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 70
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* "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 165.
t No date is affixed to the record of the proceeding ; but the expression above may be presumed to allude to the date of the preceding document, to wit, that of the preceding proclamation, the 10th of November.
# This certainly meant his lordship's attorney in fact as to his private affairs, and not his attorney general of the province, a public officer.
ยง Mr. Giles Brent was then the oldest councillor, being the first named in the last commission of the council, of 1644.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
into the estate, and paying of due debts out of the estate, and CHAP. V. taking care of the estate's preservation, but not further, until his 1647. lordship shall substitute some other as aforesaid; and thereupon the governor conceived, and it was ordered, that the administra- tor of Mr. Leonard Calvert aforesaid should be received as his lordship's attorney to the intents above said."*
Although the word "administrator" is used in the preceding document, yet, it is most probable, that agreeably to the phrase- ology of those times, such word might have been in common use as applicable to a female as to a male person, to whom let- ters of administration on the estate of one deceased might have been granted; and, as Mrs. Margaret Brent appears to have been unquestionably the administratrix of the estate of gover- nor Leonard Calvert,t the preceding order of the provincial court appears to have been a judicial determination, that Mrs. Marga- ret Brent might lawfully act as the attorney in fact of lord Bal- timore as to his private estate within the province. 'There ap- pears, however, at this day, some indelicacy in resting such a question upon the decision of Mr. Giles Brent, who was a brother to Mrs. Margaret Brent, a single lady; and, in connection with this circumstance, it is proper to mention here, that lord Baltimore subsequently expressed great displeasure either with her conduct as to his estate or at her appointment agreeably to this decision, or at both, as will be seen hereafter. This lady, (Miss Brent, in modern phraseology,) appears to have possessed a masculine un- derstanding; and she is stated, by a writer much conversant in the land records of Maryland,{ "to have been very actively em- ployed in taking up lands, and in affairs of all kinds relating to property."
Towards the close of the year, the affairs of the province sub- An assem- siding into some order and quiet, the governor thought it proper bly called. to resort to the regular and constitutional mode of exercising the powers of government, by calling an assembly. He, therefore, issued a proclamation for that purpose, bearing date the 14th of December, 1647, in which he states, that " Whereas the present important affairs of the province do necessarily require the spee- dy general assistance and assent of the inhabitants thereof, as
* "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 165.
t I rely upon this fact, because it is so stated by Mr. Kilty, (in his Landhold- er's Assistant, p. 104,) who had opportunity of accurately consulting the records. # Mr. Kilty, in his treatise last cited, ibid.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V. well for the settlement of some present urgent difficulties, as for 1647. the establishment of such wholesome laws as shall be conducing to the well and happy government of the said province; these are, therefore, to declare unto all persons, whom it may concern, that I do intend to hold a general assembly at St. Mary's on the seventh day of January next, and I do further require, in the lord proprietary's name, all and singular the inhabitants of this province, either by their personal appearance, or by proxy, or delegates, to attend the governor and council at St. Mary's, on the seventh of January as aforesaid, there to advise and consult of the important affairs of the province ; where, by way of cau- tion, I advise all such as shall not give their personal attendance therein, that they make choice of such persons for their dele- gates, whose able judgments and fortunes may render them more considerate to the weal public.". Special notice thereof was also given to the inhabitants of the isle of Kent, the journal of this session stating, that "summons had been sent up to Kent by way of proclamation."
1643.
On the seventh of January, (the day appointed by the procla- mation,) the governor and freemen of the county of St. Mary's met, but no return of the summons being made from Kent, the governor adjourned the assembly till the seventh of February. In a few day afterwards the members from Kent arrived, when the governor upon consultation, thinking that "so long delay," as waiting to the day of adjournment, would "prove disadvan- tageous to the whole country," issued his writ to the sheriff of St. Mary's county to give notice to all the inhabitants thereof, that he intended to anticipate the aforesaid adjournment, and ex- pected them, either by personal appearance or by proxy or dele- gates, to attend the governor and council at St. Mary's on the seventeenth instant.
