I’ve written before (see especially “A Predictable Pattern”, November 26, 2020) about colonial Maryland’s last proprietary governor, Robert Eden, and his habitual mishandling of disagreements with the General Assembly’s Lower House. Basically, whenever things didn’t go his way, he told the legislators to pack up shop and go home. Calling for new elections just exacerbated the governor’s problems, as Eden’s political opponents won more and more seats.
After a ten-month hiatus, the General Assembly met in Annapolis from October 2 to November 30, 1771. This was the first session since Governor Eden prorogued the legislature in November 1770 and the only time that the delegates elected in January 1771 met together.
Because the second State House had been demolished and construction of the third capitol building not yet officially started (by the way, William Paca served on the building committee), the legislators had to meet elsewhere. After convening in the Coffee-House on Church (now Main) Street, the Lower House made arrangements for use of the Ball Room, two Committee Rooms, and two adjoining rooms for the duration of the session. Delegates William Paca and Benjamin Mackall (Calvert Country) were selected to inform Eden that the Lower House had gathered.
Contention over the expired tobacco inspection bill and Eden’s November 1770 proclamations, which authorized his political and clerical appointees to collect their accustomed tobacco fees and taxes despite that expiration, carried over into this session. Because Eden’s Council members had continued to advise him after the formal close of the 1770 legislative session, the Lower House requested copies of any Council minutes recorded since then. Unsurprisingly, the Council refused to comply.
In response, the Lower House issued a resolution asserting its own legislative right to impose taxes and fees, condemning the governor’s executive proclamations as “illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional and oppressive,” and calling Eden’s advisors “Enemies to the Peace, Welfare and Happiness of this Province and the Laws and Constitution thereof.” And so, the governor must have thought, things were once again off to a rousingly bad start!
In an attempt to resolve the interrelated tobacco inspection, officers’ fees, and clergymen’s poll tax impasse, the Lower House and the Council agreed to a joint conference, which met from November 4 to 26, 1771. Benedict Calvert, Daniel Dulany, John Ridout, John Beale Bordley, and William Hayward represented the Council. The Lower House was initially represented by Matthew Tilghman, John Hall, Charles Grahame, Thomas Johnson, Samuel Chase, and Littleton Dennis, with William Paca added after the start date.
The meetings opened with back-and-forth proposals and counter-proposals, as the Council members stood behind Eden’s position and the Lower House members questioned whether any progress could be made. The Councilors asserted that the expired table of tobacco fees should be the starting point of negotiations because the longevity of its existence proved its merit. The Lower House replied that the old table had been looked upon as defective for some time and should be revised.
At the final meeting of the joint conference, the Council representatives accused those of the Lower House of perverting facts, ignoring reason, and offering “professions for proofs, Evasions for Answers, Assertions to convince, and rudeness to conciliate.” The Lower House attendees ended the conference, telling those of the Council that an answer to their “illiberal Language” would not be productive, and that they didn’t wish to pursue a rivalry “in the Talents for Petulance and impertinent Invective.”
The Lower House appointed a committee to prepare an address to Governor Eden. William Paca served on that committee, and he introduced the address in the Lower House for its review and approval once it was completed. It was very likely largely his work. The address cited numerous precedents in English law and history, quoted philosopher John Locke, and assumed a passionate first-person voice at one point:
"I will maintain it to my last Hours: Taxation and Representation are inseparable. This Position is founded on the Laws of Nature; it is more, it is itself an eternal Law of Nature; for whatever is a Man’s own, is absolutely his own; no Man hath a Right to take if from him without his Consent, either expressed by himself or his Representative; whoever attempts to do it attempts an Injury; whoever does it, commits a Robbery. He throws down the Distinction between Liberty and Slavery."
In response, the frustrated Eden did what he always did and prorogued the General Assembly to February 18, 1772. The December 5, 1771 Maryland Gazette published the governor’s parting words to the legislators, with his choicest criticisms directed at the members of the Lower House.
To the delegates, Eden griped, “The vast Loss of Time to yourselves, and the great Expense of Money to the Country which have accrued this Session, and the very little Business that has been done at it, gives me the greater Concern, as I had flattered myself that the Inspection Act would be re-enacted, from which so many Benefits had been experienced.” He felt compelled to say “that I sincerely wish the same Zeal for the Service of the Province which has all along actuated my Conduct was diffused among others, and it is not now too late to hope it may be so hereafter.”
The governor wanted the stubborn delegates to know that he certainly wasn’t backing down from his position. His controversial Fee Proclamation of the previous year was still in effect, and “His Lordship’s Officers throughout the Province are thoroughly acquainted with my Sentiments, and the Consequences of any Disobedience of the Orders issued by me…during the Want of the Inspection Law.” Eden was confident that his “Actions will ever evince that the Prosperity of the Province is the first Object of my Wishes.” And with that, he concluded, “It is full Time to put an End to this Session.”
Maybe things would improve in 1772.
You can read the December 5, 1771 issue of the Maryland Gazette starting here: https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/001281/html/m1281-1419.html
Glenn E. Campbell
HA Senior Historian
