1665  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
States  are  but  part  of  those  on  which  the  arbiter  was  equally  explicit  in  the  expres- 
sion of  his  views,  that  on  others  his  reasoning  might  be  considered  as  more  favorable 
to  the  pretensions  of  this  Government,  and  that  no  reason  was  perceived  why  an 
acquiescence  in  his  opinions  upon  them  should  not  equally  apply  to  all  the  premises 
assumed  by  him  and  be  binding  upon  both  parties.  Mr.  McLane  was,  however, 
persuaded  that  there  was  no  obligation  on  either  Government  to  acquiesce  in  the 
opinion  of  the  arbiter  on  any  of  the  matters  involved  in  his  premises;  that  such 
acquiescence  would  defeat  the  end  of  the  present  negotiation,  and  that  as  it  appeared 
to  be  mutually  conceded  that  the  arbiter  had  not  been  able  to  decide  upon  the  first 
and  most  material  point  so  as  to  make  a  binding  decision,  there  could  certainly  be 
no  greater  obligation  to  yield  to  his  opinions  on  subordinate  matters  merely.  The 
Secretary  further  observed  that  the  most  material  point  of  the  three  submitted  to  the 
arbiter  was  that  of  the  highlands,  to  which  the  President's  proposition  directly 
applies,  and  which  are  designated  in  the  treaty  of  peace  as  the  northwest  angle  of 
Nova  Scotia,  formed  by  a  line  drawn  due  north  from  the  source  of  the  St  Croix 
River  to  the  highlands  dividing  the  rivers,  etc. ;  that  the  arbiter  found  it  impossible 
to  decide  this  point,  and  therefore  recommended  a  new  line,  different  from  that 
called  for  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  and  which  could  only  be  established  by  a  conven- 
tional arrangement  between  the  two  Governments;  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  could  not  adopt  this  recommendation  nor  agree  upon  a  new  and  con- 
ventional line  without  the  consent  of  the  State  of  Maine;  that  the  present  negotiation 
proposed  to  ascertain  the  boundary  according  to* the  treaty  of  1783,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose, however  attained,  the  authority  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was 
complete;  that  the  proposition  offered  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
promised,  in  the  opinion  of  the  President,  the  met  lis  of  ascertaining  the  true  line  by 
discovering  the  highlands  of  the  treaty,  but  the  British  Government  asked  the  United 
States^as  a  preliminary  concession  to  acquiesce  in  the  opinion  of  the  arbiter  upon  cer- 
tain subordinate  facts — ^a  concession  which  would  in  effect  defeat  the  sole  object,  not 
only  of  the  proposition,  but  of  the  negotiation,  viz,  the  determination  of  the  bound- 
ary according  to  the  treaty  of  1783  by  confining  the  negotiation  to  a  conventional  line, 
to  which  this  Government  had  not  the  authority  to  agree.  Mr.  Mcl^ne  also  said 
that  if  by  a  resort  to  the  plain  rule  now  recommended  it  should  be  found  impracti- 
cable to  trace  the  boundary  according  to  the  definitive  treaty,  it  would  then  be  time 
enough  to  enter  upon  a  negotiation  for  a  conventional  substitute  for  it.  He  stated  in 
answer  to  the  suggestion  of  Sir  Charles  R.  Vaughan  that  the  objection  urged  against 
the  line  of  the  arbiter  would  equally  lie  against  that  suggested  by  Mr.  Livingston; 
that  the  authority  of  the  Government  to  ascertain  the  true  line  of  the  treaty  was 
unquestionable,  and  that  the  American  proposition,  by  confining  the  course  to  the 
natural  object,  would  be  a  legitimate  ascertainment  of  that  line. 
In  a  note  dated  i6th  March  Sir  Charles  R.  Vaughan  offered  some  observations 
upon  the  objections  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to  acquiesce  in  the  points  pre- 
viously submitted  to  the  American  Government.  He  said  that  the  adoption  of  the 
views  of  the  British  Government  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  meant 
to  be  the  groundwork  of  future  proceedings,  whether  those  proceedings  were  to  be 
directed  to  another  attempt  to  trace  the  boundary  as  proposed  by  the  latter  or  to  a 
division  of  the  territory  depending  upon  the  conventional  line.  He  maintained  that 
the  arbiter  had  decided,  as  the  British  Government  asserted,  two  out  of  the  three 
main  points  submitted  for  his  decision,  viz,  what  ought  to  be  considered  as  the 
northwestemmost  head  of  the  Connecticut  (but  which  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  is  only  willing  to  admit  conditionally)  and  the  point  relative  to  tracing  the 
boundary  along  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  latitude.  This  point,  he  observed,  Mr. 
McLane  wished  to  dispose  of  by  adopting  the  old  line  of  Collins  and  Valentine,  which 
was  suspected  of  great  inaccuracy  by  both  parties,  and  the  only  motive  for  retaining 
which  was  because  some  American  citizens  have  made  settlements  npon  territory
Martin  Van  Buren  1666 
that  a  new  survey  might  throw  into  the  possession  \>f  Great  Britain.  Sir  Charles 
denied  that  the  acquiescence  of  the  United  States  in  the  seven  subordinate  points 
lately  submitted  by  His  Majesty's  Government  would  confine  the  negotiation  to  a 
conventional  line,  to  which  the  President  had  no  authority  to  agree,  and  affirmed 
that  not  a  step  could  be  taken  by  the  commissioners  to  be  appointed  according  to 
Mr.  Livingston's  proposition,  notwithstanding  the  unlimited  discretion  which  it  was 
proposed  to  give  them,  unless  the  two  Governments  agreed  upon  two  of  the  seven 
subordinate  points — '  *  the  character  of  the  land  they  are  to  discover  as  dividing  waters 
according  to  the  treaty  of  1783  and  what  are  to  be  considered  as  Atlantic  rivers."  In 
answer  to  Mr.  McLane's  observation  that  on  many  points  the  reasoning  of  the  arbiter 
had  been  more  favorable  to  the  United  States  than  to  Great  Britain,  and  that  there- 
fore acquiescence  should  equally  apply  to  all  the  premises  assumed,  Sir  Charles 
expressed  his  confidence  that  if  acquiescence  in  them  could  facilitate  the  object 
which  now  occupied  both  Governments  they  would  meet  with  the  most  favored  con- 
sideration. Sir  Charles  adverted  to  the  obligations  contracted  under  the  seventh 
article  of  the^  convention,  to  the  opinion  of  His  Majesty's  Government  that  they 
were  binding  and  its  willingness  to  abide  by  the  award  of  the  arbiter.  He  referred  to 
the  small  majority  by  which  he  supposed  the  award  to  have  been  defeated  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  and  a  new  negotiation  advised  to  be  opened,  to  the  com- 
plicated nature  of  the  plan  proposed  by  the  United  States  for  another  attempt  to 
trace  the  botmdary  of  the  treaty,  to  the  rejection  of  the  points  proposed  by  the  Brit- 
i^  Government  to  render  that  plan  more  practicable,  etc,  and  regretted  sincerely 
that  the  award  of  the  arbiter,  which  conferred  upon  the  United  States  three-fifths  of 
the  disputed  territory,  together  with  Rouses  Point — a  much  greater  concession  than 
is  ever  likely  to  be  obtained  by  a  protracted  negotiation — was  set  aside.  An  alleged 
insuperable  constitutional  difficulty  having  occasioned  the  rejection  of  the  award, 
Sir  Charles  wished  to  ascertain  previously  to  any  further  proceedings  how  far  the 
General  Uovemment  had  the  power  to  carry  into  effect  any  arrangement  resulting 
from  a  new  negotiation,  the  answer  of  Mr.  McLane  upon  this  point  having  been  con- 
fined to  stating  that  should  a  new  commission  of  survey,  freed  from  the  restriction  of 
following  the  due  north  line  of  the  treaty,  find  anywhere  westward  of  that  line 
highlands  separating  rivers  according  to  the  treaty  of  1783,  a  line  drawn  from  the 
monument  at  the  source  of  the  St.  Croix  would  be  such  a  fulfillment  of  the  terms  of 
that  treaty  that  the  President  cotdd  agree  to  make  it  the  botmdary  without  referee  ce 
to  the  State  of  Maine. 
Mr.  McLane,  under  date  of  21st  March,  corrected  the  error  into  which  Sir  Charles 
had  fallen  in  regard  to  the  proceedings  on  the  award  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  and  showed  that  that  body  not  only  failed,  but  by  two  repeated  votes  of  35  and 
34  to  8  refused,  to  consent  to  the  execution  of  the  award,  and  by  necessary  implica- 
tion denied  its  binding  effect  upon  the  United  States,  thus  putting  it  out  of  the 
power  of  the  President  to  carry  it  into  effect  and  leaving  the  high  parties  to  the  sub- 
mission situated  precisely  as  they  were  prior  to  the  selection  of  the  arbiter. 
