DEATH OF CECILIUS, LORD BALTIMORE.

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payment of the duty imposed, on penalty of the forfeiture of all tobacco attempted to be shipped.

19. In 1674 an act was passed declaring that all deeds. or instruments of writing, having for their objects the conveyance of lands by sale or otherwise from one party to another, should be indented and sealed, and acknowledged in the provincial court of the province, before two of the privy council of the same, in the county court, or before two justices of the peace.

20. Whenever a married woman was a party to the conveyance of land, the officer taking her acknowledgment was required to examine her "out of the hearing of her husband," as to whether she made such acknowledgment willingly and freely, and without being induced thereto by any force or threats used by her husband or through fear of his displeasure. This wise provision of law afforded a precedent which was strictly observed in the conveyance of lands in Maryland for two hundred years.

21. On the 30th of November, 1675, the Right Honorable Cecilius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, died, in the forty-fourth year of his dominion over the province of Maryland. It is not known when or where he was born.

22. John Calvert, son of Cecilius, was third Lord Baltimore, yet it does not appear that he succeeded his father as lord proprietary of the provinces of Maryland and Avalon.

23. Hon. Charles Calvert, who first appeared as governor at the April session of the legislature in 1662, was the son and heir of the estates of Cecilius, and was made Lord Baltimore on the death of his father in 1675. He was the fourth in the line of Lords Baltimore, and for a short time ruled the province in person without a governor under him. He first appeared as Lord Proprietary in the legislature held at the city of St. Mary's from the 15th of May to the 15th of June, 1676. In 1678 he appointed Thomas

Notley governor, and Philip Calvert, former governor, was made his lordship's judge "in testamentary causes."

24. In 1681 his lordship again assumed the government of the province in person, and presided over all the sessions of the legislature convened in the province from that year to the end of the year 1684. During his administration commerce was active and profitable; tobacco was raised and exported in great abundance; money was in plenty, ships in demand, and wealth was pouring in upon the people.

25. In 1684, Lord Baltimore appointed a council of deputies to carry on the government of Maryland, and set sail for England. Of this council William Joseph was president, and they ruled the province under the nominal governorship of Benedict Leonard Calvert, infant son of the lord proprietary.

CHAPTER X.

1684-1696.

Charles II. King of England.-The Duke of York.-Protestant Revolution.William and Mary, King and Queen.-Convention of Protestants.-City of St. Mary's.-Royal Government in Maryland.-Governor Copley.— Death of Queen Mary.-St. Mary's County.

1. On the 6th of February, 1684, Julian time, King Charles II. died. He was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of York, who was crowned king of England under the title of James II. In the time of the reign of this king, a writ was issued requiring Lord Baltimore to show cause why the charter of Maryland should not be forfeited; but before a trial under the writ could be reached, the king was dethroned by the Protestant revolution, generally called the revolution of 1688.

2. The people of England having called William, Prince of Orange, and Mary his wife, to the throne, they were crowned King and Queen of England on the 11th of April, 1689, by the name of William and Mary.

3. On the 23d of August in this year a convention of Protestants met at St. Mary's, in the province of Maryland, by virtue of letters "from the several commanders, officers, and gentlemen associated in arms, for the defense of the Protestant religion," and asserted the right and title of their present majesties, King William and Queen Mary, to the province of Maryland. This convention elected a speaker, and proceeded to business. It was voted that the temporary laws of the province of Maryland should "stand

and continue revived for three years from their commencement." The convention adjourned, to meet on the 29th of September, 1690; and, coming together on that day, it passed an order prohibiting the exportation from the province of any Indian corn until the 10th of July following.

4. The government of Lord Baltimore was again at an end in Maryland. The royal government claimed the right to issue warrants for lands to actual settlers upon it. For these warrants certain fees were received. The agents of Lord Baltimore refused to issue patents for such lands under the great seal of the province, unless the fees were paid to the land officers under his direction. The royal government would not yield its point, and the consequence was that Lord Baltimore annulled his conditions of plantation. The provincial land office was therefore closed, and settlers on the lands of Maryland came in slowly.

5. To settle the difficulty, King William wrote to Governor Copley, dating "Whitehall, the 12th of November, 1691."

6. "Trusty and well-beloved," writes the king, "we greet you well. Whereas our right trusty and well-beloved Charles, Lord Baltimore has, by his humble petition, presented unto us, that he has not received any benefit of our royal letter of the 1st of February, 1689, nor of an order of council of the 26th of February, 1690, both which gave him liberty by his agents in Maryland to collect his revenues and duties there; that he is informed from his agents there, that, by reason of their long confinements there and other hardships in that province, they were rendered altogether incapable of acting for him, whereby he has received no returns from thence this last shipping. We have thought fit upon consideration thereof, and at the humble request of the said Charles, Lord Baltimore, hereby to signify our will and pleasure to you, that you do take and give strict orders, as there shall be occasion, that

care,

GOVERNOR COPLEY.

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Henry Darnall, Gent, who for several years has been the petitioner's agent and receiver in Maryland, as also such person or persons as the said Henry Darnall shall appoint, be permitted to live peaceably and quietly, and to act as formerly in receiving the said Charles, Lord Baltimore's dues and revenues in that province; and our further pleasure is that no ships or vessels be cleared in Maryland before the said Lord Baltimore's agent and receiver-general shall have received his dues from the shipping there; they behaving themselves peaceably, and with due submission to our government. And for so doing this shall be your warrant, and so we bid you farewell."

7. The convention associated in arms for the defense of the Protestant religion, being in session on the 9th of April, 1692, Sir Lionel Copley produced and caused to be read a commission appointing him governor of Maryland. He immediately called an assembly of the freemen of the province, which met at St. Mary's on the 10th of May and ended on the 9th of June.

8. At this session an act was passed declaring that the Church of England, within the province, should have and enjoy all her rights, liberties, and franchises wholly inviolable, as established by law; that Sabbath-breaking should be punished by a fine of one hundred pounds of tobacco for the use of the poor; and that selling liquors on the Lord's day, or permitting tippling, drunkenness, or gaming, should be punished by a fine of two thousand pounds of tobacco.

9. On the 23d of February, 1692, a court was held at Whitehall, England, at which "the king's most excellent majesty" was present, together with "the lords of the committee of trade and plantations." Sir Thomas Trevor, the king's solicitor-general, reported to the court that he found by an act of the assembly of Maryland, passed in 1661, that all ships or vessels not properly belonging to the province, but trading therein, should pay for port duties a pound of