USA > Maryland > An historical view of the government of Maryland : from its colonization to the present day > Part 33
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Chap. IV.]
TO THE TREATY OF PARIS.
315
prove, that even the spirit, early and long educated in the ways of vice, is not incurable ; and that virtue's paths, though late regained, may yet be paths of pleasantness and peace. Super- cilious morality may condemn the exhibition of such characters; but we shall be pardoned for saying, upon the experience of the colonies generally, that men thus rescued from crime, and enrol- led as citizens, did contribute to the strength and moral power of the province.
The commercial condition of the colony during this period, exhibited all the features of abject dependence. The restrictive system, had accomplished all its purposes, and had fully establish- Commerce of the ed for England the monopoly she desired. The trade colony. of the province in every valuable import or export, was conducted exclusively with England, and in English vessels. Tobacco was still the principal export of the colony, and the chief source of its wealth. In most of the statistical accounts of that period, the quantity of tobacco annually exported from Maryland and Virginia, is stated in the aggregate, so as to ren- der it difficult to determine the exact quantity exported from each. In 1731, the annual export of this article from the two colonies to Great Britain, was estimated at 60,000 hogsheads of 600 pounds each. (42) A later, and perhaps a more accurate estimate, in 1740, predicated upon the information of the En- glish merchants engaged in this trade, rates it at 30,000 hogs- heads of about 900 pounds. (43) The only estimate made in the province as to this article of export, which can be relied upon as accurate, is that contained in the report made by its governor and council, in 1761, to the commissioners of trade, which repre- sents, that there were about 28,000 hogsheads shipped annually, from Maryland to England, valued at £140,000. It appears also from this report, and the antecedent reports of 1749 and 1756, coming from the same source and under similar calls, that the trade in tobacco was carried on exclusively with Great Britain and in English vessels. The other exports of Maryland, during this period, were wheat, lumber, corn, flour, pig and bar iron in small quantities, skins, and furs : but these were inconsiderable in
: (42) 3d Anderson's Commerce, 423.
(43) Same, 496 and 544.
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HISTORY FROM THE RESTORATION [Iist. Whw.
amount and value. The total value of her exports, exclusive of tobacco, was estimated, in 1749, at £16,000 sterling; and in 1761, £80,000 currency. Her imports were drawn almost exclu- sively from England ; upon which she still depended, for nearly every thing but the food necessary for sustenance. The value of her English imports, was estimated, in 1756, at £150,000 annu- ally ; and in 1761, at &160,000. Besides these, she imported . salt from the Portuguese Islands, and a small quantity of wine from Madeira. She carried on also a small trade with the New England colonies in. bread stuffs. The state of her shipping, during this period, manifests the same degree of commercial dependence. The trade with England was carried on exclusively in English vessels ; and according to the estimates of the colony, ' employed, in 1748, 200 vessels of 12,000 tons burthen ; in 1756, 150 vessels of 10,000 tons; and in 1761, 120 vessels of 18,000 tons. The whole shipping of the colony, as estimated in 1756, was bet 60 vessels of about 2000 tons burthen in the aggregate, navigated by about 450 men ; and in 1761, in consequence of the French war, it had decreased to 30 vessels, of 1300 tons burthen in the aggregate, employing 200 men; and in its employment, it was in a great measure limited to the West India trade, and that with the northern colonies. (44)
In manufactures, the colony had made but little progress, ex- cept in the production of Iron. As early as 1749, Ity pianufactures. there were eight furnaces and nine forges, em- ployed in this branch of manufacture : and they were still in ex- istence and operation at the close of this cra. The quantity of iron annually manufactured in them, as estimated in 1761, was 2500 tons of pig iron, and 600 tons of bar iron. For almost every other article of manufacture, the colonists depended en- tir ly upon England. This was the condition in which the En- glich government desired to retain them: and the reports from the province to the commissioners of trade during this period, betray, every where, the knowledge of the jealousy with which the former regarded all attempts to establish manufactories in
(44) These facts relative to the statistical condition of Maryland at this period, are collected from the several reports of her governor and council, to the commissioners of trade in 1749, 1756, and 1761, referred to in note 43 of this chapter.
