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My tarry at Elkton was brief. While Charley (my horse) was "taking a bite" at an inn stable, I made inquiry of the post-master and other citizens, concerning vestiges of the Revolution, and ascertained that nothing was visible in the neighborhood of Elkton except the water, and the fields, and the hills on which Howe encamped, some two miles from the town. The place of the debarkation of the British was Turkey Point, a cape formed by the junction of the Elk River and the broad mouth of the Susquehanna, twelve miles below the village. Informed that the enemy cast up no intrenchments, and, consequently, left no tangible marks of their presence there, and assured that a fine view of the Point might be obtained from the steam-boat, when going down the Chesapeake, I resolved to be satisfied with a distant observation. I accordingly rode to Frenchtown, three miles below Elkton, whence the boats connecting with the Delaware and Chesapeake rail-way depart for Baltimore; "took tea" with a widow lady, residing in a fine brick dwelling on the bank of the river, and, just before sunset, embarked. Charley was restive when walking the plank, but, using all the philosophy he possessed, he soon decided that the hubbub in the steam-pipe was harmless, and his footing on deck secure. These problems settled, he seemed to enjoy the evening voyage quite as much as the bipeds around him. It was, indeed, a glorious evening. When theGeorge Washingtoncast off her moorings, the last gleams of the evening sun gilded the hills of Delaware, and, while passing Turkey Point, the scene was truly gorgeous. The tall trees of the cape were sharply penciled upon a back-ground of blended ruby, orange, gold, purple, and azure, glowing like opal, and spreading over many degrees of the western horizon; while above, far up in the dark blue, was the crescent moon, with Jupiter in her lap, beaming so brightly that he cast a line of silver light upon the calm waters of the bay. Both had gone down behind the hills when we passed North Point * light-house, and entered the Patapsco. We arrived
* North Point, at the entrance of the Patapsco, was the scene of a sanguinary battle between the Americans, under General Striker, and the British, under General Ross, in September, 1814. The Americans were defeated, and the British lost their commander-in-chief. In 1815, the citizens of Baltimore erected a monument on the corner of Calvert and Fayette Streets, in memory of those Americans who fell in that engagement, and also during the bombardment of Fort M'Henry, the next day. This monument was planned by Maximilian Godefroy, and erected under his supervision. It is entirely of pure white marble, and rests upon a square plinth, or terrace, of the same material, forty feet square, and four feet in height. From this platform rises a square Egyptian basement, entirely rusticated, to indicate strength. It is composed of eighteen layers of stone, to signify the number of states which formed the confederacy at the time of the battle thus commemorated. This basement is surmounted by a cornice, each of the four angles of which bears an elegantly executed griffin. A winged globe adorns each center of the Egyptian cornice, symbolical of eternity and the flight of time. On each of the four fronts of the basement is a false door, like those of ancient cenotaphs. Three steps ascend to these doors, and indicate the three years' duration of the war. The shaft represents an enormous fasces, symbolical of union, the rods of which are bound with fillets. Upon these fillets, inscribed in letters of bronze, are the names of those who fell in defense of the city of Baltimore. Around the top of the fasces are two wreaths; one of laurel, the other of cypress, indieating glory and grief. Between these wreaths are the names of the officers who were killed, inscribed in bronze letters. The fasces is ornamented with two epic sculptures, in low relief; one representing the battle at North Point, the other a battery of Fort M'Henry. On the east and west fronts are lachrymal urns, emblematic of regret and sorrow. Beneath the epic sculptures are inscriptions, as follows: North side.—"Battle of North Point, 12th September, A.D. 1814; and of the independence of the United States, the thirty-ninth." South side.—"Bombardment of Fort M'Henry, 13th September, A.D. 1814; and of the independence of the United States, the thirty-ninth."
* The basement and fasces form, together, thirty-nine feet. Upon the top is a beautifully-wrought colossal statue. It is a female figure, intended to personify the city of Baltimore. Upon her head is a mural crown, emblematic of cities; in one hand she holds an antique rudder, symbolic of navigation, and in the other she raises a crown of laurel, as with a graceful inclination of the head she looks toward the fort and battle-ground. At her feet, on one side, is the American eagle; on the other, a bomb-shell. The height of the monument, including the statue, is fifty-two feet, two inches.
* The following are the names of the slain, inscribed upon the monument:
Officers.—James Lowry Donaldson, adjutant 21th reg.; Gregorius Andree, lieut. 1st rifle battalion; Levi Claggett, 3d lieut., Nicholson's artillery. Non-commissioned Officers and Privates.—John Clemm, T. V. Beaston, S. Haubert, John Jephson, T. Wallace, J. H. Marriot of John, E. Marriot, Wm. Ways, J. Armstrong, J. Richardson, Benjamin Pond, Clement Cox, Cecelius Belt, John Garrett, H. G. M'Comes, Wm. M'Clellan, John C. Bird, M. Desk, Danl. Wells, Jr., John R. Cop, Benjn. Neal, C. Reynolds, D. Howard, Uriah 'Prosser, A. Randall, R. R. Cooksey, J. Gregg, J. Evans, A. Maas, G. Jenkins, W. Alexander, C. Fallier, T. Burniston, J. Dunn, P. Byard, J. Craig
Battle Monument at Baltimore.
at Baltimore, sixty-eight miles from Elkton, at ten o'clock. The city was in a tumult. A destructive fire was raging; and the grand diapason of the trumpet shouts of the firemen and the clangor of bells met us upon the waters, almost as far distant as the lurid glare of the flames.
