As though there were not already enough political complications in the former New Netherland, the royal Stuart brothers now made more. James, the Duke, sold off the jerseys. Charles, the King, granted away (to discharge a formidable debt) a province called Pennsylvania. As regarded Pennsylvania, certain difficulties were correctly anticipated. Lord Baltimore at once protested that the lord of Pennsylvania was seizing some lands that by right belonged to the lord of Maryland. Baltimore neither surprised nor impressed anybody; his claiming propensities were already well known to the Stuarts. The only thing new in the conflict of claims was William Penn's offer to negotiate some sort of compromise. The Dutch had stuck to their claims and gone down. The Duke of York, through Andros, had maintained his claims with notable success. Penn, like the thorough Quaker he was, offered to talk things over. He very rapidly learned what he was up against.

The heart of Penn's problem was his need for a porta good portfor his new feudal domain. Stuart generosity had had its limits; Penn's grant did not include the revenueproducing settlements on the Delaware Bay. He would not be able to take over a functioning port, but would have to populate and finance his own. While in England, Penn had planned for two ports, one on the Delaware River and a second on Chesapeake Bay. He had thought that his chartered boundaries included the head of the Chesapeake. He was seriously disturbed when personal reconnaissance, as well as Baltimore's protests, raised serious questions about where Pennsylvania's line would fall. A port could not be located higher on the Susquehanna River because the river's rocks and shallows made it unnavigable. One thing was certain: without free access to the sea, Penn's millions of acres of potential profit would be so many empty dreams, and his planned port on the Delaware would be always dependent on the good will of the governments controlling Delaware Bay. Penn tried without success to negotiate with Baltimore for possible purchase of the head of the Chesapeake.¹²⁴