The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 33

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 33

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

286

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

Williamson states it, on the map inserted in Keith's Hist. of Virginia, dated in 1738.) "The second inlet, to the westward (south westward) of the cape, was called Occam; and there was a third inlet, a few miles to the eastward (north eastward) of the present Ocracock, that was called Wokoken." From this it might be inferred, that the islands called by the natives, Wokoken, was adjacent - to the inlet so called. This corresponds with Mr. Stith's supposition, (as stated by Mr. Burk in his Hist. of Virginia, vol. 1, p. 46,)-"that the island Wococon must lie between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear, and that the distance from thence to Roanoke island might be thirty leagues." Could we place perfect confidence in what is stated by Mr. Williamson, with respect to the "third inlet called Wokoken ;" it would be almost decisive as to the location of the island so called, for the inference, that the island was adjacent to the inlet, is too strong to be resisted. It would appear also from Mr. Williamson's statement, that the section of the bank which lay between Wokoken inlet and the present Ocracock inlet, was the island called Wokoken, and was (as he says) "about twenty miles long." The section of the bank, which lay between Wokoken and Occam inlets, he adds, " was called Croatoan." Burk, in his History, (ibid.) states, on the authority of Mr. Heriot, (one of the voyagers, ) that this island, called Wokoken, was fifteen miles in length and six in breadth." But it may be suspected, that Burk here misunderstood what Heriot meant of Roanoke island, and applied to Wokoken ; for, according to the best American geographers, (Morse and others,) the great sand-beach, which separates Pamptico sound from the ocean, "is scarcely a mile wide ;" and Wokoken island must have formed a part of this beach. Although this sand-beach, from Mr. Williamson's account before stated, appears to be frequently changing its forms and dimensions from the breaches of the sea, yet it is not probable, that, even since the visit of Amidas and Barlow, it has diminished five miles in breadth. It is true, that the distance from the pre- sent Ocracock inlet to Roanoke island, (according to measurement upon some modern maps of North Carolina,) is full sixty miles, and Wocoken inlet being, as before stated, but a " few miles" to the eastward of Ocracock inlet, the dis- tance from either inlet would be nearly the same, or " thirty leagues" as suppos- ed by Stith; and it seems to be stated also, in Barlow's letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, preserved by Hakluyt, (according to Burk's Hist. of Virginia, ) that the distance " from the harbour by which they entered," was "seven leagues ;" a little more than one-third of the distance just mentioned. But it ought to be remembered, that most commonly the computation of leagues or miles by tran- sient voyagers must, in the nature of things, be but loose estimation, and there- fore liable to great uncertainty. The reckoning of their longitude by the log is so inaccurate as scarcely to deserve notice, and nothing can keep them right in their latitude but a daily observation. It is highly probable, that in this in- stance, after entering into Pamptico sound, through one of the before mentioned inlets, they advanced up it a considerable way to the northward before the boat was dispatched to Roanoke island, and they might therefore be induced to compute the distance from one of the inlets to the island much shorter than it really was. This supposition is strongly supported by the manner in which Keith, in his Hist. of Virginia, (p. 39,) has stated this fact .- "Eight of the company, in a boat, went up the river Occam, (one of the inlets into Pamptico sound as before mentioned, but generally supposed to mean the sound itself,) twenty miles ; and next day in the evening they came to an island called Roan- oke, which was about seven leagues from the place where their ships lay." It is possible then, that their ships might have advanced up Pamptico sound, and came to anchor in about "seven leagues" or twenty miles distant from Roanoke island. It seems also, that Barlow's letter, before mentioned, was translated from the original English into Latin, and might be either erroneously translated

287

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

or misconstrued. Upon the whole, therefore, it may be fairly concluded, that the island, called Wokoken, where Amidas and Barlow first landed, was a par of the great sand-beach, now called Core-bank, lying to the south-westward of Cape Hatteras, and the river, where they anchored, was one of the three inlets- Occam, Wokoken, or Ocracock, which let into Pamptico sound from the sea south-west of Cape Hatteras.

NOTE (H) p. 92.

