USA > Maryland > The Day-star of American freedom, or, The birth and early growth of toleration, in the province of Maryland : with a sketch of the colonization upon the Chesapeake and its trobutaries, preceding the removal of the government from St. Mary's to Annapolis > Part 9
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* Rent Roll for St. Mary's and Charles, vol. 1, Newtown hun dred.
' See Rent Roll, St. Inigo's manor.
' St. Inigo's House was the residence of Father Copley. See Lib. No. 1, pp. 212-13, and p. 500.
' They transported (see Governor Green's testimony, Lib. No.
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ted in this outline of the evidence. For some of the methods they adopted in the propagation of their faith, writers of a different church have cen- sured them. But the very reproach implies a con- cession. Before the year 1649, they labored with their lay-assistants, in various fields ;' and around their lives will for ever glow a bright and glorious remembrance. Their pathway was through the desert; and their first chapel, the wigwam of an Indian.2 Two of them were here, at the dawn of
1, p. 166) not less than sixty persons-most of them, we may presume, Roman Catholics, either before or after their arrival.
1 We have no complete catalogue of the Roman Catholic Mis- sionaries, who arrived before the year 1649. But the following embraces nearly all : The Reverend Messrs. Andrew White (styled not untruly " The Apostle of Maryland "); John Altham ; a third not named, in 1635 ; Thomas Copley ; Ferdinando Pulton ; Father Ferret, the year of whose arrival is involved in doubt; John Brock, whose real paternal fame, it is said, was Morgan ; Philip Fisher, and Roger Rigbie. John Knoles, Thomas Gervass, and Mr. Morley, were three of the temporal coadjutors, or lay-brothers. The Rev. Lawrence Starkie, another Jesuit Missionary, came soon after the Assembly of 1649 ; probably about the time of Parson Wilkinson's arrival.
' I speak, not figuratively, but in a strictly historical sense. Obtaining the consent of the aboriginal occupant, they fitted up the little hut, the best manner their means would allow, and called it " The First Chapel in Maryland." See Campbell.
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our history :' they came to St. Mary's with the original emigrants ; they assisted, by pious rites, in laying the corner-stone of a State; they kindled the torch of civilization in the wilderness; they gave consolation to the grief-stricken pilgrim ; they taught the religion of CHRIST to the simple sons of the forest. The history of Maryland presents no better, no purer, no more sublime lesson than the story of the toils, sacrifices, and successes of her early missionaries .?
Looking, then, at the question, under both of its aspects-regarding the faith, either of the dele- gates, or of those whom they substantially repre- sented-we cannot but award the chief honor to the members of the Roman church. To the Roman Catholic freemen of Maryland, is justly
' The Jesuit Fathers, who came in 1634, were the Rev. Messrs. White and Aitham. The same year, also, arrived John Knoles, and Thomas Gervass. See Campbell's Missions, and McSherry's Maryland.
' Houor to the memory of the Rev. Mr. McSherry, and of Col. Barney U. Campbell, for their labors in this department of our history. Maryland owes a debt of gratitude ; while the lovers of learning, in other States, will not fail to cherish a grateful esti- tate of their contributions to our literature.
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HONOR DUE TO THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.
due the main credit arising from the establishment, by a solemn legislative act, of religious freedom for all believers in Christianity.
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CHAPTER £ XV.
Cecilius, the Lord Proprietary. His Life, Character, and Family.
IF the founders of our political liberty-if the signers of the Declaration of Independence-now receive the admiration and the homage of the civilized world ; the early law-givers of Maryland -the originators of our religious freedom-have clearly a right to some place upon the page of American history.
Happily for the present generation, something is yet known, not only of the proprietary and the first governor, but also of almost every member of the Assembly, in 1649.
The Calverts of England derived their descent from a Flemish noble family. Their armorial bearings are traced to a very remote period ; but the meritorious services, for which they were granted, or the honorable deeds they commemo- rated, cannot now be fully ascertained. They are : paly of six, or and sable, a bend counterchanged ;
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: · CECILIUS.
