I -J8 North-East Boundary of America. {[FEB. 



for which we have been arguing is of vital importance we have only to cal- 

 culate what we lose or compromise by abandoning the claim. 



We lose, 1st, a tract of land of high value for its extent, and quality, and 

 position. It comprises upwards of 10,000 square miles an extent of 

 which the public probably are little aware covered with a thick and 

 lofty growth of timber, well watered by numerous lakes, and with streams 

 communicating with the sea by safe and uninterrupted navigation except- 

 ing only the Grand Falls of St. John's, an impediment easily removable 

 and flowing through countries actually occupied by our own colonists. 



2d. We lose also what is of still higher importance a defensible line 

 of frontier. If we concede to the Americans their demands, and thus suffer 

 them to pass the St. John's, or even to come up to its western bank, the 

 whole province of New Brunswick lies at their mercy ; and if New Bruns- 

 wick, Nova Scotia ; and if Nova Scotia, Halifax, &c. &c. In these coun- 

 tries Great Britain is, of course, the weaker party. 



3d. We lose again what is surely of not less importance the connect- 

 ing medium between our colonies. The territory involved in the American 

 demands drives up between Canada and New Brunswick, almost to the very 

 banks of the St. Lawrence. It fairly cuts off all communication between 

 the upper and lower divisions of our American possessions, and exposes 

 Canada as much on the one side, as it does New Brunswick on the other. 

 A strip of thirteen miles is all that would be left us between the American 

 boundary and the St. Lawrence ; and how long would that be left us ? 

 It endangers the navigation of the St. Lawrence itself; the passage of the 

 mails must run circuitously, and that passage itself become precarious and 

 perilous. 



4th. But not only do we lose the medium of connection between the 

 colonies, but between the Canadas and the seas between the Canadas 

 and Great Britain. For eight months in the year, not even an answer 

 from England, to any intelligence from Quebec, can be received, except 

 through the United States, or New Brunswick. An enemy has only to 

 commence hostilities before the frosts, and have nearly a twelvemonth to 

 over-run the colonies, perfectly undisturbed ; and not merely is a direct 

 route for the mails thus cut off, but a military line of communication for 

 troops and stores from St. John's or Halifax to Quebec. The advantage 

 of such a line of communication was very decidedly felt in the late war, 

 when troops in the depth of winter passed through these debateable regions 

 to the Upper Provinces. 



These are no mean consequences ; and we say boldly, if we do not resist 

 the spirit of encroachment so visible in the councils of America, and insist 

 upon the boundary of the treaty, we shall soon have to contend, at still 

 greater disadvantages, for the possession of all our provinces. America 

 has a lurking, and scarcely a lurking fancy for them. " The Americans 

 have no conscience, father," said the Indian chief, in his talk to Sir George 

 Prevost: " they have no heart; they will drive us beyond the setting 

 sun ;" language which the intelligent author of the pamphlet, to which 

 we refer at the head of our article, is disposed to apply to them, with re- 

 spect to ourselves ; adding " and they will push you into the sea ; for, 

 unless a stand be now made to prevent it, they eventually will." The 

 pamphlet, to which we thus allude, contains fuller information than we 

 have been able to compress within our narrow limits particularly with re- 

 spect to the rising importance of the colonies commercially. 



