The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-06-26
William PENIS Rapacity.


The Delaware fishery question
!, writes Trenton correspondent to TIL,
New York Tribune, is an example OF
L the cases which have made every law.
yer of prominence IN New jersey al
s antiquarian, with all sorts of curious
b facts at his fingers ends. Ex-Atty.
: Gen. Robert Gilchrist engaged in the
fishery case in 1873, and he has been
associated with Cortland Parker, John
2. Stockton, ex-Secretary Frelinghuy-
, sen, and others in its discussion, and
| Secretary Bayard has championed the
claims of Delaware. Mr.. Gilchrist' S
connection with the case has made
him curiously familiar with the times
. of Charles IL. and with the peculiar
tiles of the duke of York and that
cable politician" William Penn, who
seems to have been successful in get
ting almost anything he wanted from
the duke until the latter ran away
from Whitehall and threw his great
seal as James II. into the River
Thames. One of the strange phases
of the Delaware claim to exclusive
privileges on the River Delaware and
Delaware bay is that its people, or
some of them, fought the claim hun
dred years ago and up to near
the beginning of the present
century repudiated the guileful Qua
ker's claims. Mr.. Penn was almost as
hungry as the democratic party; for
he was grantee under the duke of
York as Jerseyman and claimant
from the same source in Delaware and
Pennsylvania. The Jersey grant, 1863
81, renewed after the Dutch defeat, in
1914, was made to Penn among
others, and the claim for Delaware
was subsequent to and inconsistent
with this. New JERSEYS titles to land
were confirmed in 1902 and by the
Revolution.
Delaware's claim to the fishing
privileges and to the right to keep Jer-
seymen from the waters of the river
date back to 1852. William Penn had
obtained the grant of Pennsylvania,
but when he arrived he found ten
Swedes in Delaware occupying the fair
water front. He fixed lustful eyes
upon the place, and at length got
grant from the duke of York for the
town of Newcastle and all that lay |
within twelve-mile circle thereof. |
The duke, unfortunately for Penn,
had no right to make that grant, his
brother, King Charles, having never
given it to him. Penn evidently under
stood the deficiency in the grant, for
when the duke became king he got his
deed rcdrawn, and it passed through
the parliamentary stages and needed
only the kings great seal. Just at
this juncture King James thought Lon
don was getting too hot for him and
ran away. 1t is recorded in an ancient
that ''during an unguardod
that able politician, Penn,
confessed to the board of trade that
had King James remained two DAYS
longer at Whitehall he would have OBJ
tanned grant under the great seal for
the three counties of Delaware" In
l708 the Delaware assembly knew that
Penn had claim on the counties, but
ienled its legitimacy, and before that
he king and council had rcpudiated
t. There was war over the posses
lion in 1887 between Lord Baltimore's
men and the Penn tenants, and again I
he council decided that the province |
belonged to the crown; and in 1894 the
PEOPLE of Delaware themselves form I
y
hat the crown had possessed the state !
lntil its claim had been transferred by {
he Revolution. 1t has seemed strange, {
therefore,, that the Penn grant should |
e made the basis for claim in the |
liver. which had been, ia fact, always I
assessed by the crown, or general /
overnment-a fact the Delawareans G
ad used violence to maintain. Y
The Penn grant, which was never
aally granted, has therefore been !:
lbject of dispute for just COP years.
elected at first by the residents of tho
olony, admitted to be void fought c
Y Lord Baltimore with drawn o
words" fretfully alluded to as u
PURGE of trouble by the Delaware as Z
emily $50 years ago, formally repudi- u
ted by the king and council, rejected =
gain by the Delawareans, further in IL
alidated by the Revolution, it might =,
ave been considered as dead as the u
lily Penn himself if it had not come 0
nth as an argument upon the ques- Z
on of who owned Pea Patch island in u
e Delaware river forty years ago, 81
I'd had not then been misunderstood y
Id construed so that Delaware was d
lie to lay some claim to its genuine p
'ss. and, a few years ago set up that ~
was, as heir to PENIS privileges, u u.
e sole possessor of jurisdiction over " "
G Delaware river within tweve miles o'
Newcastle, and had the right to III ~
axe Jerseymen pay license for fish 1
2 therein. An injunction of the =
lited States courts has suspended "
erations since, and is admitted to be :
ective still. The end is not yet, for 81
g case has not been finally adjusted ga
at least, glimpse of early "
lonIal history which is not without s'
crest