Majesty, taking the said report into consideration, was pleased, with the advice of Council, to approve thereof, and doth hereby confirm the said proceedings above I order that the said line of division be run out and continued as far as each espectively extends.

ded that nothing herein contained shall extend to affect the properties of His new subjects having possessions under proper titles on those parts of the lands th side of the line, the dominion of which was not disputed on the part of the Great Britain.

provided also that this determination shall not operate wholly to deprive His new subjects of such concessions on the south side of the said line, on which have made actual settlement and improvement, although the lands may have ed by Great Britain; but that such possessors shall be entitled to so much of ncessions as shall be proportioned to their improvements, at the rate of fifty very three acres of improvements, provided they take out grants for the same eal of the Province of New York, subject to the usual quit rents. rovided, also, that the grant to no one person shall exceed twenty thousand

he governors or commanders-in-chief of His Majesty's said Provinces of New Quebec for the time being, and all others whom it may concern, are to take is Majesty's pleasure hereby signified, and govern themselves accordingly.

llowing is an extract from M. de Mofras'*"California": "The treaty recogndependence of the United States, signed by England in 1782, those of the ry and 30th September, 1783, as also the treaties of 1794 and 1795, between. d the United States, make no mention, in the article Frontiers, of the territoto the west of the Rocky Mountains. The latter only stipulates that the posthe Hudson Company shall not be accessible to citizens of the United States. boundaries between New France and that Company were not clearly defined, he Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and that of the cession of Canada in 1763, it le that either New France or the possessions of the Hudson Company extended Pacific Ocean, and that if the Spaniards first explored the north-western erica, the French first discovered the interior of the continent proceeding st westwards. All the old maps, in this in accord with the most reliable authors, oundary of the French possessions in Canada only at the Southern Sea. who wrote in 1617, among others, states as follows:-Thus our New France imits, on the western side the lands as far as the sea called the Pacific, on this opic of Cancer; on the south the Islands of the Atlantic sea, in the direction the island of Hispaniola; on the east by the Northern sea, which bathes ; and on the north that land called Unknown, towards the icy sea as far as ole.' Lastly, in a map engraved in 1757, and attached to the Memorials of sioners of the Kings of France and of England in America, it may be observed rance extended as far as the Pacific Ocean, and it shows on the western coast at the 46th degree, a large river running in a direction which corresponds a that of the River Columbia. There is, moreover, nothing surprising in this ription since, from 1711 to 1754, the Captains-General of New France sent us expeditions to the western part of Canada; and after thirty years of uninplorations under the enlightened government of the Marquis de Beauharnois, I. de la Verendrye, acquired a thorough knowledge of the river and of the which were no other than the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia."

1609.-L'Escarbot, an advocate of Paris, in his Histoire de la Nouvelle France, published in 1609, defines the boundaries of the French possessions in North America as extending "on the West to the Pacific Ocean, on the South to the Spanish West Indies, on the East to the North Atlantic, and on the North to the Frozen Sea."

*

em

1683-1693.-Baron La Hontan, whose Memoirs of Travels in North America braced the decade between 1683 and 1693, says: "All the world knows that Canada reaches from the 39th to the 65th degree of North Latitude, that is from the South of Lake Erie to the North side of Hudson's Bay, and from the 284th to the 336th degree of longitude, viz., from the River Mississippi to Cape Race.

Were I

to reckon in all the countries that lie in the north-west of Canada, I should find it larger than Europe; but I confine myself to what is discovered, known and owned I mean to the countries in which they have forts, magazines, missionaries, and small settlements.”

1684. Mr. Parkman, in his "Discovery of the Great West," (p. 284) says:-" the boundaries [of Louisiana] are laid down on the great map of Franquèlen,† made in 1684, and preserved in the Depôt des Cartes of the Marine. The line runs along the south shore of Lake Erie, and thence follows the heads of the streams flowing into Lake Michigan. It then runs north-west, and is lost in the vast unknown of the now British Territories. On the south it is drawn by the heads of the streams flowing into the Gulf, as far west as Mobile, after which it follows the shore of the Gulf to a little south of the Rio Grande, then runs west, north-west, and finally north along the range of the Rocky Mountains."

1708.-Captain Vetch (a British officer, and at one time Governor of Nova Scotia) writing in 1708, says: "As to the situation of the country possessed by the French in North America, and commonly all comprehended under the prevailing name of Canada, the seat and residence of their Governor-General being upon the place properly its situation is from about 54° of north latitude to the eastward of Port Nelson, in the country of the Escimoes, extending itself all the way south-west to the mouth of the Mississippi River, which falls into the Bay of Appalachio, in the great Bay of Mexico, about the latitude of 28° 30, comprehending as it goes, their part of Newfoundland, the Island of St. Peter, Acadia or Nova Scotia, which borders on the British Province of New Hampshire, whose boundary to the eastward is the little River St. Croy (as the French allege.")

