USA > Maryland > Biographical sketches of distinguished Marylanders > Part 2
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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
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Dulany, which yet remain to us, bear the impress of abilities too commanding, and of learning too profound to admit of question. Had we but these fragments, like the remains of splendor which linger around some of the ruins of antiquity, they would be enough for admiration ; yet they fall very far short of furnishing just conceptions of the character and accomplishments of his mind. We have higher attestations of these in the testimony of contemperaries. For many years be- fore the Revolution he was regarded as an oracle of the law. It was the constant practice of the courts of the Province to submit to his opinion every question of dif- ficulty which came before them, and so infallible were his opinions considered, that he who hoped to reverse them was regarded " as hoping against hope." Nor was his professional reputation limited to the colony. I have been credibly informed that he was occasionally consulted from England upon questions of magnitude ; and that in the Southern counties of Virginia, adjacent to Maryland, it was not unfrequent to withdraw ques- tions from their courts, and even from the Chancellor of England, to submit them to his award. Thus un- rivaled in professional learning, according to the rep- resentations of his contemporaries, he added to it all the power of the orator, the accomplishments of the scholar, the graces of the person, and the serenity of the gentleman. Mr. Pinkney, himself the wonder of his age, who saw but the setting splendor of Mr. Dulany's talents, is reported to have said of him, "that even amongst such men as Fox, Pitt, and Sheridan, he had not found his superior."
The above was written in 1830 by Mr. McMahon, yet in 18:6 much of a historical nature hitherto obscured by the dust of time, has been rescued for the benefit of future generations.
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As age comes upon us we fondly recall the friends and associates of childhood ; so our Nation in its hun- dreth year reverts with tender and noble pride to the bright days of its infancy, to those who gave lustre to its name, to those who raised the wide-spreading banner above the bulwark of Liberty.
Maryland in her sublime dignity has ever revered the brave, the strong and the good amongst her chil- dren. To none of all her great ones is more respect due than to Daniel Dulany. The distinguished Phila- delphia lawyer, Horace Binney, says in "The Leaders of the Old Bar of Philadelphia,"-" Mr. Tilghman was also an advocate of great powers, a master of every question in his causes, a wary tactician in the manage- ment of them, highly accomplished in language, a faultless logician, a man of the purest integrity and of the highest honor, fluent without the least volubility, concise to a degree that left every one's patience and attention unimpaired, and perspicuous to almost the lowest order of understanding, while he was dealing with almost the highest topics. How could such quali- ties as these fail to give him a ready acceptance with both courts and juries, and to make him the bulwark of any cause which his judgment approved ? An in- vincible aversion to authorship and to public office has prevented this great lawyer from being known as he ought to have been, beyond the limits of his own country. He has probably left nothing professional behind him but his opinions upon cases, now in vari- ous hands, and difficult to collect; but which if col- lected and published would place him upon the same elevation with Dulany of Maryland." Having recited the numerous virtues, talents, and qualifications of Chief Justice Tilghman, a Marylander by birth, he concludes the recital by comparing him to Daniel
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Dulany, which in the opinion of Mr. Binney seems the most exalted praise that he could bestow upon a great man.
Mr. Tyler, in his Memoir of Chief Justice Taney, in speaking of an important case in the Court of Appeals of Maryland, argued by Taney and Harper on the one side, and Pinkney and Winder and Williams on the other, says: "It is worthy of note, that among the authorities cited by Messrs. Harper and Taney, in their brief, is the opinion of Daniel Dulany." The opinions of this great Maryland lawyer had almost as much weight in courts in Maryland, and hardly less with the crown lawyers of England, than the opinions of the great Roman jurists, that were made authority by the edict of the Emperor, had in Roman Courts. This was due, in some degree, to the fact that there were no reports of Maryland decisions until 1809 : 1 Harris & McHenry. In that volume the opinions of Daniel Dulany are published along with the decisions of the Provincial Court and the Court of Appeals. The high reputation of this great Maryland lawyer stimulated the ambition of the Maryland bar, while his opinions were models of legal discussion for their imitation."