It is not unworthy of notice, that king James had, in a few years after this pe- riod, (between the years 1608 and 1612) another opportunity of exercising his ta- lents for the arts of peace, in planting English colonies in the province of Ulster in Ireland, upon those extensive demesnes forfeited by the rebellion and flight of the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel. Similar attempts had been made in the reign of his predecessor Elizabeth, on the forfeiture of the estate of the earl of Desmond in Munster ; but, as Leland observes, " In those plantations the Irish and English had been mixed together, from a fond imagination, that the one would have learned civility and industry from the other. But experience had now discovered, that by this intercourse, the Irish learned only to envy the su- perior comforts of their English neighbours, and to take the advantage of a free access to their houses, to steal their goods and plot against their lives. It was, therefore, now deemed necessary to plant them in separate quarters." From this passage of the Irish historian, (who was partial enough to his own countrymen, ) as well as from his whole work, it would seem, that the aboriginal Irish were, at this period of time, very little, if any, more civilized than the Indians of Ameri- ca, at the time of the first settlement of Virginia. The English colonists had, there- fore, nearly the same difficulties to encounter in the one country as in the other. This historian, on this occasion, gives honourable testimony in favour of the plans and designs of James, and further observes, that "Ireland must gratefully acknowledge, that here were the first foundations laid of its affluence and se- curity." See Leland's Hist. of Ireland, Vol. 2, p. 430, 431 ; and Hume's Hist. of England, at the end of ch. 46, in the reign of James I.

NOTE (I) p. 190.

The principal use of the notice we have taken of this abortive attempt to set- tle a colony in Newfoundland, is to show a probable chain of connection between this and a subsequent attempt made by the lord Baltimore, afterwards the pro- prietary of that province of Maryland, to make a settlement on that island, in a province there, which was granted to him under the name of Avalon. Notwith- standing the partiality which king James evidently had for the English Catho- lics, yet a very great majority of the nation being Protestants of one description or another, he was obliged to give way to the inclinations of that majority. Hence the penal laws against Papists, though against his wishes, were rigidly enforced throughout the kingdom. A few great men, however, by temporising and professing themselves of the Church of England, though really Catholics, were received at court by James with great cordiality. Among these was Henry Howard, earl of Northampton, one of the patentees of the grant here referred to. An additional cause also operated on the mind of James, which was the attach- ment which had been manifested by the Howard family to his mother, Mary, queen of Scots. This Henry Howard was the younger brother of Thomas How- ard, fourth duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded in the reign of Elizabeth, for holding a treasonable correspondence with the queen of Scots. " Alas !" said Mary, when she was told of his death, "what have the noble house of the How- ards suffered on my account !" James entered into all these feelings. He had scarcely arrived in London, on his first accession to the throne, before he resto-

288

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

red to the family their lost honours, and created Henry earl of Northampton, who in compliance to James, professed himself a Protestant. The main branch of the family, however, that is, Thomas Howard's son, and grandson, and their descend- ants, continued Catholics until about the middle of George the third's reign. Henry made use of his favour with James, on all occasions, to befriend the Pa- pists. Being warden of the Cinque Ports, he connived at the entrance of the jesuits and Romish priests into the kingdom, though he thought it proper to in- stitute his suit of scandalum magnatum, in the star chamber, against some per- sons who happened to talk of this. Rapin says, that the truth of the report was proved by a letter under the earl's own hand to cardinal Bellarmine, which the archbishop of Canterbury (George Abbott, who was so opposed to popery that he was called a puritan,) produced on the trial, and that upon this letter the par- ties accused were discharged, but in the report of the case by Moore, (see Moore's Rep. 821,) it is said, they were grievously fined. In a little more than a year afterwards the earl died, on the 15th of June, 1614 : and, what corroborated the truth of the charges against him, he declared in his last will and testament, that he had always been a Catholic, and would die in that religion. Hypocrisy being most commonly the mother of every vice, it is almost unnecessary to add, that historians have drawn his character in the most odious colours. It is very cer- tain, that he was deeply concerned with his niece in the poisoning of Sir Thom- as Overbury, in order to facilitate her marriage with Carr, the king's favourite.

Viewing this man's character, and the situation of the Papists at this period of time, we are unavoidably led to connect his intentions in sending out this colony to Newfoundland, with those of Sir George Calvert, in about eleven years after- wards, whose motives were honestly and openly professed to be, that of forming an asylum for the Catholics. What inducements operated with lord Bacon, Mr. Justice Doddridge, lord chief baron Tanfield, and others of the patentees less known, we are not informed ; and are therefore to attribute to them the laudable motive of pursuing the public good, though perhaps blended with the prospect of private emolument. See Rapin's Hist. of England, Vol. 8, p. 8, 99, 101, 104, 131. Hume's Hist. Vol. 4, p. 247.

NOTE (K) p. 197.

