iv Letter of Transmission.

We do not know any of the thirteen original states, which have as yet
printed in full the Proceedings of their Colonial Court of the last resort, and
we hope that Maryland may have the privilege of being the first state to make
such publication, believing that these decisions will be of use to students, not
merely from the antiquarian and genealogical point of view, nor even that
their usefulness will be further limited to lawyers and students of jurisprudence,
but that their publication will confer a boon also upon students of the economic,
social, political history of the Province of Maryland.

An address delivered at The Johns Hopkins University on the 25th of March,
1903, the anniversary of the landing of Lord Baltimore's first colonists, was
the beginning of a careful and minute study by the editor of the history of
Maryland under the Proprietary Government in the 17th century. As pro-
logues to the history of this period, he has written articles on the " First Lord
Baltimore and his Colonial Projects," which appeared in the Annual Report of
the American Historical Association for 1905, and one on the " Maryland
Charter and the Early Explorations " of that Province, which was printed in
the Sewanee Review for 1907. A by-product of the author's study in this
period was an address upon " Maryland's First Courts," published in the An-
nual Report of the American Historical Association for 1901. The first of
the monographs dealing with the history of the period above named, was
entitled "Beginnings of Maryland, 1631-1639" and was published in Series
XXI of The Johns Hopkins University Studies, for 1903. This was followed
by a second monograph, entitled " Maryland during the English Civil Wars,"
also published in the Studies for 1906 and 1907. The monograph was divided
into two parts: the one extending from 1639 to 1642, and the other, from the
latter date to 1649. A third monograph, entitled " Maryland under the
Commonwealth," carried on the history to the Restoration of the Province
to the Proprietary.

The character of Cecilius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore and first Lord
Proprietary of the Province of Maryland was summed up by the first editor
of the Archives, Dr. William Hand Browne, in his " Lives of George and
Cecilius Calvert," at page 156, thus: " Hostile critics have censured Baltimore
as a timeserver, because he adapted his policy to the emergencies of the time,
but there seems no sufficient ground for the charges .... Baltimore's first duty
was to his colonists, who had trusted their lives and fortunes to him and to
the safeguards of his charter. To commit Maryland to either side was to
bring upon it, probably, civil war, and almost certain ruin, if the adverse side
succeeded. His colonists also were divided in opinion. His clear duty was to
shield them if possible, submitting to the logic of events .... Had he become a
partisan of the winning cause, had he used his influence to attack or injure his