USA > Maryland > Maryland : the history of a palatinate > Part 7
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But this very tameness is an evidence of the modest prosperity of the Province, which grew steadily if not rapidly, and attracted men of all nations as well as all creeds. The harsh treat- ment of the Swedes on the Delaware - " that vile gang," as the envoys called them - by the Dutch, who wanted to force them to settle above the mouth of the Schuylkill, sent many hardy, industrions, and frugal colonists into Maryland, especially in the years 1661-62.
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Theoretically, the position of the colonists was almost ideal. Living in a pleasant climate, on fertile lands held at the easiest rent, making their own laws, and free from interference or direct taxation by Parliament or King, no con- dition of prosperity seemed lacking. Yet there were drawbacks, and serious ones.
One of these was the over-production of to- bacco. This had long given trouble in many ways. Men planted tobacco when they should have planted corn, and men took to planting when they should have been plying some handi- craft. Thus there is complaint that hides can- not be tanned in the Province because the tan- ners have taken to growing tobacco instead of practising their mystery, whereby tobacco is made cheaper and shoes dearer. The legisla- tion of the colony is full of restrictive and regu- lating enactments, either alone or in connection with Virginia ; times of planting were short- ened, planters were enjoined to grow two acres of corn for each member of their households, and other expedients were tried, to little pur- pose.
Tobacco was, and had been from the first, almost the sole currency of the Province ; all dealings were founded upon it : debts, rents, fines, salaries, levies, all were paid in tobacco, and in tobacco all accounts were kept. As the
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value of the staple continued to decline, this became a serious grievance, and endangered the welfare and almost the existence of the colony. The great want of a metallic currency was rep- resented to the Proprietary, and measures of relief were discussed in the Assembly, which body, however, was much in doubt whether the charter gave the Proprietary the right of coin- ing money, and whether that right had ever been possessed by the Bishops of Durhamn, the amplitude of whose powers was, to a certain extent, the measure of the Proprietary's. Bal- timore, however, was either better informed or bolder, and in 1659 he had dies cut for a shil- ling, a sixpence, and a groat, and sent out speci- mens to see if it would be acceptable to the people, in which case he could furnish as much as was needed; but with his usual sense of jus- tice he writes to his brother that "it must not be imposed upon the people but by a law made by their consent."
On October 4, 1659, information having been laid before the Privy Council that Baltimore was coining and exporting large quantities of silver, a warrant was issued for liis apprehen- sion, modified the next day to a simple sum- mons to appear before the Commissioners for Plantations to answer the charge. Of his an- swer we can find no record, but it was proba-
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bly satisfactory, as the matter seems to have been dropped. It is perhaps worth noting in this connection that when, in 1639, Lord Mal- travers received a license to stamp farthing tokens to be uttered in the plantations, Mary- land alone was excepted; which shows that this Province was regarded as standing on a differ- ent footing from the others.
The rebellion of Fendall interfered with Baltimore's intentions for the time; but, in 1661, the need being still pressing, the Assem- bly passed an act praying the Proprietary to set up a mint in the Province. Instead of doing this, he sent out a supply of coin, and the Assembly provided for its circulation by enjoining every householder to take ten shil- lings for every taxable in his family, paying in tobacco, at twopence per pound. The Act of Assembly also fixed the intrinsic value at about ninepence for the shilling, so that its real was only about seventy-five per cent. of its nominal value. It would seem as if Balti- more made a large profit by this emission, and that has been the view generally taken; but he, on his part, agreed to receive it for rents, fines, and other dues. Now, as in the Province it could only have three fourths the purchasing power of the English coinage, its natural ten. dency must have been to flow back into Balti
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more's coffers ; and this is probably the reason that the coins are now so extremely rare, though it may well be that no large amount was ever in circulation.
