When the men of Kent declined to take the risk, Claiborne returned to Virginia, and Kent Island fell once more under the government of Lord Baltimore.[22] On this visit Claiborne, instead of posing as a friend of the Parliament, showed a commission and letter from the king, by whom he appears to have stood till the king's death in 1649.

Charles I., in his turn, who deposed Lord Baltimore as a "notorious parliamentarian," appointed Claiborne, in 1642, treasurer of Virginia;[23] and Charles II.

included his name among the list of councillors in the commission issued by Sir William Berkeley in 1650.[24] While Maryland was thus convulsed with civil war an ordinance settling the Maryland government in Protestant hands passed the House of Lords.
Before the Commons could concur, Lord Baltimore appeared and asked for time to inquire into the charges.

This was after the battle of Marston Moor, and perhaps marks the moment when Lord Baltimore, conceiving the king's cause desperate, began to trim his sails to the parliamentary side.

His request was granted, and Parliament, diverted from immediate action, left Baltimore's authority unaffected for several years.[25] In this interval Baltimore busied himself in reorganizing his government on a Protestant basis.