"Oh the bells, bells, bells,
What a tale their terror tells
Of despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appeal to the mercy of the fire."
Edgar A. Poe.
I had traveled since dawn, by land and water, in rain and sunshine, full ninety miles; and it was a pleasant thought that to-morrow would be the Sabbath—a day of rest.
Baltimore and its Associations.—Washington's Monument.
"Hear the holy Sabbath bells,
Sacred bells!
Oh what a world of peaceful rest
Their melody protests!
How sweetly at the dawning
Of a pleasant Sabbath morning,
Sounds the rhyming,
And the chiming
Of the bells!"—H. S. Nolen.
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UNDAY was as mild and bright in Baltimore as a Sabbath in May, although it was the 3d of December. That city has no old churches hallowed by the presence of the patriots of the Revolution.
Annapolis was the only city in Maryland, except little St. Mary's, on its western border, when the battles for independence were fought; and "Baltimore towne," though laid out as early as 1729, contained, in 1776, less than one hundred houses.
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It is a city of the present; and yet, in extent, commerce, and population, it is the third city of the republic, numbering now about one hundred and sixty-five thousand inhabitants. *
I passed half an hour in the Roman Catholic cathedral during the matin services. Toward noon I listened to a persuasive sermon from the lips of Doctor Johns, of Christ Church (brother of the Virginia bishop), predicated upon the words of Moses to Hobah; ** employed the remainder of the day in reading; and, early on Monday morning, started out, with port-folio and pencil, to visit the celebrities of the city.
The noble monument erected by the State of Maryland in honor of Washington is the object of first and greatest attraction to visitors. It stands in the center of a small square, at the intersection of Monument and Charles Streets, in the fashionable quarter of the city, one hundred and fifty feet above tide-water. It is composed of a base of white marble, fifty feet square, and twenty feet in height, with a Doric column, one hundred and sixty feet in height, and twenty feet in diameter at the base, gradually tapering upward to a handsomely-formed capital.
* The census for 1850, which shows this result, also exhibits a case of remarkable longevity in Baltimore. Sukey Wright, a colored woman, whose age is well certified, was then 120 years old. She had a child twenty-five years of age when the Revolutionary war broke out in 1775.
** "We are journeying toward the land of which the Lord said, I will give it you, and we will do thee good."—Numbers, x., 29.
*** The following are the inscriptions on the monument: East front.—"To George Washington, by the State of Maryland. Born 22d February, 1732. Died 14th December, 1799." South front.—u To George Washington, President of the United States, 4th March, 1789. Returned to Mount Vernon, 4th March, 1797." West front.—"To George Washington. Trenton, 25th December, 1776. Yorktown, 19th October, 1781." North front.—"To George Washington. Commander-in-chief of the American armies, 15th June, 1775. Commission resigned at Annapolis, 23d December, 1783."
Maryland Historical Society.—Pulaski's Banner.—Moravian Nuns at Bethlehem.
Upon the top is a statue of Washington, by Causici, sixteen feet in height, which is reached by a winding stair-way on the interior. It represents the chief in the act of resigning his commission. The statue cost nine thousand dollars. The ground on which the monument stands was given for the purpose by John Eager Howard, the "hero of the Cowpens." The corner stone of the monument was laid on the 4th of July, 1815, with imposing ceremonies. This view is from Monument Street, looking northeast. The Battle Monument, near Barnum's Hotel, erected to the memory of those who fell in defense of Baltimore in 1814, is beautiful and chaste in design and execution, and is an ornament to the city. It cost about sixty thousand dollars. A description of this structure, and copies of the inscriptions upon it, are given in a note on page 388.
After sketching these mementoes, I visited the rooms of the Maryland Historical Society, bearing a letter of introduction to its president, General Smith, a son of Colonel Samuel Smith, the hero of Fort Mifflin, portrayed on page 296. To that gentleman, and to President N. C. Brooks, of the Baltimore Female College, I am indebted for kind attentions and local information. The Historical Society is young, but vigorous and flourishing Its collection contains but few relics of the Revolution worthy of special notice. There is an old painting representing Yorktown, in Virginia, in 1781, and also a portrait of Governor John Eager Howard, a copy of which will be found in another part of this work. One of the most interesting relics which I saw during my tour is carefully preserved in. the library of the society—the crimson banner of the Count Pulaski, beautifully wrought by the Moravian sisters, at Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania. Count Pulaski (whose portrait and biography will be hereafter given) was appointed a brigadier in the Continental army on the 15th of September, 1777, just after the battle on the Brandywine, in which he participated, and was honored with the command of the cavalry. He resigned this honor within a few months, and asked and obtained permission from Congress to raise and command an independent corps, to consist of sixty-eight horse and two hundred foot. The modeMarch 28, 1778of raising these was left to the direction of General Washington. * This corps was chiefly raised, and fully organized in Baltimore in 1778. Pulaski visited La Fayette while that wounded officer was a recipient of the pious care and hospitality of the Moravians at Bethlehem. His presence, and eventful history, made a deep impression upon the minds of that community. When it was known that the brave Pole was organizing a corps of cavalry in Baltimore, thenuns,* * orsingle womenof Bethlehem, prepared a banner of crimson
* Journals of Congress, iv., 127.
