Part 25
This is the record of the day. The incidents narrated in the foregoing article throw some light on the services of the illustrious clergyman to the American cause and also show why he was elevated to the primacy of the Catholic Church in America. Subsequent to the Revolution, when full freedom dawned on the former Colonies, the Catholics in the several states, and they were most numerous in Maryland, desired no connection with England, religiously, because English Catholics were at that time proscribed persons and without political rights or standing before the law, although it is true that active persecution had ceased. Yet still although freemen the American Catholics were under the jurisdiction of the English Bishops, or Vicars Apostolic, and it was this connection that it was desired to sever, so that the Americans could have absolute independence religious as well as political. Father Carroll was one of the six priests who met on June 27, 1783, in Baltimore and held a conference at which the necessity of being independent of England was considered. At this conference were present Father John Ashton, the ex-Jesuit priest, who may be fitly styled the Nestor of the Catholic priesthood of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and Rev. Leonard Neale, afterwards Archbishop of Baltimore. On October 11, 1784, Father Carroll took part in a second conference, at which a plan of Government for the Catholic Church in the United States was drawn up, which included nineteen rules for the Government of the Clergy, was also adopted and a chapter of body corporate was formed, of which Father Ashton was chosen procurator general and he was given charge of all the church property in the Union. The chapter at a subsequent meeting at Whitemarsh, Prince Georges County, resolved to found Georgetown College, Father Ashton being named as one of the first board of directors. Father Carroll was made vicar general in 1786; in 1788 in company with Father Ashton and Rev. Robert Molyneux, afterwards vicar general, drew up a petition asking that the American Catholic Church be given greater liberty by being put under the charge of a bishop directly responsible to the Congregation of the Propaganda, which at that time was understood to be dominated by French influence. This petition was successful, and Father Carroll was unanimously nominated for the proposed prelacy.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin, at that time residing at Passy near Paris, as the American Ambassador to the Court of France, who was aware of Father Carroll’s charming manner, learning and ability, was able to use his personal friendship to assist in having the distinguished divine elevated to the episcopacy. But at first Father Carroll had no idea of aspiring to be bishop, and in fact the petition which was sent to a friend of his in Rome to be brought before the Pope asked that the Rev. John Lewis be appointed for the United States, with power to confer confirmation and to do temporarily other duties pertaining to the office of bishop. But, it is said that through the French minister to the United States a plan had been started to place a French bishop over the church in this country and Dr. Benjamin Franklin, ignorant of the position of the Catholics of the United States and of their wishes, was induced at first to lend his aid to the plan; but Father Carroll’s name was mentioned and he immediately recommended him to the Authorities at Rome. The Vatican was impressed with the recommendations of Dr. Franklin, whose fame was then as universal as that of Washington and who was the idol of the Courts of the Continent; thus a Protestant Quaker became a potent power in naming the first Primate of the Catholic Church in the United States. On June 7, 1784, Pope Pius VII., ratified the appointment of Father Carroll as prefect apostolic and the nuncio at Paris calling on Dr. Franklin to acquaint him with the appointment notified him that Father Carroll would be probably made a bishop.
Accepting the office in 1785, Father Carroll began his visitation and made a call for more priests. At this time his salary, 210 pounds sterling, was paid by the Chapter, the organization formed in 1784, which was composed solely of ex-Jesuit Fathers. A few years only were necessary to show the propaganda as well as all others interested in the growth of the Catholic church in America, the necessity for the appointment of a bishop for the new country, one who would be endowed with full powers of consecration and authority. So a petition to that effect was again forwarded to Rome signed by Father Carroll and the Reverends Robert Molyneux and John Ashton. This petition was sent through the Spanish minister, with whom Father Carroll had talked in reference to the subject, during a visitation to New York. Through his energetic course and his knowledge of the needs and hardships of the American mission as shown in his “Address to the Roman Catholics of the United States,” published in 1784, in reply to a paper of the Rev. Charles H. Wharton and in his report to Cardinal Antonelli, prefect of the Propaganda, in 1785, Father Carroll had demonstrated the wisdom of his having been chosen prefect apostolic. Cardinal Antonelli replied to the petition on July 12, 1788, and communicated to the signers authority from the Pope to call a meeting of the American Clergy and nominate a candidate for bishop and select a See. Accordingly they called a synod or conference at Whitemarsh, Md., and by a vote of 24 to 2 selected Father Carroll as the candidate for bishop and Baltimore was unanimously selected as the place of the See. Father Carroll wrote in reply to a communication from his fellow clergymen, notifying him of what they had done, that “he was by that event deprived of all expectation of rest and pleasure henceforward” and filled “with terror with respect to eternity.” The nomination was approved on September 14, 1780, by the Cardinals of the Sacred Congregation and Pius VI. issued on November 6th following the bill erecting the See of Baltimore and appointing Rev. John Carroll bishop. Father Carroll accepted the appointment and sailed at once for England to be consecrated.