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Chap, IV.] TO THE TREATY OF PARIS. 317
the colonies, and the desire to allay it. Hence all these reports concur in saying, that no such attempts had been made or were about to be made in the province, except for the production of iron. Their representations as to manufactures, might therefore be received with some degree of distrust, as coming from persons anxious to conceal what they had accomplished in the establish- ment of them ; if they were not sustained by the statements of the Assembly at a later period, when fresh from the victory over the Stamp Act, and in a message representing the necessity of ma- nufacturing for themselves-" We can only say (says the lower house, in 1767) what is very generally known, that nothing has been set up in this province which deserves the name of a ma- nufactory. It is true, that several families make some of their coarse cloathing within themselves, but in so few instances as not to deserve notice, and that without any encouragement from public or private subscriptions, except the small bounty lately paid by the County Courts upon a few pieces of linen. Your Excellency may well report, from your own sight and know- ledge, that the inhabitants of the province, from the first to the lowest rank, are generally clothed in British manufactures." (45)
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Such was Maryland when began the struggle for her political liberties, originating with the Stamp Act, and terminating in her independence. From the proprietary restoration, her progress had been rapid, when contrasted with that of the preceding era. A population of little more than thirty thousand persons had been swelled to one of more than one hundred and sixty thou- sand. Adventurous industry had carried that population to every quarter of the province, and with it the arts of civilized life. The colony was no longer a feeble settlement on the out- skirts of the wilderness. It was now the undisputed master of the province, and the occupier of the greater portion of its soil ; and there were none to make it afraid. The savage power with- in its limits was extinct, and the enemy was removed from its borders. Industry, frugality, and simplicity were the severe vir- tues of the colonists; and contentment and prosperity marked their condition. Enthralled as was their commerce, and depen- dent as they were upon the mother country for many of the sup-
(45) Journal of House of Delegates of 6th December, 176G.
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HISTORY, &c.
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plies of life, they had now internal resources upon which they could rely in cases of emergency, and the power and energy to apply them when occasion might require. Their connexion with the parent country, with all its restraints, had hitherto been one of harmony, because one of mutual benefit: and in all that related to their liberties, it left them freemen, dwelling under free institutions. Submission to tyranny they had never known; and the right of self government, they had always claim- ed and enjoyed as their birth-right. That right was now to be assailed : and the history of their struggle for its preservation will show how justly they appreciated it, how well they deserved to enjoy it.
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CHAPTER V.
HISTORY OF MARYLAND FROM THE PASSAGE TO THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.
THE acquisitions of the treaty of Paris, gave to the colonial . possessions of the English government in North America, an Results of the extent and security hitherto unknown in their his- treaty of Paris. tory. The rival power of France, which had so long struggled for the mastery on this continent, was now re- moved from their borders. Its savage allies, who, under its incitements, had so long menaced, and had so often carried their ferocious and desolating warfare into the colonies, werc now humbled and intimidated. There was no longer the strug- gle for ascendancy between two formidable powers, to lure them into the unceasing contests which it excited, to stimulate their ferocity by the rewards which it proffered, and to sustain them even in the moment of defeat by the hope of protection. The events of the recent war, had at once removed the principal pro- vocatives to their incursions, and had taught them to respect and dread the power they were now singly to encounter. The border defences, which had been erected to meet the necessities of the moment, were more efficient than they had hitherto been ; and the long endurance of the war, had acquainted the colonists with their own resources, and had familiarized them to all the expedients of self protection. Whilst thus every thing con- curred to promise uninterrupted peace and prosperity to the co- lonies, the power of the English government over them, seemed to be established on the most durable foundations. There never was a period, at which the English crown appeared to have a firmer hold upon its colonies. Planted principally by English- men, the inhabitants of the latter still looked with veneration upon the mother country, as the home of their forefathers, and
