USA > Maryland > A sketch of the history of Maryland during the three first years after its settlement : to which is prefixed, a copious introduction > Part 12
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Although Sir Humphrey Gilbert, as before-men-" 1610. tioned, had taken formal possession, in her majesty's English name, of the island of Newfoundland, yet hitherto settle attempt to no settlements had been made thereon ; which pro- foundland. New- bably may be attributed to the coldness of the cli- mate and the barrenness of the soil. However, Mr. John Guy, a merchant, and afterwards mayor of Bristol, who, in the year 1609, wrote a treatise to encourage persons to undertake a settlement there, by his writing and solicitation, succeeded so well, that in the following year king James made a grant, dated April the 27th, 1610, to Henry Howard, Earl -
* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 10, p. 293. Smith's Hist. of New- York, p. 14. Proud's Hist. of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, p. 109. Holmes's Annals, Vel. 1, p. 167.
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VII. SECT. of .Northampton , lord keeper, Sir Lawrence Tafi-
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field, lord chief baron, Sir John Dodderidge, king's sergeant, Sir Francis Bacon, then solicitor-gene- ral, afterwards lord chancellor, and created Lord Verulam, together with the above-mentioned Mr. John Guy, divers other merchants of Bristol, and other persons therein mentioned, by the name of the Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Plan- ters of the cities of London and Bristol, for the co- lony or plantation in Newfoundland ; from north la- titude forty-six to fifty-two degrees, together with the seas and islands lying within ten leagues of the coast .. The proprietors soon after, in the same year, sent . the before-mentioned Mr. Guy, as conductor and governour of a colony of thirty-nine persons, who accompanied him to Newfoundland, and be- gan a settlement at Conception bay .* It appears, that this attempt to form a settlement there, did not succeed ; and we are told, that Mr. Guy returned to England again, after residing there for two years, with little advantage. A part of his colony, if not the whole of them, returned with him. t
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As the shipwreck of Sir Thomas Gate's and Sir George Somers, on the Bermuda islands, in their voyage to Virginia, in the year 1609, had made the colonists acquainted with the produce, pleasantness, and beauty of those islands, whose accounts thereof reached the company in England, they were induced to apply to the king, to obtain an enlargement of
* Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 172.
t Oldmixon's British Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. S. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 249. Also, sce note (I), at the end of this volume.
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their territories, so as to include these islands. Con- SECT" siderable deficiencies, as to their necessary powers VII. 1610- in conducting the affairs of the Virginia colony un- der their then existing charter, appearing to them to require remedy, afforded additional inducement to them 'to apply for supplemental authority, whereby they might be enabled to remedy existing abuses,. not only in the government of the colony, but in procuring the means of defraying the charges and expenses of supporting it. They accordingly ob- tained from the king a new patent, called by some writers the third charter of Virginia, bearing date March 12th, 9 Jac. 1, (1611-12.) By this the king 1612 gave, granted, and confirmed " to the treasurer and The third company of adventurers and planters of the city of Virginia. London, for the first colony in Virginia, and to their heirs and successors forever, all and singular those islands whatsoever, situate and being in any part of the ocean, seas bordering upon the coast of our said first colony of Virginia, and being within 300 leagues of any of the parts heretofore granted to the said treasurer and company, in our said former let- ters patent as aforesaid, and being within or between the one-and-fortieth and thirtieth degrees of northerly latitude." They were authorized also, to hold four great and general courts, at the four usual feasts in the year; and therein to elect and choose members of the council in England, for the said colony, and to nominate and appoint officers, and to make laws and ordinances for the good and welfare of the said plantation. Besides other incidental powers, appa- rently necessary, they authorized the company to establish lotteries, in order to raise money for their.
charter of
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SECT. necessary expenditures .* It appears, however, from VIL. the whole purview of this instrument, that it was 1612. intended, not as an abrogation, but as a deed of con- firmation of their former charter. Their territories, therefore, were not abridged by it in their enormous extent, but on the sea-board were considerably en- larged. In order to derive their promised utility from the Bermudas, it was not thought necessary, it seems, for them to retain those islands, as a part of their territories, for they immediately sold them to another company, who thereupon sent out a co- lony to settle them.
