USA > Maryland > Biographical sketches of distinguished Marylanders > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
-
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 267
with melancholy pleasure, that the very last conversa- tion which I held with him turned on a project, of what he believed to be the most extensive usefulness, which had warmed his heart with enthusiastic hopes for his country and for mankind.
" Of the manner in which he discharged his profes- sional duties, your Honors, are, on every account, the most competent witnesses. You know his fidelity to his engagements ; his punctuality in attendance at his post ; how laborious he was in the preparation of his cases; how full of resources in the management of a cause; how ready, how fertile, how ingenious in the invention and discussion of his topics. Your Honors are, therefore, fully prepared to receive and confirm the testimony which his brethren of the Bar have been eager to bear to the virtues and abilities that adorned him, and in compliance with the request I have now the honor of submitting them."
At the annual meeting of the Colonization Society, in Washington, during the month of February, 1843, Mr. Z. C. Lee, of Baltimore, offered the following :
" Resolved, That the sudden decease of Francis S. Key, Esq., one of the founders, for many years a mem- ber of the Board of Managers, and more recently a Vice-President of this society, has deprived the institu- tion of one of its strongest supports."
The death of Mr. Key is thus referred to in one of the public prints of that date :
"The sudden decease of this gentleman, so virtuous in all the social and public relations of life, so eminent for talents and philanthropy, so consecrated in all his thoughts and feelings to truth and duty, so admired and beloved by the community of which he was a citt- zen, and which had derived benefits invaluable from his efforts and example, has prostrated us with the weight
-
268
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
of a dark and general calamity. All have experienced a loss, and many, one which they cannot hope will be repaired. Mr. Key was one of the founders of the Ameri- can Colonization Society, long an efficient manager in its proceedings, at all times its steadfast, generous and eloquent friend, and often has the cause of the Society, in times of depression and trial, been raised, guarded and advanced by his vigorous and indefatigable exer- tions. The speech made by him during the last summer, before a convention of the friends of African colonization, and published in the July number of the Repository, was the most eloquent he ever delivered, seldom equaled on any subject, and more seldom, if ever, surpassed. It was worthy of a lofty Christian mind, eudued with the original conceptions and enriched with the treasures of human learning, and of a divine philosophy. In the charms of his taste, conversation and manners, in his habits of thought and action, Mr. Key much resembled Mr. Wilberforce, nor would his influence have been less had he lived in similar circumstances, and moved in as elevated and wide a sphere. He sought not fame, but his fame is securely written, never to be obliterated, on the flag of his country, and engraven upon the heart of Africa."
Mr. Key is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, at Frederick city, Maryland, not far from the place of his birth, and within sight of the Catoctin Mountain.
The Poet has shown the depth of his religious fervor. the love for his Creator and the purity of His " glow- ing heart," in the hymns so familiar to Episcopalians. His sacred songs reveal the sincerity of his soul, and show us how far above the stars of his beloved banner he soared in the contemplation of divine mercy and for- giveness. Where may be found a more eloquent expres-
269
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
sion of profound humility-that humility that, in bending to the omnipotent will of God, rises in grand distinction to the Pagan pride of the unbeliever :
"Lord this bosom's ardent feeling Vainly would my lips express ; Low before Thy foot stool kneeling, Deigu Thy suppliant's prayer to bless; Let Thy grace, my soul's chief treasure, Love's pure flame within me raise ; And, since words can never measure, Let my life show forth Thy praise."
Among the hymns sung in the Episcopal Church for over thirty years is this one, written by Francis Scott Key :
HYMN 150.
Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise Thee For the bliss Thy love bestows ; For the pardoning grace that saves me, And the peace that from it flows ; Help, O God, my weak endeavor, This dull soul to rapture raise ; Thou must light the flame, or never Can my love be warmed to praise.
Praise my soul, the God that sought thee, Wretched wanderer, far astray ; Found thee lost, and kindly brought thee From the paths of death away ; Praise with love's devoutest feeling, Him who saw thy guilt-born fear, And, the light of hope revealing, Bade the blood-stained cross appear.
