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The
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00063 6149
Gc 975.2 B81m Browne, William Hand, 1828- 1912. Maryland
GEN
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/marylandhistoryo00brow_0
. American Commonwealths
MARYLAND,~
THE HISTORY OF A PALATINATE
BY WILLIAM HAND BROWNE
FIFTH EDITION
hanky leeds : bonandy words . BOSTON HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY New York : 11 East Seventeenth Street Che Riverside Press, Cambridge 1890
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(. . . Copyright, 184, By WILLIAM HAND BROWNE
1. All rights reserved. -
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.
ARen County Public Library Ft. Wayne, Indiana
1853785
PREFACE.
THE most interesting and least known pe- riod of Maryland's history is that which pre- ceded the War of Independence. The politi- cal and material development of a Province founded under peculiar circumstances and a unique form of government, were determined by causes in many respects unlike those which operated in the other colonies ; and, so far as the State has, in her later career, differed from her sisters, this difference may, in the main, be traced back to the original dissimilarity.
Though Maryland fought in the War of In- dependence, as the faithful ally of her sister States, no military operations of any conse- quence took place on her soil ; while to write an account of the deeds of Maryland soldiers in the war would be to write the history of the war itself.
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PREFACE.
It has, therefore, seemed advisable to limit the present volume to a history of the Palat- inate government.
This narrative has been written, almost en- tirely, from the original manuscript records and archives, now, by the liberal action of the General Assembly, made easy of access to every student.
CONTENTS.
I.
CALVERT AND AVALON.
PAGE
English colonies. - Virginia. - George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore. - Charter of Avalon. - Discourage- ments. - Baltimore compelled to leave his colony. - Subsequent history of Avalon . 1
II.
CHARTER AND SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND.
Baitimore visits Virginia. - Ilis reception. - Grant of Maryland. - Baltimore's death. - Cecilius, first Pro- prietary. - Charter of Maryland. - Opposition of Vir- ginia. - The first colonists. - Friendly reiations with the Indians 15
III.
CLAIBORNE AND KENT ISLAND.
Animosity of Virginia. - Claiborne and his station on Kent Island. - Bioodshed in Maryland waters. - Con- firmation of the Charter. - The first Assembly .- Con- ditions of land grants. - Claiborne's petition. - Kent Isiand submits. - The second Assembly and its pro- ceedings. - Trial of Smith. - Representative govern- ment . . 27
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CONTENTS.
IV.
INVASION OF CLAIBORNE AND IXOLE. TOLERATION.
PAGE
Increase of population. - Character of sottlern - Bap- tiem of the Tayac. - Mimlouarics. - Troubles with northern Indiana. - Baltimore's dealings with the Jes- ulta. - No lands to bo hehe! by a religious body. - Ingle's affair. - Invaslou of Claiborne and Ingle. - Brigandage. - Governor Calvert regains the I'rovince. - Death of leonard Calvert. - Mm. Margaret Brent. - Goreruor Stone. - Great Seal of Maryland. - " Act concerning Religiou."- Toleration in Maryland . 48
V.
MARYLAND UNDER THE PROTECTORATE.
Reorganization of the Assembly. - l'uritans at Provi- dotico. - Reduction of Virginia and Maryland. - Mary- land under the Protectorate. - The Parliamentary commissioners. - Toleration with a difference. - Fight at l'rovidonce. - Expulsion of missionaries. - Witch- cruft. - Charter again confirmed and the Province restored to Baltimore. - Toleration Act of 1649 made perpetual VI. THE DUTCH ON THE DELAWARE.
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Governor Fendall. - Quakers in Maryland. - Fendall's Conspiracy. - Dutch and Swedos on the Delaware. - Mission of Herman and Waldron. - Governor Philip Calvert. - Trial and condemnation of Fendall. - Final settlement of the government
VII 90
INDIAN AFFAIRS. Governor Charles Calvert. - Dealings with the Iudians. - Election of the Emperor of Pascataway. - Treaty
CONTENTS.
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with Susquehannonghs. - Troubles with northern In. dians and the Dutch. - Boundary-disputes with Vir- ginia . . 104
VIII.
SPOLIATIONS OF MARYLAND TERRITORY.
Over-production of tobacco. - Coinage for the Province. -. Effect of the Navigation Act. - Grant to the Duke of York. - Disputes between the Upper and Lower House. - Petition of the Pascataways. - Spoliations of Maryland Territory. - The charter-boundaries . . . 113
IX.
