Article, in accordance with the IVth Article of the British Draft, that all other parts of the disputed line shall be explored which two out of the three Commissioners on either side desire. In the fourth paragraph of the IIIrd Article it is proposed, that the Commissioners" shall first proceed to lay down the line from the monument at the head of the St. Croix to the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, &c." But this can, of course, only be understood as a provision dependent upon the decision in 'favour of the American side, whether by lot or otherwise, of the main point already referred to in the second paragraph of the IIIrd Article.

In the IVth Article it is again proposed, that the Commissioners of Survey shall, at the option of a majority on either side, proceed to explore the territories contiguous to the disputed territory, as well as the disputed territory itself. This extension of survey appears to be entirely unnecessary, and might lead to endless continuation and adjournment of the labours of the Commission. As far, however, as I can at present judge, it does not appear likely that the United States' Government will attach much importance to retaining this part of the Article.

The VIIth Article and the Xth Article will be found to contain matter of considerable importance. Their contents are likewise referred to in Mr. Forsyth's letter to me of the 13th instant. The Xth Article renews the proposal of admitting Mitchell's map as evidence bearing upon the question of boundary to be decided. The VIIth Article proposes, amongst other things, that it shall be the duty of the Commissioners, at the option of a majority of two out of three on either side, to collect and authenticate former maps and surveys of the disputed and contiguous territory; and that the two Governments shall mutually furnish to the Commission copies of such former maps and surveys as are to be found in their respective public archives. As the same objections, or nearly so, apply to both these proposals, they may best be treated of together. I very distinctly stated to Mr. Forsyth, when he first communicated to me the new Draft of Convention, that I was certain Her Majesty's Government would under no circumstances consent to admit either Mitchell's map, or any other map or chart, the topographical accuracy of which is challenged and denied by responsible surveyors who have been upon the ground, as evidence bearing upon the question of Boundary to be decided. And I did not conceal my astonishment that, after those objections had been raised, any party should persist in desiring to force such evidence into Court. The Surveying Commissioners are themselves to go upon the ground, and to make their own map of it. Any previous map will be either superfluous evidence, or false evidence. I am sorry to find, however, that the United States' Government are likely to lay great stress upon this point, and to insist to the last upon bringing these condemned charts and maps into play. The acknowledging them as evidence appears to me altogether inadmissible. If a clause were inserted in the Convention, permitting Mitchell's and other former maps to be laid before the Commission, but stipulating that no geographical position laid down in such maps, of which the accuracy were questioned by the Commissioners on either side, should be received as evidence until jointly verified anew upon the ground by the present Commission, the mischievous effect of the introduction of the maps would certainly be in a great measure done away with, but the clause or Article so qualified would become almost

nonsense.

I inquired from Mr. Forsyth, whether an Article admitting the introduction of Mitchell's Map, qualified in the above form, would be likely to meet the approbation of the United States' Government; but I did not obtain any positive answer upon the subject. The other part of the proposal, renewed in the VIth Article, namely, that the two Governments shall mutually communicate to the Commission such official papers and documents, connected with the negotiation of the Treaty of 1783, as may exist in their respective archives,-does not appear to be open to the same objections as the proposed stipulation for the production

of maps. But upon this part of the subject I cannot presume to offer a decided

opinion, not being aware of what documents are in existence on either side.

I shall have the honour, in a further despatch, to address some observations to your Lordship with reference to the XVIth and XVIth Articles of the present American Draft, and to the new matter therein proposed, after I shall have had some additional conversation with the United States Secretary of State

upon the subject. These new Articles contain, it will be seen, an entirely separate proposal; and if the principle of that proposal should be acceded to by Her Majesty's Government, the arrangement will probably be better carried into effect by providing for it in a separate and supplementary contract, than by embodying it in the main Convention for the establishment of the two Commissions.

Sir,

Mr. Fox to Mr. Forsyth.

Washington, August 17, 1840. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th instant, in which you offer to my consideration certain observations upon the contents of an Official Note in relation to the Boundary Negotiation, which I had the honour to address to you on the 28th of last month, and upon the respective projects of the British and United States' Governments for the establishment of Commissions of Survey and of Arbitration with a view to the final settlement of the controversy; and in which you likewise inclose to me a new Draft of Convention proposed by the Government of the United States for the establishment of those Commissions.

I regret to find that the modifications and changes introduced in the present Draft, and the points of variance between its provisions and those of the British Draft which was inclosed in my note of the 28th ultimo, are too important to allow of my entering fully into a discussion thereof until the proposal shall have been referred to the consideration of Her Majesty's Government at home. I have lost no time in officially transmitting the documents to Her Majesty's Government.

