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And I shall do this, not to cast reproach upon the memory of any of the actors in the deplorable business, whose history cul- minated, if it did not close, in the so-called i^shburton Treaty, a work of which the indulgent criticism of the most friendly commentator might be borrowed from Sheridan, who, S] leaking of another convention, said, " It was one of which, although some were glad, nobody was proud." Nor shall I do it with the expectation that anything said or written by me, or by any one at this time, can avail aught towards a correction of the errors and mistakes of the past. But rather in the thought that a paper which may serve in some measure to keep the history and the lesson alive for purposes of warning, of counsel and of suggestion in the future, will be neither unworthy nor unwelcome ; and, I will add, with the further impression, that it will not be wholly uninteresting or unprofitable to the pres- ent generation to learn something more than, as a general rule, those who compose it know of the particular history of the im- portant, protracted and imbittered controversy which preceded that settlement. And, besides these considerations, I have sought a personal gratification in an opportunity to express my sense of the debt I f 4 THE NORTII-EASTEKN BOUNDARY. due frniii tlic people of M}iii)e to those faitliful iiia<;istrntes, who, in no hour of [»ressure or of alarm, allowed, for a single moment, the honor of the State, or her material intere.its, to be compro- mitted by any action of the commonwealth over whose affairs they presided. Of Enoch Lincoln, Edw'ird Kent and John Fairfield it could be said with peculiar force and propriety, in the words of Sir Walter Scott's tribute to Fox, tlK^y " Stood by their country's honor fast, And nailed her colors to the mast." It so happened in the history of the negotiations that upon these men ratlier than upon any other of our Governors, fell the chief weight of responsibility, and the most unperative de- mands for decisive action. Nor should I pass from this grate- ful duty without some reference to two gentlemen upon whose patriotic and ardent interest in, and thorough and perfect knowledge of, the questions involved, in all their aspects and relations, these functionaries always and safely relied. I refer to Col. John G. Deane, of Ellsworth — who in his later yedrs was a resident of Portland — and to the Honorable Charles S. Daveis, also of this city. On the afternoon of the 20th of September, 1875, I left Edmundston, on the St. John lliver, by the fine military road — constructed at great expense by the British government a quarter of a century before, and following, in the main, the route traveled by Lord Edward Fitzgerald in 1788 — leading from the river St. John to the St. La\^rence. Wlien, at two o'clock the next morning, the stage reached a point twenty-six miles south of the latter river, although it had been rainin" for several hours, the snow was more than a foot deep, and I was informed that three .days before its depth was more than two feet ; and here I said, without doubt, on this ele/ation, fifteen THE NOHTH-EAimEllN' BOUNDARY. himdrcMl fiet abovo tide-water, are the " lii^'hlands," of wliich I had read so ip'ich in tlie year.-. i)recediM;,' the treaty of Wasli- iiigton. For, althoii«,di that treaty, sometimes called the Ash- burton Treaty, liad been conchided tliirty-three years before (in 1842), the leading facts which its discussion had elicited, or which had been brought out in the years preceding, in the correspondence of our GoverTiors, and in legislative reports, were t(-»o deeply written upon my meniorv not to be at call at any moment. But when on a clear, bright August day, in 1877, I came from the St. I«awrence, at lliver L)u Loup, over the same road to Madawaska, after a steady general ascent of some ten miles, a comparatively short descent brought the mail coach (in which I was travelhig) to a stream wliich my com- panions said wos a branch of the river St. Francis, and sixteen miles from the St. Lawrence, I knew that we were, if only the treaty of 1783 had been respected, within the limits of the State of Maine — for the St. Francis is owe of the rivers whose waters descend to the Atlantic Ocean — and Iiad been within them since our journey had passed the fifteen miles bourne from the river St. Lawrence. • The high ground, which, on the preceding journey, I had mistaken for the main highland range, was but a spur of it, and the true dividing ridge was teu miles to the northward. It was interesting to notice, on this bright day, how plainly marked and impossible to be mistaken was the treaty boundary. Never was there such a history of errors, mistakes, blunders, concessions, explauvitions, apologies, losses and mortifications on the one side; Oi inconsistencies, aggressions, encroachments, affronts and contempts on the other, as that wliich has respect to this boundary question ; and in the calm of this day, when all direct, practical i?''.terest in it has ceased, and the sense of wrong and indignity has slept for more than a third of a cen- THE NOKTII-EASTERN DOUNDAUY. tury, it is impossible for one to read it with anything like com- posure or patience. "• ' • , To those statesmen and writers of other countries, who have represented the United States as arrogant, uncomfortal)le and domineering, I would commend this tale of the sacrifice of northern Maine, as likely to afford them great, if not endless comfort. Article two of the Treaty of Peace, concluded at Paris be- tween Great P>ritain and the United States in 1783, so far as respects the question of the north-eastern boundary, is as follows : " From the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, to wit : that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of the St. Croix River to the highlands, — along the said liighlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the north-westernmost head of Connecticut River." This is the northerly line ; the easterly is described : — " East, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river St. Croix, from its mouth in the P^ay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north to the aforesaid highlands which divide the waters that' fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river St. Lawrence, comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the United States, and lying between the Hues to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part, and east Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of the said Province of Nova Scotia." This language seems to be too plain to admit of dispute, and yet under it four questions have arisen between the parties to THE NC^vTII-EASTKIlN DOUNDAUY. the treaty : First, as to tlie rivur St. Crubc ; second, an to whicli of the iillluents of the St. Croix, was the source of that river with ui the intention of tlie treaty; third, as to the islands in P(i,s«Ji"in,quoddy Hay; fourth, as to the north-west an^de of Nova Scotia and tlie highlands that divide the rivers that iall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which empty themselves into the St. Lawrence. And (ill of them have heen dceided ayainst the United States. I propose a brief examination of each. I. The first question that arose was in regard to which nf three rivers falling into the Bay of Fundy was the St. Croix contemplated by the treaty. The question was plain, and easy of solution. These rivers had all be^n known and described at some time by the name of St. Croix. The most easterly had been called also the Magaquadavic ; the intermediate tlic Schoodic ; the most westerly the Cobscook. That the first named is the St. Croix of the treaty, is so plahi, I trust, that but few words will be needed for a clear understanding of the case. Soon after the treaty of 1783, the inhabitants of Nova Scotia (that part which is now New Brunswick) were found occupy- ing, and claiming as British subjects to hold the territory be- tween the Magaquadavic and the Schoodic Rivers, and particu- larly that near the present town of St. Andrews. Massachu- setts objected, claiming the territory as her own, and made complaint to Congress of these encroachments, and was by tlie latter body requested to cause inquiry into the facts to be made. In pursuance of this solicitation, it appointed a cummissioii, of which two members, Generals Knox and Lincoln, visited l*assa- maquoddy in the year 1784, and on the 19th of October of that year, made their report to the Governor of Massachusetts. Jii this report, they say : u I 8 THE NORTII-FASTEUN BOITXDARY. " They beg lonvo to inform your Excellency tlmt a very consid- erablo number of liritisb subjoct.s arc settled at a placo called St. Andrews, on the eastern bank of the river Schoodic, which, in the opinion of your connuissioners, is clearly within the limits of this State. " By your Excellency's leave, tlioy will rocito a short state of facts on which this opinion was formed. "There are three very considerable rivers which empty them- selves into the bay Passamaqiioddy, which is five to seven leagues wide. The eastern river falls into the bay about a league from the head of it, and pori)endicular to the eastern side; the middle river falls into the bay far on the westerly side of the head of it, and in a direction parallel therewith ; the western rivor falls into the bay about six leagues from the head of it on the westerly side, and nearly perpendicular to it ; all of which in late British maps are called St. Croix. The first is by the Indians called Maggadava, the second Schoodick, the third Cobscook. "From every information the subscribers could obtain on inquiry of thu Indians and others, the eastern river was the original St. Croix. This is about three leagues east of St. Andrews, where the Britisli inhabitants have made a settlement. Soon after the sub- scribers received their commission, they wrote to Mr. Jay request- ing him to give them i.iformation whether the Commissioners for negotiating the peace confined themselves in tracing the bounda- ries of the United States to any particular map, and if any one, to what '■' Since their return they received his answer, mentioning that Mitchell's map was the 07ili/ one that the commission used, and on tit at they traced the boundaries agreed to. " On this map two rivers were laid down ; the western was called thereon the Passamaquoddy, and the eastern the St. Croix.'^ It is to be observed that the Passamaquoddy is the river at other times called the Schoodic. The Commissioners also say, " The subscribers further repre- sent that they find in the maps of a quarto volume published TIIK NORTII-EASTRIiN nOUXnAHY. 9 ill Pnrift in 1774, from Cliarlevoix's voynj^o to Nortli Anu'ricn, iiiiuU! in 1044, two rivers dulineiiti'd at the lu^ud of tlie Itay of PasMuiiia(iU(Hl(ly, the western of wliich is called Passaniaqiioddy, and the eastern St. Croix." The westernmost river, the Cohseook, is much smaller than either of the others, and is not laid down on all the maps. But as to the fact that the true St. Croix was east of the Passamaquoddy — otherwise called Schoodic lliver — there seems to bo no doubt. Whatever doubt miad no authority to cede any part of the State of Massa- chusetts, cvcyi /or rt?i cqidvalcnt" Ihit this plain and decisive answer did not silence the Britif^h Commissioners ; it, however, led them to change their base and plrai of attack. And so we rind them, on the eighth of Octo^^T, replying that the 1 iritis! i Government " never required that all that portion of Massaclni- setts intervening between the Provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec should be ceded to Great Britain; but only that sinall portion of unsettled country which interrupts the communica- tion between Quebec and Halifax, there hcing much douU vjhethcr it does not already belong to Great Britain." It is curious to note that when at last the British Commission- ers found themselves compelled to take a new departure, and occupy a position inconsistent with aF. their previous claims, and arguments and concessions, the new rclle was so strange, that in opening it they could not avoid confessmg, by their language, that it was a false one. They spoke of a cession, i. e., of a grant, of a " small portion " of country that " interrupts the communication between Quebec and Halifax." As that inter- ruption was between the Grand Falls on the St. John and the river St. Lawrence, it results that at this time the American title north of the former river was acknowledged, and a cession of a small part of it only solicited. This was the prelude to the doubt, raised for the first time in the history of this question, as to the pjrfectness of the Ameri- can title — a doubt not only unmentioned, but unexisting, until after it had been discovered that no propositions for a new line would be entertamed by the Commissioners of the United States. There was then no alternative for Great Britain but to lay the 90 THE NOUTII-EASTEUN BOUNDARY. fouiulatioii for a dispute, nml soe what would come out of it. But even then, she was not i)iepared to claim as hers, l)y the terms of the treaty, the territory which she lin'' ' »r3istently urged, and still conthiued to urge the governmciiL ui the United States to cede to her. Finding that no " variation," " cession," " revision," or " ar- rangement" could 1)0 obtained through the American Commis- sioners, a provision — being the Oth article of the Treaty of Ghent — was agreed upon for running the line (not for making a- new one) in conl'ormity with the treaty of 1783. It was further stipulated that in case a failure to run the line by the Commis- sioners, to be appointed for that purpose, the differences arising ])etween the parties should be referred to the decision of a friendly Sovereign. Thomas Barclay, of whom we have heard more than once before, as a Commissioner under the treaty, on the part of Great Britain, and Cornelius P. Van Ness, on the part of the United States, were a})pointed Commissioners to ascertain and run the Une. An actual survey was arranged, and surveyors appointed, to wit : Charles Tamer, Jr., on the part of the United States, and Colin Campbell on the part of Great Britain. About twenty miles of the line was surveyed, then the work was discontinued, never to be resumed ; but an exploring survey was commenced by Col. Bouchette, on the part of Great Britain, and John Johnson, on the part of the United States. These gentlemen made an exploring line in 1817, extending ninety-nine miles from the monument at the head of the river St. Croix, and made- separate reports of their doings. In 1818, Mr. Johnson, with Mr. Odell, who had taken the place of Col. Bouchette, finished running the exploring line to the Beaver or Metis Eiver. It was in this year that the opinion was first expressed by the Briiish agent, ^liat Mprs Hill, an isolated mountain south of THE NOUTII-EASTKUN DOUNDAUY. 21 the Aroostook "^iver, niij^'lit be the imrtli-west nngle of Nova Scotia, and the iiorth-eiisteni boundary of Elaine. And lif. havhiuj f^dven expression to this novrl ;nid iirepost(»rons {.'onct'p- tion, prop«)Sed to diseontiiiiie the .survey alon;^ the hi^;ldands south of the river St. Lawrence, return to Mars Hill, and ex-' j)lore thence westerly towards the sources of the Chaudiure nnd Kennebec. The result was that the surveyors disairreed, the British surveyor refused to «,'o on and finish the exploring sur- vey now almost completed, and the work was abaniloned. From this tune. Great Britain began to assert title in herself to the country north of Mars Hill, hesitatingly at first, but more positively afterwards. To enable her to do this, even to her own acceptance, she was compelled to rely on the quibble here- tofore mentioned, that a line due north from the source of the St. Croix would, before reaching the north-west angle of N(jva Scotia, as claimed by the United States, and as laid down in all the Provincial charters and connnissions of royal Governors, cross several streams that flow into the Bay of Chaleurs ; and, therefore, these highlands would not divide waters that empt}'' themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean. And it signified nothing to her that it was answered, that the plain meaning of the treaty was to find highlands which divided rivers flowmg into the St. Lawrence from those falling into the Atlantic Ocean directly, or throu;4h some bay or gulf. It was iiL xwm that it was replied that this new interpretation defeats the treaty line altogether; for by it, even the river St. John does not fall into the Atlantic Ocean, but into the Bay of Fundy. If these highlands are denied because they cannot be reached before crossing the waters of the Restigouche, neither can they without crossing the St. John, the Aroostook, the Meduxnekeag and other rivers. The Penobscot River does not 00 TUK NORTII-KASTERN noUXDARY. fi\ll into tlio Atlantic Ocean u])nn this intcrpn^tntion, but into iV'nohscot Hay; tlio Ki-nnoUcc Hows inti> the Hay of Sa^nulalioc, and not into the Atlantic Ocean. There are, upon this view, Hit rivers on our coast that fall into the Atlantic. It was in vain that it was said that, upon the Ihitish contention, the line (lues not divide any rivers that fall into the St. Lawrence from any other rivers whatever; that it divides only those falling into the St. John on the north and east from those fallin*,' into the Penohscot and Kennebec on the south and west, and not any that How into the St. Lawrence on the one side from any that flow into the Atlantic Ocean on the other ; that it was }><»inted out that on the Ih'ilish construction, both the St. Lawrence Eiver and the Atlantic Ocean were completely erased from the treaty. And it availed nothing that the absolutely unanswerable point was made, that the southerly line of the Province of Quebec ran along highlands which divided waters that fall into the St. Lawrence liom those which flow into the ocean through the P)ays of Clialeurs, Fundy, Penobscot, &c., and was a well-known and established line for many years, and that where a line drawn from the head of the river St. Croix inter- .«ected the south line of the old Province of Quebec, was the iM»rth-west angle of Nova Scotia — the angle referred to in the tit-aty. It was all irrelevant or unhnportant ; Mars Hill, an isolated pealv, and no range at all, severed miles west of a direct north line from the source of the St. Croix, and in no way intersected by such a line, was the true angle. True, it was a solitary peak ; it was not touched by the north line ; it divided no rivers running into the St. Lawrence from any that were emptied into the ocean, or that had an outlet anywhere else ! An administration that should at the present day receive such a pretension as this in any other light than as a deliberate affront, would be regarded as unworthy of the public respect, and bo If THE NOimi-KAHTEUN llOUNDAUY. 