USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume I > Part 20
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returnable on the 25th of July following, but on the 25th of June, "The Provincial Convention being informed that writs of election have been issued in the name of the Proprietary for election of Delegates in Assembly. Resolved that the said writs be not obeyed, and that no election be made in consequence thereof." -Proceedings of Convention.
48 See proceedings of Conventions held in 1774, 1775 and 1776, printed by author- ity of the State of Maryland.
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with them. This Convention placed the Province in armed antagonism to the British Government, and framed articles of "Association of the Freemen of Maryland," to be signed by members of the Convention and all patriotic citizens, in which resistance by force is justified. To these articles we find the name of Col. Edward Lloyd affixed, in com- pany with those of a number of his neighbors of Talbot. At the meeting held from July 26th to Aug. 14th, 1775, sixteen discreet and reputable persons, eight from each shore, were chosen by ballot to be the "Council of Safety of Maryland." Of this most responsible body, which in the intervals of the sessions of the Convention was to have entire executive control in the commonwealth, Col. Lloyd was elected a member. At the same meeting of the Committees an election was authorized to be held in the several counties of Deputies to a Convention to assemble at Annap- olis, Dec. 7th, 1775, which should possess supreme authority. To this Convention he was not originally returned, owing, it is said, to a distrust of his fidelity to the patriot cause which was engendered in the minds of some who were persuaded to believe that a desire to protect his large estate would cause him to be less decided in the advocacy of colonial independence than men whose stake was smaller. But soon after the meeting of the Convention the person who has been accused of fomenting this distrust-one Francis Baker-was deprived of his seat on account of information lodged by the committee of observation for Talbot county, that he had violated the conditions of the Association of Freemen, which he had signed; and a new election was ordered, where- by Col. Lloyd was chosen in his place.49 The associates of Col. Lloyd in this convention were the Hon. Matthew Tilghman, the President, Nicholas Thomas, Pollard Edmondson and James Lloyd Chamberlaine, Esqs. Among other important business transacted was the providing for the election of delegates to a Convention "to form a new govern- ment by the authority of the people only." Col. Lloyd was not a member of this the first Constitutional Convention ever held in Maryland; but at the first election under the Constitution for Delegates to the Lower
49 This Francis Baker acknowledges his fault, and petitioned to be re-instated in certain civil rights of which he was deprived by the Convention. This inci- dent is thus referred to by the Hon. John Bozman Kerr in an unpublished memoir of Daniel Carroll, Esq., of Rock Creek. "To the Convention of 1776 he (Col. Lloyd) was not originally returned, but soon took his place in a few weeks, as among the leading men on the Whig side, after the expulsion of a blatant dema- gogue full of wise saws and idle doubts about trusting rich landed proprietors." What authority Mr. Kerr had for thus speaking of Francis Baker, is not apparent.
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House of Assembly held Dec. 18th, 1776, Col. Lloyd, with Mr. John Gib- son, Mr. James Benson and Mr. Henry Banning were returned. The As- sembly was called together by the Council of Safety on the 5th of Feb., 1777, when Thomas Johnson, Esq., was chosen Governor, and on the 14th of the same month the two Houses of Assembly by joint ballot elected a Council of five members of whom Col. Edward Lloyd was one. He held his seat by successive election during the years 1777, 1778 and 1779, was thus a member of the first three Executive Councils under the Constitution of the State of Maryland. After Gov. Thomas Johnson had served the full term as allowed by the Constitution on the 8th of Nov. 1779 another election was held by the two Houses of Assembly when there appeared two candidates for the gubernatorial honors and labors, Thomas Sim Lee, Esq. and Col. Edward Lloyd, both of whom were recommended by their abilities and services in the patriotic cause. Mr. Lee received a majority of the votes, and was proclaimed Governor of the State.50 In 1780 he was elected a Delegate to the Lower House of Assembly from Talbot county, and in 1781 he was chosen by the electoral college a State Senator for the Eastern Shore. Serving the time pre- scribed by the Constitution of five years he was again chosen Senator in 1786, and again in 1791. He was still in this office at the date of his death. He was chosen one of the Delegates of the State of Maryland to the Congress of the United States, under the Article of Confederation during the years 1783 and 1784. We know nothing but by implication, of his opinions or conduct while a member of this august body, but he must have been a participator in the framing of those important meas- ures which were demanded by exigencies almost as pressing and danger- ous to the welfare of the Confederate States, as those which existed during the continuance of the conflict from which they had emerged exhausted by the depletion of war, and feeble from the inherent defects of the organization of the Federal government. It was his good for- tune to be able to validify by his vote the definitive treaty of peace between England and America, and afterwards to witness at Annapolis, as both State Senator and member of Congress, that spectacle which possesses more of the morally sublime than any event in our history or perhaps in the history of any country, the resignation by Gen. Wash- ington of his commission as commander in chief of the American armies. The General Assembly at its session in Nov. 1787 ordered the election of four delegates to attend a convention for the ratification or rejection
