_July 3, 1837_.
Hon. JOHN FORSYTE,
_Secretary of State of United States_.
SIR: I have had the honor to receive yours of the 26th of June last,
in which, by direction of the President, you indicate that the
circumstances detailed in Mr. Greely's letter relative to his arrest
and imprisonment are not of themselves without further explanation
sufficient to justify the interference of the Government of the United
States. This information is received with some surprise and much
regret--surprise because I had understood Mr. Greely's communication to
show that while employed within the limits of this State and under its
authority on a business intrusted to him by the laws of the State he
was, without being charged or suspected of any other offense, seized and
transported to a foreign jail; regret inasmuch as the feelings of the
people of this State have been strongly excited by this outrage upon the
honor and sovereignty of Maine, and each additional day's confinement
which that unoffending citizen endures is adding to the indignation of
our citizens. I therefore hasten to lay before you a summary of the
transactions connected with this subject as they are gathered from
Mr. Greely's communications to this department. The facts are to be
considered the less indisputable because they are in the main confirmed
by the statements contained in the letter of the lieutenant-governor of
the Province of New Brunswick, by whose order the imprisonment was made,
and a copy of which I recently had the honor of transmitting to the
President.
On the 8th day of March last the legislature of this State passed an act
relative to the surplus revenue, a copy of which is inclosed,[2] to the
eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth sections of which I beg leave to refer
your attention. An additional act was passed on the 29th day of March
last, a copy of which I also inclose.[2] By this last-named act it
became the duty of the county commissioners of Penobscot County to cause
an enumeration to be taken of the inhabitants of said county residing
north of the surveyed and located townships. The tract thus defined
comprised the town of Madawaska, which was incorporated by this State
on the 15th of March, 1831. Pursuant to that requirement, the county
commissioners of said county appointed Ebenezer S. Greely to perform
that service, and, being duly commissioned, he forthwith proceeded to
the place designated and entered upon the required operations. Being
thus employed, he was on the 29th day of May last arrested by the
authorities of the Province of New Brunswick and conveyed to Woodstock,
in the county of Carleton, in said Province, but the sheriff of the
county refused to commit him to jail, and he was accordingly discharged.
He immediately returned to the Madawaska settlements to enter again upon
the duty intrusted to him. On the 6th day of June last he was arrested
a second time by the same authorities and committed to the jail at
Frederickton. It is for this act of obedience to the laws of his
government that Mr. Greely now lies incarcerated in a public jail in the
Province of New Brunswick. Is not redress urgently called for? Must not
this unoffending citizen be immediately released?
Permit me, sir, to add my confident belief that the President on this
presentation of the facts relative to this outrage upon the national as
well as the State rights will not fail to demand the immediate release
of Ebenezer S. Greely and to interpose suitable claims of indemnity for
the wrongs so wantonly enforced upon him.