Cathedral of Milan; but the
intrepid Prelate told him that his hands were dripping with the blood of
his subjects, and forbade him entrance to the church till he had made all
the reparation in his power to the afflicted people of Thessalonica.

People affect to be shocked at the sentence of ex-communication
occasionally inflicted by the Church on evil-doers. Here is an instance of
this penalty. Who can complain of it as being too severe? It was a
salutary punishment and the only one that could bring rulers to a sense of
duty.

The greatest bulwark of civil liberty is the famous _Magna Charta_. It is
the foundation not only of British, but also of American constitutional
freedom. Among other blessings contained in this instrument it establishes
trial by jury and the right of _Habeas Corpus_, and provides that there
shall be no taxation without representation.

Who were the framers of this memorable charter? Archbishop Langton, of
Canterbury, and the Catholic Barons of England. On the plains of
Runnymede, in 1215, they compelled King John to sign that paper which was
the death-blow to his arbitrary power and the cornerstone of
constitutional government.

Turning to our own country, it is with no small degree of satisfaction
that I point to the State of Maryland as the cradle of civil and religious
liberty and the "land of the sanctuary." Of the thirteen original American
Colonies, Maryland was the only one settled by Catholics. She was, also,
the only one that raised aloft over her fair lands the banner of liberty
of conscience, and that invited the oppressed of other colonies to seek an
asylum beneath its shadow.

Lest I should be suspected of being too partial in my praise of Maryland
toleration, I shall take most of my historical facts from Bancroft, a New
England Protestant clergyman.

NOTE--The first edition of Bancroft's History was published in
1834. From that date till nearly half a century afterward upwards
of twenty editions were issued, all of which retain the passages I
have cited on Maryland toleration. Early in the 80s a new edition
was given out, which omits or abridges some of the passages quoted
in this chapter. I may add that all of Bancroft's eulogies of Lord
Baltimore's benevolent administration are borne out by the
original documents, and by McMahon, Bozman and McSherry, and other
historians of Maryland.

Leonard Calvert, the brother of Lord Baltimore a