The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 44

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 44

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The petitioners then propose in their petition to pay to his majesty the annual sum of £100, viz: £50 for the isle of Kent, and £50 for the said plantation in the Susquehanock's country ; to have there twelve leagues of land on each side of the river, extending from the mouth to the head of the said river, and "to the grand lake of Canada;" to be governed according to the laws of England, with such privileges, as his majesty should please to grant.

The petition then prays his majesty, to grant a confirmation of his former commission and letter, before mentioned, for the quiet enjoyment of their said plantations ; and to refer the examina- tion of their wrongs and injuries to such persons as his majesty should think fit.

The petitioners appear to have succeeded so far, that their proposals were approved by his majesty in council ; that he con- firmed (verbally, as it would appear, whilst sitting in council,) "what was contained in his former commission and letter under the broad seal ;" and that a reference was made to the commis- sioners for plantations, to prepare a grant agreeably thereto for the king's signature, and to examine the wrongs complained of.}

We may stop here just to remark, that had Clayborne and his partners been so fortunate as to have obtained the grant they now prayed for, (to wit, twelve leagues or thirty-six miles on each side of the Susquehanah to "the grand lake of Canada," which we may suppose to have been lake Ontario,) his province would not only have been thrown into an absurd serpentine form, but would have thwarted the general plan manifestly intended in all the first grants of the British colonies, to wit, of giving them

* Afterwards called Palmer's island.

+ See this petition and the proceedings of the council thereon, at large in note (X.) at the end of this volume.

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

a certain breadth on the sea-board, and extending them in pa- CHAP. I. rallelogram across the continent to the Pacific ocean. William Penn's inheritance would have been anticipated, or spoiled ; and 1638. a large portion of the Dutch province of New Netherlands lop- ped off ; though, possibly, some small national benefit might have arisen from a participation in the northern fur trade. This consideration seems to have been artfully introduced by Clay- borne, as a lure or bait to catch the cravings of the needy mo- narch. The colonization of Canada demonstrates, that the im- mediate profits arising from a commerce in peltry and fur are stronger incentives to a speedy settlement of colonists in an un- cultived wilderness, than the slow but more certain and perma- nent benefits accruing to the mother country from populous and well cultivated colonies. Lord Baltimore's motives were pure- ly political and religious ; Clayborne's were founded on private self-interest, though plausibly holding out at the same time the possibility of immediate commercial advantages to the nation or its monarch. But these advantages must necessarily have van- ished with the increasing population of the country, as the events of the present day have demonstrated.

The apparently sudden resolution of the king in council, on the foregoing petition, is not easily to be accounted for at this day. It may be inferred, that Clayborne had some powerful friends near the person of the king ; and from the facts advanced by a learned annalist,* it would appear that the king's secretary for Scotland, Sir William Alexander, who was then or had lately been interested in the establishment of a colony in Nova Scotia, under the hope of promoting a beneficial traffic between that country and Virginia, had taken Clayborne under his patronage. Some repugnancy or contradiction in the dates of the several documents, relative to this petition of Clayborne, throw an ob- scurity also over the whole transaction. The learned annalist, just mentioned, has furnished us with a copy of the decision of the lords commissioners of the council, to whom, as he says, "this tedious controversy was referred," and "after hearing all parties," they made their adjudication "in April, 1639."+ But, from the copy of this state paper, now extant on the Maryland Records, corroborated by numerous other documents, which re-

* See Chalmers's Annals, ch. iv. and ch. ix.

t The copy of this decision, which Mr. Chalmers has given us, (in his An- nals, ch. ix. note 25,) purports to have been taken by him,-" From Maryland Papers, vol. 1, bundle C." in the Plantation Office, England.

