USA > Maryland > Frederick County > Emmitsburg > Discourse delivered at the commemoration of the landing of the pilgrims of Maryland : celebrated May 11, 1846, at Mt. St. Mary's, near Emmitsburg, Md. > Part 3
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* Bozman.
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/ 1650," about one quarter of a century after the resignation of Calvert. He was writing the life of the king of England, and the actions of the humble Secretary are but five times incidentally alluded to in his volu- minous History-four I have given-in the fifth, his name aimply ap- pears as one of the witnesses to the Spanish treaty in 1623. In the course of the author's enquiries it did not become necessary to search into the private life of Calvert, to examine his opinions, to detail his acts. He only appears, where he does appear, as the servant of the king-it is not of him that Wilson writes, but of the king's acts, in each instance ; and Calvert is the mere subsidiary object, the mere in- cident in the paragraph. Hle disappears utterly from the stage after the mention of his name as one of the witnesses to the treaty. Not one word is said of his resignation. It was not the business of the histori- an to record the changes of opinion, the conversion of so unimportant a character to his work as Secretary Calvert. Calvert had always been of the king's party, ' regians.' as Wilson terms them, and had favoured the Spanish match .- Wilson was a Puritan and a Republican, and saw but little difference between the " prelatist "and " the papist." He wrote twenty six years after the conversion of Calvert, and of course spoke of him as he knew him. He had been dead nineteen years, and the writer only remembered the last features of his life, and the common memory of his creed was Catholic. Wilson might easily have erred, and styled him an " hispaniolized papist " before the real date of his conversion, an event about which there was no need for him to enquire, and of which he might well be ignorant-and yet he makes the remark more as regards party, as is evident, than actual creed: Again, even had he known of Calvert's conversion, he would have called him papist," or " popishily affected " before that time, for these are terms which are frequently applied in his book to persons who had even married Catholics or permitted their children to marry Catholics, Ch: . copy in my possession wasprinted in: 1653.
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and it is said that the wife of Calvert was of a Catholic family. Even in the sentence quoted from him, he differs as to the appointment from other authorities, who place it in 1619 *- and upon the death of Sir Thomas Lake and not Sir Ralph Winwood ;t & is guilty of an anachronism in the use of the term " hispaniolized," as applied to Cal- vert, referring to the party favouring the Spanish match which was not thought of till more than a year after .- IIc writes in a loose, vague manner, as far as facts are concerned, and his remark about religion is rather a fanciful contrast than a grave assertion of a fact impor- tant to his history, and which he had investigated. Indeed, he is too much occupied with portents dirc, with fiery comets, and the wars, pestilence and famines that follow in their paths, and too tearful of those dreadful Jesuits, that ' swarm ' in every page, to give a serious and a just thought to a fact like this. Ilis testimony is worth but little upon the matters of which he specially writes-it is worth absolutely nothing upon a collateral point like this.
Fuller was writing the life of Calvert, every action was for him a matter of strict enquiry ; the moral, political, and religious changes of the man were the events which he was to examine, and upon which he was to bring to bear all the lights he could gather. His acts and opinions were the whole scope and extent of his subject, and every portion thereof it was his duty to investigate, and most of all so impor- tant a fact as the conversion of his hero from the religion which was patronized to the creed which was proscribed-that most glorious of all the glories of Calvert's life, the stern self-sacrificing devotion which made him avow his conversion to the king, & resign the office which he could no longer hold with a good conscience. Noble as was this act in itself it had about it, that which would have led a protestant histori- an to withhold it-had it been possible-certainly would have prevent-
. Mr. Kennedy says 1617. ¡ Bozman vol. 1. 232,
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ed him from fabricating it ; the motive which perhaps has influenced its denial at the present day. But there was a reason why it was peculiarly necessary for Fuller to record this fact. It was connected intimately with, nay, was the first starting link in that chain of causes which brought about the act that placed Lord Baltimore among the Worthies of England. That great event was the foundation of Maryland.
