USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume II > Part 10
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[It was intended here to present brief biographical notices of the leading non-jurors of this county, and those notices were actually pre- pared for publication; but it was determined, on reflection, to omit these, lest the sensibilities of descendents or kinsmen should be wounded by a reference to the political sentiments of ancestors or family con- nections. But no loss is incurred by this omission, for each of these persons will be noticed in other connections.31]
Returning from this long digression the first event to be noted is the assembling, on the first of June, 1776, of the delegates of the several counties of the Province. The same gentlemen who represented Talbot in the previous convention represented the county in this, viz .: Messrs.
31 While Mr. Tilghman was in attendance on congress during the last session of the convention, his son-in-law, Mr. Charles Carroll, the barrister, presided in his stead.
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Matthew Tilghman, Nicholas Thomas, Pollard Edmundson, Edward Lloyd and James Lloyd Chamberlaine. On calling the convention to order, Mr. Matthew Tilghman was again chosen President, he having been recalled from attendance on Congress, that he might give his counsel and advice upon the momentous subject which was to engage the attention of the convention, whether Maryland should assent to the declaration of the independence of the American Colonies. It is a familiar fact to everyone at all versed in American history, that at the beginning of the controversy between the colonies and the mother country, the idea of independence had not acquired any root in the minds of the people in general. It cannot be said that the seeds had not been sown. As the controversy progressed, and especially after it had been referred to the arbitriment of arms, under the influence of the heats that were generated by the conflict, those seeds began to germinate, the plant began to grow, and soon it acquired vigor. Still there was extreme reluctance upon the part of the colonists, and nowhere in America was this reluctance more strongly felt than in Maryland, and nowhere in Maryland than in the county of Talbot, to sever the political bonds, which though strengthened by those of interest and affection, were now stretched to the utmost tension yet were holding the complaining and recalcitrant children to the side of the obstinate arbitrary and selfish but beloved parent. The convention had fre- quently expressed by its instructions to its delegates in Congress, and otherwise, its reluctance to sever the connection with the mother coun- try; but there is very good ground for believing that however well it may have represented the sentiments of the people in the beginning, at the date of the events now under review it did not properly reflect the opinions of a majority in the commonwealth upon the subject of independency, but of a minority, influential to be sure, by reason of its intelligence and wealth, but prudent to timidity because of those very qualitites which made it influential.
On the seventh of June, 1776, a memorable day in American annals it was moved in Congress by a delegate of Virginia "that the United Colonies are and ought to be, free and independent states; and that the political connection with Great Britain is and ought to be dissolved." On the following day the debates upon this measure, whose objects were of "stupendous magnitude " as declared by John Adams,commenced,and it was continued until the tenth of the month. There is no recorded evidence that the delegates from Maryland participated in this debate. A post- ponement of the vote upon the question was determined by a majority
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of the states, for three weeks in order that a greater unanimity might be secured, by allowing the delegates of those colonies which had instruc- ted their representatives in Congress, to consult their constituents, Messrs. Tilghman, Stone and Rogers wrote to the Council of Safety, advising that the Convention be called together, but that before its assemblage measures should be taken "to collect the opinion of the people at large.'32 The Council of Safety recommended to the Com- mittees of Observation in the several counties "to collect the sense of the Province on the subject of Independence." This was accomplished by holding public meetings, and fortunately there has been preserved a record of the proceedings of that which was held in this county, at least so far as the address to the delegates in the Convention.33 This is as follows:
To the Honorable Matthew Tilghman, Esq., James Lloyd Chamberlaine, Edward Lloyd, Nicholas Thomas, and Pollard Edmondson, Esquires, representatives for Talbot County, in Convention now sitting, the Address of part of the Freemen of the said County;
GENTLEMEN: The vast importance of the dispute now subsisting between Great Britain and the North American Colonies; the fatal consequences that must attend the mismanagement of that dispute, and the effects they must inevitably have on us in common with the neighboring governments, sufficiently justify us your constituents in laying our sentiments before you on the present occasion respecting the measures taken for carrying into execution the plan proposed for the preservation of our liberties, now in the most imminent danger. We therefore in virtue of that right which the constituent hath in his representative or deputy take leave to express to you our great concern and sorrow that we cannot approve the measures pursued in the last session of the Convention. We have seen with grief and astonishment the Convention of Maryland in matters of the utmost importance resolving in direct opposition to that honourable Congress. We also have seen it, in our opinion, profusely lavishing the public money at a time when the constituents are labouring under every burthen which the imagination can conceive, without money, without trade, or any possible means of procuring either. We likewise view its instructions to our delegates in Congress, of the 18th of January and the 21st of May last, as tending in direct terms to a breach of that confidential harmony so happily, before that, subsisting among the United Colonies and which are in common with every colonist embarked in the cause of liberty, beheld as our greatest glory, and the only source of protection. Its resolves in opposition to those in Congress of the 15th of May declar-
