USA > Pennsylvania > Lives of the governors of Pennsylvania : with the incidental history of the state, from 1609 to 1873 > Part 17
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D'Estang, finding the British fleet inaccessible in Raritan Bay, where it had taken refuge, concerted a plan with Wash- ington for reducing the enemy in Rhode Island. He ac- cordingly sailed thither, accompanied by Generals Lafayette and Greene, with veteran troops; and the militia of Massa- chusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island flocked to the stand- ard of Sullivan, who had for some time been in command of the American forces in that quarter. The British fleet, which had in the meantime been reinforced by some powerful ves- sels, followed D'Estang. Upon their arrival in the Narragan- sett, the two fleets prepared for action; but while manœuvring to open the engagement, they were overtaken by a terrific storm, which disabled many of the French vessels, and pre- vented further hostile operations. D'Estang took his shat- tered fleet to Boston for repairs, and subsequently departed for the West Indies, there to operate against the English. The British fleet followed, leaving Sir Henry Clinton without
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support, and preventing all active campaigning for the remain- der of the season, save in Georgia, whither Colonel Campbell was dispatched with two thousand troops.
On the 1st of December, 1778, the term of one year, for which the President of the Council was chosen, expired, and George Bryan was relieved of the duties of that office by the election of a successor, though he was himself re-elected Vice-President, and continued to hold that office until the 11th of October, 1779, when he resigned.
George Bryan was born in 1731, in Dublin, Ireland. IIe was the eldest son, and in early life emigrated to America, settling in Philadelphia. He was at first engaged in mercan- tile pursuits, in which he was unsuccessful. IIe was early employed in the public service, having been a member of the Colonial Congress which met in New York in 1765, and repeatedly a member of the Assembly under the Proprietary Government. After that was at an end, he served in the Supreme Executive Council for three years, the maximum period in seven permitted by the organic law, as Vice-Presi- dent, and a part of that time as acting President of the Council. Soon after retiring from this office he was elected a member of the Assembly, where he at once took a leading part. He was a sincere patriot, and, by voice and vote, gave his powerful support to the popular cause. It was at a time when the most vigilant and ceaseless care was requisite to maintain the new Government, both State and National, in their struggle with one of the leading powers of the earth; but his was a nature that could not be exclusively absorbed by the ordinary duties of the hour. His heart was full of sympathy for the weak, the lowly, and the suffering of every class ; and while he was active in resisting tyranny from abroad, he was equally interested to remove every vestige of oppression at home. Frequent attempts had been made to put an end to African slavery in the Colony, but none had hitherto been successful. In his message to the Assembly of the 9th of November, 1778, as acting President of the Council, in calling attention to this subject, he said : "This, or some
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better scheme, would tend to abrogate slavery, the opprobritan of America, from among us; and no period seems more happy for the attempt than the present, as the number of such unhappy characters, ever few in Pennsylvania, has been much reduced by the practices and plunder of our late invaders. In divesting the State of slaves, you will equally serve the cause of humanity and policy, and offer to God one of the most proper and best returns of gratitude for His great deliverance of us and our posterity from thraldom; you will also set your character for justice and benevolence in the true point of view to all Europe, who are astonished to see a people eager for liberty holding negroes in bondage."
Being now a member of the popular branch of the Govern- ment, where it was held that such measures should properly originate, he carly matured and brought forward a bill, which, after setting forth in touching terms the wrongfulness of slavery, provided that no child born thereafter in Penn- sylvania of slave parents should be a slave, but a servant until the age of twenty-eight years, when all claim for further service should cease ; that all slaves should be imme- diately registered, and unless so registered, should be deemed free; and that slaves should be tried as other persons, and if capitally punished, the master should be paid from the public treasury. "It was passed," says Westcott, "on second reading by a vote of forty yeas to eighteen nays; and, upon third reading, on the 1st of March, 1780, by thirty-four yeas to eighteen nays." Thus by a law, simple in its operations, with little inconvenience to any, was a great act of justice consummated, striking with withering effect at the roots of a great social evil, and securing a perpetual blessing in its far- reaching consequences. "There is very little doubt," says the authority above quoted, " but that George Bryan deserves the credit of originating, and finally of urging this humane measure to a successful vote. He was aided by others, but he seemed to make the passage of the law his especial care."
