The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-28 00:00:00

BOUNDARY QUESTION.

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MR. FOX
AND MR. FORSYTH.
MR. FOX TO MR. FORSYTH.

Washington, February 23, 1839.
Sir,—l have this day received a dispatch from Major-
General Sir John Harvey, Lieutenant• Governor 'of the
Province of New Brunswick, containing the enclosed
proclamation, issued by his Excellency on the 13th in-
stant, and conveying to me the information of an unjus-
tifiable incursion into a part of the disputed territory,
situated on the Aroostook river, by an armed body of
militia from the State of Maine, acting, to all appearance,
under the authority of the government of the State.
The professed object of this incursion is stated to be
to capture or drive away a party of persons who are
alleged to be trespassing and cutting timber on the lands
in the neighbourhood of the Aroostook River. But it
is well known that all that part of the disputed ter-
ritory is placed under the exclusive jurisdiction of her
Majesty's authority, and that it is bound to remain so,
by explicit agreement between the Government of Great
Britain and the United States, until a final settlement
of the question of the north-eastern boundary.
Her Majesty's officers, therefore, cannot permit any
act of authority, such as is now attempted by the State
of Maine, to be exercised within the territory in ques-
tion ; and it will become the bounden duty of the Lieu-
tenant-Governor of New Brunswick to resist the at-
tempt, and to expel by force the militia of Maine if the
present incursion be persisted in. _

- Under these circumstances, I invoke the immediate in-
terference of the General Government of the United
States, to prevent the threatened collision, by causing
the authorities of Maine to withdraw voluntarily their
Militia Force, and to desist, in obedience to the agree-
ment subsisting between the two nations, from their
present unwarrantable proceeding.
I avail myself of this occasion to renew to you the as-
surance of my high respect and consideration.

H. S. FOX

MR. FORSYTH TO MR. FOX.
Department of State, Washington, Feb. 25, 1839.
Sir,—Your letter of the 23d inst., calling upon the
General Government to interfere to prevent a collision
between the Governments of New Brunswick and the
State of Maine. which you apprehend will be the con-
sequence of a recent attempt made by the State to expel
trespassers upon the public lands in the territory in
dispute between the Government of the United States
and her Britannic Majesty, has been laid before the
President, who, after a careful examination of its con-
tents, has instructed me to reply that your own note,
and the proclamation of Sir John Harvey, the Lieute-
nant-Governor of New Brunswick, which was sent with
it, have been both prepared under erroneous impres-
sions as to the facts of the transactions to which they
relate. Communications from the Government of
Maine enable me to state to you that the recent move-
ment in the disputed territory was founded upon a re-
solution of the legislature, a copy of which is herewith
inclosed.
You will perceive that no military occupation of the
territory was contemplated, the sole object having
been to remove trespassers, who, in violation of the
rights of property, to whomsoever it may belong, and
the declared intention of both Governments, were
gradually and hourly diminishing its value. From the
authority given to the agents of the State of Maine,
and from information of undoubted authenticity, it is
known that the persons engaged in this affair, although
armed from an spprehension of resistance from the
large body of armed lawless aggressors on the public
domain, were not detailed from the Militia of the State
for that purpose, but were employed by the land agent
of Maine and one of her Sheriffs, who were to direct
and control all their movements. Had the sole and
avowed object been accomplished, the party would
have immediately withdrawn, leaving the territory in all
other respects in the condition in which it was found
by them.