The French and Dutch, now making some pro- gress in their settlements on the North American continent ; the former in Acadie, now called Nova . Scotia, and in that part of the United States called the District of Maine; the latter in the state of New York : Sir Thomas Dale, the governour of Virgi- nia, in virtue of the claim of the English to the whole northern part of America, by reason of Ca- bot's prior discovery of it, sent an armed expedition in the year 1613, under captain Samuel Argall, to break up and destroy those settlements. He did so as to those of the French ; but, as he left no garri- son to keep possession of the places where they had settled, they soon afterwards resumed their former stations. On his return to Virginia, he visited the Dutch settlement on the Hudson ; and, on his de- manding the possession thereof, the Dutch gover- nour, Hendrick Christizens, incapable of resistance,
1613. Captain Argall's expedi- tion to break up the French and Dutch settle- Inents in Nova Sco- tia and New York.
* See the charter at large, in Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1. p. 72.
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peaceably submitted himself and his colony to the king of England, and, under him, to the governour of Virginia, consenting to pay a tribute. But in the 1614. next year, a new governour from Amsterdam arri- ving, with a reinforcement, asserted the right of Holland to the country ; refused the tribute and ac- knowledgment stipulated with the- English by his predecessor, and put himself into a posture of de- fence. He built a fort on the south end of the island Manhattan, where the city of New York now stands, and held the country many years, under a grant from the States General, by the name of the New Nether- lands. *
* Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 162, 179. Marshall's Life of Washington, Vol. 1, p. 5 ?.
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SECTION VIII.
IWasons for the following digression-Rise of the reformation-Its progress through the continent of Europe-Its introduction into England-The origin of the Puritans-Divisions among the Puri- tans-State of religious parties in England,on James I's accession- The Independents emigrate to Holland-Their distressing situation there-They form the design of removing to America-Negociate with the Virginia Company for that purpose-Dissensions in the Virginia Company occasion delay-They embark for America, and settle at Plymouth, in Massachusetts.
IT is a common remark throughout the SECT. VIII. United States of America, that most of these states were originally colonised by means of religious per- Reasons secution, which the first settlers of them experienced in their mother country; and the provinces of New gression. England, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, are general- ly cited as instances thereof. But when we recur to the records of history, at the period of time when the colonies of New England and Maryland were first settled,* and find that the mother country was then a scene of the most tumultuous contest between three principal sects of the Christian religion, the established Church of England, the Roman Catho- lics, and the Puritans, t a contest, not indeed for
* The colony of Virginia, the only English colony prior to those last above-mentioned, unquestionably originated from the Spanish views of gold and silver mines, as well as from a desire to find out a short passage to the East Indies, and not from religious motives.
1 The appellation of " Puritans," included, during Eliza- beth's reign, the Presbytereans, as well as the Brownists, the latter of whom were afterwards called Independents.
for the fol- lowing di-
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SECT. VIII. the supreme power merely, but each for its own e.r. istence; and find also, that at the close of the scene the established Church gave many instances of her moderation, not exhibited by either of the others when in power, we are compelled, if not entirely to excuse, at least to make much allowance for her conduct in the causes of those first emigrations. The reign of queen Mary abundantly demonstrated that the English Roman Catholics would tolerate neither the Church of England nor the Puritans. And the conduct of the Puritans, in their turn, at the helm of power, will equally convince us, that neither Church nor Catholics were to expect tolera- tion from them .* Nay indeed, these Puritans, when at the height of their power, and the sceptre of England was wielded by the hypocritical Crom- well, had their agents of persecution, even in the infant colony of Maryland. Among the " Acts and orders of a general assembly, holden at Patuxent (Maryland) the 20th of October, 1654, by com- mission from his highness the lord protector," &c. is an act, entitled, " An Act concerning religion," whereby, " it was enacted and declared, That none, who professed and exercised the Popish (commonly called the Roman Catholic) religion, could be pro- tected in this province, by the laws of England, for- merly established, and yet unrepealed : nor by the government of the commonwealth of England, &c.
* By an ordinance of the 23d of August, 1645, imprison- ment for a year, on the third offence, and pecuniary penal- ties on the former two, were inflicted, in case of using the Book of Common Prayer, not only in a place of public wor- ship, but also in any private family. See 4 Rl. Com. 53.
