and of its principal institutions, and as such congre- 
 gated around it many whose liberal attainments emi- 
 
44 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 nently qualified them for society, and the endorsements 
 of whose offices enabled them to keep pace even with 
 the extravagances of fashion." 
 
 The seat of the government of Maryland was trans- 
 ferred from Saint Mary's to Annapolis, then called the 
 Port of Annapolis, in the winter of 1694-1695. Erected 
 into a city, it was invested with the privileges of send- 
 ing delegates to the Assembly in 1708. In this favored 
 city sat a court of general jurisdiction, in matters of a 
 certain grade, over the whole State. This was called 
 the Provincial Court, and the Court of Appeals. In 
 these two courts all the leading lawyers of the State 
 practiced. Here greatness found utterance, and through 
 its appealing eloquence the Bar of Maryland developed 
 its strength. 
 
 Thomas Johnson was reared in the office of the Pro- 
 vincial Court, learning the course of its procedure. He 
 studied law in the office of Mr. Bordley, an eminent 
 lawyer of the time ; such were the advantages of his 
 position. 
 
 Thomas Johnson, having settled at Annapolis, con- 
 tinued attaining eminence at the Bar until the approach 
 of the American Revolution. 
 
 The Stamp Act had now been passed by the English 
 Parliament. The sole power to convene the General 
 Assembly of Maryland was vested in the Governor of 
 the State. In November, 1763, Governor Sharpe pro- 
 rogued it, and by repeated prorogations postponed its 
 session. The Assembly was, however, at length con- 
 vened on the 23d of September, 1765. 
 
 The Stamp Act was the first subject discussed. To 
 this Assembly Thomas Johnson was sent as a delegate 
 from Anne Arundel county. 
 
 A circular from the Assembly of Massachusetts in- 
 vited the other Colonies to unite with them in the 
 
TIIOMAS JOHNSON. 45 
 
 appointment of Commissioners to a general Congress to 
 be held at New York. 
 
 This was immediately taken up for consideration. 
 On the second day of its session, the Assembly passing 
 by all other business, concurred in the proposition and 
 appointed Commissioners. A committee for drafting the 
 instructions of the Commission was also appointed, 
 and Thomas Johnson chosen as a member thereof. 
 
 The General Assembly adopted and ordered to be 
 published on the 28th of September, 1765, a series of 
 resolutions declaring the character and tendencies of 
 the late measures of the English Parliment. Of this 
 portion of Maryland's history, McMahon says : " Pre- 
 eminent amongst all the legislative declarations of the 
 Colonies for the lofty and dignified tone of their 
 remonstrances, and for the entire unanimity with 
 which they were adopted, they form one of the proud- 
 est portions of our history." 
 
 The indignant expressions of the several Colonies 
 caused the repeal of the offensive Stamp Act by the 
 English Parliament, on the 18th day of March, 1766. 
 The Colonies were unsatisfied. The claim to the right 
 of revenue taxation had not been removed. Against 
 this power involved in the Stamp Act the Colonies con- 
 tended. Under an assumption of regulating the com- 
 merce of the Colonies, said to be justified by the dis- 
 tinction originally drawn by the colonists themselves, 
 between internal and external taxation, the Parliament 
 contemplated a new scheme in 1767. The Act was 
 passed on the 2nd of July of that year. The Act was to 
 take place after the 20th of November ensuing, by 
 which new duties were imposed on tea and other of the 
 most necessary articles of consumption. After the pas- 
 sage of this and other obnoxious acts, the Assembly of 
 Maryland was not convened until May the 24th, 1768. 
 4 
 
46 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 The Massachusetts Assembly of January, 1768, had 
 issued a circular to the Colonial Assemblies generally, 
 detailing its own operations and inviting concurrence. 
 
 The injunction of the Crown to the Governors of the 
 Colonies generally, was to prorogue their Assemblies 
 should any inclination be manifested to second the 
 designs of the Massachusetts circular. 
 
 The Lower House of the Assembly of Maryland took 
 the Massachusetts circular into consideration on the 
 8th of June, 1768. 
 
 A committee was appointed, consisting of gentlemen 
 distinguished for ability, and devotion to the cause of 
 the Colonies. 
 
 This committee was instructed to draft a petition of 
 remonstrance to the King of England against the late 
 impositions. Thomas Johnson was one of this com- 
 mittee. 
 
 McMahon says: "Their petition to the King may 
 safely challenge a comparison with any similar paper 
 of that period, as an eloquent and affecting appeal to 
 the justice of the crown." 
 
 The General Assembly of Maryland controlled by its 
 right the officers of the province, and regulated their 
 compensation for official services. 
 
 The fees of office had been prescribed by an act 
 passed in the year 1763, and which had been unchanged 
 until October 1770. In the session of September, 1770, 
 the act had been presented for renewal. 
 
 There were no salaries. An officer was allowed a 
 separate fee for each definite act of service. 
 
 The fees which were established by this act of 1763 
 had prevailed from a very early period in the Colony. 
 
 The excesses practiced under this system prevented 
 the statute of 1763 from being re-enacted. Governor 
 Eden resolved to regulate the fees under the preroga- 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 47 
 
 tives of his office. On the 26th of November, 1770, 
 he issued a proclamation to that effect. No measure 
 of internal polity was ever more thoroughly discussed 
 or more closely investigated. Parties were formed 
 calling to their aid every man of influence or ability. 
 
 Green's Gazette, that common meeting-ground of the 
 day, also served as a medium in the discussion. Op- 
 posed to the proclamation of the Governor was Thomas 
 Johnson, amongst the foremost. 
 
 McMahon, in his history, in treating of this discus- 
 sion, says: "The reputation of Thomas Johnson does 
 not rest alone upon the memorials of our colonial his- 
 tory. It has a prouder record in the history of his 
 State, in the councils of the American nation. Dis- 
 tinguished as the first Governor of Maryland, after her 
 elevation to the rank of an independent State, and as 
 one of her ablest representatives in the Continental 
 Congress, his efforts in this mere provincial controversy 
 are adverted to, not as evidences of his character, but 
 as the earnest of those virtues afterward so conspicuous 
 in the discharge of his arduous and dangerous duties 
 during the darkest hours of the Revolution. At this 
 early period he held a professional rank, and enjoyed a 
 degree of public respect in his own Colony, sufficient 
 for enviable distinction." 
 
 The next Assembly convened, after the proclamation 
 of the Governor, was in October, 1771. 
 
 Every effort was made to procure the withdrawal of 
 the proclamation in the Lower House during a session 
 of something more than two months. The matter 
 under controversy had no more eloquent discussor 
 than Thomas Johnson. The right of taxation was 
 declared to belong to the Assembly alone. The procla- 
 mation, as well as the regulation of fees in the land, 
 were declared illegal, the measures arbitrary. 
 
48 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 An address to the Governor, drawing attention to his 
 illegal course, followed these resolutions from the Lower 
 House. 
 
 The delegate from Anne Arundel County, Thomas 
 Johnson, presented the address to the House. 
 
 It was adopted with but three dissenting voices. 
 
 In this manner concludes the appeal : — 
 
 " Permit us to entreat your Excellency to review this 
 unconstitutional assumption of power, and consider its 
 pernicious consequences. Applications to the public 
 offices are not of choice, but necessity. Eedress cannot 
 otherwise be had for the smallest or most atrocious 
 injuries; and as surely as that necessity does exist, and 
 a binding force in the proclamation or regulation of 
 fees in the land office be admitted, so certainly must 
 the fees thereby established be paid to obtain redress. 
 In the sentiments of a much approved and admired 
 writer, suppose the fees imposed by this proclamation 
 could be paid by the good people of this Province with 
 the utmost ease, and that they were the most exactly 
 proportioned to the value of the officer's services ; yet, 
 even in such a supposed case, this proclamation ought 
 to be regarded with abhorrence. For who are a free 
 people f Not those over whom government is reason- 
 able and equitably exercised; but those who live under 
 a government so constitutionally checked and con- 
 trolled, that proper provision is made against its being 
 otherwise exercised. This act of power is founded on 
 the destruction of constitutional security. If the pro- 
 clamation may rightfully regulate the fees, it has a 
 right to fix any quantum. If it has a right to regulate, 
 it has a right to regulate to a million ; for where does 
 its right stop ? At any given point ! To attempt to 
 limit the right, after granting it to exist at all, is con- 
 trary to justice. If it has a right to tax us, then, 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 49 
 
 whether our money shall continue in our own pockets 
 depends no longer on us, but on the prerogative." 
 
 Unavailing were these remonstrances. The views of 
 the Governor remained unchanged. No compromise 
 seemed possible, and the refractory Assembly was pro- 
 rogued according to the order of the crown. 
 
 The year 1774 had arrived, and on the 31st day of 
 March was passed in Parliament the Boston Port-Bill, 
 taking from Boston all its privileges as a port of entry 
 and discharge. Aroused by these measures, the Mary- 
 land colonists met in General Convention in the city of 
 Annapolis on the 22nd of June, 1774, the different 
 counties being there represented by their most dis- 
 tinguished men. Thomas Johnson appeared as a 
 deputy from Anne Arundel county. At the meeting 
 of the Convention it was agreed that any divided ques- 
 tion should be settled by vote, each county having one 
 vote, the majority settling the question. 
 
 By the 10th resolution, it was resolved, " That 
 Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, Robert Golds- 
 borough, William Paca, and Samuel Chase, Esquires, 
 or any two or more of them, be deputies for this Pro- 
 vince, to attend a general Congress of deputies from the 
 Colonies, at such time and place as may be agreed on, 
 to effect one general plan of conduct, operating on the 
 commercial connection of the Colonies with the mother 
 country, for the relief of Boston and the preservation of 
 American liberty ; and that the deputies of this pro- 
 vince immediately correspond with Virginia and Penn- 
 sylvania, and through them with the other Colonies, to 
 obtain a meeting of the general Congress, and to com- 
 municate, as the opinion of this committee, that the 
 twentieth day of September next will be the most con- 
 venient time for a meeting, which time, to prevent 
 delay, they are directed to propose." 
 
50 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 On the 5th day of September, 1774, assembled the 
 Continental Congress, toward which the gaze of all the 
 Colonies was directed. 
 
 On the 2nd of October a resolution was passed by 
 Congress that an address to the crown should be pre- 
 pared. Richard Henry Lee, John Adams, Thomas 
 Johnson, and Patrick Henry, were appointed to pre- 
 pare the address. 
 
 In the memoirs of Richard Henry Lee, by his grands 
 son, published in 1825, he mentions in a note referring 
 to this committee Thomas Johnson in the following 
 manner : — 
 
 "The author cannot pass the name of this gentle-, 
 man without a tribute to his memory, which every 
 virtuous American must delight to bestow. He was 
 one of the ablest men in the old Congress. There did 
 not live in those times which "tried men's souls" a 
 purer patriot or a more efficient citizen. He was Gov- 
 ernor of Maryland during the darkest period of the 
 Revolution. Under his administration, Maryland was 
 distinguished for her devotion to the common cause. 
 On one occasion when General Washington was retreat- 
 ing through the Jerseys, he raised a large body of 
 Maryland militia, and marched at their head to his 
 camp, by whom he was received with the most marked 
 respect. He was under the Federal government a judge 
 of the United States Court. He was frequently in 
 flattering terms invited by General Washington to ac- 
 cept the appointment of Secretary of State. No Roman 
 citizen ever loved his country more. His private 
 virtues entitle him to veneration and love. Thomas 
 Johnson was indeed an honor to the cause of liberty." 
 
 John Adams, afterward President of the United 
 States, in his works edited by his grandson, Charles 
 Francis Adams, thus speaks of him : " Johnson, of 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 5 I 
 
 Maryland, has a clear and cool head, an extensive 
 knowledge of trade as well as of law. He is a deliber- 
 ating man, but not a shining orator ; his passion and 
 imagination do not appear enough for an orator ; his 
 reason and penetration appear, but not his rhetoric." 
 He reports Johnson as saying in one of his speeches in 
 1775 : " We ought not to lay down a rule in a passion. 
 I see less and less prospect of a reconciliation every day, 
 but I would not render it impossible. . . . Thirteen 
 Colonies connected with Great Britain, in sixteen 
 months, have been brought to an armed opposition to 
 the claims of Great Britain. The line we have pur- 
 sued has been the line we ought to have pursued; if 
 what we have done had been done two years ago, four 
 Colonies would not have been for it." Again Mr. 
 Adams says : " Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, was the 
 most frequent speaker from his State, and while he re- 
 mained with us, was inclined to Mr. Dickerson for some 
 time, but ere long he and all his State came cordially 
 into our system. In the fall of 1776, his State ap- 
 pointed him General of Militia, and he marched to the 
 relief of General Washington in the Jerseys. He 
 never returned to Congress." The most important act 
 of Mr. Johnson while in Congress was his motion that 
 George Washington, of Virginia, be appointed Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. An act, 
 which was in itself the first movement toward so 
 glorious an event, might justly be regarded as the most 
 important of his life. John C. Hamilton, in his life of 
 Alexander Hamilton, thus notices the fact : 
 
 " On the fifteenth of June, 1775, Colonel Washington 
 was unanimously elected, and the seventeenth, the day 
 on which the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, was 
 commissioned as Commander-in-Chief." 
 
 The enviable distinction of having nominated him to 
 
52 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 this place belongs to Thomas Johnson, of Maryland, 
 who soon after signalized his patriotism by hastening 
 from civil life with a body of Maryland troops to join 
 the army during its retreat through New Jersey, and 
 who, as a just tribute to his virtues and talents, was 
 elected the first Governor of that State. 
 
 As this circumstance is not only one of great public 
 interest, but had an important bearing on the political 
 destinies of the country, and more especially as it has 
 been erroneously supposed that this honor was claimed 
 by John Adams, a distinguished member of that Con- 
 gress, it becomes important to give the evidence on 
 which this statement rests. It is found in the follow- 
 ing extract of a letter from that gentleman to Colonel 
 Pickering, dated August 6th, 1822. After giving an 
 account of his going to Philadelphia in 1775, in com- 
 pany with dishing, Samuel Adams, and Paine, " four 
 poor pilgrims," Mr. Adams says: "They were met at 
 Frankfort by Dr. Push, Mr. Mifflin, Mr. Bayard, and 
 others, who desired a conference, and particularly cau- 
 tioned not to lisp the word ' Independence.' They 
 added, you must not come forward with any bold meas- 
 ures; you must not pretend to take the lead; you 
 know Virginia is the most populous State in the Union ; 
 they are very proud of their ancient dominion, as they 
 call it; they think they have the right to lead, and the 
 Southern States and Middle States are too much dis- 
 posed to yield it to them. This was plain dealing, Mi\ 
 Pickering ; and I must confess that there appeared so 
 much wisdom and good sense in it, that it made a deep 
 impression on my mind, and it had an equal effect on 
 all my colleagues. This conversation, and the princi- 
 ples and facts and motives suggested in it, have given 
 a color, complexion, and character to the whole policy 
 of the United States from that day to this. Without 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 53 
 
 if, Mr. Washington would never have commanded our 
 armies, nor Mr. Jefferson have been the author of the 
 Declaration of Independence, nor Mr. Eichard Henry 
 Lee the mover of it, nor Mr. Chase the mover of foreign 
 relations. 
 
 " If I have ever had cause to repent of any part of this 
 policy, that repentance ever has been and ever will be 
 unavailing. I had forgot to say, nor Mr. Johnson ever 
 have been the nominator of Washington for General." 
 
 It is worthy of note, that George Washington and 
 Thomas Johnson, two great men born in the same year, 
 in adjoining States, were united by the firmest bonds of 
 a friendship, strengthened by devotion to the same 
 cause. It is alike worthy of remark that this chosen 
 friend of our Chief is scarcely known by more than 
 name to the people for whose honor and glory he strove. 
 The words of McMahon in reference to the silence of 
 most historians upon the life of Dulany, might be 
 quoted with nearly the same degree of justice in regard 
 to Governor Johnson. No man did more for the ad- 
 vancement of Liberty's cause, yet amongst the recorded 
 names of American heroes, how seldom do we find his 
 name. Few men of Maryland's struggling days did so 
 much toward furnishing material for the history of 
 Maryland — yet how has history forgotten him ! ! 
 
 The Maryland Congress was again convened by a call 
 of its deputies on the 21st of November, 1774. The 
 proceedings of the Congress up to that time were unani- 
 mously approved. 
 
 At the December session a committee charged with 
 the important duty of corresponding with the other 
 Colonies was appointed. 
 
 This was known as the " Provincial Committee of 
 Correspondence." 
 
 Thomas Johnson was one of the committee, being 
 then a deputy in Congress. 
 
54 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 On the 14th of October, 1774, the first tea-burning 
 in Maryland took place. The tea was brought on the 
 brig Peggy Stewart. Mr. Stewart, a part owner in the 
 cargo, was forced to set fire with his own hands to the 
 vessel. This act was witnessed by Maryland patriots 
 who wore no disguise — who feared only injustice, who 
 hated tyranny ! 
 
 The daily development of events breathed alone hos- 
 tility toward England. In July, 1775, a Provisional 
 Government was established in Maryland. In the Pro- 
 visional Convention was vested the supreme power. 
 The chief executive authority of the Province was 
 vested in a Committee of Safety elected by the Conven- 
 tion. Thomas Johnson was a member of the Executive 
 Committee. 
 
 A reconciliation was still hoped for, though the cry 
 " to arms " had already been raised against the powers 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 Chancellor Hanson of Maryland, in his introductory 
 remarks to the Journals of the Convention, says: 
 " Such an administration, the immediate offspring of 
 necessity, might have been reasonably expected to be 
 subversive of that liberty which it was intended to 
 secure. But in the course of more than two years, 
 during which it existed, it was cheerfully submitted to 
 by all, except the advocates of British usurpation; 
 although many occasions occurred in which an intem- 
 perate zeal transported men beyond the just bounds of 
 moderation, not a single person fell a victim to the 
 oppression of this irregular government. The truth is, 
 that during the whole memorable interval between the 
 fall of the old and the institution of the new form of 
 government, there appeared to exist amongst us such a 
 fund of public virtue as has scarcely a parallel in the 
 annals of the world." In the executive branch of this 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 55 
 
 government, Thomas Johnson was, down to January, 
 1776, a chief actor in its administration. The whole 
 atmosphere of Maryland was pervaded by a rational 
 liberty which respected difference of opinion as a right 
 belonging to every colonist. And no one was more 
 fully impressed with the sacredness of this right than 
 Thomas Johnson. 
 
 Thomas Johnson, August 18th, 1775, at Annapolis, 
 wrote to Horatio Gates a letter from which are taken 
 the following extracts : 
 
 " I shall be very unhappy that petitioning the King, 
 to which measure I was a friend, should give you or 
 any one else attached to the cause of America and 
 liberty the least uneasiness. You and I, and America 
 in general, may almost universally wish in the first 
 place to establish our liberties ; our second wish is, a 
 reunion with Great Britain ; so may we preserve the 
 empire entire, and the constitutional liberty, founded 
 in whiggish principles handed down to us by our 
 ancestors. In order to strengthen ourselves to accom- 
 plish these great ends, we ought, in my opinion, to 
 conduct ourselves so as to unite America and divide 
 Britain ; this, as it appears to me, may most likely be 
 effected by doing rather more than less in the peaceable 
 line, than would be required if our petition is rejected 
 with contempt, which I think most likely. Will not 
 our friends in England be still more exasperated against 
 the Court ? And will not our very moderate men on 
 this side of the water be compelled to own the necessity 
 of opposing force to force? The rejection of the New 
 York petition was very serviceable to America. If our 
 petition should be granted, the troops will be recalled, 
 the obnoxious acts repealed, and Ave restored to the 
 footing of 1763. If the petition should not be granted, 
 but so far attended to as to lay the ground-work of a 
 
56 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 negotiation, Britain must, I think, be ruined by the 
 delay; if she subdues us at all, it must be by a violent 
 and sudden exertion of her force; and if we can keep 
 up a strong party in England, headed by such char- 
 acters as Lord Chatham and the others in the present 
 opposition, Bute, Mansfield and North, and a corrupt 
 majority cannot draw the British force fully into 
 action against us. Our friends will certainly continue 
 such as long as they see we do not desire to break from 
 a reasonable and beneficial connection with the mother 
 country; but if, unhappily for the whole Empire, they 
 should once be convinced by our conduct that we de- 
 sign to break from that connection, I am apprehensive 
 they will thenceforth become our most dangerous 
 enemies — the greatest and first law of self-preservation 
 will justify, nay compel it. The cunning Scotchman 
 and Lord North fully feel the force of this reasoning ; 
 hence their industry to make it believed in England that 
 we have a scheme of Independence, a general term they 
 equivocally use, to signify to the friends of liberty a 
 breaking off of all connection, and to tories that we dis- 
 pute the supremacy of Parliament. In the Declaratory 
 Act is the power of binding us by its acts, in all cases 
 whatever — the latter we do most certainly dispute, and 
 I trust shall successfully fight against with the appro- 
 bation of every honest Englishman. Lord North's pro- 
 position, and consequent resolution of Parliament, were 
 insidiously devised to wear the face of peace, and em- 
 barrass us in the choice of evils — either to accept and 
 be slaves, or reject and increase the number and power 
 of our enemies. I flatter myself that your petition will 
 present to him only a choice of means injurious to his 
 villainous schemes. 
 
 " Our Convention met the very day of my getting 
 home. The meeting was very full ; we sat close many 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 57 
 
 days, by six o'clock in the morning, and by candlelight 
 in the evening. Our people were very prompt to do 
 everything desired; they have appropriated £100,000 
 for the defence of this Province, a great part of it to be 
 laid out in the military line immediately, paid con- 
 tingently, and the vr est for establishing manufactories 
 of salt, saltpetre, and gunpowder. 
 
 " We have an association ascertaining the necessity 
 and justifiableness of repelling force by force, to be 
 universally signed ; and strict resolutions with regard to 
 our militia, which is to be as comprehensive here as 
 perhaps in any country in the world, when called into 
 action. We are to be subject to the Congressional rules 
 and regulations for the army. A Committee of Safety, 
 composed of sixteen, is, in the recess of the Convention, 
 to have the supreme direction. We yet retain the forces 
 of our Government, but there is no real force or efficacy 
 in it ; if the intelligence we have from England looks 
 to war, I dare say this Province will not hesitate to dis- 
 charge all officers, and go boldly into it at once. . . . 
 
 " The spirit has run through our young men so much, 
 that if the business proceeds, notwithstanding the 
 scarcity of men in this and the other Southern Prov- 
 inces, I believe we must furnish you with a battalion or 
 two; if, as I hope, those who are gone acquire reputa- 
 tion, many of our youth will be on fire. The difficulty 
 now is to regulate and direct the spirit of the people at 
 large; and I verily believe, that instead of their being 
 discouraged by a check on our military achievements, a 
 sore rub would inflame them nearly to madness and 
 desperation." ■ — - 
 
 On the 10th day of May, 1776, the Continental Con- 
 gress to the Colonies generally, recommended an abol- 
 ishment of the oaths of allegiance to the Crown, the 
 total suppression of authority under the EDglish Gov- 
 5 
 
58 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 eminent, and the establishment of permanent constitu- 
 tions. 
 
 The Maryland Convention, with its ancient pride and 
 jealousy of rights, regarded this recommendation as an 
 attempt at interference with the internal regulations of 
 the Colonies. 
 
 A remonstrance, in reply, was put forth by the Mary- 
 land Convention on the 21st of May. The exclusive 
 right of the people of Maryland to regulate its internal 
 government was asserted. 
 
 With a sense of political independence, which seems 
 native to Maryland soil, the Convention of that Colony 
 declared the independence of the Province on the 6th 
 day of July, 1776. 
 
 The final action of the Continental Congress had not 
 then been learned. The Declaration of Independence 
 had been fully ratified two days before. 
 
 " We have thought (says the Declaration) it just and 
 necessary to empower our deputies in Congress to join 
 with a majority of the United Colonies in declaring 
 them free and independent States, in framing such fur- 
 ther confederation between them, in making foreign 
 alliances, and in adopting such other measures as shall 
 be judged necessary for the preservation of their liber- 
 ties : provided the sole and exclusive right of regulating 
 the internal polity and government of this Colony be 
 reserved to the people thereof. ... No ambitious 
 views, no desire of independence, induced the people of 
 Maryland to form a union with the other Colonies. To 
 procure an exemption from parliamentary taxation, and 
 to continue to the Legislatures of these Colonies the 
 sole and exclusive right of regulating their internal 
 polity, was our original and only motive." 
 
 In this declaration the independence of the State is 
 proclaimed: with a final crash fell the dominion of 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 59 
 
 England, and with it the power of the Proprietary 
 Government. 
 
 A proposition of the Convention of June the 27th, 
 1776, for militia for the flying camp, to be furnished by 
 the Province, was approved. 
 
 Thomas Johnson was elected Brigadier-General to 
 command the said militia. This, however, was not to 
 be, for on the 4th of July, 1776, Thomas Johnson was 
 elected by the Convention as a deputy from the Province 
 to the Continental Congress. 
 
 The following resolution was then passed : 
 "Considering that the said Thomas Johnson, Esq., 
 cannot discharge the duty of Brigadier-General of the 
 forces to be raised in this Province, in consequence of 
 the resolves of Congress of the 7th day of June last, to 
 which command the Convention, from a confidence in 
 his capacity and abilities to fill the same with advantage 
 to the public cause and honor to himself, had appointed 
 him, and also execute the trust reposed in him as a 
 deputy in Congress for this Province; and being of 
 opinion that it is of very great importance to the wel- 
 fare of this Province that it should not be deprived of 
 the advice and assistance of the said Thomas Johnson 
 in the public councils of the United Colonies, and that 
 his place can be supplied with less inconvenience in the 
 military than in the civil department; therefore Re- 
 solved, That a Brigadier-General be elected by ballot in 
 the room of the said Thomas Johnson, Esq." John 
 Dent was elected in his place. 
 
 The Convention next called a new Convention for the 
 establishment of a permanent government in the State. 
 The old Convention became a portion of the Provisional 
 Government, The Committee of Safety remained in 
 existence. 
 Thomas Johnson was a member of the new Conven- 
 
60 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 tion which assembled at Annapolis on the 14th day of 
 August, 1776. The appointing of a committee to pre- 
 pare a form of government and a Bill of Eights, was 
 the first act of the new Convention. Of this Committee 
 Thomas Johnson was a member. On the 10th of Sep- 
 tember their report was made. Copies of the same in 
 the form of circulars were printed and distributed 
 throughout the State. 
 
 After having learned the opinion of the people with 
 regard to the form of government and Bill of Eights, 
 the Convention re-assembled, when the form and bill 
 were adopted with but little alteration, and with only a 
 partial change remained the same until 1838.^ The 
 great American statesman, Alexander Hamilton, and 
 the Scotch philosopher, Dugald Stuart, both pro- 
 nounced it the wisest of all the constitutions estab- 
 lished by the States after their separation from the 
 Crown of England. Accordii g to the provisions of the 
 new Constitution, the two Houses of the Legislature 
 selected on the 13th of February the first Governor of 
 the State. Thomas Johnson was chosen to fill that 
 high and dignified office. On Friday, the 21st of March, 
 1777, he was proclaimed with great honor the first 
 Governor of the State of Maryland. The inauguration 
 took place in the State House, at Annapolis, in the pres- 
 ence of many distinguished personages. 
 
 In his history of Maryland, McSherry thus refers to 
 this important event : " The announcement was hailed 
 by three volleys from the soldiery drawn up in front of 
 the State House, and a salute of thirteen rounds was 
 fired from the batteries in honor of the new confed- 
 eracy. A sumptuous entertainment was then partaken, 
 and the festivities of the day were closed with a splendid 
 ball ; a renewal of the ancient and pleasant amusement, 
 for which Annapolis, the Athens of the Colonies, had 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 61 
 
 been so widely celebrated in the da) T s of the Proprie- 
 taries, but which had been solemnly discontinued in 
 the dark hours of the opening struggle." 
 
 The Congress was once more in session in the city of 
 Philadelphia. Fearing for the safety of that city, the 
 great Commanding General, gathering all the militia 
 that could be obtained, fixed his camp near Middle- 
 brook.. In the shadow of the approaching peril he 
 wrote to Governor Johnson the following letter, dated 
 at Morristown, April 11th, 1777 : 
 
 Sir:— The latest accounts received respecting the enemy, 
 rendered prohable by a variety of circumstances, inform us 
 that they are very busily engaged in fitting up their transports 
 at Aniboy for the accommodation of trcops, that they have com- 
 pleted theif bridge, and are determined to make their first push 
 at Philadelphia. The campaign is therefore opening, and our 
 present situation weaker than when you left us, forces me to 
 entreat your utmost attention to the raising and equipping of the 
 Continental troops allotted to be raised in your State. I have 
 waited in painful expectation of reinforcements, such as would 
 probably have insured a happy issue to any attack I might have 
 determined upon, and such as I'had a right to expect, had the 
 officers faithfully discharged their duty \ but that time is past, 
 and I must content myself with improving on the future chances 
 of war. Even this cannot be done unless the officers can be 
 persuaded to abandon their comfortable quarters and take the 
 field. Let me, therefore, in the most earnest terms beg that they 
 may be forwarded to the army without loss of time. I have also 
 to ask of you to transmit to me a list of the field-officers of your 
 battalions, and their rank, with the number of their respective 
 battalions. I have the honor to be, etc. 
 
 Admiral Howe appearing on the 21st of August, 
 1777, in the Chesapeake with several hundred sail, 
 Governor Johnson issued a proclamation. 
 
 The militia were called to arms, and two companies, 
 at least, out of every batallion were ordered to march 
 at once to the head of the Chesapeake — "To defend 
 5* 
 
62 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 our liberties requires our exertions. Our wives, our 
 children, and our country implore our assistance. 
 Motives amply sufficient to arm every one who can be 
 called a man!" — So spoke the proclamation, and when 
 its trumpet voice was heard resounding with the 
 vehemence borrowed of war, an answering call came 
 from every mountain, forest and stream of that loyal 
 State that never swerves from duty! 
 
 On the 17th of March, 1778, the Legislature once 
 more met at Annapolis. An appeal had been made to 
 the State by Congress for an increase of the army. 
 The quota demanded of Maryland was two thousand 
 nine hundred and two w.en. Maryland had at this 
 time a double foe to face. The State was distracted by 
 internal troubles, caused by a resistance to its authority. 
 The power placed in the hands of the Governor at this 
 time was almost limitless. "These extensive powers 
 (says McSherry) were placed, without hesitation, in the 
 hands of Thomas Johnson, who had been re-elected 
 Governor by the Legislature in the preceeding Fall, 
 and whose sterling patriotism and public virtue merited 
 the confidence which was reposed in him. It was not 
 abused. Indeed the exigencies of the revolution fre- 
 quently called forth exhibitions of integrity and self- 
 devotedness worthy of the old Eoman patriots and 
 sages." 
 
 Three, years had passed since the inauguration of 
 Johnson as Governor. He was twice re-elected with- 
 out opposition. The Constitution now restricted him 
 from longer being eligible. Thomas Sim Lee was 
 elected his successor on the 8th of November, 1779. 
 
 The two Houses of the Legislature, in testimony of 
 the regard in which the administration of Governor 
 Johnson was conducted, transmitted to him an address. 
 In this eulogy his " prudence, assiduity, firmness, and 
 integrity," are revealed in rare words of praise. 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 63 
 
 The present Constitution of the United States of 
 America was decided upon in Convention at Philadel- 
 phia the 17th of September, 1787. Copies of it were 
 transmitted to the several Legislatures of the States. 
 A Convention of Delegates chosen by the people of each 
 State would decide upon the Constitution thus submit- 
 ted to them, according to the resolves of the Federal 
 Convention. 
 
 In a letter from Annapolis dated December 11, 1787, 
 addressed to General Washington, Governor Johnson 
 said : " The scale of power which I always suggested 
 would be the most difficult to settle between the great 
 and small States as such, was in my opinion very prop- 
 erly adjusted. I believe there is no American of ob- 
 servation, reflection, and candor, but will acknowledge 
 man unhappily needs more government than he im- 
 agines. I flatter myself that the plan recommended 
 will be adopted in twelve of the thirteen States, without 
 conditions sine qua non. But let the event be as it 
 may, I shall think myself, with Americans in general, 
 greatly indebted to the Convention, and possibly we 
 may confess it when it may be too late to avail ourselves 
 of their moderation and wisdom." 
 
 At Annapolis, Monday, the 21st of April, 1778, as- 
 sembled the Maryland Convention. To this Conven- 
 tion, as he had been so often before, Thomas Johnson 
 was sent as a delegate. The important weight of his 
 judgment and influence is clearly manifested in the 
 following letter from General Washington to that brave 
 and honorable gentleman: 
 
 to v 
 
 Mount Vernon, 20th April, 1788. 
 
 Dear Sir: — As well from report as from ideas expressed to 
 
 me in your letter of December last, I am led to conclude that 
 
 you are disposed, circumstanced as our public affairs arc at 
 
 present, to ratify the Constitution, which has been Bubmitled to 
 
64 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 the people by the Federal Convention, and under tbis impres- 
 sion, I take the liberty of expressing a single sentiment on the 
 occasion. It is that an adjournment of your Convention, if at- 
 tempted, to a later period than the decision of the question in 
 this State, will be tantamount to the rejection of the Constitu- 
 tion. I have good reason for this opinion, and I am told it is 
 the blow which the leading characters of the opposition in the 
 next State have meditated, if it shall be found that a direct 
 attack is not likely to succeed in yours. If this be true it can- 
 not be too much deprecated and guarded against The post- 
 ponement in New Hampshire, although it had no reference to 
 the Convention in this State, but proceeded altogether from the 
 local circumstances of its own, is ascribed by the opposition here 
 to complaisance toward Virginia, and gnat use is made of h. 
 An event similar to this in Maryland would have the wors* 
 tendency imaginable; for indecision there would certainly have 
 considerable influence on South Carolina, the only other State 
 which is to precede Virginia, and submits the question almost 
 wholly to the determination of the latter, The pride of the 
 State is already touched upon this string, and will be raised 
 much higher if there is fresh cause. 
 
 The sentiments of Kentucky are not yet known here. Inde- 
 pendent of these, the parties in this State, from the known or 
 presumed opinions of the members, are pretty equally balanced. 
 The one in favour of the Constitution preponderates at present ; 
 but a little matter cast into the opposite scale may make it the 
 heaviest. 
 
 If in suggesting these hints I have exceeded the proper* limit, 
 I shall yet hope to be excused. I have but one public wish re- 
 maining. It is, that in peace and retirement I may see this 
 country rescued from the danger that is pending, and rise in 
 respectability, maugre the intrigues of its public and private 
 enemies. I am, with very great esteem and regard, etc." 
 
 Eight days after the date of this letter the Constitu- 
 tion "was ratified by Maryland by a vote of sixty-three to 
 eleven, and the certificate was signed by the members 
 of the Convention on the 28th of April, 1788. 
 
 The force of Governor Johnson's influence is thus 
 shown in dealing with a State so slow to yield as Mary- 
 land. 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 65 
 
 As Governor Johnson had nominated Washington to 
 be Commander-in-Chief of all the Continental armies, 
 he was amongst the first who named him as the first 
 President of the United States. In a letter to George 
 Washington on the subject, dated October the 10th, 
 1788, he says: "We cannot, Sir, do without you, and I 
 and thousands more can explain to anybody but your- 
 self why we cannot do without you." 
 
 As Washington had not relied in vain upon Johnson 
 in the fiery days of war, now that peace was come he 
 sought his aid as of yore. 
 
 In 1789 he tendered him the office of United States 
 
 District Judge. The following is the President's letter 
 
 on the subject: 
 
 New York, September 28th, 1789. 
 
 Dear Sir: — In assenting to the opinion that due administra- 
 tion of justice is the strongest cement of good government, 
 you will also agree with me that the first organization of the 
 judicial department is essential to the happiness of our country, 
 and to the stability of our political system. Hence the selection 
 of the fittest characters to expound the laws and dispense justice, 
 has been au invariable object of my concern. Consulting your 
 domestic inclinations, and the state of your health, I yielded on 
 a recent occasion, persuaded by your friends that you would not 
 be prevailed on to leave your State to mingle in the administra- 
 tion of public affairs. But I fouud it impossible in selecting a 
 character to preside in the District Court to refuse the public 
 wish and the conviction of my own mind, the necessity of 
 nominating you to that office, and I cannot but flatter myself 
 that the same reasons which have led you to former sacrafices 
 in the public service will now operate to induce your accept- 
 ance of au appointment so highly interesting to your country. 
 
 As soon as the acts which are necessary accompaniments of 
 the appointment can be got ready, you will receive official notice 
 of the latter. This letter is only to be considered as an early 
 communication of my sentiments on this occasion, and as a 
 testimony of the sincere esteem and regard with which I am, 
 dear sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
66 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 Notwithstanding the urgency of this letter, Governor 
 Johnson declined the judgeship tendered to him. 
 
 Under the Constitution of Maryland, which Governor 
 Johnson aiding in framing, and under which he was 
 the first Governor, the judicial department of the gov- 
 ernment was composed of a Court of Appeals, a Court 
 of Chancery, and a General Court. The General Court, 
 like the Provincial Court which it superseded, had 
 original jurisdiction in both civil and criminal cases of 
 a certain grade over the whole State. In Mr. Tyler's 
 Memoir of Chief Justice Taney, the Chief Justice, in 
 the first chapter, which he wrote himself, says of this 
 Court : " The Court consisted of three judges, always 
 selected from the eminent men of the Bar ; the jurors 
 from each county were taken from the most respectable 
 and intelligent class of society; and, generally speak- 
 ing, the jury who tried the cause probably never heard 
 of it before they were empanneled, and had no knowl- 
 edge whatever of the parties, except what they gathered 
 from the testimony. There was every security, there- 
 fore, for an impartial trial. The extent of the jurisdic- 
 tion, and the importance of the cases tried in it, 
 brought together, at its sessions, all that were eminent 
 or distinguished at the Bar on either of the shores for 
 which it was sitting 
 
 "The first session of the General Court, after I went 
 to Annapolis, made a strong impression upon me. The 
 three judges, wearing scarlet cloaks, sat in chairs placed 
 on an elevated platform; and all the distinguished 
 lawyers of Maryland were assembled at the Bar." 
 
 On the 20th of April, 1790, Thomas Johnson was 
 appointed by the Governor of Maryland, with the ad- 
 vice of the Senate, Chief Judge of this Court. Al- 
 though, in October of the following year, he resigned 
 the judgeship, before him had been argued many im- 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 67 
 
 portant cases by such famous lawyers as William 
 Pinkney, Samuel Chase, and Martin Luther. 
 
 Notwithstanding his urgent desire to retire from 
 public life, he yielded to the importunities of Wash- 
 ington, and accepted the position of Associate Judge 
 of the Supreme Court of the United States. Having 
 at one time declined the place on account of circuit 
 duty, Washington wrote as follows in reply to the ob- 
 jection: "Upon considering the arrangements of the 
 judges with respect to the ensuing circuit, and the 
 probability of future relief from these disagreeable 
 tours, I thought it best to direct your commission to be 
 made out and transmitted to you, which has accordingly 
 been done ; and I have no doubt that the public will be 
 benefitted, and the wishes of your friends gratified by 
 your acceptance. With sentiments of very great re- 
 gard, etc." 
 
 Judge Johnson's predecessor in office was John Rut- 
 ledge, of South Carolina, a zealous patriot. His health 
 finally failing, Mr. Johnson tendered his resignation by 
 letter to the President on the 16th of January, 1793. 
 In reply, Washington wrote : 
 
 Philadelphia, February 1, 1793. 
 Dear Sir:— Whilst I ackhowledge the receipt of your letter 
 of 16th January, I cannot but express the regret with which I 
 received the resignation of your office, and sincerely lament 
 the causes that produced it. It is unnecessary for me to say 
 how much I should have been pleased had your health permitted 
 you to continue in office ; for besides the difficulty of providing 
 a character to fill the distinguished and important station of 
 Judge, in whom are combined the necessary professional, local, 
 and other requisites, the resignation of persons holding that 
 high, office conveys to the public mind a want of stability in ' 
 that department, where, perhaps, it is more essential than in 
 any other. With sentiments of pure esteem and regard, and 
 sincere wishes for your health and happiness, I am, sir, }*our 
 most obedient servaut, etc. 
 
68 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 In the year 1795, Edmund Bandolph, of Virginia, re- 
 signed the office of Secretary of State. At once Wash- 
 ington tendered to the Honorable Thomas Johnson the 
 position made vacant. The following letter on the sub- 
 ject is from the pen of Washington : 
 
 PRIVATE. 
 
 Philadelphia, 24 August, 1705. 
 My Dear Sir:— The office of Secretary of State is -vacant, 
 occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Randolph. Will you ac- 
 cept it? You know my wishes of old to bring yon into the 
 administration. Where then is the necessity of repeating them ? 
 No time more than the present ever required the aid of your 
 abilities, nor of the old and proved talents of the country. To 
 have yours would be pleasing to me, and I verily believe would 
 be agreeable also to the community at large. It is with you to 
 decide. If in the affirmative, return to me the inclosed letter, 
 and I will communicate further on this subject the moment you 
 inform me thereof. If it is in the negative, be so good as to 
 forward the letter by the post agreeably to its address ; and at 
 any rate, write to me the result of your determination as soon 
 as you can after the receipt of this letter, as I remain here to 
 get this and some other matters arranged before I go to Virginia 
 for my family. With sincere esteem and regard, I am, etc. 
 
 This honor Mr. Johnson declined — an honor which 
 it is said had once before been tendered him by the 
 greatest of our Presidents. 
 
 In declining the office, Governor Johnson, in a letter 
 dated 29th of August, 1795, says: "I feel real concern 
 that my circumstances will not permit me to fill the 
 important office you propose to me. I am far from 
 being out of humor with the world on my own account ; 
 it has done me more than justice in estimating my 
 abilities, and more justice than common in conjecturing 
 my motives. I feel nothing of fear either in hazarding 
 again the little reputation I may haye acquired, for I 
 am not conscious of having sought or despised ap- 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 69 
 
 plause ; but, without affectation, I do not think I could 
 do credit to the office of Secretary. I cannot persuade 
 myself that I possess the necessary qualifications for it, 
 and I am sure I am too old to expect improvement. 
 My strength declines, and so, too, probably, will my 
 mental powers soon. My views in this world have been 
 some time bounded to my children. They yet, for a 
 little while, may have me to lean on. Being constantly 
 with them adds to their happiness, and makes my chief 
 comfort." 
 
 One of the projects of Washington's statesmanship 
 was the connection of the waters of the Potomac and 
 the Ohio rivers. Johnson, too, favored the plan. From 
 Mount Vernon Washington wrote to Thomas Jefferson, 
 then in the Congress of the United States, respecting 
 the practicability of an easy and short communication 
 between the waters of the Ohio and Potomac, of the 
 advantages of that communication and the preference 
 it has over all others, and of the policy there would be 
 in this State (Virginia) and Maryland to adopt and 
 render it facile. He speaks of Thomas Johnson as " a 
 warm promoter of the scheme on the North side of the 
 Potomac;" and adds, "I wish, if it should fall in 
 your way, that you would discourse with Mr. Thomas 
 Johnson, formerly Governor of Maryland, on the 
 subject." 
 
 The date of this letter was March 29th, 1784. 
 Through their great efforts the Potomac Company was 
 incorporated in 1784 by Maryland and Virginia, as a 
 means of connecting the waters of the Potomac and the 
 Ohio. 
 
 George Washington Parke Custis, in his "Recollec- 
 tions and Private Memoirs of the Life and Character of 
 Washington," thus writes: "The canoe or pirogue, in 
 which General Washington and a party of friends made 
 6 
 
70 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 the first survey of the Potomac to ascertain the practi- 
 cability of a navigation above tide -water, was hollowed 
 out of a large poplar tree under the direction of General 
 Johnson, of Frederick county, Maryland. This humble 
 bark was placed upon a wagon, hauled into the stream, 
 and there received its honored freight. The General 
 was accompanied in the interesting and important re- 
 connoissance by General (the late Governor) Johnson, of 
 Maryland, one of the first Commissioners of the city of 
 Washington, and several other gentlemen. At night- 
 fall, it was usual for the party to land and seek quarters 
 of some of the planters or farmers who lived near the 
 banks of the river, in all the pride and comfort of old- 
 fashioned kindliness and hospitality." 
 
 In July, 1785, General Washington, accompanied by 
 the Directors of the Potomac Company, made a tour of 
 inspection, following closely the course of the Potomac 
 from Georgetown to the beautiful region of Harper's 
 Ferry. The Directors proceeded a portion of the way 
 by land. Having made a thorough survey they re- 
 turned to the head of the Great Falls above George- 
 town. 
 
 Washington in his Diary, says : "August 5th. — After 
 breakfast, and after directing Mr. Eumsey, when he had 
 marked the way and set the laborers at work, to meet us 
 at Harper's Ferry, myself and the directors set out for 
 the same place by way of Fredericktown in Maryland; 
 dined at a Dutchman's two miles above the mouth of 
 Monococy, and reached Fredericktown about 5 o'clock. 
 Drank tea, supped and lodged at Governor Johnson's. 
 The next day Governor Johnson and the party started 
 to examine the Shenandoah Falls." 
 
 On the 11th of December, 1787, Governor Johnson in 
 a letter, said : " The present circumstances with respect 
 to the future seat of Congress, in my opinion, call for 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 71 
 
 vigorous exertions to perfect the navigation of the 
 Potomac speedily. Surely five or six hundred miles of 
 inland navigation, added to the central situation and 
 other advantages, would decide in favor of Potomac for 
 the permanent seat of government." 
 
 Thus was begun the construction of the Chesapeake 
 and Ohio Canal, in conjunction with the location, per- 
 manently, of the seat of government overlooking the 
 waters of the Potomac. 
 
 Washington, who unselfishly looked ever forward to 
 the advancement of his country's interests, chose from 
 among the many the strongest and the best as his 
 workers. When the permanent seat of the Federal 
 Government was to be laid out he appointed Thomas 
 Johnson, David Stewart and Daniel Carroll as what 
 were termed " The Commissioners of the Federal Dis- 
 trict." In the execution of their duties the Commis- 
 sioners addressed a letter to Major L'Enfant, the 
 Engineer, dated February the 9th, 1791, from which 
 the following extract is taken : 
 
 "We have agreed that the Federal District shall be 
 called The Territory of Columbia, and the Federal city, 
 The City of Washington. The title of the map, there- 
 fore, will be ' A Map of the City of Washington in the 
 Territory of Columbia.' We have also agreed the 
 streets be named alphabetically one way, and numeric- 
 ally the other; the former divided into North and 
 South letters, the latter into East and West numbers, 
 from the Capitol." 
 
 It will thus be seen that Johnson aided in bestowing 
 upon the Capital of our Nation the name of its wisest 
 chief. 
 
 When Washington died in 1799, Governor Johnson 
 delivered at Frederick city, in Maryland, a eulogy on 
 his life and character. As companion heroes on the 
 
72 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 field of battle, the battle-field of life, and on the page 
 of history, George Washington of Virginia and Thomas 
 Johnson of Maryland stand side by side. 
 
 After the tumult of public life was over, Governor 
 Johnson lived in felicitous peace at his country-seat. 
 This estate, known as Rose Hill, was situated at the 
 summit of Frederick town, in Maryland. His home 
 was such as is often pictured, yet seldom realized, as a 
 resting-place for a great man after the turmoil and vex- 
 ations of a busy life. The family motto of " Trust and 
 Strive" seemed ever in his memory. 
 
 The following letter, written during the war of 1812 
 to his daughter, the late Mrs. Hugh W. Evans, of Balti- 
 more, has been kindly furnished to the author, as well 
 as other letters in this sketch, by Mrs. E. Wethered, 
 the daughter of Mrs. Evans, and is evidence of the 
 deep domestic affection of Governor Johnson : 
 
 Frederick, September 2nd, 1813. 
 
 Your letter, my dear child, of 25th August, reached me yester- 
 day. It afforded me great satisfaction, as it ascertained me of 
 your being amongst your friends in Baltimore, where I expect 
 they and yourself will be in safety at least for a while; for I do 
 not suppose the enemy will undertake anything of great hazard 
 or difficulty in the course of this month, lest a Northeast storm 
 should defeat their project and perhaps their future hopes. 
 
 The notice taken of me lately in the newspapers adds nothing 
 to my self-complacency; indeed, I wish, rather, that I had not 
 been mentioned at all. I acquit myself altogether of laying any 
 trap to catch praise; well knowing that well deserved excites 
 envy, and if excessive, is like coarse, bad painting, it hightens 
 small defects into deformity, 'i hough a very old man my mind 
 is not so gone as to be flattered by praise. I love the good 
 opinion of the world when it follows my own, but I must be 
 older before it leads. It is the fault of the present day that we 
 are all geese or swans, according to our party — however, enough 
 on this subject. I love and much appreciate family pride, to the 
 extent as an additional guard against doing anything improper. 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 16 
 
 I hope to leave to every descendant of mine the inheritance of 
 not blushing for their biood having passed through my veins. 
 !So far, and so far only, be proud of your family, which happily 
 
 affords you a like incentive in other branches of it 
 
 Your sisters gi.e me great satisfaction. Their teacher has 
 found the way to excite emulation for scholars, perhaps to the 
 degree of envy, amongst some of her scholars. It has not, I 
 believe, risen to that degree with my girls, and I hope it will 
 not. Their application is equal to any thing I could wish. 
 They each have a fair prospect of gaining all that could be 
 reasonably expected. I reckon it among my comforts, of which 
 I thank God I yet enjoy a great share. 
 
 There needs no great cunning to go through the world with 
 self-approbation and credit. Indeed, cunning will sometimes 
 prevent a regard for truth and sincerity, which surpass in value 
 all the cunning of the most dextrous politician and are open to 
 the practice of every honest mind. 
 
 May heaven bless you. My good wishes to all enquiring 
 friends. Your very affectionate father, 
 
 THOS. JOHNSON. 
 
 Mrs. Ann G. Ross, residing in Frederick city, Mary- 
 land, a grand-daughter of Governor Johnson, gives to 
 the writer of this sketch the following account of her 
 grandfather's lineage : 
 
 " Thomas J ohnson the elder, was from a place called 
 Porte Head, Yarmouth, England. He was a barrister, 
 in good practice, and had a brother who held a position 
 of consequence in the Department of Foreign Affairs, 
 in the reign of Queen Anne. Thomas Johnson eloped 
 with a chancery ward, which made it necessary for him 
 to come to America, which he did with his wife, under 
 the protection of Capt. Roger Baker, his wife's father, 
 who commanded the vessel. This seems strange, but 
 we infer that although marrying the chancery ward was 
 a penal offense, still the alliance met with her father's 
 approbation. This was probably about 1660. They 
 died and were buried at St. Leonard's Creek, Calvert 
 6* 
 
74 THOMAS JOHNSON. 
 
 county, leaving one son 12 years of age, Thomas John- 
 son, who grew up and married Dorcas Sedgewick, of 
 Calvert county. They had twelve children, the fifth 
 of whom was afterward Governor Johnson, and was 
 born November 4th, 1732, and married Ann Jennings, 
 daughter of Thomas Jennings, of Annapolis. 
 
 "We have a few of Gen. Washington's letters to 
 grandpa, but he purposely destroyed all confidential 
 letters before his death." 
 
 Thomas Johnson was born in Calvert county, Mary- 
 land, November 4th, 1732. He had three brothers : 
 Joshua, born in 1742; Baker, born 1747; and Roger, 
 born in 1749 ; all in the county of Calvert. 
 
 The two last-named studied law in the office of their 
 brother, Thomas, in Annapolis. Settling afterward 
 in Frederick city, Maryland, they practiced their pro- 
 fession. Joshua having gone early in life to London, 
 there entered commercial life. He was, after that, for 
 many years, the Consular Agent from America. He 
 was noted, particularly amongst his countrymen abroad, 
 for the most generous hospitality. His daughter be- 
 came the wife of John Quincy Adams, who was after- 
 ward the President of the United States. 
 
 General Bradley T. Johnson, late of the Confederate 
 army, is a descendant of this family. Governor John- 
 son belonged to a wealthy family ; he was thus enabled 
 to equip, and maintain at his own expense, the military 
 forces which he led to the relief of General Washington 
 in New Jersey. 
 
 On the 2Gth of October, 1819, Governor Johnson 
 died at his residence, Rose Hill. He was in the eighty- 
 seventh year of his age. The grave of this patriot (so 
 wise, so pure, so honored, so beloved !) is in the cemetery 
 at Frederick City. 
 
 This resting-place of the dead overlooks the rich and 
 
THOMAS JOHNSON. 75 
 
 beautiful valley lying between the Licganore Hills and 
 the Catoctin Mountains. Here in the shadow of high 
 trees, where nature's sweetest tones fill the air, the old 
 hero sleeps long and well. 
 
 Requiescat in Pace. 
 
FAIR MARYLAND, 
 
 YOUR loyalty and valor, 
 A heritage for kings, 
 Mothtr land, fair Maryland, 
 A poet loves and sings ! 
 
 The grandest truths are simple, 
 And in their grandest guise 
 
 Are only simple lessons 
 Of wisdom to the wise ! 
 
 Soldiers of dear Maryland, 
 In nature's bravest mould, 
 
 You wear the fame of princes, 
 Nor bought with prince's gold ! 
 
 Vain pomp and gilded titles 
 May win to-day's renown, 
 
 Yet noble thoughts and actions 
 In weighing bear them down. 
 
 Who scoff at lofty manners, 
 The proof of gentle caste, 
 
 Are pigmies in the shadows 
 Of giants of the Past ! 
 
 Wives, mothers, and fair daughters, 
 Good, beautiful, and true, 
 
 The earth hath yielded laurels 
 And roses unto you ! 
 
 God send you grace and wisdom, 
 From His most regal Throne, 
 
 Whose " love is love forever ! " 
 Whose peace is Peace alone ! 
 
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 " His stately mien as well implied, 
 A high-born heart, a martial pride, 
 
 As if a baron's crest be wore." 
 
 N his " Chronicles of Baltimore," Scharf says : 
 "On the 13th of January, 1695, Charles 
 Carroll surveyed one thousand acres of land 
 lying in Baltimore county, on the north side 
 of Patapsco river, in the woods upon Jones' Falls, and 
 on the west side of the said Falls, which was called * Ely 
 0' Carroll/" 
 
 The origin of the name given to this tract of land is 
 of peculiar interest, being closely linked with the 
 earliest history of Erin. Helia, or Ely O'Carroll, was 
 the name given to an extensive tract of country in 
 Ireland, comprising King's county, portions of Queen's 
 county and Tipperary. 
 
 O'Hart, in his book of "Irish Pedigrees," says: 
 " The Territory of * Ely ' got its name from Eile, one 
 of its princes in the fifth century; and from being pos- 
 sessed by the O'Carroll's, was called ' Ely O'Carroll ; ' 
 which comprised the present barony of Lower Ormond, 
 in the county Tipperary, with the Barony of Clon- 
 lisk, and part of Ballybrit, in the King's county, ex- 
 tending to Slieve Bloom Mountains, on the borders of 
 
78 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 the Queen's county." The O'Carroll's descended from 
 Kian, the third son of Olioll Olium, King of Minister. 
 According to Sir William Beatham, Ulster king-at- 
 arms, the grants of land made to Charles Carroll were 
 in name and extent the same as those lost by his father 
 in Ireland, namely, twenty thousand acres in each tract, 
 Ely O'Carroll, Doughoreagan and Carrolston. The his- 
 tory of this powerful Irish clan is given very fully by Sir 
 William Beatham, in his "Irish Antiquarian Re- 
 searches." 
 
 About the year 1688, Charles O'Carroll is said to 
 have come to this country from Ireland. His coming 
 was through the influence of Lord Powis, of the Court 
 of James II, King of England. Mr. Charles O'Carroll 
 had been Secretary to Lord Powis, and through his in- 
 fluence superseded Colonel Henry Darnall, as Register 
 of the Land Office under the Proprietary Government. 
 Although a Roman Catholic, he seems also to have 
 maintained his influence with the rulers of the Province, 
 appointed by William and Mary. 
 
 Much that is of an interesting nature relating to the 
 ancient clan of O'Carroll, is given in O'Hart's "Irish 
 Pedigrees," before referred to. The original name of 
 the family was Cearbheoil, which was that borne by one 
 of its chiefs, and whose posterity afterward changed it 
 to O'Carroll, the being finally dropped. The first 
 one of the family who assumed the name of O'Carroll, 
 was Monach, the son of the above-named chief. 
 
 The following order for a land-grant, appears among 
 the early records of the Proprietary: 
 
 " In behalf of his lordship, Lord Proprietary of this 
 province, you are hereby required to reserve for his lord- 
 ship's use, the quantity of fifteen thousand acres of land, 
 if the same can be found together in one entire tract, 
 otherwise no less than ten thousand acres, lately sur- 
 
OF CARROLLTOX. 79 
 
 yeyed for Charles Carroll, Esq., in Prince George's 
 county, the same to be laid between such metes and 
 bounds as may be most profitable to his lordship." — 
 Lib. B. B., folio 81. 
 
 And the following, transmitted from the past, wears 
 a good deal of interest also upon its face : 
 
 [L. S.] 
 
 C. Baltimore. 
 
 " Instructions, power and authority to be observed 
 and pursued by Charles Carroll, my agent and receiver- 
 general in Maryland, given by me this, the 12th day of 
 September, 1712. 
 
 " You are also hereby ordered and empowered, yearly to 
 pay, in tobacco, the several allowances heretofore made 
 by me, to the several persons and officers hereinafter 
 mentioned, viz : 
 
 Major Nicholas Sewall, 12,000 pounds of tobacco. 
 
 Major Nicholas Sewall, 3,000 pounds of tobacco. 
 
 Henry Sewell, 3,000 pounds of tobacco, for assistance to his 
 
 father, in shipping at Patuxent. 
 To my officer at Patuxent, 6,000 pounds of tobacco. 
 To my officer at Potomack, 6,000 pounds of tobacco. 
 To my officer at Annapolis, 3,000 pounds of tobacco. 
 To my officer at Oxford, 3,000 pounds of tobacco. 
 Mr. Anthony Neale, 3,000 pounds of tobacco, a gift or token of 
 
 respect. 
 Mr. Robert Brooke, 8,000 pounds of tobacco, for him and his 
 
 brethren, being eight in number. 
 Mr. James Haddock, 1,000 pounds of tobacco. 
 Mr. George Mason, 1,000 pounds of tobacco. 
 To yourself, 12,000 pounds of tobacco, for your advice and 
 
 trouble about my law concerns. 
 Mr. Cecil Butler, 4,000 pounds of tobacco. 
 Mr. James Carroll, 10,000 pounds of tobacco, for keeping my 
 
 rent-rolls in order. 
 
 " I hereby grant a hundred acres of land to William 
 
80 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 Eichardson, in Anne Arnndel county, in lieu of a cer- 
 tificate of a former grant, which his father alleges to 
 have received of Heath cott, but which never appeared. 
 
 " I also impower you, the same as I impowered my late 
 agent, Col. Henry Darnell, upon the Crown Secretary 
 and Chancellors, taking for their own use the fees prop- 
 erly belonging to my land office, order and direct that 
 an addiiion should be made to the price of warrants bo 
 as to make up for the difference taken by the said Sec- 
 retary and Chancellor, and to take and receive to, and 
 for his and your own proper use and behoof. 
 
 " You are to grant Cecil Butler a warrant for five hun- 
 dred acres of land; you are also to grant him a lease 
 for the plantation of St. John's, near the city of St. 
 Mary's. 
 
 " You are to grant Henry Wharton one hundred and 
 forty-six acres of land. You are to grant Henry Sewell 
 two or three hundred acres of escheat land. You are to 
 grant Gerard Stye five hundred acres of escheat land, 
 in consequence of a piece of five hundred sold by Charles 
 Calvert to his father, which was in my Manor, but for 
 which I have given Capt. Eichard Smith a compensation. 
 I do hereby also confirm a grant passed by Col. Henry 
 Darnell, to yourself, of two hundred acres of land near 
 the city of St. Mary's." 
 
 In the same order is noticed the petition of Eobert 
 Goldsborough, and his wife Elizabeth, for an additional 
 grant of lands. The order terminates thus: ""When 
 the land that Sir John Oldcastle formerly held, shall 
 be adjudged mine, I order Col. William Digges may 
 have a patent for the same as a gift of 
 
 C. Baltimore." 
 
 The business talent and capacity of this first Charles 
 Carroll, is made evident, and was handed down as a 
 precious inheritance for two generations at least. His 
 
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 81 
 
 son, Charles Carroll, was born in the year 1702, succeed- 
 ing to the rich estates of his father, which he retained 
 by his energy and wise management. He married 
 Elizabeth Brooke, and was residing at Annapolis, when 
 Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, their son and only child, 
 was born. This event occurred on the 20th day of Sep- 
 tember, 1737. With the customary zealousness of a 
 Catholic, Mr. Charles Carroll sent his son, the subject 
 of this sketch, to the College of Saint Omer, in Flanders. 
 The boy, then eight years of age, remained for about 
 six years under the immediate instruction of the Jesuit 
 Fathers of that Institution. He was afterward placed 
 with the French Jesuits at Eheims, for the purpose of 
 continuing his classical studies. Here, however, he did 
 not remain long; he entered the College of Louis le 
 Grand, at Paris, in the following year. Two years were 
 spent at this Institution ; the young man then proceed- 
 ing to Bruges, remained there awhile, engaged in the 
 study of the civil law. He afterward returned to Paris, 
 where he remained until the year 1757. The influence 
 of wealth upon the common order of men was as great 
 in the past as in the present. By those people who 
 were blind alike to virtues and talents, Mr. Carroll was 
 sought and flattered, and courted as a young man of 
 wealth and fashion. The French " society " morals 
 
 belonged to the French-school of morality, 
 
 and Paris, with its thousand fascinations, was a danger- 
 ous eddy to be caught in. Seen through the hallowing 
 radiance of distant time, the virtues of those whom we 
 have elevated to the ideal-standard of heroes, seem, in 
 their sublimity, to have been proof against the common 
 assaults of the " flesh and the devil." 
 
 That our heroes succumbed occasionally, however, to 
 the powers of evil, is beyond a doubt. According to 
 his own statements, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, 
 7 
 
82 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 yielded to the seductive teachings of the times, and im- 
 bibed, though not to an ineradicable degree, the poisonous 
 doctrines of Voltaire, in opposition to his earlier train- 
 ing. In this respect Mr. Carroll merely adopted the 
 skeptic tone of the circle in which he moved. It must, 
 however, be remembered that a deeply implanted faith 
 does not easily perish. His faith was only sullied and 
 dimmed by the corrupting dust of infidelity. 
 
 Many years before his death he sought to make amends, 
 by every means in his power, for the sins of his youth 
 and ignorance, while in the frivolous city of Paris. In 
 1757 he went again to London, where he remained, 
 devoting his time to the study of the civil law, at the 
 Temple. In the year 1764 Mr. Carroll returned to his 
 native land. 
 
 The heavy taxation demanded by England of her 
 struggling colonies, now caused a universal murmur 
 from every quarter of the land. In the common trouble 
 the tie between the Colonies was strengthened ; religious 
 differences seemed for the time almost forgotten, as side 
 by side they ranked themselves against the mother-land. 
 The feeling that had been long growing was fully de- 
 veloped and matured by the Stamp Act of 1765. From 
 Eidgely's Annals of Annapolis, the following extract is 
 made : 
 
 " On the 27th of August, in this year, a considerable 
 number of people, ' Asserters of British American priv- 
 ileges] met at Annapolis, to show their detestation of 
 and abhorrence to some late tremendous attacks on lib- 
 erty, and their dislike to a certain late arrived officer — 
 a native of this province ! 
 
 "They curiously dressed up the figure of a man, 
 which they placed in a one-horse cart, malefactor liKe, 
 with some sheets of paper in his hands, before his face ! 
 In that manner they paraded through the streets of the 
 
CHAELES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 83 
 
 town till noon, the bell at the same time tolling a sol- 
 emn knell, when they proceeded to the hill, and after 
 giving it the Mosaic Law at the whipping-post, placed 
 it in the pillory, from whence they took it and hung it 
 on a gibbet, there erected for that purpose, and set fire 
 to a tar-barrel underneath, and burnt it till it fell into 
 the barrel. By the many significant nods of the head, 
 while in the cart, it may be said to have gone off very 
 penitently." 
 
 This stern resistance was carried on in so defiant a 
 manner, that newly arrived vessels, fully freighted with 
 valuable goods, were forced to return to England with 
 their cargoes untouched. The Stamp Act was repealed 
 and quiet was restored for the time. 
 
