Year: 1876

The BourDAR4 ARsrrRArros.-we
should be afraid to attempt to say how
iotricstely tangled is the controversy
between Maryland and Virginia over
the boundary line from shore TO shore
Of the Chesapeake Bay. II is one Of
those sort Of things which reminds peo-
pie Of that famous saying of Lord Pal
merston's anent the Schleswig- Hol-
stein question. His Lordship gravely
answered an inquiry as to certain tea
lures of that issue, that he aud another
man were the only two in Europe Who
understood it-that the other man had
died and he had forgotten it. We pre-
sumo that If anybody ever did live who
had clear idea or knowledge as to
just where the line across the Bay
should be drawn he is either dead or it
has passed out Of his memory. The
dispute has been revived at various
times for more than century past, and
We have had commissioners and con-
krences, Legislation and abitration in
Vulnerable without apparently coming
any nearer settlement. As effort at
ter effort to reach a conclusion satisfac-
tory to both States failed, the subject
has been allowed to slumber, until
some incident has revived it and set
the lawyers and Legislators to work
upon it again. Generally the renew al
Of the question in an active shape has
been brought about by hostilities be-
tween Maryland and Virginia fisher
man who have met at work in the dis
puted waters and proceeded to refer
the question of ownership to the arbi-
trament Of arms. Some seven years
ago they carried their war to such an
extent that the Legislatures sitting at
Annapolis and Richmond came to the
conclusion that the occasion had ar
rived for reopening peaceful negotia-
tions, and accordingly the Board Of Ar
bitration now in session was the re.
suit. The eminent and respectable
gentlemen composing it have all the
needful qualities for wise and upright
judges in this case except one. They
are jurists and statesmen ofhigh repute,
but-they are not immortal. The late
Gov. Graham passed away when he
got fairly into the depths Of the issue,
and when his place was supplied it be-
came necessary to commence proceed
ing dc novo in order that Senator Beck.
the new member, should miss no item
ofimportance in the scores OF venerable
maps and mouldy parchments which
have been conned over hundreds OF
times, and on the Interpretation Of W hich
depend the claims Of the contestants.
Before judges or counsel begin to see
their way clearly through the mass of
documents some one iSapt to pass awav
TO where there is no litigation, and
once more the work must be commenced
at the beginning. The location of an
island now missing is the knotty fea-
ture Of the case. There il is ON the
old map, clear and plain, below Tan
gier Sound, and the boundary line as
drawn long ago touched its edge. But
IT is not there now, and the waters of
the Chesapeake flow unbroken over
the spot where the old topographers
located it. Whether they blundered or
thC lids Suuh btHtdlti
the surface of the Bay is matter about
which there is great deal of conflic-
ting opinion. The representatives of
the Virginia interest say that the divid-
ing line was drawn about twenty miles
further north than the Maryland parties
are willing to admit, and as it happens
that IN this disputed twenty miles OF
water are some prolific beds of the


finest oysters, neither side is willing to
concede to the other the possession oi
such source Of wealth. 1t may strike
some taxpayers, however, that if We
are to have an indefinite number OF
costly arbitrations, with highly paid
Commissioners sitting year after year
and able lawyers on such solid fees as
they have been getting out of the Mary
land Treasury, that in the end the
game may not be worth the candle.
We suppose that in the absence Of hav-
ing yet hit upon basis of compromise
or decision, the counsel and the arbi-
traitors have been pushing the work as
industriously as anybody could be ex-
pected to labor among the distractions
Of Saratoga and Cape May, but we
should like to anticipate that they will
settle it before death compels another
commencement at the very beginning.
-Baitimore .fmeriean.