USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume I > Part 22
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It is in place here to refer to an episode of this period of his life, in which none of the passions which are engendered by political strife were aroused, but the most generous feelings of patriotism were awakened in his as in every bosom. In 1824 Gen. Lafayette being upon a visit to the United States, Gov. Sam'l Stevens, a native citizen of Talbot county, appointed Colonels Lloyd and Dickinson, also of this county, his aids in showing to the distinguished visitor the courtesies of the State of Maryland. Previous to the arrival of Lafayette in Maryland a public meeting of the citizens of Talbot had been held in Easton, at which a committee was appointed to draft resolutions of "respectful and becoming salutation," of which committee Gov. Lloyd was one. This committee discharged this duty, and the meeting appointed a deputation of Gen'l Perry Benson, the Hon. Ed. Lloyd and Robert H. Goldsborough, Esq., to wait on Gen'l Lafayette to present the address and resolutions and the congratulations of the freemen of Talbot. On the arrival of the State's distinguished guest at French Town, Gov. Lloyd as representative of the Governor was the first person to
60 Benton's Thirty Years in the U. S. Senate, Vol. I, p. 34.
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be presented to him, and to welcome him to Maryland. He then ac- companied Lafayette to Fort McHenry, to present him to the Governor, who was awaiting his arrival. We may be sure, if the worthy Governor was at all deficient in his acquaintance with those forms of politeness- he was never deficient in those feelings which are the basis of a true courtesy-which the distinguished Frenchman was familiar with from his residence at the capital of the most polished people of Europe, Governor Lloyd was able to make all due compensation.
On the 25th of January, 1825, he was elected a second time Senator of the United States, receiving 54 votes while his competitor, the Hon. Ezekiel F. Chambers, received 34 votes. But he held his seat but a short time longer, for his malady continued and increased in violence, incapacitating him for the proper discharge of his duties as Senator. He therefore determined to resign, and this purpose was announced in the following letter of January, 1826:
To the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Delegates of Maryland:
Gentlemen: I have been prevented by severe and protracted indis- position from taking my seat in the Senate during the present session; and as I cannot now calculate on doing it for some weeks, and believing that in the interim questions may come before it important particularly to this State, I cannot reconcile it with my sense of duty, longer to re- tain the appointment. I must, therefore, request the Legislature to accept this my letter of resignation as Senator of the United States. Permit me to present to you, gentlemen, and through you to the Legis- lature the assurance of my high respect.
ED. LLOYD.
The Hon. Ezekiel F. Chambers was elected to fill his place, receiving 49 votes in the Legislature, while 34 votes were cast for Gen'l Philip Reed. The malady which frequently interrupted Col. Lloyd in the discharge of his duties while in the Senate and which finally enforced his resignation of his seat in that body, was the gout, attacks of which, painful and protracted, he had suffered from time to time. Notwith- standing his own active and temperate habits of life, paroxysms of the disease became so frequent and intense that he was ever afterwards prevented from participating actively in politics, and from assuming any public function. But having been honored with the possession of every office of honor within the gift of the people of his State, he may well have been content to retire to the seclusion of his home, and to the management of his fine estate, followed as he was by the respect of his
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fellow citizens for the purity of his character and by their gratitude for his services as a statesman incorruptible and capable.
