USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume II > Part 21
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GENERAL LAFAYETTE AND THE PEOPLE OF TALBOT
One of the most pleasing episodes in the grand epic of our national history is the visit of General La Fayette to America in the year 1824-25. The whole story of his coming to our country during our war of Inde- pendence reads like the adventure of some hero of romance. Indeed we may say that chivalry and knight errantry had their noblest mani- festation, and their culmination in that young marquis who forsook fortune and station, the ease of home and the splendors of the court, and wandered across an ocean of dangers to redress the wrongs, not of some captive maiden, but of an oppressed people whose liberties were threatened.
There is no purpose here to give an account of his coming nor of the noble and gallant services he rendered to the struggling colonies. These belong to the general history of the country, and a recollection of them is embalmed in the memory of a grateful people. The object of this paper is to narrate with a degree of particularity some occurrences that happened in this county upon the occasion of General La Fayette's return to America in 1824, concerning which we may look in vain among the chronicles of the time.
It will be remembered that immediately after the surrender of Corn- wallis at Yorktown, and before peace had been declared, General La Fayette returned to France for the purpose of raising additional forces to aid us in our struggle. There was not time then for any popular expression of the national thanks, but from Congress, the inestimable services he had rendered received due recognition. But soon after peace had been restored and our independence acknowledged, among the very first acts of the government was to invite our generous deliv- erer to America. Accordingly in 1784 upon an invitation extended to him by General Washington, General La Fayette again was upon our soil, and then he received the delightful reward of his efforts in our behalf in the generous thanks of a grateful people. His tour through the country was like that of a triumphant procession, and in every place he was the recipient of the warmest testimonials of affection and respect. It was during this visit that he received the compliment, which the State of Maryland honored herself by bestowing, of being constituted a citizen, a special act having been passed for that purpose,
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by which it was ordained that "the Marquis De la Fayette and his male heirs forever, shall be taken as natural born citizens of this State."
But the young nation had just then passed through an exhausting war. It had hardly yet learned the magnitude of the great boon that had been conferred upon it, nor was it capable of estimating the services of its benefactor. Forty years of wonderful prosperity and development elapsed. The thirteen confederate colonies had grown to a grand nation. There was again a longing to give some adequate expression of grati- tude to the man who had been so instrumental in giving the opportunity for achieving this marvelous growth. Accordingly in 1824 Congress, giving utterance to the popular desire, passed a resolution directing the President of the United States, Mr. Monroe, to invite General La Fayette to America, as the guest of the nation; and to offer a ship of the line to convey him to our shores. The invitation, so heartily given, was cordially accepted, though the use of a national ship was re- spectfully declined. He arrived at New York in the packet ship "Cad- mus," Aug. 15th, 1824. In that commercial metropolis he was received and feted as no other ever had been, and upon leaving there he com- menced a tour of the country, everywhere receiving the plaudits of the people, with enthusiastic demonstrations of the most lively gratitude. Deputations of citizens from all the chief cities and towns of the country waited upon him to pay their tributes of respect and affection; and even villages and remote country districts solicited the honor and pleasure of having an opportunity to express in some humble way their high regard and warm attachment for the nation's benefactor. Our own county was not amiss in this pleasing duty, as will appear from what is now to be related.
