Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-07-13

Az the glowing eeaeeptioas Of the
Master become 6xed in 9 e cold inper-
ishable marble-so the ikoltsn lava Of
ts~seea snAiHioa-esushed sAectioas-|
prosecuted faith-outraged rights-eas Il
shrivels and withers, in its fiery torrent,
the brightest flowers Of life-so Il cools
and hardens into dark and rugged forms
Of fell revenge as enduring . the VOL
canic seoria which rolls its petri6ed
waves over the slumbering cities OF
elder time. These bitter wrongs with
an eternity Of i'll in . momert-come
oftenest and quickest in the actions and
reactions Of revolutions and counter
revolutions Of political history-embit-
tering the heart and soaring the brow
of one generation to leave its heritage
Of dark memories to all others to come.
Of the tenor and import Of the chars
ter granted by his Majesty Charles 10
Cecilius, Lord Baron Of Baltimore,
much delusion has prevailed among
the seetarian writers of the day. The
"civil and religious liberty" clauses of
that instrument have been quoted-to
invest Lord Baltimore with the charac-
ter Of Missionary propagandist which
he neither sought nor desired. A care
full study of contemporaheou, colonial
history and small installment of polit-
ical philosophy will very readily reduce
the "moral grandeur" of the charter to
the ordinary standard Of practical ex-
pediency Of craftsmanship.
AN men know and all admit that
the primary object of the colonial
charters issued and granted by the Eu-
ropean princes Of that day-was to col.
onise-populate-cultivate and render
subsidiary to commerce the transatlan-
tic possessions Of the crown. The guar
antee Of civil and religious liberty in
those days of bitter and nrelenting Sec
tartan persecution presents more polit.
ical policy than missionary zeal-this
inference is sustained by the historical
fact-that as large q proportion of the
settlers Of Maryland came from intoler-
ant WITHDRAWING Massachusetts, and
''Prelatical" High-Church Virginia =,
from old England-the patentee of the
Proprietary Charter of Maryland must
necessarily have known that the en-
igrants to his palatinate would impress
upon the legislative history Of the prov
ince the seal Of their political and relig-
ious opinions according to their ratio
of representation-all of which is suf-
6cient to show that he looked above and
beyond the establishment Of mission
airy station or an Arcadia for his own
particular sect on the banks Of the Saint
Mary's.
Enthusiasts, martyrs and the like may
set at defiance all the maxims OF world
ly policy to eliminate beautiful idea
or consecrate dogma of faith, but not
othose tehpor,ipower. who found king
doms. principalities and dynasties and
who looked down through vista Of GEN.
turtles to perpetuate particular system
Of political polity-and in the liberal
policy by which the Lord Baron Of Bal
timore colonized the province and con-
verted the aborigines into . friendly
power-which saved the infant colony
of Maryland from the terrible Indian
warfare which desolated all other colo
NAL frontiers-we behold the sagacity
Of q stafesman-not the zeal Of q church.
man.
To have maintained feudal princ,-
pality in the middle Of the seventeenth
century in the America Of the Anglo
Norman with an ocean rolling between
it and the monarchical institutions from
which it derived its powers-under the
most favorable circumstances would
have tasked the powers Of human agen-
cy to the utmost.
Blu. to have done 30 whaAa minds
Of the eoloni,ts were n~se6By two
Of the fereest passions Of the human
heart-political zeal and religious fanati-
eisp-would have been to rollhack the
tide Of human thought to ITS <od<ee-to
reduce society to its primitive ele-
ments.
The exalted character and the bright
social virtues Of the Pilgrim Fathers Of
Maryland could not maintain political
system incompatible with the progress
sive spirit Of the age, quickened - il
was into fearful activity BY . social
struggle Of antagonistie elements. II ID
the sfre.gtA Of the Corinthian column
that sustains the vsulted dome Of the
political temple-the fascinating virtues
Of social hfe-the fervent inspiration Of
clustered piety-she scholastic gaees
of Univer,iieasS;ve be.uty-but not
d.rab;lis,-.o III zFsI sPoa which Po-
litis1 sysiems rest.
The pleading and graceful supes.ti.
tion Of alle&orieal Ayth01o1v-She m.