USA > Maryland > An historical view of the government of Maryland : from its colonization to the present day > Part 29
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 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
-
1
2
- 1
..........
.
271
HISTORY OF THE ROYAL
[Hist. View.
disqualification and penalties ; and to the non-conforming Prop :. tant, it now gave no privileges, which he could not enjoy in Eng. land, under the system of Protestant toleration established by the revolution. At the same time, many of the temporal induce- ments to settlers were removed. Lands were no longer given as a bounty to emigrants ; and the controversies about his land rights, in which the proprietary was involved for several years after the revolution, rendered it difficult to obtain grants from him upon acceptable terms. During the first years of the royal go- vernment, the husbandry of the province appears to have been in a distressed condition, but little calculated to invite emigrants. " The trade of this province, (says the report of the Assembly in 1697,) ebbs and flows according to the rise or fall of tobacco in the market of England ; but yet it is manifest and apparent that, universally, less crops are made of late than formerly; that is to say, of tobacco: for that the most and best land for that purpose, is cleared and now worn out, which indeed thereby becomes better for tillage; and the late grievous losses sustained by the death of cattle, hath sufficiently cautioned the inhabitants, by tillage to make better provision against the late unusual hard winter, and to plant less tobacco; and especially the country is in want of servants and negroes." (61) Hence the settlements were not much extended during this era; and the only new counties erected, were Prince George's, in 1695, and Queen Anne's, in 1706.
The pursuits of the colony underwent no change. Tobacco was still its staple, and almost the only article produced for ex- Its trade and portation. Planting tobacco was the general pur- pursuits gene- rally. suit ; and besides the planters, there were some carpenters, coopers, and a few other artisans; the whole num- ber of whom is estimated, by the report of 1697, as only consti- tuting about the one sixtieth of the whole population. Manu-
(61) The years 1694 and 1695 are described in the provincial records as years of unusual scarcity and suffering in the colony, from the effects of which, upon its husbandry, it did not recover for several years afterwards. A regular consus was taken of the cattle and hogs, which had perished during these two seasons, from which it appeared that the number of cattle lost during the time, was 25,429, and of hogs 62,373. Council Proceedings, Liber II. P, 2, p. 2d, 303.
1
1
1
-
1
275
GOVERNMENT OF MARYLAND.
Chap. ID.]
factories were still unknown in the province ; and the colonists depended entirely upon England for the most necessary articles of consumption. In a few families, coarse clothing was manu -- factured, out of the wool of the province, for the use of their servants ; and in Somerset and Dorchester, some attempts were made by a few persons, at a period when there was an extreme difficulty in procuring English goods, to manufacture linen and woollen cloths ; " which they were reduced to (says the report of 1697,) by absolute necessity, and without which many persons had perished; and this house believes, that when the like ne- cessity falls on them or any other of this province, the like pre- servation will be endeavored." (62) How cautiously they vindi- cated their feeble attempts at manufacturing the very necessaries of life, to escape the censure of the all-grasping spirit of England, cver jealous of every thing that tended, in the least degree, to weaken the entire dependence of her colonies, or to diminish the gains of her monopolies. There are no data from which we can collect an accurate estimate of the value of the exports of the colony. Tobacco was the only export of much value. To use the forcible expression of another, "it was their meat, drink, clothing and money." (63) The trade in this article was carried on almost exclusively with England. The trade else- where was very inconsiderable; and that consisted in the trade to the West Indies, in beef, pork, pipe staves, timber, and small quantities of tobacco; and in the trade with the New Englanders, for rum, molasses, fish, and wooden wares; for the traffic in which latter article the New Englanders were conspicuous even at that early period. The shipping of the co- lony was very inconsiderable. The trade with England was car- ried on entirely in English ships; and the trade with the West Indies principally in New England vessels. The military de- fences of the province consisted entirely in its militia; and of
(62) There is little or no woolen manufacture, (says the author of the British Empire in America, written about the year 1709,) followed by any of the inhabitants, except what is done in Somerset county " __ Vol. 1st, 343. It would seem from this, that the attempt in Somerset, had partially suc- ceeded in establishing; the manufacture.
(63) Ist British Empire, 313.
