after revolution to 1805 95

The Bladensburg run, before we came to the bridge, was
happily in no one place above the horses' bellies,—As we passed
thro', the driver pointed out to us the spot, right under our
wheels, where all the stage horses last year were drowned, but
then he consoled us by showing the tree, on which all the pas-
sengers but one, were saved. * * * We arriv'd safe at our
first stage, Ross's, having gone at a rate rather exceeding two
miles and a half per hour.⁵⁵

In 1801, discussion of abolition of the court be-
came lively, and Pinkney wrote from London of
his "unalterable conviction that this was no party
question, but such a one as every honest man, a
friend to the prosperity of Maryland, and to
the purity of justice, cannot fail to oppose."
"No man would lament more sincerely than
I should do," he said, "the destruction of what
I consider the fairest ornaments of our judicial
system."⁵⁶ In 1803, a bill providing for the
abolition of the court passed one house of the
Assembly. And the eighth article of the charges
in the impeachment of Judge Samuel Chase, then
of the United States Supreme Court, was that
while sitting on cifcuit in Baltimore in May, 1803,
he exhorted the grand jury to use their endeavors
to prevent the passage of the law. There was a
majority of four against Judge Chase on that
article. Finally in 1804, the necessary constitu-
tional amendment was launched. Under the con-
stitution of 1776, article 59, amendments were to
be made by bills passed by one General Assembly,
'published three months before a new election, and
confirmed by the next General Assembly, newly
elected. Accordingly, the House of Delegates, on

55. A. J. Beveridge, Life of John Marshall, III, 5 note.

56. Bishop Pinkney, Life of William Pinkney, 41.