On his return from this mission, Mr. Carroll found, to his great surprise, that the delegates from Maryland then in Congress, had been instructed to vote against the declaration of independence. He immediately repaired to the convention, and, by his eloquence and cogent reasoning, convinced the members of their error, who immediately rescinded the former and gave contrary instructions.
Although an active and efficient member of Congress, Mr. Carroll occasionally returned to Maryland, and aided in the formation of its constitution and laws. In 1778, he left the national legislature, and, for several years, was a member of the senate of Maryland. From 1788 to 1791, he was a member of the United States’ senate, when his services were again demanded by his native state, where he served as a senator until 1801, when he retired from the great theatre of public action, where he had acted a conspicuous and glorious part, that stamped his name with unfading glory, his memory with lasting gratitude and enduring fame.
In private life, Mr. Carroll lost none of the laurels that decked his brow when in the service of his beloved country. Of an amiable and kind disposition, he was highly esteemed by his friends and respected by all. Temperate in all things his course was consistent, charitable, and systematic. He was an exemplary Christian, and was ever opposed to a spirit of persecution by one sect against another for opinion’s sake. He was among the few who reason correctly and act wisely upon this important subject. It is a fact, unknown perhaps to many, and admitted by fewer still, that the Roman Catholics of Maryland were the first who proposed and passed into a law religious toleration in America. [See laws of the general assembly of that state, 1647.] It is also a fact which is equally true, that the Protestants were the first who introduced proscription, and obtained an order from Charles II., after his restoration in 1661, to disfranchise all Roman Catholics from holding any office, taking the loaves and fishes exclusively into their own keeping, in violation of the charter granted to Lord Baltimore by Charles I., and in violation of reason, common sense, and the laws of God. Sectarianism is not religion, nor a child of heaven.