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HISTORY FROM TIJE PASSAGE TO
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the land whence they had drawn their free principles and institu- tions. The full possession of English liberties had ever been their highest pride and boast; and the constant appeal to them, and vindication of them against arbitrary power, had naturally made the enjoyment of these liberties their first and highest aim. The state of commercial dependance upon England, to which they were subject, had long been familiar to them; and it was, at this period, one of the very causes which contributed to se- cure their attachment, and rivet upon them their colonial condi- tion. Aided by other causes, it tended to restrict the intercourse of the colonies, social as well as commercial, to each other and the parent country. " The golden ties of commerce, often more difficult to be severed than those of blood, linked them together in a connexion, which is generally one of harmony, because it is one of mutual benefits; and the social intercourse which it pro- moted, threw over this connexion of interest, the bonds of affec- tion. "With foreign nations, their correspondence was very li- mited; and there existed few causes to increase it, or to create the wish for its enlargement. In their colonial history generally, they had known the subjects of foreign nations, principally, as the enemies of their nation, the depredators upon their com- merce, and the allies of their savage foes. Thus did interest, affection, and pride, all conspire to sustain the dominion of England over her American colonics. The results of the late war, signalized as it had been by the complete triumph of the British arms, gave fresh vigor to these causes. To England, it was a struggle for power; to the colonists, a contest for the se- curity of their homes and their families. Yet, however different their views and interests, they had a common foe; they had warred side by side against that foe ; and their united efforts had accomplished for both the victory they desired. Mutual grati- tude always marks the first moments of such a triumph; and often, of itself, lays the foundations of an enduring attachment. England felt and acknowledged her gratitude to the colonies, for their prompt and efficient assistance ; and the latter remembered her, at that moment, only as the parent who came to preserve and protect. In the midst of general rejoicing, her colonial subjects were willing to forget all the misrule and oppression of the past; and it now required only a kind and generous policy
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THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.
Chap. V.]
for the future; to have established her dominion, beyond the pro- bability of overthrow, perhaps for ages. The wise, and, to us, the fortunate dispensations of Providence, ordered it otherwise.
However parental her conduct might have seemed to the colo- nists, the mere internal happiness and security of the colonies were a secondary consideration with the English The preserva- tion of the government. With her, in the prosecution of the French power in Canada favora. war which had just terminated, her own aggrandize- ties of the colo- ment, and the prostration of a hated foe, between ble to the liber- nieg.
whom and her there subsisted a rivalry and enmity of centuries, were the primary objects. The establishment of that foe on the borders of her colonies, was also the most serious obstacle to her designs against the liberties of the latter. It oc- casioned, for nearly a century, public distresses, and individual calamities, at the very recital of which we shudder. Yet, if we look more narrowly into its consequences, we shall probably discover, that it contributed largely to suspend the designs of the English crown and parliament against the colonies, until they were adequate to their own protection. Its continued encroach- ments required constant vigilance and resistance. For the means necessary to counteract these, the English government was obliged to rely mainly upon the patriotism and energy of her colonies; and these, by gentleness, she might win to her aid, but could not compel by tyranny. However licentious she might deem the liberties, which had grown up in them unnotic- ed, she was obliged to respect them in the moment of emergen- cy. Any deliberate attempt to crush them, would not only have paralysed the energies which she needed ; but might have thrown her possessions, once filled with disaffection, as willing or sub- missive victims, into the arms of her rival.
In the reigns of the first James and Charles, the prerogatives of the crown, as exercised over the English colonies, respected no limits but those of its own discretion ; but these colonies were then too inconsiderable, to excite its jealousy or Degree of co- attract its oppressions. The civil wars gave them Jovial depen. dance, before the
Protestant revo- time to expand and mature; and the restoration of lution.
