The Irish standard., 1897-12-25
ON THIS SIDE OF THE OCEAN
He Was One of the Most Bene-
VIOLENT Law-GiYers.
THE FOUNDING OF MARYLAND
The Only Home of Religious Liberty
In the Wide World.

In the mind of Sir George Calvert,
the first Lord Baltimore, the project for
settlement in the rev world for the
prosecuted Catholics of England first
originated. In 1926, after the death OF
James I, who bestowed upon Sir George
Calvert tract of land in County Long
ford, Ireland, and knighted him lord OF
Baltimore, Cecil Calvert, as member
of the London company, visited Vjr-
ginia. On entering Virginia the author
tiles refused to admit him unless he took
the oath of allegiance and supremacy to
premacy was a declaration denying the
supremacy of the pope in the ecclesias-
tical affairs in England or her colonies.
This was an intended insult to Lord
Baltimore; he had visited other colonies,
but nowhere was prescribed on account
of his protesting the Catholic religion.
It Is strange that libel and tolerant
Virginians distrusted Baltimore when
two monarches Of England-James l and
Charles I-Were friends of the Catholic
lord, James, in 1919, having made him
secretary of state, and as the Protestant
historian, LOSING, says, Lord Balti-
more stood high in the confidence of
Charles
The Protestant historian Sainsbury
In his calendar of state (Virginia)
Papers" says that Clayborne and his as
sociates boasted "that no papists have
been suffered to settle among us" 1t is
admitted that the authorities of Virginia
broke up a French Catholic settlement
in Maine and at later day had pre-
vented Irish Catholics landing in Vir-
ginia
Refusing to take the oath, he and his
companions departed from the James
river, and made voyage up the Chesa-
pleased with the appearance of the coun-
try, projected settlement upon the up
per portion of the Chesapeake Bay, and
then returned to England.
In 1852 Lord Baltimore applied for and
was granted by Charles tract of land
on the Chesapeake, Charles giving him
permission to frame charter for the
province The grant included the pres
ent era of Maryland. Before it passed
the seals Calvert died, on April rs, 1867,
leaving his son Cecil heir to his title.
In June of the same year the charter
was executed, with no alteration from
the original except in the name of the
province, which was called Maryland,
in honor Of Henrietta Maria, the queen
of Charles l.
The charter of Maryland, in which the
long experience and political wisdom of
Lord Baltimore are manifest, has gen.
orally been regarded Us one of his best
titles to the respect Of posterity. The
charter secured to the emigrants them
selves an Independent share In the legis-
lation Of the province, Of which the
statutes were to be established with the
advice and appreciation of the majority.
"Calvert deserves" says Bancroft "to
be ranked among the most wise and
benevolent lawgivers Of all ages. He
was the first in the history of the Chris
tlan world to seek for religious security
and peace by the practice of justice and
not by the exercise of power; to plan
the establishment of popular institutions
with the enjoyment of liberty of con-
science; to advance the career of civili-
zation by recognizing the equal
1ty Of all the Christian world
to seek for religious security
the spot where, in remote corner of the
world, on the banks of rivers which as
yet had hardly been explored, the mild
forbearance of proprietary, adopted re-
ligious freedom as the basis of the
state.''
The motives which prompted Balti-
more to found home in the new world
Tor his brethren was no account of the
persecution toward the Catholics. In his
days there were twenty Catholic priests
and several laymen hanged, drawn and
Quartered in England for their religion.
The son Of Lord Baltimore, having
now received the charter, prepared to
carry out his fathers plans. Terms of
settlement were issued to attract colon
lists, and body of emigrants were soon
collected to begin the foundation of the
new province. The leading gentlemen
who were induced to take part in the
project were Catholics; those whom
they took out to till the soil or ply
q