````"Hear the holy Sabbath bells,
`````Sacred bells!
````Oh what a world of peaceful rest
`````Their melody protests!
````How sweetly at the dawning
````Of a pleasant Sabbath morning,
`````Sounds the rhyming,
`````And the chiming
`````Of the bells!"--H. S. Nolen.=
[Illustration: 9400]
UNDAY was as mild and bright in Baltimore as a Sabbath in May, although
it was the 3d of December. That city has no old churches hallowed by the
presence of the patriots of the Revolution.
Annapolis was the only city in Maryland, except little St. Mary's, on
its western border, when the battles for independence were fought; and
"Baltimore towne," though laid out as early as 1729, contained, in 1776,
less than one hundred houses.
[Illustration: 8400]
It is a city of the present; and yet, in extent, commerce, and
population, it is the third city of the republic, numbering now about
one hundred and sixty-five thousand inhabitants. *
I passed half an hour in the Roman Catholic cathedral during the matin
services. Toward noon I listened to a persuasive sermon from the lips
of Doctor Johns, of Christ Church (brother of the Virginia bishop),
predicated upon the words of Moses to Hobah; ** employed the remainder
of the day in reading; and, early on Monday morning, started out, with
port-folio and pencil, to visit the celebrities of the city.
The noble monument erected by the State of Maryland in honor of
Washington is the object of first and greatest attraction to visitors.
It stands in the center of a small square, at the intersection of
Monument and Charles Streets, in the fashionable quarter of the city,
one hundred and fifty feet above tide-water. It is composed of a base of
white marble, fifty feet square, and twenty feet in height, with a
Doric column, one hundred and sixty feet in height, and twenty feet in
diameter at the base, gradually tapering upward to a handsomely-formed
capital.
* The census for 1850, which shows this result, also exhibits a case of
remarkable longevity in Baltimore. Sukey Wright, a colored woman,
whose age is well certified, was then 120 years old. She had a child
twenty-five years of age when the Revolutionary war broke out in 1775.
** "We are journeying toward the land of which the Lord said, I will
give it you, and we will do thee good."--Numbers, x., 29.
*** The following are the inscriptions on the monument: East front.--"To
George Washington, by the State of Maryland. Born 22d February, 1732.
Died 14th December, 1799." South front.--u To George Washington,
President of the United States, 4th March, 1789. Returned to Mount
Vernon, 4th March, 1797." West front.--"To George Washington. Trenton,
25th December, 1776. Yorktown, 19th October, 1781." North front.--"To
George Washington. Commander-in-chief of the American armies, 15th June,
1775. Commission resigned at Annapolis, 23d December, 1783."
[[[Maryland Historical Society.--Pulaski's Banner.--Moravian Nuns at
Bethlehem.]]]
{391}Upon the top is a statue of Washington, by Causici, sixteen feet
in height, which is reached by a winding stair-way on the interior. It
represents the chief in the act of resigning his commission. The statue
cost nine thousand dollars. The ground on which the monument stands was
given for the purpose by John Eager Howard, the "hero of the Cowpens."
The corner stone of the monument was laid on the 4th of July, 1815,
with imposing ceremonies. This view is from Monument Street, looking
northeast. The Battle Monument, near Barnum's Hotel, erected to the
memory of those who fell in defense of Baltimore in 1814, is beautiful
and chaste in design and execution, and is an ornament to the city. It
cost about sixty thousand dollars. A description of this structure, and
copies of the inscriptions upon it, are given in a note on page 388.
After sketching these mementoes, I visited the rooms of the Maryland
Historical Society, bearing a letter of introduction to its president,
General Smith, a son of Colonel Samuel Smith, the hero of Fort Mifflin,
portrayed on page 296. To that gentleman, and to President N. C. Brooks,
of the Baltimore Female College, I am indebted for kind attentions and
local information. The Historical Society is young, but vigorous and
flourishing Its collection contains but few relics of the Revolution
worthy of special notice. There is an old painting representing
Yorktown, in Virginia, in 1781, and also a portrait of Governor John
Eager Howard, a copy of which will be found in another part of this
work. One of the most interesting relics which I saw during my tour is
carefully preserved in. the library of the society--the crimson banner
of the Count Pulaski, beautifully wrought by the Moravian sisters, at
Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania. Count Pulaski (whose portrait and biography
will be hereafter given) was appointed a brigadier in the Continental
army on the 15th of September, 1777, just after the battle on the
Brandywine, in which he participated, and was honored with the command
of the cavalry. He resigned this honor within a few months, and
asked and obtained permission from Congress to raise and command an
independent corps, to consist of sixty-eight horse and two hundred foot.
The mode [[March 28, 1778]] of raising these was left to the direction
of General Washington. * This corps was chiefly raised, and fully
organized in Baltimore in 1778. Pulaski visited La Fayette while that
wounded officer was a recipient of the pious care and hospitality of the
Moravians at Bethlehem. His presence, and eventful history, made a deep
impression upon the minds of that community. When it was known that the
brave Pole was organizing a corps of cavalry in Baltimore, the _nuns,_*
* or _single women_ of Bethlehem, prepared a banner of crimson
* Journals of Congress, iv., 127.
** The word nun, as applied to the single sisters of the Moravian sect,
has a different meaning than when applied to the recluses of the Roman
Catholic Church. De Chastellux, who visited Bethlehem in 1782, says of
the community: "Their police, or discipline, is of the monastic kind,
since they recommend celibacy, but without enjoining it, and keep the
women separate from the men. There is a particular house, also, for
the widows, which I did not visit. The two sexes being thus habitually
separated, none of those familiar connections exist between them which
lead to marriage; nay, it is even contrary to the spirit of the sect
to marry from inclination. If a young man finds himself sufficiently
at ease to keep house for himself, and maintain a wife and children,
he presents himself to the commissary, and asks for a girl, who, after
consulting with the superintendent of the women, proposes one to him,
which he may, in fact, refuse to accept; but it is contrary to custom to
choose a wife for himself. Accordingly, the Moravian colonies have not
multiplied in any proportion to the other American colonies. That at
Bethlehem is composed of about six hundred persons, more than half of
whom live in a state of celibacy." De Chastellux visited the "house for
single women," a spacious stone edifice, provided with well-heated rooms
for working in, and a large vaulted chamber, well ventilated, where all
the girls slept in single beds. He refers to their skill in embroidery.
His whole account of his visit is an interesting picture of the simple
habits of the Moravians. He says they "have no bishops, being governed
by synods." They have had bishops from the beginning, but their office
allows them no elevation of rank or pre-eminent authority; and the
communities are, indeed, governed by councils, or synods, composed of
deputies from the different congregations, who meet in conference once
in seven years. There are two bishops in the United States at present.
