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A SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 THOMAS DONALDSON, 
 
 GEO. WM. BROWN. 
 
 Vix duo tresve mihi de tot supcrestis a 
 
 BALTIMORE ; 
 
 CUSHINGS & BAILEY, 
 1881. 
 
i*iP 
 
 
 lrv\j^% ,'u)'Ui. ^L.iX'\.^cuL. 
 
 JUL 13 131S 
 
HE reputation of an eminent lawyer and advocate 
 does not long survive. There are few excep- 
 tions to this rule. While he lives he is a 
 conspicuous figure in the community. His 
 connection with important cases gives him prominence, and 
 his knowledge, skill and eloquence are called into exercise on 
 public occasions when the services of the ablest men are 
 required ; but when he dies he leaves behind no lasting 
 memorial. 
 
 Even the best speeches of renowned orators rarely become 
 a part of enduring literature. They are intended for hearers, 
 not readers. A few brilliant passages are preserved in the 
 declamations of schoolboys, a few striking phrases become 
 part of the common language, while the speeches themselves 
 are soon forgotten. 
 
 But the lawyer's aim is not to be an orator. He would 
 certainly fail in his profession if it were. His arguments 
 are intended to convince the judgment of courts and to 
 gain the verdicts of juries. The simpler and plainer they 
 are the better. In a case in which it is appropriate, elo- 
 quence is sometimes very effective, but it seldom outlives 
 the trial, or reaches beyond the courthouse. 
 
And the rest of the lawyer's work is equally evanescent. 
 His carefully written opinions lose their value when the 
 controversy is ended. His skillfully drawn documents 
 slumber in pigeon-holes. His prudent advice is remembered 
 only by those who profited by it. When he leaves the forum, 
 another steps forward to take his place, and his name and 
 fame soon become a dim tradition in the places which knew 
 him so well and delighted to honor him. 
 
 This sketch of the life of Thomas Donaldson was prepared 
 at the request of some of his friends, with no expectation of 
 preventing his reputation from sharing the common fate of 
 the profession, but as a memorial which may be acceptable to 
 his family and friends, and to others, not a few in this 
 community, who still love and cherish his memory. 
 
 But little is known of his ancestors except that they came 
 from Ireland. The Dorseys, his maternal ancestors, settled 
 in Maryland and became owners of extensive tracts of land 
 purchased from the Proprietary government. The Johnstons, 
 his ancestors on the father's side, were a family of lawyers. 
 It is only known of Samuel Johnston, the father of his 
 great-grandfather, that he was a lawyer in Ireland. His 
 great-grandfather, who was also named Samuel Johnston, 
 was born in Ireland in 1727, and with his wife came 
 to America in 1753 as agent of the Penn family, and 
 settled in Philadelphia, where all his children were born, 
 and where he practiced law. Subsequently, and before 
 the American Revolution began, he removed to York, 
 Pa., and became prothonotary and clerk of the peace 
 of the county of that name, offices which he held until 1783. 
 He then removed to Baltimore, and in August 1784 applied to 
 the Court of Baltimore County to be admitted as an attorney 
 
of that court. This application was strenuously opposed by 
 Luther Martin, Attorney-general of the State, as appears 
 by the report of the case of the State of Maryland against 
 Samuel Johnston, 2 Harris and McHenry's Reports, p. i6i, 
 on the ground that Mr. Johnston " did not take the oaths of 
 allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania, in consequence 
 whereof the said offices were disposed of to another, and he 
 gave up his practice as a lawyer and retired in the said year, 
 being then upwards of fifty-two years of age, to this State, 
 where he remained peaceable and inactive without taking the 
 oaths to this State, with his relations, until peace was estab- 
 lished, which the said Johnston acknowledged to be true, and 
 alleged that during the dispute his conscience would not 
 permit him to take the oaths of allegiance to the new 
 government, not thinking himself absolved from his oath of 
 allegiance to the king of Great Britain until independence was 
 acknowledged, although he at the same time alleged that he 
 sincerely wished well to the liberties of America, and that 
 two of his sons were colonels of militia in the American 
 service, one of them in the flying camp, and two of his sons 
 were privates, one in the militia and the other in the regular 
 service, one of whom was taken prisoner at Fort Washington, 
 and that now the independence of America was established 
 and the matter entirely over, he was at this time perfectly 
 attached to the present government of Maryland as now 
 established." 
 
 But neither the integrity and ability of" the said Johnston," 
 which were admitted, nor the vicarious services of his sons 
 in the American cause, nor his sincere good wishes for the 
 liberties of the country, nor his perfect attachment to the 
 new government, sufficed to appease the implacable Attor- 
 
ney-general. In his opinion, the '* political character and 
 conduct" of Mr. Johnston were such as to prevent his 
 ever practising law in the State of Maryland. 
 
 After this it is pleasant to read in the same report the 
 following entry, made in the precise and formal language in 
 which the law delights : "And the Court clearly seeing and 
 understanding the motion of the said Samuel Johnston and 
 the objection so as aforesaid stated against him, do admit the 
 said Samuel Johnston as an attorney of Baltimore County 
 Court, upon his taking the oaths by the law prescribed, and 
 thereupon the said Samuel Johnston took and subscribed the 
 several oaths by the law directed." 
 
 But the Attorney-general was not satisfied, and imme- 
 diately took an appeal to the General Court which sat at 
 Annapolis. After two years the following entry appears on 
 the record of the Court, page 165 : "At October term 1784, 
 the appeal was dismissed ; it being determined not to be a 
 case in which an appeal would lie." 
 
 This second defeat would have discouraged most men, 
 but it did not discourage Luther Martin. At November 
 term 1784 he applied for and obtained a writ of certiorari, 
 by means of which the suit was again carried up to the 
 General Court. On this occasion Mr. Johnston argued his 
 own case, and his argument, which is very clear and concise, is 
 printed at length in the report of the case. The course of 
 the Attorney-general strongly savored of persecution, and 
 doubtless aroused Mr. Johnston's indignation; but he kept 
 it within bounds, and only says in the close of his argument : 
 " I hope the Court will, in this case, discourage such an 
 unwarranted proceeding, by quashing the certiorari issued, 
 and put an end to an affair which seems to have taken its rise 
 
from a busy intermeddling spirit, and carried on, not with a 
 regard to the public good, nor called thereto by the duty of 
 public office." No opinion was given by the Court, but the 
 entry appears on the record that the case was " struck off," 
 and thus, after a contest lasting nearly two years, Mr. 
 Johnston was permitted to practice his profession in 
 peace. He soon acquired such a reputation for integrity 
 as might have been expected of one who had adhered with 
 conscientious fidelity to the obligations of the oath which he 
 had taken as an officer of the British crown until discharged 
 therefrom by the inevitable logic of events. 
 
 He was a member of the Episcopal church, and sat in the 
 convention which organized the American branch of the 
 church. His daughter Frances in 1772 married Joseph 
 Donaldson, who came from Ireland and settled in Baltimore, 
 and there established the commercial firm of " Donaldson 
 & Usher." There were three sons of this marriage, 
 Thomas, Samuel J., and John J., who all read law with 
 their grandfather and became lawyers. 
 
 The youngest, John Johnston Donaldson, the father of the 
 subject of this sketch, many years before his death relin- 
 quished the practice of his profession to become President of 
 the Baltimore Life Insurance Company, an office which he 
 filled usefully and acceptably until his death. He was much 
 respected for his good sense, integrity and worth of character. 
 He married Caroline Dorsey, who was born at Belmont, the 
 estate of her father. Col. Edward Dorsey, situated in that part 
 of Anne Arundel Count>' which is now Howard County. She 
 is remembered as a model of womanly excellence and 
 loveliness. She also possessed a cultivated literary taste. 
 