and were engraved upon the early seal of the province,1 occupying the first and fourth quarters of the escutcheon. They are also borne by the English Calverts now living at Albury Hall, and at Hunsdon in Herts .? And they reappear, after the lapse of many years, upon the present seal of the State. George, the father of Cecilius, was born in Yorkshire, about the year 1582. He represented that county in the Parliament in 1620; and Oxford at a later period. He held, at various times, the posts of private secretary to Sir Robert Cecil; clerk to the privy council ; and one of the secretaries of state. In 1617 he was knighted ;3 and about 1625 created Baron of Baltimore. He was a member of the Virginia Company, in 1609 ; and at a much later period, received the charter for a part of
1 According to Lord Baltimore's instruction (see the Com- mission for the Great Seal, Bosman, vol. 2, p. 652), six pieces were requisite. But upon the provincial Seal, there were, In point of fact, but five-the result, I presume of the engraver's mistake or carelessness-and a defect, I find, perpetuated by our new Seal, which follows the provincial too closely in that. but not enough so, it strikes me, in some other particulars-an opinion submitted with unaffected diffidence.
? Burke's Dictionary of the Landed Gentry.
' Kennedy's First Lord Baltimore.
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Newfoundland, where he attempted to plant a colony. Disheartened with the enterprise, he went to Virginia ; but finding he was there required to take an oath inconsistent with his fidelity to the church of Rome, he returned to England, after a survey of the country bordering upon the Chesa- peake ; and shortly before his death, obtained the promise of a charter for the province of Maryland, and which was given to his son.
Cecilius had imbibed the spirit of his father. And faithfully did he carry out the noble design. The respect which is due to his memory, arises not only from the part he performed in laying the foundations of religious liberty ; but also from the liberal policy he adopted, in the establish- ment and government of the colony in every other particular. During the first few years, he ex- pended upwards of forty thousand pounds sterling -a very large sum at that time. . The lands he granted to the emigrants upon easy conditions, and at a rent almost nominal.1 And, although he manifested no sympathy with republicanism, in its present sense (the supposition betrays, indeed, a
Kilty's Landholder's Assistant, pp. 29-45.
noll
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great absurdity), the whole administration was distinguished for its mild, and just, its beneficent, and paternal character. Tradition, also, has given him the appellation of Pater Patria. And the jour- nal of the Assembly,1 the proceedings of the courts, the frequent acts of executive clemency, and the . admissions even of Protestants, are full of the strongest and most interesting testimony. As the patron of the early Roman Catholic missions, he also has a claim upon our regards. Could any- thing have been conceived in the spirit of a more sublime charity ? Singular, also, was the sense of justice, which marked his conduct in everything relating to the aborigines. The Indians looked up to him as their patriarch. The chiefs upon the Piscataway, and upon other streams, were accus- tomed to submit their gravest questions to the decision of his government. To them, as well as to the colonists, was he indeed a guardian ; temper- ing justice with mercy in every case compatible with the principles of order, and with the great ends of civil society. "Halcyon "" was the period ;
1 McMahon's Maryland.
2 A word used by many Protestants, soon after the overthrow
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and happy the people. Unfortunately for his memory, no artist has yet arisen to do him histori- cal justice. The scene at Yaocomico,1 upon the landing of the Maryland pilgrims, is not unworthy of the pencil of a West; and the other treaties of of Lord Baltimore with the Indians, do not lack the dignity of the one signed at Shakamaxon,? and which has given such wide celebrity to the vene- rable name of Penn.
It is painful to think of the case of Col. Clay- borne. His heroism was unquestionable ; and his motive in founding a colony upon an island of the Chesapeake, was of the most honorable character. Ilis fate was hard; and history has done injustice to his memory. The friends of historical learning are indebted to the late labors of a gentleman now living at Baltimore ;' and for the light he has shed upon the controversy, I also am under much obli-
of the proprietary's government, in 1689 ; and applicable to the days of Cecilius as well as to those of Charles.
1 Subsequently St. Mary's. The Proprietary, it is needless to add, was not personally present; but the spirit of his policy was fairly represented by his brother, Gov. Calvert.
' Where a part of Philadelphia now stands.
' Mr. S. F. Streeter.
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gation. It seems the principle upon which the founder of the Kent Island settlement had based his claim, was not without some support, in a clause of the Maryland charter.1 It appears, also, with great force, in the case of the early Dutch and Swedish settlements upon the Delaware; and in the one decided about a century later, it is indirectly sanctioned, so far as regards the ground of prior occupancy, by the celebrated opinion of an English chancellor." But Clayborne, unlike Penn, never had a charter. The contest in Maryland was bitter and bloody. Both settlements had suffered much misery and loss. And upon Clayborne's own appeal to the authorities of the English gov- ernment, the course of the proprietary upon the main point, was sustained. The claimant from Virginia committed another error. He con-
1 Clayborne founded his settlement before the arrival of the Pilgrims at St. Mary's, or even the date of Lord Baltimore's char- ter, which did not, in clear language, include any colonized terri- tory. The claim of the Swedes upon the Delaware also embraced within the Maryland charter (as far up as the fortieth degree including the site of Philadelphia), was partly based upon the same ground as that of Clayborne.