Although the observations of Doctor Russell on indulgences, (in his History of Modern Europe, letter 55,) are here acceded to, yet it is not thereby meant to approve of his hypercriticism on what Mr. Hume has said on the same subject, in Note (A) to chap. 29, of his Hist. of England. Mr. Hume was endeavouring to show, that "the sale of indulgences was no more criminal than another cheat of the church of Rome, or of any other church ;" which led him to remark, that " after all these indulgences were promulgated, there still remained (besides hell fire,) the punishment by the civil magistrate, the infamy of the world," (which last sanction, a very powerful one, is, by the by, omitted by Doctor Russell in his quotation,) " and secret remorses of conscience which are the great motives that operate on mankind." On which the Doctor has thought it proper to bestow the following extraordinary language : "Now the first of these assertions " (by which the Doctor can mean nothing else than the existence of hell fire,) " is lit- erally false ; for the very words of an indulgence bore, that it restored the person to whom it was granted to that innocence and purity which he possessed at bap- tism ; and according to the doctrine of the Romish church, the infant is then fit for heaven. But the indulgence did not stop here ; it concluded thus : "so that when you die, the gates of punishment shall be shut, and the gates of the para- dise of delight shall be opened." Notwithstanding Mr. Hume might have been here guilty of a small oversight, in not attending to the operation of an indul- gence, in exempting the sinner from hell-fire-a circumstance, on which he

289

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

appears to lay very little stress, and that too probably, only in compliment to the believers in christianity, relying upon the other " great motives" to morality which he mentions, yet he evidently means here only to check the exuberant de- clamation of "protestant writers," upon the effects of indulgences. Pronouncing the sale of indulgences to be a "cheat," like other pious frauds committed by other churches as well as the Romish, he cannot fairly be said to be arguing in their favour. It must be acknowleged by those who suffer themselves to reason on such subjects, that the unbounded confidence, which is taught by modern fanatics to be placed in the efficiency of faith, in preference to good works, in ob- taining salvation, has much the same pernicious effect on the moral conduct of human society, as the actual grant of indulgences by the supreme pontiff of Rome.

NOTE (L) p. 199.

There is not, perhaps, any sect of the original reformers, which has admitted of a greater number of subdivisions, than that of the Anabaptists. The doctrine of the baptism of adults, being somewhat more consistent with reason, than that of infants, it seems to have been greedily adopted by many of the first reformers. With this principle as a foundation, they frequently connected the most ridicu- lous and absurd tenets ; still retaining, however, the name of Anabaptists. Sev- eral of them attempted, in the year 1535, at Amsterdam, to revive the doctrine of the Adamites, a christian sect of the second century, whose principal tenet was to strip themselves naked during their religious ceremonies. These Anabaptists exceeded the Adamites, for they paraded the streets start naked, both men and women. Another schism happened among the Anabaptists, about the same time, at Haerlem, in Holland. It owed its original, to the liberty which a young man there took, of putting his hand into the bosom of a young woman whom he loved, and had a mind to marry. This touch of her breast, came to the knowledge of their church ; and thereupon they consulted what punishment the delinquent ought to suffer. Some maintained he ought to be excommunicated ; others said, that his fault deserved favour, and would never consent to his excommunication. The dispute grew to such a height, that it caused a total rupture between the two parties. Those who declared for indulgence to the young man, were called Mamillarians, from Mamilla, breasts. (See Bayle's Hist. Dict. Artic. Adamites, Mamillarians, and Picards.) A more inoffensive party of them, however, was formed about the same time, in Holland, by one of their principal chiefs, whose name was Mennon, from whom they took the name of Mennonites, and subsist to this day as a distinct sect, both in Europe and America. "Contrary to the mu- tinous and sanguinary principles of the original Anabaptists, they became alto- gether innocent and pacific. Holding it unlawful to wage war, or to accept of civil offices, they devote themselves entirely to the duties of private citizens; and by their industry and charity, endeavour to make reparation to human society, for the violence committed by their founders. A small number of this sect, which is settled in England, retains its peculiar tenets concerning baptism, but without any dangerous mixture of enthusiasm." ( Robertson's Hist. of Cha. V. book 5th.) They hold the principle also, of refusing oaths ; (Proud's Hist. of Pennsylv. Vol. 2, p. 342;) which is probably what is meant by Robertson, in their refusing to accept of civil offices. A very early instance, in regard to them, occurs : about the time of the first revolt of the Dutch provinces from Spain, when only the two provinces of Zealand and Holland had become independent, the magistrates of the city of Middleburg, in Zealand, had prohibited the Menists, as they were then called, from carrying on trade, and had caused their shops to be shut up, because they refused to take the usual oaths to the state. The prince of Orange, who still retained his power, as governor of Zealand and Holland,

