Old Virginia and her neighbours

150 OLD VIRGINIA AND HER NEIGHBOURS.that some of the opposition to it was merelyfactious. There is no doubt as to the lofty personalqualities of the second Lord Baltimore, hiscourage and sagacity, his disinterested publicCeciiius andCharles.Spirit, his dcvotiou to the noble idealwhich he had inherited. As for Charles,the third lord, he seems to have been a palerreflection of his father, like him for good intentions,but far inferior in force. The period ofeight-and-twenty years which we are considering,from 1661 to 1689, is divided exactly in themiddle by the death of Ceciiius in 1675. Beforethat date we have Charles administering the affairsof Maryland subject to the approval of his fatherin London ; after that date Charles is supreme.Now the circumstances were such that fatherand son would have had to be more than humanto carry on the government without serious opposition.In the first place, they were Catholics,Sources offuliug a populatiou in which about onediscontent,twelfth part were Catholics, while onesixth belonged to the Church of England, andthree fourths were dissenting Puritans. To mostof the people the enforced toleration of Papistsmust have seemed like keeping on terms of politefamiliarity with the devil. In the second place,the proprietor was apt to appoint his own relativesand trusted friends to the highest offices, and suchpersons were usually Catholics. As these highofficers composed the council, or upper house ofthe assembly, the proprietor had a permanentand irreversible majority in that body. Whenwe read the minutes of a council composed of