George Bancroft, History of the Colonization of the United States, Vol. 1, 17th edition.

[243] colony, the statutes restraining emigration were dis-

Chap. VII.} 1632.

pensed with; and, at the appointment of the Baron of Baltimore, all present and future liege people of the English king, except such as should be expressly forbidden, might freely transport themselves and their families to Maryland. Christianity, as professed by the Church of England, was protected; but beyond this, silence left room for equality in religious rights, not less than in civil freedom, to be assured. A monopoly of the fisheries had formerly been earnestly resisted by the commons of England: to avoid all dispute on this point, Calvert, in his charter, expressly renounced any similar claim. As a Catholic, he needed to be free from the jurisdiction of his neighbor; Maryland was carefully separated from Virginia, nor was he obliged to obtain the royal assent to the appointments or the legislation of his province, nor even to make a communication of the results. So far was the English monarch from reserving any right of superintendence in the colony, he left himself without the power to take cognizance of what transpired; and, by an express stipulation, covenanted, that neither he, nor his heirs, nor his successors, should ever, at any time thereafter, set any imposition, custom, or tax, whatsoever, upon the inhabitants of the province. Thus was conferred on Maryland an exemption from English taxation forever. Sir George Calvert was a man of sagacity, and an observing statesman. He had beheld the arbitrary administration of the colonies; and, against any danger of future oppression, he provided the strongest defence which the promise of a monarch could afford. Some other rights were conferred on the proprietary — the advowson