USA > Maryland > An historical view of the government of Maryland : from its colonization to the present day > Part 31
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
unmindful of her obligations to contribute to the common defence. The requisitions of the English government, so far as they enjoined it upon her to
(18) Journals of the House of Delegates, 5th and 6th November, 1753.
(19) Journals of Ilouse of Delegates, 26th February, and 5th and 8th of March, 1754.
1
1
-
295
TO THE TREATY OF PARIS.
Chap. IV.]
send commissioners to the general convention at Albany, with presents to secure the assistance of the Indians, were cheerfully complied with. The sum of £500 was appropriated by the As- sembly, for the purchase of presents, and commissioners were de- puted by the governor to represent Maryland in that convention. The objects and operations of that convention, extended far bc- yond the purpose contemplated by Maryland in the appointment of her commissioners. The necessity of union amongst the colo- nies, to meet the emergencies of the period, was forcibly incul- cated, in the circulars from the secretary of state, and the instruc- tions from the commissioners of trade, under which this conven- tion was assembled ; but by the Assembly of Maryland, these re- commendations .were regarded, as merely enjoining concerted and harmonious action amongst the colonies, for the common defence. The formation of a confederated government, was not even remotely contemplated as one of their objects ; and if this de- sign had been disclosed, at any time before the deputation of her commissioners, she would, most probably, have receded from the whole measure. Her people were peculiarly attached to their charter-government ; and jealous of all measures, which tended in any degree to diminish its independence. At every period of her colonial existence, the plan of a confederated government was therefore resisted with great unanimity. Yet such a govern- ment over the English colonies, had always been a desideratum, in all their operations for a general defence; and the necessity of it, was peculiarly felt at this critical juncture, when they were destined to encounter the undivided energies of the French power in America. Deeply sensible of this, the members of the Albany convention, as soon as they had concluded their negotia- tions with the Indians, unanimously resolved, "That an union of the colonies was necessary for their preservation." Various plans of union were then submitted, of which the one ultimately adopted, was that proposed by Dr. Franklin. To enter into the details of this scheme of confederacy, would lead us too far away from the purposes of this work. The proceedings of that con- vention, and the general features and tendencies of the govern- ment proposed by it, are already matters of history, and have
-
296
HISTORY FROM THE RESTORATION
been described and illustrated by able writers. (20) It -hared the usual fate of all schemes of compromise, addressed to conflicting jealousies. It was disapproved of by the crown, because it vest- ed too much power in the colonies; and rejected by the colonie -. . because it gave too great a control over their operations to the crown. In Maryland, it encountered the most decided opposi- tion. When submitted to the Assembly, it was unanimously disapproved of by the lower house, "as tending to the destruc- tion of the rights and liberties of his majesty's subjects in the province." An address to the governor was at the same time adopted, which contains the following forcible remonstrance against this plan of union. " We do not conceive (says the ad- dress) that the commissioners were intended, or empowered, to agree upon any plan of a proposed union of the colonies, to be laid before the parliament of Great Britain, with a view to an act, by which one general government may be formed in Ameri- ca ; and therefore do not deem it necessary to enter into any particular notice of the minutes of their proceedings relative to it. But as it appears to us, we cannot, in consistence with our duty to our constituents, refrain from remarking, that the carrying of that plan into execution, would ultimately subvert that happy form of government to which we are entitled under our charter, (the freedom of which was, doubtless, the great inducement to our ancestors, to leave their friends and native country, and ven- ture their lives and fortunes among a fierce and savage people, in a rough, uncultivated world ;) and destroy the rights, liberties, and property, of his majesty's loyal subjects of this province." (21)
During the progress of these transactions, the results of the campaign of 1751 had given to the French war a new aspect. ៛ The Virginia forces under Colonel Washington had Assembly pro-
credings In July, been captured at the Little Meadows; and Fort Du 1754.
Quesne, just erected by the French at the site of the present town of Pittsburgh, menaced danger to the frontier settlements both of Virginia and Maryland. The Assembly was
4 (20) This plan of union, and the reasons which induced its illustrious author to give it the form proposed, will be found at large in 4th vol. of Franklin's Works .- See also Ist Pitkin's United States, 143 and 429.
