Evening star., 1934-10-28

I'm THESE days of commemorating the
founding Of Maryland, how many Of US
know that q NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Of
George Washington played q considerable
part?
We may read a dozen histories Of
Maryland and never come across the mans
name. But delve into the original records OF
the Colony, and we come upon this ancestor
of George everywhere. That his name was not
Washington, only serves to remind us that
Georges American ancestry got quite start
before the Washingtons came into 1t. This par
ticular forefather (who had rather distin-
guished himself in Maryland before there was
Q washington in America) was Nathan Pope.
Now the way from Nathaniel Pope to
George Washington was to be this: Pope's
daughter was to marry John Washington, and
their son Lawrence was to have a son. Au-
of His Country.
O merchant, but evidently one of those vital,
forceful characters who go places and DO
things His story Is pretty good story OF the
founding of Maryland. just how early he
reached America nobody really knows When,
in 1884 Lord Baltimore's company Of ad-
venturers landed for the first settlement in
Maryland Nathaniel was not among them But
they had scarcely got rough fort and lew
huts up before Washington's ancestor put In
an appearance.
| IPON one of those bits of craft from Eng
~ land, about as big as tug Nathaniel
Pope came sailing out of the Atlantic into
Chesapeake Bay, up the Potomac River and
into the broad tributary or estuary that the
colonists had named st. Georges River. but
soon renamed ST. Marys River. And there, on
the high eastern bank. was the white mans
puny break in the wilderness-an that there
was of the Colony of Maryland. Already the
little settlement was proudly named ST. Marys
City.
pope who turned out to be a man with
good eye for location, must have been pleased
with his new home A much more attractive
spot than the site of either of the other two
English settlements then in America, Plymouth
and jamestown. Quite high was the river
bank where little St. Marys City perched. and
when Nathaniel Pope got up there he found
a strange scene A crude fort and some cabins
were there but more Indian wigwamS than
anything else. There had been native village
on the spot before the coming of the white
man One of the Indian huts made OF poles
was now the white mans church or chapel.
The colonists numbered some two or three
hundred varying widely in social rank and
appearance.
Did Nathaniel Pope now meet that really
great man, the Governor, with whom he was
to have peculiar relations in the founding OF
MARYLAND? This man, Leonard Calvert,
brother of Lord Baltimore was quite the man
for the part as Governor OF the Province.
Maryland differed radically from the other
English Colonies and required man Of
breadth rather than of force to establish It,
Two peculiar things especially characterized
its establishment: Lord Batimores proprietor
ship was so complete that he was virtually
a feudal lord-and yet this Colony was to be-
come q leader in representative government;
Lord Baltimore Catholic and his set
szI,, C4kt kt&ls4 nvI nc
Colony was to become a sanctuary for Prot
estants and the first home of religious freedom
in America. Gov. Leonard Calvert met and
handled well these somewhat surprising de-
velopments.
For some time after the landing the affairs
Of the Colony, and of Nathaniel Pope, were
little noteworthy Pope given freehold
and was classed as planter. Everybody was
busy getting settled" What governing was
done was done by the Governor. Tradition has
it that his edicts were fastened up on a null
berry tree not far from the fort. In proof,
some Iails were found long afterward sticking
in the tree.
minded and it was remembered that under the
charter they also were entitled to voice in
legislation. In 1885, voluntarily or otherwise,
Gov. Calvert called the freemen Of the Colony
together in general assembly. But nothing
came Of the proceedings as Lord Baltimore
refused his sanction. So the Governor again
governed under the common law of England.
h low matter long to be thorn in Mary
lands side, and one day to prick WASH
ington's grandsire rather sharply All along,
the Colony Of Virginia had resented the coming
of the Colony of Maryland as an invasion OF
her chartered territory. One island of the
Chesapeake, within the grant to Lord Baltimore,
Virginia especially claimed as having been pre-