49 



and roqnircd the mnnning of ships, nt liis own cxponso, to protect his 

 private interests, and the deieneeless Eiii^h'sh fishcniien on the coast. 

 KeliiK|iiishina:, {innll}', his phintjition at Ne\vf()nii(ll;in(l, he; turned liis 

 thoughts to more liospitahle regions, and, as Lord J3;ihiinore, became the 

 father of Maryland. 



Of all who sought our shores to acquire power and princely estates, 

 to escape^ persecution, or to give a home and shelter to the wojiry and 

 striek<'n, not f)ne — whether Puritan, Episcopalian, or Quaker — was ac- 

 tuated by a spirit more liberal, or has left a better nanu>, than George 

 Calvert, 'the Catholie.* 



Remarking that Winthrop records in his journal (1G47) the occurrence 

 of a hurricane at Newfounrlland, which wrecked mari}'^ ships imd boats, 

 and destroyed (quantities ol'fish, we come to the time of Charles the Sec- 

 ond. That monarch, after the restoration, in 1660, issued a long proc- 

 lamation for the strict observance of Lent, assigning, as one reason there- 

 for, "the good it produces in the employment of fishermen." Still fur- 

 ther to encourage this branch of industry, Parliament passed an act the 

 same 3'ear remitting tlie duty on salt used in curing fish, and exempting 

 the materials rec[uired in the fisheri(\s from customs and excise. Three 

 years later, the Newfoundland fishery was specially protected by an 

 entire exemption from levies and duties; and the home and colonial 

 fisheries were at the same time assisted by duties imposed on products 

 of the sea, imported by foreigners or aliens. 



Yet, the number of ships employed at Newfoundland declined annu."- 

 ally. In 1670, the merchants sent out barely eighty. The dechnc' 

 was attributed to the boat fishery, «UTied on by the mhabittmts there.. 

 Sir Josiah Child,t the leading authority of the da}'^ in matters of tnide 

 rmd commerce, sounded the note of alarm, anticipating that, if the resi- 

 dent fishermen contined to increase, they would, in the end, canyon 

 the whole fishery, and that the nursery of British seamen would' be- 

 destroyed. The only remedy he proposed was the annihilation of the- 

 boat fishery. Never was a more unjust expedient conceived. The 

 lal>ors, the expenditures, and sacrifices, of a large number of eminent 

 and adventurous men, who had devot(;d life and fu'tune to the- coloni- 

 zation of Newfoundland, were thus to be counted as worthless, and 

 even injurious to the realm. But the views of Child were adoj)t(xl by 

 the Lords of Trade luid Plantations,! who determined to break up 



* Georffe Calvert, I?nroii of Biiltimoro, niid fdiindor of MniTland, was Ijoru in.Enjiliiiid in 

 ir)H2. Ill' wiiH upiiointod one of tlic |»riiici|i;il sccri'tiirifs of mate in Kill); aiul.wliilo lioidiiii^ 

 oflfifc he ftf(|iiirf(l the Koutlirasfcrii [iriiiiisiila of Xrw foiiiidl.ind, which lie citcti'd into a j)rov- 

 ini'f calli'd A\alon. In Itl'Jl he lici-ainc ,i Catliolic Afi'T h\< ahainhiMniciii of Noufonndland 

 ill- made a visit to Virginia, but the colonists disliked liis rcli;;ioii, and hi.' ndimin'sdu'd his iat-n- 

 tion to Hcttlf aniont; tln-in. On hJH rctiini to l'ii;,dand, (Miailcs the l''ir.st j^avi^ liim a patent of 

 the coiuitry now Maryland. I^ord Ilalliinore died in Ijondon in UV-Vi, hcfore his patent liatt 

 |)aHS(.'d the necessary I'onn.s; a'nl a new one was issncd to his son <'eci], who sLiccecded to liis 

 lionorK. 



t .Sir Josiah Child was a merchant. It is said that he aei|iiired ^reat wealth in tiie "nianaijo- 

 ineut" of file I'jiHt India Company's stork. Wlieii his daMi;lifer married ilie eldest son of tho ■ 

 Duke of I'laufiirt, he (jave her a portion of £•")'<, H'lH. Sir Josiah had lish-poiids in J^ppiiig 

 forest, " iiiaiiv niih'H in circuit." 



{ The Hoard of Trade and J'lantations was of no service to tlu' AniericHii coloiii"s, thou<rh 

 created for tiie special jjurpose of atfendinc; to their iiilerestn. Mr. I'nrke, in a speech in tho 

 House of Comnion«, in I7.":i(), thus Hpokoof it: " Tliis board is a sort of , tcniiKuate bed of 



4 a 



