USA > Maryland > An historical view of the government of Maryland : from its colonization to the present day > Part 27
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The place selected as the new site of the government, was a point of land at the mouth of the Severn river, called " Proctor's," or " The town land at Serern." . Before that period, it appears to have been one of that class of towns, which had the three necessary unities already. allu-
Place selected in ite stead, as the seat of govern- ment. ded to ; and is described in the act of 1783, chap. 83, relative to the ports and places of trade in the province, as the " Town at Proctor's ;" but it had not attained to that elevated privilege, given by the 23d section of that act; which, in its wise designs to keep the towns it created off the parish, denied to them the right of sending a citizen or citizens to the Assem-
(25) Upper House proceedings of 1694, Liber F F, 765 and 771.
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HISTORY OF THE ROYAL
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bly, until they were inhabited by as many families, as were able to defray the expenses of their delegates, "without being chargeable to the county." At the period of removal, it was described as " The. town land at Severn, where the town was formerly ;" and as prelimi- nary to the removal, it was now erected into a port of entry and discharge for the commerce of the province, under the name of Anne Arundel town ; and an act passed for the establishment at it, of the Assembly and provincial courts. (26) The final remo- val of these from St. Mary's, took place in the winter of 1691- 1695, and the first Assembly was held at Anne Arundel town, on the 28th February, 1694, (old style.) At the next session, it acquired the name of the Port of Annapolis, and became also the place of sessions for the courts of Anne Arundel county. (27)
It was not erected into a city, invested with the privilege of sending delegates to the Assembly, until 1708. From the moment of its establishment, no efforts were spared by the new govern- Growth of An- ment to enlarge its population, and improve its downfall of the accommodations, so as to give it a permanent hold napolis, and city of St. Ma-
ry's .. upon the province; yet with all these aids, it at first increased but slowly. A person writing from Maryland, within four or five years after the removal of the legislature to this place, remarks : " There are indeed several places for towns, but hitherto they are only titular ones, except Annapolis, where the governor resides. Col. Nicholson has done his endeavor to make a town of that place. There are about forty dwelling houses in it; seven or eight of which can afford a good lodging and accommodations for strangers. There are also a state house and a free school, built of brick, which make a great show among a parcel of wooden houses; and the foundation of a church is laid, the only brick church in Maryland. They have two market days in a week ; and had Governor Nicholson continued there a few months longer, he had brought it to perfection." (28) A later account of it, represents it as in nearly the same condition, dur- ing governor Seymour's administration in 1708. (29) It yet
(26) Acts of 1694, chapters 8 and 9.
(27) Acts of 1655, chapters 2 and 7.
(28) Ist British Empire in America, 333.
(29) Same, 333.
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wanted the rank and privilege of a city; and it received these, just as they were dropping from the expiring city of St. Mary's. That ancient place, once so venerable in the eyes of the colonists,. and yet memorable in its connexion with the foundation of a free and happy state, after. ceasing to be the capital, did not long retain the rank which only mocked its downfall. It lost its privi- lege of sending delegates in 1708; and soon expired from mere inanition. One by one, all its relics have disappeared; and in the very State to which it gave birth, and the land it redeemed from the wilderness, it now stands a solitary spot, dedicated to God, and a fit memento of perishable man.
Its more fortunate successor was erected into a city by a char- ter granted on the 16th day of August, 1708, by the honorable John Seymour, then the royal governor of the province. (30) It Annapolis erect. appears to have been one of his favorite designs, and was proposed by him to the Assembly, as early as
ed into a city. Provisions of its charter.