Calvert once become a Catholic, and commencing the ordeal of trials which must befall the convert, by the resignation of his office, and changed at once from that condition of life which threw open to him preferment and success, to that other condition which brought him within the reach of pains and penalties, fines and forfeitures, if it pleas- ed his sovereign to inflict them, loving freedom, desiring liberty of conscience, looked about for an asylum to which he and his people might retire, and worship God in peace and quietude. It was the en- tering upon the threshold of the mighty enterprise, which made Calvert great, and therefore was a matter which must have received the anxious exam ination of his biographer, and about which he could not be mis- aken. He was his cotemporary, and Wilson's book was before him while he wrote : the men who knew Calvert-who moved with him in every circle, were living around him-his children and his family-the papers which he had left were all witnesses that must have furnished him with testimony that decided his mind .* He dared not have fabricated such a story ; for it would, if fabricated, have call- ed down upon him the condemnation of the world, upon whose ears such a statement must have grated harshly. He must have examined it-he must have been satisfied, by strong evidence, of its trath. That he did examine minutely his facts, and was cautious in his statements, is evident from the quotation itself : for when he asserts, that James, " moved by Calvert's ingenuity, continued him privy councillor all his
* We are informed by Fuller's Biographer, that it was his habit to go for materials and facts to the places which had been the residences'of his heroes -- to enquire from their children-to consult every source of information. Cecilius Calvert was living in
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reign," aware of the surprising nature of the statement, he adds his au- thority, and says, " as appeareth in the council-books." Now will it be credited that this careful, cautious, and almost timid Biographer, who hesitated to make this statement until he had examined the coun- cil books-would have made so grave and solemn an assertion of a fact, most momentous to his subject, not only without enquiry, but with- out evidence, and still worse, without truth. It is impossible to pause for a moment, in deciding between the two witnesses-the one direct and positive-who had full opportunities and whose business it was to examine and to know the fact -- the other, who speaks incidentally, and necessarily without examination, and who uses phrases which may ap- ply simply to political sentiments, and which he does apply to persons who were in reality protestants-the one a consistent calm narrator, who is still quoted and relied on by all the world " -- the other a writer more busied about points and antitheses than about facts-credulous and fanciful-whom nobody quotes -- whom nobody relies' ont -- who has almost died out of the memory of man. Is it necessary to bring the weight of circumstances to sustain Fuller, and to discredit Wilson ? The whole character of Calvert sustains the statement of his conver- sion. The whole subsequent testimony of two hundred years, until this very day, sustains this statement. The whole array of evidence which we can gather from the contemporaries of Calvert sustains it. In a word, besides Wilson, who is utterly worthless as authority on this point, there is no evidence upon which can be founded a rational doubt of the fact of his conversion and his resignation upon conscien- tious motives, as stated by Fuller.į
London-where resided Fuller, a distinguished minister of the established church .- The inference is irresistible that he applied to Cecilius, and he himself says, in no case did children refuse to answer his queries in regard to their fathers' lives. * A late Edition of Fuller was issued a few years ago.
fHis authority is good, of course, where he quotes from anthentic documents-o" copies records into his book -I allude principally to the facts which he writes from me" mory. In mere copies or condensations of public documents-he could not well blunder. ; The whole question beyond this has been so fully and ably discussed in the April
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Calvert was consistent and reasonable ; his opinions moderate ; the tenor of his life such that he possessed few enemies, and was entangled but little with parties in his latter years. Prior to his conversion he had been a successful aspirant to political station & had filled every po- sition with honor & ability. Ilis services to king James were considered of high value by that monarch who relied upon him in his hours of need to retrace the evil steps he had taken and defend him before his unruly parliament, and this favour of the king towards the man who had served him sofaithfully throughout the troubles of the Spanish negotiation
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number of the U. S. Catholic Magazine, that I need only refer the reader to it. Ful- ler's statement, to my mind, finds a fuit confirmation in the letter of Abbot, Archi- bishop of Canterbury, to Sir T. Kot-quoted by Mr. Kennedy to destroy its credibil- ity. " Mr. Secretary Calvert bath never looked merrily since the price his coming out of Spain: it was thought he was much interested in the Spanish affairs : a course was taken to rid him of an employments and negotiations ; this maue nun disconten- ed, and as the saying is, Desperatto facit monachum, so he apparently did turn papist which he now professein, tinis being the third time that he nas been to blame inat way." Then follows the statement of his resignation and fus elevation to the title of Lord Baltimore, and his preparation for departure to Avalon. Prior to his thiscontent, he was a protestant, according to the Aren-bishop -- for he did openly turn Catholic-implying a change, which could not have taken place unlesshe were protestant before-& then continued to profess that faith -- whereupon the king suffered him to re- sign, &c .- Substantially Funer a story. 'The word 'apparently ' was synonymous in that day with . openty,' . cridentty. '-Sce Johnson's Dic. Thus Shakspeare : " Arrest him, officer !
I would not spare my brother in this case
It he should scorn que so . apparently, (openly,)-Com. of Errors. And Tillotson, " Vices apparently (evidenty ) tend to the injuring of men's health." 'T'he insinuation in the conclusion of the quotation is relied on to prove that he did not then turn Catholic-this is absurd .- it is simply the assertion of an enemy in the very moment of triumph-which bir. Kennedy hunself for that reason receives with doubt. Besides, as Calvert's wife was Cathohe or connected with Catholics, he, like all other men in a similar situation in that day-indeed in ours, in ust have been the object of suspicion and the subject of such rumours: but that there was an actual conversion or change at this time, no one can doubt, even from the Archbishop's let ter.
