USA > Virginia > The history of the Virginia federal convention of 1788, with some account of eminent Virginians of that era who were members of the body, Vol. II > Part 25
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And when the States which rest or depend on the Mississippi shall begin to rear statues in commemoration of the past, they will be sadly unmindful of truth and history if the marble image of Virginia, who among the earliest, through good and evil report, upheld the right of navigating their noble stream, and whose great son finally confirmed that right gloriously and for- ever, is not the first to adorn their halls.
Mason made this speech under bodily suffering; and, roughly reported as it is, it serves to show the vigor, the sprightliness, and the freedom which marked his style of debate. It compares favorably with the speeches of the most eloquent British speakers of the era ending with the American Revolution, as those speeches are reported in the public debates, and it has much of their freshness and savor. It was essentially the speech of a debater, who seizes at once upon the salient points of his adver- sary's arguments, and turns them against their authors. Like most of our great statesmen who flourished, or who begun their career during the last century, Mason never wrote or wrote out a speech before or after delivery; but, in the remains of his speeches that are left us, it is apparent that he spoke well and readily, holding back nothing, fearing nothing; and, if not weaving for himself a living crown of oratory with posterity, yet accomplishing all that could be accomplished by eloquence in his then day and generation.
It was on the 25th of February that Mason made his speech just quoted, and in less than three months later he was laid in his grave. He had probably inherited from his paternal ances- try a gouty diathesis, which developed itself in a dropsy, for the relief of which he sought the city of Philadelphia, where he died on the 10th of May. Thus, in his forty-third year, in the prime and pride of his intellectual powers, passed away a statesman whose memory ought to be cherished with fond affection by his country at large, and by Virginia in particular. He belonged to a class of statesmen who were born at the early stages of the troubles with the mother country, who have all passed away, and who can never appear again. They were old enough to have engaged in the latter part of the war of the Revolution, to have
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served in the Assembly in the interval between the close of the war and the adoption of the Federal Constitution, to have fought the great battle in the public councils and on the rostrum to which that Constitution led, to have watched its operation with the strictest scrutiny, and in due time to bear a conspicuous part in the practical administration of the Federal Government. Mason's political beau-ideal was Virginia as a free, independent, and intelligent Commonwealth, committing, for the sake of con- venience, her foreign affairs to her Federal agents, but retaining unimpaired all the rights and privileges of an integral empire. It was in this spirit he refused to accept the amendments to the Federal Constitution proposed by Congress, because, though some of them were better than nothing, yet they were not those that Virginia had proposed, and which she had a right to demand and to receive. Not having been abroad in the Federal coun- cils anterior to the adoption of the Constitution, his affections were entire, and he had not been broken to the tune of a strong central government, which fascinated the ears of some of his compatriots and which insensibly led them to regard without much aversion the trenching of the new government upon the rights of the individual States. Hence, on all interesting Federal questions, though courteous and respectful of the opinions of others, he leaned towards the States, and opposed some of the prominent measures of the Washington and Adams administra- tions. He bore along with him throughout his career the almost unanimous approbation of the Assembly and of the peo- ple, who delighted to express their confidence in his abilities, in his integrity, and in his patriotism by the usual marks of public favor. In his thirty-fourth year he had been elected to the Senate of the United States, in which he remained till the hour of his death, his finest effort on the floor of that House being his last; participating in all interesting discussions of foreign or domestic topics with an effect that was acknowledged by a hos- tile and exulting majority; and, latterly, swaying at will the decisions of his own party under the fire of a strong opposition, led by a wily, unscrupulous, but uncommonly able statesman. His last scene on the floor of the Senate was a great triumph. It required unusual prudence on his part to prevent the flame kindled by the Federal party in favor of the supposed rights of the Western States from spreading among the representatives of
