[GANONG ] BOUNDARIES OF NEW BRUNSWICK 211 
Both dwell only upon those matters favourable to their respective con- 
tentions, ignoring utterly all unfavourable evidence until forced by 
their opponents to consider it. Both tell the truth, but not the whole 
truth, and are not above misrepresenting the opponent’s position and 
even the documents they cite, in which occasionally they mix their own 
words with citations in a misleading manner. Both abound in verbal 
distinctions calculated to detract attention from the facts involved, 
and ‘both make the most of the looseness in wording of documents 
characteristic of the time. In all of these respects, however, but es- 
pecially in verbal subtleties, the French Memoirs surpass the Eng- 
lish, and this no doubt for two reasons:—first, the French are na- 
turally more apt at such mental gymnastics than the English, and 
second, the French had a very weak cause to sustain, one which had 
to be won by nimbleness of wit if it was to be won at all. The duel 
* of the Memorials suggests a contest between a skilled but weak mas- 
ter of fencing with the light rapier, and a sturdy strong-armed wielder 
of a heavy sabre. It seems remarkable that the English did not rest 
their case upon the solid facts in their favour and not allow them- 
selves to be tempted into digressions; and, had these memorials been 
aadressed to some judicial court, this would no doubt have been their 
best course. But there was no court of arbitration to weigh the evi- 
dence presented by the two sides and judge it calmly. ‘The Memoirs 
were addressed to the world, an audience accustomed to partizanship 
rather than judicial judgment, and a failure to answer the opponents 
points would be taken as an admission of their force. 
In considering the whole discussion, while we condemn the French 
for their efforts to save by subtleties of diplomacy what they had lost 
by force of stronger arms, we must at least remember that their con- 
duct was as honourable as that of the English, who repeatedly seized 
Acadia in time of peace, and made grants to their own subjects after 
ceding it back to France. The French commissioners were simply ad- 
vocates of a weak cause, and they used every device at their command 
to win that cause. In this they did precisely what is'considered legit- 
imate in every law court, in every newspaper, upon every political plat- 
form amongst the most civilized peoples of the present day. We may 
condemn the action of the French in this matter if'we|must, but we 
should not condone the partizanship of modern politics and law. Cer- 
tainly we must admit that the French commissioners made an admir- 
able defence of their weak position. Had the soldiers of France held 
the forts of Acadia as well, the day of English domination would have 
been longer postponed. 
