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Baltimore, January 15, 1935.
To the Maryland Historical Society.
Gentlemen :
....The second session of the Assembly elected in 1754 met on February 22, 1755,soon after Governor Sharpe had returned from New York, where he and other colonial governors had attended a council of war held by Shirley. The previous session had been prorogued in disgust by Governor Sharpe on December 24, 1754, until January 15, 1755, because the Lower House had failed to pass the Supply Bill for His Majesty's service as amended by the Upper House, but its meeting had been postponed by the Governor until February 22d.
....The Lower House summoned John Rawlings, one of the justices of the Frederick County Court, before the bar of the House, charged by a member of the Assembly from Frederick with certain high-handed acts in the administration of his office, and formally reprimanded him. The Governor in his message to the Lower House on the subject declared that he had gone into the matter carefully and felt that the justice was not as culpable as the Lower House supposed, and that he had been guilty of no misdemeanor whatever. He then very pointedly remarked that it was his duty to protect the people from extra-legal exercise of the law, and to prevent them from being prosecuted out of the ordinary course of procedure, and added " I cannot help recommending to you, Gentlemen, as you sit here at a very considerable Expense to the Country, to forbear to meddle, for the future, with such Complaints, as are (if not groundless) relievable elsewhere, and are the proper Objects for the Enquiry of another Jurisdiction," a not too-gentle reminder to the House to mind its own business. The Rawlings' inquiry before the Lower House seems to havebeen instigated by the personal animosity of Henry Wright Crabb, a memberfrom Frederick County, and was apparently unjustified (Archiv. Md., vi., 191).
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HORATIO SHARPE |
19th April transmitted by Capt.
Sir
By my Letter of the 10th Inst. I intimated to you what had been the Issue & Result of our Assembly's last Meeting which you will be more particularly acquainted with from a perusal of the Iournals of the proceedings of both Houses which I herewith transmit together with a Copy of the Bill sent to the Upper House under the Title of an Act for His Majesty's Service.
....You may be pleased to observe in the proceedings that on the Representation of Mr Crabb an ignorant over-bearing Inhabitant of Frederick County the House thought proper to summon one Mr Rawlins a Magistrate of the aforesaid County who unhappily for him lives near Mr Crabb a Member of Assembly & had not shewn him such Deference as he perhaps expected.
The pretended Reason for their proceeding to such Lengths with Mr Rawlins & making him attend their House almost during the whole Session to his great Detriment & Expence You will see in the Report of the Committee, & how unreasonable & unjust their proceedings were thereon will in part appear from the Substance of the papers on which my Message to them was founded.
The Justice might perhaps be no Lawyer or well acquainted with such Learning as a Magistrate ought to be Master of but his Life & Conduct never that I can find gave the least Room for any Suspicion of his being unjust or partial & Men endowed with the contrary of these two Qualities only must in this Young Country be sometimes preferred to the Bench of Magistrates.
Many of the Lower House when they came to be acquainted with & see into the whole Affair acknowledged themselves sorry that they had been so ready to credit Mr Crabbs Representations but as they had proceeded to take the Matters under their Consideration & to put the Magistrate to a great Expence they did not think it would redound much to their honour to drop the Affair entirely & therefore Addressed me thereon hoping I should take no farther notice of the matter ; but as the Conniving at such a proceedure would have subjected all His Ldp's Magistrates & Iustices to the Caprice or humour of the Assembly & in fact made them dependant in great measure on them (seeing the Lower House might easily cook up pretences to summon any other Magistrates & put them to similar Expences) I thought it not proper or for his Ldp's Interest to pass over the Affair & their Address in Silence, but communicated to them my Sentiments in an Answer to their Address: as they begun to see the Levity of their Accusation & could not attempt to justify their Behaviour they resolved that some parts of my Message which bore hard on them should not be printed or make a part of their proceedings as you will see by comparing the true Copy of my Message with that entered in their lournal.
1 Son of Benedict Leonard, fourth Lord Baltimore, and uncle of Frederick, 5th and last Lord Baltimore, to whom he held the place of Secretary for Maryland.
