in America, towards the year 1630 (1634), under the conduct of Lord Baltimore. With them came Father Andrew White, an English Jesuit. This band of emigrants chose for their residence a district of country near the junction of the Potomac and St. Mary's river: the latter afterwards gave its name to the first town that was built there, and which continued to be the capital of the country, during seventy or eighty years.

"Father White finding himself unequal to the duties which pressed upon him, returned to Europe, in order to procure missionaries : and from the very imperfect memoirs before me, it appears, that he brought over with him Fathers Capley, Harkey, and Perret. Their principal residence was a place which they called St. Inigo, a Spanish word, which signifies Ignatius. They acquired there a considerable tract of land, a part of which is still in the possession of the Jesuits."

All historians, Protestants as well as Catholics, speak in favorable terms of the first Catholic emigrants, who faithfully observed the laws of justice, and by their humane deportment, gained the confidence of the Indians. Not an inch of land did they take by

violence from the aboriginal inhabitants, but they purchased a large district, and honorably confined themselves within the limits traced out in the charter, in so much that neither fraud nor bloodshed disgraced the birth of this rising colony.

In proportion as it increased, (and its progress was rapid), the heads of the establishment advanced into the country, accompanied by some clergymen, who, for their subsistence, and that of their successors, made several acquisitions of land.

Towards the year 1640, a design was formed to carry the gospel to the Indians of the neighboring parts. In the MS. which was lent me, I find that the provincial of the Jesuits wrote this year, to the young men at Liege, exhorting them to consecrate their services to this difficult and perilous enterprise. In consequence of this invitation, more than twenty requested, in urgent language, to be associated in the new mission, but from what I can learn from contemporary documents, it does not appear that they ever crossed the ocean prevented, in all probability, by the influence of the Protestants, who inhabited the district of Virginia: and who saw, with

a jealous eye, the incomparably better understanding that existed between the Catholics and the Indians, than between themselves and the tribes around them. Add to this the troubles which arose the same year (1640) in England, and ended in the deposition and decapitation of Charles I. in 1649. The incredible hatred which the dominant party of that kingdom entertained against the Catholics, and the umbrage which was taken by the factious, at any interprise that could further the promotion of the Catholic religion, rendered it necessary for the emigrants to break off all communications with the Indians.

As long as Cromwell was in power, the Catholics of Maryland were cruelly harassed. Lord Baltimore was removed from the government, the Catholics were excluded from all offices of trust which they held before, and the clergy were reduced to the necessity of exercising their functions in secret and with the greatest circumspection.

From this epoch, I cannot discover any steps taken to diffuse the knowledge of the gospel among the Indians. Before the death of Cromwell, it is probable that they removed

into the interior at a very great distance, and in Maryland, there were hardly clergymen enough to discharge the duties towards the Catholics. The power and influence of the Protestants, supported by the English government, and favored by the colonies that surrounded them, had greatly increased and the jealousy, formerly occasioned on the part of the Catholics by that correspondence with the Indians, was still alive.

After the restoration of Charles II., Maryland again flourished under the genial government of Lord Baltimore and his representatives. Pious establishments were formed, and the clergymen were scattered through the different sections of the province. They subsisted not on the contributions of the faithful, but on the products of the lands which they had obtained.

But after the revolution which followed in England, the Catholics were again deprived of public offices, and of the exercise of their religion, contrary to the privileges granted in their charter. In consequence of this intolerance, Lord Baltimore would again have been stript of his authority, had he not unfortunately yielded to the times, and con

formed to the Protestant religion. From this era, a tax was levied on all the colonists without distinction, for the support of the ministers of the Anglican Church. Many attempts were made to enforce the penal laws and if they were not generally carried into execution, but only in certain places, and that too by intervals, it was according to all appearances, less through a spirit of toleration, than through policy. The most distinguished families, impatient of the restrictions, and induced by the example of Lord Baltimore, forsook the Catholic Church. By this means the Protestant party became strengthened: the seat of government was transferred from St. Mary's to Annapolis, where the Protestants were more numerous; and the Catholics, oppressed and persecuted, were reduced to poverty and contempt.

Notwithstanding these misfortunes, several congregations existed in the province, with resident priests; and others, which were occasionally visited by the missionaries. But they were so removed and dispersed, that a great number of families could not assist at mass, and receive instructions, but once in the month; and though pains were taken by