USA > Maryland > The Day-star of American freedom, or, The birth and early growth of toleration, in the province of Maryland : with a sketch of the colonization upon the Chesapeake and its trobutaries, preceding the removal of the government from St. Mary's to Annapolis > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
3
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02228 8234
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/daystarofamerica00davi 0
.
THE
war and
DAY - STAR
OF
AMERICAN FREEDOM;
OR
THE BIRTH AND EARLY GROWTH
OF TOLERATION, IN
THE PROVINCE OF MARYLAND :
WITH
A SKETCH OF THE COLONIZATION UPON THE CHESAPEAKE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES, PRECEDING THE REMOVAL OF THE GOVERNMENT FROM ST. MARY'S TO ANNAPOLIS ;
AND
A Glimpse of the Numbers and General State of Society, of the Religion and Legislation, of the Life and Manners of the Men, who Worshipped in the Wilderness, at the First Rude Altar of Liberty.
BY GEORGE LYNN-LACHLAN DAVIS, OF THE BAR OF BALTIMORE.
YORK : NASSAU STREET.
1855.
563
3$153.
.
1
1753051
THE DAY-STAR.
1
NF 857.2.
363 1
ne
ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1353, by GEO. LYNN-LACHLAN DAVIS, In the Clerk's Office of the U. S. District Court, for the District of Maryland.
4
W. U. TINSON, ATERROTYPER.
GEO. HUSCELL & CO., PRINTERS.
-
DEDICATED
ΤΟ
THE STATE.
Και γαρ ή πατρίς άρχη τις έστι της εκάστου γενέσεως, ώσπερ και ο πατήρ. - PORPHYRY.
Τη του Θεού διαταγή . - Sr. PACL.
PREFACE.
THE papers, I will cite, are, most of them, taken from the Archives, at Annapolis, and at London. Those at the Capital of my State, may be seen in the Executive Chamber, in the Armory, in the Hall of the Court of Appeals, in the Land Office, or in the Office of the Register of Wills. And the documents transmitted to me, were obtained, through the aid of an Index, from the English State-Paper Office.
For the sake of brevity, I will generally omit the depository. The two Records designated by A. B. & H., and by Q., can be consulted, in the Land Office. Where the "No." of the Liber is simply given, the citation has been made from the same office. The "Laws," and "Judgments" belong to the Court of Appeals ; and are kept, either in the Hall, or in the Armory. In all other cases, the nature of the subject . will indicate the place, from which the paper is taken.
The Index, which has aided me, in sketching the Revo-
viii
PREFACE.
lution of 1689, was presented to our Historical Society. It is the gift of my generous countryman, Mr. Peabody, of London ; and the key to a rich store-house of docu- ments and facts, preserved at the great city, from which so many of our forefathers came.
To Mr. Jas. Frisby Gordon, and Doct. Fisher, of Kent ; to Mr. Benj. Ed. Gantt, of Anne-Arundel ; to . Messrs. Palmer, and Harrison, of Queen Anne's ; to Messrs. Hopkins, and Donoven, of Talbot ; to Mr. Wm. A. Jarboe, of Prince George's ; to Col. Wm. A. Spencer, and the Hon. Jas. Murray, of Annapolis ; I beg leave to express my thanks, for their polite atten- tion, during my examination of the Archives, in the offices, they respectively occupy. To most of them, am I further indebted for communications addressed me, as marks of their courtesy, in reply to a great variety of inquiries. And my acknowledgments are due to the memory, also, of Owen Norfolk, the late clerk at Upper- Marlborough.
I am under an additional obligation to the librarians, and other officers, in various parts of this State, for the privilege extended me, as an author, of consulting any of the books in their custody. Nor can I fail to confess my sense of gratitude, for the interest so generously mani- fested in the success of all my researches, by many other gentlemen of Maryland, especially by the members of the Bar, and of the Bench, not only in the communication of important facts and suggestions, but also in the loan of valuable private manuscripts. I may here venture to
--
-
PREFACE.