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the West, and the loss of a single vote might have settled the question; while he grappled directly and openly with Morris, whose abilities as an orator were formidable, whose knowledge of foreign affairs was exact and comprehensive, and whose hatred of the administration of Jefferson impelled him to seek its over- throw by plunging the country, without necessity and in viola- tion of the usages of nations, into a war with the greatest mili- tary power then or now existing. Mason succeeded. The policy of his opponents was prostrated; his own favorite scheme was adopted even by his enemies; and, when he passed the doors of the Senate for the last time, the whole country was applauding his eloquent harangue, little dreaming that it was his last.247
In stature Mason was below six feet. He was very stout, and is said to have attained his full growth at a very early age. His countenance, as presented in his portrait, was open and manly; his hair was dark, his eyes were large and of a deep gray color; his nose and chin regular and good. His mouth was very large and the lips compressed-a characteristic trait of the Masons, it is said. His forehead was very broad, open, and intellectual. He was neat in his apparel; and, as he wore silk stockings, he might have taken in a somewhat personal sense the reflection of the Northern man on the silk-stocking gentry. His hair was well dressed, with the usual queue closely bound with a black ribbon. His appearance on canvas is highly imposing, and is not unbecoming his general reputation.24
One trait of Mason, which, if not the secret of his great popu- larity, contributed to its diffusion and to its intensity, was his
247 Mr. William Brent said that Mason was distinguished for his elo- quence and wonderful powers of sarcasm. He once heard him in Philadelphia reply to a Northern man who uncourteously alluded to the Southern members as "the silk-stocking gentry "; and he said he should never forget the effect of his oratory and the force of his sarcasm. It was terrific. Had Mason lived six months longer he would have read the treaty of Paris, which ceded to the United States the whole of Louisiana.
248 There is a portrait of General S. T. Mason in the possession of his granddaughter, Mrs. Emily Mason; and there is one of his father, T. Mason, in the possession of Judge John T. Mason, of Baltimore. The portrait of Thomson Mason presents a countenance remarkably benign, regular features, and compressed lips.
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fearless and cordial support of his political friends, especially when they were in trouble. He sat by the side of Judge Cooper when that extraordinary man was prosecuted under the sedition law during the whole of his trial; and when that sen- tence of fine and imprisonment was pronounced against him, Mason instantly rose in open court and congratulated his friend. Fenno, the Federal editor, animadverted with stern severity upon the conduct of Mason, whom he charged with committing an outrage on the face of Justice ; but Duane, of the Aurora, came to the rescue, and twitted Fenno for mistaking the bacon face of the presiding judge for the face of Justice.249
The following account of the funeral of Stevens Thomson Mason, Esq., is taken from the Philadelphia Aurora of Satur- day, May 14, 1803, and has reached me through the kindness of the Hon. William J. Duane-the son of the editor-who was present at the burial as the adjutant of the Militia Legion, under General Shee:
"On Tuesday evening last the remains of the late General Stevens Thomson Mason, of Virginia, were interred in the bury- ing-ground of the Protestant Episcopal church, in Arch street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, and deposited near those of the late Henry Tazewell, Esq., a senator of the same State, and in his lifetime a colleague of General Mason. At 5 o'clock P. M. the procession moved from the house of Mr. James O' Ellers, - corner of Fourth and Spruce streets, in the following order:
"I. The Militia Legion, commanded by General Shee, with reversed arms, in advance of the whole.
"2. The clergy of the city, of every denomination:
"3. The corpse, borne by watchmen and supported by six pall-bearers; magistrates and officers under the Federal and State governments.
"4. The chief mourners, immediately following the hearse.
"5. Private friends of the General as mourners, with the attending physicians.
"6. The Governor of Pennsylvania, the Minister of Spain, and other diplomatic characters now in the city.
"7. Officers of the General Government.
249 On the authority of Mr. Dickerson, of New Jersey, who sat on the other side of Cooper during the trial.
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" 8. Officers of the State Government.
" 9. Corporate councils of the city.
"10. The members of the Board of Health.
"II. Officers of militia, in uniform.
"12. Private citizens.
"Every degree of respectful attention was paid by the con- course of citizens who attended and followed the procession during the movement to the place of interment and the perform- ance of the burial service by Bishop White; and there has been seldom witnessed in this city a more solemn and affecting scene, evincing a general testimonial of respect for the exalted virtues, public and private, which so conspicuously marked the character of the deceased."
