CHAPTER XXXVII. CHESAPEAKE DISTRICT—GOVERNOR BASSETT’S DEATH AND CHARACTER.

The conference met in Philadelphia on April 20, 1815. Bishop Asbury was so exceedingly ill that the laboring oar fell upon Bishop M’Kendree. Bishop Asbury visited the conference room once only and then was obliged to retire. Alas! when he departed his venerable form and whitened locks disappeared, to be seen in that body no more. He always had a high regard for the Philadelphia Conference. It was in Philadelphia he preached his first sermon in America, and was “received as an angel from God.” He was at the first conference in Philadelphia in 1773, when there were ten traveling preachers in America, and he had attended it for thirty-two years.

On Friday I went with Bishop M’Kendree to visit Bishop Asbury. He was feeble in body but strong in God, and his wrinkled countenance brightened at the prospect of soon seeing “the King in his beauty.” M’Kendree prayed with his venerable colleague, who was hovering between two worlds.

I was appointed to Chesapeake District. It may appear strange I did not remain on the Schuylkill District. John M’Claskey, who was on the Chesapeake District, died the preceding year; it was proposed to appoint Robert R. Roberts, but he feared that going down on the Peninsula would injure his health. I had spent some years there and got acclimated, and it was thought I could stand it better, and therefore he was appointed to the Schuylkill District and I to the Chesapeake. Being a single man, it was not much trouble for me to move, and I was glad to accommodate my excellent friend, who had furnished me with a kind home for two years in Philadelphia.

I entered upon my pleasant field of labor with joy. Over much of the ground I had traveled before, and there were many old friends to welcome me. My district was a noble one, including some of the best circuits on the Peninsula.

On the 16th of May, in company with Robert R. Roberts and Ezekiel Cooper, I went to visit Governor Bassett at Bohemia Manor. He was ill in body, but happy in God. We had a delightful interview, and found him ripening for the other world. How beautiful is religion in old age! “The hoary head” is indeed a crown of glory, being found in “the way of righteousness.”

The 31st of June I was at Father Henry Downs’s. He it was that imprisoned Thomas S. Chew, and was converted by his prisoner. I mingled with the fathers, who were familiar with Methodism almost from its origin in America, both ministers and laymen. Such laymen as Father Downs, whose history has all the charms of romance and all the power of truth, did much toward establishing Methodism in its infancy in the Peninsula.

On the Fourth of July I visited my mother at the old family mansion. I had not been home more than fifteen minutes when, to my great joy, Bishop Asbury unexpectedly arrived. He came from the New England and other Conferences with Rev. J. W. Bond, and was much better than when I saw him last. The bishop was glad to see me, as will appear by the following extract from his journal: “Happy at Mother Boehm’s. A pleasing Providence, according to my wishes, had brought Henry in a few moments before.”

He remained two days. He had visited that old home for the pilgrim for thirty-five years, and received hearty welcomes from my father when alive, and from my mother in her widowhood. He had completed his last episcopal tour, and my aged mother and the bishop bade one another adieu for the last time. I went with him to Lancaster, and then was reluctant to leave him, and so I went a little further, for I had an impression I should see his face no more. He gave me much excellent advice, and cautioned me to take good care of my health, as I was then traveling in a region of country not considered very healthy. He then embraced me in his arms, pressed me to his bosom, gave me his last kiss and his benediction. He rode on while I lingered and gazed till his venerable form was beyond my vision. I felt a veneration for Bishop Asbury I never had for any other human being, and loved him as I loved my own dear father.

GOVERNOR BASSETT.

Governor Bassett died in the summer of 1815. He should ever have a prominent place in the annals of early American Methodism. At this remote period it is almost impossible to have a correct idea of the position he once occupied, and the influence he exerted in favor of Methodism.

Some have entertained the idea that Methodism was adapted only to the low and the ignorant, for the common people; but this is a mistake. In its early days in America some of the loftiest families embraced it with joy. Among the most distinguished was Richard Bassett. He was an eminent lawyer, a judge, Governor of Delaware, a member of the old Congress in 1787, and a senator under the new constitution. He was a delegate from Delaware to the convention that formed the Constitution of the United States, and his name is enrolled on that account with those of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, and other distinguished patriots and statesmen.

Mr. Bassett was rich. He inherited six thousand acres of land, much of it near the Bohemia River. He had three homes, residing part of the time in Dover, and then in Bohemia and Wilmington. I have been entertained at them all.

Before he was converted he was a very fashionable man, and moved in the highest circles in society. He had his good things in this life. But when converted he was as humble and teachable as a little child. In person he was a stout-built man, of medium height, and looked as if he was made for service. His countenance was full of benignity, and his eye was very expressive. He was a man of superior judgment, a safe counselor. I used to ask his advice, and he gave it most cheerfully, and I always found it judicious. His voice was very strong and musical, and at camp and quarterly meetings he thrilled the people. He was distinguished for benevolence, and given to hospitality. He has entertained over a hundred at one time. His heart was as large as his mansion.

His first wife did not live long. She left an amiable daughter, who was married to the Hon. James A. Bayard, who was a commissioner to form a treaty of peace with England. With her father I visited Mrs. Bayard while her husband was absent in Europe.

The governor was a Methodist of the old stamp. He admired all its peculiarities; loved to worship in the groves, and had several camp-meetings on his own grounds. He was one of the sweet singers of our Israel. He delighted to hear the colored people sing; there was no sweeter music to him. He held fast his integrity to the end. I often saw him in age and feebleness extreme. Though princely rich, he lived plainly, without display or extravagance.

His large possessions were in Bohemia, Cecil County, Maryland. It was called Bohemia from Augustus Hermon, a Bohemian, who obtained a grant for eighteen thousand acres of land. Richard Bassett became heir to a part of this immense estate. He died in 1815, and his life-time friend, Ezekiel Cooper, preached his funeral sermon. He was buried in a vault he had prepared in a beautiful locust grove on the banks of the Bohemia River. There sleep his family and the Bayards. The venerable old mansion, distinguished for its antiquity, for the splendid paintings that adorned its walls, for the hospitality that reigned there, and as the home of Bishop Asbury and the old pioneers of Methodism, was burned down a few years ago, and, like the owner, has passed away.