1
ix > X
individualize the Hon. John Carroll Le Grand, Saml. Tyler, Esq., Prof. Evert M. Topping, Wm. Meade Addi- son, Esq., Prof. Saml. Chew, Hon. E. Louis Lowe, Doct. Peregrine Wroth, Rev. Saml. R. Gordon, Jas. E. Barroll, Esq., Prof. George Fenwick, and Genl. Thos. F. Bowie.
And there are a few personal friends not named in this Preface, nor confined altogether to my own sex, whose companionship has occasionally lightened my labor ; whose bright sympathies have shed a sun-shine over the heart, in the hour of toilsome solitude ; whose aid, and whose many kind offices, will be sweetly, and sincerely remembered.
XI
.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Toleration-Its Logical Relations-Its History cannot yet
PAGE
be Properly Written, 15
CHAPTER II.
The Visible Influence of Ideas- The Charm of External History-Illustrations from Islamism, from Christianity: and from Toleration, 19 .
CHAPTER III.
The Toleration Secured by the Charter for Maryland, .
.
26
CHAPTER IV.
The Toleration under the First Governor,
36
CHAPTER V.
The Toleration Implied by the Official Oath,
39
, CHAPTER VI.
The Assembly of 1649-Kent, and St. Mary's Represented- Sketch of their Early History-Passage of the Tolera- tion Act, . 41
xii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
PAGE
"The Act Concerning Religon," . · 54
CHAPTER VIII.
Its Influence upon the Colonization of the Province- \Arrival of Families-Foundation of Settlements-Erec- tion of Counties-Protestant Revolution, in 1689, 68
CHAPTER IX.
State of Society, from 1634 to 1689, · 108
CHAPTER X.
The Law-Givers of 1649-Their Names-A Fragment of the
Legislative Journal, . 128
CHAPTER XI.
Their Faith-They Sit in One House, .
. 136
CHAPTER XII.
The Whole Strength of the Roman Catholic Element, in the Assembly, . 138
CHAPTER XIII.
. The Burgesses, as a Distinct Branch of the Legislature-
. A Majority of Roman Catholic Representatives, . 140
CHAPTER XIV.
Population of the Province, in 1640-Predominance of the Roman Catholic Element, at the Period of the Assembly -- The Honor Due to the Roman Catholic Freemen of Maryland, . 142 ·
CONTENTS xiii
· PAGE
CHAPTER XV. Cecelius, the Lord Proprietary-His Life, Character, and Family. .
· 162
CHAPTER XVI.
Governor Leopard Calvert, .
. 171
CHAPTER XVII.
Governor William Stone,
. 175
CHAPTER XVIII.
Governor Thomas Green,
. 181
CHAPTER XIX.
.
Col. John Price,
· 183
CHAPTER XX. -
The Honorable John Pile,
.
186
CHAPTER XXI.
Capt. Robert Vaughan, .
·
.
190
CHAPTER XXII.
1
The Honorable Robert Clarke,
·
.
.
195
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Honorable Thomas Hatton,
. 200
CHAPTER XXIV.
Mr. Cuthbert Fenwick, .
.
.
207
CHAPTER XXV.
Mr. Philip Conner,
·
220
xiv
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVI.
PAGE
Mr. William Bretton, . 224
CHAPTER XXVII.
Mr. Richard Browne,
229
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Mr. George Manners,
231
CHAPTER XXIX.
Capt. Richard Banks,
. 233
CHAPTER XXX. .
Mr. John Maunsell,
. 237
CHAPTER XXXI.
Mr. Thomas Thornborough, . . . 242
CHAPTER XXXII.
Mr. Walter Peake,
247
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Conclusion,
. 254
APPENDIX.
No. I .- Emigrants from England, . 261
" II .- Settlement upon the Bohemia, . 260
" III .- Faith of the Jurors, in the case of the Pisca-
taway Indians, . 270 .