** The word nun, as applied to the single sisters of the Moravian sect, has a different meaning than when applied to the recluses of the Roman Catholic Church. De Chastellux, who visited Bethlehem in 1782, says of the community: "Their police, or discipline, is of the monastic kind, since they recommend celibacy, but without enjoining it, and keep the women separate from the men. There is a particular house, also, for the widows, which I did not visit. The two sexes being thus habitually separated, none of those familiar connections exist between them which lead to marriage; nay, it is even contrary to the spirit of the sect to marry from inclination. If a young man finds himself sufficiently at ease to keep house for himself, and maintain a wife and children, he presents himself to the commissary, and asks for a girl, who, after consulting with the superintendent of the women, proposes one to him, which he may, in fact, refuse to accept; but it is contrary to custom to choose a wife for himself. Accordingly, the Moravian colonies have not multiplied in any proportion to the other American colonies. That at Bethlehem is composed of about six hundred persons, more than half of whom live in a state of celibacy." De Chastellux visited the "house for single women," a spacious stone edifice, provided with well-heated rooms for working in, and a large vaulted chamber, well ventilated, where all the girls slept in single beds. He refers to their skill in embroidery. His whole account of his visit is an interesting picture of the simple habits of the Moravians. He says they "have no bishops, being governed by synods." They have had bishops from the beginning, but their office allows them no elevation of rank or pre-eminent authority; and the communities are, indeed, governed by councils, or synods, composed of deputies from the different congregations, who meet in conference once in seven years. There are two bishops in the United States at present. The principal Moravian establishments are at Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania, and Salem, in North Carolina. Their marriage and other customs have materially changed within the last thirty years. Anburey and the Baroness Riedesel were also in Bethlehem, and speak in the highest terms of the Moravians.
Hymn of the Moravian Nuns.—Patriotism in Baltimore.—Committees of Correspondence and Observation.
silk, with designs beautifully wrought with the needle by their own hands, and sent it to Pulaski, with their blessing. The memory of this event is embalmed in verse by Longfellow, in the following beautiful "Hymn of the Moravian Nuns at the Consecration of Pulaski's Banner."
"When the dying flame of day
Through the chancel shot its ray,
Far the glimmering tapers shed
Faint light on the cowled head,
And the censer burning swung,
When before the altar hung
That proud banner, which, with pray'r,
Had been consecrated there;
And the nuns' sweet hymn was heard the while,
Sung low in the dim mysterious aisle.
"' Take thy banner. May it wave
Proudly o'er the good and brave,
When the battle's distant wail
Breaks the Sabbath of our vale;
When the clarion's music thrills
To the hearts of these lone hills;
When the spear in conflict, shakes,
And the strong lanee, shivering, breaks.
"' Take thy banner; and, beneath
The war-cloud's encircling wreath,
Guard it—till our homes are free—
Guard it—God will prosper thee!
In the dark and trying hour,
In the breaking forth of pow'r,
In the rush of steeds and men,
His right hand will shield thee then.
"' Take thy banner. But, when night
Closes round the ghastly fight,
If the vanquish'd warrior bow,
Spare him—by our holy vow;
By our prayers and many tears;
By the merey that endears;
Spare him—he our love hath shared;
Spare him—as thou wouldst be spared.
"'Take thy banner; and, if e'er
Thou should'st press the soldier's bier,
And the muffled drum should beat
To the tread of mournful feet,
Then this crimson flag shall be
Martial cloak and shroud for thee.'
And the warrior took that banner proud,
And it was his martial cloak and shroud."
Pulaski received the banner with grateful acknowledgments, and bore it gallantly through many a martial scene, until he fell in conflict at Savannah in the autumn of 1779. His banner was saved by his first lieutenant (who received fourteen wounds), and delivered to Captain Bentalon, who, on retiring from the army, took the banner home with him to Baltimore. *
When oppression began to awaken a spirit of general resistance throughout the colonies, "Baltimore towne" was not behind its sister communities in zeal and action. A meetinga May 27.was held there in 1774, ** ( a ) when the people generally agreed to support non-November 12intercourse measures. Afterward they elected aCommittee of Observation*** (b) and also appointed a committee of correspondence. **** These committees were exceedingly vigilant and active in watching the disaffected, giving information of importance to their brethren abroad, and in passing intelligence between the patriots of the North and the South. They were no respecter of persons, and Loyalists of every grade came under their surveil-
* It was used in the procession that welcomed La Fayette to that city in 1824, and was then deposited in Peale's Museum. On that occasion, it was ceremoniously received by several young ladies. Mr. Edmund Peale presented it to the Maryland Historical Society in 1844, where it is now carefully preserved in a glass ease. But little of its former beauty remains. It is composed of double crimson silk, now faded to a dull brownish red. The designs on each side, as represented on the following page, are embroidered with yellow silk, the letters shaded with green. A deep green bullion fringe ornaments the edges. The size of the banner is twenty inches square. It was attached to a lance when borne to the field.
