middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royal and Phelippeaux, to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake,

tion into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle of said water communication into the Lake Huron; thence through the

FIGURE 1.-Map of the United States showing accessions of territory from 1803 to 1853.

and the water communication between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most northwestern point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river Mississippi untill it shall intersect the northernmost part of the 31st degree of north latitude. South, by a line to be drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned, in the latitude of 31 degrees north of the equator, to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint River; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River; and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean. 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. [See p. 143 for a separate article attached to this treaty.]

TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN, 1783.

The definite treaty of peace with Great Britain, concluded September 3, 1783,11 defines the boundaries of the United States in terms. similar to those of the provisional treaty.

The northern boundary became at once a fruitful source of dissension between the two countries. From the time of the conclusion of peace almost to the present day the definite location of this line has been the subject of a series of treaties, commissions, and surveys. An outline history of the settlement of this dispute follows:

TREATY OF LONDON, 1794.

The fourth article of the treaty of London,12 signed November 19, 1794, provided that

Whereas it is uncertain whether the river Mississippi extends so far to the northward as to be intersected by a line to be drawn due west from the Lake of the Woods, in the manner mentioned in the treaty of peace between His Majesty and the United States: the two parties will proceed, by amicable

negotiation, to regulate the boundary line in that quarter.

This matter was not settled, however, until 1818.

The fifth article of the same treaty makes provision for settling another doubtful point, as follows:

Whereas doubts have arisen what river was truly intended under the name of the river St. Croix, mentioned in the said treaty of peace, and forming a part

" Malloy, W. M., op. cit., vol. 1, p. 586,

12 Idem, p. 594.

of the boundary therein described; that question shall be referred to the final decision of commissions to be appointed in the following manner, viz.

*

Here follow provisions that His Majesty and the President of the United States should each appoint a commissioner, and that these two commissioners should agree on a third, or, they failing to agree on the third, he was to be chosen by lot in their presence.

Which was the true St. Croix River had been a matter of controversy between the governments of Massachusetts and Nova Scotia since the year 1764.

The commissioners appointed under the foregoing provisions decided on the 25th of October, 1798, the river called Schoodiac and the northern branch thereof (called Cheputnaticook) to be the true River St. Croix, and that its source was at the northernmost headspring of the northern branch aforesaid.18 A monument was erected at that spot under the direction of the commissioners.

TREATY OF GHENT, 1814.

By the treaty of peace concluded at Ghent 14 December 24, 1814, it was agreed to provide for a final adjustment of the boundaries described in the treaty of 1783, which had not yet been ascertained and determined, embracing certain islands in the Bay of Fundy and the whole of the boundary line from the source of the River St. Croix to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods.

By article 4 provision was made for the appointment of commissioners to settle the title to several islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is a part of the Bay of Fundy, and the island of Grand Manan in the said Bay of Fundy.

The fifth article made provision for the appointment of commissioners to settle the boundary from the source of the River St. Croix northward to the highland which divides those waters that empty into the River St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, thence along the highlands to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River, thence down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, thence due west on that latitude until it strikes the River Iroquois or Cataraquy [St. Lawrence].

The sixth and seventh articles provided for commissioners to continue the line to the Lake of the Woods.

It was provided by this treaty that in case any of the boards of commissioners were unable to agree, they should make separately or jointly a report or reports to their respective governments stating the points on which they differed and the grounds on which they

"Gallatin, Albert, The right of the United States of America to the northeastern boundary claimed by them, p. 9, New York, 1840.

Malloy, W. M., op. cit., vol. 1, p. 615; or 8 Stat. L. 220.

based their respective opinions. These reports were to be referred to some friendly sovereign or State for arbitration.

The first and third boards of commissioners above mentioned came to agreements, and the parts of the boundary referred to them were thus finally determined; but the commissioners appointed under the fifth article, after sitting nearly five years, could not agree on any of the matters referred to them, nor even on a general map of the country exhibiting the boundaries respectively claimed by each party. They accordingly made separate reports to their governments, as provided in the treaty.

The first of these commissions awarded Moose, Dudley, and Frederick islands to the United States and all other islands in Passamaquoddy Bay and the island of Grand Manan to Great Britain.

The following is the text of the report of the third of these commissions, which had under consideration that portion of the northern boundary between the point where the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude strikes the St. Lawrence and the point where the boundary reaches Lake Superior:

Decision of the commissioners under the sixth article of the treaty of Ghent, done at Utica, in the State of New York, 18th June, 1822."

[We] 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: Beginning at a stone monument, erected by Andrew Ellicott, esq., in the year of our Lord 1817, on the south bank, or shore, of the said river Iroquois or Cataraqua (now called the St. Lawrence), which monument bears south 74° 45′ west, and is 1,840 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 35° 45' west. into the river, on a line at right angles with the southern shore, to a point 100 yards south of the opposite island, called Cornwall Island; thence turning westerly and passing around the southern and western sides of said island, keeping 100 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 100 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 islands to the channel called the Long Sault, which separates the two last-mentioned islands from the lower Long Sault Island; thence westerly (crossing the center of the

16 Malloy, W. M., op. cit., vol. 1, p. 621.