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 13
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That position was one in which courage was mixed with conviction. There was no desire to rebel against the mother country, but there was a determination not to yield as slaves. Appeals were made to the king and people of Great Britain, and until those appeals were heeded and responded to, in a gracious and honorable spirit, intercourse must ccase. They could even still endure the manifestations of tyranny, but not be a party to it. . And so their resolutions of non-importation of everything from Great Britain and Ireland, directly and indirectly. British goods were to be excluded as such, and could not be brought into the colonies from any place whatever. East India teas, also, were forbidden, from whatever quarter of the world they might seek to enter the colonial ports, because they were in the hands of an English monopoly. The congress also resolved against the export of American products, though sus- pending the operation of this resolution for one year,
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- after which, if the troubles were not settled, the export of every article from America to Great Britain, Ireland and the West Indies was to ceasc.
These were radical measures, amounting to absolute and entire non-intercourse. Some thought they might prove a relief and cause an adjustment of differences; but if they failed in that, any one could see that they meant an attempt at coercion on the part of England, and with that a war of desolation, out of which the colonies must come free and independent states, or else a broken-spirited and enslaved mass without a future.
And what did Maryland think of the position assumed? By her convention that assembled the following No- vember she heartily approved all that was done. Her own delegates had contributed to the resolutions of the congress, and they were recognized as voicing the sen- timent of the people of the State. Committees also were formed to carry out the recommendations of the con- gress. Correspondence was kept up between the dif- ferent portions of the province. Information was diffused as widely as possible and the people kept instructed in regard to every new cause of suspicion or anxiety. Correspondence also was established between this colony and the others, and all matters of general moment in one part of the country were immediately made known in every other part. The British ministry had dreaded this association of the colonies in a congress, and well it might, for the effect at once was to unite the whole country in one common purpose and one common sen- timent, and to give it confidence in its ability to with- stand the whole power of the British empire.
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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Things also now moved forward rapidly in Maryland. Expression of the people's will was not to be confined to words. In December, 1774, it was resolved by the Con- vention that if the act of Parliament in regard to Massa- chusetts Bay was attempted to be carried out by force, or if the act to tax the colonies was attempted to be executed by force, in Maryland or in any other colony, then Maryland would use her whole power by force to resist such attempt. Farmers, also, were urged to cul- tivate such things as would be needed in case of war, and the citizens of the colony, between fifteen and sixty years of age, were urged to form themselves into com- panies, to equip themselves with arms, and to engage in military exercises. The counties, also, were called upon to raise money for the purchase of arms and ammunition. And all this was done. Any one that was indifferent, or supposed to be antagonistic to the common cause, was put under the ban and kept under constant surveillance of the suspicious eyes of the patriots.
In this way matters passed on toward the consumma- tion. The king, as we have seen, was now and had been for several years, and continued to be for years to come, the director of the affairs of England, the power behind the ministry and parliament greater than either of them. Even the will of the English people in the matter of English affairs was ignored and contemned, as the action of Parliament towards Wilkes shows, who was three several times elected by the electors of Middlesex and as often rejected by the House of Commons. The will of the colonies, therefore, could hardly receive considera- tion at his hands. Their opposition was regarded as rebellion that must be subdued. But contempt was met
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with contempt and force was answered with force. Eng- land might send over soldiers to intimidate, but the colonies prepared to meet soldiers with soldiers. We know of the Continental army that was organized after the battle of Lexington. Maryland had also her separate colonial organization. Mr. Eddis, before quoted, writing in July, 1775, said " Government is now almost totally annihilated and power transferred to the multitude. Speeches become dangerous, letters are intercepted, con- fidence betrayed, and every measure evidently tends to the most fatal extremities. The sword is drawn, and without some providential change of measures the blood of thousands will be shed in this unnatural contest. The inhabitants of this province are incorporated under mili- tary regulations, and apply the greater part of their time to the different branches of discipline. In Annapolis there are two complete companies, in Baltimore seven, and in every district of this province the majority of the people are actually under arms."
In this state matters continued in Maryland. It was armed expectation, and hope of better things. There was . no desire for separation. At any time England could have recovered the loyalty of the colony had it receded from its extreme and profitless assumption. It was stubbornly asserting a privilege which brought it no gain and was already costing it and its merchants vast sums of money. The hope, therefore, was that England would recede. So Maryland declared in January, 1776, that it did not want separation, but only to preserve its rights. Entitled to freedom, however great the love of fatherland, they were determined to maintain that free- dom at the hazard of their lives and fortunes.
