and in these, as in arms, the day, I hope, will come when America will be superior to all the world. Without prejudice or partiality, I do not believe the universe can show a finer country — so luxuriant in its soil; so happy in a healthy climate; so extensively watered by so many navigable rivers; and producing within itself not only all the necessaries, but even most of the superfluities of life.

CHAPTER VIII

CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON IN THE CHARACTER OF THE "FIRST CITIZEN

The spirit of discontent and resistance that pervaded all the colonies in response to the aggressions of Great Britain continued to grow stronger in Maryland. This feeling was so general and so pronounced that Burke was moved to remark of it "even the women think for themselves."

Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a most interested and earnest student of the situation. He attended every meeting, discussed conditions calmly with the neighbors, talked over matters with his father; and he read and digested every item of information that came from the other colonies. But he made no speeches, wrote no letters over his own signatures, and gave no advice in a public way. Just as he had equipped himself most fully in the science of government and with a knowledge of the principles on which such science is founded; so he determined to thoroughly understand and to be able forcibly to present every phase of the local difficulties and heavy burdens under which the people of this colony were struggling. Therefore, he listened, studied, read and watched as well as quietly helping in working out the problem of self-protection that confronted the people; but he took no public part. One of the wealthiest men in the Province and prospectively the wealthiest, his every word was heard with interest. His influence and power was not to be of gradual growth but was to burst upon the public with a suddenness as well as an ability and force that would sweep everything before it.

Two questions were deeply stirring the Maryland Province at that time, aside from the general matters that all the colonies were facing. These pertained to taxation in a local way by the authorities of the Province. One was an increase of the tithes by the established church and the other was the excessive, and in some cases illegal fees laid by the officers of the colony. In the first controversy Mr. Carroll took no part. Being a Catholic he thought it in better taste to pay his taxes and make no opposition. But the operation of excessive fees by the colonial officials he studied deeply. The legislative body consisted of the Assembly selected by the people and the Council appointed by the Governor. The Assembly attempted to pass a new law reducing these fees. This act was not concurred in by the Council, several of whose members were beneficiaries of these exorbitant fees. The old law had expired and while the excitement was at its highest the Governor dissolved the Assembly, took the matter of tithes and fees into his own hands and settled them by a proclamation. The people generally regarded this act as tyrannical and arbitrary in the extreme. But it was defended vigorously by the clique that had profited by the excessive fees in the past and expected to do so in the future. Among these were two members of the influential Dulany family, one the Attorney General and the other the Commissary General of the Province.

The Maryland Gazette published in Annapolis was the mouthpiece of all who had anything to say on a public question as well as the vehicle of news. Several communications had appeared denouncing the course of the Governor and his advisors and attracted no great notice. But there now appeared a defender of the Governor who was evidently a man of great ability, experience and learning. His letters were signed

Antillon and the first one which appeared January 7, 1773, attracted general attention. It was cogent, classic and most argumentative. It presented the case of the Governor in a light that almost staggered his opponents. The paper was in the form of a dialogue between the "First Citizen " and "Second Citizen " who discussed the issues. Each presented his view of the case, the First Citizen taking the side of the people and the Second Citizen the side of the Governor. The learned writer seemed to have won his cause for the Second Citizen by making out a case for the Governor that he deemed unanswerable.

Suddenly there appeared a new advocate in the case. A letter signed "The First Citizen " answered every phase of the question so ably and so lucidly that the whole Province was excited, pleased and expectant. Who could "The First Citizen" be? From Prince George's to Elk Landing and from Frederick to Somerset the question was asked and repeated. Antillon came back with a reply repeating his old arguments and infusing no little bitterness into the controversy. The details or the arguments would be of little interest and poorly understood at this late day. Then The First Citizen replied again. By this time it became known that Antillon was Attorney General Daniel Dulany, regarded as the ablest lawyer in the Province and as other letters appeared it was found out that the First Citizen was Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the learned and quiet young planter who had listened so carefully and said so little on public affairs during the eight years since his return to the colony. The victory, as The First Citizen, was overwhelming and was even more so because after the authorship became known Mr. Dulany tried to turn the tide by taunting Mr. Carroll with his religious beliefs.

A historian of that period says "young Mr. Carroll participated in the common feelings of indignation against the Stamp Act and contributed by his writings in opposition to the more subtle but not less dangerous taxation of commerce." But his discussion with the Attorney General as the " First Citizen " was the first occasion on which he was brought conspicuously into view in public transactions and he had now to deal with an able and experienced adversary, with whom victory was familiar and from whom defeat was not a disgrace. Mr. Dulany was his equal in education, his superior in age, experience and established reputation; more conversant with the various interests and institutions of the colony; more skilled in the profound researches and practical applications of his profession; and to give these advantages greater force, he was a Protestant and amongst the first in office and confidence under an exclusive Protestant government and amongst a Protestant people. Mr. Carroll was a Catholic of the disfranchised class, who, to the joint power of such weapons of attack, could oppose only the force of his cause, the resolute spirit and the acquirements of a cultivated mind; yet with such odds against him he entered the contest. In the letters of Mr. Dulany is seen the work of a powerful mind, confident of its own resources, indignant at opposition, contemptuous as if from conscious superiority, and yet sometimes affecting contempt as the cover under which to escape from principles not to be resisted.

In the letters of The First Citizen Mr. Dulany is constantly covered with the character of a prime minister of the Governor, prompting the measures in controversy, for his personal interest and aggrandizement at the expense of the people.

The letters appeared one in each issue of the paper and so important were they regarded that a letter