1704. No measures being adopted by the latter to carry his wishes into effect, he at length conferred the charter, by virtue of the prerogatives of his office. Under this charter, besides the powers and privileges relative to the organization and exercise of its municipal government, the city of Annapolis ob- tained the privilege which she has ever since enjoyed, of elect- ing two delegates to the General Assembly. As this charter still subsists, and principally determines, even at this day, the extent of the elective franchise within the city of Annapolis, it is neces- sary to advert to its provisions, so far as they related to this right. The qualifications required by it for the delegate, were, that he should be an actual resident of the city, and have therein a free- hold or visible estate, of the value of £20 sterling. The persons permitted to vote were, the mayor, recorder, aldermen, and com- mon council men of the city ; all freeholders oft he city, who are defined to be "all persons owning a whole lot of land, with a house built thereon according to law;" all persons actually resi- ding and inhabiting in said city, having a visible estate of £20 sterling ; and all persons having served an apprenticeship of five 1
(30) The original charter has lately been discovered by Mr. Brewer, the register, amongst the records of the land office ; and there is a record of it amongst the records of the chancery office, in Liber PC, page 500.
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years to a trade within the city, provided three months had clapsed since the obtention of their freedom, and they were also actual housekeepers and inhabitants within the city. The . writ of election was to be directed to the mayor, recorder, and aldermen ; who became, thereby, the judges of the election.
The power of erecting cities, was one expressly granted to the proprietary by the charter of Maryland, and with great pro- Assembly .pro- priety: as it was but the proper incident, of his cer dings us to its charter. commercial privileges, and of his general power of convening assemblies. The royal governors, however, stood in a very different predicament ; and the exercise of this preroga- tive, without an express authority from the crown, does not ap- pear to have been warranted, either by the nature of their office, or the terms of their commissions. So thought the lower house of Assembly at that period; and hence, at the first session at which delegates appeared from that city, the session of Septem- ber, 1709, it denied the right of the governor to confer the char- fer, and expelled the delegates elected under it. Astonished at a measure so bold and unexpected, the governor, at first, at- tempted to win it to his purposes by conciliation. Its members were summoned to the upper house, where they were' ad- dressed by him in language disclaiming all intention to interfere with their rights and privileges in determining the election of their own members, but claiming for himself also, the compe- tency to judge of his own prerogatives : and they were urged to return to their house, and rescind their resolution. In: jus- tification of themselves, they replied, that the course pur- sued by them was founded upon the complaint of some of the frecholders and inhabitants of Annapolis, who conceiv- ed that it affected their rights as freemen, and particularly as to the privilege of voting for delegates; that the right to erect cities, was not expressly vested in the governor, and ought not therefore to be exercised until the queen's pleasure was known : but that they would cheerfully concur with him in granting the charter, if all the inhabitants and freeholders of the place desired it, and were secured, in their equal privileges as to the choice of delegates, and in all other privileges to which they were entitled by the laws of England, and, at the same time, the public lands and buildings secured to the uses for which they were purchased.
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The governor now tried the usual expedient with a refractory house. (31) The Assembly was dissolved : and a new house immediately summoned, which he at first found quite as unman- ageable as the old. Their first message desired him to inform them, if he had received from her majesty any instructions au- thorising the grant of charters and the erection of cities, which were not contained in his commission : and if so, to communi- cate them. His brief reply was, " that he had no doubt of his own right : and if the exercise of the power was unwarranted, he was answerable to her majesty, and not to them." To bring this difference to a close, a conference was now had between the two houses; which terminated in a compromise, and in the passage of the act of 1708, chap. 7th, to carry that compromise into effect. By this act, the charter of Annapolis was confirm- ed, under certain reservations as to the public buildings, and re- strictions of the municipal power, which it is not necessary here to notice : and with the reduction of the public allowance to its delegates for attendance in Assembly, to the one half of that granted to the several delegates from the counties. (32)
From this period, this city was continually on the advance. It never acquired a large population, nor any great degree of
Ultimate rank commercial consequence : but long before the era and condition of Annapolis under of the American revolution, it was conspicuous as
the proprietary government. the seat of wealth and fashion : and the luxurious habits, elegant accomplishments, and profuse hospitality of its inhabitants, were proverbially known throughout the colonies. It was the only place in the province affording the means of gratifying those luxurious longings and fastidious appetites, which belong to indolent wealth, striving to escape from the po- verty of its internal resources by the novelty which it buys, and calling that "enjoyment" which relieves it from the ennui of the moment, even by occupation in trifles. It was the seat of a wealthy government, and of its principal institutions ; and as such, congregated around it, many whose liberal attainments eminent- ly qualified them for society, and the endowments of whose offices enabled them to keep pace even with the extravagance
(31) Upper House Proceedings from 1699 to 1714, 945 to 956.