Although I do not expect that Her Majesty's Government will acquiesce in the terms of the Convention now offered, yet it is satisfactory to find that the points of difference between the conflicting proposals are brought within a narrower compass than they have hitherto been; and that, as they relate chiefly to details, and not to principles, the hope of finally reconciling them need not be abandoned.

I avail myself, &c.

No. 14.

(Signed)

H. S. FOX.

(Extract.)

Mr. Fox to Viscount Palmerston.-(Received November 28.)

Washington, October 30, 1840.

I HAD the honour to receive last month your Lordship's despatch of the 19th of August, authorizing me, in addition to former instructions, to enter into negotiation with the United States' Government for the conclusion of a new temporary arrangement within the disputed territory, upon the basis of occupying the opposite portions of that territory, respectively, by a stipulated force of British and United States' regular troops, in preference to the employment on either side of constables and civil posses.

I had for some time previously been in correspondence with the GovernorGeneral of North America, and in communication with the United States' Government, upon the subject of the proposed temporary arrangement as contemplated under my first instructions. I have found, on the part of the United States' Government, a marked unwillingness to proceed with this provisional negotiation at all, until such time as the principal Convention for the establishment of Commissions of Survey and of Arbitration shall have been concluded. A further motive for delay, and a more forcible one, has existed I believe in the President's reluctance to adopt or to propose any arrangement which might risk

giving offence to the people of Maine, until after the result of the Presidential election in November.

The Secretary of State, Mr. Forsyth, has been absent in Georgia for the last month. Upon his return to Washington I shall again address Mr. Forsyth, both verbally and in writing, upon the subject of the desired agreement; but I do not expect that any definite answer will be obtained until after the Presidential election, nor, perhaps, until after the conclusion of the principal Boundary Convention now under negotiation. I shall have the honour, by an ensuing packet to forward to your Lordship copies of the correspondence which has already passed between the United States' Government, the Governor-General, and myself, with reference to the present topic.

The Presidential election, which naturally now occupies the whole of public attention in this country, will be held through the different States, on various days during the first and second weeks of November. The entire result will not be known at Washington until the latter end of the month. Both Parties profess to be equally sanguine of success: the partial elections that have been recently held, and other signs and indications up to the present moment, lead me to look upon the result as altogether doubtful: it presents I believe as even a chance as any great political event that ever occurred; and this circumstance, considering the vast political and personal interests at stake, renders the contest peculiarly exciting and animated. The excitement, however, and the interest are entirely confined to the domestic politics of the Republic: the foreign affairs of the United States, and the conduct of the important public questions pending with Great Britain, are not likely to be in any degree affected by the result of the election.

No. 15.

My Lord,

Mr. Fox to Viscount Palmerston.-(Received January 2, 1841.)

Washington, December 10, 1840.

I HAVE the honour herewith to inclose three copies of the Message from the President of the United States, which was yesterday transmitted to the Two Houses of Congress, at the opening of the annual Session.

Extract from the Message from the President of the United States, to the two Houses of Congress, at the commencement of the Second Session of the Twenty-sixth Congress.

A SERIES of questions of long standing, difficult in their adjustment, and important in their consequences, in which the rights of our citizens and the honour of the country were deeply involved, have, in the course of a few years, (the most of them during the successful administration of my immediate predecessor,) been brought to a satisfactory conclusion; and the most important of those remaining are, I am happy to believe, in a fair way of being speedily and satisfactorily adjusted.

With all the Powers of the world our relations are those of honourable peace. Since your adjournment, nothing serious has occurred to interrupt or threaten this desirable harmony. If clouds have lowered above the other hemisphere, they have not cast their portentous shadows upon our happy shores. Bound by no entangling alliances, yet linked by a common nature and interest. with the other nations of mankind, our aspirations are for the preservation of peace, in whose solid and civilising triumphs all may participate with a generous emulation. Yet it behoves us to be prepared for any event, and to be always ready to maintain those just and enlightened principles of national intercourse, for which this Government has ever contended. In the shock of contending

G

empires, it is only by assuming a resolute bearing, and clothing themselves with defensive armour, that neutral nations can maintain their independent rights.

