[1635-1639 A.D.]

supplied them with fish in plenty, and their women instructed the wives of the colonists in making bread of maize. As a certain mark of the entire confidence of the Indians, their women and children became, in some measure, domesticated in the English families.

The settlement was now making rapid progress. Fifty acres of land was assigned to every colonist, and their number being augmented by new emigrations, aided by the judicious administration of Baltimore, a dreary wilderness was soon converted into a flourishing colony. The fact that Maryland had been granted to the proprietor in opposition to the wishes of the Virginia Company, which claimed a priority of right, was a considerable evil to the colony, as it tended greatly to aid Clayborne in his designs against its prosperity. About a year prior to the date of Lord Baltimore's charter, that individual had obtained from the king license to trade in such parts of America as were not comprehended in any prior patent of exclusive trade. His object being to monopolise the trade of the Chesapeake, he founded a settlement on Kent Island; and being thus in the very centre of Maryland, he claimed jurisdiction over the whole colony: and although in every legal proceeding he was defeated, yet he persisted in asserting his claims, and continued to harass the province [with a small boat built "to cruise against the colonists," and captured after a small naval engagement in April, 1635] until banished from its limits by an act of assembly.

'Till this emergency, the colony had subsisted without enacting or realising its civil institutions; but the same emergency that now called forth the powers of government, tended also to develop its organisations. Accordingly, in February, 1635, was convened the first provincial assembly, consisting of the whole body of freemen. Various regulations were adopted for the preservation of good order, among which was a law for the punishment of murders and other felonies, providing that the perpetrators of such crimes should be transported to England, there to be tried by the law of the land. This was intended to pave the way for the judicial proceedings contemplated against Clayborne, who, being soon after indicted for murder, piracy, and sedition, escaped from justice; and, in consequence, his estate was confiscated. His petitions to the king proved unavailing; for, though he possessed considerable influence at court, yet the lords commissioners of the colony pronounced a final sentence against him: and his hopes of victory were exchanged for schemes of revenge.

The second assembly [a pure democracy] was convened in 1637, to consider the code of laws proposed by the proprietary; which, contrary to all expectation, they hesitated not a moment to reject, substituting in its place a collection of regulations highly creditable to their good sense; and such as evinced the state of the province at this period. The province was divided into baronies and manors, the privileges of which were clearly defined. Bills were framed for securing the liberties of the people and the titles to landed property, and for regulating the course of intestate succession. A bill was passed for the support of the proprietary, and an act of attainder against Clayborne. The population had, by this time, so greatly increased that on the meeting of the third assembly, in 1639, a representative form of government was established, although it was provided that persons who did not vote for burgesses could take their seats as members of the assembly.

Slavery appears to have been established in Maryland from its earliest colonisation; for an act of assembly describes "the people" to consist of all

["It was only in this regard that the design of transplanting the institutions of expiring feudalism to the New World was carried out."-WM. T. BRANTLY,*]

[1642-1649 A.D.] Christian inhabitants, "slaves only excepted." The discontent with which the Virginians regarded the establishment of the new colony, was augmented by the contrast between the liberty and happiness enjoyed by the Marylanders, and the tyranny to which themselves were exposed from the government of Harvey; so that, when their own liberties were restored, they regarded with aversion the revival of the patent, being sensible that their interest would be impaired by an event that should re-annex Maryland to their territory. The mutual animosities therefore ceased, and the new settlers henceforth received but little annoyance from this source. But troubles threatened from another quarter. Clayborne having infected the minds of the Indians with a jealous suspicion, which the rapid increase of the strangers augmented, an Indian war broke out, in 1642, and for several years afflicted the colony, without being brought to a decisive issue. Peace having been at length restored, the assembly enacted laws for the prevention of the more obvious causes of animosity; providing that no lands should be obtained from the Indians without the consent of the proprietary; that it should be a capital offence to sell or kidnap any friendly Indians, and a high misdemeanor to supply them with ardent spirits, ammunition, or firearms: by the observance of these laws a peace was established, which lasted without interruption for several years.

But scarcely was peace with this enemy concluded when Clayborne, the prime mover of all their troubles, was again at work; and by his constant adherence to the predominant party in England - whether royal or popular together with the influence he possessed over his old associates in Kent Island, he succeeded in raising a rebellion in Maryland, in 1645. [It is known as Clayborne and Ingle's Rebellion from Richard Ingle who had received letters of marque from the parliament, and now arrived with a warship from London], Calvert, unprepared for this emergency, fled into Virginia, whereupon the government was immediately appropriated by the insurgents, who held sway until August of the next year, when the revolt was suppressed. By the assembly of 1649, an Act of Oblivion was passed, which extended to all except a few of the prominent offenders; and by the same assembly an act of religious toleration was established. y

