tittmann: our northern boundaries 39 



for the settlement of the dispute and altho they decided on the 

 ownership of the principal islands, they were not required to lay 

 down the line. Their decision rendered in 1817, may therefore be 

 likened to a first approximation of the solution of the problem. 

 Three-quarters of a century later, under the convention of 1892, 

 Commissioners were again appointed and they marked a part of 

 the line and disagreed as to the rest, principally because the 

 nationality of a little islet, less than half an acre in extent, and 

 lying in the course of the boundary, had not been specifically es- 

 tablished by the Commissioners under the treaty of 1814. This 

 was a second approximation. One hundred and eighteen years 

 after the Treaty of Peace of 1783, it became possible to fix this 

 part of the line by courses and distances and by reference to mon- 

 uments on the ground and it may surprise you to know that the 

 line from the mouth of the St. Croix to its headwaters has never 

 been laid down on a chart, or marked on the ground, except in so 

 far as the work of the present commission has progressed. 



These complications in the settlement of the boundary thru 

 Passamaquoddy Bay, briefly outlined in the foregoing, are typical 

 of the process of the delimitation of the whole line. 



In 1803 Jefferson, in his annual message to Congress, said that 

 a further knowledge of the ground in the northeastern and north- 

 western angles of the United States had evidenced that the boun- 

 daries established by the Treaty of Paris between the British 

 Territories and ours in those parts, were too imperfectly described 

 to be susceptible of execution. 



At one time a part of the northeastern boundary matter was 

 .submitted to the King of The Netherlands for arbitration, but his 

 decision rendered in 1831 was rejected by both governments. A 

 remarkable example of difficulties caused by unreliable maps or 

 surveys is afforded by that portion of the line which forms the 

 boundary between the State of New York and the Province of 

 Quebec. As early as 1606, James I proclaimed the 45° parallel 

 as the boundary between the Provinces of New York and Quebec, 

 and between 1771 and 1774, two surveyors, Valentine and Collins, 

 marked the boundary supposedly along the 45th parallel. When 

 the Commissioners under the Treaty of Ghent attempted to trace 