(21) Journals of House of Delegates, of 10th March, 1755.
Chap. IV.]
TO THE TREATY OF PARIS.
297
immediately convened; and the propriety of making instant pro- vision for the defence of the frontier, and the protection of the Indian allies, was urged upon it by the governor in the most earnest and forcible terms. (22) The occasion was one of that very character, previously indicated by the colony, as entitled to her exertions ; and the Assembly, true to its obligations and pro- fessions, was now as prompt, as it had previously been remiss. The sum of £6000 was immediately appropriated, to be applied, under the direction of governor Sharpe, to the defence of the colony of Virginia, and the relief and support of the wives and children of the Indian allies. (23)
From this period until the commencement of the campaign of 1756, Maryland bore no part in the contest ; but lier passiveness Inactivity of the is not attributable to her unwillingness to aid the colony during common cause. From the moment at which it be- the campaigns of 1754 and 1755. came manifest that the security of the colonics was endangered, her Assemblies were ever ready to make such appropriations for the general defence, as her circumstances would permit; but, unfortunately, disputes now arose between the two houses of Assembly, as to the mode of raising the reve- nue to meet these appropriations, which resulted in defeating the appropriations themselves. Under the supply bill of 1751, va- rious taxes were imposed, to constitute a sinking fund for the re- demption of the issues authorized by that act. Amongst the'se was an increased tax on ordinary licenses, and a duty on imported ser- vants, embracing, by its general terms, transported convicts. In the subsequent supply bills, as passed by the lower house, these duties were continued as a part of the sinking fund for the dis- charge of the new appropriations. Their continuance was re- sisted by the governor and upper house, and as strenuously in- sisted on by the lower; and hence the defeat of the contem- plated appropriations of this period. The messages connect- ed with this controversy, form a highly interesting portion of our public documents, and reflect great lustre upon the lower house, from the ability and firmness which characterize them. The
(22) Governor's Message in Journal of House of Delegates, of 17th July, . 1754.
(23) Act of July, 1754, chap. 9th.
38
1
.
HISTORY FROM THE RESTORATION
[Hist. View.
nature of the controversy will show, that they were at issue upon important principles.
The power to grant ordinary licenses, had always been claim- ed and exercised by the governors of the province, as a branch
1
Controversy a- of proprietary power; and the revenue arising from bout the duty it, was claimed, and had generally been collected. on ordinary li-
censes.
as a part of the private revenue of the proprietary. In some of the early laws, however, this revenue had some- times been applied to public uses; and upon these, and the nature of the fund itself, the lower house soon founded a claim to it, as public revenue, always subject to their application. The urgency of the occasion, had induced the governor and council to assent to the duty on these licenses imposed. by the act of 1751; but the attempt to continue it was strenu- ously resisted as an invasion of proprietary prerogative. An open conflict as to the nature of this fund, at once ensued ; and it was now solemnly resolved by the lower house, "that the fines arising on ordinary licenses, were, and always had been, the undoubted right of the country; and that the lord proprietary of the province, by his prerogative, had no right to impose, or levy by way of fine, tax, or duty, any sum of money on any person whatsoever." To the principles of this resolve they sturdily adhered.
The objections to the duty on convicts, appear to have been elicited by the controversy about the license duty, and to have
Character of been advanced by the upper house, as a mere cover that relative! to the duty on con-
to their more serious objections to the latter. The victt.
practice of transporting convicts into the colonies, was introduced at an early period, and had been very far extend- ed by the statutes passed in the reign of George I., authorizing transportation as a commutation punishment for clergyable felo- nies. The number of transported convicts had so much increased under these statutes, that at this period there were not less than three or four hundred annually transported into Maryland. (21)
(24) Ist Pitkin's U. States, 133. A writer in the Maryland Gazette of 30th July, 1767, gives us a higher estimate. " I suppose (says he) that for these last thirty years, communibus annis, there have been at least 600 con- . victs per year imported into this province : and these have probably gone into 400 families." , After answering some objections to their importation
-
-
299
Chap. IV.]
TO THE-TREATY OF PARIS.
