USA > Maryland > Maryland : the history of a palatinate > Part 3
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On the 10th of May there was another con- flict in the harbor of Great Wighcocomoco (or Pocomoke), in which Thomas Smith com- inanded a vessel of Claiborne's, and there seems to have been bloodshed there.
These proceedings in Maryland naturally created much excitement in Virginia, and brought matters in the Council to an explosion. A stormy scene ensued, the upshot of which was that Harvey had to sail for England. The Council, however, not venturing to disobey the express commands of the King, sent commission- ers to Maryland to restore at least a temporary peace, and Baltimore's authority seems to have been acquiesced in, if not acknowledged.
The incessant and frivolous attacks upon the charter also drew from the King a more em- phatic confirmation, who in 1687 ordered the Commissioners of Plantations and all his other officers to let no grant or commission pass which · should encroach on Baltimore's rights; and in
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addition pledged his royal word not to allow muy quo warranto or other proceeding which might infringe or overthrow the Maryland patent in respect of any clause or matter con- tained therein. Thus the grantor having ex- plained his own grant, one might have supposed that all quibbling about hactenus inculta was put an end to.
The colonists had no sooner settled them- Belves pretty comfortably in their cabins than, with the instinct of their race, they set about making laws to live under. It is interesting to sco this young plantation in the forests of the New World reviving the ancient customs of their Teutonic ancestors in the Old. The Assembly was a true folc-gemot ; the Lieuten- ant-General, who represented the supreme au- thority, who convoked assemblies and headed expeditions, held the place of the ealdormann ; eorl and thegn were not, nor ever should be; but ceorl and esne were represented by the free- man and the servant. The freeman was either tho landholder or the free craftsman : in the first Assembly whose records have been preserved, wo find " Francis Gray, carpenter," "John Halfe-hend, brick-mason," and " Roger Oliver, mariner," taking seats beside the planters. The unfree class was composed of indented servants, who becuino freomen of the Province. when
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their times of service had expired. The real servile class, or theotras, incapable of citizen- ship, was represented later by a few Indian ser- vants, either prisoners of war or convicta, and by negroes, who were always slaves for life.
The first Assembly met at St. Mary's, on February 26, 1684-85, under the presidency of Leonard Calvert, and was composed, appar- ently, of all the freemen in the colony. They drew up a body of laws which, with the reo- ord of their proceedings, has unfortunately per- ished,1 and sent it off to the Proprietary for his assent. This was refused, doubtless for the rea- son that the charter gave the Proprietary the power of making laws with the assent of the freemen, and not the freemen with the assent of the Proprietary, so for the two years follow- ing the Province remained under the common law of England.
Baltimore now sent out instructions to his brother how, and on what conditions, lands were to be allotted to settlers. Any colonist of the first immigration, who had brought over five men, received two thousand acres of land, sub- ject to an annual quit-rent of 400 lbs. of wheat ; one who came between 1634-85, bringing over ten men, liad the same allotment of land at a
1 We only know that one of their laws provided that mar- ders and felonies should bo punishod as in England.
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rent of 600 lbs., and proportionately for those who came later, or brought fewer men ; the highest rate being 208. per thousand acres. Plantations of a thousand acres or more were erected into manors, carrying the right of bold- ing courts-baron and courts-leet.
While the charter gave the Proprietary the power of conferring dignities, and consequently of creating a provincial peerage or aristocracy, perhaps from prudential motives he refrained from exercising it. 'At the same time tho conditions of plantation provided for a class of great Inndholders with judicial and other rights, and at first there was, some disposition to make those a privileged class. In the session of 1637- 89 a bill was introduced providing that lords of manors could only be tried by a jury of their own class, if so many could be obtained, and the lord of a manor, if condemned to death, was to be executed by beheading instead of hanging ; but this bill never passed to a third rending.