 In the year 1768 Charles Carroll was married to Miss 
 Mary Darnell, whose family name graces the earliest 
 pages of Colonial history. She was the daughter of 
 Henry Darnell. Mr. Carroll is said to have loved, be- 
 fore this, a Miss Cooke, of Maryland, to whom he would 
 doubtless have married had she lived ; she died, however, 
 in 1766, and he married in 1768, which might lead us 
 to suppose that he was as susceptible as he was attract- 
 ive. He is described as a man of medium height, of 
 pale and intellectual countenance, j enetrating grey eyes 
 and delicate features. His manner was dignified and 
 courtly. 
 
 On the 9th of May, in the year 1769, a meeting was 
 called at Annapolis for the purpose of forming non-im- 
 portation associations. The call was duly responded to 
 by representatives, in large numbers, from all of the 
 counties. The resolutions were passed and carried into 
 operation, and for a while the rules were strictly adhered 
 to, but gradually, owing to the want of general co-oper- 
 ation, the work was rendered ineffectual, and finally 
 abandoned. 
 
84 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 At this time the State of Maryland was thrown into 
 agitation by two leading questions, which were debated 
 with all the warmth of eloquence that could be brought 
 to bear in their behalf. These questions were: "The 
 Proclamation Act," and the " Vestry Question." The 
 colonists had, for a considerable time, complained of the 
 exorbitant fees of some of the Colonial offices, the abuses 
 in their collection, and the uncertainty of commutation. 
 Before this time the Assembly had usually regulated 
 the fees by temporary acts, thus retaining a power over 
 the office-holders whose appointments were held under 
 the Proprietary. 
 
 These acts were allowed to expire about this time, 
 consequently Governor Eden issued a proclamation de- 
 claring that the fees should be regulated according to 
 the expired acts. This caused an indignant outburst 
 from the people, whose representatives were numbered 
 among the men distinguished for intellectual attain- 
 ments. Daniel Dulany, the eminent lawyer, Mr. Ham- 
 mond, and other men of note advocated the Act as 
 strenuously as it was opposed by Charles Carroll, of 
 Carrolton, Samuel Chase and William Paca. The 
 fiercest resistance was made against the reduction of 
 fees by those most interested as office-holders — amongst 
 them were Daniel Dulany, Secretary of the Province ; 
 Walter Dulany, Commissary General, and the Land 
 Officers, Calvert and Steuart. Their opponents, how- 
 ever, proved as strong in eloquence, and more effective 
 in other respects. The people were sustained almost 
 universally by the lawyers of the State, whilst the 
 Governor was supported by the officers, the Episcopal 
 clergy and those who adhered to them or their cause. 
 Yet as the imposers of unjust taxes are not apt to be 
 enshrined in the affections of the people, it is not sur- 
 prising that many who had hitherto been staunch up- 
 
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 85 
 
 holders of " the established church " should take this 
 opportunity to right their wrongs if possible. 
 
 Injustice it was that aroused the ire of Charles 
 Carroll, of Carrolton. Eights infringed and compacts 
 broken, warned the faithful young sentinel of further 
 danger; and but for the tyrannous conduct of the 
 British government, Charles Carroll might have proved 
 himself as faithful and valuable a royalist as he was 
 afterward a dangerous rebel. The sword had not yet 
 been resorted to ; yet the pen, that mighty arbiter in 
 behalf of the weak against the strong, the protector of 
 the oppressed and avenger of wrong, did its work. As 
 mighty needs require mighty remedies, strong souls are 
 raised up in the hour of a Nation's trouble to battle in 
 its defence. The questions of the hour were discussed 
 in public print, through the means of pamphlets and 
 in the columns of the Maryland Gazette, which was a 
 leading journal in its day, and served as a battle or 
 dueling ground, as the case might be, where learning 
 and wit were the formidable weapons brought into 
 use. 
 
 As it was not hatred to England, but to some of its 
 laws, that induced the people of America to resistance, 
 as is the case when we oppose the wrongs of those 
 whom we love, their opposition* was fiercer and stronger 
 than would have been evinced toward a foreign foe. 
 Full many a Colonist who opposed bitterly the taxation 
 laws could have, if questioned, answered from his heart 
 in the words of dear Sir Walter's hero : 
 
 " My manors, balls, and bowers, sball still 
 Be open, at my sovereign's will, 
 To eacb one wbom he lists, howe'er 
 Unmeet to be the owner's peer. 
 My castles are my king's alone, 
 From turret to foundation stone." 
 
86 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 Under the signature of the " First Citizen" Mr. 
 Carroll contested in the public prints with Daniel 
 Dulany, who took the name of " Ant Hon P The First 
 Citizen, however, proved himself the more efficient of 
 the two combatants, though Dulany's was acknowledged 
 to be the master-mind of Maryland. On every side 
 rose new foes who cast upon him the name of " Jesuit," 
 " Papist," and whatever other epithet might arouse the 
 indignation of the people. They failed, however, in 
 their designs, and although he was taunted with the 
 reminder that as a disfranchised man he was unable to 
 "cast his puny vote," his resolve was unshaken. 
 
 From this time, 1770, to the year 1774, there was a 
 continual agitation of the tax question ; during which 
 time Mr. Carroll's talents were brought into constant 
 use in behalf of his country. On the 14th of October, 
 1774, the brig Peggy Stewart arrived at Annapolis. In 
 its cargo were a few packages of tea consigned to 
 Thomas Williams and company, the duty having been 
 paid by the owner of the vessel, Mr. Anthony Stewart. 
 The indignation of the people was loudly expressed, 
 nor was it soothed by the humble apologies of the de- 
 linquents. By the advice of Charles Carroll, of Carroll- 
 ton, Stewart was forced to set fire to his vessel, and in 
 the presence of a multitude of people, the vessel was 
 burned to the water's edge. The actors in this and 
 other dramas of the kind were the leading citizens of 
 Maryland; undisguised and with the full light of day 
 shining upon their faces, they resisted oppressors and 
 oppression ! In their resistance they were even more 
 determined than the people of Charleston, South Caro- 
 lina, who stored the tea in " damp cellars, where it was 
 quietly permitted to rot." * 
 
 On the 8th of December, 1774, the Convention re- 
 
 * Alexander H. Stephens' History of United States. 
 
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 8*7 
 
 assembled for the purpose of preparation for " an 
 armed resistance to the power of England." Charles 
 Carroll, of Carrollton, having triumphed by the might 
 of right, sat as an honorable member in the Convention. 
 At this meeting full provision was made for the exer- 
 cise of authority by the newly-formed government 
 which had risen silently, yet surely, as a tower of 
 strength by the side of the royal government. In the 
 shadow of these two heads the people moved onward to 
 death and glory! On to the grave! Soldiers for song 
 and story, loving and brave ! Let it not be forgotten 
 that at this convention a resolution was adopted to give 
 to Massachusetts all the aid in their power should Eng- 
 land attempt to force that State into submission. 
 
 Among the distinguished men chosen upon this occa- 
 sion to act in behalf of the people was Charles Carroll, 
 of Carrollton, whose title of Carrollton from the family 
 estates in Frederick county, was adopted in contradis- 
 tinction to Charles Carroll, barrister. The last-named 
 gentlemen was also a native of Annapolis, and said by 
 some to be remotely related to the Carrol Is of Carroll- 
 ton in the "old land/' He was a gentleman of learn- 
 ing, refinement and honorable position, yet not so well 
 off in the matter of lands and goods as the subject of 
 this sketch. 
 
 On the 12th day of December the Convention ad- 
 journed to meet again at the city of Annapolis, on the 
 24th of April, 1775. The Revolution, however, broke 
 into war before the Convention met. 
 
 On the 28th of June, 1776, the delegates, in behalf of 
 the Province, met for the purpose of declaring their 
 intention of proclaiming the Colonies free and indepen- 
 dent, "reserving to the State complete internal sover- 
 eignty" 
 
 Previous to this Mr. Carroll had been sent as a dele- 
 
88 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 gate to Canada, together with Dr. Benjamin Franklin, 
 Samuel Chase, and the Keverend John Carroll. Their 
 mission was for the purpose of persuading the Cana- 
 dians, if possible, to join the Americans against England. 
 From this fruitless mission he had just returned, when 
 the great subject of our national independence was being 
 discussed. Proceeding immediately to Annapolis he 
 argued, with forcible eloquence, the cause for which his 
 soul was armed. Greatly owing to his efforts were the 
 first steps taken in this important decision on the 28th 
 of June. 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1776, Independence was declared 
 at the State House, in Philadelphia. Mr. Carroll was 
 appointed as delegate to Congress from Maryland, and 
 took his seat on the 18th of July, 1776. On the follow- 
 ing day the Article was engrossed, and on the 2nd of 
 August the members were called upon to sign their 
 names. 
 
 Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, assisted in forming the 
 Constitution of Maryland in 1776. Mr. Carroll, haying 
 retained his seat in the Maryland Convention, was 
 chosen as Senator to the First Senate of Maryland, 
 under the Constitution in 1776, and in 1777 reappointed 
 delegate to Congress. In 1778 he resigned the office, 
 but was* re-elected in 1781. During his public career 
 his various talents were frequently brought into play, 
 and served well the country for whose good he strove 
 so nobly. 
 
 Joined to a judgment, clear, calm and generous, his 
 profound study and extensive learning served him in 
 good part, fie was remarkable for elegance of manner 
 — an advantage procured for him through his travels as 
 well as familiarity with the best society at home and 
 abroad. In writing, as in speaking, his style was full, 
 without being diffuse; always logical, marked by ex- 
 
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 8 f J 
 
 treme dignity and sparkling throughout with the orna- 
 mental beauties of literature. 
 
 About the year 1784 he took an active part in a con- 
 ference " upon the subject of opening and improving 
 the navigation of the river Potomac, and concerting a 
 plan for opening a proper road between the waters of 
 the Potomac and the most convenient Western waters." 
 Thus early was introduced the subject of the Chesa- 
 peake and Ohio Canal, in which General Washington 
 and the Marquis de Lafayette were deeply interested. 
 
 In 1788 he was elected to the Senate of the United 
 States, where he served faithfully until 1791. During 
 this time he took an active part in the support of the 
 Federal party at New York, with Jay and other noted 
 men of the period. 
 
 In 1791, he was sent again to the Senate of Maryland, 
 where he remained until 1801. 
 
 In the year 1797, he was chosen as one of the Com- 
 missioners to settle the disputed boundary line between 
 the States of Maryland and Virginia. In 1801, the 
 Democratic party having gained the ascendancy, he re- 
 tired from public life, being then in the sixty-fourth 
 year of his age. A life of excitement and care was ex- 
 changed for one of domestic peace. In this sweet tran- 
 quility, he was blest by the pure love of his children 
 who surrounded him. He was the fortunate possessor 
 of great wealth, and in the full possession of his facul- 
 ties. Easy and affable in manner, and in conversation 
 judicious and elevated, he was usually regarded as the 
 leader in whatever circle he found himself; few were 
 his superiors, and he won the respect of all classes of 
 citizens. While he had struggled manfully in behalf of 
 the young Republic, his old political antagonist had 
 been wrestling against fate on the opposing side. Daniel 
 Pulany, however, had, by the misfortunes of his party. 
 
90 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 been forced into the quieter walks of life early in the 
 day, and when he departed, the glory of a brilliant star 
 faded from view. As a power among the intellects of 
 Maryland, his name is honored, and his memory cher- 
 ished. An ancient lady, whose face brightened at the 
 mention of his name, recalled to mind, with reverential 
 tone, the great old man " who walked across the hills of 
 Maryland, his long camlet cloak fluttering in the breeze, 
 his silvery hair hanging about his shoulders, and the 
 high oaken staff held as a support in his withered 
 hands." Though occupied principally with his family, 
 his social cares and joys, after the year 1801, Mr. Carroll 
 was still frequently called upon to take part in the affairs 
 of general public interest. In the year 1828, he, the 
 only signer of the Declaration of Independence living, 
 laid the first stone of the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad. 
 With spade in hand, he broke the earth for the great 
 iron rails that were in the coming time to bear from 
 Maryland, to all portions of the Union, the triumphs of 
 enterprise: success, wealth, fame! The inauguration 
 of the railroad took place on the 4th of July. Its com- 
 mencement was at the western limit of the city of Bal- 
 timore. 
 
 The North American Eeview of 1829 contains the 
 following with regard to this giant work of civilization : 
 
 " The general direction of the route of the railway, 
 as thus described, is, from Baltimore to the * Point of 
 Kocks,' a little south of west; thence to Hancock, ap- 
 proaching northwest. From Hancock to Cumberland, 
 the general direction is very little south of west, though 
 there is a great circuit in consequence of the direction 
 of the river. Beyond Cumberland, by way of the Cheat, 
 to the western base of the Laurel Kidge, the course, 
 though winding, is included between southwest and 
 west. Thence to the Ohio, the direction is nearly west. 
 
CHARLES CARROLL, OP CARROLLTON. 91 
 
 Should the route by Casselman's river and the Yough- 
 agany be adopted, the general direction from Cumber- 
 land to the mouth of Casselman's river, and thence by 
 the Youghagany to Pittsburg, would be northwest. 
 
 " From this necessarily brief description of the three 
 regions through which the railroad is to pass, our read- 
 ers will have perceived, however, that in its whole extent, 
 its practicableness is beyond doubt. In the western 
 division, extending from the base of the Laurel Hill to 
 the Ohio, there is, on any of the routes, so little serious 
 difficulty to be apprehended, that the ground, on the 
 contrary, is in a high degree favorable. The character 
 of the Allegany, and the other ridges forming with it 
 the height of land between the eastern and western 
 waters, is certainly very different. But of the two 
 principal routes across it, one is by no means impractica- 
 ble ; the other is expected to afford much greater advan- 
 tages. Of the eastern division, the examinations are 
 already so accurate as to evince the perfect facility of its 
 construction. We shall here add some particulars of 
 this last section of the route, embraced between Cum- 
 berland and Baltimore, as it has received a more minute 
 examination than the others, and as an actual com- 
 mencement has been made on a part of it, the twenty- 
 four miles between Baltimore and the fork of the 
 Patapsco above Ellicott's Mills." 
 
 And from the same interesting pages we read : 
 " The contractors have commenced work on the sec- 
 tion between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills, and are 
 rapidly advancing. A part is already finished for the 
 reception of the rails, and there is every reason to expect 
 that the graduation and masonry of the whole of it, 
 together with some farther portions, will be completed 
 by the first of June next. The contracts, notwithstand- 
 ing the shortness of the notice, were readily taken, at 
 
92 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 fair prices ; and the improvements already introduced in 
 the performance of the work, snch as temporary railways 
 for the removal of the earth, with others, will not only 
 reduce the cost to the contractors, but will be beneficially 
 felt in future contracts. Meanwhile, surveys are in pro- 
 gress, in order to a final location of the road. These 
 have already been made on the principal points, as far 
 up the valley of the Potomac as Cumberland. 
 
 " The localities, through which the above surveys have 
 been conducted, are found, so far as the surveys are 
 complete, highly favorable to the structure of the road. 
 The natural surface in the immediate vicinity of the 
 route, is generally firm, and well adapted to its support. 
 Quicksands never occur; the hills are never so abrupt 
 as to require tunneling; and though the course of the 
 road, in order to preserve a level, is necessarily serpen- 
 tine, the distance on the most favorable routes is far less 
 augmented than might be supposed. Cliffs and preci- 
 pices sometimes present themselves ; but none of such 
 extent or difficulty as not to be overcome at an expense 
 comparatively moderate. The necessary timber is found 
 in most parts beyond the immediate vicinity of Balti- 
 more; but locust, though it abounds in some places, is 
 not generally near at hand. The valley of the Potomac, 
 frequently bounded indeed by rugged precipices, passa- 
 ble only by means of artificial roadways, cut into the 
 cliffs, or supported by walls reared from the bed of the 
 river, is for the most part, nevertheless, easy of passage. 
 The rocky debris at the base of the river hills not only 
 afford a foundation, but supply the materials for con- 
 structing the bed of the road at a cheap rate, as also for 
 the numerous small bridges and culverts that will be 
 required. Good building stone is found almost univer- 
 sally. Stone rails can be delivered on the route at the 
 moderate price of eight cents the running foot ; locust 
 
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 93 
 
 sleepers for the same purpose, at twenty-five cents 
 each." 
 
 In January, 1829, the stock of the company was four 
 millions of dollars, of which the State of Maryland and 
 the Corporation of Baltimore held each half a million. 
 Philip E. Thomas, Esq., of Baltimore, was the President 
 of the road. Their board of Engineers consisted of Col- 
 onel Long, J. Knight, Esq., and Captain McNeill. Dr. 
 Howard, of the United States' Engineers, was engaged 
 in the reconnaissance and preliminary surveys on which 
 the first report of the Engineers is founded ; and the 
 Engineer Department liberally gave the assistance of a 
 number of the officers of the army. The Superintendent 
 was Casper Weaver, Esq. 
 
 And thus was introduced to our State this Alpha and 
 Omega of Maryland inland trade and commerce, whose 
 capital stock in 1875 is $16,815,362; Assets, $78,975,- 
 807.95 ; whose President is John W. Garrett. July the 
 4th, 1828, was a gala day in the city of Baltimore. The 
 venerable Charles Carroll, accompanied by other men of 
 distinction, appeared in the line of procession that moved 
 through the principal streets toward the important 
 point. All the trades were represented distinctly; gar- 
 deners, Baltimore county farmers, etc. The ship-car- 
 penters were represented by " a frigate of the first-class, 
 fifteen feet long and of proportionable dimensions in 
 every other respect. The stern was beautifully orna- 
 mented with carved work, representing the American 
 Eagle in wreaths of oak leaves." The Carrollton March 
 was played by the band upon the field, after which the 
 public gathering was addressed by Mr. Morris. On the 
 summit of a hill forming one of a line,, a handsome can- 
 opy was erected, for the reception of Mr. Carroll, the 
 Railroad Directors, the Mayor of Baltimore, and other 
 civil authorities, as well as many invited guests. Along 
 8 
 
94 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 the range of hills extended a line of cavalry, commanded 
 by Captain Kennedy. Mr. Carroll came upon the ground 
 in an open barouche, drawn by four horses, attended by 
 postilions, dressed in blue and white, and wearing tur- 
 ban hats. 
 
 The descriptions in the newspapers of the day are very 
 interesting. Those who opposed the railroad system 
 were as loud in their outcry as those who desired its 
 success. 
 
 On the same day chosen for inaugurating the Balti- 
 more and Ohio Eailroad, ground was broken for the 
 Ohio and Chesapeake Canal, July the 4th, 1828. The 
 President of the United States, who was present, after 
 performing his portion of the ceremony, handed the 
 spade to General Mercer. The day was cloudless, and 
 considered by those who looked on the bright side of 
 the picture, as an auspicious sign, fifty-two years after 
 the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, had two daughters and 
 one son. Miss Catharine Carroll became the wife of 
 Robert Goodloe Harper, the distinguished Virginia 
 soldier-lawyer, who was a patriot and a philanthropist. 
 The eldest daughter married an English gentleman 
 named Richard Caton. The only son, Mr. Charles 
 Carroll, first loved and " courted " Miss Nelly Custis, 
 who preferred the name of Lewis to that of Carroll. 
 After this the young heir discovered his destined wife 
 in the city of Philadelphia. The young lady in ques- 
 tion was Miss Harriet Chew, the sister of the wife of 
 Colonel John Eager Howard. The family of Miss 
 Chew were Episcopalians, and insisted that the mar- 
 riage should be performed according to the ritual of the 
 Church of England, by the venerable Bishop White. 
 Mr. Carroll was finally induced to accede to the wishes 
 of the family. The preparations completed, the cere- 
 
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 95 
 
 mony was to take place in a few moments, when Mrs. 
 Caton arrived, accompanied by Arcbhishop Carroll, of 
 Baltimore. After a few moments conversation with his 
 sister, Mr. Carroll changed the order of approaching 
 events by deciding in favor of the faith of his fathers, 
 and Bishop Carroll performed the marriage ceremony 
 according to the Roman ritual, after which Bishop 
 White performed the service of the Church of England. 
 
 The daughters of Mr. Richard Caton, four noted 
 beauties, made what are termed brilliant matches. 
 Mary Anne married Robert Patterson, the brother-in- 
 law of Jerome Bonaparte. This lady afterward becom- 
 ing a widow, visited England for her health, and soon 
 became the wife of the Marquis of Wellesly, the 
 brother of the Duke of Wellington, and at that time 
 the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Her portrait was 
 painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence. So noted was she 
 for her beauty and accomplishments that the late 
 Bishop England in " toasting " the last survivor of the 
 Declaration of Independence, offered the following 
 tribute : " Charles Carroll, of Carrollton — in the land 
 from which his father fled in fear, his daughter's 
 daughter reigns a queen." 
 
 Louisa Catharine Caton married Sir Harvey Felton, 
 Aid-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington; upon his 
 death she married the eldest son, the Marquis of Car- 
 marthen, who afterward succeeded to his father's title 
 Elizabeth J. Caton married Baron Stafford, the de- 
 scendant of that Stafford who was beheaded in the reign 
 of Charles II, of England, for his supposed favor to the 
 "Popish plot" 
 
 Emily Caton became the wife of John McTavish, a 
 Scotch gentleman living at that time in Canada. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 14th of November, 1832, in the 
 96th year of his age, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, 
 
96 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 passed away from the earth. He died at the house of 
 his daughter in Pratt street, Baltimore, in that portion 
 of the city now known as Old Town. 
 
 The following poetical tribute to " The Last of the 
 Signers," by Lippard, is worthy of being read and re- 
 membered : 
 
 " One by one, the pillars have crumbled from the roof 
 of the temple, and now the last — a trembling column — 
 glows in the sunlight, as it is about to fall. 
 
 " But for the pillar that crumbles, there is no hope that 
 it shall ever tower aloft in its pride again, while for this 
 old man, about to sink into the night of the grave, there 
 is a glorious hope. His memory will live. His eoul 
 will live, not only in the presence of its God, but on the 
 tongues, and in the hearts of millions. The band in 
 which he counts one, can never be forgotten. 
 
 "The last! As the venerable man stands before us, 
 the declining day imparts a warm flush to his face, and 
 surrounds his brow with a halo of light. His lips move 
 without a sound : he is recalling the scenes of the Dec- 
 laration — he is murmuring the names of his brothers in 
 the good work. 
 
 "All gone but him! Upon the woods— dyed with 
 the rainbow of the closing year — upon the stream, dark- 
 ened by masses of shadow — upon the home peeping out 
 from among the leaves, falls mellowing the last light of 
 the declining day. 
 
 " He will never see the sun rise again ! He feels that 
 the silver cord is slowly, gently loosening; he knows 
 the golden bowl is crumbling at the fountain's brink. 
 But death comes on him as a sleep, as a pleasant dream, 
 as a kiss from beloved lips ! 
 
 " He feels that the land of his birth has become a 
 mighty people, and thanks God that he was permitted 
 to behold its blossoms of hope ripen into full life. 
 
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 97 
 
 " In the recess near the window, you behold an altar of 
 prayer ; above it, glowing in the fading light, the image 
 of Jesus seems smiling, even in agony, around that 
 death-chamber. 
 
 " The old man turns aside from the, window. Totter- 
 ing on, he kneels beside the altar, his long dark robe 
 drooping over the floor. He reaches forth his white 
 hands — he raises his eyes to the face of the Crucified. 
 
 " There, in the sanctity of an old man's last prayer, we 
 will leave him. There, where amid the deepening shad- 
 ows, glows the image of the Saviour ; there, where the 
 light falls over the mild face, the wavy hair and tranquil 
 eyes of the aged patriarch. 
 
 "The smile of the Saviour was upon that perilous 
 day, the 4th of July, 1776 ; and now that its promise 
 has brightened into fruition, He seems to — He does 
 smile on it again — even as His sculptured image meets 
 the dying gaze of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, the 
 
 LAST OF THE SIGNERS." 
 
 Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, a Catholic by reason of 
 faith as well as inheritance, had learned w r ell the first 
 great lesson of the mother church : " That obedience is 
 better than sacrifice." In the maturer years of his life? 
 he practiced most rigidly the penance of abstinence on 
 those days set apart by the church as fasting days. He 
 was so faithful in assisting at the divine office, that it 
 was his great pleasure to ^erve the priest during the 
 offering of the holy Mass. In the monthly visits of the 
 missionary priest, Mr. Carroll was the first person on 
 his knees in the confessional. He was a monthly com- 
 municant for many years before his death; and so ear- 
 nest was his desire to repair any wrong impressions 
 caused in earlier days, that he selected the High Mass 
 at eleven o'clock on Easter Sunday to receive commun- 
 ion, and this was his coming back to those neglected 
 
98 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 duties over which his heart had not ceased to mourn, 
 and for which he was bound, as Catholics ever are, to 
 make reparation. In the chapel adjoining his residence 
 at the Manor, he spent many precious hours. This was 
 the first place he sought in the morning, where a half 
 hour was spent in prayer and meditation. The morn- 
 ings were usually passed until one o'clock, P. M., in the 
 cultivation of literature. He wrote Latin with facility, 
 and no day was allowed to pass without the perusal of 
 the works of some of the ancient authors ; yet as age 
 deepened upon him his reading was confined principally 
 to books of a religious character, and their effect, and 
 his sentiments, were constantly revealed in the purity 
 and holiness that prevailed in his conversation. 
 
 His body reposes in the Church at Doughoragan 
 Manor. On the Gospel side of the altar is a monument, 
 erected by order of the late Colonel Charles Carroll, 
 which was executed by the American artist, Bartholo- 
 mew, in Rome, 1853. According to the father of Mr. 
 John Lee Carroll, the house at Doughoragan Manor 
 was built about the year 1717. The men employed in 
 its erection were brought from England for that purpose, 
 and returned home after the completion of the building. 
 
 It is a handsome old-style residence, with a chapel 
 attached, which is connected by a private entrance with 
 the house. The grounds are well kept and extensive, 
 and many an ancient tree, shadowing the sward, bears 
 evidence of " the days that are no more." To use the 
 words of Bishop Pinkney, of Maryland: 
 
 " No living man bad seen it in the bud, 
 And none could tell the day it first took root; 
 While on its brave old trunk a hundred names 
 Were deep engraven. The hands that wrote them 
 Are stiff and cold ; but still the names remain, 
 As fresh as when they were at first engraved, 
 And will remain for ages." 
 
OF CAKROLLTON. 99 
 
 The land on which stand the buildings of Saint 
 Charles College, in Howard county, Maryland, was pre- 
 sented by Mr. Carroll, January the 21st, 1830. His 
 wishes in regard to the purposes of the establishment 
 have been fulfilled thus far. It is a preparatory seminary, 
 under the direction of the order of Saint Sulpice, for the 
 education of youth destined for the priesthood. The col- 
 lege farm was a portion of land originally known as 
 " Mary's Lot," which had been added by Mr. Carroll to 
 Doughoragan Manor by purchase. The transfer could, 
 therefore, be made without injury or injustice to his 
 heirs. The corner-stone of the building was blessed by 
 Archbishop Whitfield; it was then laid by Mr. Carroll, 
 July the 11th, 1831. 
 
 Mr. Carroll was the inheritor of vast tracts of land 
 throughout his native State. Of Carrollton Manor, the 
 following is written of the grant which was obtained 
 from "Charles, Lord Baltimore, a grant of 10,000 acres 
 of land in Frederick county, with liberty to select the 
 best land they could find ; they first fixed on a spot be- 
 yond Frederick town, but finding the land better on 
 this side of Frederick, changed to the spot which the 
 present Mr. Carroll now possesses on the Monocacy 
 river." It is said that the first view ever obtained of 
 these beautiful lands, by the ancestor of Mr. Carroll, 
 was enjoyed from the summit of the Sugar Loaf Moun- 
 tain, a spur of the Blue Ridge. And now, adding to 
 his already full wreath, is presented this golden leaf 
 from the Reminiscences of Macready: 
 
 "We received attentions from many families, among 
 the rest from that of Dr Potter, my physician, a very 
 skillful, intelligent and agreeable man, who accompanied 
 me in a visit which I paid, on his own particular invi- 
 tation, to Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, a man most 
 interesting from his varied and extensive acquirements, 
 
100 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
 
 and, especially, as being the last surviving signer of the 
 Declaration of Independence. He was a rare instance 
 of extreme old age (being then in his ninetieth year), 
 retaining all the vivacity and grace of youth with the 
 polish of one educated in the school of Chesterfield. In 
 my life's experience, I have never met with a more fin- 
 ished gentleman. At his advanced age he kept up his 
 acquaintance with the classics. He spoke of England 
 with respect, and of his own country, its institutions, 
 its prospects, and its dangers, with perfect freedom, an- 
 ticipating its eventual greatness, if not marred by faction 
 and the vice of intemperance in the use of ardent 
 spirits, detaining me, not unwillingly, more than two 
 hours in most attractive conversation. When, at last, I 
 was obliged to take my leave, he rose, and, to my en- 
 treaty that he would not attempt to follow me down 
 stairs, he replied in the liveliest manner, " Oh, I shall 
 never see you again, and so I will see the last of you !"' 
 He shook hands with me at the street door, and I bade 
 a reluctant adieu to one of the noblest samples of man- 
 hood 1 had ever seen, or am ever likely to look upon.'' — 
 Macreadifs Reminiscences, Vol. I, p. 322; London, 1875. 
 
 The following extract is from one of the newspapers 
 of the day, (1875) : 
 
 "In the year 1826, after all save one of the band of 
 patriots whose signatures are borne on the Declaration 
 of Independence had descended to the tomb, and the 
 venerable Carroll alone remained among the living, the 
 government of the city of New York deputed a com- 
 mittee to wait on the illustrious survivor and obtain 
 from him, for deposit in the public hall of the city, a 
 copy of the Declaration of 1776, graced and authenti- 
 cated anew with his sign manual. The aged patriot 
 yielded to the request, and affixed with his own hand to 
 the copy of that instrument the grateful, solemn and 
 pious supplemental declaration which follows: 
 
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 101 
 
 " Grateful to Almighty God for the blessings which, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord, He has conferred on my 
 beloved country in her emancipation, and on myself in 
 permitting me, under circumstances of mercy, to live to 
 the age of eighty-nine years, and to survive the fiftieth 
 year of American independence, and certify by my 
 present signature my approbation of the Declaration of 
 Independence adopted by Congress on the 4th of July, 
 1776, which I originally subscribed on the 2nd day of 
 August of the same year, and of which I am now the 
 last surviving signer, I do hereby recommend to the 
 present and future generations the principles of that im- 
 portant document as the best earthly inheritance their 
 ancestors could bequeath to them, and pray that the 
 civil and religious liberties they have secured to my 
 country may be perpetuated to remotest posterity, and 
 extended to the whole family of man. 
 
 Charles Carroll, of Carrollton." 
 
 "August 2, 1826." 
 
(mC5 
 
 EVENING HYMN. 
 
 THE evening stillness sweetly steals 
 O'er earth and air; 
 The Vesper ehimes, in solemn peals, 
 
 The hour of prayer; 
 While with rapt hearts and bended knee, 
 We chant our evening hymn to thee, 
 Virgin Bless'd, to thee ! 
 
 The birds with music sweet, no more 
 
 The forest fill; 
 The melody of day is o'er. 
 
 All, all is still ; 
 Save that in holy harmony, 
 We chant our evening hymn to thee, 
 
 Virgin Bless'd, to thee! 
 
 Virgin Mother, linger near, 
 
 Our prayers approve, 
 
 And upward to our Father bear 
 Our words of love, 
 
 While robed in faith our souls agree 
 
 To chant our evening hymn to thee, 
 Virgin Bless'd, to thee! 
 
 George Hay Ringgold, 
 
 United States Army. 
 
THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL, 
 First Archbishop of Baltimore. 
 
 MONG the dauntless soldiers of Maryland was 
 one who wore an invisible armor. This was 
 John Carroll, the hero of a thousand victories. 
 Marking his triumphal way, imperishable 
 monuments have arisen to immortalize his fame. His 
 fame is linked with the name of the Great Captain 
 whose work he did most faithfully. The name of his 
 Captain is the watch-word of Eternity. It is em- 
 blazoned upon the ramparts of Time, unchanging as 
 the rock-bound "inviolet hills." It will resound 
 through the far realms of the Everlasting, when the 
 ages are no more. 
 
 John Carroll was the third son of Daniel Carroll, of 
 Ireland, who in his youth had emigrated to the Colony 
 of Maryland. Belonging to a Roman Catholic family 
 of the " mother-land," he had forfeited his rights as a 
 property-holder because of his faith. Daniel Carroll 
 established himself as a merchant at Upper Marl- 
 borough, on the Patuxent river, in Maryland. He 
 married Miss Eleanor Darnall, the daughter of Mr. 
 Darnall, a gentleman of wealth, who was, like Mr. 
 Carroll, also a Roman Catholic. Miss Darnall, who 
 had been educated in. France, was not alone cultured 
 and refined in manner and intellect to the exclusion of 
 
104 THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 
 
 her heart; she was noted for those virtues that en- 
 noble and purify the life of woman, and render home 
 beautiful in its peace. She was the mother of John 
 Carroll, who was born at Upper Marlborough, in Mary- 
 land, on the 8th day of January, 1735. This day 
 noted in American history for the gaining of a victory 
 by the force of arms deserves to be doubly celebrated as 
 the birth-day of the great and good Bishop, whose tri- 
 umphs were achieved through the power of Christianity. 
 He was the instrument selected by the Divine Will to 
 accomplish a high and holy mission. Urged onward 
 by a sublime inspiration only comprehended by those 
 upon whom Heaven bestows its best gifts, he fulfilled 
 most perfectly the commands of his Koyal Guide. 
 
 At the age of twelve he was placed at a grammar 
 school established at Bohemia. This place, situated 
 upon what was known as a manor in the early days of 
 Terre Maria, claims an important notice in our history. 
 The founder of this manor was that remarkable man, 
 Augustine Herman, whose story is so strangely inter- 
 woven with that of the Lord Proprietary of Maryland. 
 
 After a time John Carroll was sent to the College of 
 Saint Omer, in French Flanders. This institution was 
 under the direction of the Jesuits. It was also the 
 place of learning selected for the early training of 
 his relative Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, who was for 
 a time his schoolmate. At the termination of six years 
 John Carroll finished the usual college course ; he was 
 then placed at a college at Liege, which was also under 
 the direction of the Jesuits. While at this institution 
 he formed the resolution of pursuing a course of the- 
 ology preparatory to entering the order known as the 
 Society of Jesus. This order, founded by Saint Ignatius, 
 of Loyola, is honored for its noble works of charity as 
 well as for the profound learning of many of its mem- 
 
THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 105 
 
 bers. Having fulfilled the term of a novice, John 
 Carroll was ordained as a priest in 1769, and in 1771 
 he was professed. 
 
 Before renouncing the world he settled the estate, 
 which he had inherited from his father, upon his 
 brother, Daniel Carroll, Esq., and his two younger 
 sisters. 
 
 Father John Carroll was now sent to Saint Omer's 
 college, where he held the place of professor in that 
 institution. Eeturning in a short time to Liege, he 
 directed the students of the higher classics. He was 
 thus employed when the order for the supression of the 
 Society of Jesus was executed, in 1773. When the 
 Jesuits were driven from their domains in Trance, the 
 colleges of Saint Omer and Liege were closed. The 
 young Jesuit, Father John Carroll, on the 11th of 
 September, 1773, wrote the following letter from 
 Bruges, which is extracted, with much of the material 
 for this sketch, from Mr. Brent's life of Bishop Carroll : 
 
 " I this day received a few lines from Daniel, of July 
 15th, in which he complains with much reason of my 
 long silence. My mind is at present too full of other 
 things to make any apology. After spending part of 
 the autumn of 1772 at Naples, and its environs, we 
 returned to pass the winter at Kome, where I stayed 
 till near the end of March ; from thence came to Flor- 
 ence, Geneva, Tunis, Lyons, Paris, and so to Liege and 
 Bruges. I was willing to accept of the vacant post of 
 Prefect of the Sodality here, after consigning Mr. 
 Stourton into his Father's hands about two months ago, 
 that I might enjoy some retirement, and consider well 
 in the presence of God the disposition I found myself 
 in of going to join my relatives in Maryland, and in 
 case that disposition continued, to get out next Spring; 
 but now all room for deliberation seems over. The 
 9 
 
106 THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 
 
 enemies of the Society, and above all the unrelenting 
 perseverance of the Spanish and Portuguese Ministries, 
 with the passiveness of the Court of Vienna, have at 
 length obtained their ends, and our so long persecuted, 
 and I must add, holy Society, is no more. God's holy 
 will be done, and may His name be blessed for ever and 
 ever! This fatal stroke was struck on the 21st of July, 
 but was kept secret at Rome till the 16th of August, 
 and was only made known to us on the 5th of Septem- 
 ber. I am not, and perhaps never shall be, recovered 
 from the shock of this dreadful intelligence. The 
 greatest blessing which, in my estimation, 1 could re- 
 ceive from God, would be immediate death ; but if He 
 deny me this, may His holy and adorable designs on me 
 be wholly fulfilled. Is it possible that Divine Provi- 
 dence should permit to such an end, a body wholly 
 devoted, and I will still aver, with the most disinter- 
 ested charity, in procuring every comfort and advantage 
 to their neighbors, whether by preaching, teaching, 
 catechizing, missions, visiting hospitals, prisons, and 
 every other function of spiritual and corporal mercy ? 
 Such I have beheld it in every part of my travels, the 
 first of all ecclesiastical bodies in the esteem and con- 
 fidence of the faithful, and certainly the most laborious. 
 "What will become of our flourishing congregations with 
 you, and those cultivated by the German Fathers ? 
 These reflections crowd so fast upon me that I almost 
 lo3e my senses ; but I will endeavor to suppress them 
 for a few moments. You see that I am now my own 
 master, and left to my own direction. In returning to 
 Maryland I shall have the comfort of not only being 
 with you, but of being farther out of the reach of 
 scandal and defamation, and removed from the scenes 
 of distress of many of my dearest friends, whom God 
 knows, I shall not be able to relieve. I shall, therefore, 
 
THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 1U7 
 
 most certainly sail for Maryland early next Spring, if 
 I possibly can." 
 
 When the suppression of the Jesuit order was finally 
 effected, he retired to England. For a while he actet\ 
 as Secretary to those members of the Society born in 
 the British dominions, who addressed a petition of re- 
 monstrance to the government of France regarding the 
 seizure of their property. At this period Father Car- 
 roll was induced by Lord Stourton, a Soman Catholic 
 nobleman, to make the tour of the continent of Europe 
 in the capacity of preceptor to his son, the Honorable 
 Mr. Stourton. During this tour he wrote for his pupil 
 a brief history of England. To the termination of this 
 tour he alludes in the letter presented above. 
 
 Upon his arrival in England he was invited by Lord 
 Arundel to reside in his family, asking that his friend 
 would act as chaplain to his household. This invita- 
 tion he graciously accepted, and was thus enabled to 
 bestow the comfort of religions assurances upon the 
 catholic family of Wardour House. Wardonr Castle, 
 whose ruins are near by, is conspicuous in history as 
 having been defended against assault during five days, 
 by a garrison of twenty-five men under the command of 
 the Lady Blanche Arundel. The attack was made dur- 
 ing a brief absence of her husband ; the fair lady was 
 finally compelled to surrender on honorable terms. 
 Upon the return of her husband, Lord Thomas 
 Arundel, he caused a mine to be sprung under the 
 castle, which was thereby reduced to a state of ruin in 
 1643. The more modern building, known as Wardour 
 House, is a handsome mansion situated in the midst of 
 a grove. Among numerous pictures and relics of the 
 days of old, there is said to be a fine portrait of the 
 Lady Blanche Arundel. Near the altar of the beauti- 
 ful chapel is a monument erected in memory of Thomas, 
 second Lord Arundel, and his heroic wife. 
 
108 THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 
 
 Father John Carroll remained much longer than had 
 been his expectation in England. He had vainly hoped 
 to behold the re-establishment of the Jesuit order in 
 the catholic States of Europe. Being disappointed in 
 this hope, he embarked in one of the last vessels that 
 sailed from England for America. Arriving in his 
 native land just before the outbreak of the Revolution- 
 ary war, he landed at Richland, in Virginia, the estate 
 of William Brent, Esq., who had married the second 
 sister of Father Carroll. 
 
 He spent two days in the society of his sisters in Vir- 
 ginia, both of whom were married to gentlemen of the 
 same sirname, William and Robert Brent. His widowed 
 mother resided with her two younger daughters in 
 Montgomery county, Md. Toward them he hastened 
 with love and respect. Duty, to whose call he was ever 
 attentive, left him little time for the endearing associa- 
 tions of home. Gathering together the. Catholics of 
 Montgomery, he formed them into congregations, ex- 
 pending much labor and care in their instruction. 
 Daring this time he also extended his devoted zeal to 
 the ministration of the Catholics in the neighborhood 
 of his sisters' home at Aquia Creek, Stafford county, in 
 the State of Virginia. Although desiring to extend the 
 faith practically in all places, his heart went out natu- 
 rally to those of his own blood first ; these were the 
 descendants of those men and women who had suffered 
 persecution, renounced worldly honors, and titles, and 
 goods, in behalf of religion. There was at this time no 
 Catholic church built in Virginia. Mass was celebrated 
 at the house of Mr. Brent; those of this faith who had 
 banded themselves together as a congregation, would, 
 upon the coming of a priest from Maryland, receive the 
 sacrament, and listen to instructions from the servant 
 of the Church. 
 
THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 109 
 
 He built the chapel of Saint John's, in Montgomery 
 county, Maryland, a portion of which still stands as an 
 evidence of his early labors. The rear of the building is 
 the only portion standing from early days. Yet, not- 
 withstanding the modern additions and repairs, the 
 names and associations clustering about this sacred edi- 
 fice render it dear to the Maryland heart. Ranked 
 around the walls of this ancient chapel, like sentinels, 
 lie those " who have gone before in the sign of peace." 
 Among other graves is that of Bishop Carroll's mother. 
 Upon the old tombstone is the following inscription : 
 " Eleanor Carroll, relict of Daniel Carroll, died 3d of 
 February, 1796, aged 92." His father is also said to be 
 buried in the same place, with others of the Carroll 
 family. 
 
 Although the works of Father John Carroll had made 
 his name as a shining light amongst his fellow-men, yet 
 in his great wisdom his heart remained always humble. 
 He was not, however, destined to continue in the more 
 secluded walks of Life. In the year 1789, a general 
 meeting of the Roman Catholic clergy of the United 
 States was held in Baltimore city, at which it was de- 
 cided to petition the Roman Pontiff to appoint a Bishop 
 to the See in Baltimore. The Reverend John Carroll 
 was unanimously named as the candidate to the high 
 office. The following letters, published in Mr. Brent's 
 " Life of Bishop Carroll," relate to the selection and 
 election of a Bishop to the Baltimore See : 
 
 In 1789 Father John Carroll writes to his friend, the 
 Reverend Charles Plowden : 
 
 " I received, only about the middle of last month, 
 Cardinal Antonelli's letter, dated in July last, by which 
 he informs me that his holiness has granted our request 
 for an ordinary bishop, the See to be fixed by ourselves, 
 and the choice to be made by the officiating clergymen. 
 9* 
 
110 THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 
 
 The matter will be gone on immediately, and God, I 
 trust, will direct to a good choice. This confidence is 
 my comfort ; otherwise I should be full of apprehensions 
 of the choice falling where it would be fatal indeed." 
 
 Very fully was his desire realized, yet not perhaps 
 according to his expectations. In the spring of the 
 same year he wrote as follows : 
 
 " Communicating freely with you, as I do, you would 
 not forgive me, were I to omit informing you that a 
 grant had been made to all our officiating clergy to 
 choose one of their body as bishop ; and it is left to our 
 determination whether he shall be an ordinary, taking 
 his title from some town of our appointment, or a titular 
 bishop, by which, I understand, a bishop constituted 
 over a country, without the designation of any particu- 
 lar see. Our brethren chose to have an ordinary bishop, 
 and named Baltimore to be the bishop's title, this being 
 the principal town of Maryland, and that State being 
 the oldest and still the most numerous residence of our 
 religion in America, So far all was right. We then 
 proceeded to the election, the event of which was such 
 as deprives me of all expectation of rest or pleasure 
 henceforward, and fills me with terror, with respect to 
 eternity. I am so stunned with the issue of this busi- 
 ness, that I truly hate the hearing or mention of it, and 
 therefore will say only, that since my brethren, whom 
 in this case I consider as the interpreters of the Divine 
 Will, say I must obey, I will even do it, if, by obeying, I 
 shall sacrifice henceforth every moment of peace and 
 satisfaction. I most earnestly commend myself to your 
 prayers and those of my other friends." 
 
 In 1790 Father Carroll won't to England to be conse- 
 crated as " Bishop of Baltimore." In reply to an invi- 
 tation from his friend, Thomas Weld, Esq., of England, 
 to be consecrated at his residence, he writes : " I cannot 
 
THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. Ill 
 
 sufficiently acknowledge the most obliging and honora- 
 ble testimony of Mr. Weld's regard ; you will be pleased 
 to express, with all that warmth which you can com- 
 municate to your expressions, my deep sense of his gen- 
 erous politeness. 
 
 " My inclination certainly leads me to accept of an offer 
 not only so flattering, but which will afford me an op- 
 portunity of seeing some of those friends whom I shall 
 ever honor and love. But I cannot yet determine what 
 I shall do. I still flatter myself that Divine Providence 
 will provide some worthier subject to be its instrument 
 in founding a church in America." 
 
 Divine Providence did select its most worthy subject 
 to found the Church in America, and in the summer of 
 that year Father Carroll sailed for the shores of the old 
 world. He was consecrated on Sunday, the 15th day of 
 August, the Feast of the Assumption of the Mother of 
 God, in the Chapel of Lul worth Castle. The act of 
 consecration was performed during the ceremony of 
 High Mass, by the Eight Reverend Charles Walmsley, 
 Bishop of Rama, Senior Vicar Apostolic of the Catholic 
 Church in the Kingdom of Great Britain. An eloquent 
 address was delivered by Father Charles Plowden, of 
 the Society of Jesus. Mr. Brent says, in writing of 
 Mr. Weld on this occasion : " The munificence of that 
 gentleman omitted no circumstance which could possi- 
 bly add dignity to so venerable a ceremony. The two 
 prelates were attended by +heir respective assistant 
 priest and acolytes, according to the rubric of the Roman 
 pontifical. The richness of their vestments, the music 
 of the choir, the multitude of the wax-lights, and the 
 ornaments of the altar, concurred to increase the splen- 
 dor of the solemnity, which made a lasting impression 
 upon every beholder." 
 
 Lulworth is a castle on the coast of Dorsetshire, and 
 
112 THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 
 
 is supposed to be built on the site of a castle mentioned 
 by historians as standing in 1146. It is built princi- 
 pally from material taken from the ruins of Bindon 
 Abbey. The foundation was laid in 1588, and the 
 building was completed in 1641, at which time it was 
 purchased by the family of Weld. The east front is 
 laced with Ohilmark stone, and the landing-place was 
 named the Cloisters, because it was paved with the 
 stones from the cloisters of Bindon Abbey. The chapel 
 is a short distance from the castle, and was erected by 
 Mr. Weld, who was afterward created a Cardinal. It 
 is built in the form of a circle, " increased by four sec- 
 tions of a circle so as to form a cross ;" it is dedicated 
 to the Virgin Mother of God. The account given by 
 that recorder of beautiful antiquities, John Timbs, is 
 full of interest regarding the castle and its owners. 
 
 On the 13th of September, 1790, Bishop Carroll wrote 
 from London to a friend, in reply to an invitation to re- 
 visit the home of Mr. Weld : 
 
 " I am sorry, very sorry indeed, to inform you that I 
 cannot, without the greatest inconvenience, revisit Lul- 
 worth, and present once more my respectful thanks to 
 the worthy master and mistress of the castle. I have 
 balanced long in my mind, the opposite considerations 
 of further sojournment in England, and immediate re- 
 turn to America; and I think, after all deliberation, 
 that my duty calls me to return immediately to my 
 diocese, and give the example of residence in it; for, in 
 general, bishops are so ready to admit pretexts for ex- 
 empting themselves from that obligation, that I think 
 myself bound to give them no encouragement by my 
 
 example, even on a plausible pretense 
 
 I cannot resolve on this without great pain of mind. 
 •. . . Long shall I retain the im- 
 pression made on me at Lulworth Castle by the good- 
 
THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 113 
 
 ness, the charity, the loveliness of every branch of that 
 most respectable family ; and I am sure my heart will 
 be full of the gratefullest emotions when I shall sail 
 abreast of the castle. They will accompany me to 
 America, and will be soothed, though revived afresh, 
 whenever I shall have the comfort of a letter from you." 
 
 In October of 1790, he sailed from Gravesend, arriving 
 at Baltimore on the 7th of December. Bishop Madison, 
 of Virginia, who had accompanied him on the voyage 
 to England, for the purpose of being consecrated bishop 
 of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Old Dominion, 
 returned with him to America. They long continued 
 in friendly intercourse after this companionship upon 
 the rough waves of the Atlantic. 
 
 Bishop Carroll thus writes to a friend in England, 
 after arriving in America : 
 
 " At my arrival, as my friends in Baltimore got notice 
 of the ship being in the bay, I was met by a large body 
 of Catholics and others at the landing and conducted to 
 our house. On the following Sunday you may believe 
 the concourse of all sorts of people to our church was 
 very great, though the day proved unfavorable. Five of 
 my brethren were with me. They, with the trustees or 
 wardens of the church, received me, vested in my ponti- 
 ficals, at the door, and walked into the church proces- 
 sionally ; after the Asperges, and whilst the Te Deum 
 was singing, I was conducted to the foot of the altar, 
 and, after it was finished, to the pontifical seat or 
 throne, where I received the obeisance of the clergy and 
 some of the laity, in behalf of the rest, they approaching 
 to kiss the episcopal ring." " After remaining a few 
 days in Baltimore," continues Mr. Brent, " he hastened 
 to the residence of his mother, to testify toward her 
 those sentiments of love and veneration which charac- 
 terized so strongly his intercourse with her." 
 
114 THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL, 
 
 Through the instrumentality of Bishop Carroll, whilst 
 in England, arrangements were entered into with the 
 Eeverend Mr. Nagot, a director of the Ecclesiastic Sem- 
 inary of St. Sulpice, in Paris, for establishing a similar 
 institution in this country. The political troubles of 
 France haying arrived at a most unhappy state about 
 this period, the Sulpicians were forced to withdraw from 
 that country, which, through the assistance of the United 
 States Minister, Gouverncur Morris, Esq., they accom- 
 plished in peace. They were allowed to transfer a por- 
 tion of their funds and property to America. Purchas- 
 ing a house and several acres of land near the city of 
 Baltimore, the Sulpicians in 1791, under the immediate 
 direction of Monsieur Nagot, their former director, 
 established a seminary, which was elevated to the dig- 
 nity of a university by an Act of the Maryland Legisla- 
 ture, in January, 1805. 
 
 Bishop Carroll, taking an extended view of intellectual 
 culture as well as that pertaining to the soul, gave every 
 aid in his power toward the advancement of education 
 throughout the country. Through his zeal, which is 
 well worthy of imitation, he opened many a passage to 
 the wonderful fountains of knowledge. 
 
 In writing to the editors of the Columbian Magazine, 
 he said: "I purchase and read your magazine, when 
 convenient, because I wish well to every undertaking 
 for the advancement of useful knowledge amongst my 
 countrymen. But I am sorry to find that some of your 
 correspondents endeavor to render your work the vehicle 
 of disingenuity, and to taint it with the poison of reli- 
 gious rancor. They care not, it seems, how much they 
 misrepresent facts and doctrines, provided they can 
 bring disrepute on the party, which they have devoted 
 
 to contempt One of them 
 
 sends you a fabricated history of Cardinal Tusloue, who 
 
THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 115 
 
 never existed, and which you inserted in a former mag- 
 azine; this history he enriched with inflammatory com- 
 ments; but he had neither justice nor candour enough 
 to undeceive your readers by informing them that the 
 whole was a malicious fable. I must waive ceremony 
 so far, as to remind you, that you come in yourself for a 
 share of this blame. For having published so false a 
 relation, it became you to correct your mistake, after 
 you found that it was contradicted in the foreign prints, 
 which suggested the first lines of invention to your im- 
 proving correspondent 
 
 Thanks to the genuine spirit of Christianity, the United 
 States have banished intolerance from their systems of 
 government, and many of them have done the justice to 
 every denomination of Christians, which ought to be 
 done to them in all, of placing them on the same foot- 
 ing of citizenship, and conferring an equal right of par- 
 ticipation in national privileges. Freedom and indepen - 
 dence, acquired by the united efforts, and cemented 
 with the mingled blood of Protestant and Catholic 
 fellow-citizens, should be eqnally enjoyed by all. The 
 Jersey State was the first which, in forming her new 
 constitution, gave the unjust example of reserving to 
 Protestants alone the prerogatives of government and 
 legislation. At that very time the American army 
 swarmed with Roman Catholic soldiers, and the world 
 would have held them justified had they withdrawn 
 themselves from the defence of a State which treated 
 them with so much cruelty and injustice, and which 
 they then actually covered from the depredations of the 
 British army." 
 
 Among his writings the journal kept by the Reverend 
 Mr. Carroll, while traveling with the Hon. Mr. Stour- 
 ton, is of a most interesting nature, referring particularly 
 to Alsace and Lorraine, whose beautiful names have 
 become donblv historic. 
 
116 THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 
 
 A correspondence of some length was carried on be- 
 tween the Bishop of Baltimore, who was also the recog- 
 nized bishop of the thirteen original States, and a writer 
 who signed himself "Liberal" in the public prints. 
 This correspondence opened by an attack on the part of 
 " Liberal " upon the church and its most distinguished 
 representative in America. 
 
 These letters served only to gain a greater degree of 
 admiration and respect for John, Bishop of Baltimore, 
 rather than, as his enemies seemed to hope, humiliation 
 and reproach. Not long after this, he sent to the Pres- 
 ident of the United States an eloquent appeal in behalf 
 of his fellow-countrymen of the Eoman faith. To this 
 paper were attached the names of John Carroll, in behalf 
 of the clergy, and those of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, 
 Daniel Carroll, Thomas Fitzsimmons and Dominick 
 Lynch, on the part of the laity. 
 
 In the address to the President, the following occurs : 
 " In war you shield them from the ravages of armed 
 hostility ; in peace you establish public tranquility by 
 the justice and moderation, not less than by the vigor, 
 of your government. By example, as well as by vigi- 
 lance, you extend the influence of laws on the manners 
 of our fellow-citizens. You encourage respect for re- 
 ligion, and inculcate, by words and actions, that princi- 
 ple on which the welfare of nations so much depends, 
 that a superintending Providence governs the events of 
 the world, and watches over the conduct of men/' The 
 reply to this address was dictated by that magnanimity 
 of soul that gave Washington his fame. Having re- 
 ceived from a tribe of Indians in the north, a petition, 
 asking that clergymen be sent to their aid, Archbishop 
 Carroll sent to Europe for two French priests to act as 
 missionaries, who responded with holy zeal to the call. 
 On the 22nd of February, 1800, Archbishop Carroll, in 
 
THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL 117 
 
 response to an invitation from the Congress, delivered 
 an address upon the character and life of General 
 Washington, the departed hero. The discourse was 
 given in Saint Peter's Church, in Baltimore city. 
 
 The following extracts, taken therefrom, must suffice 
 as an example : 
 
 " When the death of men distinguished by superior 
 talents, high endowments, and eminent services to their 
 country, demands the expression of public mourning 
 and grief, their loss is accompanied, generally, with this 
 mitigation, that however grievous and painful, it is not 
 irreparable; and that the void caused by their mortality 
 will, perhaps, be filled up by others, uniting equal abili- 
 ties with the same zeal and watchfulness for the general 
 welfare. Hope then wipes off the tears with which 
 sorrow bedews the grave of departed worth. But on 
 the present occasion, no such consolation can be admin- 
 istered ; for he, whose expectations are most sanguine, 
 dares not promise again to his country the union of so 
 many splendid and useful virtues as adorned that illus- 
 trious man, whose memory excites our grateful and ten- 
 der sensibility, and to whose tomb the homage of his 
 country is to be solemnly offered on this day. Whether 
 we consult our own experience, by bringing into com- 
 parison with Washington any of our contemporaries, 
 most eminent for their talents, virtues and services, or 
 whether we search through the pages of history, to dis- 
 cover in them a character of equal fame, justice and 
 truth will acknowledge that he stands supereminent and 
 unrivaled in the annals of mankind, and that no one 
 before him, acting in such a variety of new and arduous 
 situations, bore with him to the grave a reputation as 
 clear from lawless ambition, and as undefiled by injus- 
 tice or oppression: a reputation neither depressed by 
 indolence, nor weakened by irresolution, nor shadowed 
 10 
 
118 THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 
 
 by those imperfections, which seemed to be the essential 
 appendages of human nature, till Providence exhibited 
 in Washington this extraordinary phenomenon. What 
 language can be equal to the excellence of such a char- 
 acter ? ......... Pardon, 0, departed 
 
 spirit of the first of heroes ! if, with the cold accents 
 of an exhausted imagination, I likewise dare attempt to 
 celebrate thy name, whilst so many sons of genius, ar- 
 dent in youthful vigor, delineate in glowing colors the 
 vivid features of thy mind, and the glorious deeds of 
 thy virtuous life. With unequal steps, I venture on the 
 same career, not seeking to add lustre to the fame of 
 Washington, or perpetuate his memory to future times ; 
 for he is already enshrined in the records of immortal- 
 ity ; but humbly hoping that a recital of his services 
 will open to our countrymen the road to true honor, 
 and kindle in their breasts the warmth of generous 
 
 emulation and real patriotism 
 
 Modest as he was eminent in valor and wisdom, he con- 
 templated with mingled emotions of self-diffidence and 
 generous resolution, the important stake placed in his 
 hands ; the subjection or independence, the vassalage 
 or freedom of an immense territory, destined to be the 
 habitation of countless millions. When, therefore, in 
 obedience to the voice of his country, he placed himself 
 at the head of her army, the expressions of his depend- 
 ence on Providence should never be forgotten. Claim- 
 ing no personal merit, apprehensive of injuring the 
 public interest through some misconduct ; yet trusting 
 to the justice of his cause, and conscious of the purity 
 of his motives, he called upon his fellow-citizens to re- 
 member that he depended for success, not on his own 
 military skill, but on the God of battles, to whom he 
 
 made his solemn appeal 
 
 " Tender of the blood of his fellow-soldiers, and 
 
THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 119 
 
 never exposing their lives without cause or prospect of 
 advantage, humanity was as dear to him as victory, as 
 his enemies that fell into his power always experienced. 
 " When a decree of retaliation became necessary to re- 
 strain their licentious excesses, with what delicacy, 
 without the least abatement of fortitude, did he save 
 the life of the victim, devoted to atone for the cruelty 
 that had been committed on an American officer ! Not, 
 however, till he had compelled the opposing general to 
 restrain and disavow outrages, that aggravate so much 
 
 the necessary evils of war The 
 
 last act of his supreme magistracy was to inculcate, in 
 most impressive language, on his countrymen, or rather 
 on his dearest children, this, his deliberate and solemn 
 advice, to bear incessantly in their minds that nations 
 and individuals are under the moral government of an 
 infinitely wise and just Providence, that the foundations 
 of their happiness are morality and religion, and their 
 union amongst themselves their rock of safety ; that to 
 venerate their Constitution and its laws is to insure 
 their liberty." 
 
 Archbishop Carroll laid the corner-stone of the 
 Cathedral at Baltimore on the 7th day of July, 1806. 
 In the month of June, 1876, the Cathedral being com- 
 pleted and its debt removed, it was consecrated by Arch- 
 bishop James Roosevelt Bayley, of Baltimore. 
 
 The architect of the building was B. H. Latrobe, 
 Esq., of Baltimore, a gentleman of culture and talents 
 of a rare order. 
 
 Archbishop Carroll, it will be remembered, was one of 
 the delegates chosen to visit the people of Canada dur- 
 ing the Revolutionary period. Among the movers for 
 the good of the public, his name was always prominent. 
 It is found on the records of the old Board of Visitors 
 to Saint John's College, at Annapolis, with those of 
 other distinguished men of the times. 
 
120 THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 
 
 Archbishop Carroll was a true patriot. Closely linked 
 with a love of God was his love of country. The purest 
 patriotism is blended with religion ; its fire purges the 
 motive from the taint of earthly ambition that seeks an 
 utterly selfish glory. 
 
 He was a friend to the poor in word and deed, giving 
 them, to the fullest extent of his means, his surest help. 
 He was, as are ever the truly great, unostentatious. 
 The following passage from one of the contemporary 
 papers thus refers to the Archbishop immediately after 
 his death : 
 
 " The character of Archbishop Carroll seemed indeed 
 to be filled up with wonderful care. He viewed the 
 manners of different nations, saw the courts of kings 
 and the meetings of philosophers, and added the liber- 
 ality of a true philosopher and the accomplishments of 
 a gentleman to the apostolic dignity of his calling. 
 Temptation drew forth the purity of his virtue, and 
 like Shadrach, he walked erect in the flames. He early 
 marked the rise of the baneful meteor of French 
 Philosophy; but he gathered his spiritual children 
 under his wings, and protected them in security. He 
 was permitted to witness a great revival of religion, 
 and, in the abundant prosperity of his particular 
 church, to reap the harvest of his toil and labor of his 
 life." 
 
 He died on Sunday, the 3d of December, 1815, at his 
 residence in Baltimore. He was in the eightieth year 
 of his age, with clear and calm intellectual faculties. 
 In response to his expressed desire, he was placed upon 
 the floor, that he might die in a more humble posture, 
 and thus render his last inevitable sacrifice as accepta- 
 ble as possible in the eyes of his Creator. A circum- 
 stance which has often been told of, evinced his rare 
 perception and peacefulness at the approach of death : 
 
THE MOST REVEREND JOHN CARROLL. 121 
 
 A discussion having arisen as to the proper ceremonies, 
 and the religious observances attending the decease of 
 an Archbishop, the book containing the necessary forms 
 was discovered to be in the chamber of the dying pre- 
 late. Some one quietly entered the room for the pur- 
 pose of removing the book. Without turning his head, 
 the Archbishop spoke, saying that he knew what was 
 needed, and directed attention to the shelf where the 
 volume rested. He guarded jealously all Church honors, 
 whose glory reverts to God. Before departing, he re- 
 quested to have read to him the beautiful psalm of 
 David, " Have mercy on me, God, according to Thy 
 great mercy !" To him who had only offered sacrifice 
 to God, we must believe that "according to the multi- 
 tude " of " tender mercies," much love was shown in 
 Heaven. 
 
 A full and very interesting account of the life and 
 labors of Archbishop Carroll is given by Eichard H. 
 Clarke, in the volume entitled " The Lives of the De- 
 ceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United 
 States of America." 
 
 10* 
 
WHEN SOFT STARS. 
 
 "IT/" HEN soft stars are peeping 
 ft Through the pure azure sky, 
 And southern gales sweeping 
 
 Their warm breathings by. 
 Like sweet music pealing 
 
 Far o'er the blue sea, 
 There comes o'er me stealing 
 
 Sweet memories of thee. 
 
 The bright rose, when faded, 
 
 Flings forth o'er its tomb 
 Its velvet leaves laded 
 
 With silent perfume; 
 Thus round me will hover, 
 
 In grief, or in glee, 
 Till life's dieam be over, 
 
 Sweet memories of thee. 
 
 As a sweet lute, that lingers 
 
 In silence alone, 
 Unswept by light fingers, 
 
 Scarce murmurs a tone, 
 My young heart resembled 
 
 That lute, light and free, 
 'Till o'er its chords trembled 
 
 Those memories of thee. 
 Amelia B. Welby. 
 
CHABLES WILSON PEALE, 
 
 Artist. 
 
 HE Reverend Charles Peale, of Edith Weston, 
 in the county of Rutland, England, was an 
 Episcopal clergyman. He died at Stamford, 
 Lincolnshire, in the year 1724. His son, 
 Charles Peale, had been educated for the English min- 
 istry, but preferred coming to America. He settled in 
 Maryland and married Margaret Triggs ; and after the 
 birth of their first child, they removed from Queen Anne 
 to Chestertown, in Kent county, in the same State. 
 Here he became the master of the county school, receiv- 
 ing day and boarding scholars. Surveying was taught 
 by Mr. Peale, as well as the classics. Following the 
 bent of his father, he occasionally occupied the. pulpit. 
 Among existing relics of tne past is a letter-book of 
 Charles Peale; the incidents noted on its pages date 
 from 1745 to 1747. In a bold, manly hand, he addresses 
 his "sister and only relation:" "On St, George's day, 
 the 23d of April last, I had a most charming boy born 
 to me, whom my friends, particularly Mr. Sterling, 
 would, for the honor of our English patron, oblige me 
 to call St. George ; and my thanks be to God, Charles 
 gro^s apace, but is just such another dirty, wading 
 sloven, as I can remember myself to have been at his 
 age and older." We may judge from this that the baby 
 
124 CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 
 
 artist whose pictures were as yet nnpainted, did not sit 
 with clasped hands gazing on the cloudless sky, but 
 preferred, like other little boys and girls of more ordi- 
 nary cast, to dabble in the gutter or shape mud-pies. 
 This sister, to whom Mr. Peale addresses himself, was 
 held very near to his heart. She married the Keverend 
 Joseph Digby, and in another letter he congratulates her 
 upon "her spouse being made rector of St. Mary's, 
 Stamford, in Lincolnshire." 
 
