was 1,358, and at the time of the passing of the Quebec Act, in all probability did not much exceed this number.*

There was another French colony at Prairie du Chien, near the junction of the Wisconsin with the Mississippi. Prairie du Chien contained at the time of the surrender to the English about 500 inhabitants, exclusive of Indians.+

There was a small French settlement at La Pointe near the south-western extremity of Lake Superior, and in the valley of Lake Winnipeg there were, according to M. Bougainville, about 700. The preamble of the Quebec Act declares that it is desirable to embrace the French colonists who had, up to the time of its passage, been left without a civil government, within that province. Now how will this be accomplished by a line due north from the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi? Within this line there would have been included,

That is, out of a population of 5,000, more than one half would have been excluded from the benefits of a civil government which the Act was intended to confer upon all alike.§1

* Gen. Gage to Hillsborough, 15th May, 1768, and 6th January, 1769. Pitman's Present State of European Settlements in America, 4to. London, 1770.

+ Carver's Travels; Pike's Journal; Long's Journals; State Papers, Public Lands, Vol. 4.

Memoir of M. de Bougainville.

§ Census of 1768, made by Commandants and others.

"In the year 1716, the French population on the Wabash had become sufficiently numerous to constitute an important settlement which kept up a lucrative trade with Mobile, by means of traders and voyageurs. . . In 1746 agriculture upon the Wabash was still flourishing, and the same year 600 barrels of flour were manufactured and shipped to the City of New Orleans, besides large quantities of hides, peltry, tallow and bees wax.

"In the Illinois country also, the settlements continued to increase; so that in 1730 they embraced 140 French families, besides about 600 converted Indians, and many traders, voyageurs, and Coureurs des bois.

Before dismissing this part of the subject, an observation or two may be made in reference to the boundary above the sources of the Mississippi River. It has been before shown that a northward line may be drawn in any direction between north-east and northwest; that if there be no reason either from there being a natural boundary or from the thing to be accomplished, in producing this line to one point upon this plane rather than to any other point, then through the center of this space-that is due north-is the most suitable direction to draw the line, not because the definition of the word requires it to be so drawn, but because the space over which the direction of the line may be varied ought in fairness to be evenly divided. But when it is stated to be the intention of the law to include the various French colonies and settlements, and when we see that some of these were upon the Assiniboine and Saskatchewan Rivers, the line from the Mississippi northward must be so drawn as to include these ; and a line so drawn to the North Saskatchawan, together with that part of the Mississippi above the confluence with the Ohio, formed the western limit of the Province of Quebec under the Quebec Act of 1774. We shall next see what further changes were made by the Treaty of Versailles, of 1783, by the King's order in Council, forming the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, by the Constitutional Act of 1791, and by the treaty of London in 1794.

ALTERATION OF THE BOUNDARY OF QUEBEC BY THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES, CONCLUDED BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES, 1783.

By the Second Article of the Treaty of 1783, the south-western part of Quebec was intended to be ceded to the United States of America. The boundary in that Article is described as follows:

"From the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, namely, that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of the River St. Croix to the highlands; along the said highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the north-westernmost head of the Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; from thence by a line due west on the said latitude until it strikes the River Iroquois or Cataraquy [St. Lawrence]; thence along the middle. of the said river into Lake Ontario; through the middle of the said lake until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie; thence along the middle of said water communication into Lake Erie; through the middle of the said lake until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle of said water communication into Lake Huron; thence through the middle of the said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through the Lake Superior, north of the Isles Royal and Phillippeaux to Long Lake; thence

Kaskaskia, in its best days under the French règime, was quite a large town containing 2000 or 3000 inhabiBut after it passed from the Crown of France, its population for many years did not exceed 1500 Under British Dominion in 1773 it had decreased to 460 souls." Monette's Discovery and Settlement

taat.

souls.

of the Mississippi Valley, Vol. I, p. 167.

through the middle of said Long Lake and the water communication between it and the Lake of the Woods to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said Lake of the Woods to the most north-western point thereof, and from thence on west course to the Mississippi.

