Mr. JONES, of Somerset. I concur very
fully in the views which have been sub
milted by my friend from Baltimore county
(Mr. Ridgely) I do not think, sitting here
as we are for the purpose of establishing a
form of civil government for a community
that does not recognize the propriety of
uniting Church and State, that we can un-
dertake, with any show of consistency, to
exclude from any civil office of trust and
profit in the State a very large class of per-
sons who may differ from those of us who
hold to the fundamental doctrines of the
Christian religion. I believe that all the
States of this Union have gradually brought
their organic law to this condition: that the
only religious test-- if it can be called a re-
ligions test—which shall be required as a
qualification for admission to any civil office
of profit or trust in the State, shall be a
declaration of belief in the existence of God.
and in a moral accountability in a future
state of rewards and punishments, whether
that be in this world or in the world to come.
Now, sir, it is well known how much of
disorder, confusion and strife has been in-
duced by matters of difference in religious
belief. It is well known that one of the
fundamental principles upon which our Gov-
ernment is based, is the entire separation of
matters of religion and matters of civil gov-
ernment; leaving all matters of religion to
be questions between man's conscience and
his God; and all questions of civil govern-
ment to be controlled by those considerations
which are embraced in the good and
benefit of society. At the same time all
experience shows that those only are to be
trusted with the exercise of important func-
tions of civil government. among us, who do
recognize the responsibility binding upon
their consciences in a belief in the existence
of God, and their moral responsibility to
Him for all their actions.
Test oaths and stringent restrictions in
reference to religious belief, have frequently
retarded the growth of population and
wealth in civil communities Where the
restrictions are narrow and stringent, a
great many worthy persons who would
otherwise settle among us, are excluded aid
compelled to go elsewhere. The restriction
in regard to the Jews, which existed in this
State for so many years, had the tendency
to exclude them from our community; very
worthy, intelligent and excellent persons of
that belief went elsewhere, where no bar of
civil government excluded them from con-
sideration in the State. For a long time
that class of population in our State was
very small. But since that restriction has
been removed it has very considerably in-
creased, and I believe they are as peaceable,
quiet and worthy citizens as any we have
There is a singular fact connected with
the settlement of Maryland, which it may be |
well to advert to here, by way of showing
that, in the providence of God, we may per-
haps owe much to the fact that in some of
our sister colonies there existed restrictions
which turned the fortunes and course of
Lord Baltimore to the waters of the upper
Chesapeake, and ultimately led to the settlement
of this State, The first Lord Baltimore
was brought up a Protestant. While hold-
ing a very high position in the cabinet of
the British King, he was convened to the
Catholic faith. In the conscientious exercise
of his faithfulness to his sovereign, the test
oath, and the persecution for religious be-
lief, which then existed in Great Britain,
and which the Government energetically
enforced, so pressed upon him, that he re-
signed his office, upon the ground that he
could not conscientiously enforce the ex-
actions of the Government in relation to
religions belief. Not only that, but in or-
der that ie and those who believed with
him might escape persecution for their re-
ligious belief, he left the shores of England
and took up his residence upon the island
of Newfoundland, in the province called
Avalon, for which he obtained a grant, and
remained there with his followers for some
two years. The climate and soil of that
island not proving inch as were desirable
for his purposes, he left that island, and
with his family and followers set out to take
up their residence in the colony of Virginia
When he arrived there the authorities of the
colony immediately tendered to him the
oath of allegiance and supremacy. It so
conflicted with his views as a Catholic that
he declined taking it, and frankly informed
the authorities of Virginia that he and his
followers could not take that oath. But he
prepared a modified form of oath, which he
presented to the authorities as one which he
was willing to take; being an oath of allegi-
ance aid a declaration of belief in the
Christian religion. This the authorities of
Virginia rejected. Lord Baltimore conse-
quently left the colony of Virginia, and took
a tour up the Chesapeake, examining the
bay, rivers and harbors. Seeing what a
beautiful country it was, he returned to
England and obtained a grant of the then
reigning monarch, of this province of Mary-
land, when he returned Here and effected the
settlement of this colony. Thus by that ex-
action on the part of the authorities of Vir-
ginia, Lord Baltimore, with all his influence
and wealth, together with his followers,
was excluded from settling in Virginia.
And no doubt, under the providence of God,
we owe much of the freedom, growth of
population, and the benefit of the institu-
tions which have been handed down to us
by our ancestors in Maryland, to that single
fact. It seems, therefore, that religious per
secution sometimes inures to the benefit of
others. Lord Baltimore returned from Eng |