 Mr. Charles Peale died in Chestertown, Maryland, in 
 the year 1750. He left a widow and five children ; the 
 eldest, Charles Wilson, whose birth is thus recorded in 
 Saint Paul's Parish, Queen Anne county : " Charles Wil- 
 son, eldest son of Charles Peale, and heir intail to the 
 Manor of Wotten, in Oxfordshire, estate of Charles Wil- 
 son, Doctor of Medicine." Th3 other children were as 
 follows: Margaret Jane, St. George, Elizabeth Digby, 
 and James. Not long after the death of her husband, 
 Mrs. Peale moved to Annapolis, and Charles Wilson, 
 who was then in his ninth year, was placed at school. 
 Yet, before he had reached his thirteenth year, the " heir 
 intail to the Manor of Wotten " was apprenticed to a 
 saddler. While following his calling his genius grad- 
 ually developed; hegained a fair knowledge of mechanics, 
 a habit of industry and early rising, which he retained 
 through the days of his life. Under the assistance of 
 Mr. James Tilghman, of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, 
 he established himself as a saddler, and in this capacity 
 developed so decidedly his taste for the fine arts, that he- 
 won the admiration of influential friends. A late writer 
 says : " He was instructed in painting by Hesselius, a 
 German painter, to whom he gave a saddle for the priv- 
 ilege of seeing him paint." Funds were placed at his 
 disposal that he might go at once to England and study 
 with Benjamin West. The money was to be repaid 
 
CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 125 
 
 upon his return, with the native gold of his genius. The 
 gentlemen who gave their generous trust were the 
 staunch men of the period, Mr. J. B. Boardly (who had 
 been educated by Mr. Charles Peale), Barrister Carroll, 
 Governor Sharpe, Daniel Dulany, Kobert Lloyd, Ben- 
 jamin Tasker, Thomas Ringgold, Benjamin Calvert, 
 Thomas Sprigg, Daniel, of St. Thomas, and Charles 
 Carroll, of Carrollton. He sailed away from his native 
 shores in 1768 and returned in June, 1770. 
 
 After laboring for several years he was enabled " to 
 pay off all his debts but those of gratitude." He had 
 promised to paint pictures for his benefactors, and his 
 promise was fulfilled. At the beginning of the Revolu- 
 tion against the mother-land, Mr. Peale took his family 
 to Charlestown, at the head of the Chesapeake bay. In 
 the winter of 1776 he visited Philadelphia, and in the 
 month of May following, he removed his family thither 
 from Charlestown, and made his home in the Quaker city. 
 This decision was doubtless owing to praise and encour- 
 agement received, after the painting of several portraits, 
 while on a visit to Philadelphia. In 1772 he painted a 
 portrait of George Washington in the uniform of a Vir- 
 ginia colonel. This picture was at Arlington, the home 
 of General Robert E. Lee, for many years, until the war be- 
 tween the North and the South. In Tuckerman's " Book 
 of Artists " is the following, in regard to this picture : 
 " The earliest portraits of Washington are more inter- 
 esting, perhaps, as memorials, than as works of art; 
 and we can easily imagine that associations endeared 
 them to his old comrades. The dress — blue coat, scarlet 
 facings and underclothes — of the first portrait by Peale, 
 and the youthful face, make it suggestive of the early 
 experience of the future commander, when, exchanging 
 the surveyor's implements for the colonel's commission, 
 he bivouacked in the wilderness of Ohio, the leader of a 
 
126 CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 
 
 motley band of hunters, provincials and savages, to 
 confront wily Frenchmen, cut forest roads, and encoun- 
 ter all the perils of Indian ambush, inclement skies, un- 
 disciplined followers, famine and woodland skirmish. 
 
 "It recalls his calm authority and providential escape 
 amid the dismay of Braddock's defeat, and his pleasant 
 sensation at the first whistling of bullets in the weary 
 march to Fort Necessity. To Charles Wilson Peale we 
 owe this precious relic of the chieftain's youth." 
 
 With the first encroachments upon our liberties by 
 England, the staunch patriotism of Peale was revealed. 
 His earliest contributions to the cause was the design- 
 ing and painting of emblematical insignias to be used 
 in public displays at Newburyport in New England. 
 Upon the mustering of the militia in Philadelphia, he 
 was created lieutenant of one of the companies. By 
 his energy he soon filled the ranks. This stranger from 
 Maryland was then placed at its head as commander, 
 and he led his company into the battles of Trenton and 
 Princeton. He was brave and self-sacrificing, thinking 
 only of his country's need, however stern the demands 
 made upon him. He was selected as one of fifty who 
 were chosen to remove the public stores from the city 
 of Philadelphia, to prevent their capture by the enemy. 
 He was one of six persons deputed to secure those who 
 were suspected of disloyalty, or else to obtain their 
 parole. He was also one of three whose duty was to 
 take possession of or sell confiscated estates. During 
 his life in camp he did not cease to be an artist, but 
 was faithful to his love through all changes. He 
 snatched from the surrounding beauties of natural 
 scenery subjects for landscapes, perfected in after days ; 
 and from the faces gathered about him he secured por- 
 traits which are now numbered amongst our most 
 valuable possessions. 
 
CHARLES WILSON PEALB. . 127 
 
 At his death he left a collection of original portraits 
 and historical scenes numbering two hundred and 
 sixty-nine. 
 
 At Annapolis, in the Chamber of the House of 
 Delegates, is a full length portrait of General Wash- 
 ington holding in his hand the articles of capitulation 
 at Yorktown. Before him passes the Continental army 
 in review. General Washington is attended by his 
 Aids-de-camp, General La Fayette and Colonel Tilgh- 
 man. 
 
 The portraits of the Governors of Maryland, which 
 were painted and exchanged for the portrait of Lord 
 Baltimore, were Johnson, Paca, Smallwood, Howard, 
 Stone and Sprigg. 
 
 The famous picture of Washington, before referred 
 to, was finished at Princeton, although its beginning is 
 of much earlier date. Congress having adjourned with- 
 out making an appropriation for its purchase, it re- 
 mained in the possession of the artist. At the request 
 of General La Fayette, the artist executed a copy of 
 this painting designed for the King of France. It was 
 finished and sent to Paris in 1779, but owing to the 
 trouble in which the royal family was at the time in- 
 volved, it was sold, and purchased by the Count de 
 Menou. Don Juan Marrailes, the Minister of France, 
 ordered several copies to be made about the same time. 
 Some considerable opposition to General Washington 
 as a military chief having been evinced in various 
 quarters, the following query under the head of 
 "Political and Military," appeared in the Maryland 
 Journal of July the 6th, 1779 : 
 
 " Whether, therefore, when Mons. Gerard and Don 
 Juan de Marrailes, sent over to their respective courts 
 the pictures of his Excellency, General Washington, at 
 full length, by Mr. Peale, there would have been any 
 
128 . CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 
 
 impropriety m sending oyer, at the same time, at least 
 a couple of little heads of Gates and Arnold, by M. de 
 Simitierre ?" These vain thrusts did not, however, de- 
 prive the army of its head. 
 
 Mr. Tuckerman says : " There is a tradition in the 
 Peale family, honorably represented through several 
 generations, by public spirit and artistic gifts, that in- 
 telligence of one of tfte most important triumphs of the 
 American arms was received by Washington in a de- 
 spatch he opened while sitting to Wilson Peale for a 
 miniature intended for his wife, who was present;" 
 and then, "of the fourteen portraits by Peale, that 
 exhibiting Washington as a Virginia colonel in the 
 colonial force of Great Britain, is the only entire 
 portrait. before the Revolution extant. One was painted 
 for the college of New Jersey, at Princeton, in 1780, to 
 occupy a frame in which a poitrait of George III had 
 been destroyed by a cannon-ball during a battle at that 
 place on the 3d of January, 1778. Peale's last portrait 
 of Washington, executed in 1783, he retained until his 
 death." 
 
 The only cabinet portraits of Washington, painted 
 by Peale, that are known to exist, are two in the city of 
 Washington ; one in the possession of Admiral Kilty, 
 of the United States Navy. This picture was painted 
 for the father of Admiral Kilty, while George Washing- 
 ton was President of the United States. It is painted 
 in oil colors, a three quarter face, the dress that of a 
 citizen, whose elegance and simplicity of taste belong- 
 to the ideal gentleman. The other cabinet painting is 
 in the possession of Mr. Henry Randall, of Washington 
 city. 
 
 Mr. Peale having been elected to the Assembly of the 
 city of Philadelphia, was one of the main movers for 
 the passage of the Act for gradual abolition of slavery. 
 
CHARLES WILSON PEALE. , 129 
 
 The world of politics was not, however, suited to the 
 taste of Mr. Peale, and he desired to withdraw into 
 greater retirement for the purpose of pursuing his 
 natural profession. No opportunity had in any case 
 been lost, however, where a miniature or sketch could 
 be secured of an eminent individual. Thus Mr. Peale 
 laid the first foundation of a national gallery. Upon 
 the meeting of the Congress at Philadelphia, new sub- 
 jects were offered to his genius, and he has left on can- 
 vas able representation s of those whose names occupy 
 prominent places in history. In this country, in Canada 
 and in the West Indies, many homes are adorned with 
 the paintings of Charles Wilson Peale. Many of his 
 paintings were also sent to Europe. For the space of 
 fifteen years, he was without a rival in this country, for 
 Trumbull and Stuart were but little known when Peale 
 was at the topmost height of his success. A Museum 
 of Natural History was also established by Mr. Peale. 
 This was the first scientific institution in the United 
 States ; as an educator of the people, and a general dis- 
 tributor of valuable knowledge, it was a national bene- 
 faction. After a brief illness, the death of Charles 
 Wilson Peale occurred on the 22nd of February, 1827. 
 He was in the eighty-sixth year of his age when he 
 passed into rest from a life of incessant labor. His 
 friend Trumbull, the artist, said of him "that he pos- 
 sessed a high claim to the esteem and remembrance of 
 his countrymen, not only owing to his talents, but be- 
 cause he was a mild, benevolent and good man." The 
 ardor and impulse of youth seemed never to desert him 
 entirely, for he threw into whatever work he undertook, 
 the whole interest and force of his spirit. That great 
 man, Thackeray, has written: "The muse of painting 
 is a lady whose social station is not altogether recog- 
 nized with us as yet. The polite world permits a gentle- 
 11 
 
130 CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 
 
 man to amuse himself with her, but to take her for 
 better or for worse! Forsake all other chances, and 
 cleave unto her ! To assume her name ! Many a re- 
 spectable person would be as much shocked at the notion 
 as if his son had married an opera-dancer." 
 
 And yet, Charles Wilson Peale was married three 
 times : his first wife being Miss Rachel Brewer, of An- 
 napolis, Maryland; then followed Miss Elizabeth De 
 Peyster, of New York, and Miss Hannah Moore, of 
 Pennsylvania. Four daughters and seven sons survived 
 him. The accompanying account of the portrait of 
 Lord Baltimore, is from the pen of Mr. Titian Ramsay 
 Peale, a son of the artist whose life is given in the pre- 
 ceding pages : 
 
 History of the Portrait of Cecilius Calvert, 
 Second Lord Baltimore. 
 
 In the "Annals of Annapolis," published in 1841, 
 by David Ridgely, he says: "Anne Arundel county, 
 probably so-called on 6th of April, 1850, from the 
 maiden name of Lady Baltimore, then late deceased, 
 Lady Anne Arundel, the daughter of Lord Arundel of 
 Wardour, whom Cecilius, Lord Baltimore, had married. 
 
 " In 1683, it was constituted a town, port, and place of 
 trade, under the name of the town land at Proctors. 
 
 " In 1694, it was constituted a town, port, and place of 
 trade, under the name of Anne Arundel town." 
 
 In 1702, Queen Anne ascended the throne. 
 
 In 1703, the town of Anne Arundel, being incorpo- 
 rated as a city, received the name of Ann-apolis, in honor 
 of the Queen. The Queen had Sir Godfrey Kneller, 
 the court painter of that day, paint her portrait, and 
 sent it, with the portrait of Cecilius, Second Lord Balti- 
 more, and founder of the Province of Maryland, a gift 
 to the city of Annapolis, in recognition of the compli- 
 ment of naming the city after her. 
 
CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 131 
 
 In 1704, a portrait of Queen Anne, and one of Lord 
 Baltimore, full length, are mentioned as decorating the 
 Assembly room at Annapolis. 
 
 The Queen's portrait disappeared about the time of 
 the Eevolution, when there was little respect for royalty 
 or for royal gifts, and nothing has ever been heard of it; 
 it was probably destroyed. 
 
 Lord Baltimore's portrait was left undisturbed until 
 the State House needed renovating in 1823, when the 
 massive oak frame had become so defective, from the 
 ravages of worms, that it swayed at one corner, and the 
 dust and lamp-smoke of one hundred and twenty years 
 had so discolored the picture, that it was no longer an 
 attractive object, and it was put out of sight. 
 
 Charles Wilson Peale was born in Maryland in 1741, 
 and lived in Annapolis from the time he was nine years 
 old until quite middle life. This portrait of Lord 
 Baltimore, by Vandyke, was his admiration as long as 
 he lived there — returning in after years for renewed 
 pleasure in seeing it — was surprised and indignant to 
 find this fine picture, with its deeply interesting his- 
 torical associations, thrust in a dark lumber-room, where, 
 among old joists and broken beams, it would soon have 
 been destroyed. He chided them for this slight to the 
 Founder of their State. Their answer was, they had 
 rather have their present Governor than any old founder ; 
 and his answer, that he would give all the Governors 
 they ever had for it. They — the Aldermen — at once 
 caught at what they considered an offer, — made a list 
 of the Governors since the Eevolution. Judge Brewer 
 wished and urged him to take the picture to save it. 
 
 Mr. Peale went to Baltimore. His Autobiography 
 says : " Before leaving Baltimore he wrote to his friend, 
 Mr. Nicholas Brewer, wishing him to take upon him- 
 self the trouble to inquire if the corporation of the 
 
132 CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 
 
 city would take six portraits of the Governors elected 
 into that office since the Eevolution, for a whole length 
 portrait of Lord Baltimore, which is in the ball-room 
 (the place it was known as hanging), and perhaps not 
 much regarded. The commencing a collection of por- 
 traits, which probably will be continued, by adding 
 the portraits of the living Governors in succession, will 
 in a future day become very interesting, and he would 
 find a pleasure to be the author of the beginning of 
 such a work. . . . After his return to Philadel- 
 phia he received a letter from his friend Mr. Brewer, 
 with the order of the honorable Board of the Corpora- 
 tion accepting his offer, and also giving orders for the 
 picture to be sent as directed " From Baltimore he 
 writes to Dr. Oasine, Washington, June 12, 1824: 
 
 " By direction of the Honorable the Corporation of 
 Annapolis, I have to paint a portrait of my friend, the 
 former Governor of Maryland, Col. Stone. Gen. Smith 
 informs me that you married a daughter of Governor 
 Stone — hence I am led to hope that you possess the 
 likeness which I am very desirous to hand down to 
 posterity in a collection of portraits of the Governors 
 of Maryland elected since the Revolution. I have now 
 finished four of them, u e., Johnson, Paca, Smallwood, 
 and Col. Howard. In the order I had from the corpo- 
 ration, was the name of Henry, but unfortunately no 
 portrait was made of him, which his son now greatly 
 regrets. If you possess the portrait in question, and 
 will permit me to make a copy of it, I shall be very 
 thankful." June 15, he writes to his son Rembrandt: 
 "Yesterday I received a letter from Dr. Casine, of 
 Washington ; he says he has a portrait painted by you 
 of Governor Stone, which he is so obliging as to lend 
 me, and would send to Baltimore if I required it. But 
 my determination is to go to Washington by to-mor- 
 
CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 133 
 
 row's stage, and shall have this advantage if I choose 
 to use it; that is, taking the portrait of Gov. Sprigg, 
 who resides a short distance from Washington. I shall 
 write to Mr. Jno. Lee, in which case I may take the 
 stage from Washington to Fredericktown, and make a 
 copy, if such portrait can be had." 
 
 The Autobiography says: "Having finished and 
 varnished the portraits, he prepared to go to Annapolis 
 
 in the steamboat After dining, he 
 
 told Mr. Brewer that he had brought the six portraits 
 which he had finished for the corporation, and if it 
 would be agreeable to him, to let them be put into his 
 spare parlor, in order to show to the members of the 
 corporation by invitation, in the morning ; this favor 
 was readily granted. Before breakfast, he unpacked 
 and placed them in regular order, then went to Mr. 
 Boyle's, who is Mayor of the city, to acquaint him that 
 he had finished his engagement, if the corporation 
 would be satisfied with the two portraits he had painted 
 instead of Gov. Lee and Gov. Henry, of whom no por- 
 traits had been made. Mr. Boyle came to see the 
 pictures ; said he would give notice to the corporation 
 to meet in the evening, to whom I drew up a short 
 address, June 28, 1824. Went to Mr. Nicholas Brewer, 
 Jr., to dine and spend the afternoon ; returning in the 
 evening, Mr. Boyle told him the corporation had accepted 
 his paintings." 
 
 In a letter dated Philadelphia, January 16, 1824, Mr. 
 Peale says: "I have taken the mastic varnish from the 
 Baltimore portrait. I expected to get much lampblack 
 by washing, as it must have been much smoked by the 
 candles in the ball-room. Simply washing with cold 
 water brings away very little of it, and whether I ought 
 to use other means is rather doubtful. Rembrandt has 
 a pamphlet directing the French method of cleaning 
 11* 
 
134 
 
 CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 
 
 pictures ; when I have perused it, I shall proceed with 
 the work." 
 
 To his eldest son, Eaphaelle, he writes from Phila- 
 delphia, February, 1824 : " I have finished the cleaning; 
 and repairing Lord Baltimore; it now only wants 
 varnishing. It is a highly finished picture. Eem- 
 brandt and some others think it was painted by Sir 
 Godfry Kneller ; be it whom it may, it is certainly a 
 well-finished picture, and I am satisfied with my 
 bargain." 
 
 " This letter tells of the first questioning of the artist 
 of this fine old picture. The impression was received 
 from the well-known fact, that Sir Godfry Kneller 
 painted Queen Anne's portrait, as it is in all the lists of 
 crowned heads he painted, and being sent with hers by 
 the Queen, the conclusion was drawn one hundred and 
 twenty years after it came to the country that the same 
 artist painted both. 
 
 " Sir Godfry Kneller was born in 1C48 ; was twenty- 
 seven when Lord Baltimore died in 1675, aged seventy 
 — he could only have known and represented him as a 
 man of nearly seventy. Queen Anne was born in 1664; 
 was eleven years old when Lord Baltimore died — too 
 young for her to have his portrait painted — while the 
 Queen could not have had the royal crown picture 
 surmounting the arms, as in 1691 the King, by an 
 arbitrary act, deprived Charles, Third Lord Baltimore, 
 of his political rights as Proprietor, which were not 
 restored until 1715, the year after Queen Anne's death. 
 
 " Mr. Peale could never be satisfied that the portrait 
 was not a Vandyke ; he had been told so as a boy and 
 never heard it questioned ; yet he did not combat the 
 opinion of younger men, which is to be regretted, as it 
 gave the impression to those who saw it at that time it 
 was a Kneller. If he had taken time from his busy 
 
CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 135 
 
 life to compare dates and events, he would haye found 
 his early memory correct. Mr. Peale had known the 
 picture seventy years, when he became the possessor of 
 it in 1824, fifty years ago, (in 1874). 
 
 " The picture is one of embarkation. As soon as the 
 grant was obtained — 20th June, 1632 — Cecil Calvert 
 commenced his preparation for the establishment of a 
 colony. The charter made the Proprietor absolute 
 Lord of the Province, with the royalties of a Count 
 Palatine. The royal grant was given on condition that 
 two Indian arrows of those parts should be delivered at 
 Windsor Castle every year, on Tuesday in Easter week, 
 and also the fifth of all the gold and silver which 
 might be found in the Province. The quiver on the 
 ground at the right of the picture, is filled with Indian 
 arrows ready for the tribute, while the spare arrow and 
 the bow lying across it, show the means of keeping it 
 full. The quiver is covered with fish skin, the war- 
 club near it is made of the beak of the saw-fish — pro- 
 ducts of Chesapeake bay — and the Baltimore colours 
 draped over them from the base of a drum, shows that 
 all is under the Baltimore rule. At the left of the 
 picture an Indian is dimly seen, a native of the Prov- 
 ince. Lord Baltimore stands in the centre of the 
 picture, in a position of commanding dignity, pointing 
 with his baton to ' the good ship, the Ark, of three 
 hundred tons and upward, which was attended by his 
 Lordship's Pinnace, called the Dove, of about fifty 
 tons,' in which, with his colonists, he was about to em- 
 bark for his new possession. On the lower drapery of 
 the sofa, before which he stands, are the Baltimore 
 arms, which have the supporters of the Province on 
 either side, a ploughman, and a fisherman, surmounted 
 by the royal crown of England — the privilege alone of a 
 Count Palatinate — showing he rules with royal authority. 
 
136 CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 
 
 "After making preparation, deeming that the interest 
 of tne enterprise demanded his remaining in England, 
 he confided his colony to his next yonnger brother, 
 Leonard, as Governor, then in his twenty-sixth year, 
 who embarked from Oowes, Isle of Wight, 22nd of 
 November, 1633. The picture must have been painted 
 between the 20th of June, 1632, when the patent was 
 issued to Cecilius, then twenty-eight, and 22nd of 
 November, 1633, when the colonists sailed. 
 
 " Sir Antony Van Dyke was at court painting the 
 portrait of King Charles I. At that time Lord Balti- 
 more was preparing to embark for the Province the 
 King had given him, naming it after his Queen, show- 
 ing him to be a favorite at court, circumstances that 
 would most likely lead to the painting of his portrait 
 by Vandyke, the artist at court. The event pictured 
 fixes the date as not later than 1633, which would 
 make it two hundred and forty-one years old in 1874. 
 
 " In part third of Smith's Catalogue Kaisonse of the 
 works of Dutch, Flemish and French Painters ; London, 
 1831 or 38, (two editions); on page 182, under the head 
 of Vandyke, is ' portrait of Anne, daughter of Lord 
 Arundel, and wife of Cecil Calvert,' Lord Baltimore. 
 Anne Arundel, Lord Baltimore's wife, died in 1649, 
 aged thirty- four. As Vandyke died 1641, her portrait 
 was probably painted when Lord Baltimore's was, in 
 1633, and his lost sight of, no doubt, having been out 
 of the country one hundred and thirty-four years when 
 this list was made in London, in 1838. The original 
 must have been sent, as there is no mention of Cecil 
 Calvert's, Lord Baltimore, portrait in any of the lists, 
 though there is of his wife; and Lord Baltimore's is 
 mentioned as being in Annapolis in 1704. 
 
 " Few old pictures can be so well authenticated as 
 this, having changed hands but three times, from the 
 
CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 137 
 
 Queen to Annapolis, from Annapolis to Charles Wilson 
 Peale, by Act of Council (which of course is on record), 
 in payment for pictures painted for them (portraits 
 of several of their Governors), in whose family it has 
 been ever since ; his last surviving child and youngest 
 son, Titian Eamsay Peale, being the possessor. 
 
 "In 1868. Mr. Franklin Peale had the picture backed 
 with new canvas, superintending with great care, and 
 assisting himself. The picture is in excellent preser- 
 vation." 
 
 The picture referred to has been sent to Boston 
 (December, 1874), and placed with the Mont Pensier 
 collection, with a view to its sale. Among the numer- 
 ous relics in which the Centennial movement seems to 
 have awakened an interest, is one in possession of the 
 Lotus Club, of New York city. It is a double-faced 
 medallion, framed in pure gold, adorned with the minia- 
 tures of General George Washington and his wife, 
 Martha. The paintings are executed upon ivory, ac- 
 cording to the style of that period. The artist, Charles 
 Wilson Peale, painted the miniature-portrait of George 
 Washington, during the siege of Boston, and afterward 
 presented the picture to General Washington. During 
 the first presidential term of Washington, the portrait 
 of Mrs. Martha Washington was painted; the two pic- 
 tures were then enclosed in the same case, with a piece 
 of the hair of Washington and his wife, and presented 
 by the first President of the United States to his sister, 
 Mrs. Betty Lewis. Upon the death of Mrs. Lewis, her 
 daughter, Mrs. Carter, became the possessor of this 
 valuable relic. From Mrs. Carter, the miniatures passed 
 into the hands of Mr. John EL Patterson, the son of 
 Mrs. Eleanor Carter Patterson, the grandson of Mrs. 
 Carter, and the great grandson of Mrs. Betty Lewis. 
 This Mis. Betty Lewis was the mother of Lawrence 
 Lewis, who married Miss Nelly Custis. 
 
138 CHARLES WILSON PEALE. 
 
 Mr. Ridgely, in "The Annals of Annapolis," in a 
 description of the Senate Chamber of the State House, 
 tells of a portrait of the elder Pitt: "In this picture 
 Lord Chatham is represented at full length, in the atti- 
 tude and costume of a Roman orator, with decorations 
 of emblematical figures, expressive of his noble princi- 
 ples. It was painted by Charles Wilson Peale (who 
 was a native of Annapolis), while in England, and pre- 
 sented, by him, in the year 1794, to his native State." 
 
 Thus is the subject of this picture described by 
 Colonel Henry Lee, in his " Memoirs," writing of this 
 bold defender of American rights ; he says : " Towering 
 in genius, superb in eloquence, decisive in council, bold 
 in action, loving England first and England always, 
 adored by the mass of the people, and dreaded by the 
 enemies of English liberty, he unceasingly cherished 
 the good old cause, for which Hampden fought and 
 Sidney bled." 
 
 It is not to be supposed that the love, the patriotism, 
 the sacrifices, and continued labors of Peale, were ap- 
 preciated according to value in his " day and genera- 
 tion." 
 
 Thackeray says of the glorious gift of the artist, 
 "Art is truth : and truth is religion; and its study and 
 practice, a daily work of pious duty." And, again, he 
 says, this man who understood the nature of the world, 
 the heart of nature, and the individual heart of man or 
 woman, " The world enters into the artist's studio, and 
 scornfully bids him a price for his genius, or makes dull 
 pretence to admire it. What know you of his art ?" 
 
'TIS ABSENCE PROVES. 
 
 ?TUS absence proves with touchstone rare, 
 
 J_ If firm or frail the heart ; 
 Pure gold a shining trace leaves there, 
 
 No base ore can impart. 
 
 Tried thus, and true, hope gently folds 
 
 Her network round the soul, 
 And each frail web a fond wish holds 
 
 To draw it to its goal. 
 
 Thus have I sought within my breast, 
 
 If falseness there could be, 
 But every fibre stands impressed 
 
 With constancy to thee. 
 
 Like lark at morn, on upward wings, 
 
 My spirit strives to soar, 
 And with a loving fancy springs 
 
 Back to its own once more. 
 
 Clear as yon star, when we're apart, 
 Let faith's pure flame then burn, 
 
 Best proof how one devoted heart, 
 At least, for thee doth yearn. 
 
 As mountain stream the valley seeks, 
 
 As rivers seek the sea, 
 As back the wood its echo speaks, 
 
 So bounds my heart to thee, 
 George Hay Ringgold. 
 
MARGARET JANE RAMSAY. 
 
 MONO the many women of the Revolution 
 who sacrificed comfort and safety to the aid 
 and furtherance of their country's cause was 
 Mrs. Ramsay, the wife of Captain Nathaniel 
 Ramsay, afterward a Colonel, and well known in 
 American history for brave deeds. Mrs. Ramsay was 
 the daughter of Mr. Charles Peale, and the sister of 
 Charles Wilson Peale, the artist. God, the impartial 
 giver of blessings, who bestows as generously on women 
 as on men the noble gifts of intellect, showered special 
 blessings on Margaret Jane Peale, who is thus written 
 of by her father in a letter to his sister: "My dearest 
 Jenny, who is my delight, is grown a fine girl, but at 
 this time has unfortunately got an intermitting fever, 
 but hope God Almighty will bless her with the recovery 
 of her health." This "fine girl," thus noted in an old 
 letter-book, lived to do good, and win its reward in 
 later days. She was celebrated for her beauty as well 
 as for the more lasting treasures of mind and heart. 
 Her fondness for literature induced the cultivation of 
 her intellectual faculties to a full degree, thus winning 
 the homage of intelligent and accomplished admirers. 
 When quite young she married a merchant of Annapolis, 
 who, dying in a few years, left a youthful widow. She 
 then became the wife of Mr. Nathaniel Ramsay, a 
 lawyer, and the brother of the well-known historian. 
 
 
MARGARET JANE RAMSAY. 
 
 141 
 
 He settled at Charlestown, in Maryland, at the head of 
 Chesapeake Bay, and there commenced the practice of 
 his profession. Yet, in the simple language of truth : 
 " he would rather heal a breach than widen it, and in 
 that way lost many a fee." He never made subservient 
 to a love of gain his honor, that true shield of man- 
 hood. When the British arrived at Boston, in Massa- 
 chusetts, there was a call for troops throughout the 
 Colonies. Maryland responded quickly; and when 
 Smallwood was appointed Colonel, Nathaniel Eamsay 
 received a captaincy in the same regiment. His heart 
 was in his work, therefore it was well done. The 
 regiment soon filled, and marched toward New York. 
 The British, having abandoned Boston, had taken pos- 
 session of Staten Island and Long Island. Ridgely's 
 "Annals of Annapolis" furnishes the following from a 
 Philadelphia letter of August the 31st, 1776 : 
 
 "Smallwood's battalion of Marylanders were dis- 
 tinguished in the field by the most intrepid courage, 
 the most regular use of the musket, and judicious 
 movements of the body. When our party was over- 
 powered and broken by superior numbers surrounding 
 them on all sides, three companies of the Maryland 
 battalion broke the enemy's lines and fought their way 
 through. The Maryland battalion lost two hundred 
 men and twelve officers — severe fate. It is said our 
 whole loss is five or six hundred." In the same year, 
 Colonel Ramsay wrote in reply to a complimentary 
 communication from Baltimore : " That battalion, sir, 
 esteem it but their duty to march to the assistance of 
 any part of the Province when attacked, or in danger 
 of it ; but they march with greater alacrity to your as- 
 sistance, from the pleasing memory of former connec- 
 tions, and a sense of the value and importance of 
 Baltimore town to the Province in general." 
 12 
 
142 MARGARET JANE RAMSAY. 
 
 Only the quieter portion of this story belongs to 
 Margaret Kamsay. It is given to but few women to 
 perform notable deeds in the time of war ; yet were but 
 one half of their sacrifices, made in the name of love 
 and honor, recorded, the bright "historic roll" of 
 armies would fade into insignificance before the vic- 
 tories of woman. Upon the departure from home of 
 her husband, Mrs. Eamsay gave up house-keeping and 
 went to her brother with the intention of remaining 
 with him until the termination of the war. When the 
 battle of Long Island was fought, however, the reports, 
 so conflicting, and laden with destruction and death, 
 filled her heart with anxiety. She expressed her deter- 
 mination to go to the scene of action, saying she would 
 rather be with the army, whatever might be her suffer- 
 ing, than at a distance enduring the torments of sus- 
 pense, for if she were near the army she might, in case 
 of misfortune, aid those most dear to her. Mrs. Ramsay 
 was provided with a chaise in which she carried a small 
 military chest complete in all its belongings. She 
 moved with that portion of the army under her hus- 
 band's command, following at a safe and convenient 
 distance. While stationary she usually lived at some 
 farm-house in the neighborhood. Her home, for the 
 time, was the constant meeting-place for the officers 
 of the regiment, who, when off duty sought relaxation 
 from camp-life in the society of this cultured woman. 
 Sitting together, they re-fought their battles over their 
 coffee, sang songs, or related anecdotes of military life, 
 and doubtless Mrs. Ramsay was sometimes made the 
 recipient of confidence regarding other passages at 
 arms with that annoying enemy of mankind, who in- 
 fests " the court, the camp, the grove." When travel- 
 ing from place to place, sometimes to avoid danger, at 
 others to obtain provisions, etc., for her husband or 
 
MARGARET JANE RAMSAY. 143 
 
 friends, she was usually accompanied by a servant. 
 Thus in the States of New York, New Jersey and 
 Pennsylvania, she won many friends. It may be im- 
 agined that Mrs. Kamsay was the heroine of numerous 
 adventures, following in the rear of the army, and 
 almost in the shadow of the foeman's lines. 
 
 When General Washington took up his winter 
 quarters at Valley Forge, the soldiers built huts of 
 logs filled in with earth. Captain Ramsay, now pro- 
 moted to a Colonel, had quite a eosey log hut situated 
 on rising ground and facing toward the south. Here 
 the Maryland officers, not unfrequently accompanied by 
 the officers of other corps, would spend most agreeable 
 hours. 
 
 We are all familiar with the pathetic story of that 
 camp-life, where our brave fore-fathers, bare-footed, 
 freezing, and hungry, sat staring into the face of 
 death ; where with a stern resistance, only born of a 
 rightful cause, they strove, and endured, and died, to 
 win us our liberty ! 
 
 A portion of the Maryland Line being ordered to 
 Wilmington, New Jersey, Colonel Kamsay, accompanied 
 by his wife, removed to the residence of Mr. Lee, a friend 
 of theirs, who treated them with great hospitality. 
 
 Upon the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, 
 they proceeded toward New York. Now took place 
 the famous battle of Monmouth, and in this engage- 
 ment Colonel Ramsay was complimented by General 
 Washington, who called out to him that he " was one 
 of the officers he should rely upon to check the enemy 
 that day." 
 
 In this battle he was wounded and taken prisoner ; 
 that night the British marched toward Amboy, and 
 Colonel Ramsay was conveyed to Princeton, where he 
 remained at the house of Mrs. Sargent until his wounds 
 
144 MARGARET JANE RAMSAY. 
 
 were healed. He went then to New York ; he had been 
 on parole, but was sent, after this, with the other pris- 
 oners of the Maryland Line, to Long Island. Mrs. 
 Ramsay accompanied her husband, and they were sup- 
 plied with money whenever a safe conveyance could be 
 found by her brother, Charles Wilson Peale. Striving 
 to forget as much as possible their captivity, the officers 
 of the Maryland Line, bound by the ties of brotherhood, 
 associated constantly together. 
 
 After the declaration of peace Colonel Ramsay, with 
 his wife, removed to the city of Baltimore, where they 
 occupied a house on Calvert street. While in Baltimore 
 he held an important position in public affairs ; finally 
 he sold his house in that city and removed, with his wife, 
 to Annapolis. Here, also, Colonel Ramsay took a prom- 
 inent part amongst the distinguished men of that 
 period. 
 
 The home of Colonel Ramsay was the resort of the 
 elegant and the noted people of the day. His wife and 
 himself were as hostess and host unsurpassed among the 
 hospitable citizens of Annapolis. 
 
 By judicious speculation and wise management, 
 Colonel Ramsay amassed a handsome fortune. He 
 purchased a large farm, extending for a considerable 
 distance along the mouth of the Susquehanna river, 
 and here they lived in happiness and comfort for several 
 years. Finally, the health of Mrs. Ramsay failed ; she 
 lingered awhile and then died. She was mourned as a 
 cheerful companion, and a sincere friend, by those who 
 knew of her faithful life and strong heart. To those 
 who were afflicted with illness, sorrow or want, she 
 extended her helpful, willing hands, always ready to 
 bestow and never asking earthly reward. 
 
 This is but the dim outlining of a woman's life, with 
 few recorded incidents ; yet, it is another link in that 
 
 
MARGARET JANE RAMSAY. 145 
 
 long bright chain that binds the present to the great 
 past, whose sweetest stories — 
 
 Like pearls from out the hearts of shells, 
 Like bird-notes from the bosky wood, 
 Like words of trust from far-off friends, 
 We hold as good. 
 
 .2* 
 
THE AMERICAN SWORD, 
 
 SWORD of our gallent fathers, defenders of the brave, 
 Of Washington upon the field, and Perry on the wave ! 
 Well might Columbia's foemen beneath thy death-strokes reel, 
 For each hand was firm that drew thee, and each heart as true 
 
 as steel ; 
 There's not a tarnish on thy sheen, a rust upon thy blade; 
 Though the noble hands that drew thee are in dust and ashes laid, 
 Thou'rt still the scourge of tyrants, the safeguard of the free, 
 Aud may God desert our banner, when we surrender thee ! 
 
 Sword of a thousand victories! thy splendors led the way, 
 When our warriors trod the battle-field in terrible array ; 
 Thou wert seen amid the carnage, like au angel in thy wrath ; 
 The vanquished, and the vanquisher, bestrewed thy gory path; 
 The life-blood of the haughty foe made red the slippery sod, 
 Where thy crimson blade descended like the lightning glance 
 
 of God 1 
 They poured their ranks like autumn leaves, their life-blood as 
 
 the sea, 
 But they battled for a tyrant— we battled to be free ! 
 
 Sword of a thousand heroes, how holy is thy blade, 
 So often drawn by Valor's arm, by gentle Pity's stayed ! 
 The warrior breathes his vows by thee, and seals it with a kiss, 
 He never gives a holier pledge, he asks no more than this; 
 And when he girds thee to his side with battle in his face, 
 He feels within his single arm, the strength of all his race ; 
 He shrines thee in his noble breast, with all things bright and free, 
 And may God desert his standard, when he surrenders thee! 
 
 Sword of our Country's battles! forever mayest thou prove, 
 Amid Columbia's freemen, the thunderbolt of Jove; 
 When like a youthful victress, with her holy flag unfurled, 
 She sits amid the nations, the empress of the world. 
 Behold the heaven-born goddess, in her glory and increase, 
 Extending in her lovely bauds the olive branch of peace, 
 Thy glittering steel is girded on, the safeguard of the free, 
 And may God desert her standard, when she surrenders thee. 
 Amelia B. Welby. 
 
GENERAL MORDECAI GIST. 
 
 ORDECAI GIST was born in Baltimore 
 county, in the year 1743. His parents were 
 Captain Thomas Gist, and Susan Cockey, 
 both descended from respectable English 
 families, who settled in Maryland. Mordecai Gist re- 
 ceived a thorough education at the private seminary of 
 an Episcopal clergyman, who had the direction of the 
 parish in which the Gist family resided. The name of 
 Gist occurs frequently in the history of the war of the 
 French and the Indians with the English. One of the 
 name was a colonel in the American army. He was 
 Nathaniel Gist, the father of Mrs. Blair, whose husband, 
 the Honorable Francis P. Blair, was a venerable repre- 
 sentative of Maryland. Colonel Nathaniel Gist was the 
 first cousin of Mordecai Gist. This Nathaniel came 
 of an energetic race — energetic of mind and body. 
 Richard Gist, the grandfather of Nathaniel, was one of 
 the surveyors employed to lay out the original Balti- 
 more town. The son of Richard was Christopher, who 
 acted as guide to General Washii.gton on the route to 
 Fort Du Quesne. He afterward saved the life of Wash- 
 ington while crossing the Monongahela river upon a 
 raft. The ice, driving in thick blocks against the raft, 
 gave but little hope of safety to a man thrown suddenly 
 into the chill waters of the river. General Washington, 
 losing his balance, was precipitated from the raft into 
 
148 GENERAL MORDECAI GIST. 
 
 the stream, and he would, undoubtedly, have been 
 drowned, but for the timely aid given by Gist. He was 
 a powerful man. He seized Washington, and pulled 
 him on to the floating raft, thus saving, perhaps, the 
 life of a nation through the life of its chief. Merely 
 by so little a thing as the casting of a die is a seemingly 
 insignificant event productive of great results. Thus 
 was preserved the General to the yet unmarshaled 
 armies of the Western World. He was to be the repre- 
 sentative of a free people ! Thus was the President of 
 a vast Kepublic rescued from perishing by the sturdy 
 hand of his guidesman. 
 
 Christopher Gist, and his two sons, Thomas and Na- 
 thaniel, fought under Washington in Braddock's army, 
 and were present on the field of defeat. Thomas was 
 made a prisoner by the Indians, and carried into Canada, 
 where he remained for many years. The wife of brave 
 Christopher Gist was Miss Violetta Howard, the sister 
 of the patriot, John Eager Howard. The name of 
 Violetta Howard was transmitted, for honorable keep- 
 ing, to Miss Gist, afterward the wife of Francis P. 
 Blair, Esq., and the mother of Montgomery Blair, of 
 Montgomery county, Maryland. Although these actors 
 and their acts belong to a separate time and story from 
 those of Mordecai Gist, they point directly to the strong- 
 hearted race from whence he sprang. An evidence of 
 his inheritance in that particular was given at the 
 breaking out of the war of American Independence. 
 Heading a band of valiant youths, the flower of Mary- 
 land chivalry, he led them forth to battle. Chivalry, 
 the true defence of honor, the honor of man, the safe- 
 guard of woman, makes lustrous the fairest pages of 
 Maryland history ! In January, of the year 1775, they 
 were ready for the field, clad in their splendid uniform 
 of buff and scarlet. 
 
GENERAL MORDECAI GIST. 149 
 
 In June, of that year, Admiral Lord Howe, with a 
 fleet of one hundred and fifty sail, and a lorce of thirty 
 thousand men, arrived at Long Island from Halifax. 
 Nearly all the inhabitants of New York were in favor 
 of British supremacy. Therefore, upon landing, the 
 British were received with acclamations and demonstra- 
 tions of joy, by the people of Long Island, New York 
 and New Jersey. Many of them proved their allegiance, 
 by taking oaths to the English Government. On the 
 10th day of July, six companies, under the command of 
 Smallwood, from Annapolis, joined by three companies 
 from Baltimore, embarked for Elk river, and from there 
 they marched to New York. This force was incorpo- 
 rated into Stirling's Brigade. The four independent 
 companies that had remained in Maryland, joined the 
 command of Colonel Smallwood, on the 20th day of 
 August. These four companies were composed of men 
 from the counties of Talbot, Kent, Queen Anne and 
 Saint Mary's. The respect and love inspired by the 
 Maryland men, 1,444 in number, aroused their comrades 
 to renewed vigor. The most important posts could be 
 trusted to the keeping of the Maryland men — the most 
 dangerous points were guarded by their vigilance. 
 
 From dawn until sunset of seven days the British 
 forces were landing on Long Island. They began to 
 land on the 21st day of August, and on the 20th the 
 Maryland and Delaware troops commenced their march 
 for the field. 
 
 The desire of Colonel Smallwood and Lieutenant-Col- 
 onel Ware to accompany their command was intense. 
 They were at the time, however, acting as members of 
 a court-martial, sitting in New York, and General Wash- 
 ington would not permit them to depart. The com- 
 mand, therefore, devolved upon Major Gist, and with 
 him as a leader they marched forth to meet the enemy. 
 
150 GENERAL MORDECAI GIST. 
 
 In this contest, known as the battle of Brooklyn 
 Heights, Gist won undying fame as a soldier. 
 
 When the battle was nearly lost to the Americans, 
 while Smallwood was on the road to join his band of 
 heroes, Lord Stirling, within one mile of the American 
 lines, determined on a last struggle against the powerful 
 foe. It seemed to those who watched their movements 
 in the distance, that they advanced for the purpose of 
 surrendering. Yet, what was their agony of heart when 
 they beheld this little band with fixed bayonets charge 
 undauntedly the gigantic force of Cornwallis. General 
 Washington is said to have wrung his hands despairingly, 
 as he exclaimed : " Good God ! what brave fellows I 
 must this day lose !" This is but a little string of sen- 
 tences, a chain of words handed down from one histor- 
 ian to another ; yet it is the exclamation of a brave chief 
 in behalf of his beloved compatriots. It is an inherit- 
 ance of love to Maryland. 
 
 Five times they charged upon the enemy; five times 
 they were driven back, yet each time with renewed 
 energy they charged again, until at the sixth charge the 
 strong ranks of the Britons gave way in confusion. At 
 this point the English received reinforcements, and the 
 Americans no longer able to resist the overwhelming 
 attacks, were compelled to yield. Some surrendered 
 themselves under Lord Stirling, as prisoners of war. 
 Three companies, with the determination of desperate 
 men, cut their way through the ranks of the enemy, and 
 retreated in regular order, until gaining a marsh they 
 separated and made good their escape. In swimming 
 the creek several were drowned. 
 
 The Marylanders, acting as a wall of defence, always 
 in the front ranks, were swept away as the leaves of the 
 forest before the storm. And yet we see them in all the 
 days of battle and disaster, of privation and sorrow 
 
GENERAL MOBDECAI GIST. 151 
 
 brave and true to their trust. Although our cheeks 
 flush, and our eyes grow dim with tears in reading the 
 record, with what a throb of pride our hearts go out to 
 the memory of their deeds. The very earth that was 
 crimsoned with their blood becomes sacred in thought, 
 as these victors are made worthy in our esteem of the 
 purple and gold that kings wear. God bless them! 
 
 In the battle of White Plains many of the field officers 
 were absent, owing to a distressing malady prevailing at 
 the time among the American soldiers. On the sick 
 list is found the name of Major Gist, who was, at the 
 time, in New Jersey. He had, however, the satisfaction 
 of learning of the victories gained by his men in their 
 hard-fought battle. 
 
 The author of " The Annals of Annapolis " says : " it 
 is well known that the Maryland troops discharged 
 their duty both in the camp and on the battle-field, and 
 exhibited examples of intrepidity and military perfection, 
 seldom equaled by the oldest troops." 
 
 In the battles fought on Southern ground Gist won 
 his fairest laurels. On the 9th of January, in the year 
 1779, the rank of brigadier-general was conferred upon 
 him, and the command of the second brigade of the 
 Maryland Line was given him. On the red field of 
 Camden, in 1780, backed by three Maryland regiments 
 and one of Delaware, immemorial fame was gained by 
 their almost supernatural resistance. While many other 
 regiments fled, panic-stricken, from the field, they still 
 struggled, presenting a glittering array of bayonets 
 which were to be met and overcome before life was sur- 
 rendered. And this the foe found, that at every point 
 of the Citadel of Liberty, sentineled by Maryland, a defi- 
 ant resistance met him, scarcely yielding with mortal 
 life ; for, Phcenix-like, she seemed to rise from the ashes 
 of immolation again and again, rushing with renewed 
 vigor to the charge. 
 
152 GENERAL MORDECAI GIST. 
 
 The Continentals were finally forced to fly from the 
 field, beaten off, but not defeated. In recording this 
 sorrowful event, William Gilmore Simms, the poet-his- 
 torian of South Carolina, says : " Never did men behave 
 better than the Continentals; but they were now com- 
 pelled to fly. The only chance that remained to avoid 
 a surrender on the field, and escape from the sabres of 
 the dragoons, in whom the British were very strong, 
 was to break away for the morass in their rear, into 
 which they could not be pursued by cavalry. This was 
 done, and by this measure, alone, did any part of this 
 devoted corps find safety." 
 
 In this contest Delaware lost heavily. Fighting side 
 by side with Maryland, their love for each other grew 
 and strengthened, and that love belongs to the future 
 as to the past. 
 
 The brave Baron De Kalb, the patriot stranger, who 
 strove to plant the standard of Freedom on the shores 
 of the "Western World, fell on that disastrous day, 
 covered with honorable wounds. Dying, he bestowed 
 his blessing as a last gift upon the men whom in life 
 he had so much loved. To his successor in the com- 
 mand, General Smallwood, he expressed his soldiery 
 pride and affection for the regiments by which he had 
 been immediately surrounded on the field. His last 
 words were, "God bless the Maryland Line." The 
 time is very far past, yet his benediction has been 
 echoed and re-echoed again and again from loyal lips 
 to loyal hearts. 
 
 Let us for the sake of his glorious sacrifice keep 
 always in proud remembrance the name and the deeds 
 of that dauntless German hero ! He is no longer 
 visible to us ; yet well might we be pardoned for think- 
 ing that though freed from earthly restraints, De Kalb 
 still retains his old command, that with uplifted sword 
 
 
GENERAL MOEDECAI GIST. 153 
 
 he guards, while leading forever onward the valiant 
 soldiers of Maryland. 
 
 In the retreat that day, Gist narrowly escaped death. 
 A British dragoon, dashing onward in hot pursuit 
 of the retiring army, galloped, with uplifted sword, 
 toward the American General. Wheeling his horse sud- 
 denly, Gist rushed toward his assailant — at that instant 
 a sergeant of Gist's brigade, leveling his musket at the 
 Briton, fired and killed him instantly. As he tumbled 
 from the saddle the sergeant sprang into his place and 
 rode swiftly away. 
 
 After this defeat, General Smallwood and Gist moved 
 to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the purpose of rally- 
 ing the scattered forces. 
 
 In fulfillment of General Washington's commands the 
 seven regiments of the Old Line, Maryland troops, 
 were formed into one regiment, to be called the First 
 Maryland. This regiment was placed under the com- 
 mand of Colonel Otho H. Williams. General Gist at 
 the head of a band of supernumerary officers returned 
 to Maryland. He was to recruit and form new regi- 
 ments as rapidly as possible, to rebuild the broken 
 ranks shattered by death and disaster. He was also 
 deputed by General Greene to make known the wants of 
 the army to the Government authorities, of which he 
 writes as follows : " You will please to make all your 
 applications in writing, that it may appear hereafter for 
 our justification, that we left nothing unessayed to pro- 
 mote the public service." 
 
 General Gist returned in good time to aid in the 
 final expulsion of the British from the Southern 
 country. 
 
 Gist's brigade was composed of the cavalry of the 
 Legion and that of the Third and Fourth Virginia 
 regiments, which were "under Colonel Baylor; the 
 13 
 
154 GENERAL MORDECAI GIST. 
 
 infantry of the Legion, the dismounted dragoons of the 
 third regiment, the Delawares, and one hundred men 
 from the line under Major Beal. The whole of the 
 infantry was placed under command of Colonel Lau- 
 rens." With this force Gist protected the country 
 lying south and west of the main army. The ravages 
 of the British in the interior were beginning to be des- 
 perately felt, and were carried on by armed vessels as 
 well as by their land forces. General Gist in command 
 of the Light Corps took position near the banks of the 
 Stono river. It was in this neighborhood, on the 
 north side of the Combahee, that Colonel Laurens, so 
 noted for his bravery, was posted. With a small body 
 of men he sallied forth to attack the enemy. Falling 
 into an ambuscade he refused to surrender or retreat. 
 His little band was fired upon by the British, and at 
 the first fire the brave commander fell mortally 
 wounded. • 
 
 When Charleston was surrendered by the British to 
 the brave men whose rightful possession it was, Gist in 
 the proud beauty of his manhood, rode into the city by 
 the side of Moultrie, that flower of Carolina's chivalry. 
 
 Not very long after this time, Peace was proclaimed, 
 and the army disbanded for the while, sent happiness 
 into the homes of our land. When the day of parting 
 drew near, the gallant General Knox proposed the 
 establishment of a society among the officers of the 
 American Army, which would bind them by ties of 
 brotherhood as well as those of patriotism. The first 
 meeting for the organization of the society took place 
 at the head-quarters of Baron Steuben. Thus was 
 established the beginning of the Society of the Cincin- 
 nati. The first meeting of the Maryland branch took 
 place at the city of Annapolis, on the 21st day of 
 November, 1783. General Gist was selected for Vice- 
 
GENERAL MORDECAI GIST. 155 
 
 President of the Society of which he remained a mem- 
 ber for the period of seven years and ten months. Each 
 member contributed one month's salary to establish a 
 pension fund for indigent soldiers of the Revolution. 
 This fund is still in existence, and the pensions there- 
 from, though small, have done some good work. This 
 department of the Order resembles in some respects 
 that of " The Poor Knights " in England, about which 
 there is a certain degree of pathos which lingers always 
 around the good and the beautiful. The membership 
 was to be hereditary, descending to the eldest male-heir 
 in line. Much dissatisfaction was expressed on every 
 side, at what the people regarded as a revival of Old 
 World doctrine. General Washington, who desired 
 peace in more than words, proposed to the Cincinnati 
 the withdrawal of entailments in that Society. 
 
 The American Republicans of that day did not ac- 
 knowledge hereditary rights in practice. The Republi- 
 cans of the present time do not recognize hereditary 
 rights in theory. The advice of the Commander-in-Chief 
 was not taken upon this occasion, and the hereditary 
 features were retained as they exist at the present day. 
 Among the many distinguished members of that body 
 was General La Fayette. During the time of his visit 
 to Baltimore, in 1824, he was entertained by the Mary- 
 land members of the Cincinnati, at a supper given in 
 his honor. The entertainment took place at the resi- 
 dence of Mr. Buchanan, who gave his house for the 
 purpose. Most of the decorations and preparations for 
 this feast were made by a venerable and patriotic lady 
 of Maryland, Miss Sallie Merryman. 
 
 General Gist is said to have possessed a frank and 
 genial manner, adorned by that polish which perfects a 
 native grace. He was six feet in height, finely propor- 
 tioned, and well developed. His face was handsome; 
 
156 GENERAL MORDECAI GIST. 
 
 his eyes were brilliant. His whole countenance re- 
 flected the power of his majestic soul. General Gist 
 married a Mrs. Carman, of Baltimore county, in his 
 native State. She died shortly after her marriage. His 
 second wife was Miss Sterrett, of Baltimore city. This 
 lady died in giving birth to a son. 
 
 General Gist then proved his loyalty to the fairer por- 
 tion of creation, by marrying Mrs. Oattell, of South 
 Carolina. She also bore him a son. One of his boys 
 was named Independent, the other, States. 
 
 A picture of Mrs. Gist; the daughter of Mr. James 
 Sterrett, of Baltimore, was lately on exhibition at the 
 Art Gallery in " the City of Monuments." 
 
 This lady, the mother of Independent Gist, was a 
 noted beauty in her day. The portrait alluded to was 
 painted by Charles Wilson Peale, of Maryland, whose 
 faithful pictures of the past serve as strengthening links 
 in the chain of reminiscences, that might, otherwise, 
 have remained broken forever. 
 
 Upon the declaration and establishment of peace, 
 General Gist retired to his plantation near Charleston, 
 in South Carolina. Here he led the life of a country 
 gentleman. He died in the city of Charleston, August 
 the 2nd, in the year 1792. 
 
MY OWN NATIVE LAND. 
 
 Of TALK not to me of fair Italy's sky, 
 I Of the soft perfumed gales that through Araby sigh 
 I know there is not on this wide- spreading earth 
 A land bright and free, as this land of my birth ; 
 We have our mild zephyrs and bright sunny beams, 
 Our fruits and our flowers, fair valleys and streams; 
 Thy rocks and thy mountains are lofty and grand, 
 And brave are thy children, my own native land ! 
 
 If cowards and tyrants e'er seek to enchain, 
 And bring to the dust our proud spirits again, 
 Thy sous, still united, will rally for thee, 
 And die, as they've lived, the exalted and freel 
 Oh! had I the strength of my heart in my banc], 
 I'd fight for thy freedom, my own native land ; 
 Amid thy oppressors undaunted I'd fly, 
 And fling forth our banner in triumph on high. 
 Amelia B. Welby, 
 
 13* 
 
<M& 
 
 OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 
 
 ' I bold not first, though peerless else on earth, 
 
 TLat knightly valor, born of gentle blood, 
 
 And war's long tutelage, which hath made their name 
 
 Blaze like a baleful planet o'er these lands"— John Hay. 
 
 HE greatest soldiers are most frequently the 
 offspring of progenitors whose minds and 
 principles are of a noble cast. From the good, 
 good must come in some shape. Green, the 
 biographer, writes of onr soldier- hero: "In character, 
 he was warm-hearted and expansive; but upon moral 
 questions, firm to a degree, which savored somewhat of 
 sternness. As a soldier, he was rigid, in discipline, re- 
 quiring from his subordinate the prompt obedience 
 which he always paid, to his superiors." Otho Holland 
 Williams was descended of Welch ancestry of gentle 
 blood. His father was Joseph Williams, his mother, 
 Prudence Holland. They had. eight children, namely: 
 Mercy, born July 28th, 174G ; Otho Holland, March 1st, 
 1749; Elie, February 1st, 1750; Cassandra, December 
 27th, 1753; Priscil la, December 27th, 1755; Theresa, 
 May 26th, 1758; Cynthia, June 2nd, 1762. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born in the hospitable 
 county of Prince George's, Maryland. The year follow- 
 ing his birth his father, Mr. Joseph Williams, removed 
 
OHIO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 159 
 
 with his family to Frederick county, near the mouth of 
 Conococheague creek. Their new home was made in 
 the valley bearing the same name as the creek, near to 
 the bounds of Washington county. At the age of thir- 
 teen, Otho was left fatherless, and through the instru- 
 mentality of Mr. Boss, the husband of Mercy Williams, 
 he was appointed to a position in the clerk's office of 
 Frederick county. He was retained in this office for 
 several years, and it was finally given into his full charge. 
 He afterward occupied a similar position in the city of 
 Baltimore. After the death of Mr. Eoss, his widow 
 married Colonel Stull, of Maryland, who proved as faith- 
 ful in his friendship to the young Otho as his predeces- 
 sor had done. At the age of eighteen he is thus de- 
 scribed by General Samuel Smith : " He was about six 
 feet high, elegantly formed ; his whole appearance and 
 conduct much beyond his years ; his manner such as 
 made friends of all who knew him." He was doubtless 
 in the words of the immortal "Will:" "With all good 
 grace to grace a gentleman," 
 
 From Baltimore we follow him to Frederick town 
 once more, where he entered into commercial trade. Its 
 golden chains, however, did not prove sufficiently strong 
 to hamper the spirit that sprang quickly in answer to 
 the call "to arms!" A rifle company was formed in 
 Frederick town, under the command of Captain Thomas 
 Price; in this company Otho H. Williams was first lieu- 
 tenant; while the place of second lieutenant was held by 
 John Eoss Key, the father of the nation's poet. 
 
 What may not be hoped for, from a young man who 
 thus expresses the sentiments of his heart: " We should 
 not hope to be wealthy, or fear to be poor ; we never 
 shall want; and whoever considers the true source of 
 his happiness, will find it in a great degree arising from 
 a delicate concern for those dependent upon him, and 
 
160 OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 
 
 the approbation of his friends." He showed at this 
 early age the ambition of the truly great, which led him 
 to accomplish, by the best means in his power, the work 
 allotted to him by the Supreme Task-Master. Hence, 
 may be understood by all save the enyious, his words 
 here inscribed: "It would giye me pain if the world 
 should believe any person with the same advantages 
 may do more than I may. Fortune does a great deal in 
 all military adventures, and therefore I am not to say 
 whether this reproach will come upon me or not. But 
 you may rely upon it, my good friend, discretion and 
 fortitude shall govern my conduct ; and in the interim, 
 I commit myself to that Power whose eye is over all His 
 works, and by whose goodness I have been preserved in 
 numerous perils." This bold reliance upon the right, 
 in all things, taught him to scorn the mean subserviency 
 of spirit which recognizes or admits of abuses in high 
 places ; this independence he expressed at the beginning 
 of his career, as at its more successful points. On the 
 march from Frederick to Boston, or in the aid extended 
 to the north, nothing of especial note is recorded in re- 
 lation to this young soldier. 
 
 In 1776, at the age of twenty-seven, he was promoted 
 to the rank of major in a regiment of riflemen, com- 
 posed of Maryland and Virginia troops. He was one 
 of those valiant men who made so stern a resistance to 
 the Hessians at Fort Washington, on the Hudson river. 
 He was one of the 2,600 Americans who were made 
 captive on that day. Just previous to the surrender, 
 which was compelled through the continued assaults of 
 the powerful foe, Otho Williams was dangerously 
 wounded. During fifteen months, he was held a pris- 
 oner. Although deprived of his full liberty, he was, 
 for a time, allowed the privilege of his parole on Long 
 Island. The friendly relations existing between Williams 
 
OTIIO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 161 
 
 and Major Ackland, of the British army, and the anec- 
 dote connected therewith, are, of course, familiar to 
 many readers. It will bear repetition, however, in the 
 pleasant telling of the Reverend Osmond Tiffany: "On 
 one occasion, after Williams had been dining with Lady 
 Ackland, his good friend, the Major, and he, sallied 
 forth for a ball, and, although the company was much 
 struck with the elegant figures and demeanor of the 
 two friends, and although the Briton made all efforts to 
 introduce the captive, the gentlemen of the party could 
 not forget the enemy, to welcome the stranger, and the 
 ladies treated him with extreme coldness. Ackland, 
 finding that all his efforts were in vain, took Williams 
 by the arm, and led him from the room, saying : " Come, 
 this company is too exclusive for us." Major Ackland, 
 upon his return to England after the termination of the 
 Revolution, was killed in a duel, resulting from a dis- 
 pute regarding the bravery of Americana, in which 
 Major Ackland took the part of the patriots. Williams 
 was accused, during his captivity, of holding a secret 
 correspondence with General Washington ; and, without 
 trial or defence, he was seized and thrown into the jail 
 at New York. The narrow and comfortless cell was 
 shared with the well-known Ethen Allen. The suffer- 
 ings of these war-prisoners were, perhaps, attributable 
 to the low revenge of their jailors — the fate, alas ! of 
 full many a captive who has risked his freedom for his 
 cause ! 
 
 Bad food, bad air, and deprivations of every sort, 
 made sad havoc on the robust constitution of Williams, 
 from the effects of which he never wholly recovered. 
 Upon the surrender of General Burgoyne, General Gates 
 succeeded in obtaining the exchange of Williams, for 
 his friend* Major Ackland, of the British army. Before 
 the Battle of Monmouth, he was appointed to the Sixth 
 
162 OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 
 
 Regiment of the Maryland Line. He was promoted 
 while in prison. 
 
 Upon receiving the appointment of colonel, he wrote 
 the following letter, addressed to Governor Johnson, of 
 Maryland, and which is extracted from Scharf's Chron- 
 icles of Baltimore : 
 
 " Fredericktown, March 6th, 1778. 
 
 Sir: — The very honorable appointment which the Assembly 
 of the State of Maryland hath been pleased to make me, adds 
 an obligation to my natural duty and inclination to serve my 
 country with my best abilities. I have not been able to obtain 
 a state of the regiment which I expect the honor to command, 
 but, from the best information, learn there is not above one 
 hundred effective men with Lieutenant-Colonel Ford, and those 
 very indifferently clothed. The laws for recruiting and equip- 
 ping men in this State (of themselves deficient), I find very 
 badly executed, and I could wish it in my power to afford some 
 assistance, which I cannot possibly do until I am instructed 
 where to get cash, and how to subsist the recruits till they are 
 equipped and fit for duty. It would give me great pleasure to 
 be advised on this subject. I heartily desire to join the army as 
 soon as possible, but certainly it had better be reinforced by a 
 regiment without a colonel, than by a colonel without a regi- 
 ment. 
 
 " I am your Excellency's most obedient, humble servant, 
 
 Otho H. Williams." 
 
 " His Excellency, Thomas Johnson, Ehj., Governor of 
 Maryland." 
 
 In this battle, the Maryland Line added anew to its 
 glory, by its deeds of heroism, in telling of which one 
 of its soldiers, of the sixth regiment, said : " We had 
 the pleasure of driving the enemy off the field at Mon- 
 mouth." The Americans, following up their advantage, 
 continued to drive the British before them. Before the 
 close of the day the enemy took up a strong position 
 on the ground where they had met with their first re- 
 verse from the Maryland troops. Whilst the Americans 
 
OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 163 
 
 slept upon their arms, dreaming of the morrow's battle, 
 Sir Henry Clinton and his red-coat army 
 
 " Folded their tents like the Arabs," 
 
 and with their recorded stealthiness, deserted the field, 
 shielded by the darkness of the night. From " Camp 
 New Brunswick," July 6th, 1778, General Williams 
 wrote the following letter : 
 
 " On the 4th inst., the anniversary of American In- 
 dependence was celebrated in the following manner: 
 At three o'clock in the afternoon a cannon was dis- 
 charged as a signal for the troops to get under arms ; 
 half an hour afterward, the second fire was a signal for 
 the troops to begin their march, and at four, the third 
 signal was giy.en for the troops to draw up in two lines, 
 on the west side of the Karitan, which they did in beau- 
 tiful order. A flag was then hoisted for the feu de joie 
 to begin. Thirteen pieces of artillery were then dis- 
 charged, and a running fire of small arms went through 
 the lines, beginning at the right of the front line, catch- 
 ing the left, and ending at the right of the second line. 
 The field-pieces, in the intervals of brigades, were dis- 
 charged in the running fire, thus affording a harmonious 
 and uniform display of music and fire, which was thrice 
 well executed. After the feu dejoie, the general officers, 
 and officers commanding brigades, dined with his Ex- 
 cellency. Yesterday, a number of field-officers shared 
 the same fate, and I had the satisfaction of seeing the 
 old warrior in very fine spirits." 
 
