March, the Catholics took quiet possession of the little place; and religious liberty obtained a home, its only home in the wide world, at the humble village which bore the name of St. Mary's.

Three days after the landing of Calvert, the "Ark and Dove" anchored in the harbor. Sir John Harvey soon arrived on a visit; the native chiefs also came or stayed to welcome or watch the emigrants, and were so well received, that they resolved to give perpetuity to their league of amity with the English. The Indian women taught the wives of the new-comers to make bread of maize; the warriors of the tribe instructed the huntsmen how rich were the forests of America in game, and joined them in the chase. And, as the season of the year invited to the pursuits of agriculture, and the English had come into possession of ground already subdued, they were able, at once, to possess cornfields and gardens, and prepare the wealth of successful husbandry. Virginia, from its surplus produce, could furnish a temporary supply of food, and all kinds of domestic cattle. No sufferings were endured; no fears of want were excited; the foundation of the Colony of Maryland was peacefully and happily laid. Within six months, it had advanced more than Virginia had done in as many years. The proprietary continued with great liberality to provide everything that was necessary for its comfort and protection, and spared no costs to promote its interests; expending, in the first two years, upwards of forty thousand pounds sterling. But far more memorable was the character of the Maryland institutions. Every other country in the world had persecuting laws; "I will not,"-such was the oath for the Governor of Maryland,-"I will not, by myself or any other, directly or indirectly, molest any person professing to believe in Jesus Christ, for or in respect of religion." Under the mild institutions and munificence of Baltimore, the dreary wilderness soon bloomed with the swarming life and activity of prosperous settlements; the Roman Catholics, who were oppressed by the laws of England, were sure to find a peaceful asylum in the quiet harbors of the Chesapeake; and there, too, Protestants were sheltered against Protestant intolerance.

Such were the beautiful auspices under which the province of Maryland started into being; its prosperity and its peace seemed assured; the interests of its people and its proprietary were united; and, for some years, its internal peace and harmony were undisturbed. Its history is the history of benevolence, gratitude and toleration. No domestic factions disturbed its harmony. Every thing breathed peace but Clayborne. Dangers could only grow out of external causes, and were eventually the sad consequences of the revolution in England.-GEORGE BANCROFT.

PETER STUYVESANT.

THE irresistible genius of Washington Irving has so covered the period of the Dutch settlement and government of New York with a comical aspect that it is almost impossible to consider seriously the characters and adventures of the sturdy phlegmatic founders of the American metropolis. Stuyvesant was the most prominent representative of that worthy people

in the present limits of the United States.

Peter Stuyvesant was born in the year 1602, the son of a clergyman in Friesland, one of the northern provinces of the Netherlands. Peter received a good education, and is said to have distinguished himself as a Latin scholar. Even at school he exhibited the impetuosity and self-will for which he was afterwards noted. He entered the army, and shortly exhibiting administrative ability, he was appointed Director of Curaçoa, in the Caribbean sea, which had been settled by the Spaniards, but afterwards captured by the Dutch. He attacked the Portuguese on the Island of St. Martin, and in the engagement which followed lost a leg. He returned to Holland in 1644 to procure medical assistance.

The Colony of New Netherland, by the maladministration of Governor Kieft, was in a deplorable condition. He had estranged the Indians by cruelty and baseness, and for five years war had raged between those people and the Dutch Colony. Governor Kieft, on petition to the home government, had been recalled. Stuyvesant, his health being restored, was appointed to succeed him. He arrived at Manhattan in May, 1647, and immediately set himself to reform

the abuses of the last administration. He conciliated the Indians, passed laws for the strict observance of the Sabbath, and curtailed the sale of intoxicating liquors; but we are also told assumed "state and pomp like a peacock's." On the 17th of September, 1650, Governor Stuyvesant sailed from Manhattan for Hartford, Connecticut. Here he arranged with the New England Commissioners a boundary line, which had for a long time been in dispute between the two Colonies. In 1651 he erected on the Delaware river, near the present site of New Castle, a fort, which he called Casimer.

A municipal government was organized in the year 1653 for the city of New Amsterdam, now New York. Sweden now claimed the land on which Fort Casimer was built, and in 1654 sent a force to capture it. Bikker, who held the fort for Stuyvesant, had but a small garrison, and surrendered it to John Rising, the Swedish commander. The Governor of New Netherland was highly indignant, and shortly after seized a Swedish ship which had anchored off Staten Island. He sent word to Rising that he should hold the ship, cargo and crew, "until a reciprocal restitution shall have been made." Rising refused to parley on the matter. Stuyvesant, with seven vessels and over six hundred men, surrounded Fort Casimer, which soon capitulated. The Swedish Governor also surrendered Fort Christiana, which was two miles further up the river. Thus, after seventeen years, Swedish dominion on the South River was brought to an end.

The arbitrary rule of Stuyvesant was obnoxious to the majority of his subjects, and a convention, made up of two deputies from each village in New Netherland, demanded a popular government, and remonstrated against the establishment of arbitrary power. They also complained that laws had been enacted without the consent of the people. There ensued a bitter controversy between them and the Governor. Stuyvesant ordered them to disperse "on pain of our highest displeasure;" adding, "We derive our authority from God, and from the company, not from a few ignorant subjects." Petitions were sent to Holland protesting against his administration. Stuyvesant was rigorously rebuked by the home government; but this made little difference to such a man.

He was born to govern, not to be governed. He prosecuted all those who did not agree with him on religious matters. The Quakers especially received the most cruel treatment at his hands. A person for entertaining a Quaker, even for a single night, was fined fifty pounds.

Upon the restoration of Charles II. in England, Republicans and Dissenters, disappointed and persecuted, were disposed, in ever-increasing numbers, to take refuge in the New World. Relations between Holland and England had been greatly strained. In 1667 little Holland inflicted on England such a humiliation as she had never before endured. The Dutch fleet destroyed Sheerness, burned the ships lying off Chatham, and sailed up the Thames as far as Tilbury Fort. "The roar of foreign guns was heard for the first and last time by the citizens of London."

Stuy

England claimed the New Netherlands, and Charles II. granted to his brother James, the Duke of York, all land lying between the Connecticut River and the Delaware. On August 20, 1654, an English fleet, under command of Colonel Nicholls, anchored off Coney Island. He sent four men ashore to demand the surrender of Fort Amsterdam. vesant was for resisting the demand, but the people forced him to yield, and on September 3d he delivered up the city of New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant died in New York City in August, 1682. After the English occupation he lived on his farm or bouwerij, just outside the city limits, until his death. He was buried at St. Mark's Church in that city.

Peter Stuyvesant exhibited a character of high morality in private life, as well as in his negotiations with the English and Indians. He showed in these firmness of manner, sharpness of perception, clearness of argument, and soundness of judgment. As a Church and State man, he was thoroughly conservative. As usual with the majority of governors sent from Europe, he took sides, on his arrival, with the officeholders whom he found in the country, and who had already inflicted so much injury on the Province. Thus he became separated from the mass of his countrymen, and proved himself really a tyrant against the people in their struggles for freer institutions.