While the French were pushing their way into the interior of North America by means of the river St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, the English were no less busy in making settlements along the North Atlantic coast.  Some few of these, notably the early settlements of Sir Walter Raleigh in Virginia - were failures, owing chiefly to the character of the colonists themselves, who were for the most part gentle men adventurers, disinclined to labor, and hoping to acquire sudden wealth by the discovery of precious metals rather than by the slower and more laborious methods of cultivating the soil or establishing profitable industries.  Later efforts, undertaken under more favorable auspices, and by men of a different stamp, proved successful.  Into the history of these early colonies, as defined in their respective charters, so far as is has to do with the region northwest of the Ohio river, long known after its discovery by the French as the Northwest territory.
     The ignorance which long prevailed as to the extent of the continent westward, was the source of great confusion and error among early geographers, and led to a general over lapping of the boundaries of neighboring colonies, as defined in their respective charters.  Says Winsor, in his history of "The Mississippi Basin,"  "The charters which the English king had given while parceling out the Atlantic seaboard of the present United States, carried the bounds of the several giants west ward to the great ocean supposed to lie some where beyond the Alleghenies.  Though Drake and others had followed the Pacific northward to upper California, the determination of longitude was still so uncertain that different estimates prevailed as to the width of the continent.  When the charter of Virginia was confirmed, in 1609, there was dying out a conception whiich had prevailed among geographers, but which the institutions of Mercator had done much to dispel, that a great western sea approached the Atlantic somewhere midway along its seaboard.  This theory had come down from the voyage of Varrazano."
     Thus a map of Virginia, sold in London in 1651, lays down the Hudson river as communicating by a "mighty great lake'' with the "sea of China and the Indies," and bears the inscription, running along the shore of California, "whose happy shores (in ten days' march with fifty foot and thirty horsemen from the head of James river, over those hills and through the rich adjacent valleys beautifyed

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with as profitable rivers which necessarily must run into that peaceful Indian sea) may be discovered to the exceeding benefit of Great Britain and joye of all true English." Smith, Hudson, and Cartier expected to find the Indian road in the rivers that they explored.  Captain Newport, in 1680, brought over from England a barge so constructed that it could be taken to pieces and then put together, with which he and his company were instructed to ascend the James river as far as the falls and descend to the South sea, being ordered "not to return without a lump of gold as a certainty of the said sea."  This persistent misconception of North America was due to the mental prepossession which prevented men seeing any insuperable obstacle to their finding a western sea road to the Indies, and to the fact that Balboa, Drake, and others, from the mountains of Darien, had seen the two oceans that wash its shores.  The English, shut out from the St. Lawrence river by the French, and from the Gulf of Mexico by the Spanish, and confronted at a distance of from one to two hundred miles from the coast by the great Appalachian mountain range, which long proved an almost in superable barrier to western settlement, were much slower than their rivals in seeing in North America a vast continent.

VIRGINIA'S CHARTERS

     The first charter of Virginia, granted by James I, in 1606, to the London and Plymouth companies bestowed on them in equal proportions the territory in America, including adjacent islands, lying between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude.  It was stipulated that one-fifth of the precious metals found should belong to the king; also that all waterways near the colony were to be explored for the purpose of finding a short and easy route to the Pacific ocean.
     The second Virginia charter, granted by James I, in 1609, to the London and Plymouth and others, constituting the London company, defined the limits of the company's territory as follows: "all those lands, countries, and territories, situate, lying, and being, in that part of America called Virginia, from the Point of Land called Cape or Point Comfort, all along the Sea Coast to the Northward two hundred miles, and from the said Point of Cape Comfort all along the Sea Coast to the Southward two hundred Miles, and all that Space and Circuit of land lying from the Sea Coast of the Precinct aforesaid up into the Land, throughout from Sea to Sea, West and Northwest, and also all Islands lying within one hundred Miles, along the Coast of both Seas of the Precinct aforesaid."  This is the first of the "from sea to sea" boundaries that play so important a part in history.  Some vagueness in the phrase "up into the land throughout from sea to sea, west and north west" gave rise to a long discussion as to its meaning, but as construed by Virginia, more than one-half the North American continent was embraced within the boundary lines, including the whole of the Northwest territory.