The  President  had  perceived,  Mr.  McLane  said,  in  all  the  previous  efforts  to  adjust 
the  boundary  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  1783  that  a  natural  and 
uniform  rule  in  the  settlement  of  disputed  questions  of  location  had  been  quite  over- 
looked; that  the  chief,  if  not  only,  difficulty  arose  from  a  supposed  necessity  of  find- 
ing highlands  corresponding  with  the  treaty  description  in  a  due  north  line  from  the 
monument,  but  it  was  plain  that  if  such  highlands  could  be  anywhere  discovered  it 
would  be  a  legal  execution  of  the  treaty  to  draw  a  line  to  them  from  the  head  of  the 
St.  Croix  without  regard  to  the  precise  course  given  in  the  treaty.  It  therefore 
became  his  duty  to  urge  the  adoption  of  this  principle  upon  the  Government  of  His 
Britannic  Majesty  as  perhaps  the  best  expedient  which  remained  for  ascertaining 
the  boundary  of  the  treaty  of  1783.  The  Secretary  could  not  perceive  in  the  plan 
proposed  anything  so  complicated  as  Sir  Charles  appeared  to  suppose.     On  the
1667  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
contrary,  it  was  recommended  to  approbation  and  confidence  by  its  entire  simplidty. 
It  chiefly  required  the  discovery  of  the  highlands  called  for  by  the  treaty,  and  the 
mode  of  reaching  them  upon  the  principle  suggested  was  so  simple  that  no  observa- 
tions could  make  it  plainer.  The  dijficulty  of  discovering  such  highlands,  Mr. 
McLane  said,  was  presumed  not  to  be  insuperable.  The  arbiter  himself  was  not 
understood  to  have  found  it  impracticable  to  discover  highlands  answering  the 
description  of  the  highlands  of  the  treaty,  though  unable  to  find  them  due  north 
from  the  monument;  and  certainly  it  could  not  be  more  difficult  for  commissioners 
on  the  spot  to  arrive  at  a  conclusion  satisfactory  to  their  own  judgment  as  to  the 
locality  of  the  highlands.  ^ 
Mr.  McLane,  in  answer  to  Sir  Charleses  request  for  information  on  the  subjedi 
stated  that  the  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  adoption  of  the  line  recommended  by  the 
arbiter  was  the  want  of  authority  in  the  Govemnient  of  the  United  States  to  agree  to 
a  line  not  only  confessedly  different  from  the  line  called  for  by  the  treaty,  but  which 
would  deprive  the  State  of  Maine  of  a  portion  of  territory  to  which  she  would  be 
entitled  according  to  the  line  of  the  definitive  treaty;  that  by  the  Presylent*s  propo- 
sition a  commission  would  be  raised,  not  to  establish  a  new  line  differing  from  the 
treaty  of  1783,  but  to  determine  what  the  true  and  original  boundary  was  and  in 
which  of  the  two  disagreeing  parties  the  right  to  the  disputed  territory  originally 
was;  that  for  this  purpose  the  authority  of  the  original  commissioners,  if  they  could 
have  agreed,  was  complete  under  the  Ghent  treaty,  and  that  of  the  new  commission 
proposed  to  be  constituted  could  not  be  less. 
Sir  Charles  R.  Vaughan  explained,  under  date  of  the  24th  of  March,  with  regard 
to  his  observation  "that  the  mode  in  which  it  was  proposed  by  the  United  States  to 
settle  the  boundary  was  complicated;  that  he  did  not  mean  to  apply  it  to  the  adoption 
of  a  rule  in  the  settlement  of  disputed  questions  of  location,  but  to  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  proposed  by  the  United  States  that  the  new  commission  of  suiyey  shall 
be  selected  and  constituted.*' 
On  the  8th  of  December,  1834,  Sir  Charles  R.  Vaughan  transmitted  a  note  to  the 
Department  of  State,  in  which,  after  a  passing  expression  of  the  regret  of  His  Maj- 
e8ty*s  Government  that  the  American  Government  still  declined  to  come  to  a  sepa- 
rate understanding  on  the  several  points  of  difference  with  respect  to  which  the 
elements  of  decision  were  fully  before  both  Governments,  but  without  abandoning 
the  argument  contained  in  his  note  of  loth  February  last,  he  addressed  himself  exclu- 
sively to  the  American  proposition  for  the  appointment  of  a  new  commission  to  be 
empowered  to  seek  westward  of  the  meridian  of  the  St.  Croix  highlands  answering 
to  tide  description  of  those  mentioned  in  the  treaty  of  1783.  He  stated  with  regard  to 
the  rule  of  survejring  on  which  the  proposition  was  founded  that  however  just  and 
reasonable  it  might  be,  His  Majesty's  Government  did  not  consider  it  so  generally 
established  and  recognized  as  Mr.  McLane  assumed  it  to  be;  that,  indeed,  no  similar 
case  was  recollected  in  which  the  principle  asserted  had  been  put  in  practice;  yet,  on 
the  contrary,  one  was  remembered  not  only  analogous  to  that  under  discussion,  but 
arising  out  of  the  same  article  of  the  same  treaty,  in  which  the  supposed  rule  was 
invested  by  the  agents  of  the  American  Government  itself;  that  the  treaty  of  1783 
declared  that  the  line  of  boundary  was  to  proceied  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  **  in 
a  due  west  course  to  the  Mississippi,*'  but  it  being  ascertained  that  such  a  line  could 
never  reach  that  river,  since  its  sources  lie  south  of  the  latitude  of  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods,  the  commissioners,  instead  of  adhering  to  the  natural  object^the  soiurce  of 
the  Mississippi — and  drawing  a  new  connecting  line  to  it  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods, 
adhered  to  the  arbitrary  line  to  be  drawn  due  west  from  the  lake  and  abandoned  the 
Mississippi,  the  specific  landmark  mentioned  in  the  treaty. 
Sir  Charles  further  stated  that  if  the  President  was  persuaded  that  he  could  carry 
out  the  principle  of  surveying  he  had  proposed  without  the  consent  of  Maine,  and  if 
no  hope  remained,  as  was  alleged  by  Mr.  McLane,  of  overcoming  the  constitutional
Martin  Van  Buren  1668 
difficulty  in  any  other  way  until  at  least  this  proposition  should  have  been  tried  and 
have  failed,  His  Majesty's  Government,  foregoing  their  own  doubts  on  the  subject, 
were  ready  to  acquiesce  in  the  proceeding  proposed  by  the  President  if  that  proceed- 
ing could  be  carried  into  effect  in  a  manner  not  otherwise  objectionable;  that  "  His 
Majesty's  Government  would  consider  it  desirable  that  the  principles  on  which  the 
new  commissioners  would  have  to  conduct  their  survey  should  be  settled  beforehand 
by  a  special  convention  between  the  two  Governments;"  that  there  was,  indeed, 
one  preliminary  question  upon  which  it  was  obviously  necessary  the  two  Govern- 
ments should  agpree  before  the  commission  could  begin  their  survey  with  any  chance 
of  success,  viz,  What  is  the  precise  meaning  to  be  attached  to  the  words  employed 
in  the  treaty  to  define  the  highlands  which  the  commissioners  are  to  seek  for?  that 
those  highlands  are  to  be  distinguished  from  other  highlands  by  the  rivers  flow- 
ing from  them,  and  those  distinguishing  rivers  to  be  known  from  others  by  the  situa- 
tion of  their  mouths;  that  with  respect  to  the  rivers  flowing  south  into  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  a  diflerence  of  opinion  existed  between  the  twc  Governments;  that  whilst  tfatt 
American  Government  contended  that  rivers  falling  into  the  Bay  of  Fundy  were,  the 
British  Government  contended  that  they  were  not,  for  the  pxuposes  of  the  treaty,  rivers 
falling  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  that  the  views  and  arguments  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment on  this  point  had  been  confirmed  by  an  impartial  authority  selected  by  the 
common  consent  of  the  two  Governments,  who  was  of  opinion  that  the  rivers  St 
John  and  Restigouche  were  not  Atlantic  rivers  within  the  meaning  of  the  treaty,  and 
that  His  Majesty's  Government  therefore  trusted  that  the  American  Cabinet  would 
concur  with  that  of  His  Majesty  in  deciding  **that  the  Atlantic  rivers  which  are  to 
guide  the  commissioners  in  searching  for  the  highlands  described  in  the  treaty  are 
those  which  fall  into  the  sea  to  the  westward  of  the  mouth  of  the  river  St  Croix;  ** 
that  a  clear  agreement  on  this  point  must  be  an  indispensable  preliminary  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  any  new  commission  of  survey;  tl  at  till  this  point  be  decided  no  survey 
of  commissioners  could  lead  to  a  useful  result,  but  that  its  decision  turns  upon  the 
interpretation  of  the  words  of  a  treaty,  and  not  ipon  the  operations  of  surveyors;  and 
His  Majesty's  Government,  having  once  submit  ted  it,  in  common  with  other  points, 
to  the  judgment  of  an  impartial  arbiter,  by  whose  award  they  had  declared  themselves 
ready  to  abide,  could  not  consent  to  refer  it  to  any  other  arbitration. 
