Part 30

Circumstances prevented Maryland from expressing her opposition to the measure through her legislature, before, and for some period after its adoption. The act was passed on the 22d of March, 1765, and that body was repeatedly prorogued, from November, 1763, to September, 1765. This delay, at such a juncture, did not escape strong remonstrance. There existed, however, at that time, another mirror of the public feeling, whose respectable antiquity deserves mention. This was a journal at Annapolis, conducted by Jonas Green, under the name of "The Maryland Gazette." It was established in 1745, and has ever since been conducted by his descendants, under the same title. Its pithy appeals to the popular sentiment are amusing at this day; and, though the government paper, its temperate support of colonial rights made it the vehicle of communications on that side, not only from the province, but from other colonies. In one from Virginia, the writer says, "it being well known that the only press we have here is totally engrossed for the vile purposes of ministerial craft, I must therefore apply to you, who have always appeared to be a bold and honest assertor of the cause of liberty." The person selected for the distribution of the stamps in Maryland, was Zachariah Hood, a native of the province, and at one time a merchant residing at Annapolis. His appointment was announced with due mock ceremony in the Gazette, and himself to be a gentleman whose conduct was highly approved by all "court-cringing politicians, since he was supposed to have wisely considered, that, if his country must be _stamped_, the blow would be easier borne from a native than a foreigner." His arrival also was greeted with customary honours; his effigy, according to a circumstantial narrative in the Gazette, being hung to the toll of bells, by the "assertors of British American privileges" at Annapolis, and afterwards at Baltimore, Elk-Ridge, Fredericktown, and other places, in emulation. These significant tokens of the popular temper seem to have been promoted, as acts of deliberate defiance, by men of authority and character; as among the "assertors" at Annapolis was the celebrated Samuel Chase, who, at twenty-four, was already the champion of colonial liberties, and gave promise of that combination of abilities, which afterward elevated him beyond rivalry in the province, as a lawyer and advocate, and a leader both of popular and deliberative assemblies. Talents thus employed would naturally provoke the calumny of opponents. A publication of the municipality of Annapolis, describes him as "a busy, restless incendiary, a ringleader of mobs, and a promoter of their excesses; a foul-mouthed and inflaming son of discord and faction." His reply, "abounding in personal reflections, and savouring too much of coarse invective," shows something of the spirit of a tribune of the people, who, thrown into a tumultuous scene, and into contests with the courtly adherents of power, might deem himself excused for some disdain of reserve, and some bluntness of phrase. I admit, he says, that I was one of those who committed to the flames the effigy of the Stamp-Distributor, and who openly disputed the parliamentary right to tax the colonies; while some of you skulked in your houses, and grumbled in corners, asserting the Stamp-Act to be a beneficial law, or not daring to speak out your sentiments. The reader may be curious to know Hood's subsequent adventures. Not daring to distribute the stamps, and finding the indignation which had been lavished on his effigy, taking a more dangerous direction towards his person, he absconded secretly, and never paused in his flight till he reached New-York, and had taken refuge under the cannon of Fort George. Having gone afterwards to reside on Long Island, a party surrounded the house where he was concealed, requiring the abjuration of his office, on pain of being delivered to the exasperated multitude, and carried back to Maryland, with labels upon him signifying his office and designs. Unwilling to run this gantlet through a country up in arms, he yielded, and was accompanied by upwards of a hundred gentlemen from Flushing to Jamaica, where he swore to his abjuration, and was discharged.

The first measure of the assembly, when at length convened, was to appoint commissioners to a general congress that was to be held in New-York; its next, to make an expression of its sentiments on the existing question. The tone and unanimity of the resolves adopted, sufficiently show, in the author's opinion, that the temper and course of Maryland at this juncture, have been too lightly considered, and may advantageously be compared with those of any other colony. Another of her contributions, and not the least effective, to the common cause, was an essay published at Annapolis, in October, 1765. "A style easy but energetic, perspicuous thoughts, illustrations simple, and arguments addressed to every understanding," betrayed it to be the production of Daniel Dulany, the younger, whom it placed at once in the first rank of political writers. Long signal for talents and professional learning, his "Considerations" earned him the more grateful distinction of the great champion of colonial liberties; and in the joyous celebrations of the repeal of the stamp-act, placed him in remembrance with Camden, and with Chatham, his admirer and eulogist. It is known, that in this essay Mr. Dulany, though bold and decided as to the question of right, urged the disuse of British commodities as the most advisable weapon of resistance. This appeal to the commercial cupidity of England would, also, he thought, be the most effectual. The course, even could it have been perseveringly adopted, was too pacific for the temper of the times.