The principal Moravian establishments are at Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania,
and Salem, in North Carolina. Their marriage and other customs have
materially changed within the last thirty years. Anburey and the
Baroness Riedesel were also in Bethlehem, and speak in the highest terms
of the Moravians.
[[[Hymn of the Moravian Nuns.--Patriotism in Baltimore.--Committees of
Correspondence and Observation.]]]
{392}silk, with designs beautifully wrought with the needle by their own
hands, and sent it to Pulaski, with their blessing. The memory of this
event is embalmed in verse by Longfellow, in the following beautiful
"Hymn of the Moravian Nuns at the Consecration of Pulaski's Banner."=
```"When the dying flame of day
```Through the chancel shot its ray,
```Far the glimmering tapers shed
```Faint light on the cowled head,
```And the censer burning swung,
```When before the altar hung
```That proud banner, which, with pray'r,
```Had been consecrated there;
```And the nuns' sweet hymn was heard the while,
```Sung low in the dim mysterious aisle.=
```"' Take thy banner. May it wave
```Proudly o'er the good and brave,
```When the battle's distant wail
```Breaks the Sabbath of our vale;
```When the clarion's music thrills
```To the hearts of these lone hills;
```When the spear in conflict, shakes,
```And the strong lanee, shivering, breaks.=
```"' Take thy banner; and, beneath
```The war-cloud's encircling wreath,
```Guard it--till our homes are free--
```Guard it--God will prosper thee!
```In the dark and trying hour,
```In the breaking forth of pow'r,
```In the rush of steeds and men,
```His right hand will shield thee then.=
```"' Take thy banner. But, when night
```Closes round the ghastly fight,
```If the vanquish'd warrior bow,
```Spare him--by our holy vow;
```By our prayers and many tears;
```By the merey that endears;
```Spare him--he our love hath shared;
```Spare him--as thou wouldst be spared.=
```"'Take thy banner; and, if e'er
```Thou should'st press the soldier's bier,
```And the muffled drum should beat
```To the tread of mournful feet,
```Then this crimson flag shall be
```Martial cloak and shroud for thee.'
```And the warrior took that banner proud,
```And it was his martial cloak and shroud."=
Pulaski received the banner with grateful acknowledgments, and bore it
gallantly through many a martial scene, until he fell in conflict
at Savannah in the autumn of 1779. His banner was saved by his first
lieutenant (who received fourteen wounds), and delivered to Captain
Bentalon, who, on retiring from the army, took the banner home with him
to Baltimore. *
When oppression began to awaken a spirit of general resistance
throughout the colonies, "Baltimore towne" was not behind its sister
communities in zeal and action. A meeting [[ a May 27.]] was held there
in 1774, ** ( a ) when the people generally agreed to support non-[[
November 12]]intercourse measures. Afterward they elected a
_Committee of Observation_ *** (b) and also appointed a committee of
correspondence. **** These committees were exceedingly vigilant and
active in watching the disaffected, giving information of importance to
their brethren abroad, and in passing intelligence between the patriots
of the North and the South. They were no respecter of persons, and
Loyalists of every grade came under their surveil-
* It was used in the procession that welcomed La Fayette to that city in
1824, and was then deposited in Peale's Museum. On that occasion, it
was ceremoniously received by several young ladies. Mr. Edmund Peale
presented it to the Maryland Historical Society in 1844, where it is
now carefully preserved in a glass ease. But little of its former beauty
remains. It is composed of double crimson silk, now faded to a dull
brownish red. The designs on each side, as represented on the following
page, are embroidered with yellow silk, the letters shaded with green. A
deep green bullion fringe ornaments the edges. The size of the banner
is twenty inches square. It was attached to a lance when borne to the
field.
** Andrew Buchanan was chosen chairman, and Robert Alexander clerk or
secretary.
*** This committee, consisting of twenty-nine of the leading men of
Baltimore, was elected by the qualified voters, at a town meeting,
regularly assembled at the court-house. They not only took cognizance
of political matters, but assumed a general supervision of the public
morals, not by coercive measures, but by advice. Among other things,
they recommended the discontinuance of fairs in Baltimore, and denounced
them as nuisances, conducive to "mischiefs and disorders," "serving
no other purpose than debauching the morals of their children and
servants," and "encouraging riots, drunkenness, gaming, and the vilest
immoralities." Horse-racing, cock-fighting, general extravagance, and
dissipation were inveighed against, not only as wrong, but as derogatory
to the character of patriots at that solemn hour (1775).
**** The following are the names of this committee: Robert Alexander,
Samuel Purviance, Jr., Andrew Buchanan, Doctor" John Boyd, John Moale,
Jeremiah Townly Chase, William Buchanan, and William Lux. Four members
constituted a quorum for the transaction of business.[[1776.]]
[[[Treatment of Loyalists.--Meeting of Congress in Baltimore.--La
Fayette in Baltimore.]]]
{393}lance. The Reverend Mr. Edmiston, pastor of St. Thomas's parish,
was arraigned before the Committee of Observation, on a charge of being
favorable to the Quebec Act. He pleaded guilty, apologized, and was
forgiven.
[Illustration: 8403]
Other suspected Loyalists, of equal standing, were arraigned, and
middlemen soon became scarce. *
I have mentioned the fact (page 225) that, on the approach of the
royal troops toward the Delaware, in 1776, Congress, then in session in
Philadelphia, adjourned to Baltimore. Their first meeting in that city,
pursuant to adjournment, was on the 20th of December. They met, and
continued their session in the spacious brick building yet standing on
Baltimore, Sharpe, and Liberty Streets.
[Illustration: 9403]
The Reverend Patrick Allison, first minister of the Presbyterian church
of Baltimore, and Reverend W. White, were appointed chaplains on the
23d. It was there, on the 27th of December, two days after the battle at
Trenton, that Congress, by resolution, delegated so much of their powers
to Washington, for six months, as made him a military dictator, a fact
already noticed on page 232. Through a local committee of Congress, left
in Philadelphia, efficient cooperation with the army was secured, and
the whole military establishment, as we have seen (page 241), was placed
in a higher and more effective condition than it had been since the
organization of the army.
Congress continued in session in Baltimore until Friday, the 27th of
February, when it adjourned to Philadelphia, where the delegates met on
the following Wednesday, the 4th of March.
When La Fayette passed through Baltimore on his way to the field of his
conflicts at the South, he was greeted with the greatest respect by the
people. A ball was given in his honor, at which the marquis appeared
sad. "Why so gloomy at a ball?" asked one of the gay belles. "I can not
enjoy the gayety of the scene," replied La Fayette, "while so many of
the poor soldiers are without shirts and other necessaries."
