The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 22

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823
Publication date: 1837
Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver
Number of Pages: 1062

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 22

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This voyage has been since rendered of more importance than it would otherwise have been deemed, on account of its having laid the foundation of the original Dutch colony at New York ; and which, in process of time, materially affected the limits of the province of Maryland.

If Hudson, in this voyage, sailed under the authority and at the expense of the Dutch East India company, as it appears he did, all right of property in any lands or countries discovered by him, even supposing him to have been the first discoverer thereof, (of which he no where in America was,) would have immediately appertained to, and been vested in, his owners- the Dutch East India company. But it no where appears that they, as a company, ever availed themselves of, or claimed any right to such property; and it might be inferred, from their not employing him any longer, that they were rather dissatisfied with his voyage. Indeed, his sudden return from the North Cape of Lapland seems, in mercantile phraseology, to have been at least a deviation from the original destination of his voyage. All right to any lands or countries, supposed to be first disco- vered by him, thus clearly vesting in his owners, and not in himself, it is plain he himself could make no valid sale of them. The company might possibly have sold them to some individual merchants; but this would reduce the question again into an inquiry,-what right could the company, or even Hudson him- self, have acquired by merely visiting a country or lands long before discovered by other navigators? If coasting along a continent was a discovery, Sebastian Cabot had done that before him; and if the entrance into a harbour or river was an act of

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occupancy, Verazzini had anticipated him. The true state of SEC. VII. the question seems to be, that as the right acquired by occu- 1609. pancy in the process of colonization seems to be indefinite in its extent of territory, it remains to be decided under the reason- able usage of the law of nations, whether the settlement or occupancy of the country by the English in Virginia, in pursu- ance of the right of first discovery by Cabot, and under the first charter of Virginia, in 1606, comprehending the coast from 34° to 45° north latitude, was not sufficient to preclude the interloping subjects of other sovereigns or states, from in- truding within their limits? Upon reasonable principles, there- fore, it seems to be manifest that the Dutch could derive no sort of right or title to any part of the continent of America from either Hudson or his voyage. It is possible, however, that some individual and enterprising Dutch merchants might have pur- chased from him his journal and charts .* This corresponds with what historians state, that in the succeeding year, 1610, some merchants of Amsterdam sent ships to Hudson's river to open a trade with the natives ; t but in what year, prior to 1613, they commenced settlements there, it does not clearly appear.

Although Sir Humphrey Gilbert, as before mentioned, had 1610. taken formal possession, in her majesty's name, of the island of English at- Newfoundland, yet hitherto no settlements had been made there- settleNew- tempt to on ; which probably may be attributed to the coldness of the foundland. climate and the barrenness of the soil. However, Mr. John Guy, a merchant, and afterwards mayor of Bristol, who, in the year 1609, wrore a treatise to encourage persons to undertake a settlement there, by his writing and solicitation, succeeded so well, that in the following year king James made a grant, dated April the 27th, 1610, to Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, lord keeper, Sir Lawrence Tanfield, lord chief baron, Sir John Dodderidge, king's sergeant, Sir Francis Bacon, then solicitor general, afterwards lord chancellor, and created lord Verulam, together with the abovementioned Mr. John Guy, divers other merchants of Bristol, and other persons therein mentioned, by

* This fact is stated in Proud's Hist. of Pennsylvania, vol. 1, p. 109, 110, which in some measure accounts for the publication by Purchas, of the journal of Hudson's third voyage as drawn up by Ivat, the mate ; Hudson's own journal being probably in the possession of the Dutch.

t It is thus stated in Charlevoix Nouv. Franc. vol. 1, p. 142 .- " Des l' annee suivante quelques Marchands d' Amsterdam envoyerent des navires dans cette Riviere (Hudson's) pour y faire la traitte." See this quotation in Holmes's Annals, vol. 1, p. 167.

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. 21610.

