Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/244

in the city ever since the preceding April; though but sixteen years of age, and lank, awkward, and ill-dressed, he was known to every body about town; and it required little observation and insight to perceive that he was a very extraordinary character. Thomas Tudor Tucker was a brother of kis father-in-law, Theodore Bland was his uncle, Richard Bland Lee was his cousin, and he had several other relatives in the two houses of Congress.

Charles Carroll,^[1] senator from Maryland, is described by Sullivan as "rather a small and thin person, of very gracious and pol-

1. ↑ "Charles Carroll's family," says Lord Brougham, "was settled in Maryland ever since the reign of James II., and had during that period been possessed of the same ample property, the largest in the Union. It stood, therefore, at the head of the aristocracy of the country; was naturally in alliance with the government; could gain nothing while it risked every thing by a change of dynasty; and therefore, according to all the rules and the prejudices and the frailties which are commonly found guiding the conduct of men in a crisis of affairs, Charles Carroll might have been expected to take part against the revolt, certainly never to join in promoting it. Such, however, was not this patriotic person. He was among the foremost to sign the celebrated Declaration of Independence. All who did so were believed to have devoted themselves and their families to the furies. As he set his hand to the instrument, the whisper ran round the hall of Congress, 'There go some millions of property!' And there being many of the same name, when he heard it said, 'Nobody will know which Carroll it is,' as no one signed more than his name; and one at his elbow, addressing him, remarked, 'You'll get clear — there are several of the name — they will never know which to take,' he replied, 'Not so!' and instantly added his residence, 'of Carrollton.' He was not only a man of firm mind and steadily-fixed principles; he was also a person of great accomplishments and excellent abilities. Educated in the study of the civil law at one of the French colleges, he had resided long enough in Europe to perfect his learning in all the ordinary branches of knowledge. On his return to America, he sided with the people against the mother country, and was soon known and esteemed as among the ablest writers of the Independent party. The confidence reposed in him soon after was so great that he was joined with Franklin in the commission of three sent to obtain the concurrence of the Canadians in the revolt. He was a member of Congress for the first two trying years, when that body was only fourteen in number, and might rather be deemed a cabinet council for action than any thing like a deliberative senate. He then belonged, during the rest of the war, to the legislature of his native state, Maryland, until 1788, when he was elected one of the United States Senate, and continued for three years to act in this capacity. .... As no one had run so large a risk by joining the revolt, so no one had adhered to the standard of freedom more firmly, in all its fortunes, whether waving in triumph or over disaster and defeat. He never had despaired of the commonwealth, nor ever had lent his ear to factious councils; never had shrunk from any sacrifice, nor ever had pressed himself forward to the exclusion of men better fitted to serve the common cause. Thus it happened to him that no man was more universally respected and beloved; none had fewer enemies; and, notwithstanding the ample share in which the gifts of fortune were showered upon his house, no one grudged its prosperity. It would, however, be a