Martin  Van  Buren  1570 
Brunswick  from  1763  to  1784,  and  after  the  treaty  of  peace  of  1783,  that  the  Province 
of  Nova  Scotia  extended  to  the  sonthem  boundary  of  the  Province  of  Quebec.  It 
then  irresistibly  and  inevitably  follows  that  a  west  line  from  the  Bay  de  Chaleurs, 
intersecting  a  due  north  line  from  the  monument,  is  the  identical  northwest  angle. 
Now  a  line  from  Mars  Hill  direct  to  Cape  Rosiers,  instead  of  being  easterly ^  would 
be  north  of  northeast,  crossing  the  Bay  de  Chaleurs.  But  passing  along  its  north 
coast,  as  the  proclamation  provides,  the  line  from  this  Mars  Hill  must  be  more 
northerly  still.  Indeed^  the  pretense  that  a  pyramidal  spur  or  peak,  such  as  this 
hill,  should  constitute  the  range  of  highlands  mentioned  in  the  treaty  is  so  utterly 
visionary  that  it  is  entitled  to  no  sort  of  respect. 
We  may  now  by  these  facts  and  reflections  give  this  inquiry  a  right  direction,  to 
wit^  to  the  ascertainment  of  the  north  boundary  of  Nova  Scotia,  which  is  the  south- 
em  boundary  of  Canada.  We  have  always  been  lured  from  this  by  the  British  nego- 
tiators to  the  left  or  west  of  this  north  line  from  the  monument 
No  one  who  is  in  the  least  conveisant  with  the  subject  can  suppose  for  a  moment 
that  this  northwest  angle  can  be  found  in  such  a  direction.  The  question  for  us  is, 
Are  there  any  highlands  north  of  the  Bay  de  Chaleurs  extending  in  a  western  direC' 
tion  totvard  a  north  line  drawn  from  the  monument?  If  this  line  westerly  from  the 
bay  be  not  distinctly  marked  so  far  as  to  intersect  this  north  line,  the  principle  is  to 
extend  it  in  the  same  direction  to  the  place  of  intersection;  that  is,  if  the  line  between 
Nova  Scotia  and  Canada  is  zifest  to  within,  say,  30  miles  of  the  north  line  from  the 
monument,  and  the  rest  of  the  way  is  indefinite  or  obscure,  extend  it  on  in  the  same 
direction  until  you  form  a  point  of  intersection,  and  this  will  be  the  northwest  angle 
of  Nova  Scotia.  But  the  truth  is,  the  highlands  are  there ^  and  have  been  found  in 
running  due  north  from  the  montunent  The  elevations  were  taken  by  the  British 
surveyor  from  the  source  of  the  St  Croix,  at  the  mpnument,  to  the  first  waters  of  the 
Restigouche;  and  at  Mars  Hill,  40  miles,  the  summit  of  this  isolated  sugar  loaf  was 
1,100  feet,  and  at  the  termination  of  the  survey  at  the  Restigouche  waters,  100  miles 
farther,  the  elevation  was  1,600  feet;  consequently  the  summit  of  Mars  Hill,  1,100 
feet  above  the  waters  of  the  St.  Croix,  is  500  feet  lower  than  the'  lands  at  the  Resti- 
gouche. And  yet  the  pretense  is  that  there  are  no  highlands  but  this  detached  spur, 
Mars  Hill !  Still  further,  the  highest  position  surveyed  is  nearly  50  miles  short  of 
the  Melis,  which  falls  into  the  St.  ]>wrence,  and  we  do  not  perceive  that  the  eleva- 
tions have  been  taken  there  at  all,  but  we  do  find  it  is  here  that  the  zvaters  separate^ 
and  consequently  the  land  must  be  still  higher. 
In  failure  of  highlands  {assumed  not  to  exist),  the  British  negotiators  claim  aline 
which,  instead  of  dividing  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Atlantic  waters,  would  actually 
extend  between  two  rivers,  both  of  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic, 
To  say  nothing  of  the  absurdity,  not  to  say  ignorance,  of  such  a  claim,  it  is  enough 
that  it  is  in  the  teeth  of  the  treaty  itself.  It  is  painful  to  repeat  the  argument  that 
no  other  highlands  were  intended,  for  all  others  were  expressly  excluded  but  those 
which  divide  the  waters  that  flow  in  those  different  directions.  The  effect  of  their 
construction,  as  we  all  know,  is  to  give  them  the  whole  of  the  St.  John,  with  all  its 
tributaries,  and  a  tract  of  territory  south  of  that  river  equal  at  least  to  75  miles 
square. 
Whether  from  the  peaceful  spirit  of  our  Government,  the  Christian  patience  of 
Maine,  or  the  ''modest  assurance"  of  the  British  negotiators — any  or  all — certain  it 
is  that  His  Britannic  Majesty's  pretensions  are  growing  every  day.  It  is  not  only 
an  afterthought,  but  one  very  recently  conceived,  that  we  were  to  be  driven  south  of 
the  St  John. 
His  Britannic  Majesty's  agent,  Mr.  Chipman,  who  has  been  lately  tu^ng  us  south 
of  that  river,  was  also  agent  to  the  commission,  under  the  treaty  of  1795,  to  ascertain 
the  true  St  Croix,  aud  in  insisting  on  a  more  western  branch  of  this  river  gives  as 
a  reason  that  a  line  due  north  will  cross  the  St  John  farther  up^  whereas  if  you
1 57 1  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
take  an  eastern  branch  such  line  will  cross  near  Frederickton,  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment of  New  Brunswick,  and  materially  infringe  upon  His  Majesty's  Province.  He 
not  only  admits,  but  contends,  that  this  north  line  must  cross  the  river.  Here  are 
his  words:  "This  north  line  must  of  necessity  cross  the  river  St.  John."  Mr.  Lis- 
ton,  the  British  minister,  in  a  private  letter  to  Mr.  Chipman  of  23d  October,  1798, 
recommends  a  modification  of  the  powers  of  the  commissioners  for  the  reason  that 
it  might  give  Great  Br^jitain  a  greater  extent  of  navigation  on  the  St,  John  River. 
The  same  agent,  Mr.  Chipman,  was  also  agent  under  the  fourth  article  of  the  treaty 
of  Ghent,  and  we  find  him  contending  there  '*  that  the  northwest  angle  of  Nova  Scotia 
is  the  same  designated  in  the  grant  to  Sir  William  Alexander  in  162 1,  subject  only 
to  such  alterations  as  were  occasioned  by  the  erection  of  the  Province  of  Quebec 
in  1763."  Now  we  have  already  seen  that  this  south  line  of  the  Province  of  Que- 
bec, so  far  from  altering  this  northwest  angle,  in  fact  confirms  it. 
In  perfect  accordance  with  this  disposition  to  encroach  is  a  proposition  of  the  British 
minister  (Mr.  Vaughan)  that  inasmuch  as  the  highlands  can  not  be  found  by  a  due 
north  direction  from  the  monument  we  should  vary  west  until  we  should  intersect 
them,  but  not  BAST.  Now  that  in  case  a  montmient  can  not  be  found  in  the  course 
prescribed  you  should  look  for  it  at  the  lefty  but  not  to  the  rights  seems  to  us  a  very 
sinister  proposition.  We  have  shown,  and,  as  we  think,  conclusively,  that  the  range 
of  highlands  is  to  be  looked  for  on  British  ground,  and  nowhere  else,  because  it  is  theLr 
own  boundary,  and  a  line  which  must,  with  an  ascertained  north  line,  form  the  angle 
of  one  of  their  own  Provinces.  And  yet  we  are  not  to  examine  there  at  all;  we  have 
never  explored  the  country  there,  and  are  expected  to  yield  to  such  arrogant,  extrav- 
agant, and  baseless  pretensions! 
We  would  ask  why,  in  what  justice,  if  we  can  not  find  the  object  in  the  route  pre- 
scribed, are  we  to  be  thus  trammeled?  Where  is  the  reciprocity  of  such  a  proposition, 
so  degrading  to  the  dignity  and  insulting  to  the  rights  and  liberties  of  this  State? 
No;  the  people  of  Maine  will  not  now,  and  we  trust  they  never  will,  tamely  submit 
to  such  a  one-sided  measure. 
The  next  restriction  or  limitation  with  which  this  negotiation  is  to  be  clogged  is 
an  admission  that  the  Restigouche  and  St.  John  are  not  Atlantic  rivers,  because  one 
flows  into  the  Bay  de  Chaleurs  and  the  other  into  the  Bay  of  Pundy ;  yet  neither  falls 
into  the  river  St.  Lawrence.  They  would  then  find  those  highlands  between  the  St. 
John  and  the  Penobscot.  There  can  not  be  a  more  arrogant  pretension  or  palpable 
absurdity.  Suppose  the  waters  of  both  these  rivers  are  excluded  as  flowing  neither 
way^  still  the  waters  that  flow  eax:h  way  are  so  far  separated  as  to  leave  a  tract  of 
country  which,  if  equally  divided,  would  carry  us  far  beyond  the  St.  John.  But 
we  admit  no  such  hypothesis.  The  Atlantic  and  the  sea  are  used  in  the  charters  as 
synonymous  terms.  The  Restigouche,  uniting  with  the  Bay  de  Chaleurs,  which  com- 
municates with  the  sea,  and  the  St.  John,  uniting  with  the  Bay  of  Pundy,  which  also 
communicates  with  the  sea,  and  that,  too,  by  a  mouth  90  miles  wide,  are  both 
Atlantic  rivers.  These  rivers  were  known  by  the  negotiators  not  to  be  St.  Lawrence 
rivers;  they  were  known  to  exist,  for  they  were  rivers  of  the  first  class.  If  they  were 
neither  St  Lawrence  nor  Atlantic,  why  were  they  not  excepted  ?  They  were  not 
of  the  former,  therefore  they  must  be  included  in  the  latter  description.  Indeed, 
if  rivers  uniting  with  Atlantic  bays  are  not  Atlantic  rivers,  the  Penobscot  and  Ken- 
nebec, which  unite  with  the  respective  bays  of  Penobscot  and  Sagadahock,  would 
not  be  Atlantic  rivers,  and  then  where  are  those  highlands  which  divide  the  waters 
referred  to  in  the  treaty  of  1783?  Should  we  leave  this  question  unsettled  a  little 
longer,  and  the  British  claims  continue  to  increase,  we  might  very  soon  find  these 
highlands  south  o^  the  Connecticut,  and  all  the  intermediate  cotmtry  would  be  recol" 
onized  by  **  construction."  We  therefore  invoke  the  sjrmpathy  of  all  New  England, 
with  New  York  besides,  to  unite  against  this  progressive  claim — ^this  avalanche  which 
threatens  to  overwhelm  them  as  well  as  ourselves.
Martin  Van  Buren  1572 
Again,  if  this  Mars  Hill  (and  we  confess  we  can  not  speak  of  the  pretension  with 
any  patience)  is  the  northwest  angle ^  and  the  north  boundary  of  Nova  Scotia  and 
the  sonth  boundary  of  the  Province  of  Quebec  are  the  same,  and  north  of  the  Bay  de 
Chaleurs,  then  there  is  indeed  no  northwest  angle,  for  a  line  due  north  from  the 
monument,  passing  by  Mars  Hill,  must  pursue  nearly  the  same  direction  to  get  to 
the  north  of  that  bay  without  crossing  it;  and  who  ever  thought  of  an  angle  at  the 
side  of  a  continuous  line?  Now,  according  to  the  British  maps  taken  in  this  very 
case,  you  must  run  a  course  of  north  about  14°  east  to  obtain  the  north  side  of  the 
bay  withput  crossing  it,  and  the  distance  would  be  in  this  almost  due  north  direc- 
tion more  than  100  miles,  while  that  from  the  monument  to  Mars  Hill  would  be 
little  more  than  4a  Now  when  we  consider  that  this  northerly  line  must  form 
nearly  a  right  angle  to  pass  along  the  north  shore  of  the  Bay  de  Chaleurs,  that  this 
is  100  miles  farther  north  than  Mars  Hill,  where  instead  of  an  angle  there  can  bo 
only  an  inclination  of  14'',  can  there  be  a  greater  absurdity  than  the  British  claim 
founded  on  these  facts? 
We  will  now  present  some  facts  and  remarks  in  regard  to  the  surveys  and  ezplor- 
ings  made  by  the  commission  under  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  and  the 
first  fact  that  occurs  is  that  the  elevations  taken  by  the  British  surveyor  stop  far 
fihort  of  where  the  waters  divide,  and  we  find  no  proof  that  these  elevations  were 
carried  through  by  our  own  surveyors.  If  the  British  surveyor,  after  ascertaining 
he  UKLS  still  ascending  and  had  in  fact  arrived  at  the  lands  at  a  branch  of  a  river 
elevated  500  feet  above  the  summit  of  Mars  Hill,  found  it  prudent  to  stop  shorty  we  see 
no  good  reason  why  the  American  agent  did  not  proceed  on  and  take  accurate  eleva- 
tions at  a  place  where  the  waters  divide.  If  such  a  survey  was  made,  the  committee 
have  not  been  able  to  obtain  the  evidence.  It  is  not  in  the  maps  or  documents  in 
the  library  or  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  committee  believe  that  no  such 
elevations  have  been  taken  northerly  of  the  first  waters  of  the  Restigouche.  It  is, 
indeed,  a  little  singular  that  we  have  so  little  evidence,  not  only  in  regard  to  this 
height  of  land,  but  also  of  the  rivers  which  flow  into  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  left^ 
and  especially  to  the  rights  of  the  north  line  from  the  monument. 
We  know  some  of  them,  to  be  sure,  such  as  the  Oelle  Kamouska^  Verte^  TVois 
Pistoles^  Remouskeyy  and  Metis  on  the  left,  and  the  Blanche^  Louis,  Magdalen,  and 
others  on  the  right  of  this  line,  but  we  know  them  chiefly  as  on  maps  and  as  tran- 
acribed  from  older  maps,  but  very  little  from  actual  survey  or  even  exploration.  An 
examination  of  the  sources  of  those  rivers  at  the  right  of  this  north  line,  with  the 
important  natural  boundary,  the  north  shore  of  the  Bay  de  Chaleurs,  would  accu- 
rately define  the  divisional  line  between  the  Province  of  Quebec  and  Nova  Scotia, 
which  extending  west  would  intersect  the  due  north  line  and  thus  form  the  north- 
west angle  of  Nova  Scotia. 
It  moreover  appears  that  little  or  no  exploration  has  been  made  of  the  lands  east 
of  the  due  north  line.  It  seems  strange  to  us,  although  it  may  be  satisfactorily 
explained,  why  we  should  have  been  drawn  away  from  this  very  important  region. 
It  is,  indeed,  the  true  source  of  inquiry.  In  this  direction  the  evidence  is  to  be  founds 
and  Maine  can  never  be  satisfied  until  it  is  looked  for  here. 
An  extraordinary  method  of  adjusting  this  question,  though  m  perfect  accordance 
with  other  pretensions,  has  been  proposed  by  Great  Britain— that  the  disputed  terri- 
tory should  be  divided  in  equal  portions,  each  party  being  satisfied  of  the  justice  of 
its  claims.  To  this  proposition  we  can  not  subscribe.  It  is  equally  unjust  between 
nations  and  individuals.  Whether  a  party  in  controversy  is  satisfied  or  not  with  the 
justice  of  his  claims  is  what  is  only  known  to  himself,  and  consequently  the  one 
whose  claims  are  most  exorbitant,  however  unjust,  will  always  get  the  best  end  of 
the  bargain.  But  such  a  rule  would  in  this  case  apply  most  unfortunately  to 
Maine.  We  are  limited  at  farthest  to  the  St  Lawrence,  and  to  a  very  narrow  point 
there,  while  the  British  may  extend  their  claims  to  the  south  and  west  indefinitely. 
J
1573  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Establish  this  principle  and  we  shall  soon  find  their  claims,  already  so  progressive, 
stretched  over  to  the  Piscataqua,  and  then  if  we  are  to  divide  equally  both  as  to 
quantity  and  quality  the  divisional  line  then  would  fall  south  of  the  Kennebec.  If 
the  want  of  the  consent  of  Maine  is  the  obstacle  to  such  an  adjustment »  we  trust  it 
wUl  always  remain  an  insuperable  one.  Indeed,  we  protest  against  the  application 
to  us  of  such  a  rule  as  manifestly  unequal  and  tmjust. 
W^  come  now  to  the  recent  transactions  of  the  British  colonial 'authorities,  sanc- 
tioned, as  it  appears,  by  the  Government  at  home,  and  we  regret  to  perceive  in  them 
also  those  strong  indications  of  continual  and  rapid  encroachment  which  have  char- 
acterized that  Government  in  the  whole  of  this  controversy.  Mr.  Livingston,  in  his 
letter  of  21st  July,  1832,  proposes  that  '*  until  the  matter  be  brought  to  a  final  conclu- 
sion both  parties  should  refrain  from  the  exercise  of  jurisdiction,'*  and  Mr.  Vaughan, 
.  in  reply  of  14th  April,  1833,  in  behalf  of  his  Government,  **  entirely  concurs."  Here, 
then,  the  faith  of  the  two  Governments  \&  pledged  to  abstain  from  acts  of  jurisdiction 
until  all  is  settled.  Now,  how  are  the  facts?  We  understand,  and  indeed  it  appears 
by  documents  herewith  exhibited,  that  an  act  has  passed  the  legislating  of  New 
Brunswick  ''incorporating  the  St.  Andrews  and  Quebec  Railroad  Company,'*  that 
the  King  has  granted  ;^io,ooo  to  aid  the  enterprise,  and  that  the  legislatiu%  of  Lower 
Canada,  by  its  resolutions  of  both  houses,  has  approved  the  scheme  and  promised  its 
cooperation.  It  may  be  that  the  Government  at  home  was  not  aware  that  this  rail- 
road must  inevitably  cross  the  disputed  territory. 
But  this  ignorance  of  the  subject  seems  incredible.  A  railroad  from  St.  Andrews 
to  Quebec  would  be  impnssible  unless  it  crossed  the  territory  in  question,  even 
uext  to  impossible  and  totally  useless  were  it  to  pass  at  the  north  of  the  St  John. 
It  seems,  therefore,  extraordinary  indeed  that  the  British  Government,  even  in  4he 
incipient  stages  of  this  enterprise,  should  make  an  appropriation  which  is  in  direct 
violation  of  its  solemn  pledge.  To  give  to  a  railroad  corporation  powers  over  our 
rights  and  property  is  the  strongest  act  of  sovereignty.  It  is  an  act  of  delegated 
power  which  we  ourselves  give  to  our  own  citizens  with  extreme  caution  and  with 
guarded  restrictions  and  reservations.  This  railroad  must  not  only  cross  the  dis* 
puted  territory,  but  it  crosses  it  50  miles  south  of  the  St.  John  and  almost  to  the 
southerly  extremity  of  the  British  claim,  extravagant  as  it  is.  By  the  map  herewith 
exhibited  of  the  survey  of  the  route  it  appears  that  the  road  crosses  our  due  north 
line  at  Mars  Hill,  thence  doubling  round  it  toward  the  south  it  crosses  the  Roostic 
between  the  Great  and  Little  MachiaSy  the  AUeguash  at  the  outlet  of  First  Lake^  a 
branch  of  the  St.  John  south  of  Black  River ^  and  passes  into  Canada  between  "Spruce 
Hills"  on  the  right  and  "  Three  Hills  **  on  the  left,  thus  crossing  a  tract  of  cotmtry 
south  of  the  St.  John  100  by  50  miles.  We  have  not  a  copy  of  the  act  of  incorporation 
of  New  Brunswick,  and  can  not,  therefore,  say  that  the  route  there  defined  is  the  same 
as  on  the  map.  Be  this  as  it  may,  certain  it  is,  as  anyone  will  see,  that  no  possible 
route  can  be  devised  which  will  not  cross  the  territory  in  question.  It  is,  then,  a 
deliberate  act  of  power,  palpable  and  direct,  claiming  and  exercising  sovereignty  far 
south  even  of  the  line  recommended  by  the  King  of  the  Ne^erlands. 
In  all  our  inouiries  and  examinations  of  this  subject  there  has  been  great  negli 
gence  in  regrard  to  this  northwest  angle.  Judge  Benson,  one  of  the  commissioner* 
mider  Jay*s  treaty,  in  a  letter  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  expressly  and 
clearly  defines  this  angle.  He  states  distinctly  that  the  due  north  line  from  the 
•ource  of  the  St.  Croix  is  the  west-side  line^  and  the  highlands  are  the  north-side  line 
which  form  this  angle,  and  this  had  never  been  questioned  by  the  British  themselves. 
This  due  north  line,  viz,  the  west-side  line,  was  established  by  the  commission  of 
tehich  Judge  Benson  was  a  member,  and  the  British  have  made  the  north-side  line 
to  be  north  of  the  Bay  de  Chaleurs,  and  yet  with  these  postulates  to  pretend  that  the 
points  of  intersection  can  not  be  found  is  one  of  the  greatest  of  their  absurdities; 
and  another  absurdity  quite  equal  is  that  after  passing  west  along  the  north  shore
Martin  Van  Buren  1574 
of  this  bay  they  would  fall  down  nearly  south  more  than  100  miles  to  Mars  Hill, 
about  60  miles  from  the  south  shore  of  the  Province,  at  the  Bay  of  Passamaquoddy, 
which  is  part  of  the  Bay  of  Pundy,  and  this  point,  too,  of  so  little  inclination  that 
it  is  a  palpable  perversion  of  language  to  call  it  an  angle ^  much  more  a  northwest 
-ngle. 
It  is,  indeed,  time  for  us  to  begin  to  search,  and  in  the  right  places,  too,  in  order  to 
put  a  stop  to  these  perpetual  encroachments  upon  our  territory  and  rights.  Our  first 
object  should  be  to  ascertain  and  trace  the  north  boundary  of  Nova  Scotia,  which  is 
the  south  boundary  of  the  Pi:pvince  of  Quebec,  and  see  if  Canada  comes  as  far  down 
as  Mars  Hill.  And  we  should  proceed  to  finish  taking  the  elevations  on  the  due  north 
line  to  some  point  where  the  waters  divide.  The  General  Government  shoidd  be 
immediately  called  on  to  execute  the  work,  with  the  cooperation  of  Massachusetts 
and  Maine.  Notice  should  be  given  to  the  British  authorities  to  unite  in  the  under- 
taking, and  if  they  refuse  our  Government  ought  to  proceed  ex  parte.  The  act 
would  be  entirely  pacific,  as  the  object  would  be  to  ascertain  facts — much  more 
pacific  than  the  survey,  without  notice^  of  the  St  Andrews  and  Quebec  Railroad 
through  our  territory,  not  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  a  boundary,  but  to  assum^^ 
jurisdiction. 
Your  committee  have  gone  through  this  tedious  investigation  with  all  the  delibei 
atiox),  exactness,  and  candor  which  our  time,  means,  and  feelings  woidd  allow.  Qui 
animadversions  may  in  some  instances  have  been  strong,  and  even  severe,  but  we 
think  we  have  expressed  the  sentiments  and  feelings  of  the  people  of  Maine,  suffer- 
ing imder  protracted  injuries.  This  State  shoidd  take  a  firm,  deliberate,  and  dignified 
stand,  and  one  which  it  will  not  retract.  While  it  awards  to  the  General  Govern- 
ment all  its  legitimate  powers,  it  will  not  be  forgetful  of  its  own.  We  call  upon  the 
iTesident  and  Congress.  We  invoke  that  aid  and  sympathy  of  our  sister  States 
which  Maine  has  always  accorded  to  them.  We  ask,  nay  we  demand,  in  the  name  of 
justice,  HOW  i,ONG  we  are  t6  be  thus  trampled  down  by  a  foreign  people?  And  we 
trust  we  shall  meet  a  cordial  and  patriotic  response  in  the  heart  of  every  republican 
of  the  Union, 
Your  Gommittee  therefore  submit  the  following  resolutions: 
Stats  of  Mains. 