1
-
276
HISTORY OF THE, &c. .
[Ilist. View.
naval power it was utterly destitute, there not being a single vessel in the employ of the government. (64)
From this general view of the statistical condition of the co- lony, it is evident that its power and resources were but little in- creased during this cra. It was still a feeble and dependent settlement, trammelled in its trade, limited in its resources, and humble in its aims. The events of this era were unfavorable, both to the increase of its population, and its extension over the surface of the province. Hence its inhabitants still clustered along the bay and the mouths of its tributaries; and a large and · fertile portion of its territory was yet unexplored. Yet it pos- sessed all the elements of power and wealth. It enjoyed a free government. It contained an industrious, energetic, and self- relying population. It presented an extensive and unexhausted territory, to:tempt the enterprise, and diversify the pursuits of its people. Untoward circumstances might retard its progress; but ultimate prosperity was assured to a colony thus situated. To the succeeding era it belonged, to call these latent energies into action ; and to develope strength and resources, not only equal to her own protection, but even bidding proud defiance to the oppressions of the parent.
(64) These details, as to the trade and pursuits of the colony, are collect- ed from the report of the governor and council to the commissioners of trade, in 1697, (which see in Council Proceedings, Liber F F, 942 to 947 :) and "the British Empire in America."
I
-------
-
1
CHAPTER IV.
HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MARYLAND, FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE TREATY OF PARIS.
FROM an examination of the causes and character of the Protestant revolution in Maryland, as developed in the preceding chapter, it is manifest, that as far as the proprietary was personally of connected with the transactions of that period, his Suspension
the proprietary government not government had fallen without a crime. The cha- attributable to mal-administra- racter of Charles Calvert, as displayed in his wise tion. . and virtuous administration of the province, for many years anterior to that revolution, is of itself sufficient for his vindication, against any suspicion of hostility to the civil or religious liberties of the people, predicated either upon the occurrence of the revolution, or the vague and unsupported accu- sations of " the Associators." It has been seen also, that such a suspicion is at war, with all the evidences of his conduct, and the inferences as to his motives, which can be collected from the recorded transactions of the colony itself, before and after that revolution. The addresses of the provincial Assemblies, whilst the colony was yet under his government, breathe nothing but respect for his character, and gratitude for his administration. The revolution accomplished, and the royal government fully established, the character of his administration became again and again the subject of investigation. His land rights, and private revenues derived from the province, were regarded as public grievances : yet we look in vain through the spirited transactions- of the Assemblies, under the new government, in opposition to these, even for charges of mal-administration, to sustain such a suspicion. At a later period, it became the interest of the crown, in its attacks upon the proprietary governments generally, to accumulate objections to them, derived from the experience of
.
1
-
.
/
278
HISTORY FROM THE RESTORATION
[llist. View.
their operation. The government of Maryland was in the hand. . of men, many of whom were prominent actors in the transactions of the revolution, and were yet imbued with the religious and political excitements of that period. To such as these was the appeal made, for the experience of Maryland; and they were invited to the attack, by the restricted direction to report merely the ill conduct of the proprietaries. Interest and incli- nation sustained this invitation; and the memorials of abused power, if they ever existed, were yet fresh around them ; yet their reply to the inquiries of the commissioners of trade, does not even insinuate the charge of proprietary oppression.
The true cause of the long continued suspension of the pro- prietary government, is found in the single fact, that the proprie- tary was a Catholic. The inhabitants of Maryland being princi- True catre of pally Protestants, the inclinations of the colony con- Ito suspension. curred with the obvious policy of the crown, in establishing and sustaining the royal government. The repeat- ed efforts to re-establish the pretensions of the deposed James and his more chivalrous son to the English throne, kept the minds of the English people in a state of continual apprehension, as to the security of the Protestant succession. Unfortunately for the pro- fessors of the Catholic religion, by the force of circumstances which it is not necessary. to detail, their religious persuasions became identified, in the public mind, with opposition to the principles of the revolution. Their political disfranchisement was the consequence. Charles Calvert, the deposed proprietary, shared the common fate of his Catholic brethren. Sustained and protected by the crown in the enjoyment of his mere private rights, the general jealousy of Catholic power denied him the government of the province.
