»> .% A \'^j': /; 7 /A IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I if B^ ^ lis illM 1.25 1.4 IIIIII.6 Photographic Sdences Corporation %^ 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 U.x CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques :\ signifie "A SUIVRE", Ie symbols y signifie "FIN ". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour dtre reprodult en un seul ciichd, il est film6 d partir de I'angle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 r^ (-2) . OF Reps. Ixpcufwe. 5HIRE ^E&, the North* ' of a let- J Board of ' line be- ng British ornrnission source of IvlER. mmm^anioMooi arawings intended lor the sati.e purpose. 1, 1842, loring and pers here- be present •oix, as far ^5 rROFILE WITH THE SPIRIT LEVEL, OF THE DUE NOR Siirvoyod ill 1» 'i^O (\- U\ 'i 1 iiihIci' Ihe dirrcl ion oC .Major J. I). C.i/ih.nn r.S.'ro|»:l liFi'i/ I'l fhi- Ucniii'iiiit I, del I'l i/niii liilr at <'u/iiir '•^T»i»'/*' ''^'^///'^ptw'^f'^'^^rw/ /■//<• Nitjvi/itiif f/ii;r//<'ii II, ts i^(/ci'ii/iin<^ . hiii'/uii//\- iiif/i f/n /'/tt/z-y// Ar .)/,//,'/■ .SV/U/i'l/.f . i<;r.<- rnr/z/ev/ I'V l/r-iv " ll'i/,^-rtf M ( ' /<',r/// ,i,v ,uf,/ 11' /. /),;iil;>'N T/ir /,',/l,i,l /'ivi// «■/,,, ■', ///r /hyftH/irv l>f/\iYll /'' /■yn:;„->„i,,,' U,-/>.l, /, ,""* !>.■ ,f, /',,/■/. ■ ///// /W /V /V . In/ />, /U,„ //,// . jW Or /).■ . ///, A. J r,,u /.:■/.■ //,,'/ ilh J},> • />, .>//, /),• . /V/.;y,/.- //,// •'//' 7Jt> fill . ti /k'lii/ i/,/t; /I'l/l.-i/' m i;'>i/iiii i,/,.', .'//, . .//iv/ii'/iiti />),', irn/,.'' .\'i'i:'/i v/' ///I /I'lvir \l Irliii \ l.i,,/ .//// •t \ lf.1ttllltl\ n .'!(> ; //':■■;: ''.' o) : /I I ; ,' '/ /; //'■;'/ I'l /'I'." »,'llll .•+-t- ii /<» (llll1.\ t ,\,t\l, Ii 'I m or THE DUE NORTH LINE FROM THE MONUMENT AT THE SOURCE OF THE RIVER S" CROIX TO THE 1). ('.I'/ih.iin r.S.'ro|>: Kii»iiir<'rs oin'of tin- Coimiiissioiicis fop Surwviiio- .hmI exploriiiu; llit- N.lvliouiul.ux of llu- l.S.imdrr I >, "5 VllMVf'' Ihviwii hy /t'llii'H M.C. h'airj'irx I. [Ill .r I' ll>4 .. vt\..h <:,ii ;5 ??:«? //// ///, />yf//..v/ ('\ .\f,,f,;- (h„haut . n.y.<.-,s/.,^ h I.Mi/'- /.,r rh,;,/ ami .l/,,„/r <>ft/„ Crr/'.v ,f T. •/";'/'•" I ''"'■ :tt, ; n> ;.»';' ;.»■ /■'/' ,' /I' ',', '> , ; /"■'•■''' I'l Oi'i' •>, 'Oil lvi'lii-,il Si-,1 Ir •!' I'vi'l li'iHXt U-UU- ri 1 '■» ■ ; '1 ; 1 ; i '1 ■ 1 i 1 'isuo I ! I I 1 I I 1 I llnri/Kiiliil Sell,- <•/' I'lrl .'(>(> (>l>(i Sc,i/r «/■ /■:iii;/,'.li M.i/ii/r .l/i/r.s 11 'I lu ///(■ liiliidl //<'lif/i/v ilir t'i/"'f\ ■ >.)// It fill ilallli'liil J'l'-.'i'l I' Till' -l/illll'lir )l/lli'/l ll'i'/'l- l'ii'i/\ //ii ■Miili<'ii\ ir/iii'li ii'iir 1 1 ' I '^ Jill- liiiii I'/ I Iir .Uiriiliiin il'ii'- (//>///' ir//// II f/i'i'il I'i'rIiiliK lE^UE NORTH L I N F. FROM THE MONUMENT AT THE SOURCE OF THE RIVER S" CROIX TO I .S.I"o|): Kiiiiiiirn's mw ni' the ("oiimiissioiici's lor Siii'\(«\ ino- .iii(h>\i)lorinii llif* .WHIioumlarx of llic l.S.nii H ilvi'ii Mi y,tn;l'n.\ I >lli«r I' lla* •. IV .■■hill, -//"f" ■fV'^ff'^''***'^^^^^!*^ ./^'N'f IV/ v^'^'-'V '. .// /-I .1/,,/." ^'/ .„,./ara/ A\,.,„m;: . ,,,,./ V f S. ■/.,;»/,,■ Tlu ll.tH) 1 1 1 1 1 n n I ! I, ,,.,.1,1., I s,.,!.- ,./■ r.ri III, I,,/ 1,, 1 1 In, I /I,/' ll, • l.itl /> /(,/ rlnl/li/lil I lie M,ili<;,r \ihi,/' ii'i-i 11,1 ■)/<,//,;/• ir/iirli III! Ill,- /,;,!, <■/■ /I/, .ll,-,/, It'll'- il/'iu- III//, ll :/■'''/ Si.ih- 111 Kiii-I,^', Sl.-ilnh- Mi/rs ER S^ CROIX TO THE RIVER ST JOHN t«»uuilai-\ olllir I Sinuiri' ihr .\('l oC (' oiiiii'; " /■.m/ir.,- /)n,r/i;ii /hi/,//, A X/inril' .Nolc ///< l,ili,,i/ /iiiiiiih iin i-l/>i;.r.yi,/ ii/'i'il //i, jiff/'ilc ill /},.' tl/'('\r l/ic l^i'il i'/' .l/i'iin /lil, .11 lii/,ify ■ t.t/i It f,(/ r/t;//i,/<>/ I'li'iH ///,■»■ //-//////.I III// iliri l/ii- f/ri,r/li>ii I ,i/>,'i; lli, Miiiiliinii/ ill //,, Aiv/fir ,./' /' /III Stii/iriir ii/ili/i ifr/r I'll ii/'ici/ In fill' liiiil,M/ /ii\/riniiiii/ ,iii- iiini'l;,i/ l/iii.f ,'^^^S, //ii -Uii/ii'iiy ii/ili-li iii/f /III,/ iiij/ir II, ir ,j't'i,' /riiil'il ,iir imi, ■/,;;/ l/iii\ .^''''W..,. ////■• /i;iii I'l' ///, M,ii,/i,iii /•,-/ii-tt/, l/ir />i'iif/f ,/'i->i;/ /■! //ii /iin/r . Ir/rrin'iiiim/ irun.ril, ii'rie il/'ii,- III/// II ij.;;/ i','>li,/'/t /'ruii-ri/ / li,; i/,/i/f itvrr iiii/c /'iliu/ iiin/-k;,/ /■) ■ ,, r(ii-t,,/ii,:i 3 27th C 3d i BOl Tl A repor To the I I here ter addrt Commiss tween th province; to the 31 ■the St. C Wa SH] ..^-STjcusiuKss;*: Sir: \ surveying inafter sp 1. The ilate. 2. A pi as survey! 3. Ape \\ ' I *4n« mS Sm. - ■ I - * l' 27th Congress, 3d Session. T)oc. No. 31. Ho. OP Rupf . Executive. BOUNDARY BETWEEN MAINE AND NEW IIAMPSH[RF AND THE ADJOINING BRITISH PROVINCES IWESSAGE FnOH THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATED THANSMITTIXO A report of the Board of Commissioners appointed to survey the North. eastern boundary/. ^ ^^orm. April 12, 1842. Referred to the Committee on Foreign AfT^irf. December 29, 1842. Ordered to be printed. To the House of Representatives of the United States • ier^^:^'::':^%z:!:^x:i^rr'''''' copies or a ,et. Commissioners appoint o ex Dlori.nH^' '''Tf ""^ '^' «°«'d of tvveen the Statesof Maine nd N^v H^sire'Li'?.'^'";^-^^^ ''"^ ^" provinces, together with the reno, of thf ' f""^ the adjoining British to the 31st ultimo, and apron 6*^0 thlmprT'^'r^'r' '''"* ^^'^'nission ■Che St. Croix river, as lar^^l^-^!^ Zll^'-^^T^^^^l ^^"^^^ '' Washixcton, ^pril 7, 1842. "^^"^ TYlER. Department of Statf inafter specified, viz : '^' "anded you the papers here- ^^1.^ The report of the operations of the Commission up to the present 2. A prof J of the meridian line of the source of lleagues. Th Doc. Xo. 31. g Commissioners, therefore, while uniting in a genferal report of the pro- gress made up to this time in the duties of their appointment, beg leave to submit, in the form of appendices, the narrative of their several odp. rations, with so much of the records.of their observations and calculations asthey have severally judged necessary to authenticate the conclusions at which they have arrived. '""oai The progress which has been made in the labors of the Commissioners enable them, at this time, to lay before you— •""sioners Ist A description of the physical features of the disputed territory 2d. A comparison of the heights of the line claimed by the United S ates, WMth those ol the line styled the "axis of maximum elevation » bv JNIessrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge. In laying the latter before vou the have, in order to avoid delay, made use, in part, of the published re' fluh. obtained by those gentlemen; and althoL-gh they have already detect- ed errors in their inferences, they do not consider that by accepting them for the-moment as the basis of comparison, they can be accused of exhib- iting the line claimed by Great Britain in an unfavorable light 1 . Description of the disputed territory.- Vhe sea coast of the State of Maine is rugged and hilly. The primitive rocks, of which its geolog ! I cal sti-ucture is chieHy composed, are broken into ridges which run parSl- Je to the great streams, and therefore in a direction from north to south ^ These ridges terminate in a,j irregular line, which, to the east of the Penob- scot, m^ be Identified ne^irly with the military road to HoultoM. From I the northern summit of these ridges, an exfensive view of the disputed : territory can ,n many places, be obtained. This is the case at the mili- tary post at Houlton, whence a wide extent of country may be seen. A still more perfect view may be obtained from the summit of Park's hill at a point about 400 yards south of the road from Houlton to Woodstock; and about half a mile east of the exploring meridian line. At the time Th. "ih r 'r 7'7 '"" ^'^ '^' ^'■'^'^^ «"^ A'««'-'^«" surveyors, under he 5th article the treaty of Ghent, the top of this hill v.L covered fomP?^k';'h '^'{-T'' "^''Sed to content themselves with the view ■irom Pa.k s barn which is at least 200 feet beneath the summit. At the .p e ent moment the atter is cleared, and the view from west-south-wes to iiortheast IS unimpeded except by a single clump of trees, which cuts off the view lor a lew degrees in the northwest direction ; but,* by a change ^^TT.l ^''"^ P''' '^ '^"^ ♦^^^'^^^ '^^tween these points s to be seen! rowards the west are seen ridges parallel to the Penobscot, oveVwhich Ka ahd.n towers to a great height, bearing, by compass, north 85° west tasitni rr^'V^ 1^°^'^^^ ''' ''^^ '^'^ distant^>eaks, one of S InP 1 A ^'n^ Traveller.* All of these eminences 1 e south of the Ipea twoli^ ^"'^'": /" the north-north-west direction the^o Hf!! ti A ^f"!^ comparatively small elevation, which were pointed Te itlt'Tl'^^TT''''''^ ^"' *'^^^ ^'"^e been ascertained to lie near fi^at Cain n 1S.?*'^r"?'''^S-. '^^''^ ''^ ^" '^' ^»"^ ^^^^^^^ »>>• Ividpnt^l nl ^ Between these and the other mountains there is 2e rJ" e asoect"or'°" ' TV^' '''' 'J '^' ^°""*^>'' "^ ''''' ^'°'" ^^e hill, oear^ne^spect ol a wooded plain. It will be sufficient to refer to this lain ^£rl7!h^S,:J::/lS«'V:° £ -^^ theg«at »o«„- jalfio subminej. ^ flietch of the saine terminauoD, as seen from the north, is. i Doc. No. 31. view to be satisfied that all the impressions which have been circulated of a continnous chain of elevations, extending along the line claimed by Great Britain, are utterly fallacious. Towards the north the country exhibits the same general features. One vast and apparently unbroken plain extends to the utmost limits of the visible horizon. In the midst of this, and at a distance of nearly 30 miles, Mars hill alone breaks the monotonous prospect, and from its iso- lated position assumes to the eye an importance to which its altitude of less than 1,800 feet would not otherwise entitle it. No other eminences are to be seen in this direction, except a round peak bearing a few degrees west of north, and some distant ridges about an ecjuai distance to the east. The first of these has been ascertained, by the surveys of Major Graham, to be an isolated hill, near the peak known as Quaquajo. The eastern ridges are probably those measured between the Tobique and the Bay of Chaleurs by the British Commissioners. A sketch of this view from Park's hill is annexed to the report; and, lest any doubt be entcltained of its accuracy, it is proper to state that the unassisted vision was not relied upon, but that the outlines were carefully delineated by means of the "camera lucida." From this view, it might be inferred that the northern part of the admit- ted possessions of the United States, to the east of the Penobscot, iind the disputed territory, as far as visible, constitute a vast table land slightly inclined towards the southeast. On descending into the valley of the St. John, the appearances change. The table land is cut to a great depth by that stream, and from its bed the broken edges of the great plain look like ridges, whose height is exaggerated to the senses in consequence of their being densely clothed with wood. The same is the case with all the branches of this river, which also cut the table land to greater or less depths according to their distance from the stream into which they discharge themselves. The want of a true highland or mountainous character in this region is obvious from the aspect it presents in the two different points of view. Mountainous regions are most imposing when seen from a distance, and from heights. On a nearer approach, and from the valleys which inter- sect them, the elevations, so important in the distant yiew, are hidden by their own slopes, or lose the appearance of relative elevation in conse- quence of the absolute heights of the valleys themselves. In conformity with this character, the line claimed by the United States for the most part presents, when seen at a distance, the appearance of lofty and deep- ly serrated ridges, while, to one who traverses it, it is a labyrinth of lakes, morasses, and short but steep elevations, which hide its peaks from the valleys and streams. The line claimed by Great Britain, on the other hand, when seen frotn a distance, is as level as the surface of the ocean, with no greater appear- ance of elevation and depression than would represent its billows. While seen from its own valleys, the heights assume an importance which their elevation above the valleys when actually measured does not warrant. The characteristics of the region throuah which the line of Messrs^ Mudge and Featherstonhaugh passes are, therefore, the opposite of those asually remarked in highland countries ; while those of the line claime.l by the United States are the same as are always observed in such re- gions. being b Doc. No. 31, en ci'rculafed of ine claimed by sneral features, utmost limits of ce of nearly 30 nd from its iso- 1 its altitude of tther eminences iga few degrees nee to the east. Major Graham, . The easterrj and the Bay of this view from be enteltained vision was not ed by means of rt of the admit- lobscot, knd the e land slightly le appearances ream, and from s, whose height densely clothed s of this river, ording to their :lves. ■ in this region points of view, a distance, and 's which inter- , are hidden by ition in t") ise- Fn conformity s for the most lofty and deep- yrinth of lakes, )eaks from the k'hen seen from greater appear- illows. While ce which their 3 not warrant, nfi of Messrs^ posite of those le line claimed id in such re- . This character of a table land deeply cut by streams is well exhibited f in the section of their « axis of maximum elevation " by the British Com- roissioners. n that will be seen the mountains near the source of the ^Aroostook, Allegash and Penobscot on the one hand, and of the Tobique on the other, while the intervening space is occupied by a curve res^- >bhng an inverted arch of which the St. John occupies the keystone. Jn a country of this character, any line whatever would present the an- pearance of a succession of eminences, and might, by as liberal a con- struction of the erm as has been made by Messrs. Mudge and Feathers- ■tonhaugh, be called highlands. ' . .flm '*'" n"^'' ^^ *'"' gf"^'-^' character is broken only by a single chain of hil!.* 1 his ,s a prolongation of Mars hill towards -the north, and, being both ot less height and breadth than that mountain, is hidden bv it irom the view of a spectator on Park's hill. Mars hill is itself an isola- ♦ted eminence, and is in fact nearly an island ; for the Presqu' Isle and i..s,.gu.t rivers, running the one to the north and the other to the south of t have branches which take their rise in the same swamp on its BO. Ih western side To the norUi of the Des Chutes the groZ.l agl ises, and, although cut by several streams, and particularly by the Arooi" iook the chain ,s prolonged by isolated eminences as far as (he White rapids below the Grand falls of the St. Joh where U crosses that rtlV\ • '"?u w''^ be traced in a northern dirt-ction to the Su-ar Loaf mountain on the Wagansis portage, where it terminates. lo this broken chain belongs the elevation of 918 feet, given bv Messrs Mudge and Featherstonhaugh to an eminence in the neighbo,^ hood of the Aroostook falls. An ace J|p profile of so many of the 'e fnS TlwJ' ' •" ')' '"' '^ '^' ^°*^^' '"^^•^'- - herewith sub jn.tted. I his chain of eminences is not prolonged to the westward as it ^oTn'la^^in-Sdirtfion'.'^ ^"^ "^^'- '^'-^^-^P^'-^-^ ^ thrnie^^of 4hiVoun?rV" '?''"'•' ^ "^r^'^S '■'^^^' ^^'"^ '^"t hy all the streams i» Srooslook^' '" ''"''''"^''' '' ' S'eat depth by the St. John and the er "lnder^hp'Ll!"'rT 'T F'^^ '" ^ '"P°^* *° ^he British Commission- *he surviv^, In ' r ?! ^^' ^'^''y °^ ^'^^"^ ^y Colonel Bouchette, ^rn ined bv ?h. r '^'''' n''""'' "^ ^^"^^^- ^^'^ '^^^^hts were de^ Son ml. ^. if ''"'^°'"^t^;' f»^ estimated from the assumed level of the J»onument at the source of the St. Croix. ac urr'andTh^lT'V'-'! '^' '''''°" "^ ^^'^^^^ Bouchette is very in- Snd the' tr .M. h .f ''L^''*' «s reported by him are not only much he- ft he ountv'fV. f '^' continually ascending slope, ascribed by him lint whrr^h' ? ^ ' '"^""^cnt at the source%f the St. Croix to the Sous He hoi 'T^'. ''"" '''''''' '^^ St. John, is entirely erro- t a temnwn tZ f"' ''^''°'''^' '""^'^'^ ^'""'^^^ «^ ^^is in.ccurate section Khd fti ihi^r^ '"V,'!'^^^"^^ °* « continuous chain of mountains from ^1e S b an ll?T /''^^°^'*^" ^'- •^°*^"' ^""^ thence around the south- Jie north rnr';[ * « ^'«*'g°"che until it met the heights rising from If e nortl! shore of the Rnv nf r.lioU„ro ir-.. .l; *. • . ^. . irnni Pa.b'e k^.... J .L - ' " ••••.-.•.r^. i us HUB leiaon, nis view laKen ^/^^Ji ' ^"^ that made by Mr. Odell from the sime point, were . ^rged for ad mission as evidence on oath by the British agent, and the map I 'A chain is made up of mountains, whose bases touch each other.-^a/ti. , I tti 6 Doc. No. 31. sig. of Mr. Johnson, which contradicted this evidence, was carefully excluded. It cannot be concealed, that, could Colonel Bouchette's idea founded on orroneous premises have been established by indisputable facts, it would have been the most fatal argument that has ever been adduced against the American claim ; for he would have argued that the meridian line of the St. Croix would, at Mars hill, have first intersected highlands, which, rising from the north shore of the Bay of Chaleurs, would have appeared to divide, until within a few miles of the Grand falls of the St. John, waters, which fall into the St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic, and would have been the south boundary of the province of Quebec. Mars hill would thea have appeared to be, in truth as well as in claim, (he northwest angle of the province of Nova Scotia ; and, although the rest of the line would not have fulfilled the conditions, the United States might, by an arbitrator, have been compelled to accept this point as the be- ginning of their boundary. Nor, in the unexplored state of the country, is it by any means certain that the American agent, who does not seem to have seen the drift of the proceedings of Colonel Bouchette, would have been prepared with the adverse facts, which are now tnown to be unde- niable. It may, therefore, be considered fortunate for the claim of the United States that the survey was afterwards intrusted to a surveyor who, in pursuit of the double object of encroachment on the United States and ihe enlargement of his native province at the expense of Canada, nally failed in the proof of either of his positions. The knowledge now acquire^fhows that the idea of Colonel Bouchette is unsupported by the facts of JHjbcase, for the highlands which rise from the north shore of the Bay of^naleurs do not meet those in which the most southerly branch of the Ristigouche takes its rise. The British Commissioners, although they give a profile of this ridge, do not pretend to have examined it except at Mars hill, near the Aroos- took, and at the Grand falls of the St. John. It must be remarked, that these profiles (the original one of Colonel Bouchette and that exhibited by themselves) are contrasted — one British authority with another — for the purpose of invalidating the ground on which the American claim is founded. It is not our business to reconcile these conflicting authorities, but it is our duty to recall the recollections of the fact that no part of the Ameri- can argument laid before the King of the Netherlands was founded on this or any other estimate of heiglits. Many elevations, indeed, were m '^sured with great pains on the part of the Americans, as vveli as of Great Britain. On behalf of the United States, Captain Partridge made many baro- metric observations, while Mr. Johnson took an extensive series of verti- cal and horizontal angles. His operations were performed in the presence of Mr. Odell, the surveyor on behalf of Great Britain, who doubtless made similar ones, as he visited the same stations with a better instrument and for the same avowed purpose. Mr. Odell's observations were not presented by the British agent, and those of Mr. Johnson were obiected to. If received, they would have set aside the pretensions that a contin- uous ridge of mountains existed between the Metjarmette portage and Mars hill. They are, however, superseded by the operations of the un- dersigned, which