1743. —Salmon's Modern History, licensed by the King, Dec. 13, 1743, says: "As to Canada, or New France, the French would scarce admit it had any bounds to the north on this side the pole, till they were limited on that side by an article in the Treaty of Utrecht, which assigns New Britain and Hudson's Bay, on the North of Canada, to Great Britain. And Commissioners on both sides afterwards ascertained the limits, by an imaginary line running from a cape or promontory of New Britain in the Atlantic Ocean, 58° 30' north latitude, and running from thence south-west, to the Lake of Misconsink, or Mistassin, and from thence further south-west indefinitely to the latitude of 49°, all the lands to the north of the said line being assigned to Great Britain, and all to the south of the said line, as far as the St. Lawrence, to the French.

Pinkerton's Collection, vol. xiii.

This map is obviously founded on the Procés Verbal, by which La Salle took possession of the Valley of the Mississippi on behalf of the King of France.

This is certainly a mistake, though it seems to have been generally believed. If the boundary had been agreed upon, the Hudson's Bay Company would not be ignorant of the fact; nor would the French Governor of Canada, some years later have claimed the Hudson's Bay for the northern boundary of his province.

e eastern boundary of New France or Canada, the French admit, are the British ns of Nova Scotia, New England, &c. ; the southern boundary, the line which Tew France from Louisiana; and to the westward, the French extend the country France as far as the Pacific Ocean; and the Asiatic continent of Asia shall be reafter to be contiguous to North America.

........

However, as they (the French) have actually been possessed of some in Canada, between the River St. Lawrence and New Britain or Hudson's Bay, one hundred years, and those countries seem to be confirmed to them, as far as sh had a right to confirm them, I shall readily allow their title to that part of But as to the rest of Canada and Louisiana, they cannot have a right to any hem, notwithstanding the posts they have erected on those rivers. The eastern

he Mississippi is the property of those Indians, subject to Great Britain, and the ide of it belongs to the Indians who are under the dominion of the Spaniards; nd the Spaniards asserting their title to it by demolishing the forts of Mons. de Mons. d'Iberville, erected on the west side of the river, and have as much lemolish the forts the French have erected on the west side of it."

the error about the boundary line of Canada having been determined, is reAnd it was agreed [at Utrecht] that commissaires on the part of Great Britain ce should determine within a year the limits to be fixed between the said Bay of and the places appertaining to the French, which limits the subjects of Great d France were not to pass over to each other by sea or land. And commissaires wards settle the limits by an imaginary line, drawn from a promontory situate on tic Ocean, in 58° 30', and running from thence south-west to the Lake of Misor Mistassin, and from thence south-west, indefinitely, to the latitude of 49°; all ries to the north being assigned to Great Britain, and all on the south, between and the River of St. Lawrence or Canada, to France."

-Edmund Burke, in his Account of the European Settlements in America, says: British geographers agree with the French, whose maps they have for a long lely and shamefully copied."

"With regard to our claims in the Ohio and Mississippi, the rashness of ers in a matter which is a public concern, seems to me very blamable, some of dly or ignorantly drawing our territories into a very inconvenient narrowness, ers have madly claimed all North America from sea to sea; some would give us w bounds, whilst others would listen to no bounds at all." (1757.) gain: "Posterity will, perhaps, think it unaccountable that, in a matter of tance, we could have been so thoughtless as to have on our back such a nation without determining, even sufficiently clear to settle our own demands, what e country was our own right, or what we determined to leave to the discretion ghbours; or that, wholly intent upon settling the sea coast, we have never into the country, to discover the necessity of making a barrier against them, per force, which formerly did not need to have been a very great one, nor to be 1 at any great expense."

"Canada, according to the English accounts, is bounded on the North by nds which separates it from the country about Hudson's Bay, Labrador, or New nd the country of the Eskimeaux, and the Christinaux ; on the East, by the Lawrence; and on the South, by the Qutawai River, the country of the Six nd Louisiana; its limits towards the West, extending over countries and herto undiscovered."*

1763.-"The official map used by France in its negotiations with Great Britain incontestably proves that the country north and north-west of the Mississippi was ceded as the Province of Canada."-See Falconer's Mississippi, p. 88; also Mofras' Explorations in Oregon and California; French's Historical Collections of Louisiana, Part III., note pp. 50-51.

1795. The Duke de la Rochefoucault, in his Travels in Canada, under date of June the 22nd, 1795, says:

"The British Possessions in North America are divided into Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Only the first two of these Provinces are governed by the new constitution. The others are governed as in former times. The boundary between Upper and Lower Canada lies about one hundred miles above Montreal.

The extent of Upper Canada far exceeds that of Lower Canada, as, the western boundary being undefined, it comprises all the known and unknown countries extending as far as the Pacific or Great Sea, and is bounded also northwards by unknown countries.

The population of Lower Canada is estimated at about one hundred and forty thousand souls, and that of Upper Canada at thirty thousand, but this estimate seems rather high."

VI.

Documents respecting Early French Settlements and Explorations, 1603–1763.

