A 
 
 PORTRAIT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EVILS OF 
 
 2il N 
 
 SUBMITTED 
 
 TO THE CONSIDERATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PEOPLE OF MARYLAND. 
 
 BALTIMORE PRINTED, 
 1816. 
 
M 
 
THE 
 
 COMMITTEE OF GRIEVANCES 
 I 
 
 AND 
 
 COURTS OF JUSTICE, 
 
 To whom the following Order of the House of Delegates of 
 November the eighteenth, eighteen hundred and twelve* was 
 referred — ■ 
 
 « ORDERED, that the Committee of Grievances and Courts 
 of Justice be and they are hereby instructed, to inquire into the 
 late Riots and Mobs in the City of Baltimore, and the causes 
 thereof, with a view to ascertain whether there has been any 
 culpable inertness or neglect of duty on the part of any of the 
 Civil or Military Officers of the State, or whether the defect is 
 in the Law, in order that the proper remedy in either case may 
 be applied." — 
 
 BEG LEAVE TO REPORT, IN PART— 
 That in compliance with the Order of the House of Delegates, 
 and under the exercise of a general power with which the Com- 
 mittee of Grievances are invested, they have inquired into the 
 recent disturbances which have so agitated the City of Baltimore, 
 and depressed the reputation of our state in the eyes of our 
 sister Republics, "the causes thereof, and the conduct of the civil 
 and military officers in relation thereto." They find, from the 
 testimony collected by your committee, and which accompanies 
 this Report, that the City of Baltimore has for a long time been 
 considered as the ardent advocate of every measure of the gene- 
 ral government leading to the War in which the Nation is now 
 engaged. 
 
 That the Federal Republican, edited by Messrs. Hanson and 
 Wagner, exercising a constitutional right of reviewing the mea- 
 sures of the national cabinet, arraigned, in glowing colours, the 
 integrity and policy of the system which was to plunge the nation 
 into hostilities : That the exercise of this right produced a gene- 
 ral spirit of intolerance against that establishment; and that 
 leading and distinguished advocates of the administration, were 
 so far forgetful of the spirit of our constitution, of the sacred pro- 
 tection which the freedom of the press required from their hands, 
 and of their obedience to the sovereignty of the law, as to indulge 
 in denunciations against the establishment, and to circulate the 
 horrible impression, that the same course of strictures upon the 
 measures of the Cabinet, would, aftfr a declaration of war, 
 
10 
 
 merit an J receive the summary application of popular vengeance* 
 The fitness and correctness of this doctrine were inculcated by 
 the instrumentality of the democratic presses, having an ex- 
 tensive circulation amongst that description of persons the most 
 likely to be impelled to excesses, and the fit instruments of out- 
 rage — That under the influence of the feelings excited by the 
 above improper expressions of distinguished characters, and pub- 
 lications in the democratic papers, committees were organized 
 by men of daring character, (only one of whom has been named 
 by your committee,) to obtain subscribers to a plan, having for 
 its undisguised object, the demolition of the Office of the Fede- 
 ral Republican. In this effervescence of the public feeling, and 
 state of preparation, the Congress of the United States declared 
 war on the eighteenth of June. The editorial remarks in the 
 Federal Republican on the ensuing day, reprobated the motives 
 and expediency of the measure: The ministerial papers replied to 
 those remarks in a style of bitterness and acerbity, well calcu- 
 lated to direct and secure the consummation of the promised 
 threat of revenge. On Sunday, rumors were afloat, and a belief 
 entertained, that public meetings at Pamphilion's hotel, the Apol- 
 lo, and Stewart's gardens, had determined to silence the press. 
 On Monday, the paper appeared without remarks on the attitude 
 which the congress had assumed ; but still, well grounded appre- 
 hensions were entertained by Mr. Wagner, that his establishment 
 and person were both endangered, and he took the precautionary 
 measure of removing his book of accounts from the office. In 
 the evening, the plan of lawless outrage was commenced by a 
 parcel of boys and a few men. The assemblage quickly augment- 
 ed, bringing with them fire-hooks, and every apparatus requisite 
 for the destruction of the building. The operations of the mob 
 were conducted with a regularity and subordination inducing a 
 belief that the whole was the result of a digested system of ope- 
 rations, and terminated in a loss to the proprietors of three or 
 four thousand dollars. 
 
 In this work of destruction a Frenchman was the most con- 
 spicuous and vociferous against the establishment, upon account 
 of the general tone of its politics. A portion of the rioters, under 
 a belief that Mr. Wagner was concealed in the old office of dis- 
 count and deposite, attempted to enter the same ; from this they 
 were diverted by the zeal of two democratic gentlemen, who gave 
 them assurances that Mr. Wagner was not there. The destruc- 
 tion of the house cost much labor and time ; during which many 
 stood by, and contributed nothing to the protection of the rights 
 guaranteed to the citizens by our form of government. From 
 the force of this remark, your committee with pleasure except 
 the names of Edward Johnson, the mayor of the city, and judge 
 8cott, who used every persuasive suggestion to divert the mob 
 
11 
 
 from their outrages; but who omitted to attempt a resort to the 
 protection created by the vigilance of the legislature, in procuring 
 a requisition for a military force, when they saw the civil autho- 
 rity inadequate to the security of Mr. Wagner and his property. 
 From the office of discount and deposit a part of the mob pro- 
 ceeded to the house of Mrs. Wagner's father ; and a committee, 
 appointed by themselves, searched every apartment in the house ; 
 there an Irishman was the most noted for his savage threats. 
 They next visited Mr. Wagner's own house, and used every 
 stratagem which rage suggested, to hunt out the comtemplated 
 victim of their revenge. No efficient measures being adopted the 
 ensuing morning by the constituted authorities of the city, to 
 arrest the rioters, and to cause them to enter into the customary 
 recognizance to keep the peace, they were emboldened, 
 sought for new victims; they collected in the evening, wit] 
 force almost incredible, at the house of one Hutchens, charged 
 by them with using expressions derogatory to the character of 
 general Washington. They demanded him, with expressions of 
 rage evidencing a determination to sacrifice him. The mayor 
 had prevailed on him to escape. To prevent any violence to his 
 house, and to cause the rioters to disperse, it was suggested that 
 the mayor and George E. Mitchell, esq. late a member of the 
 executive council, should enter the house and search it : this they 
 did amidst the cries of Hutchen's children, and reported to the 
 mob that he was not to be found. They then dispersed, with 
 promises of future vengeance against him and those who either 
 should rally for his protection or for the preservation of the peace 
 of the city. To the shipping, regularly cleared out according to 
 the laws of the United States, to unprohibited ports, and bearing 
 the products of our soil, they turned their attention; and in their 
 strength, by dismantling the vessels, they prohibited to the mer- 
 chant the pursuit of wealth in the channels sanctioned by the 
 government of his country. In the wantonness of their cruelty 
 the unfortunate blacks attracted their attention ; and Briscoe, a 
 free negro, charged with the expressions of affection for the 
 British nation, has to deplore the sacrifice of his houses, (a- 
 mounting to about eight hundred dollars,) by their unfeeling a- 
 gency. An African Church, erected by the piety of the well dis- 
 posed for the improvement and amelioration of the blacks, became 
 to them an object of jealousy : and rumours of a combination for 
 its destruction, at length aroused the municipality of the city from 
 its lethargy, and a patrol of horse, by overawing the turbulent, 
 gave to this unhappy place the appearance of quiet. 
 
 Your committee have emitted to present to your consideration 
 ajvariety of incidents, where private revenge sought its grati- 
 fication under the imposing garb of zeal against the reputed 
 enemies of their country ; and where those citizens who have 
 B 
 
IS 
 
 sought an asylum here from the oppressions of their own govern- 
 ments, attempted to gratify their embittered passions by proscrip- 
 tions of each other, the alleged causes of which existed before 
 their emigration. To this source may be traced those convulsions 
 of the city, where the United Irishmen and Orange-Men were 
 the more prominent. During this prostration of the civil autho- 
 rity, Mr. Wagner sought an establishment in the District of 
 Columbia, where the Federal Republican was revived. Mr. 
 Hanson, impelled by considerations of duty to his country, and 
 believing that a decisive stand ought to be taken for the preser- 
 vation of the freedom of the press, resolved on its re-establismcnt 
 in the city of Baltimore. A right secured io him hy the first prin- 
 ciple and express language of our compact. Woful experience bad 
 taught him to believe, that the same spirit of intolerance which 
 led to its first annihilation, would again manifest itself, by an 
 attempt to prevent its re-establishment ; and confidently expecting 
 that a resistance on the first onset would lead either to the disper- 
 sion of the mob, or the interposition of the civil authority, and 
 thus cause a recognition of his right to locate his establishment 
 there ; he organized, by the aid of bis personal friends in Mont- 
 gomery, a force for, and a plan of defence but not of aggression. 
 In execution of this design he came to Baltimore on Sunday the 
 twenty-sixth of July — his friends arrived on the same day ; their 
 arrival was known but to few. The means of defence and resist- 
 ance, had been previously prepared and deposited in the house, 
 with a secrecy and caution, defying a suspicion of the object ; and 
 on Monday morning the Federal Republican was circulated 
 amongst the subscribers, purporting to be printed at No. £5, 
 Charles-street. This paper contained spirited strictures upon 
 the lawless temper of the city, and the indisposition of the civil 
 or military officers to discharge the respective duties of their 
 d||ce ; and upon the executive of Maryland. It does not appear 
 fcfcyour committee, that the state, of preparation in which Mr. 
 Hanson and liis friends were, was known to the citizens general- 
 ly, or that any acts were done by them, either calculated to ex- 
 cite irritation or apprehension of aggression in the minds of the 
 citizens — Their course of conduct during the whole day eviden- 
 ced a determination to adhere to the original design of avoiding 
 all ostentation of preparation, and to act entirely on the defensive. 
 During the day, information was communicated to those in the 
 house, that an attack would be made ; every precaution which 
 prudence and humanity suggested was adopted, to prevent any 
 occurrence which might attract the attention of the mob. About 
 early candle light, the wicked and daring attempt to expel a 
 citizen from his residence, or to involve in one common ruin 
 himself and his property, was commenced, and continued, not- 
 withstanding frequent and reiterated solicitations by the persons 
 hi the house to the mob, to desist and retire ; and not until the 
 
13 
 
 windows were shattered, was even a fire of intimidation permitted 
 from the house. At this the mob dispersed \ but shortly return- 
 ed with a drum and fire-arms, and with an increased violence 
 attacking the house most furiously in the front and rear. But 
 the same spirit of forbearance animated its defenders, till the 
 door was burst open, when a discharge of musquetry wounded 
 some of the assailants. Judge Scott hurried to this scene of up- 
 roar, and with Mr. Abell, used every persuasive argument to 
 induce the mob to desist, but with no success ; his language and 
 authority were alike treated with contempt. Every exertion 
 which men divested of reason, and inflamed by passion could 
 make, was made to destroy the defenders of the house — To exe- 
 cute this savage design, the door was again burst open, and a 
 man by the name of Gales, the chief of the mob, shot dead as he 
 entered. A field piece was procured by the mob, and elevated 
 at the house. 
 
 While this bloody scene was acting before the house of Mn» 
 Hanson, many well-disposed citizens, alarmed for the peace of 
 the city, and anxious for the preservation of the persons in the 
 house, gathered at Brigadier- General Strieker's; who, irritated 
 by Mr. Hanson's return to the city, which might be the innocent 
 cause of a requisition being made upon him by the civil authority, 
 which would necessarily be attended with a responsibility, receiv- 
 ed some of the applications which were made to bun, for the 
 interposition of a military force, in a style well adapted to ex- 
 cite irritation ; but still consented to obey any call which the 
 magistracy should deem it expedient to make on him. But such 
 was the intolerant spirit of the magistracy against that establish- 
 ment, or such was their anxiety to avoid any responsibility for 
 their official duties, that great difficulty and much delay occurred 
 in procuring two magistrates sufficiently devoted to the public 
 good, and their oath of office, to sign the requisition. Major 
 Bamey, of the cavalry, before this, had received an order to re- 
 pair to his general, which he obeyed with alacrity, and received 
 from him a copy of the orders herewith submitted. Major Bar- 
 ney, with about thirty horsemen under his command, moved 
 down between 1 and 3 o'clock to the house. The mob, apprehen- 
 sive of an efficient resistance, were alarmed, and at his approach 
 generally retired. But his conduct soon dispelled their fears, 
 and gave rise to a belief among them that he was either unwilling, 
 or incompetent, to enforce their dispersion. Thus all apprehen- 
 sions of the military or civil interposition being banished, the 
 timid were emboldened and the daring unchecked by any sugges- 
 tions of a future accountability., 
 
 The mayor, the attorney-general, general Strieker, and some 
 citizens distinguished by their political consequence, became the 
 negociators between the gentlemen in the house and their vijr- ' 
 
14 
 
 dictive assailants. This negotiation terminated in an arrange- 
 ment, that Mr. Hanson, and his friends, should be conducted to 
 the gaol as a place of security, under a solemn pledge, that eve- 
 ry possible exertion should be made for their protection, and 
 the security of their property. 
 
 A military escort was prepared, and a guard of unarmed citi- 
 zens. A hollow square was formed, within which Mr. Hanson 
 and his friends, accompanied by those who had promised them 
 protection, and some other citizens of the greatest political 
 weight, entered ; and thus attended by hundreds crying for 
 vengeance, and pressing on for their destruction, they reached 
 the gaol. During this agonizing march, when the. ferocity of 
 the mob excited a general belief among those who had confided 
 themselves to the civil power that their destruction would ensue 
 before they should be put into the promised place of protection, 
 frequent attempts were made to massacre them, by the throwing 
 of stones, notwithstanding it endangered the lives of the politi- 
 cal favourites of the mob. 
 
 Some of those who had been in the house at the commence- 
 ment of the attack, attempted by various modes to insure a re- 
 treat — Some were arrested in their flight by the mob ; and the 
 savage temper of this « many headed monster" displayed itself 
 in the cold and deliberate manner in which it planned the execu- 
 tion of its captives. 
 
 Revolutionary France furnished the lawless precedent of ex- 
 hibiting upon the lamp post, by the irresponsible fiat of the po- 
 pulace, those who were supposed wanting in duty to the repub- 
 lic. A native of our country was seized on, and an attempt 
 made to imitate the example set by the blood-thirsty Parisians. 
 From the completion of this sanguinary deed they were pre- 
 vented by a stratagem suggested by democratic gentlemen, in- 
 ducing a procrastination until aii appointed hour, when they 
 repaired to the place of confinement, to drag forth their victim, 
 before then removed by the interposition and zeal of his friends. 
 After Mr. Hanson and his friends were placed in the gaol, a ge- 
 neral apprehension was entertained that the mob would, on the 
 ensuing night, endeavour to force their prison, and glut their 
 vengeance on the unarmed prisoners. The whole city was in a 
 state of commotion; the criminal court was closed, and the anx- 
 ious and inquiring countenances of the citizens denoted an ap- 
 prehension of an approaching tragedy, in which all the barbari- 
 ties which ferocious men, unchecked by the wholesome restraints 
 of the law perform, would be exhibited. The prison was sur- 
 rounded by groups of an infuriated mob, eternally demanding 
 vengeance. • 
 
 The weight of character, the necessary concomitant of wealth 
 •and political standing in society, was not generally brought into 
 
1& 
 
 action to allay the excited feelings of the city; but, on the other 
 hand, a belief was impressed that Mr. Hanson and his immediate 
 political friends, were enemies to the country; that his visit to 
 Baltimore was the consequence of an arrangement to insult and 
 dragoon the citizens; that they were murderers; that they would 
 avail themselves of a constitutional right to change the venue to 
 an adjoining county, and thus escape the punishment due to their 
 crimes — The "Whig gave extensive circulation to these strictures. 
 The general spirit of intolerance against the establishment, uni- 
 ted with the occurrences of the day, and these excitements, pro- 
 duced an apathy among the well disposed, and gave an increased 
 activity to the turbulent and vindictive. 
 
 The mayor and brigadier vieited those confined in gaol, refused 
 them arms for defence, and gave them solemn assurances that a 
 guard would be stationed in and around the gaol, and that whate* 
 Ver power the civil or military could wield, should be given for 
 their protection. Other citizens repaired to judge Scott's, and 
 required that the military should be ordered out ; and after a con- 
 siderable delay the requisition to brigadier-general Strieker was 
 procured, who issued to col. Sterett, commanding the fifth regi- 
 ment, to major Barney, of the cavalry, to col. Harris, of the ar- 
 tillery, the respective orders accompanying this report. It ap- 
 pears to your committee that whatever may be the construction of 
 the orders given to col. Sterett, general Strieker verbally forbid 
 him to deliver out to the men under his command ball cartridges. 
 Of col. Sterett's regiment thus ordered out, but thirty or forty 
 obeyed the call of their commander ; this defection, in the opin- 
 ion of your committee, may be traced to the united causes of in- 
 disposition to protect the persons in the gaol, an apprehension of 
 immediate danger, of future proscription, and to the inefficient 
 preparation under which they were ordered to march — of the cav- 
 alry but a few attended. 
 
 During these operations in Gay-Street, it was known to those 
 ferocious monsters who panted at the gaol for the blood of their 
 unarrned fellow-citizens, that the military were ordered out. — 
 Ther mayor used every persuasive argument to induce them to 
 disperse, and to effect that, gave them a solemn pledge that nei- 
 ther Mr. Hanson nor his friends should be bailed. These assu- 
 rances, united with apprehensions of a formidable resistance from 
 the military, produced from some a reluctant promise that the 
 gaol should not be attempted— Some of the most daring had left 
 the gaol, and repaired to see the operations of the force conven- 
 ing to arrest the completion of their horrid designs. At this un- 
 fortunate moment, an interchange of opinion took place between 
 general Strieker and others, which resulted in a belief that the 
 interposition of the military would not be requisite, and that if 
 any should be required., the force collected would be insufficient: 
 
16 
 
 orders were given to dismiss the military — it was the signal of 
 destruction. The mob collected with a savage impetuosity, and 
 heedless of the feeble opposition formed by the intreaties of the 
 mayor, they attacked the sanctuary of the prisoners — The out- 
 er door was opened by treachery ', the inner doors yielded^) their 
 rage and force ; they entered the room of the gentlemen ,• there 
 a scene of horror and murder ensued, which for its barbarity ha? 
 no parallel in the history of the American people, and no equal 
 but in the massacres of Faris. The good, the venerable, the 
 gallant general Lingan, whose early life was distinguished by his 
 active and manly exertions to rescue this country from the con- 
 troul of a British parliament ; who was honored by the confi- 
 dence of the immortal saviour of lihc nation, and who practised 
 every christian virtue, was here overpowered by these sons of 
 murder, and became the victim of their merciless ferocity. Seven 
 or eight of the gentlemen were thrown in a heap, under an im- 
 pression, entertained by these assassins, that they were dead. — 
 Some effected their escape by stratagem, or by the interposition 
 of some protecting friend. One was detained as a subject for the 
 trial of every refinement of torture which their fiend-like inven- 
 tion suggested. The humanity of certain medical gentlemen was 
 exerted, and by their interposition, under Divine Providence, 
 those supposed to be dead were restored to life and society. On 
 the ensuing day a general terror prevailed throughout the city. 
 
 Your committee further find, that no attention was paid to the 
 preservation of the house and property thus abandoned, but that 
 a few men were suffered, during the day, to be actively engaged 
 in doing every possible injury to the same. Federalists, deeming 
 themselves insecure from a conviction, arising from past occur- 
 rences, that the civil power was too feeble for their protection, 
 and that the military were unwilling to rally around the judiciary 
 when the object was either the security of their persons or proper- 
 ty, fled in every direction — No exertions were made to arrest the 
 disturbers, and they assumed to themselves the sovereign power of 
 controling the government of the United States, by regulating the 
 concerns of the post-office. They assembled with a view to the 
 demolition of the office, in order to collect and destroy the papers 
 of the Federal Republican, transmitted by mail to subscribers in 
 the city. The activity of Mr. Burral, of the post-office, discover^ 
 ed the combination, and with promptitude communicated to the 
 mayor and brigadier-general the grounds of his belief. They be- 
 came at last convinced of the fact, which the experience of all 
 countries had proved, that the mobs of populous cities can only 
 be restrained and overawed by the application of an efficient force. 
 And the general, without any written requisition, but upon assur- 
 ances that any should be given thereafter which the result of his 
 opposition might require, ordered out the whole of his brigade, at 
 
17 
 
 the head .of which he appeared, as became a military chief. A 
 distribution of hall took place, and every preparation was made, 
 evidencing a determination to disperse the tumultuous. But even 
 here, surrounded with the military, the civil power did not aban- 
 don; the same wretched system of concession and conciliation; for 
 it appears to your committee, that upon the manifestation of a 
 spirit of insubordination among some of the military, the mayor 
 proposed to the post-master to deliver up the Federal Republican 
 papers, to be carried to the dwelling of the mayor, with a solemn 
 assurance to the mob, that they should be returned in the morning 
 by the mail to Washington. The post- master stated the embar- 
 rassments arising from the nature of his official duties ; and upon 
 a consultation at the residence of Mr. Burral, the proposition was 
 abandoned, and a resolution adopted to protect the establishment. 
 Before which, the mayor avowed a determined resolution to pro- 
 tect the office, but at the same time to allay the irritation of a por- 
 tion of the militia, who complained of their being called out for 
 the protection of the Federal Republican, he stated, " You are not 
 assembled to protect the paper ; you are marched here to protect 
 the property of the United States, and to support the laws. I, my- 
 self, would draw my sword, and head my fellow-citizens, toput 
 down that establishment." An order from the colonel, and the vol- 
 untary charge by two horse, dispersed the rioters. For many suc- 
 cessive nights a military guard was stationed; a determination 
 was manifested that the peace of the city should be preserved, and 
 it produced the effect — The grand jury, in its regular course, in- 
 vestigated the subject, and presented some of those engaged in the 
 murder and riots. They were arrested and committed to prison ; 
 threats of rescue were made ; a military force was stationed dur- 
 ing the night at the prison, and artillery planted in the hall of the 
 gaol. These operations were attended with an uniform result, 
 establishing incontrovertibly, that the course of forbearance and 
 concession selected by those charged with the preservation of the 
 peace of the city, was productive of no other effect than to embolden 
 the wicked. The trials took place — The first of them exhibited a 
 temper in the jury, utterly inconsistent with the object of criminal 
 jurisprudence, the punishment of the guilty; the attorney-general 
 of Maryland frequently declared his belief that no conviction a- 
 gainst the offenders could be had ; and still omitted to enter a sug- 
 gestion on the record that the state could not have a fair trial, and 
 to pray that the records might be transmitted to another county. 
 An universal acquittal of the most blood-thirsty ensued; and the 
 melancholy apprehension is now entertained, that the wicked have 
 nothing there to fear from the retributive justice of the state. 
 
 Your committee further find, that the ordinary power with 
 which the magistrates are invested for the preservation of the 
 peace of the city, was in no instance, except as stated by your 
 
18 
 
 committee, called into action ; that the. constables are corrupt, 
 and exercise an undue influence over the magistracy, that the 
 Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery is con- 
 ducted in a manner inconsistent with the dignity due to a tribunal 
 invested with such extensive power. 
 
 Your committee find, that during the morning of the twenty- 
 eighth of July, John Montgomery, Esqr. did, in order to pre- 
 vent the firing of the canon levelled at the house, make use of 
 every exertion, and encountered great danger, and that during 
 these agitations, frequent meetings of the most respectable citizens 
 of both parties were convened by the mayor, in order to concert 
 some plan of operations to insure the peace of the city, and which 
 uniformly resulted only in recommendations to the turbulent to 
 forbear, and recommending a proclamation, to be signed by the 
 magistracy, calling on the peace officers to be vigilant in the pre- 
 servation of order. 
 
 Your committee have presented to your consideration the causes 
 and extent of the late riots — They now will submit to you an ex- 
 pression of their opinion, formed upon a dispassionate examina- 
 tion of the testimony, "as to the conduct of the Civil and Milita- 
 ry Officers in relation thereto." It is the opinion of your commit- 
 tee, that during all the agitations which have convulsed the city 
 of Baltimore, Edward Johnson, Esquire, did every thing which 
 could be required of him as a private citizen ; but they have to re- 
 gret, that, as Mayor, charged with the preservation of the quiet 
 of the city, his forbearance, and indisposition to resort to the or- 
 dinary powers of coercion, with which he was invested, against 
 the turbulent and wicked, was so distinguished as to encourage a 
 belief that he connived at and approbated their excesses. That he 
 was guilty of a most reprehensible indiscretion, Avhen he used to 
 the refractory militia intemperate language against the Federal 
 Republican, the inevitable effect of which was to sanction and ex- 
 cite, by his weight of character, the popular excesses against the 
 same. That when he, at the Post-Office, surrounded with the 
 military and his political friends, submitted a proposition, the ob- 
 ject of which was to ensure the triumph of the illegal combinations 
 of the Mob, he evidenced a timidity, and a want of judgment, ir- 
 resistably inducing a belief of his unfitness for the station which 
 Refilled. That this course of forbearance, united with tne wicked 
 inertness of the magistracy, and deplorable corruption of the con- 
 stables, nurtured and gave maturity to that horrid spirit of licen- 
 tiousness, which terminated in the tragical and lawless events 
 detailed by your committee. 
 
 That General Strieker, aware of the ferocious and blood-thirsty 
 temper of the Mob, who were eternally vociferating " blood for 
 blood," and seeking to satiate their vengeance by the instrumen- 
 tality of a field-piece levelled at the house, failed to gratify the 
 
19 
 
 spirit of the requisition made on him by the civil power, when he 
 issued to Major Barney orders not calculated to ensure the return 
 of order and peace, by enforcing the dispersal of those who were 
 violating both. 
 
 That Major Barney erred, when (although tied down by his 
 orders, and evidencing every disposition to prevent Jthe effu- 
 sion of blood and to allay the violence of the Mob,) he attempted 
 by conciliation and persuasion to induce the Mob to disperse, 
 which had the effect to banish that awe and apprehension w r hich 
 the presence of an armed cavalry naturally inspires. That his 
 pledge to the Mob, that none of those in the house should escape, 
 was calculated to give all that confirmation which would necessa- 
 rily result from the expression of his opinion, that the gentlemen 
 in the house were the aggressors, and that the Mob, of course, 
 were justified in their horrid outrages. That General Strieker, 
 knowing as he did, that a portion of his brigade manifested a 
 spirit incompatible with the gratification of any military order, 
 which the requisition on him demanded, and being present, when 
 the sanguinary temper of the rioters evidenced itself, in a force 
 incompatible with the safety of the persons marching to the gaol, 
 and unchecked either by the interposition of the military force 
 with which they were surrounded or by the presence of the 
 political friends of the mob, failed to do his duty to his country 
 when he omitted to order out a larger portion of his brigade on 
 the 28th— That he was guilty of a manifest departure from every 
 principle of prudence, when he, by a verbal, rendered unavailing 
 a writen order given to Colonel Sterett, to fire on any assailants. 
 This restriction, iri the opinion of your committee, merits the most 
 decided reprobation, as being utterly inconsistent with, and hav* 
 ing a direct tendency to render inoperative, any application of a 
 military force; nor can the dismissal of tr >ops on the evening of 
 the twenty-eighth day of July, when opposite opinions were enter* 
 tained as to the designs of the turbulent, when the civil power was 
 lulled into a fatal security by assurances of an efficient military 
 co-operation, when the General and his advisers were vibrating 
 between apprehensions of danger and belief of security, when no 
 exertions were made to sound the temper of the different quarters 
 of the city, be considered in any other aspect than as the act of a timid 
 mind, seeking to avoid a responsibility for the awful consequen- 
 ces resulting from an efficient military resistance. If the military 
 assembled as a portion of the fifth regiment, was inadequate for 
 the purpose of defence, General Strieker owed it to the solemnity 
 of the occasion, to his pledge to the gentlemen in the gaol, to his 
 duty to his state, to appear in the most impressive manner, and to 
 invite all, either attached by military pride, by political associa- 
 tion, or by personal confidence, to rally under his banners. That 
 such a course of military preparation wlvich, would have, been pre- 
 C " 
 
20 
 
 ductive of a result favorable to humanity, and our pride of state, 
 is apparent from the occurrences connected with the operations at 
 the post-office. The public had a right to demand that those 
 wretches who had thus trampled on the law, and outraged humanity, 
 should, by a fair administration of justice, be brought to punish- 
 ment; it had a right to expect that the law officer of the state 
 would see, that at least an impartial trial should be hv\d. — Your 
 committee are therefore of opinion, that John Montgomery Esq. 
 the Attorney-General, when he believed that the sovereignty of 
 the law could not, either from corruption in the jurors, or the 
 influence of public feeling, an event anticipated from the very 
 genius of our government, be vindicated in the city of Balti- 
 more, was bound, both by his duty and his oath of office, to en- 
 ter a suggestion of his belief, and pray for the removal of the 
 trials to an adjoining county. This omission, in the opinion of 
 your committee, demands from this house a severe animadverion. 
 All which is submitted. 
 
 BY ORDER 
 
 LOUIS GASSAWAY, Clerk. 
 
 THE 
 
 COMMITTEE OF GRIEVANCES 
 
 AND 
 
 COURTS OF JUSTICE, 
 
 BEG LEAVE FURTHER TO REPORT — 
 
 That they find, that Tobias E. Stansbury, then a Brigadier- 
 General in the militia of this state, and now a Delegate to the 
 General Assembly of Maryland from Baltimore County, on the 
 twenty-eighth day of July last, at the gaol of Baltimore Coun- 
 ty, did refuse to obey or aid the civil authority in the preserva- 
 tion of the tranquillity of the city— That he frequently used 
 violent and inflammatory expressions, intended and calculated 
 to excite the Mob to break the gaol, and to murder Mr. Hanson 
 and his friends, who had coniided themselves to the protection 
 of the law ; and to depress the exertions of those who labored to 
 allay the infuriated temper of the turbulent; and to divert the 
 assassins from the consummation of their savage designs. That 
 he was present when the cruelties were perpetrated either on 
 general Lee or Lingan— That he has frequently before and since 
 t day, expressed his opinion and wisli that those persons, who 
 
21 
 
 were defending the house in Charles-street, ought to have been 
 put to death when in the house, by the Mob ; and has also de- 
 clared, that if he had been present, that he would have aided 
 in their destruction. 
 
 When your committee reflect upon the many manifestations of 
 confidence which Mi*. Stansbury has received from his immediate 
 constituents, and the public functionaries of the State; when they 
 recollect how frequently and solemnly he has sworn, before the 
 Supreme Being, to support the constitution and laws; when they 
 consider the high and important command which he then bore in 
 the service of the State, and the only object of which was the in- 
 discriminate and general security of his fellow-citizens, they can- 
 not but express their indignant feelings at the course pursued on 
 that eventful night by General Stansbury, and their belief, that the 
 evidence collected by them, is so strong as to justify a well ground- 
 ed opinion, that he consented to, and countenanced, the completion 
 of the horrible butcheries of that night; and that the House of 
 Delegates of Maryland, is bound by every consideration of justice 
 and expediency, to adopt every constitutional means with which 
 it is invested to bring to a fair and impartial trial the said Tobiaa 
 E. Stansbury, for his conduct in relation to the attack on the gaol, 
 which terminated in the murder of General James Lingan. 
 
 LOUIS GASSAWAY, Gi/k* 
 
22 
 
 FROM THE BOSTON REPERTORY. 
 
 Freedom of the Press. — We have just read the authentic state- 
 ment in the " Federal Republican" of the conduct and sufferings 
 of Mr. Hanson and his friends. Perhaps a case could never again 
 occur, more clear in principle, more importar^ to the country in its 
 consequences, or in which more true patriotism could be displayed. — 
 We reflect upon the conduct of these gallant noble spirited men 
 with admiration, and delight. We are reminded by it of those re- 
 corded examples of unsubdued firmness, of collected intrepidity in 
 the hour of peril, of self devotion to the great cause of public li- 
 berty, which have made heroes, and patriots immortal. When we 
 consider the cause in which these admirable men engaged, its 
 justice, its importance and its dangers, we feel that they have done 
 a service to their country, which, we trust, that country, when res- 
 cued from the hands of its betrayers, will remember and reward. 
 They have set an example to their countrymen, which will find 
 followers, they have awakened a spirit which will diffuse itself ; 
 they have already given a permanent security to the liberty of 
 Speech and of the Press. The consciousness of this, the sympathy 
 of all honourable and good men, will be their recompense. 
 
 The defence of a Free Press by Mr. Hanson and his friends, has 
 been the occasion of unveiling the true nature of democracy ; the 
 great head and patron of which in the United States, is James 
 Madison. He has risen to power by associating himself with all 
 the base prejudices, the vulgar errors, and the blind passions o£ 
 the people. Hence we find that the Mob of Baltimore with all that 
 is mobbish, and ignorant, and vicious, and furious, are emphatical- 
 ly on his side, claiming to act in his support, avowing that " all 
 disaffection must be hushed." Government must be supported say 
 the rabble, by which they understand, that no man shall be per- 
 mitted to speak or write against Mr. Madison or his war, and if 
 they dare to exercise these unalienable rights, they are to be rob- 
 bed, beat and massacred. To call men tories, though like LINGAN 
 and LEE they fought the battles of independence, is to put them 
 without the protection of the laws; and becomes the signal for 
 proscription and death. Such is democracy, and such its practi- 
 cal illustration in Baltimore. — This devoted city now contains 
 within itself the "fiery materials of its own destruction," and will 
 continue to break out in eruptions o^anarchy and crimes, a warn- 
 ing and a terror to other cities, till the reign of the laws shall be 
 restored. 
 
 FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLICAN. 
 
 An exact and authentic Narrative, of the events which took 
 place in Baltimore, on the 27th and 28th of July last — Care- 
 fully collected from some of the sufferers and from eye-wit* 
 
 ncsset. 
 
23 
 
 STATE OF MARYLAND, ss. 
 
 Rockvillk, August 12, 18K. 
 
 Personally appeared on this 12th day of August, 1812, before 
 John Fleming, Justice of the Peace for Montgomery County, the 
 following persons $ Peregrine ff'arfield, Richard L Crabby Charles 
 J. Kdgour, Henry Nelson, Ephraim Gaither, Robert Kilgour, John 
 H. Payne, H. C. Gaither, and Alexander C. Hanson, who being 
 sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, do declare and 
 depose in the manner and form following — to wit ; 
 
 That these deponents are some of the surviving persons who 
 were devoted, or meant to be devoted, to the brutal and murder- 
 ous fury of the mob, in the late massacre in the jail of the City of 
 Baltimore — That these deponents having seen the following state- 
 ment submitted to them of that horrid atrocity, and the proceed- 
 ings connected with it, do swear, that as tar as their individual 
 sufferings or particular opportunities of observation may enable 
 them, to testify, they believe the facts and circumstances de- 
 tailed in the following statement to be truly and accurately stated. 
 — These deponents not intending hereby to preclude themselves 
 from a further narrative or disclosure, of such other circumstan- 
 ces and special injuries and sufferings as are within the particular 
 knowledge of each of them respectively, or which they may have 
 individually experienced and endured, 
 Sworn to before 
 
 JOHN FLEMING. 
 
 STATE OF MARYLAND—Moxtgomeuy County, ss. 
 
 I hereby certify, that John Fleming, gent, before whom the 
 aforegoing affidavit appears to have been made, and whose name 
 is thereto subscribed, was at the time a Justice of the Peace in and 
 for the county aforesaid, duly commissioned and sworn. 
 
 *4w*w*$£ l n testimony whereof, I have hereto subscribed my 
 £ Seal. £ name, and affixed the public seal for Montgomery 
 
 jtw>v%v& county, this 12th day of Agust, A. D. 1812. 
 
 UPTON BEALL, 
 Clerk of Montgomery County Court. 
 
 On the night of the 22 June, the office and entire printing ap» 
 paratus of the Federal Republican was demolished by a Mob' in 
 Baltimore, in the presence of the Mayor, the Judge of the Crim- 
 inal Court, and several other Magistrates and Police Officers, 
 whose authority was not exerted to save it, and preserve the peace 
 of the city. One of the Editors narrowly escaped with his life 
 after being pursued by ruffians, who avowed their fell purpose of 
 assassination. 
 
Si 
 
 Mr. Hanson, the other proprietor of the paper, heard of the de- 
 predations committed by the Mob the evening after, and went to 
 Baltimore the next day, accompanied by his friend Captain Richard 
 I. Crabb, to make arrangements for re-establishing the paper. Find- 
 ing it impossible to render any service, the laws being effectually 
 silenced, and his friends unanimously urging his departure, he left 
 town in a few hours, having first walked the streets as usual, and 
 made all arrangements that could be made, in conjunction with his 
 friends and agents, for reviving the paper with all possible dis- 
 patch. 
 
 Upon his return home to Rockville, Montgomery County, Mr. 
 Hanson communicated to some of his most intimate friends his de- 
 termination to recommence the paper in Baltimore, and declared 
 he never would visit Baltimore again until he could go prepared to 
 assert his rights, and resist oppression. He was aware, that the 
 execution of his plan would be accompanied with much difficulty 
 and danger, but his friends admired and approved it tlie more on 
 that account, and volunteered to accompany him to Baltimore, to 
 participate his dangers or successes, in maintairin<; the rights of 
 person and property, and defending the Liber f y of the Press — 
 They were nine in number: — General James M. L-ingan, (murder- 
 ed) General Henry Lee, Captain Richard I. Crabb, Dr. P. Warfield, 
 Charles J. Kilgour, Otho Sprig, Ephraim Gaither, and John Howard 
 Payne. Several others were to have gone, but were prevented; and 
 on the night of the attack, the party was joined by three other vo- 
 lunteers from the country, who were not fully apprized by Mr. 
 Hanson, of his determination, but received their information in 
 confidence from others : — Major Musgrove, Henry C. Gaither, and 
 "William Gaither. On the evening of the attack, they were joined 
 by about twenty gentlemen living in Baltimore, one or two only of 
 whom were invited to the house by Mr. Hanson. 
 
 When the office wa6 first demolished, Mr. Wagner, one of the 
 proprietors, lived in a house in Charles street. On that event, he 
 removed his family from the house, but did not relinquish it, or re- 
 move his furniture. 
 