have yielded satisfactory evidence that no chain of high- i « Doc. No. 31. ^ fully excluded, ea founded on facts, it would ::ed against the an line of the hlands, which, have appeared ' the St. John, 1 fall into the le province of ill as in claim, :hough the rest United States loint as the be- f the country, es not seem to e, would have !n to be unde- 5 claim of the surveyor who, ted States and f Canada, sig- nel Bouchette hich rise from in which the of this ridge, iar the Aroos- emarked, that t exhibited by Dther — for the ican claim is •ities, but it is jf the Anieri- »s founded on OS on the part ie many baro- eries of verti- n the presence vho doubtless ter instrument ions were not vere objected that a contin* i portage and )ns of the un- chain of high- lands in the sense of the British Commissioners, or even an " axis of maximum elevation " exists where it ^s laid down on their map. Nor can it be doubted that the operations rf , .Johnson had a decided advantage, in point of probable accuracy, ove* airs. The exploring meridian Une used as a base was measured with a tolerable degree of accuracy, and from the three heights chosen by him the whole country is visible. On the other hand, the course of Messrs. Mudge and Featherstonhaugh being confined, except where they ascended Mars hill, to the valleys of the streams, they wjre for the most part excluded from a prospect. In describing the view from Mars hill, however, they have pictured" m most accurate terms the true features of the country. " The character of the country may be well discerned and understood from this insulated hill. It presents to the eye one mass of dark and gloomy forest, to the utmost limits of sight, covering by its umbrageous mantle the principal rivers, minor streams, and scanty vestiges of the habi- tation of man. "* This description can only agree with that of a vast table land, into which the streams cut so deep, and form such narrow valleys as to be in- visible. But if a chain of highlands, or even an "axis of maximum elevation," had existed, as they lay it down, within 20 miles, it would have been vi- sible, and it need not be said that they would not have failed to describe it. The inconsistency between their map and this true and forcible des- <;ription of the features of the country is apparent. The same general charcter of table land is found to the north of the St. John, above the Grand falls. Its first important northern tributary is, the Grand river. In ascending this stream, the level of the table land is soon reached. The river runs between banks ot very moderate eleva- tion, and on a regular slope ; and although running with great rapidity upon a pebbly bed, it is yet so tortuous, that, while its distance from its mouth to the W-'gansis portage in a straight line is no more than 13 miles, the meanders of its channel amount to near 30. On the Wagansis portage the table land is terminated by a ridge, whose summit is elevated 264 feet above the Wagansisf of Grand river. It was at first believed that this, although of small elevation, was a dividing ridge, and that it might correspond to one construction which has, al- though inaccurately, been put on the treaty of 1783. This belief was speedily removed ; for the rivulet on its northern side was found to be cut off from the Ristigouche by the Sugar Loaf mountain, and is therefore a branch either of the Grand river or of the stream which falls into the St. John immediately above the Grand falls. The height of land which divides this rivulet from the Wagan of the Ristigouche is not elevated above the former more than 117 feet. There is in fact, at this place, a gap five or six miles in breadth, in the great system of mountains which extend from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, at the Bay des Chaleurs, to the fiver St. Lawrence, near the Temiscouata portage. At the northern verge ♦See Appendix, page 1, of the Brit sh Commissioner!,' Repoit, dated "Foreien office April 16, 1840. " fWagan isaterm in the Aben&k't language signifyinsr way. Sis is a diminutive particle. Wag«n-Bi8 18 therefore the little vf ay ; and it seems proiii-ulo that ihe name of Grand river, th« usual, epithet for the St. John, has beeij imprope.ly uj i-Lisd to the small stream which bears it «£ the maps. /. s Doc. No. 31. of the table land which has been described, and near the mouth of Greetv river, rises, to the heig.it of about 1,600 feet, a mountain known from the name of that stream. This is, like Mars hill, isolated, and affords an ex- tensive view. To the north and west, the prospect is bounded by a con- tinuous line of horizon, which, instead of being obviously below the level of the eye, as in the view of the disputed territory from Mars hill, is evi- dently of even greater height than the Green rivr mountain itself. On entering into this region from the south, .y any of the navigable streams which traverse it, it presents a more decidedly mountainous cha- racter than the country to the south. The Grande Fourche of Risti- gouche is bordered by two continuous chains of mountains, rising when it first issues from them to the height of a thousand feet above its surface. The stream having a rapid fall, the relative elevation becomes less until,^ in the neighborhood of the lake in which its north branch first collects its waters, the relative elevation is not more than four or five hundred feet.* On traversing this elevated country, it presents a different aspect from what is seen either from a distance, or where it is entered from the rivers. Frequent ridges are crossed ; the tops of these are often occupied by swamps filled with a thick growth of cedars. Deep and small basins occur, which are occupied by lakes that give rise to rivers flowing to the St. Lawrence or to the St. John. These are intermingled with thickets of dwarf spruce; and the streams are sometimes bordered by marshes covered by low alders, and sometimcH cut deep into rocky channels. In this ap- parent labyrinth one positive circumstance marks the line of division or the true height of land. The streams which run to the St. John- are all of the first description, sluggish; while those which discharge themselves into the St. Lawrence are rapid, and have the character of torrents. On the western side of the disputed territory are ridges of rocky hills, run- ning nearly north and south, and thus tending towards the St. Lawrence^ -which they in some places reach and shut out the view of the interior. It thus becomes difficult to find a station whence the heights of land' can be viewed and its character exhibited. It has therefore been hither- to possible for those who' have argued in support of the claims of Great Britain to represent, without meeting with contradiction, that the streams which fall nto the St. John had their rise in a country possessed of none of that naountainous character which they urged was essential to the epi- thet of highlands. There are, however, points where a different character is apparent, and some of these are easy of access. Thus, on the main mail-road, along the southeast branch of the St. Lawrence, a mile north- east of the church ol L'lslette, a rocky eminence is passed, whence may be seen a bold group of mountains, which have been identified with the sour- ces of the Quelle, the Kamouraska, and Black rivers. A view of this group is herewith presented. From the height to the east of river Du Loup, a view may be seen, on a clear day, extending round 137 degrees of the horizon, beginning with the highlands of Bic, bearing north 58° east, and terminating in a conicat mouffain, bearing south lo'^ west. The nearest and more conspicuous of these highlands (named those of St. Andre) are on the river rourchoe, a branch of the river Du Loup, whose waters they divide from those of the St. Francis. A view of these is also submitted herewith. * Several sketches of the heiglits which surround this lake are herewith presented. Doc. No. 31. uth of Greetp own from the* ffbrds an ex- ed by a con- low the level s hill, is evi- itself. he navigable itainous cha- jhe of Risti- rising when e its surface, es less untilj it collects its indred feet.* ; aspect from m the rivers, occupied by basins occur, ig to the St. h thickets of shes covered In this ap- division or John- are all J themselves >rrents. ky hills, run- :. LawrencCy e interior, ghts of land' been bilher- ms of Great the streams led of none I to the epi- nt character on the main- mile north- enee may be ith the sour- ofthis group le seen, on a inning witb in a conical led those of r Du Loup, ew of these it A similar view of the same panorama of highlands is obtained from Hare island in the St. Lawrence, an outline of which, taken with the ca- luera lucida, is likewise submitted. About a quarter of a mile to the south of the point where the Tehiiscouata portage crosses Mount Biort the highlands may be seen at the head of Rimouski, bearing nearly east/ thence extending round by the north to the mountains of St. Andre, bear- iitg nearly west, forming about one half of the entire horizon. The en- tire panorama from the latter point, taken with the camera lucida, alonr with copies of some daguerreotypes made at the same place, are herewitn submitted. Of the part of the line which extends to the northeast, from the source of the Etchemin, for a distance of many miles, a view may be almost constantly seen from the citadel of Quebec, and from the tops of ' the houses in that city. One still more satisfactory may be obtained from the road between Quebec and the Falls of Montmorenci, in the neighbor- hood of the village of Belport. The latter views are in particular refer- red to, as they are within the reach of numerous civil and military officers of the British Government, who must assent to the evidence of their own senses, which will prove that this region, the position of the path pursued during the present year by captain Talcott's parties, is to all intents a range of highlands. The boundary presents from these positions the aspect of a continuous- and deeply serrated ridge. The geological character of the country cannot be admitted as having any bearing upon the subject under consideration. It never entered into the views of the framers of the treaty of 1783, and there/ore could afford no illustrations of their intentions. Were it admissible, however, it might be cited as an additional argu- ment, that the dividing height which encloses the waters of the Connec- ticut contindes unchanged in its features until it is cut off by the deep cliannel of the St. Lawrence. Opportunities for observations of this character were most frequent on the Temiscouata portage, and on the banks of the St. Lawrence itself. It was dfily on the former place that the relative geological heights of the rocks could be observed by means of their outcrop. The whole of the portage passes over stratified rocks dipping rapidly to the southeast. They were found to be alternate groups of common and talcose slate, and of a rock made up principally of angular fragments ot white quartz, (grauwack.) These are in all respects identical witl> rocks which have been observed by one of the Commissioners in place it> ^Berk^ure county, Massachusetts, and in Columbia and Rensselaer coun- ties, iNew York; and the description of geologists at various intervening points, as vvell as the observations of Captain Talcott's parties, would tend to establish the fact that the formations are continuous. • From these data, it would appear probable that the rocks are a prolonga- tion of the western slope of the great range called by Mr. Featherston- haugh, in his report as United States geologist, the Atlantic ridge. This formation, which is but a few miles in width where it crosses the Hudson, appears gradually to widen as it proceeds to the north, and was on th^ M. Lawrence found to prevail both at the river Du Loup and at Grand Metis, dipping in the two places in opposite directions, and covered in the interval by the thick diluvial deposites which form the valley of the Troia 4 m til isented. / 10 Doc. m. 31. Pj^toles. To render ihe analogy more complete, in the valley of the outlet of the Little lake (Temiscouata) was found a vein of metalliferous <{uartz, charged with peroxyde of iron, evidently arising from the decom- position of pyrites, being in facfthe same as the matrix of the gold, which has been traced in the talcose slate formation from Georgia to Vermont ; 4ind on the western shore of the Temiscouata lake, about a mile to the south of Fort Ingall, lie great masses of granular carbonate of lime, identic- cally resembling the white marbles of Pennsylvania, Westchester county, New York, and Berkshire county, Massachusetts. If the latter be in place, which, although probable, was not ascertained beyond all question, the primitive carbonate of lime has exactly the same relation to the slaty rocks, which it bears in the latter locality. The formations which have been spoken of appear to occupy the whole extent of the country explored by the parties of Professor Renwick. Every where the stijparas were found cutting through rocks of slate. On the summits of many of the hills were found weathered masses of angular quartz rocks, showing that while the slate had yielded to the action of the elements, the harder and less friable rock had liept it splace. The ridges which intervene between the St. Lawrence at the river Du Loup and Lake Temiscouata have the character, so well described by Elie de Beaumont, •of mountains elevated by some internal force. To the eastward of Lake Temiscouata, on the other hand, the country has the aspect of having once been a table land, elevated on the average about 1 ,700 feet above the level of the sea, and of having been washed by some mighty flood, which, wearing away the softer rocks, had cut it into valleys, forming a complex system incapable of being described in words, and only to be understood by inspection of a map. 2. Comparison of the elevations of ihe boundary line claimed by the United States with those of the *'axis of maxi??ium elevation*^ of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge. For the purpose of exhibiting the relative claims of the two lines to the exclusive epithet of '4he highlands" in the most clear and definite man- «er, each of them will be considered as divided into three portions, which will be contrasted with each other by pairs. The first portion of each of the lines is that which lies nearest to the point of bifurcation; the res- idue of the American line is divided at the source of the Quelle ; the remainder of the line of Messrs. Feaiherstonhaugh and Mudge at that of the Aroostook. Metjarmette portage is taken as the point of bifur- cation, whence waters run to the Penobscot, the St. John, and the St. Lawrence. Qn the American line ifrom the Metjarmette portage to Lake Etchenfiri Feet. The maximum height is - - - - - 1,718 The minimum height is - - - - -. 1,218 The minimum measured height i^ that of Lake Etchcmin, which is lower than the actual source of that stream, and whose omission, as not upon the dividing ridge, would make the minimum greater. This height was determined by the nartiea of A. Talcott. Esq.. by tvyo distinct and separate sets of observations, one of which was continued hourly for sev- eral days; and no doubt can exist that it is as accurate a measure as the l)arometer is capable of affording. In the report of Messrs. Featherston- haugh Doc. No. 31. 11 lleyof the etalliferous :he decom- ;old, which Vermont ; nile to the ime, identic ter county, ascertained y the same r the whole ' Renwick. slate. On i of angular ction of the The ridges ipand Lake Beaumont, :he country the average washed by I cut it into d in words, imedby ike ' of Messrs. lines to the efinite man- tions,%hich ion of each on; the res- Ouelle ; the udge at that int of bifur- and the St. te Etchenfin Feet. 1,718 1,218 in, which is ssion, as not This height distinct and urly for sev- iasure as the Featherston- liaugh aiid Mudge, this height as set down is no more than 957 feet, hv.\ it is determined from a single observation. That it is erroneous, must be considered as demonstrated. In the map presented by those gentlemen, they have made use of this erroneous determination for a purpose which, even were it correct, would not be warranted ; for they, on its authority, leave out all the symbols by which heights are represented, and substitute therefor a dotted line with the inscription "fictitious hills of Mr. Burn- ham's map." The actual character of this part of the American line is an undulating country. On the line of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, between the Metjarmette portage and the Cocumgamoc mountains — Feef. The maximum elevation is - - - - ' 2,302 The minimum ..... 987 This part of the line of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge derives its apparent advantage from the fact that it crosses the summit, and occu- pies the eastern slope, of the highlands claimed by the United States. Notwithstanding this, the difference in their elevation is not such as to give it any decided superiority in its highland character. On the American line from Lake Etchemin to the river Ouelle — Feet. The maximum height is - * - - - 2,854 The minimum height is * - - - - 1,306 On the line of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge from the Cov,um- gamoc mountains to the headwaters of the Aroostook — Feet. The maximum height is - - - - 1,263 The minimum " « .... 880 On the parts of the line thus contrasted, the maximum height of that claimed by Great Britain is less elevated than the lowest gap of that claimed by the United States. On the third portion of the American line : From the head of the Ouelle to the Temiscouata portage — F^et." The maximum height is - - - - . - 2,231 The minimum " " . - - - - 853 From the point where the line first crosses the Temiscouata portage to Mount Paradis — Feet. The maximum height is ? - - - |i|| - 1,983 The minimum " " . - . - - . 906 From the Temiscouata portage to the head of the Abagusquash — Feet. The maximum height is - - - - - 1,510 The minimum « « . . . . . gyg From Abagusquash to the Rimouski lake — Ffet. The maximum height is - ... - 1,824 The minimum " " - - - - - 651 From the Rimouski lake to the north v.est angle — Feet. The maximum height is - - - - . 1,841 The minimum " " . - - - - 1,014 ^ Doc- No. 31. The greatest elevation of the whole of the third part of the American line, therefore IS - - . . '^ . 9 oqi rlJ^. The minimum is 651 " The termination of the exploring meridian line falls into this part of the American line. Fts height of 1,519 feet was determined by tw-o seo- arate observations compared with others taken on Lake Johnson. The height of the latter was calculated at 1,007 feet, from a series of observa- tions continued fok- 1 7 days, and is believed to be as accurate as the method of the barometer is susceptible of. '"emoo This height of the termination of that line is estimated, by Messrs Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, at no more than 388 feet, and that of the ake at no more than 363. In this estimate they reject the indications of their own barometers, because the results of them would have contra- dicted the previous impressions which seem to have governed all their operations, viz : that the point claimed by the United States as the north- west angle of Nova Scotia is not in an elevated region of country • On the third part of the British line from the sources of the Aroostook to the Grand falls of the St. John, no height is reported as measured by the British Commissioners which exceeds 1,050 feet, while the greatest height on then profile is 1,150 feet. The minimum height on their pro- Jile, excluding the Aroostook at its mouth and its intersection with the meridian line, is 243 feet, and the* mean of the numbers entered by them both on their map and profile is 665 feet. It will therefore appear that, if th- profile of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge be correct, the lowest gap on the third part of the American line IS abou as high as the mean elevation of the part of the British line with which it is compared. • The line claimed by the United States, therefore, possesses throughout m a pre-eminent degree, the highland character, according to the sense at one time contended for in the argument of Great Britain, and is, to use the term of the British Commissioners, "the axis of maximum elevation"— the mean of all the heights measured upon it being 1,459 feet, while that 01 those measured on the .line of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge is no more than 1,085 feet. ° ^luuge i» It is regretted that the computations of the barometric and other oUser- vations, for the determination of the heights of that portion of the country between the valley of the St. John and the sources of the Aroostook, ex- plored by the division of Major Graham, could not be completed in time to be made use^ for this report, in the description of that portion of the jine claimed Jof^reat Britain by Messrs. B'eatherstonhaugh and Mudge. i his delay has been solely caused by a want of reasonable time to com- piete this portion of the work, the Commissioner, having direction of the division charged with it, having only returned from the field in the month* 01 January. ^ Sufficient information is known, however, to have been derived from • A continuous line of levelling was carrieJ by one of the parlies of Major Graham's divisi^ by means of Iwo spirit levels checkin? one another, from tide water at Calais, in Maine to the moi.ument at the aourcc of the St. Croix, and thence along the true meridian line to its intersec- tion with the river St. John. The siirfrtc" "f the 81. John .