RBSOI^VBS  relative  to  the  northeastern  boundary. 
Resolvedy  That  we  view  with  much  solicitude  the  British  usurpations  and  encroach- 
ments on  the  northeastern  part  of  the  territory  of  this  State. 
Resolved^  That  pretensions  so  groundless  and  extravagant  indicate  a  spirit  of  hos- 
tility which  we  had  no  reason  to  expect  from  a  nation  with  whom  we  are  at  peace. 
Resolvedy  That  vigilance,  resolution,  firmness,  and  union  on  the  part  of  this  State 
are  necessary  in  this  state  of  the  controversy. 
Resolved^  That  the  governor  be  authorized  and  requested  to  call  on  the  President 
of  the  United  States  to  cause  the  northeastern  boundary  of  this  State  to  be  explored 
and  surveyed  and  monuments  erected  according  to  the  treaty  oi  1783. 
Resolved^  That  the  cooperation  of  Massachusetts  be  requested. 
Resolved^  That  our  Senators  in  Congress  be  instructed  and  our  Representatives 
requested  to  endeavor  to  obtain  a  speedy  adjustment  of  the  controversy. 
Resolved^  That  copies  of  this  report  and  resolution  be  transmitted  to  the  governor 
of  Massachusetts,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  to  each  of  our  Senators  and 
Representatives  in  Congress,  and  other  Senators  in  Congress,  and  the  governors  of 
the  several  States. 
[Passed  house  March  24,  1837;  passed  Senate  and  approved  March  25,  1837.]
1 575  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Stats  op  Maine,  Executive  Department, 
Augusta,  June  27, 1S37, 
His  Bxcellency  Martin  Van  Buren, 
President  of  the  United  States. 
Sir:  I  lose  no  time  in  commnnicating  to  Your  Bscellency  a  copy  of  a  letter  from 
Sir  John  Harvey,  lieutenant-governor  of  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick,  and  also 
of  a  letter  from  J.  A.  Maclauchlan  to  Sir  John  Harvey,  in  relation  to  the  arrest  and 
imprisonment  of  Ebenezer  S.  Greely. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  high  consideration,  your  obedient  servant, 
ROBERT  P.  DUNLAP. 
Government  Hoxtse, 
FrederickUmy  New  Brunswick^  June  12^  1837. 
His  Excellency  the  GOVERNOR  OF  The  State  of  Maine. 
Sir:  Since  I  had  the  honor  of  addressing  your  excellency  under  date  the  6tfa 
instant,  announcing  my  assumption  of  the  administration  of  this  government,  a 
report. has  been  laid  before  me  by  the  warden  of  the  disputed  territory,  copy  of 
which  I  feel  it  to  be  an  act  of  courtesy  toward  your  excellency  to  lose  no  time  in 
communicating  to  you. 
In  including  the  territory  within  the  limits  of  the  British  claim  in  the  census 
which  "Ebenezer  Greely'*  appears  to  have  been  instructed  to  take  of  the  population 
of  the  county  of  "  Penobscot"  he  has  evidently  acted  in  ignorance  or  under  a  mis- 
conception of  the  subsisting  relations  betwixt  England  and  the  United  States  of 
America,  which  I  can  not  allow  myself  to  doubt  that  your  excellency  will  lose  no 
time  in  causing  to  be  explained  and  removed.  Though  necessarily  committed  to 
confinement,  I  have  desired  that  every  regard  may  be  shown  to  Greely's  personal 
convenience  consistent  with  the  position  in  which  he  has  voluntarily  placed  himself. 
I  use  this  expression  because,  as  your  excellency  will  observe,  Greely  was  informed 
by  the  warden  that  if  he  would  desist  from  the  act  in  which  he  was  engaged  and  the 
language  which  he  was  holding  to  the  people  of  the  Madawaska  settlement  (acts 
constituting  not  only  an  interference  with  the  acknowledged  rights  of  jurisdiction  of 
this  Province,  but  the  positive  exercise  within  its  limits  of  actual  jurisdiction,  how- 
ever unauthorized  on  the  part  of  the  State  of  Maine)  and  would  withdraw  from  this 
district  he  should  be  allowed  to  do  so;  otherwise  that  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
imposed  upon  him  by  his  office  he  (the  warden),  who  is  in  the  commission  of  the 
peace,  must  be  under  the  necessity  of  apprehending,  in  order  to  make  him  amena- 
ble to  the  laws  of  the  Province.  This  proposal  Greely  rejected,  and  was  accord- 
ingly committed  to  jail  to  be  dealt  with  according  to  law.  In  the  meantime,  as  an 
evideice  of  my  desire  to  cultivate  the  most  friendly  understanding  with  the  govern- 
ment of  the  State  of  which  Greely  is  a  citizen,  I  lose  no  time  in  saying  that  upon 
receiving  an  assurance  from  your  excellency  that  your  authority  shall  be  exerted  in 
restraining  this  or  any  other  citizen  of  the  State  of  Maine  from  adopting  proceedings 
within  the  British  limits  (as  claimed)  calculated  to  infringe  the  authority  and  juris- 
diction of  this  Province  and  to  disturb  and  unsettle  the  minds  of  that  portion  of  its 
inhabitants  residing  in  the  disputed  territories  tmtil  the  question  in  dispute  be 
brought  to  a  final  settlement  Greely  shall  immediately  be  enlarged. 
Trusting  that  your  excellency  will  see  in  this  proposition  an  anxious  desire  on  my 
part  to  redeem  the  pledge  given  in  my  communication  of  the  6th  instant ,  I  have  the 
honor  to  be,  your  excellency's  most  obedient,  humble  servant, J.  HARVEY, 
Major-General,  Lieutenant-Governor^  etc.
Martin  Van  BtireH  I576 
Fredbrickton.  New  Brunswick,  June  10, 1837, 
His  Bzcellency  Major-General  Sir  John  Harvey,  K.  C.  H., 
Lieutenant-Governor^  etc,: 
May  it  please  yonr  excellency:  In  obedience  to  yoni:  excellency's  instmctions, 
communicated  to  me  through  the  advocate-general  in  the  absence  of  the  attorney 
and  solicitor  generals,  I  have  now  the  honor  to  report  for  the  information  of  your 
excellency  that  I  proceeded  with  the  least  possible  delay  to  the  Idadawaska  settle- 
ment. On  my  arrival  at  the  Great  Falls,  130  miles  from  hence,  I  was  informed  the 
American  citizen  EbenezerS.  Greely  had  passed  up  the  day  previous  for  the  pur- 
pose of  again  proceeding  with  the  census  of  the  inhabitants  of  Madawaska  under 
authority  from  the  State  of  Idaine.  Aware  of  the  probable  excitement  that  would 
naturally  arise  between  the  two  governments  from  this  circumstance,  and  at  the  same 
time  fully  convinced  that  His  Majesty's  Government  would  but  regret  any  unneces- 
sary mistmderstanding  during  the  pending  negotiation,  I  thought  it  advisable  to  call 
upon  Mr.  Coombs,  a  magistrate  residing  12  miles  above  the  Palls,  and  request  him  to 
accompany  me,  which  he  readily  did»  to  witness  the  conversation  between  Mr. 
Greely  and  myself. 
We  then  proceeded  and  overtook  Mr.  Greely'a  short  distance  above  Green  River, 
about  24  miles  from  the  Falls,  having  ascertained  by  the  inhabitants,  as  he  passed  up 
the  river,  that  Mr.  Greely  was  the  whole  of  the  previous  day  employed  in  taking 
down  their  names,  number  of  each  family,  and  stating  they  would  shortly  receive 
from  the  State  of  Maine  a  simi  of  money  not  exceeding  $y  for  each  head  of  family 
out  of  the  surplus  revenue  of  the  Xjnited  States. 
I  required  Mr.  Greely  to  show  me  his  instructions  for  exercising  authority  in  Mad- 
awaska, when  he  handed  me  a  document,  a  copy  of  which  I  beg  to  inclose  your 
excellency,  and  after  perusing  the  same  I  returned  it  with  my  opinion  that  I  really 
thought  he  (Mr.  Greely)  had  mistaken  the  intention  of  his  instructions,  as  no  allu- 
sion was  made  either  to  that  settlement  or  the  territory  in  dispute,  and  therefore  if 
he  would  then  desist  in  taking  the  census  I  would  take  no  notice  of  what  had  passed. 
Moreover,  in  reply  to  my  advice  and  request,  he  (Mr.  Greely)  remonstrated  and 
attempted  to  make  it  appear  that  he  would  be  fully  borne  out  by  his  government  in 
what  he  had  done,  and  it  was  also  his  intention  to  complete  the  census  if  he  was 
not  prevented;  this  reply  I  regret  having  left  me  no  alternative  but  to  make  him  a 
prisoner,  which  I  did  on  Wednesday,  the  7th  instant.  On  Friday  evening  I  arrived 
in  Frederickton,  and  tiiis  morning  (Saturday),  by  the  advice  of  the  advocate-generals, 
I  committed  him  to  the  gaol  of  the  county  of  York. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  ezcdlency's  most  obedient,  himible  servant. 
J.  A.  MACLAUCHLAN, 
Warden  o/the  Disputed  Territory, 
State  of  Maine,  Executive  Department, 
June  /p,  1837. 
His>Bxcellency  Martin  Van  Buren, 
President  of  the  United  States. 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  inclose  to  Your  Excellency  the  copy  of  a  letter  which 
came  to  hand  by  the  last  mail,  by  which  it  appears  that  febenezer  S.  Greely,  esq., 
the  agent  employed  by  the  county  commissioners  for  the  county  of  Penobscot  to 
take  the  census  of  the  town  of  Madawaska,  has  been  arrested  by  the  authorities  ot 
the  Province  of  New  Brunswick  and  is  now  incarcerated  in  the  jail  at  Frederickton. 
In  this  state  of  things  it  becomes  my  painful  duty  to  make  this  communication  to 
Your  Excellency  and  to  insist  that  prompt  measures  be  adopted  by  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  to  effect  the  early  release  of  the  aforementioned  citizen. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 
ROBERT  P.  DUNLAP.
1577  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Fredkrickton, •Province  of  New  Brunswick, 
June  12,  1837, 
Robert  P.  Dunlap,  Esq., 
Governor  of  Maine, 
Sir:  On  the  15th  of  May  last  I  was  appointed  by  the  connty  commissioners  of 
Penobscot  County  to  take  the  census  of  Madawaska.  On  the  6th  of  June  instant  I 
was  arrested  by  Mr.  Madauchlan,  from  this  place,  and  committed  to  jail  by  him, 
and  there  I  now  remain — in  the  prison  at  Frederickton.  I  was  committed  on  the 
loth  instant.  I  addressed  a  letter  to  you  on  the  loth,  which  has  gone  by  the  way  of 
St.  Andrews.  Fearing  that  letter  will  not  arrive  soon,  I  write  again  to^lay  by  way 
of  Houlton.  I  have  described  my  arrest  more  particularly  in  my  first  letter,  which 
you  will  undoubtedly  receive  before  long;  therefore  I  only  give  the  facts  in  this, 
having  a  chance,  by  the  assistance  of  Mr.  I/>mbard,  of  Hallowell,  of  forwarding  this 
to  Houlton  privately.  I  was  employed  in  business  of  the  State,  and  do  expect  my 
Government  will  intercede  and  liberate  me  from  prison  in  a  foreign  and  adjacent 
Province.  I  shall  be  pleased  to  receive  a  line  from  you  expressing  your  opinion, 
direction,  etc. 
I  remain,  air,  respectfully,  ydur  obedient  servant, 
EBEN'R  S.  GREBI^Y. 
Dbpartmbnt  op  State, 
Washington  y  June  26, 1837, 
His  Excellency  Robert  P.  Duni^ap,  Esq., 
Governor  of  Maine, 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor,  by  direction  of  the  President,  to  acknowledge  the  receipt 
of  your  letter  to  him  of  the  19th  instant,  inclosing  the  copy  of  a  communication 
dated  the  12th  of  the  same  month  addressed  to  you  by  Ebenezer  S.  Greely,  esq.,  the 
agent  employed  by  the  county  commissioners  for  the  county  of  Penobscot  to  take 
the  census  of  the  town  of  Madawaska,  from  which  it  appears  that  he  has  been 
arrested  by  the  authorities  of  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick  and  is  now  in  con- 
finement in  the  jail  at  Frederickton,  and  insisting  that  prompt  measures  be  adopted 
by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  effect  the  early /elease  of  the  above- 
named  citizen. 
The  circumstances  attending  this  outrage  as  given  in  Mr.  Greely's  letter  are  not 
sufficient,  in  the  view  of  the  President,  to  warrant  the  interference  of  the  Govern- 
ment at  present.  For  what  cause,  at  what  place,  and  by  what  authority  the  arrest 
was  made  is  not  stated.  The  necessary  explanations  may  be  found,  perhaps,  in  the 
previous  communication  which  Mr.  Greely  refers  to  as  having  been  addressed  to  you 
by  him  on  the  loth  June;  if  not,  it  is  probable  that  you  will  easily  be  able  to  obtain 
explicit  information  from  other  sources  and  communicate  it  to  this  Department. 
It  is  indispensable  that  a  full  knowledge  of  all  the  facts  illustrative  of  the  case  should 
be  in  possession  of  the  Government  before  any  formal  application  for  redress  can  be 
properly  preferred. 
In  the  meantime  I  have  in  conversation  unofficially  called  the  attention  of  Mr. 
Fox,  the  British  minister  at  Washington,  to  this  complaint,  and  he  has  given  me 
an  assurance  that  he  will  immediately  address  a  representation  on  the  subject  to  the 
governor  of  New  Brunswick  requesting,  unless  there  shall  be  some  very  extraordi- 
nary reasons  against  it,  that  Mr.  Greely  may  be  set  at  liberty. 
I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  ser\'ant, 
V  JOHN  FORSYTH.
Martin  Van  Buren  1578 
State  of  Maine,  Executive  Department, 
Augusta,  June  27,  /5j7. 
Hon.  John  Forsyth,      9 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States, 
Sir:  I  would  respectfully  solicit  copies  of  all  doctunents  and  papers  in  the  Depart- 
tnent  of  State  of  the  United  States  in  relation  to  the  subject  of  the  northeastern 
boundary,  with  the  exception  of  such  as  were  furnished  this  department  by  the  Gen- 
eral Goyemment  in  the  year  1827.  It  is  understood  that  copies  have  been  furnished 
relative  to  this  subject  down  to  the  respective  statements  submitted  by  the  two 
Governments  to  the  King  of  the  Netherlands,  but  the  arguments  we  have  not  been 
famished  with. 
J  ami  ^cry  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
ROBERT  P.  DUNLAP. 
STATE  OP  Maine,  Executive  Department, 
Hon.  John  Ptirsyth, 
Secretary  of  State  of  United  States. 
Sir:  I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive  yours  of  the  26th  of  June  last,  in  which,  by  direc- 
tion of  the  President,  you  indicate  that  the  circumstances  detailed  in  Mr.  Greely's 
letter  relative  to  his  arrest  and  imprisonment  are  not  of  themselves  without  further 
explanation  sufficient  to  justify  the  interference  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.  This  information  is  received  with  some  surprise  and  much  regret— surprise 
because  I  had  understood  Mr.  Greely's  communication  to  show  that  while  employed 
within  the  limits  of  this  State  and  under  its  authority  on  a  business  intrusted  to  him 
by  the  laws  of  the  State  he  was,  without  being  charged  or  suspected  of  any  other 
offense,  seized  and  transported  to  a  foreign  jail;  regret  inasmuch  as  the  feelings  of 
the  people  of  this  State  have  been  strongly  excited  by  this  outrage  upon  the  honor 
and  sovereignty  of  Maine,  and  each  additional  day's  confinement  which  that  unof- 
fending citizen  endiures  is  adding  to  the  indignation  of  our  citizens.  I  therefore 
hasten  to  lay  before  you  a  simimary  of  tSie  transactions  connected  with  this  subject 
as  they  are  gathered  from  Mr.  Greely's  communications  to  this  department.  The 
facts  are  to  be  considered  the  less  indisputable  because  they  are  in  the  main  con- 
firmed by  the  statements  contained  in  the  letter  of  the  lieutenant-governor  of  the 
I*rovince  of  New  Brunswick,  by  whose  order  the  imprisonment  was  made,  and  a  copy 
of  which  I  recently  had  the  honor  of  transmitting  to  the  President. 
On  the  8th  day  of  March  last  the  legislature  of  this  State  passed  an  act  relative  to 
the  surplus  revenue,  a  copy  of  which  is  inclosed,*  to  the  eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thir- 
teenth sections  of  which  I  beg  leave  to  refer  your  attention.  An  additional  act  was 
passed  on  the  29th  day  of  March  last,  a  copy  of  which  I  also  inclose  *  By  this  last- 
named  act  it  became  the  duty  of  the  county  commissioners  of  Penobscot  County  to 
cause  an  enumeration  to  be  taken  of  the  inhabitants  of  said  county  residing  north  of 
the  surveyed  and  located  townships.  The  tract  thus  defined  comprised  the  town 
of  Madawaska,  which  was  incorporated  by  this  State  on  the  15th  of  March,  183T. 
Pursuant  to  that  requirement,  the  county  commissioners  of  said  county  appointed 
Ebenezer  S.  Greely  to  perform  that  service,  and,  being  duly  commissioned,  he  forth- 
with proceeded  to  the  place  designated  and  entered  upon  the  required  operations. 
Being  thus  employed,  he  was  on  the  29th  day  of  May  last  arrested  by  the  authorities 
of  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick  and  conveyed  to  Woodstock,  in  the  coimty  of 
Carleton,  in  said  Province,  but  the  sheriff  of  the  county  refused  to  commit  him 
to  jail,  and  he  was  accordingly  discharged.     He  immediately  returned  to  the 
•Omitt€d.
1579  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Madawaska  settlements  to  enter  again  upon  the  duty  intrusted  to  him.  On  the  6thJ 
day  of  June  last  he  was  arrested  a  second  time  by  the  same  authorities  and  com- 
mitted to  the  jail  at  Frederickton.  It  is  for  this  act  of^obedience  to  the  laws  of 
his  government  that  Mr.  Greely  now  lies  incarcerated  in  a  public  jail  in  the 
Province  of  New  Brunswick.  Is  not  redress  urgently  called  for?  Must  not  this 
unoffending  citizen  be  immediately  released? 
Permit  me,  sir,  to  add  my  confident  belief  that  the  President  on  this  presentation 
of  the  facts  relative  to  this  outrage  upon  the  national  as  well  as  the  State  rights  will 
not  fail  to  demand  the  immediate  release  of  Ebenezer  S.  Greely  and  to  interpose 
suitable  claims  of  indemnity  for  the  wrongs  so  wantonly  enforced  upon  him. 
I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
ROBERT  P.  DUNLAP. 
Department  of  State, 
Washington^  July  14^  1^37 * 
HoiL  Robert  p.  Duni^ap, 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Maine, 
Sm:  Your  letter  of  the  3d  instant  has  been  received.  The  surprise  you  express 
that  the  information  contained  in  the  letter  of  Mr.  Greely  which  accompanied  your 
former  communication  was  not  considered  sufficient  to  enable  the  President  to  make 
a  formal  application  to  the  British  Government  for  his  release  has  probably  arisen 
from  your  not  having  adverted  particularly  to  the  defects  of  his  statement.  It  was 
not  expressly  mentioned  for  what  offense  the  arrest  was  made  nor  where  it  took 
place — upon  the  territory  in  dispute  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  or 
beyond  it.  The  character  of  the  charge  and  the  place  at  which  the  offense  was  com- 
mitted might  have  been  inferred  from  what  was  stated,  but  you  must  perceive  the 
impropriety  of  a  formal  complaint  from  one  government  to  another  founded  upon 
inference  when  the  means  of  ascertaining  and  presenting  the  facts  distinctly  were 
within  the  power  of  the  party  complaining;  but  although  this  Department  felt 
itself  constrained  by  these  considerations  to  delay  a  formal  application  to  the  British 
Government  for  the  release  of  Mr.  Greely,  it  lost  no  time,  as  has  been  already  stated, 
in  procuring  the  interference  to  that  end  of  the  British  minister  near  this  Govern- 
ment; and  I  have  now  the  satisfaction  to  inform  you  that  I  have  learnt  from  him 
that  he  has  opened  a  correspondence  with  the  lieutenant-governor  of  New  Brunswick, 
which  it  is  expected  will  lead  to  the  release  of  Greely  from  confinement  with- 
out waiting  for  the  decision  of  His  Britannic  Majesty's  Government  on  the  whole 
question. 
The  information  communicated  to  the  Department  since  the  receipt  of  your  letter 
of  the  3d  instant  is  sufficiently  explicit,  and  a  note  founded  upon  it  has  been,  by 
direction  of  the  President,  addressed  to  Mr.  Stevenson,  instructing  him  to  demand 
the  immediate  liberation  of  Mr.  Greely  and  indemnity  for  his  imprisonment. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 
JOHN  FORSYTH. 
P.  S. — The  papers  asked  for  in  your  letter  of  the  27th  ultimo  will  be  sent  to  you. 
Department  op  State, 
Washington^  July  /p,  1837. 
Hon.  Robert  P.  Duni^p, 
Governor  of  Maine, 
Sir:  In  compliance  with  the  request  contained  in  your  letter  of  the  27th  ultimo, 
I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  to  you  a  printed  volume  containing  a  statement  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States  of  the  case  referred,  in  pursuance  of  the  convention  of 
the  29th  September,  1827,  between  the  said  States  and  Great  Britain  to  the  King
Martin  Van  Buren  1580 
of  the  Netherlands  for  his  decision  thereon,  and  to  refer  you  for  such  other  papers 
and  documents  in  relation  to  the  northeastern  boundary  as  have  not  been  specially 
furnished  by  this  Department  to  the  executive  of  Maine  to  the  following  numbers 
in  the  volumes  of  documents  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  distributed 
under  a  resolution  of  Congress,  and  which  have  been  from  time  to  time  transmitted 
to  the  several  State  governments,  including  that  of  Maine: 
Documents  of  the  House  of  Representatives:  First  session  Twentieth  Congress, 
Nos.  217, 218;  second  session  Twentieth  Congress,  No.  90;  second  session  Twenty- 
third  Congress,  No.  62.  Documents  of  the  Senate:  First  session  Twenty-fourth 
Congress,  No.  414. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 
JOHN  FORSYTH. 
Stats  of  Mainb,  Exbcutivb  Dspaatmbnt, 
July  28, 1837. 
His  Excellency  Martin  Van  Burbn, 
President  of  the  United  States. 
Sir:  Impelled  by  a  sense  of  duty  arising  from  the  oversight  committed  to  me  of 
the  rights  and  interests  of  this  State,  I  beg  leave  to  invite  the  attention  of  Your 
Excellency  to  the  subject  of  the  northeastern  boundary  of  Maine.  By  the  federal 
compact  the  obligation  of  defendyig  each  State  against  foreign  invasion  and  of  pro- 
tecting it  in  the  exercise  of  its  jurisdictional  rights  up  to  its  extreme  line  of  boundary 
is  devolved  upon  the  National  Government.  Permit  me  respectfully  to  inform  the 
President  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  people  of  Maine  the  justice  due  to  this  State  in 
this  respect  has  not  been  rendered. 
Let  it  not  be  suspected  that  the  discontents  which  are  moving  strongly  and  deeply 
through  the  public  mind  flow  from  any  deficiency  of  attachment  or  practical  adhesion 
to  our  National  Government.  Without  appealing  to  the  blood  so  freely  poured  out 
in  war  by  the  citizens  of  Maine,  to  the  privations  so  cheerfully  endured  while  the 
restrictive  measures  of  the  Government  were  prostrating  the  most  important  inter- 
ests of  this  commercial  people,  or  to  the  support  of  the  Union  so  cordially  given 
through  every  vicissitude  up  to  the  present  hour,  such  a  suspicion,  if  it  could  arise, 
would  be  suflSciently  refuted  by  merely  adverting  to  the  forbearance  with  which  they 
have  so  long  endtured  the  aggressions  by  a  foreign  government  upon  their  sover- 
eignty, their  citizens,  and  their  soil. 
