speaker resigned his office, and Mr. Chapman was elected in his stead by a unanimous vote. He continued to hold that office until his retirement from the House in 1829. In 1830 he was again sent to the House of Delegates, and, at the end of the session, again declined another election. In September he was elected a member of the State Senate, in which body he remained until 1836, when his term expired. During the last three years of that term he served as the President of the Senate, by its unanimous vote. He then retired from political life, as he thought, forever; but in 1843 he was again solicited to be a candidate for the House of Delegates, that, by his advice and experience, he might aid in extricating the state from embarrassment, and in saving her from repudiation. He consented to serve, and was again elected. His speech at the ensuing session, in favor of the bill to provide for completing the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal from the revenues of the work, is among his best efforts to sustain the policy and uphold the credit of his state; and he thus speaks of the possibility of repudiation, however remote or contingent:

"Those who think that the interests of the state require that this canal should be completed are met by objections, that expectations have not been gratified, results have not been realized. Sir, did any man ever expect any results from this undertaking until it shall reach the mountains? And, from the commencement to the present day, no man has had the hardihood to advance the opinion that any profit could flow from this work until it shall reach that point where Nature has piled up wealth for you in uncounted millions. Sir, when Columbus stood upon the eastern shore of the great Atlantic, he reasoned that there must be another shore to that ocean, and upon this hypothesis he founded his opinion as to the existence of another continent. For eighteen years he labored to convince the learned and opulent men of Europe of the truth of his theory. Yet he was opposed by the learned men of the University of Salamanca, and by all the wealthy and noble of Spain for eighteen years. And after he had succeeded in fitting out an expedition under the patronage of Queen Isabella, the difficulties which he encountered were enough to appal the stoutest heart. Sir, if the stratagems which he resorted to had failed to deceive his followers, and he had been compelled to retrace his steps but one hour before the coast of San Salvador was discovered, he would have been denounced as a madman. Yet a continent with its mighty resources is the result of his perseverance.

"And now, sir, we are to determine whether we will make one effort to retrieve our situation. Shall we refuse to provide the means of bringing to market the greatest staple we possess, when we can do it without the cost of a dollar. Sir, let us refuse to avail ourselves of this one chance of relief, and I will not pretend to foretell the consequences. A large portion of the people of this state look to this canal as likely to afford the means of paying off the state debt. It is proper that it should be tried. The experiment will cost us nothing. Sir, I can not believe that repudiation would be the consequences of a failure to complete VOL. I.-L L

this canal, or to provide any means at this time to pay off the state debt. No, sir, such a heresy can not take root amid the institutions which are growing up in the state. Now, when religion is progressing; education fostered and encour aged; benevolent societies asking every year for corporate existence, to enable them the better to carry out their works of charity; institutions daily springing up to purify our condition; lyceums being erected in every village; the preacher and the schoolmaster abroad in the land, teaching the lessons of wisdom and salvation; the learned, the gifted, and the wise bearing their parts in public instructions, teaching men their moral accountability, and directing their attention to the varied responsibilities which rest upon them in their relations to society. In such a state of moral improvement, can it be believed that repudiation will find favor in the state? How, sir, will you meet your engagements? The bill which has been passed to collect the revenue, together with others which the Ways and Means Committee have reported, may possibly enable us to pay the interest in good faith without further taxation. But, sir, there is a day ahead of us when the principal debt is to be paid, and it becomes us to make arrangements to meet it. Sir, when this debt was first commenced, it was thought to be prudent to provide a sinking fund, by the operation of which the bonds could be met at maturity. That system has in part been defeated, and it becomes us to provide some other means by which we may obtain ultimate relief; and if this canal shall fail, which would be against the settled laws of nature, and the results of every other coal canal on earth, or if you refuse to try it, and throw away the large amount already expended upon it, taxation without end, or repudiation will be the inevitable result. Sir, repudiation may find favor among the politicians and demagogues, but never among the discreet, the prudent, the sober-minded people. Sir, that class of men who, regardless of the interests and honor of the country, seek to stir up the worst passions of the human heart, to create an element more congenial to their own nature, who flatter and deceive the people for the accomplishment of their own purposes and the gratification of their own views, do not reflect the sober judgment of a virtuous people. No, sir, the descendants of the Puritan pilgrims who settled this ancient city will never see the stars and stripes torn loose from their halyards, and the black flag of the pirate unfurled over the dome of your Capitol.

The high tone of public morals is yet capable of resisting a heresy which would destroy the civil institutions of the country by the extermination of the virtuous feelings of the people. But who can look through the vista of future ages, and say what disastrous events lay behind the cloud which would hang over the prospects of the state if all hope of the liquidation of the debt from other sources than taxation is to be cut off! I will not attempt to raise the curtain which hides those scenes from our view, or to pierce the gloom which, by the extinction of hope, would overshadow our country with more than midnight darkness. Let us, then, look to the great principles which entered into the organization of our government, and study the character and conduct of those illustrious men from whom that form of government has been handed down. We shall learn lessons of wisdom from the noble example and pure precepts taught in their lives; we shall, moreover, learn that the demagogue is the worst enemy of the people ;" that the true course of virtuous ambition is not to found its fame upon the plaudits of the multitude, but upon the sober judgment of the wise and good;' upon that distant praise which speaks from the hearts of millions, and gives back from the tomb the echoes of its own deep thankfulness.' The eye of the state, sir, is upon

us.