 Although General Williams had few opportunities in 
 the northern country of proving his prowess on the 
 battle-field, he was noted throughout the army as a 
 disciplinarian. In reporting an officer to General 
 Greene for disobedience of orders, he once wrote : 
 " When orders are received with contempt, and re- 
 
164 OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 
 
 jected with insolence, examples are requisite to re-estab- 
 lish subordination, the basis of discipline" 
 
 The South was to hold the field wherefrom his 
 brightest laurels should be culled, and thither he 
 inarched with those brave men who seemed to bear on 
 the point of sabre and bayonet the jeweled touch-stone 
 of victory. Persecution, wrong, hatred, fled before the 
 glittering wall of steel that flashed beneath the southern 
 sun. 
 
 Brave soldiers of a noble cause, 
 
 Staunch winners in a loyal fight, 
 We yield thee now, our hearts' applause, 
 
 Our homage to the Eight in Might ! 
 
 Ah, olden heroes ! passed away 
 Beyond those heights where ever stands 
 
 The Goddess who through night and day 
 Holds clustering laurels in her hands, 
 
 For those whose brows are pure and strong, 
 
 And fitted to the victor's crown, 
 Whose valor makes the poets' song, 
 
 Whose deeds are rung by fair renown. 
 
 With silver trumpet forth she flies, 
 
 The Herald to the ranks of Fame, 
 And as the battling soldier dies 
 
 She flings abroad the hero's name. 
 
 Brave soldiers of a noble cause, 
 
 Staunch winners in a royal fight, 
 We yield thee now, our hearts' applause, 
 
 Our homage to the Might in Right ! 
 
 The cruelty and depredations of the British in the 
 South are well-known to all intelligent readers. The 
 rule of Sir Henry Clinton, who had gone thither from 
 the North, was heavily felt; and when from the blood- 
 red train of war Tarleton and his minions burst forth, 
 
OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 165 
 
 the hearts of the South were stricken with terror. The 
 name of Tarleton is even now uttered by Southerners 
 with a degree of scorn little lessened by time, that is 
 said to work such marvels, The paths that he followed, 
 the headquarters he occupied, each and all are pointed 
 to and told of with their romantic traditions. 
 
 General Williams, writing to his brother, leaves the 
 following note of that mournful period : " There are a 
 few virtuous good men in this State, and in Georgia; 
 but a great majority of the people are composed of the 
 most unprincipled, abandoned, vicious vagrants that 
 ever inhabited the earth. The daily deliberate murders 
 committed by pretended Whigs, and reputed Tories 
 (men who are actually neither one thing nor another in 
 principle), are too numerous and too shocking to relate. 
 The licentiousness of various classes and denominations 
 of villains desolate this country, impoverish all who 
 attempt to live by other means, and destroy the strength 
 and resources of the country, which ought to be col- 
 lected and united against a common enemy. You may 
 rely on it, my dear brother, that the enemy have had 
 such footing and influence in this country that their 
 success in putting the inhabitants together by the ears, 
 has exceeded even their own expectations. The distrac- 
 tion that prevails surpasses anything I ever before wit- 
 nessed, and equals any idea which your imagination can 
 conceive of a desperate and inveterate civil war." 
 
 The words of Mr. Tiffinay, from whose interesting 
 pamphlet is gathered much of the material of this 
 sketch, describe well the enduring love and bravery of 
 the southern women : "They would, with the courage 
 of Joan of Arc, have grasped the sword, and perished at 
 the stake. They would not. give their hand in the light 
 dance to a Briton; they gave their heart with their 
 hand to the meanest of their countrymen. They threw 
 14 
 
166 OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 
 
 the gold bracelet into the scale to lighten the iron fetter. 
 They feared not the contagion of the prison ships, nor 
 the damp of the dungeon. They instilled into their 
 drooping relatives new hopes, and urged them once more 
 to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." 
 
 At this time of need the French soldier, La Fayette, 
 and other foreigners, had come to the assistance of the 
 struggling colonists ; their names gaining new praises as 
 they went on their way, uttered with enthusiasm by the 
 patriots. Braced by hope they renewed the contest with 
 an ardor that had of late commenced to lose force, for 
 misfortune seemed to hang lowering above them. 
 
 Sickness and hunger added to their sufferings in the 
 fatiguing march ; yet with unshaken resolve they en- 
 dured to the death. On the battle-field of Camden 
 Williams, with his brave followers, swept through the 
 thickest of the fight. When he besought the Sixth 
 Maryland to stand firm, the valiant Ford replied : " They 
 have done all that can be expected of them, we are out- 
 numbered and outflanked. See, the enemy charge with 
 bayonets I" 
 
 The tried soldier, John Eager Howard, served in this 
 battle, as lieutenant under Williams. 
 
 Here fell the dauntless DeKalb, pierced to death by 
 the bullets of the enemy; this was on the 16th of 
 August, 1780. 
 
 In Johnson's " Life of Greene," the author says, in 
 allusion to Williams' narrative of Gates' defeat : " It is 
 an invaluable historical fragment, and would, perhaps, 
 never have appeared in print had it not been inserted 
 here. I publish it as a tribute of respect to the memory 
 of a man too little known to the American people." 
 
 The wants of the army at this time increasing, Gene- 
 ral Greene, on his way to the south, writes from Annap- 
 olis : " General Gist is at this place, and says, ' it is idle 
 
OTnO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 1G7 
 
 to expect service from the southern army unless they 
 receive supplies from the northward, to put them in a 
 condition to act, and that it is equally idle to expect 
 anything south of this, especially clothing; nor will 
 there be anything of consequence to be had in this 
 State.'" ' 
 
 The next battle of importance after Camden, was that 
 of King's Mountain, where, through rugged way and 
 fastness, Victory led on for the Americans, and planted 
 upon its topmost peak her standard. In this engage- 
 ment with the enemy Williams, of Maryland, had no 
 part; yet one of that name, belonging to South Carolina, 
 won much fame by his heroism. 
 
 General Nathaniel Greene, when he succeeded General 
 Gates in the south, perceived, with keen appreciativeness, 
 the merits of Otho Holland Williams, whom he made 
 deputy adjutant general. From that time forth he went 
 conquering on his way, adding each day new honors to 
 his unsullied name. 
 
 One week had elapsed before the glad news of the vic- 
 torious termination of the battle of the Cowpens was 
 received by that portion of the army encamped upon the 
 banks of the Pedee. To the brave mountaineer, Morgan, 
 Otho Williams wrote: "We have had a feu de joie, 
 drank all your healths, swore you were the finest fellows 
 on earth, and love you, if possible, more than ever. The 
 General has, I think, made his compliments in very 
 handsome terms. Inclosed is a copy of his orders. It 
 was written immediately after we received the news, and 
 during the operation of some cherry-bounce." 
 
 When we contrast with the immense armies of to-day 
 the little bodies of cavalry or infantry that marched over 
 rocky ways, and'through marshy forests to gain liberty 
 for us, the picture would seem ludicrous were it not so 
 full of sorrow. Truly were they " the finest fellows on 
 
168 OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 
 
 earth," who hungry, bare-footed, and nearly naked, 
 strove against winter's wind and rain; gaining new 
 honors for themselves and a free-hold to their successors 
 in the land. All of that portion of the story is unutter- 
 ably sad. The ludicrous only belongs to the descend- 
 ants of those patriots, who, boasting of their ancestry, 
 depend upon strangers for the record of those deeds 
 which should be familiar to them from their earliest 
 childhood. Satisfied with having been told that their 
 "blood is good," and that their fore-fathers did some- 
 thing which entitled them to distinction, they are una- 
 ble to tell of the nature of the deeds of which they 
 boast. 
 
 There is also another class of people who insist that, 
 as Republicans, they have no right to be proud of ances- 
 tors of great name or noble lineage ; and so they scorn 
 the graciousness of remembering that alone of which 
 they have any reason to be proud. If, with the same 
 degree of determination with which they refuse to fol- 
 low upward their greatness, they would abstain also 
 from imitating the follies and the vices of their progeni- 
 tors, we might look to see a grander Republic, free of 
 stain or reproach. 
 
 After the defeat of the unfortunate Gates, Williams 
 was in command of the rear-guard of the army in its 
 retreat through North Carolina. His reputation as a 
 disciplinarian was, if possible, more firmly established, 
 after this perfectly conducted march. General Greene, 
 in writing to him at this time, says : " You have the 
 flower of the army; do not. expose the men too much, 
 lest our situation should grow more critical." Fording 
 the swollen rivers and narrow streams, they left the 
 enemy behind to gaze across the muddy waters as hope- 
 lessly, almost, as the army of Pharaoh is said to have 
 looked after the children of Israel in their passage 
 through the Red Sea. 
 
 
OTIIO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 1G9 
 
 On the first of March, 1781, the Battle of Guilford 
 Court House took place. The Americans fared badly, 
 and were forced to retreat. On the 25th of April, 
 another battle took place at Camden. From the camp 
 before this place, Williams writes to his brother two 
 days following the action : " The army lost a glorious 
 opportunity of gaining a complete victory, taking the 
 town, and biasing the beam of fortune greatly in favor 
 of our cause. The loss was nearly equal on both sides, 
 if we do not consider the loss of opportunity. We lost 
 about one hundred and thirty killed and wounded, and 
 from account, the enemy were not more lucky. The 
 cavalry, the light infantry, and the guards acquired all 
 the honor, and the infantry of the battalions all the 
 disgrace, that fell upon our shoulders. The cavalry, led 
 on by Washington, behaved in a manner truly heroic. 
 He charged the British army in the rear, took a great 
 number of prisoners, sent many of them off with small 
 detachments, and when he saw we were turning our 
 backs upon victory in front, by a circuitous maneuvre, 
 he threw his dragoons into our rear, passed the line and 
 charged the York volunteers (a fine corps of cavalry), 
 killed a number, and drove the rest out of the field. 
 Washington is an elegant officer; his reputation is de- 
 servedly great. Many of our officers are mortally mor- 
 tified at our late inglorious retreat. I say mortally, be- 
 cause I cannot doubt that some of us must fall, in en- 
 deavoring, the next opportunity, to re-establish our 
 reputation. Dear reputation, what trouble do you not 
 occasion, what danger do you not expose us to ! Who, 
 but for it, would patiently persevere in prosecuting a 
 war, with the mere remnant of a fugitive army, in a 
 country made desolate by repeated ravages, and rendered 
 sterile by streams of blood ? Who, but for reputation 
 would sustain the varied evils that daily attend the life 
 14* 
 
170 OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 
 
 of a soldier, and expose him to jeopardy every hour ? 
 Liberty, thou basis of reputation, suffer me not to forget 
 the cause of my country, nor to murmur at my fate !" 
 
 The brave young officer of whom he spoke so glow- 
 ingly, was William Washington, of Stafford county, 
 Virginia, and a distant relative of the Commander-in- 
 Chief of the American armies. This battle is known 
 as that of Hobkirk's Hill. 
 
 On the 22nd of May, 1781, the Americans began the 
 attack on Ninety-Six, a small, fortified village near the 
 Saluda river, in the State of South Carolina. The siege 
 lasted twenty-eight days, in which the Americans lost 
 one hundred and eighty-five men. The Americans were 
 unsuccessful, and of them General Greene writes : "I 
 have only to lament that such brave men fell in an un- 
 successful attempt." Colonel Williams, in writing to 
 his brother, alludes regretfully to the defeat : " We were 
 obliged to relinquish an object which, if attained, would 
 not only have given peace to this distracted country, but 
 would have added a lustre to our former services suffi- 
 ciently brilliant to have thrown a proper light upon the 
 character of our excellent General, and reflected a ray 
 of glory upon each inferior officer. Though we have 
 been greatly disappointed, no troops ever deserved more 
 credit for their exertions. The operations were prose- 
 cuted with indefatigable zeal and bravery, and the place 
 was defended with spirit and address. Our loss is Cap- 
 tain Armstrong, of the Maryland Line, killed; Captain 
 Benson, dangerously wounded, and Lieutenant Duval, 
 also wounded. Besides officers, we lost fifty-eight men 
 killed, sixty-nine wounded, and twenty missing." 
 
 At the battle of Eutaw, Otho Williams was in com- 
 mand of two battalions of Marylanders, which Green^ 
 in his " Life of Nathaniel Greene," calls "the best corps 
 in the army." Through this fight AVilliams swept like 
 
OHIO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 1*71 
 
 the Angel of Death, bearing down all before him. 
 Greene says of the Maryland troops: "Williams and 
 Howard were with them, and they knew that the 
 bayonet alone could give them victory." 
 
 In writing of this battle, Colonel Williams thus con- 
 cludes a letter: "Upon re-perusal of this circumstantial 
 sheet, I do not think I have said enough of the bravery 
 of the American troops. To have an idea of their 
 vivacity and intrepidity, you must have shared their 
 danger and seen their charge, which exceeded anything 
 of the sort I ever saw before. The battle of Eutaw was 
 an example of what I conceive to be obstinate, fair 
 field-fighting, and it is worthy of remark, that it hap- 
 pened on the same spot of ground where, according to 
 the tradition of this country, a very bloody, desperate 
 battle was fought about a century ago between the 
 savage natives and the barbarous Europeans who came 
 to dispossess them of their property, which, in soil, is 
 as rich as any upon the continent, or can be anywhere 
 else. On the spot where the conflict of bayonets de- 
 cided the victory, is a monument or mound of earth, 
 said to have been erected over the bodies of the brave 
 Indians who fell in defence of their country. Will any 
 such honorable testimoney be erected to the memory of 
 our departed heroes ?" 
 
 General Greene says with regard to this battle : " I 
 cannot help acknowledging my obligations to Colonel 
 Williams for his great activity on this and many other 
 occasions, in forming the army, and for his intrepidity 
 in leading on the Maryland troops to the charge." 
 
 After this contest the Americans did not so much 
 dread the strength of the English in which the greatest 
 reliance had heretofore been felt by friend as well as 
 foe. Fever, famine, and exposure were more to be 
 dreaded than those visible foes well-clad, well-fed, and 
 well-armed. 
 
172 OTIIO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 
 
 The following letter from Scharf s Chronicles, dated 
 July the 7th, 1782, was written by Colonel Williams in 
 behalf of the starving soldiers, to Thomas Sim Lee, the 
 Governor of Maryland : 
 
 Sir — My attachment to the service of my country, and the 
 interest I feel in whatever concerns the honor and happiness of 
 my fellow-soldiers, are the only considerations which induce me 
 to communicate to your Excellency the complaints of the Mary- 
 land Line now with the Southern Army. It is known and ac- 
 knowledged that the troops of the State, ever since the com" 
 mencement of the Revolution, have participated in the greatest 
 fatigues and perseverance, and that in the extremity of their 
 sufferings, their complaints have always approached the ear of 
 civil authority with humility and respect. 
 
 It is also known that since the Maryland troops have served 
 in the Southern States (which is now more than two years), they 
 have upon the most arduous occasions given the highest satis- 
 faction to the generals who have successively commanded the 
 Southern Army, and particularly to their present enterprising 
 commanding officer, General Greene, under whom they have per- 
 formed the most gallant services. And that they are the only 
 troops who have constantly kept the field under every difficulty 
 since the Spring of 1780, without a shilling of pay real or nomi- 
 nal, without a supply of clothing at any time equal to their 
 necessities, and without any other subsistence than what, with 
 the assistance of the rest of the army, they have occasionally 
 collected, by force of arms, in a country once entirely in subjec- 
 tion, and in a very great degree attached to the enemy. No dis- 
 tress, no dangers have ever shaken the firmness of their spirits, 
 nor induced them to swerve from their duty. They have a long 
 time patiently suffered the neglect of their country, not without 
 murmuring, it is true, but without mutiny or disaffection to a 
 cause which they are endeavoring to maintain with their blood. 
 But what man or body of men will long forbear to express their 
 apprehensions of injustice when they find some of their com- 
 panions disbanding themselves and receiving compensation for 
 past services, and others reinlisted, or new levies, in the same 
 service receiving large bounties in specie for three years, which 
 they who have already served twice that time have never re- 
 
OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 173 
 
 ceived nor expected, and that every corps by which they have 
 been reinforced, from time to time, have received more or less 
 cash for pay, subsistence, etc., before they could be induced to 
 march from the State in which they were incorporated. 
 
 A part of the troops now with the southern army has, I am 
 well informed, received pay for seveial months, and some corps 
 belonging to the northern army have received pay from the states 
 in which they were raised. 
 
 These considerations, and similar ones which might be added, 
 will, and do naturally, occasion jealousies which may, in their 
 consequences, produce very unhappy effects. 
 
 I would not be understood to insinuate that the officers have 
 not virtue enough to submit to every species of neglect, injustice 
 and partiality that can be imposed, sooner than concur in any- 
 thing fatal to the community they serve ; but the common sol- 
 diers, who are men of less consideration, will compel them to 
 waive the exercise of their authority, or reduce them to the un- 
 happy necessity of maintaining a slavish discipline by examples 
 dreadful to humanity.- 
 
 I, therefore, most humbly solicit, in behalf of both officers and 
 soldiers, that your Excellency, with the concurrence of your 
 Council, will be pleased to address the honorable the Congress 
 to instruct the minister of finance to appropriate a part of the 
 specie tax to be levied in this State, to the payment of the Mary- 
 land troops ; and that the same may be put into the hands of a 
 proper person for that purpose, so soon as it is collected. I can- 
 not doubt, if this should be granted, and the good people of 
 Maryland should be advertised of the purpose for which the 
 money is to be raised, that speedy voluntary payments will anti- 
 cipate the necessity of executing property for the tax according 
 to the Act of Assembly, and prevent those calamitous conse- 
 quences that may attend a continuance of their grievances. I 
 beg that the occasion may be my apology for giving your Excel- 
 lency this trouble. With the greatest respect and esteem, I am 
 your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 O. H. Williams. 
 
 His Excellency Governor T. S. Lee. 
 
 It is not possible, in a brief sketch, to follow, step by 
 step, the career of this brave man, who gave the best he 
 had to bestow, to his country's service. Being sent by 
 
174 OTIIO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 
 
 General Greene with dispatches to Congress, he received, 
 during that time, the honorary title of brevet brigadier- 
 general, which circumstance caused among the other 
 colonels of the army a feeling of displeasure. In a letter 
 to General Williams, General Greene says : 
 
 "The love of rank is so strong a principle in the 
 breast of a soldier, that he who has a right to promo- 
 tion will never admit another over his head upon a 
 principle of merit. You must content yourself with 
 having obtained it, and that no man is without his ene- 
 mies but a fool. I am glad to hear the sentiments of 
 the public are so flattering to the southern army. The 
 southern states have acted generously by me, and if I 
 can close the business honorably here, I shall feel doubly 
 happy; happy for the people, and happy for myself. I 
 think the public are not a little indebted for our exer- 
 tions. The southern states were lost, they are now re- 
 stored ; the American arms were in disgrace, they are 
 now in high reputation. The American soldiery were 
 thought to want both patience and fortitude to contend 
 with difficulties; they are now remarkable for both. 
 That sentiment had taken deep root in Europe, but it 
 is now totally changed. Indeed the change of British 
 administration is in a great degree owing to our efforts, 
 
 and the consequences resulting from them 
 
 At the time the battle of Eutaw was fought by the ene- 
 my, from returns laid before Parliament, it appears they 
 had in Charleston and in their advanced army, 6,700 
 men fit for duty, besides all the militia and negroes. 
 What an amazing difference between their force and 
 ours ? From these authorities, I find our operations 
 were much more glorious than ever we considered 
 them." 
 
 The following letter, addressed to a friend, is taken 
 from " Lee's Memoirs ;" it was written after Williams 
 
OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 1*75 
 
 had been promoted to the brigadier-generalship. It is 
 dated May 18th, 1782: 
 
 My Dear Pendleton : — Your laconic epistle of the 20th 
 April was banded to me by General St. Clair, in the situation 
 you wished. Involved in a scene of the most agreeable amuse- 
 ments, I have scarcely had time for reflection ; therefore, if I have 
 been guilty of any omission toward you, or any other of my 
 southern friends, I hope it will be imputed to the infatuating 
 pleasures of the Metropolis. My promotion (for which I am 
 principally indebted to my invaluable friend, General Greene,) 
 might prove the efficacy of making a short campaign to court 
 (especially as it had been once rejected), if the circumstances 
 which attended it did not too evidently discover how much the 
 greatest men are actuated by caprice, and how liable the most 
 respectable bodies are to inconsistencies. Upon the application 
 of General Greene, seconded by the recommendation of Wash- 
 ington, the votes of Congress were taken, whether I should or 
 should not be made a brigadier, in consequence of former re- 
 solves, which very clearly, in my opinion, gave me a right to 
 promotion. It was resolved in the negative. Upon the second 
 motion in Congress, the same letters were reconsidered, and the 
 man whose legal claim was rejected (because it was inconveni- 
 ent, or might give umbrage to others), is promoted in considera- 
 tion of his distinguished talents and services. I wish I may be 
 always able to justify and maintain an opinion that does me so 
 much honor. If Congress will please to wink at my imperfec- 
 tions, I will be careful not to meddle with theirs. 
 
 Among the heroes of the Kevolution, none are better 
 entitled to our veneration and gratitude than Otho 
 Holland Williams. His bravery was only surpassed by 
 many sacrifices made to Liberty, who, though represent- 
 ing the people, attains her throne through the proudest 
 blood of a nation. 
 
 In the quieter life of a private citizen, General Wil- 
 liams preserved the respect of his fellowmen, won on 
 the hazardous field of glory. 
 
 On the 21st of November, 1783, he was elected Treas- 
 urer of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which General 
 George Washington was the President. 
 
176 OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 
 
 After the close of the war, he received the appoint- 
 ment of Collector of Customs of the port in Baltimore, 
 which office was conferred upon him by General Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 On the 18th of October, 1785, he married Miss Mary 
 Smith, the second daughter of William Smith, Esquire, 
 a merchant of influence and wealth in the city of Balti- 
 more. His children, by this happy marriage, were five 
 sons, whose names indicate, in some measure, the love 
 of the father for his patriotic companions. They were 
 Robert Smith, William Elie, Edward Green, Henry Lee 
 and Otho Holland. 
 
 Not long before his death, he was offered the actual 
 rank of brigadier-general, which honor he refused to 
 accept. His health declining, he undertook a voyage to 
 the Barbadoes in 1793, hoping to experience a benefit 
 from the salt air. A slight improvement in health was 
 of short duration. 
 
 In the following year of 1794, while on the way to 
 the Sweet Springs of Virginia, overcome by illness, he 
 was forced to stop at the small town of Woodstock. 
 Here he died on the 15th of July. His body was taken 
 to his farm, the home of his childhood, on the banks of 
 the river Potomac. He was buried in the family grave- 
 yard at " Springfield," where he sleeps undisturbed in 
 the shadow of the busy little town of Willi am sport. 
 
 On page 109, of Green's history, he says of Williams : 
 " Beginning his military career with no advantages of 
 military training, his rare intelligence led him directly 
 to the true sources, and gave him a clear perception of 
 the fundamental principles of the science. His counsel 
 was always the counsel of a clear, deep and perspicuous 
 mind. His conduct in the field was ardor, tempered by 
 judgment and self-possession; his bearing in camp 
 the system which gives vigor to discipline, and insures 
 

 OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS. 177 
 
 the punctual fulfillment of every duty. Greene, who 
 had known him in the north, took him at once into his 
 counsels, and communicated his thoughts and designs 
 to him with a freedom and confidence which he seems 
 to have felt with no other but Henry Lee." 
 
 He died at the age of forty-five. Mr. Tiffany says of 
 him : " He was prepared ; he had lived the full measure 
 of his fame; his life had been glorious and happy; he 
 had shrunk from no responsibility; he had feared noth- 
 ing but to do wrong; he had gained l honor, love, obedi- 
 ence, troops of friends/ and when at last he met the 
 unconquerable foe, it was with the same calm courage 
 and reliance on a higher power that had been his trust 
 when he had rushed into mortal battle." 
 
 In Lee's Memoirs we find the following brave tribute 
 to the brave man : " There was a loftiness and liberality 
 in his character which forbade resort to intrigue and 
 hypocrisy in the accomplishment of his views, and re- 
 jected the contemptible practice of disparaging others 
 to exalt himself. In the field of battle he was self- 
 possessed, intelligent and ardent ; in camp circumspect, 
 attentive and systematic ; in counsel sincere, deep and 
 perspicuous. During the campaigns of General 
 Greene he was uniformly one of his few advisers, and 
 held his unchanged confidence. Nor was he less es- 
 teemed by his brother officers, or less respected by his 
 soldiery." 
 
 Thus ends the reading of a soldier's story — a soldier 
 who was loyal to his God as to his country. To bravery 
 and purity of life was joined the courtliness of a modern 
 Bayard. What more can be required of a man ? Not 
 illy chosen seems the family motto : " He who suffers 
 conquers !" 
 
 15 
 
OH ! WOULD I WERE WITH THEE 
 FOREVER ! 
 
 OH ! would I were witb tbee forever, 
 Oh ! would that we never might part, 
 That the joy that now thrills me might ever 
 
 Fill up every vein of my heart. 
 I have traveled the fairy world over, 
 
 I have tasted of many a bliss ; 
 But 'twas madness to hope to discover 
 The wealth of a moment like this. 
 
 Fate might point to the hour with her finger, 
 
 That should tear me asunder from thee, 
 Yet my spirit would near thee still linger, 
 
 And laugh at the harmless decree. 
 But no fancies like these will I cherish, 
 
 Nor fear the sweet dream will not last- 
 That the bliss of this moment will perish, 
 
 Or live but a dream of the past. 
 
 No ! enough that I know thou art near me, 
 
 Enough that I feel thou art inine — 
 As you gaze in my face, that you hear me, 
 
 In accents responding to thine. 
 Then away with the future before me, 
 
 Like a syren still singing of bliss, 
 Not the breath of all Time can allure me, 
 
 While I live in a moment like this. 
 
 George Hay Ringgold, 
 
 United Hates Army. 
 
"THE BOAST OF MARYLAND, 
 
 " He was desirous of fame ; of that fame which alone is endur- 
 iDg; the fame which reposes on sound learning, exalted genius 
 and diligent, nay, incessant study."— Story. 
 
 ILLIAM PINKNEY was born at Annapolis, 
 on the Severn river, in the State of Mary- 
 land, the 17th day of March, 1764. His 
 father was an Englishman named Jonathan 
 Pinkney. He was of Norman descent, his ancestors 
 having gone to England with William the Conqueror. 
 His mother was a woman of strong intellectual powers 
 and great tenderness of heart; to her he owed the first 
 part of his education. Jonathan Pinkney was a Royal- 
 ist, espousing that cause with great warmth during the 
 struggle for independence. The boy, however, chose to 
 be a patriot of a more decided order. Sparks, in his 
 biographical sketch of Pinkney, says that " one of the 
 freaks of his patriotism was to escape from the vigi- 
 lance of his parents, and mount night-guard with the 
 soldiers in the fort at Annapolis." 
 
 Having imbibed in these early years a hatred of op- 
 pression and oppressors, it inspired at a later period 
 some of his noblest efforts. Owing to the poverty forced 
 upon him by the confiscation of his father's property, 
 his classical education was rather limited. His teacher, 
 
180 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 Mr. Bref-hard, who was the Principal of the King 
 William School, took a profound interest in the em- 
 bryo statesman, at that time just thirteen years of age. 
 (In the College Eegister for 1794, the name of William 
 Pinkney is entered on the Board of Visitors chosen for 
 that year.) Struggling against the inflictions of pride 
 and poverty, he endeavored to earn his livelihood by 
 labor. It is said that he entered an apothecary store in 
 the city of Baltimore, and while there began the study 
 of medicine under Doctor Dorsey. From this rather 
 obscure position he was drawn by the learned Samuel 
 Chase, under whose direction and encouragement Pink- 
 ney began the study of the law at the age of nineteen. 
 
 He appeared as a practitioner before the bar in the 
 year 1786. Leaving Annapolis he went to Harford 
 county, on the Susquehanna river, where his first pro- 
 fessional efforts saw the light. From this district he 
 was sent as a delegate to the State Convention, which 
 ratified the Constitution of the United States of America, 
 in 1788. In October of the same year he was chosen 
 and sent as a member of the House of Delegates. 
 
 The eloquent utterances of this wonderful son of genius 
 is counted among the proudest memorials of historical 
 Maryland. His nephew, the Eeverend William Pinkney, 
 thus writes of his gifted kinsman : " With a voice of un- 
 common melody and power, an elocution beautifully 
 accurate, and action graceful and impressive, he held 
 the listening crowds upon his tongue in rapt astonish- 
 ment and wonder. The tradition is still alive in Mary- 
 land, which echoes the widespread rumor of his fame." 
 He opposed the law that denied to the slaveholder the 
 power of manumitting those slaves at will. Although 
 battling, as he did, against a host of opponents, his for- 
 cible arguments and lucid reasoning won him many 
 adherents even in the camp of the enemy. 
 

 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 181 
 
 "If," he said, "emancipation can be effected with the 
 owner's consent, while his understanding is legally com- 
 petent to the act, I care not through what medium — 
 fraud excepted — should he reduce his family to beggary 
 by it ; I should not be the one to repine at the deed. I 
 should glory in the cause of their distress, while I wished 
 them a more honest patrimony." 
 
 Sparks says: "This speech breathes all the fire of 
 youth, and a generous enthusiasm for the rights of 
 human nature, although it may not perhaps be thought 
 to give any pledge of those great powers of eloquence 
 and reasoning which he afterward displayed in his 
 mature efforts." 
 
 The same writer, in referring again to the abolition of 
 slavery in this country, says: "The more mature and 
 ripened judgment of Mr. Pinkney, as a statesman, seems 
 to have ultimately settled down into the conviction that 
 colonization was the only practical remedy from which 
 the removal of this plague-spot could even be hoped 
 for." 
 
 William Pinkney began well his peerless career of 
 success by an early and happy marriage. So do the 
 strongest souls yield most easily to the divine influences 
 of love. 
 
 The woman who graced his honorable name was Miss 
 Ann Maria Rodgers, the daughter of John Kodgers, Esq., 
 of Havre-de-Grace, Maryland. She was the sister of 
 the brave Commodore John Rodgers, of the United 
 States Navy. She possessed great personal beauty, 
 amiability of disposition, and elegance of manner. Her 
 intellect was of a superior order, and it retained its vigor 
 until the close of a long life. She was the mother of 
 ten children, all of whom survived their father. Two 
 of these children, at least, were afterward noted men for 
 brilliancy of intellect and extraordinary cultivation. 
 15* 
 
182 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 In 1790 he was elected member of Congress, but he 
 declined the office. 
 
 In 1792 he was elected a member of the Executive 
 Council of Maryland, which position he held for about 
 three years. He was for a time President of that body. 
 He was appointed by President Washington as Commis- 
 sioner from the United States to England in 1796. He 
 remained in that country, engaged in important govern- 
 ment affairs, until 1804. While in London, and not 
 engaged in official or social duties, he occupied the time 
 in study. Under the direction of a tutor he pursued 
 the study of the Latin language, and cultivated in other 
 ways the talents so generously bestowed upon hhn. 
 W T hile in Europe he enjoyed the society and friendship 
 of many of the most eminent statesmen of that period ; 
 amongst his appreciative friends Mr. Pitt was the most 
 prominent. 
 
 Lord Holland, who was also intimate with Mr. Pink- 
 ney, addressed him the following letter: 
 
 London, June 1st, 1808. 
 Dear Sir:— From fear that you might have thought what I 
 said to you about your boy a mere matter of form, I write again 
 to you, after 1 have talked it over with Lady Holland, to say that 
 if we are to encounter the misfortune of a war with America, 
 and upon leaving this country you should wish your son to pursue 
 his education here, Lady Holland and myself beg to assure you, 
 that without the least inconvenience to us, we can take care of 
 him during the holidays; aud between them ascertain that he 
 is going on properly, and give you all the information you would 
 require upou the progress of his studies, state of his health, etc. 
 I only entreat you to adopt this plan, if otherwise agreeable aud 
 convenient, without scruple, as I assure you we should not 
 offer it if we did not feel pleasure in the prospect of its being 
 accepted. 
 
 General Washington died in his absence from America, 
 in allusion to which he writes to his brother, Mr. Jona- 
 than Pinkney , 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 183 
 
 " The death of General Washington has ascertained 
 how greatly he was everywhere admired. The pane- 
 gyrics that all parties here have combined to bestow 
 upon his character have equaled those in America." 
 
 In another letter from London, he expresses himself 
 as follows : " I have at all times thought highly of Mr. 
 Jefferson, and have never been backward to say so. I 
 have never seen, or fancied I saw, in the prospective of 
 his administration the calamities and disasters, the anti- 
 cipation of which has rilled so many with terror and 
 dismay. I thought it certain that a change of men 
 would follow his elevation to power — but I did not for- 
 bode from it any such change of measures as would put 
 in hazard the public happiness. I believed, and do still 
 believe, him to be too wise'not to comprehend, and too 
 honest not to pursue the substantial interests of the 
 United States, which is, in fact, almost impossible to 
 mistake, and which he has every possible motive to se- 
 cure and promote." — From Pinknet/s Life of Pinkney, 
 page 39. 
 
 Upon his return to Annapolis, he was welcomed by 
 expressions of public joy. These he responded to in 
 the way most characteristic of the statesman and the 
 gentleman. Although feeling proud of the genius that 
 exalted him so high above most of his contemporaries, 
 that genius was never dimmed by the darkness of in- 
 gratitude to his fellow-man. He was truly great. He 
 lived at a time when greatness meant more than a mere 
 name or title, and yet not to be bought as a bauble. 
 His greatness was striven for with the energy of life, and 
 clasped as a prize by its possessor. His greatness was 
 unbestowed of man, nor won by pandering to the popu- 
 lar tastes and creeds of the day. Rather did he seek to 
 uproot such systems as he deemed pernicious to the life 
 and liberty of his beloved land. 
 
184 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 In 1805 he was appointed Attorney- General of the 
 State of Maryland. 
 
 In 1806 he was sent as Envoy Extraordinary to Great- 
 Britain, from whence he returned in 1811. On his re- 
 turn he was immediately elected a member of the State 
 Senate, and at the end of the same year was appointed 
 Attorney-General of the United States by President 
 Madison. Not long after his appointment to the 
 Attorney-Generalship an important case came up for 
 decision in the Supreme Court. It related to In- 
 ternational Law and the special claims of private 
 citizens of the United States against the sovereign 
 rights of foreign nations. In referring to the argument 
 made by Mr. Pinkney on this occasion, Sparks says: 
 " It was maintained by Mr. Pirlkney, as Attorney- General, 
 witli an extent of learning, and a force of argument and 
 eloquence, which raised him at once in the public esti- 
 mation to the head of the American Bar." 
 
 Not satisfied with the might of the pen alone, his sword 
 was drawn in defence of his country against the British 
 invaders. In command of a company of riflemen, at- 
 tached to the third brigade of Maryland militia, he 
 fought and was wounded at the Battle of Bladensbnrg. 
 He was sent from Baltimore to the National Congress. 
 He resigned his seat before the expiration of his term, 
 and accepted the appointment of Minister to Russia and 
 especial Envoy to Naples, tendered him by President 
 Monroe. He seemed wonderfully endowed with graces 
 best suited to places of trust and dignity. His manner 
 was gracious and winning; his eloquence won a more 
 powerful charm through the musical depths of his voice. 
 Nor did he scorn the assistance of fashion's latest 
 modes. The perfect fit of his gloves lias been com- 
 mented upon frequently, and regarded by some staunch 
 republicans as a mark of effeminacy, rather than a proof 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 185 
 
 of refined habits and elegant tastes. Upon his return 
 to America, he resumed the practice of the law in the 
 city of Baltimore. " He was retained in the Supreme 
 Court, in 1819, by the Bank of the United States in 
 maintaining its claim of exemption from State taxation." 
 He continued his labors in the Supreme Court after his 
 election to the United States Senate in 1820. The con- 
 stant stress upon his nervous energies, of iron strength 
 though they seemed, proved too great for him. His en- 
 feebled health succumbed to an attack of illness which 
 proved fatal. He died on the 25th day of February, 
 1822. 
 
 Now, indeed, was Maryland bowed to the dust in 
 grief ! Yet rising, she gazed with mournful pride upon 
 the grave of her son. On her calm forehead shone the 
 name of Pinkney, prelustrous amid the brilliant stars 
 that make her glorious diadem ! 
 
 Of him that wise man, Roger Brooke Taney, has 
 said: "I have heard almost all the great advocates of 
 the United States, both of the past and present genera- 
 tion, but I have seen none equal to Pinkney. He was a 
 profound lawyer in every department of the science, as 
 well as a powerful and eloquent debater." 
 
 His death was announced in the House of Representa- 
 tives by the famous John Randolph, of Virginia, who 
 said : " 1 rise to announce to the House the not unlooked- 
 for death of a man who filled the first place in the pub- 
 lic estimation, in the first profession in that estimation, 
 in this or any other country. We have been talking of 
 General Jackson, and a greater than he is not here, but 
 gone forever. I allude, sir, to the boast of Maryland, 
 and the pride of the United States — the pride of us all, 
 but more particularly the pride and ornament of the 
 profession of which you, Mr. Speaker, (Mr. Philip P. 
 Barbour,) are a member and an eminent one." 
 
186 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 Judge Story said that the name of Pinkney was 
 " one of the proudest names in the annals of the 
 American Bar His language is most ele- 
 gant, correct, select and impressive ; his delivery fiuen fe 
 and continuous ; his precision the most exact and 
 forcible that you can imagine He pos- 
 sesses beyond any man I ever saw the power of elegant 
 
 and illustrative amplification His style was 
 
 ornate in the highest degree. Indeed, Chief Justice 
 Marshall said of Mr. Pinkney that he never knew his 
 equal as a reasoner — so clear and luminous was his 
 
 method of argumentation One who, while 
 
 abroad honored his country by an unequaled display of 
 diplomatic service, and on his return illumined the 
 halls of justice with an eloquence of argument and 
 depth of learned research that have not been exceeded 
 in our own age/' 
 
 William Pinkney, like all successful great men, had 
 his bitter enemies and his false accusers; yet even they 
 who willingly defamed him while living, aided in doing 
 honor to the " dead Lion." The hatred born of that 
 malignant fiend, Jealousy, disappeared when he, the 
 subject of it, was no longer present in their path to 
 dispute the right of way to the highest success. By 
 the illness of a little more than one week, the life of 
 this wonderful man was ended. On the night of the 
 25th of February, 1822, he died, in the fifty-eighth year 
 of his age, just when the world was echoing, and re- 
 echoing, with his oft-repeated name. 
 
 The last book that- he is said to have read was the 
 far-famed "Pirate" of Sir Walter Scott; the love of 
 the poetic and. romantic did not desert him in his 
 arduous labors. The Beautiful seemed ever glowing in 
 gold and rose-color upon his vivid word-pictures. The 
 most rugged Truth he adorned with the graceful mantle 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 187 
 
 of Poetry, which served to enhance the charms without 
 concealing the grand beauty of that stern Monitress. 
 
 Mr. Benton, in his " Thirty Years' View," says : " Mr. 
 Pinkney was kind and affable in his temper, free from 
 every taint of envy or jealousy, conscious of his powers 
 and relying upon them alone for success. He was a 
 model, as I have already said, and it will bear repeti- 
 tion, to all young men in his habits of study and ap- 
 plication, and at more than fifty years of age was still a 
 severe student. In politics he classed democratically, 
 and was one of the few of our eminent public men who 
 never seemed to think of the presidency. Oratory was 
 his glory, the Law his profession, the Bar his theatre ; 
 and his service in Congress was only a brief episode, 
 dazzling each House, for he was a momentary member 
 of each, with a single and splendid speech." 
 
 Mr. Tyler, in his Memoir of Chief Justice Taney, 
 writes this : " William Pinkney, the great lawyer, was 
 then a Senator from Maryland, in the Congress of the 
 United States, and stood forth as the champion of the 
 equality and sovereignty of a State when admitted into 
 the Union. Rufus King, a Senator from New York, a 
 man of great ability and high honor, was the leader of 
 the party which wished to introduce States into the 
 Union manacled by Federal authority. Such was the 
 marvelous power of Pinkney's vindication of the right 
 of States to be admitted, if admitted at all, into the 
 Union on no other conditions than those imposed by 
 the Constitution of the United States, that the enemies 
 of State sovereignty quailed under his mighty blows. 
 Rufus King, while yet subdued by Pinkney's Titanic 
 strength, remarked to John Nelson, ' that the speech of 
 Pinkney had enlarged his admiration of the capacity of 
 the human mind.' " 
 
 Again, the author of Taney's Memoir says: "When I 
 
188 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 vi as a student of law, Judge John Scott, an eminent 
 lawyer of Virginia, told me that soon after the death of 
 Mr. Pinkney, Chief Justice Marshall remarked to ' him 
 at Richmond, in the presence, of that eminent lawyer, 
 Walter Jones, that Mr. Pinkney was the greatest man 
 he had ever seen in a Court of Justice;' and that Mr. 
 Jones responded, 'yes, no such man has ever appeared 
 in any country more than once in a century.' " 
 
 A writer in The Literary World, of 1850, says: "To 
 use the language of Mr. Kennedy, (author of Horse 
 Shoe Robinson), he asked and gave no quarter. To 
 the younger members of the profession he was a warm 
 and steadfast friend; to all just and fair. If, in the 
 ardent struggle for supremacy with the most renowned 
 of his contemporaries, he neither asked nor gave 
 quarter, it is no less true that he sought an honorable 
 victory, and labored to build up for himself a solid 
 granite character — a reputation — the reward of real ac- 
 quirements and profound attainments." 
 
 The following proof of Mr. Pinkney's kind feelings 
 toward young lawyers is culled from among many of a 
 like nature : Joseph Palmer, a young lawyer of Mary- 
 land, and in later years a well-known practitioner at the 
 Bar, was from illness prevented from attending court. 
 The circumstance was told to Mr. Pinkney by the phy- 
 sician of Mr. Palmer. Pinkney went at once to the 
 young man and asked him for his brief — argued his 
 case for him, and, as a matter of course, won it. 
 
 Much has been written and said on the subject of 
 Wirt's unjust feeling and the expression of it, with re- 
 gard to William Pinkney, his contemporary and pro- 
 fessional adversary. The following well-authenticated 
 story is, however, more agreeable to record than the 
 petty animosities which are always foreign to truly 
 great natures. Not long after the death of Mr. Pink- 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 189 
 
 ney, Mr. Ross, a member of the Maryland Bar, was 
 returning from Annapolis, where he had attended the 
 Court of Appeals. Upon the same steamboat with 
 him was Mr. William Wirt. They engaged in conver- 
 sation. Mr. Eoss asked Mr. Wirt his opinion of the 
 relative abilities of Mr. Webster and Mr. Pinkney as 
 lawyers. Mr. Wirt said : " You might as well compare 
 a farthing candle to the Sun, as to compare Mr. 
 Webster as a lawyer to Mr. Pinkney. Mr. Pinkney 
 had an oceanic mind ; and, sir, he had made himself so 
 complete a master of International, Maritime, Consti- 
 tutional and Municipal Law, that he could count them 
 upon his ten fingers. He was the most thoroughly 
 equipped lawyer I have ever met in the Courts." 
 
 Extracts from Pinkney's Speech on the 
 Missouri Question. 
 As I am not a very frequent speaker in this As- 
 sembly, and have shown a desire, I trust, rather to 
 listen to the wisdom of others than to lay claim to 
 superior knowledge by undertaking to advise, even 
 when advice, by being seasonable in point of time, 
 might have some chance of being profitable, you will 
 perhaps bear with me if I venture to trouble you once 
 more on that eternal subject which has lingered here 
 until all its natural interest is exhausted, and every 
 topic connected with it is literally worn to tatters. I 
 shall, I assure, sir, speak with laudable brevity — not 
 merely on account of the feeble state of my health, and 
 from some reverence for the laws of good taste which 
 forbid me to speak otherwise, but also from a sense of 
 justice to those who honor me with their attention. 
 My single purpose, as I suggested yesterday, is to sub- 
 ject to a friendly yet close examination some portions 
 of a speech, imposing certainly on account of the dis- 
 16 
 
190 WILLIAM PLMKNEY. 
 
 tinguished quarter from whence it came — not very 
 imposing (if I may say so, without departing from that 
 aespect which I sincerely feel and intend to manifest 
 for eminent abilities and long experience) for any other 
 reason. 
 
 I believe, Mr. President, that I am about as likely to 
 retract an opinion which I have formed as any member 
 of this body, who, being a lover of truth, inquires after 
 it with diligence before he imagines that he has found 
 it; but I suspect that we are all of us so constituted as 
 that neither argument nor declamation, leveled against 
 recorded and published decision, can easily discover a 
 practicable avenue through which it may hope to reach 
 either our heads or our hearts. I mention this lest it 
 may excite surprise, when I take the liberty to add, 
 that the speech of the honorable gentleman from New 
 York, upon the great subject with which it was princi- 
 pally occupied, has left me as great an infidel as it 
 found me. It is possible, indeed, that if I had had the 
 good fortune to hear that speech at an earlier stage of 
 this debate, when all was fresh and new, although I feel 
 confident that the analysis which it contained of the 
 Constitution, illustrated as it was by historical anecdote 
 rather than by reasoning, it would have been just as un- 
 satisfactory to me then as noiv. I might not have been 
 altogether unmoved by those warnings of approaching 
 evil which it seemed to intimate, especially when taken 
 in connection with the observations of the same honor- 
 able gentleman on a preceding day, 'that delays in 
 disposing of this subject in the manner he desires are 
 dangerous, and that we stand on slippery ground/ I 
 must be permitted, however (speaking only for myself), 
 to say, that the hour of dismay is passed. I have heard 
 the tones of the larum bell on all sides, until they have 
 become familiar to my ear, and have lost their power to 
 appal, if, indeed, they ever possessed it. 
 

 WILLIAM FINKNEY. 191 
 
 Notwithstanding occasional appearances of rather an 
 unfavorable description, I have long since persuaded 
 myself that the Missouri Question, as it is called, might 
 be laid to rest, with innocence and safety, by some con- 
 ciliatory compromise at least, by which, as is our duty, 
 we might reconcile the extremes of conflicting views 
 and feelings, without any sacrifice of constitutional 
 principle ; and in any event that the Union would easily 
 and triumphantly emerge from those portentous clouds 
 with which this controversy is supposed to have en- 
 vironed it. I confess to you, nevertheless, that some of 
 the principles announced by the honorable gentleman 
 from New York,* with an explicitness that reflected the 
 highest credit on his candor, did, when they were first 
 presented, startle me not a little. They were not, per- 
 haps, entirely new. Perhaps I had seen them before in 
 some shadowy and doubtful shape, 
 
 " If shape it might be called, that shape had none 
 Distinguishable in member, joint or limb." 
 
 But in the honorable gentleman's speech they were 
 shadowy and doubtful no longer. He exhibited them 
 in forms so boldly and accurately defined, with contours 
 so distinctly traced, with features so pronounced and 
 striking, that I was unconscious for a moment that they 
 might be old acquaintances. I received them as novi 
 hospUes within these walls, and gazed upon them with 
 astonishment and alarm. I have recovered, however, 
 thank God, from this paroxysm of terror, although not 
 from that of astonishment. I have sought and found 
 tranquility and courage in my former consolatory faith. 
 My reliance is that these principles will obtain no gen- 
 eral currency ; for, if they should, it requires no gloomy 
 imagination to sadden the perspective of the future. 
 
 *Mr. King. 
 
192 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 My reliance is upon the unsophisticated good sense and 
 noble spirit of the American people. 
 
 I have what I may be allowed to call a proud and 
 patriotic trust, that they will give countenance to no 
 principles which, if followed out to their obvious conse- 
 quences, will not only shake the good fabric of the 
 Union to its foundations, but reduce it to a melancholy 
 ruin. The people of this country, if I do not wholly 
 mistake their character, are wise as well as virtuous. 
 They know the value of that federal association which 
 is to them the single pledge and guarantee of power and 
 peace. Their warm and pious affections will cling to it 
 as to their only hope of prosperity and happiness, in 
 defiance of pernicious abstractions, by whomsoever in- 
 culcated, or howsoever seductive and alluring in their 
 aspect. 
 
 Sir, it is not an occasion like this, although connected, 
 as contrary to all reasonable expectation it has been, 
 with fearful and disorganizing theories, which would 
 make our estimates, whether fanciful or sound, of 
 natural law, the measure of civil rights and political 
 sovereignty in the social state, that can harm the Union. 
 It must, indeed, be a mighty storm that can push from 
 its moorings this sacred ark of the common safety. It 
 is not every trifling breeze, however it may be made to sob 
 and howl in imitation of the tempest, by the auxiliary 
 breath of the ambitious, the timid, or the discontented, 
 that can drive this gallant vessel, freighted with every- 
 thing that is dear to an American bosom, upon the rocks, 
 or lay it a sheer hulk upon the ocean. I may, perhaps, 
 mistake the flattering suggestions of Hope (the greatest 
 of all flatterers, as we are told) for the conclusions of 
 sober reason. Yet it is a pleasing error, if it be an 
 error, and no man shall take it from me. I will con- 
 tinue to cherish the belief, in defiance of the public 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 193 
 
 patronage given by the honorable gentleman from New- 
 York, with more than his ordinary zeal and solemnity, 
 to deadly speculations, which, invoking the name of 
 God to aid their faculties for mischief, strike at all es- 
 tablishments, that the union of these States is formed 
 to bear up against far greater shocks than through all 
 vicissitudes it is ever likely to encounter. I will con- 
 tinue to cherish the belief that, although like all other 
 human institutions it may for a season be disturbed, or 
 suffer momentary eclipse by the transit across its disk 
 of some malignant planet, it possesses a recuperative 
 force, a redeeming energy in the hearts of the people, 
 that will soon restore it to its wonted calm, and give it 
 back its accustomed splendor. On such a subject I will 
 discard all hysterical apprehensions — I will deal in no 
 sinister auguries — I will indulge in no hypochondriacal 
 forebodings. 
 
 I will look forward to the future with gay and cheer- 
 ful hope ; and will make the prospect smile, in fancy at 
 least, until overwhelming reality shall render it no longer 
 possible. I have said thus much, sir, in order that I 
 may be understood as meeting the constitutional ques- 
 tion as a mere question of interpretation, and as disdain- 
 ing to press into the service of my argument upon it, 
 prophetic fears of any sort, however they may be coun- 
 tenanced by an avowal, formidable by reason of the high 
 reputation of the individual by whom it has been haz- 
 arded, of sentiments the most distinctive, which, if not 
 borrowed from, are identical with, the worst visions of 
 the political doctrines of France, when all the elements 
 of discord and misrule were let loose upon that devoted 
 nation. I mean " the infinite perfectibility of man and 
 his institutions," and the resolution of everything into 
 a state of nature. I have another motive which, at the 
 risk of being misconstrued, I will declare without re- 
 16* 
 
194 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 serve. With my convictions, and with ray feelings, I 
 never will consent to hold confederated America bound 
 together by a silken cord, which any instrument of mis- 
 chief may sever, to the view of monarchical foreigners, 
 who look with a jealous eye upon that glorious experi- 
 ment Miich is now in progress amongst us in favor of 
 republican freedom. Let them make such prophesies 
 as they will, and nourish such feelings as they-may, I 
 will not contribute to the fulfillment of the former, nor 
 minister to the gratification of the latter. Sir, it was 
 but the other day that we were forbidden (properly for- 
 bidden, I am sure, for the } rohibition came from you) 
 to assume that there existed any intention to impose a 
 prospective restraint on the domestic legislation of Mis- 
 souri — a restraint to act upon it contemporaneously with 
 its origin as a state, and to continue adhesive to it 
 through all the stages of its political existence. We 
 are now, however, permitted to know that it is deter- 
 mined, by a sort of political surgery, to amputate one 
 of the limbs of its local sovereignty, and thus mangled 
 and disparaged, and thus only, to receive it into the 
 bosom of the Constitution. It is now avowed that, 
 while Maine is to be ushered into the Union with every 
 possible demonstration of studious reverence on our 
 part, and on hers with colors flying, and all the other 
 graceful accompaniments of honorable triumph, this 
 ill-conditioned upstart of the West, this obscure found- 
 ling of a wilderness that was but yesterday the hunting- 
 ground of the savage, is to find her way into the Amer- 
 ican family as she can, with an humiliated badge of 
 remediless inferiority patched upon her garments, with 
 the mark of recent qualified manumission upon her, or 
 ratner with a brand uponher forehead to tell the story 
 of her territorial vassalage, and to perpetuate the mem- 
 ory of her evil propensities. It is now avowed that 
 
WILLIAM PLNKNEY. 195 
 
 while the robust district of Maine is to be seated by the 
 side of her truly respectable parent, co-ordinate in au- 
 thority and honor, and is to be dandled into power and 
 dignity, of which she does not stand in need, but which 
 undoubtedly she deserves, the more infantine and feeble 
 Missouri is to be repelled with harshness, and forbidden 
 to come at all, unless with the iron collar of servitude 
 about her neck, instead of the civic crown of republican 
 freedom upon her brow, and is to be doomed forever to 
 leading strings, unless she will exchange those leading 
 strings for shackles. 
 
 I am told that you have the power to establish this 
 odious and revolting distinction, and I am referred for 
 the proofs of that power to Tarious parts of the Consti- 
 tution, but principally to that part of it which author- 
 izes the admission of new states into the Union. I am 
 myself of opinion that it is in that part only that the 
 advocates for this restriction can, with any hope of suc- 
 cess, apply for a license to impose it ; and that the efforts 
 which have been made to find it in other portions of 
 that instrument are too desperate to require to be en- 
 countered. I shall, however, examine those other por- 
 tions before I have done, lest it should be supposed by 
 those who have relied upon them, that I omit to answer 
 what I believe to be unanswerable. The clause of the 
 Constitution which relates to the admission of new states 
 is in these words : " The Congress may admit new states 
 into this Union," etc., and the advocates for restriction 
 maintain that the use of the word " may" imports dis- 
 cretion to admit or to reject; and that in this discretion 
 is wrapped up another — that of prescribing the terms 
 and conditions of admission in case you are willing to 
 admit : Cvjus est dare ejus est disponere. I will not, 
 for the present, inquire whether this involved discretion 
 to dictate the terms of admission belongs to you or not 
 
196 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 It is fit that I should first look to the nature and extent 
 of it. 
 
 I think I may assume that if such a power be any- 
 thing but nominal, it is much more than adequate to 
 the present object; that it is a power of vast expansion, 
 to which human sagacity can assign no reasonable lim- 
 its; that it is a capacious reservoir of authority, from 
 which you may take, in all time to come, as occasion 
 may serve, the means of oppression as well as of bene- 
 faction. I know that it professes at this moment to be 
 the chosen instrument of protecting mercy, and would 
 win upon us by its benignant smiles ; but I know, too, 
 it can frown and play the tyrant, if it be so disposed. 
 Notwithstanding the softness which it now assumes, and 
 the care with which it conceals its giant proportions 
 beneath the deceitful drapery of sentiment, when it 
 next appears before you, it may show itself with a 
 sterner countenance and in more awful dimensions. It 
 is, to speak the truth, sir, a power of colossal size — if, 
 indeed, it be not an abuse of language to call it by the 
 gentle name of upoiver. Sir, it is a wilderness of pow- 
 ers, of which Fancy, in her happiest mood, is unable to 
 perceive the far- distant and shadowy boundary. Armed 
 with such a power, with religion in one hand and phi- 
 lanthropy in the other, and followed with a goodly train 
 of public and private virtues, you may achieve more 
 conquests over sovereignties not your own, than falls to 
 the common lot of even uncommon ambition. By the 
 aid of such a power, skilfully employed, you may 
 " bridge your way " over the Hellespont that separates 
 State legislature from that of Congress ; and you may 
 do so for pretty much the same purpose with which 
 Xerxes once bridged his way across the Hellespont that 
 separates Asia from Europe. He did so, in the language 
 of Milton, " the liberties of Greece to yoke." 
 
WILLIAM PLNKNEY. 
 
 197 
 
 You may do so for the analogous purpose of subju- 
 gating and reducing the sovereignties of States, as your 
 taste or convenience may suggest, and fashioning them 
 to your imperial will. There are those in this house 
 who appear to think, and I doubt not sincerely, that the 
 particular restraint now under consideration, is wise 
 and benevolent, and good : wise as respects the Union — 
 good as respects Missouri — benevolent as respects the 
 unhappy victims whom, with a novel kindness, it would 
 incarcerate in the South, and bless by decay and extir- 
 pation. Let all such beware, lest in their desire for the 
 effect which they believe the restriction will produce, 
 they are too easily satisfied that they have the right to 
 impose it. The moral beauty of the present purpose, or 
 even its political recommendations (whatever they may 
 be), can do nothing for a power like this, which claims 
 to prescribe conditions ad libitum, and to be competent 
 to this purpose, because it is competent to all. This re- 
 striction, if it be not smothered in its birth, will be but 
 a small part of the progeny of that prolific power. It 
 teems with a mighty brood, of which this may be en- 
 titled to the distinction of comeliness as well as of primo- 
 geniture. The rest may want the boasted loveliness of 
 their predecessors, and be even uglier than " Lapland 
 witches." 
 
 Perhaps, sir, you will permit me to remind you that 
 it is almost always in company with those considerations 
 which interest the heart, in some way or other, that en- 
 croachment steals into the world. A bad purpose throws 
 no veil over the licenses of power. It leaves them to be 
 seen as they are. It affords them no protection from 
 the inquiring eye of Jealousy. The danger is when a 
 tremendous discretion, like the present, is attempted to 
 be assumed, as on this occasion, in the names of Pity, 
 of Eeligion, of national Honor and national Prosperity; 
 
198 WILLIAM PLNKNEY. 
 
 when encroachment tucks itself out in the robes of 
 piety, or humanity, or addresses itself to pride of coun- 
 try, with all its kindred passions and motives. It is 
 then that the guardians of the Constitution are apt to 
 slumber on their watch, or, if awake, to mistake for 
 lawful rule some pernicious arrogation of power. I 
 would not discourage authorized legislation upon those 
 kindly, generous and noble feelings which Providence 
 has given to us for the best of purposes, but when power 
 to act is under discussion, I will not look to the end in 
 view, lest I should become indifferent to the lawfulness 
 of the means. Let us discard from this high constitu- 
 tional question all those extrinsic considerations which 
 have been forced into its discussion. Let us endeavor 
 to approach it with a philosophic impartiality of temper 
 — with a sincere desire to ascertain the boundaries of 
 our authority, and a determination to keep our wishes 
 in subjection to our allegiance to the Constitution. 
 Slavery, we are told in many a pamphlet, memorial and 
 speech, with which the press has lately groaned, is a 
 foul blot upon our otherwise immaculate reputation. 
 Let this be conceded, yet you are no nearer than before 
 to the conclusion that you possess power which may 
 deal with other subjects as effectually as with this. 
 Slavery, we are further told, with some pomp of meta- 
 phor, is a canker at the root of all that is excellent in this 
 ^Republican Empire, a pestilent disease that is snatch- 
 ing the youthful bloom from its cheek, prostrating its 
 honor, and withering its strength. Be it so ; yet it you 
 have power to medicine to it in the way proposed, and 
 in virtue of the diploma which you claim, you have also 
 power in the distribution of your political alexipharmics ; 
 to present the deadliest drugs to every territory that 
 would become a state, and bid it drink or remain a 
 colony forever. Slavery, we are also told, is now "roll- 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 199 
 
 ing onward, with a rapid tide, toward the boundless 
 regions of the West," threatening to doom them to 
 sterility and sorrow, unless some potent voice can say to 
 it, thus far shalt thou go and no farther. 
 
 Slavery engenders pride and indolence in him who 
 commands, and inflicts intellectual and moral degrada- 
 tion on him who serves Slavery, in fine, is unchristian 
 and abominable. Sir, I shall not stop to deny that 
 slavery is all this and more ; but I shall not think myself 
 the less authorized to deny that it is for you to stay the 
 course of this dark torrent, by opposing to it a mound 
 raised up by the labors of this portentous discretion on 
 the domain of others — a mound which you cannot erect 
 but through the instrumentality of a trespass of no or- 
 dinary kind — not the comparatively innocent trespass 
 that beats down a few blades of grass which the first 
 kind sun or the next refreshing shower may cause to 
 spring again, but that which levels with the ground the 
 lordliest trees of the forest, and claims immortality for 
 the destruction which it inflicts. I shall not, I am sure, 
 be told that I exaggerate this pow T er. It has been ad- 
 mitted here, and elsewhere, that I do not. But I want 
 no such concession. It is manifest, that as a discretion- 
 ary power, it is everything or nothing — that its head is 
 in the clouds, or that it is a mere figment of enthusiastic 
 speculation — that it has no existence, or that it is an 
 alarming vortex ready to swallow up all such portions 
 of the sovereignty of an infant state, as you may think 
 fit to cast into it as preparatory to the introduction into 
 the Union of the miserable residue. 
 
 No man can contradict me when I say, that if you 
 have this power, you may squeeze down a new-born sov- 
 ereign state to the size of a pigmy, and then taking it 
 between finger and thumb, stick it into some niche of 
 the Union, and still continue, by way of mockery, to 
 
200 WILLIAM PLNKNEY. 
 
 call it a state in the sense of the Constitution. You may- 
 waste it to a shadow, and then introduce it into the 
 society of flesh and blood, an object of scorn and derision. 
 You may sweat and reduce it to a thing of skin and 
 bone, and then place the ominous skeleton beside the 
 ruddy and healthful members of the Union, that it may 
 have leisure to mourn the lamentable difference between 
 itself and its companions, and to brood over its disas- 
 trous promotion, and to seek in justifiable discontent, 
 an opportunity for separation, and insurrection, and re- 
 bellion. What may you not do by dexterity and perse- 
 verance with this terrific power ? You may give to a 
 new state, in the form of terms which it cannot refuse 
 (as I shall show you hereafter), a statute-book of a 
 thousand volumes — providing not for ordinary cases 
 only, but even for possibilities ; you may lay the yoke, 
 no matter whether light or heavy, upon the necks of the 
 latest posterity ; you may send this searching power into 
 every hamlet for centuries to come, by laws enacted in 
 the spirit of prophecy, and regulating all those dear re- 
 lations of domestic concern, which belong to local leg- 
 islation, and which even local legislation touches with a 
 delicate and sparing hand. This is the first inroad. 
 But will it be the last ? This provision is but a pioneer 
 for others of a more desolating aspect. It is the fatal 
 bridge of which Milton speaks, and when once firmly 
 built, what shall hinder you to pass it when you please, 
 for the purpose of plundering power after power at the 
 expense of new states, as you will still continue to call 
 them, and raising up prospective codes, irrevocable and 
 immortal, which shall leave to those states the empty 
 shadows of domestic sovereignty, and convert them into 
 petty pageants, in themselves contemptible, but rendered 
 infinitely more so by the contrast of their humble facul- 
 ties, with the proud and admitted pretensions of those, 
 

 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 201 
 
 who, having doomed them to the inferiority of vassals, 
 have condescended to take them into their society and 
 under their protection ! I shall be told, perhaps, that 
 you can have no temptation to do all, or any part of 
 this, and moreover, that you can do nothing of your- 
 selves, or, in other words, without the concurrence of 
 the new State. The last of these suggestions I shall 
 examine by and by. To the first I answer, that it is not 
 incumbent upon me to prove that this discretion will be 
 abused. It is enough for me to prove the vastness of 
 the power as an inducement to make us pause upon it, 
 and to inquire with attention, whether there is any 
 apartment in the Constitution large enough to give it 
 entertainment. It is more than enough for me to show 
 that vast as is this power, it is with reference to mere 
 territories an irresjjonsible power. Power is irresponsi- 
 ble when it acts upon those who are defenceless against 
 it, who cannot check it, or contribute to check it, in its 
 exercise, who can resist it only by force. The territory 
 of Missouri has no check upon this power. It has no 
 share in the government of the Union. In this body it 
 has no representative. In the other House it has, by 
 courtesy, an agent, who may remonstrate, but cannot 
 vote. That such an irresponsible power is not likely 
 to be abused, who will undertake to assert ? If it is 
 not, "Experience is a cheat, and Fact a liar." The 
 power which England claimed over the colonies was 
 such a power, and it was abused, and hence the Revo- 
 lution. Such a power is always perilous to those who 
 wield it, as well as to those on whom it is exerted. 
 Oppression is but another name for irresponsible power, 
 if history is to be trusted. The free spirit of our Con- 
 stitution and of our people is no assurance against the 
 propension of unbridled power to abuse, when it acts 
 upon colonial dependents rather than upon ourselves. 
 17 
 
202 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 Free States, as well as despots, have oppressed those 
 whom they were hound to foster — and it is the nature 
 of man that it should he so. The love of power and the 
 desire to display it when it can he done with impunity? 
 is inherent in the human heart. Turn it out at the 
 door, and it will in again at the window. Power is dis- 
 played in its fullest measure, and with a captivating 
 dignity, by restraints and conditions. The pruritas 
 leges ferendi is an universal disease, and conditions are 
 laws as far as they go. The vanity of human wisdom 
 and the presumption of human reason are proverbial 
 This vanity and this presumption are often neither 
 reasonable nor wise. Humanity, too, sometimes plays 
 fantastic tricks with power. Time, moreover, is fruit- 
 ful in temptations to convert discretionary power to all 
 sorts of purposes. 
 
