article the sadlery still on my hands. I cannot hear from that Scoundrel I sold the whole to, and I care not much if the first news should be that he is hanged, unless he can give a better account of himself than my experience will justify." It is worthy of note, however, that in these years he never spoke of his wife without a note of affection, showing always a full appreciation of her excellence.

It is not pleasant to observe the evidences of his approaching failure. In 1761, in a letter to Governor Sharpe, he speaks of a "visible decline of the trade wherin I am embarked." The planters were not encouraged as he had hoped they would be by the high prices of 1759, and put in during the following years almost no tobacco. He says that in this year 1761, they raised scarcely more than one hogshead to a planter, and these had to be divided among many merchants. His whole capital was invested in a dying trade. "Losses by land & by water, in cattle & by mortality, by thieves, runaways, debtors, unfaithful servants, bad neighbors etceteras" made decided inroads on his little fortune. Finally after sinking nearly £2000 sterling, he gives up and "invites" his creditors. In December, 1762, he writes:-"I have forever shut up shop and begin to look down to the earth.” The following portion of a letter to his brother gives in brief the whole story:

"Before I quitted Messrs. Cunliffe's business. . . I joined with an adventure and we bought a fine schooner off the stocks and fitted out for the West Indies; she was taken into Martinico and never returned soon after I bought at public sale this place of Townside in Kent County. . . . My situation was fine, my credit fresh and flourishing, every view favourable. But the evil genius of the Colonics had set off. Every honest fair trader fail'd more or less, on my right hand and on my left; I floated with the stream and before I gainde a penny, I sunk about two thousond guineas. I paid off all my debts in Maryland; but never shall receive those due to me. As soon as I perceived for certain that it was impossible to stand it, I invited my English Creditors and yet two years wasted past before I could obtain a composition. ... I almost stopped the mouth of one with goods to the amount

of about 13 or £1500 sterling.... At length powers came in, and I resigned myself and my whole estate, real and personal; in consequence of my cander & integrity they gave me a very humain composition, and agreed to acquit me on the security of a sum exquel to about 500 guineas."

After the event here described, he built a house in Queen Anne's and moved into it, selling Townside for about half its value. The failure of an appeal to Governor Sharpe for an appointment to some public office brings out an item of some political interest :— "An Assembly man," the disappointed office seeker writes, "who votes, right or wrong, on the side of the Proprietary, if he wants the place himself, or for his relations; he must not be neglected." He tries to get employment as a factor, but fails in this as in everything he undertakes, and the letters end about 1768, their writer an impoverished, broken man, but still facing with some degree of courage the prospect before him. He died soon after this date, but just when it is uncertain.

The last act of the little drama shows the stage occupied by his widow, Mrs. Sarah Trippe Callister and her two widowed daughters, Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Peale. Each of them seems to be on her own resources, which fortunately enough consisted of a good education, industry and intelligence. They opened a school in Chestertown under the patronage of the Rev. Dr. William Smith. In 1784 they moved to Baltimore where they began a very exclusive school for young ladies in Mrs. Le Blanc's house on Charles Street near French Town. The rent was £60 a year, and before long they were forced to move to a still larger house. Their terms were very reasonable one dollar entrance, four dollars a quarter and a "common Waggon load of Wood." Some of the fathers of their pupils were niggardly enough to ask a reduction if the daughters lost any time by absence. The younger widows died in the closing years of the decade, but Mrs. Callister retiring soon afterwards to Myrtle Grove in Talbot County lived there until her death in 1805, an event which closes the story of our Maryland Merchant, the gentleman to whom Bacon addressed a letter as "Henry Callister, Botanist, Florist, Philosopher, Musician, etc., etc."

ASSOCIATIONS AND ASSOCIATORS IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

COL. CHARLES CHAILLÉ-LONG.

(Read before the Society October 11, 1897.)

