[1] Mr. Joseph Hunter's "Collections concerning the Early History of the
Founders of New Plymouth." London, 1849: No 2 of his Critical and
Historical Tracts, p. 14.
[2] It is believed by historians that Sir Walter Raleigh fell a victim
to the intrigues of Spain at the Court of James. His American adventures
and hardihood were dangerous to the Spanish Empire. A small pamphlet
entitled: A NEW DESCRIPTION OF VIRGINIA, published in London in 1619, a
reprint of which is possessed by the Virginia Historical Society, shows
how the prophetic fears of the Spaniard, even at that early time,
conjured up the warning phantom of Anglo-Saxon "_annexation._"
"It is well known," says the pamphlet, "that our English plantations
have had little countenance; nay, that our statesmen, (when time was,)
had store of Gundemore's gold," (meaning Gondomar, Spanish Minister at
James's Court)--"_to destroy_ and discountenance the plantation of
Virginia; and he effected it, in great part, by dissolving the company,
wherein most of the nobility, gentry, corporate cities, and most
merchants of England, were interested and engaged; after the expense of
some hundred of thousands of pounds; for Gundemore did affirm to his
friends, that he had commission from his master"--(the King of
Spain,)--"to destroy that plantation. For, said he, should they thrive
and go on increasing, as they have done under that popular Lord of
Southampton, _my master's West Indies_, AND HIS MEXICO, _would shortly
be visited by sea and by land, from those Planters in Virginia_."
Generals Scott and Taylor--both sons of Virginia--have verified, in the
nineteenth century, the foresight of the cautious statesman of the
seventeenth.
_See Virginia His. Reg. Vol. 1. p. 28._
[3] Dr. Miller's "History Philosophically Illustrated," vol 1. p. 95.
[4] "Men who have to count, miserly, the kernels of corn for their daily
bread, and to till their ground, staggering through weakness from the
effect of famine, can do but little in settling the metaphysics of
faith, or in counting frames, and gauging the exercises of their
feelings. Grim necessity of hunger looks morbid sensibility out of
countenance."--_Rev. Dr. G. B. Cheever's edition of the Journal of the
Pilgrims;--1848: p. 112._
[5] "The New England Puritans, though themselves refugees from religions
intolerance, and martyrs, as they supposed, to the cause of religious
freedom, practiced the same intolerance to those who were so unfortunate
as to differ from them. In 1635, Roger Williams was banished from the
Massachusetts colony for differences of religious opinions with the
civil powers. This was the next year after the arrival of the Maryland
colony. In 1659, fifteen years later, a Baptist received thirty lashes
at the whipping post, in Boston, for his peculiar faith; and nine years
later, three persons suffered death by the common hangman, in the same
place, for their adherence to the sect of Quakers."--_Rev. Dr. Burnap's
Life of Leonard Calvert, in Sparks's Am. Biog. 2nd series, vol. IX. p.
170, Boston, 1846._
On the 13th Sept. 1644, these N. England Puritans, passed a law of
banishment against Anabaptists; in 1646, another law, imposing the same
punishment, was passed against Heresy and Error; in 1647, the order of
Jesuits came in for a share of intolerance;--its members were inhibited
from entering the colony; if they came in, heedless of the law, they
were to be banished, and if they returned after banishment, they were to
be _put to death_. On the 14th of October 1656, the celebrated law was
enacted against "the cursed sect of heretics lately risen up in the
world, which are commonly called Quakers:"--by its decrees, captains of
vessels who introduced these religionists, knowingly, were to be fined
or imprisoned; "quaker books or writings containing their devilish
opinions," were not to be brought into the colony, under a penalty;
while quakers who came in, were to be committed to the house of
correction, kept constantly at work, not allowed to speak, and severely
whipped, on their entrance into this sanctuary!--See original Acts,
_Hazard's His. Coll. 1, pp. 538, 545, 550, 630_.