MASSACHUSETTS' CHARTERS.

     The first charter upon which Massachusetts based her claim to lands in the west, was granted by James I to the Plymouth Company in 1620.  and was the second of the two charters into which that of 1606 was merged.  It defined the company's territory as "that aforesaid part of America lying and being in breadth from 40 degrees of northerly latitude from the equinoctial line to 48 degrees of the said northerly latitude inclusively, and in length of, and within all the breadth aforesaid, throughout all the Maine lands from sea to sea * * * and also with the said islands and seas adjoining, provided always, that the said islands, or any of the premises hereinbefore mentioned, and by these presents intended and meant to be granted, be not actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian prince or estate, nor to be within the bounds, limits and territories of that Southern Colony heretofore by us granted to be planted by diverrs of our loving subjects in the south part," etc.  The king also declared it to be his will and pleasure that the said territory, in order to be more certainly known and distinguished, should be called by the name

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of New England in America.  It embraced, according to the described boundary lines, the greater part of the present inhabited British possessions to the north of the United States all of what is now New England, New York, one-half of New Jersey, nearly all of Pennsylvania, more than the northern half of Ohio, and the states and territories to the west, north of the fortieth parallel.
     In 1629, Charles I confirmed a charter which had been granted to the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the council at Plymouth, and in which the boundaries of Massachusetts were defined as extending from three miles north of the Merrimac River to three miles south of the Charles River and the most southerly point in Massachusetts Bay, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the South Sea.

THE GRANT TO PENN.

     The Pennsylvania charter, granted by Charles II to William Penn, in 1681, was the cause of more disputes than any other in our history.  The limits of the grant were thus defined: "All that tract or part of land in America, with all the islands therein contained, as the same is bounded on the east by Delaware River, from twelve miles distance northwards of New Castle Town unto the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, if the said bounds; river doth extend so far northward; but if the said river shall not extend so far northward, then by the said river so far as it doth extend, and from the head of the said river the eastern bounds to be determined by a meridian line, to be drawn 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 be computed from the said eastern and the said lands to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, and on the south by a circle drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle northward and westward unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude, and then by a straight line westward to the limit of longitude above mentioned."  Penn soon after extended his province by the purchase of Delaware from the Duke of York; he also obtained from him the relinquishment of his claim to the western shore of the river above the twelve-mile circle, which had been drawn to leave the town of New Castle in the Duke's hands.  The question arose as to the meaning of the descriptions, "the be ginning of the fortieth," and "the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of north latitude."  Penn took the ground that they meant the belts lying between 39, 40, 42 and 43 degrees, and that his southern and northern boundaries were consequently 39 and 42 degrees north.  This construction, which made Pennsylvania overlap the boundaries of Maryland and Virginia on the south, and of Connecticut on the north, involved him and his successors in the most bitter disputes with those colonies.  That with Maryland, which continued for more than eighty years, and greatly retarded the settlement and development of a beautiful and fertile country, after much litigation, was settled by a compromise on the part of proprietors in 1760.

DISPUTE WITH VIRGINIA.

