The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary
from the United States, had the honor on the 10th of August last
of addressing to Lord Viscount Palmerston, Her Majesty's principal
secretary of state for foreign affairs, an official note complaining
of the arrest and imprisonment of Ebenezer S. Greely, a citizen of
the United States, by the provincial authorities of New Brunswick,
and demanding, by order of his Government, the immediate release of
Mr. Greely from imprisonment, with suitable indemnity for the wrongs
he had sustained. To this communication a note was received from his
lordship, under date of the 22d of the same month, in which an assurance
was given that an early answer to the complaint might be expected.
No answer, however, has yet been received, and it is with unfeigned
regret that the undersigned finds himself constrained, in again inviting
the attention of Her Majesty's Government to the subject, to accompany
it with another complaint of a second outrage committed by the
authorities of New Brunswick upon the rights and liberty of this
individual.
From recent information received it appears that shortly after the first
arrest and imprisonment of Mr. Greely he was, by the orders of the
lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, released from confinement, but
was immediately thereafter again taken into custody by his authority and
recommitted to the jail of Frederickton, where he is now detained. This
fact having been communicated by the governor of Maine to the President
of the United States (in an official communication setting forth the
circumstances under which it was done, a copy of which is herewith
transmitted), the undersigned has received the special instructions of
his Government to bring the subject without delay to the notice of Her
Majesty's Government, in order that immediate steps may be taken for
the liberation of Mr. Greely and indemnity made for the injuries he
has suffered.
Having in the first note which he had the honor of addressing to Lord
Palmerston stated the grounds upon which the release of this individual
was demanded and the expectations of his Government in relation to the
subject, and having waived the discussion of the questions of right and
jurisdiction, which he still intends doing, it will not be needful to do
more on this occasion than express to his lordship the painful surprise
and regret with which the President has received information of this
second outrage on the part of the authorities of New Brunswick, and
to repeat the assurances heretofore given that such proceeding can
be regarded in no other light than a violation of the rights and
sovereignty of the United States, and entirely irreconcilable with that
mutual forbearance which it was understood would be practiced by both
Governments pending the negotiation.
The circumstances under which these recent attempts to enforce
jurisdiction have been made show that in the most favorable aspect in
which they can be regarded they were wholly indefensible.
The act for which Greely was arrested and imprisoned, so far from having
been committed within the acknowledged dominions of the British Crown,
and beyond the limits of the disputed territory, and therefore liable
to be treated as a violation of territorial jurisdiction, took place,
as appears by the statement of the governor of Maine, whilst he was
employed within the limits of that State, and under its authority,
in enumerating the inhabitants of the county of Penobscot.
By what authority, then, the provincial government of New Brunswick
felt itself justified in exercising such acts of sovereign power the
undersigned is at a loss to conceive, unless, indeed, upon the ground
that the jurisdiction and sovereignty over the disputed territory
pending the controversy rests exclusively with Great Britain. If such
should turn out to be the fact, it can hardly be necessary again to
repeat the assurances which have been heretofore given that in any such
claim of power the Government of the United States can not acquiesce.
Upon the consequences which would unavoidably result from attempting to
exercise such jurisdiction it is needless to enlarge. It must now be
apparent that all such attempts, if persevered in, can produce only
feuds and collisions of the most painful character, and besides
increasing the feelings of international discord which have already been
excited between the contending parties, they will close every avenue to
an amicable adjustment of a controversy which it is so much the desire
and interest of both Governments to accomplish. Ought it not, then, to
be the earnest endeavor of the two Governments to avoid doing anything
which can have a tendency to lead to such mischievous consequences?
It is under this view of the subject that the undersigned has been
instructed again to remonstrate against these proceedings of the
authorities of New Brunswick, as a violation of the rights of Maine
in the person of her agent, and to protest in the most solemn manner
against the future exercise of all such acts of jurisdiction and
sovereignty over the disputed territory or the citizens of the United
States residing within its limits until a final adjustment of the
controversy takes place.
The undersigned, therefore, can not and ought not to close this note
without again invoking the early and earnest attention of Lord
Palmerston and that of Her Majesty's Government to this painful subject.
It is one of deep and mutual interest to the parties concerned, and the
delicacy and embarrassments which surround it are justly appreciated by
the Government of the United States. Deeply regretting, as that
Government does, the collisions of authority to which both countries
have been so repeatedly exposed by the delay that has taken place in the
final settlement of the main question, it is sincerely desirous, as the
undersigned has taken occasion repeatedly to assure Lord Palmerston, to
have it brought to a speedy and amicable termination. This can only be
done by measures of mutual forbearance and moderation on the part of
both Governments. To this end the efforts of the American Government
have been earnest, persevering, and constant. It has done, as it will
continue to do, everything in its power to induce the State of Maine to
pursue a course best calculated to avoid all excitement and collision
between the citizens of that State and the inhabitants of New Brunswick,
or which would tend in any manner to embarrass the mediatorial action of
their two Governments on the subject; but it can not be expected, if the
authorities of New Brunswick still persevere in attempting to exercise
jurisdiction over the disputed territory by the arrest and imprisonment
in foreign jails of citizens of Maine for performing their duty under
the laws of their own State, and within what is believed to be her
territorial limits, that measures of retaliation will not be resorted
to by Maine, and great mischief ensue.
Indeed, under existing circumstances and in the nature of human
connections, it is not possible, should such a course of violence be
continued, to avoid collisions of the most painful character, for which
the Government of the United States can not be responsible, but which
both Governments would equally deplore.
It was doubtless with a view of guarding against these consequences that
the understanding took place that each Government should abstain from
exercising jurisdiction within the limits of the disputed territory
pending the settlement of the main question.
The undersigned therefore persuades himself that these proceedings
of the colonial government may have taken place without a careful
examination of the important questions involved in them or the
consequences to which they might lead, rather than under instructions
from Her Majesty's Government or with a deliberate view of asserting
and enforcing territorial and jurisdictional rights over the contested
territory.
In looking back, as he does with satisfaction, to the conciliatory
spirit in which the negotiation has heretofore been conducted and the
moderation which both Governments have observed, the undersigned can not
permit himself to doubt but that upon a careful review of the whole
subject Her Majesty's Government will see fit not only to mark with its
disapprobation this last proceeding of her colonial government, and
direct the immediate liberation of Mr. Greely from imprisonment, with
ample indemnity for the wrongs he may have sustained, but that it will
see the propriety of giving suitable instructions to the authorities of
New Brunswick to abstain for the future from all acts of that character,
which can have no other tendency than to increase the excitement and
jealousies which already prevail and retard the final and amicable
adjustment of this painful controversy.
The undersigned requests Lord Palmerston to accept assurances of his
distinguished consideration.