Thomas Donaldson was born in Baltimore on the 8th of 
 May, i8i5,and was the eldest son of this marriage. From his 
 mother doubtless he Inherited the gentle and loving nature 
 which distinguished him. She died when he was about ten 
 years old, and soon afterwards he was sent to Round Hill 
 School at Northampton, Massachusetts. To this school is 
 due the credit of having made the first successful attempt to 
 elevate and broaden the standard of academical education 
 in this country. It was founded by men who afterwards 
 became eminent, George Bancroft and Joseph Cogswell. 
 Having pursued their studies in Universities of Germany, 
 they succeeded in introducing German ideas and German 
 methods into the then narrow system of American education. 
 At this school Thomas Donaldson remained for five years, 
 and until he entered Harvard College. He was a member 
 of the class of 1834, and had passed with credit the final 
 examinations, and was about to receive the degree of A. B., 
 when he was deprived of it by an unexpected circumstance. 
 Some of the freshmen were believed to be guilty of a breach 
 of college discipline, consisting, in part at least, of breaking 
 windows. It may be said without disparagement, that in 
 those days there was, as a rule, not much sympathy between 
 the professors in New England colleges and the students. 
 Mr. Josiah Quincy was the president of Harvard, and he 
 is not favorably remembered in Baltimore for a conciliatory 
 disposition. The offending freshmen were handed over 
 for punishment to the civil authorities. This was an unusual 
 proceeding, and was regarded by their fellow-students as 
 unnecessarily harsh and severe. The senior class held a 
 meeting, at which Donaldson was called to the chair, and 
 the course of the faculty was disapproved, probably in 
 
decided terms. Soon afterwards fuel was added to the flame. 
 A pamphlet was put forth by the students, of which Donald- 
 son was the writer. It was replied to in another pamphlet, 
 written by no less a person than John Ouincy Adams, an over- 
 seer of the university. This conduct of the sympathizing stu- 
 dents was considered contumacious, and they were required 
 either to recede from their position and make due submission 
 or be expelled. Henry Burroughs, the first scholar of the 
 class, Robert A. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, Thomas Donaldson, 
 and others, also of the unyielding sort, but whose names 
 are not remembered, preferred the latter alternative. As 
 records and pamphlets are not at hand to verify this state- 
 ment of facts, reliance for their accuracy must rest on a 
 tradition in the family, which is believed to be too recent 
 to be materially wrong. 
 
 Donaldson's family were quite satisfied with his conduct. 
 Not long afterwards it was made known that any of those 
 who had been expelled could obtain a diploma by applying 
 for it, but Donaldson never applied, and in 185 1 it was 
 voluntarily sent to him by the college. It is pleasant to 
 remember that Donaldson, while he always felt himself to 
 have been harshly treated in this instance, never lost his 
 respect or affection for Harvard. 
 
 He had thus the benefit of the best instruction that could be 
 furnished by the institutions then existing in the United States, 
 and he faithfully availed himself of the advantages which he 
 enjoyed. In attainments he was in advance of his time, and 
 he was a diligent reader to the end of his life. Literature 
 became to him what poetry was to Coleridge — " its own ex- 
 ceeding great reward." To the best literature, and only the 
 best, he constantly resorted, and in it he found repose from 
 
the toils of his profession, and a solace of the many cares and 
 sorrows which it was his lot to bear. The great poets of the 
 English language, Chaucer, Shakspeare and Milton, were his 
 especial favorites. Their works were his constant companions, 
 and whatever is best in them was indelibly engraved on his 
 memcrj', which was remarkably accurate and tenacious. 
 Shakspeare was his especial delight. It is not necessary to 
 look far for this; but now when heredity serves to explain so 
 much that pertains to individual character and taste, it may 
 be interesting to know that both his grandfathers. Col. Dorsey 
 and Mr. Donaldson, were students and admirers of Shak- 
 speare, and that the latter used to relate as one of the inter- 
 esting incidents of his life his participation, in the year 1769, 
 in the " Shakspeare Jubilee," once famous, got up by David 
 Garrick, at Stratford-upon-Avon, in honor of the great poet. 
 
 Thomas Donaldson did not confine his reading to the Eng- 
 lish language, but extended it to the French, German, Spanish 
 and Italian, and he did not entirely neglect the Latin classics. 
 The stores of knowledge thus acquired were at ready com- 
 mand whenever he chose to use them. 
 
 The following extract from a letter written in the winter 
 of 1837, when he was confined to his home by a cold, 
 and addressed to three young ladies (sisters), whom he styles 
 as " good friends," will serve to show how, in early manhood, 
 he employed some of his leisure time : 
 
 " I must submit to see the sunshine and comfort myself with the 
 hope that you are all enjoying it, while I shut myself up with my 
 books. I have been poring over Petrarch, and am tired of the 
 monotony of his fruitless love. I do not exactly sympathise with 
 him. I have made an attempt to translate two or three as speci- 
 mens, but found it very hard work, on account of the constant 
 
repetition of the same rhymes. It may be presumptuous, but I 
 cannot but think that ' the numbers Petrarch flowed in ' have 
 more art than matter; though to be sure there is something 
 bewitchingly sweet in the music of his language. I will just copy 
 off the three I have translated, from which you will see that the 
 beauty of style having evaporated, there is not much left. I do 
 not mean to say that these are the best, but still they seem fair 
 specimens." 
 
 One of these translations is here given : 
 
 SONNET VII. 
 
 To a lady who had been reproached for her /earning and her 
 
 devotion to liieraittre. 
 
 Passion and sloth and downy luxury 
 
 Have from the world all virtue banished ; 
 
 And thus our nature, from its course misled, 
 
 Is brought by custom in captivity ; 
 
 And every ray of Heaven's benignity 
 
 That should adorn our life extinguished. 
 
 Those are but wondered at who dare to tread 
 
 About Parnassus' fair acclivity : 
 
 "What profit in the laurel? and we see 
 
 Philosophy goes naked to the cold ;" 
 
 So cry the crowd whose thoughts on gain are bent ; 
 
 But though the path companionless should be, 
 
 I pray thee still the more, thou spirit bold, 
 
 To follow forth thy soul's sublime intent. 
 
 " They were not worth copying, but they were a good e.xercise 
 in language, and will serve to show you how part of my sick time 
 has been occupied. 
 
 " Affectionately as a steel pen can tell you, 
 
 " I am yours, &c.. 
 
The two following poems were written in 1836 : 
 ON SHAKSPEARE'S SONGS. 
 
 They seem spontaneous music, with hght wings 
 
 Floating a blessing to the air around ; 
 
 Sweet harmonies, not made by mortal power, 
 
 But from the beauties of the world exhaled ; 
 
 Made up of odors, which when spring has gone 
 
 The earth gives up for lost ; of notes from birds 
 
 Checked by a breeze too strong ; of smiles that fading 
 
 Seemed pleased to die upon a fair one's lip ; 
 
 Of chimes from childhood's laughter ringing out ; 
 
 Of sighs that maidens waste upon the wind. 
 
 Or breezes sadly murmur mid dead leaves ; 
 
 Of all things bright, or sweet, or beautiful, 
 
 Blitheful, or melancholy, that have passed. 
 
 Or seemed to pass, from being into nothingness, 
 
 And here have met and sweetly harmonized 
 
 In songs that seem self-sung, as self-created. 
 
 SONNET ON A PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL. 
 
 Well have they called thee Raphael, divine ! 
 
 And were thy works to perish from the day. 
 
 Still if this counterfeit of thee should stay, 
 
 I would believe the name was rightly thine ! 
 