With the full force of a newly-awakened pride, strong efforts are being made to recover from the common dust of destructive time those old and honorable traditions of the past that are the crownings of our glory. As if by threads, or piece by piece, an almost forgotten story is brought to view. The chief heroes of this story, heroes that had wellnigh become as myths, are Daniel Dulany and Daniel Dulany " of Dan." These two men stand at the head of the Bar of America. This opinion is but the reiteration of an opinion expressed by the great lawyers of our land. At the time of the elder Dulany's birth the population of Maryland was not
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thirty thousand. When the younger Daniel appeared among the " children of men " the number of souls in the colony of Maryland did not count fifty thousand, nor was there a town in the colony of two thousand inhabitants. The Dulanys were thorough English law- yers, with the most profound legal learning of West- minster Hall. The younger lawyer of the two has perhaps never been excelled in the accomplishments of the forum, and it has been asserted that not previous to his time, nor since its close, has his superior appeared before the Bar of Westminister.
Such were the founders of the strength and fame of the Maryland Bar. To the glorious height of the younger Dulany the youthful aspirants of the Pro- vincial Court strove to rise; yet as children that stretch their hands toward the stars in the mighty space above them, the hopes of the many were never realized. Only two ever approached him in success- ful greatness, and these were Luther Martin and William Pinkney. The last-named, and the greater intellect of the two, is said to have stood in the very place of the younger Dulany in the point of effective eloquence; indeed it is a disputed question with the majority whether William Pinkney is not entitled to an equal amount of praise, and to as high a place on the Roll of Honor as the Star Lawyer of older renown.
As those men who dwell in the region of mountains are ever given to looking upward, so are elevated the thoughts and desires of those who have constantly around them the great in mind and deeds : To the Government of the United States of America, the Bar of Maryland has given five such Attorney-Generals as William Pinkney, William Wirt, Roger Brooke Taney, John Nelson, and Reverdy Johnson; to the Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States a Taney and a
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Chase. Thus from the staunch foundation-stone rosa this most mighty tower, the Bar of Maryland! With the progress of society, and the development of nations, the power of intellectual superiority must be recognized. Intelligence is the mediator, the agent that effects the great designs of a divine Providence. In the patri- archal days the leaders of the people were chosen as well for the ruling qualities of mind as for their moral attributes : The open way still winds forever onward and upward !
In the struggle for intellectual supremacy in the contest of argument between the adherent subjects of the mother country and the Colonies, Daniel Dulany stood pre-eminent. McMahon thus writes of " Daniel Dulany, the fit advocate of such a cause : "
" Conspicuous amongst all the essays of that day in opposition to the Stamp Act, is one to the honor of which Maryland lays claim, as the production of her most distinguished son. It came from the pen of one whose very name was a tower of strength. Abilities that defied competition, learning that ranged with an eagle-flight over every science, accomplishments that fascinated, and gentleness that soothed even envy, all conspired to render Daniel Dulany the fit advocate of such a cause. His celebrated essay against the Stamp Act, entitled " Consideration on the propriety of impos- ing taxes in the British Colonies, for the purpose of rais- ing a revenue by Act of Parliament," was published at Annapolis on the 14th of October, 1765. It was not an argument calculated merely for the meridian of Maryland. This province had a peculiar charter ex- emption, but the claims founded on this did not enter into the consideration of the general question, and rest- ing upou express grant, they were rather in conflict with those in support of which no such grant could be
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adduced. Mr. Dulany had a higher aim. His purpose was to show that under the principles of the British Constitution, and by force of their condition as British subjects, the colonists generally were exempt from the tax imposed ; and he has accomplished this by a mode of argument the most irresistible." He concludes his legal argument in these words: "This right of exemp- tion from all taxes, without their consent, the colonists claim as British subjects. They derive this right from the common law, which their charters have declared and confirmed ; and they conceive that when stripped of this right, whether by prerogation or by any other power, they are, at the same time, deprived of every privilege distinguishing free men from slaves."
