THE PROPRIETARY RESTORED.

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absolute control of the province; when, in 1716, the proprietary was restored to his rights, which he and his successors continued to enjoy until the commencement of the American Revolution. In 1699, Annapolis was substituted for St. Mary's, as the capital of the province; but it was not till many years after, that the towns of Maryland assumed any considerable size, the same cause that prevented their growth in Virginia, retarding their increase in Maryland. Most merchants and shopkeepers were also planters; and it being the custom for every man to keep on his own plantation a store, so as to supply his family, servants, and slaves with the usual accommodations of a shop,- there was little to induce any large congregation of citizens, so as to form considerable towns. At a later period, however, the towns and cities seem to have acquired a sudden principle of increase; and Baltimore has grown with a rapidity equalled only by that with which the new western cities have since sprung up, and continue to advance in wealth and population.

An Act was passed in 1698, vesting a large tract of land in Dorchester county, in two Indian kings, who, with their subjects, were to hold it as a fief from the proprietary, and to pay for it a yearly rent of one bear-skin.

Maryland was much infested with wolves, and so late as 1715, a former Act was renewed, offering the sum of three hundred pounds of tobacco for every wolf's head that should be brought by any colonist or Indian to a justice of the peace.

For nearly a century after the revolution of 1688, difference in religious opinions was made the source of animosity and oppression; and during that period, not one single seminary of learning arose in the province. Within a few years after the return of equal laws, and universal toleration-with the establishment of American Independence, the varieties of doctrinal opinions among the people, served but to illustrate religious charity; numerous colleges and academies were founded; and the same people among whom persecution had lingered longest, became distinguished for a remarkablo

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CHARACTER OF THE COLONY.

degree of courteous kindness, generous compassion, unfeigned and universal hospitality.

The settlement of Maryland was distinguished by several circumstances that confer a well-deserved reputation upon its founder. His care for religious liberty, his just and beneficent conduct towards the natives, and his truly paternal government of the colony, render the early history of Maryland alike instructive to the statesman and pleasing to the philanthropist.

N that memorable occasion when James I. granted permission for colonizing the extensive territory in North America, comprehended under the name of Virginia, he divided the country between two trading companies, one residing in London, and the other in Plymouth. The effect of this partition was unfavourable to the success of the project, as it divided the resources of the patentees so unequally, that it left the weaker company little more than the privilege of debarring the rest of the world from attempting what it was of itself unable to accomplish.

The principal members of the Plymouth Company, were Sir John Popham, Chief Justice of England, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Governor of Plymouth Fort, and Sir John Gilbert, nephew of the distinguished adventurer, who has already engaged our notice as the first patentee of Queen Elizabeth, and the earliest leader of emigrants to America.* Animated by the zeal of these men, and especially of Popham, who assumed the principal direction of their measures, the Plymouth Company, shortly after their association, despatched a small vessel to inspect their territories; but soon received intelligence that it had been captured by the Spaniards under a pretended right to exclude other nations from a resort

* Grahame.

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SETTLEMENT AT SAGADAHOC.

to the American seas. Not deterred by this disaster, Popham, at his own expense, despatched another vessel, to resume the survey; and receiving a favourable report of the country, he succeeded in raising a sufficient supply of men and money for the formation of a colony (May, 1607).

Under the command of his brother, Henry Popham, and of Raleigh Gilbert, brother of Sir John, a hundred emigrants, embarking in two vessels, repaired to the territory of what was still called Northern Virginia; and, landing in autumn, took possession of a piece of ground near the river Sagadahoc, where they built a strong-hold, called Fort St. George. The country was rocky and barren, and their provisions so scanty that they were obliged to send back all but forty-five of their number. The winter was severe, and before the return of spring, several of the adventurers died, and among the rest, their president, Henry Popham. When in the spring, a vessel coming out with supplies, brought intelligence of the death of Chief Justice Popham and Sir John Gilbert, their most powerful patrons, being disheartened by these tidings, and by the hardships they had endured, the emigrants forsook their settlement and returned to England, bearing the most dismal accounts of the soil and climate of Northern Virginia. Historians did not fail to notice that this disastrous expedition had originated with the same judge who had condemned to a traitor's death, the illustrious Raleigh, the noblest patron of American colonization.

For several years after this attempt, the operations of the company were confined to fishing and trading voyages to Cape Cod. At length their prospects were cheered by a gleam of better fortune. Captain John Smith, the enterprising founder of the Virginia colony, entered their service; and in 1614, two ships, under the command of Smith and Captain Hunt, were sent on a voyage of trade and discovery to the Plymouth Company's territories. Smith, after completing his traffic with the natives, left his crew engaged in fishing, and, accompanied by only eight men, travelled into the interior of the country, explored the coast from Cape Cod to Penobscot,

INDIANS KIDNAPPED BY HUNT.

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and drew a map, in which its features were accurately delineated. On his return to the country, he presented his map, with an account of his travels and observations, to Prince Charles, who was so much pleased with the description of the country, that he gave it the name of New England.

Unfortunately, Hunt, the sordid companion of Smith, being left behind, was guilty of an act, which his high-minded colleague would never have sanctioned. Having enticed a number of the natives on board his ship, he set sail with them for Malaga, where he had been ordered to touch on his homeward passage, and sold them for slaves to the Spaniards. The company, indignant at his wickedness, instantly dismissed him from their service; but the mischief was irreparable; and the next vessel that returned from New England, brought intelligence of the vindictive hostility of the Indians.

A small squadron, with a body of emigrants, was despatched next year (1615), under the command of Smith. But the voyage was disastrous. After encountering storms and pirates, Smith was captured by a French fleet, whose commander charged upon him the unjustifiable capture of Port Royal, which had been accomplished, the preceding year, by Captain Argal. He was separated from his crew and detained in captivity; but he escaped in an open boat from Rochelle, and returned to England. Here he resumed his disinterested efforts in favour of American colonization, by publishing his map and description of New England, and urging various projects of discovery upon the merchants and gentry in the west of England.

Several years afterwards, the Plymouth Company, having discovered that an Indian named Squanto, one of the persons kidnapped by Hunt, had escaped from the Spaniards, and found his way to Britain, acquitted themselves to his satisfaction of the injury he had suffered, loaded him with kindness, and sent him back to New England, along with a small expedition commanded by Captain Dormer, who was instructed to avail himself of Squanto's assistance in regaining the friendship of the Indians. But although Squanto earnestly laboured