1632 Lord Baltimore. 87 from New England, who had dwelt for a time on Long Island, left the island and established themselves at Elizabethtown, now Elizabeth; and there the first governor, Carteret, brother of the proprietor, took up his abode.1 Maryland. 13. Among the notable persons in attendance at the court of James I. was Sir George Calvert, distinguished for his learning and benevolence. Becoming a Roman Catholic, he freely confessed the same to the king, and resigned 66 Lord a high office which he was holding at the time. Baltimore. Two acts of James showed that Calvert continued to be held in esteem by that monarch notwithstanding the latter's conversion to the Catholic Church. The title of Lord Baltimore was conferred upon Calvert, and to him also was given a large part of the island of Newfoundland. How zealous Calvert was in selecting suitable emigrants for his Newfoundland colony, how earnest to promote order and industry, how lavishly he expended his estate in advancing the interests of his settlement, is related by those who have written of his life." But his efforts, owing to the severe cold of the climate— "both land and sea were frozen the greater part of the time' were not rewarded with success; and he asked for an uncultivated domain in a warmer climate. This request was granted, not, however, by King James, but by his successor, The opposition of Massachusetts to the "Navigation Act," and other obnoxious laws of Parliament, displeased the king, Charles II., and he declared her charter void. His death occurring not long after, his successor, James II., pursued the same arbitrary policy, and, in 1686, deprived Massachusetts of her charter government. In the same year Andros was appointed royal governor of New England. These proceedings on the part of King James rendered him so unpopular, that, when the news of the English Revolution and of his dethronement reached Boston, in 1689, it caused great rejoicing. Andros and his officers, whose tyranny had made them odious to the people, were seized and sent to England, when the New England colonies established their former modes of gov ernment. (See ¶ 39, p. 74.) Charles I. The patent was duly prepared, but before it could receive the king's name and seal, Lord Baltimore died, and it was then issued to his oldest son, who by the English law of inheritance received the title as well as the estate of his father (1632).1 14. "Lord Baltimore was unwilling to take upon himself the sole risk of colonizing his province. Others joined with him in the adventure; and, all difficulties being overcome, his two brothers, of whom Leonard Calvert was ment of appointed his lieutenant, embarked themselves for colonization. the voyage in the good ship Ark, and a pinnace Commence called the Dove. It was not till the last week of February (1634) that they arrived at Point Comfort, in Virginia; where, in obedience to the express letters of King Charles, they were welcomed with courtesy and humanity by Governor Harvey. The governor offered them what Virginia had obtained so slowly, and at so much cost, from England: cattle, and hogs, and poultry; two or three hundred stocks already grafted with apples and pears, peaches and cherries. Clayborne, who had begun a trade in furs with the Indians under a license from the king, also appeared, predicting tho hostility of the natives. 15. After a week's kind entertainment, the adventurers bent their course to the north, and entered the Potomac. Under an island, which can now hardly be recognized with certainty, the Ark came to an anchor; while Calvert, with the Dove, ascended the stream. At about forty-seven leagues above the mouth of the river, he came upon the village of Pis-cat'-a-qua, an Indian settlement nearly opposite Mount Vernon, where he found an Englishman, who had lived many 1 It was intended, it is said, that the country granted by this charter should have been called Crescentia; but when it was presented to the king (Charles I., of England) for his signature, in conformity to his majesty's wishes the name of the province was changed to that of Maryland, in honor of his queen, Henrietta Maria, a daughter of the great king Henry IV. of France."-Bozman's Hist. of Maryland. 1634 Commencement of Colonization. 89 years among the Indians as a trader and spoke their language well. With him for an interpreter, a parley was held with them. To the request for leave for the new comers to sit down in his country, the chieftain of the tribe would neither bid them go nor stay. They might use their own discretion.' 6 16. Taking with him the trader, Calvert went down the river, examining the creeks and estuaries nearer the Chesapeake. He entered the branch which is now called St. Mary's; and, about four leagues from its junction with the Potomac, anchored at an Indian town. The native inhabitants, having suffered from the superior power of the Susquehannas, who occupied the district between that river and Delaware bay, had already resolved to move into places of more security; and many of them had already begun to migrate. It was easy, by presents of cloth and axes, of hoes and knives, to gain their good-will, and to purchase their rights to the soil which they were preparing to abandon. 