Eastern Shore, whereas the Maryland charter was to be
granted for "parts of America not yet cultivated and
planted, though in some parts thereof inhabited by cer-
tain barbarous people, having no knowledge of the
Almighty God." (Neither Englishmen nor Virginians
recognized the claims of the Indians.) On June 5 the
privy council's committee on trade and plantations
reported that it agreed with the Virginians. The council
authorized yet another warrant that was to place the
boundary at Watkins Point instead of Cape Charles.
This change left present-day Accomack and Northamp-
ton counties in Virginia and set the stage for future con-
flicts, including the nineteenth- and twentieth-century
"oyster wars" between Maryland and Virginia water-
men. The charter with these boundaries finished passage
of the seals on June 20, 1632.

   No sooner was the great seal affixed and the terms of
the charter became known than Virginia interests
mounted a strong campaign against it. A legal opinion
submitted to the privy council argued that powers to
make war and make feudal grants with manorial privi-
leges, plus the absence of any right to appeal to the
crown, were excessive delegations of power. Cecil
Calvert skillfully argued his case and the charter was not
rescinded. But this was only the first of many battles
and the struggle kept him in England for the rest of his
life. He had to rule his colony from afar and never
found it safe to leave England, even for a visit.

   Cecil Calvert's political skills were required not only
to protect his charter from attacks in England but to
make it work in Maryland. There he had both to colo-
nize a wilderness and create a refuge for Catholics. The
terms of the charter supplied a protective autonomy for
a Catholic settlement. English penal laws against Catho-

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