USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > Annapolis > The Ancient City.: A History of Annapolis, in Maryland, 1649-1887 > Part 6
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"To liken us to a conquered people, we take very heavily, and wish we had not heard, and do wonder it should pass the upper house. But, if the word conquest intends that we are subjects to arbitrary laws and impositions, then we humbly take leave to believe that they are not his lordship's words, but the result of strange, if not evil council.
"That his majesty has reserved for us the rights and privileges of Englishmen, is that we insist upon.".
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The Lord Proprietary. in reply to the last message from the lower house, disclaimed any intention to liken the freemen of Maryland to a conquered people, or subject to arbitrary laws or impositions, and hopes that they may no way deserve that severe reflection, and assures them that he had always "been ready to oblige and show his kindness. to the good people of this province ;" and, as a further testimony of it, states his willingness to issue writs as desired, if the lower h .. use will ask it of him "as a thing that will oblige (at this time) the in- habitants of this province, of whom they are representatives," &c.
The lower house accordingly made the request, stating their will- ingness "to leave off all disputations about words," saying, it "will be a matter of great content and rejoicing among to the good people of this province," &c .*
Thus the "freemen of Maryland," as they were called, proved themseives worthy of their honorable title, and gave abundant evi- dence of that love of liberty and courage to enjoy it which have char- acterized the English speaking race, at all times, the world over.
- Ridgely's Annals of Annapolis, p. 86.
CHAPTER XIV. PROVIDENCE CHANGED TO "THE TOWN, AT PROCTOR'S."
[1683.] Providence seems to have changed its name sometime be- tween 1656 and 1683, for by an act of the Legislature of the last named year, chap. V," it was spoken of as "The Town at Proctor's," and made a port of entry of the province.
The commissioners appointed by this act to execute its powers were, son.etime before the 25th of March, 1684, to meet on the respective lands, and to agree with and purchase of the owners 100 acres of con- venient lands, and cause the same to be surveyed, marked and stake 1 out, and divided into convenient streets, lanes, and alleys, with open places to be left for erecting church, chapel, market-house, or other public buildings, and the remaining part of the said 100 acres, to divide into 100 equal lots, marked on posts. 1, 2, 3, &c., to 100, of which the owner of the land, to have his first choice for one lot. No person to purchase more than one lot, during four months after the 25th of March, 1684, and the lots to be purchased by the inhabitants of the cou .ty only. But if not taken up by them within the said four months, then to be free to any person whatsoever, to take up the same, paying the owner proportionably.
If the owners refused, or were disabled by legal incapacity to sell, the commissioners were empowered to issue their warrant to the sheriff. to summon a jury to value the lands, and the damage by them assessed, was to be paid to the owners, by the parties taking up lots, in proportion to their lots.
* Bacon's Laws.
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HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS.
The commissioners were empowered to summon the Surveyor-Gen- eral, or his Deputy, in the county, to survey and lay out the "100 acres aforesaid," and to mark and stake out the same into 100 equal lots, with streets.
After such survey, laying-out, and valuations, any person making choice of a lot, and making entry thereof, with the person appointed by the commissioners, to keep the book of entries, and paying or giv- ing security for payment of such sum, as should be by direction of the commissioners, rated upon such lot, and payable to the owner of the land, and building on such lot one sufficient twenty foot square house, at the least, before the last day of August, 1685, 'each respective lot to be held of the Lord Proprietary, his heirs forever, under the yearly rent of one penny current money, for each respective lot ; the same. or any other manner of settlement or building thereon, according to the directions of the act, was to invest the said taker-up and builder with an estate of inheritance in the said lot to him, his heirs, and as- signs forever. And also, upon tender of payment and refusal, the said buildings as aforesaid, with proof of such tender ard refusal, were to be binding to all intents and purposes, against the said parties so re- fusing, their heirs, &c.
The commissioners for each respective county, named in this act, were to appoint a person to keep a book, wherein to enter down each man's choice of any respective lot.
The Surveyor's fee was to be 80lbs. of tobacco for each lot, to be paid by the taker-up.
