be indicted for blasphemy; he followed up his attempts to apprehend him, with an ardor which never abated during his whole administration, and which manifested more of vindictive personal feeling, than of regard either for church or state. (40) His proceedings against Clarke, a lawyer of St. Mary's, and Sly, the relative of Coode, are filled with the same spirit; for their principal offences seem to have consisted in ascribing to him certain acts of licentiousness, as making part of his early history, which did not very well comport with his new born zeal for the church. (41) Yet when his personal animosity was not thus excited, his administration was calculated to win the favor of the people; and this, with all his aberrations, he appears to have enjoyed in a considerable degree, even down to the period of his removal. (42)

ny during his ad

The external relations of the province, during his administration, evolved no events which produced any permanent effect upon its External rela- government or condition. They are remarkable tions of the colo- only, for the introduction of that system of general ministration. contribution amongst the colonies, in the defence of the frontiers against the French; which was kept up by the crown, until the final expulsion of the French from Canada. The settlements of the French in Canada had now become formidable. Extending their fortifications along the lakes, the struggle for mastery, which endured for more than half a century, was

(40) See supra, page 230.

(41) The proceedings against them will be found in the Council Proceedings, Liber X, 56 to 66;—and in the records of the provincial courts of that period. The acts which these persons ascribed to him, if true, might very properly be called "The Memorabilia" of governor Nicholson; for they are more unparalleled even than the luxurious Cleopatra's solution of pearls.

(42) See the address of the Assembly of 18th October, 1694, which commends, in the very highest terms, his efforts in the cause of the gospel and the Protestant religion, in the instruction of youth by the establishment of free schools, and his care for the security and defence of the province;-that of 2d October, 1696, equally complimentary, which remarks, "He hath always treated us with justice, not considering so much his own as our good;" and that, at the period of his removal, of 12th November, 1698, signed by the councillors, burgesses, justices of the provincial court, members of the bar, and jurors, returning him their thanks for the many services he had rendered the colony whilst governor. Council Proceedings, Liber F F, 791, 921 and 1029. See also the preamble to the Act of July, 1696, chap. 17.

already commenced between them and the English colonies. The principal resistance to their encroachments, which the French had hitherto encountered, arose from the implacable hostility of the Five Nations; whose position, on the borders of New York, had materially contributed to its defence. Peculiarly exposed by its situation, as the frontier colony, to the attacks of the French, that province had hitherto relied, in a great measure, upon its own resources; and the other colonies, whilst they reaped the benefits of their efforts, were exempt from the perils and burdens of their defence. The French war, ensuing upon the accession of king William, rendered a new system of defence necessary. The government of New York now began to look to the 'sister colonies, for assistance in repelling the aggressions of the common enemy. In April, 1692, she addressed to the government of Maryland, a most earnest solicitation for her aid in keeping up the garrison of Albany, which (says she) is the frontier garrison of all the English plantations on the main of America, and by the loss of which we must lose our Indians also. (42) It was soon followed by a letter from the king, enjoining it upon Maryland, in general terms, to give assistance to New York; (43) but these general requisitions being attended with little effect, the king transmitted new instructions to the colonies in 1694, in which the quota of assistance, to be furnished by each colony, was particularly defined. (44) Thus began, in Maryland, the system of crown requisitions, which was ever afterwards kept up in the general operations of the colonies against the common enemy. The plan of their united efforts being con certed, the king's instructions to the colonies allotted to each the quota of men and money to be furnished by it for the common enterprise. These requisitions, although intended to be imperative, were not always regarded as such. They had to pass through the ordeal of the colonial Assemblies, upon whom alone it depended to give them energy, and by whom they were carried into effect, when it suited the convenience of their colonies. In Maryland, they were frequently disregarded both at this and other periods of her colonial history. To narrate particularly

(42) Council Proceedings, Liber F F, 613 and 673.

(43) Same Liber, F F, 791.

(44) Same Liber, H D. part 2d, 138.

all the transactions of this administration in connexion with them, down to the treaty of Ryswick in 1697, would be an useless task. (45) They were received with a very ill grace by the Assembly of Maryland, at this period and obedience to them was generally declined, upon the plea of inability to incur more than the expense of their own frontier defences. Some of these transactions present an amusing contrast between the past and present condition of Maryland and New York: (46) and the general results of the system to which they belonged, are still interesting in the colonial history. This system of requisitions, imperfect as its obligations were, in some measure

(45) The various proceedings of the government of Maryland, in relation to these requisitions, will be seen in Council Proceedings, Lib. FF, 613, 673, 791, 802, 831 and 893. Liber H D, No. 2, 138, 144, 148, 191, 251, 276, 307 and 372.