2 Lord Hardwick. See Reports, 1 Vesey, Sr., pp. 444-156. This decision virtually settled the long and tedious controversy between Maryland and Pennsylvania.
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founded the question of jurisdiction with the right to the soil ; and Maryland could not consent to the exercise by Virginia of any sovereignty over the Isle of Kent. Nor was Clayborne, as the occupant of land there, justified in retaining his alle- At giance to the government at Jamestown.
the origin of his settlement, our sister colony, it will be remembered, existed by the sufferance, or at best by the guardianship of the English crown.1 And there is no evidence whatever of the pro- prietary's unwillingness at the beginning of the controversy, to grant, upon the proper application, a full confirmation of the title to every tract the secretary of Virginia had reclaimed from the wil- derness. The purchase from the Indians was not sufficient.2
Cecilius died in 1675. As early, however, as 1662, he sent Charles, his son and heir, who lived 1
' It has been said, the charter to Lord Baltimore for territory within the original limits of Virginia invaded the rights of that colony. But the one given to Virginia was taken away, however unjustly, before the date of Lord Baltimore's.
" It was against a well established principle in the policy of nations, to recognize a title, without a previous sanction from the Crown, of which the purchaser was a subject. Such is also the law of the United States.
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CECILIUS.
many years in the province, a part of the time at Mattapany-Sewall;1 sharing the fortunes of the other colonists ; and marrying the widow2 of one of the most distinguished; giving evidence of those noble qualities, which had rendered the memory of the first proprietary so dear to the people of Mary- land; and amid many embarrassments, leaving, both as a governor and a proprietary, the indelible foot-prints of an able, a wise, and a just administra- tion. From Charles is traced the descent of the other proprietaries 3 now represented by the Cal-
1 Near the mouth of the Patuxent, originally the dwelling-place the Mattapanients (one of the most friendly tribes of Maryland) ; next, the storehouse of the Jesuit Missions ; but subsequently relinquished by the Missionaries ; and given by the Proprietary to the Hon. Henry Sewall, the privy councillor. The Mansion during Lord Charles Baltimore's residence, was the Government House of the Province. There, also, once stood a fort and a magazine.
" Jane, the widow of the Honorable Henry Sewall, the privy councillor, and the ancestor of the Sewalls of Mattapany-Sewall, including the descendants at Poplar-Hill, Prince George's County.
' The errors of Lodge (see his " Irish Peerage ") were perpetuated by the " London Magazine " of June 1768 ; and some of the mem- bers of the family, at this time, are under the impression that John, instead of Charles, was the third baron of. Baltimore. The following statement consists of facts derived from the provincial records, from the State Law Reports, and from other sources of
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1.4.
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verts of Prince George's County-George and his brothers being the grandsons of Benedict, the son of the fifth baron,' and who bore the baton in his escutcheon. Mount Airy, in the same county, has been the family seat, for several generations. May it long remain the home of the Calverts !?
the most reliable character. - George was the first baron ; Cecilius the second baron and the first lord proprietary ; Charles I. the third baron and second proprietary ; Benedict Leonard, the fourth baron and third proprietary ; Charles II., the fifth baron and fourth proprietary ; and Frederick, the fifth proprietary ; at whose death, for want of legal issue, the barony became extinct ; but he gave the lord-proprietaryship to his natural son, 'Henry Harford, a highly accomplished gentleman, and whose authority, at the period of the American Revolution, was represented by Governor Robert Eden.
' There is also a branch at Riversdale, near Washington ; and another at Newport, R. I. ; both offshoots from Mount Airy.
' Nelly, the daughter of Benedict, was married to Mr. Custis. The letter of General Washington, the guardian of the gentleman who had sought her hand, 's published in Sparks's Collection, vol. 2, p. 371.
WI
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GOVERNOR CALVERT.
CHAPTER XVI.
Governor Leonard Calvert.
