Metis to the St. Francis) that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence-from the sources of the tributaries of the rivers Ristigouche, St. John, Penobscot, Kennebec, and Connecticut, all which either mediately or immediately fall into the Atlantic Ocean.

The location of the source of the St. Croix was officially fixed by the declaration of commissioners in October, 1878. Its position as determined in 1899 is latitude 45° 56′ 37.007" and longitude 67° 46' 54.715'.21

Boundary claimed by Great Britain.-From the source of the River St. Croix the boundary should be a due north line about 40 miles to a point at or near Mars Hill; then it should run westerly about 115 miles along the highlands that divide the sources of the tributaries of the River St. John from the sources of the River Penobscot to a spot called Metjarmette Portage, near the source of the River Chaudiere.

From this point the line coincides with the line claimed by the United States until the northwesternmost head of the Connecticut River is reached. Great Britain claimed one of several small streams to be the northwesternmost tributary of the Connecticut River, and the United States another.

The territory in dispute comprised an area of about 12,000 square miles. The British claims were based principally on a possible uncertainty as to the identity of the River St. Croix and the proper location of the "highlands."

ARBITRATION BY KING OF THE NETHERLANDS.

The King of the Netherlands was selected in 1829 by the two Governments as the arbiter, and each laid before him, in conformity with the provisions of the convention, all the evidence intended to be brought in support of its claim and two separate statements of the respective cases.

The award of the King of the Netherlands, made in 1831, was as follows:

We are of the opinion that it will be suitable (il conviendra) to adopt as the boundary of the two States a line drawn due north from the source of the river St. Croix to the point where it intersects the mildle of the thalweg of the river St. John; thence the middle of the thalweg of that river, ascending it to the point where the river St. Francis empties itself into the river St. John; thence the middle of the thalweg of the river Saint Francis, ascending it to the source of its southwesternmost branch, which source we indicate on the Map A by the letter X, authenticated by the signature of our minister of foreign affairs; thence in a line drawn due west to the point where it unites with the line claimed by the United States of America and delineated on the Map A; thence said line to the point at which, according to said map, it coincides with

21 U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Special Pub. 46, p. 30.

that claimed by Great Britain, and thence the line traced on the map by the two powers to the northwesternmost source of Connecticut River.

We are of the opinion that the stream situated farthest to the northwest, among these which fall into the northernmost of the three lakes, the last of which bears the name of Connecticut Lake, must be considered as the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River.

We are of the opinion that it will be suitable (il conviendra) to proceed to fresh operations to measure the observed latitude in order to mark out the boundary from river Connecticut along the parallel of the forty-fifth degree of north latitude to the river Saint Lawrence, named in the treaties Iroquois or Cataraquy, in such a manner, however, that, in all cases, at the place called Rouse's Point the territory of the United States of America shall extend to the fort erected at that place, and shall include said fort and its kilometrical radius (rayon kilometrique).

However disposed the Government of the United States might have been to acquiesce in the decision of the arbiter, it had not the power to change the boundaries of a State without the consent of the State. Against that alteration the State of Maine entered a solemn protest by the resolution of January 19, 1832, and the Senate of the United States accordingly refused to give its assent to the award. The arbitration of the King of the Netherlands having failed, fruitless negotiations ensued for a period of 11 years. Unsuccessful attempts were made to conclude an agreement preparatory to another arbitration. The subject became a matter of great irritation, collisions occurred in the contested territory, and for a time it seemed certain that the controversy would result in war between the two powers.

The Legislature of Maine placed a large sum at the disposal of the governor for the defense of the State's rights, and a bill was passed by Congress providing funds for the use of an army.

Massachusetts, being an interested party in the location of this boundary, appointed a committee to investigate the matter; its report was published March 20, 1838, as Senate Document 67. Gallatin 22 presents an excellent discussion of this dispute from the point of view of the United States, and White 23 treats of this boundary from the British side.

WEBSTER-ASHBURTON TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN, 1842.

