USA > Maryland > Studies in the civil, social and ecclesiastical history of early Maryland; lectures delivered to the young men of the Agricultural College of Maryland > Part 12
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Yet all the time the spirit was there. The charter of the province guaranteed the people of the colony the rights of Englishmen; and those rights they were as for- ward to maintain as the members of the Long Parliament were; and in fact the lines of battle were the same as they had been in the days of the Long Parliament. The only change had been that Englishmen in the earlier period had been compelled to struggle against the pretensions of the king, while the colonists were compelled to struggle against the Parliament. The rule had only again been shown in operation. In the first case their own interests and rights had made exceeding keen the vision of the English people; but when it was somebody else's rights and interests which were in jeopardy, the same English people could not see the application of great English principles.
The point at issue was the right of the people to tax themselves, to the exclusion of anybody else's right; taxa- tion with representation, not without. That was the prin- ciple at stake, and all the attempts at subterfuge, as the pretense of virtual representation, as if the colonists stood upon the same platform with the great disfranchised classes of England, were ruthlessly pushed aside. Represen- tation, with the Maryland colonists, meant the election by themselves of their own deputies to the British Parlia- ment, as they elected their own deputies to their colonial Assembly. This was necessary for their protection; but this was impossible at the same time, rendered so by the
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distance and by all the other circumstances of the colonies.
Also they brushed aside the claims of the English ministry, that the great English debt had been contracted in the defense of the colonies against French aggression. It was only English and French battles fought in America, a struggle that had been going on since the days of Wil- liam the Third, the outbreak of the old jealousy that had been manifesting its virulence for centuries, since the days when the Edwards and Henrys had claimed the kingdom of France for the English crown. Taxation for revenue is impossible, was their first principle, because representa- tion is impossible; though they did submit when the impo- sition wore another face, as, for instance, when a law was passed regulating commerce, even though the law did infringe upon the freedom of trade and affected their com- mercial interests. For it was not a question of money with the colonists. They did not rise in indignation when it was a money consideration that was presented. This is seen in the fact that when all other items were stricken out of the law, and only tea was left as the article on which a tax should be levied, and when, in further modification, the East India Company was allowed a drawback to the amount of the proposed duty, which drawback they pro- posed to give the colonists the benefit of, so that the tea should not cost them more than it would without the tax, yet even then the colonists did not let up for one moment. The principle itself must be abrogated, denied by the British authorities themselves. The No-taxation was to be regarded as the definite article of the American Constitution by the English authorities, and no precedent, however little it might cost at first, was to be allowed to establish itself.
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The English authorities did not know what they were · doing for America by the ten years of agitation which they fomented. For this was the time, from 1765, when the Stamp Act was passed, until the waters reached a head and all barriers were swept away. We are some- times surprised at the vim and enthusiasm of America in the days of the Revolution; we are surprised at the tone and fervor of the Declaration of Independence, and at the exalted character and intelligence of the men who guided the new-born state in the days of its infancy. Rather it had no infancy, but sprang equipped, a well-armed war- rior, at once into existence. But the agitation and dis- cussion of ten years had done it. The generation of men that had come to the front, had drunk in a knowledge of those principles of civil and national freedom from the atmosphere. Those principles found a congenial soil; for all the colonies of America had and cultivated thoughts of their own independence in all matters of internal regu- lation. The soil was worthy of the principle. And so, when the day of enfranchisement came, when the question was injustice and humiliation, or a heroic effort for national life and the security of personal freedom, they were ready for it. And though the result was a long struggle, that tried the sincerity of the convictions of all, yet the issue was a state founded on the most rational ideas of individual rights and responsibility.
What is the record of Maryland for all this period? It is one of entire harmony with the whole national move- ment, the drift and tendency toward national ideas. Maryland has never been a quiet State. Whenever there has been any agitation in the country, Maryland has been involved in it. She has always been in touch with the
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country, and, being a Border State, with a mixed popula- tion, she has been in touch with the whole country. And this was her condition at this time. We have seen her bearing during all the French War, how greatly all sec- tions of the people were aroused on the great question of heeding the royal requisitions for men and money for prosecuting that war. That agitation was on a question of principle and of justice, and out of that she passed into the new agitation that now arose.
