Statewide County ME Archives History - Books .....CHAPTER I. The St. Croix As A Boundary Prior To 1783. 1919
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Book Title: Maine In The Northeastern Boundary Controversy

CHAPTER I. The St. Croix as a Boundary Prior to 1783.

THE St. Croix River, the initial treaty boundary between what
is now the State of Maine and the British Province of New
Brunswick, received its name in 1604. In that year, the Sir de
Monts, with a body of colonists,[1] was On the Atlantic coast
of North America in the interest of France, with a commission
from the French king as lieutenant general wild governor of
territory from the fortieth to the forty-sixth parallel, a
wilderness which he was to seize and hold under the name of
Acadia.[2] First he explored the shores of the Bay of Fundy
without finding a desirable location for a settlement. Then,
proceeding down the coast into Passamaquoddy Bay, he
discovered and entered a large river of such wonderful
attractiveness under the summer skies as to awaken the
enthusiasm and admiration of his entire company. Upon an
island in the middle of this river, and "a league or more from
its mouth," de Monts planted his colony; and finding some
distance above this island that branches of the river enter,
suggesting the form of a cross, he gave to the island the name
Isle deSainte Croix[3] (the Island of the Holy Cross), both
the river and the island receiving the same designation. This
is not the place for an account of the hardships endured by
the de Monts colonists on St. Croix Island during the winter
of 1604-1605. Champlain, the geographer of the expedition and
the most distinguished member of the company, has told the
story of its hardships in the first volume of his Voyages,[4]
hardships so severe that thirty-five of the seventy-nine
colonists miserably perished during the long, severe winter
that followed, hardships which with the arrival of spring
hastened the abandonment of the location.[5] But the name St.
Croix, designating both the island and the river, has
survived, not always in the memory of men, but in narratives,
grants of land, treaties and documents of various kinds.

Notwithstanding this added westward movement on the part of
France—she had in the preceding century taken possession of
territory farther north, moving inland by way of the waters of
the St. Lawrence—England was by no means unmindful of the
opportunities for colonization which the discovery of the new
world had opened, Sir Walter Raleigh's expeditions having made
their way to the American coast, farther down, in the closing
decades of the sixteenth century.[6] If those expeditions
brought only disappointment to their promoters, hope was not
destroyed. In 1602 Gosnold was on the coast, as was Pring in
1603, Waymouth in 1605, and Pring again in 1606. In that same
year, 1606, James I gave charters to two companies for the
purpose of planting English colonies in America, one of these,
the London Company, receiving a grant of territory between the
thirty-fourth and forty-first degrees of north latitude; and
the other, known as the Plymouth Company, receiving a grant of
territory partly overlapping that of the London Company and
extending from the thirty-eighth to the forty-fifth
degrees.[7] Settlements at Jamestown, Virginia, and at the
mouth of the Kennebec soon followed.

The grant to the Plymouth Company was a denial, on the part of
England, of any French territorial claim because of de Mont's
temporary settlement at St. Croix Island. This denial was
affirmed by the destruction of the French Jesuit colony near
Southwest Harbor, Mount Desert, by Argall, in 1613. In 1619,
by petition, the Plymouth Company made a request of the king
that the territory they had received might be known as New
England,[8] and in panting the request James I, in 1620,
extended the company's limits from the fortieth degree to the
forty-eighth, thus carrying the British claims still farther
north.[9] New boundaries in the northern part of this
territory appeared in 1621, in a grant made by the king to Sir
William Alexander, the king's secretary of state and favorite,
the territory being described as follows: "all and singular
the lands, continents and islands, situate and lying in
America, within the cape or promontory, commonly called Cap de
Sable, lying near the latitude of forty-three degrees, or
thereabout, from the equinoctial line northward, from which
promontory, toward the coast, verging to the west, to the
harbor of Sancta Maria, commonly called Sanctmareis Bay, and
thence northward, traversing, by a right line, the entrance,
or mouth of that great naval station which runs out into the
eastern tract of the land between the countries commonly
called Surequois and Stechimines, to the river commonly called
by the name of Sancta Crux, and to the remotest source or
fountain on the western side of the same, which first
discharges itself into the aforesaid river, and thence, by an
imaginary right line, which might be conceived to proceed
through the land, or to run northward to the nearest naval
station, river, or source, discharging itself into the great
river of Canada, and proceeding from it by the sea shores of
the same river of Canada, eastward to the river, naval
station, port, or shore, commonly known and called by the name
of Gathepe, or Gaspie, and thence south eastward to the
islands called Baccaloes, or Cap Britton, leaving the same
islands on the right, and the gulph of the said great river of
Canada, or great naval station, and the lands of Newfoundland,
with the islands pertaining to the same lands, on the left,
and thence to the cape or promontory of Cap Britton, toward
the south and west to the aforesaid Cap Sable, where the
circuit began."[10] This boundary description is significant,
not only as having a place in "the first national patent that
ever was clearly bounded within America by particular limits
"in earth"[11] (to use the language of Sir William Alexander),
but as establishing, in language from which later descriptions
have liberally borrowed, the St. Croix River as the western
boundary of Nova Scotia. It is in this charter, also, that
"Nova Scotia" mentioned as the designated name "in all time to
come" [12] of territory described.

