The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 87

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823
Publication date: 1837
Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver
Number of Pages: 1062

USA > Maryland > The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations > Part 87

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* See these Conditions of Plantation, as mentioned before, p. 375.

+ This " declaration," of 1650, does not now appear on record. But, according to a subsequent declaration of his lordship, dated the 26th of August, 1651, (which see at large in note LXXVIII. at the end of this volume, and before referred to,) that above mentioned, of the 6th of August, 1650, was to express his agree- ment to the alteration of the oath of fidelity, most probably thereby referring to such alteration of that oath as had been made at the then last preceding session of assembly, by the act of 1650, ch. 29, as herein before stated in p. 423.

# These instructions of 1652, (1653, N. S.) though not now upon record, as above stated, yet are evidently those upon which this proclamation above was issued.

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the same. And these are further also, in the said lord proprie- CHAPT. tor's name, and by his special direction and appointment as, VI. aforesaid, to declare and give notice, that in case such person or 1654. persons, so clayming any land due unto them as aforesaid, shall not take the said oath of fidelity, or not sue out their respective patents, or not pay the said arrears and fees respectively as aforesaid within the time aforesaid, they shall be forever after debarred from any right or clayme to the said lands respectively, which (in that case) his lordship's lieutenant here is, by his said lordship's special direction, required to cause to be entered and seized upon to his lordship's use. Given at St. Marie's in the said province of Maryland, the seventh day of February, Anno Dom. 1653 .- William Stone."*

As governor Stone appears to have acted herein entirely in conformity to the instructions of the lord proprietary, and as these instructions, if they were now extant, would not probably exhibit the inducements, operating upon his lordship's mind for embracing this interesting crisis of public affairs in England, in order to enforce the oath of fidelity, so repugnant to the inclina- tions of the Puritans in his colony, it remains for conjecture only, that this very crisis of the affairs of the mother country was most probably the operating cause of this measure, or at least for the choice of this critical period of time. It will be recollected, that the date of these instructions was about two months prior to the dissolution of the long parliament. The Presbyterians, who formed the only powerful party in opposi- tion to the Independents, still existed in considerable force. The former were not averse to royalty, provided they could prevent the renovation of episcopacy. With these, therefore, the third or minor party, termed royalists, or old church, more naturally coalesced; hoping, without doubt, that with the restoration of monarchy, episcopacy would probably follow. But, the Inde- pendents were mostly thorough going republicans; and with these a small party, if they may be so called, of philosophical politicians, usually termed Deists, joined in their reprobation of monarchy.t It was, most probably, owing to these Deists, usually men of acute discernment, disposed to adopt the philoso-

* " Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 293 .- It is published at large also in Kilty's Landholder's Asst. p. 54.

t Of these, Harrington, the celebrated author of the republican treatise entitled Oceana, Harry Martin, and several others are mentioned by Hume, as heads or principal persons.

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CHAPT: phical doctrine of the natural equality of mankind, and there- VI. fore generally the most sincere republicans in their principles, 1654. that the republican party in England at this time, began to en- tertain some jealousy of Cromwell's secret designs. Seeing at once through this affected fanaticism, these philosophical poli- ticians gave the alarm to the republican Independents. To crush at once this embryo opposition to him, Cromwell resolved to give it a death blow by a dissolution of the parliament. This view of the political affairs of England at this period of time seems to develope the only probable motives now to be imputed to lord Baltimore in issuing his instructions, of the 17th of Feb- ruary, 1652-3, to his government in Maryland, for strictly en- forcing the submission of all the inhabitants thereof to his pro- prietary rights. During the contests of these conflicting parties at home, he might naturally have hoped, that the Puritans of his colony would not have been able to raise any effectual oppo- sition to this measure. It is possible also, that the state, (or government of England,) had, prior to the dissolution of the long parliament, given either some decision in favour of his lord- ship or some intimation to him that such would be the event : a supposition, which seems to receive some confirmation from the condition reserved by governor Stone on his reassuming his office, on the 28th of June, 1652, as before stated, to wit, "un- til the pleasure of the state of England be known." The dis- solution of the parliament and the consequent accession of Oliver to the supreme power seem, however, to have given a turn to the politics of the nation, of which his lordship was not perhaps aware.

