USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > Annapolis > The Ancient City.: A History of Annapolis, in Maryland, 1649-1887 > Part 20
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Another count, the 16th, was: "For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us."
The Maryland Assembly had been slack in voting money to keep Fort Frederick and Cumberland in the condition the provincial gov- ernor, the representative of royal authority, wanted, and in Decem- ber, 1757, five companies of the Royal Americans were quartered upon the citizens of Annapolis as a penalty for the contumacy of the General Assembly. They remained there until March 22nd, 1758. Gov- ernor Sharpe expostulated against the severity and injustice of the measure which punished the inhabitants of one town for the supposed sins of a State.
ยท Lossing's Lives of the Signers, p. 287.
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HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
ANNAPOLIS DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
The seeds of the American Revolution had been sown in 1765 by the passage of the Stamp Act. The constant and determined support, Annapolis gave to the patriot cause, had been plainly foreshadowed by its resistance to the attempted enforcement of this odious legislation, and its summary treatment of Hood, the British distributor of stamps, though Maryland was loath to break those political ties that bound her to the mother country.
When the news of the blockade of Boston Harbor reached Annapolis, a meeting of its citizens was called. On Wednesday, the 25th day of May, 1774, the people convened, when it was
"Resolved, That it is the unanimous opinion of this meeting, that the town of Boston is now suffering in the common cause of America, and that it is incumbent on every colony in America, to unite in effec- tual measures to obtain a repeal of the late act of parliament, for blocking up the harbor of Boston.
"That it is the opinion of this meeting, that if the colonies come into a joint resolution to stop all importation from, and exportation to, Great Britain, till the said act be repealed, the same will preserve North America, and her liberties.
"Resolved, Therefore, that the inhabitants of this city will join in an association with the several counties of this province, and the principal provinces of America, to put an immediate stop to all ex- ports to Great Britain, and that, after a short day, hereafter to be agreed on, there shall be no imports from Great Britain, till the said act be repealed, and that such association be on oath.
"That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the gentlemen of the law of this province bring no suit for the recovery of any debt due from any inhabitant of this province, to any inhabitant of Great Britain, until the said act be repealed.
"That the inhabitants of this city will, and it is the opinion of this meeting, that this province ought immediately to break off all trade and dealings with that colony or province, which shall refuse or de- cline to come into similar resolutions with a majority of the colonies.
"That Messieurs John Hall, Charles Carroll, Thomas Johnson, Jun., William Paca, Matthias Hammond, and Samuel Chase, be a commit- tee for this city to join with those who shall be appointed for Balti- more Town, and other parts of this province, to constitute one general committee ; and that the gentlemen appointed for this city immediately correspond with Baltimore Town, and other parts of this province, to effect such association as will secure American liberty."
William Eddis writing to England three days after this meeting said : "all America is in a flame ! I hear strange language every day. The colonists are ripe for any measures that will tend to the preserva- tion of what they call their natural liberty. I enclose you the re- solves 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 these settlements, if they abide strictly to the letter and spirit of their associations."
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''THE ANCIENT CITY."
Several citizens of influence having expressed the opinion, that if the sense of the people had been properly taken, it would not appear that the whole of the proceedings of the meeting of the 25th received their approval, the friends of American liberty met the statement by distributing hand-bills, earnestly requesting another general meeting of citizens. The second meeting was held May 27th, when the pro- ceedings of the 28th were fully approved. The opposition, however, did not stop here. On Monday, May 30th, a protest, signed by one hundred and thirty-five citizens, amongst whom were some of the best names of the town and vicinity, made its appearance.
The protest was :
"To THE' PRINTERS.
MAY 30th, 1774.
"A publication of the enclosed protest, supported by the names of a considerable number of the inhabitants of the city of Annapolis, will, it is presumed, furnish the most authentic grounds for determining the sense of the majority, on a question of the last importance.
"We, whose names are subscribed, inhabitants of the city of Annapo- lis, conceive it our clear right, and most incumbent duty, to express our cordial and explicit disapprobation of a resolution which was car- ried by forty-seven against thirty-one, at the meeting held on the 27th instant.
"The resolution against which we protest, in the face of the world, is the following :
"'That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the gentlemen of the law of this province, bring no suit for the recovery of any debt due from any inhabitant of this province, to any inhabitant of Great Britain until the said act be repealed.'-Dissentient.
