merit on our behalf, which, if so well deserved by them, was justly due to all. If there was an omission to be repaired, it might have been in respect to the names of the two representatives of Maine, therein mentioned as having taken an effective part in the finally-successful course of proceedings in the House of Representatives. There was no occasion to say that those two representatives were Mr. Evans and Mr. Fairfield; both of whom have since been remembered with the most respectful consideration by the State, and the memory of their arduous and faithful services on this subject is yet fresh in its mind. Without disparagement also to the constant and faithful services of a Senator from our own State (Mr. Williams), which are also entitled to their due acknowledgment, the Committee may be allowed the gratification of adding that the cause of Maine, in the true sense of the word, had no more decided and determined champion in the Senate than the present worthy Governor of Massachusetts.

If the Resolves of 1838 did not entirely reach their object, they may be well regarded as having accomplished their end. This was done, we would remark, in the first place, by means of those joint unanimous Resolutions of Congress which asserted the rightfulness of our claim, and the practicability of running and establishing the line of Boundary agreeable to the Treaty of 1783; and secondly, by engaging the co-operation and support of the Government of the United States, so much in accordance with the spirit, if somewhat short of the letter, of our Resolves; thirdly, the fulfilment of the course of action adopted by the General Government, so far as it proved defective upon a strict construction of those Resolves, was necessarily furnished by the conclusion of the Executive of the State, to go on and execute the instructions of the Legislature, as he had unequivocally announced his intention to do in that emergency. The absolute mandate of the Legislature left him no alternative; and although the path on which he was obliged to enter was one beset with difficulty and discouragement, he was equal to what the occasion required. The Committee are proud to recal that he had the satisfaction of being seconded, also, in carrying the undertaking into effect, by that constant, ardent, and indefatigable advocate of the rights and interests of Maine, the late John G. Deane, over whose recent and untimely grave we are called to pause, without turning aside, and to bestow the passing tribute due to his honest worth, and his persevering and devoted spirit.

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And, finally, we may consider the end of these resolves to have been accomplished, in a material respect; that is, in regard to ascertaining what was the immediate object of that expedition, and which never fairly admitted of a question-the feasibility of the undertaking, if there was a disposition to go about it in good earnest. We may likewise be at liberty to look upon late subsequent proceedings, instituted under the direction of the Government of the United States, for the exploration and survey of the Treaty Boundary, upon the north-east angle of the United States, as the final though tardy result. and confirmation of the previous consequence of the resolves and proceedings of 1838 in this same respect. Without questioning whether the American Government ought to have allowed the British to have been in advance upon an investigation of this kind, it may afford sufficient satisfaction that the main object has so far been answered, and that the resolves of 1838 have been thus, in some important respects, although still imperfectly, performed.

In this respect the Committee may allude with gratification to the so far satisfactory results to which the Commissioners recently appointed by the Government of the United States have arrived, as already communicated. Without deeming them to have been of absolute and essential importance, we may regard them as auxiliary to what has been already accomplished, and as tending to carry out the purpose of the resolves of 1838 to their final completion. The character of the recent exploration is one well calculated to gain respect and confidence; and we hope it may be speedily pursued to the final determination of the lines it will be the object to run and mark.

The Committee have now come upon a period at which Maine was called upon to test the firmness of her principles and the fortitude of her purposes, and they may further say, the strength of her resolves, upon a sudden and somewhat unforeseen emergency. This was in consequence of information communicated to Governor Fairfield, on entering the duties of his office, as successor to Governor Kent, in 1839, and by him confidentially to the Legis

