Some harshness of speech
ensued, but hospitality and the amenities fairly saved the situation. One
Thomas Tindall was pilloried for "giving my lord Baltimore the lie and
threatening to knock him down." Baltimore thereupon set sail, but not,
perhaps, until he had gained that knowledge of conditions which he desired.
In England he found the King willing to make him a large grant, with no
less powers than had clothed him in Avalon. Territory should be taken from
the old Virginia; it must be of unsettled land -- Indians of course not
counting. Baltimore first thought of the stretch south of the river James
between Virginia and Spanish Florida--a fair land of woods and streams, of
good harbors, and summer weather. But suddenly William Claiborne was found
to be in London, sent there by the Virginians, with representations in his
pocket. Virginia was already settled and had the intention herself of
expanding to the south.
Baltimore, the King, and the Privy Council weighed the matter. Westward,
the blue mountains closed the prospect. Was the South Sea just beyond their
sunset slopes, or was it much farther away, over unknown lands, than the
first adventurers had guessed? Either way, too rugged hardship marked the
west! East rolled the ocean. North, then? It were well to step in before
those Hollanders about the mouth of the Hudson should cast nets to the
south. Baltimore accordingly asked for a grant north of the Potomac.
He received a huge territory, stretching over what is now Maryland,
Delaware, and a part of Pennsylvania.
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