USA > Maryland > Studies in the civil, social and ecclesiastical history of early Maryland; lectures delivered to the young men of the Agricultural College of Maryland > Part 1
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Gc 975.2 G14s 1740368
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02228 8176
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STUDIES IN THE CIVIL, SOCIAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL 1)
HISTORY OF EARLY MARYLAND
LECTURES DELIVERED TO THE YOUNG MEN OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OF MARYLAND
BY THE
REV. THEODORE C. GAMBRALL, A.M., D.D., AUTHOR OF "CHURCH LIFE IN COLONIAL MARYLAND"
NEW YORK THOMAS WHITTAKER 1893
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Though these lectures were prepared for the young men of Maryland, they will be found to contain much of both information and interest to all those whose minds have been drawn to the early history of our country.
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PREFACE.
In a very marked degree Maryland history has suffered at the hands of its friends. Desiring to be just, and often truly enthusiastic, they have viewed its course in the direct light of their own prejudices, and the consequence has been a perverted, ' incomplete, ' unphilosophical presentation. For Maryland history is many-sided, having, in its course, involved many ques- tions of very diverse kinds,-ecclesiastical, civil, social, political, military. Starting in a small, unique colony, with peculiar institutions created by a charter, itself the outcome of political notions that were fast losing their " hold on the popular mind, it had to fight its way, often in weakness, through those institutions up into larger and truer ideas of human liberty. Fight its way; for there was always a sufficient number of conservative men, who held by what was old, to make the efforts of the liberal majority difficult, and to necessitate years of effort . before success could crown their endeavors.
And this contest went on in all the departments of life, political, civil, social and ecclesiastical; in the last as eminently as in any other; for ecclesiastical affairs be- longed as much to the political life of a people then as civil or social affairs did, and probably excited always far more of prejudice and passion than either of them.
To form a' just estimate of the history of a people a man must transplant himself into the days which he is describing. For nearly as much as the Maryland, of
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PREFACE.
1776 differed from the Maryland of 1634, does the Mary- land of 1893 differ from the Maryland of 1700, the period of the greatest and most radical changes in govern- ment and policy; and to stand now and argue about questions of the policy of the colony then from the civil or social ideas of this present time, is folly. We must view things from the standpoint of those times,-put our- selves in their place; for what might be folly now was wisdom then, and certainly what is wisdom now it would have proven wicked and absurd to have attempted then. And yet this is the way some have attempted to write Maryland history.
Again, Maryland has been unfortunate in the bent of mind of her historians. Too many have approached the matter in a partisan spirit, as if they would fortify a posi- tion, defend a claim, out of her records. In ecclesiasti- cal matters this has been most notable. She has had her Protestant historians and her Romanist historians. She has also had her infidel, or at any rate agnostic, historians, and great questions have been tossed about, pretensions derided, claims scorned, assumptions set up, assertions made, with reckless effrontery.
All that can be said is, that such is not the way to write history. It is to be written by first determining the facts, viewing them according to their setting in the midst of their own times, explaining them according to the exigencies that created them or the purposes for which they were called into being. We are not wiser than the people of those former days. We may be better grown than they; our state of society may be more mature. But according to their day and generation they knew as well what was good for them as we know now what is good for us. And the way to write history is to recognize this fact.
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PREFACE.
It is in this spirit I have attempted to write these lec- tures. I do not call the book a history, for that is an ambitious word and very often misapplied. It will be found, I trust, a series of panoramic views, full and suffi- ciently clear in outline to give every one definite and accurate ideas of that earlier life of our State. I have endeavored to write without prejudice, and to follow out the principles of historical writing that I would suggest to others. The people of the province were a sturdy set and worthy of all respect. They were of heterogeneous elements, viewed in whatever way we will, but at the same time they had that power of cohesion and assimilation that gave a oneness to their colonial life. And as they passed on from year to year they gave to Maryland features that commanded the esteem of the country and of the world.
It is gratifying to know that Maryland made herself. Neither king nor proprietary was ever her friend, save as her prosperity promoted their own. She grew, and did so by the liberality of the principles on which her government was administered.