°.t this -snint of in!ei=- ■'=••- '-'-^ =' ^ found to be 419i feet above the level of mean tide at Calais. The ba'Ji'n of th'rr^^v'eV'imm'ediatelly above the Grand Falls may \>e slated a.-< of the same elevation in round numbers, as there is very Jjltle current in the river between thosie two points. i he American 2,231 feet. 651 '« ) this part of 1 by two sep- hnson. The 3 of observa- is the method , by Messrs. d that of the ndications of have contra- led all their as the north- ntry.* e Aroostook measured by the greatest on their pro- ion with the red by them lerstonhaugh e American the British I throughout, the sense at Qd is, to use elevation" — !t, while that nd Mudge is other oBser- the country oostook, ex- eted in time )rtion of the and Mudge. irae to com- ction of the in the monib erived from Doc. No. 31. U'» shnirt's division, 1 Maine, to the B to its internee- ieetirifi was thus ver immediately as there is very those surveys to jtjst. -he assertion that, instead of the strongly marked range ot highlands represented by the British Commissioners as conMitu- ^ ting a part of then- "axis of maximum elevation," the country in the vici- mty of the Aroostook, lying between ils sources and the vallev of the sl ! John, IS devoid of the character they have attributed to it. When uro- perly represented upon a map, it will appear as an extended undulating surface of moderate elevation above the level of the Aroostook river sparsely interspersed with occasional detached elevations, ri*.inc to hpiirhfi of 600 to 900, and 1,400 feet above the level of the sea but forj^nf no continuous or connected chain whatever in the direction represented b? ■ rl- !'i ^^^ ^ Commissioners, or that could be construed into the character of highlands, such as are described in the treaty of 1783.* """-«er In addition to the surveys upon the boundary line claimed by the United States, an exploring line was run, under the direction of Professor Ren wick, as IS more particularly described in appendix No. 1 . This line ex t ended to an eminence on the eastern side o f Lake Metapediac, elevated * Note. Since the above was written, Mnjor Graham'^ man, and the comnuiation>.";^rTKrr~' rometric heights above alluded to, have been completed. compulations of the ba- This map exhibits, in their proper positions, the numerous altitudes which were d-i^min.j throughout the country watered by the Aroostook and its nrinclDnl t ibutlZ „,7 r '''"f""'"f«* to the heights which bound the basin of that river on e lifer "idr--alonrh; ^ .".*? '""''"-^ in the year 1835, by Captain Vulo of the Royal Engineers bctweTn mLI bin T ''"•' ''"""^ the Stole of Mamc, from Lewis's, (a poht in latitude 46° 12' on" h«i,„»«n .k u i l ^^ . ^ hliluJ. 47° 16' 13" being . ,n...„™ .ol».lly ,„e.sur«l, of ?S S --.nj Z^tt ™ '"," '" thl^ZrT "'°'"'"' ""',' '''' '"",?^ '^^ prominent eminences, which occur Tngtnt portion of the ««ax.s of maximum elevation" of Messrs. Mudge and Feaiherstonhauirh ^hIk i;L '^ k the mouth and the source of the Aroostook, correspond very neirlv t heS aSno^^^^^^ measurements, with those rcporie.l by themselves vet these emhienoJ.;! T '^ . ' ''^' """^ another by spac.s of comparatively L and very'ohen swam^ o^n ^v so eft'^^^^^^^^^ .?."„ '"™ .viJ:;:sLtK;f ^^^S:;: •^;;^^;c c^ ;n^ ;ra-3^ "- t most prominent eminences which may f.l within the asZVod^W^ ?k i.""""*''^ '^* • Wll.) to the north. ' ^ ^' " ^'"*" ""8'" obstructed by the Aroostook i» Mien., in » «li,r.clory . .n.nner „ iS; ,„ „Lu, u' ',f^ .'^°°f '' " I""' twe-lhird.' of 14 Doc. No. 31. 1,743 feet above the level of the sea. The views obtained from this emi- nence established the fact that a chain of highlands extended thence to the north shore of the Bay des Chaleurs. They are believed to termi- nate in an eminence, which, from its imposing appearance, has been called by the Scotch settlers at its foot Ben LomoniL This was measured during the operations of the summer of 1840, and found to rise from the tide of the bay to the height of 1,024 feet. This exploring line, coupled with the more accurate surveys, appears to establish the fact of the existence of a contmuous chain of eminences entitled to the epithet of highlands from the north shore of the Bay des Chaleurs, at its western extremity tJ the sources of the Connecticut river. Returning from the latter point, they exhibit the aspect of well-marked ranges of mountains as far as the sources ot the Metjarmette. Thence, to the sources of the Etcherain ex- tends an undulating country whose mean height is 1,300 or 1 500 'feet above the level of the sea. The boundary line is thence prolon^d to the Teraiscouata portage over well-defined ridges to the eastern side of Lake remiscouata. At the sources of two of the streams which run into this lake, the minimum heights of 651 feet and 676 feet have been observed. With these exceptions, the sources of the streams which rise to the north of the Temiscouata portage, and between the lake of that name and Lake Metapediac, average more than 900 feet above the level of the sea For the purpose of describing this portion of the line claimed by the United Mates, we may take this height of 900 feet as the elevation of a horizon- tal plane or base. On this are raised knolls, eminences, and short ridges whose heights above this assumed base vary from 300 to 1 300 feet The more elevated of these are universally designated, by the hunters who oc- casionally visit the country and the lumberers who search it for timber as mountams clothed to the summits with wood, which, in consequence ol the rigor of the climate, attains but a feeble growth. They h-Ive an aspect of much greater altitude than they in reality possess, but their cha- racter as highlands is indisputable. This term, which the first English visitors ascribed without hesitation to the hills of New Jersey * xvLia altitude is about 300 feet above the level of the sea, is much better me^ •!' If Q^nn?'"'";^ u ^.«V"^"^^s rising from 300 to 1 ,300 feet above a base. Itself 900 feet in height, and which exceed in elevation th6 well-known highlands ol the Hudson river. Not to rest merely on instances drawn from the language of those of English birth, who first settled or traded on the coast Sf the present United States, there are in the immediate vicinity of the region in aues tion a range of eminences, the highest of which is no morl than 1 206 feet above the leve of the sea. These, on the authority of a distinguished officer of Her Britannic Majesty's navy,t are named the "highlands of Bic, and have long been thus known by all the navigators of the St Law- rence who use the English tongue. To sura up the results of the tield operations of the Commissioners : ^ 1st. 1 he meridian has been traced by astronomic observations from the taonument, established by the consent of both nations, in 1798 at the * The highb.-ius of Neversink. f Cu|jt. Bayfield. 4 St. Cr Doc. No. 31. from this emi- )ded thence to ieved to termi- las been called easured during rom the tide of , coupled with ' the existence t of highlands, n extremity, to e latter point, IS as far as the Etchemin, ex- or 1,500 feet olonged to the n side of Lake run into this )een observed, se to the north ame and Lake the sea. For by the United of a horizon- 1 short ridges, 00 feet. The inters who oc- 1 it for timber, I consequence rhey have an but their cha- e first English rsey,* whose leh better nie- above a base» le well-known ;e of those of >f the present egion in ques- re than 1,206 t distinguished "highlands of f the St..Law- lissioners : tions from the 1 1798, at the source of the St. Croix to a point four miles beyond the left bank of the St. John, in the neichborhood of the Grand Falls. In the course of this not only has no highland, dividing waters which run into the St. Law-'^ rence from those which run into the Atlantic, been reached, but no com- mon source or reservoir of two streams running in opposite directions. * No place has therefore been found which, bv any construction proposed or attempted to be put on the words of the treaty of 1783, can be consid- ered as the northwest angle of Nova Scotia. This point must, in coJise- quence, lie in the further prolongation of the meridian line to the north. 2d. The streams whose title to the name of the northwesternmost head of the Connecticut river, is in dispute, have been explored, and the line of the highlands has been traced from their sources to the point at which the Ijnes respectively claimed by the two nations diverge from each other. ° 3d. The line claimed by Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, on the part of Great Britain, has been in a great measure explored, 4th. The line of highlands claimed by the United States has, with some small exceptions, been thoroughly examined, and its prolongation, as far as the north shore of the Bay of Chaleurs, reconnoitred. The parts of the line which have not been actually reached have been seen from a dis- tance, and streams flowing from them crossed and levelled. From the former indication, it is probable that the average height of those parts ex- ceed that of the neighboring parts of the line. From the heights of the streams, it is certain that the lowest gaps in the unexplored portion of the line cannot be less elevated than 1,000 feet above the level of the sea. That part of this line of highlands which lies east of the sources of the Rimouski, fulfils to the letter the words of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the contemporaneous commission of Governor Wilmot. The first of those instruments defines the mouth of the river St. Lawrence by a line drawn from Cape Rosieres to the St. John river, (on the Labrador coast-) and therefore all to the eastward of that line is " the sea." The height of land thas trace4,by the Commission, rising from the north shore of the Bay des Chaleurs at its western extremity, divides waters which fall into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the sea, and is the south- ern boundary of the province established by the proclamation of 1763, un- der the name of Quebec. The identity of the line defined in the procla- Unation of 1763 and the boundary of the United States in the treaty of 1783 -has been uniformly maintained on the part of the United States; and is not merely admitted, but strenuously argued for, in the report of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge. ? The undersigned therefore report that they have explored, and, in a igreat measure, surveyed and levelled, a line of highlands in which the Snorthwest angle of Nova Scotia lies, and which, in their opinion, is the true boundary between the States of Maine and New Hampshire, and the British Provinces. % * The levellings carried along this meridian line by means ef spirit levels, alluded to in the note 8t bottom of page 12, passed .Mars hill at a depression of 12 feet below the level of the base of the iiLjiiuni^nt which stD'nis (excrpt ul scasuus ol exUeiiit; urougiit) in luo water at the source ot the St. Croix. 16 Doc. No. 31. II. Examination of the argument contained in the leport of Messrs. Murfsie and Feathcrntonhaugh. The progress whicli ^ ber iuaHe in the firbt portion of the duties oi Ihe Comiiiiiisi i.< rs has i t i forth in the preceding part of this leport. Although, as wiJI h»s ibc.esi a, the task of ■ (iniiinjf the meridian line of the monument niatkiAg the souic . uf the St. Croix, ,,d of exploring and surveying llto J»n« * uf highlands respectively claimed > re Governments of the United States and Great Britain, has not been completed, yet enough has been don« l'» fMrnioi, materials for n examination of the argument preferred by Meatus. Mudge jnd Featherbtonhaugh in support of Ihe novel ibrm in which the r)ection of the Commissioi.ers, upder the .5th article of the treaty of Ghent, the difficult character of the country had prevented any other method of exploration than that of ascending rivers to their sources. It was believed, on the part of the United States, that the determination of the position of these sources was sufficient for the demarcation oi the line of highlands, in relation to which the controversy €xists, and no attempt was made to meet the British argument by the ex- liibition of the fact that the lines joining these sources run in some cases along ridges, and in other cases pass over elevations, to which, in any sense of the term, the epithet of " highlands" may be justly applied. The denial of this mode ot determining the line of highlands, by Gr^eac Britain, has made it important that both the lines claimed by Great Bri- tain and by the United States should be explored and levelled — a task •wh''*h, until recently, had not been attempted on either part. The ex- wm^, 4ion ' the lines claimed by the two nations, respectively, has been in a great i> easure accomplished, as will be seen from the reports of the ueld open ons of the Commission, while such of these determinations as have a direct bearing on the argument will be cited in their proper place in this report. it is to be regretted that the document now under consideration exhibits many instances of an unfriendly spirit. Charges of direct and implied fraud are made, and language is used throughout that is irritating and in- sulting. It is fondly hoped that these passages do not express the senti- ments of the British nation, as in a state of feeling such as this report in- -dicates little hope could be entertained of an amicable adjustment of this question. Any inferen :e to be drawn from the language of the report tinder consideration is contradicted by the official declarations of the British Government, and may therefore be considered as the individual act of the authors, not as the deliberate voice of the nation by which they were employed. It might have been easy to have retorted similar charges, and thus ha. v. «xcited in the Government of Great Britain feelings of irritation similar to those which pervaded the whole population of the United States on the reception of that report, ^''hile, however, it is due to the honor of the United States to declare th. no desire of undue aggrandizement has been felt — no claim advanced L<^y . ■ hat ■\ strict construction of their rights unfounded in fact or princi,,K r vr oeen ad^/ 'sfed with a like disregard io mere extension of territoiy, ai,J urged witu the same good faith which has uniformly characterized the proceedings of the United States. Doc. No. 31. 17 / of Messrs. ilic duties of 3f this leport. Midian line of exploring and Government d, yet enough he argument t oflhe novel by them, nder tho .5th country had ending rivers 1 States, that cient for the 3 controversy nt by the ex- > some cases 'hich, in any stly applied. ids, by Gr/cat Y Great Bri- elled — a task rt. The ex- j|y, has been eports of the iterminations their proper ition exhibits and implied ating and in- ;ss the senti- lis report in- tment of this >f the report tions of the e individual f which they nd thus ha... ition similar States on the honor of the enthas been f their rights ke disregard I faith whieb Yates. 1 4 It is not (o be wondered that the claims of Great Britain have been urged with the utmost pertinacity, and supported by every possible form of argument. The territory in question is of great %alue to her, by cover- ing the only mode of communication which can exist, lor nearly eix months ^in the year, not only between two valuable oolonies, but between the most important of all her possessions and the mother country. The time is not long past when the use of this very conununication was not an unimpor- tant purt of the means by which that colony wiii restrained from an at- temj*' to asflcrt its independence. It is not,therei ;e, surprising that the feelings of British statesmen, and of those who desired to win their (dvor, have been more obvious, in the several arguments which ( ive appeared on that side of the question, than a sober view of the true principles on which alone a correct opinion of the case can be founded. To the United States, in their collective capacity, the territory in dis- pute is, on the other hand, of comparatively little moment. No other de- sire is felt, throug'n jui the ^/x-ater part of the Unio«, than that the ques- tion should be settled upon just principles. No regret could therefore be widely felt, if it should be satisfactorily shown that the title of Great Bri- tain to this rr-M n is indisputable. But shoukl it be shown, as is beyond all question the fict, that the title is in truth in the United States, nation- al honor forbids that this title should be abandoned. To the States of Maine and Massachusetts, who are the joint proprietors of the unseated •ands, the territory is of a certain importance, from the value of the land and timber, and to the latter, within whose jurisdiction it falls, as a futuie means of increasing her relative importance in the Union; and a just and proper feeling on the part of their sister States must prevent their yield- ing to any unfounded claim, or the surrender of any territory to which a title can be established, without an equivalent satisfactory to those States. To show the basis on which the title rests : It is maintained, on the part of the United States, that the territory they held on tho continent of North America, prior to the purchase of Louisiana and the Floridas, was possessed by a title derived from their own Declaration of Independence, on the 4th of July, 1776 ; the asser- tion of that independence in a successful war; and its acknowledg- ment by Great Britain as a preliminary to any negotiation for a treaty of peace. It is admitted, on the part of Great Britain, that a territory de- signated by certain limits was granted to the United States in the treaty of 1783. As a matter of national pride, the question whether the terri- tory of the original United States w< re held by a right of war or by vir- tue of a grant from the British Crown is not unimportant; as a basis of ;i«'e, it has not the lyeast bearing on the subject. From the date of the ''^ ity of 176.i, all pretensions of the British Crown to jurisdiction or pro- perty, within the limits prescribed by the provisions of that instrument, ceased; and when a war arose, in 18' 2, between the two nations, it was terminated by the treaty of Ghent, in which the original boundaries were confirmed and acknowledged on both sides The treaty of 1783, therefore, is, in reference to this territory, the only instrument of binding force upon the two parties ; nor can any other doc- ument be with propriety brought forward in the discussion, except for the purpose of explaining and rendering definite such of the provisions of