In case the taker-up of any lot should refuse or neglect to build within the time by this act appointed, any person whatsoever, might take up the same, paying the tobacco first set on such lot, to the com- missioner of the county, or to the person by them appointed to receive the same, for the use and benefit of the said town, provided such second taker-up begin to build such house, as was limited in the act within one month after such his entry, and finish the same within six months, which house, so built, should give and settle an estate of in- heritance to him and his heirs forever, on said lot.
Lots not taken up in five years were to revert to their original owners "as in their first and former estate."
All ships and vessels trading with the province, after August, 1685, were required to "unload their respective goods and merchandise at such towns, ports and places only," as were in the "act before set down and appointed, on penalty of forfeiting all such goods and merchandizes by them landed, at any other places whatsoever, one- third to his lordship, one-third to the benefit of the next adjacent town in the county where such offence shall be committed, and one- third to the informer.
No merchant, factor, mariner, or other person, trading into the province, whether foreigner or inhabitants, was allowed to traffic, sell, or barter away any goods but at some of these legally appointed ports and towns, but it was allowed for workingmen's wages to be paid, and the inhabitants were permitted to buy at their own planta- tions, necessary provisions for their families, with any goods, &c., bought at any the ports, or with goods by them purchased, imported, and landed at any of the ports.
All goods and wares, of the growth, production, or manufacture of the province, intended for exportation, had to be brought to one of
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these ports for shipment, and all store-house keepers, having room for storage, were required under penalty, to allow goods brought for ex- portation to be stored, under rent of 10 ibs. of tobacco per hogshead. The store-house keeper acted by this receipt of goods as insurer of the goods, casualties by fire excepted.
"This effort to enlarge the "Town at Proctors," it appears, proved futile, for, in 1694, commissioners, with similar powers, to those given in the act of 1683, were re-appointed to do these "first worksover again."
CHAPTER XV. THE IMPEACHMENT OF MAJOR THOMAS TRUMAN.
[1675.] The Susquehannock Indians, at one time one of the most powerful tribes in Maryland, had to retreat before the advance of the ferocious Senecas, and, in 1675, the former located themselves in the country of the Piscattoways at the head of the Potomac.
Several murders having been committed by these Indians, Mary- land and Virginia united in sending a force against them. The troops invested a fort occupied by the Susquehannocks, from which during the course of the siege, five Indian chiefs were induced, under offers of friendship and promises of protection, to come into the colonial camp, in which they were treacherously murdered.
This base conduct aroused the indignation of the people of Mary- land, and Major Truman was impeached and tried for murder in 1676. The first article of impeachment declared :
"Articles against major Thomas Truman exhibited by the lower house of assembly to the right honourable the Lord Proprietary. and upper house of Assembly.#
"We, your lordship's most humble, true, faithful and obedient peo- ple, the burgesses and delegates in your lower house of assembly. be- ing constrained, by necessity of our fidelity and conscience, in vindi- cation of the honour of God, and the honour and welfare of your lordship and this province, do complain and shew that the said major Thomas Truman, late commander-in-chief upon an expedition against the Indians at the Susquehannah forte, hath. by many and sundry ways and means, committed divers and sundry enormous crimes and offences, to the dishonour of Almighty God. against the laws of na- tions, contrary to your lordship's commission and instructions, and to the great endangering of your lordship's peace. and the good and safety of your lordship's province, according to the articles hereafter mentioned. that is to say :
"We find. upon reading your lordship's commission and instructions, and the affidavits which we herewith send to your lordship and upper house of assembly, and which we humbly submit to you lordship's examination and serious consideration.'
* Archives of Maryland. Assembly Proceedings, p. 18.5.
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HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS.
