_Washington, March 23, 1837_.
HENRY S. FOX, Esq., etc.:
The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has the honor,
by direction of the President, to invite the attention of Mr. Fox, His
Britannic Majesty's envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary,
to a subject which from its high importance demands the prompt
consideration of His Majesty's Government.
It appears from representations and documents recently received at the
Department of State that a number of inhabitants of the town of St.
Andrews, in New Brunswick, associated themselves together in the year
1835, by the name of the St. Andrews and Quebec Railroad Association,
for the purpose of bringing into public notice the practicability of
constructing a railway between those ports, and that sundry resolutions
were passed in furtherance of this object; that the project was
sanctioned and patronized by the governor in chief of British North
America, the lieutenant-governors of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and
the legislatures and people of the Provinces of Lower Canada and New
Brunswick; that the route of the proposed railroad had been explored as
far as the head waters of the St. John River by surveyors employed by
the association; that an act has actually passed the legislature of
New Brunswick incorporating this company, and that a similar act was
expected to be passed in Lower Canada; that letters were addressed to
the boards of trade of Quebec and Montreal requesting their cooperation;
that these communications were favorably received, and that petitions
had been forwarded to His Britannic Majesty, signed by committees of the
association and by inhabitants of the cities of Quebec and Montreal,
soliciting the construction of a railway between the ports above named,
or the extension of royal aid and protection to the petitioners in the
proposed undertaking.
Without allowing himself for a moment to believe that His Britannic
Majesty's Government will in any manner countenance the projected
railroad from St. Andrews to Quebec when the slightest inspection of the
map of the country which it crosses will show that its intended location
would be for a great portion of the route an encroachment upon the
territory in dispute between the United States and Great Britain, the
President yet sees cause for painful surprise and deep regret in the
fact that the civil authorities of His Majesty's Provinces on our
northeastern borders should have lent their encouragement to or should
in any wise have promoted an undertaking which if persevered in will
inevitably lead to the most disastrous consequences. The object of the
association from its inception was objectionable, since it could only be
effected by entering upon territory the title to which was controverted
and unsettled--a proceeding which could not fail to be offensive to the
Government and people of the United States. Still more unjustifiable was
the act of sovereignty giving to this company corporate powers over
property known to be claimed by citizens of a friendly and neighboring
State, and which constituted at the time the subject of an amicable
negotiation between the Government of His Majesty and that of the
United States. The President regrets to see in this step on the part of
His Majesty's provincial authorities and subjects a most exceptionable
departure from the principle of continuing to abstain during the
progress of negotiation from any extension of the exercise of
jurisdiction within the disputed territory on either side, the propriety
of which has been hitherto so sedulously inculcated and so distinctly
acquiesced in by both parties. An understanding that this principle
should be observed by them was the natural result of the respective
positions and pacific intentions of the two Governments, and could alone
prevent the exercise of asserted rights by force. Without it the end of
all negotiation on the subject would have been defeated. If, therefore,
nothing had been said by either party relative to such an understanding,
it would have been proper to infer that a tacit agreement to that effect
existed between the two Governments. But the correspondence between them
is sufficiently full and explicit to prevent all misconception. The
views of both Governments in respect to it will be found in the letters
of the Secretary of State to the minister of Great Britain dated the
18th of January, 1826, 9th of January, 11th of March, and 11th of May,
1829, and of the British minister to the Secretary of State dated 15th
of November and 2d of December, 1825; 16th of January, 1827; 18th of
February and 25th of March, 1828, and 14th of April, 1833, as well as
in other communications, which it is deemed needless now to designate.
The undersigned is directed by the President to inform Mr. Fox that
the prosecution of the enterprise above referred to will be regarded
by this Government as a deliberate infringement of the rights of the
United States to the territory in question and as an unwarrantable
assumption of jurisdiction therein by the British Government, and the
undersigned is instructed to urge the prompt adoption of such measures
as may be deemed most appropriate by His Majesty's Government to suspend
any further movements in execution of the proposed railroad from St.
Andrews to Quebec during the continuance of the pending negotiations
between the two Governments relative to the northeastern boundary of
the United States.
The proceedings above alluded to, considered in connection with
incidents on other parts of the disputed boundary line well known to
His Majesty's ministers, would seem to render it indispensable to the
maintenance of those liberal and friendly relations between the two
countries which both Governments are so sincerely anxious to preserve
that they should come to a speedy adjustment of the subject. The recent
resolutions of the State of Maine, to which the projected railroad from
St. Andrews to Quebec gave rise, requesting the President of the United
States to cause the line established by the treaty of 1783 to be run and
monuments to be established thereon, and the appropriation of $20,000
by Congress at their late session to enable the Executive to carry that
request into effect, with a subsequent earnest application from the
Representatives of Maine for an immediate compliance with it, afford
additional incentives to exertion to bring this controversy to a
conclusion not to be disregarded by the President of the United States.
The President therefore awaits with great anxiety the decision of His
Majesty's Government on the proposition made by the undersigned to His
Majesty's chargé d'affaires at Washington in February, 1836, suggesting
the river St. John, from its mouth to its source, as an eligible and
convenient line of boundary. No small degree of disappointment has been
felt that this decision, already long expected, has not been given, but
the hope is entertained that the result of this protracted deliberation
will prove favorable to the wishes of the President, and that even
if that proposition be not acceded to by His Britannic Majesty some
definitive offer looking to a prompt termination of the controversy
will be made without further delay.
The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to Mr. Fox the
assurance of his distinguished consideration.