USA > Maryland > An historical view of the government of Maryland : from its colonization to the present day > Part 41
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" The Proclamation, the Child of Folly and Oppression, born the 26th November, 1770, departed this Life 14th of May, 1773, and Buried on the same day by the Freemen of Annapolis."
" It is wished that all similar attempts against the rights of a free people may meet with equal abhorrence ; and that the court party, convinced by experience of the impotency of their interest, may never hereafter disturb the peace of the city, by their vain and feeble exertions to bear down the free and independent citizens."
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when levied to sustain a church establishment. There is Anmir .. thing in tithe systems, so essentially opposed to the nature of our Condition of the religion and the precepts of its divine author, that church establish- ment. the public sentiment often revolts from them, even when employed to sustain a worthy ministry. As if to illustrate their unfitness for the religion with which they have been in- terwoven, they have generally had the most unhappy influence upon the character and efficiency of the clergy : spiritual sinecures have been their results ; and those sustained by their emoluments have become the drones of the church, and sometimes its re- proach. There have been, of course, many honorable excep- tions ; but their general tendency is, unquestionably, to convert the clerical order into a mere temporal profession, embraced for its profits ; and when thus perverted, the taxation which sustains them, is the most odious species of oppression which can exist in society. Under the church establishment of Maryland, the patronage and advowson of the churches, or in other words, the right of appointing the incumbents of the parishes, was exclu- sively in the governor ; but pluralities were forbidden. (20) There were at this period forty-five parishes in the province, and the value of the benefices in these was continually increasing with the population. The revenues of the benefice in the Parish of All Saints, in Frederick county, were then estimated to amount to £1000 sterling per annum; and the emoluments of many others were ample and on the increase. (21) Although their emoluments were not sufficient to exhibit the results of a church establishment in so striking a degree, as the rich endowments of the established clergy in the mother country ; yet there were some instances of that day, which we shall not detail, that exhibited as much of "the temporal," in the temper and conduct of some of the clergy of the colony, as in their revenues. Suffice it to say, that many of the causes which had given strength and sanctity to the establishment, had ceased to operate. The intolerant spirit which called it into existence, had for a long time sustained it with cheerfulness, as a weapon of offence against the non-con- formists ; but the period of religious alarms had now passed away. . Catholics and Protestants were mingling together in social and
(20) Act of 1701-2, chap. Ist.
(21) Eddis's Letters from Maryland, from 1769 to 1776-46.
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Chap. VI.]
political harmony ; and the seeming virtues of the establishment were fast departing with the exclusive spirit that gave it birth. The incumbents, deriving their appointment from the governor, and their revenues from a system of taxation which operated upon every taxable without respect to his will, were generally classed and acted with the government. Thus situated, their resort to the heavier tax under the act of 1702, after that of 1763 was suffered to expire, was ungraciously received by the people ; and their demand of it was considered to conflict with the public will, as expressed in the message of the lower house, at the time of its refusal to re-enact the latter law. These circumstances aroused against the claim a general spirit of resistance; and the expedient of opposition was soon discovered. .
The act of 1701-2, under which the claim was preferred, was passed by a House of Delegates, chosen under writs of election
Grounds and issued in the name of King William, the govern_ controversy up- ment being then in the hands of the crown. A few conduct of the on the Vestry Act. days after the decease of this king, and without any fresh writs of election or summons, the Assembly was convened, and the act in question passed. It was now contended, that by the death of the king that Assembly was dissolved; and that this act, being passed thereafter, was absolutely void, and not suscep- tible of confirmation by subsequent acts merely presuming its ex- istence. A controversy upon this technical question at once en- sued, which enlisted the abilities of some of the most distinguish- ed lawyers in the province ; and rarely has the discussion of any legal question exhibited more learning and talent. The opinions of Mr. Holyday and Mr. Dulany, sustaining the validity of the act; and those of Mr. Paca and Mr. Chase in opposition to it, have been preserved, and are remarkable for their ingenious views and profound investigations. (22) The controversy was not confined to the lawyers. To them, it was but " the keen en- counter of the wits ;" to the clergy, it was a struggle for their liv- ings; and the press of the colony abounds with publications de-
(22) The opinions of Mr. Holyday and Mr. Paca, and " The Sketches of an argument" by Mr. Dulany, will be found in 1st Chalmers' Collection of Opinions, from 303 to 343. The opinions of Mr. Chase and of Mr. Paca are also preserved in their numerous publications on this subject, in Green's Ga- zette of this period.
