: argued in vain that the title to Grand Menan must depend upon two plain questions of fact; whether, being within 20 leagues of our shores, it was included within the parallel east lines described in the treaty of peace as comprehending the islands which should belong to the United States; and whether, if that should be so, it was at the making of that treaty, or at any time before, within the limits of Nova Scotia that it was impossible to pretend that the last of these questions could be answered in favour of Great Britain, and that there was strong reason to believe that the answer to the first would be found to be in favour of the United States that their possession, such as it was (although its precise nature did not appear, and ought not to be taken for granted) commenced after the treaty of peace, and could neither give them a title, nor in any fair reasoning, applicable to the claims of sovereign states, justify a presumption of those facts upon which their title must rest; facts which were so easily capable of ascertainment, and which it was the immediate object of our article to ascertain in the same manner as other disputed facts relative to boundary had already been, and again were by this convention proposed to be ascertained. It was retorted that our title to Moose Island, Frederick Island, and Dudley Island, in the bay of Passamaquoddy, was, under the treaty of peace, of a very questionable kind; and that, even if it should be admitted that their title to Grand Menan was also doubtful, it was but a fair and equitable compromise that, as we were suffered to hold, principally upon the score of possession, three islands to which Great Britain might make out a claim of considerable strength, she should on her part be suffered to retain, upon the same score of long possession, the only island, not given up to the United States, to which they seemed to think they had any shadow of pretension. We replied by denying that it was at all doubtful that these islands belonged to the United States; but as it was evident that there was no disposition to yield upon the main point, we finally thought it most advisable to forbear to press the subject for the present, and to leave the case of Grand Menan for future adjustment, as an independent case, freed from the disad vantage of this idea of compromise. We have only to repeat, what is stated in our last, that we do not mean in any event to act conclusively upon the project in question, until the views of the President, relative to such parts of it as were not embraced by our origi nal instructions, shall have been communicated to us. The intimations thrown out towards the end of our despatch of the 3d of January, may, perhaps, produce such a communication. We have the honour to be, &c. JAMES MONROE, ADDITIONAL AND EXPLANATORY ARTICLES, Signed the day of 1807, to be added to the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, between his Britannick Majesty and the United States of America, signed at London the 31st day of December, 1806. WHEREAS by the second article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, concluded at London, on the 31st of December, 1806, between his majesty and the United States of America, it is agreed, that the several articles of the treaty of 1794, "which have not expired, nor as yet had their full operation and effect, shall be confirmed in their best form and in their full tenour; and that the contracting parties will also, from time to time, enter into friendly explanations on the subject of the said articles, for the purpose of removing all such doubts as may arise or have arisen, as to the true import of the same, as well as for the purpose of rendering the said articles more conformable to their mutual wishes and convenience," and it being the sincere desire of his majesty, and of the United States, that certain points should be so explained as to promote mutual satisfaction and friendship, and for this purpose the respective plenipotentiaries who concluded and signed the aforesaid treaty of the 31st of December, 1806, having already exchanged their full powers, have in virtue of the same entered into these additional and explanatory articles. ART. 1. The line herein after described shall, and is hereby declared to be the boundary between the mouth of the river St. Croix and the bay of Fundy; that is to say, a line beginning in the middle of the channel of the river St. Croix at its mouth, as the same has been ascertained VOL. VI., 50 by the commissioners appointed for that purpose; thence through the middle of the channel between Deer Island, Marvel Island on the east, and Moose Island, Dudley Island, and Frederick Island on the west, and round the south point of Campo Bello Island to the bay of Fundy, and the islands and waters eastward of the said boundary are hereby declared to be within the jurisdiction and part of his majesty's province of New Brunswick; and the islands and waters westward of the said boundary are declared to be within the jurisdiction and part of Massachusetts, one of the said United States; notwithsanding which, a full and entire right of navigation is reserved to the United States in the channel between Deer Island on the east and north, and Moose Island and Campo Bello Island on the west and south, and round the east point of Campo Bello Island into the bay of Fundy, the aforesaid channel frequently affording the only convenient and practicable navigation. ART. 11. And whereas it has become expedient that the north-west angle of Nova Scotia mentioned and described