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....On the Subject of those matters, His Lordship on hearing the Messagesread from the Journals of the Houses, is Satisfied withyour's and the Conduct of his Upper House; But thinksthe Majority Party of the House of Burgesses Dealingssevere and unkind, giving no Credit or Respect to his Instructions concerning, rather seeming to tend at a Prohibition of Rights and Prerogative.
The Affair of Mr Crabb a Member of the Lower House,his Representation against Mr Rawlins a Magistrate of theCountry and the Summons of the House for Mr Rawlins'sAppearance before them; His Lordship is in Opinion, notwarrantable, He approves of your Answer to their Addressthereon, hopes it will Caution against such Proceedure of theHouse for the future; not to Subject his Justices of thePeace lo the Caprice of that part of Assembly. If by theJustice's Action of Impress of the Man to His Majesty'sService, he acted contrary to Establish'd Law, a Tryal atCourt would have sett that right. The Rights and Priviledges of the House is fitting to be held, But a Regard must be had to preserve the Rights, Priviledges and Liberties of the People; Certainly Secured and Dependant upon the Due and Legal Exercise of Laws under our Constitution, and not Suffer them to be summoned or prosecuted out of trie Ordinary Course of Proceedure as you well Observe in your Answer to the House. The Complaint seems groundless, if otherways was relievable elsewhere being the Proper Object of a Court of Judicature. For as Mr Rawlins the Respondant, inter alia, in his Answer to the Charge of the Report of the Committee of Grievances on the Summons and his Detention by the House under a Judicial Capacity, his Observations thereupon are very Cogent, Viz.
That by the 25th of Edward the 3d Chapter the 4th It is Enacted that none shall be taken by Process of Suggestion, Unless by Indictment of good and Lawfull People of the Neighbourhood, or by Process by Writt Original at the Common Law. By the 28th of Edward the 3d Chapter the 3d It is Enacted that no Man shall be Imprisoned but by due Course of Law. By that of Edward the 3d Chapter the 13th No one shall be put to Answer without Presentment before Justices, or Matter of Record on due Process, according to the Old Law of the Land. And by the first of Henry the 4th Chapter the 14th Appeals to Parliament are Declared against, as Contrary and Repugnant to Reason and the Constitution. That this Method of Complaint is not only against the before recited Statutes, but also against the General Frame and Tenor of the Common Law. By this the Subject may be twice Punished for One Offence, for no Proceeding in this will preclude the Cognizance of the Courts of Law.
And Observes, he will Lose the Legal Tryal by a Jury of his Peers, the best Discovery of Truth. By this his Birth Right Admitted in the Ordinary Courts of Judicature and his Right of Appeal.ŅAnd By this his great Security against false Testimony, for no Indictment could be prosecuted (as he Conceives) for a Perjury which might be Committed on Examination before this House in such Case as this.ŅAnd by this the Benefit of that wise Institution by which the Law is Determined by one, and the Fact ascertained by another, under the Most Sacred Obligation to Administer Right and Justice.
The Respondant's Plea and Answer seems good, by the Behaviour of the House not Justifying their Proceedings; (on the Contrary). Ordered your Message to be Read and the Papers thereto Annexed (Mr Rawlins's Answer to the Charge) to be Referred (Sine Die) to the Consideration ofthe next Session of Assembly. And makes Enterance in their Journals short of Your Message to them thereon.
I shall Conclude with this Remark on the reality of the Ordinary Course of the Common Law. Even Oliver Cromwellwho trampel'd almost upon all Law, yet was so Sensible of the justness of the Ordinary Course of the Common Law, It is Asserted, he went Disfigured privately at night and waited on Mr Hale a Councillor in Lincolns Inn and of great Abilities in the Law. he told him, he did not require his Oaths to him, as he knew him a Stanch Royalist; But it being Absolutely Necessary the Process of the Ordinary Course of the Common Law should Continue, as Essential to the People, he therefore Desired his Acceptance of a Commission from him for that purpose; which he received and Exercised on his Circuits so justly; That King Charles the second at his Restoration Knighted him Sir Mathew Hale and made him Lord Chief Justice of England. The Common Law is the Touchstone of Our happy Constitution, 'tis self preservation and of Right attends the Subject through all the British Dominions. His Lordship Recommends to you that you will on All Occasions exert yourself against such Proceedure of that House, he thanks you for the part you have Acted, and thinks Mr Rawlins deserves Reward when opportunity offers, for his just Defence as his Magistrate.