23 speedily disniksod from its confidenco. It was only in the hour of tiio country's oxlmiiHtion, and iilisolute nuud of a fleason for recuperation, that tlu; jfrovocation for plainness (jf Hi)eech or for action, such as I am ^dad to say was in our own State not un- worthily responded to, was restrained in the country at large by what were n^^'arded as the counsels of ])rudence. Down to 1703, when by treaty with the French, Canada was acquired by Great Britain, both New England and Nova Scotia extended to the southerly shore of the St. Lawrence Kiver. But, at this time, when it became necessary to establish the Province of Quebec, the King extended its limits so as to include the valley of that river on the south. The royal proclamation of October 7, 1763, estaldished the southerly boundary of the Province of Quel)ec on the highlands wliich separated the rivers 'running to the north or north-east into the St. Lawrence from those running to the south and south-east. In other words, the Treaty of Peace of 1783 made this southerly boundary of Quebec the northerly one of Massachusetts. Parliament, in 1774, confirmed the southerly boundary of Quebec as described in tlie proclamation of the King in the previous year. A map, on which these highlands were laid down, had been made by John Mitchell, a.t the request of the Lords Connnis- sioners of Trade and Plantations, in 1755, and was the acknowl- edged, authoritative map of the time. So far as this boundary line is concerned it was, as we have seen, followed and adopted by John Mitchell in his survey and plan in 1764. Whether the John Mitchell who made the survey in the latter year was the author of the map of 1755 or not, it is certain that the easterly line of Massachusetts, as clamied by the United States, was verified and authenticated by both the map of 1755 and the plan of 1764. The former was produced by the British Com- missioners at th^ negotiation of the treaty, and was adopted and ^ 24 THE NORTH-EASTEEN BOUNDARY. used by both parties. It was the official map, and a part of the record. Eeferring to the point on which the British pretensions were founded, to wit : that tlie St. Jolni Eiver does not fall into the Atlantic Ocean, but into the Bay of Fundy, and therefore the dividing line or highlands nuist be sought south of this river, I am induced to quote a few paragraphs from a report made to the Senate of the United States, July 4, 1838, by Mr. Buchanan, afterwards President of the United States : "Now, what are the objections to this extraordinary pretension, as the committee are constrained to call it ? "And, first, what is the Bay of Fundy, if it be not a part of the Atlantic Ocean ? A bay is a mere opening of the main ocean into the land — a mere interruption of the uniformity of the seacoast by an indentation of water. These portions of the ocean have received the name of bays, solely to distinguish them from the remainder of the vast deep, to which they belong. Would it not be the merest special pleading to contend that the Bay of Naples was not a por- tion of the Mediterranean, or that the Bay of Biscay was not a part of the Atlantic Ocean ? "Again : the description of the treaty is, ' rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean.' Can it be said, with any propriety, that a river does not fall into the Atlantic, because, in reaching the main ocean, it may pass through a bay ? And yet this is the British argument. The Delaware does not fall into the Atlantic, because it flows into it through the Bay of Delaware ; and, for the same reason, the St. John does not fall into the Atlantic, because it flows into it through the Bay of Fundy. The committee know not how to give a serious answer to such an argument. The bare statement of it is its best refutation. " But, like, all such arguments, it proves too much. If it be correct, this portion of the treaty of 1783 is rendered absurd and suicidal ; and the wise and distinguished statesmen, by whom it THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 26 wa8 framed, must be condemned by posterity, for affixing their names to an instrument, in this particular, at least, absolutely void. Although they believed they would prevent ' all disputes which might arise in future, on the subject of the boundaries of the United States,' by fixing their commencement at ' the north-west angle of Nova Scotia,' and running from thence along ' the high- lands which divide those rivers which empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean,' yet it is absolutely certain, that there was not a single river in that whole region of country which, according to the British construc- tion, did fall into the Atlantic ocean. They all fall into bays, with- out one exception. Neither can we plead ignorance as an excuse for these Commissioners ; because it is fully in proof, that they had Mitchell's map before them, from which the fact clearly appears. The Ristigouche does not fall into the Atlantic, because it has its mouth in the Bay of Chaleurs ; nor does the Penobscot, because its mouth is in the Bay of Penobscot ; nor do the Kennebeck and Androscoggin, because, after their junction, they fall into the Bay of Sagadahock. The same is true, even of the Connecticut, be- cause it empties itself into Long Island Sound. All the rivers in that region are in the same condition with the St. John. Thus it appears, if the British argument be well founded, that the Com- missioners have concluded a treaty, and described highlands, whence streams proceed falling into the Atlantic, as a portion of the bound- ary of the United States, when from the very fao of the map be- fore them, it is apparent no such streams exist. " There is another objection to the British claim, which is con- clusive. Wherever the highlands of the treaty exist, they must be highlands from which on the north side streams proceed falling into the St. Lawrence. This portion of the description is as es- sential as that from their south side streams should issue falling into the Atlantic. Now, the British claim abandons tlra former part of the description altogether. Their line of highlands com- mencing at Mars Hill, is at least a hundred miles south of the 26 THE NORTH-EASTEEN BOUNDARY. highlands whence the tributaries of the St. Lawrence flow. Be- tween these highlands and those claimed by the British Govern- ment, the broad valley of the St. John spreads itself, watered by the river of that name, and the streams which empty into it from the north and from the south. The two points on the western line of New Brunswick are distant from each other more than a hun- dred miles ; and when you arrive at the British highlands, you find that they divide the sources of the St. John and the Penobscot, and not the sources of streams falling into the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean, according to the description of the treaty. "But how is it possible ever to embrace Mars Hill in the line of highlands running from the western extremity of the Bay of Chaleurs, and forming the southern boundary of the Province of Quebec ? It is clear that in this, and in this alone, the north- western angle of Nova Scotia is to be found. Mars Hill is one hundred miles directly south of this line. You cannot, by any possibility, embrace that hill in this range, unless you can prove that a hill in latitude 46^ is part of a ridge directly north of it in latitude 48; and this, notwithstanding the whole valley of the St. John, from its southern to its northern extremity, intervenes between the two. The thing is impossible. Mars Hill can never be made, by any human ingenuity, the north-west angle of Nova Scotia." Ill closing the discussion of the question of right, Mr. Bu- chanan's report employs this very emphatic language : " Upon the whole, the committee do not entertain a doubt of the title of the United States to the whole of the disputed territory. They go further, and state that if the general Government be not both able and willing to protect the territory of each State invio- late, then it will have proved itself incapable of performing one of its first and highest duties." The following resolution was passed unanimously by both Houses of Congress: THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 27 fi ^'•Resolved, That .after a careful examination and deliberate con- sideration of the whole controversy between the United States and Groat Britain, relative to the north-eastern boundary of the former, the Senate does not entertain a doubt of the entire practicability of running and marking that boundary, in strict conformity with the stipulations of the definitive treaty of peace of seventeen hundred and eighty-three ; and it entertains a perfect conviction of the justice and validity of the title of the United States to the full extent of all the territory in dispute between the two parties." Having thus descril^ed and explained the several and con- flicting claims of Great Britain in respect to this territory, I now proceed to give a brief history of negotiations and events connected with the question suljsequent to the treaty of Ghent, and to the abandonment of the Odell and Johnson survey. For twenty years after this treaty, Great Britam received no new light, and made no new arguments ; but with these alone she commenced making aggressions — gradually, quietly, moderately at first, so as not too soon to arrest the atten- tion of the United States — and after a series of acts of occu- pation and jurisdiction, came at length to more open and positive claims, such as should afford a pretext for proposing a mutual or concurrent jurisdiction of the territory. Following the course of events after the erection of Maine into a State, we find in the year in which that event happened, the government of the United States taking the census of Mada- waska, on both sides of the river St. John, with no objection from Great Britain. Governor King, in his message to the first Legislature of Mahie, expresses his inability to inform that body what progress had been made under the 5 th article of the treaty of Ghent, in settling the boundary, but he complains that the agent ap- pointed on the part of the United States, in reference to this 28 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. question, had not been selected from Maine or Massaclmsetts. The Legislature passed a Eesolve requesting the federal govern- ment to cause the line to be run and established. Governor Parris, in his annual message in 1822, informs the Legislature that he learns that the " clauns of the Britisli Com- missioner cover a tract of country heretofore confessedly be- longing to this State, ; nd over which it has exercised jurisdic- tion," and suggests that the attention of our Senators and Eepresentatives in Congress be called to the subject, and the more, as neither the Commissioner or agent, on the part of the United States, belongs to this State. A Eesolve was passed by the Legislature January 16, 1822, requesting our Senators and Eepresentatives in Congress "to collect all the information which they can obtain, relating to the causes which have pro- duced the difference of ophiion between the American and British Commissioners, * * * and the extent and nature of the claims set up by the British Commissioner, and transmit said mformation to the Executive of this State." In his message for 1823, Governor Parris makes no reference to this subject. In 1824, he returns to the question in these words : " In consequence of the disagreement of the Commissioners ap- pointed under the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent, a proposi- tion has been made by the government of the United States, and accepted by the British Government, to endeavor to estab- lish this boundary by amicable negotiation, rather than by the decision of a foreign power, as provided by the treaty. This ar- rangement is believed to be satisfactory to Maine, and we have reason to feel a confidence that the negotiation will be so con- ducted as to secure to this State its just rights." But matters do not look quite so well m 1825, and we find Governor Parris a little mipatient at the slow progress that is THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY, 29 1)emg made towards an establishment of the boundary line. He tells the Legislature, in his message to that body, that " there is reason to believe that depredations to a very considerable extent have been committed on our timber lands lying on the Aroostook and Madawaska, and other streams emptyuig into the St. John. * * It is represented that these depredations are committed by British subjects, and on that portion of the terri- tory of the State which is claimed by the British government as belonging to the Province of New Brunswick. This pretended claim, it is understood, includes about one-third of our territory, and comprehends a great portion of our best timber land and large tracts of superior quality for cultivation and settlement." A committee of the Legislature reported that they were sat- isfied that the trespasses referred to by the Governor, were committed under permits and licenses from British authorities, and that it^ behooved the States of Maine and Massachusetts " to adopt the most efficient measures to prevent further en- croachments upon this territory, and to urge upon the national government the necessity and importance of bringing to a speedy and favorable termination the negotiation on this inter- esting subject, which has been so long protracted." On the twenty-sixth of February of this year, the Legisla- ture passed a Eesolve respecting the settlers on the territory, of which the following is a copy : " Whereas, There are a number of settlers on the undivided public lands on the St. John and Madawaska Rivers, many of whom have resided therein more than thirty years ; therefore, "Resolved, That the land agent of this State, in conjunction with such agent as may be appointed for that purpose on the part of the State of Massachusetts, be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to make and execute good and sufficient deeds conveying to such settlers in actual possession, as aforesaid, their heirs and II 30 THE NOETIT-EASTEKN BOUNDARY. assigns, one hundred acres each of the land by them possessed, to inchide their improvements on their respective lots, they paying to the said agent, foe the use of the State, five dollars each and the expense of surveying the same." Authority was given by another Eesolve to sell timber on territory lying on or near the river St. John. Massachusetts passed similar Eesolves to the above, and during the year deeds were executed and delivered by -James Irish and George W. Coffin, land agents, to John Baker and James Bacon, of the lands occupied by them on the north side of the St. John River, lying on the Mariumpticook Eiver, west of the Madawaska River, and ten to fifteen miles above any of the French settlements. As early as 1817, several families from Kennebec County had settled in this neighborhood, among whom was Nathan Baker. Nathan died before 1825, and his widow married his brother, John Baker, who occupied the premises that had been taken up by Nathan, and on which not only a dwelling house, but a saw mill and grist mill, had been erected. There were several other American settlers in this neighborhood. Governor Parris called the attention of the Legislature to the subject once more, in his annual niessage of 1826, and expresses increased uneasiness in view of the condition of aftairs, and urges that measures be taken to procure copies of maps, reports and other papers bearmg upon the question. In the Legisla- ture, a committee, of which Reuel Williams was chairman, reported a Resolve, which was passed, requesting the Governor to procure copies of maps, documents, publications, papers and surveys relating to the boundary ; and also, if Massachusetts should concur, to " cause the eastern and northern lines of the State of Maine to be explored, and the monuments upon those THE NORTII-EASTEKN BOUNDARY. 31 lines TiKiiitioiuid in the treaty of 1783 to be ascertained in such manner as may be most expedient." Anotlier Ifesolve passed by the Legislature this year, provided for tlie ()])ening and clearing of a road from Penobscot Eiver to lloulton, and for marking a road from the mouth of the Matta- wamkeag to the mouth of Fish Ptiver in the river St. John. In January, 1827, Enoch Lincohi, whose devotion to the intt;rests and honor of the State was so engrossing and complete as to make his name a synonym for both, was inaugurated Gov- ernor. Il(3ferring in his first message to the north-eastern boundary question, he said — " It b(3comes a community to be tenacious of its territorial pos- sessions, when its relative political importance and its self-pro- tocting powers are in a degree involved in them. But as we have no reason to believe that the right or disposition anywhere exists to cede our soil, under the pretext of adjusting a limit, which woidd )>e an abuse in which neither the people nor the govern- ments of the Union or the States would acquiesce, we may safely anticipate that our landmarks will be held sacred, and that our inalienable sovereignty will be respected." Here were strong, clear, unmistakable words. The right, which there were some grounds to fear might be asserted, was denied — the right to cede our soil " under the pretext of adjust- ing a limit." Our title was " inalienable." It has been seen that the Legislature of the last year called on the govennnent of the United States for copies of maps and documents. This request was not complied with, for reasons which appear in tlie journal of President John Quincy Adams, under date of August 14, 1826. Mr. Adams says: "Mr. Parris" — Governor Parris of Maine, who had called upon the President — " spoke of the deep interest which his State had in the controversy ; and \r 82 THE NORTII-EAPTERN BOUNDARY. although he felt full confidence that the government of the United States would consent to no stipulation injurious to the rights of the State, yet he said they were not without appre- hensions that New York might be willing to purchase House's I'oint at the expense of Maine " — a fear that was proi)lietic, for it was literally realized in the Ashburton treaty in 1842. The journal continues : " He manifested a wish to be furnished with copies of the arguments of the agents, and reports of the Com- missioners under the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent, which we declined giving heretofore, from an apprehension that a pre- mature disclosure of them might operate unfavorably upon the negotiation. I told him that their great bulk was an obstacle to the furnishing of copies, but that they had' been, and would still be, open to the inspection and perusal of the Eepresenta- tives and Senators from Maine, and would be equally so to the Governor oif the State, if present." Alluding to this refusal to give copies by the federal govern- ment. Governor Lincoln, in his message for 1827, said : " My immediate predecessor has solicited the documents contemplated by a Eesolve of a former Legislature relative to our boundary, and I cannot but hope that the person applied to will find the obligations of his situation so modified as to admit his furnish- ing the proper officers of this State information by which it may be prepared to judge correctly of the rights of the Union and of a foreign nation, in connection with that independent right which it ought to maintain, so far as the prudent application of. all its justifiable means will permit." So much of this message as related to the boundary was referred to a joint select committee, which made a brief report through the Hon. John G. Deane, a gentleman who, with the possible exceptions of Governor Lincoln and Mr. Daveis, under- stood this question better than any man living. THE NORTII-EASTERM BOUNDAKY. M " The State," said the committee, " neither seeks nor claims more than her own, but she has a deep interest in ])rcserving and retaining all to which she has a right ; and will not he wanting in any proper exertion to preserve and maintain the integrity of her territory." Again, " We can anticipate only one class of events which would invest a right in the general government to give up any such territory ; and those events are such only which, from the application of external force, would impair the national compact and destroy the present Union. In any other case we deny the right of the government of the United States to yield any portion of our territory to any other independent sovereignty, unless by the consent of the State." A liesolve was passed requesting the Governor to take all measures he should deem expedient in acquiring information, and procuring a speedy^adjustment of the dispute according to the treaty of 1783. Full of the subject himself, sensitive to the honor of the Com- monwealth, stung by the indignity done her by the seizure and imprisonment of her citizens by a foreign power, impatient of the trilling excuses and pretexts by which her rights and in- terests had been kerpt in abeyance for forty years, and thus armed and instructed by the Legislature, the Governor went to work at once, in the most earnest and vigorous manner, to bring the question to the front and secure its prompt and just settle- ment. On the twentieth of March, he addressed a letter to the Sec- retary of State at Washhigton, transmitting _ the above Eeport and Resolve, and asking for copies of the documents which had been before denied. The Secretary (Mr. Clay) replied on the twenty-seventh of March, and assured the Governor that the President felt a most lively solicitude on the subject that Mr. Gallatin was charged with, and had entered on a negotiation 3 84 THE NORTII-KASTEllN BOUNDAIIY. concerning' it ; tliat the ijrosjject was tliat tliere would be no alternativf! Imt referring the dit'lerence to arbitration according to the provisions of the treaty of (ihent ; that co[)ies of maps, surveys, or documentary evidence woukl be furnished wlien ap- plied for, but that copies of the reports and arguments of the Commissioners could not be given ; that the Uritish government had abstained, uiuler a promise given by her Minister at Wash- ington, from any NEW exercise of sovereignty over the disputed territory, and he hoped that Maine would, durhig the pendency of negotiations, practice a like forbearance. To this communication Governor Lincoln replied on the eight- eenth of April, 1827, and, after assuring the President (in answer to some unfounded report that State officials had been proposing a change of boundary) " that Maine will never jeopardize the common welfare by failing to insist on the justice and inde- feasible character of its claim, or by shrinking from a tirm assertion of it in any alternative," he continued, that it was " with regret, not unmingled with mortitication, that he con- sidered the denial U the use of the reports and arguments of the Commissioners under the treaty of Ghent. * * * IVIaine had sought information only as an interest vital to herself, as well as important to the country, without any purpose calcu- lated to excite distrust, with only such patriotic views as have rendered the refusal to comply with her request a sul)ject of that species of surprise which a friend, predetermined to take no ofi'ence, feels when he is not treated with correspondent confi- dence." The request for papers is renewed, under a promise that they shall be used only before the Legislature, and under the restrictions of confidential communications. The Governor then reminds Mr. Clay that it is a proposition which has been demonstrated by himself " so clearly as to have commanded general respect, that the abstraction of the territory of the THK NOKTII-EASTKHN BOUNDAKY. n.