of the lake of the woods is in latitude 49, and, secondly, that they always affected to apply the indefinite limit of extension, "as far as the territories extend," to the territories of the United States and not to those of Great Britain."--" The counter projects for the line on our part, therefore, at those negotiations were from the northwest corner of the lake of the woods, the point already fixed and undisputed, a line due north or south, as the case may be, to the 49th parallel of latitude, and thence along that parallel due west as far as the territories of both parties extend in that direction, and adopting the caveat against the extension to the Pacific, or beyond the Stony Mountains."-With the article in the negotiation of 1806 (that of Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney) relating to this boundary, was coupled a stipulation in regard to the Mississippi.- "It is agreed by the United States, that his Majesty's subjects shall have, at all times, free access from his Majesty's aforesaid territories by land or inland navigation, into the aforesaid territories of the United States to the river Mississippi, with the goods and effects of his Majesty's said subjects, in order to enjoy the benefit of the navigation of that river, as secured to them by the treaty of peace between his Majesty and the United States, and, also, by the third article of the treaty of amity, commerce and navigation of 1794. And it is further agreed, that his Majesty's subjects shall, in like manner and at all times, have free access to the waters and rivers, falling into the western side of the river Mississippi, and to the navigation of the said river."

"This negotiation was suspended by a change in the British ministry, and was not afterwards resumed. But the following observations upon the two articles, contained in a letter from Mr. Madison to Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney of 30th July 1807, show how far Mr. Jefferson, then President of the United States, had authorized those commissioners to accede to them.

"Access by land or inland navigation from the British territories, through the territory of the United States, to the river Mississippi, is not to be allowed to British subjects with their goods or effects, unless such articles shall have paid all the duties, and be within the custom house regulations, applicable to goods and effects of citizens of the United States. An access through the territory of the United States to the waters, running into the

western side of the Mississippi, is, under no modification whatever, to be stipulated to British subjects.'

"Such then was the state of things in relation to this interest in question at the time, when the war of 1812 broke out, and at the negotiation of Ghent the same question of boundary again occurred for adjustment. The right of the British to a line from the lake of the woods to the Mississippi had never been renounced: and at the last negotiation between the parties, four years after the United States had acquired Louisiana and with it all the Spanish rights upon the Mississippi, the British government, in assenting to take the 49th parallel of latitude, as a substitute for the line to the Mississippi, had expressly restipulated for the free navigation of the river and free access to it from our territories, to both of which Mr. Monroe and Pinkney had been explicitly authorized to accede. "Under this state of things, it had never been admitted by the British, nor could we maintain against them by argument, even that the Mississippi river was within our exclusive jurisdiction, for so long as they had a right by treaty to a line of boundary to that river, and consequently to territory upon it, they had, also, jurisdiction upon it."

We have already said, that the American commissioners at Ghent offered to recognise the permanent right of the British to the free navigation of the Mississippi. But in the negotiation at London in 1818 they were instructed not to agree to an article, which should bring the English in contact with that river, and the British having agreed, as it appears by the protocol of the 7th conference to omit the article, the point may be considered settled, and the claim to the navigation renounced in the same manner, though not with the like formalities, as the United States have relinquished their claim to a portion of the fisheries.

The boundary of the parallel of 49, to which both parties for some time have appeared disposed to agree, does not approach within a degree and a half of the head, or supposed source of the Mississippi ;-this, indeed, is the original boundary, established at the treaty of Utrecht between France and England. The English, though they formerly had hunting lodges and company houses about its sources, now pos

sess no means of reaching the river on any side, but through the territories of the United States, a very inconvenient privilege and, according to one interpretation of the treaty of 1783, permanent and not liable to be revoked. But though mischievous and troublesome to us, little value has been placed on it by them, and from the position of the hunting grounds, the course of the lakes and their possessions in the north, the navigation of the Mississippi affords them neither facilities nor temptations. Still, as the American commissioners were not authorized to allow access to the river, it would have been necessary, if the other party had insisted on the original right of '83, (which they could not well do, consistently either with the language and the propositions held and made by them at Ghent, or with their doctrines of the effects of war on treaties) to have offered an equivalent. But the matter passed off in a quiet way. The boundary is now fairly and honourably adjusted on the north and west to the Rock Mountains; -that is to say, to the 113 degree of longitude, or to the 36 degree from Washington, a point that represents the progress of the country west on the meridian of 39, without including the distance of that capital from the coast.

