REPORT. DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS, His Excellency, ROBERT E. PATTISON, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: SIR: I have the honor to present to you this report on the surveys. of the boundary lines of the Commonwealth, prepared in compliance with the directions contained in a resolution of the General Assembly, approved the 7th day of May, 1885. The Boundaries of Penn's Province Disputed. For more than a century after the granting of William Penn's charter, the proprietary or his sons and successors were harrassed by disputes with the proprietary of Maryland and the authorities of Virginia, about the boundaries on the south and west between his province and the attached "three lower counties," and the colonies of Maryland and Virginia. The controversy with Maryland was carried on with considerable bitterness by the adherents of the respective proprietaries, and was sometimes attended with bloodshed. The final settlement, reached by the agreement of 1760, and consummated by the survey of Mason and Dixon, attests the justice of the claims of the Penns. Virginia disavowed the extension of the Mason and Dixon line westward from a meridian drawn from the first fountain of the Potomac, being the western boundary of Maryland, and claimed all of the territory below the fortieth degree of latitude, and to the westward of the Laurel Hill. The jurisdiction of Pennsylvania was denied, lands were granted and counties erected within Penn's charter bounds. by the authorities of Virginia. Happily these disputes, which disturbed the public peace, and sometimes imperiled the homes and lives of the actors on the scene, were amicably adjusted and fraternal relations restored between the two members of the Union by the negotiation of commissioners, whose labors were closed in 1779. A number of letters in the following pages describe the situation of affairs in the south-western part of the State during the pendency of the dispute with Virginia. Contest for Dominion-English, Swedish, and Dutch. Besides the boundary controversies adverted to above, there were contests at earlier dates for the dominion of territory within the pres ent lines of Pennsylvania, and the "three lower counties," growing out of the first attempts at colonization on the shores of the Delaware, a brief reference to which seems to be pertinent to a proper presentation of the main object of this report. Henry VII., King of England, (1485-1509,) by patent granted March 5, 1496, authorized John Cabot and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sancius, "to saile to all parts, countreys and seas of "the East, of the West, and of the North, under our banners and ensigns, with five ships, of what burden and quantitie soever they may "be, and as many mariners, and men as they will have with them in "the said ships, upon their own proper cost and charges, to seeke "out, discover and find whatsoever isles, countreys, regions or "provinces of the heathen and infidels, whatsoever they may be, "and in what part of the world soever, they may be, which before "this time have been unknown to all Christians."* Under this patent three voyages were made to America. On the first, the coast of Labrador was touched June 24th, 1497, and the continent traced southward for three hundred leagues. The banner of England was planted on the soil. On the subsequent voyages the coast line was followed as far south as Florida. Upon these discoveries England claimed sovereignty over the northern part of the continent, but this acquisition was esteemed so lightly that, amid the cares at home demanding the consideration of the crown, little was done for more than a century thereafter towards a maintenance of the claim by actual occupation. The desire to secure a north-western passage to the Indias was greater than that to plant settlements in the New World; but under Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) several expeditions were fitted out and voyages made to North America by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh, Goswold, and others; but the attempts at colonization failed, and practically nothing was accomplished other than adding to the knowledge of the coast lines of the continent, and the formal assertion of the claim of the crown to the soil of the Western World. At the time of the death of Elizabeth not a single Englishman remained upon its shores. In 1609, Henry Hudson, a navigator in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, touched at the mouth of the Delaware Bay, and finding it shoal turned northward, discovered and passed up the North or Hudson river to a point beyond Albany. Settlements were made under the protectorate of the Dutch Republic. In 1623, the Dutch West India Company, that had been formed in 1621, took possession of the region discovered by Hudson, including the North and Delaware or South rivers. The next year, 1624, Cornelius Jacobsen Mey and Adriaen Jorisz Tienpoint, in an expedition under the auspices of the company last named, ascended the Delaware and built Fort *Hakluyt's Voyage and Discoveries, Vol. III, p. 6. Nassau, near Gloucester Point, New Jersey. Godyn, Bloemmaert, De Laet and others entered into an agreement with the same company to establish a colony, in furtherance of which Fort Oplandt was built on Lewes creek and a settlement called "Zwanendael" founded in 1631, within a purchase of land made from Indians in 1629. An unfortunate quarrel with the natives resulted in their falling upon the little community and putting them all to death.* Meantime the Swedish government conceived a desire to plant colonies in the New World. Before King Gustavus Adolphus II. consummated his plans in that direction he met his death on the field of Lutzen, November 6, 1632. Under the patronage of his daughter and successor, Christina, two vessels with colonists, under the command of Peter Menewe, (or Minuit,) a former Governor of New Amsterdam, set out from Götheburg, and reached the Delaware in April, 1638. A purchase of land was made from the Indians, and it was determined that all the territory on the western side of the river from Cape Henlopen up to the falls at Trenton, and all the country inland as far as ceded, should belong to the Swedish crown. A deed was drawn and executed by the Indians and sent home to be placed in the royal archives of Sweden. A town and fortress were built on Minquaas creek, three miles above its mouth, and named Christina, in honor of the Queen. The colonists received accessions from time to time and extended their settlements as far northward as the upper part of the City of Philadelphia. The Swedes claimed that their purchases from the Indians extended inland to the Great Falls in the river Susquehanna near the mouth of Conewago creek. † The Dutch, resolving to regain their possessions on the