USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > Annapolis > Annals of Annapolis : comprising sundry notices of that old city from the period of the first settlements in its vicinity in the year 1649, until the war of 1812 ; together with various incidents in the history of Maryland, derived from early records, public documents, and other sources ; with an appendix, containing a number of letters from General Washington, and other distinguished persons, which letters have never been published before > Part 15
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The following addresses were presented by the ex- ecutive and legislative bodies, respectively, to the Mar- quis, during this visit at Annapolis, with his answers.
'ANNAPOLIS, November 30th, 1784. In Council.
'Sir,-We, the governor and council of Maryland, beg leave with the most entire respect and heart-felt satisfaction, to embrace this first opportunity of your presence in the metropolis of this State, since the establishment of our peace, to offer you our warmest congratulations, and to express our high and grateful sense of the illustrious share which you bore in the accomplishment of that happy event.
'The early and decided part which you took in the cause of American liberty and glory, your generous services for us in the court of your august monarch,
* William Paca.
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our great and good ally, and your wise and magnani- mous conduct in the field, upon many of the most arduous occasions of the war, have endeared your name to America, and enrolled it high in the list of patriots and heroes, the supporters of her liberty, and founders of her empire.
'May, sir, your future days be as great and honour- able as the past, and may heaven take under its pecu- liar care and protection, a life so eminently distinguished for its attachment and devotion to the rights and liber- ties of mankind. With every sentiment of regard and respect, we have the honour to be, sir, your most obe- dient humble servant,
'WILLIAM PACA.
'The honourable the Marquis de la Fayette.'
'To his excellency the Governor and the honourable Council of the State of Maryland.
'Sir,-In the polite attention of your excellency and council, I find myself equally obliged to your attach- ment, and honoured by your approbation.
'To have been early adopted among the sons of free- dom, to have seen French and American standards united in the cause of mankind, to have so peculiarly shared in the confidence and friendship of the United States, are ideas the more pleasing to me, as I am assured, when I reflect upon the difficulties this coun- try overcame, that she will attend to the means of splendor and happiness, which now, thank God, are in her disposal.
'I beg, sir, your excellency and council will accept the warmest acknowledgments, and sincerest wishes that an affectionate heart can most respectfully bestow.
LA FAYETTE.'
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'November 30, 1784.
'Sir,-The general assembly of Maryland, are happy in having an opportunity of personally testifying the grateful sense they and their constituents entertain of the important services which you rendered these United States during the late war. The strong attachment which you have manifested to its interests in situations the most trying and difficult, still continues to actuate your conduct ; to this attachment and predilection we partly attribute the commercial arrangements lately adopted by his Most Christian Majesty, which bid fair to perpetuate and extend the friendly intercourse and connexions between his subjects and the citizens of these United States.
'May the Great Ruler of the Universe long preserve a life which has been so early dedicated to the service of humanity, and engaged in the most useful and bril- liant actions.
'GEO. PLATER, Pres. Sen. 'THO. C. DEYE, Sp. Ho. Del.
"The Marquis de la Fayette.'
' To the Honourable the General Assembly of Maryland :
'Gentlemen,-On this opportunity so pleasingly anti- cipated, of my respectful congratulations to your gene- ral assembly, I meet such precious marks of your par- tiality, as most happily complete my satisfaction.
'Amidst the enjoyments of allied successes, affection conspires with interest to cherish a mutual intercourse ; and in France you will ever find that sympathizing good will, which leaves no great room for private exertions. With the ardor of a most zealous heart, I earnestly hope this State, ever mindful of the public spirit she has conspicuously displayed, will to the
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fullest extent improve her natural advantages, and in the federal Union so necessary to all, attain the highest degree of particular happiness and prosperity.
'While you are pleased, gentlemen, to consider my life as being devoted to the service of humanity, I feel not less gratified by so flattering an observation than by your friendly wishes for its welfare, and the pleasure I now experience in presenting you with the tribute of my attachment and gratitude. LA FAYETTE.'
During the sitting of this legislature, the following act was passed :
'An act to naturalize major-general the Marquis de la Fayette and his heirs male forever.