Lord, this bosom's ardent feeling Vainly would my lips express ; Low before Thy foot-stool kneeling, Deigu Thy suppliant's prayer to bless ; Let Thy grace, my soul's chief treasure, Love's pure flame within me raise ; And, since words can never measure, Let my life show forth Thy praise.
270
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
The following extract from a letter, dated Baltimore. July 25th, 1875, proves beyond doubt the reputation of Mr. Key as a lawyer and a statesman. The writer of it is the distinguished Maryland lawyer, the Hon. Reverdy Johnson:
" My acquaintance with Mr. Key commenced some twenty years before his death, and soon ripened into friendship. I have argued cases with him and against him in the Courts of Mary- land and in the United States Supreme Court. He had evidently been a diligent legal student, and being possessed of rare ability, he became an excellent lawyer. In that particular, however, he would, I have no doubt, have been more pr found but for his fondness for elegant literature, and particularly for poetry.
" In this last, he was himself quite a proficient. Some of his writings are truly gems of beauty. His style of speaking to a Court was ever clear, and his reasoning logical and powerful; whilst his speeches to juries, when the occasion admitted of it, were beautifully eloquent. To the graces of his many acconi- plishments he possessed what is still more to his praise, a char- acter of almost religious perfection. A firm believer in the Christian dispensation, his conduct was regulated by the doc- trines inculcated by its founder, and this being so his life was one of perfect purity.
" As has often been said of lawyers, however, it may be said of bin that his forensic efforts, however admirable, will exist only in tradition. But he had the rare good fortune to write a national song, which, from the day of its first appearance, has warmed the heart and animated the patriotism of every American, and will cause the name of Francis Scott Key to live forever.
" I remain, with regard,
" Your friend and obedient servant, REVERDY JOHNSON."
One of the most earnest of Mr. Key's friends was John Randolph, of Roanoke, Virginia's noted states- man. Notwithstanding the disparity of age between them, Randolph's devotion to Key was of the most en- thusiastic nature. The friendship of this strange man was exalted into a sentiment, the purest perhaps of
£
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. 271
which he was capable. Too deep a study of those works of English and French writers, rendered con- spicious by infidelity to the Source of Truth, had darkened his mind and Jed his heart astray. He ac- knowledged to Mr. Key the disturbed state of his soul, overshadowed by the one only unforgivable sin-despair. Mr. Key had the happiness, the noblest of happiness, to lead him into a train of reading and reflection that brought him into the perfect light of Christianity- Faith. During frequent interviews with Mr. Key in Washington, and in his letters when separated from his friend, the subject of religion was discussed. In writ- ing to Mr. Key from Virginia, Mr. Randolph called the attention of his correspondent to an infidel work, in re- ply to which Mr. Key writes, January 20th, 1814 :
"I can hear nothing of the book you mention. . . I would read it, and give you my opinion of it, if I came across it, provided it was not too long. I don't believe there are any new objections to be discovered to the truth of Christianity, though there may be some art in presenting old ones in a new dress. My faith has been greatly confirmed by the infidel writers I have read, and I think such would be the effect upon any one who has examined the evidences. Our church recommends their perusal to strdents of divinity, which shows she is not afraid of them.
" Men may argue ingeniously against our faith-as, indeed, they may against anything-but what can they say in defense of their own? I would carry the war into their own territories. I would ask them what they believed. If they said they believed anything, I think that thing might be shown to be more full of difficul- ties and liable to infinitely greater objections than the system they opposed, and they more credulous and un- reasonable for believing it. If they said they believed
1
272
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
nothing, you could not, to be sure, have anything further to say to them. In that case they would be insane, or, at best, illy qualified to teach others what they ought to believe or disbelieve.
" I can never doubt (for we have the word of God for it, and it is so plainly a consequence of His goodness,) that all who inquire with that sincerity and earnest- ness which so awful a subject requires, will find the truth. 'Seek, and ye shall find.' Did you ever read ' Grotius de Veritate ?' I should like to see an infidel attempt an answer to that book."
