The undersigned, therefore, can not discover in the facts and circumstances of the case any just principles upon which Sir Howard Douglas could predicate his protest. He has, however, submitted the note which he had the honor to receive from Mr. Vaughan to the President of the United States, and is by him directed to say in reply that although this Government could feel no difficulty in the exercise of what it deems an unquestionable right, and could not allow itself to be restrained by the pro test of the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, yet, as a further proof of the spirit of amity, forbearance, and conciliation which the President is desirous of cultivating between the two Governments, he has decided to postpone for the present the exercise of the authority vested in him by the Congress of the United States to cause to be surveyed and laid out a military road to be continued from Mars Hill, or such other point on the military road laid out in the State of Maine as he may think proper, to the mouth of the river Madawaska, and to add that the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick is under a misapprehension as to the design of this Government to occupy Mars Hill as a military station, no such intention being entertained by the President, nor have any measures been taken by this Government with an ulterior view to that object.

The undersigned indulges the hope that Mr. Vaughan will perceive in the manner in which the President, discriminating between the rights of this Government and their present exercise, has used the discretion conferred upon him an additional evidence of the desire which he sincerely entertains, and which he has heretofore caused to be communicated to Mr. Vaughan, that both Governments should, as far as practicable, abstain from all acts of authority over the territory in dispute which are not of immediate and indispensable necessity, and which would serve to create or increase excitement whilst the matter is in course of arbitration; and he feels well persuaded that Mr. Vaughan will not fail to inculcate the same spirit and to recommend in the strongest terms the observance of the same course on the part of the provincial government of New Brunswick.

The undersigned offers to Mr. Vaughan the renewed assurances of his high consideration. M. VAN BUREN.

Mr. Vaughan to Mr. Van Buren.

WASHINGTON, May 14, 1829.

Hon. MARTIN VAN BUREN, etc.:

The undersigned, His Britannic Majesty's envoy extraordinary and minister pleni. potentiary, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Van Buren's note dated the 11th instant, and he derives great satisfaction from being able to communicate to His Majesty's Government the assurances which it contains that the Government of the United States has never entertained the design of occupying Mars Hill, and that the President, in the spirit of amity, forbearance, and conciliation which he is desirous of cultivating between the two Governments, has decided to postpone for the present the exercise of the authority vested in him by the Congress of the United States to cause to be surveyed and laid out a military road to be continued from Mars Hill to the river Madawaska.

The undersigned will transmit immediately a copy of Mr. Van Buren's note to His Majesty's Government, and he forbears, therefore, from taking notice of the observations which it contains relative to the exact position of Mars Hill and to the exercise of jurisdiction in the district on the northwest of it.

The undersigned begs leave to renew to Mr. Van Buren the assurances of his highest consideration.

CHAS. R. VAUGHAN.

Mr. Vaughan to Mr. Van Buren.

WASHINGTON, June 8, 1829.

Hon. MARTIN VAN BUREN, etc.: The undersigned, His Britannic Majesty's envoy extraordinary and minister pleni. potentiary, had the honor on the 7th March last to lay before the Government of the United States a letter from Sir Howard Douglas, His Majesty's lieutenantgovernor of New Brunswick, in explanation of trespasses alleged by the governor of the State of Massachusetts to have been committed by British subjects in the disputed territory within that Province. The lieutenant-governor announced his intention in that letter of sending a magistrate into the district where the proceedings complained of had taken place to ascertain the nature and extent of the alleged trespasses and afterwards to make a report to his excellency.

The report of the magistrate having been received by Mr. Black, who has been commissioned by His Majesty to administer the government of New Brunswick dur ing the temporary absence of Sir Howard Douglas, a copy of it has been transmitted to the undersigned, and he begs leave to submit it to the consideration of the Secretary of State of the United States, together with an extract* of the letter of Mr. Black which accompanied it. As it appears by the report of Mr. Maclauchlan, the magistrate, that some American citizens settled in the disputed territory are implicated in the trespasses which have been committed, Mr. Black, the president and commissioner in chief of the government of New Brunswick, suggests the propriety of an officer being appointed by the Government of the United States to act in concert with the British magistrate in preventing further depredations.

The undersigned has received from Mr. Black the most satisfactory assurances that it will be his earnest study to adhere scrupulously to the good feeling and conciliatory conduct toward the United States which has been observed by Sir Howard Douglas.

The undersigned seizes this opportunity to renew to Mr. Van Buren the assurances of his distinguished consideration.

CHAS. R. VAUGHAN.

