Governors of the Province and State of Maryland from

the First Settlement in 1633 to 1840.

UNDER THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT.

1715. John Hart.

1720. Charles Calvert.

1727. Benedict Leonard Calvert.

1654. Commissioners under Par- 1732. Samuel Ogle.

UNDER THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT.

1699. Government seized by the 1699. Nathaniel Blackiston.

APPENDIX.

Letter from General Charles Lee to the Honourable Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Esq., President of the Council of Safety of Maryland.

'WILLIAMSBURG, May the 6th, 1776.

'Dear Sir,-I find that I am extremely censured not only by your board, but by a multitude of others, for my letter to Mr. Purviance with respect to the seizure of Mr. Eden's person and papers-but I really think when the circumstances are explained, that the censure will appear unjust, and that I was neither violent, assuming nor precipitate. When the secretary of state's letter to your governor was put into my hands, I naturally concluded that could we possess ourselves of all Mr. Eden's papers, the whole machinations of the ministry might be discovered; that this discovery might enable us to prevent their effects, and perhaps defeat the whole plan. The possession of these papers could not be hoped for without previously securing his person, and to accomplish this, the utmost secrecy and expedition were necessary. Now, sir, as I imagined you had no troops at Annapolis to execute the purpose, (but in this I find I was mistaken,) and as I knew there were troops in readiness at Baltimore, and as there was no continental general or other officer in Maryland, Mr. Purviance, chairman of the committee, on the spot where I had conceived troops alone to be stationed, occurred to me as the only person to whom I could with propriety and effect

make application. Had I known, sir, that a regiment or any troops were stationed at Annapolis, I should undoubtedly, sir, have addressed myself to you as president of the council of safety.

'It is said, sir, that Maryland was out of the district of my command; that consequently to intrude myself into the business and concerns of that province, was assuming and arrogant. I really conceive, sir, that when the safety or very being of the whole community appears at stake, the part I have acted in this affair cannot with justice be esteemed arrogance. I did not presume authoritatively to order, but as one servant of the public earnestly to entreat and consider another servant who alone appeared to me to have the means in his hands, to take a certain step of the best importance to the public cause. I must, therefore, repeat, sir, that my reason for addressing myself to Mr. Purviance, at Baltimore, proceeded entirely from my ignorance of there being any troops at Annapolis, and not (as I have been told has been thrown out) from any indifference in your virtue and decision. I suppose the committee of safety here viewed it in the same light, for I read my letter to them, and it was approved of. In times like these, sir, I conceive that when we have received sufficient evidences of any treasonable practices being carried on, and that when it appears to us that the immediate seizure of a particular traitor's person, may lead to discoveries on which the salvation of the State may depend; that when the utmost secrecy and expedition are necessary to the seizure of his person, it is the duty of a good citizen not to delay a single instant, if a single instant's delay may prevent the execution. This was the manner I thought it my duty to proceed in the case of Mr. Wormley. On the discovery of his correspondence with the enemy, I gave orders for the security of his person and papers, and then referred the affair to the proper tribunal, the committee of safety. The measure was so

far from giving umbrage or creating jealousy, that it met with their unanimous approbation. If this method is proscribed at a juncture like the present, the great check on dangerous correspondence and conspiracies will be taken off; if councils are to be held previously to the seizure of any traitor's person or papers, notwithstanding the strongest evidences against him, I am much mistaken if every traitor does not slip through your hands.

'I must now, sir, conclude, with assuring you, and the respectable body over which you preside, that if they suppose me capable of aiming or wishing to extend the military authority, or trespass on the civil, they do me the most cruel injustice. Although I was bred in the army, I thank God the spirit and principles of the citizen were ever predominant, and I solemnly declare that if I thought it possible I should ever be so far intoxicated by military command, as to harbour a wish injurious to the civil supremacy in all things, I would now, whilst I retain my senses, beg leave to divest myself of my present office, and serve. as a volunteer in the glorious cause in which I have embarked my person, fortune and reputation. What I did in this affair, I did in the character of a common zealous member of the community, not of an officer; what appeared irregular or offensive in the mode, I hope I have explained to your satisfaction, and I entreat that it may be entirely attributed to a mistake for which I am heartily concerned, as it has prejudiced me in the opinion of men whose esteem I am most ambitious of obtaining.

'I am, dear sir, your most obd't, humble serv't,
'CHARLES LEE.

'To Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Esq.
President of the Council of Safety of Maryland.'