the character of the instrument by which King
Charles the First despoiled Virginia of so large a portion of her
territory. It is true, indeed, that the Virginia charter had been
annulled, but this was done upon the condition explicitly and
repeatedly declared by the royal government, that vested rights should
receive no prejudice thereby.[192:A]

Clayborne, rejecting the authority of the new plantation, Lord Baltimore
gave orders to seize him if he should not submit himself to the
proprietary government of Maryland. The Indians beginning to exhibit
some indications of hostility toward the settlers, they attributed it to
the machinations of Clayborne, alleging that it was he who stirred up
the jealousy of the savages, persuading them that the new-comers were
Spaniards and enemies to the Virginians, and that he had also infused
his own spirit of insubordination into the inhabitants of Kent Island. A
trading vessel called the Longtail, employed by Clayborne in the Indian
trade in the Chesapeake Bay, was captured by the Marylanders. He
thereupon fitted out an armed pinnace with a crew of fourteen men under
one of his adherents, Lieutenant Warren, to rescue the vessel. Two armed
pinnaces were sent out by Calvert under Captain Cornwallis; and in an
engagement that ensued in the Potomac, or, as some accounts have it, the
Pocomoke River, one of the Marylanders fell, and three of the
Virginians, including Lieutenant Warren. The rest were carried prisoners
to St. Mary's. Clayborne was indicted although not arrested, and
convicted of murder and piracy, constructive crimes inferred from his
opposition. The chief of Patuxent was interrogated as to Clayborne's
intrigues among the Indians.[192:B]

Harvey, either from fear of the popular indignation, or from some better
motive, refused to surrender the fugitive Clayborne to the Maryland
commissioners, and according to one authority[192:C] sent him to
England, accompanied by the witnesses. Chalmers, good authority on the
subject, makes no allusion to the circumstance, and it appears more
probable that Clayborne having appealed to the king, went voluntarily to
England.[192:D] It is certain that he was not brought to trial there.

FOOTNOTES:

[187:A] 2 Burk's Hist. of Va., 35.

[188:A] 1 Hening, 188, 190, 199, 208, 222. The pay of the officers at
Point Comfort was at this time:--

Lbs. Tobacco. Bbls. Corn.

To the captain of the for