Such patent, I am told, would certainly be upon the Rolls had his appointment emanated from this side. As to the line of Division between Upper Canada and Hudson's Bay Territory, I can find no explanation of the discrepancy pointed out by you between the definitions of the boundaries of Upper and Lower Canada, as given in the Proclamation of Governor Alured Clarke in 1791, and that assigned in the Letters Patent of the Earl of Elgin in 1846. I have read carefully through the draft Instructions to the Earl of Elgin and all the correspondence relating to his appointment, but can find no mention of any reason for extending his jurisdiction to the shores of Hudson's Bay, nor indeed any allusion to boundaries other than incidentally to matters in dispute between Canada and New Brunswick. The explanation given by you that the difference may be due to a slip of the pen would seem to be correct. Subsequent research among the papers at the Colonial Office affords no other explanation. * I may mention here that the Order in Council dividing Upper and Lower Canada is dated 24th August, 1791, upon a Report from the Lords of Committee of Council, dated 17th August, 1791.† The boundaries of the Hudson's Bay Company, as defined by the Treaty of Utrecht, are shown on both editions of Mitchell's Map as following the height of land which forms the watershed of rivers running southward to the Lakes or northward to the Bay. I do not find, however, in the Records and Correspondence of the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations (which consists of documents in French, Latin, and English), any mention of a decision arrived at by the Commissioners appointed to fix this boundary matter and other disputed questions. Neither could the Secretary of the Hudson's Bay Company afford me any information on this point. He states that the Company have no Maps illustrating the question, and that it was always understood that their territory comprised the land in which the waters flowed to the northwards, thus fixing the boundary at the height of land before mentioned. He says he will look through the documents of the Company, but he holds out no expectation of finding anything conclusive of the matter. Should he do so, he will at once communicate with you. Under these circumstances I have thought it best to communicate at once to you the result of my enquiries. Mr. Kingston, the Librarian of the Record Office joins me in the belief that no more precise information exists on the subject, and all the older Maps show that so little was known at the time, of the regions in question, that inaccuracies and discrepancies in the description of boundaries would appear to be inevitable. E. R. MCDERMOTT. FROM LIEUT. COL. SCOBLE, AGENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO. TORONTO, March 18th, 1878. SIR, It having been deemed important that a search should be made for further evidence bearing on the limits of Ontario to the west and north, I received instructions from you on the 16th October last, to proceed to Paris and London for the purpose of searching the archives relating to the history of the country, with a view to procure such further evidence. Arriving in London on the 30th October, I presented my letter of credence to Sir John Rose, and by him was furnished with a letter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies; by whom, upon learning that my immediate intention was to proceed to Paris, I was furnished with a letter to Lord Tenterden, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who gave me letters to the British Ambassador in Paris. With these credentials I left London for Paris on the 3rd November, and on the 5th November, I presented my letters to Lord Lyons, and was furnished by him with letters to the Minister of Marine and Colonies, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Minister of the Interior. I lost no 66 If, as would seem, this difference relates to the words, in the one document "until it strikes the boundary line of the Hudson's Bay," and in the other "until it reaches the shore of Hudson Bay" (both referring to the inter-provincial boundary) it certainly cannot have been due to a slip of the pen," for there are five other Commissions, 1838-46, containing exactly the same phrase as Lord Elgin's. (See English Commissions, ante.) + See this order pp., 388,411 ante. time in presenting these, and stating the objects of my visit to the various Ministers; but owing to the unsettled state of French politics, and the changes in the personnel of the Ministry (there having been five successive changes of Ministry during the month of November), I found it very difficult to procure immediate attention. Pending the official permission to search the public archives, I busied myself in the splendid libraries of Paris, where I found much information which was collaterally useful to me, and where I saw and made notes of, large numbers of maps published between 1713 and 1763. I was also sufficiently fortunate to establish friendly relations with M. Pierre Margry, whose historical writings upon the early history of North America are so well known. Through his advice, and aided by his extensive knowledge of all matters relating to the early history of Canada, I was enabled to commence