Mr. Bankhead to Mr. Livingston.

Hon. EDWARD LIVINGSTON, etc.:

WASHINGTON, October 1, 1831.

The undersigned, His Britannic Majesty's chargé d'affaires, has the honor to acquaint Mr. Livingston, Secretary of State of the United States, that he has received a communication from His Majesty's lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, stating that the authorities of Maine have endeavored to exercise a jurisdiction over part of the territory at present in dispute between His Majesty and the United States, and, further, that an order has been issued by a justice of the peace for the county of Penobscot to the inhabitants of the town of Madawaska to assemble for the purpose of choosing municipal officers.

The undersigned regrets sincerely that these irregular proceedings should have been had recourse to during a period when the question of boundary is in a course of settlement, and in opposition to the desire expressed by the President that pending the discussion of that question the State of Maine should refrain from committing any act which could be construed into a violation of the neighboring territory. The undersigned begs leave to submit to the Secretary of State several documents* which he has received from Sir Archibald Campbell in support of his complaint of a violation of territory; and the undersigned entertains a confident hope that such measures will be adopted as shall prevent a recurrence of acts on the part of the authorities of the State of Maine which are productive of so much inconvenience * Omitted.

and which tend to disturb that harmony and good will so necessary to be preserved between the two countries.

The undersigned has the honor to renew to Mr. Livingston the assurances of his distinguished consideration.

CHARLES BANKHEAD.

Mr. Livingston to Mr. Bankhead.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, October 17, 1831.

CHARLES BANKHEAD, Esq., etc.

SIR: Immediately after receiving your note of the 1st instant I wrote to the governor of the State of Maine for information on the subject of it. I have just received his answer, of which I have the honor to inclose two extracts.* By the first you will perceive that the election of town officers in the settlement of Madawaska, of which complaint was made in the papers inclosed in your letter, was made under color of a general law, which was not intended by either the executive or legislative authority of that State to be executed in that settlement, and that the whole was the work of inconsiderate individuals.

By the second extract it will appear that the individuals said to have been most prominent in setting up the authority of the State have been arrested by order of the lieutenant-governor of the Province of New Brunswick, and were on their way to be imprisoned at Frederickton.

The innovation on the existing state of things in the disputed territory being distinctly disavowed by the executive authority of the State, no act of authority or exercise of jurisdiction having followed the election, I would respectfully suggest the propriety of your recommending to the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick the release of the prisoners who were arrested for exercising this act of authority in the territory mutually claimed by the two nations, contrary to the understanding between their Governments. It is their avowed object to avoid any collision until the intention of both parties in relation to the award shall be fully known. All subjects calculated to produce irritation, therefore, ought evidently to be avoided. The arrest of the persons concerned in the election must produce that feeling in a high degree. A conviction can not take place without eliciting a decision from the bench declaratory of and enforcing the jurisdiction over the territory in dispute, which it is the present policy of both powers to avoid, at least for the short time that must elapse before the question can be finally settled. If punishment should follow conviction, the passions that would be excited must inevitably be hostile to that spirit of conciliation so necessary where sacrifices of national feeling and individual interest are required for the common good. It would be absurd here to enter into the question of title. Both parties claim it. No act that either can do is necessary to assist its right while there is hope of an amicable arrangement; and it was with this view of the subject that a mutual understanding has been had to leave things in the state in which they are until the question of the award is settled.

On the part of the Americans some individuals, in contravention of this understanding, have proceeded to do acts which if followed out would change the political state of part of the disputed land. But it has not been so followed out; it is disavowed by the power whose assent is necessary to carry it into execution. It is therefore of no avail, and can have no more effect than if the same number of men had met at Madawaska and declared themselves duly elected members of the British Parliament. The act interferes with no right; it comes in actual collision with no established power. Not so the punishment of the individuals concerned. This is at once

Omitted.

a practical decision of the question, and may lead to retaliating legal measures; for if the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick feels himself obliged, as he says he does, to impose the authority of the law within which he thinks the boundaries of his Province, will not the same feeling incite the governor of Maine, under the same sense of duty, to pursue the like measures? And thus the fruits of moderation and mutual forbearance during so long a period will be lost for the want of perseverance in them for the short time that is now wanting to bring the controversy to an amicable close. It is therefore, sir, that I invite your interposition with his excellency the lieutenantgovernor of New Brunswick to induce him to set at liberty the persons arrested, on their engagement to make no change in the state of things until the business shall be finally decided between the two Governments.