It would seem also, that governor Stone had received express authority from his lordship, possibly in the same instructions of the 17th of February, 1652-3, not only to require the oath of fidelity from such inhabitants as would obtain grants of land, as just stated, but, contrary to the governor's last agreement with the commissioners for the "reducement," to cause all writs, for the future, to be issued out in his lordship's name as formerly. In pursuance of these instructions, governor Stone, in a few weeks after the preceding proclamation for enforcing the oath of fidelity, issued another, requiring all officers of justice with- in the province, and giving therein particular notice thereof to the commissioners for the isle of Kent county,* to issue out all

* Justices of the peace, before whom county courts were then held, were, in common parlance, called "commissioners."

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writs in every county within the province in his lordship's name. CHAPT. His reasons for the measure are therein stated as follows : VI.

1654.

" By the lieutenant, &c., of Maryland .- Whereas the right honourable the lord Baltimore, lord proprietary of this province of Maryland hath given express charge and command to myself and his other officers of justice to issue out writs within this pro- vince in his lordship's name as formerly, being a proviso grant- ed to him by his patents, whereby sovereign dominion, faith and allegiance, is reserved to the commonwealth of England, and in that respect the making out of writs here, according to his lordship's direction as aforesaid, cannot any ways derogate from our obedience to that commonwealth in chief under God, nor our engagement taken thereto, which we must and ought to be very careful not to infringe .* These are, therefore, to give notice to the commissioners for the isle of Kent county, and to all other officers of justice within this province, whom it may concern, that they are required by his said lordship to issue out all writs in every several county within this province according to his lordship's said direction, who will expect a due compli- ance with his commands therein, as they will answer the con- trary. And further, these are, in his lordship's name, to will and require the said commissioners for the said isle of Kent county, that they be careful, as far as in them lies, by raising of convenient forces for that purpose within the said county, to prevent any mischief from the Indians, of whom, as I under- stand, there is at present great occasion of suspicion .- Given at St. Mary's this 2d day of March, anno domini 1653.

WILLIAM STONE."}

From these two proclamations it appears, that governor Stone had now, in pursuance of his lordship's special instructions, re- solved to relinquish his submission to the commissioners for the "reducement" of Maryland, and for the future to cause all writs to be issued in his lordship's name, as a test of his lordship still being "the true and absolute lord and proprietary of the pro- vince, saving always the faith and allegiance and sovereign do- minion due to"-the commonwealth of England, instead of "to the king and his heirs," as expressed in the charter. Nor did this arrangement infringe upon the test called-the engagement,

* See the form of this engagement, ante, p. 440.

t "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 297.

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CHAPT. which was only, "that the subscriber should be true and faithful VI. to the commonwealth of England, as it is now established, with- 1654. out king or house of lords." To this resolution of the govern- or some of the councillors, at least one of them, appointed by the commissioners for the "reducement," seem to have acceded, as appears from the following :- "Memorandum, that upon the 11th day of February, 1653, Mr. Job Chandler took the oath of a councillor to the lord proprietary, which was administered unto him by me his lordship's secretary,-Thomas Hatton."* It is probable, that the oath of a councillor, prescribed by his lordship, and annexed to his last commission of the council, dat- ed August 12th, 1648, had been considered as annulled and abrogated by the "reducement," and reappointment thereon of the governor and council, on the 28th of June, 1652. But, as his lordship and his governor had now resolved, that things should be reinstated as they were prior to the reducement, it be- came necessary that the councillors should qualify themselves again under their former oath. This oath unluckily contained a clause, wherein he, who took it, swore, that he would not di- rectly or indirectly molest or discountenance any person in the province professing to believe in Jesus Christ, and in particular no Roman Catholic, for or in respect of his religion. This, in the language of the Puritans, "was in plain words to counte- nance and uphold anti-Christ;"} and hence, as from fresh fuel, blazed forth the civil war and bloodshed in the province, which shortly ensued.

