The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-10-18 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN BOUNDARY QUESTION.

(From the Spectator.)
It is gratifying to see the utter impotence of the efforts of
the War-faction to excite the nation's pugnacity, for its own
low and selfish ends. The Bacchanalian phrensy with which
a few disappointed jobbers are beating the Devil's tattoo on
their big war-drum, in one or at the utmost two of the news-
papers, receives no response ; their clamour no where excites
any emotion except ennui at their tedious iteration
The burden of the song continues to be Lord Ashburton's
treaty, which the witty but too severe red-tapeman calls a
capitulation" ; besides which, Lord Ellenborough is favour-
ed with an occasional episodical notice; and the change of
Ministry in Turkey is hailed as auspicious to that unfortunate
country, because it is an omen that " the empre of diplomacy
recommences."
There is no novelty in the views advanced respecting the
Boundary settlement—for to this point even the cavillers
feel it necessary to restrict their carping. Sometimes the
animating spirit touches upon the line of the St John's,
sometimes upon the posts on Lake Champlain ; but the as-
sumption at bottom is always the same—that the treaty of
1783 was capable of being executed du pied de la lettre, and
that Lord Ashburton in agreeing to depart from it has be-
trayed the rights and interests of his conntry.
The true state of the case is simply this. The treaty of
1783 attempts to describe a country which was at time (as it
still is in a great measure) unexplored—of the nature and
formation of which both the contracting parties were utterly
ignorant. In this ignorance, they agreed that part of the
boundary line should be drawn along a range of highlands
which does nut exist—a range of highlands extending west-
ward from the termination of a line drawn due north from
the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, and separating the
waters which fall into the St. Lawrence from those which
fall into the Atlantic. The range of highlands which the
Americans held to be designated in the treaty does not cor-
respond with this description ; for many affluents of the St.
Lawrence rise in a range to the south of it and force their
way through it. On the other hand, neither does this
southern range, which was put forward by the British, cor-
respond to the description; for the whole drainage-basin of
the St. John, which falls not into the St. Lawrence but into
the Bay of Fundy, is to the north of it, The wretched
quibble of the war-faction, that the bay of Fundy is not the
Atlantic, scarcely deserves notice; if not the Atlantic, it is
still less the St. Lawrence, and a river falling into the Bay
of Fundy can by no twisting of language be called an affluent
of the St. Lawrence. If the waters falling into the bay of
Fundy are not American, according to the treaty of 1783,
because they do not fall into the Atlantic, still less are they
British, because they do not fall into the St. Lawrence.
They are tertium quid, not comprehended in the treaty, and
to which neither party has any claim, or both parties have
what civilians would call a pro indiviso right.

o~

i',l,-..A
....
.".;frl.l Y)
'4'altll
t ~,-
4..e.2:',..pex. r-F
-
in 1,;---') •.:',lreetict
'-•
.1 \,64.‘e•—r ---- ----",)
.4 1.. ---) -p.1.-ru,re- - -
le 14 l'.

