203 proceedings in the mother country. The course of the colonists was at once prudent, and justified by their own condition. Their government was removed from the oppressions of the crown, which had excited the discontents in England; and the proprietary administration of it was full of gentleness and benevolence. The recitals of the acts of Assembly of that period, overflow with expressions of gratitude to the proprietary, for his kindness to the colony; and their enactments contain more substantial evidence of that gratitude, in the voluntary grants of revenue. If they had even been predisposed to revolutionary, movements, the short yet baneful experience which they had of them in the results of Clayborne and Ingle's rebellion, and the contrast between their administration and that of the proprietary, were sedatives sufficient to allay the spirit. They had no motives for entering into a revolution excited by oppressions they had never felt, which, in its excesses, might ultimately prostrate even their cherished government and institutions, as a part of the old order of things. At the same time, now that the ascendancy of the parliament had become complete, an open adhesion to the cause of the crown would only have brought down destruction upon their government, and jeopardy to their liberties.

Departure from

it in one stance.

The course of neutrality was therefore to them the course of discretion; and it appears to have been invariably observed during the reign of Charles I. Immediately after in his death, this course was for a moment departed from by a single act of loyalty, which the proprietary had reason to regret for many years. On the 15th of November, 1649, the accession of king Charles II. was formally proclaimed in the province, by a proclamation issued by Greene, who was the acting governor, under a commission from governor Stone, then temporarily absent. (14) Stone soon returned and resumed the government; and this most unwise and aimless act on the part of Greene, was not followed by any measures calculated to give offence to the dominant party in England: yet the memory of the act remained.

(14) See this proclamation in Council Proceedings, from 1636 to 1657, page 321.

the Parliament

State for the re

Colonies adher

cause.

As soon as the triumph of the Commonwealth cause was consummated by the death of the king, the parliament directed its Proceedings of attention to the subjugation of the colonies which and Council of had been disaffected to that cause. Amongst duction of the these, Virginia had been conspicuous for her loying to the royal alty, and was selected as one of the first victims. In October, 1650, an ordinance was passed by the parliament, prohibiting trade specially with Virginia, Barbadoes, Bermudas, and Antigua, and declaring them to be in a state of rebellion. The parliament asserted its right of jurisdiction over them, as colonies established "at the cost and under the authority of the nation, and settled by its people:" and for their reduction, it authorised the council of state to despatch commissioners with a fleet, to compel the obedience of all who stood in opposition to the authority of parliament. (15) Maryland was not mentioned in the ordinance, and does not appear to have been within the contemplation of the powers conferred by it. She had never arrayed herself in direct opposition to the parliament authority, and had committed no act of rebellion to place her in the predicament described. But the finger of her "evil genius" is visible in the commission issued under this ordinance by the council of state. That commission was issued in September, 1651, to captain Robert Dennis, Richard Bennet, Thomas Stagg, and captain William Clayborne: and the instructions which accompanied it, authorised them, upon their arrival with the fleet at Virginia, to use their best endeavors "to reduce all the plantations within the Chesapeake bay to their due obedience to the parliament of the commonwealth of England." Ample authorities accompanied this general instruction, to render it effectual. They were empowered to offer pardon to all voluntarily submitting, and to use force to reduce the unwilling: and they were even authorised to give freedom to the servants of rebellious masters, upon condition of entering as soldiers into the service of the commonwealth. Upon the reduction of the colonies, they were directed to administer to the inhabitants an oath of allegiance to the commonwealth, and to cause all process to

(15) First Hazard's Collection, 556; 2d, Anderson's History of Commerce, 546; Chalmers, 221.

be issued in the name of the Keepers of the Liberties of England, by the authority of parliament. (16)

Submission of

government to

commissioners.

Virginia was finally reduced by them in March, 1651; (17) and their attention was now directed to the government of Maryland. Like poor Tray of the fable, she was to suffer for her the proprietary proximity to Virginia. Clayborne, who had now the parliament the power, wanted no excuse to justify its exercise. He and the other commissioners assumed the ground, that whatever had been the conduct of the colonies, an express submission and recognition by them of the authority of parliament, was necessary to shelter them from the powers of the parliament commission: and this was accordingly required of Stone, who was still the governor of Maryland. Stone did not at once accede to their demands; and they immediately issued a proclamation, divesting him of his government, declaring void all the commissions of the proprietary, and constituting a board of six commissioners, for the government of the province, under the authority of parliament. (18) Before any acts of force were resorted to, to compel obedience to this proclamation, Stone, finding all further opposition useless, effected an arrangement with the commissioners, under which he and three of his council were permitted to retain and exercise their powers, saving to them their oath of fealty to the proprietary, until the pleasure of the commonwealth government, as to the ultimate disposition of the province, should be known. This arrangement answered the purposes of both. (19) By his reservation of the proprietary rights, the governor relieved himself from the responsibility of a voluntary surrender; and the commissioners escaped from the hazard of an unauthorised or at least doubtful exercise of power.