In 1780, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of the State, which office he held for eleven years, and until
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his death, discharging its duties with ability and fidelity. In 1784 he was chosen one of the Council of Censors, of which body he was a leading member. IIe died on the 27th of January, 1791, aged sixty years. His remains were interred in the burying-ground of the Second Presbyterian church, Arch Street near Fifth.
Of his character and attainments, Dr. Ewing, Provost of the University, in a discourse delivered upon the occasion of his death, said : " As formed by nature for a close application to study, and animated with an ardent thirst for knowledge, and blest with a memory surprisingly tenacious, and the uncommon attendant, a clear, penetrating, and decisive judg- ment, his mind was the storehouse of extensive information on a great variety of subjects. Thus endowed and qualified, he was able, on most occasions, to avail himself of the labors and acquisitions, the researches and decisions of the most distinguished luminaries that had finished their course and set before him. You could, therefore, with confidence, generally depend upon his judgment as the last result of laborious in- vestigation and mature decision. And if you add to these natural and acquired endowments the moral virtues and dispositions of his heart, his benevolence and sympathy with the distressed, his unaffected humility and easiness of access upon all occasions, his readiness to forgive, and his godlike superi- ority to the injuries of a misjudging world (in imitation of his divine Master, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again), his inflexible integrity in the administration of justice, together with his exalted contempt of both the frowns and the blandishments of the world, you will find him eminently qualified for the faithful and honorable discharge of the various public offices which he filled, with dignity and repu- tation, even in the worst of times, and in the midst of a torrent of unmerited obloquy and opposition. Such an assemblage of unusual qualifications and virtues as adorned the character of our departed friend, but seldom unite in a single man."
JOSEPH REED,
PRESIDENT OF THE SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, December 1, 1778, to October 8, 1781.
ITHE election of officers of the Council for a third Con- stitutional term of one year, resulted in the choice of Joseph Reed, President, and George Bryan, Vice President. The latter resigned on the 11th of October, 1779, and was succeeded by Matthew Smith, who, however, retained the office but eleven days, when William Moore was elected, and continued to discharge the duties until the close of the term. President Reed had, previously, been an officer in the Ameri- can army, and intimately associated with Washington, and while at the head of the Council was largely employed in devising legislation for the support and ultimate triumph of the American cause. Hence the recital of the chief incidents of his life is, in a good degree, the history of the Colony as it stands related to the nation.
Joseph Reed was born at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 27th of August, 1741. He was the son of Andrew Reed and Theodosia Bowers, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. Soon after the birth of their son they removed to Philadelphia, where they remained for some eleven years, when they re- turned to Trenton. The son's early education was obtained at the Philadelphia Academy, later at Princeton, where he took his Bachelor's degree in 1757, at the age of sixteen. He chose the law as his profession, and prosecuted its study with Richard Stockton, an eminent lawyer of New Jersey, after- wards a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and in May, 1763, was admitted to the bar. Unlike many young men of the present time, who are eager to succeed to an early
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practice, regardless of the preparation by which it shall be sustained, he sought, by the most elaborate fundamental studies, to prepare himself to take a leading rank when he should finally become established in it, and in the early sum- mer of that year embarked for England, where he entered as a student in the Middle Temple, remaining for nearly two years. It was the period when the excitement incident to the passage of the Stamp Act prevailed, in which Americans residing in England could not fail to be deeply absorbed. Upon his return, he commenced the practice of the law with flattering success.