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but to be restrained from the exercise thereof, &c. That such as profess faith in God by Jesus Christ, though differing in judgment from the doctrine wor- ship, or discipline publicly held forth,* should not be restrained from, but protected in, the profession of the faith and exercise of their religion; so as they abused not this liberty, to the injury of others, dis- turbance of the peace, &c. Provided such liberty was not extended to Popery or Prelacy, nor to such, as, under the profession of Christ, held forth and practised licentiousness."t The reader will easily see through the flimsy veil of this insidious proviso. As " Prelacy is synonymous to Episcopacy, and the Church of England could not exist without the government of its bishops, it is very fairly to be sup- posed, that it was meant thereby to exclude that : Church also, as well as the Catholics, from the ex- ercise of their religion in this province. But be that as it may, the crime of " licentiousness" was certainly so indefinite as to leave ample occasion for unlimited persecution; and a slight perusal of the early part of the History of Massachusetts, will furnish numerous instances of the wild judicial constructions put by these fanatics on similar legislative expressions.
Thus then, as the causes of the colonisation of New England and Maryland, which are nearly co- cval, appear not to be clearly understood, in the United States, or if so, not generally acknowledged,
* This meant, without doubt, the doctrine and discipline of the Independents, forming at that time in England, under Oliver, what might be called, the established religion or Church.
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t See Bacon's edition of the Laws of Maryland, 1654, ch. 4.
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SECT. VIII. it is here hoped, that it will afford some apology for leading the reader, in a very cursory manner, through the scenes of religious transactions in England, at- tending the progress of the reformation, and the consequent struggle, between the three great reli- gious sects before-mentioned, for that earthly poli- tical crown, which was to bring the others as hum: ble vassals at the victor's feet.
1517. Rise of the reforma- tion.
When Pope Leo X, in the beginning of the six- teenth century, by his profuse liberality in the pa- tronage and encouragement of the arts and sciences, in the collection and publication of valuable and scarce books, and also in the completion of that su- perb edifice at Rome, St. Peter's church, but more especially by his inordinate ambition to aggrandize his family, the house of Medici, of Florence, had exhausted the revenues of the church, he was con- 'strained to adopt such devices as suggested them- selves to him, to replenish the coffers of the holy see. As the Christian religion, in its then organi- zed state, acknowledged, and in the consent of a large majority of that religion* still acknowledges, the papal power, of granting a pardon and remis- sion of all sins, Leo was naturally induced, through his philosophic and unbelieving mind, to yield to the superstition of his flock. He, therefore, in the year 1517, published all over Europe general indul- gences in favour of such as would contribute sums of money for the building of St. Peter's church,
* " Three-fourths of Europe consist at this moment (1805) of Christians professing the Roman Catholic religion." Mr. Fox's speech in the house of commons, on the Catholic peti- tion, May 13th, 1805.
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1517.
and at the same time appointed two persons in each country to recommend those indulgences by preach- ing, and to receive the money for them. As reli- gious indulgences are founded on the infinite tra- sure of the merits of Jesus, the holy virgin, and all the saints, which it is supposed Christ's vicar upon earth has a right of distributing, by virtue of the communion of saints, it must be allowed, that Leo fell upon a most apt, though not a novel mode, of recruiting the treasures of the apostolic chamber, of Rome. But an unfortunate incident in the mode of collecting this revenue, brought such a storm upon the church, as to shake the proud fabric to its basis. The person appointed by the pope for this purpose, in the northern part of Germany, particularly in Saxony, was Albert, archbishop of Magdeburg and Mentz. That prelate, either by his own autho- rity, or by order of the pope, bestowed the com- mission for distributing these indulgences on the order of Dominican friars, instead of that of the Au -. gustine friars, as had been usual, and, as it seems, in consonance to the convention which had been made among the four orders of mendicants. This preference sorely vexed the Augustine friars, who considered the neglect as a contempt upon their or- der; perhaps also, at the same time regretting to see themselves frustrated of the share they might have had of the money. . These indulgences certainly appear to the eye of reason, however long they may have been sanctioned by Christian usage and prac. · tice, as totally repugnant to those moral principles, adopted by the common consent of all mankind, in
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all ages, as the best ligaments of human society .*
VIII.