32 Scharf's History Md., vol. ii, p. 226.
33 Maryland Gazette, February 4, 1776.
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ing it to be necessary that the exercise of any kind of authority under the Crown of Great Britain should be totally suppressed and all the powers of government exerted under the authority of the people, to be a direct breach of the Continental Union, and to have a tendency to introduce anarchy and confusion by setting up and continuing two opposite authorities at the same time binding on the good people of this province. We look upon the rule of voting in Convention by counties to be dangerous, as productive of influence which may be used to rule the determinations and resolves of the house by a minority of twenty-seven members, who in such case, may have all the effects of majority. We consider our present mode of government by Conven- tions and Committees as insufficient to accomplish the end for which it was instituted; and dangerous so far as it unites the legislative and executive powers in nearly the same persons, which is the true definition of tyranny. We would by no means insinuate that the Convention hath any intention of using its power to that purpose, and hope we shall not be so understood by you; but it is proper to guard against probable evil, where the liberties of mankind are concerned. We have seen with sorrow of heart, the king of Great Britain inexorably deter- mined upon the ruin of our liberties. We view the Parliament as lost to all sense of justice and humanity, attached to and governed by a corrupt and wicked ministry who are intending the ruin of their infat- uated master, or determined to make his government absolute, and erect a tyranny over his dominions, of which they expect to have the direction. We have seen all the petitions of the Congress treated with contempt; an act of Parliament declaring our resistence to actual vio- lence to be rebellion; excluding us from the protection of the Crown, and compelling such of the colonists as shall be taken prisoners to fight against their country; the treaties of the King of Great Britain with the European provinces, for engaging foreign mercenaries to aid the forces of that kingdom in their attempts to subdue the Americans, or cut their throats; and by his answer to the address of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Council of the city of London, he manifested such a determined resolution to effect the destruction of American freedom, that we cannot entertain the most distant expectations of a reconciliation on reasonable terms. This being the case we look upon all lukewarm backwardness in the Convention of this Province, in the common cause of America, and every opposition to the resolves of Congress calculated for our safety and general security (as we are convinced that of the 15th of May above mentioned was) to be the most dangerous tendency, and that it will naturally induce the ministry to look on this Province as friendly to their measures, and in all probability bring their forces among us, by which we shall have our country made the seat of war, and experience all its horrors. Possessed with these sentiments, we in the most earnest terms request your attention to the following instruc- tions, viz:
First. That you use your utmost influence that the instructions given by Convention to our delegates in Congress, before mentioned, be
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rescinded, and that they may be entrusted by the present Convention to concur and co-operate with the delegates of the other United Colonies, in forming such further compacts between the said Colonies, concluding such treaties with foreign kingdoms, and in adopting such other measures as shall be judged necessary for promoting the liberty, safety and interest of America, and defeating the schemes and machinations of our enemies the King, Parliament and Ministry and Great Britain.
Second. That you use the same influence to induce the Convention to comply with the resolves of Congress of the 15th of May last, in exerting all the powers of government under authority of the people of this Province, by forming a constitution adequate to that purpose; and in case the present Convention shall decline that task, that you promote and procure a resolve to determine their power at the end of the present session, and order an election for members to compose a new Convention, for the purpose of forming such constitution.
Third. That you use your endeavors to procure a different mode of voting in Convention, that the method may be by the members each voting separately, as was formeriy practised in Assembly; that in all questions of importance when the house divides, the yeas and nays be constantly taken and published with the proceedings for the information of the public respecting the behavior of their representatives.
Fourth. That you use your utmost endeavors to put a stop to the executing the writs of election, we understand are already issued in the name of the Proprietary or by the authority of the King of Great Britain, as no fair elections can be held, or the people legally represented under the present circumstances of this Province, for reasons too obvious to require being mentioned.
Fifth. That you use your endeavors and influence to have the mem- bers of the Council of Safety appointed from among the delegates in Convention only, they being duly elected by the people and are the source of all power.
Sixth. That you endeavor to procure a resolve of Convention to prevent any undue influence being used at elections by military officers over the men they command, a danger which may possibly arise from attachment natural enough in the soldier to his commander.
Seventh. That you move for and promote a reasonable regulation to enable debtors to pay off their creditors in country produce, especially in the case of rents and interest due on obligations or otherwise and also the public levies now due.
Eighth. That you endeavor to procure a resolve of Convention to exclude all officers, civil or military, from holding seats in Convention or Congress after appointment to each office, until rechosen, and to exclude all members of Congress from a seat in the Convention.