It is my earnest hope that this work may commend itself to the favorable judgment of all that shall read it, and especially to the judgment of the children of Mary- land herself.
T. C. G.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
FIRST LECTURE.
INTRODUCTORY .-- COLONIZATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. Apathy of the Engiish; cause, the Reformation. By what title colonies might be planted. Commission of Henry VII. to the Cabots. Gift of Pope Nicolas to Portugal; of Alex- ander VI. to Spain. Settlements of the Atlantic coast when charter to Maryland given. Early English attempts. Gilbert, Raleigh, Gates. A province under a charter pri- vate property and alienable. Territory discovered or con- quered belonged to Crown. Provincials, though English subjects, subject to arbitrary will of the king. Prerogative the rule of the day. Afterwards parliamentary control. Charter of Maryland: description of. James I. as law- p. 9 maker
SECOND LECTURE.
COMPARISON OF COLONIAL CHARTERS.
Contrast between charters of different periods. Grantees of charters to be at their own charges. Maryland charter drawn up after that for Newfoundland. Description of proprietary colony. How charter for Pennsylvania differed from others. Absolute power and personal freedom. Privileges granted to induce emigration. The right of legislation by people. People of Maryland insist upon right to propose laws. Claims in charters to extend re- ligion. 'Advowson of churches and right to build granted Lord Baltimore . p. 25
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CONTENTS.
THIRD LECTURE.
LORD BALTIMORE AND THE MARYLAND CHARTER.
Commemoration of founders by various nations. George Cal- vert, character, offices, speculations. Cecilius Calvert, character, wisdom, success. The troubled times when charter given. Heterogeneous classes in population of Maryland. Maryland charter expression of king's notions of best form of government. Manors and manorial preroga- tives granted. Revenues to Lord Baltimore from Mary- land. Maryland exempted from taxation by king . p. 42
FOURTII LECTURE.
COMING OF THE COLONISTS.
" Maryland first colony erected into a province." Distinction between " colony " and "province." Maryland first colony to have boundaries determined. Maryland's loss of ter- ritory. First body of immigrants; character of; "servants.". Disturbances and insurrections. Battle on the Severn. Proprietary administration discontinued 1689-1715. Cause
, of troubles. Religion and oaths of supremacy and alle- giance. First colony recalled to tako oaths. Ecclesiastical claims of Jesuits in Maryland p. 61
FIFTH LECTURE.
THE LEGISLATION OF THE COLONY.
" Conditions of Plantation." Thomas Cornwaleys and the number of servants introduced. Maryland law-making practical. Locke and the laws of North Carolina. Magna Charta and Lord Baltimore's charter rights. Claims of Jesuits formulated in 1638. " Conditions of Plantation " of 1641. Secretary Lewger,-the man and his position. " Parliament composed, with but few exceptions, of
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CONTENTS.
heretics." Lord Baltimore's policy in administration of province. Early disagreement in matter of proceeding in Assembly. Membership of early Assemblies; universal right, proxy, representation, special writ. Upper house and its membership. Early laws: "Holy Church " and her rights and liberties. Trial by jury. Right of all men to common law. All men rights and liberties according to Great Charter p. 80
SIXTH LECTURE.
THE LEGISLATION OF THE COLONY .- CONTINUED.
"Act concerning' Religion " of 1649. How widely discussed. Suggested by Lord Baltimore to Assembly. Honor of it claimed by Roman Catholic Church. Religious liberty, how grew to be recognized. Nations in carly stages knew nothing of it. Conscience toward God, late growth. A great disturber. Character of early religions. True view of religious liberty. William the Silent the true exponent. Circumstances preceding the Act. "In leading the colony to Maryland by far the greater part heretics." Roman Catholics would not come to Maryland. Change of policy in 1648. Oaths of office changed. Review of the Act by sections p. 99
SEVENTH LECTURE.
THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION.