a due

At the time the Treaty was negotiated, it was supposed that the River Mississippi had its source further north than the north-west angle of the Lake of the Woods, and that therefore, a line drawn due west from this angle would intersect the Mississippi River, as it would appear to do from Mitchell's map, said to have been the only one the Commissioners had before them when the Treaty was negotiated.* It would seem from what was subsequently written by Mr. Adams, and Mr. Jay, that it was not their wish to carry their boundary so far to the north as to exclude the banks of the Mississippi. Spain was at the time in possession of the mouth of the Mississippi. She had already denied to the people of the New Republic, the right to navigate the river through her terrritories. Great Britain had this right by the Treaty of Paris (1763), and the American Commissioners did not doubt, that so long as she possessed a country upon the banks of the Mississippi, she would retain it, and they believed that it would not be an easy matter for Spain to refuse to the citizens of the United States liberties that were conceded to the people of England.2+

By the Treaty of Versailles, it was agreed that the navigation of the river should be free to England throughout its entire length, and this freedom was based upon the erroneous supposition that a part of the river lay within British territory. When Mr. Jefferson wrote to Mr. Breckenridge, in reference to the boundaries of Louisiana, in August, 1803, before the purchase of Louisiana from France was completed, he described the north-western boundary of the United States, under the Treaty of Versailles, as a line drawn "from Lake of the Woods to the nearest source of the Mississippi, as lately settled between Great Britain and the United States." And in the convention which was concluded on the 12th of May, 1803, between Great Britain and the United States, and to which Mr. Jefferson refers, a provision was made in the fifth article, that the line of boundary between the River Mississippi and the Lake of the Woods, should be the shortest line which could be drawn between these two points. Before this could be acted on by the Senate, the Treaty with France for the cession of Louisiana, was confirmed, giving to the United States the rights of France. The Government of the United States were at the time under the erroneous impression that the boundary west of the Lake of the Woods had been settled by Commissioners appointed under the Treaty of Utrecht, and that they had made the forty-ninth degree of north latitude the separating line,

1 "Mitchell's Map was the only one which the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States, and the Minister Penipotentiary of Great Britain, made use of in their conferences and discussions relative to the boundaries of the United States, in their negotiation of the peace of 1783, and of the provisional articles of the 30th of November, 1872. Upon that map and that only, were the boundaries delineated.

John Adams to Jas. Sullivan, 2nd August, 1796.

* See John Adams' Works, vol. VIII, pp. 210, 392, 398, 518, 519.

As to the separate Article, we beg leave to observe, that it was our policy to render the navigation of the River Mississippi so important to Britain, as that their views might correspond with ours on that subject. Their possessing the country on the river north of the line from Lake of the Woods, affords a foundation for their elaiming such navigation. The Commissioners John Adams, B. Franklin, John

Jay and Henry Laurens to Secretary Livingstone, Paris 14th December, 1782. +Adams' Works, vol. 8, p. 20.

and they, the United States Government, hoped to hold the territory south of this line, as Louisiana. The Senate, therefore, advised that the Treaty should be ratified without the fifth article, Great Britain declined to assent to the amendment, and the convention failed.1

When a new commission came to be made out, in which the boundaries of Quebec were laid down, after the Treaty of Versailles had been ratified, it became necessary to follow the international boundary as far, but no farther, than the Province of Quebec extended. The Quebec Act was still in force. The boundaries named in it were to remain the limits during the pleasure of the Crown; and the Crown had exercised that pleasure by the Treaty of 1783, by which it had ceded the whole of the south-western part of the Province to the United States. If the western limit of the Province had been under that Act, the meridian of the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, the southern boundary of the Province subsequent to the ratification of the treaty would terminate at the point where this meridian cuts the international boundary. On the other hand, if the Mississippi was held to be the western limit by the description in the Quebec Act, it would still be necessary to go westward along the international boundary until the original limit was reached. This point is too clear to need further elucidation. We shall see how the law officers of the Crown in England understood the matter. On the 22nd of April, 1786, the King issued a new commission to Sir Guy Carleton. In this commission the form of the description given in the Quebec Act is followed. He is commissioned as "Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over our Province of Quebec, in America, comprehending all our territories, islands, and countries in North America, bounded on the south by a line from the Bay of Chaleurs, along the high lands which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the north-westmost head of Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; from thence by a line due west on that latitude, until it strikes the River Iroquois, or Cataraqui ; thence along the middle of the said river into Lake Ontario; through the middle of said lake until it strikes the communication, by water, between that lake and 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 middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior, northward of the Isles Royal and Phillipeaux, to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake and the water communication between