Political integrity and abilities associated the name of Dulany with the history of Maryland, during the better part of a century. The father of the distinguished person just mentioned, was admitted to the bar of the provincial court in 1710, and for forty years held the first place in the confidence of the proprietary and in the popular affection, being a functionary in the highest post of trusts, and long a leader also of the country party in the assembly. He was a kinsman of the celebrated Delany, the intimate of Swift, some of whose letters to him breathe the tone both of friendship and reverend regard. His son, Daniel Dulany, _the Greater_, (as our author styles him,) came to the bar in 1747, and was named one of the council in 1757; in 1761, he was appointed secretary of the province, and thenceforward held these posts in conjunction, till the Revolution. His legal arguments and opinions, the praise of contemporaries, and the deference of courts, attest him to have been an _oracle_ of law; as a scholar and an orator, he was not only highly celebrated at home, but in the judgment of Mr. Pinkney, who saw him but in his "evening declination," unexcelled by the master minds abroad. Suavity of manners, and the graces of the person, combine to complete a most agreeable picture.

The stamp-paper had now arrived. The governor, to whom the lower house had refused all advice as to the disposal of that paper, found it expedient to pursue the suggestion of the upper, to retain it on board of the vessel. By a general consent, the ordinary transactions of business and of the courts proceeded without it, and on the 24th of February, 1766, an association, bearing the name of the "Sons of Liberty," was formed at Baltimore, with the object of compelling the government offices at Annapolis to dispense with it likewise. They assembled at that place on a day assigned, the 31st of March; and the provincial court and other offices, after first a peremptory refusal, and some delay, conceded the point. Thus was the stamp-act virtually annulled in Maryland; it had been repealed in England a few days before, on the 18th of March; so that, in the author's words, "Maryland was never polluted even by an attempt to execute it."

Of the subsequent revival of the scheme of taxing the colonies, the manner and the event are so well known, that we have only to notice the contemporary transactions in Maryland, which fanning the resentment of her people, kept her at an even pace with the other provinces in the march of resistance. The "Proclamation and Vestry Act questions," have lost indeed their momentary interest, but serve to show in how many schools of exercise the champions were trained, who afterward displayed their collected prowess in a more conspicuous arena.

The colonial legislature had always controlled the provincial officers by exercising the right to determine their fees, which, by way of further precaution, they had been in the habit of regulating by temporary acts. An act of this nature, passed in 1763, coming up for renewal in 1770, objections were made to the exorbitance of the fees themselves, abuses in the mode of charging, and the want of a proper system of commutation. Angry discussions were followed by a prorogation of the assembly, and subsequently by a proclamation of Governor Eden, ostensibly to prevent extortion in the officers, but with the real purpose of regulating the fees by the prerogative of his office; accordingly, he re-established the fee-act of 1763. The proclamation begat the usual array of parties for and against prerogative, in which our author includes the established clergy on the government side, and on the popular, the lawyers. In this conflict of influence and abilities, by a turn which is to be lamented, as it threw them into collision with the Revolutionary leaders, and exciting high resentments on both sides, kept him aloof from their measures, Daniel Dulany was, in this question, the prominent partisan of the governor and upper house. The grounds somewhat technical on which he defended their procedure as both legal and expedient, and the more large and comprehensive ones on which it was impugned, were set forth in a series of essays in the Maryland Gazette, in which Mr. Dulany's antagonist was Charles Carroll of Carrollton. The angry excitement of the day gave these essays one feature in common,--strong invective, and personalities,--"of which, some are now unintelligible, and all deserve to be forgotten." Their distinctive characteristics are,--in Mr. Dulany's, "the traces everywhere of a powerful mind, confident in its own resources, indignant at opposition, contemptuous, as if from conscious superiority, yet sometimes affecting contempt to escape from principles not to be resisted;" in his opponent's, the language of a man "confident in his cause, conscious that he is sustained by public sentiment, and exulting in the advantage of this position." When the discussion was dropped by these combatants, it was taken up by others, as vigorous and adroit. In this new controversy, John Hammond, no contemptible reasoner in behalf of the proclamation, found antagonists in Thomas Johnson, the first governor of the _state_ of Maryland, Samuel Chase, and his more conciliatory friend and coadjutor, William Paca. In the proceedings of the lower house relative to this subject, we find a sententious description of political liberty, which might serve as the motto of all _Constitutionalists_. "Who," says their address, "_who are a free people? Not_ those over whom government is reasonably and equitably exercised, but those who live under a government so constitutionally checked and controlled, that proper provision is made against its being otherwise exercised."