-) United States auiiiot be niade by the treaty-nuikin|T or executive power." Much more, then, lie snys, must the domain of a State be sacred. lieferrin«; to an (ixpression of Mr. (lallatin, tliat an umpire, whether kin<,' or farmer, rarely decides on strict princi- ples of law, and has always "a bias to try, if possible, to split the diflerence," he protests a^'ainst any arrangement which will endanj^-er the half from the circumstance of a wronj^ful claim to the whole, under the i)itiful weakness which is liable to split the dil't'erence between ri-iht and wrou" Mr. Clay writes the (lovernor on the seventhof "May.fjivinf,' lists of the papers and nuips, copies of which would be furni.sln I; and as to the others, he says they may be inspected by the Governor, or any agent of the State, confidentially. On the twenty-ninth of May, Governor Lincoln, after refening to the discouraging character of his previous correspondence with the Secretary of State, says, " that having learned that the title of the State" to an extensive tract of country, " is involved in the details of a diplomatic aiTangement conducted under the sanction of the executive department of the federal government, Maine, although not consulted, yet bound from deference to pay a due respect to reasons, the nature and force of which she is, from a studious and mysterious reserve, rendered unal)le to comprehend, believes that she ought to ])resent her expostula- tion ill regard to any measures threatening her injury." He understands that the question is not to be Imiited in the submis- sion to the treaty line of 1783, and that the Sovereign may de- cide at pleasure on the whole subject, without being bound by the obligations of an oath ; and that the Sovereign is one whose feelings will be prejudiced against a Republic accused of inor- dinate ambition. And he adds : " It is not in cold blood that I can anticipate the committing the destinies of Maine to an irre- sponsible arbiter to be found in a distant land, and necessarily !i 86 THE NOUTII-KASTKUN DOUNDAUY. un([iialifi('(l to act in tliu caso. * * SuHia; it to say that tlio Iiroposod arltitration will jcMtpanli/i!, without hur consent and u^'ainst her will, the rights of Maine. And allow me to add," continued the Governor, in those j^'rave and strong,' words which stirred the blooil of every true son of Maine to a l)oilin<,' heat, and, reachinf^' the department of State, l)rought the federal administration to a halt in what it had been apprehended were its purposes, " that if called upon to 7nakc the required sacrijicc, she will he eoiniielled" to deliberate on an alternative which will test the strictness of iicr 2>rinei2)les and the firmness of her temjyer" He reminds the President that when Massachusetts entered the Union " she yielded no right to dispose of her soil, or to ab- stract any part of it from her Jurisdiction, * * nor to ex- pose, without her consent, her dearly purchased and sacred riirhts to arbitrament." He warns him that the State of Maine " will not observe any procedure by the United States and Great Britain for the severance of her territory and the abrogation of her authority, without a sensibility too serious to be passive. She holds that her domain is not the subject of partition" He puts the question in a paragraph: "No statesman will assert" that the treaty-making power is competent to an iicc trans- cending the scope of the combined trusts of the government." Eecurring, as he could not help doing, to the effrontery of the British claim, with which our government permitted itself to be trilled with, he declares that " It may be confidently asserted not only that the provision of the treaty of 1783 is imperative, l)ut that it d<^' ribes our boundary with a precision which shames the British claim, and, connected with the making of that claim, casts a shadow over the lustre of the British charac- ter." He closes this remarkable letter with an expression of regret that the government slioulif refuse the information con- TIIK NOUTH-F, ASTKHX DOUNKAUY. 37 ; teini»liitoil ])y a resolution of tlu; Statu, l)iit aiiy.s ho sliall coii- tiiiuii to lio[)o for till! pre.survatioii, under the protectuij^ eiirc of the <^overnnient, of that now ex})o.s(Ml territory, destined under any i)ro[)ri(!tor to be noon oeenpied hy a niunerous popidntion, enga^'ed in all the purynits which yu.stain hunuin life and adorn human nature." This letter is acknowledj^'ed by ]\Ir. Clay on the ninth of June, and the Governor is assured that the observations made therein shall receive due attention and res^joctful consideration, and that in no contingency is any arbitration contemplated of the dill'erence between the two countries, but tliat for which provision has been sohannly made by treaty — that is, the ([ues- tion to be submitted shall concern alone the tnuity Hue of 1783. Sei)tember third, the Governor hiforms the Secretary of State, that he has information of acts of encroachment and aii'^ression upon our territory by the authorities of New T'runswick; tlint American settlers holding lands, under titles from Maine and Massachusetts, are denied the right to hold real estate, are taxed as aliens, and are refused the transmission of their products as American, while acts of jurisdiction are constantly exercised by these authorities. He then proceeds to show the value of this country to Maine and the United States, and the import- ance of excluding British control and jurisdiction. IL' rct'ors to our right to the navigation of the river St. John by the law of nations, as recognized in the case of the Mississippi Eiver, and to the wrong that will be done if this right is allowed to be succc '!y c^^'*^ Lod. He again informs the Department that Maine will never assent to the result of an arbitration un- favorable to her interests and in derogation of her rights. On the fourteenth of September, Mr. Clay informs Governor Lincoln that he has advised the British minister that it is ex- pected the necessary orders will be given on the part of the !! 38 THE NOETII-EASTEIIN BOUNDARY. British government to enforce forbearfince from new acts tending to strengthen its claims. It will be remembered that an under- standing had been come to between these parties, that there should be no " new " acts of this khiu Ijy either side. Notwithstanding this agreement and nrtice, Governor Lincoln had occasion, on the twenty-second of October, to write the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, that he has informa- tion that one of the citizens of Maine, by the name of John Baker, while residing on its territory, has been arrested and de- tamed in gaol at Fredericton, in that Province, and asks to be advised concerning the facts. He informs the Lieutenant-Gov- ernor that the attempt to extend the jurisdiction of New Brunswick over this territory will compel counter action from Maine. He says : " The arrest of our citizens on what we believe to be a part of our State, will demand its utmost energies for resistance." The Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, on the fifteenth of November, acknowledges the receipt of the aliove letter, but declines to give any information, on the ground that he is not permitted to give it except to those with whom he is directed to correspond, or under whose orders he is placed, and declines to have any further correspondence with the Governor of ]\Iaine. The scarcely veiled insolence of this reply, especially when con- sidered in connection with the correspondence between Gov- ernor Fairfield and Lieutenant-Governor Harvey, hereafter re- ferred to, is painfully apparent. The Governor of Maine, however, came into possession of an official vTit, by which it appeared that John Baker was ordered to appeal and answer for that he had entered and intruded upon the lands of the King in the County of Kent, in the Province of New Brunswick, and erected and built thereon a house and other edifices, and cut and felled and carried away timber and THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 39 other trees, &c. This was alleged to have been clone on land situated on the northerly side of the St. John River, and between the rivers Madawaska and St. Francis. On the fifth of November, the Governor appointed Charles Stuart Daveis, Esquire, of Portland, agent, with authority to act in behalf of the State of Maine in obtaining information, either informally or by authenticated statements, as to all subjects relating to rights of property and jurisdiction between the government of the State and that of New Brunswick. Mr. Daveis took with hmi a letter from the Governor of Maine to the Lieut.-Governor of New Brunswick, advising the latter of Mr. Daveis' appointment, and its object, and stating that he was authorized to demand the release of Baker. On the sixteenth of November, the Governor acknowledges the receipt of the documents (so long withheld) from the De- partment of State, but expresses his regret that, from the con- tents of the Secretary's letter of the tenth instant, he learns that the objections he has offered to arbitration, without con- sulting this State, have been unavailing. He adds, in a voice almost choked with grief : "At last we learn that our strength, security and wealth are to be subjected to the mercy of a foreign individual, who, it has been said by your minister, 'rarely decides upon strict principles of law, and. has always a bias to try, if possible, to split the difference.' I cannot but YIELD to the impulse OF SAYING, MOST RESPECTFULLY, THAT Maine has not been treated as she has endeavored to deserve." He then informs the Secretary of the facts i"; the case of John Baker. By this time, the excitement in the State, occasioned l)y the imprisonment of Baker and other acts by the Province of New Brunswick, had grown to such a heat, that Governor Lincoln 40 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. found it necessary, in order to prevent premature collisions, to issue a proclamation, in which he exhorted forbearance and peace on the part of citizens sufierhig or threatened with wrong, and tliose hiterested by sympathy and principle on account of the violation of our territory, " so that the preparations for pre- venting the removal of our landmarks, and guarding the sacred and inestimable rights of American citizens may not be em- barrassed by any unauthorized acts." Mr. Clay writes Governor Lincoln, on the twenty-seventh of November, that " the government of the United States is fully convinced that the right of the territory in dispute is with us, and not with Great Britain. The convictions of Maine are not stronger in respect to the validity of our title than those which are entertained by the President." Bat he reminds his corre- spondent that the United States is under treaty obligation to refer the question, and cannot refuse to carry out what it has pledged itself to perform. Mr: Daveis, of whose appointment notice has been taken, visited Houlton and Frcdericton this autumn. At the former place he met persons who had come from above Madawaska, and were enabled to report to him the condition of things in that section so fully that he did not deem it necessary to visit it in person. He gives, in a report made to the Governor Jan. 31, 1828, a succinct history of the progress of the settlements on the territory in dispute, by citizens of Maine and Massac! lusetts ; of trespasses in the way of cutting timber by hihabitants of New Brunswick under license from that Province ; of seizures from, and impositions upon, American citizens by Provhicial authorities, liy the service of precepts issued by magistrates in New Brunswick, on American citizens within their own lines ; and the removal of property from this State by virtue of levies on executions issued by Provincial courts. New Brunswick THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 41 officials warned off American citizens from lands lying within forty miles from Houlton and west of the boundary line. Amer- ican citizens were driven, by fear, from occupying their own houses to " lodging about in different places, in barns, or in the woods, mustering together for the night in larger or smaller parties, or rseparating for greater security." Mr. Daveis gives some account of the settlement of the Acadians on the river St. John after the peace of 1783, whose number, by the American census of 1820, was over eleven hundred. The first settlement by Americans in this neighborhood was, he reported, in 1817, and not far from the mouth of the river St. Francis. This set- tlement was made by several families from the County of Ken- nebec, in this State. Among them were those of Baker and Bacon, before referred to, who, in the year 1825, received deeds of their possessions from the land agents of Maine and Massachusetts, and who built a mill under the authority of these States. These ^Vmerican families entered into a compact between themselves, 1 )y which they agreed to submit all disputes and differences with each other to a tribunal of their own ap- pointment. This was done to avoid and deny all British juris- diction. It was to last only one year^ as the settlers expected to receive, before the expiration of that time, from their State government, the protection of its regular and constituted authori- ties, for which they had petitioned. That this " home rule " might be properly inaugurated, the Americans assembled at John Baker's, and erected a staff and raised a rude representa- tion of the American eagle, and they enjoyed a re})ast in the evenhig at his house, at which there wore nuisic and dancing. When these facts came to the knowledge of one ^Morehouse, a provincial magistrate who had on many occasions given annoy- ance, and inflicted injury and outrage upon citizens of tliis State living on their own soil, and somethnes on grants made 42 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. by Maine and Massachnsetts, he presented himself at John Baker's and gave order for the removal of the American ensign, whicli Baker — thenceforward called General Baker — declined to obey. Morehouse then demanded the paper of agreement or compact, whicli Baker refused to deliver. About this time it so happened that Baker had made some inquiry of a French- man, who was carrying a mail, in respect to that service, which the latter misunderstood, and interpreted as indicating a purpose to interfere with its performance. Thereupon, Morehouse issued a warrant against Baker, and not him alone, but Bacon and one Charles Stetson also, as connected with him in such imputed interference. Mr. Daveis continues his account in these words : "Early in the evening of the twenty-fifth of September, soon after their return " — from Portland, where Baker and Bacon had been to report the state of affairs on the St. John, and to solicit aid from the State — "and while Baker and his family were asleep, the house was surrounded by an armed force, and entered by persons of a civil character and others armed with fusees, &c., who seized Baker in his bed, and conveyed him, without loss of time, out of the State. The particulars relating to this circumstance are de- tailed in the statement of Asaliel Baker, a nephew of John Baker, who was first awakened by the entry. * * The person conduct- ing the execution proved to be of high official character and per- sonal respectability in the Province of New Brunswick. He was informed that papcxS were in the possession of Baker, justifying him under the authority of the States ; but he replied that it was not in his power to attend to any remonstrance. No resistance »vas made by Baker, and no opportunity was afforded him to have intercourse with any friends and neighbors, from whom it was reasonal>le to suppose opposition might have been apprehended. Mr. Baker was carried before Morehouse, in obedience to the war- ran£; it does not ajDj^ear that any examination took place, how- thei THE XORTH-EASTEKN BOUNDAllY. 43 ever, but that he was conveyed to Fredericton and there coram ittod to gaol. The letter from your Excellency to the American inhab- itants at the upper settlement, was delivered by him to the author- ity under wliich he was imprisoned, and after some detention restored to him. "The immediate impression produced among the inhabitants of the settlement by this circumstance, may appear from tlie further statement of Asahel Baker. He was tlie person employed to bring a representation from them of the arrest of John Baker, which was deposited by him in the first post office he reached in K<^n- nebec. lie was absent some days, and on his return found that several of the inhabitants had departed. It appears that in the interim the alien tax had been again demanded, and process had been served upon the American settlers, generally, similar to that which had been previously served on the Aroostook, indiscrimin- ately, to appear at Fredericton in October, to answer to suits for trespass and intrusion on Crown lands, under the penalty of one hundred pounds. It is understood that the service of this process was extended to the American settlers towards the St. Francis and upon the Fish River, where the road laid out by the Legislatures of the two States terminates. In consequence of these circum- stances, it appears that three of the American settlers, Charles Stetson, Jacob Goldthwait and Charles Smart have parted with their possessions and removed from the settlement into the planta- tion of Houlton, where they are at present seeking subsistence. Stetson was a blacksmith, in good business, and was concerned in the measure relating to Morehouse. The motives and particulars of their departure are stated by them in their respective affidavits. " In the precarious state of their affairs, it is probable that no certain estimate can be formed of their sacrifices ; but it is evident that the measures made use of towards the inliabitants in general, for whatever purpose, have had the effect to expel a portion of them, and to intimidate the remainder. * * It is evident that a corresponding application of judicial proceedings has been made 44 THE NORTII-EASTEEN BOUNDARY. from tljG Province of New Brunswick upon all the settlomonts above and below the French occupation of Madawaska, tending to their extermination; and that the inhabitants are awaiting, in a state of fearful anxiety, the final execution, from which they see no prospect of relief." These proceedings were justified and adopted, if not pre- viously authorized, by Sir Howard Douglass, Lieut.-Governor of New Brunswick, and by Mr. Vaughan, the British Minister at Washington, as appears by a letter from the latter to Mr. Clay, November 21, 1827. The results of these doings were summed up by Mr. Daveis as follows : " Citizens of Maine, and others settled r>n lands survej'ed and granted by its authority, living within its uicient and long-estab- lished limits, are subjected to the operation of foreign laws. These are applied to them in the ordinary course of civil process, in taking away their property, and also their .persons. American citizens in this State are proceeded against as aliens, for sedition and other offences, and misdemeanors against the Crown of Great Britain; and one of them, a grantee of Massachusetts and Maine, seized on the land g:anted, remains in prison on charges of that description." When these facts became known to the people and the Legis- lature of the State, there was a deep feeling of indignation at the wrong and outrage ; and the only wonder to-day is, that it could have been restrained to peaceable expressions and protests. To us, the patience with which these encroachments and insults were borne is simply incredible. When the Legislature assembled in January, 1828, Governor Lhicoln had received the documents and papers, which he had been u) 'iMe to obtain before. He announced to Chat body the foct that an arbitration had been entered into between the two THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 45 governments, and he called its attention to the clnini of tempo- rary jurisdiction by New 3'runswick, to the arrest and hnpris- onment of Baker, and the report of Mr. Daveis. He declared : " Maine cannot abandon its obligations, its title deeds and its rights. It cannot allow its citizens to be incarcerated in foreign gaols. The State would shrink most dreadfully under the shame of such a submission." In this arbitration, the King of the Netherlands was made the umpire. The Legislature took up the sul^ject in a manner that showed that, while not unmhidful of its relations and duties to the federal government, nor willing unnecessarily to embarrass it, it had a painful sense of the wrong and injury the State had re- ceived. Hon. John G. Deane, on behalf of a joint Select Com- mittee, made a report so full, so accurate, so absolutely conclu- sive of eve:y question, as to leave nothing more to be said for the vindication of our claims and of our interpretation of the treaty of 1783. A Resolve was passed, demanding defence and protection from the United States ; and, in case of new aggres- sions, authorizing the Governor, if seasonable protection is not afforded by the general government, to use all proper and constitutional means to protect and defend our citizens ; and callin,^ for a demand upon the British government for the release of John Baker ; also, providing for the relief of his family. Governor Lincoln, in his last annual message, which he ad- dressed to the Legislature in January, 1829, a few months before his lamented death, refe s to the vigorous action of the preceding Legislature, from which he thinks some practical results may have come, and he mentions, among these, its good effect upon the nation. The President, he says, has yielded every possible support ; a garrison has been established upon our frontier, an agent from among ourselves has been appointed, a military road has been provided for, and Baker's case has been «iW 46 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. assmiied by the United States; and, besides this, the eharacter of the Kinj^' of the Netherlands is sncli as to give ground of hope that the decision will be a just one. The Legislature passed an act " to prevent foreigners from exercising acts of jurisdiction within this State, by serving civil or criminal process." In 1830, Jonathan G. ITunton was Governor, but nothing of special interest relating to this question seems to have taken place during his administration. In 1831, Governor Samuel E. Smith refers to the delay that has arisen in reaching a decision by tlie umpire, and suggests that it may have occurred from the disturbances that had taken place in his own kingdom, and which, by depriving him "of the greatest portion of his kingdom, had made him a dependent on Great Britain. He doubted whether under these circumstances he ought tc act, or could properly act, as umpire. He says: " Whatever confidence may be put in the justice of our cause, however clearly our right may be shewn in argument, we cer- tainly could not be willing to submit it to the umpirage of a sovereign who is not only the ally, but who, by the force of circumstances, may have become, in some measure, the depend- ent ally of Great Britain." That England, after this event, should have insisted upon proceeding with the arbitration, was scarcely less than an 'indecency and an affront, and one wonders at the good nature and blindness to injury wdiich still continued to mark the temper and conduct of the United States. The question submitted to the King of the Netherlands re- mained to be decided by the King of Holland. But the Governor takes encouragement after this protest, from the appointment of a Mhiister, by whom the case was to THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 47 })e presented to the umpire, from among onr own citizens, of one so ,.I)le and well-informed us the lion. William Pitt Treble. Albert Gallatin, an experienced diplomatist, and a man of historic reputation, and Judge Preble, of Portland, had been designated during the administration of ]\Ir. Adams, to manage the case before the umpire; and when the appointment of Judge Preble as Minister was made by President Jackson, the valuable assistance of Mr. Daveis was secured to him by the government. Governor Smith took leave of this subject in his message for 1831, by saying that he was not aware that anything at present remained to be done by the Legislature that could facilitate the incpiiry, or affect the result. On the tenth of January, 1831, the King of Holbnd made his report — award it could not be called. He found liimself unable or unwilling to decide where the line ought to be run, but said : " We are of opinion that it will be suitable {II convlendra) to adopt as the boundary of the two States, a hue drawn due north from the source of the river St. Croix, to a point where it inter- sects the middle of the thalweg (i. e. deepest channel) of the river St. John, ascending it to the point where the river St. Francis empties itself into the river St. John, tlience the middle of the thalweg of the river St. Francis to the source of its uppermost branch, wliich source we indicate on the map A by the X, authen- ticated by the signature of our minister of Foreign Affairs, thence a line drawn due west to a point where it unites with a line claimed by the United States of America, and delineated on the map A, thence said line to the point at which, according to said maps, it coincides with that claimed by Great Britain, thence the line traced in the map by the two powers to the north-westernmost source of the Connecticut River." 