Page:Life of William Shelburne (vol 2).djvu/213

Rh other, gave rise to much discussion. From the earliest period of American history the boundaries of the various Northern Colonies had been in dispute. While France still held Canada, England attempted to deny that any part of the territory south of the St. Lawrence belonged to that province; but after the Peace of 1763 this theory was abandoned, and the Commissions of the English Governors defined the Western boundary of Nova Scotia to be the St. Croix, and a line drawn due north from the source of that river to the southern boundary of the province of Canada. Everything west of the St. Croix and the above line and south of the boundary of Canada, was left to the State of Massachusetts, which then included Maine. The point where the line drawn due north from the St. Croix touched the Canadian frontier, came to be known as the North West angle of Nova Scotia, being the angle formed by the above line and an imaginary line drawn along the Highlands dividing the rivers flowing into the St. Lawrence from those which fall into the sea and into the North West coast of the Baie des Chaleurs. This latter line by the Proclamation of 1763 had been declared to be the southern boundary of Canada. No accurate survey however had been made of the country, and the exact position of the North West angle had consequently never been accurately determined; but it was generally considered to be near the head of the branch of the St. John, now known as the Madawaska, but then incorrectly considered the main stream. Most of the maps published since 1763 placed the North West angle at or near that point. The general course of the St. John and the Madawaska is continuous from North to South, and Jay now proposed to adopt those rivers as the eastern boundary; to settle the North West angle of Nova Scotia to be in the Highlands at the head of that river near Lake Medousa; and then, following the terms of the Pro-