The true mode of determining the most northwesterly of any two given
points need no longer be a matter of discussion. It has already been
a matter adjudicated and assented to by both Governments, in the case
of the Lake of the Woods. The point to be considered as most to the
northwest is that which a ruler laid on a map drawn according to
Mercator's projection in a direction northeast and southwest and moved
parallel to itself toward the northwest would last touch. In this view
of the subject the Eastern Branch of the Connecticut, which forms the
lake of that name, is excluded, for its source, so far from lying to the
northwest of those of the other two branches which have been explored,
actually lies to the south of the source of the Indian Stream. The
question must therefore lie between the two others, and it is as yet
impossible to decide which of them is best entitled to the epithet, as
their sources lie very nearly in the same northeast and southwest rhomb
line. Another circumstance would, however, render the decision between
them easy. The forty-fifth parallel of latitude, as laid out by the
surveyors of the Provinces of Quebec and New York in conformity with
the proclamation of 1763, crosses Halls Stream above its junction with
the united current of the other two. In this case the latter is the
Connecticut River of the treaty of 1783, and Halls Stream, which has
not yet joined it, must be excluded. The parallel, as corrected by the
united operations of the British and American astronomers under the
fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, does not touch Halls Stream, and
the Connecticut River, to which it is produced, is the united current of
the three streams. If, then, the corrected parallel should become the
boundary between the United States and the British Provinces, Halls
Stream must become one of those the claim of whose source to the title
of the north-westernmost head of Connecticut River is to be examined.
And here it may be suggested, although with the hesitation that is
natural in impeaching such high authority, that the commissioners under
the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent in all probability misconstrued
that instrument when they reopened the question of the forty-fifth
parallel. It can not be said that the forty-fifth degree of latitude had
"_not been surveyed_" when it is notorious that it had been traced and
marked throughout the whole extent from St. Regis to the bank of the
Connecticut River.
In studying, for the purpose of illustration, the history of this part
of the boundary line it will be found that a change was made in it by
the Quebec act of 1774. The proclamation of 1763 directs the forty-fifth
parallel to be continued only until it meets highlands, while in that
bill the Connecticut River is made the boundary of the Province of
Quebec. Now the earlier of these instruments was evidently founded upon
the French claim to extend their possession of Canada 10 leagues from
the St. Lawrence River, and from the citadel of Quebec, looking to the
south, are seen mountains whence rivers flow to the St. Lawrence. On
their opposite slope there was a probability that streams might flow to
the Atlantic. These mountains, however, are visibly separated from those
over which the line claimed by the United States runs by a wide gap.
This is the valley of the Chaudiere; and the St. Francis also rises on
the southeastern side of these mountains and makes its way through them.
It is not, therefore, in any sense a dividing ridge. Yet under the
proclamation of 1763 the Provinces of New York and New Hampshire claimed
and were entitled to the territory lying behind it, which is covered by
their royal charters. The Quebec act, it would appear, was intended to
divest them of it, and according to the construction of the treaty of
1783 now contended for the United States acquiesced in this diminution
of the territory of those members of the Union. If, however, it be true,
as maintained by Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, that the highlands
seen to the south of Quebec are a portion of the ridge seen from
southeast to northeast, and if, as they maintain, so deep and wide a
valley as that of the St. John is no disruption of the continuity of
highlands, it would be possible to show that the highlands of the treaty
of 1783 are made up of these two ridges of mountains and that the United
States is entitled to the whole of the eastern townships. This range of
highlands would coincide with the terms of the proclamation of 1763 by
terminating on the north shore of the Bay of Chaleurs, while the abraded
highlands of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge terminate on its south
shore. In fact, there is no step in their argument which might not be
adduced to support this claim, nor any apparent absurdity in preferring
it which would not find its parallel in one or other of the positions
they assume.
In this view of the history of this part of the line it becomes evident,
however, that in divesting the Provinces of New York and New Hampshire
by the Quebec act of territory admitted to belong to them in the
proclamation of 1763 the British Parliament must have intended to make
the encroachment as small as possible, and the first important branch of
the Connecticut met with in tracing the forty-fifth parallel must have
been intended. This intention is fully borne out by the words of the
treaty of 1783, which chose from among the branches of the Connecticut
that whose source is farthest to the northwest.