178 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA: 
dispute be adjudged by the commissioners ap¬ 
pointed, pursuant to the late treaty for the 
purpose of determining the exact boundaries 
of the British dominions in this part of the 
continent, which were by no means clearly 
ascertained by the definitive treaty of peace 
between the States and Great Britain. 
In this particular instance, the dispute arises 
respecting the true meaning of certain words 
of the treaty. “ The boundary line/' it says, 
“ is to run through the middle of Lake Erie 
€€ until it arrive at the water communication 
between that lake and Lake Huron; thence 
rf along the middle of the said water commu- 
ideation.” The people of the States con¬ 
strue the middle of the water communication 
to be the middle of the most approved and 
most frequented channel of the river; we, on 
the continent. There is more reason to imagine that the 
Floridas, and the Spanish possessions to the east of the Mis¬ 
sissippi, will be united therewith 5 for as the rivers which 
flow through the Spanish dominions are the only channels 
whereby the people of some of the western states can con¬ 
vey the produce of their own country to the ocean with 
convenience, it is natural to suppose that the people of these 
states will be anxious to gain possession of these rivers, for 
which purpose they must possess themselves of the country 
through which they pass. But there are certain bounds, be¬ 
yond which a representative government cannot extend, and 
the ocean on the east and south, the St. Lawrence and the 
lakes on the north, and the Mississippi on the west, certainly 
appear to set bounds to the jurisdiction of the government 
the United States, if indeed it can extend even so far. 
