of the Canadas, the whole of Lower Canada not before granted to seigneurs has been surveyed by government, and divided into townships. These townships are about ten miles square, and have been granted to a variety of individuals, who have had influence enough with government to procure them. They are held by the English tenure of free and common soccage.

The Quebec act (1791) declares that nothing therein contained shall extend to lands held in free and common soccage; hence it has been argued that the old laws. of Canada do not reach such lands: many are still of opinion, however, that the Canadian laws, and common Canadian mortgages in particular, do extend to the townships. It is a point on which the learned in the law differ, and I will not pretend to decide it.

The original grantees of the townships are bound by their titles to have a certain number of settlers on their lands in a given time. No mention is made what sort of people these are to be; and as the Americans have in many places cultivated their lands up to the Canadian line of

boundary, the townships lie very convenient for them; accordingly, immense num→ bers of Americans (about 15,000 I have heard) have settled on the townships, and continue to do so. It may be proper here to trace the line of boundary between the United States and Canada.

The boundaries of Canada are very ill defined on the side of the United States.They have been the subject of mưch difference of opinion, and of a great deal of unpleasant discussion, from the time of the declaration of American independence, up to the present day. In the discussions on this subject, in a diplomatic point of view, the Americans have uniformly had the advantage of us; and that from many causes. Their local knowledge was perfect; they had the most minute information as to the value of the territory in all its different bearings; and they knew how to estimate the importance of territory, and the use of rivers; for they looked forward to the period when tracts of country, though then covered with almost impenetrable forests, should be cleared and become populous districts. The short space

of time in which this has happened, shews how correct they were in their views; and leaves us no alternative, but to regret that our commissioners should have been so easily persuaded to extend the line of boundary in the manner they did.

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The second article of the definitive treaty of peace runs thus:-" And that all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the boundaries of the United "States may be prevented, it is hereby

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agreed and declared that the following .66 are, and shall be, the boundaries, viz. "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 "which empty themselves into the river St. "Lawrence, from those which fall into the "Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost "head of Connecticut river; thence down "along the middle of that river to the 45th degree of north latitude; from thence by

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a line due west on said latitude, until it “strikes the river Iroquois, or Cataraguy; "thence along the middle of the said river

" into lake Ontario, through the middle of "said lake, until it strikes the communi"cation by water between that lake and "lake Erie; thence along the middle of "said communication into lake Erie;

through the middle of said lake, until it "arrives at the water communication be"tween that lake and lake Huron; thence along the middle of the said water com"munication into the lake Huron; thence through the middle of the said lake to "the water communication between that “lake and lake Superior; thence through "lake Superior northwards of the Isles

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Royales and Philipeaux to the long lake; “thence through the middle of the said 66 long lake, and the water communication "between it and the lake of the Woods, "to the said lake of the Woods; thence 66 through the said lake to the most north"western point thereof, and from thence 66 on a due west course to the river Missis

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sippi; thence by a line to be drawn along "the middle of the said river Mississippi, "until it shall intersect the northernmost

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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 Catahoutche; "thence along the middle thereof, to its junction with the flint river; thence

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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 which "fall into the Atlantic Ocean, from those "which fall into the river St. Lawrence,

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comprehending all islands within twenty

leagues of any part of the shore 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 Atlan"tic Ocean, excepting such islands as now