The excitement which grew out of the territorial controversy between the United States and Great Britain having in a great measure subsided, it is hoped that a favourable period is approaching for its final adjustment. Both Governments must now be convinced of the dangers with which the question is fraught; and it must be their desire, as it is their interest, that this perpetual cause of irritation should be removed as speedily as practicable. In my last annual message you were informed that the proposition for a Commission of Exploration and Survey promised by Great Britain had been received, and that a Counter-Project, including also a provision for the certain and final adjustment of the limits in dispute, was then before the British Government for its consideration. The answer of that Government, accompanied by additional propositions of its own, was received through its Minister here, since your separation. These were promptly considered; such as were deemed correct in principle, and consistent with a due regard to the just rights of the United States and of the State of Maine, concurred in; and the reasons for dissenting from the residue, with an additional suggestion on our part, communicated by the Secretary of State to Mr. Fox. That Minister, not feeling himself sufficiently instructed upon some of the points raised in the discussion, felt it to be his duty to refer the matter to his own Government for its further decision. Having now been for some time under its advisement, a speedy answer may be confidently expected. From the character of the points still in difference, and the undoubted disposition of both parties to bring the matter to an early conclusion, I look with entire confidence to a prompt and satisfactory termination of the negotiation. Three Commissioners were appointed shortly after the adjournment of Congress, under the act of the last session providing for the exploration and survey of the Line which separates the States of Maine and New Hampshire from the British Provinces; they have been actively employed until their progress was interrupted by the inclemency of the season, and will resume their labours as soon as practicable in the ensuing year.

It is understood that their respective examinations will throw new light upon the subject in controversy, and serve to remove any erroneous impressions which may have been made elsewhere prejudicial to the rights of the United States. It was, among other reasons, with a view of preventing the embarrassments which, in our peculiar system of government, impede and complicate negotiations involving the territorial rights of a State, that I thought it my duty, as you have been informed on a previous occasion, to propose to the British Government, through its Minister at Washington, that early steps should be taken to adjust the points of difference on the Line of Boundary from the entrance of Lake Superior to the most north-western point of the Lake of the Woods, by the arbitration of a friendly Power, in conformity with the VIIth Article of the Treaty of Ghent. No answer has yet been returned by the British Government to this proposition.

No. 16.

My Lord,

Mr. Fox to Viscount Palmerston.-(Received February 6, 1841.)

Washington, December 29, 1840. I HAVE the honour herewith to inclose copies of official communications with various correspondence annexed, which have been addressed to me by his Excellency the Governor-General of British North America, and by the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, respecting the recent movement of a small detachment of Her Majesty's troops, by order of the Governor-General, into the Madawaska Settlement, within the limits of the disputed territory.

I have also the honour to inclose the copy of a letter addressed to me a few days since upon the same subject by the Secretary of State of the United States, to which is annexed the copy of a communication from the Governor of Maine to the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick..

I shall consider it most prudent to delay returning an official reply to Mr. Forsyth's letter until I am further informed which course of proceeding will be finally adopted by the Governor-General, whether to retain the detachment of Her Majesty's regular troops within the Madawaska Settlement, or to replace that detachment, according to the wish of Major-General Sir John Harvey, by an armed civil posse under the orders of the Provincial Government. In either case my reply to the United States' Government will be easy and obvious, referring them to the official declarations made on the part of Her Majesty's Government in the beginning of the present year, which declarations have not been retracted; and to the continual petty acts of encroachment persisted in by parties from the State of Maine in defiance of those declarations.

I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith copies of two despatches which reached me yesterday from the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, and also one of my reply, from which you will learn that in accordance with Sir John Harvey's wish, I have taken measures for affording support to the civil authorities of the Queen, and protection to Her Majesty's subjects in the Madawaska Settlement.

I do this with a view of putting you in possession of the circumstances of this case, as well as of the proceedings which I have deemed it my duty to take, in the event of your being applied to for information in the matter; but leaving it altogether to yourself whether you consider it advisable to originate any communication to the Presidential Government.

The insult offered to the Queen's civil authorities, and the declared deter mination of the person in command at the Fish River to obstruct them in the exercise of their duty, afford undoubtedly the strongest grounds of complaint; but experience has shown how little effect is produced by any representation against the acts of the State Authorities, and I agree in your opinion of the inutility of mere protests. Perhaps, when it is clearly seen that we are prepared to resist further encroachments, the Government of the United States may perceive that further delay in the adjustment of the question of temporary jurisdiction, pending an arrangement for the final adjudication of the right to the territory, will not be productive of advantage.

My Lord,

Inclosure 2 in No. 16.

Sir John Harvey to Lord Sydenham.

Government House, Fredericton,

New Brunswick, November 3, 1840. WITH reference to the accompanying communication, I have the honour to state that the Warden and the magistrates have been instructed to attend the proceedings, if they should take place, to warn those engaged in them of their illegality, and if persevered in, either to arrest the leaders or to report their names, and those of such as may take a prominent part, to the Attorney General, (as was done in the case of Baker and others, in 1828 and 1831,) in order to legal measures being instituted against them in the supreme courts of this province.

Although these proceedings may be, as suggested by the Warden, in some measure connected with the approaching Presidential election, yet may other and