 In this situation it remained until the 26th of July, when the pa- 
 per having been re-established in Georgetown, and the proprietors 
 having resolved to attempt its re-establishment in Baltimore, one of 
 them, Mr. Hanson, came and occupied this house, (having first ta- 
 ken a lease) as a place from which the distribution of the paper 
 mi^htbe made. He was attended by the friends before mentioned 
 who were to remain as his guests until their business oalled them 
 home. ' 
 
 They thought it probable, that an attempt would be made to pre- 
 vent the distribution of the paper, and they might even be attacked 
 in the house for that purpose. But they hoped, by the appearance 
 of determined resistance, to deter the assailants from actual vio- 
 lence, till the civil authority should have time to interpose and pre- 
 vent mischief. Should they be disappointed in this hope, and find 
 themselves in danger from the unrestrained violence of a mob, they 
 
25 
 
 were resolved, and were prepared to stand on the defensive, and 
 to repel force by force. Reliance upon the civil authority they 
 early perceived to be fruitless, for on application to the Mayor by 
 the owner of the house, he peremptorily declined all interference, 
 and left town, as it was understood, to prevent his repose from be- 
 ing disturbed.-— The civil authority refusing to interfere when ap- 
 plied to by Mr. White, the son, and Mr. Dennis Nowland, the son- 
 in-law of the owner of the house, there was nothing left but to 
 resist the Mob in the house, and while this resistance was made 
 with a mildness and forbearance scarcely ever equalled, and which 
 excited the wonder of the spectators, several messages were sent to 
 Brigadier General Strieker to disperse the Mob and prevent the 
 effusion of blood, which would otherwise be unavoidable. 
 
 If it be objected, that the scheme was rash or imprudent, all 
 must admit it was strictly and clearly lawful. Mr. Hanson had an 
 undoubted right to distribute the paper in Baltimore, from this or 
 any other house in his occupation, and to defend his person and 
 property by force, in case they were assailed by unlawful violence, 
 and left unprotected by the civil authority. 
 
 On Monday, the 27th of July, the distribution of the paper was 
 commenced, and proceeded without molestation or tumult, till even- 
 ing. But soon after twilight, a Mob collected before the house, and 
 soon began to act in a very threatening and riotous manner. The 
 gentlemen in the house, with great mildness, patience and forbear- 
 ance, repeatedly advised and requested them to disperse, assuring 
 tli em that the house was armed, and would be defended, and that 
 the consequences of attacking would be dangerous. 
 
 This, however, had no other effect than to increase the boldness 
 and violence of the Mob, as well as its numbers. A vigorous at- 
 tack on the house was soon commenced. — Stones were thrown in 
 showers at the front windows, all of which were soon broken, and 
 not only the glass, but the sashes and shutters were demolished, and 
 an attempt was made to break down the street door, which was at 
 length actually broken and burst open. All the acts of violence 
 were accompanied by loud and reiterated declarations by the Mob 
 of a determination to force the house, and expel, or kill all those 
 who were engaged in its defence. 
 
 These scenes continued for more than two hours, without the 
 least interference of the Mayor, or any appearance of an intention 
 to interpose. At length, the persons thus threatened and assailed, 
 finding that little hope remained of protection from the local autho- 
 rities, and that forbearance, expostulation and entreaty, served 
 only on their part, to increase the audacity of the Mob, resolved 
 to try the effect of intimidation. Orders were therefore given to 
 fire from the windows of the second story over the heads of the Mob, 
 so as to frighten, without hurting them. This was done. — The Mob 
 was at first intimidated by this blank fire, but soon finding that no 
 hurt was done by it, they returned, and recommenced the attack 
 with increased violence. The windows having been all before bro- 
 ken*, and the. front room on the lower floor abandoned, the Mob pre- 
 
S6 
 
 pared to enter by the door and take possession of the heuse. The 
 ^entiemen from within, therefore prepared themselves for the worst, 
 and resolved, that when things should be pushed to extremities, they 
 would make a serious fire on the assailants. Some gentlemen were 
 stationed on the stairs in the entry, opposite the front door, and the 
 entry itself was barricaded, as weli as could be done with chaits, 
 tables, and other furniture. Other persons were posted at the wi<fc 
 dows, in such a manner as best to command the approach to the 
 doors. They renewed their warnings and entreaties to the mob, 
 but with no other effect than before, and in this situatiou they re- 
 mained until effectual resistance should become absolutely .neces- 
 sary. — Still the civil authority did nothing, save the fruitless efforts 
 of Judge Scott, who was ultimately obliged to leave the street. 
 The Military was equally supine or indifferent. It was now about 
 11 o'clock. The violence of the attack increased, and in a short 
 time a part of the mob with a Dr. Gale, their apparent leader and 
 instigator (who had harrangued them in the street) at their head, 
 made an attempt to enter the passage and advance towards the 
 stairs. 
 
 Orders were now given to fire from the windows and staircase. 
 By this fire Dr. Gale was killed, and carried off by Ids companions 
 and followers. Several were wounded in the street. The mob fled 
 in every direction, carrying with them the wounded, and the body 
 of Dr. Gale, but before they fled they fired frecpiently into the house, 
 where the marks of their shot are to be seen, and a pistol aimed at 
 the breast of General Lee flashed, while he was expostulating with 
 the mob. One of the defenders of the house, (Ephraim Gaither) 
 was wounded at the time of the fire from the street, but how or with 
 what has not been ascertained. He bled profusely, and had a con- 
 vulsion in the morning while standing at his post upon duty. 
 
 This was the time for the gentlemen in the house to make their 
 escape. Could they have seen that their enterprize had become 
 impracticable, they might have made good their retreat. But 
 they judged otherwise. Tliey thought rather of their rights than 
 of the prudence of a further effort to assert them, and resolved 
 still to defend the house, indulging the hope too, that no further 
 violence would be attempted after this experience of its conse- 
 quences, or that the civil authority would effectually interpose. 
 
 The mob came very cautiously and almost by stealth in front 
 of the house after the effectual fire. They still, however, re- 
 mained in the street and increased their number gradually, a 
 drum parading the streets to beat up recruits, and continued to 
 throw stones in front and back of the house. Between two and 
 three o'clock the military having been ordered out, Major Bar- 
 ney appeared in the street at the head of a small party of cavalry. 
 
 The mob again fled at his approach, crying out as they heard 
 the trampling of horses, « the troop is coming, the troop is com- 
 ing." Near the front of the house Major Barney halted and ad- 
 dressed them. On this they again returned. He told them he 
 
27 
 
 was their friend, Uinr personal and political friend, that ho. was 
 there to protect person and property, to prevent violence, "to 
 secure the party in the house," and that those in the street must 
 disperse. They then asked him hy what authority he came.— 
 He answered hy order of the brigadier general Strieker. They 
 demanded a sight of the Order, which he consented to show them, 
 and for that purpose went round the corner into an alley where 
 they assembled round him to see it. He said something in a low 
 voice, on hearing which the mob gave three cheers.. 
 
 What did lie then say to them ? This can be answered only 
 from conjecture and from what happened afterwards. Many of 
 the gentlemen in the house judging from subsequent events, be- 
 lieve that he communicated to the mob the plan of assas'si nation, 
 which was put into execution, and which they suppose to have 
 been then already formed with his knowledge and participation. 
 But this supposition would ascribe to that officer a degree of fe- 
 rocious profligacy which ought not to be imputed to him or any 
 other man without the clearest proof. — The subjoined extract 
 from the Whig, explains Major Barney's conduct : 
 
 « We regret that our committee have not, after so much pains 
 and promise, stated some particulars minutely; particulars neces- 
 sary to be known, we mean the circumstances of the negotiation 
 (as it were) between Major Barney and the populace. They 
 agreed to rest Satisfied, if the murderers should be carefully kept 
 from escaping, and lie surrendered into the hands of the civil au- 
 thority; in other words be committed to jail for trial. To the 
 fulfilment of ttds was Major Barney pledged.'' 
 
 (jyHis instructions were nevertheless for the safety and honor 
 of the gentlemen in the house ! 
 
 There can be no question, he had orders while he protected the 
 house from further attack, to secure the party in it so as to pre- 
 vent them from escaping, and to bring them to trial for the deaths 
 which Mfed taken place or were expected, and that he communi- 
 cated this part of his orders to the mob. This supposition is fa- 
 voured by what he was heard to say on his first approach — that 
 ** he was there to take possession and secure the party in the 
 house." And when the gentlemen distrusting his views in con- 
 sequence of what they had observed, demanded an explanation, 
 he assured them that he had no orders or instructions but such as 
 7V ere, consistent with their safety and honor but he was obliged to 
 talk otherwise to the mob to deceive and keep them quiet. 
 
 The mob made no further attempt on the house, in front of 
 which Major Barney and his cavalry remained constantly wrang- 
 ling and talking with the mob, who soon prepared for a more 
 effectual attack by bringing up a field-piece. With this tiiey at- 
 tempted to fire on the house, but were always prevented by Ma- 
 jor Barney, who more than once mounted on the cannon, dcclav- 
 D 
 
ing; that if they fired they should fire on him, that they would 
 kill their own friends — all which trouhlc he might have saved 
 himself, if he pleased, hy remounting his horse, and dispersing 
 the mob which fled at his first approach. 
 
 This state of things continued till about six o'clock A. M. when 
 Mr. Johnson, the mayor, arrived from the country whither mes- 
 sengers had been dispatched for him by those out of the house, and 
 Brigadier General Strieker, who commands the militia of the 
 town, appeared before the door and commenced a parley with the 
 party within. Being admitted into the house, they represented to 
 the party defending, the irritation which prevailed in the town, the 
 exasperation of the public mind, and the impossibility of main- 
 taining the defence against the force which would soon come in aid 
 of the attack. The mayor asked for and addressed Mr. Hanson, 
 with warm and great agitation. Spoke of a civil war, saying we 
 are impressed with the belief that a civil war is inevitable, and I 
 consider this a party thing, and the commencement of it. He com- 
 plained also of the government's being implicated in the dispute 
 between parties and the'papcr, and added, such opposition must or 
 will be noticed. To all which Mr. Hanson replied that he would 
 not enter into a political dispute with the mayor, that he had a 
 right to defend his house which was his castle, and his person, and 
 that lie and his friends were competent to the protection of both, 
 that it was the mayor's duty to disperse flic mob. The mayor and 
 general Strieker then declared their own inability to protect the 
 party in the house while there, and proposed that they should sur- 
 render themselves into the hands of the civil athority, and be taken 
 to the public jail as a place ot safety, promising an effectual escort 
 on the way, to be composed of Mr. Hanson's own friends, in town 
 if he pleased, and also an effectual guard at the jail till they could 
 be released on bail. 
 
 To this many of the party, particularly Mr. Hanson, strongly 
 objected. He was indignant at the proposal to go to the jail. — 
 "to jail, said he, for what ? for protecting my person and pro- 
 perty against a mob who assailed both for three hours without !>•- 
 ing fired upon when we could have killed numbers of them ; it is 
 your duty to disperse the mob, and if you cannot disperse them, 
 you cannot protect us to jail or after we are in jail." Mr. Hanson 
 then, after the mayor and general went into the front room to con- 
 verse with general Lee, exhorted his friends never to surrender, 
 declaring that no reliance could be placed on the assurances of 
 suchnien, who were his bitter enemies, and who, however willing 
 they might he, were unable to afford effectual protection, as w r as 
 proved hy their inability to disperse the mob then assembled before 
 the house. He repeated over and over, that if they surrendered 
 they would all he sacrificed, and from his knowledge of the men 
 they had to deal with, particularly Johu Montgomery who hm* 
 
29 
 
 just before passed into the room, he expected they would al be gr» 
 veil up to be massacred either on the way to jail or in the jail.— 
 Mr. Hanson then stated his objections to the mayor and general 
 Strieker, wiio in answer gave the most solemn assurances on their 
 faith as officers, and their honor as men, to afford the promised 
 protection, or die in the attempt. General Strieker assured them 
 on his honor that he would never quit them while there was dan- 
 ger, and if they were attacked lie would rescue or fall with them ; 
 these assurances were repeated frequently with the most solemn 
 asseverations and appeals to God. Mr. Hanson having said some- 
 thing to his friends in regard to the house and furniture, a pledge 
 was instantly given by the mayor to leave a guard to defend both. 
 General Lee, and other gentlemen attempted to get better terms 
 of capitulation, such as marching out with arms in their hands to 
 assist in protecting themselves, and riding on their horses among 
 the cavalry, and in carriages. The mayor and general went out to 
 see if the mob would consent to any other terms. While gone, Mr. 
 Hanson made two propositions to different gentlemen of his party, 
 the one to hold the mayor and general as hostages for their safe- 
 ty, and the other, offering to give himself up to the mob who would 
 then be appeased, repeating his belief that every man would besa- 
 sacrificed if they surrendered. , 
 
 When the mayor and general Strieker returned, they informed 
 the party in the house that no other terms could be obtained from 
 the mob than those first proposed, and urged their immediate ac- 
 ceptance, declaring that a delay of five minutes might be fatal. — 
 Mr. Hanson still vehemently opposed surrendering, and said he 
 hadinothing to say to the mob, but would negociate only with the 
 civil anthority, in order to prevent the further effusion of blood 
 which he was as anxious to do as any one. General Lee, who had 
 been chosen to command the party, was then sought for in the 
 front room, up stairs. He was of opinion, that the proposition of 
 the Mayor and General Strieker ought to be accepted, and endea r 
 voured to gain over Mr. Hanson to his opinion, by expressing 
 the warmest confidence in their sincerity and honor, and their com- 
 petency to afford full protection to and at the jail. General Lee 
 probably saw that the defence was wholly desperate. The num- 
 bers in the house had diminished from about thirty to twenty, by 
 sending out detachments for various purposes who could not re- 
 turn, and from other causes not satisfactorily known. This re- 
 maining number was barely sufficient to man the essential stations- 
 There were none to relieve them. The effects of fatigue and want 
 of sleep began to be felt. Those of hunger and thirst must soon 
 be added, for their stock of provisions and water was small, and a 
 supply wa« impossible. To a military man of judgement and ex- 
 perience, like general Lee, these circumstances would naturally 
 appear in all they* force. He saw ttr? defence necessarily a«d i*a* 
 
30 
 
 pidly becoming weaker* while there was reason to believe that the 
 
 tacking force would greatly and rapidly augment. Being a sol- 
 Her himself, he could not doubt a soldier's honor] nor believe that 
 j n. Strieker who had served like himself in the war of our revo- 
 lt, could abandon those who surrendered their arms on the faith 
 of ;:is word. General Lee therefore gave his opinion early and 
 igly in favor of a surrender. 
 
 Several others no doubt from similar motives, and some in de- 
 ference to h:s opinion, declared for the same coarse. But Mr. 
 Hanson more ardent because younger, smarting under wrongs 
 unredressed and flushed by the hope of gaining in the end a glo- 
 rious victory, and less confiding because better acquainted with 
 the weakness, timidity and disposition of the persons on whom 
 they were invited to rely, strongly and pertinaciously opposed this 
 sentiment to the last, contending that if the defence was really 
 impracticable, which he by no means believed, it was better to 
 die there with arms in their hands, than to surrender for the pur- 
 pose of being led through the streets like malefactors, and in the 
 end massacred by the mob, against which he insisted that no ef- 
 fectual protection would be afforded, or ought to be expected. 
 The opinion of general Lee, however, finally prevailed, and the 
 whole party to the number of between twenty and thirty surren- 
 dered themselves into the hands of the civil authority. An escort 
 of horse and foot was provided by general Strieker, and they 
 were conducted from the house to the jail. This took place be- 
 tween 8 and 9 o'clock in the morning. 
 
 In going to the jail, they were to pass by a large pile of paving 
 stones, which had been provided for paving the streets. While 
 the negotiation for the surrender was going on, a plan was laid 
 to massacre the party at this pile of stones, and a company from 
 Fell's Point, headed by a Mr. Worrel, was to join the Mob at 
 that place for the purpose. The plan was to drive off, or knock 
 down the escort with the stones, and then beat the prisoners to 
 death. But the pile of stones was passed a few minutes before 
 the party from the Point arrived, and thus the scheme was frus- 
 trated, not without two of the gentlemen receiving severe blows 
 with stones, said to be aimed at Mr. Hanson. This important 
 fact was related on the same day to a gentleman by one of the 
 chiefs of the mob, who very coolly added : — " It is only a short 
 delay, for we shall take them out of the jail to-night, and put 
 them to death." 
 
 This intention was publicly and frequently avowed, in the 
 course of the day ; an express invitation to that effect was given 
 in the principal democratic paper of the city ; and the prepara- 
 tions for carrying it into effect, were openly made. A particu- 
 lar incident will shew how well it was known, cr how confidently 
 •xpected. 
 
31 
 
 A youth of the name of M'Cubbin, a clerk in the counting 
 house of Hollins and M'Blair, had opened the counting house in 
 the morning, as usual, and after attending to his ordinary busi- 
 ness, was led by curiosity or accident, into the neighborhood of 
 the jail, at the moment when the party from the house entered 
 it. Being with the crowd he was hurried into the jail by mis- 
 take, and was actually locked up with the party. Messrs. Hol- 
 lins $* M'Blair finding his situation, and knowing what would 
 probably happen at night, exerted themselves to the utmost, with 
 some of their friends, to effect his release, which they effected a 
 little before night with very great difficulty. Those gentlemen 
 despairing, it must be presumed, of success, made no effort as 
 far as is known to prevent the catastrophe. Some of their friends, 
 however, and particularly Col. James A. Buchanan, exerted them- 
 selves to the utmost, as it is said and believed, but to no pur- 
 pose. 
 
 General Strieker and Mr. Johnson being informed of the in- 
 tended massacre, an order was obtained in the legal form to call 
 out tUe military for the protection of the jail. This order was 
 given to general Strieker by Mr. Johnson, on the certificate and 
 requisition of two magistrates. General Strieker accordingly 
 ordered out the fifth regiment (commanded by Col. Joseph Ster- 
 ett, a brave man, and to be relied on in all situations) but direct- 
 ed expressly, that they should be furnished with blank cartridges 
 only. This part of the order might very well deter, and no doubt 
 did deter many of the well-disposed militia from turning out. 
 They might well suppose, that the order might by some means 
 become known to the mob, who far from being intimidated by the 
 appearance of soldiers known to be unarmed, would naturally 
 consider it as it was, a pledge for their perfect impunity, and 
 might probably slaughter the soldiers themselves. 
 
 The general exasperation, moreover, which prevailed on ac- 
 count of the events of the morning, which as always happens on 
 such occasions, had been wholly misrepresented, and were almost 
 universally misunderstood, was so high that great numbers of 
 the militia, and some entire companies, especially one of cavalry, 
 absolutely refused to turn out ; many it may be supposed were 
 prevented, by their fears. Yet notwithstanding all these unfavor- 
 able circumstances, a number did appear, which is stated by some 
 to have been sixty, and by others, not more than thirty. Coi. 
 Stercttwas at the head of this fragment of his regiment. Cap,. 
 Samuel Sterett, who commands one of the companies, was alsn 
 at his post. So was major Richard K. Heath. The other officers 
 who appeared are not recollected. 
 
 The brigadier general himself, after his solemn pledge of his 
 word and honor as an officer and a man. in the presence o» 
 God, did not appear. He was not seen with the troops, and i f . 
 
8fi 
 
 seen in the streets at all, it was in his common dress, with a rat- 
 tan in his hand : — He no where shewed himself as the commander 
 of the militia, made no call in p< rson on the, troops, or the citi- 
 zens to rally round him, hut contented himself with barely doing 
 what was required of him, according to the strict letter, by or- 
 dering out a part of the militia, and rendered that order futile 
 and nugatory, or worse, by combining it with an order to come 
 without effective arms. 
 
 This part of his order was however disobeyed by many, if not 
 all of the militia, who came out — Resolved not to he exposed to 
 massacre by this unaccountable conduct of their general, they 
 furnished themselves, as well as they could, with ball cartridges. 
 
 In the afternoon, while the troops were ordered out, and while 
 they were assembling, Mr. Johnson, mayor, went to the jail, ac- 
 companied by Mr. Hargrove, Register of the city, and together 
 with gen. Strieker, judge Job Smith, Mr. Wilson, magistrate, 
 Mr. Calhoun, brigade inspector, visited the gentlemen in the jail, 
 to inform them of the efforts that were making, and would be 
 made for their protection. They renewed their solemn assurances 
 of protection, and told the party to rest satisfied, as the military 
 would be out in a very short time, when there would be no dan- 
 ger of an attack upon the jail. A Butcher by the name of 
 Mumma t and two others, understood to be prominent in the mob, 
 entered the room in company with the mayor and remained after 
 him. While the interview between the- mayor, general, &c. and 
 the gentlemen continued, this butcher was employed in observing, 
 and most attentively remarking their contenanccs and their dress. 
 As many of them were strangers in Baltimore, his object no 
 doubt was to enable himself to identify them, and point them out 
 to his associates, when the massacre should commence. — This 
 very butcher did stand at the first iron grate and knock down the 
 gentlemen as they were brought out. It was by him, so station- 
 ed, that Mr. Hanson was first recognized and shockingly beaten. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon the gentlemen were apprized, 
 from various quarters, of the fate which awaited them at 
 night, and particularly a gentleman of the democratic party, 
 (who is nevertheless a man of honor, courage and humanity) af- 
 ter struggling in vain to provide means of protection, or to avert 
 the danger, informed them of all they had to expect. 
 
 The. door of the room in which they wore confined was very 
 strong: composed of thick iron bars fastened together, so as to 
 make a grate ; it enabled them to see what was done on the out- 
 side, while, if kept locked, it was capable of affording them a 
 very considerable defence. That they might make the most of 
 this feeble resource, in the apprehended absence of all others, 
 they sent for the turnkey, and requested him to lock the door and 
 give them the key. This he promised, hut did not perform.— 
 
33 
 
 They sent to him again and reminded him of his promise, which 
 he repeated and again neglected. They saw no more of him un- 
 til the slaughter commenced. 
 
 The militia having assembled in front of their colonel's quar- 
 ters in Gay-street, at a very considerable distance from the jail — 
 the general instead of putting himself at their head, endeavour- 
 ing to increase their numbers and leading them to the jail, left 
 them standing in Gay-street ; and hearing that the mob had as- 
 sembled at the jail in great numbers, he and the mayor, accom- 
 panied by John Montgomery, attorney -general of the state, went 
 to them a little before sunset, to expostulate with them on the im- 
 propriety of their conduct, and persuaded them to disperse. 
 
 The object which the mob then thought proper to avow openly, 
 was to prevent the gentlemen from being admitted to bail. An 
 assurance being given to them by the attorney-general and the 
 judge, that bail should not be received before next day, they are 
 said to have declared themselves satisfied, and to have promised 
 to disperse. Some of them, no doubt, made such a declaration 
 and promise — with what intentions will soon appear. 
 
 General Strieker and Mr. Johnson, mayor, thought fit to be 
 satisfied with these assurances. Some of their friends supposed 
 to be men of influence among the mob, are said to have obtained 
 similar assurances, and to have been equally satisfied. Be that 
 as it may, the brigadier general, the mayor of the city, and the 
 attorney-general of the state, left the jail with the mob still as- 
 sembled before it, 'and went into the city proclaiming that every 
 thing was settled, rxd all danger at an end. On this ground 
 gen. Strieker dismissed a body of militia under major Heath, 
 which he met in his way from the jail, notwithstanding the ad- 
 vice and remonstrances of major Heath, who exhorted tbem to 
 go once more to the jail before they were dismissed, and see whe- 
 ther all was safe. 
 
 From major Heath he proceeded to colonel Sterctt, and order- 
 led him to dismiss the party which was under arms in Gay-street, 
 an order which Mr. Sterctt obeyed with a heavy heart. General 
 Strieker then proceeded through the town to his own house, which 
 is in a part atill more distant from the jail, and in his way he pro- 
 proclaimed that every thing was settled, all danger over, and no 
 further need of any protecting force. By this means dispersed a 
 number of citizens who had assembled with a view of giving their 
 aid. — When he reached his own house he shut himself up, and 
 ordered himself to be denied, or was out of the way. 
 
 The dismissal of the military was instantly made known to the 
 mob at the jail by their associates stationed for that purpose ; and 
 tliey regarded it, as was natural, as the signal of attack, They 
 immediately made a furious attack upon the outward doors of the 
 .jail, which being observed by a gentleman who. happened at that 
 
34 
 
 moment to pass on horseback, he rode lull speed to gen. Strieker's 
 house, to give him the information. He was told that gen. Strieker 
 was not at home: Inquiring where he was, and expressing a strong 
 desire to see him, in order to give him the information. The gen- 
 tleman was told that "Gen. Strieker could >not be seen : and that 
 if he could it would be unavailing, for he had already done all he 
 could or would do." 
 
 The gentleman then went in quest of the Mayor, who fearing, or 
 being informed of what had happened, had gone to the jail with two 
 or three men supposed to have influence with the mob,* whom he 
 had engaged to assist him. With them he attempted to prevent 
 the doors from being forced open ; but his attempts were fruitless ; 
 mid at length his assistants fearing for his safety and their own, 
 almost forced him away. The attack then proceeded without fur- 
 ther hindrance or fear of interruption ; and when the violence of 
 the attack upon the outward door to the east increased, a voice from 
 within was heard, saying — « Come round to the other door." — 
 which they were seen to do by some of the gentlemen in prison. 
 
 There can be no doubt that it was in the power of Gen. Striek- 
 er to prevent, or easily repel, this attack. Had he put on his uni- 
 form, mounted on horseback, put himself at the head of such mili- 
 tary as had assembled, called for more force, exhorted the citizens 
 to volunteer, and marched to the jail with all the force he could 
 thus collect; Had he, as his duty and pledged honor required, taken 
 post at or in the jail, even with the small body of militia which had 
 assembled, the mob w ould unquestionably have been deterred or re- 
 pulsed. — But he was blind to all such considerations, and left the 
 mob to their course by dismissing the military, and infusing a 
 false and fatal security into the citizens. But above all, after the 
 massacre, when it was discovered that some of the persons thrown 
 into the pile of the supposed slain were not quite dead, and might 
 be restored, intelligence of the fact was carried to town. Upon re- 
 ceiving the information, a distinguished gentleman went to Gen. 
 Strieker's house, and had him called out of bed. He communicated 
 to the general the joyful tidings and added "the physicians will go 
 out to preserve all they can, if you will furnish a guard to go with 
 them." The general said he was fatigued, had lost his rest the 
 night before, and it was an improbable tale, that any of the prison- 
 ers were alive. The gentleman urged and remonstrated, offering 
 to bring him a horse immediately, but the general flatly declined, 
 
 and returned to his bed to find repose God of Heaven ! did he 
 
 sleep? he "who hath murdered sleep!" slaughtered honor, pa- 
 triotism and courage, ensnared by treachery ; betrayed the brave, 
 and handed them over to the executioner to be tortured in a man- 
 ner until now unknown in the annals of all time, to satiate the 
 bloody appetites of cannibals, and tigers in human form. Have 
 not ages of wickedness and barbarity and guilt, been crowded in- 
 
35 
 
 to days. An all-wise and good Providence will avenge these horrid 
 enormities. 
 
 The moh gained possession of the principal entrance into the 
 prison hut there was still two very strong doors to be forced before 
 they could reach the party within. One. of these doors detained 
 them more than a quarter of an hour. Whether it was finally forced 
 or unlocked is not known. When they reached the last door af- 
 ter a few slight blows it was unlocked. Bentley, the gaoler, was 
 the first man who entered the room, to the best of these deponent's 
 recollection, and was instantly followed by the mob. He was pro- 
 bably compelled to unlock the door. 
 
 From this it appears that a very small military guard pc ;ted in 
 the first entry of the jail, especially with the brigadier-general 
 and the mayor at their head would have been a sufficient protec- 
 tion. This was the post in which the plighted faith and honor of 
 Gen. Strieker should have placed him. But his pledge was for- 
 gotten or neglected and the post was left wholly unguarded. * 
 
 When the victims saw the danger approach nearer and nearer 
 they calmly prepared for their fate, but resolved to make every 
 possible effort for effecting their escape. They had three or four 
 pistols among them and one or two dirks. It was proposed as soon 
 as the last door should be forced, they should shoot as many of the 
 assailants with these pistols, for which there was no second charge, 
 as possible. Mr, Hanson dissuaded from this course, saying it 
 would be of no avail to kill one or two of the mob and would only 
 increase their fury and render escape more difficult. He strongly 
 recommended that they should all rush among the mob, put out 
 all the lights, create as much confusion as possible, and by that 
 means many would escape. As for himself he would be recogniz- 
 ed, but every man must do the best to save himself. All seemed 
 at once to embrace the plan, but when the mob were about enter*, 
 ing the last door, Mr. Murray and Mr. Thompson presented their 
 pistols, the former saying very familiarly "my lads you had bet- 
 ter retire, I can shoot either of you." It was replied " I can kill 
 you," by the mob. Murray rejoined " i can kill any one of you 
 first." Mr. Thompson was also dispod to fire, but General Lee 
 and Mr. Hanson urged to the contrary, and the mob coming in 
 were rushed upon and the confusion commenced. 
 
 The plan proposed by Mr. Hanson availed many of his friends 
 who escaped almost, and some entirety unhurt, to the number of 
 nine or ten, who made tTieir way through tlie crowd in the confu- 
 sion that ensued. But it was useless to himself because he was 
 known by Mamma the butcher, who recognized and knocked him 
 down after he had made good his way to the lobby as it is called, 
 or hall of the jail. He was then dreadfully beaten, trampled on and 
 pitched for dead down the high flight of stairs in front of the jail, 
 The purpose for which Mumma came into the prison room in the 
 K 
 
36 
 
 weiiing now appearod. lie was posted at the door to mark the 
 the victims as they came out and designate them for slaughter, hy 
 giving each a blow or two, which was the signal for his associates 
 who proceeded to finish what he had begun* The fate of Mr. Han- 
 son befel General Lee, General Lingan, Mr. Hall, Mr. Nelson, 
 Mr. Kilgour, Major Musgrove, Dr. P. Warfield and Mr. Wm. 
 Gaithcr, all of whom were thrown down the steps of the jail, where 
 they lay in a heap nearly three hours. During this whole time tine 
 mob continued to torture their mangled bodies, by beating first one 
 and then tlic other: sticking penknives into their faces and hands 
 and opening their eyes and dropping hot candle grease into them. 
 &c. Mr. Murray, Mr. Thompson and Winchester were carried 
 in a different direction and not thrown into the heap of the sup- 
 possed slain. 
 
 Major Musgrove was the last who remained in the prison room 
 when the mob broke in. While the slaughter of his friends was 
 going on in the passage in his view, he calmly walked about the 
 room waiting for a fate which he saw no possibility of averting. 
 At length one of the assassins came and called him out. He went 
 and was attacked in the entry, knocked down and beaten till he 
 was supposed by the butchers to be dead. 
 
 Some of the victims were rendered wholly insensible by the first 
 blows which they received. Others who preserved their senses 
 and recollection resolved to feign death, in hopes of thus escaping 
 farther injury. The brave Gen. Lingan lost his life by his endea- 
 vours to save it. He so much mistook the character ot the mon- 
 sters astosupp se them capable of some feelings of humanity. He 
 reminded them that he had fought for their liberties throughout the 
 revolutionary war, that he was old and infirm, and that he had a 
 large family dependant on him for support. These remarks served 
 only to attract their attention to him and to inform them that he 
 was still alive. Every supplication was answered by fresh in- 
 sults and blows. At length while lie was still endeavouring to speak, 
 dnd to stretch out his hands for mercy, one of the assassins stamp- 
 ed upon his breast, struck him many blows in rapid succession, 
 crying out "the damned old rascal is the hardest dyWig of all of 
 them," and repeating the opprobrious epithet of Tory ! These 
 blows put an end to his torment and his life. In a few minutes af- 
 ter his removal into jail he expired without a groan. His name 
 will be immortal as his soul. 
 
 While G«n. Lee's mangled body lay exposed upon the bare earth, 
 one of the monsters attempted to cut oft' his nose but misled his 
 aim, though he thereby gave him a bad wound in the nose. Either 
 the same person or another attempted to thrust a knife into the eye 
 of Gen. Lee, who had again raised himself up. The knife glanced 
 on the check bone, and the General being immediately by the side* 
 ';' Mr. Hanson, fell with his head upon his breast, where he lav jfer 
 
37 
 
 some minutes when he was kicked or knocked off. A quantity ot 
 his blood was left on Mr. Hanson's breast, on observing which one 
 of the mob shortly afterwards exclaimed exultingly, " see Hanson's 
 brains on his breast !" 
 
 During these horrid scenes^several of the gentlemen, Mr. Nel- 
 son', Dr. Warfield, Mr. Kilgour, Mr. J. E. Hall, and Mr. Han- 
 son, perfectly retained their senses. They sustained without be- 
 traying any signs of life, or gratifying their butchers with a groan 
 or murmur, all the tortures that were inflicted on them. They 
 heard without shewing any emotion, the deliberations of the assas- 
 sins, about the manner of disposing of their bodies. At one time it 
 was proposed to throw them all into the sink of the jail. Others 
 thought it best to dig a hole and bury them altogether immediate* 
 ly. Some advised that they should be thrown into Jones' falls, a 
 stream which runs in front of the jail. Some that they should be 
 castrated. Others again were for tarring and feathering them and 
 directed a cart to be brought for that purpose to carry them about 
 town. Others insisted upon cutting all their throats upon the spofc, 
 to make sure of them. And lastly it was resolved to hang them 
 next morning, and have them dissected. Pointing to Hanson, and 
 jobbing him severely with a stick, one exclaimed " this fellow shall 
 be dissected." Being particularly desirous of insulting and mang- 
 ling the body of Mr. Hanson, but finding great difficulty in identi- 
 fying it; they at length thought of examining his sleeve buttons^ 
 supposing they should there find the initials of his name. It was 
 insisted by some oite present that he knew Hanson well, and it was 
 not him but Hoffman. Before they seemed to have settled the dis- 
 pute their attention was attracted to some other object. Dr. Hall, 
 personally unknown, to all but ouc it is believed of the sufferers, 
 was instrumental in rescuing them from the mob, which he did by a 
 stratagem, which will endear him to all good men and brighten his 
 course through life. He, with the aid of others not now known, i.n~ 
 duced the mob to place the supposed dead bodies under his care un- 
 til morning, and conveyed them into the jail to the room whence 
 they were first taken. There he was assisted by Doctors Birckhead. 
 Smith, Owen, and a gentleman who assumed the name of Dr. Page, 
 but is better known by the title of the "Boston Beauty," and was 
 extremely active in assisting Dr. Hall, to administer drinks and 
 opiates. Having examined their wounds, some of the Doctors went 
 to town privately for carriages to carry off the bodies. By manage, 
 ment they had induced nearly all the* mob to retire till nnorning. 
 Some of them no doubt being fatigued, retired to rest anil refresh 
 themselves." A large part followed Mr. Thompson who had been 
 carried off in the manner stated iu his narrative. Some perhaps 
 felt sated with the cruelties already committed and withdrew. The 
 remainder were in a measure exhausted, and the two democratic 
 physicians, Drs. Hall and Owen had the address ultimately to pre- 
 vail on all of them to leave the jail for the present. 
 
 While the physicians were gone for carriages, Mr. Hanson pro, 
 9g§e.d to Drs. Hail arrd 0*w<yj, to convey him if possible, to Mr 
 
38 
 
 * 
 Murray's, about three miles off where his family was on a visit. 
 He said it was likely he might live until morning, when if he re- 
 mained in jail he would be again taken by thi inob. He was told 
 carriages would soon be at the jail, but upon discovering impatience 
 Dr. Owen went out to see if he could be safely carried oft' at once. 
 "When he returned, Bentley came with him, and Mr. H. again urged 
 his removal, upon which Bentley objected, saying, that he had no 
 right to permit the prisoners to go away as they were in custody. 
 He was answered by Mr. H. that the jail being broken open and the 
 prisoners rescued by the mob and brought back for ^security, with- 
 out being recommitted, he could not be blamed. Bentlev replied, 
 " very well, do as you please." A person then presented himself 
 and offered to carry Mr. H. off, who fell and fainted several times 
 upon attempting to rise. Dr. Owen recommended and gave him a 
 glass of brandy, which he took, and was quickly invigorated and 
 enabled with the aid of his deliverer to stand up and walk. He 
 asked to be carried to Gen. Lingan, over whose dead body he stood 
 for a moment, and was hurried off. When he got to the outward 
 jail door he was taken on the back of his deliverer, who ran with 
 him to the Falls, conveyed him over, and helped him over into a 
 small garden opposite, where he was told to lie until called for. 
 After laying some time wrapped up in a blanket he heard a wrangle 
 at the jail, and concluded it was the best time to crawl away as well 
 as he could, which he did to a place of safety, whence he was con- 
 veyed in the morning at day light, some distance from town. 
 
 Mr. Nelson and Mr. J. E. Hall left the" jail at the same time Mr. 
 Hanson did. The former though among the most injured, found his 
 way to a secure retreat, within a few hundred yards of Mr. H. and 
 was taken in a cart covered with hay, to the same house in the coun- 
 try where the wounds of both of them were dressed, and they were 
 taken to Anna Arundel county without delay. Mr. Hall got unas- 
 sisted to the house of a humane gentleman up the falls, near the jail. 
 This gentleman dressed his wounds, put him to bed, and early in the 
 morning sent him further into the country. The names of all the 
 Others who escaped in this manner are not yet known. 
 
 By whom or with what intention he is ignorant, but Mr. Murray- 
 was carried by some persons and laid on the ground by the falls. 
 They left him there, probably supposing he was dead, and all went 
 away but one. That person after all the rest were gone, approach- 
 ed Mr. Murray, and laid his hand upon him. He took the hand of 
 the man and pressed it. He started with surprise and dread at feel- 
 ing his hand pressed by what he had supposed to be a corpse. ' Mur- 
 ray then begged his assistance to escape which he promised, adding, 
 that he was one of the mob, but thought "there should be fair play." 
 He then assisted Murray to rise, and conducted him to a neighbor- 
 ing hovel, whence at Murray's request he went into town to inform 
 his friends where he was, and conduct them to the place. The office 
 he faithfully and successfully performed, though so much intoxicat- 
 ed as to be hardly able to walk. Murray's friends, thus conducted, 
 came and removed him to a place of safety. 
 
39 
 
 Gen. Lefc~was taken to the hospital, where his wounds were dress- 
 ed by the physicians and he received every assistance of which his 
 deplorable and mangled situation admitted. Hence he was next day 
 conveyed to the country, and arrived at Little York, where he is said 
 to be doing well. Major Musgrove, it is understood, was also taken 
 to the hospital, and carried the next day four miles above Ellicotts' 
 Mills, on the Montgomery road. A mortification having taken place 
 in some of his wounds after he reached home, his life was, for a time 
 despaired of, but the skill and attention of Dr. Charles A. Warfield, 
 Dr. Matthews, and Dr. Allen Thomas, have preserved this gallant 
 officer, and he is now out of danger. 
 
 Dr. Peregrine Warfield, Mr. Charles J. Kilgour, and Mr. William 
 Gaither, all of them much mangled, were conveyed without moles- 
 tation in a hack brought, by the physicians, about four o'clock in the 
 morning, to Ellicotts* Mills, and thence to the house of the father of 
 Dr. P. W. about 24 miles from town. They are all recovering. 
 
