The Maryland Charter.

First Settlement in Maryland.

2. Among the most influential Roman Catholics was George Calvert, an active member of the London Company, and secretary of state. James created him Lord Baltimore (an Irish peerage) in 1621, and granted him many personal favors. He visited Virginia in 1628, and resolved to establish a colony of Roman Catholics there. King Charles, successor of James,' readily granted a charter, but before it was completed [June, 1632] Lord Baltimore died. His son and successor, Cecil, received the charter, and the domain granted lay partly within the space between the lines of the London and Plymouth company's grants." In honor of Charles, Queen, Henrietta Marié, the young peer named the province Maryland.'

3. The first settlers in Maryland, who were mostly Roman Catholics, sailed from England on the 2d of December, 1633, with Leonard Calvert, brother of Cecil, as their governor. They arrived in March, 1634, and founded the town of St. Mary, which was made the capital of the colony.

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4. The charter of Maryland was so liberal, that it invited settlers of every kind; and Calvert treated the Indians so justly, that they were always friendly. Prosperity attended

1. King James died in 1625.

2. It was defined in the charter as extending along each side of the Chesapeake bay, from the 30th to the 45th degree of latitude, its western boundary being the line of the Potomac river. At this time the London Company was dissolved, and the soil over which it held control was the property of the king.

3. She was a sister of Louis the Thirteenth, of France. Marié is Mary in English.

4. Trading posts were established a little earlier than this within the Maryland province. In 1631, William Clayborne obtained a license from the king to traffic with the Indians; and when Calvert and his company came, he had two settlements, one on Kent island, nearly opposite Annapolis, and another at the present Havre de Grace, at the mouth of the Susquehannah. He refused to acknowledge the authority of Baltimore, and trouble ensued. He collected his people on the eastern shore of Maryland in 1635, with a determination to defend his claims by force of arms; and in May quite a severe skirmish ensued between his forces and those of the colonists. Clayborne's men were taken prisoners, and he fled to Virginia. He was declared guilty of treason, and sent to England for trial. His estates were forfeited; but, being acquitted of the charge, he returned to Maryland and ten years afterward incited a rebellion there.

QUESTIONS.-2. What can you tell about George Calvert, and James's friendship for him? What did Calvert do? What can you tell about the procuring of a charter for Maryland? 3. Who were the first settlers in Maryland? What did they do?

Discoveries and Settlements in Connecticut.

the settlers from the beginning. A pure democracy was established as a form of government;' and on the 8th of March, 1635, the first legislative assembly met at St. Mary. Then was founded the commonwealth of Maryland.

SECTION VI.

CONNECTICUT.

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1. Adrian Block, a Dutch navigator, discovered the Connecticut river in 1614, and, not long afterward, Dutch traders were on its banks. They ill-treated and exasperated the Indians,' and were soon compelled to erect a small fort for their own protection from the savages. This fort was a little below the site of Hartford.

2. In 1630, the Council of Plymouth granted a large domain in the region of Connecticut to the earl of Warwick, who, the following year, transferred all his rights thereto to several distinguished English gentlemen. The boundary of the province was defined as from the "Narraganset river" in the east, to the Pacific ocean on the west. The Dutch were disturbed, and claiming ju risdiction over the Connecticut valley by right of priority of occupation, determined to maintain their position by force, if ne cessary.*

3. The first attempt at settlement by the English was made in the autumn of 1633, when a party, under Captain Holmes, ascended the river in a sloop with the frame of a house. The Dutch at the fort ordered him to stop, but he sailed by unmolested, and set up his house on the site of Windsor, a few miles above Hartford.

1. That is, every freeman was allowed to vote in the assembly. As the members increased, this was found to be inconvenient, and in 1639 a representative government was formed.

2. Verse 2, page 32.

3. An Indian chief was taken on board a Dutch vessel, and was not released until a ransom of one hundred and forty fathoms of wampum (verse 4, page 6) had been paid. The outrage was never forgiven.

4. They had placed two cannon in their fort, and made it a formidable obstruction to the navigation for an enemy.

QUESTIONS.-4. What can you tell about the Maryland charter, and the founding of the commonwealth ?-1. Who discovered the Connecticut river? What can you tell about the Dutch on its banks? 2. What did the council of Plymouth do in 1630? What were the boundaries of Connecticut? How did it affect the Dutch? 3. Describe the first attempt at settlement in Connecticut. What did the Dutch and Captain Holmes do?

Connecticut Settlements.

War with the Pequods.

4. Holmes's settlement flourished, and two years later a band of immigrants from Massachusetts Bay, sixty in number (men, women, and children), with cattle, made their way to the Con

necticut through the dreary wilderness.' They suffered much on the way, and more after their arrival. Relief came in the spring. They built a small house for public worship on the site of Hartford, and there, in April, 1636, the first court, or organized government, was held. At about the same time, a fort was built near the mouth of the Connecticut river, and the settlement there was named Saybrook.

5. In June, 1636, about one hundred emigrants from Boston, led by Reverend Thomas Hooker, made their way through the wilderness to the Connecticut river. They reached that stream on the 4th of July, and a greater portion of them settled around the little house of worship on the site of Hartford, while others founded Wethersfield, and Springfield far up the valley.