"FIRST-Because we are impressed with a full conviction, that this resolution is founded in treachery and rashness, inasmuch as it is big with bankruptcy and ruin to those inhabitants of Great Britain, who, relying with unlimited security on our good faith and integrity, have made us masters of their fortunes, condemning them unheard, for not having interposed their influence with parliament in favor of the town of Boston, without duly weighing the force, with which that influence would probably have operated ; or whether, in their conduct, they were actuated by wisdom and policy, or by corruption and avarice.
"SECONDLY-Because whilst the inhabitants of Great Britain are partially despoiled of every legal remedy to recover what is justly due to them, no provision is made to prevent us from being harrassed by the prosecution of internal suits, but our fortunes and persons are left at the mercy of domestic creditors, without a possibility of extri- cating ourselves, unless by a general convulsion, an event in the con- templation of sober reason, replete with horror.
"THIRDLY-Because our credit, as a commercial people, will expire under the wound; for what confidence can possibly be reposed in those, who shall have exhibited the most avowed and most striking proof that they are not bound by obligations as sacred as human in- vention can suggest.
"Lloyd Dulany, William Cooke, James Tilghman, Anthony Stewart,
Robert Kirkland, William Ashton, Robert Morrison, Charles Bryan,
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HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS.
William Steuart,
John Haragan,
Charles Steuart,
Hugh Hendly,
David Steuart,
Richard Thompson,
Jonathan Pinkney,
Reverdy Ghiselin,
William Tuck,
Charles Marckel,
Thomas Sparrow,
John Randall,
John Green, James Brice,
James Mitchell,
George Gordon,
Charles Roberts,
John Chalmers, John Anderson,
Samuel Skingle,
John Unsworth,
Henry Jackson,
James Taylor,
William Devinith,
William Clayton,
James Hackman,
Robert Moor,
John Evitts,
Jonathan Parker.
James Maw,
Brite Seleven,
Jordan Steiger,
John Varndel,
Joseph Richards,
John Annis,
Edward Owens,
Robert Ridge,
Thomas Pryse,
Robert Nixon,
J. Wilkinson,
Thomas Kirby,
Robert Key,
Williams Edwards,
Lewis Jones,
Robert Lambert,
William Willatt,
William Eddis,
John King,
John Clapham,
William Prew.
Elie Vallette,
Thomas Towson,
Robert Buchanan,
William Howard,
William Noke.
John Donaldson,
James Brooks,
Daniel Dulany, of Walter,
Richard Murrow,
William Worthington,
John Brown,
Thomas B. Hodgkin,
John Hepburn,
. William Wilkins, Thomas French, Joseph Selby,
William Niven,
William Gordon, Thomas Hyde, John Maconochie,
James Barnes,
Philip Thomas Lee,
James Williams,
John Ball,
Joseph Williams, John Howard, William Munroe,
Thomas Braithwaite,
James Murray,
Richard Mackubin,
Michael Wallace,
N. Maccubbin, Shoem.,
William Hyde,
Nathan Hammond,
Thomas Hammond, Thomas Pipier, Thomas Neal,
Peter Psalter,
William Tonry,
Joseph Browning, Thomas Hincks, Lewis Neth,
James Mckenzie, Nicholas Minsky,
Edward Dogan,
Colin Campbell, Nathaniel Ross,
James Kingsbury,
John Sands,
Samuel Owens, Samuel Ball.
John D. Jaquet, John Norris, John Steele,
William Stiff.
Thomas Stiff,
George Ranken,
Charles Barber,
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"'THE ANCIENT CITY."
Martin Water,
J. H. Anderson,
John Warren,
Richard Burt,
William Chambers,
Henry Horsley,
James Clarke,
Cornelius Fenton,
Denton Jacques,
Richard Addams,
Joseph Dowson,
George Ranken, Sr.
Thomas Macken,
Edward Wilmot,
Richard Burland,
Robert Lang,
Daniel Dulany, of Dan.,
George Nicholson,
R. Molleson,
Benjamin Spriggs,
Robert Counden,
John Horton,
William Alkman,
Charles Wright.