MEMOIR OF THE MARQUIS DE DENONVILLE ON THE FRENCH LIMITS IN NORTH AMERICA.†

Memorial explanatory of the right the French have to the property of the countries of North America, especially the south part of Acadia, from Plantagouët to the River Kinibeky, of the countries of the Iroquois and Hudson's Bay, with the posts occupied there by them and by the English, sent to the Court for its information, by the Marquis de Denonville, the King's Governor and Lieutenant-General in New France. Done at Versailles, the 8th March of the present year, 1688.

(Extracts.)

LOUIS.
COLBERT.

Sieur de Champlain has treated the question very fully in his book entitled, Les Voyages de la Nouvelle France occidentale, dite Canada, par le Sr. de Champlain. A Paris, chez Pierre Le Mur, dans la grande salle du Palais, 1632. At p. 200, towards the end of that work, Sieur de Champlain makes a sort of dissertation which clearly decides the question. He gives it this title :-" Abstract of the discoveries of New France, as well what we, as of what the English have discovered, from the Virginias to Davis Strait, as of what they and we can pretend to, according to the report of the historians who have written thereupon, as I report below, which will enable every one to judge of the

whole."

* U. C. MSS. 1783-95, p. 222.

Paris Documents, N. Y. Hist. Col., Vol. IX. p. 377.

If a desire exist, then, to treat this matter thoroughly, and to be perfectly informed of the right of the French and of the English, it is necessary only to read that abstract of Sieur de Champlain ; everything will be found very well examined, and it will appear that the French have taken possession of all the countries from Florida to Cape Breton, prior to any other Christian Prince. For, to quote only a few words of what that abstract contains, it will be seen there that:

In 1504, the Bretons and the Normands first discovered the Great Bank and Newfoundland, as can be seen in the History of Wiflet Sieur de Magin, printed at Douay.

In 1523, Jean Varason, in virtue of a commission from Francis I., took possession. of the territory beginning at the 33rd degree of latitude, as far as 47th.

In 1535, Gibault and Laudonnière having gone to Florida by authority of King Charles IX., to inhabit and cultivate that country, founded Carolina there in the 35th and 36th degrees.

But particularly in 1603 and following years, Sieur de Champlain being in Canada, was in command of that colony, and in 1609, went with the other Frenchmen into Lake Champlain, of which he took possession in the name of King Henry IV., and called it after himself; and he relates in his book of voyages, that after he had discovered Lake Champlain, he was as far as the country of the Iroquois. In the years 1611 and 1612 he ascended the Grand River as far as Lake Huron, called the Fresh Sea; he went thence to the Petun Nation, next to the Neutral Nation, and to the Macoutins, who were then residing near the place called Sakinau; from that he went to the Algonquin and Huron tribes, at war against the Iroquois. He passed by places he has himself described in his book, which are no other than Detroit and Lake Erié.

And as it is an established custom and right recognized among all Christian nations, that the first discoverers of an unknown country not inhabited by Europeans, who plant the arms of their prince there, acquire the property of that country for that prince in whose name they have taken possession of it: On that principle, and no author being found who states that the English had taken possession of the countries of Canada or discovered them, unless subsequently to the French, they having come to the countries of Canada, Virginia and Florida only in 1594, whilst the French took possession of them in 1504, 1523 and 1564, which fact the English cannot question, inasmuch as Jacques Cartier visited in 1534 all the coasts of that country; his Relations and those of Alphonse Xaintongois and Varason attest it, and are inserted at length in the collections of divers accounts which Purchas and Hackluit, Englishmen, have published in London in their language. And it is notorious that Sieur Champlain did for many years prosecute the furtrade at the place where Boston now stands, and further down towards the north and east, along the same coast, during more than ten years, before any English or Dutch inhabited that quarter.

The foundation of the English pretences is this: -About the year 1594, some Englishmen being on the coast of Florida, arrived at a place called Mocasa, and which they since named Virginia. James, King of England, granted them, for their encouragement, great privileges, among others to extend their right from the 33rd degree to the 45th or 46th. The Royal Charter was issued on the 10th of April, 1607, in these words :-"Potestatem facimus occupandi possidendique tractus omnes ad gradum usque quadragesimum quintum ita si a christianorum principe nulli teneantur." This is all the foundation the English_have; it is manifestly null, because it is stated in the above letters patent of King James-We grant them all the countries up to the 45th degree, not possessed by any Christian Prince. Now, it is indubitable that at the date of the aforesaid grant, the King of France was in possession of at least up to the 40th degree of latitude, the place where the Dutch since settled.

And in 1603, Commander de Chastes was Lieutenant-General for the Most Christian King in New France from the 40th to the 52nd degree, and it is even certain, as already stated, that, as early as the year 1523, Jean Varason took possession of all the countries from the 33rd to the 47th degree.

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*

In 1656, M. De Lauzon, the King's Governor and Lieutenant-General in New France, sent at the solicitation of the Iroquois themselves, into their country, to a place called Ganentaa, as many as sixty Frenchmen, including a garrison of twelve soldiers under the command of Sieur Dupuis, who caused to be constructed at that place a royal fort