 It would remain now to relate the last act of this horrible and bloody 
 tragedy, which includes the fate of Mr. Thompson, now safe and re- 
 covering, in Little York, Pennsylvania. He was the unhappy vic- 
 tim reserved, for what special cause is unknown, by the butchers 
 for their infernal pastime. His narrative already before the public 
 saves us the pain of describing the unheard of tortures, which un- 
 tamed ferocity delighted to inflict on him. His prayers to put an 
 end to his sufferings by death, were inhumanly rejected as often as 
 repeated. 
 
 Such are the particulars of this atrocious and bloody affair, which 
 it has hitherto been possible to collect in an authentic shape, and a 
 parallel to which is scarcely to be found in the annals of revolution- 
 ary France, even after the actors in similar scenes there, had be- 
 come hardened by custom and familiar to deeds of horror, cruelty 
 and crime. The blood-hounds of republican France, massacred by 
 thousands, those obnoxious to their vengeance, but they dispatched 
 their victims quickly, rarely ever resorting to such lingering tortures 
 as the exclusive republicans of this boasted land of liberty and hap- 
 piness have the credit of inventing. 
 
 it is proposed as soon as practicable, to obtain from each of the 
 gentlemen a separate statement on oath of what he suffered himself, 
 and of all that passed within his observation. Meantime the above 
 statement must receive universal credit, every material circum- 
 stance being embraced in the introductory affidavit. The intended 
 statements will be published, in order to give a fuller view of these 
 horrible scenes. While they hold up to merited detestation those 
 who by their active co-operation, connivance, or their dastardly and 
 treacherous supineness contributed to produce the catastrophe. They 
 will serve as a beacon to wain the civil and military authority of 
 other places, of the danger of temporising with the most ferocious 
 ruthless, and bloody of all monsters, a mob; while they teach an 
 instructive lesson to the honest, but deluded citizen; seduced by 
 the syren charm* of democracy. 
 
40 
 
 The persons named in the above affidavit ha\ e read w ith mingled 
 regret and indignation, the partial, mutilated and unjust report of 
 the local authorities in Baltimore, while they have seen annexed to 
 it with grief and amazement, the signatures of some worthy, and 
 hitherto firm and independent citizens. Understanding that the 
 justification made for the barbarous cruelties which treachery and 
 black malignity procured to be inflicted upon them, is that an ex- 
 pensive conspiracy was formed to murder, or otherwise molest the 
 citizens of Baltimore, the above named, do thereforc'solemnly swear 
 that no such conspiracy or association even was ever formed, but 
 merely a determination entered into by less than a dozen gentlemen 
 in the country to protect the person and property of Mr. Hanson, 
 and defend the liberty of the press with their lives, if necessary. 
 This determination remains unaltered. The letters of col. Lynn, 
 whose advice was volunteered, John Hanson Thomas, and "Mr. 
 Taney, have been disingenuously perverted to an unjust and infa- 
 mous purpose. 
 
 Hockville, August ljili, 1812. 
 
 Narrative of John Thompson, one of the persons intended to he Mas- 
 sacred with general Lingan and others, in the Jail of Baltimore, 
 on Tuesday, the 2Sth of July last. 
 
 On Monday the 27th July last, I was invited by Mr. Hanson to 
 his house ,* and in the evening about twilight, I went there and 
 found from fifteen to twenty gentlemen in his house, most of them 
 known to him. I was told that an attack upon the house was threa- 
 tened that night, which they had made preparations to resist and 
 defeat. I saw some muskets, pistols, and swords in the house, for 
 the purposes of defence. After being there sometime, I under- 
 stood an arrangement had been made, that in case of an attack, 
 the direction of the defence was appointed to general Lee. About 
 eight o'clock, a number of persons were collecting at the front of 
 the house, who were very noisy and began to throw stones at the win - 
 dows, and they broke several of them. The house was in front 
 completely closed, the door and inside window shutters being shut, 
 till the stones broke the glass, and burst open the shutters. Mr. 
 Hanson spoke from the second story to the mob, and told them if 
 they did not desist they would fire upon them, and he warned the 
 spectators to go away. Gen. Lee, in the house told themnot to fire 
 unless it should be absolutely necessary, and the doors were forced. 
 The mob continued to increase and throw stones violently, which 
 broke the windows of the first and second stories. General Lee 
 directed a volley to he fired from the upper story over the heads 
 of the people in the street to frighten them away without injuring 
 
41 
 
 then*. This was executed, and nobody hurt. The mob huzzaed, 
 were still more violent, and broke open the lower door. They 
 were then fired upon, and a man fell at the door upon the inside 
 thereof, who was immediately taken up and removed by some of the 
 mob. This must have happened about ten o'clock, or after. Judge 
 Scott made his appearance and came into the house, the door hav- 
 ing remained open, after it was broken, and requested us to leave 
 the house. He was told we should do no such a thing, that -we 
 sould not be secure unless the civil authority interfered, that we 
 were lawfully employed with Mr. Hanson in protecting him and 
 his house against violence, and whenever the mob would disperse, 
 or the civil authority interfere, we would retire to our homes, and 
 not before. During the night we continued to defend ourselves, 
 and never fired but after some new and violent attack. I believe it 
 probable several were wounded. The mob during the night, 
 retired and gathered again, and attempted some fresh dam- 
 age. Just about, or before dav light the mob brought afield piece, 
 which was planted near the house, and in front of it, but it was 
 prevented from being discharged by the arrival of captain Bar- 
 ney's troop of horse, some of whom were stationed round tho 
 house, six of them dismounted, and took possession of the front 
 room on the first floor, and of the back yard. Hanson and his friends 
 occupied the same places which they had done during the night ; 
 so things remained until Edward Johnson, the mayor, g* n. Striek- 
 er, John Montgomery, the attorRey-gcneral, James Calhoun, 
 Lemuel Taylor, and several others, arrived, and proposed that 
 we should leave the house. We answered we had no objectinons 
 to leave the house, provided the mob woidd retire, or we could get 
 home in safety. The mayor said the mob could not be dispersed 
 nor would they be satisfied without we went to jail, and that we 
 should be protected from them in going to jajl and while in it. To 
 this proposal, most of us expressly objected. Generel Lee princi- 
 pally carried on the conversation on our part with the mayor and 
 general Strieker. The Mayor, general Strieker, and Attorney- 
 general, severally declared and assured us, that we should be pro- 
 tected, as well in going to jail as in it, and the mayor pledged his 
 life and his honor that we should be safe, and that he would die 
 with us, if we should be hurt. General Strieker expressed himself 
 in similar terms. Also Montgomery, Taylor, Calhoun, and their 
 companions gave us assurances of safety if we went to jail. After 
 these assurances, and finding the civil athoiity would not make 
 any exertion to disperse the mob, we consented with the advico 
 of general Lee, to deliver ourselves up to the civil authority. The 
 mayor declared his opinion that we would not be safe in the jail 
 without a guard, and he and general Strieker promised there 
 should be one. About 8 or 9 o'clock on Tuesday forenoon, we left 
 The house and went under the care and cusiouv of the, mavor who 
 
42 
 
 preceded us, and we were placed between two lines of infantry, 
 consisting as it appeared of about fifty militia ; about twenty dra- 
 goons mounted advanced before us to the jail ; general Strieker 
 marched on foot with the infantry, and an immense concourse of 
 people were in the streets, some of whom went along, and we Mere 
 abused in the most opprobrious language 5 some stones were thrown 
 with violence at us ,onc struck Mr. Kilgour and cut him badly in 
 the forehead, and another struck Mr. H. Bigelow, and nearly 
 knocked him down. The distance from Mr. Hanson's house to 
 the jail was about one mile. 
 
 At our arrival at the jail door and as we entered it, several of us 
 were struck by some of the mob whom we found there. Being de- 
 livered into the custody of John H. Bently, the jailor, sometime in 
 the forenoon, we were put in a room in the common criminal de- 
 partment, where we remained the rest of the day. The dragoons 
 and infantry left the jail soon after we were placed in it, and they 
 did not return, nor was there any military guard afterwards. In 
 the afternoon the mayor came to us in the jail, and assured us that 
 there should be a guard, and that preparations were making to 
 send one. Kc told us he w r ouhl lose his own life before we should 
 be hurt. Gen. Strieker was also at the jail, outside of it. The 
 mayor having been with us about twenty minutes, went away- 
 leaving us in the belief that there would be a guard of armed mili- 
 tia sent to protect us in the jail. During the afternoon we were 
 told several times by persons admitted to see us, that theniilitia 
 were called out and assembling. Late in the afternoon, two 
 butchers, one named Mumma and the other Maxwell, came into 
 our room, the former having a key in his hand. Mumma asked 
 me the names of several of the prisoners ; I told him. Mr. Hoff- 
 man said he wondered Mr. Bentley should suffer so many men 
 to come into the room who had no business there. Mumma an- 
 swered, that he came there on Mr. Bentley's business. They 
 were personally known to me, and to some of my fellow pri- 
 soners — we suspected their intentions were not good, and I inquir- 
 ed of Mr. Bentley if Mumma was a friend of his — Bentley an- 
 swered he pretends to be so. I replied you ought to know him 
 well before you trust the key of our room in his hands, and I 
 proposed that he should lock the door, and give me the key . 
 through the grate. On the inside, the door cannot be unlocked* 
 and there was the outer door locked. Bentley refused, saying, 
 I cannot do so, as you are a prisoner under my care. The door 
 was immediately locked by some body, and the mob very soon be- 
 gan to assemble from various quarters, but no troops were arriv- 
 ing. This excited much alarm in our room, it being after sunset, 
 and we apprehended we were to be sacrificed. About dark, the 
 back door of the jail was beset by the mob, who entered it without 
 breaking it by force. By whom it was opened I do not know, but 
 
43 
 
 by hearsay. They began to break down the wood and iron grat- 
 ings in the passage leading to our room, which took them at least 
 three quarters of an hour. They had the light of torches. The 
 grating of our room was opened instantly without any exertion, 
 Which make me believe it was opened by some one having the key, 
 and I believe, either by Munima or Maxwell. The first person I 
 recognised at the grating was Henry Keating, who keeps a print- 
 ing office, and him I should have killed with my pistols, but for 
 general Lee, who laid hold of my arm and begged me not to fire, 
 and also prevented Mr. Murray from firing. It had been agreed 
 that Mr. Murray and myself, being the strongest men. should 
 first rush out and make the best of our way, and every person was 
 to escape as he could. 
 
 Some of the mob rushed into the room, and Mr. Murray and my- 
 self rushed out, both of us armed. I bad a pistol in each hand, 
 and he a dirk and a pistol. We made our way through the passa°e 
 and hall without injury, till I was at the front outer door, when I 
 was struck on the back of my head with a heavy club by some man 
 I had passed, which threw me forward from the. head of the steps, 
 and I fell headlong down about twelve fe^t. There I saw a gang of 
 ruffiians armed with clubs, ready to destroy whomsoever should 
 pass down the steps, and six or seven of them instantly assaulted 
 me while down, and beat me about the head until I was unable to 
 rise. — Some then dragged me twenty or thirty yards while others 
 were beating me with clubs; they then tried to make me stand on 
 my feet, and looking round I perceived Lemuel Taylor, and I call- 
 ed upon him to prevent those men from taking my life. He told 
 the men to desist, and said they had beat me enough, and begged 
 them not to take my life; they said they would kill me: he again 
 ■ epeated that I was beat enough, and desired I should be let alone ; 
 and he would be security for my forthcoming in i'na morning. 
 They disregarded what he had said, they dragged me along, and it 
 was proposed to tar and feather me, and as I went, along, they 
 continued to strike me with slicks and clubs — one fellow struck at 
 me with an axe, who missed me ; when they had dragged me a con- 
 siderable distance and into Old-town, they met with a cart and put 
 me int« it, and dragged it alone themselves to a rdace where they 
 ^ot tar. 1 had Ifcft my coat in the jail, and they tore my shirt and 
 other clothing, and put the tar on my bare body, upon which they 
 put feathers. They drew me along in the cart in this condition; 
 and calling me traitor and forv, and other scandalous names; they 
 did not cease lo beat me with clubs, and cut me with old rusty 
 words, I received upen my head, arms, sides, thighs, and back, 
 upwards of eighteen cuts of the sword.— On my head one cut was. 
 •very deep, beside which my 'mad was broken in more than twelve 
 places by other instruments, such as sticks and clubs. I received a 
 few blows in my face, and very many severe bruises on different 
 parts of my body; my eyes were attempted to be gouged, and pre- 
 served bv means ot the tar and feather-;, though they were much 
 F 
 
14 
 
 injured. About the sum* time, as 1 was laying in the cart, a fellow 
 struck both of my legs with a bar of iron, swearing damn my eyes, 
 I will break your legs, I drew my legs up, and he was led to think 
 and to say he had broke them. Shortly after I received a blow with 
 a club across my eyes, upon which I lay as if dead, supposing it 
 would stop their further beating me ; remaining so for some time, I 
 was struck upon my thighs, which I bore as if dead : a villain said 
 he would soon see if I was dead, and he stuck a pin into my body 
 twice, at which I did not flinch, but I still remained senseless, as if 
 dead. Another said he would show if I was dead, he pulled a hand- 
 ful of tar and feathers, and set fire to it, and stuck it on my back, 
 which put into a blaze what was on my back. I turned over sud- 
 denly, and rolled upon the flame, which put it out before it reached 
 too great a height; but I was burnt in several parts. I then raised 
 upon my knees and addressed them, "for God's sake be not worse 
 than savages: if you want my life, take it by shooting or stabbing.- ' 
 Often I begged them to put an end to it. Upon this one said don't 
 burn him ; another said we will hang him — one in the shafts of the 
 cart turned round and said to me, " if you will tell the names of all 
 in the house and all you know about it, we will save your life." 
 Believing all the damage was done which could be done by them, I 
 did not hesitate to say I would. They took me out of the cartXipon 
 the causeway at Fell's Point, and carried me to the Bull's Head 
 Tavern: there I gave thern the names of all the persons in the house, 
 (most of them already known to them) which they took in writing, 
 and the reason of our being in the house, which was to defend Mr. 
 Hanson and his house against violence, with which he had been 
 threatened. They detained me about an hour at this tavern, and 
 ottered jne some whiskey, of which I took several glasses, being ex- 
 tremely thirsty and weak from the loss of blood. They then made 
 me walk, with several persons on each side upholding me, towards 
 the watch house, where they said I should be kept till the morning, 
 and that I should swear to what I had said before a magistrate by 
 nine o'clock, or if I did not they would hang me. On my way I was 
 unable to proceed, and stopped twice for rest. When I first stop- 
 ped, some of them said they had got all they could out of me, and 
 they would now hang me. I rose and went on, and some who were 
 against hanging me followed, and I was obliged by weakness to stop 
 again, when it was proposed again to hang me, and one person said 
 they whould cut off my head and stick it on a pole. The vote was 
 taken and carried for hanging me; but some said they should not 
 hang me, that my life had been promised upon condition of disclos- 
 ing what I knew, and that the information I might give them would 
 be of use to them. I was then moved on to the watch house, and 
 delivered to the captain of the watch about two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing who was told they held him responsible for my body at nine 
 o'clock. 1 laid myself on the floor, a doctor was sent for by the 
 captain of the watch, who came aud having removed the tar and 
 feathers, sewed up the wounds on my head, and dressed them. Be- 
 Kveen nine and ten o'clock the mob was gathered at the watch house. 
 
45 
 
 and some were for hanging me, saying, that I had not sworn to what 
 I had told them before a magistrate before nine o'clock, as had been 
 stipulated, and one of them said the rope was ready. I observed 
 it was not my fault, that I was not able to go to a magistrate, and 
 that I was ready to s,wear to it it they would bring one. They then 
 brought a magistrate by the name of Gait, who took, my affidavit, in 
 which was stated the names of the persons in the house; the causes 
 of their meeting; and the name of the person under whom they were 
 acting in the house. It w r as read aloud, and at this period the mayor, 
 Lemuel Taylor, and some others, arrived, who said they would take 
 me to the hospital out of the hands of these men. Mr/Taylor said 
 he had no idea of seeing me alive. The doctor had lent me a shirt, 
 and I was now provided with a pair of trow-sers. The mayor sent for 
 a carriage, but the mob said I should not ride in it, that a cart was 
 good enough for me, and a cart was brought, into which I was placed, 
 stretched out in the cart, and exposed to a hot sun. About 11 o'clock, 
 I was carried to the hospital, the distance of a mile, the mayor ac- 
 companying me amid the noise of a great concourse of people. There 
 I heard the groans of general Lee, in a room adjoining, who had 
 been said to be dead. 
 
 After the crowd had dispersed, some of my friends, who did not 
 think me safe, sent me a carriage, into which I was put without los 
 ing a minute, and general Lee was put into the same carriage. We 
 Avere hurried away into the country, in our wounded, bruised, and 
 mangled condition ; we arrived at York town, Pennsylvania, on Sa- 
 turday evening, the first of August, where we received the humane 
 and friendly sympathies and attentions of the inhabitants, and the 
 medical aid of two gentlemen of the faculty. 
 
 Possessed of a strong constitution and in the prime of life, I cherish 
 the hope, that I shall survive all the bruises and wounds, which have 
 been so cruelly and maliciously inflicted by a wicked and lawless 
 mob, and that I shall be again restored to the full use and enjoyment 
 of my bodily powers.- — Given under my hand this 6th August, 18J2. 
 
 JOHN THOMSON. 
 
 John Montgomery, mentioned in the annexed certificate, is the at- 
 torney general of Maryland. We pledge ourselves to produce a re- 
 spectable name, which is affiixed, but which we do not at present ex- 
 hibit for obvious reasons. We also pledge ourselves to prove, that 
 George Williams, of the late house of Benj. &, Geo. Williams, ex- 
 pressed himself in the same murderous manner' 
 
 Fed. Republican. 
 
 I do hereby certify, that John Montgomery, Esq. in conversation 
 with myself relative to the gentlemen who defended the house in 
 Charles street, said — « it was the most infamous proceeding he had 
 ever known, and wished every scoundrel \n *he hou«e had hecsn 
 billed." 
 
40 
 
 NARRATIVE OF JOHN E. HALL, ESQ, 
 
 Early in the moaning of Monday, the 27th o{' July, being in- 
 formed that my friend Mr. Hanson, was in Baltimore, and that 
 lie was at the house, which Mr. Wagner had been compelled, by 
 the mob, to abandon, about five weeks before this time, after they 
 had pulled down his office and press, I called to see him. I found 
 him surrounded by about half a dozen gentlemen, to some of whom 
 I had been introduced last summer, at his house, in Montgomery 
 county. Upon my asking what had brought him to the city, he 
 said the Federal Republican had been printed at Georgetown, and 
 lie had come to Baltimore to superintend the publication of it. I 
 observed in a jocose manner, that he would have another house 
 pulled down, and added that he would he torn to pieces by the 
 mob. — lie said he hoped not, if the civil authority would not in- 
 tefere he trusted his friends would bo able to protect him. I ob- 
 served that I should be occupied during the day, but, if he desir- 
 ed it, I would spend the night with him. The offer was accepted, 
 and I was desired to be at the house by f* oxlock in the evening. 
 About the middle of the day I called again, to ascertaiu what ef- 
 fect had been produced by the circulation of the paper during the 
 morning, and to suggest the propriety of communicating to the 
 mayor any evidence of hostility that might have been observed. I 
 learned that several suspicious looking persons had called, and, 
 upon asking for Mr. H. were shown to him ; 11 1 at the owner of 
 the house had waited upon the mayor, and demanded protection 
 which was refused. At neither of these visits did I perceive any 
 sort of preparation for a defence of the house ; if there were any 
 munitions of warfare, they were in a remote part of the dwelling, 
 far removed from public observation, and, therefore, only calculated 
 to give provocation to those who obstinately and wilfully sought it. 
 In the evening, when I repaired to the house, I found a number 
 of gentlemen assembled, most of whose names are before the pub- 
 lic. The mob were not less punctual. The street was thronged 
 by eight o'clock, not with boys, but men.* There was no appear- 
 ance of a civil authority at this time. A person was dispatched 
 
 * This I assert in the very teeth of the Repoi-t, with the confidence of one 
 ■who expects to be believed, because he knows he speaks the truth. If there 
 be any who are anxious to believe the Report of the Committee (derived from 
 what testimony no one knows) in preference to the various affidavits that have 
 been published, I ask how it happens that this insignificant collection of 
 *'boys ' could not be dispersed, notwithstanding all the exertions of a "neigh- 
 boring magistrate," and further how it happens that so soon after the gentle- 
 men in the house were provoked to fire over the heads of these sweet little in- 
 nocents, wo were amusing themselves b, breaking windows, &c. they become 
 metamorphosed into an " assemblage of pepp'e" in the Report. 
 
47 
 
 to procure guns. As soon as they arrived, they were brought in- 
 to the house., and the door was closed. — The windows had proba- 
 bly been shut the whole day. The shutting of the door was follow- 
 ed by vollies of stones against the house, and torrents of abuse 
 from the people in the street. When every sash in front of tin- 
 house had been broken, and repeated attempts had been made to 
 burst the door, Mr. Hanson appeared at a window up stairs, and 
 ciied out : «« This house is my castle — I am about my lawful oc- 
 cupation, and will not be interrupted in this manner." The mob 
 exclaimed, " tear the d — d tory out of his catle — break open the 
 door," df"c. Mr. II. continued : *< I have arms in the house, and 
 will fire if you do not desist." The assemblage in the streets be- 
 ing at this time very large: the violence increasing, and there an 
 pearing no exertion from the police to prevent it, some guns were 
 directed to be fired over the heads of the mob. This was done ; 
 and the people finding themselves unhurt, made an attack upon 
 the front door, which was broken open. — At this time I was at the 
 head of the stair case, on the second floor. I could not see the 
 front door ; but I heard general Lee say, in a xevy mild tone, « 1 
 assure you, sir, you have now entered that door as far as you 
 can come this night." He appeared, from the sound, to be stand- 
 ing at the door of the front parlour. The parley continued but 
 a short time. The general, and the person with whom it took 
 place, must have been within the house ; or we, who were up 
 stairs, remote from the street, could not have heard it; nor would 
 general Lee, or any of our party, have been suffered, by the mob, 
 to exist an instant at the front door; nor would any one have 
 gone thither, because it would have prevented the sentinels at the 
 foot of the stair case from defending themselves effectually. 
 From these circumstances, and from the general belief of our 
 ewn party, I conclude that this man (Gale, I suppose) was shot 
 in the very act of breaking into the house. Mr. Scott, the chief 
 justice of the criminal court, arrived at about ten o'clock in the 
 evening. He was immediately invited to enter the house; and a 
 list of our names was offered to him. He was told, upon his re- 
 quiring us to leave the house, that we were willing to do so when 
 the mob should be dispersed ; and that if the street were cleared 
 we would immediately appear before him, and submit to whatever 
 the law required. This the judge reported to the mob, but they 
 refused to disperse, and he went home. From this time until to- 
 wards morning, when major William B. Barney arrived with a 
 detachment of horse, a desultory sort of warfare was carried oik 
 The mob was fired at very rarely ; and never without some vio- 
 lent provocation, and until after an urgent caution to all peaceable 
 persons to withdraw. Within the house every thing was conducted 
 with the utmost silence and regard to discipline." 
 
48 
 
 When the horse approached, the moh fled. The major address- 
 ed them as "friends and fellow citizens." He said he was their 
 "personal and political friend j" that he came "by order of ma- 
 jor gen. Striker to protect persons and property," <$*c. They re- 
 turned and cried but : " Then drag those d d murderers out of 
 
 the house." He said he meant to take them into custody: "he 
 pledged his honour" to them "that not a man in the house should 
 escape — that every man should he delivered to justice," hut at 
 the same time he hogged they would go to their respective houses, 
 like good citizens. Upon their demanding a sight of his autho- 
 rity, he took a paper from his pocket and they went a short dis- 
 tance from the house. What occurred there is not known ; hut 
 the moh seemed to he well satisfied with the conference. Upon 
 his return to the front of the house, a short conversation ensued 
 between him and some of the gentlemen in the lower part of the 
 house, in which the major said distinctly that he had no instruc- 
 tions inconsistent with our safety and honour- It was his business 
 to preserve the peace and quiet ofithe city, and this, he said,he was 
 determined to do, against any party that violated it. Major B. 
 was then permitted to put a guard in the lower part of the house, 
 and so matters remained for some hours, a part of our company 
 still on guard, the mob hooting at the company, qdarrelling with 
 the troops, and the troops passive. 
 
 At length (at six o'clock, A. M.) the mayor arrived, accom- 
 panied by brig. gen. Strieker, mayor Colhoun, Mr. Montgomery, 
 the attorney general of the state, Mr. Cumberland Dugan and 
 some other gentlemen, of the democratic party, whose names I 
 do not recollect. By this time some companies of infantry were 
 also drawn up before the door. General Strieker, the mayor, 
 and the attorney general went backwards and forwards several 
 times from the "gentlemen in the street," as the general some- 
 times called them, to our party with propositions from the former 
 to us. Our answer invariably was, that having assembled as we 
 thought, on a lawful occasion and having transgressed no law we 
 would not quit the house while our friend and his property were 
 menaced by the mob. — These three persons then begged us from 
 considerations of regard to the peace of the city and to prevent 
 the further effusion of blood, to consent to go to jail. They all 
 admitted distinctly and repeatedly our right to do what we had 
 done — but they said the mob could not be reasoned with. It was 
 thought we had committed a murmer and nothing would satisfy 
 them but our submission to the civil authority. If we would con- 
 sent to this measure , a military protection was offered, and a 
 promise was given that we should be liberated whenever we 
 thought it would be expedient. We offered repeatedly to go, if 
 the mob were dispersed, but gen. Strieker, as often consulted the 
 mob and brought their answer that they would not disperse until 
 
49 
 
 we were confined or killed on the spot. This was about seve~n* 
 o'clock in the morning. We had been all night under arms with- 
 out eating and little drink since dinner, the day before. The 
 water unfortunately had been made useless early in the evening 
 by a wounded person being washed in it. A majority of our 
 party appearing to be inclined to accept the terms which were 
 brought from the mob by general Strieker, Mr. Johnson and Mr. 
 Montgomery, we prepared to march with our arms: But we 
 were told that this could not be permitted on any account. We 
 observed that as the military had been before the door several 
 hours, and had not only submitted to insults themselves, but per- 
 mitted them to be continued to us, there was no reason to believe 
 they were able to protect us on the road. Mr. Hanson here ex- 
 claimed, "that the delicacy of his own situation prevented him 
 from saying much on the occasion — but this much he would say. 
 Alluding to these three gentlemen, [the ambassadors from the 
 mob,] he continued; I know these men, better than most of you. 
 There is no reliance to be placed upon them — they are not willing 
 to protect you, if they were able. Remember what I say, you 
 will all be sacrificad if you quit this house." Gen. Strieker, ap- 
 peared to be much hurt by these observations. He approached 
 gen. Lee, with whom the negociations had been chiefly carried 
 on, and extending his hand, said, "by G — d Mr. Hanson does 
 me great injustice. Gen. Lee, you are a soldier, and know the 
 value of a soldier's word. I pledge you my word and honour as 
 a soldier, that I will protect you to the utmost of my power, until 
 you are out of danger, from this mob." Mr. Johnson appeared 
 to be affected in the same manner, and exclaimed with consider- 
 able emotion, and a violent appeal to Heaven, <• that he felt his 
 reputation at stake in this business — that he was as much interest- 
 ed for us, as our wannest friends could be, and that he would 
 spill the last drop of his blood, before a hair of our heads should 
 be touched." Mr. M. was more cobi. He contented himself with 
 observing that such remarks were very unnecessary — that Miv 
 H. must see that every thing was doing which could be done, for 
 our safety. Gen. Strieker then proposed to form the military in 
 a hollow square, within which we should walk, each of us hold- 
 ing the arm of some respectable gentleman of the democratic 
 party. As a pledge of his own sincerity, he offered to walk with 
 Mr. IT. and took his. arm; if we declined this offer, he said he 
 must withdraw the military and leave us to our fates. 
 
 We proposed to send for carriages, and horses and ride to jail ; 
 but gen. Strieker after c;oinc; to the mob, said that was inadmissi- 
 ble—the gentlemen in the *trcci would not permit ir. 
 
 Thus we evacuated the housed accompanied by on!v three or 
 4 democratic gentlemen, instead of an equal mimbvr with ourselves, 
 OThad beeu prorc^ea. ImarcJied alone, with a pistol iu each uamfc 
 
50 
 
 . -\pecting to be sacrificed in tire streets. Of our treatment on the 
 march, 1 liave no disposition to speak < Some persons, from 
 whom better tilings might have been expected, called for the 
 " Rogues' March ;" and to that tune brigadier gen. Strieker, 
 with his detachment of the Maryland militia march, d to the jail 
 of Baltimore county, amidst the coarsest revilings against us and 
 the soldiery, and the most cowardly insults to the persons of some 
 df my companions. 
 
 It was probably about nine o'clock in the morning when we ar- 
 rived at the jail, where we were thrust into an apartment with 
 white and black criminals. We were obliged to rest ourselves as 
 well as we could on the floor, there being but two stools to sit 
 upon. Our military guard immediately left us and we saw no 
 more of them. About the middle of the day, there being very- 
 few persons round the prison, we called the jailer ant! told him 
 as we thought we could depart with safety, we desired to be li- 
 berated. He objected to this, and we urged, in addition to the 
 terms upon which we had consented to enter the walls, that he 
 had no commitment. He went to town to consult judge Scott, 
 and returned with a regular authority, as he said, to detain as, 
 and the information, that we should not be bailed. I know, from 
 the information of the person himself, a gentleman of as much 
 consideration as any in the city, that bail was offered for me, 
 and as many others as might wish to came out, to any amount, 
 and refused; although some gentlemen who resided at Fell's 
 Point, assured the judge that they knew the ring-leaders and 
 were confident they would break into the jail during the night. 
 This refusal of a right and violation of a solemn promise may 
 fee explained by the report of the committee, from which it ap- 
 pears that the mob received assurances that we should not be 
 hailed or suffered to escape. In the afternoon we were visited 
 by flic mayor. He and the jailer assured us that a sufficient force 
 would be within the jail for our protection. — Several ill-looking 
 fellows came into the cell with them, who looked about our room 
 i:ud at our persons very attentively. 
 
 flow much the mayor Blight have done for our safety, even at 
 .'his period of the day, and what were his anticipations respecting 
 'he events :. ; the night, maybe inferred from ' is circumstance,: 
 
 A young gentleman, named M'Cubbin, a relation of the may- 
 or's, was thrust into prison with us through a mistake, by the mob. 
 We informed the mayor and jailer that he did not belong to our 
 •party. He was suffered to remain with us until twilight, when he 
 was taken out, as we understood, by order of the mayor. 
 
 As soon as darkness commenced, the people seemed to spring 
 rem the ground like Roderick Dhu's soldiers: the jail was en- 
 compassed in an instant by a countless multitude, and the work 
 of destruction commenced. As we were at a considerable dis- 
 
51 
 
 tance from the outer doors, if, is not known what resistance was 
 made to them. They appeared to enter the outer doors without any 
 personal opposition after ineffectually beating with heavy hammers 
 a long time. Instead of the military guards which had been prom- 
 ised, it seems from the report of the committee that they were met 
 only by " the mayor and a tew others," and further that " the door 
 was opened by the turnkey." How long three massy iron doors 
 and one of wood might have resisted these attacks, it is not easy to 
 calculate : but in time they must have yielded. Asnothi'i* was to 
 be gained by delay, " the military" (which had been called out it is 
 understood with blank cartridges) having been previously dismissed 
 " by order of the general," with the approbation of the mavor, it was 
 well enough to deliver up the keys and abandon the men, who had 
 relied upon their solemn pledge* of honour and their official oaths. 
 
 Well may the committee startle at the scene of horror which now 
 ensued; well may they decline the task of describing atrocities 
 which must cover the Baltimore democracy with everlasting infamy, 
 which must make the names of the Baltimore police synonimous 
 with all that is unworthy, ignoble, cowardly, and treacherous. 
 They did not hesitate to publish the names of the gentlemen who 
 staked their lives in support of the dearest rights which a freeman 
 can boast, to rifle the pockets of the (apparently) murdered, to 
 misrepresent facts, to paliate enormities, and compel respectable 
 men to give the sanction of their names to an exparte, partial, and 
 garbled narrative. They have described one of the most alarming 
 violations of personal rights that ever occurred in a political com 
 munity, and which was perpetrated with circumstances of ferocious 
 barbarity the most inhuman that ever disgraced a civilized society, 
 they were to speak of a general wiih a military force under his com- 
 mand becoming the contemptible fetch and carry messenger of a 
 lawless mob, a Judge binding himself to the same gang not to bail 
 men whom he had acknowledged had committed no offence, and po- 
 lice officers delivering up their prisoners to be butchered and yet not 
 a sigh escapes them until they behold the mayor and turnkey con- 
 ducting the assassins to their unarmed prey, and hear the unavail- 
 ing prayers of the venerable Lingan that he might be spared to his 
 wife and children ! 
 
 We saw the mob beating at the iron doors at the extremity of the 
 entry through the grating of our own cell. As there was no means 
 of escape we prepared for the event with fortitude. Having but 
 four pistols amang us, it was thought adviseable not to use them : 
 but when our door should be forced, we agreed to rush upon them, 
 beat out their lights and then make our way as well as we could. I 
 placed my pistols on the stove and joined M>. Winchester who was 
 standing immediately behind Mr. Thompson and c%pt. Murray at the 
 entrance. The men at first went to the cell opposite ours, capt. M. 
 observed to his friends " it ? s a* pity they should kill the poor de Is 
 instead of us" and then cried out — ■" you are at the wrong door — . 
 here we are." Upo» coming fo our grate it was opened immediatly 
 
52 
 
 without the slightest difficulty or delay. This was the third iron 
 grate, besides the large outer door, through which they were to pass, 
 before they could enter our cell. Mr. Murray cried out " My lads 
 you had better retire ; we shall shoot some of you — To the various 
 replies^of " how will you do it" — you can't kill all of us," &c. he 
 said to one " I can kill you at any rate — with this pistol." The pre- 
 senting of the pistol seemed to appal the foremost for an instant. 
 We took advantage of their consternation and rushed upon them. 
 Fortunately their lights were extinguished at the first instant. My 
 two friends in front laid about them so effectually, that I reached the 
 front door without any other injury than a few blows with fists, and 
 owing probably to the crowd being so great as to prevent the use of 
 clubs. I was about to leap out, when Mr. Winchester was knocked 
 down by my side. I stooped to assist him and was seized by two 
 persons, who dragged me towards a corner, and exclaiming with hor- 
 rid imprecations that they would take care of me. This was in the 
 hall of the prison, from the cieling of which, or an upper staircase, a 
 lamp was suspended. They held me by the wrists for about ten 
 minutes, during which I saw several of my friends knocked down and 
 their blood scattered over the pavement — They either cut or tore off 
 my coat, leaving none of it on me but the cape and sleeves. Having 
 thus secured my' pockets, they tore my shirt leaving my bosam bare. 
 All this was done without any precipitation, and as I thought I re-* 
 cognized some of them as having been in the criminal court, and en- 
 gaged in other riots in Baltimore, at which I had been told I should 
 be " marked," I concluded that I was to be reserved for some more 
 refined species of cruelty. I made another effort, but just as I esca- 
 ped from their hands, I received a blow on my head which brought 
 me senseless to the floor. I was revived by some one jumping on my 
 arm and I fouud myself on the steps leading from the front door, with 
 my head downwards. It occurred to me to roll between them and 
 fall under them, the height not being very great. But while I was feel- 
 ing about, they cried out I was not dead and I received several severe 
 blows. They dragged me a few yards from the door and threw me on 
 aheap of palpitating bodies. Here we experienced the most bruta! 
 and indecent outrages. Gen. Lee, who was thrown across my shoul- 
 ders, a considerable part of the time, appeared to be in excessive pain, 
 and frequently cried out. His exclamations only excited new outra- 
 ges and curses. When any fresh recruits arrived, he was pointed out 
 as " the d — d old tory general." It was said that " he died true game 
 —huzzaing for king George to the last," and similar expressions, to 
 provoke further cruelty. They were very desirous to identify the per- 
 son of Mr. Hanson, who lay across my feet the greater part of the time; 
 and as he and myself were the smallest bodies in the heap, we were ri- 
 gidly scrutinized. They could not bear the reflection that he had esca- 
 ped ; and had they been convinced that he was the person they sought, 
 his death would not have satisfied them, but they would have torn 
 his heart out, as a ferocious monster of Baltimore, who is tolerated 
 in decent company, has since expressed her wish, and drank his 
 blood. 
 
5S 
 
 Exhausted by the fatigues of two nights and a day ; and sated, it 
 possible, with blood ; the cannibals would now have departed, had 
 not one of them proposed, as the tories had all gone to hell, to give 
 them a song. The proposition was hailed with acclamations, they 
 joined hands around us, and a song was sung, which appeared to 
 me rather tedious. The chorus, in which they united, seemed to 
 run thus : 
 
 We'll feather and tar ev'ry d — d British tory, 
 And that is the way for American glory. 
 
 Before anew verse was commenced, the Orpheus, who made these 
 beasts dance over our bodies, would propose three cheers for Jeffer- 
 son or Madison, or some such worthy of democracy. 
 
 The song was at length interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Hall, the 
 attending physician of the penitentiary; a democrat to be sure ; 
 but, unlike the generality of his detestable party, a man who fears 
 God, and omits no opportunity of rendering a kindness to his neigh- 
 bour. He addressed a man, as their leader (I think he called him 
 captain White;) he said he was as much of a republican as any ot 
 them— but his republicanism could not approve of such proceedings 
 —It was shameful to insult a fallen foe, and shocken to murder our 
 fellow citizens. He said much more to arrest their attention, and 
 concluded by assuring him that some of us were dead, and probably 
 mone of us would recover. Much dispute had arisen whether we 
 should be hung on trees, thrown into the Falls, buried in one pit, or 
 tared and feathered and carted through the city — but upon a sug- 
 gestion that the doctor sometimes wanted bodies to dissect, and that 
 we would be very good tory skeletons, we were very formally de- 
 livered over to him for that purpose. So pleased were they with 
 the notion, that some of them assisted in carrying us back to the cell, 
 which we had lately left. A few of them remained with us, glutting 
 their cannibal appetites with the sight of our wounds, and the sound 
 of our groans. Our worthy preserver, assisted by Drs. Owen, 
 Birkhead and Smith. Thomas Kell, esq. a gentleman whom I sup- 
 posed to be Dr. Page, of Fell's Point, and some others, then admin- 
 istered to us, such cordials as they could procure. Finding that Mr. 
 Hanson could move, I proposed to him to quit the prison instantly, 
 lest another place of safety might be provided for us, by the civil 
 and military authorities of the city. To this he acceded, and Mr. 
 Harry Nelson agreed to join us. We were accompanied by Dr. Ow- 
 en, and an unknown gentleman. At the door we shook hands and 
 parted, with scarcely a hope of meeting again. Dr. Owen was to 
 see them across the creek, and then rejoin me at a spot agreed upon. 
 But I was obliged to lie down occasionally, from weakness, and at 
 one period to conceal myself some time in a dark gulley, from the 
 observation of two persons on the opposite side of the stream — and 
 thus I suppose he missed me. At length, towards morning, I ar- 
 rived at a house in the neighbourhood, where I was treated with the 
 warmest kindness. The next day, upon hearing that the mob was 
 exasperated by our escape, a carriage was provided for me, and I 
 bade adieu to these scenes of licentiousness and perfidy. 
 
