pioneers of the old south-第28章
按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
Sir William Berkeley's loyalty had in the end overshot itself。 His zeal
fatigued the King; and in 1677 he was recalled to England。 As Governor of
Virginia he had been long popular at first but in his old age detested。 He
had great personal courage; fidelity; and generosity for those things that
ran with the current of a deep and narrow soul。 He passes from the New
World stage; a marked and tragic figure。 Behind him his vengeances
displeased even loyalist Virginia; willing on the whole to let bygones be
bygones among neighbors and kindred。 It is said that; when his ship went
down the river; bonfires were lighted and cannon and muskets fired for joy。
And so beyond the eastward horizon fades the old reactionary。
Herbert Jeffreys and then Sir Henry Chicheley follow Berkeley as Governors
of Virginia; they are succeeded by Lord Culpeper and he by Lord Howard of
Effingham。 King Charles dies and James the Second rules in England。
Culpeper and Effingham play the Governor merely for what they can get for
themselves out of Virginia。* The price of tobacco goes down; down; The
crops are too large; the old poor remedies of letting much acreage go
unplanted; or destroying and burning where the measure of production is
exceeded; and of petitions to the King; are all resorted to; but they
procure little relief。 Virginia cannot be called prosperous。 England hears
that the people are still disaffected and unquiet and England stolidly
wonders why。
* In 1684 the Crown purchased from Culpeper all his rights except in the
Northern Neck。
During the reign of the second Charles; Maryland had suffered from
political unrest somewhat less than Virginia。 The autocracy of Maryland was
more benevolent and more temperate than that of her southern neighbor。 The
name of Calvert is a better symbol of wisdom than the name of Berkeley。
Cecil Calvert; second Lord Baltimore; dying in 1675; has a fair niche in
the temple of human enlightenment。 His son Charles succeeded; third Lord
Baltimore and Lord Proprietary of Maryland。 Well…intentioned; this Calvert
lacked something of the ability of either his father or his grandfather。
Though he lived in Maryland while his father had lived in England; his
government was not as wise as his father's had been。
But in Maryland; even before the death of Cecil Calvert; inherent evils
were beginning to form of themselves a visible body。 In Maryland; as in
Virginia; there set in after the Restoration a period of reaction; of
callous rule in the interests of an oligarchy。 In 1669 a 〃packed〃 Council and
an 〃aristocratic〃 Assembly procured a restriction of the franchise similar to
that introduced into Virginia。 As in Virginia; an Assembly deemed of the right
political hue was kept in being by the device of adjournment from year to
year。 In Maryland; as in Virginia; public officials were guilty of corruption
and graft。 In 1676 there seems to have lacked for revolt; in Maryland; only
the immediate provocative of acute Indian troubles and such leaders as Bacon;
Lawrence; and Drummond。 The new Lord Baltimore being for the time in England;
his deputy writes him that never were any 〃more replete with malignancy and
frenzy than our people were about August last; and they wanted but a
monstrous head to their onstrous body。〃 Two leaders indeed appeared; Davis
and Pate by name; but having neither the standing nor the strength of the
Virginia rebels; they were finally taken and hanged。 What supporters they
had dispersed; and the specter of armed insurrection passed away。
The third Lord Baltimore; like his father; found difficulty in preserving
the integrity of his domain。 His father had been involved in a long wrangle
over the alleged invasion of Maryland by the Dutch。 Since then; New
Netherland had passed into English hands。 Now there occurred another
encroachment on the territory of Maryland。 This time the invader was an
Englishman named William Penn。 Just as the idea of a New World freedom for
Catholics had appealed to the first Lord Baltimore; so now to William Penn;
the Quaker; came the thought of freedom there for the Society of Friends。
The second Charles owed an old debt to Penn's father。 He paid it in 1681 by
giving to the son; whom he liked; a province in America。 Little by little;
in order to gain for Penn access to the sea; the terms of his grant were
widened until it included; beside the huge Pennsylvanian region; the tract
that is now Delaware; which was then claimed by Baltimore。 Maryland
protested against the grant to Penn; as Virginia had protested against the
grant to Baltimoreand equally in vain。 England was early set upon the
road to many colonies in America; destined later to become many States。 One
by one they were carved out of the first great unity。
In 1685 the tolerant Charles the Second died。 James the Second; a Catholic;
ruled England for about three years; and then fled before the Revolution of
1688。 William and Mary; sovereigns of a Protestant England; came to the
throne。 We have seen that the Proprietary of Maryland and his numerous
kinsmen and personal adherents were Catholics。 Approximately one in eight
of other Marylanders were fellows in that faith。 Another eighth of the
people held with the Church of England。 The rest; the mass of the folk;
were dissenters from that Church。 And now all the Protestant elements
togetherthe Quakers ex excepted solidified into political and religious
opposition to the Proprietary's rule。 Baltimore; still in England; had
immediately; upon the accession of William and Mary; dispatched orders to
the Maryland Council to proclaim them King and Queen。 But his messenger
died at sea; and there was delay in sending another。 In Maryland the
Council would not proclaim the new sovereigns without instructions; and it
was even rumored that Catholic Maryland meant to withstand the new order。
In effect the old days were over。 The Protestants; Churchmen and Dissenters
alike; proceeded to organize under a new leader; one John Coode。 They
formed 〃An Association in arms for the defense of the Protestant religion;
and for asserting the right of King William and Queen Mary to the Province
of Maryland and all the English Dominions。〃 Now followed a confused time of
accusations and counter…accusations; with assertions that Maryland
Catholics were conspiring with the Indians to perpetrate a new St。
Bartholomew massacre of Protestants; and hot counter…assertions that this
is 〃a sleveless fear and imagination fomented by the artifice of some
ill…minded persons。〃 In the end Coode assembled a force of something less
than a thousand men and marched against St。 Mary's。 The Council; which had
gathered there; surrendered; and the Association for the Defense found
itself in power。 It proceeded to call a convention and to memorialize the
King and Queen; who in the end approved its course。 Maryland passed under
the immediate government of the Crown。 Lord Baltimore might still receive
quit…rents and customs; but his governmental rights were absorbed into the
monarchy。 Sir Lionel Copley came out as Royal Governor; and a new order
began in Maryland。
The heyday of Catholic freedom was past。 England would have a Protestant
America。 Episcopalians were greatly in the minority; but their Church now
became dominant over both Catholic and Dissenter; and where the freethinker
raised his head he was smitten down。 Catholic and Dissenter and all alike were
taxed to keep stable the Established Church。 The old tolerance; such as it
was; was over。 Maryland paced even with the rest of the world。
Presently the old capital of St。 Mary's was abandoned。 The government
removed to the banks of the Severn; to Providencesoon; when Anne should
be Queen; to be renamed Annapolis。 In vain the inhabitants of St。 Mary's
remonstrated。 The center of political gravity in Maryland had shifted。
The third Lord Baltimore died in 1715。 His son Benedict; fourth lord;
turned from the Catholic Church and became a member of the Church of
England。 Dying presently; he left a young son; Charles; fifth Lord
Baltimore; to be brought up in the fold of the Established Church。
Reconciled now to the dominant creed; with a Maryland where Catholi