48 THE NOIITII-EA.STEHN BOUNDAUY. iM>i Tlio Kiii^f further oxyn-esses the ci]»iiiion that it would he siiit- nhhi thiit tlio lini' from tho Coiiiiccticut ]iivur to tho St. Law- ronco .should 1»g ho drawn as to hicltido in the United States, the fort at IJouse's Point, and its kilonietrical radius. It is ahundaiitly certain from the whole re))ort and proceec!- in<^'s tli.'it th(! Kiiif,' could not adopt the ]>ritish claim, and did not wish to accept that of the United States, and so, to avoid a decision, contented himself hy making a recommendation. A hi.L,dH'i' indirect concession to the American claim it would be dillicult to iiiia,L,nne. On tlie twidfth of January, our Minister, Judge Preble, made a protest against the proceeding, "as constituthig a departure from tlie ])ower delegated by the liigh parties hiterested." UuoHicial intelligence of the report of the King of Holland was received in Maine during the session of the Legislature, and occasioned nnicli uneasiness. A joint-select connnittee made a vigorous report, in which were no sounds of uncertainty or fear, through Col. I )eane. It said : " If the Government of the United States can cede a portion of an indopoiulont State to a foreign government, she can, by'the same principle, code the whole ; or if to a foreign government, she can, by tho same principle, annex one State to another until the whole are consolidated, and she becomes the sole Sovereign and lawgiver, without any check to her exercise of power." It is not to bo answered that the treaty-making power has, from the necessity of the case, anqde authority to decide dis- [)utes between the nation and other nations, whether they refer to lioundaries or anything else. This nation has no right under the treaty-making power to cede the territory of any State — the title to which in the State, it affirms. In this case, the United States, by Congress as well as by the Executive Department, as had also the Legislatures of Elaine and Massachusetts and of THE NORTH-EASTERN DOUNDARY. 49 most the other States, declared re|)eatedly and in the most em- phatic and unequivocal terms, that the rii^'ht of Maine was " clear and un(|uestionahle." Her title was as clear to Madawaska as to Portland, and a cession or sale of the latter would l)e ([uite as ol)jectional)le and unconstitutional as a transfer of the former. This committee reported Kesolves, which were passed, de- claring " That the convention of 1827 tended to violate the Constitution of the United States, and to impair the sovereign rights and powers of the State of Maine, and that Maine is not bound by the Constitution to submit to the decision which has been, or shall be, made under that convention." Also, that whereas the submission was to the King of the Netherlands, an independent Sovereign, exercising dominion over six millions of people, and whereas, by the force of liberal opinions in Belgium, he was deprived of more than half of his dominions, and his dependence on Great Britain for holding his power, even in Holland, was increased, and, inasmuch as he had made no deci- sion before his kingdom was dismembered by his own consent, and his public character changed, it was resolved that the award " cannot and ought not to be considered obligatory upon the government of the United States, either on the principles of right and justice, o: of honor." And further, " that no decision made by an umpire under any circumstances, if the decision dismembers a State, has or can have any constitutional force or obligation upon the State thus dismembered, unless the State adopt and sanction the decision." On the eighteenth of March, Mr. Van Iluren, Secretary of State, communicated the report of the King of Holland to the Governor of Maine, with a request, in substance, that pending its consideration at Washington, Maine should kee]) quiet and behavi,' herself. Governor Smith transmitted the papers to the Legislature on 90 THE NOKTII-EASTERN BOUNDAKY. the tweiity-fifth of March, with a messaf,'e which ciulorRcd and coininciKled the advice of Mr. Van IJureii as to good heliavior on the ])art of the i)e()ple of Maine and their representatives. But the Le^ishiture was scarcely in a temper to appreciate this advice in the sense in which it was given. It had yet some sense of honor, duty and self respect ; and on the thirtieth of March it made its answer to the I'resident, in which it plainly told him that " there are rights which a free people cannot yield, and there are encroachments upon such rights which ought to be resisted and prevented, or the people ha^e no assurance of the continuance of their liberties." The report took up the opinion of the King, and the question of liis right to act after he had ceased to be Sovereign of the Netherlands, and l)y facts uicontestible and by invincil)le logic, showed that the opinion was in no sense binding either upon the United States or the State of Maine, and declared that " if the United States should adopt the document as a decision, it will be in violation of the constitutional rights of the State of Mahie, which she cannot yield." A copy of this report of the Legislature was ordered to be sent to the President of the United States and to the Governors of the several States. Governor Smith, it will be remembered, had, in his annual message a few weeks before, referred to the change which had taken place in the relations of the umpire since the submission was made, and expressed the unwillingness the Statfe would feel to submit the question to the decision of a sovereign who was the ally, and might become the dependent ally, of the con- testing party. The legislative report had but echoed this opinion. Acting in its spirit, and in view of the whole situation, and in full harmony, as was supposed, with the views of the Governor (for as yet he had not heard from Mr. Van Buren), THE NOUTII-EASTERN BOUNPAUY. ol Tsed and behavior entativea. sciato tills yet some thirtieth which it ree people ich rights lie people ies." The B question Lgu of the cihle logic, either upon 3d that " if decision, it e State of lered to be Governors his annual which had submission [tatfe would fereign who of the con- jchoed this lie situation, tews of the 'an Buren), the Legislature, on tlie fifteenth of March, 1831, passed an Act, wliicli received the a])})r()val of the (jrovernor, to incorporate the town of Madawaskji, by which the inhabitants thereof were declared to be "subject to tlie same duties and liabilities, and vested with the privileges and immunities which other inc<)r]Mi- rated towns are within this State." Any Justice of Peace within the County of Tenoljscot, or any Justice throughout the State, was empowered to issue his warrant to any inhabitant of the place, directing him to notify a meeting for the choice of otiicers. In conformity to this Act, a warrant was issued by WiUiam 1). Williamson, Esquire, a Justice of the Peace throughout tlie State, directed to Walter Towers, an inhabitant of Madawaska, to notify the inhabitants of that town to meet at the house ot Peter Lezart to organize the town and elect town officers. The. meeting was duly called and held in aigust, but its proceedings were interrupted and delayed by interference and threats on the part of Leonard B. Coombs, a Captain of Militia, and Francis Eice, a Justice of the I'eace, holding commissions from the Prov- ince of New Brunswick. But the inhabitants present, about fifty in number, persevered in their work and elected town officers. Another town meeting, at which eighty inhabitants were pres- ent, was held on the second Monday of September, 1831, being the day of the State election, at the house of Eaphael Martin, when Peter Lezart was elected a representative to the State Legislature. Eice was present at this meeting, also, interrupt- ing it, and using language of menace and abuse. He took the names of the persons voting at the meeting. On the twenty-fifth of the month, a military force was collected at the chapel in Madawaska, by Provincial authority, and repaired to the house of one Simon HeV^bert, further up the river, where they were attended by the Lieutenant-Governor of New Bruns- wick. This force succeeded in arresting Daniel Savage, Jesse 52 THE NORTH-EASTEEN BOUNDARY. Wheelock, Barnabas Hunnewell, Daniel Bean and several others, and held them prisoners for the offence of acting at the town meeting. John Baker escaped to the woods, and finally came to Portland, where, on the twelfth of October, he gave to the Gov- ernor a detailed statement '•" the facts, to which he made oath before Francis 0. J. Smith, Esquire, Justice of the Peace. Wheelock and Savage, who were arrested as above stated, ad- dressed a letter to Eoscoe G. Greene, Secretary of State, in which they informed him of the circumstances of their arrest. They said: " His Excellency, Sir A^-^ihibald Campbell. Lieutonant-Governor and Coramander-iu-Cb'ef of the Province of New Brunswick, ar- rived here on the twenty-third instant, with one Colonel, one Cap- tain of the Militia, the Attorney-General of the Province and Mr. McLaughlan ; also, by the Sheriff of the County of York. On the twenty-fourth they directed warrants to be issued against all those who had acted at said meetir^^cr j. * * "\Ye were arrested on the twenty-fifth. * * On ^he twenty-sixth the Sheriff and Captain Coombs and some militia a.-'cendod the river to Mr. Baker's to arrest those in that neighborhood ; theriue to St. Erancis RivAr, expecting to return to-day, when wo are to be immediately sent to Eredericton gaol. When the rest of our unfortunate countrymen arrive we will enlist their names and numbers, together with what other information shall come to our knowledge. The families of them will be left in a deplorable situation unless their country will immediately release them. * * We are now descending the river, twenty miles above Woodstock." Of these persons. Savage, Wlieelock and Hunnewell were arraigned before the Supreme Court of New Brunswick, and sentenced to pay a fine of fifty pounds and be imprisoned three months, and were accordingly thrown into prison at Eredericton. Down to the period covered by these proceeduigs, with the THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 53 single exception, if such it may be regarded, of the Governor's message in March, I find no blot on the history of this State, nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide the head for, but a constant exhibition of elevated and dignified patriotism — a proper regard for the integrity and honor of the Commonwealth. But after this, succeeds a term which we might well desire to have expunged from our annals. The Senate of the United States had rejected the recom- mendation of the King of Holland, and new negotiations were m contemplation at Washington, when the intelligence was received there from the Governor of Maine of the proceedings at Madawaska, and the arrest of Wheelock and others. The administration was greatly disturbed, and communicated its displeasure to Governor Smith. He, on the twelfth of October, replied that: "An Act was passed by the Legislature of this State at the last session to incorporate the town of Madawaska, which is bounded, in part, by the line of the State. By this Act and some others, I understood it was intended by the Legislature to assert the claim of the State to jurisdiction over that portion of the territory which they knew to be within the limits of Maine; and that it was not to be carried into effect until circumstances should render it proper and expedient. This measure is said to have been adopted by the inhabitants of that territory, voluntarily organizing themselves into a corporation ; was unexpected by me, and done without my knowledge." Wliat a spectacle is here ! Tlie Secretary of State of the United States had written the Governor of Maine a sharp letter, reproving the State, in effect, for its independent and proper action. And the Chief Magistrate, who but a few months before had been so earnest, who had approved an act to incor- 54 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. porate the town, when the people thereof, in good faith, sup- posing the act of the Legislature meant what it said — as indeed it did, as everybody conversant with its history well knew — went to work, and in conformity to its provisions organized the town — instead of planting himself firmly upon the act of the Legislature and the douigs of his people, starts back, like Fear in Collins' Ode, " E'en at the sound himself had made." To this excuse and protestation. Secretary Livingston made re- ply in a letter of such tone and language as no Governor of a State should permit to be addressed to him, without indignant remon- strance, to say the least. He told him that the President could not " consider the continuance of the occupation " (of Maine) " h/j the ojicers, civil and military, of the British Province as an invasion ; but will take all proper measures to procure the re- lease of the ill-advised persons who have been the cause of this disturbance." Ill-advised persons ! Wlio gave them the ill advice ? The Legislature of Maine and the Governor of Maine ! These and no others, and in the most unequivocal and solemn manner. Of the important facts the Secretary had learned enough to ren- der his language as (direct and pointed a rebuke to the Legisla- ture and Executive authorities of the State, as it was possible to make. How, may it be imagined, would Enoch Lincoln have received words like these — words that should " Kindle cowards, and steel with valor The melting spirits of women " ? But whatever the amount of reproof and insolence the Sec- retary of State was pleased to visit upon the Governor of Maine, he made ample amends for it in his disgraceful obsequiousness THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 55 to the British minister. To show the humiliation with which the government was pleased to clothe itself, and, with the con- sent of her Executive, the State of Maine, it is only necessary to quote from a letter of Mr. Livingston to Mr. Bankhead, the British Minister, on the fifteenth of October, 1831. Transmit- ting extracts from Governor Smith's letter, before referred to, he says : " You will perceive that the election of town officers in the settle- ment of Madawaska, of which complaint was made in the papers enclosed in your letter, was made under color of a general law, which was not intended, by either the executive or legislative au- thority, to be executed in that settlement, and that the whole was the work of inconsiderate individuals" One can hardly conceive a statement more crowded with errors of fact than this. In the first place, as we have seen, there was a gross error in the assertion that the incorporation of the town of Madawaska was under a general law, and not by a special act ; and that the action of the inhabitants was not contemplated by the State, was an error equally manifest. If the Legislature of Maine, with the approval of the Gov- ernor, set it olf to the work of passing a special act of incorpo- ration, was it in accordance with a proper respect for the honor of the State, to assert that it was not intended that the power should be exercised ; that it was simply a paper defiance from a a safe distance — a mere hrutum fulmcn ? That while Judge Williamson, the historian of Maine, was issuing his warrant to Mr. Powers for the organization of the, town, and the purpose was being executed in the knowledge of the whole State, and all the public journals ./ere seriously discussing it, the State itself was, after all, only playing the lion's part, after the man- ner of Nick Bottom, the weaver ? 66 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. Instead of demanding, in a firm and becoming tone, the im- mediate release of the citizens of Maine, who had been impris- oned in a foreign gaol for the offence of acting in obedience to the laws of their State, the Secretary says to Mr. Bankhead : "/ respectfully suygest the propriety of your commending to the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick the release of the prisoners." Having, by these apologies and humble petitions from the American Secretary, obtained what he assumed to regard as a practical recognition of the provincial claim of exclusive juris- diction, the British government graciously consented to the release. This is not pleasant reading. It makes one neither happy nor proud. Tiie State made no protest — uttered no word of grave remonstraace. Upon the assembling of the Legislature of 1832, the Governor recited at some length, in his message, the transactions of the preceding autumn, and informed that body that, through the intervention of the President, Wheelock and the other prisoners had been released. On the twenty-second of February, the Governor made a communication to the Legislature, in secret session, in which he said he had been informed by Judge Preble, the agent of the State at Washington, that the award of the King would event- ually be adopted by our 'government ; that Maine would re- ceive pecuniary indemnity if she would cede her territory lyuig outside of the line of the award. He urged promptness of action on the part of the Legislature. The President was anxious that some arrangement should be made by which Maine would consent to abide by the line of the King ; and the Congressional delegation from the State, with the exception of Mr. Evans (who opposed the proposition in a letter marked by the incisiveness and vigor which charac- THE NORTH-EASTEllN BOUNDARY. 