It  would  be  easy  to  prove  that  the  territory  of  Maine  extends  to  the  highlands  north 
of  the  St.  John;  but  that  point,  having  been  not  only  admitted,  but  successful!}  dem- 
onstrated, by  the  Federal  Government,  needs  not  now  to  be  discussed.  Candor,  how- 
ever, requires  me  to  say  that  this  conceded  and  undeniable  position  ill  accords  with 
the  proceedings  in  which  the  British  authorities  have  for  many  years  been  indulged, 
and  by  which  the  rightful  jurisdiction  of  Maine  has  been  subverted,  her  lands  rav- 
aged of  their  most  valuable  products,  and  her  citizens  dragged  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  State  to  undexgo  the  sufferings  and  ignominies  of  a  foreign  jail.  These  outrages 
have  been  made  known  to  the  Federal  Government;  they  have  been  the  subject  of 
repeated  remonstrances  by  the  State,  and  these  remonstrances  seem  as  often  to  have 
been  contemned.  It  can  not  be  deemed  irrelevant  for  me  here  to  ask,  amid  all  these 
various  impositions,  and  while  Maine  has  been  vigorously  employed  in  sustaining 
the  Union  and  in  training  her  children  to  the  same  high  standard  of  devotion  to 
the  political  institutions  of  the  country,  what  relief  has  been  brought  to  us  by  the 
Federal  Government.  The  invaders  have  not  been  expelled.  The  sovereignty  and 
soil  of  the  State  are  yet  stained  by  the  hostile  machinations  of  resident  emissaries 
of  a  foreign  government.  The  territory  and  the  jurisdiction  of  6,000,000  acres,  our 
title  to  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  pronounced  to  be  perfect, 
have,  without  the  knowledge  of  Maine,  been  once  out  entirely  at  hazard     Grave
1 58 1  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
discussions,  treaty  arrangements  and  sovereign  arbitration  have  been  resorted  to,  in 
which  Maine  was  not  permitted  to  speak,  and  they  have  resulted  not  in  removing 
the  fictitious  pretensions,  but  in  supplying  new  encouragements  to  the  aggressors. 
Diplomatic  ingenuity,  the  only  foundation  of  the  British  claim,  has  been  arrayed 
against  the  perfect  right.  In  the  meantime  a  stipulation  made  by  the  Executive  of 
the  nation,  without  the  knowledge  of  Maine,  purported  to  preclude  her  from  reclaim- 
ing her  rightful  jurisdiction  until  the  slow  process  of  a  negotiation  should  be  brought 
to  a  close.  Whatever  the  real  force  of  that  stipulation  might  be,  made  as  it  was  with- 
out the  concurrence  of  the  two  branches  of  the  treaty-making  power,  it  was  hoped 
when  it  expired  by  the  closing  up  of  that  negotiation  that  a  measure  fraught  with 
such  hurtful  consequences  to  Maine  would  not  again  be  attempted;  but  that  hope 
was  to  be  disappointed,  and  now,  by  a  compact  of  similar  character,  a  writ  of  protec- 
tion appears  to  have  been  spread  by  our  own  Government  over  the  whole  mass  of 
British  aggressions.  What,  then,  has  the  Federal  Government  done  for  this  State? 
May  it  not  be  said,  in  the  language  of  another,  "  Maine  has  not  been  treated  as  she 
endeavored  to  deserve '  *  ? 
On  the  22d  day  of  April  Ust  I  had  the  honor  1j>  transmit  to  Your  Excellency  cer- 
tain resolves  passed  by  the  legislattupe  of  this  State  relative  to  the  northeastern 
boundary,  and  in  behalf  pf  the  State  to  call  upon  the  President  of  the  United  States 
to  cause  the  line  to  be  explored  and  surveyed  and  monumcfUts  thereof  erected. 
That  this  call,  made  by  direction  of  the  legislature,  did  not  extend  to  the  expulsion 
of  invaders,  but  merely  to  the  ascertainment  of  the  treaty  line,  will,  I  trust,  be  viewed 
as  it  was  designed  to  be,  not  only  as  an  evidence  of  the  continued  forbearance  of 
Maine,  but  as  a  testimonial  of  the  confidence  she  cherished  that  the  Federal  Execu- 
tive would  protect  the  territory  after  its  limitation  should  be  ascertained,  'f  hat  this 
application  would  meet  with  favor  from  the  Federal  Executive  was  expected,  morer 
especially  as  Congress  had  made  a  specific  appropriation  for  the  purpose.  I  will  not 
attempt  to  conceal  the  mortification  I  have  realized  that  no  reply  has  been  made  to 
that  communication  nor  any  measures  taken,  so  far  as  my  information  extends,  for 
effecting  the  object  proposed. 
It  now  remains  that  in  the  exercise  of  that  faithfulness  for  which  I  stand  solemnly 
pledged  to  the  people  of  Maine  I  should  again  commend  to  the  attention  of  the 
National  Executive  this  apparently  unwelcome  but  really  important  subject. 
I  have,  therefore,  the  honor  again  to  request  that  the  President  will  cause  the  treaty 
line  upon  the  northeastern  limits  of  Maine  to  be  run  and  marked,  and  I  can  not  but 
hope  that  on  a  reexamination  of  the  subject  Your  Excellency  will  concur  with  this 
State  in  relation  to  the  rightfulness  and  the  necessity  of  the  measure  proposed,  as 
well  as  to  all  the  remedies  to  be  adopted  for  restoring  to  Maine  the  invaluable  rights 
from  which  she  has  so  long  been  debarred. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  high  consideration,  your  obedient  servant, 
ROBERT  P.  DUNLAP. 
Dbpartmbnt  of  state, 
Washington^  August  //,  1837, 
His  Excellency  RobbrT  P.  Dunlap, 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Maine, 
Sir:  Your  letter  of  the  28th  ultimo  to  the  President  was  duly  received.    It  has 
been  referred  to  this  Department  with  instructions  to  make  a  suitable  reply. 
Your  excellency  is  of  opinion  that  the  Federal  Government  has  for  a  series  of 
years  failed  to  protect  the  State  of  Maine  in  the  exercise  of  her  jurisdictional  rights 
to  the  extent  of  her  boundary,  and  complains  that  these  rights  have  been  in  con- 
sequence thereof  subverted,  the  lands  of  the  State  ravaged  of  their  most  valuable 
productions,  and  her  citizens  subjected  to  imprisonment  in  a  foreign  jail.  Your 
excellency  particularly  objects  to  the  course  of  the  Federal  Government  for  having,
Martin  Van  Buren  1582 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  State,  put  entirely  at  hazard  the  title  of  Maine,  admitted 
by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  be  perfect,  to  the  territory  in  question  by 
the  resort  to  diplomatic  discussions,  treaty  arrangements,  and  foreign  arbitration  in 
which  Maine  was  not  permitted  to  speak;  for  having  entered  into  a  stiptdation  with- 
out her  consent  purporting  to  preclude  the  State  from  retaining  her  rightful  juris- 
diction pending  a  negotiation,  and  for  the  continuance  of  it  after  that;  negotiation 
was  supposed  to  have  been  concluded,  and  for  an  omission  on  the  part  of  the  Exec- 
utive of  the  United  States  to  comply  with  an  application  of  the  State  made  through 
her  legislature  to  have  the  boundary  line  between  Maine  and  the  British  North 
American  possessions  explored,  surveyed,  and  monuments  erected  thereon  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  authority  conferred  on  the  President  by  Congress  and  of  a  request  made 
by.yoiu*  excellency,  which  is  now  renewed. 
The  views  which  your  excellency  has  been  pleased  to  take  of  the  subject  at  this 
time  embrace  measures  some  of  which  have  long  since  ceased  to  be  operative  and 
reach  back  to  the  propriety  of  the  stipulations  entered  into  by  the  treaty  of  Ghent, 
also  of  the  subsequent  negotiation  designed  to  bring  those  stiptdations  to  a  satis- 
factory result  in  the  mode  prescribed  by  that  treaty — ^that  of  arbitrament.  It  being, 
as  your  excellency  states,  the  opinion  of  Maine  that  those  proceedings  were  tmjust 
and  unwise,  it  is,  in  a  matter  in  which  she  is  so  deeply  interested,  her  undoubted  right 
to  say  so;  yet  the  President  thinks  that  ne  can  not  be  mistaken  in  believing  that  no 
practical  good  can  at  this  time  be  expected  from  discussion  between  the  Federal  and 
State  Governments  upon  those  points.  That  the  measures  referred  to  have  not  been 
as  fortunate  in  their  rtsults  as  was  hoped  is  entirely  true,  but  your  excellency  may 
nevertheless  be  assured  that  they  had  their  origin  in  a  sincere  desire  on  the  part  of 
the  Federal  Government  to  discharge  all  its  duties  toward  the  State  of  Maine  as  a 
member  of  the  Union,  and  were  resorted  to  in  the  full  belief  that  her  just  rights 
would  be  promoted  by  their  adoption. 
In  speaking  of  the  restrictions  imposed  upon  Maine  in  reclaiming  her  rightful 
jurisdiction  your  excellency  doubtlessly  refers  to  the  imderstanding  between  the 
Federal  Government  and  that  of  Great  Britain  that  each  party  should  abstain  from 
the  exercise  of  jurisdiction  over  the  disputed  territory  during  the  pendency  of  nego- 
tiation. Unless  it  be  correct  to  say  that  the  controversy  was  one  that  did  not  admit  of 
negotiation,  and  that  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Government  consisted  only  in  an  imme- 
diate resort  to  maintain  the  construction  put  by  itself  upon  its  own  rights  and  those 
of  the  State  of  Maine,  there  would  seem  to  be  no  reasonable  objection  to  such  an 
arrangement  as  that  alluded  to,  whether  it  be  viewed  in  respect  to  the  interests  or 
the  pacific  and  just  characters  of  the  respective  Governments.  That  this  arrange- 
ment was  not  abrogated  at  the  period  at  which  your  excellency  is  understood  to 
suppose  that  it  ought  to  have  been  done,  viz,  upon  the  failure  of  a  settlement  of  the 
controversy  by  arbitration,  is  explained  by  events  of  subsequent  occurrence.  When 
the  award  of  the  arbitrator  was  submitted  by  the  late  President  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  that  body  refused  its  advice  and  consent  to  the  execution  of  the  award, 
and  passed  a  resolution  recommending  to  him  to  open  a  new  negotiation  with  Great 
Britain  for  the  ascertainment  of  the  boundary  according  to  the  treaty  of  peace  of 
1783.  That  negotiation  was  forthwith  entered  upon  by  the  Executive,  is  still  pend- 
ing, and  has  been  prosecuted  with  unremitting  assiduity.  It  is  under  such  circum- 
stances that  the  Federal  Executive  has  decided  upon  a  continued  compliance  with 
the  arrangement  referred  to,  and  has  insisted  also  upon  its  observance  on  the  part 
of  Great  Britain. 
Consideratiotis  of  a  similar  nature  have  induced  the  President  to  refrain  hitherto 
from  exercising  the  discretionary  authority  with  which  he  is  invested  to  cause  the 
boundary  line  in  dispute  to  be  explored,  surveyed,  and  monuments  to  be  erected 
thereon.  Coinciding  with  the  government  of  Maine  on  the  question  of  the  true 
Vmndary  between  the  British  Provinces  and  the  State,  the  President  is  yet  bound  by
1583  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
duty  to  consider  the  claim  which  has  been  sat  up  by  a  foreign  power  in  amity  with 
the  United  States  and  the  circumstances  under  which  the  negotiation  for  the  odjvBt- 
ment  of  that  claim  has  been  transmitted  to  him.  It  could  not  be  useful  to  examine 
the  foundation  of  the  British  claim  in  a  letter  to  your  excellency.  Respect  for  the 
authorities  of  a  friendly  nation  compels  us  to  admit  that  they  have  persuaded  them- 
selves that  their  claim  is  justly  grounded.  However  that  may  be,  tfie  present  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  upon  entering  on  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  office 
found  that  a  distinct  proposition  had  been  made  by  his  predecessor  for  the  purpose 
of  amicably  settling  this  long-disputed  controversy,  to  which  no  answer  has  yet  been 
received.  Under  such  circumstances  the  President  was  not  able  to  satisfy  himself, 
however  anxious  to  gratify  the  people  and  tiie  leg^lature  of  Maine,  that  a  step  like 
that  recommended  by  them  could  be  usefully  or  properly  taken. 
The  clause  containing  the  specific  appropriation  made  by  the  last  Congress  for 
exploring,  surveying,  and  marking  certain  portions  of  the  northeastern  boundary  of 
the  United  States,  to  which  your  excellency  alludes,  is  by  no  means  imperative  in 
its  character.  The  simple  legislative  act  of  placing  a  sum  of  money  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Executive  for  a  designated  object  is  not  tmderstood  to  be  a  direction  that 
it  must  in  any  event  be  immediately  applied  to  the  prosecution  of  that  object.  On 
the  contrary,  so  far  from  implying  that  the  end  in  view  is  to  be  attained  at  all  haz- 
ards, it  is  believed  that  it  merely  vests  a  discretionary  power  in  the  President  to 
carry  out  the  views  of  Congress  on  his  own  responsibility  should  contingencies  arise 
to  render  expedient  the  proposed  expenditure. 
Under  existing  circumstances  the  President  deems  it  proper  to  wait  for  the  defini- 
tive answer  of  the  British  Government  to  the  last  proposition  offered  by  the  United 
States.  When  received,  a  further  communication  to  your  excellency  may  be  found 
proper,  and  if  so  will  be  made  without  unnecessaiy  delay. 
It  can  not  be  necessary  to  assure  your  excellency  that  the  omission  to  reply  to 
your  communication  forwarding  to  this  Department  the  resolutions  of  the  legislature 
of  Maine  did  not  in  any  degree  arise  either  from  a  want  of  respect  for  their  wishes  or 
for  the  wishes  of  your  excellency,  or  from  indifference  to  the  interests  of  the  State. 
When  these  resolutions  were  received,  there  was  every  reason  at  no  distant  day  to 
expect  what  is  now  daily  looked  for — a  definitive  answer  to  the  proposition  just 
alluded  to,  to  which  the  attention  of  the  British  Government  had  been  again  forcibly 
invited  about  the  time  those  resolutions  were  on  their  passage.  Under  this  expecta- 
tion a  reply  to  the  application  from  Maine  was  temporarily  delayed;  the  more  readily 
as  about  the  time  of  its  reception  the  Representatives  of  Maine,  acting  in  reference 
to  one  of  those  resolutions,  had  a  full  and  free  conversation  with  the  President.  The 
most  recent  proceedings  relative  to  the  question  of  boundary  were  shewn  to  them 
in  this  Department  by  his  directions,  and  the  occasion  thus  afforded  was  cheerfully 
embraced  of  offering  frank  and  unreserved  explanations  of  the  President's  views. 
Of  the  recent  events  which  have  called  the  attention  of  the  State  of  Maine  to  the 
question  of  the  northeastern  boundary,  and  which  have  been  brought  by  it  to 
the  notice  of  the  President,  one— the  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  Mr.  Greely — haa 
already  been  made  the  subject  of  commtmication  with  your  excellency.  All  that 
it  was  competent  for  the  Federal  Executive  to  do  has  been  done.  Redress  has  been 
demanded,  will  be  insisted  upon,  and  is  expected  from  that  authority  from  whom 
alone  redress  can  properly  be  sought.  The  President  has  followed  the  same  course 
that  was  pursued  by  one  of  his  predecessors  and  which  was  understood  to  be  satis- 
factory to  the  State  of  Maine  under  circiunstances  of  a  somewhat  similar  character. 
In  respect  to  the  other — ^the  projected  construction  of  a  railroad  between  St.  Andrews 
and  Quebec — a  representation  has  been  addressed  to  the  British  Government  stating 
that  the  proposed  measure  is  inconsistent  with  the  understanding  between  the  two 
Governments  to  preserve  the  status  quo  in  the  disputed  territory  until  the  question 
of  boundary  be  satisfactorily  adjusted,  remonstrating  a^nst  the  project  as  contrary
Martin  Van  Buren  1584 
to  the  American  claim  and  demanding  a  suspension  of  all  further  movements  in  eze« 
cution  of  it.  No  answer  has  yet  been  received  to  this  communication.  Prom  an 
informal  conversation  between  the  British  minister  at  Washington  and  myself  at  the 
Department  of  State,  the  President  is^  however,  firm  in  the  conviction  that  the  attempt 
to  make  the  road  in  question  will  not  be  f  u^er  prosecuted. 
I  am,  in  conclusion,  directed  to  inform  you  that  however  unbounded  may  be  the 
confidence  of  the  legislature  and  people  of  Maine  in  the  justice  of  their  claim  to 
the  boundary  contended  for  by  the  United  States,  the  President's  is  not  less  so;  and 
your  excellency  may  rest  assured  that  no  exertions  have  been  or  shall  be  spared  on 
his  part  to  bring  to  a  favorable  and  speedy  termination  a  question  involving  interests 
so  highly  important  to  Maine  and  to  the  Union. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  high  consideration,  your  excellency's  obedient  servant, 
JOHN  FORSYTH. 
Dbpartm^nt  of  State, 
Washington^  August  25^  1837. 
His  Excellency  Robert  P.  Duniulp, 
Governor  of  Maine, 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  to  your  excellency,  by  direction  of  the  Presi- 
dent, the  copy  of  a  note  from  the  British  minister  at  Washington,  dated  yesterday, 
stating  that  the  Government  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty  has  been  pleased  to  direct  the 
immediate  discontinuance  by  the  colonial  authorities  of  Lower  Canada  and  New 
Brunswick,  respectively,  of  all  operations  connected  with  the  projected  railroad 
between  the  cities  of  Quebec  and  St.  Andrews. 
Mr.  Fox  took  occasion  on  Wednesday  last  to  inform  me  that  Mr.  Greely  had  been 
discharged  from  imprisonment  at  Frederickton,  a  fact  of  which  doubtlessly  your 
excellency  has  been  some  time  since  apprised. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  vrith  high  consideration,  your  excellency's  obedient  servant, 
JOHN  FORSYTH. 
Department  op  State, 
Washington^  March  23^  1837, 
Henry  S.  Fox,  Esq.,  etc.: 
The  undersigned.  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  has  the  honor,  by  direc- 
tion of  the  President,  to  invite  the  attention  of  Mr.  Fox,  His  Britannic  Majesty's  envoy 
extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary,  to  a  subject  which  from  its  high  impor- 
tance demands  the  prompt  consideration  of  His  Majesty's  Government 
It  appears  from  representations  and  documents  recently  received  at  the  Depart- 
ment of  State  that  a  number  of  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  St.  Andrews,  in  New  Bruns- 
wick, associated  themselves  together  in  the  year  1835,  by  the  name  of  the  St.  Andrews 
and  Quebec  Railroad  Association,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  into  public  notice  the 
practicability  of  constructing  a  railway  between  those  ports,  and  that  sundry  resolu- 
tions were  passed  in  furtherance  of  this  object;  that  the  project  was  sanctioned  and 
patronized  by  the  governor  in  chief  of  British  North  America,  the  lieutenant-govern- 
ors of  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  legislatures  and  people  of  the  Prov- 
inces of  I/>wer  Canada  and  New  Brunswick;  that  the  route  of  the  proposed  railroad 
had  been  explored  as  far  as  the  head  waters  of  the  St.  John  River  by  surveyors 
employed  by  the  association;  that  an  act  has  actually  passed  the  legislature  of  New 
Brunswick  incorporating  this  company,  and  tliat  a  similar  act  was  expected  to  be 
passed  in  Lower  Canada;  that  letters  were  addressed  to  the  boards  of  trade  of  Quebec 
and  Montreal  requesting  their  cooperation;  that  these  communications  were  favor- 
ably received,  and  that  petitions  had  been  forwarded  to  His  Britannic  Majesty,  signed 
by  committees  of  the  association  and  by  inhabitants  of  the  cities  of  Quebec  and
1585  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Montreal,  soliciting  the  construction  of  a  railway  between  the  ports  above  named,  or 
the  extension  of  royal  aid  and  protection  to  the  petitioners  in  the  proposed  under- 
taking. 
Without  allowing  himself  for  a  moment  to  believe  that  His  Britannic  Majesty's 
Government  will  in  any  manner  countenance  the  projected  railroad  from  St. 
Andrews  to  Quebec  when  the  slightest  inspection  of  the  map  of  the  country  which 
it  crosses  will  show  that  its  intended  location  would  be  for  a  great  portion  of  the 
route  an  encroachment  upon  the  territory  in  dispute  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  the  President  yet  sees  cause  for  painful  surprise  and  deep  regret  in  the 
fact  that  the  civil  authorities  of  His  Majesty's  Provinces  on  our  northeastern  borders 
should  have  lent  their  encouragement  to  or  should  in  any  wise  have  promoted  an 
undertaking  which  if  persevered  in  will  inevitably  lead  to  the  most  disastrous  con- 
sequences. The  object  of  the  association  from  its  inception  was  objectionable,  since 
it  could  only  be  effected  by  entering  upon  territory  the  title  to  which  was  contro- 
verted and  unsettled — a  proceeding  which  could  not  fail  to  be  offensive  to  the  Gov- 
ernment and  people  of  the  United  States.  Still  more  unjustifiable  was  the  act  of 
sovereignty  giving  to  this  company  corporate  powers  over  property  knovm  to  be 
claimed  by  citizen^  of  a  friendly  and  neighboring  State,  and  which  constituted  at 
the  time  the  subject  of  an  amicable  negotiation  between  the  Government  of  His 
Majesty  and  that  of  the  United  States.  The  President  regrets  to  see  in  this  step  on 
the  part  of  His  Majesty's  provincial  authorities  and  subjects  a  most  exceptionable 
departure  from  the  principle  of  continuing  to  abstain  during  the  progre^  of  negotia- 
tion from  any  extension  of  the  exercise  of  jurisdiction  within  the  disputed  territory 
on  either  side,  the  propriety  of  which  has  been  hitherto  so  sedulously  inculcated 
and  so  distinctly  acquiesced  in  by  both  parties.  An  understanding  that  this  principle 
should  be  observed  by  them  was  the  natural  result  of  the  respective  positions  and 
pacific  intentions  of  the  two  Governments,  and  could  alone  prevent  the  exercise  of 
asserted  rights  by  force.  Without  it  the  end  of  till  negotiation  on  the  subject  would 
have  been  defeated.  If,  therefore,  nothing  had  been  said  by  either  party  relative  to 
such  an  understanding,  it  would  have  been  proper  to  infer  that  a  tacit  agreement  to 
that  effect  existed  between  the  two  Governments.  But  the  correspondence  between 
them  is  sufficiently  full  and  explicit  to  prevent  all  misconception.  .The  views  of 
both  Governments  in  respect  to  it  will  be  found  in  the  letters  of  the  Secretary 
of  State  to  the  minister  of  Great  Britain  dated  the  i8th  of  January,  1826,  9th  of 
January,  nth  of  March,  and  nth  of  May,  1829,  and  of  the  British  minister  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  State  dated  15th  of  November  and  2d  of  December,  1825;  i6th  of  January, 
1827;  i8th  of  February  and  25th  of  March,  1828,  and  14th  of  April,  1833,  as  well  as 
in  other  communications,  which  it  is  deemed  needless  now  to  designate. 