"We will supply them," was the noble reply of the ladies; and the gayety
of the ball-room was exchanged for the sober but earnest services of the
needle. They assembled the next day in great numbers to make up clothing
for the soldiers, of materials furnished by fathers and husbands. ****
One gentleman, out of his limited means, gave La Fayette five hundred
dollars to aid him
* Purviancers Narrative, pages 12-13.
** On one side of the banner are the letters U. S., and in a circle
around them the words "United valor is stronger." The letter c in the
last word is incorrect; it should be t. On the other side, in the
center, is the All-seeing Eye, with the words Non alius régit; "No other
governs."
*** This view is from Baltimore Street, looking southeast. The front
on the left is on Baltimore Street; the other is on Liberty Street. Its
first story is now used for commercial purposes; otherwise it exhibits
the same external appearance as when Congress assembled there.
**** M'Sherry's History of Maryland, p. 229.
[[[Journey to Annapolis.--Departure from the Right
Road.--Hospitality.--City of Annapolis.]]]
{394}in clothing his soldiers. His wife, with her own hands, cut out
five hundred pairs of pantaloons, and superintended the making of them. *
In the passage of troops between the Northern and Southern States,
Baltimore was often the scene of activity and excitement; beyond this,
it has but little military history connected with our subject. Its
statesmen and soldiers did good service in the forum and in the field,
and their names and deeds are conspicuously recorded in various portions
of these volumes. We will make Annapolis, the old capital of Maryland,
our point of view, in taking a survey of the general history of the
state, for that city was the soul and center of action during the
Revolution.
[[December 4, 1848]] I left Baltimore for Annapolis, thirty miles
southward, at a little after three o'clock, crossing the Patapsco River
at sunset, upon a long, rickety draw-bridge, having a toll-gatherer at
the southern end. The sky was clear, and the moon being sufficiently
advanced in illumination to promise a fair degree of light, I resolved
to push forward as far as the "half-way house," fifteen miles from
Baltimore, before halting. Soon after leaving the bridge, the road
penetrated a forest of oaks and chestnuts, filled with those beautiful
evergreens, the laurel and the holly. Passing several cultivated
openings where the country was rolling, I reached a level, sandy
region, and at dark entered a forest of pines, its deep shadows relieved
occasionally by small openings recently made by the woodman's ax. I
had passed only two small houses in a journey of six miles, and without
seeing the face of a living creature, when I met a negro man and woman,
and inquired for the "halfway house." The woman assured me that it was
two miles ahead; and, in the plenitude of her kind feelings, promised
that I should find "plenty o' liquor dar." After driving at least four
miles, I perceived that I had "run off the track," mistaking one of
the numerous branches of the main road for the highway itself. After
traversing the deep, sandy way, in the gloom, until almost eight
o'clock, when traveler and horse were thoroughly wearied, I was cheered
by the barking of a dog, and in a few moments crossed a stream, and
came in sight of a spacious mansion, surrounded by many broad acres of
cultivation. The merry voices of children, who were playing in the lane,
were hushed as I halted at the gate and hailed. A servant swung it wide
open for my entrance, and when I asked for entertainment for the night,
the kindest hospitality was extended. The proprietor of the plantation
was the widow of a Methodist clergyman, who was drowned in the Severn a
few years ago. Her mother, residing with her, had been, in former years,
a parishioner of my own pastor, the Reverend Stephen H. Tyng, D.D.
This fact was a sympathetic link; and a home feeling, with its
gentle influence, came over me as the evening passed away in pleasant
conversation. I left the mansion of Mrs. Robinson, the next morning,
with real regret. I had there a foretaste of that open hospitality which
I experienced every where at the South, and must ever remember with
gratitude.
Under the guidance of a servant, I traversed a private road, to the
public one leading to Annapolis. The highway passes through a barren
region until within two miles of the town, relieved, occasionally, by a
few cultivated spots; and so sinuous was its course, that I crossed the
Baltimore and Annapolis rail-way seven times in a distance of thirteen
miles. The deep sand made the journey toilsome, and extended its
duration until almost an hour past meridian.
Annapolis is apparently and really an old town. Many of its houses are
of the hip-roofed style of an earlier generation, with the distinctive
features of Southern houses, so odd in appearance to the eyes of a
Northern man--the chimneys projecting from the gable, from the ground to
their tops. The city is beautifully located on the south branch of the
River Severn, upon a peninsula formed by Acton's and Covey's Creeks,
which rise within half a mile of each other. It commands an extensive
view of the Chesapeake Bay and the surrounding
* This gentleman was Mr. Poe. His widow, the lady who cut out the
garments, was living when La Fayette visited Baltimore in 1824. The two
patriots met, and the scene was one of peculiar interest.--See Niles's
Register, 24th October, 1824.
[[[Founding of Annapolis.--First Lord Baltimore.--Exploration of the
Chesapeake.--Maryland Charter]]]
{395}country, where almost every diversity of picturesque scenery is
exhibited, except the grandeur of lofty mountains.
Annapolis was erected into a town, port, and place of trade in 1683,
under the name of the "Town land at Proctor's," or "The Town land at
Severn." Eleven years afterward it received the name of "Anne Arundle
Town," and was made the naval station of the infant colony, and the seat
of government. It received the name of Annapolis (Anne's city) in
1703, which was given in honor of Queen Anne, the reigning sovereign of
England. Before noticing the associations which give peculiar interest
to the history of Annapolis, let us consult the chronicles of the state.
Maryland was settled at a little later period than New England. The
London Company, of which Sir George Calvert (Lord Baltimore), the first
proprietor of Maryland, was a member, claimed, under its charter, the
whole of the vast region from the head of the Delaware and Chesapeake
Bays--the boundary line of the Dutch settlements in [[1609]] New
Netherlands--to an undefined boundary south and west. Calvert was a
young man of good birth and fine talents. He attracted the attention and
won the friendship of Sir Robert Cecil (afterward Earl of Salisbury),
first lord of the Treasury under James the First. Calvert was appointed
by Cecil his private secretary,a which office he held for several years.