The introduction of such a population, was a source of great complaint amongst the colonists; and although they did not venture to put themselves in direct opposition to the statutes, by prohibiting the importation of convicts, they deemed it a fit subject for taxation. The manner of their importation encou- raged this measure. The convicts were transported by private shippers, under a contract with the government; and were sold
because of the contagious diseases likely to be communicated by them, he further remarks -- " This makes at least 400 to one, that they do no injury to the country in the way complained of : and the people's continuing to buy and receive them so constantly, shows plainly the general sense of the coun- try about the matter ; notwithstanding a few gentlemen seem so angry that convicts are imported here at all, and would, if they could, by spreading this terror, prevent the people's buying them. I confess I am one, says he, who think a young country cannot be settled, cultivated, and improved, without people of some sort : and that it is much better for the country to receive convicts than slaves. The wicked and bad amongst them, that come into this province, mostly run away to the northward, mix with their people, and pass for honest men : whilst those more innocent, and who came for very small offences, serve their times out here, behave well, and become useful people."
This attempt to justify the Convict Trade, elicited two able and spirited replies over the signatures of " Philanthropos" and "C. D." appearing in Greene's Gazette of 20th August, 1767, in which the writer of the first article is handled " with the gloves off.". " His remarks (says Philanthropos) remind . me of the observation of a great philosopher, who alleges that there is a certain race of men of so selfish a cast, that they would even set a neighbour's house on fire, for the convenience of roasting an egg at the blaze. That these are not the reveries of fanciful speculatists, the author now under con- sideration is in a great measure a proof ; for who, but a man swayed with the most sordid selfishness, would endeavor to disarm the people of all caution " against such imminent danger, lest their just apprehensions should interfere with his little schemes of profit ? And who but such a man would appear publicly as an advocate for the importation of felons, the scourings of jails, and the abandoned outcasts of the British nation, as a mode in any sort eligi- ble for peopling a young country ?" In another part of his reply he remarks, " In confining the indignation because of their importation to a few, and representing that the general sense of the people is in favor of this vile impor- tation, he is guilty of the most shameful misrepresentation and the grossest calumny upon the whole province. What opinion must our mother country, and our sister colonies, entertain of our virtue, when they see it confidently asserted in the Maryland Gazette, that we are fond of peopling our country with the most abandoned profligates in the universe ? Is this the way to purge ourselves from that false and bitter reproach, so commonly thrown
1
1
1.4
300
HISTORY FROM THE RESTORATION (Hist. View.
in the colonies for the advantage of the shipper. (25) Their transportation was, therefore, a most gainfui species of com. - merce, in the hands of private individuals; and as such, was as fair a subject for the imposition of a duty, as imported merchant- dize. In Pennsylvania, a poll tax was imposed on imported convicts as early as 1729; and in Virginia and Maryland, attempts had been made at a still earlier period, to restrain the evils arising from their' importation. (26) When the general duty on im- ported servants was imposed by the act of 1751, no objection was made to it by the upper house, because it embraced con- viets; and the duty was collected for the redemption of the ap- propriations of that act, until the close of the war. But the continuance of it, in the new supply bills, was resisted, as being in conflict with the acts of parliament authorizing the importa- tion. During the pendency of the controversy, the subject was brought under the consideration of the attorney-general of Eng- land, (Mr. Murray, afterwards lord Mansfield,) who pronounced the opinion " That no colony had power to make such laws, be- cause they were in direct opposition to the authority of the par- liament of Great Britain; and that, if they were proper, the co- lonial legislatures might, with equal propriety, lay duties upon, or even prohibit, the importation of English goods." (27) The parallel given was, itself, an answer to this opinion; inasmuch as by the express grants of the charter, (which, lord Mansfield frankly admits in his opinion, he had not examined,) the legisla- ture of Maryland had power to impose duties on imported British merchandize. (28) Yet this opinion was relied upon, with seem-
. upon us, that we are the descendants of convicts ? As far as it has lain in my way to be acquainted with the general sentiments of the people upon this subject, I solemnly declare, that the most discerning and judicious amongst them esteem it the greatest grievance imposed upon us by our mother country."
This writer also informs us, that the ordinary price of convicts, if common labourers, was about €12 sterling ; and if tradesmen, from -£18 to 50 sterling. (25) Message of II. of D. of 16th Decr. 1757, and Journals of HI. of D. of 14th March and 26th Feb. 1755, and note (25).
