People who did not go to church were fined a pound of tobacco for every instance of neglect, and fifty pounds for every month's absence; and, in 1632, uniformity to the Church of England was vigorously enforced, a shilling fine being imposed in every case of non-attendance at worship.[477] Upon the outbreak of the Civil Wars, the loyal Virginians identified Nonconformists with Republicans, and forthwith banished all Dissenters outside their borders. [Sidenote: _Bermudas._] The Bermudas were intimately connected with Virginia. By an extension of the charter granted to the latter Colony in the year 1612, these islands came into its possession. The Company again sold them to members of its own body, who were established as a new corporation, under the name of the Somers Islands' Company. The daughter Colony went beyond its parent state in the assertion of ecclesiastical uniformity, and angrily stood up in support of the Church of England "against all Atheists, Papists, Anabaptists, Brownists, and all other heretics and sectaries whatsoever."[478] Yet, when religious animosities arose, and the only two clergymen who were in the islands refused subscription to the Prayer Book as it was--the Governor, forced by circumstances into some sort of compromise, "bethought himself of the Liturgy of Guernsey and Jersey, wherein all the particulars they so much stumbled at were omitted."[479] The original charter for Maryland bears date 1632, and was granted to Lord Baltimore, a Roman Catholic nobleman of high character and honourable renown. Upon condition of yielding two Indian arrows at Windsor Castle every Easter Tuesday, he received with the ownership of the lands the Governorship of the Colony. He also became invested with all advowsons, and with the power of licensing churches and chapels--to be consecrated according to the ecclesiastical laws of this kingdom. To the same Governor were further granted such royal rights "as any Bishop of Durham ever had." The inconsistency of granting such a charter to any individual who was a Roman Catholic, however excellent a man he might be, is obvious to every one. An establishment, according to Protestant law, thus came under the complete control of an individual of a perfectly different communion. Yet, though the procedure appears so inconsistent, it, in fact, happily proved the means of securing to the Maryland people the blessing of religious liberty to a greater extent than that in which it was enjoyed in any other Colony. An oath, which was required to be taken by the Governor and Council, in these words:--"I will not, by myself or any other, directly or indirectly, trouble, molest, or discountenance any person professing to believe in Jesus Christ, for or in respect of religion"[480]--was perhaps framed especially with the view of affording refuge for persecuted Roman Catholics on the shores of Chesapeake Bay; but it is pleasant to recollect that under its shadow and in harmony with its design