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 69
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Before the governor left the island, he issued, on the 20th of April, another commission "to captain Robert Vaughan and the rest of the commissioners of the isle of Kent," (viz : those gen- tlemen just before mentioned in the preceding commission,) requiring them "to cause all such lands, goods and chattels, as were belonging unto any of the late rebels on the island of Kent, and who had fled from thence, or who were remaining in the said island and had refused to take the oath of fealty to his. lordship, to be attached and kept in safe custody by some officer to be appointed by them, until every of the said persons respec- tively should appear before the governor and the council of this
* This blank is so in the record, but the words,-"isle of Kent"-seem to be evidently those omitted.
# " Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 148.
§ See before, p. 247.
VOL. II .- 39
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V. province at St. Mary's, to answer their several crimes of rebel- 1647. lion and refusal of the said oath, and abide judgment of court therein." After his return to St. Mary's, he issued a proclama- tion, on the 8th of May, much to the same purport of that of the 16th of January preceding, prohibiting the departure of any person out of the province without leave, or the entertainment of, or holding communication with, any stranger, until they had first been at the fort of St. Inigoes .* These proceedings were rigid, but perhaps dictated by necessity or self-defence. In fur- ther arrangement of the affairs of the isle of Kent, he authorised captain Vaughan, by commission dated the 31st of May, "to collect, demand, and receive, for the use of the lord proprietary, all customs, confiscations, forfeitures, and escheats by any means, and at any time due to his said lordship upon the said island;" and also, at the same time, by two other distinct commissions to Mr. Francis Brooke, he was required to take into his custody "all neat cattle belonging to his lordship on the said island," and particularly "all the estate of John Abbott, late of the said island."
Governor Calvert's These were the last acts of governor Leonard Calvert, which death, and we have upon record; for, in a few days afterwards, on the ninth character. of June, he died .- Of the private character of this gentleman' we are not enabled to speak with any certainty, nothing relative to him but in his public capacity being transmitted to posteri- ty. If a faithful performance of the various trusts reposed in him by his brother in the government of an infant colony can imply honesty and integrity of character, he seems to be fully entitled to it; and, if we may credit the eulogy passed upon him in the two last commissions for the government, he appears also to have given in his public character general satisfaction to the colonists. From the scanty materials of the preceding part of our history we have, it is true, been authorized in noticing, particularly at the September session of 1642, some symptoms of discontent with his conduct on the particular occasions there mentioned; but it would be improper to censure him too hastily under the imperfect information we have at this day of those transactions. We see, therefore, no just reason to withhold
* This proclamation does not appear at large among the records, but the sub- stance of it, as above, is recited in that of governor Green's, hereafter stated.
+ These "neat cattle" we may suppose to have been part of the confiscated property of rebels on the island, as also of the estate of John Abbott.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
from him the commendation bestowed on him in the above men- CHAP. V. tioned commissions, wherein, it is said, he manifested in the 1647. discharge of his office of governor of the province, "such wis- dom, fidelity, industry, and other virtues, as rendered him capa- ble and worthy of the trust reposed in him."
An inconvenience, which would otherwise have resulted to Thomas the lord proprietary's interest in his province upon the death of esq., his f Greene, governor Calvert, was fortunately prevented, for a time at least, successor. by his verbal nomination of Mr. Thomas Greene, as his succes- sor, in virtue of a special power vested in him for that purpose by his lordship's commission. This fact is best stated in the words of the entry on the record.