In the mean time, Claiborne's affairs had passed into n new phase. The London mer- chants, Cloberry and Company, apparently thor- oughly dissatisfied with his management, sent out George Evelin as their attorney, with full powora to take the station and all the property of the concern into his hands. Claiborne mado
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no opposition, merely asking Evelin to bind himself not to hand over the island to the Marylanders ; but Evelin refused to make any stipulation, and Claiborne surrendered every- thing to him and sailed for England, where he was sued by Cloberry and Company, and a trial followed, with which this narrative is not con- cerned.1 Evelin then went to Virginia, and on the strength of his powers of attorney attached all the goods of Claiborne at James City and at Kecoughtan, his residence, in the name of his principals, Governor Harvey, we may be sure, making no objection. The London mer- chants admitted Baltimore's jurisdiction over the island, and sued out warrants in his courts against various debtors there.
By this time Claiborne seems to have grown thoroughly disgusted and disheartened at the turn his Maryland affairs had taken. Recog- nizing the legal strength of Baltimore's posi- tion, and seeing that it was better to hold land under the charter of Maryland than in charter- less Virginia, he might perhaps have acknowl- edged the Proprietary's territorial rights ; but his London principals had displaced him from } his position and seized the property on the isl-
1 lfo was also held to answer before the Commissioners of Plantations on a charge of mutiny preferred by Governor Harvey.
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and, and there was nothing for him to do but to go elsewhere. But he still cherished his schemes of trade, and in this year we find him purchasing from the Indians Palmer's Island (now Watson's Island), at the head of the bay, erroneously thinking it to be outside the limits of the Maryland patent.
He also petitioned the King that Baltimore might be restrained from interfering with his trade, and further, that the crown would grant him a tract of land extending in breadth for twelve leagues on each side the Susquehannal River, and in length, "from the mouth of said river down the said bay, southerly to the sea- ward, and so to the head of the said river and to the Grand Lake of Canada," to be held of the crown at a rent of £50 per annum. This preposterous demand, which would have not only given him about three fourths of Mary- land, and the whole of the Chesapeake Bay, but would, if Indian tomahawks had permit- tod, have cut the crown's possessions in two by a cordon of trading - posts eight hundred miles long, was referred by the King to the Commissioners for Plantations, who seem not to linve thought it worth an answer. As Clai- borno admitted that Kent Island was within the Maryland patent, and as, upon examination, his mrcalled commission proved to be only a
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license, under the Scotch signet, to trade with the Indians, giving him no title to land, nor even to make a settlement, the Commission- ora once more referred him to the ordinary course of justice in respect of the wrongs com- plained of.
Down to this time Evelin had heard only the Virginian side of the story ; but now he visited St. Mary's, and was there shown the Maryland patent and the text of Claiborne's licenses. This opened his eyes, and he readily acknowledged Baltimore's territorial rights. As the station was already under his control as agent for the London , merchants, he was ap- pointed "commander " of the island, an office somewhat resembling that of the lieutenant of a county, and exercised in outlying settlements when much independence of action was neces- sary. Returning in this capacity to Kent, he called a meeting of the freemen, caused his commission and the charter of Maryland to be read, explained the question of the title and that they were under the jurisdiction of Mary- land, and endeavored to reconcile them to the new order of things by pointing out the advan- tages, of trade and other, that the Marylanders enjoyed over the Virginians.
No objection was made, but the island con- tinued in a disorderly state. The service of
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Cloberry and Company's processes was resisted by violence, and Evelin urged the Maryland anthorities to send a force, reduce it formally, and restore order, which was done by an expe- dition in February, 1637-38, under command of Governor Calvert. No resistance seems to have been offered, and in a few days Culvert re- turned, bringing with him, as a prisoner, Thomas Smith, leader in the affray at Great Wighcoco- moco. In the same expedition Palmer's Island, on which Chiborne had placed a few men, was also reduced, and a fort, called Fort Conquest, crocted. Claiborne now resolved to shake the dust of Maryland from his feet, and in the fol- lowing summer he obtained a grant of Rich Island in the Bahamas, within the Providence Company's patent.
