MAP OF MARYLAND, 1635.
This is a reduced fac-simile of the map accompanying A Relation of Maryland, 1635. See Critical Essay. Compare the heliotype of Smith’s map of Virginia, in chapter v.
The vessels remained for some time at Barbadoes, and did not arrive at Point Comfort until the 27th of February, 1634. Here the colonists were received by Governor Harvey, of Virginia, “with much courtesy and humanity,” in obedience to letters from the King. Fresh supplies having been procured in Virginia, the “Ark” and “Dove” weighed anchor and sailed up the bay to the mouth of the Potomac, which they entered and proceeded up about fourteen leagues, to an island which they called St. Clement’s. The emigrants landed here, and took formal possession of Maryland “for our Saviour, and for our Sovereign Lord the King of England.”
Governor Calvert left the “Ark” at the island and sailed up the river with two pinnaces, in order to explore the country and conciliate the Indian chieftains. He was accompanied by Captain Henry Fleet, of the Virginia colony, who was versed in the Indian tongues and acquainted with the country. They assured the chiefs that the strangers had not come to make war upon them, but to impart the arts of civilization and show their subjects the way to heaven. Not deeming it prudent to seat the first colony so far in the interior, Calvert returned down the river and was conducted by Captain Fleet up a tributary stream which flows into the Potomac, from the north, a few miles above its mouth. This river, which is now called the St. Mary’s, is a deep and wide stream. Six or seven miles above its mouth the Governor’s exploring party came to an Indian village, situate on a bluff on the left bank. They determined to settle here, but, instead of forcibly dispossessing the feeble tribe in possession, they purchased thirty miles of the land from them for axes, hatchets, and cloth, and established the colony with their consent. And thus the method of William Penn was antedated by half a century. By the terms of the agreement the Indians were to give up at once one half of the town to the English and part of the growing crops, and at the end of the harvest to leave the place altogether. The “Ark” was sent for, and on the 27th of March, 1634, amid salvoes of artillery from the ships, the emigrants disembarked and took possession of their new home, which they called St. Mary’s.
Attention was first given to building a guardhouse and a general storehouse, their intercourse meanwhile with the natives being of the most genial character. The Indian women taught them how to use corn meal, and with the Indian men they hunted deer and were initiated into the mysteries of woodcraft. They planted the cleared land, and in the autumn of the same year were able to send a cargo of corn to New England in exchange for salt fish and other provisions. From Virginia the colonists procured swine and cattle; and, within a few months after landing, the settlement was enjoying a high degree of prosperity. The English race had now learned the art of colonization.
Although Governor Harvey visited St. Mary’s and seems always to have been friendly to the new colony, the Virginians were bitterly hostile. Captain Young wrote to Sir Tobie Matthew from Jamestown, in July, 1634, that it was there “accounted a crime almost as heinous as treason to favor, nay, to speak well of, that colony” of Lord Baltimore. Sympathy with what they regarded as Clayborne’s wrongs increased their enmity. Soon after the “Ark” and “Dove” left Point Comfort, Clayborne informed the Governor and Council of Virginia that Calvert had notified him that the settlement upon Kent Island would henceforth be deemed a part of Maryland, and requested the opinion of the Board as to his duty in the premises. The Board expressed surprise at the question. and said that there was no more reason for surrendering Kent Island than any other part of the colony; and that, the validity of Lord Baltimore’s patent being yet undetermined, they were bound to maintain the rights of their colony. It was probably on account of remonstrances from Virginia that the committee of the Privy Council for plantations wrote to the Virginians in July, 1634, that there was no intention to affect the interests which had been settled when Virginia was under a corporation, and that for the present they might enjoy their estates with the same freedom as before the recalling of their patents. This letter, which was merely designed to show that Baltimore’s charter should not invade any individual right, appears to have been regarded by Clayborne as justifying his resistance to Calvert’s claim of jurisdiction over his trading stations.
Clayborne endeavored at once to incite the Indians to acts of hostility against the colony. He told them that the new-comers were Spaniards, enemies of the English, and had come to rob them. These insinuations caused a change in the demeanor of the Indians, which greatly alarmed the people of St. Mary’s. The suspicions of the natives, however, were soon dispelled and friendly relations with them were renewed. Clayborne now resolved to wage an open war against the colony. Early in 1635 a casus belli was found in the capture by the Maryland authorities of a pinnace belonging to Clayborne, upon the ground that it was a Virginia vessel trading in Maryland waters without a license. Clayborne thereupon placed an armed vessel under the command of Lieutenant Warren, with orders to seize any of the ships belonging to St. Mary’s. Governor Calvert determined to show at once that this seditious opposition would not be tolerated. He equipped two small vessels and sent them against Kent Island. A naval engagement between the hostile forces took place in April, 1635, which resulted in the killing of one of the Maryland crew, and of Lieutenant Warren and two others of the Kent Island crew. Clayborne’s men then surrendered and were carried to St. Mary’s. Clayborne himself took refuge in Virginia, and Governor Calvert demanded his surrender. This demand was not granted, and two years later Clayborne went to England. He presented a petition to the King, complaining that Baltimore’s agents had sought to dispossess him of his plantations, killing some of his men and taking their boats. He offered to pay the King £100 per annum for the two islands, and prayed for a confirmation of his license and an order directing Lord Baltimore not to interfere with him.
This petition was referred to a committee of the Privy Council, before which Clayborne appeared in person, and arguments upon both sides were heard. The committee decided, in April, 1638, that Clayborne’s license to trade, under the signet of Scotland, gave him no right or title to the Isle of Kent, or to any other place within the limits of Baltimore’s patent, and did not warrant any plantation, and that no trade with the Indians ought to be allowed within Maryland without license from Lord Baltimore. As to the wrongs complained of, the committee found no reason to remove them, but left both sides to the ordinary course of justice. Clayborne returned to Virginia, postponing but not abandoning his vengeance, and Kent Island was subjected to the government of St. Mary’s, Captain George Evelyn being appointed commander of the isle. In the same year Palmer’s Island was seized, and Clayborne’s property there confiscated.
In February, 1635, the first legislative assembly of the Province was convened. Owing to the destruction of most of the early records during Ingle’s Rebellion, no account of the proceedings of this Assembly has come down to us. The charter required the assent of the Proprietary to the laws, and when the acts of this Assembly were laid before Lord Baltimore he disallowed them. In April, 1637, he sent over a new commission, constituting Leonard Calvert the lieut.-general, admiral, and commander, and also the chancellor and chief-justice of the Province. In certain cases, he was directed to consult the council, which was composed of Jerome Hawley, Thomas Cornwallis, and John Lewger. The governor was directed to assemble the freemen of the Province, or their deputies, upon the 25th of January ensuing, and signify the Proprietary’s dissent from the laws made at the previous assembly, and at the same time to submit to them a body of laws which he would himself send over. John Lewger, the new member of the council, and secretary of the Province, came to St. Mary’s in November, 1637, accompanied by his family and several servants. He was distinguished as a scholar at Oxford, and had been converted to Catholicism by the celebrated controversialist Chillingworth. His appointment is an evidence of the solicitude shown by the Proprietary for the affairs of his plantation. During the first years of the settlement he and his friends expended above £40,000 in sending over colonists and providing them with necessaries, of which sum at least £20,000 was out of Baltimore’s own purse.