USA > Maryland > An historical view of the government of Maryland : from its colonization to the present day > Part 40
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(12) Green's Gazette of 27th June, 1771.
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HISTORY FROM THE STAMP ACT ĮHist. View.
the most hearty concurrence of the whole executive in its sup- port. By the force of these circumstances, he was identified with the measure; and with a character too decided for neutrali- ty, and an intellect that never feared the grapple of argument, he did not hesitate to avow, in the face of opposition, that, in his opinion, it was both legal and expedient.
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For the first two years after the origin of the controversy, it was principally conducted by the discussions between the two houses Controversy up- on this subject, between Dulany and Charles Car- roll, of Carroll- ton. of Assembly, and by oral appeals to the people. At the close of that period, it found its way to the press; and then began a war of essays, as fierce as the war of words which preceded it. It was opened, in the beginning of the year 1773, by a communication purporting to be a dialogue between two citizens, in which " The First Citizen" was the opponent of the proclamation : but the whole dialogue was so adroitly managed on the part of his adversary, with so many moderate and seemingly candid arguments, and so many gentle insinuations against the motives and consistency of the leaders of the opposition, that its purpose could not be mistaken. Another writer now assumed the name of " the First Citizen," to carry on the dialogue with more justice to the opposition ; and Mr. Dulany appeared as his antagonist, and the defender of the proclamation, under the new name of " Antilon." In " The First Citizen," Mr. Dulany encountered, as his opponent, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the living signer of the declaration of in- dependence. Mr. Carroll is the descendant of a family establish- ed in the colony before the Protestant revolution. Charles Car- roll, his grandfather, emigrated to Maryland shortly before the accession of William of Orange; where, during the continuance of the royal government, he rose so high in the confidence of the proprietary, as to receive from him, about the year 1711, the lucrative and responsible office of Agent and Receiver General of his revenue. To his son, Charles Carroll, he transmitted an ample inheritance, and an honorable name, by the improvement of which the former acquired a commanding respect and influ- ence with his Catholic brethren of the colony. Carroll of Car- rollton, who, like Nestor, has lived to see successive generations pass by him to the tomb, was born in Maryland about the year 1737. Blessed with a father, whose will concurred with his for-
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tunes, to bestow upon him advantages in education enjoyed by few in this colony at that early day, he received his collegiate instruc- tion in the most approved schools of France, and his legal edu- cation in the Temple at London. From the latter, he returned to his native province in 1764; and although his religious per- suasions excluded him from its councils, he is said to have parti- cipated in the common feeling of indignation against the stamp act, and to have contributed by his writings to the opposition to the more subtle, but not less dangerous taxation of commerce. This, however, was the first occasion on which he was brought conspicuously into view, in the public transactions; and he had now to deal with an able and experienced adversary, with whom victory was familiar, and from whom defeat was not disgrace. Mr. Dulany was his equal in education; his superior in age, ex- perience, and established reputation ; more conversant with the various interests and institutions of the colony ; more skilled in the profound researches and practical applications of his profes- sion ; and to give these advantages still greater force, he was a Protestant, and amongst the first in office and confidence under an exclusive Protestant government, and amongst a Protestant people. Mr. Carroll was a disfranchised Catholic, who, to the joint power of such weapons of attack, could oppose only the force of his cause, the resolute spirit, and the acquirements of a cultivated mind ; yet with such odds against him, he entered into the contest.
