_Mr. Fox to Mr. Forsyth_.
WASHINGTON, _January 26, 1840_.
Hon. JOHN FORSYTH, etc.:
The undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty's envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary, has the honor to acquaint Mr. Forsyth,
Secretary of State of the United States, that since the date of his
last official note, of the 12th instant, he has been furnished by Her
Majesty's authorities in North America with more correct information
than he then possessed respecting certain reported movements of British
troops within the disputed territory, which formed the subject of a part
of that official note, as well as of the two official notes addressed by
the Secretary of State to the undersigned on the 24th of December and
on the 16th of the present month. The same reported movements of troops
were referred to in a recent message from the governor of Maine to
the legislature of the State, and also in a published official letter
addressed by the governor of Maine to the President of the United States
on the 23d of December.
It appears from accurate information now in the possession of the
undersigned that the governor of Maine and through him the President
and General Government of the United States have been misinformed as to
the facts. In the first place, no reenforcement has been marched to the
British post at the Lake Temiscouata; the only change occurring there
has been the relief of a detachment of Her Majesty's Twenty-fourth
Regiment by a detachment of equal force of the Eleventh Regiment, this
force of one company being now stationed at the Temiscouata post, as
it always has been, for the necessary purpose of protecting the stores
and accommodations provided for the use of Her Majesty's troops who
may be required, as heretofore, to march by that route to and from the
Provinces of Canada and New Brunswick. In the second place, it is not
true that the British authorities either have built or are building
barracks on both sides of the St. John River or at the mouth of the
Madawaska River; no new barracks have in fact been built anywhere.
In the third place, Her Majesty's authorities are not concentrating a
military force at the Grand Falls; the same trifling force of sixteen
men is now stationed at the post of the Grand Falls which has been
stationed there for the last twelvemonth. It was perhaps, however,
needless for the undersigned to advert to this last matter at all,
as the post of the Grand Falls is beyond the bounds of the disputed
territory and within the acknowledged limits of New Brunswick.
The undersigned, while conveying the above information upon a matter of
fact to the Secretary of State of the United States, takes occasion to
repeat distinctly his former declaration that there exists no intention
on the part of Her Majesty's authorities to infringe the terms of those
provisional agreements which were entered into at the beginning of
last year so long as there is reason to trust that the same will be
faithfully adhered to by the opposite party; but it is the duty of
the undersigned at the same time clearly to state that Her Majesty's
authorities in North America, taking into view the attitude assumed by
the State of Maine with reference to the boundary question, will, as
at present advised, be governed entirely by circumstances in adopting
such measures of defense and protection (whether along the confines of
the disputed territory or within that portion of it where, it has been
before explained, the authority of Great Britain, according to the
existing agreements, was not to be interfered with) as may seem to them
necessary for guarding against or for promptly repelling the further
acts of hostile aggression over the whole of the disputed territory
which it appears to be the avowed design of the State of Maine sooner
or later to attempt.
For the undersigned has to observe that not only is the extensive
system of encroachment which was denounced and remonstrated against by
the undersigned in his official note of the 2d of last November still
carried on and persisted in by armed bands employed by the authorities
of Maine in the districts above the Aroostook and Fish rivers, but that
acts, as above stated, of a character yet more violent and obnoxious to
the rights of Great Britain and more dangerous to the preservation of
the general peace are with certainty meditated by the inhabitants of
that State. The existence of such designs has for months past been
a matter of notoriety by public report. Those designs were plainly
indicated in the recent message of the governor of Maine to the
legislature of the State, and they are avowed in more explicit terms
in the letter addressed to the President of the United States by the
governor of Maine on the 21st of November, which letter has within
the last few days been communicated to Congress and published.
The undersigned, it is true, has been assured by the Secretary of State,
in his note of the 16th instant, that the General Government see no
reason to doubt the disposition of the governor of Maine to adhere to
the existing arrangements and to avoid all acts tending to render more
difficult and distant the final adjustment of the boundary question;
but in face of the above clear indications of the intentions of Maine as
given out by the parties themselves the Secretary of State has not given
to the undersigned any adequate assurance that Maine will be constrained
to desist from carrying those intentions into effect if, contrary to the
expectation of the General Government, the legislature or the executive
of the State should think fit to make the attempt.
The undersigned not only preserves the hope, but he entertains the
firm belief, that if the duty of negotiating the boundary question be
left in the hands of the two national Governments, to whom alone of
right it belongs, the difficulty of conducting the negotiation to an
amicable issue will not be found so great as has been by many persons
apprehended. But the case will become wholly altered if the people
of the State of Maine, who, though interested in the result, are not
charged with the negotiation, shall attempt to interrupt it by violence.
Her Majesty's authorities in North America have on their part no desire
or intention to interfere with the course of the pending negotiation by
an exertion of military force, but they will, as at present advised,
consult their own discretion in adopting the measures of defense that
may be rendered necessary by the threats of a violent interruption to
the negotiation which have been used by all parties in Maine and which
the undersigned regrets to find confirmed by the language (as above
referred to) employed by the highest official authority in that State.
The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to the
Secretary of State of the United States the assurance of his
distinguished consideration.