The  undersigned  is  directed  by  the  President  to  inform  Mr.  Fox  that  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  enterprise  above  referred  to  will  be  regarded  by  this  Government  as  a 
deliberate  infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  United  States  to  the  territory  in  question 
and  as  an  unwarrantable  assumption  of  jurisdiction  therein  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment, and  the  undersigned  is  instructed  to  urge  the  prompt  adoption  of  such  meas- 
ures as  may  be  deemed  most  appropriate  by  His  Majesty's  Government  to  suspend 
any  further  movements  in  execution  of  the  proposed  railroad  from  St.  Andrews  to 
Quebec  during  the  continuance  of  the  pending  negotiations  between  the  two  Govern- 
ments relative  to  the  northeastern  boundary  of  the  United  States. 
The  proceedings  above  alluded  to,  considered  in  connection  with  incidents  on  other 
parts  of  the  disputed  boundary  line  well  known  to  His  Majesty's  ministers,  would 
seem  to  render  it  indispensable  to  the  maintenance  of  those  liberal  and  friendly  rela- 
tions between  the  two  countries  which  both  Governments  are  so  sincerely  anxious 
to  preserve  that  they  should  come  to  a  speedy  adjustment  of  the  subject.  The  recent 
resolutions  of  the  Staite  of  Elaine,  to  which  the  projected  railroad  from  St  Andrews 
to  Quebec  gave  rise,  requesting  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  cause  the  line
HENRY   CLAY. 
He  was  a  man  of  large  natural  ability,  but  he  lacked  the  training  of  a 
systematic  education.  He  learned  early  to  appreciate  his  heaven-born  endow- 
ments and  to  rely  upon  them  for  success  in  his  chosen  career.  Of  sanguine 
temperament,  quick  perception,  irresistible  energy  and  enthusiastic  disposition, 
he  was  well  fitted  to  be  a  party  advocate,  and  was  the  greatest  parliamentary 
leader  in  our  history.  He  knew  men  well,  but  he  had  no  knowledge  of  books. 
The  gaming  table  had  for  him  allurements  that  he  could  not  find  in  the 
library.  According  to  the  manners  of  his  time,  he  drank  to  excess.  His 
warm  heart  made  him  a  multitude  of  friends ;  his  impulsive  action  and  positive 
bearing  raised  up  enemies ;  yet  at  his  death  he  left  not  an  enemy  behind  him. 
He  was  withal  a  man  of  inflexible  integrity.  Straitened  in  pecuniary  circum- 
stances during  a  large  part  of  his  congressional  career,  he  nevertheless  held 
himself  aloof  from  all  corruption.  Other  Americans  have  been  intellectually 
greater,  others  have  been  more  painstaking,  others  still  have  been  greater 
benefactors  to  their  country ;  yet  no  man  has  been  loved  as  the  people  of  the 
United  States  loved  Henry  Clay.  Rhodes. 
Bom  in  backwoods  poverty  in  1777,  he  obtained  a  piecemeal  schooling, 
studied  law,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1797,  sent  to  the  Kentucky  legislature 
in  1803,  to  the  United  States  Senate  in  1808 ;  afterwards  served  in  the  lower 
house,  being  elected  Speaker  five  times;  Secretary  of  State  in  1825-29  under 
J.  Q.  Adams;  U.  S.  Senator  in  1831-1842;  unsuccessful  presidential  candidate 
in  1832  and  1844;  U.  S.  Senator  from  1849  to  1852.  When  Calhoun  and  his 
South  Carolina  supporters  found  that  Jackson  meant  to  punish  nullification 
with  hanging,  it  was  Clay  who  arranged  a  compromise.  He  was  the  guiding 
spirit  in  all  those  measures  which  averted  civil  war  from  1820  to  1850. 
See  the  articles  entitled  "Compromises  of  the  Constitution,"  "Compromise 
of  1833/'  "Compromise  of  1850,"  "Missouri  Compromise."  in  the  Encyclo- 
pedic Index.
Martin  Van  Buren  1586 
established  by  the  treaty  of  1783  to  be  ran  and  monuments  to  be  established  thereon, 
and  the  appropriation  of  $20,000  by  Congress  at  their  late  session  to  enable  the  Bxec- 
ntive  to  carry  that  request  into  effect,  with  a  subsequent  earnest  application  from 
the  Representatives  of  Maine  for  an  immediate  compliance  with  it,  afford  additional 
incentives  to  exertion  to  bring  this  controversy  to  a  conclusion  not  to  be  disregarded 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
The  President  therefore  awaits  with  great  anxiety  the  decision  of  His  Majesty's- 
Government  on  the  proposition  made  by  the  undersigned  to  His  Majesty's  chaxg6 
d'affaires  at  Washington  in  February,  1836,  suggesting  the  river  St.  John,  from  its 
mouth  to  its  source,  as  an  eligible  and  convenient  line  of  boundary.  No  small 
degree  of  disappointment  has  been  felt  that  this  decision,  already  long  expected, 
has  not  been  given,  but  the  hope  is  entertained  that  the  result  of  this  protracted 
deliberation  will  prove  favorable  to  the  wishes  of  the  President,  and  that  even  if 
that  proposition  be  not  acceded  to  by  His  Britannic  Majesty  some  definitive  offer 
looking  to  a  prompt  termination  of  the  controversy  will  be  made  without  further 
delay. 
The  undersigned  avails  himself  of  this  occasion  to  renew  to  Mr.  Pox  the  assurance 
of  his  distingidshed  consideration. 
JOHN  FORSYTH- 
Washington,  March  98^  1837.  * 
Hon.  John  Forsyth,  etc.: 
The  undersignedTHis  Britannic  Majesty's  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  pleni- 
potentiary, has  had  the  honor  to  receive  the  official  note  addressed  to  him  under 
date  of  the  23d  instant  by  Mr.  Forsyth,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  upon 
the  subject  of  information  received  by  the  United  States  Government  of  a  projected 
railroad  between  the  cities  of  Quebec  and  St.  Andrews,  and  upon  certain  other 
matters  connected  with  the  question  of  the  boundary  line  between  the  United  States 
and  the  British  possessions  in  North  America. 
The  undersigned,  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  President  signified  in  Mr. 
Forsyth's  official  note,  will  not  fail  immediately  to  convey  that  note  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  his  Government  at  home;  and  he  entertains  no  doubt  that  His  Majesty's 
Government  will  proceq^l  to  the  consideration  of  the  several  matters  therein  con- 
tained with  the  serious  and  ready  attention  that  their  importance  deserves. 
The  undersigned  avails  himself  of  this  occasion  to  renew  to  Mr.  Forsyth  the 
assurance  of  his  high  esteem  and  consideration, 
H.  S.  FOX. 
Washington,  August  24, 183J. 
Hon.  John  Porsvth,  etc. 
Sir:  With  reference  to  the  official  note  which,  by  direction  of  the  President,  you 
addressed  to  me  on  the  23d  of  March  last,  respecting  a  projected  railroad  between 
the  cities  of  Quebec  and  St.  Andrews,  which  it  was  apprehended  would,  if  carried 
into  effect,  traverse  a  part  of  the  territory  at  present  in  dispute  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States,  I  am  now  enabled  to  inform  you  that,  in  consideration  of  the 
arguments  and  observations  contained  in  your  note,  Her  Majesty's  Government  has 
been  pleased  to  direct  the  colonial  authorities  of  I^ower  Canada  and  New  Brunswick, 
respectively,  to  cause  all  operations  connected  with  the  above-mentioned  project 
within  the  limits  of  the  disputed  territory  to  be  immediately  discontinued.  4 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  with  high  respect  and  consideration,  your  most  obedi- 
ent and  humble  servant, 
^  H.  &  FOX.
1587  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Mr,  Stevenson  to  Lord  Palmerston, 
[Bztract.] 
23  PORTI.AKD  Pi^ACB,  August  10,  i8y, 
•  ••«««« 
The  undersigned  will  avail  himself  of  the  occasion  %o  remind  Lord  Palmerston  of 
.the  urgency  which  exists  for  the  immediate  and  final  adjustment  of  this  long-pend- 
ing controversy  [respecting  the  northeastern  boundary]  cmd  the  increased  obstacles 
which  will  be  thrown  in  the  way  of  its  harmonious  settlement  by  these  repeated  col- 
lisions of  authority  and  the  exercise  of  exclusive  jurisdiction  by  either  party  within 
the  disputed  territory. 
He  begs  leave  also  to  repeat  to  his  lordship  assurances  of  the  earnest  and  unabated 
desire  which  the  President  feels  that  the  controversy  should  be  speedily  and  ami- 
cably settled,  cmd  to  express  the  anxiety  with  which  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  is  waiting  the  promised  decision  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  upon  the 
proposition  submitted  to  it  as  far  back  as  July,  1836,  and  which  the  undersigned  had 
been  led  to  believe  would  long  since  have  been  given;  and  he  has  been  further 
directed  to  say  that  should  this  proposition  be  disapproved  the  President  entertains 
the  hope  that  some  new  one,  on  the  part  of  Her  Majesty's  Government,  will  imme- 
diately be  made  for  the  final  and  favorable  termination  of  this  protracted  and  deeply 
exciting  controversy. 
The  undersigned  begs  Lord  Palmerston  to  receive  renewed  assurances  of  his  dis- 
tinguished consideration.  ^  STEVENSON. 
Washington,  September  26,  iSjy. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
In  compliance  with  that  part  of  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  9th  of  January  last  which  relates  to  the  diplomatic 
correspondence  of  the  late  William  Tudor  while  charg^  d'affaires  of  the 
United  States  to  Brazil,  I  transmit  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State, 
together  with  the  documents  by  which  it  was  accompanied. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  September  jo,  1837, 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
In  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  of  the  13th  instant,  respecting  an  annexation  of  Texas 
to  the  United  States,  I  transmit  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State  and 
the  documents  by  which  it  was  accompanied.  « M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  September  30, 1837^ 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  report  of  the  Secretary 
of  State,  containing  the  information  requested  by  their  resolution  of  the 
19th  instant,  together  with  the  documents  by  which  the  report  was 
accompanied.  M.  VAN  BUREN.
Martin  Van  Buren  1588 
DSPARTMSNT  OP  STATS, 
WashingUm^  September  ^p,  /^j/. 
Thel^HSIDBKT  OF  THE  UnITBD  STATES: 
The  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  was  referred  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  19th  instant,  requesting  the  President  to  communicate  to  that  House 
what  measures  have  been  adopted  since  the  adjournment  of  the  last  Congress  in 
relation  to  the  tobacco  trade  between  the  United  States  and  foreign  countries,  also 
such  information  as  he  may  have  received  from  our  ministers  or  other  agents  abroad 
in  relation  to  the  same,  has  the  honor  to  report  that  since  the  adjournment  of  the 
last  Congress  instructions  have  been  given  to  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  this 
country  at  the  Courts  of  Great  Britain,  France,  Russia,  Prussia,  Sv^en,  Denmark, 
Holland,  and  Belgium  directing  them  to  endeavor  to  procure  from  the  respective 
Governments  to  which  they  are  accredited  the  abolition  or  modification  of  the  ezist- 
.ing  duties  and  restrictions  upon  tobacco  imported  from  the  United  States,  and  that 
special  agents  have  been  appointed  to  collect  information  respecting  the  importa- 
tion, the  cultivation,  the  manufacture,  and  consumption  of  tobacco  in  the  various 
States  of  Germany  to  which  the  United  States  have  not  accredited  representatives, 
and  to  prepare  the  way  for  negotiations  for  the  promotion  of  the  interests  of  the 
tobacco  trade  with  those  countries.  A  copy  of  the  dispatches  of  the  representatives 
of  the  United  States  received  upon  this  subject  is  herewith  communicated.* 
The  special  agents  have  proceeded  to  the  execution  of  their  duties,  but  no  report 
has  as  yet  been  i^eceived  from  either  of  them. 
All  which  ia  lespectfnlly  snfamitted. 
JOHN  FORSYTH. 
Washington  City,  October  2, 1837. 
To  ike  Senate  of  the  Untied  States: 
I  transmit  herewith,  for  the  consideration  of  the  Senate,  a  treaty  con- 
cluded with  the  Miami  tribe  of  Indians  by  General  Marshall  in  1834,  ^^^ 
explanatory  documents  from  the  Department  of  War,  and  ask  its  advice 
in  regard  to  the  ratification  of  the  original  treaty  with  the  amendments 
proposed  by  the  Secretary  of  War;  the  treaty,  with  the  amendments,  in 
the  event  of  its  ratification  by  the  United  States,  to  be  again  submitted 
to  the  chiefs  and  warriocs  of  the  Miami  tribes  for  their  sanction  or 
rejectioDu 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
'Washington,  October  2, 1837. 
To  ike  House  of  Representatives  of  the  UnUed  StaUs: 
In  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  13th  ultimo,  concerning  the  boundary  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Mexican  Republic  and  a  cession  of  territory  belonging  to  the 
Mexican  Confederation  to  the  United  States,  I  transmit  a  report  from 
the  Secretary  of  State  and  the  documents  by  which  it  was  accompanied. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
*  Omitted.
1589  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Washington,  October^  1837. 
To  the  House  0/ Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  have  the  honor,  in  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  4th  instant,  to  transmit  the  proceedings  of  the 
court  of  inquiry  in  the  case  of  Brevet  Brigadier-General  Wool.* 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
PROCLAMATION. 
By  thb  Prbsidknt  op  thk  United  States  of  America. 
A  PROCLAMATION. 
^  WJiereas  by  an  act  of  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  the  25th  of  May, 
1832,  entitled  **An  act  to  exempt  the  vessels  of  Portugal  from  the  pay- 
ment of  duties  of  tonnage,"  it  was  enacted  as  follows:  "  No  duties  upon 
tonnage  shall  be  hereafter  levied  or  collected  of  the  vessels  of  the  King- 
dom of  Portugal:  Provided,  always y  That  whenever  the  President  of  the 
United  States  shall  be  satisfied  that  the  vessels  of  the  United  States  are 
subjected  in  the  ports  of  the  Kingdom  of  Portugal  to  pa5ntnent  of  any 
duties  of  tonnage,  he  shall  by  proclamation  declare  the  fact,  and  the 
duties  now  payable  by  vessels  of  that  Kingdom  shall  be  levied  and  paid 
as  if  this  act  had  not  been  passed; ''  and 
Whereas  satisfactory  evidence  has  been  received  by  me  not  only  that 
the  vessels  of  the  United  States  are  subjected- in  the  ports  of  the  said 
Kingdom  of  Portugal  to  payment  of  duties  of  tonnage,  but  that  a  dis- 
crimination exists  in  respect  to  those  duties  against  the  vessels  of  the 
United  States: 
'  Now,  therefore,  I,  Martin  Van  Buren,  President  of  the  United  States 
pf  America,  do  hereby  declare  that  fact  and  proclaim  that  the  duties 
payable  by  vessels  of  the  said  Kingdom  of  Portugal  on  the  25th  day*of 
May,  1832,  shall  henceforth  be  levied  and  paid  as  if  the  said  act  of  the 
25th  oi  May,  1832,  had  not  been  passed. 
Given  under  my  hand,  at  the  city  of  Washington,  the  nth  day  of 
October,  1837,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  the  sixty- 
second. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
By  the  President: 
John  Forsyth, 
Secretary  of  State* 
*  Respecting  transactions  in  t^t  Cherokee  country.
Martin  Van  Buren  1590 
FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 
Washington,  December  S>  ^^37, 
FeUoW'Cittzens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: 
We  have  reason  to  renew  the  expression  of  our  devosut  gratitude  to  the 
Giver  of  All  Good  for  His  benign  protection.  Our  country  presents  on 
every  side  the  evidences  of  that  continued  favor  under  whose  auspices  it 
has  gradually  risen  from  a  few  feeble  and  dependent  colonies  to  a  pros- 
perous and  powerful  confederacy.  We  are  blessed  with  domestic  tran* 
quillity  and  all  the  elements  of  national  prosperity.  The  pestilence  which, 
invading  for  a  time  some  flourishing  portions  of  the  Union,  interrupted 
the  general  prevalence  of  unusual  health  has  happily  been  limited  in 
extent  and  arrested  in  its  fatal  career.  The  industry  and  prudence  of  our 
citizens  are  gradually  relieving  them  from  the  pecuniary  embarrassments 
under  which  portions  of  them  have  labored;  judicious  legislation  and  the 
natural  and  boundless  resources  of  the  country  have  afforded  wise  rnd 
timely  aid  to  private  enterprise,  and  the  activity  always  characteristic  of 
our  people  has  already  in  a  great  degree  resumed  its  usual  and  profitable 
channels. 
The  condition  of  our  foreign  relations  has  not  materially  changed  since 
the  last  annual  message  of  mypredecessor.  We  remain  at  peace  with  all 
nations,  and  no  efforts  on  my  part  consistent  with  the  preservation  of  our 
rights  and  the  honor  of  the  country  shall  be  spared  to  maintain  a  position 
so  consonant  to  our  institutions.  We  have  faithfully  sustained  the  foreign 
policy  with  which  the  United  States,  under  the  guidance  of  their  first 
President,  took  their  stand  in  the  family  of  nations — that  of  regulating 
their  intercourse  with  other  powers  by  the  approved  principles  of  private 
Ufe;  asking  and  according  equal  rights  and  equal  privileges;  rendering 
and  demanding  justice  in  all  cases;  advancing  their  own  and  discussing 
the  pretensions  of  others  with  candor,  directness,  and  sincerity;  appeal- 
ing at  all  times  to  reason,  but  nevei:  yielding  to  force  nor  seeking  to 
acquire  anything  for  themselves  by  its  exercise. 
A  rigid  adherence  to  this  policy  has  left  this  Government  with  scarcely 
a  claim  upon  its  justice  for  injuries  arising  fro^  acts  committed  by  its 
authority.  The  most  imposing  and  perplexing  of  those  of  the  United 
States  upon  foreign  governments  for  aggressions  upon  our  citizens  were 
disposed  of  by  my  predecessor.  Independently  of  the  benefits  conferred 
upon  our  citizens  by  restoring  to  the  mercantile  community  so  many  mil- 
lions of  which  they  had  been  wrongfully  divested,  a  great  service  was 
also  rendered  to  his  country  by  the  satisfactory  adjustment  of  so  many 
ancient  and  irritating  subjects  of  contention;  and  it  reflects  no  ordinary 
credit  on  his  successful  administration  of  public  affairs  that  this  great 
object  was  accomplished  without  compromising  on  any  occasion  either 
the  honor  or  the  peace  of  the  nation.
1 59 1  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
With  European  powers  no  new  subjects  of  difficulty  have  arisen,  and 
those  which  were  under  discussion,  although  not  terminated,  do  not  pre- 
sent a  more  unfavorable  aspect  for  the  future  preservation  of  that  good 
tmderstanding  which  it  has  ever  been  our  desire  to  cultivate. 
Of  pending  questions  the  most  important  is  that  which  exists  with  the 
Government  of  Great  Britain  in  respect  to  our  northeastern  boundary. 
It  is  with  unfeigned  regret  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  must 
look  back  upon  the  abortive  efforts  made  by  the  Executive,  for  a  period 
of  more  than  half  a  century,  to  determine  what  no  nation  should  suffer  long 
to  remain  in  dispute — ^the  true  line  which  divides  its  possessions  from 
those  of  other  powers.  The  nature  of  the  settlements  on  the  borders  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  neighboring  territory  was  for  a  season  such 
that  this,  perhaps,  was  not  indispensable  to  a  faithful  performance  of  the 
duties  of  the  Federal  Government.  Time  has,  however,  changed  this 
state  of  things,  and  has  brought  about  a  condition  of  afiaixs  in  which  the 
true  interests  of  both  countries  imperatively  require  that  this  question 
should  be  put  at  rest.  It  is  not  to  be  disguised  that,  with  full  confidence, 
often  expressed,  in  the  desire  of  the  British  Government  to  terminate  it, 
we  are  apparently  as  far  from  its  adjustment  as  we  were  at  the  time  of 
signing  the  treaty  of  peace  in  1783.  The  sole  result  of  long-pending 
negotiations  and  a  perplexing  arbitration  appears  to  be  a  conviction  on 
its  part  that  a  conventional  line  must  be  adopted,  from  the  impossibility 
of  ascertaining  the  true  one  according  to  the  description  contained  in 
that  treaty.  Without  coinciding  in  this  opinion,  which  is  not  thought 
to  be  well  founded,  my  predecessor  gave  the  strongest  proof  of  the  ear- 
nest desire  of  the  United  States  to  terminate  satisfactorily  this  dispute 
by  proposing  the  substitution  of  a  conventional  li  ae  if  the  consent  of  the 
States  interested  in  the  question  could  be  obtained.  To  this  proposition 
no  answer  has  as  yet  been  received.  The  attention  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment has,  however,  been  urgently  invited  to  tie  subject,  and  its  reply 
can  not,  I  am  confident,  be  much  longer  delayed.  The  general  relations 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  are  of  the  most  friendly 
character,  and  I  am  well  satisfied  of  the  sincere  disposition  of  that  Gov- 
ernment to  maintain  them  upon  their  present  footing.  This  disposition 
has  also,  I  am  persuaded,  become  more  general  with  the  people  of  Eng- 
land than  at  any  previous  period.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  to 
you  how  cordially  it  is  reciprocated  by  the  Government  and  people  of 
the  United  States.  The  conviction,  which  must  be  common  to  all,  of  the 
injurious  consequences  that  result  from  keeping  open  this  irritating 
question,  and  the  certainty  that  its  final  settlement  can  not  be  much 
longer  deferred,  will,  I  trust,  lead  to  an  early  and  satisfactory  adjust- 
ment. At  your  last  session  I  laid  before  you  the  recent  communications 
between  the  two  Governments  and  between  this  Government  and  that 
of  the  State  of  Maine,  in  whose  solicitude  concerning  a  subject  in  which 
she  has  so  deep  an  interest  every  portion  of  the  Union  participates.
Martin  Van  Buren  1592 
The  feelings  produced  by  a  temporary  interruption  of  those  harmoni- 
ous relations  between  Prance  and  the  United  States  which  are  due  ks 
well  to  the  recollections  of  former  times  as  to  a  correct  appreciation  of 
existing  interests  have  been  happily  succeeded  by  a  cordial  disposition 
on  both  sides  to  cultivate  an  active  friendship  in  their  future  intercourse. 
The  opinion,  undoubtedly  correct,  and  steadily  entertained  by  us,  that 
the  commercial  relations  at  present  existing  between  the  two  countries 
are  susceptible  of  great  and  reciprocally  beneficial  improvements  is  obvi- 
ously gaining  ground  in  Prance,  and  I  am  assured  of  the  disposition  of 
that  Government  to  favor  the  accomplishment  of  such  an  object.  This 
disposition  shall  be  met  in  a  proper  spirit  on  our  part.  The  few  and 
comparatively  unimportant  questions  that  remain  to  be  adjusted  between 
us  can,  I  have  no  doubt,  be  settled  with  entire  satisfaction  and  without 
diflSculty. 
Between  Russia  and  the  United  States  sentiments  of  good  will  con- 
tinue to  be  mutually  cherished.  Our  minister  recently  accredited  to 
that  Court  has  been  received  with  a  frankness  and  cordiaUty  and  with 
evidences  of  respect  for  his  country  which  leave  us  no  room  to  doubt 
the  preservation  in  future  of  those  amicable  and  liberal  relations  which 
have  so  long  and  so  uninterruptedly  existed  between  the  two  countries. 
On  the  few  subjects  under  discussion  between  us  an  early  and  just 
decision  is  confidently  anticipated. 
A  correspondence  has  been  opened  with  the  Government  of  Austria 
for  the  establishment  of  diplomatic  relations,  in  conformity  with  the 
wishes  of  Congress  as  indicated  by  an  appropriation  act  of  the  session  of 
1837,  and  arrangements  made  for  the  purpose,  which  will  be  duly  carried 
into  effect. 
With  Austria  and  Prussia  and  with  the  States  of  the  German  Empire 
(now  composing  with  thie  latter  the  Commercial  League)  our  political 
relations  are  of  the  most  friendly  character,  whilst  our  commercial  inter- 
course is  gradually  extending,  with  benefit  to  all  who  are  engaged  in  it. 