6. Great trouble soon appeared. Between the powerful tribes of the Narraganset and Mohegan Indians, was a warlike one called Pequods, who were enemies to both. Because the white people were friendly with both their foes, the Pequods were jealous. They kidnapped white children, and sometimes murdered settlers in the forests. At length they sought an alliance with the Narragansets, in an effort to exterminate the intruders. The design was prevented by Roger Williams, of Massachusetts Bay, who had won the respect of the Indians in what is now Rhode Island.'

7. During the winter and spring of 1637, the Pequods made murderous raids into the Connecticut valley, in small numbers. At length the leaders of the settlers there declared war against the Pequods, whose chief, Sassacus, lived between the Thames

1. This was the first introduction of cattle into Connecticut.
2. Verse 1, page 42.

QUESTIONS.-4. What can you tell about other settlers in the Connecticut valley? What did they do on the site of Hartford? What was done at the mouth of the river? 5. What can you tell about settlers led by Hooker to Connecticut? 6. What trouble appeared? What can you tell about the Pequods?

Destruction of the Pequods.

Founding of New Haven.

and Mystic rivers. Their brethren in Massachusetts Bay agreed to aid them. White people, and Mohegans under the great Uncas, went by water to Rhode Island. There other white people, and Narragansets under Miantonomoh, joined them, and the little allied army, full five hundred strong, under Captains Mason and Underhill, brave leaders, marched westward to attack the strongholds of the Pequods.

8. Before dawn on the 5th of June, 1637, the principal fort of the Pequods, on the Mystic river, was surprised; and more than six hundred men, women, and children perished by weapons and fire. The blow was unexpected and appalling. Sassacus and his followers made no resistance; they fled westward in terror, and were utterly dispersed. A nation had perished in a day. The New England Indians were filled with awe; and for forty years the white people were unmolested by them.

9. While pursuing the Pequods along the region of Long Island sound, the sagacious Puritans discovered the beauty and fertility of the country, and in the autumn of 1637, a few adventurers built a hut on the site of New Haven. In the spring of 1638, others, with the Rev. John Davenport, arrived. They purchased lands of the Indians, founded the city of New Haven, and made the Bible their guide in matters of civil government.

10. In January, 1639, most of the settlers in the Connecticut valley met in convention at Hartford, and adopted a written constitution for their government. It provided for a governor and legislature, to be elected annually by the people. were required to take an oath of allegiance to the commonwealth, and not to the king. Then and there (1639) were laid the foundations of the Commonwealth of Connecticut.

These

QUESTIONS.-7. What did the Pequods do? How was war with the Pequods commenced? 8. What can you tell about an attack on the Pequods? What were its effects? 9. What did the white people, chasing the Indiars, discover? What did the discovery lead to? What can you tell about the founding of New Haven? 10. What did the Connecticut valley settlers do in 1639 ?

Written Constitution.

SECTION VII.

RHODE ISLAND.

1. Roger Williams, an eminent preacher, was, banished from Massachusetts Bay toward the close of 1635. He sought refuge in the wilderness, in the cabin of Massasoit,' the chief of the Wampanoags, at Mount Hope, near Narraganset bay. There he was joined by friends in the spring of 1636. In a light canoe they went up the bay, and at its head, on a green slope by a spring, they prayed, and chose the spot for a settlement. With grateful piety they named the place PROVIDENCE.'

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2. Persecuted men came there to find freedom of speech, which was denied them in a degree by zealots in the Massachusetts Bay. colony. They established a pure democracy in politics and religion. Canonicus, the powerful Narraganset sachem, became their fast friend; and, as we have seen, he and his people were kept from joining the Pequods by the persuasions of Williams.

3. In 1638, several persons came from Boston, on Williams's invitation; and Miantonomoh, another sachem, sold them the beautiful island of Aquiday3 for a trifle, which they called the Isle of Rhodes. They founded Portsmouth on its northern extremity, adopted a written constitution for their government,' and chose William Coddington their governor. Liberty of conscience was absolute there; and on their seal was the expressive motto, "Amor vincit omnia" ("Love is all-powerful"). In 1639,

1. Massasoit had become acquainted with the manner of building cabins adopted by the settlers at fishing-stations on the coast, and had constructed one for himself. They were much more comfortable than wigwams. See verse 3, page 6.

2. That fountain still bears the name of Roger Williams' Spring.

3. This was the Indian name of Rhode Island. It is a Narraganset word, signifying Peaceable Isle. It is sometimes spelled Aquitneck, and Aquitnet.

4. It was similar to the one used by Williams, and was as follows: "We, whose names are underwritten, do swear solemnly, in the presence of Jehovah, to incorporate ourselves into a body politic, and, as He shall help us, will submit our persons, lives, and estates, unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of Hosts, and to all those most perfect and absolute laws of His, given us in His holy Word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby."

5. He was not absolutely a governor. form of government under the judges. with three assistants.

Their executive was in imitation of the Jewish
Coddington was chosen first judge or chief ruler,

QUESTIONS.-1. What can you tell about Roger Williams? What can you tell about his making a settlement? 2. Who joined Roger Williams, and why? What can you tell about Canonicus? 3. What can you tell about the settlement of Rhode Island? What can you tell about their government? What was their seal?