of Catholicity in these United States. verses, her losses have been compensated | history of that colony, is the early history by what she has gained in other directions; so that the number of her adherents, according to recent and respectable authorities, may, at the present time, be estimated at about twenty-five and a half millions, spread over the whole American continent. This ancient church, therefore, outnumbers by nearly ten millions, even in the new world, all the various Protestant denominations put together. Of this large body, however, only about 1,300,000 at the highest calculation, are found in the United States.* A Catholic navigator, whose name will be forgotten only in the wreck of the world, having thus discovered this vast continent, and another son of the church having given it its name: it was likewise by the illustrious Catholics John and Sebastian Cabot, and Verragani, in the service of the Catholic kings Henry VII. of England, and Francis I. of France, that the shores of the United States were first discovered and explored. This took place between the years 1497 and 1524. Farther north, the noble-hearted James Cartier discovered, in the course of three successive voyages, the gulf and river of St. Lawrence, and laid the foundations of the present flourishing cities, Quebec and Montreal. It is, however, to that portion of the new world which the American fondly hails as his native land-the United States, and to the origin and progress of the Catholic religion within its borders, that we now confine our attention. And here with unfeigned pleasure, with honest and heartfelt satisfaction, does the American Catholic challenge the attention of his countrymen to the first settlement of the Maryland colony; for the early The following is an outline of this memorable epoch in our annals. Lord Baltimore having obtained from Charles I. the Charter of Maryland, hastened to carry into effect, the plan of colonizing the new province, of which he appointed his brother, Leonard Calvert, to be Governor. This first body of emigrants, consisting of about two hundred gentlemen of considerable rank and fortune, chiefly of the Roman Catholic persuasion, with a number of inferior adherents, sailed from England under the command of Calvert, in November 1632, and after a prosperous voyage, landed in Maryland, near the mouth of the river Potomac, in the beginning of the following year. The Governor as soon as he landed, erected a cross on the shore, and took possession of the country for our Saviour, and for our Sovereign Lord the King of England. Aware that the first settlers of Virginia had given umbrage to the Indians by occupying their territory, without demanding their permission, he determined to imitate the wiser and juster policy that had been pursued by the colonists of New England, and to unite the new with the ancient race of inhabitants by the reciprocal ties of equity and good-will. The Indian chief to whom he submitted his proposition of occupying a portion of the country, received it at first with sullen indifference, the result most probably of aversion to the measure, and of conscious inability to resist it. His only answer was, that he would neither bid the English go, nor would he bid them stay; but that he left them to their own discretion. The liberality and courtesy of the Governor's demeanor succeeded at length in conciliating his regard, and so effectively, that he not only promised a friendly league between the colonists and his own people, but persuaded the neighbouring tribes to accede to the treaty. Nay more, he said with warmth, "I love the English so well, that even if they should go about to kill me, while I had breath to speak, I would command the people not to revenge my death: for I know they would not do such a thing, except it were my own fault." Having purchased the rights from the aborigines at a price which gave them perfect satisfaction, the colonists ob- | therefore enacted that no person professing tained possession of a considerable district, to believe in Jesus Christ should be moincluding an Indian town, which they pro- lested in respect to their religion, or in the ceeded immediately to occupy, and to free exercise thereof, or be compelled to which they gave the name of St. Mary's. the belief or exercise of any other religion, The tidings of this safe and comfortable against their consent; so that they be not establishment in the province, concurring unfaithful to the Proprietary, or conspire with the uneasiness experienced by the against the civil government; that persons, Roman Catholics in England, induced molesting any other in respect to his reliconsiderable numbers of the professors of gious tenets, should pay treble damages to this faith to follow the original emigrants the party aggrieved, and twenty shillings to Maryland, and no efforts of wisdom or to the Proprietary; that those, who should generosity were spared by Lord Baltimore reproach their neighbors with opprobrious to facilitate the population, and promote names of religious distinction, should forthe happiness of the colony. The trans- feit ten shillings to the persons so insulted; portation of people and of necessary stores that any one, speaking reproachfully and provisions during the first two years, against the Blessed Virgin or the Apos cost him upwards of forty thousand pounds. tles, should forfeit five pounds; but