I sincerely trust that the relatives of General Mason will cause a plain slab to be placed over his remains. 250
250 As to the personal appearance of Stevens Thomson Mason, Mr. Temple Mason did not think him handsome, but his granddaughter, Mrs. Mason, thought that he was ; "that he had the bulk, with the spirit of a king," and that he had "a princely crest." Both agree that he was very large. His uncle, Colonel John Barnes, of Maryland, saw none of the poetry of person or of bearing that struck the female eye, but described his nephew as "being blown up like a bladder."
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Mason left a widow, three sons, and three daughters. The maiden name of his widow was Mary Armistead, daughter of Robert Armistead, of Louisa county. She survived him twenty years. 251 His eldest son·was Armistead Thomson Mason, who was born in 1786, was educated at William and Mary College, served with credit in the second war with Great Britain, and was elected a senator of the United States by the General Assembly of Virginia in 1815. In 1817 he resigned his seat in the Senate to become a candidate for the House of Representatives, in oppo- . sition to Charles Fenton Mercer, and was defeated. Out of this contest sprang the difference which brought on his duel with his cousin, Colonel John Mason McCarty, in which he fell at Bladens- burg on the 6th day of February, 1819, at the age of thirty- three. His death Virginia bemoaned with no passing grief. In his character he united in a singular degree the qualities of an orator, a soldier, and a statesman; and he was the idol of the Democratic party, to which he belonged. All the honors which Virginia could bestow he had either received, or they awaited him. He was a major-general, had been a senator of the United States, was a member of the Board of Public Works, and would have been the next Governor had he survived. His death was lamented by the press throughout the Union. The Leesburg Genius of Liberty echoed the general voice when it said: " All who knew him mourn his fate and lament his loss. As a citizen, neighbor, and friend he stood unrivalled. As a warrior he was firm and undaunted, deliberate and humane. As a statesman he was deep, clear, and penetrating. In short, he bade fair to become one of our brightest ornaments, both as a private citizen and public officer." The same journal adds: "In the fall of General Mason Virginia has lost one of her most esteemed sons.
21 She died on the estate of her husband, near Leesburg, on the 12th of February, 1824; aged eighty-four years. Her obituary may be seen in the National Intelligencer of that date, in which she is described as a very remarkable woman.
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Although he had numbered but thirty-and-three years, he had risen high in popular favor. On the military list he had been promoted to the office of major-general, and the highest civil appointment, that of a senator of the United States, had been conferred upon him." It describes his burial as follows: "On the day of his funeral the most heartrending scenes were wit- nessed. His numerous and faithful blacks crowded around his grave, dissolved in tears and frantic with despair. The tender sensibilities of those tawny sons and daughters of Africa would have done honor to whiter complexions. To see an aged nurse, whose head was blossoming for the grave, approaching the corpse through the crowd, crying 'Oh, my master, my master !' must have awakened sympathetic feelings in the most adamant- ine heart. We have seldom witnessed in this town on any occa- sion so numerous a concourse of the people as were present at the funeral obsequies of this excellent man. Distinguished by his energy, his firmness, and activity, General Mason enjoyed that confidence and favor of his native State, which he appeared to inherit from his ancestors."
He fell on the 6th of February, and on the 9th of the same month both houses of the General Assembly passed resolutions, in which they say " that they esteem the death of General Mason . a public loss, and entertain the deepest sympathy on that untimely event."
Just before Mason took the field he wrote to his uncle-Judge John Thomson Mason, of Hagerstown, Md .- the following letter, the original of which is before me :
"'MY DEAR UNCLE, -I have just time to recommend my unhappy and helpless family to your paternal care. You have been a father to me; I know you will be one to them.
"I am your most sincerely affectionate nephew,
" ARMISTEAD T. MASON.
"City of Washington, 5th February, 1819."
One incident connected with the descendants of General Mason and his opponent-Colonel McCarty 252_would seem to
· 252 A full account of the duel between General A. T. Mason and Colo- nel McCarty may be seen in the January or February No. of Harper's Magazine for 1858. [See. also, Sabine's Notes on Duelling and Tru- man's Field of Honor .- EDITOR.]