THE planting of a colony, amid the dangers and privations of a wilderness, from the most ancient to a comparatively modern period, assumed a high rank among the "heroical works"1 of man. In the history of Maryland, we see the union of the hero with the pilgrim; the combination of a mis- sion derived from the laws of human destiny, and expressly given before the Fall, with the magnifi- cent and sublime sentiment, which soon became a living embodiment, under the form of religious liberty. The rst of the spirits who personally took part in the noble adventure, and the chief of the original pilgrims, was Gov. Leonard Calvert .? The brother of the proprietary-young, but dis-
1 Lord Bacon.
2 He also bore the baton in his escutcheon. See Hildreth, Vol. 1. p. 209.
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creet ; full of confidence in his own strength, yet fondly relying upon a higher power ; devoting his life and fortunes, in the most energetic and honor- able manner, to the task of guiding and protecting the little band of emigrants-he seems to have pre- sented a practical exemplification of that beautiful conception, which pervades the bosom of the idealist in every age; representing the ruler of a grateful people, under the striking similitude of a shepherd. The visions of childhood are dispelled by the sober sense of manhood. But youth is the type of a cheerful spirit, and of a hopeful heart- the season of daring enterprise, and of heroic adventure. At the darkest hour in the fortunes of the colony, the soul of young Calvert never des- paired. Once driven from the capital by the enemies of the proprietary ; he rallied a force in . Virginia ; and retu ning to Maryland, at a propi- tious moment, recovered the government, which had been wrested from his grasp by the hand of pirates and traitors. The proprietary, of a less sanguine temperament, had regarded the temporary success of Ingle's arms in Maryland, with other untoward events, as a knell to the hopes of his colony ; and
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accordingly instructed Governor Calvert to gather up the wreck of his private property ; apparently abandoning for ever his rights under the charter.' But the courage of Calvert was not subdued; his energy, at the most trying crisis, was not wanting. Pledging the personal resources of the proprietary, and making another effort, he succeeded. To him is due the honor of re-establishing the government, against the most fearful odds; and of securing the field, which had been lost, for a fair experiment of those principles of religious liberty, which have since become the pride and boast of Maryland. Although his death occurred before the year 1649, he occupies a high and honorable place among the law-reformers of his age-having exhibited the first practical example of toleration, in his twofold character of governor and chief justice-in the former, exerting the largest discretionary power, both under the charter, and also under his cominis- sion from the proprietary-in the latter, anticipa- ting the statute law, and shaping the judicial policy of the province, in a manner which reflected the liberal spirit of Cecilius. . His tomb-
1 McSherry.
1
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stone cannot be found; and our ignorance of the spot is a reproach to the living generation of Marylanders. But he was "a great and good man," more illustrious for what he founded than the most successful generals for what they have overthrown and destroyed.1 The sincerity of his faith in the Church of. Rome has never been ques- tioned.2
1 McSherry.
" I have no knowledge of his posterity ; and doubt if he was ever married.
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GOVERNOR STONE.
CHAPTER XVII.
Governor William Stone.
. THE ancestors of Gov. William Stone probably resided in Northamptonshire, in England.1 But he had one, if not several kinsmen? at London.
1 His earliest American residence of which I have any recorded knowledge, was in Northampton County, Va. ; Nanjemy River, upon which stood his manor, in Charles county, Md., bore. about the time of the original survey, the name (Lib. No. 12, p. 116) of Avon ; and Mr. Thos. Sprigg, of Prince George's county, whom in his will (Lib. No. 1, 1635 to 1674, p. 90) he calls " brother," beld a tract (Liber, Wills, T. B., No. 2, p. 444) also named Northampton I am inclined to think, the governor gave the name to Northampton county.
2 He had (Lib. No. 2, pp. 313, 314) a near relation at London, whose very stret" is given, and whose name was Thomas ; and one of the divisions of Nanjemy Manor (called also the Manor of Poynton) was bounded (Lib. No. 11, p. 330) by Cheapside creek. He had at least two brothers. John also probably lived at London ; Mathew, in the province of Maryland. And several families of his surname, with distinct armorial bearings, resided at that city. With the aid derived from these facts, especially by connecting Thomas with the street he lived upon, it would be easy, it strikes me, to obtain the further evidence which is no doubt preserved
1
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And we may suppose he came from that city to America. He was the high sheriff in one of the counties of Virginia, before he received his com- mission from Lord Baltimore. The early part of 1649, he arrived in Maryland; and the same year, brought six persons into the province.1 It seems also he took a kind and active part in securing a home 'for the Puritans from Virginia .? At the Assembly of 1649, he presided over the privy councillors, when they sat separately from the burgesses; and over both branches when the mem- bers assembled in one body. In 1652, his unhappy contest began with the Puritan party.3 The Eng-
upon the records there, and thus to establish the identity of his with one of the other families; as well as to ascertain his own arms. For the armorial bearings of the different families of Stone, see Burke's General Armory.