Thus began a controversy, which was conducted through the Maryland Gazette, under these assumed names, for several months. It was kept up with great spirit : but it may be fairly Character of objected to the essays of both, that they deal too their essays. much in invective. It is manifest from the allusions of each, that he fully understood with whom he was combating ; and hence the discussion abounds in personalities, some of which are now unintelligible, and all deserve to be forgotten with the feeling of the moment. Their essays are, also, crowded with , quotations and classical allusions, which would almost ascribe to them a contest for the palm in learning, rather than the argu- ment of a question of common interest, addressed to the general understanding, were it not, that they are explained or translated, (as Mr. Sheridan would say,) for the benefit of the country gen-
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tlemen. Yet, with these defects, if the latter may be so called, they are political essays of a high order, taking a wide range through the doctrines of constitutional liberty, evincing much research, abounding in happy illustrations, and often pointed with the most caustic, satire. In those of Mr. Dulany, we dis- cover every where the traces of a powerful mind, confident in its own resources, indignant at opposition, contemptuous as if from conscious superiority, and yet sometimes affecting contempt as the cover under which to escape from principles not to be resist- ed. In those of Mr. Carroll, Mr. Dulany is constantly covered with the character of the prime minister of the governor, prompt- ing the measure in controversy, for his personal interest and aggrandizement at the expense of the people. Availing them- selves of Mr. Dulany's position in contrast with his previous opposition to the stamp act, they array against him all the dan- gers of prerogative, as illustrated by the examples of history, and depicted in his own previous writings : and they speak every where the language of one, confident in his cause, conscious that he is sustained by public sentiment, and exulting in the advanta- ges of his own position. On behalf of the proclamation, it was contended by Mr. Dulany, that it was not the assumption of a power claiming to control law in the regulation of fees, but mere- ly acting where the law had ceased to operate, and enduring only until it resumed its operation ; that it was not therefore in conflict with the exercise of a similar power by the Assembly, but in sub- ordination to it, and was in no degree impugned by the doctrines and precedents of past Assemblies, claiming it as the proper power of legislation ; that it was sanctioned by several instances of its past exercise, and was now necessary to restrain official abuses, where the laws interposed no check; that it was intended and operated for public benefit, and was therefore distinguished from exercises of dangerous prerogative ; that the mere regula- tion of the fees of previously established offices, was not taxation ; and that in England, where the taxing power was as exclusively in parliament, as here in the Assembly, the fees incident to such offices were rated by the courts without objection. To these arguments, it was replied by Mr. Carroll, that fees were taxes, both in legal parlance and according to the common acceptation ; that they were so considered by the most approved legal writers,
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and were such in their nature and operation ; that the regulation of fees by the English courts was not their establishment, but the mere ascertainment of them as previously and legally established, in contradistinction to those which had crept in by abuse; that being a branch of the taxing power, it was equally open to abuse with any other branch of it, and equally required the safe- guard consisting in the exclusive exercise of it by the legislature ; that precedents, and especially precedents disputed at the time of their establishment, were of no avail against an exclusive right so sacred and necessary ; that the precedents in this instance, were in opposition to the power, and not only demonstrated an utmost uninterrupted exercise of it by the Assembly, but also an express surrender of it by the governors, at a very early period ; and that the proclamation had not only exercised an exclusive power of the legislature, but had also usurped it against its will, and in the face of its remonstrances. These are but the faint outlines of these elaborate essays, so distinguished at that period, so little known at this. (13)
The efforts of Mr. Carroll, drew upon him several malignant but anonymous attacks, from other quarters, in which the effort Results of the was made to array against him the religious preju- discussion. dices of the province. He was stigmatised as a Catholic and a Jesuit, and reproached with his political dis- franchisement, as if it were a crime in him to defend the rights of a people, whose laws excluded him from the privileges of a citizen. "But when I saw," says one of these writers, " the man from whom this country hath reaped such solid advantages ; the man who but a few years ago stood forth in vindication of our then doubted rights; to whom the whole continent hath paid its tribute of gratitude, and to whom the illustrious Pitt was wholly indebted for his famous enthusiastic speech in support of America, held up as an object of lawless fury, and that too principally by one who doth not enjoy the privilege of offer- ing his puny vote at an election, I cannot describe what I then felt. Is it possible that the admiration of the author of " the
(13) The essays of Mr. Dulany, were published in Green's Gazette of 7th January, 18th February, 8th April, and 3d June, 1773 : and those of Mr. Carroll, in same of 4th February, 11th March, 6th May, and 1st July, 1773. They occupy nearly all the columns of these numbers.
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Considerations," affected in one place by this patriotic nur-ling of St. Omers, could escape you? Doth not the haggard image of Jacques Clement, professing a zeal for the service of Henry III. of France, at the very moment he was summoning all the powers of his soul and body, to plunge his knife into his bowels, rush upon your thoughts?" (14) Such was the charac- ter of many of these inflaming appeals ; but they were addressed to a people who only the more appreciated a vindication of their liberties, coming from one to whose support they had but little claim ; and instead of rejecting his assistance, they learned from the instance, the folly of making human laws the regulators of conscience. In the results, Mr. Carroll certainly obtained a de- cided victory. The elections held in May, 1723, during the progress of this discussion, were attended with great excite- ment, and resulted in the complete triumph of the anti-procla- mation party. Immediately after this result, and upon the in- struction, of public meetings held at Annapolis, and in the counties of Frederick, Baltimore, and Anne Arundel, the thanks of the people were formally presented to "The First Citizen," through their delegates elect. (15) He had now established a rank and influence in the province at large, which rendered him prominent in its councils and operations, in the consummation of independence, which was soon to follow.
After the discussion was dropped by these combatants, a new advocate for the proclamation presented himself. John Hammond, Discussion be- who succeeded Mr. Dulany in the effort to rescue tween Mr. Ham- mond, and Mes- this measure from public indignation, was a lawyer
514. Chase, John- son and Paca. of distinguished abilities, and hitherto a con- spicuous member of the Assembly. He was a delegate from Anne Arundel, in the Assembly immediately succeeding the issuing of the proclamation : but at the new elections, in May, 1773, refusing adherence to the opposition party, and being fully satisfied that his sentiments were in opposition to those of the great body of his constituents, he declined being a candi-
(14) Green's Gazette of 25th March, 1773.
