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 76
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¿ This means coming up the bay of Chesapeake from Virginia.
§ See the note (LXIX.) before cited at the end of this volume.
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CHAP. V. and, (which is more than can be hoped for from some of these 1649. men,) kept it. As to the government there, they knew it very well before they came thither; and, if they had not liked it, they might have forborne coming or staying there; for they were never forced to either. The chief officers, under my lord, there, are Protestants. The jurisdiction exercised there by them is no other than what is warranted by his lordship's patent of that pro- vince, which gives him the power and privileges of a count pala- tine there, depending on the supreme authority of England, with power to make laws with the people's consent; without which powers and privileges his lordship would not have undertaken that plantation, and have been at so great a charge, and run so many hazards as he hath done for it." "There are none there sworn to uphold anti-Christ, as Mr. Strong falsely suggests; nor doth the oath of fidelity bind any man to maintain any other ju- risdiction or dominion of my lord's, than what is granted by his patent. Though some of these people (it seems) thinke it unfit that my lord should have such a jurisdiction and dominion there, yet they, it seems, by their arrogant and insolent proceedings, thinke it fit for them to exercise farre more absolute jurisdiction and dominion there than my lord Baltimore ever did; nor are they contented with freedome for themselves of conscience, per- son and estate, (all of which are establisht to them by law there and enjoyed by them in as ample manner as ever any people did in any place in the world,) unless they may have the liberty to de- barr others from the like freedome, and that they may domineere and doe what they please."
Although these people had thus, with the permission of the lord proprietary's government, seated themselves within the pro- vince of Maryland, in the year 1649, yet it does not appear, that they immediately thereon subjected themselves to the proprietary government at St. Mary's; inasmuch as no organization of any civil government under the authority of the lord proprietary appears to have taken place over them until the next year. The place or spot on the Severn-the peninsula or neck of land, whereon Annapolis now stands, where they are supposed to have first settled, was probably uninhabited by any Europeans before their arrival ; and, thus secluded from the rest of the in- habitants of the province, it is probable, that, according to the usage of the congregational church of New England, a branch of which church they were, a sort of hierarchical government
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
was established by them, similar to that which had been practis- CHAP. V. ed by the first colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Con- 1649. necticut. This sort of government, in the experience of those colonies just mentioned, was amply sufficient to supply the want of civil government, where the colony consisted of not much more than a hundred persons, as that of Providence in Maryland. No tyrant could be more arbitrary and despotic than a ruling elder of a congregational church. "No matters of weight or moment, whether of a religious or civil nature, were determined without their advice, and a formal reference to them. Matters offensive to the church, regularly, were first brought to the ruling elder in private, but might not otherwise be told to the church ; and in church discipline, and indeed in some mea- sure in their church service, he appears to have sat with the minister or teacher, and to have been co-ordinate with him in ecclesiastical power. They were considered, without doors, as men for advice and counsel in religious matters ; they visited the sick, and had a general inspection and oversight of the con- duct of their brethren."* The energy of such a hierarchy may be evidently inferred. It not only took cognizance of the mi- nutest deviation from moral deportment, but pervaded even the recesses of thought and mind. Obstinacy, idleness, and " light- carriage," were among the civil offences punishable under their abominable jurisprudence; which they professed to copy from the Mosaic code. As Mr. Durand was the elder of this church in Virginia, and came into Maryland with them, we may sup- pose him to have still continued in that capacity ; and, being under such a government of their own, there could be no wonder that they never heartily assented to submit to the dominion of lord Baltimore, whom they considered as anti-Christ.