PENN AND HIS TACTICS. THE ASSOCIATORS. . Charles, third Lord Baltimore. - Attacks on the Charter. - Claiborne once more. - Proportion of Protestants to Catholics. - Massacre of Snaquehannongh chiefs. - Conspiracy of Fendall and Coode. - The Labadists. - William Penn and his charter. - Ilis grant on the Delawaro. - Interview between l'enn and Baltimore. - A cool proposition. - Decision of Privy Council. - Surveyor-general Talbot. - Murder of Ronsby. - Ar- rest and escape of Talbot. - Discontent in the Prov- ince. - Rebellion of Coode and the " Associators."- William III. scizes the Province. - Overthrow of the Proprietary government . 127
x.
MARYLAND SOCIETY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
A people of planters. - Absence of towns. - The Ches- apeuke Bay. - Personal freedom. - A land of plenty. - A society of families. - Hospitality. - Alsop and his " Character of Mary- Land."- Cook and his "Sot- wood Factor."- Gentleness and humanity of the peo-
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CONTENTS.
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ple. - Tho manorial courts - Negro slavery. - The redemptioners. - The convicts. - The rangers . . . 157
X1.
ROYAL. GOVERNMENT.
An established Church. - Three forms of toleration. - Governor Nicholson. - Capital removed to Annapolis. - Coule's plot. - Free whools founded. - Commis- wary Bray. - Poshion of the Church. - Crown requisi- tions. - Quakers in Maryland. - Oppression of Roman Catholics. - Benedict Leonard, third Proprietary, be- comes a Protestant. - Charles, fourth Proprietary. - Restoration of the Proprietary government . 184
XII.
CHANGED RELATIONS OF THE PROVINCE. BORDER WAR- FARE.
Attitude towards the Proprietary Government. - The col- onists define their position towards England. - Disputes between the Houses of Assembly. - Jacobite prisoners. - Baltimore founded. - Disputes about northern boun- dary. - Border warfare. - Population and Trade of Maryland. - Frederick, fifth Proprietary 203
X111. THE FRENCH WAR.
Designs of the French. - Fort Du Quesne. - French and Indian War. - Fort Cumberland. - The Assembly and the Supply question. - Braddock's defeat. - Governor Sharpe. - Ravages in the western settlements. - Ob- stinney of the Delegates. - Acadian Exiles. - Fort Frederick. - Sharpe und the Assembly. - Attitude of the Lower House. - Northern boundary fixed. - Mason and Dixon's line .
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CONTENTS.
M.
XIV.
THE STAMP ACT AND THE CONGRESS.
PAGE
England's colonial policy. - The Stamp Act in Mary- land. - A colonial Congress proposed. - A Bill of Rights. - Delegates to the Congress. - Repeal of the Stamp Act. - Townshend's duties. - The Assembly and the Massachusetts letter. - Petition to the King. - Non-importation Associations 240
XV.
THE CONVENTION.
Governor Eden. - The tea-duty. - The Convention or- ganized. - Burning of the Peggy Stewart. - The tobac- co-duty. - The fec-bill. - Provision for the clergy. - Eden's proclamation. - l'opular irritation. - Dulany and Carroll. - Death of Frederick, Lord Baltimore. - Henry Harford, sixth and last Propriotary. - Ror- olutionary spirit. - The Province arming. - The Dec- laration and Pledge. - The Convention and Council of Safety . 258
XVI.
THE PROVINCE BECOMES A STATE.
Edon leaves the Province. - The Convention supremo. - Its attitude and action. - Maryland declares her independence. - A free and sovereign State. - The state government. - Sequestration of the Proprietary's lands. - Abolition of quit-rents. - Maryland enters the Confederation . . 276
MARYLAND:
THE HISTORY OF A PALATINATE.
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CHAPTER I.
CALVERT AND AVALON.
WITH the plantation of Maryland begins the third stage of English colonisation in America. The first adventurers, the Spaniards, found or- ganised kingdoms, an advanced civilisation, populous cities, and broad highways. They ( suld march in a compact phalanx to the capi- · fAls of Mexico and Poru, and strike them at "the very heart. When once the military strength of the natives was broken, their com- L'ete subjugation was easy. The conquerors also found abundant gold and silver, and poured "what seemed an inexhaustible stream of the precious metals into the coffers of Spain. The results of Spanish conquest, however we may now regard them, were dazzling successes to the Europe of the sixteenth century ; and the first attempts of England to rival her ancient foo were imitations of the Spanish adventures.