that treaty as are obscure or apparently uncertain. The desire of full and ample illustration, which has arcuated both par- 2 k 18 Doc. No. 31. ties, has led to the search, among neglected archives, for documents al- most innumerable ; and their force and bearinj; upon the question have oecn exhibited in arguments of great ability. Such has been the talent shown in this task ol illustration, and so copious hava been the materiala employed for the purpose, that the great and only important question, al- though never lost sight of by the writers themselves, has, to the eye of the casual observer, been completely hidden, In the report under con- sideration, this distinction between tieptieo of binding force and docu- uments intended for mere illustration has not been regarded ; and the vague as well as obviously inaccurate delineations of a French or a Veni- tian map-maker are gravely held forth as of equal value for a basis of ar- gument as the solemn and ratified acts of the two nations. In pursuance of this desire of illustration, every known document which could in any form support either claim has been advanced and set forth in the statements laid before His Majesty the King of the Netheilands, when acting as umpire under the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent. U not yet given entire to the public,* they are in the possession of both Gov- ernrnents in a printed form, together with the opinion of the arbiter in re- spect to them ; and althou;^ it is necessary that the arguments then addu- ced in favor of the American claim should be in part repeated, and al- though new illustrations of the correctness of that argument have since been brought to light, the present document will be confined as closely as possible to the provisions of the treaty itself, and will adduce no more of illustration than is barely sufficient to render the terms of that treaty certain and definite. The boundaries of the United States are described, in the treaty of 1783, in the following words: " And that all disputes which might arise in future on the. subject of the boundaries of the said United States may be prevented^ it is heieby agreed and declared that the following are and shall be their boundaries, viz : "From the xortiiwkst angle of Nova Scotia, viz: That angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix river to the highlands; along the said highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the A/latitic ocean, to the nortliwesternmost head of the Connecticut river ; thence^ down along the middle of that river, to the forty-fifth degree ot north latitude ; from thence, by a line due w'est, on said latitude, until it strikes the river lioquois or Cataraquy ; thence, along the middle of said river, into lake Ontario ; through the middle of said lake until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie ; thence, along the middle of s;iid communication into liake Erie, through the mid- dle of said lake until it arrives at the water communication, between that lake and Lake Huron; thence, akng the middle of said water communica- tion, info Lake Muion ; thence, through the middle of said lake, to the water communication hctweeti that lake and Lake Superior; thence, through Lake Superior, northward of the isles Royal and Pliilipeaux, to the Lon;;; • A conniderable part of the papers, fogetiier with the argument, f"»« been publinheil by Mr. Hal- tin in his " Itight of the United States to the Northeastern Boundiry," New York, 1840, 8 va. ocean. til itVJl tatir pp. 160 Doc. No. 31. 19 documents al- question have )een the talent n the materials tit question, al- , to the eye ol ort under con- gee and docu- irded ; and the inch or a Veni- r a basis of ar- ocument which I and set forth e Nethei lands, • of Ghent, it )n of both Gov- e arbiter in re- ;nts then addu- peated. and al- jnt have since ined as closely dduce no more s of that treaty treaty of 1783, the subject of ',(/., it is heieby eir boundaries, J : That angle 6V. Croix river 'lose rivers that chfoll into the necticut river; ■fifth degree ot atitude, until it middle of said until it strikes i Erie ; thence, rougli the mid- I, between that er comraunica- ke,to the water hence, through IX, to the Lonji; ;he water eoiu bliHhe.1 bv Mr. Gal- IT York, 1840, 8 v<». munication le Woods ; between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of ce, iiroui the sai ce, to .__ , , ^ , e most north wesiern point thereof; and fiora thence, on a due west course, to the river Mississippi ; thence, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river Mississippi^ until it shall ^intersect the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude ; south by a line to*be drawn due east from the determii)a- tion of the line last mentioned in the latitude of thirty-one degrees north of the equator, to the middle of the river Appalachicola or Cotahouche ; thence, along the middle thereof, to its junction with the Flint niver; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's river ; and thence, down along the middle of St. Mary's river, to the Atlantic ocean ; east, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river St. Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north to the aforesaid highlands which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic ocean from those which fall into the river St. Lawrence ; comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the afore- said boundaries, between Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic ocean, excepting such islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia." So far as the present question is concerned, five points of discussion are presented by this article of the treaty of 1783. 1st. What stream is to be understood by the name of the river St. Croix ? 2d. The determination of the line due north from the source of that river. 3d. What is the position of the northwest angle of Nova Scotia ? 4th. The delineation of the line passing through the highlands from that angle to the northwest head of the Connecticut river. 6th. What is to be considered as the nortiiwestern head of the Connec- iiicut river ? J. — River St. Croix. ' Doubts in respect to the particular liver intended to be understood by Uhe name of the St. Croix having arisen, an article was inserted in the treaty of commerce signed in London in November, l794, by Lord Gren- ville, on the part of Great Britain, and by John Jay, on the part ot the ^'United States.* This article, the fifth of that treaty, provided for the ap- '^pointment of a joint commission, with full powers to decide that question- This commission was constituted in conformity, and the award was accep- ted by both Governments. f The river designated in this award became thenceforth the true St. Croix, however erroneous may have been the grounds on which it was decided so to be. When, therefore, in the fourth the source of the St. Croix has not been surveyed, and when in thi^ and the other articles of the same treaty all other uncertain parts of the boun- • Note I. t Note II. ' 20 Doc. No. 31. dary are recited, the validity of the decision of the Commissioners under the 5th article of Jay's treaty is virtually acknowledged. Nay, more, the acknowledgment is completed by the stipulation in the second article o3 the treaty of Ghent, that "'all territory, places, and possessions, taken by either party during the war," with cgrtain exceptions, shall be forthwith restored to their previous possessors. * The only exceptions are the is- lands in Passamaquoddy bay ; and had it been believed that any uncer- tainty in respect to the adjacent territory existed, it would not have been neglected. Nay, more, all .the settlements lying within the line ciaimetil by Great Britain before the commission created by the treaty of 1794 ha«»o'^6;^^\*^"chu ch Acadie, howev- forthwith resumed by an expedition under Col- <^hi^rch ,^^ er, or Nova Scotia, was ceded again to 7f"',^^^^^^^^^^^ ;7ck. After several spirited, but --^^^^^^'^^^'Xl^^^^^^^ four of the succession, General Nicholson, with a ^^'ce ol »ive lep , Ihich were levied in Massachusetts^ reduce^ tulationthepresentprovincesofNovaScotiaandi>ew^ ^^^^^^ manently annexed to the B-tish Crown, t J^^"^^^^^^^^^ territory, and setts, during the war of 1776, took \^^^^f''''\^l\^^^^^:,or.i,i^x,ol occupied it until the date of the treaty ol 783 ^h ^^ccup ^^^^^^ ^^^ limited by the St. Croix, or even by the St Jo^"' t) ^^^^j^ ^^ whole of the southern part of New 6^""^^ .^^'J^^^^^^^^ of Nova Scotia was only preserved to Great Britain by the the isthmus which unites it to tbe main >and. I ^f The recession of Acad.e ("[/^^va Scotia) « ^ «nce ^^^^^ ^^^ .^,^^ Ryswick, divested Massachusetts only of ^be ^^'[^^^/yifi^ ^^ Sagadahock charter of 1691, under the Y'^f.^^r^'^J^ZZ^^^^^^^ the was confirmed by a conquest with her P^^" ""f'.^w ^g'she was at the cession of Nova Scotia was a manifest >"3;^f«^^^J7h; purpose of Great THoment in full possession of .t. It, bowever suited ^bj P^'-pos . ^^ ^^ Britain to barter this part of the conquest of that colony j more immediate interest. , ^ f Sagadahock Admitting that England did convey ^P^.^ °^^^^^^^^ con- 10 France, under the vague name of ^f .^'^^ ^,^.^0 this mich at least; quest by Massachusetts in 1710, reae wed ^^ "gbts to '^^^^^^ Ld although the Crown appropriated to itself the lu,nsjhareot^the^^p ^^, by making-Nova ScoUa a roy a ui^vince u u. ... -^^^^ „, ,He ^oTar^elr^l^a^^li^dlt^r^ — -— —— — ,. , I CI . , 07 ^ Do n 244 to 2S9. ^ See Note VII. ♦ Note VI. fHaliburlorrs Hislory, \ ol. I., p. 63 to 87. , Do. p. I 1783. ny^ Doc. No. 31. 23 Chaudiere '. By the ler, it mat- it granted, Nova S co- fact it was; ■ it by con- id of Cape New Eng- deeply en- r or in men "d with any >ry in ques- ia and New the British at thehead y the treaty ith a force of ry ; and al- ssession was die, howev- aty of Rys- ig the war of ents, four of d by its capi- ck were per- ofMassachu- irritory, and Uion was not included the peninsula of artification of the treaty of ed her in the , Sagadahock and even the le was at the pose of Great for objects of f Sagadahock ia, § the con- much at least ; 5 of the spoils, to disturb her mission of the Uhoug h it was . % See Note VII. stated in a saving clause that the province of Nova Scotia extended of right to the Penobscot. From that time until the breaking out ot the Re- volutionary War, a space of more than 60 years, the province of Sagada- hock was left in the undisturbed possession of Massachusetts under the charter of 1691. *u • u» In defiance of this charter, the French proceeded to occupy the right bank of the St. Lawrence, which, at the time of the capture of Quebec and the cession in the treaty of 1763, was partially held by settlements of Canadians. The Crown, therefore, acted upon the principle that the right of Massachusetts to the right bank of the St. Lawrence had thus become void and proceeded by proclamation to form the possessions of France on both' banks of the St. Lawrence into a Royal Colony, under the name of the Province of Quebec. _ . r m „„ This was not done without a decided opposition on the part ot Massa- chusetts, but any decision in respect to her claims was rendered needless by the breaking out of the War of Independence. It is only proper to remark that this opposition was in lact made, aqd that her claim to the ri^ht bank of the St. Lawrence was only abandoned by the treaty ot 1783 The country, of which it was intended to divest her by the procla- mation of 1763, is described in a letter of her agent, Mr. Mauduit,tothe .'eneral court of that colony, as "the narrow tract of land which lies be- yond the sources of all your rivers, and is watered by those which run into the St. Lawrence." . r a* a u .f- It is assigned by him as a reason why the province of Massachusetts should assent to the boundary assigned to the province of Quebec by the Proclamation, that " it would not be of any great consequence to you, fMassachusetts,] but is absolutely necessary to the Crown to preserve the continuity of the province of Quebec." The part of the province of Quebec whose continuity with the rest of that colony was to be preserv- ed is evidently ihe district of Gaspe, of which Nova Scotia, a royal colo- ny was divested by the same proclamation. For this continuity no more was necessary than a road along the St. Lawrence itself, and the reason would have been absurd if applied to any country lying beyond the streams which fall into that river ; for up to the present day no communi- cation between parts of Canada exists through any part of the disputed territory. The narrow territory thus advised to be relinquished extends, according to the views of Messrs. Mudge and Featherstonhaugh, from the Great falls of the St. John to Quebec— a distance in a straight line ot IbO miles. It has a figure not far from triangular, of which this me is the perpendicular, and the shore of the St. Lawrence, from the Chaudiere o the Metis, the base. It contains about 16,000 square miles. It wou d have been a perversion of language in Mr. Mauduit to describe this o his employers as a narrow tract. But the space whose cession he really intended to advise is in every sense a narrow tract ; tor its length along the St. Lawrence is about 200 miles, and its average breadth to the sources of the streams 30. It contains 6,000 square miles, and is descri- bed by him in a manner that leaves no question as to its extent being " watered by streams," which " run into the St. Lawrence. It, there- fore, di«l not include any country watered by streams which ru» into the St. John. , , , It is believed that this is the first instance in which the term narrow has ever been applied to a triangle almost right-angled and nearly isos- a- I ' \ I 1 W^ ,^T.' 24 Doc. No. 31 celes ; and it is not a little remarkable that this very expression was re- lied upon in the statement to the King of the Netherlands as one of the strongest proofs of the justice of the American claim. Admitting, however, for the sake of argument, that the Crown did de- mand this territory, and that the mere advice of an agent without powers was binding on Massachusetts, the fact would have no direct bearing upon the point under consideration. The relinquishment by Massachusetts of the whole of the territory west of the meridian of the St. Croix would not have changed the position of the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, nor the title of the United States collectively under the treaty of 1783, to a boundary to be drawn from that angle, however it might have affected the right of property of that State to the lands within it. And here it is to be remarked, that the Government of the United States is two-fold — that of the individual States and that of the Federal Union. It would be possible, therefore, that all right of property in un- seated lands within a State's jurisdiction might be in the General Govern- ment ; and this is in fact the case in all the new States. Even had Massa- chusetts divested herself of the title, (which she has not,) the treaty of 1783 would have vested it in the Confederation. She had at least a color of title under which the Confederation claimed to the boundaries of Nova Scotia on the east, and to the southern limits of the province of Quebec on the north, and this claim was allowed by Great Britain, in the treaty of 1783, in terms which are at least admitted to be identical in meaning with those of the Proclamation creating the latter province.* To illustrate the subject further — Of the seventeen British colonies in North America, thirteen succeed- ed in asserting their independence ; the two Floridas were conquered and ceded to Spain ; while, of her magnificent American domain, only Quebec and Nova Scotia were left to Great Britain. The thirteen colonies, now independent States, claimed all that part of the continent to the eastward of the Mississippi, and north of the bounds of Florida, which was not contained within the limits of the last-named colonies, and this claim was fully admitted by the boundary agreed to in the treaty of 1783. Within the limits thus assigned it was well known that there were conflicting claims to parts which had more than once been covered by Royal Char- ters — it was even possible that there were portions of the wide territory the right to which was asserted by the United States, and admitted by Great Britain, that had not been covered by any Royal grant ; but the ju- risdiction in respect to disputed rights, and the title to land not conveyed, foreve*- ceased to be in the British crown — first by a successful assertion of independence in arms, and finally by the positive terms of a solemn treaty. If it should be admitted, for argument's sake, that the claim of Massa- chusetts, as inherited by the State of Maine, to the disputed territory, is unfounded, it is a circumstance that cannot enter into a discussion between Great Britain and the United States of America. Massachusetts did claim, under at least the color of a title, not merely to "the highlands," but to the St. Lawrence itself, and the claim was admitted as far as the former by the treaty of 1783. If it should hereafter appear that this • Report of Messrs. Featherstonlxaugh and MuJgc, p. 6. I Doc. No. 31. 5^5 ession was re- 9 aa one of the Crown did de- ivithout powers 2t bearing upon Fassachusetts of t. Croix would ova Scotia, nor y^of 1783, to a ive affected the of the United of the Federal iroperty in un- ?neral Govern- /en had Massa- ) the treaty of at least a color daries of Nova nee of Quebec in the treaty of 1 meaning with rteen succeed- conquered and n,only Quebec colonies, now o the eastward vhich was not this claim was 1783. Within ere conflicting Y Royal Char- wide territory d admitted bv nt ; but the ju- not conveyed, ssful assertion s of a solemn aim of Massa- Eid territory, is ission between sachusetts did le highlands," as far as the pear that this • claim cannot be maintained, the territory which is not covered bv her Utle If within he boundary of the treaty of 1783, cannot revert to Great Br tain, which has ceded its rights to the thirteen independent States, but to the latter in their contederate capacity, and is thus the properly of the whole Union. As well niight Great Britain set up a claim to th^ States of Alabama and Mississippi, which, although claimed bv the State of Georgia were found not to b^ covered by its Royal Charter, as to any part of the territory contained within the line defined bv the treaty of 1783 under pretence that the rights of Massachusetts are not indefeasible. ' While, therefore, it l« maintained that whether the title of Massachu- setts be valid or not is immaterial to the present question, it may be fur- her urged that not even the shadow of a pretend existed for divesting aer of her nghts by the Proclamation of 1763, except to territory which by neglect she had permuted France to occupy. On this point the French are the best authority; for it cannot be pretended that the Crown of Eng- Sand intended, in forming the Province of Quebec, to go beyond the ut most limits of the claim of France to her Colony of Canada. The a^ser- tions on the part of France, in the argument preceding the war of 1756 1st. That both banks of the St. Lawrence are included in Canada. 