| OCR Text |
Show TRAVELS TJIROU.GH UPPER CANADA: tl e ifland was not . I . the litnits of the Briti(h dominjons. The 1 Wlt 1111 . ld b . t . t was foun 1, wou 1o J a d 1111. t of iome di.lipute, and as 1t cou. no• t e pom ' l L • determined immedtately, t h e P]a n of building the fort wa frlc'lllm qlllDl.c d for the time. The block 1J OUrl.e on the ifl•a nd ' however, tLl r mdam ds on the other lJand, that a ccntt a! (pot ll:ts been fit xe d upon, tllo1r'e !h' tes to the n. I thwart!, c~o n-vcni ently iituated to l'hiladelplll.1, the pre cnt fe at of tilC f'ederal go\'ernm cnt, fay that the new . ' lll1e fo f.u removed from them, that the CllV \U . • · fc~din g of delegates tl ithcr Will he !Hg hly In-conven ient to them, and fo much :o, as to call f0r a fc paration of the union on th c l~ ~a r t. In a ,r ormcr letter I ilatcd the var ious opmtonUs t· hadt were cnterta.m e d 1) y t h e pc0 f, 1e of the nt tc States on this fubject, and 1 end ea voured to !hew t 1l :lt t h e rI C:l t of congrcfs would be re• moved to the n w federal city without end .l ngcn ng a partl. l1 0. 11 0 f the il": "tes.' but 1 ;~m fully perfuadcd, that wei e Cana<ola to become an independent flatc, an d a pI ac_e we, 1.c to be fixed on central .t o all the 11 ..1 tc.s , liU J 'poling her to be one, that nc1ther llilcd, nor the ilare at the remote op poGtc end, wou 1o ng co t.m uc, 1·f they eve r did fubmit, to fen.d t1J el r t l C le ga tes to "n !'l a' ce fo far romovcd, that 1t would rctlu irc more than a fourth part of the car rt Ort he m (the d c l '~ g·a tcs ) .to. tr:tvel, even yW.l t Il t II C U tlnoft poflible cxp~dluon,. bac kward :md fon\ ard, between the dillriCl: wlu h they rc-prcfented and the feat of congrcfs . . Se con dl y, 1 •, Ill. nk rl c two Canad:ts wJII never become connected with the prefcnt fl:atcs, becaufe the people of thcfe provinces, and thofe of the adjoi ning flares, :tre not li rmcd for a clofe intimacy wi th c. ch th er. The bulk of the people of Upper Cana~a are rc fiu gee1, \ Vho we re dri ven from. the flates by t],c perfcclltion of the rcpublt~an party; a:1d though the thirteen ye;•rs which have paf!ed over hal·e nearly cxtinguifhcd every fpark of ref(•n trnen t againll the Americans in the brealls of the ptopl~' c.f England, yet this is by no means the cafe in Urpt r ' anada; it i; there common 10 hear, eve I' fr c. the d ild ren of the r~fugees, the mofi grof; invccuvcs poul cd out aga nfi the p ·oplc of the ll:ates ; and the pcopl: of the fl ?n- n.f !r ft ""' • e~. , in tlwir turn, arc as VIOlent .ag.. :unft th refuo ees and their poficrity; and, 111dced, guar e , whillt ;r,nacla forms a part of the Bri :i01 em pire, 1 am •tn C 1.IO C d , f1·om wh ·' tt L h:we fe en am. l heard . 11 . throuoh the country, to th1 nk that 111 trave 1ng t• · t Ili.S fp.1 n. t WI·1 1 not die a' way. In L. owe. r Canada the f.-Jme acri monious temper of mm~ IS ~~ ot obfervable amongll: the people, excepung t;1d c_cd. in t ho fe few parts of the cou nt ry where r 1e Inhabited parts of the 11atcs ;tpproach cl fely to I r f the 1)rovi ncc ; but hen; :tppcars to t IO IC 0 . I I . b :l genera I d'1f i nclin·•t tion among... fl the 1•1 11a H-tants to I1 avc "" ny [)O)i tic··l ) conneelion, WJth . the pro? Ic o f t I1 c n•a t S• ••1. 0d t h: F r.c. nch Canad. 1ans afFeCt to hold them 111 the ?, l'c.ttcl1 con tempt. Added to thi~ . the prcv,\lent la ~Jguagc of the lower provinc e, which has rcmau:cd the fame for olmon for ty years, notwJ thl1and lng th ~ great pains that h a n~ b~c n taken to _cha ng~ It: . an~ which i5 therefore li kely to remain (o lid I, Js ~n other obfLtclc in the w:ty of any clofe connechon between th (! people of the lower province and thofe of the ilates. Even in conducting the ali: tirs of the l>roviuc i:tl legiOative a(fcmbly: notwithfianding thatmofl of the Englilh inh2bJtants are we!) acquainted with the ~· rcnch l ~ng u ag c, yet a conlidcrable degree of difficulty IS expc· ricnced from the gene ra lity of the F: ench delegates being totally igl or:IIH of the hngiiOl Jan& uagc, which, as I have