50 McSherry's Hist. Md., p. 258.
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of the Constitution of the United States to assemble April 21st in the following year. The result of this election in Talbot was the choosing Mr. Robert Goldsborough, Jr., Col. Edward Lloyd, John Stevens, Esq. and Capt. Jeremiah Banning.
Although the ratification of this great charter was warmly opposed in this State, and by none more earnestly than by such men as the Hon. Luther Martin and the Hon. Will. Pinkney and the Hon. Samuel Chase, it was adopted by a large majority of the Convention, including all the delegates from Talbot.
From this recital of the public services of Col. Edward Lloyd (IIII), it will be perceived that he was connected in one way or another with each of the Governments, Provincial, State and Federal during a large part of the revolutionary period, commencing with the controversy over the Proclamation and Vestry Act, which was really in Maryland as preparative for the great protest as the controversy over the imports and stamp duties in other colonies, and terminating with the adoption of the Federal Constitution, which was the completion of the revolution- ary movement. In this recital too, will be found the justification of that title, the Patriot, by which he has been distinguished in this paper from others bearing his name. They who bore this name before him, doubt- less loved their country; but that love was narrow, restricted to the province which they called their country; it was not broad and com- prehensive such as Edward Lloyd, the Patriot, felt for the whole sister- hood of States. Besides their patriotism was not tested as his. It was a quiet sentiment without alarm, danger or injury. When it is remembered that Col. Lloyd was the possessor of one of the greatest fortunes in America at the time,51 that his property was exposed not only to confiscation, in the event of the failure of the revolutionary movement, and to the depredation and destruction of the forces of the enemy occupying or to occupy the bay or by the disaffected of the lower part of the Peninsula; that from the easily accessible location
51 In the year 1783 Col. Lloyd was assessed in Talbot county upon 260 negro slaves; 147 of the horse kind; 799 sheep; 578 hogs; 571 horned cattle; 215,000 pounds of tobacco, one schooner boat of 60 tons burden; 30 barrels of pork; 500 ounces of silver plate, and 72 tracts of land containing 11,884} acres. He was assessed in Anne Arundel county upon 229 acres of land. He besides his plantations on Tuckeyhoe, Walsey, Worrell and Island Hundreds, of Queen Anne's county, but the extent of his acreage is unknown. His tobacco tax alone in that county in 1780 was 900 pounds Maryland currency. There were few for- tunes of equal magnitude in America at that date, however insignificant it may appear in comparison with those of the present.
