and with some few alterations it subsisted down to 1686, when all the charters were prostrated by the authority of King James.1 Rhode Island made application to be admitted into this Union; but was refused upon the ground, that the territory was within the limits of Plymouth colony. It does not appear that subsequently the colony became a party to it.2

1 1 Holmes's Annals, 270 and note; 1 Hutch. Hist. 126 note; 2 Haz. Coll. 7 el seq.

21 Holmes's Annals, 287 and note; 1 Hutch. Hist. 124; 2 Haz. Coll. 99, 100.

CHAPTER IX.

MARYLAND.

§ 103. THE province of Maryland was included originally in the patent of the Southern or Virginia company; and upon the dissolution of that company it reverted to the crown. King Charles the First, on the 20th June, 1632, granted it by patent to Cecilius Calvert Lord Baltimore, the son of George Calvert Lord Baltimore, to whom the patent was intended to have been made, but he died before it was executed. By the charter, the king erected it into a province, and gave it the name of Maryland, in honour of his Queen, Henrietta Maria, the daughter of Henry the Fourth of France, to be held of the crown of England, he yearly, for ever, rendering two Indian arrows. The territory was bounded by a right line drawn from Watkins's Point, on Chesapeake bay, to the ocean on the east, thence to that part of the estuary of Delaware on the north, which lieth under the 40th degree, where New-England is terminated; thence in a right line by the degree aforesaid to the meridian of the fountain of Potomac ; thence following its course by the further bank to its confluence with the Chesapeake, and thence to Watkins's Point.2

§ 104. The territory thus severed from Virginia, was made immediately subject to the crown, and was granted in full and absolute propriety to Lord Baltimore and his heirs, saving the allegiance and sovereign dominion

1 Holmes's Ann. 213; 1 Chalm. Annals, 201, 202; Bacon's Laws of Maryland, (1765); 2 Doug. Summ. 353, &c.

21 Haz. Coll. 327 to 337; 1 Chalm. Annals, 202; Charters of N. A. Provinces, 4to, London, 1766.

1

to the crown, with all the rights, regalities, and prerogatives, which the Bishop of Durham enjoyed in that palatinate, to be held of the crown as of Windsor Castle, in the county of Berks, in free and common soccage, and not in capite or by knights' service. The charter further provided, that the proprietary should have authority by and with the consent of the freemen, or their delegates assembled for the purpose, to make all laws for the province, "so that such laws be consonant to reason, and not repugnant or contrary, but, as far as conveniently might be, agreeable to the laws, statutes, customs, and rights of this our realm of England.” 1 The proprietary was also vested with full executive power; and the establishment of courts of justice was provided for. The proprietary was also authorized to levy subsidies with the assent of the people in assembly. The inhabitants and their children were to enjoy all the rights, immunities, and privileges of subjects born in England. The right of the advowsons of the churches, according to the establishment of England, and the right to create manors and courts baron, to confer titles of dignity, to erect ports and other regalities, were expressly given to the proprietary. An exemption of the colonists from all talliages on their goods and estates to be imposed by the crown was expressly covenanted for in perpetuity; an exemption, which had been conferred on other colonies for years only.2 License was granted to all subjects to transport themselves to the province; and its products were to be imported into England and Ireland under such taxes only, as were paid by other

1 1 Haz. Coll. 327, &c.; 1 Chalm. Annals, 202; Marsh. Colon. ch. 2,

2 1 Chalmers's Annals, 203, 204, 205.

.

the proprietary.1 In 1649 an act was passed, punishing blasphemy, or denying the Holy Trinity, with death and confiscation of goods and lands;2 and, strangely enough after such a provision, in the same act, after a preamble, reciting that the confining of conscience in matters of religion hath frequently fallen out to be of dangerous consequence, it is enacted, that no person "professing to believe in Jesus Christ," shall be molested for or in respect to his religion, or the free exercise thereof, nor any way compelled to the belief or exercise of any other religion. It seems not to have been even imagined, that a belief in the divine mission of Jesus Christ could, in the eyes of any sect of Christians, be quite consistent with the denial of the Trinity. This act was confirmed among the perpetual laws in 1676.

§ 108. The legislation of Maryland does not, indeed, appear to have afforded an uniform protection in respect to religion, such as the original policy of the founder would seem to indicate. Under the protectorate of Cromwell, Roman Catholics were expressly denied any protection in the province; and all others, "who profess faith in God by Jesus Christ, though differing in judgment from the doctrine, worship, or discipline publicly held forth," were not to be restrained from the exercise of their religion. In 1696 the Church of England was established in the province; and in 1702, the liturgy and rites, and ceremonies of the Church of England were required to be pursued in all the churches, with such tol

4

1 Bacon's Laws of Maryland, ch. 2, of 1638; 1050, ch. 1; 1 Marsh. Colon. fcc ch. 2, p. 73; 1 Chalm. Ann. 213. 219, 220, 225.

2 1 Chalm. Annals, 223, 365; Bacon's Laws of Maryland, 1649.

3 Bacon's Laws of Maryland, 1649, ch. 1; 1 Chalmers's Annals, 218, 219, 235.

4 Bacon's Laws of Maryland, 1654, ch. 4; Marsh. Colon. ch. 2, p. 75 ; Chalm. Ann. 218, 235.

eration for Dissenters, however, as was provided for in the act of 1 William and Mary.1 And the introduction of the test and abjuration acts, in 1716, excluded all Roman Catholics from office.2

§ 109. It appears to have been a policy adopted at no great distance of time after the settlement of the colony to provide for the public registration of conveyances of real estates. In the silence of the statute book until 1715, it is to be presumed, that the system of descents of intestate estates was that of the parent country. In that year an act passed, which made the estate partible among all the children; and the system thus introduced has, in its substance, never since been departed from. Maryland too, like the other colonies, was early alive to the importance of possessing the sole power of internal taxation ; and accordingly, in 1650,5 it was declared, that no taxes should be levied without the consent of the general assembly.

§ 110. Upon the revolution of 1688, the government of Maryland was seized into the hands of the crown, and was not again restored to the proprietary until 1716. From that period no interruption occurred until the American Revolution.6

1 Bacon's Laws of Maryland, 1702, ch. 1.

2 Bacon's Laws of Maryland, 1716, ch. 5; Walsh's Appeal, 49, 50; 1 Holmes's Annals, 476, 489.

3 Bacon's Laws of Maryland, 1674.

4 Bacon's Laws of Maryland, 1715, ch. 39.

5 Bacon's Laws of Maryland, 1650, ch. 25; 1 Chalm. Ann. 220.

6 Bacon's Laws of Maryland, 1692, 1716.