DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55111#0055
47
ginning of the reign of James II. in 1685, he had attempted to
restore Roman Catholicism throughout the nation. In 1688 the
people through the Whig nobles invited William and Mary to
come over from Holland and claim the crown. They accepted,
and airived in England on the 5th of November. They were
well received, and in several days were joined by a number of
the leading men of the kingdom ’). James found himself deserted
and was obliged to flee the kingdom. With the assistance of
France and Ireland he endeavored to regain possession of the
crown, but was overwhelmingly defeated in the battle of the
Boyne, July lst 1690, thus sealing forever the fate of the Stuart
dynasty. On the reception of this news in Maryland, one Coode
applied to William III. “to redeem the people of Maryland from
the arbitrary will and pleasure of a tyrannical Popish govern-
ment, ander which they had so long groaned. Lord Baltimore
was deprived of all his rights as proprietary without any form
of law, or even a formal accusation that he had forfeited his
charter”1 2 3). This proves conclusively that at this period the
Catholics stood but small chance in either Church or State8).
What influence had the Catholic element on the Act of
1649? We ans wer this question by quoting. — “It was in 1649,
that the Maryland Act of Toleration was passed; which, however,
prescribed the punishment of death for anyone who denied the
Trinity. Of the small legislative body which passed it, two-
thirds appear to have been Protestant, the recorded numbers
being sixteen and eight respectively. The colony was open to
the Immigration of Puritans and all Protestants, and any per-
manent and successful oppression by a handful of Roman Ca-
tholics was altogether impossible”4)-
1) Among them Lord Churchill, afterwards the great Duke of Marlborough.
2) Shea, Church in Colonial Days.
3) Neill says — “Düring the English Revolution of 1688—9 was an im-
portant period in Maryland. — The watchward of the dominant party was “No
Popery”, and a few artful demagogues in Maryland echoed the cry, and indus-
triously worked upon the passions and fears of the scattered and ignorant plan-
ters. It is possible — “Some truth there was but dash’d and brew’d with lies.”
Dryden.
4) Gladstone in preface to “Vatican Decrees.”
ginning of the reign of James II. in 1685, he had attempted to
restore Roman Catholicism throughout the nation. In 1688 the
people through the Whig nobles invited William and Mary to
come over from Holland and claim the crown. They accepted,
and airived in England on the 5th of November. They were
well received, and in several days were joined by a number of
the leading men of the kingdom ’). James found himself deserted
and was obliged to flee the kingdom. With the assistance of
France and Ireland he endeavored to regain possession of the
crown, but was overwhelmingly defeated in the battle of the
Boyne, July lst 1690, thus sealing forever the fate of the Stuart
dynasty. On the reception of this news in Maryland, one Coode
applied to William III. “to redeem the people of Maryland from
the arbitrary will and pleasure of a tyrannical Popish govern-
ment, ander which they had so long groaned. Lord Baltimore
was deprived of all his rights as proprietary without any form
of law, or even a formal accusation that he had forfeited his
charter”1 2 3). This proves conclusively that at this period the
Catholics stood but small chance in either Church or State8).
What influence had the Catholic element on the Act of
1649? We ans wer this question by quoting. — “It was in 1649,
that the Maryland Act of Toleration was passed; which, however,
prescribed the punishment of death for anyone who denied the
Trinity. Of the small legislative body which passed it, two-
thirds appear to have been Protestant, the recorded numbers
being sixteen and eight respectively. The colony was open to
the Immigration of Puritans and all Protestants, and any per-
manent and successful oppression by a handful of Roman Ca-
tholics was altogether impossible”4)-
1) Among them Lord Churchill, afterwards the great Duke of Marlborough.
2) Shea, Church in Colonial Days.
3) Neill says — “Düring the English Revolution of 1688—9 was an im-
portant period in Maryland. — The watchward of the dominant party was “No
Popery”, and a few artful demagogues in Maryland echoed the cry, and indus-
triously worked upon the passions and fears of the scattered and ignorant plan-
ters. It is possible — “Some truth there was but dash’d and brew’d with lies.”
Dryden.
4) Gladstone in preface to “Vatican Decrees.”