'Whereas, the general assembly of Maryland, anxious to perpetuate a name dear to the State, and to recog- nize the Marquis de la Fayette for one of its citizens, who, at the age of nineteen, Jeft his native country, and risked his life in the late revolution ; who, on his joining the American army, after being appointed by congress to the rank of major-general, disinterestedly refused the usual rewards of command, and sought only to deserve, what he attained, the character of pa- triot and soldier ; who, when appointed to conduct an incursion into Canada, called forth by his prudence and extraordinary discretion, the approbation of con- gress ; who, at the head of an army in Virginia, baffled the manœuvres of a distinguished general, and excited the admiration of the oldest commanders ; who early attracted the notice and obtained the friendship of the illustrious general Washington ; and who laboured and succeeded in raising the honour and name of the United States of America ; therefore,
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'Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the Marquis de la Fayette, and his heirs male for- ever, shall be, and they and each of them are hereby deemed, adjudged, and taken to be, natural born citi- zens of this State, and shall henceforth be entitled to all the immunities, rights and privileges of natural born citizens thereof, they and every of them conform- ing to the constitution and laws of this State, in the enjoyment and exercise of such immunities, rights and privileges.'
From this period Annapolis rather declined in her commerce and importance as a city. Until about this time, the merchants of Baltimore had here been obliged to register, enter and clear vessels-but a custom-house being now established there, Thomas Sollers, Esquire, naval officer, was authorized to grant registers for vessels at that port. Baltimore, with a thriving and enterprizing people in the interior, at- tracted the produce of the country, until Annapolis gradually lost all trade of importance. This was done without rivalry, from the force alone of circumstances and location.
Now Baltimore is truly styled the 'emporium of the state ;' and her increasing population and greatness is viewed by every well-wisher of the State, with plea- sure-for the interests of Baltimore and those of the State at large, are too closely united and identified to permit the indulgence of any other feelings than such as must arise in the bosom of every Marylander grati- fied at the growing importance of the one, and pros- perity and honour of the other.
To the conclusion of this volume from this time, several years will be passed by without notices of any
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kind in regard to the city of Annapolis; no records or documents are to be found which afford any infor- mation deemed sufficiently interesting or amusing to detail.
1789. St. John's College was opened and dedicated on the 11th of November, 1789, with much solemnity, in the presence of a numerous and respecta- ble concourse of people. The members of the general assembly, the chancellor, judges of the general court, together with the gentlemen of the bar, the corporate authorities of the city, and principal inhabitants thereof, preceded by the students, the faculty, and the govern- ors and visiters of the college, walked in procession from the state-house to the college hall. An eloquent sermon, well adapted to the occasion, was preached by the Rev. Dr. W. Smith, who presided for the day. An oration was also delivered by the Rev. Ralph Higinbothom, on the advantages of a classical edu- cation.
1791. On the 25th of March, 1791, the president of the United States, accompanied by his private · secretary, major Jackson, reached Annapolis. He was received with every mark of respect and affection, by the citizens, and entertained by them during his visit with their usual and known hospitality. Public din- ners and balls were given on the occasion, and all seem to have vied with each other to make their dis- tinguished guest sensible of the gratitude of a free and enlightened people. On his leaving the city, a com- pany of gentlemen attended him as far as South river ferry, where they took leave of their illustrious fellow- citizen.
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1798. At a meeting of the citizens of Annapolis, convened at the state-house on the 28th of June, 1798, the following address to the president of the United States, was unanimously agreed to :
'To the President of the United States:
'The address of the citizens of Annapolis, respect- fully sheweth :
'That gratefully sensible of the blessings we enjoy under a government freely adopted, after mature deli- beration, by the American people, and desirous of per- petuating these blessings to the latest posterity, we view with no less surprise than indignation, the treat- ment of our envoys by the French Directory, and the proffered terms of an ignominious and precarious peace, dependent on the caprice of fleeting and cor- rupt ministers ; we remark with contempt, the opinion entertained that these terms ought to be accepted, be- cause our disunion will render opposition to the enter- prizes of France against this country unavailing.
