DOCUMENTS BEARING ON THE TREATY OF GHENT, 1814. 263 



which it was believed they would retain upon that river, by the 

 boundary west from the Lake of the Woods. The eighth article of 

 the treaty of 1783, was a separate and distinct article, stipulating the 

 right of both nations to navigate the river, without any reference to 

 boundary or to territory. But the boundary, the territory, and the 

 right to navigate the river, were all, in that treaty, cessions from 

 Great Britain to the United States. And, had it even been the inten- 

 tion of both parties, that Britain should cede the whole of her terri- 

 tories on the Mississippi, it was yet competent to her to reserve the 

 right of navigating the river for her subjects, in common with the 

 people of the United States, and competent for the United States to 

 accept the cession, subject to that reservation. They did so, by the 

 eighth article of the treaty. And in this point of view, the British 

 right of navigating the river, within the American territory, was 

 precisely similar to the American liberty of fishing within the British 

 territorial jurisdiction, reserved by the third article of the same 

 treaty. 



But, secondly, the discovery that a line due west, from the north- 

 westernmost corner of the Lake of the Woods, would not strike the 

 Mississippi, had not deprived Great Britain of all claim to territory 

 upon that river, at the time of the negotiation at Ghent. The line 

 described in the treaty was, from the northwesternmost point of the 

 Lake of the Woods, " on a due west course to the river Mississippi.'" 

 When it was found that the line due west did not touch the Missis- 

 sippi, this boundary was annulled by the fact. It remained an un- 

 settled boundary, to be adjusted by a new agreement. For this 

 adjustment, the moral obligation of the parties was to adopt such a 

 line as should approximate as near as possible to the intentions of 

 both parties in agreeing upon the line for which it was to be substi- 

 tuted. For ascertaining this line, if the United States were entitled 

 to the benefit of the words " on a due west course," Britain was 

 equally entitled to the benefit of the words " to the river Mississippi." 

 Both the demands stood on the same grounds. Before the war of 

 1812, three abortive attempts had been made by the parties to adjust 

 this boundary. The first was by the treaty of 1794, when it was 

 already conjectured, but not ascertained, that the line due west 

 from the lake would not intersect the Mississippi. By the fourth 

 article of the treaty of 1794, it was agreed that a joint survey should 

 be made to ascertain the fact; and that, if, on the result of that 

 survey, it should appear, that the west line would not intersect the 

 river, the parties would proceed, " by amicable negotiation, to regu- 

 late the boundary line in that quarter, according to justice and mu- 

 tual convenience, and in conformity to the intent of the treaty of 

 1783." This survey was never made. The second attempt to adjust 

 the line, was by the convention signed on the 12th of May, LS03, by 

 Mr. King and lord Hawkesbury; the fifth article of which, after 

 reciting the same uncertainty, whether a line drawn due west from 

 the Lake of the Woods would intersect the Mississippi, provided that, 

 instead of the said line, the boundary of the United States, in that 

 quarter, should, and was declared to be, the shortest line which could 

 be drawn between the northwest point of the Lake of the Woods, 

 and the nearest source of the river Mississippi. This convention not 

 having been ratified, the third attempt at adjustment had been made 

 in the negotiation of Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinkney, of 1806 and 1807; 



