Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/178

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BALUFFI
BANCROFT

after the death of James, and again in 1629, when he captured some French ships that had been harassing the colonists. He was much disappointed, however, to find the climate so severe, and wrote to Charles I., desiring another grant farther south. In 1628 he visited Virginia and explored Chesapeake bay. His reception in Virginia was unfavorable, on account of his religion, for church-of-England men had full control there. Notwithstanding this, he was delighted with the country, and, although the king tried to dissuade him from founding another colony, he was persistent in his entreaties. Charles finally yielded, and in 1632 a new patent was drawn up, giving Baltimore that part of the country now included in the states of Maryland and Delaware. But before the papers were completed Lord Baltimore died, leaving his son to reap the benefit of the grant. The first Lord Baltimore seems to have been a man of much wisdom and moderation. He was liked by all parties, and. although a strong supporter of royal prerogative in England, he favored popular institutions and liberty of conscience in the colonies. It is supposed that many of the provisions of the Maryland charter were due to him, and it is even thought that he may have drawn up the entire paper. His design, as shown by the charter, was to found a state where there shcndd be, on the one hand, a hereditary landed aristocracy and many features of the feudal system, and, on the other, an assembly of freemen whose consent should be necessary to all laws. For a list of books relating to George Calvert, see "Proceedings of the Maryland Historical Society, 1880." See also Winsor's " Narrative and Critical History of America" (Boston, 1886).—Cecilius (or Cecil) Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, b. about 1605; d. in London, 30 Nov., 1675. Little is known of his early life. About 1628 he married Anne Arundel, whose name is still borne by one of the counties of Maryland. On 20 June, 1632, the charter that had been intended for his father was issued to him. It granted to him, as lord proprietor, many of the rights of a feudal sovereign, but provided for popular government, and exempted the colonists from taxation. In November, 1633, Cecil sent an expedition under his brother Leonard (see Calvert, Leonard) to his new domain. He never visited it himself, but governed it by deputies for forty-three years, and was universally commended for his moderation toward both colonists and natives.—Charles Calvert, third Lord Baltimore, b. in London in 1629; d. there, 24 Feb., 1714. His father sent him to Maryland as governor in 1662, and he succeeded to the proprietorship in 1675. He left Maryland in 1684, and never returned. During his life the province was disturbed by insurrections, caused by opposition to the feudal supremacy of the proprietor, and by the influence of the Anglican church, whose adherents wished it to become the established church of the country. By steadfastly resisting their demands. Lord Baltimore was of service to the cause of religious freedom. See "The Foundation of Maryland." published by the Maryland Historical Society (Baltimore, 1883).


BALUFFI, Gaetano, Italian ecclesiastic, b. in Ancona. 29 Marcli, 17i).S; d. in Imola, 11 Nov., 1866. He was papal nuncio in New Granada, and discovered inedited documents at Bogota, which he incorporated in a "Religious History of America " (Rome, 1848). He afterward became bishop of Imola. a cardinal, and in 1860 an archbishop.


BANCROFT, Aaron, clergyman, b. in Reading, Mass., 10 Nov., 1755 ; d. in Worcester, Mass., 19 Aug., 1839. While pursuing his studies during the revolutionary struggle he frequently served as a minuteman, and was present at both Lexington and Bunker Hill. In 1778 he was graduated at Harvard college. He taught school, studied theology, was licensed to preach, and spent three years as a missionary at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. In 1785 he was settled in Worcester as pastor of the Congregational church, and remained in the same post until his death. He was prominent in church councils and conventions. In middle life his theological views underwent a change in the direction of Arminianism. By his effective advocacy of liberal tenets he was a conspicuous leader in the early period of the Unitarian schism. He published sermons in defence of religious liberty; a eulogy of Washington (1800); a "Life of Washington" (1807, reprinted in England in 1808); and a volume of sermons directed against the doctrine of election (1822). Although he was president of the American Unitarian association, he adhered to the name and the system of Congregationalism to the close of his life.


BANCROFT, Edward, author, b. in Westfield, Mass., 9 Jan., 1744; d. in England, 8 Sept., 1820. He had but little schooling, and was apprenticed to a trade. Running away while in debt to his master, he went to sea, but on his return paid what he owed. After going to sea again, he settled in Guiana, and practised medicine there in 1763. He then removed to England and published a "Natural History of Guiana" (London, 1769), containing some new information, particularly about the ivoorali, or vegetable poison, used by the Indians on their arrows. He afterward wrote a novel called "Charles Wentworth," vilifying the Christian religion. He became intimate with Priestley and Benjamin Franklin, and the latter obtained for him a place on the "Monthly Review," for which he wrote reviews of publications relating to America. In 1777, suspected of complicity in an attempt to burn the Portsmouth dockyard, he fled to Passy, France, and then went to Paris, where an old teacher of his, Silas Deane, was commissioner of the continental congress. Deane confided to him an account of the intercourse between France and the congress in relation to the furnishing of supplies, and Bancroft communicated the whole to the British ministry, thus enabling the British ambassador to hinder the shipment. It is impossible to tell how long Bancroft was in British pay; he had previously received money as an American spy. After the close of the war he obtained patents in France and England giving him the exclusive right to import yellow oak-bark, used in dyeing, which made him rich. He published "Experimental Researches concerning Permanent Colors" (1794; 2d ed., with additional volume, 1813). This work was translated into German. He also wrote articles on the relations between France and America, which were translated into French. Bancroft was a fellow of the royal society and a member of the royal college of physicians in London.


BANCROFT, George, historian, b. in Worcester, Mass., 3 Oct., 1800; d. in Washington, D. C., 17 Jan., 1891. He was prepared for college at Exeter, N. H., was graduated at Harvard in 1817, and went to Germany. At Göttingen, where he resided for two years, he studied German literature under Benecke; French and Italian literature under Artaud and Bunsen; Arabic, Hebrew, and Scripture interpretation under Eichhorn; history under Planck and Heeren; natural history under Blumenbach; and the antiquities and literature of Greece and Rome under Dissen, with whom he took a course of Greek philosophy. In writing from Leipsic, 28