USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > Annapolis > The Ancient City.: A History of Annapolis, in Maryland, 1649-1887 > Part 18
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This theatre stood on the present site of the Adams Express Office, West Street, and was pulled down over fifty years ago to make room for the present building, which was erected by the Hutton Brothers, as a wagon manufactory.
* "Romeo, by a young gentleman for his diversion."
t "With the funeral procession of Juliet, to the monument of Capuletts."
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The theatre in Annapolis was the miniature of the progress of dramatic art the world over. Here was the devotion to actresses and here was displayed their haughty tyranny when their royal highnesses were displeased by an exacting and capricious public. This hauteur was pointedly evinced on the last night of a season's performances by the Old American Company of Comedians. During the evening the audience desired a Mrs. Henry to perform some part of the programme which she refused to do. A local correspondent wrote to the Gazette that "pity it is that being so well satisfied with the company in gen- eral, the Annapolitans should at last have their indignation excited by the contemptuous and ungrateful behavior of Mrs. Henry, who not only obstinately refused to gratify them in the only way in which she is superiorly qualified to please, but had not even the compliance to offer an apology for denying their request. But if we regret that our good humor should, at length, have been tired out by the insolence of this princess, we lament still more feelingly that our displeasure should, even in appearance, have fallen on two performers so deservedly pos- sessed of our favor and esteem as Mrs. Morris and Mr. Wignell while the audience were bent on hearing Mrs. Henry sing."
In 1828, another theatre was built of wood on Duke of Gloucester street, on the present site of the Presbyterian Church. The corner-stone of this theatre was laid on the 14th of August, 1828, by Richard I. Jones, Esq. A leaden box, containing a list of the names of the Building Committee, a copy of each of the newspapers printed in this city, and a copy of the will of General Washington, was deposited under it. An appropriate address was delivered by James F. Brice, Esq., in the presence of the Committee, and a respectable number of citizens, who had assembled to witness the ceremony. It is deserving of remark, that the stone used for the corner-stone of this edifice, was the corner- stone of the theatre which formerly stood on West street, and which was pulled down about 1818.
Of this theatre Mr. David Ridgely wrote in 1841, it "is rarely opened not having votaries of the dramatic muse sufficient to sustain it even for a season."
Annapolis since that period has had no regular theatre ; but is indebted to occasional visits of artists of genius, among them John E. Owens and Madame Jannescheck, with a plenitude of strolling companies of indifferent ability-whose place of performance is the Masonic Opera House. The amateur talent of Annapolis has been occasionally dis- played to the signal credit of performers and the pleasure of the pub- lic. Frequent dramatic performances at the Naval Academy have enlivened the monotonous duties of military life, and the exhibit of town-talent at the Masonic Opera House in 1879 and 1881 in the repro- duction of the cantatas of Belshazzer and Joseph reflected the high musical talent and dramatic skill of our citizens, and afforded unusual pleasure to large and cultivated audiences.
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CHAPTER XXXIII. THE STAMP ACT IN ANNAPOLIS.
1765-1766.
Boston, on the 14th of August, 1765, hung and burned the effigies of Bute and Greville. Thirteen days later Annapolis to show its "detes- tation of, and abhorrence to, some late tremendous attacks on liberty and their dislike to a certain late arrived officer, a native of this province !" "curiously dressed up the figure of a man, which they placed in a one-horse cart, male-factor like, with some sheets of paper in his hands before his face. In that manner they paraded through the streets of the town, till noon, the bell at the same time tolling a solemn knell, when they proceeded to the hill, and after giving it the MOSAIC LAW at the whipping-post, placed it in the pillory, from whence they took it and hung it on a gibbet, there erected for that purpose, and set fire to a tar-barrel underneath and burnt it till it fell into the barrel. By the many significant nods of the head, while in the cart, it may be said to have gone off very penitently."
The proceedings were under the direction of "a considerable num- ber of people" calling themselves "Asserters of British American privileges," who had assembled from all parts of the State, amongst them being that bold and aggressive spirit, Samuel Chase-in 1776, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independance from Maryland.