On our part, the desire of the General Government to avoid any measures tending to a change in the existing state of things on our northeast boundary has been fully and, it is believed, efficaciously expressed to the executive of the State of Maine, so that the actual relation of the State with the neighboring Province will not in future suffer any change.

I have great pleasure, sir, in renewing on this occasion the assurance of my high consideration.

EDWD. LIVINGSTON.

Mr. Bankhead to Mr. Livingston.

WASHINGTON, October 20, 1831.

Hon. EDWARD LIVINGSTON, Esq., etc.: The undersigned, His Britannic Majesty's chargé d'affaires, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Livingston's note of the 17th instant, in answer to a representation which the undersigned thought it his duty to make to the Government of the United States upon a violation committed upon the territory at present in dispute between the two countries.

The friendly tone assumed by the Secretary of State in this communication, the discountenance on the part of the General Government of the proceedings which were complained of, and the determination of the President to cause the strictest forbearance to be maintained until the question of boundary shall be settled have been received by the undersigned with great satisfaction, and it is in the same spirit of harmony that he has addressed a letter to His Majesty's lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, inclosing a copy of Mr. Livingston's note, for his excellency's serious consideration.

The undersigned has the honor to renew to Mr. Livingston the assurance of his distinguished consideration.

CHARLES BANKHEAD.

Mr. Bankhead to Mr. Livingston.

WASHINGTON, October 22, 1831.

Hon. EDWARD LIVINGSTON, etc.:

The undersigned, His Britannic Majesty's chargé d'affaires, has the honor to transmit to the Secretary of State of the United States the copy of a letter* from His Majesty's lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, inclosing a deposition* made before a justice of the peace of that Province in support of a charge against certain inhabitants of Houlton, in the State of Maine, for having made a forcible inroad on the territory of His Majesty in search of an Irishman (an inhabitant of Woodstock, New Brunswick) who committed a most violent outrage against the constituted authorities at Houlton.

* Omitted.

The lieutenant-governor deprecates in the strongest manner the infamous conduct of the individual in question, and is perfectly ready to exert the utmost rigor of the laws against him; but his excellency at the same time protests against the conduct of those persons who have thus attempted to interfere with the jurisdiction of the laws in His Majesty's possessions.

Under these circumstances the undersigned has to request that Mr. Livingston will be good enough to cause the necessary inquiries to be instituted into this transaction, and upon the charges being clearly proved that he will make such a representation to the authorities of the State of Maine as shall prevent the recurrence of a similar irregularity in future.

The undersigned has the honor to renew to Mr. Livingston the assurances of his distinguished consideration.

CHARLES BANKHEAD.

Mr. Bankhead to Mr. Livingston.

Hon. EDWARD LIVINGSTON, etc.:

WASHINGTON, November 25, 1831.

The undersigned, His Britannic Majesty's chargé d'affaires, has the honor to refe the Secretary of State of the United States to the correspondence which took place in the month of October upon the subject of violations which had been committed upon the territory at present in dispute between Great Britain and the United States, and the measures which His Majesty's lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick deemed it expedient to adopt thereupon.

The trial of these persons took place at Frederickton, and they were sentenced by the supreme court of the Province to fine and imprisonment.

At the time the undersigned communicated to the Government of the United States the decision which the authorities of New Brunswick had felt it necessary to adopt upon this occasion he expressed the deep regret of the governor of that Province that the conduct of these individuals was such as to compel his excellency to pursue a course so uncongenial to his own feelings and at variance with the harmony which subsists between the Governments of Great Britain and the United States.

The Secretary of State upon receiving this communication expressed to the undersigned the earnest desire of the President, upon a total disavowal on the part of the General Government of the proceedings of the persons implicated in this transaction, that His Majesty's lieutenant-governor might consider himself authorized to exercise a prerogative in their favor and to remit the sentence which had been pronounced against them.

No time was lost in submitting Mr. Livingston's note to the consideration of Sir Archibald Campbell, and the undersigned has the greatest satisfaction in acquainting him that his excellency fully acquiesced in the desire manifested by the President of the United States. The undersigned can not better fulfill the wishes of Sir Archibald Campbell, which are so much in accordance with that spirit of good will which happily subsists between the two countries and which characterizes their relations with each other, than by transmitting to the Secretary of State a copy of the dispatch which he yesterday received from that officer, and which he feels assured will be received by the President as an earnest of his uninterrupted good feeling toward the Government and people of the United States.

The undersigned has the honor to renew to Mr. Livingston the assurance of his highest consideration.

CHARLES BANKHEAD.