In this point of view the Augustines did not omit
1517. to place them; and the Dominicans, by their indis- creet conduct in relation to them, gave their ene- mies ample room to exercise their envious and ma- lignant passions. Offices were everywhere set up, even in taverns, where the collectors consumed in riot and debauchery a great part of the profits pro- duced from this traffic of the sacred treasures of the church. John Stulpitz, or Staupitz, vicar general of the Augustines in Germany, being supported by the elector of Saxony, who had a particular regard for him, was the first who openly attacked the ser- mons of the Dominicans, and the abuses which were committed in the distribution of the indulgen- ces. The better to promote his opposition, he se- lected for his colleague and assistant Martin Luther, a preacher of the same order of Augustine friars, and a doctor of Wittenberg, whose name has since been so well known in the world. As he was a man of an ardent, zealous, and enterprising temper, and possessed considerable talents for both writing and eloquence, and remained safe also from the thunder of the Vatican, under the protection of the elector of Saxony, his doctrines soon gained num- bers of proselytes throughout all Germany, and in- deed set all Europe in a blaze of zeal for reforming the abuses of the Church. In addition to this, it may be observed, that the minds of the people of Europe had been already, in some measure, prepared for the occasion, by that diffusion of ancient litera-
* Sce note (K) at the end of the volume.
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ture, particularly the Platonic philosophy, which SECT. resulted from the invention of printing. The com- VIII. bustible materials had been collected. It only re- 1517. quired the intrepidity of such a man as Luther to apply the spark .- From such sources originated that great event so well known in history under the name of the reformation .*.
Minor reformers soon sprung up in numbers, Its pro- sketching out different schemes of reformation, in gress through such different shades of opinion as best suited their the conti- fancy. In Switzerland, Zuinglius declared himself Europe .. nent of an advocate for the doctrine of Luther, and imita- ting his conduct, declaimed warmly against the person who was appointed to publish the indulgen- ces in that country. Subsequently, however, dif -. fering in opinion from Luther, on the doctrine of the Eucharist, he became the founder of the sect in . Switzerland called Sacramentists.+ The Anabap- tists also, in Germany, grew out of Luther's here- 1.521. sy; though he took pains to disown them, and to have them repressed. They boasted of immediate revelations to themselves, and taught that men ought to regulate their conduct by the visionary pre- cepts which such supposed inspiration might dic- tate. They destroyed all the books that happened in their way, but the Bible. They despised not only ecclesiastical but civil laws; and held that all government was nothing but usurpation. They were for having all things in common, and for every
* Du Pin's Hist. of the Church, Cent. xvi, ch. 6. Mod! Univ. Hist. Vol. 29, p. 500.
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SECT. man's being free and independent, and promised VIII. themselves a happy empire, in which they would
1521. reign alone, after having extirpated all the wicked. Encouraged by this doctrine, the peasants and boors throughout Germany rose up in arms, and threaten- cd destruction to every government. In private life they were not less wild and dangerous. One of their leaders in Switzerland, in the presence of his -
1527. father and mother, cut off his brother's head with a sword, assigning to them as a reason for it, that he was commanded by God to do so. Two of their principal leaders, natives of Holland, John Matthias, who had been a baker at Haerlem, and John Boccold, or Boukels, a journeyman-taylor of Leyden, aided by their followers, took forcible possession of the city of Munster, in Westphalia. Matthias, assuming . the power of a prophet, governed the city, until he was killed in a sally by the bishop of Munster's troops, who besieged it. He was succeeded by Boccold, who, in imitation of king David, danced naked through the streets, and caused himself to be crowned king of Sion. He ordered his minor - prophets to preach to the people, that it was one of the privileges granted by God to the saints, to have a plurality of wives. To set the example, he him- self married three. As he was allured by beauty or.
the love of variety, he gradually added to the num- ber of his wives, until they amounted to fourteen; nor was any private man allowed to remain with one only. As it was instant death to disobey this tyrant in anything, one of his wives having uttered certain words that implied some doubt concerning his divine mission, he immediately called the whole
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number of them together, and commanding the blas- SECT. VII. 1534.
