In 1649 Governor Stone invited a body of Puritans who were banished from Virginia, on account of their refusal to conform to the Church of England, to settle in Maryland. These Puritans, the fruits of a mission which had been sent from New England to “convert the ungodly Virginians,” numbered over one hundred. Stone having promised them liberty in the matter of religion and the privileges of English subjects, they accepted the invitation, and in this year settled at a place which they called Providence,—now the site of Annapolis. The settlement was, at the next Assembly, erected into a county, and named Anne Arundel, in honor of Lord Baltimore’s wife, recently deceased, who was a daughter of the Earl of Arundel. The conditions of plantation required every person taking up land in the Province to subscribe an oath of fidelity to his lordship, acknowledging him to be “the true and absolute lord and Proprietary of this province.” The Puritans objected to this oath as being against their consciences, because it required them to acknowledge an absolute power, and bound them to obey a government which countenanced the Roman religion. It is clear that these refugees from intolerance were eager to be intolerant themselves. During a temporary absence of Stone in November, 1649, Greene, the deputy-governor, foolishly proclaimed Charles II. king, and granted a general pardon in furtherance of the common rejoicing. Although this act was promptly disavowed, it afterwards became a formidable weapon against Lord Baltimore.
Notwithstanding their scruples, the Providence Puritans sent two burgesses to the Assembly of 1650, one of whom was elected speaker of the lower house. At this session there was first made a permanent division of the Assembly into two houses, which lasted till the Revolution of 1776. The lower house consisted of the burgesses, and the upper of the governor, secretary, and council. The majority of this Assembly were Protestants; but they made a law enacting, as “a memorial to all posterities” of their thankfulness, fidelity, and obedience to the Proprietary, that, “being bound thereunto by the laws both of God and man,” they acknowledged him “to be the true and absolute lord and Proprietary of this province,” and declaring that they would maintain his jurisdiction till “the last drop of our blood be spent.” Another act was passed altering the oath of fidelity prescribed by the conditions of plantation. The new oath afforded ample opportunity for mental reservation. By it the subscribers bound themselves to maintain “the just and lawful” right and dominion of the Proprietary, “not in any wise understood to infringe or prejudice liberty of conscience in point of religion.”
Lord Baltimore’s trimming at this crisis aroused the displeasure of Charles II. Although a powerless exile, he deposed the Proprietary, and appointed Sir William Davenant royal governor of Maryland, on the ground that Baltimore “did visibly adhere to the rebels in England, and admitted all kinds of sectaries and schismatics and ill affected persons into the plantation.” Baltimore afterwards used this assertion to prove his fidelity to Parliament. Sir William collected a force of French and sailed for Maryland, but was captured in the channel.
Lord Baltimore was soon after threatened from a much more formidable quarter. The revolt of the island of Barbadoes called the attention of Parliament to the necessity of subjecting the colonies to its power, and by an act passed Oct. 3, 1650, for reducing Barbadoes, Antigua, “and other islands and places in America” to their due obedience, the Council of State was authorized to send ships to any of the plantations, and to commission officers “to enforce all such to obedience as do or shall stand in opposition to Parliament.” When the news of this act reached Maryland, the Puritans of Providence thought that the days of the Proprietary dominion were numbered, and they consequently refused to send burgesses to the Assembly which met in March, 1651. Upon information of their conduct and of the perturbed state of the Province being transmitted to Lord Baltimore, he sent in August, 1651, a long message to the governor and Assembly. He declared that the reports concerning the dissolution of his government were unfounded, and directed that in case any of the inhabitants should persist in their refusal to send burgesses to the Assembly, they should be proceeded against as rebels. He also requested the governor and council to use their best endeavors to suppress such false rumors, and suggested that a law be made punishing those spreading false news.
But they who asserted that the Proprietary dominion was about to fall, did not “spread false news.” That steps were not immediately taken to execute the Act of 1650 was probably owing to the fact that Scotland was now in arms under the banner of Charles II. But after the “crowning mercy” of the battle of Worcester, the Council of State, Sept. 20, 1651, appointed two officers of the navy, and Richard Bennett and William Clayborne of Virginia, commissioners under the act. They were directed to use their “best endeavors to reduce all the plantations within the Bay of Chesapeake to their due obedience to the Parliament and the Commonwealth of England.” Maryland was at first expressly named in these instructions; but before they were issued, Baltimore went before the committee of the Council and showed that Governor Stone had always been well affected to Parliament; proved by merchants, who traded to Maryland, that it was not in opposition, and declared that when the friends of the Commonwealth had been compelled to leave Virginia he had caused them to be well received in his province. The name of Maryland was thereupon stricken out of the instructions; but when they were finally issued, a term was used under which the Province might be included.
