During the war of 1812 matters remained in _statu quo_, and Moose Island (Eastport) continued to be regarded as American, although Great Britain had yielded nothing of her claims. Finally, just as peace had been declared, an armed English force appeared before the town and compelled its surrender. This was undoubtedly to gain that possession, which is nine of the ten points, before the meeting of the Commission at Ghent; and in the discussion which afterward took place, the British Commissioners claimed absolute and complete ownership of Moose Island and others near by. To this the Americans would not yield; but they finally gave way to the extent of allowing continued possession until commissioners, to be appointed under the treaty, could investigate and decide the question. Thus the boundary line was thrown into the hands of another commission, which was again unfortunate in not being clothed with sufficient power to definitely fix it. Indeed, the importance and desirability of considering the extension of the boundary line to the sea does not seem to have been realized, the commissioners being restricted in their duties to the determination of the sovereignty of the several islands in Passamaquoddy Bay. The report of this commission was made in November, 1817. As this decision has a most important bearing on the matter under consideration, it will be well to quote its exact language. The Commissioners agreed “that Moose Island, Dudley Island and Frederick Island, in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, do and each of them does belong to the United States of America; and we have also decided, and do decide, that all other islands and each and every one of them, in the said Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is a part of the Bay of Fundy, and the Island of Grand Menan in the said Bay of Fundy, do belong to his said Britannic Majesty, in conformity with the true intent of said second article of said treaty of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.” A very superficial examination of this decision reveals the possibility of a decided advantage to Great Britain in consequence of its wording, an advantage doubtless foreseen and foresought by the more shrewd and accomplished diplomatists by whom that nation was represented in this instance, as in almost every other controversy with this country. Here is a group of scores of islands, lying in an inland sea, separating the two countries. It is true that the sovereignty of one or two of the most important is apparently determined by the treaty of 1783, but on this the arguments were almost equally strong on both sides. In any event it would have been easy, and infinitely better to have drawn a line through the Bay, from the mouth of the river to the open sea, and to have declared that all islands on one side of that line should belong to Great Britain and all on the other side to the United States. Had this been done, much subsequent dispute would have been avoided.