as infringements upon their rights, and the initiation of further wrongs. The people of Maryland acted boldly and without disguise. They drove the stamp agent from the colony in terror and disgrace. And when various articles, as tea, glass, paper, &c., were only allowed to enter the colonies when taxed for the benefit of Great Britain, the people formed 'non-importation societies', and astonished the London merchants by refusing to receive their goods, and sending back vessel and cargo as they came. The taxes were then repealed, except upon tea. This placebo was not sufficient for the now aroused colonists. The people destroyed, or caused to be destroyed, the detestable weed', wherever it was found. In one case they obliged Mr. Steward, the owner of a brig laden with tea, which came to Annapolis, (October, 1774,) to burn his brig with her cargo, which he did with his own hand. Of course, things were coming to a crisis. War between the colonists and the mother country became inevitable. Maryland, with the other colonies, began to make preparations.

Conventions were held, and acts and resolutions were passed, plainly indicating the popular will. At a meeting of the convention at Annapolis, we find, inter alia, the following resolutions. (December 8, 1774.) 'Resolved unanimously, That if the late acts of Parliament, relative to the Massachusetts Bay, shall be attempted to be carried into execution by force in that colony, or if the assumed power of Parliament to tax the colonies shall be attempted to be carried into execution by force, in that or any other colony, that in such case this province will support such colony to the utmost of their power.

'Resolved unanimously, That a well regulated militia, composed of the gentlemen, freeholders, and other freemen, is the natural strength and only stable support of a free government, and that such militia will relieve our mother country from any expense in our protection and defence; 20 will obviate the pretense of a necessity for taxing us on that account, and render it unnecessary to keep any standing army (ever dangerous to liberty) in this province; and therefore it is recommended, that

20 Italics ours: This filial regard for the expenses of the mother country must

not be overlooked.

such of the said inhabitants as are from sixteen to fifty years of age, should form military companies, &c.

'Resolved unanimously, That contributions from the several counties of this province, for supplying the necessities and alleviating the distress of our brethren at Boston, (whose distressed inhabitants were "cruelly deprived of the means of procuring subsistence for themselves and families, by the operation of the act for blocking up their harbor," as stated in a previous resolution,) ought to be continued in such manner and so long as their occasions may require, &c.

'Resolved unanimously, That it is recommended to the several colonies and provinces to enter into such or the like resolutions for mutual defence and protection, as are entered into by this province.

'As our opposition to the settled plan of the British administration to enslave America, will be strengthened by an union of all ranks of men in this province, we do most earnestly recommend that all former differences about religion or politics, [italics ours] and all private animosities and quarrels of every kind, from henceforth cease and be buried forever in oblivion; and we entreat, we conjure every man, by his duty to God, his country, and his posterity, cordially to unite in defence of our common rights and liberties.' 21 The general reader is apt to go upon the presumption, that resolutions of conventions in times past are naturally dry and uninteresting; these we have cited present several points of decided interest, however, on which the reader will make his own comments and reflections.

The history of Maryland from the initiation of the State governments until a very recent period, presents nothing of general, though much of special, interest. Mr. McSherry brings his history down to 1848; the other State historians stop at much earlier periods. We will not undertake now to describe the glorious part taken by this State, either in the council, or in the field, during the revolutionary war; though we may say that no troops earned more well merited distinction, in those days of trial, than the famous old Maryland line. The names of Smallwood,

"Proceedings of the Conventions of the Province of Maryland, held at the City of Annapolis, in 1774, 1775, and 1776.

Howard, Williams, and many others, will recur to the reader as among the most distinguished of the sons of Maryland on the field of battle; while the names of Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, will be held in perpetual honor for their vigorous championship of American freedom in the field of politics. As a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Mr. Carroll brought the heaviest oblation of all his compeers to offer upon the altar of their country.

Civil and religious liberty, prosperity and peace, were the fruits, in Maryland, of the war of Independence. In other words, the resplendent light of the 'halcyon days' of the early proprietary government beamed forth again with an effulgence that spread, not over one little colony alone, but over a large portion of a new continent. The post-revolutionary liberties of America had been no where so fully foreshadowed, as in Lord Baltimore's colony. The Revolution restored lost liberties to the people of Maryland. All former differences about religion and politics were thenceforth honestly buried in oblivion; and in no part of the world, perhaps, have people of different religious views lived among each other in greater harmony, or with more mutual kindness and good will; some trivial outbursts of a contrary character notwithstanding. Until 1824, the Jews labored under some political disabilities, which were then happily and wisely removed forever.