Not alone to the mere legal question involved in the famous Stamp Act did Mr. Dulany confine his views, but with the outlocking glance of the statesman, he suggests a remedy against English oppression. He ad- vises the colonies to manufacture for themselves, rather than to depend for the mere necessaries of life upon the mother country :
"In this very considerable branch, so little difficulty is there, that a beginning is half the work. The path is beaten, there is no danger of losing the way, there are directors to guide every step .. But why should they stop at the point of clothing laborers ; why not proceed when vigor and strength will increase with the progres- sion to clothe the planters? When the first stage is arrived at, the spirits will be recruited, and the second should be undertaken with alacrity, since it may be performed with ease. In this, too, the experiment hath been made, and hath succeeded. Let the manufactures of America be the symbol of dignity, the badge of virtue, and it will soon break the fetters of distress. A garment of linsey-woolsey, when made the distinc-
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tion of real patriotism, is more honorable and attractive of respect and veneration than all the pageantry, and the robes, and the plumes, and the diadem of any em- peror without it. Let the emulation be not in the richness and variety of foreign productions ; but in the improvement and perfection of our own. Let it be de- monstrated that the subjects of the British Empire in Europe and America are the same, that the hardships of the latter will ever recoil upon the former. In theory it is supposed that each is equally important to the other, that all partake of the adversity and depres- sion, if any. The theory is just, and time will certainly establish it; but if another principle should be ever hereafter adopted in practice, and a violation deliberate, cruel, ungrateful, and attended with every instance of provocation, be offered to our fundamental rights, why should we leave it to the slow advances of time (which may be the great hope and reliance, probably, of the authors of the injury, whose view it may be to accom- plish their selfish purposes in the interval) to prove what might be demonstrated immediately ? Instead of moping, and puling, and whining to excite compassion, in such situations, we ought, with spirit, and vigor, and alacrity, to bid defiance to tyranny, by exposing its impotence, by making it as contemptible as it would be detestable. By a vigorous application to manufactures, the consequence of oppression in the Colonies to the in- habitants of Great Britain would strike home, and im- mediately. None would mistake it. Craft and subtilty would not be able to impose upon the most ignorant and credulous; for if any should be so weak of sight as not to see, they would be so callous as not to feel it. Such conduct would be the most dutiful and beneficial to the mother country. It would point out the dis- temper when the remedy might be easy, and a cure at once effected by a simple alteration of regimen."
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The foregoing extract gives evidence of the wise view taken by Mr. Dulany of a great political question. He is acknowledged as the father of that policy of the Federal Government which a half a century later em- braced the principle of the genuine American System.
Dulany's advice, though bold and fearless as his view was broad, was only intended to be of the most pacific nature. The proposition for the erection of a separate and independent government, would have startled the bravest. Neither the minds of the people, nor the resources of the Colonies, were at that time prepared for a war with the home-land. Right was the chosen text when Dulany's Essay was written ; and Right alone was the inspiration of every loyal heart that looked forward to an ultimate reconciliation with England.
Yet an open and forcible resistance was soon con- templated to the Stamp Act by the province of Mary- land. It was now determined to put an end to its operation in the transaction of public business. With this purpose, on the 24th of February, 1766, a large number of the principal inhabitants of Baltimore county assembled at Baltimore town, and organized as an association for the maintenance of order and the protection of American liberty, under the name of the Sons of Liberty. They entered into a resolution to meet at Annapolis on the first of March ensuing, for the purpose of compelling the officers there to open their offices and to transact business without stamped paper. This design was immediately communicated to the inhabitants of the neighboring counties, who were invited to co operate in it by the formation of similar associations. The officers, at whom their resolutions were aimed, were notified of their coming, and advised to be ready to receive them. On the first of March the association met at Annapolis. They sent a written
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communication of their purpose to the Chief Justice of the Provincial Court, the Secretary, the Commissary General and the Judges of the Land Office. The answers returned were not satisfactory. After issuing invitations to the other counties to form similar associ- ations, the assembly adjourned to meet again at Annapo- lis to ascertain what the officers intended to do in re- gard to their application, at their previous meeting. On the day appointed the association repaired to the I'rovincial Court to present and enforce their petition. The Court at first refused to comply, but finally passed an order in conformity to the petition, and the other officers immediately acceded. Thus the Stamp Act was nullified in Maryland.