lature, that there was a large assembly of unknown individuals upon the border, many of whom were from the British provinces, engaged in trespassing extensively upon the lands belonging to this State and Massachusetts, within the proper jurisdiction of Maine; and it was further stated, that they not only refused to desist, but that they defied the power of this Government to prevent their committing depredations upon the timber within the territory, to any extent they pleased. In consequence of this communication, and the evidence in support of it, the Land Agent of the State was authorized, by a special resolve of January 24, 1839, to employ forthwith sufficient force to arrest, detain, and imprison all persons found trespassing on the territory of this State, as bounded and established by the Treaty of 1783. In proceeding upon the execution of this duty, upon the south side of the St. John, and west of the meridian dividing Maine from New Brunswick, the Land Agent was surprised and seized by an unauthorized force from the other side of the line, of the same character, if not in connexion, with the general trespassing parties in the night, and was drawn, with circumstances of indignity and precipitation, to the seat of the Provincial Government at Fredericton. There he was received, detained, and treated as an offender; and shortly paroled, as a prisoner of state; so, that, in addition to the indignity to which this State was thus subjected by the seizure and captivity of her official public agent, representing her supreme power and acting under the direct authority and commission of the Legislature, it had to endure the further mortification of having the appropriate duties of that high officer discharged by a paroled prisoner of Her Britannic Majesty's Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, liable to be called to answer, at any moment, for official acts by him performed upon the territory in question; while it had, at the same time, to digest the double disgrace of receiving this derogatory boon, under degrading circumstances, from a deputed power, which demanded the whole Disputed Territory to be under the immediate custody of a Provincial Warden.

To pass rapidly over events so recent, as not to require recital, and not to burden this Report with details of which we may retain, perhaps, too deep and vivid a recollection, it may be observed, in passing, that the course thus adopted by this State, in resorting to its own power for protection, and moving upon the emergency to repel lawless aggression, was one, of which the legitimacy was recognized as well by British as by American jurisprudence, and it was allowed by Congress to have been exerted in strict conformity to the established principles of the fundamental law of both countries. The first appeal, moreover, to military force was made, and so declared by Congress, by the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick; and the consequent proceedings on the part of Maine were acknowledged to have been purely defensive. The pretension assumed by the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick was considered as excluding the civil, as well as the military power of this State. no less rejected the right of the United States, than that of Maine, to interpose any authority to preserve the peace and order of a portion of country, to which the British Government could extend nothing but a naked and destitute claim; and which portion was comprehended in the ancient recognized jurisdiction of Massachusetts. These facts and principles were embodied in an able and patriotic Report from the Committee of Foreign Affairs, presented in the House of Representatives, on the 28th of February, 1839.

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Maine has not forgotten the generous and simultaneous sympathy which swelled throughout the land, nor will she cease to bear in mind the noble burst of indignation which arose in the Halls of Congress, above all other interests, on the occasion of this movement from New Brunswick, and the stand assumed by Maine. The demand upon this State to divest herself of a jurisdiction practically established, and perfectly defined, and to surrender it to a contiguous foreign province, was listened to with astonishment; and the idea was not tolerated for a moment. The objection to the military occupation of the Disputed Territory by Great Britain was pronounced to be insurmountable; and the execution of orders to that effect was proclaimed to be incompatible with the honour of the United States. The pretence, that there was any agreement or understanding that Great Britain should occupy the territory as she claimed, pending the controversy, was instantly repudiated; and the right of the State to the control and protection of her own domain fully asserted. The appeal, that was made by Maine at that moment to the General Govern

ment, met with a prompt and immediate response. The reply was one that manifested a due sense of her rights, by spreading over them the ample folds of the federal union; and the sensibility of Congress to the claim of the State' for protection expressed itself at once in the most effective and emphatic form. By an Act of Congress, upon the Report of the Committee of the House, the President was authorized to resist and repel any attempt on the part of Great Britain to enforce by arms her claim to exclusive 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. Ten millions of dollars were appropriated for the purpose; and at special provision was further made for the appointment of a Minister to Great Britain, if the President should consider it expedient. This act was to continue in force until sixty days after the commencement of the then next session.

Maine, in return, was solicited and appealed to, to rest satisfied with this vindication of her sovereignty, and to rely on this full assurance of protection; and this Act of Congress was presented to her at once, as a pledge on the part of the Government, and as an inducement to prevail upon her to withdraw her military force, then rightfully in arms to sustain the civil authority and to repel invasion. The Committee almost quote the public language' employed by high authority upon that occasion; and they may refer to the general character of the acts and declarations of the Federal Government in our favour. And they would take this further opportunity to say, with sincerity and pleasure, that if there had been any real want of vigour in the course of the late national administration upon this important subject, there has been scarcely any failure of the most uniform, conciliatory, and respectful treatment toward the State and its official authorities.

