[&ANoNG] BOUNDARIES OF NEW BRUNSWICK 293 
southward within forty leagues of said sea-shore, thereby including the large 
island commonly called Isle de Sable. . . . . 
(Bourinot, Builders of Nova Scotia, 104.) 
According to this description a straight line must be drawn from 
St. Mary’s Bay to the mouth of the River St. Croix (viz., points in the 
middles of their mouths), and such a line would run as shown on the 
accompanying map (No. 28), cutting through Grand Manan.1 For 
the most part this description of the boundaries of Nova Scotia is fol- 
lowed in the Commissions to the Governors after 1763, but they make 
a notable difference in the boundary on the west. This is to be a line 
drawn from Cape Sable (not St. Marys Bay) to the St. Croix, and no 
mention is made of islands on the west, although they are expressly 
mentioned and referred to in relation to their distance from the coasts 
on the north, east and south, nor is the word circumference used. It is 
now obvious that all of the Passamaquoddy Islands fall within six 
leagues of the coast (Map No. 28), that is the mainland, of Nova 
Scotia, but that only the northern end of Grand Manan does so. To 
meet this difficulty the British agent, and the British commissioner 
agreed with him, claimed that the intention was in the grant of 1621 to 
include all islands within six leagues of the boundaries, and not simply 
of the coasts, of Nova Scotia, as shown by use of the word circumference ; 
hence all islands within six leagues of the line from St. Marys Bay to 
the mouth of the St. Croix, i.e., within a line drawn parallel and six 
leagues distant (Map No. 28), and thus including Grand Manan, 
belonged to Nova Scotia. To this it was answered that the British 
Government had itself in the Commissions to Wilmot of 1763 and others 
later, though following Alexander’s grant, settled this point by omitting 
all reference to circumferences and to islands on the west, though ex- 
pressly mentioning them elsewhere. The British Commissioner con- 
vinced the American Commissioner in part at least that this omission 
may have been accidental, and that in any case it was not binding 
between governments. The result so far was that the American Com- 
missioner appears to have admitted that Moose Dudley and Fredericks 
Islands were legally a part of Nova Scotia, but he would not admit that 
Grand Manan was. The only solution was of course a compromise. It 
was agreed that the three small islands in question were far more impor- 
tant to the United States than to Great Britain and had long been in 

1 It is difficult to say just where the mouth of St. Marys Bay is to be 
fixed ; I have drawn the line from the Cape at its entrance, and, if anything, 
the line should run more to the eastward, though in no case is it true, as 
Moore says (50) that the line will ‘ just touch’’ Grand Manan. If the line 
is run from Cape Sable to the St. Croix, it will fall somewhat more to the 
westward as shown on the map, that is if it is made to clear the coast of the 
Peninsula, as it undoubtedly should. 