The "Act of Toleration" did, indeed, but carry out a policy coeval with the settlement of the colony, and lately confirmed by the oath imposed upon the governor. The first four sections of this celebrated act exhibit, however, but little of a tolerant spirit. Death, with forfeiture of land and goods, is denounced against all "who shall blaspheme God, that is, curse him, or shall deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, or shall deny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the said three persons of the Trinity, or the unity of the Godhead, or shall use or utter any reproachful speeches against the Holy Trinity." Strange as it may seem, this penalty of death remained for two hundred years, still darkening the statute book of Maryland! Fine, whipping, and banishment for the third offense are denounced against all "who shall utter any reproachful words or speeches concerning the blessed virgin Mary, or the holy apostles or evangelists." Fine, and, in defect of goods, whipping, and a public apology are to be the

[Up to the time of the Civil War the condition of the slave was the same in Maryland as in the other southern states. The first slaves imported into Maryland came from Bermuda (1634). The importation of the slave was encouraged, but there was too large an influx of the negro, and in 1695 a per capita tax was imposed on all slaves brought into the province. By the Treaty of Utrecht "Spain guaranteed to England the monopoly of supplying negro slaves from the Spanish-American provinces." Prior to the Revolution the negro population of Maryland was 20 per cent. that of the white. As far back as 1789 there was a strong anti-slavery sentiment in Maryland.-JAMES MCSHERRY."]

[1649 A.D.] punishment for calling any person within the colony, in a reproachful manner, 'heretic, schismatic, idolater, Puritan, Presbyterian, Independent, popish priest, Jesuit, Jesuited papist, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anabaptist, Brownist, Antinomian, Barrowist, Roundhead, Separatist, or other name or term, in a reproachful manner, relating to matters of religion." Similar penalties are imposed for profaning "the Sabbath or Lord's day, called Sunday," by "any uncivil or disorderly recreation," or by work. After this incongruous preface, the fifth section sets out "that the enforcing the conscience in matters of religion hath frequently fallen out to be of dangerous consequence in those commonwealths where it hath been practised," and therefore enacts that, "for the more quiet and peaceable government of the province, and the better to preserve mutual love and unity," no person professing to believe in Jesus Christ shall be molested or discountenanced on account of his religion, nor interrupted in the free exercise of it; breaches of this section to be punished by fine and imprisonment.

Policy, it is evident, had a much greater share in the enactment of this act than any enlightened view of the rights of opinion, of which, indeed, it evinces but a very limited and confused idea. Now that the Puritans were triumphant in England, an exclusively Catholic colony would not have been tolerated for a moment. The sole chance of securing to the Catholics the quiet enjoyment of their faith consisted in bestowing a like liberty on the Protestants a policy, indeed, upon which Baltimore had found it necessary to act from the very first planting of the colony.d

McSherry notes also a limitation on the principle of toleration with regard to the Jews: "Although Maryland was the original home of religious liberty in America, yet until the year 1826 no Jew was allowed to hold any office, civil or military, under the state government. The history of the agitation for the enfranchisement of the Jews is an interesting record of the struggle for a right which to-day is so manifest that it is difficult to appreciate the grounds for its denial at the time. In fact, the basis of such denial was prejudice. Finally, at the end of the session of 1824, a bill to alter the constitution so as to afford relief to persons from political disqualification on account of their religious opinions again passed the assembly. The bill was ratified by the assembly of 1825, and by it the Jews attained the status of free men in Maryland." w

None the less the very idea of toleration was so rare that the attitude in Maryland, even if incomplete, has won the highest praise of historians, among whom Bancroft is especially enthusiastic.a

GEORGE BANCROFT ON THE CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTIES OF MARYLAND

George Calvert the first Lord Baltimore deserves to be ranked among the most wise and benevolent lawgivers of all ages. He was the first in the history of the Christian world to seek for religious security and peace by the practice of justice, and not by the exercise of power; to plan the establishment of popular institutions with the enjoyment of liberty of conscience; to advance the career of civilisation by recognising the rightful equality of all Christian sects. The asylum of papists was the spot, where, in a remote corner of the world, on the banks of rivers which, as yet, had hardly been explored, the mild forbearance of a proprietary adopted religious freedom as the basis of the

state.

Before the patent could be finally adjusted and pass the great seal, Sir George Calvert died, in 1632, leaving a name against which the breath of calumny has hardly whispered a reproach. The people of Maryland were not

[1649 A.D.]

content with vindicating the limits of their province; they were jealous of their liberties. The charter had secured to them the right of advising and approving in legislation. Did Lord Baltimore alone possess the right of originating laws? The people of Maryland rejected the code which the proprietary, as if holding the exclusive privilege of proposing statutes, had prepared for their government; and, asserting their equal rights of legislation, they, in turn, enacted a body of laws, which they proposed for the assent of the proprietary so uniformly active in America was the spirit of popular liberty. How discreetly it was exercised cannot now be known; for the laws, which were then enacted, were never ratified, and are therefore not to be found in the provincial records.