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

CHAP. I. cognize and refer to the decision of the council, we are induced 1638. to adhere to the date, which they have annexed to it, and that the lords commissioners made their final adjudication within a little more than a month after the reference to them, as before mentioned, on the fourth of April, 1638. The substance of their adjudication was,-"that the lands in question absolutely belonged to lord Baltimore, and that no plantation, or trade with the Indians, ought to be allowed, within the limits of his pa- tent, without his permission, that with regard to the violences complained of, no cause for any relief appeared, but that both parties should be left to the ordinary course of justice."*

Within a few months after this decision of the lords commis- sioners, but, as we may fairly conjecture from circumstances, be- fore the lords commissioners had "certified his majesty what they had thought fit to be done," agreeably to the terms of the reference before stated, that is, before his majesty had seen or known their adjudication, Mr. Clayborne, assisted by Sir Wil- liam Alexander, his patron in the business, "partly by misrep- resentation," as the before mentioned annalist observes, pro- cured in July, 1638, a royal order to lord Baltimore, command- ing him to allow Clayborne and his agents or partners, to enjoy their possessions, and be safe in their persons and goods, till the cause referred, as before mentioned, should be decided.t Lord Baltimore, on receiving the order, (as the annalist proceeds to state,) "with an attention which he deemed due to the commands of his prince though founded on misinformation, said : that he would wait on the king, and give him perfect satisfaction."} Subsequent events justify us in supposing, that when the king came to be fully informed of all the circumstances relative to Clayborne's claims and lord Baltimore's rights, the adjudication of the lords commissioners was finally ratified by his majesty, and in the terms of that decision, "both sides were left to the ordinary course of justice."

In virtue of this decision of the lords commissioners, and, most probably, in pursuance of some special order from his ma- jesty to that purpose, the governor of Virginia (Sir John Har- vey,) issued his proclamation, bearing date "the 4th of Octo- ber, Anno Regni Regio Caroli decimo quarto, Annoy. Domi. 1638," expressly for the purpose of prohibiting "all persons inhabiting

* See this State Paper at large, in note (XI.) at the end of this volume.

t See this order or letter in note (XII.) at the end of this volume.

# For this he cites " Virg. Pap. 75 B. p. 147."

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

within Virginia to use any trade or commerce for any kind of CHAP. I. commodity whatsoever with any of the Indians inhabiting with- in the province of Maryland, viz. northward from the river Wi- 1638. conowe, commonly known by the name of Onancock, on the eastern side of the grand bay of Chesapeake, and northward from the river Chinquack called great Wicocomico on the western side of the said bay,* without license from the lord Bal- timore or his substitute, upon forfeiture of their goods and ves- sels, and such imprisonment of the party offending, as should be thought fit by the government and council" of Virginia. }

It would be unnecessary to undertake, at this day, a full jus- tification of the preceding report or decision of the lords com- missioners. It may, however, be again remarked, that Clay- borne's views partook more of private emolument than public good. It is true, that promoting the fur-trade might have been a national benefit. But it is to be remembered, that national prosperity was supposed, at that time, to be much involved in the settlement of colonies. The social feelings of humanity, as well as moral sentiment, seem to urge a strong claim of prefer- ence, where the object is to indulge our fellow-beings in their religious opinions. Clayborne's intentions were mingled with no such sentiments. The settlement of a numerous colony on the frontiers of Virginia, also, was certainly adding to that pro- vince additional security against the hostilities of the savages. If it be true, as asserted, that the settlement of the colony of Maryland cost lord Baltimore, for the two first years only, forty thousand pounds sterling ;¿ it is not probable that Clayborne, with even the assistance of his partners, could have afforded ta expend the necessary requisites for the establishment of an adja-

* From these expressions in this proclamation it may be inferred, that the thirty-eighth degree of latitude was then deemed to cross the eastern shore of Virginia as low down in Accomack county as Onancock creek, or at least that the southern limits of Maryland extended that far south. As to the restriction of the Virginians in their Indian trade on the western side of the bay, within the Chinquack, called great Wicocomico river, it is not .impossible, that, in con- sequence of the expression in the charter of Maryland as to the south bounds thereof, -- " following the Pattowmack on the west and south, unto a certain place called Chinquack, situate near the mouth of the said river"-Pattowmack, the southern limits of that province, at least as to the jurisdiction over the bay of Chesapeake, were deemed to extend to the mouth of the Chinquack. It is pro- ble, that most of the trade with the Indians was at that time carried on by wa- ter, in different parts of the bay and its tributary streams.

t See this proclamation at large in note (XIII.) at the end of this volume. # Chalmers's Annals, ch. ix.