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monstrating their poverty ; and sometimes denouncing, and sometimes supplicating, the resisters of their claims. In their own body, they found an advocate of extraordinary power, in the person of Jonathan Boucher. Seizing upon the fact, that Messrs. Chase and Paca were acting as vestrymen under the very act which they held to be void, and considering them the most obnoxious opposers of the clerical claims, Mr. Boucher attacked them without scruple; and a war of publications en- sued, which was conducted through the Maryland Gazette, and continued for several months. (23) As controversial cs- says, these publications would even now be admired. In in- tellect, Mr. Boucher was a formidable opponent; but the tem- per of the people was against him. The spirit of resistance ran so high, that in many instances the people refused to pay the tax ; and suits were instituted to try the right; in several of which, the decisions in the lower courts were against the clergy. The origin of this question, the operation of the measure involved in it, and the relative situations of those engaged in its discussion, in a great measure identified it with the proclamation con- troversy; and thus gave to each additional virulence. For nearly three years, they filled the province with the most angry contentions, and imparted an unusual harshness of spirit to all the public transactions. But towards the close of the year 1773, some of the causes of these dissensions were re- moved by compromise ; and others slept, until they were swallowed up in the revolution. During their existence, the province was left without any public system to regulate the inspection of tobacco, its great staple; and to escape, in some degree, the inconveniences arising from the want of such a sys- tem, the inhabitants had endeavored to supply it by the regula- tions of private associations. The general necessities at length compelled the re-establishment of the public system; and thus one of the most oppressive results of these controversies was removed. (21) This was immediately followed by an act regu-
(23) Green's Gazette of 31st December, 1772 ; 14th and 28th January, 4th, 11th and 25th February, 4th, 18th and 25th March, Ist, 15th and 29th April, and 27th May, 1773.
(24) Act of November, 1773, chap. Ist.
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¿lating clergy dues : (25) and there then remained no cause of dissension, but the determination of officers' fees by the procla- mation. The latter appears to have remained unadjusted until the revolution ; but, with the removal of the other causes of excite- ment, and the renewal of the contest with the mother country, it ceased to agitate the colony.
The colony of Maryland, during the progress of these inter- nal dissensions, was removed from the causes and operation of the difficulties still existing and increasing between the parent Attetunts of the country and some of the other colonies. From the East India com- collisions with the military, and the oppressions of
pany to intro- duce Tea into A- the revenue officers, which so agitated some of the merica: andtheir results. northern colonies, and especially Massachusetts, it had been entirely exempt. From the nature of the pro- prietary government, the crown neither enjoyed nor exercised any control over the internal administration of the province : and it was therefore free from many of the dissensions arising under the royal governments. The duty on tea was still adhered to, as the badge of English supremacy: but the colonies had never consented to wear it. As to this article, the restrictions of the association of 1769 still existed : and there is reason to believe, that they were generally observed with fidelity. The trade in it was a source of great gain to the East India company : and one of its principal vents being thus closed for several years, a large quantity of it had accumulated in the warehouses of that company. The selfish interests of the latter, now co-operated with the views of the English ministry, in the adoption of a measure, which if once permitted a footing in the colonies, : would soon have restored the trade. In May, 1773, that com- pany was allowed, by act of parliament, upon the export of teas to America, a drawback of the duty ; so that whilst the duty was submitted to, the price of the article was not enhanced. The company immediately availed itself of this privilege; and the
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(25) Act of November, 1773, chap. 28, by which the poll tax for the cler- gy was fixed at 30 lbs. of tobacco, or four shillings in money. It was, how- ever, expressly provided by this act, that it should not influence the determi- nation of the question respecting the validity of the act of 1702. Hence it was a mere act of compromise to keep the controversy in abeyance, until the legal adjustment of the question involved in it.
