2 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Francis, at the Cove west of Pointe au Bodet and running northerly 

 in a defined direction until it struck the boundary line of Hudson 

 Bay, "including all the territory to the westward and southward 

 ... to the utmost extent of the country commonly called or known 

 by the name of Canada." ^ 



It had been found impossible to follow the description of the 

 eastern boundary exactly, but the Surveyor-General drew a satis- 

 factory line* — there was no need to be particular about the northern 

 boundary, settlement had not gone so far in that direction. Toward 

 the United States, to the west and south, the boundary had been 

 defined by the Definitive Treaty of Paris, 1783, the middle line of 

 the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes and their connecting rivers.^ 

 While part of the de jure territory of the United States had been 

 detained for a time by Britain and was de facto part of Upper Canada, 

 it had all been given up in 1796 under the provisions of Jay's Treaty, 

 1794.6 



The precise line had not been fixed in certain places one hundred 

 years ago. There was a dispute as to the international line; and by 

 the Treaty of Ghent, December 24, 1814, the matter was agreed to 

 be referred to two Commissioners, one on each side.- 



The first British Commissioner was John Ogilvy of Montreal, 

 but he died at Amherstburg in 1819 of fever caught in the swamps of 



^There is a misprint of the word "of" for "on" in the copy in 4 Ont. Arch. 

 Rep. (1906), p. 159 — the original capitalization has not been followed in this copy. 



*See the note on the map opposite D. & McA., p. 72 — the mistake was in the 

 Order-in- Council. 



^This Treaty is given in " Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of 

 Canada, 1759-1791," edited by Shortt and Doughty, 2nd edit., Ottawa, 1918, 

 pp. 726-730. "Treaties and Conventions, United States, etc." Washington, 1889, 

 pp. 375-379. 



The statement in the text as to the northern boundary is not exactly correct — 

 already there was a desire for a port on Hudson Bay. See Baldwin's Motion in the 

 Assembly, December 29, 1823, 10 Ont. Arch. Rep. (1913), pp. 564, 589. I have 

 shortened the description of the treaty boundary between Canada and the United 

 States. 



^The border ports of Michillimacinack, Detroit, Niagara, Oswego, Oswegatchie, 

 Point au Fer, Dutchman's Point, were held by Britain because the United States 

 had not implemented their agreement that the British creditors should find no 

 lawful impediment to the recovery in full of their claims on American debtors. 

 Washington, April 16, 1794, sent John Jay, Chief Justice of the United States, to 

 England and he, November 19, 1784, secured a treaty whereby the United States 

 were to pay the retained debts and Britain to give up the retained territory. Britain 

 gave up the territory in 1796 and the United States paid £600,000 in 1802. 



Jay's Treaty will be found in "Treaties and Conventions, etc.," pp. 379-395. 



^The Treaty of Ghent, "Treaties and Conventions, etc.," pp. 399-405. 