 Upon thy brow the light of thought does shine, 
 
 Mingling with calm benevolence its ray : 
 
 The sweetness of thy lip is fresh as May, 
 
 As though thy work were roses to entwine ; 
 
 All sweet expressions love to kiss thy face 
 
 And linger still around it ; from that eye 
 
 Imagination radiates into space. 
 
 Making the blank dull waste of vacancy 
 
 Lit up with forms of beauty and of grace. 
 
 Which scarce thy pencil's wondrous power could trace. 
 
 After leaving Harvard in 1834 he commenced the study of 
 law in Baltimore ; but his health failing, he began the active 
 duties of life as a civil engineer. In this capacity he was 
 
13 
 
 engaged in the construction of the Annapoh's and Elkridge 
 Railroad and of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. During 
 this period, and in the year 1838, he married his cousin, Mary 
 Elizabeth Pickering Dorsey, of Boston, daughter of Ham- 
 mond Dorsey and Elizabeth Pickering, and grand-daughter 
 of Col. Timothy Pickering, of Massachusetts. It was a mar- 
 riage of affection from first to last. There were eleven 
 children born of the marriage, nine of whom and their mother, 
 and seven grandchildren, the children of a deceased daughter, 
 still survive. 
 
 But the profession of an engineer was not congenial to his 
 taste, and as soon as his health was sufficiently re-established, 
 he recommenced the study of the law in Baltimore, in the office 
 of Mr. William Schley, an eminent lawyer in large practice. 
 
 He came to the bar in 1843. About this time he purchased 
 some acres of land eight miles from Baltimore, situated in 
 the high and picturesque tract known as " Elkridge." On 
 this place, which he called " Edgewood," he built a comfort- 
 able house, where he resided with his family until his death, 
 and where his widow, children and grandchildren now live. 
 It was the home of his affections, which he adorned with 
 shade trees, flowers and fruits, carefully tended, and of which 
 he never tired. It was also the seat of a kind and generous 
 hospitality, not to be forgotten by those who had the privilege 
 of sharing it. 
 
 In disposition he was eminently social, and he liked to 
 share with others his enjoyments and pleasures. It was his 
 custom to pursue his studies and prepare his cases with his 
 family and their friends around him, without ever attempting 
 to check conversation or interrupt merriment. When any- 
 thing happened which interested him especially he would 
 
14 
 
 break off for a while from his papers and books to take an 
 active part in the conversation, and would then quietly resume 
 his work. 
 
 He was fond of conversation and shone in it. His keen 
 powers of observation, his stores of knowledge, his ready 
 memory, his command of language, and his wit, associated 
 with unfailing kindness, courtesy and cheerfulness, made 
 him a charming companion and a welcome guest in all 
 circles. He was especially fond of the society of intelligent 
 and cultivated women, and was a general favorite with them. 
 His principal amusement was reading aloud, which he did 
 with great skill and feeling. He was also fond of the theatre, 
 and encouraged and sometimes took part in private the- 
 atricals. The effective manner in which the Merchant of 
 Venice was given on Elkridge, in which he took the parts of 
 Shylock and Antonio on different occasions, will be long 
 remembered. 
 
 The authors he loved best were the great English writers 
 of the past rather than those of the present day. In this 
 he resembled Macaulay. While he kept up with the current 
 literature, it never acquired the same hold on his heart as 
 that of an earlier period. 
 
 In politics he was essentially conservative, and, while it 
 lasted, belonged to the old Whig party ; but he was always 
 too independent to be closely bound by party ties. In the 
 years 1847 ^"^ 1848 he served as a member of the House of 
 Delegates of Maryland, and filled with remarkable ability and 
 unwearied industry the important position of Chairman of 
 the Committee of Ways and Means. Maryland had become 
 a defaulting State, and for some years had ceased to pay 
 interest on her debt. It is difficult for us to realize at this 
 
15 
 
 day the extent of the danger of a continued default and of 
 ultimate repudiation. Other States were in a similar con- 
 dition. The question had become one of national import- 
 ance. In an article written by the late Judge Benjamin 
 R. Curtis, published in the North American Review in 
 January, 1844, and republished in the second volume of his 
 Biography, page 113, he says, speaking of the debt of 
 Maryland: "The debt is a just debt. They cati and they 
 zi'il/ pay it. We look upon the position and future conduct 
 of this State as of the greatest importance to the honor, the 
 credit and the future reputation of the whole country. It 
 occupies a position and is placed in circumstances which 
 render its action almost decisive of the fate of this great 
 question of public morals. Pennsylvania can pay almost 
 without an effort. Her debt is really nothing compared 
 with her resources. Indiana and Illinois are differently 
 situated and at present cannot pay. Maryland occupies 
 an intermediate position. She en/i pay, but it costs her a 
 strong effort to do so. Her condition is such as to try her 
 sense of honor. Hers is the opportunity to settle the 
 question whether a popular government is too selfish to be 
 just. Her people have it in their power to say to the 
 world: We are capable of governing ourselves, for we can 
 make sacrifices for the sake of duty and honor : no human 
 power can force them upon us, but we freely make them. 
 We owe allegiance neither to kings nor princes nor any 
 earthly potentate; but we obey His will who created us, 
 and we are governed by His laws. Freely and cheerfully 
 because we know it to be our duty, will we do this thing." 
 " Let the people of Maryland remember also that, if they 
 make this effort, they will transmit to their children the 
 
i6 
 
 inheritance of untarnished honor ; that they will lay the 
 foundations of public prosperity deep and strong in the 
 public faith ; that the sacrifices which they are now called 
 to make cannot long be necessary, and will grow less with 
 the increase of population and wealth and the rising income 
 from the public works. That they may see these things 
 and act as if they saw them is the earnest wish of many 
 who love their country, and think that its honor and welfare 
 are deeply involved in the issue." 
 
 Maryland hesitated and lingered, and there were not 
 wanting among her children recreant sons who, thinking 
 that for themselves at least dishonesty was the best policy, 
 strove to inculcate on the people of the State that detestable 
 doctrine. But fortunately better men and better counsels 
 prevailed. The people were honest at heart, and there was 
 a gallant band led by the Governor, Thomas G. Pratt, who 
 never rested until the honor of the State was fully restored 
 and firmly established. Every citizen can now look back 
 to that trying period not only without a blush of shame, 
 but with a feeling of honest pride. By the sacrifices then 
 made the foundations of public prosperity were laid, as 
 Judge Curtis predicted, deep and strong in the public faith. 
 
 Among the faithful Thomas Donaldson was always found. 
 The journal of the House of Delegates shows with what 
 courage, skill and unwearied vigilance during the whole 
 session he, as Chairman of the Committee of Ways and 
 Means, exposed and defeated every effort — and there were 
 many open and covert — to hinder and prevent the prompt 
 restoration of the public credit. In 1847 the Legislature 
 fixed the first day of the following year for the resumption 
 of the regular payment of interest, and it was doubtless 
 
17 
 
 with a feeling of proud satisfaction that he, as chairman of 
 the committee, made a report to the House of Delegates from 
 which the following extract is made : 
 
 ■■ For some years after the time when the people of this State 
 and their representatives here had realized the fact that a heavy 
 debt was pressing upon them, the interest of which it was neces- 
 sary to provide by taxation in order to preserve the honor ot the 
 State, the reports of the Committees on Ways and Means were 
 occupied with proposing and defending various schemes for m- 
 creasing the revenue, at the time expressing the hope that the day 
 would not be distant when means would be fully provided for 
 complying with the obligations of the State. More recently, when 
 the laws which had been passed for the purpose were brmgmg 
 their tribute into the treasury, the reports of the committees 
 arrayed tacts and arguments to prove that the State was in con- 
 dition to declare that she would in the future pay with certainty 
 and regularity the interest due to her creditors. Happily for the 
 honor of Maryland, the last legislature fixed by law the first day 
 of January of the present year for the resumption of the regular 
 payment of interest, and provided for funding the arrears of 
 interest previously due. 
 