west side of the Delaware, in 1655, sent an expedition of armed vessels up the river, captured the Swedish defenses, and assumed the government of the colony. During the period of Dutch control the Governor of Maryland claimed that the western bank of the Delaware was within the limits of the Maryland charter, and disputed their right of occupancy. Charles II. of Great Britain, (1660-1685,) from motives of commercial policy, resolved to break the peace that had existed for many years between England and Holland, and with that view proposed to re-assert the English claim to the territories occupied by the Dutch on the Western Continent, and to wrest possession of the same from them. Accordingly, on the 12th of March, 1664, King Charles granted his brother James, Duke of York and Albany, a patent for all the territory occupied by the Dutch east of Delaware Bay. Under a commission issued to Sir Robert Carre, Knight, George Cartwright, Esq., *On taking formal possession of the country, the arms of Holland had been em blazoned on a piece of tin which was placed upon a pillar. An Indian appropriated the glittering piece of metal to make a tobacco box, which offended the commander. A quarrel ensued, when the Indians retaliated by butchering the entire colony.-Day. Acrelius' New Sweden, p 47. and Samuel Maverick, Esq., a fleet of armed vessels was sent from England which captured New Amsterdam and the Dutch settlements on both sides of the Delaware. Articles of capitulation by the burgomasters of the Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware were signed on the 1st day of October 1664, in which it was agreed that all inhabitants who would submit to his majesty's authority should be protected in their estates, and should enjoy liberty of conscience in church discipline as formerly. Dutch control on the waters of the Delaware was thus permanently ended with the exception of a brief interval from August, 1673, until the autumn of 1674. Land Titles Under the Duke of York. Soon after the Dutch possessions on the Delaware were conquered under the Duke of York, his officers commenced granting lands. A record of these grants remains in the Department of Internal Affairs, and contains the oldest evidence of title to be found among the archives of the Commonwealth. The oldest patent in the book is dated January 1, 1667, and, on account of its antiquity and quaintness, it is copied here in full, as follows: "RICHARD NICHOLLS ESQ: Principall Commission' from his Mag in new England Govornour Generall under his Royall Higness "Jeames Duke of Yorke and Albany and of all his Territories in "Amarica and Commander in Cheife of all the forces Employed by his Mags to reduce the dutch nation and all their usurped Lands and "Plantations under his Magts obedience To all to whome these Presents "shall Come sendeth greeting WHEREAS there is a certaine peice or "Parcell of Land Commonly Called or knowen by the name of "Passayneke Scituate Lying and being att Delowar by the side of the "Sculkill Conteyning by Estimation one Thousand Acres bee it moore or lesse bounded on the South with the maine River one the "west with the Seulkill on the north with the Plantation belonging to "Peter Rambo and upon the East by a Parcell of Land Called Mol"bees Land NOW KNOW yee that by virtue of the Commission and 66 authority unto mee Given I have thought to give and Grant and by "these presents doe give Ratifye Confirme and grant unto Robberd "Ashman John Ashman Thomas Jacob Caleb Carman Thomas Flew"ellyn Fredericks Anderson Joshua Jacobs and Thomas Jacops their haiers and assigness the afore Reiceted Peice or Parcell of Land and "Premisses with all and Singular the Apurtanances To have and to "hould the said Peice or Parcell of Land and Primesses unto the said "Robberd Ashman and his Associates before mentonied their haiers "and assigness unto the Proper use and behofe of the said Robberd "Ashman and his associates their haiers and assignes ffor Ever yield"ing and Paying therefore Jearly and Every Jear unto his Mags use "tenn bushells of wheat as a Quitt rent When itt shall be demanded "by such Person and Persons in authority as his Magty shall Pleas to "Establish and Empower in Delowar River and the Peartes and "Plantations adjacent Given under my hand and seal att ffort James "in new yorke on the Island manhantans the first day of Jannuary In "the 19th Jear of his Magts reigne Annoq Domini 1667. [L. S.] (Subscry bed) RICH NICOLLS. These grants run from 1667 down to 1676. Some were issued by Nicholls and others by Francis Lovelace and Edmund Andros, who were in turn lieutenants and governors general under James, Duke of York. Penn's Charter. In June, 1680, William Penn presented a petition to King Charles II. for letters patent for a province in America on the west side of the Delaware. The prayer of this petition was considered at several meetings of the Privy Council by the Chief Justice, Attorney General, and other persons in authority, and, finally, all questions having been settled, the king signed the charter on the fourth day of March, 1681. The territory granted is thus described: "All that Tract or "parte of land in America with all the Islands therein conteyned as "the same is bounded on the East by Delaware River from twelve "miles distance Northwards of New Castle Towne unto the three and "fortieth degree of Northern Latitude if the said River doeth extend "soe farre Northwards But if the said River shall not extend soe farre "Northward then by the said River soe farr as it doth extend and "from the head of the said River the Easterne Bounds are to bee de"termined by a Meridian Line to bee drawne from the head of the "said River unto the said three and fortieth degree. The said Lands "to extend Westward five degrees in longitude to bee computed from "the said Easterne Bounds and the said Lands to bee bounded on the "North by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of Northern "Latitude and on the South by a Circle drawne at twelve miles dis"tance from New Castle Northward and Westwards unto the begin"ning of the fortieth degree of Northerne Latitude and then by a "streight Line Westwards to the Limitt of Longitude above men"tioned." On the tenth of April following, Penn commissioned his cousin, William Markham, to be Deputy Governor, and instructed him to proceed to America, organize a government, settle boundaries, etc. The Proprietary discovering that his province was remote from the ocean and that access thereto could be gained only by long passage up the Delaware, became anxious to secure the remaining possessions of the duke of York lying between the province and the ocean. As some of the Swedish and Dutch settlements might fall within the lines of Pennsylvania, Penn resolved to obtain a release from the duke for whatever title he might have thereto, and, accordingly, on |