 Time, that withers the strength of man and " strews 
 around him like autumn leaves the ruins of his proud- 
 est monuments," produces great vicissitudes in modes 
 of thinking and feeling. It brings along with it, in its 
 progress, new circumstances, new combinations and 
 modifications of the old, generating new views, motives, 
 and caprices, new fanaticisms of endless variety — in 
 short, new everything. We ourselves are always chang- 
 ing, and what to-day we have but a small desire to 
 attempt, to-morrow becomes the object of our passion- 
 ate aspirations. There is such a thing as enthusiasm, 
 moral, religious or political, or a compound of all three, 
 and it is wonderful what it will attempt, and from what 
 imperceptible beginnings it sometimes rises into a 
 mighty agent. Rising from some obscure or unknown 
 source, it first shows itself a petty rivulet, which 
 scarcely murmurs over the pebbles that obstruct its 
 way — then it swells into a fierce torrent, bearing all 
 before it — and then again, like some mountain stream, 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 203 
 
 which occasional rains haye precipitated upon the 
 valley, it sinks once more into a rivulet, and finally 
 leaves its channels dry. Such a thing has happened. 
 I do not say that it is now happening. It would not 
 become me to say so ; but if it should occur, woe to the 
 unlucky territory that should be struggling to make its 
 way into the Union at the moment when the opposing 
 inundation was at its height, and at the same instant, 
 this wide Mediterranean of discretionary powers, which 
 it seems is ours, should open all its sluices, and with a 
 consentaneous rush, mingle with the turbid waters of 
 the others. 
 
 "New states may he admitted by the Congress into 
 this Union." It is objected that the word "may" 
 imports power, not obligation — a right to decide — a 
 discretion to grant or refuse. To this it might be 
 answered, that power is duty on many occasions. But 
 let it be conceded that it is discretionary. What con- 
 sequence follows ? A power to refuse, in a case like 
 this, does not necessarily involve a power to exact 
 terms. You must look to the result, which is the 
 declared object of the power. Whether you will arrive 
 at it or not, may depend on your will ; but you cannot 
 compromise with the result intended and professed. 
 What then is the professed result ? To admit a state 
 into this Union. What is that Union? A confedera- 
 tion of states, equal in sovereignty — capable of every- 
 thing which the Constitution does not forbid, or 
 authorize Congress to forbid. It is an equal Union 
 between parties equally sovereign. They were sover- 
 eign, independently of the Union. The object of the 
 Union was common protection for the exercise of 
 already existing sovereignty. The parties gave up a 
 portion of that sovereignty to insure the remainder. 
 
204 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 As far as they gave it up, by the common compact, 
 they have ceased to be sovereign. The Union provides 
 the means of defending the residue ; and it is into that 
 Union that a new State is placed on the same footing 
 with the original states. 
 
 It accedes for the same purpose, i. e., protection for 
 its unsurrendered sovereignty. 
 
 If it comes in shorn of its beams, crippled and dis- 
 paraged beyond the original states, it is not into the 
 original Union that it comes. For it is a different sort 
 of Union. The first was Union inter pares. This is a 
 Union between disparates — between giants and a dwarf 
 — between power and feebleness — between full propor- 
 tioned sovereignties and a miserable image of power — a 
 thing which that very Union has shrunk and shrivelled 
 from its just size, instead of preserving it in its true 
 dimensions. It is into " this Union, i. e., the Union of 
 the Federal Constitution, that you are to admit or re- 
 fuse to admit. You can admit into no other. You 
 cannot make Union, as to the new state, what it is not 
 as to the old ; for then it is not this Union that you 
 open for the entrance of a new party. If you make it 
 enter into a new and additional compact, is it any 
 longer the same Union ? We are told that admitting a 
 state into the Union is a compact; yes, but what sort of 
 a compact ? A compact that it shall be a member of 
 the Union, as the Constitution has made it. You can- 
 not new fashion it. You may make a compact to 
 admit, but when admitted, the original compact pre- 
 vails. The Union is a compact, with a provision of 
 political power and agents for the accomplishment of 
 its objects. Vary that compact as to a new state; 
 give new energy to that political power, as to make it 
 act with more force upon a new state than upon the 
 old; make the will of those agents more effectually the 
 
 

 WILLIAM PINKNEY, 205 
 
 arbiter of the fate of a new state than of the old, and it 
 may be confidently said that the new state has not 
 entered into this Union, but into another Union. How 
 far the Union has been varied is another question. 
 
 But that it has been varied is clear. If I am told, 
 that by the bill relative to Missouri, you do not legislate 
 upon a new state, I answer that you do ; and I answer 
 further, that it is immaterial whether you do or not. 
 .But it is upon Missouri, as a state, that your terms and 
 conditions are to act. Until Missouri is a state, the 
 terms and conditions are nothing. You legislate in the 
 shape of terms and conditions prospectively, and you so 
 legislate upon it, tha\, when it comes into the Union, it 
 is to be bound by a contract degrading and diminishing 
 its sovereignty, and is to be stripped of rights which 
 the original parties to the Union did not consent to 
 abandon, and which that Union (so far as depends upon 
 it) takes under its protection and guarantee. Is the 
 right to hold slaves a right which Massachusetts enjoys ? 
 If it is, Massachusetts is under this Union in a different 
 character from Missouri. The compact of Union for it 
 is different from the same compact of Union for Mis- 
 souri. The power of Congress is different — everything 
 which depends upon the Union is, in that respect, differ- 
 ent. But it is immaterial whether you legislate for 
 Missouri as a state or not. The effect of your legisla- 
 tion is to bring it into the Union with a portion of its 
 sovereignty taken away. But it is a State which you are 
 to admit. What is a state in the sense of the Constitu- 
 tion ? It is not a state in the general, but a state as 
 yon find it in the Constitution. A state, generally, is 
 a body politic or independent political society of men. 
 But the state which you are to admit, must be more or 
 less than this political entity. What must it be ? Ask 
 the Constitution. It shows what it means by a state, 
 
206 AVILLIAM P1NKNEY. 
 
 by reference to the parties to it. It must be such a 
 state as Massachusetts, Virginia, and the other members 
 of the American Confederacy — a state with full sover- 
 eignty, except as the Constitution restricts it. It is 
 said that the word may necessarily implies the right of 
 prescribing the terms of admission. Those who main- 
 tain this are aware that there are no express words (such 
 as upon such terms and conditions as Congress shall think 
 Jit) words which it was natural to expect to find in the 
 Constitution, if the effect contended for were meant. 
 They put it, therefore, on the word may, and on that 
 alone. Give to that word all the force you please, what 
 does it import ? That Congress is not bound to admit 
 a new State into this Union. 
 
 Be it so, for argument's sake. Does it follow that 
 when you consent to admit into this Union a new state, 
 you can make it less in sovereign power than the original 
 parties to that Union ; that you can make the Union as 
 to it what it is not as to them; that you can fashion it 
 to your liking by compelling it to purchase admission 
 into an Union by sacrificing a portion of that power 
 which it is the sole purpose of the Union to maintain 
 in all the plenitude which the Union itself does not im- 
 pair? Does it follow that you can force upon it an ad- 
 ditional compact not found in the compact of Union ? 
 That you can make it come into the Union less a state, 
 in regard to sovereign power, than its fellows in that 
 Union ? That you can cripple its legislative competency 
 (beyond the Constitution, which is the pact of Union, 
 to which you make it a party as if it had been originally 
 a party to it), by what you choose to call a condition, 
 but which, whatever it may be called, brings the new 
 government into the Union under new obligations to it, 
 and with disparaged power to be protected by it? In a 
 word, the whole amount of the argument on the other 
 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 207 
 
 side is that you may refuse to admit a new state, and 
 that, therefore, if you admit, you may prescribe the 
 terms. The answer to that argument is, that even if 
 you can refuse, you can prescribe no terms which are 
 inconsistent with the act you are to do. You can pre- 
 scribe no condition which, if carried into effect, would 
 make the new state less a sovereign state than, under 
 the Union as it stands, it would be. You can prescribe 
 no terms which will make the compact of Union be- 
 tween it and the origina 1 states essentially different from 
 that compact among the original states. You may ad- 
 mit, or refuse to admit; but if you admit, you must 
 admit a state in the sense of the Constitution — a state 
 witli all such sovereignty as belongs to the original par- 
 ties; and it must be into this Union that you are to ad- 
 mit it, not into a Union of your own dictating, formed 
 out of the existing Union by qualifications and new 
 compacts, altering its character and effects, and making 
 fall short of its protecting energy in reference to the 
 new state, whilst it acquires an energy of another sort, 
 the energy of restraint and destruction. I have thus 
 endeavored to show, that even if you have a discretion 
 to refuse to admit, you have no discretion, if you are 
 willing to admit, to insist upon any terms that impair 
 the sovereignty of the admitted state, as it would other- 
 wise stand in the Union by the Constitution which re- 
 ceives it into its bosom. To admit or not, is for you to 
 decide. Admission once conceded, it follows as a 
 corollary that you must take the new state as an equal 
 companion with its fellows ; that you cannot recast or 
 new model the Union pro hac vice, but that you must 
 receive it into the actual Union, and recognize it as a 
 parcener in the common inheritance, without any other 
 shackles than the rest have, by the Constitution, sub- 
 mitted to bear, without any other extinction of power 
 
208 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 than is the work of the Constitution acting indiffer- 
 ently upon all. 
 
 I may be told, perhaps, that the restriction in this 
 case is the act of Missouri itself; that your law is 
 nothing without its consent, and derives its efficacy 
 from that alone. I shall have a more suitable occasion 
 to speak on this topic hereafter, when I come to consider 
 the treaty which ceded Louisiana to the United States. 
 But I will say a few words upon it now, of a more gen- 
 eral application, than it will in that branch of the argu- 
 ment be necessary to use. A territory cannot surrender 
 to Congress by anticipation, the whole, or a part, of the 
 sovereign power which by the Constitution of the Union 
 will belong to it when it becomes a state and a member 
 of the Union. Its consent is, therefore, nothing. It is 
 in no situation to make this surrender. It is under the 
 government of Congress; if it can barter away a part 
 of its sovereignty, by anticipation, it can do so as to the 
 whole. For where will you stop ? If it does not cease 
 to be a state, in the sense of the Constitution, with only 
 a certain portion of sovereign power, what other smaller 
 portion will have that effect ? If you depart from the 
 standard of the Constitution, i. e., the quantity of do- 
 mestic sovereignty left in the first contracting states, 
 and secured by the original compact of Union, where 
 will you get another standard ? Consent is no standard, 
 for consent may be gained to a surrender of all. No 
 state or territory, in order to become a state, can alienate 
 or surrender any portion of its sovereignty to the Union, 
 or to a sister state, or to a foreign nation. It is under 
 an incapacity to disqualify itself for all the purposes of 
 government left to it in the Constitution, by stripping 
 itself of attributes which arise from the natural equality 
 of states, and which the Constitution recognizes, not 
 only because it does not deny them, but presumes them 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 209 
 
 to remain as they exist by the law of nature and nations. 
 Inequality in the sovereignty of states is unnatural and 
 repugnant to all the principles of law. Hence we find 
 it laid down by the text-writers on public law, that 
 "Nature has established a perfect equality of rights be- 
 tween independent nations" and that "whatever the 
 quality of a free sovereign nation gives to one, it gives 
 to another." The Constitution of the United States 
 proceeds upon the truth of this doctrine. It takes the 
 states as it finds them, Free and Sovereign alike by 
 Nature. It receives from them portions of their power 
 for the general good, and provides for the exercise of it 
 by organized political bodies. It diminishes the indi- 
 vidual sovereignty of each, and transfers what it sub- 
 tracts to the government which it creates ; it takes from 
 all alike, and leaves them relatively to each other equal 
 in sovereign power. The honorable gentleman from 
 New York has put the Constitutional argument alto- 
 gether upon the clause relative to admission of new states 
 into the Union. He does not pretend that you can find 
 the power to restrain, in any extent, elsewhere. It fol- 
 lows that it is not a particular power to impose this 
 restriction, but a power to impose restrictions ad libitum. 
 It is competent to this, because it is competent to 
 everything. But it denies that there can be any power 
 in man to hold in slavery his fellow-creature, and 
 argues, therefore, that the prohibition is no restraint 
 at all since it does not interfere with the sovereign 
 powers of Missouri. 
 
 One of the most signal errors with which the argu- 
 ment on the other side has abounded, is this of con- 
 sidering the proposed restriction as if leveled at the 
 introduction or establishment of slavery, and hence the 
 vehement declaration, which among other things, has 
 
210 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 informed us that slavery originated in fraud or vio- 
 lence. The truth is, that the restriction has no rela- 
 tion, real or pretended, to the right of making slaves of 
 those who are free, or of introducing slavery where it 
 does not already exist. It applies to those who are 
 admitted to be already slaves, and who (with their pos- 
 terity) would continue to be slaves if they should 
 r3main where they are at present; and to a place where 
 slavery already exists by the local law. Their civil 
 condition will not be altered by their removal from 
 Virginia or Carolina to Missouri. They will not be 
 more slaves than they now are. Their abode, indeed,' 
 will be different, but their bondage the same. Their 
 numbers may possibly be augmented by the diffusion, 
 and I think they will. But this can only happen 
 because their hardships will be mitigated, and their 
 comforts increased. The checks to population which 
 exist in the older states will be diminished. 
 
 The restriction, therefore, does not prevent the estab- 
 lishment of slavery, either with reference to persons or 
 place; but simply inhibits the removal from place to 
 place (the law in each being the same) of a slave or 
 make his emancipation the consequence of that re- 
 moval. It acts professedly merely on slavery as it 
 exists, and thus acting restrains its present lawful 
 effects. That slavery, like many other human institu- 
 tions, originated in fraud or violence, may be conceded ; 
 but, however, it originated, it is established among us, 
 and no man seeks a further establishment of it by new 
 importations of freemen to be converted into slaves. 
 On the contrary, all are anxious to mitigate its evils by 
 all the means within the reach of the appropriate au- 
 thority, the domestic legislatures of the different states. 
 
 It can be nothing to the purpose of this argument, 
 therefore, as the gentlemen themselves have shaped it, 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 211 
 
 to inquire what was the origin of slavery? What is it 
 now, and who are they that endeavor to innovate upon 
 what it now is (the advocates of this restriction who 
 desire change by unconstitutional means, or its oppo- 
 nents who desire to leave the whole matter to local 
 regulation) are the only questions worthy of attention. 
 Sir, if we too closely look to the rise and progress 
 of long-sanctioned establishments and unquestioned 
 rights, we may discover other subjects than that of 
 slavery, with which fraud and violence may claim a 
 fearful connection, and over which it may be our 
 interest to throw the mantle of oblivion. What was 
 the settlement of our ancestors in this country but an 
 invasion of the rights of the barbarians who inhabited 
 it? That settlement, with slight exception, was ef- 
 fected by the slaughter of those who did no more than 
 defend their native land against the intruders of 
 Europe, or by unequal compacts and purchases, in 
 which feebleness and ignorance had to deal with power 
 and cunning. The savages who once built their huts 
 where this proud capital, rising from its recent ashes, ex- 
 emplifies the sovereignty of the American people, were 
 swept away by the injustice of our fathers, and their 
 domain usurped by force, or obtained by artifices yet 
 more criminal. Our continent was full of those abo- 
 riginal inhabitants. Where are they or their descend- 
 ants ? Either " with years beyond the flood," or driven 
 back by the swelling tide of our population from the 
 borders of the Atlantic to the deserts of the West. 
 You follow still the miserable remnants, and make con- 
 tracts with them that seal their ruin. You purchase 
 their lands, of which they know not the value, in order 
 that you may sell them to advantage, increase 3 T our 
 treasure and enlarge your empire. Yet further — you 
 pursue as they retire ; and they must continue to retire, 
 
212 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 until the Pacific shall stay their retreat and compel 
 them to pass away as a dream. Will yon recur to those 
 scenes of various iniquity for any other purpose than to 
 regret and lament them? AVill you pry into them 
 with a view to shake and impair your rights of property 
 and dominion ? But the broad denial of the sovereign 
 right of Missouri, if it shall become a sovereign state, 
 to recognize slavery by its laws, is rested upon a variety 
 of grounds, all of which I will examine. 
 
 It is an extraordinary fact that they who urge this 
 denial with such ardent zeal, stop short of it in their 
 conduct. There are now slaves in Missouri whom they 
 do not insist upon delivering from their chains. Yet if 
 it is not incompetent to sovereign power to continue 
 slavery in Missouri, in respect of slaves who may yet be 
 carried thither, show me the power that can continue it 
 in respect of slaves who are there already. Missouri is 
 out of the old limits of the Union, and beyond those 
 limits, it is said, we can give no countenance to slavery, 
 if we can countenance or tolerate it any where. It is 
 plain, that there can be no slaves beyond the Mississippi 
 at this moment, but in virtue of some power to make or 
 keep them so. What sort of power was it that has made 
 them so ? Sovereign power it could not be, according 
 to the honorable gentlemen from Pennsylvania and New 
 Hampshire :* and if sovereign power is unequal to such 
 a purpose, less than sovereign power is yet more unequal 
 to it. The laws of Spain and Prance could do nothing 
 — the laws of the territorial government of Missouri 
 could do nothing toward such a result, if it be a result 
 which no laws, in other words, no sovereignty could ac- 
 complish. The treaty of 1803 could do no more, in this 
 view, than the laws of France, or Spain, or territorial 
 government of Missouri. A treaty is an act of sovereign 
 
 *Mr. Roberts, Mr. Lowrie, and Mr. Morrill. 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 213 
 
 power, taking the shape" of a compact between the par- 
 ties to it; and that which sovereign power cannot reach 
 at all, it cannot reach by a treaty. Those who are now 
 held in bondage, therefore, in Missouri, and their issue, 
 are entitled to be free, if there be any truth in the doc- 
 trine of the honorable gentlemen ; and if the proposed 
 restriction leaves all such in slavery, it thus discredits 
 the very foundation on which it reposes. To be incon- 
 sistent is the fate of false principles — but this inconsist- 
 ency is the more to be remarked, since it cannot be 
 referred to mere considerations of policy, without ad- 
 mitting that such considerations may be preferred 
 (without a crime) to what is deemed a paramount and 
 indispensable duty. It is here, too, that I must be per- 
 mitted to observe, that the honorable gentlemen have 
 taken great pains to show that this restriction is a mere 
 work of supererogation by the principal argument on 
 which they rest the proof of its propriety. Missouri, it 
 is said, can have no power to do what the restriction 
 would prevent. It would be void, therefore, without 
 the restriction. Why, then, I ask, is the restriction 
 insisted upon ? Eestraint implies that there is some- 
 thing to be restrained. But the gentlemen justify the 
 restraint by showing that there is nothing upon which, 
 it can operate ! They demonstrate the wisdom and ne- 
 cessity of restraint, by demonstrating that with or with- 
 out restraint, the subject is in the same predicament. 
 This is to combat with a man of straw, and to put fet- 
 ters upon a shadow. 
 
 The gentlemen must therefore abandon either their 
 doctrine^ or their restriction, their argument or their 
 object, for they are directly in conflict and reciprocally 
 destroy each other. It is evident that they will not 
 abandon their object, and of course, I must believe, that 
 they hold their argument in as little real estimation as 
 18 
 
214 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 I, myself, do. The gentlemen can scarcely be sincere 
 believers in their own principle. They have apprehen- 
 sions, which they endeavor to conceal, that Missouri, as 
 a state, will have power to continue slavery within its 
 limits ; and if they will not be offended, I will venture 
 to compare them, in this particular, with the duelist in 
 Sheridan's comedy of the Eivals, who, affecting to have 
 no fears whatever of his adversary, is, nevertheless, care- 
 ful to admonish Sir Lucius to hold him fast. Let us 
 take it for granted, however, that they are in earnest in 
 their doctrine, and that it is very necessary to impose 
 what they prove to be an unnecessary restraint: how do 
 they support that doctrine ? The honorable gentleman 
 on the other side* has told us, as a proof of his great 
 position (that man cannot enslave his fellow-man, in 
 which is implied that all laws upholding slavery are 
 absolute nullities), that the nations of antiquity, as well 
 as of modern times, have concurred in laying down that 
 position as incontrovertible. He refers us, in the first 
 place, to the Roman law, in which he finds it laid down 
 as a maxim : Jure naturali omnes homines ab initio liber i 
 nascebantur. From the manner in which this maxim 
 was pressed upon us, it would not have been conjectured 
 that the honorable gentleman who used it had borrowed 
 it from a slaveholding empire, and still less from a book 
 of the Institutes of Justinian, which treats of slavery? 
 and justifies and regulates it. Had he given us the 
 context, we should have had the modifications of which 
 the abstract doctrine was in the judgment of the Roman 
 law susceptible. We should have had an explanation 
 of the competency of that law to convert, whether just- 
 ly or unjustly, freedom into servitude, and to maintain 
 the right of a master to the service and obedience of his 
 slave. The honorable gentleman might also have gone 
 
 *Mr. Kine. 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. ZlO 
 
 to Greece for a similar maxim and a similar commentary, 
 speculative and practical. He next refers us to Magna 
 Charta. I am confident that it contains no such maxim 
 as the honorable gentleman thinks he has discovered in 
 it. The great charter was extorted from John, and his 
 feeble son and successor, by haughty slaveholding 
 barons, who thought only of themselves and the Com- 
 mons of England (then inconsiderable), whom they 
 wished to enlist in their efforts against the Crown. 
 There is not in it a single word which condemns civil 
 slavery. Freemen only are the objects of its protecting 
 care ; "Melius liber homo" is its phraseology. The serfs 
 who were chained to the soil — the villains regardant 
 and in gross — were left as it found them. All England 
 was then full of slaves, whose posterity would, by law, 
 remain slaves as with us, except only that the issue fol- 
 lowed the condition of the father instead of the mother. 
 The rule was "Partus sequitur patrem," a rule more 
 favorable, undoubtedly, from the very precariousness of 
 its application, to the gradual extinction of slavery, 
 than ours, which has been drawn from the Roman law, 
 and is of sure and unavoidable effect. 
 
 Still less has the Petition of Right, presented to Charles 
 I. by the Long Parliament, to do with the subject of 
 civil slavery. It looked merely, as Magna Charta had 
 not done before it, to freedom of England — and sought 
 only to protect them agaist royal prerogative and the 
 encroaching spirit of the Stewarts. 
 
 As to the Bill of Rights, enacted by the Convention 
 Parliament of 1688, it is almost a duplicate of the Peti- 
 tion of Right, and arose out of the recollection of that 
 political tyranny from which the nation had just 
 escaped, and the recurrence of which it was intended 
 to prevent. It contains no abstract principles. It 
 deals only with the practical checks upon the power of 
 
216 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 the monarch, and in safeguards for institutions essen- 
 tial to the preservation of the public liberty. That it 
 was not designed to anathematize civil slavery may be 
 taken for granted, since at that epoch and long after- 
 ward the English government inundated its foreign 
 plantations with slaves, and supplied other nations with 
 them as merchandise, under the sanction of solemn 
 treaties negotiated for that purpose. And here I can- 
 not forbear to remark that we owe it to that same gov- 
 ernment, when it stood toward us in the relation of 
 parent to child, that involuntary servitude exists in our 
 land, and that we are now deliberating whether the pre- 
 rogative of correcting its evils belongs to the national 
 or the state governments. In the early periods of our 
 colonial history everything was done by the mother 
 country to encourage the importation of slaves into 
 North America, and the measures which were adopted 
 by the colonial assemblies to prohibit it were uni- 
 formly negatived by the Crown. It is not therefore 
 our fault, nor the fault of our ancestors, that this 
 calamity has been entailed upon us , and notwithstand- 
 ing the ostentation with which the loitering abolition of 
 the slave trade by the British Parliament has been 
 vaunted, the principal consideration which at last recon- 
 ciled it to that measure was, that by suitable care the 
 slave population in their West India Islands (already 
 fully stocked) might be kept up and even increased with- 
 out the aid of importation. In a word, it was cold calcu- 
 lations of interest, and not the suggestions of humanity 
 or respect for the philanthropic principles of Mr. 
 Wilberforce, which produced their tardy abandonment 
 of that abominable traffic. 
 
 Of the Declaration of our Independence, which has 
 also been quoted in support of the perilous doctrines 
 now urged upon us, I need not now speak at large. I 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 217 
 
 have shown on a former occasion how idle it is to rely 
 upon that instrument for such a purpose, and will not 
 fatigue you by mere repetition. The self-evident truths 
 announced in the Declaration of Independence are not 
 truths at all, if taken literally ; and the practical con- 
 clusion contained in the same passage of that Declara- 
 tion prove that they were never designed to be so 
 received. The Articles of Confederation contain noth- 
 ing on the subject, whilst the actual Constitution recog- 
 nizes the legal existence of slavery by various provisions. 
 • The power of prohibiting the slave trade is involved in 
 that of regulating commerce, but this is coupled with 
 an express inhibition to the exercise of it for twenty 
 years. How then can that Constitution, which ex- 
 pressly permits the importation of slaves, authorize the 
 national government to set on foot a crusade against 
 slavery? The clause respecting fugitive slaves is 
 affirmative and active in its effects. It is a direct sanc- 
 tion and positive protection of the right of the master 
 to the services of his slave as derived under the local 
 laws of the state. The phraseology in which it is 
 wrapped still leaves the intention clear, and the words 
 "persons held to service or labor in one state under 
 the laws thereof " have always been interpreted to ex- 
 tend to the case of slaves in the various acts of Con- 
 Igress which have been passed to give efficacy to the 
 provision, and in the judicial application of those laws. 
 So also in the clause prescribing the ratio of repre- 
 sentation — the phrase, " three-fifths of all other per- 
 sons," is equivalent to slaves, or it means nothing. 
 And yet we are told that those who are acting under a 
 Constitution which sanctions the existence of slavery 
 in those states which choose to tolerate it, are at liberty 
 to hold that no law can sanction its existence ! It is idle 
 to make the rightfulness of an act the measure of sover- 
 18* 
 
218 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 eign power. The distinction between sovereign power 
 and the moral right to exercise it has always been recog- 
 nized. All political power may be abused, but is it to 
 stop where abuse may begin ? The power of declaring 
 war is a power of vast capacity for mischief, and 
 capable of inflicting the most wide-spread desolation 
 but it is given to Congress without stint and without 
 measure. Is a citizen, or are the courts of justice to 
 inquire whether that, or any other law, is just before 
 they obey or execute it ? And are there any degrees 
 of injustice which will withdraw from sovereign power 
 the capacity of making a given law? But sovereignty 
 is said to be deputed power. Deputed— by whom ? By 
 the people, because the power is theirs. And if it be 
 theirs, does not the restriction take it away ? Examine 
 the Constitution of the Union, and it will be seen that 
 the people of the Slates are regarded as well as the 
 states themselves. The Constitution was made by the 
 people, and ratified by the people. Is it fit, then, that 
 all the sovereignty of a state is in the government of 
 the state ? So much is there as the people grant ; and 
 the people can take it away, or give more, or new model 
 what they have already granted. It is this right which 
 the proposed restriction takes from Missouri. You 
 give them an immortal constitution depending on your 
 will, not on theirs. The people and their posterity are 
 to be bound for ever by this restriction ; and upon the 
 same principle any other restriction may be imposed. 
 Where then is their power to change the Constitution 
 and to devolve new sovereignty upon the state govern- 
 ment ? You limit their sovereign capacity to do it ; 
 and when you talk of a state, you mean the people as 
 well as the government. The people are the source of 
 all power — you dry up that source. They are the reser 
 voir — you take out of it what suits you. 
 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 219 
 
 But if a republican form of government is that in 
 which all the men have a share in the public power, 
 the slave-holding states will not alone retire from the 
 Union. The constitutions of some of the other states 
 do not sanction universal suffrage, or universal eligi- 
 bility. They require citizenship, and age, and a certain 
 amount of property, to give a title to vote or to be voted 
 for; and they who have not those qualifications are just 
 as much disfranchised with regard to the government 
 as if they were slaves. They have civil rights indeed 
 (and so have slaves in a less degree), but they have no 
 share in the government. Their provinc3 is to obey 
 the laws, not to assist in making them. All such states 
 must therefore be forisfamiliated with Virginia and the 
 rest, or change their systen ; for the Constitution, being 
 absolutely silent on those subjects, will afford them no 
 protection. The Union might thus be reduced from an 
 union to a unit. Who does not see that such conclu- 
 sions flow from false notions; that the true theory of a 
 republican government is mistaken, and that in such a 
 government rights, political and civil, may be qualified 
 by the fundamental law upon such inducements as the 
 freemen of the country deem sufficient? That civil 
 rights may be qualified as well as political is proved by 
 a thousand examples. Minors, resident aliens, who are 
 in a course of naturalization — -the other sex, whether 
 maids, or wives, or widows, furnish sufficient practical 
 proofs of this. Again, if we are to entertain these 
 hopeful abstractions, and to resolve all establishments 
 into their imaginary elements in order to recast them 
 upon some Utopian* plan, and if it be true that all the 
 men in a republican government must help to wield its 
 power, and be equal in rights, I beg leave to ask the 
 honorable gentleman from New Hampshire — and why 
 not all the women f They too are God's creatures, and 
 
220 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 not only very fair but very rational creatures ; and our 
 great ancestor, if we are to give credit to Milton, ac- 
 counted them the "wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, 
 best;" although to say the truth he had but one 
 specimen from which to draw his conclusion, and pos- 
 sibly if he had had more, would not have drawn it at 
 all. They have, moreover, acknowledged civil rights in 
 abundance, and upon abstract principles more than 
 their masculine rulers allow them in fact. Some mon- 
 archies, too, do not exclude them from the throne. 
 
 We have all read of Elizabeth of England, of Catha- 
 rine of Russia, of Semiramis and Zenobia, and a long 
 list of royal and imperial dames, about as good as an 
 equal list of royal and imperial lords. Why is it that 
 their exclusion from the power of a popular government 
 is not destructive of its republican character ? I do not 
 address this question to the honorable gentleman's gal- 
 lantry, but to his abstraction and his theories, and his 
 notions of the infinite perfectibility of human institu- 
 tions, borrowed from Godwin and the turbulent philoso- 
 phers of France. For my own part, sir, if I may have 
 leave to say so much in this mixed uncommon audience, 
 I confess I am no friend to female government, unless, 
 indeed, it be that which reposes on gentleness, and 
 modesty, and virtue, and feminine grace and delicacy ; 
 and how powerful a government that is, we have all of 
 us, as I suspect, at some time or other experienced ! But 
 if the ultra-republican doctrines which have now been 
 broached, should ever gain ground among us, I should 
 not be surprised if some romantic reformer, treading in 
 the footsteps of Mrs. Wols ton craft, should propose to 
 repeal our republican law salique, and claim for our 
 wives and daughters a full participation in political 
 power, and to add to it that domestic power which in 
 some families, as I have heard, is as absolute and unre- 
 publican as any power can be. 
 
william pinkney. 221 
 
 Extracts from a Pamphlet Written by Mr. Pink- 
 
 ney to the People of Maryland, over the 
 
 Name of "Publius." 
 
 "Maryland is at all times an interesting and con- 
 spicuous member of the Union ; but her relative posi- 
 tion is infinitely more important now than in ordinary 
 seasons. The war is in her waters, and it is waged there 
 with a wantonness of brutality which will not suffer the 
 energies of her gallant population to slumber, or the 
 watchfulness of her appointed guardians to be inter- 
 mitted. The rights for which the Nation is in arms 
 are of high import to her as a commercial section of 
 the Continent. They cannot be surrendered or compro- 
 mised without affecting every vein and artery of her 
 system; and if the towering honor of universal America 
 should be made to bow before the sword, or should be 
 betrayed by an inglorious peace, where will the blow be 
 felt with a sensibility more exquisite than here in Mary- 
 land! 
 
 " It is perfectly true that our State Government has 
 not the prerogative of peace and war ; but it is just as 
 true that it can do much to invigorate or enfeeble the 
 National arm for attack or defence ; that it may conspire 
 with the legislatures of other states to blast the best 
 hopes of peace, by embarrassing or resisting the efforts 
 by which alone a durable peace can be achieved ; as it 
 may forward pacific negotiation by contributing to teach 
 the enemy that we who, when our means were small 
 and our numbers few, rose as one man and maintained 
 ourselves victorious against the mere theories of Eng- 
 land, with all the terrors of English power before us, 
 are not noiv prepared to crouch to less than the same 
 power, however insolently displayed, and to receive from 
 it in perpetuity an infamous yoke of pernicious princi- 
 ples which had already galled us until we could bear it 
 no longer. 
 
222 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 " ' Nothing is more to be esteemed than peace/ (I 
 quote the wisdom of Polybius), 'when it leaves us in 
 possession of our honor and rights; hut when it is 
 joined with loss of freedom, or with infamy, nothing 
 can be more detestable and fatal.' I speak with just 
 confidence, when I say, that no federalist can be found 
 who desires with more sincerity the return of peace 
 than the republican by which the war was declared. 
 But it desires such a peace as the companion and in- 
 structor of Scipio has praised — a peace consistent with 
 our rights and honor, and not the deadly tranquility 
 which may be purchased by disgrace, or taken in barter 
 for the dearest and most essential claims of our trade 
 and sovereignty. I appeal to you boldly: Are you pre- 
 pared to purchase a mere cessation of arms by unquali- 
 fied submission to the pretensions of England? Are 
 you prepared to sanction them by treaty, and entail them 
 upon your posterity, with the inglorious and timid hope 
 of escaping the wrath of those whom your fathers dis- 
 comfited and vanquished ? Are you prepared, for the 
 sake of present profit, which the circumstances of 
 Europe must render paltry and precarious, to cripple 
 the strong wing of American commerce for years to 
 come, to take from our Flag its national effect and char- 
 acter, and to subject our vessels on the high seas, and 
 the brave men who navigate them, to the municipal ju- 
 risdiction of Great Britain ? I know very well that there 
 are those amongst us (I hope they are few) who are pre- 
 pared for all this and more; who pule over every scratch 
 occasioned by the war, as if it were an overwhelming 
 calamity, and are only sorry that it is not worse ; who 
 would skulk out of a contest for the best interests of 
 their country to save a shilling or gain a cent; who, 
 having inherited the wealth of their ancestors without 
 their spirit, would receive laws from London with as 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 223 
 
 much facility as woolens from Yorkshire, or hardware 
 from Sheffield. But I write to the great body of the 
 people, who are sound and virtuous, and worthy of the 
 legacy which the heroes of the Revolution have be- 
 queathed them. For them, I undertake to answer, that 
 the only peace which they can be made to endure is 
 that which may twine itself round the honor of the 
 people, and with its healthy and abundant foliage give 
 shade and shelter to the prosperity of the empire. 
 
 " The approach of a British cruiser, in the bosom of 
 peace, struck a terror in our seamen which it cannot 
 noiv inspire, and almost every vessel returning from a 
 foreign voyage brought affliction to an American family 
 by reporting the impressment of a husband, a brother, 
 or a son. The Government of the United States, by 
 whomsoever administered, has invariably protested 
 against this monstrous practice as cruel to the gallant 
 men whom it oppressed, as it was injurious to the navi- 
 gation, the commerce, and the sovereignty of the Union. 
 Under the administration of Washington, of Adams, of 
 Jefferson, of Madison, it was reprobated and resisted as 
 a grievance which could not be borne ; and Mr. King, 
 who was instructed upon it, supposed at one time that 
 the British Government were ready to abandon it by a 
 convention which he had arranged with Lord St. Vin- 
 cent, but which finally miscarried. You have witnessed 
 the generous anxiety of the late and present chief Mag- 
 istrates to put an end to a usage so pestilent and de- 
 basing. 
 
 " You have seen them propose to a succession of Eng- 
 lish ministers, as inducements to its relinquishment, 
 expedients and equivalents of infinitely greater value to 
 England than the usage, whilst they were innocent in 
 themselves and respectful to us. Y^ou have seen these 
 temperate overtures haughtily repelled, until the other 
 
224 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 noxious pretensions of Great Britain, grown in the in- 
 terim to a gigantic size, ranged themselves by the side of 
 this, and left no alternative but war or infamy. 
 
 " We are at war accordingly, and the single question is, 
 whether you will fly like cowards from the sacred ground 
 which the government has been compelled to take, or 
 whether you will prove by your actions that you are de- 
 scended from the loins of men who reared the edifice of 
 American liberty, in the midst of such a storm as you 
 have never felt. 
 
 "As the war was forced upon us by a long series of un- 
 exampled aggressions, it would be absolute madness to 
 doubt that Peace will receive a cordial welcome, if she 
 returns without ignominy in her train, and with security 
 in her hand. The destinies of America are commercial, 
 and her true policy is peace ; but the substance of peace 
 had, long before we were roused to a tardy resistance, 
 been denied to us by the ministry of England ; and the 
 shadow which had been left to mock our hopes and to 
 delude our imaginations, resembled too much the frown- 
 ing spectre of war to deceive any body. Every sea had 
 witnessed, and continued to witness, the systematic per- 
 secution of our trade and the unrelenting oppression of 
 our people. The ocean had ceased to be the safe high- 
 way of the neutral world; and our citizens traversed it 
 with all the fears of a benighted-traveler, who trembles 
 along a road beset with oandiiti, or infested by the 
 beasts of the forest. The Government, thus urged and 
 goaded, drew the sword with a visible reluctance, and 
 true to the pacific policy which kept it so long in the 
 scabbard, will sheathe it again when Great Britain 
 shall consult her own interest by consenting to forbear 
 in future the wrongs of the past. 
 
 " The disposition of the government upon that point 
 has been decidedly pronounced by facts which need no 
 

 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 225 
 
 commentary. From the moment when war was de- 
 clared, peace has been sought hy it with a steady and 
 unwearied assiduity, at the same time that every practi- 
 cable preparation has been made, and every nerve ex- 
 erted to prosecute the war with vigor, if the enemy 
 should persist in his injustice. The law respecting 
 seamen, the Kussian Mission, the instructions sent to 
 our Gharge-d' '-affaires in London, the prompt and ex- 
 plicit disavowal of every unreasonable pretension falsely 
 ascribed to us, and the solemn declaration of the gov- 
 ernment in the face of the world, that it wishes for 
 nothing more than a fair and honorable accommoda- 
 tion, would be conclusive proofs of this, if any proofs 
 were necessary. But it does not require to be proved, 
 because it is self-evident." 
 
THE PIRATE'S SONG. 
 
 LET us climb the lofty billows, 
 The tempest let us dare, 
 On ocean be our dwelling, 
 
 Our warlike bark is yare. 
 The blood-red flag is floating 
 
 Upon the wakened breeze , 
 We claim beneath its menace 
 
 Dominion of the seas! 
 What though we have not treasure ? 
 
 Our bright swords will supply 
 The power, the joys, the splendor 
 
 That coward slaves must buy. 
 Our voice shall not be humble, 
 
 Our eyes shall have no tear, 
 What others seek as favor 
 
 Is yielded us from fear ; 
 And those who scorned us suing, 
 
 And smiled upon our hate, 
 Will kneel to us for mercy, 
 
 And know our word their fate. 
 Our passions shall be choosers 
 
 Midst joys before denied, 
 Our will alone shall gaide us. 
 
 All rule of law defied ; 
 For us the patient labor, 
 
 No other toil have we, 
 Than gathering others' earnings, 
 
 To roam the dark blue sea. 
 The shipwreck and the battle 
 
 May daunt a meaner breast, 
 
THE PIRATE 8 SONG. 
 
 The pleasures bought with clanger 
 
 For us have greater zest ; 
 The world will loud revile us, 
 
 But shall our cheeks grow pale ? 
 The strong find cause of laughter 
 
 When e'er the feeble rail. 
 Away upon the waters ! 
 
 The fair wind chides delay, 
 Where others sowed the reapers, 
 
 And all we meet our prey ! 
 
 Frederick Pinkney, Maryland. 
 
 227 
 
EDWARD COOTE PINKNEY. 
 
 N" the third volume of his " Literati," Edgar 
 A. Poe says : " It was the misfortune of Mr. 
 Pinkney to have been born too far south. 
 Had he been a New Englander, it is prob- 
 able that he would have been ranked as the first of 
 American lyrists by that magnanimous cabal which 
 has so long controlled the destinies of American letters, 
 in conducting the thing called 'The North American 
 Review.' " Mr. Poe should have substituted the word 
 fortune in the place of misfortune in writing of Edward 
 Coote Pinkney, of Maryland. And more than this, Mr. 
 Poe must have been in a most unamiable mood when 
 referring to the criticism of Pinkney's poems by the 
 North American Review. A criticism just and gen- 
 erous to the fullest degree of justice is accorded 
 to Pinkney's poems in the North American Review 
 of October, 1825. In referring to the "Serenade," 
 the reviewer says: "If the name of Harrington or 
 Garew had been subscribed to it, we should, in all 
 probability, like other antiquaries, have been com- 
 pletely taken in." And of the poem entitled "A 
 Health," the following is written: "If he who reads 
 it is a lover already it will make him love the more, 
 and if he is not, he will determine to become one forth- 
 with. There is a devotion and delicacy about it, an 
 
EDWARD COOTE PINKNEY. 229 
 
 ardent and at the same time respectful and spiritual 
 passion breathed out in it which must insure for it a 
 ready admiration." 
 
 In alluding, however, to the poem of "Rodolph" some 
 
 severe comments are indulged in, which are not entirely 
 
 undeserved by the author, and it is probably this just 
 
 censure that calls forth the indignation of Mr. Poe. 
 
 The Reviewer says : " We do not like the moral tone of 
 
 this poetry. It is too close and too loud an echo to that 
 
 of Byron. There is that abstracted and selfish gloom 
 
 and moodiness about it, that solitary want of kindly 
 
 human sympathies, that stiff and hard casing of pride, 
 
 that sullen dissatisfaction with the present state, and 
 
 that reckless doubt or disbelief of a future one, which 
 
 seem to have been caught from Byron, and of which we 
 
 have already had loo much in Byron." The inspirer 
 
 as well as the subject of most of hi< songs was a young 
 
 lady of Baltimore city, a noted belle and beauty of that 
 
 time. She was a Miss Mary Hawkins, who afterward 
 
 became the wife of Mr. David McKim. It was to the 
 
 fair Mary that the "Serenade" was sung; to her 
 
 " starry eyes " he addressed himself, and she was the 
 
 " seeming paragon " who walked through all his 
 
 dreams. To her he drank a "Health" of which any 
 
 woman might be proud; so pure is the offering, so 
 
 sparkling the cup. Yet his love, like that of most 
 
 poets, was unrequited, and his songs were left to be 
 
 learned by less susceptible hearts, and sung to more 
 
 fortunate loves. The year preceding the publication 
 
 of his poems he was admitted to the Bar, and in the 
 
 same year, 1824, he married "the beautiful Miss 
 
 Georgeana McCausland," who was the daughter of 
 
 Marcus McCausland, Esq., a highly respected citizen 
 
 of Baltimore. At an early age, Edward Pinkney had 
 
 entered the United States navy; but soon after the 
 
 19* 
 
230 EDWARD COOTE PINKNEY. 
 
 death of his father, in the year 1822, in consequence of 
 a personal difficulty with his superior officer, he re- 
 signed his commission. He was one who believed in 
 "the holy text of pike and gun" most implicitly; he 
 challenged Commodore Ridgely to fight. The chal- 
 lenger was but a midshipman at the time, a mere 
 bantling in the eyes of a weather-beaten tar, and so he 
 was forced to resign. This circumstance would be a 
 laughable one were it not for the sad after-scenes into 
 which it introduced our rash young poet. It was after 
 this that he was admitted to the Bar. His thorough 
 knowledge of mathematics, together with a perfect ac- 
 quaintance with the works of classical authors, gained 
 for Pinkney, who had already won the name of poet, a 
 high place among the scholars of his state. In 1826 
 he was appointed Professor of Rhetoric and Belles 
 Lettres in the University of Maryland. His professor- 
 ship was, however, without emolument, and he was 
 obliged to abandon the calling most suited to his 
 talents. 
 
 War was at that time raging between Spain and 
 Mexico. Pinkney, having abandoned the profession of 
 law, embarked for Mexico with the determination of 
 seeking employment in the Mexican navy. The Mexi- 
 cans, however, having become jealous of the too frequent 
 admission of foreigners into their Navy, refused further 
 applications coming from Americans Commodore 
 Porter, who was then Commander-in-Chief of the 
 Mexican naval forces, used his influence in Pinkney's 
 behalf, and the offer of his services was accepted ; yet 
 some delay was necessary to remove any obstacle in the 
 way of place. If "delays are dangerous" to common 
 mortals, they certainly proved so in the case of this 
 young "fire-eater," for he became involved in a quarrel 
 with a Mexican officer whom he killed in a duel ; he 
 
EDWARD COOTE PINKNEY. 231 
 
 was then obliged to leave the country to avoid prosecu- 
 tion by the Mexican authorities. Afflicted with illness 
 and deeply merged in debt, he returned with a broken 
 spirit to his native city. In the year 1827 he was chosen 
 as the editor of "The Marylander," a partizan paper 
 published in the interests of the Adams party. The 
 first number was issued in the city of Baltimore, on 
 Wednesday, the 3d of December, 1827. General 
 Andrew Jackson was elected to the Presidency, how- 
 ever, and the existence of the paper ceased. As an 
 editor, Pinkney was noted for grace and vigor of style, 
 yet its beauty was marred by extreme party-spirit and 
 merciless invective. Although his nervous system was 
 completely shattered by the encroachment of disease, 
 the brilliancy of his intellect remained undimmed to 
 the moment of his death. The following is an extract 
 from one of the newspapers of the day ; Edward Coote 
 Pinkney is the subject: "To describe his person as it 
 was before disease had made its ravages upon it, when 
 he stood erect in the youthful pride of manhood, would 
 require a genius like his own, a poet who could make 
 his pen subserve the purposes both of pen and pencil. 
 We have never seen manly beauty exhibited in such 
 just proportions, or with so much effect. His form 
 rose gracefully a few degrees above the common height 
 of man, — every feature, every limb seemed the master- 
 piece of Nature. The ample forehead, the mild, yet 
 piercing eye, the happy blending of color in his counte- 
 nance, its placid, yet melancholy and intelligent ex- 
 pression rendered him an object of interest to every 
 beholder." 
 
 A " child of nature," he possessed that misnamed 
 generosity of spirit which is ungenerous to self — that 
 charity which does not work at home. He never re- 
 fused aid to another, and has been known to pawn his 
 
232 EDWARD COOTE PINENEY. 
 
 valuable articles of jewelry in behalf of those who seemed 
 poorer than himself. He was endowed also with vir- 
 tues most beautiful. He was honorable and brave, and 
 despised the lack of honor or bravery in other men. 
 In discussing his sins, remember also his virtues. 
 
 44 What's done we partly may compute, 
 Yet know not what's resisted." 
 
 The death of a wise parent at an age when he most 
 needed the guidance and advice of a maturer mind and 
 judgment is to be deplored. He yielded to dissipations 
 which undermined his health, and caused his death in 
 the very flower of manhood. 
 
 He was the seventh child of William Pinkney, born 
 in London, England, on the 1st day of October, 1802. 
 He died in Baltimore, Friday night, at ten minutes past 
 tin o'clock, on the 11th of April, 1828, aged twenty-six 
 years. He was buried in the Unitarian Cemetery, near 
 Baltimore. The funeral services were conducted by 
 the Eev. William Ware, of New York. In the month 
 of May, 1872, his remains were disinterred and buried 
 in Greenmount Cemetery. At the time of writing this ? 
 no monument marks his grave. 
 
 His wife survived her poet-husband, as she called 
 him, many years. She loved him, as only women love, 
 through all the days of her life. He left one child, a 
 son, who still exists, though afflicted with an incura- 
 ble disease of the brain since his childhood. 
 
 A second edition of Pinkney' s poems was published 
 at Baltimore in the year 1838. His poems were again 
 published, with an introduction by the poet Nathaniel 
 Parker Willis, in the series of the Mirror Library, enti- 
 tled the Morocco. A biographical notice of Edward 
 Pinkney, by William Leggett, appeared in the New York 
 Mirror in 18*47. Pinkney's name will also be found in 
 the London Atheneum of 1835, under the head of 
 
EDWARD COOTE PINKNEY. oJZ 
 
 " Literature of the 19th Century," and in 1869 in Triib- 
 ner's Guide to American Literature. 
 
 Such is a record of the brief life of Edward Pinkney. 
 Let us be gentle — he is dead. If amid the sublime 
 virtues of our heroes and heroines some sin glares out 
 it is but the baleful mark of humanity. We will recall 
 the words of the Austrian Empress to her son, Francis 
 the First, upon the discovery of the evidences of her 
 husband's frailties after his death: 
 
 " Remember nothing of them except my forgiveness 
 and his virtues. Imitate his great qualities, but beware 
 lest you fall into the same vices, in order that you may 
 not in your turn be put to the blush by those who 
 scrutinize your life." 
 
A HEALTH, 
 
 By Edward Coote Pinkney. 
 
 I FILL this cup to one made up 
 Of loveliness alone, 
 A woman, of her gentle sex 
 
 The seeming paragon; 
 To whom the better elements 
 
 And kindly stars have given 
 
 A form so fair, that, like the air, 
 
 'Tis less of earth than heaven. 
 
 Her every tone is music's own, 
 
 Like those of morning birds, 
 And something more than melody 
 
 Dwells ever in her words; 
 The coinage of her heart are they, 
 
 And from her lips each flows 
 As one may see the burthened bee 
 
 Forth issue from the rose. 
 
 Affections are as thoughts to her, 
 
 The measures of her hours ; 
 Her feelings have the fragrancy, 
 
 The freshness of young flowers ; 
 And lovely passions changing oft, 
 
 So fill her, she appears 
 The image of themselves by turns,- 
 
 The idol of past years. 
 
A HEALTH. 235 
 
 Of her bright face one glauce will trac , 
 
 A picture oq the brain, 
 Aud of her voice in echoing hearts 
 
 A sound must long remain ; 
 But memory, such as mine of her, 
 
 So very much endears, 
 When death is nigh my latest sigh 
 
 Will not be life's, but hers. 
 
 I filled this cup to one made up 
 
 lovliness alone, 
 A woman, of her gentler sex 
 
 The seeming paragon — 
 Her health ! and would on earth there stood 
 
 Some more of such a frame, 
 That life might be all poetry, 
 
 And weariness a name. 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 " Bit ssed are the peace-makers, for they sha)l be called Tht 
 
 Children of GodJ 7 - 
 
 EANCIS SCOTT KEY was born in the year 
 1779, in Frederick county, Maryland. His 
 father, John Eoss Key, was a lieutenant in the 
 Second Kifle Company of Maryland, under 
 Captain Thomas Price, in the war of Independence. 
 This company marched to Boston at the outbreaking of 
 the Keyolution. Philip Barton Key was the brother of 
 John Ross Key, and a noted Tory. The property of the 
 latter haying been confiscated, the magnanimous spirit 
 of John Eoss Key was evinced by a noble act. He di- 
 vided equally with his brother his own possessions. 
 John Eoss Key was the owner of a fine estate in Fred- 
 erick county. The mansion, built of brick, covered a 
 large area of ground. From a centre building extended 
 wings on either side, while around the whole were broad 
 piazzas according to the southern fashion. On every 
 side stretched a beautiful lawn, which sloped almost 
 imperceptibly into a terraced garden of nower and 
 shrub. Many trees shaded the lawn, and not far distant 
 in sombre grandeur stood a wood through which flowed, 
 with happy murmurs, Pipe Creek. 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 237 
 
 At the foot of the hill upon which stood the Key 
 mansion was a spring of limpid water, about whose 
 brink gathered the gay-hearted youths and maidens of 
 the neighborhood. 
 
 The meadow that stretched- out from the foot of the 
 hill was, in the genial months of Spring and Summer, 
 very green. Seeming to rest against the sky, rose the 
 Catoctin Mountain, now merged in shadows, now seen 
 below a curtain of purple or crimson clouds, or else 
 with its clear back-ground of summer-blue, its dusky 
 foreshadows extending along the base, while peak and 
 crag glowed with the sun-gold of morning or evening. 
 Such was the birth-place of Francis Scott Key. His 
 sister, Anne Phebe Charlotte, was the friend and com- 
 panion of his boyhood days. This girl and boy were 
 the only children of John Eoss Key. They were re- 
 markable for physical beauty, as well as for those rarer 
 beauties of heart and mind that leave in some shape a 
 lasting impression for those who follow. They loved 
 enthusiastically all lovely things of God's creation, 
 therefore they loved one another with peculiar devotion. 
 In the following lines, suggested by his departure from 
 home for school, the young student reveals his pure 
 affection for his sister : 
 
 I think of thee — I feel the glow 
 
 Of that warm thought — yet well I know 
 
 No verse a brother's love may show, 
 
 My sister ! 
 But ill should I deserve the name 
 Or warmth divine, that poet's claim, 
 If I for thee no lay could frame, 
 
 My sister ! 
 I think of thee — of those bright hours, 
 Rich in Life's first and fairest flowers, 
 When childhood's gay delights were ours, 
 
 My sister ! 
 20 
 
238 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 Those sunny paths were all our own, 
 And thou and I were there alone, 
 Each to the other only known, 
 My sister ! 
 
 In every joy and- every care, 
 We two, audwe alone, were there, 
 The brightness and the gloom to share, 
 My sister ! 
 
 And then there came that dreaded day 
 When I with thee no more must stay, 
 But to the far school haste away, 
 My sister 1 
 
 Sad was the parting — sad the days, 
 And dull the school, and dull the plays, 
 Ere I again on thee may gaze, 
 My sister ! 
 
 But longest days may yet be past, 
 And cares of school away be cast, 
 And home and thee be seen at last, 
 My sister ! 
 
 The mountain-top, the meadow plain, 
 The winding creek, the shaded lane, 
 Shall shine in both our eyes again, 
 My sister ! 
 
 Who, then, shall first my greeting seek? 
 Whose warm tear fall upon my cheek? 
 And tell the joy she cannot speak ? 
 My sister! 
 
 This poem, though rather hackneyed in style and 
 common-place in expression, contains a depth of affection 
 in its tone that is pure and beautiful. Whatever objec- 
 tion may be brought by the critic against the poem, cer- 
 tainly the strength of love between the brother and the 
 sister is not sufficiently commonplace to have become 
 hackneyed. 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 239 
 
 Francis S. Key was educated at Saint John's College 
 at Annapolis. The class to which he belonged was 
 known as the " Tenth Legion," because of its brilliant 
 successes. The President of the College at that time 
 was Dr. John McDowell. Many years after, on the 22d 
 of February, 1827, Mr. Key, by invitation, delivered an 
 address before the Alumni of Saint John's, the subject 
 being Education. After leaving college he read law in 
 the office of Jeremiah Townley Chase, who was one of 
 the judges of the General Court of Maryland at that 
 time. One of his fellow-students was Koger Brooke 
 Taney, afterward Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of 
 the United States. The high polish and perfect culture 
 of Annapolis society, rendered it an attractive place to 
 the distinguished men and women of the day. Did a stu- 
 dent wish for eminence in the Profession of the Law, he 
 was sure to seek for its attainment in the good old city 
 of Annapolis. Mr. Taney has told us of the scarlet- 
 cloaked judges, sitting solemnly in chairs placed upon 
 an elevated platform, and of the assembly of Maryland's 
 famous lawyers gathered at the bar. Judge Chase re- 
 quired of his students a strict attendance at the Court, 
 that they might learn, by observation, the manner in 
 which important cases were conducted. Mr. Key was 
 thereby enabled, in early manhood, to attain to much 
 knowledge through the experience of others, a precious 
 legacy not always handed down through books. After 
 his admission to the bar, Mr. Key returned to his native 
 county. In the year 1801 he began the practice of the 
 Law at Frederick City, Maryland. In a short time, how- 
 ever, he removed to Georgetown, in the District of Co- 
 lumbia. Here he rose to eminence as a lawyer in the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, as well as the courts 
 of Maryland and the District. In the year 1814 Francis 
 Scott Key made himself famous as the author of the 
 world-known song of "The Star Spangled Banner." 
 
240 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 Accompanied by Colonel John S. Skinner,* on board the 
 cartel-ship Minden, 
 
 Protected by the fair white flag that floats 
 In times of war, the silent pledge of peace, 
 
 Mr. Key went to ask the release of several prisoners, one 
 among them being Dr. Beanes, of Upper Marlborough, 
 in Maryland. 
 
 These two gentlemen were detained on board the ship 
 Surprise, yet were treated with courtesy the while. They 
 were transferred again to the Minden, which was an- 
 chored in view of Fort McHenry. While the conflict 
 raged, Mr. Key remained in captivity, not knowing 
 through the long night of September the 13th, whether 
 Victory smiled on America or Great Britain. Aroused 
 to agony by suspense, Mr. Key gazed through the mists 
 of dawn in search of his country's starry flag. When 
 day broke he beheld the Flag floating in proud defiance 
 above the dark outlines of the Fort. In that moment 
 the words of Liberty's triumphal song rose from his 
 patriotic heart. It was hastily written in pencil on the 
 back of an old letter, taken from his pocket. On the 
 night after his arrival in the city of Baltimore, he wrote 
 the words out in full and showed them to his brother- 
 in-law, Judge Nicholson, who was one of the defenders 
 of Fort McHenry. Judge Nicholson proved his recog- 
 nition of its worth, by taking it to the office of " The 
 Baltimore American," where he gave orders that it be 
 printed in small hand-bill form for general circulation. 
 The type-setter of the Star Spangled Banner was Samuel 
 
 *It is of Mr. J. S. Skinner that the following was written by 
 John Quincy Adams. (Adams' Memoirs, page 515, Vol. 4.) 
 
 "He is a man of mingled character, of daring and pernicious 
 principles, of restless and rash, and yet of useful and honorable 
 enterprise. Ruffian, patriot and philanthropist are so blended in 
 him, that I cannot appreciate him without a mingled sentiment 
 of detestation and esteem." 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 241 
 
 Sands, an apprentice boy in that office. He is now, in 
 1874, the editor of the American Farmer, a valuable 
 contribution to the agricultural interests of the country. 
 The song was first sung by Charles Durang, in a restau- 
 rant next to the Holliday Street Theatre. 
 
 It was next sung by the Durang Brothers, amateur 
 actors, at the Holliday Street Theatre. It was received 
 and re-echoed with enthusiasm. It had " a run " of 
 several weeks, and was greeted each night with unflag- 
 ging interest. From this introduction the Holliday 
 Street Theatre won a national reputation, while on its 
 stage moved the most renowned actors of the period. 
 This patriotic offering of an incorruptible soul pene- 
 trated the hearts of the people, as can only the glad 
 hymn of a nation's victory or the mournful note of its 
 death-wail ! It rang like an exultant laugh throughout 
 the Land of its birth — The Republic of America. 
 
 The Star Spangled Banner. 
 
 O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, 
 
 What so proudly we hailed, at the twilight's last gleaming? 
 Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, 
 
 O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming; 
 And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
 Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there: 
 O, say does that Star Spangled Banner ytt wave 
 O'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave? 
 
 On that shore dimly been through the mists of the deep, 
 
 Where the foe's haughty host iu dread silence reposes, 
 What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, 
 
 As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses? 
 Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, 
 In full glory reflected now shines in the stream: 
 'Tis the Star Spangled Bauner; O long may it wave 
 O'er the Laud of the Free and the Home of the Brave ! 
 
 And where are the foes who so vauntiugly swore 
 That the havoc of War, and the Battle's confusion, 
 20* 
 
242 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 A Home and a Country should leave us no more? 
 
 Their hlood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. 
 No refuge could save the hireling and slave 
 From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave; 
 And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave 
 O'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave ! 
 
 O thus be it ever, wheu freemen shall stand 
 
 Between their loved homes and the war's desolation ; 
 Blest with Victory and Peace, may the heaven-rescued land 
 
 Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a Nation ! 
 Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 
 And this be our motto, "In God is our trust;" 
 And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave 
 O'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave! 
 
 The banner which aroused the inspiration of " Frank " 
 Key into song, is said to be the property of Mrs. George- 
 ana Armistead Appleton, of Boston, Massachusetts. 
 This lady is the daughter of Colonel Armistead, who 
 commanded Fort McHenry during its bombardment by 
 the British forces. Colonel Armistead was a staunch 
 patriot, noted for his bravery — so brave that he acknowl- 
 edged with pleasure the brave deeds of others. He was 
 not one of those officers who, by the frequent use of a 
 certain little pronoun, excludes from official notice, as 
 well as the notice of the world, all under his command. 
 He accorded praise wherever it was due. 
 
 The following letter from the pen of Chief Justice 
 Taney has several times appeared in print; yet it 
 should not for this reason be any the less acceptable to 
 the people of this country. It is addressed to his friend, 
 Mr. Charles Howard, of Maryland : 
 
 Washington, D. C, March 12th, 1856. 
 My Dear Sir — I promised some time ago to give you an ac- 
 count of the incidents in the life of Mr. F. S. Key, which led him 
 to write the " Star Spangled Banner," and of the circumstances 
 under which it was written. The song has become a national 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 243 
 
 one, and will, I think, from its great merit, continue to be so, 
 especially in Maryland; and everything that, concerns its Author 
 must be a matter of interest, to his children and descendants, 
 and I proceed to fulfill my promise with the more pleasure, be- 
 cause, while the song shows his genius and taste as a poet, the 
 incidents connected with it, and the circumstances under which 
 it was written, will show his character and worth as a man. 
 The scene he describes, and the warm spirit of patriotism which 
 breathes in the song, were not the offspring of mere fancy or 
 poetic imagination. He describes what he actually saw. And 
 he tells us what he felt while witnessing the conflict, and what 
 he felt when the battle was over and the victory won by his 
 countrymen. Every woid came warm from his heart, and for 
 that reason, even more than from its poetical merit, it never 
 fails to find a response in the hearts of those who listen to it. 
 You will remember that in 1814, when the song was written, I 
 resided in Frederick, and Mr. Key in Georgetown. You will 
 also recollect, that soon alter the British troops retired from 
 Washington, a squadron of the enemy's ships made their way 
 up the Potomac and appeared before Alexandria, which was 
 compelled to capitulate; and the squadron remained there some 
 days, plundering the town of tobacco aud whatever else they 
 wanted. It w.-'S rumored, and believed in Frederick, that a 
 marauding attack of the same character would be made on 
 Washington and Georgetown before the ships left the river. 
 Mr. Key's family were still in Georgetown. He would not, and 
 indeed could not with honor, leave the place while it was 
 threatened by the enemy, for he was a volunteer in the light 
 artillery, commanded by Major Peter, which was composed of 
 citizens of the District of Columbia, who had uniformed them- 
 selves and offered their services to the Government, and who had 
 been employed iu active service from the time the British fleet 
 appeared in the Patuxent preparatory to the movement upon 
 Washington. And Mrs. Key refused to leave home, while Mr. 
 Key was thus daily exposed to danger. Believing, as we did, 
 that an attack would probably be made on Georgetown, we 
 became very anxious about the situation of his family; for if the 
 attack was made Mr. Key would be with the troops engaged in 
 the defense, and as it was impossible to foresee what would be 
 the issue of the conflict, his family, by remaining in George- 
 town, might be placed iu great and useless peril. When I speak 
 
244 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 of we, I mean Mr. Key's father and mother, and Mrs. Taney and 
 myself; but it was agreed among us that I should go to George- 
 town and try to persuade Mrs. Key to come away with their 
 children and stay with me or with Mr. Key's father until the 
 danger was over. When I reached Georgetown I found the 
 English ships still at Alexandria, and a body of militia encamped 
 in Washington, which had been assembled to defend the city. 
 But it was then believed, from information received, that no 
 attack would be made by the enemy on Washington or George- 
 town, and preparations were making on our part to annoy them 
 by batteries on shore when they desceuded the river. 
 