1 Lib. No. 2, p. 425.
" Such is the opinion f a very respectable authority. It is also certain (see his commission for the office of governor, in Bozman) that he had undertaken to introduce 500 persons. But I have never seen the proof of the fulfilment of his engagement, nor the reasons of his failure.
' Many of the facts of this sketch not directly taken from the Records, will be found in Bozman's Maryland, to which I must refer my readers for a long but interesting, and in most respects strictly accurate account of the controversy.
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lish parliament had sent out commissioners, with instructions to bring under subjection the colonies upon the Chesapeake ; and the governor was ready to acknowledge the authority of the home govern- ment, as it had been organized without a king or a house of lords. But more was exacted. And changes rapidly succeeded each other, not without violence, and greatly to the distress and disturb- ance of the whole province. Acting under in- structions from the proprietary, and aiming to re-establish the form of government recognized by the charter, he marched from St. Mary's, in 1655, at the head of a little army ; and near the site of Annapolis was fought a memorable battle, in which the Puritans exhibited much fanaticism, great bravery, and extreme brutality. The governor "received a wound in his shoulder;" and most · of his surviving adherents, including Col. Price, surrendered. The victorious party then held a court-martial ; passed sentence upon many ; exe-
1 The battlefield, it is supposed, was at the site of Fort Horn, nearly opposite Greenberry's Point, where stood the first Puritan town. See Leonard Strong's " Babylon's Fall," and Langford's "Refutation," Ridgely's "Annals," and other authorities. In another note, I have noticed the origin of the town. 8*
1
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cuted several; and, in cold blood, shot William Eltonhead, a privy councillor, a Roman Catholic, and a near relation of Mr. Fenwick. Through the earnest intercession of some of their own soldiers, the governor was rescued from the fate of Charles the First! The estates of the prisoners were next . sequestered ; heavy and cruel fines inflicted. And the governor was one of the greatest sufferers, through the agency of the very men whom, but a few years before, we have good reason for believing, he had so generously befriended. Some time after the restoration of the proprietary's government, he was a privy councillor ; and, throughout his whole life, sustained a high reputation for integrity and honor. Soon after his arrival, he lived in St. Michael's hundred; the latter part of his life, upon " Poynton Manor," then called Nanjemy; a part of which had been granted, in consideration of his "good and faithful services." 1 At his death, which occurred about 1660, he had a house also at
' Lib. Q. pp. 179-180. The original patent embraced 5000 acres ; and was held of the "honor of West St. Mary's;" with the usual powers and privileges of a manor, including that of holding the court-leet and the court-baron.
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St. Mary's city. He left many children ; 1 whose posterity also resided upon the Manor. And most of bis descendants, like himself,? were Protestants ; including the Rt. Rev. William Murray Stone,' the third bishop in the Protestant Episcopal succession of Maryland. Many also of his descendants are distinguished in the civil and military annals of our country-Thomas,4 his great-great-grandson, having signed the Declaration of American Independence; Michael Jenifer, the brother of Thomas, having
1 Verlinda was his wife ; and Thomas, Richard, Elizabeth, John, Mathew, Catharine, and Mary, were some of his children. See his will (Lib. No. 1, 1635 to 1674, pp. 90-93),) where he names also his brother-in-law, Francis Doughty ; and Richard, the uncle of his son, Richard Stone.
" See Signers of the Protestant Declaration.
3 Of the eastern-shore branch, quite remote from the present representatives in Charles. But the relationship was claimed and recognized as late as the life-time of the bishop.
" Thomas, the granduncle of Frederick, it is well known, was the son of David who died about 1772. And it can be proved from the testamentary, and other records, that David was the son of Thomas, and the grandson of John, the son of the provin- cial governor. The principal part of the proof is derived from their wills, recorded at Annapolis, and probably at Port Tobacco. The ascent also of Thomas, the son of William, may be traced, through the grandfather, Thomas, to Governor William, the great- grandfather. See their wills.
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