Upon a survey of the career of Col. Edward Lloyd (V) the Governor and Senator, it becomes evident that he was a strict partizan, rarely or never separating himself from those with whom he early allied him- self, the Republican-Democrats. In saying this there is no impeach- ment of the sincerity of his convictions and rectitude of his conduct, though he may recognize the danger to both of these, as well as the correctness of judgment upon political questions, of a too rigid fealty to party. In adopting the principles of Jefferson, as opposed to those of Hamilton, while following his hereditary impulses as the descendant of Edward Lloyd (I) the Puritan Republican, he was disregarding the instigations of caste or class, as a member of a well defined if not a legiti- mated aristocracy of birth and wealth. This implies honesty of convic- tion. But in condemning partizanship, it must not be forgotten that what is called "independence" has its dangers and its evils as well. The "independent"' may be as abject in his devotion to protest against, as the most devoted worshipper of conformity to party rule. What is more, the calcitrating may be, often are, as corrupt in their motives as the most obedient to the party bit, or sensitive to the party whip. Governor Lloyd was a consistent Democrat, and if he made errors, they were those of the party, and these may be condoned by the good he and it had done and was doing for our political development down, at least, to the time when he ceased active cooperation with it in its purposes and policy. His life as a politician had ended before the days of Jacksonism, when the moral degradation of his party may be said to have begun. As the chieftain of this party-in the county-a very different character then from the vulgar "boss" of the present-par- ticipating in all its contests as well as directing its conduct, he was always regarded by his enemies as a dangerous, but never as a faithless opponent, and by his followers as a wise but not a wily leader. Being without, as he was above the affectations of a spurious chivalry, he was nevertheless chivalrous, doing nothing unworthy of that character either in the coolness of council or in the ardor of battle. As evidence of this, it may be stated that his antagonists always spoke of him, amidst their most violent denunciations of others, with reserve, and treated him with a respectful deference shown to no other person of the hostile party. Nor was this owing to his wealth and social station alone; but it was a spontaneous homage to his true nobility of charac-
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ter. 61 In the broader field of national politics he was not an inconspic- uous figure. He was not forward to assume a leadership, yet he cannot be said to have been a servile follower of his party chieftains. To be sure he was a strict partizan, and though generally fighting in line, he was capable of independent action upon occasions. In the House and in the Senate he was not frequently heard upon the floor, but when he spoke, a credible tradition says, he was listened to with an attention which, not wholly due to the courtesy of those assemblies nor to their respect for his personal character, must have been secured by the weight of his arguments and his art in presenting them. It must be remembered too, that he spoke to men who were accustomed to listen to statesmen and orators having a world-wide celebrity, and therefore little patient of mediocrity. His speeches, as far as they have been preserved, show an absence of rhetorical fustian, so prevalent in his day, and the presence of a logical sobriety. If they may not be models of legislative oratory, they are certainly not examples of legislative bombast or triviality. But Governor Lloyd was most happy in his oratorical efforts upon the hustings, or, to use the American locution, "upon the stump." Here he is represented by those who remember to have heard him, to have been most effective. The habitual dignity of his bearing was so natural that it captivated rather than offended the "commonalty," as the plainer people were called at that day; and if he condescended he won all hearts, by his unaffected grace. His language without a tinge of vulgarity or coarseness was simple and temperate, but impressive and never diverted the mind from the thought to the medium by which it was conveyed. He spoke with readiness and fluency, but without vehe- mence. His statements were clear and direct; his illustrations apt and original; his arguments ingenious and forcible, and all most easily comprehensible by ordinary capacities. Such being the characteristics of his oratory, he was always a welcome speaker at popular assemblies.
Traditions of the respectability attaching to the possession of official station, transmitted from times anterior to the Revolution, had not been entirely effaced by the appearance in those stations of persons
61 This is exemplified by the manner in which he was spoken of in that coarse but curious, dramatic lampoon, called 'The Grand Caucus,' written by Dr. Ennalls Martin and printed in the old Maryland Herald of 1802. In this piece of broad humor and rough wit, all the notable Democrats of the county were unmercifully ridiculed, but nothing more gross was said of Col. Lloyd than to call him 'Lord Cock-de-doodle-do' and to represent him as being fond of game cocks and race horses-an impeachment to which he would most probably have plead guilty.