"June 10th, 1647 .- Whereas by commission from the right honorable Cecilius lord proprietary of the province of Maryland to the late governor Leonard Calvert, esqr., bearing date the 18th of September, 1644, at his lordship's fort at St. Mary's in the said province, he the said Leonard Calvert was authorized, in case he should happen to die or be absent from time to time out of the said province, to nominate, elect, and appoint such an able person, inhabiting and residing within our said province, as he in his discretion shall make choice of and think fit, to be go- vernor of the said province ; These are, therefore, to publish and declare to all persons, whom it may concern, that the said Leo- nard Calvert did, by word of mouth, on the ninth day of June, 1647, (lying upon his death bed, yet in perfect memory,) no- minate and appoint Thomas Green, esqr., one of the council of this province, to be gov ernor of the same, with all the same au- thority and power of government as he the said Leonard Calvert was authorised by his lordship's commission to confer upon him, as by the oaths of Mrs. Margaret Brent and Mary Brent,* Fran- cis Anketill, and James Linsey, (who were all then present with him at the same time,) is averred to be true .- Teste me,
WILLIAM BRETTON, Clk."}
Although Mr. Hill had, upon the restoration of governor Cal- Mr. Hill vert, retired to Virginia, as before mentioned ; yet, not receiving, claims as it would seem, the stipulated compensation for his salary upon the province.
renews his
* These ladies were the sisters of Mr. Giles Brent, whom we have frequently had occasion to mention before. The Brent family were probably connected with that of lord Baltimore by either blood or marriage ; and it appears, that Mrs. Margaret Brent now became the administratrix of Mr. Leonard Calvert's estate. Kilty's Landholder's Assist. p. 104.
+ "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 152.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V. while governor, so soon as he expected, he applied to Sir Wil- 1647. liam Berkeley, then governor of Virginia, to intercede with go- vernor Calvert in his behalf. Sir William accordingly wrote a letter to governor Calvert on the subject, but which letter, dated on the 12th of June this year, did not consequently arrive at St. Mary's before the death of Mr. Calvert. It appears to have been sent by Mr. Hill, together with a letter of his own on the same subject, to general Calvert, without a knowledge perhaps of his death; which letter of his own bears date on the 18th of June, from a place called Chicocoan, situated, as we apprehend, on the Virginian side, or south bank, of the Patowmack; where some settlers had probably fixed themselves, and to which place he had repaired for greater convenience in making his demands, if not for annoying the government of Maryland .* His claim for a compensation for his salary might, perhaps, have some foundation in justice ; but his pretensions to the office of go- vernor of the province, which he seems to have deemed para- mount even to that of governor Calvert, are obviously founded on the most frivolous reasons. His threat of regaining posses- sion of the government, "by some strange overture," which he afterwards explains to mean "a parliamentary influence," though he professed at the same time to act in behalf of lord Baltimore, bespeaks a mysterious duplicity incompatible with the character of a man of honour. Mr. Green, as governor, returned to Sir William Berkeley a very proper answer to his letter; informing him of the death of governor Calvert; assuring him, that neither governor Calvert nor himself ever had any intentions of with- holding from Mr. Hill any claim whatever, which was justly due to him ; and requesting him "to take some effectual course, that captain Hill might not by his evil designs and practices proceed to disturb his majesty's the king's peace here," (in Maryland,) "of whose unjust and wicked design of invading this province by the way of Chicacoan and Appamatuck with some other forces to be drawn out of other parts of Virginia he had credi-
* There is a river called Coan-river in Northumberland county in Virginia, emptying into the Patowmack, nearly opposite to St. Mary's river in Maryland. This seems, most probably, to be the place from whence Mr. Hill dated his let- ters. Appamattox, another place mentioned in his letters, might have been the same as Mattox creek in Westmoreland county, higher up the Patowmack, on the Virginia side. From a proclamation, which will be presently stated, it ap- pears, that many of those, who were concerned in the rebellion against lord Baltimore's authority, had, on the return of governor Calvert, fled to these places in Virginia, where some Virginians had previously settled, or they themselves commenced settlements there.
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ble information by others, and, of late, expressions of his own CHAP. V. sent under his own hand from Chicacoan to that purpose."* 1647. Our documents furnish us with nothing more of these extraor- dinary pretensions of Mr. Hill; and Mr. Green appears to have proceeded quietly in the discharge of his duties as governor of the province.
