Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/655

Rh which satisfied him as to the question of right, so that in behalf of his principals he acknowledged the authority of Baltimore, and accepted from Leonard Calvert the office of commander of the isle of Kent.

Thus ejected from the isle of Kent, Claiborne purchased from the Indians Palmer's island at the head of the bay, thinking it to be beyond Balti- more's grant. He then petitioned the king that Baltimore might be restrained from interfering with him, but, despairing of success, offered the king an annual rent of £100 for his lands in the Chesapeake and Susquehanna, and proposed that the crown should grant him a tract of land twelve leagues on each side of Susquehanna river, " from the mouth of said river down the said bay, south- erly to the seaward, and to the head of the river and to the great lake of Canada, to be held of the crown at the rent of twelve pounds sterling per annum." The commissioners of plantation, to whom this application was referred, having be- come satisfied that Claiborne's license to trade gave him neither title to land nor right to make a settlement, and influenced by the queen, who fa- vored Baltimore, refused his j^etition for the grant, thus ignoring his discovery and purchase of the land, and referred him to the courts of law for remedy for the wrongs of which he complained. Notwithstanding Claiborne's departure, and Eve- lyn's submission to the authorities of St. Mary's, the isle of Kent continued in an insubordinate con- dition. It was represented in the general assembly of the freemen of Maryland, which was convened by Leonard Calvert at St. Mary's in February, 1637-'8, by some of the freemen in person, and by Evelyn as proxy for the great body of them. On the advice of Evelyn, Gov. Calvert undertook an expedition in person for the subjection of Kent. He made his campaign within the time marked out, reduced the isle of Kent to obedience, captured Smith, the leader of the affray in the Wicomico some years before, and took possession of Palmer's island, the only remaining post held by Claiborne within the limits of the Maryland charter. On his return to his capital city of St. Mary's, he repoi'ted his proceedings to the general assembly, which had reconvened according to adjournment, and de- livered Smith in irons to them. The sheriff forth- with empanelled the whole general assembly as the grand inquest of the province, and they at once found a true bill against the prisoner for piracy and murder. The same body then dissolved itself into a high court of justice, presided over by Gov. Calvert, with John Lewger, the attorney-general, prosecuting for the proprietary. He was allowed his challenge, according to the course of the com- mon law, and, on being found guilty, after a formal trial, prayed his clergy. The president of the court decided that his prayer had not been made in time, and pronounced sentence of death. He was then executed. Failing to get possession of his island of Kent, Claibone proposed on 6 June, 1638, that "he and his associates should have a grant for settlement of an island, by them discov- ered within the company's patent, to be called Rich island, in honor of Earl Holland " ; but, this meeting with but little favor, he was made by the king treasurer of the colony of Virginia for life, on 6 April, 1642. In all the trials of Charles I., Vir- ginia had remained true to the cavalier cause, while the baron of Baltimore was preserving a cautious neutrality, so as to prevent the seizure of his prov- ince by either of the powers then contending for supremacy in England. In 1644 Claiborne re- appeared on the isle of Kent, and, exhibiting what he claimed was a royal commission, endeavored to incite resistance to the Roman Catholic authority at St. Mary's. In February, 1645, the Roman Catho- lic government under Leonard Calvert was over- thrown by Capt. Richard Ingle, of the parliament ship " Reformation," professing to act under the authority of the parliament. AH historians unite in charging that Claiborne was a j^articipator or co-operator with Ingle in this attack ; but the archives of Maryland fail to prove any such com- plicity. Ingle took possession of the government in February, 1645, and entered on a career of plun- der. Gov. Calvert took refuge in Cavalier Vir- ginia, and in December, 1646, returned with a small force and expelled the parliamentarians without a struggle. The condition of affairs in England, the battle of Marston Moor, the incursion of Ingle, and the restless activity of Claiborne, backed by royal favor, convinced Cecilius Calvert (Lord Bal- timore) that to preserve his province he must at once organize it in sympathy with the prevailing sentiment in England. Accordingly, in 1648, he reorganized his government of Maryland, which to that time had been entirely in the hands of Roman Catholics. His brother, Leonard, had died on 9 June, 1647, and appointed Thomas Green, an ardent cavalier, his successor. The churchmen of Virginia were driving out the non-conformists there, and Lord Baltimore induced Capt. William Stone, one of them, to remove from Northampton county, Va., to Maryland, under a contract that Stone would transport 500 of the exiles from Vir- ginia, and receive grants of land according to Bal- timore's liberal terras of plantation. When the news arrived of the execution of the king. Green, in the absence of Stone, immediately proclaimed Charles II. as his successor. The general assembly of Virginia was equally prompt in avowing its loy- alty, so that in 1650 Maryland and Virginia were the only parts of the British empire that acknowl- edged the royal authority. The opportunity thus afforded was "too good to be lost by Claiborne. Ex- asperated by what he thought the injustice of the court, backed by the influence of the queen and his enemy. Archbishop Laud, he joined the par- liamentary party, and on 26 Sept., 1651, with Richard Bennett and two others, was appointed commissioner by parliament to reduce Virginia and " the plantations within the Chesapeake bay." The English expedition sent with the commis- sioners reached Virginia in March, 1652, and over- threw the cavalier government, with Sir William Berkeley at its head, and established a roundhead one, with Richard Bennett for governor, and Clai- borne as secretary of state. As soon as Berkeley was disposed of, Claiborne went to St. Mary's, where he compelled Gov. Stone to renounce his allegiance to Lord Baltimore, and to issue all legal process in the names of " the keepers of the liber- ties of England," in June, 1652. When Crom- well at home dispersed the long parliament. Stone naturally concluded that the " keepers " had gone with their masters, and repudiated the arrange- ment with Claiborne, whereupon that vigorous ad- venturer returned with an armed force and de- posed Stone, and appointed Capt, William Fuller governor, with a council of Puritan commissioners. Thus, after a struggle of twenty years, Maryland passed under the control of Claiborne. Starting with a claim under a grant from the king, he now held office under commission of parliament. Writs for an assembly to be held at Patuxent were issued, and they contained the first religious test ever exacted "in Maryland. No Roman Catholic could be elected to the general assembly, or vote. The