2Correspondence to Gov Sharpe, mostly from Cecilius Calvert, was discovered after the Sharp correspondence was published by the Maryland Archives as Vol. 6, so they were put into Volume 31, with the procedings of the Council for that period. The publishers of Vol. 31 had this note about Cecilius in their preface: “Cecilius Calvert, the writer of nearly all these letters, was the youngest son of Benedict Leonard, fourth Lord Baltimore, and thereforeuncle to Frederick, the Proprietary, whose secretary and general factotum he became, and whose entire confidence he seems to have possessed.He appears to have been a fair-minded and just man, having the bestinterests of the Province, as well as those of his nephew, sincerely atheart....Cecilius died unmarried in 1766, leaving his nephew the only representative, in the direct male line, of the family, and on the death ofFrederick in 1771, without legitimate issue, the title became extinct.” It should be noted that Frederick, the final Lord Baltimore, was perhaps one of the most dissolute and reprehensible members of the aristocracy in all of Europe, and that is saying alot. His contribution was to cause Marylanders to become detatched from their loyalty to the proprietary, and to recognize, a recognition that was becoming universal, that most lives were led in order to subsidize the accumulation of wealth by the ruling classes. This provided an impetus to revolutionary fervor in Maryland, whereas a responsible proprietary may have caused Marylanders to be lukewarm to actual revolution.
Within 6 days of the beginning of the Assembly, the Committee on Grievances, which had spear-headed anti-catholic ferver and legislation, had put out a report against Justice John Rawlings, instigated by a new member representing Frederick County, Henry Wright Crabb
Archives of Maryland, Volume 0052, Page 0057 Lib. No. 48 ieu 28th,
1755. February 28 Upon the Representation of M.R HENRY WRIGHT CRABB, one of the Members of the Honble House, that a certain JOHN RAWLINGS, GENT. ONE OF THE JUSTICES OF THE PEACE FOR FREDERICK COUNTY had under Colour of such his Office caused one THOMAS KELLY a Free holder of the same County, to be taken up for a Soldier and that without any Application to him made by any Officer or Officers thereto authorized by an Act, Entituled An Act for taking and detaining able bodied Men for his Majesty's Service and contrary to the Tenor of the same Act as also, that he the said Rawlings, by his Letter, dated the 23d Day of December last past, directed to MESSRS. LYNN, JONES, AND PRATHER, JUSTICES OF THE SAME COUNTY, hereunto annexed, had granted his Warrant, to WILLIAM SPIERS, against a certain BENJAMIN HARRIS, for the Sum of Two Pounds Ten Shillings, when at the same Time, he by the said Letter confesses, there was a greater Sum due to the said Spiers, from the aforesaid Harris : And further, that he the aforesaid John Rawlings, did, on the 4th Day of January last, commit a certain JOHN WEST, to the Sheriff of the same County, by an illegal Mittimus, a Duplicate of which is hereunto annexed.
All which Actings of the said Rawlings, your Committee conceive to be contrary to Right and Law; but is humbly submitted to the Consideration of your Honourable House.Signed per Order, William Wilkins, Clerk.
And the following papers, viz.t
Mr. Lynn, or Mr. Jones, or Mr. Prather.
Gentlemen,
As I have issued a Warrant against Benjamin Harris, at the Suitof William Spiers, for Two Pounds Ten Shillings, desire that you willnot sign up a Judgment against the Plaintiff, for to my Knowlegehe has been very ill used by Harris, and I verily believe that Debtto be just, and more if he could bring it under a Warrant.
Am your very humble Servant,
December 23, 1754. John Rawlings.
Frederick County, ss.
