The question was not seriously considered by the two governments, however, from the time of the treaty of Ghent to the year 1892. It is not an uncommon belief that this part of the boundary line was considered in the famous Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842; and many people have unjustly held Webster responsible for the continued possession by Great Britain of the island of Campobello, which, by every rule of physiographic delimitation, ought to belong to the United States. But, as already recited, the sovereignty of this island was settled in 1817, and practically so in the original treaty of 1783. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty was apparently intended to settle the last outstanding differences between Great Britain and the United States in the matter of boundary lines, but disputes relating to them seem difficult to quiet. The treaty of 1842 carried the line only as far as the Rocky Mountains, and another in 1846 was necessary for its extension to the Pacific. Examining both of these in the light of today, there can be no doubt of the fact that the United States was seriously at fault in yielding, as she did, her rightful claims at both ends of the great trans-continental line. Enormous advantages would be hers today, if she had not so yielded; and her only excuse is that at the time of negotiation the territory involved did not seem of material value, at least when compared with her millions of acres then undeveloped. In all of these controversies nothing was said of the little stretch of undefined boundary in Passamaquoddy Bay, and it is quite probable that those who had to do with such matters were quite unaware of its existence. On July 16th, 1891, the Canadian cruiser, _Dream_, doing police duty in those waters, seized seven fishing-boats, owned and operated by citizens of the United States, while they were engaged in fishing at a point near what is known as Cochran’s Ledge, in Passamaquoddy Bay, nearly opposite the city of Eastport, Maine. It was claimed by Canadian authorities that the crews of these boats were engaged in taking fish in Canadian waters. On the other hand, the owners of the boats seized contended that they were well within the jurisdiction of the United States at the time of the seizure, and there was much interest in the controversy which followed. The matter was referred to the Department of State, where it became evident that future conflict of authority and jurisdiction could be avoided only by such a marking of the boundary line as would make the division of the waters of the Bay unmistakable.