VOL. II .- 10

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

CHAP. I. cent colony, convenient and ready for affording aid to Virginia 1638. on any sudden emergency. Their proposed colonization on the banks of the Susquehanah would have been, at that time, too remote for such a purpose. There appear, even at this day, sufficient reasons for granting the territory in question to lord Baltimore, notwithstanding the previous licenses to traffic, which had been before granted to Clayborne. Indeed, the ques- tion seems to have been, in some measure, decided by the go- vernment of the United States since their independence. Con- gress have regulated by law, the trade and intercourse to be carried on by the citizens of the United States, with the several tribes or nations of Indian natives, resident within that part of the continent of America, which the United States claim as their territories. They have enacted, that no person shall trade with the Indians, without special license obtained from the government of the United States for that purpose .* This is, without doubt, founded on good policy ; it tends to prevent individual citizens from acting in such manner with the savages, as to irritate and cause them to make attacks on the peaceable frontier settlers. These laws, moreover, forbid such traders from making pur- chases of lands from the Indians, the United States claiming that privilege alone, for the government in its corporate capacity, Should any trader, therefore, obtain by purchase or voluntary grant from the Indians, even as much land as would suffice for him to put a temporary trading-house thereon, and should occupy the same for many years, during his license for such trade, and the United States should "extinguish the Indian claim" to such lands, as included the trader's purchase, or, (what in the opinion of some philanthropists amount to the same thing) take the same lands from the Indians by force, and make sales and grants thereof to such of their citizens as would purchase the same; it is apprehended, that such licensed trader would not be admitted to contend, that he had bought his house and land from the Indians, and the United States had, therefore, no right to sell or to give it away to any other citizen. He would pro- bably be told, and very properly too, that the United States, being about to fix a colony or settlers in that part of their terri- tories, had made a grant of the same to a company, who were about to settle thereon, and, if he wished to possess any lands there, he must purchase of the government or of its grantees,

* See the acts of congress of 1799, ch. 152; and 1802, ch. 13.

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

like any other citizen, his purchase of the Indians being illegal CHAP. I. and contrary to the true policy of the United States. Nay more, 1638. the president would be authorised by law to use military force, in driving him from those lands, of which he had so possessed himself. Now, this statement precisely comprehends Clay- borne's right and claim, although king Charles I. might have had no right to dispossess the Indian natives of the country which they inhabited, yet he certainly, as the representative of the nation of which he was the monarch, had as much right to the Indian lands of America, as the government of the United States now have; his grants thereof were equally just, and therefore equally valid. The pretended or real purchase of an individual licensed trader, (as Clayborne was,) of the Indian natives, could not, nor ought not to have precluded the king from making a grant thereof to a company, or to an individual possessing equal means, such as lord Baltimore, who would undertake to transport thither a numerous colony of his subjects, for the benefit of the mother country. The severance of a por- tion of the territory of Virginia was really beneficial to that colony, inasmuch as the addition of such a number of their fel- low-subjects, seated on their frontiers, would contribute much to their security from the hostile invasions of the savages. This benefit was not likely to arise from the manner in which Clay- borne, with his fellow-traders, were going on. Thus, it would seem, there was in reality no injustice done to any individual whatever, by the grant of the province of Maryland to lord Bal- timore; and, if the policy of planting distant colonies is really beneficial to an over-populous country, and the measure be dic- tated also by the liberal generosity of indulging mankind in their religious opinions, the unfortunate Charles may be said to have done at least one act, in his life, with which posterity ought not to reproach him.

To close the lord Baltimore's contest, at this time, with Clay- borne and his adherents, it will be proper to take notice here of some proceedings of the Maryland government at St. Mary's against Clayborne's property, and that of his partners, still re- maining on the isle of Kent. The two merchants of London . before mentioned, William Cloberry and David Morehead, whom Clayborne had taken into partnership with him, possibly with a view to the establishment of a fur-trade, had, by furnishing intel- ligence and "sundry supplies of men, arms, and other commo-

