Your petitioner begs leave to add, that he is possessed of papers, and that John Mitchell, Esq. of the state of New Hampshire (now an old man about 76 years of age) is also possessed of papers that may be useful in determining the real situation of the river St. Croix, intended by the late treaty of peace to be the dividing line between the dominions of the United States and Great Britain, as will appear by a plan taken in the year 1764 by the said Mitchell, and another taken by the surveyor general of Nova Scotia the year following, and now in the possession of your petitioner, who, as in duty bound will ever pray, &c. Boston, Nov. 27, 1789. True copy, JAMES BOYD. GEORGE TAYLOR, JUN. Chief Clerk in the Department of State.> B. No. 2. COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. Letter of Instruction to the Delegates at Congress, respecting James Boyd, to be signed and forwarded by the Governour. November 10, 1786. On the petition of James Boyd, Esq. a letter of instruction to the delegates of this commonwealth at Congress: It having been represented to this court by James Boyd, Esq. now resident in Boston, that he obtained from the British government, in the year 1767, a grant of fifty thousand acres of land, lying on the banks of the river Schoodick; and that the said Boyd went on, and possessed the said lands, introducing at his own charge a large number of families, and that he was at great expense for cattle and farming utensils of all sorts, as well as in the erecting of necessary mills and water works; but in the beginning of the late war between Great Britain and these States, he took such an active and decided part in favour of the latter, that he soon became very obnoxious to the resentment of the British, and was obliged to leave all his property and possessions, and flee to the protection of the United States; that he has resided in Boston until the present time in hopes that his aforementioned lands would fall within the bounds of this state, and that he should be reinstated in them; that the whole of his lands are on the western side of that river, which we suppose to be the St. Croix mentioned in the trea ty, and the boundary line between Nova Scotia and these states; but that as the British subjects are at present in the possession of those lands, the said Boyd is unjustly prevented from returning there to occupy and improve them. As we esteem him to have been a good friend to this country, and still to remain such, and one who is at present deprived of the possession of a large interest in consequence of his attachment to it, we instruct you to recommend him to the attention and favour of Congress, and to move that honourable body to afford him such relief as they may think proper. Read, and ordered, That the aforegoing letter be transmitted, and that his excellency the governour be requested to sign and transmit the same to the delegates from this commonwealth in Congress. B. No. 3. B. No. 4. [Same as A. No. 9.] B. No. 5, [Copy of Mitchell's Map.-Cannot be found.] B. No. 6. Observations on the Western limits of that part af Nova Scotia now called New Brunswick, &c. MR. BERNARD, the governour of Massachusetts Bay, in the year 1764, caused a survey of the bay of Passamaquoddy to be made, and proposed making grants of land as being within his government. The next year Mr. Wilmot, the governour of Nova Scotia, sent the chief land surveyor to make a survey of that bay, when upon full inquiry it was found there were three rivers called St. Croix, all emptying into that bay; that the river called by the Indians Copscook was anciently called, by the French, St. Croix; and on examining into the original grants of Nova Scotia it appears, that the grant made by king Charles the i. to his brother the duke of York, in 1663 (called the duke of York's territory) was bounded by the river St. Croix, to the eastward, and by the river Kennebeck to the westward; and on the 12th of August, the same year, sir William Alexander obtained a grant of N. S. bounded westerly as far as the river St. Croix, and to the furthermost source or spring which first comes from the west to mingle its waters with those of the river St.Croix, and from thence running towards the north, &c. &c. All the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay are included in this grant, and have ever since been deemed to belong to Nova Scotia. Upon governour Wilmot's transmitting to governour Bernard the plans and reports made by the surveyor of Nova Scotia, in 1765, governour Bernard the same year applied to, and obtained a grant from the governour of Nova Scotia of one hundred thousand acres, including Moose Island, for himself and associates, Thomas Pownal, John Mitchell, Thomas Thornton, and Richard Jackson, between Copscook and Schoodick rivers on the western side Passamaquoddy Bay; and the remainder of the principal islands in that bay were granted by the governour of Nova Scotia the same year; and the whole of Passamaquoddy Bay, together with Grand Manan and all the islands in the bay,have been deemed to be within the limits of Nova Scotia until the separation of New Brunswick from it. By the definitive treaty of peace, signed at Paris, September 3, 1783, the eastern limits