t."[71] This is the last fact, which can at present be found,
about Richard Ingle, who first came into notice demanding tobacco
debts, and is discovered, at last demanding prize money. These two
acts were typical of the man, he was always on the lookout for gain
and yet remained a staunch adherent to the Long Parliament, which did
so much to strengthen English liberties, but whose acts led to such
extreme measures as those which culminated in the execution of the
self-willed unfortunate Charles I.

By a careful consideration of all the facts, it will be seen that the
acts of Richard Ingle are in some cases legendary, and as such
naturally have become more heinous with every successive account. The
endeavor has been in this paper to give an unprejudiced historical
account of his life, but in view of the mis-statements about him, it
still remains to sum up, and examine the specific charges against him.
He is accused of having stolen the silver seal of the province. Lord
Baltimore's own statements, however, concerning it are doubtful.
"Whereas our great seal of the said province of Maryland was
treacherously and violently taken away from thence by Richard Ingle or
his complices in or about February,[72] 1644/5," he wrote in August,
1648. Nothing had been said according to the records up to that time
in Maryland about the loss of the seal. On the contrary, in a
commission given by Governor Greene on July 4th, 1647, over a year
before the proprietor's commission for the great seal, are the words,
"Given under my hand and the Seal of the province."[73] and in the
proclamation of March 4th, 1648, Greene promised pardon "under my
hand and the seal of the province,"[74] to all out of the province
except Ingle, who should confess their faults before a certain date.

It may be urged against these facts that "under my hand and the seal
of the province," was mere legal phraseology. But those which have
been given are the only two instances of the use of the term from 1646
to 1648, and are both preceded and followed by commissions, &c.,
ending "and this shall be your commission," or "given at St. Mary's,"
in which, if the term was merely technical language, why was it not
more frequently used? Again, it may be said that it was a temporary
seal. If it were, it is strange that no mention is made of the fact in
the records of the province, or in Lord Baltimore's commission for the
new seal. It was hoped and desired that in this paper n