Take into your Custody the Body of John West, junr. and himsafe keep in your Goal, till he has given you Security for his Appearance on the Third Tuesday in March, 1755, at Frederick CountyCourt, in the Sum of Twenty Pounds, to answer the Complaint thatI shall make against him, fail not at your Peril. Given under myHand and Seal, this 4th Day of January, 1755.
John Rawlings, | SEAL |
To Samuel Beall, Esq; Sheriff.
You are to receive the said John West, junr. by the Hands ofLuke Bernard, Constable.
Frederick County, ss.
Take into your Custody the Body of John West, junr3. and him havebefore me, for destroying my Warrant against sundry Persons, thatI sent for to serve his Majesty, fail not at your Peril. Given undermy Hand and Seal, this 3d Day of January, 1755.
John Rawlings, | SEAL |
To Luke Bernard, Constable.| Mr. Bernard, you must go and serve it To morrow Morning.Which was Read, and ordered to lie on the Table.
Archives of Maryland, Volume 0052, Page 0059
Saturday Morning, 1st March, 1755.
The House met according to Adjournment, &c.
COL. R. J. HENRY, MR. J. DENNIS, SENR. AND MR. J. DENNIS, JUNR. appeared in the House. On reading the Report from THE COMMITTEE OF GRIEVANCES AND COURTS OF JUSTICE, relating to MR. JOHN RAWLINGS, OF FREDERICK COUNTY, the House concurs therewith.
Resolved, That this House will, on Tuesday next, the 4th Instant, take into further Consideration, the Report from the Committee of Grievances and Courts of Justice, relating to the Complaint and Facts therein set forth against Mr. John Rawlings, of Frederick County.
Ordered, That Mr. John Rawlings, of Frederick County, do attend at the Bar of this House, on Tuesday next, being the 4th Instant, to answer the Complaint and Facts, set forth in the Report from the Commiittee of Grievances and Courts of Justice.
Ordered, That the Serjeant at Arms attending this House, do give Notice to MR. JOHN RAWLINGS, aforesaid, of the Resolve and Order of this House, relative to him, by serving him with a Copy thereof ; and acquaint him, that he is ordered by this House, to attend accordingly, to answer the Complaint and Facts, as aforesaid set forth, in the said Report.The House adjourns till 2 of the Clock.
Archives of Maryland, Volume 0052, Page 0061
Tuesday, March 4, 1755.; The House met according to Adjournment, &c.....A PETITION OF JOHN RAWLINGS, OF FREDERICK COUNTY, PRAYING A COPY OF THE REPORT, FROM THE COMMITTEE OF GRIEVANCES, &:c. and Time to answer the Facts therein contained, preferred to this House, was Read, and ordered to lie on the Table.
Archives of Maryland, Volume 0052, Page 0064 Feb. 22 Mar. 26, 1755. L. H. J.64 Assembly Proceedings, Feb. 22-Mar. 26, 1755. .L.H.J.; Liber No. 48
March 7:: MR. JOHN RAWLINGS, ONE OF THE JUSTICES OF FREDERICK COUNTY, HAVING ATTENDED ON THE SUMMONS OF THIS HOUSE, ISSUED ON THE FIRST OF MARCH INSTANT, on a Report from the Committee of Grievances and Courts of Justice, BROUGHT INTO THE HOUSE: Ordered, That MR. RAWLINGS BE CALLED TO THE BAR; WHO APPEARED, AND BEING HEARD IN HIS DEFENCE, AND AFTER THE EXAMINATION ON OATH OF SEVERAL WITNESSES, TO THE FACTS CONTAINED IN THE SAID REPORT, IN HIS PRESENCE, HE WAS ORDERED TO WITHDRAW. The House referred the further Consideration on the said Report, till the morrow Morning. The House adjourns till the Morning at 9 of the Clock.
