_Augusta, November 23, 1833_.
Hon. LOUIS McLANE,
_Secretary of State of the United States, Washington_.
SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
23d of October last, communicating a copy of a note from Sir Charles
R. Vaughan, accompanied with a copy of a letter from Sir Archibald
Campbell, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, to Sir Charles R.
Vaughan, and also of a letter from Lieutenant J.A. Maclauchlan to Sir
Archibald Campbell, complaining of the conduct of the land agents of the
States of Maine and Massachusetts in the territory in dispute between
the United States and Great Britain.
In compliance with your request to be furnished with information in
relation to this subject, I reply that by a resolve of the legislature
of this State passed March 30, 1831, "the land agent of this State, in
conjunction with the land agent of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is
authorized and empowered to survey, lay out, and make a suitable winter
road, or cause the same to be done, from the mouth of the Matawamkeag, a
branch of the Penobscot River, in a northerly direction, so as to strike
the Aroostook River on or near the line dividing the sixth and seventh
ranges of townships." The same resolve authorizes the land agents to lay
out and make, or cause to be made, a winter road from the village of
Houlton, in a westerly direction, to intersect the road to the Aroostook
River at some point most convenient for traveling and most for the
interest of the State. By a subsequent resolve, passed March 8, 1832,
the authority given to the land agents was enlarged so as to authorize
them "to locate and survey the Aroostook road so that it may strike the
Aroostook River at any place between the west line of the third range
and the east line of the sixth range of townships west of the east line
of the State." The first of these roads has been surveyed and located,
and much the greater part of it lies within the undisputed limits of
this State south of the sources of the Penobscot River, and it is
believed that no part of it lies within territory of which the British
Government has ever been in the actual possession since the treaty of
1783. A portion of this road only has yet been opened, and I have no
information that any part of it has been opened over territory _claimed_
by the British, although it is contemplated to extend it to the
Aroostook when it can be done consistently with the public interest. The
second road described in the resolve of March 30, 1831, is wholly within
the undisputed limits of this State.
A report of the recent proceedings of the land agent in making these
roads and disposing of the timber on the lands of the State has not been
received, and his late sickness and death have rendered it impossible at
this time to obtain a detailed statement of all that has been done in
his official capacity. But it can not be presumed that he has in any
particular exceeded his instructions (copies of which are herewith
transmitted[20]), or, in the discharge of his official duties, taken
any measures or authorized any acts to be done which could justly be
considered as a violation of any known provision of the existing
arrangement between the Governments of the United States and Great
Britain in regard to the disputed territory.
With high consideration, I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient
servant,