In  a  note  from  the  Department  of  State  dated  28th  April,  1835,  Sir  Charles  R. 
Vaughan  was  assured  that  his  prompt  suggestion,  as  His  Britanaic  Majesty's  min- 
ister, that  a  negotiation  should  be  opened  for  the  establishment  of  a  conventional 
boundary  between  the  two  countries  was  duly  appreciated  by  the  President,  who, 
had  he  possessed  like  powers  with  His  Majesty's  Government  over  the  subject, 
would  have  met  the  suggestion  in  a  favorable  spirit. 
The  Secretary  observed  that  the  submission  of  the  whole  subject  or  any  part  of  it 
to  a  new  arbitrator  promised  too  little  to  attract  the  favorable  consideration  of  either 
party;  that  the  desired  adjustment  of  the  controversy  was  consequently  to  be  sought 
for  in  the  application  of  some  new  principle  to  the  controverted  question,  and  that 
the  President  thought  that  by  a  faithful  prosecution  of  the  plan  submitted  by  his 
direction  a*  settlement  of  the  boundary  in  dispute  according  to  the  terms  of  the 
treaty  of  1783  was  attainable; 
With  regard  to  the  rule  of  practical  siu-veying  offered  as  the  basis  of  the  American 
proposition,  he  said  if  it  should  become  material  to  do  so— which  was  not  to  be 
anticipated — ^he  would  find  no  difficulty  either  in  fortif3dng  the  ground  occupied  by 
this  Govenusent  in  this  regard  or  in  satisfying  Sir  Charles  that  the  instance  brought 
into  notice  by  His  Britannic  Majesty's  Government  of  a  supposed  departure  from 
the  rule  was  not  at  variance  with  the  assertion  of  Mr.  Livingston  repeated  by  Mr. 
McLane.  The  Secretary  therefore  limited  himself  to  the  remark  that  the  line  of 
demarcation  referred  to  by  Sir  Charles  was  not  established  as  the  true  boundary 
prescribed  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  but  was  a  conventional  substitute  for  it,  the  result
1669  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
of  a  new  negotiation  controlled  by  other  considerations  than  those  to  be  drawn  from 
that  instrument  only. 
The  Secretary  expressed  the  President's  unfeigned  regret  upon  learning  the  deci- 
sion of  His  Majesty's  Government  not  to  agree  to  the  proposition  made  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States  without  a  precedent  compliance  by  them  with  inadmissible 
conditions.  He  said  that  the  vie^  of  this  Government  in  regard  to  this  proposal 
of  His  Majesty's  Government  had  been  already  communicated  to  Sir  Charles  R. 
Vaughan,  and  the  President  perceived  with  pain  that  the  reasons  upon  which  these 
opinions  were  founded  had  not  been  found  to  possess  sufficient  force  and  justice  to 
induce  the  entire  withdrawal  of  the  objectionable  conditions,  but  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, while  His  Majesty's  Government  had  been  pleased  to  waive  for  the  present 
six  of  the  seven  opinions  referred  to,  the  remaining  one,  amongst  the  most  impor- 
tant of  them  all,  was  still  insisted  upon,  viz,  that  the  St.  John  and  Restigouche  should 
be  treated  by  the  supposed  commission  as  not  being  Atlantic  rivers  according  to  the 
meaning  of  those  terms  in  the  treaty.  With  reference  to  that  part  of  Sir  Charles's 
communication  which  seeks  to  strengthen  the  ground  heretofore  taken  on  this  point 
by  the  British  Government  by  calling  to  its  aid  the  supposed  confirmation  of  the 
arbiter,  the  Secretary  felt  himself  warranted  in  questioning  whether  the  arbiter  had 
ever  given  his  opinion  that  the  rivers  St.  John  and  Restigouche  can  not  be  consid- 
ered according  to  the  meaning  of  the  treaty  as  rivers  falling  into  the  Atlantic,  and 
he  insisted  that  it  was  not  the  intention  of  the  arbiter  to  express  the  opinion  imputed 
to  him. 
The  Secretary  also  informed  Sir  Charles  that  the  President  could  not  consent  to 
clog  the  submission  with  the  condition  proposed  by  Her  Majesty's  Government;  that 
a  just  regard  to  the  rights  of  the  parties  and  a  proper  consideration  of  his  own  duties 
required  that  the  new  submission,  if  made,  should  be  made  without  restriction  or 
qualification  upon  the  discretion  of  the  commissioners  other  than  such  as  resulted 
from  established  facts  and  the  just  interpretation  of  the  definitive  treaty,  and  such 
as  had  been  heretofore  and  were  now  again  tendered  to  His  Britannic  Majesty's 
Government;  that  he  despaired  of  obtaining  a  better  constituted  tribunal  than  the 
one  proposed;  that  he  saw  nothing  unfit  or  improper  in  submitting  the  question  as 
to  the  character  in  which  the  St.  John  and  Restigouche  were  to  be  regarded  to  the 
decision  of  an  impartial  commission;  that  the  parties  had  heretofore  thought  it 
proper  so  to  submit  it,  and  that  it  by  no  means  followed  that  because  commissioners 
chosen  by  the  parties  themselves,  without  an  umpire,  had  failed  to  come  to  an  agree- 
ment respecting  it,  that  the  same  result  would  attend  the  efforts  of  a  commission 
differently  selected.  The  Secretary  closed  his  note  by  stating  that  the  President  had 
no  new  proposal  to  offer,  but  would  be  happy  to  receive  any  such  proposition  as  His 
Britannic  Majesty's  Government  might  think  it  expedient  to  make,  and  by  intimat- 
ing that  he  was  authorized  to  confer  with  Sir  Charles  whenever  it  might  suit  his 
convenience  and  comport  with  the  instructions  of  his  Government  with  respect  to 
the  treaty  boundary  or  a  conventional  substitute  for  it. 
On  the  4th  of  May,  1835,  Sir  Charles  R.  Vaughan  expressed  his  regret  that  the 
condition  which  His  Majesty's  Government  had  brought  forward  as'an  essential 
preliminary  to  the  adoption  of  the  President's  proposal  had  been  declared  to  be 
inadmissible  by  the  American  Government. 
Sir  Charles  confidently  appealed  to  the  tenor  of  the  language  of  the  award  of  the 
arbiter  to  justify  the  inference  drawn  from  it  by  His  Majesty's  Government  in  regard 
to  that  point  in  the  dispute  which  respects  the  rivers  which  are  to  be  considered  as 
falling  directly  into  the  Atlantic.  The  acquiescence  of  the  United  States  in  what 
was  understood  to  be  the  opinion  of  the  arbiter  was  invited,  he  said,  because  the  new 
commission  could  not  enter  upon  their  survey  in  search  of  the  highlands  of  the  treaty 
without  a  previous  agreement  between  the  two  Governments  what  rivers  ought  to 
be  considered  as  falling  into  the  Atlantic,  and  that  if  the  character  in  which  the
'  Martin  Van  Buren  1670 
Restigouche  and  St  John  were  to  be  regarded  was  a  question  to  be  submitted  to  the 
commissioners  the  President's  proposition  would  assume  the  character  of  a  new 
arbitration,  which  had  been  akeady  objected  to  by  the  Secretary.  Sir  Charles  also 
stated  that  while  His  Majesty's  Government  had  wished  to  maintain  the  decisions  of 
the  arbiter  on  subordinate  points,  their  mention  had  not  been  confined  to  those 
decided  in  favor  of  British  claims;  that  the  decisions  were' nearly  balanced  in  favor 
of  either  party,  and  the  general  result  of  the  arbitration  was  so  manifestly  in  favor  of 
the  United  States  that  to  them  were  assigned  three-fifths  of  the  territory  in  dispute 
and  Rouses  Point,  to  which  they  had  voluntarily  resigned  all  claim. 
