testants were spreading a general alarm, his mind sought relief from controversy in the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church; and preferring the avowal of his opinions to the emoluments of office, he resigned his place, and openly avowed his conversion. King James was never bitter against the Catholics who respected his pretensions as a monarch; and Calvert retained his place in the Privy Council, and was advanced to the dignity of an Irish Peerage. He had, from early life, shared in the general enthusiasm of England in favor of American plantations; he had been a member of the great Company for Virginia; and while Secretary of State, he had obtained a special patent for the southern promontory of Newfoundland, which he called Avalon. On the rugged shores of that island he attempted a settlement, and expended in the undertaking some twenty thousand pounds; but there were numerous difficulties which prevented his success, arising from the asserted control of Parliament over the fisheries, the severity of the climate, and the constant danger of an attack from the French; and after twice visiting the settlement, and repelling the invasions of the French, he turned his attention from this rugged and inhospitable island to the milder regions of Virginia, where the hardships of establishing a colony had already been encountered, and where a peaceful home might be found without peril.

Yet within the limits of Virginia, he could hardly expect a hospitable welcome in a colony where the exclusion of the Roman Catholics had been originally avowed as a special object, and where the statutes of the provincial legislature, as well as the commands of the sovereign, aimed at a perpetual uniformity. When he visited Virginia in person, the Assembly immediately ordered the oaths of allegiance and supremacy to be tendered to him. He proposed, in vain, a form which he was willing to subscribe; but the government insisted on that which had been chosen by the English statutes, and which had been purposely so framed that no Catholic could adopt it. It was clear that he could never hope for peace within the limits of that colony.

Beyond the Potomac, however, there was still a region which. was as yet untenanted by any but the scattered hordes of the native tribes. The French, the Dutch, and the Swedes, were beginning to occupy the country, and a grant seemed the readiest mode of securing the soil by an English settlement. The character and influence of George Calvert were such that it was not difficult for him, though a Catholic, to obtain a patent for a portion of that country; and accordingly a charter designed for him was formed, evidently in accordance with his wishes, and the country was granted to him under the name of Maryland, a name given in honor of Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV of France, and wife of Charles I.

Before the patent could be finally adjusted, however, Sir George Calvert died, and left his titles and fortunes to his son, Cecil Calvert; and he undertook, at great expense, to plant the colony which it had been the wish of his father to establish. For some reason, however, now unknown, he abandoned the purpose of conducting the emigrants in person, and the settlement was actually made by his brother, Leonard Calvert. The first company of emigrants, consisting of about two hundred persons, just twice as many as were in the Mayflower-most of them Roman Catholic gentlemen and their servants, sailed for the Potomac in the "Ark and Dove," and in 1634, effected a landing at a small town called St. Mary's, not far from where the Potomac enters into the Chesapeake. This was the third permanent settlement in our country, twenty-seven years after the settlement of Jamestown, and fourteen after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. The further history of the settlement is not demanded by the purpose which we have in view.

The colony of Maryland was essentially a colony of Roman Catholics. Its founder was a Roman Catholic, and it is not certainly known that, in the original company of emigrants, there were any but Catholics. At all events, it is certain that the prevailing influence of the colony was Roman Catholic, and that the early laws were framed under that influence.

The peculiar and remarkable features of the colony of Maryland which demand notice in endeavoring to estimate the ele

ments which have entered into our institutions, were the four following:

1. An attempt to fasten the feudal institutions on our country. It is remarkable that there was in the charter a design to transplant the institutions of the Old World, and to perpetuate them on this side of the Atlantic as they existed there. Had there been nothing in the charter inconsistent with this no elements of democracy and of freedom-the colony of Maryland would have furnished a specimen of baronial estates, and of feudal institutions, perpetuated to the latest times. It was a charter granted to a nobleman, as such, not to a company, as in Virginia, or Plymouth, or Massachusetts; and not to a mere proprietary, as to William Penn. Hence, the right of advowsons of the churches, according to the establishment of England; the right to create manors and courtsbaron, to confer titles of dignity, to erect ports and other regalities, were expressly given to the proprietary.* The design of establishing a colonial aristocracy on the system of a subinfeudation, was clearly a part of the plan.†

This design is worthy of notice as showing, from the failure of the plan, that there was something in the very nature of all the institutions established here which rendered it impossible that the principles of a monarchy or an aristocracy should ever be perpetuated in our land. Every relic of that kind in our country has been gradually dying away. Even in Europe it has been difficult to uphold those institutions; they are decrepid and enfeebled from age there; but it was impossible that they could renew their youth in America. The seeds of popular liberty contained in every charter granted to the colonies here, and especially in the charter of Maryland, found, in the New World, the very best soil to quicken them into life and fruitful

ness.