THE DAY - STAR.
CHAPTER I. 1
Toleration-Its Logical Relations-Its History cannot yet be properly written.
THE march of the mind is slow. Of Islamism, the faith for twelve centuries of a fifth part of the whole human race, no real history, it is sad to think, has ever been written; and the most pro- found men of Europe confess their ignorance of the subject. It also admits of the gravest doubt, whether we yet have, in the truest and most com- prehensive sense, a history of Christianity. And it is vain to hope, in the present state of know- ledge, for a satisfactory history of Toleration.
16 .012
THE DAY-STAR.
Notwithstanding a regard for the rights of con- science, the laws of our own nation have always evinced a greater sympathy for the Christian than for any other form of belief; while no government has existed without some kind of religious theory ; nor has any state, in modern times, at periods even of the wildest anarchy, gone far enough to deny its own ethical nature, or reject that element which constitutes the ground-work and condition of its being.
The Church of no Christian country, on the other hand, is prepared, either upon the Protestant, or upon any other basis, to acknowledge the supremacy of the State, or surrender 1 the jurisdic- tion it exercises over questions of faith and ethics -questions, which touch the very heart of humanity, and connect us with the invisible world ; but work, at the same time, such deep changes in states and empires-having occasioned more
1 The English Church may be oppressed, or enslaved. But it is a great mistake to suppose she has ever acknowledged the supre- macy of the Civil Magistrate. See Magna Charta, the Works of Lord Coke, and the late Writings of the Rt. Rev. Doct. Philpott, of the See of Exeter.
17
ANTAGONISM.
bloodshed, since the martyrdom of St. Stephen (to say nothing of the church controversy, which now, alas ! involves the European nations in a fresh conflict) than any of the subjects, which ever engage the attention either of kings or of courts, of cabinets or of parliaments.
The antagonism between the State and the Church, under the existing order of things, may not, indeed, be observed by the ordinary eye. It may apparently sleep, for a season, or for a cen- tury. But it is not the less real; and not the less destined, sooner or later, to unfold itself, in all its terrific energy. The advocates of Toleration will then be ready to proclaim, that atheism is the proper fundamental principle of the State; and its opponents, that faith is the foundation of ethics, that the notion of a perfect state implies a church of the same character, that the one is but identical with the other, and that under a more beneficent arrangement of Providence, a higher law of society, and a nobler system of civilization, the identity will be fully and triumphantly revealed. Before the termination of this contest (probably the most momentous, if not the most bloody, which
:
18
THE DAY-STAR.
man will be called upon to endure), it will be impossible to find the central-point involved in the great problem of Toleration ; or to grasp it, in all its highest logico-historical relations.
19
ISLAMISM.
CHAPTER II.
The Visible Influence of Ideas-The Charm of External History -- Illustrations from Islamism, from Christianity, and from Tolera- tion
YET Islamism has undoubtedly a meaning. Of its external history, do we also know something. Amid the fiery sands and deserts of Arabia, a thought strikes the mind of a man. To him, it is a vision ; to us, a small cloud upon the horizon, des- tined to overspread the firmament. In the one, we sce the image, and the hand of God; in the other, are locked up the living forces of nature. Out of the brain of a wild, but earnest son of the wilder- ness, springs forth, with the rapidity of magic, a vast and magnificent erapire ; having its strong and impregnable centre in the East, but extending its dominion to the very confines of the West; clad, indeed, with all the terrors of the sword, but deriv- ing its original strength from the simple words, he
1
20
THE DAY-STAR.
had uttered; the grandest and boldest embodiment, (however imperfect,) we have so far witnessed, of the identity (if I may tread upon forbidden ground1) of the temporal with the spiritual authority ; at one moment, threatening to absorb the Christian nations of Europe; at another communicating to their civil- ization that impulse, which will be felt through all ages ! a rich, and gorgeous picture ! perplexing, it is true, the judgment of the historical critic ; but dazzling the imagination, elevating the fancy, and (may I add ?) purifying the heart.