Sir  Charles  acknowledged  with  much  satisfaction  the  Secretary's  assurance  that 
if  the  President  possessed  the  same  jpower  as  His  Majesty's  Government  over  the 
question  of  boundary  he  would  have  met  the  suggestion  of  a  conventional  line,  con- 
tained in  Sir  Charles's  note  of  31st  May,  1833,  in  a  favorable  spirit  He  lamented  that 
the  two  Governments  could  not  coincide  in  the  opinion  that  the  removal  of  the  only 
difficulty  in  the  relations  between  them  was  attainable  by  the  last  proposal  of  the 
Presidenty  as  it  was  the  only  one  in  his  power  to  offer  in  alleviation  of  the  task  of 
tracing  the  treaty  line,  to  which  the  Senate  had  advised  that  any  further  negotiation 
3hould  be  restricted.  He  said  that  he  was  ready  to  confer  with  the  Secretary  when- 
ever it  might  be  convenient  to  receive  him,  and  stated  that  as  to  any  proposition 
which  it  might  be  thtt  wish  of  the  United  States  to  receive  from  His  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment respecting  a  conventional  substitute  for  the  treaty  of  1783,  it  would  in  the 
first  instance,  to  avoid  constitutional  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  Executive,  be 
necessary  to  obtain  the  consent  of  Maine,  an  object  which  must  be  undertaken  exclu- 
sively by  the  General  Government  of  the  United  States. 
Mr.  Bankhead,  the  British  chaxg^  d'affaires,  in  a  note  to  the  Department  d^ted 
28th  December,  1835,  stated  that  during  the  three  years  which  had  elapsed  since  the 
refusal  of  the  Senate  to  agree  to  the  award  of  the  King  of  the  Netherlands,  although 
the  British  Government  had  more  than  once  declared  its  readiness  to  abide  by  its 
offer  to  accept  the  award,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  had  as  often  replied 
that  on  its  part  that  award  could  not  be  agreed  to;  that  the  British  Government 
now  considered  itself  by  this  refusal  of  the  United  States  fully  and  entirely  released 
xrom  the  conditional  offer  which  it  had  made,  and  that  he  was  instructed  distinctly 
to  announce  to  the  President  that  the  British  Government  withdrew  its  consent  to 
accept  the  territorial  compromise  recommended  by  the  King  of  the  Netherlands. 
With  r^[ard  to  the  American  proposition  for  the  appointment  of  a  new  commission 
3f  exploration  and  survey,  Mr.  Bankhead  could  not  see,  since  the  President  found 
himself  unable  to  udmit  the  distinction  between  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  how  any  useful  result  could  arise  out  of  the  pnyposed  survey.  He  thought, 
on  the  contrary,  that  if  it  did  not  furnish  fresh  subjects  of  difference  between  the 
two  Governments  it  could  at  best  only  bring  the  subject  back  to  the  same  point  at 
which  it  now  stood. 
To  the  suggestion  of  the  President  that  the  commission  of  survey  ^ould  be  empow- 
ered to  f^edde  the  river  question  Mr.  Bankhead  said  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  His 
Majesty's  Government  to  assent;  that  this  question  could  not  properly  be  referred  to 
8udi  a  commission,  because  it  turned  upon  the  interpretation  to  be  put  upon  the  words 
of  the  treaty  of  1783,  and  upon  the  application  of  that  interpretation  to  geographical 
facts  already  well  known  and  ascertained,  and  that  therefore  a  commission  of  survey 
had  no  peculiar  competency  to  decide  such  aquestion;  that  to  refer  it  to  any  author- 
ity would  be  to  submit  it  to  a  fresh  arbitration,  and  that  if  His  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment were  prepared  to  agree  to  a  fresh  arbitration,  which  was  not  the  case,  such 
arbitration  ought  necessarily,  instead  of  being  confined  to  one  particular  point  alone, 
to  include  all  the  points  in  dispute  between  the  two  Governments;  that  His  Majesty's 
Government  could  therefore  only  agree  to  such  a  commission  provided  there  were  a 
previous  understanding  between  the  two  Governments;  that  although  neither  shoutu
167 1  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
be  required  to  give  up  its  own  interpretation  of  the  river  question,  yet  "the  commis- 
sioners should  be  instructed  to  search  for  highlands  upon  the  character  of  which  no 
doubt  could  exist  on  either  side." 
If  this  modification  of  the  President's  proposal  should  not  prove  acceptable,  Mr. 
Bankhead  observed,  the  only  remaining  way  of  adjusting  the  difference  would  be  to 
abandon  altogether  the  attempt  to  draw  a  line  in  conformity  with  the  words  of  the 
treaty  and  to  fix  upon  a  convenient  line,  to  be  drawn  according  to  equitable  princi* 
pies  and  with  a  view  to  the  respective  interests  and  the  convenience  of  the  two  par* 
ties.  He  stated  that  His  Majesty's  Government  were  perfectly  ready  to  treat  for  such 
a  line,  and  conceived  that  the  natural  features  of  the  disputed  territory  would  afford 
peculiar  facilities  for  drawing  it;  that  His  Majesty's  Government  would  there- 
fore propose  an  equal  division  of  the  territory  in  dispute  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States,  and  that  the  general  outline  of  such  a  division  would  be  that 
the  boundary  between  the  two  States  should  be  drawn  due  north  from  the  head  of 
St  Croix  River  till  it  intersected  the  St  John;  thence  up  the  bed  of  the  St  John 
to  the  southernmost  source  of  that  river,  and  from  that  point  it  should  be  drawn  to 
the  head  of  the  Connecticut  River  in  such  manner  as  to  make  the  northern  and 
southern  allotments  of  the  divided  territory  as  nearly  as  possible  equal  to  each  other 
in  extent. 
In  reply  to  the  preceding  note  the  Secretary,  under  date  of  February  29,  1836, 
expressed  the  President's  regret  to  find  that  His  Britannic  Majesty's  Government 
adhered  to  its  objection  to  the  appointment  of  a  commission  to  be  chosen  in  either 
of  the  modes  heretofore  proposed  by  the  United  States  and  his  conviction  that  the 
proposition  on  which  it  was  founded,  "  that  the  river  question  was  a  treaty  construc- 
tion only,"  although  repeated  on  various  occasions  by  Great  Britain,  was  demonstra- 
bly untenable,  and,  indeed,  only  plausible  when  material  and  most  important  words  of 
d^cription  in  the  treaty  are  omitted  in  quoting  from  that  instrument.  He  said  that 
while  His  Majesty's  Government  maintain  their  position  agreement  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  on  this  point  was  impossible;  that  the  President  was 
therefore  constrained  to  look  to  the  new  and  conventional  line  offered  in  Mr.  Bank- 
head's  note,  but  that  in  such  a  line  the  wishes  and  interests  of  Maine  were  to  be  con- 
sulted, and  that  the  President  could  not  in  justice  to  himself  or  that  State  make  any 
proposition  utterly  irreconcilable  with  her  previously  well-known  opinions  on  the 
subject ;  that  the  principle  of  compromise  and  equitable  division  was  adopted  by 
the  King  of  the  Netherlands  in  the  line  recommended  by  him,  a  line  rejected  by  the 
United  States  because  unjust  to  Maine;  and  yet  that  line  gave  to  Great  Britain  little 
more  than  2,000,000,  while  the  proposition  now  made  by  His  Majesty's  Government 
secured  to  Great  Britain  of  the  disputed  land  more  than  4,000,000  acres;  that  the 
division  offered  by  Mr.  Bankhead's  note  was  not  in  harmony  with  the  equitable  rule 
from  which  it  is  said  to  spring,  and  if  it  were  in  conformity  with  it  could  not  be 
accepted  without  disrespect  to  the  previous  decisions  and  just  expectations  of  Maine. 
The  President  was  far  from  attributing  this  proposition,  the  Secretary  said,  to  the 
desire  of  His  Majesty's  Government  to  acquire  territory.  He  doubted  not  that 
the  offer,  without  regard  to  the  extent  of  territory  falling  to  the  north  or  south  of  the 
St.  John,  was  made  by  His  Majesty's  Government  from  a  belief  that  the  substitution 
of  a  river  for  a  highland  boundary  would  be  useful  in  preventing  territorial  disputes 
in  future;  but  although  the  President  coincided  in  this  view  of  the  subject  he  was 
compelled  to  decline  the  boundary  proposed  as  inconsistent  with  the  known  wishes, . 
rights,  and  decisions  of  the  State. 
The  Secretary  concluded  by  stating  that  the  President,  with  a  view  to  terminate  at 
once  all  controversy,  and  without  regard  to  the  extent  of  territory  lost  by  one  party 
or  acquired  by  the  other,  to  establish  a  definite  and  indisputable  line,  would,  if  His 
Majesty's  Government  assented  to  it,  apply  to  the  State  of  Maine  for  its  consent  to 
make  the  river  St  John  from  its  source  to-its  mouth  the  boundary  between  Maine 
and  His  Britannic  Majesty's  dominions  in  that  part  of  North  America.