Peace from 1660 to 1689. English policy toward colonies. Events of 1689 consequent upon events in England In 16SS. Maryland peculiarly circumstanced; the proprietary a Roman Catholic. Charges against Lord Baltimore. Protestant Association and its methods. The Revolution; in what it consisted. Royal province, meaning. What
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reserved to Lord Baltimore; what taken away. Why Church provided with settled maintenance. Prevalence of immorality; testimony of Yeo, of President of Assembly. The law reviewed. "Anglican Toleration " a misnomer. Religion and education promoted by the Protestant Revo- lution p. 120
EIGHTH LECTURE.
THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT TO THE END OF THE COLONIAL ESTABLISHMENT.
Proprietary government restored. Occasion of the restoration. Development of spirit of people during royal government. Proprietary government favorable to development of republican ideas. Conservatism of the upper house. Char- acter of Charles Lord Baltimore. Character of Frederick Lord Baltimore. Great periods of agitation regarding pro- vincial matters. The extension of English laws to colony; requisitions for carrying on French War; the Proclamation Act p. 142
NINTH LECTURE.
MARYLAND AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Development of a sense of liberty. Maryland no desire to separate from British empire. Illogical position of Eng- lish people with regard to the colonies. Question of prin- ciple, not of money, with the colonies. Influence of the Stamp Act agitation upon development of a love of lib- erty. Maryland constantly excited by great questions. Maryland and the General Congress - of 1765. Treatment of Stamp Act commissioner. Arbitrary interference of George III. in English administration. The tax on tea. The Boston Port Bill and public feeling. Eddis' descrip-
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tion of condition of Maryland. The Convention of 1774. The destruction of tea in Annapolis harbor. The Conti- mental Congress of 1774; Maryland's relation with. Mary- land and the Declaration of Independence. Maryland dur- ing the war. Washington's letter p. 163
TENTH LECTURE.
ODDS AND ENDS OF MARYLAND LEGISLATION.
1634-1784, period of transition. Methods of punishment found in Maryland records; hanging, drawing, quartering, be- heading, burning, the pillory, stocks, whipping, cropping, slitting the nose, cutting off the hand, the ducking-stool, branding in the forehead or hand, boring the tongue. Laws in regard to debtors, plaintiffs, defendants. Jury- men responsible for a questionable verdict. "Privileged Attorneys one of the Grand Grievances." "Act to reform Attorneys, Counsellors, etc." Temperance laws; drunken- ness criminal. Ordinaries, laws in regard to. Marriage of white woman to negro, the penalty. Maryland and the Quakers. Maryland and witchcraft. Maryland and the Indians. Maryland and the Roman Catholics after the Protestant Revolution p. 187
APPENDIX.
Chronological Table of Leading Events in Maryland . p. 211
" The Twenty Cases" of Father White, S. J. . p. 221 Memorial of Father More, Provincial to the Sacred Congre- gation for the Propagation of the Faith p. 22S
Index
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HISTORY OF EARLY MARYLAND
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FIRST LECTURE. INTRODUCTORY.
COLONIZATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
In reviewing the history of colonization in the period subsequent to the discovery ,of America, we are struck with how little activity was shown by the English nation, the more so because in these later days the English people have shown so much more activity than all the rest of the world. By nature they are evidently a rest- less people; nor is there any territory nor any clime to which they are not ambitious to penetrate, and penetrat- ing, to leave permanent results of their presence. It may be said of them that they never let go what they have once had their hand on, and that they not only retain, but also incorporate into their empire, whatever they have once possessed.
Why then were they so apathetic through the whole sixteenth century? Spain and Portugal were both won- derfully active, and extended their dominions and reaped wonderful results. Wealth and prosperity and power were the immediate results, to Spain especially, so that she was able to assume the first position among European nations and to dominate her neighbors. Is it that the English people have changed in their nature and dispo- sition? By no means; for as soon as the success of Columbus became known, and the existence of another world was determined, we find Henry the Seventh sending
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out an expedition under the direction of the Cabots, and securing for himself a title, under the law of nations, to the Atlantic coast of North America, which was afterwards .covered with English colonies.