The house accordingly met on the 17th, and also on the 18th of January, but "by reason of the absence of Mr. Bretton, their clerk, the house adjourned till Thursday next."
"On Thursday, the 20th of January, the general assembly at St. John's assembled."-Present, governor Greene, captain Ro- bert Vaughan, fourteen other members whose names are stated on the journal, "and divers other inhabitants," as the journal expresses it .- It is stated therein also, that captain Vaughan ap- peared "with twenty-six proxies of the inhabitants of Kent ;" that is, that he appeared as a delegate from or representative of
The as- sembly meet.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
twenty-six inhabitants of Kent .* In like manner the fourteen CHAP. V. members, whose names are stated on the journal, (from St. Ma- 1648. ry's,) are each of them mentioned as appearing with their re- spective number of proxies therein stated, amounting for the whole fourteen to fifty-six proxies, that is, fifty-six voices to be counted on a vote besides their own, and besides the twenty-six voices to be given by captain Vaughan .- After the appearance of these members had been recognized on the journal, and after the verification of their powers as proxies, as we may suppose, " the house was adjourned by the governor till two o'clock in the afternoon."
It will perhaps have occurred to the reader, that the mode of summoning this assembly varied somewhat from that, which, in several instances, had been before practised in the province. No writs of summons, directed either to the sheriff or individual free- holders or freemen, of either of the counties of St. Mary's or isle of Kent, appear to have been issued ; but proclamations were published in each of those counties, which were the only parts of the province, where settlements of any consideration had been as yet made, "declaring to all persons whom it might concern, that the governor intended to hold a general assembly at St. Mary's on the 7th of January, and requiring all the inha- bitants of this province, either by their personal appearance, or by proxy, or delegate, to attend the governor and council at St. Mary's."-From this it would appear, that every inhabitant of the province was considered as having a right to a seat in this assembly, whether he was a freeholder or not; but, as will pre- sently appear, it seems to have been considered necessary, that he should be a freeman, and not a servant. Hence, therefore, it may be inferred, that those members, who did attend, were such inhabitants as to whom it was convenient to do so, and con- sequently brought with them proxies, or authorities, to vote, from those of their neighbours or fellow inhabitants of their respective hundreds of St. Mary's county, and from the isle of Kent gene- rally, who could not conveniently leave their business and their homes. This confused and unsettled state of the legislative powers of the provincial government, seems to have presented itself to the governor and council, as well as to the different
* It will be recollected, that captain Vaughan was at this time also, by the com- mission before stated, of the 18th of preceding, (see ante, p. 304,) "chief captain and commander" of the isle of Kent; which office seems to have been of the nature of a lieutenant or deputy governor, under the governor of the province.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V. members, who had assembled, as a subject which demanded
1648. their first and principal attention. Accordingly, as soon as the Their pro- house assembled "at two o'clock in the afternoon," agreeably to
ceedings. their adjournment, a bill, previously prepared, as it seems for this purpose, was read, entitled, "an act for settling this present house of assembly ;" which was, as follows:
"Be it enacted by the lord proprietary, of and with the advice and assent of the freemen of the province, that his lordship's council present in the province,* and these sixteen persons, cap- tain John Price, captain Robert Vaughan, Mr. Fenwick, Mr. Bradnox, Mr. Conner, Mr. Thornborough, Mr. Brooks, Thomas Allen, Richard Banks, Barnaby Jackson, George Saphyer, George Akerick, John Medley, Walter Waterlin, Walter Pakes, Edward Packer, or any ten of them assembled with the governor and the clerk of the assembly, at the time and place prefixed by the said governor, shall be a house of assembly to all intents and pur- poses, and all bills passed by the said freemen or the major part of them, and enacted by the governor, shall be laws, after publi- cation thereof under the hand of the governor and present seal of the province, as fully to all effects in law as if they were ad- vised and assented unto by all the freemen of the province in person. The freemen assented unto it ;
Published Eod.
The governor assented unto it; and enact- ed it in the name of the lord proprietary."