Martin  Van  Buren  1672 
Mr.  Bankheftd  acknowledged  on  the  4th  March,  1836,  the  receipt  of  this  note  from 
Ifae  Department,  and  said  that  the  rejection  of  the  conventional  line  proposed  in  hi» 
previous  note  would  cause  His  Majesty's  Government  much  r^^ret  He  referred  the 
Secretary  to  that  part  of  his  note  of  the  28th  December  last  wherein  the  proposition 
of  the  President  for  a  commission  of  exploration  and  survey  was  fully  discussed,  as 
it  appeared  to  Mr.  Bankhead  that  the  Secretary  had  not  given  the  modification  on 
the  part  of  His  Majesty's  Government  of  the  American  pro|x>6ition  the  weight  te' 
which  it  was  entitled.  He  said  that  it  was  offered  with  the  x  iew  of  meeting  as  far 
as  practicable  the  wishes  of  the  President  and  of  endeavoring  by  such  a  preliminary 
measure  to  bring  about  a  settlement  of  the  boundary  upon  a  basis  satisfactory  to' 
both  parties;  that  with  this  view  he  again  submitted  to  the  Secretary  the  modified 
proposal  of  His  Majesty's  Government,  remarking  that  the  commissioners  who  might 
be  appointed  were  not  to  decide  upon  points  of  difference,  but  merely  to  present  to 
the  respective  Governments  the  result  of  their  labors,  which,  it  was  hoped  and 
believed,  would  pave  the  way  for  an  ultimate  settlement  of  the  question. 
Mr.  Bankhead  considered  it  proper  to  state  frankly  and  clearly  that  the  proposition 
offered  in  the  last  note  from  the  Department  to  make  the  river  St.  John  from  its 
source  to  its  mouth  the  boundary  between  the  United  States  and  His  Majesty's  Prov- 
ince  of  New  Brunswick  was  one  to  which  the  British  Government,  lie  was  co.ivinoed, 
would  never  agree. 
On  the  5th  March  the  Secretary  expressed  regret  that  his  proposition  to  make  the 
river  St.  John  the  boundary  between  Maine  and  New  Brunswick  would,  in  the  opin- 
ion of  Mr.  Bankhead,  be  declined*  by  his  Government;  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  could  not,  however,  relinquish  the  hope  that  the  proposal,  when  brought 
before  His  Majesty's  cabinet  and  considered  with  the  attention  and  deliberation  due 
to  its  merits,  would  be  viewed  in  a  more  favorable  light  than  that  in  which  it  appeared 
to  have  presented  itself  to  Mr.  Bankhead.  If,  however,  the  Secretary  added,  thia 
expectation  should  be  disappointed,  it  would  be  necessary  before  the  President  con- 
sented to  the  modification  of  his  previous  proposition  for  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mission of  exploration  and  survey  to  be  informed  more  fully  of  the  views  of  the 
British  Government  in  offering  the  modification,  so  that  he  might  be  enabled  to  judge 
how  the  report  of  the  commission  (which  as  now  proposed  to  be  constituted  was  not 
to  decide  upon  points  of  difference)  would  be  likely  to  lead  to  an  ultimate  settlement 
of  the  question  of  boundary,  and  also  which  of  the  modes  proposed  for  the  selection  of 
commissioners  was  the  one  intended  to  be  accepted,  with  the  modification  suggested 
by  His  Britannic  Majesty's  Government. 
In  January  last  Mr.  Fox,  the  British  minister  at  Washington,  made  a  communica- 
tion to  the  Department  of  State,  in  which,  with  reference  to  the  objection  preferred 
by  the  American  Government  that  it  had  no  power  without  the  consent  of  Maine  to 
agree  to  the  arrangement  proposed  by  Great  Britain,  since  it  would  be  considered  by 
that  State  as  equivalent  to  a  cession  of  what  she  regarded  as  a  part  of  her  territory, 
he  observed  that  the  objection  of  the  State  could  not  be  admitted  as  valid,  for  the 
principle  on  which  it  rested  was  as  good  for  Great  Britain  as  it  was  for  Maine;  that 
if  the  State  was  entitled  to  contend  that  until  the  treaty  line  was  determined  the 
boundary  claimed  by  Maine  must  be  regarded  as  the  right  one.  Great  Britain  was 
still  more  entitled  to  insist  on  a  similar  pretension  and  to  assert  that  until  the  line 
of  the  treaty  shall  be  established  satisfactorily  the  whole  of  the  disputed  territory 
ought  to  be  considered « as  belonging  to  the  British  Crown,  since  Great  Britain  was 
the  original  possessor,  and  all  the  territory  which  had  not  been  proved  to  have  been 
by  treaty  ceded  by  her  must  be  deemed  to  belong  to  her  stilL  But  Mr.  Pox  said  the 
existence  of  these  conflicting  pretensions  pointed  out  the  expediency  of  a  compro- 
mise; and  why,  he  asked,  as  a  conventional  line  different  from  that  described  in  the 
treaty  was  agreed  to  with  respect  to  the  boundary  westward  from  the  Lake  of 
the  Woods,  should  such  a  line  not  be  agreed  to  likewise  for  the  boundary  eastward
1673  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
from  the  Connecticut?  Her  Majesty's  Government  could  not,  he  added,  refrain  from 
again  pressing  this  proposition  upon  the  serious  consideration  of  the  United  States 
as  the  arrangement  best  calculated  to  effect  a  prompt  and  satisfactory  settlement 
between  the  two  powers. 
With  reference  to  the  American  proposition  to  make  the  river  St.  John  from  its 
mouth  to  its  source  the  boimdary,  Mr.  Fox  remarked  that  it  was  difficult  to  under- 
stand upon  what  grounds  any  expectation  could  have  been  formed  that  such  a  pro- 
posal could  be  entertained  by  the  British  Government,  for  such  an  arrangement 
would  give  to  the  United  States  even  greater  advantages  than  they  would  obtain  by 
an  unconditional  acquiescence  in  their  claim  to  the  whole  of  the  disputed  territory, 
because  it  woidd  give  to  Maine  all  the  disputed  territory  lying  south  of  the  St  John, 
and  in  exchange  for  the  remaining  part  of  the  territory  lying  to  the  north  of  the  St. 
John  would  add  to  the  State  of  Maine  a  large  district  of  New  Brunswick — a  district 
smaller  in  extent,  but  much  more  considerable  in  value,  than  the  portion  of  the 
disputed  territory  which  lies  to  the  north  of  the  St.  John. 
With  regard  to  the  proposition  for  the  appointment  of  a  conmiission  of  exploration 
and  survey,  Mr.  Pox  stated  that  Her  Majesty's  Government,  with  little  expectation 
that  it  could  lead  to  a  useful  result,  but  unwilling  to  reject  the  only  plan  left  which 
seemed  to  afford  a  chance  of  making  a  further  advance  in  this  matter,  would  not 
withhold  their  consent  to  such  a  commission  if  the  principle  upon  which  it  was  to 
be  formed  and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  to  proceed  could  be  satisfactorily  settled; 
that  of  the  two  modes  proposed  in  which  such  a  commission  might  be  constituted  Her 
Majesty's  Government  thought  the  first,  viz,  that  it  might  consist  of  commissioners 
named  in  equal  numbers  by  each  of  the  two  Governments,  with  an  imipire  to  be 
selected  by  some  friendly  European  power^  would  be  the  best,  but  suggested  that  it 
might  be  better  that  the  umpire  should  be  selected  by  the  members  of  the  commis- 
sion themselves  rather  than  that  the  two  Governments  should  apply  to  a  third  power 
to  make  such  a  choice;  that  the  object  of  this  commission  should  be  to  explore  the 
disputed  territory  in  order  to  find  within  its  limits  dividing  highlands  which  might 
answer  the  description  of  the  treaty,  the  search  to  be  made  in  a  north  and  north- 
west line  from  the  monument  at  the  head  of  the  St.  Croix;  and  that  Her  Majesty's 
Government  had  given  their  opinion  that  the  commissioners  should  be  instructed  to 
look  for  highlands  which  both  parties  might  acknowledge  as  fulfilling  the  conditions 
of  the  treaty. 
In  answer  to  the  inquiry  how  the  report  of  the  commission  would,  according  to  the 
views  of  Her  Majesty's  Government,  be  likely  when  rendered  to  lead  to  an  ultimate 
settlement  of  the  boimdary  question,  Mr.  Fox  observed  that  since  the  proposal  for  the 
appointment  of  a  commission  originated  with  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
it  was  rather  for  that  Government  than  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  to  answer 
this  question.  Her  Majesty's  Government  had  already  stated  they  had  little  expec- 
tation that  such  a  commission  could  lead  to  any  useful  result,  etc,  but  that  Her 
Majesty's  Government,  in  the  first  place,  conceived  that  it  was  meant  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  that  if  the  commission  should  discover  highlands  answering 
to  the  description  of  the  treaty  a  connecting  line  from  them  to  the  head  of  the  St. 