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cities of Charleston, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, were principally selected as the places for the experiment. It was intended for a people too sagacious to be deceived. They knew full well, that the most successful resistance to such attempts, is that which meets them at the threshold : and they acted accord- ingly. Public meetings were convened, and resolutions adopted, to prevent the landing of the tea. The consignees of it became as obnoxious as the stamp distributors of former times ; and were pointed at as.objects for the same summary process. In Charles- ton, it was landed after much opposition, but was never exposed to sale; and the vessels intended for Philadelphia and New York, were obliged to return to England with their cargoes. In Boston, notwithstanding the determined opposition of its people, several circumstances concarred to favor its landing. The consignees there were attached, by interest or connexions, to the ministe- rial party ; the governor was determined to effect its landing, and the military forces there stationed invested him with consider- able power. The consignees therefore refused to resign their trust; and the people, becoming apprehensive that their designs might be frustrated, resorted to a more effectual expedient. The vessels were entered by persons in disguise, the chests broken, and the tea thrown overboard. The whole affair was conducted with a strict regard to that single object, and with a degree of deliberation and confidence indicating full concert and the as- surance of general assistance. The measure is believed to have been concerted in the secret meetings of the patriots, and to have been accomplished by persons selected for the occasion. The English ministry so understood it: and receiving it as the proceeding of the people of Boston, they acted upon that per- suasion.
A bill was immediately brought into parliament, stripping Boston Port Bill, Boston of its privileges as a port of entry and dis- and ils reception
an Mary land. charge, which was passed after a very feeble oppo- sition, and received the royal sanction on the 31st of March, 1774. This was followed by the proposition of other measures destructive of the fundamental principles of the charter of Mas- sachusetts, and fraught with the most fatal consequences to her political liberties. By the passage of the Boston port bill, the blow was struck which permitted no retreat, but that of defeat
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and submission. The issue was made : and the free and fearless people of these colonies sprang up every where in prompt con- cert to meet it. The intelligence of these measures was received by the people of Maryland, with the same general indignation which attended their reception in the other colonies. They were ready for the crisis : and a general convention was immedi- ately proposed, as the first step of opposition. Public meet- ings were at once convened in all the-counties; the proposition sanctioned; and deputies appointed to the convention. The proceedings of many of these county meetings have been preser- ved. (26) We cannot better describe them, than in the language of a cotemporary, and an officer of the English government, writing from Maryland at the very period of their adoption : " All America is in a flame : I hear strange language every day. The colonists are ripe for any measures that will tend to the preservation of what they call their natural liberty. I enclose you the resolves of our citizens : they have caught the general contagion. Expresses are flying from province to province. It is the universal opinion here, that the mother country cannot sup- port a contention with these settlements, if they abide steady to the letter and spirit of their association." (27)
(26) The proceedings of the meetings held for Annapolis, and the coun- ties of Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Frederick, Harford, Charles, Kent, Queen Anne's, and Caroline, are preserved in Green's Gazette of 2d, 9th, 16th, and 30th June, 1774.
(27) Eddis's "Letters from America, Historical and Descriptive, comprising oc- currences from 1769 to 1777, inclusive," 158. The author of this rare work, was the Surveyor of the Customs at Annapolis, where he remained from 1769, until the adoption of our State government. During all this period, he appears to have enjoyed, in a high degree, the confidence of governor Eden, to have associated freely with the people of the province generally, and to have been fully acquainted with their temper and sentiments. His letters manifest a considerable acquaintance with the institutions of Mary- land, and the character of its government : and many of his remarks upon the character of individuals, and the probable results of measures, exhibit much sagacity. Some of them are written as if with the pen of predic- tion. In one of his letters, written immediately after the elevation of Gen. Washington to the commandership of the American army, he has given a sketch of his character, which embodies most of the virtues afterward, so prominently displayed by that illustrious man : and that sketch was drawn from a personal acquaintance with Washington, formed during the occasional
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HISTORY FROM THE STAMP ACT [Hist. View'.