67 terized alike the forensic and political efforts of this very great man), wrote Judge Preble in favor of submitting the plan to the Legislature. The question was discussed by the Legislature, with closed doors, and finally a resolution was passed authorizing the Gov- ernor' to appoint three Commissioners to see what terms and conditions could be arranged, and report to the Legislature for its action. The commission was constituted by t'le appointment of three eminent and able gentlemen — William Pitt Preble, Eeuel Williams and Nicholas Emery. The President appomted on the part of the United States, as Commissioners to confer with those from Maine, the Secretary of State, Edward Living- ston ; the Secretary of the Treasury, Louis McLane ; the Sec- retary of the Navy, Levi Woodbury. When our Commission- ers reached Washmgton, they found there a public opinion that demanded urgently and almost imperatively, a settlement of the vexed and long-disturbing question. The commerce and business of the country, — all its industrial, commercial and financial interests, in fact, — called for a removal of the causes of apprehension that the peace of the country might be rup- tured ; and New York, as Governor Parris had predicted years before she would make known, wanted Eouse's Point. The whole power of the administration, a nearly united South, and the commercial interests of the North, were brought to bear upon the Commissioners. They were warned that, if they did not consent to the new line, the question would be submitted to another arbitration. Thus pressed, they finally consented to submit certain propositions to the Legislature of the State. Perhaps they could have done no less under all the circum- stances. It was not for them they considered, as T imagine, to debar the State of an opportunity for considering, through its Legislature, the propositions which the Coinmissioners of the 58 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. United States were prepared to make. These were in sulDStance a new line, which, if not entirely coincident with, was yet on the basis of the King of Holland's recommendation, and one million of acres of land in Michigan, which, at the minimum government price, was worth $1,250,000, and probably much more than tliis sum in fact. If a conventional line, not involv- ing an exchange of territory, were admissible at all, these terms should not probably be regarded as unreasonable in amount, however humiliating in respect to the source from which they proceeded. But Maine had never ceased to feel an invincible repugnance to the idea of selling her territory for cash, or cash equivalents, still less of abandoning her citizens, exchanging them as well as her soil for counters. And so when it was known, in the winter of 1832, that the Legislature had resolved itself into secret session to consider propositions for a settlement of the question by a conventional line, the fears of the people were aroused and an intense excitement was created. Eeports, more or less correct, of the doings in secret session were circulated among the people and appeared in the newspapers. Startluig headings arrested the eyes of the people. " Maine Sold Out ! " " Maine in the Market ! " " Our Fellow Citizens Trans- ferred TO A Foreign Power for Cash or Land ! ! " An anonymous letter, evidently written by a member or officer of the Legislature, indicating the passage of a Resolve (such as was in fact passed on the third of March), was printed in the Kennebec Journal, which, in connection with the events growing out of its publication, inflamed still more the public feeling. The name of the author was demanded of the editor, Hon. Luther Severance, who, upon his refusal to divulge it, was committed to the Augusta gaol for contempt, from which, however, he was soon released. THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. )9 In this excited condition of tlie popular mind, the Legislature adjourned, and its memliers returned to their homes to meet there alarmed and indignant constituencies. A speech from Jacob Ludden, a Democratic representative from Canton, in Oxford County, delivered in secret session, and published in the Portland Advertiser of the twenty-seventh of February, had touched the popular chord, and was quoted everywhere. An Honest Man, was the heading of the speech. Said Mr. Ludden : " Our agent at Washington says we can make a better bargain if we take land than if we trade for cash ! What, sir ! bargain our American territory and American citizens for land or cash ? Sell our citizens without their consent ! Sell them to the British, and to become subjects of a British King ! Sir, history informs us of only one solitary instance in this republic where a bargain of this kind was ever attempted ; and that was at West Point, in the secret session held by Benedict Arnold and Major Andre. Our title to the territory is indisputable. It was purchased for us. The price was blood — the blood of our fathers. And shall we, sir, like Esau, sell our birthright for a mess of pottage ? No sir ! heaven protect us from such disgrace. * * Sir, whoever this day votes for this disgraceful bargain will, I trust, live to see the time when the finger of scorn shall be pointed at him, and shall hear the contemptuous expression, ' You are one of the number who voted to sell a part of your country ! ' Yes, sir, we sell not only a part of our country, but our fellow citizens with it ; and among these citizens a member of this House, legally chosen by order of the constituted authorities of this State, and who has as good a right to his seat as any member on this floor. Sir, I enter my solemn protest against these whole proceedings." Public meetings were held in many of the towns — especially in the country towns — of the State, mdignantly and solemnly protesting against and denouncing " these whole proceedings," 60 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. calling upon the State authorities, upon our members of Con- gress and the federal government to arrest them, and to take prompt and vigorous measures to vindicate the honor of the State and nation, and to preserve their territory in its integrity. At a Fourth of July celebration, in Augusta, the sentiment, "Our hrctliren of Madawaska — a little too white to he sold ! " was drunk with tremendous applause, was published in the news- papers of the State, and of other States, was echoed in highway and byway, and repeated in the homes of the people. The result was, that the project fell through ; failed utterly, not to say ignominiously. ^ In the Legislature of the next year a Resolve was passed — on the fourth of March, 1833 — which repealed so much of the Resolve of the previous year under which Commi^jsioners had been appointed to arrange provisional terms of adjustment, as provided for the submission v -^ their report to the Legislature, and passed another Resolve to the effect " that no arrangement, provisional arrangement or treaty already made," or that may hereafter be made, or in pursuance of the Resolve to which this is additional, shall have any bind- ing force, effect or operation until the same shall have been submitted to the people of this State in their primary assemblies, and approved by a majority of their votes." And yet, within ten short years, and without submission to a vote of the people, this territory, " invaluable," as Governor Lincoln had declared it, these fellow citizens of ours — " a little too white to be sold " in 1832 — John Baker, holding title deeds from the two States, wife and children — " all my pretty chickens and their dam "— Wheelock, Bacon and their families, Peter Lezart, too, the repre- sentative, and hundreds more, were transferred and conveyed to a foreign Crown ! Nothing more of importance happened within the State in THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 61 1833, but at Washington, as will Ije seen, propositions of grave ^ncl dangerous import were l)eing considered. When the Legislature of l(S3-4 assembled, it was addressed by Governor Dunlap, in a message which reminded that body of the mistakes which had been made, and expressed a hope that, since we had escaped the dangers impending therefrom, there was " a way now open for the ultimate attainment of our rights." How blind and devious was the way in which the State de- partment at Washington was disposed to walk, Governor Dun- lap did not then know. Subsequent to the rejection, in 1832, of the advice of the King of Holland, ^e Senate passed a resolu- tion advising the President to open a new negotiation " according to the Treaty of Peace of 1783." Mr. Livingston was Secretary of State, and he renewed the negotiation in a manner which only an ascription of the grossest ignorance or stupidity on his part could rescue from the imputation of infidelity to the cause whose defence had been placed in his hands. He began by a half admission that the treaty could npt be executed. He violated the express instructions under which he was acting, by suggesting to the British Minister that Maine would probably give her consent to a conventional line. On the thirtieth of April, 1833, he wrote a letter to Mr. Vaughan, the British Min- ister, in which he mtimated that a line might be drawn from the monument to the highlands, though these highlands should not be foun'^. due north from the monument, and when the British Minister objected, that such a line might reach highlands east uf the meridian of the St. Croix, Mr. Livingston hastens to reply (the twenty-eighth of May), that " the American gov- ernment can make no pretensions to go further east than that (a due north) line ; but if, on a more accurate survey, it should be found that the line mentioned in the treaty should pass each of the highlands therem described, and that they should be found G2 THE NOKTII-EASTERN BOUNDARY. at some point furtlier west, thun the i)riiiciples to which I refer would apply, to wit : that the direction of the line to connect th^ two natural boundaries must he altered, so as to suit their ascer- tained position." Well might a committee of the Legislature of Massachusetts say, " It is with extreme mortification that we contemplate this subject. We see, or think we see, that not only the honor of the nation, hut the sovereignty of Maine and the interest of Massachusetts* have been totally disregarded." During the years 1835, 1836 and 1837, matters remained very much in statu quo, except that during all this time the government and people of New ]5runswick were gradually pushing their claims to the occupation and jurisdiction of the territory in dispute. The London Chronicle of the twenty-eighth of May, 1831, had said : " The disputed territory is now in our possession, and as we believe right is on our side, we would recommend the government not to part with it. Besides, 'j)<^s- scssion is nine points of the Imo" This advice had not been unheeded by the British authorities on either side of the At- lantic. The object seemed to be to gain time and put off nego- tiations until the British claims should be strengthened by length of possession and renewed and multiplied acts of jurisdic- tion and sovereignty. For, notwithstanding the covenants of neutrality between the powers, they were constantly violated, and with impunity, by the authorities and people of New Brunswick. So far had these encroachments extended before the close of the administration of Governor Dunlap, that, in his annual message for 1837, he felt constrained to address the Legislature in these 'strong and earnest terms : * It will be remembered that, at this time, Massachusetts was joint owner with Maine of the soil of the undivided wild lands of the latter State. THE NOHTII-EASTKUN DOUNDARY. 63 h I refer meet thg ir nscer- ^islature that we not only and the kl." 'einained time the jradually 1 of the ty-eighth w in our 6 would ides, 2>os- lot been the At- off nego- lened by [jurisdic- jnants of violated, of New close of s annual 3gislature omt owner ate. " It mr.st be conceded that our people and their State govern- ment have exercised a most liberal forbearance upon the subject, considering the series of years it has been agitated, and the suc- cessive incidental circumstances calculated to excite and aggravate popular feeling. Our soil and our sovereignty have been invaded. Over a portion of domain of incalculable value, owned jointly by this and our parent Commonwealth, an attempt has been made to establish an adverse claim. The jurisdiction of the State has been rendered inoperative, either for the protection of our soil or of our injured inhabitants. Under color of authority from a foreign government, our unoffending citizens, in time of peace, have been forced from their rightful homes, and dragged beyond the limits of the State. Trials for imaginary crimes have been instituted against them, and, upon our brethren, guilty of no offence, and charged with no wrong, the indignities of a foreign gaol have been imposed. Our political system has lodged, in the first instance, the power and the duty of protection with the federal government. To that government we have appealed, but relief has not come. Our lands are sequestered, our sovereignty is insulted and our injured citizens are unredressed. In this state of things, is it not due to our own self-respect as well as to the cause of justice, that the State of Maine should insist on being immediately placed by the govern- ment of the United States into the possession of the invaluable rights from which she has been so long excluded ? '' It is not easy to see how the case could have been presented more cogently and eloquently than it was in these noble words of Governor Dunlap. An earnest and able report was made to the Legislature by the joint committee, to which the question had been referred ; and the following Eesolves were passed by the Legislature : "Hesolved, That we view with much solicitude the British usur- pations and encroachments on the* north-easterly part of the terri- tory of this State. 64 THE NOUTII-EASTERN BOUNDARY. ^^ Resolved, That protonsions so groiiniUoss and fixtravapjant in- dicate a spirit of lioMtility which wo had no rooson to expect from a nation with wliom wo aro at poaco. " Kesolixid^ That vij:jilance, rosohition, firmness and union on the part of this State aro necessary in this state of the controversy. " Resolued, That the Governor ho authorized and requested to call on the President of tlio United States to cause the north- eastern boundary of this State to bo explored and surveyed and monuments erected, according to the treat}' of 1783. ^^ Resolved, That the co-operation of Massachusetts bo requested. "Resolved, That our Senators l)o instructed and our Represent- atives be I'equested to endeavor to obtain a speedy adjustment of the controversy." Copies of the Report and Resolves were orderecl to be sent to the President, the Governor of Massachusetts, to our Senators and Representatives in Congress, and to the Governors and Senators of all the other States. Here was notice, at last, that could not be mistaken, that the patience of the State was exhausted, and that the policy which had prevailed for several years, could not be continued without endangering the harmony of the relations heretofore subsisting between the State and the nation. The successor of Governor Dunlap was Edward Kent, and he came to the office of Governor in 1838, charged with the spirit which had been manifested by Governor Dunlap and the Legis- lature of 1837. In his annual message, he went over the essential points of the controversy, as it then stood, with great clearness and force. He said : "It has required, and still requires, all the talents of her" (England's) "statesmen and skill of her diplomatists, to render that obscure and indefinite which is clear and unambiguous. I THE NOimi-K VSTKUN BOUXDAHY. II, I cannot for a moment (loul)t tliat it* the same question should anno in i>riv!ito life, in relation to the boundaries of adjiuient farms, with the same evidence and the aamo arguments, it would ho de- cidtfd in any court, in any civilized country, without hesitation or doubt, according to our «',laims." r>ut (Ireiit liritiiiii d(^sirod, and was detenniniMl t<> have, direct coniniuiiicatidn hetwoeu her h)Wtir and u^iper rroviuce.s, and buliuved it to bo obtainuldu only by way of the Madawaska Kiver and Teniiscouata Lake. She sought it for a lon;^ tiiiic as a favor, that is, as a ^rant without an e([uivalent. Slu' had come to deniauJ it, and with it about one-third of our territory, as her ri^dit. I'revious to Governor Kent's term, in the year 1837, Kbenezer S. Greeley, of Dover, had been a])pointed by the State authori- ties to take the census of Madawaska, that the people living there might receive their portion of the " surplus revenue," as it was called, which, by an act of the Legislature, was to be divided, iKr capita, anu>ng the people of the State. He was arrested by the Provincial authorities while in the performance of this duty. Referring to the case, the Governor said : " A citizen of our State, Ebenozer S. Greeley, now lies imjirisoned at Fredericton, seized, as it is said, for exercising power delegated to him under a law of this State. The faces connected with this arrest are uidcnown to me, and I therefore forbear to comment at this time upon them. But if the facts are that he was so seized, for such a lawful act, the dignity and sovereignty of the State demand his immediate release." Here, it will be observed, no humble request, such as was ad- dressed to Mr. IJankhead, is contemplated, but a peremptory demand. The Governor conthiues : " I am aware that we are met by the assertion that the parties have agreed to permit the actual jurisdiction to remain, pending 5 1 r 1 \- i i li < ! }. 1 1 1 66 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. the negotiation as it existed before. I have yet seen no evidence that such an agreement was formally entered into by the parties. But certainly Maine was no party to such an understanding; and at all events, it never could have been intended to be perpetually binding, or to extend beyond the termination of the then pending negotiation. Tluit negotiation is ended. The old ground of claim at Mars Hill is abandoned ; a new allegation is made — that the treaty cannot be executed and must be set aside. In the mean- time this wardenship" — New Brunswick, it should be said, had appointed one McLnugnlan Warden of all this territory — " is estab- lished, and all claim to absolute jurisdiction, not merely at Mada- waska, but over the whole territory north, is asserted and enforced. If this jurisdiction is to be tolerated and acquiesced in indefinitely, we can easily see why negotiation lags, and two years elapse be- tween a proposition and the reply." Referring to the latest phase of the British contention, of which Governor Kent makes mention, viz: "that the treaty cannot be executed," it is curious to note the changes that had taken place in the pretensions of Great Britahi since the treaty was made. At first, and until the Treaty of Ghent, the con- ceded line was north of the river St. John, and upon the St. Lawrence water-shed. Subsequently to 1817, for some ten years, it was at Mars Hill. After this, it was discovered that there had been a mistake made in determining the source of the river St. Croix ; it was, in fact, at the head of the western branch, and so the highlands contemplated in the treaty of peace were those which divided the waters of the Penobscot and the Ken- nebec, on one side, from those of the St. John on the other. But these claims were so palpably absurd and contradictory, and were so thoroughly exploded by the Legislatures of Maine and Massachusetts, by their Governors and statesmen, that Eng- land was fain to abandon them, one after another, and rely upon the assumption that the treaty could not be executed, by lat tht THE NORTII-EASTEEN BOUNDARY. 67 jvidence parties, ig; and petually pending of claim that the 16 mean- aid, had is estab- [it Mada- enforced. efinitely, (lapse be- ntion, of le treaty that had he treaty , the con- 11 the St. some ten that there the river 11 branch, eace were the Ken- the other, radictory, of Maine that Eng- , and rely icuted, by reason of the uncertain and contradictory character of its lan- guage. To return to the message of Governor Kent. He urged tliJit the first duty of the State was to claim the immediate and efficient action of the general government ; said that her rights must be vindicated and maintained, " and, if all appeals for aid and protection are in vain and li-r constitutional rights are disregarded, forl;)earance may cease to be a virtue, and, in the language of the lamented Lincoln, Maiu!j ' may be compelled to deliberate on an alternative which will test the strictness of her principles and the firmness of her temper.' " " I confess," said the Governor, in bringing his observations on this subject to a close, " that my convictions are strong tliat Maine has been wronged by a foreign government and neglected by her own ; and I do not understand the diplomatic art of softening the expression of unpalatalile truths." The earnest language of Governors Dunlap and Kent, and the Resolves of the Legislature, had the effect to awaken the general government to a more vigorous effort than it had put forth for a long thne, towards effecting an adjustment of tlie question. John Forsyth, of Georgia, had become Secretary of State, and on the first of March, 1838, he addressed a long comnnmication to Governor Kent, enclosing copies of a pro- tracted correspondence between him and Mr. Fox, the British Minister, on the subject of the boundary, and requesting the Governor to take the sense of the State as to the opening of direct negotiation for a conventional line. He conceded that such a line could n(jt be established without the assent of the State of Maine. This communication, with the accompanying correspondence, was by the Governor transmitted to the Legis- lature, with a message, in which he reviewed, to some extent, the history of previous negotiations, and stated the objections f)8 THE X0imi-EASTE1!N BOUNDARY. Avliicli, to his iniiul, ])()rc against any voluiitoermg of proposi- ti(jiis for a convciitioiuil line. He said : " I fear that if we aljandon the treaty lanritisli autliori- ties, was only made tlie pretext and excuse for steadily renewing and increasing the claims of New Brunswick to ownersliip and jurisdiction, and of denyhig all right of occupation and juris- diction on the part of the State of Maine ; so that, witliin ten years from this arrangement, we find Sir John Harvey, Lieuten- ant-Governor of New Brunswick, claiming to have, under an agreement of the two governments, the right to exclusive pos- session of the territory until the thne of a final decision in regard to the boundary; and that, to secure the political enjoy- ment of such right, he had placed the entire territory, to a })oint many miles south of the Aroostook Piiver, under the supervi- sion and control of an officer called a " Warden." This insolent and audacious claim was made known to the State and federal authorities only to be denied and refuted, and it put the former on the inquiry whether the State, by non-action in presence of such claim, shouhl yield to it a practical acquiescence. The result was the appointment of a Surveyor, Dr. S. S. Whipple, of East- M i 70 