USA > Maryland > A sketch of the history of Maryland during the three first years after its settlement : to which is prefixed, a copious introduction > Part 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
* For these several commissions relative to Clayborne, see Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 189, 230, 234.
253
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
been granted by his majesty to any other."* On SECT. which it may be observed, that it seems somewhat IX. extraordinary, that Mr. Clayborne should, at that 1628. late period, have thought it necessary to obtain such a licence, if any settlements had been formed by him, at the time of lord Baltimore's visit to Virgi- nia, in 1628, either on the isle of Kent, or at the mouth of the Susquehanna, as alleged. If no such . settlements had then, or even indeed prior to the licence in 1631, been made ; but immediately on lord Baltimore's departure, under a full knowledge of his lordship's intentions of procuring a grant of that country, as may be fairly inferred, Clayborne being then, in 1628, the secretary, and of course a resident of Virginia, endeavours were made by him, under the cover of a licence for trade, to fix settle- ments at those places, it must in candour be acknow- ledged, that such conduct had much the appearance of a fraudulent anticipation, and well merited the fate which it afterwards received.
Another fact, which authorises an inference, that no such settlements were formed prior to Clay- borne's trafficking licence in 1631, is the petition of the planters in Virginia, to the king in council, against the lord Baltimore's grant, according to the recital of it in the " order in council," of the 3d of July, 1633. The preamble to the order thus states the petition : " Whereas an humble petition of the
* See the recital of this licence in the order in council upon Clayborne's petition. Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 431 ; and towards the end of this volume. The date of the li- cence is mentioned in Burk's Hist. of Virginia, Vol. 2, p. 40. · to have been in 1631,
.4
254
INTRODUCTION TO A
SECT. IX. planters in Virginia, was presented to his majesty, in which they remonstrate, that some grants have 1628. lately been obtained, of a great proportion of lands and territories within the limits of the colony there, being the places of their traffic, and so near the places of their habitations, as will give a general disheartening to the planters, if- they be divided into several governments, and a bar to that trade which they have long since exercised towards their sup- portation and relief, under the confidence of his ma- jesty's royal and gracious intentions towards them. as by the said petition more largely appeareth. For- asmuch as his majesty was pleased, on the twelfth of May last, to refer to the board the consideration of this petition," &c. &c .* From this statement, may be collected some very material facts relative to the present question. It is at once observable, that not the slightest mention is made therein of any settlements established within the territories so granted, as complained of ; but that those territories had " been the places of their traffic," and were " near the places of their habitations." Now, had there been any settlements actually formed within these territories before the time of drafting this peti- tion, other than temporary settlements for the pur- poses of " traffic," it would, without doubt, have been so stated in the petition, and dwelt upon as an exaggeration of their grievance. But the next ex- pression in the same sentence, " near the places of their habitations," seems to deny the supposition,
* See this "order in council" at large, in note (S,) at the end of this voluine ..
255
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
that they had then any habitations, that is, settle- SECT. IX. 1628.
ments, within these territories so granted, being only near them. Not being able to have recourse to the petition itself, we are left to infer the date of it, and the time referred to in the description of these terri- tories, from some of the above expressions. That the petition was drawn after the date of lord Balti- more's charter, which is June 20th, 1632, may be implied from the expression, " grants have lately been obtained." That it was before the 12th of May, 1633, is to be gathered from the time of its reference to the council, " the twelfth of May last." It was, therefore, framed some time between the 20th of June, 1632, and the 12th of May next suc- ceeding that date. Taking the mean-time for the date of this petition, to wit : some time in the lat- ter part of the year 1682, about four or five months after the date of lord Baltimore's charter, we have a period of time, when, as we are informed by this petition, there were no actual or permanent settle- ments formed within the limits of these territories granted to lord Baltimore ; and also, a strong impli- cation, that the " places of their traffic" here alluded to, were some that Clayborne had fixed up, perhaps on the isle of Kent and at the Susquehanna, in vir- tue of his royal licence before-mentioned, obtained by him in the year 1631.