The Declaration of American Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on the 4th of July, 1776, was the culmination or perfection of a series of Declarations by Associations organized both within and without the Continental Congress and throughout the provinces. An eminent historian having this fact in mind, has said that "the signature of the Associations by the members of Congress may be considered as the commencement of the American Union."

The first of the Associations to declare for American Independence was formed by members of the Continental Congress at Carpenter's Hall, in the city of Philadelphia, on the 5th of September, 1774. The Association, in its session of October 20, 1774, resolved unanimously that:

"To obtain redress of grievances which threaten the lives, liberty and property of His Majesty's subjects in North America, we are of opinion that a non-Importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation Agreement, faithfully adhered to, will prove the most speedy, effectual and peaceful measure; and therefore we do for ourselves and the inhabitants of the several colonies whom we represent, firmly agree and associate under the sacred ties of virtue, honor and love of our country. That from and after the 1st day of December next we will not import into British America from Great Britain or Ireland any goods, wares or merchandises as shall have been exported from Great Britain or Ireland."

The second Declaration was made in the form of an address to the King by members of the Continental Congress in Association, and was dated the 26th of October, 1774.

Next came the Declaration of the people of Mecklenburg' County, North Carolina, who met at Charlotte in that State on the 19th and 20th of May, 1775, and by a series of resolutions declared themselves free and independent.

Following the Mecklenburg Declaration the members of Congress in Association addressed a communication to the inhabitants of Great Britain, dated the 6th of July, 1775, entitled:

"A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North America now met in Congress at Philadelphia setting forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms."

The following is cited to show the spirit of the Declaration :

"We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offense. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions, than servitude or death.

"In defense of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it; for the protection of our property acquired solely by the honest industry of our forefathers and ourselves. Against violence actually offered we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before."

The Declaration which presents the greatest interest to the State of Maryland is that of the "Association of the Freemen of Maryland," and was dated the 26th of July, 1775, one year previous to the Declaration of Independence of the 4th of July, 1776. The Convention of Maryland met in Annapolis on the 26th of July, 1775. The first act was the adoption unanimously of the following resolution:

The authenticity of this alleged declaration of independence has been much discussed of late years and the weight of opinion seems to be against it. The most important references to the subject are Wm. A. Graham's Address, 1875; George A. Graham's "Mecklenburg Declaration," 1306, and Wm. H. Hoyt's "Mecklenburg Declaration," 1907.—ED.

“That the Association of the Freemen of Maryland be recognized and that the proclamation of the same shall be recognized, and that the proclamation of the same should be subscribed by all patriots and become the written constitution of the provinces until succeeded by another."

The proclamation is as follows:

"The long premeditated and now avowed design of the British Government to raise revenue from the property of the Colonists without their consent, on the gift, grant and disposition of the commons of Gt. Britain: the arbitrary and vindictive statutes passed under color of punishing a riot, to subdue by military force and by famine the Massachusetts Bay: the unlimited power assumed by parliament to alter the Charter of that province, and the Constitution of all the Colonies, thereby destroying the essential securities of the lives, liberties, and properties of the Colonists: the commencement of hostilities by the ministerial forces, and the cruel prosecution of the war against the people of the Massachusetts Bay, followed by General Gage's proclamation declaring almost the whole of the inhabitants of the United Colonies in name or description, rebels and traitors, are sufficient cause to arm a free people in defence of their liberty, and to justify resistance, no longer dictated by prudence merely but by necessity, and leave no alternative but base submission or manly opposition to uncontrollable tyranny. The Congress chose the latter, and for the express purpose of securing and defending the United Colonies, and preserving them in safety, against all attempts to carry the above mentioned acts into execution by force of arms.

"Resolved, That the said Colonies be immediately put into a state of defence and now support at the joint expense an army to restrain the further violence, and repel the future attacks of a disappointed and exasperated enemy.

"We therefore, inhabitauts of the province of Maryland, firmly persuaded that it is necessary and justifiable to repel force by force, do approve of the opposition by arms to the British troops employed to enforce obedience to the late acts and statutes of the