Ninth. That you endeavor to reduce the enormous allowance of £15 per week, given to our delegates in Congress, this being a time when strict economy is necessary; and also reduce the allowance of members in Convention to a sum adequate to their necessary expense, as we are persuaded you will agree with us in opinion that the present state of this Province will by no means admit of profusion.
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There is little doubt that the conservative sentiments which the convention had hitherto entertained, and had shown by its instructions to its delegates in congress upon the question of independency were very materially changed by the course that events had taken and by the intercourse of the members with their several constituencies, which were unquestionably in advance of their representatives. The instruc- tions they received from the public meetings held in some of the counties. if not in all, similar in tenor to those of the freemen of Talbot, were not the expressions of public opinion only, but of the private views of many of the very men they had the appearance of directing. There is very good ground for believing that Mr. Matthew Tilghman was one of those who early favored the sundering of the political bonds which attached the colonies to England, and he in connection with Mr. William Hay- ward, of the Committee of Safety, engineered the very meeting that instructed him. When the convention, therefore, assembled on the 21st of June, among its very first acts was the passage of a formal resolu- tion recalling the delegates in congress, sitting in Philadelphia, all of whom were members of the convention also, that they might report as to the condition of the affairs of the United Colonies in general, give their counsel as to what should be the course of Maryland in the great crisis now at hand, and to receive instructions from the convention upon the momentous question of declaring for independence when it should again be called up in congress, where it had been postponed until such instructions could be obtained after a full interchange of opinions among the members of the convention, the question whether Maryland should cast her vote for independence or should continue to hold her position of conciliation and expectancy, on the 28th of June came to a vote, when it was resolved unanimously that the previous instructions to the deputies in congress should be recalled, and that "they be author- ized and empowered to concur with the other united colonies, or a majority of them in declaring the united colonies free and independent states."34 Information was immediately sent to the leaders of the movement for independence in congress, and deputies from Maryland soon followed the information and on the ever memorable second of July, 1776, the final vote was taken, when Maryland enrolled herself with the majority. Four of her deputies signed the Declaration of Independence, in the absence of the rest, and have thus secured the
34 For more particular accounts of these important events, recourse must be had to the proceedings of the conventions of Maryland and to the general histories of the State and of the United States.
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veneration of posterity to the remotest generations, and an immortality of memory compared with which that of other great names in our coun- try's history will be transient and fleeting. The explanation of the absence of one name from this scroll of fame that of Matthew Tilghman, -the name of him who has been called by the most eloquent historian of the State, the patriarch of Maryland, and to whom may be assigned without dispute the place of prince of her patriots, is explained by the fact that he was retained at Annapolis as President of the convention, whose action was largely influenced by his persuasions. But if he was debarred by this duty from the honor of affixing his name to the great Declaration, "his name led all the rest" upon that lesser "Declaration of the Delegates of Maryland" made on the sixth of July, by the body over which he presided.35 Another of the worthies of Talbot, who was a member of this celebrated congress of 1776 has escaped the celebrity that justly attaches to every signer of that great charter, John Dickin- son who represented Pennsylvania, to the last opposed independency. When, however, he saw so large a portion of his fellow members were determined upon taking this irrevocable step, he had the grace, in com- pany with another distinguished gentleman of the same state, who has a connection with Talbot, Mr. Robert Morris, to withdraw from con- gress, and thus to permit a majority of the delegation to cast the vote of the colony for the resolution of July 2nd, and thus secured its final passage. Notwithstanding his avowed and open opposition to this measure, an opposition founded upon wholly disinterested and thoroughly conscientious motives, not a shadow of doubt rests upon the purity of his patriotism, or his ardent devotion to the interests of his country. He gave evidence of these feelings when he shouldered his musket and took his place in the ranks among the humblest of his coun- trymen, to repel the enemy.36
Having taken the decisive steps of instructing the deputies of Mary- land in congress upon the subject of independency, without waiting the result of the vote in congress, the convention in Maryland on the second of July, ordered that a new convention should be "elected for
35 This Declaration was ordered to be entered upon the journal of the conven- tion and it was accordingly entered on the day mentioned in the text; but Mr. Scharf has discovered that the original copy bears the date of the 3rd of July, that is the day after the Resolution of Congress was passed, and the day before the Declaration was formally published, at Philadelphia.
36 Actually, when the Declaration was signed in August, John Dickinson was in the field at Elizabeth, N. J., with his regiment.