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at his lower plantation, upon navigable water, even his own person was liable to capture, we may estimate the depth of a feeling which oblitera- ted from the mental tablet the calculations of personal interest, and sub-' stituted therefor the anticipations of great public benefit, in which he should have but a common share. We may believe too that in as much as he was selected by the people of his county to ratify or reject that great charter which was intended to effect a "more perfect union" of the states, his patriotism was not only unselfish and comprehensive, but enlightened, and that it had visions of the greatness of this whole country which the future has so amply realized. As a matter of fact his patriotism did cost him dearly, for "a predatory band in the guise of a quasi military expedition, from down the bay burned Wye House, 52 and a party of British on the night of March 13, 1781 from their fleet, plundered his plantation, carrying off among many other articles of value, 336 ounces of plate, 8 negroes, jewelry and watches, 800£ in cash, gold and silver, 181£ new state money and much personal cloth- ing. The building of a mansion to replace that which had been de- stroyed, is said to have been begun upon the Wyetown plantation at the mouth of the river; but this project was abandoned on account of its exposed situation, when a foreign enemy occupied the bay, as was the case at the time. So the structure now standing, ample, imposing and beautiful was erected, near the site of the original Wye House part of which still remains. The precise date of its erection has not been dis- covered, but it is confidently believed to have been completed during the life of Edward Lloyd (IV), the Patriot. It consists of a central building, with which two wings are connected by corridors. The principal struc- ture of two lofty stories contains a hall, drawing room, parlor and dining room of fine proportions and finish, with chambers above. The wings, of one story, furnish the library on the one side, and the domestic offices upon the other. The whole presents a pleasing facade of nearly two hundred feet, looking out upon an extensive lawn, protected by a sunken fence, and down a wide avenue of trees. From the porch Wye river and the Eastern Bay are visible in the distance. In the rear of the
52 With references of the burning of Wye House no records have been preserved which give the date and circumstances. What is said in the text is from the inedited biography of Daniel Carroll, by the Hon. John Bozman Kerr. It is proper to say that the family at Wye House discredit the story of the burning of the mansion by either the British or the Tories. The statement of the losses of personal property has been taken from memoranda preserved by the family. Col. Lloyd claimed abatement of taxes for the property named.
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mansion is the garden, with its shrubbery and flower beds with inter- secting walks, which is terminated by a large conservatory, behind which is the family grave yard containing the remains of several genera- tions of the Lloyds and their connections, with many tombs, some of monumental size and design, among them that of him whose memory this paper is an attempt to recover or perpetuate.
But besides Wye House Col. Lloyd (IV), whose public duties and per- haps private pleasures, called frequently to Annapolis built a large man- sion in that ancient city, which is still standing and one of the most notable as well as the most conspicuous buildings within its limits. Annapolis, as is well known, at the date referred to, say in the years pre- ceding the Revolution, and some years later was not only the political but the social centre of the province. Thither resorted, at least in the winter season, the wealth, the intelligence and the fashion of Maryland. In the possession of one of the most prominent families, this mansion was the resort of those most distinguished in official and polite circles, and the scene whatever of elegance the province could boast, and of gaiety that it could produce; and such it continued to be when it passed into the hands of the son of its builder, Edward Lloyd, the Governor.
Col. Edward Lloyd (IV) was married Nov. 19th, 1767, to Miss Eliza- beth Tayloe, of "Mount Airey," Virginia, and had by her seven children, six daughters and one son. One of the daughters, Mary Tayloe, became the wife of Francis Scott Key, and the others intermarried with gentle- men of distinction in civil life or of social prominence in the State. The son was Edward Lloyd (V), the Governor, of whom much will be said in another paper. Col. Ed. Lloyd (IV) died July 8th, 1796, and was buried in the family cemetery at Wye House, where a monumental tomb was erected to his memory bearing this simple inscription:
Here lieth interred the remains of Colonel Edward Lloyd, who was born the 15th of November 1744 and departed this life 8th July 1796.