2d. I hat, with the exception of Miscou and Cape Breton her grants extended ten leagues from the river. ' ^ 3d. That the commissions of the Governors of Canada,' in the most formal and precise manner, extended their jurisdiction to he sources of the rivers which discharge ther/iselves into the St. Lawrence. _ Now, ihe distance of ten French leagues and that of the sources of the Iw Z r "'"'^-^T "^'''^ '^^"^'^''' ' ^"^ ^^'« "^rrow tract, of which alone the Crown could with any shadow of justice assume the riiht of dis- P^^o^cKil'n^o? ntr' '^--^'^-^^^ -« ^-ended to be divesld b^te It was because Great Britain held that these claims on the part of I ranee were too extens ve that the war of 1 756 was waged. In this war 1 !fn "t''''^°*. ^^^^""'^ ''^''^^ ""^«'- W«'^' took Louisberg and re duced Quebec, and, under Amherst, forced the French armies in Canada the Z! nt o"f'o"h"''^^ '"^- P^'^ ^' '^' ^°'^"'^«- The creation of eprovmce of Quebec covering a part of their chartered limits, was therefore a just subject of complaint. ' The bounds assigned to the new Province of Quebec to the south bv he Proclamation of 7th October, 1763, are as follows: "The line cross^ H the river St. Lawrence and the Lake Champlain, in fortv five de/rees Of north latitude, passes along the highlands which divide the rivers hat tmpty themselves into the St. Lawilnce from those which fafnto the tulf of S 'r : '"^ '^! T^ T'' ""^ '^' ^'^y ^«« Chaleurs, and he ^ult ot St. Lawrence to Cape Rosieies," &c. > ^ « In the same month of October, 1763, the limits of the Royal Province tfi'b.ZZV,"^'''^^^^ '^ G-^^"- Wilmot, on ?he lest by the said river St. Croix to its source, and by a line drawn due Se Bay'desCh^lems:" """ "°""'''^' '' '"' '' ^^" '^'''"^" extremity of be"r\wn'due noriS"f^ '^^^''' '"'"*•"? T ^" ^"^^'^^ ^''^^ «f ^^e line to »e drawn due north from the source of the St. Croix. There is no evi- 26 Doc. No. 31. iji dence that ft was a translation of the terms in the grant to Sir Vyilliatn Alexander ; but if it was, it was made, not by Americans, but by Eng- lishmen, and not only made, but set forth under the high authority of the Royal sign-manual, and authenticated by the great seal of the United Kingdom of England and Scotland. The flue north line from the source of the St. Croix, meeting the south bounds of the Province of Quebec, forms two angles. One of these was the northeast angle of the Province of Sagadahock ; the other is the north- west angle of Nova Scotia. It might be debated, which of the streams that fall into Passamaqiioddy bay was the true St. Croix ; but such a question oould be settled by reference to evidence, and has been thusset< lied by the award of the Commissioners, under the 5th article of Jay's treaty. Among the many branches of a stream, it may for a moment be doubted which is to be considered as its principal source ; but this can be ascer'-'ined by proper methods, and it has been ascertained and marked with a monument by the same Commissioners. The tracing of a meridian Jine may be a difficult operation in practical surveying, but it can be effect- ed by proper instruments and adequate skill ; and this task has, in fact, been perlormed by one of the present Commissioners, after being attempted by the surveyors under the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent. The high- lands are defined, in the commission of Governor Wilmot and the Procla- mation of 1763, beyond the possibility of doubt. They are on the north shore of tlie Bay of Chaleurs, as described in the one instrument, and on the western extremity of that bay, as described by the other. They can, therefore, be found, and they have been found. The Congress of 1779 and the framers of the treaty of 1783 were therefore warranted in speaking of the northwest angle of Nova Scotia as if it were a known point. It could have been laid down with precision on any good map ; it could be discovered by the use of adequate methods and the expenditure of a sufficient appropriation. It was in fact as well known as the forty-fifth and thirty-second parallels of latitude, which are named in the same article of the treaty, or as the boundaries of very many of the States which had united in the Confederation. These were defined by the course and sources of rivers — by parallels of latitude and circles of longitude, either of indefinite extent or setting out from some prescribed point whose position was to be determined. At the time of making these grants, as in the case before us, many of the boundaries had never been visited by civilized men. Some of these lines had, indeed, been sought and traced upon' the ground, in pursuance of orders from the Privy Council of Great Britain or the high court of chancery ; and the recollection of the operation was fresh in the memory of both parties. Thus, in 1750, it was ordered by the latter tribunal that the boundary of the lower counties in the Delaware (now the State of that name) and the province of .Maryland should be marked out. The boundary was an arc of a circle described around the town of Newcastle with a given radius, and a meridian line tangent thereto. This was a far more difBcult operation than to draw a meridian line from a given point, such as the source of a river. It was thought, in 1763, worthy of the attention of the first assistant in the royal observatory at Greenwich; and the American Rittenhouse was associated with hira. This operation' was not only of great contemporary fame, but Js still quoted in English books among the data whence we derive our knowledge of the magnitude and figure of the earth. So also the same line, d Doc. No. 31. d7 Sir Vyniiam I, but by Eng- uthoiity of the of the United 3(ing the south e of these was er is the north- of the streams X ; but such a i been thus set' rticle of Jay's 1* a moment be but this can be id and ma'rked ^of a meridian t can be effect- as, in fact, been g attempted by it. The high- and the Procla- j on the north rument, and on er. They can, of 1783 were Nova Scotia as with precision equate methods in fact as well ude, which are s of very many 56 were defined e and circles of )me prescribed >f making these lad never been id, been sought i Privy Council ollection of the , in 1750, it was tver counties in ce of Maryland iircle described 1 meridian line ihan to draw a river. It was ant in the royal I was associated orary fame, but we derive our ) also the same ■ aptronomer, Mason, had but a few years before the war of independence commenced the tracing of a parallel of latitude from the former line to the westward, thus marking the respective limits of Pennsylvania, Mary- land, and Virginia. With such examples before them, the framersof the treaty of 1783 were warranted in considering the northwest angle of Nova Scotia as a point sufliciently definite to be made not merely one of the landmarks of the new Nation, but the corner at which the description of its boundaries should begin. It has be( n well remarked, by one of the commentators* on the report of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, that if the treaty of 1783 be a grant, the grantors are bound by rule of law to mark out that corner of their oivn land whence the description of the grant commences. The British Government therefore ought, if it be, as it is maintained on its part^a grant, to have traced the line of highlands dividing their provinces of Nova Scotia and Canada. Had this been done in conformity with the proclamation of 1763 and the com- mission to Governor Wilmot, the northwest angle of Nova Scotia would be given by the trace of the meridian of the St. Croix. So far from doing this, the question has been complicated by the denial that the boundaries defined in that proclamation and in the treaty of 1783 were intended to be identical. The argument on this point was so ingenious, that the arbiter under the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent did not con- sider the American case as made out,f and this doubt was the principal ground on which his decision rested. It is therefore an earnest of a more favorable state of feeling, that the sophistry with which this fact had been veiled, at least in part, is now withdrawn, and that the Commission whose report is under consideration frankly admit this identity. | This admis- sion being made, it is obvious that the origin of the highlands of the treaty must be sought on the north shore of the Day des Chaleurs, and at its western extremity ; and it follows that the point where this line of high- lands is cut by the meridian of the monument at the source of the St. Croix is the noithwest angle of Nova Scotia of the treaty of 1783, and must lie to the north of the Ristigouche,or in the very spot claimed by the United States. The British Government has not only failed in marking out the corner of their territory at which the boundary of the United States begins, but has in practice adopted a very different point as the northwest angle of the Province of New Brunswick, which now occupies the place of ancient Nova Scotia in its contiguity to the American lines. Up to the ■time of the discussion before the King of the Netherlands, the commis- sions of the Governors of New Brunswick had been, so far as the wes- |tern and northern boundaries are concerned, copies of that to Governor |Wilmot. The undersigned have no means of ascertaining when or how 4the form of these commissions was changed, but it was found, during the ^^exploration of the country, that the jurisdiction of New Brunswick, limi- ted at least to the north of the St. John by the exploring meridian line, did not leave the Bay of Chaleurs at its western extremity, and fol- low thence the old bounds of the province of Quebec. It, on the contra- ^|7, was ascertained that it was limited by the Ristigouche as far as the con- fluence of its southwestern branch, formerly known by the name of 1:1 ' 1 •The Hon. Jolin Holmes, of Maine. -jNote VHI. 1 Report of .Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, p. C and p. 23. 28 Doc. No. 31. Chacodi, and ihence followed the latter up to the point where it is crossed by the exploring meridiun line. On all the territory thus severed from the ancient domain of Nova Scotia, permits to cut timber were found to have been issued by Canadian authorities, and the few settlers derived their titles to land from the same source. Although this demarcation involves a double deviation from the procla- mation of 1763, (first in following a river instead of highlands, second m taking a small branch instead of pursuing the main supply of the Bay of Chaleurs,) the northwest angle of Nova Scotia may be considered as at last fixed by British authority at a point many miles north of the point claimed to be such in the statements laid before the King of the Nether- lands on the part cf Great Britain, and 48 miles to the north of where the line of " abraded highlands " of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge crosses the St. John. Were it not that the American claim would be weakened by any change in the strong ground on which it has always rested, it might be granted that this is in fact the long lost northwest an- gle of Nova Scotia, and the highlands allowed to be traced fron that point through the sources of the branches of the St. John and the St. Law- rence. In proof of the position now assigned to this angle of New Brunswick, and consequently of ancient Nova Scotia, in the absence of documents which the archives of Great Britain alone can furnish, the map published by the Society for the encouragement of Useful Knowledge, the several raaps of the surveyor general of the province of Canada, and .the most recent map of the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, by John Wyld, geographer to the Queen of Great Britain, may be cited. It may therefore be concluded that the northwest angle of Nova Scotia is no longer an unknown point. It can be found by a search conducted in compliance with the proclamation of 1763, and the contemporaneous commission of Governor Wilmot ; and the researches of the present Cosn- raission show that it cannot be far distant from the point originally as- signed to it in the exploring meridian line. The identity of the first of these documents with the boundary of the treaty of 1783 is admitted, and the latter is word for word the same with the description of the east- ern boundary of the United States in the same treaty. Moreover, a north- west angle has been assigned to the province of New Briinsvvick by Brit- ish authority, which, did it involve no dereliction of principle, might without sensible loss be accepted on the part of the United States. IV .—Highlands of the treaty of 1783. The highlands of the treaty of 1783 are described as those "which di- vide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean." It has been uniformly and con- sistently maintained, on the part of the United States, that by the term "highlands" was intended what is in another form of the same words called j_j ^, ....... , .,._. 4.,,-„. ...f i»i^tncii!-.!jr «if tfisii? ^^iicv; xr a:3 iv i/C SUU^lu;* by following the rivers described in the treaty to their source, and draw- ing lines between these sources in such manner as to divide the surface waters. It was believed that the sources of such rivers as the Connecti- cut and the St. John must lie in a country sufficiently elevated to be en- it is crossed !vered from re found to era derived I the procla- nds, second of the Bay nsidered as of the point he Nether- f where the and Mudge 1 would be has always rthwest an- nt that point B St. Law- Brunswick;, documents p published the several d .the most jnswick, by te cited. Sova Scotia I conducted mporaneous esent Cosn- liginalU as- the first of s admitted, of the east- i^er, a north- ick by Brii- ;iple, might [ates. Doc. No. 31. 90 "which di- /rence from ily and con- )y the term vords called ^ I — u — , and draw- the surface B Connecti- d to be en- titled to the epithet of highlands, although it should appear on reaching it that It had the appearance of a plain. Nay, it was even concluded al- though as now appears incorrectly, and it was not feared that the conclu- sion would weaken the American argument, that the lino from (he north- west angle of Nova Scotia, at least as far as the sources of Tuladi did pass through a country of that description. Opposite ground was taken in the argument of Great Britain by her agent; but, however acute and in- genious were the processes of reasoning by which (his argument was sup- 5)or ed, It remained in his hands without application, for (he line claimed by him on the part ot his Government was one having (he same physical basis lor its delineation as that claimed by the agent of the United States— namely, one joining the culminating points of the valleys, in whirh streams lunning in opposite directions took their rise. The argument appears to have been drawn while he hoped (o be able to include Katahdin and the other great mountains in that neighborhood in his claimed boundary; and he does not appear to have become aware how inapplicable it was in every sense to Uie line by which he was, for want of a better, compelled to abide. The British Government, however, virtually abandoned the con- S^Ser ISsT*"^^"' '" ^^'^ convention signed iu London the 27th In tb's it was stipulated that Mitchell's and map A should be a'dmitled U^ the exclusion of aU others, "as the only maps (hat shall be considered as evidence of the topography of the country; and in the latter of these maps constructed under the joint direction of (he British and American negotiators, by the Astronomer of the British Government, it was agreed that nothing but the water courses should be represented. Finally it was admitted, in the report of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, that (he terms h«gt.lands and height of land are identical. The decision of the King of the Netherlands, to which Great Britain gave her assent in the Qrst instance, recoguK^es the correctness of the vieVfrs entertained in the Ameiican statements-! All discussion on this subject is however ren- dered unnecessary by the knowledge which the undersigned have obtained of the coundy. The line surveyed by (hem not only divides rivers, but possesses in a pre-enunent degree the character by which, in the British aigument, highlands are requited (o be distinguished. It IS suiFicient for (he present argument that the identity of (he lines pointed out by the Proclamation of 1763 ai.d the Act of 1774, with the bound! ary the treaty <, 1783, be admitted. Such has been the uniform cJaim and .^, K*"- ";';'"'r\°u '''" ^"'^1'^ ''^'^'"'^ «"^ '^^ ^''''^ «f Massachusetts, and such IS the deliberate verdict of (he British Commissioners.! The words of the proclamation of I7G3 have already been cited. By reference to hem It will be seen (hat the origin of "(he highlands" is to be sought on the NORTH shore of the Bay of Chaleurs. if (hey are not to be found there, a gap exists in the boundary of (he Proclama(ion, which, it is evi- ^hT'. f-A"""' '''1? ^'^" intended. It has been thought by some ^hat the gap did ac(ually exi«t, but this idea was founded on an imperfect knowledge of the country. The Bay of Chaleurs seems, in fact, to have T,~. 'u'~'r ".""' "«'"^'= "' ibi-- i-roclaraauon ui I7U3 and the Act of uILrU T subsequent authorities, whether British or American. Researches made in the year 1840 show (hat at the head of the ride of Mil ♦ Note IX. t Note X. 4 Report of Featheratonhaugh «nd Mudge, p. 6, and p. S3. 30 Doc. No. 31. the Bay of Chalcurs a mountain rises iramediatcly on the northern batik, which from its imposing appearance, has been called by Ihe Scotch settlers* at its foot Ben Lomond. This, indeed, has by measurement been found to be no more than 1,024 feet in height, but no one can deny its title to the name of a highland. From this a continuous chain of heights has been ascertained to exist, bounding, in the first instance, the valley of the Me- tapediac to the sources of that stream, which they separate trom those 91 the Metis. The height of land then passes between the waters of Metis and Ristigouche, and, bending around the sources of the latter to the sources of the llimouski, begins there to separate waters which fall into the St. Lawrence from those which fall into the St. John, which they continue to do as far as the point where they merge in the line admitted by both parties. * ... . *i These highlands have all the characteristics necessary to constitute them the hi-'hlands of the treaty. Throughout their whole northern and west- ern slopes, tlow streams which empty themselves into the St. Lawrence. Beginning at the Bay of Chaleurs, they in the fust place divide, as it is necessary they should, waters which fall into that bay ; they next separate the waters of Ristigouche from those of Metis ; they then make a great detour to the south, and enclose the valley of Rimouski, separating its wa- ters from those of Metapediac and Ristigouche, the Green river of St. John and Tuladi ; they next perform a circuit around Lake Temiscouata, separating its basin from those of the Otty and Trois Pis^toles, until tney reach the Temiscouata portage at Mount Paradis. This portage they cross five times, and>ally, bending backwards to the north enclose the stream of the St. Fraftcis, whose waters they divide from those ot 1 rois Pistoles, Du Loup, and the Green river of the St. Lawrence. Leaving the Temiscouata portage at (he sixteenth mile post, a region positively mountainous is entered, which character continues to the sources of the Etchemin. It ther« assumes for a sliQit space the character ot a rolling country, no point in which, however, is less than 1,200 feet above the level of the sea. It speedily resumes a mountainous character, which continues unaltered to the sources of the Connecticut. Now it is maintained, that all the streams and waters, which have been named as flowing from the southern and eastern sides ot this line, are in the intended sense of the treaty of 1783 rivers which empty themselyes into the Atlantic. The first argument adduced in support of this position is, that the framers of that treaty having, as is admitted, Mitchell s map be- fore them, speak only of two classes of rivers, those which discharge themselves into the St. Lawrence river, and those which tall into he At- lantic ocean. Yet upon this map, were distinctly seen the St. Joiin and (he Ristigouche. The latter, indeed, fijiures twicc--oncc as a tributary to the Bay of Miramichi, and once as flowing to the Bay of Chaleurs. It cannot reasonably be pretended that men honestly engaged m framing an article to prevent ''all disputes which might arise inJuture' should have intentionally passed over and left undefined these i'^porfa^t livers, when by the simplest phraseology they might have described them, had they i,e»ipvrd that in anv future lime a question could base arisen whether Ahev were included 'in one or the otlier of the two ciassea oi nvers mey named. Had it been intended that the due north line should have stopped • Note XI, 1 JJoc. Ko. 31. m northern batik, Scotch setllert* nt been found eny its title to >ights has been ley of the Me- » from those 9I •atcrs of Metis ic latter to the which fall into f), which they I tine admitted [;onstitute them hern and west- St. Lawrence divide, as it is y next separate 1 make a great jaruting its wa- 3n river of St. 5 Teraiscouata, )les, until they 3 portage they III, enclose the those of Troia nee. Leaving ^ion positively sources of ihf ler of a rolling feet above the aracter, which hich have been his line, are in ply themselves nf this positioK ichell's map be- hich discharge uU iiito the At- e St. John and 19 a tributary to Chaleurs.