A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 4, part 2: John Tyler

by Unknown

At that moment, when the interior of the country was unknown, the adoption of the St. John as the boundary, even admitting that the Walloostook, its southwestern branch, is the main stream, would have given to the United States a territory of more immediate value than that they now claim. For this very reason the proposition was instantly rejected by Great Britain, and the State of Massachusetts was forced to be contented with the distant region now in debate—a region then believed to be almost inaccessible and hardly fit for human habitation.

Even now, were there not vested private rights on both sides which might render such a plan difficult of application, the undersigned would not hesitate to recommend that this line should be accepted in lieu of the one which is claimed under the treaty of 1783.

It is finally obvious, from the most cursory inspection of any of the maps of the territory in question, that the line claimed for Great Britain in the argument before the King of the Netherlands fulfills no more than one of the two conditions, while that of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge fulfills neither; and as the line claimed on the part of the United States is denied to be capable of meeting the terms of the treaty of 1783 by Great Britain, there is no line that, in conformity with the British argument, can be drawn within the disputed territory or its vicinity that will comply with either of the conditions. This is as well and as distinctly shown in the map of Mitchell as in the map of the British commission. It would therefore appear, if, these views be correct, that the framers of the treaty of 1783 went through the solemn farce of binding their respective Governments to a boundary which they well knew did not and could not exist.

V.—NORTHWEST HEAD OF CONNECTICUT RIVER.

The true mode of determining the most northwesterly of any two given points need no longer be a matter of discussion. It has already been a matter adjudicated and assented to by both Governments, in the case of the Lake of the Woods. The point to be considered as most to the northwest is that which a ruler laid on a map drawn according to Mercator's projection in a direction northeast and southwest and moved parallel to itself toward the northwest would last touch. In this view of the subject the Eastern Branch of the Connecticut, which forms the lake of that name, is excluded, for its source, so far from lying to the northwest of those of the other two branches which have been explored, actually lies to the south of the source of the Indian Stream. The question must therefore lie between the two others, and it is as yet impossible to decide which of them is best entitled to the epithet, as their sources lie very nearly in the same northeast and southwest rhomb line. Another circumstance would, however, render the decision between them easy. The forty-fifth parallel of latitude, as laid out by the surveyors of the Provinces of Quebec and New York in conformity with the proclamation of 1763, crosses Halls Stream above its junction with the united current of the other two. In this case the latter is the Connecticut River of the treaty of 1783, and Halls Stream, which has not yet joined it, must be excluded. The parallel, as corrected by the united operations of the British and American astronomers under the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, does not touch Halls Stream, and the Connecticut River, to which it is produced, is the united current of the three streams. If, then, the corrected parallel should become the boundary between the United States and the British Provinces, Halls Stream must become one of those the claim of whose source to the title of the north-westernmost head of Connecticut River is to be examined. And here it may be suggested, although with the hesitation that is natural in impeaching such high authority, that the commissioners under the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent in all probability misconstrued that instrument when they reopened the question of the forty-fifth parallel. It can not be said that the forty-fifth degree of latitude had "not been surveyed" when it is notorious that it had been traced and marked throughout the whole extent from St. Regis to the bank of the Connecticut River.

In studying, for the purpose of illustration, the history of this part of the boundary line it will be found that a change was made in it by the Quebec act of 1774. The proclamation of 1763 directs the forty-fifth parallel to be continued only until it meets highlands, while in that bill the Connecticut River is made the boundary of the Province of Quebec. Now the earlier of these instruments was evidently founded upon the French claim to extend their possession of Canada 10 leagues from the St. Lawrence River, and from the citadel of Quebec, looking to the south, are seen mountains whence rivers flow to the St. Lawrence. On their opposite slope there was a probability that streams might flow to the Atlantic. These mountains, however, are visibly separated from those over which the line claimed by the United States runs by a wide gap. This is the valley of the Chaudiere; and the St. Francis also rises on the southeastern side of these mountains and makes its way through them. It is not, therefore, in any sense a dividing ridge. Yet under the proclamation of 1763 the Provinces of New York and New Hampshire claimed and were entitled to the territory lying behind it, which is covered by their royal charters. The Quebec act, it would appear, was intended to divest them of it, and according to the construction of the treaty of 1783 now contended for the United States acquiesced in this diminution of the territory of those members of the Union. If, however, it be true, as maintained by Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, that the highlands seen to the south of Quebec are a portion of the ridge seen from southeast to northeast, and if, as they maintain, so deep and wide a valley as that of the St. John is no disruption of the continuity of highlands, it would be possible to show that the highlands of the treaty of 1783 are made up of these two ridges of mountains and that the United States is entitled to the whole of the eastern townships. This range of highlands would coincide with the terms of the proclamation of 1763 by terminating on the north shore of the Bay of Chaleurs, while the abraded highlands of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge terminate on its south shore. In fact, there is no step in their argument which might not be adduced to support this claim, nor any apparent absurdity in preferring it which would not find its parallel in one or other of the positions they assume.

In this view of the history of this part of the line it becomes evident, however, that in divesting the Provinces of New York and New Hampshire by the Quebec act of territory admitted to belong to them in the proclamation of 1763 the British Parliament must have intended to make the encroachment as small as possible, and the first important branch of the Connecticut met with in tracing the forty-fifth parallel must have been intended. This intention is fully borne out by the words of the treaty of 1783, which chose from among the branches of the Connecticut that whose source is farthest to the northwest.

It has therefore been shown in the foregoing statement—

1. That the river to be considered as the St. Croix and its true source have been designated by a solemn act, to which the good faith of the majesty of Great Britain and of the people of the United States is pledged, and can not now be disturbed.

2. That the boundary line must, in compliance with the provisions of the treaty of 1783, be drawn due north from the source of that river, and in no other direction whatever.