522 Annals of the Carne(;ie Museum. 



of Washington and of other counties to the north of it. Of course 

 Pennsylvania could not accept this offer, though during 1777 and 1778 

 negotiations were made through the Virginia delegates ; with such 

 little interest, however, that the papers became lost. 



It appears that early in 1779, i^^^ when is not now known, both 

 States appointed commissioners to deal with the subject, and these 

 commissioners — George Bryan, John F^wing and David Rittenhouse 

 on the part of Pennsylvania, and Rev. James Madison, Rev. Robert 

 Andrews and Thomas Lewis on the part of Virginia — met at Balti- 

 more on August 27, 1779. The proceedings at this meeting were in 

 writing, were reported to the Assemblies of the respective States, and 

 may be found in Henning's Statutes of Virginia, Vol. X., p. 119. A 

 final agreement was reached and put in writing on August 31, 1779. 

 It was very simple in its terms, for a matter so long contested and of 

 such magnitude. It was as follows : 



" To extend Mason and Dixon's line due west five degrees of longi- 

 tude, to be computed from the river Delaware, for the southern boun- 

 dary of Pennsylvania ; and that a meridian drawn from the western 

 extremity thereof to the northern line of said State be the western line 

 of said State forever." 



This Baltimore agreement was ratified and finally confirmed by the 

 Pennsylvania Cieneral Assembly on November 19, 1779. Virginia, 

 however, held back, and whether from a dissatisfaction with the boun- 

 dary as recommended by the commissioners or with an intention of 

 benefiting her whilom adherents in the Monongahela valley, her 

 Assembly had no action on the subject until the following summer. 

 And what occurred in the meantime ? 



The General Assembly of Virginia, in May, 1779, Passed an act 

 "for the adjusting and settling titles of claimants to unpatented 

 lands" upon the western waters, creating districts, with four commis- 

 sioners to each, to hear proofs of settlement rights and grant certificates 

 to claimants. The commissioners for Ohio, Monongalia and Yohoga- 

 nia counties were Francis Peyton, Philip Pendleton, Joseph Holmes and 

 George Merriweather. All this before the Baltimore conference. But 

 after the Baltimore agreement, and before its ratification by the Gen- 

 eral Assembly of Virginia, these commissioners met at Cox's Fort, in 

 Washington county, near the Monongahela River, above Elizabeth, and 

 at other points, and granted hundreds of certificates to claimants under 

 Virginia settlement rights. These "Virginia Certificates," so-called. 



