Without doubt, Dr. Huntington was the best-beloved man who has ever been connected with the University. He was a ripe scholar, an inspiring teacher, a helpful friend. His students admired and loved him and many a life has been made better by the quiet influence of his noble character.

MARYLAND'S PART IN FOUNDING THE

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

BY J. FREDERICK ESSARY.

(Read before the Society, May 18, 1915.)

I am frequently led to wonder if this generation of Marylanders realizes the very important part played by their State in the great drama of the Revolution, in the momentous events which that war made possible and in the process of creating a new and untried system of government on this continent. The state has had an honorable share in all this and the descendants of the men who stood out boldly in the early period of our history, the heroic spirits who pledged Maryland to the cause of freedom and led her across the threshold of national life, may feel sincere pride in the achievements of her statesmen, her soldiers, her patriots.

Civilization accords no rarer privilege to the men who make history than the privilege of founding orderly government. Thousands there may be who have builded upon an order, once established; other thousands may have been privileged to defend it and to enjoy its usufructs, but there are only a few men whom all mankind honor as pathfinders, as fearless pioneers in the development of a system of human authority.

This is just as true of the American republic as it is of any of the governments that have gone before it or any that have come after it. A mere handful of figures stand out preeminently in the great struggle that gave this country its equality before the world, and its people their right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiA vast multitude of men made sacrifices of

their property, their blood and their lives that this end might be achieved, but oblivion has claimed all but that small group of giants who completed the work of the sword by welding the colonies into a confederation and the confederation into an indissoluble union.

And as the Revolutionary period recedes, as the perspective grows, interest in its historic events and in its dynamic personalities, becomes more and more absorbing. The men who made this republic possible; the men who laid its foundation upon deep and enduring lines; the men whose brain brought into being the organic law of the United States are more and more profoundly venerated by each succeeding generation.

It was Maryland's fortune to contribute handsomely to the soldiery and to the statesmanship of this era. And it is with personalities rather than with principles that I shall deal; with events rather than with abstractions. History, after all, is but the sum total of men's activities, but a record of their passions, their prejudices, their patriotism as reflected in their deeds. National achievement is only the focusing of individual achievement, only a concentration of individuality. That is why this brief review will comprehend men rather than

measures.

Six Marylanders of towering stature stand out in the solemn proceeding that gave this nation its birth, that organized a confederation to promote a successful war, that founded a permanent government out of the chaos that followed the victory at Yorktown. Charles Carroll of Carrollton, John Hanson, James McHenry, Luther Martin, Samuel Chase and Thomas Johnson formed that illustrious company. And no state, north or south, can boast of an abler line of statesmen of the Revolutionary period.

These men were intimately and traditionally asso

ciated with the Declaration of Independence, with the Articles of Confederation, and with the Constitution of the United States, the three charters of transcending consequence which will remain throughout the ages as monuments to the constructive genius of our government's founders. The record of their service in the Continental Congress and in the Constitutional Convention which followed it, entitled Maryland to a conspicuous place in the early annals of our government.

They were the men who overcame the Tory opposition to Maryland's break with the Crown. They were the men who refused to assent to the Articles of Confederation until the northwest lands were dedicated to the general government. They were the men who, when a constitution was about to be formed, defeated the Randolph scheme designed to wipe out the smaller states. Around this group of patriots, therefore, centered the bitterest parliamentary battles of the time.

Maryland was the last of the colonies to move for immediate independence. Under the old proprietary system Marylanders felt few of the hardships imposed by Great Britain upon their neighbors. The Tories were for a time in complete control of the provincial assembly and hesitated to cast off the lines that held them to the mother country. This was the situation in 1775. The colony had sent delegates to the Continental Congress, but these representatives were restricted to demands for redress for wrongs inflicted, but not authorized to declare for a break with the Crown.

A few bold spirits, however, headed by Carroll, Hanson and Johnson moved upon Annapolis, took control of the assembly, voted down the Tories and put Maryland forever on record for freedom when they caused to be passed through that body a resolution which read as follows:

"Resolved that what may be recommended by a majority of Congress, equally delegated by the people of the United Colonies, we will at the hazard of our lives and fortunes support and maintain, and that every resolution of the convention tending to separate this province from a majority of the colonies without the consent of the people is destructive to our internal safety."

By this action all qualifications and limitations were removed. The Maryland delegation was authorized to stand with the majority of the colonies and to cast the lot of that province for independence whenever that move should be found advisable. Charles Carroll was given his first commission as a member of the Continental Congress under the instructions referred to.

He had just returned from a fruitless mission to Canada where he had been sent by the new government to win the Canadians over to the cause of freedom. With the failure of that enterprise he resumed his seat in the assembly and, in perhaps the greatest speech of his life, he told his associates that then was the time to act and to act with the same patriotism and love of liberty that had actuated the other colonies. Armed with the new instructions and accompanied by Thomas Johnson, Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Matthew Tilghman and Robert Alexander, Carroll proceeded post haste to Philadelphia.

Before Carroll and his associates could reach the temporary capital, however, the immortal Declaration had been issued, the bonds had been cast off and America had asserted its political independence of Great Britain. It was not until August 2 that the Marylanders affixed their signatures to the instrument. And it was during this ceremony that one of the historic incidents in the life of Carroll had its setting.

When the hour arrived for the Marylanders to place