Neither does it appear, that any grants of lands or territory were made to these people, either collectively or individually, - either prior to or subsequent to their arrival in Maryland, until the latter end of July, 1650, when also their settlement was organized as a county under a commander and commissioners of the peace, as the isle of Kent had been before. This circum- stance, however, might possibly be attributed to several causes, which must have operated over the whole province for some years before this period. The loss of the great seal of the pro- vince, taken away by Ingle or Clayborne in 1644, had prevented
* Hutchinson's Hist, of Massachusetts, vol. 1, p. 374,
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CHAP. V. any grants of lands from being made, at least for a considerable 1649. period of time, if not until the lord Baltimore had sent in a new seal, in the year 1648, as before mentioned. In the mean time, his lordship's power and authority over his province had been so shaken by Ingle's and Clayborne's rebellion, as it is called, as also by the great revolution of affairs in the mother country, that few "adventurers," it seems, would put themselves to the trou- ble or expense of taking up lands within the province, or at least of applying for grants thereof; especially as a strong con- jecture was then afloat, that his lordship would infallibly be soon deprived of his province. These inferences may be obviously drawn, not only from the concomitant circumstances of the times, but from a proclamation issued by governor Stone, on the twelfth of April of this year, (1649,) wherein, after stating the loss of the great seal and his receipt of a new one, he requires all persons then resident within the province, or within the colony of Virginia, or elsewhere, who pretended any right to any lands due unto them within the province, by virtue of any conditions of plantation, or any other warrant, under his lord- ship's hand and seal at any time before the 17th of March then last past, should, on or before the times therein specified, come and make their right appear and demand grants ; under the pen- alty of being refused their grants thereafter ; his lordship having by such offers performed his conditions on his part. At the ex- piration of the time therein limited and specified, another pro- clamation was issued by the governor, bearing date the 30th of October of this year, 1649, giving further day to the persons described in the former proclamation, to wit, until the 25th of March then next following, for the purpose of obtaining grants, as before mentioned ; assigning as a reason therefor, that divers of the inhabitants, who came within the preceding description, could not attend the surveys of their lands by the time limited, without great damage to be by them incurred by leaving their crops. Again also, on the 25th of March, 1650, another procla- mation was issued, reciting the two former, giving further day, for the same purpose, to the same persons, until Michaelmas day next ensuing, (which was on the 29th day of September then next following,) assigning as a reason therefor, that the persons before described pretended, that they had no notice of the for- mer proclamations. This proclamation now issued, on the said 25th of March, 1650, was however declared therein to be per-
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emptory notice, final and binding .* These proclamations strong- CHAP. V. ly indicate the general opinion, which appears to have been now 1649. prevalent within the province, and perhaps elsewhere, of the pre- carious continuance of the lord proprietary's government over the province, and consequently of his right to make grants of lands therein. Planters and "adventurers," who had obtained warrants for tracts of land, probably flattered themselves, that by a little patience and neglect in taking out grants, they would speedily be relieved from any rents to be claimed by his lordship.
In connexion with this subject, the grants of lands, it will be New con- proper to mention here, that his lordship had thought it proper plantation, ditions of to issue this year new conditions of plantation, bearing date the and grants second day of July, 1649, with a commission of the same date of lands. annexed thereto ; which conditions and commission must have arrived within the province towards the latter end of the sum- mer of this year. The reasons, inducing his lordship to this measure, are not very apparent. The only one assigned in the commission is, that he was informed that the conditions of 1648, before stated, "were not like to give sufficient encouragement to many to adventure and plant there." The principal alterations seem to be in the increase of the size of the manors to be grant- ed, to wit, three thousand acres for every thirty persons trans- ported into the province, instead of two thousand for every twen- ty, and for a lesser number of persons one hundred acres for every individual instead of fifty, as by the former conditions of 1648. The obnoxious clause in the former, requiring every grantee, before he could have the benefit of a grant, to take the oath of fidelity, "hereunder specified," as expressed in the con- ditions, was still renewed or continued in these last conditions of 1649 ; but whether the oath now required was the same as that annexed to the former conditions, does not appear .?
In further illustration of the mode of colonizing the province at this period of time, some mention also may be made of a com- mission to Robert Brooke, esqr., bearing date September 20th, 1649 ; which commission, from the tenor of it, appears to have emanated immediately from his lordship in England,# and not
* See these several proclamations at large in Kilty's Landholder's Assistant, p. 44, 51, 52.
t The conditions, and commission thereto annexed, of 1649, are recorded in " Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 220, and are published at large in Kulty's Landh. Assistant, p. 45 ; but I did not perceive in the record any copy of an oath of fidelity " thereunder specified."