Cecil died in 1612. Calvert appears to have won the esteem of his
king, for, in 1617, James conferred the honor of knighthood upon him,
appointed him clerk of the Privy Council, and, two years later, made him
principal secretary of state, as successor to Sir Thomas Lake. In 1624,
Calvert resigned his office, not, as Fuller says, because "he freely
confessed himself to the king that he was become a Roman Catholic,
so that he must be wanting to his trust, or violate his conscience in
discharging his office," * for he was doubtless a Roman Catholic
from his earliest youth, if not born in the bosom of that Church, but
probably for the purpose of giving his personal attention to schemes of
foreign colonization, in which he was interested. On retiring from the
secretary's office, the king continued him a privy counselor, granted
him a tract of land in Longford, Ireland, (b) with a pension of
one thousand pounds, and created him "Lord Baltimore, of Baltimore,
Ireland." [[ b 1621]] He already had a patent as absolute lord and
proprietor of the province of Avalon, in Newfoundland. After the death
of James, in 1625, Lord Baltimore went to Avalon, where, with his
family, he resided for some time, and then returned to England. He
visited Virginia in 1628; and, although a member of the London Company,
and high in the confidence of Charles, the successor of James, he was
required by the local authorities of that colony to take the oaths of
allegiance and supremacy. ** Baltimore was offended, for he considered
the requisition as an intended insult, he being a Roman Catholic. He
refused to take the oaths himself, or allow his attendants to do so; and
soon afterward departed from the James River, and made a voyage up the
Chesapeake. He entered the Potomac, was pleased with the appearance
of the country, projected a settlement upon the upper portions of the
Chesapeake Bay, and then returned to England.
The London Company dissolved in the mean while. Baltimore successfully
applied to Charles for a grant of the unoccupied land on the Chesapeake,
and in 1632 the king gave him permission to frame a charter for a
province, to suit himself. The grant included the present area of
Maryland, notwithstanding the territory was clearly within the limits of
the Virginia charter, and Kent Island, opposite the site of Annapolis,
was already occupied. It is believed that the Maryland charter was
penned by Lord Baltimore himself. Before it passed the seals, Calvert
died, (c) leaving his son Cecil heir to his title and fortune, [[ c
April 25,]] The charter was executed about two months afterward, (d) and
signed by Cecil, with no alteration from the original except in the
name of the province. It was called [[ d June 20]] Maryland, in honor
of Henrietta Maria, the queen of Charles the First, instead of
_Crescentia,_
* Fuller's Worthies of England.
** The Oath of Supremacy was one denying the supremacy of the pope in
ecclesiastical or temporal affairs in England, which was required to
be taken, along with the Oath of Allegiance, by persons, in order to
qualify them for office.
[[[Character of the first Maryland Charter.--Toleration its chief
Glory.--Baltimore's Policy.]]]
{396}as the first Lord Baltimore named it. This charter was full of
the ideas of absolutism and royal prerogatives which distinguished the
character and career of James and his son Charles.
It made the proprietor absolute lord of the province--"_Absolutus
Domimus et Propritarius_"--with the royalties of a count palatine.
[Illustration: 9406]
Theoretically, he was not inferior in rights and privileges to the king
himself. He could make laws with the advice of the freemen, and withhold
his assent from such as he did not approve. He claimed, and sometimes
practiced, the right to dispense with the laws, in accordance with the
principles and occasional practice of King James. He was authorized to
create manorial lordships; to bestow titles upon the meritorious of his
_subjects_; to summon, by writs, any freemen he chose, to take a seat
in a legislative Assembly without election; to make ordinances of equal
force with the laws without the confirmation of the Assembly; to declare
martial law at his pleasure--for he had absolute control of the military
and naval force of the colony--and to present ministers to the parishes.
Such were the extensive powers which the charter of Maryland conferred
upon the proprietor; yet the absolute authority of the "Baron of
Baltimore" was conceded rather with reference to the crown than the
colonists, for the charter contained concessions and grants to the
people sufficient to guarantee them against oppression. The privileges,
liberties, and franchises of liege subjects of England, born within the
realm, were secured to them; they were protected against the operation
of all laws repugnant to the statutes and customs of England; and they
were forever exempted, by an express covenant in the charter, from all
"impositions, customs, or other taxations, quotas, or contributions
whatever," to be levied by the king or his successors. The sovereign did
not reserve to himself even the right of superintendence of the affairs
of the colony, or the power to interfere, in any way, with its laws.
In fact, the province of Maryland was, by its royal charter, made
independent of the crown from the beginning; it was what the proprietor
termed it, "a separate monarchy." The dependence was acknowledged
only by the provision of the charter which obliged the proprietor to
acknowledge fealty by paying a tribute to the king of two Indian arrows
yearly, and a fifth of all gold or silver ore which might be found.
The true glory of the first Maryland charter consists in the religious
freedom which it recognizes; a freedom reasserted and enforced by an act
of the Assembly in 1649, seventeen years after the charter passed the
seals, when the whole realm of England was in commotion on account of
the execution of the king and establishment of the commonwealth under
Cromwell. To Lord Baltimore belongs the honor of being the first
lawgiver in Christendom who made freedom of conscience the basis of a
state constitution. There seems to be something paradoxical in the fact
that an absolutist in political affairs should have been so democratic
in matters of religion. But Baltimore was a latitudinarian; sagacious,
farsighted, and awake to the best temporal interests of himself and his
successors. He clearly perceived that the growth of his colony depended
greatly upon the extent of religious freedom which might be guaranteed
to emigrants. Persecution was overturning many peaceful
[[[Baltimore's Toleration.--First Settlers.--Leonard
Calvert.--Settlement at St. Mary's.]]]
{397}homes in Great Britain; and, to wherever the light of toleration
was seen, thousands of the oppressed made their way. He was exceedingly
tolerant himself, or he never would have retained the friendship of
James; and therefore his feelings and interests were coincident. His
Catholic brethren were more or less persecuted in England; while the
Puritans, who were peopling the coasts of Massachusetts Bay, had also
been "harried out of the land" by the hierarchy. Maryland was made the
asylum for the persecuted; not for Roman Catholics alone, but for the
English Puritans, and the equally harassed reformers of Virginia, under
the administration of the bigoted Berkeley.
The first two hundred settlers, who came with Leonard Calvert (a)
brother of Cecil, and first governor of the province, were principally
Roman Catholics, but in a few [[ a 1633]] years Protestants became
almost as numerous as they. These settled upon the unoccupied territory
north of the Patuxent, and formed a new county which they called Severn,
or Anne Arundel, extending nearly to the present site of Baltimore. "All
the world outside of these portals [St. Michael's and St. Joseph's, as
the first emigrants denominated the two headlands at the mouth of
the Potomac, now Point Lookout, and Smith's Point] was intolerant,
proscriptive, vengeful against the children of a dissenting faith. Only
in Maryland, throughout this wide world of Christendom, was there an
altar erected, and truly dedicated to the freedom of Christian worship."