Perceiving the full force of this cause of exclusion, which was gaining fresh vigor from the renewed efforts of the Pretender, the Restoration of proprietary never returned to the province, and the government. abandoned all hopes of the restoration of the pro- prietary government in his own person. He submitted quietly to his own loss of power, for the sake of the religion in which he had grown up. For his children, his feelings prescribed a dif- ferent course. His interests in the province would be their prin- cipal patrimony; and these were in continual jeopardy, whilst
1
1
1
-
Chap. IV.]
TO THE TREATY OF PARIS. 279
they were divorced from the powers of government. For his family, he saw nothing in prospect, but disfranchisement, and perhaps ruin, in adherence to a proscribed faith ; and yielding . to the anxieties of a parent, he induced his son and heir apparent, Benedict Leonard Calvert, to embrace the doctrines of the esta- blished church. By his death, on the 20th of February, 1714, (old style; at the advanced age of eighty-four, the succession to his estates in the province was cast upon his son, who was then a member of the English parliament. Benedict Leonard Calvert survived his father scarcely long enough to be formally recog- nized as proprietary; and by his death, on the 16th of April, 1715, the title to the province devolved upon his infant son, Charles Calvert. This son, as well as the other children of the late proprietary, after the admission of the latter into the Protes- tant church, were educated in the doctrines of the established religion ; and therefore the causes for the suspension of the pro- prietary government had now ceased to exist. The claims of the Baltimore family were now fully acknowledged, and sustain- ed by George I., the new monarch of England; by whom the proprietary government was restored, in May, 1715, in the per- son of the infant proprietary. The administration of it was im- mediately assumed, in his name, by his guardian, lord Guilford; and a commission for the office of governor issued, under the joint names of the proprietary and his guardian, to John Hart, the late royal governor of the province.
The restoration of the proprietary government, was not mark- ed either by open discontent, or extraordinary rejoicing, on the Its effects upon part of the people of the province. An interval of the colony. twenty-six years had separated them from that go- vernment. The causes of the excitement, which occasioned its overthrow, had in a great degree subsided ; but with these had also passed away, many of the recollections which endeared it and would have welcomed its return. The proprietaries, who had administered that government, were gone; and it was now restored in the person of a youth and a stranger, who had yet to win the personal attachment of his people. Upon a govern- ment of laws, such as that of Maryland, a mere change of its head has but little effect. The only apprehensions, even in the minds of the more timid, related to the security of the establish-
-
,
.
HISTORY FROM THE RESTORATION
[Ilist. View.
+
ed religion; and these did not look to immediate danger, inas- much as the new proprietary was an open professor of that reli- gion. Yet these apprehensions existed in the minds of some, and were now seized upon, to justify the passage of acts, giving to the new government a character more exclusively Protestant even than that of the royal government which preceded it.
A test oath, requiring the abjuration of the Pretender's claims, had been introduced in 1704, which was kept up during the con-
Exclusive cha- tinuance of the royal government. (1) But it was
racter given to it
by new test reserved for the period of the restoration, to esta-
oaths. blish a test-oath, requiring not only the abju- ration of the political claims of the Pretender, but also the re- nunciation of some of the essential doctrines of the Catholic church. The succession to the English throne, as regulated by parliament, having passed into the Brunswick family in the per- son of George I., new test oaths were prescribed in England for the further security of the Protestant succession ; (2) which, how- ever well adapted to the condition of England, were not de- manded by the circumstances of the colony, or the feelings and power of the Catholic interest within it. The restoration of the proprietary, who was as yet a novitiate in the Protestant religion, was, however, the signal for alarm in the province .. The predis- position to this was increased, immediately after the restoration, by the silly act of a few persons in drinking the health of the Pretender, conduct which savored more of folly than of treason. The apprehension of a plot for the establishment of the Preten- der's power in the colony, was ridiculous ; and the apprehension of danger from it, still more so. It was, however, enough to induce the Assembly of the province to follow the example of the English parliament. At the first session of Assembly held under the restored government, an act was passed, which intro- duced the qualifying test oaths of England in all their rigor, and effectually excluded the Catholics from all participation in the government. All persons, holding any office or place of public trust within the province, were, by this act, required to take certain oaths, called the oaths of allegiance, abhorrency, and ab-
(1) Act of April, 1704, chap. 11, which was superseded by the act of 1715, chap. 30.
