necessary for the Penns to file a supplemental bill in Chancery, against Frederick Lord Baltimore, to force him to adopt the line of sixty-nine miles and two hundred and ninety-eight and a half perches, as the distance across the peninsula, from bay to bay, and ascertain its exact middle, from whence the northwardly line should be run so as to form a tangent with the New Castle semicircle, and past it to the latitude of fifteen English statute miles south of the most southern part of Philadelphia.

"Whilst this bill was pending, Frederick Lord Baltimore, tired of the litigation and expense of the disputes, which he did not probably understand, as he was then young, and perhaps finding himself driven from eve ry possible chance of further cavil, finally entered into articles of agreement with Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, in 1760, which at length effectually closed their protracted and vexatious altercations.

"By this agreement it was covenanted, that the semicircle as already run should be adopted-that the distance across the peninsula in the latitude of Cape Henlopen, should be taken to have been rightly run, at sixty-nine miles and two hundred and ninety-eight and a half perches from the stone pillar east of the mulberry tree, at Fenwick's Island,' and marked with the arms of the contracting parties, that the middle of such line should be ascertained, and a stone pillar should be fixed at that point—that from such point a northwardly line should be run, whether the same should be due north or not, so as to form a tangent with the semicircle at New Castle, drawn with a radius of twelve English statute horizontal miles, from the court house in that place, and past the said point of contract further north till it reached the latitude of fifteen miles south of the most southern part of Philadelphia-that the supplemental bill filed should be confessed, that all claim should be released to the territory, within those limits then to be ascertained, and that the Penns should appoint commissioners to run the lines as yet unfinished.

"These articles of agreement of 1760, between Thomas Penn, Richard Penn, and Frederick Lord Baltimore, are well known to our courts of justice, and have been admitted in evidence without proof, as a state paper, with which they are presumed to be conversant. They were enrolled in Chancery in England, in pursuance of a decree of that court, found amongst the papers some years ago of Dr. Ross (1 Binn. 390), who had some connections with the Penns as their agent. They are not to be found amongst the public documents of the commonwealth, but there was a copy of them taken by the secretary of that office, from the original, brought there by Samuel Riddle, Esq., who was a connection of Dr. Ross's family, under an express written stipulation, that they should be re-delivered to him after they were copied, as private property. It is to be lamented, that the original was not filed, for though it has been admitted in our courts as evidence in cases of disputes, under conflicting Maryland and Pennsylvania land titles,

yet if they should unfortunately be lost, the courts, I presume, would not admit the copy which was taken in a large unwieldy book, and much less the copy of a copy, unless an act of Assembly should be passed giving such copy, or copy of the copy, the character of legal evidence.

"Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason were appointed to run the unfinished lines in 1767, and extended to the western line between the two provinces, to the distance of two hundred and thirty miles, and marked for one hundred and thirty miles by stone pillars, thus putting a final termination to disputed territory between Maryland and Pennsylvania. This line was afterwards designated Mason and Dixon's line,' to distinguish it from the temporary line,' run in 1739, as already related. I have never been able to see a chart or minutes of these latter surveys, as they are not amongst the public records of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

"These disputes and negotiations of the proprietaries of Maryland and Pennsylvania, are curious and interesting, as a portion of the early history of the state, and necessary and important to a proper knowledge of the land titles within the disputed territory, the covenants respecting which, in the famous agreements of 1732 and 1760, it is foreign to this sketch to exhibit or explain. The whole history of these transactions, shows conclusively, the fairness and candor, the moderation and firmness of William Penn, the illustrious and irreproachable founder of Pennsylvania, and the justice of the claims of his posterity, and rescues his name from the imputation of injustice."

NOTE A.

It seems that our friend has taken a different view of the clause of the charter which fixed "the beginning of the fortieth degree of latitude" as the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, from what we had taken in our lec

ture.

He scouts the claim to go south to the line of thirty-nine degrees as preposterous, and declares that it involves a "manifest absurdity." We thought differently; we considered the words of the charter sufficient to give the title, had not the previous grant to Lord Baltimore intervened. The words of the grant as the southern boundary are as follows: "On the south by a circle to be drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle, northward and westward, unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude."

There was, however, a material difference between the two questions. In the controversy treated of in the memoir, there was a prior grantee to Penn, claiming a right to territory, at least as far north as the latitude of the head of the Delaware bay. But in the dispute with Virginia there was no prior

grant to an adverse claimant. She was a proprietary government, and the crown could enlarge, contract or vary her boundary at its pleasure. If then the charter to Penn even encroached upon the bounds of Virginia, it was the voluntary act of the King granting to one of his subjects a portion of his royal domain. There would have been no more injustice to any buman being in granting to Wm. Penn the territory now forming the counties of Monongalia, Preston and Marion, than there was in bestowing Chester or Lancaster. The crown had the same power and right to grant the western territory of Virginia, that it exercised in granting Pennsylvania. If, then, the words of the charter to Penn, could be construed fairly to extend to the line of thirty-nine degrees, there could be no valid objection urged against it.