 •' The regular annual receipts into the treasury now gready 
 exceed the amount of expenditures, including the interest both on 
 the main public debt and the funded arrears ; the revenue both 
 from direct and indirect sources is steadily increasing, while 
 in addition to the surplus referred to, the sinking fund is in full 
 operation and annually reduces by a largely increasing amount 
 the mass of the public debt. * * 
 
 " Of the disposition of the people faithfully to comply with the 
 engagements of the State, and to contribute freely of their means 
 to effect this purpose, no one now pretends to express a doubt. 
 Upon this subject indeed the people of this State have always 
 been sound ; and if in some particular localities there seemed at 
 first to be a faltering, it was because, in the suddenness of the emer- 
 gency, the honest men of the community did not at once recognize 
 their own strength, and deceived by the clamor of a few, appre- 
 
hended a force in opposition which did not in fact exist. The 
 cause of State faith was soon triumphant, and now entirely removed 
 from the sphere of part)', unites in its support the whole com- 
 munity." 
 
 Neither "re-adjustment," nor "scaling," nor compromise, 
 nor dishonesty under any other name was attempted by 
 Maryland, but the debt, principal and interest, was bravely 
 assumed, and as it has become due has been honestly paid. 
 
 On the 5th of November, 1850, Mr. Donaldson, as a 
 member elected from Anne Arundel County, took his seat in 
 the Convention called to make a new Constitution for the 
 State. The Convention commenced its sessions at Annapolis 
 on that day, and continued in existence until the 13th of the 
 following May. This was the first Constitutional Convention 
 that had been held in Maryland since the Convention of 1776, 
 which formed the original Constitution of the State. Many 
 of the members of the Convention of 1850 were men of 
 prominence, and not a few, then or afterwards, held important 
 positions under the State or General Government. Among 
 these may be mentioned William Grason, Francis Thomas 
 and Thomas Holliday Hicks, Governors of the State ; Louis 
 McLane, Secretary of the Treasury, and also of State in the 
 Cabinet of President Jackson, and afterwards U. S. Minister 
 at London ; Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, member of Con- 
 gress, and afterwards U. S. Minister at Vienna ; William D. 
 Merrick, Senator of the U. S. ; Thomas B. Dorsey, Chief 
 Judge of the Court of Appeals ; Ezekiel F. Chambers, Judge 
 of the Court of Appeals and Senator of the U. S. ; William 
 H. Tuck, Judge of the Court of Appeals ; Albert Constable, 
 Judge of the Sixth Judicial District ; Benjamin C. Howard, 
 member of Congress and Reporter of the Supreme Court of 
 
19 
 
 the U. S. ; Alexander Randall, Robert J. Brent and Charles 
 J. M. Gwinn, Attorneys General of the State; and James M. 
 Buchanan, U. S. Minister at Copenhagen. 
 
 Mr. Donaldson was not placed on any important com- 
 mittee, but notwithstanding this obstacle, he soon rose to 
 great prominence in the Convention, and in the debates and 
 proceedings from the beginning to the end took a leading 
 and important part. The subjects discussed were the funda- 
 mental principles of government, as well as practical questions 
 of administration. None were too large for his grasp, nor 
 too small for his careful consideration. 
 
 He was in no respect a doctrinaire. While he thoroughly 
 believed that republican institutions were best adapted to the 
 condition and wants of the people of this country, he was 
 not prepared to carry out the theory of popular government 
 to its extreme results. He strenuously resisted the doctrine 
 that a mere majority of the people can at its will and pleasure 
 alter the Constitution of the State without regard to the forms 
 and restrictions imposed by its existing Constitution, which 
 he held to be a binding compact ; and with the same earnest- 
 ness he opposed the kindred doctrine that representation 
 should be based wholly on population. On the latter subject 
 he did not advocate any rigid theory, but he considered the 
 question on its historical and territorial as well as on its 
 philosophical side. 
 
 He was far from being a sentimental legislator. He denied 
 that under the existing system of criminal law, injustice is 
 done to accused persons, and he therefore opposed all changes 
 which, in his judgment, tended to facilitate the escape of the 
 guilty. 
 
He insisted on equal taxation. He therefore advocated 
 retaining as it stands the 13th Article of the Bill of Rights, 
 which declares that every person in the State " ought to con- 
 tribute his proportion of public taxes according to his actual 
 worth in real or personal property." He intended thereby to 
 bring under taxation all stocks and bonds of other States and 
 of corporations of other States, held by residents of the State. 
 The true theory of taxation was then still less understood 
 than it is at present, and in addition to other objections which 
 may be made to the one he advocated, and which was adopted, 
 Mr. Donaldson perhaps did not sufficiently appreciate the 
 impossibility of obtaining a fair return of such property by 
 any appeal to the conscience of the average taxpayer, and 
 that therefore a less stringent provision would operate more 
 equally, and for that reason more justly, and would in fact 
 produce a larger revenue. 
 
 He recognized the fact that occasions might arise, as they 
 have heretofore arisen, when the aid of the State would be 
 required for works of internal improvement of absolute ne- 
 cessity, and he accordingly proposed that power should be 
 vested in the Legislature of incurring a debt for such a pur- 
 pose, provided it was authorized by a law for some single 
 object distinctly specified therein by a two-thirds vote of each 
 branch of the Legislature, and provided the law made provi- 
 sion for the ways and means, exclusive of loans, to pay the 
 interest of the debt, and discharge the principal within twenty 
 years. 
 
 In reference to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal he said, 
 " that he had not made any calculation on receipts from the 
 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal." " To more than seven millions 
 of our money and all the interest thereon, that work was. 
 
21 
 
 ■■ A gulf proi'ound as that Serbonian bog 
 Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old, 
 Where armies whole have sunk." 
 
 He moved to restrict the pardoning power of the Governor 
 to reprieves and pardons after conviction. He contended that 
 granting pardons before trial was liable to great abuse, and 
 that justice should take its course until judgment was ren- 
 dered. 
 
 It was proposed to make the judges elective by the people. 
 To this plan Mr. Donaldson was inflexibly opposed, and he 
 made a long and able speech against it. He said : " I have no 
 hesitation in saying that I consider the election of judges by 
 the people, as proposed, with the provision for re-eligibility, 
 the worst conceivable mode of appointment. I believe this 
 would be the opinion of a large majority here, were they not 
 running with such haste to escape from the evils of the 
 present system, as to be blinded to the precipice that lies 
 before them." He offered an amendment with reference to 
 the Court of Appeals, proposing that three persons of integrity 
 and sound legal knowledge, being above the age of thirty 
 years, and residents of the judicial district from which 
 they should be chosen, should be selected by joint ballot 
 of the Legislature, for each judicial district, and that their 
 names should be presented to the Governor, who should 
 commission one of them to be a judge of that court. 
 
 Mr. Donaldson doubtless offered this amendment with the 
 knowledge that no scheme would be acceptable to the Con- 
 vention which did not divide the State into districts, and 
 require every judge to be selected from the district in which 
 he resided ; but no plan for the constitution of the highest 
 court can be satisfactory which does not make eligible to it 
 
the ablest lawyers of the State without regard to their place 
 of residence, and it is known that this was the opinion of Mr. 
 Donaldson. 
 
 The amendment did not prevail, and not only all the judges 
 of the State, but Justices of the Peace, were made elective by 
 the people, with the privilege of re-electiop. The provision in 
 regard to Justices of the Peace was soon found to be intoler- 
 able, and was changed. 
 
