86 



The National Geographic Magazine 



provision as to the (then) western termi- 

 nation of the line. It was traced through 

 the Lake of the Woods to the most 

 northwestern point of that lake, ' ' and 

 from thence on a due west course to the 

 River Mississippi . ' ' They and the cartog- 

 raphers of that day supposed that the 

 source of the Mississippi was in Ca- 

 nadian territory, northwest of the Lake 

 of the Woods, whereas, it was a con- 

 siderable distance south of that lake. 



It was thought at the time that if 

 the disputed question as to the St Croix 

 River and the eastern boundary should 

 be adjusted, the remainder of the line 

 described in the treaty could be amicably 

 demarked. It was accordingly agreed 

 in the treaty of 1794, negotiated by Mr 

 Jay, that this question should be sub- 

 mitted to arbitration by a commission 

 composed of one American, one English- 

 man, and one umpire selected by the 

 two. The commission rendered a unani- 

 mous award, describing with precision 

 which was the river intended by the 

 treaty to be the eastern boundary, and 

 the award was accepted by both nations. 



This arbitration, however, was far 

 from settling the boundary questions. 

 Four distinct controversies arose over 

 different parts of the divisory line. The 

 first was as to the ownership of the 

 islands in and near Passamaquoddy Bay, 

 a part of the Bay of Fundy. The second 

 was as to the line from the source of 

 the St Croix River along the Maine- 

 New York frontier; the third as to the 

 ownership of the islands in the St 

 Lawrence River and the Great Lakes ; 

 and the fourth as to the line from Lake 

 Superior to the northwestern corner of 

 the Lake of the Woods. 



Various efforts were made after the 

 date of the award as to the St Croix 

 River, in 1798, to adjust these questions 

 by diplomatic negotiations, especially 

 the first two, and a treaty to that end 

 was signed but never ratified. In the 

 negotiations which resulted in the treaty 

 of peace of 1 8 1 4 these subjects were con- 



sidered and provision was made for their 

 definitive settlement. This treaty was 

 signed on the part of the United States 

 by John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, 

 James A. Bayard, Jonathan Russell, and 

 Albert Gallatin. It provided that the 

 ownership of the islands in Passama- 

 quoddy Bay should be passed upon by a 

 commission composed of one American 

 and one Englishman, and if they failed 

 to agree they should report to their re- 

 spective governments the points of dis- 

 agreement and the grounds thereof, and 

 the governments were to refer the points 

 of disagreement to the arbitration of 

 some friendly power. The commission- 

 ers were able to agree upon all the ques- 

 tions submitted to them, and there was 

 consequently no arbitration. 



The second question whose adjust- 

 ment was provided for in the treaty of 

 1 8 14 — the line from the source of the 

 St Croix River along the Maine-New 

 York frontier to the St Lawrence — was 

 likewise submitted to two commission- 

 ers, under the same terms as to arbitra- 

 tion in case of disagreement as just 

 stated respecting the islands in Passa- 

 maquoddy Bay. This proved to be the 

 most irritating, difficult, and tedious of 

 all the subjects of dispute between the 

 United States and Great Britain. The 

 two commissioners first met at Portland, 

 Maine, in 1816, and held various other 

 sessions at different points in Canada and 

 the United States adjacent to the region 

 in dispute. They also caused elaborate 

 surveys to be made and charted. After 

 five years of vain efforts to reach an 

 agreement, they adjourned in 1821, sub- 

 mitting to their respective governments 

 their divergent views. 



This threw the subject back into di- 

 plomac3 r for the naming of the arbitrator 

 and fixing the terms of arbitration. Six 

 years elapsed before these were consum- 

 mated, and meanwhile the situation was 

 further aggravated by the acts of con- 

 flicting authorities in the disputed ter- 

 ritory. Finally, in 1827, it was agreed 