Civil  war  yet  rages  in  Spain,  producing  intense  suffering  to  its  own 
people,  and  to  other  nations  inconvenience  and  regret.  Our  citizens 
who  have  claims  upon  that  country  will  be  prejudiced  for  a  time  by  the 
condition  of  its  treasury,  the  inevitable  consequence  of  long-continued 
and  exhausting  internal  wars.  The  last  installment  of  the  interest  of 
the  debt  due  under  the  convention  with  the  Queen  of  Spain  has  not  been 
paid  and  similar  failures  may  be  expected  to  happen  until  a  portion 
of  the  resources  of  her  Kingdom  can  be  devoted  to  the  extinguishment  of 
its  foreign  debt. 
Having  received  satisfactory  evidence  that  discriminating  tonnage 
duties  were  charged  upon  the  vessels  of  the  United  States  in  the  ports  of 
Portugal,  a  proclamation  was  issued  on  the  i  ith  day  of  October  last,  in 
compliance  with  the  act  of  May  25,  1832,  declaring  that  fact,  and  the 
duties  on  foreign  tonnage  which  were  levied  upon  Portuguese  vessels  in
1593  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
the  United  States  previously  to  the  passage  of  that  act  are  accordingly 
revived. 
The  act  of  July  4, 1836,  suspending  the  discriminating  duties  upon  the 
produce  of  Portugal  imported  into  this  country  in  Portuguese  vessels,  was 
passed,  upon  the  application  of  that  Government  through  its  rq)resenta- 
tive  here,  under  the  belief  that  no  similar  discrimination  existed  in  Por- 
tugal to  the  prejudice  of  the  United  States.  I  regret  to  state  that  such 
duties  are  now  exacted  in  that  country  upon  the  cargoes  of  American  ves- 
sels, and  as  the  act  referred  to  vests  no  discretion  in  the  Executive,,  it  is 
for  Congress  to  determine  upon  the  expediency  of  further  legislation  on 
the  subject.  Against  these  discriminations  affecting  the  vessels  of  this 
country  and  their  cargoes  seasonable  remonstrance  was  made,  and  notice 
was  given  to  the  Portuguese  Government  that  unless  they  should  be  dis- 
continued the  adoption  of  countervailing  measures  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  would  become  necessary;  but  the  reply  of  that  Govern- 
ment, received  at  the  Department  of  State  through  our  charg^  d'affaires 
at  Lisbon  in  the  month  of  September  last,  afforded  no  ground  to  hope  for 
the  abandonment  of  a  system  so  little  in  harmony  with  the  treatment 
shown  to  the  vessels  of  Portugal  and  their  cargoes  in  the  ports  of  this 
country  and  so  contrary  to  the  expectations  we  had  a  right  to  entertain. 
With  Holland,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Naples,  and  Belgium  a  friendly 
intercourse  has  been  uninterruptedly  maintained. 
With  the  Government  of  the  Ottoman  Porte  and  its  dependencies  on  the 
coast  of  the. Mediterranean  peace  and  good  will  are  carefully  cultivated, 
and  have  been  fostered  by  such  good  offices  as  the  relative  distance  and 
the  condition  of  those  countries  would  permit. 
Our  commerce  with  Greece  is  carried  on  under  the  laws  of  the  two 
Governments,  reciprocally  b^ieficial  to  the  navigating  interests  of  both; 
and  I  have  reason  to  look  forward  to  the  adoption  of  other  measures 
which  will  be  more  extensively  and  permanently  advantageous. 
Copies  of  the  treaties  concluded  with  the  Governments  of  Siam  and 
Muscat  are  transmitted  for  the  information  of  Congress,  the  ratifications 
having  been  received  and  the  treaties  made  public  since  the  close  of  the 
last  annual  session.  Already  have  we  reason  to  congratulate  ourselves 
on  the  prospect  of  considerable  commercial  benefit;  and  we  have,  besides, 
received  from  the  Sultan  of  Muscat  prompt  evidence  of  his  desire  to  cul- 
tivate the  most  friendly  feelings,  by  liberal  acts  toward  one  of  our  vessels, 
bestowed  in  a  manner  so  striking  as  to  require  on  our  part  a  grateful 
acknowledgment. 
Our  commerce  with  the  islands  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  still  labors 
under  heavy  restrictions,  the  continuance  of  which  is  a  subject  of  regret. 
The  only  effect  of  an  adherence  to  them  will  be  to  benefit  the  navigation 
of  other  countries  at  the  expense  of  both  the  United  States  and  Spain. 
The  independent  nations  of  this  continent  have  ever  since  they  emerged 
from  the  colonial  state  experienced  severe  trials  in  their  progress  to  the
Martin  Van  Buren  1594 
permanent  establishment  of  liberal  political  institutions.  Their  tmsettled 
condition  not  only  interrupts  their  own  advances  to  prosperity,  but  has 
often  seriously  injured  the  other  powers  of  the  world.  The  claims  of  our 
citizens  upon  Peru,  Chili,  Brazil,  the  Argentine  Repubhc,  the  Govern- 
ments formed  out  of  the  Republics  of  Colombia  and  Mexico,  are  still 
pending,  although  many  of  them  have  been  presented  for  examination 
more  than  twenty  years.  New  Granada,  Venezuela,  and  Ecuador  have 
recently  formed  a  convention  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  and  adjust- 
ing claims  upon  the  Republic  of  Colombia,  from  which  it  is  earnestly 
hoped  our  citizens  will  ere  long  receive  full  compensation  for  the  injuries 
inflicted  upon  them  and  for  the  delay  in  aflFording  it. 
An  advantageous  treaty  of  commerce  has  been  concluded  by  the  United 
States  with  the  Peru-Bolivian  Confederation,  which  wants  only  the  ratifi- 
cation of  that  Government.  The  progress  of  a  subsequent  negotiation 
for  the  settlement  of  claims  upon  Peru  has  been  unfavorably  affected 
by  the  war  between  that  power  and  Chili  and  the  Argentine  Republic,  and 
the  same  event  is  also  likely  to  produce  delays  in  the  settlement  of  out 
demands  on  those  powers. 
The  aggravating  circumstances  connected  with  our  claims  upon  Mexico 
and  a  variety  of  events  touching  the  honor  and  integrity  of  our  Govern- 
ment led  my  predecessor  to  make  at  the  second  session  of  the  last  Con- 
gress a  special  recommendation  of  the  course  to  be  pursued  to  obtain  a 
speedy  and  final  satisfaction  of  the  injuries  complained  of  by  this  Govern- 
ment  and  by  our  citizens.  He  recommended  a  final  demand  of  redress, 
with  a  contingent  authority  to  the  Executive  to  make  reprisals  if  that 
demand  should  be  made  in  vain.  From  the  {)roceedings  of  Congress  on 
that  recommendation  it  appeared  that  the  opinion  of  both  branches  of  the 
legislature  coincided  with  that  of  the  Executive,  that  any  mode  of  redress 
known  to  the  law  of  nation^  might  justifiably  be  used.  It  was  obvious, 
too,  that  Congress  believed  with  the  President  that  another  demand 
should  be  made,  in  order  to  give  undeniable  and  satisfactory  proof  of  our 
desire  to  avoid  extremities  with  a  neighboring  power,  but  that  there  was 
an  indisposition  to  vest  a  discretionary  authority  in  the  Executive  to  take 
redress  should  it  unfortunately  be  either  denied  or  unreasonably  delayed 
by  the  Mexican  Government. 
So  soon  as  the  necessary  documents  were  prepared,  after  entering  upon 
the  duties  of  my  office,  a  special  messenger  was  sent  to  Mexico  to  make 
a  final  demand  of  redress,  with  the  documents  required  by  the  provisions 
of  our  treaty.  The  demand  was  made  on  the  20th  of  July  last.  The 
reply,  which  bears  date  the  29th  of  the  same  month,  contains  assurances 
of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  that  Government  to  give  a  prompt  and  explicit 
answer  respecting  each  of  the  complaints,  but  that  the  examination  of 
them  would  necessarily  be  deliberate;  that  in  this  examination  it  would 
be  guided  by  the  principles  of  public  law  and  the  obligation  of  treaties; 
that  nothing  should  be  left  xmdone  that  might  lead  to  the  most  speedy
IS9S  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
and  equitable  adjustment  of  our  demands,  and  that  its  determination 
in  respect  to  each  case  should  be  communicated  through  the  Mexican 
minister  here. 
Since  that  time  an  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary 
has  been  accredited  to  this  Government  by  that  of  the  Mexican  Republic. 
He  brought  with  him  assurances  of  a  sincere  desire  that  the  pending 
difEerences  between  the  two  Governments  should  be  terminated  in  a  man- 
ner satisfactory  to  both.  He  was  received  with  reciprocal  assurances, 
and  a  hope  was  entertained  that  his  mission  would  lead  to  a  speedy, 
satisfactory,  and  final  adjustment  of  all  existing  subjects  of  complaint. 
A  sincere  believer  in  the  wisdom  of  the  pacific  policy  by  which  the 
United  States  have  always  been  governed  in  their  intercourse  with  for- 
eign nations,  it  was  my  particular  desire,  from  the  proximity  of  the 
Mexican  Republic  and  well-known  occurrences  on  our  frontier,  to  be 
instrumental  in  obviating  all  existing  difficulties  with  that  Government 
and  in  restoring  to  the  intercourse  between  the  two  Republics  that  liberal 
and  friendly  character  by  which  they  should  always  be  distinguished. 
I  regret,  therefore,  the  more  deeply  to  have  found  in  the  recent  commu- 
nications of  that,  Government  so  little  reason  to  hope  that  any  future 
efforts  of  mine  for  the  accomplishment  of  those  desirable  objects  would 
be  successful. 
Although  the  larger  number — and  many  of  them  aggravated  cases  of 
personal  wrongs — have  been  now  for  years  before  the  Mexican  Govern- 
ment, and  some  of  the  causes  of  national  complaint,  and  those  of  the 
most  offensive  character,  admitted  of  immediate,  simple,  and  satisfactory 
replies,  it  is  only  within  a  few  days  past  that  any  specific  communication 
in  answer  to  our  last  demand,  made  five  months  ago,  has  been  received 
from  the  Mexican  minister.  By  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State 
herewith  presented  and  the  accompan3dng  documents  it  will  be  seen 
that  for  not  one  of  our  public  complaints  lias  satisfaction  been  given  or 
offered,  that  but  one  of  the  cases  of  personal  wrong  has  been  favorably 
considered,  and  that  but  four  cases  of  both  descriptions  out  of  all  those 
formally  presented  and  earnestly  pressed  have  as  yet  been  decided  upon 
by  the  Mexican  Government. 
Not  perceiving  in  what  manner  any  of  the  powers  given  to  the  Execu- 
tive alone  could  be  further  usefully  employed  in  bringing  this  unfortu- 
nate controversy  to  a  satisfactory  termination,  the  subject  was  by  my 
predecessor  referred  to  Congress  as  one  calling  for  its  interposition.  In 
accordance  with  the  clearly  understood  wishes  of  the  Legislature,  another 
and  formal  demand  for  satisfaction  has  been  made  upon  the  Mexican 
Government,  with  what  success  the  documents  now  communicated  will 
show.  On  a  careful  and  deliberate  examination  of  their  contents,  and 
considering  the  spirit  manifested  by  the  Mexican  Government,  it  has 
become  my  painful  duty  to  return  the  subject  as  it  now  stands  to  Con- 
gress, to  whom  it  belongs  to  decide  upon  the  time,  the  mode,  and  the
Martin  Van  Buren  1596 
measure  of  redress.  Whatever  may  be  your  decision,  it  shall  be  faith- 
fully executed,  confident  that  it  will  be  chaxacterized  by  that  moderation 
and  justice  which  will,  I  trust,  under  all  circumstances  govern  the  coun- 
cils of  our  country. 
The  balance  in  the  Treasury  on  the  ist  January,  1837,  was  $45,968,523. 
The  receipts  during  the  present  year  from  all  sources,  including  the 
amount  of  Treasury  notes  issued,  are  estimated  at  $23,499,981,  consti- 
tuting an  aggregate  of  $69,468,504.  Of  this  amount  about  $35,281,361 
will  have  been  expended  at  the  end  of  the  year  on  appropriations 
made  by  Congress,  and  the  residue,  amounting  to  $34,187,143,  will  be 
the  nominal  balance  in  the  Treasury  on  the  ist  of  January  next;  but  of 
that  sum  only  $1,085,498  is  considered  as  immediately  available  for  and 
applicable  to  public  purposes.  Those  portions  of  it  which  will  be  for 
some  time  unavailable  consist  chiefly  of  sums  deposited  with  the  States 
and  due  from  the  former  deposit  banks.  The  details  upon  this  subject 
will  be  found  in  the  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
The  amount  of  Treasury  notes  which  it  will  be  necessary  to  issue  during 
the  year  on  account  of  those  funds  being  unavailable  will,  it  is  supposed, 
not  exceed  four  and  a  half  millions.  It  seemed  proper,  in  the  condition 
of  the  country,  to  have  the  estimates  on  all  subjects  made  as  low  as  prac- 
ticable without  prejudice  to  any  great  public  measures.  The  Depart- 
ments were  therefore  desired  to  prepare  their  estimates  accordingly,  and 
I  am  happy  to  find  that  they  have  been  able  to  graduate  them  On  so 
economical  a  scale.  In  the  great  and  often  unexpected  fluctuations  to 
which  the  revenue  is  subjected  it  is  not  possible  to  compute  the  receipts 
beforehand  with  great  certainty,  but  should  they  not  differ  essentially 
from  present  anticipations,  and  should  the  appropriations  not  much 
exceed  the  estimates,  no  difficulty  seems  likely  to  happen  in  defraying 
the  current  expenses  with  promptitude  and  fidelity. 
Notwithstanding  the  great  embarrassments  which  have  recently  oc- 
curred in  commercial  affairs,  and  the  liberal  indulgence  which  in  conse- 
quence of  these  embarrassments  has  been  extended  to  both  the  merchants 
and  the  banks,  it  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  anticipate  that  the  Treasury 
notes  which  have  been  issued  during  the  present  year  will  be  redeemed 
and  that  the  resources  of  the  Treasury,  without  any  resort  to  loans  or 
increased  taxes,  will  prove  ample  for  defraying  all  charges  imposed  on  it 
during  1838. 
The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  will  afford  you  a  more 
minute  exposition  of  all  matters  connected  with  the  administration  of 
the  finances  during  the  current  year — a  period  which  for  the  amount 
of  public  moneys  disbursed  and  deposited  with  the  States,  as  well  as  the 
financial  difficulties  encountered  and  overcome,  has  few  parallels  in  our 
history. 
Your  attention  was  at  the  last  session  invited  to  the  necessity  of  addi- 
tional legislative  provisions  in  respect  to  the  collection,  safe-keeping,  and
1597  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents    - 
transfer  of  the  public  money.  No  law  having  been  then  matured,  and 
not  understanding  the  proceedings  of  Congress  as  intended  to  be  final, 
it  becomes  my  duty  again  to  bring  the  subject  to  your  notice. 
On  that  occasion  three  modes  of  performing  this  branch  of  the  public 
service  were  presented  for  consideration.  These  were,  the  creation  of 
a  national  bank;  the  revival,  with  modifications,  of  the  deposit  system 
established  by  the  act  of  the  23d  of  June,  1836,  permitting  the  use  of 
the  public  moneys  by  the  banks;  and  the  discontinuance  of  the  use 
of  such  institutions  for  the  purposes  referred  to,  with  suitable  provisions 
for  their  accomplishment  through  the  agency  of  public  officers.  Con- 
sidering the  opinions  of  both  [Houses  of  Congress  on  the  first  two  prop- 
ositions as  expressed  in  the  negative,  in  which  I  entirely  concur,  it  is 
unnecessary  for  me  again  to  reoir  to  them.  In  respect  to  the  last,  you 
have  had  an  opportunity  since  your  adjournment  not  only  to  test  still 
further  the  expediency  of  the  measure  by  the  continued  practical  opera- 
tion of  such  parts  of  it  as  are  now  in  force,  but  also  to  discover  what 
should  ever  be  sought  for  and  regarded  with  the  utmost  deference — the 
opinions  and  wishes  of  the  people. 
The  national  will  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  Republic,  and  on  all  sub- 
jects within  the  limits  of  his  constitutional  powers  should  be  faithfully 
obeyed  by  the  public  servant.  Since  the  measure  in  question  was  sub- 
mitted to  your  consideration  most  of  you  have  enjoyed  the  advantage  of 
personal  communication  with  your  constituents.  For  one  State  only  has 
an  election  been  held  for  the  Federal  Government;  but  the  early  day  at 
which  it  took  place  deprived  the  measure  under  consideration  of  much 
of  the  support  it  might  otherwise  have  derived  ftom  the  result.  Local 
elections  for  State  officers  have,  however,  been  held  in  several  of  the 
States,  at  which  the  expediency  of  the  plan  proposed  by  the  Executive 
has  been  more  or  less  discussed.  You  will,  I  am  confident,  yield  to 
their  results  the  respect  due  to  every  expression  of  the  public  voice. 
Desiring,  however,  to  arrive  at  truth  and  a  just  view  of  the  subject  in 
all  its  barings,  you  will  at  the  same  time  remember  that  questions  of 
far  deeper  and  more  immediate  local  interest  than  the  fiscal  plans  of  the 
National  Treasury  were  involved;in  those  elections.  Above  all,  we  can 
not  overlook  the  striking  fact  that  there  were  at  the  time  in  those  States 
more  than  one  htmdred  and  sixty  millions  of  bank  capital,  of  which 
large  portions  were  subject  to  actual  forfeiture,  other  large  portions 
upheld  only  by  special  and  limited  legislative  indulgences,  and  most  of 
it,  if  not  all,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  dependent  for  a  continuance 
of  its  corporate  existence  upon  the  will  of  the  State  legislatures  to  be 
then  chosen.  Apprised  of  this  circumstance,  you  will  judge  whether  it 
is  not  most  probable  that  the  peculiar  condition  of  that  vast  interest  in 
these  respects,  the  extent  to  which  it  has  been  spread  through  all  the 
ramifications  of  society,  its  direct  connection  with  the  then  pending  elec- 
tions, and  the  feelings  it  was  calculated  to  infuse  into  the  canvass  havQ
Martin  Van  Buren  1598 
exercised  a  far  greater  influence  over  the  result  than  any  which  could 
possibly  have  been  produced  by  a  conflict  of  opinion  in  respect  to  a 
question  in  the  administration  of  the  General  Government  more  remote 
and  far  less  important  in  its  bearings  upon  that  interest. 
I  have  found  no  reason  to  change  my  own  opinion  as  to  the  expedi- 
ency of  adopting  the  system  proposed,  being  perfectly  satisfied  that  there 
will  be  neither  stability  nor  safety  either  in  the  fiscal  affairs  of  the  Gov- 
ernment or  in  the  pecuniary  transactions  of  individuals  and  corporations 
so  long  as  a  connection  exists  between  them  which,  like  the  past,  offers 
such  strong  inducements  to  make  them  the  subjects  of  political  agitation. 
Indeed,  I  am  more  than  ever  convinced  of  the  dangers  to  which  the  free 
and  unbiased  exercise  of  political  opinion — the  only  sure  foundation  and 
safeguard  of  republican  government — ^would  be  exposed  by  any  fur- 
ther increase  of  the  already  overgrown  influence  of  corporate  authorities. 
I  can  not,  therefore,  consistently  with  my  views  of  duty,  advise  a  renewal 
of  a  connection  which  circumstances  have  dissolved. 
The  discontinuance  of  the  use  of  State  banks  for  fiscal  ptu-poses  ought 
not  to  be  regarded  as  a  measure  of  hostility  toward  those  institutions. 
Banks  properly  established  and  conducted  are  highly  useful  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  cotmtry,  and  will  doubtless  continue  to  exist  in  the  States  so 
long  as  they  conforih  to  their  laws  and  are  found  to  be  safe  and  benefi- 
cial. How  they  should  be  created,  what  privileges  they  should  enjoy, 
under  what  responsibilities  they  should  act,  and  to  what  restrictions  they 
should  be  subject  are  questions  which,  as  I  observed  on  a  previous  occa- 
sion, belong  to  the  States  to  decide.  Upon  their  rights  or  the  exercise 
of  them  the  General  Government  can  have  no  motive  to  encroach.  Its 
4uty  toward  them  is  well  performed  when  it  refrains  from  legislating  for 
their  special  benefit,  because  such  legislation  would  violate  the  spirit  of 
the  Constitution  and  be  unjust  to  other  interests;  when  it  takes  no  steps 
to  impair  their  usefulness,  but  so  manages  its  own  affairs  as  to  make  it 
the  interest  of  those  institutions  to  strengthen  and  improve  their  condi- 
tion for  the  security  and  welfare  of  the  commimity  at  large.  They  have 
no  right  to  insist  on  a  connection  with  the  Federal  Government,  nor  on 
the  use  of  the  public  money  for  their  own  benefit.  The  object  of  the 
measure  under  consideration  is  to  avoid  for  the  future  a  compulsory  con- 
nection of  this  kind.  It  proposes  to  place  the  General  Government,  in 
regard  to  the  essential  points  of  the  collection,  safe-keeping,  and  transfer 
of  the  public  money,  in  a  situation  which  shall  relieve  it  from  all  depend- 
ence on  the  will  of  irresponsible  individuals  or  corporations;  to  withdraw 
those  moneys  from  the  uses  of  private  trade  and  confide  them  to  agents 
constitutionally  selected  and  controlled  by  law;  to  abstain  from  improper 
interference  with  the  industry  of  the  people  and  withhold  inducements  to 
improvident  dealings  on  the  part  of  individuals;  to  give  stability  to  the 
concerns  of  the  Treasury;  to  preserve  the  measures  of  the  Government 
from  the  unavoidable  reproaches  that  flow  from  such  a  connection,  and
1599  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
the  banks  themselves  from  the  injurious  effects  of  a  supposed  participa- 
tion in  the  political  conflicts  of  the  day,  from  which  they  will  otherwise 
find  it  difficult  to  escape. 
These  are  my  views  upon  this  important  subject,  formed  after  careful 
reflection  and  with  no  desire  but  to  arrive  at  what  is  most  likely  to  pro- 
mote the  public  interest.  They  are  now,  as  they  were  before,  submitted 
with  unfeigned  deference  for  the  opinions  of  others.  It  was  hardly  to 
be  hoped  that  changes  so  important  on  a  subject  so  interesting  could  be 
made  without  producing  a  serious  diversity  of  opinion;  but  so  long  as 
those  conflicting  views  are  kept  above  the  influence  of  individual  or  local 
interests,  so  long  as  they  pursue  only  the  general  good  and  are  discussed 
with  moderation  and  candor,  such  diversity  is  a  benefit,  not  an  injury. 
If  a  majority  of  Congress  see  the  public  welfare  in  a  different  light,  and 
more  especially  if  they  should  be  satisfied  that  the  measure  proposed 
would  not  be  acceptable  to  the  people,  I  shall  look  to  their  wisdom  to 
substitute  such  as  may  be  more  conducive  to  the  one  and  more  satisfac- 
tory to  the  other.  In  any  event,  they  may  confidently  rely  on  my  hearty 
cooperation  to  the  fullest  extent  to  which  my  views  of  the  Constitution 
and  my  sense  of  duty  will  permit. 
It  is  obviously  important  to  this  branch  of  the  public  service  and  to 
the  business  and  quiet  of  the  country  that  the  whole  subject  should  in 
some  way  be  settled  and  regulated  by  law,  and,  if  possible,  at  your  present 
session.  Besides  the  plans  above  referred  to,  I  am  not  aware  that  any 
one  has  been  suggested  except  that  of  keeping  the  public  money  in  the 
State  banks  in  special  deposit.  This  plan  is  to  some  extent  in  accord- 
ance with  the  practice  of  the  Government  and  with  the  present  arrange- 
ments of  the  Treasury  Department,  which,  except,  perhaps,  during  the 
operation  of  the  late  deposit  act,  has  always  been  allowed,  even  during 
the  existence  of  a  national  bank,  to  make  a  temporary  use  of  the  State 
banks  in  particular  places  for  the  safe-keeping  of  portions  of  the  revenue. 