'Threatened, as we are, with conditions harder than these, with a dismemberment similar to that of Venice, and with revolutionary systems, which the rulers of France, intoxicated with success, and insatiable of plunder, have produced among several European states within their grasp, we cannot doubt, that all true Ame- ricans will unite cordially in defence of their inde- pendence, and, by union, avert those calamities with which a timid and temporising policy has overwhelmed those countries, the victims of avarice, ambition and intrigue.
'Believing, as we do, that the executive of the united government has maintained an impartial neutrality,
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and that it has sedulously and faithfully endeavoured to cultivate the friendship of France, to reconcile sub- sisting differences, and to remove every just cause of complaint against the United States, (if any there be,) we are determined to support, to the utmost of our abilities, the measures which the government may think proper to adopt for the protection of commerce, the defence of the country, and in vindication of the insulted rights of an independent nation.
'We should lament the necessity of engaging in a war, which the American people and government have anxiously sought to avoid ; but war, with all its hor- rors, would be preferable to base submission. On the removal of the present rulers of France, it may be expected that a milder policy will succeed that spirit of aggrandisement and conquest which has disorgan- ized Europe; that the French nation, whose sagacity equals its courage, will embrace a different conduct towards us; it must reprobate the measures which may force us to be its foe ; a speedy reconciliation and reparation of injuries, we confidently hope, would re- sult from such a change. But as this event may be' distant, it is prudent to be prepared against the worst ; the plans, therefore, now adopted, or about to be adopted, by congress, for putting this country in the best posture of defence, meet our entire approbation. We believe this to be a very general sentiment, and we wish its expression to be as general, that the Direc- tory may cease to project on the supposed disunion of our citizens, the dismemberment and ruin of our country.
'We admire, sir, and applaud, that firmness of tem- per which, as the chief magistrate of a free people, you
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have displayed during your administration. Averse from war, and dreading its concomitant evils, you have evinced an earnest disposition to preserve the peace of your country, while it could be preserved without the sacrifice of its honour and its rights. Persevere, sir, in the same line of conduct; we trust you may rely on the hearty support of the American people, whose calm good sense discerns their true interests, and whose firm and deliberate courage, under the protec- tion of Providence, will maintain them.
'Signed by order of the citizens, 'NICHOLAS CARROLL, Chairman.'
To which address the president transmitted the fol- lowing answer :
'To the Citizens of Annapolis, in the State of Maryland.
'Gentlemen,-I am sensible of the honour done to me, and the service to the public, by your unanimous address.
"The voluntary acknowledgment of freemen of the blessings they enjoy under a government of their own institution and election, may safely be believed to be sincere.
'With you, gentlemen, I wish to perpetuate these blessings to the latest posterity ; but the fate of Venice cannot fail to remind us of the frailty of all human in- stitutions, and of the necessity of constant vigilance, fortitude and valour, in defence of them, while it calls to our minds the esto perpetua of its great patriot and historian, Father Paul.
'With you I consider, with astonishment and indig- nation, the repeated and persevering contempt and insolence with which our ambassadors to the French
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Directory have been treated; no kind of justification or apology can be made for it.
'You do no more than justice to the executive au- thorities of the United States, in believing that it has maintained an impartial neutrality, and that it has sedulously and faithfully endeavoured to cultivate the friendship of France.
'Your determination to support the measures which government may adopt for the protection of commerce, the defence of the country, and in vindication of the insulted rights of an independent nation, is consistent with the character of virtuous citizens and zealous patriots.
'I agree with you, that war is preferable to any base submission ; nor is it possible that submission itself should avoid war.
'Although the sagacity of the French nation is equal to its courage, we must consider the powers that be, as their representatives, until they shall determine otherwise, nor will prudence permit us to trust the safety of our country to precarious and contingent events.
'The applause of the citizens of Annapolis is very flattering to me. My aversion to war, which to me, personally, could bring in its train neither pleasure, profit nor glory, nor any other effect than an incessant anxiety, and unremitted labour, may easily be believed. Yet I cannot sacrifice the honour or essential rights of my country, even at the shrine of peace, but especially when it is obvious that such sacrifices could produce nothing but war.
