_Washington, December 21, 1833_.
Right Hon. SIR CHARLES R. VAUGHAN, G.C.H.,
_Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Britannic
Majesty_:
The undersigned, Secretary of State, has the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of the note addressed to him on the 17th instant by Sir Charles
R. Vaughan, His Britannic Majesty's envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary, requesting the intervention of the Government of the
United States to put a stop to certain proceedings of the State of Maine
in the territory still in dispute between Great Britain and the United
States.
The proceedings referred to appear, by the letter of the
lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick and the report of the officer
acting on the part of Great Britain as warden of the disputed territory
(copies of which accompanied Sir Charles R. Vaughan's note), to be the
construction of a road to the Restook River, passing, as is alleged,
through 15 miles of the disputed territory, and supposed by the warden
to be intended to intersect the St. John River in the Madawaska
settlement.
The undersigned is happy to have it in his power to afford at once
such explanations upon this subject as he trusts may be satisfactory.
By a communication received from the governor of Maine, in answer to a
representation recently made by Sir Charles R. Vaughan concerning other
alleged encroachments on the disputed territory, it will be seen that
no part of the road now constructing by that State is believed to be
within the territory of which the British Government has ever been in the
actual possession since the treaty of 1783, and that it is not designed
to extend the road beyond the Aroostook. The apprehensions entertained
of its being extended to the St. John River in the Madawaska settlement
appear, therefore, to be groundless, and, if the views of the governor
of Maine as to the locality of the road be correct, it would seem that
its construction can afford no just cause of complaint, as it is not
supposed that such improvements made by either party within that part
of the territory which has been in its possession, or so considered,
since the treaty of 1783 are contrary to the spirit of the existing
understanding between the two Governments. It will be seen, moreover,
as well by the communication from the governor of Maine as by one
received from the governor of Massachusetts on the same occasion, that
a conciliatory and forbearing disposition prevails on their part, and
that no measures will be taken or any acts authorized by them which may
justly be considered as a violation of the understanding in regard to
the disputed territory.
The undersigned has nevertheless been directed by the President to
transmit copies of Sir Charles R. Vaughan's note and its inclosures
to the governors of Maine and Massachusetts, and to repeat to their
excellencies his earnest desire that as far as depends on them no
departure from the understanding between the two Governments may be
permitted.
In regard to the complaint heretofore made by Sir Charles R. Vaughan,
upon the representations of the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick
and the warden of the disputed territory, as to the cutting and sale
of timber under the authority of the land agents of Maine and
Massachusetts, the undersigned begs leave to refer to the communications
from the governors of those States already mentioned, copies of which
are now transmitted, by which it appears that the conduct of those
agents has furnished no just cause of dissatisfaction, but that, on the
contrary, it is alleged that His Britannic Majesty's officers of the
Province of New Brunswick, by the seizure and sale of timber cut by
trespassers on the Aroostook, and afterwards in the rightful custody of
the agent of the State of Massachusetts, have been the first to violate
the existing understanding upon this subject.
These complaints on both sides, arising, as the undersigned believes,
from acts which do not on either side indicate an intention to disregard
the existing understanding, but are attributable to the unsettled state
of the boundary question, and which should therefore be viewed with
mutual forbearance, furnish increased reason for a speedy adjustment of
that interesting matter; and the President looks with great solicitude
for the answer, which is daily expected, from the British Government to
the proposition submitted on the part of the United States, in the hope
that it may soon set all those difficulties at rest.
The undersigned has the honor to renew to Sir Charles R. Vaughan the
assurance of his distinguished consideration.
LOUIS McLANE.