It has been deemed necessary, to state the pre- ceding circumstances, relative to the objections against lord Baltimore's grant, in order to show what was the real situation of the country thereby granted to him, at the time of his visit to Virginia, in the year 1628. From all which, it would seem,
ـان
256
INTRODUCTION TO A
SECT. IX. that his lordship might have returned to England, with the intention of soliciting a grant of all that 1628. country, which he subsequently denominated Mary- land, and with a thorough conviction in his own mind, that it was then, in the year 1628, uninhabit- ed by any but savages, and with the most perfect honesty and integrity of conduct, suggested to the king, that the country for which he desired a patent, was, as that instrument expressess it, " hactenus in- culta," hitherto unsettled.
It is probable, that lord Baltimore did not take his departure from Virginia, until the following year. As few of the minute incidents of this nobleman's life have reached us, we are not informed whether he returned from thence to his province in New. foundland, or to England ; it is most probable, to the former. He is said to have made two visits to his colony at Ferryland ; and that, in his second visit to that place, Great Britain being then at war with France, he was so fortunate as to perform somc considerable services in recovering above twenty sail of English ships, which had been taken by a French squadron, and in capturing several of the enemy's fishing ships on the coast. As this war had been commenced by England against France, rather suddenly, about April, 1627, without any previous proclamation, and indeed without any just cause, through the instigation of the unprincipled Buckingham, then the sole director of all affairs in England, and who was regardless of everything but his own interest and pleasures, there is no won- der that the vast number of English ships, which
1629. Lord Bal- timore rc- turns to England, and reln. qu.shes his views of a set- tenient in New. found- Land.
اصدار
٢٠
25,7
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
then frequented the coast of Newfoundland, * should SECT. IX.
1629.
have been left unprotected, and a prey to the first French force that might be sent against them. How lord Baltimore accomplished the recovery of these English ships, or the capture of the French fishing vessels, which were most probably unarmed, we are not informed. A sort of petit guerre, however, seems to have been carried on at this time between 'the English and French, in this part of America. The valuable right of fishery on the banks, to which the French had never relinquished their pretensions, was, without doubt, some cause of contest. In this year also, (1629,) a successful attack was made by a certain David Kertk, a French refugee and Hu- gonot, with his two sons, under the English ban- ners, and with a considerable English force, upon the feeble settlement which the enterprising Cham- plain, was then endeavouring to support at Que- beG. " But, peace being made between the two countries, in the early part of this year, though pro- bably not known in America until these events had past, Quebec and Canada were afterwards restored, and the French left to pursue their schemes of set- tlements and trade on the St. Lawrence, and the western shores of Newfoundland. These circum- stances, together with the discouraging appearances
1
1
* It appears from Smith's Hist. of Virginia, as cited by -Mr. Holmes, (in his Annals, Vol. 1, p. 237,) under the year .1626, that the coast of Newfoundland, for most of the late years, was frequented by two hundred and fifty sail of English 'vessels, estimated at fifteen thousand tons, employing five thousand persons, and making an annual profit of about one hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds sterling.
2 K
'258
INTRODUCTION TO A
SECT. IX. of the climate and soil of the country, soon con. vinced his lordship, that it would never answer his 1629. purposes in colonisation. Having found the coun- try on the shores of the Chesapeake so much better suited to his plans, we may suppose, that in the 1630. succeeding year he returned to England, with the intention of exerting his influence at the English court, to obtain a grant thereof.
1632. Obtains the pro- mise of a gran· of the pro- vince of Maryland, which is given, on to his son Cecilius. It seems to have been considered by the king and his ministers, about this time, that on the dissolu- tion of the charters of Virginia, as before-mentioned, a right vested in the crown of subdividing or re- granting such parts of the territories of Virginia formerly included within the lines of these char- his death, ters, as had not before been parcelled out into small tracts to particular individuals. The king being under this impression, and lord Baltimore standing high in his personal esteem, the latter found little difficulty in procuring from his majesty, the pro. mise of a grant of such a tract of country as his lordship then described to him. But before a char- ter or patent for that purpose could be finally ad- justed, and pass the scals, his lordship died, on the 15th of April, 1632. He left several sons ; but Ce- cilius Calvert being his eldest, and by the laws of . England, heir not only to his father's title, but per- haps to the bulk of his estate, the charter of grant, intended for his father, was, it seems, without hesi- tation, on the 20th of June following, executed to Cecilius, now become also, baron of Baltimore, in the kingdom of Ireland. It was intended, it is said, that the country granted by this charter, should have been called Crescentia ; but when it was pre-
*
1
أسود السم حة
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
259 -26 €
sented to the king for his signature, in conformity SECT. IX. to his majesty's wishes, the name of the province ~ was changed to that of Maryland, in honour of his 1633. queen, Henrietta Maria, a daughter of the great king Henry IV, of France.