This  discretionary  power  might  be  continued  if  Congress  deem  it  desir- 
able, whatever  general  system  be  adopted.  So  long  as  the  connection  is 
voluntary  we  need,  perhaps,  anticipate  few  of  those  difficulties  and  little 
of  that  dependence  on  the  banks  which  must  attend  every  such  connec- 
tion* when  compulsory  in  its  nature  and  when  so  arranged  as  to  make  the 
banks  a  fixed  part  of  the  machinery  of  government.  It  is  undoubtedly 
in  the  power  of  Congress  so  to  regulate  and  guard  it  as  to  prevent  the  pub- 
lic money  from  being  applied  to  the  use  or  intermingled  with  the  affairs 
of  individuals.  Thus  arranged,  although  it  would  not  give  to  the  Gov- 
ernment that  entire  control  over  its  own  funds  which  I  desire  to  secure 
to  it  by  the  plan  I  have  proposed,  it  would,  it  must  be  admitted,  in  a 
great  degree  accomplish  one  of  the  objects  which  has  recommended  that 
plan  to  my  judgment — the  separation  of  the  fiscal  concerns  of  the  Gov- 
ernment from  those  of  individuals  or  corporations. 
With  these  observations  I  recommend  the  whole  matter  to  your  dis-
Martin  Van  Buren  1600 
passionate  reflection,  confidently  hoping  that  !>ome  conclusion  may  be 
reached  by  your,  deliberations  which  on  the  one  hand  shall  give  safety 
and  stability  to  the  fiscal  operations  of  the  Government,  and  be  consistent, 
on  the  other,  with  the  genius  of  our  institutions  and  with  the  interests 
and  wishes  of  the  great  mass  of  our  constituents. 
It  was  my  hope  that  nothing  would  occur  to  make  necessary  on  this 
occasion  any  allusion  to  the  late  national  bank.  There  are  circum- 
stances, however,  connected  with  the  present  state  of  its  affairs  that  bear 
so  directly  on  the  character  of  the  Government  and  the  welfare  of  the 
citizen  that  I  should  not  feel  m3rself  excused  in  neglecting  to  notice  them. 
The  charter  which  terminated  its  banking  privileges  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1836,  continued  its  corporate  power  two  years  more  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  closing  its  affairs,  with  authority  **to  use  the  corporate  name,  style, 
and  capacity  for  the  purpose  of  suits  for  a  final  settlement  and  liquidation 
of  the  affairs  and  acts  of  the  corporation,  and  for  the  sale  and  disposi- 
tion of  their  estate — real,  personal,  and  mixed — but  for  no  other  purpose 
or  in  any  other  manner  whatsoever, ' '  Just  before  the  banking  privileges 
ceased,  its  effects  were  transferred  by  the  bank  to  a  new  State  institution, 
then  recently  incorporated,  in  trust,  for  the  discharge  of  its  debts  and  the 
settlement  of  its  affairs.  With  this  trustee,  by  authority  of  Congress,  an 
adjustment  was  subsequently  made  of  the  large  interest  which  the  Gov- 
ernment had  in  the  stock  of  the  institution.  The  manner  in  which  a 
trust  unexpectedly  created  upon  the  act  granting  the  charter,  and  involv- 
ing such  great  public  interests,  has  been  executed  would  under  any  cir- 
cumstances be  a  fit  subject  of  inquiry;  but  much  more  does  it  deserve 
your  attention  when  it  embraces  the  redemption  of  obligations  to  which 
the  authority  and  credit  of  the  United  States  have  given  value.  The 
two  years  allowed  are  now  nearly  at  an  end.  It  is  well  understood  that 
the  trustee  has  not  redeemed  and  canceled  the  outstanding  notes  of  the 
bank,  but  has  reissued  and  is  actually  reissuing,  since  the  3d  of  March, 
1836,  the  notes  which  have  been  received  by  it  to  a  vast  amount.  Accord- 
ing to  its  own  official  statement,  so  late  as  the  ist  of  October  last,  nineteen 
months  after  the  banking  privileges  given  by  the  charter  had  expired, 
it  had  under  its  control  uncanceled  notes  of  the  late  Bank  of  the  United 
States  to  the  amount  of  $27,561,866,  of  which  $6,175,861  were  in  actual 
circulation,  $1 ,468,627  at  State  bank  agencies,  and  $3,002, 390m  transitu, 
thus  showing  that  upward  of  ten  millions  and  a  half  of  the  notes  of  the 
old  bank  were  then  still  kept  outstanding. 
The  impropriety  of  this  procedure  is  obvious,  it  being  the  duty  of  the 
trustee  to  cancel  and  not  to  put  forth  the  notes  of  an  institution  whose 
concerns  it  had  undertaken  to  wind  up.  If  the  trustee  has  a  right  to 
reissue  these  notes  now,  I  can  see  no  reason  why  it  may  not  continue 
to  do  so  after  the  expiration  of  the  two  years.  As  no  one  could  have 
anticipated  a  course  so  extraordinary,  the  prohibitory  clause  of  the  char- 
ter above  quoted  was  not  accompanied  by  any  penalty  or  other  special
i6oi  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
provision  for  enforcing  it,  nor  have  we  any  general  law  for  the  preven- 
tion of  similar  acts  in  future. 
But  it  is  not  in  this  view  of  the  subject  alone  that  your  interposition  is 
required.  The  United  States  in  settling  with 'the  trustee  for  their  stock 
have  withdrawn  their  funds  from  their  former  direct  liability  to  the  cred- 
itors of  the  old  bank,  yet  notes  of  the  institution  continue  to  be  sent  forth 
in  its  name,  and  apparently  upon  the  authority  of  the  United  States.  The 
transactions  connected  with  the  employment  of  the  bills  of  the  old  bank 
are  of  vast  extent,  and  should  they  result  unfortunately  the  interests  of 
individuals  may  be  deeply  compromised.  Without  imdertaking  to  decide 
how  far  or  in  what  form,  if  any,  the  trustee  could  be  made  liable  for  notes 
which  contain  no  obligation  on  its  part,  or  the  old  bank  for  such  as  are 
put  in  circulation  after  the  expiration  of  its  charter  and  without  its 
authority,  or  the  Government  for  indemnity  in  case  of  loss,  the  question 
still  presses  itself  upon  your  consideration  whether  it  is  consistent  with 
duty  and  good  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  witness  this  pro- 
ceeding without  a  single  eflPort  to  arrest  it. 
The  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,  which 
will  be  laid  before  ^ou  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  will  show  how 
ttie  affairs  of  that  office  have  been  conducted  for  the  past  year.  The  dis- 
position of  the  public  lands  is  one  of  the  most  important  trusts  confided 
to  Congress.  The  practicability  of  retaining  the  title  and  control  of  such 
extensive  domains  in  the  General  Government,  and  at  the  same  time 
admitting  the  Territories  embracing  them  into  the  Federal  Union  as 
coequals  with  the  original  States,  was  seriously  doubted  by  many  of  our 
wisest  statesmen.  All  feared  that  they  would  become  a  source  of  discord, 
and  many  carried  their  apprehensions  so  far  as  to  see  in  them  the  seeds 
of  a  future  dissolution  of  the  Confederacy.  But  happily  our  experience 
has  already  been  sufficient  to  quiet  in  a  great  degree  all  such  apprehen- 
sions. The  position  at  one  time  assumed,  that  the  admission  of  new 
States  into  the  Union  on  the  same  footing  with  the  original  States  was 
incompatible  with  a  right  of  soil  m  the  United  States  and  operated  as  a 
surrender  thereof,  notwithstanding  the  terms  of  the  compacts  by  which 
their  admission  was  designed  to  be  regulated,  has  been  wisely  abandoned. 
Whether  in  the  new  or  the  old  States,  all  now  agree  that  the  right  of  soil 
to  the  public  lands  remains  in  the  Federal  Government,  and  that  these 
lands  constitute  a  common  property,  to  be  disposed  of  for  the  common 
benefit  of  all  the  States,  old  and  new.  Acquiescence  in  this  just  principle 
by  the  people  of  the  new  States  has  naturally,  promoted  a  disposition  to 
adopt  the  most  liberal  policy  in  the  sale  of  the  public  lands.  A  policy 
which  should  be  limited  to  the  mere  object  of  selling  the  lands  for  the 
greatest  possible  sum  of  money,  without  regard  to  higher  considerations, 
finds  but  few  advocates.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  generally  conceded  that 
whilst  the  mode  of  disposition  adopted  by  the  Government  should  always 
be  a  prudent  one,  yet  its  leading  object  ought  to  be  the  early  settlement
Martin  Van  Buren  1602 
and  cultivation  of  the  lands  sold,  and  that  }t  should  discountenance,  if 
it  can  not  prevent,  the  accumulation  of  large  tracts  in  the  same  hands, 
which  must  necessarily  retard  the  growth  of  the  new  States  or  entail 
upon  them  a  dependent  tenantry  and  its  attendant  evils. 
A  question  embracing  such  important  interests  and  so  well  calculated 
to  enlist  the  feelings  of  the  people  in  every  quarter  of  the  Union  has 
very  naturally  given  rise  to  numerous  plans  for  the  improvement  of  the 
existing  system.  The  distinctive  features  of  the  policy  that  has  hitherto 
prevailed  are  to  dispose  of  the  public  lands  at  moderate  prices,  thus 
enabling  a  greater  number  to  enter  into  competition  for  their  purchase 
and  accompUshing  a  double  object— of  promoting  their  rapid  settlement 
by  the  purchasers  and  at  the  same  time  increasing  the  receipts  of  the 
Treasury;  to  sell  for  cash,  thereby  preventing  the  disturbing  influence 
of  a  large  mass  of  private  citizens  indebted  to  the  Government  which 
they  have  a  voice  in  controlling;  to  bring  them  into  market  no  faster 
than  good  lands  are  supposed  to  be  wanted  for  improvement,  thereby 
preventing  the  accumulation  of  large  tracts  in  few  hands;  and  to  apply 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  to  the  general  purposes  of  the  Government, 
thus  diminishing  the  amount  to  b^  raised  from  the  people  of  the  States 
by  taxation  and  giving  each  State  its  portion  of  the  benefits  to  be  derived 
from  this  common  fund  in  a  manner  the  most  quiet,  and  at  the  same 
time,  perhaps,  the  most  equitable,  that  can  be  devised.  These  provisions, 
with  occasional  enactments  in  behalf  of  special  interests  deemed  entitled 
to  the  favor  of  the  Government,  have  in  their  execution  produced  results 
as  beneficial  upon  the  whole  as  could  reasonably  be  expected  in  a  matter 
so  vast,  so  complicated,  and  so  exciting.  Upward  of  70,000,000  acres 
have  been  sold,  the  greater  part  of  which  is  believed  to  have  been  pur- 
chased for  actual  settlement.  The  population  of  the  new  States  and 
Territories  created  out  of  the  public  domain  increased  between  1800  and 
1830  from  less  than  60,000  to  upward  of  2,300,000  souls,  constituting  at 
the  latter  period  about  one-fifth  of  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States. 
The  increase  since  can  not  be  accurately  known,  but  the  whole  may  now 
be  safely  estimated  at  over  three  and  a  half  millions  of  souls,  composing 
nine  States,  the  representatives  of  which  constitute  above  one-third  of 
the  Senate  and  over  one-sixth  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States. 
Thus  has  been  formed  a  body  of  free  and  independent  landholders 
with  a  rapidity  unequaled  in  the  history  of  mankind;  and  this  great 
result  has  been  produced  without  leaving  anything  for  future  adjustment 
between  the  Government  and  its  citizens.  The  system  under  which 
so  much  has  been  accomplished  can  not  be  intrinsically  bad,  and  with 
occasional  modifications  to  correct  abuses  and  adapt  it  to  changes  of 
circumstances  may,  I  think,  be  safely  trusted  for  the  future.  There  is 
in  the  management  of  such  extensive  interests  much  virtue  in  stability; 
and  although  great  and  obvious  improvements  should  not  be  declined,
i6o3  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
changes  should  never  be  made  without  the  fullest  examination  and 
the  clearest  demonstration  of  their  practical  utility.  In  the  history  of  the 
past  we  have  an  assurance  that  this  safe  rule  of  action  will  not  be  departed 
from  in  relation  to  the  public  lands;  nor  is  it  believed  that  any  necessity 
exists  for  interfering  with  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  system,  or 
that  the  public  mind,  even  in  the  new  States,  is  desirous  of  any  radical 
alterations.  On  the  contrary,  the  general  disposition  appears  to  be  to 
make  such  modifications  and  additions  only  as  will  the  more  e£Pectually 
carry  out  the  original  policy  of  filling  our  new  States  and  Territories  with 
'  an  industrious  and  independent  population. 
The  modification  most  perseveringly  pressed  upon  Congress,  which  has 
occupied  so  much  of  its  time  for  years  past,  and  will  probably  do  so  for  a 
long  time  to  come,  if  not  sooner  satisfactorily  adjusted,  is  a  reduction  in 
the  Qost  of  such  portions  of  the  public  lands  as  are  ascertained  to  be 
unsalable  at  the  rate  now  established  by  law,  and  a  graduation  accord- 
ing to  their  relative  value  of  the  prices  at  which  they  may  hereafter  be 
sold.  It  is  worthy  of  consideration  whether  justice  may  not  be  done  to 
every  interest  in  this  matter,  and  a  vexed  question  set  at  rest,  perhaps 
forever,  by  a  reasonable  compromise  of  conflicting  opinions.  Hitherto, 
after  being  offered  at  public  sale,  lands  have  been  disposed  of  at  one 
uniform  price,  whatever  difference  there  might  be  in  their  intrinsic  value. 
The  leading  considerations  urged  in  favor  of  the  measure  referred  to  are 
that  in  almost  all  the  land  districts,  and  particularly  in  those  in  which 
the  lands  have  been  long  surveyed  and  exposed  to  sale,  there  are  still 
remaining  numerous  and  large  tracts  of  every  gradation  of  value,  from 
the  Government  price  downward;  that  these  lands  will  not  be  purchased 
at  the  Government  price  so  long  as  better  can  be  conveniently  obtained 
for  the  same  amount;  that  there  are  large  tracts  which  even  the  improve- 
ments of  the  adjacent  lands  will  never  raise  to  that  price,  and  that  the 
present  uniform  price,  combined  with  their  irregular  value,  operates  to 
prevent  a  desirable  compactness  of  settlements  in  the  new  States  and 
to  retard  the  full  development  of  that  wise  policy  on  which  our  land 
system  is  founded,  to  the  injury  not  only  of  the  several  States  where 
the  lands  lie,  but  of  the  United  States  as  a  whole. 
The  remedy  proposed  has  been  a  reduction  of  the  prices  according  to 
the  length  of  time  the  lands  have  been  in  market,  without  reference 
to  any  other  circumstances.  The  certainty  that  the  efflux  of  time  would 
not  always  in  such  cases,  and  perhaps  not  even  generally,  furnish  a  true 
criterion  of  value,  and  the  probability  that  persons  residing  in  the  vicinity, 
as  the  period  for  the  reduction  of  prices  approached,  would  postpone  pur- 
chases they  would  otherwise  make,  for  the  purpose  of  availing  themselves 
of  the  lower  price,  with  other  considerations  of  a  similar  character,  have 
hitherto  been  successfully  urged  to  defeat  the  graduation  upon  time. 
May  not  all  reasonable  desires  upon  this  subject  be  satisfied  without 
encountering  any  of  these  objections?    All  wilJ  concede  the  abstract
.    Martin  Van  Buren  1604 
principle  that  the  price  of  the  public  lands  should  be  proportioned  to 
their  relative  value,  so  far  as  can  be  accomplished  without  departing  from 
the  rule  heretofore  obsen-ed  requiring  fixed  prices  in  cases  of  private 
entries.  The  diflBculty  of  the  subject  seems  to  lie  in  the  mode  of  ascer- 
taining what  that  value  is.  Would  not  the  safest  plan  be  that  which 
has  been  adopted  by  many  of  the  States  as  the  basis  of  taxation — an 
actual  valuation  of  lands  and  classification  of  them  into  di£Perent  rates? 
Would  it  not  be  practicable  and  expedient  to  cause  the  relative  value 
of  the  public  lands  in  the  old  districts  which  have  been  for  a  certain 
length  of  time  in  market  to  be  appraised  and  classed  into  two  or  more 
rates  below  the  present  minimum  price  by  the  officers  now  employed  in 
this  branch  of  (he  public  service  or  in  any  other  mode  deemed  preferable, 
and  to  make  those  prices  permanent  if  upon  the  coming  in  of  the  report 
they  shall  prove  satisfactory  to  Congress?  Could  not  all  the  objects  of 
graduation  be  accomplished  in  this  way,  and  the  objections  which  have 
hitherto  been  urged  against  it  avoided?  It  would  seem  to  me  that  s.'ch 
a  step,  with  a  restriction  of  the  sales  to  limited  quantities  and  for  actua^ 
improvement,  would  be  free  from  all  just  exception. 
By  the  full  exposition  of  the  value  of  the  lands  thus  furnished  and 
extensively  promulgated  persons  living  at  a  distance  would  be  informed 
of  their  true  condition  and  enabled  to  enter  into  competition  with  those 
residing  in  the  vicinity;  the  means  of  acquiring  an  independent  home 
would  be  brought  within  the  reach  of  many  who  are  unable  to  purchase 
at  present  prices;  the  population  of  the  new  States  would  be  made  more 
compact,  and  large  tracts  would  be  sold  which  would  otherwise  remain  on 
hand.  Not  only  would  the  land  be  brought  within  the  means  of  a  larger 
number  of  purchasers,  but  many  persons  possessed  of  greater  means 
would  be  content  to  settle  on  a  larger  quantity  of  the  poorer  lands  rather 
than  emigrate  farther  west  in  pursuit  of  a  smaller  quantity  of  better  lands. 
Such  a  measure  would  also  seem  to  be  more  consistent  with  the  policy  of 
the  existing  laws — that  of  converting  the  public  domain  into  cultivated 
farms  owned  by  their  occupants.  That  policy  is  not  best  promoted  by 
sending  emigration  up  the  almost  interminable  streams  of  the  West  to 
occupy  in  groups  the  best  spots  of  land,  leaving  immense  wastes  behind 
them  and  enlarging  the  frontier  beyond  the  means  of  the  Government 
to  afford  it  adequate  protection,  but  in  encouraging  it  to  occupy  with 
reasonable  denseness  the  territory  over  which  it  advances,  and  find  its 
best  defense  in  the  compact  front  which  it  presents  to  the  Indian  tribes. 
Many  of  you  will  bring  to  the  consideration  of  the  subject  the  advantages 
of  local  knowledge  and  greater  experience,  and  all  will  be  desirous  of 
making  an  early  and  final  disposition  of  every  disturbing  question  in 
regard  to  this  important  interest.  If  these  suggestions  shall  in  any 
degree  contribute  to  the  accomplishment  of  so  important  a  result,  it  will 
afford  me  sincere  satisfaction. 
In  some  sections  of  the  country  most  of  the  public  lands  have  been
i6o5  Messages  and  Papers  of  the.  Presidents 
sold,  and  the  registers  and  receivers  have  very  little  to  do.  It  is  a  subject 
worthy  of  inquiry  whether  in  many  cases  two  or  more  districts  may  not 
be  consolidated  and  the  number  of  persons  employed  in  this  business 
considerably  reduced.  Indeed,  the  time  will  come  when  it  will  be  the 
true  policy  of  the  General  Government,  as  to  some  of  the  States,  to  trans- 
fer to  them  for  a  reasonable  equivalent  all  the  refuse  and  unsold  lands 
and  to  withdraw  the  machinery  of  the  Federal' land  oflBces  altogether. 
All  who  take  a  comprehensive  view  of  our  federal  system  and  believe 
that  one  of  its  greatest  excellences  consists  in  interfering  as  little  as  pos- 
sible with  the  internal  concerns  of  the  States  look  forward  with  great 
interest  to  this  result. 
A  modification  of  the  existing  laws  in  respect  to  the  prices  of  the  public 
lands  might  also  have  a  favorable  influence  on  the  legislation  of  Congress 
in  relation  to  another  branch  of  the  subject.  Many  who  have  not  the 
ability  to  buy  at  present  prices  settle  on  those  lands  with  the  hope  of 
acquiring  from  their  cultivation  the  means  of  purchasing  under  preempt 
tion  laws  from  time  to  time  passed  by  Congress.  For  this  encroachment 
on  the  rights  of  the  United  States  they  excuse  themselves  tinder  the  plea 
of  their  own  necessities;  the  fact  that  they  dispossess  nobody  and  only 
enter  upon  the  waste  domain;  that  they  give  additional  value  to  the  pub- 
lic lands  in  their  vicinity,  and  their  intention  ultimately  to  pay  the  Gov- 
ernment price.  So  much  weight  has  from  time  to  time  been  attached  to 
these  considerations  that  Congress  have  passed  laws  giving  actual  settlers 
on  the  public  lands  a  right  of  preepiption  to  the  tracts  occupied  by  them 
at  the  minimum  price.  These  laws  have  in  all  instances  been  retrospec- 
tive in  their  operation,  but  in  a  few  years  after  their  passage  crowds  of 
new  settlers  have  been  found  on  the  public  lands  for  similar  reasons  and 
under  like  expectations,  who  have  been  indulged  with  the  same  privilege. 
This  course  of  legislation  tends  to  impair  public  respect  for  the  laws  of 
the  country.  Either  the  laws  to  prevent  intrusion  upon  the  public  lands 
should  be  executed,  or,  if  that  should  be  impracticable  or  inexpedient, 
they  should  be  modified  or  repealed.  If  the  pubUc  lands  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  open  to  be  occupied  by  any,  they  should  by  law  be  thrown 
open  to  all.  That  which  is  intended  in  all  instances  to  be  legalized 
should  at  once  be  made  legal,  that  those  who  are  disposed  to  conform 
to  the  laws  may  enjoy  at  least  equal  privileges  with  those  who  are  not. 
But  it  is  not  believed  to  be  the  disposition  of  Congress  to  open  the  public 
lands  to  occupancy  without  regular  entry  and  payment  of  the  Govern- 
ment price,  as  such  a  course  must  tend  to  worse  evils  than  the  credit 
system,  which  it  was  found  necessary  to  aboHsh. 
It  would  seem,  therefore,  to  be  the  part  of  wisdom  and  sotmd  policy 
to  remove  as  far  as  practicable  the  causes  which  produce  intrusions  upon 
the  pubUc  lands,  and  then  take  efficient  steps  to  prevent  them  in  future. 
Would  any  single  measure  be  so  effective  in  removing  all  plausible 
grounds  for  these  intrusions  as  the  graduation  of  pfice  already  sug-
Martin  Van  Buren  1606 
gested  ?  A  short  period  of  industry  and  economy  in  any  part  of  our 
country  would  enable  the  poorest  citizen  to  accumulate  the  means  to  buy 
him  a  home  at  the  lower  prices,  and  leave  him  without  apology  for 
settling  on  lands  not  his  own.  If  he  did  not  under  such  circumstances, 
he  would  enlist  no  sympathy  in  his  favor,  and  the  laws  would  be  readily 
executed  without  doing  violence  to  public  opinion. 
