Done at Paris, this 3rd day of September, in the year of our Lord, 1783.
| (L.S.) D. HARTLEY. | (L.S.) JOHN ADAMS. | |
| (L.S.) B. FRANKLIN. | ||
| (L.S.) JOHN JAY. |
APPENDIX II
THE BOUNDARY LINE OF CANADA
The North-Eastern boundary.
On the North-Eastern side, the Treaty of 1783 prescribed the boundary as follows:—
‘From the North-West angle of Nova Scotia, viz., that angle which is formed by a line drawn due North; from the source of 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 North-Westernmost head of Connecticut river; ... 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 Highlands, 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 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 part, and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia.’
So far as these words refer to the sea boundary of the United States no difficulty arose, except in the Bay of Fundy. East Florida was ceded to Spain by Great Britain at the same time that the treaty with the United States was signed, and therefore the boundary line in the South had no further concern for the English.
The border land between Acadia and New England.
The North-East had been the border land between Acadia and the New England States. In old days, as was inevitable, there had been constant disputes between French and English as to the boundary between Acadia and New England, while Acadia still belonged to France; and, after the Treaty of Utrecht had given Acadia to Great Britain, as to the boundary between Acadia and Canada. When, by the Peace of 1763, Canada was ceded to Great Britain, the question of boundaries ceased to have any national importance; and no further difficulty, except as between British Provinces, arose until the United States became an independent nation. Then it became necessary to draw an international frontier line, which as a matter of fact had never yet been drawn. There seems to have been a more or less honest attempt, with the help of maps which were, as might have been expected, inaccurate, to adopt a line for which there was some authority in the past, instead of evolving a wholly new frontier; and the result of looking to the past was eventually to fix a boundary which was in no sense a natural frontier.