VOL. I .- 37

290

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

after an admonitory letter to the magistrates, dated January 26th, 1577, issued express orders to them, not to molest the Menists on account of their refusing the oaths. See these letters and orders in a book published by the Quakers, when they applied to Charles II. of England, for the like liberty, in the year 1675, entitled " The Case of the people called Quakers, relating to oaths." The Me- nonists emigrated to Pennsylvania, where their principal settlement in America is, as early as the year 1698, some in 1706, 1709, and 1711, but most of them in 1717 ; when, in a very extraordinary manner as it appears, the Quakers of that province, notwithstanding the similarity of their tenants, expressed great unea- siness at their coming there. See Proud's Hist. of Pennsylvania, vol. 2, p. 100. Acts of assembly in Maryland, provide for the indulgence of them in refusing oaths, putting their affirmation upon the same footing as that of the Quakers; but it is doubtful whether any of them settled in that state. Lancaster, the place of their principal residence, being in the neighbourhood of Maryland, it is possible that their frequent intercourse in that state, might have occasioned a legislative provision in their favour.

The Anabaptists, properly so called, are numerous in almost every state in the union. They are said to be "chiefly upon the Calvinistic plan as to doctrines, and independents in regard to church government. Morse's Geography, artic. Pennsylvania. If we could place any confidence in an allegation made in a law of Massachusetts against them, in the year 1644, which must have been shortly after their first emigration to America, to wit : that " they denied the lawfulness of magistrates," it would seem, that they had not then relinquished all their dan- gerous tenets. But this allegation might have been made merely to cover the persecution against them. See the law in Hazard's Collection, vol. 1, p. 538.

NOTE (M) p. 202.

The reader, it is hoped, will not be displeased with the insertion here of a de- scription of the execution of Servetus, extracted from a MS. history of him, cited in a note on the same subject in Roscoe's Pontificate of Leo X. ch. 19. " Impo- situs est Servetus trunco ad terram posito, pedibus ad terram pertingentibus, capiti imposita est corona, straminea vel frondea, et ea sulphure conspersa, corpus palo alligatum ferrea catena, collum autem tunc fune crasso quadruplici aut quintuplici laxo ; liber femori alligatus ; ipse carnificem rogavit, ne se diu tor- queret. Interea carnifex ignem in ejus conspectum, et deinde in orbem admo- vit. Homo, viso igne, ita horrendum exclamavit ut universum populum perter- re fecerit. Cum diu langueret, fuerunt ex populo, qui fasciculos confertim con- jecerunt. Ipse horrenda voce clamans, Jesu, Fili Dei Eterni, miserere mei. Post dimidiæ circiter hora cruciatum expiravit." On this Roscoe remarks, that Cal- vin, who was apprehensive that the death of Servetus might entitle him to the rank of a martyr, thought it necessary to defame his memory, by asserting that he had no religion; and inhumanly attributed the natural expression of his feel- ings, on the approach of his horrible fate, to what he calls a brutal stupidity. "Ceterum ne male feriati inebulones, vecordi hominis pervicacia quasi martyris glorientur, in ejus morte apparuit belluina stupiditas, unde judicium facere lice- ret, nihil unquam serio in religionem ipsum egisse. Ex quo mors ei denunciata est, nunc attonito similis hærere, nunc alta suspiria edere, nunc instar lympha- tici ejulare, Quod postremum tandem sic invaluit, ut tantum, hispanico more, re-

boaret, Misericordia, Misericordia." Calvini Opus. p. 101 .- Was not this making a cruel scoff at the sufferings of this unfortunate man? And are we not as much surprised at the opinion expressed on Servetus's execution by a celebra- ted cotemporary reformer-Melancthon ? « Miratus sum esse qui severitatem illam improbent."-But we find the principle of these intolerant sentiments re- corded in Calvin's "Christian Institution "-"Si penes singulos jus et arbitrium

291

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

erit judicandi nihil unquam certi constitui poterit, quin potius pota vicillabit reli- gio." Calv. Inst. lib. 4, p. 10. sec. 31 .- But we are told, that the followers of these reformers have left off these things, particularly in America; and that the excellent constitution of the United States gives unbounded freedom in matters of religion .- Vain deception !- The constitution of the United States, it is true, pro- vides, in one of its amendments, that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."-It is possi- ble, that instances may occur, where this amendment to the constitution may be of some use ; as appears from two recent cases in the late session (in 1810-11,) where the president thought it proper to interpose his disapprobation of two bills deemed by him unconstitutional under this clause. But as congress seldom have occasion to legislate on subjects of religion, the oppression of individuals in the enjoyment of their religious as well as civil rights, is most generally to be ap- prehended from the state governments. In most of the states the penalties of the common law, in matters of religion, still subsist. The bloody statutes also, of some of them, only sleep. Not being repealed they are liable to be called up into action at any moment when either superstition or fanaticism shall perceive a con- venient time for it. What Jew, Socinian, or Deist, possessing a sound mind, would venture, in the state of Maryland for instance, to open his lips even in de- fence of his own religion ?- Alas! (as Roscoe observes on this subject,) " The human mind, a slave in all ages, has rather changed its master, than freed itself from its servitude."