Upon view of these measures of the National Government for the protection of the State, and in particular, of the provision also for the appointment of a Special Minister to the Court of St. James', the Legislature passed a resolve on the 23rd of March, 1839, which asserted the right of the State to exclusive jurisdiction over all the territory that lies west of a due north line from the monument to the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, to wit, all that had been called the Disputed Territory; and it denied the competency of any other authority to limit or impair the exercise of that inherent right, according to her own sole judgment; and expressing at the same time an earnest desire to come to an amicable adjustment of the whole controversy, (referring immediately to the provision for the appointment of a Special Minister,) it did further resolve to forbear to enforce her jurisdiction in that part of the territory of which the possession was then usurped by the Province of New Brunswick, so far as she could do so, consistently with the maintenance of the form er resolve of January 24, which has been mentioned; and in relation to that late resolve the Legislature still declared it to be no less the imperative duty than the unalienable right of the State to protect her public domain from depredation and plunder, up to the extremest limits of her territory; and that, moreover, nopower on earth should drive her from an act of jurisdiction so proper in itself, and to which her honour was so irrevocably committed.

The Legislature also expressed its perfect approbation of the public measures pursued by Governor Fairfield in relation to the Disputed Territory, and further declared its determination to stand to, and sustain the execution of, the aforesaid resolve of January 24. It, however, authorized the Governor, whenever he should be satisfied that the exigency had ceased, and that all intention of occupying the Disputed Territory with a military force, and of attempting the expulsion of our own party, had been abandoned, to withdraw the militia, leaving the Land Agent with a sufficient posse, armed or unarmed, as the case might require, to carry the said resolve into effect.

The Legislature, at the same time, (having before them the recent demonstration made under the direction of the former Governor,) deemed that the entire practicability of running and marking our North-Eastern Boundary Line, in strict conformity with the Definitive Treaty of Peace of 1783, was placed beyond a doubt; and further declared that a crisis had arrived, when it became the duty of the Government of the United States forthwith to propose to that of Great Britain a joint commission for the purpose of running the line accordingly; and in case of refusal on the part of Great Britain, it

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was incumbent on the United States to run the line upon their own authority, and to take possession of the whole Disputed Territory without unnecessary delay.

In the mean time it may be remarked, that a preliminary arrangement had been entered into by a memorandum signed on the 27th of February, 1839, between the Secretary of State and the British Minister; which, after stating the different views entertained by the two parties on the point of jurisdiction, proposed, that while the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick should not without renewed instructions undertake to expel by force the armed party employed upon the Aroostook by Maine, it should, on the other hand, be withdrawn by Maine; and, furthermore, that all future operations for protecting the territory against trespassers, should be carried on, either jointly or separately, by agreement between Maine and New Brunswick.

With the greatest deference to the high source from which this proposal proceeded, the Committee cannot close their eyes to the singular and somewhat extraordinary nature and character of this recommendation. Maine had, to be sure, been compelled to act upon a sudden occasion in self-defence; but she had not presumed to enter into any relation with New Brunswick, in face of the absolute clause of the Constitution which forbids any State, without the consent of Congress, to "enter into any agreement or compact with another State or with a Foreign Power, or engage in war, unless actually divided, or in such imminent danger, as will not admit of delay." Certain stipulations are stated and understood to have been subscribed to and interchanged between the then Governor of Maine, and the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, under the mediation of a distinguished military officer, sent hither by the General Government; but they have not been understood, on the part of this State, to have exceeded the limits prescribed by the cotemporaneous resolves, of which alone they could have been in execution, or fulfilment, so far as this State is concerned; and as to any further virtue or efficacy, the subscription must, the Committee conceive, derive its authority entirely from the Commission given by the Government of the United States to MajorGeneral Scott.

Be that as it may, the request, recommendation, or agreement (whatever it was), was immediately complied with and performed on the part of Maine, under the sanction of the National Government; and under a full reliance, also, upon its guarantee against any adverse military occupation of any part of the Disputed Territory by Great Britain. Upon the proposition made by General Scott to Sir John Harvey, it was signified by the latter not to be his intention, under the expected renewal of negotiations between the Cabinets of London and Washington, on the subject of the Disputed Territory, without renewed instructions from his Government to seek to take military possession of that territory, or to seek by military force to expel the armed civil posse or the troops of Maine.

