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CHAPTER XXI.
To the thoughtful student of history, there is something really wonderful
in the attitude of Maryland at this juncture. With the most unshaken
resolution her people had determined upon resistance to the encroachments of
tyranny, and with dauntless courage they had set about carrying out their
determination. Patriotism had risen to enthusiasm; and the easy overthrow
of the proprietary government made the step to the renunciation of the
supremacy of England a short and tempting one. Already the province was
virtually independent: the law-making power was lodged in the hands of the
convention,.and the executive was promptly and efficiently administered by
the Committees of Safety. The people were governing themselves. Yet just
here, with a self-restraint that seems more surprising the more we look at it,
they deliberately paused. They had begun their resistance with the object of
securing their threatened provincial rights and liberties: this object they
firmly kept in view and would not be tempted beyond it, at the least, until it
had been made clear, beyond a doubt, that without independence it was unattainable. This attitude, which was misrepresented then and since, and
which even somewhat chafed the patriotic soul of Washington, seems to us
Maryland's greatest glory. It was not that her statesmen were less far-sighted
than others: it was because whatever their visions of the future might be, they
were resolved to walk in the plain path of duty. While strenuously pressing
all measures deemed proper for the defence and preservation of the colonial
liberties and the public welfare, they had yet nothing so much at heart as a
happy reconciliation with the mother-country, upon the firm basis of constitutional freedom; and regarding such reconciliation as their highest felicity,
so did they view the fatal necessity of separating from her as a misfortune
next to the greatest that could befall her.
" Until the attempts of parliament to break down the barriers of their
colonial governments against tyranny," McMahon says, " they had enjoyed
under them security and happiness. Whilst the right of internal legislation was exclusively exercised by assemblies of their own choice,
uncontrolled oppression could never reach them in the administration of
their internal interests. They were, therefore, wedded to their charter governments, by the remembered blessings of the past; and upon them they were
content to rest, as the earnest of liberty and happiness for the future. In no
colony was this ardent attachment of its people to their internal government
more prevalent and more justly founded than in Maryland. The reader, who
| Title | History of Maryland - 2 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000225 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | CHAPTER XXI. To the thoughtful student of history, there is something really wonderful in the attitude of Maryland at this juncture. With the most unshaken resolution her people had determined upon resistance to the encroachments of tyranny, and with dauntless courage they had set about carrying out their determination. Patriotism had risen to enthusiasm; and the easy overthrow of the proprietary government made the step to the renunciation of the supremacy of England a short and tempting one. Already the province was virtually independent: the law-making power was lodged in the hands of the convention,.and the executive was promptly and efficiently administered by the Committees of Safety. The people were governing themselves. Yet just here, with a self-restraint that seems more surprising the more we look at it, they deliberately paused. They had begun their resistance with the object of securing their threatened provincial rights and liberties: this object they firmly kept in view and would not be tempted beyond it, at the least, until it had been made clear, beyond a doubt, that without independence it was unattainable. This attitude, which was misrepresented then and since, and which even somewhat chafed the patriotic soul of Washington, seems to us Maryland's greatest glory. It was not that her statesmen were less far-sighted than others: it was because whatever their visions of the future might be, they were resolved to walk in the plain path of duty. While strenuously pressing all measures deemed proper for the defence and preservation of the colonial liberties and the public welfare, they had yet nothing so much at heart as a happy reconciliation with the mother-country, upon the firm basis of constitutional freedom; and regarding such reconciliation as their highest felicity, so did they view the fatal necessity of separating from her as a misfortune next to the greatest that could befall her. " Until the attempts of parliament to break down the barriers of their colonial governments against tyranny," McMahon says, " they had enjoyed under them security and happiness. Whilst the right of internal legislation was exclusively exercised by assemblies of their own choice, uncontrolled oppression could never reach them in the administration of their internal interests. They were, therefore, wedded to their charter governments, by the remembered blessings of the past; and upon them they were content to rest, as the earnest of liberty and happiness for the future. In no colony was this ardent attachment of its people to their internal government more prevalent and more justly founded than in Maryland. The reader, who |
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