$
POSTSCRIPT.
ALTHOUGH the lord Baltimore's charter, ought with propriety, to be here inserted, yet, as it would occupy a very large portion of this volume, and recourse can easily be had, by most of our readers, to the publication of it in several com- pilations of the laws of Maryland, and also in Hazard's Collec- tions, Vol. 1, p. 327, it is hoped the reader will excuse the omission of it.
. -
261-262
SKETCH
OF THE
HISTORY OF MARYLAND,
DURING THE THREE FIRST YEARS,
AFTER ITS
1
ORIGINAL, SETTLEMENT.
263
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAPTER I.
Cecilius, lord Baltimore, prepares for sending out a colony-The Vir- ginians petition against his charter-Their petition ineffectual, and the planters reconciled-Lord Baltimore appoints his brother to conduct the colony-Their arrival in the Chesapeake -- They explore the Patowmack-The governour fixes upon St. Mary's for their first settlement-Circumstances favourable to them-Proceedings of the colonists after landing-Great harmony between the natives and colonists-Interrupted by Clayborne and his party-Clay- borne resorts to open military force-The lord proprietor's in- . structions relative to grants of lands-Grants of small lots in the town of St. Mary's-The nature of the first form of government of the colony-An ordinance for that purpose-Proclamation in England against emigration-Traffic with the Indians regulated in the province-The isle of Kent reduced to lord Baltimore's go- vernment-The county of St. Mary's organized-An assembly of the province called-The first assembly of the province meet-The assembly take into consideration the laws sent in by the proprie. tor-The laws sent rejected-How far the laws of England were deemed to be in force-The laws sent in by the proprietor again proposed and rejected-Courts of justice meet-Proceedings there- in against Clayborne's party -- The inhabitants of the isle of Kent refuse to submit-Governour Calvert proceeds with a military force against them-Secretary Lewger authorised to hold the as- sembly-Act of attainder against William Clayborne-Trial of Thomas Smith, one of Clayborne's men-Inquiry by the assembly into the conduct of captain Cornwallis-Resolution of the assem- bly relative to servants-The assembly dissolved-The lord pro- prietor refuses his assent to the laws enacted by the assembly- William Clayborne's petition to the king in council, and order thereupon.
1
SKEL TERED NO MINITHER
L
264
INSTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. I. CECILIUS CALVERT, baron of Balti- more, having, on the twentieth of June, 1632, ob- 1632. Cecilius, tained his charter for the province of Maryland, as lord Balti- before-mentioned, had now to make preparations for more, pre- pares for sending out & co- tony. carrying into effect his father's intended plan of co- lonisation. The procuring a sufficient number of colonists, and the furnishing them with all conve- niences and necessaries essential to a residence in a remote country, which was as yet a wilderness, unavoidably protracted the time of their departure from England to some considerable length.
In the mean-time, however, much discontent was industriously excited among the planters in Virgi- nia, by inducing them to suppose, that the very soil upon which they trod, and which they had carned by their fatigues and dangers, was about to be taken from under their feet, and by this charter transferred to others. A petition therefore was fia: med in the name of the planters, and in May, 1633, presented to his majesty, in which they remonstrate, " That some grants have been lately obtained, of a great proportion of lands and territories with the limits of the colony there, being the places of their traffic, and so near their habitations as will give a general disheartening to the planters, if they be di- vided into several governments, and a bar to that trade which they have long since exercised towards their supportation and relief, under the confidence of his majesty's royal and gracious intentions towards them." The king referred the consideration of this petition to the consideration of his privy-council,
1633: The Vir- ginians petition against his charter.
