THE FIRST SETTLERS.--The first settlement was made by a company of about twenty gentlemen and three hundred artisans and laborers. They were led and accompanied by two of Lord Baltimore's brothers, and by two Catholic priests. They came over in 1634 in two ships, the _Ark_ and the _Dove_, and not far from the mouth of the Potomac founded St. Marys. In February, 1635, they held their first Assembly. To it came all freemen, both landholders and artisans, and by them a body of laws was framed and sent to the proprietor (Lord Baltimore) for approval. SELF-GOVERNMENT BEGUN.--This was refused, and in its place the proprietor sent over a code of laws, which the Assembly in its turn rejected. The Assembly then went on and framed another set of laws. Baltimore with rare good sense now yielded the point, and gave his brother authority to assent to the laws made by the people, but reserved the right to veto. Thus was free self-government established in Maryland. [12] TROUBLE WITH CLAIBORNE.--Before Lord Baltimore obtained his grant, William Claiborne, of Virginia, had established an Indian trading post on Kent Island in Chesapeake Bay. This fell within the limits given to Maryland; but Claiborne refused to acknowledge the authority of Baltimore, whereupon a vessel belonging to the Kent Island station was seized by the Marylanders for trading without a license. Claiborne then sent an armed boat with thirty men to capture any vessel belonging to St. Marys. This boat was itself captured, instead; but another fight soon occurred, in which Claiborne's forces beat the Marylanders. The struggle thus begun lasted for years. [13] THE TOLERATION ACT.--The year 1649 is memorable for the passage of the Maryland Toleration Act, the first of its kind in our history. This provided that "no person or persons whatsoever within this province, professing to believe in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth be any ways troubled, molested, or discountenanced for, or in respect to, his or her religion." END OF THE CLAIBORNE TROUBLE.--The nine years that followed formed a stormy period for Maryland. One of the parliamentary commissioners to reduce Virginia to obedience (1652, p. 49) was our old friend Claiborne. He and the new governor of Virginia forced Baltimore's governor to resign, and set up a Protestant government which repealed the Toleration Act and disfranchised Roman Catholics. Baltimore bade his deposed governor resume office. A battle followed, the Protestant forces won, and an attempt was made to destroy the rights of Baltimore; but the English government sustained him, the Virginians were forced to submit, and the quarrel of more than twenty years' standing came to an end. Thenceforth Virginia troubled Maryland no more.