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. port, to survey several townships of land on or near the Aroos- took River. While Dr. Whipple was engaged in the perform- ance of this service, lie received a communicttion from James IVIcLaiighlan, •' Warden of the Disputed Territory," as he called liiniself, " protesting and warnhig " him forthwith to desist from liis proceedings. To which Dr. Whipple made answer — that acknowledging no governjnent or power but that of the State under wliich he had tlie honor of acting, sullicient to control his duty or countermand the orders which governed his present movements, he should coi . .uue to carry out the instructions that had been given liim. In the meanthne, Irovernor Kent had transmitted the report and resolutions of the Legislature asking that the boundary line should be run, to the I'resident and to our Members of Congress. He made representation of our unprotected frontier, and re- quested that lines of defence and military posts should be estab- lished ; and he invited Hon. Charles S. Daveis, of I'ortland, to visit Washhigton in behalf of the State, to explain aiKl urge these requests. Mr. Forsytli, the Secretary of State, seemed more deeply impressed than liis immediate predecessor had been with the strength of the claims of Maine. He received these communi- cations of the Governor m an apj: reciative spirit, and his agent with the consideration due to liis personal character, and with the courtesy which distinguished the character and bearing of the accomplished Secretary. Among the results of these prompt and vigorous measures on the part of the Governor of Maine, were (1) a letter from Major General Maconil), advising bun that IJrigadier General John E. Wool, Inspector General, would be instructed to repair to the State of Maine, and make a reconnoissance with a view of ascer- taining its military features and resources, project a plan for its THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 71 defence by the estal)lishment of military posts and communica- tions, arsenals, depots of arms, munitions, &c., — duties which were soon afterwards performed. (2.) In the langua<^e of Governor Kent, " The question was rescued from the death-like stupor in winch it had so long rested ; a new impulse was given to the cause. For the first time, the whole subject was made the foundation of a Congressional report, and elicited in investi- gation and debate the talents and eloquence of some (jf our ablest statesmen. * * * j^ was assumed and treated as a national matter which involved the vital interests of one mem- ber of the confederacy, and the plighted ^aith and constitutioual obligations of the Union to make the controversy its own." Referrhig to the able and decided report of Mr. Buchanan (from which I have already quoted), the Governor says : " The Re- solves, finally adopted in both branches without a dissenting vote, fully assert the unquestionable justice of our cause, and the validity of our title." Remarking upon the Senate debate, alluded to by Governor Kent, Mr. Da /eis, on his return to Maine, aaid in his report : "Among the Senators most conspicuous in the part they took in support of the views expressed in the report of the com- mittee," were Mr. Reuel Williams, Mr. Webster, Mr. John Davis and Mr. Clay. Of Mr. Davis, he observes : " Without derogation from the merits of any other honorable memljcr of tli.af body, it may be due to say that he distinguished himself throughout the debate as the inflexible and unllhiching champion of the rights of Maine, and of the position she had assumed, and the principles she had maintained through circumstances of great trial to her fortitude and forbearance." The general government having neglected to take measures for ascertaining and running the boundary line by the first of September, the Governor, on the third of that month, appointed 72 THE NOIITII-EASTERX BOUNDARY. Jolin (r. Deane, Milford P. Norton and James Irisli, Es([uires, Comniissioncrs to ])urform that duty, in ])ursuance of tlie pro- visions of the Resolve of the twenty-third of March, ISo.S. These j^entlcnnen, of wlioni the two last named had been land iiL^-ents of the State, on the tliirteenth of September, and after a conference witli the CJovernor, i)roceeded to the per- foriHinice of the service with which they had been charged, and on tlie thirty-first of Decemljer made their report. In comnmnicating tliis report to tlie Legislature of 1839, Governor Kent gives the substantial facts that appear in it. He says : V " Tlieir report, which I have the pleasure to transmit to you, will he road with interest and satisfaction. By that it appears that the ex])loring line was found marked to near the north-west angle, ; that the base of the countr}/ rises constantly and regularly from the monument at the head of the St. Croix to the angle, which is from two to three thousand feet above the level of the sea, and more than five hundred feet above the Kedgwick, one of the streams running into the Bay of Chaleurs, near the said angle and the St. Lawrence waters ; that the due north line, if continued to the valley below the north-west angle, actually strikes the St. Lawrence waters, and that the country is high, and even mountain- ous alxmt this spot ; and there is no difficulty in tracing a line westwardly along distinct and well-defined highlands, dividing waters according to ^ lie words of the treaty." And thus there was brushed away forever the flimsy and worthless pretext which liad formed of late years so prominent a feature of the British case, viz : that it was impossible to iind a line that conformed to the language of tlie treaty. Of this fact there never had been any doul)t ni this State — indeed, the proposition was one which was scarcely susceptible of doubt. THE XOKTII-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 73 But the energy and fidiility of our State govorniuout at tliis time were not limited by these measures, necessary and im- portant as they were. It liad come to tlie knowledf^e of the State Land i\,i>ent, the Hon. Eli jail L. Handin — and let me stop here to say that I cannot mention the name of this admirahle gentleman without some allusion to the wisdom, probity and genial humor liy wliich his life was so strongly marked, and which has made his memory so pleasant to all of his surviving contemporaries, who had the good fortune to be hi!=: intimate friends, — tliat trcs])assing on our timber lands within the territory in dispute liad l)een carried on for several years, and was then being counaitted by parties from the Province, and sometimes under license from its authorities. Accordingly this officer, in concert witli (leorge W. Coffin, Esquire, Land Agent of Massachusetts, on the fourteenth of December, deputed George W. Buckmore, Es(piire, to pro- ceed to the territory, ascertain and report the facts, and remove and sell, under the provisions of an act of the LegiKlatur(! passed in 1831, the teams and supplies of the trespassers. r>y the report of Mr. Buckmore, D:.ade on the twentieth of January, 1839, it appeared that large numbers of men from New Ih'uns- wick were trespassing on these lands, who not only refused to desist from cutting timber on them, Ijut defied the powers of the State to stay their operations. These facts were communicated to the Legislaturii ])y Gov- ernor Fairfield (who had been elected as successor to (governor Kent) on the twenty-third of January, 1839. Witli tliis mes- sage, the "Aroostook War," an event not unfamed in history nor unknown to song, may be properly said to have commenced — a war which, notwithstanding the ridicule attached to some of its episodes, and its tame conclusion, forms a chapter in tli(3 his- tory of our State which does real honor to its border chivalry. 74 THE NORTII-EASTEEN BOUNDARY. ^The people of the State were tlioroii^rlily fironsed— they had risen to the hei-^dit of the s in Congress had main- tained in debate our claims and rights with power and effect ; and in her Legislature, a report of a committee, of which Hon. Charles Hudson was chairman, was made, in which the subject was treated with conspicuous fullness and cogency, and resolu- tions were passed, declarnig that the British claim was totally unfounded, and would, if persisted in, lead to a disturbance of friendly relations between the two countries ; that the govern- ment of the United States had no power, under the Constitution, to cede to a foreign nation any territory lying within the limits of any State ; that the proposition made by a late Executive of the United States to the British government, to seek for the " Highlands " toest of the meridian of the St. Croix, v/as a de- parture from the express language of the treaty, an infringement of the rights of Maine and Massachusetts, and in derogati'^n of the Constitution of the United States ; that the proposition for a conventional line was calculated to strenuthen the claim of Great Britain, impair the honor of the United States, and put in jeopEirdy the interests of Maine and Massachusetts. The Governor of the Commonwealth was directed to send copies of the report and resolutions to the President of the United States, the Governors of the several States and to the members of Congress from Massachusetts, and request the latter to use all THE XORTII-EASTEllX BOUNDARY. hoiiora1)le means to bring the contrcjversy to a just and speedy termination. Governor Fairfield, in his annual message of 18.39, following closely in tlie footsteps of his predecessor, said : " If, however, the general government under no circumstances should be disposed to take the lead in measures less pacific than those hitlierto pursued, yet I trust we are not remodik\ss. If Maine sliould take possession of her territory up to the line of the trfeaty of 1783, resolved to maintain it with all the force she i8 capable of exerting, any attempt on the part of tlie British govern- ment to wrest that possession from her must bring the gene 1 government to her aid and defence, if the solemn obligations of the Constitution of the United States are to be regarded as o. any validity." On the twenty-fourth of January, the Legislature ] 'nssed a Resolve directmg the Land Agent to employ fortiiwitli, . suffi- cient force to arrest, detain and imprison all persons found trespassing on the territory of this State, as bounded by the treaty of 1783. Laider the authority of this Resolve, the Land Agent, with two hundred chosen men, repaired to the Aroostook River, where they understood were some three hundred men from the Province, armed and arrayed for the purpose of resistance. On the approach of the Maine " Posse," as it was called, the Pro- vincial force retired towards the New Brunswick luie, followed by the Land Agent, the Hon. Rufus Mclntire, and his assist- ants, G. G. Cushman and Thomas Ikrtlett, Esquires, who went to the house of one Fitzherbert, where they put up for the night. This place was three or four miles in advance of the encamp- ment of their company. In the night, the trespassers — who had become acquainted with these facts — went, to the number of fifty or more, to Fitzlierbert's, seized the Land Agent and his 76 THE NOUTH-EASTEUN BOUNDAllY. assistants, iuul transported tliorn across tlu'. border, and tluinee to Frcdci-icton. Col. P^benezer Weljster, a pnnnineiit citizen uf Oroiu) ill this State, who was at Woodstock when the prisoners were broii^^lit tliere, attempted to i)rocure their release. Ihit his a])peals to the authorities, so far from elfecthig the dischar;^e of tlie jtrisoiiers, leil to his own arrest, nnd lie was sent witli tlie others to Fredericton, where they were all tlirown into i)rison. Wiit'ii these facts became known at Aui^usta, Governor Fair- field rtM[uested Hon. Jonathan R K(\t,'ers, a distinj^'uished citizen of lian^or and a former Attorney General of the State, to visit Fredericton and ascertain the facts, as nnderstood there, in rela- tion to the alxluction of the Land Aj^ent and his party, and to demand tlieir instant release. This mission of Mr. Eogers re- sulted i.i the release of these gentlemen on their parole. The rrovincial "Warden," McLaughlan, had in the meantime been arrested by the Land iVgent's posse and sent to Ikngor. He was diitained for a short time, and then released ou parole, by order of Governor FairHeld. On the thirteenth of February, the Governor of New Bruns- wick issued a proclamation, hi which it was recited that he had ordered a sufficient military force to proceed to the scene of certain idleged outrages, to repel foreign invasion, &c. This proclamation and tlie arrest of tlie Laud Agent and his assistants were made the subjects of a spirited message by Governor Fairlield to the Legislature, on the eighteenth of February. " How long," he inquired, "are we to be thus trampled upon — our rights and claims derided — our powers contemned — and the State degraded ? * * We cannot tamely submit to be driven from our territory, while engaged in the civil employment of looking after and protecting our property, without incurring a large measure of ignominy and disgrace." THF, NDIiTII-RASTKim BOCXDAUY. t I Tli(^ L('f;isliitur(', on tl\(! twisntii'th of Fubrunry, ]);iss('(l n PiGSolvo ])r(»vi(liiij4' for the ruisiii^' and forwarding' forthwitli of ii military force to tlio toi'ritory to ])rev(;nt furtliur (loprndations ; and tli(i sum of oij^dit hundred tliousand dollars vvasa]))iro])riat(;d to carry out the ])ur]>()ses of the llesolve and of the IJesolve of the twenty-fourth of January. A liesolve was passed on the twenty -second of I-'ehruary, requesting the Governor to hiform the President of tlic iiction of Maine, and to request the aid of the general government in support of the rights of the State. In transmitting these Iiesolves and other documents to the President of the l"nit(;d States, Governor Fairfield says: "In this state of things, I have to inform your Excollcnry that our citizens now upon this territory, engaged in the service of the State, will not leave it without accomplishing their ohject, unless compelled so to do h}^ a superior force ; that one thousand drafted men will march to the Aroostook on Wednesday, the twenty-first instant, to aid and assist the Land Agent in carrying into effect the liesolve of the twenty-fourth of January. I shall forthwith proceed to order a further draft of the militia of at least ten thou- sand men, who will hold themselves in readiness to march. Such farther measures as may be found necessary to take and maintain the rights of this State in the premises, I assure your Excellency I shall not fail to take, and that with as much pronqttness as circumstances will permit." The Governor then makes a formal call upon the I'resident " for that aid and assistance which the whole States have guar- anteed to each in such an emergency." Orders were issued by the Governoj and Commander-in-Chief for calling out and mobilizing the militia of the State. Major General Isaac Hodsdon, of the Third Division, was placed in command of the troops that were ordered out, and which con- 78 TIIK NOltTH-EASTF.ltN BOUNHAKY. Histt'd f»f iilxMit elevt'ulmiulrt'd men fr<»m the Tliird Division and tliiilccn (Mmi])anit!.s from tlu! Second Division, enilmicitif,' cavalry, artillery, infantry and rillcfincn. Those trooi)s were stationed at • litl'erent jxiints on the frontier, from lloukou to the Aroostook Jtiver. A detachment of thn^e luuidred and sixty-nine men was (quartered at ('alais. It was under the command of Major ( Jenend Foster. < )rd(!rs were issued for callin;^' seek to expel, by military force, the armed party which has been sent by Maine into the ilistrict bordering on the Aroostook Tiiver, but that the government of Maine will voluntarily, and without unneces- sary delay, withdraw beyond the bounds of the disputed territory any armed force now witliin them ; and that if future necessity should arise for dispersing notorious tres])assers or protecthig public property from de})redation, the operation shall be con- ducted by concert, jointly or severally, according to agree- ment between the governments of Maine and New Brunswick." An arrangement better cf^lculated than this to prolong the dis- pute, and thicken its embarrassments, can scarcely be conceived. THE NORTir-E ASTERN noUXDARY. 70 isidii and r ciiviilry, tinned at Uodstook lini! UKiii maud of (tut three L's of the seventli, e Ei^litli ; but this he fore all a message ,vhich had a messnj^c tweeu Mr. ajireeiiient A'hich did [)iniiieuded >y military ►lahie into ; that the t unneces- ;d territory e necessity protecthig dl be con- to agree- Jrunswick." )ng the dis- 3 conceived. It found no favor in this State. After a clear aTid candid review of tlie situation by tlie (governor in a niessage to the Legislature wliich eonnnunicated the agreement t(t that liody, he expressed the oitinion that it ouglit not to be ftcce])ted, and gave strong and convincing reasons in snjijxirt of that opinion. Jhit he said he would recommend the fdllowing: '* Tliiit when wo are fully Hatinficd, either by the dceliirutiou of the Lieutenant-Governor of New Bruiiswiek, or otherwi.se, that he has abaiuloiuid all idea of occupying the disputed ten*itory with a military force, and of atttuujitiug an exjtulsion of our party, that then tho Governor be authorized to withdraw our military force, leaving tho Land Agent with a posse, armed or unarmed, as tho case may recjuire, sufficient to carry into effect your original design, that of driving out or arresting the trespassers, and preserving and pro- tecting tie timber from their depredations." The Legislature, on the twenty-third of March, pjissed lieso- lutions asserting that the right of tins State to exclusivi; juris- diction over all the disputed territory had been constant, and was indefeasible, and that no agreement had ever been made which could impair her prerogative to be the sole judge of the time when, and the measure in which, that right should be erd'orced ; that in view of measures recently adojtted by the government of the Union m relation to this (piestion* and particularly the provision made for a special Minister to the court of St. James, and actuated by a desire for an amicable settlement, she would forbear to exercise her jurisdiction over that part of her territory now usurped by l^ •; Province of New l^runswick, so far as she could consistently v. itli the maintenance of the Kesolve of the twenty-fourth of January last; but that she had seen nothing in recent events to cause her to doubt that it was her imperative duty to protect her domain, and that no power on earth should drive her from an act of jurisdiction so proper in itself, and to 80 THE XOIITII-EASTEKN BOUNDAEY. wliioli licr honor v/as irrevf)CJibly committed; that the action of the Govornor had their cordial approbation, and that tliey con- curred in tne doctrines and sentiments contained in liis recent messafje, and wouhl authorize him to withdraw the troo])s on the conditions therein set forth ; that the practicability of runnhig and ^narkinL>' the line, in conformity with the treaty, was Ijcyond a doubt, and that a crisis liad arrived when it was the duty of the general government co have the line run, either by a joint connnission or on her own authority. It should be said tliat tlie action of the State at this time met with the strong and general approval of the country, which seemed at L st to be thoroughly awakened to the gravity of the situation, to a full recognition of the serious wrongs that had been, iniiicted upon ]\Iaine, to her indisputable title and to her long forbearance, and it pledged her its support. Maryland and Alabama from the South sent, through resolutions of their Legislatures, *vords of sympathy and prolFers of co-operation, as Virginia and Kentucky liad done before ; Massaclnisetts re- ^ eated her just appreciation of the rights of Maine and of tlie wrongs she had suffered ; New York, Pennsylvania and all New England had the year before signified their purpose to stand for the ilefence of our soil, wliilo this year Indiana joined W'th Ohio in " a generous oblation of her whole means and resources to the authorities of" the Union, in sustaining our rights and honor." By an act of Congress, upon a report of a House Committee, the President was autliorized to resist and repel any attempt on the part of Great Britain to enforce by arms her claim to exclu- sive jurisdiction. The whole military and naval forces of the United States were placed at his disposal, with such portions of the militia as he might see fit to call out for our protection. THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 81 K'tioii of wy con- s recent •()0])s on nuniing Ijoyond duty of a joint inie met y, which :y of the hat had id t(j her laryland of their ■ation, as setts re- i and of I and all rpose to la joined 3ans and nng our mniittee, tempt on to exclu- es of the 3rtions of rotection. An approi)riation of ten millions of dollars for the purpose was made. At this stage of the proceedings in Maine, Major (reneral Win- tield Scott, U. S. A., appeared upon the scene. At the instance of the President he visited Augusta, and after a conference with Governor l''airdeld and members of the State Legishiture, and reaching an understanding with Sir Jdhn Harvey, the Lieuten- ant-Governor of New Ih'unswick — between whom und himself there had long existed a warm personal friendship — an arrange- ment was effected by wliich the Maine troops were withdrawn from the disputed lands, and peace restored. This agreement is reported by Governor Fairlield, in his annual message of 1840, as follows: " Soon after the adoption of this resolution — March the twenty- third — I received tliL- written assent of the Lieutenant-Governor of tlie Province of New Brunswick to the following proposition made to him hy General Scott, to wit : " ' That it is not the