province ought to expect, nor is Lord Baltimore, nor any of his officers, although they are Roman Catholics, obliged in conscience to allow such ecclesiastics any more, or other, privileges, exemptions, or immunities for their persons, lands, or goods, than is allowed by His Majesty or other officers to like persons in England"—that is, lawfully, none at all. When the second revolution drove the Catholic James II from the throne of England in 1688, the Baltimore family lost its lucrative colony of Maryland. After a lapse of twenty years, Benedict Leonard Calvert, finding recovery on the old terms impossible, abandoned the religious faith of his ancestors and, by this act of apostacy, won back for his heirs and assigns their fruitful heritage.
While thus moving with great discernment amid the factional quarrels of the Protestants, the Baltimores gave careful thought to peopling their estate with planters and laborers. In the first advertisement to prospective emigrants, great stress was laid on the climate and soil of the colony and the possibility of making more than a hundred per cent profit out of each indentured servant transported; but as far as the record runs, the religious creeds of the emigrants were apparently matters of indifference to the proprietor. At all events, there were both Catholics and Protestants on the first expedition, though the exact proportion is a matter of controversy. According to a Jesuit who was on the ground early, the colony was "largely" Catholic; according to the Protestant historian, Henry Cabot Lodge, "it is a fair presumption that a majority of the settlers were Protestants."
Whatever the verdict, it is certain that the Baltimores, if they rendered cautious assistance to priests of their own faith, showed a willingness to sell or rent land to farmers of the Protestant creeds, not overlooking thrifty Puritans in New England. According to an entry in the journal of Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts, "Lord Baltimore being owner of much land near Virginia . . . made tender of land to any of ours that would transport themselves