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This hope of escape from a final separation from England controlled the conduct of the Convention for months, after even the people themselves had felt that such an end was now inevitable. The Convention was excessively conservative, and it was only when the people uttered their voice, by public meetings held in various places in the province, that at last the Convention felt justified in taking the final step and authorizing the Declaration of Independence of the colonies, and their erection into free and independent states. But having authorized the delegates to the General Congress to take part in the declaration, Maryland proceeded to make such a declaration herself in her own behalf, calling upon her citizens to join cordially in defense of their common rights and in the maintenance of the freedom of their own and their sister colonies.
Nor was her conduct less clear and determined throughout the struggle. The whole period of active hostilities was a time that tried men's souls. Disaster sometimes followed disaster, defeat in the open field, anxiety in the council, a diminished army, narrow re- sources for the support of the army, a small and widely scattered population, an immense territory for the carry- ing on of military operations. It was surely a time that tried men's souls. When we remember the civil war of 1861, and call to mind the anxiety that was often enter- tained, and that notwithstanding the resources of the country both as regards men and stores; when we also remember the depressing influences of defeat, and how some who were boldest in prosperity became the first to despair, we can get some idea of what must have been the feelings of the period. Only as they were sustained
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by high resolves, a consciousness of the issuc at stake, and the great rights which were to be forever forfeited by ultimate defeat, could they have endured the long trial.
But they did, and Maryland's record was as bright as that of any of her sister states, and the heroism of her devotion to the cause as definitely sustained. Conserva- tive by nature and by the training of her people, which, as determined by a definite charter, gave certain fixed characteristics to her administration, she was slow in her steps, carried away by no words of the agitation, not whirled along by a sudden and unreasoning enthusiasm. But when the time came to act she was at her post, her sons were ready with their assent to the great Declara- tion; not acting upon their own private wills, but as deputies duly instructed, upon the will of the Maryland people clearly expressed. And it was that spirit she manifested throughout the whole long, anxious period.
The battle of Lexington, in April, 1775, aroused the country; but the battle of Bunker Hill summoned the levies, and Maryland responded to the summons. And so from that time on Maryland troops were always found in the Continental armies. In the earlier ycars they distinguished themselves in the North under Washington, as on Long Island, in New Jersey, in Pennsylvania; and in the later years they equally distinguished themselves in the South under Greene, being prominent in every engagement, and often the great resource when danger of defeat was impending. She justified her words by her deeds. Her contributions to the regular army in 1778 were thirty-three hundred men, and during the whole war twenty-three thousand,-being onc-twelfth of
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the whole number sent out by the thirteen colonies. The war expenses of the State were seven millions six hun- dred thousand dollars, being two-thirds the value of all her real estate. Her losses in population, also, were exceedingly heavy, being from all causes, slaves carried , off, emigration to England and elsewhere, and the casu- alties of the war, sixty-six thousand in seven years. These figures may be small now, but they were immense then, and indicate her devotion to the cause and the burdens she was called on to endure.
She was blessed indeed in not having the enemy to harry her territory, the operations of the war being carried on either north or south of her; but that only makes her interest and zeal in the cause the more notable. For often a people will rise in their own defense who will be supine when the enemy is at a dis- tance and harrying some other territory. The raising of her regiments being her own voluntary act, her ab- sorption in the cause in hand is altogether manifest.
As an indication of the appreciation in which she was held, we have the following letter from the commander- in-chief to the governor of the State:
To THOMAS SIM LEE, Governor of Maryland.
Camp near York, Oct., 1781.
Dear Sir:
Enclosed I have the honor of transmitting to your excellency the terms upon which Lord Cornwallis has surrendered the garrisons of York and Gloucester.
We have not been able yet to get an account of pris- oners, ordnance or stores in the different departments.
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But from the best general report there will be (officers included) upwards of seven thousand men, besides sea- men, more than seventy pieces of brass ordnance and a hundred of iron, with the stores, as also other valuable articles.
My present engagements will not allow me to add . more than my congratulations on this happy event, and to express the high sense I have of the powerful aid which I have derived from the State of Maryland in complying with my every request to the execution of it. The prisoners will be divided between Winchester in Virginia and Fort Frederick in Maryland.
With every sentiment of the most perfect esteem and regard,
I have the honor to be
Your excellency's most obedient and humble servant,
G. WASHINGTON.
TENTH LECTURE.
ODDS AND ENDS OF MARYLAND LEGISLATION.
Covering a period of about one hundred and fifty years, it would be only natural to expect that colonial legislation in Maryland, would exhibit many oddities and peculiarities viewed from the standpoint of our present notions of what strictly pertains to government. Be- sides, that was an age of transition from the strong paternal government as administered by Queen Eliza- beth and others of the Tudor line, to the freer constitu- tion of the British empire, as it was after the Revolution in England, and as it has expanded within the present century; and on this account we might expect to find striking incongruities. We do find such, in the Ameri- can colonies as everywhere else.