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protract a painful catastrophe to a second generation. Each of them had an only son-a pair of promising and noble young men. The son of Colonel McCarty was on a hunting excursion, and for the first time in his life, impelled by the pursuit of game, crossed over on General Mason's land. In alighting from the fence his gun was accidently discharged and killed him instantly. When the war with Mexico broke out young Stevens Thomson Mason, the son of the General, entered the service, and at Cerro Gordo, while commanding a company of mounted rifles, fell mortally wounded. Thus have these two families become extinct in the male line.
General Mason was about five feet eleven inches in height, , rather stout in stature, of florid complexion, light eyes, free and easy in his manners, and was usually generous, mild, and amia- ble in his intercourse with every one. He was quick and impetu- ous in temper-as ready to forgive as to resent an injury. He is buried in the Episcopal grave-yard at Leesburg, where his only son reposes by his side. Each grave is marked by a slab.
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JOHN THOMSON MASON.253
Besides Armistead, who so richly inherited the virtues of his father, General S. T. Mason left two other sons-John Thomson and Thomson.254 The last-named died young. John Thomson settled in Kentucky, and became a public man. He was Secre- tary of the Territory of Michigan, and a commissioner to adjust claims with the Indians. He left an only son, Stevens Thomson Mason, who was born at Leesburg on the 27th of October, 1811, was educated at Transylvania University, at an early age removed to Michigan (then a Territory), and was elected, when the Territory became a State, the first Governor, and re-elected in 1837. He had served two gubernatorial terms before he was twenty-eight years of age. He married an accomplished lady " of the city of New York, and removed thither in 1840, where he was very successful at the bar; but after an illness of four days he died on the 4th of June, 1843, leaving an only son, who has since died. Thus has every male representative of General Stevens Thomson Mason passed away. 255
253 Thomson Mason wrote on a blank leaf in Burrows's Reports "that he had often heard it said that a child at two and a half years old was just half as tall as he ever would be My son, John Thomson Mason, is this day just two and a half years old, and is two feet ten inches and a half high; and I can thus ascertain the truth of the remark." John became about five feet nine, or thereabouts.
254 General S. T. Mason also left three daughters, the eldest of whom married George Howard, territorial Governor of Missouri, but at the time of his marriage member of Congress from Kentucky; the second married Colonel William T. Barry, afterwards Postmaster-General and Minister to Spain; and the youngest married her cousin, William McCarty, subsequently the representative of the Loudoun district in Congress, and who is still living (August, 1859).
255 Thomson Mason, the father of General S. T. Mason, had two other sons-John Thomson and Temple. The last-named is still living in Washington (August, 1859), in his eighty-fifth year, and has reached a greater age than any of those who have borne the name. John Thom- son was born in Stafford county in 1764, and was educated at William
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ALEXANDER WHITE-SUPPLEMENTAL. 256
In the review which I have made of the sessions of the Assem- bly the name of Alexander White has been used as a thread of connection through the whole; but, as so many members of the Convention were also members of the Assembly, and as the votes and opinions of public men on the great questions of their times, which were discussed and settled by them in the public councils, are their most faithful biography, I have presented at the same time the votes of his colleagues in the interval in ques- tion. In the course of the session just concluded White was conspicuous in all its proceedings. He was not present-as was
and Mary. In early life he removed to Maryland, and settled at Hagers- town, where he intended to practice law, but for three years he did not obtain a single client. This was thought at the time an unlucky omen, but it turned out to his advantage, for he made himself a good lawyer. He afterwards removed to Georgetown, where his practice is said to have included one or the other side of every case on the docket. There and in Maryland he maintained many a hard-fought battle with Chase, Pinkney, Martin, Key, Harper, Winder, and others, and acquitted himself handsomely. In the celebrated case of Hampton vs. Harper, said to be one of the hardest-fought legal battles in Maryland, he gained great éclat. The counsel on one side were Mason, Pinkney, and Johnson, and on the other Martin, Key, and Harper. On one occasion, when Pinkney had been written to for an opinion in a case in which Mason had furnished a carefully-prepared one, he returned the following answer: "If my opinion should concur with that of Mr. Mason, it could add no force to it; and it would be extremely hazard- ous for any one to venture an opinion in opposition to one from so pro- found a source." He was appointed Attorney-General of the United States by Mr. Jefferson, and afterwards by Mr. Madison, but declined the appointment on both occasions. He was chosen Chief Justice of Maryland; but, though he held the appointment a few weeks, did not take his seat on the bench, and resigned it.
