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Edward Lloyd (IV)

The Patriot

1744-1796

The eldest son of Edward (III) and Ann (Rousby) Lloyd was Edward the fourth of the name in the family succession. He might be distinguished from those who preceded and succeeded him similarly called, by ascribing to him the significant agnomen of the Revolutionist, because of his most eminent public services rendered to the state previous to and during the way of independence, but as something of disre- pute attaches to this term, he may be designated as the Patriot, although it must be confessed this is not unequivocal in its significance. He was born Dec. 15th, 1744, at Wye House, which he lived to see destroyed, and which it it believed he rebuilt pretty much as it now stands. As has been said of several of his ancestors, nothing whatever is known of his education. The conjecture that it was received from private tutors from the preceptors of King William's school at Annapolis, and finally from instructors in England is plausible and altogether conjectural. Either his education was of a liberal character and much superior to that, of country gentlemen of his class in America, or he was endowed by nature with a love of intellectual pleasures; for he collected for his own delight and not for ostentation a library of more than a thousand volumes, still remaining at Wye Hmise which displays a bibliopholist's taste and fondness for beautiful and luxurious editions and the dis- crimination of a judicious reader of what is most valuable in English and French literature. The heir to a great fortune, great for the time, he probably soon after the completion of his studies, academic and pro- fessional-if indeed, he received professional training in the law, undertook the management of his vast landed estates, but, as was customary with gentlemen of fortune he soon embarked in politics, which, from the time of the French and Indian war, and partic- ularly from the date of the Stamp Act, when he had just come of age, were assuming a breadth and scope they did not possess when they were confined to a consideration of mere provincial interests. In 1770 the General Assembly had been dissolved by Gov. Eden, Dec. 20th, and a new election was ordered, the writs to be returned Feb. 4th, 1771. This election was held under the excitement caused by the Proclamation of the Governor, establishing the fees of certain civil officers by execu- tive act after the refusal of the Legislature to renew the Act of Assembly made for that purpose, which had just expired. Connected with this was the revival of the old Vestry Act of 1702.46 As opponents of the action of the Governor these gentlemen were chosen delegates from Talbot: Mr. Matthew Tilghman, Mr. James Lloyd Chamberlaine, Mr. Nicholas Thomas and Mr. Edward Lloyd-men known for either their large pecuniary interests or their acknowledged abilities. When the Assembly met, the "Proclamation" was the subject which first engaged its attention, and a remonstrance was sent to Gov. Eden. In the passing of this protest against the usurpation of a right belonging to the Legislature, the delegates from Talbot participated. Mr. Lloyd held his seat in the Assembly until 1773, when a new election was held. He was again chosen by the people, and had for his coadjutors the same gentlemen that had already served with him in 1771. This was the last election ever held under the Proprietary Government, and the Assembly then chosen, was by frequent prorogations continued down to the time of the meeting of the Provincial Convention in June, 1776,47when it expired by proclamation of the Governor and the act of the people in convention assembled. Mr. Lloyd's position in the Vestry Act contro- versy, is not of record, but that he united with other moderate men in the passage of the Act of Assembly restoring the stipends of the clergy as they had existed before the expiration in 1770 of the late law of 1763, and not as they were established by the law of 1702, thus settling the controversy to the satisfaction of the clergy, if not the people at large, is to be presumed, for the objections to the operancy of the law of 1702 seem to have been technical, frivolous or factious, having their foundation, however, in a great grievance, the excessive compensation of the ministers through the large increase of population in the several parishes. At a meeting of the Assembly in Oct. 1773, the question of the legality of the tax upon tea coming up and communications from the Assemblies of other provinces being laid before the Legislature, a committee of correspondence was appointed "to obtain the most early and authentic intelligence of all such Acts and Resolutions of the British Parliament or Proceedings of Administration as may relate to, or affect the British Colonies in America and keep up and maintain a correspondence with our sister colonies." Of this committee Col. Lloyd was a member, and upon it were two other gentlemen from Talbot, Mr. Matthew 'nlghnian and Mr. James Lloyd Chamberlaine. The passage of what was known as the Boston Port Bill caused the assemblage of the people in the several counties for the purpose of expressing their disapprobation of the bill and their sympathy with the people of the city of Boston. At this meeting held at Talbot Court House, May 24th, 1774, a commit- tee of correspondence was appointed to attend a meeting of similar conunittees of other counties of the Province at Annapolis to