in the treaty of peace between his majesty and the United States, should be ascertained and determined, and that the line between the source of the river St. Croix and the said north-west angle of Nova Scotia, should be run and marked according to the provisions of the said treaty of peace; it is agreed, that for this purpose, commissioners shall be appointed in the following manner, viz. one commissioner shall be named by his majesty, and one by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and the said two commissioners shall agree in the choice of a third, or if they cannot agree, they shall each propose one person, and of the two names so proposed, one shall be taken by lot, in the presence of the two original commissioners; and the three commissioners so appointed shall be sworn impartially to ascertain and determine the said north-west angle of Nova Scotia, pursuant to the provisions of the said treaty of peace; and likewise to cause the same boundary line between the source of the river St. Croix, as the same has been determined by the commissioners appointed for that purpose, and the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, to be run and marked according to the provisions of the treaty aforesaid; the said commissioners shall meet at Boston, and have power to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit; they shall have power to appoint a secretary, and employ such surveyors and other assistants as they shall judge necessary. The said commissioners shall draw up a report of their proceedings, which shall describe the line aforesaid, and particularize the latitude and longitude of the place ascertained and determined as aforesaid to be the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, duplicates of which report, under the hands and seals of the said commissioners (or a majority of them) together with duplicates of their accounts, shall be delivered to such persons as may be severally authorized to receive the same in behalf of their respective governments; and the decision and proceedings of the said commissioners, or of a majority of them, made and had as aforesaid, shall be final and conclusive. ART. III. It is further agreed, that the said commissioners, after they shall have executed the duties assigned to them in the preceding article, shall be, and they hereby are authorized, upon their oaths, impartially to ascertain and determine the north westernmost head of Connecticut river, according to the provision of the aforesaid treaty of peace; and likewise to cause the boundary line, described in the said treaty of peace, between the north-west angle of Nova Scotia and the said north westernmost head of Connecticut river, to be run and marked, pursuant to the provisions of the said treaty: the said commissioners shall meet at Boston, and have power to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit; they shall have power to appoint a secretary, and employ such surveyors and other assistants as they shall judge necessary. The said commissioners shall draw up a report of their proceedings, which shall describe the boundary line aforesaid, and particularize the longitude and latitude of the north westernmost head of Connecticut river, duplicates of which report, under the hands and seals of the said commissioners, or of a majority of them, together with duplicates of their accounts, shall be delivered to such persons as may be severally authorized to receive the same, in behalf of their respective governments, and the decision and proceedings of the said commissioners, made and had as aforesaid, shall be final and conclusive. ART. IV. It is further agreed, that the aforesaid commissioners shall respectively be paid in such manner as shall be agreed between the two parties, such agreement to be settled at the time of the ratification of this convention; and all other expenses, incurred by the said commissioners, shall be defrayed jointly by the two parties, the same being previously ascertained and allowed by the said commissioners; and in case of death, sickness, or necessary absence, the place of any commissioner shall be supplied in the same manner as such commissioner was appointed, and the new commissioner shall take the same oath and do the same duties. ART V. It is agreed that a line drawn due west from the Lake of the Woods along the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, shall be the line of demarcation between his majesty's territories and those of the United States to the westward of the said lake, as far as the territories of the United States extend in that quarter, and that the said line shall, to that extent, form the southern boundary of his majesty's said territories, and the northern boundary of the said territories of the United States, provided that nothing in the present article shall be construed to extend to the north-west coast of America, or to the territories belonging to, or claimed by either party, on the continent of America, to the westward of the Stony mountains. ART. VI. 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 all the waters and rivers falling into the western side of the river Mississippi, and to the navigation of the said river. ART. VII. It is agreed that the privileges of intercourse and trade by land, or inland navigation, secured to his majesty's subjects, and to the citizens of the United States, and to the Indians dwelling on each side of the boundary line between the respective territories of the high contracting parties, on the continent of America, by the third |