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 64
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j "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 101.
VOL. II .- 33
258
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAPT. IV.
1643.
In order to enable captain Cornwaleys more effectually to car- ry into execution this intended expedition, in pursuance of the foregoing commission, powers were vested by commission, of the same date, in "lieutenant Thomas Baldridge of St. Michael's hundred,"-"requiring him to repair to every house within his hundred, and by the oath of the house-keeper or others whom he should think fit, (which oath authority was hereby given him to administer,) to inquire what number of persons be in every house able to bear arms; what guns fixed or unfixed, what swords. or other weapons, what quantity of powder and shot, and of what sort of shot; and to take the deposition of every one in writing with his or her hand or mark thereunto, and to return all such depositions unto the lieutenant general, or Mr. Secretary."* Another commission, of the same tenor and words, appears to have issued on the succeeding day, (April 18th,) to James Neal, for St. Clement's hundred. It is possible, that these two hun- dreds comprised the frontier settlements of the county; and the inquiry therefore became more particularly necessary as to their state of preparation for defence.
These proceedings appear to have been in pursuance of the measures contemplated by the assembly in such case when they passed the before mentioned act, entitled, "an act for an expedi- tion against the Indians." But it would seem, that this com- pulsory method of draughting "every third man" was not relish- ed by the planters; or at least that the captain preferred the command of an army of "volunteers" to a collection of unwil- ling soldiers, in whom would probably be found a deficiency of zeal as well as spirit. To gratify this influential commander in his wishes, it would appear, that the other commission to him, be- fore spoken of, was issued, of the following tenor :-
"Cecilius, &c.," (as in the former commission, ) "Whereas we are informed of your propenseness to go a march upon the Ses- quihanowes, and that several volunteers to a considerable number are willing and desirous to be led out by you upon such a march upon certain conditions treated and agreed between you and them, We, approving very well of such your and their for- wardness for the vindication of the honour of God and the chris- tian and the English name, upon these barbarous and inhuman Pagans, do hereby authorize you to levy all such men as shall be willing to go upon the said march, and to lead and conduct
* "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 102.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
them against the Sesquihanowes or other Indian enemies of the CHAPT. province in such time and manner as you shall think fit, and to IV. do all other things requisite for the training of the soldiers, pun- 1643. ishing of insolencies and other offences against martial law, vanquishing the enemies, disposing of the spoils, and all other things and matters whatsoever to the said expedition appertain- ing, in all the same and in as ample manner and powers to all intents and purposes as any captain general of an army may do by the law of war."*
This scheme of "volunteers" seems, however, to have been scarcely formed before it was relinquished; as may be inferred from the following entry among the proceedings of the council.
"April 18th, 1643 .- The lieutenant general and council hav- ing taken into consideration the difficulties and almost impossi- bilities of making a march upon the Indians at this present, upon debate of what is fit to be done for the safety of the colony, in- stead thereof have thought fit and appointed, that there shall be a company raised of ten choice shott,t with boat, provisions, am- munition, arms, and all things necessary to [be] sent and fortify upon Palmer's island,¿ under such command and according to such instructions and orders as shall be appointed by the lieuten- * * ant general * is intreated to agreed with the said sol- diers touching their pay and all other conditions during their abiding there in garrison, and to take all things necessary for the arming or providing them at the colony's charge; and these things are thought necessary to be provided for them, viz. 30 lb. powder, 100 lb. shot, 20 barrels of corn, 1 wherry or shal- lop, 2 iron pots, 1 pestle, swords or half pikes, and necessary nails to build them a house.
Giles Brent, John Lewger, James Neal."|
Whether this plan of fortifying upon Palmer's island, so as to carry the war, as it were, into the domicile of the Susqueha- nocks, was ever accomplished, we are not informed; though,
* "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 012.
t A company of good marksmen, see before 162.