'I have the most confident reliance on the support of the American people, their good sense, their dis-
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cernment of their true interests, their firm and delibe- rate courage; nor will I entertain a doubt that under the protection of Divine Providence, these virtues and talents will preserve them. JOHN ADAMS.
'United States, May 4, 1798.'
The citizens of Annapolis in the above spirited address, showed that the stern courage and patriotic ardor which they had been taught in the school of the revolution, were not in the least abated. And that they who were amongst the first to hail with joy, an honourable peace with Great Britain, were now among the earliest of the sons of freedom to repel with indig- nation the insult and oppression of an ambitious and turbulent Directory; and preferred war, with all its train of evils, rather than basely to submit to the dictation of a foreign power.
In August of this year, 1798, the citizens subscribed a liberal and adequate sum for the purpose of erecting a battery and mounting cannon thereon, for the defence of the city and harbour, and appointed the following named gentlemen a committee to carry the same into effect, viz : John Davidson, John Shaw, John Gassa- way, James Williams and Samuel Godman, Esquires.
The 22d day of February, 1800, being the 1800.
day appointed by the proclamations of the pre- sident of the United States and of the governor of this State, 'as a day of mourning, humiliation and prayer,' the same was observed in this city in the most public and solemn manner, as a just tribute to the memory of the immortal Washington.
The day was ushered in by a morning gun ; and the colours were suspended from the dome of the state- house, in mourning.
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At half past ten o'clock, the procession proceeded from the state-house, in the following order :
The Governor. Ministers of the Gospel. Executive. Chancellor and Judges of the General Court. Officers of Government. Professors of the College. Mayor and Corporation of the City. Officers of Militia. Infantry. Citizens.
During the procession, minute guns were fired-the bell tolling.
The services of the day were performed in St. Anne's church. The Rev. Mr. Higinbothom deli- vered a discourse from the following words: 'It is appointed for all men once to die ;' 'in which (it is said by one who was present) the eminent virtues and dis- tinguished services of the deceased, were portrayed in - strong and eloquent language.'
In the afternoon, the Rev. Mr. Roberts officiated in the same church, who addressed the congregation in an eloquent and masterly discourse from the following text : 'Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel.'
1804. On the 15th November, 1804, the French frigate 'Le President,' of 44 guns, captain Le Brosse, arrived and anchored off Annapolis, having on board the celebrated general Tureau, the minister plenipotentiary from the emperor of the French, to the United States. In the afternoon she fired a sa-
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lute, which was returned by captain Muir's company of artillerists. The next day the general landed under a salute of 17 guns, and was received by the governor ; and on the following day he left this city for Wash- ington.
On the 21st of the same month, the honourable William Pinkney arrived here from his embassy in England. The arrival of this distinguished man, was hailed with joy by his fellow-citizens-a large con- course of whom, attended by the members of the state legislature, waited on him. The citizens presented him with a congratulatory address, and invited him to partake of a public dinner. Mr. Pinkney accepted the invitation, and in his reply acknowledged the peculiar sensibility with which he read the kind and flattering testimonial of his fellow-citizens' approbation and esteem, and said-'to meet with such a reception from the inhabitants of my native city, to which in every vicissitude of life and fortune, I have always felt, and shall continue to feel, the most lively attach- ment, is more grateful to my heart than I am able to express.'
1805. On the 15th of September, 1805, the release of the officers and crew of the frigate Philadel- phia, from Tripolitan captivity, was celebrated by our citizens with every demonstration of joy becoming an event which was hailed with a general exultation throughout our country, especially as their deliverance was effected by the valour and bravery of our gallant little navy.
1807. The citizens of Annapolis held a meeting on the 29th of June, 1807, and took into conside- ration what measures it became them to adopt in rela-
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tion to the outrage which had been committed upon the frigate Chesapeake, by the British naval force then on our coast.
His excellency governor Wright, was unanimously requested to take the chair, and John Johnson, esq. was appointed secretary.
