l in 1652, described it as "a
Competent Dwelling house, furnished with plate, Linnen hangings,
beding brass pewter and all manner of Household Stuff worth at least a
thousand pounds." In the same petition he said that the party
"plundered and Carryed away all things in It, pulled downe and burnt
the pales about it, killed and destroyed all the Swine and Goates and
killed or mismarked allmost all the Cattle, tooke or dispersed all the
Servants, Carryed away a Great quantity of Sawn Boards from the pitts,
and ript up Some floors of the house. And having by these Violent and
unlawfull Courses forst away my Said Attorny the Said Thomas and John
Sturman possest themselves of the Complts house as theire owne, dwelt
in it Soe long as they please and at their departing tooke the locks
from the doors and y^e Glass from the windowes and in fine ruined his
whole Estate to the damage of the Complt at least two or three
thousand pounds."[48] It may be well to bear in mind that Cornwallis
in this petition, which was against the two Sturmans and Hardwick, who
did not deny the allegations, but claimed the statute of limitation,
no mention is made of Ingle, save that on his ship Fenwick was
detained.[49]

In the latter part of the year 1645 began the era of petitions, which
should be taken with allowance, for the age has been characterized as
one of perjury, and in the representations by both parties in Maryland
politics, advantage was taken of every slight point to strengthen
their respective positions, and from internal evidence it seems that
some statements were garbled, to say the least about them. The opening
of this era was marked by the presentation, December 25th, 1645, by
the committee of plantations, to the House of Lords, the following
statements and suggestions, viz: that many had complained of the
tyranny of recusants in Maryland, "who have seduced and forced many of
his Majesty's subjects from their religion;" that by a certificate
from the Judge of the Admiralty grounded upon the deposition of
witnesses taken in that Court: Leonard Calvert, late Governor there,
had a commission from Oxford to seize such persons, ships and goods as
belonged to any of London; which he registered, proclaimed, and
endeavored to put in execution at Virginia; and that one Brent, his
deputy Governor, had seized upon a ship, empowered under a commission
derived from the Parliament, because she was of London, and afterward
not only tampered with