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EDWARD LLOYD (V) THE GOVERNOR 1779-1834
On the 22nd of July 1779, admidst the "storm and stress" of the revolutionary period was born Edward Lloyd, the fifth of his name, the future Governor of the yet infant State of Maryland, and the future senator of the yet embryonic Nation. Who shall say that science has contradicted the popular belief that character may be stamped by ante-natal influences? Who shall say that the time and circumstances of his birth, apart from hereditary bias, did not determine the original bent of the mind of Edward Lloyd (V) to politics, which inclination, intensified by his early environments, made him the statesman he after- wards became? He was the only son, in a family of seven children, of Edward Lloyd (IV) the Patriot, and Elizabeth Taylor of Virginia. Of his early years and education little, or it may more properly be said, nothing is known. As his father was a member of the Executive Council of the State from 1777 to 1779, and for many years succeeding was hold- ing other civil stations which required his very frequent if not his constant attendance at the seat of the State Government and as he with his family had his city house at the capital, then the centre of fashion and intelligence as well as political control or influence, it is possible that Edward Lloyd (V) was born at Annapolis, and was there educated. This is, however, merely conjectural. Wye House was always regarded as the home of the Lloyds wherever they may have been temporarily resident, and around it or within it cluster all the associations that are most tender and inspiring. It is believed that young Lloyd did not enjoy the advantages of a liberal education, but instruction in letters was received from private tutors. The death of his father, a man of culture, and appreciative of literature and learning, when he was but barely sixteen years of age, deprived him the corrective which paternal discipline would have given of the influences of a fond mother's indul- gence and of a large fortune's enervation. But although having neither the incentives of parental commands, nor the spurs of necessity to urge him to the labors of scholarship, he was possessed of a natural strength of understanding and an inborn grace of mind which stood in good stead of academic training; so that in subsequent life he be- trayed no deficiency of intelligence upon all subjects claiming his atten-
GOVERNOR EDWARD LLOYD
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tion, and he even cultivated belles-lettres as a source of enjoyment, when the ruder pleasures of the country gentleman of the day palled. His State papers while Governor and his speeches while Senator betray not only no deficiency in comprehensive intelligence, but no lack of literary ability. No tradition nor record informs us whether he was trained for either of the so-called learned professions. His career in life seems to have been predetermined by his circumstances; but he may have "read law," as many young men of fortune did either as a pastime, for accomplishment or, if we attribute to him a more serious purpose, for a preparation for the management of his estates to which he fell heir upon the death of his father in 1796. To no class of lay citizens was an acquaintance with legal principles more necessary than to the great planter such as Edward Lloyd (V), who, upon his domain and in the midst of his dependents, was required to act in the relation of legislator to frame laws for the government of his people, of judge to interpret those laws, and to determine as to their infraction, and of executive officer to enforce their obedience-all under the sovereignty of the State.
But young Lloyd was subjected to another form of education which suggested if it did not determine his career, and which prepared him for its pursuit when adopted-the career of the statesman. This was the education of his environments. Born amidst the commotion of the revolution, he first breathed an atmosphere laden with political vapors. His first mental pabulum may be said to have been the principles of the rights and liberties of the American colonies. As he grew older, when seated at his father's table, the resort of the most enlightened civilians of Maryland and Virginia, he heard discussed the fundamental doctrines of popular and constitutional government. During his frequent and protracted visits to the capital of the State he listened, at first with curiosity then with understanding, to the debates in the General Assem- bly, composed of capable men, upon matters of practical legislation necessary for the forming of the yet incomplete political organism. In the enthusiasm of youth he indulged in those visions of greatness and glory which the Federal constitution, whose adoption his father was active in promoting, evoked at the time and which have been more than realized in the present. He joined in the general exultation, though scarcely knowing why, attending the inauguration of the new national government. Ambition was stirred within his breast when he saw how that honors and distinction were conferred upon those participating in the councils of the State and Nation to emulate their services. As he
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grew older and his mind matured he began to appreciate the meaning of those controversies, perhaps to participate in them, when occasion offered, which arose as to the construction or meaning of the constitu- tion and as to the expediences of different measures of public policy, and which resulted in the definition of those parties which have been maintained down to the present. In addition to those influences of a domestic character, so to speak, in educating him for the career of the statesman, ought to be mentioned those which were from a foreign source, the teaching of the French philosophers which was coloring political thought and the example of French revolutionists which was inspiring political action in America. Subjected to these impulses and incentives, gifted with a mind of conscious vigor demanding a worthy field for its exercise, and possessed of an ample fortune that relieved him from the labors and solicitudes of personal provision, it is not surprising that he should have adopted a career that then, if not now, a gentleman might follow without compromise of dignity or character, the contests of which would bring pleasurable stimulus and success in which he might win coveted honors.