** Andrew Buchanan was chosen chairman, and Robert Alexander clerk or secretary.
*** This committee, consisting of twenty-nine of the leading men of Baltimore, was elected by the qualified voters, at a town meeting, regularly assembled at the court-house. They not only took cognizance of political matters, but assumed a general supervision of the public morals, not by coercive measures, but by advice. Among other things, they recommended the discontinuance of fairs in Baltimore, and denounced them as nuisances, conducive to "mischiefs and disorders," "serving no other purpose than debauching the morals of their children and servants," and "encouraging riots, drunkenness, gaming, and the vilest immoralities." Horse-racing, cock-fighting, general extravagance, and dissipation were inveighed against, not only as wrong, but as derogatory to the character of patriots at that solemn hour (1775).
**** The following are the names of this committee: Robert Alexander, Samuel Purviance, Jr., Andrew Buchanan, Doctor" John Boyd, John Moale, Jeremiah Townly Chase, William Buchanan, and William Lux. Four members constituted a quorum for the transaction of business.1776.
Treatment of Loyalists.—Meeting of Congress in Baltimore.—La Fayette in Baltimore.
lance. The Reverend Mr. Edmiston, pastor of St. Thomas's parish, was arraigned before the Committee of Observation, on a charge of being favorable to the Quebec Act. He pleaded guilty, apologized, and was forgiven.
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Other suspected Loyalists, of equal standing, were arraigned, and middlemen soon became scarce. *
I have mentioned the fact (page 225) that, on the approach of the royal troops toward the Delaware, in 1776, Congress, then in session in Philadelphia, adjourned to Baltimore. Their first meeting in that city, pursuant to adjournment, was on the 20th of December. They met, and continued their session in the spacious brick building yet standing on Baltimore, Sharpe, and Liberty Streets.
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The Reverend Patrick Allison, first minister of the Presbyterian church of Baltimore, and Reverend W. White, were appointed chaplains on the 23d. It was there, on the 27th of December, two days after the battle at Trenton, that Congress, by resolution, delegated so much of their powers to Washington, for six months, as made him a military dictator, a fact already noticed on page 232. Through a local committee of Congress, left in Philadelphia, efficient cooperation with the army was secured, and the whole military establishment, as we have seen (page 241), was placed in a higher and more effective condition than it had been since the organization of the army.
Congress continued in session in Baltimore until Friday, the 27th of February, when it adjourned to Philadelphia, where the delegates met on the following Wednesday, the 4th of March.
When La Fayette passed through Baltimore on his way to the field of his conflicts at the South, he was greeted with the greatest respect by the people. A ball was given in his honor, at which the marquis appeared sad. "Why so gloomy at a ball?" asked one of the gay belles. "I can not enjoy the gayety of the scene," replied La Fayette, "while so many of the poor soldiers are without shirts and other necessaries."
"We will supply them," was the noble reply of the ladies; and the gayety of the ball-room was exchanged for the sober but earnest services of the needle. They assembled the next day in great numbers to make up clothing for the soldiers, of materials furnished by fathers and husbands. **** One gentleman, out of his limited means, gave La Fayette five hundred dollars to aid him
* Purviancers Narrative, pages 12-13.
** On one side of the banner are the letters U. S., and in a circle around them the words "United valor is stronger." The letter c in the last word is incorrect; it should be t. On the other side, in the center, is the All-seeing Eye, with the words Non alius régit; "No other governs."
*** This view is from Baltimore Street, looking southeast. The front on the left is on Baltimore Street; the other is on Liberty Street. Its first story is now used for commercial purposes; otherwise it exhibits the same external appearance as when Congress assembled there.
**** M'Sherry's History of Maryland, p. 229.
Journey to Annapolis.—Departure from the Right Road.—Hospitality.—City of Annapolis.
in clothing his soldiers. His wife, with her own hands, cut out five hundred pairs of pantaloons, and superintended the making of them. *
In the passage of troops between the Northern and Southern States, Baltimore was often the scene of activity and excitement; beyond this, it has but little military history connected with our subject. Its statesmen and soldiers did good service in the forum and in the field, and their names and deeds are conspicuously recorded in various portions of these volumes. We will make Annapolis, the old capital of Maryland, our point of view, in taking a survey of the general history of the state, for that city was the soul and center of action during the Revolution.
December 4, 1848I left Baltimore for Annapolis, thirty miles southward, at a little after three o'clock, crossing the Patapsco River at sunset, upon a long, rickety draw-bridge, having a toll-gatherer at the southern end. The sky was clear, and the moon being sufficiently advanced in illumination to promise a fair degree of light, I resolved to push forward as far as the "half-way house," fifteen miles from Baltimore, before halting. Soon after leaving the bridge, the road penetrated a forest of oaks and chestnuts, filled with those beautiful evergreens, the laurel and the holly. Passing several cultivated openings where the country was rolling, I reached a level, sandy region, and at dark entered a forest of pines, its deep shadows relieved occasionally by small openings recently made by the woodman's ax. I had passed only two small houses in a journey of six miles, and without seeing the face of a living creature, when I met a negro man and woman, and inquired for the "halfway house." The woman assured me that it was two miles ahead; and, in the plenitude of her kind feelings, promised that I should find "plenty o' liquor dar." After driving at least four miles, I perceived that I had "run off the track," mistaking one of the numerous branches of the main road for the highway itself. After traversing the deep, sandy way, in the gloom, until almost eight o'clock, when traveler and horse were thoroughly wearied, I was cheered by the barking of a dog, and in a few moments crossed a stream, and came in sight of a spacious mansion, surrounded by many broad acres of cultivation. The merry voices of children, who were playing in the lane, were hushed as I halted at the gate and hailed. A servant swung it wide open for my entrance, and when I asked for entertainment for the night, the kindest hospitality was extended. The proprietor of the plantation was the widow of a Methodist clergyman, who was drowned in the Severn a few years ago. Her mother, residing with her, had been, in former years, a parishioner of my own pastor, the Reverend Stephen H. Tyng, D.D. This fact was a sympathetic link; and a home feeling, with its gentle influence, came over me as the evening passed away in pleasant conversation. I left the mansion of Mrs. Robinson, the next morning, with real regret. I had there a foretaste of that open hospitality which I experienced every where at the South, and must ever remember with gratitude.
