urces of the Chaudiere from those of the
Penobscot,--this being the most easterly point in the only highlands
agreeing beyond dispute with the treaty. The point is found a little to
the north and west of the intersection of the 70th meridian west
longitude and the 46th parallel of north latitude." Had this proposal
been accepted England would have obtained without further difficulty
eleven thousand square miles, or the combined areas of Massachusetts
and Connecticut.

[Illustration: MAP OF THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY AS ESTABLISHED IN
1842.]

For several years after this settlement was suggested a most serious
conflict went on between New Brunswick and the state of Maine. The
authorities of Maine paid no respect whatever to the negotiations that
were still in progress between the governments of Great Britain and the
United States, but actually took possession of the disputed territory,
gave titles for lands and constructed forts and roads within its limits.
Collisions occurred between the settlers and the intruders, and
considerable property was destroyed. The legislature of Maine voted
$800,000 for the defence of the state, and the legislature of Nova
Scotia amid great enthusiasm made a grant of $100,000 to assist New
Brunswick in support of her rights. Happily the efforts of the United
States and British governments prevented the quarrel between the
province and the state from assuming international proportions; and in
1842 Mr. Alexander Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton, was authorised by
the ministry of the Earl of Aberdeen to negotiate with Mr. Daniel
Webster, then secretary of state in the American cabinet, for the
settlement of matters in dispute between the two nations. The result was
the Ashburton Treaty, which, in fixing the north-eastern boundary
between British North America and the United States, started due north
from the monument incorrectly placed at the head of the Chiputnaticook
instead of the source of the true St. Croix, and consequently at the
very outset gave up a strip of land extending over some two degrees of
latitude, and embracing some 3000 square miles of British territory. By
consenting to carry the line due north from the misplaced monument Lord
Ashburton ignored the other natural landmark set forth in the treaty:
"the line of headlands which divide the waters flowing into the Atlantic
from those which flow into the St. Lawrence." A most erratic boundary
was established along the St. John,