Mr. Randolph, on the the 17th of February, 1814, in answer to Mr. Key's letter, wrote:
" DEAR FRANK :- You plead want of time, and I may, with equal truth, declare that I have nothing worth twelve and a half cents, which I believe is the postage from here to the city of Washington. Indeed, I have been living myself in 'a world without souls,' until my heart is 'as dry as a chip,' and as cold as a dog's nose. Do not suppose, however, that the Jew Book has made any impression upon me, as I cannot see how the human mind, unassisted by the light of Chris- tianity, can stop half-way at Deism, instead of travel- ing the whole length to which fair deduction would lead it, to frozen, cheerless Atheism; so it appears to me the most wonderful, that any man believing in the Old Testament can reject the New ; and it is, perhaps, not the least conclusive of the proofs of the authen- ticity of the latter, that the Jews, admitting as it were the premises, should blindly reject the inevitable con- clusions."
In the correspondence of many years continuance, the subject of religion was, as may be supposed, not the only matter discussed. In one of his letters, Mr. Ran- dolph asks: "Have you read Lord Byron's Giaour? I
273
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
have been delighted with it. He is a poet, as was em- phatically said of Patrick Henry, 'He is an orator.'"
In answer, Mr. Key wrote: "I have not seen the Giaour, but have looked over the Bride of Abydos. It has some fine passages in it, but it is too full of those crooked-named, out-of-the-way East Indian things. I have long ago, however, resolved that there shall be no such poet as Walter Scott as long as he lives, and I can admire nobody who pretends to rival him."
In a letter written by Mr. Key previous to the above, he thus expresses himself: " As to Walter Scott, I have always thought he was sinking in every successive work. He is sometimes himself again in 'Marmion,' and the 'Lady of the Lake,' but when I read these, and thought of the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' it always seemed to me that 'hushed was the harp-the minstrel gone.' I believe I am singular in this preference, and it may be that I was so 'spell-bound' by 'the witch notes' of the first, that I could never listen to the others. But does it not appear, that to produce one transcendantly fine epic poem is as much as has ever fallen to the life of one man ? There seems to be a law of the Muses for it. I was always provoked with him for writing more than the first. The top of Parnassus is a point, and there he was, and should have been con- tent. There was no room to saunter about on it; if he moved, he must descend ; and so it has turned out, and he is now (as the Edinburgh reviewers say of poor Montgomery), 'wandering about on the lower slopes of it.'" At this time, Sir Walter Scott was not known as a novelist.
In one of his letters to Mr. Randolph, dated October 5th, 1813, Mr. Key says : " I cannot think that the duty of an honest man, when he consents to be a politician, is so difficult and hopeless as you seem to consider it.
23
1
274
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
He will often, it is true, be wrong, but this may enab !. him to correct his errors. He will often have to subin !! to disappointments, but they may make him better and wiser. If he pursues his course conscientiously, guard- ing against his own ambition, and exercising patience .. and forbearance towards others, he will generally sur- ceed better than the most artful intriguer, and tl: . worst that can happen is that in bad and distemperel times he may be released from his obligations. Nor even then is there an end to his usefulness ; for, beside . many things that he may yet do for the common gool. the public disorder may pass away, and when the people are sobered by suffering they will remember who woul ! have saved them from it, and his consequence and abil- ity to serve them will be incalculably increased, an ! their confidence in him unbounded." Mr. Randolph had been left out of Congress by his constituents because of his opposition to the war with England, and these remarks of Mr. Key were meant for him.
Mr. Justice Story, of the Supreme Court of the United States, in a letter to Chief Justice Taney, dated at Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, March 25, 1843, wrote: "I was exceedingly grieved in hearing of the death of poor Key. His excellent talents, his high morals, his warm and active benevolence, and his most amiable and gentle temper endeared him to all who knew him. To you and Mrs. Tancy the loss is irreparable, and to the pub- lic, in the truest sense of the word, a deep calamity. ' Our dying friends come o'er us like a cloud.' Jones is almost the only one left at the bar who was there when I first knew the Court ; and it is sad to know how many glorious lights have been extinguished."
١
275
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
EXTRACTS FROM A DISCOURSE ON EDUCATION, DELIV- ERED IN SAINT ANNE'S CHURCH, ANNAPOLIS, AFTER THE COMMENCEMENT OF SAINT JOHN'S COLLEGE, FEBRUARY 22ND, 1827, BY FRANCIS S. KEY, EsQ. ALUMNUS OF SAINT JOHN'S COLLEGE.
