inquiry a right
direction, _to wit,_ to the ascertainment of the north boundary of Nova
Scotia, which is the southern boundary of Canada. We have always been
lured from this by the British negotiators to the _left_ or _west_ of
this north line from the monument.

No one who is in the least conversant with the subject can suppose for a
moment that this northwest angle can be found in such a direction. The
question for us is, Are there any highlands north of the Bay de Chaleurs
extending _in a western direction toward_ a north line drawn from the
monument? If this line westerly from the bay be not distinctly marked so
far as to intersect this north line, the principle is to extend it in
the same direction to the place of intersection; that is, if the line
between Nova Scotia and Canada is _west_ to within, say, 30 miles of the
north line from the monument, and the rest of the way is indefinite or
obscure, extend it on in the same direction until you form a point of
intersection, and this will be the northwest angle of Nova Scotia. But
the truth is, _the highlands are there_, and have been found in running
due north from the monument. The elevations were taken by the British
surveyor from the source of the St. Croix, at the monument, to the first
waters of the Restigouche; and at Mars Hill, 40 miles, the summit of
this isolated sugar loaf was 1,100 feet, and at the termination of the
survey at the Restigouche waters, 100 miles farther, the elevation was
I,600 feet; consequently the summit of Mars Hill, 1,100 feet above the
waters of the St. Croix, is 500 feet lower than the lands at the
Restigouche. And yet the pretense is that there are no highlands but
this detached spur, Mars Hill! Still further, the highest position
surveyed is nearly 50 miles short of the Melis, which falls into the St.
Lawrence, and we do not perceive that the elevations have been taken
there at all, but we do find it is here that _the waters separate_, and
consequently the land must be still higher.

In failure of highlands (_assumed_ not to exist), the British
negotiators claim a line which, instead of dividing the St. Lawrence
and Atlantic waters, would actually extend between two rivers, _both
of which fall into the Atlantic_.

To say nothing of the absurdity, not to say ignorance, of such a claim,
it is enough that it is in the teeth of the treaty itself. It is painful
to repeat the argument that no other highlands were intended, for all
oth