The "Vestry Act" related to _clergy dues_, and the controversy on it arose out of the technical objection, that the law imposing them, which was enacted in 1701-2, was passed by an assembly, which, being dissolved by the demise of the king, had nevertheless been convened with fresh writs of election. The law thus regarded as intrinsically defective, had the farther demerit of being revived, (as in the case of the officer's fees,) in default of an existing enactment, by proclamation of the governor. In this discussion the clergy naturally took a part, and "found in their own body an advocate of extraordinary powers, in the person of Jonathan Boucher." These questions filled the province with contention. An act regulating clergy dues, some time after, put that question to sleep; the other remained in angry suspense, till swallowed up, with all less disputes, in the vortex of the Revolution.

That event was now nearly impending. It may be remembered, that the duty act of 1767, in which the ministerial scheme of taxing the colonies had been revived, had been subsequently repealed, except as to the article of tea, on which the duty had been retained, "by way, it has been remarked, of pepper-corn rent, to denote the tenure of colonial rights." A new stratagem of the ministry in this matter was followed, it is also known, by "the burning of the tea in Boston," and by the retaliatory measure of the Boston-Port Bill; acts, respectively, which may be said to have made up the issue between the conflicting parties. The convention in 1774, assembled at Annapolis, in June of that year. In the October following, the _tea-burning_ at Boston was re-enacted in Maryland, with circumstances of deliberation and defiance that show what a flame was abroad. On the 14th of that month, the brig Peggy Stewart arrived at Annapolis, having, as a part of her cargo, seventeen packages of tea. The non-importation agreement, to which the act of 1767 had given rise, was understood to be retained as to this article, which still bore the badge of usurpation in the obnoxious duty. The consignees did not venture to incur the public indignation by landing the teas, without at least consulting the Non-Importation Committee; but in the meantime, the vessel was entered, and the duties paid by Anthony Stewart, a part owner of the vessel. The people, highly incensed, determined, _in a public meeting_, at Annapolis, that the tea should not be landed. It was proposed, in a subsequent one, to burn it; and at a county meeting which followed, it was decided, that this should be accompanied also by a most humiliating apology from Stewart and the consignees. As the people now threatened to burn the vessel itself, the former, by the advice of Carroll of Carrollton, proposed to destroy her with his own hands. Crowds repaired to the water-side to witness the atonement; the vessel was run ashore at _Windmill Point_, where Stewart set fire to his own vessel, with the tea on board.

All was now preparation for open hostilities. Military associations were formed, military exercises eagerly engaged in, and subscriptions set afoot for purchasing arms and ammunition. The planters were requested to cultivate flax, hemp, and cotton, and to enlarge their flocks with a view to the manufacture of woollens. At this point we must leave Mr. M'Mahon. On the appearance of his second volume, we may resume his narrative from this period, and take the same occasion to notice some other matters in his work, for the discussion of which we have not room at present.

[Footnote 10: New Travels by the Abbe Robin, one of the Chaplains to the French Army in N. America.]

ART. X.--_Notes on Italy._ By REMBRANDT PEALE. 1 vol 8 vo. Carey & Lea: Philadelphia: 1831.

To review a new volume of travels in Italy, may seem to many readers an unprofitable task. Since its shores were first hailed by the faithful Achates, it has been the goal of travellers and the theme of authors. Every age has sent its children to visit that favoured soil; and the barbarians who rudely invaded it from beyond its Alpine barriers, have been followed by successive generations of men, less rude indeed from the progress of time, but not less ardent to explore and overrun it. Peace and war have alike urged them on. Its mountains, its valleys, its defiles, its broad and sunny plains, have resounded for hundreds of years with the clash of arms, and glittered with innumerable warriors; bands scarcely less numerous have penetrated every corner, led by spirits inquisitive for knowledge or fond of dwelling on beauties of nature, perhaps unrivalled, and on the certain charms of refined and exquisite art, with which no other land, however favoured, has yet dared to offer a comparison. Nor is there wanting the ample, the reiterated record of all this. Historians, and poets, and antiquarians, and novelists, and travellers, have made familiar every incident of every age--every allusion that can give fresh and delightful associations to every spot. What ruin is there that they have not made eloquent? What mountain, what grove, can eager curiosity, urged on by the enthusiasm of taste and genius, discover, which is not already hallowed--that has not "murmured forth a solemn sound."

Yet, still, we read over the oft-repeated tale; we can bear to hear again and again the history of Roman grandeur; we delight to trace the footsteps of warriors, of statesmen, of heroes, philosophers, and poets, whom we have learnt to regard rather as old friends, as household deities, as companions who have enchanted our youth, and beguiled our later years,--who have given us at once rules and lessons of human conduct, and pleasing visions to delight our fancies and our hearts, than as merely individuals in the great family of mankind. We can bear to dwell again and again on the graphic page which imparts to us the knowledge of those triumphant efforts of taste, of genius, and of art, whose charm time cannot injure, and which become to us the more dear, because they remain after centuries have passed away, with scarcely a single rival.