Under the guidance of a servant, I traversed a private road, to the public one leading to Annapolis. The highway passes through a barren region until within two miles of the town, relieved, occasionally, by a few cultivated spots; and so sinuous was its course, that I crossed the Baltimore and Annapolis rail-way seven times in a distance of thirteen miles. The deep sand made the journey toilsome, and extended its duration until almost an hour past meridian.
Annapolis is apparently and really an old town. Many of its houses are of the hip-roofed style of an earlier generation, with the distinctive features of Southern houses, so odd in appearance to the eyes of a Northern man—the chimneys projecting from the gable, from the ground to their tops. The city is beautifully located on the south branch of the River Severn, upon a peninsula formed by Acton's and Covey's Creeks, which rise within half a mile of each other. It commands an extensive view of the Chesapeake Bay and the surrounding
* This gentleman was Mr. Poe. His widow, the lady who cut out the garments, was living when La Fayette visited Baltimore in 1824. The two patriots met, and the scene was one of peculiar interest.—See Niles's Register, 24th October, 1824.
Founding of Annapolis.—First Lord Baltimore.—Exploration of the Chesapeake.—Maryland Charter
country, where almost every diversity of picturesque scenery is exhibited, except the grandeur of lofty mountains.
Annapolis was erected into a town, port, and place of trade in 1683, under the name of the "Town land at Proctor's," or "The Town land at Severn." Eleven years afterward it received the name of "Anne Arundle Town," and was made the naval station of the infant colony, and the seat of government. It received the name of Annapolis (Anne's city) in 1703, which was given in honor of Queen Anne, the reigning sovereign of England. Before noticing the associations which give peculiar interest to the history of Annapolis, let us consult the chronicles of the state.
Maryland was settled at a little later period than New England. The London Company, of which Sir George Calvert (Lord Baltimore), the first proprietor of Maryland, was a member, claimed, under its charter, the whole of the vast region from the head of the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays—the boundary line of the Dutch settlements in1609New Netherlands—to an undefined boundary south and west. Calvert was a young man of good birth and fine talents. He attracted the attention and won the friendship of Sir Robert Cecil (afterward Earl of Salisbury), first lord of the Treasury under James the First. Calvert was appointed by Cecil his private secretary,a which office he held for several years. Cecil died in 1612. Calvert appears to have won the esteem of his king, for, in 1617, James conferred the honor of knighthood upon him, appointed him clerk of the Privy Council, and, two years later, made him principal secretary of state, as successor to Sir Thomas Lake. In 1624, Calvert resigned his office, not, as Fuller says, because "he freely confessed himself to the king that he was become a Roman Catholic, so that he must be wanting to his trust, or violate his conscience in discharging his office," * for he was doubtless a Roman Catholic from his earliest youth, if not born in the bosom of that Church, but probably for the purpose of giving his personal attention to schemes of foreign colonization, in which he was interested. On retiring from the secretary's office, the king continued him a privy counselor, granted him a tract of land in Longford, Ireland, (b) with a pension of one thousand pounds, and created him "Lord Baltimore, of Baltimore, Ireland."b 1621He already had a patent as absolute lord and proprietor of the province of Avalon, in Newfoundland. After the death of James, in 1625, Lord Baltimore went to Avalon, where, with his family, he resided for some time, and then returned to England. He visited Virginia in 1628; and, although a member of the London Company, and high in the confidence of Charles, the successor of James, he was required by the local authorities of that colony to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. ** Baltimore was offended, for he considered the requisition as an intended insult, he being a Roman Catholic. He refused to take the oaths himself, or allow his attendants to do so; and soon afterward departed from the James River, and made a voyage up the Chesapeake. He entered the Potomac, was pleased with the appearance of the country, projected a settlement upon the upper portions of the Chesapeake Bay, and then returned to England.
The London Company dissolved in the mean while. Baltimore successfully applied to Charles for a grant of the unoccupied land on the Chesapeake, and in 1632 the king gave him permission to frame a charter for a province, to suit himself. The grant included the present area of Maryland, notwithstanding the territory was clearly within the limits of the Virginia charter, and Kent Island, opposite the site of Annapolis, was already occupied. It is believed that the Maryland charter was penned by Lord Baltimore himself. Before it passed the seals, Calvert died, (c) leaving his son Cecil heir to his title and fortune,c April 25,The charter was executed about two months afterward, (d) and signed by Cecil, with no alteration from the original except in the name of the province. It was calledd June 20Maryland, in honor of Henrietta Maria, the queen of Charles the First, instead ofCrescentia,
* Fuller's Worthies of England.
