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 94
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* Chalmers's Annals, p. 224.
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CHAPT. former was most probably an illiterate fanatic, who busied him- VI. self too much about religion, as may be inferred from the protec- 1656. tor's reproof to him before mentioned .* It may be further re- marked, that this order of prohibition to the governor and coun- cil of Virginia must have indicated to them strong symptoms, that the ancient dominion was not to recover its supposed lost territory of Maryland ; and seems to have been regarded by the assembly of Virginia, which sat in October, 1656, with all that respect and attention, which the orders of Oliver generally in- spired. This assembly must have supposed, that their agents- Bennett and Matthews, then in England, were insufficient to sup- port their sinking cause with the protector and his council, for, " at this session, on the fifteenth of October, 1656, they came to the resolution of sending another agent to England, and accord- ingly appointed Mr. Edward Digges, who was then the governor of Virginia,-"a worthy person," as they say in their letter of credence to his highness,-"whose occasions calling him into England, we have instructed him with the state of this place as he left it." A part of the "instructions," now drawn up for Mr. Digges by the assembly, was, that "he was to assure his high- ness, that, according to his letter, they had not interested them- selves in the business betwixt Maryland-t and have been unconcerned in their quarrel from the beginning until this time, and so shall continue according to his highness's direction in that letter."}
* Chalmers, (in his Annals, p. 224,) remarks,-that " the deputies of the pro- tector in Maryland,"-(meaning Bennett and Clayborne,) "seem neither to have been men of much political knowledge, nor extremely attentive to the punctu- alities of duty ; and the protector had expressly "commanded" them, as he states in another place, "not to busy themselves about religion.
t This blank appears to have been so in the record ; and seems to have meant "betwixt Maryland" and the Puritans there settled.
į The letters of the assembly to his highness and Mr. Secretary Thurloe, as also the " instructions" to Mr. Digges, are given at large by Burk, in his Hist. of Virginia, (vol. ii. p. 116,) and therein expressed as-"Dated from the assem- bly of Virginia, 15th December, 1656." But, it is remarkable, that one of these same documents, to wit, the letter to secretary Thurloe, is published also in Hazard's Collections, (vol, i. p. 632,) apparently with more accuracy ; wherein it is thus dated, " The assembly of Virginia, 15th October, 1656." The copy in Hazard's Collections purports to have been taken from " Thurloe's State Papers, vol. v. p. 497, A. D. 1656." That in Burk's Hist. was most probably taken from the records of Virginia. One of the dates must be erroneous. It is probable, that the letter to Mr. Thurloe himself, and published by him, is the more accu- rate one. The History of Virginia by Burk, is full of such blunders, and betrays the national foible of that historian. 'He seems to have been too much enamour- ed with his own supposed talents for fine writing, to have attended to dates; and
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The report of the commissioners for trade, however favourable CHAPT. to lord Baltimore, was nevertheless not yet ratified by Cromwell VI.
1656. and his council, and therefore not obligatory upon the opposite The agents party. We see them, consequently, still labouring with inde- Bennett fatigable zeal against a restoration of lord Baltimore to his pro- and Mat- thews, per-
prietary rights. On the tenth of October, within less than a severe in month after the date of the report, we find the agents-Messrs. opposition Bennett and Matthews, then in England, continuing their in- ship. veterate opposition to lord Baltimore, by drawing up a paper en- titled, "Objections against lord Baltimore's patent, and reasons why the government of Maryland should not be put in his hands;"-which they enclosed in a letter to Mr. Secretary Thur- loe, to be presented by him to his highness the protector. After making the old stale objection to the lord proprietary's patent, on account of Clayborne's prior settlement of the isle of Kent, they proceed to a variety of other objections and reasons, here- in before frequently remarked upon, the substance and burthen of which seem to have been, that, if lord Baltimore was restor- ed to his proprietary government, "Papists would bear rule over the free born subjects of the English nation." This paper contest, before the protector and his council, seems to have been carried on by the agents for some considerable time during the remainder of the year 1656, possibly with reciprocal answers on the part of lord Baltimore, of which last, however, we have no record or copies. The documents, on the part of the agents, seem to have been preserved by Mr. Secretary Thurloe, and pub- lished with his Collection of State Papers :- particularly two others, one entitled, "A paper relating to Maryland," and the other, "A breviat of the proceedings of the lord Baltimore and his officers and compliers in Maryland against the authority of the parliament of the commonwealth of England, and against his highness the lord protector's authority, laws, and govern- ment." As every event referred to, and every objection raised by the agents in these documents, have been herein before large- ly commented upon, it is unnecessary to repeat any further re- marks on them .* After the agents had said perhaps all they
when he gets upon the subject of republicanism, which is as often as he can con- veniently, and particularly on the proceedings of this assembly, it seems to affect him as chivalry did Don Quixot.