After the cause of the meeting had been stated in an appropriate address from the chair, several spirited re- solutions were adopted, expressive of their sentiments of detestation and resentment, with which they viewed the unprovoked attack upon the Chesapeake-pledged their lives and fortunes to co-operate with the govern- ment of the United States in any measure of retalia- tion which might be adopted. Also, renouncing all intercourse with the British ships-of-war stationed on our coast, until the decision of our government should be known; with other declarations on the same sub- ject, and with arrangements for carrying the design of these resolutions into effect.
On the 26th of August of this year, the startling in- formation was received here of a piracy having been committed in the Chesapeake bay, about thirty miles below Annapolis, by a French pirate, in the capture of the ship Othello, captain Glover, bound to Baltimore.
Spirited preparations were immediately made, and the 'Holy-Hawk' packet, with two brass four-poun- ders, under command of capt. Muir of the artillery, and capt. Duvall of the infantry, with a detachment of their respective companies, armed with muskets and boarding pikes, accompanied by a boat from the 'L'Eole,' (then lying in our harbour,) with thirty- three volunteers, French and American, under the command of lieut. Mann, of the United States' navy,
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and an officer of the 'L'Eole,' sailed in pursuit of the pirate. They proceeded some distance down the bay, but returned without encountering the modern Kidd. Detachments from Baltimore, under captains Samuel and John Sterett, in conjunction with captain Porter, of the U. S. navy, were more fortunate. The piratical vessel was taken to that port. Five of the crew, who had passed through this place, were captured by our citizens a short distance from town, and were also taken to Baltimore. A gentleman, then high in autho- rity, assured the captors of these five unarmed French pirates, 'that they deserved well of their country.'
Nothing material transpired from this period until the war of 1812, when the citizens of Annapolis were still the same patriotic and zealous people in the cause of their country, and for which they have ever been distinguished in times of peril and danger : always as resolved to repel an invasion of their soil, as were their ancestors to resist tyranny and oppression.
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CHAPTER VIII.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY OF ANNAPOLIS, AND ITS MORE PROMINENT PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
City of Annapolis-Its Population-Shipping-Its Site-Its Advan- tages-Naval Academy-The Round Bay-Rail Road-Its proxi- mity to the seat of the National Government-Its Harbour-The Treasury-The Government-house-St. John's College-Epis- copal Church-Roman Catholic Chapel-Methodist Church- African House of Worship-The Farmers' Bank of Maryland- Court-house-City Hall-City Hotel-Ball-room-Theatre-The Garrison at Fort Severn.
ANNAPOLIS, the capital of Maryland, received its name in 1708, in honour of Queen Anne, the then reigning monarch of England. It is situated on the south branch of the river Severn, thirty miles south from Baltimore, and forty miles east-north-east from Washington, in latitude 38º 58' north; longitude, Washington city, 0° 31' east.
Its population is about three thousand ; shipping, 4006 tons. It stands on a peninsula formed by Acton's creek on the south, and Covey's creek on the north; the heads of these two creeks being within half a mile of each other. Its greatest length is little more than a mile, and in breadth something more than half a mile. It covers an area of about an hundred and forty-three acres. 'The site of the city is one of great beauty, commanding an extensive view of the Chesapeake and the surrounding country, which exhibits a great diversity of landscape and picturesque scenery. The appellation of the 'beautiful city,' has often been applied to her, especially when clothed in nature's brightest livery.
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Annapolis is the natal place of some of the most distinguished men America can boast of; and has the honour of being the native place of five of the most beautiful and accomplished peeresses of our mother land.
This city is admirably adapted as a location for a Naval Academy, an institution which has long been desired by all classes of our citizens. Her central position between the north and the south ; her proxi- mity to the seat of our national government ; her fine and commodious harbour, which gives her great com- mercial advantages-all combine to recommend her to the general government as decidedly the best location in the Union for the site of such an institution. There is water bold and extensive enough for all desirable purposes ; and only seven miles from the mouth of the Severn is the Round Bay, a beautiful sheet of water, which of itself presents a commodious and secure harbour for ships-of-war, and in every respect is an eligible depot for naval stores. The Annapolis and Elkridge rail road being finished, the distance be- tween Annapolis and Washington can be accom- plished in less than three hours, which removes at once all the force of the objection heretofore made on the ground of its difficulty of access during the winter.
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