"The Act for the Establishment of Religion (1702) which made the Church of England the Established Church of the Province, was the most important act of Blakiston's administration…It preserved the tax of forty pounds per poll for the support of the clergy, gave a certain amount of toleration to the Quakers and other Protestant Dissenters, but left the Roman Catholics to the penal laws of England." Blakiston resigned his office in 1702 due to ill health and returned to England. He offered to serve the Province as its agent in England. "Blakiston, by his knowledge of conditions in Maryland and the confidence which was reposed in him by the people, was eminently qualified for this position…One of these matters which called for the services of an English agent was the continual pressure of the crown for assistance in men and money to New York for defence against the French and Indians. The Assembly took the ground that the position of Maryland was not understood; that the Province was in as great danger as New York from incursions of hostile Indians, and moreover that the people were poor, and that the expenses for their own defence and other necessary charges was as heavy as they could bear…After Blakiston's departure, Thomas Tench, President of the Council, acted as Governor until the arrival of John Seymour with a commission from Queen Anne."
William Hand Browne
(1904), 2007, CD-ROM, Graphic Images, Searchable, Adobe v6, PC or Mac, 451 pp.
ISBN: 9780788445392
101-CD4539
