USA > Maryland > An historical view of the government of Maryland : from its colonization to the present day > Part 35
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(S) Some of the short and pithy remarks of this paper, and its mottoes and devices, in reference to the stamp act, are quite amusing, and carried with them more power to arrest general attention, than whole columns of argu- mentation. It thus conveys the certain intelligence of its final passage : "Friday evening last, between 9 and 10 o'clock, we had a very smart thun- der gust, which struck a house in one part of the town, and a treo in another.
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Chap. V.] THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.
terms of the highest indignation; and from that period, the co- lumns of this paper were continually crowded with publications, illustrative of the rights of the colonies, and of the necessity of resistance. The operation of the act having commenced, the paper of the 10th October, 1765, was put into mourning, with the expressive motto: " The Maryland Gazette expiring in hopes of a resurrection;" and its publication was, shortly afterwards, actually suspended until the 10th of December following, when it was revived with the avowal " that it should be, as it had been, sacred to liberty, and consequently to virtue, religion, and the good and welfare of its country." These details, connected as they are with the history of the times, cannot be uninteresting; and they are due to one, whose efforts and influence, as an auxiliary in the cause of liberty, were widely felt and highly esti- mated. (9) His paper was a "rara avis" in that day -- a govern ment paper warring on the side of the people.
The English ministry displayed some policy in the selection of residents of the colonies, as officers to carry the stamp act into effect; but their selection proved, in the sequel, Hood, · stamp-
distributor Maryland.
for to be a decree of expatriation to those who accept-
ed the appointment. It was peculiarly so, to the person appointed as stamp-distributor for Maryland. Zacha- riah Hood, the person alluded to, was a native of Maryland, and, at one period, a resident merchant of Annapolis. More of his history we know not; and if the limit of the maxim be just, " nil de mortuis nisi bonum," we should wish to know no more. His whole history may be summed up in one sentence : "He was a willing instrument in the hands of a tyrannical ministry, for the op-
tree in another. But we were more thunderstruck last Monday, on the arri- val of Captain Joseph Richardson, in the ship Pitt, in six weeks from the Downs, with a certain account of the stamp act being absolutely passed."
(9) Publications, advocating the cause of the colonies, were transmitted to this paper, even from Virginia. In one of these, the correspondent remarks : " It being well known, that we are, in this colony, deprived of that great sup- port of freedom, the liberty of the press; as the only one we have here, is totally engrossed for the vile purpose of ministerial craft, I must therefore apply to you (who have always appeared to be a bold and honest assertor of the cause of liberty) to give it a place in your next paper, &c." Green's Gazette of October 17th, 1765. 13
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pression of the people amongst whom he was born and had lived." His appointment was announced in a letter from London to a gen- tleman of Annapolis, published about the period of his arrival. " Among the many other promotions of officers in the colonies, (it remarks,) we are credibly informed that Z-h H -- d, late a sojourning merchant of the city of Annapolis, but at present Z -- h H --- d, Esq. at St. James', has, for his many eminent services to his king and country during the late war, got the commission of Distributor of the Stamps in that province. This gentleman's conduct is highly approved of here, by all court-cringing politi- cians; since he is supposed to have wisely considered, that if his country must be stamped, the blow would be easier borne from a native, than a foreigner, who might not be acquainted with their manners and institutions." (10)
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Coming under such auspices, and with such purposes, his ar- rival at Annapolis was welcomed with those marks of distinction, His reception in which it was so customary to confer upon the stamp the colony. distributors of that day : but, fortunately for him, they were bestowed upon his effigy. (11) The news of his ar- rival soon spread through the province; and his patriotism was honored in the same significant manner, at Baltimore, Elk Ridge, Fredericktown, and other places. (12) The character of these proceedings must not be misunderstood. They were not the
(10) Published in Green's Gazette of 22d August, 1765.
(11) The following is the account of his reception, published in Green's Gazette of August 29th, 1765.