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MARYLAND!
The general plan of Ralegh, Gilbert, and LADe was to plant armed colonies in the midst t conquered people, as a basis for working b gold mines and pearl fisheries to be afterwas discovered. It is just possible that these tempts might have succeeded in the miserable sense in which the Spanish conquest was a suc- cess, but that to the search for gold was added the search for n northwest passage to the In- dies, by which English ships might turn the flank of Spain and Portugal, whose fleets hold the key of the East after the Turks had closed the gate of Constantinople. This gave the English voy- . ages of discovery a northern course, and landed the adventurers in regions where there was no gold, and among scattered savage tribes of hunt- ers and fishers of whom no profitable conquest could be made. The first attempts at colonisa- tion, therefore, resulted in failures more or less disastrous ; but they added to the knowledge of the country and its resources, and thus prepared the way for experiments on a more rational plan.
The second stage was that of chartered com- panies, who proposed to plant colonies and manage them on the joint-stock principle. These were chiefly promoted by merchants, and commercial ideas were predominant in their plans and administration. They were to be
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THE HISTORY OF A PALATINATE.
self-supporting trading outposts of England; they were to buy peltries, catch fish, or raise tobacco to be sent to England ; the direct profit to the stockholders being the first thing con- sidered, and the indirect profit to English com- merce, the second. The idea of a colony as a part of England beyond the ocean, whose inter- osts were as well worth caring for as if it were ringed within the four seas, was as much be- yond the horizon in the days of James as in those of George III.
The stories of these commercial colonies are no part of our subject. The radical faults of the system were : first, that they were administered for England's benefit and not for their own ; second, that most of the stock was held by per- sons whose interest in the colony was limited to the receipt of dividends; third, that between the companies' councils and the provincial As- semblies the administration was divided and inconsistent.
From these and other canses, Virginia, after a career of disasters checkered with gleams of prosperity, had fallen into such a state of em- broihnent that the legal advisers of the crown declared the charter a failare, and recommended that the King should take the government into his own hands. On the 24th of July, 1624, the company's patent was formally revoked by a
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judicial decision, and all the rights conveyed by it roverted to the crown.
The next plan tried was that of a proprietary government. An individual received a grant of land with necessary legislative and execu- tive powers, and he undertook to settle and ad- minister a colony as his private estate, under the sovereignty of the crown. His own for- tune was dependent upon the prosperity of his colony, which thus was an end in itself, and not merely the means toward an end. One of the earliest of the proprietaries, Sir George Calvert, brought to his task patience, constancy, and a clear practical view of the needs and risks of colonisation in America ; and though his first attempt was a failure, that failure showed him how to lay the foundation of the first English colony that was successful from the start.
Calvert was born in 1582, his father, Leonard Calvert, being a Yorkshire gentleman of Flem- ish descent, and his mother, Alicia Crossland ; and it may be that to this tempering of Flem- ish constancy with Yorkshire shrewdness, the family partly owed their success in life. After receiving a liberal education at Oxford, he travelled on the Continent, and on his return married Alice Wynne, granddaughter of Sir Thomas Wroth, Queen Elizabeth's commis- sioner to Ireland - an office which Calvert af.
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terwards held - and cousin of Sir Robert Wroth, the friend of Ben Jonson. Soon after las return, Calvert was employed in public service, where his abilities attracted the atten- tion of Sir Robert Cecil, who rapidly advanced his fortunes. In 1617 he was knighted, and about a year afterwards appointed principal Sceretary of State to James I., who gave him a large grant of land in Ireland.
He seems at an early date to have taken in- terest in the plans for American colonisation, for, besides being one of the councillors of the New England Company, in 1609 he was a mem- ber of the Virginia Company, and so continued until the revocation of its charter, when he was appointed one of the Provisional Council for the government of that colony. It is not un- likely that his knowledge of the defects in the administration of Virginia, with the insight he thus acquired into American affairs, disposed him to make a venture at colonisation on a dif- ferent plan.
In 1620 he bought from Sir William Vaughan, who had a patent for part of Newfoundland, his riglits over the southeastern peninsula of that island ; and the next year sent over a body of colonists with a large sum of money, in two ships, one of which, the Ark, afterwards carried the first settlers to Maryland.