This termination of the enterprise had been thus far
suspended by the unexpected seizure and detention of
the land agent of Maine, who was arrested by the tres-
passers when in the act of putting himself in communi-
cation with the agent of the Government of New Bruns-
wick, appointed by the Government to watch the tres-
passers he had himself been appointed to arrest or drive
off. Her Majesty's Government cannot be surprised,
however, much as it may regret, with the President,
that Maine has thought herself compelled to adopt some
decisive movement on the subject, when it is recollected
that, as long ago as the year 1529, Mr. Clay, then
Secretary of State, apprised the British Minister, Sir
Charles Vaughan, on the occurrence of similar, but less
extensive violations of the property in question, alleged
to have been authorised by the Colonial Government,
that if such trespasses were authorised or countenanced
on the disputed territory, it was not to be expected that
the State of Maine would abstain from the adoption of
preventive measures.
It is true that in the present instance the trespassers
were not believed to have been either countenanced or
authorised by her Majesty's Colonial Government ; but
that circumstance would itself lead to some surprise at
the excitement produced by an act equally required by
the interests of both nations. Sir John Harvey has, in-
deed, subsequently taken measures which prove his own
conviction of the necessity of interference on the part of
one or both Governments to arrest a systematised plun-
dering of the public domain. The President hopes, there-
fore, as you will perceive, that there was no military oc-
cupation attempted, that the object in view was perfectly
lawful, the necessity of it being acknowledged by the
act of Sir J. Harvey ; that as soon as the purpose is ac-
complished the agent and his assistants will as heretofore
on like occasions be withdrawn; that you will not find it
difficult to satisfy her Majesty's colonial authorities
that there can be no occasion for collision with Maine,
growing out of this renewed exercise, on her part, of an
oft-asserted right due to herself, and useful, in this in-
stance to her Majesty's Government, whatever may be
the result of the pending negotiation, especially on the
supposition that the territory in question should be here-
after found to belong to the British provinces.
In that event, the President persuades himself, from
the known disposition and long-tried forbearance of the
State authorities, that he will find it easy to protect
Maine, or procure the voluntary disbandment of any
militia that may have been brought together from the
apprehension of a collision with the colonial government.
The propriety of the prompt release on each side of the
agents of the state and colonial governments who have
been arrested, as the President believes under a mutual
misapprehension, is so obvious, that he takes it for
granted they will be respectively set at liberty, if that
has not been already done.
It would give me pleasure to be able to conclude this
communication without further remark ; but there is
another error in your letter, of so grave a character,
that to as oid all possibility of misapprehension, the Pre-
sident has made it incumbent upon me to call it to your
especial notice. It is the assertion " that it is well

known that all that part of the disputed territory is
placed under the exclusive jurisdiction of her Majesty's
authority, and that it is bound to remain so, by explicit
agreement between the Government of Great Britain
and the United States, until the final settlement of the

question of the north-eastern boundary." That Great
Britain has sought, on several occasions, to prove, argu-
mentatively, that the exclusive jurisdiction rested with
her until the final settlement of the question, I shall not
controvert ; but the question of title and of the right of
jurisdiction as consequent thereon, or as resulting from
the previous exercise thereof, has been a subject of con-
tinued controversy between the two Governments, in
respect to which neither has released or waived its
claims.

So far from any relinquishment or right of jurisdic-
tion having been made, or any agreement, either ex-
press or implied, entered 'into on the part of the Go-
vernment of the United States, of the nature alleged
by the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, and

affirmed also in your note of the 23d inst., it will ap-
pear, from the whole course of the correspondence
between the two Governments, extending through a
series of years, that that of the United States has
throughout, and on frequent occasions, solemnly pro-
tested as well against the existence of the right of the
exclusive possession and jurisdiction, as to the exercise
thereof, and has, upon every proper occasion, asserted
that both belonged to Maine and to the United States.
The assertion now made, therefore, appears to the
President to be so extraordinary, that I am instructed
to ask from you a full explanation of the ground upon
which it is placed, as the President owes it in duty to
the General and State Governments that the error may
be traced to its source, and that the two Governments
may know distinctly, and without delay, the true extent
of their understanding on this point, that no unfortunate
or fatal consequences shall spring from any misconcep-
tion on either side in respect to it. In the present
state of the intercourse between Great Britain and the
American continent, and the rapidity with which her
Majesty's Government can be consulted on all ques-
tions arising with this Government or in her Majesty's
possessions, the President believes that this state of the
question should of itself furnish an amply sufficient rea-
son to prevent any hasty action on the part of the Colo-
nial Government which may lead to results fatal to the
good understanding, and eminently hurtful to the pros-
perity of the two countries.

I cannot take leave of this subject, without advert-
ing to the delay of her Majesty's Government in making
some decisive proposition to advance the final settlement
of the question of boundary, thus exposing the two
Governments, as the present condition of things on the
frontier too clearly shows, to consequences which neither
can look to without pain, and full of mortification to
that one to whom any unnecessary procrastination may
be justly attributable.

I avail myself of the occasion to offer you assurances
of the high respect and consideration, with which
I have the honour to be your obedient servant,