and thirty-second parallels of latitude, which
are named in the same article of the treaty, or as the boundaries of
very many of the States which had united in the Confederation. These
were defined by the course and sources of rivers--by parallels of
latitude and circles of longitude, either of indefinite extent or
setting out from some prescribed point whose position was to be
determined. At the time of making these grants, as in the case before
us, many of the boundaries had never been visited by civilized men. Some
of these lines had, indeed, been sought and traced upon the ground in
pursuance of orders from the privy council of Great Britain or the high
court of chancery, and the recollection of the operation was fresh in
the memory of both parties. Thus in 1750 it was ordered by the latter
tribunal that the boundary on the lower counties on the Delaware (now
the State of that name) and the Province of Maryland should be marked
out. The boundary was an arc of a circle described around the town of
Newcastle, with a given radius, and a meridian line tangent thereto.
This was a far more difficult operation than to draw a meridian line
from a given point, such as the source of a river. It was thought
in 1763 worthy of the attention of the first assistant in the Royal
Observatory at Greenwich, and the American Rittenhouse was associated
with him. This operation was not only of great contemporary fame, but
is still quoted in English books among the data whence we derive our
knowledge of the magnitude and figure of the earth. So also the same
astronomer (Mason) had but a few years before the War of Independence
commenced the tracing of a parallel of latitude from the former line
to the westward, thus marking the respective limits of Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia. With such examples before them the framers of
the treaty of 1783 were warranted in considering the northwest angle
of Nova Scotia as a point sufficiently definite to be made not merely
one of the landmarks of the new nation, but the corner at which the
description of its boundaries should begin. It has been well remarked by
one of the commentators[52] on the report of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh
and Mudge that if the treaty of 1783 be a grant the grantors are bound
by rule of law to mark out that corner of their _own land_ whence the
description of the grant commences. The British Government therefore
ought, if it be, as it is maintained on its part, a grant, to