198 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
In the same year, 1720, Charlevoix discussed the boundaries in a 
memoir (in Quebec MS., IIL, 49), and again in his History he takes the 
strong pro-French view. 
In 1723 another memoir was prepared by M. Bobé (New York 
Documents, 913), which recapitulates the French discoveries and early 
settlements, and claims that the Acadia ceded by the Treaty of Utrecht 
included only a part of the peninsula of Nova Scotia. He argues against 
the contention of the English that the treaty of 1686 obliterated all 
earlier rights based upon discovery and settlement, and established a 
new right based upon then actual possession. He also refers to an 
earlier memoir of his sent to Count de Toulouse, in which he proves that 
“ Acadia, according to its ancient limits ceded by France, does not 
include all the imaginary Nova Scotia, but only all that is embraced 
between the south coast of the peninsula and a straight line drawn from 
Cape Fourchu to Cape Campseau exclusively.” This is the earliest 
mention [ have found of the restriction of Acadia to a part of the pen- 
insula ; but it appears thereafter in several documents, although later 
the straight line was replaced by one following the central watershed. 
But nothing further was done towards the settlement of this vexed ques- 
tion until 1748, in which year the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed, 
in which it was provided that commissioners should be appointed to 
determine the limits of Acadia. Accordingly on the part of England, 
William Shirley and William Mildmay were appointed, and on the part 
of France M. de Silhouette and the Marquis de Galissoniére. The 
latter prepared in 1750 a memoir on the French colonies in North 
America (N.Y. Colonial Documents, X., 220), in which he limits Acadia 
to a part of the peninsula, but suggests that it may be well to cede the 
whole peninsula for some recompense.! The conferences of this com- 
mission began in 1750 and lasted four years, but they were entirely 
unable to come to an agreement. Accordingly they separated in 1758, 
leaving the question where it had been since 1713. Their conferences 
had, however, one important result to our history, namely, the publica- 
tion in London and Paris of the volumes of their memoires, which con- 
tain all their arguments in full, but in addition valuable matter upon 
Acadian history and many documents of the greatest importance to the 
history of this region which otherwise would to-day be quite inacces- 
sible,? if not lost. 
We shall now proceed to summarize the arguments of the commis- 
sioners as set forth in their memorials. 

1 There is also another Mémoir of 1755 in Quebec MS., III., 522. 
* On the historical value of these volumes see Winsor ‘America,’ IV., 154, 
and V., 475. Other works relating to this question are summarized by Winsor 
in the latter section. 
