Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/231

 CALVERT

193

CALVERT

tinguished family, who died in 1622. He spent some time on the Continent where he met Robert Cecil, the secretary of state. After his return, Calvert was made private secretary to Lord Cecil. He was soon appointed by the king a Clerk of the Crown for the Province of Connaught and the County Clare in Ireland. In 1609 he was sent to Parliament from Bossiney. He was sent on a mission to the French Court in 1610, on the occasion of the accession of Louis XIII. Upon the death of Lord Cecil, in 1613, Calvert was made clerk of the Privy Council. After- wards he was sent by the king to Ireland to report on the success of the policy of bringing the Irish people into conformity with the Church of England. There was a great deal of discontent among the Irish, and several commissions were appointed to hear and report on the grievances. Calvert served on two of these com- missions. He became a great favourite of King James I. He translated into Latin the argument of the king against the Dutch theologian, Vorstius. In 1617 the order of knighthood was conferred on him and two years later he was appointed principal secre- tary of state. Spain ami France were rivals for English favour. Calvert, believing that Spain would be the better friend or more formidable foe, favoured the I roposcd marriage of Charles, Prince of Wales with the' Infanta .Maria, daughter of Philip III, although the majority in Parliament were opposed to this union. In the year 162(1 'the king made Calvert one of the commissioners for the office of treasurer. In 1621 he served in Parliament as a representative from Yorkshire, and in 1624 from Oxford. He was one of the minority that favoured the Spanish Court policy. He also tried to be a conciliator between tlie king and the country party. As a reward for faithful services the king granted him (in 1621) a manor of 2300 acres, in the ( lounty of Longford, Ire- laud, on condition that all settlers "should be con- formable in point of religion". ( alvert, becoming a Catholic, in 1624, surrendered this manor but re- ceived it again, with the religious clause omitted. On becoming a Catholic he resigned his secretaryship. The king retained him in his Privy Council, and in 1625 elevated him to the Irish Peerage as Baron Baltimore of Baltimore in County Longford. After the death of .lames. Charles offered to dispense with the oath of religious supremacy, if Calvert would re- main in the council but ('alvert declined.

Lord Baltimore purchased a plantation in New- foundland in the year 1620. which he called Avalon. In 1622 he applied for a patent and received in 1623 a grant of the south-eastern peninsula of Newfound- land, which was erected into the Province of Avalon. and quasi-royal authority was given him. He went to Avalon in 1627 to observe conditions in the prov- ince and to establish a colony whirr all might enjoy freedom in worshipping God. He landed at Fairy- land, the settlement of the province, in 1627 and re- mained till fall. When he returned the nexl spring he brought with him his family, including Lady Balti- more, his second wife, and about forty colonists. On his first \i^ii t" \\alon he brought two priests, and on his second visit one priest. After Lord Baltimore's second vi-it to Avalon, a Protestant minister. .Mr. Stourton, wenl back to England and complained to the Privy Council thai Ins patron was having Mass said in the province, and that he favoured the Cath- olics. X" attention however was paid to Stourton's complaints. In thewarwith France French cruisers attacked the English fisheries, and Lord Baltimore's interests suffered hea\ ily.

About 1628 Lord Baltimore requested a new grant in a better climate. In the following year, before word came from the king, he went to Virginia and being a Catholic, was received with various indig- nities. It,, returned i" England and at first re- ceived from Charles a grant of land south of the III.— 13

James River. Meeting opposition from some of the Virginia Company, he sought another grant north and east of the Potomac, which he obtained. Be- fore the charter was granted, however, he died. It is claimed that he dictated its provisions. Baltimore's works are "Carmen Funebre in D. Hen. Untonum", in a collection of verses on Sir Henry Unton's death, 1596; "The Answer to Tom Tell-troth; The practice of Princes and the Lamentations of the Kirk'' (1642), a justification of the policy of King James in refusing to support the claim of the Elector Palatine to the crown of Bohemia; various letters and papers of value.

Cecilius, second Lord Baltimore, founder of Maryland; b. 1606; d. 1675. He was the eldest son and heir of George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore. At the age of thirteen he entered Trinity College, Ox- ford, where he was educated. In 1629 he married Anne Arundell, of Wardour. When his father died, in 16.32, the charter of Maryland was granted to Cecil- ius, who was made a palatine and "Absolute Lord of Maryland and Avalon''. It was Lord Balti- more's intention, at first, to come to America with the colonists, but as there were many enemies of his colonial pro- ject at home he concluded tosend his brothers, Leonard and George, at the head of the ex- ped it ion. The former was ap- pointed governor. The enemies of the charter, chief- ly members of the London Com- pany, did everything in their power to defeat the objects of the proprietor. It was claimed that the charter interfered with the grant of land of the Vir- ginia Company, and that, owing to its liberality, it would attract people from other colonies and de- populate them. The arguments of the enemies of the charter were of no avail, and finally the colonists, numbering twenty gentlemen and about three hun- dred labourers, embarked on the Ark and the Dove, in the harbour of Cowes, Nov., 1633. Before sailing, Leonard received instructions for the government of the colonists. Religious toleration was. the keynote of Baltimore's policy throughout his long career. In spite of the fact thai the Catholics were persecuted when Calvert's government was overthrown, every time his authority was restored persecution ceased

and every faith had equal rights. When the Puritans were persecuted in Massachusetts, Baltimore offered

them a refuge in Maryland, with freedom of worship Lord Baltimore paid for the expedition, which cost him in the first two years forty thousand pounds in transportation, provisions, and stores. He pro- vided them not only with the necessities, but also many of the conveniences adapted to a new coun- try. So well were they equipped for the founding of a colony that it was said they made as much prog- ress in six months as Virginia made in as many years. Unable to go b ith the lu-st settlers he believed that he could soon follow them to Maryland. This

Cecil Calvert, Luud Ba