was appointed, and clothed with the necessary authority. To this committee Mr. Ross was attached, and was one of its most active and efficient members. He also belonged to another important committee, viz. that of grievances.

On the dissolution of the proprietary government in Pennsylvania, a general convention was assembled, in which Mr. Ross represented the county of Lancaster. Here, again, he was called to the discharge of most important duties, being appointed to assist in preparing a declaration of rights on behalf of the state, for forming rules of order for the convention, and for defining and settling what should be considered high treason and misprision of treason against the state, and the punishment which should be inflicted for those offences.

In the year 1779, Mr. Ross was appointed a judge of the court of admiralty for the state of Pennsylvania. This was on the 14th of April. He was permitted to enjoy, however, the honourable station which he now filled but a short time. In the month of July following, he was suddenly and violently attacked by the gout, which terminated his useful life, in the fiftieth year of his age.

In respect to the character of Judge Ross, we have little to add to the preceding account. As a lawyer, even before the revolution, he was among the first of his profession, a rank which he continued to hold, while he practised at the bar. As a politician, he was zealous, patriotic, and consistent. As a judge, he was learned and upright, and uncommonly skilful in the despatch of business. He comprehended with ease causes of the greatest intricacy, and formed his decisions, which often displayed much legal knowledge, with great promptness. It is to be added to his honour, that while he was thus distinguished abroad, he was characterized in the fulfilment of his domestic duties, by an uncommonly kind and affectionate disposition.

THE

DELAWARE DELEGATION.

CESAR RODNEY,

GEORGE READ,

THOMAS M'KEAN.

CÆSAR RODNEY.

CESAR RODNEY, the first of the delegation from Delaware, was a native of that state, and was born about the year 1730. His birth-place was Dover. The family, from which he was descended, was of ancient date, and is honour ably spoken of in the history of early times. We read of Sir Walter De Rodeney, of Sir George De Rodeney, and Sir Henry De Rodeney, with several others of the same name, even earlier than the year 1234. Sir Richard De Rodeney accompanied the gallant Richard Cœur de Lion in his crusade to the Holy Land, where he fell, while fighting at the seige of Acre.

In subsequent years, the wealth and power of the family continued to be great. Intermarriages took place between some of the members of it, and several illustrious and noble families of England. During the civil wars, about the time of the commonwealth, the family became considerably re duced, and its members were obliged to seek their fortunes in new employments, and in distant countries. Soon after the settlement of Pennsylvania by William Penn, William Rodney, one of the descendants of this illustrious family

removed to that province and after a short residence in Philadelphia, settled in Kent, a county upon the Delaware. This gentleman died in the year 1708, leaving a considerable fortune, and eight children, the eldest of whom is the subject of the following sketch. Mr. Rodney inherited from his father a large landed estate, which was entailed upon him, according to the usages of distinguished families at that day. At the early age of twenty-eight years, such was his popularity, he was appointed high sheriff in the county in which he resided, and on the expiration of his term of service, ho was created a justice of the peace, and a judge of the lower courts. In 1762, and perhaps at a still earlier date, he represented the county of Kent in the provincial legislature. In this station he entered with great zeal and activity into the prominent measures of the day. In the year 1765, th◄ first general congress was assembled, as is well known, New-York, to consult upon the measures which were neces sary to be adopted in consequence of the stamp act, and other oppressive acts of the British government. To this congress, Mr. Rodney, Mr. M'Kean, and Mr. Kollock, were unanimously appointed by the provincial assembly of Delaware to represent that province. On their return from NewYork, they reported to the assembly their proceedings, under the instructions which they had received. For the faithful and judicious discharge of the trust reposed in them, the assembly unanimously tendered them their thanks, and voted them a liberal compensation.

a

The tumults caused in America by the stamp act, we have had frequent occasion to notice, as well as the joy consequent upon the repeal of that odious measure. In this universal

joy, the inhabitants of Delaware largely participated. On the meeting of their legislature, Mr. Rodney, Mr. M'Kean, and Mr. Read, were appointed to express their thanks to the king, for his kindness in relieving them, in common with their country, from a burden which they had considered as exceedingly oppressive. In the address which was reported by the above committee, and forwarded, by direction of the assembly, to England, we find the following language:

"We cannot help glorying in being the subjects of a king, that has made the preservation of the civil and religious rights of his people, and the established constitution, the foundation and constant rule of his government, and the safety, ease, and prosperity of his people, his chiefest care; of a king, whose mild and equal administration is sensibly felt and enjoyed in the remotest parts of his dominion. The clouds which lately hung over America are dissipated. Our complaints have been heard, and our grievances redressed; trade and commerce again flourish. Our hearts are animated with the warmest wishes for the prosperity of the mother country, for which our affection is unbounded, and your faithful subjects here are transported with joy and gratitude. Such are the blessings we may justly expect will ever attend the measures of your majesty, pursuing steadily the united and true interests of all your people, throughout your wide extended empire, assisted with the advice and support of a British parliament, and a virtuous and wise ministry. We most humbly beseech your majesty, graciously to accept the strongest assurances, that having the justest sense of the many favours we have received from your royal benevolence, during the course of your majesty's reign, and how much our present happiness is owing to your paternal love and care for your people; we will at all times most cheerfully contribute to your majesty's service, to the utmost of our abilities, when your royal requisitions, as heretofore, shall be made known; that your majesty will always find such returns of duty and gratitude from us, as the best of kings may expect from the most loyal subjects, and that you will demonstrate to all the world, that the support of your majesty's government, and the honour and interests of the British nation, are our chief care and concern, desiring nothing more than the continuance of our wise and excellent constitution, in the same happy, firm, and envied situation, in which it was delivered down to us from our ancestors, and your majesty's predecessors."

This address, according to the agent who presented it, was

kindly received by his majesty, who expressed his pleasure by reading it over twice.

Unfortunately for the British government, but perhaps fortunately in the issue for the America colonies, the repeal of the stamp act was followed by other oppressive measures, which caused a renewal of the former excitement in the American colonies, and led to that revolution, which deprived Great Britain of one of her fairest possessions. The inhabitants of Delaware were for a long time anxious for a reconciliation between the mother country and the American colonies; still they understood too well their unalienable rights, and had too high a regard for them, tamely to relinquish them. In a subsequent address, prepared by the same gentlemen who had drafted the former, they renewed their protestations of loyalty; but at the same time took the liberty of remonstrating against the proceedings of the British parliament:

"If our fellow-subjects of Great Britain, who derive no authority from us, who cannot in our humble opinion represent us, and to whom we will not yield in loyalty and affection to your majesty, can at their will and pleasure, of right, give and grant away our property; if they enforce an implicit obedience to every order or act of theirs for that purpose, and deprive all, or any of the assemblies on this continent, of the power of legislation, for differing with them in opinion in matters which intimately affect their rights and interests, and every thing that is dear and valuable to Englishmen, we cannot imagine a case more miserable; we cannot think that we shall have even the shadow of liberty left. We conceive it to be an inherent right in your majesty's subjects, derived to them from God and nature, handed down from their ancestors, and confirmed by your royal predecessors and the constitution, in person, or by their representatives, to give and grant to their sovereigns those things which their own labours and their own cares have acquired and saved, and in such proportions and at such times, as the national honour and interest may require. Your majesty's faithful subjects of this government have enjoyed this inestimable privilege