[6] See Mr. John P. Kennedy's discourse on the life and character of Sir
George Calvert, and the reviews thereof, with Mr K's reply, on this
question of religion, in the U. S. Catholic Magazine, 1846. Since the
publication of Mr. Kennedy's discourse and the reviews of it, in 1846, I
have met with an English work published in London in 1839, _attributed_
to Bishop Goodman, entitled an "Account of the Court of James the
first." In vol. 1, p. 376, he says: "The third man who was thought to
gain by the Spanish match was Secretary Calvert; and as he was the _only
Secretary employed in the Spanish match_, so undoubtedly he did what
good offices he could therein, for religion's sake, _being infinitely
addicted to the Roman Catholic faith, having been converted thereto by
Count Gondemar and Count Arundel, whose daughter Secretary Calvert's Son
had married; and, as it was said, the Secretary did usually catechise
his own children, so to ground them in his own religion; and in his best
room having an altar set up, with chalice, candlesticks, and all other
ornaments, he brought all strangers thither, never concealing anything,
as if his whole joy and comfort had been to make open profession of his
religion_." As the Prelate was a _contemporary_, this statement,
founded, as it may be, on report, is of considerable importance. Fuller,
also, was a contemporary though thirty years younger than Calvert. The
Spanish match, alluded to, was on the carpet as early as 1617, and was
broken off in the beginning of 1624. It was probably during this period
that Lord Arundel and the Spanish Minister influenced the mind of Sir
George as to religion.
[7] Mr. Chalmers, in his Hist. of the Revolt of the Am. Col. B. 2 ch. 3,
says that the charter of Maryland was a _literal copy_ from the prior
patent of Avalon; but of this we are unable to judge, as he neither
cites his authority nor indicates the depository of the Avalon Charter.
If the Maryland charter is an _exact_ transcript of the Avalon document,
it is interesting to know the fact, as Calvert may have been a
Protestant, when the latter was issued. Bozman states an authority for
its date, as of 1623, which would indicate that this document may still
probably be found in the British Museum. If it was issued in 1623, it
was granted a year before, Fuller says, Calvert resigned because he had
become a Catholic. In all likelihood, however, Sir George was not
converted in a day!--_See Bozman Hist. Maryland ed. 1837, vol. 1 p. 240
et seq. in note._
[8] The Baron Von Raumer, in his Hist. of the XVI and XVII Centuries,
vol. 2, p. 263, quoting from Tillieres, says of Calvert: "He is an
honorable, sensible well-minded man, courteous towards strangers, full
of respect towards embassadors, zealously intent on the welfare of
England; but by reason of all these good qualities, entirely without
consideration or influence."
The only original work or tract by which we know the character of Sir
George Calvert's mind is "THE ANSWER TO TOM TELL-TROTH, THE PRACTISE OF
PRINCES AND THE LAMENTATIONS OF THE KIRKE, _written by Lord Baltimore,
late Secretary of State_." London, _printed 1642_:--a copy of which, in
MS., is in the collections of the Maryland Hist. Soc. This is a quaint
specimen of pedantic politics and toryism--larded with Latin quotations,
and altogether redolent of James's Court. It was addressed to Charles I,
and shows the author's intimate acquaintance with the political history
and movements of the continental powers. We may judge Calvert's politics
by the following passage in which he _commends_ the doctrines of his old
master:--
"King James," says he, "in his oration to the Parliament, 1620, used
these words _very judiciattie_; Kings and Kingdoms were before
Parliaments; the Parliament was never called for the purpose to meddle
with complaints against the King, the Church, or State matters, but _ad
consultandum de rebus arduis, Nos et Regnum nostrum concernantibus_; as
the writ will inform you. I was never the cause, nor guiltie of the
election of my sonne by the Bohemians, neither would I be content that
any other king should dispute whether I am a lawful King or no, and to
tosse crowns like Tennis-balls."
[9] It may seem strange, that, being a Catholic, he still had the right
of advowson or of presentation to Protestant Episcopal Churches; but it
was not until the Act of 1st William and Mary, chapter 26, that
Parliament interfered with the right of Catholics to present to
religious benefices. That Act vested the presentations belonging to
Catholics in the Universities. An Act passed 12th Anne, was of a similar
disabling character.--_Butler's Hist. Mem. vol. 3, pp. 136, 148, 149._
[10] See Appendix No. 1, in regard to the erroneous translation of this
clause from the Latin, that has hitherto been adopted from Bacon's laws
of Maryland.
[11] As an illustration of this feeling, I will quote a passage showing
how it fared with Marylanders in Massachusetts in 1631. "The Dove," one
of the vessels of the first colonists to Maryland, was dispatched to
Massachusetts with a cargo of corn to exchange for fish. She carried a
friendly letter from Calvert and another from Harvey, but the
magistrates were suspicious of a people who "_did set up mass openly_."