Among the first of his proceedings one appears, which, as it Corn (pri- exhibits the distressed state of the colony at this time, as well as vate pro- an extraordinary exercise of executive power, ought not to be pressed or perty ) passed unnoticed. Captain John Price,-captain of the fort of the use of seized for St. Inigoe's, having informed the governor, that there was a the garri- great want of corn in the fort, and having requested him to take Inigoe's son of St. some speedy course to supply the said want, "it was ordered by fort. the governor, that all such corn as should be in any one's pos- session within the province, more than for his own and his fami- ly's proper use, should be pressed, at the rate of 120 lb. tobacco per barrel, being at this time the common rate within the pro- vince, upon his lordship's account and for the maintenance of the said fort." Accordingly on the next day, (June 18th,) a commission issued to sergeant Mark Pheypo, "to take up and press, upon his lordship's account, for the use and maintenance of the fort of St. Inigoe's, five barrels of corn belonging to Cuth- bert Fenwick, gent., and deliver it to captain John Price, cap- tain of the said fort."t This proceeding must have been gound- ed either on the ancient royal prerogative of purveyance, where- by provisions for the royal household might be seized and paid for at the common rate or price; or on the prerogative of press- ing ships, carts, waggons, and provisions in time of war; both which prerogatives had hitherto been deemed legal in England, and the lord Baltimore's palatinate regalia might have been sup- posed to have given him the same rights .¿ The situation of the province at this time, on the brink of destruction through the
* As the correspondence between Sir William Berkeley, Mr. Green, and Mr. Hill, contains the facts above stated, and the reader's curiosity might be gratified in the perusal of them, they are inserted entire at the end of this volume in note (LVII.)
+ " Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 154.
¿ It will be recollected, that the prerogative of purveyance was not abolished until the restoration, by the statute of 12 Car. 2, ch. 24, together with feudal tenures ; and, at this very time, the parliament were exercising the arbitrary power of pressing even soldiers for the service in Ireland ; as appears from the petition of the army, dated June 4th, 1617 ; stated in Rapin's Hist. Eng. ( Tin- dal's) edit. vol. X. p. 380.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V. consequences of civil war, which had nearly produced a famine,
1647. and at the same time harassed by the hostilities of the savages, seems to afford ample excuse for this small stretch of power, es- pecially as it was then deemed to be within the pale of the law.
War with That the Indians of the province were now also unremitting the Indians in their warfare upon the colonists, appears from a commission of Nanti- coke and issued within a few weeks after the above transaction, (on the Wicomico. 4th of July,) to captain John Price. The preamble thereof states, that "the inhabitants of this province have sustained di- vers great losses in their estates by the Indians of Nanticoke and Wicomick, enemies of this province, who making incursions here have assailed and set upon divers of the inhabitants of this province,* and have committed divers insolencies, rapines, mur- thers, and other barbarous cruelties, by the way of trade, t and that divers overtures of peace had been made to them; but notwith- standing they still persist in their wicked and barbarous inten- tions toward us." The commission then authorises him,-"to take thirty or forty such able men as he shall think fit and make choice of for that purpose, with sufficient arms, provision, and ammunition, and them to embark in such vessel or vessels as he the said captain John Price shall think fit and convenient, and with the said men to go over unto the towns and plantations of the Indians of Nanticoke and Wicomick aforesaid, lying to the eastward of this province, and then and there to employ his ut- most endeavour, skill, and force, by what means he may, in destroying the said nations, as well by land as by water, either by killing them, taking them prisoners, burning their houses, de- stroying their corn, or by any other means as in his best discre- tion he shall judge convenient."} Whether this expedition un-
* The Indians of "Wicomick," here mentioned, certainly mean those who inhabited on or near the Wicomico river in Somerset county, who, in conjunc- tion with those of Nanticoke in Dorchester, were then in the habit of crossing the bay and assailing the inhabitants of St. Mary's, The expression-"making incursions here,"-evidently refers to St. Mary's, and it does not appear, that any population by the colonists had as yet taken place any where on the eastern shore, except on the isle of Kent.
We may suppose, that this means, that the Indians of Nanticoke and Wico- mick visited St. Mary's county, under the pretence of trading with the colo . nists, but in reality to plunder them.
