MAINE BOUNDARY TREATY. The year 1910 witnessed the final settlement of the long-standing dispute as to the boundary line between Maine and New Brunswick. Secretary of State Knox. acting for the United States, and Ambassador Bryce, on behalf of Great Britain, signed a treaty which establishes the exact boundary of Maine for all time.
At the close of the Revolutionary War in 1783 the first attempt was made to fix a satis factory boundary, but it resulted only in hope less dissatisfaction. Ever since that time the matter has remained one for ceaseless wrang ling and dispute. Scarcely a diplomat has been sent to this country from England but has been called upon to familiarize himself with the Maine-New Brunswick boundary situation; while the State Department of this country has gone over the ground so many times that that performance had almost come to be regarded as one of the regular duties of the department.
Most boundary lines are fixed by nature; those which are not do not as a rule amount to a great deal, and an amicable settlement can usually be reached at once. With the Maine New Brunswick line, however, neither of these conditions have ever applied, particularly in that part which has so long been in dispute. This particular line runs through Passama quoddy Bay, along the little islands at the mouth of the Saint Croix River. As a result of its indefinite character there has been endless dis pute and strife among the fishermen who fre quent these parts; dispute which had had an in dustrial significance since both the Eastport and Lubec canneries have sent their men to this point, and it makes a vast deal of difference whether they are fishing in American or Cana dian waters.
The source of all the trouble was the loose ness with which the first treaty, that of 1783, was drawn up. Article II of that document reads: °And that all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it is herein agreed and declared that the following are, and shall be, their boundaries, viz.: From the north
west angle of Nova Scotia, viz: That angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of the St. Croix River to the Highlands; along the said Highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from these which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwestermost head of the Connecticut River,* etc.
Thus, while the Saint Croix was plainly named as the beginning of the eastern bound ary, the river, point mentioned was the source of the river, and not a word was said about its mouth or the numerous islands of the great bay into which it empties. Moreover, there arose at once the questions as to what was the Saint Croix River. The trouble loomed up at the very start. The first action toward a settle ment was taken in 1794 when John Jay was charged to adjust the matter. All he was able to accomplish, however, was a provision in his treaty of that year for the appointment of three commissioners to determine just what was the Saint Croix River. These commissioners met at Halifax in 1798 and determined the river, but neglected to mention its source and made no disposition of the islands at its mouth Subsequently there were treaties. conventions and declarations between the United States ant Great Britain relative to this subject in Fr. 1818, 1827, 1842, 1846 and in 1870, but in or instance there was something still left to adjusted around the mouth of the river.
The Treaty of Ghent in 1814 provided for commissioners to settle the matter and the' decided that Moose, Dudley and Frederick is belonged to the United States, while all the other islands, including Grand Menan, wen the property of Great Britain. This was good so far as it went, but it left unsettled the status of several small islands in the Sam' Croix and of the line itself through the bay The channel thus remained in dispute.