"As the Province grew to the north, St. Mary's at the extreme south was found not central enough to be a convenient place of meeting, while it had the further disadvantage of being insecure, as we find mention of pirates threatening Matapany, and the need of a guard to protect the Proprietary and the military stores. In 1654 and 1657 the Assembly had met in Anne Arundel County, though rather for political than geographical reasons. The session of 1683 was now held in the same county, to the gratification of the delegates, though the seat of government was not removed. While there were some very slight chafings between the two Houses, and while the presence among the Burgesses of that unsavory reprobate Coode boded no good, yet great good feeling seems to have prevailed throughout the entire Province; to which, no doubt, the personal presence of the Proprietary, who seems to have been sincerely liked and respected, greatly contributed. Three times the Assembly voted him a considerable gift, with expressions of gratitude, but he declined it as unwilling further to burden the people. The records show no trace of any ill feeling on religious grounds. Yet in a brief time many of these very men were fomenting armed rebellion, and memorializing the King on the subject of the Popish injustice and tyranny under which they had long groaned."
William Hand Browne
(1894), 2007, CD-ROM, Graphic Images, Searchable, Adobe Acrobat v6, PC or Mac, 652 pp.
ISBN: 9780788445071
101-CD4507