SEC. VII. the name of the Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the cities of London and Bristol, for the colony or plantation in Newfoundland; from north latitude forty-six to fifty-two degrees, together with the seas and islands lying with- in ten leagues of the coast. The proprietors soon after, in the same year, sent the before mentioned Mr. Guy, as conductor and governor of a colony of thirty-nine persons, who accompa- nied him to Newfoundland, and began a settlement at Concep- tion bay .* It appears, that this attempt to form a settlement there, did not succeed ; and we are told, that Mr. Guy returned to England again, after residing there for two years, with little advantage. A part of his colony, if not the whole of them, re- turned with him.t

As the shipwreck of Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Som- ers, on the Bermuda islands, in their voyage to Virginia, in the year 1609, had made the colonists acquainted with the produce, pleasantness, and beauty of those islands, whose accounts there- of reached the company in England, they were induced to apply to the king, to obtain an enlargement of their territories, so as to include these islands. Considerable deficiencies, as to their ne- cessary powers in conducting the affairs of the Virginia colony under their then existing charter, appearing to them to require remedy, afforded additional inducement to them to apply for supplemental authority, whereby they might be enabled to reme- dy existing abuses, not only in the government of the colony, but in procuring the means of defraying the charges and ex- penses of supporting it. They accordingly obtained from the king a new patent, called by some writers the third charter of Virginia, bearing date March 12th, 9 Jac. 1, (1611-12.) By this the king gave, granted, and confirmed "to the treasurer and company of adventurers and planters of the city of London, for the first colony in Virginia, and to their heirs and successors forever, all and singular those islands whatsoever, situate and being in any part of the ocean, seas bordering upon the coast of our said first colony of Virginia, and being within 300 leagues of any of the parts heretofore granted to the said trea- surer and company, in our said former letters patent as aforesaid, and being within or between the one-and-fortieth and thirtieth

1612. The third charter of Virginia.

* Holmes's Annals, vol. 1, p. 172.

t Oldmixon's British Empire in America, vol. 1, p. 3. Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. 39, p. 249. Also, see note (I) at the end of this volume.

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degrees of northerly latitude." They were authorized also, to SEC. VII. hold four great and general courts, at the four usual feasts in the 1612. year; and therein to elect and choose members of the council in England, for the said colony, and to nominate and appoint offi- cers, and to make laws and ordinances for the good and welfare of the said plantation. Besides other incidental powers, appa- rently necessary, they authorized the company to establish lotte- ries, in order to raise money for their necessary expenditures .* It appears, however, from the whole purview of this instrument, that it was intended, not as an abrogation, but as a deed of con- firmation of their former charter. Their territories, therefore, were not abridged by it in their enormous extent, but on the sea-board were considerably enlarged. In order to derive their promised utility from the Bermudas, it was not thought neces- sary, it seems, for them to retain those islands, as a part of their territories, for they immediately sold them to another company, who thereupon sent out a colony to settle them.

The French and Dutch, now making some progress in their settlements on the North American continent; the former in Acadie, now called Nova Scotia, and in that part of the United States called the District of Maine; the latter in the State of New York : Sir Thomas Dale, the governor of Virginia, in vir- tue of the claim of the English to the whole northern part of America, by reason of Cabot's prior discovery of it, sent an arm- ed expedition in the year 1613, under captain Samuel Argall, to 1613. break up and destroy those settlements. He did so as to those Captain of the French ; but, as he left no garrison to keep possession of .Argall's expedition the French the places where they had settled, they soon afterwards resumed to break up their former stations. On his return to Virginia, he visited the and Dutch Dutch settlement on the Hudson ; and, on his demanding the settlements possession thereof, the Dutch governor, Hendrick Christizens, Scotia and in Nova incapable of resistance, peaceably submitted himself and his colo- New York. ny to the king of England, and, under him, to the governor of Virginia, consenting to pay a tribute. But in the next year, a new governor from Amsterdam arriving, with a reinforcement, asserted the right of Holland to the country; refused the tribute and acknowledgment stipulated with the English by his prede- cessor, and put himself into a posture of defence. He built a fort on the south end of the island Manhattan, where the city of New York now stands, and held the country many years, under

* See the charter at large, in Hazard's Collections, vol. 1, p. 72,

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SEC. VII. a grant from the States General, by the name of the New Nether- lands .*

1614.