Although Mr. Chandler appears to have remained faithful as a councillor to lord Baltimore, yet there is record-evidence of the disaffection of one other of the council, (colonel Francis Yardley,) who had been appointed by the commissioners for the "reducement." He was charged with "contemptuous carriage and demeanor towards the government here under the lord pro- prietary." It is probable, that he was averse to the proposed change and return to a proprietary government. He was, more- over, further accused with "very probable suspicion of an in- tention in him, in some private manner, to remove his estate out of the province, and to leave his debts and engagements here unsatisfied." The record, here referred to, appears in the na- ture of a writ issued out of the provincial court, "by the lieu-

* "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 296.

t See the oath in note (LXIII.) at the end of this volume.

# Caleb Strong's pamphlet, entitled, "Baylon's Fall in Maryland," &c.

sł tl b b

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tenant," &c., that is, the governor, directed to three persons CHAPT. therein named, requiring them, in case the said colonel Yardley VI. shall endeavour or attempt to remove his said estate, or any part 1654. thereof, out of this province, before he be first licensed thereto by the government here in an orderly way, that they use their best endeavours to hinder or prevent him from so doing, by mak- ing stoppage thereof, and securing of in their possessions, till upon notice thereof to be given to the lieutenant or the provin- cial court here, they receive further order or direction herein."- Dated, 20th day of March, 1653 .* Whatever connection might have existed between this proceeding and colonel Yardley's disaffection to lord Baltimore, yet, if the fact was established by testimony, as it appears from the record of this case to have been, by a deposition "taken in open court," that he was about to eloin his property out of the province and beyond the reach of his creditors, the common law authorized the writ of ne exeat provinciam in such case; but this writ more properly per- haps appertains to a court of chancery, and as governor Stone was, by his commission, chancellor of the province, as well as chief justice of the provincial court, it is possible, that it might have been ordered by him in the former capacityt.

During the short existence of the power, now assumed by governor Stone, of acting solely in the name of lord Baltimore, and not in the name of the keepers of the liberty of the com- monwealth of England, as had been appointed by Bennett and Clayborne, in 1652, several acts and proceedings of the provin- cial government took place, prior to its second "reducement" in July of this year, which it would be improper to pass over un- noticed. They will be briefly mentioned here in their natural order of time.

In the early part of the present year, governor Stone granted The early a written license, bearing date, March 18th, 1653-4, to a cer- about the contests tain Thomas Adams, "with his vessel to trade or traffic with lands on those of the Swedish nation in Delaware bay, or in any part of ware. .the Dela- this province, not being enemies to the commonwealth of Eng- land; as also, with any Indians on the eastern shore of the bay of Chesapeake within this province, not in open hostility with the inhabitants here."# So far as this license related to a traffic

* "Council Proceedings from 1636, to 1657," p. 297.

t See this subject discussed more at large in note (D.) in the introduction to this history already published.

# "Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 298.

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CHAPT. with any Indians of this province, it must have been founded on VI. the act of assembly of 1650, before stated, entitled, "an act 1654. concerning trade with the Indians," which was thereby pro- hibited without such license ;* but why such license was neces- sary for the purpose of trading with the Swedes settled on the Delaware, especially as no war then subsisted between the English commonwealth and the Swedish nation, as then did be- tween the former and the Dutch, who had also settlements on the Delaware, does not clearly appear; unless a general power to regulate all trade, carried on by the inhabitants of the province with any neighbouring colony, should have been deemed to ap- pertain to the prerogative powers of the lord proprietary. It is possible, that the restriction in this license,-"not being ene- mies to the commonwealth of England,"-might have been purposely inserted to guard against any trade or communication with any Swedes, who might then have been in subjection to or within any Dutch settlements on the Delaware; for, at this time, there seems to have been no definite limits or boundaries to those little spots of territory on that bay and river, of which these two nations were now, or had been for some years, alternately pos- sessing and dispossessing each other. This leads us to recog- nize some of the events, which occurred between these two na- tions in their contests with each other for a territory then right- fully and truly a part of the province of Maryland. It will be recollected, that we have before deduced the disputes between the Dutch and Swedes, as well as the claims of our northern friends-the New Haven settlers, in relation to their respective settlements on the Delaware, as low down as to the end of the year 1643.} The Swedes had, within a few years after their first arrival in the Delaware, which was in the year 1627, built several forts, around each of which probably several settlements had been formed, as at a place called by them Elsingburg, situ- ated near Salem in New Jersey on the east side of the river, and at that now called Chester in Pennsylvania; but their principal forts, which they erected in the year 1631, were-one on an island in the Delaware, which they called Tenecum, situated about sixteen miles above New Castle, where governor Printz erected his palace or government house, and another at the con- fluence of the Brandywine and Christina creeks, where a town was laid out by them and a settlement attempted. Of these

*See before, p. 397.

t Ante, p. 205, and 261.

