USA > Maryland > The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations > Part 116
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Hemans the master of the Golden Lion is a very knave, and that will be made plainly for to appeare to your lordship, for he hath abused my husband most grossly.
[The foregoing letters were taken from a pamphlet, entitled, "A refutation of Babylon's Fall," &c. by Mr. John Langford, published in England in 1655.]
NOTE (LXXXVI.) p. 533. "The Protector to the Commissioners of Maryland. ["Thurloe's State Papers, Vol. IV. p. 55.]
" It seems to us by yours of the 29th of June and by the relation we received by colonel Bennet that some mistake or scruple hath arisen concerning the sense of our letters of the 12th of January last; as if by our letters we had intimated that we would have a stop put to the proceedings of those commissioners, who
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were authorised to settle the civil government of Maryland, which was not at all intended by us, nor so much as proposed to us by those who made addresses to us to obtain our said letter ; but our intention (as our said letter doth plainly im- port) was only to prevent and forbid any force or violence to be offered, by either of the plantations of Virginia or Maryland from one to the other upon the differences concerning their bounds, the said differences being then under the consideration of ourself and council here ; which for your more full satisfaction we have thought fit to signify to you, and rest
Whitehall, 26th of September, 1655.
Your loving Friend."
[Taken from Hazard's Collections, vol. 1, p. 594.]
NOTE (LXXXVII.) p. 535.
" Commission to Cap. Josias Fendall. "C. BALTEMORE-
"Cecilius absolute lord and proprietary of the province of Maryland and Ava- lon lord baron of Baltemore, &c .; To all the inhabitants and people in Maryland and to all others whom these presents shall any way concerne, greeting, Know ye that for divers special causes and considerations us hereunto moving, Wee have revoked and determined and by these presents do declare that wee do here- by revoke and absolutely determine all former commissions granted unto William Stone, esq'r. or to any other person or persons concerning the government of the said province of Maryland and all power and authority granted unto him thereby or to any person whatsoever, Neverthelesse upon consideration that the people there cannot subsist and continue in peace and safety without some good govern- ment be settled and established as well for the cherishing and supporting of the good people and well affected as for the punishment of the vitious and disorderly persons there, Wee have thought fit to nominate constitute and appoint, and wee do hereby nominate constitute and appoint Josias Fendall of the province of Maryland in America gent : our lieutenant and chiefe governor of the said pro- vince of Maryland with the islands thereunto belonging, And by these presents do grant unto him the chiefe command power and authority under us over the said province and islands thereunto belonging, to have and to hould the same during our pleasure in as ample and large manner to all intents and purposes as was formerly granted by us unto captaine William Stone our late lieutenant there ; And wee do hereby nominate constitute and appoint the said captaine William Stone, Mr. Thomas Gerard, colonell John Price, Mr. Job Chandler, and Mr. Luke Barber, and such other person or persons not exceeding three in number as the sayd Josias Fendall shall nominate and appoint to be of our coun- cell in the said province, and to have the like and as ample authority, privi- ledges, and advantages as those of our councell formerly had there ; And wee doe further heereby authorise the sayd Josias Fendall to appoint such a fitt person or persons, for whom he will be responsible, as he shall thinke fitt to be our secre- tary and receiver generall there for the present till our pleasure be further knowne therein, and to cause all rents, arreares of rents, and all other dues, belonging to us in that province to be for our use demanded, leavyed, and payd to our said receiver so to be nominated and appointed by him the said Josias Fendall as aforesaid, and to be afterwards disposed of according to such instructions or di- rections as wee have or shall give to him the said Josias Fendall for that pur- pose .- Given under our hand and greater seale at armes the tenth day of July in the five and twentieth yeare of our dominion over the said province of Maryland and in the yeare of our Lord God one thousand six hundred fifty six."
[Taken from the record book in the council chamber, labelled on the back, "Council H H, 1656 to 1668," p. 6.]
VOL. II .- 87
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NOTE (LXXXVIII.) p. 541.
"Mr. R. Bennet and Mr. Matthew to Secretary Thurlow. [Thurloe's State Papers, vol. V. p. 482.]
