The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-17 00:00:00

MR. FOR TO DIR. FOR6TTIT.

Washington, March 13, 1840.
The undersigned, her Britannic Majesty's Envoy Ex-
traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, has been in-
structed by his Government to make the following com-
munication to the Secretary of State of the United States,
in reference to the Boundary negotiation, and the affairs
of the disputed territory.
Her Majesty's Government have had under their consi-
deration the official note addressed to the undersigned by
the Secretary of State of the United States, on the 24th
of last December, in reply to a note from Lhe undersigned,
of the 2d of November preceding, in which the under-
signed protested, in the name of his Government, against
the extensive system of aggression pursued by the people
of the State of Maine, within the disputed territory, to the
prejudice of the rights of Great Britain, and in manifest
violation of the provisional agreements entered into be-
tween the authorities of the two countries at the beginning•
of the last year.
Her Majesty's Government have also had their attention
directed to the public message transmitted by the Go-
vernor of Maine to the Legislature of the State, on the 3d
of January of the present year.
Upon u ceitEderatipn of the ilatesiuntiagntetisod in
these two bfficiai documents, her Majesty's Government
regret to find that the principal acts of encroachment, which
were denounced and complained of on the part of Great
Britain, so far from being either disproved or discon-
tinued, or satisfactorily explained by the authorities of the
State of Maine, are, on the contrary, persisted in, and pub-
licly avowed.
Her Majesty's Government have consequently instructed
the undersigned once more formally to protest against those
acts of encroachment and aggression.
Her Majesty's Government claim and expect from the
good faith of the Government of the United States, that
the people of Maine shall replace themselves in the situa-
tion in which they stood before the agreements of last year
were signed; that they shall therefore retire from the val-
ley of St. John's and confine themselves to the valley of
the Aroostook : that they shall occupy that valley in a tem-
porary manner only, for the purpose, as agreed upon, of
preventing depredations; and that they shall not construct
fortifications, nor make roads or permanent settlements.
Until this be done by the people of the State of Maine,
and so long as that people shall persist in the present sys-
tem of aggression, her Majesty's Government will feel it
their duty to make such military arrangements as may be
required for the protection of her Majesty's rights. And
her Majesty's Government deem it right to declare that
if the result of the unjustifiable proceedings of the State
of Maine should be collision between her Majesty's troops
and the people of that State, the responsibility of all the
consequences that may ensue therefrom, be they what they
may, will rest with the people and Government of the
United States.

The undersigned has been instructed to add to this com-
munication, that her Majesty's Government are only wait-
ing for the detailed report of the British Commissioners
recently employed to survey the disputed territory, which
report, it was believed, would be completed and delivered
to her Majesty's Government by the end of the present
month, in order to transmit to the Government of the
United States a reply to their last proposal upon the sub-
ject of the boundary negotiation.
The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to re-
new to the Secretary of State of the United States the
assurance of his distinguished consideration.
Hon. J. Forsyth, &c. H. S. FOX.
MR. FORSYTH TO MR. FOX.
(Department of State.)
Washington, March 25, 1840.
The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United
States, acknowledges to have received Mr. Fox's commu-
nication of the 13th instant, in reference to the boundary
negotiation and the affairs of the disputed territory. The
information given in the closing part of it, that a reply to
the last proposition of the United States upon the subject
of the boundary may be expected in a short time, is
highly gratifying to the President, who has, however,
given directions to the undersigned in making this acknow-
ledgment, to accompany it with,khe expression of his pro-
found regret that Mr. Fox's note is in no other respect
satisfactory.

Atter the arrangements which, in the be{,Tinning, of last
war, were entered into on the part of the two Governments
with regard to the occupation of the disputed territory, the
President had indulged the hope that the causes of irritation
which had grown out of this branch of the subject could
imvo • been,; .removed.. Relying on the disposition of
manic to uo•vp.l uir nich tne recter:d GU, eimnent
in all that could lead to a pacific adjustment of the
principal question, the President felt confident that his
determination to maintain order and peace on the border
would be fully carried out. He looked upon all appre-
hensions of designs by the people of Maine to take pos-
ession of the territory, as without adequate foundation ;
deeming it improbable that, on the eve of an amicable
adjustment of the question, any portion of the American
people would, without cause, and without object, jeopead
the success of the negotiation, and endanger the peace of
the country. A troublesome, irritating, and comparatively
unimportant, because subordinate, subject, being thus dis-
posed of, the President hoped that the parties would he left
free at once to discuss and finally adjust the principal
question. In this he has been disappointed. While the
proceedings of her Majesty's Government at home have
been attended with unlooked for delays, its attention has
been diverted from the great subject in controversy by re-
peated complaints, imputing to a portion of the people of
the United States designs to violate the engagements of
their Government—designs which have never been enter-
toined, and designs which Mr. Fox knows would receive
no countenance from this Government. •