my researches at a point very far in advance of that which I should otherwise have done. Having at last procured the required permission to search the archives of the Marine and Colonies, a new difficulty presented itself. Monsieur Le Bon, the Sous-Directeur of the Department, was one of the Commissioners appointed to arbitrate between France and England upon the question of the Newfoundland Fisheries, and I found it difficult to disabuse his mind of the idea that my investigations had some relation to this subject. Consequently, my researches were carried on under certain restrictions. All the extracts I required were submitted to his eyes before I was allowed to use them; and copies were made, by the clerks of the Department, of such matter only as he judged could not be used in relation to Newfoundland. I am of the opinion, however, that the copies of the documents which I forwarded to you, contain all the evidence that can be procured from that source which is material for the present purpose. I am sustained in this belief by the opinion of Mons. Margry, who was aware of the nature of my mission, and with whom I conversed frequently as to the discoveries I made, and as to the existence of farther evidence. With respect to the reference which was made in letters that passed between the Marquis de Torcy and Mr. Prior, and between Mr. Prior and Lord Bolingbroke in 1713, to a map or maps that had been furnished to the Commissioners of both countries, defining the extreme pretensions of each, the most diligent search on my part, both in London and Paris, failed to bring these maps to light, although I was sufficiently fortunate to discover the original letters which accompanied them. I found a map, however, in the Depôt des Cartes de la Marine, in Paris, which bore certain autograph lines upon it, that were marked as lines "according to the pretensions of the English and "according to the memoir of M. D'Auteuil "‡ respectively. The first of these lines is that claimed by the memorial of the British Commissaries presented through Lord Stair in 1719,§ as being the boundary desired by the Commissaries appointed by Great Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht. The second is probably that boundary which France, as a last resort, was willing to concede. The lines are drawn upon a map published by Guillaume de L'Isle in 1703, and the lines in question doubtless furnished the data for the lines shewn in the subsequent editions of De L'Isle's maps, which, however, followed D'Auteuil's memoire more closely than the original map. M. D'Auteuil was, at the time of his "memoires," "Procureur General" in Canada, and was engaged in Paris in and after 1719 in the preparation of the French case for consideration of the Commissaries under the Treaty of Utrecht. During my stay in Paris, I examined some hundreds of maps, many of them original, relating to French discoveries in N. America, and made full notes as to the information furnished by upwards of sixty of them. As, however, subsequent research proved many of them to have been geographically incorrect, and they bore little or no value as historical references, I did not consider it necessary to send you more than a few of the most important. Returning from Paris to London on the 9th December, I commenced my researches by looking at the maps in the Colonial and Foreign Offices, but without finding any maps of special value in reference to boundaries. I received much assistance in my search in the Foreign Office from E. Hertslet, Esq., * See letter, Prior to Bolingbroke, p. 153 ante. C.B., whose acquaintance with the Treaties concluded by Great Britain, enabled him to give me much valuable information. My researches served to prove that no authentic map exists in the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office or the Public Records Office defining the extent of country ceded by the French in 1763.* I found a map published by Arrowsmith, in 1795, in the Foreign Office. This map is inscribed, "by permission to the Hon. Governor and Company of Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay, in testimony of their liberal communications," and gives no boundary under the Treaty of Utrecht, but bears the letter U in Upper Canada, on the parallel of 50, and the whole word "Upper" north of the height of land; whilst in an edition of the same map, dated 1795, but, as I ascertained from the publisher, published in 1850, the words "Upper Canada" have been erased from their original position, and re-engraved close to the shore of Lake Superior, south of the height of land. My researches in the Public Records Office were materially aided by Mr. Kingston, the librarian, through whose kindness I procured copies of important documents and correspondence having reference to the English Commission, under the Treaty of Utrecht. Some of the documents forwarded from France having failed to reach you, I returned to Paris on the 11th January, completed my researches, and going back to London, left for Canada on the 25th February, arriving here on the 15th inst. In conclusion, I beg respectfully to point out the difficulties which encompass research into such a matter as that with which I have been charged. The examination of the records of nations like those of Great Britain and France, must needs be laborious, even under the most favourable circumstances; but considering that I had been preceded in my researches by many gentlemen, who gave much time and study to the subject, I feel that I have been fortunate in being able to bring to your notice documents that have never been produced before in all the course of the discussion of the Boundary question, as to the claims of the Hudson's Bay Company, and as between the Dominion and this Province. Trusting that the result of my labours has been satisfactory to you, Hon. O. Mowat, M. PP. Attorney-General, &c., &c., Toronto. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, THOS. C. SCOBLE. By the Treaty of 1763, the Mississippi, from its source to the sea, was declared to be the boundary between Louisiana and the English possessions. The previous boundaries of Louisiana were, on the north and north-east, the northern and north-eastern watershed of the Missouri from its source in the Rocky Mountains to its junction with the Mississippi-the Illinois country being at times within, and at times without the bounds and jurisdiction of Louisiana. (See the official description, pp. 41-2, ante. The French maps concur, as a rule, in the same boundaries.) This northern boundary of Louisiana, was, prior to the Cession, undoubtedly the southern boundary of Canada, in that direction, up to the sources of the Missouri; and whilst Louisiana was confessedly limited to the Rocky Mountains, the French always claimed that Canada extended beyond those mountains to the Western and Pacific Seas,-having for southern boundary in those quarters New Albion or New Mexico, as the case might be. No geographer or historian has ever claimed that the countries north of Louisiana, and indefinitely westward, were other than part of Canada; sometimes they are referred to, when beyond the limit of actual discovery, as "the unknown lands of Canada." Through these unknown lands the intrepid French commandants and their followers pushed discovery and trade-always seeking for their goal, the Western Sea. They reached the Rocky Mountains, which they probably crossed; but it was left to their Canadian successors French and English-to establish on the Pacific slope, the establishments which secured to them its trade, and to one of them,--Sir Alexander Mackenzie, to secure the sovereignty of the territory, to the British Crown, west of the Rocky Mountains. (See Mackenzie's Travels, and the negotiations between the United States and Great Britain respecting the Oregon Question). In the negotiations with the United States the western extension beyond the meridian of the source of the Mississippi could not be claimed by England by virtue of its having been English territory from the beginning, or of its having been French territory, not part of Canada. It was claimed, westward to the Rocky Mountains, as a part of French Canada, and the claim was ultimately conceded. The Treaties of 1783 and 1794, made no change. By the Convention of 1818, however, the par. of 49° become by mutual consent the boundary between the two countries, from the Rocky Mountains eastward to the Lake of the Woods. It will be remembered that until the recent claims of the Hudson's Bay Company, no other country than Canada had ever claimed this western Territory, and that it had always been named and treated as part of Canada, whether French or English. What France ceded then, in 1763, west of the meridian of the sources of the Mississippi, was the country bounded on the south by the parallel of the source of the Mississippi, westerly, (1) to the South Sea or Pacific Ocean; or (2) to the northerly watershed of the Missouri, according to its situation as shown by maps and geographies of the time, and thence along such watershed to the Rocky Mountains, and thence westward to the Pacific; or (3) to the northerly watershed of the Missouri, as now known, and thence along such watershed to the Rocky Mountains, and thence westward to the Pacific. ANALYSIS OF LINES, SUGGESTED AT VARIOUS PERIODS, FOR THE WESTERLY AND NORTHERLY BOUNDARIES OF ONTARIO: INCLUDING THE LINES NOW CLAIMED BY THE DOMINION AND PROVINCE RESPECTIVELY; THE LINES CLAIMED, OR SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN CLAIMED, OR SUGGESTED AFTER 1713, BY THE NATIONS INTERESTED, OR THEIR REPRESENTATIVES ; The principal Lines indicated in Maps of the last Century of various value, AND SOME COMBINATIONS OF CERTAIN OF THESE LINES.* FOR WESTERLY BOUNDARY OF ONTARIO. I. The Boundary of the Province of British Columbia (as established by Imperial Act), from the 49th parallel of north latitude, to the point at which such boundary strikes the boundary of the Territory of Alaska, and thence the said boundary of Alaska to the Arctic Ocean; that is, a line drawn from the said 49th parallel northward, by the Rocky Mountains, to the 120th meridian of west longitude; thence north, by that meridian, to the 60th parallel of north latitude; thence west, by that parallel, to the boundary of Alaska; and thence, along such last mentioned boundary, westerly, to the 141st meridian of west longitude, and north, by that meridian, to the Frozen or Arctic Ocean. [By the Order in Council of August, 1791, it was ordered that the " Province of Quebec