DEATH OF GENERAL SAMUEL SMITH, OF MARYLAND; AND NOTICE OF HIS
LIFE AND CHARACTER.
He was eighteen years a senator, and nearly as long a member of the
House--near forty years in Congress: which speaks the estimation in
which his fellow-citizens held him. He was thoroughly a business
member, under all the aspects of that character: intelligent, well
informed, attentive, upright; a very effective speaker, without
pretending to oratory: well read: but all his reading subordinate to
common sense and practical views. At the age of more than seventy he
was still one of the most laborious members, both in the committee
room and the Senate: and punctual in his attendance in either place.
He had served in the army of the Revolution, and like most of the
men of that school, and of that date, had acquired the habit of
punctuality, for which Washington was so remarkable--that habit
which denotes a well-ordered mind, a subjection to a sense of duty,
and a considerate regard for others. He had been a large merchant
in Baltimore, and was particularly skilled in matters of finance
and commerce, and was always on committees charged with those
subjects--to which his clear head, and practical knowledge, lent
light and order in the midst of the most intricate statements. He
easily seized the practical points on these subjects, and presented
them clearly and intelligibly to the chamber. Patriotism, honor,
and integrity were his eminent characteristics; and utilitarian the
turn of his mind; and beneficial results the object of his labors.
He belonged to that order of members who, without classing with the
brilliant, are nevertheless the most useful and meritorious. He was
a working member; and worked diligently, judiciously, and honestly,
for the public good. In politics he was democratic, and greatly
relied upon by the Presidents Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. He
was one of the last of the revolutionary stock that served in the
Senate--remaining there until 1833--above fifty years after that
Declaration of Independence which he had helped to make good, with
his sword. Almost octogenarian, he was fresh and vigorous to the
last, and among the most assiduous and deserving members. He had
acquired military reputation in the war of the Revolution, and was
called by his fellow-citizens to take command of the local troops
for the defence of Baltimore, when threatened by the British under
General Ross, in 1814--and commanded successfully--with the judgment
of age and the fire of youth. At his death, his fellow-citizens of
Baltimore erected a monument to his memory--well due to him as one
of her longest and most respected inhabitants, as having been one
of her eminent merchants, often her representative in Congress,
besides being senator; as having defended her both in the war of the
Revolution and in that of 1812; and as having made her welfare and
prosperity a special object of his care in all the situations of his
life, both public and private.