** The Oath of Supremacy was one denying the supremacy of the pope in ecclesiastical or temporal affairs in England, which was required to be taken, along with the Oath of Allegiance, by persons, in order to qualify them for office.
Character of the first Maryland Charter.—Toleration its chief Glory.—Baltimore's Policy.
as the first Lord Baltimore named it. This charter was full of the ideas of absolutism and royal prerogatives which distinguished the character and career of James and his son Charles.
It made the proprietor absolute lord of the province—"Absolutus Domimus et Propritarius"—with the royalties of a count palatine.
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Theoretically, he was not inferior in rights and privileges to the king himself. He could make laws with the advice of the freemen, and withhold his assent from such as he did not approve. He claimed, and sometimes practiced, the right to dispense with the laws, in accordance with the principles and occasional practice of King James. He was authorized to create manorial lordships; to bestow titles upon the meritorious of hissubjects; to summon, by writs, any freemen he chose, to take a seat in a legislative Assembly without election; to make ordinances of equal force with the laws without the confirmation of the Assembly; to declare martial law at his pleasure—for he had absolute control of the military and naval force of the colony—and to present ministers to the parishes. Such were the extensive powers which the charter of Maryland conferred upon the proprietor; yet the absolute authority of the "Baron of Baltimore" was conceded rather with reference to the crown than the colonists, for the charter contained concessions and grants to the people sufficient to guarantee them against oppression. The privileges, liberties, and franchises of liege subjects of England, born within the realm, were secured to them; they were protected against the operation of all laws repugnant to the statutes and customs of England; and they were forever exempted, by an express covenant in the charter, from all "impositions, customs, or other taxations, quotas, or contributions whatever," to be levied by the king or his successors. The sovereign did not reserve to himself even the right of superintendence of the affairs of the colony, or the power to interfere, in any way, with its laws. In fact, the province of Maryland was, by its royal charter, made independent of the crown from the beginning; it was what the proprietor termed it, "a separate monarchy." The dependence was acknowledged only by the provision of the charter which obliged the proprietor to acknowledge fealty by paying a tribute to the king of two Indian arrows yearly, and a fifth of all gold or silver ore which might be found.
The true glory of the first Maryland charter consists in the religious freedom which it recognizes; a freedom reasserted and enforced by an act of the Assembly in 1649, seventeen years after the charter passed the seals, when the whole realm of England was in commotion on account of the execution of the king and establishment of the commonwealth under Cromwell. To Lord Baltimore belongs the honor of being the first lawgiver in Christendom who made freedom of conscience the basis of a state constitution. There seems to be something paradoxical in the fact that an absolutist in political affairs should have been so democratic in matters of religion. But Baltimore was a latitudinarian; sagacious, farsighted, and awake to the best temporal interests of himself and his successors. He clearly perceived that the growth of his colony depended greatly upon the extent of religious freedom which might be guaranteed to emigrants. Persecution was overturning many peaceful
Baltimore's Toleration.—First Settlers.—Leonard Calvert.—Settlement at St. Mary's.
homes in Great Britain; and, to wherever the light of toleration was seen, thousands of the oppressed made their way. He was exceedingly tolerant himself, or he never would have retained the friendship of James; and therefore his feelings and interests were coincident. His Catholic brethren were more or less persecuted in England; while the Puritans, who were peopling the coasts of Massachusetts Bay, had also been "harried out of the land" by the hierarchy. Maryland was made the asylum for the persecuted; not for Roman Catholics alone, but for the English Puritans, and the equally harassed reformers of Virginia, under the administration of the bigoted Berkeley.
The first two hundred settlers, who came with Leonard Calvert (a) brother of Cecil, and first governor of the province, were principally Roman Catholics, but in a fewa 1633years Protestants became almost as numerous as they. These settled upon the unoccupied territory north of the Patuxent, and formed a new county which they called Severn, or Anne Arundel, extending nearly to the present site of Baltimore. "All the world outside of these portals [St. Michael's and St. Joseph's, as the first emigrants denominated the two headlands at the mouth of the Potomac, now Point Lookout, and Smith's Point] was intolerant, proscriptive, vengeful against the children of a dissenting faith. Only in Maryland, throughout this wide world of Christendom, was there an altar erected, and truly dedicated to the freedom of Christian worship." * Yet it must not be forgotten that, fifteen months before the charter of Maryland was executed, Roger Williams had sounded the trumpet of intellectual freedom in New England, and "it became his glory to found a state upon that principle, and to stamp himself upon its rising institutions, in characters so deep that the impress has remained to this day. **
It is not within the scope of my design to notice in detail the progress of the Maryland colony. The first settlement was made by Leonard Calvert, who, in February, 1634, arrived at Point Comfort, in Virginia, with about two hundred Roman Catholics. The Virginians had remonstrated against the grant to Baltimore, but, by express commands of the king, Harvey, then governor, received Calvert with courtesy. Early in March he sailed up the Potomac, and, casting anchor under an island which he called St. Clement, he fired his first cannon, erected a cross, and took possession "in the name of the Savior of the world and the King of Great Britain." *** He then proceeded up the Potomac to the mouth of the Piscataqua Creek, opposite Mount Vernon, and near the site of the present Fort Washington, fifteen miles south of Washington City. The chief of the Indian village at that place was friendly; but Calvert, deeming it unsafe to settle so high up the river, returned, and entered the stream now called St. Mary's. He purchased a village of the Indians, and commenced a settlement. (b) Founded upon religious toleration and the practice ofb April. 1634justice, **** the colony rapidly increased in population and resources; and peace, except
* Kennedy's Discourse on the Life and Character of George Calvert, before the Maryland Historical Society, 1845, page 43.