     The controversy with Virginia did not begin formally until 1752, its immediate cause being the settlement of Pennsylvanians west of the mountains in territory that in 1738 the General Assembly of Virginia - bounding it on the east by the Blue Ridge, and on the west and northwest by "the utmost limits of Virginia" - had created Augusta County.  Carried on by Governors Dinwiddle and Hamilton on a question of fortifying the forks of the Ohio, it was for a time interrupted by the French and Indian war.  Braddock's defeat enabled the French commander on the Ohio to destroy the English settlements and drive off the inhabit ants, but after Fort Duquesne fell into the hands of the English, in 1758, Virginians and Pennsylvanians again began to make their way into the disputed territory, which by that time had been given a county organization by the government of Pennsylvania also, it being thus under two different political jurisdictions.  This gave rise to much strife and turbulance, and

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more acrimonious correspondence between the respective governors, now Penn and Dunmore.  The latter aimed at, and finally succeeded in bringing on an Indian war, which takes its name from him.  After the trouble between the two colonies had gone on for some years longer, with high-handed proceedings on both sides, for which Lord Dunmore's arbitrary western policy was mainly responsible, it was brought to a termination at the opening of the revolutionary war by a petition from the members of Congress, who, July 25, 1775, for the benefit of the patriot cause, united in the following recommendation: "We recommend it to you that all bodies of armed men, kept up by either party, be dismissed; and that all those on either side who are in confinement, or on bail, for taking part in the contest, be discharged."  In 1779 commissioners appointed by the two States met at Baltimore and signed an agreement "to extend Mason and Dixon's line due west five degrees of longitude, to be computed from the River Delaware, for the southern extremity of Pennsylvania, and that a meridian line drawn from the western extremity thereof to the northern limit of the said State be the western boundary of Pennsylvani Pennsylvania forever."  This contract being duly ratified by the legislatures of the two States, Mason and Dixon's line was extended in 1785, and the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania established.  When the State of Ohio was formed in 1802, the territory left of Virginia east of the Ohio River and north of the Mason and Dixon's line, which then showed its peculiar proportions for the first time on the may of the United States, was dubbed the "Panbandle" by the Hon. John McMillen, delegate from Brooke County.

CONNECTICUT'S CLAIMS.

     To understand the dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, in which we are more interested, and which was in fact by far the most important, it will be necessary to glance briefly at the early history of the latter colony.
     Connecticut, as originally constituted included the three towns of Windsor, Hartford and Weathersfield, which were settled in 1636 and 1637 by emigration from Massachusetts, and were for a short time under the protection of that colony.  New Haven, founded in 1638, was at first a separate colony, not included in Connecticut, and had no other title than one obtained by purchase from the Indians.  Neither the Connecticut nor the New Haven colonists "had any title to the lands that they occupied, proceeding from the Crown, previous to the charter that constituted the Connecticut Company, granted by Charles II, Apr. 23, 1662, which gave the colony the following limits."
     "We * * * do give, grant and confirm unto the said Governor and Company, and their successors, all that part of our dominions in New England in America bounded on the east by Narragansett River, commonly called Narragansett Bay, where the said river falleth into the sea, and on the north by the line of the Massachusetts plantation, and on the south by the sea, and in longitude as the line of the Massachusetts Colony, running from east to west, that is to say, from the said Narragansett Bay on the east, to the south sea on the west part, with the islands thereunto adjoining."
     "This charter," says Hillman, "consolidated Connecticut and New Haven; it cut into the grant made to Roger Williams and his associates in 1643, and it did not recognize the presence of the Dutch on the Hudson even to the extent of making the familiar reservation in favor of a Christian prince holding or Christian people inhabitating."
     The northern boundary of the colony, identical, according to the charter, with the southern boundary of Massachusetts, was not, however, settled for more than a century, owing to its having been incorrectly surveyed in 1642.  This gave rise to disputes between the two colonies, which were not ended until 1714, when both parties agreed on a compromise line almost identical with the present boundary.  This line conforms in general to the parallel of 42 degrees 2 minutes; it marks the southern limit of the Massachusetts claim and the northern limit of the Connecticut claim west of the Delaware.

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ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW YORK.

