Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/134

 94 subjects. And the usual powers in other charters to repel invasions, to suppress rebellions, &c. were also conferred on the proprietary.

§ 105. Such is the substance of the patent. And Chalmers has with some pride asserted, that "Maryland has always enjoyed the unrivalled honour of being the first colony, which was erected into a province of the English empire, and governed regularly by laws enacted in a provincial legislature." It is also observable, that there is no clause in the patent, which required any transmission of the province laws to the king, or providing for his approbation or assent. Under this charter Maryland continued to be governed, with some short intervals of interruption, down to the period of the American Revolution, by the successors of the original proprietary.

§ 106. The first emigration made under the auspices of Lord Baltimore was in November, 1632, and consisted of about 200 gentlemen of considerable fortune and rank, and their adherents, being chiefly Roman Catholics. "He laid the foundation of this province, (says Chalmers, ) upon the broad basis of security to property, and of freedom of religion, granting in absolute fee fifty acres of land to every emigrant; establishing Christianity agreeably to the old common law, of which it is a part, without allowing preeminence to any particular sect. The wisdom of his choice soon converted a dreary wilderness into a prosperous colony." It is certainly very honourable to the liberality and public spirit of the proprietary, that he should have introduced into his fundamental policy the doctrine of general