It would be improper to pass over, altogether without notice, the voyage and discoveries made, at this period of time, by captain John Smith, the celebrated founder of Virginia, often be- fore mentioned, in that part of North America subsequently de- nominated New England. It has been before observed, that the superior quality of peltry or fur in all northern climates had giv- en to the northern parts of America much stronger attractions to such Europeans as sought merely the emoluments of traffick in their voyages across the Atlantic, than to those parts which now form the southern states of America. These, indeed, when the hand of agriculture should be applied to them, were capable of rendering the more substantial necessaries of life in much great- er abundance. But commerce always demands immediate pro- fit, and cannot wait for the slow progress of arts and civilization. The whole country was a forest, and agriculture required pa- tience. Hence Canada was amongst the earliest colonies of North America. The fishery on the banks of Newfoundland also presented a still more enticing object. While it produced almost incalculable profits to the enterprizing merchants, it gave nour- ishment to the strength of a maritime nation. These considera- tions were, without doubt, obvious to the strong energetic mind of such a man as Smith. We therefore find him in this year, 1614, in the employment of some English merchants, who had sent him to that part of the American continent then called North Virginia, with two ships under his command, for the triple purpose of fishing on the coast, of searching for mines of gold and copper, and for trafficking with the natives for furs. Leav- ing the Downs on the third of March, he arrived on the last of April at the island of Monchigon in latitude forty-three degrees four minutes. After building some fishing-boats, he, in one of them, with eight men, while the rest were employed in fishing, ranged the coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod, and bartered with the natives for beaver and other furs. He got for trifles near eleven thousand beaver-skins, one hundred martins, and as many others, within the distance of twenty leagues. With these furs, train-oil, and cod-fish, he returned to England, without forming any settlement in the country, having made his voyage out and

* Holmes's Annals, vol. 1, p. 162, 179. Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. 1, p. 57.

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home in about six months, and acquired about £1500 sterling for SEC. VII. his principals in the commodities he brought to them. From the 1614. observations made by him on this coast during his voyage, he formed a map of it, and presented it to Prince Charles, the same who was afterwards king Charles the first. The Prince appears to have derived some amusement from changing the old Indian names of places into those familiar in England, so as to justify the denomination, which, either he or Smith, or both conjointly, thought it proper to affix to the country, calling it New England. In the succeeding year, 1615, this enterprising man was fitted

out again with two vessels, and a small colony "of sixteen men" only, to make a settlement there; but he was so unfortunate as to be captured by pirates, and his plausible schemes proved abor- tive .* His preceding and subsequent account thereof appears, however, to have contributed much to raise the reputation of the country, and to induce adventurers thither for fishery and traffick ; but none for settlement ; until accident, in the year 1620, caused a colony to settle within its limits; the causes of which we now proceed to develope in the following section.

* Smith's Hist. Vig. vol. ii. p. 175, 205, edit. 5, of 1819.

VOL. I .- 25

SECTION VIII.

Reasons for the following digression-Rise of the reformation-Its progress through the continent of Europe-Its introduction into England-The origin of the Puritans-Divisions among the Puritans-State of religious parties in England, on James I's accession-The independents emigrate to Holland- Their distressing situation there-They form the design of removing to Ame- rica-Negociate with the Virginia Company for that purpose-Dissensions in the Virginia Company occasion delay-They embark for America, and settle at Plymouth, in Massachusetts.

SECT. VIII. It is a common remark throughout the United States of Ame- rica, that most of these states were originally colonized by means Reasons for the fol- gression. of religious persecution, which the first settlers of them expe- lowing di- rienced in their mother country ; and the provinces of New England, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, are generally cited as instances thereof. But when we recur to the records of history, at the period of time when the colonies of New England and Maryland were first settled,* and find that the mother country was then a scene of the most tumultuous contest between three principal sects of the christian religion, the established church of England, the Roman Catholics, and the Puritans,f a contest, not indeed for the supreme power merely, but each for its own existence ; and find also, that at the close of the scene the es- tablished church gave many instances of her moderation, not ex- hibited by either of the others when in power, we are compelled, if not entirely to excuse, at least to make much allowance for her conduct in the causes of those first emigrations. The reign of queen Mary abundantly demonstrated that the English Ro- man Catholics would tolerate neither the church of England nor the Puritans. And the conduct of the Puritans, in their turn, at the helm of power, will equally convince us, that neither church

* The colony of Vrginia, the only English colony prior to those last above mentioned, unquestionably originated from the Spanish views of gold and silver mines, as well as from a desire to find out a short passage to the East Indies, and not from religious motives.

t The appellation of "Puritans," included, during Elizabeth's reign, the Pres- byterians, as well as the Brownists, the latter of whom were afterwards called Independents.

