The third Lord Baltimore, like his father, found difficulty in preserving
the integrity of his domain. His father had been involved in a long wrangle
over the alleged invasion of Maryland by the Dutch. Since then, New
Netherland had passed into English hands. Now there occurred another
encroachment on the territory of Maryland. This time the invader was an
Englishman named William Penn. Just as the idea of a New World freedom for
Catholics had appealed to the first Lord Baltimore, so now to William Penn,
the Quaker, came the thought of freedom there for the Society of Friends.
The second Charles owed an old debt to Penn's father. He paid it in 1681 by
giving to the son, whom he liked, a province in America. Little by little,
in order to gain for Penn access to the sea, the terms of his grant were
widened until it included, beside the huge Pennsylvanian region, the tract
that is now Delaware, which was then claimed by Baltimore. Maryland
protested against the grant to Penn, as Virginia had protested against the
grant to Baltimore -- and equally in vain. England was early set upon the
road to many colonies in America, destined later to become many States. One
by one they were carved out of the first great unity.
In 1685 the tolerant Charles the Second died. James the Second, a Catholic,
ruled England for about three years, and then fled before the Revolution of
1688. William and Mary, sovereigns of a Protestant England, came to the
throne. We have seen that the Proprietary of Maryland and his numerous
kinsmen and personal adherents were Catholics.
Pages:
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163