 In March, 1849, Mr. Donaldson delivered an address 
 before the Maryland Historical Society, of which he was one 
 of the founders, on " American Colonial History." The 
 opening is a worthy tribute to the founders of Maryland. 
 
 "Two hundred and fifteen years ago, ' the Ark ' and ' the Dove,' 
 after a voyage of long duration, in which they were beset with 
 many dangers, and but narrowly escaped disaster, at last entered 
 together the waters of the broad and peaceful Chesapeake, and 
 steering their course for the Potomac, sailed up between the beau- 
 tiful groves that crowned its shores. On the 25th of March, 1634, 
 being the feast of the Annunciation, with great pomp and solemn 
 and religious rites, Leonard Calvert and the two hundred choice 
 men who had come with him to build their homes in this land of 
 promise, formally took possession of the territories of Maryland, 
 and consecrated the soil to the cause of Christianity and to the 
 principles of religious liberty. They were peaceful, unambitious 
 men, not led away from their former homes by the love of gold, 
 nor by the desire of power, but anxious to find a retreat where 
 they might quietly reap the fruits of their industry, beyond the 
 reach of the storms of persecution. More than this, they were 
 men ready to act upon principles of the most enlarged charity ; 
 since they offered to all denominations of Christians the freedom 
 they claimed for themselves. In this respect they were far in 
 advance of their age ; and on their account our State well deserves 
 the name so happily bestowed upon her, of The Land of the 
 Sanctuary." 
 
23 
 
 The whole discourse shows Mr. Donaldson to have beea 
 imbued with the true historic spirit, and to have had a just 
 comprehension of the continuity of history, which Hes at the 
 basis of modern scientific investigation. 
 
 From the year 185 1 to 1861, Mr. Donaldson was actively 
 engaged in the duties of his profession, and took no part in 
 politics. In 1854 he was chosen director, and also one of 
 the counsel of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore 
 Railroad Company, and he held both of these offices as long 
 as he lived. 
 
 He was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of the 
 Peabody Institute of the city of Baltimore some time after its 
 establishment, and took an active interest in its affairs until 
 his death. 
 
 In order to explain the course of Mr. Donaldson during 
 the civil war, some account is necessary of the condition of 
 affairs existing in Maryland immediately after the secession 
 of the Confederate States. Down to that period Maryland 
 had always been, in the best sense of the expression, a loyal 
 State. From the early history of the country, opposition, 
 more or less formidable, to the rightful authority of the 
 General Government, had manifested itself from time to time 
 in different States. In the war of 18 12, with Great Britain, a 
 movement toward secession had begun in New England, cul- 
 minating in the Hartford Convention. In 1832, South Caro- 
 lina passed an ordinance of nullification. In all the free 
 States, acts of Congress relating to slaves, passed in confor- 
 mity with the Constitution, were defied and set at naught. 
 But Maryland had always continued steadfast in support of 
 the Union as established by the Constitution. In every war 
 her soldiers were found on the field of battle, however distant 
 
24 
 
 it might be. Our national ode, which was written during the 
 bombardment of Baltimore, by Francis S. Key, while he was 
 a prisoner on board a British man-of-war engaged in the 
 fight, was the true expression by a Marylander of the patriotic 
 feeling that thrilled the hearts of her people. But with the 
 civil war the day of her trial came. 
 
 Mason and Dixon's line is now remembered only as an 
 ancient name, fast becoming obsolete, of a boundary between 
 two States ; but at the outbreak of the civil war, and long 
 before, it had acquired an ominous significance as being the 
 line of demarcation between two great and unfriendly sections 
 of the country ; unequal in size and strength, but equal in 
 pride, determination, and self-reliance. The differences 
 between the sections were not of slight importance, nor of 
 recent origin, but had existed from the foundation of the 
 (jovernment, growing, as they did, out of the incompatible 
 institutions of freedom and slavery, and out of conflicting 
 opinions in reference to the respective rights of the States and 
 of the General Government. These differences were intensi- 
 fied on both sides by the feeling of wrongs suffered, and by 
 mutual criminations and recriminations. The Supreme Court 
 had decided some of the questions in dispute, but with little 
 effect, except to bring the Court itself into disrepute with the 
 losing side. In the course of years of controversy, com- 
 promises had been made, had been tried, and had signally 
 failed ; compromise was again proposed, but was soon found 
 to be impossible, and nothing remained but an appeal to arms. 
 To this it had come at last. 
 
 Maryland, lying directly south of Mason and Dixon's line, 
 occupied, both from her geographical position and the con- 
 flicting sentiments and opinions of her people, a peculiarly 
 
25 
 
 trying and dangerous position. The chief highway between 
 North and South ran through the State, and the National 
 Capital lay within it. Her first step was watched with intense 
 interest by the whole country, for important consequences 
 were to follow. If she should take part with the South, her 
 own territory would be at once invaded by the North, and 
 would become the first battle-ground of the war ; if with the 
 North, she would be compelled to unite in the invasion of the 
 territory of Southern States with whom she had been 
 always united by close ties of interest, affection and common 
 institutions. What that step would be depended on her own 
 resolve. 
 
 She was far from being wholly a Southern State. Slavery 
 had indeed been established from the commencement of the 
 colony, but it had almost disappeared from the city of Balti- 
 more and the northern portions of the State. By many of 
 her own people it had long been felt to be a heavy burthen, as 
 well as a grievous wrong. Efforts at emancipation had been 
 made, and would have been continued if they had not become 
 hopeless by reason of the antagonism on that subject which had 
 sprung up between the North and the South ; but the feeling 
 that prompted them had not been eradicated. In States like 
 Massachusetts and South Carolina, every citizen easily found 
 his place. He was carried onward by the momentum of the 
 community in which he lived ; but in Maryland, the part to 
 be taken became a personal question, appealing to the interest, 
 the hopes and fears, the sense of honor and duty, as well as 
 to the sympathies of each individual man. 
 
 Soon after the 19th of April, 1861, the date of the mem- 
 orable outbreak in Baltimore, military possession began 
 to be taken of the State, and soon became complete. The 
 
26 
 
 Legislature met in special session at Frederick, on the 26th of 
 April, 1 86 1, and soon afterwards passed a series of resolutions, 
 declaring the desire of the State for the peaceful and imme- 
 diate recognition of the independence of the Confederate 
 States by the Federal Government, protesting against the war 
 as unconstitutional, and announcing her resolute determina- 
 tion to have no part nor lot, directly or indirectly, in its pro- 
 secution. But in such a strife, neutrality of a State, and 
 especially of the State of Maryland, was impossible, and even 
 the neutrality of an individual was little short of impossible. 
 
 The Police Commissioners of the city, and next the Mayor 
 of the city of Baltimore (the author of this sketch), the lead- 
 ing members of the Legislature, and prominent citizens, were 
 arrested and confined in Northern prisons. Mr. Henry May, 
 a member of Congress, was arrested, but soon released, and 
 arrests and imprisonments on political grounds continued 
 during the war. 
 
 It has been charged that secession was contemplated by the 
 Legislature, but the charge is unfounded in fact. It is not 
 doubted, however, that a majority of the people sympathized 
 with the South, and approved of the stand taken by the Leg- 
 islature in opposition to the war. It is estimated by Gen. 
 Phelps, of the Union army, in the oration which he recently 
 delivered before the Maryland Historical Society, on the 
 one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of 
 Baltimore, that over fifty thousand white men of the State 
 fought on the Union side, and perhaps half that number 
 on the Confederate side ; and he adds, " with equal facilities 
 and encouragements, doubtless this disparity' would have 
 been greatly lessened, and with the then existing military 
 and political situation reversed, the result would have been 
 a preponderance on the other side." 
 
