The Columbia Democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1837-1850, 1839-03-30
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY II. WEBB.

lands, and that mountains Of considerable
elevation extend westward from Mars Hill,
dividing the waters of st. Johns river
from those Of the Pehobscot, &c. Such,
however, is not the fact, for we find along
the former route continuous chain of high
hills if not mountains, broken it is true oc-
casionally by the action of the water; and
the latter, with the exception of Mars Hill
ITSELF presenting an undulatng surface
merely but little elevated above the sur
rounding plain. This is the line assumed
BY Great Britain as the boundary at issue,
which Is carefully traced on the map. The
ST Croix forms part Of the boundary be-
tween the United States and the British
possessions which has been definitely set
tied. The principal source Of the st. Croix
was ascertained IN the year 1897 by the
commissioners Of the United States and
Great Britain, under the treaty of 1884,
In the year 1917 the surveyors of the two
governments again marked the point at
which line due north was TO commence
AS no other survey has yet been made with
special reference to the disputed boundary,
its course cannot be stated with precision:
enough however is known TO justify the U.
States government in resisting the extsava-
CANT and unfounded claim Of the British
government.
In submitting the disputed points to um.
pirage, the government of the United States
never contemplated, apprehend, granting
the power to depart essentially from the
boundary always claimed by it, and Until
lately acquiesced in by that of Great Bri-
tain. The power conferred on the King of
the Netherlands, as umpire in this matter
was unquestionably restricted to the simple
adjustment of the boundary in question: nor
does il admit of any material variation fom
the lines as defined by the treaty 1888, and
as then understood by all the parties con-
cerned. The treaty, on which alone the
United States may rely with confidence,
describes the boundary with precision, so
nearly approaching to certainty, as to forbid
any misunderstanding with regard 10 the
line, in the mind of disinterested observ.
er. Other and ample evidence might be
adduced in support Of the American title to
the disputed territory--this can scarcely be
deemed necessary, as the treaty is sufficient
ly explicit and conclusive. All the acts Of
the. British government, from the proclama-
ton of 1862 to the treaty of 1888, recog-
nize the boundary claimed by the United
States, as the one which separated the pro-
ynces of Quebec and Nova Scotia from the
then province of Maine, and declare that the
line should pass along the highlands which
divide the rivers that empty themselves in
to the st. Lawrence, from those which fall
into the sea- and that the province of Que
bee is bounded on the South by a line from
the Bay of Chaleurs along the high lands,'
&c. reciting the precise words that were
subsequently transferred to the treaty of
peace of 1888. The treaty however,in let
ter as well as in spirit, is obviously and de-
cidedIy with the American Government.
On the side of the British, they rest al
together on their vague notions of an eqttita-
bic division of the country, upon which
their claim with regard to the northwest
angle of Nova Scotia is founded. This
claim places the angle at the point in the
line running due north from the source of
the ST. Croix, which meets the highlands
at or near Mars Hill; and according to this
view of the subject the angle thus formed
is the commencement, on the east, Of the
north boundary of Maine, from that point
to the westernmost head of the Connecticut
river. This line along the imaginary high
lands, it will be perceived divides the wa
ters of the Androscoggin, Kennebec and
Penobscot from, Alaguash, and Wallostook
branches of the St. Johns, and deprives the
state of Maine of nearly one third of its
area, or abSut 10000 square miles. The