Windschied, Pandeckten, 6 aufl. Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America. Wolff, Principes du Droit de la Nature et des Gens. A New Institute of the Imperial and Civil Law. Wood's Institute of the Laws of England. Woolsey's International Law. Wynne, William, Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins. London, 1724. (2 vols.) Z. Zachariæ. Handbuch des französischen Zivilrechts. (7. Aufl.) Zamora, Biblioteca de Legislacion Ultramarina. Zouche, Juris et judicii fecialis, sive juris inter gentes, et quæstionum de eodem, explicatio. 1650. CHAPTER I. THE SAINT CROIX RIVER: COMMISSION UNDER ARTICLE V. OF THE JAY TREATY. Original Boundaries "And that all disputes which might arise in future, on the subject of the boundaries of the of the United States. said United States may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the following are, and shall be their boundaries, viz." Such are the introductory words of the second article of the treaty of peace signed at Paris September 3, 1783, by D. Hartley on the part of Great Britain, and by John Adams, B. Franklin, and John Jay on the part of the United States. Then follows the description of the boundaries, which is the same as that contained in the second of the provisional articles of peace signed at Paris November 30, 1782, on the part of Great Britain by Richard Oswald, and on the part of the United States by John Adams, B. Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens. This description is as follows: of 1783. "From the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, Article II. of Treaty viz. that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of Saint Croix River to the Highlands; along the said Highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that river, to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; from thence, by a line due west on said latitude, until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy; thence along the middle of said river into Lake Ontario, through the middle of said lake until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie; thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle of said water communication into the Lake Huron; thence through the middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royal and Phelipeaux, to the Long Lake; thence through the middle 1 of said Long Lake, and the water communication between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most northwestern point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river Mississippi until it shall intersect the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude. South, by a line to be drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned, in the latitude of thirty-one degrees north of the Equator, to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint River; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River; and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean. East, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river St. Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north to the aforesaid Highlands, which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river St. Lawrence; comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part, and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean; excepting such islands as now are, or heretofore have been, within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia." This definition of the boundaries of the Uncertainty of the United States, far from preventing disputes, was exceedingly fruitful of them. Descriptions. When it was made, most of the country through which the lines were to run had never been surveyed, and the maps of it were necessarily inaccurate. Parts of the boundary were declared to be "too imperfectly described to be susceptible of execution."" But, apart from the uncertainty resulting from the absence of accurate topographical knowledge, the possibilities of dispute were enlarged by the fact that the negotiators of the treaty made no official record of their intentions. Though the same map was used by both sides in the negotiation, on no copy of it were the lines intended by the negotiators jointly and formally entered, and no map was officially attached to the treaty. Importance of the Almost immediately after the ratification of the treaty of peace, disputes as to the boundary began to arise. The first grew out of the designation of the River St. Croix as a part of the line. By Message of President Jefferson to Congress, October 17, 1803, Am. State Papers, For. Rel. I. 62. |