[&ANoxG] BOUNDARIES OF NEW BRUNSWICK 171 
enough, because it would give the largest possible territory to the Kings 
favourite Alexander under whose influence, doubtless, the charter was 
drawn. 
Why was a north line from the source of the river chosen ? It is to 
be noted that it is simply a northerly (versus septentrionem), not a due 
north, line. . Since the Virginia patent was made to extend along 
45° from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, presumably by east and west 
lines, one would have expected that a west line from the source of the St. 
Croix would have been chosen, the more especially as the choice of a 
north line left vacant a great right-angled area between the two grants. 
How different might the boundaries of New Brunswick have been to-day 
had a west line been chosen ! But it was very evident from the estab- 
lishment of the River St. Lawrence as the northern boundary of Nova 
Scotia, that this province was not to extend to the Pacific, and if it was 
to be confined to the huge peninsula including the Maritime Provinces 
and Gaspé, a north and south boundary line was far more natural than 
an east and west line to give it a compact and manageable form; and it 
is to be noted that, owing to the distortions of Champlain’s maps, a 
north line seemed more nearly to cut the great peninsula square across 
than it actually does when projected upon a modern map (compare 
map No. 4 with 6 and 7). Moreover, one may suppose that Alexander 
preferred the more compact and natural limits, or that he wished to 
avoid a conflict with the French then settling at Quebec. However, 
seven years later, in 1628, as we shall see, all Canada was also granted 
to Alexander, so that his grant after all extended to the Pacific. 
Why was the north line to end with the first St. Lawrence waters ? 
There is a gap here in the original charter, for while it says the line is to 
end with the first St. Lawrence waters, and to follow the shores of the St. 
Lawrence eastward, it does not say that those first St. Lawrence waters 
are to form the boundary to the St. Lawrence itself. This, however, 
seems the obvious intention, although some later maps extend the north 
line directly to the St. Lawrence. Assuming then that the boundary was 
to follow the first affluent of the St. Lawrence to the St. Lawrence, we 
ask why such a boundary was chosen ? Turning to the Champlain 1612 
map, we see that a very short line north from the western head would 
strike a large (really unidentified) river, flowing into the St. Lawrence, 


* Indeed, such was the later history of boundaries in this region that, 
had the old northern boundary of Virginia, viz., the parallel of 45°, been 
restored as the boundary between New England (successor to Virginia) and 
Nova Scotia, a very natural proceeding, then in all probability the boundary 
between the United States and Canada to-day would be the natural east 
and west line of 45° instead of the present sinuous and inconvenient line, a 
subject later to be further discussed. 