* Yet it must not be forgotten that, fifteen months before the charter
of Maryland was executed, Roger Williams had sounded the trumpet of
intellectual freedom in New England, and "it became his glory to found
a state upon that principle, and to stamp himself upon its rising
institutions, in characters so deep that the impress has remained to
this day. **
It is not within the scope of my design to notice in detail the progress
of the Maryland colony. The first settlement was made by Leonard
Calvert, who, in February, 1634, arrived at Point Comfort, in Virginia,
with about two hundred Roman Catholics. The Virginians had remonstrated
against the grant to Baltimore, but, by express commands of the king,
Harvey, then governor, received Calvert with courtesy. Early in March
he sailed up the Potomac, and, casting anchor under an island which he
called St. Clement, he fired his first cannon, erected a cross, and took
possession "in the name of the Savior of the world and the King of
Great Britain." *** He then proceeded up the Potomac to the mouth of
the Piscataqua Creek, opposite Mount Vernon, and near the site of the
present Fort Washington, fifteen miles south of Washington City. The
chief of the Indian village at that place was friendly; but Calvert,
deeming it unsafe to settle so high up the river, returned, and entered
the stream now called St. Mary's. He purchased a village of the Indians,
and commenced a settlement. (b) Founded upon religious toleration and
the practice of [[ b April. 1634]] justice, **** the colony rapidly
increased in population and resources; and peace, except
* Kennedy's Discourse on the Life and Character of George Calvert,
before the Maryland Historical Society, 1845, page 43.
** Bancroft, i., 375.
*** Belknap.
**** As an instance of the determination to preserve peace within his
borders, Leonard Calvert issued a proclamation in 1638, to prohibit
"all unreasonable disputations in point of religion tending to the
disturbance of the public peace and quiet of the colony, and to
the opening of faction in religion." A Catholic gentleman (Captain
Cornwaleys) had two Protestant servants. They were one day reading
aloud, together. Smith's Sermons, and were overheard by Cornwaleys's
overseer, a Roman Catholic, while reading a passage in which the pope
was called anti-Christ, and the Jesuits anti-Christian ministers. The
overseer abused them, and ordered them to read no more. The servants
preferred a formal complaint against the overseer, and submitted it to
the governor and council. Of the latter, Cornwaleys was one. The parties
were heard, and the overseer was fined five hundred pounds of tobacco,
and ordered to remain in prison until he should find sureties for
his good behavior in future. This case shows the tolerant spirit of a
Catholic administration.--Kennedy's Discourse, page 45.
**** The act for religious liberty, passed in 1649, contained a clause
authorizing the imposition of a fine of ten shillings for abusive
expressions between the parties; such as idolater, popish priest,
Jesuit, and Jesuited papist, on the one side, and, on the other,
heretic, schismatic, round-head, and similar epithets.--Langford, page
29. The clause for religious freedom in the act of 1649 extended only
to Christians. It was introduced by the proviso that, "whatsoever person
shall blaspheme God, or shall deny or reproach the Holy Trinity, or any
of the three persons thereof, shall be punished with death."
[[[First Legislative Assembly.--Religious Animosity.--Toleration of the
Roman Catholics.--Civil Commotions.]]]
{398}during the troubles arising from the refusal of Clayborne, an
original settler, to acknowledge the authority of the governor, reigned
within its borders until 1642, when petty hostilities were carried on
against the Indians. Leonard Calvert was appointed governor * of
the province, as the proprietor's lieutenant; and in 1635 the first
Legislative Assembly convened at St. Mary's. A representative government
was established in 1639, the people being allowed to send as many
delegates to the General Assembly as they pleased. At the same time,
a declaration of rights was adopted, the powers of the proprietor
were defined, and all the privileges enjoyed by English subjects were
confirmed to the colonists. The Indian hostilities closed in 1644, and
the next year a rebellion under Clayborne involved the province in a
civil war. The revolt was suppressed in August the following year.
Religious animosity between the Protestants and Roman Catholics finally
became a source of great trouble, and in 1649 the Assembly adopted the
Toleration Act. This allayed party strife for a while. At this time
Charles the First was beheaded, and Cromwell became the chief magistrate
of Great Britain. Lord Baltimore, who was warm in his professions of
attachment to the king while his affairs were prosperous, when he saw
the downfall of royalty inevitable, was equally loud in proclaiming
his attachment to the Republicans. Thomas Green, his governor, who had
hastily proclaimed Charles the Second, on hearing of the execution of
his father, was removed, and his place was filled by William Stone, a
Protestant, who "was always zealously affected to the Parliament."
In 1650, the legislative body was first divided into two branches, an
Upper and a Lower House; the former consisting of the governor and
his council, appointed by the proprietor, and the latter of the
representatives chosen by the people. At that session, all taxes were
prohibited except by the consent of the freemen.
In 1651, the Long Parliament, which had established its supremacy
in England, appointed commissioners to govern Maryland. Stone, Lord
Baltimore's lieutenant, was removed; but, on the dissolution of that
Parliament by Cromwell in 1654, he was restored to his full powers. The
commissioners, however (who had retired, to Virginia), entered Maryland,
and compelled Stone to surrender his warrant into their hands. The
Protestants, who acknowledged the authority of Cromwell, and had the
power, by majority, in their own hands, questioned the rights and
privileges of an hereditary proprietor. They stoutly contended for
religious liberty, yet they actually disfranchised those who differed
from them in religious opinions. Roman Catholics were excluded from the
Assembly; and an act was passed toward the close of 1654, declaring that
they were not entitled to the protection of the laws of Maryland!
Early in 1655, Stone, with greater loyalty to his master, the
proprietor, than to his religious profession, organized an armed body of
Catholics, and seized the provincial records. Civil war raged with fury,
and was intensified by the heat of religious acrimony. The Catholics
were finally defeated, Stone was made prisoner, and four of the
principal men of the province, attached to Baltimore's party, were
executed.
Josiah Fendall, who had actively supported Stone, and headed an
insurrection, was appointed governor, by Lord Baltimore, in 1656, but he
was soon arrested by the Protestant party. He was a man of good address,
and finally succeeded in having himself acknowledged as governor. (a)
The proprietor was restored to all his rights, but he did not long [[
a 1658]] enjoy them, for, on the restoration of Charles the Second,
the Assembly, knowing the animosity of the king against Lord Baltimore,
dissolved the Upper House, and assumed to
* Clayborne having obtained a royal license in 1631 to traffic with the
Indians, had established two settlements, one on the island of Kent, and
one other near the mouth of the Susquehanna. Clayborne not only refused
to acknowledge the authority of Baltimore, but sought to maintain his
own claims by force of arms. He was defeated, and fled to Virginia,
whence he was sent to England for trial as a traitor. He applied to the
king for a redress of grievances, but, after a full hearing, the charter
of Lord Baltimore was declared valid, against the earlier license of
Clayborne. The latter returned to Maryland, got up a rebellion in 1645,
and drove Governor Calvert into Virginia. For a year and a half the
insurgents held the reins of government, and the horrors of civil war
brooded over the infant colony. Clayborne afterward became one of the
commissioners appointed by Parliament, under the Protectorate, to govern
Maryland.
