The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-04-02 00:00:00

THE BOUNDARY QUESTION.

(From the Loudon Courier.)
The course to be pursed by Great Britain, on the boundary
questian, ought immediately to be resolved on' The question
cannot remain unsettled any longer. The following is the
second article of the treaty of 1783, on which the Americans
have all along founded their pretentious.
" And, that all disputes which might arise in future on the
subject of the boundaries of the said United States may be
prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the follow-
ing are and shall be their boundaries, viz. :—From the north-
west angle of Nova Scotia, viz., that the angle which is formed
by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix river
to the highlands, along the said highlands, which divide those
rieres that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence
from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the north-
westermost head of Connecticut river ; thence down along
the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north la-
titude, until it strikes the river Irroquois or Caatraquy ;
thence along the middle of said river into Lake Ontario ;
thence throngh the middle of. said lake until it strikes the
communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie;
thence along the middle of said communication into Lake
Erie, through the middle of said lake, until it arrives at the
water communication between that lake and Lake Huron ;
thence through the middle of said lake to the water commu-
nication between that lake and Lake Superior ; thence through
Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royal and Philapeaux
to the Long Lake ; thence 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 to the most northwesternmost point thereof,
and from thence on a due west course to the river Missis-
sippi, thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the
said river Mississippi until it shall intersect the northernmost
part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude. South, by a
line to be drawn due east from the determination of the line
last-mentioned, in the latitude of thirty-one degrees north of
the equator, to the middle of the river Apalachicola, or Cats-
houche, thence along the middle thereof to its junction with
the Flint River, thence straight to the head of St. Mary's
River, thence down along the middle of St. Mary's River to
the Atlantic Ocean. 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 fail into the
Atlantic Ocean from those who fall into the River St. Law-
rence, comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of
any part of the shores of the United States, and lying be-
tween lines to be drawn due east from the points where the
aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part,
and East Florida on the other, 8611 respectively touch the
Buy of Funday and the Atantic—Ocean, excepting such
islands as now are, or heretofore haii been, within the limits
of the said province of Nova Scotia."
When this treaty was concluded, nothing was known of
the interior of the country, which was thus partitioned by ant]
imaginary line of highlands. On looking at the map it wilt!:
he st,en, that the St. John River, a river falling into the Bay
of Fundy, fifty miles within the British territory, makes a,
very eccentric bend, forming itself a division between the.
rivers that fall into the St. Lawrence and those that fall into,
the Atlantic. This circumstance was not known at the time
the treaty was concluded, but, when it was discovered, the
Americans insisted upon it that the St. John was one of the
rivers falling into-the Atlantic, though it will be seen, towards
the end of the article, that a clear distinction is made between
the Bayof Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean. The spirit of the
treaty is clearly in favour of the British reading of it. Its
object was to give to Great Britain the territory watered by
the rivers falling into the Atlantic Ocean, the Bay of Fundy
being entirely enclosed by the British provinces of Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick.
_ _

It is much to be regretted, that some arrangement should
not before this have been made. but the most unaccountable
circumstances connected with the business is, that Lord Li-
verpool's government should have consented to leave it open
to future discussion by the Treaty of Ghent, which termi-
nated the last. American war. The dispute was then referred
to the King of the Netherlands, by mutual consent, and he
advised a partition of the territory into two nearly equal
parts, the only fair way, let Americans say what they will, in
which the difference can be adjusted. This advice of the
Kingof the Netherlands the United States refused to adopt,
trusting, sooner or later, that the whole would fall into their
hands.

To America the territory in dispute is of very little value,
except for the timber growing on it, an article which is be-
coming scarce in the eastern states of the Union. To Eng-
land it is of great military importance, as the only link of
communication between New Brunswick and .Canada. The
people of New Brunswick have been desirous, for several
years, to construct a railroad to Quebec, but cannot proceed
with their enterprise till the dispute about the territory has
been terminated. _ _

And terminated it now must be without the least delay.
The tone of defiance assumed by America must be met in a
corresponding spirit: If America will concede something
for the sake of avoiding a war, England will be ready to meet
her in a spirit of friendship ; if not, war must come, in which
case the L nited States will load upon themselves the entire
responsibility of a contest, than which a more dire calamity
for the civilized world can scarcely be imagined, as it would
leave. France and Russia unchecked to pursue their respective
schemes of aggrandizement; a contest which, to say nothing
of the human suffering inseparable from war, would cost both
countries more money in one year than would pay for the fee
simple of the whole wilderness that forms the object of con-
tention.