No further proceedings of this day's session appear on the journal, except that "the house was adjourned by the governor till to-morrow 9 o'clock."-From which expression it may be inferred, that the house had yielded to the governor their consti- tutional right of adjournment, though it is possible, that, agreea- bly to the resolution of the assembly in the year 1641-2, it was adjourned "by and with the consent of the house."}
Although by this adjournment the house was to have met on the next day, yet no mention is made on the journal of any pro- ceedings on that day ; but, on Saturday, the 22d of January, a
* By the last commission for the council, which governor Calvert brought out with him on his return from England in 1644, Giles Brent, John Lewger, Tho- mas Greene, Thomas Gerard, and James Neale, esq'rs, were appointed to form his lordship's council in the province .- (See before, p. 284.) No commission for the council of any later date appearing on our records, the preceding gentlemen must be considered as the members of his lordship's council in the province at the time of passing the above act, with the exception, that Mr. Greene was now advanced to be governor of the province.
t See ante, p. 195.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
circumstance occurred, which deserves notice .- Under a princi- CHAP. V. ple heretofore remarked upon, as being repeatedly exercised in 1648. the early sessions of our provincial legislature, and was evident- ly so at the present session, every freeman within the province was entitled to a seat in the assembly thereof, and therefore agreeably to the principles of the English constitution with re- gard to the house of lords, every freeman, so entitled, had pow- er to appoint another freeman to appear and vote for him in his stead, as his proxy ; but, it would seem, that agreeably to ano- ther ancient principle of English law, that a legislator sitting, under a delegated authority, could not delegate that delegated authority to another ;* and that, therefore, none of the members, enumerated as such in the preceding act "for settling this pre- sent house of assembly," and who had been also authorized to vote as proxies for other freemen not present, could, on absent- ing themselves from the house, appoint another member to vote for any other person than himself; yet this appears to have been attempted, as it would seem from the following entries on the journal of that day.
"George Akerick" (one of the sixteen members nominated in the last preceding act,) "appointed Mr. Clark, proxie for him- self and all his voices." Also, "John Medley" (another of the sixteen before mentioned,) "appointed Francis Posie proxie for himself and all his voices."
As these two gentlemen,-Mr. Clark and Mr. Posie were not, either of them one of the sixteen members enumerated in the last preceding act, their sitting in the house would appear to have been an additional irregularity ; but it is possible, that as, the act has no expressly exclusive terms, other freemen of the province might have been considered as admissible to seats in the house when claimed by them. The house, however, appears to. have been sensible of these irregularities ; as may be inferred from the following order made by them on their next day of sit- ting :-
"Monday, 24th January .- It is this day ordered by the house, that no one, except the forenamed 16 members,
Published Eod. or their delegates, assembled, with the governor and the clerk, shall have vote or seat in the house afore the general day of sessions."
* See this principle remarked upon before, in p. 49.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V.
1648.
It may be remarked on this order, that although the words- "or their delegates,"-would authorise any one of the sixteen to make a proxy for himself, and that such proxy might be an- other person than one of the sixteen, as appears to have been the case in regard to both Mr. Clark and Mr. Posie, yet it does not seem to go so far as to authorise him to make a proxy for any other person for whom he had appeared as a proxy ; and, there- fore, the appointments of George Akerick and John Medley, " for all their voices," do not appear to have been strictly in- cluded within the above order. It is possible, however, that such "delegates" of any of the sixteen members might, by im- plication, have been considered as invested with all the powers before vested in their principals, and voted accordingly.
Some obscurity also seems to attend another expression in the above order :- "afore the general day of sessions."-This can. be interpreted to mean only "the day" to which the governor had adjourned the assembly, before the arrival of the members from Kent as before stated, to wit, "the seventh of February," when other freemen or inhabitants of the province, then those sixteen mentioned in the act, might be admitted to their seats in the house, and the above order, of the 24th of January, would cease to operate. But, although this session appears to have continued until the fourth of March following, yet no proceed- ings of the house, after the month of January, appear on record, except some depositions which will be hereafter stated.