** Bancroft, i., 375.
*** Belknap.
**** As an instance of the determination to preserve peace within his borders, Leonard Calvert issued a proclamation in 1638, to prohibit "all unreasonable disputations in point of religion tending to the disturbance of the public peace and quiet of the colony, and to the opening of faction in religion." A Catholic gentleman (Captain Cornwaleys) had two Protestant servants. They were one day reading aloud, together. Smith's Sermons, and were overheard by Cornwaleys's overseer, a Roman Catholic, while reading a passage in which the pope was called anti-Christ, and the Jesuits anti-Christian ministers. The overseer abused them, and ordered them to read no more. The servants preferred a formal complaint against the overseer, and submitted it to the governor and council. Of the latter, Cornwaleys was one. The parties were heard, and the overseer was fined five hundred pounds of tobacco, and ordered to remain in prison until he should find sureties for his good behavior in future. This case shows the tolerant spirit of a Catholic administration.—Kennedy's Discourse, page 45.
**** The act for religious liberty, passed in 1649, contained a clause authorizing the imposition of a fine of ten shillings for abusive expressions between the parties; such as idolater, popish priest, Jesuit, and Jesuited papist, on the one side, and, on the other, heretic, schismatic, round-head, and similar epithets.—Langford, page 29. The clause for religious freedom in the act of 1649 extended only to Christians. It was introduced by the proviso that, "whatsoever person shall blaspheme God, or shall deny or reproach the Holy Trinity, or any of the three persons thereof, shall be punished with death."
First Legislative Assembly.—Religious Animosity.—Toleration of the Roman Catholics.—Civil Commotions.
during the troubles arising from the refusal of Clayborne, an original settler, to acknowledge the authority of the governor, reigned within its borders until 1642, when petty hostilities were carried on against the Indians. Leonard Calvert was appointed governor * of the province, as the proprietor's lieutenant; and in 1635 the first Legislative Assembly convened at St. Mary's. A representative government was established in 1639, the people being allowed to send as many delegates to the General Assembly as they pleased. At the same time, a declaration of rights was adopted, the powers of the proprietor were defined, and all the privileges enjoyed by English subjects were confirmed to the colonists. The Indian hostilities closed in 1644, and the next year a rebellion under Clayborne involved the province in a civil war. The revolt was suppressed in August the following year.
Religious animosity between the Protestants and Roman Catholics finally became a source of great trouble, and in 1649 the Assembly adopted the Toleration Act. This allayed party strife for a while. At this time Charles the First was beheaded, and Cromwell became the chief magistrate of Great Britain. Lord Baltimore, who was warm in his professions of attachment to the king while his affairs were prosperous, when he saw the downfall of royalty inevitable, was equally loud in proclaiming his attachment to the Republicans. Thomas Green, his governor, who had hastily proclaimed Charles the Second, on hearing of the execution of his father, was removed, and his place was filled by William Stone, a Protestant, who "was always zealously affected to the Parliament."
In 1650, the legislative body was first divided into two branches, an Upper and a Lower House; the former consisting of the governor and his council, appointed by the proprietor, and the latter of the representatives chosen by the people. At that session, all taxes were prohibited except by the consent of the freemen.
In 1651, the Long Parliament, which had established its supremacy in England, appointed commissioners to govern Maryland. Stone, Lord Baltimore's lieutenant, was removed; but, on the dissolution of that Parliament by Cromwell in 1654, he was restored to his full powers. The commissioners, however (who had retired, to Virginia), entered Maryland, and compelled Stone to surrender his warrant into their hands. The Protestants, who acknowledged the authority of Cromwell, and had the power, by majority, in their own hands, questioned the rights and privileges of an hereditary proprietor. They stoutly contended for religious liberty, yet they actually disfranchised those who differed from them in religious opinions. Roman Catholics were excluded from the Assembly; and an act was passed toward the close of 1654, declaring that they were not entitled to the protection of the laws of Maryland!
Early in 1655, Stone, with greater loyalty to his master, the proprietor, than to his religious profession, organized an armed body of Catholics, and seized the provincial records. Civil war raged with fury, and was intensified by the heat of religious acrimony. The Catholics were finally defeated, Stone was made prisoner, and four of the principal men of the province, attached to Baltimore's party, were executed.
