308 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
been supposed to exist, without the place of its existence having been seen, or 
described, that it is a mere mathematical point, supposed to exist, etc.” 
(Boundary MS.) 
How circumstances alter cases! In 1798, because it fitted their 
immediate interests, we find the British agent arguing for a perfectly 
definite and determinable north-west angle of Nova Scotia, and the 
American agent claiming it as but an undeterminable phantom of the 
imagination. Yet, but a few years later, it was the British who were 
claiming the north-west angle of Nova Scotia as an unlocalizable 
phantom, and the Americans who claimed that it was a perfectly 
definite point that could be located with certainty in:the topography 
of the country, and both parties were much plagued by their opposite 
declarations earlier. 
This idea of Sullivan that the north-west angle of Nova Scotia 
could not be fixed according to the words of the treaty is still further 
emphasized in a letter of his to Madison, Secretary of State, of date 
May 20, 1802 (State Papers, II, 586), when he says :— 
You will see by the maps of that part of the country, that the line which 
runs north from the source of the St. Croix, crosses the River St. John at a 
great way south of any place which could be supposed to be the highlands; 
but where the line will come to the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, and find 
its termination, it is not easy to discover . . . . should this description 
[that there are no “highlands” south of the St. Lawrence] be founded in 
fact, nothing can be effectively done as to a Canada line without a commis- 
sion to ascertain and settle the place of the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, 
wherever that may be agreed to be; if there is no mountain or natural monu- 
ment, an artificial one may be raised. 
Sullivan’s difficulty in locating a north-west angle of Nova Scotia 
arose in part from reports that there were no highlands 1.e., distinct 
ranges of hills, just south of the St. Lawrence and thus he takes the 
view so vigorously advocated later by the British that the existence 
of highlands, viz., distinct ranges of elevations and not simply a water- 
shed, is an essential condition for locating the north-west angle of 
Nova Scotia. Sullivan’s letter had a great influence upon the subse- 
quent controversy and final settlement of the boundary line, for his 
view of the case was taken by Madison who instructed the American 
minister at London to open negotiations for an adjustment of the 
boundaries. He speaks of Sullivan’s “information and reasoning,” 
as useful in the discussion. He states that provision should be made 
for the running of the line due north from the St. Croix, and adds :— 
In fixing the point at which the line is to terminate and which is referred 
to as the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, the difficulty arises from a refer- 
ence of the treaty of 1783 ‘to the highlands,’’ which it is now found have 
no definite existence. To remove this difficulty no better expedient occurs 
