The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-07-15

to that amicable correspondence so often
promised and expected by us), in not hold
ing us worthy to be advised of his Majesty
being proclaimed, without which, certainly
we have not been enabled to do our duty
in that particular. Such advice would have
been gratefully received by your Excellen.
cy's humble servants" Thanks, Colonies
Darnall and Digges and you other Colonies
and Majors, for this plain outspeaking Of
the old Maryland heart against the AFRO.
gance of the " Right Honorable Lord How.
ard, Baron of Effingham, Captain General
and Chief Governor of his Majesty's Col
ony of Virginia." as he styles himself
l am glad TO see this change of tone, since
that first letter of obsequious submission.
Perhaps this change of tone may have
had some connection with the recent change
on the throne, in which the accession of a
Catholic monarch may have given new
courage to Maryland, and abated some.
what the confidence of Virginia. If so, it
was but !ransitory hope, born to sad
disappointment.
The documents afford but little more in
formation.
Lord Baltimore, being in London, ap.
pears to have interceded with the King for
some favor to Talbot, and writes to the
Council on the third of July, "that it form.
erly was and still is the Kings pleasure,
that Talbot shall be brought over, in the
Quaker ketch, to England, to receive his
trial there; and that, in order thereto, his
Majesty had sent his commands to the
Governor of Virginia to deliver him to
Captain Allen, commander of said ketch,
who is to bring him over. The Proprie-
tary, therefore, directs his Council to send
the prisoner to the Governor of Virginia.
"to the end that his Majesty's pleasure
may be fulfilled"
This letter was received on the 18th of
October, 1855. and Talbot was accordingly
sent, under the charge of Gilbert Clarke
and proper guard, to Lord Efingham,
who gives Clarke regular business re-
ceipt, as if he had brought him hogs
head of tobacco, and appends to it short
apologize explanation of his previous rude
ness, which we may receive as another
proof of his distrust of the favor of the
new monarch. 81 had not been so urg-
ent," he says, chad l not had advices
from England, last April, of the measures
that were taken there concerning him."
After this my chronicle is silent. We
have no further tidings of Talbot The
only hint for conjecture is the marginal
note of "The Landholders Assistant, :"
got from Chalmers: "He was, belive,"
says the note, "tried and convicted, and
finally pardoned by James the Second"
This is probably enough. For l sup
pose him to have been of the same family
with that Earl of Tyrconnel equally dis
for his influence with James the
Second as for his infamous life and charac-
ter, who held at this period unbounded
sway at the English Court. l hope, for
the honor of our hero. that he preserved
no family likeness to that false hearted,
brutal, and violent favorite, who is made
immortal in Macaulay's pages as Lying
Dick Talbot. Through his intercession
his kinsman may have been pardoned, or
even never brought to trial.
CHAPTER Y.
CONCLUSION.
This is the end of my story. But, like
all stories, it requires that some satisfac-
ton should be given to the reader in re-
gard to the dramatic proprieties. We have
our several heroes to dispose of. Phelim
Murray and Hugh Riley, who had both
been arrested by the Council to satisfy
public opinion as to their completely in the
plot for the escape, were both honorably
suppose being found entirely
innocent! Roger Skreene swore himself
black and blue, as the phrase is, that he
had not the least suspicion of the business
in which he was engaged; and SO he was
acquitted! l am also glad to be able to
say that our gallant Cornet Murray, in the
winding up of this business, was promoted
by the Council to captaincy Of cavalry,
and put IN command of Christiana Fort
and it's neighborhood, to keep that formid-
able Quaker, William Penn, at respect
full distance. 1t would crafty me still
more, if l could find warrant to add, that
the Cornet enjoyed himself, and married
the lady of his choice, with whom he has,
unknown to us, been violently in love dur
ing these adventures, and that they lived
happily together for many years. hope
this was so-although the chronicle does
not allow one to affirm tit being but a
proper conclusion to such romance as
have plucked out of our history.
And so have traced the tradition Of the
Cave to the end. What have been able
to certify furnishes the means of a shrewd
estimate of the average amount of truth
which popular tradition generally contain.
There is always fact at the bottom, lying
under a superstructure of fiction-truth
enough to make the pursuit worth follow
ing. Talbot did not live in the Cave, but
fled there occasionally for concealment.
He had no hawks with him, but bred them
in his own news on the Elk river. The
birds seen in after times were some of this
stock, and not the solitary pair they were
supposed to be. dare say an expert nat
uralist would find many specimens of the
same breed now in that region. But let us
not be too critical on the tradition, which
has led us into quest through which
have been able to supply what hope will
be found to be pleasant insight into that
little world of action and passion-with its
people, it's pursuits, and its gossips, that,
more than one hundred and seventy years
ago, inhabited the beautiful banks of St.
Mary's river, and wove the web of our
early Maryland history.
PosTsCRIPT.-I have another link in the
chain of Talbot's history, furnished me by
a friend in Virginia. 1t comes since | have
completed my narrative, and very accur.
ately confirms the conjecture of Chalmers,
quoted in the note of The Landholder's
Assistant" "As for Col. Talbot, he was
conveyed for trial to Virginia, from whence
he made his escape, and, after being re-
taken, and, beliece, tried and convicted,
was finally pardoned by King James H."
This is an extract from the note. 1t is
now ascertained that Talbot was not taken
to England for trial, as Lord Baltimore, in
his letter of the 9th of July, 1856, affirmed
it was the Kings pleasure he should be;
but that he was tried and convicted in Vir
ginia on the 22nd of April, 1886, and. on