Besides, nations do not change their nature or dispo- sition. They have idiosyncrasies as much as individuals have, certain peculiar qualities that belong to their char- acter; and while varying circumstances may foster or repress their manifestation, yet they are there all the time. And as we see, the idiosyncrasy of colonization has been manifested by the English people for the last three hun- dred years. Other nations, by emulation, have sought to colonize, France and Germany, for instance; but their attempts have been in a great degree failures, their colo- nies flourishing for a while and then languishing, or passing into the hands of other people. But the English people do not know how to relinquish a colony, unless the lesson is taught them by the children of their own blood, as the colonies of North America taught them in seventeen hundred and seventy-six. They are a colo- nizing people, as much so as the Greeks and Romans were of old, and like them they carry their own language and institutions with them, and make every colony a new center for the outspreading of the empire. How notable this is in America, where though but a hand- ful of people were planted at the first, and where thous- ands and ten thousands have been coming through the centuries from every country under heaven, yet it is the daughter of England still, in language, in institutions, in sympathies, in aspirations and, apparently, in destiny.
No, the apathy of England through the sixteenth cen- tury, when Spain was extending her American empire,
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is not to be explained in that way. There has been no change in her nature or disposition. The probable and almost certain reason is that the English mind was occupied in another way, that the thought and the energies of the people were given to another subject, a subject that had, however, a remote but distinct bearing upon the nature of English enterprise whenever that should be developed.
And what was that subject? It was the great agi- tation that arose early in the sixteenth century concern- ing religion, the Reformation period, during which, while the nations of southern Europe-Spain, France, Italy, Portugal-were disturbed only in a slight degree, so that their enterprises were not hindered, the nations of north- ern Europe-Germany, Switzerland, Holland, England- were agitated to their very center, so that any propensity that might have been indicated by Henry the Seventh or Henry the Eighth, was quickly submerged in the wild waters of discussion, controversy and persecution. The world generally attends to but one thing at a time, being business-like in its habits. One subject masters a period, and only when that subject is disposed of, does the public mind feel capable of turning its attention to some new thing.
And so it was that when the whole subject of religion had become definitely settled, when the Protestant Church of England, with Protestant doctrines, had been definitely established in the days of Elizabeth and James the First, the English people turned their attention to the Western world, and to the extensive territory they had acquired a century before by the right of discovery. Soon, however, the new spirit developed, and throughout
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all the classes of society the question of new settlements was discussed. With some it was a matter of individual enterprise and the bettering of their private fortunes; with some it was pure love of adventure; with some it may have been, as the old charters said, to extend the benefits of the Christian religion to the natives and to extend the English dominion; with some it certainly was to enjoy greater freedom in religion themselves and the right to worship in their own way, as denied by the laws of England. But from whatever motive, the whole kingdom soon became alive to the great question of planting colonies.
Another interesting subject may well be considered in this lecture: by what title it was that colonies might be planted in the new countries discovered. It was, briefly, by the might of the strongest. Had Columbus reached the shores of Asia as he had anticipated he would, and as the writings of Marco Polo, who had traveled across Asia about the middle of the thirteenth century, had led him to believe he should, the Spaniards would never have attempted to fix colonies there, or if they had they would soon have been compelled to desist. There would not have been might enough to secure the title. As it was, however, the land discovered had but few inhabitants and they not capable of coping with the well-armed and well-disciplined Europeans, and conse- quently colonies were planted according to the will of che adventurers. In some places, it is true, the rights of the aborigines were recognized, as in Maryland and Penn- sylvania, and their lands purchased from them, though hardly in any case at an appreciable price. In most cases, however, and in particular by the Spaniards, both
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COLONIZATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
the countries and the inhabitants were looked upon as a spoil, and the lands, with towns and cities, were appro- priated to themselves by the discoverers, and the. people reduced to a hopeless bondage.
