396 ROYAL SOOIETY OF CANADA 
In all of the voluminous literature of our boundary disputes, 
there is not, in my opinion, a more diplomatic and effective document 
than this. With the greatest possible adroitness Canada takes advan- 
tage of the position of the British Government during the dispute 
as to the International Boundary, and entrenches herself in a position 
logically unassailable. Certainly if Great Britain was right in claim- 
ing the Mars Hill highlands as the northern boundary of the United 
States, their continuation eastward should have been the boundary 
between New Brunswick and Lower ‘Canada, for the southern 
boundary of Canada was legally the same as the northern bound- 
ary of both the United States and of New Brunswick. Prior to 1842 
[ believe Canada had no legal claim to a boundary south of the nor- 
thern watershed ; but the position formally taken by the British Gov- 
ernment during the dispute over the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, 
did give a certain support to her claim for the central highlands as 
her southern boundary, or at least a claim which Great Britain was 
morally bound to sustain. It seems to me, further, a perfectly logical 
sequence of the position taken by New Brunswick in the international 
boundary controversy, that her northern boundary should now run 
south of the Tobique river, or, at least, by favour of Quebec, at the 
Restigouche. That it does not is due entirely to the fact that the 
Home Government practically repudiated its own position in her 
favour, thus virtually admitting its lack of foundation, and it con- 
stitutes another of those pieces of good fortune which New Brunswick 
has experienced in the settlement of her boundaries. 
There was now a pause in the boundary controversy pending the 
report by Major Robinson, Captain Henderson and Mr. Johnstone, 
and this appeared two years later. 
The selection of Captain Pipon and Lieutenant Henderson was 
determined in part at least by the fact that they had already been 
appointed to explore the region between New Brunswick and Canada 
for a line of railway to connect the provinces, and in their instructions: 
from Mr. Gladstone (Blue-book, 83) they were required to perform 
both duties. Captain Pipon! was unfortunately drowned in the Resti- 
gouche River shortly after his arrival in New Brunswick, and he was 
replaced by Major Robinson. Nearly two years were spent by this 
commission in the exploration and other investigations, and on July 
20, 1848, the commissioners made a report of great importance to 
Earl Gray, successor to Gladstone, as Colonial Secretary. This report 
is printed in full in the Blue-book, 86-94.? 
1 There is a tablet to his memory, erected by the Legislature of New 
Brunswick, in Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton. 
2 Also, and with a map, and an introduction by Major Robinson, in the 
Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers, III. and IV., new series, 1854-1855. 

Fast} et) 
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