Moving South from his place of debarcation, towards the capital of the nation, it was expected that General La Fayette would set foot upon the soil of our State, and be in the City of Baltimore on the 7th day of October. Grand preparations were made for his reception, but of this reception at the hands of the authorities, the military and the people of that city, it is not necessary to say anything here, yet in as much as certain citizens of Talbot were most prominent in the cere- monies which preceded his entrance into the bounds of the corporation, it may not be amiss to mention their participation in the interesting rites of hospitality that took place upon the arrival of the guest in Mary- land. The Gubernatorial Chair was at the time filled by His Excellency Samuel Stevens, a native and resident of this county; a man of great simplicity of character, of great private worth, and of unaffected urban-
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ity of manners. If his abilities as a statesman were not of a high order, he was eminently patriotic in his impulses, and conscientiously faithful to duty. Not being scholarly in his tastes he may not have been mi- nutely informed of the great services the expected guest of the nation had rendered to civil liberty, both in the old and the new world, but he was sufficiently sensible of the benefits that he had bestowed upon the people of America to act the grateful host with effusion. Not having been bred in courts, like his guest, he may have shown himself some- what deficient in the forms of etiquette, but he had the manners of an Eastern Shore gentleman-better because more natural and sincere than those of a courtier. Knowing that certain duties of hospitality as the chief magistrate of the commonwealth would devolve upon him in connection with the visit of General La Fayette, he called to his aid two of his old and personal friends, Col. Edward Lloyd, who had once occupied the seat he was then filling, but was now United States Senator, and Col. Solomon Dickinson, his near neighbor at the Trappe, who was then member of the Senate of the State. Governor Stevens re- quested these gentlemen to meet the distinguished Frenchman and formally to receive him in the name of the State of Maryland. They accordingly repaired to Frenchtown, in company with a large delega- tion from the city of Baltimore, where they received their guest from the hands of Mr. McLane who represented the authorites and people of Delaware. Col. Lloyd was first presented by Mr. McLane, and then Col. Lloyd presented his colleague and the representatives of the corporation and military of the city of Baltimore and of the Society of the Cincinnati, to General La Fayette. They all, after an inter- change of polite civilities, embarked on board the Steamer "United States," Capt. Edward Trippe, an Eastern Shoreman of Dorset, and proceeded to their destination as far as Fort McHenry, then commanded by Col. Hindman, a native of Talbot. Here General La Fayette and his suite were landed amid the unbounded enthusiasm of the people, and were conducted through ranks of soldiers and citizens towards a tent, consecrated by hallowed associations, in that once it had belonged to Washington. As he approached, from this emerged our respected fellow citizen Gov. Stevens, who received the General with a brief ad- dress, conceived and expressed in such singularly good taste as to leave some doubt as to its authorship upon the minds of those who, knowng the homely rusticity of the worthy Governor, expected no such courtli- ness of speech.
But before these occurrences had transpired, the people of our own
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county had manifested some anxiety to offer a tribute of their thank- fulness to the national guest. This desire was expressed in several communications to the two papers published at that time at Easton, "The Republican Star," and the "Easton Gazette." Of these the following is from the Gazette of Sept. 11, 1824:
COMMUNICATED PROPOSED CONVENTION OF
The People of Talbot County, to welcome GENERAL LA FAYETTE upon his arrival in the United States.
The inhabitants of the county from their own knowledge, or from history, or by tradition, are well acquainted with the essential assist- ance rendered to this country by General LA FAYETTE in the achieve- ment of its Independence and in the establishment of its Liberties, and must be presumed to be always willing to acknowledge their grati- tude to him for the share of these blessings which they enjoy : But as it will be scarcely practicable for them to wait upon the General, on his arrival in Baltimore, to express their sentiments in person, and it might be a subject of extreme regret if so suitable an occasion of forwarding their congratulations should be omitted;
It is therefore proposed that a meeting of the people of Talbot County be held at the Court House, in Easton, on SATURDAY the 18th day of September instant, at 12 o'clock, for the purpose of enabling them to express their sense of his services and virtues, to declare their satisfac- tion at his arrival in the United States, and to greet him with that cor- dial welcome which his association with WASHINGTON during the Revolution, his continued love of liberty, and his attachment to the institutions of our country, so justly entitle him to receive. The people are respectfully and earnestly invited to attend accordingly. THE WISH OF MANY CITIZENS.
Talbot County, September 6th, 1824.
The suggestions contained in this communication seemed to meet with the approbation of the people, and accordingly on the 21st of Sep- tember a large public meeting assembled, of which we have the follow- ing account in the Gazette of Oct. 23d, 1824:
LA FAYETTE CONVENTION
The citizens of Talbot county, Eastern Shore of Maryland, assem- bled in the town of Easton on Tuesday, the 21st of September 1824, at 12 o'clock to express their feelings on the arrival of General La Fayette in America.
Major General Benson was called to the chair, and Tench Tilghman chosen Secretary.