Whether much or little, it did not remedy the crying evil of over-production of tobacco. To the English war with the Dutch, which closed the ports of Holland, came the great plague of London, which kept English ships away from the Province, and the market was choked up for want of an outlet. Tho matter caused fierce debates in the Assembly, the Upper House urging a cessation of planting, for a year at least, and the Lower House ob- jecting that this would ruin the poorer plant- ers and the trade of the Province, without nny equivalent benefit, beside seriously impairing the royal revenues. The Burgesses at last ro- luctantly consented, if Virginia and Carolina would join ; and an agreement to that effect was come to between the Provinces, but it was nullified by the Proprietary, on the same grounds as those urged by the Burgesses ; and an order of the Privy Council peremptorily forbade the cessation. Attempts were made to encourage the planting of other crops, and the King, for this purpose, took the duties off hemp, pitch, and tar.
Still more disastrous was the operation of the
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Navigation Act,1 restricting the commerce of the colonies to English bottoms, - an act in- tended to wrest the sceptre of the seas from the Dutch. The policy of administering the colonies for England's advantage alone, which, in a hundred years, was to drive them to revo- lution, had long been innocuous in Maryland under the franchises of her charter, but so soon as that charter was held in abeyance, her rights were invaded. But Charles went farther, sup- ported by his Council for Foreign Plantations, and apparently wished to exercise in the colonies that arbitrary power which he dared not try within sight of the window of Whitehall. Ile decreed that the main articles of colonial produce should be exported only to England or its dependencies. Thus, despite the ex- press letter of her charter, Maryland, like the other colonies, was shut out from the markets of the world, and not even allowed to develop a carrying-trade of her own. The colony was, by force, kept agricultural. If England, by these means, became the empress of the seas, it was the colonies that paid the price of the imperial crown.
Of course there was contraband trade, by both Maryland and Virginia, with the Dutch, on the Delaware; not to a sufficient extent to
1 Passed in 1651, and reenacted after the Restoration.
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relieve those Provinces, but quite enough to irritate England. Governor Calvert, probably foreseeing that the Dutch war would result in the seizure of the disputed territory by the crown, tried to get the boundary question set- tled, and in 1663 paid a visit to New Amstel and Altona, where he was courteously received, but accomplished nothing beyond a better un- derstanding about the Indian troubles.
The next year King Charles, cither from his old grudge against the Dutch, or because he was irritated at their encroachments to the north of Manhattan, took the business into his own hands, and granted to his brother James, Duke of York, the land west of the Connecticut River and cast of the Delaware, and James, then High Admiral of England, at once sent out a fleet to take possession of his grant. The expedition was commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls and Sir Robert Carr; and in a few weeks the whole Dutch power was overthrown, and the conquered territory taken possession of by the Duke, who cared as little for the small charter of Maryland and its solemn pledges as he afterwards showed that he cared for the Great Charter of Eng- land.
The records tell us little of interest for the next few years. In 1667 a dreadful hurricane
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swept over Virginia and Maryland, and did great damage. In the former Province it was said that fifteen thousand houses were blown down, and four fifths of the tobacco crop do- stroyed ; but this must have been an exaggora- tion.
To the session of 1669 the Burgesses - Del- cgates, they were now called - seem to havo brought a rather discontented and refractory temper. The old leaven of Puritanism was working among them, with the usual result of self-exaltation and resistance to established or- der. A preacher, one Nicholett, who perhaps imagined himself a Hugh Peters, preached them a sermon, in which he magnified their office, telling them that "they were chosen both by God and man, and had a power put into their hands; " that they " should read the proceed- ings of the Commons of England, to see what brave things they had done; " and, above all, that they " should beware of the sin of permis- sion," - meaning letting things alone which it was in their power to disquiet. Nicholett was rather a brawler than a fanatic, for, on being called to account by the Upper House, he hum- bly acknowledged his fault, and asked pardon on his knees, and so came off with a fine of forty shillings.
The idea, however, that it was a House of
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Commons, had somelow fixed itself in the fancy of the Lower House, and it next pro- ceeded to the impeachment of one of its own members, on the testimony of a single witness, and that an alion. This proceeding the Upper House summarily quashed, dryly pointing out to them that they were permitting a breach of their own privileges, of which they were so jealous.
