Governors.

character, is not the purpose of this work; except where individual acts and motives are involved in the transactions of the colony, and are necessary to illustrate their true character. The period of which we are treating, is so far removed from us in time and character, that not only the actors and their motives, but even the transactions and the results which belong to it, have in a great degree ceased to interest. When events are forgotten, the individuals connected with them cannot hope to be remembered. We have no knowledge of any memorials of that day, but the Assembly and council transactions; and even tradition is mute. The general condition of the province was one of tranquillity and prosperity; and the occasional differences between some of these governors and the Assemblies, do not furnish decisive indications of the character of the former. Their private virtues, and their faults, have alike passed away with the age in which they lived; and their memory is in a name. Yet Cæsar has no more!

The population of the colony increased rapidly during this era. In 1733, the number of taxable inhabitants was 31,470. (40) In 1748, the number of inhabitants was 130,000, including 94,000 whites and 36,000 blacks; in 1756, it had

Population. increased to 154,188, including 107,963 whites, and 46,225 blacks; and in 1761, it amounted to 164,007, including 114,332 whites, and 49,675 blacks. (41) The inducements held out to emigrants were much greater than during the period of the royal government. The restoration of the proprietary, identified his private rights with the public policy; and these rights being no longer embarrassed by the Assemblies or the agents of England, the government devolved upon Benjamin Tasker, then president of the council, who continued to administer it until the arrival of Horatio Sharpe, the new governor, in March, 1753. Mr. Sharpe remained in the government until August, 1768, when he was superseded by Robert Eden,' the last governor under the proprietary dominion.

(40) The taxables, at this period, were designated by the acts of 1715, chap. 15th; and 1725, chap. 4th. They included all males above the age of 16, except beneficed clergymen and paupers; and all female negroes or mulattoes. Council Proceedings of 1733, Liber M, 92 to 94.

(41) Reports of the governor and council of Maryland, to the commissioners of trade, in 1749, 1756, and 1761. Coun. Pro. of 13th December, 1749; f 23d August, 1756, Lib. TR and WS, 117; of 1761, in Lib. TR and WS, 318.

the crown, as during the royal government, the lands of the' province were always open to grant upon favorable terms. The character and stability of the government, the value of the staple commodities of the colony, and the fertility of the ungranted lands, all concurred to invite the industrious and enterprising emigrant. But besides the voluntary immigration during this period, there was another fruitful source of population, the influx of which, although at the time deeply deplored by the inhabitants, contributed largely to the increase and strength of the colony. The number of convicts imported into Maryland during this era, must have amounted, upon the lowest estimate, to fifteen or twenty thousand. They were imported by private shippers, under a contract with the crown; and sold into servitude in the colony, for their term of transportation. The want of labor is always sensibly felt in a new country, and particularly in those operations which are necessary to prepare it for culture; and in the representations of former periods, it is frequently alluded to, as one of the principal difficulties encountered by the colonists. The number of convicts now thrown into the province, removed this inconvenience; and although the servants thus obtained, brought with them the brand of infamy, as the voucher for their morals, they were generally inured to labor, and endowed with bodily energies, equal to the severe task of opening and cultivating a new country. They soon became amalgamated with the ordinary population; and when their term of servitude had expired, many of them became highly useful and reputable citizens, and some rose even to the most honorable distinctions. The pride of this age revolts at the idea of going back to such as these, for the roots of a genealogical tree; and they, whose delight it would be, to trace their blood through many generations of stupid, sluggish, imbecile ancestors, with no claim to merit but the name they carry down, will even submit to be called "novi homines," if a convict stand in the line of ancestry. Yet certain it is, that whilst this class of population supplied the colony with the labor which it most wanted, it included many, who lived to emerge from the degradation of their servitude, to atone for their early follies and vices, to win for themselves again a fair and honorable name, and even to transmit honor to a virtuous offspring. Like the "Clifford" of romance, they lived to

prove, that even the spirit, early and long educated in the ways of vice, is not incurable; and that virtue's paths, though late regained, may yet be paths of pleasantness and peace. Supercilious morality may condemn the exhibition of such characters; but we shall be pardoned for saying, upon the experience of the colonies generally, that men thus rescued from crime, and enrolled as citizens, did contribute to the strength and moral power of the province.

Commerce of the

colony.