The next troublesome controversy will arise respecting the boundaries beyond the mountains. On account of the harbours on the coast, (particularly that formed by the Columbia) and the rivers there flowing into the ocean from the fur interior districts in the north, it is not a subject, by any means, to be disposed of in a hasty manner. For nearly fifty years we have been engaged in drawing the northern line of demarkation. The mother country has followed us closely, and with a jealous, vigilant eye, not certainly with her population, but with her claims; and as her hunters (the most approved geographers for unsettled, unexplored countries) have, for many years, been acquainted with the choicest resorts of the valuable game of those districts, with the course of rivers and portages, the trail she will pursue at her negotiations, will lead, undoubtedly, through territories, proved valuable by experience. She has, thus far, been a witness, and, in some degree, a companion of our progress nearly

across this great northern continent, and, undoubtedly, in a few years the two parties will together carry the boundary line to the Pacific, a just compliment to the spirit of trade, enterprize and perseverance of both. Great Britain still retains an empire here, which, whether remaining in her hands, or following the course of other colonies, can but spread still wider, plant still deeper the language, laws and literature, we speak, hold and possess in common. That language is fast encircling as well as covering the globe, and under the influence of the institutions, with which it is accompanied, we shall see a race of men, endowed with a degree of vigour of mind, of a masculine character, of a steadiness of purpose and of a tone of enterprize, of which, if any traces now exist, they are only to be found in monuments, whose history is unknown;men, who will not found and rear their rule and empire so much in blood and by the sword, as by the influence and authority of a superior order of civilization.*

BOUNDARIES.

We shall take this opportunity to present a brief account of the state of the boundaries, and the condition of the negotiation relative to that subject, (for so long a time a topic of discussion and controversy) between the United States and Great Britain. It will be recollected that, by the 4th article of the treaty of Ghent, it was agreed to refer the conflicting claim to islands in the bays of Passamaquoddy and Fundy to commissioners ;-by the 5th article, the northeast

* In December 1817 Richard Rush of Pennsylvania was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to England. Mr. Bagot was succeeded in 1820, by Stratford Canning, an envoy with full powers. After Mr. Rush's return to the United States, Rufus King of New-York was, in March 1825, appointed to England as envoy and minister; he was shortly succeeded by Albert Gallatin of Pennsylvania. At the present time (September 1828) James Barbour of Virginia is the American minister in London, and Charles R. Vaughan the British in this country; he arrived here in 1826.

boundary on the river St. Croix; by the 6th article, the northern boundary line from the river Iroquois to Lake Huron; and by the 7th article, the boundary line from Lake Superior to the Lake of the Woods,-also to commissioners. The several commissions have, all, terminated their duties; that under the 4th article, by agreement ;-that under the 5th article, by a difference, which has been the subject of a late convention, and is now in the hands of agents, lately appointed; that under the 6th article, by agreement; and that under the 7th article, by separate reports of the commissioners, stating the points in difference, and the extent of the line agreed on. The decision of the commissioners, under the fourth article, is in the following words:

"Decision of the Commissioners under the Fourth Article of the Treaty of Ghent.

"By Thomas Barclay and John Holmes, Esquires, commissioners, appointed by virtue of the fourth article of the treaty of peace and amity between his Britannic majesty and the United States of America, concluded at Ghent, on the twenty-fourth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, to decide to which of the two contracting parties to the said treaty, the several islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, and the island of Grand Menan, in the said Bay of Fundy, do respectively belong, in conformity with the true intent of the second article of the treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, between his said Britannic majesty and the aforesaid United States of America.

"We, the said Thomas Barclay and John Holmes, commissioners as aforesaid, having been duly sworn impartially to examine and decide upon the said claims, according to such evidence as should be laid before us on the part of his Britannic majesty and the United States, respectively, have decided, and do decide, that Moose Island, Dudley Island, and Frederick Island, in the Bay of Passamaquoddy; which is part of the Bay of Fundy, do, and each of them does, belong to the United States of America: and we have also decided, and do decide, that all the other islands, and each and every of them, in the said Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, and the Island of Grand Menan, in the said Bay