On the 16th of September, 1656, the Commissioners of Trade reported to the Lord Protector entirely in favor of Baltimore. The report was not acted upon, and Bennett and Matthews, the agents of the Puritans, continued the contest. In October they sent to the Protector a paper entitled, Objections against Lord Baltimore’s patent, and reasons why the government of Maryland should not be put into his hands. These objections merely recite the old grievances. Baltimore did not wait for the report to be confirmed, but, confident that his province would be restored to him, directed Fendall to assume the administration of affairs. He also directed large grants of land to be made to those who had been conspicuous for their fidelity to him, and instructed the Council to make provision, out of his own rents, for the widows of those who had lost their lives in his service. Towards the close of the year the Proprietary sent his brother, Philip Calvert, to Maryland as a member of the Council and secretary of the Province. Maryland was now divided between the rival governments. The Puritans held undisputed sway over Anne Arundel, Kent Island, and most of the settlements, while Fendall’s authority seems to have been confined to St. Mary’s County. But there were no acts of hostility between the opposing factions. In September, 1657, the Puritans held another Assembly at Patuxent, at which they again passed an act in recognition of their own authority, and imposed taxes for the payment of the public charges.
Such was the posture of affairs when an agreement was reached by Lord Baltimore and the Puritan agents in England. The favor with which the Protector regarded the old nobility, and his failure to notice the remonstrances which the Puritan agents had addressed to him, caused the latter to despair of setting aside the adverse report of the Commissioners of Trade. The new agent of Virginia, Digges, acted as the intermediary between Baltimore and Bennett and Matthews, and the articles of agreement were signed on the 30th of November, 1657. After reciting the controversies and the “very sad, distracted, and unsettled condition” of the Province, they provide for the submission of those in opposition to the Proprietary and their surrender of the records and great seal. Lord Baltimore, on his part, promised “upon his honor” that he would punish no offenders, but would grant land to all having claims under the conditions of plantation, and that any persons desiring to leave the Province should have liberty to do so. The Puritans now desired the protection of the Toleration Act, and Lord Baltimore therefore stipulated that he would never assent to its repeal. Fendall, who had gone to England for the purpose of consulting the Proprietary, immediately returned to Maryland with a copy of this agreement. At the same time Bennett wrote to Captain Fuller, apprising him of the engagement which had been made on behalf of his party. Fendall arrived in the Province in February, 1658; and the Providence council were requested to meet the officers of Lord Baltimore in order to treat for the performance of the agreement. A meeting of the rival councillors accordingly took place in March. The Puritans, fatigued by the long struggle, were not unwilling to submit, but insisted upon making some changes in the articles of surrender. Fendall accepted their terms, and the new agreement was signed on the 24th of March, 1658. It was stipulated that the oath of fidelity should not be pressed upon the people then resident in the Province, but that, in its place, each person should subscribe an engagement to submit to Lord Baltimore, according to his patent, and not to obey any in opposition to him. It was further agreed that no persons should be disarmed; that there should be a general indemnity for all acts done since December, 1649, and that the proceedings of the Puritan assemblies and courts, in cases relating to property rights, should not be annulled. Proclamation was then made of this agreement and of the governor’s commission, and writs were issued for an Assembly to be held in the ensuing April. At this Assembly the articles of surrender were confirmed. And thus, after six years of civil broils, the Proprietary sway was re-established.
But the spirit of that revolutionary epoch was not yet extinct in Maryland. Another attempt to subvert the authority of Lord Baltimore was made in the following year. This time the leader was Fendall himself, who, after having broken faith with the Puritans, now broke faith with the Proprietary. Upon the confusion which followed the death of Cromwell, Fendall thought that the opportune moment had come for shaking off the rule of his feudal lord. At a session of the Assembly held in March, 1660, the burgesses, in pursuance of Fendall’s scheme, sent to the upper house a message, in which they claimed to be a lawful assembly, without dependence on any other power, and the highest court of judicature. “If any objection can be made to the contrary,” the message concluded, “we desire to hear it.” A conference between the houses was held, at which Fendall stated that he was only commissioned to confirm laws till the Proprietary should declare his dissent, but that in his opinion the true meaning of the charter was that the laws made by the freemen and published by them in his lordship’s name should at once be of full force. On the same day the lower house came in a body to the upper, and declared that they would not permit the latter to continue its sittings, but that its members might take seats among them. Fendall then dissolved the upper house, and, surrendering the powers he had received from the Proprietary, accepted a new commission from the burgesses. Philip Calvert protested against the proceedings, and left the house. The burgesses sought to fortify their authority by making it a felony to disturb the government as established by them.
Lord Baltimore made short work of these treacherous proceedings. As soon as the tidings reached him, in the following June, he appointed Philip Calvert governor. Soon after he obtained from Charles II. a letter commanding all the inhabitants of the Province to submit to his authority. Philip Calvert was sworn in at the Provincial Court held at Patuxent in December, 1660, and had no difficulty in obtaining control of the Province. No one ventured to disobey the commands of a monarch who had just been restored to the throne amid universal enthusiasm. Fendall, indeed, attempted to excite an insurrection, but, failing in this, surrendered himself voluntarily. Lord Baltimore had instructed his deputy not to permit Fendall to escape with his life; and subsequently, while proclaiming a general amnesty, he excepted Hatch and “that perfidious and perjured fellow Fendall, whom we lately entrusted to be our lieutenant of Maryland.” Notwithstanding these instructions, Fendall was punished only by a fine and disfranchisement.
Charles II. was duly proclaimed, and the power of King and Proprietary permanently revived. The tranquillity which now came to the exhausted colony was destined to last, without interruption, till the mighty wave of another revolution in England proved fatal to the lord paramount of Maryland. Clayborne, who has been called the evil genius of the Province, now disappears from its history. His courage and energy have won the admiration of some writers; but, according to the settled principles of public law, his claim upon Kent Island was entirely without foundation. Towards the close of 1661 Charles Calvert, the eldest son of the Proprietary, was appointed governor, and remained in that office till the death of his father. The history of the Province becomes the record of peaceful progress under his wise and just administration. The population, which in 1660 was 12,000, had increased, five years later, to 16,000. In 1676 Lord Baltimore wrote to the Privy Council that the population was 20,000. The provincial assemblies continued to be held at St. Mary’s, and new counties were from time to time erected.
THE BALTIMORE COINS.
[See a “Sketch of the Early Currency of Maryland and Virginia,” by S. F. Streeter, in Historical Magazine, February, 1858, vol. ii. p. 42; and Crosby’s Early Coins of America, from which we have been permitted to borrow our cuts. Specimens of the coins were given by the late George Peabody to the Maryland Historical Society; but they have been surreptitiously removed. Other originals are in the cabinet of William S. Appleton, Esq., of Boston.—Ed.]