already menti~ned, .th~y llavc an t.rJconquerable averfion agaln!l lcaJn- Jng. . . . . . Thirdly, I think the Un tdh donllmons Ill North America will nev<..r be ~ nnex c d t~ thofe of the llates, becaufe they ale by nature f~rmcc.l for conll:ituting a fe p;tratc independent tcrntory. At prefent the boundary line between the Bri tilh dominions and Lhe States runs along the river St. Cloi x, thence along the high lands. bordering upon New Engl and till it meets the fortyfifth parallel of north ht i_tu~e, ~nd afterw?rds along· the faid parallel until It finkes the RIVer St. Lawrence, or Cataragui, or Iroquoi·s . Now the dominions fouth of the St. Lawrence are evidently not feparated from the United States by • 347· B 0 I S B L A C'. guarded, and po1Teilion will be kept of it until the matter in difpute l) ~djudgcd by the commiffioners appointed, purfuant to the late trc.Hy, for the purpofc of dct rmining the exaCt boundaries of the Bri tifh dominions in this JXlrt of the continent, w1 ich were by n me:tns clearly a(( ertnincd by the definitive treaty of peace between the States an Great Britain. In thi p:~rticul ar infbncc the clifpute arifes rcfpe Cl:ing the true meaning of certain word of the treaty. " The boundary Jinr," it f.1.ys, "is t " run th rough the middle of Lake Eric until it arri\'e at the water com" munication between th:tt Jake and Lal e lluron; thence along the " middle of the f: iu water communication." The peoJ'le of the tates confl:rue the middle of the water communication to be the middL of the moil: approved ~nd mofl: frequented channel of the river; we, on the contrary, conflrue it to be the middle of the river, provided there is a tolerable hannel on each fid e. Now the iG:.tnd of Bois Blanc cle.uly lies between the middle of the river and the BritiG1 main; but then the dccpcfl: and moil: approvcuchannel for £hips f burthen is between the iGand and the BritiD1 {hore. In our acceptation of the word, therefore, the ifland by any bold determinate boundary line; I therefore fuppofe that they may, in fomc manner, be connected with them; but the country to the northward, bounded on the north by IIudfou's Bay, on the eal~ by the ocean, on the fouth and wefl: by the St. Lawrence, and that vall chain of l:tkes which extends to the wc!lward, is fcparatcd fiom the United States by one of the molt rcJnarkable bou ndary lin es th at is to be found on the f.1cc of the globe between any two countlies on the (;11nc con tinent; and from being bounded in fuch a nmarka ulc manner, and thus detached as it were by nature from the other parts of the continent, it appears to me that it is calculated for forming ;t dill:intl fcp arate !late, or diltinCl: union of Jlntes, from the prefent American federal il:at~s ; that i~, [uppoling, with the revolutions of time, that this arm of the llritilh empire lhould be fome rime or other lopped off. l confcfs it appears fl:rangc to me, that any perfon lhould fuppofe, after looking attentively over a map of North Ame-rica, that the BritiOJ dominions, fo extc nlive and fo unconnccrcd with th (·m, could e1 cr become joined in a politic11l union with the prefent federal fl:ates on the continent. There i.; more reafon to imagine that the Fforidas, and the Spanifh poffi·llions to the ealt of th ~ Mi!li ffi ppi, will be united therewith; for as the rivers which flow through the Spanifh dominions nrc the only channels whereby the pc:ople of fi lll l! of the wellcrn Hates c:1n convey the produce of their own country to the ocean with convenience, it is natural to fnppofe that tlte people of thefc Hates will be nnxious to 1•ain po(fenion of thcfe rivers, for which pu rpofc they mu!l polld s tltemfelvcs of the country through which they par:. But there are certain bounds, beyond 1vhich a reprefentativc government c::nnot ex tend, and the ocean on the eall: and fouth, the St. Lawrence and th Jakes on the north, and the Millilfippi on the wcH, certainly appear to fct bounds to the jurifditlion of the government of the United St:ttes, if intlced it can extend even fo far. Yyz unqnef- |
