made to the captain of the ship, or some other person, and, upon their arrival in the colony, their unexpired time was sold to the highest bidder, to whom their indentures were then transferred. In the early ages of the colony, they were called indented apprentices, afterwards the general term of "redemptioners" was applied to them. These, upon the expiration of their term of service, became useful citizens, and enjoyed the same franchises as their more fortunate masters.

The very industry of the planters and the fer- Tobacco. tility of their soil, now brought unexpected difficulties, not only on Maryland, but also on the sister colonies of Virginia and Carolina. At first the high price of tobacco had led the greater portion of the people to devote their attention to its cultivation, and a greatly increased production was the immediate consequence; a fall in the price ensued, and a deterioration in the quality of the article, from careless culture, reduced its value so low, that the year's produce would scarcely supply clothes to the planters. A scarcity of corn was frequently felt, through the neglect to put out sufficient crops of that necessary grain, and the Assembly of Maryland frequently found it necessary to direct the attention of the planters to this subject, and to compel them, under severe penalties, to raise at least a certain proportion of maize in addition to their tobacco.

In 1663, the evil had become so great, that the king himself urged it upon the consideration of the colonies. There were only two remedies-a diminution of the quantity raised, or a cessation, for a time, of its cultivation. For either purpose, a joint action of the three colonies was required, and, accordingly, commissioners from Maryland and Virginia met at Wicomocomico, to arrange the basis for the necessary treaty. It was determined at this meeting, that in the succeeding year, after the twentieth of June, no tobacco should be planted in either colony, that the Assem

bly of Maryland should be called to ratify the agreementand that the governors and councils of both colonies should solemnly swear to use their utmost efforts to have the laws for that purpose carried into effect.* This scheme, however, was not perfected until 1666, when the Assembly of Maryland passed an act† prohibiting the planting of tobacco throughout the province, for one year, from the 1st of Feb. 1666, to the 1st Feb. 1667. Formal notice of this act, together with a copy of the governor's proclamation, was forwarded to Virginia by the chancellor, and the legislature of that colony immediately declared in force a similar measure, provisionally adopted by them at the preceding session. The lord Proprietary disapproved of the act of the Maryland Assembly, but his "disassent" was not signified until the November following, when the law had already produced the desired effect.

The fame of the liberty, civil and religious, enjoyed in Maryland, had already gone abroad, carrying hope into the yearning hearts of those who wore the chain of despotism. Many, of different nations, sought an asylum in her borders, and were admitted to the rights of citizenship. Thus, in 1666, an act was passed for the naturalization of several families from France, Spain, and Bohemia; and similar acts constantly recur in the proceedings of subsequent legislatures.

Here, too, the gentle Friends found peace and refuge. In England, in Virginia, in Massachusetts and the north, the pillory and the whipping post awaited them, and, almost in sight of Plymouth Rock, the gallows was erected for them. Every where, save in Maryland, their peaceful faith was proscribed and punished as a crime. There, only, was their religious worship "held publicly and without interruption." "In Maryland," says Burke,|| "where the governor * Burke's History of Virginia, vol. 2, p. 134. † Bacon. § Bancroft, vol. 2, p. 237. || History of Virginia, vol. 2, p. 131.

+ Ib.

The

and a majority of the people were papists and royalists, a religion and government whose spirit is thought to be hostile to liberty, and averse to toleration, they were immediately hailed as brothers, and admitted to all the rights of free men." The members of the colonial legislature and the council, many persons of quality, and justices of the peace, came together to listen to the preaching of George Fox, the amiable leader of the Quakers, while he tarried in Maryland. emperor of the Nanticokes, attended by his subject kings and their subordinate chiefs, gathered around him, on the Eastern shore, to hear his words. The heir of the province, himself at a later day, in the true spirit of his tolerant ancestors, was present at one of their assemblies. For a time, however, they were involved in difficulties with the government from their refusal to perform military duty and their rejection of oaths: but at a later period, they were entirely relieved from these trammels, and then, indeed, Maryland was to them "THE LAND OF THE SANCTUARY."