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

CHAP. I. dities, ministered succour and means to the said William Clay-

1638. borne, to defend and maintain the said island against the lord Baltimore's just right and title, and to drive a trade with the Indians of his province." They had also, it seems, contem- plated the establishment of a lumber-trade on that island, and for that purpose had sent out from England coopers and work- men, who had felled a great quantity of timber for making pipe- staves, to the value, as is stated, of £1000 sterling. These still remaining on the island, with perhaps other property appertain- ing to the partnership, the government at St. Mary's thought it proper to proceed against them in a legal manner, and accord- ingly a writ of attachment (dated January 2d, 1638, O. S.) was issued for the seizure of these pipe-staves, as well as other goods and chattels belonging to the partnership; which writ we may suppose to have been legally and effectually executed ; for, it appears, that his lordship's provincial government was in quiet possession of that island in the month of December next preced- ing the date of the writ .*

The nature of their traffick with the Indians.

As the profits arising from the traffic with the Indian natives was one of the principal causes operating with Clayborne and his party in so strenuously resisting the authority of lord Balti- more over the isle of Kent, it would be a desirable circumstance, could we furnish the reader with a satisfactory account of the nature of such traffic. But our records afford few materials for that purpose. From the uniform sameness, which pervades the savage life among the aborigines of North America, it will rea- dily be supposed, that it could not be much variant from the traffic with them of the present day. Peltry, in its various kinds, without doubt then constituted a considerable staple.t We find also, that much barter was at that time carried on with them for that useful article of human life,-maize, or Indian corn. It is probable, however, from the favourable circumstan- ces attending their first settlement, that the Maryland colonists were not quite so dependent on the Indians for sustenance, par- ticularly as to corn, as those of Virginia had too frequently suf- fered themselves to be; but we may suppose, that the Virginians were by this time able to spare them some bread-stuff, when they should be occasionally in want of it; and we are told, that "the

* See a copy of this writ in note (XIV.) at the end of this volume.

t See note (XV.) at the end of this volume.

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

new comers" of Maryland furnished themselves with hogs, poul- CHAP. I. try, and some cows from Virginia .* 1638.

It ought to be observed also, that there was at this time in Maryland, as well as in the more early times of the colonization of Virginia, some peculiar articles apparently of trifling value, which formed both a subject and a medium of commerce with the natives of our continent, and which we do not find mention- ed by the traders among them of the present day.t As a fond- ness for personal ornament seems to be deeply engrafted in the human character, whether civilized or savage, whatever contri- butes to the gratification of this passion, being always in demand, acquires an artificial value. Hence with ali our early voyagers to the continent of America, we find that glass beads were a more essential article for traffic with the natives than either dol- lars or guineas ; and hence the colonists of Virginia were in- duced in the year 1621, to set up a manufactory of that article, as a mint for the coinage of a current medium of commerce with the Indians.} The aborigines were not, however, prior to the arrival of the Europeans, destitute of a substitute for this article. A species of manufactory, subsisted among them in their rude state, of pieces of the Conck or Cockle shells, so wrought and perforated as to be strung upon strings, and being highly polished and of variegated colours were used as orna- ments to the person, particularly with the female sex, as neck- laces and bracelets of pearl or other valuable jewelry are now worn by the belles of London and Paris. Those manufactured by them of the Conck shell, they called Peak; those of the Cockle shell, they called-Roenoke: the latter being esteemed of much less value than the former. We find, that both these ar- ticles were industriously procured by the early colonists of both Virginia and Maryland, as a subject of barter, or medium of traffic with the natives for the more useful articles of maize and peltry ; and it appears, that they were counted sometimes by the yard, fathom, or arm's length, and sometimes by the bushel; most probably in the latter way before they were strung, and in the former afterwards. §

* Oldmixon's Brit. Emp. in Amer. vol. 1, p. 189. 1

+ It is stated, in the journal of Lewis and Clark's expedition in 1804, that the Indians on the sources of the Columbia river, estimate beads as of more value than any other article, that can be offered to them. It would seem, that these In- dians had never been in the habit of any intercourse with white men.

# Burk's Hist. of Virg. vol. 1, p. 222; who cites Stith's Hist. p. 197.

§ Thus in the schedule of goods seized, belonging to Clayborne, on Palmer's

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

CHAP. I. This traffic with the Indians within the province appears to 1638. have been thought of so much importance, (probably with a view of checking the unlawful intercourse with them still kept by Clayborne and his party,) as to induce the appointment, from time to time, of agents or superintendants thereof accordingly, commissions appear to have issued to different persons at differ- ent times in this year, authorizing them to take all persons with their vessels and property, who shall be found transgressing in that respect .*

Their coasting trade.