France, however, had not lost sight of her interests on the
north Atlantic cost; and April 24, 1629, at Susa in Piedmont,
she concluded a treaty of peace and goodwill with Great
Britian, in which the kings of the two countries renewed "the
ancient alliances betwit them," and came to some agreements
that were to find expression in a later treaty. In accordance
with these agreements, it is inferred, France, expecting that
in the forthcoming treat Acadia would be restored to her, made
a cession of that control to the Company of New France[13], an
organization designed to advance French interest in that part
of the new world. In turn, this company May 4, 1632, granted
lands adjoining "the river and bay of the St. Croix" to Isaac
de Razillai, who was made governor of Acadia. In this grant
mention was made of St. Croix Island," where de Monts
wintered--a reminder of a French occupation on the Atlantic
coast.

The later treaty, which was the treaty of St. Germain,
contained a promise on the part of the king of Great Britain
"to give up and restore all places occupied in New France,
Acadia and Canada by the subjects of the king." Naturally the
French understood the language of the treaty as implying the
cession not "places" in Acadia, but of the whole country
included under the designation. Charles I, however, denied any
purpose or even the thought of restoring to France anything
more than the language of the treaty indicated, namely
"places" occupied by the British. Writing to the Scottish
Privy Council not long after the treaty of St. Germain was
signed (May 29, 1632), he made tin statement: "We have never
meaned to relinquish our title to any part of these
countreyis;" and he directed Sir William Alexander "to go on
in the said work," that is of colonization, promising to
protect him and those associated with him, and also to
compensate them in case he should oblige them to withdraw at
any time--a glimpse of the crooked workings of a Stuart mind.
The insincerity of the king is not concealed by his
pretensions.[14] Even with the king's declaration as to the
meaning of the treaty, Sir William could have found little
satisfaction in the thought that though "places" only had been
restored, the rest of Acadia was his; and it may have been in
an endeavor to soothe his wounded feelings that the Council
for New England in 1635, in connection with the surrender of
the great patent, granted to William, Lord Alexander, a son of
Sir William Alexander, "all that part of the main land of New
England.....beginning from a certain place called or known by
the name of St. Croix next adjoining to New Scotland in
America.....and from thence extending along the sea coast unto
a certain place called Pemaquid and so up the river thereof to
the farthest head of the same as it tendeth northward and
extending from thence at the nearest unto till river of
Kennebec and so upward along by the shortest course which
tendeth unto the river of Canada, from henceforth to be called
and known by the name of the county of Canada."[15] The river
St. Croix in this way still remained the western boundary of
Nova Scotia, while it became the eastern boundary of this new
grant covering the territory between Nova Scotia and Sir
Ferdinando Gorges' Province of Maine.

Not long after, at the death of William, Lord Alexander, the
grant reverted to Sir William, his father, who apparently paid
little attention to it, probably on account of unfavorable
conditions at home in connection with the Civil War in
England; and with the lapse of years the grant became extinct.
In the revival of colonial interest under Cromwell, it was
assumed that British rights in the new world not only included
the Acadia of the Alexander grant, but carried the western
boundary of that territory as far as "Pentecost and the river
of St. George to Muscontus [Muscongus] situate upon the
confines of New England."[16] This removal of the boundary,
however, received short recognition, for when Charles II, in
1664, granted to his brother, James, Duke of York, territory
now a part of the State of Maine, the river St. Croix was
again mentioned, the grant being the same as that made to
William, Lord Alexander, the language descriptive of its bound
evidently being borrowed from that used in the Alexander
Grant, as follows: "All that part of the main land of New
England beginning at a certain place called or known by the
name of St. Croix next adjoining to New Scotland in America
and from thence extending along the sea coast unto a certain
place called Petuaquine or Pemaquid and (so) up the river
thereof to the furthest head of the same as it tendeth
northwards and extending from thence to the river of
Kinebequi, and so upwards by the shortest course to the river
of Canada northward."[17]

