a spirit of persecution by one sect of Christians towards another. He was one of the few who reasoned correctly and acted wisely upon this important subject. It is a fact known to but few at this late day that the Roman Catholics of Maryland were the first who placed religious toleration on a statute book in America. [See laws of Maryland 1647.] It is also a fact that the Protestants first introduced proscription there. After the restoration of Charles II. in 1761, they obtained an order from him prohibiting all Roman Catholics from holding any office, which was in violation of the charter granted to Lord Baltimore by Charles I. upon which the colony was based. Still more. The Protestants having become the bride of the state, continued to draw more tightly the cords of persecution by authority from William III. The Catholics were taxed to support the churches of their oppressors. By an act passed in 1704, the celebration of mass or the instruction of youth by a Catholic insured him transportation to England. In the land of the Puritans, the Baptist and Quaker sects were treated more rigorous, being persecuted even unto death and by those too who fled from the very persecution they practised the moment they obtained the power. So it ever has been-so it ever will be until mankind become fully and feelingly sensible that sectarianism is not religion—is not a child of Heaven-that charity is the crowning attribute of Deity-the brightest star in the Christian's diadem.

During the excitement in Maryland upon the unhallowed connection of church and state, the Carrolls used their best exertions to effect a reconciliation between the parties which was never fully done until the revolution compelled sectarianism to hide its hydra head by uniting all sects in the common cause against the common enemy and forever banishing its power from our land by the adoption of our Federal Constitution. Men are as prone to abuse power as the sparks are to fly upward.

In the life of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, we have examples rich with instruction for youth, manhood and old age-for the lawyer, the statesman, the patriot and the Christian. His career was guided by prudence and virtue. His every action was marked with frankness, and honesty. He richly merited and freely received the esteem and veneration of a nation of FREEMEN. His private and public career were prompted and directed by a purity of motive that never fails to render a man useful in life-triumphant in death.

SAMUEL CHASE.

OSTRACISM was the title of a law once in full and practical force in the Republic of Athens. It required the banishment of any citizen when six thousand of the people voted for his expulsion-there being about twenty thousand voters-thus violating the fundamental principle of a republican government-the majority must rule and be obeyed. Ruin was the natural

result.

Each voter wrote the name of the citizen that was to be banished on a shell called in Greek-Ostrakon. These were deposited as are ballots at our elections and were counted by persons appointed by law. To the ruin of Athens, envy, jealousy and intrigue caused the banishment of several of her most illustrious sages and heroes who loved their country more than they did political corruption. Among them was Aristides-a noble patriot, statesman and general. When the people were voting in his case he mingled with the crowd and met an illiterate peasant who did not know him, who asked him to write Aristides upon his shell. What injury has Aristides done you? The peasant quickly answeredNone at all but I am tired of hearing him called the just. Without revealing himself the patriot wrote his own name upon the fatal shell and handed it back to the deluded voter. He bowed submissively to his sentence of banishment for ten years and invoked a blessing on his enemies as he departed.

A species of political persecution practically analogous to the law of ostracism commenced its career in our country as early as the American Revolution. Political cliques and venal presses have been the executioners. No one of the sages or heroes of that eventful period was so severely persecuted by party ostracism after the formation of our republic as Samuel Chase who was born in Somerset County, Maryland, on the 17th day of April, 1741. He was the son of Rev. Thomas Chase who came from England to that province and became pastor of St. Paul's Parish in Baltimore, then a new country village and destitute of good schools. At the age of two years Samuel was deprived of the tender care of his mother by her premature death. Under the instruction of his father he became an accomplished classical scholar. At the age of eighteen he commenced the study of law under the direction of John Hammond and John Hull of Annapolis. At the age of twenty he was admitted to the bar of the Mayor's Court and two years after to that of the County Court and the Court of Chancery. He located at Annapolis

and filled up the rib vacuum by marrying the worthy and intelligent Ann Baldwin-a very sensible and fair business transaction.

Mr. Chase was not long in acquiring the reputation of a sound lawyer and able advocate. He was of a sanguine temperament-bold, fearless, undisguised, independent in mind, language and action but honest, patriotic, and pure in his motives-immovable in his purposesqualities that dignify a man if prudently balanced and prepare him for just such times as the Revolution-qualities that often rouse the spirit of ostracism in those who aim to ruin those they cannot rule. These leading traits, constitutional with Samuel Chase, with the times and circumstances that influenced his judgment and governed his actions must be kept constantly in view to enable the reader to form a just estimate of his character which I will impartially and plainly portray.