George French,
Constantine Bull,
John Parker,
Amos Edmons, Henry Sibell,
Thomas Bonner,
Joshua Cross,
Matthias Mae,1
John Woolford,
Alex. McDona d,
Samuel H. Howard,
David Crinnig,
Oliver Weeden,
John Thimmis,
Alex. Finlater,
David Atchison,
Con. McCarty,
James Maynard, William Harrison,
Jonathan Simpson."
A meeting of the committees appointed by the several counties of the province of Maryland, was held at the city of Annapolis, on the 22nd of June, 1774. There were present for Anne Arundel county and the city of Annapolis, Charles Carroll, Esq., barrister, Messrs. B. T. B. Worthington, Thomas Johnson, Jr., Samuel Chase, John Hall, William Paca, Matthias Hammond, Samuel Chew, John Weems, Thomas Dorsey, Rezin Hammond.
The letter and vote of the town of Boston, several letters and papers from Philadelphia and Virginia, the act of parliament for blocking up the port and harbor of Boston, the bill depending in parliament sub- versive of the charter of the Massachusetts Bay, and that enabling the governor to send supposed offenders from thence t .another colony or England for trial, were read,-and, after mature deliberations thereon, it was
"Resolved, That the said act of parliament, and bills, if passed into acts, are cruel and oppressive invasions of the natural rights of the people of Massachusetts Bay, as men, and of their constitutional rights as English subjects ; and that the said act, if not repealed, and the said bills, if passed into acts, will lay a foundation for the utter de- struction of British America, and, therefore, that the town of Boston and the province of Massachusetts are now suffering in the common cause of America.
"Resolved, That it is the duty of every colony in America to unite in the most speedy and effectual means to obtain a repeal of the said act, and also of the said bills if passed into acts."
The third resolution was to the effect to stop all importations from and exportations to Great Britain.
The fourth resolution asserted that this province will join in an Rs- sociation with the principal and neighboring colonies to stop all ex- portations to, and importations from, Great Britain, to go into effect on some day agreed upon by the colonists.
Archibald Smith,
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HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS.
The fifth resolution instructed the deputies from this province to agree to any restrictions upon exports to the West Indies, deemed necessary by the colonies in the general congress.
The sixth resolution authorized the deputies from this province to admit and provide for the importation of particular articles from Great Britain as are supposed to be indispensable.
The seventh resolution recommended to merchants and vendors of goods not to take advantage of the resolve for non-importation, but to sell their goods at the rate sold within the year previous.
The eighth resolution provided for a subscription for the relief of the inhabitants of Boston.
The ninth resolution expressed thanks to the friends of liberty in- Great Britain.
The tenth resolution appointed Matthew Tilghman, Thomas John- son, Jr., Robert Goldsborough, William Paca, and Samuel Chase, Esq., deputies for this province ;o attend a general congress, which was recommended to be held on September 20th.
The eleventh resolution asserted that this province will break off trade and dealings with that colony, province, or town, which shall decline the common plan which may be adopted.
The twelfth resolution directed that copies of these resolutions be sent to the Committees of Correspondence, and be published in the Mary- land Gazette.
The strong, loyal opposition to English measures, existing in An- napolis which cropped out, at this period, has made the ancient city renowned in American history.
The burning of the Peggy Stewart was one of the most remarkable events of the Revolutionary period.
The valor of this extraordinary conduct was heightened by the presence of two local English officers, and a strong English senti- ment. Mr. Eddis, the English Custom House officer, quaintly says : "I attended the whole progress of the business, and was active in my exertions to prevent the extremities to which some frantic zealots proceeded."
Mr. Eddis further declares that the owners did not burn their ship willingly, but were forced to destroy it by the citizens.
According to adjournment, the State Convention met on December 8th, and continued to the 12th. There were present 85 members. Mr. John Hall in the chair, Mr. John Duckett, clerk. The proceedings- of the Continental Congress were unanimously approved, and it was resolved that every person in the province ought to carry into effect the association agreed on by the Continental Congress, and the most stringent measures were adopted to repress by force the invasion of their rights.
It was now apparent that the dispute between the colonies and the mother country would be settled by ar. appeal to arms. Annapolis made ready for the conflict. In compliance with the recommendation of the deputies of the several counties of the province, at their con- vention in June, that the gentlemen, freeholders, and other freemen of this province, as are from sixteen to fifty years of age, form them- selves into companies, and to select their officers, a umber of the citizens of Annapolis met on December 14th, and chose their officers agreeably to the recommendation. The companies were composed of
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"THE ANCIENT CITY.
all ranks of men in the city, gentlemen of the first fortunes being common soldiers. After one company had been formed the patriotic Gazette added :
"It is said that there are a sufficient number of citizens to form another company which it is hoped will be immediately done."