# "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 161 .- This commission fur . ther required captain Price, "that he make no distribution or division of any plunder or pillage whatsoever, which shall be gained or taken by any soldier or soldiers during the said voyage from any the aforesaid Indians, until he shall ar- rive at St. Inigoe's fort, and there given a just account of all such plunder or pil-
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der this commission took place or not, or if so, what were the CHAP. V. incidents of it, we are no where informed. Captain Price ap- 1647. pears to have been relied upon, at this time, as a man of some experience in military affairs ; and, for his fidelity to the lord proprietary, during Ingle's rebellion, was subsequently, in 1648, created "muster master general" of the province; in which commission his "abilities in martial affairs" are highly commend- ed by his lordship.
From some proceedings of the governor and council, which Cautious occurred about this time, we are authorised in inferring, that proceed- many of the Maryland colonists, who had been engaged in the gulate the ings to re- late rebellion against the lord proprietary, had, on the "inva- return of - the disaf- sion" or return of governor Calvert, fled out of the province, fected. and taken refuge at the before mentioned places on the Virgi- nian side of the Patowmack-called Chicacoan and Appamat- tucks ; from whence they frequently returned to St. Mary's in an armed, though probably clandestine, manner. To prevent this, it was thought proper to make the following order .- "Septem- ber 15th, 1647 .- It is this day ordered by the governor, that this oath following be administered to all persons that have had any hand in the late rebellion here, whenever they shall come into the province, and that the captain or commander present of the fort* is hereby authorised and required to administer the said oath to all such persons coming in as aforesaid; And further, the said captain or commander shall take into his possession and keep in safe custody within the fort all such arms and am- munition as any of them shall bring with them at their coming into the province, and see them safe delivered unto them again when they shall depart the said province, and this as often as any of them shall come or go from hence."
The oath prescribed in the above order was in substance near- ly as follows :-
"You shall be true and faithful, (so long as you shall remain in this province, and as often as you shall return into the same,) to the right honourable the lord proprietary of this province and his
lage."-This privilege of plundering the Indians seems to have been mentioned in almost all the early commissions of the province for making war upon them. See what has been said upon this subject herein before, p. 289.
* The fort, here alleded to, seems to have been St. Inigoe's, where governor Calvert, on his return, and governor Green as his successor, kept their head quarters. St. Inigoe's fort must have been a different one from that of St. Ma- ry's or St. John's, both of which last mentioned forts we have seen before fre- quently referred to in the proceedings of the province.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V. heirs, and to his governor for the time being; and all conspira- 1647. cies and practices, as you shall know or hear of, against them or any of them, you shall resist to your power, and reveal the same to them or some person in authority under them within twenty-four hours; and you shall not use any means or persua- sions directly or indirectly to draw any of the inhabitants of this colony to forsake the governor."
To give publicity to the foregoing order and to enforce the same, a proclamation was issued, on the same day, of the following tenor :--
"By the lieutenant general .- Whereas divers of the inhabit- ants of Appamatucks and Chickacoan have several suits depend- ing in this next court, and that justice may be duly administered to them and to all other persons, without danger of disturbance of the peace and welfare of this province; these are to give no- tice to all persons, that had any hand in the late rebellious action of this province, that they neither may nor shall have any hear- ing in court, or be admitted within this province, before such time as they have taken oath of fealty unto the lord proprietary and his governor for the time being, during the time they re- main within the province; and that the said oath shall not be understood by them only for this present, but shall firmly bind them in futurity, so often as they shall have occasion to come into the province; and that at any time when they come into the province they shall deliver all such arms and ammunition, as they bring with them, unto the commander of the fort, which shall be restored to them when they depart the province; and that the proclamation set forth, the 8th of May last, by the late governor Leonard Calvert, esqr., touching the departure of any person out of the province without leave, the entertainment of any stranger or holding communication with them, until they have first been at the fort of St. Inigoe's, shall stand in full force and vir- tue until Christmas day next; further, these are straitly to pro- hibit and forbid all persons of this province whatsoever to give any entertainment to, or admit into their houses, any of the persons aforesaid, without first shewing a certificate from my hand or the captain or commander of the fort present there, that they have there taken oath of fealty to his lordship; upon pain of such severe censure as the court shall adjudge such an attempt to deserve. Given at the fort of St. Inigoe's, the 15th September, 1647.