should be divided into two distinct Provinces, to be called the Province of Upper Canada and the Province of Lower Canada, by separating the said two Provinces according to the following line of division, viz.: To commence at a stone boundary, on the north bank of the Lake St. Francis, &c.; and thence ...... into the Lake Tomiscanning, and, from the head of the said lake, by a line drawn due north, until it strikes the boundary line of Hudson's Bay; including all the territory to the westward and southward of the said line, to the utmost extent of the country commonly called or known by the name of Canada.""And it appears that the country then commonly called or known by the name of Canada, extended to the Western Sea and to the Frozen Ocean.] * This analysis does not include any lines proposed on either side prior to the Treaty of Utrecht. These were, on the part of the Hudson's Bay Company: the Rivers Albany and Rupert, in 1700; the Albany and East Main Rivers, in 1702; the line from Cape Perdrix to Lake Mistassin, and thence, westward, the parallel of the south-west shore of that Lake, in 1712. And, on the part of the French, they were the parallel of 55°, in 1700-2. In 1712, before the Treaty of Utrecht, the French King instructed his Commissaries to concede the line of 55, or, as an alternative, half of the Bay-presumably the east half; but in 1719-20, they do not appear to have made any formal proposal to the English Commissaries. II. The boundary of the Province of British Columbia, from the 49th parallel of north latitude northwards, by the Rocky Mountains, to the point where these mountains meet the northerly watershed of the Saskatchewan River; thence easterly and north-easterly, fol lowing such northerly watershed of the Saskatchewan, until such watershed meets the northerly watershed of the Churchill River; thence, following such northerly watershed of the Churchill, to and along the height of land which divides the waters which fall into Hudson's Bay from those that fall into the Arctic Ocean, to the said Arctic Ocean. [This variation of the first line arises from the circumstance of the French, whose territory was called Canada, not having had forts or permanent settlements, beyond those on the rivers which flow into Hudson's Bay. The Canadian traders occupied the country of Saskatchewan and the upper Churchill, from the period of its discovery; while the Hudson's Bay Company had up to 1790, but one establishment there, namely Cumberland House, built in 1774. The French Forts on the Saskatchewan dominated over and intercepted the trade of the upper reaches of the Churchill.] III. The same line, to the point where it would meet the northerly boundary of Ontario, in case such northerly boundary does not extend to the Arctic Ocean. IV. The boundary of the Province of British Columbia, from the 49th parallel of north latitude northward, by the Rocky Mountains, to the point where these mountains meet the northerly watershed of the Saskatchewan; and thence along such northerly watershed to the northerly boundary of Ontario. [This line would be a further variation of No. 1. The chief forts and estabishments of the French in this region were on the Saskatchewan, and appear to have been continuously occupied by them up to 1763. It appears from evidence reported by the Parliamentary Committee, in 1749, that the French had also a fort on Seal River, north and west of the Churchill]. V. A line (so far as the same is north of the international boundary), commencing at the source, in the Rocky Mountains, of the supposed Mississippi River of the Quebec Act, 1774, and of the Royal Commissions of 1774 and 1777, according to maps of the time; and thence either (1) Northwards to the northerly boundary of Ontario, and so drawn as to embrace all the French posts and settlements; or (2) Due north, or as nearly so as the case permits, to the said northerly boundary Ontario. [By the Quebec Act, 1774, the boundary of the Province of Quebec was carried along the bank of the Ohio, "westward to the banks of the Mississippi, and northward to the southern boundary of the territory granted to the Merchants Adventurers of England trading to Hudson's Bay." The Royal Commissions to Sir Guy Carleton, of 1774, and to Sir Frederick Haldimand, of 1777, carried the boundary of the same Province along the bank of the Ohio, "westward to the banks of the Mississippi, and northward along the eastern bank of the said river to the southern boundary of the territory granted to the Merchants Adventurers of England, trading to Hudson's Bay." (See, as to the supposed Mississippi of those times, the memorandum of S. J. Dawson, Esq., M.P.P., at p. 273, ante.] 1. A line commencing at the point (in about the 108th meridian of west longitude), where a due west line from the most north-western point of the Lake of the Woods first crosses the waters of the Mississippi River; and thence either (1) Northwards to the northerly boundary of Ontario; and so drawn as to embrace all the French Posts and settlements; or (2) Due north, or as nearly so as the case permits, to the said northerly boundary of Ontario. [By the Treaty of 1783, the southern boundary of the British possessions was carried to the "Lake of the Woods; thence, through the said Lake, to |