 The knowledge of these preparations probably hastened their 
 departure; and the second or third day after my arrival the 
 ships were seen moving down the Potomac. On the evening of 
 the day that the enemy disappeared, Mr Richard West arrived 
 at Mr. Key's and told him that after the British army passed 
 through Upper Marlboro', on their return to their ships, and had 
 encamped some miles below the town, a detachment was sent 
 back, which entered Dr. Beanes' house about midnight, com- 
 pelled him to rise from his bed, and hurried him off to the British 
 camp, hardly allowing him time to put his clothes on; that he 
 was treated with great harshness, and closely guarded; and that 
 as soon as his friends were apprized of his situation they has- 
 tened to the headquarters of the English army to solicit his 
 release, but it was peremptorily refused, and they were not per- 
 mitted to see him; and that he had been carried as a prisoner 
 on board the fleet. And finding their own efforts unavailing, 
 and alarmed for his safety, his friends in and about Marlboro' 
 thought it advisable that Mr. West should hasten to Georgetown 
 and request Mr. Key to obtain the sanction of the Government 
 to his going on board the Admiral's Ship, under a flag of truce, 
 and endeavoring to procure the release of Dr. Beanes, bef>re the 
 fleet sailed. It was then lying at the mouth of the Potomac, 
 and its destination was not at that time known with certainty. 
 Dr Beanes, as perhaps you know, was the leading physician in 
 Upper Marlboro', and an accomplished scholar and gentleman. 
 He was highly nspected by all who knew him; was the family 
 physician of Mr. West, and the intimate friend of Mr. Key. 
 He occupied one of the best houses in Upper Marlboro', and 
 lived very handsomely, and his house was selected for the quar- 
 ters of Admiral CocUburn, and some of the principal officers of 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 245 
 
 the Army, wheu the British troops encamped at Marlboro' on 
 their march to Washington. These officers were, of course, 
 furnished with everything that the house could offer; and they, 
 in return, treated him with much courtesy, and placed guards 
 around his grounds and outhouses to prevent depredations by 
 their troops But on the return of the army to the ships, after 
 the main body had passed through the town, stragglers who had 
 left the ranks to plunder, or from some other motive, made their 
 appearance from time to time, singly or in small squads, and 
 Dr. Beanes put himself at the head of a small body of citizens, 
 to pursue and make prisoners of them. Information of this 
 proceeding was by some means or other conveyed to the Eng- 
 lish camp, and the detachment of which I have spoken was 
 sent back to release the prisoners, and seize Dr. Beanes. They 
 did not seem to regard him, and certainly did not treat him as a 
 prisoner of War, but as one who had deceived and broken his 
 faith to them. 
 
 Mr. Key readily agreed to undertake the mission in his favor, 
 and the President promptly gave his sanction to it. Orders 
 were immediately issued to the vessel usually employed as a 
 cartel in the communications with the fleet in the Chesapeake 
 to be made ready without delay; and Mr John S. Skinner who 
 was agent for the Government for flags of truce and exchange 
 of prisoners, and was well known as such by officers of the fleet, 
 was directed to accompany Mr. Key. And as soon as the ar- 
 rangements were made he hastened to Baltimore, where the Vessel 
 was, to embark ; and Mrs. Key and the children went with me 
 to Frederick, and thence to his father's, on Pipe creek, where 
 she remained until he returned. We heard nothing of him 
 until the enemy retreated from Baltimore, which, as well as I 
 can now recollect, was a week or ten days after he left us ; and we 
 were becoming uneasy about him, when, to our great joy, he 
 made his appearance at my house on his way to join his family. 
 He told me that he found the British fleet at the mouth of the 
 Potomac preparing for the expedition against Baltimore. He 
 was courteously received by Admiral Cochrane and the officers 
 of the army as well as the navy. But when he made known his 
 business his application was received so coldly that he feared it 
 would fail. General Ross and Admiral Cockburn, who accom- 
 panied the expedition to Washington, particularly the latter, 
 spoke of Dr. Beanes in very harsh terms, and seemed at first 
 
246 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 not disposed to release him. It however happened, fortuuately, 
 that Mr. Skinner carried letters from the wounded British officers 
 left at Bladensburg; and in these letters to their friends on 
 board the fleet they all spoke of the humanity and kindness 
 with which they had been treated after they had fallen into our 
 hands. And after a good deal of conversation and strong 
 representations from Mr. Key as to the character and standing 
 of Dr. Beanes, and of the deep interest which the community 
 in which he lived took in his fate, General Ross said that Dr. 
 Beanes deserved much more punishment than he had received, 
 but that he felt himself bound to make a return for the kind- 
 ness which had been shown to his wounded Officers whom he 
 had been compelled to leave at Bladensburg, and upon that 
 ground, and that only, he would release him But Mr. Key was at 
 the same time informed that neither he nor any one else would 
 be permitted to leave the fleet for some days, and must be de- 
 tained until the attack on Baltimore, which was then about to 
 be made, was over. But he was assured that they would make 
 him and Mr. Skinner as comfortable as possible while they de- 
 tained them. Admiral Cochrane, with whom they dined on 
 the day of their arrival, apologized for not accommodating 
 them in his own ship, saying that it was crowded already 
 with Officers of the Army, but that they would be well taken 
 care of in the Frigate Surprise, commanded by his son, Sir 
 Thomas Cochrane. And to this Frigate they were accordingly 
 transferred. Mr. Key had an interview with Dr. Beanes before 
 General Ross consented to release him. I do not recollect 
 whether he was on board the Admiral's ship or the Surprise, 
 but I believe it was the former He found him in the forward 
 part of the ship, among the sailors and soldiers; he had not had 
 a change of clothes from the time he was seized ; was con- 
 stantly treated with indignity by those around him, and no offi- 
 cer would speak to him. He was treated as a culprit and not 
 as a prisoner of War. And this harsh and humiliating treat- 
 ment continued until he was placed on board the cartel. Some- 
 thing must have passed when the officers were quartered at his 
 house on the march to Washington, which, in the judgment of 
 General Ross, bound him not to take up arms against the Eng- 
 lish forces until the troops had re-eml>arked. 
 
 It is impossible, on any other ground, to account for the man- 
 ner in which he was spoken of and treated. But whatever Gen- 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 24*7 
 
 eral Ross and the other Officers may have thought, I am quite 
 sure that Dr. Beanes did not think he was in any way pledged 
 to abstain from active hostilities against the public enemy. And 
 when he made prisoners of the stragglers, he did not consider 
 himself as a prisoner on parole, nor suppose himself to be vio- 
 lating any obligation he had himself incurred. For he was a 
 gentleman of untainted character and a nice sense of honor, and 
 incapable of doing anything that could have justified such treat- 
 ment. Mr. Key imputed the ill-usage he received to the influ- 
 ence ot Admiral Cockburn, who, it is still remembered, while he 
 commanded in the Chesapeake, carried on hostilities in a vindic- 
 tive temper, assailing and plundering defenceless villages, or 
 countenancing such proceedings by those under his command 
 Mr. Key and Mr. Skinner continued on board of the Surprise, 
 where they were very kindly treated by Sir Thomas Cochrane, 
 until the fleet reached the Patapsco, and preparations were 
 making for landing the troops. Admiral Cochrane then shifted 
 his flag to the Frigate in order that he might be able to move 
 further up the River, and superintend in person the attack by 
 water on the Fort. And Mr. Key and Mr. Skinner were then 
 sent on board their own vessel, with a guard of sailors or marines, 
 to prevent them from landing. They were permitted to take 
 Dr. Beanes with them, and they thought themselves fortunate in 
 being anchored in a position which enabled them to see distinct- 
 ly the flag of Fort McHenry from the deck of the vessel. He 
 proceeded then with much animation to describe the scene on 
 the night of the bombardment. He and Mr. Skinner remained 
 on deck during the night watching every shell, from the moment 
 it was fired until it fell, listening with breathless interest to hear 
 if an explosion followed. While the bombardment continued 
 it was sufficient proof that the Fort had not surrendered. But it 
 suddenly ceased some time before day ; and as they had no com- 
 munication with any of the enemy's ships, they did not know 
 whether the Fort had surrendered, or the attack upon it had been 
 abandoned. They paced the deck for the residue of the night in 
 painful suspense, watching with intense anxiety the return of 
 day, and looking every few minutes at their watches, to see how 
 long they must wait for it; and as soon as it dawned, and before 
 it was light enough to see objects at a distance, their glasses were 
 turned to the Fort, uncertain whether they should B ee there the 
 Stars and Stripes or the flag of the enemy. At length the light 
 
248 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 came, and they saw that " our flag was still there." Aud as the 
 day advanced they discovered, from the movements of the boats 
 between the shore and the fleet, that the troops had been roughly 
 handled, and that many wounded men were carried to the ships- 
 At length he was informed that the attack on Baltimore had 
 failed, and the British army was re-embarking, and that he and 
 Mr. Skinner and Dr. Beanes would be permitted to leave them 
 and go where they pleased as soon as the troops were on board 
 and the fleet ready to sail. He then told me that under the ex- 
 citement of the time he had written a song, and handed me a 
 printed copy of the " Star Spangled Banner." When I had read 
 it and expressed my admiration, I asked him how he found time 
 in the scenes he had been passing through to compose such a 
 song ? He said he commenced it on the deck of their vessel, in 
 the fervor of the moment, when he saw the enemy hastily re- 
 treating to their ships, and looked at the flag he had watched for 
 so anxiously as the morning opened ; that he had written some 
 lines, or brief notes that would aid him in calling them to mind 
 upon the back of a letter which he happened to have in his 
 pocket; and for some of the lines, as he proceeded, he was 
 obliged to rely altogether upon his memory; and that he finished 
 it in the boat on his way to the shore, and wrote it out as it now 
 stands at the Hotel on the night he reached Baltimore, and im- 
 mediately after he arrived. He said that on the next morning 
 he took it to Judge Nicholson to ask him what he thought of it, 
 and he was so much pleased with it, that he immediately sent it 
 to a printer and directed copies to be struck off in hand-bill form ; 
 and that he, Mr. Key, believed that it had been favorably received 
 by the Baltimore public. 
 
 Judge Nicholson and Mr. Key, you know, were nearly con- 
 nected by marriage, Mrs. Key and Mrs. Nicholson being sisters. 
 The Judge was a man of cultivated taste, and had at one time 
 been distinguished among the leading men in Congress, and was 
 at that period of which I am speaking the Chief Justice of the 
 Baltimore Court, and one of the Judges of the Court of Appeals 
 of Maryland. Notwithstanding his judicial character, which 
 exempted him from military service, he accepted the command 
 of a volunteer company of artillery. And when the enemy ap- 
 proached, and an attack on the Fort was expected, he and his 
 company offered their services to the Government to assist in 
 its defence. They were accepted, and formed a part of the garri- 
 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 249 
 
 son during the bombardment. The judge had been relieved 
 from doty, and returned to his family only the night before Mr. 
 Key slowed him his song. And you may easily imagine the 
 feelings with which, at such a moment, he read it and gave it 
 to the pablic. It was, no doubt, as Mr. Key modestly expressed 
 it, favorably received. In less than an hour after it was placed 
 in the hands of the printer, it was all over town, and hailed with 
 enthusiasm, and took its place at once as a national song. 
 
 I have made this account of "The Star Spangled Banner" 
 longer than I intended, and find that I have introduced inci- 
 dents and persons outside of the subject I originally contem- 
 plated. But I have felt a melancholy pleasure in recalling events 
 connected, in any degree, with the life of one with whom I was 
 so long and so intimately united in friendship and affection, and 
 whom I so much admired for his brilliant genius and loved for 
 his many virtues. I am sure, however, that neither you nor 
 any of his children or descendants will think the account I have 
 given too long. "With great regard, dear sir, 
 
 Your friend truly, R. B. TANEY. 
 
 Charles Howard, Esq. 
 
 Although Mr. Key possessed considerable literary- 
 ability, and the soul of a true poet, the " Star Spangled 
 Banner" is the only poem left to us, (his sacred songs 
 excepted,) that does credit to his name or fame. It is 
 to be regretted that the yolume entitled "Key's Poems " 
 ever was allowed to be published. Evidently these 
 rhymes, written in a spirit of gaiety, were never in- 
 tended to be seen beyond the household circle. In such 
 a mood of gaiety he wrote an address to u The Twelfth 
 Night Queen." The queen was Miss Katharine Murray 
 of Annapolis. According to an old English custom the 
 twelfth night was always an occasion of festivity and 
 reunion. On the twelfth night of January, 1833, was 
 solemnized the marriage of Miss Josephine Harwood. 
 She was the daughter of an old and respected citizen of 
 Annapolis. The bridegroom, Edward Tilton, was a 
 young officer of the United States Navy. Miss Har- 
 21 
 
250 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 wood's wedding night was rendered doubly joyous by the 
 crowning of the " Queen " at the home of the bride, 
 and we can well imagine the " toasts " and graceful 
 compliments of which Miss Katharine Murray was the 
 recipient forty "golden years ago." The Bride, the 
 Queen and the Poet were connected by ties of blood and 
 marriage. 
 
 Francis Key was a contemporary of Edward Coote 
 Pinkney, and contributed to the same periodicals for 
 which the Poet wrote. He was a man of great refine- 
 ment and culture of manner as well as of intellect. He 
 won for himself the esteem of all good people by living 
 up to the standard of a Christian and an honorable gen- 
 tleman. The line of difference is distinctly drawn be- 
 tween his character and that of John Randolph, of 
 Roanoke, in the following anecdote: Mr. Key was on 
 intimate terms of friendship with Mr. Randolph, who, 
 being confined to his rooms by illness upon one occa- 
 sion, was engaged in conversation with Mr. Key, who 
 had called upon him at the hotel. Not long after Mr. 
 Key entered the room an officer of high rank in the 
 British Navy, deeming himself on intimate terms with 
 Mr. Randolph, merely knocked at the door, then open- 
 ing it entered unannounced. Turning hastily around, 
 Randolph cried out in a rude mannner : " Busy, my lord, 
 bii3y ! Always apply to my servant before you enter 
 my lodgings." 
 
 " Beg pardon," answered the officer, who immedi- 
 ately withdrew. Mr. Key said : 
 
 "Mr. Randolph, how can you treat a gentleman in 
 this -way? He meant nothing wrong." "Neither do 
 hogs mean wrong when they enter my corn-fields ; but 
 I always turn them out," was the answer- of John 
 Randolph. An old friend of Mr. Key says: "Every 
 body who knew Frank Key loved him, and there was 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 251 
 
 not a more agreeable companion to be found " Mr. 
 Key was an Episcopalian. Gentle and unassuming in 
 the practice of his belief, and generous in his toleration 
 of others. He taught a Sunday-school class for many 
 years at the "Rock Creek Church. 77 
 
 His wife was a Miss Lloyd, of Maryland, the young- 
 est sister of Governor Edward Lloyd, and their home 
 was noted for its hospitality, particularly to strangers. 
 
 In the year 1833, June 29th, Mr. Key was appointed 
 to the position of United States Attorney for the 
 District of Columbia by the President, General Jack- 
 son. He was re-appointed January 6th, 1837. He was 
 called upon to fill the same office the third time, Janu- 
 ary the 13th, 1837, under President Van Buren. He 
 was distinguished for his ability in performing the 
 duties of his office, and is mentioned as one of the con- 
 fidential friends of the President, Andrew Jackson. 
 
 During the nullification agitation in this country he 
 was sent unofficially to the South. He remained for 
 some time in the city of Charleston, and it is said that 
 to him is due partly the peaceful termination of the 
 difficulty. After the removal of the public deposits 
 from the Bank of the United States by Roger B. Taney, 
 and after he had been rejected as the Secretary of the 
 Treasury of the United States by the Satiate, many 
 demonstrations of the people 7 s regard were shown in 
 his behalf. About this time a public dinner was given 
 in his honor in the grounds of the court house, at 
 Frederick, Maryland. Mr. Key being a guest, the 
 following toast was offered and drunk: "Francis S. 
 Key — a friend of the administration, and an incorrupti- 
 ble patriot — worthy of being honored wherever genius 
 is admired, or liberty cherished, as the author of the 
 Star Spangled Banner. 75 Mr. Key expressed his thanks 
 and said : 
 
252 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 " He never had forgotten and never should forget that 
 he was a native of the county whose citizens were as- 
 sembled upon an occasion so gratifying to his feelings. 
 Though no longer a resident, its people and its scenes 
 had never ceased to be dear to him. His annual visit 
 here had been always anticipated with pleasure, and 
 never, even from his boyhood, had he come within the 
 view of these mountains without having his warmest 
 affections awakened at the sight. What he felt now, in 
 accepting the invitation with which he had been hon- 
 ored, he should not attempt to express. The company 
 had been pleased to declare their approbation of his 
 song. Praise to a poet could not be otherwise than ac- 
 ceptable; but it was peculiarly gratifying to him to 
 know, that, in obeying the impulse of his own feelings, 
 he had awakened theirs. The song he knew came from 
 the heart, and if it had made its way to the hearts of 
 men whose devotion to their country and to the great 
 cause of freedom he so well knew, he could not pretend 
 to be insensible to such a compliment. They had re- 
 called to his recollection the circumstance under which 
 he had been impelled to this effort. He had seen the 
 flag of his country waving over a city, the strength and 
 pride of his native State, a city devoted to plunder and 
 desolation by its assailants. He witnessed the prepara- 
 tions for its assault, and saw the array of its enemies as 
 they advanced to the attack. He heard the sound of 
 battle; the noise of the conflict fell upon his listening 
 ear, and told him that " the brave " and " the free " had 
 met the invaders. Then did he remember that Mary- 
 land had called her sons to the defence of that flag, and 
 that they were the sons of sires who had left their crim- 
 son footprints on the snows of the North, and poured 
 out the blood of patriots like water on the sands of the 
 South. Then did he remember that there were gathered 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 253 
 
 around that banner, among its defenders, men who had 
 heard and answered to the call of their country, from 
 whose mountain-sides, from this beautiful valley and 
 this fair city of his native county, and though he 
 walked upon a deck surrounded by a hostile fleet, de- 
 tained as a prisoner, yet was his step firm and his heart 
 strong as these recollections came upon him. Through 
 the clouds of war the stars of that banner still shone 
 in view, and he saw the discomfited host of its assail- 
 ants driven back in ignominy to their ships. Then in 
 that hour of deliverance and joyful triumph the heart 
 spoke; and "does not such a country and such defend- 
 ers of their country deserve a song?" was its question. 
 With it came an inspiration not to be resisted ; and if it 
 had been a hanging matter to make a song, he mnst have 
 made it. Let the praise, then, if any be due, be given 
 not to him, who only did what he could not help doing, 
 not to the writer, but to the inspirers of the song. He 
 would advert (he said), to another and still more glori- 
 ous triumph- -to another of our cities assailed by the 
 same army. Before New Orleans was the flower of the 
 British Army, the veteran conquerors of Europe; men 
 who had broken through hosts of disciplined warriors 
 and the proudest walls that military science could erect. 
 With what scorn must they have looked npon our cotton 
 ramparts and rude militia? And the General who was 
 to oppose, with such forces as these, their skillful and 
 experienced leaders, what would they think of him? 
 They thought of him, no doubt, as his present oppo- 
 nents still profess to think of him, as an ignorant and 
 rash man, unfit for any command. Yes, (he continued), 
 even now, when he has administered the Government 
 with unexampled wisdom and success, we are told that 
 he is a man of no learning, of no ability as a writer or a 
 speaker, and the most contemptuous comparisons are 
 21* 
 
254 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 made between his qualifications and those of his rivals. 
 
 Against such a leader and such forces, the proud host 
 
 of the enemy came on. Where now are the great ora- 
 tors and writers? "Ubi nunc facwndus Ulysses?" 
 
 Where shall we find a man to disperse the advancing 
 foes from the eloquence of a proclamation, or overwhelm 
 them with the terrors of a speech ? Andrew Jackson 
 was there. He made neither proclamation nor speech, 
 but he put a tongue into the mouths of his artillery, 
 and bade them speak to them. 
 
 There was a speech to be held in everlasting remem- 
 brance. It was written in the brightest page of our 
 Country's history, and future conquerors who may desire 
 to send their myrmidons to shores defended by freemen 
 will be wise enough to remember it. He was not dis- 
 posed (he said) to undervalue those talents in which it 
 was said (upon what -authority he knew not) General 
 Jackson was so inferior to the favorites of his opponents. 
 The speaker and the writer may render essential ser- 
 vices to the Country; but there are times which will 
 demand doers instead of talkers, and every friend of his 
 country has rejoic3d that we had the right sort of talent at 
 the defence of New Orleans. It* their services were even 
 equal all must admit that there was some difference in 
 suffering and s .crifice between the talker and the doer, be- 
 tween him who, on soft carpets and to smiling audiences, 
 makes speeches for his country, and him whose nights 
 are spent in sleepless vigilance and his days in toil and 
 peril, who offers ease and health and life upon the altar 
 of patriotism. If there was any suffering in speech- 
 making certain patriots, whose daily labors in that way 
 throughout the last winter had been so extraordinary, 
 were greatly to be commisserated. For himself, he 
 said that when he had a good subject, as he now had, 
 and saw before him such a company as he now did, and 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 255 
 
 read in their kindling countenances the warm feelings 
 of approving hearts, he considered it a pleasure and a 
 privilege to make a speech. But he would return to 
 the song — the company had thought it worthy the 
 honor of a toast. Perhaps they were not unreasonble 
 in placing so high an estimate upon a song. It has 
 been said by one thought wise in the knowledge of 
 human nature that " if he could be allowed to make a 
 nation's song he cared not who made its laws." 
 
 He would undertake to say that if a nation's songs 
 were of any importance to it there was but one way of 
 providing a supply of them. He had adverted to the 
 occasions of which he had spoken for the purpose of 
 showing that way. If national poets, who shall keep 
 alive the sacred fire of patriotism in the hearts of the 
 people, are desirable to a country, the country must 
 deserve them — must put forth her patriots and heroes, 
 whose deeds alone can furnish the necessary inspiration. 
 When a country is thus worthy of the lyre she will 
 command its highest efforts. But if ever forgetful of 
 her past and present glory, she shall cease to be " the 
 Land of the Free and the home of the Brave," and be- 
 come the purchased possession of a company of stock- 
 jobbers and speculators; if her people are to be the 
 bought vassals of a great moneyed corporation, and to 
 bow down to her pensioned and privileged nobility ; if 
 the patriots who shall dare to arraign her corrup- 
 tions and denounce her usurpation are to be sacri- 
 ficed upon her gilded altar ; such a country furnish venal 
 orators and presses, but the soul of national poetry will 
 be gone. The muse will " never bow the knee in Mam- 
 mon's fame." No, the patriots of such a land must hide 
 their shame in her deepest forests, and her bards must 
 hang their harps upon the willows. Such a people, 
 thus corrupted and degraded — 
 
256 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 "Living, shall forfeit fair renown ; 
 And, doubly dying, shall go down 
 To the vile dust from whence they sprang. 
 Unwept, uuhonored and unsung." 
 
 While holding the office of attorney tinder the Got- 
 eminent of the United States Mr. Key had ever in view 
 the high responsibility and trust of his position. "It 
 is the duty of an attorney representing a government in 
 a criminal prosecution to see that the prisoner has jus- 
 tice done him, and not to aim only at conviction. He 
 as well as the Court represents the law, whose officers 
 they are." This was manifested in a remarkable in- 
 stance, in a manner worthy of being recorded to the 
 honor of Mr. Key and Maryland : In, the year 1836, at 
 the funeral of Warren K. Davis, of South Carolina, a 
 representative to the United States Congress, General 
 Jackson and his Cabinet were in attendance. While 
 waiting on the East Portico of the Capitol for the coffin 
 to be brought from the Rotunda a man who had been 
 concealed behind one of the pillars of the portico fired a 
 pistol at the President. Undauntedly the President ad- 
 vanced toward his assailant with uplifted cane, intending 
 by striking the man's arm to prevent another shot. Sev- 
 eral Cabinet Officers losing presence of mind pulled Gen- 
 eral Jackson back, when another attempt was made to 
 fire the pistol. The mischief intended, however, was 
 probably prevented by the non-explosion of the pistol 
 cap. The daring assailant was seized and taken into 
 the custody of the Law. General Jackson, his friends 
 and adherents believed this act of violence to be in- 
 stigated by a party of political conspirators, headed 
 by a United States Senator. The prisoner was taken 
 before one of the judges of the Circuit Court of the 
 District of Columbia for an examination. Francis S. 
 Key, in behalf of the Government, appeared to conduct 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 257 
 
 the inquiry. Mr. Frank P. Blair, Mr. R. H. Gillette 
 and Mr. Kingman {Ion, of " The Baltimore Sun") 
 beheld the whole transaction. Mr. Kingman was called 
 before the court as a witness. He says that he remem- 
 bers Mr. Key's circumspection regarding the pris- 
 oner's right, as one accused before the Law, when con- 
 ducting the inquiries. Filled with partisan suspicions he 
 did not lose his calmness, allowing only a sense of jus- 
 tice and a desire for the truth to influence him in the 
 matter. He seemed aware of his responsibility in an 
 inquiry of so grave a nature. The investigation, thus 
 conducted, terminated in discovering the prisoner to le 
 insane. He was immediately sent to the Asylum for the 
 Insane near Washington, where he was seen by a noted 
 Physician of Washington not many years ago. And here 
 this poor fellow, who had played so important a part in 
 a little drama, could be seen day after day standing 
 with a grave countenance and clasped hands as he 
 revolved his thumbs one about the other. When ques- 
 tioned as to his occupation, his reply was ever the same : 
 " I am keeping the weather ; " alas, far-shadowed prophet 
 of Probabilities! 
 
 Of Mr. Key, Mr. Kingman says: "He was one of the 
 best and the noblest of men. A lawyer and an orator 
 of the first rank. Ever interfering as a peacemaker be- 
 tween men ; and striving for the good of the human 
 race. Everybody honored and loved one so brave and 
 yet so gentle." 
 
 From the lately published " Casket of Reminiscences," 
 by ex-Governor H. Foote, of Mississippi, the following 
 extract is taken : 
 
 " I do not remember to have at any time witnessed a 
 more interesting forensic discussion than one to which 
 I had the pleasure of listening in the Chamber of the 
 Supreme Court of the United States in the beginning 
 
258 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 of the month of March, 1825. A vessel engaged in the 
 African Slave Trade had been, a month or two before, 
 seized on the coast of Florida, and had been regularly 
 libeled for confiscation under the Act of Congress de- 
 claring this species of traffic piracy. This case involved 
 pecuniary interests of much magnitude and certain 
 moral considerations also of much delicacy and dignity. 
 The argument attracted a large assemblage of refined 
 and intelligent persons of either sex. The discussion 
 was opened by the celebrated Francis S. Key, so honor- 
 ably known then and now as the author of "The Star 
 Spangled Banner." Mr. Key had been employed to aid 
 the Attorney General (Mr. Wirt), while Charles I. In- 
 gersoll, of Philadelphia, and John M. Berrien, of Georgia, 
 were enlisted in the enterprise. I was very much enter- 
 tained with the whole argument, but I was particularly 
 with the speech of Mr. Key and that of Mr. Berrien. 
 Mr. Key was tall, erect, and of admirable physical pro- 
 portions. There dwelt usually upon his handsome and 
 winning features a soft and touching pensiveness of ex- 
 pression almost bordering on sadness, but which in 
 moments of special excitement, or when anything oc- 
 curred to awaken the dormant heroism of his nature, or 
 to call into action the higher power of vigorous and well 
 cultivated intellect, gave place to a bright ethereality of 
 aspect and a noble audacity of tone which pleased while 
 it dazzled the beholder. His voice was capable of being 
 in the highest degree touching and persuasive. His 
 whole gesticulation was natural, graceful and impres- 
 sive; and he was as completely free from everything 
 like affectation or rhetorical grimace as any public speaker 
 I have known. He had a singularly flowing, choice, and 
 pointed phraseology, such as could not fail to be pleas- 
 ing to persons of taste and discernment; and I am sure 
 that no one ever heard him exhibit his extraordinary 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 259 
 
 powers of discussion, to whom the ideas to which he 
 essayed to give expression seemed at all cloudy or per- 
 plexed, or his elocution clogged and torpid, even for the 
 shortest possible period of time. On this occasion he 
 greatly surpassed the expectations of his most admiring 
 friends. The subject was particularly suited to his 
 habits of thought, and was one which had long enlisted, 
 in a special manner, the generous sensibilities of his 
 soul. It seemed to me that he said all that the case 
 demanded, and yet no more than was needful to be said ; 
 and he closed with a thrilling and even an electrifying 
 picture of the horrors connected with the African Slave 
 Trade, which would have done honor either to a Pitt or 
 a Wilberforce in their palmiest days." — Page 12. 
 
 The following letter from the Paymaster-G-eneral of 
 the United States Army proves the confidence reposed 
 by General Jackson in the administrative wisdom of 
 Mr. Key: 
 
 Dear Miss Boyle : — I promised to give you a statement of 
 an incident in the career of Francis S. Key, which occurred 
 during the administration of General Jackson, and which was 
 an example of the great confidence reposed in the tact and dis- 
 cretion of Mr. Key by that Statesman. I have failed to find 
 dates as I had hoped, but I think it took place in 1835. 
 
 I was then serving with the Fourth Infautry as a Subaltern, of 
 which regiment a distinguished Georgian, Brevet Major James 
 S. Mcintosh, was a Captain, and then in command at Fort 
 Mitchell, Alabama. He had performed very gallant and bril- 
 liant service in t'le war of 1812, for which the State of Georgia 
 gave him a sword. He was an officer of high spirit and iudomi- 
 t ible pluck and of very chivalrous temper, as will be shown here- 
 after. For it was for the protection of a single enlisted man 
 that he took the st md, which arrayed against him the State of 
 Alabama and its whole military power under the Governor. 
 
 In execution of the Indian intercourse acts it became the duty 
 of Major Mcintosh, upon the request of the Indian Agent, fci 
 have removed from the Indian country certain intruders. In 
 
2 GO FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 execution of this order a Corporal, in self-defense, had unfortu- 
 nately been compelled to shoot down one of Ibe intruders, who 
 died of the wounds he had received. 
 
 An indictment for murder was found against the Corporal. 
 The whole frontier was excited. The sympathies of the whole 
 population of that region were arrayed against the Indian Agent 
 and the military. Major Mcintosh feared that any jury called 
 out in that. region would not do justice to his soldier. Like old 
 Hickory, he " took the responsibility " and refused to surrender 
 the Corporal to the civil authorities. A posse of men from 
 neighboring counties was at firs-t summoned, and finally all the 
 militia of the State were called out by the Governor. The entire 
 militia of the State of Alabama arrayed against Major Mcin- 
 tosh and his two small companies of regulars ! 
 
 General Jackson no doubt appreciated the chivalrous senti- 
 ment and firmness of Mcintosh, but wishingpeaceand harmony, 
 he put trust in Francis S. Key, then, I think, United States 
 District Attorney for the District of Columbia, as Minister Pleni- 
 potentiary upon the part of the United States between the State 
 of Alabama and the obstinate Soldier. 
 
 Mr. Key had no small task in his hands, for it was ever a 
 tradition in the regiment that Major Mcintosh was not very 
 easily persuaded to submit to the programme. When allusions 
 weiemade by Mr. Key to the important principles involved, 
 which made the example in this case very important and preg- 
 nant with gocd or evil to the latest "posterity," Major Mcin- 
 tosh exclaimed, ''let posterity take care of itself, I must take care 
 of my soldier, whom the people intend to hang for the simple 
 discharge of his duty I" 
 
 Finally, however, Mr. Key succeeded, I think, by arranging 
 for the trial of the soldier in a part of the State farthest re- 
 moved from the Indian frontier. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 March 26, 1875. BENJ. ALVORD. 
 
 The following letter, written by Mr. Key to his aunt, 
 Mrs. Maynadier, at Annapolis, Maryland, gives us an in- 
 sight into his labors in behalf of the Negro race, and 
 liis ardor in the cause: 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 261 
 
 
 Georgetown, January 24, 1819. 
 My Dear Aunt:— I received your letter last night, and had 
 before seen in the paper the notice for the meeting of the Col- 
 onization Society. Our Court has been much longer than we 
 expected, and is still sitting, and I fear I cannot get away from 
 it as soon as Thursday. If I could, I would bring Mr. Burgess 
 with me and all his African affairs; as it is, I shall try to send 
 him, if I can get anybody to go with him. I have just been 
 down to see if Mr. Herbert or Mercer could go, but I did not see 
 them. I fear, however, that as they have bo interesting a ques- 
 tion before them in Congress, they cannot leave their stations, 
 and I cannot just now think of any one else. If it was put off 
 for a week, or if they meet, elect their officers and do whatever 
 else is necessary, and adjourn for a week to receive a communi- 
 cation from us here, we could then send Mr. Burgess and our 
 journals and papers and opinions, and some of us would try to 
 come with him. I shall, nevertheless, (if I find I can do it), 
 come on Thursday; and if not then, I think I could come about 
 that day week. I will see Mr. Munro and bring your books if 
 they are still to be had. The Testaments cannot be got cheaper 
 here than the price you mention, but does not your Bible Society 
 furnish Bibles and Testaments for Sunday Schools without 
 charge ? I presume you could certainly get them in that way 
 from Baltimore. With the hope of soon seeing you, 
 
 I am ever your affectionate, F. KEY. 
 
 McSherry says of this portion of our history, a sub- 
 ject to be studied from 1836 to 1861 : "The wiser and 
 more humane friends of the negro had early embarked 
 in a truly noble and beneficent design — the American 
 Colonization Society. Satisfied that the Black man 
 could never mingle as an equal with the White race, 
 they proposed to establish colonies on the western coast 
 of Africa, and settle there those of the free and emanci- 
 pated Blacks who should be willing to return to the 
 land of their forefathers. A branch of this association 
 was immediately formed in Maryland, as peculiarly 
 suited to the views and necessities of the people. The 
 association, however, was entirely subject to the National 
 22 
 
262 FRANCrS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 Society, and it was soon found to be too much under 
 the control, or at least liable to the vexatious interfer- 
 ence of the Northern Abolitionists. It was, therefore, 
 determined to establish an independant organization in 
 the State, and plant a separate Colony, under the name 
 of " Maryland," in Liberia. This design, with a praise- 
 worthy perseverance, was accordingly carried into effect. 
 As it was not only founded upon enlarged philanthropic 
 views, but upon sound policy, in the condition of the 
 State, with its large free black population, an appeal 
 was made to the Legislature for assistance. It was 
 generously afforded. An annual appropriation of twenty 
 thousand dollars, to be raised by taxation, was bestowed 
 upon the Society, and never withheld or diminished in 
 the darkest hours of pecuniary embarrassment, and three 
 commissioners were appointed on behalf of the State to 
 take part in its affairs. In spite of the opposition of 
 the Abolitionists, its bitterest enemies, the Society con- 
 tinued to flourish. Emigrants were yearly sent out to 
 Cape Pal mas, and the Maryland colony is now one of 
 the most prosperous on the western shore of Africa, 
 having a considerable trade, and being visited periodi- 
 cally by a regular packet from Baltimore. 
 
 " The wisdom and good policy of fostering this noble 
 scheme, is evident from a single glance at the statistics 
 of the African race in Maryland, and the necessary re- 
 sult of the present system of manumission. Their 
 increase is exceedingly small — scarcely more than suf- 
 ficient to supply the loss by deaths and transportation 
 of slaves to the South. Thus, in 1810, they numbered, 
 free and slave, 144,971 ; in 1840, 151,657; so that in a 
 period of thirty years their aggregate increase was only 
 6,686, and while there was an actual diminution in the 
 number of slaves in that period of 21,783, there was a 
 positive increase of free blacks of 28,469." 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 263 
 
 Francis Scott Key manumitted all his slaves, and was 
 one of the founders of the African Colonization Society. 
 At the breaking out of the war between the North and 
 the South, Maryland had one hundred thousand freed 
 negroes, and eighty thousand slaves. The following 
 extract from a Memorial presented at the Colonization 
 Meeting in Washington city, May the 6th, 1842, is 
 taken from " The African Repository and Colonial Jour- 
 nal" of July, 1842: 
 
 " The colony of Cape Palmas is a conclusive evidence 
 of what a single state, and by an appropriation of a few 
 thousand dollars annually, can accomplish in this 
 cause. A prosperous colony of about six hundred 
 emigrants has risen with all the order and institutions 
 of a well organized society, under the fostering care of 
 the Legislature of Maryland and citizens of this State, 
 at the cost of less than the establishment of a single 
 plantation of the South." 
 
 And in an appeal from Mr. H. L. Ellsworth, one of 
 the executive committee, he says: "I was most happy 
 to hear our friend and early benefactor in the cause 
 from Maryland (Francis S. Key, Esq.) declare what 
 were the true interests of Maryland." 
 
 The following resolution from Mr. Key will, how- 
 ever, attest in the best manner the sentiments of that 
 noble gentlemen. It was read by Mr. Key at a meeting 
 of the convention on the 9th of May, 1842 : 
 
 "Resolved, That a committee be appointed to pre- 
 pare and present a memorial to Congress, recommend- 
 ing such measures to be taken for the protection of the 
 colonies now established on the African coast, the pro- 
 motion of American commerce on that coast, and the 
 suppression of the slave trade, as the National legisla- 
 ture may approve." 
 
 Then, with his accustomed eloquence, he continued : 
 
264 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 " Light has pierced into the thick darkness that has 
 long enveloped that outcast Continent, and the treasures 
 and blessings of a benignant Providence are seen to 
 smile in all her plains and wave in all her forests. It 
 is true this fair creation of God has been marred by the 
 wickedness of Man. A trade, abominable and detest- 
 able beyond all epithets that can be given to it, at the 
 very name of which the blood curdles, and no man 
 hears it who 
 
 ' Having human feelings does not blush 
 And hang his head to think himself a man,' 
 
 has long since desolated Africa and disgraced the world. 
 This trade has been stamped with the double curse of 
 offended Heaven — curse to the givers and receivers of 
 the guilty traffic — to Africa, in the wretchedness, rapine 
 and murder of her children, to her rapacious tempters 
 in innumerable just and fearful retributions. 
 
 " The wrath of God has been manifested at this crying 
 iniquity on the blood-stained borders of all her coasts, 
 where the angry elements are let loose against this in- 
 human trade. What is the stormy cloud that darkens 
 these infested shores but the frown of the Almighty ? 
 What the fierce tornado but the blasting of the breath 
 of displeasure ? It is true that under this curse Africa 
 has long groaned and bled, and many a fair field, and 
 happy village, and crowded town, has been made a wil- 
 derness.' It is true she is still an awful sufferer. Even 
 now, while we are speaking of her wrongs, some dis- 
 tant and peaceful hamlet, hitherto beyond the reach of 
 the spoiler, hidden, and hoped to be secured by inter- 
 vening forests, has been hunted out and surrounded, 
 and its sleep awakened by the shout of ruffians. 
 But these horrors will have an end. The dawning of 
 a better day appears. These wronged and wretched 
 outcasts will be brought back into the family of Na- 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 265 
 
 tions. The crimes that warring elements, and fearful 
 visitations and judgments could not restrain shall have 
 a conqueror. Man shall be honored as the instrument 
 in accomplishing this work of mercy. Man's heart 
 shall be softened and humanized, and glowing with 
 love to God and Man go forth on this errand of com- 
 passion. Thus the virtue and benevolence of Man 
 shall repair the outrages committed by the inhumanity 
 of Man. 
 
 "The trade that has wasted and debased Africa shall 
 be banished by a trade that shall enlighten and civilize 
 her, and repeople her solitary places with her restored 
 children. And Africa thus redeemed and rescued from 
 curse, and the world from its reproach, shall 'vindicate 
 the ways of God to Man.' " 
 
 Mr. Key died suddenly while upon a visit to his 
 daughter in Baltimore, after being attacked with pneu- 
 monia, in January, 1843. When the fact of his death 
 was made known to the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, the court adjourned in honor of his memory. 
 The next morning, January 13th, 1843, the Attorney- 
 General of the United States, Mr. Legere, of South 
 Carolina, after presenting the resolutions of condolence 
 passed by the Bar, addressed the Court in the following 
 manner: 
 
 " May it please your honors, a meeting of the mem- 
 bers of the Bar and officers of the Court, held since the 
 adjournment yesterday, they have been pleased to im- 
 pose on me the melancholy task of communicating 
 their proceedings to the Bench, and conveying to it 
 their sense of the loss which society and the Profession 
 have sustained in the death of the late Francis Scott 
 Key. I cannot but be deeply conscious of the disad- 
 vantages under which I labor in acquitting myself in 
 this presence of the duty that has been confided to me. 
 
266 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 My acquaintance with the excellent man whose sudden 
 death, in the midst of a career of eminent usefulness, 
 public and private, and of the most active devotion to 
 the great interests of humanity, we are now called to 
 deplore, was until a recent period extremely limited ; 
 but short as was my personal intercourse with him, it 
 was quite long enough to endear him to me in a pecu- 
 liar manner, as one of the most gentle, guileless, amiable, 
 and attractive beings, with whom, in an experience suf- 
 ficiently diversified, it has ever been my good fortune to 
 act. Ardent, earnest, indefatigable in the pursuits of 
 his objects and the performance of his duties, eloquent 
 as the advocate of whatever cause he embraced, because 
 his heart was true and his sympathy cordial and suscep- 
 tible; decided in his own conduct without one particle 
 of censoriousness or acerbity towards others, and with 
 the blandest manners, the most affectionate temper, the 
 considerate toleration of dissent, the most patient acqui- 
 esence in the decisions of authority, even where he had 
 most strenuously exerted himself to prevent them. 
 
 " His life seemed to me a beautiful pattern of all that 
 is lovely, winning and effective, in the charity of a 
 Christian gentleman. I say effective for his was no 
 * fugitive and cloistered' virtue which gave no offence, 
 because it shunned all contest, and maintained its purity 
 only by avoiding the contaminations of the world. He 
 lived, on the contrary, in the very midst of the passions, 
 the struggles, and the warfare of active and even public 
 life. He was always in the heat and dust of the arena, 
 armed and equipped for the conflict; he omitted no op- 
 portunity of doing good, which either chance or design 
 offered him; a».d his patriotism and his philanthropy 
 vied with each other in turning to account every moment 
 of his time which was not engrossed in the cares of his 
 fireside or the business of his profession. I remember, 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 267 
 
 with melancholy pleasure, that the very last conversa- 
 tion which I held with him turned on a project, of what 
 he believed to be the most extensive usefulness, which 
 had warmed his heart with enthusiastic hopes for his 
 country and for mankind. 
 
 "Of the manner in which he discharged his profes- 
 sional duties, your Honors, are, on every account, the 
 most competent witnesses. You know his fidelity to 
 his engagements; his punctuality in attendance at his 
 post ; how laborious he was in the preparation of his 
 cases; how full of resources in the management of a 
 cause; how ready, how fertile, how ingenious in the 
 invention and discussion of his topics. Your Honors 
 are, therefore, fully prepared to receive and confirm the 
 testimony which his brethren of the Bar have been eager 
 to bear to the virtues and abilities that adorned him, 
 and in compliance with the request I have now the 
 honor of submitting them." 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Colonization Society, 
 in Washington, during the month of February, 1843, 
 Mr. Z. 0. Lee, of Baltimore, offered the following : 
 
 " R-isolcei, That the sudden decease of Francis S. 
 Key, Esq., one of the founders, for many years a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Managers, and more recently a 
 Vice-President of this society, has deprived the institu- 
 tion of one of its strongest supports." 
 
 The death of Mr. Key is thus referred to in one of 
 the public prints of that date : 
 
 "The sudden decease of this gentleman, so virtuous 
 in all the social and public relations of life, so eminent 
 for talents and philanthropy, so consecrated in all his 
 thoughts and feelings to truth and duty, so admired 
 and beloved by the community of which he was a citi- 
 zen, and which had derived benefits invaluable from his 
 efforts and example, has prostrated us with the weight 
 
268 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 of a dark and general calamity. All have experienced 
 a loss, and many, one which they cannot hope will be 
 repaired. Mr. Key was one of the founders of the Ameri- 
 can Colonization Society, long an efficient manager in its 
 proceedings, at all times its steadfast, generous and 
 eloquent friend, and often has the cause of the Society, 
 in times of depression and trial, been raised, guarded 
 and advanced by his vigorous and indefatigable exer- 
 tions. The speech made by him during the last 
 summer, before a convention of the friends of African 
 colonization, and published in the July number of the 
 Kepository, was the most eloquent he ever delivered, 
 seldom equaled on any subject, and more seldom, if 
 ever, surpassed. It was worthy of a lofty Christian 
 mind, endued with the original conceptions and 
 enriched with the treasures of human learning, and 
 of a divine philosophy. In the charms of his 
 taste, conversation and manners, in his habits of 
 thought and action, Mr. Key much resembled Mr. 
 Wilberforce, nor would his influence have been less had 
 he lived in similar circumstances, and moved in as 
 elevated and wide a sphere. He sought not fame, but 
 his fame is securely written, never to be obliterated, on 
 the flag of his country, and engraven upon the heart 
 of Africa." 
 
 Mr. Key is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, at 
 Frederick city, Maryland, not far from the place of his 
 birth, and within sight of the Catoctin Mountain. 
 
 The Poet has shown the depth of his religious fervor, 
 the love for his Creator and the purity of His " glow- 
 ing heart," in the hymns so familiar to Episcopalians. 
 His sacred songs reveal the sincerity of his soul, and 
 show us how far above the stars of his beloved banner 
 he soared in the contemplation of divine mercy and for- 
 giveness. Where may be found a more eloquent expres- 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 261i 
 
 sion of profound humility — that humility that, in 
 bending to the omnipotent will of God, rises in grand 
 distinction to the Pagan pride of the unbeliever : 
 
 "Lord this bosom's ardent feeling 
 
 Vainly would my lips express ; 
 Low before Thy foot-stool kneeling, 
 
 Deign Thy suppliant's prayer to bless; 
 Let Thy grace, my soul's chief treasure, 
 
 Love's pure flame within me raise; 
 And, since words can never measure, 
 
 Let my life show forth Thy praise." 
 
 Among the hymns sung in the Episcopal Church for 
 over thirty years is this one, written by Francis Scott 
 Key: 
 
 Hymn 150. 
 
 Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise Thee 
 
 For the bliss Thy love bestows ; 
 For the pardoning grace that saves me, 
 
 And the peace that from it flows ; 
 Help, O God, my weak endeavor, 
 
 This dull soul to rapture raise; 
 Thou must light the flame, or never 
 
 Can my love be warmed to praise. 
 
 Praise my soul, the God that sought thee, 
 
 Wretched wanderer, far astray ; 
 Found thee lost, and kindly brought thee 
 
 From the paths of death away ; 
 Praise with love's devoutest feeling, 
 
 Him who saw thy guilt-born fear, 
 And, the light of hope revealing, 
 
 Bade the blood-stained cross appear. 
 
 Lord, tliis bosom's ardent feeling 
 
 Vainly would my lips express; 
 Low before Thy foot-stool kneeling, 
 
 Deign Thy suppliant's prayer to bless; 
 Let Thy grace, my soul's chief treasure, 
 
 Love's pure flame within me raise ; 
 And, since words can never measure, 
 
 Let my life show forth Thy praise. 
 
270 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 The following extract from a letter, dated Baltimore, 
 July 25th, 1875, proves beyond doubt the reputation of 
 Mr. Key as a lawyer and a statesman. The writer of it 
 is the distinguished Maryland lawyer, the Hon. Reverdy 
 Johnson: 
 
 " My acquaintance wilh Mr. Key commenced some twenty 
 years before his death, and soon ripened into friendship. I have 
 argued cases with him and against him in the Courts of Mary- 
 land and in the United States Supreme Court. He had evidently 
 been a diligent legal student, and being possessed of rare ability, 
 he became an excellent lawyer. In that particular, however, he 
 would, I have no doubt, have been more pr» found but for his 
 fondness' for elegant literature, and particularly for poetry. 
 
 "In this last, he was himself quite a proficient. Some of his 
 writings are truly gems of beauty. His style of speaking to a 
 Court was ever clear, and his reasoning logical and powerful; 
 whilst his speeches to juries, when the occasion admitted of it, 
 were beautifully eloquent. To the graces of his many accom- 
 plishments he possessed what is still more to his praise, a char- 
 acter of almost religious perfection. A firm believer in the 
 Christian dispensation, his conduct was regulated by the doc- 
 trines inculcated by its founder, and this being so his life was one 
 of perfect purity 
 
 " As has often been said of lawyers, however, it may be said of 
 him that his forensic efforts, however admirable, will exist only 
 in tradition. But he had the rare good fortune to write a national 
 song, which, from the day of its first appearance, has warmed 
 the heart and animated the patriotism of every American, and 
 will cause the name of Francis Scott Key to live forever. 
 " I remain, with regard, 
 
 " Your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 REVERDY JOHNSON." 
 
 One of the most earnest of Mr. Key's friends was 
 John Randolph, of Roanoke, Virginia's noted states- 
 man. Notwithstanding the disparity ot age between 
 them, Randolph's devotion to Key was of the most en- 
 thusiastic nature. The friendship of this strange man 
 was exalted into a sentiment, the purest perhaps of 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 271 
 
 which he was capable. Too deep a study of those 
 works of English and French writers, rendered con- 
 spicious by infidelity to the Source of Truth, had 
 darkened his mind and led his heart astray. He ac- 
 knowledged to Mr. Key the disturbed state of his soul, 
 overshadowed by the one only unforgivable sin — despair. 
 Mr. Key had the happiness, the noblest of happiness, 
 to lead him into a train of reading and reflection that 
 brought him into the perfect light of Christianity — 
 Faith. During frequent interviews with Mr. Key in 
 Washington, and in his letters when separated from his 
 friend, the subject of religion was discussed. In writ- 
 ing to Mr. Key from Virginia, Mr. Randolph called the 
 attention of his correspondent to an infidel work, in re- 
 ply to which Mr. Key writes, January 20th, 1814 : 
 
 "I can hearnothing of the book you meation. . . 
 I would read it, and give you my opinion of it, if I came 
 across it, provided it was not too long. I don't believe 
 there are any new objections to be discovered to the 
 truth of Christianity, though there may be some art in 
 presenting old ones in a new dress. My faith has been 
 greatly confirmed by the infidel writers I have read, 
 and I think such would be the effect upOn any one who 
 has examined the evidences. Our church recommends 
 their perusal to students of divinity, which shows she is 
 not afraid of them. 
 
 " Men may argue ingeniously against our faith — as, 
 indeed, they may against anything — but what can they 
 say in defense of their own ? I would carry the war 
 into their own territories. I would ask them what they 
 believed. If they said they believed anything, I think 
 that thing might be shown to be more full of difficul- 
 ties and liable to infinitely greater objections than the 
 system they opposed, and they more credulous and un- 
 reasonable for believing it. If they said they believed 
 
272 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 nothing, you could not, to be sure, have anything further 
 to say to them. In that case they would be insane, or, 
 at best, illy qualified to teach others what they ought 
 to believe or disbelieve. 
 
 " I can never doubt (for we have the word of God for 
 it, and it is so plainly a consequence of His goodness,) 
 that all who inquire with that sincerity and earnest- 
 ness which so awful a subject requires, will find the 
 truth. ' Seek, and ye shall find.' Did you ever read 
 ' Grotius de Veritate ? ' I should like to see an infidel 
 attempt an answer to that book." 
 
 Mr. Randolph, on the the 17th of February, 1814, in 
 answer to Mr. Key's letter, wrote: 
 
 "Dear Frank:— You plead want of time, and I 
 may, with equal truth, declare that I have nothing 
 worth twelve and a half cents, which I believe is the 
 postage from here to the city of "Washington. Indeed, 
 I have been living myself in ' a world without souls/ 
 until my heart is ' as dry as a chip,' and as cold as a 
 dog's nose. Do not suppose, however, that the Jew 
 Book has made any impression upon me, as I cannot see 
 how the human mind, unassisted by the light of Chris- 
 tianity, can stop half-way at Deism, instead of travel- 
 ing the whole length to which fair deduction would 
 lead it, to frozen, cheerless Atheism; so it appears to 
 me the most wonderful, that any man believing in the 
 Old Testament can reject the New ; and it is, perhaps, 
 not the least conclusive of the proofs of the authen- 
 ticity of the latter, that the Jews, admitting as it were 
 the premises, should blindly reject the inevitable con- 
 clusions." 
 
 In the correspondence of many years continuance, the 
 subject of religion was, as may be supposed, not the 
 only matter discussed. In one of his letters, Mr. Ran- 
 dolph asks : " Have you read Lord Byron's Giaour ? I 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 273 
 
 have been delighted with it. He is a poet, as was em- 
 phatically said of Patrick Henry, ' He is an orator/ " 
 
 In answer, Mr. Key wrote: "I have not seen the 
 Giaour, but have looked over the Bride of Abyclos. It 
 has some fine passages in it, but it is too full of those 
 crooked-named, out-of-the-way East Indian things. I 
 have long ago, however, resolved that there shall be no 
 such poet as Walter Scott as long as he lives, and I can 
 admire nobody who pretends to rival him." 
 
 In a letter written by Mr. Key previous to the above, 
 he thus expresses himself: "As to Walter Scott, I have 
 always thought he was sinking in every successive work, 
 He is sometimes himself again in 'Marmion/ and the 
 'Lady of the Lake/ but when I read these, and 
 thought of the 'Lay of 'the Last Minstrel/ it always 
 seemed to me that ' hushed was the harp — the minstrel 
 gone.' I believe I am singular in this preference, and 
 it maybe that I was so ' spell-bound ' by 'the witch 
 notes 7 of the first, that I could never listen to the 
 others. But does it not appear, that to produce one 
 transcendantly fine epic poem is as much as has ever 
 fallen to the life of one man ? There seems to be a law 
 of the Muses for it. I was always provoked with him 
 for writing more than the first. The top of Parnassus 
 is a point, and there he was, and should have been con- 
 tent. There was no room to saunter about on it; if he 
 moved, he must descend ; and so it has turned out, and 
 he is now (as the Edinburgh reviewers say of poor 
 Montgomery), 'wandering about on the lower slopes of 
 it/ " At this time, Sir Walter Scott was not known as 
 a novelist. 
 
 In one of his letters to Mr. Eandolph, dated October 
 
 5th, 1&13, Mr. Key says : " I cannot think that the duty 
 
 of an honest man, when he consents to be a politician, 
 
 is so difficult and hopeless as you seem to consider it. 
 
 23 
 
274 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 He will often, it is true, be wrong, but this may enable 
 him to correct his errors. He will often have to submit 
 to disappointments, but they may make him better and 
 wiser. If he pursues his course conscientiously, guard- 
 ing against his own ambition, and exercising patience 
 and forbearance towards others, he will generally suc- 
 ceed better than the most artful intriguer, and the 
 worst that can happen is that in bad and distempered 
 times he may be released from his obligations. Nor 
 even then is there an end to his usefulness ; for, besides 
 many things that he may yet do for the common good, 
 the public disorder may pass away, and when the people 
 are sobered by suffering they will remember who would 
 have saved them from it, and his consequence and abil- 
 ity to serve them will be incalculably increased, and 
 their confidence in him unbounded." Mr. Randolph 
 had been left out of Congress by his constituents because 
 of his opposition to the war with England, and these 
 remarks of Mr. Key were meant for him. 
 
 Mr. Justice Story, of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, in a letter to Chief Justice Taney, dated at Cam- 
 bridge, Massachusetts, March 25, 1843, wrote: "I was 
 exceedingly grieved in hearing of the death of poor Key. 
 His excellent talents, his high morals, his warm and 
 active benevolence, and his most amiable and gentle 
 temper endeared him to all who knew him. To you 
 and Mrs. Taney the loss is irreparable, and to the pub- 
 lic, in the truest sense of the word, a deep calamity. 
 * Our dying friends come o'er us like a cloud.' Jones is 
 almost the only one left at the bar who was there when 
 I first knew the Court ; and it is sad to know how many 
 glorious lights have been extinguished." 
 
francis scott key. 2^5 
 
 Extracts from a Discourse on Education, deliv- 
 ered in Saint Anne's Church, Annapolis, after 
 the Commencement of Saint John's College, 
 February 22nd, 1827, by Francis S. Key, Esq,. 
 Alumnus of Saint John's College. 
 "A government administered for the benefit of all, 
 should provide all practicable means of happiness for 
 all. It must also provide useful citizens, competent to 
 the discharge of the various services the public interests 
 may require. Education confers happiness and useful- 
 ness, and therefore demands attention. No maxim is 
 more readily admitted than that a wise and free govern- 
 ment should provide for the education of its citizens ; 
 but the maxim seems not to be admitted to its just 
 extent. A State affords to the poor or laboring class of 
 its population the means of obtaining a common edu- 
 cation, such an one as prepares them for the ordinary 
 duties of their situation, and of which alone they can 
 generally avail themselves, who can give but a small 
 portion of their time and none of their means to such 
 pursuits. And it is too generally thought that this is 
 enough, that the State has discharged its duty, and that 
 what remains to be done to fit men for higher degrees 
 of happiness and usefulness, and to qualify them for a 
 wider sphere of duty, may be left to itself. 
 
 " But it is not enough. More, far more can be don e 
 even for those for whose benefit what is done is in- 
 tended, as I shall hereafter show. And what is done 
 for the other numerous and important classes of the 
 community? And why are they to be neglected ? In 
 all political societies there will be men of different con- 
 ditions and circumstances. They cannot be all limited 
 by the same necessities, nor destined to the same em- 
 ployments. Nor is it desirable, nor, from the nature of 
 things, possible that it should be so. If they could be 
 
276 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 reduced to the same level they could not be kept to it. 
 Idleness and vice would sink below it — honorable effort 
 would rise above it. 
 
 " There are and ever will be the poor and the rich, 
 the men of labor and the men of leisure, and the State 
 which neglects either neglects a duty, and neglects it 
 at its peril, for which ever it neglects will be not only 
 useless but mischievous. 
 
 " It is admitted that the neglect of one of these classes 
 is unjust and impolitic. Why is it not so as to the other ? 
 If it is improper to leave the man of labor uneducated, 
 deprived of the means of improvement he can receive 
 and requires, is it not at least equally so to leave the man 
 of leisure, whose situation does not oblige him to labor, 
 and who therefore will not labor, to rust in sloth or 
 to riot in dissipation ? 
 
 "If there be any difference, it is more impolitic to 
 neglect the latter, for he has more in his power either 
 for good or evil, will be more apt, from his greater temp- 
 tations, to be depraved himself and the corrupter of the 
 others. 
 
 "This neglect would be peculiarly unwise in a Gov- 
 ernment like ours. Luxury is the vice most fatal to 
 republics, and idleness and want of education in the 
 rich promote it in its most disgusting forms. Nor let it 
 be thought that we have no cause to guard against this 
 evil. It is, perhaps, the most imminent of our perils. 
 While, therefore, I readily subscribe to the principle, 
 which all admit, that it is essential in a free government 
 that the whole population should be sufficiently in- 
 structed to understand their rights, and be qualified for 
 their duties, and that for this purpose such an educa- 
 tion as their situation will enable them to receive should 
 be provided for all; yet I will not fear to maintain 
 (what is not so generally admitted), and that it is just 
 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 277 
 
 as essential to a wise and proper administration of such 
 a government that there should be found among its 
 citizens men of more exalted attainments, who can give 
 their whole youth and their whole lives to the highest 
 pursuits of every department of useful science. 
 
 "Nor is it only as a refuge from the dangers of youth 
 that such an institution is to be regarded. It is to give 
 strength and preparation for the whole life. It is then 
 that habits, principles and tastes that fix the color of 
 succeeding years are to be formed. Then are the victo- 
 ries to be achieved over the temper and disposition, 
 over the temptations from within and from without, 
 that make the man the master of himself through life. 
 Patience in investigation, accuracy of research, perse- 
 verance in labor, resolution to conquer difficulty, zeal 
 in the cause of learning and virtues, are then to be ac- 
 quired. Then is Science to display her charms, and 
 Literature her delights, and a refined and exalted taste 
 to lure him, by higher gratifications, from the vain 
 pleasures of the world. Then is he to be made familiar 
 with the sages and heroes of antiquity, to catch the in- 
 spiration of their genius and their virtues ; and the 
 great and the good of every age and of every land are to 
 be made his associates, his instructors, his examples. 
 
 "Will not a grateful sense of these benefits heighten 
 the ardor of his patriotism, and will he not serve a 
 country that cherished and adorned his youth with 
 more devotion, as well as with far more ability ? It 
 may be that love of country springs from some unde- 
 finable and hidden instinct of our nature, wisely given 
 to the heart of man to fit him for the filial duties which 
 he owes to the land of his birth. But this impulse, 
 however pure and high its origin, must submit to the 
 23* 
 
278 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 common destiny of all human affections. It may glow 
 with increasing ardor, elevate itself above all our de- 
 sires, and reign the ruling passion of the soul. And 
 it may grow cold, languish and expire. A country, like 
 a parent, should meet this instinctive feeling of her 
 children with a corresponding affection ; should call it 
 forth to early and continual exercise by early and con- 
 tinual blessings, by setting before them illustrious 
 examples, and all the high rewards of virtue, and 
 preparing them for all the enjoyments and duties of 
 life. Such a country will not want patriots. 
 
 " Maryland is a member of the American Confederacy, 
 united with the other independent States in one General 
 Government. It is her concern that her own political 
 course should be directed by wisdom, and for this she 
 must necessarily look to her own citizens. It is also 
 and equally her concern that the General Government 
 should be wisely administered, and with a just regard 
 to her own peculiar interests. She must furnish her 
 quota ot talent there. Her duty to the Union requires 
 this, her own preservation demands it. It is not enough 
 for her that there should be found there wisdom and 
 talent, and patriotism; but she must see to it that 
 Maryland wisdom and talent, and patriotism, are found 
 there. There is a great common interest among these 
 States, a bond of union strong enough, we all hope, to 
 endure the occasional conflicts of subordinate local 
 interests. ^ But there are and ever will be these interests, 
 and they will necessarily produce collision and competi- 
 tion. Hence will continually arise questions of great 
 national concern, and more or less, according to their 
 respective interests, of vital importance to the States. 
 These are all to be considered, discussed and settled. 
 That they may be settled with justice to herself, Mary- 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 279 
 
 land must meet this competition with all her strength. 
 It is not in the number of her delegation that she is to 
 trust. She may send one man who may be in himself 
 a host. It is essential to her that her interest should 
 be seen and felt, and that those who see and feel it should 
 maintain it with all the poiver that talent and patriotism 
 can wield. It is essential to her, and to every member 
 of the Union, that the agitations excited by these colli- 
 s'ons should be kept from endangering the foundations 
 upon which the fabric of our free institutions has been 
 reared — that men of the highest poivers and the purest 
 principles should rule the deliberations of our national 
 councils on these occasions of difficulty and danger, and 
 preserve, through every storm that may assail it, the 
 Union — the Ark of our safety. 
 
 " It is no reproach to the wisdom of those who framed 
 our Constitution that they have left it exposed to dan- 
 ger from the separate interests and powers of the States. 
 It is not to be avoided but by incurring far greater 
 dangers. Nor is our situation in that respect without 
 its advantages. These local interests are powerful ex- 
 citements to the States to prepare and enrich their pub- 
 lic men with the highest possible endowments. Their 
 own immediate interest would afford a more constant 
 and powerful stimulus to do this than one more remote, 
 and felt only in common, which too often leaves its 
 share of duty to others. But for this, a general degen- 
 eracy in talent and principle might prevail, and the 
 great concerns of a growing Nation sink into hands un- 
 fitted to sustain them. If Providence shall preserve us 
 from these dangers and give perpetuity to our institu- 
 tions, Maryland will continue to see an increasing ne- 
 cessity (if she would avail herself of a just share of the 
 benefits they are designed to confer) for calling forth 
 and cultivating all her resources. And if this hope 
 
280 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 
 
 fails us, if the Union is dissolved, in the distractions and 
 dangers that follow, she will, if possible, still more 
 require the highest aid that the wisdom of her sons can 
 afford to guide her through that night of darkness. 
 
 " Let it also be remembered that every well taught 
 citizen, whatever may be his condition, to whatever 
 station in life he may belong, is, generally speaking, an 
 advantage to the public. Therefore, although but a 
 small number, in proportion to the whole population, 
 may be qualified for higher usefulness by the acquisi- 
 tions of learning, yet among them may be found some 
 whom the State may proudly reckon as her greatest 
 ornaments — to whom she may be indebted even for her 
 preservation. The Eoman historian, who records the 
 effect produced upon the Roman Senate by the prudence 
 and eloquence of Cato, upon an occasion of imminent 
 peril to the Republic, shows how powerfully he was 
 impressed by the consideration of what one man might 
 accomplish for the welfare of a nation. 
 