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small portions of territory they appear to have remained in quiet CHAPT. possession for some years; but in 1645 one of these forts, most VI. probably that between the Brandywine and Christina, was burnt 1654. with all its buildings, and all their powder and goods therein were blown up .*

The Dutch also still persevered in their endeavours to estab- lish settlements on the Delaware; and in the year 1650 they first erected a trading house or fortification on that low point of land, where or near which the present little town called New- Castle in the state of Delaware now stands, called by the Dutch Niewar Amstel.+ Against this measure, it seems, Printz, the governor of the Swedes on the Delaware, made a formal pro- test ; but the Dutch proceeded on their design, and their gover- nor, of the name of Hudde, who was appointed to rule over this trading settlement, soon after made a purchase from a nation of Indians, called the Minquaas, of a considerable tract of country to the north and south of the present town of New-Castle. The deed was dated, July 19th, 1651, and the territory ceded was described therein, as follows :- "beginning at the west side of the Minquaa or Christina kiln, (in the Indian language, named Suspecough,) to the mouth of the bay, or river, called Bompt- hook, in the Indian language-Canaressa; and so far inland as the bounds and limits of the Minquaa's land, with all the streams, &c., appurtenances and dependencies." In stating this settle- ment and purchase by the Dutch, it has been very justly remark- by a learned annalist,¿ that, "from this transaction alone we may infer, that no colony had hitherto been settled," that is, by the Dutch on the Delaware, "and that the possession of all parties," (the Dutch, Swedes, and English,) "was recent and unsubstan- tial." This corresponds with what has been remarked by ano-

* Holmes's Annals, sub anno 1645; who cites Hubbard's MS.

+ Although Smith, in his Hist. of New York, has expressly stated, that the Dutch built their fort at Niewar Amstel in the year 1651, from whom Chalmers and other writers have copied it, yet as the Dutch ambassadors or messengers, (Augustine Heerman and Resolved Waldron, ) in their manifesto delivered to the government of Maryland, dated October 6th, 1659, expressly state, "that the towne and forte-New Amstell was erected in the year 1650, the governor gene- rall and councell having thought good to remove the forte Nassaw, which had been built in the year 1623, about fifteen leagues up the river on the eastern shore," (said to be near Glocester in New Jersey, ) their allegation is here follow- ed, as being more authentic than that of the historian of New York. See the record book in the council chamber of Maryland, entitled, "Council, H H. 1656 to 1668," p. 43.

# Chalmers's Annals, p. 632.

VOL. II .- 61

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CHAPT. ther writer-that the early Dutch settlers on the Delaware "made VI. little or no improvement, applying themselves wholly to traffique 1654. in skins and furs, till near the time of the wars between Eng- land and them;" that is, to about the present period of time, of which we are now treating. The same writer adds :- "after them came the Swedes and Fins, who applied themselves to hus- bandry, and were the first christian people that made any con- siderable improvement there."* It is possible, that the reason, why this deed of purchase bounded its northern limits by the Christina creek, was, that the Swedes were then in possession of the peninsula between the Christina and the Brandywine. But the inland extent of this Indian purchase was evidently indefi- nite and uncertain. On the opposite side of the peninsula -the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, there were other tribes of In- dians in the occupation of territories, perhaps equally extensive into the interior, so as to reduce those of the Minquaas to a very narrow slip on the Delaware. The right of the Minquaas to sell these lands seems also rather exceptionable; being most probably founded only on the right of conquest, and not of posses- sion. It is stated, by a well informed writer,t that "all that part of Pennsylvania, which is watered, below the range of the Kittatinny mountains, by the rivers or streams falling into the De- laware, and the county of New Castle in the State of Delaware, as Duck creek," was originally occupied by a nation or tribe of Indians called by themselves Lenopi, by the French Loups, and by the English Delawares .; This nation, (the Delawares,) was divided into five tribes, one of which, called the Chihohocki, dwelt on the west side of the river now called the Delaware, but by them called the Chihohocki. It appears from this, that the

