MDDM18: The Chancery Decision

[Dave Monroe]

"Upon the day appointed, pursuant to the Chancery
Decision, the Commissioners of both Provinces, with
Remembrancers and Correspondents, attended by a
Thronglet of Children out of School, Sailors,
Irishmen, and other Citizens exempt from or
disobedient to the humorless rule of Clock-Time here,
all go trooping down to Cedar Street and the House in
Qusetion, to establish its north Wall officially as
the southernmost Point of Philadelphia.  Fifteen Miles
South of this, to the width of a Red Pubick Hair or
R.P.H., will the West Line run." (M&D, Ch. 30, p. 296)

>From Edwin Danson, Drawing the Line (New York: John
Wiley & Sons, 2001), Ch.3, "The Great Chancery Suit,"
pp., 18-26 ...

"... in 1727 .... Charles Calvert, Fifth Lord
Baltimore, petitioned the newly crowned king [George
II] to instruct the proprietors of Pennsylvania to
join him in the demarcation of their mutual boundary. 
His Majesty referred the matter to the commissioners
of the Board of Trade and Plantations ....  The
meetings were disagreeable, both sides trading insults
and accusations....   The committee concluded in 1732
that commissioners should be appointed to conduct a
proper survey." (p. 22)

"However, the dispute between Pennsylvania and
Maryland continued unabated.  Eventually, in 1735, the
whole matter was referred to the English courts in
what became known as the Great Chancery Suit.  The
case was heard before Lord Justice Hardwicke and
conducted over a laborious fifteen-year period during
which the litigation costs to both sides grew to
enormous proportions ..." (p. 23)

"... in 1750, Lord Hardwicke in London pronounced
judgment in the Great Chancery Suit.  The center of
the twelve-mile circle was to be the center of New
Castle, the distance would be measured as a radius,
and the southern boundary of the Three Counties
(Delware) would be at the latitude of Cape Henlopen
(Fenwick Island).  The other provisions previously
agreed upon would stand." (p. 23)

"... by 1760 the legal situation had clarified enough
for surveyors ... to begin the task of setting out the
first boundary lines....
   "The major challenge was running the boundary line
from the Middle Point to its tangent with the
twelve-mile radius around New Castle ...." (p. 24)

"By the time local surveyors reached the end of their
last line, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon had
already been hired to complete the task and were
preparing to leave London.... in early October ...
Mason and Dixon were on their way." (p.25)

"Beneath the surface of both colonies was a yearning
for political indepenence from the shackles of the
proprietorial system ..." (p. 26)

Then see "MDDM18: The Southernmost Publick Service"
...

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0201&msg=64523&sort=date

Sorry, apparently never sent that one ...

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