(2) Statute Ist George Ist. chap. 13.
1
281
TO THE TREATY OF PARIS.
Chap. IV.] .
juration ; which substantially consisted, in acknowledging king George as the supreme head both of church and state, in deny- ing the right of any foreign power or prelate to exercise any spi- ritual jurisdiction within the English dominions, and in abjuring the claims of the Pretender ; and they were also required to de- clare their disbelief of the doctrine of transubstantiation. None were capable of holding offices or places of trust, who refused to take these tests; and in case of such refusal, if the person re- fusing attempted to hold or exercise any such office, his commis- sion or appointment was declared void, and he himself subjected to severe penalties. The government of Maryland thus became, and continued until the revolution, exclusively Protestant; and the Catholics were taxed to sustain a religion and a government, to which they were emphatically strangers. (3)
From the re-establishment of the proprietary government until the treaty of Paris, its internal administration presents but few
General results of the proprieta- events, which interest by their details, or instruct by ry administra. their results. Apart from the mere wars of words tion during this
era. between the provincial assemblies and the gover- nors, or between the two houses of Assembly, about their respec- tive privileges and powers, or the constitutional rights of the pro- vince, it was a period of almost unbroken tranquillity. The laws and institutions of the colony now acquired a settled and
(3), Act of 1716, chap. 5th. This system of disqualifications was carried still further by the act of 1718, chap. Ist. All professing Catholics were . rendered incapable of voting, unless they qualified themselves, by taking the several test-oaths, and making the declaration, prescribed by the act of 1716 ; and all judges of elections were empowered to tender these oaths and de- claration, to "any person suspected to be a Papist or popishly inclined ;" and upon his refusal thus to qualify, they might reject his vote. These were the mere legal disqualifications of the Catholics ; but they fell short of the actual oppressions practised upon them during many periods of this era. When laws degrade, individuals learn to practise wanton outrage ; the former stig- matize, the latter catch its spirit, and make its example an excuse for oppres- sion. Hence the personal animosity of the Protestants against the Catholics of Maryland, was at one period carried to such an extent, that, as we are in- formed, the latter were even excluded from social intercourse with the for- mer, were not permitted to walk in front of the State House, and were actual- ly obliged to wear swords for their personal protection .-- Life of Charles Carroll of Carrolton, in Biography of Signers, 8th vol., 240.
36
-
.
1
1
1
t
1
HISTORY FROM THE RESTORATION [Hist. View.
permanent character, and a degree of consistence which had hitherto been unknown in their history. The reader, who has had occasion to examine the legislation of Maryland before this period, must have remarked its peculiarly fluctuating character. All was temporary; ail was subjected to repeated changes. This state of the provincial legislation was, in some measure, the con- sequence of that continual variation in the condition and pur- suits of a colony, which always marks the first years of its esta- blishment. Yet even this is not sufficient to account wholly for it. There was a general disinclination, in Maryland, to the enactment of permanent laws. No change could be made in such laws, but by some new act of legislation requiring the pro- prietary's assent ; and the Assemblies were always unwilling to render themselves dependent upon his will, for relief from a law, which might be found, by experience, to be inconvenient or op- pressive. They preferred temporary laws, which would expire by their own limitation, and might be re-enacted if found saluta- ry. Their legislation thus assumed the character of a system of expedients. As to revenue bills, this discreet jealousy was che- rished down to the latest period of the colonial government; but the legislation upon mere private rights and remedies, now ac- quired a more permanent character. The last Assembly which was held under the royal government, the Assembly of 1715, is as conspicuous in our statute book, even at this day, as " the bless- ed parliament" in that of England. A body of permanent laws was then adopted, which, for their comprehensiveness and ar- rangement, are almost entitled to the name of "a code." They formed the substralum of the statute law of the province, even down to the revolution; and the subsequent legislation of the colony effected no very material alterations in the system of general law then established. Several of the important statutes of that session are in force at this day. The history of the seve- ral provincial offices, hereafter to be presented, will also exhibit a more regular and settled organization of them, about the com . mencement of this era. The internal administration of the go- vernment from this period, was, therefore, in general, but the regular and ordinary operation of established forms : and pre- sents nothing worthy of record, in the history of that govern- ment, but the unceasing and unwearied vigilance of the Assem-
1
-
-
,
283
Chap. IV.] 1 TO THE TREATY OF PARIS.
blies and the people, in preserving the spirit of those forms, and in restraining the power of their rulers within their proper or- bits. At every period of this era, the eye rests upon memorial's of the constitutional liberty of Maryland.