But by the treaty of Breda, July 21, 1667, Charles II agreed
to restore Acadia to France,[18] and in letters patent, a year
later, he described the restoration as including "all that
country called Acadia, lying in North America, which the said
most Christian king did formerly enjoy, as namely the forts
and habitations of Pentagoet, St. John, Port Royal, la Heve
and de Cape Sable,[19] language which by its mention of places
formerly in possession of the French king would seem to
indicate that Charles was ceding no more than was included in
the cession made by his father, as already mentioned. However,
as later he abandoned British claims to Acadia, directing
Colonel Thomas Temple not only to surrender the places, but to
withdraw from the country, he seems to have accepted the
French understanding of the terms of the treaty of St.
Germain. Such a cession aroused much British ire, Colonel
Temple at first refusing to obey the order he had received
"until his majesty's pleasure be further known both as to the
bounds and limits of Acadia and Nova Scotia, there being no
places mentioned in my order, but La Heve and Cape Sable, that
belong to Acadia, and the rest of the places mentioned, viz.,
Pentagoet, St. John's and Port Royal are in Nova Scotia,
bordering upon New England." [20] When, however, in 1669, the
king's purpose was reaffirmed, and Colonel Temple was required
to give up to the French all the mentioned places without
further delay, the whole Penobscot country was included in
this restoration. Nevertheless the old British claim
persisted, and Sir Edmund Andros's commission from James II,
in 1688, made him captain general and governor-in-chief of
"all that tract of land..... in America.....from forty degrees
of northern latitude ... to the river of St. Croix
eastward."[21] In this way the St. Croix River once more comes
into view as the boundary between New England and Acadia.


The Revolution in England in 1688, which brought to an end the
reign of the Stuarts, had far-reaching results. The abdica-
tion of James II, in December of that year, and the succession
of William and Mary to the throne in February, 1689, brought
also the end the government of Andros. His arrest and
deportation followed in April, and a provisional government,
established "according to charter rights," assumed the
management of New England affairs until the new province
charter, of October 7, 1691, was received, incorporating "the
Colony of Massachusetts Bay, the Colony of New Plymouth, the
Province of Maine, the territory called Acadia or Nova Scotia,
and all that tract of land lying between the said territories
of Nova Scotia and the said Province Maine," into one province
to be known as the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New
England.[22]

Notwithstanding this British claim and action, by which the
territory covered by the designations Acadia and Nova Scotia
was included in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, France
continued to assert her right to the country and occupied Port
Royal. Sep-tember 10, 1697, the peace of Ryswick again
restored Acadia or Nova Scotia to the French, rendering of no
effect the conquests made in that country by the British in
what was known as King William's war, while even the Sagadahoc
territory again became disputed territory.[23] In fact, this
peace was a truce only. In 1702, England and France were again
at war. Port Royal was retaken by the English in 1710; and in
1713, in accordance with provisions of the treaty of Utrecht,
"all Nova Scotia or Arcadia, with, its ancient boundaries,
also the city of Port Royal, at this time called Annapolis
Royal, and all other things, in those parts, which depend on
the said lands and islands, together with the dominion,
propriety and possession of the said islands, lands and
places, and all right whatsoever by treaties, or by any other
way obtained," were made over "to the queen of Great Britain
and to her crown forever." [24]