March 8; Saturday Morning, 8th March, 1755: The House met according to Adjournment, &c. ...MR. HAMMOND appeared in the House. The House took into further Consideration the Report from the Committee of Grievances, &c. relating to Mr. Rawlings, and on mature Deliberation thereon, Resolved, THAT MR. JOHN RAWLINGS HAS COMMITTED A MANIFEST ERROR, IN THE EXECUTION OF HIS OFFICE; AND ORDERED, THAT MR. RAWLINGS BE AGAIN CALLED TO THE BAR, AND THAT HE BE ACQUAINTED FROM THE CHAIR, WITH THE SENSE THIS HOUSE SUSTAINS OF HIS CONDUCT, AND THAT IT BE RECOMMENDED TO HIM, TO BEHAVE WITH MORE CIRCUMSPECTION IN HIS STATION FOR THE FUTURE.
Mr. Rawlings was called to the Bar, and Mr. Speaker gave him the following Charge, viz.t
Mr. Rawlings,
From the Evidence that has been given in Support of the Facts contain'd in the Charge against you, it is the Opinion of this House, that you have committed a manifest Error, in the Execution of your Office, having govern'd yourself in the whole Affair, more by your Passions, than by your Understanding, which surely ought to have been the Measure of your Acting.It is therefore recommended to you as a Rule for your future Conduct, in all judicial Proceedings, to direct yourself by the Right Rule of Law, and go no more by the crooked Cord of Opinion.
There are some Fees accrued by Means of this Enquiry, which the House expects you will pay, in doing which you are discharged from any further Attendance.Ordered, That MAJOR HALL, MR. MURDOCK, AND MR. STODDERT, do TAX THE FEES DUE TO THE OFFICERS OF THIS HOUSE, AND OTHERS, FROM MR. RAWLINGS, and Report the same to the House.
(Archives of Maryland, Volume 0052, Page 0066)
Mr. Stoddert, from the Committee appointed to Tax the Fees due to the several Officers of this House, and others, from Mr. John Rawlings, brings in, and delivers to Mr. Speaker, the following Report, viz.
In Obedience to the Order of your Honourable House, we have proceeded to TAX THE SEVERAL FEES AND CHARGES FOLLOWING, AS DUE TO THE OFFICERS OF YOUR HOUSE, AND OTHERS, ON THE REPRESENTATION OF MR. HENRY WRIGHT CRABB, AGAINST MR. JOHN RAWLINGS, A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE FOR FREDERICK COUNTY.
To the Clerk, for six Summons, at 35 ............................................................ £.0 18: 0
To Ditto, for a Copy of the Report, and other Papers, at Mr. Rawlings's Request,... 0: 4: 0
To the Serjeant, for serving the Order of the House on Mr. Rawlings,.......... ........... 0 : 3:0
To Ditto, for serving six Summons, at 3s .................................................................. 0: 18: 0
To Ditto, for a Messenger to serve the several Summons, &C. ............................... 2: 10: 0
To John West, junr. for two Days Attendance, and Itinerant Charges, .... 0:15:0
To John Lemar, for Ditto, ......................................................................... 0: 15:0
To William Williams Lemar, for Ditto, ............................................................ 0: 15:0
To Bazil Baker, for Ditto, ...................................................................................... 0: 15:0
To Thomas Kelley, for Ditto, .................................................................................. 0: 15:0
£.8 8:0
All which is humbly submitted to the Consideration of your Honourable House.
John Stoddert,
Henry Hall,
William Murdock.
The House concurs therewith.Archives of Maryland, Volume 0052, Page 0082
March 15, 1755: MR. MURDOCK, FROM THE CPMMITTEE OF GRIEVANCE, &c. ....
MR. J. GOLDSBOROUGH, FROM THE COMMITTEE OF GRIEVANCES, &&c.
brings in, and delivers to Mr. Speaker, the following ingrossed Address, viz.tTo his Excellency Horatio Sharpe, Esq; Governor and Commander in Chief in and over the Province of Maryland.
The humble Address of the House of Delegates.
May it please your Excellency.