* As these documents form so prominent a groundwork for the history of Ma- ryland for many years previous to this period of time, it is proper that the reader should have the perusal of them at large. See them in note (LXXXVIII.) at the end of this volume.
· to his lord-
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HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAPT. could say upon the subject, in their written documents presented VI. to the protector and his council, the contest appears to have re- 1656. mained in a state of suspension, unsettled, and undetermined. Much "greater affairs" occupying the attention of his highness and his council, they had no "leisure" to attend to the petty pro- ceedings of a distant colony .*
Lord Balti- more sends instruc-
Lord Baltimore, however, appears to have been too sensible of the advantages, which the report of the commissioners for trade tions to his gave to his cause, to wait for the final decision of the protector governor. and his council. As before observed, it is probable that he had some previous intimation given him of the disposition of the commissioners for trade in his favor, when he sent his commis- sion, of the tenth of July, to Josias Fendall, to be governor of his province. On the return of their report to the protector and council, on the 16th of September, he became so much more emboldened by their decision, as to enter upon preparatory pro- ceedings for the recovery and possession of his province. He appears, accordingly, to have drawn up his "instructions, of the 23d of October, 1656," to his lieutenant general, (Fendall,) in pursuance of the resolution, which he seems to have now formed. The injury done to one of the record books of the province, as before mentioned, has deprived us of the information to have been derived from this document, entitled, "instruc- tions," &c. From subsequent documents, however, we learn, that his lordship had, with these instructions, sent a copy of the report of the commissioners for trade, in order, as we may sup- pose, to shew to all the inhabitants of the province the solid ground of his proceedings. The leaf torn out of the record book most probably contained a copy of this report, as also the preamble and one or two articles of the instructions; but from
* In the Bibliotheca Americana, under the year 1656, mention is made of anoth- er pamphlet, published in London in that year, having relation, as it would seem, to these provincial contests between Virginia and Maryland. It was entitled,- " Leah and Rachel, or the condition of the two fruitful sisters, Virginia and Mary- land, by J. Hammond : quarto. London." As we have not been able to pro- cure a sight of this pamphlet, a copy of which is not perhaps existing in Mary- land at this day, the contents thereof are unknown to us. There are many fami- lies of the name of Hammond, still residing in Maryland, and the author thereof might possibly have been one of them. If so, we may presume, that he would have espoused the cause of the younger sister-Maryland. He might have thought, that Virginia might be likened unto Leah, the elder sister-homely and blear-eyed, and for ever jealous of the rising beauty of Rachel, her younger sister, It may be said, however, that the sisters still have a great resemblance of each other both in morals and in manners,
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a remnant of the leaf we collect, that his lordship had instructed CHAPT. his lieutenant general to see, that the act of assembly of 1649, VI. ch. i. entitled, "An act concerning religion,"-"be duly observed 1656. in the said province by all the inhabitants thereof, and that the penalties, mentioned in the said act, be duly put in execution upon any offenders against the same or any part thereof;" and particularly that part thereof, whereby "all persons in the said province are to have liberty of conscience and free exercise of their religion." There seems to be every probability, that this part of these instructions were in exact conformity to the report of the commissioners for trade, and as that report was most pro- bably intended to be agreeable to Cromwell's ideas, it affords additional evidence, that the disposition of this extraordinary man was at this time in favour of a general toleration of all sects of religion; perhaps indeed, through the interested motives of winning over all parties to assent to his assumption of the royal power.