Father Carroll was the recipient of numerous courtesies while in England, but soon hurried back to organize and develop his See. He returned to America early in October, landing at Baltimore on December 7th. He was received at Light Street dock by the Catholic laity and escorted to a palace which had been provided for him at the corner of Charles and Saratoga Streets. On the following Sunday old “St. Peter’s church,” which was selected as a pro-Cathedral, was crowded with citizens of all denominations, to hear the new bishop speak. He made an impressive address, in which he said: “In this, my new station, if my life be not one continued instrument of instruction and example of virtue to the people committed to my charge, it will become in the sight of God a life not only useless but even pernicious.” Shortly after his accession, Bishop Carroll received the Rev. Charles Nagot and several other Sulpitian Fathers, who had been sent to Baltimore by the Superior General of the Order at Paris, Father Emery, at the request of Father Carroll, to establish a seminary for the education of young men for the priesthood.
Father Emery had laid before Bishop Carroll in England shortly after his consecration a plan for the establishment of a seminary in Baltimore. To this plan Father Carroll had given his approval. Five seminarians accompanied the Sulpitians to this Country. It is told that on the same ship there was a young Frenchman who was then misled by Voltaire’s infidel teachings, but who later became converted to the doctrines of Christianity and consecrated his brilliant imagination and fascinating style to the service of religion and became the author of “The Genius of Christianity.” He was the illustrious Count de Chateaubriand. Acting under Bishop Carroll’s advice, Father Nagot and his companions rented a house in West Baltimore located on the present Paca Street, near Franklin, known as “The One Mile Tavern,” and there they opened on October 3, 1791, the now famous institution, St. Mary’s Seminary. This institution may be indeed styled the mother of the American Catholic priesthood. Probably more Irish-American young men have been educated within its walls than of any other nationality.
A letter to General Washington congratulating him on his open advocacy of religion and morals and upon the many notable honors that had been paid him, was presented to the great tribune by Bishop Carroll, Thomas Fitzsimmons and Thomas Lynch in 1792, on behalf of the Catholic clergy and laity of Baltimore. This letter contained many lofty sentiments, among them the following: “You encourage respect for religion. There is prospect of a nationality peculiarly Democratic, because while our country preserves independent politics and policies we shall have a well-founded title to claim from her justice, equal rights of citizenship, as well as the price of our blood spilt under your eyes, as of our warm exertions for her defence under your auspicious conduct—rights indeed the more dear by the remembrance of former hardships. While we pray for the preservation of these rights we expect the full justice of them, from the justice of those states which still restrict them.” It will be observed that the gentlemen who signed this letter were all of Irish connection, judging from their names, which are distinctively Gaelic. At this time the Federal Constitution was being discussed and the American Catholics had good reason to fear that the persecution and intolerance as well as the deprivation of political rights which had prevailed in regard to them in Colonial days, might be favored and legally declared in the provisions of that instrument. For there were those in and out of the State of Maryland who despite what Catholics and Dissenters had done in the battlefield for the achievement of American liberty and despite the aid of Catholic France which made the securement of that liberty possible were disposed to establish a State religion and to deny religious liberty at least to their fellowmen, excluding Catholics from all political rights, although there had been many Catholics in the Continental armies battling for the political rights of New Jersey and kindred “blue law” states. But these patriotic Catholics did not throw down their arms because of these abominable enactments, for their patriotism was too intense to be weakened by impulses of resentment. Therefore the American Catholic was none too sure of his status in this Country and it is even a fact that efforts were made before the Maryland Legislature to have an established church; in other words, a state religion in Maryland, and that the Anglican or Episcopalian church should retain the same relation to the State of Maryland as it had to the colony of Maryland. But a vigorous agitation led by Bishop Carroll on behalf of the Catholics and Rev. Dr. Allison for the Presbyterians effectually prevented such a proposition from being made a law. On February 22, 1800, Dr. Carroll delivered a memorable sermon in his Cathedral on the life and character of the illustrious Washington, who had died on the December 14 preceding.
CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON.
As an Irish-American, Charles Carroll of Carrollton easily stands first among all of his race in the history of the past of this Republic, at least so far as the State of Maryland is concerned, in character, in patriotism, in self-sacrifice and in services, if not in abilities. He was born at Annapolis on September 30, 1737, and was the son of Charles and Elizabeth Brooke Carroll and grandson of Charles Carroll of Kings County, Ireland. At eight years of age he was sent by his parents to France, where he received his education, remaining six years at the Jesuit College at St. Omers, six years at the Jesuit College, Rheims, two years at the College of St. Louis le Grand, Paris, and one year at Bruges, Belgium, to study civil law; returning again to college at Paris. Mr. Carroll went to London, in 1757, and commenced to study law in the Middle Temple, where he took his degree in 1764, and returned to Maryland, equipped with all of the attributes and capacities of a trained scholar and lawyer. Yet with it all as a Catholic, he had no political rights in the Colony, where he was born and where by right of inheritance he was the wealthiest man in the realm.
Mr. Carroll, however, had no need to earn his living in the Courts and first rose to fame through his memorable controversy with Daniel Dulany, in which he took the popular side, although politically without personal status, and posed as the foremost champion of freedom. In this contest Mr. Carroll proved an able controversialist and it was generally conceded the victor. His superb education had equipped him with every advantage; he was the inferior of no man in the Colony. The effect of his bold assertions and declarations against the Proprietary Governor was electric on the people and made them the more apt for revolution. Mr. Carroll wrote under the nom de plume of “First Citizen” and it was not until the controversy was at an end that his identity became known. His popularity became intense throughout the Province. It was but natural that when the clamors of revolution became potent among the people that he should become a candidate for public favor and honors. In December, 1774, he was selected as one of the Commissioners of Observation for Anne Arundel County and also on the Committee of Safety of the Province. He was elected to represent Anne Arundel County in Maryland Convention on December 7, 1775, and in February, 1776, was appointed by the Continental Congress a commissioner with Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase and Rev. John Carroll to visit Canada and endeavor to kindle the fires of revolt in that Country. Congress then took up the discussion of a Declaration of Independence from England, and on June 28, 1776, the Maryland Convention in session at Annapolis resolved that the Congressional Deputies from the State be empowered and authorized to concur with the United Colonies or a majority thereof in declaring all of the Colonies “Free and Independent.” On July 4, 1776, Messrs. Charles Carroll, Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, William Paca, Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone and William Alexander were elected delegates to Congress then in session at Philadelphia. Mr. Carroll took his seat on July 18th, having just returned from Canada. It is related that on August 2 an engrossed copy of the famous Declaration of Independence was placed on the desk of the Secretary of Congress for the signature of the members. Mr. John Hancock, the President of the body, in a conversation with Mr. Carroll, asked him if he would sign the document. “Most willingly,” said Mr. Carroll, who then took up a pen and signed his name—“Charles Carroll of Carrollton.” He affixed the name of his manor of Carrollton in order to be distinguished from his eminent relative, Charles Carroll, Barrister, and not, as is generally supposed, to show his defiance of England and of the consequence which might accrue in case the Revolution would be crushed by Great Britain, which would be, at least, the confiscation of his estates and his own reduction to poverty, if not execution as a traitor. His act is generally interpreted to have been caused by such an impulse alone, but chivalry as well as the fine sense of honor, which then governed men and women, was evidently his motive in doing so. He was then the richest man in the Colonies and his action simply meant also that if Great Britain won, he was prepared to sacrifice more than any man in the Colonies at the time. His cousin, Charles Carroll, Barrister, was almost as rich as he was, however, and either would have been a rich prize to the British if the Revolution had failed. “There goes a few millions,” said one of the delegates who stood around and who had seen Mr. Carroll sign the Declaration, thus showing that all agreed at the time that Carroll’s