This being, in the view entertained by Governor Fairfield, the exact contingency contemplated by the Legislature in the foregoing resolves, he did not hesitate to conform to the stipulation, by recalling the troops of Maine at once and dismissing them to their homes. It appeared to be the course prescribed to him by the Legislature; such a one as might be adopted without compromising the rights or dignity of the State, which had never, as he stated, proposed to take military possession of the territory. Our objects had been only, in the first place, to protect the territory from devastation by trespassers, and, secondly, to resist the opposite threats of expulsion by military power. Our militia had maintained their ground, while the exigency that called them out remained. When that was removed, the withdrawal of the troops was no abandonment of any position taken by this State: an ordinary civil posse was thereupon substituted, and stationed at one or two points only upon the Aroostook and St. John, barely sufficient for the intended purpose of preventing trespass.

It is unnecessary to mention that, under all these circumstances, the presence of any actual or impending military force upon our frontier was presumed to have been entirely removed. Such appears to have been the persuasion of Governor Fairfield when he prepared to meet the Legislature at the opening of the Session of 1840. But the communication he was about to make was obliged to be modified by the information which reached him, in

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reply to an inquiry he had addressed to Sir John Harvey, founded on previous rumour, that the British Government was about taking a military possession of the region of Madawaska. In this reply it was acknowledged, that one or two companies had been stationed at Temiscouta Lake; that this was done, however, not by orders from him, the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, but by virtue of authority superior to his, namely, that of the Government of Lower Canada. Through less official sources, accounts were received, about the same time, of the building of barracks by the British Government near the mouth of Madawaska River, on the St. John. These movements were naturally regarded by Governor Fairfield, under whatever branch of British authority, or upon whatever pretence they might be made, not more clearly as a violation of the spirit of the arrangement that had been adopted in the March previous, than as an absolute invasion of our territory, and as such, demanding the immediate and vigorous interposition of the General Government enjoined by the constitution and laws of the United States. In an ensuing correspondence, these measures on the part of the British were justified or defended by their Minister at Washington, on the grounds of a general report, of which that Government was said to be fully aware, charging the Legislature of Maine with the intention, during its then session, of revoking the provisional agreements then in force, and authorizing some new and extensive, nameless, act of aggression over the stipulated territory. From this offensive charge the State of Maine was justly vindicated by the Secretary of the United States; and the imputation was repelled with an equally measured force and propriety of expression; and this vindication was accompanied with a due demand for the removal of the invading force.

The Legislature at its next session, by its Resolves of March 18, 1840, gratefully acknowledged the patriotic enthusiasm with which several of our sister States had, during the preceding year, tendered their aid to repel threatened foreign invasion, and hailed the pervading spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion to national honour throughout the Union, as auspicious to preserving the integrity of our territory. They recognised, moreover, in like manner, the promptness and unanimity with which the last Congress, at the call of the State, had placed at the disposal of the President the arms and treasures of the nation, for our defence; and they regarded the firmness of its Executive in sustaining the course of the State, and in repelling the charge of any infraction of arrangement on the part of this State, and retorting a violation of agreement upon the British Government, and the decision manifested in demanding the removal of the British troops then quartered on the Disputed Territory as the only guarantee of a sincere desire for an amicable settlement of the Boundary Question,-all these acts of the Government, combined with the union of public sentiment, they looked upon and regarded as affording confident assurance that this State would not be compelled single-handed to take up arms in defence of its territory and of national honour; and they further avowed the conviction that the crisis was near, when this question would be settled by the National Government, either by negotiation or by the ulti

mate resort.

It was, moreover, resolved, that unless the British Government should, during the then session of the Congress, make or accept a distinct and satisfactory proposition for the immediate adjustment of the Boundary Question, it would be the duty of the General Government to take military possession of the Disputed Territory; and the Legislature did therein, in the name of a sovereign State, call upon the National Government to fulfil its constitutional obligation to establish the line which they had acknowledged to be the true boundary, and to protect this State in extending her jurisdiction to the utmost limits of our territory.

And finally, these resolves declared, that this State had a right to expect that the General Government would extend to this member of the Union, by negotiation or by arms, the protection of her territorial rights, guaranteed by the Federal compact; and thus to save her from the necessity of recurring to those ultimate rights of self-defence and self-protection, which do not depend upon constitutional forms; and they concluded that should this confidence be disappointed, in view of such a speedy crisis, it would become the imperative duty of Maine to assume the defence of the State and of national honour, and to expel from our limits the British troops then quartered upon our territory.