The Republican., 1893-04-06
OUR BOUNDARY DISPUTE.
MaryIand's Claim of West Vlrgini;
Territory.

OnOulu MdTyldhu penulug suit
agalnst West Virginia for territory
now included within the boundary
of the latter result in favor of the
claimant commonwealth, West Vir-
glnia will be left one of the oldest
looking states upon the map of the
world. West Virginia Is now far
from symmetrical, but should her
boundary be rearranged in accord
ance with Maryland's contention
not only will Wrst Virginia lose
considerable area, but she will
actually be cut in twain, with the
parts widely sundered by the inter-
vening territory of Maryland.
The quarrel is at least one hun
dred years older than the State of
West Virginia, and it comes down
to her from the parent state, along
with that awkward inheritance, the
Virginia debt question. The heart
of Maryland's contention is that
under the terms of Lord Balti-
more's charter her southwestern
boundary extends to the head
waters of the Potomac's south
branch. Unofficial maps indicate
that Marvland's claim in
cuded all of Mineral county. W.
Va, and nearly all of Grant, with
part of Hampshire, Hardy, Pendle-
ton, Randolph, Preston and Tucker
counties.
The dispute arose out of the
charter of 1852, by which King
Charles | of England gave to Ce
cilius Calvert (Lord Baltlmore) his
possessions in the New World. The
Calverts quarreIed with the Penns
for 100 years over the northern and
eastern boundaries of the province,
and lost at every turn.
The last chapter in that curious
history, which included the story of
Mason and Dixon's line. was closed
the other when Pennsylvania and
Delrware adjusted their long g-stand-
ing boundary dispute. Lord Balti-
more's charter, written in Latin
that reads curlously like bad En-
glish, declares that the western
boundary of the province shall be Il
meridian line running south from
the fortleth parallel of north lati-
tude to the first or most distant
fountain of the Potomac.
The boundary was to follow the
Potomac thence to it's mouth. AS
nobody then knew much about the
wilderness in which the Potomac
took rise, there was some doubt as
to which was the most distant source
of the Potomac, the north branch
or the south branch. Charles ii,
when a fugitive in Holland, the
very year that his father lost his
head, granted to several exiled
Royalists a tract of land IN Virginia
lying between the Potomac and
Rappahannock, and twenty years
later Charles, then upon the throne,
confirmed this grant. The land
thus patented fell at length to Lord
Fairfax, and about 1886, at his
prayer. a commission was appointed
to arrange for survey of the grant.
AS this grant ran to the source of
the Potomac, the commission had
to determine which branch should
be esteemed the source, and belev-
ing the north branch to be the
longer they made it's headwaters
Lord Fairfax ) northwestern bound
arv. Surveyors IN l745 marked the
corner bv setting up the Fairfax
stone, and 1748 the Assembly of
Virginia approved the line, and the
King in council confirmed the sur
vev.
When Lord Baltimore learned
that in fixing the boundary of Lord
Fairfax's grant the commissioners
had incidentally determined part of
the Maryland boundary, he in
structed his governor to look into
the matter, and as a result of ex-
animation the governor Informed
Lord Baltimore that the south
branch of the Potomac was the
longer and therefore the true
boundary of Maryland. One thing
or another happened tc prevent
settlement of the question until
Maryland, as revolted colony,
finally claimed all that her late pro-
prietor had claimed, and Virginia,
in her whole-souled fashion, de-
clared IN her first constitution,
adopted June 80, 1776, "The ter
ritories contained within the char
ters erecting the colonies Of Mary
land, PennsvlvaDia, North and
South Carolina are hereby ceded,
released and forever confirmed to
the people of those colonies"
The constitutional convention Of
Maryland, held few months later,
scorned the pretense Of Virginia to
cede to Maryland what she already
held under the charter to Lord Bal
All ,>.,,k;o,