that To every emigrant he assigned fifty acres blasphemy against God should be punished of land in absolute fee: and with a libe- with death. By the enactment of this rality unparalled in that age, and altogether statute, the Catholic planters of Maryland surprising in a Catholic, he united a gene- won for their adopted country the distinral establishment of Christianity as the guished praise of being the first of the common law of the land, with an absolute American States in which toleration was exclusion of the political predominance or established by law, and graced their pesuperiority of any one particular sect or culiar faith with the signal and unwonted denomination of Christians. merit of protecting that religious freedom which all other Christian associates were conspiring to overthrow. It is a striking and instructive spectacle to behold, at this period, the Puritans persecuting their Protestant brethren in New England, the Episcopalians retorting the same severity on the Puritans in Virginia, and the Catholics, against whom all others were combined, forming in Maryland a sanctuary where all might worship and none might oppress, and where even Protestants sought refuge from Protestant intolerance. This wise administration soon converted a dreary wilderness into a prosperous colony. The opposition of the Virginia planters to the new colony, but still more the intrigues of the vindictive Clayborne, cast for a while a gloom over the early history of Maryland. Notwithstanding the misfortunes which attended and followed the rebellion of 1645, the same Assembly that enacted measures for the future protection and safety of the colony, made a magnanimous attempt to preserve its peace by suppressing one of the fertile sources of human contention and animosity. It had been declared by the proprietary, at a very early period, that religious toleration should constitute one of the fundamental principles of the social union over which he presided, and the Assembly of the province, composed chiefly of Roman Catholics, now proceeded, by a memorable "Act concerning Religion," to interweave this noble principle into its legislative constitution. This statute commenced with a preamble declaring that the enforcement of the conscience had been of dangerous consequence in those countries where it had been practised, and If the dangers to which the Maryland Catholics must have felt themselves exposed, from the disfavor with which they were regarded by all other communities of their countrymen, and from the ascendancy which their most zealous adversaries, the Presbyterians, were acquiring in the councils of the parent state, may be supposed to account, in some degree, for their enforcement of a principle of which they manifestly needed the protection, the surmise will detract very little from the merits of the authors of this excellent law. The moderation of mankind has ever needed adventitious support; and it is no deprecation of Christian sentiment, that it is capable of deriving an accession | able than political triumph or temporal to its purity from the experience of perse- elevation. What Christian (however sencution. It is by divine grace alone that sible of the errors of Catholic doctrine) the fire of persecution thus sometimes would not rather be the descendant of the tends to refine virtue, and consumes the Catholics who established toleration in dross that may have adhered to it; and Maryland, than of the Protestants who the progress of this history is destined to overthrew it? show, that, without such overruling agen- From the establishment of religious cy, the commission of injustice naturally freedom, the Assembly of Maryland protends to its own reproduction, and that the ceeded to the improvement of political experience of it engenders a much stronger liberty; and, in the following year, the disposition to retaliate its severities, than constitution of this province received that to sympathize with its victims. It had structure which, with some interruptions, been happy for the credit of the Protest- it continued to retain for more than a cenants, whose hostility, perhaps, enforced tury after. In conformity with a wish the moderation of the Catholics of Mary- expressed by the burgesses (in 1642) land, if they had imitated the virtue which" that they might be separated, and sit by their own apprehended violence may have tended to elicit. But unfortunately, a great proportion even of those who were constrained to seek refuge among the Catholics from the persecutions of their own Protestant brethren, carried with them into exile the same intolerance of which they themselves had been the victims: and the Presbyterians and other dissenters, who now began to flock in considerable numbers from Virginia to Maryland, gradually formed a Protestant confederacy against the interests of the original settlers; and with ingratitude, still more odious than their injustice, projected the abrogation not only of the Catholic worship, but of every part of that system of toleration under whose shelter they were enabled to conspire its downfall. But though the Catholics were thus ill requited by their Protestant guests, it would be a mistake to suppose that the calamities that subsequently desolated the province, were produced by the toleration which her Assembly now established, or that the Catholics were really losers by this act of justice and