DuBourg and the Jesuits, who were forced to sell some land in Maryland to meet the financial obligations. The trustees of the Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen, which owned Georgetown, elected new Jesuits to the college's board of directors and empowered the board to remove the president. In October 1797, the board decided to keep DuBourg as president, but stripped him of his power over Georgetown's finances, transferring it to a new vice president, Francis Neale, who implemented strict austerity measures. Motivated in part by anti-French sentiment, the Maryland Jesuits eventually took steps to oust DuBourg in 1798, leading to his resignation. He was succeeded by Francis Neale's brother, Leonard Neale, at Christmas. Founding St. Mary's College Upon leaving Georgetown, DuBourg traveled to Havana, Cuba, where he joined two other Sulpicians seeking to establish a college there. However, this project faced political opposition, and DuBourg returned to Baltimore in August 1799. That year, DuBourg founded and became the first president of a college for lay students at St. Mary's Seminary. Though DuBourg initially intended the school to be open for general education, Bishop Carroll required that admission be limited only to West Indian students, so as not to compete with Georgetown College. As a result, many Cubans who had met DuBourg during his time in Havana sent their sons to be educated at St. Mary's College. The Jesuits opposed the founding of St. Mary's College, and DuBourg offered to resolve the dispute by closing St. Mary's College and transferring its students and faculty to Georgetown; however, the Jesuits did not act on this proposal. In 1800, the Sulpicians lodged a protest with Carroll over the restriction on admitting only West Indian students. DuBourg travelled to Cuba in 1802 to recruit students, where he was informed by the Spanish government—which feared the education of Cubans in a republican country—that Cuban students would no longer be allowed to attend school in Baltimore. The following year, the Spanish Navy sent a frigate to Baltimore to demand that all Spanish nationals return. Carroll then lifted the restriction on enrollment, and the school began admitting students of any nationality in 1803. As a result, enrollment at St. Mary's College grew rapidly, overtaking that of Georgetown. Students arrived not only from the West Indies, but from South America, Mexico, and many parts of the United States. The new college was chartered by the State of Maryland