(32) Act of November, 1708, chap. 7th. 33
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HISTORY OF THE ROYAL [Hist. View.
of fashion. Where there is honey, there will be bees. The wealth, fashion, and ambition of the province, all tended to the capital, and soon drew to them the means of gratification. Youth, beauty, and intelligence soon chastened these into refine- ments, and shed around them the most dangerous allurements of pleasure: and Annapolis became, what a modern city now styles herself, the Athens of America. How far it contributed to her moral improvement, or social happiness, we shall not under- take to say. Tradition even yet preserves many a narration of the chroniclers of olden times, to incline to the belief, that her pleasures, alike those of luxurious and pampered life in all ages, ministered neither to her happiness nor her purity. (33)
(33) A French writer, in speaking of this city as he found it during the progress of the American revolution, when it may be reasonably inferred, from the distresses of the moment, that the tone of society was considerably subdued, thus describes it-" In that very inconsiderable town, standing at the mouth of the Severn, where it falls into the Bay, of the few buildings it contains, at least three-fourths may be styled elegant and grand. Female luxury here exceeds what is known in the provinces of France. A French hair dresser is a man of importance amongst them; and it is said, a certain dame here hires one of that craft at 1000 crowns a year. The state house is A very beautiful building; I think, the most so of any I have seen in Ameri- ca." New Travels by the Abbe Robin, one of the chaplains to the French Army in North . America, page 51.
This forms a striking contrast to the description given of it, at a much earlier period, by a poet calling himself E. Cooke, gentleman, in a poem called " The Sotweed Factor, or a Voyage to Maryland," for the perusal of which I have been indebted to the kindness of Mr. Jonas Green, of Annapolis.
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To try the cause, then fully bent, Up to Annapolis I went ; A city situate on a plain,
Where scarce a house will keep out rain ;
The buildings framed with cypress rare, Resemble much our Southwark Fair; But strangers there, will scarcely meet With market place, exchange, or street ; And, if the truth I may report, It's not so large as Tottenham court- St. Mary's once was in repute, Now here the Judges try the suit; And lawyers twice a year dispute ---
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Under a government of laws, the character of its subordinate administrators has but little connexion with its history. In its Political liber- transition from a proprietary to a royal government, - ties of the colo- ny not affected the province of Maryland lost none of its political by the change of government. liberties. It still retained its assemblies of the free- men : and the manner of their organization was determined by : law, at the very first session of Assembly held under the new government. (31) All that related to the extent and exercise of the elective franchise, being thus placed beyond the control of the royal governors, the powers of the latter were limited to their right to convene, prorogue, or dissolve the assemblies. These powers they could not exercise wantonly, with impunity : for they depended upon the assemblies, for what has been very appropriately termed " the sinews of government." The power to levy taxes of any description, belonged to, and was exercised exclusively by, the assemblies. The prerogative of the crown itself did not venture beyond requisitions to them. The purely executive power of appointing to the offices of the province, was almost the only one which was susceptible of abuse in their hands : and the assemblies held a check upon this, in the nature of the salaries and perquisites attached to the offices, even up to that of the governor. These were generally granted, for short periods, by temporary acts : and thus the executive was retained in a state of dependence upon the legislative power, sufficient to countervail the preponderance of prerogative. The gover- nors who presided over the province during the royal govern- ment, were Sir Lionel Copley, Sir Edmond Andros, Francis Nicholson, Nathaniel Blackiston, John Seymour and John Hart.
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As oft the bench most gravely meet, Some to get drunk, and some to eat A swinging share of country treat; But as for justice, right or wrong, Not one, amongst the numerous throng, Knows what it means, or has the heart To vindicate a stranger's part.
