Excerpt from Archives of Maryland: Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1732-1753

Intimations that the scheme of connecting the northern and southern French possessions in America by a cordon of fortified posts enveloping the British colonies was about to be carried out, and the certainty that a short time would bring about the final struggle for the possession of North America, kept the minds of far-seeing men in a state of constant anxiety. The news, therefore, of the establishment Of a French post at Crown Point in British territory, within three days' march of Albany, was very alarming, and emphasised the importance of keeping the Iroquois tribes friendly to the British as a counterpoise to the Algonkin tribes, or Canada Indians, as they were called, on whom the French placed much reliance.

Other troubles there were in abundance; among the rest that old grievance of the over-production Of tobacco, and its consequent low price. Attempts had been more than once made to restrict the pro duction, but without success. Now some of the people took the law into their own hands; and bands of men rode about cutting down the growing plants, so that militia had to be held in readiness to put a stop to such proceedings.

The boundary troubles with Pennsylvania also took on an acute form. Although the fortieth parallel of north latitude had been fixed by the charter as the northern boundary of Maryland, William Penn had seized a strip some fifteen miles wide lying south of this boundary, and held on to it with obstinate tenacity. His sons followed their father's policy; and a matter so simple as the determining a parallel Of latitude gave rise to a prodigious chancery suit where the whole issue was so tangled up with chicanery and its usual adjuncts that no man could foretell the issue.

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