The act for their relief is the only step in advance of Lord Baltimore's toleration. We do not for a moment believe that his noble soul would have stooped to the persecution of the Jews; and history shows that, practically, his government only required of them not to agitate the differences between themselves and the Christians with whom they were dwelling.

The word toleration, by the way, scarcely expresses Lord Baltimore's design in its fulness. Toleration implies inequality: thus Catholics were tolerated in Rhode Island, but they were not upon an equal footing with Protestants, In Maryland, all Christians, so far as religion is concerned, were absolutely free and equal. Lord Baltimore had abundant means of making unfavorable discriminations if he had been so disposed, but he was not. The whole evidence goes to show that he was deter

mined to give religious equality a fair trial; or, in short, to initiate it upon a new field, where alone its success in those days could be possible. He might have excluded dissenters with the full approbation of the king who gave the charter; and as to members of the Church of England, if he could not have passed acts against them, he could have kept them (as urged in a letter published on this subject, by Mr. W. M. Addison, of Baltimore,) out of his colony, by refusing to sell them land, 'every inch of which was vested in the proprietary.'

The unquestionable facts of history show that he cordially invited all Christians oppressed for conscience' sake, to come to Maryland as a home, where they should enjoy all the rights and privileges, civil and religious, that his charter and laws enabled him to offer to those of his own faith, and his immediate friends and followers. He invited these strangers into his political household, and never, in any instance, did he violate his pledges or promises. Neither party spirit, nor odium theologicum, can change established facts.

A writer who is enlisted in the ranks of Lord Baltimore's detractors, says in a late number of the London Athenæum, with the most empty self-complacency, that the good people of Baltimore pique themselves on being planted by a lord, while the neighboring States were planted by commoners like Walter Raleigh or William Penn.' To take down the inflation of the Baltimoreans, this writer informs them that Baltimore's title was derived from a mere honorary Irish barony, which gave him no place in the British House of Lords. Upon this an eminent jurist of this city justly observes: 'We presume that no man or woman in Maryland ever thought for an instant of any difference between Lord Baltimore and plain George Calvert. . .

Whether Calvert was lord or commoner, or commoner made lord, is to us a matter of profound indifference. We are proud of his name, and of him, only because we are proud of the immortal principles on which his colony was founded, and which place the landing of the pilgrims from the Dove and the Ark, among the grandest incidents of human history. We are proud of his great charter, as one of the noblest of the works that

23 S. T. Wallis.

human hands have ever reared,- the most glorious proclamation ever made of the liberty of thought and worship. Had he been an Irish peasant instead of an Irish baron, we should reverence him perhaps the more, and certainly feel none the less honor of descending from the good, brave men, who made the precepts he bequeathed them a practical and living truth.'

In the last decade of years, Maryland has had, as in the beginning, a peculiar history, which has not yet, however, been subjected to the methodical treatment of the historian. As it is equally curious and interesting, we hope to see it fairly and fully presented, at an early day, by some one competent, both by sentiment and ability, to do justice to the subject.

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2. Histoire de l'Astronomie Ancienne. By Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre. In two volumes, quarto. Paris. 1817.

3. Histoire de l'Astronomie au Moyen Age. By J. B. J. Delambre. In one volume, quarto. Paris. 1819.

4. Histoire de l'Astronomie Moderne. By J. B. J. Delambre. In two volumes, quarto. Paris. 1821.

5. Histoire de l'Astronomie au dix-huitième Siecle. By J. B. J. Delambre. In one volume, quarto. Paris. 1827.

6. Histoire de l'Astronomie Ancienne, depuis son origin jusqu'à l'estaballissment de l'ecole d'Alexandrie. By Jean Sylv. Bailly. In one volume, quarto. Paris. 1781.

7. Histoire de l'Astronomie Moderne, depuis la foundation de l'ecole d'Alexandrie jusqu'a l'epoque 1782. By Jean-Sylv. Bailly. In three volumes, quarto. Paris. 1785.