" Mr. Dulany, during this period, was (says McMahon) the Secretary of the Province, and when the association of the Sons of Liberty was formed, he, and the other officers of the province, were notified of their intention to come to Annapolis and compel the officers to trans- act business without the use of stamped paper. Thus notified, he submitted himself to the advice of the Governor and Council, apprising them at the same time that in acceding to this measure he would act against his own sentiments, and would not hesitate to lay down his office to avoid such an issue, were it not that by so doing, he would cast upon the Governor the necessity of making a new appointment requiring the use of stamped paper, and with it a responsibility which might bring even the person of the latter into jeopardy. 'Ile (says Mr. Dulany in his letter to the executive) seems to have as little power to protect him- self as I have; but if that respect should be openly and violently trampled upon, and personal indignities be offered, the example and the consequences would be much worse in his case than in that of a subordinate
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officer constrained to yield to the times.' The Council seems to have put this application under 'an advisave,' and in the meantime the Sons of Liberty came and placed Mr. Dulany, as well as the others, in the con- dition of 'officers constrained to yield to the times.' Thus to have thrown himself into the breach for the protection of the Governor, and at the hazard of all the reputation he had acquired, evinced a magnanimity which even his enemies must admire. The honors lavished upon Mr. Dulany by the repeal of the Stamp Act abundantly demonstrate that his course on this occasion had in no degree diminished the respect and affection of the colony, and furnish the strongest pos- sible attestation to the purity of his motives and the consistency of his course." Mr. Dulany possessed the highest element of heroic character-moral courage- without which no man can be a statesman, telling the people what is the best for their country and not what pleases them. This generation, so full of pusillanimity, should study the life of this great leader of a great generation, in the most trying period of American history. He did more than any man of the time to expose the usurped power of England either by pre- rogative or legislation, to tax the colonies for revenue. " He became (says McMahon), the Pitt of Maryland, and whilst his fellow citizens hailed him with one voice as the great champion of their liberties, even foreign colonies, in their joyous celebrations of the repeal of the Stamp Act, did not hesitate to place him in their remembrances with a Camden and a Chatham."
'To' the last hour of discussion, Daniel Dulany op- posed by the strong expression of his opinion the separation of the colonies from England. He doubted the wisdom of so bold an endeavor at that time. Right, to be available to the workers of it, must sometimes
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await a propitious season. He feared for this seeming bantling that dared raise its voice against the veteran army and "wooden walls " of Britannia. Reason, and not force, was the weapon that he urged.
The result is known. When the royal authority was overthrown, Daniel Dulany, junior, who had long held the high office of First Secretary of the Province, retired into the quietude of private life. The exten- sive property possessed by the family was confiscated to the use of the new government. A portion of the estates situated in Frederick county, and known as Prospect Hall, is now in the possession of a family alien in race and name to the original distinguished owner. In Baltimore county, a tract of land known as Dulany's Valley, extends for a distance of about five miles. It is watered by small streams, and is noted for its fertility and rich natural beauties.
A writer in one of the Baltimore county papers recently contributed the following information : "Just above you is a beautiful valley, which you and every- body, including the postoffice authorities, always write ' Dulaney's Valley.' The name is derived from a member of the Dulany family, who, at the time of the Revolution, owned some 5,000 acres in a body, cover- ing what is now known as Dulany's Valley, with some of the surrounding hills. Dulany being a loyalist or tory, this property was confiscated and sold by the State. Five hundred acres apiece were, however, granted by the State to each of his three sisters- Mrs. Hanson, Mrs. Fitzhugh and Mrs. Belt, compris- ing the beautiful farms owned at present by Messrs. Peerce, Matthews, Payne and others. The official name of the Dulany tract, if I remember rightly, was the 'Valley of Jehosaphat.'"