It is true that there appears to be some deficiency in the words of the charter. The line drawn "northward and westward" could not reach "the beginning of the fortieth degree of latitude." But those words could not be used without meaning. That line was certainly intended as the southern boundary of Pennsyivania, and although Lord Baltimore's prior grant prevailed through the whole length of Maryland, yet beyond that there could be no southern boundary, except the beginning of the fortieth degree that is, the end of the thirty-ninth. John Penn, in a letter written in reply to queries propounded to him by the Earl of Dartmouth, in 1773, states that the minutes of the council show that Pennsylvania was to be three degrees wide and five long. The northern boundary is "the beginning of the forty-third degree," that is at the line of the forty-second degree, according to the charter, and there it was fixed with entire unauimity by Pennsylvania and New York. To give the former state her three degrees, her southern boundary should in the words of her charter be "the beginning of the fortieth degree"-that is the line of the thirty-ninth degree. There may be some omission in the charter. But that instrument itself provides for such a case. As a general rule in grants by the King, where a question arises, the construction shall be most favorable to the grantor. But Penn's charter expressly provides that if any doubt or question of construction arises, that interpretation shall be adopted, which is most favorable or advantageous to the grantee.

The construction most favorable to Penn, is that which gives to the words "the beginning of the fortieth degree" their true and real meaning, and it would seem to us to be a forced construction to disregard that expression or treat it as a nullity. Besides if those words are rejected, the charter would fix no southern boundary to Pennsylvania, west of Maryland.

ANSWERS OF JOHN PENN,

TO QUESTIONS PROPOSED BY THE EARL OF DARTMOUTH.

In July, 1773, the Earl of Dartmouth proposed a number of questions to the Governors of the different provinces, to which John Penn, Governor of Pennsylvania, made very full replies in January, 1775. From these questions and replies we make the following extracts, which will be interesting, in connection with what we have published, in relation to our southern boundary.

"1. What is the situation of the province under your government; the nature of the country, soil, and climate; the latitude and longitudes of the most considerable places in it; have those latitudes and longitudes been settled by good observations or only common computations; and from whence are the longitudes computed?

"Answer. The province of Pennsylvania is situated on the river Delaware, in North America, lying (agreeable to the Royal charter) from the beginning of the 40th to the beginning of the 43d degree of latitude; and in longitude computed west, from Greenwich, from 75 to 80 degrees. The nature of the country is various, being in many places much broken with bills, mountains, and barrens, but this is compensated by a proportionable number of fertile vallies and plains, watered by the noble rivers the Delaware, the Susquehannah, part of the Allegheny or Ohio, and the numerous branches, streams, and springs that empty themselves into these three great rivers. The soil, where good (which is a large proportion of the whole), is well adapted to the raising wheat and other sorts of grain raised in England, besides some others, such as Indian corn, &c., suitable to our more southern latitude. The climate is salubrious, differing little from European climates in the same latitude, excepting in this, that the winter colds are something more intense from the vast extent of country to the northwestward; but the purity of the air during the cold season, which seldom lasts above two months, compensates for its keenness. The city of Philadelphia, situated near the conflux of Delaware and one of its chief branches the Schuylkill, is the most considerable town in the province, or, indeed, in North America. The State House of this city lies in north latitude 39° 56′ 53′′; its longitude, from the royal observatory, at Greenwich, computed west 75° 8′ 45′′; or, in time, 5 hours and 35 seconds. This latitude and

longitude were both fixed by accurate astronomical observations, at the transit of Venus, 1769. Some of the county towns are considerable places, as Lancaster and York, the chief towns of the counties that go by their names; Reading, the chief town of Berks; and Carlisle, the chief town of Cumberland. But their latitudes and longitudes are not yet fixed by any accurate observations.

"Easton, the chief town of Northampton county, situated at the conflux of the main branch of the Delaware, and the Lehigh branch, lies in latitude 40° 43′ 10′′, and about the same longitude as Philadelphia.

"The conflux of the Popauchton and Mohock branches of the Delaware, lies in latitude 41° 56" 30". And about eight miles higher than this, on the Mohock branch, is fixed, by accurate astronomical observations, the beginning of the 43d degree of latitude, through which the boundary line of New York and Pennsylvania passes.

Sunbury, the county town of Northumberland, situated at the conflux of the East and West branches of the Susquehannah, lies in latitude 40° 47′ 7′′. "Wyoming, on the East branch of the Susquehannah (where some intruders, from Connecticut, have forcibly seated themselves, under pretence of extending their colony to the South Sea), is situated in latitude 41 degrees 14'′ 17′′.

"Fort Pitt, at the conflux of the Ohio and Monongehela rivers, lies in latitude 40°26′ 22′′; and its longitude, west from Greenwich, 79° 59′ 0′′. This has been accurately ascertained, and leaves Fort Pitt undoubtedly about six miles within our western boundary, as that part of the Delaware which lies in the latitude of Fort Pitt, is three miles forty-seven chains east of Philadelphia.

"The Light-House, on Cape Henlopen, at the entrance of Delaware bay. is situated in latitude 38° 47′ 8′′; its longitude, west from Greenwich, 75° 5' 18".

"2. What are the reputed boundaries; and are any parts thereof disputed; what parts, and by whom?

"Answer. The boundaries of Pennsylvania, as described in the Royal charter, by King Charles the Second, to William Penn, the founder of the province, are as follows: All that tract or part of land in America, with the Islands therein contained, as the same is bounded on the east by Delaware river, from twelve miles distance northward of New Castle town, unto the three and fortieth degree of north latitude, if the said river doth extend so far northward; but if the said river shall not extend so far northward, then by the said river so far as it doth extend, and from the head of the said river the eastern bounds are to be determined by a meridian line to be drawn from the head of the said river unto the forty-third degree. The said land to extend, westward, five degrees in longitude, to be computed from the said eastern bounds; and the said lands to be bounded on the