This Poem, with another upon Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia, were pub- lished at Annapolis, in 1731; but Mr. Green, by whom it was then printed, reminds the reader that it was a description written twenty years before, which did not agree with the condition of Annapolis at the time of its pub- lication. (
34) Act of 1692, chap. 76.
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The administrations of Copley and Andros were of very short duration ; and the only material events connected with them, Administrations relate to the establishment of the new government of Copley and Andres. upon its Protestant basis, as already described ; or to the mere organization and administration of its institu- tions, the consideration of which belongs properly to the several histories of those institutions. Copley was received with great joy by the province, as its first Protestant governor ; and during his short government, he appears to have retained the confidence and affection of the colony. Andros, who came in merely as an interim governor, is the same person who was so conspi- cuous for his connexion with the arbitrary proceedings of king James against the chartered governments of New England. Neither he, nor his successor in the government of Maryland, Francis Nicholson, appear to have lost much of the royal favor, by their connexion with those transactions. They had only sinned against the liberties of the colonies; and this was no unpardonable offence in the eye of the crown, when it was the result of devotion to prerogative. Andros was the act- ing governor of Virginia, at the time of his accession to the government of Maryland; and his administration in the former colony, is said to have been characterised by mildness and sa- gacity. (35) In Maryland, his administration was of too short duration to develope cither his temper or policy ; and is not dis- tinguished by any material results.
Francis Nicholson, who was appointed to the government of Maryland in February, 1694, is distinguished in the history of Administration New York, as the deputy governor of that colony, of Governor Ni- cholson. under Andros, at the period of its annexation by king James, to the New England colonies. Immediately after the Protestant revolution, he was transferred to the government of Virginia, as its lieutenant governor, under Lord Howard; and continued to preside as such over that colony, until he was superceded, in 1692, by the arrival of its new governor, sir Edmund Andros. He was commissioned lieutenant governor of Maryland in February, 1691; and was, by virtue of his commis- sion, entitled to the government of the province immediately
(35) 2d Burke's History of Virginia.
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upon the death of Copley; but being then absent in England, the government was assumed by Andros, who continued to ad- minister it until Nicholson's arrival in July, 1694. (36) He ap- pears to have possessed a considerable degree of intelligence and energy of character. He was the devoted friend of arbitrary power, both in church and state; yet his advances towards this, were covered by the utmost courtesy of manner, and regulated by a most prudent regard to the circumstances of the times. A pliant minister of the crown, he was yet the courtier of the peo- ple; and to win the favor of the people of Maryland, he was conspicuous for his devotion, in language, to the rights and li- berties of the Protestant church, as by law established. His weak point was his vanity; and under the influence of this, he often endangered all the advantages which he would otherwise have derived, from his generally conciliating manners, and his happy faculty of accommodating himself to the tempers of those around him, and the circumstances of his situation. He was al- ways engaged in projects, adapted to the temper of the colonies over which he presided, and eminently calculated to conciliate their favor. When first removed to the government of Virginia, he mixed freely with the people, conversed with them upon the topics with which they were familiar, instituted games and exer- cises, and distributed prizes, to encourage their favorite amuse- ments of running, riding, wrestling, and shooting; and finding them most carnestly desirous for the convention of an Assem- bly, he convened it against the express instructions of his supe- rior. (37) Arriving in Maryland, he found its inhabitants as yet fresh in the enjoyment of an exclusively Protestant government ; and the liberties and security of the Protestant church, the watch- word of the day. He now became the most zealous of the or- thodox, in its advancement. " Before his tine, (says a writer of that day,) there were scarcely any Protestant ministers in Mary- land ; but governor Nicholson being a great promoter and en- courager of the clergy, by his protection, the face of affairs
(36) Smith's History of New York, 103; Chalmers's Annals, 590; 20 Burke's History of Virginia, 310, 315 and 317; Ist British Empire in Ameri- ca, 395.
(37) 2d Burke, 312.
