M*Kean and Mr. Wilson, of the latter of whom we have spo ken in a former biographical sketch, took the lead. On the twenty-sixth of this month, the former submitted the following motion : “That this convention do assent to, and ratify the constitution agreed to on the seventeenth of September last, by the convention of the United States of America, held at Philadelphia.” On a subsequent day, he entered at length into the merits of the constitution, which he demonstrated in the most masterly manner, and triumphantly answered the various objections which had been urged against it. In the conclusion of this eloquent speech, he used the following language : “ The law, sir, has been my study from my infancy, and my only profession. I have gone through the circle of office, in the legislative, executive, and judicial, departments of government; and from all my study, observation, and experience, I must declare, that from a full examination and due consideration of this system, it appears to me the best the world has yet seen. “I congratulate you on the fair prospect of its being adopted, and am happy in the expectation of seeing accomplished, what has been long my ardent wish-that you will hereafter have a salutary permanency in magistracy, and stability in the laws." In the following year, the legislature of Pennsylvania took measures for calling a convention, to consider in what respects their state constitution required alteration and amend ment. This convention commenced its session on the 24th of November, 1789; Mr. M*Kean appeared and took his seat as a delegate from the city of Philadelphia. When the convention resolved itself into a committee of the whole, on the subject of altering or amending the constitution, he was appointed chairman. During the whole of the deliberations, he presided with great dignity and ability, for which he received the unanimous thanks of the convention. In 1779, Mr. M•Kean was elected to the chief magistracy of the state of Pennsylvania. His competitor at this time, was the able and distinguished James Ross. Mr. M'Kean belonged to the politics of Mr. Jefferson, to whose elevation to the presidency of the United States, his election is supposed to have powerfully contributed. The administration of Mr. M-Kean was marked with ability, and with ultimate benefit to the state ; yet the numerous removals from office of his political opponents, produced great excitement in the state, and, perhaps, upon the whole, betrayed, on his part, an unjustifiable degree of political asperity. During the years 1807 and 1808, through the influence of a number of the citizens of the city and county of Philadelphia, an inquiry was instituted by the legislature into the official conduct of Governor M‘Kean. The committee appointed for this purpose reported to the legislature: “I. That the governor did, premeditatedly, wantonly, unjustly, and contrary to the true intent and meaning of the constitution, render void the late election, (in 1806,) of a sheriff in the city and county of Philadelphia. “II. That he usurped a judicial authority, in issuing a warrant for the arrest and imprisonment of Joseph Cabrera ; and interfered in favour of a convict for forgery, in defiance of the law, and contrary to the wholesome regulations of the prison in Philadelphia, and the safety of the citizens. “III. That, contrary to the true intent and meaning of the constitution, and in violation of it, did he appoint Dr. George Buchanan lazaretto physician of the port of Philadelphia. "IV. That, under a precedent, acknowledged to have been derived from the king of Great Britain, and contrary to the express letter of the constitution, did he suffer his name to be stamped upon blank patents, warrants on the treasury, and other official papers, and that, too, out of his presence. “V. That, contrary to law, did he supersede Dr. James Reynolds as a member of the board of health. “VI. That, contrary to the obligations of duty, and the injunctions of the constitution, did he offer and authorize overtures to be made to discontinue two actions of the commonwealth against William Duane and his surety, for an alleged forfeiture of two recognizances of one thousand dollars each, on condition that William Duane would discontinue civil actions against his son Joseph B. M-Kean, and others, for damages for a murderous assault, committed by Joseph McKean, and others, on William Duane." This report the committee followed by affixing the following resolution: "Resolved, That Thomas M'Kean, governor of this commonwealth, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanours." On the twenty-seventh of January, the house proceeded to the consideration of the above resolution, and on the same day indefinitely postponed the further consideration of the subject. Although this attempt to impeach the governor was thus unsuccessful, the following day he presented to the house a reply to the charges which had been exhibited against him by the committee of inquiry. After being read, a motion was made to insert it at large on the journal, which, at length, was carried in the affirmative. In the course of this reply, which contained, in the view of temperate men, a triumphant vindication of his character, Mr. M'Kean observed as follows: "That I may have erred in judgment; that I may have been mistaken in my general views of public policy; and that I may have been deceived by the objects of executive confidence, or benevolence—I am not so vain nor so credulous as to deny; though, in the present instance, I am still without the proof and without the belief; but the firm and fearless position which I take, invites the strictest scrutiny, upon a fair exposition of our constitution and laws, into the sincerity and truth of the general answer given to my accusers-that no act of my public life was ever done from a corrupt motive, nor without a deliberate opinion that the act was lawful and proper in itself." 99 At the close of the year 1808, Mr. M'Kean, having occupied the chair of state during the constitutional period of nine years, retired from the cares of a long life to the enjoyment of a peaceful retirement, rendered doubly grateful by the consciousness of a well earned and honourable fame. the enjoyment of this retirement, he lived until the twenty In fourth of June, 1817, when he was gathered to the generation of his fathers, at the uncommon age of eighty-three years, two months, and sixteen days. He lies interred in the burial ground of the First Presbyterian Church, in Market-street, Philadelphia. THE MARYLAND DELEGATION. SAMUEL CHASE, SAMUEL CHASE. SAMUEL CHASE was the son of the Rev. Thomas Chase, a clergyman of distinction, in the protestant episcopal church who, after his emigration to America, married the daughter of a respectable farmer, and settled, for a time, in Somerset county, in Maryland, where this son was born, on the 17th of April, 1741. In 1743, Mr. Chase removed to Baltimore, having been appointed to the charge of St. Paul's church, in that place Even in Baltimore, at this period, there was no school of a high order. The instruction of his son, therefore, devolved upon Mr. Chase, than whom few, fortunately, were better qualified for such a charge. His own attainments in classical learning were much superior to those who had been educated in America. Under the instruction of one so well qualified to teach, the son soon outstripped most of his compeers, and at the early age of eighteen was sent to Annapolis, to commence the study of law. After a sedulous attention to his preparatory course, for two years, he was admitted to practice in the mayor's coart, and two years from this latter |