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whom it was impossible to respect; so that gentlemen of social standing and personal worth were in the early part of this century still covetous of decorations which though then growing pale yet shone with sufficient lustre to attract their gaze. The professional politician as he is now seen and known-one of the most noxious and offensive of the products of our democratic system-was hardly recognized during the period covered by the public life of Gov. Lloyd. Politics were rather the amuse- ment than the serious business of gentlemen of the generation to which he belonged. Not that men of his class were without political convic- tions which they were earnest enough to have realized in political practice; but their convictions were always coupled with a wish for the distinction conferred by official station and the gratifications at- tending party victory always uncertain enough to give zest to pursuit and men achieved without so much effort as flatters the victor into the belief that by his own strength he was winner. And these feelings, which a real solicitude for the public welfare may have concealed, even from the possessor, were controlling in drawing men of wealth, character and position from the ease and comfort of private life into the distractions and conflicts of politics. Politics, as before mentioned, was rather a diversion than a business, with men of wealth and leisure, so Gov. Lloyd amused himself with the pursuit of political honors, regardless of the emoluments of office which were never equal to his expenditures while in possession, but his more serious and absorbing avocations were those connected with his private interests-attention to the management of his large estate of land and negroes, and the promotion of speculative enterprises promising pecuniary returns- avocations that might be followed in connection with a proper discharge of public duties. In these employments he found occupation quite as congenial as the political honors; for he was but following inherited inclinations, the family having been as much characterized by business thrift as by ambitious aspirations. His forefathers had been planters and traders, and he derived from them an aptitude for the conduct of affairs. His agricultural operations were carried on upon a grand scale not wholly nor principally under a system of tenantry but by his own personal supervision and direction, through the intervention of over- seers or farm managers. It was his custom when at home, however numerous may have been the company of visitors at Wye House, to give the whole morning of each day to the personal inspection of his many farms, to giving general, and not seldom specific direction as to the management of the crops and live stock, and to examine into the
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condition and conduct of his numerous slaves. In his day the culture of grain had entirely superseded the planting of tobacco, a product that only survived in the patches of the negroes. He became the greatest as well as the most successful wheat grower in Maryland. At a period when there was no government agency for the procuring of improved grains and the testing the adaptability of the different varieties to soils and climates; and when foreign as well as domestic inter-communica- tion was not so frequent and direct as now, he as the wealthiest man of his county and neighborhood, and an enthusiastic farmer besides, interested himself and used his means to secure the best varieties of wheat and other cereals, and submitted them to trials under his immedi- ate supervision, taking risks of failure that others could not prudently do. He was also deeply interested in the introduction of improved breeds of horses, horned cattle and sheep. It was through his instru- mentality, in large measure, but not wholly, that some of the best blood of the English stables was infused into the country bred horses, giving origin to that hardy breed which distinguishes the county to the present day. In this he was seeking the gratification of one of his chief pleasures, that of racing, while he was looking also to pecuniary profit. He was also instrumental in introducing fine horned cattle, particularly the Durham stock, in or about the year 1823, thus antici- pating a bucolic fashion by some years. Earlier than this, through his agency were brought in the breeds of fine wooled sheep, particularly the Merino-a breed which was for a long time highly approved of in this county, but has entirely disappeared, for what reason it is not known. Living before the days of that wonderful improvement in farm machinery of which we are now witnesses and beneficiaries he never- theless adapted all such implements of farm industry as mechanical ingenuity had then devised, often to his great loss. Gov. Lloyd was not one of those stationary or retrogressive farmers who saw in the negro a machine capable of performing all that was demanded in farm opera- tions-not one who took as little note of the sensibilities of his slaves as if they were things of springs and wheels, cogs and levers. On the contrary he was enlightened and progressive, allowing no improvement in the construction of farm implements-no new invention of farm ma- chinery to pass unnoticed and untried; and though probably no senti- mentalist he was not loath, from purely selfish motives, if from no other, to relieve his slaves from a portion of their burthens by throwing it upon insensate matter. He was one of the original members of the Maryland Agricultural Society, at its formation in 1813; and after its
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organization he was elected in June of the same year one of the Vice- Presidents of the General Society.62 As such he was ex officio President of the Eastern Shore branch of this Society, which still survives as a club of respectable gentlemen, known now as at first as the "Trustees of the Maryland Agricultural Society of the Eastern Shore." Gov. Lloyd was an occasional contributor to John S. Skinner's "American Farmer" of articles upon agriculture and the cognate arts.