256 [The perplexity of the editor in arranging in just connection the manuscript of this volume may be imagined in the statement that the author used paper of different colors, and not only neglected to num- ber his pages, but was not uniform in his use of the paper-writing
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too often the case with members who lived at a distance from Richmond-at the beginning of the session, and could not be placed on the standing committees at the time of their organiza- tion; but he was assigned to the most important on his arrival, and was a member of various select committees, the drafting of whose reports generally fell upon him. His votes may be found in the list of the ayes and noes already recorded. It will there be seen that on the test question of striking out the report of the Committee of the Whole, which presented the anti-Federal programme for obtaining amendments to the Constitution, he voted in the affirmative; but on the motion to strike out the qualifications of members of Congress, in respect of freehold and residence, he voted with the majority, of which Henry was the chief. On several calls of the ayes and noes he was not in his seat-as, indeed, was almost invariably the case with at least one- fourth of the House.
His term of service in the House of Delegates closed with the present session. He was returned to the first House of Repre- sentatives of the United States from the Frederick district, and was the only member of the House from Virginia who was present in his seat on the 4th day of March, 1789-the first day of the session. An oath must be drawn up to be taken by the members, in pursuance of the sixth article of the Constitution, and White was appointed chairman of a committee-of which Madison was a member-to report a proper form. When Madi- son proposed (April 6th) to regulate duties according to the scheme presented in 1783 by the Congress, White, under the
sometimes on single leaves, sometimes on sheets, and at other times upon several sheets continuously, as held together in book form. Many sheets and half-quires of paper had been reversed in their arrangement by being folded in the opposite way. The whole mass had become disarranged, and, to aggravate the torture of rearrange- ment, many sheets, from the dampening of the sizing, adhered together. This last evil was occasioned by the manuscript having been buried during the war of 1861-'65, to ensure its safety from destruction by the Federal army. Portions of the manuscript had to be soaked apart. The sequence of all was as justly fixed as the apprehension of the editor enabled. It may be inferred that Mr. Grigsby intended to revise and readjust his matter before committing it to press. This is offered in explanation of the resumption of the consideration of the career of a character so lengthily treated before .- EDITOR.]
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impression that an immediate vote was desired by the mover, urged delay for a more full consideration of the subject, and was told by Madison that he did not desire an immediate decision. On the following day he objected to the variety of articles sub- jected to specific duties, and upheld the policy of Madison in opposition to the scheme proposed by Fitzimons. He urged, with his colleague (Andrew Moore), the propriety of a duty on hemp, as that article could be cultivated to any extent in the South and West, and the lands of the Shenandoah and its con- secutive streams could produce the article in abundance. He argued that a duty on hemp would do more to promote ship- building than a bounty on ships.
He was inclined to favor the laying a duty on salt; but as that article was consumed to such an extent by the poor he thought it good present policy to let it pass free; that, as it was used by all, all would feel the tax, and some might deem it oppressive; that some taxes were odious from opinion, and as government was founded upon opinion it should abstain from laying those taxes which were offensive to the people.
On the 18th he made a report from the Committee of Elec- tions, which declared that every member was duly returned.
On the 15th of May he presented to the House an important resolve of the General Assembly of Virginia, offering to the acceptance of the Federal Government ten miles square of terri- tory, or any lesser quantity, in any part of that State which Con- gress may choose, to be occupied and possessed by the United States as the seat of the Federal Government; which was read and ordered to lie on the table. That he was selected to present the resolution to the House is an honorable mark of the estima- tion in which he was held by his distinguished colleagues.
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