265
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
and agrecably to this reference the council, on the CHLAP. fourth of June, in the same year, made an order, in I. which they appointed the twenty-cighth of that 1633. month, when the business should be heard, and that all parties interested should then attend. This was done accordingly, and their lordships having heard the cause, ordered that the lord Baltimore and the planters of Virginia should meet together* between that time and the third of July, 1633, and endea- vour to accommodate their controversy in a friendly manner. Also, that the propositions made by either party should be set down in writing, with their sc- veral answers and reasons, to be presented to the board on that day. This was likewise accordingly done, and on the third of July, same year, it was finally ordered, " that the lord Baltimore should be left to his patent, and the other parties to the course of law, according to their desire; but for preventing of farther questions and differences, their lordships did also think fit and order, that things stand as they do; the planters on either side shall have free traf. fic and commerce each with the other, and that nei- ther part shall receive any fugitive person belonging to the other, nor do any act which may draw a war from the natives upon either of them; and lastly, that they shall sincerely entertain all good correspon- dence, and assist each other upon all occasions, in such manner as becometh fellow-subjects and mem- bers of the same state."t
* This must have meant, that the planters, by their agents or attorneys in England, should meet the lord Baltimore.
t See this order in council at large, in note (S) at the end of this volume.
2 1.
----
£
التوص دا
266
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. I.
1633.
As we are at liberty at this day to judge of this transaction calmly and dispassionately, it is impos- sible not to perceive, that the planters in Virginia (by whom it may be supposed to be meant in the above order the actual settlers and colonists resident in Virginia, and not any of the numerous members of the old Virginia Company) were instigated to this opposition to lord Baltimore's charter by a few influential persons among them, (particularly Wik- liam Clayborne) who sought to obtain a property in different portions of the territories of Virginia, with- out putting themselves to the trouble or expense of obtaining a legal conveyance or charter for the same. Unquestionably by the laws of England, under which they professed to live, the right of granting a property in the soil of the country, was originally, after its discovery by Cabot, vested in the king, and subsequently in the treasurer and Company of Vir- ginia, under the second and third charters from the king. But as the right of making grants of the same, heretofore appertaining to the Company, was taken away by the judgment in the court of king's "bench, under the quo warranto, which judgment was certainly binding, until legally reversed, such right, by the laws of the kingdom, reverted back. again to the king, according to the feudal principles of the monarchy. The planters in Virginia, then, had really no interest in the question. None of their individual rights or particular plantations, on which they lived, were at all invaded. We may, indeed, adopt the observations of a late historian of Virgi- nia upon this subject ;- " This grant to lord Balti- more did not interfere with the rights of former set-
1
شهيدا
£
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
267
-
tlers, or with the government of Virginia. His CHAP. object was the establishment of a new colony, I. which would be her friend and neighbour and ally, 1633. against the assaults of the Indians or the machina- tions of distant powers. The prosperity and repu- tation of the nation would be advanced by new set- tlements; and an immense territory was yet reser- ved to Virginia, far exceeding her wants and her powers. In every point of view the transfer appears judicious and salutary."* It must be acknowledged, however, that these observations of this historian are rather inconsistent with his ill-timed invective in. the same page against king Charles and his council, principally on account of this grant. It does not appear from the order in council before-cited, that " they acknowledged the justice of the claim of the planters," as he alleges. The doubtful claim could be only between the king and those persons, whose names, as inserted in the second charter, form a very large list of the nobility and gentry of England, to whom the territories of Virginia then in truth belonged,t if they did not to the crown.
Notwithstanding their failure of success in their Their pe- petition, the planters in Virginia, probably on bet- fectual, ter information, soon became reconciled, as we planters and the are told, to the lord . Baltimore's grant, and left the reconci. individuals, whose immediate interest it was, to led.
* Burk's Hist. of Virginia, Vol. 2, p. 39.
t They had expended more than 100,000/. sterling of their own estates, in the support of the colony in Virginia, at the time of the dissolution of the charters. Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1; p. 253.
--
tition inef,
dotge
358'
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. I. persist in their own measures, in any further contest against his right.