+ The conditions of plantation, and commission thereto annexed, of July 2d, 1649, just before referred to, are both dated, as "given at London." From which
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V. issued, as usual, by his lieutenant general in the province. The 1649. preamble of it recites, that-" Whereas our trusty and well be- loved Robert Brooke, esqr. doth, this next summer's expedition,* intend to transport himself, his wife, eight sons, and family, and a great number of other persons, into our said province, &c., there to erect, make, and settle a considerable plantation," &c. The commission then proceeds,-" We appoint him the said Robert Brooke to be commander under us, &c., and our lieuten- ant, &c. of one whole county within our said province to be newly set forth, erected, &c., round about and next adjoining to the place he shall so settle and plant in. Provided, that the said county and place of settlement, &c. do not extend into or in- trench upon any county or counties already nominated, &c. ; and that the said county be allotted, set out, and apportioned, by such a quantity and number of miles, and such extent and cir- cumference of ground, as other counties in our said province, or as counties in Virginia, are usually allotted and extended."} The commission then "grants unto him all such honors, digni- ties, privileges, fees, perquisites, profits and immunities, as are belonging to the said place and office of commander of the said county, and as are used and enjoyed by other commanders of the county of the isle of Kent, or any other county in the said pro- vince." In the same manner as in the commission before men- tioned to Mr. Robert Vaughan, which constituted him comman- der of the isle of Kent, Mr. Brooke is authorised by his commis- sion also, to choose six or more of the inhabitants of his said county, "with whom he shall advise and consult in all matters of importance," to be appointed by the governor, conservators of the peace, &c., and with him to hear and determine all mat- ters criminal, which may be heard and determined by justices of peace in England, and all civil causes (with the advice of the commissioners) not exceeding £10 sterling .¿ There appears to
we may infer, that his lordship, though a Roman Catholic, now stood so well with the ruling powers of England, after the death of the king, that he could with safety venture to reside in London.
* This must have meant, in the course of the summer of 1650.
t This seems to corroborate the suggestion, herein before made, that the laying out of counties within the province, was deemed rather within the executive pow- ers of his lordship's "royal jurisdiction," as count palatine of the province, than a subject of legislative interposition. Hence few of the counties within the pro- vince appear to have been erected by acts of assembly. This will more clearly appear, when we come to remark on the act of 1650, for the erection of Ann- Arundel county.
# "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 232.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
have been a separate commission to him also, of the same date, CHAP. V. to be one of the council in the province. As his name frequent- 1649. ly occurs in subsequent documents, he must have emigrated to the province according to his agreement, and probably with his "eight sons" and family :- a handsome contribution from his own loins towards increasing the population of a new colony ; and, from a subsequent document, (herein after to be stated,) it appears, that an order was made on the 21st of November, 1650, for erecting some part of the south side of Patuxent river into a county, by the name of Charles county, of which Mr. Brooke was made commander. He was probably a Puritan, of some note, if we may judge from the favour he found with them in the "reducement"' of the province in the year 1652. It would seem from this, to have been lord Baltimore's policy at this time to get influential men of that party to settle in his province, un- der a hope that they would support his rights therein.
About this time governor Stone, having "occasion to be ab- Mr.Greene sent out of the province," most probably on a visit to his friends appointed governor, and estate in Northampton county, in Virginia, appointed, in vir- in the ab- tue of his commission in such case, "Thomas Greene, esqr. to be governor sence of lieutenant general in his absence, and in case of his refusal Mr. Stone. Thomas Hatton his lordship's secretary."* Mr. Greene, after he had been displaced from the office of governor, as has been before stated, was the first named councillor in the commission of the council. From the cautious expression above, "in case of his refusal," it might be inferred, that some doubts existed, whether he would serve as governor or not, after being dismissed without sufficient cause, as he might naturally suppose. It ap- pears, however, that he consented to act, and his name, as lieu- tenant general of the province, is affixed to one or two public documents within a month or two afterwards ; one of which, on account of its then interesting importance to every inhabitant of the province, requires to be mentioned.
Immediately or within a day or two after the late king Charles Charles the the first had been beheaded, (January 30th last, ) the house of commons passed an act or ordinance,-"That no person what- king. soever should presume to declare Charles Stuart, son of the late Charles, commonly called the prince of Wales, or any other per- son, to be king, or chief magistrate of England, or Ireland, or
* This appointment appears, as an entry on the proceedings of the council, and not by commission ; and bears date September 20th, 16-19, signed William Stone .- " Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 242.