"Monday morning last, a considerable number of people, assertors of British American privileges, met here to show their detestation of, and abhor- rence to, some late tremendous attacks on liberty : and their dislike to a cer- tain late arrived officer, a native of this province. They curiously dressed up the figure of a man, which they placed on a one horse cart, malefactor-like, with some sheets of his paper in his hands before his face. In this manner, they paraded through the streets of town till noon, the bells at the same time tolling a solemn knell, when they proceeded to the Hill ; and after giving it the Mosaic law at the whipping post, placed it in the pillory, from whence they took it, and hung it to a gibbet erected for that purpose, and then set fire to a tar barrel underneath, till it fell into the barrel. By the many significant nods of the head, while in the cart, it may be said to have gone off very penitently."
(12) Green's Gazette of September, 1765.
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heedless and ungovernable movements of tumultuous spirits, nor the wanton outrages of men without character. They sprang from the just and settled indignation of a whole people. They were conducted with calmness and publicity, and were promoted by men of the highest talents and character. They were not mere personal indignities offered to the unworthy instrument of the crown; but acts of deliberate and open defiance, intended to manifest, in a manner not to be misunderstood, their deter- mined opposition to the stamp act, and their utter abhorrence of all who lent themselves to its enforcement. Amongst those who were prominent in the proceedings at Annapolis, was the dis- tinguished Samuel Chase, whose energies quickened all that he touched, and whose abilities illustrated all that he examined. Just arrived to manhood, he already gave promise of that happy combination of talents, for which he was afterwards eminent be- yond the reach of rivalry; when all eyes were turned upon him, to acknowledge the profound lawyer, the eloquent advocate, the resistless orator of the people, and the unrivalled leader of de- liberative assemblies. Honored by his fellow citizens, even at this early period, with a seat in the legislature, he was already con- spicuous, at the age of twenty-four, as the champion of colonial liberties. Hc, himself, has characterised these proceedings in the . following energetic language, which is extracted from an indig- nant reply to an attack made upon him by the municipal au- thorities of Annapolis, in a publication, after the repeal of the stamp act, relative to the city affairs, in which he was described "as a busy, restless incendiary, a ringleader of mobs, a foul- mouthed and inflaming son of discord and faction, and a pro- moter of the lawless excesses of the multitude." "Was it a mob (he replies,) who destroyed, in effigy, our Stamp Distribu- tor? Was it a mob who assembled here from the different coun- ties, and indignantly opened the public offices ? Whatever vanity may whisper in your ears, or that pride and arrogance may suggest, which are natural to despicable tools of power, emerged from obscurity and basking in proprietary sunshine; you must confess them to be your superiors, men of reputation and merit, who are mentioned with respect, while you are named with con- tempt, pointed out and hissed at, as ' fruges consumere nati.' I admit that I was one of those who committed to the flames, in
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effigy, the Stamp Distributor of this province, and who open !; disputed the parliamentary right to tax the colonies; while son skulked in your houses, some of you asserting the parliamentary right, and esteeming the stamp act a beneficial law. Others of you meanly grumbled in your corners, not daring to speak out your sentiments." (13)
An incident occurred soon after Hood's arrival, which ren- dered him 'still more obnoxious to the people of the province.
