Excerpt from An Historical View of the Government of Maryland, Vol. 1: From Its Colonization to the Present Day Prefaces were formerly called apologies to the rea derz and although they have changed their name, they have not lost their original nature. They assume, for the reader, that he is ignorant of the subjects upon which the writer professes to instruct him; and for the writer, that he has enjoyed means of information denied to the reader. The writer of this work has no apologies to make, on its behalf, for any such assumptions. If it presupposes, that the people of Maryland require information upon its topics, it proceeds only upon what has been universally admitted with regret. If it implies that its writer has any peculiar knowledge to impart, he can at least say, that he has drawn it, principally, from records, and other memorials, of which the moth and rust, those decayers of all earthly things, have been the sole proprietors for more than half a century. If it claims for him competency to the task he has undertaken, it only arrogates the liberty of attempting, what all have declined, and many have pronounced im practicable. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.