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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

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ancient buildings, many of them displaying by their decorations the taste and resources of the original owners.

11 Frederick, for a long time the second city of the State, was laid out in 1745. It was made county town in 1748, at which time Frederick county was formed, having been carved out of Prince George's.

12. Georgetown was laid out in 1751. Falling within the limits of the "ten miles square" that were ceded to the United States by the States of Maryland and Virginia, it has ever since formed a part of the District of Columbia.

13. In 1751, Charles, Lord Baltimore, died, having ruled his province, in person or by his governors, for the space of thirty-six years. This period was marked by general peace and increasing prosperity; it was also full of evidences of the unyielding spirit of the people in defending their rights, and in the acquisition of new ones.

14. New counties were added; the population had increased, and the internal resources of the province were developed by the establishment of factories, mills and furnaces. Domestic wine was

manufactured as early as 1748.

Questions.-11. When was Frederick laid out?

When made county town? 12. What is said of Georgetown? 13. When did the proprietary die, and how long did he govern? ther is said?

14. What far.

CHAPTER XV.

BOUNDARY DISPUTES—Watkins' Point—Disputes with Penn-Penn's Grant - The Proprietary will not be Robbed-Penn attacks the Charter-Baltimore out of favor at Court- The King is Patron to Penn-His Expulsion-Settlement Postponed-Mason and Dixon's Line-Shrewdness of Penn-Virginia Boundary.

1. Notwithstanding the clearness with which the boundaries of the province were laid down in the charter, it was nevertheless subjected to great difficulties about the limits.

2. The first contest was with Virginia about the position of Watkins' Point, on the Chesapeake Bay, this being the starting point of the line of Southern boundary. After some difficulties between the two colonies, the dispute was finally adjusted on the 25th of June, 1668; and the line was distinctly indicated and exists as the present boundary of the two States.

3. The most serious difficulty, however, was that respecting the Northern boundary. The Swedes and Dutch, in 1629, had made a settlement within the limits of the present State of Delaware, which was included in Baltimore's grant. In 1681, William Penn received a grant of territory comprising

Questions.-2. What was the first contest about? 3. With whom was the most serious difficulty? What is said of Penn's grant?

DISPUTE WITH PENN.

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twenty-six millions of acres. The Southern boundaries of this tract encroached upon the grant to Lord Baltimore.

4. To further his plans, Penn found it necessary to procure a grant of that part of the present State of Delaware which was excluded from the original grant, namely, the town of New Castle and all the territory for twelve miles around it. This grant, as well as a release of his rights in Pennsylvania, was obtained from the Duke of York, to whom had been previously granted, by his brother King Charles II, all the territory from the mouth of the Connecticut to the shores of the Delaware River.

5. Penn produced this grant and a letter from Charles II, directing the Proprietary of Maryland to assent to an adjustment of his Northern boundary by measuring two degrees from his Southern boundary, at the rate of sixty miles to the degree. The Proprietary, resting firmly upon the terms of his charter, namely, the 40th degree, declined to submit to be robbed of territory which Penn had no right to take, and the Duke of York, no right to give.

6. To shake Baltimore's confidence in his charter, he attacked it by objecting that the Delaware settlements had been planted by the Dutch, before that charter was granted. The Proprietary at

Questions.-4. What did Penn find necessary? From whom was it obtained? 5. What did Penn produce? Did the proprietary submit? 6. How did Penn attack the charter?

that time was under the displeasure of the crown, and upon the king's referring the matter to the board of trade, it was decided that Lord Baltimore's grant included only "lands uncultivated" and inhabited by savages, and that the territory along the Delaware had been settled by Christians antecedently to his grant, and was not therefore included in it.

7. At the time of this decision, 1685, Lord Baltimore was not in a condition to resist it. Through the avarice of the crown, he was threatened with a total loss of his whole grant. Where power was on one side, and only right on the other, resistance would have hastened and ensured his loss of the province.

8. But James II, the patron of Penn and the author of the grant, who was now king, was about to experience in his own person, how little rights are respected when they come in conflict with power. He was expelled from the throne, and the final settlement of the boundary question was postponed until 1732, when an agreement was entered into by the Proprietary, to adopt the border fixed by the decree of 1685.

9. The matter being subject to further dispute, it was not until 1766, that Messrs. Charles Mason

Questions.-6. What was the decision of the board of trade? 7. What was the condition of Lord Baltimore at this time? 8. What advantages had Penn? Why was the settlement postponed? When was the agreement entered into? 9. Who marked the line agreed upon?

MASON AND DIXON'S LINE.

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and Jeremiah Dixon, astronomers of celebrity, in England, chosen by the respective Proprietaries for the purpose, completed the division line between the two provinces. This line is known as "Mason and Dixon's," and was marked by setting at the end of every mile a stone with the letter P and the arms of the Penns, on the north, and the letter M, with the escutcheon of Lord Baltimore, on the south side.

10. Thus, after a struggle of more than a century, by the shrewdness of Penn, in availing himself of a mere quibble, a large and fertile territory was lost to Maryland.

11. The last of the boundary disputes has never been settled. The charter of Maryland defined the western boundary by the meridian passing through the first fountain of the Potomac. The question arose whether the north or south branch of the Potomac was the main head. A glance at the map will show that the decision involved a large tract of land. Several attempts had been made to adjust the line prior to the revolution, and in 1766, Virginia recognized the rights of the territory contained within the charter, but it yet holds the disputed district.

Questions.-9. How? 10. How was a large and fertile territory lost to Maryland? 11. What was the dispute with Virginia?

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