Page:New Brunswick Magazine Issue 1.djvu/341

Croix river, and the line of the highland watershed just south of the St. Lawrence. It is precisely this boundary which Maine has always claimed, and if the treaty of 1783 had simply mentioned this "Northwestern angle of Nova Scotia," and had not attempted to define its position in words, I have no doubt that Maine today would possess her full claim, and that the western boundary line of New Brunswick would continue across the St. John northward to near the St. Lawrence, throwing all the Madawaska and Temiscouata region into Maine. But, happily for us, the treaty attempted to define in words the Northwest angle of Nova Scotia, and described it as "that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix river to the Highlands . . . which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean." Now if one takes a modern and correct map, and draws a line due north from the source of the St. Croix to the highlands south of the St. Lawrence, it does not reach highlands separating rivers falling into the St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, but it reaches highlands separating rivers falling into the St. Lawrence from those which fall into Bay Chaleur. But the Commissioners in 1783 had not correct modern maps before them, but only the very imperfect ones of their time, a time far preceding any surveys of any kind in the region of these highlands. But what maps did the Commissioners have before them in their negotiations? Happily we have most satisfactory information upon this point, for commissioners from both parties later agreed that while other maps were from time to time consulted, the one actually used in the negotiations was that of John Mitchell of 1755. This map has often been reproduced and a copy of it may be seen in the Transactions of the Royal