1. That the river to be considered as the St. Croix and its true source
have been designated by a solemn act, to which the good faith of the
majesty of Great Britain and of the people of the United States is
pledged, and can not now be disturbed.
2. That the boundary line must, in compliance with the provisions of the
treaty of 1783, be drawn due north from the source of that river, and in
no other direction whatever.
3. That the northwest angle of Nova Scotia was a point sufficiently
known at the date of the treaty of 1783 to be made the starting point
of the boundary of the United States; that it was both described in the
treaty and defined, without being named in previous official acts of the
British Government, in so forcible a manner that no difficulty need have
existed in finding it.
4. That the line of highlands claimed by the United States is, as the
argument on the part of Great Britain has maintained it ought to be, in
a mountainous region, while that proposed by Messrs. Featherstonhaugh
and Mudge does not possess this character; that it is also, in the sense
uniformly maintained by the United States, the height of land, which
that of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge is not; that it fulfills in
every sense the conditions of the proclamation of 1763, the Quebec act
of 1774, and the treaty of 1783, which no other line that can possibly
be drawn in the territory in question can perform.
5. That as far as the Indian Stream and that flowing through Lake
Connecticut are concerned, the source of the former must in the sense
established by the assent of both parties be considered as the
northwestern source of the Connecticut River, but that if the old
demarcation of the forty-fifth parallel be disturbed the question must
lie between the sources of Halls and of Indian streams.
All which is respectfully submitted.
JAS. RENWICK
JAMES D. GRAHAM,
A. TALCOTT,
_Commissioners_.
_Note I_.
[Treaty of 1794, Article V.]
Whereas doubts have arisen what river was truly intended under the
name of the river St. Croix mentioned in the said treaty of peace, and
forming a part of the boundary therein described, that question shall be
referred to the final decision of commissioners to be appointed in the
following manner, viz:
One commissioner shall be named by His Majesty and one by the President
of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate
thereof, and the said two commissioners shall agree on the choice of a
third, or, if they can not so agree, they shall each propose one person,
and of the two names so proposed one shall be drawn by lot in the
presence of the two original commissioners; and the three commissioners
so appointed shall be sworn impartially to examine and decide the said
question according to such evidence as shall respectively be laid before
them on the part of the British Government and of the United States.
The said commissioners shall meet at Halifax, and shall have power to
adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit. They
shall have power to appoint a secretary and to employ such surveyors
or other persons as they shall judge necessary. The said commissioners
shall, by a declaration under their hands and seals, decide what river
is the river St. Croix intended by the treaty. The said declaration
shall contain a description of the said river and shall particularize
the latitude and longitude of its mouth and of its source. Duplicates
of this declaration and of the statements of their accounts and of the
journal of their proceedings shall be delivered by them to the agent
of His Majesty and to the agent of the United States who may be
respectively appointed and authorized to manage the business on behalf
of the respective Governments. And both parties agree to consider such
decision as final and conclusive, so as that the same shall never
thereafter be called into question or made the subject of dispute or
difference between them.
_Note II_.
Declaration of the commissioners under the fifth article of the treaty
of 1794 between the United States and Great Britain, respecting the true
river St. Croix, by Thomas Barclay, David Howell, and Egbert Benson,
commissioners appointed in pursuance of the fifth article of the treaty
of amity, commerce, and navigation between His Britannic Majesty and the
United States of America finally to decide the question "What river was
truly intended under the name of the river St. Croix mentioned in the
treaty of peace between His Majesty and the United States, and forming
a part of the boundary therein described?"