Bancroft's History of the United States, Part II [pp. 252-277]

256 BAKoROFT'S HISTORY OF TIlE UKITED STATES. [Nov.,
~ore. And in the preceding facts, detailing the persecutions
they endured at home, we have the motive. Now add the
crowning fact, that they who had the motive did in fact unite
together and perform the very act to which they, were thus
impelled by so strong and overpoweflng a motive-did in fact
fly from the hand of persecution to a distant land to which the
persecuting laws did not reach, and founded a model commonwealth, and decreed that no man should be persecuted there
for conscience' sake. They had warned their k~ng that if the
-persecution did not cease or relax they would fly to a land
-of safety, of peace and liberty; the persecution did not cease
~r relax, and they fled to a land where they and all that came
enjoyed safety, peace, and liberty. From such premises who
would dare to draw a conclusion other than that the motive
which prompted the founding of Maryland was to provide an
asylum for human conscience from the ruthless hand of persecu
tion?
The foregoing view is strongly sustained by that able and
exhaustive treatise on 7/~e Po~nda6ion of Maryland, by General
Bradley T. Johnson, recently published by the Maryland Historical Society. From numerous passages to this effect we quote
the following: "It seemed as if England was no longer a place
where men could be free; and while the Protestants were thus
preparing to seek new homes for thernselves in the wilderness,
the Roman Catholics, irnpelled by the same necessity and driven
by even more cruel laws, began to concert among themselves
fl~easures by which a sanctuary for their religion and their liberties could be provided on the same continent where so many
other Englishmen were finding refuge.... Thus it was that the
principle of freedom of conscience, as a perfect, concrete polity,
grew up in the mind of Lord Baltimore.... This purpose,
wisely conceived and bravely persisted in through all obstacles,
explains everything that has heretofore appeared ambiguous in
the career of Lord Baltimore."
2Voscj(ur a socils is an old maxim, which justifies us in judging
of the motives of men from the companions and co-laborers in
il~eir enterprises. Let us apply this rule to the first Lord Baltimore in the earliest stages of his project for the colonization of
Maryland. Catholics were his associates and partners through~
out. Lord Arundel of Wardour, a prominent Catholic nobleman, was his associate and partner in his earliest efforts in this
direction. Thus as early as February, 1630, we find Lords Balti~nore and Arundel applying to the attorney-general for a grant ~w~