1823.]} 
principal, and that the annuity-broker 
is the agent of the grantees. If any 
part of the moncy has been retained 
or returned to pay the agent for his 
expenses, or to pay oli arrears of 
former annuities, or to repay to the 
agent any money which he had ad- 
vanced to relieve the pressing wants 
of the grantor, or for any other pur- 
Memoirs of William Pinkney, Esq. 
327 
pose whatever, the annuities have been 
set aside. 
Under all the circumstances, no 
prudent man will in any case hazard 
shis property on annuities ; and no man 
of correct feeling will deal in a pro- 
perty which cannot be left to the ho- 
nesty of a British jury. ; 
BIOGRAPHY OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
——— 
MEMOIRS of WILLIAM PINKNEY, ESQ. the 
AMERICAN DIPLOMATIST. 
ILLIAM PINKNEY Was born at 
Annapolis, in the state of Mary- 
land, on the 17th March, in the year 
1765. His extraordinary natural capa- 
city was quickened and improved by a 
liberal edacation, in which his predilec- 
tion for the classical writers of antiquity 
was conspicuous, Ata suitable age he 
was placed as an apprentice witha drug- 
gist in Baltimore. Here he was found 
by the late Judge Chase, who, discern- 
ing in some of his juvenile efforts the 
promise of future excellence, proposed 
to him the study of that proivssion of 
which he was hereafter to become a 
brilliant ornament. His indentures were 
cancelled with great cheerfulness by his 
employers, who found their gallipots 
neglected whenever a book presented its 
powerful attractions. To what extent 
the kindness of Mr. Chase was exer- 
cised, we are not able to state, but there 
is reason to believe that the obligations 
of Mr. Pinkney were of no ordinary de- 
scription. With unwearied industry he 
cultivated the advantages of this invalu- 
able patronage ; and, on his admission to 
the bar in 1786, he was perhaps unrival- 
Jed in legal learning, and the more ele- 
gant embellishments of polite literature. 
In these luxuries he indulged to the 
latest period of his professional carcer, 
fascinating some by the richness of his 
diction, and delighting all by the variety 
and splendour of those illustrations, by 
which he enlivened the most elaborate 
arguments. 
In America, a seat in tlie legisla- 
ture of the state, is one of the first steps, 
which is taken by a young man of ambi- 
lion, in-the carcer of fortune and fame. 
Accordingly, we soon find Mr. Pinkney 
adding to the business of expounding 
laws, the more important duty of fram- 
ing them. He was one of the Conven- 
tion, which, on the part of his native 
state, adopted the present Constitution 
of the Union. Le wasa member of the 
legislature from the year 1789 until 
1792, when he was promoted by that 
body toa seat in the Executive Council. 
Here he presided until the year 1795, 
when he was returned a delegate from 
Anne Arundel county. 
In the year 1796, the British treaty 
was ratified by the president, notwith- 
standing the clamour which was excited 
against it by the opposition of that day ; 
and it was faithfully carried into effect, 
although the same party in the House of 
Representatives contended that “they 
had a right, by withholding appropri- 
ations when they saw proper, to stop the 
wheels of government.” The wise and 
upright men who then regulated the ma- 
chinery, would not sanction a doctrine 
so subversive of order. They consi- 
dered a treaty, which had been properly 
concluded, as a law of the land, which 
the house was bound to obey ; and they 
did obey it. 
One of the provisions of this treaty re- 
quiring the services of an agent in Len. 
don, Mr. Pinkney was appointed by Ge« 
neral Washington a commissioner for 
that purpose. While in that city, he 
brought to a conclusion a negotiation be- 
tween the state of Maryland and the 
Bank of England, respecting a sum of 
money which the latter had received by 
way of deposit from the colony of Mary- 
Jand, before the Revolution. It had 
been commenced by Judge Chase, and 
would have been successfully concluded 
by that gentleman, we believe, but for 
the commencement of hostilities, or 
some other cause which compelled him 
to leave Great Britain abruptly. 
Mr. Pinkney returned to his native 
country in 1804, greatly improved by the 
intercourse which he had maintained 
with many of the eminent men who 
adorned that period of English history. 
In his official business, be did not forget 
the more important claims of prolés- 
sional character, He was still a hard 
student, as every one must be who 
aspires to become a finished lawyer; and 
he 