NOTE (N) p. 208.

In Tindal's edition of Rapin's Hist. of Engl. (vol. 7. p. 528,) it is suggested, that " the severities, which from this time " (to wit, that of making the statute of 35 Eliz. ch. 1.) " began to be exercised in England upon the nonconformists, were probably occasioned by the disturbances caused by Hacket and some other enthusiasts." This William Hacket, (according to the account of him given by Bayle, in his Hist. Dict. art. Hacket, which account seems to have been extracted principally from Camden's Annals,) was originally a servant to one Mr. Hussey in Northamptonshire. It was a practice with him to attend the sermons of the Puritan ministers, for the purpose of repeating them again to his acquaintance, and though illiterate, yet having a most retentive memory, he would over his cups with his companions, amuse them with a mock recital of their sermons. Being much addicted to drunkenness and debauchery, to support his expenses in that way he turned a highwayman. At last he set up for a prophet, and prophesied famine, pestilence, and war to England, unless it established the consistorial (or Calvinistic) discipline. He began to prophesy at York and Lincon, for which, it seems, he was publicly whipped; probably on a prosecution against him at common law, as an impostor in religion ; (for which see 1 Hawk. ch. 5, sect. 3.) Having a wonderful fluency in extemporary prayer, he made the people believe, that it proceeded from an extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost. He pretended to have a very great confidence in these prayers, for he said, that if all England should pray for rain, and he should pray to the contrary, it would not rain. He had the address to pursuade two persons of some learning, Edmund Coppinger and Henry Arthington, to join him. Coppinger assumed the title of the prophet of mercy, and Arthington that of the prophet of judgment. They gave out, that they had an extraordinary mission, and that next to Jesus Christ none upon earth had greater power than William Hacket. They declared that he was the sole monarch of Europe. They would have proceeded to the ceremony of unction, but he would not suffer them, being already anointed, he said, by the Holy Ghost, in heaven. They asked him at last, what he had to command them, and protest- ed that they would pay an obedience without reserve. He ordered them to go

292

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

and proclaim through all the streets of London, that Jesus Christ was come to judge the world. They immediately obeyed him. They drew together, by their bawling, such a concourse of people, that being come to Cheapside, they could go no further, nor be heard ; but finding an empty cart, they mounted upon it and discoursed of the important mission of William Hacket. They said, that he par- took of the nature of glorified bodies, and was to convert all Europe to the con- sistorial discipline ; and that the power of judgment was committed to him. They prophesied, that all who refused to obey this king of all Europe, should kill one another, and that the queen should be dethroned .- Having thus, as faithful mission- aries, propagated the doctrines of their lord and master, they returned to the inn where he lodged. As soon as Arthington approached his presence, he turned round to the people, who had followed them, and cried out, "Behold the king of the earth !" They were afterwards arrested, prosecuted, and tried for high trea- son ; (it being plainly within the statute of 13 Eliz. ch. 1, at that time in force ; see 1 Hale's Hist. Pl. Cr. 319.) When they were on their trial, they refused to take their hats off before the judges, saying, they were above the magistrates. Hacket also, at the same time, expressed to the judges the most virulent invec- tives against the queen, and added that his design was to rob her of her crown and life, and change the whole form of the government. Hacket was executed in pursuance of his sentence, which was, to be hanged and quartered. Coppington starved himself to death in prison; and Arthington was pardoned. These dis- turbances in the streets of London occurred, (according to Bayle, as before cited, ) on the sixteenth of July, 1592, which was about six months prior to the making the statute of 35 Eliz. ch. 1 .- It must be acknowledged, that these scenes too strongly indicated a renovation in England of the then recent excesses of the An- abaptists at Munster. When religion will thus forcibly mingle itself with the po- litical proceedings of the government, reason pronounces the necessity of apply- ing some curb to it. The happiness of the people, the supreme law, in such case demands it.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 33

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