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the express purpose of forming a new government, by authority of the people," that should take the place not only of the old provincial and proprietary government, which was thus abrogated in form as it long had been in fact, but also the revolutionary and provisional government, which since the year 1774 had been conducted with the imperfect machin- ery of Committees of Observation, Councils of Safety and Conventions of Delegates. Provisions for holding the elections of delegates, in the several counties of the new State, were made and judges of election were named. Those nominated for Talbot were "John Goldsborough, Henry Banning and William Perry, Esquires, or any one or two of them," and they were instructed to hold the election on the first day of the following August.37 The election was accordingly held, and resulted in the choosing of Pollard Edmondson, John Gibson, Matthew Tilghman, and James Lloyd Chamberlaine, Esquires, as delegates to the first constitutional convention of Maryland which assembled Aug. 14th and organized by the unanimous election of the Hon. Matthew Tilgh- man as President. It should be mentioned that on the 4th of July when Deputies to represent the colony in congress were elected, Mr. Tilghman was one of those then chosen, as he had been from the first.
As illustrating the temper of the people, it may not be amiss, before concluding this account of civil affairs of this period of the Revolu- tion, to refer to a trifling incident, but one which was long remembered against the persons engaged. Governor Eden had continued to enjoy the respect of the people of the colony and the personal regard of many who possessed his acquaintance; and though he had opposed the revolu- tionary measures which had been instituted he had not forfeited that respect, nor that regard. His presence, however, in the Colony was thought by the Convention to be unfavorable to the patriot cause, so he was politely requested to withdraw, and permitted to embark on board the ship of war Fowey, Captain Montague. The Captain appears to have violated the agreement, or "truce," under which he had been permitted to come up the bay for the reception of the Governor and his effects. When this was discovered the Convention forbade the carry- ing on board any of the property of the Governor, and ordered that all communication with the ship should cease. To carry out this order detachments of the militia were stationed at convenient posts while the ship Defence with her tender was made to follow the Fowey down the
37 Under the colonial regime the judges of election were the justices of the county courts.
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Bay to prevent depredation. While on her way down the Bay, the Fowey anchored at the mouth of the Choptank, and while there, four of the citizens of Talbot, gentlemen of respectability and undoubted fidelity to the patriot cause, sent on board the ship as a present to Governor Eden, and as a testimonial of their personal friendship, twelve sheep, three lambs and seven shoats. This coming to the knowl- edge of the Committee of Observation, Capt. James Hindman in com- mand of the independent company at Oxford, was ordered to arrest Messrs. James Dickenson, William Thomas, John Stevens and Nicholas Martin, as being persons violating the order of the Convention for- bidding communication with the ship Fowey. These gentlemen were ordered to appear before the Convention, and accordingly did appear on the 2nd July, when,upon hearing their explanation of the affair, viz .: that the present was made to Gov. Eden before they knew of the violation of the truce, it was declared to be, "the opinion of this Convention that the said gentlemen were in no degree criminal in going on board the Fowey, with such live stock, and that they be discharged."
In order that the military record may be brought up to the date of this civil record of affairs in Talbot county, it is now necessary to revert to the time of the assembling of the June convention. Congress by a resolution passed on the third of this month, in view of the exigencies of the army under the command of Washington, requested the provinces to raise a force, to be called a "flying camp;" and Maryland agreed to furnish thirty-four hundred and five men to this force, "to act with the militia of Pennsylvania and Delaware in the middle department, that is to say, from this province to New York inclusive." Of the companies to constitute this flying camp of Maryland militia, Talbot was required to furnish one, and on the 29th of the month the convention entered upon the election of the officers to command the several companies. The gentlemen selected for the Talbot company were, Greenbury Golds- borough, as Captain; Woolman Gibson, of John, as First Lieutenant; John Thomas, Jr., as Second Lieutenant, and Perry Benson of James, as Ensign.38 Doct. John Hindman of Talbot was appointed, August 17th surgeon to the Eastern Shore Battalion of the flying camp. As the
38 This gentleman was that Perry Benson who later became General Benson, and of whom an extended memoir has been already published in these contribu- tions as one of the Worthies of Talbot. Doct. John Hindman was the son of Mr. Jacob Hindman and brother of Col. James Hindman. He was born in Dor- chester Co., but grew up in Talbot. He was the father of Col. Jacob Hindman who distinguished himself in the war of 1812-15 upon the Niagara frontier.
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emergency was urgent, because of the expected appearance of the enemy upon the coast in the vicinity of New York where the American army lay; and as there was delay in recruiting from the militia the number required for the company which was to make a part of the flying camp, the convention on the 6th of July, the last day of the session, ordered "that the independent companies stationed in Talbot, Kent, Queen Anne's and Saint Mary's counties immediately proceed to Philadelphia, and put themselves under the command of Col. Smallwood." In com- pliance with these orders Capt. Hindman prepared to proceed to the place of rendezvous, whence the companies were to march to Philadel- phia. Under the date of July 16, his letter, addressed to the Council of Safety says: "I shall set off tomorrow morning early for Head of Elk and shall make the best of my way to Philadelphia as fast as possible."
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