In 1842, however, Great Britain gave proof, by the special mission of Lord Ashburton to the United States, of her desire for the preservation of peace and an amicable arrangement of the matter at

"Gallatin, Albert, The right of the United States of America to the northeastern boundary claimed by them, with maps, New York, 1840.

*See White, James, Boundary disputes and treaties, Toronto, 1914, also Maine, Resolves of the legislature, 1828, January session.

issue. The subject of this mission was the settlement, not only of the northeastern boundary but also of the northern boundary west of the Rocky Mountains. Regarding the latter object, Lord Ashburton's instructions gave as the ultimatum of the British Government the boundary as above claimed (p. 12), and, naturally, his mission had no result as far as this part of the boundary was concerned.

An agreement was reached, however, in regard to the northeastern boundary, which, the consent of the State of Maine haying been obtained, was embodied in the treaty concluded August 9, 1842.

The following is the text of the part of this treaty relating to the boundary: 24

ARTICLE I. It is hereby agreed and declared that the line of boundary shall be as follows: Beginning at the monument at the source of the river St. Croix as designated and agreed to by the Commissioners under the fifth article of the treaty of 1794, between the Governments of the United States and Great Britain; thence north, following the exploring line run and marked by the surveyors of the two Governments in the years 1817 and 1818, under the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, to its intersection with the river St. John, and to the middle of the channel thereof; thence, up the middle of the main channel of the said river St. John, to the mouth of the river St. Francis; thence up the middle of the channel of the said river St. Francis, and of the lakes through which it flows, to the outlet of the Lake Pohenagamook; thence, southwesterly, in a straight line, to a point on the northwest branch of the river St. John, which point shall be ten miles distant from the main branch of the St. John, in a straight line, and in the nearest direction; but if the said point shall be found to be less than seven miles from the nearest point of the summit or crest of the highlands that divide those rivers which empty themselves into the river Saint Lawrence from those which fall into the river Saint John, then the said point shall be made to recede down the said northwest branch of the river St. John, to a point seven miles in a straight line from the said summit or crest; thence, in a straight line, in a course about south, eight degrees west, to the point where the parallel of latitude 46° 25′ north intersects the southwest branch of the St. John's; thence, southerly, by the said branch, to the source thereof in the highlands at the Metjarmette portage; thence, down along the said highlands which divide the waters which empty themselves into the river Saint Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the head of Hall's Stream; thence, down the middle of said stream, till the line thus run intersects the old line of boundary surveyed and marked by Valentine and Collins, previously to the year 1774, as the 45th degree of north latitude, and which has been known and understood to be the line of actual division between the States of New York and Vermont on one side, and the British province of Canada on the other; and from said point of intersection, west, along the said dividing line, as heretofore known and understood, to the Iroquois or St. Lawrence River.

ARTICE II. It is moreover agreed, that, from the place where the joint Commissioners terminated their labors under the sixth article of the treaty of Ghent, to wit, at a point in the Neebish Channel, near Muddy Lake, the line shall run into and along the ship-channel between Saint Joseph and St. Tam4 Malloy, W. M., op. cit., vol. 1, p. 651.

many Islands, to the division of the channel at or near the head of St. Joseph's Island; thence, turning eastwardly and northwardly around the lower end of St. George's or Sugar Island, and following the middle of the channel which divides St. George's from St. Joseph's Island; thence up the east Neebish Channel, nearest to St. George's Island, through the middle of Lake George; thence, west of Jonas' Island, into St. Mary's River, to a point in the middle of that river, about one mile above St. George's or Sugar Island, so as to appropriate and assign the said island to the United States; thence, adopting the line traced on the maps by the Commissioners, thro' the river St. Mary and Lake Superior, to a point north of Ile Royale, in said lake, one hundred yards to the north and east of Ile Chapeau, which last-mentioned island lies near the northeastern point of Ile Royale, where the line marked by the Commissioners terminates; and from the last-mentioned point, southwesterly, through the middle of the sound between Ile Royale and the northwestern mainland, to the mouth of Pigeon River, and up the said river, to and through the north and south Fowl Lakes, to the lakes of the height of land between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods; thence, along the water communication to Lake Saisaginaga, and through that lake; thence to and through Cypress Lake, Lac du Bois Blanc, Lac la Croix, Little Vermillion Lake, and Lake Namecan and through the several smaller lakes, straits, or streams, connecting the lakes here mentioned, to that point in Lac la Pluie, or Rainy Lake, at the Chaudière Falls, from which the Commissioners traced the line to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods; thence, along the said line, to the said most northwestern point, being in latitude 49° 23′ 55′′ north, and in longitude 95° 14′ 38" west from the observatory at Greenwich; thence, according to existing treaties, due south to its intersection with the 49th parallel of north latitude, and along that parallel to the Rocky Mountains. It being understood that all the water communications and all the usual portages along the line from Lake Superior to the Lake of the Woods, and also Grand Portage, from the shore of Lake Superior to the Pigeon River, as now actually used, shall be free and open to the use of the citizens and subjects of both countries.

