_Augusta, April 28, 1838_.
His Excellency MARTIN VAN BUREN,
_President of the United States_.
SIR: I have the honor to inclose to you a copy of a resolve[32] of the
legislature of this State in favor of Ebenezer S. Greely, also a copy of
a resolve[32] in favor of John Baker and others; and in compliance with
the request of the legislature I ask of the Government of the United
States a reimbursement of the several sums allowed thereby, which
several sums have been paid by this State to the individuals named in
the resolves.
The justice and propriety of granting this request, I can have no doubt,
will be apparent to you and to Congress when the circumstances under
which the allowances were made are called to mind.
Mr. Greely, acting as agent under a law of this State authorizing and
directing a census to be taken in unincorporated places, was forcibly
seized and imprisoned for several months, and then, without trial,
released.
John Baker and his associates named in the other resolve suffered
by imprisonment and otherwise for acting under a law of this State
incorporating the town of Madawaska in 1831. The State of Maine has
acknowledged by these and other resolves its sense of obligation to
remunerate in the first instance these sufferers in its cause and to
satisfy as far as it is able their claims upon its justice. But the
wrongs by which they suffered were committed by a foreign power with
whom we are now at peace. The State of Maine has no power to make war
or authorize reprisals. She can only look to the General Government
to assume the payment as an act of justice to a member of the Union
under the provisions of the Constitution and to demand redress and
remuneration from the authors of the wrong in the name of the United
States.
A minute recapitulation of the facts upon which these resolves are
founded is deemed entirely unnecessary and superfluous, as they have
heretofore been communicated and are well known to the Executive and
to Congress.
Maine has suffered too many repetitions of similar attempts to prevent
her from enjoying her rightful possessions and enforcing her just claims
to feel indifferent on the subject, and we look with confidence to the
General Government for protection and support. The amount of money,
although considerable, is of comparatively small importance when
contrasted with the principles involved and the effect which must result
from an immediate and ready assumption of the liability on the part of
the United States. Such an act would be highly gratifying to the people
of this State as evidence that their just claims and rights are fully
recognized by the United States, and that the strong arm of the Union
will be stretched out for their protection in every lawful effort to
maintain and enforce their claims, which they know and feel to be just
and unimpeachable and which they are determined to maintain.
I trust I shall be pardoned for earnestly urging immediate action on the
subject.
I had the honor to inclose to you, under date of the 28th of March last,
a copy of my message to the legislature and of the resolves of the
legislature of Maine in relation to the northeastern boundary, which
I have no doubt have received and will receive all the attention the
importance of the subjects therein discussed and acted on demands. You
will perceive that in accordance with your wishes I communicated the
proposition in relation to a conventional line of boundary, with the
letter of Mr. Forsyth addressed to the executive of Maine. The views and
wishes and determination of the executive and legislature, and I think
I may safely add of the people, of Maine are fully and distinctly set
forth in the documents referred to, communicated to you heretofore by
me. The proposition was distinct and definite, and the answer is equally
so, and I consider that it may be regarded as the fixed determination of
Maine to consent to no proposition on our part to vary the treaty line,
but to stand by that line as a definite, a practicable, and a fair one
until its impracticability is demonstrated. It is needless for me to
recapitulate the reasons upon which this determination is founded.
I refer you to the documents before alluded to for my own views on this
topic, sanctioned fully by the legislature. The duty devolving upon me
by your request I have endeavored to discharge in a spirit of profound
respect for the constituted officers of the General Government, and with
a single eye to the interest and honor of the United States and of
the State of Maine. The attitude assumed by Maine in relation to the
survey of the line of the treaty of 1783 has doubtless attracted your
attention. I feel it due to the State to say to you frankly and
unequivocally that this position was taken deliberately and with a full
consideration of all the circumstances of the case; but it was assumed
in no spirit of defiance or resistance and with no design to embarrass
the action of the General Government. Maine feels no desire to act alone
or independently on this question. She knows and feels that it is a
national question, and that it is the right and duty of the General
Government to move forward in effecting the object proposed.