Next the Delegates presented a paper of griev- ances, seven in number, the chief of which were, that there was no person in the Province author- ised to give a final assent to laws ; that the year's levy was oppressive and unlawful ; that vexatious informers were a grievance, and at- torneys a grand grievance. The Upper House answered, with temper and firmness, that the Proprietary must retain in his own hands the power of assent to laws, since his authority rested on his patent, and a treacherous or ignorant deputy might confirm laws that were breaches of the patent, and thus bring about its forfeiture. As for the levy, that was for the necessary defence of the Province against the Indians, and if a grievance, it was one of their own making, since the act for raising it had been passed by both Houses. As to at- torneys, they were a useful class of citizens, in- dispensable, indeed, to those who could not
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attend to their law business in person, and if they were guilty of any misfeasance, there was the law to punish them. Vexatious informers they know of none : if any one knew of any offence or malicious practice, and gave notico thereof to the authorities, he did but his duty, and by no means deserved to be called a vexa- tious informer. They gave the Delegates a dry reminder that they were not quite a House of Commons, as they seemed to think, but only held their places in virtue of the charter, and that in attacking that they were attacking themselves ; and finally exhorted them to leave vnin brabblings, and attend to the public busi- ness, which they were sent to do.
The Lower House was still malcontent, until, after messages to and fro, committees of confer- ence, and the usual incidents of a parliamentary squabble, the Upper House offered an ulti- matum : to expunge the offensive votes from their journal or be dissolved by the Governor. At this they yielded, expunged the votes, and harmony was restored. More than this, they joined with the Upper House in passing an Act of Gratitude to the Proprietary " for the manifold benefits and advantages they reaped from his lordship's unwearied endeavours" in behalf of the Province, in testimony whereof they voted a free gift to Governor Calvert of
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sixpence per hogshead on all tobacco shipped from the Province for a year.
The many bickerings between the Houses, of which this is but a type, seem much like a tempest in a teapot. Yet as a tempest in a teapot is an interesting and instructive study of the workings of natural forces, so these are illustrative of the independent spirit of the provincials, and the jealous care with which they guarded their liberties. The Delegates were in the wrong here, and at other timos, but there were times when they were in the right, and firmly held their ground.
About this time we catch the last glimpse, or almost the last, of the poor Pascataways. The feeble remnant of the tribe send a pathetic petition to their old friends and protectors, the English, in the name of "the boys, the grown people, the women, and the old men," desiring a continuance of friendship and peace. They have brought no present, seeing that they are dwindled to a mere handful, and "beg that hereafter, when their nation may be reduced to nothing, they may not be scorned and chased out of the English protection." The Governor encouraged and comforted them as best he might, assured them of peace and friendship, and " that we should not scorn or cast off the meanest of them."
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The pledge was kept, we doubt not; but it was all in vain. The gentle Pascataways, the tenacious Nanticokes, the bold Susquehan- noughs, and the ferocious Iroquois, had played their mysterious part in the tragedy of human- ity, and had to make way for other actors with other destinies. Happiest they who passed softly into darkness, like the Tayac's harmless children.
The next year an attempt was made to settle the southern boundary of Maryland, and Chan- cellor Philip Calvert and Edmund Scarborough, Surveyor General of Virginia, were appointed to run the charter-line. The presence of Scar- borough, of whose proceedings we have already heard something, boded no good to Maryland. The charter called for a line running east from Watkins' Point to the ocean ; and Watkins' Point having been determined, Scarborough ran what he called "an east line " to the seaside. Not until long after was it found that he had run it so far to the north of east as to give Vir- ginia twenty-three square miles that did not be- long to her. This was the first spoliation of Maryland's territory, and but a trifle to what was to come.
Another, and much more considerable spolia- tion had already been prepared, by ignorance of the geography of lands which no white man
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had visited. In 1649, Charles II., then a fugi- tive, granted to Lord Hopton and others the region lying between the Rappahannock and l'otomac rivers, to be held under the govern- ment of Virginia. In 1669, some of the original grantees having died, the tract was regranted to Lord St. Albans and others ; and in the fourth year of James II., the whole title having vested in Lord Culpeper, it was confirmed to him by the crown, and was brought by his daughter and heiress to Lord Fairfax, whom she married.
