38 tittmann: our northern boundaries 



site Lord Alverstone, Chief Justice of England, who presided over 

 the Tribunal. In introduicng me to two gentlemen, between 

 whom I sat, he explained that they had been associated with him 

 in the consideration of various grave international boundary 

 questions and that they had all come to the conclusion that maps 

 were very unreliable evidence. 



Having in mind that our contention before the Tribunal in- 

 volved the use of maps, the obvious answer was that some maps 

 were doubtless unreliable. 



This difficulty of the unreliability of maps was encountered 

 immediately after the signing of the Treaty of Peace of 1783, in 

 regard to our northeastern boundary. For, that treaty carried 

 the boundary down the middle of the St. Croix River to its mouth. 

 This, in the light of our modern geography seems quite explicit, 

 but after the lapse of eleven years it became necessary to appoint 

 a commission to decide upon the identity of the St. Croix River. 

 This identification was successfully accomplished under the 

 Treaty of 1794. But how about the line from the mouth of the 

 St. Croix thru Passamaquoddy Bay? 



Its course was defined in the Treaty of Peace of 1783 to be such 

 as to assign to the United States "all islands within 20 leagues of 

 any part of the shores of the United States and lying between lines 

 to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boun- 

 daries between Nova Scotia on the one part and east Florida on 

 the other shall respectively touch th^ Bay of Fundy and the At- 

 lantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are, or heretofore have 

 been, within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia." 



This general provision was difficult of interpretation .because 

 both governments claimed some of the islands. Several treaties 

 which failed of ratification were proposed. One of them contained 

 an extraordinary provision which would have placed Campo 

 Bello Island within the limits of the United States boundaries, 

 but provided that it should remain under British jurisdiction. 



Thus, there was no settlement of the disagreement of the two 

 governments until the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, the beginning of 

 the hundred years of peace which we are to celebrate in December 

 of this year. Under that treaty Commissioners were appointed 



