90 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THE Sjl^l 



The Wise, the Good, the Fathers of the State, 

 Conven'd with Joy to fix the Muse's Seat ; 

 To lay a fast Foundation-Stone, which shall 

 Be only mov'd when sinks this Earthly Ball ! 

 Auspicious Day ! no more the Muses mourn, 

 But hail their Parent Peace on her Return — 

 Heav'n gives the Word, and bids Mankind repose, 

 Contending Nations blush that they were Foes; 

 Old Warriors now shall glow with Rage no more. 

 But reap the Fields their Valour sav'd before. 

 Hail Goddess Peace ! in thy celestial Mien 

 Sweet Happiness and ev'ry Grace are seen ; 

 O'er thy smooth Brow no rugged Helmet frowns, 

 An Olive Wreath thy shining Temple crowns. 

 Let now the Muses hasten to explore 

 The tawny Chief on Erie's distant Shore, 

 Or trace his Steps among the Forests wide. 

 That deep imbrown the vast Ontario's Side ; 

 And bid him quick his deadly Bow unbend. 

 For now destructive War is at an End ; 

 Let mighty Mississippi, as he runs, 

 Proclaim aloud to all his swarthy Sons, 

 That to Earth's Ends fair Science shall encrcase. 

 And form one Reign of Learning and of Peace ! 



The rapid and great success of Washington College, not less 

 than his ovv^n commanding powers as an orator, writer and execu- 

 tive agent in every department, had by the year 1783 made Dr. 

 Smith a conspicuous and influential person of the Church in Mary- 

 land. And as he' abated nothing of his more youthful activity in 

 ecclesiasti:.il affairs, his agency soon began to show itself in that 

 new State of his residence, with obvious results. 



The effect of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of 

 July, 1776, and of different Acts of the Legislature of the State 

 passed about the same time, left in an uncertain and precarious 

 condition the property of the different parishes of the Church of 

 England in the new commonwealth. Soon after going to Mary- 

 land, therefore, and even during the war. Dr. Smith prepared and 

 caused to be signed by laymen of several parishes and by those 

 few of the clergy who then remained, a petition to the General 

 Assembly of the State seeking to have the matter of church-rights 

 established. The document was thus : 