27 
 
 Toleration of differences of opinion is a virtue of slow 
 growth, and was not much practised by either party in Mary- 
 land during the war. The domestic strife was bitter and cut 
 through society, often separating in feeling, if not in fact, 
 parents and children, brothers and sisters, and sometimes even 
 husbands and wives. Since then, it has been generously 
 forgiven and forgotten, the dividing line has vanished, and 
 none are now found to regret that the cause of the Union 
 prevailed. 
 
 Mr. Donaldson's position was both difficult and painful, 
 but his course was firm and consistent from the beginning. 
 Like many others, while he had always been opposed to 
 slavery, he felt bound to stand by the compromises of the 
 Constitution. He was an avowed Union man, and insisted on 
 the right and duty of the General Government to maintain its 
 authority in every part of the country by force of arms ; but 
 he deprecated and opposed all violations of the rights of 
 persons and property which were not required by the impera- 
 tive necessities of the war. He was not in sympathy with 
 violent men or violent measures, yet he was often held in 
 some degree responsible for both. He did not regard those 
 who differed from him in opinion as personal enemies. 
 Division, although not alienation of feeling, had reached his 
 own family. His brother, Admiral Donaldson, was then a 
 Captain in the United States Navy. His son-in-law, Com- 
 modore Parker, recently deceased, was a Commander in the 
 same service ; while other members of his family sym- 
 pathized with the .South. The views of Thomas Donald- 
 son were too moderate to enable him to exercise with those 
 in authority the influence to which he was entitled, by his 
 learning and ability and the great respect which was enter- 
 
28 
 
 tained for his character; but he pursued unmoved his honor- 
 able and manly course, always ready, without compensation, 
 to lend his aid to those who were suffering unjustly under 
 political arrests, and exercising a gentle forbearance towards 
 old friends, even when they had grown cold to him. 
 
 In November, 1861, he was elected a member from Howard 
 County, to the House of Delegates of Maryland, and on the 
 4th of December he took his seat at the extra session of the 
 General Assembly called by Governor Hicks. On the 17th 
 of the month he submitted a series of joint resolutions, which 
 are here quoted in substance, because they express distinctly 
 in his own language his opinions on the political questions of 
 the day. They repudiate the right of any State to secede from 
 the Union ; they assert that the State of Maryland would 
 cheerfully contribute her proportion of men and means to 
 sustain the nation in its struggle for existence, so long as the 
 war is conducted in accordance with the principles of the 
 Constitution, and so long as the purpose of those in power is 
 the maintenance of the Union, with the rights guaranteed to 
 the States unimpaired ; they declare that the loyalty of the 
 people of Maryland to the General Government established 
 by the Constitution is untouched by any shade of servility, 
 and that they must ever regard with extreme jealousy all 
 attempts, from whatever quarter, to make the present war for 
 the restoration of the Union, the means of interfering with the 
 domestic institutions of the States ; and they solemnly protest 
 against all schemes, the object or tendency of which is to 
 excite insurrection among the. slaves, declaring the same 
 illegal, and calculated, if put in practice, to produce results 
 too horrible to contemplate. They declare that the Legisla- 
 ture is gratified to know that the true principles on which the 
 
war should be conducted had been expressed in the most 
 emphatic language by both houses of the present Congress in 
 their extra session of July preceding ; that they had been 
 declared by the President in his latest message ; and that 
 they had been conspicuously illustrated in the proclamation 
 of Major-Gen. Dix to the people of the Eastern Shore of 
 Virginia ; and they further declare that although in the imme- 
 diate presence of armies, when war or insurrection exists, it 
 cannot be expected that the civil power should at all times 
 maintain its supremacy, and that there may be cases of ex- 
 treme necessity where the safety and preservation of the Gov- 
 ernment would excuse a resort to extraordinary measures ; yet 
 the dangers of a departure from the forms of law, which are 
 the protection of individual rights, should never be forgotten, 
 and all irregular proceedings should be abandoned so soon as 
 it is clear that the extreme necessit}'^ which gave rise to them 
 has passed away. 
 
 The resolutions were adopted by the House of Delegates, 
 but were very materially altered in the Senate. They are 
 inserted here, because they clearly show the opinions by 
 which the course of Mr. Donaldson was guided. 
 
 The last time when Mr. Donaldson was a candidate for 
 public office was in 1864, when a Convention was called to 
 form a new Constitution for the State. He was nominated as 
 one of the candidates from Howard County of the " Conserva- 
 tive Union " party, in opposition to the Radical party. The 
 ticket of the "Conservatives" was defeated — Mr. Donald- 
 son by only nine votes — but as there were soldiers at 
 the polls taking active part against it, the result was not 
 surprising. 
 
30 
 
 Mr. Donaldson was slightly above the middle height, 
 slender and active. Without being regularly handsome, his 
 appearance was striking and very attractive. A high and 
 broad forehead, light blue eyes, kindling as he spoke, a well 
 cut nose and chin, and mouth ready to smile, yet marked by 
 strong lines, were the prominent features of a face which 
 indicated to every observer refinement, gentleness, and force 
 of character. 
 
 Ordinarily, Mr. Donaldson took no part in politics, 
 beyond the duty of voting, which he never failed to perform. 
 The occasions on which he entered into public life were rare, 
 and occurred only when great public interests were involved. 
 He never engaged in speculations or in unprofessional busi- 
 ness of any kind. The main work of his life was done in the 
 practice of his profession, which he both loved and honored, 
 and which he pursued with high aims and unwearied dili- 
 gence. 
 
 His charges were always moderate, and the poor as well as 
 the rich had the benefit of his best services. " It is a strange 
 trade, I have often thought," says Carlyle in his Reminis- 
 cences, "that of advocacy. Your intellect, your highest 
 heavenly gift, hung in the shop-window like a loaded pistol 
 for sale." But Donaldson did not regard advocacy as a 
 trade, nor was his intellect a loaded pistol hung up for sale. 
 He was not a mercenary, equally ready to fight in any 
 cause for hire. He scorned every attempt to gain practice by 
 attracting public attention or by unworthy arts ; and if, in his 
 early and waiting years, his love of literature had not seemed 
 to diminish his devotion to the law, his great merit might 
 perhaps have been sooner recognized, and the labors of his 
 life followed by more substantial reward than he ever 
 
31 
 
 attained. But what he thus lost in money he gained as a 
 scholar, an advocate and a man. 
 
 His career as a lawyer was, on his death, briefly sketched 
 in the Evening Bnlletin and Baltimore American, by S. Teackle 
 Wallis and Geo. Wm. Brown, his early friends and profes- 
 sional brethren, and portions of these notices are here 
 reproduced. 
 
 " He began," wrote Mr. Wallis, "the active duties of life 
 as a civil engineer, and did not study for the Bar until some 
 years after his arrival at manhood. It was thus that he did 
 not attain, until a comparatively late period, the position in 
 the profession of his ultimate choice, to which his age and 
 abilities would otherwise have assigned him. Indeed, 
 although known from the beginning of his later career, as a 
 lawyer of fine attainments and uncommon force, he did not 
 develop, until of recent years, the singular powers as an 
 advocate for which he was so widely distinguished. The 
 best characteristics of Mr. Donaldson were those which 
 sprang directly from the excellence of his individual and per- 
 sonal qualities. His sense of duty was so strong as to ensure 
 the faithful and punctual fulfilment of every professional obli- 
 gation, no matter how much it might entail of patient industry 
 and labor. His mind was conspicuously just and fair, and 
 his convictions of right were never for a moment clouded by 
 the interests of others or his own. Nothing could exceed the 
 amiable frankness of his temper, or the cordial kindness of 
 his intercourse and manners. His integrity was such that no 
 one could be sufficiently his enemy to doubt it, and his intel- 
 lect was so vigorous, direct and honest that it could with 
 difficulty be diverted or misled." 
 