"A government administered for the benefit of all, should provide all practicable means of happiness for all. It must also provide useful citizens, competent to the discharge of the various services the public interests may require. Education confers happiness and useful - ness, and therefore demands attention. No maxim is more readily admitted than that a wise and free govern- ment should provide for the education of its citizens ; but the maxim seems not to be admitted to its just extent. A State affords to the poor or laboring class of its population the means of obtaining a common edu- cation, such an one as prepares them for the ordinary duties of their situation, and of which alone they can generally avail themselves, who can give but a small portion of their time and none of their means to such pursuits. And it is too generally thought that this is enough, that the State has discharged its duty, and that what remains to be done to fit men for higher degrees of happiness and usefulness, and to qualify them for a wider sphere of duty, may be left to itself.
" But it is not enough. More, far more can be don e even for those for whose benefit what is done is in- tended, as I shall hereafter show. And what is done for the other numerous and important classes of the community ? And why are they to be neglected ? In all political societies there will be men of different con- ditions and circumstances. They cannot be all limited by the same necessities, nor destined to the same em- ployments. Nor is it desirable, nor, from the nature of things, possible that it should be so. If they could be
276
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
reduced to the same level they could not be kept to it. Idleness and vice would sink below it-honorable effort would rise above it.
"There are and ever will be the poor and the rich, the men of labor and the men of leisure, and the State which neglects either neglects a duty, and neglects it at its peril, for which ever it neglects will be not only useless but mischievous.
"It is admitted that the neglect of one of these classes is unjust and impolitic. Why is it not so as to the other ? If it is improper to leave the man of labor uneducated, deprived of the means of improvement he can receive and requires, is it not at least equally so to leave the man of leisure, whose situation does not oblige him to labor, and who therefore will not labor, to rust in sloth or to riot in dissipation ?
"If there be any difference, it is more impolitic to neglect the latter, for he has more in his power either for good or evil, will be more apt, from his greater temp- tations, to be depraved himself and the corrupter of the others.
"This neglect would be peculiarly unwise in a Gov- ernment like ours. Luxury is the vice most fatal to republics, and idleness and want of education in the rich promote it in its most disgusting forms. Nor let it be thought that we have no cause to guard against this evil. It is, perhaps, the most imminent of our perils. While, therefore, I readily subscribe to the principle, which all admit, that it is essential in a free government that the whole population should be sufficiently in- structed to understand their rights, and be qualified for their duties, and that for this purpose such an educa- tion as their situation will enable them to receive should be provided for all; yet I will not fear to maintain (what is not so generally admitted), and that it is just
,
277
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
as essential to a wise and proper administration of such a government that there should be found among its citizens men of more exalted attainments, who can give their whole youth and their whole lives to the highest pursuits of every department of useful science.
"Nor is it only as a refuge from the dangers of youth that such an institution is to be regarded. It is to give strength and preparation for the whole life. It is then that habits, principles and tastes that fix the color of succeeding years are to be formed. Then are the victo- ries to be achieved over the temper and disposition, over the temptations from within and from without, that make the man the master of himself through life. Patience in investigation, accuracy of research, perse- verance in labor, resolution to conquer difficulty, zeal in the cause of learning and virtues, are then to be ac- quired. Then is Science to display her charms, and Literature her delights, and a refined and exalted taste to lure him, by higher gratifications, from the vain pleasures of the world. Then is he to be made familiar with the sages and heroes of antiquity, to catch the in- spiration of their genius and their virtues; and the great and the good of every age and of every land are to be made his associates, his instructors, his examples.
· ·
" Will not a grateful sense of these benefits heighten the ardor of his patriotism, and will he not serve a country that cherished and adorned his youth with · more devotion, as well as with far more ability? It may be that love of country springs from some unde- finable and hidden instinct of our nature, wisely given to the heart of man to fit him for the filial duties which he owes to the land of his birth. But this impulse, however pure and high its origin, must submit to the 23*
1
278
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
common destiny of all human affections. It may glow with increasing ardor, elevate itself above all our de- sires, and reign the ruling passion of the soul. And it may grow cold, languish and expire. A country, like a parent, should meet this instinctive feeling of her children with a corresponding affection; should call it forth to early and continual exercise by early and con- tinual blessings, by setting before them illustrious examples, and all the high rewards of virtue, and preparing them for all the enjoyments and duties of life. Such a country will not want patriots.