Josiah Fendall, who had actively supported Stone, and headed an insurrection, was appointed governor, by Lord Baltimore, in 1656, but he was soon arrested by the Protestant party. He was a man of good address, and finally succeeded in having himself acknowledged as governor. (a) The proprietor was restored to all his rights, but he did not longa 1658enjoy them, for, on the restoration of Charles the Second, the Assembly, knowing the animosity of the king against Lord Baltimore, dissolved the Upper House, and assumed to
* Clayborne having obtained a royal license in 1631 to traffic with the Indians, had established two settlements, one on the island of Kent, and one other near the mouth of the Susquehanna. Clayborne not only refused to acknowledge the authority of Baltimore, but sought to maintain his own claims by force of arms. He was defeated, and fled to Virginia, whence he was sent to England for trial as a traitor. He applied to the king for a redress of grievances, but, after a full hearing, the charter of Lord Baltimore was declared valid, against the earlier license of Clayborne. The latter returned to Maryland, got up a rebellion in 1645, and drove Governor Calvert into Virginia. For a year and a half the insurgents held the reins of government, and the horrors of civil war brooded over the infant colony. Clayborne afterward became one of the commissioners appointed by Parliament, under the Protectorate, to govern Maryland.
Baltimore's Courtier.—Civil War.—Maryland a Royal Province.—Republican Constitution.—Annapolis.
a March, 1660.itself the whole legislative power of the state, (a) They declared that no power should be recognized in Maryland except their own and the king's. Fendall then surrendered his trust to Lord Baltimore, and accepted from the Assembly a new commission as governor. Charles, however, forgave Baltimore for his homage to the Republicans, for he was assured by that courtier that his partialities had always been really in favor of the royal cause. The same year the rights of the proprietor were restored, and Philip Calvert appointed governor. Fendall was arrested upon a charge of treason, was tried, and found guilty, but, under a general pardon to political offenders, wisely proclaimed by Lord Baltimore, he escaped death. He was only fined a trifling sum, and declared ineligible for office forever. *
Cecil, Lord Baltimore, died in 1675, and was succeeded in title and fortune by his son Charles, who had been his lieutenant in Maryland from 1662 to 1668. The new proprietor caused the government to be administered by Thomas Notley, who governed with equity, and he became very popular with all parties. Tranquillity prevailed in the province until the Revolution in England in 1688, which drove James the Second from the throne, and shook every colony in America. False rumors, alleging that the Catholics and Indians had coalesced for the purpose of massacreing the Protestants, aroused all the fire of religious animosity which had been slumbering for years, and caused the formation of an armed association for the alleged defense of the Protestant faith, and of the rights of William and Mary, the successors of James. A compromise was finally effected, and the Catholic party surrendered the powers of government to the association, by capitulation. A convention of the associates assumed the government, and exercised its functions until 1691, when the king, by an arbitrary act, deprived Charles, Lord Baltimore, of his political rights as proprietor, and constituted Maryland, for the first time, a royal government. Sir Lionel Copley was appointed governor, and, on his arrival, (b) the principles of the proprietaryb 1692government were overturned; religious toleration, so freely conceded and so firmly maintained when the Catholic proprietors held sway, was abolished, and the Church of England was established as the religion of the state, and demanding support from general taxation.
Maryland continued a royal province under the successive administrations of Copley, Nicholson, Blackstone, Seymore, Lloyd, and Hart, until 1720, and tranquillity prevailed. The inheritance of the proprietorship having fallen to Charles, infant heir of Lord Baltimore, (c) who, on attaining his majority, (d) professed the Protestant faith, George the First restored the patent to the family. It remained a proprietary government until our Revolution, ** when, as an independent state, it adopted a constitution, (e) ande August 14, 1776took its place (the fourth in the point of time) in the confederation of states. A large number of Presbyterians from the north of Ireland had settled in the province, and the principles of their ecclesiastical polity being favorable to republicanism, they exerted a powerful influence in casting off the royal yoke.
Annapolis being the capital of the province, it was the heart of political action. In common with the people of the other colonies, Maryland took a bold stand against the oppressive measures of the mother government, commencing with the Stamp Act. On the 27th of August, 1765, a meeting of "Assertors of British American privileges" met at Annapolis, "to show their detestation of and abhorrence to some late tremendous attacks on liberty, and their dislike to a certain late arrived officer, anative of this province. *** Thec 1716d 1720.
* Fendall afterward became concerned in a rebellious movement, with an accomplice named Coode. He was arrested, fined four thousand pounds of tobacco, imprisoned for non-payment, and banished from the province.
** The successive governors were Charles and Benedict Leonard Calvert; Samuel Ogle; Lord Baltimore; Ogle again; Thomas Eladen; Ogle again; Benjamin Tasker, acting governor; Horatio Sharpe, and Robert Eden. Thomas Johnson was the first republican governor.
*** This was a Mr. Hood, who had been appointed stamp-master, while in England, on the recommendation of Dr. Franklin. Such was the indignation of the people against him, that no one would purchase goods of him, though offered at a very low price. Just before the burning of his effigy he escaped to New York, in time to save himself from being presented with a coat of tar and feathers.
Stamp-master's Effigy hanged and burned.—The Sons of Liberty.—Statue of the King and Portrait of Camden.
landing of that officer was at first opposed and prevented, but he was finally permitted to enter the town. They made an effigy of him, dressed it curiously, placed it in a cart, like a malefactor, with some sheets of paper before it, and, while the bell was tolling, paraded it through the town. They proceeded to a hill, where, after punishing it at the whipping-post and pillory, they hung it upon a gibbet, set fire to a tar-barrel underneath, and burned it. * Governor Sharpe informed the colonial secretary of the proceedings, and plainly told him that, such was the temper of the people, that any stamped paper which might arrive would doubtless be burned.