As enthusiastic and diligent a farmer as was Gov. Lloyd, he was not so absorbed in agricultural pursuits as to be oblivious to the employ- ment of capital and energy in other lines of industrial enterprise. He became in 1804 one of the original corporators in the Union Bank of Maryland, an institution still in existence, and in 1805, being a member of the Legislature, he introduced the bill for the incor- poration of the Farmers' Bank of Maryland, of which institution the Bank at Easton, now known as the Easton National Bank, was at one time a branch. He became one of the largest subscribers to the capital stock of this branch bank, and was a member of the first Board of Directors, elected Aug. 5th, 1806. He continued to act as Director until 1808 when his duties, public and private, required him to decline further election. Being a public spirited citizen he took part in other enterprises for the advancement of the State and county and for his own emolument. He easily saw the great value of the coal lands of Western Maryland and became a purchaser of a large tract, what is now beginning to show the foresight of the original owner. It does not appear that he ever engaged in trade, as most of his ancestors had done, but it is to be noted that after the Revolutionary war, commerce was essentially changed in character, and planters could no longer be merchants and bankers. Gov. Lloyd's affairs seem to have been con- ducted with good judgment and prudence, and though exceedingly liberal in expenditure his fortune accumulated, so that he became the wealthiest of the "Lloyds of Wye," transmitting to his numerous children abundant means not only for the comforts but for the elegancies of life and for the due maintenance of the social position that had been so long enjoyed by the family.
His participation in politics and his consequent long sojourning in the State and National Capitals; his business engagements which fre- quently called him to the large commercial cities; his very pleasures
62 It is probable he was connected with that other Agricultural Society, the first ever organized in this county, if not in the State, which was formed in the year 1805. But of this Society there is no extant record.
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and pastimes which were of such nature as drew him from home into the company of strangers, enlarged an acquaintance, which his family connections and associations already had made very extensive, with the wealthy, the intelligent, the refined and fashionable in all the sea- board States; and the courtesies and kindness which he was sure to receive wherever he went, were returned so abundantly as to show not only his appreciation of them but his hospitable disposition. Wye House, when the family was present was almost constantly filled with company who were entertained with an ease and an elegance to be met with in few houses in Maryland. Here were to be met at all times people belonging to the first circles of polite society and occasionally personages of the first distinction in public life, State and National.63 The morning as before mentioned, he was accustomed to devote to the inspection of his farms, riding or driving, accompanied by his serv- ant, or to other business engagements. He returned at midday, and usually took a siesta, after which dinner was served and the remainder of the day was given up to his family and his guests. His table was always bountifully and even luxuriously spread, with the products mostly from his own estates, and its appointments were in a style of richness and elegance known to but few houses in Maryland, at that day. One of the forms of ostentation and a favorite one, which the wealth of our ancestors took was that of silver plate, and his board was garnished by massive services, transmitted by his predecessors to which additions were made by himself, that still adorn the table at Wye House, on occasion. With many old and trained domestic servants, his slaves, attendance was ready without the gaucheries of inexperience so common in country houses, and withal respectful and willing. Gov. Lloyd was eminently companionable, cheerful in disposition, free in communica- tion, equable in temper, and elevated by a natural nobility as well as social station, he was free from the control of the mean or malignant passions. He was dignified in his bearing so as to repel familiarity, but eminently courteous and devoid of offensive hauteur. Though
63 Among others was the celebrated John Randolph of Roanoke, between whom and Mr. Lloyd as great an intimacy existed as the eccentricities of this famous man permitted any one to enjoy with him. Gov. Lloyd happened to be in Balti- more when his unhappy and invalid friend came to that city driven in his coach and four, and there they met for the last time. When Mr. Randolph arrived in Philadelphia for the purpose of embarking for Europe, hearing of the presence in that city of Mr. Edward Lloyd, Jr., (VI) he sent for him, but before Mr. Lloyd could reach the house this great genius had ceased to exist.
