CHARLES CARNAN RIDGELY

85

warmly discussed during Governor Ridgely's administration, was not finally settled until after he had relinquished the gubernatorial office. Ridgely was reëlected governor in 1816 and again in 1817, thus giving him the full three years in office that were permitted by the constitution. Politically the state remained unsettled throughout this period, and it was a difficult task for the federalists to hold sufficient votes in the legislature to continue to fill the executive mansion. The feature which favored them was the law by which state senators were elected for five years, thus requiring a very considerable lapse of time before the people could change the political complexion of the upper house. In 1818, Governor Ridgely was succeeded by another federalist, Charles Goldsborough.

At the close of his administration Mr. Ridgely retired to Hampton, where he devoted himself to the task of looking after his property. At home he represented the typical aristocrat of his day. He had the fortune that enabled him to live like a prince, and he also had the inclination. Hampton was cultivated by hundreds of slaves of whom Mr. Ridgely was absolute master; although the governor by his will manumitted these serfs. Some idea of the extent of his plantation and the manner of its cultivation may be obtained from the fact that when, on July 17, 1829, Charles Carnan Ridgely died, there were freed more than 400 negoes who had been his personal property.

XVI

CHARLES GOLDSBOROUGH

By grace of fate, rather than by the wish of the people, the federal party was permitted to continue in control of Maryland's affairs some time after it had fallen under the disapprobation of the voters elsewhere in America. An unjust election law, which may have been good enough in the beginning but became evil with advancing years, favored the federal party in retaining its power in Maryland, despite the fact that its opponents were in the majority. There were in Maryland at this time twelve counties that were federal in political complexion. These counties boasted a total population of 131,165 white inhabitants, and paid the state upon direct tax $68,404. The democratic portion of the state comprised seven counties which supported a free white population of 140,209 and contributed in taxes the sum of $83,222. And yet, the twelve counties which contributed 45.1 per cent of the state taxes and contained 48.3 per cent of the free white inhabitants were given, under the unjust scale of representation, 60 per cent of the total membership in the lower house of the general assembly, while every attempt to equalize the representation of the several counties according to population was fought tooth and nail by the federalists.

Instead of pursuing a peaceable policy, and thus neutralizing in part the antagonism which existed against it, the leaders carried the party arrogantly to the place where it was to meet destruction. Even Mr. Goldsborough, who was called upon to succeed Mr. Ridgely in the executive office, did not fully appreciate the needs of his peculiar