"The first. That the said major Truman hath broken his commis- sion and instructions thus : that the said major Thomas Truman hav- ing received six Indians sent out by the Susquehannahs as embassa- dors to treat with him on the Sunday after the arrival of the Mary- land forces, and received their paper and meddall, t by which we find they were received as friends, and in amity with us, and had liberty of going back to the fort. and were assured that no intention of force was to be used against them, and that no damage should be done to them, their wives, or children, and that they did, that night, go into the forte, and the next morning did return again with the like num- ber, only one Indian changed, and supposed to come on purpose to treat, and not in any hostile manner, yet the said major Thomas Tru- man, without calling any council of warr of your lordship's officers under his command, as he ought to have done, did, in a barbarous and cruel manner, cause five of the said Indians to be killed and mur- dered, contrary to the law of God and nations, and contrary to your lordship's commission and instructions."
The upper house after a "full hearing on both sides, and after read- ing of the said major's commission and instructions from his lordship and council," found Major Truman guilty as impeached, and ordered a messenger to be sent to the lower house to draw up a bill of at- tainder against him.
The lower house prescribed in the bill a fine as punishment. The upper house objected to a fine being levied for "such broad crimes," and said ; "it will be much wondered by those who shall hear and view our proceedings thereon, what shall be the cause why the same bath been past over with so slender and slight a punishment, being no more than what crimes of a more inferior nature might have deserved."
The lower house replied to this by saying "that the said Major Truman, for his crime does not deserve death, in regard that several circumstances that appeared at his tryall, extenuated his crime very much, as the unanimons consent of the Virginians, and the eager im- petuosity of the whole field, as well Marylanders, upon the sight of the Christians murdered nt Mr. Hinson's, and them very Indians that were there killed, being proved to be murderers, both of them and several other Christians ; and in regard, also, that it appears to this house that the said crime was not maliciously perpetrated, or out of any design to prejudice the province, but merely out of ignorance, and to prevent a mutiny of the whole army, as well Virginians as Marylanders; wherefore, this house do not think fitt to recede from their former vote."
Between the differences of the two houses on the subject, Major Truman appears to have escaped punishment altogether.
T Very probably those received when they mot- (le Treaty with the Puri- tan- on the Severo in 1652.
CHAPTER XVI. REMOVAL OF THE STATE CAPITAL FROM ST. MARY'S TO ANNAPOLIS.
[1694.] Plant a capital on any site, and it immediately throws out
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"'THE ANCIENT CITY."
its tendrils, and takes root in the body politic and in the atfections of the people. Time increases the depth of these roots, and diminishes the chances of their transplanting. History establishes the fact that capitals are not easily removed from one place to another, and that a State clings to the site of its ancient capital with almost religious veneration. Catholic Italy, for a time deprived of its early seat of government, at the favorable moment, put its armies in motion, and headed by a son of the Church, thrusts the Pope into the narrow confines of the Vatican, and seizes upon its ancient capital to the joy of a Catholic people.
Maryland, since her settlement as a colony, has had but two sub- stantial changes of her capital. Several temporary removals of the place of the meeting of the General Assembly and the sessions of the Courts have taken place, but from 1634, the year of the settlement of Maryland. to 1683, "St. Marie's," in St. Mary's county, remained legally, and, most of the time, really, the venerated capital of Mary- land.
The first evidence St. Mary's had that its treasured prerogative, the possession of the capital, could be taken from her, was in 1654, after the parliamentary commissioners, Bennett and Claiborne, had reduced the colony to obedience to the commonwealth-to which authority it was never overtly disobedient. The Assembly, called by the Puritan provincial authorities, met at one Richard Preston's house on the Pa- tuxent River, to which place the documents and records of the colony had been removed. In 1656, whilst St. Mary's remained the residence of Lord Baltimore's Lieutenant in the Province, Gov. Fendall, Pa- tuxent still continued the place of the regular meeting of the General Assembly. St. Mary's, in the year 1659, was fully restored to all her ancient prerogatives, and, in that year, the session of the General As- sembly was held there.