liberality. From the disposition of the prevailing party in England, and the state of the other colonial settlements, the catastrophe that overtook the liberties of the Maryland Catholics could not possibly have been evaded: and if the virtue they now displayed was unable to avert their fate, it exempted them at least from the reproach of deserving it it redoubled the guilt and scandal incurred by their adversaries, and achieved for them a reputation more lasting and honor themselves, and have a negative," a law was now passed (1650,) enacting that members called to the Assembly by special writ, should form the upper house; and that those who were chosen by the hundreds should form the lower house; and that all bills which should be assented to by the two branches of the legislature, and ratified by the governor, should be deemed the laws of the province. Blending a due regard to the rights of the people, with a just gratitude to the Proprietary, the Assembly at the same time enacted a law prohibiting the imposition of taxes without the consent of the freemen, and declaring in its preamble, "that as the Proprietary's strength doth consist in the affections of the people, on them he doth rely for his supplies, not doubting of their duty and assistance on all just occasions." (Laws, 1650, Cap. 1, 23, 25.) Perhaps (concludes the impartial Grahame) it is only under such patriarchal administration, as Maryland yet retained an admixture of in her constitution, and under such patriarchs as Lord Baltimore, that we can ever hope to find the realization of the political philosopher's dream of a system that incoporates into politics the sentiments that embellish social intercourse, and the affections that sweeten domestic life. In the prosecution of its patriotic labors, the Assembly proceeded to enact laws for the relief of the poor, and the encouragement of agriculture and commerce. (Laws, 1649, Cap. 12; 1650, Cap. 1, 33.) And a short gleam of tranquil prosperity succeeded the calamities which the province was fated again to experience from the | (Oldmixon's British Emp. in America.) evil genius of Clayborne, and the interposition of the parent state. We refer the reader who may wish to study the darker shades of this beautiful picture, to the pages of Grahame. We have no desire to awaken the recollection of the many wrongs sustained by the Maryland colonists. For, peace' sake their unmerited sufferings may be passed over in silence; but justice and truth alike demand that the above statements, from the pen of a Protestant historian, should be more generally known to the mass of our countrymen. Nor should we forget that, foremost among the colonists who thus hallowed the shores of the Potomac by their virtues, were members of the Society of Jesus; the Fathers Andrew White and John Althano, both men of sterling worth and extensive learning; here, as in every other quarter of the new world, their zeal, their learning and address, contributed greatly to the success of the early settlers. It was on the 23d of March, 1634, the festival of the Annunciation of the ever blessed Virgin, and on St. Clement's Island, in the Potomac, that the divine sacrifice of the mass was for the first time offered up to God, in this portion of America. Governor Calvert, accompanied by Father Althano, then sailed up the river, landing first on the Virginia side, at an Indian town called Potomac, and now known as New Marlborough, or Marlborough Point. The Jesuit Father explained to the assembled Indians the chief mysteries of the Christian religion, as well as the peaceful and benevolent motives that actuated their unexpected visiters. It is remarkable that his interpreter on this occasion was a Protestant. Leaving the chief and his people favorably impressed, and even gratified at the arrival of the strangers, the governor sailed about twenty-five miles up the river, to Piscataway, in Maryland, the residence of the great king or chief of the neighboring tribes, At the first sight of the party, the savages prepared to give them a hostile reception, but being informed of their peaceful intentions, the chief boldly stepped on board the governor's boat, and gave him permission to settle in any part of his dominions. It did not, however, seem safe for the English to plant the first settlement so high up the river. Calvert descended the stream, examining in his barge the creeks and entrances near the Chesapeake, entered the river now called St. Mary's, to which he gave the name of St. George's, about two leagues from its junction with the Potomac, having purchased the right to the soil from the natives, together with their good will. The settlement was commenced by the Catholics on the 27th of March, and religious liberty obtained a home, its only home in the wide world, at the humble village which bore the name of St. Mary's. The able and eloquent historian of Maryland, McMahon, thus adverts to the sentiments which must naturally have stirred the hearts of the settlers at this moment: "To the feeble emigrants it was an occasion for joy, rational and profound. Preferring all privations to the privation of liberty of conscience, they had forsaken the endearments of their native land, to cast themselves, in reliance on divine protection, upon all the perils of an unknown country inhabited by a savage people. But the God in whom they trusted was with them, and he in whose hands are all