We were impressed with these feelings when we took up the unpretending volume before us; we can scarcely doubt, that they will be common to many at least of our readers, when they find our page headed with "_Notes on Italy_." To these sentiments will be justly added a favourable impression from the character of the writer, and the circumstances which have led to his tour and to the publication of the present volume.

As early as the year 1786, Charles Wilson Peale, the father of the author, and a gentleman whose name is well known as connected with the infant arts and sciences of America, was the first person to build an exhibition room in the city of Philadelphia. There he displayed to a public, perhaps but little prepared to appreciate them, the first collection of Italian paintings, and there his son acquired in his earliest youth, not only an enthusiastic admiration for the art itself, which he has since successfully cultivated, but an ardent desire to visit the region where he could behold the productions of artists whose genius he had learned to venerate.

Having commenced his studies as a painter under the direction of his father, he went to England, during the peace of 1802, with the design of visiting France and Italy. The renewal of hostilities, however, prevented this, and after availing himself for a short time of the benefits London offered, he returned home. In 1807, he again crossed the Atlantic; the disturbed situation of the continent obliged him to confine himself to France; but in the gallery of the Louvre he could admire, study, and emulate the noblest productions of the pencil and the chisel, collected by that wonderful man, who loved to blend in the triumphs of warlike ambition, the trophies dear to philanthropy, to science, and to art. Mr. Peale returned to his own country, not satisfied however, because Italy itself was yet unseen. It was in vain that an increasing patronage and attention to the fine arts in his own country offered him renewed reasons to remain there; he was as restless as before, and in 1810 we again find him in Paris, and again obliged, by the unsettled state of Europe, to forego his long cherished visit. He returned to his own country; but the fever that still burned as in the ardour of youth, was not allayed, and the idea that his dreams of Italy were never to be realized, seemed, as he tells us, to darken the cloud which hung over the prospect of death itself. For a number of years the duties required by a large family forbade his separation from them; but these at length permitted the gratification of his wishes, and patronised by the liberality of several gentlemen of New-York, at the age of fifty-one he was able to gratify a desire which had not failed to increase with his years. The narrative of his tour, which occupied nearly two years, is embraced in this volume. His main object was to examine the celebrated works of Italian art, and to select, for the employment of his pencil, some of the most excellent pictures of the great masters which are preserved in Rome and Florence; the copies of these carefully made cannot fail to advance, among the artists and amateurs of his own country, a correct knowledge of the fine arts.

With his thoughts and his pursuits directed chiefly to this object, we find in the volume before us, no pretension and little attention to antiquarian research, or classical allusion, which have been so generally called forth by the mouldering monuments, and the familiar scenes connected with the history and poetry of earlier days. Neither do we meet with the elaborate reflections on the political or social state of Italy, in the present day. It is true, the remarks of Mr. Peale are not confined to works of art, for he could not shut his eyes to the scenes among which he had to pass, and he was not uninfluenced by a general curiosity and love of truth;--but they are the notes of a transient observer, whose mind was turned to other things. Yet they are found not unfrequently to convey lively impressions of the state of society and manners, and of the local peculiarities of Italy.

Having sailed from New-York, Mr. Peale arrived at Paris, in the month of December, 1828. After a short stay there, merely sufficient to glance over the principal works of art, and to regret the altered situation of the magnificent gallery of Napoleon, deprived of the matchless memorials of his conquests, he continued his journey towards the south of France. Passing through Lyons, the route continued a long way on the border of the rapid Rhone, upon which he saw but one vessel,--whilst the road presented a constant procession of wagons. Such a stream in America, between two great cities, would be covered with steam-boats. As the road advanced south, it passed through more abundant vineyards, the verdure of the fields became more extensive, and, on each side, were seen vast orchards of mulberry trees, for the support of silk-worms, tributary to the great manufactories of silk at Lyons. As he approached Marseilles, the milder atmosphere gave evidence of a more genial climate, and the altered costume of the women, of a different people--to the caps common after leaving Paris, was now added a piece of black silk, of the size and shape of a plate laid on the top of the head; and, in the immediate vicinity of the town, the women wore black hats, with small round crowns and broad rims. Marseilles is a large and bustling sea-port, with but little to detain those who are in search of the productions of Italian art. Instead of pursuing the route he had intended, by Aix and Genoa, Mr. Peale here embarked in a Neapolitan ship, and, after a stormy and uncomfortable passage of ten days, found himself in the magnificent Bay of Naples. Four weeks were devoted to an examination of the works of art in the various galleries, palaces, and churches;--and most of the curiosities, the objects which attract an inquisitive traveller, were examined. Among the latter may be mentioned the catacombs of _Santa Maria della Vita_, which are thus described:--