 J, E. HALL. 
 
54 
 
 Citij of Philadelphia , ss. 
 
 On this 27th day of August 1 8 12, before rhQ Michael Keppelc, 
 mayor of the city aforesaid, personally appeared John E. Hall, attor- 
 ueyatlaw, who being duly sworn, did depose and say, that the fore- 
 going statement is true, as far as the same relates to his own per- 
 sonal knowledge and observation. Witness my hand and seal this 
 Say and year aforesaid. 
 
 MICHAEL KEPPELE, Mayor, 
 
 Narrative of Otho Sprigg, Esquire, 
 
 On Monday the 27th of July last, I was in the hou3e of A. C 
 Hanson, Esq. with some gentlemen from the counties of Mont- 
 gomery and Frederick, and some residents of Baltimore, who had 
 assembled there for the purpose of resisting a threatened attack 
 upon the house. Muskets and ammunition were provided, and 
 the direction of the defence assigned to general Lee. 
 
 It was frequently mentioned aloud by the commander and a su- 
 baltern, and perfectly understood by all in the house, that they 
 were to act entirely on the defensive. Nor were the orders of the 
 commander to this effect disregarded. 
 
 Under the solemn obligation of an oath, I shall detail nothing 
 in the following narrative from hearsay — nothing which did not 
 come immediately under my personal observation, through the me- 
 dium of the senses of seeing and he'aring. 
 
 About eight o'clock, a number of persons assembled in front of 
 the house. Their conduct manifested strong indications of a de- 
 sign to do mischief. They were extiemely obstre perilous ; and 
 without the slightest provocation, began to pelt the house with 
 stones. — The doors and inside shutters belonging to the front of 
 the house were closed. The stones were hurled by the assailants 
 with such rapidity and violence against the front windows of the 
 second story, that some or all of them were spcadily demolished. 
 Some of the gentlemen who were within (particularly Mr. Han- 
 son) made an unavailing address to the assailants, importing, tliat 
 unless they desisted, those who where in the house would be com- 
 pelled, in defence of themselves, to fire upon them. This admoni- 
 tion was several times repeated, without producing any visible 
 abatement of the violence and fury of the mob. 
 
 Finding that no intermission of violence could be procured in 
 this way, Mr. Hanson, after warning the spectators to depart, 
 ordered the gentlemen in the upper story to fire over the mob. A 
 volley was discharged, which appeared to do no damage. This, 
 so far from repressing, aggravated the fury and exertions of the 
 mob. The house was assailed with still more tempestuous rage, 
 
55 
 
 the door forced, and ail the window shutters of the two lower sto- 
 rks broken. 
 
 J was stationed in a small room in the back part of the house, 
 with four other gentlemen, to defend it against an attack in the 
 rear. We were positively ordered to abstain from firing upqij 
 the mob unless they should surmount the enclosure. In the mean 
 time, an almost constant volley of stoned were discharged at us, 
 who were in the house and on the portico. I saw Mr. Henry 
 Nelson's gun stricken from his hands, at the end of the portico, 
 and himself receiving divers blows from the stones cast by the 
 mob. Still general Lee would not permit us to fire. Nelson, too 
 brave to desert, or even to complain of this post of danger remain- 
 ed in it for several hours, firm, and undismayed by the savage fe- 
 rocity of the mob, and the terrible tempest of stones by which he 
 was assailed, when he was summoned by me to aid in guarding 
 the door of the room where I had the command. t 
 
 The mob, after they had forced the front door, and broken the 
 windows, continued, for a while, to hurl their formidable missiles 
 with unabated vigor at the house, and those who. defended it. 
 At length, they rushed into the passage. I had, but a moment 
 before, been stationed by the general at the head of the staircase 
 to assist in the defence of it. The mob advanced along the stair- 
 case room. In company with one other I descended. When we 
 hail proceeded rather more than half way down, one gun was fired 
 at them in my presence. This had the effect of driving them into 
 the street. A Mr. Barney presently arrived with a troop of horse, 
 and there was a cessation of active hostilities on both sides. Not. 
 another gun was fired from the house. 
 
 Mr. Johnson, the Mayor, general Strieker, and John Mont 
 gomery, came to the house, separately, or together. They enter- 
 ed. The necessity of an evacuation of the house was streniou.-'v 
 urged by them, and resisted by Mr. Hanson. About eight o'clock 
 in the moring, however, the triumvirate succeeded ; and most os 
 the gentlemen yielded a fatal consent to be conducted to the public 
 jail, as a place of safety, under a guard of sixty militia. 
 
 I well remember, that the deputies who negotiated on behalf oi 
 the mob, made repeated, and mostsolemn assurances of protection. 
 They went so far as to pledge their sacred honors, that before the 
 mob should hurt any of the gentlemen, they should walk over their 
 dead bodies. — They also pledged themselves for the protection of 
 Mr. Hanson's property. Mr. Honson was, nevertheless, opposed 
 to the surrender. He seemed to anticipate the heart-rending and 
 tremendous result. We were, however, conducted to the prison. 
 On our march thither, we were compelled to endure every species 
 of contumely, insult, and indignity; two of the gentlemen were 
 badly wounded> while under guard, in their way to the prison. 
 Arrived at this asylum, wc were safely deposited in the criminal 
 
56 
 
 apartment, where wc were amused with a repetition of assurances 
 from general Strieker, that the mob should walk over their dead 
 bodies sooner then one of us should be hurt. These assurances, 
 however, did not appease the inordinate craving of hunger during 
 the day, which were alleviated only by the humanity of some gen- 
 tlemen of the town, no materials for this purpose having been con- 
 tributed from any other source. 
 
 It ought not to he forgotten, that we were told that we might be 
 released on finding bail. Mr. Boyd offered to become bail after we 
 were fairly housed ; but was told that we could not be admitted to 
 bail. — This circumstance, added to the appearance of a large, and 
 rapidity increasing assemblage of the sovereigns of Baltimore, in 
 the evening, without a prospect of the redemption of the solemn 
 and sacred pledge of the mayor and general Strieker, induced in 
 my mind some suspicion of foul play. Self-preservation is a pow- 
 erful stimulus to invention. Immured and unarmed, as we were, 
 and without any means of annoying the Briarean Monster, that 
 beset us, or of protecting and defending either ourselves or our 
 friends ; it struck me that each of us should adopt the best means 
 we could devise to avoid the projected immolation. Accordingly, 
 about the dusk of the evening, of the memorable 28th of July, I 
 quitted the appartment of my friends, and saught refuge from the 
 impending storm, among the dregs of society. 
 
 In the passage I encountered the turnkey. This was not a time 
 for deliberation. I immediately followed him softly into a room 
 occupied by some negro criminals. From thence I pursued him 
 with cautious steps into an apartment in the occupation of five 
 white culprits, with whom I remained. I found there another of 
 the gentlemen who had been conducted to jail with us, a Mr. Gra- 
 ham. 
 
 Whether the turnkey knew that I was following him, or whether 
 he permitted it under the impression that I was one of the criminal*, 
 I shall not pretend to determine. I wore a coat which was not my 
 own ; nor had he seen me in it before, if he did then. 
 
 Seeing so numerous an assemblage of enemies about the jail, 
 and no guard to protect us, I entertained no doubt that all of us 
 were doomed to bleed. Resigned to my fate, I threw myself upon 
 one of the prisoners beds and fell asleep. In a few minutes I was 
 awakened by one of the prisoners, and found that the mob had en- 
 tered the lobby of the jail, and were endeavoring to get through 
 the door, which let them into the passage, leading to the room of 
 my friends. Having entered the passage, they advanced to the 
 door of my room, which they struck three times with an axe. 
 One of the prisoners, a Frenchman, by the name of Du Prat, [I 
 shall never forget him !] exhorted them to use all possible dispatch 
 in releasing the prisoners, assuring them that they would form 
 an immediate junction with the mob. The mob paused, and yro- 
 
57 
 
 mised a compliance with this request, after they should do what 
 they wanted with the tories, provided the prisoners would inform 
 them where they were to be found. One of the prisoners pointed 
 to the door of Mr. Hanson and his friends. They approached it, 
 and, after stricking it more than once, it was opened, and a 
 scene of indescribable horror ensued. 
 
 The door of my apartment and that of my friends, were directly 
 opposite to each other, and separated by a passage. I had as- 
 sumed a disguise, which prevented a recognition of my person. 
 I had a red handkerchief about my neck, a white one about my 
 head, tied under the throat, and wore a drab, instead of a blue 
 coat. When the mob discovered they were at the wrong door, 
 they squeezed my hand with great cordiality, and promised me a 
 speedy liberation from confinement. 
 
 I saw many of my friends taken from the room, and most inhu- 
 manly beaten with bludgeons, swords, <§*c. Their helpless condi- 
 tion, the extremity of their sufferings, were sufficient to dissolve 
 a heart of adamant. My sensations can only be felt. Language 
 is inadequate to their description. My hear* - was pierced. I 
 threw myself upon the floor behind the door of my prison, where I 
 lay for some time, giving vent to the anguish of my soul in a flood 
 of tears. 
 
 From this state of prostration, I was called by one of the crimi- 
 nals in my apartment to the window. There is not a solitary ray 
 of compassion, or even of common humanity, to illuminate the 
 gloom of diabolical atrocity that shrouds the behaviour of these sav- 
 age ruffians. I saw them from the window, still beating, with 
 remorseless fury, the hapless victims of perfidious revenge, whom 
 they had dragged from the asylum ofa jail. Murder was succeed- 
 ed hy theft. I distinctly saw the mob take something from the 
 pocket of a victim, whom I supposed to be Mr. Wm. Gaither. He 
 opened it, told his comrade it was money, and inquired if it was 
 lawful to keep it ? He was answered in the affirmative, 
 
 The mob, or many of them, continued in and about the jail the 
 greater part of the night ; and, perhaps, during that period, they 
 never were absent from my door more than an hour at one time. 
 They inquired after the tories, and threatened vengeance should 
 they find them within. 
 
 Du Prat saved my life. He protested that none of the tories 
 were there, invited them to search, and offered to forfeit his 
 life if he proved to be deceptious. This would satisfy them for a 
 while. Many of them, particularly Irishmen, would tell them 
 to come away. « He is a Frenchman. He has no tories in with; 
 him." Thus things went on during the night. The next day. 
 they did not visit our door so often* 
 
58 
 
 In the hitter part of the night, the mob inquired particularly 
 lor several of Mr. Hanson's frifnds by name. But the next 
 morning the object of their search appeared to be young Mr. 
 . At a still later hour, (7 o'clock) they inquired particu- 
 larly for Graham and Sprigg. This they continued to do till 
 about 11 o'clock on Wednesday, when they were reinforced by 
 numbers, amounting, it is supposed, to about 300. During the 
 morning whenever they came, they swore that Graham and my- 
 self were there, and that they would have us. Du Prat, how- 
 ever, had always succeeded by presence of mind and address, in 
 sending them away. 
 
 When the reinforcement appeared, they crowded the jail about 
 my door, which they struck several times, swearing most vehe- 
 mently that Sprigg and Graham were there, and that they would 
 murder tl.rm. I was then concealed behind the door, and they 
 looking through the grating. This must have been a trying time 
 to the little Frenchman. — There can bo no doubt, that he would 
 have fallen a sacrifice to the resentment of the mob, if I had been 
 found under protection. If he had been an attorney -general of a 
 state, a commandant a brigade, or a mayor of a city, hs might 
 have proposed terms to the mob, and their victim might have 
 been handed over for sacrifice. But as he was an humble prison- 
 er, confined on a charge of felony, he had not yet lost all re- 
 gard for moral obligation. He had promised to protect me; and 
 he did it. By his address and courage, the murderous band were 
 again sent from the door. 
 
 As they retired, they swore that we were there ,* that their 
 numbers were not quite sufficient at present : but that towards 
 night they would bring a force sufficient to carry the jail on their 
 Shoulders: I sent for the jailer, and desired him to go or send 
 immediately for an attorney. He appeared surprised and not a 
 little pleased to see me ; and said that he would make application 
 to judge Scott and the Mayor, for authority to release me. He 
 took my real name, and Graham's, and was gone, I suppose, 
 about two hours. When he returned, he informed me that he had 
 an order from the judge and the mayor to release me as soon as 
 the mob would leave the house, and that he was directed by the 
 mayor and judge, to advise me to leave town as soon as possibly, 
 and I would be no further molested. 
 
 This was early in the afternoon — He left me, and I remained 
 in dreadful suspense till twilight, when I began to suspect that 
 my danger was equal to that of the preceding night. I was how- 
 ever called by the jailer, who told me to put on my coat and fol- 
 low him, saying the jail was clear. The door of the prison was 
 opened, and I followed him to the lobby or hall, in which I found 
 a number of persons. This occasioned some apprehensions, 
 which I communicated to the jailer. He said that my fate dc- 
 
59 
 
 pended on the moment : that to go out through them would be 
 dangerous ; but, to remain in the prison would be more so. 
 
 I took a round or two through the lobby, had some conversa- 
 tion with the jailer, and walked out unmolested, through a crowd 
 of rough looking men, who had collected at the door. I then 
 went home. 
 
 Graham left the Jail at the same time, at the opposite door. 
 
 OTHO SPRIGG. 
 Corporation of Fredericksburg, to wit : 
 
 Personally appeared before me, a magistrate of the corporation 
 aforesaid, Otho Sprigg, who made oath on the Holy Evangelist, 
 that the foregoing narrative is true. 
 
 Given under my hand, at the corporation of Fredericksburg, 
 in the Commonwealth of Virginia, this 17th day of August, 
 A. D. 1812. 
 
 GEORGE W. B. SPOONER. 
 Virginia — Corporation of Fredericksburg, ss. 
 
 I Robert Smith Chew, clerk of the corporation aforesaid, do 
 hereby certify, that George W. B. Spooner, gent, whose name is 
 subscribed to the above certificate, was at the time of subscribing 
 and still is, a magistrate in the said corporation, and that full faith 
 and credit is, and ought to be given to all his acts and deeds as 
 such. 
 
 In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name, 
 and affixed the seal of the said Corporation, this 18th day 
 of August, 1 812, and in the 20th year of the Common- 
 wealth. 
 
 ROBERT S. CHEW, C. C. F. 
 
 H 
 
60 
 
 Jit a meeting of the citizens of Georgetown, convened at the Union 
 Tavern, on the 7 th instant for the purpose of expressing theif sense 
 of the outrage recently committed in Baltimore, and declaring to 
 the ivorld their testimony to the virtues and worth of the late Gen. 
 LINGAN. — William Mar burt, Esq. being called to the chair, 
 and George French, Esq. appointed secretary. — The following 
 preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted. 
 
 WHEREAS the patriots who established the government, under 
 which it is our happy lot to live, devoted their exertions, and shed 
 ^heir blood, in order to protect the lives, liberties, and properties of 
 their countrymen equally against unbridled licentiousness and indi- 
 vidual violence — And whereas under our inestimable government, 
 deriving its power more from reason than force, outrages have beer* 
 committed against the lives, liberties, and property 01 the citizens, 
 which the civd power has been found too timid or unwilling to punish: 
 it has become the duty, as it is the right of the people, to express / 
 their opinions, and let their determination be known, so that practi- 
 ces big with danger to every thing that a man holds dear in life, may 
 be arrested in their progress with whomsoever they may originate, 
 or by whomsoever they may be promoted; and whereas we consider 
 the freedom of speech, and of the press (at once the peculiar privi- 
 leges of freemen, and the best support of freedom) as dreadfully en- 
 dangered by the lawless violence of a mob, as by the force of a despo- 
 tic power: 
 
 Therefore fesolved, That we view with the utmost detestation and 
 horror the conduct of the mob in Baltimore, which has at different 
 times, violently destroyed the property of our fellow citizens, and 
 then inhumanly murdered those who dared to make that opposition 
 to their cannibal fury, which the laws of nature and society concur 
 in approving. 
 
 Resolved, That we reflect with wonder and delight at the firmness 
 and bravery of Alexander Contee Hanson, and his little band of he- 
 roic supporters, in a recent encounter with wretches, who with more 
 than savage ferocity, attacked his life, destroyed his property, and 
 butchered those who clung to him in the hour of clanger. 
 
 Resolved, That the blood of our friends, inhumanly spilt on this 
 memorable occasion, ought to be avenged by the legal punishment of 
 the offending criminals. 
 
 Resolved, That in testimony of our deep sorrow, for the death of 
 Gen. Lingan; a sorrow doubly aggravated by the horrible circumstan- 
 ces of his massacre — we, the assembled citizens of Georgetown, who 
 remember with a melancholy satisfaction his endearing virtues while 
 he was our fellow townsman, will for the space of thirty days, wear 
 the customary badge of mourning. 
 
 Resolved, That a subscription shall be immediately opened for 
 the erection of a monument to the memory of the departed general. 
 
 Resolved, That when the civil power formed for the protection of 
 «ocial rights, either through lukewarmness or timidity, suffers thos c 
 
61 
 
 rights to be invaded or destroyed, their protection devolves on the 
 virtuous and brave of society, whose duty it is to rally round the law 
 and enforce its execution. 
 
 Resolved, That the attempts to destroy the liberty of the pres3 by 
 the mob of Baltimore, in pulling down the house and destroying the 
 press of the "Federal Republican," with the attending circumstan* 
 ces, far exceed in attrocity and violence the cruel murder by the des- 
 pot of France, of the German printer, Palm, for the free expression 
 of opinion; and ought to meet with unqualified detestation from every 
 friend to freedom. 
 
 Resolved, That although we confide too much in the good sense of 
 our fellow citizens to apprehend, any similar horrors in this quarter, 
 yet being conscious that a state of preparation for danger is the only 
 security fn times of peril like the present, should any such outrages 
 be attempted within our reach, we pledge our lives and sacred honor 
 to each other, and to society, that we will cheerfully and immediate- 
 ly obey the call of the civil power; but should that be too slow to re- 
 dress the wrong, we as faithfully pledge ourselves to rally round the 
 laws, and support and defend with our lives the injured rights of our 
 fellow citizens and the essential principles of our beloved republican 
 government. 
 
 Resolved, That Francis S. Key, Esq. be solicited to deliver an 
 oration on the death of our beloved friend and fellow-citizen James 
 Lingan. 
 
 Resolved, That a committee consisting of three persons, be ap- 
 pointed to carry the preceding resolutions into effect, and that the 
 following gentlemen compose the committee aforesaid — Thomas Pe- 
 ter, John I. Stull, and George Johnson. 
 
 Resolved, That these resolutions be published in the Spirit of '76 
 
 WM. MARBURY, Chairman. 
 
 George French, Sec'ry. 
 
 Boston, Aug. 7. 
 
 Yesterday was held a regular town meeting, and one of the fullest 
 we have ever seen, to take into consideration the subject of the alarm- 
 ing attack on the LIBERTY OF OPINION AND OF THE PRESS 
 IN BALTIMORE, at which after a very candid and eloquent discus- 
 sion, the resolutions which we publish, were unanimously passed. 
 A number of the republican party attended, and only two objections 
 were taken to the adoption of the resolutions; the first by Mr. Emes, 
 who thought the recommendation to the citizens to provide them- 
 selves with arms, was unnecessary as there was no danger, that the 
 peace of the town would be disturbed — the other by Mr. Blake, who 
 thought that one of the resolutions implicated the president of the 
 
63 
 
 United States. The first of these objections was replied to by Mr- 
 Sullivan, on an eloquent ami impressive subject of twenty minutes, 
 and the other by the hon. Mr.Livermore to the satisfaction, we believe 
 of the whole assembly. 
 
 The inhabitants of the town of Boston, have learnt with hearfealt 
 concern, that in the city of Baltimore, a most outrageous attack, the 
 result of deliberate combination, has been made upon the freedom of 
 opinion, and the liberty of the press. An infuriate mob has succeed- 
 ed in accomplishing its sanguinary purposes, by the destruction of 
 printing presses and other property; by pulling down buildings that 
 were merely leased to the conductors of those presses, by violating the 
 sanctuary of dwelling houses, breaking open the public prison, and 
 dragging forth from the protection of the civil authority, the victims 
 of their ferocious pursuit, guilty of no crime but the expression of 
 their opinions, and completing the tissue of their enormities, by 
 bruises, wounds and murders, accompanied with the most barbarous 
 and shocking indignities 
 
 In the circumstances attending the origin, the progress and the 
 catastrophe of this bloody scene, we discern with painful emotion, 
 not merelv an aggravation of the calamities of the present unjust and 
 ruinous war, but a prelude to the dissolution of all free government, 
 a?id the establishment of the reign of terror. It is beside, marked 
 with a strong resemblance to the early excesses of the French revo- 
 lution, when opinion was punished with death, and when mobs were 
 employed, in the breaking open of prisons and the sacrifice of many 
 innocent persons who sought protection within their walls. Mobs 
 bv redutng men to a state of nature, defeat the object of every social 
 compact. They are equally dangerous to the government they at- 
 tempt to subvert, and to those which condescend to court their sup- 
 port and connive at their outrages. But of all mobs those which vo- 
 lunteer professedly in support of government are the most to be 
 dreaded, unless their assistance is openly and promptly rejected. 
 By accepting or even tolerating such dangerous allies, it becomes 
 manifest that a government dares not confide in its own strength, or 
 in the unbiassed approbation of the people. Opposition is discourag- 
 ed to the violence of such a mob, because it assumes to represent 
 a:n' e * : ce the will and pleasure of the government, and the ban- 
 ditti, . - unreproved and uncontradicted lead the lawless multitude, 
 feel the confidence of commissioned officers. In such a state, the 
 civil magistrate finds an excuse for his inaction or a veil for his cor- 
 ruption. The sober citizen, who trembles in beholding the fury of 
 the mob, seeks refuge from its dangers by joining in its acclamations. 
 The laws are silenced. JNew objects of violence are discovered. 
 Danger besets all men of all parties in succession. The government 
 of the nation and the mob government change places with each other. 
 The accessary becomes the principal. The mob erects its horrid 
 crest ovei the ruins of liberty, of property, of the domestic relati- 
 ons of life and of civil institutions; until satiated or fatigued with 
 slaughter it resigns its bludgeons and its pikes at the feet of a dicta- 
 
63 
 
 tor, and raises its bloody hands to worship some god of its idolatry, 
 to whose more tolerable despotism all ranks of men become ready to 
 submit. 
 
 When it is considered that this country passed through a revolu- 
 tion, involving its dearest rights, without a single instance of fero- 
 cious and sanguinary excess on the part of the people; thereby af- 
 fording a memorable proof of their moral feelings their virtue and en- 
 lightened character. And when it is also considered that the pre- 
 sent unhappy war, so repugnant to the wishes ana feelings of an im- 
 mense majority of native citizens, does not involve interests in any 
 degree compatible with those which were at stake in our revolutiona- 
 ry war, it is derogatory and inconsistent with the American charac- 
 ter, that in the commencement of such a war excesses should be 
 committed which the virtue of our citizens would not endure in a 
 crisis when our liberties were in danger, and our country actually 
 ■ occupied and invaded by standing armies. We are therefore com- 
 pelled to believe that the outrages at Baltimore, were instigated by 
 foreigners, who in their own country, have been familiarized to si- 
 milar scenes, and that French emissaries are the principal agents, 
 and the few deluded natives who join them are merely instruments 
 in their hands* 
 
 While these alarming scenes in a sister state excite in us grateful 
 emotions towards the Almighty Disposer of human events for the qui- 
 et, peace, good order, and unanimity which we are permitted to en- 
 joy, it behoves us to exercise becoming vigilance for the preservation 
 of these blessings. Although a vast majority of the people of this 
 town and vicinity are deeply impressed with a love of order, and a 
 horror of mobs, we ought to have too much knowledge of the human 
 character, and too intimate an acquaintance with history not to 
 know, that a few unprincipled assassins may endanger the peace and 
 lives of thousands of the well disposed citizens. While such wretch- 
 es, who under the cover of night, attempt their enterprizes, are or- 
 ganized, united and systematic; the peaceable citizens, unarmed and 
 unconscious of danger, are without system and without plan — until 
 the scaling ladders of the mob are at their windows, and the torches 
 at their doors. THEREFORE, 
 
 Resolved, As the sense of the inhabitants of this town, that the 
 late horrible proceedings in Baltimore, hi first deliberately demolish- 
 ing a FREE PRESS, and the house in which it was established, the 
 repetition of that attack, after a long interval, the violation of the pri- 
 son which has ever been considered a sanctuary both for the inno- 
 cent and the guilty, and the barbarous massacre "of one or more citi- 
 zens there confined, for no other oftence than their having defended 
 their own dwelling, and the freedom of the press, after the civil au- 
 thority had neglected or refused to protect them, merits the most un- 
 qualified censure and calls forth the most alarming apprehensions for 
 t\\e eternal peace of our beloved country. 
 
 Resolved, That while we are not disposed to an unreasonable jea- 
 lousy of the constitutional authority, nor impute to our rulers, with- 
 
64 
 
 out full proof an indifference to the rights of the citizens; we cannot 
 refrain from expressing our regret that the president of the United 
 States, in whose vicinity and for the pretended support of whose mea- 
 sures the excesses were committed, has not thought proper to inter- 
 fere in anv known mode of their suppression: especially as the inter- 
 diction of shipments by the rioters, and other outrages, are violations 
 of the laws of the United States, and as the influence of his high sta- 
 tion would probably not have been slighted by these pretended sup- 
 porters of his authority. We still confide in the hope that the presi- 
 dent will not think it incompatible with his high station, to express 
 his disapprobation of these enormities. 
 
 Resolved, That we are alarmed, astonished and confounded to find 
 that a paper published at the seat of government, aud which is under- 
 stood on some occasions to be its organ, not only led the way to these 
 scenes of confusion, but has impliedly approved and justified them, 
 and that while no mention was made of this late horrible massacre in 
 which the blood of our oldest revolutionary officers flowed in the 
 streets of Baltimore, a severe commentary was issued in that paper 
 against the spirited address of a republican magistrate of New-York, 
 because he expressed his abhorrence of mobs. We will not admit the 
 conclusion which these facts would seem to warrant, that these mobs 
 are not discountenanced by the executive of the United States, we 
 would rather consider them of French origin and the first fruits of the 
 unnatural and dreadful alliance into which we have entered in fact, 
 if not in form. 
 
 Resolved, That it is the duty of every good citizen without dis- 
 tinction oi* party, to furnish himself forthwith with suitable arms and 
 equipments, and to hold himself ready at a moment's warning to sup- 
 port and protect the magistrates and sheriff of this county in sup- 
 pressing every species of riot, tumult, or unlawful assembly; whate- 
 ver may be the political opinions of the persons against whom the 
 same are directed; and that the hon. Daniel Sargent, hon. John Coffin 
 Jones, major William Sullivan, col. Henry Sargent, Joshua Davis, 
 esq. major Charles Davis, capt. John Cotton, capt. Henry Purkitt, 
 capt. Ozias Goodwin, major Joseph Tilden, col. George Sullivan and 
 capt. Jonathan Chapman, be a committee to prepare articles of asso- 
 ciation for this purpose, and to cause the same to be offered for signa- 
 ture to every citizen of the town: and to do whatever may be further 
 necessary to carry into effect the object of this resolution. 
 
 Resolved, That the said committee be desired forthwith to cause to 
 be assigned alarm po ts for each volunteer or other company of mi- 
 litia, and to fix and publish the signals of alarm, and to communicate 
 the same to the sheriff' of this county. 
 
 Resolved, That the selectmen of the town of Boston be and they 
 are hereby requested to take all proper and legal measures, which 
 may in their opinion be necessary for the preservation of the public 
 order and tranquility of the town. 
 
 Resolved, That we sincerely condole with the good people of Bal- 
 timore and Maryland, upon the loss of those highly respectable citi- 
 
65 
 
 2ens, who have fallen victims to the unhallowed fury of a foreign 
 mob:— we consider them MARTYRS TO THE CAUSE OF LIB- 
 ERTY; and to the survivers we offer an asylum from the rage of fo- 
 reigners, and our assurances of co-operating with them in any mea- 
 sures to save our country. 
 
 Resolved, That those outrageous proceedings are in our opinion, at- 
 tributable to the present wanton, impolitic, and unjust war; and are, 
 we fear, but a prelude to greater evils justly to be apprehended. And 
 that we perceive no refuge from destruction, but in a change of our 
 present rulers; and that we are ready to support in the election to 
 public offices, all those who are advocates for peace, without distinc- 
 tion of party. 
 
 Resolved, That while we abstain from all unconstitutional mea- 
 sures, we will maintain and exercise the freedom of 3peech and of the 
 press, until our latest breath — undismayed by the frown of power, 
 the glitter of arms, the threats of place-men, or the violence of mobs. 
 
 At a large meeting of the citizens, composed of all political deno- 
 minations, of Saint Mary's county, on Friday the 7th day of August, 
 1812, convened at Leonard Town for the purpose of expressing the 
 public feeling in relation to the violent and savage proceedings of 
 the MOB IN BALTIMORE: 
 
 Col. HENRY NEALE was callrdtothe chair, and JAMES FOR- 
 REST, appointed secretary, 
 
 When the chairman appointed a committee, consisting of the fol- 
 lowing gentlemen: — John Rousby Plater, Raphael Neale, Athanasius 
 Fenwick, Jas. Hopewell, and William C. Sovervill, who having reti- 
 red a short time, returned with the following resolutions, which were 
 unanimously adopted: — 
 
 We, the inhabitants of St. Mary's county, feeling the most anxious 
 solicitude for the preservation of internal tranquility, and viewing 
 with deep regret, the reiterated, lawless, and violent proceedings in 
 the city of Baltimore, deem it our bounden utlty to deprecate such 
 outrages, as destructive of the principles of allfi ee government, and 
 vitally ruinous to the peace, happiness, and tranquility of 'society, and 
 if not in time suppressed, leading to the worst of evils, universal con- 
 fusion and anarchy. 
 
 Resolved unanimously, That we regard with detestation and ab- 
 horrence, every assault upon private property and personal security, 
 and every assemblage tending to destroy the peace of society, that 
 we recognize in them the principles which desolated France during 
 her revolution, the embryo of anarch fiend, which if nurtured, may 
 lead to the extinguishment of our liberties. Therefore, Resolved una- 
 nimously, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the executive of 
 this state ought to take immediate and efficient measures to enforce 
 
66 
 
 obedience fo the laws and constitution, to cause the sacred privHeg&s 
 of the citizen to be respected; to bring to condign punishment all m- 
 stigators and perpetrators of such violations of the law; and to use 
 every constitutional means to prevent in future similar outrages from 
 Whatever quarter they may proceed. 
 
 Resolved unanimously. That all outrageous violations and disre- 
 gard of law, tend to the dissolution of the happy union of these stages, 
 that we regard the union as the ark of our political salvation; and 
 that we pledge ottr. prompt and cordial co-operation in carrying 
 into effect every measure that may be embraced by the constituted au- 
 thorities to secure its perpetuity. 
 
 On motion, ordered. That copies of the above resolutions, signed 
 by the chairman and secretary, be forwarded to the editors or the 
 Federal Republican and Maryland Republican, for insertion, 
 and that Raphael Neale, Athanasius Fen wick, Gerard N. 
 Garsin, James Forrest and Henry Gardiner, be a committee to for- 
 ward to the executive of this state, a copy of these resolutions. 
 By order, 
 
 HENRY NEALE, Chairman. 
 JAMES FORREST, Secretary. 
 
 PRACTICAL PATRIOTISM. 
 
 Chambersburg, (Fenn.) Jlug. 10. 
 
 ''The subscribers, Federal Republicans of the county of Frank- 
 lin, and state of Pennsylvania, friends of the LIBERTY OF THE 
 PRESS, inclined to support our fellow citizens in the enjoyment of 
 this liberty, and to manifest our opposition to every lawless attack on 
 it; and not yet sufficiently servile to be intimidated from the exer- 
 cise of our constitutional rights by the menaces of some of those who 
 style themselves "Republicans," do agree to become subscribers to 
 the "Federal RepubU"r.n t " a paper edited in Baltimore by Messrs. 
 Wagner and Hanson; to suppress which, law, order and government 
 have been prostrated in that city, by an infuriate mob, who with more 
 than savage cruelty, and in execution of their purpose, have doie a 
 deed unparalleled in atrocity — Not only have they made a most out- 
 rageous attack on the liberties, lives and property of the editors, but 
 in consummation of their villany have SHED THE BLOOD OF 
 MEN WHO HAD GROWN GREY IN THE SERVICE OF 
 THEIR COUNTRY.— Men that had "braved the tented field," to 
 achieve that independence, security and liberty, which their assas- 
 sins are now enjoying — men, whose aged spirits were still ready to 
 lend their feeble frames in support of the laws, and liberties of the 
 citizens.— And men, whose sufferings and death exhibit to a mv- 
 
67 
 
 rounding world the weakness of the law — the supremacy of the 
 assassin — the baseness and ingratitude of a people r.:i a land where 
 liberty was supposed to have her cradle, aaJ aw's it strong 
 
 hold.*? 
 
 A. Calhoun, Jacob Oyster, John Calhoun, P. Campbell, sen. 
 Matthew Wilson, James Sheer, Owen Aston, George Barnitz, 
 Jacob Snider, Andw. Dunlap, esq. David Andrew, M chael Greor, 
 Capt. B. Chambers, Jas. Fimllay, junl. T. H. Crawford, Wffi. 
 Reynolds, Maj. J. Holliday, John H. Lang, Elias Davidson, 
 Maj. H. Snively, W. II. Brotherton, Hugh Brothcrton, Samuel 
 Calhoun, Henry Ruthrauf, James Wilson, Alexander Scott, Ste- 
 phen Riglar, W^m. M. Brown, esq. Thomas Johns, Geo. Cham- 
 bers, esq. John Lindsay, esq. John Johns, James Hcndrix, Geo* 
 Hirst, Samuel Purviancc, John Brotherron, James Work, Jacob 
 Besend, John Maxwell, George Nigh, J. M'Clanahan, jr. Wm. 
 W. M<Donakl. 
 
 At a very numerous meeting of the citizens of Charles county, 
 of different political opinions, convened at the town of Port To- 
 bacco, on Tuesday, the 11th inst. for the purpose of adopting 
 such measures as would restore the sovereignty of the law in the 
 city of Baltimore, and to express an opinion as to the lawless 
 acts which have recently taken place — 
 John Campbell, esq. was appointed chairman — and 
 John B. Morris, esq. secretary. 
 
 Philip Stuart, Samuel Hanson, Clement Dorsey, esqsi and Gen. 
 Caleb Hawkins,* and Col. Francis Newman,* a committee to 
 prepare and report resolutions expressive of the object of the mcet- 
 tiig ; who, after having retired a short time, unanimously repor- 
 ted the following resolutions, which wore adopted, viz — 
 
 Resolved, That the right to investigate the measures of. the gen- 
 eral government is guaranteed by the constitution of the IT. States 
 to its citizens, as the only means of preserving our political free- 
 dom j and that every attempt, by the agency of a mob, to Impair 
 this right, tends directly to the prostration of our republican go- 
 vernment, and the erection of an horrible despotism. 
 
 Resolved, That we view with detestation every attempt to si- 
 lence the freedom of the Press., by a system of terrov aud wos- 
 cription. 
 
 Resolved, That the citizens of this state have a constitutional 
 right to pursue whatever profession or trade may conduce to 
 their happiness or profit, in iuvy section of the state ; and that any 
 attempt to impede this right is unconstitutional, and merits the 
 severest punishment. 
 
 + Democratic Repub'icsns 
 
 I . 
 
06 
 
 Resolved, That the citizews of this state, in the exercise of their 
 natural and legal rights, are justified, in the protection of their 
 property, to resist force by force. 
 
 Resolved, That the attacks made by the lawless and blood-thirsty 
 mob of the city of Baltimore, upon the office of the « Federal 
 Republican," were outrageous prostrations of the security guar- 
 anteed by our constitution to the property of our citizens. 
 
 Resolved, That the temper of licentiousness so long existing 
 there, which has humbled our state pride, violated the peace of 
 society, and feasted upon the blood of our revolutionary heroes, 
 has been nurtured by the indiscreet impunity yielded to its first 
 manifestations. 
 
 Resolved, That the recent assault upon the jail of Baltimore, 
 and the more than savage torture and murder inflicted upon our 
 unarmed citizens, resting in delusive security, under the plighted 
 protection of the civil authority, has disgraced our national char- 
 acter, weakened our confidence in the power of the law, and 
 must tend to prevent all emigration to our state, and cause the 
 banishment of our mercantile capital, and thus produce serious 
 injury to the agriculturist. 
 
 Resolved, That the governor of this state is intrusted with the 
 honorable and responsible task of preserving the peace of society 
 and enforcing the execution of the laws, and that a forbearance by 
 him to take prompt and constitutional means to suppress this 
 growing temper, to bring to condign punishment the perpetrators 
 of such barbarous deeds, would be utterly incompatible with the 
 duties of his station, the only object of his appointment. 
 
 Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting, that unless efficient 
 means arc taken either by the executive, or a convention of the 
 state legislature, to put down this system of terror and murder, 
 that this happy country will be deluged by all the horrors of a 
 civil war. 
 
 Resolved, That a deliberate and perfidious abandonment by a 
 Mayor and Brigadier General, of an agreement to protect the ci- 
 tizens who confided themselves to their care, would merit the ab- 
 horrence of all honorable minds. 
 
 Resolved, That as evidence of our respect for the memory of 
 the gallant Lingan, and of our regret for the prostration of the 
 laws in a section of the state, we will wear crape on our left arm 
 for one month. 
 
 Resolved, That we at all times hold ourselves bound by our 
 sacred duty to country, to be ready to repel any foreign invasion, 
 and to co-operate with our lives and fortunes, to perpetuate our 
 government of laws, established by the valorous achievements of 
 our fathers. 
 
 Resolved, That these resolutions be published in the Maryland 
 Gazette, the Maryland Republican, the National intelligencer, the 
 Federal Republican, and Snowden's Alexandria paper. 
 
60 
 
 Resolved, That colonel Philip Stuart, and Clement Dorsey, esq. 
 be a committee to wait on las excellency the governor with a 
 copy of these resolutions. 
 