(15) The letters of thanks, pursuant to these instructions, are preserved in Green's Gazette of 20th and 27th May, and 10th June, 1:73. These, as well as the instructions, preserve his assumed character, and are addressed to him as "First Citizen."
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date. Some of the publications consequent upon that election, having ascribed to him an improper interference with the mea- sures adopted by the people of his county to celebrate their victory, he at length published a vindication of his conduct, in which he entered into an elaborate defence of the proclama- tion. It displays abilities of a high order, but abounds, as was usual with the political essays of that period, with harsh reflections upon the conduct and motives of the principal leaders of the opposition. He had thus thrown down the gauntlet : and the defiance was not long unanswered. Thomas Johnson, William Paca, and Samuel Chase, all lawyers of cmi- nence, distinguished members of the lower house, and leaders of the opposition, now entered the lists as his antagonists. The promises of Mr. Chase's early efforts against the stamp act, had been fully redeemed. Still the fearless champion of popular rights, his mind swayed, and his energy inspired confidence, wherever he moved. In his co-adjutors, on this occasion, he had men worthy to be called his peers. The reputation of Thomas Johnson, does not rest alone upon the memorials of our colonial history. It has a prouder record, in the history of his State, in the councils of the American nation. Distinguished 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 the evidences of his charac- ter, but as the earnest of those virtues afterwards so conspi- cuous, in the discharge of his arduous and dangerous duties, dur- ing the darkest hours of the revolution. At this carly period, he held a professional rank, and enjoyed a degree of public re- spect in his own colony, sufficient for enviable distinction. Mr. Paca had been, for several years, the representative of Annap- olis, and was now, at the early age of thirty-three, the compeer of such men as Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Chase. Engaged in the study of the law, at Annapolis, at the same period, and concur- ring in their general views of public rights and policy, the foun- dation was there laid, of an intimacy and a personal attachment between Mr. Chase and Mr. Paca, which endured throughout life. The latter, more bland and conciliating in his demeanor, but as firm in his purposes, was found side by side with the 50 .
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former, in the transactions of this period, as the friend of private life, and the fellow-laborer in public duties. Thus bound to- gether by the firmest bonds of life, how beautifully was it or- dained that their names should pass down to after ages, associ- ated in the same close connexion on the Declaration of American Independence ! With such men as antagonists, and such a cause to sustain, there was fearful odds, even against one so gifted as Mr. Hammond : and the controversy, therefore, terminated with his first essay, and their reply. (16) Presenting some new views of the measure in question, which was principally sustained by Mr. Hammond under the ordinance power of the charter, their publications display an ability which entitles them to rank with those of Dulany and Carroll : and all of them deserve to be rescued from the oblivion to which they are passing, with the subject from which they sprang.
The course of the colony, in relation to this protracted controversy, was such as we would naturally expect from Proceedings of a people on the eve of a revolution, in which they the lower house in 1771, in oppo- were to manifest the fullest acquaintance with the sition to the pro- clamation. principles of political liberty, and the most unyield. ing adherence to them under every circumstance of privation and danger. The first Assembly held after the issuing of the proclama- tion, was convened in October, 1771. During a session of more than two months, every effort was then made by the lower house to procure the withdrawal of the proclamation. The journals of that session abound with interesting discussions of the subjects in controversy ; and its proceedings display a high degree of ability. Prominent in these discussions were Messrs. Chase, Paca and Johnson, Charles Graham of Calvert, John Hall of Annapolis, and Edward Tilghman of Queen Ann's, all of whom were the opponents of the proclamation. Defenders it had nonc : for although there were one or two dissentients on the propositions relative to its advisers, those denouncing the measure itself, as illegal and oppressive, were unanimously adopted. By the resolves of that session, the right of taxation was asserted to be the exclusive right of the Assembly; and the
(16) Mr. Hammond's vindication will be found in Green's Gazette of 29th July, 1773 : and the joint reply of Messrs. Johnson, Paca, and Chase, in Gazette of 9th September, 1773.