In the third article of these instructions, his lordship, with a laudable gratitude, directed donations of land to be made to se- veral of those, who had been conspicuously faithful to him du- ring the late contests :- particularly to captain Josias Fendall, "his lordship's present lieutenant there," 2000 acres :-- to Mr. Luke Barber, 1000 acres :- to Mr. Thomas Trueman, 1000 acres :- to Mr. George Thompson, 1000 acres :- to Mr. John Langford 1500 acres :- to Mr. Henry Coursay, 1000 acres .*
He moreover instructed his lieutenant and council to take spe- cial care of those widows, who had lost their husbands by the late troubles, viz. Mrs. Hatton, Mrs. Lewis, and Mrs. Elton- head; that they should be supplied out of his lordship's rents and profits for their present relief and sustenance in a decent manner, in case they stood in need thereof; and that they let his lordship know, wherein he could do them any good, in re- compense of their sufferings, and that they be assured, on his lordship's behalf, that he will continue his utmost endeavours, (by solicting his highness and council,) for the procuring of justice to be done them for the lives of their husbands, and sat-
* Dr. Barber's letter, before stated, manifests his friendship for his lordship ; Mr. Langford's "Refutation of Babylon's Fall," &c., much more so, and well de- served his lordship's remuneration; and Mr. Henry Coursey demonstrated his fidelity to his lordship in accompanying captain Stone on his march, and carrying a message from him to the Puritans of Severn. If there be any of the descend- ants of these gentlemen, above mentioned, now in possession of these ample es- tates, they may boast of holding them by a very honourable tenure.
544
HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
CHAPT. isfaction for their losses from those, who have done them so VI. great injuries; which he doubts not but will be at last obtained. 1656. He further instructed his governor and council to cherish and comfort, in what they could, all such persons as had approved themselves faithful to his lordship, and done him good service during the late troubles of the province ; and that such persons should be preferred before any others to such places and employ- ments of trust and profit as they might be respectively capable of; in particular Mr. Thomas Trueman, Mr. George Thomson, lieutenant Thomas Tunnell, and Mr. Barton: and that his said lieutenant and council let his lordship understand from time to time, wherein he could upon any occasion requite them and oth- ers, who have been faithful to his lordship, with any thing in the province for their advantage, according to their respective merits, assuring them that his lordship would be very ready and willing to gratify them in any thing, that should be reasonably desired of him and in his power to do.
Having thus expressed his gratitude to his friends in Mary- land, his lordship proceeds in the last place to instruct his go- vernor and council, relative to the bounds between his province and Virginia, so much the subject of contest and litigation at that period of time. For this purpose he directs them to take special care, that no encroachments be made by any person upon any part of his lordship's province; and for the better preven- tion thereof, he required them, to cause the bounds thereof to be kept in memory and notoriously known, especially the bounds between Maryland and Virginia on that part of the country known there by the name of the eastern shore. On this occa- sion he referred them to the maps of Maryland, which his lord- ship formerly sent thither; whereby the said bounds are de- scribed .* He also at the same time sent to them a copy of the pro- clamation, published heretofore by the then governor and council of Virginia, bearing date the 4th of October, 1638, for prohib- iting any person of Virginia from trading with the Indians in Maryland without his lordship's license : in which proclamation were described the bounds, as they were then supposed to be, between Maryland and Virginia.t
* It is probable, that none of these maps of Maryland are now extant. I could find none in the council chamber.
