was directed to deliver it in duplicate to each of the two agents. On the 14th of October Mr. Holmes had written to Mr. Adams, who was then Secretary of State, that the commissioners had proceeded amicably and had come to a decision, and that they would meet in New York on the 24th of November for the purpose of concluding it. Though the decision was not, he said, so favorable to the United States as perhaps it should be, yet it was, he trusted, better than to disagree, and one that comported with the honor and interests of the United States. On the 24th of November Mr. Holmes resigned his commissionership.' Expenses of the By the accounts presented by the agents, it appeared that the total contingent expenses of the commission, including the salary of the secretary, which were apportionable between the two governments in equal moieties, amounted to only $5,997.28.2 The commissioners communicated their deciLetter of the Commission to the two governments with a joint letter, sioners and Text of of which the copy addressed to the Secretary Award. of State of the United States is as follows: "NEW YORK, November 21, 1817. "SIR: The undersigned Commissioners, appointed by virtue of the fourth article of the treaty of Ghent, have attended to the duties assigned them; and have decided that Moose Island, Dudley Island, and Frederick Island, in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, do each of them belong to the United States of America; and that all the other islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, and the Island of Grand Menan in the Bay of Fundy, do each of them belong to His Britannic Majesty, in conformity with the true intent of the second article of the treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. The Commissioners have the honor to enclose herewith their decision. "In making this decision it became necessary that each of the Commissioners should yield a part of his individual opinion. Several reasons induced them to adopt this measure; one of which was the impression and belief that the navigable waters of the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which, by the treaty of 1S. Ex. Doc. 97, 20 Cong. 2 sess. * For appropriations, see 3 Stats. at L. 283, 358, 422. Ghent, is said to be part of the Bay of Fundy, are common to both parties for the purpose of all lawful and direct communication with their own territories and foreign ports. "The undersigned have the honor to be, with perfect respect, sir, your obedient and humble servants, "The Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, Secretary of State." "J. HOLMES. "Decision of the Commissioners under the fourth article of the Treaty of Ghent. Nov. 24, 1817. "By Thomas Barclay and John Holmes, Esquires, Commissioners, appointed by virtue of the fourth article of the treaty of peace and amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, concluded at Ghent on the twentyfourth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen to decide to which of the two contracting parties to the said treaty the several islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, and the Island of Grand Menan, in the said Bay of Fundy, do respectively belong, in conformity with the true intent of the second article of the treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eightythree, between his said Britannic Majesty and the aforesaid United States of America. "We, the said Thomas Barclay and John Holmes, Commissioners as aforesaid, having been duly sworn impartially to examine and decide upon the said claims according to such evidence as should be laid before us on the part of his Britannic Majesty and the United States, respectively, have decided, and do decide, that Moose Island, Dudley Island, and Frederick Island, in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, do, and each of them does, belong to the United States of America; and we have also decided, and do decide, that all the other islands, and each and every of them, in said Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, and the Island of Grand Menan, in the said Bay of Fundy, do belong to his said Britannic Majesty, in conformity with the true intent of the said second article of said treaty of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. "In faith and testimony whereof we have set our hands and affixed our seals, at the city of New York, in the State of New York, in the United States of America, this twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun dred and seventeen. "[SEAL] "[SEAL] "Witness: "JAMES T. AUSTIN, Agt. U. S. A. "ANTH: BARCLAY, Sec'y."1 JOHN. HOLMES THO. BARCLAY." President Monroe, in his annual message of Announcement of December 2, 1817, expressed "satisfaction" Award to Congress. that the commissioners "to whom it was referred to decide to which party the several islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy belonged" had "agreed on a report, by which all the islands in the possession of each party before the late war have been decreed to it;" but he did not expressly refer to the Island of Grand Menan, a circumstance which led the British commissioner to surmise that the President "felt sore on the point." The British commissioner undoubtedly exhibited much ability and skill in his negotiations with Mr. Holmes. "You know," said Mr. Webster, "we think that Grand Menan should have been assigned to us." 3 Boundary. Though the ownership of the islands was Marking of the Water thus determined, no step was taken to mark the water boundary till 1891. On the 22d of July 1892 a treaty was concluded between the United States and Great Britain, by Article II. of which the high contracting parties agreed to appoint two commissioners, one to be named This decision is printed in the volume of Treaties and Conventions of the United States, and in the Am. State Papers, For. Rel. IV. 171. See, also, Hertslet's Br. & For. State Papers, IV. 805; V. 198. The memorials, arguments, and exhibits are in the Department of State. Among the papers are eight manuscript volumes, as follows: (1) Memorial of American Claim, Part I., devoted to showing that the islands were part of Massachusetts; (2) Memorial of American Claim, Part II., devoted to an examination of the extent and limits of Nova Scotia, for the purpose of showing that the islands were not within that province; (3) Appendix to American Memorial; (4) Map accompanying American Memorial; (5) Memorial of British Claim; (6) American Reply to British Memorial; (7) British Reply to American Memorial; (8) Appendix to British Reply. The memorials and replies are elaborate and exhaustive. 2 Rives's Correspondence of Thomas Barclay, 399. 3 Mr. Webster to Mr. Gray, May 11, 1841, Webster's Private Correspondence, II. 103. by each party, "to determine upon a method of more accurately marking the boundary line between the two countries in the waters of Passamaquoddy Bay in front of and adjacent to Eastport, in the State of Maine, and to place buoys or fix such other boundary marks as they may determine to be necessary." "Each government," the article also provides, "shall pay the expenses of its own commissioner, and [the] cost of marking the boundary in such manner as shall be determined upon shall be defrayed by the High Contracting Parties in equal moieties." CHAPTER III. THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY: COMMISSION UNDER ARTICLE V. OF THE TREATY OF GHENT. The decision of the commissioners under Line in Dispute. Article IV. of the Treaty of Ghent, the history of which is narrated in the preceding chapter, marked little actual progress in the determination of the boundary line which the treaty of peace of 1783 had established. By that treaty the boundaries of the United States were, as we have seen,' declared to run: "From the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz. that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of Saint Croix River 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 northwesternmost 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 said latitude, until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy; 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 that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river St. Lawrence." The line thus defined comprises that section of the boundary which was involved in what came to be known as the Northeastern Boundary Question-a dispute which, first arising as to what constituted the "northwest angle of Nova Scotia" and the Highlands," spread from point to point till it embraced substantially the whole of the line from the source of the St. Croix River, as determined by the commissioners under Article V. of the Jay Treaty, to the point Chapter I. * 5627 -5 65 |