The second Assembly of the Province met on January 25, 1637-38, and of this the record is still extant. It consisted of all the freemen of the colony, either present in person or repre- sented by their proxies, and was presided over by the Governor, with whom were joined coun- cillors appointed by the Proprietary. The free- men wore summoned by writ, and when assem- bled, proclamation was made that any who had ben omitted in the write should present them- selves and chim their seats. Some who had givon proxies came forward during the session,
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revoked their proxies, and took their seats in person. A curious question of privilege arose : whether those members who had given proxies were exempt from arrest for debt, and it was decided that no man who had a right to a seat in the Assembly might be so arrested until after the Assembly was dissolved.
A draft of laws sent out by the Proprietary was read and rejected by a large majority. Here was a deadlock ; if the Proprietary would agree to no laws of their making, and they to none of his making, how was the colony to be governed ? By the laws of England, it was suggested. But the Governor's commission did not empower him to deal with offences punish- able by death or mutilation, under any laws save those of the Province. The answer to this objection brings clearly before us the smallness and isolation of the colony, which felt itself like a frontier garrison or a ship at sea. It was answered, " that such enormous offences could hardly be committed without mutiny, and then they might be punished by martial law."
And at this moment there was a prisoner in their hands awaiting trial on a charge of piracy and murder, and there was no grand jury to indict him, no court to try him, and no law to try him under. The knot was cut in the sim.
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plest possible way. The sheriff impanelled the whole Assembly as a grand inquest, and they bronght in an indictment ; the Assembly then resolved itself into a high court of justice, with Secretary Lewger as Attorney-General, gave the prisoner liberty of challenge, heard the evi- dence on both sides, and found him guilty ; but whether under the law of England, or n law passed at the previous session, does not clearly appear. Smith demanded his clergy, but it was disallowed, and the Governor, as president of the court, pronounced sentence of death. A bill, confirming the sentence, was read thrice and passed, and the prisoner was executed. The House then resolved itself into a coroner's jury, and inquired into the deaths of the per- sous killed in the Pocomoke affair.
The purely legislative proceedings of this As- sembly deserve notice. It tends to confirm the idea that men of our race have an instinct of organic self-government, as bees and ants have the instinct of organised labor, when we find these men, most of whom could have had no legislativo or administrative experience, and several of whom had been indented servants but a year or two before, not only solving the difficulties before them in a way at once legal and perfectly effective, but shaping their whole organisation and action in conformity with a
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clear ideal of what such a body should be und do. They provided, as we bave seen, for privi- lego of parliament, und for the time-honored three rendings ; they enacted a body of laws, forty-two in number, providing for allegiance to the King, liberties of the people, and a civil list for the Proprietary ; for causes civil and criminal, for the settlement, allotment, aliena. tion, and descent of land ; for ports, a town, and a fort ; for matters testamentary, future assem- blies, and the organisation of the militia. They attainted Claiborne (then in England) and de- clared his possessions in the Province forfeit, for sending out Warren's expedition, and so closed this remarkable session.
The Proprietary saw that his colonists were men who might be trusted to manage their own affairs ; and with that far-sighted wisdom which characterised him, sent over to his brother full authority to assent in his name to laws made by the freemen, reserving to himself only the veto power ; while, to avoid the inconvenience and danger of leaving the Province without laws, they were to be operative until his final assent or dissent was received. Thus was the princi- ple of free self-government firmly and peacea- bly established in Maryland, four years from the settlement of the colony.
Nor had Calvert planted English institutions
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in Maryland simply as he found them. He went back to a better time for freedom of ac- tion, and looked forward to a better time for fromdom of thought. While as yet there was no spot in Christendom where religious belief was froe, and when even the Commons of Eng- land had openly declared against toleration, he founded a community wherein no mun was to be molested for his faith. At a time when nb- solutism had struck down representative gov- ernment in England, and it was doubtful if n Parliament of freemen would ever meet again, he founded a community in which no laws were to be mnde without the consent of the freemen. The Ark and the Dove were names of happy omen : the one saved from the general wreck the germs of political liberty, and the other bore the olive branch of religious pence.