But the position of Maryland was peculiar, both as to the nature of her government and the character of her allegiance. These fostered a more independent spirit, so that advanced notions concerning personal and politi- cal freedom found more readily a home within the colony than in the adjoining regions. Such things as the burning of witches, and the hanging or whipping of Quakers, and the expulsion of nonconformists in religion from her borders, were practically unknown. It is true the air was filled with monstrous notions as to the pro- priety of these things, and the archives of Maryland indicate that her people felt in some measure the con- tagion; but practically the Quakers were free from
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active persecution, the witches plied their instruments of torture and raised their storms or dashed hither and thither on broomsticks, and no one became aware of the fact. And though recusants might feel the weight of public disapproval in the loss of political franchise, yet their life and property were safe and the private or pub- lic enjoyment of the liberty of worship was secured.
For meeting-houses of various names were found everywhere, or else chapels on private estates, where master and servant and family and neighbor might assemble to enjoy unmolested the rites of their peculiar worship. The legislative record of Maryland will com- pare more than favorably with that of any government on earth for the time extending from 1634 to the end of the American Revolution. There was enough to show that her people were of English blood and training, but yet divergence enough also to show a diverse and greatly elevated tone.
In these latter days when the anxiety of lawmakers seems to be to make the way of the transgressor as little uncomfortable as possible, when malefactors are housed and warmed and fed with a care that would do honor to an institution where the most estimable of the poor were to be entertained, when science is brought to bear for appliances that shall make the taking off of even the most brutal as painless as possible, we are a little apt to be shocked by what we read of two hundred years ago. For they were not by any means so careful then, and dealt out their inflictions with a liberality and an open- ness of hand that would horrify our fastidiousness. A drawing, hanging and quartering was then one of the sights of the day, for which gentlemen and ladies of
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rank and refinement sought choice positions for obser- vation.
Possibly they had not so inany means of amusement as we have, and possibly they were a little nearer to nature in the rough. But so it was. And also they had many more opportunities of amusement of this kind, as capital punishment was dealt out with a liberal hand which rather amazes our present minds. Felonies, in which life and limb were the penalty, were far more numerous than our laws create. Our philosophical philanthropists tell us that the prevalence of the death penalty created the criminals, that men can get so used to seeing other people die,-drawn, hanged, quartered, -that they the more readily yield themselves up to the same attractive process. All we can say is, their pro- cesses belonged to their day, ours belong to ours, both probably wise in our generations.
But not only of capital punishment. There was a certain shamelessness about all penalties. A criminal now finds his refuge in prison, shut out from the gaze of passers-by. But not so then. The pillory and the stocks were very common instruments for the punish- ment of slight misdemeanors, and were set up at con- venient places throughout the colony. Every court- house was to be provided, and sometimes, when the court-house was too far off, a position near the church was selected as well. We shall see a little later on for what class of misdemeanants this place was chosen. The ducking-stool also was set up in the most convenient place of each county. This was for the accommodation of scolds, and doubtless even the sight of it had a cool- ing influence upon a hot temper. Certainly after one
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experience the sight or mention would be sufficient. For there never was a scold yet, man or woman, that a sudden bath of cold water would not cure. The duck- ing-stool was a most beneficent institution.
Another instrument ordered at the same time with the above, namely in 1663, was the branding irons, one with the letter R, another with the letter H. One reason given for these instruments was that the colony had not houses-that is, penitentiary and jails-for imprisoning evil-doers, and so such means of punishment had to be pursued. That was a reason for urgency, it is true, and commanders of the several counties were ordered to proceed in providing such instruments, under penalty for delay. But beside that, it suited the temper of the time.
The laws, however, went a good deal farther than this. For in 1650 it was enacted that if any one gave false witness under oath, or suborned another to per- jury, he should be nailed to the pillory and lose both ears, or put to other corporal shame or correction as the court should judge. And if any one struck an officer or witness or any other person in presence of the court, he was to lose the offending member. That surely was hideous and at the same time exceedingly foolish, as the effect of the punishment could only be to expose the sufferer to pauperism as well as to perpetual shame. It is evident in all this that Christianity, however much it had leavened the private conduct of men, had not gotten down to the political administration of society. Another instance of the kind was presented in the ordinance by which, when persons were charged with mutinous and seditious speeches or practices, or when attempts, with-
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out force, were used, tending to divert the obedience of the people from the Rt. Hon. Cecilius Calvert, or the governor of the province, and were found guilty, their punishment could be imprisonment during pleasure, not exceeding one whole year, or fine, banishment, boring of the tongue, slitting the nose, cutting off one or both ears, whipping, branding with a red-hot iron in the hand or forehead,-any one or more of these as the pro- vincial court might think fit.