Early in 1770 Mr. Reed again visited England, and in May of that year was married in London, to Esther, daughter of Dennis De Bert, the former agent of Massachusetts Bay at the Court of St. James. In October he returned to America, and on his arrival took up his residence in the city of Phila- delphia, where he resumed the practice of his profession. In the popular movements in Pennsylvania, in common with the other Colonies, connected with the Duty on Tea, and sub- sequently with the Boston Port Bill, he took an active part. He was also the confidential correspondent of Lord Dart- mouth, then Colonial secretary, and strove most anxiously to persuade the Ministry to measures of moderation. In 1774 he was appointed a member of the Committee of Correspond- ence for Philadelphia, and in January of the following year, was president of the second Provincial Convention.
At the opening of hostilities, and the appointment of Washington to the chief command of the American forces, Reed hastened to his support, and was immediately made a member of his military family. Irving, in his Life of Wash- ington, gives the following account of his reception at head- quarters : "The member of Washington's family most de- serving of mention at present, was his secretary, Mr. Joseph Reed. With this gentleman he had formed an intimacy in the course of his visits to Philadelphia, to attend the sessions of the Continental Congress. Mr. Reed was an accomplished man, had studied law in America, and at the Temple in Lon-
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don, and had gained a high reputation at the Philadelphia Bar. In the dawning of the Revolution, he had embraced the popular cause, and carried on a correspondence with the Earl of Dartmouth, endeavoring to enlighten the minister on the subject of Colonial affairs. He had since been highly in- strumental in rousing Philadelphians to cooperate with the patriots of Boston. A sympathy of views and feelings had attached him to Washington, and induced him to accompany him to camp. He had no definite purpose when he left home, and his friends in Philadelphia were surprised, on receiving a letter from him written from Cambridge, to find that he had accepted the post of secretary to the Commander-in-chief. They expostulated with him by letter. That a man in the thirty-fifth year of his age, with a lucrative profession, a young wife and growing family, and a happy home, should suddenly abandon all to join the hazardous fortunes of the Revolution- ary camp, appeared to them the height of infatuation. They remonstrated on the peril of the step. 'I have no inclina- tion,' replied Reed, 'to be hanged for half treason. When a subject draws his sword against his prince, he must cut his way through, if he means to sit down in safety. I have taken too active a part in what may be called the civil part of opposition, to renounce, without disgrace, the public cause when it seems to lead to danger; and have a most sovereign contempt for the man who can plan measures he has not the spirit to execute !' Washington has occasionally been repre- sented as cold and reserved; yet his intercourse with Mr. Reed is a proof to the contrary. His friendship towards him was frank and cordial, and the confidence he reposed in him full and implicit. Reed in fact became, in a little time, the intimate companion of his thoughts, his bosom counsellor. He felt the need of such a friend in the present exigency, placed as he was in a new and untried situation, and having to act with persons hitherto unknown to him. In military matters, it is true, he had a shrewd counsellor in General Lee; but Lee was a wayward character, a cosmopolite, without at- tachment to country, somewhat splenetic, and prone to follow
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the bent of his whims and humors, which often clashed with propriety and sound policy. Reed, on the contrary, though less informed on military matters, had a strong common sense, unclouded by passion or prejudice, and a pure patriotism, which regarded everything as it bore upon the welfare of his country." *
He at first acted as the military secretary of the Com- mander-in-chief, having been assigned to that duty on the 4th of July, 1775. Skilled in the orderly and methodical trans- action of business, and being a ready writer, there is no doubt that the opening of books of record, preparing forms, direct- ing correspondence, composing legal and state papers, and establishing the general rules and etiquette of head-quarters, can be principally traced to him. In October, on account of the pressure of private business, he returned to Philadelphia, and on the 26th of January, though he was at the time acting as Chairman of the Committee of Safety, he was chosen a member of the Assembly, to take the place made vacant by the resignation of Mifflin. Upon the recommendation of General Washington, he was appointed by Congress, Adjutant General of the Army in June of this year, assuming its duties on the 16th. It was while acting in this capacity that Lord Howe and his brother, General Howe, who had just been assigned to the command of the British Army and Navy in America, loudly trumpeted their mission as one of peace, declaring themselves clothed with authority by their govern- ment to treat with the Americans. Under flag of truce they sent a communication to Washington, addressed to George Washington, Esq. Reed was sent to meet the officer bearing it. On looking at the address he declined to receive it, as Washington in his private capacity had no right to hold com- munication with the enemy. His action was approved by the General, by Congress, and the whole country, and no addi- tions of &c., and &c., which the British commanders appended, could move the determination of Washington, as these officers well knew his military rank.
