按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
But; however that may have been; there was small chance for any successful
opposition to the charter; since Parliament had been dissolved by the King;
not to be summoned again for eleven years。 The Privy Council was subservient;
and; as the Sovereign was his friend; Baltimore saw the signing of the charter
assured and began to gather together his first colonists。 Then; somewhat
suddenly; in April; 1632; he sickened; and died at the age of fifty…three。
His son; Cecil Calvert; second Lord Baltimore; took up his father's work。
This young man; likewise able and sagacious; and at every step in his
father's confidence; could and did proceed even in detail according to what
had been planned。 All his father's rights had descended to him; in Maryland
he was Proprietary with as ample power as ever a Count Palatine had
enjoyed。 He took up the advantage and the burden。
The father's idea had been to go with his colonists to Maryland; and this
it seems that the son also meant to do。 But now; in London; there deepened
a clamor against such Catholic enterprise。 Once he were away; lips would be
at the King's ear。 And with England so restless; in a turmoil of new
thought; it might even arise that King and Privy Council would find trouble
in acting after their will; good though that might be。 The second Baltimore
therefore remained in England to safeguard his charter and his interests。
The family of Baltimore was an able one。 Cecil Calvert had two brothers;
Leonard and George; and these would go to Maryland in his place。 Leonard he
made Governor and Lieutenant…general; and appointed him councilor。 Ships
were made readythe Ark of three hundred tons and the Dove of fifty。 The
colonists went aboard at Gravesend; where these ships rode at anchor。 Of
the company a great number were Protestants; willing to take land; if their
condition were bettered so; with Catholics。 Difficulties of many kinds kept
them all long at the mouth of the Thames; but at last; late in November;
1633; the Ark and the Dove set sail。 Touching at the Isle of Wight; they
took aboard two Jesuit priests; Father White and Father Altham; and a
number of other colonists。 Baltimore reported that the expedition consisted
of 〃two of my brothers with very near twenty other gentlemen of very good
fashion; and three hundred labouring men well provided in all things。〃
These ships; with the first Marylanders; went by the old West Indies sea
route。 We find them resting at Barbados; then they swung to the north and;
in February; 1634; came to Point Comfort in Virginia。 Here they took
supplies; being treated by Sir John Harvey (who had received a letter from
the King) with 〃courtesy and human ity。〃 Without long tarrying; for they
were sick now for land of their own; they sailed on up the great bay; the
Chesapeake。
Soon they reached the mouth of the Potomaca river much greater than any
of them; save shipmasters and mariners; had ever seenand into this turned
the Ark and the Dove。 After a few leagues of sailing up the wide' stream;
they came upon an islet covered with trees; leafless; for spring had hardly
broken。 The ships dropped anchor; the boats were lowered; the people went
ashore。 Here the Calverts claimed Maryland 〃for our Savior and for our
Sovereign Lord the King of England;〃 and here they heard Mass。 St。
Clement's they called the island。
But it was too small for a home。 The Ark was left at anchor; while Leonard
Calvert went exploring with the Dove。 Up the Potomac some distance he went;
but at the last he wisely determined to choose for their first town a site
nearer the sea。 The Dove turned and came back to the Ark; and both sailed
on down the stream from St。 Clement's Isle。 Before long they came to the
mouth of a tributary stream flowing in from the north。 The Dove; going
forth again; entered this river; which presently the party named the River
St。 George。 Soon they came to a high bank with trees tinged with the
foliage of advancing spring。 Here upon this bank the English found an
Indian village and a small Algonquin group; in the course of extinction by
their formidable Iroquois neighbors; the giant Susquehannocks。 The white
men landed; bearing a store of hatchets; gewgaws; and colored cloth。 The
first Lord Baltimore; having had opportunity enough for observing savages;
had probably handed on to his sagacious sons his conclusions as to ways of
dealing with the natives of the forest。 And the undeniable logic of events
was at last teaching the English how to colonize。 Englishmen on Roanoke
Island; Englishmen on the banks of the James; Englishmen in that first New
England colony; had borne the weight of early inexperience and all the
catalogue of woes that follow ignorance。 All these early colonists alike
had been quickly entangled in strife with the people whom they found in the
land。
First they fell on their knees;
And then on the Aborigines。
But by now much water had passed the mill。 The thinking kind; the wiser
sort; might perceive more things than one; and among these the fact that
savages had a sense of justice and would even fight against injustice; real
or fancied。
The Calverts; through their interpreter; conferred with the inhabitants of
this Indian village。 Would they sell lands where the white men might
peaceably settle; under their given word to deal in friendly wise with the
red men? Many hatchets and axes and much cloth would be given in return。
To a sylvan people store of hatchets and axes had a value beyond many
fields of the boundless earth。 The Dove appeared before them; too; at the
psychological moment。 They had just discussed removing; bag and baggage;
from the proximity of the Iroquois。 In the end; these Indians sold to the
English their village huts; their cleared and planted fields; and miles of
surrounding forest。 Moreover they stayed long enough in friendship with the
newcomers to teach them many things of value。 Then they departed; leaving
with the English a clear title to as much land as they could handle; at
least for some time to come。 Later; with other Indians; as with these; the
Calverts pursued a conciliatory policy。 They were; aided by the fact that
the Susquehannocks to the north; who might have given trouble; were
involved in war with yet more northerly tribes; and could pay scant
attention to the incoming white men。 But even so; the Calverts proved; as
William Penn proved later; that men may live at peace with men; honestly
and honorably; even though hue of skin and plane of development differ。
Now the Ark joins the Dove in the River St。 George。 The pieces of ordnance
are fired; the colonists disembark; and on the 27th of March; 1634; the
Indian village; now English; becomes St。 Mary's。
On the whole how advantageously are they placed! There is peace with the
Indians。 Huts; lodges; are already built; fields already cleared or
planted。 The site is high and healthful。 They have at first few dissensions
among themselves。 Nor are they entirely alone or isolated in the New World。
There is a New England to the north of them and a Virginia to the south。
From the one they get in the autumn salted fish; from the other store of
swine and catt