32 
 
 " He came to the Bar," wrote Judge Brown, " in 1843, and 
 from that time until his death he steadily and gradually rose 
 in public estimation, until he reached the front rank of the 
 profession in this State. . In Howard County, where he 
 resided, and where he was universally beloved and honored, 
 he was engaged in every important case, and was confessedly 
 the leader of the Bar. His engagements there somewhat 
 interfered with his practice in Baltimore, but he was year by 
 year advancing in influence, and increasing his practice in the 
 courts of the city and in the Court of Appeals. He died in 
 the maturuy of his powers, and with a still more distin- 
 guished career lying immediately before him. In him were 
 united all the qualifications necessary to make a great lawyer : 
 sound judgment, a retentive memory, quickness of apprehen- 
 sion, unflinching courage, skill in the examination of wit- 
 nesses, an industry which mastered the minutest details of a 
 case, a thorough command of language, both in speaking and 
 writing, and persuasive eloquence. And as a wise adviser of 
 those who needed counsel, as a peace-maker, and not a pro- 
 moter of litigation, and as a faithful administrator of impor- 
 tant trusts, his place will not be easily supplied." 
 
 In May, 1875, Mr. Donaldson delivered an address in 
 Washington, before the graduating law class of the Colum- 
 bian University, and in May, 1876, he delivered a similar 
 ad'dress in Baltimore, before the graduating class of the 
 University of Maryland. Both are so excellent that the 
 temptation is great to quote copiously from them ; and the 
 more so, because in the high ideal which he held up to the 
 young men, he undoubtedly, although perhaps unconsciously, 
 described that which had been the inspiring influence of his 
 own life. The following quotations from the latter address 
 
33 
 
 will suffice to give some idea of the spirit and the value of 
 both. 
 
 " From the earliest records, since the class of advocates has 
 existed, they have been noted for the fearless courage with which 
 they have resisted the oppression of rulers, and withstood the 
 violence of an excited populace; often performing their duty, 
 whether as defenders of parties accused, or as asserters of the civil 
 rights of their clients, at extreme personal peril. It is a known 
 point of honor with the profession, in the face of the reproach of 
 well-meaning moralists, who imperfectly understand the subject, 
 that no man should be without counsel when brought before any 
 tribunal to answer an accusation : and it has always been its pride 
 to maintain the civil rights of clients, undeterred by power, unawed 
 by frowning courts, and in defiance of popular prejudice. And 
 this spirit of independence has not been confined to the practice 
 in courts of justice, but has also been conspicuously displayed in 
 national councils. It would be no exaggeration to say, that all 
 great constitutional measures in England, by which the liberties of 
 that country were secured, and from which we have derived an 
 equal benefit, are due to the exertions of her great lawyers. . . 
 You will call to mind, also, that to the great lawyers of the Amer- 
 ican colonies, more than to any other class of men, we owe the 
 resolute and steady resistance to the oppression of the mother 
 country, which ended in securing our independence a hundred 
 years ago ; and from their wisdom mainly came that constitution 
 of which we are so justly proud. 
 
 " The tyrannical judge, so formidable in past centuries, and to 
 resist whose arbitrary will became the duty of some of the noblest 
 members of our profession, is a character scarcely known amongst 
 us, e.xcept by tradition ; and those who preside in our courts, in 
 this country at least, are for the most part only too indulgent to 
 both litigants and counsel. 
 
 " After all, however, even in the best conmiunities, with well 
 regulated laws to protect all rights, administered by the worthiest 
 judges and the most sensible and upright juries, there will never 
 be wanting opportunities for counsel to exercise their courage ; I 
 will not say to display their courage, because in most cases it will 
 
34 
 
 not be known to the world that the question of courage has arisen. 
 Thus, there is no higher duty of the profession, than to tell one 
 who proposes to be a client, that he is in the wrong, that he has no 
 right to prosecute, or defend, the cause in which he wishes to 
 engage your services. Yet it requires a great deal of courage to 
 perform this duty ; for you cannot in such a case expect that your 
 action will be appreciated by one who is probably so infatuated in 
 his selfish prepossessions, that he would be very likely to attribute 
 your advice to a sinister motive. It is at any time hard to resist 
 the temptation of a handsome fee, and harder still to risk offending 
 an established client ; but it is particularly hard to do either in the 
 earlier years of professional life, when not only would the compen- 
 sation be most welcome, but opportunities to appear in courts and 
 to extend one's practice are most eagerly coveted. But, if you 
 would maintain your self-respect, and the true dignity of your pro- 
 fession, you must sometimes make these sacrifices. Indeed, there 
 is no worthy member of the bar who does not prevent more liti- 
 gation than he encourages. 
 
 " Further still, there are times, even in the course of business 
 already begun,— even in the very midst of a trial, perhaps, — when 
 you may feel obliged to decline proceeding. You can have no 
 more trying duty than this, and it requires a courage that few- 
 possess. Fortunately, these occasions cannot be frequent ; because 
 in few cases is the right or the wrong entirely on one side, and in 
 almost all, your services may avail to protect your client from 
 injustice, even if his claims, or his defences, cannot be fully sus- 
 tained. But, certainly, there are such exceptional cases as I have 
 referred to ; and it is, perhaps, because we all come short of the 
 highest courage that these cases are so rarely recognized in our 
 practice. 
 
 " However it may at first seem to throw obstacles in the way of 
 your early and rapid success, cultivate above all things a spirit of 
 honorable independence in regard to your clients and their busi- 
 ness. Let no clients, whether individuals or corporations, however 
 rich or powerful, and however prodigal of fees, ever consider you 
 as instruments belonging to them, and bound to perform whatever 
 services they may require of you. Always reserve your own 
 
35 
 
 judgment, and the liberty to act according to your own views of 
 right, or to retire from the employment. 
 
 " The same courage is needed, and should be shown, in your 
 arguments of points of law before the courts, dealing fairly with 
 them always and suppressing nothing ; and whilst earnestly sup- 
 porting the cause that you advocate, never forget that the right 
 determination of the law is the great object of all such discussions, 
 and one far more important than your individual triumph, or even 
 than the interest of your client. In truth, a member of the legal 
 profession is a servant of the public in its largest sense, and has no 
 right to forget his responsibility in that character, in his eagerness 
 to promote the cause of his client ; nor may he for a special pur- 
 pose advocate principles which he knows to be false, or justify acts 
 which he considers indefensible. Any other view of the profession 
 is sordid and low." 
 
 The last public address of Mr. Donaldson was made on 
 the 15th of January, 1875, at the Masonic Temple, in the city 
 of Baltimore, before a meeting of the citizens called to express 
 their sentiments in reference to the arrest of members of the 
 Legislature of Louisiana by a detachment of the army of the 
 United States, acting under the orders of the General in com- 
 mand in the city of New Orleans. The meeting was large 
 and highly respectable, and was presided over by the late 
 Reverdy Johnson. Among the able speakers on that occa- 
 sion, Mr. Donaldson greatly distinguished himself by the 
 eloquence and force of his address, of which a brief and 
 inadequate summary is given, taken from the Baltimore 
 American of the following day : 
 
 " Mr. Donaldson began by saying, that it was scarce ten days 
 since a telegraphic dispatch first announced to us that occurrence, 
 to protest against which this meeting was called, and others in 
 every part of this land from which the voice of the people is going 
 up. The facts were so well-known that a speaker had to refer to 
 
36 
 
 what is familiar to all : but it was encouraging to know that from 
 men oi all parties there were going up protests and cries of alarm 
 against the outrages perpetrated on the 4th of this month upon 
 the Legislature of Louisiana. It had aroused the whole of the 
 country. Mr. Donaldson detailed the expulsion of the five 
 members of the Louisiana Legislature by the military, and severely 
 animadverted on the mildness of the President's language and the 
 concurrence of the Cabinet. He concluded by showing that the 
 infringement of the rights of one State endangered the rights of 
 every other. He showed that in every one of our States there 
 was a Legislature composed of two houses, in which partisan 
 contests were often very close, as they sometimes were in Congress. 
 There was often considerable delay before organization could be 
 effected, and if in such cases a President, with perhaps strong par- 
 tisan feelings, was allowed to interfere, the most disastrous results 
 would certainly follow." 
 
