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 with Leonard Calvert's rule, more probably by the influence of William Claiborne, who in spite of condemnatory acts by the Maryland Assembly, and the vacillating measures of Charles I., insisted for many years upon his right to Kent Island. But rebellion is viewed in different ways: by those against whom it is made, with horror and detestation; by those who make it, with pride and ofttimes with devotion. If Ingle led on the rebellion, he was acting in Maryland, only as Cromwell afterwards did on a larger scale, in England, and as Bacon, the brave and noble, did in Virginia, and to be placed in the same category with many, who will be handed down to future generations as rebels, will be no discredit to the first Maryland rebel.
[2] Rev. Edw. D. Neill, to whom I am indebted for valuable references, was the first to attempt any kind of a defence of Ingle, but Dr. Wm. Hand Browne, who also has greatly aided me, has omitted the pirate and rebel clause in the history which he is preparing for the Commonwealth Series.