Charles II., found them firmly established, and with a commerce sufficiently developed, to tempt by the probable benefits of its exclusive enjoyment. It was now a fit subject for 41
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HISTORY FROM THE PASSAGE TO
[Ilist. View.
monopoly ; and aided by the Parliament of England, this monarch succeeded in establishing a system of restrictions upon the commerce of the colonies, which made them feel, to use their own expressive language, " that they were but hewers of wood and drawers of water unto England." It was not enough to monopolise it. The next step was to impose duties upon it, as pretended auxiliaries to its regulations. The history and objects of these acts, and the reception with which they met in the colonies, have already been described. The colonies were yet too feeble for effectual resistance ; and in spite of all their discon- tents, their evasions of ' the system, and their refusals or delays in carrying it into effect, it was ultimately rivetted upon them. One step further, and their bondage was perfect. It was now only necessary to establish the power of the crown, or of the English parliament, to levy taxes upon them without their consent, for the mere purpose of raising a revenue ; and all the securities of their charters were at an end. Their colonial governments might have retained their ancient forms; and have carried with them all their accustomed powers of internal administration ; but once confessedly subject to the supremacy of another government, that knew no limits but its own arbitrary pleasure, which acted under no responsibilities to the people it controlled, and which felt none of the burdens it imposed, where would have been their efficacy ? Stripped of the very first object of government, the power of self protection, they would have dwindled into petty municipalities ; and their subjects would have been freemen, by the grace and permission of England.
Now was the period to have asserted and established this supremacy. The resistance to it, in the colonies, would most probably have been as ineffectual, as that elicited by the trade acts. Once established and familiarised to them by The further ex. tension of it. sus- j noted until the Revolution, by the coalition of the mother coun- its exercise, cach day would have diminished the power and the will to resist; and the nineteenth century might have found us, the Helots of England. try.
How different the spectacle of a free and happy repub- lic already, mature in every thing that gives power and renown to nations, or prosperity and contentment to a people ; and already diffusing its moral influences over the world. The children of Israel, in the chosen land, looked back upon the bondage of
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Chap. V.] .. THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 323
Egypt, and the dangers of the wilderness ; and bowed in grati- tude to the Providence which had conducted them in safety through all. So may these United States of America, to their sojourn amidst the difficulties and thraldom of colonial existence. If they see not the cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, they may behold every where, in their colonial history, the mani- festations of an overshadowing Providence, for their guidance to independence. No where is it more conspicuous, than in the seemingly untoward events, which indirectly suspended the full assertion of English supremacy, until the minds and resources of the colonists were matured for effectual resistance. The com- mercial regulations, introduced and established in the reign of Charles II., were but the advance guard of this supremacy. The difficulties encountered by that monarch, in'carrying these into full effect, combined with the internal dissensions, which agitated England during the latter part of his reign, to engross his whole attention. His weak, yet arbitrary successor, ascended the throne, with views as hostile to the liberties of the colonies; but without the sagacity of his predecessor, in the choice of means for their accomplishment. Charles effected his purposes under cover of Parliament ; and his system was that of sapping. James preferred the open assault ; and that to be carried on by prerogative alone. His open and avowed efforts for the destruc- tion of all the chartered governments, and the means by which they were frustrated, are familiar events in our history. Fortu- nately for the colonies, they were identified with attempts as hostile to the religion and liberties of England; and instead of reaching their purposes, they lost him his crown.
The reign of William, was ushered in by circumstances pecu- liarly propitious to the colonies. In the struggle which even- tuated in seating him on the throne of England, they had, in Circumstances in the after-condi- tion of the colo- nies, conspiring to protect coloni- al liberties. almost every instance, gone in advance of the mother country. They spared him all the difficul- ties and responsibility of their subjugation 'to his dominion. Without waiting for the fiat of the crown, they had taken their governments into their own hands, and nothing was left for William, but to receive the spontaneous offers of their loyalty and submission, rendered doubly grateful by the unanimity and affection which characterised them. Policy
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HISTORY FROM THE PASSAGE TO [Hist. View.