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The chairman stated the object of the assemblage after which Robert H. Goldsborough, Esq., rose, and addressed the Convention in a feeling and eloquent appeal, portraying the prominent acts of the life of Gen- eral La Fayette, and closed by submitting the following Resolution:
That a Committee of persons be appointed to consult, and to present to the meeting for their approbation a respectful and becoming salutation of General La Fayette, and an expression of their senti- ments and feelings upon his arrival in these United States.
This resolution was immediately adopted; the blank filed with the number seven; and the following gentlemen, to wit: Governor Stevens, the Honorable Edward Lloyd, Nicholas Hammond, Esq., Thomas J. Bullit, Esq., Col. Daniel Martin, Robert H. Goldsborough, Esq., and John Leeds Kerr, Esq., were selected by the chair to carry its pro- visions into effect. The committee retired, and the meeting adjourned until 3 o'clock p.m. to receive their report.
At 3 o'clock p.m. the meeting reassembled, and the committee re- ported the following address and resolutions, which were unanimously adopted.
The expression of the feelings and sentiments of the citizens of Talbot to General La Fayette upon his arrival in America, presented by a deputa- tion appointed for the especial purpose composed of Major General Benson, Robt. H. Goldsborough, Esq., and the Hon. Edward Lloyd.
The Freemen of Talbot county, of the Eastern Shore of Maryland participating in the universal joy, that is diffused throughout this country at the arrival of General La Fayette upon the shores of the United States, welcome him as the tried friend of the illustrious founder of the Republic, their beloved Washington, and as one of the boldest adventurers in the achievement of American Independence.
They hail him as the noble and disinterested friend of liberty and of mankind.
Gratitude is a sentiment that belongs to generous hearts, and it becomes Freemen to cherish and express it. The homage of respect is due to merit; but the adulation of servility has no abode with us.
The remembrance of great actions is sweet; the pleasure of expressing that recollection to the Hero, who has performed them, is the pride of the free and the duty of the virtuous.
Therefore Resolved-That we fully participate in the universal joy that is felt by all classes of our fellow countrymen at the long desired arrival of General La Fayette-
Resolved-That we receive him as the guest of the nation and as a citizen of Maryland-as one of those illustrious and generous benefactors, to whom we are indebted, under Providence, for the enjoyment of national independence, and equal liberty and rights.
Resolved-That the arrival of General La Fayette in our country has infused into us a more lively recollection of a period and of scenes that ought never to be forgotten; because it was a time of magnanimous
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struggle in the best of causes; and a sacrifice of brave men and of honest patriots for the freedom and prosperity of that country which we now inhabit and enjoy.
Resolved-That a deputation of three citizens be appointed to wait upon General La Fayette in the name of the freemen of Talbot; to present him with these expressions of their sentiments towards him; and to say to him, that although as a plain frugal country people, we have not the means of adding splendour to his progress nor of fur- nishing luxurious banquets to entertain him, yet we have hearts faith- ful to love him, and ingenuousness to bear exulting testimony to his great worth-that his name and his glory are familiar to us and to our children, and that he will live as he ought to do, in the affections of Americans to the latest ages, and hold a merited station in the fore- ground of American history-That so dear has he ever been to the American people, they have marked and admired his course in his native country since he left us; and if he, as one of the Fathers of the French Constitution of '89, was, with other friends of public liberty and popular rights, foiled in their noble and patriotic exertions by events which no human foresight could anticipate, and no human efforts control, they regard the grand attempt as worthy of a man who had signalized himself in aiding in the achievement of American Inde- pendence with better fortune and with a happier fate.
Resolved-That it is our sincere wish that General La Fayette would call his family to him from France and spend the remainder of his years in our country, that the remnant of his life he might enjoy with us a portion of that happiness which has been so disinterestedly and emi- nently instrumental in procuring for our country, and that our fel- low countrymen might have an opportunity of testifying to him more calmly their gratitude, their veneration, and their love.