A  large  portion  of  our  citizens  have  seated  themselves  on  the  public 
lands  without  authority  since  the  passage  of  the  last  preemption  law, 
and  now  ask  the  enactment  of  another  to  enable  them  to  retain  the  lands 
occupied  upon  pa3rment  of  the  minimum  Government  price.  They  ask 
that  which  has  been  repeatedly  granted  before.  If  the  future  may  be 
judged  of  by  the  past,  little  harm  can  be  done  to  the  interests  of  the 
Treasury  by  yielding  to  their  request.  Upon  a  critical  examination  it 
is  found  that  the  lands  sold  at  the  public  sales  since  the  introduction  of 
cash  pa3rments,  in  1820,  have  produced  on  an  average  the  net  revenue 
of  only  6  cents  an  acre  more  than  the  minimum  Government  price. 
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  future  sales  will  be  more  productive. 
The  Government,  therefore,  has  no  adequate  pecimiary  interest  to  induce 
it  to  drive  these  people  from  the  lands  they  occupy  for  the  ptu:pose  of 
selling  them  to  others. 
Entertaining  these  views,  I  recommend  the  passage  of  a  preemption 
law  for  their  benefit  in  connection  with  the  preparatory  steps  toward  the 
graduation  of  the  price  of  the  public  lands,  and  further  and  more  e£Pec- 
tual  provisions  to  prevent  intrusions  hereafter.  Indulgence  to  those  who 
have  settled  on  these  lands  with  expectations  that  past  legislation  would 
be  made  a  rule  for  the  future,  and  at  the  same  time  removing  the  most 
plausible  ground  on  which  intrusions  are  excused  and  adopting  more 
eflSdent  means  to  prevent  them  hereafter,  appears  to  me  the  most  judi- 
cious disposition  which  can  be  made  of  this  difficult  subject.  The  limi- 
lations  and  restrictions  to  guard  against  abuses  in  the  execution  of  a 
preemption  law  will  necessarily  attract  the  careful  attention  of  Congress, 
but  under  no  circumstances  is  it  considered  expedient  to  authorize  float- 
ing claims  in  any  shape.  They  have  been  heretofore,  and  doubtless 
would  be  hereafter,  most  prolific  sources  of  fraud  and  oppression,  and 
instead  of  operating  to  confer  the  favor  of  the  Government  on  industri- 
ous settlers  are  often  used  only  to  minister  to  a  spirit  of  cupidity  at  the 
expense  of  the  most  meritorious  of  that  class. 
The  accompanying  report  of  the  Secretary  of  War  will  bring  to  your 
view  the  state  of  the  Army  and  all  the  various  subjects  confided  to  the 
superintendence  of  that  officer. 
The  principal  part  of  the  Army  has  been  concentrated  in  Florida,  with 
a  view  and  in  the  expectation  of  bringing  the  wsu:  in  that  Territory  to  a 
speedy  close.  The  necessity  of  stripping  the  posts  on  the  maritime  and 
inland  frontiers  of  their  entire  garrisons  for  the  purpose  of  assembling 
in  the  field  an  army  of  less  than  4,000  men  would  seem  to  indicate  the
i6o7  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
necessity  of  increasing  our  regular  forces;  and  the  superior  efficiency ,  as 
well  as  greatly  diminished  expense  of  that  description  of  troops,  rec- 
ommend this  measure  as  one  of  economy  as  well  as  of  expediency.  I 
refer  to  the  report  for  the  reasons  which  have  induced  the  Secretary  of 
War  to  urge  the  reot^ganization  and  enlargement  of  the  staff  of  the  Army, 
and  of  the  Ordnance  Corps,  in  which  I  fully  concur. 
It  is  not»  however,  compatible  with  the  interests  of  the  people  to  main- 
tain in  time  of  peace  a  regular  force  adequate  to  the  defense  of  our 
extensive  frontiers.  In  periods  of  danger  and  alarm  we  must  rely  prin« 
dpally  upon  a  well-organized  militia,  and  some  general  arrangement  that 
will  render  this  description  of  force  more  efficient  has  long  been  a  subject 
of  anxious  solicitude.  It  was  recommended  to  the  First  Congress  by 
Genera!  Washington,  and  has  been  since  frequently  brought  to  your 
notice,  and  recently  its  importance  strongly  urged  by  my  immediate 
predecessor.  The  provision  in  the  Constitution  that  renders  it  necessary 
to  adopt  a  uniform  system  of  organization  for  the  militia  throughout  the 
United  States  presents  an  insurmountable  obstacle  to  an  efficient  arrange- 
ment by  the  classification  heretofore  proposed,  and  I  invite  your  atten- 
tion to  the  plan  which  will  be  submitted  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  for  the 
organization  of  volunteer  corps  and  the  instruction  of  militia  officers,  as 
more  simple  and  practicable,  if  not  equally  advantageous,  as  a  general 
arrangement  of  the  whole  militia  of  the  United  States. 
A  moderate  increase  of  the  corps  both  of  military  and  topographical 
engineers  has  been  more  than  once  recommended  by  my  predecessor,  and 
my  conviction  of  the  propriety,  not  to  say  necessity,  of  the  measure,  in 
order  to  enable  them  to  perform  the  various  and  important  duties  imposed 
upon  them,  induces  me  to  repeat  the  recommendation. 
The  Military  Academy  continues  to  answer  all  the  purposes  of  its  estab- 
lishment, and  not  only  furnishes  well-educated  officers  to  the  Army,  but 
serves  to  diffuse  throughout  the  mass  of  our  citizens  individuals  possessed 
of  military  knowledge  and  the  scientific  attainments  of  civil  and  military 
engineering.  At  present  the  cadet  is  bound,  with  consent  of  his  parents 
or  guardians,  to  remain  in  service  five  years  from  the  period  of  his  enUst- 
ment,  unless  sooner  discharged,  thus  exacting  only  one  year's  service  in 
the  Army  after  his  education  is  completed.  This  does  not  appear  to 
me  sufficient.  Government  ought  to  command  for  a  longer  period  the 
services  of  those  who  are  educated  at  the  public  expense,  and  I  recom- 
mend that  the  time  of  enlistment  be  extended  to  seven  years,  and  the 
terms  of  the  engagement  strictly  enforced. 
The  creation  of  a  national  fotmdry  for  cannon,  to  be  common  to  the 
service  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States,  has  been  heretofore 
recommended,  and  appears  to  be  required  in  order  to  place  our  ordnance 
on  an  equal  footing  with  that  of  other  countries  and  to  enable  that 
branch  of  the  service  to  control  the  prices  of  those  articles  and  graduate 
the  supplies  to  the  wants  of  the  Government,  as  well  as  to  regulate  their
Martin  Van  Buren  1608 
quality  and  insure  their  uniformity.  The  same  reasons  induce  me  to 
recommend  the  erection  of  a  manufactory  of  gunpowder,  to  be  under  the 
direction  of  the  Ordnance  OflEice.  The  establishment  of  a  manufactory  of 
small  arms  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  upon  the  plan  proposed  by 
the  Secretary  of  War,  will  contribute  to  extend  throughout  that  country 
the  improvements  which  exist  in  establishments  of  a  similar  description 
in  the  Atlantic  States,  and  tend  to  a  much  more  economical  distribution 
of  the  armament  required  in  the  western  portion  of  our  Union. 
The  S3^em  of  removing  the  Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi,  commenced 
by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  1804,  has  been  steadily  persevered  in  by  every  suc- 
ceeding President,  and  may  be  considered  the  settled  policy  of  the  country. 
Unconnected  at  first  with  any  well-defined  system  for  their  improvement, 
the  inducements  held  out  to  the  Indians  were  confined  to  the  greater  ab  n* 
dance  of  game  to  be  fotmd  in  the  West;  but  when  the  beneficial  effect  of 
their  removal  were  made  apparent  a  more  philanthropic  and  enlightened 
policy  was  adopted  in  purchasing  their  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi.  Lib- 
eral prices  were  given  and  provisions  inserted  in  all  the  treaties  with  them 
for  the  application  of  the  funds  they  received  in  exchange  to  such  pur- 
poses as  were  best  calculated  to  promote  their  present  welfare  and  advance 
their  future  civilization.  These  measures  have  been  attended  thus  far 
with  the  happiest  results. 
It  will  be  seen  by  referring  to  the  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian 
Affairs  that  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  the  friends  and  promoters 
of  this  system  have  been  realized.  The  Choctaws,  Cherokees,  and  other 
tribes  that  first  emigrated  beyond  the  Mississippi  have  for  the  most  part 
abandoned  the  hunter  state  and  become  cultivators  of  the  soil.  The 
improvement  in  their  condition  has  been  rapid,  and  it  is  believed  that 
they  are  now  fitted  to  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  simple  form  of  govern- 
ment, which  has  been  submitted  to  them  and  received  their  sanction^  and 
I  can  not  too  strongly  urge  this  subject  upon  the  attention  of  Congress. 
Stipulations  have  been  made  with  all  the  Indian  tribes  to  remove  them 
beyond  the  Mississippi,  except  with  the  bands  of  the  Wyandots,  the  Six 
Nations  in  New  York,  the  Menomonees,  Munsees,  and  Stockbridges  in 
Wisconsin,  and  Miamies  in  Indiana.  With  all  but  the  Menomonees  it 
is  expected  that  arrangements  for  their  emigration  will  be  completed  the 
present  year.  The  resistance  which  has  b^n  opposed  to  their  removal 
by  some  of  the  tribes  even  after  treaties  had  been  made  with  them  to  that 
effect  has  arisen  from  various  causes,  operating  differently  on  each  of 
them.  In  most  instances  they  have  been  instigated  to  resistance  by  per- 
sons to  whom  the  trade  with  them  and  the  acquisition  of  their  annuities 
were  important,  and  in  some  by  the  personal  influence  of  interested 
chiefs.  These  obstacles  must  be  overcome,  for  the  Government  can  not 
relinquish  the  execution  of  this  policy  without  sacrificing  important  inter- 
ests and  abandoning  the  tribes  remaining  east  of  the  Mississippi  to  certain 
destruction.
i6o9  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
The  decrease  in  numbers  of  the  tribes  within  the  limits  of  the  States 
and  Territories  has  been  most  rapid.  If  they  be  removed,  they  can  be 
protected  from  those  associations  arid  evil  practices  which  exert  so  per- 
nicious and  destructive  an  influence  over  their  destinies.  They  can  be 
induced  to  labor  and  to  acquire  property,  and  its  acquisition  will  inspire 
them  with  a  feeling  of  independence.  Their  minds  can  be  cultivated,  and 
they  can  be  taught  the  value  of  salutary  and  uniform  laws  and  be  made 
sensible  of  the  blessings  of  free  government  and  capable  of  enjoying  its 
advantages.  In  the  possession  of  property,  knowledge,  and  a  good  gov- 
ernment, free  to  give  what  direction  they  please  to  their  labor,  and  sharers 
in  the  legislation  by  which  their  persons  and  the  profits  of  their  industry 
ar^  to  be  protected  and  secured,  they  will  have  an  ever-present  conviction 
of  the  importance  of  union  and  peace  among  themselves  and  of  the  preser- 
vation of  amicable  relations  with  us.  The  interests  of  the  United  States 
would  Also  be  greatly  promoted  by  freeing  the  relations  between  the 
General  and  State  Governments-  from  what  has  proved  a  most  embar- 
rassing incumbrance  by  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of  conflicting  titles 
to  lands  caused  by  the  occupation  of  the  Indians,  and  by  causing  the 
resources  of  the  whole  country  to  be  developed  by  the  power  of  the  State 
and  General  Governments  and  improved  by  the  enterprise  of  a  white 
population. 
Intimately  connected  with  this  subject  is  the  obligation  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  fulfill  its  treaty  stipulations  and  to  protect  the  Indians  thus 
assembled  **at  their  new  residences  from  all  interruptions  and  disturb- 
ances from  any  other  tribes  or  nations  of  Indians  or  from  any  other  per- 
son or  persons  whatsoever,*'  and  the  equally  solemn  obligation  to  g^uard 
from  Indian  hostility  its  own  border  settlements,  stretching  along  a  line 
of  more  than  i,ooo  miles.  To  enable  the  Government  to  redeem  this 
pledge  to  the  Indians  and  to  afford  adequate  protection  to  its  own  citi- 
zens will  require  the  continual  presence  of  a  considerable  regular  force 
on  the  frontiers  and  the  establishment  of  a  chain  of  permanent  posts. 
Examinations  of  the  country  are  now  making,  with  a  view  to  decide  on 
the  most  suitable  points  for  the  erection  of  fortresses  and  other  works  of 
defense,  the  results  of  which  will  be  presented  to  you  by  the  Secretary 
of  War  at  an  early  day,  together  with  a  plan  for  the  effectual  protec- 
tion of  the  friendly  Indians  and  the  permanent  defense  of  the  frontier 
States. 
'  By  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  herewith  communicated 
it  appears  that  unremitted  exertions  have  been  made  at  the  different 
navy-yards  to  carry  into  effect  all  authorized  measures  for  the  extension 
and  employment  of  our  naval  force.  The  launching  and  preparation  of 
the  ship  of  the  line  Pennsylvania  and  the  complete  repairs  of  the  ships 
of  the  line  Ohio^  Delaware^  and  Columbus  may  be  noticed  as  forming  a 
respectable  addition  to  this  important  arm  of  our  national  defense.  Our 
commerce  and  navigation  have  received  increased  aid  and  protection
Martin  Van  Buren  1610 
during  the  present  year.  Our  squadrons  in  the  Pacific  and  on  the  Bra- 
zilian station  have  been  much  increased,  and  that  in  the  Mediterranean, 
although  small,  is  adequate  to  the  present  wants  of  our  commerce  in  that 
sea.  Additions  have  been  made  to  our  squadron  on  the  West  India 
station,  where  the  large  force  under  Commodore  Dallas  has  been  most 
actively  and  efficiently  employed  in  protecting  our  commerce,  in  pre- 
venting the  importation  of  slaves,  and  in  cooperating  with  the  officers  of 
the  Army  in  carrying  on  the  war  in  Florida. 
The  satisfactory  condition  of  our  naval  force  abroad  leaves  at  our 
disposal  the  means  of  conveniently  providing  for  a  home  squadron  for 
,  the  protection  of  commerce  upon  our  extensive  coast.     The  amount  of 
appropriations  required  for  such  a  squadron  will  be  found  in  the  general 
estimates  for  the  naval  service  for  the  year  1838. 
The  naval  officers  engaged  upon  our  coast  survey  have  rendered  im- 
portant service  to  our  navigation.  The  discovery  of  a  new  channel  into 
the  harbor  of  New  York,  through  which  our  largest  ships  may  pass  with- 
out danger,  must  afford  important  commercial  advantages  to  that  harbor 
and  add  greatly  to  its  value  as  a  naval  station.  The  accurate  survey  of 
Georges  Shoals,  off  the  coast  of  Massachusetts,  lately  completed,  will 
render  comparatively  safe  a  navigation  hitherto  considered  dangerous. 
Considerable  additions  have  been  made  to  the  number  of  captains, 
commanders,  lieutenants,  surgeons,  and  assistant  surgeons  in  the  Navy. 
These  additions  were  rendered  necessary  by  the  increased  number  of 
vessels  put  in  commission  to  answer  the  exigencies  of  our  growing 
commerce. 
Your  attention  is  respectfully  invited  to  the  various  suggestions  of  the 
Secretary  for  the  improvement  of  the  naval  service. 
The  report  of  the  Postmaster-General  exhibits  the  progress  and  condi- 
tion of  the  mail  service.  The  operations  of  the  Post-Office  Department 
constitute  one  of  the  most  active  elements  of  our  national  prosperity,  and 
it  is  gratifying  to  observe  with  what  vigor  they  are  conducted.  The  mail 
routes  of  the  United  States  cover  an  extent  of  about  142,877  miles,  hav- 
ing been  increased  about  37,103  miles  within  the  last  two  years.  The 
annual  mail  transportation  on  these  routes  is  about  36,228,962  miles, 
having  been  increased  about  10,359,476  miles  within  the  same  period. 
The  number  of  post-offices  has  also  been  increased  from  10,770  to  12,099, 
very  few  of  which  receive  the  mails  less  than  once  a  week,  and  a  large 
portion  of  them  daily.  Contractors  and  postmasters  in  general  are  rep- 
resented as  attending  to  their  duties  with  most  commendable  zeal  and 
fideUty.  The  revenue  of  the  Department  within  the  year  ending  on  the 
30th  of  June  last  was  $4,137,056.59,  and  its  liabilities  accruing  within 
the  same  time  were  $3,380,847.75.  The  increase  of  revenue  over  that 
of  the  preceding  year  was  $708,166.41. 
For  many  interesting  details  I  refer  you  to  the  report  of  the  Postmaster- 
General,  with  the  accompanying  papers.     Your  particular  anention  is
i6ii  I         Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
invited  to  the  necessity  of  providing  a  more  safe  and  convenient  building 
for  the  accommodation  of  that  Department. 
I  lay  before  Congress  copies  of  reports  submitted  in  pursuance  of  a 
call  made  by  me  upon  the  heads  of  Departments  for  such  suggestions  as 
their  experience  might  enable  them  to  make  as  to  what  further  legisla- 
tive provisions  may  be  advantageously  adopted  to  secure  the  faithful 
application  of  public  moneys  to  the  objects  for  which  they  are  appropri- 
ated, to  prevent  their  misapplication  or  embezzlement  by  those  intrusted 
with  the  expenditure  of  them,  and  generally  to  increase  the  security  of 
the  Government  against  losses  in  their  disbursement.  It  is  needless  to 
dilate  on  the  importance  of  providing  such  new  safeguards  as  are  within 
the  power  of  legislation  to  promote  these  ends,  and  I  have  little  to  add 
to  the  recomfnendations  submitted  in  the  accompanying  papers. 
By  law  the  terms  of  service  of  our  most  important  collecting  and  dis- 
bursing officers  in  the  civil  departments  are  limited  to  four  years,  and 
when  reappointed  their  bonds  are  required  to  be  renewed.  The  safety 
of  the  public  is  much  increased  by  this  feature  of  the  law,  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  its  application  to  all  officers  intrusted  with  the  collection 
or  disbursement  of  the  public  money,  whatever  may  be  the  tenure  of  their 
offices,  would  be  equally  beneficial.  I  therefore  recommend,  in  addition 
to  such  of  the  suggestions  presented  by  the  heads  of  Departments  as  you 
may  think  useful,  a  general  provision  that  all  officers  of  the  Army  or 
Navy,  or  in  the  civil  departments,  intrusted  with  the  receipt  or  payment 
of  public  money,  and  whose  term  of  service  is  either  unlimited  or  for  a 
longer  time  than  four  years,  be  required  to  give  new  bonds,  with  good  and 
sufficient  sureties,  at  the  expiration  of  every  such  period. 
A  change  in  the  period  of  terminating  the  fiscal  year,  from  the  ist  of 
October  to  the  ist  of  April,  has  been  frequently  recommended,  and  appears 
to  be  desirable. 
The  distressing  casualties  in  steamboats  which  have  so  frequently 
happened  during  the  year  seem  to  evince  the  necessity  of  attempting  to 
prevent  them  by  means  of  severe  provisions  connected  with  their  custom- 
house papers.  This  subject  was  submitted  to  the  attention  of  Congress 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  his  last  annual  report,  and  will  be 
again  noticed  at  the  present  session,  with  additional  details.  It  will 
doubtless  receive  that  early  and  careful  consideration  which  its  pressing 
importance  appears  to  require. 
Your  attention  has  heretofore  been  frequently  called  to  the  aflPairs  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  and  I  should  not  again  ask  it  did  not  their 
entire  dependence  on  Congress  give  them  a  constant  claim  upon  its 
notice.  Separated  by  the  Constitution  from  the  rest  of  the  Union, 
limited  in  extent,  and  aided  by  no  legislature  of  its  own,  it  would  seem 
to  be  a  spot  where  a  wise  and  uniform  S3rstem  of  local  government  might 
have  been  easily  adopted.  This  district  has,  however,  unfortunately 
been  left  to  linger  behind  the  rest  of  the  Union.     Its  codes,  civil  and
Martin  Van  Buren  1612 
criminal,  are  not  only  very  defective,  but  fuU  of  obsolete  or  inconvenient 
provisions.  » Being  formed  of  portions  of  two  States,  discrepancies  in 
the  laws  prevail  in  different  parts  of  the  territory,  small  as  it  is;  and 
although  it  was  selected  as  the  seat  of  the  General  Government,  the  site 
of  its  public  edifices,  the  depository  of  its  archives,  and  the  residence  of 
officers  intrusted  with  large  amounts  of  public  property  and  the  manage « 
ment  of  public  business,  yet  it  has  never  been  subjected  to  or  receiver! 
that  special  and  comprehensive  legislation  which  these  circumstances 
peculiarly  demand.  I  am  well  aware  of  the  various  subjects  of  greater 
magnitude  and  immediate  interest  that  press  themselves  on  the  consid- 
eration of  Congress,  but  I  believe  there  is  not  one  that  appeals  more 
directly  to  its  justice  than  a  liberal  and  even  generous  attention  to  the 
interests  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  a  thorough  and  careful  revision 
of  its  local  govermnent  M.  VAN  BUREN. 
SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 
Washington,  December  6,  1837. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  exhib- 
iting a  transfer  of  appropriation  that  has  been  made  in  that  Department 
in  pursuance  of  the  power  vested  in  the  President  by  the  first  section  of 
the  act  of  Congress  of  the  3d  of  March,  1809,  entitled  **An  act  further 
to  amend  the  several  acts  for  the  establishment  and  regulation  of  the 
Treasury,  War,  and  Navy  Departments/'  j^  y^j^  BUREN. 
WASHiNaTON,  December,  1837. 
To  the  Senate: 
I  transmit,  for  the  action  of  the  Senate,  treaues  negotiated  with  the 
following  Indian  tribes,  viz: 
(i)  The  Chippewas  of  the  Mississippi;  (2)  the  Kioways,  Kla-ta-kas, 
and  Ta-wa-ka-ros;  (3)  the  Sioux  of  the  Mississippi;  (4)  the  Sacs  and 
Poxes  of  the  Mississippi;  (5)  the  Sioux  of  the  Missouri;  (6)  the  Sacs 
and  Poxes  of  the  Missouri;  (7)  the  Winnebagoes;  (8)  the  loways. 
ML.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  December  11,  1837. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  UniUd  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  Senate  a  report*  from  the  Secretary  of 
State,  with  accompanying  documents,  in  pursuance  of  their  resolution 
of  the  1 2th  of  October  last. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
*  ReUtinff  to  the  capture  and  seauestration  of  the  ship  Mary^  of  Baltimore,  and  her  carffo  by  the 
Dutch  Government  at  the  ithmd  of  Curacoa  in  1800.
y 
1613  Messages  and  Papers  0/ the  Presidents 
Washington,  December,  1837. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
In  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  13th  of  October 
last,  relative  to  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  on  the  Government 
of  the  Mexican  Republic,  I  transmit  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State 
and  the  documents  by  which  it  was  accompanied. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  December  /j,  1837. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  0/  Representatives: 
I  transmit  herewith  a  commtmication  from  the  Secretary  of  War  and 
the  plans  for  marine  hospitals  on  the  Western  waters,  referred  to  by  him, 
which  are  connected  witii  the  annual  report  from  the  War  Department. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  December  18,  1837. 
To  the  SenaU  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  a  report  and  accompanying  documents*  from  the 
Secretary  of  War,  which  contain  the  information  called  for  by  a  resolu- 
tion of  the  13th  of  October  last. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  December  21, 1837. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
In  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
last  session,  I  transmit  a  report  made  to  me  by  the  architect  of  the  public 
buildings,  with  the  accompanying  documents,  exhibiting  a  plan  of  the 
Treasury  building  now  in  process  of  erection,  showing  its  location  in 
reference  to  the  adjacent  streets  and  public  square  on  which  it  is  located, 
its  elevation,  the  number  and  size  of  the  rooms  it  will  afford  suitable  for 
o£5ce  business  and  the  number  and  size  of  those  suitable  only  for  the 
deposit  of  records,  with  a  statement  of  the  stun  expended  on  said  build- 
ing and  an  estimate  of  the  sum  that  will  be  required  to  complete  the 
same.  As  the  fifth  section  of  the  act  of  July  4,  1836,  under  the  authority 
of  which  this  building  has  been  commenced,  provides  only  for  the  erection 
of  an  edifice  of  such  dimensions  as  may  be  required  for  the  present  and 
future  accommodation  of  the  Treasury  Department,  the  size  of  the  struc- 
ture has  been  adapted  to  that  purpose;  and  it  is  not  contemplated  to 
appropriate  any  part  of  the  building  to  the  use  of  any  other  Department. 
