[GANONG] BOUNDARIES OF NEW BRUNSWICK 379 
and a line north from the former would pass near the mouth of the 
Madawaska River, leaving the lands licensed to the Acadians in New 
Brunswick (Map No. 30).1 The Acadians, who formed this settle- 
ment ? (to which many Canadians were added) were those dispossessed 
from the lower St. John by the settlement of the loyalists. Quebec, 
however, by no means relinquished jurisdiction over this territory. 
On July 8, 1787, the Executive Council of Quebec authorized the 
Surveyor General, Holland, to promise grants of land in the Mada- 
waska district to persons desirous to settle, and especially to the 
Avadians, and although such grants were never actually made, Quebec 
continued to exercise authority in other, though in no very important 
respects, down to 1792. (Blue-book, 11° ; Remarks upon disputed 
Points of Boundary, 60-69.) 
The next step of importance was taken by Quebec. On Oct. 18 
of the same year (1787) a report of a committee of council of that 
province appointed to consider the boundary was presented to Lord 
Dorchester. It refers to a report already made to him by Mr. Hol- 
land, and points out that if the boundary claimed by New Brunswick 
be admitted the seigniories under Canadian grants will fall into New 
Brunswick and the Acadian settlements will be greatly incommoded 
if included within New Brunswick. They then add : — 
The Committee most humbly submit to your Lordship, whether it would 
not be for the advantage of both Governments that the Province of Quebec be 
separated from that of New Brunswick by a line running along the highlands which 
extend from the head of Chaleurs Bay to the foot of the Great Fall of St. John’s 
River, and from thence crossing the River (so as to include the whole of the portage 
or carrying place) and continuing in a straight line towards the sources of the River 
Chaudière, which rise on the highlands that commence at the said head of the Bay of 
Chaleurs, and extend all the way to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River. 
(Disputed Points of Boundary, 66; Blue-book, 60.) 
This document is noteworthy for the reason that it contains the 
first formal proposal for a Quebec boundary along the central high- 
lands, and it is notable that it originates, merely as a suggestion, the 



1 All of these early grants to Acadians were east of this line, and hence 
supposedly within the legal boundaries, and it was not until considerably 
later that she made grants knowingly west of the north line. 
? On the history of this settlement, see the valuable papers by Raymond 
in Canadian History Readings; they contain new materials based upon the 
original and thorough studies of M. Prudent: I. Mercure, an Acadian of Mada- 
waska, and a direct descendant of the Mercure mentioned in Haldimand’s 
letter on page 374. 
8 The Blue-book here meant, and the one so frequently cited in the follow- 
ing pages, is the one of 1851 (see Bibliography), invaluable for its full collec- 
tion of documents relating to this boundary. 
