Details
CARROLL, Charles, of Carrollton (1737-1832), Signer, Maryland. Autograph letter signed ("Cha: Carroll"), to John Henry, 28 April 1780. 1 page, 4to, silked, discreet mends at creases.
"THERE ONLY WANTS A MAN OF TRUE SPIRIT & RESOLUTION IN YE HOUSE OF DELEGATES TO SILENCE CHASE, SHAMELESS AS HE IS"
AN INTRIGUING EXPRESSION OF HOSTILITY TOWARDS ANOTHER SIGNER. In the first portion of the letter Carroll reacts testily to an insinuation that Congress is about to dissolve, and in the second half he denigrates fellow Signer, Samuel Chase. "I am obliged to you for your favor of the 19th. I am not a little alarmed at ye following passage contained in it. 'Being a Member of Congress at this time, when its dissolution appears to be at no great distance can afford but little comfort to a feeling mind.' I have not ye least apprehension of dread of Such an Event, & if your fears are not grounded on Secrets which you may think not prudent to communicate, I shall be glad to know whence your fear arises. It is certain ye appropriation of the Bank Lands to ye sinking our Paper Money, would be a just & a proper Step, & I doubt not your utmost endeavours will be exerted to carry your Point. There only wants A Man of true Spirit & resolution in ye House of Delegates to Silence Chase shameless as he is, or at least take away His influence."
Carroll and Chase were compatriots in the early phase of the Revolutionary movement, as the two men traveled to Canada with Benjamin Franklin in 1776 in an abortive effort to get America's northern neighbor to break away from the Crown. In 1778 Chase had been caught engaging in insider trading in the flour market, and his reputation was in decline. By 1780 the two men, both members of the Maryland House of Delegates, were at loggerheads over how to handle confiscated Tory property. Chase was pushing for an aggressive plan, one that would have the state grab all Tory holdings, public and private. Carroll wanted to seize only former Crown property, and suspects, with some reason, that the lawmakers pushing the more radical measure were as interested in filling their pockets as they were in enriching the patriot cause. Chase later traveled to London in 1783 to recover Maryland assets invested in the Bank of England before the Revolution, but his own fortunes remained precarious and he was bankrupt by 1789. Carroll, meanwhile, became Maryland's first Senator. When he died at age 96 in 1832, he had outlived all his fellow Signers.
"THERE ONLY WANTS A MAN OF TRUE SPIRIT & RESOLUTION IN YE HOUSE OF DELEGATES TO SILENCE CHASE, SHAMELESS AS HE IS"
AN INTRIGUING EXPRESSION OF HOSTILITY TOWARDS ANOTHER SIGNER. In the first portion of the letter Carroll reacts testily to an insinuation that Congress is about to dissolve, and in the second half he denigrates fellow Signer, Samuel Chase. "I am obliged to you for your favor of the 19th. I am not a little alarmed at ye following passage contained in it. 'Being a Member of Congress at this time, when its dissolution appears to be at no great distance can afford but little comfort to a feeling mind.' I have not ye least apprehension of dread of Such an Event, & if your fears are not grounded on Secrets which you may think not prudent to communicate, I shall be glad to know whence your fear arises. It is certain ye appropriation of the Bank Lands to ye sinking our Paper Money, would be a just & a proper Step, & I doubt not your utmost endeavours will be exerted to carry your Point. There only wants A Man of true Spirit & resolution in ye House of Delegates to Silence Chase shameless as he is, or at least take away His influence."
Carroll and Chase were compatriots in the early phase of the Revolutionary movement, as the two men traveled to Canada with Benjamin Franklin in 1776 in an abortive effort to get America's northern neighbor to break away from the Crown. In 1778 Chase had been caught engaging in insider trading in the flour market, and his reputation was in decline. By 1780 the two men, both members of the Maryland House of Delegates, were at loggerheads over how to handle confiscated Tory property. Chase was pushing for an aggressive plan, one that would have the state grab all Tory holdings, public and private. Carroll wanted to seize only former Crown property, and suspects, with some reason, that the lawmakers pushing the more radical measure were as interested in filling their pockets as they were in enriching the patriot cause. Chase later traveled to London in 1783 to recover Maryland assets invested in the Bank of England before the Revolution, but his own fortunes remained precarious and he was bankrupt by 1789. Carroll, meanwhile, became Maryland's first Senator. When he died at age 96 in 1832, he had outlived all his fellow Signers.