A hiatus ensues in the records, which has to be filled by inference from subsequent events. Governor Calvert held a conference "at Mattapanie" no further information about it is given. Afterwards, in February, 1675, the Susquehannock's all of themshowed up at St. Mary's in Maryland "and being asked their Business they desired to know what part of the Province Should be allotted for them to live upon." The language of the record is startlingly abrupt. Indians were normally more polite, especially when asking for favors. Even more strangely, the Upper House formally asked the Lower House's opinion about what to do with the Indians, and the Lower House raised never a hint of seizing and punishing these presumed murderers who had placed themselves so artlessly in the hands of the government. Rather confusedly the Lower House suggested sending the Indians to "a Place above the falls of Potomack, there being time enough . . . to clear Ground enough to Plant Corn this year which is the only thing they Seem to desire to live among the Neighbour Indians for." The Susquehannock's, "after Some tedious Debate," agreed to go as far as the first falls of the Potomac where they took up residence in an abandoned Piscatawa fort.⁷⁵

This is the retirement of the Susquehannock's that has been variously explained as the consequence of defeat or pressure by the Iroquois. Such explanations rest solely on extrapolation and imagination; there is not a scintilla of evidence in any contemporary document of a major battle with the Iroquois at this time, nor is there any contemporary signal of increased Iroquois strength from the miserable state they had confessed to Frontenac in 1673; and, as we have seen, there was no means for them to get arms from the French throughout the winter of 16741/675. Only the Dutch might possibly have given the required kind of logistic support, and nothing indicates that they did. Actually, instead of noting a rise in hostilities between the Iroquois and the Susquehannock's, Maryland's Lower House expressed suspicions of the two nations' having "private Correspondence together." The enigma is solved for us by a remark of William Penn in a retrospective debate in 1684 with Lord Baltimore's nephew and acting Governor, George Talbot. Penn charged that the Susquehannock's had been "betrayed out of theire Lives by Inviteing them downe among the English," and Talbot, who recorded the dialogue, put the remark down without challenge.⁷⁶   This apparently is the explanation for the mysterious meeting of Charles Calvert with the Susquehannock's "at Mattapanie" before the Susquehannock's came into Maryland. It appears that Calvert gave the Susquehannock's an ultimatum to withdraw from their home fort and retire into Maryland. Failure to comply would be interpreted as grounds for war. By thus forcing the Susquehannock's to retire into Maryland, Calvert could clear the way to make peace with the Iroquois, and with the Iroquois nullified he would be able to renew his effort to conquer Delaware Bay.⁷⁷

But — what embarrassment! — In November, 1674, an English fleet once again took New Netherland, and once again both the Iroquois Indians and the Delaware Bay came into the government of the Duke of York. By the time the Susquehannock's had responded, in February, 1675, to their "invitation" to reside in Maryland, the reason for inviting them had ceased to exist.⁷⁸   Now there was nothing left to do except go through with the comedy of assigning a place in the province for the Susquehannock's to live, and so it came about that the Lower House found itself so abruptly consulted.