In the early history of the United States nothing is more remarkable than the uniform attachment of each colony to its franchises; and popular assemblies burst everywhere into life with a consciousness of their importance, and an immediate capacity for efficient legislation. The first assembly of Maryland had vindicated the jurisdiction of the colony; the second had asserted its claims to original legislation; the third examined its obligations, and, though not all its acts were carried through the forms essential to their validity, it yet displayed the spirit of the people and the times by framing a declaration of rights. Acknowledging the duty of allegiance to the English monarch, and securing to Lord Baltimore his prerogatives, it likewise confirmed to the inhabitants of Maryland all the liberties which an Englishman can enjoy at home; established a system of representative government; and asserted for the general assemblies in the province all such powers as may be exercised by the commons of England. Indeed, throughout the whole colonial legislation of Maryland, the body representing the people, in its support of the interests and civil liberties of the province, was never guilty of timidity or treachery.

It is strange that religious bigotry could ever stain the statute-book of a colony founded on the basis of the freedom of conscience. An apprehension of some remote danger of persecution seems even then to have hovered over the minds of the Roman Catholics; and, at the session of 1639, they secured to their church its rights and liberties. Those rights and those liberties, it is plain from the charter, could be no more than the tranquil exercise of the Roman worship. The constitution had not yet attained a fixed form; thus far it had been a species of democracy under a hereditary patriarch. The act constituting the assembly marks the transition to a representative government. At this session any freeman, who had taken no part in the election, might attend in person; henceforward, the governor might summon his friends by special writ; while the people were to choose as many delegates as "the freemen should think good.' As yet there was no jealousy of power, no strife for place. While these laws prepared a frame of government for future generations, we are reminded of the feebleness and poverty of the state, where the whole people were obliged to contribute to "the setting up of a watermill."

Maryland, at that day, was unsurpassed for happiness and liberty. Conscience was without restraint; a mild and liberal proprietary conceded every measure which the welfare of the colony required; domestic union, a happy concert between all the branches of government, an increasing immigration, a productive commerce, a fertile soil, richly favored with rivers and deep bays, united to perfect the scene of colonial felicity and contentment. Ever intent on advancing the interests of his colony, Lord Baltimore, in 1642, had invited the Puritans of Massachusetts to emigrate to Maryland, offering them lands and privileges, and "free liberty of religion"; but Gibbons, to whom he had forwarded a commission, was so wholly tutored in the New England disci

[1649 A.D.] pline" that he would not advance the wishes of the Irish peer; and the people who subsequently refused Jamaica and Ireland were not now tempted to desert the bay of Massachusetts for the Chesapeake.

The controversy between the king and the parliament advanced; the overthrow of the monarchy seemed about to confer unlimited power in England upon the imbittered enemies of the Romish church; and, as if with a foresight of impending danger, and an earnest desire to stay its approach, the Roman Catholics of Maryland, with the earnest concurrence of their governor and of the proprietary, determined to place upon their statue-book an act for the religious freedom which had ever been sacred on their soil. And whereas the enforcing of the conscience in matters of religion" - such was the sublime tenor of a part of the statute - "hath frequently fallen out to be of dangerous consequence in those commonwealths where it has been practised, and for the more quiet and peaceable government of this province, and the better to preserve mutual love and amity among the inhabitants, no person within this province, professing to believe in Jesus Christ, shall be any ways troubled, molested, or discountenanced, for his or her religion, or in the free exercise thereof." The clause for liberty in Maryland extended only to Christians and was introduced by the proviso, that "whatsoever person shall blaspheme God, or shall deny or reproach the Holy Trinity, or any of the three persons thereof, shall be punished with death." Nowhere in the United States is religious opinion now deemed a proper subject for penal enactments.

The design of the law of Maryland was undoubtedly to protect freedom of conscience; and, some years after it had been confirmed, Langford the apologist of Lord Baltimore, could assert that his government, in conformity with his strict and repeated injunctions, had never given disturbance to any person in Maryland for matter of religion; that the colonists enjoyed freedom of conscience, not less than freedom of person and estate, as amply as ever any people in any place of the world. The disfranchised friends of prelacy from Massachusetts, and the Puritans from Virginia, were welcomed to equal liberty of conscience and political rights in the Roman Catholic province of Maryland. An equal union prevailed between all branches of the government in explaining and confirming the civil liberties of the colony. In 1642 Robert Vaughan, in the name of the rest of the burgesses, had desired that the house might be separated, and thus a negative secured to the representatives of the people. Before 1649 this change had taken place; and it was confirmed by a statute. A perpetual act declared that no tax should be levied upon the freemen of the province, except by the vote of their deputies in a general assembly. "The strength of the proprietary" was confidently reposed "in the affections of his people." Well might the freemen of Maryland place upon their records a declaration of their gratitude," as a memorial to all posterities," and a pledge that succeeding generations would faithfully "remember" the care and industry of Lord Baltimore in advancing "the peace and happiness of the colony."

MARYLAND UNDER THE LONG PARLIAMENT AND THE COMMONWEALTH

The revolutions in England could not but affect the destinies of the colonies; and while New England and Virginia vigorously advanced their liberties under the salutary neglect, Maryland was involved in the miseries of a disputed government. The government, which had been a government of benevolence, good order, and toleration, was, by the force of circumstances, soon abandoned to the misrule of bigotry and the anarchy of a disputed sovereignty. When