The man who was the appointed instrument of oppression for Mary- land, was a native and merchant of Annapolis, one Zachariah Hood, who happened to be in London at the time the stamp act was passed, and who, thus early at court, and too far from home to know the dangers of the office he desired to fill, sought and received the royal gift. McMahon photographs him in one sentence : "He was a willing instru- ment in the hands of a tyrannical ministry for the oppression of the people amongst whom he was born and had lived."
The announcement of this appointment was made in a letter from London, published in the Gazette of August 22nd, 1765. "We are credibly informed," says the writer, "that Z-h H-d, late a so- journing merchant of the city of Annapolis ; but, at present, Z-h H-d, at St. James', has, for his many eminent services to the King and country during the late war, got the commission of Distributor of the stamps of that province. This gentleman's conduct is highly ap- proved of here by all Court-cringing politicians, since he is supposed to have wisely considered that if his country must be stamped, the blow would be easier borne from a native, than a foreigner, who might not be acquainted with their manners and institutions."
On the arrival of Hood in the latter part of August, or the first of September, with his stamps, he was met at the City Dock by the citi- zens of Annapolis who had repaired in a body to resist his landing. In this they were successful, and, in the scuffle which ensued, Mr. Thomas MeNeir had his thigh broken-the first patriot injured in the struggle for American rights. The names of two others only who took part in this rally for liberty have come down to us. They were Mr. Charles Farris and Mr. Abraham Claude-the latter, the grand- father of our estimable Mayor, Dr. Abram Claude. The landing, pre- vented at the City Dock, was clandestinely made at another point.
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Foiled in one assault, the people made another. On the night of Sep- tember 2nd, three or four hundred people assembled in Annapolis, and pulled down a house which Hood was having repaired for the re- ception of a cargo of goods. Terrified at such suggestive proceedings at the hands of his former friends and the populace generally, Hood intimated to Governor Sharpe that if he thought that his resignation as stamp distributor would reconcile his countrymen to him, and would advise him to take that step, he would throw up the commission of his tormenting office. Governor Sharpe was unwilling to take this re- sponsibility, and, as Hood and his relations felt that he would not be safe in his or the Governor's house, he retired "for a few weeks to New York." Before he went, however, he declared the office had been solicited by Thomas Ringgold, a member of the Legislature from Kent. Ringgold indignantly denied this by advertisement in public print, and said if the office had been asked for him by any one, it was without his knowledge. In the same issue of the Gazette, Benjamin Welsh gave public notice that he would "pay no tax whatever but what is laid upon me by my representative.'
Hood did not purchase peace by flight. On the 28th of November, a party of citizens of the neighborhood, surrounded the house on Long Island, in which Hood was concealed. As escape was impossible, he "endeavored to excuse his conduct and desired liberty to relate his case, and read the letters he had wrote to reconcile himself to his in- censed country. The request was granted. He said that some con- siderable service that he had done or designed his country, together with his long absence from it and his friends, on his late return from England to Maryland, had given him expectations of the most agree- able and endearing reception, and the pleasing views of a genteel sub- sistence for life. But that on his arrival he was every way so totally disappointed that he was really an object of compassion rather than resentment-that he was obliged to leave all his affairs in the greatest confusion and fly for the preservation of his life. That his absence had occasioned great losses, and that his life was still in danger should he offer to return. That he had been in a state of continual painful anxiety ever since his arrival in America, that even his enemies might pity." He begged that he might resign upon his honor, without oath, and "that he might be allowed to hold his office if his country- men might hereafter desire it." Neither request was granted, and under threat of being delivered to the multitude, Hood agreed to exe- cute, and subsequently, did, under oath, a complete and abject resig- nation.
The mob, its indignation now changed to gratification, cheered Hood and invited him to an entertainment which he very naturally declined on the ground that "he was in such a frame of body and mind that he would be unhappy in any company."
Whilst the Annapolis stamp-officer was undergoing such severe treatment in New York, the citizens of his native place remained as sincerely in earnest in their intention never to submit to the stamp- act as when they met Hood on the wharf of the City Dock and pre- vented his landing.
On the 31st of October, a supplement to the Maryland Gazette ap- peared in deep mourning. The editor announced his intention of sus-
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pending publication, rather than submit to the "intolerable and bur- thensome terms," imposed on all newspapers by the stamp-act, de- claring, "The times are Dreadful, Dismal, Doleful, Dolorous, and Dollerless."
