received a letter, dated the 14th of July, from Colonel Barclay, one of the commissioners under Article V., indicating acceptance of the proposal. Owing to the delay in the arrival of the British astronomers, the joint meeting of the boards did not take place till June 1818. The determination of the point made by Andrew Ellicott, the American astonomer, in the preceding year was found to be correct.

British Agent.

At a meeting of the commissioners under Article VI. at Hamilton, Ontario, on June 1, 1818, John Hale appeared and presented a commission as British agent.

Changes in the
Board.

From 1819 to 1821 various changes occurred in the constitution of the board. In June 1819 Stephen Sewell resigned the position of secretary and was succeeded in it by Donald Fraser, whose place as assistant secretary was filled in the following June by the appointment of Dr. John Biggsby.

On the 28th of September 1819 Mr. Oglivy, the British commissioner, died at Amherstburgh, near Detroit, of a fever contracted among the St. Clair flats. He was succeeded by Anthony Barclay, of Annapolis, Nova Scotia, a son of Thomas Barclay, British commissioner under Article V. Anthony Barclay appeared and presented his credentials and oath of office at a meeting of the board on June 3, 1820, at Grosse Isle. At a meeting at Black Rock on May 7, 1821, Joseph Delafield appeared and presented a commission as agent of the United States, in place of Samuel Hawkins.

missioners.

On the 12th of November 1821, at a meetAgreement of Com- ing of the board in the city of New York, the surveyors stated that the maps of the survey along the whole line were ready for inspection. The agents respectively presented claims to the islands lying in the mouth of the Detroit River, the American agent to Bois Blanc, Sugar, and Story islands, and the British agent to the two latter. After holding several meetings in New York, the commissioners adjourned to Philadelphia, where they met on the 29th of January 1822. On the 5th of February Mr. Porter presented a statement of his views, and Mr. Barclay a reply; and they also prepared a joint statement, setting forth the differences between them. They then adjourned to meet on the

1 Rives's Correspondence of Thomas Barclay, 385.

3d of June at Utica, N. Y. On June 18, 1822, they reached an agreement. They held their last meeting under Article VI. on the 22d of June.

Principles of Decision.

In reaching their decision the commissioners proceeded without any fixed rule, except that the line should invariably be a water line, and therefore should not divide any island. But difficulties naturally arose not only out of questions touching the assignments of islands, but also out of questions touching the water communications and their navigation. At the sessions of the commissioners in the city of New York in the autumn of 1821 it was proposed to them that they should make with their final award a joint declaration to the effect that they had acted on the principle that the navigation of all the lakes, rivers, and water communications through which, by the treaty of 1783, the boundary was to pass should continue open and free to the citizens and subjects of the two powers, unaffected by the course of the line established by the award, it being understood that the proposition should receive the assent of the two governments before the declaration was made. It was believed that such a declaration would not only facilitate the conclusion of an award, but would also tend to prevent future difficulties as to the right of navigation. It seems, however, that while the proposition was acceded to by the President of the United States, the British minister at Washington, to whom it was presented, declined to sanction it on the part of his government, on the ground that such a declaration by the commissioners might serve to cast doubt on what was a matter of right; and the commissioners were left to trace the line in accordance with their views of the requirements of their commissions.

During their deliberations on the award, Mr. Porter proposed that the commissioners should be governed by certain rules, but Mr. Barclay declined to give them a "distinct and positive recognition," on the ground that cases might occur in the course of the proceedings in which the restrictions imposed by fixed rules might prove to be inconvenient.'

Award.

The award of the commissioners was as follows:

"The undersigned Commissioners, appointed, sworn and authorized, in virtue of the sixth article of the treaty of peace and

1 H. Ex. Doc. 451, 25 Cong. 2 sess. 6-10. Infra, p. 174.

amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, concluded at Ghent, on the twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, impartially to examine, and, by a report or declaration, under their hands and seals, to designate that portion of the boundary of the United States from the point where the 45th degree of north latitude strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraqua, 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 said communication, into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake, until it arrives at the water communication into Lake Huron; thence, through the middle of said water communication, into Lake Huron; thence, through the middle of said lake, to the water communication between that lake and Lake Superior;' and to 'decide to which of the two contracting parties the several islands, lying within the said rivers, lakes and water communications, do respectively belong, in conformity with the true intent of the treaty of 1783:' Do decide and declare, that the following described line, (which is more clearly indicated on a series of maps accompanying this report, exhibiting correct surveys and delineations of all the rivers, lakes, water communications and islands, embraced by the sixth article of the treaty of Ghent, by a black line shaded on the British side with red, and on the American side with blue; and each sheet of which series of maps is identified by a certificate, subscribed by the Commissioners, and by the two principal surveyors employed by them,) is the true boundary intended by the two before mentioned treaties, that is to say:

ary.