On the flood tide of a prosperous business-celebrated for his legal acumen and forensic fame-in the full enjoyment of domestic felicity and social intercourse with friends-Mr. Chase glided smoothly along until his country began to writhe under kingly oppression. The Stamp Act, the first born of the scrofulous revenue system devised by the putrescent British ministry, met with a hostile reception at Annapolis. Mr. Chase and a band of kindred spirits under the cognomen of "Sons of Liberty," forcibly seized and destroyed the newly imported stamps and burned in effigy the stamp distributer. No further violence was then committed. The king's officers opened a newspaper battery against this "furious mob" directing their whole artillery against Mr. Chase complimenting him with the courtly names-" busy restless incendiary-ringleader of mobs-foul mouthed inflaming son of discord and faction-a common disturber of the public tranquillity-a promoter of the lawless excesses of the multitude" and other similar emphatic appellations-conferring upon the young patriot a diploma of distinction little anticipated by them. His answers to these vituperations were manly, charged with strong and conclusive logic-keen and withering sarcasm. The attack brought him fairly into the political field. So delighted were the people with the manner he handled the hirelings of the crown that they elected him to the colonial assembly. There he took a conspicuous part and became the uncompromising opposer of all measures that were not within the pale of the constitution or were tinctured with oppression. So strongly was he in favor of liberal principles that he gave his whole influence and vote in favor of the repeal of the law that compelled the people to support the clergy by which the stipend of his father was reduced one-half. Pursuant to the law of primogeniture then in force this was voting money out of his own pocket. His bold

and independent course made him a subject of persecution with the creatures of the crown and an object of pride and admiration with the people. His enemies found him a bramble full of the keenest thorns and were awfully scarified every time they approached him. His tongue, pen, logic, sarcasm-all were blighting as a sirocco wind.

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After the repeal of the Stamp Act a calm in the public mind ensued but it was a calm of delusion such as precedes a tornado. The inquisitorial rack of the ministry was again put in motion-fresh impositions commenced-the fire of discontent was again blown to a blaze. The Bill closing the port of Boston with directions to the King's officers to seize and send to England for trial those who dared resist the royal authority-roused the indignation of colonies that had been rather sive. The Congress of 1774 was then devised of which Mr. Chase was a member. The deep solemnity, unparalleled wisdom and patient deliberations that marked the proceedings of that Congress-shed a lustre upon the cause of liberty then in embryo that forced applause from its most violent opposers. Had not the cabinet of Great Britain been blinded by sordid avarice, mad ambition and political delusion-had not the King been a mere automaton, scarcely a moving, walking, talking machine-the loyal and logical appeals from that august body of sages would have been treated with merited respect and quiet restored. The colonists asked for nothing but what was clearly right and asked in the most respectful and even suppliant manner. Ministers were left without excuse for their subsequent course. Their sacrilegious hands broke the great seal of the social compact-their agents sowed the seeds of rebellion-their cruelty kindled the flame that devoured them-their visionary policy severed the cords of maternal affection-their treachery spread the mantle of righteousness over the cause of the Revolution. We justly censure them for their corrupt designs but rejoice in the glorious result of their plans. Haman erected his own gallows. Grenville and North destroyed their own power.

In 1775 Mr. Chase was returned to Congress with instructions to pursue a conciliatory course contrary to his judgment but which he implicitly obeyed. He was active and persevering on committees and took a deep interest in every measure proposed in favor of freedom. He was returned to Congress the next year still trammelled with instructions which he truly predicted would soon be removed. In the spring of 1776 he was associated with Messrs. Franklin, Charles and Bishop Carroll on a mission to Canada to induce the people there to join in the struggle for liberty. They wanted courage to be free and still wear the yoke of bondage. On his return he was delighted to find the

question of final separation from mother Britain under consideration and boldly advocated the measure. It was the very proposition to animate the soul of Samuel Chase. His instructions became burdensome as the discussion increased. They were removed just in time for him to record his vote in favor of that imperishable instrument that has immortalized the names of the signers and is the pride of every true American. The act of signing the Declaration of Rights gave him more joy than any public duty he had ever performed. A short time previous to the glorious 4th of July Mr. Chase discovered that a Judas was among them in the person of Rev. Dr. Zubly of Georgia who was clandestinely corresponding with the enemy. So bold and so suddenly did he expose the traitor on the floor of Congress that "the gentleman from Georgia" plead guilty and suddenly retired. His arrest was ordered but when the officer went to his cage the bird had flown and was never bagged. As an able statesman recently remarked, he was left in the very worst company-with himself. Mr. Chase was all industry in every position in which he was placed. In the discussions upon the Articles of Confederation he took a deep interest and active part. He considered their adoption indispensable in carrying on the good work of political regeneration. The basis of representation and the mode of voting were the two great points at issue that consumed the most time in argument.

In the fall of 1776 Messrs. Chase, Wilson, Clymer, Stockton and Smith were made a committee to take charge of the War Departmentthen the most important of either. Mr. Chase was upon the committee for suppressing internal enemies and became a terror to the tories and certain Quakers in and adjacent to Philadelphia who were circulating papers adverse to the American cause and were in communication with the enemy. A report, with documents proving the charge was submitted to Congress. Several leading members of the Society of Friends were confined-the seditious papers suppressed and a respectful neutrality induced on the part of that very respectable Society whose creed opposing war had led some of its members into an erroneous interference. The tories took shelter under the wings of the British army. The course pursued by Congress was then deemed harsh by some and will still appear so to a casual reader who is not familiar with the rules of war. Agreeably to the martial code of other nations-then the precedent guide for Congress-the punishment would have been much more severe. The mildness of the sentence was an antepast of a more enlarged liberty under the new form of government. By the religious tenets of the Friends it can never be sanctioned-by