In consequence of the determined position of the Assembly at that time, it had been prorogued, November, 1763, and no session was held till September, 1765, when, in consequence of the proportions the Stamp Act agitation had assumed, it was called together. The act itself had been passed in March of that year, and had immediately been received by the other colonies with every mark of indignation. Such was the feeling throughout Maryland, and as soon as the Assembly convened it voiced the public feeling in a most definite way. The only business it would transact at all at this session was concerning the Stamp Act, as if it were a matter of such transcendent importance that everything else was too insignificant to be associated with it. To this end two propositions were before them. One of these was whether they should acquiesce in the proposition of Massachusetts · to send delegates to a colonial congress, that by this means the universal sentiment of the colonies might be voiced to the cars of the British ministry. Upon this they immediately resolved, and not the lower house only, but also the upper, and their action received the approval of the governor.
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This was of course inconsistent on his part, for he had, as we have seen, suggested during the French War troubles, when the colony had refused the requisitions, that this very plan be pursued for raising a revenue, and had even sent to Engiand a draft of a law to this end. But at this time a new consideration had entered; for not only the people, but Lord Baltimore himself, as proprie- tary, felt his interests invaded by the attempt of the ministry to lay this tax; and for this reason the governor and members of the council were found side by side with the Assembly. The proposed congress met in October, 1765, and its action was heartily approved by the Assem- bly of Maryland when its delegates reported to that body, in November of the same year.
But the Assembly of Maryland did not stop with this. In the September session they passed unanimously certain resolutions of their own, in which, besides pleading their own right to exemption, under their charter, from Eng- iish taxation, they emphasized the American position, that they would not, as well as could not, submit to the ministerial attempt. They claimed for Maryland certain constitutional principles, certain rights which the British Parliament had no right to take away from them, and which they had enjoyed from time immemorial.
But beside the action of the Assembly, the bearing of private individuals was equally as definite. One of the most able as well as far-reaching of all the pamphlets written at this time, was by one of Maryland's sons, Daniel Dulany; far-reaching in that it not only defined the colonial position in this matter, but also went far to giving clear apprehension, even in England, of what America claimed, and swayed to a very perceptible degree public
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sentiment there. Ii. enabled English statesmen to put themselves in America's place. It also went farther than this and urged upon the citizens of America to develop their own internal resources, in manufacturing whatsoever they could for their common necessities; and this for the purpose of making the merchants of England feel the power of America, and to indicate that to attempt te oppress her would certainly react to their own per- manent loss.
And this advice was followed; for non-importation be- came a cry at this time, and continued so down till the crisis came; non-importation of everything on which the English government attempted to lay the tariff; and, finally, after the Boston Port Bill, non-importation of everything; the feeling being that the nearest way to English prejudices and to the English sense of justice was through the pocket of her merchants.
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But Maryland adopted more vigorous measures still. For so high ran the indignation, that in various places the distributor of the stamped paper was flogged, hanged and burned in effigy, and himself in person treated with great indignity, and the house in which he lived torn down. He had accepted the office while in England and, doubtless, ignorant of how high public sentiment ran in the colony. After he had been so severely treated he fled to New York, where, not more kindly received than he had been in Maryland, he was compelled to relinquish his office and to promise that henceforth he would have nothing to do with the execution of the law. A violent discussion also went on continually in the public press. Associations, called the Sons of Liberty, were formed everywhere, and kept their watchful eye upon everybody and everything that was open to suspicion.
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The effect of all this was what might very readily be supposed. The stamped paper was never even landed in Maryland, but was kept safe on one of his Majesty's ships in Virginia waters. Governor Sharpe wrote home from Maryland that it would be impossible to execute the law. The county court at Fredericktown took upon itself to say that the law could not be carried out, and that the business of the court must proceed without it. The pro- vincial court also did the same, and so the law became a dead letter. The other colonies pursued the same line of conduct; so that in 1766, on the eighteenth of March, the act itself was repealed by the British Parliament,-having been in existence one year, and having worked incal- culabie mischief.
For though all America rejoiced, and Maryland with it, in the repeal, the agitation had brought the colonies together and taught them the power of protest and resist- ance, as nothing else could. It had taught them that they were a family of states, with common interests and a com- mon destiny, and that their wisest policy was to combine, and that combination meant strength. On other occa- sions attempts had been made to bring the colonies together in congress, but had been ineffectual. But their present distress taught them the necessity, and from this time forth the national idea existed.
If, however, they fancied they had achieved what they desired, and secured their liberties, their confidence was short-lived. The English government had gone too far to stop. One ministry had been overthrown, and another had taken its place; and under that law, that whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad, they proceeded in their policy of exacting a revenue from the colonies.
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Doubtless, the predisposition of the English people was in favor of such a policy; for most persons, if there be any decent pretext for it, are willing to have other people pay their debts. This the English people thought a good thing at this time, when debts were exceedingly heavy. Besides, the new ministry was goaded on by the old, and taunted by the ex-minister with "you dare not tax the colonies."