 "Let not this filial duty be delayed. Death has al- 
 ready thinned your ranks. Your eldest brethren (Alex- 
 ander, Oarr, Lomax,) have run their brief but honorable 
 course, and are no more. He, too, who had caught 
 within that hall the bold spirit of the ancient eloquence 
 from its mightiest master; who, if he had been spared 
 to stand before you this day would have roused you 
 from your seats, and called you to join your hearts and 
 hands in a sacred covenant to restore its honors — St. 
 Johns — and to swear to its fulfillment by the memory 
 of the dead, the hopes of the living, and the glory of 
 unborn generations. He, (John Hanson Thomas, of 
 Frederick city), alas ! is a light shining no more upon 
 the earth. He, also, who excelled in all the attainments 
 
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 281 
 
 of mind, and charmed with all the attractions of virtue ; 
 who could descend at will from the highest soaring in 
 the regions of Fancy, and be found foremost in the 
 steepest ascents of the paths of Science; he who had 
 here caught 
 
 ' the glow, 
 The warmth divine that poet's know,' 
 
 and whose lyre, upon a theme that touched these scenes 
 of his inspiration, would have poured forth its most 
 impassioned strains, and compelled the hearts that elo- 
 quence could not subdue to bow to the magic of his 
 song. He, too, the ornament of St. John's, and the 
 leader of her tenth legion, (John Shaw, M. D., of An- 
 napolis), has had our tears, and sleeps not in an honored 
 grave but beneath the wave of the ocean. 
 
 "Nor can he be forgotten, (Henry M. Murray, of An- 
 napolis), the last, but not least lamented of our departed 
 brethren, who would have been among the foremost to 
 offer the feelings of a warm heart and the powers of a 
 gifted mind to the labors to which I have invited you. 
 Who had already done so, and stands enrolled .in the 
 records of the College, among those who repaid, by their 
 counsels at her board, the honors she had bestowed. 
 Whose zeal and ability would have performed more than 
 his share of the duty, while his unassuming and gener- 
 ous nature would have refused any portion of the praise. 
 The awful Providence which removed him, in the midst 
 of life and usefulness, from the profession he adorned, 
 the society he blessed, and the friends he delighted, has 
 called upon our College to mourn the double loss of an 
 honored son and a devoted patron. But it becomes us 
 not to murmur under this mysterious dispensation — 
 rather to be thankful that it has left to console and 
 animate us a cherished memory and a high example." 
 
BIRD-SONG. 
 
 By W. L. Shoemaker, 
 
 COME hither— oh, come hither! 
 Were the words that I heard ringing 
 
 On a sunny day of May, 
 When the flowers around were springing 
 And the earth was green and gay, 
 From a tiny bird above, 
 Who was calling to his love — 
 Who was longiDg to be with her 
 On that sunny day of May ; 
 Calling, calling, loudly calling, 
 Come hither — oh, come hither!— 
 Come hither ! 
 
 Come hither— oh, come hither! 
 I was walking sad and lonely, 
 O'er the hills and far away, 
 Meditating of one only, 
 Who is fairer than the May ; 
 And anon my weary heart 
 In the carol took a part;, 
 It was longing to be with her, 
 O'er the hills and far away, 
 Calling, calling, ever calling, 
 Come hither — oh, come hither !— 
 Come hither ! 
 
BIRD-SONG. 283 
 
 Come hither— ob, come hither! 
 And the singer's mate hied to him, 
 
 That she love for love might pay ; 
 'Mid a thousand birds she knew him, 
 As she knew his silver lay. 
 
 Though the maiden I adore 
 Was as far off as before, 
 I was longing to be with her, 
 
 That she love for love might pay; 
 Calling, calling, vainly calling, 
 Come hither — oh, come hither! — 
 Come hither ! 
 
 Georgetown, D. C. 
 
AMELIA B. WELBY. 
 
 " The magic of the lyre's uuteachable 
 As music of the spheres : 
 It is the inborn fire of soul's elect." — Stella. 
 
 F this writer, Edgar A. Poe says : (though due 
 allowance is to be made for his overmastering 
 prejudices.) 
 
 "Mrs. Amelia Welby has nearly all the 
 imagination of Maria del Occidente with a more refined 
 taste ; and nearly all the passion of Mrs. Norton, with 
 a nicer ear, and (what is surprising) equal art. Very 
 few American poets are at all comparable with her in 
 the true poetic qualities. As for our poetesses, (an ab- 
 surd but necessary word) few approach her." In this, 
 Poe asserts overmuch. The melodious flow of musical 
 words like the summer-song of a wood-brook is always 
 noticeable in the poems of Amelia B. Welby. Her song 
 is clear and bird-like; her Fancy, pure and free, floats on 
 unsullied wings beneath a blue sky never darkened by a 
 cloud. Mrs. Norton's nature is nearer akin to the 
 ocean, while in fancy she soars rather than floats. 
 
 It is, of course, preferable to the teller of a story that 
 the heroine thereof be superior to the heroines of all 
 other stories, yet facts cannot be honestly denied. To 
 claim for Mrs. Welby "equal art" with Mrs. Norton, 
 is an injustice to the latter. Save that they are both 
 worshipers at the shrine of the Muses, little else can be 
 
AMELIA B. WELBY. 285 
 
 found in common between them. The English poet, 
 whose sad strong words return and haunt us, 
 " Like echoes that have lost themselves among the distant hills," 
 mounts higher and nearer to that shrine, as her thoughts 
 and will partake more of the rock-bound heights on 
 which it stands. 
 
 Amelia B. Welby was born on the 3d of February, 
 1819, at the village of Saint Michael's, on the Miles 
 river, Talbot county, Maryland. Her father's name was 
 Coppuck. He was an ingenius journeyman mechanic, 
 who hammered and toiled through the live-long day, 
 while the unconscious baby-poet slept peacefully in its 
 humble cradle. While Amelia was still an infant, she 
 was taken to the neighborhood of Baltimore city, where 
 she remained until 1834 ; from thence, Destiny led the 
 way to Louisville, Kentucky, where she first became 
 known as a poetess. Of this sweet child of the Muses, 
 Ben Casseday says : " Her education was not thorough, 
 her mind was not disciplined by study, nor was her 
 reading at all extensive ; yet in spite of all these disad- 
 vantages, her poetry is perfect in rythm and harmony, 
 and is never blemished by any fault either of Khetoric or 
 of Grammar. In the most impressible part of her ear- 
 lier life she was surrounded by a great deal that was 
 grand and beautiful in Nature, and most of her poetic 
 images refer to those surroundings. Her first publica- 
 tion was in 1837, she being then hardly eighteen years 
 old." 
 
 George D. Prentice, the editor of the Louisville Jour- 
 nal, a great-hearted gentleman, gave, like the poet 
 Bryant, welcome to " blithe new comers." He desired 
 that the young genius of his country should be devel- 
 oped, and to this end gave all aid within his power. 
 The success of "Amelia's" writings was marked, yet it 
 is to be feared that the charm that won for them the 
 24 
 
286 AMELIA B. WELBY. 
 
 popular fa-vor of that day would scarcely be recognized 
 as generally in 1875. Of this charm Mr. Casseday says : 
 
 "The sweetness and naturalness of her melodies 
 caught every ear and warmed every heart. They reached 
 all the better feelings of her readers, because they so 
 evidently flowed fresh from her own. Her poetry was 
 the result of a pure afflatus, and had never been meas- 
 ured by the frigid rules of art. She sang because it 
 was given her to sing ; her melodies were like the voices 
 of the birds — they were the simple outgu siring of her 
 own pure nature. She did not reach the higher forms 
 of art, nor did she attempt them. Her song was a sim- 
 ple measure, learned of the trill of the brooklet, of the 
 rustle of the leaves, or of the deep and solemn murmur 
 of the ocean." 
 
 In June, 1838, Miss Coppuck became the wife of 
 Geo. Welby, Esq., a prominent merchant of Louisville. 
 
 The first edition of her poems appeared in Boston in 
 1845. In 1846 the Appletons published a second edi- 
 tion, and many new editions have appeared since that 
 time. Of her personal appearance Mr. Casseday writes : 
 
 "Mrs. Welby was rather above than below the mid- 
 dle height. Slender and exceedingly graceful in form, 
 with exquisite taste in dress, and a certain easy, floating 
 sort of movement, she would at once be recognized as a 
 beautiful woman. 
 
 " A slight imperfection in the upper lip, while it 
 prevented her face from being perfect, yet gave a pecu- 
 liar piquancy to its expression which was far from de- 
 stroying any of its charms. Her hair was exquisitely 
 beautiful, and was always arranged, regardless of the 
 prevailing fashion, with singular elegance and adapta- 
 tion to her face and figure. Her manners were simple, 
 natural and impulsive, like those of a child. Her con- 
 versation, though sometimes frivolous, was always 
 
AMELIA B. WELBY. 287 
 
 charming. Her social life was full of innocent gaiety 
 and playfulness." 
 
 The moon witlrin our casement beams, 
 Our blue-eyed babe bath dropped to sleep, 
 
 And I have left it to its dreams 
 Amid the shadows deep, 
 
 To muse beside the silver tide, 
 
 Whose waves are rippling at thy side. 
 
 It is a still and lovely spot 
 
 Where they have laid thee down to rest; 
 Tbe white rose and forget-me-not 
 
 Bloom sweetly on thy breast, 
 And birds and streams with liquid lull 
 
 Have made the stillness beautiful. 
 
 • 
 
 And softly through tbe forest bars 
 Ligbt lovely shapes on glossy plumes, 
 
 Float ever in, like winged stars, 
 Amid the purpling glooms; 
 
 Their sweet songs borne from tree to tree, 
 
 Thrill the light leaves with melody. 
 
 Alas! the very path I trace, 
 In happier hours thy footstep made; 
 
 This spot was once thy resting place; 
 Within the silent shade 
 
 Thy white hand trained the fragrant bough 
 
 That drops its blossoms o'er thee now. 
 
 Of this p3em, only partly given here, Poe has taken 
 especial notice in his " Literati." Quite an elaborate 
 criticism on this single poem terminates thus : "Upon 
 the whole, there are some poets in America (Bryant 
 and Sprague for example) who equal Mrs. Welby in the 
 negative merits of that limited versification which they 
 chiefly affect — the iambic pentameter — but none equal 
 her in the richer and positive merits of rhythmical 
 variety, conception — invention. They, in the old rou- 
 
288 AMELTA B. WELBY. 
 
 tine, rarely err. She often surprises, and always delights, 
 by novel, rich and accurate combination of the ancient 
 musical expressions." 
 
 Her imagination did not wander alone uncurbed in 
 the realms of Poetry. She descended sometimes to the 
 more practical prose, yet the following has little of the 
 practical save in the sound of the name. This, too, is 
 contributed by Ben Casseday in " The Ladies' Keposi- 
 tory:" 
 
 " She had been visited at her residence by a party of 
 gay masqueraders, among whom was a very intimate 
 friend costumed as a Turk, and bearing the euphonious 
 soubriquet of Hamet Ali Ben Khorassen. On the day 
 after this visit Mrs. Welby received from this pseudo 
 Pashaw a note of farewell, written in the redundant 
 style of the Orientals, to which the following is her 
 answer : 
 
 " Although a stranger to the graceful style of Oriental 
 greeting, Amelia, the daughter of the Christian, would 
 send to Hamet Ali Ben Khorassen, ere he departs from 
 the midst of her people, a few words in token of farewell, 
 and also in acknowledgment of the flowery epistle sent 
 by the gallant Ben Khorassen to the * Bulbul of the 
 Giaour Land,' as he is pleased, in the poetical language 
 of his country, to designate the humblest of his admir- 
 ers! Like the sudden splendor of a dazzling meteor, 
 gleaming before the delighted eye of the startled gazer, 
 was the brief sojourn of the noble Ben Khorassen in the 
 presence of the happy ' Bulbul.' He came before her 
 uniting in his aspect the majesty of a god of old with 
 the mien of a mortal — graceful in his step, winning in 
 his words, yet ' terrible as an army with banners.' The 
 song of the ' Bulbul ' was hushed ; the words of greeting 
 died upon her lip. But now that the mightiest of the 
 mighty has withdrawn from her dazzled gaze the glory 
 
AMELIA B. WELBY. 289 
 
 of his overpowering presence, the trembling 'Bulbiil' 
 lifts her head once more like a drooping flower oppressed 
 by the too powerful rays of the noontide sun ; and in 
 the midst of the gloom that overshadows her, recalls to 
 mind every word and look of the gallant Ben Khorassen, 
 till her thoughts of him arise like stars upon the hori- 
 zon of her memory, lighting up the gloom of his absence, 
 and glittering upon the waters of the fountain of her 
 heart, whose every murmur is attuned to the music of 
 his memory. 
 
 " But the bark of liamet Ali Ben Khorassen floats 
 upon the waters with her white wings spread for the 
 clime of the crescent. Her brilliant pennon streams 
 from the strand, and the words of the ' Bulbnl ' must 
 falter into a farewell. May the favoring gales of para- 
 dise, fragrant as the breath of houris, fill the silken sails 
 of Ben Khorassen, and waft him onward to his native 
 groves of citron and of myrtle, waking thoughts in his 
 bosom fresh and fragrant as the flowers that cluster in 
 his clime! Thus prays Amelia, the daughter of the 
 Christian, and the ' Bulbul of the Giaour Land !' Fare- 
 well !" 
 
 Her recognition of the talents of others of her day 
 and time, proves a generous nature. To Stella, the 
 young author of " The Eecords of the Heart," she wrote 
 as follows : 
 
 " I love you though I have never seen you. You have 
 genius and will make a great name. That is the hope 
 of the ambitious poet, but I would rather have the love 
 of one high great soul than all the literary fame the 
 world can bestow." 
 
 In this acknowledgment of a good and lovely woman 
 
 to a younger writer, whose work was but just begun, 
 
 how much may not be due in the aid that kindly words 
 
 give to the young pilgrim ? The genius of " Stella" 
 
 24* 
 
290 
 
 AMELIA B. WELBY 
 
 in the year 1875, irradiates the page of the life-drama of 
 Sappho, the poet of Mytilene. 
 
 In the month of May, 1852, amid its tender blossoms 
 and softest songs, she, whose brief story is here given, 
 sped away into a land of eternal beauty, whose peace 
 " passeth all understanding." 
 
THE WATCH. 
 
 By Frances Marie Cole. 
 
 LONG on the slipping shingles at high tide 
 I watched the coming of your tardy sail- 
 Scanning the world of breakers wild and wide, 
 Until the sunset fires burned low and pale. 
 
 At last the hoarded sands lost glint and gold, 
 And stretched in ghastly pallor far around, 
 
 And distant on the waters gleaming cold, 
 
 I heard the drogers singing, shoreward bound. 
 
 'And sailing, a gailing," tbe song was one 
 
 That told of gracious sea and tender wind, 
 
 IIow her love's sail was speeding in the sun 
 With calm before and not a cloud behind. 
 
 Adown the coast the steady beacon-light 
 
 Burned like a ruby in the light-house spire; 
 
 Below, the thunderous sweeps, vexed, shuddering white, 
 Were lit with broken threads of mocking fire. 
 
 With wildest thoughts I filled the weary watch ; 
 
 I wondered if kind heaven's brightest stars 
 Had fallen earthward, if the waves would snatch 
 
 A tithe that vanished on the harbor bars. 
 
292 THE WATCH. 
 
 "He does not come" lamented thus the sea, 
 And wailed of perils in a mad affright ; 
 And when a vessel passed it seemed to be 
 
 A phantom floating in the moonless night. 
 
 No storms between, and still I thought of wreck, 
 And pallid sleepers on the restless sand, 
 
 Until afar I marked a flying speck, 
 
 And knew your boat was bearing to the land. 
 
 Safe to the shore at last ! O, drogers sing 
 Again of gracious sea and tender wind, 
 
 Of distant ships tbat love and prayer can bring 
 With calm before and not a cloud behind ! 
 
FREDERICK PINKNEY. 
 
 REDERICK PINKNEY was the fourth son 
 of William Pinkney, the famous scholar and 
 statesman. He was born the 14th of October, 
 u 1804, on board the Brig Mary, on which his 
 parents were returning from England to their native 
 land. He gave proofs of a strong intellect at an early 
 
 His education was obtained principally at the Balti- 
 more College, under the direction at that time of Henry 
 Knox, and at Saint Mary's College in Baltimore city, 
 where he graduated in the year 1822. He pursued the 
 study of Law under Judge Purviance, and was admitted 
 to the Bar in the autumn of 1825. Though experienc- 
 ing a severe loss in the death of his father, in 1822, he 
 kept unerringly on his well-chosen way. 
 
 The Hon. J. H. B. Latrobe, says of this "old- 
 fashioned gentleman": "Without taking an active 
 part in the current business of his profession, he has 
 not left behind him his equal, certainly not his su- 
 perior in the learning of Criminal Law. His accuracy 
 in this connection was proverbial, nor was it his only 
 accomplishment. Quiet and unassuming, one would 
 hardly have imagined that the grave, white-bearded 
 man, who, with his eyes fixed on the ground, with a 
 portfolio under his arm, was as familiar to us all as he 
 
294 FREDERICK PINKNEY. 
 
 passed with uncertain gait to and from his office, was 
 a genial-tempered gentleman of a quaint and ready wit, 
 fond of Art, not inapt himself in this particular, and 
 possessing a rare fund of information on all subjects 
 under the sun." 
 
 When the announcement of his death was made in 
 the Criminal Court, A. Leo Knott, Esq., said : 
 
 " Duty was to him an exacting creditor to whom he 
 made it a point of honor to owe nothing. Every man, 
 says Bacon, is a debtor to his profession. It can be 
 said, I think, of Frederick Pinkney, that when he died 
 he had discharged all his obligations to it fully. But 
 it was not only in the ranks of his profession as a 
 lawyer that Mr. Pinkney labored and distinguished 
 himself. He was an accomplished classical scholar. 
 A graduate of Saint Mary's College in this city, he 
 there imbibed that taste for Greek and Roman litera- 
 ture that remained with him through life, that was the 
 entertainment of his youth and manhood, and the 
 
 solace of his age Of his heart, how 
 
 shall I speak? Those who enjoyed his intimacy knew 
 its worth, and will forever cherish agreeable and grate- 
 ful recollections of his generosity, his unselfishness, his 
 devotion to his family, his zeal for his friends, his in- 
 corruptible honesty, his chivalric sense of honor." 
 
 He was associated with his brother, Edward Coote 
 Pinkney, in the publication of a paper known as the 
 " Marylander," which paper soon ended its career. He 
 was the editor of a newspaper called the " Chronicle," 
 and the assistant editor of the "Baltimore Patriot." 
 His many contributions to the journals and magazines 
 of the day, were principally of a poetic nature. 
 
 In strong contrast to the wild, restless spirit of his 
 Poet-brother, the calm beauty of his muse reveals the 
 high hope of his soul : 
 
FREDERICK PINKNEY. 295 
 
 " As distant isles on kings bestow 
 
 Some petty tribute, which is sent 
 Not for its value, but to show 
 
 How wide their empire has extent, 
 
 " I send this little gift to thee, 
 
 An offering to a sovereign fair, 
 In token that I am not free 
 
 From chains that all delight to wear." 
 
 Could other than a poet have expressed so purely, 
 yet so gracefully and earnestly the gentler feelings of 
 his heart? 
 
 Each and all of his poems express the depth of a 
 pure and unsullied love, flowing unceasingly on to the 
 goal of good and holy aims. 
 
 Through all the nameless trials of life he retained in 
 peace that wisdom of the heart that relies upon God, 
 who " stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their 
 waves, and the tumults of the people." 
 
 On the 12th of December, 1862, he wrote : 
 
 " Upon Moriah's Temple high 
 Glittered the golden vine, 
 With it earth's treasures could not vie 
 Should kings their powers combine. 
 
 " A single berry or a leaf 
 
 Each worshipper bestowed , 
 Till spreading wide in thick relief 
 The pendant treasure glowed. 
 
 " And thou, when earnest Duty draws 
 And asks an offering slight, 
 Wilt thou in pride refuse because 
 Thy gift must be a mite ?" 
 
 Mr. Pinkney was for many years one of the commis- 
 sioners of the high courts of chancery, and after the 
 abolition of that court he was made one of the com- 
 
296 FREDERICK PINKNEY. 
 
 missioners of the Circuit Court of Baltimore, which 
 office he held at the time of his death. He was ap- 
 pointed as an assistant to the Attorney General and 
 deputy Attorney General for Baltimore county under 
 the administration of Attorney General Kichardson, 
 and his suecessors, Mr. Gwinn, Mr. Whitney and Mr. 
 Knott. The last-mentioned office he held for thirty 
 years. 
 
 In 1861 his sympathy with the movement of the 
 Confederates caused him to resign his position of deputy 
 to the State's Attorney. His great worth and unblem- 
 ished integrity, however, induced his reappointment to 
 the same office by Mr. Gwinn, in 186?. 
 
 Like his distinguished father, he continued to the 
 last days of his life the cultivation of his intellectual 
 faculties, regarding what is termed the "finishing" of 
 an education but as its beginning. 
 
 He read and translated from the Greek authors 
 almost daily, speaking that language, as well as the 
 Latin, with great fluency. He was as familiar with the 
 tongue of France as with English, and was perfectly 
 conversant with the best French authors. 
 
 His fondness for those old English authors, who were 
 the leading writers in the days of his youth, never 
 waned. The beauties of Thackeray and Dickens he 
 failed to appreciate, which possibly may be counted 
 amongst the peculiarities of his character for which he 
 was noted. 
 
 He was accomplished as an artist with the pencil and 
 India-ink. He was also skillful as an engraver upon 
 wood. 
 
 He often regretted the lack of time that prevented 
 him from devoting himself to the study of Chemistry 
 and the natural sciences. 
 
 He contemplated writing a history of Borne, also a 
 
FREDERICK PINKNEY. 297 
 
 Digest of the Criminal Law of Maryland. These projects 
 were never carried into effect, and any manuscripts pre- 
 pared by him must have been destroyed previous to his 
 death. 
 
 Among the many who pressed forward to utter aloud 
 their deep feelings of love and honor for the dead, were 
 Sever dy Johnson and S. TeacMe Wallis ; and having 
 enumerated his great talents and various accomplish- 
 ments, they, with the many, concluded the record with 
 a reference to what is most in worth in the history of a 
 life : Bis love of God, his alms to the poor, his care of the 
 helpless, and beyond all things, that general charity of 
 word and deed, which " covereth a multitude of sins." 
 
 A son of Mr. Pinkney having fought in the Army of 
 the South, the following poem will possess for the reader 
 a greater interest than it would otherwise have claimed. 
 As the poet partly expresses in song what he could not 
 tell in the ordinary language of Man, that which can 
 never be fully told, may partly be understood : 
 
 The Southern Matron to Her Son. 
 
 I weep, as I leave you, with bitter emotion, 
 
 Yet view me in kindness, refraining from blame, 
 My tears are the tribute of anxious devotion, 
 
 I would not withhold thee from duty and fame; 
 When thy Country, in peril, has called thee to aid her, 
 
 Though my heart may, at parting, with sadness o'erfiow, 
 Yet undaunted go forth to meet the invader, 
 
 I will not detain thee, oh, no, my Love, no I 
 
 To the march and the battle, all heedless of danger, 
 
 Be enduring and firm, and the foremost in fight, 
 For the fair, sunny South, meet the hireling and stranger, 
 
 And strike for thy Country, thy Home and thy Right. 
 Away to the combat, lest Liberty perish, 
 
 And proudly lead on in the charge on the foe, 
 The fame of their Soldier the rescued shall cherish, 
 
 They could not forget thee, oh, no, my Love, no ! 
 25 
 
298 FREDERICK PINKNEY. 
 
 The cheek may be pale, and the eye dimmed with sorrow, 
 
 When the converse and view of the loved are denied, 
 From our Cause and thy conduct I comfort shall borrow, 
 
 I may grieve, but my grief will be tempered with pride; 
 For the brow of the hero the laurel is braiding, 
 
 And blessings aud praises the Land shall bestow, 
 Thou soon shalt return decked with glory unfading , 
 
 I will not detain thee, oh, no, my Love, no ! 
 
 February 12t7i, 1862. 
 
 Frederick Pinkney died June 13th, 1873, and was 
 buried from the Church of Saint Barnabas, in Baltimore 
 city. 
 
 
To S. 
 
 DOST thou love me ? I heed not, though Fortune may lower, 
 Though my friends may abandon, and foes may have power, 
 From the thraldom of sorrow and care I am free, 
 And I turn unrepining and smiling to thee. 
 
 When forewarned that the enemy fain would surprise, 
 To the strong mountain-fastness the fugitive hies, 
 And he laughs as they clamor, pursuing in wrath, 
 With the blood-hound loud baying too late on his path. 
 
 There abundance is garnered, its walls are secure, 
 And the deep well has springs both unfailing and pure, 
 There the weary may rest, and the timid may hide, 
 And the siege and assault may alike be defied. 
 
 I have one who will follow in sunshine or shade, 
 On whose faith I may venture and not be betrayed, 
 Uncomplaining in evil, my fate thou wilt share, 
 And warn me, and counsel, and save from despair. 
 
 Frederick Pinkney. 
 
 December 30ta, 1850. 
 
GEORGE H. MILES. 
 
 MONGST her many poets, Maryland claims 
 George Miles as one of her sweetest, if not 
 her strongest singers. He was born in Balti- 
 more city, on the 31st day of July, 1824. 
 He was sent, at the age of nine years, to the College 
 of Mount Saint Mary, at Emmittsburg, among the beau- 
 tiful hills of the Blue Kidge. He graduated at eighteen. 
 He entered the office of the Hon. J. H. B. Latrobe as a 
 law student; yet the jealous Muse, with her tender woo- 
 ing, drew him from the sterner pursuits of Life into the 
 flower-strewn paths of Poetry. At the age of twenty he 
 competed for the prize of $1,000, offered by Edwin For- 
 rest, for a tragedy. His "play" of Mohammed was 
 accepted by Mr. Forrest, and George Miles received the 
 reward. This early success enticed him from the prac- 
 tice of the Law. He wrote for J. E. Murdock, the actor, 
 a play entitled " Hernando de Soto" which, as a stage 
 piece, was deemed successful ; this was written about 
 1850. In 1861 he wrote for Laura Keene, what was 
 first known as " Uncle Sam's Magic Lantern," but was 
 afterwards modified under the title of " The Seven Sis- 
 ters." This ran for two years during the War, at Laura 
 Keene's Theatre, in New York. He dramatized the 
 story of " Elsie Venner," by Oliver Wendell Holmes ; 
 
GEORGE II. MILES. 301 
 
 this however failed as a drama. A play written for Mr. 
 John T. Ford, entitled " Senor Valiente" was brought 
 out simultaneously in New York and Baltimore ; this 
 failing in attracting the public, another followed, called 
 " Mary's Birthday." The criticism upon the latter was 
 favorable, yet a " poor house " greeted its appearance on 
 the stage. 
 
 George Miles, the poet, was not a dramatist, though 
 he failed to perceive that his talents were misdirected. 
 He wrote, meanwhile, many stories, which were gener- 
 ally Catholic in tone and principle ; among them were 
 "Loretto," "The Governess" and "The Truce of God." 
 From the pages of the last named volume the follow- 
 ing extracts are taken : 
 
 "It is easy to reform where the passions are pampered, 
 and the vicious heart of humanity pants wildly for the 
 reformation ; but in the eleventh century the Church 
 had gained a partial victory over the dearest appstites 
 of the fiery Frank and the warlike Saxon. It was 
 enacted, under pain of excommunication, that private 
 warfare should cease from the sunset of Wednesday to 
 the morning of Monday, and few were hardy enough to 
 expose themselves to the penalty." 
 
 The respite from hostilities which followed was called 
 the " Truce of God." How well has the poet told the 
 romance of a suffering day. Oh, blessed truce of God I 
 that could in an age so far agone hold in check the 
 ruthlessness, the arrogance, the " inhumanity to man " 
 from man ! 
 
 On page 71 of this pure beautiful little book, the 
 author's seal is once more set: 
 
 "It is not in the pride of health and youth, sur- 
 rounded by pleasure and strangers to care, that a heart 
 wedded to the world, is apt to prostrate itself in humility 
 before the Author of Life ; but in danger and affliction, 
 25* 
 
302 GEORGE II. MILES. 
 
 we learn to mistrust our self-sufficiency, and feel our 
 complete dependence upon an invisible and Almighty 
 power. We are much more disposed to appeal to Heaven 
 for protection than to return thanks for repeated 
 favors." 
 
 A few pages further on occurs this word-picture : 
 
 "Upon the slope of the hill, half-way between the 
 castle and the lake, was a chapel built of white stone, 
 which had stood there, according to tradition, from the 
 ninth century. It was said to have been erected by 
 Charlemagne on his second expedition against the 
 Saxons. The Baron of Hers had ornamented and re- 
 paired it with much taste and at great expense, until it 
 was celebrated throughout the circle of Suabia for its 
 richness and elegance. It had been dedicated to Mary, 
 the Morning Star, as appeared from a statue of the 
 Blessed Virgin surmounted with a star, and was 
 called the Pilgrim's Chapel. It was in charge of 
 Herman, a priest who had studied at Monte C.issino, 
 under the Benedictines, with Father Omehr, whom he 
 loved like a brother. They had spent the long purga- 
 tion and had been ordained together, and for forty years 
 they had labored in the same vineyard side by side, and 
 yet seldom meeting. When they did meet, however, it 
 was with the joy and chastened affection which only the 
 pure minded and truly religious can know." 
 
 Should the reader of this page be a Catholic the fol- 
 lowing will not seem lacking in interest. It tells of the 
 excommunication of Henry IV, of Austria, by Pope 
 Gregory VII. 
 
 " Thus went forth this awful thunderbolt for the first 
 time against a crowned head. A dissolute and ambi- 
 tious monarch had called upon the successor of Saint 
 Peter to yield up the keys, and lay the tiara at the feet 
 of the Lion of Austria, because that successor had de- 
 
GEORGE H. MILES. 303 
 
 clared an invincible determination to preserve the purity 
 of the Church and its liberties at the sacrifice of life 
 itself. The tyrant struck in anger, and the Pontiff, in- 
 capable of yielding, gave the blow at last ; for the temple 
 of religion was insulted and invaded. It is easy, when 
 calmly seated at a winter's fireside, to charge Gregory 
 VII with an undue assumption of temporal power. 
 But he who will study the critical position of Europe 
 daring the eleventh century must bow down in rever- 
 ence before, the mighty mind of him who seized the 
 moment to proclaim amid the storm the independence 
 of the Christian Church. Was not his resistance to 
 Henry expedient ? Yes ! And one too who knows that 
 the Church was the lever by which the world was 
 raised from barbarism to civilization, and will confess, 
 with Guizot, that without a visible head Christianity 
 would have perished in the shock that convulsed Europe 
 to its centre." 
 
 And again he tells us of one of those missioners, in 
 the form of woman, who do battle and gain victories in 
 life that are seldom recorded here : 
 
 "The news of these victories imparted some consola- 
 tion to the Lady Margaret's breast, now torn with 
 anxiety and solicitude. Her grief was not lightened, 
 because her own misfortunes were avenged in Henry's 
 adversity, but because the chances of peace were in- 
 creased by Eodolph's success. She was now incapable 
 of relishing revenge. The feudal antipathies so long 
 nourished, and so early instilled as to be almost a part 
 of her existence, were entirely eradicated. From the 
 evening of her interview with Father Omehr, before the 
 now ruined Church of the Nativity, she had dedicated 
 her life to the extinguishment of the feud between the 
 houses of Hers 'and Stramen. For this she had prayed : 
 for this she had toiled. But her labors were interrupted 
 
304 GEORGE H. MILES. 
 
 by the harsh music of War, by gong and tymbalon. 
 What could she do now ? Nothing. Nothing? When 
 she knelt before the altar at Tubingen, before the sun 
 had risen, and the Countess of Montfort felt as if she 
 had given shelter to an angel, was she doing nothing ? 
 When she lingered in the oratory of our Blessed Mother 
 long after the sun had set, and the menials passed by 
 on tiptoe least they should mar the celestial expression 
 of her face, was she doing nothing ?" 
 
 The strongest and most effective scene of the book is 
 that in which the white-plumed knight, Rodolph, the 
 king of the Franks, falls dead in the day of victory. It 
 is a historical romance, and because of its simplicity 
 and purity of thought and expression, is selected as a 
 premium, year after year in Catholic schools, and be- 
 stowed as a reward for moral or mental triumph at the 
 commencement day. It is, therefore, regarded as a book 
 for boys and girls, and yet the profoundest wisdom is 
 not always hidden beneath high-sounding words, as 
 some seem to think. Banquets are sometimes given 
 where the eye is feasted while the palate is unsatisfied, 
 and the guests depart more hungry than when they 
 came. In the writings of George Miles, the goodness 
 of Truth is always evident. That purity, that is the 
 language of a pure nature, reveals itself in every line of 
 his writing's, and in all his teachings there is wholesome 
 food for heart and mind. 
 
 His friends in early life were John E. Howard, Wil- 
 liam Reed, Charles Bradenbaugh, long the President of 
 the Mercantile Library, in Baltimore. Edwin Forrest 
 continued his friendship and patronage to Mr. Miles 
 through all his life. Joseph Jefferson, the comedian, 
 to whom we owe so many happy moments, was also a 
 if the Baltimore poet, and endeavored to encour- 
 him in undertaking another play; finally, about 
 
GEORGE H. MTLES. 
 
 1870, he gave to the public a paper on " Hamlet," which 
 was first published in the Southern Review, and after- 
 wards in pamphlet-form by Mr. John T. Ford. This 
 analysis of Hamlet won for its author an extended no- 
 tice, especially amongst the English critics. 
 
 George Miles was a precocious child, speaking plainly 
 at the age of two years, and reading at three. As a boy 
 of thirteen and fifteen he wrote verses, and when gradu- 
 ating at eighteen, was chosen to deliver the Valedictory 
 Address. He was not studiously inclined, which caused 
 much solicitude to his parents ; and Poetry, which is so 
 ruefully regarded by many whose talents or genius take 
 another way, was deemed by his friends the ignis fatuus 
 that led to ruin. 
 
 He was a true child of the South in his temperament 
 and tastes, and his love of the " Lost Cause " is evinced 
 in the many war-songs that came from his pen. Among 
 the best known of his battle-songs is " God Save the 
 South," which is inspiring in its tone, and musical in 
 its wild ring, as he sang of "dear honor's sake:" 
 
 Hear Honor's call, 
 Summoning all, 
 Summoning all of us 
 
 Unto the strife. 
 Sons of the South, awake! 
 Strike till the brand shall break, 
 Strike for dear Honor's sake, 
 
 Freedom and life ! 
 
 The bright little poem entitled " Coming at Last," 
 refers to the first Confederate Cavalry raid into Mary- 
 land, in the neighborhood of Emmittsburg. About 
 1866 or '67, he wrote and published a book of Christmas 
 Poems. He composed music for songs, hymns and lita- 
 nies. He played quite well upon the piano and flute. 
 As a tenor singer he ranked above the average. He was 
 
306 GEORGE H. MILES. 
 
 a brilliant conversationalist, attracting by his blended 
 charms all who came within the circle of his influence. 
 In person he was robust, of medium height and athletic, 
 noted as a walker and a gymnast. 
 
 The depth of his heart was measured by the height 
 of his intellect. No pensioner for money or service ever 
 turned from him unaided. His hand was open always 
 to his friends, and from the Poor he never turned with- 
 out a blessing. 
 
 In February, 1859, George Miles married Miss Ada- 
 line Tiers, of New York, who still lives. No children 
 blessed this union. The poet of Thornbrook died on 
 the 23d of July, 1872, within one week of completing 
 his forty-eighth year. He is buried in the churchyard 
 of Saint Mary's College, where his memory is beloved. 
 
 At the time of his death he was engaged in the writ- 
 ing of a novel which would doubtless have gained for 
 him a high place amongst the authors of his native 
 country. The novel, however, lies yet unfinished as 
 the author left it. Being a Koman Catholic, his writ- 
 ings are best known amongst the people of that faith. 
 He, however, was known and loved by those of all 
 teachings — it could not have been otherwise — his intel- 
 lect was broad, his deeds were good, his truth was per- 
 fect. 
 
COMING AT LAST 
 
 UP on the hill there, 
 Who are they, pray ? 
 Three dusty troopers 
 
 Spurring this way? 
 And that squadron behind them? 
 
 Stand not aghast— 
 Why! these are the Rebels, sir, 
 Coming at last ! 
 
 Coming so carelessly, 
 
 Saunter id g on, 
 Into the midst of us, 
 
 Unto our town: 
 Thrice thirty miles to-day 
 
 These meu have passed, 
 Steuart at the head of theoi 
 
 Coming: at last! 
 
 Oh, sir! no gold lace 
 
 Burns in the sun, 
 But each blooded war-horse 
 
 And rider seem one, 
 These men could ride at need, 
 
 Out- ride the blast — 
 O! yes, sir, the Rebels 
 
 Are coming at last! 
 
;08 COMING AT LAST. 
 
 Circling Mac's army, 
 
 Three days at work ! 
 "Under that smile of theirs 
 
 Famine may lurk. 
 Out with the best you have, 
 
 Fill the bowl fast, 
 For Jeff's ragged Rebels 
 
 Are coming at last! 
 
 Geoege H. Miles, Frederick County, Md. 
 
GENERAL AKNOLD ELZEY, 
 
 "Circumstances draw forth men."— Thiers. 
 
 m 
 
 R. ARNOLD ELZEY JONES fixed his home, 
 which he named Elmwood, on the Manokin 
 river, in Somerset county, Maryland. His 
 wife had in her maidenhood borne the name 
 of Annie Wilson Jackson. She was the mother of 
 Arnold Elzey Jones, who afterwards became a valiant 
 soldier in the Confederate Army. 
 
 The name of Elzey is found amongst the early records 
 of Maryland's history. In McMahon's history John 
 Elzey is told of as having received a commission from 
 Governor Philip Calvert, in 1661, to form a settlement 
 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, upon the Mano- 
 kin river. A treaty of amity was afterwards entered 
 into by the settlers with the Indian Emperor of Nan- 
 ticoke. 
 
 Arnold Elzey was born on the 18th of December, 
 1816, at Elmwood. At the age of sixteen he entered 
 the United States Military Academy at West Point ; and 
 as the future sketched itself before his boyish footsteps, 
 it is not likely that he dreamed one dream of the terri- 
 ble combination of rights and wrongs that would some 
 day place his name before the world, and make it hon- 
 ored by all true-hearted Marylanders. 
 26 
 
310 GENERAL ARNOLD ELZEY. 
 
 God is the great Judge. Justice weighs impartially 
 Truth and Eight. To those who triumph in the right 
 the victory is sufficient. To the conquered is the suf- 
 fering ! Forgiveness belongs to all. 
 
 At the age of twenty Arnold Elzey Jones graduated, 
 according to the family record ; yet, by the United States 
 Military Register, one year more is added to his life at 
 the closing of his " school term." 
 
 In the year 1845 the young soldier, then a first lieu- 
 tenant in the Second Artillery, married Miss Ellen Irwin, 
 the daughter of Henry Irwin, of Huntington county, 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Several years later, at the age of twenty-eight, by per- 
 mission of the Legislature of Maryland, he adopted, as 
 a sir-name, Elzey, and abandoned that of Jones. In 
 this he complied with an often expressed desire of his 
 father that he should adopt the family name of Elzey, 
 which had become extinct on the marriage of his pater- 
 nal grandmother. 
 
 Setting aside the question of literary talent or capa- 
 bility, an undeniable fact presents itself: only a soldier 
 may portray the life of a soldier beyond the fireside. 
 
 In a pleasant volume, entitled " The Maryland Line," 
 Major W. W. Goldsborough, of Baltimore, takes us into 
 the stirring camp-life of the Confederate soldier. From. 
 afar we behold the advance and the retreat, now the Grey 
 is the victor and now the Blue. Long lines of bayonets 
 glitter in the sunlight of a perfect summer's day, and 
 then " the men at arms " wheel with the precision of 
 evenly measured music. Across the verdant field a 
 courier dashes on a strong-limbed steed, bearing, better 
 worth the guarding than the heart of his life, a message 
 for his general ! 
 
 The battles wherein glory is sought and won are pic- 
 tured, with their even columns of staunch soldiers, the 
 

 GENERAL ARNOLD ELZEY. 311 
 
 deadly weapons, and the flying colors ; then defeat, and 
 death, and the grave. 
 
 Major Goldsborongh tells us, in his book, of Elzey; 
 the words are strong and good, born of that pride that 
 all brave soldiers feel in the brave acts of another, 
 whose 
 
 "Deeds are better things than words are." 
 
 The following is taken from the "Biographical 
 Eegister " of the United States Military Academy of 
 West Point: 
 
 ARNOLD ELZEY, 
 
 Cadet at the United States Military Academy from July 1, 
 1833, to July 1, 1837, when he was graduated and promoted in 
 the Army to 
 
 (Second Lieutenant, 2d Artillery, July 1, 1837.) 
 
 Served in the Florida War, 1837-38 ; in the Cherokee Nation, 
 1838, while emigrating the Indians to the West; on the North- 
 ern Frontier during the Canada Border disturbances, at Detroit, 
 Mich., 1838-39 ; Mackinac, Mich., 1839. 
 
 (First Lieutenant, 2d Artillery, Nov. 12, 1839.) 
 
 Buffalo, N. Y., 1839-40; Recruiting, 1840; Buffalo, N. Y., 
 1840; Rochester, N. Y., 1840-41, and Buffalo, N. Y , 1841; in 
 garrison at Fort Adams, R. I., 1841-43; Fort Lafayette, N. Y., 
 1843, 1844-45, and Fort Columbus, N. Y., 1845; in Military Oc- 
 cupation of Texas, 1845-46 ; in the War with Mexico, 1846-48, 
 being engaged in the defence of Fort Brown, May 3-9, 1846 ; 
 siege of Vera Cruz, March 9-29, 1847; battle of Cerro Gordo, 
 April 17-18, 1847; skirmish of Amazoque, May 14, 1847; cap- 
 ture of San Antonio, August 20, 1847; Battle of Cburubisco, 
 August 20, 1847 ; battle of Molino del Rey, Sept. 8, 1847. 
 
 (Brevet Captain, August 20, 1847, for gallant and meritorious 
 conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubisco, Mexico.) 
 
 Storming of Chapultepec, Sept. 13, 1847 ; assault and the cap- 
 ture of the City of Mexico, Sept. 13-14, 1847, and as Adjutant 
 2d Artillery, Dec, 1847, to Jan., 1848 ; on Recruiting service, 
 
312 GENERAL ARNOLD ELZEY. 
 
 1848; in garrison at Fort Monroe, Va., 1848-49, and Fort John- 
 ston, N. C, 1849; in Florida hostilities against the Seminole 
 
 (Captain, 2d Artillery, Feb. 14, 1849.) 
 
 Indians, 1849-50 ; in garrison at Fort Moultrie, S. C, 1851-53; 
 in Florida hostilities, 1853-55 ; 1855-56, being engaged against 
 
 (Resigned Brevet Commission, April 2, 1857.) 
 
 the Seminole Indians in the skirmish near Choalisca Key, March 
 29,1856; in garrison at Fort Ontario, N. Y., 1856-57; on fron- 
 tier duty at Fort Mackinac, Mich., 1857, and Fort Leavenworth, 
 Kan., 1857-60; on leave of absence, 1860, and in garrison at 
 Augusta Arsenal, Ga., 1860-61 ; Fort Monroe, Va., 1861. 
 
 (Resigned, April 25, 1861.) 
 
 Joined in the Rebellion of 1861 against the United States. 
 
 In the West Point Register the name of Elzey is en- 
 tered as Arnold Jones, his family name. 
 
 At the breaking out of the war, he resigned his posi- 
 tion in the United States Army. Upon the establish- 
 ment of the Confederate Army, he received the commis- 
 sion of Captain in the Artillery, which was the rank 
 he held in the service of the United States. 
 
 The First Maryland Regiment was organized in June, 
 1861. On the 16th day of that month, commissions 
 were issued to Elzey as Colonel, to George H. Steuart, 
 late Captain of Cavalry, U. S. A., as Lieutenant-Colonel, 
 and to Bradley T. Johnson as Major. 
 
 Colonel Elzey joined his Regiment at Winchester, 
 about June 20th. He was immediately assigned to 
 a Brigade, consisting of the First Maryland, under 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Steuart; 13th Infantry, Colonel 
 A. P. Hill, (afterwards Brevet- General Hill) ; 10th Vir- 
 ginia, Colonel Gibbons, and the 3d Tennessee, Colonel 
 Yaughan. 
 
 They remained about Winchester for a month. On 
 July 4th, they marched to Martinsburg, Virginia, to 
 offer battle to Patterson. 
 

 GENERAL ARNOLD ELZEY. 313 
 
 On this march, Major Goldsborough says: "To the 
 First Maryland was assigned the post of honor, the ex- 
 treme right ; and had there been occasion, most stub- 
 bornly would they have contested every inch of the 
 ground they occupied." 
 
 On the 18th of July, the march was begun for the 
 famous battle-ground of Manassas. Colonel Elzey was 
 anxious for promotion, and is said to have felt slighted 
 because Bee and Kirby Smith had each been made a 
 Brigadier, while he had the command without the rank. 
 So great is the thirst, even among the great, for the 
 empty honor of a name ! And so he fought for it, and 
 won. 
 
 In an address to his men, Elzey said : " ! In the 
 
 hour of battle you will remember that you are Mary- 
 landers. Every eye from across the waters of the Po- 
 tomac which separates you from your homes, is upon 
 you, and all those who are dear to us are watching with 
 anxious, beating hearts, the fleshing of your maiden 
 swords. And they shall not be disappointed, for he had 
 better never been born who proves himself a craven 
 when we grapple with the foeman." 
 
 Elzey's Brigade arrived at Manassas about mid-day on 
 the 21st of July, 1861— that day so fraught with joy 
 and sadness, gloom and glory, for the victor and the 
 vanquished accordingly ! 
 
 Owing to the indifferent marching of some of the 
 raw troops, much delay was caused; General "Joe" E. 
 Johnston therefore halted at Paiis, in Virginia, from 
 whence, he forwarded the troops by rail to the field of 
 action. General Elzey and his officers were mounted, 
 having taken their horses with them. The field officers 
 of the Brigade were, however, afoot. 
 
 As the troops alighted from the cars, Kirby Smith 
 galloped up and ordered the command forward at a 
 20* 
 
314 GENERAL ARNOLD ELZEY. 
 
 double-quick. General Smith was in command of the 
 division formed by his own and Elzey's Brigade, but his 
 own Brigade not having come up, he had really only 
 Elzey's under his command. The 13th Virginia and 
 three Maryland regiments were sent off on a double- 
 quick to the battle-field, the column headed by Smith 
 and Elzey on horseback. With this unaccustomed speed 
 and fatigue, many of the men were completely overcome. 
 While the shells rushed with a whiz and whirr through 
 the air, Bradley Johnson staggered up to Elzey and said ; 
 " Colonel, I've broke down, and if you don't furnish me 
 with a horse, I can go no further." The consolatory 
 reply was : " I can't help you." At that moment a sharp 
 fire broke out from a wood near by on the right. As 
 the fire rained upon them, General Smith fell over the 
 neck of his horse. (When General Kirby Smith was 
 wounded, the command devolved upon Elzey). " There," 
 said Elzey turning to Bradley Johnson, "God is just! 
 Smith's, down ; get his horse !" The horse, not appre- 
 ciating the good and handsome things of this world, 
 with a wild plunge eluded the outstretched hands and 
 disappeared across the field. Yet out of the midst of 
 the fiery woods a magnificent steed came dashing; it 
 was riderless, and no doubt ownerless. Major Johnson 
 caught the bridle and jumped into the saddle. Elzey 
 smiled at this, and turning to his young comrade ex- 
 claimed, " Now for a yellow sash, or six feet of ground !" 
 
 Getting his troops into position, he charged the enemy 
 dashingly! daringly! gloriously! The line of foemen 
 broke and fled in confusion, and Manassas was won. As 
 Elzey and his men pushed on to the Henry House, that 
 courtly soldier, Beauregard, rode up and in his marked 
 French manner exclaimed : " Hail, Elzey, thou Blucher 
 of the day !" 
 
 It is said that at the same time President Davis told 
 him he should have his stripe so nobly earned. 
 
GENERAL ARNOLD ELZEY. 315 
 
 Arnold Elzey's commission, as Brigadier, dated from 
 July 21st, 1861. 
 
 In the Valley Campaign of 1SG2 the Maryland regi- 
 ments received another commander, and Elzey was given 
 a Virginia Brigade.. 
 
 Upon this change the officers and soldiers of the 
 Maryland Line, drawn up before headquarters, took a 
 formal yet affecting leave of their beloved commander. 
 Elzey always regarded, with love and pride, the Mary- 
 land regiments* under his command, nor did his interest 
 Hag when he ceased to be their leader. In the fight at 
 Front Royal, on the 21th day of May, 1862, the First 
 Maryland regiment, 0. S. A., was pitted, by a singular 
 fate of war, against the First Maryland, U. S. A. The 
 Confederate regiment was victorious and the cavalry 
 took the Federal regiment prisoners. Elzey rode gaily 
 over to the victors and tendered his congratulations to 
 Ms regiment as he called that gallant body. 
 
 At the battle of Cross Keys, on June 8th, 1862, he 
 chose a position, put his troops in place, and asked the 
 approbation of Ewell, his commanding officer ; he showed 
 him the order in which they were disposed. General 
 Ewell, pleased with the disposition, adopted the same 
 arrangement, and the battle of Cross Keys was fought 
 according to the plan of Elzey. 
 
 When that Campaign was over, battle after battle was 
 fought around Richmond, and Elzey was in the thick 
 of the tight. He carried his brave command over a 
 broad stretch of broken ground, unfalteringly, through 
 the hottest fire. Nearly all of the staff officers were 
 either killed or wounded, and General Elzey was shot 
 through the head and mouth. After this he was pro- 
 moted, though his wounds rendered him inactive for 
 awhile. In 1863, he was put in command of the de- 
 fences of Richmond. " In Early's Maryland Campaign,'' 
 
316 GENERAL ARNOLD ELZEY. 
 
 says a fellow-soldier, " he was sent along to command 
 some mythical Maryland divisions which were never 
 found." 
 
 The words of Colonel J. R. Herbert, of Baltimore, 
 are but the repetition of sentiments expressed by all 
 who knew him: " General Arnold Elzey was a gallant 
 soldier and loved by all who served under Mm." 
 
 It seems somehow as if the lines of the brave old 
 Scotch poet applied to him, when he tells of a soldier 
 who 
 
 " The sword could sway, 
 And lightly bear the ring away ; 
 Nor less with courteous precepts stored, 
 Could dance in hall and carve at board." 
 
 Writing of General Elzey, General Beauregard, in a 
 letter to the author of these sketches, says: "He was 
 brave, zealous and intelligent; three qualities which are 
 indispensable to a commanding officer." 
 
 And this tribute to a soldier of the "Lost Cause," 
 from his friend and comrade, General Bradley T. John- 
 son, is strong and wonderfully generous for the day in 
 which we live : 
 
 "He was the soul of chivalry. He had served in 
 Florida and Mexico, and used to tell us of the way gen- 
 tlemen ought to go to war, not in our rough, uncouth 
 way, no supplies, no stores, no anything. His head- 
 quarters was the centre of Maryland hopes and aspira- 
 tions. All of us Volunteers of Maryland had gone into 
 service for the purpose of enfranchising our native 
 State, and giving her the chance to join the South, when 
 we believed her will, her interest and her honor required 
 her to go. 
 
 " During the long marches — in the bivouac, in the 
 lull of battle — the sole topic was, ' What will they think 
 of us at home?' 'Will they know how well we are 
 
GENERAL ARNOLD ELZEY. 317 
 
 doing?' (for Maryland vanity always gave itself full 
 credit for what it was performing). We would describe 
 imaginary scenes — our march down Charles street — our 
 being welcomed at the Monument by the civic authori- 
 ties ; the ribbons that we would wear, the smiles that 
 would be lavished on us. The very mementoes that 
 would bear our names to the Future, all the charms of 
 enthusiastic gallant Youth, stirred by the highest senti- 
 ments of patriotism and honor, were the themes dis- 
 cussed, the dreams we dreamed night and day. I have 
 heard Elzey discant on our future glories — for we all 
 believed our time would come, and we claimed to inherit 
 the natures of The Old Line whose descendants and 
 heirs we are. We certainly tried to emulate them. 
 Elzey was the centre and the soul of all our day-dreams ; 
 the embodiment of that sentiment burning in each 
 Maryland man, which would have sent them gaily to 
 death to serve and save our beloved Maryland ! Elzey's 
 heart was gentle and kind, his manner sharp and mili- 
 tary — his roughness of speech was a mere jfaom de par- 
 ler — as in the case of Kirby Smith, whom he loved and 
 sympathized with. 
 
 " He was a superb soldier ! Bather impatient at the 
 slovenly soldiering of volunteers, but thoroughly ap- 
 preciating their pluck and dash. His military eye for 
 position was the best in Jackson's corps. His choice of 
 the field at Cross-Keys was confirmed at once by Ewell, 
 and complimented in his report and that of General 
 Jackson." 
 
 To quote from Major Goldsborough's "Maryland 
 Line," can scarcely be inappropriate in this place, and 
 this is what he says of our brave Maryland boys : 
 
 " these brave men never complained of what 
 
 was imposed upon them. Throughout that dreary fall, 
 and the long cold winter, nearly naked and half fed, 
 
318 GENERAL ARNOLD ELZEY. 
 
 they silently did their duty, whilst thousands were 
 proving recreant to the Cause. Elegant and refined 
 gentlemen, who at home never knew what it was to 
 want for a single comfort, were in rags and tatters, 
 sleeping in mud and filth, and when the bleak winds 
 of December pierced many a rent in their wretched 
 garments, they only drew their sorry blankets the 
 closer around their gaunt and shivering limbs, and 
 cheerfully responded to the call for any duty. Was it 
 a wonder, then, that after the battle of Cold Harbor 
 General Breckenriclge should have exclaimed, ' What 
 could not be done with a hundred thousand such 
 men !' " 
 
 We are proud of the grand Old Line, 
 That back through a hundred years 
 
 Strove with the foe from Britain's Isle, 
 With its life, and blood, and tears ! 
 
 We are proud of the brave Young Line, 
 
 That gave to a stainless name, 
 The noble deeds of a daring cause 
 
 To g'ow in the lists of Fame! 
 
 March on in the path of the Old ! 
 
 March out to the unborn years! 
 We pledge your troth in a Nation's need 
 
 With a woman's faith and tears! 
 
 General Arnold Elzey died on the 22d of February, 
 in the year 1871. His only son bears the name of 
 Arnold J. Elzey. 
 
 General Elzey is buried at Greenmount Cemetery, 
 near Baltimore city. 
 
ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN GEORGE THOMAS, 
 At Loudoun Park, October 22, 1874. 
 
 E are here to-day, Friends and Comrades, to 
 render just and fitting tribute to the memory 
 of those of our immediate companionship who 
 gave up their lives in the great struggle be- 
 tween the Sections. A glad and willing sacrifice in de- 
 fense of principles that they as well as we had ever been 
 taught were the distinctive political axioms of the South. 
 We do not come in this hallowed presence to proclaim 
 the truth of those principles, still less to assert or even 
 to acknoweldge that the dread uncertainty of War had 
 rendered a verdict that proclaims them false. This we 
 willingly remit to the political agitator of the day, to the 
 arbitrament of Time and the calmer judgment of his- 
 toric days to render final decision on. Setting all this 
 aside in memory of dear companions gone to their ac- 
 count, in recollection of their kindly deeds and knightly 
 courage, of joys and dangers together shared and tasted, 
 we come to celebrate the placing of this Memorial -Stone 
 that will tell to every passer by that they whose names 
 are there inscribed possessed a record that their surviv- 
 ing comrades were not unwilling should be read in the 
 full light of after times. The voice of passion is not yet 
 stilled, the turbulence of the life and death struggle 
 
320 ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN THOMAS. 
 
 not yet quieted, yet so far stilled, so far quieted that we 
 may, without all fear of misrepresentation, join heartily 
 in this work of love and duty. 
 
 And there are reasons why this memorial tribute is 
 peculiarly appropriate at our hands. There is often an 
 individuality observable about associations of men that 
 makes them to take hold of the hearts of their mem- 
 bers with tenacious grasp, and to form as it were a part 
 of their existence forever after ; and this was especially 
 the case with the company organizations successively 
 commanded by Oapt. Wm. H. Murray. Composed of 
 homogeneous elements, the individual members having 
 such entirely similar associations, and it is to look back 
 to and recall, there could not have been other than 
 a feeling of perfect community pervading us as a whole; 
 but above all, and beyond all this there existed the 
 further bond of that untiring influence that it is the 
 especial privilege of some men to exert, and which was 
 to a peculiar extent exerted by our Commander, im- 
 pressed as his commands were with his personal traits 
 and characteristics, so that the designation " Murray's 
 Company" became as familiar to the military ear as 
 though he had been operating with an independent 
 command. And so we come now, as the survivors of 
 Murray's Companies, to render honor to his memory as 
 well to that of those of his commands who gave, as he 
 did, their young lives to the Cause ; not then simply as 
 Confederates, not as friends merely do we pause for a 
 little while, in the bustle of Life, to come in a body to 
 unite in the ceremonies of to-day. 
 
 We come rather as bound by ties that make the 
 memories we celebrate a very part of our ownselves. 
 Engrossed as we may be in the duties of Life, separated 
 and engaged in occupations that keep us, for the most 
 part, wide asunder, there is this at least in our Past 
 
 
ADDRESS OP CAPTAIN THOMAS. 321 
 
 that makes us feel as one. There is that in onr com- 
 mon history that will urge us, with no common im- 
 pulse, to come here as to the Mecca of the heart, 
 bringing with us, perchance, the hopes of the generation 
 yet to play its part on the World's great stage, to recall 
 for our comfort and for their instruction the deeds and 
 characteristics of those whose names are here enrolled 
 on History's most honored page. And why these? 
 Near by are the remains of many who fell in the same 
 struggle, and on the same side, and never while life lasts 
 will you be able to look upon these mounds and these 
 monuments as upon any others ; yet, I challenge your 
 own hearts to answer if there be not still a different 
 feeling in thinking of the times that are no more, in 
 connection with the memories of your Comrades of 
 Companies "H"and"A." 
 
 Well might you essay the lesson of self-sacrifice and 
 noble endurance — pure, prompting, unyielding deter- 
 mination — in recalling and recording the names and 
 lives of the Lees, the Jacksons, and the Steuarts ; the 
 Pegrams, the Ashbys, and the Winders, who, now but 
 dust and ashes, have left name and fame that the pen 
 of their most malignant enemy would utterly fail to 
 taint or tarnish ; well might your hearts swell with 
 honest pride in telling of the wondrous deeds of daring 
 done on our well-loved Southern soil, when might and 
 numbers, struggling with the right, so often reeled and 
 in utter rout recoiled before the skill and gallantry of 
 their painfully outnumbered foe; yet with what differ- 
 ent, with what tenderer feelings you would recall the 
 day of Gettysburg, and tell how the bristling summit 
 almost gained, your own commander Murray died, how 
 when the assembly was made at the foot of the hill, 
 your shattered remnant looked around aghast to see 
 the gaps that sudden death had made; how Morrison, 
 
322 ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN THOMAS. 
 
 that sturdy soldier, came safely down the hill of death 
 only to meet his summons at the base ; of Ives, so 
 gallant and so courteous ; of Iglehart, so true and earn- 
 est and brave, and bright-faced Charley Lloyd, can you 
 not see him now, with blanched cheek and bowed form, 
 staggering from the ranks, and yet running back in a 
 little while to his post in the line only to meet the too 
 sure summons of a bullet in the brain ; and Blackiston, 
 with all his soldierly instincts keenly alive, anxious 
 only that none should be before him in the charge. 
 Such the names — such to us the memories of Gettys- 
 burg! The march after Meade, the winter in Hanover, 
 Cold Harbor, White Oak Swamp, the trenches around 
 Petersburg, how with such mention crowd to our 
 thoughts the names of Hollyday, Grill, Braddock, Kip 
 Deal, Denton, Prentiss, and* the host of others who 
 bore with us the trials of those days. Wagner, already 
 devoted, when ordered on the fatal skirmish line; and 
 Laird so gallant and true, always earnest, always with 
 words of cheer, and always at his post, like the brave 
 sharpshooter, Prentiss, breasting the storm of battle as 
 with charmed life, to meet his summons when the 
 struggle was well nigh hopeless. 
 
 And you, comrades of company " H," is there need 
 that I should recall the special incidents of your career, 
 the scenes with which you were most familiar during 
 the first year of the trial, the names of those who with 
 you enlisted in the days when all was hopeful for the 
 cause, but who have now their names enrolled among 
 the dead upon the field of Glory ? Is there need that 
 these things should be pictured in any poor words of 
 mine, or that the two companies setting aside mere 
 company designations and special recollections should 
 be proclaimed as one, to make you keenly conscious of 
 a sympathetic blending of associations that make of us 
 
ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN THOMAS. 323 
 
 all, in everything that the term implies, peculiarly 
 comrades. Separated though you were by the fortunes 
 of War, your fates connecting you with different com- 
 mands, is it possible for you to remember with any 
 ordinary feeling, your old, your first command ? Can 
 you think of your assemblage at Richmond, remember- 
 ing who your comrades were and their after fates, with- 
 out acknowledging it all as a part of your inner lives 
 from which you could not, even if you would, escape. 
 A part most dear and most precious! How intimately 
 must be associated with your most cherished recollec- 
 tions the figure of the gallant McKim, leading even 
 Stonewall's own brigade in the charge, to him the 
 charge, that led to death and imperishable glory ! Col- 
 ston and Lloyd West, do you not remember them well ? 
 Struggling both with the Angel of Death, one with 
 breathless steps reaching the Heights of Bolivar only 
 to meet a little speedier summons; one, stretched upon 
 a bed of pain, begging for permission to go with his 
 Command, on what was supposed, an expedition to meet 
 superior numbers at the time of the Pohic march, 
 destined, alas! to enter upon a longer, far more distant 
 journey ere the days of that Autumn month were over. 
 Mackall, Russell, Costigan, Steel, Hammett, Redman, 
 Price, and all the glorious company of those who with 
 them fell. ! how steadily by our sides then stalked 
 the greedy Reaper — Death ! How steadily marched our 
 comrades to their fate ! Forever let their names, and 
 deeds, and principles, be blended in our thoughts. 
 
 And here let us ask what was the particular charac- 
 teristic uniting these men, who, in whatever held, 
 under whatever leader, carried with them the soldierly 
 pride and resolve, sprung from their commander's 
 nerve and iron will, that made them seem ever ani- 
 mated by like promptings. Know what was Murray's 
 
324 ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN THOMAS. 
 
 special trait as a soldier, and the question readily is 
 answered — stern, unyielding, unshrinking sense of duty, 
 no thought, no impulse, no prompting, but the strictest 
 sense of duty. His whole life as a soldier was but ap- 
 propriately rounded by his death in the face of the 
 thousands fronting the little band of whom he was one. 
 For him, standing there erect, with all his bravery on, 
 his men lying dead and wounded all around him, two- 
 thirds of his command already yielded to the bloody 
 needs of War, the line forced back, the summit not yet 
 won, his instinct as a soldier telling him the day was 
 lost, and with it the cause for which his sword had 
 been drawn — for him, such as he was and so situated, 
 there was but one course possible — no step in retreat, 
 no yielding — only to stand, though all alone fronting 
 the foe, till the fatal blow should come — and so he fell. 
 "With him, as with those who truly followed him, there 
 was but one possible appreciation of duty to the cause 
 — Death rather than Defeat. Nor was this sublimity of 
 devotion in him the result of desire for military glory; 
 it was not born of sudden impulse, nor was it the 
 creature, in any degree, of passion for renown. Those 
 who knew him best recognize it as the necessary result 
 of his fixed determination, in such a cause, never to sub- 
 mit or yield. In his death he was but acting out the 
 solemn convictions of duty that went to form a part of 
 his matured resolves. You have all beared the story 
 that is told of the Spartan mother, in the time so far 
 iu the past, who, when called upon by her own son for 
 a blessing as he was about to march to meet the foe 
 gave him no wish for individual renown, no wish for 
 safety, none for speedy return, but with her whole 
 nature alive to a just appreciation of duty to the cause, 
 when one's country calls, she bade him return either 
 with his shield or upon it. 
 