Afurther Fact. In 1624, the Parliament petitioned against Catholics holding office, or, as Wilson says, bolted them out of high places. Bozman supposes that int the list of those against whom Parhanteut petitioned, Sir George Calvert was inclu- ded. Now it he were a Catholic at that tune and still held the office of Secretary, as Bozman supposes he did till 1625, he would certainly have been meluded-Wilson gives us tins list-at least, all the noblemen and gentry and among these, Sir tierge Calvert's name does not appear, so that he had either not yet become a Cath- olic, or if he had, he had resigned ins office, prior to this date .- The Parhament which sent in this petition to the king, was prorogued on the 20th of May 1624-before which time the petition must have been adopted .- In Hazard s Collections is a com- mission bearing date 15th July 1621, two months later, which was Issued to Henry Viscount Meandeville and other;, among whom is mentioned " Sir George Calven, Knight, one of our principal Secretaries of State."-Therefore Calvert was still
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did not forsake him in the time of his conversion. But there was an- other feeling which may have tended to secure Calvert in his contin- uance of the king's favor. It was necessary to obtain the aid of the Catholics in resisting the progress of the Independants who were be- coming daily more powerful and the conversion of Calvert presented a favorable opportunity of impressing upon a leading man the grateful recollection of his kindness,
But weary with the strife of politics, Calvert sought to fly from the contentions of factions and the struggles of parties. In his soul he nursed a mighty thought and he longed to turn his face from all the out- ward world to contemplate 'its heavenly beauty. There was in that vision of unearthly love, mingling ever the dim form of a future empire. which should be a renewal of that glorious retreat which sin and the serpent had long ago blasted for the human race, He wished to de- vote the remainder of his days to the preparation of his spirit for the dark hour which must come upon all, and to work out the grace which God had bestowed upon him in his conversion ; and, at the same time, to build up an asylum for the persecuted of every creed and clime. The day of explorers & discoveries had not yet passed-he wish- ed to launch his bark upon a hitherto untried sea, and the haven of his hopes was to be ". THE LAND OF THE SANCTUARY." And as that vision seemed day by day to grow more distinct in his search after its fulfil- ment, its forms caught new beauties from the inward meditations of his high heart and the solemn contemplation of the evils and injustice of the world around him. Beholding the encroachment of the crown upon the liberties of the people, he prepared to guard the object of his hopes
Secretary at the time when this petition was adopted .- If a Catholic at that time, his name would certainly have been included-for even magisgrates' are given, yet the Parliament did not include it. The inference is irresistible, that Calvert was not vet a Catholic, however much he may have inclined that way-that subsequent to July 1621-he avowed to the king that he had become converted, and that he re- signed his office, as is stated by !'uller-confirmed subs'inhall, Is the Archbishop's letter-while the facts last stated prove the surmise of the Archbishop to have been unfounded-a mere afterthoughit. The evidence of the petition is conclusive.
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from the withernig grasp of the royal prerogative. In England suffer- ing at least the brotherhood of proscription, he distilled from the bit- ter flower that brightest and purest essence of civil Liberty, Freedom of conscience : in Avalon, compelled to draw the sword to defend his people and the people of his king from hostile invasion, he caught from thence for the future the lesson of peace and love and friendship to those amongst whom he should come to perfect his .vision and rear up his empire. Rebuffed and driven off from the inhospitable shores of Virginia, as that form was growing to perfection in his soul-he added the last crowning grace to its lovely proportions and threw open its peaceful portals to all christian men. 'That dream of ' beauty and of excellence ' dwelt in his heart, guiding all his wanderings, tinging his thoughts, casting its halo around all his actions. He cherished it, for it was the daughter of his adversity and the stay of his hope. He la- boured to perfect it, for it was to give protection and comfort to his children and his people. With this vision before him he struggled on through the desert of intolerance which stretched its parched sands around him, overcoming with wondrous power the impediments which sprang up in his path, passing the dividing waves of every opposition -striking refreshing streams from the rocky hearts of kings-over- throwing every enemy-until finally from another Horeb, like him of old, the chosen of God, to lead his children out of another bondage, he caught, cre his eyes closed in the deep sleep of death, a distant glimpse of the beauty and the glory of his promised land.
It was not given to him to behold its maturity yet if the body was cold the spirit was still living and acting. It hovered around the ' Ark and the Dove ' in their venturous path across the perilous deep. In storm or calm winging upward the matin & vesper prayer of the faith- ful pilgrims ; it mingled in the councils of his son Cecilius, the first Lord proprietary, and it guided and guarded that other noble son, the first settler of Maryland, rejoicing in the princely generosity and liber- ality of the one and the noble daring and paternal rule of the other.
What a glorious spectacle for that spirit no longer clogged with the prison of the body, but hovering above the scene upon the wings of the enfranchised, when on the feast of the annunciation Leonard Calvert and his followers landed upon the shores of St. Clement-and bowing in solemn reverence, to dedicate and make holy to all time the soil of the Land of Mary, they reared up that cross for which he had given up all upon earth-and under its sacred shadow opened their arms to the persecuted of all lands and creeds, outstretching to the wild In- dian the hand of peace and brotherly love, and carrying into his desolate wig-wam the light of divine religion ! What a joyful harvest for his years of toil was there not in that vision of the first days of his promised land, in its liberty, in its freedom of conscience, in its happi- ness, in its prosperity, in its growing greatness ! Oh ! if the spirits of the just can gather increase of bliss from the view of the fairest gems of earthly beauty and glory, and felicitycrowning the treasured projects of their lives, then was the spirit of George Calvert supremely blest,
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