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[241] of the intolerance of European legislation.1 It was
Chap VII.}
evident that Lord Baltimore could never hope for quiet in any attempt at establishing a colony within the jurisdiction of Virginia.

But the country beyond the Potomac seemed to be as yet untenanted by any but the scattered hordes of the native tribes. The French, the Dutch, and the Swedes, were preparing to occupy the country; and a grant seemed the readiest mode of securing the soil by an English settlement.2 The canceling of the Virginia patents had restored to the monarch the ample authority of his prerogative over the soil; he might now sever a province from the colony, to which he had at first assigned a territory so vast; and it was not difficult for Calvert—a man of such moderation, that all parties were taken with him;3 sincere in his character, disengaged from all interests, and a favorite with the royal family—to obtain a charter for domains in that happy clime. The conditions of the grant conformed to the wishes of the first Lord Baltimore himself, although it was finally issued for the benefit of his son.

The fundamental charter4 of the colony of Mary-

1632 June 20.
land, however it may have neglected to provide for the power of the king, was the sufficient frank pledge of the liberties of the colonist, not less than of the rights and interests of the proprietary. The ocean, the fortieth parallel of latitude, the meridian of the western

1 Ancient Records, in Burk, II. 24—27.

2 Hammond's Leah and Rachel, 19.

3 Collier on Calvert.

4 The charter may be found in Hazard, i. 327—337; in Bacon's Laws of Maryland at Large. It is appended in English to the Relation of Maryland, 1635. It has been commented upon by Chalmers, 202—205; very diffusely by McMahon, 133—183; by Story, i 92—94; and many others.

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