Another order of the house took place on this same day ; (January 24th,) which, as it has a close connection with a sub- ject which seems to have agitated the minds of the people of this province for several years after the late restoration of gover- nor Calvert, cannot with propriety be omitted. When governor Calvert raised and mustered his little army in Virginia for the subjugation of his province, he promised the soldiers and others of his party, that the soldiers' wages and the charges of the ex- pedition should be defrayed out of the private estate of lord Baltimore within the province, and that the people of the pro- vince should not be burthened with any of the expenses arising thereon. This promise seems to have been understood, as ex- tending not only to the payment of the soldiers' wages, while engaged in the expedition, but to their support and maintenance while in garrison at St. Inigoe's fort for the preservation of the. peace and order of the province. The perturbed state of the
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
colony, throughout the preceding year, (1647,) had produced a CHAP. V. scarcity of corn, so that the soldiers in garrison were rendered 1648. dissatisfied for want of bread stuff, and some danger of mutiny was likely to ensue. The house, therefore, made the following order, entitled,
"An order of this present assembly for the levying of corn to- wards the defraying the soldiers' wages."
"Whereas divers of the soldiers, now being in
Published eod. the country are altogether destitute of corn for their present subsistence, which (by conditions
with the late deceased governor contracted,)
should have been defrayed before this time, but by reason of the scarcity thereof this year in the country, and no corn remaining on his lordship's estate more than what is already distributed unto the said soldiers, his lordship's attorney* (to whom it be- longeth) is unable for the present to discharge, until corn be brought into the province by way of trade or otherwise; and whereas in the meantime, unless some speedy course be consi- dered upon and taken by the country in discharging of the said corn, it is much to be feared that divers disturbances may hap- pen in the province, even to the utter subversion and ruin of the same; to prevent which mischiefs, (it being apprehended, that. there is some considerable quantity of corn in the country by divers concealed for their private interests, which if it were pur- chased of the owners and distributed in part among the said sol- diers would be a great satisfaction to them, and consequently a stop to all fears of ensuing mischiefs,) Be it therefore ordered, by the authority of the aforesaid present assembly, that the go- vernor shall have power, by one or more sworn officers thereunto by him appointed, to view and measure every man's corn in the province, and where there shall be more found than sufficient to. suffice that household, that is to say, above two barrels for every head except sucking children, to press the same and deliver it to his lordship's attorney for the soldiers' use, allowing the owners thereof 150 lb. tobacco per barrel at the next crop, or to have so much again restored this year if corn should be brought into the province by trade or any other ways, if they shall desire it, to be recovered of his lordship's attorney; and any one that shall conceal any corn, and not bring all his whole quantity of corn to the officer's view, that then such party shall forfeit the said
* This seems to mean his lordship's attorney in fact-Miss Brent before men- tioned, and not the attorney general of the province.
VOL. II .- 41
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V. corn so concealed to the lord proprietary, and be fined in double the price of the said corn.
1648.
"And it is further ordered, by the authority aforesaid, that the proclamation set forth by the governor, bearing date November 8th, 1647,* concerning the exportation of corn out of the pro- vince, as also the preservation of the increase of the stock of horses, be in full force and power, until it shall be repealed by the said governor."
Two or three other circumstances occurred at this session, illustrative of the constitutional principles of the provincial go- vernment at this period, and therefore deserve to be mentioned.
At the sitting on "Wednesday, the 26th of January, Nicholas Gwyther petitioned to have vote in the house as a freeman of the province .- Mr. Fenwick denyeth it, saying, that he oweth him service."-On Saturday, the 29th of January, the assem- bly took up the consideration of Gwyther's petition, and the fol- lowing entry appears to have been made the result thereof.
"Upon the petition of Nicholas Gwyther the house censured, that they found no service due to Mr. Fenwick from the said Nicholas Gwyther; but, that the product of his labour, over and above his necessary maintenance after war was done, should be coming to Mr. Fenwick; the said Nicholas Gwyther to bring in upon oath a just account into the house, between this and Mon- day morning, to the time that this service expired."