THOMAS GREENE."*
* "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 163-4.
1
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Although the foregoing order, or ordinance, and proclamation CHAP. V. thereupon, would be now deemed inconsistent with the principles 1647. not only of American but of English liberty, as being repugnant to that clause in magna charta, whereby "no freeman was to be disseized of his liberties, or be outlawed, or exiled, or condemn- ed, but by lawful judgment of his peers or by law of the land;" yet, agreeably to those unfortunate maxims, which the princes of the house of Stuart had adopted, whereby the monarchy of the realm was supposed to possess the power of supplying the ne- cessity of laws by proclamations, a clause had been inserted in lord Baltimore's charter, (the eighth section,) enabling him, or his magistrates and officers, to make ordinances from time to time, to be observed within the province, "as well for the con- servation of the peace, as for the better government of the peo- ple inhabiting therein, and publicly to notify the same." The justification of this investment of power in his lordship is stated by way of preamble to the clause, to have been, "that in the go- vernment of so great a province, sudden accidents may frequent- ly happen, to which it will be necessary to apply a remedy, be- fore the freeholders of the said province, their delegates or de- puties, can be called together for the framing of laws." It must be confessed, that, however dangerous such powers may generally be, if vested in the executive branch of a government, yet, considering the situation of the province at this time, a case could scarcely occur, where the necessity of assuming and ex- ercising such extraordinary powers could be more urgent than the present; if it be allowed, that it was justifiable at all to maintain the lord Baltimore's authority over, and possession of, the province. To have called a general assembly of the free- holders, (and every freeholder in the province was entitled to a seat therein,) divided and distracted as they must have been at this time by their late provincial civil war, would have been highly impolitic, if not dangerous to the peace of the communi- ty, as well as to lord Baltimore's rights ; besides, the unavoidable delay of legislative proceedings might have admitted the mis- chief before the means of prevention could have operated. Go- vernor Greene, therefore, appears to have acted correctly on the occasion.
In the same point of view we are to consider another procla- mation issued by him in a month or two afterwards, (November of corn and 10th,) to prohibit the exportation of corn and horses out of the
VOL. II .- 40
The ex- portation
horses pro- hibited.
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CHAP. V. province. The season of the year had now arrived, when the 1647. quantity of Indian corn made in the province could with tolera- ble exactness be ascertained, and exportation of it usually oc- curred. The attention of the inhabitants had been, in the pre- ceding part of the year, so occupied with their unhappy civil dissentions, as to occasion a neglect of their crops. An appre- hension of a scarcity of this necessary article of food seems to have been, therefore, a natural consequence, and dictated a pro- hibition of its exportation, especially if it was true, as stated therein by the governor, that "there was no great likelihood of any considerable supply thereof to come in from abroad." The stock of horses within the province he states also to have been "as yet very small." The transportation of these, as well as the exportation of corn, was therefore prohibited by this proclama- tion, "upon pain of such severe punishment as shall be thought fit by the provincial court." Over such offences, it may be sup- posed, that this supreme court of the province considered, that they had lawful jurisdiction and might punish by legal discre- tionary fine, as and for a misdemeanor at common law in the breach of a lawful ordinance .*
The admi- nistratrix of gover- nor Cal- vert ad- judged to ship's at- torney in vernor Cal- vert had been. On the same day, (November 10th,) or about the same time, a proceeding of the provincial court took place, which, although it be apparently of a private nature, yet, being materially connect- ed with the affairs of the provincial government, cannot proper- be his lord- ly be omitted. It is most proper to state it in the words of the record .- "This dayt the question was moved in court, whether fact, as go- or no, Mr. Leonard Calvert remaining his lordship's sole attor- neyt within this province before his death, and then dying, the said Mr. Calvert's administrator was to be received for his lord- ship's attorney within this province, until such time as his lord- ship had made a new substitution, or that some other remaining upon the present commission were arrived into the province. The governor demanding Mr. Brent's opinions upon the same quere, he answered, that he "did conceive that the administrator ought to be looked upon as attorney, both for recovering of rights.
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