On the 10th of December, "an apparition of the late Maryland Gazette" appeared, the editor determining to resurrect his paper "under the firm belief that the odious stamp-act would never be car- ried into operation." He announced that the Gazette "shall be, as it had been, sacred to liberty and consequently to virtue, religion, and the good and welfare of its country."" Here was a noble example of the fearless and conscientious editor who, whilst receiving the patron- age of the crown offices, boldly defended the rights of the people.
The attacks of the Gazette upon Parliament were incessant, and came often in pithy paragraphs and pointed allusions that carried greater weight than extended arguments.
The final passage of the stamp-act it had conveyed to the people in this paragraph : "Friday evening last, between nine and ten o'clock, we had a very smart thunder gust, which struck a house in one part of the town, and a tree in another. But we were more thunderstruck last Monday, on the arrival of Capt. Joseph Richardson, in the ship Pitt, in six weeks from Downs, with a certain account of the stamp-act being absolutely passed."
The people of Maryland had never intended to submit to the stamp- act, and this determination culminated in March, 1766, when the "SONS OF LIBERTY," from Baltimore, Kent and Anne Arundel coun- ties met at Annapolis and made a written application to the Chief Justice of the Provincial Court, the Secretary and Commissary-Gen- eral, and Judges of the Land Office, to open their respective offices, and to proceed as usual in the execution of their duties. This request was granted and the stamp-act became a rigid corpse in Maryland.
The presence of his Majesty Sloop Hawke, which arrived in Decem- ber, 1765, with the stamped paper for Maryland, did not cool the ardor of the patriots. There was no person to receive the paper, and Governor Sharpe had ignominiously to return three boxes of it to Eng- land by a merchant ship, the Brandon, Capt. Mclachlan, in Decem- ber, 1766.
Hood himself afterward returned to Annapolis and conducted busi- ness without molestation.
On the 5th of April, 1766, the glad news was received by express that the stamp-act had been repealed. The city responded to the good tidings, and the afternoon was spent by the people in mirth and congratulations, in which "all loyal and patriotic toasts were drank."
On the 11th of June, by proclamation of the Mayor, the day was given over to rejoicing and festivity on account of the "glorious news" of the absolute repeal of the stamp-act. At night the city was brilliantly illuminated.
[1765.] A few nights after the mob destroyed Mr. Hood's intended residence in Annapolis, a British officer and a Mr. Hammond had a dispute about their prowess. Midnight was the hour, a public house the place, a large company the spectators. The disputants agreed to decide the debate by a bout at boxing. Mr. Hammond was worsted, ,and so much so that he had to leave the company. Thereupon a cry
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arose that Mr. Hammond had been killed by the officers. Whereupon a mob gathered, and the British officers of the Hornet, it seems lying off the town, were in danger of being murdered upon the strength of the false cry. The gentlemen of the town interferred, and the partici- pants in the mob were afterward ashamed to acknowledge their con- nection with it.
CHAPTER XXXIV. Gov. EDEN, OF MARYLAND, THE LAST ENGLISH GOV- ERNOR TO LEAVE THE REVOLTED COLONIES.
1769-1776.
Robert Eden became Governor of Maryland in 1760, under the grant of Charles the First to Lord Baltimore. He was alike the last of the proprietary Governors of Maryland and the last English Gov- ernor to leave the revolted Colonies. It was under his hospitable roof that Washington was guest when at Annapolis and where he displayed that native dignity in conversation and broad liberality in opinion which so eminently distinguished his lofty character.
It was in the lovely month of June when Gov. Eden landed. At this season the picturesque scenery of Annapolis is particularly beauti- ful. On the fifth of the month the ship bearing Gov. Eden, wife, and family arrived in the harbor. On coming to anchor the ship fired seven guns which number was returned by the citziens. In the afternoon when the Governor landed he was met by all the members of the Governor's Council then in town, and a great number of citi- zens, the guns of the battery making the Severn resound with its salvo of welcome. On Tuesday morning, about ten o'clock, he went up to the council house, attended by his lordship's honorable council, where his commission was open and published.