be held June 22d, of which Mr. Lloyd was a member, having for his associates Mr. Matthew Tilghman, Mr. Nicholas Thomas, and Mr. Robert Golds- borough 4th. The proceedings of this meeting of the committees- the first of the Revolutionary conventions-and of the subsequent meetings of the same, are matters of published record.48 One or two measures may be referred to, in as much as Col. Lloyd was connected with them. This Convention placed the Province in armed antagonism to the British Government, and framed articles of "Association of the Freemen of Maryland," to be signed by members of the Convention and all patriotic citizens, in which resistance by force is justified. To these articles we find the name of Col. Edward Lloyd affixed, in com- pany with those of a number of his neighbors of Talbot. At the meeting held from July 26th to Aug. 14th, 1775, sixteen discreet and reputable persons, eight from each shore, were chosen by ballot to be the " Council of Safety of Maryland." Of this most responsible body, which in the intervals of the sessions of the Convention was to have entire executive control in the commonwealth, Col. Lloyd was elected a member. At the same meeting of the Committees an election was authorized to be held in the several counties of Deputies to a Convention to assemble at Annapolis, Dec. 7th, 1775, which should possess supreme authority. To this Convention he was not originally returned, owing, it is said, to a distrust of his fidelity to the patriot cause which was engendered in the minds of some who were persuaded to believe that a desire to protect his large estate would cause him to be less decided in the advocacy of colonial independence than men whose stake was smaller. But soon after the meeting of the Convention the person who has been accused of fomenting this distrust--one Francis Baker-was deprived of his seat on account of information lodged by the conanittee of observation for Talbot county, that he had violated the conditions of the Association of Freemen, which he had signed; and a new election was ordered, where- by Col. Lloyd was chosen in his place.49 The associates of Col. Lloyd in this convention were the Hon. Matthew Tilghman, the President, Nicholas Thomas, Pollard Edmondson and James Lloyd Chamberlaine, Esqs. Among other important business transacted was the providing for the election of delegates to a Convention "to form a new government by the authority of the people only." Col. Lloyd was not a member of this the first Constitutional Convention ever held in Maryland; but at the first election under the Constitution for Delegates to the Lower House of Assembly held Dec. 18th, 1776, Col. Lloyd, with Mr. John Gib- son, Mr. James Benson and Mr. Henry Banning were returned. The As- sembly was called together by the Council of Safety on the 5th of Feb., 1777, when Thomas Johnson, Esq., was chosen Governor, and on the 14th of the same month the two Houses of Assembly by joint ballot elected a Council of five members of whom Col. Edward Lloyd was one. He held his seat by successive election during the years 1777,1778 and 1779, was thus a member of the first three Executive Councils under the Constitution of the State of Maryland. After Gov. Thomas Johnson had served the full term as allowed by the Constitution on the 8th of Nov. 1779 another election was held by the two Houses of Assembly when there appeared two candidates for the gubernatorial honors and labors, Thomas Sim Lee, Esq. and Col. Edward Lloyd, both of whom were recommended by their abilities and services in the patriotic cause. Mr. Lee received a majority of the votes, and was proclaimed Governor of the State.50  In 1780 he was elected a Delegate to the Lower House of Assembly from Talbot county, and in 1781 he was chosen by the electoral college a State Senator for the Eastern Shore. Serving the time prescribed by the Constitution of five years he was again chosen Senator in 1786, and again in 1791. He was still in this office at the date of his death. He was chosen one of the Delegates of the State of Maryland to the Congress of the United States, under the Article of Confederation during the years 1783 and 1784. We know nothing but by implication, of his opinions or conduct while a member of this august body, but he must have been a participator in the framing of those important measures which were demanded by exigencies ahnost as pressing and dangerous to the welfare of the Confederate States, as those which existed during the continuance of the conflict from which they had emerged exhausted by the depletion of war, and feeble from the inherent defects of the organization of the Federal government. It was his good for- tune to be able to validify by his vote the definitive treaty of peace between England and America, and afterwards to witness at Annapolis, as both State Senator and member of Congress, that spectacle which possesses more of the morally sublime than any event in our history or perhaps in the history of any country, the resignation by Gen. Wash- ington of his commission as commander in chief of the American armies. The General Assembly at its session in Nov. 1787 ordered the election of four delegates to attend a convention for the ratification or rejection of the Constitution of the United States to assemble April 21st in the following year. The result of this election in Talbot was the choosing Mr. Robert Goldsborough, Jr., Col. Edward Lloyd, John Stevens, Esq. and Capt. Jeremiah Banning.

