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Sioussat's The English Statutes in Maryland, 1903
Volume 195, Page 54   View pdf image (33K)
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54 The English Statutes in Maryland. [518
statutes, without any other authority, is sufficient to give them
permanent force.
Thus closes the pamphlet. At once we see that it is clearly
related to the documents found in the Assembly records, and
that many of the arguments found in. one are common to the
other. But we also notice a distinctive feature, in the emphasis
laid on the broader principles of Natural Law, taken from
Locke, Grotius, and Puffendorf. Of the significance of the
appearance of these ideas at so early a time in the eighteenth
century, we shall speak more fully in what follows. All things
considered, this pamphlet may rank as of high importance,
not only for its relation to the course of politics in Maryland,
but because it is the only pamphlet, so far as the present
writer knows, which is entirely devoted to the discussion of
the extension to the colonies of the laws of England.
It is to be regretted that so little documentary evidence is
extant to show what was the attitude of the people generally
towards this controversy. The records of the Assembly and
the Calvert Papers show us that the Lower House, for this
purpose, followed Dulany's leadership; and his frequent
re-elections indicate that his popularity or his influence was
great. But it is not until the end of this struggle that the
Maryland Gazette appears, with its interesting sidelights on
politics, and then its career is but brief. Private letters of
one sort or another have survived, but these usually deal with
economic matters, and especially land or tobacco, or with
personal affairs, and throw little light on general politics.
One interesting and valuable expression of opinion in the
English statutes controversy, which chance has preserved,
may. therefore, be given somewhat more consideration than,
if materials were plentiful, it would deserve. A bound vol-
ume of manuscripts, in the possession of the Episcopal Library
of Maryland, consists of the works of the Reverend John
Eversfield. This was an Oxford graduate who came to the
colony in 1727 and received induction into a parish in Prince
George's county. Maryland, where he served as rector for

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Sioussat's The English Statutes in Maryland, 1903
Volume 195, Page 54   View pdf image (33K)
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