446                           THE COUNTIES OF MARYLAND

cellor of England, under whose supervision it had been done. The
northern boundary of the province was as well determined in 1773 as it
is to-day, but the inhabitants who had inherited for generations the
dispute between the adjoining territories seemed unable to give up the
contest. The " temporary line " was 15 1/4 miles south of the latitude
of Philadelphia or in other words, a little north of the present boundary
of the State.

The western limits of Baltimore County were probably determined
at the time of its erection with respect to the older Anne Arundel
County, from which it was separated, but the first statement on record is
contained in the proclamation of 1674 which states that the boundary
should be " the south side of Patapsco Elver, and from the highest plan-
tations on that side of the river, due south two miles into the woods."
Somewhat later the settlements of Baltimore County are known to be
as far up the Patapsco River as Hollofields, and it was probably intended
that the county should include the inhabitants on both sides of the
river to its mouth. In 1674 there was a practically unsettled region
between the Magothy and the Patapsco. As the population increased
and the intervening lands were taken up the inhabitants on the land
between these two rivers came closer together and in 1698 it became
necessary to more sharply define the boundary. This was done by the
passage of Chapter 13 of the Acts of 1698, which is given in some
detail in the discussion of Anne Arundel County. According to the
terms there laid down the boundary appears to have followed the divide
between the Magothy and the Patapsco but the local points cannot now
be recognized. The act may have added a trine to Baltimore County
territory but the underlying thought seems to have been the same as
that implied in the proclamation of 1674, viz., that the inhabitants along
the Patapsco (who were more closely allied with the original settlers of
Maryland) should be separated from the frontiersmen of the Severn
River settlement. In 1726 a law was, however, passed restoring to Anne
Arundel County after

" January 7, 1727, the Land lying on the South side of Patapsco River
and contained within the bounds following, viz. Prom the mouth of the said