In spite, also, of the little that is known of the higher relations, or the logical harmonies of eccle- siastical history, there is something which touches a still deeper spring in the simple and short story of the Cross-of the visible struggle of Christianity, during the first three centuries, with the Paganism of a great empire-of the mild and serene triumph of the church, at the end of that period, amid the shocks and convulsions of society, over all the phy-
1 If Newman and Ranke touch this subject with so much caution, an unwillingness in myself to go beyond a mere sugges- tion, indicates no affectation of modesty.
21
CHRISTIANITY.
sical, intellectual, and other powers of the civilized world. From the Crusades to the present, from childhood to hoary age, over the dream of the vir- gin, and the meditation of the matron, over men of every taste and of every type, it has exerted a magical influence. This moment, I study it, with a more passionate fondness, than "The Arabian Nights," or the mnost truthful and enchanting pic- ture, the hand of man has sketched, either of do- mestic manners, or of Oriental magnificence and renown. There is nothing approaching it, upon the pages of the historical record-nothing, in the glory of Grecian combatants, or the march of Roman legions-in living, or in dying gladiators ; or victo- rious generals, whose returning "chariot-wheels" were " graced" by kings "in captive bonds."
The Crescent and the Cross have, each of them, a charm. They represent the two great historical Ideas ; they mark the two grand epochs in the destiny of the human race. As the fallen column, amid the ruins of the Acropolis, retains the traces of a high creative art, so man, with all his gross- ness, still proclaims the divinity of his original nature, by the interest he manifests in the contest
22
THE DAY-STAR.
of the intellectual with the physical forces ; by the sympathy he feels for the spiritual world ; by the sacrifice he so joyfully suffers, for the sake of his conscience; by the pride he exhibits at the triumph of a cherished faith ; and by the pleasure he derives from the study of those ideas, which have wielded their influence over any considerable portion of society. His ideality is the secret of that truc historic dignity, which belongs to the colonization of America. Scarcely a settlement, or a colony was founded, which cannot, more or less, be traced to the agency of some religious idea. And the remark includes the landing of the Pilgrims, at St. Mary's, in the year 1634. It forms the key to the earliest history of the province-the pivot to the primitive policy and legislation of the State-and the centre of so much that is interesting in the traditions and recollec- tions, which have been handed down to our own generation. The idea, which our ancestors brought with them to the forests of Maryland, was appa- rently feeble, in the beginning. But it soon began to show its strength; and like all ideas having vitality, it was progressive. The acorn has since
23
IDEALITY.
become an oak; the fountain a majestic river. Though it seems to be but half developed (for Toleration is yet without a strict definition, or a symbol), it has already, under a variety of shapes, but all of them substantially the same, become an active element in the religious and political life of a great and colossal confederacy. Judging from the past, it is destined to occupy a still wider field, to over-run other countries, to revolutionize distant nations, and to achieve a greater, a more glorious conquest over the human mind. If we may speak from its visible results, it would be but just to say, its career has so far been bright and hopeful. Viewing it from the Anglo-American side, from the popular theory of religious liberty, we cannot feel too grateful for the blessings, it has conferred ; for the prospect, it presents to other portions of humanity. Its developments, indeed, I cannot give; its history, in the proper sense, I cannot write ; for that involves relations of a logical sort, which no one living can state upon any of the received hypotheses either of Europe, or of Ame- rica. But we have much information respecting its external history ; something also will I tell of
24
THE DAY-STAR.