From the date of the treaty with the Susque- Indian War. hannahs, in 1652, the frontiers of the settlements had been but little molested by the incursions of the natives. The Susquehannahs, once so powerful, had begun to give place to the Senecas of the five nations of New York, who penetrated through the province of Pennsylvania, conquering, and driving before them, the Indian inhabitants, and molesting the white settlers. Occasional bodies of these daring marauders struck upon the frontiers of Maryland; and it was found necessary, for a time, to maintain a body of rangers, under Captain John Allen, for their protection. In the summer of 1675, a number of murders and outrages had been committed on the people of Virginia and Maryland, along the Potomac, by a band of savages; and suspicion fell upon the Susquehannahs. A joint expedition was sent by the two provinces to chastise them. The Virginia

1666. Bancroft.

forces were under the command of Colonel Washingtonthose of Maryland under Major Trueman. On Monday, the 25th of September, the Maryland troops appeared before a fort of the Piscataways, then held by the Susquehannahs, and were met by a deputation of their chiefs, who laid the blame of the inroad upon the Senecas, who, they said, were by that time at the head of the Patapsco river on their return.

On the next morning, Col. Washington, Col. Mason and Major Adderton of the Virginia troops, joined Major Trueman, and were visited by the same deputation. They at once charged upon these Indians the murders which had been committed; thereupon Maj. Trueman, yielding to their advice, caused five of the chiefs to be bound, and afterwards put to death. They continued to affirm their innocenceand displayed, in the vain hope of securing their safety, a silver medal and some papers, which had been given them by former governors of Maryland, in token of amity, and as an assurance of protection. This severe proceeding attracted the indignation of the House of Delegates, and an inquiry was set on foot. Major Trueman was impeached, before the upper House, for the murder of the five Indian chiefs, who had come into his camp in the guise of envoys; pleaded guilty, and a bill of attainder was brought in against him. He, however, set forth such extenuating circumstances, that the House refused to pass sentence of death upon him, and, a dispute arising between the two houses, as to their respective powers in the matter, he escaped the penalty of his rashness and inhumanity.* But the importance given to the affair, proves, at least, the strict justice of the people of Maryland in their intercourse with. the natives, and the horror with which a breach of faith towards them, was viewed-a feeling little shared by any other colony of the old thirteen.

* Annals of Annapolis, pp. 70-72.

Charles Calvert continued to act as governor, until the death of his father, on the 30th of November, 1675, by which event he became himself the lord Proprietary of the province. Intending to return to England as soon as possible, he convened an Assembly, for the purpose of reducing to some method the laws heretofore passed, to many of which his father had not given his assent. "A general revision took place; and those laws, which were thought proper to be continued, were definitely ascertained."* During his administration as governor, the Assembly had effected many improvements-caused roads to be made, court houses and jails to be erected, coroners appointed in all the counties, extended the facilities of obtaining justice, and provided for the publication of the laws within the province, by proclamation by the sheriff in the county courts. In 1671, the Assembly granted to Lord Baltimore a duty of two shillings per hundred weight on all tobacco exported from Maryland; one half of the proceeds were to be applied to the defence of the province, the other for his own benefit, to repay, in some measure, his great expenditure in establishing the colony, which was estimated to have exceeded forty thousand pounds sterling in the two first years. Out of this grant, great difficulties afterwards arose.

Having thus reformed the system of laws, and believing his presence no longer necessary in the province, the lord Proprietary appointed Thomas Notely, Esq., deputy governor, during his absence, to act in the name of his infant son Cecil Calvert, as nominal governor, and returned to England in the year 1676. Upon his arrival, he found that complaints had been made against his government by certain Episcopal clergymen, who represented the province as in a frightful condition, and proposed, as a remedy, that a support should be provided for them by law. They inveighed against him, because the Catholic priests held † Ibid. 216.

* McMahon, pp, 215.