St. Mary's remained undisturbed in her re-acknowledged honors until 1683, when, through the remote :ess of the town from the rest of the province, its inconvenience, and expense of access, which had always been "felt and often complained of," she was once more tem- porarily shorn of her laurels. The will of the Proprietary and feel- ings of the people conspired to sustain the privileges of this ancient city ; but the former, in 1683, yielded to the desires of the long-suffer- ing people, and the Assembly was removed, with the courts and pro- vincial offices, to a place called the "Ridge," in Anne Arundel county. One session only of the General Assembly was held here. The poor accommodations of the Ridge drove them hence, and the peripatetic capital took up its abode on Battle Creek, on the Patuxent River, from whence, after a session of three days only, it was again removed to its old site, the city of St. Mary's. The Provincial Court found it necessary to ad journ* also from the Ridge, from the want of necessary accommodations.
. Once more settled at St. Mary's, the Proprietary gave the inhabitants of that town a written promise that the capital "should not be re- moved again during his life." Resting under this assurance the peo- ple of St. Mary's had reason to feel secure in the possession of the capital of the province, at least. for the uncertain duration of the pro- prietary's life. Subsequent events proved the vanity of human calcu- lations upon this tenure.
* McMahon's Marvland, p. 251.
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HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS.
Providence, evidently, had a desire for the location of the seat of government within its limits very early in its history, for in 1674, when the Legislature was considering the propriety of erecting a State House, prison, and office, at the Ridge, a member of the lower house stated, and the house sent the message to the Governor and Council that "there are severall persons of qualitie in Anne Arundel county that will undertake to build a State House, prison and office at there own charge onlie to be repaid by the countrey when the buildings are finished and to build a House for his Excelency, at their own proper costs and charges." The Lower House showed that it was fully ripe for the innovation by voting "that it be necessarie and this house doe petition his Excelencie accordinglie."
The Upper House gave a sharp reply. It returned "answer to which vote the Captaine General signifieth to the Lower House that he, having by writieing allreadie declared his choice and the public faith being allreadie passed, and conceiving that this Last Paper is noe . answer to the last message of this House tuching the Buildings, doth not thinke fit to take anie further notice of the said Paper ; but that the Lower House be desired to signefie to this House of what dimen- sion the said Buildings are to. be and then some persons will offer themselves as undertakers of the same."
In 1689, William of Orange mounted the throne of England, and Protestantism became the ascendant religion in that kingdom. Lord Baltimore received instructions to proclaim William and Mary, as sovereigns, in the province of Maryland. He promptly obeyed the command. His orders, however, failed to reach his agents in Mary- land in proper season, and, waiting to hear his mind in the matter, the Proprietary's "timid deputies lost him his government by shirking in a moment of emergency above the ordinary restrictions of law, from the exercise of powers not nominated in their commission."t
The instrument of the revolution in the province was an organiza- tion known as "An Association in arms for the defense of the Pro- testant religion, and for asserting the rights of King William and Queen Mary to the province of Maryland and all the English domin- ions." John Coode was the leader of the association. After a brief struggle, the association, in August, 1689, obtained entire possession of the province, `A convention was immediately held in the name of the association, and a full account of the proceedings and purposes of the organization was submitted to the King.
The King approved the revolution. and the province remained under the authority of the convention until April 9th, 1692. At that time, in accordance with the wishes of the convention, Sir Lionel Copley, who had appointed the first royal governor of Maryland, assumed control of the affairs of the province. He convened the Legislature immediately. Notwithstanding the governor counselled moderation in legislation. the General Assembly commenced its work by throwing a fire brand in the province, in thanking the King for redeeming them "from the arbitrary will and pleasure of a tyrannical. Popish govern- ment under which they had so long groaned." A most gratuitous and unwarrantable assertion. They followed up that charge, with the establishment of the protestant religion in the province, and pro- viding for its support by general taxation. Lord Baltimore's agents t McMahon's Maryland, p. 236.
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were then prohibited from receiving port duties, and his collection of his land rents was grievously interferred with.