There can, however, be no reasonable doubt of the right of the Europeans to plant their colonies on the American continent, with the approval of the natives, if possible, and without that approval if necessary. God created the earth for man, and a few savage tribes wan- dering over immense wastes of forest was never within His intention. There are laws superior to written ones, laws which man recognizes by his intuition; and looking at the matter from this point in time, we feel that the right of the strongest, as then exercised, is a natural and legitimate right. We must reprobate the cruelties practised; we must hedge about the law by insisting on all individual rights; we must remember that it was only that right that justified to those engaged in it, the whole base slave trade when millions were torn from their homes in Africa to supply the white man with profitable labor. It is a law that requires and commands unlimited Christian charity for its commentary. It is a law that allowed the nations of antiquity to indulge to brutality all their vices upon conquered people, often far better than they. It is a terrible instrument in the hands of selfish men. But still it is a law, and if it had not been observed, and its privileges insisted on, the fairest dominion on the face of God's earth would never have been created, and the noblest institutions, such as we have, for the fostering of the human spirit, might never have existed.
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But what was the right avowed by the nations of Europe when they sent out their colonies to this conti- nent? As regards England, this is seen in the com- mission given by Henry the Seventh to the Cabots who sailed under the English flag. The commission bears date of 1496, four years after the discovery by Columbus, and runs thus:
" We grant and give license to the same and either of them, or either of their heirs and deputies, to affix our aforesaid banners and insignia on any town, city, castle, island or continent by them newly discovered. And that the aforesaid John (Cabot), and his sons or heirs, and their deputies, may possess and occupy all the afore- said towns, castles, cities and islands by them discovered, which may of right be subjugated and occupied, as our vassals, and their governors, lieutenants and deputies; they obtaining for us the dominion, title and jurisdiction of the said towns, castles and islands and continents so dis- covered."
The right avowed, therefore, was the right to go in and subjugate and occupy,-a heathenish application of the right of the strongest, as villainous and brutal as any that ever disgraced the Pharaohs of old. To recognize the rights of the savage at the same time that we would recover the wastes of the wilderness, and extend the bless- ings of religion and civilization, has ever been difficult. As it turned out, the coast that the English visited did not present towns, castles, cities for subjugation; but according to the terms, if the Cabots had found America teeming with a population as thick and as elevated in civilization as England itself, they would have been jus- tified in making the attempt, with fire and sword if
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necessary, to bring the inhabitants under the English dominion. We all remember how, where there was a duly organized society, as in Mexico and Peru, the Spaniards felt themselves justified in reducing, at what- ever cost of cruelty, the whole aboriginal population.
We find, however, that the Spaniards rested their right to possession and dominion on another plea. As you probably know, the Portuguese were, at the time of the discovery of America, much more of a maritime people than the Spaniards; for the internal struggles of Spain to secure unity for the kingdom, by the subjuga- tion of the Moors, had enlisted all the energy and the resources at the command of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Portuguese, meanwhile, were cultivating the spirit of discovery, and Columbus, before he approached the Spanish throne, had endeavored to make the king of Portugal his patron, by whom, however, he was rejected. In their enterprise at this time the Portuguese had, in the year 1486, reached the Cape of Good Hope and dis- covered the way to India; a most valuable discovery, because it saved the necessity for the long and dangerous route overland, by which, up to this time, India had been reached.
It is easy to understand, then, how they must have been filled with alarm when news came of the success of Columbus in 1492, for in the ignorance of the whole nature of the land to the west, Columbus himself believing that he had reached the Indies by his western course, we can see how Portugal must have felt that the prize she had almost in her grasp was about to be lost. The only recourse in such a case was either to maintain their right by arms or else to appeal to the Pope, who had at this
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time made himself arbiter of the nations, deciding in their affairs, often with a plenitude of authority which is to us of this day astonishing.
In the year 1454 Pope Nicholas had granted to Por- tugal the empire of Guinea, with authority to subdue it, and at the same time he prohibited all persons from sail- ing thither without the permission of the Portuguese. Such a proposition belonged to that time, however extravagant it would appear now that any nation of Europe should seek the Pope's consent, either to secure a prov- ince in Africa or anywhere else, or having secured it, to defend it against all intruders. Such rights are now secured and defended in altogether another way.
The claims of the Pope to such jurisdiction are fully set forth in his grant in 1493, after the return of Colum- bus, and when the conflict of jurisdiction was anticipated between Portugal and Spain. The grant runs thus:
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