But we have not got down to the bottom yet. The recklessness with which the death penalty was admin- istered is amazing, and that with very extravagant bru- tality. In 1642 it was made a felony if any indented servant should run away from his or her master, and for any one also knowingly to accompany such runaway; and the penalty was hanging. The lord proprietor, it is true, or his lieutenant-general, had the power to commute such punishment, though in that case the penalty could not be for more than seven years' service; so that a man's life, according to the standard of the time in the province, was valued at seven years' servitude and might . be a good deal less. Human life was, therefore, exceed- ingly cheap.
The temper of those times is strongly brought out by the proposed enactments in the Assembly of 1638-9, which, however, did not become laws, though read a second time and ordered to be engrossed. According to one of these, treason might be against the king, the queen his wife, or against his son and heir, and it might be committed by levying war, adhering to a foreign prince or state, such being a declared enemy of the king, or by counterfeiting the king's great or privy seal or his
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coin. Or, again, it might be against the lord proprietary, or his lieutenant-general within the province, and it might be committed by adhering to the Indians or any foreign prince for making war upon the colony. This was the crime. And the penalty was drawing, hanging, quarter- ing of the man, and the drawing and burning of a woman,-not quartered, I suppose, because the stake did not leave any subject for the axe. A man, however, who was wealthy enough to own one thousand acres of land, the lord of a manor, was to have the indulgence of being beheaded.
. We have all heard of the benefit of clergy, which meant that if any one possessed such learning as might reasonably be required of a clergyman,-and the standard was not high,-he was to enjoy certain privileges before the law. We have this recognized at this time by the legislators 'of Maryland; for at this session, after describ- ing certain felonies, the penalty of which was hanging, the proviso was added that if the offender can read clerk-like, in the judgment of the court, then instead of hanging he shall lose his hand or be burned in the hand or forchead with a hot iron, and shall forfeit all his lands, saving to the wife her dower. The benefit of clergy was not therefore immunity. It only saved one from the halter for the first offense, but sent him out branded with indelible marks of infamy. A man that was worthy of the "benefit " would prefer probably to do without it.
The character of the offenses, also, took a wide range. Burglary, robbery, and such as belong to all criminal legislation, of course, are recognized, and probably every- thing that is recognized now as a crime was recognized then, with more beside; so that the wisdom of later
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legislators has been chiefly manifested in lopping off, pruning down the offenses inbraced in the criminal code. Slandering, backbiting, "scandal:zing the good name" of any one, was severely punished. Blasphemy, "idol- atry, the worshiping of a false God," polygamy, sac- rilege, sorcery, sodomy, rape, all are instanced, and the penalty hanging. Blasphemy was always abhorrent t& the colonists; and again and again in the course of the provincial history do we find the Assembly doing what it can to repress it. The act concerning religion of 1649 is a fair representation of the tone and spirit of the pro- vince on this, as on other matters, and in it hanging and the forfeiture of goods are provided for any that " blaspheme God, that is, curse Him, or deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, or deny the Holy Trinity."
As far as legislation went, the doctrine and the prac- tice of the people were abundantly cared for. But the people must have had a strong propensity to wander, sceing so much legislation was necessary. Though in bar to that it must be remembered that in the beginning it was a "general assembly," that is, everybody sat in it, and legislation was only a provision against what might be. If all reports, however, say true, the legislation was not found to preserve either the religion or the morals inviolate.
The colonists evidently soon became jealous of courts, juries and lawyers. They made a good law in 1642 in the matter of debts, providing that if any man who had been accustomed to labor should make a debt which he could not pay, the creditor could require his personal service to the amount of his debt, the creditor mean-
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while being required to provide necessaries for the man's family. It saved the poor debtor from prison. Others, who were above the condition of personal ser- vice, might be imprisoned cording to the barbarous usage of that day and for many years after. They also endeavored to prevent a litigious spirit by making the risks heavy, so that whosoever might be cast in a case, plaintiff or defendant, should be subject to a foe. It was a severe law, for it took for granted that the man that lost ought to have known that he had no case; whereas where is the man that goes to law that does not believe that he has a right to recover? While how many, also, do fail of a fair award, not because their cause is not good, but because in their case law, or precedent, or custom, or the stupidity, not to say dishonesty, of the judge or jury may be against them? It was something like that old Greek law that required that every man who would propose an amendment to the code, should do it at his peril with a rope around his neck, to become a halter if his proposition was rejected.
In the same line was another act passed in 1642, by which, if when a jury rendered a verdict, the judge had reason to believe the jury partial or wilful, he might charge another jury to enquire and try by the same evi- dence, and if they should find contrary to the former jury, all the former panel might be fined at the discretion of the judge. The juryman's office then was not a sinecure, for he had not only to care for the party in- volved, but had the additional care for himself. He was, as it were, a possible party in every case.
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