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no outlaw to the ceremonial code of polite life-though not so unobserv- ant of the etiquette of the day as to appear singular or agrestic in his manners, he was nevertheless inclined to disregard those forms and fashions which had not the sanction of good sense and of that true polite- ness which has its foundation in a sensibility to the pleasures of others and a desire to promote them. It was the rule of his household, never to be broken by any, to offend no one of the humbler walks by a show of supercilious superiority or exclusiveness, and he always insisted that his poorer and plainer neighbors, his tenants and people in his employ should receive such respectful treatment as should place them at ease and inflict no humiliation. His pleasures were those of the first gentle- men of his day, and though some of them, if indulged in now, would receive the condemnation of strict moralists, as, indeed, they did of the purists and humanitarians of his time, they were thought, nevertheless, to be at least pardonable in persons of his sphere. In early life he was fond of following the hounds, and we may suppose he may have indulged in the pleasure then rare, of deer stalking, as a deer park had been established by his father upon the Wye town farm, which he himself maintained for some years but at last abandoned on account of the difficulty of keeping the deer within their proper inclosure, and the consequent injury to the grain crops. He kept hounds and hunters, and was not unambitious of the honors of the chase. He was also in early life an enthusiastic cock-fighter, and as such interested in pro- curing the finest breeds of game fowls; and though a cocking main was a great delight, the pit was soon abandoned more on account, perhaps of the objectionable company which assembled around it than from compunctions as to the barbarity of the sport. One of his favorite pas- times, when at home in winter, was fowling, opportunities for the in- dulgence of which was afforded by the Wye and Chester rivers and the Eastern Bay, then more frequented by flocks of wild ducks, geese and swan than at present. Fishing to which the adjacent waters invited- the employment of the idle and the recreation of the "contemplative man" as it has been called-did not suit his active temperament and habits, but occasionally for the diversion of his guests piscatorial excur- sions were made down the bay in his vessels. Some of these pleasures were abandoned as years advanced but the gratifications derived from horse-racing were indulged in as long as life and health permitted. His stables for a long time held some of the fleetest animals, and these were entered at the races held in various parts of the country. He was a member of Jockey Clubs, and won and lost his money with as much
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equanimity as comported with a proper interest of the contests of the turf. It is not believed that gaming was practised by him except as an occasional pastime when at Annapolis or Washington, and then only in deference to custom. In his house it was unknown. Gov. Lloyd was emphatically a man of the world, and pretended not to enjoy indul- gence in the religious sentiment, a purely subjective pleasure; yet he would not allow that he had discarded the bonds of religious obligation and observation. He was not devout, but also he was not irreverent. His partialities were for the Protestant Episcopal Church, and to this communion he was nominally attached. He lived without being affected by it through that religious calenture which was set up in the minds of the people of Talbot by Methodism, a new form of the Puritanism, the first Lloyd of Wye professed. He was neither polemist nor enthusiast. Of politics as his greatest and most abiding pleasure, if as such it may be ranked, sufficient has been said already. Of the pleasures of the table he partook with the relish of a man of active habits and full vitality, demanding generous food and drink until warned by affliction to prac- tice abstinence; but he was no epicure much less gourmand. His rich table was spread and his cellars emptied rather for others than himself. The gout with which he was long afflicted and which really shortened his life, after years of much suffering, was rather the vicarious punishment of the sins of his fathers than the natural retribution for his own offences against dietetic moderation.
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