 (Signed) J, CAMPBELL, Chairman. 
 
 John B. MORRIS, Secretary. 
 
 At a meeting of the citizens of Prince George's county, held at 
 
 Upper Marlborough, on Thursday, the 13th August 1812. 
 James Somerville, esq. was called to the chair — and 
 S. Addison, esq. secretary. 
 
 The following preamble and resolutions were reported by a 
 committee appointed for that purpose, and unanimously adop- 
 ted :— 
 
 Whereas, the bill of rights has declared, that the liberty of the 
 press ought to be inviolably preserved, and deeming it essentially 
 necessary for the security of freedom that it should be unawed by 
 power and unassailable by licentiousness, we have viewed with 
 abhorrence and indignation the attempts which have been made to 
 destroy this sacred right. Our indignation has been greatly in- 
 creased when we have seen that the civil authorities in this state, 
 instead of interposing their power in protecting its citizens in the 
 full and free enjoyment of this inestimable privilege, have been si- 
 lent spectators of the most atrocious enormities that ever disgra- 
 ced a civilized community. We have seen with emotions of hor- 
 ror not only the invasion and destruction of private property, but 
 the lives of our fellow citizens sacrificed by an infuriated mob, 
 with all the merciless rage of the savage Indian, while they were 
 nobly defending and supporting these rights which were guaran- 
 teed to them by our constitution — And whereas, this lawless force 
 commenced their outrageous violations of the law on the 22d June 
 last, and with impunity have repeated the most wanton acts of vi- 
 olence and bloodshed — believing as we sincerely do, that the liber- 
 ty of the press is the palladium of all our civil, political and reli- 
 gious rights ; that they must exist, or perish together — believing 
 that a succession of such outrages will not only lead to the prostra- 
 tion of the press itself, but to the destruction of every thing held 
 dear and valuable by freemen — We do, therefore, in the spirit of 
 that liberty, derived to us from the valour of our fathers, 
 
 RESOLVE, 
 " That all persons invested with the legislative or executive 
 powers of government, are only the trustees of the people, and as 
 such, accountable tor their conduct :" that therefore it is the right 
 of the people at all times, either by liberty of speech or through 
 the medium of the press, freely to examine into the measures of 
 
7® 
 
 government, to lay open and expose to the public the conduct of 
 their rulers, boldly to set forth and publish any delinquency or 
 mismanagement in their administration, that the people may see 
 and judge whether the government committed to their charge has 
 been wisely directed, and whether it has been conducted in such 
 manner and upon such principles as may best conduce to the 
 interest, the happines and prosperity of their country. 
 
 Resolved, That if the liberty of the press be subverted, it is a 
 matter of perfect indifference to us by whom. The consequences 
 are precisely the same, whether it be by the wicked ambition or cri- 
 minal relaxation of our rulers. The municipality of Baltimore 
 have the power, and it is imperatively their duty, to protect the 
 Citizens thereof, both in their persons and their property, against 
 alf lawless force and violence, and to secure to them the enjoyment 
 of all their rights and privileges — consequently, their failure to 
 curb the unbridled cruelty and savage outrages of the mob, merits 
 the severest execration and animadversion of all who duly esti- 
 mate the peace and good order of society, and evinces a criminal 
 acquiescence in a detestable usurpation of the authority of the 
 Jaws. 
 
 Resolved, That from a deliberate and impartial examination of 
 the report of the civil authority of Baltimore, we consider the 
 conduct of the Mayor and Brigadier General as distinguished 
 and characterised by perfidy and cowardice — perfidy, in not af- 
 fording that protection they had promised to unarmed men, who 
 had confided in their honor for the safety gof their person and se- 
 curity of their property — and cowardice, in being deterred by the 
 menaces of the mob from the execution of their duty. 
 
 Resolved, That the Executive of this state are the constitutional 
 guardians of the law, and conservators of the peace of Maryland : 
 and it is the duty to take care the former be faithfully enforced, and 
 the latter inviolably maintained — when they fail to discharge the 
 high trust confided to them, they still merit the severest censure of 
 their constituents. 
 
 Resolved, That as a tribute of respect to the memory of the brave 
 Lingan, who died in the defence of that liberty he fought to achieve, 
 it be recommended to our citizens to wear crape on the left arm for 
 the space of thirty days. 
 
 Resolved, That Francis M. Hall and Richard W. West, be autho- 
 rised and requested to repair to Annapolis, and to lay a copy of 
 these resolutions before his excellency the governor. 
 
 Resolved, That the. proceedings of this meeting be published in 
 the Federal Republican, the National intelligencer, and the Mary- 
 land Gazette. 
 
71 
 
 Via numerous meeting of the citizeu5ofMontgon.erycour.lv. com- 
 posed of all political parties, held at Rockvilie, on the 15 of Au- 
 gust, 1812, agreeably to public notice, for the purpose of taking 
 into consideration the late outrageous proceedings of the mob in 
 Baltimore, 
 Col. RICHARD ANDERSON was unanimously called to the chair 
 and Zadok Lanham, appointed secretary. 
 
 When the following persons were appointed a committee to report 
 resolutions on the subject, to wit : — 'William Carroll, Col. Thomas 
 Fletcher, Robert P. Magruder, maj. John II. Riggs, maj. Win. Wor- 
 thington, Abraham Jones, Esq. and Charles Evans — who, after re- 
 tiring, in a short time returned and reported the following pream- 
 ble and resolutions, which were unanimously adopted : 
 
 Whereas we live under a government of laws, which if properly 
 administered, can at all times maintain the peace of society, and af- 
 ford pi'otection to the rights of the citizen; and whereas, the con- 
 stituted authorities of Baltimore have suffered a lawless mob to rise 
 in their city at different times, and without prevention, to destroy 
 the property of individuals, and at length assail their lives with 
 unheard of circumstances of cruelty and barbarity ; and whereas, 
 by these outrageous proceedings a beloved citizen, gen. James M. 
 Iiingan,has been massacred, and the lives of many more put in ex- 
 treme jeopardy — therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That we view with horror and indignation the lawless 
 proceedings which have been carried on in Baltimore for the last six- 
 weeks against the liberty of the Press, ths security of person and 
 property every privilege which is assured by the social compact. 
 
 Resolved, That we regard the massacre committed upon our fel- 
 low citizens, who were placed in the prison of Baltimore for secu- 
 rity, under the most solemn oaths and protestations of defence and 
 protection from the civil and military authorities, as in the highest 
 degree derogatory to civilized society, and a blot which cannot be 
 effaced from the character of the emporium of the state. 
 
 Resolved, That by forbearing all interference for so long a period 
 to restore the reign of the laws, and to afford to the citizens that 
 security from injury, which is the direct and inost essential end of 
 government, the executive of this state has justly incurred the loss 
 of all confidence ; and ouv delegates to the next general Assembly, 
 are hereby requested, if they see proper, to promote an effectual 
 investigation of the cause of this alarming apathy, to the end that 
 it may be followed by the constitutional animadversion winch may 
 be found appropriate. 
 
 Resolved, That mobs are the sores of a free government, which if 
 at first disregarded, will immediately spread over the body politic, 
 to the prostration of the laws and the subversion of society : and 
 that we will ever hold ourselves pledged to use every exertion to 
 prevent them from taking root in our land. 
 
 Resolved, That when the constituted authorities, through weak- 
 ness or corruption, fail to give protection to the citizea, he has a 
 right to protect himself by armed forced, if necessary 
 
78 
 
 Resolved, That the Liberty of Speech and of the Press, ought to 
 be inviolably preserved. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this assembly are due to Alexander 
 C. Hanson and his heroic companions, who with unexampled bravery 
 and magnanimity risked their lives in defence of this Palladium of 
 our rights, this surest safeguard against the subversion of our con- 
 stitution, and the establishment of tyranny on its ruins. 
 
 Resolved, That we feel penetrated with the deepest sorrow for 
 the loss of our virtuous, brave and patriotic fellow citizen and friend 
 
 General James M. Lingan, who will ever be remembered as the ten- 
 er husband, the indulgent father, the honoured and beloved neigh- 
 bor, the brave revolutionary hero, the magnanimous patriot, who 
 loved his country better than his own life. — 
 
 Resolved, That in testimony of our love and esteem for his nume- 
 rous virtues, and in commemoration of the glorious cause in which 
 he expired, a Monument be erected to his memory, and that a com- 
 mittee be appointed to superintend the raising of subscriptions, and 
 to correspond with the committees appointed for the same purpose 
 in other places. 
 
 Resolved, That we recommend to the citizens of Montgomery 
 county to wear crape on the left arm for the space of thirty davs. 
 
 Resolved, That we feel deeply impressed with sentiments of gra- 
 titude to that Over ruling Providence, without whose superintend- 
 ing care those of our injured friends who survived that dreadful 
 night, could never have been preserved, amidst the dangers and 
 cruelties to which they were exposed. 
 
 Resolved, That Charles Gassaway, Col. Richard Anderson, Jas. 
 Lackland, Henry Howard (of John) and Ezekiah Linthicum, be a 
 committee to carry these resolutions into effect. 
 
 Resolved, That the foregoing resolution be signed by the Chair- 
 man, and attested by the secretary, and that they be published in 
 the Spirit of Seventy -six, Federal Republican, National Intelligen- 
 cer, and Fredericktovvn Herald. 
 
 RICHARD ANDERSON, Chairman. 
 ZADOK LANHAM, Secretary. 
 
 At a numerous and respectable meeting of the inhabitants of 
 Montgomery county, in and near Unity, convened at Chamber's 
 Tavern, on the 19th of August, 1812. The object of the meet- 
 ing being first explained by Mr. Thomas Davis. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Robertson, 3d, was called to the chair, and 
 
 Mr. Frederick Bowman, appointed Secretary. 
 
 The following resolutions wire unanimously adopted : — 
 
 Whereas, the numerous acts of daring violence, in the empori- 
 um of Maryland, afforded evidence of an extensive combination 
 to destroy the rights of the people, by silencing constitutional op- 
 position to the measures of administration, prostrating the press, 
 
73 
 
 violating the rights of property and person, and establishing a 
 system of terror and proscription, hitherto unknown in this free 
 country— and whereas, some of the best blood of the nation has 
 been inhumanly shed for resisting the usurpation and tyranny of 
 a mob, organized and directed by men, who are a dishonor to 
 their species, and a reproach to their country — and whereas, the 
 machinations ant! crimes of this merciless set have deprived us of 
 one of our most beloved and venerable citizens, whose revolutiona- 
 ry services and private and public virtues, endeared him to all who 
 haa an opportunity of knowing him ; — Therefore, 
 
 Resolved, that we hold in the greatest abhorrence, not only the 
 instigators and promoters of the mobs, by which the most unhal- 
 lowed and horrible enormities have been perpetrated, but likewise 
 those through whose connivance, apathy or breach of plighted hon- 
 or, those destructive outrages were committed. 
 
 Resolved, That we expect from the next house of delegates, as 
 the immediate guardians of our privileges, a thorough investiga- 
 tion of these disgraceful and alarming occurrences, that their 
 high authority may be firmly and perse veringly exerted to restore 
 the reputation of the civil community under their charge, by 
 bringing to justice in a fit and constitutional manner all instigators 
 and accessaries ; by making suitable provisions against any fu- 
 ture overthrow of the laws ; and by extending to the injured par- 
 ties such countenance and support, as may be a monument of the 
 magnanimous consideration of the state for those who have been 
 sacrificed. 
 
 Resolved, That we request the delegates from this county to 
 make application to the next General Assembly, for the grant of a 
 lot of public groand, in Rockville, to be vested in trustees forever, 
 for the purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of our late 
 beloved fellow-citizen, Gen. James M. Lingan, as a memorial of 
 his virtues, of his services in the glorious war of our revolution, 
 and particularly of the lastcharacterastic act ofliis life, which he 
 nobly devoted in protecting the sacred right of the people to a free 
 press, and endeavoring to preserve inviolate the rights of person 
 and property. 
 
 Resolved, That it be recommended to the inhabitants of this 
 county to wear some public badge of mourning for the space of 
 thirty days, for our venerable fellow citizen, General James M. 
 Lingan. 
 
 Resolved, That in case our friends and fellow-citizens, who de- 
 fended the house in Charles street, should be called to Baltimore for 
 legal investigation, we deem it the indispensable duty of the exe- 
 cutive to order out an adequate military force to repel any violence 
 that the mob may attempt against their persons, and we pledge 
 ourselves to obey with promptitude such rail of the executive. 
 
74 
 
 Resolved, That it be reconmciukd to every nr.'.n, capable of 
 bearing arms, to hold himself in readiness to support the constitu- 
 tion and laws of the state, against every species of usurpation and 
 turbulence, and we hereby, in the presence of God and our country, 
 pledge to each other our honor, that we will part with our rights 
 and privileges only with our lives. 
 
 Resolved, That our confidence in the patriotism and public vir- 
 tues of our fellow citizen, A. C. Hanson, esq. is increased ; and 
 we tender our thanks to him, and his gallant and meritorious asso- 
 ciates, for the undismayed valor and resolution, with which they 
 have maintained the people's rights and privileges. 
 
 Resolved, That in so doing, they exercised one of the most val- 
 uable privileges of freemen, in a manner marked no less by intre- 
 pidity, than by forbearance and moderation. 
 
 Resolved, That it be recommended to our fellow-citizens to 
 withhold all intercourse with the city of Baltimore, until order be 
 restored, and the laws of the state again respected in that city. 
 
 Resolved, That the inhabitants of Boston, the cradle of Liberty, 
 are entitled to our thanks for their sympathy in the occurrences 
 which afflict us — that we view with high approbation the manly and 
 determined stand they have made upon their rights. 
 
 Resolved, That this meeting is deeply penetrated by a sense of 
 gratitude to an all-wise and superintending Providence, whose 
 protecting care was discernable throughout the massacre, from 
 which so many of our beloved fellow-citizens were miraculously 
 rescued, and we believe it has pleased the Almighty to preserve 
 them for good and wise purposes, connected with his benificence, 
 arid known only to his infinite wisdom. 
 
 Resolved, That these resolntions be signed by the chairman, at- 
 tested by the Secretary, and published in the Frederick-Town 
 Herald, the Spirit of Seventy-six, and the Federal Republican. 
 
 S. ROBERTSON, 3d, Chairman. 
 Fred'k Bowman, Scc'ij. 
 
 At a numerous and respectable meeting of tnb people of Somer- 
 set county, Maryland, convened at Princess Anne on Tuesday, 
 the 11th day of August, by public notice, to take into considera- 
 tion the state of our affairs generally, and to express their senti- 
 ments of the late melancholy and shocking tragedy acted in Balti- 
 more; after a handsome and appropriate introductory address 
 from major A. I. Carroll, explaining the objects for which they 
 were convened — 
 
 Gen. Levin ^Yinder, was unanimously called to the chair, arid 
 
 CoJ. George Handy, appointed secretary. 
 
b 
 
 75 
 
 A committee of the seven following gentlemen was appointed to 
 draught and report resolutions'suitahle to the occasion : — Littleton 
 Dennis, senr. II. J. Carroll, George W.Jackson, James Murray, 
 Robert J. Henry, Thomas Bayly, and John C. Wilson, sen. 
 Thecommitte, after retiring n short time, returned and reported 
 the following resolutions, which were adopted without a dissent- 
 ing voice. Before the question was put upon the passage of the 
 resolution, Mr. Thomas Bayly explained at large to the meeting 
 the objects for which they were assemhied, and drew a spirited and 
 affecting picture of the late horrible affair in Baltimore. Mr. Lit- 
 tleton Dennis, sen. then rose, and in a masterly and luminous style, 
 depicted the present calamitous situation of our country ; entered 
 into a detailed history of the proceedings of the administration; 
 gave a most lively and affecting description of the outrages com- 
 mitted in Baltimore ; and ended by recommending a change of the 
 officers of government as the only means of effecting a change of 
 measures, and by pledging himself to oppose the re-election of Mr. 
 Madison. After the passage of the resolutions the meeting ad- 
 ourned. The utmost harmony prevailed throughout,' not a sin- 
 gle circumstance occurred to interrupt it. — Indeed the people 
 seemed to be animated b\ but one sentiment. 
 
 Whereas, the constitution and bill of rights of the state of Mary- 
 land, guarantee to the citizens the freedom of the press, and of 
 speech* and the privilege of assembling together, at all times, but 
 more especially in a period of great difficulty and danger, to con- 
 sult for the common good, to examine the conduct of their rulers, 
 and the tendency of their measures; fearlessly to warn their fel- 
 low citizens of the dangers which surround them, and to rescue 
 their common country from impending ruin — and whereas, the 
 privileges thus guaranteed to the freemen of this state have been 
 most wantonly violated by a mob hi the city of Baltimore, who 
 have triumphed over the majesty of the laws; put down the civil 
 authority ; destroyed the freedom of the press ; murdered and 
 inhumanly butchered some of our best citizens (two of them revo- 
 lutionary officers ;) have invaded and destroyed private dwel- 
 lings, and commenced a system of proscription equalled Only in the 
 bloody reign of Robespierre. 
 
 THEREFORE, 
 
 1. Resolved, That we are firmly attached to the purity, Sim- 
 plicity, and excellence of the constitution of the United States, 
 and ol this state, and will forever cling to them as t!ie l>cst. nulla- 
 dhutt of our civil and religious liberties. 
 
 K 
 
76 
 
 2. Resolved, That as good citizens we will obey and support all 
 existing laws, and will exert our best efferts in the defence of our 
 common country, against any foreign enemy whatever. 
 
 S. Resolved, that our free government was instituted for the 
 good of the people, that the officers thereof are the agents of the 
 people, and are at all times responsible to them, and that a state 
 of war does not destroy or diminish the rights of the citizens to 
 examine the conduct of the public men, and the tendency of pub- 
 lic measures. 
 
 4. Resolved, That we view as traitors to republican principles, 
 all who shall attempt in any wise to destroy or abridge the free- 
 dom of the press, the liberty of debate, and the constitutional pri- 
 vilege of freely animadverting upon public men and measures. 
 
 5. Resolved, That we view with detestation the sanguinary 
 and murderous proceedings which bave disgraced and tarnished 
 the character of the city of Baltimore, the great emporium of 
 our state, by a wicked and infuriated mob — who have lawlessly 
 trampled upon the civil magistracy of the city, prostrated the li- 
 berty of the press, invaded and destroyed private property, and 
 by proscriptions and threats have silenced the freedom of speech, 
 and we lament that the civil authority, aided by the military, 
 should tamely yield the government of that populous city to the 
 despotism of an insignificant banditti, and suffer valuable citizens 
 who had placed themselves under their guardianship, with the 
 promise of protection, to be inhumanly butchered. 
 
 6. Resolved, That the conduct of the noble few in Baltimore, 
 who generously offered their services, for the protection of the 
 person and property of a meritorious citizen, from the assault of 
 a savage mob, merits and receives our warmest thanks: that we 
 consider their surrender to the civil authority (setting a noble 
 example of subordination to the laws) as a most heroic self-devo- 
 tion in the cause of the constitution, and that as that authority 
 has been declared incompetent, the criminal court shut, and the 
 city declared in a state of outlawry by a grand jury, the execu- 
 tive of Maryland, ought immediately to cause the ringleaders to 
 be apprehended for trial. 
 
 7 Resolved, That the editors of the Federal Republican are en- 
 titled to the thanks of this meeting, for the spirited efforts they 
 have made to disseminate correct principles throughout the state. 
 
 8. Resolved, That this meeting sympathize with the afflicted 
 family of the deceased general Lingan, and condole witli the peo- 
 ple of Montgomery particularly, and of the United States at 
 large, upon the loss of so valuable a citizen. 
 
 9. Resolved, That the series of commercial restrictions im- 
 posed by our general government, have dried up the sources of 
 our revenue, impoverished our merchants and farmers, and at a 
 late precipitate and unnecessary declaration of war ; without a 
 
77 
 
 navy to protect thousands of our merchant ships now afloat on 
 the ocean — and the other necessary means of self-defence, too 
 plainly evince that our rulers are incompetent to the high trust 
 reposed in them, or totally regardless of the true interest of their 
 country. 
 
 10. Resolved, That having no confidence in our rulers, who 
 have destroyed the freedom of debate in congress, turned a deaf 
 ear to the repeated respectful petitions and remonstrances of an 
 injured and suffering people 5 we will use our utmost exertions, 
 in concert with the friends of peace and commerce throughout 
 the Union, to procure by fair and constitutional means the elec- 
 tion of such men as understand and respect our rights and inte- 
 rests, and who will again restore our country to the proud emi- 
 nence she occupied under the administration of the illustrious 
 Washington. 
 
 1 1 . Resolved, That to preserve the union of the states accord- 
 ing to the true spirit of the constitution, it is indispensable that 
 the government should be administered upon liberal and national 
 principles ; that the repeated and continual selection of a citizen 
 from a particular state, to discharge the high and responsible du- 
 ties of chief magistrate, has a tendency to give to that state an 
 undue and dangerous influence over the national councils; and 
 that in the approaching election of president, we feel it a solemn 
 duty to exert all the lawful means in our power to designate, and 
 elevate to the chief magistracy, one who shall feel no impulse in 
 his official acts, but the love of country, and who will know no 
 guide but the constitution. 
 
 12. Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed 
 by the chairman and attested by the secretary, and be published 
 in the different newspapers in the union. 
 
 LEVIN WINDER, Chairman, 
 Attest, George Handy, Secretary. 
 
 At a respectable meeting of the citizens of the county of Lou- 
 doun, held in pursuance of public notice, at the court house in 
 the town of Leesburg, on Thursday the 13th day of August, 1812, 
 to take into consideration the late riots in the city of Baltimore, 
 maj. Burr Powell was called to the chair, and Richard H. Hen- 
 derson, Esq. appointed secretary of the meeting, when the follow- 
 ing preamble and resolutions were submitted to the meeting and 
 unanimously adopted. 
 
 Connected with the state of Maryland, by geographical situa- 
 tion and by social as well as political ties, and with the city of 
 Baltimore, by commercial intercourse, the people of Loudoun 
 cannot continue silent spectators of enormities, hitherto unknown 
 in the United States of America, but through the narratives of 
 
78 
 
 foreign travels, or the history of distant nations. Enormities 
 which have driven into exile many of the worthiest citizens of 
 Baltimore, and spread among their remaining friends such terror 
 and lismay, that no satisfactory investigation has yet awhile dis- 
 closed their extent, character, and circumstances, bat which ob- 
 viously springing from the most detestable passions, and perpe- 
 trated by the most hardened instruments of guilt, unbluslungly 
 seek their justification, by impious appeals, through incendiary 
 presses, for public opinion. 
 
 For us, it suffices to know, that a vessel regularly cleared from 
 the custom house of Baltimore, under the law of the U. States, 
 freighted with the produce of our lands and labour, and sailing 
 for a foreign market, was forcibly turned from her course, 
 brought back Jo the port she had left, and dismantled by a mob, 
 which some presses have openly justified, and which no authori- 
 ty l-as yet awhile been exerted to punish. 
 
 That the Press and Printing Office of the Federal Republican 
 have been violently put down and levelled with the ground, by an 
 inconsiderable number of persons acting not only without re- 
 straint, hut apparently with the approbation of the civil authori- 
 ty, created for tuc preservation of order among forty thousand 
 people. 
 
 That five weeks after the destruction of the Press, the dwelling 
 house of one of its editors, while occupied by himself and many 
 of 'lis friends, assembled and armed for its defence from similar 
 outrage, was, by the same inob, assaulted, broke open, and 
 pandered, and the lives of its gallant, but forbearing defenders 
 immediately endangered, without an interposition by the civil au- 
 thority, of a force suiik ient to protect them, , 
 
 That, that authority, instead of dispersing the rioters, began 
 a negociation with them, which finally ended in conducting to 
 jail, the. defenders of whatever is most sacred among men — home, 
 liberty and life, and in leaving their ruffian assailants at large, 
 to re-assemble, and plan anew, the means of destruction for their 
 imprisoned victims. 
 
 That those generous captives who were led to a dungeon, 
 amidst the exulting and insolent shouts of a triumphant mob, 
 were induced to quit their habitation ; to abandon their lawful 
 purpose, its defence, and to surrender those arms on which they 
 had successfully relied for their security, in consequence of a so- 
 lemn pledge from the civil and military authority that they should 
 find in their temporary prison that safety from violence which 
 they bad sought in vain from the laws. 
 
 That, in fulfilment of this pledge, troops were ordered out for 
 the protection of the jail, with an express injunction to take with 
 them only blank cartridges (or cartridges without ball) an order 
 
70 
 
 which may, on account of Us obvious absurdity ; and many more 
 from a disinclination to the service, refused, or failed to obey. 
 
 That the few brave and faithful men who did assemble t<j pro- 
 tect the ail. were dismissed on the approach of night, by that very 
 authority which had solemnly pledged itself for the security of the 
 unfortunate prisoners, and this too, notwithstanding the fr iquent 
 and earnest remonstrances and entreaties of themselves and their 
 friends for additional forces to defend them ; and notwithstand- 
 ing also, the general consternation oi* the past day, in which a 
 criminal court and grand jury sitting in Baltimore, had, through 
 mutual alarm, suspended their important functions ; and groups 
 of agitated citizens were deploring the unhappy condition of their 
 degraded city, and apprehending some fearful calamity. 
 
 That night had no sooner descended on the devoted captives, 
 than they were aroused to their appraaching sacrifice, by a pier- 
 cing and horrible shout from their blood-thirsty pursuers. The 
 miserable emblem of authority who stood before the door, rather 
 as the pioneer of the mob than as the defenders of the jail, is, in an 
 instant, thrust aside : the outward door, through fear or treachery, 
 throw open by the keeper ', the sons of murder breakdown the 
 remaining barriers of defence; enter the cell of the disarmed and 
 unresisting captives, and a scene ensues of indiscribable horror. 
 The cries of «< down, down with them" followed by the feroci- 
 ous yells of savage triumph, are heard at a distance, across the 
 darkness and silence of night, mingled with the groans of misery 
 and the exclamations of despair. Neither the veneration due to 
 grey hairs, unsullied by reproach, nor admiration* for valor, nor 
 gratitude for patriotic services, much less claims of youth, genius, 
 and tearing, offered any protection from indiscriminate fury. 
 Those who escaped in the darkness and confusion of the night, 
 owe their preservation to chance, their own ingenuity, or that of 
 their friends, who, by degrees, though unarmed themselves, press 
 through the promiscuous crowd of ruffians and appalled specta- 
 tors. One of these witnessed the last moments of that patriot and 
 hero, the good, the amiable^ the Gallant General James Lingan. 
 Covered with bruises and wounds, he just raised his aged head, 
 and asked of the monsters, " permission to die in peace." when 
 one of them, with uplifted club, replied, "you damned old scoun- 
 drel a'nt you dead yet" and struck the venerable hero lifeless to 
 the earth. At the sight of this, a byestander fainted and fell 
 senseless in the arms of those around him. 
 
 Over these scenes of horror, we would willingly spread a 
 mantle, thicker than that of the awful night which witnessed 
 them, but that they disclose a truth necessary to be known, 
 though humiliating indeed, to every American heart, that man, 
 whatever we may have hitherto boasted in the favour of national 
 
80 
 
 partiality, is the same in the new as in the old world \ unrestrain- 
 ed by religion and by law, and impelled by sanguinary passions, 
 he is every were a monster, as ferocious and blood-thirsty as the 
 hyena or tiger !— Wherefore, 
 
 Resolved, Tlr.it in the opinion of this meeting the riots in the 
 city of Baltimore, with all the circumstances accompanying and 
 following them, arc a national calamity, involving in danger our 
 property, liberty, and lives, and tending to impair our hitherto 
 unlimited confidence in our laws, institutions and manners. 
 
 R< solved, That every press has a right, at all times, whether 
 of war or peace, to canvass freely the Wisdom, justice, or policy 
 of pah lie measures, and the character, conduct and motives of 
 public men, subject to no other restraint than that of constitutional 
 laws; and the late destruction of a free press, by the mob of Bal- 
 timore, is equalled in violence and atrocity, only by the cruel 
 murder of the German printer, Palm,* by the despot of France, and 
 ought to meet with equal detestation from every friend of fre; ;!om. 
 
 Resolved, That every man has an undoubted right, to defend by 
 force, against all illegal violence, threatening the security of either 
 his dwelling and his life; and that he is entitled to ask, and 
 morally speaking, to demand and to use the aid of his follow 
 citizens, and of whatever arms he or they can procure for the de- 
 fence and preservation of either, until that public authority, to whom 
 the law has especially confided the protection of every citizen, shall 
 render such private exertion no longer necessary. 
 
 Resolved, That no editor of a newspaper can honorably, justly, or 
 legally abandon that press, which he has bound himself, by express 
 contract with his subscribers, and an emplied engagement to his 
 country yet more solemn, to maintain, and te defend ; that every 
 violence offered to the person, property or dwelling of any such 
 editor, for the purpose of destroying or overawing his press, is an 
 outrage not only en his rights, and those of his subscribers but on 
 the vital principles of representative government; and that all those 
 who either publicly approve, or in any manner openly countenance 
 such violations of private right, lend the authority of their opinions 
 to the corruption of the best sentiments of mankind, and to the sub- 
 version of the soundest maxims of our happy constitution. 
 
 Resolved, That for any authority, civil or military, to negotiate or 
 arley with a lawless mob, unless it be for their surrender to the 
 aws, is at once, to acknowledge its incompetency to subdue or dis- 
 perse them by force ; that to treat with such mob, for the imprison- 
 ment of men who had committed no offence, was an act, if designed 
 to confound those citizens with public criminals, of insolence, in- 
 justice and tyranny ; if intended to lull them into fatal security, and 
 to disarm them of the means of defence, then, of atrocity surpassing 
 in guilt that of the sanguinary mob themselves; but if meant only 
 to secure the persons of those citizens from further injury, then most 
 ill-judged and uneccssary, because the defence of their house, would 
 have secured the safety of their property as well as their lives, or if 
 
 k 
 
81 
 
 that natural and legal assylum was deemed i neap ale of defence, Fort 
 M'Henry would have constitued at once a safer and more honorable 
 retreat for innocence. 
 
 Resolved, That the delay of the civil authority of Baltimore to 
 apprehend for trial the ringleaders of three successive mobs, and by 
 extinguishing the hope of continued impunity, to arrest their wicked 
 career, is an omission of duty irreconcileable to any principles of 
 humanity justice or policy ; for if permitted, for want of sufficient 
 force, to put down further resistance of the laws, an immediate 
 application should have been made to the governor of the state of 
 Maryland to supply the deficiency. 
 
 Resolved, finally, That we will ever cherish, with gratitude, the 
 memory of General James Lingan, who perished in defence of the 
 liberty of the press, a death worthy of the soldier who often hazarded 
 his life in defence of the liberty of his conutry; and that, for the 
 suppression of similar outrages, should any such be attempted 
 within their own reach, we pledge ourselves, our lives, and sacred 
 honor to each other, and to society, that we will immediately and 
 cheerfully obey the call of the civil power ; or should that be slow 
 to prevent or redress such wrong, which, we are not, willing to sup- 
 pose, we as faithfully pledge ourselves to rally round the insulted 
 laws, and to support and defend with our lives the essential prin- 
 ciples of our beloved republic. 
 
 BURR POWELL, Chairmau. 
 R. H. HENDERSON, Sec'ry. 
 
 At a numerous meeting of the friends of peace, inhabitants of the 
 Upper District of Kent County, convened at New Market, oa 
 Saturday the 22d. Inst, in pursuance of public notice, for the pur- 
 pose of taking into consideration the present alarming situation of 
 the country, and particularly of the late outrageous proceedings of 
 the mob in Baltimore. 
 
 Major Edward Wright, was chosen Chairman — .and 
 
 Mr. Gideon Pearce, Sec'ry. 
 
 Col. William Spencer, Col. Jervis Spencer, Captain Ephriatn 
 Vansant, Dr. Win. Briscoe, Edward Eubanks, and John Staops, 
 Esq'rs. were appointed a committee to draw up resolutions suitable 
 to the occasion — who after retiring for a short time, reported the 
 following, which were read, and passed unanimously. 
 
 Whereas, on the 22d. of June last, a lawless banditti of the 
 City of Baltimore, organized for the purpose, in the face of 
 the constitution of this state, which declares," that the freedom of 
 the press shall be inviolably preserved," entered and demolished the 
 office of the " Federal Republican'' a paper edited by native Ameri- 
 cans, and pre-eminently distinguished for sound republican princi- 
 ples, unshaken firmness, and truly American spirit : 
 
 And whe/eas, on the neglect of the civil authority to take any 
 effectual steps towards punishing the rioters, and protecting the lives 
 and property of the citizen?, the editors of the said paper were com- 
 pelled to defend themselves, and for that purpose to arm, and call in 
 
82 
 
 aid their friends, which by the la as aad constitution of this state 
 they have a right, to do : 
 
 And whereas, on the re-establishment of the said office, on the 
 26th of July, it was again violently attache:) by the banditti, and 
 one of the editors, with those who had generously associated with 
 him to defend it, were seized, stript ottheir arms, and commit- 
 ted to jail, with assurantes from the mayor ot the city, and the 
 commanding officer of the militia, that a guard would be provided 
 for their protection. 
 
 And whereas, these officers, in open violation of their promise, 
 repeatedly made, dismissed the troops marching to guard the 
 persons in confinement — on which the mob forcibly broke the jail, 
 knocked down and inhumanly beat the prisoners, one of whom 
 they put to the torture, with circumstances of savage ferocity, 
 that put m the shade the refinements of Indian cruelty, w ereby 
 "an indelible stain has been stamped on the American character : 
 
 And whereas, the bodies of Gens. Lee and Lingan, two distin- 
 guished heroes of the revolution, together with those of their com- 
 panions, after being mangled by the brigands in a manner too shoc- 
 king to relate, were piled in a heap, trampled on, and made the 
 sport of savage boys, and still more savage men : 
 
 And whereas, a principal share in those scenes was borne by 
 foreign renegadoes practised, as is believed, in the barbarities of 
 the revolutions and rebellions of Europe, from which they have 
 narrowly escaped, by flying to this country, the punishment they 
 most richly deserved for their many murderous and treasonable 
 deeds, committed in a trade they hopa to pursue here with more 
 success. 
 
 And whereas, unless the civil authority speedily interfere, it is 
 to be apprehended that these brigands, after pillaging Baltimore 
 and murdering the respectable inhabitants, will disperse them- 
 selves through the various counties of this state, spreading dismay, 
 carnage, and desolation, in imitation of the brigands of Paris, 
 whom they evidently propose as their model, and whom they 
 have copied<with such amazing success, as to excite a well groun- 
 ded belief, that in the very commencement of their career, they 
 willoutstripe the sanguinary acts of the Jacobins of France, when 
 in the maturity of crime, and, t( in the full tide of successful! expe- 
 riment :" 
 
 Resolved, That we view with abhorrence and detestation the 
 conduct of the mob in Baltimore, in demolishing the office of the 
 Editors of the Federal Republican, whose only crime was a devo- 
 tion to their country, and a resolution to sacrifice their lives and 
 fortunes in the defence of its liberties, and that we hail with gra- 
 titude, with warm and loud applause, the heroic exertions of Mr. 
 Hanson and his associates, in favor of the liberty of the press. 
 While such men live, we do not despair of the republic. 
 
83 
 
 * Resolved, That we contemplate .with mingled emotions oi'sor- 
 row and consternation, the extraordinary apathy, not to say de- 
 light, with which the constituted authorities of cur country have 
 witnessed the dominion of a mob substituted in the plate of tho 
 law. — We are at a loss to know to what honorable motive to attri- 
 bute the conduct of general Strieker and the Mayor of Baltimore, 
 in refusing to suffer the militia to guard the jail, after the most. 
 solemn assurances of protection given to the prisoners. ?\or can 
 we understand by what authority tire habeas corpus has been sus- 
 pended, and citizens of Maryland refused bail, alihom h charged 
 with no crime, unless to defend our lives and property be a crime* 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting are duo to Doctors 
 Hall, Owen, Birkhead and Smith, for their humane e? devours 
 to preserve the lives of Mr, Hanson and his friends from the fangs 
 of the mob. 
 
 Resolved, That we arc struck with astonishment and admira- 
 tion, at the unprecedented courage and presence of mind displayed 
 by Mr. Hanson and his associates, during their glorious contest 
 for the liberty of the press. Wc congratulate our country on the 
 state of recovery of those who have escaped fi'om the massacre, 
 and on the prospect of soon seeing Mi*. Hanson in the National 
 Legislature, a theatre worthy of his talents and patriotism. 
 
 Resolved, That the privilege now enjoyed by the city of Balti- 
 more to rob and murder, organize brigands., and establish tar qtii\ 
 feather societies, being suited onjy to the peculiar genius of that 
 place, ought not to be extended to the counties of this state, and wc 
 do hereby pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honour, 
 to assist each other by all legal means, against the usurpations oi 
 these infamous associations. 
 
 Resolved, That every honest citizen has cause to tremble for tin; 
 safety of the commonwealth, when Audacity haa reared its crest 
 to such a height as to deter f mm the discharge of their duties, and 
 drive from their chambers, a Grand Jury of the most opulent city 
 in this state, employed in the prosecution of offences, which they 
 were sworn to prtaent, and were proceeding to investigate, 
 " Good men look grave, and villains dance and leap." 
 
 Resolved, That we sincerely condole with our fellow citizens en 
 the death of General James M. Lingan, an iiUtstrous martyr in 
 the cause of the liberty of the press, who was murdered by the 
 cowardly and blood-Stained mob of Baltimore, while nobly con 
 tending, in his old ?gt\ for that freedom, in the defence of which 
 in his youth, he drew his sword and spilt his blood. His virtue? 
 and his services will live in the recollection of a grateful posterity, 
 while the story of his wrongs, which cry to Heaven forvenge ;>..icc r 
 
 L 
 
Si: 
 
 will consign to eternal cxe< ration, the perfidious men who betray- 
 ed and delivered him up to be slaughtered. ft 
 
 Resolved, That Mr. Signer is entitled to the thanks of this 
 meeting for the very distinguished firmness, zeal and ability with 
 which he has vindicated the rights of the press. 
 
 Resolved, That we view with tlie liveliest concern, the policy 
 for man> years pursued by the President and Congress of the 
 United States, of giving to the people' onl; extracts of the cor- 
 respondence with the French government in some instances, and 
 wholly suppressing it in others. We hope and trust that the fed- 
 eral representatives will persevere in their indeavours to procure 
 the publication of the proceedings of congress during the secret 
 sessions of i&OJ5-6<, 1810-11, that we may be apprized of the extent 
 of our danger, and the natuu^of the precipice on which we stand. 
 At this aw till crisis when the two hemespheres shake to their cen- 
 tre, we are at a loss to conceive for what purpose, communications 
 of the most vital importance to the country, have been withheld 
 from our view and our relations with the emperor of the French 
 for six years involved in impenetrable secrecy. "When the peo- 
 ple are deemed by their public servants unworthy of being entrus- 
 ted with the knowledge of facts deeply interesting them, we are 
 constrained to draw the most awful presages of our fate. 
 
