"clared, that the following are and shall be their boundaries, "viz: from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz: that "angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from "the source of the 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 Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost head " of Connecticut River; thence, down along the middle of " that river, to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; from "thence, by a line due west on said latitude, until it strikes " the River Iroquois or Cataraquy; thence,

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..

..

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 High"lands 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

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part of the shores of the United States, and lying between " lines to be drawn due east from the points, where the " aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia, on the one

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part, and East Florida, on the other, shall respectively "touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean."

Which was the true northwesternmost head of the River Connecticut, became subsequently a minor subject of difference, which did not affect the great question at issue. But there were not less than three rivers, emptying themselves into the Bay of Passamaquoddy (which is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy), known by distinct Indian names: and which of these was the true River St. Croix had, ever since the year 1764, been a subject of contention between the Governments of Massachusetts and Nova Scotia. This question was not decided by the terms of the treaty: and it was referred by the treaty of 1794 to the final decision of a joint commission. The Commissioners did, on the 25th October, 1798, decide the river called Schoodiac, and the northern branch of it (called Cheputnaticook), to be the true River St. Croix; and that its source was at the northernmost head spring of the northern branch aforesaid. A monument was erected at that spot under the direction of the Commissioners.

However diversified or subdivided may have been the arguments adduced on both sides, there was in reality, after this decision, but one question at issue, viz: Which were the Highlands intended by the treaty? For since the boundary line was, from the monument, to be run due north to the Highlands, the position of the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, and of the boundary which thence extended along the Highlands, depended necessarily and exclusively on the position of those Highlands.

You know, that the point claimed by the United States, as being the northwest angle of Nova Scotia prescribed by the treaty, is that where the due north line intersects the highland which divides the source of the River Metis, a tributary stream of the River St. Lawrence, from the source of a branch of the River Ristigouche, which falls into the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and that the boundary claimed by them is along the Highlands which, from that point to the northwesternmost source of the Connecticut, divide rivers emptying themselves into the River St. Lawrence from the various branches of the Rivers Ristigouche, St. John, Penobscot, and Kennebec. On the other hand, it was claimed on the part of Great Britain, that the northwest angle of Nova Scotia was to be found on a point of the due north line, about forty miles north of the monument, at or near Mars Hill, which divides no other rivers but some riv

ulets which fall into the River St. John. The Highlands contended for by Great Britain extend from that point towards the source of the Connecticut River, dividing for threefifths of that distance the sources of the various branches of the Penobscot from those of the various branches of the River St. John, and for the other two-fifths, the sources of the tributaries of the Kennebec from those of rivers that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence.

For the better understanding of the maps, to which I shall hereafter allude, it is necessary to state, that during the course of this long discussion, it was contended, on the part of the United States, that the negotiators of the treaty of 1782, after much contention about that North-Eastern Boundary, at last did actually adopt, in that quarter, the boundaries which the Government of Great Britain had, by her public acts, subsequent to the conquest of Canada, declared to be the boundaries of Canada and Nova Scotia respectively. In order to enable you to judge of the correctness of that position, I will quote the acts alluded to.

His Britannic Majesty, by his proclamation, dated the 7th of October, 1763, established new Governments, and amongst others that of Quebec.

The boundaries of that Government were, by the said proclamation, fixed as follows:

"Bounded on the Labrador Coast by the River (a) St. "John; and from thence, by a line drawn from the head of "that river, through the Lake St. John, to the south end of "the Lake Nipissing, from whence the said line, crossing

(a) Not the River St. John which falls into the Bay of Fundy, but one of the same name, which, from the north, falls into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

"the River St. Lawrence and the Lake Champlain, in forty"five degrees of north latitude, passes along the Highlands " which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the said "River St. Lawrence from those which fall into the sea, and "also along the north coast of the Bay des Chaleurs and "the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to Cape Rosiers ; "and from thence, crossing the mouth of the River St. Law

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rence, by the west end of the Island of Anticosti, termi"nates at the aforesaid River St. John."

The boundaries of the Province of Quebec were enlarged in another quarter by the act of Parliament of 14th Geo. III. Chap. 83. (1774), commonly called the Quebec Act. But those adjacent to Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, were, by that act, defined in words nearly similar to those used in the proclamation of 1763, viz:

"That all the Territories, Islands, and Countries in North "America, belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, bounded, " on the south, by a line from the Bay of Chaleurs along the "Highlands which divide the rivers that empty themselves "into the River St. Lawrence from those which fall into the

sea, to a point in forty-five degrees of northern latitude, " on the eastern bank of the River Connecticut, keeping the "same latitude directly west through the Lake Champlain, " until, in the same latitude, it meets the River St. Lawrence, "from thence, &c. be, and they are hereby, "during His Majesty's pleasure, annexed to and made part "and parcel of the Province of Quebec, as created and es"tablished by the said Royal Proclamation, of the 7th of "October, 1763."

The only difference between the terms used respectively

in those acts and in the treaty, which has been alleged as affecting the boundaries intended by those instruments, consists in the substitution, in the treaty, of the term Atlantic Ocean, instead of the word Sea used in the Proclamation and in the Quebec Act. Those terms are considered by the United States as being in this case synonymous. It was asserted on the part of Great Britain, that the term "Atlantic Ocean, in the treaty, excludes the River St. John from the class of rivers that fall into that ocean.

With respect to the boundary between the United States and Nova Scotia, the description of it in the treaty is borrowed almost verbatim, from that which, for the twenty preceding years, had been assigned by the British Government to Nova Scotia. The limits prescribed for that Province are thus defined in the commission of Montagu Wilmot, dated 21st November, 1763, viz :

"Our Province of Nova Scotia, and which we have thought “ proper to restrain and comprise within the following limits, "viz: To the northward our said Province shall be bounded " by the southern boundary of our Province of Quebec as " far as the western extremity of the Bay des Chaleurs,

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and to the westward, although our said Pro“ vince has anciently extended, and does of right extend, as " far as the River Pentagoet or Penobscot, it shall be bounded " by a line drawn from Cape Sable across the entrance of "the Bay of Fundy to the mouth of the River St. Croix, by "the said River to its source, and by a line drawn due north " from thence to the southern boundary of our Colony of " Quebec."

In the commissions of the several Governors who suc