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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

nor Catholics were to expect toleration from them .* Nay in- deed, these Puritans, when at the height of their power, and the sceptre of England was wielded by the hypocrital Cromwell, had their agents of persecution, even in the infant colony of Maryland. Among the "Acts and orders of a general assem- bly, holden at Patuxent (Maryland) the 20th of October, 1654, by commission from his highness the lord protector," &c. is an act, entitled, "An Act concerning religion," whereby, "it was enacted and declared, That none, who professed and exercised the Popish (commonly called the Roman Catholic) religion, could be protected in this province, by the laws of England, for- merly established, and yet unrepealed : nor by the government of the commonwealth of England, &c. but to be restrained from the exercise thereof, &c. That such as profess faith in God by Jesus Christ, though differing in judgment from the doctrine, worship, or discipline publicly held forth, t should not be restrain- ed from, but protected in, the profession of the faith and exer- cise of their religion ; so as they abused not this liberty, to the injury of others, disturbance of the peace, &c. Provided such liberty was not extended to popery or prelacy, nor to such, as under the profession of Christ, held forth and practised licen- tiousness." The reader will easily see through the flimsy veil of this insidious proviso. As prelacy is synonymous to epis- copacy, and the church of England could not exist without the government of its bishops, it is very fairly to be supposed, that it was meant thereby to exclude that church also, as well as the Catholics, from the exercise of their religion in this province. But be that as it may, the crime of "licentiousness" was cer- tainly so indefinite as to leave ample occasion for unlimited per- secution ; and a slight perusal of the early part of the history of Massachusetts, will furnish numerous instances of the wild judicial constructions put by these fanatics on similar legislative expressions.

Thus then, as the causes of the colonization of New England and Maryland, which are nearly coeval, appear not to be clearly

* By an ordinance of the 23d of August, 1645, imprisonment for a year, on the third offence, and pecuniary penalties on the former two, were inflicted, in case of using the Book of Common Prayer, not only in a place of public wor- ship, but also in any private family. Se 4 Pl. Com. 53.

t This meant, without doubt, the doctrine and discipline of the Independents, forming at that time in England, under Oliver, what might be called, the esta- blished religion or church.

# See Bacon's edition of the Laws of Maryland, 1654, ch. 4.

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SECT. VIII. understood, in the United States, or if so, not generally acknow- ledged, it is here hoped, that it will afford some apology for leading the reader, in a very cursory manner, through the scenes of re- ligious transactions in England, attending the progress of the reformation, and the consequent struggle, between the three great religious sects before mentioned, for that earthly political crown, which was to bring the others as humble vassals at the victor's feet.

1517. When Pope Leo X. in the beginning of the sixteenth centu- Rise of the ry, by his profuse liberality in the patronage and encouragement reforma- tion. of the arts and sciences, in the collection and publication of val- uable and scarce books, and also in the completion of that su- perb edifice at Rome, St. Peter's church, but more especially by his inordinate ambition to aggrandize his family, the house of Medici, of Florence, had exhausted the revenues of the church, he was constrained to adopt such devices as suggested them- selves to him, to replenish the coffers of the holy see. As the christian religion, in its then organized state, acknowledged, and in the consent of a large majority of that religion* still ac- knowledges the papal power, of granting a pardon and remis- sion of all sins, Leo was naturally induced, through his phi- losophic and unbelieving mind, to yield to the superstition of his flock. He, therefore, in the year 1517, published all over Eu- rope general indulgences in favour of such as would contribute sums of money for the building of St. Peter's church, and at the same time appointed two persons in each country to recommend those indulgences by preaching, and to receive the money for them. As religious indulgences are founded on the infinite treasure of the merits of Jesus, the holy virgin, and all the saints, which it is supposed Christ's vicar upon earth has a right of distributing, by virtue of the communion of saints, it must be allowed, that Leo fell upon a most apt, though not a novel mode, of recruiting the treasures of the apostolic chamber, of Rome. But an unfortunate incident in the mode of collecting this revenue, brought such a storm upon the church, as to shake the proud fabric to its basis. The person appointed by the pope for this purpose, in the northern part of Germany, particularly in Saxony, was Albert, archbishop of Magdeburg and Mentz.