 Resolved, That while we venerate and love the constitution of 
 the United States, and feel a pride, as republicans, in obeying 
 the laws, we disapprove of the policy of the present war — a war 
 interminable in duration and incalculable in expense of blood and 
 money, and which if prosecuted in our unprepared state will pro- 
 bably place us at the mercy and throw us into the arms of France, 
 the great political vortex which has swollowcd up all the repub- 
 lics of Europe. 
 
 Resolved, That whenever called on by the Executive of the 
 state, we will march with alacrity to repel foreign invasion, sup- 
 press insurrections, quell mobs, or execute the laws of our coun- 
 try. 
 
 Resolved, That the sentiment publicly avowed and advocated 
 by the party in power, that the people are incapable of judging of 
 the conduct of the administration, and ought implicitly to acquiesce 
 m their measures, however calamitous, is a revival of that mon- 
 strous doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance, which is 
 declared by the constitution of this state to be " slavish and des- 
 tructive of the good and happiness of the world," and is intended 
 to hide from our eyes the blind and infatuated policy of our 
 riders. 
 
 Resolved, That we will at all times exercise with firmness the 
 right secured to us by the constitution, of'freely/deiivering our 
 opinions of men and measures, unawed by the scowls of office or 
 
rhe denunciations of brigands, and thattfe will stand by and sup- 
 port each other against all unlawful atfcehiptstQ deprive us of the 
 liberty of speech, which is our birth-right, and one of the natural 
 and unalienable rights of the people. 
 
 Resolved, That those resolutions Jbe published in the Federal 
 Republican, and the People's Monitor. 
 
 EDWARD WRIGHT, Chairman. 
 
 GIDEON PEARCE, Secretary. 
 
 The originals of the following letters, tye, alluded io in the pro* 
 cseding report, remain in the Maypr's Office. 
 
 MOUNT PHILIP— Sunday. 
 I am somewhat surprised not to have heard from' you my dear friend. 
 The late infamous enormities in Baltimore, and the scandalous submission to 
 the prevalence of an atrocious, damnable mob, have .filled me with equal in- 
 dignation and astonishmeut. We have heard here no explanation of the cir- 
 cumstauces, but what poor Hewes has at length ventured to state. What I 
 ask is to be done ? Unless tine people are immediately roused, and the Federa- 
 lists are immediately rallied, all opposition to the ruling - policy will be unnerv- 
 ed, and the influence of these satanic outrages in Baltimore will spread 
 through the State. As yet, I think and trust that our friends here feel and 
 would act as they (ought to do. What I feel myself you may sec in "yes- 
 terday's Herald, under the signature of Leonidas. If it is deemed a suitable 
 appeal, I wish those editors whom you know, to republish it, or to publish 
 something* themselves to manifest proper feelings of indignant decision and 
 sympathy. It is a most awful and fearful consideration, if the press can be 
 thus prostrated and silenced, we are further gone in the road to perdition than 
 I thought possible. I have for some time withdrawn from active politics, 
 and disused to write or harangue. But any thing in that way of exertion that I 
 can do, shall be done ; in short, any thing, but being a candidate, or what is 
 the same thing, deserting my family. 
 
 Had you not better shew yourself in this neighborhood as soon as you can ? 
 I think it, on your account, a highly advantageous moment to confirm and 
 strengthen the favorable impression already made ; and for the sake of the 
 common good, it may be advisable to confer with your friends in this qurter, 
 who are resolute and enthusiastic. L;c me, at all events, hear from you with- 
 out delay. 
 
 / am zealously and frilly yaws, 
 
 J. H. THOMAS, 
 A. C. HANSON", Esqr. Rockvillk, Moxtcomf.tit. 
 
 [Post mark — "Frederic let own, 2oth June*'] 
 
 Wednesday Evening 
 I am accidently in town. I have not written to you, because I hoped ; :i a 
 few days that I should talk with you. Hut your letter has infused a thrill of 
 ecstacy into the recesses of my hear!;. I had received one from Harper — it 
 was not such a one as I hoped for — although he is every thing that I could wish. 
 Bat his letter was rather a damper— it str.^d that you had given up Baltimore 
 for the present, and were to recommence hi Georgetown. God bless you my 
 dear noble fellow. 
 
 Four's most truly, 
 
 J. II. THOMAS. 
 A. C. HAXSOX, Esqr. Rockvili,", MoTnxionrEi'v. 
 
 [Post mark — "Fredericktown, \5th Ju'-T] 
 
 MOUNT PHILIP, 20th July. 
 My dear fbieitd — The reason why I have not written to ow by every mail, 
 -rill appear by the distcssing circumstances of our situation, as I shall state it 
 
86 
 
 to you. I do not believe you need give yourself any udeasiness about the dis- 
 closure of the plin — what 'feath heard I apprehend was rather conjectural than 
 any tiling- else— certain it is, no communication has proceeded from me to that 
 lady, or any <me else, 1> which the matter could he known, lint divers ru- 
 mors have prevailed here on the subject. It has been said that the re -establish- 
 ment of the press was nclinqu.vsb.ed altogether, then it is said you are t<% 
 re-commence in Georgetown only, and have issued a prospectus, to that effect. 
 'i'] 1( . other day I heard from Shaw, that somebody from Baltimore had said, that 
 the paper woul 1 he renewed there. Put I believe the general idea was, and s» 
 \vas the tenor of Harper's letter to me, that Baltimore would be altother aban- 
 doned. Yesterday, however, it was stated as coming, I believe, in a letter 
 from ! ? r. Alexander to my father, that the foreman of the office had said, that 
 the paper would re-appear before the first of August. 
 
 It is probable the lady alluded to having heard somejof these reports, con- 
 nected with Col- Lynn's declarations, who talked reel" and boldly to every one 
 he met with, she has imagined the rest. But at present I hear nothjog said as to 
 your particular views, the miMr curiosity being for the time absorbed in the 'ate 
 of our little squadron, and the public interest here being at this moment much 
 engaged in the in-g ■•thering of harvest. The moment I received your letter 
 l$st week, 1 wrote a note to Col. Lvnn, enclosed to his brother at Cumberland, 
 M'iiom I desired to forward it bv express. Whether ronsidered as pledged to 
 y;o with you or not, .1 shou'd consider it a duty to offer, and if I know my own 
 heart, it wofild afford it the liveliest gratification. I am sure you know me too 
 well to imagine that .lam feigning .excuses ; but I will state the circumstanes 
 by which I am precluded, and I think 1 might leave it to Lingan, Anderson, 
 L nn, Head:, and yourself, as the most honorable court martial that any man 
 could wi h for, to decide, not simply whether I am excusable for not going, 
 but ''"nether I should not be inexcusable for attempting to go at this moment. 
 
 The mere parade of going down, unless to remain with you for real service, 
 would be id e ; and might be embarrassing — and it is likely, if I could set off, 
 I should soon be recalled by an alarm the most serious and hazardous. You 
 will recollect to have heard that last summer an accident had nearly deprived 
 me of my wife. 
 
 There will be some difficulty in fixing the day for the Liberty meeting, so as 
 to suit us. I shall be gone to Virginia in a few days, and the week after next 
 will be court. You will be at Baltimore, of course, all next week. Captain 
 Campbell, I understand, as he told' me he would the other day, was to go to 
 Liberty, I believe on Saturday last, to make arrangmc.its. I have not heard 
 from him, but he is ardent, and we entirely accord in the expedience of the- 
 thing. Frosn a particular quarter, which you will immediately guess, I appre- 
 hend lukewarmncss and indifference However, whenever the day is appointed, 
 I shall act independently, if necessary, and^you will be informed of the time, so 
 that under any circumstances we must make a violent effort to be there. I want 
 to shew you a prompt, sensible letter I received from Mr. Stoddert, as to the 
 feasibility and necessity of electing John Marshall as the next president. An- 
 other letter from our friend Alexander lu«pes that yon will avoid unnecessary 
 personal abu*« in the newspaper, and desires me to second this advice to you — 
 upon which, sir, all 1 have to say is. that as to what is so much descried as 
 abusej you must be the oest and only judge yourself as to what is necessary 
 and unnecessary. 
 
 Remenalv > me affectionately to jflpur wife and children. Mary desires her 
 lcve to them. Most truly and affectionately vour's, 
 
 J. H. THOMAS. 
 
 P. S. — Write mc a particular detail of all your operations. Tell our excel- 
 lent friends Lingan and And rson, that upon reflection it was deemed best to 
 wait the answer from Baltimore, before publishing our letter; and the answer 
 from Harper, with other considerations which 1 Will s.tatc to them, determined 
 me not to offer it Wn- publication, I am nat certain that Thompson would dare 
 print it, feotwithaUiKljwg what he was itida . ' o - e'ri -^'-- ago 
 
8? 
 
 I learn from others, (having.no communication with him myself,) and indeed I 
 learn from his paper, that he has given up to his own apprehensions or the in. 
 fiuence of certain modercs- Uhti) the Federal Republican revives, we have no 
 press in Maryland. God grant it a speedy, permanent and honorable resurrec- 
 tion. 
 
 Alexander Co?i(e Hanson, esq. IiockviHe, Mantromert). 
 
 CUiffeEKLAND, .July 15, 1512- 
 Dear Sin— Your note of the 15th inst. under cover to my brother, was de- 
 livered bv him to me, on mv arrival hero last evening^ 1 am sorry; sincerity so. 
 tha; I was not apprised of -Mr. Hanson's plan of taking possession of a house in 
 Baltimore, in order to re-establish the Federal Republic -in ag am, at i ) short; a 
 day vs on Moo lav week, that is, to-morrow week. I am now from home since 
 Thursday morning, and cannot possibly reach there again until to-morrow n'ght, 
 on account of business that is too urgent to neglect, I also feci much indis- 
 posed on account of a cold and head-ache ; but rest assured 1 will hurry home 
 with a 1 possible speed, and it is possib'e I wi'l join those gatjarit spirits, going 
 on the noble enterprise ; perhaps th- most so since the revolutionary war. Time 
 hardly ever was so precious with me. I have at this time several contracts res- 
 pecting cattle on hand, that must, be complied with : some of them one hundred 
 miles beyond me ; and I yesterday received 2090 dollars here for the purpose 
 of making the necessary payment next week, or I shall perhaps lose my credit 
 and the cattle in the bargain. 
 
 Put it may be possible for me to get some one to do the business for me. The 
 most difnc -it part is the cattle I have not seen and vahied ; and who to get that 
 is a competent judge, I cannot as vet think of. My friend, you now see some 
 of the difficulties under which T labor;— more, an I of a very serious nature-, I 
 could detai', but it is unnecessary I repeat, that if it is possible, I wi'.l with' 
 heart and soul join the band; nothing in this wo^ld, at present, would afford 
 me more real pleasure than to assist in the noble undertaking; Secrecy and 
 trreat caution will be necessary until the party are actually in possession of the 
 house. In the first place, there ought (accbrdiing to the size of the house) to be 
 a full quantity of gallant men to detent it at ever,- door, window, &.c. muskets 
 with the bayonets, and a plenty of good pistols, with a large store of amfhuni. 
 tion. I^et there be a plenty of buck shot provided for close work, an 1 when 
 thev*reach closer still, (which will never b», I believe, but it is always best c 
 be well prepared) I would advise that a store of tomahaws or hatchets, with 
 dirks for every man, be provided. If we are thus prepared, and they can neither 
 lire the house nor starve us out, the gafrisbn will never be under the necessity 
 of a surrender I have thus throwm mv i< ? <ia~ together in great haste ; should 
 they do no good, tjugv will not injure. ' t / pi rich caution cannot he made use 
 of. I repeat again, if it is possible, I will be with you in time ; but should it 
 not be in my power, I hope I shall stand excused. I hope there will be no wafit 
 of young snldic-s, and those commanded by such men as Lingan and Anderso- 
 cannot fail of success. In haste, I am your's sincerely. 
 
 JOHN LYNX. 
 
 P. S— Lathing hatchets would be a good substitute for tomahawks, if the- 
 cannot be had. 
 
 John Hanson Thomas, esq. Frederick -t:-:vr.. 
 
 Friday Evening. 
 
 Deah Hanson- — The inclosed letter from Col. Lynn was brought to me las] 
 
 evening. — Notwithstanding what J wrote to you by the last mail I had s ' ill en- 
 
 tained a faint hope, which I would nr>t express, that I might be able to join 
 
 you, or meet the party on the road to Baltimore. 
 
 » * • * * 
 
 Rati cannot express the solicitude I feel in your enterprise,' and the regie', 
 he mortificotion, in not beinpjpble to a^s ; r,t in it. I have equal conn lence . i 
 your conduct and courage. You will act advisedly and take care, should it be- 
 oome necessarv not to u«e force, that j« dea I'v force-, until the attempt of the 
 wsaikmts will justify yon '' the eve of the '■"■'■- ; for I wish your trump'! in 
 
as 
 
 cr.se of a resort to exttom'tjes 1o be certain and compete si that you shall be 
 sustained, in . event, bi the laws of ihc land, us well as t!-.e principles of 
 honour. You. -s ver\ affectionately, 
 
 J. H. THOMAS. 
 Post-mark — "tfredevickiawn, M*d. 2'UJl July* 
 
 FtredertcVtoitml Jubj 21, 1S12. 
 
 Sin — It was my intention to have done myself the nleasa of calling on you a 
 few Hays since a 1 e court hou;e, but was daprived bi indisposition, I foi<fa> 
 the manner in Which you h '■ If I c:r.i be of any service to you 
 
 'it any time you may command me. 1 \v>H lose rrty Life for you. 
 
 0THO H. \\. LtJCBETT. 
 A. C. Hanaon, Esq. 
 
 Aiootgomery court house, M'd. (no date) 
 
 Georgetown, Thursday morninr. 
 
 Death Srn — The d;iy before yeste: laj T sent you a rough sketch of part of 
 the observations far the first paper'; having 1 no letter from Mr- Allison and 
 none of the apparat lis . ! w: ate to him to send on the people and 
 
 come himself I-exfteCt him tq dav. 1 had made an arrangement with Hind to 
 print the paper, if . ihould be reduced to the necessity of resorting to any 
 other office than pur own- But last evening he communicated his retraction 
 of the accommodation ; assigning'as a reason, that the post master, in whose 
 buildings the office is kept, was fearful it might injure him at the palace. I 
 suppose the true reason to be that ais ftihd is a very timid man and holds the 
 situation of a clerk in the hank of Columbia, he is afraid of meeting the dis- 
 pleasure of John Mason. Still he offers every facility by using- his types & hands 
 and loaning impress, to be t. ken down and chew here. From all I can learn a won- 
 derful apathy prevails among the fecleralis.s respecting the Federal Republican, 
 and some have co. racted an aversion to its publication, lest they may be in- 
 volved in inconvenience or broil. This is a state of things radically different from, 
 what was impressed on me ever before. I am, however, flattered that this re- 
 pugnance is no more than a species of delicacy which will yield as soon as the 
 paper is set agoing. We shall soOn reduce this to the test of experience. Un- 
 der present circumstances it is not probably that we shall be able to publish on 
 Monday; and until I see Allison it is impossible for me to approximate the 
 time. It is reduced to a certainty, that without our own office we cannot get. 
 afloat. This is so important to your arrangement, that I have sent the letter 
 by express, to apprise you cf it before you left town for Fdlicott's, and also to 
 request your assistance in obtaining from Mr. Gaitber a lease of the house at 
 die coVfter next to Crawford's, and which was the property of the late colonel 
 Cai'he' - hy whom it was purchased from Gov. Lee. Should we not be able to 
 get ft, it is doubtful whether we would suit ourselves in the town. Some places 
 hitherto expected to be obtained, would not answer our purpose and others 
 we. could not procure. 
 
 So much idle conversation has been had respecting the power and the inclina- 
 tion of the navy yard to imitate the example of BaHimbrfe, and the injury the 
 establishment of the paper will occasion to the interests of the town, that wc 
 could not ha\«e a choice of houses which are to be let. Harry Gaither's uncle 
 has the right to leape the house I allude to, and Harry himself can do in it as 
 he likes best. If is proposed to lease from him the whole except the lower 
 story, which is occupied as a grocery store. We ought to pay him S150 per 
 annum which is all that it is worth, but rather than be disappointed we might 
 go as high as 200 dollars. It never has ha ! a tenant, except at in a gambling 
 season, it is occupied for a few weeks by blacklegs and whores. To 
 enable us to get the paper as soon as possible, I could wish to have 
 Mr. Gaither's writeli permission to error it sometime to morrow. 
 An united Irish roan is the grocer wise lives below ; but though the 
 upper part has no connexion by passages with his room?, I jun appre- 
 
89 
 
 hensive that he and the Rigg's will intrigue to keep us out. Yon 
 will therefore be prompt in your application and obtain for me an 
 indisputable authority to warrant my entry into it. I have received 
 a letter that says the host of the mob are chop fallen, and that the_ 
 mayor himse'f has been presented by the grand jury. Should this 
 prove true, it evinces a determiiiatir:> in them which must have 
 been procured by fear, that the interests of the city were ruined or 
 only to be retrieved by a resolute and indiscriminate prosecution of 
 fpall offenders. — Very respectfully, J. WAGNER. 
 
 Georgetown, July 23, 1812. 
 Dear Sir — With the assistance of Col. Marbury, I have sur- 
 mounted all the difficulties mentioned in my letter by express. You 
 may therefore count on receiving the paper at my house in Baltimore 
 on Monday morning and go on with your arrangements accordingly. 
 Marbury says, that the croaking is confined to democrats, and a few 
 federalists, who by means of jobs and dependance upon the execu- 
 tive, are labouring in the promotion of its views. In him we shall 
 have a valuable and steady supporter in all our undertakings. I 
 am sorry he had not been in town before. I hear nothing from. 
 Allison in answer to my letter, from which I conclude that he is on 
 his way by water with the rest. Yours \cry truly, 
 
 JACOB WAGNER, 
 A. C. Hanson, Esq. 
 
 By these presents I assign and let over io A. C. Hanson, Esq. in 
 consideration of one dollar, to me in hand paid, all my right title 
 and interest, of, in and to the dwelling house in S. Charles-st. which 
 I leased from Mrs. White, in Baltimore, with all the rights, privi- 
 ledges and appurtenances. Witness my hand and seal, this twenty- 
 third day o: July, 1812. JACOB WAGNER. 
 Witness fienjl B. MackalL 
 
 Georgetown, July 25, 1S12. 
 Bear Sir — The bearer carries you the paper which he will deliver 
 you by day break. God send you success and "glory incase of an 
 attack. Yours very sincerely/ JACOB WAGNER, 
 
 A. C. Hanson, Esq. No. &$ t Charles-Street, Baltimore. 
 
 .ilexandria, July 20 — 12* 
 Dear Sir — The short, distance between the place of your asylum 
 and this towu invites me, my mind always anxious to meet you 
 especially since the late disgraceful, and to you destructive scene 
 in Baltimore) to mount my horse for Montgomery, but circums- 
 tances interfere which frustrates my wishes. 
 
 Besides as soon as I hear from Richmond, expected every day, 'I 
 must go to Baltimore where I ought to have been on the 1 6th,' but 
 where I cannot go until I am prepared. 
 
 You mean to return and re-establish your press; this decision, I 
 presume comports with your interest and is called for by due res- 
 pect to ' sores" political by acrimonious Tom, when his pen was 
 
 * This letter has no signature bat it is supposed to have been written by 
 •en£rat Lee. 
 
90 
 
 directed by truth, and not by ambition. They* must not be allowed 
 to take root in our land, or soon will our tall trees be abrupted from 
 their foundation. 
 
 It is possible, I fear probable, that your return to Baltimore will 
 be followed by a repetition of the past — This cannot but occur to 
 
 Jrour own mind and must produce a determination to resist to the 
 ast. 
 
 Vain is such determination unless accompanied by preparation to 
 defend yourself. 
 
 Select a house for your business capable of defence — place your 
 family under the same roof, and collect a few resolute friends, some 
 of whom shall always be in the house throughout the day and all 
 throughout the night. 
 
 Put in the most retired loom in the upper story, cartridge 
 made of the best powder, with ball and swim shot, these with a 
 number of spare flints chosen with care, reserve for the hour of 
 trial, if that hour should come. Prepare also cartridges with 
 small shot to apply wherever it can be done without encouraging 
 the mob by their experience of their innocence — collect a ton or 
 two of large stones in your cellar, place some of them close to the 
 windows over the outer doors o'* the house, to he rolled down on 
 the assailants when forced forward through the pressure of those 
 behind. — Water and biscuit be sure to have in abundance. 
 
 Appropriate to every story aporiiofa of your friends, assigning 
 to each story a leader — let them iiot be crowded, or you not only 
 unnecessarily risk tnch* lives but you injure your ability to defend; 
 in a safe upper room hold all the supernumeraries bi leisure, ar- 
 ranging to them the supply of cartridges, Hints ®and muskets, as 
 accident may render necessary. 
 
 Appoint a chief to direct the whole, and inculcate not only pro- 
 found silence throughout the house, but let every order be given 
 in a low voice, this compels your own men tobe silent and atten- 
 tive and withholds from the assailant knowledge useful to him. 
 
 The defenders of the house must be posted on each side of "very 
 window, all of which except in the lower story must be hoisted, to 
 prevent wounds from the shivering of the glass by the balls, those 
 below ought also to be opened if the ground admits it. 
 
 In case of forcing the outer doors and entering the lower story, 
 be ready with chairs, tables and bedsteads to stop the staircase, 
 which defend. 
 
 Should the iniquity of the mob render it proper for you to : 
 adopt my advice remember that you ought not to provoke their 
 action, that you ought to require in time the aid of the civil au- 
 thority, and that you having began defence, must never even think 
 of concession. — Die or conquer. 
 S. C. Hanson f Esq. Jlockville, Montgomery county, M*tl 
 
91 
 
 My Dear Sir — I have nothing but bad news to give yoil from 
 this quarter as to your plan. John H. Thomas I have seen, and 
 he expresses much regret at having to goto Virginia to-morrow 
 or next day with his wife, who he says is very sick. He read to 
 me a letter from col. Lynn, from which I am very much inclined to 
 think Ljrnn will not be with you, as he has pressing engagements 
 at home. Robert M'Pherson I am told is sick and Sprigg has en- 
 gaged no other. This plan is here public, and I believe George 
 Baer and others have named the very day for its execution. 
 When the scheme was first mentioned to me, I stated my objec- 
 tion to it. I believe to you as well as to others. The very same 
 reasons which I urged against it to Crabb and Kilgour on Sun- 
 day, my brother has urged to me here, enforced by others which 
 on the whole I have thought irresistible. I presume none have 
 entered into this plan, supposing for a moment that there could 
 beany danger after the battle was over; but upon conversing 
 with my brother, he seems clearly of opinion, that to fire on the 
 assailants before other means of putting ti\em out of the house* 
 have been used, would be unlawful and subject us to the punish- 
 ment of manslaughter. Thus in protecting the laws we should 
 be violating them. To wait until the mob have entered, would 
 not do, because then numbers would overpower us; nor do I con- 
 sider this a part of the plan as developed to me; beside with a de- 
 mocratic judge to direct a democratic jury, as to the law, he con- 
 siders our conviction of murder as far more than probably. 
 
 I consider myself to have been engaged to incur risk in the bat- 
 tle only, and nothing beyond this. I consider you to be acting 
 with the same purposes, and therefore hope you will take the ad- 
 vice of Harper, and of those men in whom you most confide. 
 This I ask for your own sake, and of those friends who have not 
 taken the same view of the subject as I have. My opinion is 
 formed upon authorities thai I hare looked into uit/i my brother, 
 and if such were not my opinion, I would not act contrary to his. 
 Undtr these ciscumstances I have concluded not to go on to Bal- 
 timore, as I could not act in such a plan. — I hope you yourself 
 will take a fuller view 01 the subject. If the mob should rise to 
 pull down the press in Georgetown, the mayor or the magistrates 
 may and vyill be induced to do their duty. We shall then act un- 
 der the authority of the law, and the feelings of the people will 
 go along with us; but this wiii seem too much like a plan to pro- 
 voke an attack, that we may take into our own hands the sword 
 of justice and you know that this the law will not allow,. With 
 respect, $-c. <$v. Your obedient servant, V. TAN.EY. 
 
 Fredericklowiu July 24. 
 
 M 
 
98 
 
 The following are the legal opinions annexed, by Mr. Hanson to his 
 address tolhe inhabitants of his congressional district. 
 Oui opinion is requested upon the following points : 
 
 1. Whether Mr. Hanson and his friends, under the circumstances 
 m which they found themselves in Baltimore on the 27th of July 
 last, were justifiable in law in repelling by force the attack made 
 upon them, and killing the assailants upon the ground of self-de- 
 fence. 
 
 2. Whether the presentment against Mr. Hanson for man-slaugh- 
 icr, and the indictment which will be found on it, can disqualify 
 mm i;i the law for a seat in congress. 
 
 On the first point we hold it tofbe clear law : 
 
 1 That Mr. Hanson had a complete legal right to exercise in Bal- 
 timore the business of publishing a newspaper, or to distribute it 
 there when published elsewere ; being liable to indictment if he 
 published an} 7 thing contrary to law. 
 
 2. That every man, in the prosecution of his lawful business, has 
 a right to defend his house and person by force if necessary, against 
 unlawful violence, and to provide himself before hand with the 
 means of defence, if he should have good reason to apprehend such 
 violence. 
 
 3. That consequently, as Mr. Hanson had good reason, from what 
 t)nd happened to his office to apprehend such violence, he was justi- 
 fiable in law in furnishing himself with the means of repelling this 
 'violence,, should it be attempted. 
 
 4. That the attack on Mr. Hanson's house having been made 
 with stones and other dangerous weapons, and with the avowed 
 purpose of breaking and entering it, for an unlawful object ; and 
 the house having been actually broken and in part entered before 
 any resistance was made, or any provocation given from within, 
 he and those with him had a legal right to kill the assailants in 
 self-defence; that being the sole remaining mean of protecting 
 their own persons from violence, and indeed of saving their own 
 Jives, 
 
 The second point is too clear to admit of the least doubt. The 
 constitution inexplicit. It prescribes the qualifications for a seat 
 in congress, and consequently the disqualifications. To those 
 found in the constitution none can be added; and to be under pre. 
 scntment or indictment for any crime whatever, Is not one of the 
 disqualifications to be found in the constitution. Even conviction 
 for an infamous crime would not be a disqualification ; though, if 
 the crime were committed, and perhaps if the conviction took 
 place, after the election, it would be a good ground of expulsion. 
 
 But an indictment is only an accusation, the truth or falsehood 
 of which is to be established at the trial. To admit a mere ac- 
 cusation which may on trial appear to be false, as a disqualifica- 
 tion for a citizen to be elected as a member of congress, would be 
 equally contrary to every principle of justice, law and common 
 
93 
 
 sense. It would be also of most dangerous tendency. Very 
 slight testimony will often induce a grand jury, and properly too, 
 to put a man on his trial, by finding a bill against him. No de- 
 fence can be made before them. The party accused cannot ap* 
 pear or produce his witnesses. Consequently the grand jury, 
 for the most part, can hear but one side. Even where they send 
 for witnesses to explain the matter more fully, it will often re- 
 main doubtful ; and if the facts or the law appear doubtful to 
 them, they have a right, and perhaps it is their duty, to find a 
 bill ; to the end that a more complete investigation of both may 
 take place, in the trial before the court and petty jury. 
 
 It is easy, therefore, to perceive, how readily a candidate might 
 be excluded by profligate competitor, if an indictment were a dis- 
 qualification. A single false witness, fabricating a plausible tale, 
 might induce a grand jury very honestly to find a bill; and this 
 bill would disqualify the candidate. Nothing of this sort hasr ta- 
 ken place, or can be suspected in the present case; but a princi- 
 ple so liable to abuse ought not to be admitted. 
 
 It is, however, sufficient to state, which we do with confidence, 
 that the constitution and the laws preclude every idea of such a 
 disqualification. ROBERT G. HARPER, 
 
 PHILIP B. KEY. 
 WALTER DORSEY. 
 THOMAS BUCHANAN. 
 
 Baltimore, Sept. 3, 1812. 
 
 Raltimore, Sist Jiugu$t,i8l2, 
 
 Dear Sir— You inform me, that « an assertion has been made? 
 that the affair in Charles street, would render you ineligible to 
 congress, that this assertion, should it gain ground, may injure 
 your election," and request from me my legal opinion on the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 While the grand jury were inquiring into the transactions, which 
 happened in Charles street, and the consequent events. I avoided 
 unnecessarily expressing my opinion, relative thereto, consider- 
 ing it improper that sentiments, on one side or the other, should 
 be published, which might influence the conduct of the grand jury 
 in cases under their investigation. 
 
 But on the present occasion, as a misapprehension of the law 
 might perhaps, prevent your election, to the prejudice of the con- 
 stitutional elective rights of yourself and the citizens of your dis- 
 tricts, I feel no objection to give you my opinion on the subject 
 
 The proprietors of the Federal Republican had a clear constitu- 
 tional right to print and publish, their newspapers, without obtain- 
 ing the permission of any person for that purpose ; of this no 
 person can possibly doubt. They had no right, it is certain, to 
 
force any person to take, or to read their paper, but tins they nr 
 ver have attempted. They had a right to procure a house in 
 which they, or any of them should dwell, as long as was thought 
 proper, for the purpose of distributing their papers therefrom ; 
 this no man of commoft sense and common candour can deny. 
 
 If in their newspapers they published any thing, illegal and 
 criminal, the editors were answerable in a legal mode of proceed- 
 ing against them, but in no other manner. 
 
 No principle of law is, or can he made, more clear and certain, 
 than that, if you apprehended your house would be illegally at- 
 tacked, or that* while residing therein, your person would be in 
 danger of illegal violence, ytu had a right, nay, it w t jg your duty 
 to collect your friends, in defence of your house, and of your per- 
 son j and they had an undoubted right to assemble in your house 
 for thegdefence of it and of you; nay, in so doing, they acted meri- 
 toriously. And that you and they acted justifiable in opposing 
 those who ritously made the attack upon your house, even though 
 it was attended with the death of some of them, will never be de- 
 nied but by those whose passions and prejudices have got the bet- 
 ter of their gsod sense and legal knowledge. Nor can any but 
 such ever think that your conduct in Charles street, where you 
 were supporting your and their essential rights, can render you 
 less worthy to represent them in congress. 
 
 But there is a presentment against you for manslaughter. And 
 what then ? Can this be an objection ? Neither the constitution, 
 the laws, reason, nor common sense, prevents a person from be- 
 ing chosen member of congress on account of his being presented 
 for any crime. Otherwise the political enemies of a candidate would 
 have nothing more to do, than to obtain a presentment against 
 him, however unjust it might be, and thereby deprive him of his 
 constitutional right to be elected ; and the citizens of his district 
 of their constitutional right to be represented by him. I am dear 
 sir, sincerely yours, LUTHER MARTIN. 
 
FUNERAL ORATION. 
 
 The following is a sketch of Mr. Custis's Address, delivered on tic 
 1st September, revised and corrected by himseif, from notes taken 
 on the ground. Who can read it and not drop a generous tear for 
 the wrongs and sufferings of LINGAN, and feel indignation at 
 the systematic persecution of his gallant survivors and partners 
 in sufferings, cruelty and oppression?— -[Fed. Repub.] 
 
 SHALT, the stranger, my friends, attempt to speak your hero'd 
 praise ? I never fed at his board, I never drank of his cup, nor did 
 the cheerinf smile of welcome ever meet me at his hospitable thresh* 
 old. Then sure no motives of partiality can influence the sentiment* 
 which I am about to utter in behalf of one whom I never knew. Yet, 
 as the brave man who fought the battles of my country's liberty is to 
 tie the subject of my praise, as the illustrious citizen who died in 
 defence of one of the dearest rights which freemen can boast, is to 
 be the hero of my tale : I can only say, my friends, that were my 
 powers commensurate with my zeal, I would hope, on this day, to 
 do honor to his memory. 
 
 By what standard of patriotism shall we try our Lingan ? Shall 
 we try him by the standard of modern patriots ; mushrooms of yes- 
 terday, who have grown up from the soil, first fattened by the blood 
 of heroes: or rather, shall we try him by the illustrious standard of 
 seventy -six ? Look to the mighty period which " tried men's souls," 
 look in the embattled ranks of liberty's host, and there will you find 
 your Lingan ! Witness the dreadful combat at Long Island, where 
 the famous Maryland regiment, after bearing the brunt of the day* 
 were nearly annihilated and cut to pieces : Again behold him at the 
 storming of F^jt Washington, and then you may change the scene. 
 You have yet only viewed your friend, the gallant soldier in the tent- 
 ed field. You must now behold him the wretched prisoner in the 
 dungeons of the prison ship ! There, while listening to the groans 
 of expiring humanity ; there, while beholding his brave brethren dy« 
 ing by inches in all the horrors of captivity and want, well might 
 your Lingan say : Sweet, oh my country ! should be thy liberties, 
 when they are purchased at this monstrous price ! 
 
 Yes, my friends, in that very prison ship was your Lingan a suf- 
 ferer, which, even at this late time of day, excites the warmeat sen- 
 sibilities in the American bosom. You have seen our brethren perforin 
 a pious pilgrimage, to the spot where the victims were lain ;* you 
 
 - — 
 
 * The orator here alludes to the funeral ceremonies in New- York, when the 
 Tammany Society, and citizens of the same political denomination, caused the 
 bones of hundreds of Americans, who had perished on board the Jersey prison' 
 ship, to be collected from the beach and buried beueath a nj<?nuai«jit prepared 
 
 N 
 
90 
 
 have seen them rake up the bones which six and thirty years had 
 bleached, and interred them with all the pomp and solemnity of woe. 
 Aye, and I trust my country will yet find a tear to hallow the memory 
 of the brave old man, who died in defence of one of the dearest rights 
 those immortal sufferings have procured ! 
 
 When the war had ended, your Lingan retired to the shades of 
 dpmestic life ; happy in the conscientious reflection, that his services, 
 and sufferings had contributed to rear the Temple of National Free- 
 dom, to found the glorious empire of laws. There, in the relative 
 duties of a Father, a Master, a Neighbour, and a Friend, was the 
 gallant veteran most nobly distinguished. Say ye who best can tell, 
 was he not the kind, indulgent Parent ? the good Husband ? the 
 faithful Friend ? the upright honorable man ? " If there be any one 
 in this assembly who will deny this praise, now let him speak, for 
 him have I offended ;" and if it were further necessary to enquire 
 into the merits of this excellent man, know that they were stamped 
 with a seal, which bore the name of WASHINGTON ! — Yes, my 
 friends, your LINGAN and your WILLIAMS were each appointed 
 in the early formation of the government, to offices of honor and 
 trust, by that immortal chief, whose unerring judgment was never 
 deceived, if the soldier was the object — Williams did I say ? the 
 gallant Williams of Guildford and the Eutaws ? Peace be to his ashes ! 
 nappy that he is gone ! for sure it would have rent his manly heart to 
 have witnessed the melancholy end of his brother soldier ! 
 
 It has been said by some, my friends, and supposed by others, 
 that the venerable Lingan was induced to engage in this enter- 
 prise, which terminated his life, by the arts and intrigues of 
 designing men, contrary to the dictates of his better judgment. 
 —In the face of his family, his country, and the world, 1 deny 
 the fact! No, my friends, the whole heart of the veteran waa 
 in this thing : — -and it was, because he had seen the laws of his 
 country prostrated at the feet of tyrannic power, and the liber- 
 ty of the press violated and usurped ! — And when he saw a band of 
 youth prepare to defend their rights, or perish in the breach, the soul 
 of the veteran rejoiced — " I admire these gallant boys," he said, 
 " their heroic ardour reminds me of my other days — I will join their 
 gallant calling — age and experience will be useful to temper their 
 valour, to moderate their zeal, to direct their energies. I will be 
 the Nestor to the young Achilles." 
 
 When, after a brave defence, our brethren had lain down their 
 arms, and submitted to the constituted authorities of their country, 
 mercy and generosity should have been shewn to submission They 
 we the privileges of the brave, in every age and condition of society. 
 
 Who were these prisoners ? — Were they the rakings ef kennels ; 
 were their shoes yet new, since they landed on our shores ? or were 
 ■ * ■■ ii i . i , , i i. i 
 
 or that purpose On this occasion appropriate orations were delivered, and 
 the bones were attended to the grave by an immense procession. Gen. Lingan 
 was one of the few who survived these martyrM patriots. His health was so 
 much impaired by his sufferings on board this prison ship, that he was for many 
 months subsequent helpless as an infant. 
 
97 
 
 ftiey song of the sires, who had fought the battles, and labour- 
 ed in the councils of their country's glory; yeomen of our land* 
 who had grown up with the growth, and strengthened with the 
 strength of liberty ? Their cause was holy. They knew they 
 had done no wrong — for people of America know that when the law 
 of a community can no longer protect the citizen, the great law of 
 nature commands him to protect himself! Yet, that the ends of 
 justice might be subserved — that their accusers might obtain the full 
 measures of justice denied to them ; these gallant heroes consented 
 to be carried, like malefactors, to the prison house ! There they 
 received the most solemn assurance, which honour and religion could 
 give, of perfect safety and protection. Who will then believe, that 
 in a few short hours, the asylum of justice ; the asylum in which 
 even the condemned criminal is safe ; should be converted into the 
 chamber of death ? 
 
 Hide, hide my country! thy diminished head! Thou, an empire 
 of laws, and yet this monstrous outrage within thy bosom ! Thou, 
 the seat of justice, and yet the asylum of justice profaned with inno- 
 cent blood ! The weeping genius of my country, seeks to draw a 
 veil before the dreadful scene, but an higher Power commands, that 
 no veil shall screen this work of darkness from the light of truth ! 
 
 The murder of prisoners ! ! Why 'tis abhorrent to nature ; my 
 soul sickens at the thought. Sure such hideous sin was once foreign 
 to the American character! Say ye grey headed men, veterans of 
 liberty, and fathers of my country, when was the time, during our 
 arduous struggle, that the soldier of freedom stained his laurels with 
 his prisoners' blood ! While storming the redoubts at Torktown, the 
 cry of the soldiers was, " Remember New-London ;" yet, no sooner 
 had the foe submitted, than mercy, divine mercy, sat triumphant on 
 my country's colors. Aye, my friends, Hamilton and Laurens com- 
 manded then ! 
 