intention of the Lieutenant-Governor of her Britannic Majesty's Province of New Brunswick, under the expected renewal of negotiations between the Cabinets of London and Wash- ington on tlie said disputed territory, without renewed instructions to that effect from his government, to seek to take military pos- session of that territory, or to seek, by mihtary force, to expel the armed civil posse or the troops of Maine.' " It appearing to me that the precise contingency contemplated by the LegisUiture, had occurred, I could not hesitate to recall the troops." Orders for the return of the troops were issued on the twenty- tifth of March, and by the thirteenth of May the last of them were paid off and mustered out of service at Bangor. And so ended the "Aroostook War," after an expenditure, I think, of something more tliau a million dollars by the State, all of which, 6 x^-*' 82 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. it may be said, was re-imlKirsed l>y the general goveriunent. It tested, at lepst, and not to tlieir discredit, tlie patriotism and martial temper of our people. If in any way unsatisfactory in its results, it was not tlieir fault, l^ut something. Governor Fairfield considered, had been accomplished by it. He said : " The occurrences of last winter served to awaken the attention of the country to the momentous importance of the question, and to induce such an examination of it as to result in a strong and universal conviction tluit the pretence of claim set up by Great Britain to the disputed territory is palpably unfounded and unjust, and can be jiersevered in only through an utter disregard of the plain and unambiguous terms of tlie treaty of 1783." Not long after the withdrawal of the troops, a proposition was snbu'itted by the Ihitish government to the President for a commission of ex])loration and survey, but it was coupled with such conditions that one would think it must have been made for the sole purpose of Ijchig rejecteil, with a view to gain- ing time, and the advantages that might be expected from a protracted " Wardenship " of the country. That time and its accidents were considered, is rendered more than probable by the steps taken by (Jreat Britain concurrently with the negotia- tion. She sent out a commission of her own — Messrs. i\ludge and Featherstonehaugh — to obtain, as she expressed it, tc^o- graphical information. Failing in all points as yet taken, or imagined, she set herself to work to discover if there might not be new ones more tenable or more plausible than the old, at any rate, to gain time Nor was the ([uest a vain one in her estimation, for this remarkable commission disco\"f''red and re- ported that all previous surveys, reports and opinions were erroneous, and that the true line, the actual highlands, were far south, not only of the river St. Joliii, but of Mars Hill ! And when it was answered that this line was not indicated by any lit. It sill and jtory in overnor said : ttention ion, and long and y Great I unjust, II of the ])nsition ideiit for led wit! I sen made to uain- id from a i and its baljle by I neo'otia- ■s. i\ludge . it, to\xj- taken, or TO niiglit I the old, )ne in her d and re- ions were ,, were far ill ! And id by any THE xoiitii-eastp:rx boundary. highlands such as were mentioned in the treaty as forming the Itoundary, they replied, in substance, that there was every reason to believe that once tit ere vjere Jw/Jdands lolvrc their line tvus drawn, vjJiich in the course of time — it in a// hare heen miUions of //ears — /i"d heed ahrodrd and vjorn aican. This position was seriously taken by the British government, and urged upon tlie United States. That government would seem to have believed that no claim, no affront even, could arouse the temper of the American goverimient : and certainly it is not strange that she should have formed this opinion. Edward Kent, who had been elected Governor for the second time, addressed the Legislature of 1(8-41, upon the assembling of that body in January. lief erring to the boundary rpiestion, he said : " It is universally conceded by every American, that the treaty of 1783, fairly interpreted and honestly executed, would sustain all our claim * * ; that the ready obedience with which our chosen soldiery responded to the call of their commander, and the un- shaken zeal with which* they inarched from their comfortable homes, in the depth of winter, into the interior forests, and the firm determin.ation which was manifested by every man to sustain the assertion of our rights, must have satisfied all that, although Maine, for th'3 sake of tlie peace and quiet of the country, * * might forbear to enforce her extreme rights, pending negotiations, there was yet a point beyond which she would not submit to en- crojKihments * * ; that she has a right to ask, when she has yielded so much, that her motives should be appreciated, and her cause become the cause of the whole countiy. * * 'And that the assumed line of self-styled geologists, based on imaginary and theoretical highlands which never had any existence save in tlie fancies of these men, was unworthy of respect.' " At this session of the Legislature, Mr. Daveis, who was a member of the Senate, made, as chairman of the committee on 84 THE NCiRTII-EASTEItN BOUNDARY. this fi'i •-!'op, a coiiiprelieiisive and oxliaiistive report; and, allljungli a gentleman of extreme moderation and rare courtesy, lie was moved, after some remarks in reference to the report of Mudge and Featherstonehaugh, to say that the committee " are only restrained from speaking of it further hy the respect tliat is due to the cliannei througli wliich it conu's, ratluT than to the source from which it proceeds ; from speakuig — they mean to say as it deserves — i>f wliat otlierwise might he tenned its impudence, its audacity and its mendacity ; of its .so[»]iistries and evasions ; of its assumptions as well as suppressions ; of its ]irolHgate perversions, and its presumptions and extravagant ]»retensions." If ever trilling and contemptuousness can he practiced hy one nation towards another ho far as to hecome an affront, which, by the laws of honor and the duties of self-respect, as they are recognized among civilized nations, would justify an appeal to arms, the making, publishing and offering as evidence of title l)y tlie British government, of this impudent and insult- ing report, furnislied justification for sf hundred declaraiiions of hostilities such as are settled only on the field of battle. Governor Kent, in this message of 1841 (.fcirs to a proced- ure on the part of Great Ih'itain, which, it Either illustration were needed of the underhanded and offensive manner which it seems to have been her policy and her purpose to practice towards this government, would amply supply it. It will be remembered that when our troops were withdrawn from the Aroostook, hi March, 1839, it was upon a written proposition made l)y the Lieutenant-Governor of New Bruns- w'. iv r^nd submitted through General Scott to' the Governor of INIaine, in which he agreed, among other things, in the absence of renewed instructions from Phigland, not to seek to talx mili- terriforij. This promise was i ''// posscf^ of 'U' ?pted THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 85 ; ftiiJ, urtc'sy, ijjort of ee " are ct that ,lian to y mean nied its •ies and of its avagant iced by affront, respect, :stify an evidence I insult- ifiono of , proced- istration which it practice thdrawn written ' lirnns- Aernor of ! absence ahc mili- :epted as e ever ji'iven ; made in good faith. No ren-^wed instracti'jns wer that would have l)een war. Thit the ditliculty was avoided in this way. Great Ih'itain ([iiietly transferred the jiirisiHctiou of tliis territory from New IJrunswick to Canadti, and witlun a few months after tliis solemn agreement, in the invi(jlability of which Maine and the federal government fully confided, a portion of the British army was (quartered liy order of tlu; Gov- ernor General of Canada, at Lake Temiscouata, within thi; limits of this State. I make the following extract froin the message of Governor Kent : " Tlio correspondence which has recently been communicated to you by my predecessor, discloses another movement on tlie part of the British authorities, well calculated to arrest attention and call forth indignant remonstrance on the part of Maine and the Union. If I am correctly informed, in a very short time after the conclusion of the agreement by which it was, in effect, stipulated that the British authorities should not take military possession of what is termed by them ' the disputed territory,' and during the existence of that arrangement, a detachment of Her Majesty's troops was stationed at Temiscouata Lake, witlun that territory, and has been continued there ever since. And we are now informed that another detachment has been moved to and stationed at the Madawaska settlement, for the pur[)ose of sustaining the jurisdic- tion and supporting the exercise of authority on the part o. the British magistrates." In 1842, Governor Fairfield was again in office. John Tyler was President of the United States, and Daniel Wv'bster was Secretary of State. In his annual message to the Legislature, the Governor said that the State had "good grounds to believe a fair and reason- able proposititjn on the part of our government, with a view to 86 THE NORTH-EASTETIN BOUNDAEY. a final and amicable settlement of tlie question, lias remained another year nnauswered, if not luinoticf.d" He thouji'lit there was no room for doubt or hesitancy as to the course wlii(di tlie general government ouglit to pursue. He observed tliat " nitional honor, as well as justice to ]\Iaine, clearly indicate it — and that is, to purge the soil of tliis State eilectually, and witliout delay, of every vestige (jf Ih'itisli encroachment ; and then, if there is to lie further negotiation upon this subject, let it ])e on the part of Great Ih'itain to oltuiii what for more than ■* a quarter of a century she has refused to yield. When a reasonable expectation can no longer l)e entertahied that the general government wdl adopt this, or some equally efficacious course, if Mahie is true to herself, she will take possession of the wh.'ile territory, and, if need l)e, use all the means which God and nature have placed in her hands to maintain it." referring to the exploration and survey which the general government had at last undertaken, and whicl^ '^vere understood to have been nearly completed, he remarked that it was believed that it would " add a confirmation of our title which nu ingenuity could avoid or effrontery deny." On the seventeenth of Tanuary, resolutions were passed in- structing our Senators to call on the President for information as to the state of negotiations, to which j\Ir. Webster replied that no corrcs'pondGnre had tahen place ivliich, in his judgment, could he made pv.hli" icithout 'prejudice to the public interest. A joint-select •'oimnitLce, of which Hon. Edward Kavanagh was chairman, made a repuri on the seventh of March, in whicli liberal extracts from the Gedient at that time to do more than re-state the position of Maine ; in doing which the committee took care to say tliat " Maine, throu.Ljli her Le<;islature, lias uniformly protested a arbiter in its full extent, wo feel bound to siiy, after the most careful and anxious consideration, that we cannot bring our minds to the conviction that the proposal is such as Maine had a right to expect. "But we are not unaware of the expectations which have been and still are entertained of a favorable issue to this negotiation by the government and people of this country, and the great disap- pointment which would be felt and expressed at its failure. Nor are we unmindful of the future, warned as we have been by the past, that any attempts to determine the line by arbitration may be either fruitless, or with a result more to be deplored." And so they consent to say that if the judgment of the nation shall demand the sacrifice, and the Senate of the United States shall advise and consent to it, their assent will not be withheld, although it will involve " a surrender of a portion of the birth- right of the ])eople of their State, and prized by them because it is their birthright." The fact is, j\Ir. Webster was determined that the question should be settled at all events. He reasoned, he implored, he TIIK NOHTH-EASTKUN HOUNDAUV. 01 .f July, . One ilS coii- 'iiior, t(» ic yriuf iiuot be uToiuler pi ire, iis -defined , I (OS ides , we feel ion, that o[»osal is ave been iation by at disap- e. Nor n by the :ion may u nation d States withheld, le birth- bucause question ored, he thr"at(',n('(l. Ho had coniiccted tJiis (|uosti()n with (ttlicrs — qiU!sti()ns which W((ri' iiid, mm! well scitlcd by tiie ti-rnis of tiio trt!iity, mid which tlic wliolc coiiiitry wms anxious to sec; settled — iind thus had brouwlit all these inteivsts and intlucnccvs to lirar on the Maine ( 'onnnissioners. New York was to ;^ret lJous(''s Point; there was the ('ai'ojine case; tht; Crcol.' case; and tile ri,i;iit of search ; tiie sui>i>ivssion of tlie slave trade on tlie coast of Africa — iini)ortant matters, all, and all virtually and wisely adjusttMl l)y the treaty or by the correspondence and informal nei^'otiations at the time. It was like the casi^of makin^f a oeneral appro[)riation bill carry an obnoxious measure. All tliese inthiences were brou;^dit into consjiiracy a<;ainst our Commissioners. The business inte4'i!sts of the country iiwjded the assurance that there were to be no disturbances, no war — an almost solid South deniiuided that the (|uestion should be put at rest. For one, althouj^di I have never ceased to regret that the Commissioners yielded, I have not had it in my heart to find fault with them, knowhij^s not only from the pu])lic history of the affair, but also from many conversations with a prominent member of the Commission, the straits into which they were thrown and the force and character of the demands that were made upon them. In their letter to the Governor of Maine, in which they reported their d(nnos as Commissioners, they complain that they, as well as the Legislature and ]ieo))le of the State, had been misled by the assurances which had been given in respect to the extent of the power hitrusted to the British PlenipoUnitiary, " Instead," they say, " of being clothed with full power to nego- tiate a mutual exchange of contiguous territory for the purpose of removina; the acknowledged inconveniences resulting from the treaty line of demarcation, we soon learned that he had no authority to concede a single acre of British territory adjoining IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT.3) // II I.I 11.25 ■ 50 ■^™ ■^ m m m « 12.0 US |2. 2 I U 11.6 Photographic _Sciences Corporation \ V k v ^ <^ 6^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. I4S80 (716) 872-4503 ^v ^ I/. %' n THE NORTH-EASTEUN BOUNDARY. ]\I;une — nay, not even the smallest of her islands in Passama- (|ll( )(ltly Bay. Notliin<' is more certain than this — that if the Governor had understood that the assurances made to him in the letter of the Secretary of State were unauthorized by anythhig in the instructions to the Minister, there would have been no special session of the Legislature. Tliat this was the opinion of the Commissioners is manifest from their report. " The views of the Legislature," they say, " so repeatedly expressed, were opppsed to any assent on the part of its agents," to a ratification of the line of the King of Holland. Yet the line of 1842 was less favorable to Maine tlian that. The pressure was such, however, that the consent of the State was finally given, on the condition, as the Commissioners inform the Governor, " that in the o]>iuion of the Senate of the United States, Maine ought, under existing circumstances, to assent to so great a sacrifice of her just claims for the peace and harmony and general welfare of the Union." The ratification of the treaty was vigorously opposed in the Senate by Mr. Williams, of this State, Col. Benton, Mr. Buchanan, and others. Mr. Woodbury, of Xew Hampshire, criti'^ised its provisions with much severity, but intimated that, since Maine had given her consent, he might not witlihold his vote. Col. lienton's speech occupied several hours, in which he showed up, with a thortuighness tint was as complete as it was merciless, its imperfections and inconsistencies, and incompat- ibility witli the interests and honor of the nation. He spoke of Maine as having been "victimized" and betrayed. "And this," says he, " is her consent ! Pressed by the President of the United States, pressed by the American negotiator — men- aced — abandoned by her mother State — isolated from other States — presented as sole obstacle to the general peace — warned THE NORTII-EASTEKN BOUNDARY. 93 that it was the last cliance ; thus situated, tliis devoted State so far subdues herself as to say, throuj^h lier Coininissiouers, that she submits to the sacrifice if, upon mature cousider.itioii, tlie Senate of the United States shall ajjprove it." He said that we surrendered our old natural mountain Ixjundary, the crest of the highlauds, to which we had clung with a religious perti- nacity from the beginning, and witli it a strip of country one hundred and ten miles long, containing eight hundred and ninety-three square miles, beyond and above what was assigned to Great Britain by the King of Holland, and gave her the line she had contrived for the purpose of weakening our boundary and retirnig it farther from Quebec. Mr. Buchanan argued the question in detail and at great length. He said : " I have earnestly endeavored to keep my mind open to convic- tion until the last moment ; but after all I cannot vote for this treaty without feeling that I hud violated my duty to the country, and without forfeiting my own self-respect. In the empluitic lan- guage of the Senator from Maine (Mr. Williams) I believe it to be a treaty unjust to Maine, and dishonorable to the whole country ; and thus believing, if it depended upon my vote, it should be re- jected without regard to consequences." He said he concurred with the opinion formerly expressed by Mr. Wel)ster, that the claim of the British government " does not amount to the dignity of a del)atable quvstion." He de- nounced Mr. AVebster, as Col. Benton had done, in terms of reproach, which would have had greater effect had they been less sweeping and had they not indicated that personal feeling may have had something to do with barbing them. "That man," he exclaimed, " of gigantic intellect, whose great powers ought to have been taxed to the utmost to save Maine from dis- Tir 1 T ' 84 THE X011T1[-EA.STERN BOUxVDARY. I ^i jM^ a^l niemberment, vmi the very man wlio urged tlicm (the Coni- inissioiiers) to consent to tlie disniemlternient." But the speech wliich, perhaps, of all the speeches that were made, best reflected the attitude and feelings of Maine, was by her own Senator, Hon. Ileuel Williams ; it was dispassionate, clear and dignified, but earnest and strong. While avoiding the language of vituperation, it did not concetil the impression that Maine had been misled into a position to which no power could liave brought her with her eyes open and her hands free ; nor did it repress an expression of regret that the Commission- ers, when they found, in direct c(jnilict with their understand- ing of the facts, and that of the Legislature, that the British Minister had not full powers, had, indeed, no authority to cede an acre of r)ritish soil for any consideration whatever — and when limitations had been withheld from them, expressly on the ground that none were imposed on Lord Ashl)urton, and therefore that both sides should come together on the same footing — did not return at once, instead of remaining at Wash- ington to transfer the interest and the honor of the State from their own hands into the sole keeping of the Senate of the United States. Mr. Williams said : " I would go far, very far, to compromise this dispute upoa honorable terms, and I would not be particular as to the value of equivalents. But I hold tliat Great Britain has contiguous terri- tory, convenient to us, whicli she might and ought to give in exchange for the territory belonging to us which she so mucri needs, and ought to have for a just equivalent. This treaty does not accomplish fairly either object ; it gives to Great Britain more than is necessary, and withholds from Maine what she ought to acquire." ' In closing, he said : "I cannot agree to the ratification of the present treaty. It is the Cuiii- liat were i. was by issioiiate, idiii.U the ipression 10 power lids free ; mission- lerstand- ! British to cede er — and 3ssly on ton, and le same b Wasli- te from : of the te upon vahie of IS terri- give in niucli ty does n more uglit to It is THE NORTH-EASTEI*; BOUNDARY. 