# Palmer's island was situated at the mouth of the Susquehanah.
§ The word "is" follows immediately after the word "general" in the record. But something appears to be wanting to make it intelligible. If the lieutenant general was the person who was "instructed to agree," &c., then the word "who" with a comma inserted after the word "general," would appear to be the only defect to be supplied. It might possibly, however, refer to captain Corn- waleys or some other commander.
|| "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 103.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAPT. from subsequent mention of there being a fort at Susquehanah IV. in- the next year, we may suppose, that the fort, contemplated 1643. according to the last preceding document, was erected .- Our records seem here to make a pause, without recognizing any one transaction for the space of three months. A memorandum then appears, dated "July 18th, 1643," of a "commission of gene- ral to captain Cornwaleys, to have and use all necessary and sufficient power for the making of an expedition against the Susquihanowes or any their aiders and confederates, at such time and in such manner as he should think fit, and to levy soldiers, and all other means necessary for the said expedition, by way of press according to that law,* and to have, use, and exercise all power and authority for, in, and during the said expedition, as amply and fully to all intents and constructions as any captain general of an army may have, use, or exercise by the law or custom of war."}
From this it may be inferred that no effectual measures had been prosecuted during the intermediate space of time just men- tioned, to put an end to the hostile invasions of the Indians upon the colonists of St. Mary's. On the contrary it appears, that the colony was now harassed not only by the invasions of the Sus- quehanocks, but by the hostilities of some Indians from the eastern shore of the province. Of what nation or tribe these eastern shore Indians were, it is not mentioned. It had been before stated, that the Nanticokes had been so daring as to cross the bay for the purpose of attacking the settlements in the pen- insula of St. Mary's; and they had been included in the decla- ration of war against the Indians therein mentioned of the 13th of September last; but, by another proclamation of the 26th of January last, a truce with the Nanticokes particularly had been declared. From the following commission, which immediately follows (in the record) the before mentioned memorandum of cap- tain Cornwaleys's commission of the 18th of July, 1643, and which we may therefore suppose to be of the same date, it would appear, that this truce with the Nanticokes had not been produc- tive of its desirable ends; and that the treaty referred to in the
* This seems to allude, either to the common law relative to impressment or to an act passed at the last session, (of September 5th, 1642,) entitled, "an act providing some things for the better safety of the colony," whereby the lieu- tenant general was authorized "to press vessels, men, provisions," &c .- See the act stated before, p. 245.
1."Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 104.
261
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
last mentioned proclamation for the truce as about to take place, CHAPT. if ever finally ratified, yet had not been faithfully performed by IV. them. 1643.
" Cecilius, &c., to our trusty captain James Cauther, &c., Whereas the eastern shore Indians [have] not yet [made] satis- faction for outrages, &c .* but [are] ready [to commit] new ones if not prevented, &c., [we] authorize you, with such company as you may, to go upon said Indians or aiders or confederates, as shall be found in any suspicious manner upon any part of St. Mary's neck up to the head of Patuxent river, and them to ex- pel or vanquish and put to death, and their arms or goods to pillage, and thereof to dispose at your discretion, and to pursue them to eastern shore, or thither to go to meet and prevent them, if you may, from coming out upon the English, and to pillage or destroy them, or any other mischief do unto them by [the] law [of ] war, until [you] shall obtain peace."t
As lord Baltimore's claim to all the western border of the De- Proceed- laware bay, and the consequent disputes thereon with the pro-1 ings of the New Ha- prietaries of Pennsylvania, form an important part of the history ven settlers of both provinces, there seems to be a necessity for recognizing, laware. on the De- in the order of time, all such events as have any relation to those disputes. We have before mentioned the grounds of the claim set up by the English settlers at New Haven to lands on both sides of the Delaware, and their early attempts to establish a colony there, to which hostile resistance was made by both the Dutch and Swedes in the preceding year, 1642. Mr. Lamberton, their agent, as before mentioned, again experienced in the present year, a renewal of the opposition of the Dutch and Swedes, to his projected settlement. It is thus expressed in the minutes of the proceedings of the commissioners for the United New England colonies held, as before mentioned, on the 19th of April, 1653.
"In anno. 1643, John Johnson, agent for the Dutch at Dela- ware, conspired with the Swedes against Mr. Lamberton's life.
*This seems to imply, that "the eastern shore Indians" above mentioned in this commission were the Nanticokes, inasmuch as no late truce or treaty, where- in "satisfaction for outrages" could have been promised, is mentioned to have been held with any other Indians.
t The words in brackets above are not in the record ; but have been here in- serted to make the copy of the commission now on record more intelligible. See "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 104 .- This record book, as well as that entitled, "Assembly Proceedings," &c., in the council chamber, appear to be but transcripts from originals not now extant, and abound with such errors or omissions as above.
