unders of the colony; but in this case the Protestants were the
instigators, and the cruel laws of Queen Elizabeth's reign against the
Roman Catholics were the instruments. Lord Baltimore, an Irish peer, and
other men of distinction in the popish body, obtained from Charles I.,
as an asylum in the New World, a grant of that angle of Virginia lying
on both sides of the River Chesapeake, a district rich in soil, genial
in climate, and admirably situated for commerce. An expedition of 200
Roman Catholics, many among them men of good birth, was sent under Mr.
Calvert, Lord Baltimore's brother, to take possession of this favored
tract. (1634.) Their first care was to conciliate the Indians, in which
they eminently succeeded. The natives were even prevailed upon to
abandon their village and their cleared lands around to the strangers,
and to remove themselves contentedly to another situation.

Maryland was most honorably distinguished in the earliest times by
perfect freedom of religious opinion. Many members of the Church of
England, as well as Roman Catholics, fled thither from the persecutions
of the Puritans. The Baltimore family at first displayed great
liberality and judgment in their rule; but, as they gained confidence
from the secret support of the king to their cherished faith, their
wise moderation seems to have diminished. However, the principal
grievance brought against them was, that they had not provided by public
funds for Church of England clergymen as fully as for those of their own
faith, although by far the larger portion of the population belonged to
the flock of the former. The unsatisfactory state of morals, manners,
and religion in the colony was attributed to this neglect. At the
Revolution, the inhabitants of Maryland rose with tumultuous zeal
against their Roman Catholic lords, and published a manifesto in
justification of their proceedings, accusing Lord Baltimore's government
of intolerable tyranny. These statements, whether true or false,
afforded King William an opportunity to assume the colonial power in his
own hands, 1691, and to deprive the Calverts of all rights over the
country, except the receipt of some local taxes.[357]

For a long time but few settlers had established themselves in that part
of North America now called Carolina;[358] of these, some were men who
had fled from the persecutions of New England, and formed a little
colony round Cape Fear (1661); others were Virginians, attr