* See a small History of Pennsylvania and West New Jersey, (p. 3,) by Ga- briel Thomas, who, as he himself has stated in this book, was one of the first adventurers among the Quakers to settle Pennsylvania, in the ship called the John and Sarah, in the year 1681, and resided there about fifteen yaars. Much the same is stated by William Penn, in one of his letters from Pennsylvania, dated August 16th, 1683. See Proud's Hist. of Pennsylvania, vol. i. p. 260.

+ Mr. Charles Thompson, in his Notes on Jefferson's Notes .- See the appen- dix to the latter, note 5.

# It would appear from "Heckewelder's Indian History," lately published in vol. i. of Transactions of the Amer. Philos. Society at Philadelphia, that the Delaware Indians, occupying Pennsylvania and a part of the Delaware State, prior to the settlement thereof by Europeans, were only a tribe of a great nation called the Lenopi, (or Lenni Lenape, as he writes it,) who came from beyond the Mississippi, and peopled all the Atlantic coast from the Hudson to the Po- towmack.

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country, ceded by the aforesaid deed from the Minquaas to the CHAPT. Dutch, had, prior to this deed, belonged to the aforesaid tribe VI. called Chihohocki-a tribe of the Delawares. The right of the 1654. Minquaas to make sale of this territory may perhaps be account- ed for, by supposing, that these Minquaas were in reality one and the same nation of Indians as that called the Mingoes, by the French called Iroquois, by the English the Five Nations, but by the southern Indians, at the time of Smith's exploration of the Chesapeake in 1608, the Massawomecks. The similarity of sound seems to justify the supposition, that these Minquaas, and the na- tion called Maquaas, were one and the same, and it is certain, that the Indians called by the Dutch, Maquaas, were the Mingoes or Five Nations .* If the Minquaas had any right to make the afore- said deed to the Dutch, it must have been the right of conquest ; for, it is stated by one of the writers before cited, t that the Lenopi or Delawares, including the Chihohocki, as we may suppose, had been conquered by the Mingoes, prior to the arrival of Wil- liam Penn's colony, which was in the year 1682 .¿ It is proba- ble, that this conquest might have taken place prior to this deed from the Minquaas to the Dutch, dated in the year 1651; for, we understand, as before stated, that the Massawomecks or Min- goes, or Minquaas, or Mengwes, (importing the same nation,) were extending their conquests southward as early as Smith's exploration of the Chesapeake in 1608. Thus, the right of con- quest might render the deed valid, so far as a purchase from the

* See the account of the Maquaas Indians, by John Megalopensis, jr., in Haz- ard's Collections, vol. i. p. 517 ;- Smith's Hist. of N. York, p. 47 ;- and Proud's Hist. of Pennsylvania, vol. 2. p. 296. It is probable, that both the appellations -Mingoes and Maquaas were corruptions of that of Mengwe, given by Hecke -- welder, before cited, as the original name of the Iroquois, or Five Nations ; who, as he says, came from the west, beyond the Mississippi, about the same time that the Lenape did.

¿ Mr. Charles Thompson, ibid.

# But this conquest, according to Heckewelder, (before cited, ) was not by force, but by treachery ; the Mengwe persuaded the Lenape or Delawares to as- sume the pacific character of women. But this supposition seems to savour too much of the passive-obedient and non-resisting principles of the United Breth- ren. It`is more probable, that, agreeable to the warlike character of the Mas- sawomecks or Iroquois, they conquered the Lenape and their several tribes by force. The account, which Smith has given of them, when he first explored the Chesapeake, corresponds with this. They were thorns in the sides of the Manahoaes and Powhatans of Virginia, and had, before that time, driven the Susquehanocks out of Pennsylvania into Maryland. According to Colden, in his history of them, they overran a great part of North America, carrying their arms as far south as Carolina, to the northward of New England, and as far west as the Mississippi.

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The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 87

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823 Publication date: 1837 Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver Number of Pages: 1062

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823
Publication date: 1837
Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver
Number of Pages: 1062