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In his choice of a site he was probably influ- enced by the stories of Captain Richard Whit- bourne, who had often visited the country, and whose " Relation of the New-found-land " Cal- vort helped to circulate for the encouragement of colonists. If he built his expectations on the glowing accounts of Whitbourne, his disap- pointment must have been sharp. Whitbourne pictures the island as almost an earthly para- dise : the land produced fruits in abundance without the aid of man; the waters swarmed with fish ; the woods were vocal with song-birds, " filladies, nightingales, and such like, that sing most pleasantly ; " even the beasts of prey were milder-mannered and more benevolent in char- acter that those of less gentle climes. As to the cold of winter, it was a mere trifle; the winters in England were often colder. The old Jures, gold mines and the northwest passage, are again thrown out in a careless fashion ; and he even holds out a prospect of mermaids though whether these were to be reckoned among the commercial or picturesque attrac. tions of the island is not precisely expressod. The author writes with a bluff old-sailor-like frankness befitting the hardy Devonshire skip- per who lind commanded his own ship in fight- ing the Spanish Armada.
For some time nothing occurred to undeceive
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THE HISTORY OF A PALATINATE.
Calvert ; the reports sent from his colony were encouraging, and he was liberal in his supplies of money. He applied for a patent, and in December, 1622, all Newfoundland was granted to him. Either this was more than he wanted, or there was some mistake about the grant, for in the following March a re-grant was issued, conveying to him the southeastern peninsula before mentioned, to which, in commemoration of the spot to which a pious tradition assigned the first preaching of Christianity in Britain, he gave the name of Avalon.
The charter of Avalon differed but slightly from that of Maryland, for which it evidently served as a model. It sets out with a declara- tion of the zeal of the grantee for the exten- sion of the Christian religion, as well as the en- largement of the King's dominions. This was the usual phrase of charters, a religious being put before a worldly motive, as the Cornish miners, when they begin to bore, declare that it is "for the grace of God, and what they there may find." The pioneer of the New World held out as parallel advantages a route for devotion to the Holy Sepulchre, and for commerce to Cathay, no doubt enlarging chiefly on the former motive to Isabela the Catholic, and on the latter to Ferdinand the Prudent.
English goods might be exported to Avalon
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duty-free, and goods arriving from Avalon at English ports were free of duty for ten years. Avalon, morcover, was to be held in capite by knight's service, probably the latest instance of that tenure on record.
In the same year, 1623, the negotiations for the Spanish marriage of Prince Charles were broken off, and Calvert, who had strongly favored that policy, found himself on the un- popular side. Instead of veering, as did some of his colleagues, with the changed policy of the Duke of Buckingham and the court, he took a step which barred the way to future po- litical advancement, declaring that he had be- como a convert to the faith of Rome, and at the same time resigning his office of Secretary of State.
James could not reasonably be offended with a declaration so obviously conscientious, and he tried to induce Calvert to retain his office. Failing in this, he kept him in his place in the Privy Council, and raised him to the Irish peer- age as Baron Baltimore, of Baltimore, in the county of Longford.
On the death of James, in 1625, Lord Balti- inore retired from the Council, much against the wishes of Charles, who even offered to dis- pense with the oath of supremacy in his case.
In 1627 Baltimore visited his young col.
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THE HISTORY OF A PALATINATE.
ony from necessity, it seems, rather than from choice; for we find him writing to Sir Thomas Wentworth, just before he sailed: "I must either go and settle it in better order, or else give it over, and lose all the charges I have been at hitherto, for other men to build their fortunes upon. And I had rather be esteemed a fool by some, for the hazard of one month's journey, than to prove myself one certainly for six years by-past, if the business be now lost for the want of a little pains and care." It, however, may well be that the weary statesman, in broken health, looked to find in the New World a peaceful haven' from the storms that were gathering in England.
In the following year he removed to Avalon with his wife and family, except his eldest son Cecilius, and about forty more, raising his lit- tle colony to about a hundred souls. Here he soon found that he had troubles before him that he had not bargained for. In August, he writes to the Duke of Buckingham, " I came to build, and settle, and sow, and I am fallen to figliting Frenchmen."
The facts of the affair, as he gives them in letters to the King and Duke, were these : The French Admiral De la Rade, with three ships and about four hundred men, sailed into the harbor within a league of Baltimore's house,
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surprised the fishermen, and took two English vessels that were loading there. Baltimore sent out two ships of his own to attack them, on which the French put to sea, and being the swifter snilers, escaped, leaving behind their prizes, plunder, and sixty-seven men on land who were taken prisoners. A few days later the Frenchman made a descent upon Concep- tion Bay, and did more mischief ; whereupon Baltimore again sent out his ships, which missed the Admiral, but took six French ves- sols in Trepasse Harbor, and these were sent as prizes to England, Baltimore's ships acting as convoy to the whole merchant fleet. In the samo letter he asks for two men-of-war to pro- tect the colony ; and this request was further urged by his son Leonard, who returned to England. In December, the Sainte Claude, one of the prizes, was lent to Baltimore for a year.