The royal Governor was a gentlemen, "easy of access, courteous to all, and fascinating by his accomplishments," and so too Mr. William Eddis found him, for when he arrived in Annapolis, September 3rd, 1769, to take the position of English Collector of Customs and made his appearance before the Governor. He says: "My reception was equal to my warmest wishes. The deportment of Governor Eden was open and friendly. He invited me to meet a party at dinner, and I took leave till the appointed hour, with a heart replete with joy and gratitude. On my return to the Governor, he introduced me, in the most obliging terms, to several persons of the highest respecta- bility in the province. He treated me with the utmost kindness and cordiality ; assured me of his strongest disposition to advance my fu- ture prosperity and gave an unlimited invitation to his hospitable table.
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HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS.
Not only to the select circle of a private company of his intimate friends did Governor Eden dispense his generous hospitality, but when the little city appeared in all its splendor on the anniversary of the proprietary's birth, he "gave a grand entertainment on the occasion to a numerous party ; the company brought with them every disposi- tion to render each other happy ; and the festivities concluded with cards, and dancing which engaged the attention of their respective votaries till an early hour."
Although the Governor led in the festivities of the province, he was not unmindful of the weightier cares of State. Mr. Eddis, who spoke with the unction cf a grateful heart and sanguine temperament said of him : "He appears competent to the discharge of his impor- tant duty. Not only in the summer, but during the extreme rigour of an American winter, it is his custom to rise early ; till the hour of dinner he devotes the whole of his time to provincial concerns ; the meanest individual obtains an easy and immediate access to his person ; he investigates, with accuracy, the complicated duties of his station ; and discovers, upon every occasion, alacrity in the dispatch of busi- ness ; and a perfect knowledge of the relative connexions of the country."
Not only was Gov. Eden moved by motives of principle and personal welfare to promote the well-being of the province, but being a brother- in-law of Lord Baltimore, his family interests urged him to make the commonwealth prosperous. He was not wanting in any public enter- prise to further the happiness of the province. A patron of the drama, it was by his liberal example, sufficient funds were raised to erect a theatre in Annapolis on a commodious plan. He was beside the friend of education, and through his exertions a Seminary was es- tablished "which as it will be conducted under excellent regulations, will shortly preclude the necessity of crossing the Atlantic for the completion of a classical and polite education."
In June, 1774, Governor Eden made a visit to England. He re- turned early in November.
In the meantime the Peggy Stewart had been burned.
On the 8th of November, Eddis wrote : "The Governor is returned to a land of trouble. He arrived about ten this morning in perfect health. He is now commenced an actor on a busy theatre ; his part a truly critical one. To stem the popular torrent, and to conduct his measures with consistency, will require the exertion of all his faculties. The present times demand superior talents, and his, I am persuaded, will be invariably directed to promote the general good. Hitherto his conduct has secured to him a well-merited popularity ; and his re- turn to the province has been expected with an impatience which suf- ficiently evinces the sentiments of the public in his favor."
The bearing of the Governor during this trying period is described by his ever faithful admirer, Eddis, who, March 13, 1775, wrote-"It is with pleasure I am able to assert, that a greater degree of modera- tion appears to predominate in this province, than in any other on the continent, and I am perfectly assured we are very materially indebted for this peculiar advantage to the collected and consistent conduct of our Governor, whose views appear solely directed to advance the in- terests of the community ; and to preserve, by every possible method, the public tranquility."
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On May 13, Mr. Eddis wrote : "The Governor continues to stand fair with the people of this province ; our public prints deelare him to be the only person, in his station, who, in these tumultuous times, has given the administration a fair and impartial representation of im- portant occurrences ; and I can assert, with the strictest regard to truth, that he conducts himself in his arduous department. with an invariable attention to the interest of his royal master, and the es- sential welfare of the province over which he has the honor to pre- side."
When the regulation went forth that all must join the association against British importation and for kindred measures of opposition, Gov. Eden and his family alone were accepted.
September 26th, Mr. Eddis found the Governor in company with a few select loyal friends ; where "political occurrences engrossed their «conversation in which hope appeared to operate but weakly, with re- spect to the eventful transactions of the times."