Whilst the people were ardent in their fidelity to the American cause, yet such was their love of liberty and their respect for personal rights, in February, 1775, Mr. Eddis is found urging through the public press, the cause of peace, and the wisdom of retaining their political affiliation with England. The times changed rapidly. In July, of the same year, Mr. Eddis plaintively wrote :
"Government is now almost totally annihilated, and power trans- ferred to the multitude. Speech is become dangerous ; letters are in- tereepted ; confidence 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."
Annapolis, at this time, had two military companies ; in every dis- trict in the province the majority of the people were under arms ; almost every hat was decorated with a cockade ; and the churlish drum and piping fife were the only music of the times.
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Anne Arundel county and of the city of Annapolis. (those qualified to vote for representatives, ) on Wednesday, the ninth day of November, 1774, it was
"Resolved, That Thomas Dorsey, John Hood, Jr., John Dorsey, Philip Dorsey, John Burgess, Thomas Lappington, Ephraim Howard, Caleb Dorsey, Richard Stringer, Reubin Merriweather, Charles War- field, Edward Gaither, Jr., Greenbury Ridgely, Elijah Robinson, Thomas Mayo, James Kelso, Benjamin Howard, Ely Dorsey, Sr., Mark Brown Sappington, Brice T. B. Worthington, Charles Carroll, barrister, John Hall, William Paca, Thomas Johnson, Jr., Matthias Hammond, Samuel Chase, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Rezin Ham- mond, Charles Wallace, Richard Tootell, Thomas Harwood, Jr., John Davidson, John Brice, John Weems, Samuel Chew, Thomas Sprigg, Girard Hopkins, Jr., Thomas Hall, Thomas Harwood, West River, Stephen Steward, Thomas Watkins, Thomas Belt, the third, Richard Green, and Stephen Watkins, be a committee to represent and act for this county and city. to carry into execution the association agreed on by the American Continental Congress, and that any seven have power to act.
"Resolved, That Thomas Johnson, Jr., John Hall, William Paca, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Matthias Hammond, Samuel Chase, and Richard Tootell, be a committee of correspondence for this county and city, and that any three have power to act.
"Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting, that the gentlemen appointed to represent the county and city, in the late provincial convention, together with Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, ought to at- tend the next provincial meeting on the 21st inst., and have full power to represent this county and city."
On Friday, the 14th day of October, 1774, the brig Peggy Stewart, Captain Jackson, arrived at Annapolis from London, "having on board seventeen packages containing 2,320 pounds of that detestable weed"-the taxed tea. On hearing of its arrival, the Anne Arundel county committee, which took cognizance of such matters, immediately
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HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS.
convened. It was then three o'clock in the afternoon. The commit- tee was informed that the brig had been regularly entered that morn- ing, "and the duty on the tea paid to the collector by Mr. Anthony Stewart, one of the owners of said brig." This was fuel to the flame of indignation already kindled ; but, with the law-abiding spirit which is a part of the Maryland character, they did not precipitate matters, but let the question take an orderly solution. Four only of the com- mittee were present, and the remainder, residents of the county, were inaccessible in this emergency. The committee, therefore, called a meeting of the citizens of Annapolis, to be held at five o'clock the same afternoon. As the Provincial Court was in session at Annapo- lis at the time, a number of persons from Anne Arundel, Baltimore, and other counties. who were in attendance on the court, joined the citizens of Annapolis to answer the question, "What was to be done ?"" The assembly proceeded at once to business. The importers, the cap- tain of the brig, and the deputy-collector of the port were called be- fore it and examined. The consignees, Messrs. Thomas C. Wil- liams & Co., sent the following letter, which was read :
"FRIDAY MORNING, 10 o'clock,
OCTOBER 14, 1774.
"This is to inform you that the brig Peggy Stewart, Captain Jack- son, is just arrived from London, and agreeable to our order of the 14th of May last, have got many goods on board for us, among which are a few chests of tea. Although agreeable to our order, yet it's con- trary to our expectation, as we was in great hopes the tea would not have been shipped ; but as it have unluckily come to hand, and are sensible the sale of it, at this time, will be disagreeable to our friends and neighbors, we are, therefore, willing to leave to your determina- tion what is to be done with the said tea, and will readily acquiesce in any measures you may suggest, either in landing and storing it, reshipping it to London, the West Indies, or otherwise."
