The existence of this Protestant element also soon began to show itself, for though we do not have any early notice of a duly established congregation ministered to by a clergyman, we find Protestants assembling together for mutual edification, as in the case of the servants of Cornwallis in 1638; while also in 1642 we find the small colony disturbed by an attempt to deprive certain "Protestant Catholics" of the use of their chapel and to despoil them of the books of the same, a term of designation which Bozman, the chief historian of that period, thinks can only mean members of the Church of England. Indeed the most recent light thrown upon the history of that time, that from the Jesuit Fathers, whose records in the matter are now in hand, shows that beyond. all question from the beginning the Protestants were in the majority; the provincial, Henry Moore, writing to Rome in 1642, saying "The affair was surrounded with many and great difficulties, for in leading the colony to Maryland, by far the greater part was heretics" Also we are told by the same authority that the assembly which met in 1638, in which all the freemen could be present either personally or by proxies, "was composed with few exceptions of heretics;" of whom probably the larger part were of the Church of England, seeing that persons of Puritan views who would seek an asylum. would rather prefer the northern colonies where everything was conducted so much more to their living. Consistent only with this fact of the majority of the colonists being Protestants, is the progress of things from the year 1648. For though up to this time Lord Baltimore had consulted his private preferences

in choosing members of his church for the offices of the colony, yet now we find him appointing a Protestant governor and a Protestant council, with also a Protestant secretary of State; while also we find the embodiment of the new feature of general toleration in the oath of office, both of the governor and council, with particular definiteness in the former in favor of Roman Catholics; and the enactment by the assembly, on presentation by the Proprietary, of what is entitled an Act concerning Religion (1649) in which toleration is provided for all believers.

These things confirm the previous evidence, if any confirmation were necessary. Maryland continued to be a refuge for Roman Catholics. Roman priests, especially the Jesuit Fathers, continued to be very active, many being sent over to the colony from time to time, though sometimes giving great trouble to the authorities from the extravagance of their pretensions. All the way along through the whole colonial history members of this church ever wore a threatening aspect to the minds of all Protestants, and jealousy of them gave a war cry that could excite the fiercest passions. Their numbers were always such as to make them a force and sometimes a terror; and in the many risings of the people during the first fifty-five years of the colony, dread of them was a largely prevailing cause of fear.

In 1656 one of Lord Baltimore's friends, Hammond, writing in his behalf, states that at that time the population of the colony was composed of Conformists, non-Conformists, and a few Papists, the first in which catalogue being members.

of the Church of England. The First minister of this church as far is known (not including the one previously settled on Kent Island) came into the colony about 1650, with his wife and daughters, and engaged in ministerial labors. The evidences, however, are that he was compelled to seek subsistence in part from sources other than the offerings of the people, a fact that has always held, not only in new countries, but in those where the population is sparse. The support and prosperity of the church in rural districts, have always been dependent upon some form of endowment or external aid. Lord Baltimore, in defending himself from charges made in 1676, asserted that the clergy then in the province had each of them a plantation, which probably they had entered and possessed on the same terms as the other private individuals. For as yet there were no parishes in existence, and besides, there was extreme jealousy felt against church or other corporations acquiring property, and it was forbidden without special license obtained from the Lord Proprietary. The statute of Mortmain was made to bear on the matter, the anxiety of Lord Baltimore and the colonial authorities being chiefly excited by the conduct of the Jesuits who took up immense tracts of land for their society, though it was held for them and was taken up in the name of private individuals. They still hold a large portion of this their former possession. Altogether at this time their relations in the colony were exceedingly strained, their assumptions of prerogative being very extravagant, even to the point of independence of lay jurisdiction. Their

own authorities in England disapproved of their presumption, and Lord Baltimore, by consistency and resolution, sustained as he was by members of his own church, finally succeeded in maintaining his rights against their unwarrantable encroachments.

The facilities, however, for acquiring an estate in the province were so great that no one needed to suffer. For according to the conditions of plantation published by Lord Baltimore in 1636, after the year 1635 one thousand acres of land might be held for a yearly rental of twenty shillings, payable in the commodities of the province, and fifty acres for twelve pence, land being granted to applicants according to the number of the laborers brought into the colony. Under these conditions any minister could secure for himself a personal estate, and thus be guaranteed a maintenance. We are told, however, of two endowments that were created about the year 1676, one in Baltimore county and one in St. Mary's, in the latter case the corporation of the county being made the custodian of the fund. The clergy of the church began now to increase in numbers. For in 1676, in the answer above noted, we find Lord Baltimore declaring that there were four in the colony; a small number for the vast amount of work to be done. How far these were an honor to the church or efficacious for its beneficent purposes is a question; for of two of those, probably included in the four, John Coode and John Yeo, the history is, that the former was afterwards convicted of atheism and blasphemy, and that the latter was, to say the least of him, a turbulent man. There began now also a de

mand for ministers. In 1676 the latter of the above parties represented to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the strongest language, the great need of the colony for a duly provided for ministry to prevent the falling away of many churchmen to Popery, Quakerism or fanaticism, and to control the wide spread disregard of the ordinances of religion and of the proprieties of morality. He describes the colony as a Sodom of uncleanness and a pest house of iniquity. Nor was this the only demand for Church of England Clergymen. For in the year 1685 we find Mary Taney, wife of the sheriff of Calvert Co., and ancestress of the late Chief Justice of the United States, addressing a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, in which she pleads for means to erect a church and in part to support a minister, founding her plea upon her anxiety for her own family's welfare and that of her neighbors, dreading less they might otherwise be condemned to infidelity or apostasy. She had previously petitioned Charles the II for relief, who had sent over a minister, together with a number of Bibles and other church books, and also in this case her petition was received with favor and a clergyman sent over. Nor were her anxieties and those of Mr. Yeo and others groundless; for in the reports of the Jesuit Fathers through this period we find as the fruit of their labors seventy brought over to their church in 1672, in 1673 twenty-eight, in 1674 thirty-four, while there was also a mission carried on by the order of St. Francis.

The times of trouble were now, however, setting in upon the colony, religious matters being