Almost  at  the  time  when  this  report  was  written,  the  king
at  Whitehall,  weighing  that  men  of  Lord  Baltimore's  condi-


1629-1632.  COLONIZATION   OF  MARYLAND.  15?

tion  and  breeding  were  unfit  for  the  rugged  and  laborious
beginnings  of  new  plantations,  advised  him  to  desist  from
further  prosecuting  his  designs,  and  to  return  to  his  native
country.  He  came  back ;  but  it  was  "  to  extol  Virginia  to  the
skies,"  and  to  persist  in  his  entreaties.  It  was  represented  that
on  the  north  of  the  Potomac  there  lay  a  country  inhabited  only
by  native  tribes.  The  French,  the  Dutch,  and  the  Swedes
were  preparing  to  occupy  it ;  and  a  grant  seemed  the  readiest
mode  of  securing  it  by  an  English  settlement.  The  cancel-
ling of  the  Virginia  patents  had  restored  to  the  monarch  his
prerogative  over  the  soil ;  and  it  was  not  difficult  for  Calvert
— a  man  of  such  moderation  that  all  parties  were  taken  with
him,  sincere  in  his  character,  disengaged  from  all  interests,
and  a  favorite  with  the  royal  family — to  obtain  a  charter  for
uncultivated  domains  in  that  happy  clime.  The  conditions  of
the  grant  conformed  to  the  wishes,  it  may  be  to  the  sugges-
tions, of  the  first  Lord  Baltimore  himself,  although  it  was
finally  issued  for  the  benefit  of  his  son.