The Convention selected Major General Benson, Robert H. Golds- borough, Esq., and the Hon. Edward Lloyd, the deputation, to wait on General La Fayette on his arrival in Baltimore, and to present to him the Address, Resolutions, and Congratulations of the freemen of Tal- bot. The following resolution was also submitted and adopted:
Resolved-That the Trustees of the steam boat Company be re- quested to present to the La Fayette deputation the freedom of the Maryland to and from Baltimore for this occasion.
Attest,
P. BENSON, Chairman. TENCH TILGHMAN, Secretary.
There is no doubt that this address and these resolutions were from the eloquent pen of the Hon. Robt. H. Goldsborough. They were presented, by the committee appointed for the purpose, to General La Fayette during his sojourn in the city of Baltimore. At the time of the presentation he gave a verbal reply, and promised to furnish the committee an answer in writing; but as no record is made of any such in the public prints of the day, it is presumable, amidst the multi-
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plicity of similar demands, it was wholly forgotten. But there has been preserved a copy of the reply of the General to a similar address presented to him by citizens of Queen Anne's, which as it contains references to persons belonging to this county, and is otherwise inter- esting, it is here inserted. It will be seen from this letter that he en- tertained the wish and expectation to visit the Eastern Shore; but in this, he and those who would have been delighted to welcome him, were disappointed.
General La Fayette's reply to the Committee of Queen Anne's County.
The honor I had forty years ago, to be peculiarly adopted by the State of Maryland, enhances the gratification I now feel in the tes- timonies of kindness and esteem expressed in the name of Queen Anne's County, and by you, sir, to whom, at the time of that adoption, I have been under special obligation.
It is my eager and affectionate wish to visit the Eastern Shore of this State. I anticipate the pleasure there to recognize several of my companions in arms, and among the relations of my departed friends, to find the honored widow of a dear brother in General Washington's family, Col. Tilghman, as well as a daughter of my friend Carmichael, who first received the secret vows of my engagement in the American cause, the least suspicion of which by the French or British Govern- ment it was at that time momentous for me to prevent.
As to my future destinies, gentlemen, there are duties which may supersede the fondest inclinations, but in every case I shall be at- tached to the citizens of Queen Anne's County by the most cordial sentiments of gratitude and respect.
The Queen Anne's Committee had as their speaker the Hon. Robt. Wright who was a member of the General Assembly in 1784, when by an act General La Fayette was made a citizen of the State. The lady referred to as the widow of Col. Tilghman was Mrs. Anna Maria Tilghman of Plimhimmon, who was the daughter of Matthew Tilgh- man, and relict of Col. Tench Tilghman, one of General Washington's aids, and therefore member, with La Fayette, of his military family. The Mr. Carmichael referred to was the Secretary of the American Com- missioners in Paris at the time General La Fayette conceived the project of aiding the colonies. This committee of Queen Anne's county was presented at Annapolis by Gov. Stevens on the 18th of December, 1824, when General La Fayette was on a visit to that ancient city. It was during this visit that was committed that niaiserie by our worthy Governor which tradition continues to perpetuate, for the laughter of succeeding generations. Governor Stevens who was more distinguished as a farmer than as a Statesman, and was better informed upon the
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
petty party issues of his day than upon the minutiæ of history, pro- pounded with great artlessness the startling question to the General, whether he had ever been in Annapolis before. Tradition unfortunately has not transmitted the reply of the polite Frenchman, but we may be sure it was not such as to mortify the Governor by convicting him of an ignorance under the circumstances almost unpardonable. Another reminiscence of this visit to Annapolis will serve to show the littleness of the party strifes of the day. The members of the Legislature then in session at Annapolis resolved to give a dinner to the distinguished guest of the city and State. It was given, and we trust it was such as they had no reason to be ashamed of. At the time it was discussed among the members whether this dinner should be paid for by the gentlemen of the two houses and other official persons, out of their own purses, or by the State. It was at first attempted to raise the necessary funds by private subscription, but many of the members refusing to contribute anything whatever towards defraying the expenses of this entertainment, it was finally resolved that they should be borne by the public treasury. The following year, when the election came round, some of those gentlemen from Talbot who had been in the Legislature of the previous year, were called to account in the public prints for having squandered the public funds in "banquets " and "public repasts" which, it was demanded, should have been paid for out of their own pockets. To the credit of our people, they sent that gentleman back again, who received most abuse for his prodigality of the money of the State, but who in truth had been most liberal in his private subscriptions-Mr. Richard Spencer.
