Stone thereupon gathered several
hundred men and a fleet of small sailing craft, with which he pushed up the
bay to the Severn. In the meantime the Puritans had not been idle, but had
themselves raised a body of men and had taken over the Golden Lyon, an
armed merchantman lying before their town. On the 24th of March, 1655, the
two forces met in the Battle of the Severn. "In the name of God, fall on!"
cried the men of Providence, and "Hey for St. Mary's!" cried the others.
The battle was won by the Providence men. They slew or wounded fifty of the
St. Mary's men and desperately wounded Stone himself and took many
prisoners, ten of whom were afterwards condemned to death and four were
actually executed.
Now followed a period of up and down, the Commissioners and the Proprietary
alike appealing to the Lord Protector for some expression of his
"determinate will." Both sides received encouragement inasmuch as he
decided for neither. His own authority being denied by neither, Cromwell
may have preferred to hold these distant factions in a canceling,
neutralizing posture. But far weightier matters, in fact, were occupying
his mind. In 1657, weary of her "very sad, distracted, and unsettled
condition," Maryland herself proceeded -- Puritan, Prelatist, and Catholic
together -- to agree henceforth to disagree. Toleration viewed in retrospect
appears dimly to have been seen for the angel that it was. Maryland would
return to the Proprietary's rule, provided there should be complete
indemnity for political offenses and a solemn promise that the Toleration
Act of 1649 should never be repealed.
Pages:
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135