. t See before in the first chapter of this history, (p. 72, 73,) and the proclama- tion of the 4th of October, 1638, at large, in note (XIII.) Also, see the above
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These instructions indicate the high hopes and strong assu- CHAPT. rances, which lord Baltimore now entertained, as to his speedy VI. restoration to his proprietary rights over his province of Mary- 1656. Lord Bal- land. He might still, however, have retained in his own mind, timore perhaps after experiencing repeated instances of treachery, great sends his distrust even in those, whom he had placed at the head of his Philip Cal- brother provincial government. He therefore now did the wisest act, vert to Maryland. he had ever yet done or could possibly have done, since the death of his brother Leonard, next to transporting himself into his province,-he resolved to send his brother Philip Calvert to take care of his affairs there. For popular reasons, perhaps, he did not choose to make him governor; but he created him, by commission, bearing date the seventh of November, 1656, one of the councillors to the governor, and, as was usual with such office, a judge or justice of the provincial court. He also, by the same commission, made him principal secretary of his pro- vince; also, "principal officer, for the entring and recording of all grants to be made of any lands or offices within the said province, and for the probates, entring, and recording of wills and inventories, and granting letters of administration." In the exercise of these great and important offices, he would necessa- rily have a considerable control over any very improper conduct of the governor or the rest of the council .* About the same time, and prior to the departure of his brother from England, as it would seem, he drew up certain additional instructions, bear- ing date the 12th of November, 1656, to his lieutenant general and council, in which he directs them to cause certain propor- tions of land, therein mentioned, to be surveyed and assigned to the several persons, whom he therein also mentions, "until his lordship should send a new great seal thither, (which he will shortly do,) whereby the said lands may be granted under the same." One of the grants hereby intended to be made, and which probably was afterwards executed, was "to his lordship's brother Philip Calvert, Esq., his secretary of the said province of Maryland, six thousand acres, to be erected into one or more manors, and to be called by such name or names as his lord- ship's said brother shall think fit." The third and last clause
mentioned instructions, of the 23d of October, 1656, at large in note (LXXXIX.) at the end of this volume, that is, so much of that document as is not torn off with the first leaf of the book.
* See this commission to Philip Calvert, esq., at large in note (XC.) at the end of this volume.
VOL. II,-69
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CHAPT. also of these last mentioned instructions requires to be particu- VI. larly noticed, inasmuch as it seems to indicate, that the lieuten- 1656. ant general or governor Fendall, although commissioned on the tenth of July preceding, had never yet entered on the duties of his office, unless he did so prior to his qualification by taking his oath of office. The clause is as follows :-
"3. His lordship doth hereby authorise and require his lord- ship's brother, Philip Calvert, esqr., his principal secretary of the said province of Maryland, to administer in open court there the oath of his lordship's lieutenant of the said province to cap- tain Josias Fendall, his lordship's present lieutenant there."*
1657. Mr. Bar- ber ap- pointed deputy governor, in the ab- sence of governor Fendall.
Our documents do not furnish us with any further information whatever of the affairs of the province for the remainder of the year 1656. We are to suppose, however, that Mr. Philip Cal- vert embarked for America soon after the date of his commis- sion ; and would, therefore, probably have arrived in Maryland, at farthest in the spring of 1657. Accordingly, we find him sitting as a councillor with governor Fendall at St. Mary's on the 18th of June, 1657. Although five persons had been by the governor's commission nominated as his council, two of whom were captain Stone and Mr. Barber, yet on this occasion the "council," as it is called in the record, consisted only of "the lieutenant and Mr. Secretary." In the proceedings of the day, as recorded, it is expressly stated, that "the lieutenant" was Mr. Fendall, and from all circumstances we are warranted in the inference, that the "Mr. Secretary," mentioned in the record, was Mr. Philip Calvert. The sole business, upon which , they met, appears to have been the appointment of Mr. Luke Barber as deputy lieutenant or governor, in the room of Mr. Fendall, who, as stated in the record, then declared his resolu- tion of leaving the province, upon business, as it subsequently appears, relative to the lord proprietary's affairs in the province, which required his presence and personal attention in England. A commission to Mr. Luke Barber for this purpose accordingly appears in form on the record, stating the powers of governor Fendall under his commission of the tenth of July last to be the same as those granted to and held by captain Stone under the commission of the latter dated the sixth of August, in the
* Taken from the record book in the council chamber, entitled, "Council, HH. 1656 to 1668," p. 6. Such parts of the same instructions of November 12, 1656, as relate generally to the surveying and granting of lands within the province, are stated in Kilty's Landholder's Assistant, p. 54.
