THE CHANCELLOR'S CASE. 629

1778; but the act authorizing them to appoint their clerk did not
pass until the 5th of May, 1780. Hence it was not until after that
period, that the judicial department could be said to be completely,
and in all its branches, prepared and ready for the administration
of justice.(m)

But, this government was framed during the heat of a most dis-
tressing and perilous war; when the movements of the best estab-
lished political institutions might have been interrupted by the rude
collisions of the times. It could not, therefore, be supposed, that
every principle of the newly written constitution was, at once,
fully to operate; and, that all its provisions were to be, from the
very outset, exactly observed. Maryland, never having been the
immediate seat of war, during our revolutionary conflict, had not
felt any of those dreadful calamities, that are always exhibited on
such a theatre. But, the people were exposed to frequent preda-
tory incursions; and, in other respects, had their full share of
burthens and sufferings.

After the disastrous battle of Camden, when the enemy, flushed
with victory, began his march towards this State, all its energies
were aroused, and all its resources called forth to meet and repel
the approaching danger. The government was put into a condi-
tion to disperse, to fly, and to reassemble in a place of safety.
The payment of all drafts upon the treasury was prohibited, that
the public finances might be husbanded for the occasion. It was
resolved, that a request be sent to the general court to adjourn ;
the expected interruptions of the usual and periodical movements
of judicial proceedings were provided against; and the executive
was armed, for the season, with a vigour far beyond the temperate
restrictions of the newly adopted constitution. But, fortunately,
this awfully threatening cloud broke before it reached us; and we
suffered nothing from the bursting of that storm, the terrifying
advances of which, had stimulated every nerve in the State. The
capture of the British army at Yorktown relieved our apprehen-
sions, without, however, allowing any immediate relaxation of our
efforts. Better times were approaching, but their tardy develop-
ment was accompanied with such alternations of hope, doubt, and
fear, as to forbid those retrenchments, which would certainly have

(m) For what is stated in this paragraph, see the Votes and Proceedings of the
two Houses of the General Assembly; and the acts of February 1777, ch. 8 & 15;
October 1777, ch, 10, and March 1780, ch. 23.