Croix  shotdd  be  deemed  to  be  a  portion  of  the  boundary  between  the  two  countries. 
Mr.  Fox  further  referred  the  Secretary  to  the  previous  notes  of  Mr.  McLane  on  the 
subject,  in  which  it  was  contemplated  as  one  of  the  possible  results  of  the  proposed 
commission  that  such  additional  information  might  be  obtained  of  the  features  of  the 
coimtry  as  might  remove  all  doubt  as  to  the  impracticability  of  laying  down  a  bound- 
ary in  accordance  with  the  letter  of  the  treaty.  Mr.  Fox  said  that  if  the  investi- 
gations of  the  commission  should  show  that  there  was  no  reasonable  prospect  of 
finding  the  line  described  in  the  treaty  of  1783  the  constitutional  difficulties  which 
now  prevented  the  United  States  from  agreeing  to  a  conventional  line  might  pos- 
sibly be  removed,  and  the  way  be  thus  prepared  for  a  satisfactory  settlement  of  the
Martin  Van  Buren  1674 
difference  by  equitable  division  of  the  territory;  but,  he  added  in  conclusion,  if  the  two 
Governments  should  agree  to  the  appointment  of  such  a  commission,  it  wotdd  be  nec- 
essary that  their  agreement  should  be  by  a  convention,  and  it  wotdd  be  obviously  indis- 
pensable that  the  State  of  Maine  shotdd  be  an  assenting  party  to  the  arrangement 
In  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  Mr.  Fox's  communication  at  jthe  Department  he 
was  informed  (7th  February)  that  the  President  experienced  deep  disappointment  in 
finding  that  the  answer  just  presented  on  the  part  of  the  British  Government  to  the 
proposition  made  by  this  Government  with  the  view  of  effecting  the  settlement  of 
the  boundary  question  was  so  indefinite  in  its  terms  as  to  render  it  impracticable  to 
ascertain  without  further  discussion  what  were  the  real  wishes  and  intentions  of  Her 
Majesty's  Government  respecting  the  appointment  of  a  commission  of  exploration 
and  survey,  but  that  a  copy  of  it  would  be  transmitted  to  the  executive  of  Maine  for 
the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  sense  of  the  State  authorities  upon  the  expediency 
of  meeting  the  views  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  so  far  as  they  were  therein 
developed. 
Occasion  was  taken  at  the  same  time  to  explain  to  Mr.  Fox,  in  answer  to  the  sug- 
gestion in  his  note  of  the  loth  of  January  last,  that  the  parallel  of  latitude  adopted 
as  a  conventional  substitute  for  the  line  designated  in  the  treaty  for  the  boundary 
westward  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  passed  over  territory  within  the  exclusive 
jurisdiction  of  the  General  Government,  without  trenching  upon  the  rights  or  claims 
of  any  member  of  the  Union,  and  the  legitimate  power  of  the  Government,  therefore, 
to  agree  to  such  line  was  held  to  be  perfect,  but  that  in  acceding  to  a  conventional 
line  for  the  boundary  eastward  from  the  river  Connecticut  it  would  transcend  its 
constitutional  powers,  since  such  a  measure  could  only  be  carried  into  effect  by  vio- 
lating the  jurisdiction  of  a  sovereign  State  and  assuming  to  alienate  a  portion  of  the 
territory  claimed  by  such  State. 
In  reply  to  the  observation  of  Mr.  Fox  that  it  was  difficult  to  understand  upon 
what  ground  an  expectation  could  have  been  entertained  that  the  proposition  to 
make  the  St.  John  the  boundary  would  be  received  by  Her  Majesty's  Government, 
he  was  informed  that  the  suggestion  had  been  offered,  as  the  proposition  on  the  part 
of  Great  Britain  that  led  to  it  was  supposed  to  have  been,  with  regard  to  the  extent  of 
territory  lost  or  acquired  by  the  respective  parties,  and  in  the  hope  that  the  great 
importance  of  terminating  this  controversy'by  establishing  a  definite  and  indisputa- 
ble boundary  would  be  seen  and  acknowledged  by  the  British  Government,  and  have 
a  correspondent  weight  in  influencing  its  decision;  that  the  suggestion  in  Mr. 
Bankhead's  note  of  28th  December,  1835,  of  a  part  of  the  river  St.  John  as  a  portion 
of  the  general  outline  of  a  conventional  boundary,  apparently  recognized  the  supe- 
rior advantages  of  a  river  over  a  highland  boundary,  and  that  no  difficulty  was  antici- 
pated on  the  part  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  in  understanding  the  grounds  upon 
which  such  a  proposal  was  expected  to  be  entertained  by  it,  since  the  precedent  prop- 
osition of  Mr.  Bankhead  just  alluded  to,  although  based  upon  the  principle  of  an 
equal  division  between  the  parties,  could  not  be  justified  by  it,  as  it  would  have  given 
nearly  two-thirds  of  the  disputed  territory  to  Great  Britain;  that  it  was  therefore 
fair  to  presume  that  the  river  line,  in  the  opinion  of  His  Majesty's  Government,  pre- 
sented advantages  sufficient  to  coimterbalance  any  loss  of  territory  by  either  party 
that  might  accrue  from  its  adoption;  and  it  was  also  supposed  that  another  recom- 
mendation of  this  line  would  be  seen  by  Great  Britain  in  the  fact  that  whilst  by  its 
adoption  the  right  of  jurisdiction  alone  would  have  been  yielded  to  the  United 
States  over  that  portion  of  New  Brunswick  south  of  the  St  John,  Great  Britain 
would  have  acquired  the  right  of  soil  and  jurisdiction  of  all  the  disputed  territory- 
north  of  that  river. 
To  correct  a  misapprehension  into  which  Mr.  Fox  appeared  to  have  fallen,  the  dis- 
tinctive difference  between  the  American  proposition  for  a  commission  and  that 
proposition  as  subsequently  modified  by  Great  Britain  was  pointed  out,  and  he  was
i67S  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
infonued  that  althongh  the  proposal  originated  with  this  Government,  the  modifica- 
tion was  so  fundamentally  important  that  it  entirely  changed  the  nature  of  the  propo- 
sition, and  that  the  supposition,  therefore,  that  it  was  rather  for  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  than  for  that  of  Great  Britain  to  answer  the  inquiry  preferred  by 
the  Secretary  of  State  for  information  relative  to  the  manner  in  which  the  report 
of  the  commission  as  proposed  to  be  constituted  and  instructed  by  the  British  Gov- 
ernment might  tend  to  a  practical  result  was  unfounded.  Mr.  Pox  was  also  given 
to  understand  that  any  decision  made  by  a  commission  constituted  in  the  manner 
proposed  by  the  United  States  and  instructed  to  seek  for  the  highlands  of  the  treaty 
of  1783  would  be  binding  upon  this  Government  and  could  be  carried  into  effect 
without  unnecessary  delay;  but  if  the  substitute  presented  by  Her  Majesty's  Govern* 
ment  should  be  insisted  on  and  its  principles  be  adopted,  it  would  then  be  neces- 
sary to  resort  to  the  State  of  Maine  for  her  assent  in  all  proceedings  relative  to  the 
matter,  since  any  arrangement  under  it  can  only  be  for  a  conventional  line  to  which 
she  must  be  a  party. 
In  conclusion,  it  was  intimated  to  Mr.  Fox  that  if  a  negotiation  be  entertained  by 
this  Government  at  all  upon  the  unsatisfactory  basis  afforded  by  the  British  coimter 
proposition  or  substitute,  the  President  will  not  invite  it  unless  the  authorities  of  the 
State  of  Maine  shall  think  it  more  likely  to  lead  to  an  adjustment  of  the  question  of 
boimdary  than  the  General  Government  deemed  it  to  be,  although  predisposed  to  see 
it  in  the  most  favorable  light 
Your  excellency  will  perceive  that  in  the  course  of  these  proceedings,  but  without 
abandoning  the  attempt  to  adjust  the  treaty  line,  steps  necessary,  from  the  want  of 
power  in  the  Federal  Government,  of  an  informal  character,  have  been  taken  to  test 
the  dispositions  of  the  respective  Governments  upon  the  subject  of  substituting  a 
conventional  for  the  treaty  line.  It  will  also  be  seen  from  the  correspondence  that 
the  British  Government,  despairing  of  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of  the  line  of  the 
treaty,  avows  its  willingness  to  enter  upon  a  direct  negotiation  for  the  settlement 
of  a  conventional  line  if  the  assent  of  the  State  of  Maine  to  that  coturse  can  be 
obtained. 