We, the Delegates of the Freemen of Maryland, humbly conceive, that it is the peculiar Privilege of British Subjects to be under the Controul and Government of Laws, calculated and framed, by the Legislature, for the Conservation of their Rights and Liberties, and that every Attempt that has the most remote Tendency to infringe or violate them, justly called for an Enquiry and a due Representation. This being premised, we flatter ourselves, that we shall be sufficiently justified, in the Liberty we take to lay before your Excellency a Report from the Committee of Grievances, and Courts of Justice, against John Rawlings, a Magistrate of Frederick County, with the Papers thereto annexed, for your Examination, more especially, as it is evident, from Testimony given before us, and upon a ful Enquiry into the whole Affair, that his Passions and Prejudices have greatly influenced his Determinations; we therefore humbly request, that your Excellency will take this Matter into your Consideration, and, in order to prevent Evils of the like Kind for the future, do therein as. to your Excellency shall seem right and just. Which was read and assented to, and signed, by Order of the House, by the Honourable Speaker.3John West, Jr. may have been a relative of the unilaterally conscripted Kelly. And Henry Wright Crabb was witness to the will of William West, possibly the Uncle of John West, Jr. William West was a vestryman of Rock Creek Church. His father Joseph had purchased “Two Brothers”, part of which went to his daughter, Mary Kelly. In 1758, a transaction involving land by that name is witnessed by Francis Rawlings.
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Archives of Maryland, Volume 0052, Page 0099
His Excellency the Governor communicated to Mr. Speaker the following Message, viz.
Gentlemen of the Lower House of Assembly, In Answer to your Address that was delivered me the 15th Instant, I beg Leave to assure you, that any Representations or Requests, which you may at any Time think proper to make, shall always have their due Weight with me; but I cannot avoid intimating to you my Opinion, that the Person, whose Conduct is made the Occasion of that Address, is not so culpable as your Committee seems to have imagined. Just after I had received the Address of your House, and the Report of your Committee, Mr. Rawlings presented me the following Narrative, together with some Papers, which I have also thought proper, as they are referred to in the Narrative, to transcribe into this Message. One Thing I must observe in Favour of Mr. Rawlings, as he has not insisted on it himself, that he was indeed applied to by a commissioned Officer, before he proceeded to issue his Warrant for that Kelly, who was represented as a Person liable to be impressed for his Majesty's Service by that late Act; and his Desire that his Conduct might be examined into, in a legal Manner, by a proper Court of Judicature, which may punish his Offence, if he has transgressed the Laws, or manifest his Innocence if he be without Offence, does not seem to betray any Consciousness of Guilt: Indeed, from the Papers that have been submitted to me, and his own Asseverations, I must confess, Gentlemen, and beg Leave to observe as much to you, that it does not, as I before hinted, appear to me, at present, that he has been guilty of any Misdemeanour whatever; although he must of Necessity have been a great Sufferer by being brought so far from his Home, and compelled to a long and expensive Attendance on your House. I assure you it is very far from my Intent or Design, to call in Question the Rights and Privileges of your House; but at the same Time, I shall regard it as my Duty, and must endeavour to preserve the Rights, Liberties and Privileges of the People, which are secured by and dependent upon, the due and legal Exercise of the Laws, under our present happy Constitution, and not suffer them to be called upon, or prosecuted out of the ordinary Course of Procedure: And I cannot help recommending to you, Gentlemen, as you sit here at a very considerable Expence to the Country, to forbear to meddle, for the future, with such Complaints, as are (if not groundless) relievable elsewhere, and are the proper Objects for the Enquiry of another Jurisdiction.
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Which was Read.
Ordered, That the Governor's Message, and the Papers thereto annexed, be referred to the Consideration of the next Session of Assembly.
The House adjourns till 2 of the Clock.
Archives of Maryland, Volume 0052, Page 0438 438 Assembly Proceedings, Feb. 23-May 22, 1756
May 22, 1756: On Motion, Ordered, That the Affair of M.r John Rawlings, of Frederick County, which was referred last Session to be considered this Session, be referred for Consideration to the next Session of Assembly.
John Rawlings died, shortly thereafter. (Will proved Sept. 10, 1756) possibly due to the ordeal of the vendetta by Mr. Crabb and Murdock et al. He had received, however, the eloquent and compassionate defense of the Governor himself. He may have died not knowing of the praise of the Proprietary, for his defense of English Common Law.