phemer, as he called her, to kneel down, he cut off her head with his own hands; and so far were the rest from expressing any horror at this cruel deed, that they joined him in dancing, with a frantic joy, around the bleeding body of their companion .* It is but justice, however, to the modern Anabaptists to add, that these extravagant and fanatic notions have been long since relinquished by them.+
Next in order came the grand reformer of the re-
1536. formed, John Calvin. He seems to have been more remarkable for his talents as a controversial writer, than as a preacher. As the heresies of the before- mentioned reformers did not find a ready access into France, of which Calvin was a native, he was forced into a kind of voluntary exile to other countries, to propagate such doctrines as he might think conveni- · ent to propose. The glory of being the founder and head of a religious sect, is scarcely less intoxicating than that of being at the head of an empire. With a mind filled, without doubt, with this sort of ambi- tion, he wandered to Geneva. As this city formed in itself a little independent republic, being but a few years before emancipated from the tyranny of the dukes of Savoy, and as the heresies of Luther and Zuinglius, by the preaching of William Farel, a French Protestant refugee, and other reformers, had gained so much ground in this city, that the Gospellers, as they were there called, had driven the
* Robertson's Ilist. of Charles V, book 5th, Du Pin's Hist. of the Church, Cent. xvi, ch. 8 and 10, Bayle's Hist. Dict. art. Anabaptists.
t See sote (L) at the end of this volume.
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SECT. VIII. Catholic bishop out of the city, and seized both the ecclesiastical and temporal power into their own 1536. hands, it became the great asylum for all the French refugees, who were discontented with the establish- ed religion of their own country. Here John Cal- vin was persuaded by his friend Farel to fix his abode. Calvin was to write, and Farel was to preach, and thus they were jointly to defend their possession of the temporal as well as ecclesiastical powers of the little state. They soon found cause of disagreement with their friends and allies the Ber- nese, who were Lutherans. They abominated the practices of these Bernese Lutherans, in making use of unleavened bread in their sacrament, and of wo- men being married with their hair dishevelled. The inhabitants of Geneva still retained also their fond- ness for other holydays besides Sundays; and their reformation in manners did not keep pace exactly with their reformation in doctrines. To punish these propensities to sin, Calvin and his coadjutor refused to administer the sacrament to them. The citizens enraged rose in a body, and drove them Calvin, however, soon con- both out of the city. trived to raise a powerful faction in his favour, and 1541. in a year or two, (1541,) he was solicited to return. He returned, indeed, with redoubled influence and power. The first thing he did was to establish a form of discipline and a consistorial jurisdiction, with power to exercise canonical censures and pun- ishments, even to excommunication. He shut up all taverns, prohibited all prophane dancing and singing, and put a stop to all sports.
In vain, did the more rational part of the citizens
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complain, that this was re-establishing the tyranny SECT. of the church of Rome. Calvin had the syndics on VIII. 1541. his side; and the contumacious were threatened with excommunication, if they did not submit. A member of the council, however, had the courage to impeach his doctrine as being unsound ; but the magistrates, without further inquiry, committed him to prison, and condemned him to do penance for his accusation, by walking through the city with a torch in his hand ; probably intimating thereby, that he deserved to be burnt as a heretic. One Bolsec, a physician, who had denied Calvin's doctrine of predestination, and said that he made God the au- thor of sin, was first imprisoned, and then banished the city, under the penalty of being whipped if he ever returned there again. But the most impious abuse of the secular power, in matters of religion, happened in the case of the famous Michael Reves, commonly called Servetus, a Spaniard, and one of the most learned physicians of that age. He had been imprisoned for his opinions, at Vienna; but making his escape from thence, he took refuge at Geneva. It was natural for him to hope for an asy- lum, amongst a people who had founded their liber- ties upon their right of thinking for themselves on religious subjects, and disclaiming authority in . points of conscience : he was fatally deceived. On his arrival at Geneva, he was thrown into prison, and accused by Calvin of some heterodox opinions with regard to the Trinity, and other articles of faith. He was at the same time robbed by the ma- gistrates of a gold chain, and a considerable sum of money, which never were returned to him ; so that
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