Whilst  the  obligations  of  the  Federal  Government  to  do  all  in  its  power  to  effect 
a  settlement  of  this  boundary  are  fully  recognized  on  its  part,  it  has  in  the  event  of 
its  being  unable  to  do  so  specifically  by  mutual  consent  no  other  means  to  accom- 
plish the  object  amicably  than  by  another  arbitration,  or  a  commission,  with  an 
umpire,  in  the  nature  of  an  arbitration.  In  the  contingency  of  all  other  measures 
failing  the  President  will  feel  it  to  be  his  duty  to  submit  another  proposition  to  the 
Government  of  Great  Britain  to  refer  the  decision  of  the  question  to  a  third  party. 
He  would  not,  however,  be  satisfied  in  taking  this  final  step  without  having  firat 
ascertained  the  opinion  and  wishes  of  the  State  of  Maine  upon  the  subject  of  a  nego- 
tiation for  the  establishment  of  a  conventional  line,  and  he  conceives  the  present  the 
proper  time  to  seek  it 
I  am  therefore  directed  by  the  President  to  invite  your  excellency  to  adopt  such 
measures  as  you  may  deem  necessary  to  ascertain  the  sense  of  the  State  of  Maine 
with  respect  to  the  expediency  of  attempting  to  establish  a  conventional  line  of 
boundary  between  that  State  and  the  British  possessions  by  direct  negotiation 
between  the  Governments  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  and  whether  the 
State  of  Maine  will  agree,  and  upon  what  conditions,  if  she  elects  to  prescribe  any,  to 
abide  by  such  settlement  if  the  same  be  made.  Should  the  State  of  Maine  be  of 
opinion  that  additional  surveys  and  explorations  might  be  useful  either  in  leading 
to  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of  the  controversy  according  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
or  in  enabling  the  parties  to  decide  more  imderstandingly  upon  the  expediency  of 
opening  a  negotiation  for  the  establishment  of  a  line  that  would  suit  their  mutual 
convenience  and  be  reconcilable  to  their  conflicting  interests,  and  desire  the  creation 
^or  that  purpose  of  a  commission  upon  the  principles  and  with  the  limited  powers
Martin  Van  Buren  1676 
described  in  the  letter  of  Mr.  Fox,  the  President  will  without  hesitation  open  a  nego. 
tiation  with  Great  Britain  for  the  accomplishment  of  that  object 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  high  consideration,   your  excellency's  obedient 
^^^^  JOHN  FORSYTH. 
Washington,  April  5,  iSjS 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  report  from  the 
Secretary  of  State,  with  accompanying  papers,  in  answer  to  their  resolu^ 
tion  of  the  2ist  ultimo.  j^  ^^^  BUREN 
D8PARTMBNT  OP  STATB, 
Washington,  April  4,  183C 
The  Prbsidbnt  of  thb  Unitkd  Statbs: 
The  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  has  been  referred  the  resolution  of  the  House  01 
Representatives  of  the  21st  ultimo,  requesting  the  President,  "  if  not  incompatible 
with  the  public  interests,  to  communicate  to  that  House  any  information  possessed 
by  him  respecting  the  capture  and  destruction  of  the  steamboat  Caroline  at  Schlos- 
ser  during  the  night  of  the  29th  December  last,  and  the  murder  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States  on  board,  and  all  the  particulars  thereof  not  heretofore  communicated, 
and  especially  to  inform  the  House  whether  said  capture  was  authorized,  commanded, 
or  Sanctioned  or  has  been  avowed  by  the  British  authorities  or  officers,  or  any  of 
them,  and  also  what  steps  have  been  taken  by  him  to  obtain  satisfaction  from 
the  Government  of  Great  Britain  on  account  of  said  outrage,  and  to  communicate 
to  the  House  all  correspondence  or  communications  relative  thereto  which  have 
passed  between  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  or  any  of 
the  public  authorities  of  either,*'  has  the  honor  to  lay  before  the  President  the 
accompanying  documents,  which  contain  all  the  information  in  the  possession  of 
this  Department  relative  to  the  subject  of  the  resolution;  and  to  state,  moreover, 
that  instructions  have  been  transmitted  to  the  minister  of  the  United  States  in  Lon- 
don to  make  a  full  representation  to  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  Government  of  the 
facts  connected  with  this  lamentable  occurrence,  to  remonstrate  against  the  unwar- 
rantable course  pursued  on  the  occasion  by  the  British  troops  from  Canada,  and  to 
express*  the  expectation  of  this  Government  that  such  redress  as  the  nature  of  the 
case  obvioixsly  requires  will  be  promptly  given. 
RespectfuUy  submitted.  JOHN  FORSYTH. 
Mr,  Forsyth  to  Mr.  Fox, 
DBPARTMBNT  OP  Statb, 
Washington,  January  5,  183B. 
Hbnry  S.  Fox,  Esq.,  etc. 
Sir:  By  the  direction  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  I  have  the  honor  to 
commtmicate  to  you  a  copy  of  the  evidence  furnished  to  this  Department  of  an 
extraordinary  outrage  committed  from  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  Province  of  Upper 
Canada  on  the  persons  and  property  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  within  the  juris- 
diction of  the  State  of  New  York.  The  destruction  of  the  property  and  the  assassi- 
nation of  citizens  of  the  United  States  on  the  soil  of  New  York  at  the  moment  when, 
as  is  well  known  to  you,  the  President  was  anxiously  endeavoring  to  allay  the  excite- 
ment  and  earnestly  seeking  to  prevent  any  unfortunate  occurrence  on  the  frontier 
of  Canada  have  produced  upon  his  mind  the  most  painful  emotions  of  surprise  and 
regret     It  will  necessarily  form  the  subject  of  a  demand  for  redress  upon  Her
t677  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Majesty's  Government  This  communication  is  made  to  you  under  the  expectation 
that  through  your  instrumentality  an  early  explanation  may  be  obtained  from  the 
authorities  of  Upper  Canada  of  all  the  circumstances  of  the  transaction,  and  that  by 
your  advice  to  those  authorities  such  decisive  precautions  may  be  used  as  will  ren- 
der the  perpetration  of  similar  acts  hereafter  impossible.  Not  doubting  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  government  of  Upper  Canada  to  do  its  duty  in  punishing  the  aggressors 
and  preventing  future  outrage,  the  President  nevertheless  has  deemed  it  necessary 
to  order  a  sufficient  force  on  the  frontier  to  repel  any  attempt  of  a  like  character 
and  to  make  known  to  you  that  if  it  should  occur  he  can  not  be  answerable  for  the 
effects  of  the  indignation  of  the  neighboring  people  of  the  United  States. 
I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion,  etc  JOHN  FORSYTH 
Mr,  Forsyth  to  Mr.  Fox. 
DKPARTBi«NT  OF  STATB, 
HBNRY  S.  Fox,  Esq..  etc.  Washington,  January  19. 1838. 
Sir:  With  reference  to  my  note  of  the  5th  instant,  communicating  to  you  evidence 
of  an  extraordinary  outrage  committed  from  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  Province  of 
Upper  Canada  on  the  persons  and  property  of  certain  citizens  of  the  United  States 
at  Schlosser,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  3tate  of  New  York,  on  the  night  of  the 
29th  ultimo,  I  have  now  the  honor  to  transmit  to  you  the  copy  of  a  letter*  recently 
received  from  the  attorney  of  the  United  States  for  the  northern  district  of  New  York, 
dated  the  8th  of  the  current  month,  with  transcripts  of  sundry  depositions*  which 
accompanied  it,  containing  additional  information  in  regard  to  that  most  disastrous 
occurrence.  A  letter  from  Mr.  George  W.  Pratt  of  the  loth  of  January,  with  inclo- 
sures  relating  to  the  same  subject,  is  also  sent. 
I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to  renew  to  you  the  assurance  of  my  distinguished 
consideration.  ^^^^  FORSYTH. 
The  PRKsmuNT.  RocHESTER,/aff«aV  10, 1838. 
Sir:  Colonel  McNab,  having  avowed  that  the  steamboat  Caroline  was  destroyed 
by  his  orders,  justifies  himself  by  the  plea,  sustained  by  affidavits,  that  hostilities 
were  commenced  from  the  American  shore. 
I  inclose  you  the  affidavits*  of  four  respectable  citizens  of  Rochester,  wbo  were 
present  at  the  time,  who  contradict  the  assertions  of  Colonel  McNab. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  obedient  servant,  GEO   W   PRATT 
Mr.  Fox  to  Mr.  Forsyth. 
