THE BOUNDARIES FORMERLY IN DISPUTE BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES, A LECTURE BY THE HON. SIR FRANCIS HINCKS, K.C.M.G., C.B. 9TH JUNE, 1885. Montreal: PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL & SON. 1885. When I promised several months ago to deliver a lecture for the benefit of the St. Jude's Church building fund, I fear that I did not sufficiently appreciate the difficulty of finding a subject, which, on the one hand, I would be competent to treat, and which, on the other, would be likely to interest a Montreal audience. After much consideration, I have selected a topic on which I have long since formed a decided opinion, but on which I have the misfortune to differ from the views generally held, as well by Canadian authors, as by the people at large, who have naturally imbibed the impressions, which have been sedulously inculcated during more than one generation by a number of writers. You are already aware that the subject to which I propose to invite your attention is that of the boundaries, formerly in dispute between Great Britain, and the United States, in which I have taken a deep interest during many years, and which has been treated by several gentlemen, for all of whom I entertain a very sincere respect, although I am unable to concur in the opinions which they have formed. I may add that, in regard to the most important boundary which I shall have to treat, I acknowledge the vast importance to Canada of the territory included in the State of Maine, which was confirmed to the United States by the treaty of 1842, generally known as "the Ashburton treaty." I do not yield to any one of the gentlemen, who have condemned the distinguished statesman, who represented Great Britain on that occasion, in my appreciation of the value of the territory in dispute, but I venture to hope that I shall be able to present facts to you this evening which will convince you, that unmerited censure has been visited on two deceased statesmen, Lord Ashburton and Daniel Webster, both of whom were wholly incapable of acting otherwise than in the conscientious discharge of their duty to their respective countries. The Canadian writers who have treated the subject of my present remarks are Mr. Sandford Fleming, the eminent engineer, the late Col. Coffin, who delivered a lecture in the year 1876, entitled "How Treaty-making Unmade Canada," Mr.. John Charles Dent, in his "Last Forty Years," and, still more recently,. our much respected fellow-citizen, Mr. R. A. Ramsay, M.A., in one |