Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/272

 CLAYBORNE

CLAYBORNE

1630, he was in England " for the purpose of in- forming the king about the condition of colonial affairs," and on the 16th of May, 1631, he went on another voyage of discovery to the Isle of Kent, an island which he had "discovered, purchased and planted j-ears before the patent of Maryland was ever thought of, " and which he had named for the river Kent, which ran through the grounds of his mother's birthplace at " Levens Hall." In 1632, Charles I. gave to Sir George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, a part of the ter- ritory of Virginia, which was named Maryland in honor of the Queen. On the death of the first lord, in 1632, Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore, a.ssumed jvirisdiction over this " Isle of Kent" (which may have been included ignorantly or unintentionally in the patent granted his father) , and sent to America his brother Leonard with two hundred men to take possession. Because they were Roman Catholics, on their arrival in 1633 the Virginia Council sent to the king a petition protesting against their settlement. The matter was referred to the privy council, and Lord Baltimore was advised to confer with the planters, which he did through his brother the governor of Maryland. Meanwhile Claiborne, who had disputed Calvert's rights to any part of Virginia, especiallj' to the Isle of Kent, was ac- cused of sedition and of stirring up hostility among the " Nations," for which Calvert ordered his arrest April 23, 1635. One of Claiborne's ves- sels being seized by the Marylanders, he fitted out an armed pinnace under Lieutenant Warren, which was defeated by two vessels of the enemy sent out under Cornwallis. This first naval battle in colonial waters, was a prototype of America's naval renown. Claiborne fled to Virginia, and thence to England where he presented his griev- ances to the king in person, but was soon after sued by his London partners and cited before the commissioners on charges of sedition, piracy, etc. (constructive crimes), preferred by his old enemy. Sir John Harvey, but notliing came of it. Up to this time, Claiborne, who \\'as a man of in- domitable will, energy and perseverance, had tried to play a difficult game in politics — to be at once popular with the court and the colonists. So far he had succeeded, but unfortunately for him, his cousin and chief patron, Anne, Countess of Dorset and Pembroke, suddenly withdrew her- self from court, owing to a quarrel with the king about her Barony of Clifford, and his old friend and kinsman George Percy (a former governor of the colony) died in March, 1636, thus depriv- ing him of much of his former influence, while the Calverts were daily growing in power and popvilarity. He had championed the planters in their grievances, had protested against the king's unjust taxes on tobacco, had made an enemy of

Gondomar by opposing the "Spanish alliance," and had thwarted the interests of the lords com- missioners with Loud at their head. He had, however, fully set forth his grievances to the King, who in 1638, " severely reprimanded Lord Baltimore for having, in violation of his royal commands, deprived Claiborne of his rightful possessions, " nevertheless, in the succeeding year, April 4, 1638, the commissioners made a decision wholly in favor of Lord Baltimore. Claiborne had purcha.sed Palmer's Isle from the Indians in 1636 and when again in England, June 6, 1638, he petitioned the king for a grant of Rich island which he had discovered, and for an immense tract of land twelve leagues in breadth " extend- ing to the great lakes and southerly down the bay on both sides to the ocean, to be held in fee of the crown of England," which was refused; but in 1642, the king appointed him " treasurer of the colony of Virginia for life. ' ' Early in 1645, at the head of his " men of Kent," he expelled Cal- vert, who in his turn was forced to flee to Vir- ginia. In September, 1651, "believing that all things were now favorable to the recovery of his ancient rights and possessions, " he joined the par- liament, and was appointed by its council of state one of the five commissioners for the "re- duction of Virginia and the colonies in obedience to the Commonwealth of England." His terms of capitulation were most favorable to Virginia, and he concurred in the election of Sir William Berkeley as governor in 1660. In the spring of 1652, he had been elected secretary of state for Virginia, to which office he had been again ap- pointed in 1655, 1657 and 1658, and on Cromwell's death he was appointed by a convention which met at James city, " to continue in office until the next assemblj'." Upon the restoration, Claiborne was superseded in his office by Col. Thomas Ludwell, but he still held the esteem and confi- dence of the people, for in 1663-64, he was a dele- gate from New Kent to an assembly held in James City, after which he participated in the defence of the colony against the depredations of the Indians. After the crushing of Bacon's re- bellion, the assembly of Virginia in April, 1677, presented an address to King Charles recounting their grievances, in which the following sentence appears, " that the Island of Kent in Maryland granted to, seated and planted by Colonel Clai- borne, Sen., formerly a limbe and member of Vir- ginia .... is since lopt off and deteyned from us by Lord Baltimore. " The question thus raised by the highest oflScial power of Virginia fifty years after the settlement, when Claiborne the proprietor had long ceased to urge his clami, was not really settled until Virginia, in her Bill of Rights in 1776, renounced her claim to the terri- tory of Maryland beyond the Potomac. Colonel