its origin and early growth in this country ; nor do I disguise the pride a Marylander must feel, in sketching the following facts. And I think, in the course of this brief narrative, I will be able to suggest a solution to some of the problems which now engross the attention of the nation. Who were the originators of the idea? and what was their faith ? are but two of the questions I am so often asked. Addressed by respectable persons, tortured with inquiries upon those and other inte- resting points, I am urged to speak. And the settlement of open questions in the history of this continent, is surely a matter of no trifling consi- deration in the present state of the national mind, giving such striking indications of excitement in every quarter, from the St. Lawrence to the Pacific. Most gladly, then, if I could, would I do the state some service ; and I hope at a future day to give a perfectly satisfactory answer. But my life is one of accidents ; and the history I am writing of the colonization of Maryland, may demand the unsparing toil of several more years. From my portfolio I will, therefore, take a few papers, and at once respond ; from the shadows of my solitary
25
OPEN QUESTIONS.
chamber, from the dry and dusty records, from the living oracles of the past, I will now address the millions of my countrymen.
:
2
26
THE DAY-STAR.
CHAPTER III.
The Toleration Secured by the Charter for Maryland.
THE charter1 was a compact between a member of the English, and a disciple of the Roman church; between an Anglo-Catholic king and a Roman Catholic prince; between Charles the First of England, and Cecilius, the second baron of Baltimore, and the first lord proprietary of Maryland. To the confessors of each faith, it was the pledge of religious freedom. If not the form, it had the spirit and substance of a concordat, in the sense quite as strong, as any of those earlier charters of the English Crown, to which the chief priest of Rome was, in any respect, a party. This is the inference faithfully drawn from a view of the instrument itself; from a consideration of the facts and circumstances attending the grant; and
2 The Charter was given in 1632. There is a copy in Bacon's Laws, in Bozman's Maryland, and in Hazard's Collections.
27
THE CONCORDAT.
from a study of the various interpretations, essays, and histories, of the many discourses, and other pub- lications, which have appeared upon this prolific theme. It accounts for the prohibition of every con- struction inconsistent with the "true Christian religion 1"-an expression coming from the lips of an English king, and resembling a clause in the first charter for the Anglo-Catholic colony of Virginia 2
1 The words in the English copy (see Sec. 22 of the Charter) are "God's holy and true Christian religion ;" in the Latin (see Bacon and Hazard), "Sacrosancta Dei et vera Christiana religio." To Mr. Brantz Mayer (see his Calvert and Penn) is due the credit of pointing out a grammatical inaccuracy in the English translation. We are indebted to Mr. S. F. Streeter also (see his Maryland Two Hundred Years Ago) for a learned note of a subsequent date. The former's translation is, "God's holy rights, and the true Christian religion ;" the latter's, "the holy service of God, and true Christian religion ;"' and my own, "the most sacred things of God, and the true Christian religion." Mr. Mayer, indeed, sug- gests, in a note, the agreement of " sacrosancta " with "negotia ;" and gives no sufficient reason, it strikes me, for substituting "rights " for " things." See his text, p. 28. The substitute is too narrow ; and I cannot, therefore, adopt it.
2 In the Charter of 1600 occur, " the true word and service of God and Christian faith ;"' in the one of 1600, " the true worship of God and Christian religion ;" and in the orders of 1619 and
28
THE DAY-STAR.
-but, in a grant to the Roman Catholic proprie- tary, intended, doubtless, as a simple security for the members of the English church. It suggests the reason also, why the obligation to establish the religion of Englishmen was omitted in the case of Maryland ; but expressly or tacitly imposed, either by the charters or by the orders given to most, if not all, of the other Anglo-American colonies.1 It is not less in harmony with the supposition of King Charles's regard for the rights of his Anglo- Catholic brethren, who subsequently came to St.