In the later colonial period differences arose at times with
refer ence to the western boundary of Acadia, Massachusetts
insisting that by her charter of 1691 she came into possession
of the ancient Sagadahoc country; while Nova Scotia asserted
claims, or advanced suggestions of claims, covering territory
within Sagadahoc limits. Thus in 1719, Governor Phillips, who
had been made governor of Placentia and captain general and
commander-in-chief of Nova Scotia, writing to the Lords of
Trade from Boston, while on his way to Port Royal, said: "I
meet with many old patents granted to people of New England
never yet produced for approbation,.....lying in a part called
the king's territory between New England and Nova Scotia, and,
as I imagine, under the government of the latter,.....likewise
many old Indian grants for vast tracts in the same territory
which never had the sanction of any government." In a
subsequent letter, he mentions these lands as "lying between
the rivers of Kennebec and St. George" and adds, "the bounds
between the government of Nova Scotia and New England are not
declared."[25] Again, in 1732, the Nova Scotia government,
inferring from ancient boundaries that its authority extended
to the river St. George, made surveys west of the St.
Croix.[26] With the increase of settlers in both provinces as
the century advanced, boundary matters became increasingly
important. Thus in February, 1762, a committee of the General
Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, appointed to take
into consideration the bounds between that province and Nova
Scotia, stated in a report that according to Sir William
Alexander's patent the St. Croix River, "to the head thereof
and the remotest westernmost branch or stream, and, from
thence, by an imaginary line to run north to the river St.
Lawrence," was the boundary. But which of the three very
considerable rivers that empty into Passamaquoddy Bay—-the
Cobscook, the Schoodic and the Magaguadavic—was the St. Croix
of the boundary, was a question which the members of the
committee either raised, or found had already been raised; for
each one of the three, at some time and in some way, had been
known by the designation St. Croix.[27] Their suggestion,
"That by the first voyage made by the French, who gave the
name to the river St. Croix,..... the said river may be
ascertained," the committee indicated a source of information
that was to be singularly fruitful later, when the period of
controversy was reached and search made. How very imperfectly,
however, the members of the committee apprehended the
significance of their own reflections is revealed in the added
suggestion that "one or more gentlemen be appointed by this
Court to join with such as may be appointed by the Prov-ince
of Nova Scotia, to repair to said river St. Croix and to
deter-mine upon the place where the said north line is--to
begin, and to extend said line as far as the said
commissioners shall think it necessary, and to ascertain the
same by marked trees or other boundary marks."[28] Meanwhile,
until the matter should receive further consideration, it was
agreed by both parties that no added grants of land should be
made in the disputed territory until action pertaining to the
boundary should have been taken.

By the treaty of Paris, February 10, 1763, France, as the
closing act in a long, losing conflict, ceded to Great Britain
the whole of her North American possessions except two small
islands, which were to serve as shelter to French
fishermen.[29] In the same year, evidently to meet the wishes
of both Massachusetts and Nova Scotia, the river St. Croix was
again designated by Great Britain as the boundary between the
two provinces. Forthwith the importance of securing actual
surveys of the boundaries occurred to the Massachusetts
authorities, and Sir Francis Bernard, governor of the
province, employed for this purpose John Mitchell, possibly
the Jno. Mitchell,[30] who, in 1755, prepared the large map of
the British and French possessions in North America,
instructing him to proceed to the bay of St. Croix or
Passamaquoddy, to survey the coast between the rivers St.
Croix and Passamaquoddy, and also the rivers themselves. In
preparing his instructions, the governor seems to have had
before him Captain Cyprian Southack's map of 1733 and John
Mitchell's map of 1755, upon which these two rivers appear,
both entering Passamaquoddy Bay, the Passamaquoddy (in
Mitchell's map spelled Passamacadie) at the northwestern
extremity, and the St. Croix at some distance eastward. Having
finished his survey of the west side of the bay and of the
Passamaquoddy River, the surveyor was to give his attention to
the east side and the St. Croix River. "When you get to the
head of the river, you will find a pond,[31] which you must
delineate as exactly as you can, and particularly find out the
most northern point of it, so as to set it down in your plan."
When this had been done, there were added directions as
follows: "One of you [that is Jones or Fletcher of Mitchell's
assistants], or both if you please, with a party assisted by
Indians with their canoes, must cross by the usual portage
from the pond into the river Madanwamkee, which falls into the
Penobscot and will carry you all the way to Fort Pownall with
the stream. This whole passage must also be surveyed." [32]
The map of 1755 represents a short portage connecting Lake
Kousaki with smaller lakes and a stream entering the Penob-
scot--another indication that Governor Bernard had before him
ilrlieH's map of 1755 when he prepared his instructions.