2. There was introduced into the charter of Maryland the elementary principle, that the "freemen," or the people, are the source of authority in making the laws, so that all the laws which were binding were to be enacted by them or † Bancroft, i, 264.

* Story, i, 93.

their representatives. This, though it existed in most of the charters of the colonies, or early became incorporated into the institutions of our country, deserves particular notice in regard to the Colony of Maryland, because it was more clearly expressed there than elsewhere; because it was a germ of freedom tending to nullify the attempt to palm the feudal institutions on this country; because it tended to counteract the effect of the religion of the original "proprietary," and of the early settlers in the colony; and because it was one of those things which have gone most directly to secure the independence of our country, and to make us what we now are. Judge Story, in his Commentaries on the Constitution, speaking of this feature in the Maryland charter, thus describes it: "The charter further provided, that the proprietary should have authority, by and with the consent of the freemen, or their delegates assembled for the purpose, to make all laws for the province, so that such laws be consonant to reason, and not repugnant or contrary, but, as far as conveniently might be, agreeable to the laws, statutes, customs, and rights of this our realm of England." "The proprietary was also authorized to levy subsidies with the assent of the people or Assembly."" It is also a remarkable feature of the charter, that there is no clause which required the transmission of the province laws to the king, or providing for his approbation or consent. In these features of the Constitution of Maryland, the people or freemen were regarded as the source of authority in making the laws; and it is clear that no laws would be binding on them without their consent.

(3.) There was another feature in the patent which, considering the time and the circumstances, was still more remarkable, which was still more certain ultimately to develop itself in the entire independence of the colony, and which was in fact to become, after the lapse of a hundred and thirty years, the very principle on which the independence of the whole thirteen colonies was to be asserted. It was, that Maryland was exempted from English taxation forever. This remarkable * Story, i, 93, 94.

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feature is thus stated by the historian: "So far was the English monarch from reserving any right of superintendence in the colony, he left himself without the power to take cognizance of what transpired; and, by an express stipulation covenanted, that neither he, nor his heirs, nor successors, should ever, at any time thereafter, set any imposition, custom, or tax whatsoever, upon the inhabitants of the province."* Such an exemption from taxation had been conferred on other colonies for years only: on this alone was it perpetual.† To what this exemption was owing, it is now impossible to determine. It may have been as a mark of personal favor to George Calvert, or possibly it may have somehow grown out of his religion, and because there was a wish that a colony so formed should, as a Catholic community, be entirely free from apprehended interference in its legislation by a Protestant sovereign; but, whatever was the cause, it could not but have an important influence when the great question came up, not only whether the mother country might tax the colonies at all, but tax them without their consent.

(4.) There was still another, and a much more important feature in the charter of the Maryland colony; a feature which, under the circumstances of the case, will demand a more particular explanation; a feature which seems to have been far in advance of the age, and which, in 1634, made Maryland almost what we boast of as the glory of William Penn and Pennsylvania in 1688. It relates to the free exercise of religious opinion-the freedom to worship God. "Lord Baltimore," says Chalmers in his Annals (i, 207, 208), "laid the foundation of this province upon the broad basis of security to property, and of freedom of religion, granting, in absolute fee, fifty acres of land to each emigrant; establishing Christianity agreeably to the old common law, of which it is a part, without allowing pre-eminence to any particular sect. The wisdom of his choice," he adds, "soon converted a dreary wilderness into a prosperous colony." It is true, indeed, that Christianity was recognized as the true religion, and that it was intended that the colony should be founded on Christian principles; it is true, *Bancroft, i, 243; Story, i, 93. † Ibid.