The controversy about the extension of the English statutes, originated in 1722; and the discussions connected with it, oc- Controversy cupied nearly the whole attention of the colony about the exten- son of the En- glish statutes. until its termination. The origin of that contro- versy, the principles involved in it, and the manner of its termination, have already been detailed; (1) and the read- er, in recurring to it, will perceive, that in the inquiries to which it led, and the principles it brought into view, it extended far be- yond the immediate subject. It ranged over all their chartered rights and privileges, and shed over these all the force and per- spicuity which the ablest writers and debaters of the province could impart. It familiarized the people of the colony with the character and extent of these rights, and instilled into their minds just notions of government. A Trojan war in its duration, it nourished, in the breasts of the colonists, a spirit of stern and sturdy adherence to their rights, which was perceived and felt in all the after transactions of the colony."
A new occasion for its exercise soon presented itself. From the close of this controversy about the statutes in 1732, until Disputes about 1739, the history of the colony presents nothing of the proprietary „ revenue. moment, but the transactions connected with the disputed boundaries between it and the province of Pennsylvania, of which a full account has already been given. (5) In 1739, began the dissentions about the proprietary revenue, between the lower house of Assembly and the governors, which endured until the downfall of the proprietary government. The origin, nature, and · results of the contests, relative to the tobacco and tonnage du- ties, have already been fully described. (6) It will. therefore suf- fice to remark, that at the session of 1739, the levying of these duties by the proprietary was brought under the consideration of the Assembly. The introduction of this subject led, as usual, to a
(4) Supra, Introduction, chap. 3d, 121 to 128.
(5) Supra, Introduction, chapter Ist.
(6) Supra, 176 and 178.
بحد
HISTORY FROM THE RESTORATION [Hist. View.
thorough examination of the proprietary encroachments upon the rights of the colony; and a series of resolves were then adopted by the lower house, denouncing as manifestly arbitrary and illegal, the levying of these duties, the settling of officers fees by procla- mation or ordinance, and the creation of new offices with new fees without the assent of the Assembly. (7) That house resolved, therefore, to employ an agent resident at London, for the protec- tion of the colony and the redress of these grievances; who should be empowered to bring them immediately under the con- sideration of the king in council, in the event of the proprietary's refusal to remove them. (8) The act proposing the appointment of an agent being opposed by the upper house, the measure was vindicated by the lower house, in a message worthy of preser- vation for its laconic boldness. . " The people of Maryland, (say they) think the proprietary takes money from them unlawfully. The proprietary says, he has a right to take that money. This mat- ter must be determined by his majesty, who is indifferent to both. The proprietary is at home, and has this very money to enable him to negotiate the affair on'his part. The people have no way of negotiating it on theirs, but by employing fit persons in London to act for them. These persons must be paid for their trouble ; and this bill proposes to raise a fund for that purpose." (9) This bill was finally rejected by the upper house ; but the measure was still adhered to, and accomplished by the lower house. Messrs. James Calder, Charles Carroll, Vachel Denton, Thomas Gassaway, Philip Hammond, Edward Sprigg, Turner Wooton, Osborn Sprigg, and John Magruder, were now appointed as a commit- tee of that house, with power to employ an agent at London ; fo whom, they were instructed to transmit copies of all the laws and documents, relative to the subject in controversy. At the same period, an address to the proprietary, and an address to the king, were prepared by that house; the latter of which was to be pre- sented, only in the event of the proprietary's refusal to accede to their requests. These decisive measures gave rise to an angry controversy between the governor and the lower house, which ex- ended its influence to all the intercourse between them for seve-
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.