:$1

(From the Standard.)
The speech of Mr. Featherstonehaugh at the Cornwall
Polytechnic Association deserves particular notice. Mr.
Featherstonehaugh was one of the commissioners appointed
by the late government to survey the disputed boundary on
the sides of Maine and New Brunswick, and he has taken
the opportunity of the Cornwall Polytechnic meeting, to lay
before his countrymen the results of his experience in the
survey, and his opinion of the late negociations. Mr.
Featherstonehaugh maintains, that though Great Britain has
insisted upon less than her right, she never claimed more
than she was entitled to under the treaty of 1783. This will
be made matter of charge against Lord Ashburton by those
who think that a nation ought to be always extreme in as-
serting her right, though the thing claimed should be worth-
less' or even burthensome. For our part we were gratified
to know that Great Britain never made an unjust claim and
our gratification is not in the slightest degree diminished by
'knowing, also, that she has not burthened herself with a use-
less and dangerous addition to her already too little compact
North American possessions, in a vindication of the summon
jug. -This, two, is Mr. Featherstonehaugh's opinion :
" And here, gentlemen, permit me to say, that perhaps no
human being was so fully possessed with the opinion of the
exclusive right of Great Britain to the whole of this territory
as myself; yet, on my first interview with the Earl of Aber-
deen upon his taking the seals of the Foreign Office, I ven-
tured to recommend a compromise as the most sensible
course to he pursued; a suggestion, however, which I have
reason to believe was quite unnecessary to that experienced
statesman. Lord Ashburton was sent out, and the treaty of
Washington is the result of his mission. Now, gentlemen,
if yon will divert your attention for a moment from the con-
flicting statements you may have read in regard to the merits
of the compromise which has been made, I will explain them
to you in a few words. The American claim, instead of
being maintained, has been altogether withdrawn and aban-
doned; the territory has been divided into equal moieties as
nearly as possible • we have retained that moiety which se-
cures to us every object that was essential to the welfare of
our colonies: all our communications, military and civil, are
for ever placed beyond hostile reach, and all the military
positions on the highlands claimed by America are, without
exception, secured for ever to Great Britain. On the other
band, es the price of peace and renewed friendship with our
kinsmen in the United States, our best commercial customer,
we have released to her that moiety of the territory south of
the St. John, which was never of importance to Great Bri.
tain, and we have accorded to the Americans living on the
part thus ceded, and on the tributaries flowing into the St.
John, a free passage down the waters of that river, subject
to the provincial regulations of the province of New Bruns-
wick. But this is not what it has been represented to be—
the exclusive navigation of the St. John. The treaty gives
to American vessels no more right to be with their flag on
that liver than they had before. All the privilege that is
given is a simple right to the American settlers on the ceded
portion to take the forest stuffs growing on their lands, free
of duty, to a British market. And, gentlemen, is this too
too great a price to pay for peace ? Cannot this powerful
nation be generous to her own descendants, to her best ells-
. tomers, without reproach ? Are her Majesty's ministers,
who have to sustain this great country in its lofty position of
conservator of the peace of the civilised world, to be censured
for securing to us the greatest of all blessings, for csrrying
out a great measure, that secures all the interests of our own
country, gratifies and completes the desires of the now
friendly Americans, and, separating them from all entangling
alliances, leaves Great Britain free to assert all that belongs
to her rights and her power with her neighbours in Europe."
(Cheers.)
'Pitts is the truth and good sense in eloquent language.
The main point, however, is the evidence of this most com-
petent witness a man of science and talent, who had actually
surveyed the country in contemplation of the objects of which
he speaks, to the fact that Great Britain has by the treaty of
Washington, for ever secured the means of commercial and
military communication among her North American pro-
vinces. This fact is manifest, indeed, from Mr. Wyld's
newly published map (and every one who wishes to under-
stand the matter ought to possess himself of that cheap and
excellentotn little sketch) ; but the evidence of the surveying
e
naissioner, while it authenticates the map, will of course
reach
men who may not have an opportunity of examining
that publication.

A MELANCHOLY AND IMPRESSIVE SCENE.—On the
afternoon of last Saturday
regiment, and day, the remains of a soldier of the frith
a Policeman of this district, were interred side
by side in the ebusch-yard of this town. The burial of the
soldier would have
Passed off as an ordinary occurrence were
it not that the conjunction
of the policeman's corpse, accom-
panied by the conatahulary,
gave novelty the • to impressive
scene—for it was so arranged by Head-constable Odell, that
the latter followed immediately in the wake of the former.
Both coffins entered the grave yard simultaneously, and the
rector and the curate Performed
theer bothatt the solemn and feeling ser-
vice of our churc
.. he same time. It is singular
po iceman and the soldier were from
age, took the fatal disease on the
to remark, that i
e same hour, and are buried
;r aGuardian
one town, were of the
dSalm.ft
same day, and de,_palvrteenaig
in the one grave . •
have seen a pri-
VISIT TO IRELAND.---I
Windsor Castle,
riaerein it speci-
ald Prince
' •V- aTtenE communicationQuEE s's
from
on visiting
Queen Victoria, hes that her gracious
visiting Ireland next summer.fixedTfhe
Albert, are resolved
addition to the reception which
Vice-regal Lodge, in the Ph
latter end of July is ounldnerstoood to be the period
this auspicious event.
ce.
awaits the royal couple at the
entertain the illustrious
nix Park, the Duke of Leinster, Lordrn Powerscourt, and the
Marquis of Sligo, are prepared
visiters, and with a display of genuine hospitality characteris-
outh, for m enticing at.
tic of the Emerald Isle. The Giant's Causeway. in the north,
and the Lakes of Killarney, in the
ously welcome the
tractions, worthy of royalty ; and, ins both provinces, many
of the resident nobility and gentry will JoYf _
Queen and her consort.—Correspondent
—lt is said
BAD NEWS NOR TAILOR -AND PRINTERS.
o Dublin paper.
that in Nottingham and Derby the glove trade is increasing,.
that the manufacturers in those places are endeavouring to
m,
bring out coats and trousers woven in the frame, and that
ultimately it is expected they will purpose.
accomplish then..
Much improvement has been made since the first attempt.
It our manufacturers should be able to bring out pieces that
will please the public, it would afford a great stimulus to the
trade of Leicester.—Standard. This book (' the Anatomy
of Sleep,' by Dr. Binns ; Churchill, London, 1842, (has
also another claim on public curiosity, as it is, perhaps,
the
first volume prepared for the press by the patent composing
—chine, of the powers of which it is a creditable specimen.
"'-filet. We krrow not where the powers of machinery
-174aut it seems to threaten to make mankind either
Ancl; animals, or to render them in the end all gen-
, ttving Little more to do than to set machinery in
ft their plenum: and, happiness, which accords with
t views ; but we fear that the interval that must
tsreen the time when human labour is superseded,
en it will be used for the benefit of all, will be
*
and one.—Sheffield Iris.
1