Canada; its Defences, Condition, and Resources / Being a third and concluding volume of "My Diary, North and South"

by Sir William Howard Russell

“Paissey, Decr. 6th, 1782.

“Sir,—I have the honour of returning herewith the map your Excellency sent me yesterday. I have marked with a strong red line, according to your desire, the limits of the United States as settled in the preliminaries between the British and American Plenipotentiaries.

“With great respect,
“I am, &c.,
“B. Franklin.”

This letter was addressed to the Count De Vergènnes, the French Minister. Mr. Sparkes, in fact, discovered the actual map of North America of 1746, and on it was drawn a strong red line throughout the entire boundary of the United States, answering exactly to Franklin’s description. “Imagine,” says Mr. Sparkes, “my surprise on discovering that this line runs wholly south of the St. John’s, and between the head waters of that river and those of the Penobscot and Kennebec; in short, it is exactly the line contended for by Great Britain, except that it concedes more than is claimed.”

When the secret debates of the Senate were published, it was seen that Mr. Rives, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, had fortified his argument against the rejection of this Ashburton line by quoting the existence of this map, and warning them of the risk and danger of a further search into the archives of Europe. In the debate that followed, Mr. Benton, eager to overthrow the value of Mr. Sparkes’ discovery and of Mr. Rives’s argument, produced a map from the Jefferson collection in the library of Congress, which contained a dotted line marking the boundary of the Government of Quebec under the proclamation of 1763, but strange to say, he overlooked the fact which was at once visible to every eye, that a strong red line, indicating the limits of the United States according to the Treaty of Peace, was traced across it, which coincided minutely and exactly with the boundary on Mr. Sparkes’ map.

Those who wish for the most minute details respecting this map, may be referred to Mr. Grattan’s work. The map of Baron Steiben, and that of Faden, coincide in a most remarkable manner in marking the limits of the United States.

It is worthy of note that Mr. Buchanan, the last President of the United States, did his very best to maintain the propriety of the deceit. Mr. Calhoun is supposed to have appreciated the importance of the discoveries, and to have felt the injury to American diplomacy which Mr. Webster’s suppressions of truth might create on future occasions. The Americans actually made use of the weakness of the English Minister as an argument that they had been cheated themselves, and Mr. Webster’s ability in concealing the truth was considered evidence that he had not gone far enough in the same line, and his reputation as a skilful and successful negotiator was considered not to stand very high. The action of Sir Robert Peel, however, prevented any endeavour to obtain the legitimate advantages which the discovery of these maps ought to have produced.

The decision arrived at affected the State of Maine and the pretensions of its people, but it had little to do with the prosperity or military strength of the whole of the Union: whilst it weakened Canada in its weakest point, and conferred most signal advantage on the only enemy it had to fear: it bit in to the substance of the Provinces, and at the same time cut the vein of communication with the sea for five long winter months. Strange that a line drawn upon a piece of paper by the hand of a man gathered to his fathers for so many years, should for a time at least decide so much of a nation’s happiness and prosperity—for a time only, because it must soon be that the increasing power or failing resources of the United States, or of Canada, will cause a modification of the present frontier, more in accordance with the commercial and military exigencies of the two States. The Canadians feel that Imperial diplomacy has done them a great wrong, possibly very much as France feels in respect to her Rhenish boundary; but in a military point of view, perhaps the cession of Rouse’s Point has been the most serious of all the circumstances affecting the relations for aggressive purposes of the United States with the Provinces.

In order that we may appreciate the importance of Mr. Webster’s achievement, let us quote his own description of it in the great debate which took place in the Senate on the Washington Treaty. Mr. Webster, in noticing some of the many charges made against him in reference to the treaty, dealt with the question of military concession in the following manner:—