1 "The northern boundary (of Louisiana), we have reason to believe, was settled between France and Great Britain, by Commissionners appointed under the Treaty of Utrecht, who separated the British and French territories. west of Lake of the Woods, by the 49th degree of latitude.”—Madison to Livingstone, 2 F. R. F. 574.

"Madison may have been mistaken in his belief. There is no evidence either in the French or British archives of the appointment of a boundary Commission under the Treaty of Utrecht, and in a Memorial of the Hudson's Bay Company, marked as received, August 13th, 1719, it is stated that the running of a line betwixt the English and French territories, yet remains to be done." Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Fish, Sept. 1st, 1873-MSS. Department of State, Washingon.

The Commissioners were appointed, but their efforts at agreement were fruitless, as will be seen hereafter. Mr. Bancroft is mistaken in saying there is no evidence of the appointment of a Boundary Commission. The papers are among those of the Lords of Trade and Plantations. Entered in B'k. Plantations General, 1—47, O. No. 14, B. T.

it and the Lake of the Woods to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most north-western point thereof; and from thence, on a due west course, to the River Mississippi, and northward1 to the southern boundary of the territory granted to the Merchants Adventurers of England trading to Hudson's Bay; and also all such territories, islands, and countries which have since the 10th of April, 1763, been made part of the Government of Newfoundland."

UPPER CANADA.

We have seen that the boundaries given to the Province of Quebec by the Act of 1774 did not in any way interfere with the King's prerogative. The boundaries set forth were to remain the limits of the Province during His Majesty's pleasure, and this pleasure His Majesty informed Parliament in 1791, that it was his intention to exercise a second time by separating and dividing the Province of Quebec, and Parliament was called upon to provide suitable systems of Government for the two new Provinces which the King had declared that it was his intention to establish. On the 19th of August, 1791, the Province of Quebec was divided by a line drawn north from Lake Temiscaming, to the boundary of Hudson's Bay. The Act of 1791 did not divide the Province of Quebec. It assumes that this power is vested in the Crown. It declares that "His Majesty has been pleased to signify by his message to both Houses of Parliament his Royal intention to divide his Province of Quebec into two separate Provinces, to be called the Province of Upper, and the Province of Lower Canada." The King having thus expressed his pleasure to make, himself, the divisions, Parliament contents itself with providing a constitution for such Province.

A proclamation was issued on the 18th of November, 1791, by General Alured Clark, who was acting in the absence of Lord Dorchester, the Governor-General, to give effect to the Order in Council by which the division had been made. The proclamation is as follows:"George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all our loving subjects whom these presents may concern, greeting, Whereas we thought fitby and with the advice of our Privy Council by our Order in Council, dated in the month of August last, to order that our Province of Quebec should be divided into two distinct Provinces, to be called the Province of Upper Canada, and the Province of Lower Canada, by separating the said two Provinces according to the following line of division, namely: To commence at a Stone boundary on the north bank of the Lake St. Francis, at the cove west of Pointe au Bodet, in the limit between the Township of Lancaster and the Seigneurie of New Longueuil, running along the said limit in the direction of north thirty-four degrees west to the westernmost angle of the said Seigneurie of New Longueuil; thence along the north-western boundary of the Seigneurie of Vaudreuil, running north twenty-five degrees east until it strikes the Ottowas river, to ascend the said river into the Lake

1 Here we have "a due west course" as descriptive of the direction of the western part of the souther boundary; but what direction does the word northward here indicate? In our opinion, it clearly applies to the territories, islands, and countries extending from the southern boundary to the possessions of the Hudson's Bay Company.