As initiative of this career, zealously and irreproachably pursued until declining health rendered it necessary that it should be abandoned, we find Mr. Lloyd, in 1800, when he had barely reached his majority, chosen to be one of the delegates from Talbot county to the General Assembly of Maryland, having for his associates in the same capacity Messrs. John Edmondson, Thomas Skinner Denny and William Rose. To the same position he was elected in each succeeding year until and including 1805, after which he was called to higher duties as a national legislator. During his term of service in the Assembly he had for his coadjutors, besides the gentlemen mentioned, Messrs. Nicholas Mar- tin, James Nabb, William Meluy, Perry Spencer, and Robert Henry Goldsborough. Of these Mr. John Edmondson and Mr. Robert H. Goldsborough were pronounced Federalists. The fact of their election indicates that the parties, the lines which had been clearly defined by the time Mr. Lloyd had entered public life, were pretty evenly balanced in Talbot county. He had espoused the side of the republicans with a youthful enthusiasm, as the Democrats of the day were called, although his wealth and social status were such that a more natural alliance would have been with the Federalists. But democracy was in his blood, derived from his ancestor, the founder of the family, who was a puritan and therefore favorable to popular government. This inherited leaven has not yet lost its potency, and the Lloyd of today adheres to the
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Democratic party, which claims to be, how little soever it may deserve the right to be so considered, the party of the people. In 1801, by the election of Mr. Jefferson, the Federal party lost its control of the general government-a control which it never regained-though it long remained an active and intelligent opposition. During Mr. Lloyd's terms of service in the Legislature the measure which most deeply en- gaged the minds of the people of Maryland was one which was essentially democratic, namely, that of the removal of the limitations to the exercise of the suffrage. From the year 1797, at every succeeding session at- tempts were made to remove the constitutional restriction imposed by the thirty pounds electoral qualification; but although these measures had been begun and advanced by Federalists of the Assembly and opposed by Democrats, yet in as much as they had been defeated by the action of the Senate then composed chiefly if not wholly of members of the first named party, this party at last incurred the odium of being hostile to the extension of the franchise to the poor. In fact the weight of the opposi- tion to this measure came from the Federalists, who being mostly of the wealthy and educated class fancied danger to property and stability to government in the endowment of the poor and ignorant with the privilege of voting. The ammunition used by the Republicans or Democrats in the battle of the parties during these years, and indeed long after, was largely compounded of jealousy of the rich and hatred of those whose culture and refinement withdrew them from familiar association with the rude and vulgar and who were therefore reproach- fully called aristocrats. Such mostly belonged to the opposite party. It was therefore a happy stroke of policy upon the part of the Republi- cans, when this question of universal suffrage was warmly discussed in this county, to nominate in 1800 a ticket upon which was placed one of the wealthiest men of Talbot, or of the State, Mr. Edward Lloyd, to whom an ochlocracy in government was as dangerous as plebeianism was repugnant in society. He became the most earnest of the cham- pions of free suffrage in the House, and the other delegates, or their suc- cessors followed deferentially or according to their nature and convic- tions. In 1802 the friends of this great measure, after being frequently foiled in their purposes, succeeded in securing its passage; and Mr. Lloyd is represented as having been selected as the most proper person, because of his large wealth and aristocratic associations and standing to present the resolution confirmatory of the act of 1801, which after its acceptance by the Senate, ratified and completed the adoption of the amendment to the constitution of Maryland that removed all restric-
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tions upon the suffrage, except such as were imposed by race or condi- tion of servitude. The active and prominent part taken by Col. Lloyd in securing this important modification of the fundamental law of the State gave him a popularity with the common people of his county such as had been enjoyed by no one previously and has been by none since, and rendered him almost invincible in any political contest. It is proper to say that there was still a property restriction upon the eligibility of persons elected to hold office, and that this restriction was removed in 1810, when Col. Edward Lloyd (V) was Governor, with his approbation of course.58 It may be well to note that the constitu- tional amendment which conferred the right of suffrage upon all white citizens of proper age, also placed the ballot in their hands, voting pre- viously having been viva voce. Among other measures of great public utility introduced to the Legislature during the time Mr. Lloyd held a seat in this body was that of a reform of the judicial system of the State. This measure was not a strictly party one, but in general it was advocated by the Democrats, while the opposition was drawn from among the Federalists chiefly. It is not known that Mr. Lloyd took any conspic- uous part in the discussion of the policy of abolishing the General Court, and the division of the State into judicial districts; but he is believed to have voted for the Act of Assembly of 1804 which accomplished their results, and established that system which virtually exists to the present day.
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