 The murder of prisoners ! ! Even sanguinary France now cowers 
 to our superior genius in iniquity ; she is no longer supreme in sin. 
 If we contemplate the tremendous scenes of her revolution, they 
 appear but as Christmas gambols to this hellish tragedy, for the state 
 of society is entirely different. There the tiger had long been con- 
 fined within the bars of oppression. For centuries had he gnawed 
 his galling chain, and thirsted for the blood of his oppressors ; but 
 here, in the mild land of liberty, in our wise and good government, 
 whose laws provide the punishment of crimes, great indeed must be 
 that injury which requires an extra vengeance! 
 
 The murder of prisoners ! ! 'Tis true, Napoleon, the chosen mon- 
 ster of crime, first set this horrid example at Jaffa ; but even under 
 his authority, the poor victims met a speedy and merciful death. The 
 battalion which was drawn up against them, soon put a period to their 
 sufferings, by an immediate passport to eternity. 
 
 The murder of prisoners ! ! When, even the Indian savage a 
 prisoner takes, if he promises him protection, the poor captive is 
 «afe. Nay, go further— look to the Arab Robber of the Deaert.— 
 
When heme«ts the wandering pilgrim in the sands, if he conducts 
 him within his tent, the rohber will die at its door in defence of his 
 guest. Such are the examples of mercy, fidelity and honor, which 
 adorn even the savage life, and yet, my countrymen, it has been left 
 -to the enlightened republic of America to view more horrid exam- 
 ples of cruelty, than ever distinguished the Inquisition or the Rack. 
 Let us attend the venerable LINGAK in the last moments of his 
 life. When he found the inevitable fate which awaited him, that for- 
 titude which had distinguished the gallant veteran in the. direful 
 fields of the revolution, while fighting for the liberties of his country, 
 did not desert him in the closing hour of his life. And yet, sure he 
 thought, that if Americans were his foes, the sight of his venerable fi- 
 
 fure, bent with age, must touch their hearts! Ah, LTNGAN, thou 
 adst indeed survived thy country's better days. There was a time, 
 ■when thy venerable presence would have arrested the falling dagger, 
 had it been grasped by an American hand! What did I say? Sure 
 there was a time, when a thousand sabres would have gleamed, to de- 
 fend the grey head of an aged soldier, sinking at the feet of an as- 
 sassin!! Alas! those days are gone! The glory of my country hath, 
 sunk into the grave of her chief! 
 
 Attend the closing scene. The old man falls beneath their blow* 
 —yet feebly raising nis wounded head, on which threescore winters 
 had shed their snows, he appeals to his murderers — "Spare me an old 
 man, whose years are few to live! — spare the father, wljose orphans 
 ■will want!— spare the old soldier, whose faithful services, and whose 
 •lard sufferings have earned his country's liberties! — Spare!!" — Here, 
 *s if it was necessary to cap the climax of horror, to render the car 
 tastrophe of hell complete — know, Americans, that JAMES L1NG- 
 AN, the soldier of your WASHINGTON, the patriot, the hero, and 
 the friend; the man of charity who felt for others woes: the noble ex- 
 ample to youth! the man of virtue, religion and honor; died, died un- 
 der the appellation of a tory! 
 
 Are there men in this assembly who can feel! — Now let them feel! 
 
 Oh! Maryland! Would that the waters of thy Chesapeake could 
 *va*h this foul stain from thy character' — Oh, Maryland! Would 
 that the recording angel who carries thy black deed to Heaven's 
 Chancery on high, could drop a tear upon it, and blot it out forever J — 
 But no! — -A voice cries from the tomb of the brave. It rises to the 
 God of Nature and Humanity and demands a vengeance on the mur- 
 derer! 
 
 And are there no young men in Montgomery, who will go and re- 
 deem the remains of their venerable friend, ana give them the rites of 
 Sepulchre near his own home. Sure it would soothe the widow's sor- 
 rowing heart, sure it would soothe his orphans' woes! then go, per- 
 form the pious task, and the applause of all good men speed you on 
 your way? — Mark well my words — 'Tis not that I would sharpen 
 
 your swords to vengeance vengeance belongs to the laws; but I 
 
 would open your hearts to gratitude — gratitude belongs to man! 
 
 Shade of the venerable Lingan ! Farewell! Accept the feeble tri- 
 bute of a stranger's praise j although ihj sun bath sunk in the horizon* 
 
09 
 
 still, its last parting gleam sheds a benign lu9tre on thy fame. The 
 laurel that covers thy hoary head, old man ! shall ever bloom with 
 youthful verdure ! Thy illustrious services in liberty's cause, shall 
 rear for thee a Cenotaph in each freeman's bosom, while thy endear* 
 ing virtues will cause the ready tear of affection to freshen the turf on 
 thy humble grave !■ 
 
 Soldier of my country ! Defender of her liberties — Farewell. 
 
 Permit me, my friends, to offer you a few remarks, touching the 
 present state of our republic. People of America ! — The liberty of 
 the press is one of the noblest rights a freeman can boast. When 
 che right of opinion, the liberty of speech, and the liberty of the 
 press, are prostrated at the feet of lawless power, the Citadel of 
 Freedom must soon surrender/ Yes, my friends, and that power 
 which destroys these attributes of liberty, is the pioneer which pre- 
 cvdes the march of despotism I 
 
 1 well remember the good old federal times, when the father of 
 his country, blest with his virtues our rising empire. Then was the 
 majesty of the laws supreme ; then was the liberty of the press invio- 
 late ; and sure, if ever there was a time, when its licentiousness 
 required a curb, it was when its slanders were aimed at the reputa- 
 tion of the First of Men! The modern Archimedes of malice and 
 ambition had upreared his mighty engines of calumny to assail our 
 chieftain's virtue ! — But the great, the god-like W ASHINGTON, had 
 only to oppose the &*gis of his integrity, and their shafts fell harmless 
 to the ground ! — Yes, people of America ! and wretched indeed is that 
 man's cause, which cannot be defended by his integrity ! ! 
 
 Why are federalists a persecuted race? Must they leave their E- 
 ffypt, and under the conduct of another Moses, seek a new Canaan? 
 Can they Doast of no virtues, llo services, to entitle them to the joys 
 of liberty's land? Who reared the temple of national freedom? Who 
 kindled the sacred flame on its altars? Whose virtues, whose servi- 
 ces have contributed to nourish that flame? Go! untie the scroll of 
 of fame! — Pursue the list of American worthies, and tell me if any 
 federalists are there! — Go to the hard fought fields of the revolution 
 — kneel on their sacred earth, which tells no lies, and ask her, if on 
 the memorable days, when we fought for liberty, no federal blood 
 moistened her bosom? Nay persecuted as we are, perhaps at this 
 moment some gallant sailor climbs the shattered mast to nail the flag 
 of my country to its stump — My life on it, that fellow is a federalist! 
 — Perhaps some gallant soldier may yet scale the heights of Abra- 
 ham, to wreathe liberty's standard around Montgomery's tomb! — I 
 tell you, the first foot, which presses that classic ground, will be a 
 Federalist's! — Forever live the glorious name our Washington 
 borel — Forever let his example inspire his children! 
 
 The spirit of Federalism rises from the tomb of Mount Vernon — 
 and when my country shall bend under the storms of adversity, the 
 children of Washington will show "their generous nature." 
 
 When the storms of adversity shall rock liberty's temple to its 
 ba6e, the Sampson of Federalism will grasp the pillars, and in his ex- 
 piring.6truggles, will parish with liberty, in liberty's ruins.- 
 
100 
 
 Yes, Americans! the powers which made you great and free, inde- 
 pendent and happy, still opens its arms to receive the prodigal re* 
 turned. When my country shall have been deeply stricken by mis- 
 fortune, may she grow wise by experience — determine to restore the 
 age of Washington — to render the last of republics immortal! 
 
 Did I speak of the age of Washington! the golden age of my coun- 
 try? when peace, prosperity and protection blessed our land! Great i3 
 
 the contrast now. Attend me, friends, to a federalist's house in 
 
 1812: I open you the door, and that too of a man who can look his 
 country in the face, and say* I have been thy benefactor; near the 
 cradle of my sleeping child stands the musket and the bayonet; near 
 the pillow of my innocent wife the sharpened sabre! — and why? Be- 
 cause I will enjoy the right of opinion, the freedom of speech, and the 
 liberty of the press, these sacred privileges I inhaled with my first 
 first breath,, and will only loose them with my last. When my pa- 
 tentf was perishing at Yorktown, he bequeathed this valuable legacy 
 to his child, and damned the man who would relinquish the rights 
 obtained by a parent's sufferings! Oh, Washington! discerning man; 
 well indeed didst thou foresee thy country's fallen destiny! As a pa- 
 rent didst thou warn thy children of the precipice to which they were 
 approaching. Yes, as thy country's guardian angel didst thou stand 
 
 tm the brink and point to the abyss below. Thy sun hath sunk in 
 
 the v. est, but may its last parting gleam still serve to light us in our 
 darksome course, till the sun of another Washington shall arise, and 
 give to America a glorious day. 
 
 Weep not, my brethren, that our chief is gone. Dry up your 
 tears; and thank the author of divine mercies for having so long pre- 
 served our benefactor for our happiness; and at last only to have ta- 
 ken him from us when the degeneracy of his country had begun to 
 sorrow his declining years: Methinks 1 hear his mighty spirit sigh in 
 the breeze; methinks I see his venerated form enshrined in glory! 
 His opened arms receive the shade of Lingan! Listen to his mighty 
 "words: " Well done thou good and faithful soldier, who twice nath 
 bled in liberty's cause; enter into the joys reserved for the brave!" 
 
 My task is almost done — thanks to you friends, for your patient 
 attention. The tear which fills the furrow in the veteran's cheek, 
 the sympathy of age, youth and beauty, Oh, Lingan! speak thy best 
 eulogium. 
 
 This great, this immortal day, will proudly shine in freedom's an- 
 nals — and while the prayers of the wise, the virtuous and the brave 
 
 •Arlington Sheep-shearing 1 , founded in 1803, first taught our country to hail 
 the s»unds of industry with independence. 
 
 "America shall be great and free, and minister to her wants by the employ- 
 "ment of her own resources." — "The American citizen will proudly appear 
 "when clothed in the produce of his native soil." — [Speeches of Mr. Custis at 
 the Arlington Sheep-shearings.] 
 
 f Mr. Custis' father died near Yorktown in 1781, from an infectious disorder 
 received in the British camp. Mr. Custis, then an infant, was adopted in the 
 family of Mount Vernon. 
 
*0i 
 
 ascend to the Throne of Grace to hallow our heroes memory, go tell 
 
 your children that their lives belong to the liberties of their country! 
 
 My task is done — think me not an intruder here — I could not bear 
 
 to see the remains of the veteran soldier sink dishonoured and ne- 
 
 fleeted to the grave — 1 could not let the man who had earned the 1>- 
 erties which I enjoy, want the poor tribute of my services to speak 
 his praise. Such as they are, most freely have they been exerted in 
 his cause; would that they had been better, they still should have 
 been his. 
 
 I never felt the grasp of his friendly hand; I never sat under the 
 shade of his hospitality, but I should disgrace the illustrious name I 
 bear, I should disgrace my breeding at Mount Vernon, should I omit 
 to speak the praise of virtue, and venerate the memory of the brave! 
 
 After the solemnities of the day had closed, on Tuesday, the most 
 respectable and patriotic body of gentlemen we recollect ever to have 
 seen assembled, sat down to a dinner prepared for them in Craw- 
 ford's long room. In the course of the evening they were joined by 
 a party of gentlemen from Virginia and Alexandria, who had dined 
 together in a separate room, the long room being filled to overflowing, 
 and numbers being obliged to dine at separate tables. At one time 
 a hundred and twenty gentlemen repeated the toasts announced by 
 the presidents of the different tables. They were all volunteers, and 
 those that were preserved, with the names of their authors, are eiven 
 to the public, 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 FROM A 
 
 LONG TALK 
 
 DELIVERED BY DR. LEIB. 
 
 THE following character of our administration is given by one of 
 tfieir former friends. They have not the usual mode of silencing 
 discussion and enquiry by exclaiming traitors— tories and federalists. 
 Dr. Leib has been one of the most distinguished men in opposition to 
 the federal party. He has joined heartily in all the measures of de» 
 mocracy, and has been an inflexible supporter of the cabinet. He 
 has been for a long series of years intimately acquainted with all the 
 measures of our administration, and was a man in whom they repos- 
 ed entire confidence. He is their own witness, and he testifies 
 to what he has heard and seen. Now if such is the character of our 
 administration — if one of their own witnesses does not hesitate to 
 testify to such examples of shocking and barefaced enormity— -if 
 their own party declare them too bad to be endured, what shall be 
 aaid of those, who profess to love their country, and still support men 
 as candidates for public offices, who are capable of the perpetration 
 of such enormity! What is this, but to confess, as plain as action* 
 can be th« interpreter of motives — that virtue and vice — honour and 
 dishonour, sincerity and hypocrisy, truth and falsehood, honesty and 
 treachery, patriotism and imposture, are all words which mean the 
 self same thing; what is it but to say, that the greatest political kna- 
 very is the most entitled to public honours, and public confidence! 
 Above all what will be said of a federalist, who after having so foul, 
 so polluted, so damning a document as the following, forfeits hi* al- 
 legiance and fidelity to the ashes of Washington, and declines on 
 the day of .election to record by his vote, his eternal and unconque* 
 rable abhorrence of a cabinet, capable of perpetrating such depravity? 
 Citizens of Maryland, are you awake— are you alive, and are you 
 sensible of such depravity! Can you answer this question before Go& 
 and your own conscience, how you can become spectators of such 
 iniquity, without exercising the right of suffrage for its prevention! 
 Ponder while time is yet allowed you for refection — consider this 
 question, whether you are willing calmly to surrender Maryland into 
 the hands of a party, the chiefs of whom are held up as such mon- 
 sters of depravity by the democrats themselves. — This is a flying mo- 
 ment, but it bears on its wings the fate of Maryland — Fellow-citi* 
 zens awake — read — tremble for the fate of your country, and then 
 record by your votes on the first Monday of September ..ext, your 
 detestation of the cabinet! Shew at least that you entertain as much 
 ficorn and contempt of our administration as ,Dr. Leibi 
 I 
 
g 
 
 EXTRACT 
 
 From a Long Tall- delivered before the Tammany Soci- 
 ety, or Brethren of Principle, at the celebration of their 
 Anniversary, May 13, 1816, 
 
 BY DR. MICHAEL LEIB. 
 
 Brothers, 
 
 A political association such as this society presents, ought to be 
 like the picket guard of a camp, in presence of an enemy always on 
 the alert, and ever watchful to guard against the approaches of every 
 enemv to our republican institutions, and to aid in defending the 
 palladium of our liberties against the assaults of open or concealed 
 enemies. It is a sacred duty which we have pledged ourselves to 
 perform, and from which we cannot shrink without infidelity to our 
 families and to our country. What is there so important, si dear to 
 man as freedom? 'Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still slavery, still 
 thou art a bitter draught;' and whether the bondage be brought upon 
 us by professed friends or avowed foes, 'thou art not the less bitter on 
 that account.' To avert this bitter draught, and to transmit that 
 glorious inheritance acquired for us by a Franklin and a Washing- 
 ton, and the other sages and heroes of the revolution, even to our 
 children, it has become necessary for every patriot in this republic to 
 be upon the watch-tower, and that no son of Tammany should slum- 
 ber upon his post. 
 
 The guards provided by the constitution are founded on the expe- 
 rience of all times, that a republic is always in danger from men in 
 power, and it is by vigilance alone that it can be preserved. Histo- 
 ry, said lord Bolinbroke, is philosophy, teaching by example: let us 
 recur to this faithful monitor, and we shall find the melancholy record, 
 that those who were elevated to power, by the favor or indulgence of 
 the people, in all ages and in all countries, with too rare exceptions, 
 became the robbers of their rights and the assassins of their happi- 
 ness. If then, by an examination of the conduct of men in power in 
 our yet young republic, we shall discover that the same causes which 
 have produced the decline and fall of all republics, are already in ope- 
 ration among us, and arrived at au alat mmg height, we must resist the 
 sinister encroachments in time, uefwie evil becomes inveterate, and 
 by a recurrence to first principles and a prompt and vigorous oppo- 
 sition to bad men and measures, or nothing short of miraculous inter- 
 position can save us from a similar fate with all the republics that 
 have flourished and fallen before us. It will be in vain to pray to 
 Hercules unless we put our own shoulders to the wheel and help our- 
 selves. 
 
 Brothers, let us ask ourselves this question, are we in a better con- - 
 dition now as a people and a political party, than we were under the 
 administration of President Adams? A little enquiry will demon- 
 strate tons we are not: 'tissue that individuals who are in opposi 
 
s 
 
 tion to his administration, and who call themselves republicans, have 
 profited by the change; but has our country been benefitted? Have 
 our principles been improved? Has our constitution sustained no rude 
 shocks? Have those abuses which were then reprobated been cor- 
 rected? Have the enormities complained of in former times been 
 avoided or diminished? Has the purity and simplicity of republican 
 manners been preserved or chastened by the example or practice of 
 the public agent? 
 
 President Adams did not pretend to be the friend of ft representa- 
 tive democracy. He commenced that famous system of proscription 
 which Mr. Madison has amplified and improved, that 'no man should 
 hold an office under the government who thwarted its measures,' with 
 this single difference between them, that Mr. Adams directed his 
 vengeance against his political adversaries, against democrats; while 
 Mr. Madison, with a spirit more truly inquisitorial, comprehends 
 within his proscription, men of the same, political family to which he 
 professes to belong, and spares and patronizes time-serving federal- 
 ists,* while lie persecutes and destroys independent democrats. 
 
 Names only have changed or we might truly style the present, the 
 administration of Mr. Adams continued. An examination of it will 
 present us with the same features, the same extravanance, the same 
 lust of power, the same disregard of the constitution, the same into- 
 lerance, the same impositions, the same injustice; in a word, if Mr. 
 Madison had succeeded by inheritance, he could not have been a more 
 humble imitator of the maxims and measures of President Adams, 
 though not of his candor. It was said of general Hamilton, that he 
 pronounced the constitution to be only paper and parchment; from 
 this it would seem as if he had been gifted with the spirit of prophe- 
 cy, and had foreseen that James Madison would become president of 
 the United States. » 
 
 Brothers, an accurate observer of the rise and fall of ancient re- 
 publics, remarks, that "there cannot be a more certain symptom of 
 the approaching ruin of a state, than when a firm adherence to a 
 party is fixed upon as the only test of merit, and all the qualifications 
 requisite to a right discharge of every employment, are reduced to 
 this single standard." What then must be our condition, when men 
 are measured, not by their virtues, not by thenvtalents, not by their 
 adherence to republican principles, not by iMm devotion to their 
 country, but by their attendance at a drawing room, their subservi- 
 ency to an executive magistrate, and an adherence to his party! to 
 question the propriety of any measure, however it may be at war 
 with all former professions, however injurious it may be thought tQ 
 the public welfare, is sufficient to the proscription of the individual 
 who had this daring; and no merit or past services can arrest his 
 doom. The offices of the people are thus made the means of cor- 
 
 *To a democrat who remarked, that many of the old republicans were fal- 
 ling off from him, he replied, 'we are numei a ally and physically as strong s(S 
 ever, for what we lose among republicans we gaia among fedwalistsl,' 
 
4 
 
 fUption, and public officers who of right belong only to* the people, 
 hold their offices by a kind of feudal tenure, and are converted into 
 a body of Swiss, to march and countermarch, to present or to lay 
 down their arms, to take aim, or to charge bayonet as the captain ge- 
 neral or some setrap of his may direct. Does this state of things, 
 that you cannot be ignorant of, manifest the purity or the integrity 
 of our government? We have no longer a republican party holding 
 the principles contained in the declaration of independence as sa- 
 cred, and a r^ile of conduct for the government of a free people. It 
 has been prostrated by power, and a party has arisen among its ru- 
 ins, composed of the friends of executive magistrates, not unaptly 
 compared to the Butes of Great Britain, household troops made up 
 of the king's friends. It is not a party of federalists, but of a cha- 
 racter more abhorrent to the republican mind; it is a party using old 
 and reverend names as a mask, who are oligarchs in practice, and 
 use British examples for their guide. The king can do no wrong in 
 England, and here the president, can do no wrong, according to ex- 
 isting maxims. There, a chancellor of the exchequer directs the 
 
 national representatives like puppets; and here the secretary of the 
 treasury, a hopeful and important sprig from the stock of monarchy, 
 speaks to the representative of freemen, as a pedagogue would to his 
 school boys —There venality stalks abroad in the face of day, and 
 here it is covered only m ith a cobweb veil. — There, vice is arrayed 
 in dignity, here it is studied with littleness and meanness. There 
 the hard earnings of the poor have been filched from them without a 
 sympathy; and here the purses of freemen are considered as open, to 
 glut the cupidity and the avarice of men in power. There, war is 
 considered a pastime, and here it is a chess board for political gamb- 
 lers to play upon. This short analogy will satisfy you, my brethren, 
 that instead of a republican, we have the rule of oligarchs, who make 
 public functionaries as George the third makes knights of the Bath, 
 or a minister of his members of parliament; and that in such hands we 
 shall soon finish our republican career. 
 
 What has become of economy, the boast of the democrats, nay the 
 pass-word to power! Have we seen any glimmerings of it through 
 the darkness of the times? Shall we look for it in the act of congress 
 to increase their pay to more than twelve dollars a day? Commerce 
 is languishing, manufactures are at a stand, the currency embarrassed, 
 taxes heavy, and the people in difficulties; and yet at such a moment, 
 and w ith an enormous public debt upon our shoulders, our economical 
 and democratic administration so called, more than double the con- 
 gressional pay! The people to be sure will no longer have cause to 
 complain of long sessions, for as members of congress are salaried 
 by economy, the course of legislation will be as rapid as impatience 
 itself would desire.— Hereafter congress will be enabled to despatch 
 its business in about three months, or less, and then economical ad- 
 vocates of the new republican school may comfort themselves with 
 an allowance of seventeen dollars a day. 
 
 but, brothers, there is a feature in this measure which 60 strongly 
 marki the degeneracy of the times, that I must be permitted to call 
 
6 
 
 your particular attentiori to it. The act, which more than doubles 
 the pay of members of congress, is ushered into the world by a 
 false title: it is a fraud upon the public and a deception practised to 
 keep the people ignorant of the measure, as if the authors were 
 ashamed or afraid it should be known — There is a littleness, vu& 
 meanness in it which has no legislative parallel in our country. The 
 act is entitled "an act to alter the mode of compensating members of 
 congress." Ts this true? The mode of compensation remains the 
 same, while the amount is more than doubled. The speaker, no 
 doubt drav, a his checks as usual, the money, I suppose is put into his 
 hands by the treasurer and the sergeant at arms calls at the bank, 
 receives* the money and pays it over to the members. Unles- 
 this method be altered, the mode remains the same; how unworthy 
 then of a national legislature to resort to contemptible artifice tq 
 cover their out: age by its proper name, and say at once that it was 
 an act to double or "treble the pay of members of congress, an 1 to 
 place them upon the pension list? This would have-been honest and 
 an indication of theii co v,etion,that the deed would bear the light. 
 
 Brothers, with real sorrow I say it, our republic is rapidly on the 
 decline. The constitution which was made by the patriots and s^e.- 
 of our country, by tiie best heads, and the best hearts in it, is already 
 little more than a caput mortum; and yet a little longer in such 
 hands, we shall understand how Augustus amused the Roman peo- 
 ple with the shadows of the commonwealth, while the substance was 
 held by Csesar. We see already, that in fact, the president nomi- 
 nates his successor; he nominates and appoints the secretary of state, 
 and an imperial senatus consultum, under executive advisement, con- 
 stitutes the secretary of state president. The people are amused 
 with slips of paper, upon which names are written: and they carry 
 them to the poll and drop them into the box, and this is called the 
 right of suffrage and the election of their public functionaries; when 
 in fact sixty five members of congress, out of two hundred and 
 eighteen, prohibited by the constitution from being electors, assem- 
 ble in divan, drilled for the purpose, and exercise the functions of e- 
 lectors by dictating to the people who shall be their president! 
 
 And shall such men pretend to popular favor or public confidence? 
 No, brothers, we have tried them and found them wanting; let them 
 retire from their stations, and be it our duty to look for men to supply 
 their places, who will not abuse their trust, who will administer the 
 government m its true spirit, and not employ it for their own sordid 
 or ambitious purposes. Let not the walls, of the rebuilt palace (as 
 it is nick-named) be profaned by the occupancy of a tenant, who, in-? 
 gloriously surrendered that palace and the national capital to a band 
 of modern Saracens, under another Omar, without a struggle; and by 
 a dastardly night* from the field of battle, appalled and dismayed 
 
 •After the first rocket was fired by the enemy at Bladensburgh, Mr. Madison 
 called out, "Come general Armstrong, come colonel Monroe, let us go, and 
 ^ve it to tbe somjn.an.ding generals" and galloped from the l. . 
 
> 
 
 the yeomapry of the country, who with a different example from their 
 chief magistrate, would have died in its defence. 
 
 Brothers, we ha e too much cause for sorrow and alarm when we 
 see venality in almost every department of the government: prodi- 
 gality and profligacy walking hand in hand; honest men driven' from 
 office for daring to think as freemen; women interfering* and direct- 
 ing public affairs; embassies planned to make room for a brother in 
 Uw;1 servants of the people resembling the pomp and state of Persian 
 setraps; whea we seethe constitution estimated as a piece of parch- 
 ment, and an oath of office considered as imposing no moral obliga- 
 tions? when we see an English adventurer,* who is not by British 
 laws, released from his allegiance, and who an illustrious chief ma- 
 gistrate pronounced an English agent not ten years ago, palsying 
 the sinews of this nation in time of war with his monarch; and exer- 
 cising a control over its destinies; while we are seized with astonish- 
 ment at the phenomenon we cannot but behold in these things the 
 rapid decline of this still infant republic, and its hasty march on the 
 road to ruin. 
 
 I am aware, brothers, that in giving you this imperfect portrait of 
 cur affairs, and in daring to speak as a freeman, I expose myself to the 
 malignity of corrupt men, and that all their curs and spaniels will be 
 let loose upon me. Be it so, let them rail and let them revile; the 
 only regret I shall feel on the occasion will be, in the reflection that 
 the money and the offices of the public are employed to stifle free en- 
 quiry and to sap the foundation of our republican s} r stcm. But while 
 1 have the power oi utterance, and am not gagged by a sedition law, 
 nothing shall deter me from raiding my'feebJe voice to unmask hypo- 
 cricy, and expose corruption. It was not to become the panders of 
 professional republicans out of office, but tyrants, when in, that we 
 
 t *My husband and I, said the wife of a patriot of modern stamp, who boxed 
 
 the political compass, are going to Washington to endeavour to get the 
 
 office, and I mean to applv to Mrs. M. to use her influence, and we shall cer- 
 tainly succeed; for the office my husband holds will not maintain us, and there 
 is so little to be done at the law, that we shall be obliged to remove into the 
 
 country unless Mr. gets the office. They went to Washington, 
 
 and in a few days he returned with the commission in his pocket!! 
 
 The nomination to a high and dignified office was depending before the se- 
 nate; at the request of Mrs. M. an officer of high rank waited upon a member 
 of ihe senate, and in the name of Mrs. M. requested that he would vote for the 
 nomination. "Tell Mrs. M- from me, replied the senator, that I came here to 
 represent the state of and not to represent her, and that whatever con- 
 science and duty direct, will be done, and be) r ond this, neither she nor her hus- 
 band have any thing to expect." This republican answer drew down executive 
 vengeance upon the senator's head. 
 
 •(-Mr. Kussel, the present minister to Sweden, was designed as the superin- 
 tendent-general of military stores. Mr. Madison desired this place to be given 
 to his brother-in-law, Richard Cutts, and said that he would make provision 
 for Mr. Kussel in another way; and out of this grew the Swedish mission, for 
 Cutts was converted into a superintendent-general of military stores, a sort of 
 fifth wheel to a coachj and Mr. Kussel was appointed minister plenipotentiary 
 to Sweden." *M)\ Dallas. 
 
united our efforts with them to reduce President Adams to a private 
 station. It was not a change of masters and a change for the worse 
 too, which strung our nerves to resistance in the contest of '99 and 
 1800, it was principles and not men, which then formed our motto, 
 and which I trust we never shall abandon, but with our lives. If the 
 conduct of the men of our choice be worthy of the cause and worthy 
 of themselves; if the republicans sustain the high character to which 
 they pretend, as well in as out of power, we. owe it to our principles 
 and justice to give them our cordial support; but if they become our 
 betrayers, and seek our ruin in their own aggrandizement, the^ merit 
 a double portion of abhorrence. To endeavour to gratify ambition or 
 cupidity by the ruin of a friend, is the worst of human vices, and 
 ought to consign the perfidious wretch to everlasting infamy. We 
 have been betrayed brothers, power has corrupted the men of our 
 confidence and our choice. A change has become necessary to our 
 safety. Liberty can endure in a pure atmosphere, produced by fre- 
 quent changes only;, in fact, to use the words of an enlightened com- 
 mentator on the British government, "Exclusion by rotation, is the 
 only bulwark of freedom." 
 
 Felloiv- Citizens of Maryland/ f 
 
 You have been often told by those who labour to deceive you, 
 that all party scrambles are mere contests for power and for place. 
 The democrats hope by this artifice to veil their own enormity. It 
 is true that Jefferson has told us of public economy; — but fellow-cit- 
 izens, will you after you have read the following statement from the 
 People's Monitor, be led away by such deceptions as these! Here you 
 see, fellow-citizens, a party boasting themselves of economy, squan- 
 dering millions on their favourites in the shape of contractors agents, 
 clerks, and taxing the people to make up the deficiency. What se- 
 curity have you, fellow-citizens, that the next tax will cover those 
 deficiencies! No — the same wicked system will still be pursued — we 
 shall have more favourites of the administration to turn public de- 
 faulters — we shall have more agents, more clerks, more contractors 
 to maintain out of the money of the people. Yes, fellow-citizens, we 
 shall have these patriotic mendicants in abundance! But can you so 
 far forget what is due to yourselves, to your country, to posterity, as 
 to submit in silence to impositions on the honest and laborious mem- 
 bers of the community to pay for the deficiencies of the swindling 
 friends of Mr. Madison. '1 hese are his own officers, men who inherit 
 his confidence, men who are ready to join in the cry against the fede- 
 ral party, because they know that if they should come into power 
 they would force them to refund the money of which they have rob 
 bed the public treasury. This is the ground of their hostility against 
 the federal party aud of their attachment to Mr. Madison. But, fet j 
 
I 
 
 low-citizens remember what we now tell you. These four millions 
 of dollars are not the only millions which will be purloined from the 
 public treasury, if you give your confidence to such men — Mr. Ma- 
 dison has friends enough to be provided for— men who will have no 
 more conscience than their predecessors have, in appropriating thou- 
 sands of the public money to their own use, and who will be as great 
 public delinquents as patriot Munroe, or any other member of the de- 
 mocratic party. Let but the next tax be but once collected, and we 
 shall have another comfortable list of treasury delinquents. Another 
 tax can be made to supply, and our public delinquents will encrease 
 in proportion to the taxes. Thus while honest men are peaceably 
 employed in the payment of our taxes, the public delinquent who is 
 hereafter to be ourpresident, certainly will not oppose his own sys- 
 tem of finance. Let it be remembered that during the administra* 
 tion of Washington, there was but one public defaulter, and that de- 
 faulter was Edmund Randolph, who had a double claim to be consi- 
 dered a good staunch patriotic democrat, for he was both a public de- 
 faulter and a libeller of Washington. 
 
 PEOPLE'S MONEY AGAIN. 
 
 According to promise, we now lay before our readers an official state, 
 merit of balances which have been due more than three years prior 
 to September last, on the books of the Treasury of the United States. 
 This statement was sent from the Treasury Department to Con- 
 gress last winter, by the comptroller Mr. Anderson, with the fol- 
 lowing letter. 
 
 Treasury Department, 
 
 Comptrollers office, Dec. 8th, 1815. 
 
 Sir — In compliance with the provisions contained in the act of 
 congress, entitled, "an act further to amend the several acts for the 
 establishment and regulation of the Treasury, and War Depart- 
 ments" passed 3d March, 1809, I have the honour to transmit to- 
 congress statements of the accounts in the Treasury Department^ 
 those from the war and navy* departments have not yet been fur- 
 nished, but it is expected they will in an early part of the session, 
 and will then be duly transmitted. 
 
 *The navy list of balances we gave in our last from a document published 
 after this, 17th January, 1816, which amounted to 260,378 dollars 36 cents. 
 
9 
 
 Statement No. 1. contains a list of balances which appear to haVe 
 been due more than three years prior to the 30th September last, on 
 books of receipts and expenditures of the treasury. 
 
 Statement No. 2, contains a list of balances remaining on theve- 
 veuue books of the Treasury, which appear to have been due for more 
 than three years, prior to the 1st January 1815. 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 JOSEPH ANDERSON. 
 
 The honorable HENRY CLAY, 
 Speaker of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives of the United States. 
 
 This statement thus officially given by Mr. Madison's comptrol- 
 ler, contains the names of about fout hundred delinquent debtors on 
 the treasury books; and the amount of the balances thus due is as fol- 
 lows. Total amount of balances originating at the treasury of more 
 than three years standing, one million five hundred and eighty -one 
 thousand and fifty-six dollars. 
 
 Total amount of balances transmitted from the war department to 
 the treasury, three hundred and sixty thousand jive hundrea and two 
 dollars. 
 
 Total amount of balances transmitted from the war department to 
 the treasury, one hundred and eighty-seven thousand one hundred and 
 thirty -four dollars — making in all at the treasury, two millions one 
 hundred and twenty-eight thousand six hundred and ninety-two dol- 
 
 lar*. 
 
 if 
 
 these balances had been collected and settled as they ought to 
 ha' e been, they would have made a sum nearly equal to the nett 
 amount of the present years direct tax, and of course would have ob- 
 viated the necessity of laying that burden upon the people. — As it is 
 we must have taxes both to pay our debts and defray the cotly and 
 growing expences of our rulers, as well as to be a substitute for +hat 
 portion of the public money which is suffered to lie dead in the hanij$$ 
 of individuals Avho have fingered it. 
 
 LOOK HERE, 
 
 At the names and amount of some of these gentry who have large 
 balances standing against them; and above all, look at the remarks 
 attending each ones name. — Here they are. 
 
 General Armstrong stands indebted five thousand six hundred and 
 seventy-eight dollars — and nothing said as to further credits, iv suit 
 ordered, or any proceeding to get the money, 
 
 John Beckley, a famous democratic clerk of congress, stands in- 
 debted five thousand one hundrec and twenty -one dollars — for which 
 there is a judgment againat hi§ executors.— JBeckley has been de»d 
 this twelve years. 
 
40 
 
 Brown, Clarke, Hakeman and Owings, on account of protested 
 bills of exchange, ten thousand six hundred and sixteen dollars. 
 Brown, Hakemnn, Owings, Clark and Pascault, %v do. twenty 
 eight thousand seven hundred and fifty nine dollars. 
 
 /Samuel Jinnin, paymaster and store-keeper, Harper's Ferry, fif- 
 teen thousand seven hundred and two dollars. 
 
 William Blount, governor of Tennessee, one thousand dollars — 
 Stated to be dead ana insolvent. 
 
 John H. Barnes, captain and paymaster in the army (0! what a 
 glorious chance!) stands indebted six thousand eight hundred and 
 sixteen dollars. 
 
 Joel Barlow, minister to France, forty nine thousand four hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars — dead. 
 
 R. Q. Beasley, consul at London, thirty four thousand six hun- 
 dred and six dollars. 
 
 William C. C. Claiborne, governor of Orleans, fourteen thousand 
 three hundred and twenty five dollars. This man is a great favorite 
 of Mr. Jefferson's and Mr. Madison's, his accounts are large and of 
 long standing and nothing done or talked of to bring him to a settle- 
 ment. So much for favorites. 
 
 Solomon Ellis, contractor for Georgia, eleven thousand four hun- 
 dred and eighty five dollars. — In suit, judgment had, but he has ab- 
 sconded. 
 
 Richard Forrest, clerk in the secretary of states office, who it is 
 said has taken largely in the late war loans — forty three thousand 
 eight hundred and seventy six dollars — he claims credits but his 
 vouchers wont do. 
 
 Roger Gregory, agent of commissioners, Virginia, eighteen thou- 
 sand nine hundred and sixty one dollars. 
 
 Tobias Lear, consul at Algiers, now accountant of the war de- 
 partment, ten thousand tv/o hundred and forty two dollars. 
 
 This balance said to be reduced. 
 
 James Monroe, secretary of state and caucus president, seven 
 hundred and twelve dollars — he claims further credits — pretty work, 
 a balance that has been standing against him for more than three 
 years, during which time he has pocketed out of the treasury more 
 than twelve thousand dollars, and yet this balance stands upon a 
 claim of further credits. Query, is this part of the money that Mon- 
 roe took from the United States to buy a court dress for his wife when 
 ehe was invited to attend at the coronation of Bonaparte? It is true 
 and no man can deny it, that when James Monroe was minister in 
 France at a salary or nine thousand dollars a year, he applied a large 
 Sum of the public money, many hundred dollars, to buy a dress iur 
 Mrs. Monroe to go to an imperial party. 
 
 Return J. Meigs, post master general at this time, stands indebted 
 five thousand five hundred dollars. 
 
 William Pinkney, now minister to Russia, ten thousand four hun- 
 dred and twenty-five dollars — he too claims credits. 
 
11 
 
 Charles Pinkney— Mr. Jefferson's minister to Spain, one thousand 
 two hundred and fifty eight dollars. This has been a long itand- 
 ing balance; and he has been requested to pay this balance. 
 
 Edmond Randolph of Virginia, secretary of state, fifteen thousand 
 six hundred and eighteen dollars. Governor Nicholas of Virginia, 
 is bound for this money, therefore it may be had, if he has hogs e- 
 nough to pay it — otherwise as land and negroes are not liable to ex- 
 ecution for debt in Virginia he may live like a nabob and a governor, 
 while the United States may whistle for their money; and tax the 
 people to get money to supply its place. — But Virginia is altogether 
 democratic; it is the great state that gives us republican presidents, 
 republican secretaries of state, and republican every thing.— It is 
 right that such a republican state as Virginia, under the direction of 
 such renowned republicans as Mr. Jefferson and Madison and Mon- 
 roe, should exempt its lands and slaves from execution for debt, 
 whilst it confines the right of suffrage to freeholders — this is republi- 
 canism But take Mr. Monroe and Virginia, because he and she and 
 
 you are all, all republicans. 
 
 Nicholas X Roosevelt, contractor for copper for ships, thirty thou- 
 sand dollars — all of which will be lost. 
 
 John Smith, contractor, (ah! those contractor ships are fine things) 
 twenty one thousand eight hundred and forty -nine dollars— said to 
 be insolvent and has absconded. 
 