[[[Baltimore's Courtier.--Civil War.--Maryland a Royal
Province.--Republican Constitution.--Annapolis.]]]
[[a March, 1660.]] {399}itself the whole legislative power of the state,
(a) They declared that no power should be recognized in Maryland except
their own and the king's. Fendall then surrendered his trust to Lord
Baltimore, and accepted from the Assembly a new commission as governor.
Charles, however, forgave Baltimore for his homage to the Republicans,
for he was assured by that courtier that his partialities had always
been really in favor of the royal cause. The same year the rights of the
proprietor were restored, and Philip Calvert appointed governor. Fendall
was arrested upon a charge of treason, was tried, and found guilty, but,
under a general pardon to political offenders, wisely proclaimed by
Lord Baltimore, he escaped death. He was only fined a trifling sum, and
declared ineligible for office forever. *
Cecil, Lord Baltimore, died in 1675, and was succeeded in title and
fortune by his son Charles, who had been his lieutenant in Maryland
from 1662 to 1668. The new proprietor caused the government to be
administered by Thomas Notley, who governed with equity, and he became
very popular with all parties. Tranquillity prevailed in the province
until the Revolution in England in 1688, which drove James the Second
from the throne, and shook every colony in America. False rumors,
alleging that the Catholics and Indians had coalesced for the purpose of
massacreing the Protestants, aroused all the fire of religious animosity
which had been slumbering for years, and caused the formation of an
armed association for the alleged defense of the Protestant faith, and
of the rights of William and Mary, the successors of James. A compromise
was finally effected, and the Catholic party surrendered the powers
of government to the association, by capitulation. A convention of the
associates assumed the government, and exercised its functions until
1691, when the king, by an arbitrary act, deprived Charles, Lord
Baltimore, of his political rights as proprietor, and constituted
Maryland, for the first time, a royal government. Sir Lionel Copley
was appointed governor, and, on his arrival, (b) the principles of
the proprietary [[ b 1692]] government were overturned; religious
toleration, so freely conceded and so firmly maintained when the
Catholic proprietors held sway, was abolished, and the Church of England
was established as the religion of the state, and demanding support from
general taxation.
Maryland continued a royal province under the successive administrations
of Copley, Nicholson, Blackstone, Seymore, Lloyd, and Hart, until 1720,
and tranquillity prevailed. The inheritance of the proprietorship having
fallen to Charles, infant heir of Lord Baltimore, (c) who, on attaining
his majority, (d) professed the Protestant faith, George the First
restored the patent to the family. It remained a proprietary government
until our Revolution, ** when, as an independent state, it adopted a
constitution, (e) and [[e August 14, 1776]] took its place (the fourth
in the point of time) in the confederation of states. A large number of
Presbyterians from the north of Ireland had settled in the province,
and the principles of their ecclesiastical polity being favorable to
republicanism, they exerted a powerful influence in casting off the
royal yoke.
Annapolis being the capital of the province, it was the heart of
political action. In common with the people of the other colonies,
Maryland took a bold stand against the oppressive measures of the mother
government, commencing with the Stamp Act. On the 27th of August,
1765, a meeting of "Assertors of British American privileges" met at
Annapolis, "to show their detestation of and abhorrence to some late
tremendous attacks on liberty, and their dislike to a certain late
arrived officer, a _native of this province_. *** The [[c 1716]] [[d
1720]].
* Fendall afterward became concerned in a rebellious movement, with an
accomplice named Coode. He was arrested, fined four thousand pounds of
tobacco, imprisoned for non-payment, and banished from the province.
** The successive governors were Charles and Benedict Leonard Calvert;
Samuel Ogle; Lord Baltimore; Ogle again; Thomas Eladen; Ogle again;
Benjamin Tasker, acting governor; Horatio Sharpe, and Robert Eden.
Thomas Johnson was the first republican governor.
*** This was a Mr. Hood, who had been appointed stamp-master, while in
England, on the recommendation of Dr. Franklin. Such was the indignation
of the people against him, that no one would purchase goods of him,
though offered at a very low price. Just before the burning of his
effigy he escaped to New York, in time to save himself from being
presented with a coat of tar and feathers.
[[[Stamp-master's Effigy hanged and burned.--The Sons of
Liberty.--Statue of the King and Portrait of Camden.]]]
{400}landing of that officer was at first opposed and prevented, but
he was finally permitted to enter the town. They made an effigy of him,
dressed it curiously, placed it in a cart, like a malefactor, with some
sheets of paper before it, and, while the bell was tolling, paraded it
through the town. They proceeded to a hill, where, after punishing it at
the whipping-post and pillory, they hung it upon a gibbet, set fire to
a tar-barrel underneath, and burned it. * Governor Sharpe informed the
colonial secretary of the proceedings, and plainly told him that, such
was the temper of the people, that any stamped paper which might arrive
would doubtless be burned.
[Illustration: 9410]
Some of the proscribed paper, which arrived in December [[ a 1765]] (a)
was sent back by Governor Sharpe. The people refused to use the odious
stamps, and all legal business was suspended for a while. The Maryland
Gazette, like the Pennsylvania Journal (see page 259), appeared in
mourning on the 31st of October, declaring, like its cotemporary, that
"The times are Dreadful, Dismal, Doleful, Dolorous, and Dollarless." The
editor issued "an apparition of the _late_ Maryland Gazette" on the 10th
of December, and expressed his "belief that the odious Stamp Act would
never be carried into operation."
On the 1st of March, 1766, the Sons of Liberty of Baltimore, Kent, and
Anne Arundel counties held their first formal meeting at the court-house
in Annapolis. The Reverend Andrew Lendrum was appointed moderator, and
William Paca (afterward a signer of the Declaration of Independence)
was chosen secretary. Joseph Nicholson, from Kent county, presented an
address from that district, signed by twenty-three of the leading men.
** It was an application to the chief justice of the provincial court,
the secretary and commissary general, and judges of the land-offices,
asking them to resume the business of their respective offices
regardless of the law. The Anne Arundel and Baltimore committees also
signed the request, *** which, being forwarded to those officers, was
complied with. The Stamp Act thus virtually became a nullity a month
before the intelligence of its repeal arrived. That intelligence reached
Annapolis at noon on the 5th of April, and diffused unusual joy through
the city. Ihe remainder of the day was spent by the people in mirth and
festivity, and at an assemblage in the evening, "all loyal and patriotic
toasts were drank." The Assembly of Maryland voted a statue to the king,
and ordered a portrait of Lord Camden, a parliamentary friend of the
Americans, to be painted for the State House. On the 11th of June, great
rejoicings were again held at Annapolis, that day having been appointed
for the purpose by the
* Ridgeley's Annals of Annapolis, page 136.