     The Connecticut settlements were much annoyed for many years by the Dutch, who early in the seventeenth century had planted them selves firmly upon the North River, as they called the Hudson, and who claimed all the coast as far as the Connecticut.  The English, basing their claims on the discoveries of the Cabots, had always denied the validity of the Dutch title.  In 1664, Charles II granted to his brother, James, Duke of York, a vaguely defined tract of country in New England, be ginning at St. Croix, and including "all that island or islands commonly called by the several name or names of Matowacks or Long Island scituate, lying and being toward the west of Cape Codd and ye narrow Higansetts abutting upon the maine land between the two Rivers there called or knowne by the severall names of Conecticutt and Hudsons River and all the land from the west side of Conecticutt to ye east side of Delaware Bay and also all those severall Islands called or knowne by the names of Martin's Vinyard and Nantukes otherwise Nantuckett together with all ye lands islands soyles rivers harbours mines minerals quarryes woods marshes waters lakes, etc."
     "The next year a fleet sent out by the Royal Duke took possession of New Netherlands.  A few years later the Dutch recovered the province for a single year, but that article of the treaty of Westminster, 1674, which required the surrender by both parties of all conquests made in the course of the preceding war, remaining in the hands of the conqueror, gave the English a secure title as against the Dutch.  A second charter, dated 1674, confirmed the Duke in possession of the province, the fore. boundary descriptions remaining much as be The Duke gave the province the name by which it has since been known."
     Between 1662 and 1664 Charles II issued several conflicting cliarters, widely overlapping the boundary lines of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, a condition of things that was then the rule rather than the exception.  Indeed, much of the boundary work

PURCHASES FROM THE INDIANS.

     The grant made to Penn carried to 42 degrees north, conflicted with the Connecticut charter of 1662, as well as with all others in which Connecticut was interested, and caused uncertainty as to the political jurisdiction and right of soil in a rich and fertile region of more than 5,000,000 acres of lands, west of the Delaware and between the forty-first and forty second parallels. In 1753, the Susquehanna Company was organized for the purpose of settling the lands claimed by Connecticut west of New York.  In the following year a tract 120 miles in length, from ten miles east of the Susquehanna westward, was purchased by the company from certain Iroquois chiefs.  In the same year the Albany Congress, which had been called under authority of the home government for the consideration of existing affairs in the several colonies, passed resolutions

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declaring the validity of the Massachusetts and Connecticut claims west of the Delaware, and also of the western claims of Virginia.  It also devised a practical system for carrying on western colonization.  The Delaware Company was soon after organized, which also purchased lands from the Indians.  In 1768 five townships were organized in the Wyoming Valley by the older company.

CONFLICT WITH PENNSYLVANIA WESTERN RESERVE

     The Pennsylvania proprietors, who had hitherto done nothing but make protests, now purchased from the Indians, at a congress held at Fort Stanwix, all that part of the Province of Pennsylvania not previously purchased them, and this included the whole Connecticut claim.  They also began to lease lands in the Connecticut district on the condition that the leasees should defend them against the Connecticut claimants.  The attempts of the lessees to oust the settlers in possession brought on a skirmish of writs and arrests that has been termed the first Pennamite and Yankee war.  It is unnecessary to follow the contest in its subsequent details.  It was continued under one aspect or another, resort even being had to military force, until 1775, when the Continental Congress intervened with a remonstrance, which caused both parties to suspend hostilities.  In 1782 a Federal Court, convened at Trenton, decided against the claims of Connecticut.  This decision applied to the whole Connecticut claim within the charter limits of Pennsylvania.  Connecticut made no objection. Keeping in view the fact that Pennsylvania had a definite boundary on the west, she carried her stake westward and drove it into the ground five degrees west of the Delaware; "that is, she asserted her right to the strip of land lying between 41 and 42 degrees 2 minutes west of Pennsylvania to the Mississippi River, which by the treaties of 1763 and 1783 had taken the place of the South Sea as the western boundary.  This tract was the Western Reserve, and included within its limits what is now Mahoning County.

END OF CHAPTER VI -