So stood the government until July, 1654. In the intermediate period, it appears to have been administered by Stone with

(16) See their commission and instructions in 1st Hazard's State Papers,

556.

(17) 2d Burke's Virginia, 81.

(18) See this proclamation of 29th March, 1652, in Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657, 26, 28 and 29.

(19) Council Proceedings, 1636 to 1657, 269 and 270. The submission of Stone and the arrangement between him and the parliament commissioners, under which he was permitted to retain his power as governor, took place in June,

Usurpation of the fidelity to the commonwealth, and to have kept pace these commis with all the revolutions in the home administration. sioners, in the

government by

name and under It was indeed alleged against him, that in 1653 he the authority of the protector. had attempted to reintroduce the proprietary government, by requiring the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance to it. (20) If this be true, it was not incompatible with the arrangement under which he was permitted to retain his power. That arrangement manifestly contemplated the reservation of the proprietary dominion, until the will of the English government was known: and by the latter, no act had yet been done to divest it. Cromwell had even less reason than the parliament, to be dissatisfied with Stone's administration; for the latter, as soon as he received certain intelligence of Cromwell's elevation to the protectorate, voluntarily recognised and proclaimed him, as protector. (21) Neither the records of the province, nor the allegations of his enemies, furnish any evidence of a falling off from the allegiance which he had thus professed. But Clayborne was still there, the dominant spirit in the direction of the colonies: and to him the vision of the proprietary government, sustained by the approbation of the protector and the people, was as that to Haman of Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. To overthrow it, the usual expedients of power were resorted to. The charge of defection could not be sustained by acts; and it was therefore only necessary to allege unexecuted and unmanifested inten. tions, always easy to be charged, and difficult to disprove. Alleging these, they claimed the privilege of resettling the gov. ernment of Maryland; and Stone, being without the means or hope of effectual resistance, at once surrendered his powers without a struggle. His submission and proffer to administer the government, in the name and under the authority of the commonwealth, were all unavailing. He was utterly divested of it; and its administration was confided to a board consisting of ten commissioners, deriving their appointment from Clayborne and his associates. (22)

(20) See Hazard's Collection, 626.

(21) This proclamation of Cromwell, as protector, of 6th May, 1654, is recorded in Council Proceedings, from 1636 to 1657, 303.

(22) The commissioners thus appointed were, captain William Fuller, Richard Preston, William Durand, Edward Lloyd, captain John Smith, Mr.

ernment.

Stone now resolved upon resistance; but the inclination came too late. He succeeded in raising a force of about two hundred Fruitless efforts of men; and actual hostilities were commenced. The governor Stone to regain the gov. contest was unequal. The commissioners were backed by all the powers of Virginia which was now completely under their control; and by all the strength, which the general ascendancy of the commonwealth power was calculated to impart. An engagement soon took place near the Patuxent, in which Stone was utterly defeated and taken prisoner. He was doomed to death; but such was the respect and affection entertained for him even by the opposing forces, that the very soldiers, who were detailed to carry the sentence of death into exe cution, refused to perform the service. This, and the general intercession of the people, procured a commutation of the sentence into imprisonment, which was continued with circumstances of severity, during the greater part of the protectorate administration. (23) The province being now in the undisputed possession of the commissioners, an Assembly was convened, by which their authority was fully recognized. In the course of the next year, the protector, when informed of the proceedings of the commissioners, gave his sanction to their acts, and to the government which they had established.

Revival of the

in opposition to

The dominion of the proprietary seemed now to be at an end; and in the moment of its downfall, the stale claims of Virginia to his territory, were again revived and urged upon Virginia claims the protector, with every circumstance of objection the restitution of to the charter. On the other hand, the proprietary the proprietary. was as urgent in his requests for the restoration of his province; and to counteract these, the cause of the Virginia claims was espoused and advocated with great earnestness by Bennet and Matthew, two of the commissioners then administering the affairs of that colony. In opposition to the restitution, several documents were transmitted by them to the protector,

Lawson, John Hatch, Richard Wells, and Richard Ewen; of whom Fuller, Preston and Durand, to be the quorum. See their commission in Council Proceedings, 1636 to 1657, 306 to 309, and Land Records, Liber I, 618 to 621. (23) 1st Hazard's State Papers, 621 to 626. Preface to Bacon's edition of the Laws.