262
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAPT. They traitorously seized and imprisoned his person; charged him IV. to have plotted with the Indians to cut off both Dutch and 1643. Swedes; brought him to trial; and used means to engage and corrupt witnesses against him ; but all (by a wise and over-rul- ing hand of God) failing, they set a large fine upon him for trading within the English limits; in all which the Dutch agent sate as one of the judges in court with the Swedish governor, and, as is conceived, shared with him in the fine." *- Against these proceedings Mr. Lamberton made complaints to the com- missioners for the united colonies of New England now assem- bled, in September 1643, for the first time after their confedera- tion. Governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts, president of the commissioners, immediately, as it appears, wrote to William Kieft, the Dutch governor of New Netherlands, and to John Printz, the Swedish governor at Delaware, on the subject of these injuries; and soon after received answers, "but without any satisfaction."t It appears, however, that the commission- ers did not at that time think it proper to redress these wrongs by force. They are said to have authorized Mr. Lamberton to treat with the Swedish governor, and to give him a new com- mission to proceed with the trade and plantation at Delaware; "and harmony was restored."}
Our documents furnish us with nothing more of the transac- tions of the government of the province during the present year, except some commissions and instructions sent by the lord pro- prietary from England. Not long after the arrival in England of his brother Leonard Calvert, late lieutenant general of his province, and most probably upon consultation and advice with him on the affairs of his province, his lordship dispatched new orders and instructions to his present lieutenant general, Giles Brent, esq., which, although they bear date on the 14th of July, 1643, yet do not appear to have been published within the pro- vince until the 23d of December, same year. The purport of them was to confirm the appointment, which his brother had made previous to his departure, of Mr. Giles Brent as lieuten- ant general of the province, but also to restrict him from exer- cising his powers of lieutenant general in assenting to any laws to be enacted in any general assembly of the province without
* Hazard's Collections, vol. II. p. 214; and to the same purpose in p. 164. t Ibid. p. 7, and 320-and Holmes's Annals, vol. 1, p. 330.
į Holmes's Annals, vol. 1, p. 330 ; who cites Hubbard's MSS.
263
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
further authority under his hand and seal, and in case any laws CHAPT. had been enacted in any general assembly held since his brother's IV. departure, viz. since the first of October last, (1643,) he declar- 1643. ed his disassent thereto .* Also, after expressing his intention to visit his province in person himself at or before January then next following, he suspended the granting of any more lands within the province until his arrival there. From these instruc- tions it also appears, that governor Calvert, previous to his de- parture from the province, together with Mr. Secretary Lewger and Mr. Surveyor General Langford, had purchased, in the lord proprietary's name and for his use, "the chapel of St. Mary's and the other buildings and land belonging thereunto;" and in payment thereof had drawn several bills of exchange, to the amount of two hundred pounds sterling, on his lordship, paya- ble in England to captain Thomas Cornwaleys or his assigns. In these instructions his lordship, therefore, thought proper to notify his refusal to accept the said bills, ("by reason of some mistakes in that business," as he therein alleges,{) and that the said bills had been accordingly protested in the usual form. Mention is therein made also of two other bills of exchange drawn by captain Cornwaleys upon "one Mr. Thomas Gerard and Mr. Edward Harris," one for the sum of £30 sterling, and the other for £10 sterling, payable to Mr. Leonard Calvert, which last bills were protested also. He thereupon prohibits governor Brent, or any person deriving authority from him, from granting process or taking cognizance of any suit or complaint whatsoever concerning all or any of the aforesaid bills of ex- change, but to suspend any proceeding therein until his arrival in the province.}
This intention of his lordship, to visit his province during the Influence present year, though not put in execution, may be attributed, of the civil not only to the deranged state of the affairs of his province, but gland upon war in En- to the divided sovereignty of the realm of England between the the affairs of the pro- king and parliament. In consequence of these conflicting pow- vince. ers in the mother country, its sovereignty over the colonies be-
* This precaution proved unnecessary, as no assembly had been held, and con- sequently no laws passed in the year 1643.
t It is not impossible, but that the purchase at this time of this chapel, (by which we may suppose to have been meant a Roman Catholic chapel,) had some connection with the proceedings of the assembly in March, 1642, relative to Mr. Gerard's taking away the keys of the chapel. See ante, p. 200.