* " Three-fourths of Europe consist at this moment (1805) of christians pro- fessing the Roman Catholic religion." Mr. Fox's speech in the house of com- mons, on the Catholic petition, May 13th, 1805.

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1517.

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

That prelate, either by his own authority, or by order of the pope, bestowed the commission for distributing these indulgences on the order of Dominican friars, instead of that of the Augus- tine friars, as had been usual, and, as it seems, in consonance to the convention which had been made among the four orders of mendicants. This preference sorely vexed the Augustine friars, who considered the neglect as a contempt upon their or- der ; perhaps also, at the same time regretting to see themselvs frustrated of the share they might have had of the money. These indulgences certainly appear to the eye of reason, how- ever long they may have been sanctioned by christian usage and practice, as totally repugnant to those moral principles, adopted by the common consent of all mankind, in all ages, as the best ligaments of human society .* In this point of view the Augus- tines did not omit to place them ; and the Dominicans, by their indiscreet conduct in relation to them, gave their enemies ample room to exercise their envious and malignant passions. Offices were every where set up, even in taverns, where the collectors consumed in riot and debauchery a great part of the profits pro- duced from this traffic of the sacred treasures of the church. John Stulpitz, or Staupitz, vicar general of the Augustines in Germany, being supported by the elector of Saxony, who had a particular regard for him, was the first who openly attacked the sermons of the Dominicans, and the abuses which were com- mitted in the distribution of the indulgences. The better to promote his opposition, he selected for his colleague and assist- ant Martin Luther, a preacher of the same order of Augustine friars, and a doctor of Wittenberg, whose name has since been so well known in the world. As he was a man of an ardent, zealous, and enterprizing temper, and possessed considerable talents for both writing and eloquence, and remained safe also from the thunder of the Vatican, under the protection of the elector of Saxony, his doctrines soon gained numbers of prose- lytes throughout all Germany, and indeed set all Europe in a blaze of zeal for reforming the abuses of the church. In addi- tion to this, it may be observed, that the minds of the people of Europe had been already, in some measure, prepared for the oc- casion, by that diffusion of ancient literature, particularly the Platonic philosophy, which resulted from the invention of print- ing. The combustible material had been collected. It only re-

* See note (K) at the end of the volume.

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SECT. VIII. 1517. Its pro- gress thro' the conti- nent of Europe.

quired the intrepidity of such a man as Luther to apply the spark .- From such sources originated that great event so well known in history under the name of the reformation .*

1521.

Minor reformers soon sprung up in numbers, sketching out different schemes of reformation, in such different shades of opi- nion as best suited their fancy. In Switzerland, Zuinglius de- clared himself an advocate for the doctrine of Luther, and imi- tating his conduct, declaimed warmly against the person who was appointed to publish the indulgences in that country. Sub- sequently, however, differing in opinion from Luther, on the doctrine of the Eucharist, he became the founder of the sect in Switzerland called Sacramentists. t The Anabaptists also, in Germany, grew out of Luther's heresy; though he took pains to disown them, and to have them repressed. They boasted of immediate revelations to themselves, and taught that men ought to regulate their conduct by the visionary precepts which they supposed inspiration might dictate. They destroyed all the books that happened in their way, but the bible. They despised not only ecclesiastical but civil laws ; and held that all government was noting but usurpation. They were for having all things in common, and for every man's being free and independent, and promised themselves a happy empire, in which they would reign alone, after having extirpated all the wicked. Encouraged by this doctrine, the peasants and boors throughout Germany rose up in arms, and threatened destruction to every government. In private life they were not less wild and dangerous. One of their leaders in Switzerland, in the presence of his father and mother, cut off his brother's head with a sword, assigning to them as a reason for it, that he was commanded by God to do so. Two of their principal leaders, natives of Holland, John Mat- thias, who had been a baker at Haerlem, and John Boccold, or Beukels, a journeyman taylor of Leyden, aided by their follow- ers, took forcible possession of the city of Munster, in West- phalia. Matthias, assuming the power of a prophet, governed the city, until he was killed in a sally by the bishop of Munster's troops, who besieged it. He was succeeded by Boccold, who, in imitation of king David, danced naked through the streets, and caused himself to be crowned king of Sion. He ordered

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The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 22

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823 Publication date: 1837 Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver Number of Pages: 1062

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823
Publication date: 1837
Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver
Number of Pages: 1062