The commercial condition of the colony during this period, exhibited all the features of abject dependence. The restrictive system, had accomplished all its purposes, and had fully established for England the monopoly she desired. The trade of the province in every valuable import or export, was conducted exclusively with England, and in English vessels. Tobacco was still the principal export of the colony, and the chief source of its wealth. In most of the statistical accounts of that period, the quantity of tobacco annually exported from Maryland and Virginia, is stated in the aggregate, so as to render it difficult to determine the exact quantity exported from each. In 1731, the annual export of this article from the two colonies to Great Britain, was estimated at 60,000 hogsheads of 600 pounds each. (42) A later, and perhaps a more accurate estimate, in 1740, predicated upon the information of the English merchants engaged in this trade, rates it at 30,000 hogsheads of about 900 pounds. (43) The only estimate made in the province as to this article of export, which can be relied upon. as accurate, is that contained in the report made by its governor and council, in 1761, to the commissioners of trade, which represents, that there were about 28,000 hogsheads shipped annually, from Maryland to England, valued at £140,000. It appears also from this report, and the antecedent reports of 1749 and 1756, coming from the same source and under similar calls, that the trade in tobacco was carried on exclusively with Great Britain and in English vessels. The other exports of Maryland, during this period, were wheat, lumber, corn, flour, pig and bar iron in small quantities, skins, and furs: but these were inconsiderable in

(42) 3d Anderson's Commerce, 423. (43) Same, 496 and 544.

amount and value. The total value of her exports, exclusive of tobacco, was estimated, in 1749, at £16,000 sterling; and in 1761, £80,000 currency. Her imports were drawn almost exclusively from England; upon which she still depended, for nearly every thing but the food necessary for sustenance. The value of her English imports, was estimated, in 1756, at £150,000 annually; and in 1761, at £160,000. Besides these, she imported salt from the Portuguese Islands, and a small quantity of wine from Madeira. She carried on also a small trade with the New England colonies in bread stuffs. The state of her shipping, during this period, manifests the same degree of commercial dependence. The trade with England was carried on exclusively in English vessels; and according to the estimates of the colony, employed, in 1748, 200 vessels of 12,000 tons burthen; in 1756, 180 vessels of 10,000 tons; and in 1761, 120 vessels of 18,000 tons. The whole shipping of the colony, as estimated in 1756, was but 60 vessels of about 2000 tons burthen in the aggregate, navigated by about 480 men ; and in 1761, in consequence of the French war, it had decreased to 30 vessels, of 1300 tons burthen in the aggregate, employing 200 men; and in its employment, it was in a great measure limited to the West India trade, and that with the northern colonies. (44)

Its manufactures.

In manufactures, the colony had made but little progress, except in the production of Iron. As early as 1749, there were eight furnaces and nine forges, employed in this branch of manufacture: and they were still in existence and operation at the close of this era. The quantity of iron annually manufactured in them, as estimated in 1761, was 2500 tons of pig iron, and 600 tons of bar iron. For almost every other article of manufacture, the colonists depended entirely upon England. This was the condition in which the English government desired to retain them: and the reports from the province to the commissioners of trade during this period, betray, every where, the knowledge of the jealousy with which the former regarded all attempts to establish manufactories in

(44) These facts relative to the statistical condition of Maryland at this period, are collected from the several reports of her governor and council, to the commissioners of trade in 1749, 1756, and 1761, referred to in note 43 of this chapter.

the colonies, and the desire to allay it. Hence all these reports concur in saying, that no such attempts had been made or were about to be made in the province, except for the production of iron. Their representations as to manufactures, might therefore be received with some degree of distrust, as coming from persons anxious to conceal what they had accomplished in the establishment of them; if they were not sustained by the statements of the Assembly at a later period, when fresh from the victory over the Stamp Act, and in a message representing the necessity of manufacturing for themselves-" We can only say (says the lower house, in 1767) what is very generally known, that nothing has been set up in this province which deserves the name of a manufactory. It is true, that several families make some of their coarse cloathing within themselves, but in so few instances as not to deserve notice, and that without any encouragement from public or private subscriptions, except the small bounty lately paid by the County Courts upon a few pieces of linen. Your Excellency may well report, from your own sight and knowledge, that the inhabitants of the province, from the first to the lowest rank, are generally clothed in British manufactures." (45)

Such was Maryland when began the struggle for her political liberties, originating with the Stamp Act, and terminating in her independence. From the proprietary restoration, her progress had been rapid, when contrasted with that of the preceding era. A population of little more than thirty thousand persons had been swelled to one of more than one hundred and sixty thousand. Adventurous industry had carried that population to every quarter of the province, and with it the arts of civilized life. The colony was no longer a feeble settlement on the outskirts of the wilderness. It was now the undisputed master of the province, and the occupier of the greater portion of its soil; and there were none to make it afraid. The savage power within its limits was extinct, and the enemy was removed from its borders. Industry, frugality, and simplicity were the severe virtues of the colonists; and contentment and prosperity marked their condition. Enthralled as was their commerce, and dependent as they were upon the mother country for many of the sup

(45) Journal of House of Delegates of 6th December, 1766.