of this treaty, that its western boundaries were considered as indefinite. On the north, according to the treaty of Utrecht, it was considered as joining Canada in the forty-ninth parallel, of latitude.

These boundaries appeared to be marked with sufficient precision, but doubts afterwards arose on various points. The river St Croix, which runs into Passamaquoddy Bay, was designated as the eastern limit; but this river having three distinct branches, it became a subject of discussion which of these led to its true source; and the matter being submitted to the decision of commissioners, appointed by the two contending powers, was settled, by treaty, in 1794. The north-western limits of the district of Maine, which approach near to the river St Lawrence, remained undetermined, and being considered as very important, in a military point of view, they were brought under consideration during the late negociations at Ghent, when it was agreed to leave the subject to the decision of commissioners appointed by the respective parties. The commissioners are also to determine to whom the several islands of right belong, which are situated near the mouth of the St Croix River in the St Lawrence, and the Western Lakes, and which

* In these lakes, through the middle of which the line of demarkation runs, there are no less than fifty-seven islands; namely, twelve in Lake Erie, nine in Lake Huron, twenty-four in Ontario, five in St Clair, and seven in Lake Superior.

are claimed both by England and the United States. By the same treaty of 1783, part of the northern boundary is marked by a line running due west from the most north-western point of the Lake of the Woods to the river Mississippi. But it has since been ascertained by the geographical observations of Mr Mackenzie and Mr Thomson, that this river does not extend so far north, by two degrees; the north-western extremity of the lake being in latitude 49° 37', and longitude 94° 31' west from London, and the source of the most northern branch of the Mississippi in latitude 47° 30′ north, and 95° 6' of west longitude. This western line will not even touch the Missouri; for the great northern bend of this river is in 47° 32′ of north latitude, and 101° 25' west longitude from London. If the line of limits, therefore, as observed by Major Pike, were to run from the head of the Lake of the Woods to the source of the Mississippi, taking a direction nearly south, it would give to Britain the upper part of Red River, and nearly two-thirds of the territory of Louisiana; but if carried due west, it will cross Red River nearly at its embouchure, and probably strike the Western Ocean at Birch Bay in Queen Charlotte Sound. Though a long period must elapse before this remote territory be permanently occupied

Astronomer to the English North-West Company.

by a civilized population, it is already of some value for the fur trade; and it appears from Major Pike's statements, that the British North-West Company have trading establishments on the south side of Lake Superior, and at other places within the American limits, by which the United States have been defrauded of duties to the amount of 26,000 dollars. It will be seen, therefore, that the proper settling of these limits, desolate as the country is, involves interests of considerable importance. The survey agreed upon by the treaty of 1794 was never executed. The subject was, however, reconsidered in the negociations at Ghent, and by the treaty signed there on 24th December 1814, the contracting parties agreed, that the boundary line of the United States should extend twenty leagues from the shore; that the claim of each to the islands situated in the bay of Passamaquoddy be referred to the decision of two commissioners; the St Croix river to be surveyed to its source; the point of Highlands at the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, and the north-west head of Connecticut river, to be determined; the islands in the lakes to be surveyed, and also the line of boundary to the most north-western point of the Lake of the Woods, from the forty-fifth degree of latitude.

A line passing along the thirty-first parallel of latitude, was fixed as the boundary between the

United States and Florida. As the latter country, however, when held by Britain, extended as far north as the river Yazoo, Spain, at first, refused to give the United States possession of the intervening track; but she afterwards abandoned her claim to it, and, in the treaty of 1795, recognised the boundaries fixed at the peace of 1783.

By the treaty of the 30th April 1803, Louisiana was ceded by France to the United States,* with the same extent as when in possession of Spain or France, and such as it should be according to treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and other states; in consequence of which it was taken possession of, and united with the American Republic, on the 20th of December next, after the date of the above treaty.

The terms of this treaty left the extent and boundaries of Louisiana to be ascertained from a variety of anterior circumstances and agreements. A great part of the country was, indeed, at the time, unexplored and unknown; but the information since obtained, and the changes that have been gradually taking place, have raised the importance of the question regarding its limits, which

* For the sum of 15,000,000 of dollars, of which 3,750,000 were applied for the payment of claims due by France to merchants of the United States. The difference of 11,250,00 dollars was paid by a loan at six per cent.

have latterly been made the subject of much inquiry and negociation between the parties interested. Louisiana, as ceded to the United States, taken even in its most limited extent, includes a surface equal to the whole of Europe, exclusive of Russia; and this not of poor or useless land, but, for the greater part, of a soil remarkably rich, situated in the most favoured climate in the world, intersected everywhere with navigable streams, and possessing, in an unequalled degree, all the other advantages requisite to facilitate its settlement. Besides, the rapid increase in the population of the United States, and the results which the laws that regulate this increase enable us to anticipate, shew, that the occupation of the region west of the Mississippi by a civilized population, is not a very distant event. A great part of it is yet but a wilderness, inhabited by a few savages; but the shifting of a boundary a little the one way or the other, in so great a field, will take or give a space equal to one or two European kingdoms in extent, and which, at no distant period, may be the seat of industry and wealth. Both Spain and the United States have felt the weight of these considerations, and the question as to boundaries has been discussed with a degree of interest which the present situation of the territory would scarcely seem to justify. For the sake of those who may wish to understand the controversy, we shall here state