ARTICLE VII. It is further agreed that the channels in the river St. Lawrence, on both sides of the Long Sault Islands and of Barnhart Island, the channels in the river Detroit on both sides of the island Bois Blanc, and between that island and both the American and Canadian shores, and all the several channels and passages between the various islands lying near the junction of the river St. Clair with the lake of that name, shall be equally free and open to the ships, vessels, and boats of both parties.

By this treaty the United States obtained more than half of the disputed area, but nearly 1,000 square miles less than was awarded by the King of the Netherlands. The promise of reimbursement for cost of surveys and other expenses and the division of a large fund for timber cut in the disputed territory no doubt influenced Maine in agreeing to the boundary as fixed by the treaty.

The wording of the part of the treaty of 1783 relating to the northeastern boundary and its intent are so obvious that it seems strange that there should have been a dispute continuing for nearly 60 years regarding its interpretation. An English writer 25 in 1911 character

Mills, Lieut. Col. D. A., British diplomacy in Canada: Royal Colonial Inst. Jour., October, 1911, pp. 684-687.

izes the action of Great Britain as an "attempted theft" and states that "the British claim had no foundation of any sort or kind."

Ganong,26 in a monograph on the boundaries of New Brunswick, after a lengthy discussion of the boundary dispute and of the treaty of 1842 states:

On the other hand, the few New Brunswickers of the present time who have examined the original sources of information have come to the conclusion that in the question of the northwest angle Maine was technically right and New Brunswick wrong, and that the Ashburton treaty took from Maine and gave to us a great territory to which we had not a technical right.

TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN, 1846.

Between 1843 and 1846 there was considerable negotiation as to the boundary west of the Rocky Mountains, resulting in the treaty of 1846, which defined the boundary as far west as the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The following is that part of the treaty which describes the boundary:

27

ARTICLE I. From the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, where the boundary laid down in existing treaties and conventions between the United States and Great Britain terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of the United States and those of Her Britannic Majesty shall be continued westward along the said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island; and thence southerly through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca's Straits, to the Pacific Ocean: Provided, however, that the navigation of the whole of the said channel and straits, south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, remain free and open to both parties. ARTICLE II. From the point at which the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude shall be found to intersect the great northern branch of the Columbia River, the navigation of the said branch shall be free and open to the Hudson's Bay Company, and to all British subjects trading with the same, to the point where the said branch meets the main stream of the Columbia, and thence down the said main stream to the ocean, with free access into and through the said river or rivers, it being understood that all the usual portages along the line thus described shall, in like manner, be free and open. In navigating the said river or rivers, British subjects, with their goods and produce, shall be treated on the same footing as citizens of the United States; it being, however, always understood that nothing in this article shall be construed as preventing, or intended to prevent, the Government of the United States from making any regulations respecting the navigation of the said river or rivers not inconsistent with the present treaty.

This treaty extended the line westward from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific along the forty-ninth parallel of latitude. This settled the northwestern boundary with the exception of the islands. and passages in the Straits of Georgia and of Juan de Fuca, Eng

28 Ganong, W. F., A monograph on the evolution of the boundaries of New Brunswick: Royal Soc. Canada Proc. and Trans., 1901.

Malloy, W. M., op. cit., vol. 1. p. 657.