I feel fully warranted in saying that Maine does not intend by this
expression of her determination to run the line in a certain contingency
to waive in the least degree her well-founded claim upon the General
Government to run, mark, and establish it. On the contrary, she will
most reluctantly yield the hope she now so strongly feels that it is
the intention of that Government to relieve her from the necessity of
throwing herself upon her own resources to assert and defend her most
unquestionable right. The wish of this State is that the first act
should be to run the line of the treaty of 1783 to ascertain the facts
in relation to the topography of the country and the exact spot where
the northwest angle of Nova Scotia may be found according to our
construction of the treaty language, and to place suitable monuments
along the whole line. Such a survey would not settle or determine any
rights, but it would express and declare our views and intentions. Such
a survey is not a warlike or offensive movement, and can not justly give
offense to the other party in the controversy. It is the unquestionable
right of litigants in a court of justice to make explorations of land
in dispute, and if either party declines a joint survey it may be made
_ex parte_ and surely the United States have never so far yielded the
actual possession to Great Britain as to preclude the right on our part
to ascertain for ourselves the absolute facts and to mark out the limits
of our claim and our alleged right. This act Maine asks, and asks
earnestly, the General Government to perform without delay. Such an
assumption of the controversy on the part of the United States would be
to Maine an assurance that her rights were duly regarded, and would
be steadily and perseveringly maintained. We want the name and the
authority of the United States, and there can be no doubt that an act
emanating from that source would be regarded by those interested on both
sides as of more importance than any act of an individual State. So far,
then, from any indifference on the part of Maine as to the action of the
General Government, or any desire to be driven to assume the performance
of the duty alluded to, she looks with intense anxiety and confident
hope to be relieved from this position. She believes it is alike due to
the honor of the United States and the rights of Maine that the General
Government should go forward in the work, and that there is less to
apprehend in the result from such a course than any other. But Maine
feels that the time for decisive action has come, that she can not be
satisfied to have the claim to absolute and exclusive jurisdiction of
a large part of her territory longer tolerated and acquiesced in. She
knows that it rightfully belongs to her jurisdiction, that it is hers by
a clear, perfect, and honest title--as clear, as perfect, and rightful
as her title to any portion of the State--and she can not consent
to have this title impaired or weakened by bold encroachments and
unscrupulous demands. She can not consent that a title transmitted
by the fathers of the Revolution shall be destroyed or defeated by
acquiescence in the adverse occupation of a foreign state, and that what
was once fairly yielded shall be reclaimed in utter defiance of a solemn
deed of cession. I am confident I am not mistaken in stating that the
legislature of Maine considered the question as fairly and plainly
before the National Government, and that if the present session of
Congress should close with a denial or postponement of the proposed
survey and no commission should be created by the Executive, as
contemplated in the resolution referred to, we should have a right
and be bound to regard such a delay or refusal as evidence of an
indisposition on the part of the General Government to accede to our
expressed views and wishes, and a denial of justice, and that Maine in
that event owed it to herself to cause the survey to be made under her
own authority. The duty of the executive of Maine is plainly pointed out
and made imperative and absolute by the resolves of the legislature, and
I certainly can not hesitate, so far as I have the means and power, to
execute their declared will.
The people of Maine, sir, are not desirous of conflict or war. Both
in their habits and their principles they love and wish for peace and
quiet within their borders. They are not ambitious to win laurels or to
acquire military glory by waging war with their neighbors, and least
of all are they desirous of a _border_ warfare, which may be the means
of sacrificing human life and engendering ill will and bad passions,
without bringing the controversy to a conclusion. They are scattered
over our thousand hills, engaged in their quiet and peaceful labors,
and it is the first wish of their hearts to live peaceably with all men
and all nations. They have no anxiety to extend our limits or to gain
territory by conquest, but there is a firm and determined spirit in this
people which can not brook insult and will not submit to intentional
injury. "They know their rights, and knowing dare maintain them" with
calm determination and deliberate purpose, and they appeal with
unshrinking confidence to their sister States and to the Government
which binds them together for effective support in this their purpose.
The crisis, as we believe, demands firm and decided language and the
expression of a determined design. Maine has never refused to acquiesce
in any fair and honorable mode of fixing the line _according to the
treaty of 1783_. I have no doubt (but upon this point I speak according
to my individual belief) that the mode proposed by Great Britain of
establishing the treaty line upon the face of the earth by a commission
composed of impartial and scientific men, to be elected by a friendly
power, would be satisfactory and acquiesced in by this State, but that
we should neither ask nor agree that any preliminary points should be
yielded by either party. We should only ask that the treaty should be
placed in their hands with directions to ascertain and run and fix the
line according to its plain language and obvious meaning.
Maine can never consent, as I apprehend, to yield the main points of the
case and then refer it to enable the judges to divide the subject-matter
of the controversy.
We feel that we now stand on the high vantage ground of truth and
justice, and that it can not be that any nation professing to act on the
principles of right and equity can stand up before the civilized world
and contest with unyielding pertinacity our claim. We have too much
respect for the nation from which we descended to believe that she will
sully her reputation by such persevering resistance.
I am conscious that the language and style of this communication are
unusual and probably undiplomatic; that there is more of the fervor of
feeling and the plain language of direct appeal than is usual in such
papers; but it is a subject of such vast importance to the State whose
interests have been in part intrusted to me and whose organ I am that I
can not speak in measured terms or indefinite language. On this subject
we have no ulterior views and no concealed objects. Our plans and our
policy are open and exposed to the view of all men. Maine has nothing
in either to conceal or disguise. She plainly and distinctly asks for
specific and definite action. In performing what I conceive to be
my duty I have been actuated by entire respect toward the General
Government and by the single desire to explain and enforce as well as
I was able our wishes and our rights. I can only add that we trust the
General Government will assume the performance of the act specified in
the resolution and relieve Maine from the necessity of independent
action.
With great respect, I have the honor to be, your most obedient servant,