CHAP. also near the mouth of the Susquehannah.' VII. Thus the colony of Virginia anticipated the extension of its commerce and its limits; and, as mistress of all the vast and commodious waters of the Chesapeake, and of the soil on both sides of the Potomac, indulged the hope of obtaining the most brilliant commercial success, and rising into powerful opulence, without the competition of a rival. It was the peculiar fortune of the United States, that they were severally colonized by men, in origin, religious faith, and purposes, as various as the climes which are included within their limits. Before Virginia could complete its settlements, and confirm its claims to jurisdiction over the country north of the Potomac, a new government was erected, on a foundation as extraordinary as its results were benevolent. Sir George Calvert had early become interested in colonial establishments in America. A native of York1580. shire, educated at Oxford,3 with a mind enlarged by extensive travel, on his entrance into life befriended 2 4 by Sir Robert Cecil, advanced to the honors of knight1619. hood, and at length employed as one of the two secretaries of state, he not only secured the consideration of his patron and his sovereign," but the good opinion 1621. of the world. He was chosen by an immense majority to represent in parliament his native county of Yorkshire. His capacity for business, his industry, and his fidelity, are acknowledged by all historians. In an age when religious controversy still continued 1 Hazard, i. 430. Relation of Maryland, 34. Thurloe, v. 486. Hazard, i. 630. Maryland Papers, in Chalmers, 233. 2 Fuller's Worthies, 201. 3 Wood's Athene Oxonienses, 522, 523. 4 Stow, edition of 1631, p. 1031. 5 Winwood, ii. 58, and iii. 318 and 337. 6 Debates of 1620 and 1621, i. 175. LIFE AND CHARACTER OF SIR GEORGE CALVERT. 239 VII. to be active, and when the increasing divisions among CHAP. Protestants 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 1624 his place, and openly professed his conversion. King James was never bitter against the Catholics, who respected his pretensions as a monarch; 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. How zealous he was in selecting suitable emigrants; how earnest to promote habits of domestic order and economical industry; how lavishly he expended his estate in advancing the interests of his settlement on the rugged shores of Avalon,'-is related by those who have written of his life. He desired, as a founder of a colony, not present profit, but a reasonable expectation; and, perceiving the evils of a common stock, he cherished enterprise by leaving each one to enjoy the results of his own industry. But numerous difficulties prevented success in Newfoundland: parliament had ever asserted the freedom of the fisheries, which his grants tended to impair; the soil and the climate proved less favorable than had been described in the glowing and deceptive pictures of his early agents; and the incessant danger of attacks from the French, 1 Whitbourne's Newfoundland, in the Cambridge library. Also Purchas, iv. 1882-1891; Collier on Calvert; Fuller's Worthies of Yorkshire, 201, 202; Wood's 2 Athenæ Oxonienses, ii. 522, 523; VII. CHAP. Who were possessed of the circumjacent continent, spread a gloom over the future. Twice, it is said, did Lord Baltimore, in person, visit his settlement; with ships, manned at his own charge, he repelled the French, who were hovering round the coast with the design of annoying the English fishermen; and, having taken sixty of them prisoners, he secured a temporary tranquillity to his countrymen and his colonists. But, notwithstanding this success, he found all hopes of a thriving plantation in Avalon to be vain. Why should the English emigrate to a rugged and inhospitable island, surrounded by a hostile power, when the hardships of colonizing the milder regions of Virginia had already been encountered, and a peaceful home might now be obtained without peril? Lord Baltimore looked to Virginia, of which the climate, the fertility, and the advantages, were so much extolled. Yet, as a Papist, he could hardly expect a hospitable welcome in a colony from which the careful exclusion1 of 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 re1628 ligious uniformity. When Lord Baltimore visited Vir1620 ginia in person, the zeal of the assembly immediately ordered the oaths of allegiance and supremacy to be tendered him. It was in vain that he proposed a form which he was willing to subscribe; the government firmly insisted upon that which had been chosen by the English statutes, and which was purposely framed in such language as no Catholic could adopt. A letter 1629. was transmitted from the assembly to the privy council, explanatory of the dispute which had grown out and Oct. 1 Hazard, i. 72. CHARTER OF MARYLAND. 241 VII. of the intolerance of European legislation.' It was CHAP. evident that Lord Baltimore could never hope for quiet in any attempt at establishing a colony within the jurisdiction of Virginia. 2 But the country beyond the Potomac seemed to be as yet untenanted by any but the scattered hordes of the native tribes. The French, the Dutch, and the Swedes, were preparing to occupy the country; and a grant seemed the readiest mode of securing the soil by an English settlement. The canceling of the Virginia patents had restored to the monarch the ample authority of his prerogative over the soil; he might now sever a province from the colony, to which he had at first assigned a territory so vast; and it was not difficult for Calvert-a man of such moderation, that all parties were taken with him; sincere in his character, disengaged from all interests, and a favorite with the royal family-to obtain a charter for domains in that happy clime. The nature of the document itself, and concurrent opinion, leave no room to doubt that it was penned by the first Lord Baltimore himself, although it was finally issued for the benefit of his son. 3 June 20. The fundamental charter of the colony of Mary- 1632. land, however it may have neglected to provide for the power of the king, was the sufficient frank pledge of the liberties of the colonist, not less than of the rights and interests of the proprietary. The ocean, the fortieth parallel of latitude, the meridian of the western CHAP. fountain of the Potomac, the river itself from its source VII. to its mouth, and a line drawn due east from Watkin's 1632. Point to the Atlantic,-these were the limits of the territory, which was now erected into a province, and from Henrietta Maria, the daughter of Henry IV. and wife of Charles I., whose restless mind, disdaining contentment in domestic happiness, aspired to every kind of power and distinction, received the name of Maryland. The country thus described was given to Lord Baltimore, his heirs and assigns, as to its absolute lord and proprietary, to be holden by the tenure of fealty only, paying a yearly rent of two Indian arrows, and a fifth of all gold and silver ore which might be found. Yet the absolute authority was conceded rather with reference to the crown, than the colonists; for the charter, unlike any patent which had hitherto passed the great seal of England, secured to the emigrants themselves an independent share in the legislation of the province, of which the statutes were to be established with the advice and approbation of the majority of the freemen or their deputies. Representative government was indissolubly connected with the fundamental charter; and it was especially provided, that the authority of the absolute proprietary should not extend to the life, freehold, or estate of any emigrant. These were the features which endeared the proprietary government to the people of Maryland; and, but for these, the patent would have been as worthless as those of the London company, of Warwick, of Gorges, or of Mason. It is a singular fact, that the only proprietary charters, productive of considerable emolument to their owners, were those which conceded popular liberty |