1620, " the true religion and service of God." These expressions clearly refer to the religion of the English Church in a strictly exclusive sense. See Henning's Collection, and the preceding publication of Mr. Streeter, pp. 71-76. " The true Christian faith, now professed in the Church of England," is a clause in the letters patent to Sir Walter Raleigh. See Streeter, p. 73. See also, in Streeter, the Charters to Sir Edmund Plowden for New Albion, and to Sir Ferdinando Gorges for Maine. "Worship and religion of Christ," in the 4th sec. of the Maryland Charter, doubtless refers to the English Church. "
1 The Virginia Charter of 1609 virtually excluded the Roman Catholics; so did the one for New England to Fernando Gorges and other persons, in 1621. Sec Streeter. Other cases could be cited.
1
29
-
THE CONCORDAT.
Mary's, than with that generally admitted sin- cerity of Lord Baltimore, which cannot be recon- ciled to the notion of his accepting a grant directly opposed to the principles, or to the practice of his own faith. It is supported by the fact, that the object of the Calverts, in asking for the charter, was to found a colony, including the members, respectively, of the English, and of the Roman . church-an object which, we cannot doubt, was known to the king, who signed the instrument. And it is fully confirmed by the action of the pro- vincial legislature-the best commentary upon the spirit of the charter-and by one of the first judicial decisions still preserved upon the records. Within a short period after the landing of the Pilgrims, an act was passed, declaring, that "Holy Church " should enjoy "all her rights ;" and, a year later, it was followed by another of the same purport.' These words were clearly taken from the
1 The Act of 1039 declares that, " Holy Church, within this pro- vince, shall have all her rights and liberties ;" the one of 1640, that, " Holy Church, within this province, shall have and enjoy all herrights, liberties, and franchises, wholly and without blemish." See Bacon, Bozman, and many other authorities. A bill also of
-
30
- THE DAY-STAR.
great. charters of the English Crown, in the days of the Normans and of the Plantagenets ; 1 and, in both cases, the term "Holy" included the English as well as the Roman church .? We will
1639 says, " Holy Church, within this province, shall have all her rights, liberties, and immunities, safe, whole, and inviolable in all things."
1 The Charter of King John stipulates that the English Church " shall be free, and shall have her whole rights and her liberties inviolable ;" the first one of Henry the Third, that she shall " be free," and " have her whole rights and liberties inviolable ;" the second of the same king, that " she shall be free," and " have her whole rights and her liberties inviolable ;" the third, that she "shall be free, and shall have her whole rights and her liberties inviolable ;"' and the first of Edward the First, that she " shall be free," and " have her whole rights and liberties inviolable."
" It is surprising to think, how some of our historians have been embarrassed in the attempt to interpret the two acts of the Assembly. The close resemblance of our carly legislation to the charters I have cited does not seem to have occurred to Chalmers, Hawks, Allen, and many others. If the case of the Rev. Francis Fitzherbert, in another note, be any authority, the " doctors of the Church " were by no meaus " puzzled." There is also a striking analogy between our primitive forms or precedents, and the expressions contained in the charter of King John. Compare, for instance, the oath of the Privy Councillor, in 1648, to " delay or . deny right " to "none," with the fortieth section of that charter.
...
31
THE CONCORDAT.
see that " Holy Church" was used, at a subsequent period, in a much more comprehensive sense. But neither in the early English charters, nor in the two preceding acts of the Assembly, did the words secure anything but the rights of the Anglican, and of the Roman Catholic. In the . case of Lieut. Wm. Lewis, the Roman Catholic, convicted, in 1638, of violating a proclamation, by improperly engaging in religious controversy, and thereby disturbing the "peace" of the colony; the main ground of the offence consisted, in his inveighing against the Protestants, for reading a book ' " allowed" by " the State of England." Such
Each section of the charter has, indeed, been called a statute. And the law of 1639, including the section relating to the Church, may be regarded as a series of acts partaking of the nature of a Magna Charta. Certain it is, that, in the Charter of King John, "Holy Church " occurs in a sense distinct from "Holy Roman Church," as well as from " English Church." It can bear but one interpretation. Both in the early charters, and in the acts of our Assembly, it clearly includes the Anglican not less than the Roman Catholics.
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