The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-03-17

ton out of the hands of the Catholics
and put it in the hands of Protestants,
choosing as the Governor and the ma
jority of the Council persons ,of that
faith. The oath which he required
gives us light upon his motive. 1t read
as follows: 81 do further swear that
will not by myself or any person, direct
ly or indirectly, trouble, modest or dis
countenance any person, whatsoever in
the said province protesting to believe in
Jesus Crist, and in particular no Roman
Catholic, for OF in respect of his or her
religion, nor his or her free exercise
thereof, within the said province" This
indicates revolution. 1t was not made
without cause. 1t had become neces-
sity. Lord Baltimore was not strict
Catholic as the Jesuit fathers counted
strictness; at the same time he would do
his utmost TO preserve the peace of the
colony and to secure to Catholics what
up to this time he had been able almost
from the first to command for them.
Power to this end was slipping out of
his hand, and he secured all that was
possible for their relief and protection.
This was in August, 1854, and during
the winter that succeeded, the draft of
the "Act Concerning Religion" was
brought over and submitted to the As.
sembly, which consisted of a majority of
Protestants. These are the circum-
stances, therefore, that led up to the
act of 1919; and, while the act was sound
and the principles embodied in it those
which the world delights to honor, yet
the circumstances do not justify the adj
mirel of Lord Baltimore in describing
him as great and singular hero. 1t
will be observed that it was the joint act
of the proprietary and the people, so
that neither could claim exclusively what
merit belonged to the passage of the
law. The animus of the law, legitimate
but not exalted, is expressed in the fol-
lowing: "For the more quiet and peace
able government of this province and
the better to preserve mutual love and
unity among the inhabitants" The
whole is a matter of policy, good policy,
it is true, but still policy. No recogni-
ton is apparent of mans inherent
right to worship God according to the
dictates of mans own conscience. He
f, ha1;o.ya IN, Tl,,;gf.
so far must he be orthodox. A Jew
might be placed under ban; Unitarian
was liable to be punished with death and
contiscatiOn of his goods and his family
left in poverty, the goods to- go to the
proprietary. There was no religion in it
whatever, no recognition of inherent
human rights, only wise adaptation to
an emergency by a shrewd and obser-
want man.
OF the internal strifes and revolutions
in Maryland and her attitude during the
American Revolution we find very in
teresting account in the seventh, eighth
and ninth lectures. In the tenth lecture
there is an interesting description of the
manners and customs of the people of
Colonial Maryland, as well as review of
the punishment for various crimes which
were permitted under her statutes.
Hanging, drawing, quartering, behead-
ing, burning, the pillory, stocks, whip
ping, cropping, Sitting the nose, cutting
off the hand, the ducking stool, brand
ing in the forehead or hand, boring the
tongue, were all resorted to. Human
life, not only in Maryland, but in the
whole civilized world was at this time
held to be exceedingly cheap. Mr.. Gam
brazil, in his lectures, approaches all
these topics in the spirit of fairness and
candor. His idea of the true historian
is we'll put in his own words: "History
should be written by first determining
the facts, viewing them according to the
exigencies that created them or the pur-
pose for which they were called into be-
ing."-Sunday Press.