CLAYBORNE
CLAYBORNE
1630, he was in England " for the purpose of in-
forming the king about the condition of colonial
affairs," and on the 16th of May, 1631, he went on
another voyage of discovery to the Isle of Kent,
an island which he had "discovered, purchased
and planted j-ears before the patent of Maryland
was ever thought of, " and which he had named
for the river Kent, which ran through the
grounds of his mother's birthplace at " Levens
Hall." In 1632, Charles I. gave to Sir George
Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, a part of the ter-
ritory of Virginia, which was named Maryland
in honor of the Queen. On the death of the first
lord, in 1632, Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore,
a.ssumed jvirisdiction over this " Isle of Kent"
(which may have been included ignorantly or
unintentionally in the patent granted his father) ,
and sent to America his brother Leonard with
two hundred men to take possession. Because
they were Roman Catholics, on their arrival in
1633 the Virginia Council sent to the king a
petition protesting against their settlement. The
matter was referred to the privy council, and
Lord Baltimore was advised to confer with the
planters, which he did through his brother the
governor of Maryland. Meanwhile Claiborne,
who had disputed Calvert's rights to any part of
Virginia, especiallj' to the Isle of Kent, was ac-
cused of sedition and of stirring up hostility
among the " Nations," for which Calvert ordered
his arrest April 23, 1635. One of Claiborne's ves-
sels being seized by the Marylanders, he fitted
out an armed pinnace under Lieutenant Warren,
which was defeated by two vessels of the enemy
sent out under Cornwallis. This first naval battle
in colonial waters, was a prototype of America's
naval renown. Claiborne fled to Virginia, and
thence to England where he presented his griev-
ances to the king in person, but was soon after
sued by his London partners and cited before the
commissioners on charges of sedition, piracy,
etc. (constructive crimes), preferred by his old
enemy. Sir John Harvey, but notliing came of it.
Up to this time, Claiborne, who \\'as a man of in-
domitable will, energy and perseverance, had
tried to play a difficult game in politics — to be
at once popular with the court and the colonists.
So far he had succeeded, but unfortunately for
him, his cousin and chief patron, Anne, Countess
of Dorset and Pembroke, suddenly withdrew her-
self from court, owing to a quarrel with the king
about her Barony of Clifford, and his old friend
and kinsman George Percy (a former governor
of the colony) died in March, 1636, thus depriv-
ing him of much of his former influence, while
the Calverts were daily growing in power and
popvilarity. He had championed the planters in
their grievances, had protested against the king's
unjust taxes on tobacco, had made an enemy of
Gondomar by opposing the "Spanish alliance,"
and had thwarted the interests of the lords com-
missioners with Loud at their head. He had,
however, fully set forth his grievances to the
King, who in 1638, " severely reprimanded Lord
Baltimore for having, in violation of his royal
commands, deprived Claiborne of his rightful
possessions, " nevertheless, in the succeeding year,
April 4, 1638, the commissioners made a decision
wholly in favor of Lord Baltimore. Claiborne
had purcha.sed Palmer's Isle from the Indians in
1636 and when again in England, June 6, 1638, he
petitioned the king for a grant of Rich island
which he had discovered, and for an immense
tract of land twelve leagues in breadth " extend-
ing to the great lakes and southerly down the
bay on both sides to the ocean, to be held in fee
of the crown of England," which was refused;
but in 1642, the king appointed him " treasurer of
the colony of Virginia for life. ' ' Early in 1645, at
the head of his " men of Kent," he expelled Cal-
vert, who in his turn was forced to flee to Vir-
ginia. In September, 1651, "believing that all
things were now favorable to the recovery of his
ancient rights and possessions, " he joined the par-
liament, and was appointed by its council of
state one of the five commissioners for the "re-
duction of Virginia and the colonies in obedience
to the Commonwealth of England." His terms
of capitulation were most favorable to Virginia,
and he concurred in the election of Sir William
Berkeley as governor in 1660. In the spring of
1652, he had been elected secretary of state for
Virginia, to which office he had been again ap-
pointed in 1655, 1657 and 1658, and on Cromwell's
death he was appointed by a convention which
met at James city, " to continue in office until the
next assemblj'." Upon the restoration, Claiborne
was superseded in his office by Col. Thomas
Ludwell, but he still held the esteem and confi-
dence of the people, for in 1663-64, he was a dele-
gate from New Kent to an assembly held in
James City, after which he participated in the
defence of the colony against the depredations of
the Indians. After the crushing of Bacon's re-
bellion, the assembly of Virginia in April, 1677,
presented an address to King Charles recounting
their grievances, in which the following sentence
appears, " that the Island of Kent in Maryland
granted to, seated and planted by Colonel Clai-
borne, Sen. , formerly a limbe and member of Vir-
ginia .... is since lopt off and deteyned from
us by Lord Baltimore. " The question thus raised
by the highest oflScial power of Virginia fifty
years after the settlement, when Claiborne the
proprietor had long ceased to urge his clami, was
not really settled until Virginia, in her Bill of
Rights in 1776, renounced her claim to the terri-
tory of Maryland beyond the Potomac. Colonel