Although the ratification of this great charter was warmly opposed in this State, and by none more earnestly than by such men as the Hon. Luther Martin and the Hon. Will. Pinkney and the Hon. Samuel Chase, it was adopted by a large majority of the Convention, including all the delegates from Talbot.

From this recital of the public services of Col. Edward Lloyd (IIII), it will be perceived that he was connected in one way or another with each of the Governments, Provincial, State and Federal during a large part of the revolutionary period, commencing with the controversy over the Proclamation and Vestry Act, which was really in Maryland as preparative for the great protest as the controversy over the imports and stamp duties in other colonies, and terminating with the adoption of the Federal Constitution, which was the completion of the revolution- ary movement. In this recital too, will be found the justification of that title, the Patriot, by which he has been distinguished in this paper from others bearing his name. They who bore this name before him, doubt- less loved their country; but that love was narrow, restricted to the province which they called their country; it was not broad and comprehensive such as Edward Lloyd, the Patriot, felt for the whole sister- hood of States. Besides their patriotism was not tested as his. It was a quiet sentiment without alarm, danger or injury. When it is remembered that Col. Lloyd was the possessor of one of the greatest fortunes in America at the time," that his property was exposed not only to confiscation, in the event of the failure of the revolutionary movement, and to the depredation and destruction of the forces of the enemy occupying or to occupy the bay or by the disaffected of the lower part of the Peninsula; that from the easily accessible location at his lower plantation, upon navigable water, even his own person was liable to capture, we may estimate the depth of a feeling which oblitera- ted from the mental tablet the calculations of personal interest, and sub- stituted therefor the anticipations of great public benefit, in which he should have but a common share. We may believe too that in as much as he was selected by the people of his county to ratify or reject that great charter which was intended to effect a "more perfect union" of the states, his patriotism was not only unselfish and comprehensive, but enlightened, and that it had visions of the greatness of this whole country which the future has so arnply realized. As a matter of fact his patriotism did cost him dearly, for "a predatory band in the guise of a quasi military expedition, from down the bay burned Wye House,52 and a party of British on the night of March 13, 1781 from their fleet, plundered his plantation, carrying off among many other articles of value, 336 ounces of plate, 8 negroes, jewelry and watches, 800£ in cash, gold and silver, 181£ new state money and much personal clothing. The building of a mansion to replace that which had been destroyed, is said to have been begun upon the Wyetown plantation at the mouth of the river; but this project was abandoned on account of its exposed situation, when a foreign enemy occupied the bay, as was the case at the time. So the structure now standing, ample, imposing and beautiful was erected, near the site of the original Wye House part of which still remains. The precise date of its erection has not been discovered, but it is confidently believed to have been completed during the life of Edward Lloyd (IV), the Patriot. It consists of a central building, with which two wings are connected by corridors. The principal structure of two lofty stories contains a hall, drawing room, parlor and dining room of fine proportions and finish, with chambers above. The wings, of one story, furnish the library on the one side, and the domestic offices upon the other. The whole presents a pleasing facade of nearly two hundred feet, looking out upon an extensive lawn, protected by a sunken fence, and down a wide avenue of trees. From the porch Wye river and the Eastern Bay are visible in the distance. In the rear of the mansion is the garden, with its shrubbery and flower beds with intersecting walks, which is terminated by a large conservatory, behind which is the family grave yard containing the remains of several generations of the Lloyds and their connections, with many tombs, some of monumental size and design, among them that of him whose memory this paper is an attempt to recover or perpetuate. But besides