The blindness of the English administration was, how- ever, never more manifested than now; for it was thought that an indirect method, such as putting an import duty on articles brought into the country, would disguise the fact of taxation to the American mind. Such a law, it was supposed, would wear the appearance of a regulation concerning commerce, such as the colonies had submitted to in their past history, when shipping laws were passed by the Parliament. 'Unfortunately, however, the colonies remembered that at the time of repealing the stamp act, that body had passed a declaratory act asserting the right to tax the colonies for revenue. Also during the agita- tion caused by the proposed stamp duty, the people had . come to regard the yielding to regulations concerning commerce as unwise, and so to antagonize any new attempt in that direction. The repeal of the stamp act, therefore, settled nothing; it only suspended the agita- tion for the moment. The English had only quailed before the storm which the stamp act had raised.
The cause of the colonies had been championed by the heroic Pitt, who gloried in their resistance, saying it was better that three millions should resist than that all Eng- lishmen should become slaves. He regarded their action as the assertion of English freedom. Possibly he felt
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and knew beforehand what was coming. For a century England had not been so near to an absolute monarchy as it became at this time, when George the Third as- sumed, through his tools in the ministry, a personal direction of all the affairs of the English administration. He, the king, spoke of "the fatal compliance of 1766," as if England had committed a gross and dangerous mis- take in repealing the stamp act. And so, as if to cover up what was esteemed a shame, to wipe out a disgrace, the act of 1767 was passed, laying a tax on tea, glass, paper and painters' colors. It was at this time, also, that all those irritating causes became prevalent that are enumerated in the Declaration of Independence. For to provide against evasion of the law, not only was the collection of the proposed duties taken out of the hands of colonial authorities, but "writs of assistance " were authorized, providing for a forcible entry into private houses and dwellings by custom-house officers in search- ing for smuggled goods, doing away with the protection of the home that was provided for by the laws of the colonies.
Both parties were irritated and became more irritated than ever. The colonies had rights and dared maintain them. The English government denied their rights, and with a sense of power to enforce its will, and despising itself for its former weakness as it thought it to be, determined to proceed farther than it had done before.
The result could, of course, be readily anticipated. America was aroused more than ever. All the colonies, and Maryland not less than any, became organized for resistance. An attempt was made to reach English legis- lators again through the pockets of English merchants.
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Non-importation became again the rule, and that not only of the things taxed, but of anything but the strictest necessaries of life. Appeal was made to the king, who, as said above, now became all-powerful in the direction of affairs. Again the ministry yielded, but only in part. Everything was relieved of the tax except tea; but the people were not pacified. The tax must be entirely removed. Even when tea was offered at the price at which it could have been sold had no tariff been placed upon it, the people would not touch it. Tax for revenue, as laid by the English parliament, must be resisted.
This was the clearly announced position, and by it the colonies stood. Face to face with an indignant and powerful country, they stood without fear, not desiring that things should proceed to extremities, but if they must, then willing to abide by the consequences. It was a bold, definite and heroic position consistently main- tained. And Maryland's position was with the foremost. Even when in 1770 the duty on all articles but tea was repealed, and some of the Northern colonies began to withdraw from the non-importation agreement, Maryland uttered her protest. It was a measure that could only stand by common consent, and so the Baltimore and other merchants of the State at last opened their trade to the articles that had been shut out. But the non- importation of tea, as the one thing on which the British king still insisted on placing a tariff, was adhered to most jealously. The British government attempted to quiet the feelings of the people by promising that England would proceed no further in the matter of raising a reve- nue by such a tax. But the people were not to be cajoled.
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Matters continued in this state until the Boston Port Bill was passed by Parliament, by which, for the punish- ment of the Boston people for the destruction of the tea in Boston harbor, the port of Boston was shut up and the commerce of the town destroyed. This was felt to be a high-handed act, the exertion of imperial power which the colonies would not and could not recognize. All America was immediately excited, and things rapidly proceeded to a culmination. Nothing more unwise could have been done by the ministry, for it was not only felt to be a gross outrage, as, granted that power in the one case, every port in America might, by the stroke of the royal pen, be closed, and America impov- erished, ruined, in an instant; but also it excited the sympathies of the people and called forth their efforts to atone for the loss of commerce and trade by gifts to relieve the wants of the martyr city.
Eddis, who was living in Annapolis at this time, being the surveyor of customs there, and getting his impres- sions from what he saw around him, wrote home, "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 support a contention with their settlements if they abide steady to the letter and spirit of their association."