VOL. II .- 48
f second proclaimed
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V. of any dominions belonging thereunto, by colour of inheritance, 1649. succession, election, or any other claim whatsover ; and that whoever, contrary to this act, presume to proclaim, &c., should be deemed and adjudged a traytor, and suffer accordingly."* The parliament of Scotland, however, proceeded somewhat different- ly, and within about a week after the death of the late king, (February 5th,) published a proclamation, wherein they proclaim- ed and declared, "that Charles, prince of Scotland and Wales, was, by the providence of God, and by the lawful right of un- doubted succession, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland;" but to this they added the following declaration by way of pro- viso :- " that before he be admitted to the exercise of his royal power, he shall give satisfaction to the kingdom, in those things that concern the security of religion, the unity betwixt the king- doms, and the good and peace of this kingdom, according to the national covenant, and the solemn league and covenant."} The commissioners of the kirk also made their declaration, " that he should, first sign the covenant, submit to the kirk's cen- sure, renounce the sins of his father's house, and the iniquity of his mother."} About the same time also, the prince of Wales, being then at the Hague and receiving the news of his father's death, assumed the title of king. In Ireland, the marquis of Ormond, appointed by the late king lord lieutenant of that king- dom, and still continuing to act so, as soon as he received infor- mation of the late king's death, immediately caused the prince of Wales to be proclaimed king, in all places subject to his au- thority ; but, although the portion of Ireland over which he had authority seems to have been at this time but very confined, com- prehending only the southern and eastern parts of Leinster, yet, in the acknowledgment of the royal succession in the prince of Wales, he seems to have been joined by all the moderate Roman Catholics of Munster and the southern parts of Ireland, who had been, ever since the year 1642, almost exclusively governed by
* Clarendon's Hist. (fol. edit.) p. 570 ;- who calls it a proclamation ; but in Rapin's Hist. it is called an act. There was probably first an act passed by the house, as above, and then a proclamation published reciting that act. All exe- cutive as well as legislative business was now vested in the house of commons ; at least, until they appointed the council of state.
t This "solemn league and covenant" expressly required the abolition of Episcopacy, the preservation of the church of Scotland, and the bringing the churches of all the three kingdoms to a uniformity ; in other words, to establish Presbyterianism.
: # The " iniquity of his mother," we must suppose to have been Popery.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
"the supreme council of the confederate Catholics of Ireland," CHAP. V. who sat at Kilkenny, and with which council the marquis had 1649. then lately (in December, 1648,) concluded a treaty, very much to the satisfaction of the Catholics, as it well might be, for they were thereby left, not only to the free and secure exercise of their religion, but in some measure also under their own civil govern- ment. In the north, however, in Ulster, Owen O'Neale, who was said to have been a descendant of one of the old aboriginal Irish kings, kept a considerable portion of the more virulent Catholics under his banners ; and, being encouraged therein, by the Pope's nuncio-Rinuncini, who had, by his arrogant, posi- tive and dictatorial manner, so offended the members of the su- preme council, that they excluded him from any communication with them, this Irish chieftain of the north refused to acknow- ledge the prince of Wales as lawful successor ; and, what ex- hibited a considerable want of principle in him, chose rather to join with colonel Michael Jones, who commanded in Dublin, under the English parliamentarians. He had, however, private- ly sent word to the king, that if he could be included in the act of oblivion, allowed liberty of conscience, employed in his ma- jesty's army, and advanced to the dignity of an earl, he would submit to acknowledge him as king. As the accommodation, which Jones had made with O'Neale, was not approved of by the English Puritans, O'Neale soon became disgusted with his new friends, and subsequently, before the expiration of this year, joined the rest of the Catholics of Ireland in the acknowledgment of the royal succession.3
Whether this conduct of the majority of the Irish Catholics had any influence on those of Maryland, we are not able posi- tively to determine ; but, it is probable, that, together with the loyalty of Virginia, t it might have had some influence in induc- ing Mr. Greene, who was now governor of Maryland, in the absence of governor Stone, and who appears to have been him- self a Roman Catholic,¿ to cause the prince of Wales to be
* Leland's Hist. of Ireland, vol. iii. pp. 290, 355.
t Although Virginia remained loyal to Charles the second after the death of his father, through the means of Sir William Berkeley's influence, until it was "re- duced" by the Puritans in 1652, yet I do not find it mentioned any where, that Charles the second was proclaimed there. It is most probable, however, that he was, inasmuch as he was acknowledged there to be king.