"Beginning at a stone monument, erected Definition of Bound- by Andrew Ellicott, Esquire, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, on the south bank, or shore, of the said river Iroquois or Cataraqua, (now called the St. Lawrence,) which monument bears south seventy-four degrees and forty-five minutes west, and is eighteen hundred and forty yards distant from the stone church in the Indian village of St. Regis, and indicates the point at which the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude strikes the said river; thence, running north thirty-five degrees and forty five minutes west, into the river, on a line at right angles with the southern shore, to a point one hundred yards south of the opposite island, called Cornwall Island; thence, turning westerly, and passing around the southern and western sides of said island, keeping one hundred yards distant therefrom, and following the curvatures of its shores to a point opposite to the northwest corner, or angle, of said island; thence to and along the middle of the main river, until it approaches the eastern extremity of Barnhart's Island; thence northerly, along the channel which divides the last-mentioned island from the Canada shore, keeping one hundred yards distant from the island, until it approaches Sheik's Island; thence along the middle of the strait which divides Barnhart's and Sheik's Island, to

the channel called the Long Sault, which separates the two last mentioned islands from the Lower Long Sault Island; thence westerly (crossing the centre of the last mentioned channel) until it approaches within one hundred yards of the north shore of the Lower Sault Island; thence up the north branch of the river, keeping to the north of, and near, the Lower Sault Island, and also north of, and near, the Upper Sault (sometimes called Baxter's) Island, and south of the two small islands, marked on the map A and B, to the western extremity of the Upper Sault, or Baxter's Island; thence passing between the two islands called the Cats, to the middle of the river above; thence along the middle of the river, keeping to the north of the small islands marked C and D; and north also of Chrystler's Island and of the small island next above it, marked E, until it approaches the northeast angle of Goose Neck Island; thence along the passage which divides the last-mentioned island from the Canada shore, keeping one hundred yards from the island, to the upper end of the same; thence south of, and near, the two small islands called the Nut Islands; thence north of, and near, the island marked F, and also of the island called Dry or Smuggler's Island; thence passing between the islands marked G and H, to the north of the island called Isle au Rapid Plat; thence along the north side of the last-mentioned island, keeping one hundred yards from the shore to the upper end thereof; thence along the middle of the river, keeping to the south of, and near, the islands called Cousson (or Tussin) and Presque Isle; thence up the river, keeping north of, and near, the sev eral Gallop Isles, numbered on the map 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, and also of Tick, Tibbet's, and Chimney Islands; and south of, and near, the Gallop Isles, numbered 11, 12, and 13, and also of Duck, Drummond, and Sheep Islands; thence along the middle of the river, passing north of island No. 14, south of 15, and 16, north of 17, south of 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 28, and north of 26, and 27; thence along the middle of the river, north of Gull Island, and of the islands No. 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, Bluff Island, and No.39, 44, and 45, and to the south of No.30,31, 36, Grenadier Island, and No. 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 47, and 48, until it approaches the east end of Well's Island; thence to the north of Well's Island, and along the strait which divides it from Rowe's Island, keeping to the north of the small islands No. 51, 52, 54, 58, 59, and 61, and to the south of the small islands numbered and marked 49, 50, 53,55,57, 60, and X, until it approaches the northeast point of Grindstone Island; thence to the north of Grindstone Island, and keeping to the north also of the small islands, No. 63, 65, 67, 68, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, and 78, and to the south of No. 62, 64, 66, 69, and 71, until it approaches the southern point of Hickory Island; thence passing to the south of Hickory Island, and of the two small islands lying near its southern extremity, numbered 79 and 80; thence to the south of Grand or Long Island, keeping near its southern shore, and passing to the north of Carlton Island, until it

arrives opposite to the southwestern point of said Grand Island in Lake Ontario; thence passing to the north of Grenadier, Fox, Stony, and the Gallop Islands in Lake Ontario, and to the south of, and near, the islands called the Ducks, to the middle of the said lake; thence westerly, along the middle of said lake, to a point opposite the mouth of the Niagara River; thence to and up the middle of the said river to the Great Falls; thence up the Falls, through the point of the Horse Shoe, keeping to the west of Iris or Goat Island, and of the group of small islands at its head, and following the bends of the river so as to enter the strait between Navy and Grand Islands; thence along the middle of said strait to the head of Navy Island; thence to the west and south of, and near to, Grand and Beaver Islands, and to the west of Strawberry, Squaw, and Bird Islands, to Lake Erie; thence southerly and westerly, along the middle of Lake Erie, in a direction to enter the passage immediately south of Middle Island, being one of the easternmost of the group of islands lying in the western part of said lake; thence along the said passage, proceeding to the north of Cunningham's Island, of the three Bass Islands, and of the Western Sister, and to the south of the islands called the Hen and Chickens, and of the Eastern and Middle Sisters; thence to the middle of the mouth of the Detroit River, in a direction to enter the channel which divides Bois Blanc and Sugar Islands; thence up the said channel to the west of Bois-Blanc Island, and to the east of Sugar, Fox, and Stony Islands, until it approaches Fighting or Great Turkey Island; thence along the western side, and near the shore of said last-mentioned island, to the middle of the river above the same; thence along the middle of said river, keeping to the southeast of, and near, Hog Island, and to the northwest of, and near, the island called Isle a la Pache, to Lake St. Clair; thence through the middle of said lake, in a direction to enter that mouth or channel of the river St. Clair, which is usually denominated the Old Ship Channel; thence along the middle of said channel, between Squirrel Island on the southeast, and Herson's Island on the northwest, to the upper end of the last-mentioned island, which is nearly opposite to point Aux Chênes, on the American shore; thence along the middle of the river St. Clair, keeping to the west of, and near, the islands called Belle Riviere Isle, and Isle aux Cerfs, to Lake Huron; thence through the middle of Lake Huron, in a direction to enter the strait or passage between Drummond's Island on the west, and the Little Manitou Island on the east; thence through the middle of the passage which divides the two last-mentioned islands; thence turning northerly and westerly, around the eastern and northern shores of Drummond's Island, and proceeding in a direction to enter the passage between the Island of St. Joseph's and the American shore, passing to the north of the intermediate islands No. 61, 11, 10, 12, 9, 6, 4, and 2, and to the south of those numbered 15, 13, 5, and 1; thence up the said last-mentioned passage, keeping near to the island