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mended, and the orthodox churches were crowded as full as they could hold." Annapolis being the child of the Protestant revo- lution, and its establishment one of the favorite measures of the colony, his constant endeavors were used to improve and in- crease it. (38)
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Yet laudable as these efforts were, at the bottom of all lay an inordinate ambition and vanity, which could not brook any thing
Its peculiar like opposition, or a disposition to call his abilities
traits. into question; and when galled by these, he was unable to control his temper, and became even vindictive. He was thus involved in several controversies with the Assembly, to- wards the close of his administration. His proceedings against the celebrated John Coode; and Clarke, and Sly, who were al- leged to be his abettors, fully illustrate this part of his character. Coode had provoked his indignation, by calling his administra- tion into question, and by the intimation, that as he had pulled down one government, he might lend his aid to the overthrow of another. Being returned as a member to the house of delegates, in 1696, Nicholson objected to him, as "having been in holy orders ;" and refused to administer to him the oath of office. The lower house insisted upon their exclusive right of judging of the qualifications of their own members; and that in Coode's case, the objection was idle, as he had been a member for nearly twenty years. The governor, determined not to yield the point, sum- moned several of the most distinguished lawyers of the province to the upper house ; who gave it as their opinion, that " his hav- ing been in holy orders, stamped upon him an indelible character which the ordinary alone could remove." The lower house still adhered to their original ground, notwithstanding the remon- strances of the governor and his council; which at length re- vealed the true secret of the objection, by representing him " as a meddling and contradictory spirit, who had already cost the country more money than he was worth." The governor, find- ing them unyielding, refused to qualify him ; and the house were thus obliged to proceed to business without him. (39) Having dismissed Coode from all his employments, and caused him to
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(38) British Empire in America, vol. 1st, 333.
(39) Upper House Journals of 1696, 903 and 904.
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be indicted for blasphemy; he followed up his attempts to ap- prehend him, with an ardor which never abated during his whole administration, and which manifested more of vindictive personal feeling, than of regard either for church or state. (10) His pro- ceedings against Clarke, a lawyer of St. Mary's, and Sly, the re- lative of Coode, are filled with the same spirit; for their principal offences seem to have consisted in ascribing to him certain acts of licentiousness, as making part of his early history, which did not very well comport with his new born zeal for the church. (41) Yet when his personal animosity was not thus excited, his administration was calculated {to win the favor of the people; and this, with all his aberrations, he appears to have enjoyed in a considerable degree, even down to the period of his removal. (42)
The external relations of the province, during his administration, evolved no events which produced any permanent effect upon its
. External rela- government or condition. They are remarkable
tions of the colo- ny during his ad- only, for the introduction of that system of general ministration. contribution amongst the colonies, in the defence of the frontiers against the French; which was kept up by the crown, until the final expulsion of the French from Canada. The settlements of the French in Canada had now become formi- dable. Extending their fortifications along the lakes, the struggle for mastery, which endured for more than half a century, was
(40) See supra, page 230.
(41) The proceedings against them will be found in the Council Proceed- ings, Liber X, 56 to 66 ;- and in the records of the provincial courts of that period. The acts which these persons ascribed to him, if true, might very properly be called "The Memorabilia" of governor Nicholson; for they are more unparalleled even than the luxurious Cleopatra's solution of pearls.
(42) Sce the address of the Assembly of 18th October, 1694, which com- mends, in the very highest terms, his efforts in the cause of the gospel and the Protestant religion, in the instruction of youth by the establishment of free schools, and his care for the security and defence of the province ;- that of 2d October, 1696, equally complimentary, which remarks, "He hath always treated us with justice, not considering so much his own as our good;" and that, at the period of his removal, of 12th November, 1698, signed by the councillors, burgesses, justices of the provincial court, members of the bar, and jurors, returning him their thanks for the many services he had render- ed the colony whilst governor. Council Proceedings, Liber F F, 791, 921 and 1029. See also the preamble to the Act of July, 1696, chap. 17.
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