* Irving's Washington, Vol. II. p. 14.
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The affairs in the American Army since its arrival in New York, had been gloomy and depressing in the extreme. A series of disasters and retreats had cast a gloom over the service and the whole country. In no breast was this more painfully felt than in that of Reed. Earnestly hoping and longing for success, and more prosperous days, and seeing only disaster follow disaster, he became distrustful, not of the capacity or the devotion of General Washington, but of a lack of decision in the midst of divided counsels, and in a letter to Lee, whose daring was proverbial, he indulged in expres- sions disparaging to the former, and highly complimentary to the latter, and signified a wish that Lee might be placed in chief command. Lee answered this letter, and in replying to this part of it plainly reflected the sentiments of Reed. The reply came in Reed's absence, and, being in official form, was opened by Washington. At a glance he saw that a feeling of distrust was entertained by his Adjutant General. It occasioned a coolness on the part of Washington towards Reed, for a time, where before had been the most intimate and confiding friendship. There is little doubt that the criti- cism was just, and that Washington recognized it as such; for he soon after manifested a marked change, exhibiting a much greater degree of daring and dash than ever before. The only complaint that Washington was disposed to make, was that Reed did not unbosom himself directly to him. In this Reed felt that he had been indiscreet, a fault that he had been led into by his earnest anxiety for a more marked success for the American arms, and wrote in the most open-hearted terms to Washington, in which he said, "Whatever may be my future destination and course of life, I could not support the reflection of being thought ungrateful and insincere to a friendship which was equally my pride and my pleasure." The heart of Washington was touched, and the reconciliation was sincere and lasting.
After crossing the Hudson, and while retreating through New Jersey before the victorious columns of Howe, the con- dition of American affairs was most dispiriting. Washington
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dispatched Reed to Burlington, with a letter to Governor Livingston of New Jersey, entreating him to call out the militia, and Mifflin was sent on a similar errand to Philadel- phia. The two armies were now approaching territory with which Reed was perfectly familiar, being the section of his birth, and he was able to give most valuable topographical information. Before departing from camp on the mission to the Governor of New Jersey, he had communicated his in- tention to Washington of resigning his place as Adjutant General, and while at Burlington he sent his commission to the President of Congress, designing, however, to remain at headquarters as a volunteer aid ; but upon receiving an urgent appeal from Washington at midnight of December 1st, for him to withhold his resignation, he dispatched a messenger to recall the commission, which was effected.
While Washington was moving upon Trenton, Reed was left with Cadwalader, with orders to cross and cooperate with his chief. The current of the river and the floating ice, pre- vented the main body from passing; but Reed with two or three companions succeeded in getting over, and by his activity kept the Commander well informed of the position and num- bers of the enemy, and gave most excellent and urgent advice in the movements upon Princeton.