The deputies thus appointed from the several counties, as- General Conven. sembled in general convention at Annapolis, on the tion at Annap-
0:is 22d of June, 1774. Never was there assembled in Maryland, a body of men more distinguished, by their talents, their efficiency, or the purity of their purposes. Their names should be recorded in the memory of every citizen ; and their proceedings are too important a portion of our history to be abridged. We give them at large, as extracted from the journals of the convention.
"At a meeting of the committees appointed by the several counties of the province of Maryland, at the city of Annapolis, the 22d day of June, 1774, and continued by adjournment from day to day till the 25th day of the same month, were present,
For St. Mary's county, Col. Abraham Barnes, Messrs. Henry Greenfield Sothoron, Jeremiah Jordan. For Kent county, Messrs. William Ringgold, Thomas Ringgold, Joseph Nicholson, Junr., Thomas Smith, Joseph Earle. For Queen Anne's county, Messrs. Turbutt Wright, Richard Tilghman Earle, So. Wright, John Brown, Thomas Wright. For Prince George's county, Messrs. Robert Tyler, Joseph Sim, Joshua Beall, John Rogers, Addison Murdock, William Bowie, B. Hall, (son of Francis,) Osborn Sprigg. For Anne Arundel county and the city of Annapolis, Charles Carroll, Esq., barrister, Messrs. B. T. B. Worthington, Thomas Johnson, Junr., Samuel Chase, John Hall, William Paca, Matthias Hammond, Samuel Chew, John Weems, Thomas Dor-
visits of the latter to governor Eden. In another letter, written in 1769, in speaking of the general disposition of the colonies, he remarks : "Almost . from the commencement of their settlements, they have occasionally com- bated against real, or supposed innovations : and I am persuaded, whenever they become populous in proportion to the extent of their territory, they cannot be retained as British subjects, otherwise than by inclination and interest." Coming from one situated as he was, his observations are marked with much candor and moderation. Although deeply regretting the causes of differ- ence between the colonies and the mother country, he adhered to what he considered the obligations of his office, declined entering into the resis- tance of the former, was stripped of his employments, and was ultimately compelled to leave the province. I cannot omit this opportunity of making my acknowledgments to Dr. Ridout, of Annapolis, from whom this work was procured for me, by my friend Mr. Gideon Pearce.
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Chap. VI.]
sey, Rezin Hammond. For Baltimore county and Baltimore Town, Capt. Charles Ridgely, Thomas Cockey Deye, Walter Tolley, Jr. Robert Alexander, William Lux, Samuel Purviance, Junr., Geo. Risteau. For Talbot county, Messrs. Matthew Tilghman, Ed- ward Lloyd, Nicholas Thomas, Robert Goldsborough, 4th. For Dorchester county, Messrs. Robert Goldsborough, William En- nalls, Henry Steele, John Ennalls, Robert Harrison, Col. Henry Hooper, Mr. Mathew Brown. For Somerset county, Messrs. Peter Waters, John Waters, George Dashiell. For Charles coun- dy, Messrs. William Smallwood, Francis Ware, Josias Hawkins, Joseph Hanson Harrison, Daniel Jenifer, John Dent, Tho. Stone. For Calvert county, Messrs. John Weems, Edward Reynolds, Benjamin Mackall, attorney. For Cacil county, Messrs. John Veazy, Junr., William Ward, Stephen Hyland. For Worcester county, Messrs. Peter Chaille, John Done, William Morris. For Frederick county, Messrs. Thomas Price, Alexander Contee Han- son, Baker Johnson, Andrew Scott, Philip Thomas, Thos. Sprigg Wootton, Henry Griffith, Evan Thomas, Richard Thomas, Rich- ard Brooke, Thomas Cramphin, Junr., Allen Bowie, Junr. For Harford county, Messrs. Richard Dallam, John Love, Thomas Bond, John Paca, Benedict Edward Hall, Jacob Bond. For Caroline county, Messrs. Thomas White, William Richardson, Isaac Bradley, Nathaniel Potter, Thomas Goldsborough.
Matthew Tilghman, Esq., in the chair-John Duckett chosen clerk. .
It being moved from the chair, to ascertain the manner of di- viding upon questions, it was agreed, that on any division, each county have one vote, and that all questions be determined by a majority of counties.