In this valley, and embraced in the estate, is the
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homestead of a branch of the Fitzhugh line, known as "Old Windsor Hill." In the graveyard, on the brow of this hill, he the remains of Mrs. Walter Dulany, who was first the wife, and afterward the beautiful widow of Lloyd Dulany, killed in a duel with the Reverend Bennet Allen.
Many valuable mementoes belonging originally to this family, and now scattered here and there, attest to the high social standing of the Dulanys in this country and in England.
The relation of a romance in which the Dulanys have a leading part will not here be inappropriate.
Before the breaking out of the Revolution, the Epis- copal benefice, including Annapolis, was held by Mr. Bennet Allen, a clergyman of the established church. The revenue of this parish not being so great as that of some others in the colony, Mr. Allen sought to add another living to his charge. The Frederick parish is said to have been the object of his aim. A plurality of livings being contrary to the laws, much opposition to the reverend gentleman's wishes was evinced. Amongst those who thus opposed him was Walter Dulany, the son of the elder Daniel. The matter under discussion found its way into Green's Gazette, and what had be- gun in words ended in blows. Young Lloyd Dulany, the half-brother of Walter, being incensed by a publi- cation of Mr. Allen's, horse-whipped the clergyman in the streets of Annapolis. The war breaking out im- mediately, Mr. Allen left for England. Mr. Dulany, by his haughty demeanor toward the American pa- triots, rendered himself obnoxious. IIis house on Main street (now occupied as a hotel) was several times sur- rounded by the indignant " freemen " of the day. Al- though no violence had yet been done, the threats of the people induced his departure. Accompanied by his 3
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youthful and beautiful wife, he sailed for London. After establishing himself in London, the quarrel be- tween Lloyd Dulany and Mr. Allen was renewed.
The reputations and social standing of several noted Americans being attacked in the public prints, imme- diately following an article against Governor Thomas Johnson of Maryland, was one relating to the Dulany family. The accompanying anonymous contribution was published in 1782 :
" Daniel Dulany, Secretary of Maryland, a person of still lower extraction than the former, offered.the service of his pen to the Congress, which, as he would not act ostensibly, was rejected, and his name struck out of the list of toasts proposed at an entertainment made during the meeting of the first Congress, upon a motion of the Maryland delegates, as inimical to the cause of liberty. This, and other instances of disaffection to the family, determined them to divide, part coming over to England under the character of sufferers to the royal cause, and part residing in America to take care of their property, and to be ready to close with the winning side. Policy too common on this occasion, as it only serves to prolong the war, and becomes a heavy burthen on this country : there being several of this name and family who nave allowances from Government."
This was duly responded to by Lloyd Dulany, Esq., the brother of the absent man upon whom the attack had been made. The response was severe and just. Considerable time elapsed before the writer of the anonymous libel was made known. Finally the fol- lowing reply appeared in print from the pen of the clergyman whose name is appended to the letter :
" SIR :- It is not till the present moment that I find myself at liberty to avow that the character of Daniel Dulany, Secretary of Maryland, published sometime since in the Morning Post, was
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written by me; the author of which you call an infamous liar and a cowardiy assassin; though I know you to be, from facts, what I am only in your imagination, both an infamous liar, and a cowardly assassin. I shall not go about to recriminate, because I do not wish to immtate, but to punish your insolence. If you harbor still the same degree of resentment, the bearer will put you in a way of carrying it into immediate execution.
BENNET ALLEN."
" MR. LLOYD DULANY."
This invitation was accepted. A duel was fought and Lloyd Dulany was mortally wounded. Mr. Bennet Allen was tried and found guilty of "manslaughter only." He was fined one shilling and condemned to six months' imprisonment at Newgate.
It will thus be seen that in those days as in these latter times, the public journals, which should be the instruments of peace and the distributors of truth to the people, were made the receptacles of petty spites and malignant hatreds. Many of our journals may there- fore lay claims to an old established precedent in a right to slander.
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