1633, Lord Bal- timore ap-
His lordship being now invested, as he supposed, with a fair title to his province, and having nearly points his completed the necessary preparations for the emi- brother to conduct the colo- ny. gration of the colonists, contemplated at first to have attended them himself in person; but after- wards changing his mind, from what cause we are not informed, he appointed his brother, Leonard Calvert, esq., to go in his stead, in the character of governour,* and joined in commission with him Jeremy Hawley and Thomas Cornwallis, esqrs., as assistants or counsellors. t George Calvert, esq., another brother, also came with them, but in what capacity is not mentioned. The number of colo- nists consisted of about two hundred, of whom the names of the chief or principal characters are men- tioned in history, as follows, Richard Gerard, Ed-
* In most of the early public acts of the province, he is commonly styled " his lordship's lieutenant-general," &c., but as the term governour is a word of the same import, and sometimes used in some of the old records of the province, and is of more modern usage, and therefore more intelligible, it is here adopted. The term lieutenant-general, as thus used in the early colonisation of the province, was probably adopted from that applied to the king's viceroy or governour of Ireland, who was at this time so termed.
t This commission, it seems, is not extant among any of the records of the province. Kilty's Landholder's Assistant, p. 64. The term assistant seems to have been in use about this time, as synonymous to that of counsellor. It appears to have been so used in Massachusetts, on the first settlement of New Plymouth. See the Extracts from the New Plymouth Records, published in Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 411.
.
1
F
269
HISTORY OF MARYLAND .;
ward Winter, Frederick Winter, and Henry Wise- CHAP. man, esqrs .; Mr. John Saunders, Mr. Edward I. Cranfield, Mr. Henry Green, Mr. Nicholas Fairfax, 1633. Mr. John Baxter, Mr. Thomas Dorrel, captain John Hill, Mr. John Medcalfe, and Mr. William Saire. Many of these are said to have been gentlemen of fortune, and most of the adventurers, if not all of them, were Roman Catholics.
They sailed from Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, 1634. Their de- parture on the 22d of November, 1633, and taking the old route by the Azores and West Indies, stopped on from Eng- the islands of St. Christopher's and Barbadoes, arrival in land, and where they staid some time, most probably for the sapeakc: the Che- purpose of timing their arrival in the Chesapeake in the most favourable season of the year for colonisa- tion in that climate. It was, therefore, the 24th of February following, (1634, new style,) when they arrived off Point Comfort, in Virginia. Here, in consequence of recommendatory letters from the king, they met with all possible assistance from the governour of Virginia ; and on the third of March, proceeded from thence to Patowmack river. Go- vernour Calvert, not being apprised, perhaps, of any former names appropriated to the two capes or points of land at the mouth of the Patowmack river, called the south point St. Gregory's, and the north point St. Michael's ; but, as they are both now known by other appellations, the southern being called Smith's point, from the celebrated founder of Virginia, captain John Smith, and the northern, Point Look-out, it is probable that they had received
270
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
these denominations before the arrival of the Mary-
CHAP. I. land colony .*
1634.
Sailing up the Patowmack about fourteen leagues, they came to an island called Heron island, and an- chored under another neighbouring isle, to which they gave the name of St. Clements'. t Here the gov- ernour landed, and setting up a cross, in the Roman Catholic mannerį, took formal possession of the country-" for our Saviour, and for our sovereign lord the king of England." In order to make dis- coveries, the governour here left his ships, and tak- ing two boats, or pinnaces as they were then called, proceeded up the Patowmack about four leagues,
* The charter refers to a place called Cinquack, " situate near the mouth of the Patowmack," on the south side thereof ; but I do not find this name mentioned in the modern maps of either Virginia or Maryland. From the description of it in the charter, it would appear to be the same as Smith's Point.
t These names do not appear in either Griffith's map of Maryland, or Madison's of Virginia, the two most modern. In Griffith's map an island is placed off Clement's branch or river, which empties into the Patowmack, and which is there called Blackstone's island ; but in Madison's map, Blackstone's island is placed higher up the Patowmack. It is most proba- ble, however, that the island opposite to the mouth of Cle- ment's branch, is the island to which at this time, they affixed the name of St. Clement's. In a loose estimation, it will nearly answer the distance mentioned up the Patowmack; fourteen leagues, or forty-two miles.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.