* It J in framing an ;" should have it livers, when ;hem, hud they arisen whether of livers ihey Id have stopped .hort of the St. John the highlands must have been described as thoge which divide nvers which fall ,nto the St. Lawrence and Me St. John from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean. The mouth of the St. Lawrence had been defined, in the proclamation of 1763, by a line drawn from the river St. John (on the I.hUi ulor coast) f- Cape Rosit-re-. if then It bad been i-itended that thf» meridian line su ...id not have crossed the Uisligouche the phraseology must have been highlands which divide rivers which lal into the nver and Gulf of St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean. Where such obvious modes of ex- pressing either of these intentions existed, it is not to be believefl that they would have been omitted; bu( had they been proposed to be inlro- duced, the American negotiators would have been compelled bv their In- j-tructions to refuse them Such expressions would have prescribed a boijndary diffet^nt, not only in fact, but in terms, from that of the Procla- mation of 1763 and the contemporaneous commission to Governor Wil- mot. Father, then, the British IMenipotcntiaries admitted the American claim to Its utmost e.xtent, or they fraudulently assented to terms, with the inten ion o( founding upon them a claim to territory, which if ihev had open y asked for, must have beendenied them. The character of t. ilTr ITTZ "'. ' • '"^i"'" ^.'^«^"""« t»'«t treaty was made forbids the behcf of the latter having been intended. The members of that min- istry had been, when in opposition, the constant advocates of an accom- modation with the Colonies, or of an honorable peace after all hopes ofre- tain.ng them in their allegiance had ceased. 'Vhey showed, o'n coming no power a laudable anxiety to put an end to the profitless effusion of human b ood ; and they wisely saw that it would be of more profit to their X 7. '" -"v^'^the new Nation into friends, by the free grant of terms ^hch sooner or later must have been yielded, than to widen the breach Bri^"h p".-'"' ^^ "»/-'^t-S delay. >he debates which ensued in he fh. V I ^^'';^"?^V' '"''"" ^'i.^ ''r' °^ ^^^ '^^^^y ^'^'•e 'n«cle known, show mest 0" "^Tho ^-'v^'"'^ ^^'^ "'^ '""^"^'^^ *^^ ^-^^ entertained if th^ question The giving up of the very territory now in dispute was one of the charges made by them against their successors, and that i had been given up by the treaty was not denied. Nay, th.effect of th s ad rmission was such as to leave the administration in 1 m norUy n the Hoit In TfT'' «"d/»^",\became at least one of the causes of the e"gn 'ZJL . '^'"^ .^ ''^'''^ '^^ '''''y ^''^ been made. At this very ihe r.', T "r ^''""°"^ ^vere published in London, which exhfb.^ lounZl /T//" '^"' "uP°" '^"^ ''"""'y ^y '^'^ «^'^*^h public. The £^nUpd%? ''^"P°" '^.T '"^P^ '^ identical with that which the r it cu^^ ""''' '''""°' ^"^ *^^^e '''^^''-^vs claimed. Ila nation If'ne^nH'' ^r''???:.^"-" ''.['^^ '''^^'y of 1783 and of the pro- ^nTarrm/nt rh u"^ ^V^ "'^ '^'"''^'^'' -'^^'^y «"^P'»fi«« '^e sec- fnd argument. It has been heretofore maintained, on the the part of great Britain, that the word "sea, "of the two latte -named instruments t^Lin'^' Afl'di " ^'^ '"' to "Atlantic ocean" witTi:ut anXouJ m. , I ■^' *•„ ^'scussion on this point is obviated by the admission put It IS still maintained that the Bav of Fundv is nor a n^.T^r 'k. '/?;?"" iic oceai., because it happens to be named, in referenceTo"the St" CroTx' »n the same article of the treaty. To show the extent to whtch such a ' • Htngard's Parliamentary Register for 1783, 'I:! 4 32 Doc. Fo. 31. ;i> Ifil argument, founded on a mere verbal quibble, may be carried, let it be sup- posed that at some future period two nations, on the continent of North America, shall agree on a boundary, in the following terms : by a line drawn through the Mississippi, from its mouth, in the gulf of Mexico, to its source, thence a parallel of latitude until it meet the highlands which di- vide the waters that empty themselves into the Pacific ocean from those which fall into the Atlantic. Could it be pretended that because the mouth of the Mississippi is said to be in the Gulf of Mexico, the bounda- ry must be transferred from the Rocky mountains, to the AUeghanies i Yet this would be as reasonable as the pretentions so long set up by the British agents and Commissioners. It cannot be denied tha the line claimed by the United States fulfds at least one of the conditions. The streams which flow frem one side of it, fall, without exception, into the river St. Lawrence. The adverse line claimed by Great Britain, \n the reference to the King of the Nether- lands, divides, until within a few miles of Mars hill, waters which fall into the St. John from those of the Penobscot and Kennebec. The latter do not discharge their waters directly into the ocean, but Sagadahock and Penobscot bays intervene, and the former falls into the bay of Fundy ; jience, according to the argument in respect to the bay of Fundy, this line fulfils neither condition. The line of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge is even less in con- formity to the terms of the treaty. In order to find mountains to form a part of it, they are compelled to go south of the source of branches of the Penobscot; thence from mountains, long well known at the sources of the Allrtgash, well laid down on the rejected m ip of Mr. Johnson, it be- comes entangled in the stream of tlie Aroostook, which it crosses more than once. In neither part does it divide waters at all. It then, as if to make its discrepancy with the line defined in the proclamation of 1763 apparent, crosses the St. John, and extends to the south shore of the Bay of Chaleurs, although that instrument fixes the boundary of the Province of Quebec on the the north shore of the bay. In this part of its course, it divides waters wuich fall into the said ,bay from those which fall into the St. John, But the Proclamation, with whose terms this line is said to be identical, directs that the highlands shall divide waters which fal! into the St. Lawrence from those which fall into the sea. If the bran- ches of the Bay of Chaleurs fulfil the first condition, which, however, is denied, the St. John must fulfil the latter. It therefore falls into the Atlantic ocean ; and, as the identity of the boundary of the treaty with that of the proclamation of 1 763 and act of 1774 is admitted, then is the St. John an Atlantic river, and the line claimed by the United States fulfils both conditions, and is the only line to the west of the meridian of the St. Croix which can possibly do so. The choice of a line different from that presented to the chojce of the King of the Netherlands is no new instance of the uncertainty which has affected all the forms in which Great Britain has urged her claim. In fact, nothing shows more conclusively the weakness of the ground on which the British claim rests than the continual changes which it has been necessary to make, in order to found any feasible argument upon it.' In the discussion of 1798, it was maintained, on the part of Great Britain, •Not* XII. l>oc. No. 31. 33 1, let it be sup- inent of North ms: by a line f Mexico, to its ands which di- ean from those it because the 10, the bounda- e Alleghanies f' g set up by the states fulfils at one side of it, he adverse line jf the Nether- which fall into ec. The latter lagadahock and bay of Fundy ; •'undy, this line ren less in con- tains to form a of branches of t the sources of Johnson, it be- it crosses moro It then, as if to nation of 1763 lore of the Bay af the Province t of its course, which fall into this line is said iters which fall I. If the bran- ch, however, is falls into the the treaty with (then is the St. id States fulfils neridian of the e choice of the linty which ha^; 3r claim, if the ground on !s which it has uraent upon it.* f Great Britain, that the meridian lino must cross the St. John river; in the aijiument i.ofore the Coininissioners under the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, it was denied that it ever could have been the intention oflheframera of the treaty of I7.S3 that it should. Ypt the mouthpiece by which both arguments were delivtMed was one and the same person. The same age.it chose, as the termination of what he attempted to represent as a continuous range of hills, an isolated mountain, Mars hill ; and the Com- missioners whose report is under consideration place a range of abraded highlands, ^' the maximum axis of elevation," in a region over which British engineers have proposed to carry a railroad, as the most level and lowest line whith exists between St. Andrew's and Quebec* On the other hand, the American claim, based on the only j>racticable interpretation of (he treaty of 1783, has been consistent throughout. " Let the meridian line be extended until it meets the southern boundary of the province of Quebec, as defined by the proclamation of 1763 and the act of Pailiament of 1774." No argument can be drawn against the American claim from the secret instructions of Congress, dated August, 1779. All that is shown by these instructions is the willingness to accept a moro convenient boundary— one defined by a great natural feature, and which would have rendered the difficult operation of tracing the line of highlands, and that of determining the meridian of the St. Croix by astronomic methods, unnecessary. The words of the instructions are : " And east by a line to be drawn . ong thft middle of the St. John, from its source to its moutfi in the Bay of Fundy or by a line to be settled and adjusted between that part of the State of Massachusetts bay, formeily called the province of Maine, and the colony of Nova Scotia, agreeably to their lespective rights, comprebendin"- all islands within twenty leagues of the shores of the United States, and Ijinf between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries, between Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on the "Other part, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy, and the Atlantic ocean." The proposal in the first alternative was, to appearance, a perfectly fair one. From an estimate made by Dr. Tiarks, the astronomer of Great Britain, under the oth article of the treaty of Ghent, in conformity with ^directions from Colonel Barclay, the British Commissioner, it was ascer- tained that the whole disputed territory contained 10,705 square miles- that the territory bounded by the St. John to its mouth, contained 707* iquate miles less, or 9,99d square miles. The difference at the time was |robably believed to be insensible. The first alternative was, however fejectedby Great Britain, and obviously on grounds connected with a difl ^rence in supposed advantage between the two propositions. The Ame- ican Commissioners were satisfied that they could uriie no legal claini long the coast, beyond the river St. Croix ; they,ihcref.>re, treated on'the Other alternative in their instructions — the admitted limits between Massa- chusetts and Nova Scotia. Even in the fomer alternative, Nova Scotia fould still have had a northwest angle ; for the very use ol t»»e term shoivg t|iat by the St. John, its northwestern and not the southwestern branch Vas intended. At that montonf, when the interior of the country was unknown tfe n ■ ♦l'ro-j.mu»i.f«t. AVilic«'»amlQ,ebc;c ri.lp.acl, 1836; ai.u »uivt> oi (ju,> a .. V.iu, iooj. S4 Doc. No. 31. adoption of the St. John as the boundary, even admitting that the Wal' looptook, its southwestern branch, is the main stream, would have given to the United States a territory of more immediate value than that they now claim. For this very reason, the proposition was instantly rejected by Great Britain, and the State of Massachusetts was forced to be contented with the distant region now in debate — a region then believed to be almost inaccessible and hardly fit for human habitation. Even now, were there not vested private rights on both sides whicb might render such a plan difficult of application, the undersigned would not hesitate to recommend that this line should be accepted in lieu of the one which is claimed under the treaty of 1783. It is finally obvious, from the most cursory inspection of any of the maps of the territory in question, that the line claimed for Great Britain in the argument before the King of the Netherlands, fulfils no more than one of the two conditions, while that of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge fulfils neither; and as the line claimed on the part of the United States is denied to be capable of meeting the terms of the treaty of 1783, by Great Britain, there is no line that, in conformity with the fCitish argument, can be drawn within the disputed territory or its vicinity, that will comply with either of the conditions. This is as well and as distinctly shown in the map of Mitchell as in the map of the British Commission. It would, therefore appear, if these views be correct, that the framers of the treaty of 1783 went through the solemn farce of binding their respective Govern- ments to a boundary, which they well knew did not and could not exist. i V. — Northwest head of Connecticut river. The true mode of determining the most northwesterly of any two given points need no longer be a matter of discussion. It has already been a matter adjudicated and assented to by both Governments, in the case of the Lake of the Woods. The point to be considered as most to the north- west is that which a ruler laid on a map drawn according to Mercator's projection, in a direction northeast and southwest, and moved parallel to itself towards the northwest, would last touch. In this view of the sub- ject, the eastern branch of the Connecticut, which forms the lake of that name, is excluded ; for its source, so far from lying to the northwest of those of the other two branches which have been explored, actually lies to the south of the source of the Indian stream. The question must there- fore lie between the two others ; and it is, as yet, impossible to decide which of them is best entitled to the epithet, as their sources lie very nearly in the same northeast and southwest rhomb line. Another circum- 1/ SP **^"*'^ would, however, render the decision between them easy. The \l rali! 45th parallel of latitude, as laid out by the surveyors of the provinces of Quebec and New York, in conformity with the proclamation of 1763, crosses Hall's stream above its junction with the united current of the other two. In this case, the latter is the Connecticut river of the treatr of 1783, and Hall's stream, which has not yet joined it, must bei excluded. The paraiiei, as corrected by the united operations of the British and American astronomers, under the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent, does not touch Hall's stream ; and the Connecticut river, to which it is pro- duced, is the united current of the three streams. If, then, the corrected hat the Wal- I have given han that they mt\y rejected be contented I to be almost I sides which signed would in lieu of the / of the maps^ Britain in the 3 than one of and Mudge ited States is 83, by Great gument, can will comply tly shown in . It would, )f the treaty tive Govern- d not exist. Doc. No. 31. 35 ly two given eady been a 1 the case of to the north' ) Mercator's d parallel to r of the sub- lake of that northwest of itually lies to must there- le to decide ;es lie very ther circura- easy. The provinces of ion of 1763, irrent of the )f the treaty )ei excluded. British and Ghent, docs :h it is pro- le corrected parallel should become the boundary between the United States and the British provinces. Hall's stream must become < e of those, the claim of whose source to the tide of the northwesternmost head of Connecticut river is to be examined. And here it maybe suggested, although with the hesitation that is natural in impeaching such high authority, that the Commissioners under the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent, in all proba- bility, misconstrued that instrument when they reopened the question of the 45th parallel. It cannot be said that the 45th degree of latitude had ^ " not been survey ed^^^ when it is notorious that it had been traced and mark- § ed throughout the whole extent, from St. Regis to the bank of the Con- ■S nectiout river. I In studying, for the purpose of illustration, the history of this part of the f boundary line, it will be found that a change was made in it by the Que- bec »ct of 1774. The proclamation of 1763 directs the 45th parallel to be continued only until it meets highlands, while in that bill the Connec- ticut river is made the boundary of the province of Quebec. Now the earlier of these instruments was evidently founded upon the French claim to extend their possession of Canada ten leagues from the St. Lawrence river; and fro-n the citadel of Quebec, looking to the south, are seen moun- tains whence rivers flow to the St. Lawrence. On their opposite slope there w^as a probability that streams might flow to the Atlantic. These mountains, however, are visibly separated from those over which the line claimed by the United States runs, by a wide gap. This is the valley of the Chaudiere, and the St. Francis also rises on the southeastern side of these mountains, and makes its way through them. It is not, therefore, in any sense, a dividing ridge. Yet, under the Proclamation of 1763 the provinces of New York and New Hampshire claimed, and were entitled to, the territory lying behind it, which is covered by their Royal Charters. The Quebec act, it would appear, was intended to divest them of it; and according to the construction of the treaty of 1783, now contended for* the United States acquiesced in this diminution of the territory of those merabeis of the Union. If, however, it be true, as maintained by Messrs. *eaiherstonhaugh and Mudge, that the highlands seen to the south of Quebec are a portion of the ridge seen from southeast to northeast, and if as they maintain, so deep and wide a valley as that of the St. John is no disruption to the continuity of highlands, it would Be possible to show that Ihe highlands ot the treaty of 1783 are made up of these two rid^res of mountains, and that the United States is entitled to the whole of the^'east- trn townships. This range of highlands would coincide with* the terms «f (he Proclamation of 1763, by terminating on the north shore of the bay it*"' ^^'^''*^ ^'^^ abraded highlands of Messrs. Featherstonhaiigh ftnd Mudge terminate on itsysouth shore. In fact there is no step in their •rgument which might not^e adduced to support this claim, nor any ap- parent absurdity in preferring it, which would not find its parallel in one W other of the positions they assume. In this view of the history of this part of the line, it becomes evident, llOWeVer. that, in dlvPSfino- t\\P Prnvinooo r,( M^..- V/^..U l XT n. . Jiire by the Quebec act, of territory, admitted to belong to them in the Proclamation of 1763, the British Parliament must have intended to make the encroachment as small as possible ; and the first important branch of Ihe Connecticut met wiih in tracing the 45lh parallel must have been in- |ended. This intention is fully borne out by the words of the treaty of I 11^ l^VJ. 1 1 J/ 38 Doc. No. 31. 8 1783, which chose from amons; the branches of the Connecticut that whose source is farthest to the northwest. ' It has therefore been shown, in the foregoinj; statement — 1st. 