Clayborne and Bennett were in Virginia; the other commissioners soon after sailed with a fleet carrying a regiment of men, and one hundred and fifty Scotch prisoners who were to be sold as servants in Virginia. A part of the fleet finally reached Jamestown in March, 1652. The commissioners speedily came to terms with Sir William Berkeley, and then turned their attention to Maryland. They appeared at St. Mary’s toward the last of March, and demanded submission in two particulars: first, that all writs and proclamations should be issued in the name of the Keepers of the Liberties of England, and not in that of the Proprietary; and second, that all the inhabitants should subscribe the test, called “the engagement,” which was an oath of allegiance to Parliament. The instructions of the commissioners expressly authorized them to insist upon these terms. The governor and council acceded to the second demand, but refused the first on the ground that process in Maryland had never run in the name of the king, and that it was not the intention of Parliament to deprive Lord Baltimore of his rights in the Province. The commissioners immediately removed Stone and appointed a council of six to govern the Province independently of the Proprietary. Bennett and Clayborne then returned to Virginia, where they appointed themselves respectively governor and secretary of that colony. A few months later Stone, deeming that he could best subserve the interests of the Proprietary by temporizing, submitted to the terms of the commissioners, who, finding that Stone was too popular a man to be disregarded, reinstated him in his office June 28, 1652.
Now that Virginia and Maryland were both under the authority of the same commissioners, the Virginians thought that the time had arrived when an attempt to regain their lost territory was likely to prosper. In August, 1652, a petition was presented to Parliament praying that Virginia might have its ancient limits as granted by the charters of former kings, and that Parliament would grant a new charter in opposition to those intrenching upon these limits. This petition was referred to the committee of the navy with directions to consider what patent was proper to be granted to Virginia. The committee reported Dec. 31, 1652. They found that Kent Island had been settled three years before the settlement of Maryland; that Clayborne had been unlawfully dispossessed of it; that Baltimore had exacted oaths of fealty to himself; that several laws of Maryland were repugnant to the statutes of England, such as the one protecting Papists; that persons of Dutch, French, and Italian descent enjoyed equal privileges with the English in Maryland; and that in March, 1652, the governor and council of Maryland had refused to issue writs in the name of the Keepers of the Liberties of England. No action was taken upon this report. Baltimore had previously presented a paper containing reasons of state why it would be more advantageous for the Commonwealth to keep Maryland under a separate government than to join it to Virginia. These reasons were adapted to the existing condition of affairs, and are sufficiently ingenious.
The Province seems to have been quiet during the year 1653. In England, Cromwell turned Parliament out of doors, and the whole strength of the nation was devoted to the Dutch War. Lord Baltimore thought the time propitious for an attempt to recover his colony. Accordingly, in the latter part of the year, he directed Stone to cause all persons who had failed to sue out patents for their land, or had not taken the amended oath of fidelity to the Proprietary, to do so within three months upon pain of forfeiture of their land. Stone was also directed to issue all writs and processes in the name of the Proprietary. In pursuance of these instructions Stone issued a proclamation in February, 1654, requiring those seated upon lands to obtain patents, and swear allegiance to Lord Baltimore. A few weeks later he commanded all officers of justice to issue their writs in the name of the Proprietary, and showed that this change would not infringe their “engagement” to the Commonwealth. In May he proclaimed Cromwell Lord Protector. But the Puritans were not mollified by this act. Before the proclamation of February had been issued, information as to Baltimore’s instructions had reached the Puritans on the Severn and Patuxent; and they had sent petitions to Bennett and Clayborne, in which they complained that the oath of fidelity to be required of them was “a very real grievance, and such an oppression as we are not able to bear,” and prayed for relief according to the cause and power wherewith the commissioners were intrusted. The open disaffection of the Puritans caused Stone in July, 1654, to issue a proclamation in which he charged Bennett and Clayborne, and the whole Puritan party, with leading the people into “faction, sedition, and rebellion against the Lord Baltimore.” The commissioners, still acting under their old authority, resolved again to reduce Maryland. They put themselves at the head of the Providence party, and advanced against St. Mary’s. At the same time a force levied in Virginia, threatened an invasion from the south. Stone, deeming resistance hopeless, submitted. The commissioners deposed him, and by an order dated Aug. 1, 1654, committed the government of the Province to Captain Fuller and a Puritan council. An Assembly was called to meet in the ensuing October for which Roman Catholics were disabled from voting or being elected members. And thus the fugitives from oppression proceeded to oppress those who had given them an asylum. “Ingratitude to benefactors is the first of revolutionary virtues.” The new Assembly met at the house of an adherent on the Patuxent River. Its first act was one denying the right of Lord Baltimore to interfere in the affairs of the Province. An act concerning religion was passed, declaring that none who professed the Popish religion could be protected in the Province, “but to be restrained from the exercise thereof.”