į See these instructions at large in note (LII.) at the end of this volume.
264
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAPT. came uncertain and matter of contention. Hostilities between IV. the respective forces of the king and the parliament had com- 1643. menced some time in August of the preceding year, 1642. After various battles fought in different parts of the kingdom, the advantages and strength of the respective parties appear to have been, at the close of the present year, (1643,) nearly equal. Each retained the supreme power where their military force was superior. The king had fixed his court at the city of Oxford, and the county around it was remarkable for its loyalty. He had also been particularly successful in the west of England, and the counties of Cornwall and Devonshire were entirely devoted to him. His forces under the command of prince Rupert had, about the latter end of July last, gallantly stormed and taken the city of Bristol. The parliament, however, though somewhat dismayed at these successes, still retained their seat at West- minster, and their assumed power and sovereignty over London and a great portion of England. Even prior to any actual hos- tilities, (in March, 1642, N. S.) they had commenced the making of ordinances, which were to have all the force of laws without the assent of the king. Among these were some which seemed calculated to bear in their effects upon the provincial rights of lord Baltimore. In March, 1643, (N. S.) they made one for sequestering the estates of delinquents ; by which deno- mination they affected to distinguish the king's adherents. This iniquitous ordinance was in perfect consonance with those insi- dious propositions for peace, which they had made to the king in the preceding June (1642,) prior to the commencement of hostilities ; in one of which they proposed to him, "that the justice of parliament should pass upon all delinquents, whether they be within the kingdom, or fled out of it." As the term delinquents was then well known to signify, in their estimation, all the friends of the king,* it was a proposition which, they must have known, honour and every moral principle forbade the king from acceding to. Indeed, to an impartial reader of the events of these times, these propositions seem to have entirely changed the grounds of the dispute between the king and parliament. He was, about the time when they were presented to him, so humbled, that he appears to have been willing to have acceded to any terms short of a total abandonment of his friends. Such humiliating demands, as they contained, must have been pre-
* Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's edit.) vol. 9, p. 225.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
sented to him through some sinister designs, with expectation CHAPT. that they should be rejected. Time at length developed, that IV. these designs were not founded in a zeal for civil or political 1643. liberty, but were the dictates of an abominable compound of religious fanaticism and political ambition ; to gratify which, the established hierarchy of the kingdom was first to be prostrated. In furtherance of this purpose, it was constantly deemed by them an essentially necessary artifice to keep up a perpetual cry against the Papists, and an uniform accusation against the king of his cherishing and protecting them. The king certainly was not a Papist; but it was natural for him or any good man, aban- doned as he was by the greater portion of his Protestant sub- jects, to be unwilling to promote a persecution against those, though Roman Catholics, who manifested fidelity and attachment towards him. Among these we may presume lord Baltimore to have been; for we find him soon after the capitulation of Bristol, as will presently be seen, residing in that city, and in process of time his "practising with the king at Oxford and Bristol against the parliament," was subsequently alleged against him as grounds to deprive him of his province .* This leads us to pay some attention to another ordinance of the parliament, passed about An ordi- this time, bearing date "November 2d, 1643," which as it pur- nance of ports to relate to "all those islands and plantations, inhabited, relative to planted, or belonging to any of his majesty's the king of Eng- the colo- nies. land's subjects, within the bounds and upon the coasts of Ame- rica," must have included within its provisions not only the West Indies, but the several colonies also of New England, Vir- ginia, and Maryland. Among other instances wherein the par- liament had usurped the acknowledged prerogative of the king, they now resolved to take from him all superintendance over the colonies, particularly his power of appointing therein governors and other officers .; Although it would appear from the pream- ble to this ordinance of November, that it was intended as a shield to the New England colonies, and resulted from some petition before presented by them to the parliament, yet from the
parliament
* Hazard's Collections, vol. 1, p. 624.
t They had also undertaken to legislate in favour of New England, in the first part of the present year, by an ordinance, bearing date, "10 March, 1642," (which was then the 20th of March, 1643, N. S.) exempting those plantations from paying any custom, subsidy, taxation, or other duty for either their exports or imports. See this ordinance at large in Hutchinson's Hist. of Massachusetts, vol. 1, p. 110.