** The following are the names of the Sons of Liberty of Kent county,
appended to the address: "Joseph Nicholson, William Ringgold, William
Stephenson, Thomas Ringgold, Jr., Joseph M'Hard, Gideon M'Cauley,
Daniel Fox, Benjamin Binning, William Bordley, Jarvis James, William
Stukely, Joseph Nicholson, Jr.. James Porter, Thomas Ringgold, James
Anderson, Thomas Smyth, William Murray, George Garnet, S. Boardley, Jr.,
Peroy Frisby, Henry Yandike, and John Bolton."
*** The Anne Arundel committee consisted of William Paca, Samuel Chase
(also a signer of the Declaration of Independence), and Thomas B. Hands.
The Baltimore county committee were John Hall, Robert Alexander, Corbin
Lee, James Heath, John Moale, and William Lux. The Baltimore town
committee consisted of Thomas Chase, D. Charnier, Robert Adair, Reverend
Patrick Allison, and W. Smith.
**** Charles Pratt, earl of Camden, was the third son of Chief-justice
Pratt, of the King's Bench. He was horn in 1713, and educated at Eton
and Cambridge. His fine talents as a legal scholar having been made
known in a case wherein he defended Mr. Pitt, that gentleman, when
chancellor in 1757, procured for Pratt the office of attorney general.
He was raised to the dignity of chief justice of the Common Pleas in
1762, and had the manly courage, while in office, to pronounce in
favor of John Wilkes, against the wishes of government. For this he was
applauded throughout the kingdom. He was made a peer of the realm, with
the title of Earl of Camden, in 1765, and in 1766 was advanced to the
Seals. Throughout the struggle of the Americans for right and liberty,
he was a consistent friend of the colonists. In 1782, he was appointed
president of the Privy Council, which place he held, except for a short
interim, until his death. He died on the 18th of April, 1794, aged
eighty-one years.
[[[Governor Eden.--Arrival of a Tea Ship.--Burning of the Vessel and
Cargo]]]
{401}mayor. A large concourse of people from the neighboring counties
were assembled, and in the evening the city was brilliantly illuminated.
Robert Eden was the last royal governor of Maryland. He arrived at
Annapolis on the 5th of June, 1769, and continued in office during the
stormy period preceding the actual hostilities of the Revolution, and
until the colonies had declared themselves independent, when he returned
to England. Governor Eden was respected by all for his urbanity and
kindness of heart, but his duty to his king brought him into collision
with the leading minds in the colony as the Revolution advanced, and
at length, in consequence of several intercepted letters, Congress
recommended the Council of Safety of Maryland to put him under arrest,
and to take possession of his papers. * (a) The Baltimore committee [[
a April 16, 1776]] volunteered to carry out the recommendation of
Congress, and, in consequence, became involved in difficulty with the
Maryland convention. ** A committee of the convention, before whom
Eden's letters were laid, reported that, in such correspondence as the
governor had carried on with the ministry, he did not evince hostility
to the colonists; and the matter ended by signifying to Eden that the
public safety and quiet required him to leave the province.
Annapolis was a scene of great excitement in the autumn of 1774. Already
public sentiment had been expressed against the Boston Port Bill at a
general meeting, (b) and |[[ b May 12, 1774]] the people were ripe for
rebellion. On Saturday, the 15th of October, the ship _Peggy_, Captain
Stewart, arrived from London, bringing, among other things, seventeen
packages of tea, consigned to T. C. Williams & Co., of Annapolis. This
was the first arrival of the proscribed article at that port. As soon as
the fact was known, the citizens were summoned to a general meeting.
It was ascertained that the consignees had imported the tea, and that
Anthony Stewart, proprietor of the vessel, had paid the duty upon it.
This was deemed an acquiescence in the justice of the claim of Great
Britain to tax the colonies, and it was resolved that the tea should
not be landed. The people of the surrounding country were summoned to a
public meeting in Annapolis the following Wednesday. Mr. Stewart issued
a handbill explaining the transaction, and disclaiming all intention to
violate the non-importation pledge; and expressed his regret that the
article had been placed on board his ship. But the people, too often
cajoled by the whining of men when their bad conduct had brought them
into trouble, were more disposed to punish than to forgive, and they
resolved, at the Wednesday meeting, to destroy the vessel, with its
packages of tea. To prevent raising a tempest that might not be allayed
by the simple destruction of the vessel, and to soften the asperity
of public feeling toward him, Mr. Stewart, under the advice of Charles
Carroll of Carrollton, and others, consented to burn the vessel himself.
Accompanied by some friends, he ran her aground near Windmill Point,
and set her on fire. The people were satisfied, and the crowd dispersed.
"The tea burning at Boston," says M'Mahon, "has acquired renown, as
an act of unexampled daring at that day in the defense of American
liberties; but the tea burning of Annapolis, which occurred in the
ensuing fall, far surpasses it, in the apparent deliberation, and utter
carelessness of concealment, attending the bold measures which led to
its accomplishment." ***
* These letters, which fell into the hands of the Baltimore committee,
and were by them transmitted to Congress, were addressed to the colonial
secretary and other members of the British cabinet, and were considered
"highly dangerous to the liberties of America."--Journals of Congress,
ii., 130.
** General Charles Lee, who was then at Williamsburg, in Virginia,
wrote to Samuel Purviance, chairman of the Baltimore committee, advising
particular military action in respect to the seizure of Eden and his
papers. For this the Council of Safety blamed him, and he was charged
with unwarrantable interference. In an explanatory letter to Mr.
Jenifer, chairman of the council, Lee fully justified himself, and
uttered the noblest sentiments of patriotism.
*** History of Maryland
[[[Treatment of John Parks.--Maryland and Independence.--The State House
and its Associations.]]]
{402}At Elizabethtown (now Hagerstown, in Washington county) the
committee of vigilance of the district caused one John Parks to go with
his hat off, with a lighted torch, and set fire to a chest of tea in his
possession. The committee recommended entire non-intercourse with
Parks; but the populace, thinking the committee too lenient, satisfied
themselves by breaking the doors and windows of his dwelling. Tar and
feathers were freely used in various places, and the town committees
exercised supreme authority in all local matters having a relation to
the great subject which engrossed the public mind.
[[ a May 10, 1776]] When Congress recommended (a) the several colonies
to establish provisional governments, where it had not already been
done, the Maryland convention, as we have noticed (page 282), did not
at first concur with the resolution. On the contrary, they voted that it
was not necessary to suppress every exercise of authority under the [[
b May 20.]] crown (b) Through the efforts of Samuel Chase and others in
calling county conventions, a change of public sentiment was speedily
brought in Maryland, and on the 28th of June the convention empowered
its delegates in Congress to vote for a resolution declaring the
colonies "free and independent." Her representatives, Samuel Chase,
William Paca, Thomas Stone, and Charles Carroll, were among the most
active of those who signed the great Declaration.