Some coasting trade also by sea appears to have now existed with the Maryland colonists in a small degree, especially with the Dutch on Hudson's river; for we find in our records, licenses (similar to that before mentioned, granted by the governor of Virginia to William Clayborne,) "to trade and commerce with the Dutchmen in Hudson's river, or with any Indians or other people whatsoever being or inhabiting to the northward without the capes commonly called Cape Henry and Cape Charles."t

Their trade to Europe.

In imitation of her elder sister, the Virginia colony, Mary- land appears to have adopted the cultivation and consequent ex- portation of tobacco, from her earliest settlement; at least, we may suppose the colonists of Maryland to have commenced the growth of this plant, as soon as cleared grounds for the purpose could be spared from the necessary culture of Indian corn. For, we find in the list of the bills passed or drawn up, at the ses- sion of assembly last mentioned, one entitled, "A bill for or- dering the payment of tobacco."} This article of the produce of the lands had now become, as it had before this in Virginia, the current medium of trade among the colonists themselves, as well as the means by exportation, of buying in the mother coun- try such necessaries and conveniences as their situation might dictate. The purport of this bill was, therefore, as we may conjecture, since we have no record or copy of it, to ascertain the price at which tobacco should be rated per pound, and re-

island, (as before mentioned,) were-"six yards of Peake, and one yard and a half of Roenoke."-Also, the emperor Powhatan, when he was applied to, in the year 1614, for his second daughter to be given in marriage to one of the colonists, replied,-"that he had sold her, a few days before, to a great Wero- wance, for two bushels of Roenoke." Burk's Hist. Virg. vol. 1, p. 174 .- See a further explanation of Peake and Roenoke in note (XVI.) at the end of this volume.

* See note (XVII.) at the end of this volume.

t See note (XVIII.) at the end of this volume.

¿ See the list of bills in Bacon's Laws, of the first session noticed by him.

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

ceived in payment of debts, or in the purchase of goods, or CHAP. I. articles of commerce. A similar regulation of this staple of 1638. trade and medium of commerce had been adopted in Virginia, in the year 1618, under an edict or law enacted by governor Argall ;- "That all goods," (goods imported we may presume,) " should be sold at twenty-five per cent., and tobacco allowed for at three shillings per pound, and not under, nor over, on the penalty of three years slavery to the colony."* Whether at this early period of the Virginia colony, there was a difference of exchange between Virginia and England, or whether the sum just mentioned meant three shillings sterling or not, is not ex- plained in the edict. But, as it is said,t that Virginia tobacco sold in England about that time for "three shillings," we may infer, that the "three shillings per pound," above mentioned, was money accounted at its sterling value.} As no copy or record remains of the proposed Maryland bill, before mentioned, we have no sufficient grounds to ascertain the price of tobacco thereby regulated. We may suppose it to have been the same, or nearly so, with that of Virginia ; for, it seems, that the Mary- land colonists were in the habit, at this time, of exporting a part of the tobacco made by them to Virginia, and not the whole of it directly to England, as will appear from a law enacted at the next session in 1638-9. We are to suppose too, that the several regulations, resulting from the several proclamations of

* Burk's Hist. of Virg. vol. 1, p. 194; who cites Stith's Hist. p. 147; see also Chalmers's Annals, p. 38 .- However proper it might have been to check the impositions practised upon the planters by the importers and retailers of goods, yet the obvious disproportion between the crime and the penalty, not only in this instance but in others of the same date, might well acquire to governor Argall the character of a "tyrant," in whom, it seems, the supreme authority in Virginia, both executive and legislative, was at this time vested. The expres- sion,-"slavery to the colony," meant a servitude for years on some one of the plantations, which were then cultivated, under the directions of overseers or agents, at the expense and for the benefit of the Virginia Company in England, to whom the province, being then proprietary, belonged by virtue of their seve- ral charters before their dissolution.

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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 44

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