came in, to strengthen these claims upon his gratitude; and to recommend to him, an administration of the colonies, protective of their rights and liberties, as the best mode of perpetuating his own dominion. If more were wanting, it was found in the now formidable establishments of the French in Canada, and in the necessity of summoning all the colonial energies, to resist their encroachments. From this period, until 1763, England was engaged in an almost uninterrupted struggle for her possessions; and she found it necessary, to accommodate her course towards the colonies, to the exigencies of her condition. In the various wars which occurred during that interval, she had but one mode of raising men and money from the colonies, for their prosecu- tion. The crown commanded the assistance of the colonies, in the prosecution of its plans against the common enemy ; and in general, prescribed the quota of men or money to be furnished by each ; but here its power stopped. It remained for the colonies ato grant this assistance through their Assemblies; who alone determined the manner, in which it should be levied. To them, the requisitions of the crown were about as imperative, as the recommendation of the old confederated government to the states. They were regarded as requests, and not implicitly obeyed as commands. The colonial Assemblies concurred in them, at the time, and in the manner most agreeable to. them- selves; and the consequence was, that very frequently they were hot obeyed at all. The history of Maryland furnishes several instances of such a result, to which we have already adverted; and which serve, fully to illustrate the general character of English supremacy, as exercised over the colonies during this period. The plans of the English government were often frus- trated, by the tardiness or refusal of the colonial Assemblies to concur in its requisitions; yet neither the crown, nor the Parlia- ment, were willing, even in the full view of these inconveniences, to venture upon the dangerous expedient of substituting their own taxation.
Yet the history of their transactions abundantly shows, that they longed for the establishment of a supremacy over the colonies, which would enable them to direct their operations at
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Chap. V.] THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.
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pleasure. The propositions made in Parliament Entire suprema- ey, the constant Aim of the En- glish govern- ment. in 1701 and 1714, to destroy the charter and pro- prietary governments ; and the plan of colonial union proposed by the English government, in 1753, which we have already described, all aimed at the same object. Whatever the ostensible reason accompanying them, whether professedly projected for the better regulation of the trade, or the more efficient defence, of the colonies ; at bottom, they were but so many designs to put them in the uncontrolled power of England. A more dangerous expedient than all, was that of the bill introduced into Parliament, in 1748, proposing to give the king's instructions the force of law, and to make them impera- tive upon the colonies. To the vigilant and unyielding resis- tance of the latter, and the power which their peculiar situation gave them over the English government, may we ascribe the defeat of all these propositions, and not to her tenderness or justice. What her tenderness and justice were, when she believed herself to be no longer under the control of circum- stances, the events following the peace of 1763, strikingly illustrate. "There were not wanting some (says Mr. Pitt, in his celebrated speech upon the repeal of the stamp act,) when I had the honor to serve his majesty, to propose to me to burn my fingers with an American stamp act. With the enemy at their back, with our bayonets at their breast, in the day of their distress, perhaps the Americans would have submitted to the imposition ; but it would have been taking a very ungenerous and unjust advantage of them." Mr. Pitt was mistaken, both in the probable result, and in the reasons which stayed the attempt. It was the danger of the attempt, and not the injustice of it. His predecessor, Mr. Walpole, who maintained that every thing had its price, made the liberties of the colonies an exception ; and contenting himself with the benefits of their commerce, he sagaciously remarked, that he would leave the taxation of the Americans to some of his successors, who had more courage, and less regard for commerce.
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The peace of 1763, removed this obstacle, and every proba- bility of its recurrence. The colonial possessions of England Effect of the late were now deemed secure from all foreign aggres- war upon this sions ; and the transactions, which gave them se- design.
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curity, entitled her colonies to her highest gratitude. Now came the time to display her tenderness ; and the earliest exhibition of it, was the kind resolve of her parliament, to take the taxation of the colonies into its own hand. The conjuncture was deem- ed most favorable for the purpose. Foreign interruption being removed, it would be but a single-handed contest between her and her colonies; in which, the latter, beset by internal difficul -. ties and dissensions, could not long withstand her unbroken force. Such resistance, however, was not even contemplated by her ministry. Murmurs and disaffection might rise high; but the appeal to arms, they deemed a chimera. In estimating the power and resources of England, they overlooked those of the colonies. The struggles of half a century, had revealed to the latter their own powers and resources, and had familiarized them to self dependance. The privations and calamities incident to these struggles, had nurtured the free and adventurous spirit of their people, and had trained them to habits of industry and fru- gality, the best promoters of public virtue and liberty. The right of internal taxation, which they exclusively claimed, was sustained and consecrated by its Jong enjoyment ; and their past triumphs in its defence, were but so many incentives to its future protection.
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