end the High Contracting Parties agree to furnish each other with authentic copies of all maps and surveys of the disputed and contiguous territories, and also with like copies of all official documents connected with the negotiation of the said Treaty, which are to be found in the public archives of the respective Governments, and which two of the said Commissioners on either side shall believe to have a bearing upon the subject under discussion; and

3rdly. That in case of a final disagreement amongst the Commissioners, in respect to the true location of that portion of the Boundary between the United States and the British possessions in America, it shall be their further duty to draw up a full report of their proceedings, under this Treaty, and to include therein a specific statement of the facts and circumstances which it is by this Article made their special duty to note, and in respect to which, two out of three of the Commissioners on each side, have found themselves able to concur in opinion.

The said report shall be drawn up in duplicate, and signed and sealed by the Commissioners agreeing to the same in the presence of all the others; and one original of said report shall be forwarded by the British Commissioners to the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, and the other original shall be forwarded by the American Commissioners to the Government of the United States.

The two High Contracting Parties formally agree to consider the report of the Commissioners, so authenticated, as conclusive, in regard to the facts therein stated, in all future discussions upon the subject.

This is too vague.

All this is needlessly wordy.

There ought to be no future discussions about points which the Commission shall have decided; and on points about which they cannot agree, the statement of facts by the Commissioners on the two sides may differ, and, in such cases, the reports cannot be conclusive as to facts.

ARTICLE VI.

As soon as the Commissioners shall have transmitted to their respective Governments the report prescribed by the Fourth Article, they shall at once proceed to mark out and make a map of such line as they shall have agreed to consider as fulfilling the conditions of the Treaty of 1783, agreeably to

such report as they shall have transmitted to their respective Governments; and the line, so drawn, shall be deemed and taken by the two Contracting Parties to be a portion of the boundary line between the American and British territories, as intended by the Treaty of Peace of 1783.

They shall certify the accuracy of such map by a declaration to be attached to it, under their hands and seals, and shall particularize the longitude and latitude of such points in the said line as they may deem proper.

One copy of such map shall be transmitted to each Government by its own Commissioners, and both the High Contracting Parties agree to consider such map and declaration as finally and conclusively fixing the said portion of the Boundary between their respective territories.

ARTICLE VII.

As Article VIII. of the British Project, leaving out the words "in as straight a direction as the features of the country shall admit," and inserting after the word "Commissioners," in the second line of the second paragraph, the words " or two on each side."

All this has been more concisely stated in the new Draft.

There can be no good reason for leaving out these words, and they ought to stand.

it is further agreed that the designation of that part of the Boundary line. between the dominions of the United States and Great Britain, which extends from the source of the River St. Croix, directly north, to the north-west angle of Nova Scotia; thence 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 the Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that river to the 45th degree of north latitude; thence by a line due west in said latitude until it strikes the River Iroquois or Cataraguay, as described in the Fifth Article of the Treaty of Ghent, shall be referred to three Commissioners, (neither of whom shall be a citizen of the United States or a subject of Great Britain,) to be severally selected by three friendly Sovereigns or States, viz.: and and who shall be invited by the President of the United States, and Her Britannic Majesty, to assume this office. And the said Commissioners so appointed, shall be sworn impartially to examine and decide upon the matters so referred to them, according to such evidence as shall be laid before them, on the part of the United States and of Great Britain respectively. The said Commissioners shall meet at and shall have the power to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit. The said Commissioners, or a majority of them, shall, by a declaration or report under their hands and seals, decide upon the matters referred to them, and shall designate the line of Boundary in conformity with the true intent of the definitive Treaty of Peace of 1783; and both the Contracting Parties shall consider such designation as final and conclusive.

If I understand this plan of arbitration, it goes to this, that if the Joint Commission cannot ayree upon everything, they shall be wholly set aside, and a Commission of Arbitration shall be appointed to determine the whole Boundary: the Report of the Commission of Survey and Exploration being submitted as evidence to the Commission of Arbitration.

It seems to me that a much better plan would be to let the decisions of the Commission of Survey be final, as far as they go, to give the two Governments, in the first instance, an opportunity of coming to an agreement about points on which the Commissioners of Survey shall have differed, and to submit to the Commission of Arbitration those points only upon which the Commission of Survey, and the two Governments shall have been unable to come to an agreement: the new Draft is framed upon this scheme.

It seems objectionable to allow the two Governments to submit to the Commission of Arbitration evidence which has not been submitted to the Commission of Survey.