Sir,-Since our last application to your honour, we hear that the committee of trade have delivered in their report to his highness ; but you may be pleased to take notice that nothing is either said or done by them concerning the Virginia petition, which relates very materially to the business of Maryland, especially in that particular of the bounds by them claimed. And whereas something is offer- ed by the committee, as the agreement of the lord Baltimore and us, it is true, that upon a motion of the committee something was proposed by us, and an- swered by him to that purpose, that if his highness should think fit to re-estab- lish the lord Baltimore in the government, and to issue out all writs and pro- cesses in his own name, that then some provision to be made for the indemnity of the people there in relation to the reducement, that so the lives and estates of his highness's good subjects might not be left to the mercy of the lord Baltimore and his party there, merely for their submission and engagement to the parlia- ment and to his highness.
But we humbly conceive and hope, that there is and will appear to be so much of reason and justice, and so much of his highness's interest recited and expressed in the paper inclosed,* that there will be sufficient cause for his high- ness to dispose of the government of Maryland (in case it belong not to Vir- ginia) otherwise than to put it into the hands of such a one, who, if once con- firmed, will undoubtedly be as ready to slight and oppose the authority of his highness as ever he was to slight and oppose the authority of the parliament, which he hath manifestly and boldly done, and that with a very high hand.
+ Sir, your former propenseness to take cognizance of this business makes us presume thus to trouble you, and it being such public concernment in relation to his highness's interest and the good of those profitable plantations, and dispatch of this long tedious dispute, that so those plantations may be settled under the present government, and that we may return to our relations and occasions, from which we have been so long detained.
Your honour's most humble servants,
October the 10th, 1656.
SAMUEL MATHEW, RICHARD BENNET.
OBJECTIONS against Lord Baltimore's Patent, and Reasons why the Government of Maryland should not be put in his hands, viz.
[Thurloe's State Papers, vol. V. p. 482, A. D. 1656.]
1. By the patent he was to have no land, but such as was uncultivated and inhabited by Pagans only ; but Maryland was inhabited, and part of it possessed and cultivated by the English in Virginia, viz .- the isle of Kent, and that long before the name of Maryland was ever heard of.
2. By the patent it is provided, that he make laws with the advice and con- sent of the inhabitants and freemen ; and by the practice of the lord Baltimore and his officers there, the people have no law but what he allows and consents unto.
3. He is enjoined to make laws agreeable to the laws of England ; but several of the laws made there were different from and disagreeable to the laws here, as appears by the report of the committee of the navy.
4. By the patent it is provided, that no construction be made thereof, whereby God's holy and truly christian religion, or the heirs and successors of the crown of England should receive any prejudice or diminution.
* The "paper," here referred to, seems to be the one immediately following, entitled, "Objections," &c.
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Às to religion, the governor and all those of the council in Maryland are bound by oath to defend and maintain the Roman Catholic religion in the free exercise thereof. And as to the heirs and successors of the crown of England, it seems they have nothing to do there ; for when the late council of state by authority of parliament required them to issue out writs in the name of the keepers of the liberty of England, and to put the laws of England in execution, they answered, they could not do it without breach of their trust and oath to the lord Baltimore, in reference to his commission from the late king ; therein preferring the king's authority, which died with him, and lifting it up above that of the parliament, the only visible power at that time in being.
5. Upon this occasion the commissioners, in pursuance of their instructions from the late council of state by the authority of parliament, in March 1652, took away the government from my lord Baltimore and his officers there, and did actually reduce and settle the province of Maryland in the hands of the parlia- ment, according to an act of parliament of the 3d of October 1650; and then in 1654, upon their revolt, it was again reduced and settled in the name and under the authority of his highness the lord protector, and confirmed by a full and free assembly of that province October 1654.