(46) The calls made upon Maryland for her assistance were exceedingly harassing to her Assemblies. The quota required of her at the session of October, 1695, was £133 ; but the Assembly represented the province as utterly unable to meet the requisition, and resolved to petition the crown for relief from it. In this exigency, the governor came forward and offered to advance the money. His offer was gladly accepted, and the money transmitted. About that period, Thomas Tasker, the treasurer of Maryland, was sent by governor Nicholson, on an embassy to New York, with a small sum of money for her relief. Tasker was instructed to represent the difficulty with which that sum was raised, and the utter inability of the colony to meet any further demands upon her; and to desire the government of New York to send commissioners to Maryland, by whom they might be satisfied as to her distressed condition. The following is the Council record of the result of Mr. Tasker's embassy:

"His Excellency was pleased to ask Captain Tasker, what answer the Council of New York government gave concerning sending some person from thence to be at our assemblies here: to which he says, it was answered to him that it was too expensive to send one, for that their last messenger had cost their government £19 sterling. Thereupon the Hon. Col. Nicholas Greenberry, then present, informed his Excellency and the Board, that the said messenger was at no expenses during the time he staid on this side the bay, being the place where his business lay; but does withal observe, as also several others of the gentlemen of the council, that he kept drunkening up and down, and was of very ill and rude behaviour during his stay here: and that it was no wonder for him to bring them in such an account of expenses, considering the character his brother Vander Brugh, at New Castle, bears." Council Proceedings of 4th October, 1695, FF, 831.

imparted to the English colonies the character of a confederacy. It familiarized them to the advantages and necessity of union. It led them to regard each other, not as rival dependencies, but as sister colonies. It promoted an intercourse between their inhabitants, which eminently tended to render them one people in manners and habits of thinking, although living under distinct governments. Above all, it taught them to rely upon their own energies for protection, and trained them to all the expedients of self defence.

blished.

This administration is also remarkable for the establishment of a public post. A general post-office establishment for the coloPublic post esta- nies, was instituted by the English government in 1710; before which period, it is generally believed to have been unknown in them. A public post was, however, established in Maryland, at the instance of governor Nicholson, as early as 1695. The post route established, extended from a point on the Potomac, through Annapolis, to Philadelphia. A number of stations, on the route, were designated as places for the receipt or deposit of letters. (47) The postman was bound to travel the route eight times a year; and it was his duty to carry all public messages, and to bring and leave all packets and letters for the inhabitants of the province, according to their direction; for which services, he was allowed, out of the public money, an annual salary of £50 sterling. The system was defective, because it was not made to defray its own expenses by a charge for conveyance; but it was kept up until 1698, when, by the death of the postman originally employed, it was suffered to drop, and does not appear to have been afterwards revived. (48)

The character and influence of the succeeding administrations of governors Blackiston, Seymour, and Hart, were in gene

(47) The route designated began "at Newton's Point, upon Wicomico river," and ran thence "to Allen's mill, thence to Benedict Leonard Town, thence over Patuxent river to George Lingan's, thence to Larkin's, thence to South river, thence to Annapolis, thence to Kent, thence to Williamstadt, thence to Daniel Toafs's, thence to Adam Peterson's, thence to New Castle, and thence to Philadelphia."

(48) Proceedings of Upper House for 1695, Liber FF, 821; Council Proceedings of 1695, Liber HD, part 2d, 174; of 1698, Liber X, 44.

of Governors

mour, and Hart.

Administrations ral, favourable to the liberties and prosperity of the Blackiston, Bey colony. Blackiston, who qualified as its governor on the 2d of January, 1698, (old style,) acted as such until near the close of the year 1701; when, in consequence of the feeble state of his health, he was, at his own solicitation, permitted to return to England. He was a man of honor and integrity, and enjoyed in a high degree the affections and confidence of the colony. The strongest evidence of their undiminished respect for his character, is found in the fact, that after his return to England, he was employed by the Assembly as the agent of the colony, to protect its interests with the crown and parliament. (49) Upon his departure, the administration of the government devolved upon Colonel Edward Lloyd, the president of the council; in whose hands it remained, until the arrival of governor Seymour, in the spring of 1704. (50) Notwithstanding the difference between this governor and the assembly about the chartering of Annapolis, the transactions and accounts of that period represent him to us as an estimable man, whose general conduct in the province gave satisfaction. By his death, in 1709, the government again devolved upon Colonel Lloyd, by whom it was administered until the arrival of governor Hart, in 1714.

trations, to de

governments.

The history of the foreign relations of the province, during these administrations, presents nothing of moment in connexion with the history of the government, but the atAttempts, during these Adminis tempts which were made in England to break down stroy the charter the charter and proprietary governments. These illustrate the constant policy of England with reference to the colonies; which was probably quickened at this period, in consequence of the occasional disregard of the king's requisitions by the colonial Assemblies. The more subtle mode of destroying their liberties, by a system of parliamentary taxation, had not yet been devised. It was reserved for the memorable ministry of Grenville. At that early period, the direct destruction of the charters was the clumsy expedient for getting rid of their checks upon the crown. It is but justice, however, to remark, that throughout every period of their history, the colonies.

(49) Upper House Proceedings, from 1699 to 1714, Liber W H J, 240. (50) British Empire in America, vol. 1st, 334.