(26) 2d Chalmers's Opinions, 112 ; and Maryland act of 1725, chap. 6th, dissented from by the proprietary.
(27) Governor's Message in Journal of H. of D. of 7th May, 1757, and Ist Chalmers's Opinions, 347.
(28) Charter, seet. 17th, and antes, 163.
1
1
Chap. IV.]
TO THE TREATY OF PARIS.
301
1
ing confidence, by the governor and council; and pressed, but fruitlessly, upon the lower house, to induce it to suspend the - collection of that duty under the act of 1754. Some delays in its collection subsequently occurring, the governor attempted to take refuge under this opinion. (29) The reply of the lower house evinces, that " neither tall, nor wise, nor reverend heads" had much influence in reducing the Assemblies of Maryland to submission, when they were warring for their rights. It is. so characteristic of the people, and the temper of the times, that we cannot withhold it. "As we have understood, (says the message,) that opinion was obtained by the persons near- ly interested in the event, we are inclined to think, that it was not founded on a very fair and impartial statement of the case ; and therefore, until some regular authoritative inhibition from the government of the mother country shall circumscribe the effect of our law, it will and ought to have its full operation and force. Precarious, and contemptible indeed, would the state of our laws be, if the bare opinion of any man, however distin- guished in his dignity and office, yet acting, as in the present in- stance, in the capacity of a private lawyer or counsel, should be sufficient to shake their authority and destroy their force." (30)
.
(29) Journals of H. of D. 14th April, 4th and 7th May, 10th and 16th De- cember, 1757.
(30) Journ. of II. of D. 10th April, 1758. There were several occasions in the Colonial History of Maryland, when resort was had to the Crown Lawyers for opinions, to influence the deliberations, or change the judgments of the Assemblies ; but they never answered the purposes for which they were ob- tained. Vouched as they were by great and imposing names, and claiming to be oracular, they were regarded by the Assemblies as alike the flattering responses of the oracles of olden times-always adapted to the wishes of those who sought them. ' The reader, who has had occasion to read Mr. Chalmers's Collection of Opinions relative to the colonies, must have been struck with the unsatisfactory, nay imbecile character of many of those opinions, coming from lawyers conspicuous for their integrity, their general ability, and their professional learning. They manifest a degree of carelessness, and a want of research, in the investigation of the questions submitted, which serve to show how lightly the colonial rights and interests were regarded. It will be seen in the text, that even Mansfield, in an opinion professing to determine the extent of the legislative power of the Colonial Assemblies of Maryland, admits that he had not even examined the charter by which that power was given, and under which it was excercised. Thus it was that the rights of a people
-------
302
HISTORY FROM THE RESTORATION
[Hlst. View.
It is therefore apparent from these details, that the course of Maryland, during the campaigns of 1754 and 1755, was not one
Propriety of the of timid abandonment, or selfish disregard, of the
course of the lower house as In these contro-
general interests of the colonies. When the proper versies. occasion for action had arrived, it was met by her with promptness and alacrity. The messages of the lower house of Assembly all breathe the spirit of men, deeply sensible of their obligations for the common defence, and ardently desirous to redeem them. Yet they were unwilling to jeopard, for the ac- complishment of their wishes, the sacrifice of unquestioned rights, or to make their discharge of one duty dependent upon their wilful disregard of another. To their constituents they owed it as a sacred duty, to guard with the most apprehensive · jealousy, the rights of taxation and internal regulation, as the ex- clusive prerogatives of their Assemblies. Upon the preserva- tion of these prerogatives in purity and perfection, depended the essential liberties of the colony; and it is manifest, that the con- cessions demanded by the upper house could not have been ac- ceded to, without a surrender of the principles to which the lower house of Assembly and the colony stood pledged, by repeat- ed acts and resolves of the most explicit character, in relation to the exercise of the taxing power. The proprietary, at that very period, was collecting the tobacco and tonnage duties; although their collection had, for years, been denounced by the people of the province, as the exercise of arbitrary prerogative, usurping the power to tax, and that too for the private benefit of the pro-
2
were passed upon and rejected, without giving to them as much consideration as would have been bestowed upon a petty question of property between in- dividuals. From the character of many of the opinions of the Crown Lawyers as to the Colonies, one would suppose that they had been given for "half & CROWN.