At the next session the government was re- modelled. Writs of election superseded writs of summons : in place of the cumbrous and in- convenient popular assembly, burgesses were to bo chosen from every hundred, and these bur- gessos, with the Governor and Council, consti- tutod the House of Assembly, which was to meot trienniully, unless specinlly summoned.
Two anomalies, however, still remained : the Propriotary had the right of summoning mem- born by special writ, who sat and voted with
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the burgesses, and thus had it in his power to swamp the popular vote whenever he saw &t ; but it does not appear that the attempt was ever made. The second an maly was an in- compatible relic of the older system. Those freemen who had not voted for the burgesses elected were allowed to appear in person and claim their seats; and this was done. at this very Assembly. Two burgesses were chosen for St. Mary's hundred ; but two freemen pre- sented themselves before the Assembly, and claimed and were allowed seats on the ground that they had not voted for the burgesses, and were therefore not represented. By this ex- truordinary application of the principle of mi- nority representation, the votes of this minority of two would have counterbalanced those of the whole body of electors, and had they been three would have outnumbered them. It is probable that the irrationality of the thing was at once seen, as the two do not appear in the records as voting on any question.
The Assembly, thus constituted, set out at once to build up from the foundations a system of government for the Province. Four acts were passed, having somewhat the character of a Bill of Rights, securing all rights und liberties to " Holy Church," allegiance to the King, the liberties of Englishmen to the people, and his .
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territorial rights to the Proprietary. This done, they established courts for the trial of causes civil and criminal, provided justices of tho peace and other officers, enacted a code of Iuws, regulated commerce and agriculture, and made provision for the meeting and inspection of the militin. These acts, however, for some unexplained reason, did not pass to a third rending, and it was not until the next session that the colony was equipped with all the ma- chinery of a representative popular govern- mont.
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CHAPTER IV. INVASION OF CLAIBORNE AND INGLE. TOLERATION.
DURING all this time the population of Ma- ryland was steadily growing. Colonists came, bringing out at their own expense twenty-five, ten, five settlers, and taking up manors and plantations ; while others brought themselves only, and received homesteads. Pamphlets, published in England, set forth the attractions of the colony, and gave advice to intending set- tlers. The old planters wrote home for more inen, and on their arrival took up more land. At the same time the danger of the accumula- tion of vast unused tracts in single hands was met by a law providing that lands long unsettled and uncultivated should revert to the Proprio- tary. When the population of a district had sufficiently increased, it was made a hundred. In January, 1637-88, St. George's hundred, on the west bank of that river, was erected and placed under the command of a high constable. By the returns of the writs in the next election, it seems to have had about twenty-two electors.
The settlers brought out under the general title of " servants " paid for their passage by .
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short terms of service, sometimes of three years, but usually five. Of these most were farmers; others were craftsmen, masons, bricklayers, carpenters, leather dressers, and so forth, not a few of them being younger sons of good fam- ilies. Cornwaleys, in a memorial to the As- sembly, speaks of the number he has brought over, "some of whom were of good rank and quality." These all, when their terms expired, became freemen, took up land, and were eligi- blo as burgesses. In the Assembly of 1637-38 we find several of those who were brought out as " servants " in the first immigration taking their seats as "planters.",
Many craftsmen came out at their own ex- pense and received allotments of land larger than those granted to simple working-men. For instance, Richard Purlivant, barber-chirur- geon, receives one hundred acres for having transported himself at his own charge into the l'rovince, and two hundred more for "having practisod his art to the benefit of the inhabitants of our Isto of Kent." From all the evidence it is plain that for a long time the settlers were of the kinds most desirable for a young colony, being partly men of substance who came with wives and children ; and partly industrious, able young men who came to work, to gain home- steads, and to raise families. No religious nor
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political tests were required, beyond allegiance to the King, fidelity to the Proprietary, and obedience to the law.