There was nothing in this grant, as it stood, which conflicted with the Maryland charter. But there was at this time, and for many years after, an uncertainty as to what was the first, that is, the most distant fountain of the Po- tomac; in other words, whether the right bank of the northern or southern branch of that river was Maryland's boundary line. Lord Fairfax, who did an extensive business in granting lands, settled the matter to suit his own interests by claiming to the north branch, though Maryland steadily refused to allow the claim, both before and after the source of the south branch was proved to be the first fountain. As Virginia, by her constitution of 1776, released all claim to the territory within the charter-boundaries of Maryland, and as the true western boundary was at that time well-known, one might have
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supposed that Maryland would then get her rights ; but the performance did not come up to the promise, and Virginia steadily refused to give up the land, or even to agree to give it up in caso Maryland's right was established. At Inst, in 1852, the Assembly, by a generosity for which the State owes them small thanks, set- tled the matter by conceding to Virginia all that she asked, and thus depriving the State of half a million of acres of the most fertile land.
Though the agents of the Duke of York were occupying Delaware, he had no grant of land west of the river ; and Baltimore was anxious to settle that part of his province and confirm his jurisdiction. For this purpose he appointed a surveyor-general and sent him to determine the northern boundary ; he crected the lands north of the Horekill to the fortieth parallel, and east of that stream to the sea, into Durham and Worcester counties, and offered land to set- tlers at half the usual rent. White, the sur- veyor, proceeding to New Castle, found that it lay in 89° 80' north latitude, and notified Love- lace, Governor of Manhattan, now New York, to that effect.
CHAPTER IX.
PENN AND HIS TACTICS. THE ASSOCIATORS.
IN 1675, Cecilius, Lord Baltimore, died, and was succeeded by his only son, Charles, as . third Baron, and second Proprietary of Mary- land. His wisdom, firmness, justice, and mod- eration had secured his own rights and the franchises of his colony - which he had never 800113 - against the attacks of foes abroad and at home. His people, though sometimes petu- lant, were not ungrateful, and at least thrice they put on record a solemn declaration of gratitude for " his unwearied care to preserve them in the enjoyment of their lives, liberties, and fortunes."
Charles, his successor, seems to have had his father's prudence and justice, but not his quiet tenacity of purpose; and times were coming that made that quality more than ever neces- sary. A part of his territory had been already
1 It may be convenient to remember that there were six Lords Baltimore and six Proprietaries of Maryland ; but the first lord, George, was not a Proprietary, and the last Pro- prietary, Fleury Harford, was not a lord. Of these roven por- sons, the first, third, fifth, and seventh visited Maryland, and the second, fourth, and sixth did not.
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seized by a royal prince, soon to be king, to whom justice, law, and plighted faith were empty words. His enemies were busy at court, busy in Virginia, busy in New York, and busy in Maryland itself, sending home overy charge that ingenuity could devise. The Protestants (now numbering about twelve to every Catholic) ' were persecuted and in peril ; religion and morals were in a parlous state ; the royal revenues were defrauded (this was true, and so were the Proprietary's) 2 by smug- gling at the head of the bay, and so forth. Even Claiborne, now over eighty years old, rouses himself for the moment at the thought of larm to be done to Maryland, and appears in the last of his many characters. The royalist who turned parliamentarian, the Churchman who turned Puritan, the King's officer who be- came Cromwell's commissioner, in a petition to
1 Lord Baltimore wrote that the Nonconformists in Mary- land outnumbered the Churchinen and Catholics together about three to one, and that the Churchmen wore much more numerous than the Catholics. If they were twice as numer- our, the proportion of Protestants to Catholics was eleven to one. A letter of 1681 estimates them as thirty to one, but this seems extravagant.
2 The Navigation Act of 1662 imposed an export duty of a penny per pound on all tobacco shipped to other than Eng- lish ports ; and n provincial Inw in 1671 laid a tax of two shillings a hogshead, half for the public charges and half for the Proprietary.