The people of the County having been disappointed in their first attempt to prevail upon General La Fayette to visit Talbot, another effort was made by offering what was thought to be a pleasant induce- ment for him to come. The Maryland Agricultural Society was then in the full vigor of its usefulness. Under its auspices cattle shows were held upon the Eastern and Western Shores. In the year 1822 the first of these bucolic festivals or fetes for the Eastern Shore was held at Easton; and in 1824 it was proposed to hold the second, or the fifth counting those held on the Western Shore. The Agricultural Society at one of its meetings in Easton elected General La Fayette, who had always professed great partiality for rural pursuits, an honor- ary member; and a committee, consisting of Gov. Samuel Stevens, Robt. H. Goldsborough, Esq., and Gen. Perry Benson, was appointed to express to that distinguished gentleman the pleasure experienced by the society in having his name enrolled among its membership;
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also to tender an invitation to him and his suite to attend the cattle show to be held in Easton on the 18th day of November, 1824. To this invitation and the notification of his election the General returned this reply, from the seat of Mr. Jefferson, where he was the honored guest:
MONTICELLO, November 12, 1824.
Gentlemen:
The honor I have received on being made a member of the Maryland Agricultural Society is highly valued by me, and I most sincerely lament the impossibility I am under to attend the exhibition on the Eastern Shore. My utmost expectation is to be able to arrive in time for the last day of the second Exhibition near Baltimore, an object upon which I am now writing to a friend in that city. The date of your letter will itself offer an apology, as I am engaged after this visit to stop a few days at Montpelier, Mr. Madison's seat, to dine at Orange Court House, to visit Fredericksburg and be one or two days in Washington city. These particulars I take the liberty to lay before you, as an excuse, which I hope will be acceptable, as well as the expression of my grateful and affectionate respect.
LA FAYETTE.
P. BENSON, EsQ., Easton, Talbot County, Eastern Shore, Md.
It is a matter of interesting reminiscence that those premiums, which were in the form of pieces of silver plate, that were awarded at this cattle show as well as those awarded at the cattle show upon the Western Shore, had this inscription following after the recipient's name, "From the Agricultural Society by the hands of La Fayette." Some of these premiums still exist in the country, and are estimated beyond their intrinsic value on account of the pleasing associations connecting them with our great national benefactor.
Although the large body of our people were debarred from the privi- lege of seeing General La Fayette, and of expressing to him in person their admiration of his character and their gratitude for his services, large numbers visited the city of Baltimore during his stay, and made up a portion of the throng that saluted him in his progress through the streets of the joyous city. The Steamer Maryland then new, under the command of Capt. Clement Vickers, and the various sailing packets, were employed in conveying those citizens who were anxious to gratify a laudable curiosity and indulge a pleasing sentiment, to and from the city, and many took their children with them that they might have it to say in after years their eyes had rested on the unselfish benefactor of their country, and that they might witness with what acclaim freemen could reward this champion of civil liberty throughout the world.
THE COURT HOUSE
The thanks of our citizens will be due, and no doubt they will be liberally paid to the Hon. the Commissioners of the county for the meri- torious work they are now, (1878) engaged upon, of improving the Court House and its surroundings. Mr. Roberts, the architect whom they have employed, has already given to the front door that finish for which it has been waiting more than eighty years, by constructing a very pleasing entablature and cornice, and laborers, under other intelligent direction, are grading the grounds and planting trees to take the place of those which it became necessary to remove to make room for the neat iron fence and the convenient pavement which is to surround this our Palace of Justice. From an aesthetic point of view it is all right and proper to make the entrance to the courts of law pleasing to the eye; but from a prudential point, would it not be more appropriate to make the portals repulsive-horrific, in order to deter the victim from entrance, rather than beautiful and attractive to invite him within?
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