Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-07-13


From the day, when the. .Ark and
Dove" appeared on the bosom u the
Saint Mays, to the day when Philip
Calvert surrendered the archives Of the
proprietary government-every oct Of
tie freemen If the province was .
struggle for .light-light for al.
The history Of old colony times tells
- that in l6S0-John Coode-at the
head Of seven hundred men, marched
into the city ofSaint Mary'-proelaimed
william and Mary-dispersed the pro-
prietary csuncil-that the gaszisons of
Forts Saint Mssy's and 81. Inigoes'
surrendered upon demand-that . cen
vention Of the people Of the proviaee
was then held at Saint MayY's-
whose FIRST act was - petition the King
and Parliament Of England to XHrll
the proprietary charter and to 'estab-
lish the common law Of the realm ~
Tia. organic law in the province shd1ito
take the government Of the sams SSn -
der the jurisdiction OF the Grown Of
England-that the king responded to
this petition by sending ovenSir Lyonel
Copley as provisory Governor with
plenary powers to convoke . new as
sembly Of the representatives Of the
people Of the province on a,more ex.
tensive basis Of the electoral franchis
who should make such charges in the
political and ecclesiastical. status Of
the colony as the exigencies. Of the
case required and that when the acts of
raid assembly, convokeA s1nder these
powers, should receive the royal assent
that the said Sir Lyonel Copley
should then be commissioned as the
Royal Governor of the province-pro-
vided the same was in accordance with
the wishes Of said people.
Under these instructions-the Legis-
lative assembly of Maryland met at Saint
Mary's on the first Monday in October,
I69O-on that day the revolution was
consummated and the annals of Amer
lean freedom began.
The first act Of the Legislature Of
1890 set forth THAT as Parliament is
the supreme legislative power Of the
realm Of England-so an assembly Of
the representatives Of the freemen of
Maryland hath sole jurisdiction in the
internal affairs Of the said province"
and this is the basis of the popular
sovereignty Of our own day.
II fired the first gun for freedom on
the plains of Lexington-it lent inspi-
ration to the American Declaration of
1ndependence-it nerved the arm and
.harpened the sword Of Washington
it Jed the pilgrims Of the Revolution
through the fiery ordeal OF an unequal
war to the consummation Of their SUBJ
slime mission.
Dating as we do our national existence
from the era Of later and grander Rev
olution than that OF 16S9-let US not
forget the noble spirits of old colony
times-whose brave hearts and stout
arms taught us that the rights of the
subject is the majesty Of the crown.
While we listen with pride and ex-
ultation to the waters wild music in the
rush and the roar Of the mighty food
whose resistless current, fed by tributa-
~ cascades, bears us onward to the
boundless ocean Of political empire-let
US cast one look. OF grateful memory,
upon the beautiful lake sleeping in the
.hade of dark mountains-whose crys-
tai waters set the rolling tide in motion.
Let US remember that those grim old
Puritans who sat around their council
board with their bibles in their hands
and answered the kings messenger thus
and thus sayeth the Lord"-are our
great political ancestors whose memory
should endure forever and kindle inspi-
ration in the hearts Of all succeeding
generations Of men. while We derlore
the acts of prescription and religion.
intolerance which soilscthe otherwise
fair page of the colonial revolutionary
history of Maryland-we must not for.
get that the revolutionists were follow
ing the example and practicing the les
sons of sectaries who had become
political faction and to whose intrigues
most of the political crimes and national
ealamities recorded in English history
may be traced.
The annals of American freedom NAV
be said to begin at period when
revolutionary King is seated on the
throne of England-when an insurgent
people after long struggle Of centuries
with absolutism, centralism had DESTROY
ed the political supremacy OF an uncon-
stitutiohal power.
Revolutions in all periods of the
worlds history, whether their object
be legal reform. political freedom. So
eiai equality or sectarian supremacy,
ever seek, in their hour Of triumph.
as fised law of their existence. not
only to destroy what had hitherto op-
posed their progress, but to crush the
means of reaction. In this, William
I'LL. was seconded BY Parliament more
revolutionary than the King-by a peo-
pie more loyal than ParHament-by
cabinet more sectarian than their
Chureh-and as the long swells OF the
Atlantic, rolling from the old World and
falling with the force and mcmen-
tum Of immensely upon the New, rip-
pie with its recoil the Potomac-so Sir
Lyonel CoPley found in Maryland a
sturdy yeomanry as impatient OF foreign
supremacy as they were de.irou. of
political freedom. The feudal proprie-
tary system was as quickly erased from
the statute book as its capital was
hlotted from the map of Maryland. Blen-
ding as our revolutionary ancestors. Of
old colony times, did in their own per.
sons the national characteristics Of
their Norman Anglo-Saxon origin-eool
political sagacity-daring, high-spirited
chivalry-devout'ent be-
gueathed to US as they journeyed toward