 Fulwar Skipwith,s\x hundred and seventy five dollars. 
 
 These are some of the most important democratic friends to the 
 people who hold on tightest upon their cash — there are others a- 
 mounting in all, as we before stated, to about four hundred debtors 
 in all * 
 
 HERE AGAIN. 
 
 Total amount of balances due on revenue books of collectors of 
 customs, which are of more than three years standing, one million 
 two hundred and seventy thousand, eight hundred and twenty -two 
 dollars. 
 
 MORE. 
 
 Balances of internal revenue under act of congress 5th June, 1795, 
 due ever since, two hundred and fifty -one thousand, five hundred and 
 thirteen dollars. 
 
 MORE YET. 
 
 Balances of direct tax of two million, laid in John Adams' time, 
 and due ever since, fifty-four thousand and seven hundred and se- 
 venteen dollars. 
 
i2 
 
 MORE AND MORE STILL. 
 
 Balances by receivers of public money on account of sales of pub- 
 lic lands, who are now out of office, and have been due more than 
 three years, fifteen thousand three hundred and eight dollars. 
 
 NOW FELLOW-CITIZENS 
 
 You get a small insight at the state of your public accounts and 
 monies, which have been of more than three years standing. Be 
 you assured there is ten times the derangement and ten times the a- 
 mount of the sums due within th» last five years, and principally 
 flowing from the war. What is the amount of your floating war debt, 
 in contra distinction to your funded debt? No one will pretend to 
 say — but it is between ten and thirty millions of dollar^ — probably 
 nearer to the last. What is the amount of unsettled balances in the 
 hands of contractors, paymasters, &c. &c? No man will hazard a 
 guess but they will constitute millions more — when we get hold of 
 the list of balances from the war department we will give them, and 
 then let the folks stand aghast!!! 
 
 Reflect on these things good people and say, if this is the way you 
 wish your accounts and money matters to be managed, and if you 
 are willing to be eternally taxed to put those taxes into the hands 
 of such men. This is but a speck we have given you — a mere 
 glance at the corruption, the mismanagement, the negligence of our 
 rulers. The whole amount now presented from accountants of navy 
 and treasury of neglected balances due the United States is about 
 
 FOUR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, 
 
 and nothing saved from the war department, except of those balan- 
 ces which have been transferred to the treasury. 
 
 Thus we have arrived at about four millions of dollars from under 
 their own official hands which is corruptly or negligently suffered to 
 lie dead to the government, whilst the people are actually taxed to 
 make up that very deficiency. If *iis is justice — if this is right; then 
 wfe confess ourselves wrong. We will give you a little more again. 
 
18 
 
 PROTEST 
 
 Of the members of the minority of the democratic caucus 
 assembled at Washington, for the nomination of James 
 Munroe as a candidate for the office of president of the 
 United States. 
 
 It is well known that a foul confederacy of democratic senators 
 and representatives of c-.mgress at the last session, met for the purpose 
 of robbing the people of the right of suffrage in the election of a pre- 
 sident. They called themselves a Caucus, but they might with infi- 
 nitely more propriety have denominated themselves a band of politi- 
 cal sharpers convened for the purloining the free citizens of America 
 of the right of suffrage. These conspirators assembled, and put up 
 Mr. Munroe and Mr. Crawford as candidates for the office of presi- 
 dent. Mr. Munroe, if we remember aright, obtained over his com- 
 petitor a majority of six votes. With an effrontery that beggars all 
 description, the members of this cabal, publicly nominated James 
 Munroe as the candidate of their choice for the presidential office. — 
 % rhese constitute the pretensions of that man to the first honours in 
 the gift of his country. He relies on the beggarly recommendation 
 of a knot of individuals, who dare unblushingly to betray public con- 
 fidence, and to dictate to millions of freemen how they shall vote. 
 The following is we believe the protest of the minority* of that cabal; 
 or in other words, of the men who with as little regard to shame, as 
 to political integrity, supported the pretensions of Mr. Crawford. — ■ 
 Now every man of honor in the state of Maryland is seriously called 
 upon to say, at the ensuing election, whether he will by his vote 
 support a party who can thus produce such charges against them- 
 selves. Read, fellow-citizens, read the character of Munroe as de- 
 tailed in the following pages by the democratic party — Read and re- 
 member that all these charges are unquestionable, for they came from 
 the democrats themselves — itead and remember that the same party 
 who wish to engross Maryland at the ensuing election support a can- 
 didate, whose character appears drawn in such hideous colouring by 
 the members of his own party. Above all, let a federalist oemem- 
 ber, that if he does not appear at the polls in September next, he does 
 all in his power to secure the election of a man, who is with such sin- 
 gular emphasis and energy despised by his own party. 
 
 EXPOSITION 
 
 Of the motives for opposing the nomination of Mr. Munroe for the 
 office of president of the United States. 
 
 Circumstances have arisen which make it proper to explain to the 
 nation, and to the republican party in particular, some of the leading 
 
14 
 
 iaotives which induced the representatives of the people, in the late 
 caucus at Washington to oppose the nomination of Mr. Munroe for 
 the office of president of the United States. The exposition will be 
 brief, it is hoped it will be clear; and to every impartial mind it must 
 be satisfactory. 
 
 The objection to colonel Monroe as a candidate for the presidency 
 was two-fold: First, as it regarded the policy which presented him for 
 adoption to that high station: Secondly, as it respected his particular 
 qualifications for the chief magistracy. 
 
 On the first point, the following considerations, founded upon facte 
 universally known, seemed irresistibly to prescribe his exclusion: 
 The present constitution has been in operation about 27 years, during 
 the whole of which term (excepting four years) the president has 
 been from the state of Virginia. This monopoly of the first post in 
 the government, so far from being considered by the Virginians as 
 an encroachment on the fair claims of the other sections of the uni- 
 on, has, by dextrous sophistry, been converted into an argument to 
 prove, that, those who question the propriety of continuing power for 
 so long a time in the same hands, are only guided by ambition, or im- 
 pelled by factious motives; as if the tenacity with which a few men, 
 in that state, cling to the presidential succession, were not in itself 
 an admonitory indication in them of the most ardent and unquench*f 
 able thirst for power. But this feature of local policy, odious as it is, 
 would not have awakened a spirit of indignant resistance, had it not 
 been apparent, that in order to insure its success, the whole weight of 
 the republican party for fifteen years past, had been artfully wielded 
 to cut off from popular respect and estimation the most distinguished 
 characters in other parts of the United States: To support this asser- 
 tion it is only necessary to recur to a few facts within r the recollec- 
 tion and observation of every politician who has been on the public 
 stage. \ 
 
 First — With a view of securing the presidency to a Virginian, a 
 vice president for Mr. Jefferson's second term of office was selected 
 from New York, of an age to advanced to render it probable he would 
 be chosen to the chief magistracy; but by rendering him the most pro- 
 minent character, it formed an insuperable barrier tq the pretensions 
 of other distinguished men in that state. The claims of the elder 
 Clinton were accordingly superseded by those of Mr. Madison. Care 
 was taken that this circumstance should not be overlooked at the cri- 
 tical inoraent, and Mr. Jefferson about to retire from office, in aA 
 answer to an address from the legislature of Maryland, alluded to it 
 in terms too glaring to be mistaken. The same policy was again 
 adopted in the selection of Mr. Gerry from Massachusetts. 
 
 The vice president of the United States should be possessed of eve- 
 ry qualification to discharge the important duties which would de- 
 volve on him in the event of the death of the president: and when it 
 is taken into consideration that merely to secure the Virginian suc- 
 cession, the best interests of the country are jeopardized, by calling 
 men to that office who are superannuated, and past the discharge of 
 
id 
 
 important functions, it cannot but be viewed by the people with dis- 
 gust, if not with indignation. 
 
 Secondly, about the same period the state of New York Brought 
 general Armstrong into public notice. He had been a senator in con- 
 gress from that commonwealth. His genius was feared. He was 
 taken off by a foreign embassy. His diplomatic career in France was 
 markea by spirit and ability — and at his return he became popular in 
 the United States. He accepted a seat in the cabinet, at a time of 
 great difficulty and responsibility. Respecting his administration of 
 the department of war, there have been various opinions. He alle- 
 ges that he experienced perpetual embarrassment in the concern of 
 his department, by the unusual interference of "a great civil officer of 
 state," viz. colonel Monroe. The capture of the metropolis was a- 
 droitly seized upon as a pretext for denouncing him. The particular 
 and personal friends of colonel Mom'oe, uniting with the federalists, 
 insulted him in the streets of Washington, and Mr. Madison discard- 
 ing him from office, gave the fatal blow to his reputation. Whatever 
 might have been the conduct of general Armstrong, it is evident that 
 the president, when he took the field as commander in chief, was at 
 least equally responsible for the safety of the capital. Colonel Mon- 
 roe also took the field, and formed a part of the troops at Bladens- 
 burgh. 
 
 After having thus volunteered his services in a military capacity.it 
 remains for him to account to the nation, why he was not among" the 
 troops, rallying and encouraging them, instead of precipitating him- 
 self to the rear, and being among the foremost in that disastrous, dis- 
 graceful retreat. Why did he not take measures for the security of 
 the public buildings, which could have been defended by four hundred: 
 men properlj^-posted in them? But general Armstrong was made the 
 scape-goat of the transaction. 
 
 Thirdly. The severity of Virginia policy has no tenderness even 
 for citizens of her own state, should they be sufficiently disinterested 
 and independent to oppose this monopolizing spirit. Mr. Giles was 
 a republican of the first grade and talents, and no one has rendered 
 more services to the nation in the legislative body. He was known, 
 to be opposed to the elevation of colonel Monroe to the presidency, 
 from a diminitive opinion of his abilities. He was gradually disclaim- 
 ed, aud finally compelled to retire. 
 
 Fourthly — The man in Massachusetts who appeared most likely ta 
 disturb the Virginia succession, was John Quiucey Adams. He was 
 removed by an embassy to Russia. Mr. Madison proffered him a 
 judgeship, which he had the sagacity to refuse. By being constantly 
 abroad, he will be kept from tlie view of the people, and his claims,, 
 which are everyway superior to Mr. Monroe's, will in this way be 
 prevented from interfering with the regular succession. 
 
 Fifthly — A prominent trait in the policy of Virginia, in regard to 
 tile presidency, and one which has made" a deep impression, is the 
 open countenance shewn to the particular personal friends of Aarou 
 Bmr, on account of their long csmttaued and persevering hostility to 
 
16 
 
 Mr. Clinton. The patronage showered upon the persons most in the 
 confidence of that man, is indeed extraordinary, because not one of 
 them had been conspicuous for services rendered to the nation, or sa- 
 crifices to promote the welfare of the republican party. Si rhe idea 
 maybe Formed of the governmental profusion in this particular, from 
 the following appointments, which have all taken place within the 
 compass of Mr. Madison's administration, viz. 
 
 William P. Van Ness, the sec .nd to Eurr in his duel with general 
 I-familton, district judge of New \ ork. 
 
 His brother, John P. Van Ness, superintendent of the pi ! - build- 
 ings at the city of Washington, with a salary of 1600 dollars and 
 contracts, 
 
 And Cornelius P. Van Ness, in the first instance, United States 
 district attorney in Vermont; then Collector of the customs for the 
 same district; and lately appointed a commissioner for running the 
 boundary line, with a salary of 5000 dollars per annum. 
 
 Jonathan Fisk, United States attorney for the district of New- 
 York. 
 
 Besides several others, who it is not necessary to designate. These 
 all belong to that class of politicians, called Burrites, known to be 
 the most welcome guests at the president's house, and in all the pub- 
 lic offices of the government. The object of this patronage is per- 
 fectly understood. They form a small but active band of politicians 
 in New York, and have always had a press at their command, whose 
 attacks have been directed against De Witt Clinton, as the man 
 most likely, from his talents and high standing with the republican 
 party, to interfere >vith the "regular succession." This band is in 
 constant correspondence through its associates at Washington with 
 the administration — and all its proceedings at New York have been 
 subservient to the Virginia policy. It was in this way Mr. Clinton 
 was a long time cutoff* from the confidence of the republican party. 
 He, however, has now regained his standing with the republicans of 
 New York. 
 
 It is true, that Mr. Clinton, in compliance with the solicitations of 
 the New York legislature, committed an error in permitting his name 
 to be set up against Mr. Madison, at an unfortunate period — the same, 
 however, is equally true as it regards col. Monroe; with this differ- 
 ence, that the latter was discountenanced by the Virginia legislature, 
 and still persevered in his opposition to Mr. Madison. The one was 
 pardoned and taken into favor, and the other has labored under the 
 weight of court proscription and denunciation. And yet it is ac- 
 knowledged by the most intelligent of colonel Monroe's friends, that 
 as to ail endowments which should belong to the chief magistrate of 
 this country, strength of mind, know ledge of character, decision, lite- 
 rary, legal, and philosophical attainments, and enlarged views of na- 
 tional policy, there is no comparison between him and Mr. Clinton. 
 
 Thisperseverar.ee and bitterness of proscription was less pardon- 
 able, as Mr. Clinton was the most zeaious in revolutionizing New 
 York to republican principles— and from the year 1799, when this 
 
47 
 
 revolution (which secured the election of Mr. Jefferson) was first 
 effected, until 1812, the crea of his denunciation, was the pride, the 
 stay and support, the life and soul of the republican party, in that im- 
 portant state. That gentleman is in all his principles of government, 
 strictly, and sternly a republican — as the elder Clinton was wont to 
 say of him, he ivas born a republican. His great error was interfer- 
 ing with the regular sticcession at an unfortunate period — even the 
 Burriles cannot accuse him of opposing the war. But it will never 
 be a reason why Virginia persecution should slacken, that the object 
 of it is, in all respects, a suitable character for chief magistrate of 
 the country— on the contrary, the furnace will glow with a neat more 
 intense — the arrow will be dipped in a more fatal venom. 
 
 Sixthly — Every distinguished republican in other states, who might 
 justly aspire to the presidential office, having, in this manner been 
 thrown in the back ground, nothing remained but to popularize col. 
 Monroe — and that was effected as if it were by enchantment. His 
 former hostility to Mr. Madison was forgiven — a conciliator} 1- din- 
 ner was provided in the neighborhood of Mr. Jefferson's residence, 
 at which were present Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and Col. Mon- 
 roe, and there the plan was laid. Col. M. as a preliminary step was 
 elected governor of Virginia, was hurried thence into the office of 
 Secretary of State — and from that very moment every measure in 
 peace and in war, on the part of the executive, has pointed towards 
 his elevation to the chief magistracy. The pres£, which alas! is ve- 
 nal, was. put at his disposal, by the patronage bestowed in printing 
 the United States' laws. The newspapers under his control have 
 been constantly teeming with the grossest panegyrics — and the peo- 
 ple who know not the man, take their impressions only from the pub- 
 lic prints. Even the National Intelligencer, which is well known 
 to be a subservient organ of the executive, has been filled with adu- 
 lation, at which a mind of the least dilicacy must sicken with dis- 
 gust. — The hired applauder3at the theatre afford not an instance of 
 more disgusting venality. 
 
 It is thus, that, in the name of republicanism, a few leading men in 
 Virginia, have outrageously violated republican principles. They 
 have with extraordinary art, made use of the zeal, the honest preju- 
 dices, and devotion of the republican party to further the purposes of 
 a selfish ambition, and accomplish the degradation of every other 
 state in the union. Having thus, by various artifices, cut off from 
 the good will of the people, the eminent characters of other states, 
 they tauntingly exclaim, who is so popular as our candidate! This 
 is worse than scorn: it is cruel mockery! 
 
 Seventhly — It is not necessary to dwell upon the circumstances of 
 Mr. Jefferson's having, in the flood tide of republicanism, enforced 
 an alteration in the constitution. It was unfortunate that the repub- 
 licans were precipitated into that measure. They now find the evil 
 of it. Instead of the question being left at large between two of our 
 best citizens, by the mode of designation now in practice, an individ- 
 ual is enabled to intrigue directly for the office. 
 3 
 
18 
 
 Eighthly — To these various causes of legitimate •pposition to the 
 Virginian policy, there is a point to be added, that in some sort 
 touches the honor of the republican party. In the gloomy times of 
 the late contest, when the city of Washington had been burnt, and 
 ■war wore a menacing aspect on different points of the frontier, when 
 Mr. Dallas had officially proclaimed the nation a bankrupt„and Vir- 
 ginia found herself unable to sustain the incumbent weight of do- 
 mestic odium, and foreign hostilities, colonel Monroe commissioned 
 two of his friends to declare to the republicans of congress that he 
 abdicated his pretensions to the presidency, and would lend his in- 
 fluence in the support of a candidate from any state. But no soon- 
 er did the horrizon begin to clear up, and victory at New Orleans 
 give an earnest of the speedy return of peace, than he recalled his 
 abdication; and the same friends, honorably indignant, as it is under- 
 stood, at this proceeding, were instructed to explain, and state that 
 col. Monroe's intentions did not correspond with his words. For the 
 truth of this statement, the curious enquirer may .appeal to general 
 J. G. Jackson, or to gen. Desha. 
 
 Ninthly— But it is not the north and east alone, over which the 
 policy of Virginia has predominated. The minor offices have in- 
 deed been bestowed in that quarter, whilst Pennsylvania lias been 
 studiously neglected, and only escaped the abasement intended her 
 by the energy of the late John Smilie. The third census placed New 
 York, in point of population, at the head of the union. It was with 
 grief Virginia saw herself removed, by natural causes, from that high 
 eminence, and she resolved at least to fill the second niche. Accord- 
 ingly the late. John Dawson, a relative of colonel Monroe, and inti- 
 mately in the confidence of the administration, before the bearing of 
 the census was fairly understood, proposed in congress Sr,OUO as the 
 ratio of each representative. This would have thrown Pennsylvania 
 by one member of congress behind Virginia. Smilie penetrated the 
 design, and united the Pennsylvania delegation in favor of a ratio of 
 35,000, which prevailed. This raised that state to an equal rank 
 with Virginia. The files of the Intelligencer will amply verify these 
 particulars. It is remarkable too, that the policy of Virginia has led 
 berto shower the patronage and offices of government on refractory 
 states. Her most faithful friends she most neglects. Secure in the 
 obedience of the South, they experience but little of the blushing ho 
 Mors and rich patronage of office. The great and important state of 
 North Carolina, is an example of most marked and persevering ne- 
 glect. Not an important officer of administration, a foreign minis 
 ter,* or any other officer of importance, has been selected, from that 
 state since the adoption of the constitution. The reason is obvious. 
 She can be otherwise governed; and why waste honors and emolu- 
 ments on a state sufficiently acquiescent in the views of the succes-' 
 sion, when discontented and restless states call, with a turbulent 
 voice, "for office and potronage." 
 
 * General Davie wajs indeed; on a specif mission, for a shfiifi <*nu 
 
19 
 
 So many efforts, all tending to the same result, cannot have been 
 the effect of accident. They incontestably establish, on the part of 
 a few leading men in Virginia, a systematic design of perpetually go- 
 verning the country, not upon the sound and general principles of re- 
 publicanism, but by taking the advantage of the generous bias and 
 unsuspecting passions of the republican party, by official manage- 
 ment, the venality of the press, and governmental patronage. 
 
 On the second point of the objection, namely the particular quali- 
 fications of colonel Monroe for the presidency, the consideration a- 
 gaiiist him were not less cogent and weighty. His best friends allow 
 him to be but of moderate capacity, and slow of comprehension. This, 
 it is notorious, gives to those around him an undue influence over his 
 intellectual determinations; and leads him in a throng of business, to 
 commit the most important affairs of state to incompetent hands. 
 Urbanity is not denied him; but that, by rendering him more accessi- 
 ble: lays him still more open to the artifices of imposture. A man 
 of this cast will always keep talent at a distance, and surround him- 
 self by compliant mediocrity, and hypocritical dullness. 
 
 The slowness of comprehension, and want of penetration and de«- 
 cision in col. Monroe, have been conspicuous throughout his whole 
 political life. In France, he mistook his instructions, and committed 
 great blunders or wilful errors: and was recalled by gen. Washington. 
 In England, also, he misconstrued his instructions, or rather perverse- 
 ly acted contrary to them, and signed a treaty with such mortifying 
 conditions annexed, that Mr. Jefferson indignantly sent it back with- 
 out consulting the senate, — He was recalled in disgrace. Thus dis- 
 claimed in his diplomatic career by federal and republican adminis- 
 trations, candor must allow that he has no title to rank with the first 
 characters in America. But thus ordinarily gifted, col. Monroe has 
 furnished unequivocal evidence that his lust tor power is insatiable. 
 
 Returning from England at a time when he knew he was not the 
 choice of the republican party for the presidency, he coalesced with 
 the federalists of Virginia, in opposition to Mr. Madison. W' hy should 
 that gentleman escape censure on this score? the executhe mantle 
 is too thin to conceal the deformity. To promote his ambitious views, 
 he forced into public notice his private correspondence with Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, and never ceased his hostility to Mr. Madison until he was 
 assured of beu$g brought into the department of state. If the execu- 
 tive has the power to nominate as his successor, a man who notori- 
 ously incompetent, has committed the greatest political errors, and 
 outraged the will of the republican party, it is evident that election 
 is a farce, and the voice of the people an unmeaning sound! 
 
 Besides these weighty objections to col. Monroe, on these main 
 points, there are others of a very serious nature. — Power has conti- 
 nued so long in the same hands, that in many instances the incum- 
 bents of office appear to be losing sight of the fundamental princi- 
 ples of republican government. 
 
 A system of official management, and speculation on the disburse- 
 ments of office appears to be gaining ground, th*t threatens to sub- 
 
£0 
 
 vert the plain aftcl wholesome provisions of the constitution. Ideas 
 of economy are no longer in fashion at Washington, banking and 
 funding systems, which give rise to iniquitous stock -jobbing, the art 
 of governing bv presidential patronage, and entangling intercommu- 
 nications with Europe, are alone in vogue. Such a state of things 
 seems loudly to demand a change in the executive office; and this 
 change can never be effected, so long as the office is transmitted from 
 the one to the other in regular succession. Large balances of unset- 
 tled accounts remain unadjusted on the books of the treasury; colonel 
 Monroe himself, it is understood, is still a delinquent on these 
 books, to a very considerable amount. One fact, in this respect, will 
 speak more than a volume. The late consul of the United States at 
 Algiers, returning home, and still having an unsettled account of 
 some thousands of dollars, was nevertheless appointed accountant 
 of the war department. The debt which he owes to the nation is a 
 guarantee of his obedience to the government in the settlement of any 
 account, in any mode that may induce an accession of influence to a 
 favorite candidate. 
 
 These are some of the reasons which induced fifty-four republican 
 representatives of the people to oppose the nomination of col. Mon- 
 roe in caucus. They supported Mr. Crawford, because they knew 
 him to be independent, virtuous and able. Had it not been for the 
 discouraging delicacy of that respectable gentleman, and his more 
 immediate friends, he would, beyond all question, have been nomi- 
 nated for the presidency., It is with regret we announce our belief, 
 that this gentleman will not consent to be looked to as the candidate 
 of what we conceive to be a majority of the republicans. 
 
 This candid exposition of motive is confidently submitted to tlie 
 people. Supreme arbiters if they choose, it is for them to decide, 
 whether the conduct of those opposed to col. Monroe has been insti- 
 gated by unworthy motives, or guided by sound, honorable and con- 
 stitutional principles; it is for them to determine whether they will 
 elect as their chief magistrate, a person recommended to them only 
 by the casting vote of the Virginia delegation, after having in that 
 state enjoyed that high office, twenty -four out of twenty-eight years, 
 against whom fifty -four republican delegates, representing two mil- 
 lions of people, after deliberate investigation and personal observa- 
 tion on the spot, had such great and insurmountable objections. A 
 man recommended by the casting vote of eleven Virginians, who re* 
 fused to go into caucus until made certain of success, and then only 
 with the exnress declaration, that they would SUPPORT THEIR 
 FAVORITE CANDIDATE IN OPPOSITION, IF THEKE 
 SHOULD RE A MAJORITY AGAINST HIM— A man whose no- 
 mination was opposed not only by several representatives of high re- 
 spectability, who, from principle did not go into caucus, but the ele- 
 vated and high minded Macon, whose virtue and talents are an or- 
 nament to his country, and who with propriety is ranked throughout 
 the nation as one of the fathers of the republican party. It rests with 
 the people to decide, whether a system of executive favoritism *n|L 
 
%i 
 
 patronage, subversive of the fundamental and wholesome principles «f 
 republican liberty, shall be prolonged; or whether by inducting a 
 new man to office, not trammelled and shackled by the retainers of 
 the court, abuses shall be formed, prodigality abolished, the constitu- 
 tion brought back to its original principles of purity, disaffection qui- 
 eted, and the existence of the great republican party perpetuated. 
 
 CITIZENS LOOK HERE/ 
 
 The democrats of Maryland have been beyond measure loud and 
 clamorous, because they suspected the federalists of introducing vo* 
 ters into Annapolis. Meetings were held and a number of wonderful- 
 ly important resolutions adopted, denouncing their opponents with 
 every possible term of crimination and reproach, and in short if their 
 patriotism can be proved by their curses, they are the most patriotic 
 body that ever existed. In the midst of all this bustle, uproar and 
 confusion, they were suddenly alarmed by the production of the fol- 
 lowing certificates. They found to their astonishment, that they had 
 been denouncing their own system of policy, and exclaiming in the 
 most vociferous manner against their own party. In short, these do- 
 cuments have fairly silenced the democrats themselves. Just in the 
 midst of their electioneering denunciations, when they deemed their 
 triumph complete, they found by these documents all their invec- 
 tives retoi'ted upon themselves. 
 
 In short it does appear that the members of this party make it their 
 constant business to lay down rules to be violated by themselves. 
 But this is no noveltyj with such patriots as these, bribery and cor- 
 ruption, falsehood, misrepresentation and slander, form the order 
 of the day. This is the tenure by which they gain, and by which they 
 abuse the confidence of their country. To talk of public virtue and 
 to practice public depravity, this is tlie ground and principle of their 
 actions. Let them now read their own invectives against the feder- 
 al party, and then the following certificates — let them carefully com- 
 pare the one with the other, and resist the conclusion if they can, 
 that they did not gravely sit down to write libels on themselves. In 
 short, since the appearance of these documents, we have heard very 
 little from the democrats on the Annapolis question. It remains for 
 our fellow-citizens to say, whether they will at the ensuing election, 
 entrust the welfare oi'Marylaud to a faction, who stand thus self con- 
 demned on their own principles, who have been detected in the per- 
 petration of the very act which they have reprobated and denounced,' 
 and who are now compelled to fly from the political field, covered 
 witii si.anie and coefuaion, to escape from their own invectives..- 
 
<•>*> 
 
 TO THE PEOPLE OF MARYLAND. 
 
 Haying seen by reading some late numbers of a paper called the Peo- 
 ple's Advocate, (which from its many falsehoods and abusive language, 
 may be considered the forlorn hope of the democratic party in this 
 state) that those advocates of the rights of the people considered the 
 transferring voters to the city of Annapolis as a "conspiracy, a du- 
 ping outrage" against the rights of the citizens and the purity of elec- 
 tions! it is proposed to shew, that their brethren, the democrats of 
 Kent, had been previously guilty of the very offence with which they 
 charge the federalists of Annapolis. 
 
 I first lay before you the two following certificates; 
 
 I do hereby certify, that I was at the office of Ezekiel F. Cham- 
 bers, esquire, on the second of December last, and in conversation 
 with him, heard the said Ezekiel F. Chambers, esq. say, "that they 
 were going to have a meeting that afternoon, the object of which 
 meeting was, to put down, or overthrow federalism. 
 
 BENJAMIN HOWARD. 
 
 June 8th, 181G. 
 
 On the 2d day of December, when in Chester-town for the purpose 
 of taking out a license for the sloop David Porter, I had occasion to 
 pass through the passage of the tavern, then kept by capt. Campbell, 
 and in passing the left hand front room, two men were standing near 
 the door way, and appeared to be somewhat in liquor; they were ex- 
 ulting in the idea of giving the federalists a complete defeat in Kent 
 county at the ensuing election; observing that "they had already got 
 fifteen men into the upper district, and that they should give the feds 
 a complete dressing," or words to that effect. Some further conver- 
 sation passed between them, which I did not distinctly hear, and I 
 then passed on and transacted my business with the collector. After 
 I left the tavern, I mentioned to some federal gentlemen that the elec- 
 tion in Kent was lost unless measures were taken to counteract this 
 importation plan, and expressed my willingness to lend all the aid I 
 could to defeat so unfair a mode of proceeding with a view to defeat 
 the fair voice of the people of that county. On that day a very large 
 collection of people were at the tavern, which I understood to be a 
 democratic meeting — Several of the leading democrats were cer- 
 tainly there. 
 
 RICIURD1. JONES. 
 
 May 6, 1816- 
 
It is certain that a meeting did take place in December, a season 
 of the year in which it was unusual to hold political meetings in this 
 county, and it appears from Mr. Jones' certificate, that the goodly 
 work of bringing in voters had already commenced. At the election 
 in October, the federal ticket had succeeded throughout, although 
 some divisions existed at that election among federalists— from this 
 circumstance it is fair to conclude that captain Chambers must have 
 grounded his expectations on the new plan of "overthrowing fe- 
 deralism."* 
 
 I certify, that in the course of a conversation held with capt. Fre- 
 derick Wilson, in Mr. John Wallis,jr's. counting house, in the city 
 of Baltimore, in the latter part of the month of March, or first ol 
 April last past, on the subject of introducing voters into Kent county,, 
 he admitted that they (the democrats) had done so, but had effected 
 it in rather a more decent manner than the federalists, having got 
 them there, and employed them as overseers, and that their oppo- 
 nents had got them in and boarded them without giving them employ- 
 ment. — Some other conversation passed on the subject, but the gene- 
 ral tenor thereof, the subscriber doth not recollect. Given under my 
 hand this 15th dav of Mav, 1816. ' 
 
 JONATHAN H. FALCONAR. 
 
 1 hereby certify, that on the 23d day of February, 1816, I was in 
 company with Mr. Thomas Selvvay, who resided in Queen Anne's 
 county last year, and who has been in the employment of Mr. James- 
 Harris, a cart-wrighi . of Kent county, since some time in January 
 last. In the course of our conversation, I observed to him, that I sup- 
 posed the democrats meant to carry the elections the ensiling fall: he 
 stated that they were sanguine; I then enquired of him, what they 
 calculated on, to which he replied that they calculated on the deaths 
 in the county, which were favorable to them, and on the transport 
 men. I then asked him who the transport me:i were. — He answered, 
 men from Queen Anne's. — Upon which 1 enquired of him in what 
 
 f»arts of the county they resided. He said there were ;> few in the 
 ower and middle districts, and mostly in the upper district, in all, to 
 the best of my recollection, from twenty to thirty, as he had under- 
 stood. 
 
 JEREMIAH NICOLS. 
 Kent County, May 18, 1816. 
 
 I certify, that in a conversation with Mr. James Harris, of Kent 
 county, early in March last- he fold me that he expe«ted the demo» 
 
2* 
 
 crats would succeed in Kent at the next election, in consequence of 
 the deaths among the federalists, and that the democrats had~get more 
 men from Queen Anne's than the federalists. Witness my hand this 
 10th day of June, 1816. 
 
 WILLIAM SAMPSON. 
 
 I hereby certify, that some time about the 1st January last, on my 
 way from Chester town, 1 fell in company with a young man, whose 
 name I believe was Taylor; I enquired how far he had been riding: 
 he informed me, he had been as far as Mr. Unit Angier's, and that 
 he was about to live with him; that Mr. Angier wanted ten or a do- 
 zen young men to come to Kent, and he would find them employ- 
 ment, but they must bo democrats. — Upon my bantering him on the 
 subject, he acknowledged the object was to secure the election. 
 
 Given under mv hand this 10th day of May, 1816. 
 
 JAMES MASSEY. 
 
 Kent County \ to wit: 
 
 Personally appeal's John Turner, ©4' Kent County, before me the 
 subscriber, one of the justices of the peace of the state of Maryland, 
 for the county aforesaid, on this twentieth day of May? in the year 
 of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixteen; and makes oath on the 
 Holy Evangely of Almighty God, that Thomas Taylor, late of Queen 
 Anne's county, now lives at one of Mr. Unit Angier's farms in Kent 
 county. 
 
 €>worn before mc, 
 
 JAMES ARTHUR, 
 
 I do hereby certify, that a short time since I happened at the 
 counting house of Solomon Betts, of the city of Baltimore, when a 
 conversation ensued upon the subject of introducing voters into dif- 
 ferent counties, tor the purpose of influencing the election. It was 
 Stated that the democratic party had commenced the business, and 
 t -tai c- federalists had been reluctantly compelled to resort to this 
 me? >,j re by way of retaliation. A gentleman present enquired of 
 Mr. Betts whether he had not heard Doctor George Thomas, (a very 
 eandid and respectable democrat of Kent county) admit the fact; 
 when Mr. Betts gave him the following statement: that Dr. Thomas 
 and Mr. William Alexander, of Elkton, were in company with hitn 
 in the city of Baltimore, in the month of March last, they were 
 conversing upon the subject of the next senatorial election, when the 
 doctor remarked that he doubted about the general result ol the 
 elections through the -State, hut that Kent would certainly be e^mp- 
 
2S 
 
 cratic. Mr. Betts then asked the doctor what grounds he had for 
 forming such an opinion; that the federalists had succeeded in Kent 
 for the last four years, and that he saw nothing in our political aifairs 
 to produce a change in favor of democracy. To which the doctor 
 replied, that the democrats calculated upon success from the number 
 of emigrants from Queen Anne's. Mr. Betts then asked whether they 
 were all of the same politics? To which the doctor replied, that they 
 had taken good care of that, and that they had made the thing sure. 
 Mr. Betts then remarked, thac it was a little extraordinary that the 
 democratic, party should make such a bustle about the removals to 
 Annapolis, when it appeared that they themselves had done the same, 
 thing, and asked the doctor what was the difference in a moral point 
 of view between the federalists introducing voters into Annapolis, 
 and the democrats introducing voters from Queen Anne's into Kent; 
 to which the doctor replied, that they had brought their voters into 
 Kent at the beginning of the year, in the character of overseers and 
 laborers, but that the federalists had removed their voters after the 
 year had commenced, and he understood had boarded them out with- 
 out giving them employment — at which Mr. Alexander indulged in a 
 hearty laugh. Mr. Betts then requested the doctor to be particular 
 in what he said, as these candid confessions might at some future day 
 rise in judgment against him. The doctor seemed a little alarmed, 
 lest he might possibly have gone too far with his admission; but upon 
 Mr. Betts recapitulating the substance of the conversation, doctor 
 Thomas, with his usual frankness, admitted it to be correct. Given 
 under my hand on the 1st June, 1816. 
 
 WILLIAM GRAVES. 
 
 It is not correct as stated in captain Wilson's conversation, that 
 the federalists have men boarded in Kent, who are without any em- 
 
 ?loyment. Some persons who came to reside in Kent, put up at Mr. 
 lynson's tavern for a few days, until they got into business. It is 
 proper to state, that E. F. Chambers, Frederick Wilson, Thomas 
 Selway, James Harris, Unit Angier and Thomas Taylor, are demo- 
 crats. By their declarations it has been proved that the democrats 
 transferred men into Kent, and with the view of securing the elec- 
 tion. Much more proof of the same kind can be procured. Some 
 material facts are expected, and will be published in a short time. 
 
 The federalists of Kent thus becoming acquainted with the schemes 
 of democracy to silence and overthrow the fair expression of the will 
 of the people, thought it most adviseable to resort to similar mea- 
 sures as the only probable means of counteracting this new kind of 
 policy. And now it appears that the democrats goaded by their dis- 
 appointment and mortification, produced by the failure of their plans, 
 have had the effrontery to call that bribery and corruption, of which, 
 they are the original authors and perpetrators, and to the ingenuity 
 of which they are exclusively and fairly entitled. It will now be 
 
 i 
 
25 
 
 seen what regard they entertain for the opinions of the people, hOn 
 sacred they esteem the purity of elections, and how zealously they 
 maintain trie cause of justice and truth. Their hypocrisy is as base 
 as it is shamcU-s.-. 
 
 Jl Citizen of Kent. 
 
 The following Certificate proves that the practice of im- 
 porting voters into federal counties was commenced by 
 the democrats as early as the year 1813: — 
 
 1 do hereby certify, that sometime in the year 1813, 1 happened at 
 Centreville, where I met with Mr. William Chambers,* who suppo- 
 sing, as I imagine, that I was a democrat from the circumstance of 
 my being ; an Irishman, and the principal of Washington College, (a 
 majority of (he trustees of which institution were of that particular 
 sect) entered into conversation with me upon the subject of the ap- 
 proaching election. He remarked that the democrats had establish- 
 ed the factory in Chester town with the view to secure the election 
 in Rent, and had brought in democrats from Queen Anne's to assist, 
 their plan, and that he was satisfied that a sufficient number would 
 be introduced to answer the purpose. 
 
 Given under my hand in the city of Baltimore, this eleventh day 
 of June, 181 6. 
 
 HUGH MAGUIRE. 
 
 ADDITIONAL. 
 
 A Certificate of Mr. John W. Thomas, a respectable merchant of tlu. 
 City of Baltimore. 
 
 I do hereby certify, that sometime last winter, at Mr. Barney's ta- 
 vern, in this city, I met with Mr. N. S. Dawson, an acquaintance of 
 mine, from Elkton, with whom I commenced a conversation on the 
 
 •This William Chambers is the identical gentleman, who was appointed, for 
 the violence of his politics, treasurer on the Eastern Shore; and who is very 
 willing- to hold the office agkin, just for the- good of the people, and so he is a 
 good patriot. 
 
27 
 
 subject of the approaching election in Maryland; during which, Mr. 
 Dawson observed, that he had no doubt but the democrats would suc- 
 ceed. I then asked him what counties his party calculated on? 
 
 He mentioned several, among the rest Cecil and Kent; I offered to 
 bet him a hat upon each. He then said he was not so certain of Cecil, 
 but took me up upon Kent, which he was certain of. I asked him 
 what caused him to be so confident of Kent; that the county had been 
 federal for several years, and unless there was a considerable change 
 that it would remain so. He said he had heard of no changes, but 
 that several gentlemen from Kent had informed him, that they had got 
 over (to use his own expression) a swarm of democrats from Queen 
 Anne's to reside in Kent, since the last election. 
 
 JOHN W. THOMAS 
 
 Baltimore, June 24, 1816. 
 
 P. S. As will be observed by the above certificate, I do not recol- 
 lect the exact date that this conversation took place, but I remember 
 perfectly that it was in the winter, and a long time before the report 
 was circulated, that the federalists had sent men to Annapolis. 
 
 J. W. T, 
 
fcBAp'U