or boundaries of the United States are thus described: 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 north to the high lands, 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 aforesaid boundary between Nova Scotia on the one part, and East Florida on the other part, shall respectively touch the bay of Fundy and the Atlantick ocean, excepting such islands as now are or hereto. fore have been deemed within the limits of Nova Scotia. Thus it is clearly evident that Grand Manan, Passamaquoddy, Great Island now called Campo Bello, Dear Island, Moose Island, and all the islands lying within that bay, whether on the southern or northern side the line drawn due east from the mouth of St. Croix river, should, as formerly, belong to Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Whether Schoodick, or whether Copscook is the river that this treaty fixes on for the boundary I will not presume to say; but from the manner in which these boundaries are described, I should deem that river to be the river St. Croix intended whose source should be found farthest into the country westward and northward toward the high land mentioned in the treaty, being conformable to the old grants before named; and if my conjecture is well founded the St. Croix mentioned in the treaty cannot be properly ascertained until accurate surveys are made and proper commissioners appointed to determine thereupon. Remarks for Capt. Browell, 1789. B. No. 7. [Same as A. No. 4.] B. No. 8. Extract from the Journals of Congress. January 29, 1784. On the report of a committe, consisting of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Osgood and Mr. Williamson, to whom were referred a letter of the 25th December, 1783, from John Allan, and the papers therein enclosed: Resolved, That a copy of the said letter be sent to the governour of Massachusetts, with a recommendation, that he cause inquiry to be made, whether the encroachments therein suggested have been actually made on the territories of the state of Massachusetts, by the subjects of his Britannick majesty, from the government of Nova Scotia; and if he shall find any such to have been made, that he send a representation thereof to the British governour of Nova Scotia, with a copy of the proclamation of the United States of the 14th inst.* which is to be enclosed to the governour Massachusetts for that purpose, requesting him in a friendly manner, and as a proof of that disposition for peace and harmony which should subsist between neighbouring states, to recall from off the said territory, the said subjects of his Britannick majesty, so found to have encroached thereon; and that the governour of Massachusetts be requested to inform Congress of his proceedings herein, and the result thereof * Proclamation ratifying treaty of peace, 1783. of B. No. 9. Extract from Douglas's Summary, Historical and Political, of the First Planting, Progressive Improvements, and Present State of the British settlements in North America. London, printed 1760, Page 320, Section 7th, first Volume. As the Cape Sable and St. Jones Indians persisted in their hostilities against the subjects of Great Britain, in November 1744, the government of Massachusetts Bay declares war against them, declaring them enemies and rebels; because they had joined the French enemy in blocking up Annapolis; had killed some British subjects, and had committed other depredations. The Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Noridgewog, Pigwockit and other Indians westward of St. Jones, are forbid to have any correspondence with those Indian rebels. For all Indians eastward of a line beginning at three mile's east of Passamaquoddy, and running north to St. Lawrence river, the government settles for a short time premiums, viz. 100%. new tenour for a male of 12 Et. and upwards scalped, and 1057. new tenour if captivated; for women and children 501. scalps, 551. captives. Some time afterwards it was found that the Penobscot and Noridgewog Indians also joined with the French. Page 330, sect. 7th. When Massachusetts Bay colony obtained a new charter (their former charter was taken away at the same time with many corporation charters in England in the end of Charles 11. and beginning of the like or more arbitrary reign of James 11.) 7th of October, 1691. Nova Scotia, at that time in possession of the French, was annexed (as was also Sagadahock, or duke of York's property) to the Massachusetts jurisdiction, to keep up the A claim of Great Britain. Nova Scotia has since been constituted a separate government, and has continued about forty years to this time a nominal British province, without any British settlement, only an insignificant preventive but precarious fort and garrison. As this country is rude, a geographical description of it cannot be expected. It is a large extent of territory, bounded westward by the bay of Fundy, and a line running northward from St. Jones river to St. Lawrence or Canada great river; northward it is bounded by the said St. Lawrence and gut of Canso, which divides from the island of Cape Britain; and southeasterly it is bounded by Cape Sable shore settled at the treaty of Utrecht, 1713. P. 332, sect. 7. Upon the opposite or westerly shore of the |