having
just previously established another settlement on Palmer's Island at
the mouth of the Susquehanna River, believed by him to be north of the
Maryland patent. After he was gone, Evelin tried to persuade the
inhabitants to disown Claiborne and submit to Lord Baltimore; and when
they declined he urged Governor Calvert to attempt the reduction of
the island by force. After some hesitation the latter consented, and
while the assembly was sitting at St. Mary's, in February, 1638,
Calvert made a landing at night with thirty men, and, taking the
inhabitants by surprise, succeeded in reducing the island to
submission.[10]

Calvert's after-conduct reflects little credit upon his reputation for
leniency. In March, 1638, he caused Claiborne to be attainted by the
assembly as a rebel and his property confiscated, and Thomas Smith,
who commanded one of Claiborne's pinnaces in the battles three years
before, was tried and hanged for murder and piracy.[11] In England, in
the mean time, Claiborne and Baltimore were contending zealously for
the favor of the king. Both had powerful interests behind them, but
Baltimore's were the stronger. At last the Commissioners for Foreign
Plantations rendered a report (April 4, 1638), giving Kent Island and
the right of trade in the bay wholly to Lord Baltimore, leaving all
personal wrongs to be redressed by the courts.

The question of title at least seemed settled, and in October, 1638,
Sir John Harvey, now restored as governor of Virginia, issued a
proclamation recognizing the validity of the decision. Claiborne
submitted, and, being left to "the course of the law," empowered
George Scovell to recover, if possible, some of the confiscated
property in Maryland; but Scovell was told that the law-courts of
Maryland were closed against such a rebel as Claiborne.[12] The
justice of the English decision depends on the impartiality of the
board which made it, and of any board with Bishop Laud at the head
only partisanship could be expected.

While these turbulent proceedings were going on, the Jesuit priests
introduced into the colony by Lord Baltimore were performing a work of
peace and love. They visited the Indian tribes and made many Christian
converts. Tayac, chief of the Piscataquas, received baptism, and his
example was followed by the chiefs and inhabitants of Port Tobacco.
The main trouble came from the Nanticokes on the eastern shore, and
the fierce Susquehannas to the north of the se