Nothing more appears on the journal relative to the subject ; but we may infer from the terms of the preceding decision or "censure" of the house, as the phrase was in those times, that in case it should appear, that Gwyther was not a servant of Mr. Fenwick, he (Gwyther) would be entitled to a seat and vote in the house. Consequently, that the word freeman was not con- stitutionally synonimous with that of freeholder, but meant any man who was not a servant ; which opinion seems to be conso- nant with that before expressed by the assembly of September, 1642, in the case of Mr. Weston.t
It is at this session also, that Miss Margaret Brent, the re- markable lady before mentioned, made her application to the
*There is some variation here in mentioning the date of this proclamation as above, as being the eighth of November, when the record of the proclamation at large, as before cited, p. 314, states it as of the tenth. The reference above is certainly to the same proclamation before stated as dated the tenth of November. It might have been an error in the clerk who made the original record or who transcribed it into the present book.
t See before, p. 238.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
house of assembly, "to have a vote in the house for herself, CHAP. V. and another as his lordship's attorney. This was refused per- 1648. emptorily by the governor, Greene, and the lady protested in form against all the proceedings of that assembly unless she might be present and vote as aforesaid." *- It will be recollected, as being just before stated, that the "administrator" of Mr. Leon- ard Calvert's estate was adjudged to be the most proper person to act, in the place of Mr. Leonard Calvert deceased, as his lordship's attorney in fact, for the management of his private es- tate within the province. The above incident is additional proof, that Miss Brent was the "administrator" alluded to in that adjudication. As a woman is certainly, by the law of Eng- land, not only unentitled to a vote at an election for members of parliament, but is ineligible to a seat in the house of commons, either in her own personal right or as the representative of any county or borough, it would seem, that governor Greene, or the house for him, as is most probable, decided with great propriety in refusing to Miss Brent a seat and vote in the house of assembly. Not that women in general, or this lady in particular, are or were not endowed with sufficient understanding to perceive and di- rect the true interests of a state, but in popular assemblies there would be an indelicacy in their mingling in the order of debate with the opposite sex ; while at the same time experience in the reign of queen Elizabeth, to whose character that of our Mary- land lady may be aptly compared, has abundantly demonstrated, that monarchical power cannot be more safely lodged than in female hands.
The other and only proceeding of the house of any importance remaining on the journal, not yet mentioned, is a protest, enter- ed on the journal by a large majority, if not the whole, of the members of the house, with their names annexed thereto,f against all the laws" (they were only two in number) "made at the last general assembly of the 29th of December, 1646-7, convened by governor Calvert immediately on his restoration to the go- vernment of the province. The protest was as follows :-
* This fact, as above stated, is taken from Kilty's Landholder's Assist. p. 104. Nothing appears on the journal of the house relative to the matter, or if it does, I have accidentally omitted it in my notes. From Mr. Kilty's authority, which he cites in support of it, "Liber. No. 2, folio 289," it must have been in some other book, than that containing the journal of this session, entitled, "Assembly Proceedings," &c ; perhaps one in the land office.
t It was signed by seventeen members having one hundred and twenty-eight proxies, or voices, besides their own,
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V. "We the freemen assembled in this present general assembly 1648. do declare under our hands, and generally, jointly, and unani- mously protest against all laws which are now pretended to be in force [since] the last general assembly, conceiving that they were not lawfully enacted, for that no summons issued out to all the inhabitants, whereby their appearance was required by law- ful authority .- Witness our hands this 28th January, 1647."
This protest seems to have given much offence to governor Greene; who, accordingly, on the next day, entered his counter protest "against all such undue proceedings :"-as follows:
1
"January 29th, 1647 .- Whereas the freemen assembled in this present general assembly have jointly and unanimously pro- tested against all the laws enacted by the late governor deceased at a general assembly held by him at St. Inigoe's fort, on the 2d of January, 1646, as appears upon record under the hand of John Lewger, esq., secretary of the province, falsely pretending an unlawfulness in the said acts for want of due summoning the freemen of the province by a lawful authority.
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