Finding himself the object of general detestation,
It's expulsion
ultimate he endeavored to palliate his conduct by the asser_
fate. tion, that the office which he held, had been solicit- ed by a member of the Assembly, who had offered a large sum
(13) The whole of this reply, written in July, 1766, and appended to Green's Gazette of June 25th, 1767, is written in the same bold and vigor- ous style. Although abounding in personal reflections, and savouring too much of coarse invective, it is strikingly characteristic of that undaunted spirit, and fierce independence, which prominently marked, throughout life, the character of Mr. Chase. These traits of character, sometimes imparted to his conduct a harsh and arbitrary aspect, which provoked enmity, by seem - ing to disregard it : but in the estimation of those whom he honored with his friendship, they were redeemed by the noble and generous qualities of the heart which lay beneath. Those whose delight it is to spy into character, as some modern philosophers examine the sun, only for the purpose of finding spots in it, may dwell with pleasure upon this imperfection, for such it was: but more generous minds will not look " as if darkly through a glass," at the character of such a man as Samuel Chase, for the purpose of excluding the brilliant qualities, which threw into the shade all his foibles. The puny critic may do this, whose feeble vision is unable to withstand the dazzle of such qualities. Yet, if to anatomize human character for the discovery of its faults, be the first requisite to its proper estimate-and he, who attempts it, has even the moral sanction, in his own exemption from frailties-for the proper conception of such a character as that of Mr. Chase, he must carry himself beyond the silken age in which we live, to the age that made men, and tried men's souls. Mr. Chase sprang into active life at the very period when the American colonies, planted by freemen, having grown up to matu- rity in the enjoyment of liberty ; and, having worked out their own deliver- ance by the energies of a spirit that shrank from no danger or privation- were, for the first time, to be taught unqualified submission to the irrespon- sible power of parliament. Around him were the minions of that power, who were willing to sell their birth-right for the pottage that rewarded its surrender, -- ready to be slaves, for the sake of being overseers. The spirit of independence naturally grows harsh at such a spectacle ; and spurns the
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for the bestowment of it: and that, therefore, the people ought not to spend their whole fury upon him for his acceptance of it. The person pointed at by this slanderous assertion, was Thomas Ringgold, then a delegate from Kent county, and afterwards con- spicuous in the transactions of Maryland, as one of her commis- sioners to the Stamp Act Congress, and the author of the remon- strance to the governor already alluded to. This rumour, set on foot by Hood, drew from Mr. Ringgold the following noble and indignant reply, which spoke the general sentiment of the pro- vince. "I hope (says he,) that my conduct has been such, both in public and private stations, as to induce a general belief, that I have the feelings of humanity, am a friend to liberty, and love my country. I should be extremely sorry, by an act so truly
mere courtesies of life, when they have become the robe that cloaks the ser- vile soul. The predominance of seeming sanctity, has driven virtuous hearts from the loathing of hypocrisy, even to the rejection of the decent observan- ces of religion-the licentiousness of an age, has made virtue shrink from the proper familiarities and endearments of life, and purity become austerity. The reign of Charles I. made fanatics ; fanaticism made hypocrisy : and the wild fanaticism, and hypocrisy in the garb of austerity, which preceded it, produced the licentious age of the second Charles. The age in which began the struggle of our colonies for independence, was well calculated to give any free spirit the "fortiter in modo," as it has been called : and the long continuance of it, in the midst of disaffection and treachery, to form a char- acter determined and unbending, even to sternness-The men of the revolu- tion were not formed in sunshine, nor made " to court an amorous locking glass."
Thrown thus into the midst of an age calculated to uprouse, even in ve- hemence and harshness, the bold and indignant spirit of a freeman, Mr. Chase was assailed, in the very outset of his career, by the courtly adherents · of the royal cause, with whom his boldness was faction, and his vehemence arrogance. In his encounters with such as these, he disdained all reserve, and gave no quarter. " Seeming," he learned to despise : and there never was a.man, who could say with Hamlet, more justly than Mr. Chase, " 1 know not seems." What he felt, he expressed : and, what he expressed, came stamped with all the vigor of his mind, and the uncompromising energy of his character -- if his manner was a fault, it leaned to virtue's side. It is not for my feeble pen to portray his virtues and abilities-they are registered in the nation's history : and there is no true American, to whom his name, re- corded on the imperishable roll of American Independence, does not bring back the grateful recollection of his services. He was a son of Maryland . and when will she have his like again ?
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contemptible, to have afforded room for a contrary opinion. I therefore beg the liberty publicly to declare, through your paper, that no consideration should have induced me to have had any hand in the execution of a law, tending to the subversion of our dearest rights as freeborn subjects of England, and to the sup- pression of the freedom of the press." (14) There is a moral force in public sentiment, before which the instruments of ty- ranny cower. Hood wanted the firmness, even to attempt the execution of the office ,which he had solicited; and the public indignation, which had been lavished upon his effigy, at length taking a direction towards his person, he secretly absconded from the province carly in September, 1765, and never paused in his flight, until he had reached New York, and had taken refuge under the cannon of Fort St. George. (15) He was the first and last stamp-distributor of Maryland.
The Assembly was at length convened on the 23d September, 1765; and the Stamp Act was the first subject which engaged its
First Assembly attention. Its members required no time for dis- #fiet the Flamp cussion or deliberation, as to the course they should Act. pursue. The fiat of public sentiment had already
(14) This publication of Mr. Ringgold's, is dated 27th August, 1765, and appeared in Green's Gazette of 5th September, 1765.