į Mr. Greene's name is not in the list of Protestants, who subscribed the " declaration and certificate" of the 17th of April, 1650, hereafter stated; as it would most probably have been, had he been a Protestant,-he being then resi- dent in the province, and one of the council.
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAP. V. proclaimed in Maryland, "the undoubted rightful heir to all his 1649. father's dominions;"-which was done on the 15th of Novem- ber of this year, 1649; and which was accompanied, as usual on such occasions, with another proclamation of the same date, "to further the common rejoicing of the inhabitants upon that occasion," as it is therein expressed, declaring a general pardon to all the inhabitants of the province for every offence before committed .* We shall see hereafter this bold proceeding of our governor, in the face of the parliamentary act of treason just stated, assigned as one of the strongest reasons, why Maryland required "reducement" more than any other colony, and why lord Baltimore, a Catholic, should be deprived of his government of the province. We may suppose, however, that our new colony of Puritans, just settled on the Severn, did not cause its shores to re-echo with their "rejoicings" on this occasion.
Governor Stone re- turns and convenes the assem- bly.
1650.
Our documents furnish us with no further occurrences of the year 1649, ending, according to new style, on the last day of December. But in January of the succeeding year, 1650, ac- cording to modern computation, governor Stone having returned to the province and resumed the functions of his office, thought it proper to convene the legislature of the Province. He, for that purpose, issued his proclamation, directed to the sheriff of St. Mary's county ; which, as it unfolds in itself some of the constitutional principles, upon which a new modification of the provincial legislature was now about to take place at this session, may be properly inserted here at large.
" By the Lieutenant General, &c. of Maryland.
"PROCLAMATION .- Whereas the manner of summoning as- semblies within this province is wholly left to the lord proprie- tary's discretion, these are therefore in his lordship's name, and according to his directions, to will and require you without delay to give notice to all the freemen of St. Mary's county, that they are to appear personally at Saint Mary's, the 2d day of April next, or else by proxies and delegates, so as no one freeman so appearing have above two proxies besides his own voice ;} or, that forthwith after such notice the freemen of every hundred within the said county make choice of burgesses within
* See these proclamations at large in note (LXXIV.) at the end of this volume. t The multiplicity of proxies, which some members brought at some of the preceding sessions of assembly, was repugnant to the practice of the house of lords in England, from which the privilege was copied; as has been before ob- served.
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every such hundred, in manner following, viz .- that all the free- CHAP. V. men of St. Clement's hundred, or the major part of them, make 1650. choice of one of the freemen of the said hundred for their bur- gess ; that all the freemen of New-town hundred, or the major part of them, choose two or three of the freemen of that hundred for their burgesses ; that all the freemen of St. George's hun- dred, or the major part of them, choose one or two of the free- men of that hundred for their burgess or burgesses ; that all the freemen of Saint Mary's hundred, or the major part of them, choose one of the freemen of that hundred for their burgess ;* that all the freemen of St. Inigoe's hundred, or the major part of them, choose one or two of the freemen of that hundred for their burgess or burgesses; and that all the freemen of St. Michael's hundred, or the major part of them, make choice of one or two of the freemen of that hundred for their burgess or burgesses ; who are to assemble themselves at the time and place aforesaid, to adjudge and consult with the rest of the assembly then and there to meet, about the weighty affairs and for the public good of this province; Provided, that the freemen of every of the said hundreds, or the major part of them, respec- tively do agree together in one of the two ways of assembling themselves last mentioned ; or otherwise they are all of them hereby required to appear personally, and not their proxies or delegates or burgesses, at the time and place, and for the pur- pose, before expressed; and for the Pur-,t to give them particular notice ; and herein you are not to fail at your peril, as also to make return hereof at the time and place aforesaid.
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