It is to be regretted that at this late hour so much mis-
apprehension still exists on the side of the British Govern-
ii.ent, as to the object and obvious meaning of the existing
arrangements respecting the disputed territory. The ill
success which appears to have attended the elf irts made
by the undersigned, to convey, through Mr. Fox, to her
Majesty's Government, more correct impressions respecting
them, calls for a recurrence to the subject ; and a brief
review of the correspondence which has grown on! of it
may tend to remove the erroneous views which prevail as
to the manner in which the terms of the arrangements
referred to have been observed.

As Mr. Fox had no authority to make any agreement
respecting the exercise of jurisdiction over the disputed ter-
ritory, that between him and the undersigned, of the 27th
of February, 1839, had for its object some provisional ar-
rangement for the restoration and preservation of peace in
the territory. To accomplish this object it provided that
her Majesty's Officers should not seek to expel by mili-
tary force the armed party which had been sent by
Maine into the district bordering on the Rustook river;
and that, on the other hand, the Government of Maine
would voluntarily, and without needless delay, withdraw
beyond the bounds of the disputed territory any armed force
then within them. Besides this, the arrangement had
other objects—the dispersion of notorious trespassers, and
the protection of public property from depredation. In
case future necessity should arise for this, the operation
was to be conducted by concert, jointly or separately, ac-
cording to agreement between the Governments of Maine
and New Brunswick.

In this last mentioned respect the agreement looked to
some further arrangement between Maine and New I3runs-
wick. Through the agency of General Scott, one was
agreed to on the 23d and 25th of March following, by
which Sir John Harvey bound himself not to seek, with-
out renewed instructions to that effect from his Govern-
ment, to take military possession of the territory, or to re.
pel from it by military force the armed civil posse, or the
troops of Maine. On the part of Maine, it was agreed
by her Governor that no attempt should be made without
renewed instructions from the Legislature, to dis-
turb by arms the province of New Brunswick in the pos-
session of the Madawaska settlements, or interrupt the
usual communications between that and the upper pro-
vinces. As to possession and jurisdiction, they were to
remain unchanged, each party holding, in fact, possession
of part of the disputed territory, but each denying the
right of the other to do so. With that understanding
Maine was, without unnecessary delay, to withdraw her
military force, leaving only, under a land agent, a small
civil posse, armed or unarmed, to protect the timber re-
cently cut, and to prevent further depredations.
In the complaints of infractions of the agreements of the
State of Maine, addressed to the undersigned, Mr. Fox
has assumed two positions which are not authorised by the
terms of those agreements: Ist, admitting the right of
Maine to maintain a civil posse in the disputed territory
for the purposes stated in the agreement, he does so with
the restriction that the action of the posse was to be con-
fined within certain limits; and 2d, by making the advance
of the Maine posse into the valley of the upper St. John
the ground of his complaint of encroachment upon the
Madawaska settlement, he assumes to extend the limits of
that settlement beyond those it occupied at the date of the
agreement.
The United Statcs cannot acquiesce in either of these
positions.
In the first place, nothing is found in the agreement
subscribed to by Governor Fairfield and Sir John Harvey,
defining any limits in the disputed territoryi, werewithinto
bvbe cir-
cumscribed operations of the civil posse of Nate
The task of preserving thea timber recently
cut, and of preventing further depredations within the
was assigned to the State of Maine after
herdi disputed ute
military ter territory, e
should have been withdrawn from it ; and
it was to be accomplished by a civil posse, armed or an-
a med, which was to continue in the territory, and to ope-
rate in every part of it where its agency might be required
to protect the timber already cut, and prevent farther de-
predations, without any limitation whatever, or any restric-
tions, except such as might be construed into an attemp_
to disturb by arms the province of New Brunswick in her
possession of the Madawaska settlement, or interrupt the
usual communication between the Provinces. It is thus
in the exercise of a legitimate right, and in the conscien-
tious ,lischarge of an obligation unposed upon her,
by a solemn compact, that the State of Maine has (lc!'