From the captain of the brig and the deputy-collector, it was learn- ed that the duty on the tea had not been paid. The question was then put, "Shall the tea be landed in America ?" It was unani- mosly decided in the negative. A committee of twelve persons was appointed to superintend the discharge of the brig's cargo, except the tea, and the meeting adjourned to Wednesday, the 19th.
On the succeeding Monday a proposal was made to the consignees by Charles Carroll, one of the committee, that they should destroy the tea themselves, which he thought would satisfy the people. The consignees readily agreed to this, offering to destroy the tea in any way that was thought proper. But the matter had gone too far for such a settlement to be satisfactory. They rejected the offer ; and in the meantime handbills were industriously circulated through the county, notifying the people of the arrival of the tea, and, requesting them to meet on the following Wednesday. The principal mover in the affair, on the part of the patriots, appears to have been Mr. Mat- thias Hammond, of whom the consignees complained afterward that he made no mention in said bills "who gave the committee informa- tion of the tea being arrived." This intimation that the consignees themselves notified the committee of the arrival of the tea is sustained by the date of their note of Friday "morning at ten o'clock," and by the consenting witness of silence on the part of the committee, who
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"'THE ANCIENT CITY. ''
never denied the assertion. This was a doubtful omission by the com- mittee, but it in no respect lessens the honor due the people of Anne- Arundel and Annapolis, who were kept in ignorance of the true facts, and saw only in the Stewart and her cargo a defiant attempt to in- fringe their most cherished rights.
By eight o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, Mr. Carroll re- ceived a letter from the consignees further explanatory of the arrival of the tea, which was read to the committee on their meeting at ten o'clock. The explanation was that the tea was shipped on an order of the 14th of May previous. The consignees continued : "We, in October, 1773, (as others did), imported tea, that being the first time we ever imported any from Great Britain, and finding it to meet with a ready sale and no objection to its importation, we also, with our neighbors, ordered tea in our spring cargo, which arrived in April and May last ; and then (there still being no objection to its importation) we, on the 14th of May, did also order the tea now unfortunately ar- rived in the Peggy Stewart .... ... We did not think till about the beginning of July importation of tea would be stopt ........ But soon after August we was convinced that if the tea ordered was shipped it would not be allowed to be landed or the duty paid ; and from that time was determined, in case it should arrive to give it up immediately to the disposal of the committee, to do with it what they thought pro- per. This we told many people before the tea came, which, we be- lieve, Mr. Thos. Harwood and Mr. Hodgsin well remember ...
On the arrival of the Peggy Stewart here with the tea, we immediately made the committee acquainted therewith, and expressed our readi- ness to abide by their determination with respect to it ; and on Mr. Stewart's application to us for money to pay duty on the same, we absolutely refused it, or doing anything concerning it until the com- mittee had resolved what should be done with it. And we further declare that the vessel was entered at the custom-house and the duty paid without our knowldge or consent."
The consignees expressed their willingness to give the utmost satisfac- tion, and with a view to mollify the exasperated feelings of the people, declared that they had had no intention to infringe the resolutions entered into by the province of Maryland nor to import tea, nor were they "actuated by any sinister motives either in favor of ministerial power, court, court-party or otherwise." In a subsequent letter to the public, the consignees stated that the committee expressed them- selves satisfied with their conduct in the matter, except in regard to- the large quantity ordered. This statement was denied in public print by Mr. John Duckett, clerk to the committee.
The payment of the duty on tea. which had been done since the meeting of Friday, was a matter the people could not lightly over- look. The general indignation excited by this act caused Mr. Stewart to publish a card explanatory of his part in transaction. He said :: "When the brig arrived, the captain informed me she was very leaky, and that the sooner she was unloaded the better. I told him to enter- his vessel, but not the tea, which I found on inquiry of the collector- could not be done. Under these circumstances, the brig leaky and fifty three souls on board, where they had been near three months, I thought my self [bound, ] both in humanity and prudence, to enter the vessel and leave the destination of the tea to the committee. The- impropriety of securing the duty did not then occur to me ; neither
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