'I'hat the river to he considered as the St. Croix and is true source have been designated by a solemn act, to which the '^ooi\ faith of the Ma- jesty of Great Britain and of the people of the United States is pledged, and cannot now be disturbed. 2d. That the boundary line must, in compliance with (he provisions of the treaty of 1783, be drawn due north from the source of that river, and in no other direction whatever. 3d. That the northwest angle of Nova Scotia was a point sufficiently known at the date of the treaty of 1783, to be made the starting point of the boundary of the United States; that it was both described in the treaty and defined, without being named in previous olhcial acts of the British Gt 'ernmgnt, in so forcible a manner that no dithculty need have existed in finding it. 4th. That the line of highlands claimed by the United States is, as the argument on the part of Greet Britain has maintained it ought to be, in a mountainous egion, while that proposed by Messrs. Featberstoiihaugh and Mudge does not possess this character ; that it is also, in the sense uniform- ly maintained by the United States, the height of land, which that of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge is not; that it fulfils, in every sense, the conditions of the proclantation of 1763, the Quebec act of 1774, and (he treaty of 1783, which no other line that can possibly be drawn in the ter- ritory in question can perform. 5th. Thi.t, as far as the Indian stream and (hat flowing through Lake Connecticut are concerned, the so'.irce of the former must, in the sense es- tablished oy (he assent of both parties, be considered as the northwestern source of (he Connecticut river, but that if the old demarcation of the 45ih parallel be distuibed, the question must lie between the sources of Hall's i>n«l of Indian streams. All which is respectfully submitted. JAS. RENWICK, ) JAMES I). GHAIIAM, S Commissioners. A. TALCOTT, ^ Hon. Daniel Webster, Secretary of Stale. NOTE L TREATY OF 1794, ARTICLE 5. Wlioreas t'oubts have arisen what liver was truly in(ende1 the two names so pro^x sed, on • sh;dl l)e drawn by lot in the pre- fieace of the two oiiginal commissioner and the ihiee co.nmi^isionurs so Doc. No. 31. 37 nccticut that s true sourre (h of the Ma- es is pledged, provisions of hat river, and \t sufficiently irting point of i in the treaty of the British have existed ites is, as the !;ht to l)e, in a stoiihaugh and er»se uniform- hat ol Messrs. f>ry sense, the 1774, and the kvn in the ter- thrnugh Lake I the sense es- northwestera on of the 45ih irces of Hall's mimi SSI oner s» de{ peace, and }sti(in shall be ited in the igi- je hy the Pre- L-ouheni o( the on the choiec Hi one pc "son, lot in the pre- iinijsionurs so appointed shall !)e sworn impartially to examine and decide the said ques- tion according to such evidence as shall respectively be laid before thera on the part of the British Government and of the United States. The said commissioners shall meet at Halifax, and shall have power to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit. They shall have power to appoint •\ secretary, and to employ such surveyors or other per- sons as they shall judge necessary. The said coAmissioners shall, by a declaration under their hands and seals, decide what river is the river St. Croix intended by the treaty. The said declaration shall contain a de- scription of the said river, and shall particularize the latitude and longi- tude of its mouth and of its source. Duplicates of this declaration, and of the statements of their accounts and of the journal of their proceedin'^s. shall be delivered by them to the agent of His Majesty and the agent°of the United States, who may be respectively appointed and authorized to manage the business on behalf of the respective Governments. And both parties agree to consider such decision as final and conclusive, so as that the same shall never thereafter be called into question or made the subject of dispute or difterence between them. NOTE ir. Declaration of the commissioners under the 5th article of the treaty of 1794, between the United StUes and Great Britain, respecting' the true river St. Croix, by Thomas Barclay, David Howell, and E-bert Benson, commissioners appointed in pursuance of the 5th article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, between His Britannic Majesty and the United States ot America, finally to decide the question " what river was truly intended under the name of the river St. Croix, mentioned in the treaty of peace between His Majesty and the United States, and forminc^ a partot the boundary therein described." ii,r, DECLARATIOX. VVe,the said commissioners, having been swc^rn impartially to examine and decide the said question according to such evidence as should respect- ively be laid before us on the part of the British Government and of the United States respectively, appointed and authorized to manage the busi- ness on behalf of the respective Governments, have decided, and hereby do decide, the river hereinafter particularly described and mentioned to be the river truly intended under the name of the river St. Croix in the i said treaty of peace, and forming a part of the boundary therein described • |that IS to say, the n)outh of the said river is in Passamaquoddy bay at a ipoint ol land called Joe's point, about one mile northward from the north- rern part of St. Andrew's i..land,and in the latitude of 4o^ 5' and 5" north |an(l in the longiiude of 67° 12' and 30" west from the Royal O'lservatoi v lat Gr*^enw!ch,in Great Britain, and 3°5I' and 15" cast fmrn liarva.d Col- flege, in the Umversily of Caml)ri.lge, in the Slate of M..s«ac!uisetts- and ^tbe course ol the said river, up from its s.id mouth, is northerly to a point ^ol land cajled the Devil's hearl; then, turning the said point, i/westerlv to Where it uivides into two streams, the one coming from the westward and i\ *^V/ H t.-lHf^t\A HT 38 Doc. No. 31. the other from the northward, having the Indian name of Cheputnatecook or Chebuitcook, as the same may be variously spelt ; then up the said stream, so coming from the northward, to its soi rce, which is at a stake near a yellow birch tree, hooped with iron, and maiked S. T. and J. H, 1797, by Samuel Titcomb and John Harris, the surveyors employed to survey the above-mentioned stream coming fron the northward. NOTE III. ARTICLE FIFTH OF THE TREATY OF GHENT, 1814. Whereas neither that point of the highlands lying due north from the source of the river St. Croix, and designated in the former treaty of peace between the two Powers as the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, nor the northwesternmost head of Connecticut river has yet been ascertained; and whereas that part of the b6undary line between the dominions of the two Powers which extends from the source of the river St. Croix directly north to the above-mentioned northwest angle of Nova Scotia; thence, along the said highlands which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the north- westernmost head of Connecticut river; thence, down along the mid- dle of that river, to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude ; thence, by a line due west on said latitude, until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cata- caquy, has not yet been surveyed, it is agreed that for these several pur- poses two commissioners shall be appointed, sworn, and authorized to act exactly in (he manner directed with respect to those mentioned in the next preceding article, unless otherwise specified in the present article. The said commissioners shall meet at St. Andrew's, in the province of New Brunswick, and shall have power to adjourn to such place or places as they shall think fit. The said commissioners shall have power to ascer- tain and determine the points above-mentioned in conformity with the provisions of the said treaty of peace of 1783, and shall cause the boundary aforesaid, from the source of the river St. Croix to the river Iroquois or Cataraquy, to be surveyed and marked according to the said provisions. The said commissioners shall make a map of the said boundary, and annex to it a declaration under their hands and seals, certifying it to be the true map of the said boundary, and particularizing the latitude and longitude of the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, of the northwesternmost head of Connecticut river, and of such other points of the said boundary as they may deem proper, and both parties agree to consider such map and decla- ration as finally and conclusively fixing the said boundary. And in the event of the said two commissioners differing, or both or either of them re- fusing, declining, or wilfully omitting to act, such reports, declarations, or statements, shall be made by them, or either of them, and such refer- ence to a friendly Sovereign or Stale shall be made in all respects as in the latter part of the fourth article is contained, and in as full a manner as if the same was herein repeated. NOTE IV. The point originally chosen by the commissioners in 1798, as the source of the St. Croix, was, to all appearance, the act of an umpire who wished 7 leputnatecook I up the said is at a stake T. and J. H, employed to ard. 14. orth from the eaty of peace cotia, nor the :ertained; and ans of the two directly north nee, along the into the river , to the north- long the mid- thence, by a juois or Cata- B several pur- horized to act ed in the next article. The vince of New ! or places as iwer to ascer- inity with the J the boundary er Iroquois or id provisions, ry, and annex to be the true and longitude nmost head of ndary as they ap and decla- And in the er of them re- declarations, »d such refer- jects as in the , manner as if I)oc. No. 31. 39 , as the source e who wished i to reconcile two contending claims by giving to each party about half the matter in dispute. No one who compares Mitchell's map with that of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge can fail to recognise in the St Croix of the former the Magaguadavic of the latter. That this was the St. Croix intended by the framers of the treaty of 1783, was maintained, and It may be safely asserted proved, on the American side. On the other hand It was ascertained that the river called St. Croix by Dumonts was the Schoodiac, and the agent of Great Britain insisted that the letter of the instrument was to be received as the only evidence, no matter what might have been the intentions of the framers. The American araument rested on the equity of the case ; the British on the strict legal interpreta- tion of the document. The commissioners were divided in opinion, each espousing the cause of his country. In this position of things; the umpire provided for in the treaty of 1794 was chosen ; and, in tne United StStes it_has always been believed, unfortunately for her pretensions. A lawyer of eminence, who had reached the seat of a judge, first of a State court and then of a tribunal of the General Government, he prided himself on his freedom from the influence of feeling in his decisions. As commis- «ioner for the settlement of the boundary between the States of New York and Vermont, he had offended the former of which he was a native by admitting the claim of the latter in its full extent ; and it was believed that he ,vould rather encounter the odium of his fellow-citizens than run the risk of being charged with partiality towards them. Colonel Barclay, hZuT ?^™™»?f °"«'''7ho concurred in choosing him as umpire, had been his schoolfellow and youthful associate; and it is believed in the from . ifn 7 1 he concurred in if he did not prompt the nomination, from a knowledge of this feature of character. Had he, as is insinuated by Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, been inclined'to act with par 1 1 ^i?-'"'?' r' °'^" ''°""*''^' ^^ ''«^ '"«st plausible grounds for giving f.Iti^ '" her favor; and that he did not found his decisions upon them! lafd vL""'' f" determination to be impartial, which his countrymen have Zn. Zt "^^"'f^^^^d '" « leaning to the opposite side. Those who suspect e ircum.HnLl ?1 ^ ""Proper motives, must either be ignorant of the eircumstances of the case, or else incapable of estimating the purity of the character ot Egbert Benson. His award, however, has nothing to do with h^^.r '°"'''"''''u"u''f''''*^'' "P°"- Both parlies were dissatisfied with .neTwhf'rh T^''^ he arrived, and, in consequence, a conventional nne,in which both concurred, was agreed upon; and the award of the cora- IfTr'V7ifr ""^''^ ^'''" 'V^''""' ""^*° make this convention binding, rich;. v!v 1?^ Governments should think it expedient to unsettle the vested rights uhich have arisen out of the award of 1798, there is a stron? and a' Th^ 'b^unT' ''" ^^h1^ ''' Ignited States may claim' th: M^g: ua^vic lev of hpS^lT %" ^he meridian line of i(s source will throw the val- of\he sLo nf ^3'• Zli'^'f^ '? '^' Grand falls, within the limits V olate iod fW h tn"'- '^ll'' '''"*^'^?''^' K '' "^««'^'ained that it would thatanfmnlf *^'■^°^^«", Jhe question, there is good reason to hope _ that an impartial umpire would decide it so as to pIvp th^ n^n^A s»a»^^* ^ihe boundary formerly claimed. " ^ ' " NOTE V. The angle made by the southern boundary of the province of Quebec 'V: 40 Doc. No. 31. with the due north line from the source of the St. Croix first appeared in an Engh'sh dress in the commission to Governor Wilinot. This was prob- ably intended to be identical .n its meaninj; with the terms in the Latin grant to Sir William Alexander, although there is no evidence to that effect. If, therefore, it were a false translation, the error has been committed on the side of Great Britain, and not on that of the United States. But it is not a false iranslatiftn, as may be shown to the satisfaction of the merest tyro in classical literature. The words of the grant to Sir William Alexander, as quoted by Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, are as follows, viz: " Omnes et singulas terras continentis, ac insulas sifuatas et jacentes in America intra caput seu promontorium communiter Cap de Sable appellat. Jacen. prope latitudinem quadraginta trium graduum aut eo circa ab «qui- coctiali linefi versus septentrionem, d quo promontorio versus littus maris tenden.ad occidenlem ad stationem Sancise Marine navium vulgo Sanctma- rets Bay. Et deinceps, versus septentrionem per djrectam lineam introi- tum give ostium magnae illiusstationi.s navium trajicien. quae cxcurrit in terrae orientalem plagam inter regionesSuriquorum et Etcheminorum vulgo S'ua- qiwis et Etc/iemines ad fluvium vulgo nomine Sancla C/Mm appellat. Et ad seaturiginem remotissimam sive fbniemexoecidentali parte ejusdem qui se primum predicto fluvio immiscet. Unde per imaginariam directam line- am quae pergere per terram seu curreie versus septentrionem concipietur ad proximam navium stationem, fluvium vel seaturiginem in magno fluvio de Canada sese exonerantem. Et ab eo pergendo versus orieniem per maris oris littorales ejusdem fluvii de Canada ad fluvium stationem navium portum aut littus communiter non-ine de Gathtpe vel Gaspee notum et appellatum." The authentic Latin copy ot the grant to Sir William Alexander, as com- municated officially by the British Government, contains no commas, and would read as follows: " Omnes et singulas terras continentis ac insuh.s situatas et jacentes in America intra caput seu pronjontorium communiter Cap de Sabie appellat. Jacen. prope latitudinem quadraginta trium graduum aut eo circa ab equi- noctiali lineA versus septentrionem a quo promontorio versus littus maris tenden. ad occidentem ad stationem Sanctai Mariae navium vulgo Sanctma- reis bay. Et deinceps versus septentrionem per directam lineam introit- um sive ostium magnae illius stationis navium (• ajicien. quae excurrit in terrae orientalem plagam inter regiones Suriquorum et Etecheminorum vulgo Suri- quois et Etechemines ad fluvium vulgo nomine Sanctae Crucis appellat. Et ad seaturiginem remotissimam sive lontem ex occidentali parte ejusdem qui 66 primum predicto flu\io immiscet. Unde per imaginariam directam line- am quae peigere per teiram seu currere veisus septentrionem concipietur ad proximam navium stationem fluvium vel seaturiginem in magno fluvio de Canada sese exonerantem. Et ab eo pergendo versus orientem per maris oris littorales ejusdem fluvii de Canada ad flu\iuni stationem navium portum aut littus communiter nomine de Gathepe vel Gaspee notum et appellatum." 'I'he translation of Mof^srs. Mudgo and Fcatlierslonliangh is as follows = " All and each of (he lands of the continent, and the islaiuls situated and lying in Anieiica within tin; lieadland or promontory, commonly called Laie Salde, lying near the f«)ily-thirted by Messrs. 3 et jacentes in Soble appellat. ) circa ab «qui- sus littus maris ulgo Sanctma- (1 lineam introi- xcurrit in terras um \'u\^oSuri- 16'appeilat. Et lie ejusdem qui 1 directam line- em concipietur n magno fluvio 5 orieniem per itionem navium aspee notum et icander, as com- ic commas, and s et jacentes in Sable appellat. ) circa ab equi- jus littus maris vulgo Sanctma- lineam introit- ixcurrit in lerrae rum vulgo Suri- •is appellat. Et ute ejusdem qui It directam line- [lem concipietur in magno fluvio us oiientem per ationem navium aspee notum et ih is as follows- lids situated and Dinmonly called )iu the tquinoc- ing westward ly, towards the north, by the sea shore, to the na%'al station of St. Mary, com- monly called St. Mary's bay. From thence, passing towards the north by a straight line, the entrance or mouth of that great naval station, whicb penetrates the interior of the eastern shore betwixt the countries of the Suriquois and Etchemins, to 'he river, commonly called the St. Croix. And to the most remote source or spring of the same on the western side, , which first mingles itself ivjuh the aforesaid river. From whence, by an . imaginary straight line, which may be supposed (concipietur) to advance ^ into the country, or to run towards the north, to the nearest naval sta- ■ tion, river, or spring, discharging itself into the great river of Canada. I And from thence advancing towards the east by the gulf shores of the said ' I river of Canada, to the river, naval station, port, or shore, commonly known il or called by the name of Gathepe or Gaspe." ^ The only American translations which hav< i argument, are as followfi : ■e ever been presented in , Translation of Messrs. Gallatin and Preble, who were employed to prepare js. the statement laid before the King of the Netherlands. ^ " Beginning at Cape Sable, in 43° north latitude, or thereabout, extend- I ing thence westwardly, along the sea shore, to the road commonly called *St. Mary's bay; thence towards the north, by a direct line crossing the ^entrance or mouth of that great ship road which runs into the eastern •tract of land, between the territories of the Souriquois, and of the Etchemins, *(Bay of FunJy,) to the river, commonly called St. Croix, and to the most ^remote spring or source which from the western part thereof first mingles %*tself with the river aforesaid; and from thence, by an imaginary direct "Inline, which may be conceived to stretch through the land, or to lun to- ^wards the north, to the nearest road, river, or spring, emptying itself into *^he great river de Casiada; (river St. Lawrence,) and from thence, pro- Iceeding eastwardly, along the sea shores of the said river de Canada, to *nhe river, road, port, or shore, commonly known, and called, by the name %f Gathepe or Gaspe." ^Translation of Mr. Bradln/, the ^^merican agent, under the 5th ar- .t tide of the ireuly of Ghent : I " By the tenor of this our present charter, we do give, grant, and con- 0ey to the said Sir William Alexander, his heirs or assigns, all and ^■ingular, the lands of the continent and islands, situated and lying in America, within the headland or promontory, commonly called Cape Sa- Me, lying near the latitude of 43° or thereabout, from the equinoctial line, |owards the north, from which promontory, stretching towards the shore "if the sea to the west to the road of ships commonly called St. Mary's |iay, and then towards the north, by a direct line crossing the entrance'or