Governor Bernard's survey may have been suggested in connec-
tion with his scheme for a new arrangement of New England as
outlined by him in the following year. According to this
outline the Province of Maine was to be extended eastward to
the Penob-scot bay and river, while another province, still
farther eastward, "would contain the remainder of the
territory of Sagadahock, with so much of the continent of Nova
Scotia as shall be thought proper to add to it; for instance
from the River Penobscot to River St. Johns." In his further
unfolding of the scheme, Governor Bernard does not again make
mention of the river "St. Johns," but he describes the parts
that are to comprise this new province as in the meantime
(namely, until a sufficient number of people can be secured to
form a government of their own) "divided by the bounds of Nova
Scotia, that is, that country which lies on the east of the
St. Croix to remain to the government of Nova Scotia, that
which lies on the west of St. Croix to remain to the
government of Maine and Sagadahock." [33]


While this scheme was receiving the attention of Governor Ber-
nard, he sought information relating to de Monts' settlement
on St. Croix Island in 1604, evidently moved thereto by the
sugges-tion of the committee of the General Court in 1762, as
already mentioned. In his search he used L'Escarbot's account
as found in Purchas' Pilgrimes, also Champlain's account in
his Voyages, published in 1632. His purpose, he explained, had
reference to a proposed settlement in that locality to be made
by some of his friends; and the matter was of some importance,
he said, since in case they should take grants on the west
side of the St. Croix they might hereafter be impeached for
being under the seal of Nova Scotia and out of its
boundary.[34]

In accordance with the instructions of Governor Bernard,
Mitchell and his assistants, Nathan Jones in command of the
soldiers accompanying the party, and Captain Fletcher an
Indian interpreter, made their way to Passamaquoddy Bay. In
his field book, under date of Sunday, June 3, 1764, Mitchell
mentions his purpose to go with his party to the St. Croix
River on the day following. He went, however, only as far as
"Harbor leeteet [L'Etete] alias Womkoocook," where he met the
Indians, who had been secured as guides, and had a conference
with them. The record in the field book for June 3d is as
follows:

"Sunday, June the 3d, 1764. A foggy morning, the wind a S. W.
Half after three in the morning Captain Jones, Mr. Boyd, Mr.
Jones and myself with four of our men went in the whale-boat
to Latterell in order to get provisions from our encampment,
and when we came to Latterell, Captain Fletcher thought it
most expedient to go to St. Croix the next day, by reason that
the Indians who had for some days past been drunk were got
sober; so Captain Jones ordered the men that came with us to
go back to where we left the rest of our men in order to bring
them all to L,atterell to be ready to depart on Monday morning
for St. Croix.

"Monday, June the 4th, 1764. A foggy morning and calm this
morning. Captain Jones employed Mr. James Boyd and his whale
boat and Mr. Walker to assist us to carry our men and
provisions to the river of St. Croix and to assist us up said
river. One half after eight in the morning we departed from
Latterell and one half after twelve we arrived at Harbor
leeteet alias Womkoocook, where we met with the Indians, and
Captain Fletcher had a conference with them and the Indians
appointed two to go with us on Tuesday morning.

"Tuesday, June the 5th, 1764. This morning at six of the clock
two Sanops and two squaws, with one birch canoe, set off with
us in order to go with us to the river St. Croix, and we
proceeded up the bay about two miles, and the wind N. W. a
fresh gale, and the tide against us, we put ashore on the east
side of the bay to wait till the tide would turn; and while we
waited for tide of flood of our men went a little way from the
shore in the whale-boat a fishing and caught one halibut and
three small cod fish at young flood we all got aboard of our
boats and proceeded towards St, Croix, and at eleven of the
clock we arrived at the entrance of said river, at which time
Captain Fletcher requested three of said Indians to swear that
the said river that they showed us was actually known by the
name of St. Croix river. The names of said Indians are as
followeth, L,ue Nepton, Meesel and Mary Cattron. And we
tarried there awhile and ate dinner, then went up said river
to the falls, and then the Indians told Captain Fletcher that
they would go no farther and the falls being so large that we
could not get the whale-boat over it, and it being impossible
to go on the land to survey the river, I began a little below
the falls; and the courses are as followeth." [35]

This river, in location corresponding with the St. Croix of
the map of 1755 as indicated in the above record, and
confirmed under that name by the Indians of Mitchell's party,
but now known as the Magaguadavic, was accepted as the St.
Croix of the boundary by Governor Bernard's surveyor, who
proceeded with his surveys and completed them in accordance
with his instructions. Mitchell himself, having finished his
work, returned to Boston from Passamaquoddy Bay by sea, taking
with him three maps of the bay and the St. Croix River, which
he delivered to Governor Bernard. Some of the members of his
party, as directed in his instructions, made their way
homeward by way of the portage and streams entering the
Penobscot.[36]