 
• ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN THOMAS. 325 
 
 Since the day when first this story was told in An- 
 cient Greece till now, the spirit that dictated the reply 
 has been lauded ever as the noblest evidence of true 
 appreciation of duty to a country's needs. Millions 
 have heard and have taken the lesson to heart. The 
 halo of historic myth is around and about it, and it 
 seems to admiring generations as only an idealized rep- 
 resentation of what might be in a true patriot's heart. 
 And yet the same beautiful tribute was paid, the self- 
 same unselfish appreciation of duty was exhibited in a 
 quiet home on West river, in Maryland, when Captain 
 Wm. H. Murray went to announce to his mother that 
 the time had come for him, with others of his kind and 
 kin, to put in act and deed his expression of disavowal 
 of the acts that sought to set aside the cardinal political 
 doctrines that he had ever been taught were the safe- 
 guard and salvation of his Country. He asked his 
 mother's blessing, but with it asked for no expression 
 of desire that military glory and renown might come to 
 him, none that he might safely return to his well- 
 beloved home, none that he might see her face once 
 more — only the Spartan mother's blessing. This was 
 all he asked. It was from no boyish impulse, from no 
 ambitious longings, from no passion for the pomp and 
 panoply of War that he was ready and willing to enter 
 upon the uncertain struggle. He saw and knew the 
 right, and with his life was earnestly determined to 
 maintain it, "with my shield, Mother, or upon it," and 
 so the blessing was asked, and so was given. And on 
 his shield, all glorious and stainless, he was borne to the 
 home of his fathers. 
 
 .Living, he was an example bright to follow ! Dead, 
 he is a splended memory that we most gladly and 
 proudly honor. 
 
 27* 
 
A PRAYER FOR PEACE. 
 
 >EACE! Peace! God of our fathers, grant us Peace 1 
 
 Unto our cry of anguish and despair 
 Give ear and pity ! From the lonely homes, 
 Where widowed beggary and orphaned woe 
 Fill their poor urns with tears; from trampled plains, 
 Where the bright harvest Thou hast sent us, rots — 
 The blood of them who should have garnered it 
 Calling to Thee— from fields of carnage, where 
 The foul-beaked vultures, sated, flap their wiugs 
 O'er crowded corpses, that but yesterday 
 Bore hearts of brothers, beating high with love 
 And common hopes and pride, all blasted now ;— 
 Father of Mercies! not alone from these 
 Our prayer and wail are lifted. Not alone 
 Upon the battle's seared and desolate track, 
 Nor with the sword and flame, is it, O God, 
 That Thou hast smitten us. Around our hearths, 
 And in the crowded streets and busy marts, 
 Where echo whispers not the far-off strife 
 That slays our loved ones;— in the solemn halls 
 Of safe and quiet counsel— nay, beneath 
 The temple-roofs that we have reared to Thee, 
 And mid their rising incense, — God of Peace! 
 The curse of war is on us. Greed and hate 
 
A PRAYER FOR PEACE. 327 
 
 Hungering for gold and blood: Ambition, bred 
 
 Of passionate vanity and sordid lusts, 
 
 Mad with the base desire of tyrannous sway 
 
 Over men's souls and thoughts; have set their price 
 
 On human hecatombs, and sell and buy 
 
 Their sons and brothers for the shambles. Priests, 
 
 With white, anointed, supplicating hands, 
 
 From Sabbath unto Sabbath clasped to Thee, 
 
 Burn, in their tingling pulses, to fling down 
 
 Thy censers and Thy cross, to clutch the throats 
 
 Of kinsmen by whose cradles they were born, 
 
 Or grasp the brand of Herod, and go forth 
 
 Till Rachel hath no children left to slay. 
 
 The very name of Jesus, writ upon 
 
 Thy shrines, beneath the spotless, outstretched wings 
 
 Of Thine Almighty Dove, is wrapt and hid 
 
 With bloody battle-flags, and from the spires 
 
 That rise -above them, angry banners fiout 
 
 The skies to which they point, amid the clang 
 
 Of rolling war songs tuned to mock Thy praise, 
 
 All things once prized and honored are forgot. 
 The Freedom that we worshipped, next to Thee; 
 The manhood that was Freedom's spear and shield: 
 The proud, true heart; the brave, outspoken word. 
 Which might be stifled, but could never wear 
 The guise, whate'er the profit, of a lie; — 
 All these are gone, and iu their stead, have come 
 The vices of the miser and the slave,— 
 Scorning no shame that bringeth gold or power, 
 Knowing no love, or faith, or reverence, 
 Or sympathy, or tie, or aim, or hope, 
 Save as begun in self, and ending there, 
 • like i. i these, O blessed God' 
 
o28 A PRAYER FOR PEACE. 
 
 Scourge us no longer ! Send us down, once more, 
 Some shining seraph in Thy glory clad, 
 To wake the midnight of our sorrowing 
 With tidings of Good Will and Peace to men ; 
 And if the star that through the darkness led 
 Earth's wisdom then, guide not our folly now, 
 Oh, be the lightning Thine Evangelist, 
 With all its fiery, forked tongues, to speak 
 The unanswerable message of Thy will. 
 
 Peace I Peace ! God of our fathers, grant us Peace 
 Peace in our hearts and at Thine altars; Peace 
 On the red waters and their blighted shores ; 
 Peace for the leaguered cities, and the hosts 
 That watch and bleed, around them and within ; 
 Peace for the homeless and the fatherless; 
 Peace for the captive on his weary way. 
 And the mad crowds who jeer his helplessness. 
 For them that suffer, them that do the wrong — 
 Sinning and sinned against — O God I for all — 
 For a distracted, torn, and bleeding land — 
 Speed the glad tidings I Give us, give us Peace I 
 
 S. Teackle Wallis. 1863. 
 
 -^H-Z3*Kr 
 
WILLIAM HENRY KINEHART. 
 
 SCULPTOR. 
 
 " Thus was Beauty sent from heaven, 
 The lovely ministress of truth and good 
 In this fair world.'" 
 
 this "lovely ministress," the teacher and in- 
 spire!* of Kinehart, our thanks are due; he 
 was her worker and the realizer of that ideal, 
 only infused into the soul by beauty, truth 
 and goodness. 
 
 William H. Kinehart was born in the year 1826. 
 His father was a farmer of German descent, honest and 
 thrifty. The boy gained the foundation of an English 
 education at a rustic school in Westminster, Frederick', 
 now Carroll county, Maryland, and when not em- 
 ployed in study he occupied his time in active duties 
 about his father's farm. Upon this place was a marble 
 quarry and stone-cutting yard, in which the sculptor 
 of the Future evinced deep interest. Thus Experience, 
 often the severest, though the faithfulest teacher, be- 
 stowed upon him early in life his first strong lesson. 
 The dullness of routine belonging to such an existence 
 did not satisfy the young Kinehart. At the age of six- 
 teen he obtained the consent of his father to seek an 
 apprenticeship in the city of Baltimore. Through the 
 aid of Andrew Gregg, Esq., a respectable merchant, lie 
 
330 WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART, 
 
 'was admitted to a position in the marble yards of 
 Baughman & Bevan, on North Howard sheet. When 
 not employed in arduous manual labor he cculd he 
 found in the Library or School of Design, at the Mary- 
 land Institute. Mythology, Ancient History, Anat- 
 omy, Architecture, Boohs of Art and Artists were his 
 teachers, his study and his themes. These treasures of 
 mind-knowledge he gathered and scattered, or else 
 stored for future use. His skill as a workman was so 
 great before he reached his majority, that we are told 
 the workmanship of the finest quality came from his, 
 hands. The best marble mantles were intrusted io 
 him, and at this time, says a contributor to the " Balti- 
 more Sun," "the stone-cutting trade had not reached 
 the perfection of the present day in Baltimore. There 
 were no steam saws and rubbers, and there was not the 
 same improvement in, or in fact, demand for elaborately 
 carved monuments and ornamented tablets." Delicacy 
 of design and artistic taste were revealed in a marked 
 manner in the work of this humble carver, whose name 
 was already glowing on the unread scroll for coming 
 days. His first lessons in practical mechanical drawing 
 were received from Frederick List, a fellow-workman. 
 Einehart was made foreman of Baughman s establish- 
 ment when only twenty-three years of age; and while 
 still holding this position he gained some praise for 
 several casts and finished statues which were the works 
 of his own hands. Einehart desired in some way to make 
 real the beautiful image, that Genius, inspired by Love 
 and touched by Fancy, had already presented to Ins 
 poet-vision. His desire was fulfilled through the earn- 
 est and substantial aid of Mr. W. T. Walters, whose 
 friendship, proved in more than empty words, the 
 Sculptor never forgot. He returned this strong help 
 with confidence and high respect, fully appreciated by 
 his benefactor. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY RINBHART. 331 
 
 The first visit of Rinehart to Europe was in 1855. 
 At Florence, in Italy, he worked with other young 
 artists for ordinary wages. Into his work he let his 
 heart escape, and imprisoned there it shone in each 
 curve and line of the polished marble. 
 11 O, Life, O, Poetry, 
 which means life in life!" 
 
 In the year 1857 he returned to Baltimore, bringing 
 with him two pieces in basso relievo. They represented 
 Night and Morning. They were purchased by Mr. 
 Augustus J. Albert, and are still in the possession of 
 that gentleman. Rinehart had for a while a studio at 
 Carroll Hall, in Baltimore city. In 1858, however, he 
 returned to Europe. He fixed his residence in the 
 Eternal City, which he regarded as his home, though 
 he paid frequent visits to the northern portion of 
 Europe. The inspiring atmosphere of Kome seemed to 
 awaken his marvelous energies into new life and free- 
 dom. In 1866 and 1872 he visited Baltimore. On the 
 10th of December, 1872, a heroic statue in bronze was 
 unveiled to the public in front of the State House 
 at Annapolis. The creator of the statue was William 
 H. Rinehart. The figure represents Chief Justice 
 Roger Brooke Taney. The orators upon this occasion 
 were Governor Pinkney Whyte, of Maryland, and Mr. 
 Severn Teackle Wallis, the poet-lawyer of Baltimore: 
 
 Address of Mr. S. Teackle Wallis. 
 The ceremonies attendant upon the unveiling of the 
 Statue erected by the State of Maryland, in honor of the 
 late Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, took place in 
 the Senate Chamber, at Annapolis, at noon of December 
 10t.h, 1872. The Report and Address of the Committee 
 were read by the chairman, Mr. S. T. Wallis, who in 
 their name made formal delivery of the Monument to 
 
332 WILLIAM HENRY RLNEHART. 
 
 the Governor of the State. His Excellency, Governor 
 
 Whyte, responded briefly, and when he had concluded, 
 
 company proceeded to the grounds in front of the 
 
 te House, where, upon the order of the Governor, 
 
 the statue was uncovered. 
 
 During the ceremony in the Chamber, the Governor 
 occupied the place of the President of the Senate, the 
 Judges of the Court of Appeals, with other prominent 
 representatives of the Bench and Bar of the State, being 
 upon one side, and the Officers of the Naval Academy, 
 in full uniform, with Eear Admiral Worden at their 
 head, being seated on the other. His Excellency re- 
 mained standing during the delivery of Mr. Wallis' 
 address. 
 Your Excellency : 
 
 By an Act of the General Assembly of Maryland, 
 passed at the Session of 1867, the sum of five thousand 
 dollars was appropriated for "the building or erecting 
 a suitable monument over the remains of the late Chief 
 Justice Eoger B. Taney, on some suitable site in the 
 Slate House yard, or in the State House itself," and 
 Messrs. G. Frederick Maddox, of St. Mary's county, 
 Charles E. Trail and Hugh McAleer, of Frederick 
 county, James T. Earle, of Queen Anne's county, Henry 
 Williams, of Calvert county, and George M. Gill and 
 S. T. Wallis, of Baltimore city, were appointed a com- 
 mittee to carry into effect the provisions of the statute. 
 Upon the organization of the committee, it was found 
 to be their unanimous desire that the execution of the 
 ; osed work should be entrusted to the distinguished 
 Iptor, Mr. William H. Kinchart, a native and citizen 
 ' ' aryland, for many years a resident of Home. The 
 >nnt appropriated being wholly insufficient, not only 
 to compensate the labors of so eminent an artist, but even 
 to meet the necessary cost of a monument at all worthy 
 
WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 333 
 
 of the State and the occasion, the committee entertained 
 serious doubts of their ability to discharge their duties 
 satisfactorily, without further legislative provision. 
 From this embarrassment they were happily relieved by 
 the liberality and public spirit of the artist himself, 
 who responded to their invitation by a prompt and un- 
 conditional acceptance of the commission. It is grati- 
 fying to the committee to make official acknowledgment 
 of their obligations to Mr. Rinehart, for the cheerful 
 readiness with which he not only undertook the work, 
 but volunteered to be content with the honor of the 
 commission as it stood, and the pride and pleasure of 
 uniting with his fellow-citizens in their tribute to the 
 illustrious dead. The committee, of course, did not 
 'feel that it became them so far to tax the generosity of 
 any individual citizen, and particularly one to whom 
 the State already owed so much, for the reflected honor 
 of his well-earned reputation. They, nevertheless, re- 
 quested Mr. Rinehart to prepare them such, design as 
 seemed to him appropriate, and the model of the present 
 statue was accordingly sent forward, while the General 
 Assembly of 1870 was in session. The engagement of 
 Mr. Rinehart and the plan of his work were so accepta- 
 ble to the members of both Houses, that an additional 
 appropriation of ten thousand dollars was at once made 
 for the completion of the monument, according to his 
 design, and under the direction of the original commit- 
 tee. It would be ungracious not to recognize the liberal 
 and most becoming spirit in which this legislative action 
 was taken, and its perfect accord with the deep and 
 spontaneous feeling which had welcomed the first appro- 
 priation. 
 
 The Legislature of 1867, as appears by the Act of that 
 date, had contemplated the removal of the remains of 
 Chief Justice Taney to the Capital of the State, and the 
 
334 WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 
 
 erection of the monument above them. The suggestion, 
 in itself, was eminently appropriate, for many reasons. 
 It was here that, as a student, he had laid the deep and 
 broad foundations of his professional learning and suc- 
 cess. In the chamber where we meet to-day, to do him 
 honor — and to whose historical associations this scene 
 will add another, not the least — he sate, for years, a 
 Senator of Maryland, the peer of the distinguished men 
 who sate around him, when no legislative body in the 
 Union surpassed that Senate in dignity, ability, or moral 
 elevation. In the Chamber there, above us, where the 
 honorable Judges, who join us in this tribute to his 
 memory, uphold the ancient credit of the State's Appel- 
 late Bench, at the zenith of his reputation as advocate 
 and counsel and in the very ripeness of his powers, he 
 shone, the leader of the bar of Maryland, its actual not 
 less than its official head. And those were days, too, 
 when to lead it was to walk in the footsteps of Pinkney 
 and be measured by the measure of his genius. If, 
 therefore, he had slept beneath this dome, or in its 
 shadow, it would have been with the dwelling-places of 
 his fame about him, surrounded by the olden and con- 
 secrated memories of the State, which was but a revolted 
 colony when he was born. 
 
 Bat the wishes of the Chief Justice himself, upon that 
 subject, had been too strong and were too sacred, to be 
 violated by his children, even for the gratification of the 
 public desire. The quiet town of Frederick, the theatre 
 of his earlier professional distinction, was hallowed to 
 him by the grave of his mother, and when he left it, in 
 mid life, for larger spheres of usefulness and honor, he 
 exacted the pledge, from those who loved him, that he 
 should be laid beside her when he died. Nor was this 
 the outbreak of fresh grief or transient sentiment or 
 feeling. Through all his life of toil and struggle, am- 
 

 WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 660 
 
 bition, reward and disappointment, it was his dearest 
 longing; and there is something inexpressibly touching 
 in the wanner and more anxious hope with which the 
 world-worn man clung fast to it, as the period drew 
 nearer for its consummation. The literature of the 
 English tongue has nothing that exceeds in mournful 
 tenderness and grace the expression which he gave to 
 it, in a letter written but a little while before the pledge 
 of friendship was redeemed. Such a feeling — so devoted, 
 and cherished for so long — it would have been next to 
 sacrilege to disregard, and the Legislature of 1870 re- 
 spected it accordingly, by withdrawing from the appro- 
 priation of their predecessors and their own all but the 
 one condition, which required the monument to be 
 erected where it stands. The final selection of that 
 locality, with its exposure, rendered it expedient that 
 the statue should be cast in bronze, and the Legislature, 
 therefore, so directed. 
 
 With the erection of the monument, the prescribed 
 duties of the committee which I have the honor to rep- 
 resent were substantially ended, but in view of the time 
 which must elapse before another session of the General 
 Assembly, they have deemed it due to the dignity of 
 the occasion respectfully to invite the official interven- 
 tion of your Excellency, in delivering tjie finished work 
 to the people of the State. It would have been a pleas- 
 ure to them, if they could have felt at liberty to antici- 
 pate the wishes of the Legislature, or have ventured to 
 ask that your Excellency would gratify your own, by 
 authorizing a more formal celebration than this quiet 
 homestead gathering. 
 
 As a few moments will disclose to us, the artist has 
 chosen to present us his illustrious subject in his robes 
 of office, as we saw him when he sate in judgment. The 
 stature is heroic, but, with that exception, the traits of 
 
336 WILLIAM HENRY RIXEHART. 
 
 nature are not altered or disguised. The weight of 
 years that bent the venerable form has not been light- 
 ened, and the lines of care, and suffering, and thought, 
 are as life traced them. But, unless the master's hand 
 has lost its cunning, we shall see not merely the linea- 
 ments we knew, but traces of the soul which illuminated 
 and informed them. The figure has been treated by the 
 artist in the spirit of that noble and absolute simplicity 
 which is the type of the highest order of greatness, and 
 is therefore its grandest, though its most difficult ex- 
 pression, in art. The sculptor deals easily enough with 
 subjects which admit of ornament and illustration, or 
 address the passions or the fancy. The graces he can 
 lend his work — the smiles with which it wins us — the 
 beautiful or joyous images or thoughts with which he 
 can surround it — each is to us an open leaf of the fair 
 poem which he writes in bronze or marble. Like the 
 chorus of a drama, they tell, even for the worst of poets, 
 far more than half his story. Another task indeed it is, 
 to embody in a single image the expression of a great 
 historic life, so that standing severe and apart, it shall 
 be its own interpreter, forever, to the generations of 
 men. 
 
 The pathway of a great judge does not lead through 
 the realms of fancy. Neither in reality nor in retro- 
 spect is there much of the flush of imagination upon it 
 or about it. With such a career Art cannot deal, nor 
 History, as with those brilliant lives, which dazzle while 
 they last and are seen only through a halo when they 
 are over. The warrior, the orator, the poet — each in 
 his way — is linked with the imagination or enthusiasm 
 of mankind; and so the broken sword, the unstrung 
 lyre, the shattered column with its cypress wreaths, all 
 have their voices for the common heart. But the at- 
 mosphere of pure intellect and dispassionate virtue, 
 
WILLIAM HENRY RINE1IART. odT 
 
 serene although it be, is far loo cold for ordinary sympa- 
 thies to live in. The high ministers of human justice 
 are segregated from their fellows, by their very function, 
 which shuts out favor and affection. Fidelity to the 
 obligation which withdraws them from the daily inter- 
 ests and passions and almost from the converse of 
 society, is the patent of their nobility in their great 
 office. The loftier the nature the more complete its 
 isolation to the general eye — the fewer the throbs which 
 answer to its pulses. Such men may be cherished and 
 beloved, in the personal and near relations which are 
 the dearest blessing of all lives. They may be venerated 
 and revered, so that all heads shall be bowed and un- 
 covered when they pass. But they go, when life closes, 
 into the chamber of heroes, fated to dwell afar off, only, 
 in the memories and minds of men. 
 
 When the great citizen whose image is beside us 
 walked, in his daily walk, amid our reverence, the sim- 
 ple beauty of his private life was all before us. We can 
 recall his kindly smile, his open hand, his gracious, 
 gentle speech. The elders of our generation will re- 
 member how his stormy nature was subdued, by duty 
 and religion, to the temperance, humility and patience 
 which we knew. All of us saw and wondered how do- 
 mestic sorrows, the toils and trials of his station, old 
 age, infirmity of body, ingratitude, injustice, persecu- 
 tion, still left his intellect unclouded, his courage un- 
 subdued, his fortitude unshaken, his calm and lofty 
 resignation and endurance descending to no murmur 
 nor resentment. These things the sculptor is not called 
 to tell to those who shall come after us. The pen of 
 the biographer has worthily recorded them, and just 
 posterity will read what he has written. The image of 
 the Magistrate and Ruler, as the world was wont to see 
 him, is all that the chisel bequeaths to immortality — 
 28* 
 
338 WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 
 
 his image, as History shall see it, when, ashamed of the 
 passions of our day, she shall he once more reconciled 
 with Truth. With this noblest of the tasks of Art, 
 only genius may deal fitly — yet genius has dwelt with 
 it, and its difficulties, overcome, are the glory and the 
 triumph of genius. 
 
 Thus, then, to-day, sir, the State of Maryland, with 
 grateful reverence and pride, commemorates a life, than 
 which few greater, and none loftier or purer, shall dig- 
 nify the annals of our country. It was a life coeval 
 with her own, and a part of her own, and she honors 
 what she knew. It was a life of patriotism, of duty 
 and of sacrifice ; a life whose aim and effort, altogether, 
 were to be, and do, and bear, and not to seem. The 
 monument her people rear to it is scarcely less her monu- 
 ment than his to whom it rises. What changes shall 
 roll round it with the rolling seasons; whether it shall 
 survive the free institutions of which Taney was the 
 worshiper and champion, or shall see them grow in 
 stability, security and splendor; whether it shall wit- 
 ness the development and beneficent expansion of the 
 constitutional system which it was the labor of his life 
 and love to understand and to administer, or shall be- 
 hold it, 
 
 " Like a circle in the water, 
 Which never ctastth to enlarge itself, 
 Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to naught" — 
 
 are questions which men will answer to themselves, ac- 
 cording to their hopes or fears — according to their trust, 
 it may be, in the mercy and providence of God. But 
 Maryland has done her part for good, in this at least, 
 that she has made imperishable record, for posterity, of 
 the great example of her son. She has builded as it 
 were a shrine to those high civic qualities and public 
 virtues, without which, in their rulers, republics are a 
 sham, and freedom cannot long abide among a, people. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY RINEIIAET. 66\i 
 
 It was, I was about to say, the sad mischance — but, 
 in a higher though more painful sense, the privilege 
 and fortune — of Chief Justice Taney, io fill his place 
 in times of revolution and unparalleled convulsion — 
 when blood boiled in the veins of brethren, till it was 
 red upon a million hands. In such a crisis, no man so 
 conspicuous as he, and yet so bound to shun the rancor 
 of the strife, could hope for freedom from distrust and 
 challenge. A soul, brave and tenacious as his was — so 
 sensitive to duty, and so resolute to do it — provoked 
 injustice not to be appeased, and dared reproaches which 
 he might not answer. His constitutional opinions were 
 already part of the recorded jurisprudence of the coun- 
 try, and he could not change them, because the tempest 
 was hoAvling. It was the conviction of his life that the 
 Government under which we lived was of limited pow- 
 ers, and that its Constitution had been framed for war 
 as well as peace. Though he died, therefore, he could 
 not surrender that conviction at the call of the trumpet. 
 He had plighted his troth to the Liberty of the citizen 
 and the supremacy of the Laws, and no man could put 
 them asunder. 
 
 Whatever might be the right of the people to change 
 their Government, or to overthrow it, he believed that 
 the duty of the judges was simply to maintain the Con- 
 stitution, while it lasted, and, if need were, defend it to 
 the death. He knew himself its minister and servant 
 only — not its master — commissioned to obey and not to 
 alter. He stood, therefore, in the very rush of the tor- 
 rent, and, as he was immovable, it swept over him. He 
 had lived a life so stainless, that to question his integ- 
 rity was enough to beggar the resources of falsehood 
 and make even shamelessness ashamed. He had given 
 lustre and authority, by his wisdom and learning, to the 
 judgments of the Supreme Tribunal, and had presided 
 
oil) WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 
 
 over its deliberations with a dignity, impartiality and 
 courtesy which elevated even the administration of jus- 
 tice. Every year of his labors had increased the re- 
 spect and affection of his brethren and heightened the 
 confidence and admiration of the profession which 
 looked up to him as worthily its chief. And yet he 
 died, traduced and ostracised, and his image was with- 
 held from its place in the chamber which was filled 
 already with his fame. 
 
 Against all this, the State of Maryland here registers 
 her protest in the living bronze. She records it in no 
 spirit of resentment or even of contention, but silently 
 and proudly— as her illustrious son, without a word, 
 committed his reputation to the justice of his country- 
 men. Nor doubts she of the answer that posterity will 
 make to her appeal. Already the grateful manhood of 
 the people has begun to vindicate itself and him. 
 Already, among those whose passion did him wrong, 
 the voices of the most eminent and worthy have been 
 lifted, in confession of their own injustice and in manly 
 homage to his greatness and his virtues. Already the 
 waters of the torrent have nearly spent their force, and 
 high above them, as they fall, unstained by their pollu- 
 tion and unshaken by their rage, stands where it stood, 
 in grand and reverend simplicity, the august figure of 
 the great Chief Justice ! 
 
 Governor Whvte's Eeply. 
 
 Governor Whyte proceeded to reply from his place. 
 He said : 
 
 Accustomed, almost from the cradle, to revere the name 
 of Taney as the synonym of all that is just and good, 
 I dare not now give utterance to my private feelings, 
 but must needs confine myself to the cold formality of 
 
WILLIAM HENRY RINEHAKT. 
 
 341 
 
 official duty. Maryland had already reared a stately 
 column to him who was "first in war, first in peace, 
 and first in the hearts of his countrymen,"' and it was 
 the duty, as it has been the pleasure of the State, to 
 hand down to posterity, as in this memorial of molten 
 bronze, an enduring tribute of affection and regard for 
 her own illustrious son, upon whose shoulders the 
 judicial ermine lay, stainless as the virgin snow. 
 
 In accepting your report and taking the statue into 
 the permanent custody of the State, I should be remiss 
 in dutv, as its representative, did I not thank you for 
 your willing and faithful discharge of the obligation 
 laid upon you, and I congratulate the State that your 
 voluntary choice of the artist to execute the legislative 
 resolve, has fallen upon one of her own honored 
 children. In his presence and in advance of the ex- 
 position of his finished work, delicacy forbids my 
 further comment. 
 
 There must be, I think, general concurrence of senti- 
 ment that this is not the appropriate occasion for an 
 extended eulogy upon the life and character of the late 
 Chief Justice, (if, indeed, a life of "apostolic simplicity" 
 be not its own best eulogist,) but it will be my privilege, 
 in response to an apparent popular demand, to make 
 suggestions to the General Assembly that a proper 
 moment and an apt orator be selected to do justice to 
 his preeminent judicial services and to commemorate 
 his private virtues in the presence of the two Houses, 
 in each of which, at times during his long and useful 
 life, he was a distinguished actor, and much of whose 
 legislation bears the impress of his master-hand. 
 
 Thus, day by day through his life, he carved and 
 wrought his way, which was as the beginning of a grand 
 jeweled stair-case leading up to the Temple of Fame. 
 
342 WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 
 
 After this rare triumphal acknowledgment of Eine- 
 hart's worth by his own countrymen, he returned to 
 Italy. Here he continued his work earnestly and 
 steadily. His statues are numerous; that of Clyte, one 
 of the most famous, was purchased for the citizens of 
 Baltimore by Mr. John W. McCoy. It is now in the 
 Peabody Institute. Into this beautiful creation the 
 artist seems to have infused the golden glow of that 
 olden story with all of its mythological sadness and 
 sweetness. Presenting to the mind most vividly the 
 lovely spirit of that flower which 
 
 " turns on her god when he sets 
 The same look that she turned when he rose." 
 
 The bronze doors at the National Capitol, so noted for 
 the beauty of workmanship, were begun by Crawford 
 and completed by Einehart at Eome, in fulfillment of 
 Crawford's dying request. Four years were required to 
 perfect this labor, and the doors were then brought to 
 America under his charge. During his stay in Wash- 
 ington, he made the statuettes on the clock in the House 
 of Eepresentatives. 
 
 Among the creations of this artist is a statue of En- 
 dymion, which represents a sleeping boy. In this, 
 Kinehart followed the true mythological story. En- 
 dymion had received from Jove the gift of perpetual 
 youth. The Queen of the Moon, clad in her mantle of 
 silver, guarded him in his unbroken sleep for love's 
 sake; and while he slept, she watched his flocks and 
 made them increase untended by their earthly shepherd. 
 Erom the poet we learn 
 
 "How she conveyed him softly in a sleep, 
 1 1 is temples bound with poppy, t<> the steep 
 Head of old Latinos, where she stoops each night, 
 Gilding the mountain with her brother's light, 
 To kiss her sweetest." 
 
WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 343 
 
 The brave and fond Antigone forms the subject of 
 another statue closely uniting the ideal with the real. 
 In Rinehart's work we behold the dreams of a poet, 
 whose songs*arrested in their upward flight, stand for- 
 ever before us in forms of marble. 
 
 Hero, too, whose name has been echoed down the cor- 
 ridors of ages, he has not forgotten. She who watched 
 for the nightly coining of that lover who finally, 
 
 " Sinking bewildered 'mid the dreary sea," 
 came no more. 
 
 Four years would have been necessary to accomplish 
 the work awaiting the master-hand when Death over- 
 came him. The number of statues completed, as well 
 as the busts of many well-known citizens of the United 
 States, seems almost incredible to an ordinary mind. 
 
 The subjects chosen from the mythical legends of 
 Greece and Eome, seem to have responded best to the 
 bent of his peculiar genius. It was his delight to wan- 
 der in fancy amid the shadowy realms of ancient days, 
 peopled by races that to us might seem only as the gods 
 and goddesses of mythology, were it not for the remnants 
 of glorious temples and statues, left scattered in the 
 pathway of destroying Time. So, occasionally comes 
 suddenly into our midst one who seems of that lost 
 people who moved familiarly amongst the creations of 
 perfected Art— the children of Music, of Sculpture, of 
 Poetry : 
 
 " The fair humanities of old religion, 
 The Power, the Beauty and the Majesty 
 That had their haunts in dale or piny mountain, 
 Or forest, by slow stream, or pebbly spring, 
 Or chasms and watery depths; 
 • Spirits or gods that used to share this earth 
 With man as with their friend." 
 
344 WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 
 
 This is but a poor recital of the arduous life-labors of 
 an artist. The writer of this sketch performs the lesser 
 work of wrapping about the pedestal upon which rests 
 the statue, a drapery whose warm tints ma} 7 , in some 
 degree, throw forth the strong, pure outlines of the 
 snowy marble. The better work is left for a bolder 
 pen to accomplish. 
 
 Overtaxed in mind and body, Einehart fell a victim 
 to that merciless disease — consumption. Following the 
 wish of his physician lie repaired to Switzerland, hoping 
 to obtain relief from the baths of Sodon. The progress 
 of the disease, however, could not be arrested; it did its 
 work rapidly and surely. His death took place at Eome 
 on the 28th day of October, 1874. He left messages of 
 love, and tokens of regard and remembrance to friends, 
 many of whom were young artists. He was a quiet, un- 
 assuming man, of a strong, deep nature. An artist-poet 
 in temperament, and unchanging in his attachments. 
 There is a touching story told of the artist's affection 
 for a lady whom he outlived. It may be a romance 
 fashioned for the occasion, yet it wears the hallowed 
 pathos of a sacred truth; and the tender beauty of a 
 perfect love. 
 
 By his last will and testament, Einehart bequeaths to 
 each of his brothers, five in number, the sum of $2,000. 
 The remainder of his estate he directs to be made use 
 of for the benefit and advancement of Art. This por- 
 tion of his will is as follows : 
 
 u Third. Being desirous of aiding in the promotion of 
 a more highly cultivated taste for art among the people 
 of my native State, and of assisting young men in the 
 study of the art of sculpture who may desire to make it 
 a profession, but having at the present time no definite 
 plan in view for the accomplishment of these objects, I 
 give, devise and bequeath all the rest and residue of my 
 
WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 345 
 
 estate, real, personal and mixed, and wheresoever situ- 
 ated, unto my two personal friends, William T. Walters 
 and Benjamin F. Newcomer, of the city of Baltimore, or 
 the survivor of them, or the heirs, executors, or admin- 
 istrators of such survivor, in trust and confidence, with 
 the injunction that the whole of said residue of my estate? 
 or the proceeds thereof, shall be devoted and appropri- 
 ated by them, according to their best judgment and 
 discretion, to the promotion of the objects and purposes 
 named above. 
 
 "And if, in the opinion of my said trustees, this can 
 be best accomplished by any concert of action with the 
 trustees of the Peabody Institute, or by the establishment 
 of a professorship in connection with the gallery of art, 
 which, at some future time, is to be provided for by that 
 corporation, or by the investment of any portion of the 
 funds so held by them in trust, and aiding, from the 
 income derived from such investment, deserving young 
 men who are desirous of pursuing their studies abroad, 
 but are without the means of doing so, they, my said 
 trustees, are at liberty to adopt any or all or none of 
 these methods, or to transfer the trust, or the estate so 
 held by them in trust, to any corporation which, in their 
 judgment, would best serve the purposes indicated." 
 
 As justice should be the meed of justice, the following 
 honest truths, extracted from the " Baltimore Sun," will 
 bear reprinting upon this occasion : 
 
 "The art culture of Great Britain has, in ten years, 
 added twenty-five per cent, to the earning capacity of 
 the industry of the country. While so much has been 
 accomplished in England, and scarcely less in France 
 and Germany, the United States, with the exception of 
 such admirable institutions as the Maryland Institute 
 School of Design, and the like school in the Cooper In- 
 stitute of New York, and a few others, has almost stood 
 29 
 
346 WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 
 
 still. The beneficent influence of the Maryland Insti- 
 tute school upon different branches of industry and the 
 practical work of life in its various forms in this city 
 will be readily conceded by all. Yet it is a curious fact 
 that in the ' Circulars of Information of the Bureau of 
 Education, No. 2, 1874/ issued from the Department of 
 the Interior, Washington, and which professes to give 
 the facts as to ' drawing in public schools ; the present 
 relation of art to education in the United States/ there 
 is not a solitary allusion to the facilities afforded for 
 that object in Maryland. The report informs us that 
 Massachusetts was the first State to provide for such 
 training in the public schools, a law having been passed 
 to that effect in 1870. We are informed of schools for 
 the practical teaching of art as applied to industry and 
 manufactures in various Massachusetts towns, in New 
 York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati ; of schools of art 
 in various parts of the North and West, and there is not 
 one word of the Maryland Institute School of Design, 
 nor of what other Maryland schools have done in the 
 same direction, within a distance of only forty miles 
 from Washington. The Maryland Institute has been in 
 operation over twenty-six years, and has male and female 
 classes, who are not only taught industrial drawing, but 
 art proper, and it was here that the famous sculptor, 
 Rinehart, who has attained a world-wide reputation, re- 
 ceived his primary training. 
 
 "Drawing has been also taught in the female high 
 schools of the city for over ten years, as well as in the 
 Baltimore City College for boys. The private collec- 
 tions of paintings and statuary in Baltimore are proba- 
 bly surpassed by those of no other city in the Union, 
 and yet here we have a public document sent from 
 the Department of the Interior, Washington, for the 
 'information' of the American people on this subject, 
 
WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 347 
 
 which announces to the public what has been done far 
 out in New England and Northern States, in ' South 
 Bend,' Indiana, and even in San Francisco, and has no 
 * information ' of what has been so long and so nobly 
 accomplished in Baltimore, right under its own eyes. 
 
 "It is a pity that as much cannot be said of the country 
 at large. The United States in 1848 was at the foot of 
 the competitors in industrial art, and was little or no 
 better off at the French exhibition of 1868. The atten- 
 tion of our people should be more directed to this sub- 
 ject, and the example of England in this regard be 
 emulated. Industrial art should find a place in our 
 public schools, and it is satisfactory that such a move- 
 ment is being made. Some productions of American 
 industry may be indicative of the results that flow from 
 the neglect of cultivating art in its industrial forms." 
 
 William H. Kinehart was about forty-eight years of 
 age at the time of his death. His mortal remains were, 
 according to his own request, brought to his native 
 land. His funeral took place in the city of Baltimore, 
 on Saturday, January 2d, 1875. 
 
 Wreaths and garlands of rare flowers, together with 
 the suggestive laurel-leaves, were sent as a last tribute 
 from friends even so far away as Italy. The casket in 
 which his body was placed, was borne by S. Teackle 
 Wallis, A. J. H. Way, W. T. Walters, Arthur Quartley, 
 John W. McCoy, Frank B. Mayer, B. F. Newcomer, 
 Edwin F. Abel, Edward G-. McDowell, Hugh Sisson, 
 John R. Cox and G. H. Hunt. 
 
 The funeral services were performed at the West- 
 minster Presbyterian Church. A memorial address 
 was made by the pastor, the Reverend D. C. Marquis. 
 Here is a portion of it : 
 
 " There is much to always be learned from the record 
 of an earnest, laborious, honorable life. It is both 
 
34S WILLIAM HENRY RINEIIART. 
 
 pleasant and profitable to dwell upon the history of one 
 who has achieved greatness, eminence and an honorable 
 fame by the force of natural genius, directed by patient, 
 persevering, untiring labor: 
 
 " Lives of great men all remind us 
 
 We may make our lives sublime, 
 And departing, leave behind us 
 
 Footprints in the sands of time." 
 
 I could wish that some one better qualified than my- 
 self had undertaken the task of paying a worthy tribute 
 to the memory of Einehart. Tor his is a name that 
 belongs not to Baltimore alone, nor to Maryland, nor to 
 America, but to the world. I shall not attempt to assign 
 his niche in the Temple of Fame, or to give him his true 
 place or rank among the devotees of art. I know too 
 little of such matters to presume to speak concerning 
 them with understanding or authority. Neither do I 
 feel called upon to describe his personal character, to 
 extol his virtues or to excuse his faults; for, not having 
 had the honor and the pleasure of his acquaintance 
 during life, I could not speak from personal knowledge, 
 and therefore would prefer to lay all personality aside. 
 There are some things of a more general -character, 
 however, which I can with propriety say on this occasion. 
 I shall say them for the benefit of the living as well as 
 in honor of the dead. 
 
 The brief but brilliant career of Einehart is a proof 
 that excellence is the result of labor. The old Latin 
 proverb "Nulla excellentia sine lahcre" is a lesson that 
 needs to be impressed upon the young men of this gen- 
 eration. Some whom God has blessed with native talent 
 rely upon their genius, and failure tells them of their 
 error when too late to apply the remedy. Others sup- 
 posing that excellence is altogether due to the easy , 
 
WILLIAM HENRY RINEHART. 349 
 
 flights of genius, and acknowledging their own defi- 
 ciency in this regard, settle down content with medi- 
 ocrity, omitting all earnestness of effort, never rousing 
 their energies to the struggle, 
 
 But here was a man who carved his way to the front 
 rank in his profession by earnest, patient, unremitting ' 
 labor. H is native talen t was undoubtedly of the highest 
 order. His genius pointed the way and gave form and 
 shape to the bright ideal that became the goal to which 
 he struggled to attain. But after all, the secret of suc- 
 cess, the subtle charm that lifted him above discourage- 
 ment and made him superior to defects, was simply hard 
 work. The man who has a genius for faithful, honest 
 work will make his name known and his influence felt 
 by his generation. It is patient, persevering, enduring 
 labor that makes men great, 
 
 The beautiful creations of the sculptor's chisel are 
 the monuments that perpetuate his fame. But you and 
 I, no less truly than he, are rearing monuments that 
 shall live a] specimens of our handiwork after Ave are 
 gone. The influence we exert, the power we wield for 
 good or ill, the impress we leave upon the character, 
 and the touch that gives direction to the lives of those 
 around us or those who are coming after us— all these 
 are monuments that will speak for us or against us when 
 we ourselves are cold in death. Let us see to it, then, 
 that every influence of ours shall tend to the creation 
 of shapes of moral beauty that shall minister pleasure 
 to all beholders. No matter what may be our position 
 or profession, the influence Ave exert will live after us. 
 We can make it appear in form more beautiful than the 
 most perfect figures of marble or of bronze, for Ave can 
 be the instruments in reproducing the likeness of Christ, 
 and of fitting immortal souls for the companionship of 
 heaven. 
 
350 WILLIAM HENRY RINEIIART. 
 
 The busiest life, the life that seems most important 
 and that has most work before it, is no security against 
 the approach of death. Here was a man who, by long 
 years of patient labor, had just attained that position 
 where he could accomplish most in his profession. In 
 the prime of life and with the period of most effective 
 work before him, he must lie down and die. The world 
 feels the loss, especially in that higher realm of art 
 where the few are privileged to walk. But here are 
 scores of busy men from all the walks of prokssional 
 and commercial life — some just struggling up to a posi- 
 tion of effective usefulness, and others with standing 
 fairly won are prepared to accomplish more in the years 
 to come than has been achieved in all the past. But 
 are you prepared for all the possible contingencies of the 
 journey ? Have you counted on the probability of death ? 
 Man of thirty, forty, fifty years, have yon met this -ques- 
 tion and settled it for yourself? Don't imagine your 
 life to be so important that it must last until you think 
 your work is done. Get ready for death and you are 
 ready for anything. Get ready for death and you are 
 already more thoroughly equipped for life's work. For 
 that man only is prepared to live who is well prepared 
 to die. 
 
 "Life is real, life is earnest, 
 And the grave is not its goal, 
 
 'Dust thou art, to dust returnest' 
 Was not spoken of the soul." 
 
 Until an appropriate resting-place should be chosen, 
 Rinehart's remains were placed in the family vault of 
 Mr. AV. T. Walters, one of his earliest friends and bene- 
 factors. Here in the " shadow of his own beautiful art 
 creations," they left him in the chill of a winter's day. 
 Here, " Love reconciled with Death," keeps silent and 
 unbroken vigilance over the dead. The flowers which 
 
WILLIAM HENRY RINEIIART. 
 
 351 
 
 we drop upon a grave are testimonies of love or respect 
 cine to the doer of good deeds, and faithful work on 
 earth. Many who are hurrying onward towards the 
 final goal, seeing these flowers, may stop and ponder — 
 and a few will learn. 
 
THE DYING GIRL TO HER LOVER, 
 
 A SONG. 
 
 TOO late, ah ! dearest one, too late, 
 Thou comest to thiue own again; 
 Alas ! to die is my sad fate, 
 
 Why, why must bliss thus eud in pain ; 
 They parted us — ah ! doom too sure 
 
 To leave me thus in grief to pine ! 
 Thy fondness now eau ne'er restore 
 
 This pale and wasted form of mine. 
 
 But better thus at life's last hour, 
 
 To know that thou dost love me ttlll, 
 Thau linger on, a filled flower, 
 
 Touched by a blight that could not kill. 
 Fast fade those features, dear, of thine, 
 
 No more I mark thy anxious eye, 
 Then press thy warm sweet l ; ps to mine, 
 
 And let me thus in rapture die. 
 
 George Hay Ringgold, 
 
 United States Anny. 
 
THE AUTHOR OF "EMILY CHESTER " 
 
 NNE MONCURE CRAKE was born in the 
 City of Baltimore, January 7th, 1838. She 
 was the daughter of William Crane, an emi- 
 nent merchant of that cit} r . The great-great- 
 great-grandfather of William Crane was Jasper Crane, 
 who settled in Newark, New Jersey, in 1666. He was 
 afterward made first Magistrate of the City of Newark. 
 His only son was Azariah Crane, who married Mary 
 Treat, the daughter of Governor Robert Treat, who, in 
 the well-known Charter Oak affair, withstood Sir Ed- 
 mund Androas. The mother of Anne Moncnre Crane 
 was a member of the Stone family. The founder of this 
 family in Maryland was the Honorable William Stone, 
 the third Governor of the Province, and a supporter of 
 the policy of Lord Baltimore during the usurpation of 
 Cromwell. Thomas Stone, the grandson of Governor 
 William Stone, and the youngest of the signers of the 
 Declaration of Independence, was the grandfather of 
 Mrs. Crane and the great-grandfather of Anne Moncure 
 Crane. Miss Crane was a woman of strong features, 
 luxuriant hair, and dark eyes. Her mouth, though 
 large, wore a pleasant and intelligent expression. Her 
 face indicated by its force somewhat of the capability 
 as well as the intensity of her nature. Under the 
 
354 ANNE MONCURE CRANE. 
 
 guidance of the Beverend N. A. Morrison her education 
 was mainly directed. 
 
 She graduated in the year 1855. When about twenty 
 years of age, in 1858, she began the story of Emily Ches- 
 ter. Urged on and sustained by a certain inspiration, 
 she completed the work that won her first reputation as 
 an author. When finished, the novel was put quietly 
 away, nor was the manuscript produced for publication 
 until five years had gone by. The story of "Emily 
 Chester" was published by Messrs. Ticknor & Fields, 
 without other greater recommendation than its own 
 words, the representatives of an intellectual vigor only 
 half revealed. "In a short space of time ten editions 
 were required. In addition to these, four rival editions 
 were brought out in England — while a translation, pub- 
 lished at Leipzic, met with a most appreciative reception 
 from the countrymen of Goethe." 
 
 Of this work Mrs. Forrester says : " It was published 
 without a word of preface to give the least hint of the 
 whereabouts of the author, and was not covered with 
 the pall of * Great Southern Novel,' as is usually the 
 mode in which novels by Southern writers are an- 
 nounced." 
 
 The opening scenes of this book, and some that are 
 most interesting, are placed in Maryland. It has been 
 said that the characters are drawn from life. Whether 
 they be drawn from individual lives or otherwise, they 
 are delineated with a bold and masterly hand, equal to 
 the task. In "Emily Chester," the author is said to 
 have idealized herself. " Certainly," exclaimed a friend 
 of that writer, " the glorious hair that crowned the head 
 of Emily Chester belonged to Anne Crane." The Hon. 
 George II. Hilliard concludes a review of the book in 
 these words : 
 
 " From the first chapter the author seizes the at ten- 
 
ANNE MONCURE CRANE. OOO 
 
 tion with the strong grasp of Genius, and holds it 
 unbroken to the last. And when the end comes we lay 
 the book down with a sort of sigh of relief at the 
 relaxation of fibers stretched to a painful degree of 
 tension." 
 
 Gail Hamilton tells us that she does not know that 
 American novel-literature has produced any other work 
 of the kind. 
 
 When the author of this book was discovered to be 
 Miss Crane, her companionship was sought and culti- 
 vated by many who, owing to her student-life of seclu- 
 sion, had scarcely known of her existence before. So 
 does talent raise its possessor above the level of less 
 gifted mortals. 
 
 In November of 1867, "Opportunity — A Novel by 
 the Author of Emily Chester," was given to the world. 
 This, too, is a Maryland story. The added experience 
 of several years, a profounder thought and wider knowl- 
 edge gained thereby, marks this book more as a child 
 of the brain than of the heart. 
 
 The freshness of a first strong effort wins and holds 
 the attention in the story of Emily Chester that speaks 
 to and of the heart rather than the brain. When Paul 
 Hay ne, the poet, tells us of the heroine of " Oppor- 
 tunity," that " she is little more than a girl in years, 
 but her heart and intellect are strangely precocious," we 
 are strongly reminded of the author of " Emily Chester," 
 of whom the same words might have been written. 
 
 On the 23d of September, 1869, Miss Crane became 
 the wife of Mr. Agustus Seemiiller, a wealthy merchant 
 of New York, a gentleman of intelligence and culture. 
 For three years after her marriage Mrs. Seemiiller re- 
 sided in the city of New York. In April, of the year 
 1871, her third book saw the light. It was entitled 
 "Reginald Archer." It was written in New York 
 
356 ANNE MONCURE CRANE. 
 
 while the great sad life of that wonderful city surged 
 about her lesser life then near. to its goal. In reply to a 
 friend who asked r " What could have induced you to 
 write such a book?" She answered, "Since I have 
 lived in New York, I have learned of such fearful 
 things, that had I not written this book, the very 
 stones would have cried out against me!" This book 
 has met with much censure, and in some cases has been 
 wholly condemned as in, moral. It must be admitted 
 that the general tone of this book would seem to be 
 rather demoralizing than elevating in its tendencies. 
 Yet it was, doubtless, the purpose of the writer to give 
 only "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
 truth." The faithful writer is as a missioner to the 
 world. Those darker sins that blast the hope and peace- 
 fulness of life, and damn souls for eternity, we should 
 be taught to hate and fear. Yet the beautiful things 
 that God has given should be more frequently and 
 brightly portrayed, to lead us from the lower paths 
 upwards. "Reginald Archer" contains some sweet 
 truths as well as bitter ones. It would have been 
 better, perhaps, had the bitterer ones been left more to 
 the imagination — some pure minds and hearts might 
 thus be saved from a hateful knowledge not otherwise 
 learned. 
 
 Here are a few extracts from " Reginald Archer ;" 
 they are selected by one who, turning the leaves, takes 
 from this and that what " seemeth to me the best." 
 
 "There is another aspect of the subject, which Christ 
 glorified forever when he took little children in his arms 
 and blessed them : and it seems, at times, that we would 
 do well to take our own childhood in our arms, and let 
 it bless us ; going back to those innocent early days 
 when we were both good and glad." — Page 1. 
 
 " It is not David, poet and singer of Israel, not Solo- 
 
ANNE MONCURE CRANE. 357 
 
 mon, wisest of men, not Moses, prince, hero and law- 
 giver, but it is Jacob, who loved one woman, and served 
 for her fourteen years, which ' were but as a single day 
 for the love that he bore her ;' whose tenderness and 
 devotion increased down to old age; who cherished her 
 children after her as he did nothing else in existence; 
 and who, as his own end drew near, passed over the 
 events of his life to talk of Rachel, and her death and 
 burial. His love for her seems the one flower and bloom 
 of his nature, gaining a strange beauty and strength 
 from the very barrenness of the remainder of his being. 
 His faults were many; but recalling that rare example 
 of faithful devotion, which still lives fair and lovely 
 in the world's heart and recollection, verily, women, 
 at least, should judge him leniently and tenderly." — 
 Page 7. 
 
 These words of Annie Crane's are assuredly drawn 
 from a depth of pure inspiration. Could the writer of 
 them have purposed aught, save what is good ! " He 
 was not a romantic man; he had no idea of passing for 
 a hero ; not the least intention of doing or saying fine 
 things, or putting them into well-sounding sentences; 
 but as he walked doggedly up the street, with his head 
 down and his hat half over his eyes, bitterly arguing the 
 case with himself, he was fighting upon the most terri- 
 ble of battle-grounds — and that on which we contend 
 with invisible forces, that on which souls, not bodies, 
 are slain. This conflict comes to the noblest and truest 
 as surely as to the feeble and degenerate; and we learn 
 from it that virtue means literally manhood — the power 
 to fight, to struggle, and even to die, rather than weakly 
 and basely surrender our natures to foes without or 
 within. According to the measures of our defeat or 
 victory, we stand before our consciences and Our God : 
 we know that we are cowards and weaklings, or brave, 
 
358 ANNE MONCURE CRANE. 
 
 true men and women. There is no reversing this deci- 
 sion to ourselves or to others. It stands fatally recorded 
 against us." — Page 71. 
 
 " I sometimes wonder that women ever cease praying. 
 To me there is no truer touch of genius in that inimi- 
 table story of ' The Newcomes,' than where the author 
 speaks of Laura Pendennis as ' engaged where pious 
 women ever betake themselves in moments of doubt, of 
 grief, of pain, of separation, of joy even, or whatsoever 
 other trial. They have but to will, and, as it were, an 
 invisible temple rises around them; their hearts can 
 kneel down there, and they can have an audience with 
 the great, the merciful, the untiring Counsellor and 
 Consoler."— Page 98. 
 
 A few months after the publication of this work the 
 author departed with her husband to Europe. Her 
 perfect knowledge of the languages and literature of 
 Germany, France and Italy, doubly endeared to her 
 those far-off lands. Her health having become enfee- 
 bled she was taken to the baths of Ems and Baden, and 
 finally to the city of Stuttgart, Wurtemberg. This 
 quaint capital of "old romance," with its lordly castle, 
 its grim walls, its vineyards and gardens lies in the valley 
 of the Neckar. "We can imagine the soothing influence 
 of such a scene upon the heart of the weary invalid ; the 
 breeze, that to others was only a breeze, may have been 
 laden for her with strange whispers from those shadowy 
 old ruins, that looking down on the men of to-day are 
 as the silent monitors of a past time ; and the Neckar, 
 that Suabian stream that, with a heart full of stories, 
 hurries on to the Ehine, may it not have sent to her mur- 
 murs of its own that her watchers could not under- 
 stand ? Although the genial climate and the waters of 
 the Kaunstadt are noted for their curative properties 
 the fatal disease could not be arrested. Vain were the 
 
ANNE MONCURE CRANE. 359 
 
 efforts of mortals against the power of Death, which is 
 only subservient to that greatest Power — the Omnipo- 
 tent God. 
 
 Anne Crane Seemiiller died on the 10th day of De- 
 cember, 1873. Mr. Augustus Seemiiller, the husband 
 of the novelist, died of heart disease at Paris, France, 
 September the 25th, 1875. 
 
 One who is near to her in ties of kinship and love 
 thus writes of Anne Crane Seemiiller : 
 
 " Her life was a quiet domestic one, with very little 
 of change or incident in it; but her vivid imagination, 
 extended reading, intense love of music, and above all, the 
 deep religious feeling which pervaded her whole life are 
 shown in the books upon which she lavished so much 
 of her short earthly existence." 
 
 If we would have the work of our life judged by justest 
 judges and critics, let us choose rather those who look 
 at the intention before the result. The action is the 
 motive-power to the intention, both combining towards 
 the result, which does not, alas! always achieve the 
 purpose desired by the worker. For the want of per- 
 fection, perhaps, in all its parts, the union is incomplete, 
 and so the work does not move onward in the tri- 
 umphant manner dreamed of by the doer of the work, 
 whatever it may be. Another comes who remodels and 
 makes more nearly perfect the whole, fulfilling the 
 design of the original architect — following the inten- 
 tion and accomplishing the result, and this one gains 
 the applause due to the designer of the masterpiece. 
 
 Moulded, perhaps, by a depth of love not perceptible 
 nor comprehensible to the less heroic nature, this gifted 
 woman may have thought to render crime odious by 
 telling of it in her own plain fashion rather than adorn- 
 ing it in that seductive language used by many who have 
 escaped so harsh a lashing from the pen of the critic. 
 
360 ANNE MONCURE CRANE. 
 
 There are some passages in the books of Anne See- 
 miiller that wear the undented beauty of pnre-hearted- 
 ness. If she failed in her noble purpose while portray- 
 ing the darker sins of life, for which the men and 
 women of "good society" are more answerable than 
 those of a lower grade, she at least may not have been 
 altogether untruthful in 'her bold attempt. It is bet- 
 ter to be brave than stealthy. Though the help of the 
 coast-guard may not be needed in mid-ocean, there are 
 often dangerous rocks and eddies near to the most beau- 
 tiful land. These common-place words admit of an 
 easy translation. Let those who read wisely look to 
 the wiser portion of the story, banish from memory 
 that which is unpalatable to the fastidious taste, take to 
 their hearts those holier precepts of Truth, and acting 
 as coast-guards shield with the strength of their life 
 those who cannot see the dangerous rocks and eddies. 
 
POEMS 
 
 SELECTED FROM THE MANUSCRIPT OF 
 THE LATE FREDERICK PINKNEY. 
 
NOT AS THE TKAVELER. 
 
 Not as the traveler with imploring eyes, 
 Within the streamless deserts' burning sand, 
 
 Beholds the rain-cloud rushing through the skies 
 To nourish with its freight some distant land j 
 
 Bather like those their devious way who lose 
 Amidst a wilderness of starry flowers, 
 
 And make glad pause uncertain what to choose, 
 While lightly pass away uncounted hours, 
 
 I linger with thee, dearest, and my gaze 
 Upon thee dwells, the gentle and the fair, 
 
 With whom the May of life as yet delays, 
 And pure from earthly stain as upper air ; 
 
 And as I gaze with mingled love and pride, 
 Feeling at length I have not hoped in vain, 
 
 And clasp the hand for which so many sighed, 
 I know that I have done with grief and pain. 
 
 (303) 
 
364 
 
 SELECTED POEMS 
 
 WHEN TIME MALIGNANTLY SHALL BRING. 
 
 When time malignantly shall bring 
 
 Sorrows to menace or o'ershade, 
 Think not thine year has lost its spring, 
 
 And Death a promised boon delayed ; 
 Unwise dejection will prolong 
 
 The very empire that we hate, 
 Our terrors make a tyrant strong 
 
 That else would fail or abdicate. 
 
 'Tis seldom that such hurt can be 
 
 From suffering, accident, or crime, 
 That mind becomes but memory 
 
 Of one event, one point of time, 
 A voice that mourns a single blow, 
 
 Unheeding comfort, threats, alarm, 
 A clock whose stirless fingers shew 
 
 The very moment of its harm. 
 
 Life is the evergreen whose birth 
 
 Is in a land of summer skies, 
 A leaf, a bough may fall to earth 
 
 But younger verdure will arise, 
 Pleasures may perish or may wane, 
 
 Be cast away like childhood's toys, 
 But others of great price remain, 
 
 And all but yield to purer joys. 
 
SELECTED POEMS. 
 
 3fi:» 
 
 LOVE ALONE. 
 
 In Eastern climes a gift of flowers, 
 With mystic eloquence arrayed, 
 
 By blended tints, holds different powers, 
 To taunt, to threaten, to upbraid. 
 
 To me, though it interprets thought, 
 Such dreary fancies are unknown, 
 
 And with a single meaning fraught 
 It speaks of love, and love alone. 
 
 >S0 
 
&6 SELECTED POEMS. 
 
 SING ME NOT THAT STRAIN. 
 
 Oh, sing me not that strain, 
 
 Its wild and mournful numbers 
 Will rouse the grief again 
 
 That for a moment slumbers ; 
 When first 'twas sung by one 
 
 I fain would not remember, 
 Hope was a summer's sun 
 
 Where now is bleak December. 
 
 'Tis long since first I strove 
 
 All vain regret to smother, 
 Forgetting her whose love 
 
 Is given to another ; 
 And oft there is an hour, 
 
 Like this which now I treasure, 
 When memory loses power 
 
 And life again has pleasure. 
 
 The heart oppressed with ill 
 
 Is not by joy forsaken, 
 In ruined gardens still 
 
 In spring some flowers awaken ; 
 But sing me not that strain, 
 
 Its wild and mournful numbers 
 Will rouse the grief again 
 
 That for a moment slumbers. 
 
SELECTED POEMS. 367 
 
 THE FAREWELL WORD. 
 
 The farewell word is breathed, and now 
 
 Adieu to happy home, 
 Our gallant barque with rapid prow 
 
 Casts 'round the flashing foam, 
 Away, we seek the gem-like isles 
 
 That stud the Eastern main, 
 Yet while my comrades know but smiles 
 
 My thoughts are thoughts of pain. 
 
 There's one who for my sake will note 
 
 With tearful, anxious eye, 
 The sunlit clouds that stirless float 
 
 Within the placid sky ; 
 Shall tremble when the fragile flower 
 
 Scarce shivers in the breeze, 
 And deem remorseless winds have power 
 
 Upon the glooming seas. 
 
 Yet absence has not much of ill, 
 
 Unless 'tis joined by fear, 
 For hope remains unfaltering still 
 
 To promise and to cheer ; 
 Away, upon the heaving deep, 
 
 Our foamy track we cleave, 
 AVhen others have forgot to weep 
 
 'Tis feebleness to grieve. 
 
368 SELECTED POEMS. 
 
 FAIN WOULD I MY GRIEF DISSEMBLE. 
 
 In my eyes the tear-drops tremble 
 
 Which I study to repress, 
 Fain would I my grief dissemble 
 
 That thine own may be the less. 
 
 Heeding nought that may befall me, 
 Sick in heart, in spirit tame, 
 
 I must go where chance shall call me, 
 Casting from me choice and aim. 
 
 I have wrecked my bark, swift-faring 
 To the spot where I would guide, 
 
 And upon a raft despairing 
 Drift, the sport of wind and tide. 
 
 Henceforth lonely and forsaken, 
 Hope and pleasure at an end, 
 
 Joy no more I strive to waken, 
 Nor with evil dare contend. 
 
 Why with thankless toil re-kindle 
 The cold fragments of a fire, 
 
 But to view its splendor dwindle, 
 And with quick decay expire ? 
 
 1840. 
 
SELECTED POEMS. 369 
 
 A VANISHED JOY. 
 
 The leafless tree again may bear 
 
 Its mellow stores of fruit, 
 Some skillful hand may yet repair 
 
 The warped and stringless lute ; 
 But fortunes that are once o'erthrown 
 
 We seldom can restore, 
 And if our happiness be flown, 
 
 It visits us no more. 
 
 By some old tree we yet may trace 
 
 Where forests cast their shade, 
 By broken shaft and crumbling base 
 
 The stately colonnade ; 
 But not a token shall appear 
 
 Of joys that once depart, 
 And bootless is the task to cheer 
 
 The crushed and gloomy heart. 
 
 The Pagan might his idols hide 
 
 Beneath the ravaged fane, 
 And hope in victory and pride 
 
 To bring them forth again ; 
 Still might he view in faith and prayer 
 
 Where once they stood enshrined ; 
 But vain our dream, and vain our care, 
 
 A vanished joy to find. 
 
 August 25. 1854. 
 
370 SELECTED POEMS, 
 
 ABIDE WITH ME. 
 
 Abide with me ; the night is round me falling, 
 The way, the light, the life deign Thou to be, 
 
 Still in Thy pity hear the suppliant calling, 
 Saye or I perish; Lord, abide with me! 
 
 Within the broken heart make Thou Thy dwelling, 
 Rescue the lost one, set the captive free, 
 
 To hope and faith by unbonght grace compelling, 
 Stay in Thy mercy ; Lord, abide with me ! 
 
 Trust I in self ? Thy saving cross forsaken, 
 And my own strength shall like a shadow flee, 
 
 The slumbering tempter shall again awaken, 
 Leave not the feeble, Lord, abide with me ! 
 
 Guilty and sin-stained, yet thine aid imploring, 
 Thou in my weakness wilt my succor be, 
 
 Trembling, unworthy, hoping and adoring, 
 Let me still cry, Oh, Lord, abide with me. 
 
 Monday, July 21, 1872. 
 
SELECTED POEMS. 
 
 371 
 
 IN DARKNESS. 
 
 In darkness I the strife prolong, 
 The dust with Him who gave it breath, 
 
 By evil passions rendered strong, 
 Although my victory is death. 
 
 Rejecting when I should adore, 
 
 And struggling while I wish defeat, 
 
 My stubborn efforts I deplore, 
 And fain would worship at Thy feet. 
 
 For me I know that Thou hast died, 
 For me the atoning blood was spilt, 
 
 Repentance has not vanquished pride, 
 Though loathing, still I cling to guilt. 
 
 The rocks were rent, light rushed away, 
 The grieving earth was veiled in gloom, 
 
 The dead resumed their mortal clay, 
 All nature trembled at Thy doom. 
 
 Yet I, its object and its cause, 
 
 With beating heart and faltering will, 
 
 Although Thy pity towards Thee draws, 
 Reject the proffered mercy still. 
 
 I yield at length — Creator, Lord, 
 And crucified Redeemer thou, 
 
 God-head and Man, Incarnate Word, 
 All-suppliant I before Thee bow. 
 
372 SELECTED POEMS. 
 
 From all delusion I am free, 
 
 None can oppress when Thou art nigh, 
 And he who shall believe in Thee 
 
 Thy word has said shall never die. 
 
 By faith instructed, let me found 
 My mansion firmly on the rock, 
 
 The swollen floods may rage around, 
 Unshaken it abides the shock. 
 
Preface 5 
 
 An Introductory Chapter 9 
 
 Daniel Dulany 20 
 
 Thomas Johnson 43 
 
 Charles Carroll, of Carrollton 77 
 
 The Most Reverend John Carroll 103 
 
 Charles Wilson Peale 1 2:1 
 
 Margaret Jane Ramsay 110 
 
 General Mordecai Gist 147 
 
 Otho Holland Williams 15S 
 
 William Pinkney 1 79 
 
 Edward Coote Pinkney 22S 
 
 Francis Scott Key 236 
 
 Amelia B. Welby 284 
 
 Frederick Pinkney. .- 393 
 
 George H. Miles 300 
 
 General Arnold Elzey 309 
 
 Address of Captain Thomas 3] 9 
 
*. 
 
 374 CONTENTS. 
 
 PaGK. 
 
 William Henry Rinehart 329 
 
 Anne Moncure Crane 353 
 
 POEM8. 
 
 The Raven 39 
 
 Fair Maryland 70 
 
 Evening Hymn 102 
 
 When Soft Stars 122 
 
 'Tis Absence Proves 139 
 
 The American Sword 14G 
 
 My Own Native Land 157 
 
 Oh ! Would I Were with Thee Forever ! 178 
 
 The Pirate's Song. 226 
 
 A Health 234 
 
 Bird-Song. . . . 282 
 
 The Watch 291 
 
 ToS 299 
 
 Coming at Last 307 
 
 A Prayer for Peace 320 
 
 The Dying Girl to her Lover 352 
 
 Poems Selected from the Manuscript of the late Frederick 
 
 Pinkney 301 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 367 800 3