Public expectation is anxiously awaiting the solution of the problem whether a republic can exist amid the excitement of conflicting interests, or fulfill engagements which may produce uncertain results. The honor-the welfare of

the state is committed to your keeping-sacra suosque tibi, commendat Troja penates. Let us not disappoint those high expectations.”

In the spring of the year, before his return home, the people of his county, without his knowledge, and against his consent, presented his name to the Whig Convention as a candidate for the office of governor. In presenting his name, the meeting say:

"We offer to the consideration of the Convention the name of our distinguished fellow-citizen, General John G. Chapman, as one who, we believe, if elected, would do honor to the sta-. tion, and discharge the executive duties of the office of governor with fidelity and ability, and with an eye to the high honor and best interests of his native state. In offering General Chapman to the consideration of the people of the State of Maryland, we do it from no mawkish county pride or sectional feeling, but from the honest conviction of our minds that he possesses the requisite talents, an elevated purity of character, a sterling integrity, and a dignity and suavity of manner welk befitting the station to which we wish to see him elevated.

"We might with pride recur to his long and faithful services in the councils of the state; but what for? John G. Chapman's is no obscure name. He is well known throughout Maryland, and his fellow-citizens need no promptings on that head; but we should prove recreant to him, our faithful delegate, if we did not express our decided approbation and admiration of the noble and splendid efforts he made at the recent session of the Legislature to sustain the credit of the state in her now financial embarrassment; and, further, for his masterly support (although unavailing) of a measure, which we believe must become a vital one, to prevent the degradation and ruin of the state. We need hardly stop to speak of his political principles; when the Whigs of Charles county offer a man, and ask the support of their Whig brethren for him, there can be no mistake how he stands on that score."

It is asserted, that if the wishes of the party had been expressed by the Convention, the nomination would have been cast upon him. In October, 1844, he was again elected to the House of Delegates, and, on the meeting of that body, was elected speaker by a unanimous vote. Upon this occasion the Democratic party behaved with a courtesy and kindness which

demonstrate that good feelings can still exist among political opponents. A prominent member of that party called upon one of the friends of Mr. Chapman, and said that his friends desired to vote for him, if that course would not be objected to. At the close of every session during which he had presided, the customary vote of thanks was moved by a member of the opposite party, and was always unanimously accorded. A highly reputable cotemporary, speaking of this particular branch of his public services, says, "Although he has always been a consistent, unflinching Whig, yet so conciliating has been his course, that I have never heard a word of complaint from a single individual differing from him in political sentiments. He has always been ready to do justice to every body but him

self."

The first state paper which he prepared was a report, at the session of 1821-5, upon the Insolvent System of Maryland. In that report he reviewed the action of the Legislature upon the subject. He took the ground that the liberty of a man could not be forfeited for debt; that, although the law authorized the taking of the body of the debtor, yet it did not contemplate that the creditor should hold him, or that he should be immured in a prison-the meet abode for crime alone-to satisfy the demand; that his energies were to be left unrestrained, to enable him to realize the means of redeeming his engagements; and that, apart from its inhumanity, the system was against the policy of the law and of society. To his everlasting honor be it said, the report contained the first recommendation to the Legislature of Maryland to abolish imprisonment for debt, and the bill which he reported contained a section dispensing with residence in the state. We feel humiliated to record that this system of imprisonment still remains a foul blot on the escutcheon of the state, modified, indeed, within a year as respects the stranger and the sojourner, but still a blur darker than midnight. People of Maryland! descendants of men who shed their blood and offered up their lives that you might be free! rise up in your strength, and efface this stain from your statute-books! Go, look at your prison records! see what tales they tell of strangers waylaid in darkness; of citizens-whose only crime was their misfortune-torn from their peaceful pursuits and the bosoms of their families, that they might take a place almost by

the side of the felon and the murderer! As you walk the streets of your metropolis-as you gaze upon your lofty monuments— as you think of the deeds they commemorate, and feel the noble impulses they inspire, ask yourselves if it is meet that such a city should be converted into a foundry, where white men's chains may be forged forever; or whether, if it must remain so, it were not more fitting that you should raze those monuments to the ground, that not one stone might be left upon another? We know something of the spirit of your people—we know that braver or more generous hearts beat not on earth, and we believe that it is but for them to know and understand the evil that is done in their midst, in the name of Liberty, to ensure its extirpation from your soil.

At the next session Mr. Chapman sought to remedy other evils. A practice had existed in the state of bringing a sepa rate suit against each party to a bond or note. If, for instance, there were six obligors to a bond, or six endorsers to a note, there would be as many suits. This system was oppressive to debtors, many of whom were ruined by the costs which accrued to lawyers, clerks, and sheriffs. It was said that there was no remedy. Mr. Chapman thought otherwise, and, with much care, prepared a bill, which was submitted to the supervision of the late Judge Clement Dorsey, a humane and an experienced lawyer. The bill was reported, and became a law. It has saved thousands of dollars to the debtor class of the community. It was entitled "An Act to prevent the unnecessary Accumulation of Costs in Civil Suits"-December Session, 1825, chapter 167.

Great confusion had existed in the land-titles of the state by reason of the records of the courts not having been kept up as required by law. On the motion of Mr. Chapman, an inquiry was instituted into their condition, and measures were adopted to have the records completed and thereafter kept up. Mr. Chapman had seen the evil, and was resolved that it should be corrected.

At the session of 1826, he was chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means until the House of Delegates had nearly completed all its financial measures. The finances of the state at this time were in a condition which required a mind of no ordinary capacity to devise the means to meet its heavy and