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shall consume, such as pitch, tar, weed-ashes, wood, grain, fish, salt, hearthstone and such like things shall be conveyed in the Company's ships, at the rate of eighteen guilders per last. . . .

XVII. For all wares which are not mentioned in the foregoing article, and which are not carried by the last, there shall be paid one dollar for each hundred pounds weight; and for wines, brandies, verjuice and vinegar, there shall be paid eighteen guilders per cask.

XVIII. The Company promises the colonists of the Patroons that they shall be free from customs, taxes, excise, imposts or any other contributions for the space of ten years; and after the expiration of the said ten years, at the highest, such customs as the goods pay here for the present.

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XXIII. Whosoever, whether colonists of Patroons for their Patroons, or free persons for themselves, or others for their masters, shall discover any shores, bays or other fit places for erecting fisheries, or the making of salt ponds, they may take possession thereof, and begin to work on them as their own absolute property, to the exclusion of all others. And it is consented to that the Patroons of colonists may send ships along the coast of New Netherland, on the cod fishery, and with the fish they catch, trade to Italy or other neutral countries, paying in such cases to the Company a duty of six guilders per last; and if they should come with their lading hither, they shall be at liberty to proceed to Italy, though they shall not, under pretext of this consent, or leave from the Company, carry any goods there, on pain of arbitrary punishment.

XXIV. In case any of the colonists should, by his industry and diligence, discover any minerals, precious stones, crystals, marbles or such like, or any pearl fishery, the same shall be and remain the property of the Patroon or Patroons of such Colonie, giving and ordering the discoverer such premium as the Patroon shall beforehand have stipulated with such colonist by contract. And the Patroons shall be exempt from the payment of duty to the Company for the term of eight years, and pay only for freight, to bring them over, two per cent, and after the expiration of the aforesaid eight years, for duty and freight, the one-eighth part of what the same may be worth.

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XXVII. The Patroons and colonists shall in particular, and in the speediest manner, endeavor to find out ways and means whereby they may support a Minister and Schoolmaster, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool and be neglected among them, and they shall, for the first, procure a Comforter of the sick there.

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XXIX. The Colonists shall not be permitted to make any woolen, linen or cotton cloth, nor weave any other stuffs there, on pain of being banished, and as perjurers, to be arbitrarily punished.

XXX. The Company will use their endeavors to supply the colonists with as many Blacks as they conveniently can, on the conditions hereafter to be made, in such manner, however, that they shall not be bound to do it for a longer time than they shall think proper.

XXXI. The Company promise to finish the fort on the Island of the Manhattes, and to put it in a posture of defence without delay.

No. 8. Charter of Maryland

June 20/30, 1632

GEORGE CALVERT, first Lord Baltimore, had been a member of the Virginia Company, and, as one of the two principal secretaries of state, was a member of the Committee of the Council for Plantation Affairs. In 1620 he purchased a tract of land in Newfoundland, for which, under the name of Avalon, he obtained from James I., in 1623, a patent as proprietor. He visited his province in 1627, with the intention of remaining; but the advantages of the region had been exaggerated, and the climate was such as to discourage colonization. In 1629 he went to Virginia, but was obliged to leave on his refusal, as a Catholic, to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. Returning to England, he obtained from Charles I. a grant of land north of the Potomac. Baltimore died shortly before the patent passed the seals, and the charter was issued to his son, Cecil, second Lord Baltimore, June 20/30, 1632. The region granted to Baltimore had been included in the Virginia grant of 1609; but the revocation of the third charter in 1624 had left Virginia a royal province, with its unsettled portions subject to allotment at the pleasure of the king. Former members of the Virginia Company protested against the grant;

but the protest was ineffectual, and Virginia was directed to befriend the new colony.

REFERENCES.

Text, Latin and English, in Bacon's Laws of Maryland. The early legislation of the colony may be followed in Bacon, and in Maryland Archives, I. See also Sainsbury's Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, I.

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II. WHEREAS our well beloved and right trusty Subject CÆCILIUS CALVERT, Baron of BALTIMORE, in our Kingdom of Ireland, Son and Heir of GEORGE CALVERT, Knight, late Baron of BALTIMORE, in our said Kingdom of Ireland, treading in the Steps of his Father, being animated with a laudable, and pious Zeal for extending the Christian Religion, and also the Territories of our Empire, hath humbly besought Leave of Us, that he may transport, by his own Industry, and Expence, a numerous Colony of the English Nation, to a certain Region, herein after described, in a Country hitherto uncultivated, in the Parts of America, and partly occupied by Savages, having no Knowledge of the Divine Being, and that all that Region, with some certain Privileges, and Jurisdictions, appertaining unto the wholesome Government, and State of his Colony and Region aforesaid, may by our Royal Highness be given, granted, and confirmed unto him, and his Heirs.

