knowne ..... Heaven and earth never agreed better
to frame a place for man's habitation, were it fully
manured and inhabited by industrious people. Here
are mountains, hills, plaines, valleyes, rivers, and
brookes, all running into a faire Bay, compassed but
for the mouth, with fruitful and delightsome land."
Smith's enthusiasm was infectious, and given the
experience of a Newfoundland winter, it is easy to
understand George Calvert's desire to move south.

    King Charles I responded favorably to Calvert's
request. In February 1632, he directed that Calvert
be given lands to the south of Virginia, signing
papers to that effect on March 17, 1632. Opponents
of the plan persuaded the King to change his mind,
however, arguing that a settlement to the south of
Virginia might be "so neare unto" that colony that
it would "too much restraine the old planters from
enlarging their habitations to the southward and
by that meanes give them some discouragement."
There was also growing concern about Dutch settle-
ments to the north. The King agreed to shift the
location of Calvert's grant to placate the Virginia
planters and to meet the Dutch threat. He ordered
that Calvert be given a charter for all of what is now
known as the Delmarva peninsula, along with land
westward to the source of the Potomac River be-
tween its southern bank and an undefined line
drawn from the head of Delaware Bay.

    In framing his instructions for the revised grant,
the King qualified George Calvert's privileges by
insisting that Calvert pay "Customes & duties as
other his Ma[jes]ties subjects do," taxes not re-