Governor Bernard, however, was not satisfied with the report
which his surveyor brought. As has already appeared, his exam
ination of evidence furnished by Champlain in his Voyages had
led him to question whether the St. Croix of the map of 1755
was the St. Croix of de Monts and Champlain, and therefore the
St. Croix of the boundary between the Province of
Massachusetts Bay and the Province of Nova Scotia. His doubts
were increased by Mitchell's report. In the letter to Governor
Wilmot cited above, he wrote: "I send you an extract from
Champlain with references to a map[37] of the upper part of
the bay, which contains all the rivers which fall into it from
whence it appears to me that the river St. Croix is not that
which the Indians lately pointed out, but another northwest of
it." [38]

These investigations with reference to the boundary in 1764
were followed in 1765 by like investigations in the same
region under the direction of Charles Morris, the surveyor
general of the Province of Nova Scotia, in whose hands
Governor Wilmot placed the information from Champlain that he
had received from Governor Bernard. This information should
have been helpful in a search for the ancient St. Croix, but
the surveyor general failed to make use of it (perhaps from
instructious to carry the line as far westward as possible),
identifying the St. Croix with the Cobscook, and making that
river the boundary of Acadia, and the assigned boundary of
Nova Scotia. The points of identification mentioned in his
report, however, furnished no ground even for probability,
though his possible support from Indian testimony was
doubtless of as much value as the testimony of the Indians,
who accompanied Mitchell to the Magaguadavic and upon oath
declared that river to be the St. Croix.[39]

Governor Bernard's connection with matters on the northeastern
boundary of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, however, III it
not long continued. As the royal governor of the province, he
found himself increasingly out of sympathy with most of the
colonists. Doubtless, for all of the oppressive measures of
which complaint was made, he was not responsible; but he was
the representative of the king and his ministers, and in
administering the affairs of the province in their interest,
and not in the interest of the people as was made known to him
in many ways, he found his position so uncomfortable at length
that in the summer of 1769 he resigned the governorship and
returned to England, his departure from Boston being made an
occasion for general public rejoicings. [40]

Governor Bernard's successor was Thomas Hutchinson, then
lieutenant governor of the province, though he did not receive
commission as governor until 1771. In the early part of his
administration, affairs concerning the eastern territory of
the province were brought to his attention. One matter of
consider-able importance had reference to masts suitable for
use in the royal navy. For many years, under the direction of
a surveyor gemeral of his majesty's woods in North America,
"such masts had been obtained from the forests in New
Hampshire and in the western and central parts of Maine. Now,
with the settlement of towns in eastern Maine, there was an
inquiry for such masts in this new country, and in 1771,
William Brattle, James Bowdoin and Thomas Hubbard were
instructed to obtain the required information concerning the
mast supplies that the forests of the region between the
Penobscot and the St. Croix would be able to furnish. Another
consideration, to which the commissioners were to give
attention, had reference to the boundary between the Province
of Massachusetts Bay and Nova Scotia, a definite understanding
with Nova Scotia being deemed exceedingly desirable. From
their report it appears that they had with them Champlain's
description of the St. Croix River. They also secured the
testimony of one who for sixty years had traded with the
Indians in the St. Croix region and knew the river by that
name. After considering such information as they were able to
obtain, they came to this decision: "it is plain to us that
the River St. Croix, which we call by that name, and which is
east of Passamaquoddy, is the true River St. Croix and the
eastern boundary of this province as mentioned in the charter.
Notwithstanding which, we are well informed that there are
grants made by the Governor, or Government of Nova Scotia, of
Grand Manan, some of the islands of Passamaquoddy Bay, and of
land upon the main and settlements thereon, all west of St.
Croix; and we are also informed that the same lands are very
good."[41] According to this report, Champlain's description
seems to have been no more helpful to these commissioners than
to the surveyor general of Nova Scotia.