III. KNOW YE therefore, that WE... by this our present CHARTER . . . do GIVE, GRANT, and CONFIRM, unto the aforesaid CÆCILIUS, now Baron of BALTIMORE, his Heirs, and Assigns, all that Part of the Peninsula, or Chersonese, lying in the Parts of America, between the Ocean on the East, and the Bay of Chesapeake on the West, divided from the Residue thereof by a Right Line drawn from the Promontory, or Head-Land, called Watkin's Point, situate upon the Bay aforesaid, near the River of Wighco, on the West, unto the Main Ocean on the East; and between that Boundary on the South, unto that Part of the Bay of Delaware on the North, which lyeth under the Fortieth Degree of North Latitude from the Æquinoctial, where New-England is terminated. And all the Tract of that Land within the Metes underwritten (that is to say) passing from the said Bay, called Delaware Bay, in a right Line, by the Degree aforesaid, unto the true Meridian of the first Fountain of the River of Pattowmack, thence verging towards the South, unto the further Bank

of the said River, and following the same on the West and South, unto a certain Place called Cinquack, situate near the Mouth of the said River, where it disembogues into the aforesaid Bay of Chesapeake, and thence by the shortest Line unto the aforesaid Promontory, or Place, called Watkin's Point; so that the whole Tract of Land, divided by the Line aforesaid, between the Main Ocean, and Watkin's Point, unto the Promontory called CapeCharles, and every the Appendages thereof, may entirely remain excepted for ever to US, our Heirs, and Successors.

IV. Also WE do GRANT . . . unto the said Baron of BALTIMORE . . . all Islands and Islets within the Limits aforesaid, all and singular the Islands and Islets, from the Eastern Shore of the aforesaid Region, towards the East, which have been, or shall be formed in the Sea, situate within Ten marine Leagues from the said Shore; . . . And further more the PATRONAGES, and ADVOWSONS of all Churches which (with the increasing Worship and Religion of CHRIST) within the said Region . . ., hereafter shall happen to be built, together with Licence and Faculty of erecting and founding Churches, Chapels, and Places of Worship, in convenient and suitable Places, within the Premises, and of causing the same to be dedicated and consecrated according to the Ecclesiastical Laws of our Kingdom of England, with all, and singular such, and as ample Rights, Jurisdictions, Privileges, Prerogatives, Royalties, Liberties, Immunities, and royal Rights, and temporal Franchises whatsoever, as well by Sea as by Land, within the Region . . . aforesaid, to be had, exercised, used, and enjoyed, as any Bishop of Durham, within the Bishoprick or County Palatine of Durham, in our Kingdom of England, ever heretofore hath had, held, used, or enjoyed, or of Right could, or ought to have, hold, use, or enjoy.

V. And We do by these Presents . . . MAKE, CREATE and CONSTITUTE HIM, the now Baron of BALTIMORE, and his Heirs, the TRUE and ABSOLUTE LORDS and PROPRIETARIES of the Region aforesaid, and of all other the Premises (except the before excepted) saving always the Faith and Allegiance and Sovereign Dominion due to US . . . ; TO HOLD of US . . . as of our Castle of Windsor, in our County of Berks, in free and common SOCCAGE, by Fealty only for all Services, and not in capite, nor by Knight's SERVICE, YIELDING therefore unto US . . . two

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INDIAN ARROWs of those Parts, to be delivered at the said Castle of Windsor, every Year, on Tuesday in Easter-Week: And also the fifth Part of all Gold and Silver Ore, which shall happen from Time to Time, to be found within the aforesaid limits.

VI. Now, That the aforesaid Region, thus by us granted and described, may be eminently distinguished above all other Regions of that Territory, and decorated with more ample Titles, KNOW YE, that . . . WE do . . . ERECT and INCORPORATE the same into a PROVINCE, and nominate the same MARYLAND. . . .

VII. And forasmuch as WE have above made and ordained the aforesaid now Baron of BALTIMORE, the true LORD and Proprietary of the whole PROVINCE aforesaid, . . . WE . . . do grant unto the said now Baron . . . and to his Heirs, for the good and happy Government of the said PROVINCE, free, full, and absolute Power, by the tenor of these Presents, to Ordain, Make, and Enact LAWS, of what kind soever, according to their sound Discretions, whether relating to the Public State of the said PROVINCE, or the private Utility of Individuals, of and with the Advice, Assent, and Approbation of the Free-Men of the same PROVINCE, or of the greater Part of them, or of their Delegates or Deputies, whom WE will shall be called together for the framing of LAWS, when, and as often as Need shall require, by the aforesaid now Baron of BALTIMORE . . ., and in the Form which shall seem best to him or them, and the same to publish under the Seal of the aforesaid now Baron of BALTIMORE . . . and duly to execute the same upon all Persons, for the Time being, within the aforesaid PROVINCE, and the Limits thereof, or under his or their Government and Power, in Sailing towards MARYLAND, or thence Returning, Outward-bound, either to England, or elsewhere, whether to any other Part of Our, or of any foreign Dominions, wheresoever established, by the Imposition of Fines, Imprisonment, and other Punishment whatsoever; even if it be necessary, and the Quality of the Offence require it, by Privation of Member, or Life . . . So NEVERTHELESS, that the Laws aforesaid be consonant to Reason and be not repugnant or contrary, but (so far as conveniently may be) agreeable to the Laws, Statutes, Customs and Rights of this Our Kingdom of England.

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