mas Cornwaleys, &c."[82] Granted,
although it is doubtful, that Ingle seized the pinnace, riding in St.
Inigoes' creek, he was not, therefore, a pirate. According to the
testimony, he used no force, for the one in charge of the pinnace
allowed him to take it; and the act was not committed on the high
seas. For the acts committed on the land, Ingle acknowledged himself
to have been responsible; for in his petition he wrote, that he "did
venture his life and fortune in landing his men and assisting the said
well-affected Protestants (_i. e._, such as adhered to Parliament)"
against the government, the papists and malignants. His acts on the
land were rather contradictory, if one reads the testimony. In 1647,
for instance, a certain Walter Beane[83] at the request of Cuthbert
Fenwick, said that during the plundering time, with the consent of
Fenwick, he paid Ingle some tobacco, which was due Fenwick or
Cornwallis. Ingle then gave him the following, "Received of Walter
Beane five hund^r Thirty Eight pounds of Tob for a debt th^t the s^d
Walter Beane did owe to Cuthbert ffenwick. Witness my hand,

RICH^D. INGLE."

Beane stated also that sometime before Ingle came, he paid six
hogsheads of tobacco to Fenwick for Cornwallis, and that Ingle, upon
his arrival, sent eleven men to fetch the hogsheads and other tobacco;
that when Beane refused to give them up, Ingle was notified, and sent
a note threatening extreme measures, and Beane was thus forced to give
up the tobacco. Does it not seem curious that Ingle should give a
receipt for one batch of tobacco, and within a short time have other
tobacco forcibly seized? Of course the authorities of Maryland might
have considered such acts piratical. But they were not. Ingle had a
commission from Parliament, to relieve the planters in Maryland, by
furnishing them arms, &c. He found the government of Maryland at
enmity with Parliament, which was the actual government of England at
that time, and assisted the friends of Parliament in Maryland. Even if
he exceeded the provisions of his letter of marque he was responsible
to Parliament alone.[84] That the English authorities did not
disapprove of his conduct is shown by the weight attached to his
statements, and by the fact that he was afterwards in the service of
the Commonwealth.

As to Ingle's having been a "rebel," the facts all point to his
participation in the beginning of a rebellion, caused probably, by
those dissatisfied wit