· ·
" Maryland is a member of the American Confederacy, united with the other independent States in one General Government. It is her concern that her own political course should be directed by wisdom, and for this she must necessarily look to her own citizens. It is also and equally her concern that the General Government should be wisely administered, and with a just regard to her own peculiar interests. She must furnish her quota of talent there. Her duty to the Union requires this, her own preservation demands it. It is not enough for her that there should be found there wisdom and talent, and patriotism; but she must see to it that Maryland wisdom and talent, and patriotism, are found there. There is a great common interest among these States, a bond of union strong enough, we all hope, to endure the occasional conflicts of subordinate local interests. But there are and ever will be these interests, and they will necessarily produce collision and competi- tion. Hence will continually arise questions of great national concern, and more or less, according to their respective interests, of vital importance to the States. These are all to be considered, discussed and settled. That they may be settled with justice to herself, Mary-
A
279
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
land must meet this competition with all her strength. It is not in the number of her delegation that she is to trust. She may send one man who may be in himself a host. It is essential to her that her interest should be seen and felt, and that those who see and feel it should maintain it with all the power that talent and patriotism can wield. It is essential to her, and to every member of the Union, that the agitations excited by these colli- s'ons should be kept from endangering the foundations upon which the fabric of our free institutions has been reared-that men of the highest powers and the purest principles should rule the deliberations of our national councils on these occasions of difficulty and danger, and preserve, through every storm that may assail it, the Union-the Ark of our.safety.
" It is no reproach to the wisdom of those who framed our Constitution that they have left it exposed to dan- ger from the separate interests and powers of the States. It is not to be avoided but by incurring far greater dangers. Nor is our situation in that respect without its advantages. These local interests are powerful ex- citements to the States to prepare and enrich their pub- lic men with the highest possible endowments. Their own immediate interest would afford a more constant and powerful stimulus to do this than one more remote, and felt only in common, which too often leaves its share of duty to others. But for this, a general degen- eracy in talent and principle might prevail, and the . great concerns of a growing Nation sink into hands un- fitted to sustain them. If Providence shall preserve us from these dangers and give perpetuity to our institu- tions, Maryland will continue to see an increasing ne- cessity (if she would avail herself of a just share of the benefits they are designed to confer) for calling forth and cultivating all her resources. And if this hope
1
280
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
fails us, if the Union is dissolved, in the distractions and dangers that follow, she will, if possible, still more require the highest aid that the wisdom of her sons can afford to guide her through that night of darkness.
"Let it also be remembered that every well taught citizen, whatever may be his condition, to whatever station in life he may belong, is, generally speaking, an advantage to the public. Therefore, although but a small number, in proportion to the whole population, may be qualifica for higher usefulness by the acquisi- tions of learning, yet among them may be found some whom the State may proudly reckon as her greatest ornaments-to whom she may be indebted even for her preservation. The Roman historian, who records the effect produced upon the Roman Senate by the prudence and eloquence of Cato, upon an occasion of imminent peril to the Republic, shows how powerfully he was impressed by the consideration of what one man might accomplish for the welfare of a nation. · . ·
"Let not this filial duty be delayed. Death has al- ready thinned your ranks. Your eldest brethren (Alex- ander, Carr, Lomax,) have run their brief but honorable course, and are no more. He, too, who had caught within that hall the bold spirit of the ancient eloquence from its mightiest master; who, if he had been spared to stand before you this day would have roused you from your seats, and called you to join your hearts and hands in a sacred covenant to restore its honors-St. John's-and to swear to its fulfillment by the memory of the dead, the hopes of the living, and the glory of unborn generations. Ile, (John Hanson Thomas, of Frederick city), alas! is a light shining no more upon the earth. He, also, who excelled in all the attainments
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.