_The President of the Senate_:
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate passed the 1st instant,
requesting "that the President inform the Senate, if not incompatible
with the public interest, what negotiation has been had since the last
session of Congress with Great Britain in relation to the northeastern
boundary of the United States, and the progress and result thereof; also
whether any arrangement, stipulation, or agreement has at any time been
made between the Executive of the United States and the government of
the State of Maine, or by commissioners or agents on the part of the
United States and that State, having reference to any proposed transfer
or relinquishment of their right of jurisdiction and territory belonging
to that State, together with all documents, correspondence, and
communications in relation thereto," I inform the Senate that overtures
for opening a negotiation for the settlement of the boundary between the
United States and the British provinces have been made to the Government
of Great Britain since the last session, but that no definitive answer
has yet been received to these propositions, and that a conditional
arrangement has been made between commissioners appointed by me and
others named by the governor of Maine, with the authority of its
legislature, which can not take effect without the sanction of Congress
and of the legislature aforesaid, and which will be communicated to them
as soon as the contingency in which alone it was intended to operate
shall happen. In the meantime it is not deemed compatible with the
public interest that it should be communicated.
ANDREW JACKSON.
_March 2, 1833_.