Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-04-18
IN OLD ANNAPOLIS.
MR.. D. r. RANDALL TALKS OF
SECOND CAPITAL
Growth Of The City, Transported Pa.
triots, The Augustan Period. Early
Brick Construction. Etc.
ITS ARCHITECTURAL DEvEL.
MENT MOVEMENT.

Mr.. Daniel X. Randall, OF Annapo-
lis, in his lecture Monday night be-
fore the members OF the Maryland
Field Studies Course on Maryland s
Second Capital, gave an interesting
sketch of the early settlements i'm
Maryland. Coming down TO the Sc
lection OF capital, he said.
THE Inconvenience Of st. Mary s
City for the capital of the province
was agitated as far back as 1888, i'm
which year the General Assembly, in
a fit of desperation, moved bag and
baggage to the Ridge, in Anne Arundel
county, only TO remove again to
point on the Pntuxent river and then,
with hanging head, to beat full re-
treat to st. Mary's. During the years
following the plan of removal, though
bitterly fought by the citizens of st.
Mary's, and by many of Lord Balti-
more's lretainers, was definitely ar
ranged and by an act Of 1892 the
creation of the new charter of politi-
cal life was determined.
Work was begun forthwith upon
new State House in Annapolis and on
February 2S, 1895. the General Assem-
bly, met for the first time on the Sew
ern river, the archives of the province
having been transported with great
labor tbither during the preceding
winter. A private citizen offered his
home to the lawmakers for want of
better accommodation, and that body,
with view of geographically locat-
ing themselves, enacted that the new
capital shall hereafter be denominated,
called and known by the name and
port of Annapolis, and by no other
name or distinction whatever
''The two hundredth anniversary of
the event, this political hegira, was
celebrated in 1895 at Annapolis with
much ceremony, but the event itself
was fraught with danger and great
Inconvenience in day when the
or rebuilding of q city had
not such an example as Baltimore
has set in her day and generation.
''NIore ambitious than its sister
towns in the New World, Annapolis
demanded charter from the Crown
similar in all respects to the char
tered cities of England, whose rights
aud privileges had been the envy of
the civilized word. Queen Anne was
gracious to her namesake, and in
1908, in answer to their petitions, her
most gracious Majesty issued TO Gov
ernor Seymour her assent o. ? char
tered city, the FIRST in the .Anicrica
colonies.
Provided with this coveted ele-
ment of greatness, Annapolis forth
with began to put on airs, as we
hear it said. Her growth was for
brief period phenomenal. The Scotch
rebellions of 1715 and later of 1745
brought hundreds of sturdy citizens
10 her doors, who helped the little
eity's greatness and achieved much
for the nation in her days of stress
and storm.
"Some came as landed proprietors
TO build and own handsome estates,
but the greater number came in the
humble guise of transported colonies,
shipped out Of their own bonny Scotch
land for the good and quiet of their
nation. A quaint old parchment book
stood upon the shelves with the dull
and commonplace records of our
county court in my youth (but now
no more) entitled Convicted Felons,
W wherein was recorded in quaint form
the history of many good family of
the State and nation, which began
with the public sale of the founder
Of such family at the market-place at
the port of Annapolis.
sThey differed from the indentured
class in many respects,
though often confounded with them.
Prisoners from the battlefelds of
Preston and Culloden-honest men.
whose only crime was loyalty to
though losing cause.-the
best blood of Scotland were in fact
vet sold as convicted felons in pub
lie market and condemned to serve
in mental capacity for term of years
before claiming their freedom. Some
bought their freedom quickly with
money contributed by luckier friends
at home others married quickly into
the families of master and mistress
and so gained and lost their freedom,
while others yet were freed by gem
erous owners without delay, so glad
were the Annapolitans of that day, as
of this, to gain a citizen.
ssThe noble Scot did not become, as
a rule, permanent settler but, having
gained his freedom. sought other fields
Of usefulness. To a body of such ex-
patriated Scotchmen, who had shaken
the dust of Annapolis and seen the
opportunity that the water power of
Jones falls afforded, may be ascribed
the beginning of younger, but