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the King poses as an old broken cavalier, calls himself " the old servant of your majesty's father and grandfather," and speaks of Charles I. ny " your father of glorious memory." The old man might have spared his white hairs this shame : his petition was unregarded, and he died not long after on his Virginia estates. While doing justice to his readiness of resource, and indomitable tenacity of purpose, one can- not but wish that he had used directer methods, that he had sailed under fewer flags, and that when hard knocks were going, he had stayed and taken his share, instead of slipping off to Virginia and leaving others to do the fighting.
About the same time a Mr. Yeo, a clergy- man, wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury complaining that there was no established min- istry in Maryland, and the Privy Council in- quired the reason why. Baltimore replied that all forms of Christian faith were tolerated, and every denomination supported its own minis- ters ; ' that the Nonconformists outnumbered Churchmen and Romanists together by about three to one, and to compel them to support ministers not of their own faith would be a
1 One instance of this is in the pious foundation of William Marshall of Pasquasecutt, who endowed the parish [sic] in 1652 with the milk of there heifers forever for the mainto- nance of a minister.
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burden at once unjust and hard to impose. Virginia complained that dues were exacted of vessels sailing up the Potomac; and this was answered by calling attention to the fact that the whole Potomac River belonged to Mary- land, so that every vessel navigating it was within Maryland's jurisdiction.
The Susqnehannoughs, first the enemies of the colonists, then their friends and wardens of the northern marches, had for years been weak- ening and dwindling. The small-pox had made terrible ravages among them, and had so thinned their numbers that they were forced to ask help from the English against their old enemies, the Senecas and Cayngas. But these fierce and vindictive tribes still harassed them, and in 1673, after a crushing defeat, the shat- tered remnant of the tribe fled to the old lands of the Pascataways, near the Virginia boun- dary ; nor were they safe ovon there from their relentless foes, who made forays upon them from time to time.
In 1675 several Indian murders occurred on both sides of the Potomac. Suspicion was fixed ' on the Susquehannoughs, and a joint attack was concerted by a party of Virginians under Colonel John Washington, and Marylandors un- der Major Thomas Truman, accompanied by a body of Indian allies. The Susquehannoughs
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were in an old fort or block-house, and this the troops surrounded. A parley was held, at which the chiefs solemnly protested their inno- cence of the murders, which they said were the work of a party of Senecas ; and as a proof that they were the friends of the English, they showed passes and a medal given them by Gov- ornor Calvert. Truman professed himself sat- isfied of their innocence, and promised to pro- tect them, but the Virginians were clamorous for their blood, and when a party came into camp bringing in the bodies of some of the murdered settlers, their fury could no longer be restrained. Truman yielded, and five of the six chiefs who had come out under an assurance of safety, were seized, bound, and butchered, one escaping.
For this shameful breach of faith, Truman was impeached by the Delegates. The Upper House confirmed their action, and requested them to draw up a bill of attainder against him; but the Delegates, suddenly slackening in their zeal, were for a fine only, which the Up- per House indignantly rejected, as little bet- ter than condonation of a flagrant crime and breach of public faith, which, on all accounts, deserved exemplary punishment. As neither House would recede, Truman went unpunished, beyond losing his seat in the Council.
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This affair had serious consequences for Vir- ginia. The Indians who were left in the fort after the massacre of the chiefs, held out for more than a month, and then stole off by night, crossed the Potomac, and made their way to the south, killing and ravaging as they went. Among their victims was an overseer of Na- thaniel Bacon, one of the Council of Virginia, and a man of spirit and energy. To him the Virginians looked as their defender, and the re- sults led to that tragic series of events known as " Bacon's rebellion," in Virginian history.
Fendall, who had come off so lightly in 1660, had not given up the hope of revenge, and in 1681 we find him intriguing with one John Coode, who had once been a clergyman, to create some disturbance in Maryland. The details are not clear ; but it seems to have been a plot for raising a revolt of the disaffected with the help of a party of Virginians. Both were arrested and tried ; Fendall was fined and banished, and Coode, the more dangerous of the two, was acquitted.
The Assembly, taking account of Baltimore's unwenrying exertions to promote the prosperity and safety of the Province, offered him a free gift of 100,000 pounds of tobacco, as a testi- mony of " gratitude, duty, and affection," but the unselfish Proprietary declined the gift as
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