merchant in the early 1640s. Certainly he was an ener-
getic entrepreneur of the kind needed in Lord Balti-
more's colony. But how successful he was is less easy to
determine. A colleague in the tobacco trade was Captain
Richard Ingle, who sacked Cornwallis's house in the
raid on St. Mary's in 1645 and induced all his servants
to desert him. This proved a major setback from which
Cornwallis never fully recovered.

   Cornwallis thought it important to live like a manor
lord and he may have been the only early leader to do
so. His house on the Manor of Cornwaleys Cross was
richly furnished, especially by comparison to other
planter's houses, including Leonard Calvert's, as shown
in estate inventories of the time. (An estate inventory is
a list of moveable property taken at the owner's death.)
The walls of the "Cross house" were hung with tapes-
tries and fine china graced the table. No wife joined
Cornwallis in Maryland to demand these amenities. She
was ill and remained behind in England. Clearly he
cared about the appearance of wealth and power as well
as its acquisition.²⁰

   An able commander, an energetic developer, a trust-
worthy lieutenant, even if on some issues he disagreed
with his Lord, Thomas Cornwallis was an ideal lord of a
Maryland manor. Lord Baltimore could have used more
like him.

The Jesuits

   The Jesuit order was a major promoter of the Mary-
land enterprise. As early as 1629 the first Lord Balti-
more sought Jesuit support for his plans for a colony.
He and Richard Blount, the English Jesuit Provincial,