[Footnote 17: Omitted.]
_Mr. Bankhead to Mr. Livingston_.
WASHINGTON, _November 25, 1831_.
Hon. EDWARD LIVINGSTON, etc.:
The undersigned, His Britannic Majesty's chargé d'affaires, has the
honor to refer the Secretary of State of the United States to the
correspondence which took place in the month of October upon the subject
of violations which had been committed upon the territory at present in
dispute between Great Britain and the United States, and the measures
which His Majesty's lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick deemed it
expedient to adopt thereupon.
The trial of these persons took place at Frederickton, and they were
sentenced by the supreme court of the Province to fine and imprisonment.
At the time the undersigned communicated to the Government of the United
States the decision which the authorities of New Brunswick had felt it
necessary to adopt upon this occasion he expressed the deep regret of
the governor of that Province that the conduct of these individuals was
such as to compel his excellency to pursue a course so uncongenial to
his own feelings and at variance with the harmony which subsists between
the Governments of Great Britain and the United States.
The Secretary of State upon receiving this communication expressed to
the undersigned the earnest desire of the President, upon a total
disavowal on the part of the General Government of the proceedings of
the persons implicated in this transaction, that His Majesty's
lieutenant-governor might consider himself authorized to exercise a
prerogative in their favor and to remit the sentence which had been
pronounced against them.
No time was lost in submitting Mr. Livingston's note to the
consideration of Sir Archibald Campbell, and the undersigned has the
greatest satisfaction in acquainting him that his excellency fully
acquiesced in the desire manifested by the President of the United
States. The undersigned can not better fulfill the wishes of Sir
Archibald Campbell, which are so much in accordance with that spirit of
good will which happily subsists between the two countries and which
characterizes their relations with each other, than by transmitting
to the Secretary of State a copy of the dispatch which he yesterday
received from that officer, and which he feels assured will be received
by the President as an earnest of his uninterrupted good feeling toward
the Government and people of the United States.
The undersigned has the honor to renew to Mr. Livingston the assurance
of his highest consideration,