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TREATY WITH SPAIN OF 1798.

The boundary between the United States and the Spanish Possessions, known as the Floridas, is reaffirmed in the treaty between the United States and Spain, made in 1795, in the following terms:

The southern boundary of the United States, which divides their territory from the Spanish colonies of East and West Florida, shall be designated by a line beginning on the river Mississippi, at the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of latitude north of the equator, which from thence shall be drawn due east to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche, thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River, and thence down the middle thereof to the Atlantic Ocean.

DEFINITIVE TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

The definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain, concluded September 3, 1783, defines the boundaries of the United States in terms similar to those of the provisional treaty.

The northern boundary became at once a fruitful source of dissension between the two countries. From the time of the conclusion of peace almost to the present day this line has been the subject of a series of treaties, commissions, and surveys for the purpose of interpreting its terms.

The following is in outline a history of the settlement of this boundary: TREATY OF LONDON, 1794.

The fourth article of the treaty of London, signed November 19, 1794, provided that

Whereas it is uncertain whether the river Mississippi extends so far to the northward as to be intersected by a line to be drawn due west from the Lake of the Woods in the manner mentioned in the treaty of peace between His Majesty and the United States, etc., the two parties will proceed by amicable negotiation to regulate the boundary line in that quarter.

This matter was not settled, however, until 1818.

The fifth article of the same treaty makes provision for settling another doubtful point, as follows:

Whereas doubts have arisen what river was truly intended under the name of the river St. Croix mentioned in the said treaty of peace, and forming a part of the boundary therein described, that question shall be referred to the final decision of commissions to be appointed in the following manner, viz.

Here follow provisions that His Majesty and the President of the United States should each appoint a commissioner, and that these two commissioners should agree on a third, or, they failing to agree on the third, he was to be chosen by lot in their presence.

Which was the true St. Croix River had been a matter of controversy between the governments of Massachusetts and Nova Scotia since the year 1764.

The commissioners appointed under the foregoing provisions decided, on the 25th of October, 1798, the river called Schoodiac and the northern branch thereof (called Cheputnaticook) to be the true river St. Croix, and that its source was at the northernmost headspring of the northern branch aforesaid. A monument was erected at that spot under the direction of the commissioners. (See Memoirs of Northeastern Boundary, Gallatin, pages 7, 8.)

TREATY OF Ghent.

By the treaty of peace concluded at Ghent, December 24, 1814, it was agreed to provide for a final adjustment of the boundaries described in the treaty of 1783, which had not yet been ascertained and determined, embracing certain islands in the Bay of Fundy and the whole of the boundary line from the source of the river St Croix to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods.

By article 4 provision was made for a board of commissioners to settle the title to several islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is a part of the Bay of Fundy, and the island of Grand Menan in the said Bay of Fundy.

The fifth article made provision for a board of commissioners to settle the boundary from the source of the river St. Croix northward to the highland which divides those waters that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Oceau, thence along said highlands to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River, thence down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, thence due west on said latitude until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy (St. Lawrence).

The sixth and seventh articles provided for commissioners to continue the line to the northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods. (For further details see treaty, Statutes at Large, vol. 8, pages 220-2.) It was provided by this treaty that in case any of the boards of commissioners were unable to agree, they should make separately or jointly a report or reports to their respective Governments stating the points on which they differed, the grounds on which they based their respective opinions, etc.

These reports were to be referred to some friendly sovereign or state for arbitration.

The first and third boards of commissioners above mentioned came to an agreement, and those portions of the boundary were thus finally settled; but the commission appointed under the fifth article, after sitting nearly five years, could not agree on any of the matters referred to them, nor even on a general map of the country exhibiting the boundaries respectively claimed by each party. They accordingly made separate reports to their Governments, stating the points on which they differed and the grounds upon which their respective opinions had been formed. The first of these commissions awarded Moore, Dudley, and Frederick Islands to the United States, and all other islands in Passamaquoddy Bay, and the island of Grand Menan, to Great Britain.

The following is the text of the report of the third of these commissions which had under consideration that portion of the northern boundary between the point where the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude strikes the St. Lawrence and the point where the boundary reaches Lake Superior:

Decision of the commissioners under the sixth article of the treaty of Ghent, done at Utica, in the State of New York, 18th June, 1822.

We do decide and declare that the following-described line (which is more clearly indicated on a series of maps accompanying this report, exhibiting correct surveys and delineations of all the rivers, lakes, water communications, and islands embraced by the sixth article of the treaty of Ghent, by a black line shaded on the British side with red and on the American side with blue; and each sheet of which series of maps is identified by a certificate, subscribed by the commissioners, and by the two principal surveyors employed by them) is the true boundary intended by the two beforementioned treaties, that is to say:

Beginning at a stone monument, erected by Andrew Ellicot, esq., in the year 1817, on the south bank or shore of the said river Iroquois, or Cataraqui (now called the St. Lawrence), which monument bears south 74° 45' west, and is 1,840 yards distant from the stone church in the Indian village of St. Regis, and indicates the point at which the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude strikes the said river; thence running north 35° 45′ west into the river, on a line at right angles with the southern shore, to a point 100 yards south of the opposite island, called Cornwall Island; thence turning westerly and passing around the southern and western sides of said island, keeping 100 yards distant therefrom, and following the curvatures of its shores, to a point opposite to the northwest corner or angle of said island; thence to and along the middle of the main river until it approaches the eastern extremity of Barnhart's Island; thence northerly along the channel which divides the lastmentioned island from the Canada shore, keeping 100 yards distant from the island, until it approaches Sheik's Island; thence along the middle of the strait which divides Barnhart's and Sheik's Islands to the channel called the Long Sault, which separates the two last-mentioned islands from the lower Long Sault Island; thence westerly (crossing the center of the last-mentioned channel) until it approaches within 100 yards of the north shore of the Lower Sault Island; thence up the north branch of the river, keeping to the north of and near the Lower Sault Island, and also north of and near the Upper Sault, sometimes called Baxter's Island, and south of the two small islands marked on the map A and B, to the western extremity of the Upper Sault or Baxter's Island; thence, passing between the two islands called the Cats, to the middle of the river above; thence along the middle of the river, keeping to the north of the small islands marked C and D, and north also of Chrystler's Island, and of the small island next above it, marked E, until it approaches the northeast angle of Goose Neck Island; thence along the passage which divides the lastmentioned island fro mthe Canada shore, keeping 100 yards from the island to the upper end of the same; thence south of and near the two small islands called the Nut Islands; thence north of and near the island marked F, and also of the island called Dry or Smuggler's Island; thence passing between the islands marked G and H to the north of the island called Isle au Rapid Platt; thence along the north side of the lastmentioned island, keeping 100 yards from the shore, to the upper end thereof; thence along the middle of the river, keeping to the south of and near the islands called Coussin (or Tussin) and Presque Isle; thence up the river, keeping north of and near the several Gallop Isles numbered on the map 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, and also of Tick, Tibbits, and Chimney Islands, and south of and near the Gallop Isles numbered 11, 12, and 13, and also of Duck, Drummond, and Sheep Islands; thence along the middle of the river, passing north of island No. 14, south of 15 and 16, north of 17, south of 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 28, and north of 26 and 27; thence along the middle of the river, north of Gull Island and of the islands Nos. 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, Bluff Island, and Nos. 39, 44, and 45, and to the south of Nos. 30, 31, 36, Grenadier Island, and Nos. 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 47, and 48, until it approaches the east end of Well's Island; thence to the north of Well's Island, and along the strait which divides it

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BOUNDARY BETWEEN NEW YORK AND CANADA IN ST. LAWRENCE RIVER.

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