hearts, seemed to have moulded the savage nature into kindness and courtesy. Where shall we find, in the history of any people, an occasion more worthy of our commemoration than that of the landing of the colony of Maryland? It is identified with the origin of a free and happy state. It exhibits to us the foundations of our government, laid broad and deep in the principles of civil and religious liberty. It points us with pride to the founders of this state, as men who for the secure enjoyment of their liberties, exchanged the pleasures of affluence, the society of friends, and all the endearments of civ ilized life, for the privations and dangers of the wilderness. In an age, when perfidy and barbarity but too often marked the advances of civilization upon the savage, it exhibits them to us displaying in their intercourse with the natives, all the kindness of human nature, and the charities of their religion. Whilst we would avoid all invidious contrasts, and forget the stern spirit of the Puritan, 6 which so frequently mistook religious intolerance for holy zeal; we can turn with exultation to the Pilgrims of Maryland' as the founders of religious liberty in the new world. They erected the first altars to it on this continent, and the fires first kindled on it ascended to heaven amid the blessings of the savage."-McMahon's Maryland, pp. 196-8. While the sires of the Catholic Church were thus at once building their altars and their homes on the verdant banks of the broad Potomac, the same church had sent forth not less devoted men, to bear the light of civilization and religion to other portions of our beloved country. Between the years 1634 and 1687, Catholic missionaries had already traversed that vast region lying between the heights of Montreal, Quebec, and the mouth of the Mississippi, the greater portion of which is now known as the United States. Within thirteen years the wilderness of the Hurons was visited by sixty missionaries, chiefly Jesuits: one of their number, Claude Allouez, discovered the southern shores of Lake Superior; another, "the gentle Marquette," of whom Bancroft says "the people of the West will yet build his monument," walked from Green Bay, following the course of the Wisconsin, embarks with his beloved companion and fellow-missionary, Joliet, upon the Mississippi, and discovers the mouth of that king of rivers, the wild, the impetuous Missouri; a third member of this devoted band, the fearless Menan, settles in the very heart of the dreaded Mohawk country, on the banks of the river that still bears that name. The Onondagas welcome other missionaries of the same illustrious society. The Oneidas and Senecas likewise lend an attentive ear to the sweet tidings of the gospel of peace. When we consider that these missionaries were established in the midst of continual dangers and life-wasting hardships, that many of the Jesuit missionaries sealed with their blood the truth of the doctrines they preached, the sincerity of their love for those indomitable sons of the American forest: we are not surprised at the eloquent encomiums that have been passed upon their dauntless courage and their more than human charity and zeal. But "All persons," says one of our native writers, "who are in the least familiar with the early history of the West, know with what pure and untiring zeal the Catholic missionary pursued the work of conversion among the savages. Before a Virginian had crossed the Blue Ridge, and while the Connecticut was still the extreme frontier of New England, more than one man whose youth had been passed amongst the warm valleys of Languedoc, had explored the wilds of Wisconsin, and caused the hymn of Catholic praise to rise from the prairies of Illinois. The Catholic priest went even before the soldier and the trader; from lake to lake, from river to river, the Jesuits pressed on unresting, and with a power that no other Christians have exhibited, won to their faith the warlike Miamis and the luxurious Illinois. For more than a hundred years did this work go forward. Of its temporary results we know little. The earliest of the published letters from the missionaries were written thirty years after La Salle's voyage down the Great River.' were the family records of France laid before us, I cannot doubt that we should there find evidences of savage hate diminished, and savage cruelty prevented, through the labors of the brotherhood of Jesus; and yet it was upon these men that England charged the war of Pontiac! Though every motive for a desperate exertion existed on the part of the Indians, the dread of annihilation, the love of their old homes and hunting-grounds, the reverence for their father's graves-all that nerved Philip, and fired Tecumseh—yet, to the Protestant English, the readiest explanation was that Catholics, that Jesuits, had poisoned the savage mind." (Knickerbocker, June, 1838.) The regret expressed above, that we have not more copious and satisfactory information with regard to this earlier portion of American ecclesiastical history, may well be shared not only by the Catholic, but by all who take an interest in every thing relating to their native land. Meagre, however, as are the memorials of these primitive times, we have sufficient data to prove that there is not a State of our Union wherein Catholicity has obtained a footing, whose history does not exhibit many interesting traits of |