Some of the crew were accused of reviling the inhabitants of
Massachusetts as "holy brethren," "the members," &c., and just as the
ship was about to sail; _the supercargo, happening on shore, was
arrested in order to compel the master to give up the culprits_. The
proof failed, and the vessel was suffered to depart, but not without a
special charge to the master "_to bring no more such disordered
persons!_"--_Hildreth Hist. U. S., vol. 1, 209_.
[12] See Appendix No. 2.
[13] In order to illustrate the spirit in which the region for the first
settlement at St. Mary's was acquired, I will quote from a MS. copy of
"A Relation of Maryland, 1635," now in my possession: "To make his
entrie peaceable and safe, he thought fit to present ye Werowance and
Wisoes of the town (so they call ye chief men of accompt among them,)
with some English cloth (such as is used in trade with ye Indians,)
axes, hoes, and knives, which they accepted verie kindlie, and freely
gave consent toe his companie that hee and they should dwell in one part
of their towne, and reserved the other for themselves: and those Indians
that dwelt in that part of ye towne which was allotted for ye English,
freely left them their houses and some corne that they had begun to
plant: It was also agreed between them that at ye end of ye Harvest they
should have ye whole Towne, which they did accordinglie. And they made
mutuall promises to each other to live peaceably and friendlie together,
and if any injury should happen to be done, on any part, that
satisfaction should be made for ye same; and thus, on ye 27 DAIE of
MARCH, A. D. 1634, ye Gouernour took possession of ye place, and named
ye _Towne--Saint Marie's_.
"There was an occasion that much facilitated their treatie with these
Indians which was this: the Susquehanocks (a warlike people that inhabit
between Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay) did usuallie make warres and
incursions upon ye neighboring Indians, partly for superioritie, partly
for to gett their women, and what other purchase they could meet with;
which the Indians of _Yoacomaco_ fearing, had, ye yeere before our
arivall there, made a resolution, for there safetie, to remove
themselves higher into ye countrie, where it was more populous, and many
of them where gone there when ye English arrived."
At Potomac, Father Altham,--according to Father White's Latin MS. in the
Maryland Hist. Soc. Col.--informed the guardian of the King that _we_
(the clergy) had not come thither for war, but for the sake of
benevolence,--that we might imbue a rude race with the principles of
civilization, and open a way to Heaven, as well as to impart to them the
advantages enjoyed by distant regions. The prince signified that we had
come acceptably. The interpreter was one of the Virginia Protestants.
When the Father, for lack of time, could not continue his discourse, and
promised soon to return: "I will that it should be so," said
Archihau--"our table shall be one; my men shall hunt for you; all things
shall be in common between us."
The Werowance of Pautuxent visited the strangers, and when he was about
departing, used the following language, as recorded in the MS. Relation
of Maryland of 1635: "I love ye English so well that if they should goe
about to kill me, if I had so much breath as to speak, I would command
ye people not to revenge my death; for I know they would not doe such a
thinge except it was through mine own default." See also Mr. B. U.
Campbell's admirable SKETCH OF THE EARLY MISSIONS TO MARYLAND, read
before the Md. Hist. Soc. 8th Jan. 1846, and subsequently printed in the
U.S. Catholic Magazine.
[14] In William Penn's second reply to a committee of the House of Lords
appointed in 1678, he declares that those who cannot comply with laws,
through tenderness of conscience, should not "revile or conspire against
the government, _but with christian humility and patience tire out all
mistakes against us_, and wait their better information, who, we
believe, do as undeservedly as severely treat us."
[15] Preface to Frame of Government, 25 April, 1682.
[16] Those who desire to know the precise character of the celebrated
Elm-tree Treaty, should read the Memoir on its history, in vol. 3, part
2, p. 145 of the Memoirs of the Pennsylvania Hist. Soc., written by the
late Mr. Du Ponceau, and Mr. Joshua Francis Fisher. It is one of the
finest specimen of minute, exhaustive, historical analysis, with which I
am acquainted. These gentlemen, prove, I think, conclusively, that the
Treaty was altogether one of amity and friendship, and was entirely
unconnected with the purchase of lands.
[17] Janney's Life of Penn, 163.
[18] See 2nd Bozman Hist. Md. p. 616--note XLIII, Conditions, &c.
[19] 2d Bozman, 597, and Orig. MS. in Md. His. Soc.