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seventeenth year of his lordship's dominion ; (Annog. Dom., CHAPT. 1648 ;) in which power was granted to captain Stone, in case VI. of his death or absence out of the province, to nominate, elect, 1657. and appoint any other person of the council in his place .* Mr. Barber was, by his commission, to hold his office only until such time as governor Fendall should return again into the province, or until the lord proprietary should signify his pleasure to the contrary. His general powers also, as to granting warrants for taking up lands, were restricted by the same commission to cases, where the secretary, (Mr. Calvert,) should give a certifi- cate "of rights duly entered in his office for the same."}
In pursuance of the foregoing proceedings, governor Fendall Fendall appears to have embarked soon afterwards for England. Al- though the imputation of treachery has been attached to his character, as handed down to us, arising out of his subsequent conduct, yet there is no ground, on the present occasion, for sup- posing, that he was at present actuated by any other motive than a sincere fidelity to the cause of lord Baltimore; and it may, therefore, be presumed, that he now undertook his voyage to England for the sole purpose of consulting and co-operating with his lordship in such plans, as they should deem best, for the speedy restoration of the proprietary government in Mary- land.
In the mean time, however, the affairs of the province pre- The divi- sented a deplorable prospect. When an aggregation of people of the pro- ded state in a state of society are doomed to be harassed by two opposite vince. factions, contending for the powers of government over them, the situation of every man in such a community becomes dan- gerous in the highest degree. It is this circumstance, which always renders rebellions or revolutions, as they may turn out to be called, alarming to every good mind. No man's property, liberty, or life can be enjoyed in such a state of things with any assurance of safety. He cannot serve two masters. If he . obeys one, he is either destroyed, exiled, or punished by the other. This was precisely the lamentable condition of every man in Maryland at this time. Mr. Fendall, in conjunction with captian Stone and Mr. Barber had ventured, as it would appear, to rear the standard of revolt against the Puritan au-
* See captain Stone's commission at large, before referred to, in note (LXII.) at the end of this volume.
t See a copy of the record of these proceedings in note (XCI.) at the end of this volume.
goes to England.
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CHAPT. thority, usurped, as they contended, through the ascendancy ac- VI. quired by the unfortunate battle of the Severn. But Mr. Fendall's
1657. revolt, when he left the country, does not appear to have ex- tended further than the limits of St. Mary's county at most ; but more probably only to those first settlements which were first made at and near to the contemplated city of St. Mary's. There were numerous inhabitants, who had seated themselves, not long after the first emigration to the province, on both sides of the Patuxent ; who appear to have formed a distinct district of settlement from that of the original seat at the city of St. Mary's. Among these settlers many Puritans had intermingled and obtained grants of lands there; it being agreeable to lord Baltimore's system of general toleration of all sects of religion, that every applicant for a grant of land should be admitted there- to, on making out his rights to the same, whatever his religious profession might be. Hence therefore we find, that when the Puritans on the Severn revolted against the proprietary govern- ment, previous to the first "reducement" of Maryland in 1652, they found many friends on the Patuxent, who joined them. Captain Fuller and his council had also, after the government of the province was vested in them by the parliamentary commis- sioners-Bennett and Clayborne, in the same year, fixed the seat of government at the house of Mr. Preston on the Patux- ent, where the provincial records were deposited, and the Pu- ritan assembly of the 29th of October, 1654, was held; and we have just seen, that when governor Stone was about marching to Providence on the Severn, in 1655, he was obliged in some measure to make a conquest of most of the settlers on the Pa-
tuxent, and to take away their arms and ammunition; from the house of one of whom also-Mr. Preston, the provincial re- cords were carried back to St. Mary's. The Puritans, there- fore, appear at this time, on the departure of governor Fendall to England, to have had under them a full half, if not more, of the population of the province, comprehending the settlements on the Severn and the Patuxent, together with those on the isle of Kent; which island, although it had been acknowledged in the treaty with the Susquehanocks, of the fifth of July, 1652, to have belonged to captain Clayborne, yet, notwithstanding this acknowledgment of his propriety therein, the inhabitants thereof appear to have been still constantly subject to the Puritan go- vernment of the province.
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