## action was regarded as extraordinary. It was a truth that no single
signer of the greatest Charter of Human Rights ever written risked as much intrinsically as Mr. Carroll. He was a member of the Board of War, and served in Congress until November 10, 1776, with marked ability; being succeeded by his namesake, Barrister Carroll. In December, 1776, he was a member of the first Maryland Senate and in 1777 he was returned to Congress and in 1781 was re-elected to the Maryland Senate. In 1788 he was elected one of the first United States Senators from Maryland, and in 1789 and 1806 was elected and reëlected to the Senate of Maryland. He was also appointed in 1797 one of the Commissioners from Maryland to settle the boundary line dispute between Maryland and Virginia. Mr. Carroll continued a member of the Maryland Senate until 1824, when he retired from public life. In April, 1827, he was elected a director of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, and on July 4, 1828, he laid the corner stone of the railroad at Mount Clare, Baltimore. While in Baltimore he resided at the mansion located at the corner of Lombard and Front Streets, which was also the home of his son-in-law, Richard Caton, and his famous granddaughters, the beautiful Misses Caton, called “The Three Graces.” On November 30, 1832, Mr. Carroll died in Baltimore, full of years and of honors, having been for many years the last of the signers of the famous Declaration. Physically he was of slight build and below the middle size, his face being strongly featured, his eyes quick, inquisitive, piercing and therefore thoroughly Gaelic; his countenance was noble, and while in action and general bearing replete with energy. His manners were graceful and easy, as became a man of gentle breeding and education, and his expressions elegant, refined and usually considerate, even in conversation with his servants.
In June, 1768, he married Miss Mary Darnell, daughter of Henry Darnell, Jr., and had three children by the union, Charles Carroll, who married in 1799, Harriett Chew, daughter of the Hon. Benjamin Chew of Pennsylvania and sister of the famous “Peggy” Chew of “Mischeanza” fame and wife of Gen. John Eager Howard; Elizabeth Carroll, who married Richard Caton, and Catherine Carroll, who married Robert Goodloe Harper. Charles Carroll, eldest son of Charles and Harriett Chew Carroll, married Mary Higgs Lee and was the father of Hon. John Lee Carroll, late Governor of Maryland. Mr. Carroll, in his declining years, particularly, was one of the best known and beloved of Baltimoreans. He attended high mass at the Cathedral regularly every Sunday and dined frequently with the Archbishops of Baltimore, particularly with Dr. Whitefield, with whom he was intimate. The Archepiscopal residence was then located on North Charles Street, on a portion of the site of the former Young Men’s Christian Association Building, at Charles and Saratoga Streets. On one occasion, it is related that Mr. Carroll was introduced to a number of the altar boys, on whose heads he placed his hands as they passed by where he stood and exclaimed: “God bless you, my boys. Love God and obey your superiors. Honor and defend your Country’s flag, venerate your parents and obey the authorities of the civil Government.”
[Illustration:
DR. BRYAN DEFORREST SHEEDY,
Of New York City.
A Member of the Society. ]
Mr. Carroll at the time of his death was 95 years of age, his frame being bent, although his voice was strong, his walk firm and quick and his eyes and face benevolent in expression. He dressed after the fashion of his day, his apparel including a dark waistcoat and knee breeches, black silk hose, low cut shoes and silver buckles. He attended many functions, even just before his death, and was particularly in request at patriotic gatherings. One of the last public events in which he took part was that of a great dinner given to him by the great Irish merchant William Patterson, at the latter’s country residence, “Cold Stream,” near the City. The dinner was held July 4, 1831, the 54th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration to bring together the remnant of the Revolutionary heroes, then living in Baltimore. The occasion was made notable in every possible way, numerous invitations having been sent out by the hospitable host, who was himself a hero of the great struggle for human freedom. Everything set before the guests except the wines and brandies was produced on Mr. Patterson’s estate and the dinner was, as tradition states, a feast worthy of the distinguished company which attended it. The reception to Mr. Carroll was a most cordial one. He drove out to Cold Stream, as was the fashion of the time, in his own carriage, with his own colored coachman on the box, and was escorted to the shady grove, wherein the dinner was spread by Mr. Patterson and several crippled veterans of the Revolution. There he was greeted by the assembly with uncovered heads and was given a rousing chorus of cheers. Patriotic speeches and songs were given during the dinner, which lasted far into the evening and was enjoyed thoroughly by Mr. Carroll.