PREFACE.

"For government, let it be in the hands of one, assisted with some
Counsel; and let them have commission to exercise martial laws, with
some limitation."

This advice of Bacon's in his Essay on Plantations, was carried out
in the Proprietary government of Maryland. Except on those few
occasions when the Proprietary was present in person, his authority and
rights were represented by a Lieutenant-General, or Governor, whose
very ample commission gave him full executive powers in both peace
and war, limited only by the law and his official oath. He was appointed
by the Proprietary, and held office during his pleasure. The Governor
was assisted by a Council, in like manner appointed, of which the
members, in a few instances, were sent out from England, but for the
most part were influential colonists, chosen at the Governor's recom-
mendation.

The duties of these Councillors were various. As representatives,
conjointly with the Governor, of the Proprietary, they had to keep an eye
upon his rights and interests, to guard them against invasion, and to
give him information of what went on in the Province. As an adminis-
tration they advised the Governor, and assisted him in carrying out the
laws, in the appointment of officers, the making of peace and war, and
the like. As a Legislative body they formed the Upper House of
Assembly, whose concurrence was necessary to all laws, in which
capacity their caution and conservatism often proved a valuable check on
the inconsiclerateness of the less experienced Burgesses. Their distinct
and separate existence as an Upper House, with an independent organi-
zation, dates from the restoration of the government to the Proprietary
in 1658. With the Governor they had also a limited legislative power
of their own, the charter empowering them, as the Proprietary's repre-
sentatives, to pass ordinances, not affecting the life, liberty, or property
of the freemen, without the assent of the Assembly. By virtue of this
power they erected counties and hundreds, imposed embargoes, re-
modelled public offices, &c. They issued letters of denization to aliens,
conferring civil, but not political rights, which latter required an act of
naturalization by the Assembly. They also constituted the Provincial
Court, of which the Governor, down to 1661, was ex-officio Chancellor,
which dealt with the more weighty causes, and also sat as a court of
appeal.

With these various functions of the Council, it may well be supposed
that its records, at least in the earlier volumes, are quite miscellaneous
in character. While it was engaged in the consideration of an ordinance,
it would happen that a witness presented himself to make a deposition
touching matters before the court; or a letter about Indian depredations
was read; or a petition was handed in; or an administrator filed a bond;
and the clerk entered the business in the journal just as it was taken up.