the subject, the sole, exclusive subject, submitted by 1831, the Convention of September, 1827, in pussuance of the Treaty of Ghent, 1814, to an Arbiter If, on investigation, that Arbiter found the language of the Treaty, in his opinion, inapplicable to, and wholly inconsistent with the topography of the Country, so that the Treaty of 1783, in regard to its description of Boundary, could not be executed according to its own express Stipulations, no authority whatever was conferred upon him to determine or consider what pracicable Boundary Line should, in such case, be substituted, and established. Such a question of Boundary, as is here supposed, the United States of America, would, it is believed, submit to the definitive decision of no Sovereign. And in the case submitted to His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, the United States, in forbearing to delegate any such power, were not influenced by any want of respect for that distinguished Monarch, They have, on the contrary, given him the highest and most signal proofs of their consideration and confidence. In the present case especially, as any revision or substitute of Boundary whatever, had been steadily and in a spirit of unalterable determination, resisted at Ghent and at Washington, they had not anticipated the possibility of there being any occasion for delegating such powers.

Among the questions to which the language of the Treaty of 1783, already quoted, gave rise between the High Parties interested, is the following, viz, where at a point due north from the source of the River St. Croix, are,,the Highlands which divide the Rivers, that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence, from those that fall into the Atlantic Ocean,' "" at which same point on said Highlands was also to be found the north-west angle of the long established, well known, and distinctly defined British Province of Nova Scotia.

1

On the southern border of the River St. Lawence, and at the overage distance from it of less than 30 english miles, there is an elevated range or continuation of broken Highland, extending from Capo Rosieres, southwesterly to the sources of Connecticut River, forming the southern border of the basin of the St. Lawrence, and the

Ligne des ver

1831 sants of the Rivers emptying into it. The same Highlands form also the Ligne des versants, on the north of the River Restigouche, emptying itself into the Bay des Chaleurs, the River St. John with its northerly and westerly branches emptying into the Bay of Fundy, the River Penobscot with its north-westerly branches emptying into the Bay of Penobscot, the Rivers Kennebec and Andros coggin, whose united waters empty into the Bay of Sagadahock, and the River Connec ticut emptying into the Bay called Long Island Sound. These Bays are all open arms of the Sea or Atlantic Ocean; are designated by their names on Mitchell's map: and, with the single exception of Sagadahock, are all equally well known, and usually designated by their appropriate names. This Ligne des versants constitutes the Higlands of the Treaty, as claimed by the United States.

There is another Ligne des versants, which Great Britain claims as the Highlands of the Treaty. It the dividing ridge that bounds the southern side of the basin of the River St. John, from those which flow into the Penobscot and St. Croix. No River flows from this dividing ridge into the River St. Lawrence. On the contrary, nearly the whole of the ba sins of the St. John and Restigouche intervene. The source of the St. Croix also is in this very Ligne des versants, and less than an english mile distant from the source of a tributary stream of the St. John. This proximity reducing the due north line of the Treaty, as it were to a point, compelled the Provincial Agents of the British Government to extend the due north line over the dividing ridge into the basin of the St. John, crossing its tributary streams to the distance of about 40 miles from the source of the St. Croix to the vicinity of an isolated Hill between 2 tributary streams of the St. John. Connecting that isolated Hill with the Ligne des versants, as just described by passing between said tributary streams, they clai med it as constituting the Highlands of the Treaty.

These 2 ranges of Highlands, as thus described the one contended for by The United States, and the other by Great Britain, His Majesty the Arbiter re gards as comporting equally well in all respects with the language of the Treaty. It is not the intention of the

Undersigned, in this place, to question in the slightest 1831 degree the correctness of His Majesty's conclusion; but when the Arbiter proceeds to say that it would be suitable to run the line due north, from the source of the River St. Croix, not to the Highlands which divide the Rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the River St. Lawrence," but to the centre of the River St. John, thence to pass up said River to the mouth of the River St. Francis, thence up the River St. Francis to the source of its south-westernmost branch, and from thence by a line drawn west unto the point where it intersects the line of the Highlands as claimed by the United States, and only from thence to pass along said Highlands, which divide the Rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the River St. Lawrence, to the northwesternmost head of the Connecticut River, thus abandoning altogether the Boundaries of the Treaty, and substituting for them a disstinct and different line of demarkation; it becomes the duty of the Undersigned, with the most perfect respect for the friendly views of the Arbiter, to enter a Protest against the proceeding, as constituting a departure from the power delegated by the High Parties interested; in order that the rights and interests of the United States may not be supposed to be committed by any presumed acquiescence on the part of their Representative near His Majesty the King of the Netherlands.

The Untersigned avails himself etc.
WM. P. PREBLE.

Ordre du conseil de Sa Majesté Britannique déclarant le port de St. George dans l'Isle de Grenade port franc, en date du 31 Janvier 1831

(Publication officielle.)

At the Court at Brighton, the 31st day of January,

1831.

Present,

The King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas by an Act, passed in the 6th Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled,,An Act to regulate the Trade of the British Possessions Abroad," it is, amongst other things, enact ed, that certain Ports, therein particularly mentioned, in the Island of Jamaica, and in the Provinces of Nova Scotia, Canada, and New Brunswick, and in the Island of Barbadoes, shall be Free Warehousing Ports for the purposes of the said Act: and it is further enacted, that it shall be lawful for His Majesty in Council, from time to time, to appoint any Port

18.

Traité d'amitié, de commerce et de navigation entre les Etats-unis de l'Amérique septentrionale et les Etats-Unis du Mexique, signé Mexico le 5 Avril 1831.

(Publié à Washington au mois d'Avril 1832.)

The United States of America and the United Mexican States, desiring to establish upon a firm basis the relations of friendship that so happly subsist between the 2 Republics, have determined

in His Majesty's Possessions in America to be a Free 1831 Warehousing Port for the purposes of the said Act; and that every such Port, so appointed by His Majesty, shall be a Free Warehousing Port under the said Act, as if appointed by the same, in as full and ample a manner in all respects as any of the Ports thereinbefore mentioned, are Free Warehousing Ports appointed by the said Act:

And whereas His Majesty doth deem it expedient, that the Port of St. George, in the Island of Grenada, should be appointed a Free Warehousing Port for the purposes of the said Act; His Majesty doth therefore, by and with the advice of His Privy Council, and in pursuance and exercise of the Powers in him vested, in and by the said Act of Parliament, order and appoint, that the said Port of St. George, in the Island of Grenada, shall be a Free Warehousing Port for the purposes of the said Act:

And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, and the Right Honourable Viscount Goderich, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, are to give the necessary directions herein, as to them may respectively appertain. C. C. GREVIlle.

18.

Traité d'amitié, de commerce et de navigation entre les Etats-unis de l'Amérique septentrionale et les Etats-unis du Mexique, signé à Mexico le 5 Avril 1831.

(Publié à Washington au mois d'Avril 1832.)

Los Estados Unidos de América y los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, deseosos de afirmar sobre bases solidas las relaciones de amistad y comercio que felizmente ecsisfen entre ambas Repúblicas, han resuelto fijar de