In private life, Mr. Carroll lost none of the laurels that decked his brow when in the service of his beloved country. Of an amiable and kind disposition, he was highly esteemed by his friends and respected by all. Temperate in all things his course was consistent, charitable, and systematic. He was an exemplary Christian, and was ever opposed to a spirit of persecution by one sect against another for opinion’s sake. He was among the few who reason correctly and act wisely upon this important subject. It is a fact, unknown perhaps to many, and admitted by fewer still, that the Roman Catholics of Maryland were the first who proposed and passed into a law religious toleration in America. [See laws of the general assembly of that state, 1647.] It is also a fact which is equally true, that the Protestants were the first who introduced proscription, and obtained an order from Charles II., after his restoration in 1661, to disfranchise all Roman Catholics from holding any office, taking the loaves and fishes exclusively into their own keeping, in violation of the charter granted to Lord Baltimore by Charles I., and in violation of reason, common sense, and the laws of God. Sectarianism is not religion, nor a child of heaven. The Protestants having become the bride of state, and having the power in their own hands, carried on their principles of proscription under the authority of William III. The Roman Catholics were taxed to support the religion of their oppressors, and by an act passed in 1704, the celebration of mass or the instruction of youth by a Catholic, insured him a transportation to England. During the excitements produced by this unhallowed connection of church and state, which several times resulted in bloodshed, the Carrolls used their best exertions to produce a reconciliation between the parties. This was never fully effected until the revolution compelled all persuasions to unite in the common cause against the common enemy. For thirty years Mr. Carroll enjoyed the cheering comforts of “sweet home,” and survived to hear the funeral knell of all the other signers of the Declaration of Independence. He enjoyed the rich reward of seeing the fruits of his labour, in conjunction with his compatriots of the revolution, prospering under the direction of an all wise Providence and a free and independent people. He beheld, with increased delight, the onward march of his favoured country, to which he had contributed largely in giving it a name and character among the nations of the earth, at once admired and respected.