 Resolutions strongly condemning the outrage were unani- 
 mously adopted. 
 
 It was the habit of Mr. Donaldson to spend a part of the 
 vacation season in the summer, at the North. His favorite 
 places were Sharon Springs and Mount Desert, and for a 
 number of years before his death he regularly visited the 
 latter. The beautiful scenery, the bracing air, the freedom 
 from the exactions of fashionable life, and, not least, the culti- 
 vated society which he there found, rendered it especially 
 attractive to him. 
 
 In 1867, with his wife, he visited Europe, travelling through 
 England, France, Switzerland, a part of Germany, and Italy, 
 as far as Rome. His aesthetic tastes and high cultivation ren- 
 dered the journey one of peculiar gratification to him. He 
 had no knowledge of music nor love for it, but he delighted 
 in the beauty of nature and of art. He had a decided talent 
 for drawing and sometimes indulged it, and he knew much of 
 
37 
 
 the lives and achievements of the great artists, and he there- 
 fore felt in the presence of their works, not like a stranger, 
 but as an old and familiar friend. 
 
 Mr. Donaldson was a religious man, but he seldom con- 
 versed on points of doctrine, even with his most intimate 
 friends. He had been brought up in the Episcopal Church, 
 and with his family he always attended its services, which he 
 admired and loved. 
 
 In the winter of 1876-7, his health began seriously to fail, 
 and the malady proved to be Bright's disease. He was 
 advised by his brother and physician. Dr. Frank Donaldson, 
 to try the effect of a warmer and drier climate, and accord- 
 ingly he went in the following spring, accompanied by his 
 wife, to Aiken, South Carolina, and afterwards to Charleston. 
 
 The following letter, written just before his departure, to a 
 friend, may serve to give an idea of his epistolary style : 
 
 Edgewoou, March 28, 1877. 
 
 Dear ; Some weeks ago I told you I would send you 
 
 i an English edition of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, which 
 I then supposed I had in my library. But when I came to look 
 for it, it was no longer to be found. Some thorough appreciator 
 of the Imperial Saint had doubtless borrowed it, and could not 
 part with it again— using the book, perhaps, for daily devotional 
 exercises, after the latest and most approved Boston style. 
 
 Despairing of recovering it, I send you a substitute, glad to 
 associate you in my mind with one of my favorite heroes, and glad 
 to be sometimes recalled to your mind by such an association. 
 
 Frank says I am much better, and says that I must spend a 
 month at the South to recover my strength. Therefore, Mary 
 (my wife) and I leave home early next week, for the interior of 
 Georgia or South Carolina. Not feeling the necessity of this 
 move myself, and this being my busy season, I find great difficulty 
 
38 
 
 in reconciling myself to such a prescription, but all my family say 
 I must obey. Therefore, I shall try to make the best of it. 
 
 I hope to be able to spend a day in the city before leaving, in 
 which case I shall see you. With love to your household, I am 
 as ever 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 Th. Donaldson. 
 
 The change brought temporary relief. His spirits, which 
 were naturally buoyant, revived. A friend who met him there 
 spoke of his presence as bringing with it cheerfulness and 
 brightness to the place, and of the gloom which followed his 
 departure. It was the first occasion on which he had visited 
 the South since the war, and he wrote home gratifying 
 accounts of the improving prosperity of that region, and of 
 the friendly disposition of the people towards the Union. He 
 returned home improved, but not essentially benefited. He 
 was not long in the dark about his own condition, although 
 he felt it to be his duty to take every prescribed means to 
 regain his health. He set to work laboriously and carefully 
 to put his affairs in order, and particularly those in which he 
 was concerned as trustee, so that there might be no misunder- 
 standing or confusion after his death ; but he was not able to 
 resume his general professional practice. 
 
 On the 19th of July, he, with his wife and some others of 
 his family, left home for a journey to Niagara. At the end of 
 the first day he reached Delaware Water Gap, where the party 
 intended to stop for a few days. He was there, on the follow- 
 ing morning, struck with paralysis, which affected his speech, 
 but not his intellect. He rallied sufficiently during the next 
 three weeks to be removed to his home, which he reached in 
 such a feeble condition that he hardly afterwards left his bed. 
 
39 
 
 His mind continued clear until within a short time of his 
 death. 
 
 After his return home he gave up all solicitude about his 
 worldly affairs, and calmly awaited his approaching end. On 
 the 3d of September he dictated the following: " I have just 
 receiv'ed your letter. My remaining now is so utterly uncer- 
 tain that I would not have you either slacken or hasten your 
 coming home. I had no idea of being now living. I still 
 hope to see you and yours, but I do not want to live. You 
 are one of my dearest friends in the world, and all your 
 family are mine too. God bless you all." His love went out 
 more strongly than ever towards his family and friends. As 
 long as strength permitted he conversed cheerfully, taking an 
 interest in the affairs of others, and giving kind advice where 
 it was sought or was needed, and almost to the last he liked 
 to listen to the poetry of Shakspeare and the psalms of 
 David. He did not dwell on the sorrows of life, but 
 was grateful for the happiness he had enjoyed. Nor did he 
 indulge in apprehensions even for the welfare of wife and 
 children, about to be left behind, whom he loved so 
 tenderly, and for whom he had not been able to make ample 
 provision ; but he encouraged them not to fear, and to believe 
 that all would be well. He reproached himself, as if it were 
 presumptuous, that he had no fear of death. He died on the 
 4th of October, 1877. 
 
 Such was the fitting end of one who had preserved his 
 integrity and manhood under every trial and temptation, who 
 had been liberal, charitable, unselfish, unmoved by the greed 
 of gain ; not without ambition, but who had found his happi- 
 ness in the symmetrical development of his own faculties, in 
 the performance of the practical duties of life, in the glories 
 
40 
 
 of literature and art, in the beauty of nature, and above all 
 in the exercise of the social and kindly affections. He died 
 as he lived, in the Christian faith, with a firm trust in the 
 mercy of God, and with a reverent submission to the dispen- 
 sations of His providence. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Philadelphia, Wilmington 
 and Baltimore Railroad Company, held at Wilmington, on the 
 14th of January, 1878, the character and valuable services of 
 Mr. Donaldson were cordially recognized by the Board, in 
 resolutions which described him as a wise adviser of the 
 Board, a ripe and accomplished scholar, a distinguished 
 lawyer, a gentleman in the best acceptation of that term, and 
 a genial companion and true friend. 
 
 And at the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the 
 Peabody Institute of Baltimore, held on the 1 2th of Februarj^ 
 1878, the following notice of his death was placed on record : 
 
 " Mr. Donaldson was for a long time a member of the 
 Board ; and while the eminent position which his learning and 
 talents had won for him at the Bar, left him little leisure for 
 other pursuits, he still found sufficient time to take a deep 
 and active interest in the affairs of the Institute. 
 
 "At the meetings of the Board, his kindliness and courtesy 
 endeared him to his colleagues, and his excellent judgment 
 gave them confidence in the measures which he advocated. 
 His loss cannot be easily supplied." 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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