RE-SURVEY OF MASON AND DIXON'S LINE-New Constitution-Completion of Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road --Its Communication with Europe -Southern Boundary Line of the State-Commission appointed to Retrace the Line.

1. Very little of interest occurred after the Mexican war, until the civil war of 1861. In 1849, a revision was made of the boundary line between Maryland and Pennsylvania. The re-survey was made by commissioners appointed by the States of Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. So accu

Question.-1. What is said of the re-survey of Mason and Dixon's

line?

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rate was the work of Mason and Dixon, that the change involved by the corrections amounted to less than two acres, which were added to the area of Maryland.

2. In 1851, a State Convention was appointed to form a new constitution. By this constitution lotteries were made illegal; imprisonment for debt was abolished; the judiciary was made elective; and, the fees of the officers were not allowed to exceed three thousand dollars; all in excess of this amount was to be paid into the State treasury. Other changes were made, but they were not of a permanent character.

3. On the first day of January, 1853, the Balti

more and Ohio Rail Road was finished to the Ohio river. It had been promised two years before, that it should be completed on that day, and true to the time appointed, the first passenger train from Baltimore arrived at the bank of Wheeling Creek.

4. Thomas Swann, Esq., subsequently governor of the State, was president of the road at that time. It was to his boldness, eloquence and confidence, sustained by the skill, experience, energy and caution of the chief engineer, Benjamin H. Latrobe, Esq., that this work was carried through its difficulties to a successful completion-a work

Questions.-2. State some of the changes made by the Constitution of 1851? 3. When was the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road completed? What had been promised two years before? 4. Who was president of the road at that time? To what was the com. pletion of the road due?

whose importance to Maryland, and particularly to Baltimore, can never be over-estimated.

5. Upon its completion, Mr. Swann resigned. The presidency of this corporation, which exercises so controlling an influence over the whole business of Maryland, and even of neighboring States, fell into able and trustworthy hands. Such judicious connections have been made with western roads, that the distance between the seaboard and the great west, finds its shortest line along the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, which is, therefore, destined to form a part of the great highway between the two oceans.

6. The southern boundary line of this State was described in the charter as a "right line drawn from the promontory, or head-land, called Watkins' Point, unto the main Ocean on the East." In 1661, a dispute arose as to the precise location of Watkins' Point.

7. This dispute was settled by articles of agreement between Philip Calvert, commissioner for Maryland, and Edmund Scarbrugh, commissioner for Virginia, in the year 1668. (See page 74.) By this agreement, Watkins' Point was defined to be the whole body of land between the north side

Questions.-5. When did Mr. Swann resign? Who is the present president? What connections have been made? 6. How was the southern boundary of the State described in the charter? When did a dispute arise? 7. How was the dispute settled?

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of the Pocomoke bay and the south side of Annamessex bay, now Big Annamessex river.

8. The commissioners ran what was intended to be an east line, from "the extremest part of the westernmost angle of the said Watkins' Point."

9. All of the existing maps of Maryland and Virginia being incorrect, the points named did not conform with the provisions of the charter; and, the time and manner of the early settlement of the boundary line being almost forgotten, the old question of the locality of Watkins' Point was revived. In 1858, Thomas J. Lee, Esq, was appointed commissioner for Maryland, in conjunction with a commissioner from Virginia, "to retrace and mark the boundary between Smith's Point, at the mouth of the Potomac, and the Atlantic."

10. The commissioners, in retracing the line from Watkins' Point, discovered that it did not run east. By the agreement in 1668, it was intended to be an east line, or a parallel of latitude; and such a line would add about twenty-three square miles to Maryland. But as the error in the line was probably due to not taking into the account the variation of the compass, and as its direction was fixed by marks, the commissioners simply

Questions.-8. What was the line intended to be? 9. What is said of the maps of Maryland? Of the settlement of the dispute? When was a commission appointed to retrace the line? Who was appointed for Maryland? 10. What did the commissioner discover? What is the probable cause of this error?

renewed such landmarks as were either lost or destroyed, and did not look to any change in the present limits of the State.

11. In 1877, however, the dispute was finally settled by a joint commission appointed by the States of Maryland and Virginia. The line claimed by Maryland was established by this commission.

Questions.-10. Did they propose any change? 11. How was the dispute settled?