houth of that great load of ships which runs into the eastern tract of land, letween the teriitories of the Souriquois and the Etchemins, to the river lalled by the name of St. Croix, and to the most remote spring or fountain Tom the western part thereof, u liich fust mingles itself u i'.h the river a!ore- aid, whence, by an imaginary direct line, uhich may be conceived to go Ihrough or run towards the north, to the nearest road of ships, river, or Spring emptying itself into the great river of Canada ; and from thence, proceeding towards the east by the shores of the sea of the said river of 42 Doc. No. 31. Canada, to the river, road of ships, or shore, commonly known and called by the name of Gachepe or Gaspe. " But the translations of the Americans were merely for form's sake, as (he original Latin, in a copy fnrnished from a British public office, was laid before the King of the Netherlands ; and no fear need have been felt that the,umpire would not have been able to judge whether the transla- tions were true or not. It was rather to be inferred that he, in examining a question submitted in a language foreign to him, would have found the Latin quite as intelligible as the English. This examination, however, is wholly*superfluous. From whatever source the negotiatiors of the treaty of 1783 derived their view of the boundary, that instrument directs that it shall be a due north line from the source of the river St. Croix. This expression is too definite to require explanation or illustration, and it is only for those purposes that any other instrument can be permitted to be quoted. In the passages referred to, the words " versus septentrionem " occur three times, and in two of the instances are qualified by the context in such manner as to leave no possible doubt as to the meaning. The first time they occur, the words of the passage are " prope latitudinem quadraginta trium graduum aut eo circa versus septentrionem. '' The free translation into modern idiom is, beyond doubt, '■'■ near the forty-third degree of north latitude or thereabouts, " and the direction towards the north must be along a meridian line on which latitude is measured, or due north. Messrs. Mudge and Featherstonhaugh, instead of connecting in their translation, the words " versus septentrionem " with the words ^* prope latitudinem," &c., with which they stand in juxtaposition in the Latin text which they quote, connect them with the words " ad occiden- tem tendentera," which occur in the next elause of the sentence, even according to their own punctuation. We note this as a false translation, although it does not touch the point in dispute. They have, indeed, at- tempted to use it in their argument; but even if the use they make of it had been successful, their inferences fall because drawn from erroneous premises, The second clause in which the words occur is as follows, " ad stationem .navium Sanctae Mariae vulgo St. Mary's Bay, et deinceps versus septen- trionem per directam lineam introitum sive ostium magnae illiusstationis navium trajicientem," &c., "ad fluvium vulgo nomine Sanctae Crucis ap- pellatum." Here the line, although directed to be drawn towards the north, is also directed to be drawn between two given points; and it is clear that, under the double direction, if they should differ from each other, the position of the given points must govern, and the line be traced from one of them to the other, no matter what may be their bearings. The last time the words occur is after the direction that the line shall pass up the St. Croix, and to the most remote western spring or fountain of that stream " unde per imaginariam lineam directam quae pergere per terram seu currere versus septentrionem concipietur. " flere alone can any doubt exist as to the meaning of the terms, and that is easily solved. The boundary poinied out in the instrument is " such as may be con- •ceived to go or run towards the north by (per) a direct (directam) line." Now, a direct line towards the north can be no other than a meridian line. Had it been merely a straight line of vague northerly direction which was meant, rectum, the usual expression for a mathematical straight line. I ■1 ) and called ii's sake, as office, was '6 been felt the transla- examining e found the », however, ^83 derived ill be a due :pression is ly for those tted. era" occur context in The first latitudinem ?m. " The J forty-third owards the ired,or due meeting in the words lition in the ad occiden- ence, even translation, indeed, at- raake of it i erroneous d stationem SU9 septen- iusstationis Crucis ap- awards the s; and it is each other, raced from line shall or fountain ergere per alone can y solved, lay be con- am) line." ridian line, which was aight line. Doc. T^To 31. 43 would have been used instead of directam. It is moreover to be consi- dered that the Romans had names both for the northeast and northwest points of the compass, and that the expression "versus septentrionem," in its most vapue application, could not possibly have admitted of a devia- tion of more than two points on either hand. Had the direction intended deviated more than that amount from the true north, the Latin term cor- responding to northeast or northwest must have been used. Nor is this a matter of mere surmise; for, in a passage immediately following that which has been quoted, the direction through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, towards Cape Breton, is denoted by the term *'• versus Euronotum,'* leaving no possibility of doubt that, had the line directed to be drawn from the source of the St. Croix been intended to have a no'thwestern bearing, the appropriate Latin words would have been employed. It is besides to be recollected that the instrument was drawn by a per- son using habitually and thinking in a modern idiom, and that, in transla- ting the English words due north into Latin, no other possible expression could suggest itself than the one employed. Such, then, was the sense appropriately given to the Latin words, first in the commission of Govei- nor Wilmot, and his successors, Governors of Nova Scotia ; and subse- quently in the commission oi all the Governors of New Brunswick, from the time that it was erected into a province until the question was refer- red to the King of the Netherlands. In this referrence, although a trans- lation was given in the American argument, it was not as quoted by Messrs. Featherstonhaugh a-^.d Mudge, but was in the words which have already been cited. Connected with this subject, although like it wholly irrelevant, is another conclusion which Messrs. Mudge and Featherstonhaugh attempt to draw from the same grant to Sir William Alexander. That charter directs the line " versus septentrionem " to be produced " ad proximam navium statio- nem, fluvium, vel scaturiginemin magnoiluvio de Canada sese exoneran- tem. " It can hardly be credited that, although a literal translation of this passage is given, including the whole of the three terms, naval station, ri- ver, or spring," that it is attempted to limit the meaning to the first ex- pression only, and to infer that as Quebec, in their opinion, is the first na- val station above Gaspc or the St. Lawrence, the line " versus septentrio- nem " was intended to be drawn towards that place, but that as "spring" is also mentioned, the line must stop at the source of the Chaudiere. Now it has been uniformly maintained by British authorities, and most strongly in the discussion which preceded the war of 1756, that Nova Scotia extended to the St. Lawrence. The boundary of Sir William Alexander's grant, was therefore to be changed from a geographical line to a water course, as soon as it met with one; and the apparently useless ver- biage was introduced to meet every possible contingency. Supposing, however, that it did not extend so far, the northwest angle of his Nova Scotia will be where the meridian line of the Si. Croix crosses the Beaver stream running into Lake Johnson, only a mile to the north of the point maintained by the American claim to be such. The ma" of L'Escarbot nijoted bv Messrs. Mudce and Fcatherston- haugh, illustrates both this point, and the second instance in which the term "versus septentrionem" is employed. On that map, due north of the Bay of St. Mary's, a deep inlet of 'the Bay of Fundy is repre- lented, and, continuing in the same diiection, a deep inlet of the St. Law* 44 Doc. No. 31. rit. V'P rence is figured. The latter does not exist, but this map shows that it was believed to exist at the time of the grant, and must bo the " stiitio naviutn " of thiit instrument. This inlet of the Bay of Fundy occupies the position of the St. John, which is almost due noilh by the most recent determination from St. Mary's bay, and is so represented on their own map. That the St. John was by mis- take arising from this cause taken for the St. Croix in the charter to Alexander, is obvious from its bein-: described as lying between the ter- ritories of the Etcheiiiin and Souriquois, Now Etehenkin, or canoe men, is the name given by the Micmac Indians to the race of the Abenakis, from their skill in the management of the canoe ; and this race has always inhabited the river, whence one of their tribes is still called St. John's Indians. The language of this tribe, although they have lived apart for many years, is still perfectly intelligible by the Indians of the Penobscot; and those in the service of the Commission conversed with perfect ease with the Indians of Tobique. Massachusetts, then, was riiht in claiming to the St. John as the eastern limit of the grant to Sir William Alex- ander, being the stream understood and described in it under the name of St. Croix, and wholly different from the river known to the French under that name. If, therefore. Great Britain should insist that the question in relation to the St. Croix shall he reopened, the United States would be able to maintain, in the very i( ms of the original grant to Alexander, (on which the British argument in 1797 rested,) that the St. John is the St. Croix, and the boimdary will be that river to its most northwestern source, the Asherhish, which tlows into the upper end of Lake Temiscouata. Nova Scotia will then have recovered her lost northwest angle, which cannot be found in any of the many shapes under which the British argu- ment has been presented, although it forms the plate of beginning of what ia called a grant to the ''nited States. NOTE VI. The fact that a line drawn from the source of the Kennebec to the mouth of the (Jhaudieie, or thereabout.-?, must be one of the boui dary lines of fh< grant to the Duke of York, has not escaped the notice of Messrs. Feather- stonhaugh and Mudge. But they have not derived the tiuf result from this discovery. The Kennebec being the westtrn limit of Hie grar t, the line in question bounds the territory on the *^ ithwest, while thev infer that it bounds it on tlfe northeast. In making this inference, they appear to have forgotten that the St. Croix is the easterii boundarv of the j^rant. By their argument, the grant to the Duke of York is bloited wholly from the maj), or rather becomes a mathematical line which is absurd. J Hook, at til therefore i and all »he settlement to Port Ro tion from \ quest, it W( Sterling wi in the coJir the son of father, and by the tiea fled for the In the si of Massacl Utrecht, in with its ant from this v tween Fra war of 17iJ Acadic an that the te on the oth than ten le by the Bi which for II limited to t cbarterof I Governme source, as admitted K It is ver; as Acadie. of the li ly that vicini From tl them a ler of Acadia ton; ami i west >r tl Frederictc Ibrmed b} tion of ih( This sei fuge at Mi t^ ISOTL- VIi No name which has ever been applied to any jiart of North America is as vague as tiiat of Ac die.* The charier to De Moots in 1 (04, extended from the 40th tothe4Gth degree of nortb latitude — ihat is to sa\. fiom Sandy • Ki'fio't, til •}■ It caiino Acudie w:i.s Ne.v Kiijjliiiw <•il^r, wet' ii grant t > Do i\ Jl Doc. No. 31. 45 )W8 that it ie '^Htiitio St. John, St. Mary's /ashy mis- chaitcr to ;n the ter- anoe men, Abeiiakis, iias always St. Johtt's 1 apart for Penobscot; rfect ease I) claiming iam Alex- »e name of nch under {uestion in i would be under, (on I is the St. ^rn source, miscouata. gle, which itish argu- ng of what the mouth lines of lh<. s. Feather- esult from grat t, the the\ infer ley appear (he grant, holly from ip Hook, at the mouth of the Hudson, to the peninsula of Nova Scolia. It therefore included New VoiU, parts of New Jersey, and Penr.sylvania, and all the New England States, hut excluded ihe di^pulcd territory. His settlement wi\s at the mouth of tlie St. Croix, but was speedily lenioved to P<»rt Royal. The latter place was soon alter desiro}ed by an expedi- tion from Virjitinia under Argall. Under the title tk rived lium this con- quest, it would ap])eac probable that the celebrated grant to Sir William Sterling was macJe. liirl when his agents attempted to riiake betllenmnts in the country, they found that the Piench had preoccupied it. Although the son of Alexander succeded in coii(|uering the country granted to his father, and even beyond it to the Penobscot, it was restored to Fiance by the treaty of St. Germains, in IG34, and the Alexanders were indemni- fied for the loss by the Crown of England. In the subse(juent cessions to F'rancc after its occupations by the arms of Massachetls, and in its final cession to Creat Britain, by the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, the country ceded is described as Acadie or Nova Scotia, with its ancient boundsftv/m Jlidhus antu/iiis.) Tire uncertainty arising from this va^ue descripiior* became in HSO, a subject of controversy be- tween France and England, and was one of the causes which led to the war of 175G. In (his discussion, both parties admitted that the names Acadie and Nova Scotia \>ere convertible terms. England maintained that the territory thus named extended to the St. Lawrence^ the i^'rench, on the other hand, insisted that their Acadie had tjpver extended more than ten leajjues from the Bay of Fundy; while by geographers, as quoted by the Briti?h Commi>sioners, the name was limited to the peninsula w'hicli forms the present province ol Nova Scotia.* If Acadie had been limited to the north by the 'iGtIi degree of north latitude, as expressed in the tbar-terof L)e Monis, that parallel is to the i-outli of Mars hill. The British Govei-iirnent, therefore, derives no title to liic disputed territory from this source, as the title of Mass.iclmsclts, and of Maine as hei successor, is admitted to all country south of that parallel. | It is very easy to (ell what country was actually settled by the French as Acadie. Its chief town was Port Royal, no iimapolis, at ihe head of the B:iy of Fnndy. Nearly all the settlen-cui.-, of the Acadians were in that vicinity, and for the most part within tin. peninsula. From these scats they were removed in I75G by Great Britain; and to lliem a remnant was permitted to return. Tiie most western settlement of Acadians was on (he St. John river, near the present site of Frederick- ton; ami no permanent occupation Wiis ever made by them ot country west f the St. Lawrence at Metis, and was known to fall into the Bay ofChal- jurs; while the united stream had also been visited by persons crossing jhe Wagansis of Grand river and descending the southwestern branch, he map-makers could not, in consequence of the error in latitude, make 4S Doc. No. :U their plat meet, and therefore, considered the part of the united streams reached in the twodilFjrent directions iis dilferent bodies of water, and, without anthorily, sought an outlet lor that uhicli they laid down as the southerntnost of the two in aiir>ther h ly of tlie Gulf of St. Lawrence. On M many of the mi»ps, however, the small sticanis which rnoduin geographers improper Chaeodi. ly call Hiatigouche, is readily dily d isiinguishable under the name of NOIE XII. In the argument of the British It has since been maintained on Commissioners under Jay's lieaiy, the part of Great Britain : the following points were maintain- ed, aaii, being sanctioned by the decision of the umpire, became the gr:vin;4s of an award acceded to by both Governments : 1st. That the limits of Nova Sco- tia had been altered f/om the south- en) bank of the St. l^awrence to the highlands described in the treaty of peace. "Zd. That if the river Schoo liac were the true St. Cioix, the north- west angle of Nova Scotia could be fviruied by the western and northern boundaries^ — the meridian line and the highlands. 3d. That the territory of Acadic, or Nova Scotia, was the same teiri- tory gri-inted to Sir William Alex- ander. 4th. That the sea and Atlantic ocean were used as convertible terms. 5th. That, from the d.ite of the treaty of Utie>.;ht, the boundary belw<3en Massachusetts and Nova S(!otia was that of the patent to Sir William Alexander. 6lh. That the provinces of Que- bec and Nova Scotia belonged Vo and were in possession of Uis Bri- tannic Majesty in 1783, and that he had an undoubted right to cede to the- United States such paitof them as he might think fit. ath. I hat Vm: due north line from the sour, e of the St. Cn ix must of necessity cr »ss the St. John. 1st. That the limits of Nova Sco- tia never did extend to the St. Law- rence. 2d. That the northwest angle of Nova Scotia was unknown in 1783. 3d. That Acadie extended south to the 46th degree of north Itti- tude, and was not the same with Nova Scotia. 4th. That the sea and the Atlan- tic ocean were ditferent things. 5th. That the claims and rights of Massachusetts did not extend to the western bou ids of the grant to Sir William Alexander. Gth. That, this being the case, the cession of territory not included within her limits is void. 7 h. That it could never have been intended that the meridian line should crosd the St. John. Doc. No. 31. 49 iiitetl streams if water, ami, down as the w re nee. On geogtiiphers T the name of laintained on tain : of Nova Soo- the St. Law- ivest angle of own in 1783. ctpnried south f north liti- e same with NOTE XIII. It has been pretended that the grant of the fief of Madawaska, in 168S, can be urged as a bar to the claim of Massachusetts. That fief, indeed, waS I among the early grants of the French Governors of Canada ; but it is not included in the claim which the French themselves set up. It was there- fore covered by the Massachusetts charter, because the giant had never been acted upon. Even up to the present day, this fief can hardly be said to be settled or occupied, except by the retainers of the garrison of , Fort Ingall ; and, from all the evidence which could be found on the spot, it appeared that no settlement had ever been made upon it until the establishment of a post-house, some time between the date of the treaties of 1783 and 1794. It therefore was not, at the time the charter of Mas- sachusetts was granted, (1691,) « actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian Prince or State." An argument has also been attempted to be drawn from the limits given on Greenleafs map to a purchase made from the State of Massachusetts by Watkins and Flint. This purchase is, however, by the patent, ex- ' «r" n®'* *° ^^^ highlands ; and the surveyors who laid it out crossed the ; Walloostook in search of them. Hera they met, at a short distance from that stream, with waters running to the north, which they conceived to be waters of the St. Lawrence, and they terminated their survey. The lines j traced on Greenleaf's map are therefore incorrect, either as compared with the grant or the actual survey ; and although, from a want of knowl- edge of the country, the s> :ors stopped at waters runing into Lake _ 1 emiscouata, instead of ih . .awrence, the very error shows the under- standing they had of the true design of the patent ; and this transaction, so far from being an available argument against the American claim, is an act I of possession at an early date within the limits of the disputed territory id the Atlan- it things. i and rights of extend to the grant to Sir ing the case, not included d. never have he meridian >t. Juhti. 5t i