There was one proof in spite of the Governor's title and popularity, that he, after all, was but a royal prisoner with a show of authority- all his letters had to pass the ordeal of examination by the provincial authorities. He continued, however, "to receive every external mark of attention and respect ; while the steady propriety of his conduct in many trying exigencies, reflected the utmost credit on his modera- tion and understanding."
But the times were growing too troublous for matters to remain in this placid state with the Governor. In the early part of April, 1776, a vessel containing a packet of letters from Lord George Germaine, Secretary of State for the American Department, was seized by an armed vessel in the provincial service.
Lord George Germaine's letters acknowledged the important infor- mation which the administration had received from the governor, who was assured "of his Majesty's entire approbation of his conduct ; and was directed to proceed in the line of his duty with all possible ad- dress and activity."
This packet was forwarded to General Lee, who had the command of the southern district, by whom it was immediately dispatched to Maryland, with a strong recommendation to seize the person' of the governor, together with all papers and documents of office ; by which it was presumed some important discoveries would be made of minis- terial intentions.
The council of safety acted on this critical occasion with the ut- most moderation and delicacy. Governor Eden, by the affability of his manners and his evident disposition to promote the interests of the province, had conciliated universal regard. They, therefore, avoided proceeding with that precipitate vigour so strenuously en- joined ; and only required him to give his parole, that he would not take any measures for leaving the continent, till after the meeting of the next convention.
This requisition the governor, for some time, warmly resisted ; but, on conviction that the measure was unavoidable, he thought it neces- sary to comply ; therefore, on the sixteenth of April, gave every satis- factory assurance.
On the seventh of May, the convention assembled, and on the 23d, came to a determination respecting the Governor, when it was resolved, "that his longer continuance in the province, at so critical
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:a period, might be prejudicial to the cause in which the colonies were unanimously engaged ; and that, therefore, his immediate departure for England was absolutely necessary.". An address was accordingly directed to be drawn up, and presented to his excellency, which was delivered to him the next evening by a committee of that body.
In this address the sentiments of the convention were expressed in liberal terms ; they acknowledged the services rendered by the gover- nor to the country, on many former occasions ; and they expressed the warmest wishes, that "when the unhappy disputes which at pres- ent prevail, are constitutionally accommodated, he may speedily re- turn and re-assume the reins of government." .
The Continental Congress urged the seizure of Gov. Eden's person, and the Virginia convention passed the following resolutions against the convention of Maryland :
"Resolved unanimously, That the Committee of Safety be directed to write a letter to the President of the Convention of Maryland, in answer to his letter of the twenty-fifth instant, expressing the deep- est concern at the proceedings of that Convention, respecting Gover- nor Eden ; and our reasons for not becoming accessary thereto, by giving him a passport through this colony, of the bay adjoining : that we would with reluctance, in any cause, intermeddle in the affairs of a sister colony, but in this matter we are much interested ; and the Convention of Maryland, by sending their proceedings to the Com- mittee of Safety, has made it the duty of the Convention, to declare their sentiments thereon.
"That considering the letter from Lord George Germaine to Gover- nor Eden, in which his whole conduct, and confidential letters are ap- proved : and he is directed to give facility and assistance to the opera- tion of Lord Dunmore, against Virginia, we are at a loss to account for the Council of Safety of Maryland, for their having neglected to seize him, according to the recommendation of the general Congress, and more so for the Convention having promoted his passage, to assist in our destruction, under pretence of his retiring to England, which we conceive from the above letter, he is not at liberty to do, that suppes- ing he should go to Britain it appears to us, that such voyage, with the address presented to him, will enable him to assuine the character of a public agent, and by promoting division amongst the colonies, produce consequences of most fatal to the American cause, that as the reasons assigned for his departure: "That he must obey the ministerial mandates while remaining in his government,"' are very unsatisfactory, when the Convention declare, that "in his absense, the government, in its old form, will devolve on the President of the Council of State," who will be under equal obligation to obey such mandates. We cannot avoid imputing these proceedings to some undue influence of Governor Eden, under the mask of friendship to America, and of the proprietary in- terest of Maryland, whereby the members of that Convention were betrayed into a vote of fatal tendency to the common cause, and, we fear, to this country in particular, and feel it an indispensible duty, to warn the good people of that province against the proprietary influence."
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