The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-06-10
LOCAL "REMINISCENCES.
A LEGEND OF MARYLAND.
IAN OWRE TRUE TALE"
CHAPTER V.
A FRAGMENT OF HISTORY.

FRAGMENT OF HISTORY.
Charles Calvert, Lord Baltimore, the son
of Cecilius, was, according to the testimony
Of all our annalists, worthy gentleman
and an upright ruler He was Governor
of Maryland, by the appointment of his
father, from 1862 to 1915, and after that
became the Lord Proprietary by inherit
ance, and administered the public affairs
in person. His prudence and judgment
won him the esteem of the best portion Of
his people, and the Province prospered in
his hands.
All our histories tell of the troubles that
beset the closing years of his residence in
Maryland. They arose partly out of his
religion, and in part out of the jealousy of
the crown concerning the privileges of his
charter.
He was Roman Catholic; but, like his
father, liberal and tolerant in opinion, and
free from sectarian bias in the administra
ton of his government. Apart from the
influence of his fathers example, the train
ing of his education, his real attachment
to the interests of the Province, and his
own natural inclination, all of which
pointed out to him the duty as we'll as the
advantage of atfording the utmost security
to the freedom of religious opinion,-the
conditions under which he held his propre-
tary rights rendered a departure from this
policy the most improbable accusation that
mind of England at that period was fevered
to state of madness by the domestic quar-
rel that ragged within the kingdom against
the Catholics. The people were distracted
with constant alarms of Popish plots for
the overthrow of the government. The
King, heartless protligate, absorbed in
frivolous pleasures, scarcely entertained
any grave question of state affairs that
had not some connection with his hatreds
and his fears of Catholics and Dissenters.
Then, also, the Province itself was COM
posed, in far the greater part, of Protest
ant population,-computed by some con-
temporary writers at the proportion of
thirty to one,-a population who were
guaranteed freedom of conscience by the
Charter, and who possessed all necessary
power both legal and physical to enforce it.
Under such circumstances as these, how
is it possible to impute designs against the
old established federation, which had mark
ed the history of Maryland from it's first
settlement to that day, to so prudent and
careful a ruler as Charles Calvert, without
imputing to him, at the same time, folly
so absurd as to belle every opinion that has
ever been uttered to his advantage?
Yet, Notwithstanding these improbable
ties the accusation was made and affected
to be believed by the King and his Council:
the result of which was that royal order
was sent to the Proprietary, commanding
him to dismiss every Catholic from employ
ment in the Province, and to supply their
places by the appointment of Protestants.
The most plausible theory upon which l
can account for this harsh proceeding is
suggested by the fact that parties in the
Province took the same complexion with
those in the mother country and ran paral-
lei with them, that the same excitements
which agitated the minds of the people in
England were industriously fomented here,
where no similar reason for them existed,
as the volunteer work of demogogues who
saw in them the means of promoting their
own nterest,-that, in fact, this opposition
to the Proprietary grew out of failing in
our ancestors which has not yet been cured
in their descendants, weakness in favor
of the loaves and fishes. The party in the
majority carried the elections, and felt, of
course, as all parties do who perform such
an exploit, that they had made very
gigantic sacrifice for the good of the country
and deserved to be remunerated for such
an act of heroism, and thereupon set up
and asserted that venerable doctrine which
has been enormously and somewhat vain
gloriously claimed as the conception of a
modern statesman, namely" that to the
victors belong the spoils.' rejoice in the
discovery that dogma SO profound and SO
convenient has the sanction Of antiquity to
commend it to the platform of the patriots
of our own time.
| must in a few words notice another
charge against Lord Baltimore, which was
even more serious than the first, and to
which the cupidity of the King lent will
ing ear. Parliament had passed an act for
levying certain duties on the trade of the
Southern Colonies, which were very op-
pressive to the commerce of Maryland.
These duties were gathered by Collectors
specially appointed for the occasion, who