212 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Governor Carleton transmits, the subject, somewhat perfunctorily, 
to the Duke of Portland in a letter of August 5, 1799, suggesting that 
Great Britain may still have a claim on Isle St. Croix through the 
general exception of islands belonging to Nova Scotia. But Chipman 
himself saw the subject differently soon after, for in a draft of a 
letter of his (Ms. in the author’s possession) to Sir John Wentworth, 
Governor of Nova Scotia, of August 6, 1799, he says: — 
This island [Isle St. Croix] tho of very trifling value, has been dur- 
ing the present year taken possession of by Subjects of the United States 
residing upon that part of the western shore of the River St. Croix which is 
opposite to it—altho’ this island was clearly included in the original Grant of 
the Province of Nova Scotia to Sir William Alexander and therefore was an 
island which ‘‘ had formerly been within the limits of that Province,” still I 
conceive that it is not saved to His Majesty by virtue of the exception in the 
24 article of the Treaty of Peace, because it is not found to lie between the 
due east lines mentioned in that article, and therefore is not included in the 
Grant of the Islands upon which alone the exception can operate. The right 
to this island I conceive must be decided by ascertaining whether it lies on 
the American side of the boundary line mentioned in the Treaty of Peace “ to 
be drawn along the middle of the river St. Croix from its mouth in the Bay 
of Fundy to its source,” and as this island does in fact lie on the American 
side of such line along the middle of the river,’ and also on the western side 
of the main channel of the river, and to the northward of a due east line 
from its mouth, if my construction of the treaty in this respect is not erron- 
° 
eous, it evidently belongs to the United States. . . . .” 
Chipman’s later position seems unquestionably the correct one, 
and with this the subject ends. However much we may regret that 
this island does not belong to the country with whose history it is 
so closely connected, we must all agree that the title of the United 
States to it is perfectly clear and just. 
Curiously enough there is an apparent still later British claim 
to the island, no longer ago than 1896, for in that year in a codifica- 
tion of the boundaries of New Brunswick passed by the local legisla- 
ture, Doucetts Island is included within the bounds of the Parish of 
St. Croix in Charlotte County. This was, of course, due to some 
error on the part of the compilers of the Act, but it is curious that 
there was no one in the Legislature of New Brunswick sufficiently 
informed to point out the error before the Act was passed. But, in 
1899 a new law was enacted to strike out the words “ Doucetts Island 



1 Tt is fortunate that the island lies on the west of the middle of the river, 
as well as on the west of the deepest channel, or a controversy might have 
arisen over the exact significance cf the word “‘ middle” of the Treaty. 
2 At one time he thought the boundary line would run through the island, 
for in a letter of Mar. 27, 1798, (MS. in my possession) he writes to Jonathan 
Odell,—“ My little Isle St. Croix will probably be divided between the two 
countries.” 