6. The government there being now no more in the lord Baltimore, but in the parliament first, and then in the hands of his highness, and the acting of the com- missioners therein being owned and approved by the late council of state, and also by his highness in his letter of the 8th of October, 1655, to the governor of Virginia ; the said lord Baltimore, in opposition and contempt of the supreme authority of this nation, by his instructions caused captain Stone and others, to the number of 200 or thereabouts, to rise up in arms against the government so settled there aforesaid ; which said captain Stone, and all the rest, after they had committed many and great outrages, in disarming, plundering, and imprisoning those that adhere to his highness's government, and to their engagement and duty in that behalf, were in a field battle overcome, some slain, and all the rest taken prisoners. And so the said lord Baltimore, choosing rather to adventure his title that way, than to wait the determination of the supreme authority here, lost it upon that account as well as by the reducement ; in both which respects the government of that province is now in his highness the lord protector's dis- posal.
And it is humbly conceived, that his highness will not think fit to re-establish the lord Baltimore in such an absolute and unlimited power as he pretends there, for the considerations, and for these further reasons, viz :
1. In respect to the dissatisfaction and malignancy of the said lord Baltimore and his governors from time to time against the parliament and their interest; namely, several commissions gotten from the king at Oxford, taking captain Ingle's ship, and tampering with the seamen, to carry her for Bristol, which was then in the king's hands, proclaiming Charles II. &c.
2. In respect of the many petitions and complaints of the inhabitants of Vir- ginia and Maryland against a popish monarchical government, so contrary unto and so inconsistent with his highness's interest and the liberty and freedom of his subjects ; it being also contrary to the known laws of this land, and particu- larly of the instrument or platform of government.
3. In order to the peace and the common good of those plantations, which mainly consist in uniting and keeping them under one government; whereby dissentions, quarrels, and cutting of throats, likely continually to arise between such near neighbouring plantations, will be prevented, his highness's authority and interest established, trade encouraged, the excessive planting of tobacco re- strained, so making way for more staple commodities, as silk, &c., to be raised ; the running away of delinquents and persons indebted from one place to another
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taken off, and the whole strength [against]* the common enemy the Indian, or any other enemy, the more readily conjoined upon all occasions ; besides that old, great, sad complaint of seducing of poor ignorant Protestants, and papists to bear rule over the freeborn subjects of this nation, will be likely hereby in some measure to be taken off, and yet those of the popish persuasion not de- barred of any lawful liberty and freedom, either in relation to civil things, or the exercise of their conscience.
RIC. BENNET, SAMUEL MATHEW.
A paper relating to Maryland. [Thurloe's State Papers, vol. V. page 483, A. D. 1656.]
As to those specious pretences of the lord Baltimore of a protestant government being always well affected to the parliament, so much money expended upon that plantation.
We humbly conceive, that the contrary hath been showed and proved in divers and sundry particulars ; but if it were so, yet it being before the reducement, and the consequences thereof as to government (which is that only wherein we are concerned) it belongs not to the matter in hand. For those objections against the report of the committee of the navy, we say, that the same was fully agreed on, and ordered by the committee ; that it was accordingly read before the coun- cil of state the 26th of November, 1653, by them approved and appointed to be drawn up for the parliament, which was accordingly done, as hath been proved by Mr. Blackburne, and is ready to be further satisfied by col. Mathews and Mr. Wakeman, who were present at all the passages thereof.
To that of the lord Baltimore's patent from the king there are these objec- tions ; viz. 1. That the same is surreptitious, king James having passed the same by patent to the adventurers and planters of Virginia, and they actually possess- ed of the isle of Kent long before, and the lord Baltimore's patent was only for uncultivated places, such as were not inhabited by any but Pagans.
2. As being an exorbitant grant to give away so great a part of the dominions to a private person, and one that never brought in any thing of profit at all, or not considerable, to the revenue here, by custom, excise, or any other way, es- pecially since the change of government.
3. As being contrary to law to put the subjects of this commonwealth under the absolute and perpetual authority of a subject, and such a one, who as a papist is not capable of any office or authority relating to government.
4. In respect to the mal-administration and exercise of the power there in nine several particulars, expressed in the report of the committee of the navy, to which we shall add these two ; viz.