[Illustration: 8412]
A state Constitution was adopted on the 14th of August following, and
from that period Maryland labored assiduously, shoulder to shoulder,
with her sister colonies, in maintaining the independence which Congress
had declared.
Annapolis, like Baltimore, was frequently the scene of military
displays, but not of sanguinary conflicts. When Washington, covered with
all the glory which victory in battle can bestow, came fresh from the
fields of Yorktown, on his way to Philadelphia, he passed [[ c November
21, 1781]] through Annapolis. (c) On his arrival, all business was
suspended, and crowds of eager gazers thronged the window's and the
streets. A public address was presented by the citizens, and every
manifestation of esteem for the great chief was exhibited. Again, late
in 1783, when the war was ended, the Continental army was disbanded, and
Great Britain had acknowledged the independence of the United States,
the State House at Annapolis, now venerated, because of the glorious
associations which cluster around it, was filled with the brave, the
fair, and the patriotic of Maryland, to witness the sublime spectacle
of that beloved chief resigning his military power, wielded with such
mighty energy and glorious results for eight long years, into the hands
of the civil authority [[ d December 23, 1783]] which gave it. (d)
The Continental Congress having adjourned at Princeton, (e) to meet at
Annapolis [[ e November 4.]] on the 26th of No-
* This fine building is situated upon an elevation in the center of
the city, and is admired by every visitor, not only for its style of
architecture, but for the beauty of its location. The building is of
brick. The superstructure consists of a spacious dome, surmounted by
two smaller ones, with a cupola of wood. From the dome, a magnificent
prospect opens to the eye. Around the spectator is spread out the city
and harbor like a map, while far away to the southeast stretches the
Chesapeake, with Kent Island and the eastern shore looming up in the
distance. The edifice fronts Francis Street, and the hill on which it
stands is surrounded by a substantial granite wail, surmounted by an
iron railing, having three gateways. It was erected in 1772, upon the
site of the old Court-house, built in 1706. The corner stone was laid by
Governor Robert Eden. The dome was not built until after the Revolution.
The architect was Joseph Clarke. Tradition relates that when Governor
Eden struck the corner stone with a mallet, at the time of laying it, a
severe clap of thunder burst over the city, though there was not a cloud
in the sky. Thomas Dance, who executed the stucco work of the dome,
fell from the scaffold, and was killed, just as he finished the center
piece.--See Ridgeley's Annals of Annapolis.
[[[The Senate Chamber where Washington resigned his
Commission.--Portraits.--Departure of Rochambeau.]]]
{403}vember, was then in session there. In the Senate Chamber of the
Capitol the interesting scene took place, so well delineated by the pens
of Marshall and others, and the pencil of Trumbull. I shall here omit
the details of that closing event of the war, for it is too closely
connected with the departure of the last hostile foot from our shores, a
month [[ a November 25, 1783]] previously, (a) to be separated from
that narrative, without marring the sublime beauty of the picture. Never
shall I forget the peculiar emotions which I felt while sitting in that
room, copying the portraits of those patriots of Maryland who signed
our Declaration of Independence. * The little gallery wherein stood Mrs.
Washington and other distinguished ladies when the chief resigned his
commission, is still there, and unchanged; and the doors, windows,
cornices, and other architectural belongings are the same which echoed
the voice of the Father of his Country on that occasion. The very spot
where Mifflin, the president, and Thomson, the secretary of Congress
sat, when the treaty of peace with Great Britain was ratified, was
pointed out to me. Reflecting upon the events which consecrate it, that
hall, to me, seemed the shrine wherein the purest spirit of patriotism
should dwell, for there the victorious warrior for freedom laid his
sword upon the altar of Peace--there the sages of a people just made
free ratified a solemn covenant of peace, friendship, and political
equality with the most powerful nation upon earth, wrung from its rulers
by the virtues and prowess of men who scorned to be unrequited vassals.
From that hall, like the dove from the ark, the spirit of peace and
reconciliation went out, never to return disappointed; for the deluge of
misery which war had brought upon the land was assuaged, the floods had
returned, to their proper boundaries, and the hills and valleys of the
new republic were smiling with the blessings of returning prosperity and
quiet. The gentle spirit found a resting-place every where throughout
the broad land.
I have little else to note concerning Annapolis, as connected with my
subject. The French army was encamped upon the College green for a short
time, while on its march northward in 1782, and it was from this port
that Rochambeau and his suite embarked for France. Great rejoicings were
held in April, 1783, on the receipt of the intelligence of a general
cessation of hostilities. Three years after the treaty of peace was
ratified, commissioners from the several states met at Annapolis, "to
consider on the best means of remedying the defects of the Federal
government." (b) This convention was the [[ b September, 1786]]incipient
step toward framing our Federal Constitution, a subject to be noticed in
detail hereafter. From that period the city rather declined in commerce
and general importance; for Baltimore, having been established as a port
of entry, with a custom-house, and supported by a thriving agricultural
population, soon outstripped it in trade. But Annapolis remains the
political metropolis of Maryland.
* Full-length portraits of Carroll, Chase, Paca, and Stone, grace the
walls of the Senate Chamber. Copies of the heads of these will be found
among those of the signers in the frontispiece of the second volume of
this work. Carroll and Stone were painted by Sully, the other two by
Bordley--both native artists. It is worthy of remark that the four
signers were then residents of Annapolis. The portrait of Paca is a fine
picture of a fashionable gentleman of that day. His coat is a claret
color, vest white silk, black silk breeches, and white silk stockings.
Stone, who is sitting, has a graver appearance. His coat is brown, vest
and breeches black silk, and white silk stockings. Carroll and Chase
are both sitting. The former has an overcoat on, the skirt of which
is thrown over his knee; the latter is dressed in his judicial robe, a
simple black gown. In the same room is a portrait of John Eager Howard,
and William Pitt, earl of Chatham. The latter a full-length, and in
Roman costume, was painted by Charles Wilson Peale (who was also a
native of Maryland), while in England, and presented by the artist to
his native state in 1794. In the hall of the House of Delegates is a
full-length likeness of Washington, attended by La Fayette and Colonel
Tilghman--the Continental army passing in review. This picture,
commemorative of the surrender at York-town, was also painted by Peale,
pursuant to a resolution of the Assembly of Maryland. In Trumbull's
picture of this room, in which is represented the commander-in-chief
resigning his commission, the artist for the purpose of having proper
lights and shadows, has omitted the three large windows.
[[[Journey from Annapolis to Washington.--Profusion of Gates.--Queen
Anne and its Decline.]]]
{404}