But the Proprietary had foes within his col- ony, as well as foes without. A Puritan di- vine, Stourton by name, went from Avalon to England and reported to the mayor of Plymo- outh that Lord Baltimore had brought Popish priests into the colony who celebrated mass every Sunday ; a piece of news which so horri- fied the magistrates that they sent the informer to tell his tale to the l'rivy Council, beyond which we hear no more of it.
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THE HISTORY OF A PALATINATE.
The colony's worst foe, however, was neither the plundering Frenchman nor the delating Puritan, but the inhospitable climate. The reports which had been sent him had been, like Whitbourne's yarns, too highly colored. Iso- thermal lines were not known at that time, and Baltimore could hardly have imagined- that a country might have the latitude of Poitou and the climate of northern Norway. In a letter to the King he admits that he has been deceived, and, except as a fishing-station, his colony is a failure. Land and sea are frozen hard from mid-October to mid-May, in a cold so great as hardly to be endured. Half his colonists have been sick, besides himself, nine or ten dying, and his house has been a hospital all the win- ter. With all this his zeal for colonisation has not abated, and he solicits of the King some tract of land in Virginia. The King, in reply, assures him of his friendly regard and sym- pathy, but advises him to give up the idea of founding a colony, and come back to England.
The rest of the story of Avalon may as well be told here. Calvert's fortune was not only seriously impaired,-he had spent over £30,000, an immense sum in those days, on his colony, - but his health had been fatally undermined. After his death, his son Cecilius sent out Cap- tain Hill as governor, and the fishery seems to
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Inve been carried on with some success. In November, 1637, Sir David Kirke, upon a rep- resentation that Baltimore had entirely aban- doncd his plantation, obtained a grant of the whole island of Newfoundland. At a later date the charge was brought that this grant had been "surreptitiously " obtained ; and it looks as if there had been some underhand doings about it, as in the preceding May the King had strictly charged the commissioners for plantations, councillors, keepers of the seals, and other officers of the crown, to allow no patent, commission, or warrant to pass which might in any way infringe Baltimore's rights in Avalon and Maryland, and engaging his royal word never to permit any quo warranto or other proceedings for infringing or over- throwing either of those patents.
Kirke, however, took possession, thinking perhaps that the King was too much occupied just then with Hampden, Prynne, and the Court of High Commission to heed what was going on in that corner of the world. He seems to have carried matters with a high hand, ns complaints were sent home, from time to time, of his tyrannous and unlawful doings The evil which he did seems to have lived after him, for in 1668 a writer, reporting the state of the island, ascribes the depravity of the fisher-
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THE HISTORY OF A PALATINATE.
men in great part to the fact that Sir David Kirke had "introduced taverns and tippling- honses to his own advantage, which debauched the seamen."
In 1655, Kirke made over part of his interest in the island to John Claypole, Cromwell's son- in-law, and others ; and, in 1660, Lewis Kirke tried to get his brother's grant confirmed. Baltimore protested, and the matter was heard before commissioners, who reported in Balti- more's favor, upon which the King ordered the Kirkes to surrender Avalon. The order was disobeyed, nor was any compensation made to Baltimore for the unlawful detention of his proporty for so many years ; so upon David Kirke's coming into England, Baltimore brouglit suit against him, and obtained a judgment, failing to satisfy which, Kirke was cast into prison, where he died. The brothers, however, still retained their grip of Avalon until 1668, when the King ordered that the province should be delivered to Swanley, Baltimore's lieutenant or governor. Swanley seems to have governed the province fairly well ; at least a report on Newfoundland, in 1668, which represents the island as in confusion, and without government, expressly excepts the province of Avalon.
From this date we lose sight of Avalon as a distinct government, though it had its full share
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of the French troubles in the following century. The Proprietaries, occupied with the interests of Maryland, apparently neglected it. In 1754, Frederick, sixth and last Lord Baltimore, re- vived his claim, and tried to have it confirmed ; but this was denied, on the ground that the proprietary rights had lapsed from long disuse ; and Avalon, as a province, ceased to exist, though the peninsula still retains its ancient name.
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