17. On the twenty-fifth, the day of the Annunciation, in the island under which their great ship, the Ark, lay moored, a Jesuit priest, who was of the party, offered the sacrifice of the mass, which, in that region of the world, had never been celebrated before. This being ended, he and his assistants took upon their shoulders the great cross which they had hewn from a tree. Going in procession to the place that had been designated, the governor (Calvert) and other Catholics, and some Protestants as well participating in the ceremony, they erected the cross as a trophy to Christ the Saviour, while the litany of the holy cross was chanted humbly on their bended knees.1 18. The Indian women taught the wives of the new comers to make bread of maize. The warriors of the tribe instructed the huntsmen how rich the forests of America were in game, The town purchased of the Indians was called by the settlers St. Mary's. It was anticipated that it would become a great city. None of the houses then built now remain, nor is there even a village there, and joined them in the chase. As the planters had come into possession of ground already subdued, they at once planted cornfields and gardens. No sufferings were endured. No fears of want arose. The foundation of the colony of Maryland was peacefully and happily laid; and in six months it advanced more than Virginia in as many years. 19. Toleration grew up in the province silently, as a cus tom of the land. Through the benignity of the administration, no person professing to believe in Jesus Christ was permitted to be molested on account of religion. Roman Catholics, who were oppressed by the laws of England, were sure to find a peaceful asylum on the north bank of the Potomac; and there, too, Protestants were sheltered against Protestant intolerance. From the first, men of foreign birth were encouraged to plant, and enjoyed equal advantages with those of the English and Irish nations. Such were the beautiful auspices under which Maryland started into being." 20. There ought to have been peace in the colony, but there was not. From the first, Clayborne, who had established a trading post on the largest island in Chesapeake bay, refused Clayborne's to acknowledge the authority of Governor Cal claim. vert, and defended his claim by force of arms; but he was defeated and obliged to flee. Afterward, however, he returned, and made himself master of the province, compelling the governor, in his turn, to flee into Virginia for safety. Calvert the next year appeared at the head of a military force and regained possession of his government. 21. While Cromwell and his Puritan associates were a power in England, the Protestant party obtained control of affairs 'n Maryland, and, by an act of the Assembly, Catholics were declared not entitled to the protection of the laws Civil war. of the colony. This measure caused a civil war between the Catholics and the Protestants. After Cromwell's death, the rights of Lord Baltimore were restored, and the colony enjoyed a long repose. Like Virginia, it was "a colony of planters. Its staple was tobacco. A state house was built at a cost of forty thousand pounds of tobacco." William Penn. Further history. 91 22. During the revolution in England that placed William, Prince of Orange, and his wife Mary, on the throne, the peace of Maryland was again disturbed. An armed association gained possession of the government in the names of William and Mary, and Maryland, by the act of the king, was made a royal province. Lord Baltimore and his heirs were thus deprived of their rights till 1715, when the fourth Lord Baltimore, then a very young child, had his claim as the proprietor of the colony acknowledged by George I.1 Pennsylvania and Delaware. William Penn. 23. We have already spoken of William Penn (see p. 86). Although brought up in wealth and luxury, he soon learned "to despise all vanities and all avarice," and joined the new sect called Quakers, or Friends, of whom Cromwell said: "They are a people whom I cannot win with gifts, honors, offices, or places." By becoming a Quaker, Penn incurred the displeasure of his father; and he suffered much ill-treatment, even to imprisonment, from agents of the government. The death of his father, who had distinguished WILLIAM PENN. 1 The northern boundary of Maryland is known as Mason and Dixon's Line. The line separates Pennsylvania from the former slave states, Maryland and Virginia. "It was run, with the exception of about twenty-two miles, by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two English mathematicians and surveyors, between November 15th, 1763, and December 26th, 1767. During the excited debate in Congress in 1820, on the question of excluding slavery from Missouri, the eccentric John Randolph, of Roanoke, Va., made great use of the phrase, Mason and Dixon's Line, which was caught up and re-echoed by every newspaper n the land, and thus gained a proverbial celebrity which it still retains." |