Wye House Col. Lloyd (IV), whose public duties and perhaps private pleasures, called frequently to Annapolis built a large mansion in that ancient city, which is still standing and one of the most notable as well as the most conspicuous buildings within its limits. Annapolis, as is well known, at the date referred to, say in the years preceding the Revolution, and some years later was not only the political but the social centre of the province. Thither resorted, at least in the winter season, the wealth, the intelligence and the fashion of Maryland. In the possession of one of the most prominent families, this mansion was the resort of those most distinguished in official and polite circles, and the scene whatever of elegance the province could boast, and of gaiety that it could produce; and such it continued to be when it passed into the hands of the son of its builder, Edward Lloyd, the Governor. Col. Edward Lloyd (IV) -was married Nov. 19th, 1767, to Miss Elizabeth Tayloe, of "Mount Airey," Virginia, and had by her seven children, six daughters and one son. One of the daughters, Mary Tayloe, became the wife of Francis Scott Key, and the others intermarried with gentlemen of distinction in civil life or of social prominence in the State. The son was Edward Lloyd (V), the Governor, of whom much will be said in another paper. Col. Ed. Lloyd (IV) died July Sth, 1796, and was buried in the family cemetery at Wye House, where a monumental tomb was erected to his memory bearing this simple inscription:

Here lieth interred
the remains of Colonel
Edward Lloyd, who was born the 15th
of November 1744
and departed this life 8th July 1796.
  1. Another record of his death, apparently authentic, gives the date of his demise as Feb. 8th, 1770. The change from the old to the new style may account for this discrepancy of eleven days.
  2. For an account of this celebrated controversy, respecting the Proclamation Vestry Act, the reader is referred to books of Maryland History.
  3. On the 13th of June, 1776, Gov. Eden, by his proclamation dissolved the General Assembly and ordered writs for the election of a now House to be issued, returnable on the 25th of July following, but on the 25th of June, "The Provincial Convention being informed that writs of election have been issued in the name of the Proprietary for election of Delegates in Assembly. Resolved that the said writs be not obeyed, and that no election be made in consequence thereof." -Proceedings of Convention.
  4. See proceedings of Conventions held in 1774, 1775 and 1776, printed by authority of the State of Maryland.
  5. This Francis Baker acknowledges his fault, and petitioned to be re-instated in certain civil rights of which he was deprived by the Convention. This inci- dent is thus referred to by the Hon. John Bozman Kerr in an unpublished memoir of Daniel Carroll, Esq., of Rock Creek. "To the Convention of 1776 he (Col. Lloyd) was not originally returned, but soon took his place in a few weeks, as among the leading men on the Whig side, after the expulsion of a blatant dema- gogue full of wise saws and idle doubts about trusting rich landed proprietors." What authority Mr. Kerr had for thus speaking of Francis Baker, is not apparent.
  6. McSherry's Hist. Md., p. 258.
  7. In the year 1783 Col. Lloyd was assessed in Talbot county upon 260 negro slaves; 147 of the horse kind; 799 sheep; 578 hogs; 571 horned cattle; 215,000 pounds of tobacco, one schooner boat of 60 tons burden; 30 barrels of pork; 500 ounces of silver plate, and 72 tracts of land containing 11,8841 acres. He was assessed in Anne Arundel county upon 229 acres of land. He besides his plantations on Tuckeyhoe, Walsey, M,orrell and Island Hundreds, of Queen Anne's county, but the extent of his acreage is unknown. His tobacco tax alone in that county in 1780 was 900 pounds Maryland currency. There were few fortunes of equal magnitude in America at that date, however insignificant it may appear in comparison with those of the present.
  8. With references of the burning of Wye House no records have been preserved which give the date and circumstances. What is said in the text is from the inedited biography of Daniel Carroll, by the Hon. John Bozman Kerr. It is proper to say that the family at Wye House discredit the story of the burning of the mansion by either the British or the Tories. The statement of the losses of personal property has been taken from memoranda preserved by the family. Col. Lloyd claimed abatement of taxes for the property named.