95 unjust to Maine, and, in my judgment, dishonorable to the nation. I do not desire another arbitration, wliich may be more ruinous to Maine than tlie present arrangement. I have no coniidence in further negotiation. What we have hiid has greatly weaktMied our once perfect title ; and I see no other waj' of getting our right as a nation and performing our high obligation to one of tin- )States of the Union, than by taking possession of what belongs to us and holding it. In such a course we will have right and justice on our side. If others interfere with us, it must be in their own wrong. With these views, I send to the Chair the following resolution, and ask the j'eas and nays upon its adoption : ^^Ilesohiedf That the treaty and documents now under considera- tion be re-committed to the Committee on Foreign Relations, with instructions to report a resolution directing the President of the United Staters to take immediate [)Ossession of the disputed terri- tory, and to report such contingent measures as, in their opinion, may be necessary to maintain the just right of the nation." The resohition was not adopted. Wlien the treaty was before the '•'enate, similar tactics to those which liad been used in extracting the consent of the State of Maine to its provisions were employed. Mr. Jared Sparks, when hi Paris, some time before the negotiation, had found in the archives of the French governnieiit an old map, with a red line, of this part of the country, a copy of which was furnished by him to the Secretary of State, and by the latter communicated to the Senaic- in executive session, with a flourish of trumpets, sounding not victory, but defeat, to the claims of the United States and of the State of Maine. The hist(uy of tlie discovery of this map is t(jld by Mr. S[tarks in his letter to Mr. Webster, from which I C(jpy : "Wliile pursuing my researches among the voluminous papers relating to the American JJevolution in the Archives des Affaires 96 THE NOllTH-EASTEUN BOUNDAllY. Etrangers in I'aris, I found in ono of the bound volumes an orig- inal icth 1 ''roin Dr. Franklin to Count D'Vergonnes, of which the followiiij is an exact transcript: "'Passy, Dec. 6, 1782. "'Sir;t — T have the honor of returning herewith the n>a[) 3'our Exceih'nc}' sent me yesterday. I have marked with a strong red line, accory Great There iked by ficult to ^ith his description, and of its being preserved in the phice where it would naturally be deposited by the Count D' Vergennes." Mr. Rives, of Virginia, a prominent member of the Com- mittee on Foreign Relations, and I think its Chairman, intro- duced in the Senate this letter and the map which accompanied it — a copy of the orighial in the French archives, and which Mr. Sparks had marked with a black line — with these remarks : "Is there no danger, in the event of another arbitration, that a further research into the public archives of Europe might bring to light some embarrassing (even though apochryphal) document to throw a new shade of plausible doubt over the clearness of our tftle in the view of a sovereign arbiter ? Such a document has already been communicated to the committee^nd I feel it to be my duty to lay it before the Senate, that they may fully appreciate its bearings and determine for themselves the weight and importance which belong to it." He adds, that it is due to Mr. Sparks, that an account of it in his own words, in a letter to the Secretary of State be given. Mr. Sparks' letter was then read. Here, then, was a brand new discovery, which one can scarcely conceive of as not fatal to our claim, if Mr. Sparks' inferences are to be relied upon, concealed from the other side, and sud- denly sprung upon the Senate in secret session, to intluence its action, and which, it may have well been supposed, would place the ratification of the treaty, notwithstanding the opposition of our Senator, Mr. Reuel Williams, Col. Benton and others, be- yond much doubt. The treaty was indeed ratified, but not until the utter worthlessness of this evidence had been exposed by Col. Benton, Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Woodbury. This red- line map turned out to be no other than one of many red-line maps of 1746, one of which, from Mr. Jeft'erson's collection, had long been in the library of Congress, and had nothing whatever r- ! '. w^ ) 98 THE NORTll-EASrERN BOUND ABT. m .'.1 ■ ■,;,i ^ I H. i ■ i, mi m ; to tlo with tlie map used by the Commissioners, or with thfit sent to tlie Count D'Vergenne.s. ^ The question was brought up at the next session, also, when Col. Benton said (See Globe and Appendix for 1842-o, Vol. 12, p. Ill): " When he saw that the Senator from Yirghiia was yet in the act of pressing the importance of the map referred to by Mr. Sparks, he interrupted the Senator by calling, ' Here is the very same red line on Mr. Jefi'erson's map,' and on compari- son it was toiiiid Lo '(MiL'spond exactly. He proclaimed the red line loudly to prove that Mr. Sparks' secret was no secret at all." This speech by Col. Benton was made on the fourth of January, 1843. Mr. Riv||' speech, before quoted from, had just been published, the injunction of secrecy having been re- moved from the proceedings. Col. Benton took this occasion to correct some errors, as he considered them, in this speech. On the next day the question was brought up again, when Col. Benton said " there was not one particle of evidence to be ad- duced from the circumstance that the map, found by Mr. Sparks, in Paris, had a broad, strong red line indicating some boundary of Canada, was marked by Dr. Franklin ; because every French map of the day had the same red line on it." The fact seems Jo have been that this old Frencli map, made nearly forty years before the treaty of 1783, indicated merely a French claim of boundary by just such a red line as was at that time commonly used. Besides, the fact that in 1794, wIimi the subject was before the Cc^jumissioners, no such map or evi- dence of boundary was referred to, should have convinced Mr. Sparks that his version was not only untenable but preposterous. But the testimony, showing the utter failure, so far as the evidence was concerned, of this attempt to influence the Senate in favor of the treaty, was not permitted to be closed here. On with that ilso, when '5, Vol. 12, giiiia was 'eferred to , * Here is I compari- dmed the J secret at fourth of :rom, had been re- ccasion to jech. On v^hen Col. jO be ad- f. Sparks, boundary ry French lap, made merely a as at that 94, wh'.ii ip or evi- nced Mr. posterous. ir as the he Senate lere. On THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 99 the eighteenth of January, Col. lieuton again Ijrought tlie sub- ject before the Senate, when lie produced a letter from Dr. Franklin, (the same already copied in this paper), dated the eiglith of April, 1790, — and the last letter ever written by him — in which he says tliat the 7nap itfed in traciny the houndarf/ ivas hrouyht to the treaty by the Commissioners from Etiylaml, and that it was the same that rms jmblished by Mitchell tiveuhf years before, and further, that the AmerictUi Commission' ;r5 in- formed Congress of the fact at the time. These revelations exploded and scattered, one would ha v.' hoped, forever, this wretched red-line map performance. But this was not to be ; and years afterwards its echoes came to us from across the Atlantic. When, in 1861, the loyal country was engaged in an effort to preserve the nation, it received, a^ will be remembered, but small sympathy from the higher classei? in England, who were eager enough to find grounds of indict- ment against the United States, and excuses for their own unfriendly feeUngs and actions. And among other explanation^ and excuses, they turned to this red-line map, took it up and threw it at us. The newspapers used it, the clubs talked about it, and one of die leading Quarterly Eeviews, in an elaborate argument defending England's attitude of unfriendliness towards this country, referred, in justitio tion, to the red-line map, its discovery, its concealment, its use in secret session of the Senate, a.id its exposition only after the treaty had been ratified, when the fraud had done its work too completely to be made in- effectual. This wa" not pleasant reading to us at that time, however groundless we knew the accusations to be ; for we knew, also, that those to whom they were chiefly addressed — Englishmen, whom it was desired to see embittered against this country — did not know the facts, nor were they remembered by many even in our own country. - The charge was well calcu- 100 THE NORTII-EASTEKN BOUNDARY. #■] «<,L' f ; - W-- ii- ^. ■ 1 \ 1 t':'- * Inted to do us harm, nnd was, ns ngninst tlio nation, without a sh.idow (»f reason. Mr. Kdward Everett, writing mo on tho twenty-eighth of Fel)ruary, 1K(>2, said: "Of all th(! attempts in Kngland to raise u jU'ejudicH; against us, this clamor al)out tlie red-line map is the most unjustiHable." Whatever of wrong there may have been in this transaction, it was wrong against the United Suites, and not against Eng- land. The latter had no right to com])lain of an expedient euqiloyed in her helialf, and that might open the way to the ratification of a treaty which she was so desirous to have executed as this. The whole story being a fiction, or a mere inference that was j'lainly without foundation, no evidence tending to sup})ort the liritish claim had been suppressed. In- deed, it is more than probable, from the language of one of Lord Ashburton's letters to Mr. Webster, that he had seen this very map ; and he nnist have known, or he would have made other use of it, what it was designed to describe. This was shown quite clearly, I think, in the Senate debate on the ratifi- cation of the treaty. The treaty having been attacked by many individuals, and among others, liy Senator Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, Mr. Weljster made what he called a " Vindication ^of the treaty of Washington," on the sixth and seventh days of April, 1846, in which no reference is made to any danger we escaped by the treaty, from the ^-ed-line .nap discovery. In truth, the red-line map theory never had the slightest respect in this country after Colonel Benton's speeches in 1843. The treaty line of 1842 commenced at the monument, at the source of the St. Croix, as agreed by the Commissioners under che treaty of 1794; thence it followed the exploring line that was run and marked by " the surveyors under the fifth article of th.e treaty of Ghent, to its intersection with the river St. THE NO..rir-EASTKRX noUNDAUY. 101 , witlumt a tiio on the ittcnipta in • a])out tliu transaction, j'nin.st Kn the nututh of the river St. Francis" (to which point it is identical with the Kiii^ of Holland's line); " thence up the middle channel of the said river St. Francis, and of the lakes throuj^h which it tlows, to the outlet of Lake Pohenaj^amock ; thence south-westerly, in a 8traij,dit line to a point on the north-west branch of the river St. John, which point shall be ten miles distant from the main branch of the St. John, in a stnuj,dit Une in the nearest direc- tion ; but if the said point shall be found to l)e less than seven miles from the nearest point of the summit or crest of the hij^hlands that divide those rivers which em])ty themselves into the St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the river St. John, then the said point shall be made to recede down the said nortli- west branch of the river St. John, to a point seven miles in a strai<^ht line to said summit or crest; thence in a straij^dit Ime, in a course about south, eight degrees west, to a point where the parallel of latitude of 46° 25' north intersects the south-west branch of the St. John ; thence southerly Ijy the said branch, to the source thereof in the highlands, at the Metxarraette portage ; thence down along the said highlands which divide the waters which empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the head of Hall's stream " etc. Comparing this boundary with the line of the King of Hol- land, it is painfully obvious how much the State of Maine lost by refusing to accept the latter, as she indignantlv did, in 1831. Accepting that boundary, she would have saved in territory 571,520 acres, or 893 square miles (see Mr. Webster's Vindi<.n- tion), and would have received from the United States land in the State of Michigan, of the value of two millions of dollars. 102 THE NOHTH-EASTERN HOUXPARY. (See letter of tlie Mtiiiio ConiniiHsioners to Governor Fjiirfield, Junmiry 4JH4.S.) Maine received from tlie United States, in tlio way of com- pensation for her assent to tlie treaty of Wasliington, tlie sum of one hundred and Hfty tlumsand dollars. Had she ac([uiosced in the recommendation of the Kin^' of Holland, she would have saved to herself a tract of country (j^iven up by the Ashhurton treaty) as largo as the counties of Androscoggin and Sagada- hoc and a good part of Lincoln, and have received, under General Jackson's proposition, in 1831, land of the value of two millions of dollars. But it may be said, she acquired the free navigation of the river St. John. It has already appeared, and was shown in the Senate debates, that by the law of nations she already possessed that right, and more fully, as Col. Renton argued, than was set down in the text of the treaty. But, waiviYig that point, she had it practically, and would have enjoyed it. For the interests of the city of St. John, and of the Province as a whole, would have placed it on a satisfactory and permanent basis. So large a proportion of the trade and commerce of that city depended upon the trade in the lui^ber and other products of north- eastern Maine, that the Province was under stronger than treaty obligations to yield, and even to facilitate, the use of the river for the transportation of these products by our people. But even the treaty, under the construction put upon it, became an embarrassment rather than a benefit. Instead of enjoying, under its provisions, the rights which the people of Maine had reasonably anticipated, they were restrained beyond all previous experience. The treaty, by its terms, excluded manufactured articles, and besides, contained the following clause : " When within the Province of New Brunswick, the said produce shall be dealt with as if it were the produce of saia Province." / THE N0IITII-EA8TE1;.\ BOUNDAltV. 103 Fairfiiild, of coni- tlie sum C([ui(»sco(l mid hiivo sh))urt()ii Sn<,'a(la- d, under le of two )n of the vn in the possessed 1 was set )oint, she interests le, would So large iepended )f north- jer than ie of the r people.' i, became mjoying, aine had previous factured "When ice shall '/ :ovmce. >» This was a moat unfortunate clause ; for in virtue of it the Province assumed to collect, and in fact did collec* ^tiiiai>au« on lumher and timl)er cut in Maine, in the same manner and to the same extent that it would have done if they had lu^en cut in New lirunswick. This is the way in which it was effected. New Brunswick levied an export duty, in lieu of stumpage, on all lumber and timber cut in the Province on which stumpage was due thereto, and as by the treaty, the lumber and tim))er cut in Maine were to be dealt with, when within the Province, as if they were the produce of the latter, and since she levied an export duty on her own, she had, she maintamed, the same right to levy it on that which came from Maine. She did levy it and collect it. Making the duty high enough to include her claims for stumpage, it covered, of course, stumpago on the lumber and timber from the State. She col- lected no other stumpage. But a Maine lumberman, who had paid stumpage to the State, or to the proprietor at home, was compelled to pay it again to the Province. Having lost her pretended title to the soil, she yet contrived to hold and treat its growth and products as her own. Wlien earnest remon- strance was made against this extortion and abuse of the treaty, she only replied that the right was given by it and would be exercised. And it was exercised until the treaty of Washington, J in 1871, when the right to tax American produce in transit to an American market was taken away. To the consideration, so urgently and so unceasingly pressed ** upon the people of Maine, that the treaty as a whole was ad- vantageous to the United States, and their State should there- fore be willing to set aside her single interest and her sentiment in deference to the general good, they always could answer, that she had never been unready to do her duty to the Union — that she had been patient under injury and indignity from a 104 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 'Hi th foreign power, such as had been visited upon no other State ; and this, too, when she had occasion to feel that her rights were neglected, and, as at times it almost seemed, betrayed by the national government, her constitutional protector. And they remembered, and could further answer, that there had been times and opportunities when a just and reasonable arrangement could have been effected, if the authorities at Washington had been as mmdful of her interests and honor as they had never failed to be of smaller concerns affecting other interests and other sections of the country ; that a line from near the monu- ment at the head of the St. Croix to Eel River ; thence to its outlet in the river St. John, some twelve miles below the town of Woodstock ; thence up the rivers St. John and St. Francis to the crest of the highlands ; thence following the line recom- mended by the King of Holland — was so well understood at one time as being attainable, that large purchases of real estate were- made in the neighborhood of and above Eel river, upon the advice of parties at Washington, who enjoyed the very best means of knowing what might have been and was expected to be accomplished. This State well understood that Great Britain regarded the right of way across the Madawaska country as a prime con- venience, if not as a positive necessity ; and she was never unv/illing, with the consent of the people residing there (and which for many years there would have been no difficulty in obtaihing), to cede to her so nmch of the territory as was needed for this purpose, and would have been content with a reasonable equivalent for so considerable a concession. That Great Britain overestimated the unportance of this right of way, has been manifest from her subsequent action. She has practi- cally acknowledged it, by insisting that the railway which she has aided in constructing, that connects Halifax and St. John THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 105 ler State; ler rights :rayed by ;or. And I had been angement igton had lad never rests and he monu- nce to its the town Francis to le recom- »od at one itate were- upon the ^ery best Dected to irded the ime con- as never lere (and iculty in as was t with a , That of way, s practi- hich she 3t. John with Quebec and Montreal, should be built upon a route east of the boundary line as always claiiii<>d by Maine. Nor is it quite easy for this State to forget that the more valuable the considerations moving to the United States in the frontier changes of boundary in the country west of Maine, the larger were the sacrifices to which she was -ialled to submit. For these better boundaries in the west something was neces- sary to be paid, and it fell to the lot of Maine to make the payment from territory to which Congress had declared her title to be " clear and unquestionable." For this large and uncalled for surrender of her soil, Maine sought no money equivalent. She only sought compensation in kind — land for land — privilege for privilege. She always re- fused to treat the question as one of pecuniary indemnity. Wlien, in 1831, she was asked to accept the line of the King of Holland, and receive Michigan lands of the value of two millions of dollars, she promptly, as has been seen, and not without a feeling of just indignation, rejected the terms, regard- ing them as unjust and derogatory. And when, in 1842, her boundaries were so largely abridged, she declined to remember, as against the miserable douceur with which she was then put off, the greater compensation which she had spurned ten years before. There is no fact in the history of Maine, in which I take greater satisfaction than this — that, while feeling keenly the in- justice done to her, when once the sacrifice became inevitable, she was too proud to higgle about the price. The story which I have here so imperfectly told, honorable as it is to the people of Maine, and for the most- part creditable to her authorities, forms an interesting and important chapter in her annals, and if it be true, as we are told, that history is 106 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. philosophy teaching by example, it is one that may be read with interest and profit by the present and by future genera- tions. 'i f- if ^1.1 ay be read ure genera- CORPwECTION 111 Section 11, on ]y.iv;v 15, it is said : " Tlio Couiniissionors having agreed upon the river, decided tliat its source was in what is now known as Round Lake, the same, F sui)i)ose, that is laid down as North Lake in Greenleaf's niaj) of 18ir),'\^c. This is a mistake. The Round Lake wliich the Connnissioners first agreed upon was the lowest of the western Sclioodic Lakes. It had been claimed by the British agent as the true head of the St. Croix, in an elaborate argument based ujjou the belief that it would give a line to the highlands so far to the W(;st of one starting from^ Lake Cheputnecook, as to leave the sources of the rivers that fall into the Bay of Chaleurs within Rritisli territory. But no sooner h;,.! lie discovered that this was an error, than he took steps to have the branch of tlio St. C^roix, against which he had been earnestly contending, adoptcid as the true river. He seems to have had no difficulty in bringing about this change. The "bad luck" in this case must be largely ascribed to the ignorance of the American Commissioners. There seems to have been, at first, a misunderstanding on both sides, as to the effect of their respective claims. P.ut the British agent was soonest undweived. The line claimed. by this agent, as originally understood and contended for by him, would indeed have set aside " the plahi provisions of the treaty and its undisputed history." Jhit as it would have been run, it would have taken from New Ihninswick a strip of country ten miles wide by one hundred and fifty miles in length. See, letter of Robert Liston to Ward Chipnuui, October 23, 1798. At all events, the British appear to liave had their own way before the Commissioners. When tliev I'^ked for liound Lake, they received it ; and when they wanted Cheputnecook, they had no difficulty in getting it. [Tofa«^pp. l(>n.| i