_Frederickton, New Brunswick, June 12, 1837_
His Excellency the GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF MAINE.
SIR: Since I had the honor of addressing your excellency under date the
6th instant, announcing my assumption of the administration of this
government, a report has been laid before me by the warden of the
disputed territory, copy of which I feel it to be an act of courtesy
toward your excellency to lose no time in communicating to you.
In including the territory within the limits of the British claim in the
census which "Ebenezer Greely"' appears to have been instructed to take
of the population of the county of "Penobscot" he has evidently acted in
ignorance or under a misconception of the subsisting relations betwixt
England and the United States of America, which I can not allow myself
to doubt that your excellency will lose no time in causing to be
explained and removed. Though necessarily committed to confinement,
I have desired that every regard may be shown to Greely's personal
convenience consistent with the position in which he has _voluntarily_
placed himself. I use this expression because, as your excellency will
observe, Greely was informed by the warden that if he would desist from
the act in which he was engaged and the language which he was holding
to the people of the Madawaska settlement (acts constituting not only
an interference with the acknowledged rights of jurisdiction of this
Province, but the positive exercise within its limits of actual
jurisdiction, however unauthorized on the part of the State of Maine)
and would withdraw from this district he should be allowed to do so;
otherwise that in the discharge of the duties imposed upon him by his
office he (the warden), who is in the commission of the peace, must
be under the necessity of apprehending, in order to make him amenable
to the laws of the Province. This proposal Greely rejected, and was
accordingly committed to jail to be dealt with according to law. In the
meantime, as an evidence of my desire to cultivate the most friendly
understanding with the government of the State of which Greely is a
citizen, I lose no time in saying that upon receiving an assurance from
your excellency that your authority shall be exerted in restraining this
or any other citizen of the State of Maine from adopting proceedings
within the British limits (as claimed) calculated to infringe the
authority and jurisdiction of this Province and to disturb and unsettle
the minds of that portion of its inhabitants residing in the disputed
territories until the question in dispute be brought to a final
settlement Greely shall immediately be enlarged.
Trusting that your excellency will see in this proposition an anxious
desire on my part to redeem the pledge given in my communication of the
6th instant, I have the honor to be, your excellency's most obedient,
humble servant,