1. Here is a power of making laws with the consent of the inhabitants and freemen of the said province ; but this liberty bath been denied the people, and the lower house (as he calls it) cut short of that power and privilege, and the people in danger of severe punishment for addressing their petitions and com- plaints to the supreme authority here proved by his own letters and their peti- tions, which have been produced .-- 2. Another clause in his patent is that no construction be made thereof, whereby God's holy and true christian religion, or the heirs and successors of the crown of England shall receive any prejudice or diminution. As for the holy and truly christian religion, if the Romish be it, that's indeed strongly provided for by the laws and officers oaths ; and for the heirs and successors of the king, which undoubtedly must be the parliament and his highness the lord protector, what place their commands have taken in Mary-
* The editor, Mr. Hazard has here subjoined the following note .- "This mark" (an asterisk,) "is found in the printed copy from which this is taken; perhaps the word against may be want- ing here."
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4
land, and how their authority and those that declare themselves for it, have sped from time to time, is evident by that of capt. Ingle, the proceedings of the par- liament's commissioners in that place, and the people's petitions.
5. And lastly, in respect of the parliament's ordinance of the 3d of October, 1650, by which all foreign plantations, as well as the rest of the three nations, were to be brought in and settled under the subjection and obedience of this common- wealth, and the present government thereof, notwithstanding any letters patent to the contrary ; and Maryland was accordingly taken in, and the parliament ac- tually possessed thereof by virtue of the said ordinance, as by an order of the parliament's commissioners, dated at St. Mary's in Maryland the 29th of March, 1652, renewed under his highess the lord protector, by an order to that purpose, dated at Patuxent in Maryland, the 22d of July, 1654, and settled under his high- ness's authority by a free and full assembly of that province the 20th of Octo- ber, 1654.
Concerning the lord Ballimore's being at Oxford and Bristol with the king, and his excuse thereof to recover a debt.
It hath been shewed and proved, that his work was to engage against the par- liament, procuring a commission tending to the ruin of their interest, and of all those that were well affected, their ships, goods, debts, money, &c., the one half whereof the lord Baltimore was to have for his great charges expended in that service ; his brother, who was then governor of Maryland, the other half ; by which it seems Maryland was not always well affected to the parliament, as is alledged; besides another commission procured and contracted for by the Jord Baltimore himself, in his own name, concerning the customs in Virginia, which he was to receive under the king; but how many that never acted any thing in those places, were nevertheless sequestered and proceeded against as malig- nants. Whereas, it is said, that the committee for petitions in the time of the little parliament rejected the petition of col. Mathews concerning the lord Balti- more, it is not so; they were so far from slighting the same, that they looked upon it as too high for them, and therefore ordered the business to be transmit- ted back again to the council of state, as more proper for their consideration, as by their order may appear.
Whereas the lord Baltimore alledges, that the council of state did not intend the reducing of Maryland, that the word Maryland was struck out of the com- missions and instructions after it had been put in ; and therefore the commission- ers turned out his officers, and took away the government in Maryland without any lawful authority for their so doing ; we say,
That the parliament did intend the reducing of all islands and plantations, notwithstanding any letters patent to the contrary, appears by the ordinance, concerning Bermudas, Virginia, and Antigua, which hath been produced ; and that all accordingly have been reduced, and are under the obedience and author- ity of this commonwealth is apparent. And though it be not our work or duty to question or dispute the parliament's intention, but to obey their commands, which we humbly we conceive we have, yet that the council of state did intend the reducing of Maryland we conceive has been shewed and fully proved thus ; viz.
1. Because they well knew it was within the bay of Chesapiack.
2. That they having received an account thereof from the commissioners, ap- proved of what they had done, by sending over the same instructions under the seal the next year.
3. In the report drawn up for the parliament they plainly and expressly say the commissions were sent to Maryland.
4. His highness in his letter of the 8th of October last declares his pleasure, that no obstructions be made to what has been acted concerning the civil go-
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vernment in Maryland by the commissioners of the late council of state, in pur- suance of their instructions. But if the parliament and council of state did in- deed decline the reducing of Maryland, and several times express themselves to that purpose, as hath been often alledged ; if they had been so clear in that par- ticular, as hath been said, why then did they not declare themselves so? a line or two to that purpose in three years time surely might easily have been procur- ed, which would have taken off further proceedings, nulled what had formerly passed, and prevented all the many and dangerous disturbances, mischiefs, and blood shed, which hath been occasioned by lord Baltimore's lifting up his own authority and particular interest, derived from the king, in opposition and defi- ance of the authority and interest of the parliament, and his highness the lord protector.
