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360 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
Governor Nicholson, after his removal from Maryland to Virginia in
1698, urged upon the crown the importance of bringing all the colonies
under one head and one viceroy, and keeping up a standing army; and
painted in dark colors the growing spirit of independence, which should be
stifled in the birth. A bill was brought into parliament in 1701, proposing
the destruction of all the colonial charters and the establishment of royal
governments, but it was finally defeated. The Lords of Trade applied to the
government of Maryland in the same year for " information in regard to the
ill-conduct of the proprietary governments," and the assembly, who had so
long " groaned under" Lord Baltimore's " tyranny," can only allege that
there was no oath of allegiance to the crown, that the laws were not submitted to the king for approval, nor was there any appeal to the English
courts, and that the tonnage duty of fourteen pence per ton properly
belonged to the province.1
The fact is, they were beginning to see their mistake, and were growing
alarmed at the designs of the crown and the ambition of their neighbors.
In 1704, Governor Seymour laid before them an extract from a London letter,
giving notice of-—
—" a design New York hath of making all the colonies tributary to them, in order to
support or rather enrich them,'and they seem to push the thing for the half as to have a
member to be chosen out of the Northern and Southern governments to represent these
colonies, and meet at New York instead of their own Assembly, and to have one Vice-
Royal and General of all the forces of the Continent, and that of Virginia and Maryland
&c, to be dependents under them; a project to this effect is lodged with the Lords."
At a conference held by the governor, council and the Lower House, to
consider of and advise and lay before her majesty such reasons as may induce
her majesty to put a stop to all proceedings levelled against the constitutions
of this province by the Governor of New York, it was resolved:
" I. It is conceived by this conference that if the seat of government be at New
York, it will not only be a means to allure and entice many tradesmen, artificers and
others now among us who follow the trade of planting tobacco here, to desert this Province and fly to that of New York, where they may follow their several trades and callings
and gain to themselves more ease *and advantage, thereby lessening the revenue of the
Crown of England, and also by these means we shall in a short time be enabled to
supply us with such manufactures and other necessarys which we now have imported
from England, and inevitably destroy our commerce with the same.
"II. "We do conceive that New York having power and authority, will upon all
occasions command from us such forces as they shall think fit for the safety and strengthening themselves, as will in a great measure weaken this Province (now but thinly seated),
and thereby leave the remaining part of the inhabitants here, open to the incursions of
the common enemy, the Indians, by whom we are environed and many of them as near
to us as those of New York who are often committing murders on the inhabitants here,
and have lately destroyed several persons and having opportunity of joining with the
several nations of Indians now among us to effect their designs, leaving us in a deplorable condition, the lives of the inhabitants greatly hazarded thereby, and the Province
in general in danger of being totally laid waste.
1 McMahon, i., p. 270.
| Title | History of Maryland - 1 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000387 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 360 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. Governor Nicholson, after his removal from Maryland to Virginia in 1698, urged upon the crown the importance of bringing all the colonies under one head and one viceroy, and keeping up a standing army; and painted in dark colors the growing spirit of independence, which should be stifled in the birth. A bill was brought into parliament in 1701, proposing the destruction of all the colonial charters and the establishment of royal governments, but it was finally defeated. The Lords of Trade applied to the government of Maryland in the same year for " information in regard to the ill-conduct of the proprietary governments," and the assembly, who had so long " groaned under" Lord Baltimore's " tyranny," can only allege that there was no oath of allegiance to the crown, that the laws were not submitted to the king for approval, nor was there any appeal to the English courts, and that the tonnage duty of fourteen pence per ton properly belonged to the province.1 The fact is, they were beginning to see their mistake, and were growing alarmed at the designs of the crown and the ambition of their neighbors. In 1704, Governor Seymour laid before them an extract from a London letter, giving notice of-— —" a design New York hath of making all the colonies tributary to them, in order to support or rather enrich them,'and they seem to push the thing for the half as to have a member to be chosen out of the Northern and Southern governments to represent these colonies, and meet at New York instead of their own Assembly, and to have one Vice- Royal and General of all the forces of the Continent, and that of Virginia and Maryland &c, to be dependents under them; a project to this effect is lodged with the Lords." At a conference held by the governor, council and the Lower House, to consider of and advise and lay before her majesty such reasons as may induce her majesty to put a stop to all proceedings levelled against the constitutions of this province by the Governor of New York, it was resolved: " I. It is conceived by this conference that if the seat of government be at New York, it will not only be a means to allure and entice many tradesmen, artificers and others now among us who follow the trade of planting tobacco here, to desert this Province and fly to that of New York, where they may follow their several trades and callings and gain to themselves more ease *and advantage, thereby lessening the revenue of the Crown of England, and also by these means we shall in a short time be enabled to supply us with such manufactures and other necessarys which we now have imported from England, and inevitably destroy our commerce with the same. "II. "We do conceive that New York having power and authority, will upon all occasions command from us such forces as they shall think fit for the safety and strengthening themselves, as will in a great measure weaken this Province (now but thinly seated), and thereby leave the remaining part of the inhabitants here, open to the incursions of the common enemy, the Indians, by whom we are environed and many of them as near to us as those of New York who are often committing murders on the inhabitants here, and have lately destroyed several persons and having opportunity of joining with the several nations of Indians now among us to effect their designs, leaving us in a deplorable condition, the lives of the inhabitants greatly hazarded thereby, and the Province in general in danger of being totally laid waste. 1 McMahon, i., p. 270. |
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