VOL. II .- 34
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAPT. generality of its terms it might have been converted into a sword IV. to be waved in terrorem over Virginia and Maryland, which 1643. colonies had not yet acknowledged their exclusive jurisdiction or power. It appointed the earl of Warwick, governor in chief, and lord high admiral of the American colonies ; with a council of five peers and twelve commoners to assist him .* It empow- ered him, in conjunction with his associates, or any four of them, "to provide for, order and dispose all things which they shall from time to time find most fit and advantageous to the well governing, securing, strengthening, and preserving of the said plantations ; and chiefly to the preservation and advance- ment of the true Protestant religion amongst the said planters, inhabitants; and the further enlargement and spreading of the gospel of Christ, amongst those that yet remain there in great and miserable blindness and ignorance." This seemed to augur no good to either the "ungodly Virginians" or papistical Mary- landers. "It further authorised the commissioners to nominate, appoint, and constitute all such subordinate governors, councel- lors, commanders, officers and agents, as they shall judge to be best affected, and most fit and serviceable for the said islands and plantations ; and to remove any of the said subordinate gover- nors, councillors, commanders, officers, or agents, and in their place to appoint such other officers as they shall judge fit. And it is hereby ordained, that no subordinate governors, councillors, commanders, officers, agents, planters or inhabitants whatsoever, that are now resident in or upon the same islands or plantations, shall admit or receive any other new governors, &c. but such as shall be allowed and approved of under the hands and seals of the aforementioned commissioners, or any six of them. And it is hereby further ordained, that the said chief governor and com- missioners, or the greater number of them may assign, ratify, and confirm so much of the aforementioned authority and power, in such manner and to such persons, as they shall judge to be fit, for the better governing and preserving of the said planta- tions and islands, from open violence, and private disturbance
* This council seems to have been in the nature of a joint committee from the two houses. Robert Rich, earl of Warwick, had been appointed by the parlia- ment commander of the fleet, contrary to the inclination of the king, in March, 1643, and as soon as a new great seal was made by the authority of the parlia- ment, in November, same year, (about the time of this first ordinance,) he received a patent creating him lord high admiral of England .- Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's edit.) vol. 9, p. 500, and vol. 10, p. 241.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
and distractions." This ordinance is here stated more at large, CHAPT. inasmuch as it seems to have been intended to form the first IV. stepping stone, as it were, to the subjugation of both Virginia 1643. and Maryland to the present power of the parliament and subse- quent supremacy of Cromwell, who was one of the before men- tioned commissioners under this ordinance .*
structions
prietary to
It has been seen, that soon after the arrival of Mr. Leonard New in- Calvert in England, the lord proprietary had deemed it proper from the to send new instructions or orders to governor Brent, which, lord pro- although they confirmed the appointment of Mr. Brent as gover- governor nor, yet restricted him from the exercise of some powers, which Brent. would otherwise have been incidental to his office, such as as- senting to any laws to be made by a general assembly, and of granting lands. As these restrictions, if of long continuance, would necessarily have been productive of much inconvenience to the inhabitants of the province, his lordship very properly recalled them by new orders or instructions. It is, indeed, to be inferred from both the preceding and subsequent orders rela- tive to these restrictions, that they would not have been imposed, but in contemplation in the first place of his lordship's visiting his province in person, and in the next of the speedy return of Mr. Leonard Calvert to his station as governor. These second orders on this subject are of the following tenor :- "Mr. Brent,- Whereas not long since, when I did conceive that my brother Leonard Calvert would have dispatched his affairs here, so as he might have returned into Maryland again this year, I did, for divers reasons, by a dispatch which I then sent unto you, re- strain your power of assenting unto any laws in my name, and of granting any land from me in that province, I have now, upon confidence of your integrity and fidelity to me, thought fit, and I do hereby give you full power and authority to assent from time to time in my name to any law which at any general assembly of the freemen of that province shall be thought fit by you, to be enacted there, in as ample manner as my said brother had power from me to do the same, while he was my lieutenant general there, and no otherwise, that is to say, and my true meaning is hereby to give you power to make every such law, so to be assented to by you in my name, to be in force within the said
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