NOTES

UPON THE

SOUTH WESTERN BOUNDARY LINE,

&c. &c.

THE

HE period of the determination of the great question now. pending between Great Britain and the United States of America, concerning the Boundary Line, which is hereafter to separate the Colonial possessions of the former from the territories of the latter, in the long tract of country stretching from the head of the Connecticut River to the Bay of Fundy, is now fast approaching, and mens' minds in this Province begin, at last, to be awakened to the important effects which the determination, however given, must have upon the future fates of the country.

Much that is well worthy of perusal has already been written in support of the right of Great Britain to the territory in dispute.

There is, however, one part of the subject which, it would seem, has not been so fully treated as would have been desir

able;-I mean that part which relates to the controversies which, from time to time, arose respecting this Boundary Line between the English and French possessions, whilst Canada belonged to the Crown of France, and the treaties by which those controversies were settled.

A notion has been adopted by many, otherwise well informed men, that in the present discussions between Great Britain and the United States of America, the positions to be maintained by Great Britain, are the same as those which France heretofore maintained without success. Now, although it be true that the present controversy cannot be rightly understood without a knowledge of the history of the controversies which preceded it, still it differs essentially from the anterior controversies.

Conflicting titles are produced, and adverse possession set up on the one side and on the other. In investigating these opposite lines of title, we cannot be certain of understanding the last title without first understanding that which immediately precedes it, and so back until we reach the first link of the chain, and with this we ought to begin. The chronological order, always an useful aid to the memory, cannot here be inverted without prejudice to the judgment, nor can a single link of the chain be with safety omitted.

This dry and humble, but necessary inquiry, can probably be no where conducted with so much advantage as in this country. It is intimately connected with the early history of the Colony, and this must be sought for in ancient travels and original documents, possessing no where else the same interest, and no where else so easily accessible.

The French settlements upon the North American Continent long preceded those of England.

In 1506, Jean Denys, of Honfleur*, published a chart of the coast of Newfoundland, and in 1508, a savage was conveyed by a pilot of Dieppe, to France. But the first of all the voyages made to North America with the view of effecting settlements there, was unquestionably that of the Baron de Lery and de St. Just, in 1518.† He landed cattle upon Sable Island in this voyage, whilst it was more than a hundred years afterwards (A. D. 1624) that cattle were first conveyed to New England.‡

It is not necessary here to advert to the voyages of Jean Verrazan to the southern parts of North America, in the years 1523, 1524 and 1525, nor to those in the same direction of Laudonière, Ribaud, and of the Chevalier de Gourgues. Nor is it necessary for us to take any notice of the voyage of Jaques Cartier, in 1534, and of his settlement upon the north shore in 1535; nor of the first appointment of a Lieutenant General in the countries of "Canada, Hochelaga and Saguenay, and others in 1540." Our attention will be confined to the River and Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and to the great Peninsula commencing on the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence, opposite Quebec, and terminating at the mouth of the River St. Croix, in the Bay of Fundy.

After the failure of an attempt to make a settlement at Tadoussac, by the Sieur Chauvin, a French Protestant, and after his death, about the year 1602, the Sieur de Monts, who had made his first voyage with Chauvin, formed the project of effecting a settlement more to the southward The Sieur de Poitrincourt joined in this enterprise. L'Escarbot, whom the *Fastes Chronologiques du Nouveau Monde, p. 13. +L'Escarbot, p. 21.

#Salmon, III. 536.

Mémoires des Commissaires du Roi, et de ceux de Sa Majesté Britannique sur les possessions et les droits respectifs des deux Couronnes en Amérique I. 137-Champlain, part I. p. 42.

Sieur de Poitrincourt took with him to America on his second voyage, in 1606, has given the history of these early settlements, whereof he was, as it were an eye witness, since Port Royal (Annapolis) was only founded in 1605, and that he was mainly accessary to the earliest advances of that Colony.

The letters patent nominating the Sieur de Monts Lieutenant Général pour représenter notre personne au Pays, Territoire Cótes et Confins de l'Acadie, à commencer dès le quarante-quatrième dégré jusqu'au quarante-sixième, bear date the 8th November, 1603, and may be read in L'Escarbot, p. 417.

As early as 1604, the Sieur de Monts fitted out two ships, one intended to form a settlement within the limits of his grant, in which he embarked with the Sieurs Champlain and De Poitrincourt, the other under the command of the Sieur de Pont Gravé, intended principally for the fur trade.*

Upon the 6th May, 1604, they reached the coast of Acadie, at Port Rossignol, and thence sailing coastwise, they reached a port, which they called Port au Mouton.

They thence went to Cape Sable and explored a large Bay, which they denominated La Baie Françoise, and which is now known by the name of the Bay of Fundy. The port at the entrance of this Bay, was, from its signal beauty, called Port Royal; and the Sieur de Poitrincourt was so well pleased with the situation, that he solicited and obtained a grant of land, there to settle with his family.† After going out of Port Royal and exploring the Mines, they crossed the Bay and arrived at the river St. John on the 24th of June; leaving, then, that river, and sailing coastwise, they came to the mouth of a river, and settled on a small island in it, which they called St. + L'Escarbot, p. 440.

* Mem. des Comm. I. 137.