The colonial period was now drawing to a close. From the St.
Croix, along nearly the whole length of the Atlantic seacoast,
the uprising of the colonists against any infringement of
their liberties was already in progress. Especially was this
true in the settlements of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
As Governor Bernard, by his endeavors to enforce the obnoxious
stamp act, and by bringing British soldiers from Halifax to
Boston, found himself unable to withstand the spirit of
resistance he had thereby awakened, so was it with Governor
Hutchinson, in following in Governor Bernard's footsteps.
Hostility to his administration, already at first
uncomfortably strong, was greatly increased by events
connected with the Boston massacre, and later by his! attempt
to enforce the infamous tea tax. Tainted, because of avarice
and duplicity, he soon found himself discredited and des
titute of that support without which it was impossible to
discharge his official duties acceptably either to himself or
to the colonists; and early in 1774, to the great
gratification of a large proportion of the people of the
province, he obtained royal permission to leave the country.
Born in Boston, son of one of its prominent merchants, a
graduate of Harvard College, having held four of the highest
offices in the province, he found the signs of a new era more
and more distasteful to him; and on June 1st, going on
shipboard, following the example of his predecessor in the
governorship of the old Bay Colony, he sailed for England,
where he spent the remainder of his days.

-----

Endnotes. [renumbered from orginal, to facilitate presentation
at the end of chapter. -tsv]

[1]. The expedition sailed from Dieppe, France.

[2]. For extracts from the patent of Acadia, granted Nov 8-18,
1603, to de Monts by Henry IV of France see the Farnham
Papers, Maine Historical Society, Documentary Series, I, 1-6.

[3]. Of great interest is the map of the country in which de
Monts wintered published by Chaplains in 1613. On the St.
Croix River is clearly represented, a flagstaff and flag
indicating the location of the settlement; where the three
branches of the river, farther up, make the cross that
suggested the name of the island and of the river. Champlain's
Voyages, Prince Society, 1878, I, 32.

[4]. Prince Society Ed., I, 50-52.

[5]. An interesting glimpse of life on St. Croix Island,
before the severities of that icy winter fully descended upon
the colonists, is given by Prof. W. F. Gamong: "One of the
methods used by the young gentlemen to keep up their spirits
during the winter deserves special mention. They appear to
have circulated a kind of periodical, called the 'Master
William,' which was, as L'Escarbot tells us, 'stuffed with all
kinds of news.' Such was the first periodical of this valley,
and it is possible for the antiquary to claim that the first
literary periodical of Americas was the 'Master William,'
circulated (of course in written, not printed copies), at
Dochet [a later designation of St. Croix] Island, in the
winter of 1604-1605. But a single quotation from it has been
preserved. L'Escarbot tells us that it is said among other
things that Sieur de Monts 'did pull out thorns in Canada,' an
expression seemingly equivalent to our phrase 'draw the
teeth,' or subdue. But the chief interest in the passage is
that it serves to suggest to L'Escarbot an expression of his
admiration for such enterprises as that of Sieur de Monts, for
he adds: 'And when all is said it is very truly pulling out
thorns, in taking in hand such enterprises full of continual
perils and fatigues, of cares, anguish and discomforts. But
the virtue and the courage with subdues everything makes these
thorns but carnations and rose to those who are determined on
heroic actions to commend themselves to the memory of men, and
close their eyes to the pleasures of effeminate who are good
only for chamber-guards.'" Maine Historical Society Coll.,
Third Series, II, 119.

[6]. Early English and French voyages, New York, Charles
Scribner's Sons, 223-321.

[7]. Farnham Papers, I, 6-12.

[8]. The designation was given by Captain John Smith, and
first appeared in print in his Description of New England, in
which he records what he learned concerning that part of the
coast of North America in the summer of 1614.

[9]. Farnham Papers, I, 20-45.

[10]. Farnham Papers, I, 20, 60. "When we remember that the
1621 boundary was to run through to the St. Lawrence from the
source of the river St. Croix, we can scarcely doubt, with
Champlain's map before us, that the branch running furthest up
towards the St. Lawrence, i.e., our present Chiputneticook
branch, was the one intended as the boundary, and not the
short western branch. This is confirmed by the fact that the
long branch shows at it head three branches, and it would seem
probable even to certainty that the words 'western source'
were added in order to decide which one of these three was to
form the boundary." Ganong, Evolution of Boundaries of the
Province of New Brunswick, Transactions of the Royal Society
of Canada, Second Series, 1901-1902, VII, 170.

[11]. Slafter's Sir William Alexander, Price Society, 197.

[12]. Farnham Papers, I, 60.

[13]. Ib., I, 172.