Maryland also immediately moved forward on definite lines. Something was to be done to indicate the purpose of the people, and so on June the twenty-second, 1774, in
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the midst of all this agitation, the people of the colony assembled by their representatives in convention, and from that time forth the revolution was completed. The governor, whom they practically dispossessed, was not, it is true, the royal governor, nor did they deny the royal authority; but it was the governor who represented the proprietary Harford. They henceforth controlled their own destiny. This convention was composed of the best and ablest men of the colony, and while their delib- erations were without any of the recklessness that might have been feared from a popular assembly convened at such a time, there was in all their actions and resolves clearness and decision of aim. The convention con- tinually extended its functions as the troubles continued, so that at last, though Governor Eden still remained in the colony, it came to be recognized as the expression of the sovereign power and authority of the State.
The resolutions passed by the convention when it assembled were such as no man could mistake. By the first they accepted the cause of Boston and Massachusetts as their own, and proceeded to devise agreements for an entire cessation of trade with Great Britain, both import and export, an irritating defiance offered the king of Eng- land, as if Great Britain were more dependent upon America than America upon her. They professed sorrow for the British merchants, possibly a satirical fling, but they must insist on maintaining the dignity and indepen- dence of America in the matter in hand. They also refused to send experts to the West Indies, should such a measure be deemed expedient by the General Congress. They provided for the relief of the distressed inhabitants of Boston, now cruelly deprived of the means of procur-
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ing for themselves subsistence, by starting a subscription among the residents of the colony. They thank William Pitt and such others as had espoused their cause in Eng- land, the patrons and friends of liberty. They appointed deputies to attend a general congress to effect one general plan of conduct operating on the commercial connection of the colonies with the mother country, for the relief of Boston, and the preservation of American liberty. And further they resolved that this province will break off all trade and dealings with that colony, province or town, which shall decline or refuse to come into the general . plan which may be adopted by the colonies. This was the Maryland platform.
And that the people meant all that was said by their deputies was soon made evident. For within four months of their assembling a like opportunity was given them to what had before been given to Boston, when a vessel arrived in Annapolis harbor having as part of its cargo a small consignment of tea, or, as the people had learned to call it, "the detestable weed." The question imme- diately arose, What shall be done with it? The vessel had been duly entered at the custom-house and the duty paid on the tea, so that to forbid its landing and send it back, as was done with the stamped paper, would have been useless for the purpose of protest. Upon this the people came together and forbade its landing, in the first place, and then adjourned to secure a larger meeting of the citizens of the surrounding country. The citizens of Annapolis, however, would not wait for this; and though the owner of the vessel and the consignees offered to destroy the tea and to make ample apology for their conduct, still the people's wrath was not appeased, nor
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was it till the owner offered to destroy vessel and cargo with his own hands.
It will be observed that all the parties concerned in the importation knew exactly what they were doing. The agitation of the question had been going on since 1767, the spirit of the people was fully known, and the act of the owners of the vessel could only be construed to be a defiance to the public will, founded possibly upon the notion that the people were not sincere in their decla- rations. The vessel and cargo were destroyed, burned to the water's edge, and that not by night, nor by masked men, but at the requirement of the best men of the city, publicly, in the light of day.
Public sentiment in Maryland was further exhibited at this time by its course in regard to the resolves of the Continental Congress that met in Philadelphia, Septem- ber the fifth, 1774. The action of that body was without qualification. It represented the American feeling and the American determination. While loth to break with the mother country, yet continuance of union with her could only be on the one basis: England must respect all rights and the dignity of America. The troubles about this question of taxation had now been going on since the year 1765, and apparently the mother country was as determined to have her own way as ever in spite of all appeals and protests. In fact, misunderstanding the unwillingness of the colonies to proceed to extrem- ities, she had become more and more ruthless in her bearing and conduct. Her assertions of imperial domain had become the more extravagant, and the rights of home government in the colonies had been more and more ignored. New York had felt the royal wrath in
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having its assembly suspended because it refused to pro- vide quarters for the English troops. But that was a small matter to what Massachusetts was now called on to endure. Liberties it had enjoyed ever since the land- ing of the Pilgrims were now canceled, and an old law from the days of the tyranny of Henry the Eighth was brought into force, in empowering the governor to send any persons engaged in the destruction of the tea to England for trial. Troops also were sent to America, and General Gage, the commander-in-chief of the troops, was made governor of Massachusetts. It was imperial- ismn that recognized no rights in the provinces, and we cannot wonder at the position assumed by the Conti- nental Congress.
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