The old city of St. Mary's, around which clustered all the historic associations of early settlement, and which had been the permanent. seat of government since the existence of the colony, was immolated in turn upon the altar of revolution. The town at this time, 1694, contained about sixty houses-a number it had reached a few years after its settlement. It had soon obtained its full growth. Stunted in its early energies, its vital powers were sapped, and, at the period when the removal of the capital was suggested, had become "a mere landing-place for the trade of its own immediate neighborhood." St. Mary's had several disadvantages that presented the town unfavora- bly to the body of Legislators. Situated at the southern extremity of the province, it was remote from the rest of the inhabitants, and the expense and inconvenience, in those days of incommodious traveling, attended access to, and egress from the place. Besides its local dis- advantages, it had one feature to discommend it to the partizans of that day. Its people were Catholics, whilst the Legislature was pecu- liarly Protestant, at least, as far as illiberal men could represent protestant principles. With all these against it, there is no wonder at the result, although a State House of respectable dimensions at St. Mary's indicated what expense would attend the loss of one capitol, and the building of another.
The place contemplated as the new capital was the "Town at Proc- tors," now Annapolis. This place, as we may judge from an almost contemporary description of it, was not so large even as St. Mary's but, by an act of the Legislature of 1683, it had been created as a town and port of entry. In 1694, previous to the removal of the capital. it was named, "Anne Arundel Town," and was made the residence of the district collector, the naval officer, and their deputies, "for the dispatch of shipping." Passing ahead of the period of which we are writing, we quote a description of the town penned about six years later. It reads, "Col. Nicholson has done his endeavor to make a town of that place. There are about forty dwelling houses in it, seven or eight of which can afford a good lodging or accommodations for strangers. There are also a State House and a free school, built, of brick. which make a great show among a parcel of wooden houses, and the foundation of a church is laid, the onlybrick church in Maryland. They have two market days in a week ; and had Gov. Nicholson con- tinued there a few months longer, he had brought it to perfection."}
The people of St. Mary's were not disposed to let this valued treasure slip from their grasp, without making the most strenuous efforts to retain it. They turned their eyes toward Gov. Nicholson, lifted up their hands, and. casting themselves at his feet in an agony of desperation, as their only hope, prayed him for succor in this, the day of their calamity. They directed a petition to him as "his Excellency." and as ... Captain General and Governor in chief, in and over this. their Majestys' province and Territory of Maryland." The address began. "The Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, Common Council- men, and Freemen. of the city of St. Mary's in the said province, and principally, from the bottom of their hearts, they rejoice in your Ex- cellency's happy accession to this, your Government : and sincerely # Oldm xon's History of Virginia.
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pray for your peaceable and quiet enjoyment thereof, and long and prosperous continuance therein for the Glory of God, their Majestys' service, the good and benefit of their subjects, and your own particu- lar comfort and satisfaction."
The petition then proceeds to supplicate the Governor to continue to the petitioners "their ancient franchises, rights, and privileges, granted them by their charter with such other benefits and advantages as hath been accustomed and generally allowed, and, from time to time, continued to them by your predecessors, rulers, and governors of the province, humbly offering and proposing to your Excellency these following reasons as motives inducing thereto."
These reasons were classed under sixteen heads. The first, in full : "Imprimus, As that it was the prime and original settlement of the province, and from the first seating thereof for above sixty years hath been the antient and chief seat of Government."
The second reason was because Lord Baltimore had conferred on it, in consideration of the above fact, especial privileges.
The third paragraph set forth that the capital should remain where it was, because "the situation in itself is most pleasant and healthful, and naturally commodious in all respects for the purpose, being plen- tifully and well watered with good and wholesome springs, and almost encompassed around with harbor for shipping, where five hundred sail of ship, at least, may securely ride at anchor before the city." The town also contained, this section asserted, excellent points of land on which to erect fortifications to defend the said shipping, and for the preservation of the "public magazine and records of the province."
The fourth argument recited that the capital ought not to be re- moved, because, by an act of the Legislature of 1662, land was bought, and in 1674, the Legislature passed an act to build a State House and a prison, which cost the province 300,000 pounds of tobacco ; and in the next asserted that the inhabitants of St. Mary's had made and paid a free offering of 100,000 pounds of tobacco to build Lord Balti- more a house adjacent to the town.
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