A new type of colonial government.
In two ways the founding of Maryland was a new departure in methods of colonization. In the first place, it introduced into America a new type of colonial government. The Spanish and French colonies were simple despotisms administered by viceroyal governors, sometimes with advisory councils, sometimes partly held in check by an officer called the intendant, who was himself a counter-despot. The government of Virginia after the suppression of the Company was called a crown government because the governor and council were appointed by the king; it was not a despotism, because there was an assembly elected by the people, without whose consent no taxes could be assessed or collected. The bond of connection with the mother country was loose but real. A contrast was afforded by Massachusetts, which under its first charter, from 1629 to 1684, was a true republic, with governor, council, and assembly all elected within the colony, so that the administration could move on quite independently of any action in England. In the proprietary governments, of which Maryland was the first example, the lord proprietor stepped into the place of the crown, while a charter, which might be forfeited in case of abuse, made it impossible for him to become an absolute monarch. The elective legislature of Maryland, which in point of seniority ranks third in America, next after Virginia and Massachusetts, was expressly provided for in the charter. The lord proprietor's sovereignty was limited by this elected assembly of freemen, but his dependence upon the king of England was little more than nominal. In token of allegiance and homage he was to send to the king each year two Indian arrows. His rent was to be one fifth part of all gold or silver mined in Maryland, but as no precious metals were found there, this rent amounted to nothing. Moreover, whenever it might seem necessary, the oath of allegiance might be administered to any of the inhabitants. Saving this formal recognition of his overlord, the lord proprietor was virtually king in Maryland. Laws passed by the assembly became valid as soon as he had signed them, and did not need to be seen by the king. In case the assembly could not conveniently be brought together in an emergency, he could issue ordinances by himself, analogous to the orders of the Privy Council. He could coin money and grant titles of nobility, he could create courts, appoint judges, and pardon criminals. It was moreover expressly stipulated that within the limits of Maryland no taxes could be either assessed or collected by any British government. Finally the lord proprietorship was vested in Cecilius Calvert and his heirs, and in point of fact was exercised by them with some interruptions for five generations; so that the government of colonial Maryland was really a hereditary constitutional monarchy.
Ecclesiastical powers of the lord proprietor.
Thus Lord Baltimore introduced into America a new and quite remarkable type of colonial government. But in the second place his attempt to inaugurate a policy of complete religious toleration was a still more memorable departure from familiar methods. Among the express provisions of the charter there was nothing that looked toward such complete toleration. Any express toleration of Catholics would have ruined the whole scheme at the start. The words of the charter were conveniently vague. In the original charter of Avalon the lord proprietor was entrusted with "the patronage and advowsons of all churches which, with the increasing worship and religion of Christ within the said region, hereafter shall happen to be built; together with license and faculty of erecting and founding churches, chapels, and places of worship, in convenient and suitable places, within the premises, and of causing the same to be dedicated and consecrated according to the ecclesiastical laws of England." This Avalon grant of 1623 was made when Sir George Calvert was still a member of the English church; it empowered him to found Anglican churches, but did not expressly prohibit him from founding Romanist or Nonconformist places of worship along with the others if he should see fit. Now exactly the same words were repeated in the Maryland charter, although it was generally known that Lord Baltimore intended to make that colony an asylum for such English Catholics as wished to escape from their grievances at home. The fact that no prohibition was inserted shows that the king connived at Baltimore's scheme, perhaps through sympathy with his Catholic queen. None of the Stuarts were fierce Protestants, and it is worth noting that it was at the king's request that the colony was named Maryland. Mr. Gardiner's opinion seems well sustained, that "the phrases of the charter were intended to cover a secret understanding between Baltimore and the king."[127]
Religious toleration in Maryland.
Starting with such a charter, religious toleration in Maryland was a happy product of circumstances. In view of the regal powers wielded by Lord Baltimore it was not easy for the Protestant settlers to oppress the Catholics; while, on the other hand, if the Catholic settlers had been allowed to annoy the Protestants, it would forthwith have raised such a storm in England as would have overwhelmed the lord proprietor and blasted his enterprise. The situation thus created was improved to the best advantage by the strong common-sense and unfailing tact of Cecilius Calvert. It is not likely that he had arrived at such advanced views of the entire separation of church and state as those which were set forth with such luminous cogency by Roger Williams, but there was a statesmanlike instinct in him that led him in a similar direction. In point of religious toleration Rhode Island unquestionably holds the foremost place among the colonies, while next after it come Quaker Pennsylvania, with New Netherland, which for its brief season maintained the wholesome Dutch traditions. There are some respects in which Maryland's record may vie with the brightest, but her success was not attained without struggles. We shall presently have occasion to see how curiously her beginnings were complicated with the affairs of her elder sister Virginia and with some phases of the Puritan revolution.
First settlement at St. Mary's.
If Lord Baltimore felt obliged himself to stay in England, he was able to send excellent agents to America in the persons of his younger brothers, Leonard and George Calvert. The former he appointed governor of Maryland. The most important member of the council was Thomas Cornwallis, of an ancient and highly honourable London family, the same to which in later days belonged the Earl Cornwallis who surrendered an army to George Washington at Yorktown.[128] Leonard Calvert's ships were the Ark, of 300 tons burthen, with its attendant pinnace, the Dove, of 50 tons; and his company comprised 20 "gentlemen adventurers" with about 300 labourers. So alarmed were London people at the expedition that it took the ships a full month to get away from the Thames River. All kinds of rumours flew about. It was assumed that all Catholics must be in league with Spain and that these ships must be concerned in some foul conspiracy against the English colonies in America. At the last moment a great fuss was made in the Star Chamber, and Coke sent an order post-haste to Admiral Pennington commanding the channel fleet to stop the ships at Dover. The oath of supremacy was administered, and we hear of 128 persons taking it at one time. It is generally believed that the majority of the company were Protestants; the leaders were nearly all Catholics, including the amiable Jesuit, Father Andrew White, who has left us in quaint and very charming Latin a full narrative of the voyage.[129] The ships finally started on the 22d of November, 1633, stopped for a while in January at Barbadoes, and on the 27th of February reached Point Comfort, where a letter from the king ensured them courteous treatment at the hands of Governor Harvey. With a fresh stock of supplies they sailed up Chesapeake Bay and into the broad Potomac, and presently on a little wooded island which they called St. Clement's—since dwindled to the mere vestige of a sand-bank—they celebrated Mass for the first time in English America on the 25th of March, 1634.