Recognizing Reed's enterprise, skill, and daring in the management of affairs, and being now apprised of his deter- mination to resign the office of Adjutant General, Washington was desirous of securing his services as leader of cavalry. In a communication addressed, on 27th of January, 1777, to Congress, recommending the appointment of Brigadier Gen- erals, he says : "I shall also beg leave to recommend Colonel Reed to the command of the horse, as a person in my opinion in every way qualified; for he is extremely active and enter- prising, many signal proofs of which he has given during this campaign." In compliance with this recommendation, Con- gress elected him a Brigadier, and Washington in communi- cating the fact to him, said : "Congress having empowered me by a resolve, transmitted this morning, to assign one of
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the generals already appointed to the command of the light horse, I mean that you should act in that line, if agreeable to you, and I wish you in that case to repair to camp as soon as you can." Two weeks later, on the 14th of June, finding that Reed hesitated, he again wrote, saying: "I sincerely wish that you may accept the appointment of Congress, and the post I am desirous of placing you in." Notwithstanding these repeated solicitations of the Commander-in-chief, he felt obliged, for private reasons, to decline the appointment, though he decided to attach himself to Washington as a vol- unteer aid without rank or pay. Previous to the action of Congress in making him a General, on the 20th of March, 1777, the Supreme Executive Council had unanimously ap- pointed him the first Chief Justice of the Colony under the new Constitution ; but this office, though the most dignified and honorable in the Colony, and one for which his previous training had well fitted him, he also declined. On the 14th of September following, the Assembly elected him a delegate to Congress, in place of Jonathan B. Smith, who had resigned.
On the 10th of December, not having yet taken his seat in that body, a new election was held, at which he was again chosen. On the 25th of November, Congress appointed him a Commissioner of Indian Affairs, but that position was like- wise declined. Early in 1778, Congress, desirous of availing itself of his knowledge and aptness in military affairs, made him one of a committee to visit camp, for conference with Washington respecting the management of the ensuing cam- paign, and to concert measures for the greatest efficiency of the army. Of this committee, Reed was chairman.
At the State election held in October he was chosen a member of the Assembly by the city, and a member of the Council by the County of Philadelphia, the former of which offices he declined. In December he was unanimously elected in joint ballot, President of the Supreme Executive Council, and was continued for three years; and this office he accepted, entering at once upon the discharge of its duties. Near the close of his predecessor's term, the abolition of slavery in Penn-
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sylvania had been the subject of discussion. For the consum- mation of this just and humane provision, he felt the deepest solicitude. In one of his early messages to the Assembly, he said; " We would also again bring into your view a plan for the gradual abolition of slavery, so disgraceful to any people, and more especially to those who have been contending in the great cause of liberty themselves, and upon whom Provi- dence has bestowed such eminent marks of its favor and pro- tection. We think we are loudly called on to evince our gratitude, in making our fellowmen joint heirs with us in the same inestimable blessings, under such restrictions and regu- lations as will not injure the community, and will impercep- tibly enable them to relish and improve the station to which they will be advanced. Honored will that State be, in the annals of history, which shall first abolish this violation of the rights of mankind, and the memories of those will be' held in grateful and everlasting remembrance, who shall pass the law to restore and establish the rights of human nature in Pennsylvania." * The great act of justice for which he so earnestly pleads in this passage of his message, he had the satisfaction of seeing become a law during his administration.
The new Constitution of 1776 had, from the day of its in- auguration, encountered strong opposition. The party sup- porting it were, in general, the friends of Congress, and of Independence. Its opponents favored conciliation with the Crown, and a return to the Proprietary Government. So strong had the opposition to this instrument become, as evinced by petitions for its revisal, that the Assembly of 1778 ordered that the question of revisal be submitted to a popular vote. As the time approached for applying this test, the friends of the Constitution, who were especially strong in Philadelphia, manifested their disapproval of the measure by numerously signed remonstrances. It was held to be par- ticularly impolitic to open questions of state policy, and thus awaken the acrimony of party spirit, while the struggle for independence was yet undecided. These remonstrances had
* Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. I. p. 406.
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such weight with the Assembly as to induce it to repeal the act for taking the popular voice, and the constitution was permitted to remain unaltered until long after the War for Independence was ended, and a stable government for the nation had been established.
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