The letter and vote of the town of Boston, several letters and papers from Philadelphia and Virginia, the act of parliament for blocking up the port and harbour of Boston, the bill depending in parliament subversive of the charter of the Massachusetts-Bay, and that enabling the governor to send supposed offenders from thence to another colony or England for trial, were read-and after mature deliberation thereon,
1. Resolved, That the said act of parliament, and bills, if pass- ed into acts, are cruel and oppressive invasions of the natural 'ights of the people of Massachusetts-Bay as men, and of their
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constitutional rights 'as English subjects; and that the said art, if not repealed, and the said bills, if passed into acts, will lay a foundation for the utter destruction of British America, and therefore that the town of Boston and province of Massachu- setts, are now suffering in the common cause of America.
2. Resolved, That it is the duty of every colony in America to unite in the most speedy and effectual means to obtain a repeal of the said act, and also of the said bills, if passed into acts.
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3. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that if the colonies come into a joint resolution to stop all importations from, and exportations to, Great Britain, until the said act, or bills if passed into acts, be repealed, the same will be the most speedy and effectual means to obtain a repeal of the said act or acts, and preserve North America and her liberties.
4. Resolved, Notwithstanding the people of this province will · have many inconveniences and difficulties to encounter, by break - ing off their commercial intercourse with the mother country, and are deeply affected at the distress which will be thereby ne- cessarily brought on many of their fellow subjects in Great Bri- tain, yet their affection and regard to an injured and oppressed sister colony, their duty to themselves, their posterity, and their country, demand the sacrifice-and therefore, that this province will join in an association with the other principal and neigh- boring colonies, to stop all exportations to, and importations from, Great Britain, until the said act, and bills (if passed into acts,) be repealed: the non-importation and non-exportation, to take place on such future day, as may be agreed on by a general congress of deputies from the colonies -- the non-export of to- bacco to depend and take place only on a similar agreement by Virginia and North Carolina, and to commence at such time as be agreed on, by the deputies for this province and the said co- lonies of Virginia and North Carolina.
5. Resolved, That the deputies from this province are authoriz- ed to agree to any restrictions upon exports to the West Indies, which may be deemed necessary by a majority of the colonies at the general congress.
6. Resolved, That the deputies from this province are authoriz- ed, in case the majority of the colonies should think the importa- tion of particular articles from Great Britain to be indispensably .
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necessary for their respective colonies, to admit and provide for this province, such articles as our circumstances shall necessarily 'require.
7. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that the merchants and others, venders of goods and merchandizes within this province, ought not to take advantage of the above resolve for non-importation, but that they ought to sell their goods and merchandizes that they now have, or may hereafter import, at the same rates they have been accustomed to do within one year last past ; and that if any person shall sell any goods which he now has, or hereafter may have, or may import, on any other terms than above expressed, no inhabitant of this province. ought, at any time thereafter, to deal with any such person, his agent, manager, factor, or storekeeper, for any commodity what- ever.
8. Resolved, unanimously, That a subscription be opened in the several counties of this province, for an immediate collection for the relief of the distressed inhabitants of Boston, now cruelly deprived of the means of procuring subsistence for themselves and families, by the operation of the said act for blocking up their harbour, and that the same be collected by the committees of the respective counties, and shipped by them in such provi- sions as may be thought most useful.
9. Resolved, unanimously, That this committee embrace this public opportunity, to testify their gratitude and most cordial thanks to the patrons and friends of liberty in Great Britain, for their patriotic efforts to prevent the present calamity of America.
10. Resolved, That Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, Junr., Robert Goldsborough, William Paca, and Samuel Chase, Esqrs., or any two or more of them, be deputies for this province, to at- tend a general congress of deputies from the colonies, at such time and place as may be agreed on, to effect one general plan of conduct, operating on the commercial connexion of the co -. lonies with the mother colonies, for the relief of Boston and the preservation of American liberty; and that the deputies of this. · province immediately correspond with Virginia and Pennsylva- nia, and through them with the other colonies, to obtain a meet- ing of the general congress, and to communicate, as the opinion of this committee, that the twentieth day of September next,
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