The stato of things which resulted again takes us back to the old Teutonic iden of a community, as distinguished from that of the south of Europe. The mild and healthy cli- inato, the fertile soil, the abundance of water and of game, all tended to make a country life especially attractive. The wealthy planter lived on his plantation all the year. Again, the numbers of navigable streams, creeks, and inlets hindered the growth of towns. Vessels loading tobacco, the staple growth of the col- ony, went from plantation to plantation, taking each planter's crop from his own landing. Thus each plantation tended to become a small self-supporting community, producing within itself nearly all that it needed, and supplying what was lacking by its own trade. These conditions of life powerfully aided in bringing about that patriarchal state of society, and that strong feeling of family ties, so characteristic of Maryland and of tidewater Virginia.
Peace and order now seemed assured. Clai- borne had ceased to trouble. The Kent island- ers were apparently reconciled to the new gov- ernment, for we find them coming forward in 1640, taking the oath of fidelity, and having
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their grants from Claiborne regranted by the Proprietary. All the conditions of prosperity seem to have met, had the Province been un- molested from without.
With the southern Indinus about Patuxent and Pascataway, the relations of the colonists were of the most friendly kind. The Jesuit missionaries, with their usual zenl, lind scattered themselves among these Indians, who received them kindly and readily embraced the Christian fuith. In 1640 the Tayac, or emperor, of Pas- catawny, who sooms to have held sovereignty over soveral tribes, was baptized and married ac- conding to the Christian rito. This was an ovent of political us well as religions importance, as it menred for the colony the friendship of a pow- erful chief and of the nonrest tribes ; and it was recognised as anch by Governor Calvert, who, with Secretary Lowger and other leading men of the Province, paid a formul visit to the Ta- yuo to be present at the ceremony, which is thus described in the missionaries' report for 1640 : -
" On the 5th of July. 1640, when he [the Tuyac ] was sufficiently instructed in the mys- torios of the faith, in u solomn manner he re- ceived the sacramental waters in a little chapel, which, for that purpose, and for divine worship, ho had erected of bark, after the manner of
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the Indians. At the same time the Queen, with an infant at the breast, and others of the prin- cipal men whom he especially admitted to his counsels, together with his little son, were re- generated in the baptismal font. To the em- peror, who was called Chitomachen before, was given the name of Charles ; to his wife, that of Mary. . . . The Governor was present at the ceremony, together with the Secretary and many others; nor was anything wanting in display which our means could supply. In the afternoon the King and Queen were united in matrimony in the Christian manner ; then a great cross was erected, in carrying which to its destined place the King, Governor, Secretary, and others, lent their shoulders and hands."
The forest prince also brought his little daughter, seven years old, to be educated at St. Mary's, and other chiefs expressed a desire for the teachings of the missionaries. Nor did these faithful and devoted men confine their services to religious instruction ; they taught the Indians simple arts ; they gave medical treatment to their sick, and shared their corn with them in time of famine. They went from place to place in a boat, - these tribes being fishing Indians, and living on the creeks and inlets, - and if, towards evening, they reached an Indian village or hut they were joyfully re-
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ceived; if not, they made fast the boat, the priest gathered wood and built a fire, while the others sought for game of some kind for the evening meal, after which they slept by their camp-fire in perfect security.
Wrongs and outrages upon the friendly In- dians were summarily punished. In 1643, one Dandy, a blacksmith, who bad shot an Indian boy, was promptly tried and condemned to death. But a blacksmith was too valuable a member of the community to be lightly parted with, and, in deference to a strong petition, Dandy's sentence was commuted to penal ser- vitude, with the addition that he was to be "executioner of corporal corrections ; " that is, public flogger and hangman. It would have been economy to hang him at once, for it had to be done a few years later.
But the fierce Susquehannoughs on the north, and the Nanticokes in the east, were not so friendly. From time to time they attacked the southern tribes, and even some outlying planta- tions of the English ; and, in 1642, they were moro troublesome than ever, murdered soveral settlers and burned their houses, and seemed to bo plotting more serious mischief. Calvert at onco, though the burgesses seemed faint- honrted in the matter, began to take measures for defenco. Signals wore agreed upon by
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