(15) Hood's flight was insufficient to save him from the common fate of the stamp-distributors, a resignation by compulsion. He only escaped from the resentment of one colony, to be arrested by the sisterly indignation of ano- ther. Having taken up his residence on Long Island, he soon attracted the attention of the people, and the liberals at once determined, (to use their own language, ) that as he had by flight deprived the people of Maryland of that justice which they had a right to demand, the resignation of an office calcu- Jated to enslave them ; they would take the affair into their own hands, and either compel him to resign, or send him back to Maryland as a fugitive from justice.
A party of volunteers accordingly assembled on the 28th of November, 1765, and surrounded the house on Long Island, in which he was concealed. Escape was impossible : and poor Hood was hooded. He now threw himself upon their sympathies, and represented himself as one rather to be pitied than to be punished. His appeals to mercy were all unavailing : and his next at- tempt was at a compromise. He now desired, that his word of honor might be received in lieu of his oath ; and that the right might be reserved to him to hold his office, if hereafter his countrymen should desire it. He was answer- ed, that the people of Maryland having an absolute right to freedom, he must absolutely and unconditionally renounce an office, which gave him power to
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THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.
Chap. V.]
gone forth in determined hostility to the act; and it only remain- ed for the Assembly to register its decree. In some instances, to prevent all possible misapprehension, the members were specially instructed by their constituents. Those given at that period by the people of Anne Arundel county to their representatives, Messrs. Worthington, Hammond, Hall, and Johnson, have been preserved, and are distinguished by their manly sentiments and vigorous style. After a full examination of their claims to ex- emption from taxation not sanctioned by their assent, founded both upon the express language of the charter of Maryland, and their liberties as English subjects, they present its result in the following forcible language: "Hence the foundation of our claim, to be affected by no law, nor burdened with any kind of tax, but what is laid upon us by the assent of our representatives in Assembly convened, agrecably with the fundamental laws of the constitution of our mother country ; our rights and privileges as Englishmen, declared and confirmed by our charter; and the uninterrupted usage and practice of our province, from its first settlement to the present time. And we do unanimously protest against our being charged in any other manner, and by any other powers whatsoever ; and we do request of you, our representa- tives, that this our protest may be entered, and stand recorded, in your journal, amongst the proceedings of your house, if it may be regularly donc." (16)
The circular from the Assembly of Massachusetts, inviting the other colonies to unite with them in the appointment of com-
enslave them ; and that if this were not done, he should be delivered into the hands of an exasperated multitude, and carried back to Maryland, with labels upon him, signifying his office and designs. Resistance was hopeless, and l'ood yielded. As soon as his abjuration was signed, he was accompanied by upwards of one hundred gentlemen, from Flushing to Jamaica, where it was regularly sworn to, and he was discharged. Like the similar abjurations of that day, it left no room for equivocation or mental reservation, and abounded with apologies and excuses, utterly at variance with the known feelings of the individual, and only serving to render him contemptible and harmless.
(16) These instructions were given on the 7th of September, 1765, and are published at large in Green's Gazette of 24th October, 1765.
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HISTORY FROM THE PASSAGE TO [Hist. View.
Its proceedings upon the propo- Estion for a gene ral congress.