That it might be argued and disputed concerning the word Maryland, putting in and putting out, as is usual in such cases, is very likely ; but the commission and instructions, it seems, were at least drawn up thus, and came so to the com- missioners, who lived in Virginia, viz. You shall see the engagement tendered, cause all writs and processes to issue forth in the name of the keepers, &c., and put the laws of England in execution : and this to be done in all the plantations in the bay of Chesapiake.
That the commissioners appointed for carrying on that service, as it doth not appear they expected or demanded more than what the parliament required, so they could do no less, the command being so positive, and the expression so plain and clear.
That the said commissioners coming to Maryland with the said commission and instructions, capt. Stone, governor under the lord Baltimore and his council, denied and refused to submit and to yield obedience to that authority, alledging the king's grant to the lord Baltimore, and their oaths to him, as by their letter of the 29th of March, 1652.
Now besides all other former demonstrations and expressions of their disaffec- tion and disobedience in divers particulars proved, viz. taking capt. Ingle's ship, proclaiming Charles II., practising with the king at Oxford and Bristol against the parliament, &c., whether this only, their refusal to comply, were not a plain denial of the parliament's power, and preferring the king's before it, and conse- quently a full and sufficient occasion and ground, according to the instructions, for the commissioners to take away the government, being also so ill managed and so much complained of by many, yea, most of the people, and to put it into such hands as would own the parliament, and act according to their commands.
Hereupon the government being now taken away from the lord Baltimore, and settled in the hands of the parliament first, 1652; and then of his highness, 1654 ; capt. Stone and the rest having taken the engagement, and being thereby bound to be true and faithful to the commonwealth, as now established, and nothing appearing first or last from the supreme authority here to disengage him or any other there ; how then could capt. Stone introduce the lord Baltimore's authority, as he did, and publish a proclamation in his name, 1653, enjoining all within three months to take an oath to maintain his power, dominion, &c., upon the penalty and forfeiture of their lands, which were to be entered upon and seized upon to his use? and how could the people take the same, being so in- consistent with, so contrary to their oath to the parliament, under whose au- thority they then actually were? and then whether those who kept to their en- gagement, and declared themselves for that against all other authority whatso- ever, or else those, who falsely and perfidiously revolted from it, and deserted their duty and the trust committed to them, be in an error, and are justly to be blamed? Concerning the late insurrection and blood spilt on the 25th of March, 1655, it appears, and hath been proved, that capt. Stone being reproved by the
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lord Baltimore for resigning without striking a stroke, having so many men in arms, and the commission given to capt. Barber to reduce the people to the lord Baltimore, in case capt. Stone would not, the said capt. Stone was hereby stir- red and induced to attempt the said insurrection and rebellion ; in prosecution whereof, he the said capt. William Stone did levy war, and to that end forced his highness's subjects to take arms one against another, seized the records of the province, armed Papists and others, plundered, disarmed, and imprisoned all those that refused to join with him, chased capt. Gookins's vessel, and fired several guns at her, broke into their houses in the night, so terrifying and af- frighting the people, that many of them left their houses, and took to the woods for safety ; threatened to fire the ship Golden Lyon, and to take away the lives of the chief in authority, who declared themselves for his highness's govern- ment according to their engagement and duty ; this being acted in such a time, when the country was in peace and in a quiet settled condition, and carried on so fiercely, barbarously, and bloodily, refusing all offers of accommodation and messages to that purpose ; shooting several guns at Mr. Richard Gott, railing at and reviling the people, calling them roundheads, rogues, dogs, &c. setting up the lord Baltimore's colours against the colours of the commonwealth, firing upon capt. Fuller and his party several guns without any parley, and killing Mr. William Ayres before any shot made on that side.
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