As  it  is  tmderstood,  however,  that  the  plan  of  the  edifice  admits  of  its 
*ReUtin£  to  odjtiatment  of  claims  to  reservation!  of  land  under  the  fourteenth  article  of  the 
treaty  of  i8ao  with  the  Choctaw  Indian*
^  Martin  Van  Buren  1614 
being  completed  either  with  or  without  wings,  and  that  if  Congress  should 
think  proper  accommodation  may  be  provided  by  means  of  wings  con- 
sistently with  the  harmony  of  the  original  design  for  the  Department  of 
State  and  the  General  Post-Office,  it  is  not  thought  that  the  public  inter- 
est requires  any  change  in  the  location  or  plan,  although  it  is  beUeved 
that  the  convenience  of  the  public  business  would  be  promoted  by  includ- 
ing in  the  building  the  proposed  accoinmodations  for  the  two  other  Depart- 
ments just  mentioned.  The  report  of  the  architect  shows-  the  supposed 
diflFerence  of  the  expense  that  would  be  incurred  in  the  event  of  the  con- 
struction of  the  building  with  wings,  in  taking  down  the  edifice  now 
occupied  by  the  Department  of  State,  or  repairing  it  so  as  to  render  it 
fireproof  and  make  its  outside  conform  to  the  other  parts  of  the  new 
building. 
I  also  transmit  statements  from  the  heads  of  the  several  Departments 
of  the  number  and  size  of  the  rooms  that  are  necessary  for  their  respec- 
tive Departments  for  office  business  and  for  the  deposit  of  records. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  December  22,  1837. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  Senate  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State, 
in  answer  to  their  resolution  of  the  i6th  of  October  last. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Dbpartmbnt  of  Statb, 
Washington  i  December  22^  1837, 
The  President  of  the  United  States:  * 
The  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  has  been  referred  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of 
the  i6th  of  October  last,  requesting  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  communi- 
cate to  that  body ' '  at  the  next  session  of  Congress  ( if  not  inconsistent  with  the  public 
interest)  any  correspondence  between  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  any 
foreign  government  relative  to  the  occupation  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  bordering  on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  whether  any, 
and,  if  so,  what,  portion  of  the  said  territory  is  in  the  possession  of  any  foreign  power," 
has  the  honor  to  report  to  the  President  that  no  correspondence  between  this  and  any 
foreign  government  on  the  subject  referred  to  has  passed  since  the  negotiation  of  the 
existing  convention  of  1827  with  Great  Britain,  by  which  the  provisions  of  the  third 
article  of  the  convention  of  the  20th  of  October,  181 8,  with  His  Britannic  Majesty, 
leaving  the  territory  claimed  by  either  power  westward  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  free 
and  open  to  the  citizens  and  subjects  of  both,  were  extended  and  continued  in  force 
indefinitely,  but  liable  to  be  annulled  at  the  will  of  either  party,  on  due  notice  of 
twelve  months,  at  any  time  after  the  2o£h  of  October,  1828,  and  that  the  papers  relating 
to  the  negotiation  to  which  allusion  has  just  been  made  were  communicated  to  the 
Senate  in  confidence  in  the  early  part  of  the  first  session  of  the  Twentieth  Congress. 
With  regard  to  the  second  clause  of  the  resolution  above  cited,  the  Secretary  has  to 
state  tha:t  the  trading  establishment  called  "  Astoria,"  at  the  nouth  of  the  Columbia 
River,  formerly  belonging  to  John  Jacob  Astor,  of  New  York,  was  sold  to,  and  there- 
fore left  in  the  possession  of,  the  British  Northwest  Company,  which  subsequently 
united  with  the  British  Hudson  Bay  Company;  that  this  company  has  now  several
1 6 15  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
depots  in  the  country,  the  principal  of  which  is  at  Port  Vancouver,  on  the  north  bank 
of  the  Columbia  River,  and  about  80  or  100  miles  £rom  its  mouth.  It  appears  that 
these  posts  have  not  been  considered  as  being  in  contravention  of  the  third  article  of 
the  convention  of  1818,  before  referred  to;  and  if  not,  there  is  no  portion  of  the 
territory  claimed  by  the  United  States  west  of  the  Stony  Mountains  known  to  be  in 
the  exclusive  possession  of  a  foreign  power.  It  is  known,  by  information  recently 
obtained,  that  the  English  company  have  a  steamboat  on  the  Columbia,  and  have 
erected  a  sawmill  and  are  cutting  timber  on  the  territory  claimed  by  the  United 
States,  and  shipping  it  in  considerable  quantities  to  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
Respectfully  submitted,  JOHN  FORSYTH. 
Washington,  December  26, 1837. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States:   . 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  report  from  the 
Secretary  of  State,  in  answer  to  their  resolution  of  the  9th  of  October  last. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Dbpartmbnt  op  Statb, 
Washington^  December  2$^  1837, 
The  Prbsidsnt  of  thb  TJkitsd  States: 
The  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  has  been  referred  the  resolution  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  9th  of  October  last,  requesting  the  President  to  communicate 
to  that  House  *'at  its  next  session,  so  far  as  in  his  judgment  is  consistent  with  the 
public  interest,  whether  any  foreign  power,  or  the  subjects  of  any  foreign  power, 
have  possession  of  any  portion  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  on  the  Columbia 
River,  or  are  in  the  occupancy  of  the  same,  and,  if  so,  in  what  way,  by  what  authority, 
and  how  long  such  possession  or  occupancy  has  been  kept  by  such  persons,"  has  the 
honor  to  report  to  the  President  that  a  trading  establishment  called  *' Astoria*'  was 
founded  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River  about  the  year  181 1  by  J.  J.  Astor,  of 
New  York;  that  his  interest  was  sold  to  the  British  Northwest  Company  during  the 
late  war  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain;  that  this  company  held  it, 
and  were  left  in  possession  at  the  time  the  country  was  formally  delivered  to  the 
American  commissioners,  and  that  this  company  afterwards  united  with  and  became 
a  part  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  under  that  name,  which  company,  it  is  believed, 
have  from  the  period  of  such  union  occupied  the  post  in  question,  now  commonly 
called  *'  Port  George."  The  Hudson  Bay  Company  have  also  several  depots  situated 
on  water  courses  in  the  interior  of  the  country.  The  principal  one  is  at  Port  Van- 
couver, on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Coliunbia  River,  about  80  or  100  miles  from  its 
mouth.  It  is  known  by  information  recently  obtained  that  the  English  company 
have  a  steamboat  on  this  river,  and  that  they  have  erected  a  sawmill  and  are  cutting 
timber  on  the  territory  claimed  by  the  United  States,  and  are  shipping  it  in  consid- 
erable quantities  to  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
'  The  original  occupation  was  under  the  authority  of  the  purchase  of  J.  J.  Astor's 
interest,  and  it  has  been  continued  under  the  provisions  of  the  conventions  of  181 8 
and  1827  with  Great  Britain.  By  the  third  article  of  the  first  of  these  conventions  it 
b  stipulated  that  the  territory  claimed  by  either  power  westward  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains shall  be  free  and  open  for  a  term  of  years  to  the  citizens  and  subjects  of  both. 
By  the  second  convention  this  stipulation  is  extended  and  continued  in  force  indefi- 
nitely, liable,  however,  to  be  annulled  at  any  time  after  the  20th  of  October,  1828,  at 
the  will  of  either  party,  on  due  notice  of  twelve  months. 
Respectfully  submitted. 
JOHN  FORSYTH.
Martin  Van  Buren  1616 
Washington,  January  5, 1838. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  ike  United  States: 
Recent  experience  on  the  southern  boundary  of  the  United  States  and 
the  events  now  daily  occurring  on  our  northern  frontier  have  abundantly 
shown  that  the  existing  laws  are  insufficient  to  guard  against  hostile 
invasion  from  the  United  States  of  the  territory  of  friendly  and  neigh- 
boring nations. 
The  laws  in  force  provide  sufficient  penalties  for  the  ptmishment  of 
euch  ofiPenses  after  they  have  been  committed,  and  provided  the  parties 
can  be  found,  but  the  Executive  is  powerless  in  many  cases  to  prevent 
the  commission  of  them,  even  when  in  possession  of  ample  evidence  of 
an  intention  on  the  part  of  evil-disposed  persons  to  violate  our  laws. 
Your  attention  is  called  to  this  defect  in  our  legislation.  It  is  appar- 
ent that  the  Executive  ought  to  be  clothed  with  adequate  power  efiFec- 
tually  to  restrain  all  persons  within  our  jurisdiction  from  the  commission 
of  acts  of  this  character.  They  tend  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  country 
and  inevitably  involve  the  Government  in  perplexing  controversies  with 
foreign  powers.  I  recommend  a  careful  revision  of  aU  the  laws  now  in 
force  and  such  additional  enactments  as  may  be  necessary  to  vest  in  the 
Executive  full  power  to  prevent  injuries  being  inflicted  upon  neighbor- 
ing nations  by  the  unauthorized  and  unlawful  acts  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States  or  of  other  persons  who  may  be  within  our  jurisdiction 
and  subject  to  our  control. 
In  illustration  of  these  views  and  to  show  the  necessity  of  early  action 
on  the  part  of  Congress,  I  submit  herewith  a  copy  of  a  letter  received 
from  the  marshal  of  the  northern  district  of  New  York,  •who  had  been 
directed  to  repair  to  the  frontier  and  take  all  authorized  measures  to 
secure  the  faithful  execution  of  existing  laws. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
BUFPAI.0,  December  28, 1837, 
HIb  Excellency  M.  Van  Bxtrkn. 
Sir:  This  frontier  is  in  a  state  of  commotion.  I  came  to  this  city  on  the  22d 
instant,  by  direction  of  the  United  States  attorney  for  the  northern  district  of  this 
State,  for  the  purpose  of  ser^nng  process  upon  individuals  suspected  of  violating  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  enacted  with  a  view  to  maintain  our  neutrality.  I  learned 
on  my  arrival  that  some  200  or  300  men,  mostly  from  the  district  of  country  adjoin- 
ing this  frontier  and  from  this  side  of  the  Niagara,  had  congregated  upon  Navy 
Island  (Upper  Canada),  and  were  there  in  arms,  with  Rensselaer  van  Rensselaer,  of 
Albany,  at  their  head  as  commander  in  chief.  Prom  that  time  to  the  present  they 
have  received  constant  accessions  of  men,  munitions  of  war,  provisions,  etc.,  from 
persons  residing  within  the  States.  Their  whole  force  is  now  about  1,000  strong, 
and,  as  is  said,  are  well  supplied  with  arms,  etc. 
Warrants  have  been  issued  in  some  cases,  but  no  arrests  have  as  yet  been  effected. 
This  expedition  was  got  up  in  this  city  soAn  after  McKenzie's  arrival  upon  this  side 
of  the  river,  and  the  first  company  tha.  lauded  upon  the  island  were  organized,  par- 
tially at  least,  before  they  crossed  Uom  this  side  to  the  island.
i6i7  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
From  all  that  I  can  see  and  learn  I  am  satisfied  that  if  the  Government  deem  it 
their  duty  to  prevent  supplies  being  furnished  from  this  side  to  the  army  on  the 
island,  and  also  the  augmentation  of  their  forces  from  among  the  citizens  of  the  States, 
that  an  armed  force  stationed  along  upon  the  line  of  the  Niagara  will  be  absolutely 
necessary  to  its  accomplishment. 
I  have  just  received  a  communication  from  Colonel  McNab,  commanding  His 
Majesty's  forces  now  at  Chippewa,  in  which  he  strongly  urges  the  public  authori- 
ties here  to  prevent  supplies  being  furnished  to  the  ardly  on  the  island,  at  the  same 
time  stating  that  if  this  can  be  effected  the  whole  affair  could  be  closed  without 
any  effusion  of  blood. 
McNab  is  about  2,500  strong  and  constantly  increasing.  I  replied  to  him  that  K 
should  communicate  with  you  immediately,  as  also  with  the  governor  of  this  State, 
and  that  everything  which  could  wotdd  be  done  to  maintain  a  strict  neutrality. 
I  learn  that  persons  here  are  engaged  in  dislodging  one  or  more  steamboats  from 
tbe  ice,  and,  as  is  supposed,  with  a  view  to  aid  in  the  patriot  expedition. 
I  am,  sir,  with  great  consideration,  your  obedient  servant, 
N.  GANON, 
United  States  Marshat,  Northern  District  of  New  York. 
Washington,  January  S,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
In  answer  to  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  5th 
instant,  respecting  the  capture*  and  restoration  of  the  Mexican  brig  of 
war  the  General  Urrea^  I  transmit  reports  from  the  Secretaries  of  State 
and  the  Navy. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  January  8,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  report, f  and 
accompanying  documents,  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  compliance  with 
a  resolution  of  that  body  dated  the  5th  instant. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  January  8,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  report  from  the 
Secretary  of  State,  in  answer  to  a.  resolution!  of  that  body  dated  the  5th 
instant. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
*  By  the  United  States  sloop  of  war  NaUka  off  the  coast  of  Texas. 
tXransmittinff  instructions  and  correspondence  conceminar  the  preservation  of  the  neutrality  of 
the  United  States  in  the  dvil  wars  and  insurrections  in  Mexico  and  in  any  of  the  British  Provinces 
north  of  the  United  States  since  X829. 
t  Calling  for  information  of  any  acts  endanserinff  the  amicable  relations  with  Great  Britain.
UNITED  STATES  MILITART  ACADBBfT 
la  1776  a  Conmiittee  of  the  Continental  Congress  recommended  the 
formation  of  a  military  academy.  Washington  forced  it  upon  the  attention 
of  Congress  in  his  message  of  December  3,  1793,  after  it  had  been  discussed 
in  the  Cabinet,  where  Jefferson  opposed  it  on  the  ground  that  it  was  uncon- 
stitutional. In  1794  Congress  made  a  feeble  start  by  authorizing  a  corps  of 
artillerists  and  engineers  to  which  32  cadets  were  to  be  attached.  In  1798 
Congress  made  another  effort  and  raised  the  number  of  cadets  to  56.  Pro- 
vision was  made  for  books,  instruments  and  four  instructors,  but  no  location 
was  designated.  Finally,  March  16,  1801,  the  artillerists  and  engineers 
were  made  a  district  corps,  with  50  cadets,  and  were  settled  permanently 
at  West  Point,  N.  Y.  In  April,  1812,  the  academy  was  reorganized,  with  a 
capacity  of  260  cadets,  and  the  curriculum  was  extended  on  the  broad  lines 
of  a  university. 
At  the  time  when  the  engraving  here  reproduced  was  made,  the  military 
academy  numbered  among  its  gray-dad  cadets  the  future  generals  of  the 
Civil  War,  some  destined  to  suffer  and  fall  nobly  In  gray,  and  some  to  wear 
tlie  blue  through  defeat  to  victory. 
In  the  Encyclopedic  Index  will  be  found  a  brief  history  of  the  institution.
Martin  Van  Buren  i6i8- 
Washington,  January  8,  iS^S. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
In  the  highly  excited  state  of  feeling  on  the  northern  frontier,  occa- 
sioned by  the  disturbances  in  Canada,  it  was  to  be  apprehended  that 
causes  of  complaint  might  arise  on  the  line  dividing  the  United  States 
from  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  dominions.  Every  precaution  was  there- 
fore taken  on  our  part  authorized  by  the  existing  laws,  and  as  the 
troops  of  the  Provinces  were  embodied  on  the  Canadian  side  it  was 
hoped  that  no  serious  violation  of  the  rights  of  the  United  States  would 
be  permitted  to  occur.  I  regret,  however,  to  inform  you  that  an  out- 
rage of  a  most  aggravated  character  has  been  committed,  accompanied 
by  a  hostile  though  temporary  invasion  of  our  territory,  producing  the 
strongest  feelings  of  resentment  on  the  part  of  our  citizens  in  the  neigh- 
borhood and  on  the  whole  border  line,  and  that  the  excitement  previ- 
ously existing  has  been  alarmingly  increased.  To  guard  against  the 
possible  recurrence  of  any  similar  act  I  have  thought  it  indispensable  to 
call  out  a  portion  of  the  militia,  to  be  posted  on  that  frontier.  The  docu- 
ments herewith  presented  to  Congress  show  the  character  of  the  outrage 
committed,  the  measures  taken  in  consequence  of  its  occurrence,  and  the 
necessity  for  resorting  to  them. 
It  will  also  be  seen  that  the  subject  was  immediately  brought  to  the 
notice  of  the  British  minister  accredited  to  this  country,  and  the  proper 
steps  taken  on  our  part  to  obtain  the  fullest  information  of  all  the  cir- 
cumstances leading  to  and  attendant  upon  the  transaction,  preparatory 
to  a  demand  for  reparation.  I  ask  such  appropriations  as  the  circum- 
stances in  which  our  country  is  thus  unexpectedly  placed  require. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Mr,  Rogers  to  the  President, 
'2i^s9TtLV^^  December  jo,  18^7. 
His  Hzcellency  Martin  Van  Burbn, 
President  of  the  United  States. 
Sir:  Inclosed  are  copies  of  affidavits  which  I  have  prepared  in  great  haste,  and 
which  contain  aU  that  is  material  in  relation  to  the  gross  and  extraordinary  transac- 
tion to  which  they  relate.  Our  whole  frontier  is  in  commotion,  and  I  fear  it  will 
be  difficult  to  restrain  our  citizens  from  revenging  by  a  resort  to  arms  this  flagrant 
invasion  of  our  territory.  Everything  that  can  be  done  will  be  by  the  public  author- 
ities to  prevent  so  injudicious  a  movement.  The  respective  sheriffs  of  Erie  and 
Niagara  have  taken  the  responsibility  of  calling  out  the  militia  to  guard  the  frontier 
and  prevent  any  further  depredations. 
I  am,  sir,  with  great  consideration,  your  obedient  servant, 
H.  W.  ROGERS, 
District  Attorney  for  Erie  County  ^  and  Acting  for  the  United  States. 
STATS  OF  Nkw  York,  Niagara  County,  ss: 
Oilman  Appleby,  of  the  city  of  Buffalo,  being  sworn,  says  that  he  left  the  port  of 
Buffalo  on  the  morning  of  the  29th  instant  in  the  steamboat  Caroline,  owned  by 
William  Wells,  of  Buffalo,  and  bound  for  Schlosser,  upon  the  east  side  of  the  Niagara
It)  19  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
River  and  within  the  United  States;  that  this  deponent  commanded  the  said  Caro- 
line^ and  that  she  was  cleared  from  Buffalo  with  a  view  to  run  between  said  Buffalo 
and  Schlosser,  carrying  passengers,  freight,  etc.;  that  this  deponent  caused  the  said 
Caroline  to  be  landed  at  Black  Rock  on  her  way  down,  and  that  while  at  Black  Rock 
this  deponent  caused  the  American  flag  to  be  run  up,  and  that  soon  after  leaving 
Black  Rock  Harbor  a  volley  of  musketry  was  discharged  at  the  Caroline  from  the 
Canada  shore,  but  without  injury;  that  the  said  Caroline  continued  her  course  down 
the  Niagara  River  unmolested  and  landed  outside  of  certain  scows  or  boats  attached 
to  Navy  Island,  where  a  number  of  passengers  disembarked  and,  as  this  deponent 
supposes,  certain  articles  of  freight  were  landed;  that  from  this  point  the  CaroHne 
ran  to  Schlosser,  arriving  there  at  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon;  that  between  this  time  ^ 
and  dark  the  Caroline  made  two  trips  to  Navy  Island,  landing  as  before;  that  at 
about  6  o'clock  in  the  evening  this  deponent  caused  the  said  Caroline  to  be  landed 
at  Schlosser  and  made  fast  with  chains  to  the  dock  at  that  place;  that  the  crew  and 
officers  of  the  Caroline  numbered  ten,  and  that  in  the  course  of  the  evening  twenty- 
three  individuals,  all  of  whom  were  citizens  of  the  United  States,  came  on  board  of 
the  Caroline  and  requested  this  deponent  and  other  officers  of  the  boat  to  permit 
them  to  remain  on  board  during  the  night,  as  they  were  unable  to  get  lodgings  at 
the  tavern  near  by;  these  requests  were  acceded  to,  and  the  persons  tlius  coming  on 
board  retired  to  rest,  as  did  also  the  crew  and  officers  of  the  Caroline ^  except  such  as 
were  stationed  to  watch  during  the  night;  that  about  midnight  this  deponent  was 
informed  by  one  of  the  watch  that  several  boats  filled  with  men  were  making  toward 
the  Caroline  from  the  river,  and  this  deponent  immediately  gave  the  alarm,  and  before 
he  was  able  to  reach  the  dock  the  Caroline^wBa  boarded  by  some  seventy  or  eighty  • 
men,  all  of  whom  were  armed;  that  they  immediately  commenced  a  warfare  with 
muskets,  swords,  and  cutlasses  upon  the  defenseless  crew  and  passengers  of  the 
Caroline  under  a  fierce  cry  of  "G— d  d— -n  them,  give  them  no  quarters;  kill  every 
man.  Fire!  fire  !*  * ;  that  the  Caroline  was  abandoned  without  resistance,  and  the  only 
effort  made  by  either  the  crew  or  passengers  seemed  to  be  to  escape  slaughter;  that 
this  deponent  narrowly  escaped,  having  received  several  woimds,  none  of  which, 
however,  are  of  a  serious  character;  that  immediately  after  the  Caroline  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  armed  force  who  boarded  her  she  was  set  on  fire,  cut  loose  from  the  dock, 
was  towed  into  the  cmxent  of  the  river,  there  abandoned,  and  soon  after  descended 
the  Niagara  Falls;  that  this  deponent  has  made  vigilant  search  after  the  individuals, 
thirty-three  in  number,  who  are  known  to  have  been  on  the  Caroline  at  the  time  she 
was  boarded,  and  twenty-one  only  are  to  be  found,  one  of  which,  to  wit,  Amos  Durfee, 
of  Buffalo,  was  found  dead  upon  the  dock,  having  received  a  shot  from  a  musket,  the 
ball  of  which  penetrated  the  back  part  of  the  head  and  came  out  at  the  forehead; 
James  H.  King  and  Captain  C.  F.  Harding  were  seriously  though  not  mortally 
wounded;  several  others  received  slight  wounds;  the  twelve  individuals  who  are 
missing,  this  deponent  has  no  doubt,  were  either  murdered  upon  the  steamboat  or 
found  a  watery  grave  in  the  cataract  of  the  Falls;  and  this  deponent  further  says  that 
immediately  after  the  Caroline  was  got  into  the  cmrent  of  the  stream  and  abandoned, 
as  before  stated,  beacon  lights  were  discovered  upon  the  Canada  shore  near  Chip- 
pewa, and  after  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  to  enable  the  boats  to  reach  that  shore 
this  deponent  distinctly  heard  loud  and  vociferous  cheering  at  that  point;  that  ihis 
deponent  has  no  doubt  that  the  individuals  who  boarded  the  Caroline  were  a  pan  of 
the  British  forces  now  stationed  at  Chippewa. 
[Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  a  commissioner,  etc.] 
Statb  op  Nsw  York,  Niagara  County,  ss: 
Charles  F.  Harding,  James  H.  King,  Joshua  H.  Smith,  William  Seaman,  William 
Kennedy,  William  Wells,  John  Leonard,  Sylvanus  Staring,  and  John  Haggartv 
being  sworn,  severally  depose  and  say  that  they  have  heard  the  foregoing  affidavit