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exercise of it by any other power pronounced unconstitutional and oppressive : the proclamation, and the regulation of fees in the land office, were declared to be arbitrary and illegal; and their advisers stigmatized as enemies to the peace, welfare and happiness of the province, and to its laws and constitution. (17) In the address of the lower house to the governor, which follow- ed up these resolves, the arguments against the legality and pro -. priety of these measures were closed by an appeal, remarkable for its just conceptions of their character. " Permit us (says this address,) to entreat your excellency to review this unconstitu- tional assumption of power, and consider its pernicious conse- quences. Applications to the public offices, are not of choice but necessity. Redress 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 pro- vince with the utmost ease, and that they were the most exactly proportioned to the value of the officers' services; yet, even in such a supposed case, this proclamation ought to be regarded with abhorrence. For who are a free people? Not those over whom government is reasonably and equitably exercised ; but, ; those who live under a government so constitutionally checked and controlled, that proper provision is made against its being otherwise exercised. This act of power is founded on the de- struction of constitutional security. If the proclamation may rightfully regulate the fees, it has a right to fix any other 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 contrary to justice. If it has a right to tax us, then, whether our money shall continue in our own pockets, depends no longer on us, but on the prerogative." (IS)
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(17) Journals of 18th October, 1771.
(18) Journals of 22d November, 1771. This address was presented to the house by Thomas Johnson, then a delegate from Anne Arundel ; and there were but three dissentients from its adoption.
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These remonstrances were unavailing. The governor adhered to his original views, sustaining them by the emphatic declara- New clection tion, that instead of recalling his proclamation, were in 1773. it necessary to enforce it, he would renew it in stronger terms. Compromise was now hopeless; and the re- fractory Assembly was prorogued. It was not again convened before its dissolution in April, 1773; when a new election was ordered for the ensuing month. The discussion between Mr. Dulany and Mr. Carroll was then going on; and the proclama- tion became again the engrossing topic of public controversy. Parties were rallied; and the elections, which were conducted entirely with reference to this measure, were attended with great excitement, and again resulted in the complete triumph of the opposition. (19)
(19) The extreme and general excitement produced by this controversy, is manifest from the triumphs which followed the victory of the people. Subjoined is an account of the Celebration at Annapolis, (extracted from Green's Gazette,) which corresponds, in the manner of celebration, with the rejoicings throughout the province :
" We are requested to insert the following account of the election :
" Last Friday was held the election for the city, when Messrs. William Daca and Matthias Hammond, were chosen by a very large majority of the freemen, indeed, without any opposition ; much was expected, as Mr. An- thony Stewart had long declared himself a candidate for the city, even before a vacancy by the resignation of Mr. Hall, whose friends in the county in- sisted upon his taking a poll there. Mr. Stewart's private character justly recommended him to the esteem of his fellow citizens, but as he was origi- Dally proposed to turn out Mr. Hall or Mr. Paca, who stood bigh in the estecia of the people, and as a strong suspicion was entertained of his po- litical principles and court connexions, Mr. Hammond was put up in oppo- sition to him, and on the morning of the election so great was the majority of votes for Mr. Hammond, that Mr. Stewart thought it prudent to decline.
"The polls being closed, and Messrs. Paca and Hammond declared duly elected, it was proposed and universally approved of, to go in solemn proces- sion to the gallows, and to bury under it the much detested proclamation.
" A description of the funeral obsequies may not be disagreeable to the public :
"First were carried two flags with the following labels : on one, Liberty ; on the other, No Proclamation. Between the flags walked the two Repre- sentatives ; a clerk and sexton preceded the coffin, on the left the grave digger, carrying a spade on his shoulder -- the Proclamation was cut out of Antilon's first paper, and deposited in the coffin, near which moved slowly
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Cotemporaneous with the proclamation controversy, was another, conducted with equal spirit and ability, and contri-
Origin of the buting largely to the excitements of this period. In Vestry Act ques. intrinsic interest, the Vestry Act question was scarce- tion. ly inferior to the former; but it did not involve the same high constitutional doctrines; nor did its discussions lead to the same investigation of the principles of government, and of the proper securities of political rights. Yet although a mere . technical question, it was so mingled with the political contests of this period, that we shall be pardoned for adverting to its general nature and objects. It has been seen, that the church of England became the established church of the colony in 1692; and that provision was then made for the established clergy, by the imposition of a poll tax of 40 lbs. of tobacco on the taxables of each parish. This tax was assessed with the public dues, and sent out to the sheriff for collection, for the use of the minis- ter. By succeeding acts, it was continued down to the act of 1702, upon which the church establishment principally rested at this period. Under the inspection law of 1763, which regulated clergy dues as well as officers' fees, this tax was reduced, during its continuance, to 30 lbs. of tobacco per poll; and that law being suffered to expire, in consequence of the disagreement between the two houses already alluded to, the more onerous tax of the act of 1702 was therefore revived.
Taxes are not generally acceptable, in any form or for any pur- . pose, to those who pay them; but they are particularly odious,
on, two drummers with muffled drums, and two fifes, playing the dead march ; after them were drawn six pieces of small cannon, followed by a great con- course of citizens and gentlemen from the country, who attended this fune- ral. In this order they proceeded to the gallows, to which the coffin was for a time suspended, then cut down and buried under a discharge of minute guns. On the coffin was the following inscription :
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