missioners to a general congress, to be held at New York, was immediately taken up for consi- deration, by this Assembly; and, passing by all other business, on the second day of their session, they concurred in the proposition, and appointed commissioners, and a committee to draft their instructions. These commis- sioners were Col. Edward Tilghman, of Queen Anne's, William Murdock, of Prince George's, and Thomas Ringgold, of Kent. They were appointed solely by the lower house, but the measure was approved and sanctioned both by the upper house and the go- vernor, who concurred in the passage of an ordinance intended to meet the expenses of the embassy. The instructions given to these commissioners, directed them to repair to the congress, " there to join in a general and united, dutiful, loyal, and humble representation to his Majesty and the British parliament, of the circumstances and condition of the British colonies; and to pray relief from the burdens and restraints lately laid upon their trade and commerce, and especially from the taxes imposed by the stamp act, whereby they are deprived, in some instances, of that invaluable privilege of Englishmen and British subjects, trials by juries ; and to take care that such representation should humbly and decently, but expressly, contain an assertion of the right of the colonists, to be exempt from all and every taxations and im- positions upon their persons and property, to which they do not consent in a legislative way, either by "themselves, or their representatives freely chosen and appointed." (17)
Having thus speedily and efficiently concurred in the proposi- tion for a general congress, it now remained for them to declare, resolves in a more formal and explicit manner, the character the and tendencies of the late measures of the English sizmp act. parliament. Addresses and resolves were the order of the day ; but in Maryland, some solemn and explicit declara- tion of their feelings was rendered peculiarly necessary, by the attempts to misrepresent them in England. The resolves, now
(17) The members of the committee, by which these instructions were drafted, were, James Hollyday, of Queen Anne's, Thomas Johnson, of Anne Arundel, Edmund Key, of St. Mary's, John Goldsborough, of Talbot, John Hammond, of Anne Arundel, Daniel Wolstenholme, of St. Mary's, and John Hanson, Jr., of Charles.
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Chap. V.]. . THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 345
unanimously adopted, were sufficient to dispel all doubts in the minds of the ministry, if any such existed, as to the cordial concurrence of Maryland with the refractory colonies. They were reported by a committee, consisting of Messrs. William Murdock of Prince George's, Edward Tilghman of Queen Anne's, Thomas Ringgold of Kent, Samuel Chase of Annapolis, Samuel Wilson of Somerset, D. Wolstenholme of St. Mary's, . John Goldsborough of Talbot, John Hammond of Anne Arun- del, Henry Holyday of Talbot, Charles Grahame of Calvert, Edmund Key of St. Mary's, and Brice T. B. Worthington of Anne Arundel, and were unanimously adopted and ordered to be published on the 28th of September, 1765. Pre-eminent amongst all the legislative declarations of the colonies, for the lofty and dignified tone of their remonstrances, and for the entire unanimity with which they were adopted, they form one of the proudest portions of our history.
I. Resolved, unanimously, That the first adventurers and settlers of this province of Maryland brought with thein and transmitted to their posterity, and all other his Majesty's subjects, since in- habiting in this province, all the liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities, that at any time have been held, enjoyed, and possessed, by the people of Great Britain.
II. Resolved, unanimously, That it was granted by magna char- ta, and other the good laws and statutes of England, and con- firmed by the petition and bill of rights, that the subject should not be compelled to contribute to any tax, talliage, aid, or other like charges not set by common consent of parliament.
III. Resolved, unanimously, That by a royal charter, granted by his Majesty, king Charles I. the eighth year of his reign and in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and thirty- two, to Cecilius, then Lord Baltimore, it was, for the encourage- ment of people to transport themselves and families into this pro- vince, amongst other things, covenanted and granted by his said Majesty for himself, his heirs, and successors, as followeth :
" And we will also, and of our more special grace, for us, our heirs and successors, we do strictly enjoin, constitute, ordain, and command, that the province shall be of our allegiance, and that all and singular the subjects and liege people of us, our heirs, and successors, transported into the said province, and the chil- . 41
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dren of them, and of such as shall descend from them, there al- ready born, or hereafter to be born, be, and shall be denizens and lieges of us, our heirs, and successors, of our kingdom of Eng- land and Ireland, and be in all things held, treated, reputed and esteemed, as the liege faithful people of us, our heirs, and suc- cessors, born within our kingdom of England, and likewise any lands, tenements, revenues, services, and other hereditaments whatsoever, within our kingdom of England, and other our do- minions, may inherit, or otherwise purchase, receive, take, have, hold, buy and possess, and them may occupy and enjoy, give, sell, alien, and bequeath, as likewise, all liberties, franchises and privileges, of this our kingdom of England, freely, quietly, and peaceably, have and possess, occupy and enjoy, as our liege people, born, or to be born, within our said kingdom of England, without the let, molestation, vexation, trouble, or grievance, of us, our heirs and successors, any statute, acts, ordinance, or provision, to the contrary thereof, notwithstanding.
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