They were happily characterised by the distinguished Daniel Dulany, in his remarks upon the Stamp Act. "I have lived long enough," says he, "to remember many opinions of Crown Lawyers upon American affairs. They have all been strongly marked with the same character. They have generally been very sententious, and the same observation may be applied to them all- They have all declared that to be legal, which the Minister for the time being has deemed to be expedient. The opinion given by a General of the Law on the question, whether soldiers might be quartered on private houses in America, must be pretty generally remembered."-Dulany's Considerations.
1
1
Chap. IV.]
303
TO THE TREATY OF PARIS.
prietary. The exclusive right, now claimed for him, of granting ordinary licenses, and of assessing and receiving for his own benefit the amount of license money to be paid upon their grant, advanced one step further in the march of prerogative. It had no fig leaf to hide its nakedness. It had neither the sanction of the charter, nor the color of law ; and resting, for its justifica- tion, solely upon its previous exercise, the very claim of it upon precedent, did but more strongly demonstrate the necessity of resisting it at the threshold. Whilst the independence of the taxing power of the Assemblies was thus menaced, the objections to the duty on convicts struck at its very root. They denied its exercise in the very case where the propriety of it was sanc- tioned by the most solemn guarantees of the charter; and where also, it was merely a measure of internal regulation against an acknowledged evil. In the act of 1754 these duties had been sanctioned; and to yield them now upon such objections, was to give a vantage ground to prerogative never to be reclaimed. The Assemblies therefore acted upon the maxim, " obsta prin- cipiis ;" and they acted wisely.
. The disastrous results of the campaign of 1755, had, however, placed the colony in a condition which no longer permitted the lower house to pause for the acknowledgment of these rights. The expedition under general Braddock, in which Maryland bore no part, had been signally defeated ;
Unprotected con- dition of the frontiers, at the close of the cam- paign of 1755. and by the retirement of the British troops, the fron- tier settlements of Maryland were left open and entirely unpro- tected, against the incursions of the savages, now hanging on her borders. The terror occasioned by Braddock's defeat, was borne by the borderers to the very heart of the settlements. The westernmost settlements of that period, extended but very little beyond the mouth of Conococheague creek. There were indeed beyond this limit, a few of the more adventurous of the borderers, who, like Boon or Leather-Stocking, were continually plunging deeper into the wilderness to escape the advance of the settle- ments ; but the Conococheague was then about the "ultima Thule" of civilization. There was a settlement at Fort Cumber- land ; but it was not then a settlement of this colony. The site of the latter place, at the junction of Will's creek and the Poto- mac river, had recommended it strongly to the consideration
* *
301
HISTORY FROM THE RESTORATION
[Ifst. View.
of the Ohio Company, as an advantageous position for the esta- blishment of a trading post ; and a trading station was accordingly established there by that company, as carly as 1752-53, which soon became one of its most important establishments. The place itself, appears to have been regarded by that company, as within the limits of his grant; as a town was actually laid out, under the direction of that company, upon the site of the present town of Cumberland. (31) A stoccado fort was soon erected for the protection of the post; and in the expeditions of 1751 and 1755, it became the usual place of rendezvous for the troops destined for the Ohio, and was garrisoned by forces from Virginia. But from the settlers of Maryland, this post was separated by a deep and almost trackless wilderness of eighty miles in extent, which, in times of savage hostility, cut off all communication and hopes'of assistance. (32) A journey to it, at that day, would have been considered almost as perilous as a modern journey to the Rocky Mountains; and its very situation, was a subject for con- jecture to the people of Maryland generally. Thus situated, this fortification afforded no protection to the frontier settlements of the colony. There were many passes by which the enemy might approach them, without coming within the range of that fort ; and it was too remote to afford hopes of succour, in cases of sudden attack. Against such attacks they had no protection, except that afforded by a few small stockade forts, erected by the borderers themselves as places of retreat for their families; for at the commencement of this war, there was not a regularly garri- soned fortification in the whole province.
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.