the Treaty in favour of any produce passing round the Falls of the Roostuc, which are also on the British side of the Boundary, and are distant five miles from the St. John. On reaching those Falls the further progress of all produce, except logs, must stop, until permitted to proceed through the portage-road (which is entirely in British territory) by authority of the Provincial Government of New Brunswick; so that in every respect the transit of American produce down the River St. John is placed by the Treaty under proper restrictions.

A more plausible objection, which has been made to the boundary now established, is that which rests upon the fact of a few families of French origin, connected with the Madawasca settlement, being settled on the right bank of the St. John, between Fish river and the north line. It has been represented as a hard measure to have separated these people, whose religion, manners, and language are so widely different from those of the people of the United States, from their own community, and from their own pastors, and to turn them over to a Republican Government, at a great distance from all their connections, and to which they could not be supposed to feel any attachment. But this objection is met by stating that those families are very few in number, that they voluntarily

D

separated from their community on the left bank of the river, without any authority from the British Government to occupy the lands upon which they had settled, and that every consideration has been had for them in the negotiation of the Treaty. Even the Commissioners on the part of the State of Maine, whom Mr. Webster had invited to Washington, had disclaimed, as we find in their letter to him of June 29, 1842, any intention of offering any violence either to the interests or the opinions of these families.

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These gentlemen say:-

"Before closing this communication, the undersigned feel it their duty to say something by way of explanation of their views, in

regard to the French settlers at Madawasca. "In any Treaty which may be made with Great "Britain affecting these people, the grants "which have been made to them by New "Brunswick, may and ought to be confirmed "to them in fee simple, with such provisions in "regard to the possessory rights acquired by "other actual settlers there as may be just and "equitable, and also the right may be reserved "to the settlers on both banks of the river to "elect, within some reasonable period, and "determine of which Government the indivi"duals, signifying their election, will remain or

"become citizens or subjects. If, then, they "should have any preference, they will have it "in their power, on mature consideration and "reflection, to decide for themselves, and act "accordingly."

All, therefore, who prefer to abandon their rude settlements on the other side, and to live amongst their own countrymen under British jurisdiction will, no doubt, have a liberal opportunity of doing so; and if any of them determine to give their allegiance to the United States, it will be their voluntary act, and not because that protection from Great Britain has been denied to them, under which their fellowcountrymen have always so happily and loyally existed.

The only part of the Treaty which relates to the boundary contiguous to Canada which has not now been adverted to, is that portion extending from the heads of the Connecticut to the river St. Lawrence, which, by the Treaty of 1783, was directed to be upon the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude, an ancient boundary between Canada and the adjacent Royal Provinces. This line was surveyed in 1772, and ́settlements were made upon it. Previous to the submission of the statements of the two countries to the King of the Netherlands, this old line was reported by the surveyors to be erroneous, and

to be distant, upon an average, less than half a mile to the north of the true parallel. The King of the Netherlands, however, considering that the Treaty of Ghent made it imperative upon the parties to cause a new survey to be made of that line, in declaring that that provision of the Treaty must be executed, decided that in any case the United States should preserve the site upon which a fortification at Rouse's Point had been erected, with a circle round it of one Kilometre radius. By the Treaty of Washington it has been determined to confirm the parties in their possessions according to the old line of 1772, and therefore it has been made the boundary between the two countries. Rouse's Point consequently remains with the United States, as it would have done if the award of the King of the Netherlands had been accepted by both Governments. The work, however, which was erected upon this low piece of land soon after the revolt broke out in the British provinces, in 1776, was long ago demolished, and will probably be never re-constructed, as the place is considered to have no advantages as a military position.

The 2nd Article of the Treaty provides for that portion of the general boundary left unsettled by the Commissioners under the 6th Article of the Treaty of Ghent. The extreme claim

of the United States when their Commission closed in 1828, would have carried the boundary far to the north-east of that now established by the Treaty of Washington, which there can be no doubt is the line intended by the Treaty of 1783. The difference which the line now established constitutes in favour of Great Britain, is about 5,847 square miles, or 3,742,080 acres. Nearly the whole of it, however, is a barren and rocky country, unfavourable to agriculture. On the other hand, a particular channel in the water communication from Lake Huron to Lake Superior has been agreed upon, in consequence of which a small island in dispute, called St. George's, or Sugar Island, falls to the United States. By this Article the whole of the boundary from Lake Huron to the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains, is now permanently agreed upon.

It might have been advisable to have left these explanations of the real nature of the boundary portion of this Treaty, at this point, as altogether sufficient for persons of candour to form their judgment upon; and the author would probably have been contented to do so without further remark, but for those misrepresentations before alluded to in the Revue des deux Mondes, which evidently aim to represent

• Vide page 5.