[14]. Gardiner, History of the Great Civil War, 1642-1649, in
his account of tin close of Charles' career, makes mention of
the king's duplicity as an established characteristic, IV,
327, 328: "Men who would have been willing to come to terms
with him, despaired of any constitutional arrangement in which
he was to be a factor; and men who had long been alienated
from him were irritated into active hostility. By these he was
regarded with increasing intensity as the one disturbing force
with which no understanding was possible and no settled order
consistent. To remove him out of the way appeared, even to
those who had no thought of punishing him for past offences,
to be the only possible road to peace for the troubled nation.
It seemed that so long as Charles lived deluded nations and
deluded parties would be stirred up by promises never intended
to be fulfilled."

[15]. Farnham Papers, I, 190.

[16]. Commission of Colonel Thomas Temple of Oliver Cromwell
September 17, 1656. Farnham Papers, I, 283.

[17]. Farnham Papers, I, 306. See also the Baxter MSS., IV,
190, 195, where the grant is given in full, and is followed by
interesting papers concerning Nova Scotia and the Pemaquid
country.

[18]. Farnham Papers, I, 311.

[19]. Memorials of the English and French Commissaries, 584,
cited by Ganong, Evolution of the Boundaries of New Brunswick,
185. See also Farnham Papers, I, 312.

[20]. Ganong's Evolution of the Boundaries of New Brunswick,
in Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Second Series,
1901-1902, 186.

[21]. Farnham Papers, I, 380.

[22]. Ib., II, 5, 6.

[23]. Ib., II, 28.

[24]. Farnham Papers, II, 33, 34.

[25]. Murdoch, History of Nova Scotia, I, 359, 360.

[26]. Nova Scotia Archives, II 84.

[27]. This transfer of designation is easily explained. Since
the St. Croix received its name from de Monts, the St. Croix
region had not known uninterrupted occupation by any one
nation. At times the French were in possession, and at times
the British; and such occupation, by either France or Great
Britain, failed in the establishment of settlements in which
ancient traditions would be kept alive.

[28]. The General Court appointed William Brattle and James
Otis for this service. Acts and Resolves of the Province of
Massachuetts Bay, VII, 310.

[29]. Farnham Papers, II, 58.

[30]. Kilby, Eastport and Passamaquoddy, 91.

[31]. Such a pond, marked "Kousaki L." on Mitchell's map of
1755, is represented as the source of the St Croix River.

[32]. Boundary MSS., State Library, VII 57-60. Mitchell's
instructions were dated April 25, 1764.

[33]. Maine Historical Society Coll., Third Series, I, 339-
343. The letter in the scheme is unfolded is in a letter
addressed to the Earl of Halifax, the British secretary of
state, and is dated Nov. 9, 1764.

[34]. Boundary MSS., State House, Augusta, VII, 236, 237.

[35]. This diary, in its original manuscript form, is in the
library of the Maine Historical Society, Portland, Maine.
Attached to it is the deposition of John Mitchell, dated
August 3, 1796, and with it is the statement of William White,
Justice of the Peace, that "this book of twenty-one page
leaves, and a map, was annexed to the deposition of John
Mitchell this day as the minutes of his survey at St. Croicx
and the country at the Eastward in 1764"; also that in his
presence he delivered the same to James Sullivan, Esq., for
use in connection with the boundary proceedings before the St.
Croix Commission.

[36]. Letter of Governor Bernard to Governor Wilmot of Nova
Scotia, Feb. 9, 1765. Boundary MSS., VII, 236.

[37]. Mitchell's map of 1755, not Champlain's.

[38]. Boundary MSS., VII, 235.

[39]. Charles Morris' memorandum for Governor Wilmot entitled
Observations upon Gov. Bernard's Remarks on the Plans of
Passamaquoddy made by his direction in 1764. Boundary MSS.,
VII, 217, 218.

[40]. "The bells were rung and cannons fired from the wharves;
Liberty Tree was gay with flags; and at night a great bonfire
was kindled upon Fort Hill." Bancroft, History of the United
States, VI, 291. In England, on the other hand, he was
received with distinguished consideration, and made a baronet.

[41]. 1 Boundary MSS., II, 162, 163.

Additional Comments:
Burrage, Henry S., D. D., State Historian. Maine in the
Northeastern Boundary Controversy. Portland, Maine: Marks
Printing House, 1919. 1-19.

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