From the total silence of the treaty respecting St. John's river, we may presume, that to the framers, the fact was unknown, and of course un suspected, that a large share of its basin comes within the scope of its provisions. By turning to our description of St. John's river in this article, the reader will discover the very remarkable fact, that its remote sources interlock with those of Chaudiere and Penobscot, and entirely overhead the latter, reaching, indeed, within eighty miles of the extreme fountains of Connecticut. From these sources, the higher volume of St. John's and the general range of its valley for about 150 miles, are very nearly parallel to the St. Lawrence; leaving an intermediate strip of land from 50 to 70 miles wide between the two rivers. What is again of the most importance, as far as the contested boundary is concerned, the much greater part of the narrow region between the upper St. John's and St. Law rence is drained into the former. From the city of Quebec, in a N.E. by E. direction, the distance is only about 45 miles, to the basin of St. John's; and and about 125 miles lower down both streams, and opposite the influx of Saguenay, it is not 20 miles from the right bank of St. Lawrence to the sources of the extreme northern confluents of St. John's. According to Tanner's United States map, these northern fountains of St. John's, or the heads of Mattawaska, are in N. Lat. 47° 52', and Long. 8° E. from Washington city, extending within nearly a degree of latitude north of the city of Quebec. From the preceding geographical point, the Mat tawaska, and, below their junction, the St. John's, flow by comparative courses S.E. by E. 90 miles to N. Lat. 47°, and thence by a course of a little E. of S. nearly over another degree of latitude, and reaches within less than 20 miles from the source of St. Croix river.
If a line be drawn due north from the head of St. Croix river, it will gradually incline upon, reach and pass over the main volume of St. John's in a distance of about 80 miles; and thence traversing the sources of Ristigouche river, intersect the highlands, agreeably to the treaty of 1783,•almost on N. Lat. 48°, and Long. 9' 10' E.from Washing ton city.
Above a line drawn as designated in the preced ing paragraph, the St. John's and its confluents drain a surface rather exceeding 10,000 square miles, and lying directly between the upper part of Lower Canada and New Brunswick. There can be no reasonable doubt that more correct geogra phical knowledge would have greatly modified the treaty of 1783, and would have probably caused the continuation of N. Lat. 45°, as designated in the treaty of Utrecht, 1713; and there are as few doubts that a fair interpretation of the treaty of 1783, would leave the whole basin of St. John's to the United States; but the political consequences to the British provinces were too serious, and hence disputes, which time and all attempts of amicable arrangement have failed to settle. It was for the purpose of having the point at issue de termined, that the following provision was made by the treaty of Ghent.
"Art. 5. Whereas neither that point of the highlands lying due north from the source of the river St. Croix, and designated, in the former treaty of peace between the two powers, as the north west angle of Nova Scotia, nor the north-western most head of Connecticut river, has yet been as certained; and whereas that part of the boundary line between the dominions of the two powers which extends from the source of the river St. Croix, directly north to the above mentioned north west angle of Nova Scotia, thence along the said highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Occean, to the north westernmost head of Connecticut river; thence down along the middle of that river, to the forty fifth degree of north latitude; thence by a line due west on said latitude until it strikes the river Iro quois or Cataraquy, has not yet been surveyed; it is agreed that for these several purposes, two com missioners shall be appointed, sworn and autho rised to act exactly in the manner directed with respect to those mentioned in the next preceding article, unless otherwise specified in the present article."
In article 4, it was stipulated, that a board of commissioners was to be formed to adjust these disputes, and it was provided, that in case of dis agreement or refusal to act, the respective com missioners " shall make jointly or separately, a re port or reports, as well to the government of his Britannic majesty as to that of the United States, stating, in detail, the points on which they differ, and the grounds upon which their respective opin ions have been formed, or the grounds upon which they, or either of them, have so refused, declined or omitted to act. And his Britannic ma jesty, and the government of the United States. hereby agree to refer the report or reports of the said commissioners to some friendly sovereign or state, to be then named for that purpose, and who shall be requested to decide on the differences which may be _stated in the said report or reports, or upon the report of one commissioner, together with the grounds upon which the other commiss ioner shall have refused, declined or omitted to act, as the case may be. And if the commissioner so refusing, declining or omitting to act, shall also wilfully omit to state the grounds on which he has so done, in such manner as the said statement may be referred to such friendly sovereign or state, to gether with the report of such other commissioner, then such sovereign or state shall decide ex party, upon the said report alone. And his Britannic majesty and the government of the United States engage to consider the decision of such friendly sovereign or state to be final and conclusive on all the matter so referred." Without aid from the inductions drawn from history, the preceding extracts would seem to have provided the full means of complete adjudication in the last resort, and without appeal; but the re sult did more justice to history than did the pro visions of the treaty of Ghent to the objects of its stipulations. Boards of commissioners were ap pointed, and proceeded to execute their respective duties. That under the recited 5th article advanced and fixed the head of the St. Croix river, which, as laid down by Tanner, is at 45° 57' N. Lat. and in Long. 9° 10' E. from Washington city. Ad vancing thence due north, as provided by the treaty of 1783, the line of demarcation was drawn something above forty miles to a place called Mars Hill. This hill is very nearly on the mid distance between the head of St. Croix river and St. John's river, on the due north and south line, and about ten miles westward from the nearest part of the right bank of the latter. Here the British commission arrested the farther continua tion of the boundary in its northern direction, con tending, that they had reached the " Highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the atlantic Ocean." If the real base of the objection to carry the let ter of the treaty of 1783, had been geographical, it would have been sufficient to show that an Inflected line from Mars Hill, drawn along the dividing ridge between the sources of St. John's and Pe nobscot rivers, must extend upwards of 150 miles before reaching a single fountain the water of which flowed into St. Lawrence; and that in a di rect line Mars Hill was more than 120 miles dis tant from the highlands between the sources of St. John's and Penobscot, flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, and those of the Chaudiere, discharging its waters into St. Lawrence. But the true objection lay deeper, and the United States and Great Britain made choice of the king of the Netherlands to ar bitrate the matter. After years of delay, the award of the king of the Netherlands was made; and, similar to an immense majority of awards, it left the litigation tenfold more embroiled, by directly violating the rights of one party, and falling far short of the claims of the other; and there remains unsettled the boundary of the United States on the north-eastern extreme, involving one-third part of the surface of the state of Maine.