When the news of the deposition of his officers reached Lord Baltimore he despatched a special messenger with letters to Stone, upbraiding him for having yielded the Province without striking a blow, and directing him to make every effort to re-establish the proprietary government. Stone, thus commanded, resolved to dispute the possession of the government with the Puritans. He armed the population of St. Mary’s, and caused the records, which had been removed to the Patuxent, and a quantity of ammunition to be seized. In March, 1655, he advanced against Providence with about two hundred men and a small fleet of bay craft. He sent ahead of him envoys with a demand for submission which was rejected. The Puritans obtained the aid of Roger Heamans, master of the “Golden Lion,” an armed merchantman lying in the port, and prepared for resistance. Stone landed his men near the town on the evening of the 24th of March, and on the next morning the hostile forces advanced against each other. The battle-cry of the Puritans was, “In the name of God fall on!” that of their opponents, “Hey for St. Mary’s!” The fight was short and decisive. The Puritans were completely victorious. About fifty of Stone’s men were killed or wounded, and nearly all the rest, including Stone himself, who was wounded, were taken prisoners. The loss of the Puritans was trifling, but they did not use their victory with moderation. A drum-head court-martial condemned ten prisoners to death, upon four of whom the sentence was executed. Among those thus tried and condemned was Governor Stone, but the soldiers themselves refused to take his life. It is said that the intercessions of the women caused the lives of the others to be spared. They were however kept in confinement, and the estates of the “delinquents” were confiscated.
Each party was now anxious to find favor in the sight of the Protector. Lord Baltimore presented the affidavit of certain Protestants in the Province as to the high-handed proceedings of the Puritans; while the commissioners transmitted documents to prove that he was hostile to the Protector. In the course of the year several pamphlets were published on either side of the controversy. Cromwell, however, does not appear to have concerned himself about the dispute, since both parties acknowledged his supremacy. In January, 1655, Baltimore had obtained from him a letter to Bennett, directing the latter to forbear disturbing the Proprietary or his people in Maryland. Soon after the receipt of this letter Bennett abandoned the governorship of Virginia and went to England. He there made such representations to the Protector, that, in September, 1655, Cromwell wrote to the “Commissioners of Maryland,” explaining that his former letter related only to the boundary disputes between Maryland and Virginia. After the battle of Providence, Cromwell referred the matter to the Commissioners of the Great Seal, and declared his pleasure that in the mean time the government of Maryland should remain as settled by Clayborne. The Commissioners of the Great Seal reported to the council of state in the following year. This report was not acted upon, but was itself referred to the Commissioners for Trade. It was probably favorable to Lord Baltimore, for he made another effort to wrest his Province from the hands of the Puritans. In July, 1656, he appointed Josias Fendall governor of the Province, with all the powers formerly exercised by Stone. Fendall was in reality only a persistent and unscrupulous revolutionist, but his activity had hitherto been exercised on behalf of the Proprietary. Even before his appointment his conduct had excited the suspicions of the Puritan council. He was arrested by them on the charge of “dangerousness to the public peace,” and kept in confinement till September, 1656, when he was released upon taking an oath not to disturb the existing government until the matter was determined in England.