The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1933-03-23

more's chief fortification in the col
ony, and where large stores of arms
and ammunition were kept. At Mat
tapany the Governor and the loyal
Councillors had gathered, with such
troops as they could command, to
make a last stand against the rebels.
| But the latter, flushed with an easy
first victory, were not to be stopped.
Coode at once ordered a march to the
Patuxent river fort. The few hun
dred men who had constituted his
original command were augmented by
volunteers from St. Mary's and from
the territory through which they
passed on the way to Mattapany.
| When they reached the fort they
numbered about thousand men, all
well equipped with arms and ammuni-
ton. There may have been a few
skirmishes between the contending
forces, but the record of the Orange
Revolution indicates that little or no
blood was shed on either side. The
Mattapany fort capitulated on Sep
TENDER /, without a battle and three
days later it was evacuated. Goodies
active military career had been. a
brief one and most amazingly sue
cessful. Circumstances, certainly,
were all in his favor, but it appears
that some credit is due him for his
decisive action in the emergency and
for the discipline which prevented I'M
necessary bloodshed.
With the Orange party now in abso-
lutte control of the colony, immediate
steps were taken to replace the Off
Gals whom Lord Baltimore had ap-
pointed and whose appointment had
been responsible in no small measure
for the discomfort of the colonists.
The Council, every member of which
was related in some degree to the
proprietor, was replaced entirely by
men in sympathy with the new re-
gime. The election. of new As
sembly was ordered and this body i'm
mediately revised the roll of local Of
ficials, replacing many Catholics with
Protestants and eliminating all of the
Calvert relatives. Coode was con-
frmed as Commander-in-chief of the
colonial forces. For time he served
as Governor of the colony and he also
acted as collector of excuses on the
Potomac river.
Meanwhile the two contending par
ties in the colony had ceased fighting
with each other and both had carried
their cases directly to London. AS a
result, hearing was set for Deem
Der %, 1890, and Coode, together with
Kenelm Cheseldyne, Speaker of the
House, was sent to London to present
the case of the revolutionists. The
counts in their indictment of the Cal
verts were the familiar ones
nepotism, partiality to Catholics, the
invocation of illegal laws and punish
ments and failure to protect settlers
from the Indians. The charges re-
ceived favorable reception from the
Protestant monarchs and the Lords of
| Trade, and Coode returned to Mary
land with legal and diplomatic vic
tory achieved even more easily than
his military conquest.
Up to this time, it appears, Coode
was held in high esteem by all the
members of his own party, and he
seems even to have won the grudging
respect of his bitter enemies-the
friends of Lord Baltimore. Until the
appointment of Governor Copley in
1691-the first Royal Governor
Coode was unquestionably the leading
spirit in the colony. Even afterward
he worked in close harmony with the
Royal Governor and retained the Off
ces of Commander of the Army,
Naval Officer of the Potomac and
High Sheriff of St. Mary's county.
But the years, his active life and,
perhaps, his personal habits wrought
a rapid and radical change in Goodies
character. The decline in his powers
first became apparent after the death
of Copley and with the appointment
of Francis Nicholson to succeed him.
The new Royal Governor and the for
mer leader of the revolution simply
did not get along. Their mutual an
tipathy revealed itself at the outset
| and very soon it had descended to the
level of a childish quarrel, with both
sides hurting verbal insults and even
indulging in most undignified physical
encounters. Nicholson charged Coode
with stealing public funds and the lat
ter responded by accusing the Cover
nor of having poisoned an enemy.
Both were to blame for this unseemly
pickering, but there is no doubt that
Goodies once vigorous mind was be-
ginning to fail. He began to drink
heavily and very soon his habits and
his quarrelsome disposition became
so unpleasant that it was difficult even
for his friends to defend him,