Читать книгу The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution - L. Carroll Judson - Страница 14

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The fond and faithful parents who have guided to manhood a family of sons whose every action is a source of pleasure and delight—who walk in wisdom's ways—who prove virtuous, generous, bold, brave and patriotic—whose lives shed new lustre on the world—whose achievements on the battle field or in the senate chamber stamp their names with enduring fame—enjoy a rich consolation, pure as the etherial sky—refreshing as evening zephyrs. More especially do their souls become enraptured with love if these sons deliver them from the iron grasp of a merciless tyrant—disenthrall them from the chains of slavery and make them free and independent.

All this was done for our country by her valiant sons who graced the memorable era of '76. Like a blazing meteor bursting from the clouds amidst the gloom of midnight darkness, they illuminated our nation with light—the world with glory—raised the star spangled banner and planted the tree of Liberty deep in the soil of Freedom. Noble sons of Columbia! Sages and heroes of the American Revolution! Your names will be held in grateful remembrance through the rolling ages of time. Millions yet unborn will chant your brilliant achievements, your triumphant victories, your unsurpassed wisdom, your god-like actions.

Among the sons of noble daring—champions of their injured country, was Charles Carroll of Carrollton, born at Annapolis on the 20th of September 1737. He was the son of Daniel Carroll who came from King's county Ireland and was named for his grandfather Charles Carroll. The elder Carrolls were highly charged with liberal principles and planted them deeply in the minds of their sons. Nor did the precious seed fall on barren ground. Obeying the precepts and imitating the examples of his patriotic sire, young Charles Carroll proved worthy of the high source from which he sprang. He was emphatically one of the same stamp.

At the early age of eight years his embryo talents shone so brightly that his father determined on giving them an opportunity to bud, blossom and expand amidst the literary bowers of Europe. He was first sent to a seminary in France. His untiring application to his studies and manly deportment at the different seminaries through which he passed, gained for him a finished education and the esteem of all his acquaintances. At the age of twenty he commenced the study of law in London, England, where he ripened into manhood and returned to his native State in 1764 with a rich fund of useful knowledge, prepared to act well his part through life.

The subject of oppression upon the Americans by the British ministry was freely discussed in England before he left and had prepared his mind for the exciting crisis that awaited the colonies. On his return he became an unflinching and able advocate for freedom. He possessed a clear head and discriminating mind. In action he was cool, deliberate, firm and decisive. His writing talent was of a high order. This was admirably developed in 1772. The governor had issued a proclamation derogatory to the constitutional rights of the people. In a series of essays published in the public papers, Mr. Carroll triumphantly vindicated the cause of his insulted constituents—conclusively answering and confuting the combined arguments of the governor and his cabinet in favor of the unwarranted pretensions of their master. So fully did these essays convince the people that the governor aimed at illegitimate power that they hung his proclamation upon a gallows and bid defiance to the minions of despotism. Before the writer was known the people instructed their representatives to record a vote of thanks to the author. When it was ascertained that Mr. Carroll was the champion who had bearded the British lion, they repaired to his house in great numbers and made the welkin ring with plaudits of thankful praise.

From that time he became a prominent leader of the liberal party—an espouser of equal rights—a stern opposer of ministerial wrongs. His benign influence radiated its genial rays upon the hearts and confirmed the wavering minds of many in the glorious cause of Liberty. In bold and glowing colors he portrayed the aggressions of the king, the corrupt designs of his ministers and the humiliating consequences of tame submission to their arbitrary demands. He was among the first to kindle the flame of resistance and light up the torch of Independence. He was among the first to sanction the Declaration of Rights—the last of the noble band of sages who signed it who lived to see 1832.

On the 18th of July 1776 he was a member of the Maryland Convention convened to elect delegates to the Continental Congress. He was selected for that important station—took his seat on the 2d of August and signed the Declaration of Independence. His talents and zeal were highly appreciated by the members of Congress. He had previously endeared himself to them by a voluntary mission to Canada in conjunction with Franklin, Chase and Bishop Carroll. The object of their visit was to persuade the people of the Canadas to unite with the Colonies in throwing off the yoke of bondage imposed by the mother country. The Messrs. Carrolls were Roman Catholics, the prevailing religion of the Canadians. The other two gentlemen entertained universal charity for all good men irrespective of manufactured creeds. It was fondly hoped their mission would be crowned with success. The defeat of the American troops at Quebec and the death of Gen. Montgomery had thrown so much darkness over the future prospects of the American cause that they refused to enter the compact. The consequences of that course have been fearfully developed for years and the time is not far distant when the Canadas will be free from England to the mutual benefit of both countries.

On his return he was surprised to find that the Maryland delegates in Congress had been instructed by a vote of the Assembly to oppose the Declaration of Independence. His influence caused the rescinding of that vote and a reversal of the instructions. He felt a strong desire that his native state should do full service in the cause of freedom. To effect this he spent more time in her legislative hall than in Congress. In the formation of her constitution and laws he rendered efficient aid. From 1788 to 1791 he was a member of the U.S. Senate. From that year to 1801 he served in the senate of his own state. He then retired from the great theatre of public action in the rich enjoyment of the esteem of a nation of freemen. For thirty years he was spared to enjoy the cheering comforts of domestic felicity and survived all the others who had placed their names upon the Chart of our liberty.

In his retirement he delighted in beholding the onward march of this favored country, prospering under the care of an all-wise Providence—populated by a free and independent people—in rank second to no nation on earth—in enterprise traversing the globe—in genius eclipsing the old world—in talent equal to the best. Like a majestic oak that had long braved the raging tempest, he stood alone as a signer of our Magna Charta calmly awaiting the time when he should be riven and gathered to his fathers. Gradually the world lost its former charms. More and more his mind became fixed on anticipated scenes of future and purer bliss. He seemed to ascend the ladder of faith and reach out his hand for that crown of unfading glory prepared for him by his Lord and Master. In this beatific state his soul was summoned from its tottering, trembling, falling tenement of clay on the 14th of November 1832. Calm and resigned he entered Jordan's flood—angels escorted his immortal spirit to Immanuel's peaceful shores whilst his grateful country deeply mourned and strongly felt the loss of one of her noblest sons—society one of its brightest ornaments—his relatives one of their dearest kinsmen.

Charles Carroll was a man of consistency in everything. He was a devoted Christian in communion with the Roman Catholic Church but decidedly opposed to a want of charity and kind feeling. He deprecated 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.