Hon.  JOHN  Forsyth,  etc.  Washington,  February  6,  7838. 
Sir:  With  reference  to  the  letters  which,  by  direction  of  the  President,  you 
addressed  to  me  on  the  5th  and  19th  ultimo,  respecting  the  capture  and  destruction 
of  the  steamboat  Caroline  by  a  Canadian  force  on  the  American  side  of  the  Niagara 
River,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State  of  New  York,  I  have  now  the  honor  to 
communicate  to  you  the  copy  of  a  letter  upon  that  subject  which  I  have  received 
from  Sir  Francis  Head,  lieutenant-governor  of  the  Province  of  Upper  Canada,  with 
divers  reports  and  depositions  annexed. 
The  piratical  character  of  the  steamboat  Caroline  and  the  necessity  of  self-defense 
and  self-preservation  under  which  Her  Majesty's  subjects  acted  in  destro3ring  that 
vessel  would  seem  to  be  sufficiently  established. 
At  the  time  when  the  event  happened  the  ordinary  laws  of  the  United  States  were 
•Omitted.
Martin  Van  Buren  1678 
not  enforced  within  the  frontier  district  of  the  State  of  New  York.  The  authority 
of  the  law  was  overborne  publicly  by  piratical  violence.  Through  such  violence 
Her  Majesty's  subjects  in  Upper  Caiiada  had  already  severely  suffered,  and  they 
were  threatened  with  still  further  injury  and  outrage.  This  extraordinary  state  of 
things  appears  naturally  and  necessarily  to  have  impelled  them  to  consult  their  own 
security  by  pursuing  and  destroying  the  vessel  of  their  piratical  enemy  wheresoever 
they  might  find  her. 
I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to  renew  to  you  the  assotanoe  of  my  high  respect 
and  consideration.  ^  ^   POX. 
Toronto,  Uppsr  Canada,  January  8, 1838. 
His  Bxcellency  Hbnry  S.  Pox, 
Her  Majesty  s  Minister^  Washington. 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  inclose  you  the  copy  of  a  special  message  sent  by  His 
Excellency  Governor  Marcy  to  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  relation 
to  a  matter  on  which  your  excellency  will  desire  the  earliest  and  most  authentic 
information.    The  message  only  reached  this  place  yesterday,  and  I  lose  no  time  in  x 
communicating  wilh  your  excellency  on  the  subject 
The  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York  complains  of  the  cutting;  out  and  burn- 
ing of  the  steamboat  Caroline  by  order  of  Colonel  McNab,  commanding  Her  Maj- 
esty's forces  at  Chippewa,  in  the  Province  of  Upper  Canada,  and  of  the  destruction 
of  the  lives  of  some  American  citizens  who  were  on  board  of  the  boat  at  the  time  she 
was  attacked. 
The  act  complained  of  was  done  under  the  following  circumstances: 
In  Upper  Canada,  which  contains  a  population  of  about  450,000  souls,  the  most  per- 
fect tranquillity  prevailed  up  to  the  4th  day  of  December  last,  although  in  the  adjoin- 
ing Province  of  Lower  Canada  many  of  the  Prench  Canadian  inhabitants  had  been  in 
open  rebellion  against  the  Government  for  about  a  month  preceding. 
At  no  time  since  the  treaty  of  peace  with  the  United  States  in  1815  had  Upper 
Canada  been  more  undisturbed.  The  real  causes  of  the  insurrection  in  Lower  Canada, 
namely,  the  national  antipathy  of  the  Prench  inhabitants,  did  not  in  any  degree 
apply  in  the  upper  Province,  whose  population,  like  the  British  and  American 
inhabitants  of  Lower  Canada,  were  wholly  opposed  to  the  revolt  and  anxious  to 
render  every  service  in  their  power  in  support  of  the  Queen's  authority. 
It  had  been  reported  to  the  Government  some  time  before  the  4th  of  December 
that  in  a  remote  portion  of  the  home  district  a  number  of  persons  occasionally  met 
and  drilled  with  arms  under  leaders  known  to  be  disaffected,  but  it  was  not  believed 
by  the  Government  that  anything  more  could  be  intended  than  to  make  a  show  of 
threatened  revolt  in  order  to  create  a  diversion  in  favor  of  the  rebels  in  Lower 
Canada. 
The  feeling  of  loyalty  throughout  this  Province  was  known  to  be  so  prevalent  and 
decided  that  it  was  not  thought  unsafe  to  forbear,  for  the  time  at  least,  to  take  any 
notice  of  the  proceedings  of  this  party. 
On  the  night  of  the  4th  December  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Toronto  were 
alarmed  by  the  intelligence  that  about  500  persons  armed  with  rifles  were  approach- 
ing the  city;  that  they  had  murdered  a  gentleman  of  great  respectability  in  the 
highway,  and  had  made  several  persons  prisoners.  The  inhabitants  rushed  imme- 
diately to  arms;  there  were  no  soldiers  in  the  Province  and  no  militia  had  been 
called  out.  The  home  district,  ^rom  which  this  party  of  armed  men  came,  contains 
60,000  inhabitants;  the  city  of  Toronto  10,000.  In  a  few  hours  a  respectable  force, 
although  undisciplined,  was  collected  and  armed  in  self-defense,  and  awaited  the 
threatened  attack.  It  seems  now  to  admit  of  no  doubt  that  if  they  had  at  once 
advanced  against  the  insurgents  they  would  have  met  with  no  formidable  resistance, 
but  it  was  thought  more  prudent  to  wait  until  a  sufficient  force  should  be  collected
1679  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
to  put  the  success  of  an  attack  beyond  question.  In  the  meantime  people  poured  in 
from  all  quarters  to  oppose  the  insurgents,  who  obtained  no  increase  of  numbers,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  were  deserted  by  many  of  their  body  in  consequence  of  the  acts  of 
devastation  and  plunder  into  which  their  leader  had  forced  them. 
On  the  7th  of  December  an  overwhelming  force  of  militia  went  against  them  and 
dispersed  them  without  losing  a  man,  taking  many  prisoners,  who  were  instantly  by 
my  order  released  and  suffered  to  depart  to  their  homes.  The  rest,  with  their  lead- 
ers, fled;  some  have  since  surrendered  themselves  to  justice;  many  have  been  taken, 
and  some  have  escaped  from  the  Province. 
It  was  reported  about  this  time  that  in  the  district  of  London  a  similar  disposition 
to  rise  had  been  observed,  and  in  consequence  a  militia  force  of  about  400  men  was 
-  sent  into  that  district,  where  it  was  speedily  joined  by  three  times  as  many  of  th* 
inhabitants  of  the  district,  who  assembled  voluntarily  and  came  to  their  aid  with 
the  greatest  alacrity. 
It  was  discovered  that  about  300  persons  under  Dr.  Duncombe,  an  American  by 
birth,  were  assembled  with  arms,  but  before  the  militia  could  reach  them  tbey  dis- 
persed themselves  and  fled.  Of  these  by  far  the  greater  came  in  immediately  and 
submitted  themselves  to  the  Government,  declaring  that  they  had  been  misled 
and  deceived,  and  pra3dng  for  forgiveness. 
In  about  a  week  perfect  tranquillity  was  restored,  and  from  that  moment  not  a  man 
has  been  seen  in  arms  against  the  Government  in  any  part  of  the  Province,  with  the 
exception  of  the  hostile  aggression  upon  Navy  Island,  which  I  shall  presently  notice; 
nor  has  there  been  the  slightest  resistance  offered  to  the  execution  of  legal  process 
in  a  single  instance. 
After  the  dispersion  of  the  armed  insurgents  near  Toronto  Mr.  McKenzie,  their 
leader,  escaped  in  disguise  to  the  Niagara  River  and  crossed  over  to  Buffalo. 
Reports  had  been  spread  there  and  elsewhere  along  the  American  frontier  that 
Toronto  had  been  burnt  and  that  the  rebels  were  completely  successful,  but  the 
falsehood  of  these  absurd  rumors  was  well  known  before  McKenzie  arrived  on 
the  American  side.  It  was  known  also  that  the  ridiculous  attempt  of  400  men  to 
revolutionize  a  country  containing  nearly  half  a  million  inhabitants  had  been  put 
down  by  the  people  instantly  and  decidedly  without  the  loss  of  a  man. 
Nevertheless,  a  number  of  American  citizens  in  Buffalo  and  other  towns  on  the 
frontier  of  the  State  of  New  York  enlisted  as  soldiers,  with  the  avowed  object  of 
invading  Canada  and  establishing  a  provisional  government  Public  meetings  were 
held  to  forward  this  design  of  invading  a  country  with  which  the  United  States 
were  at  peace.  Volunteers  w^re  called  for,  and  arms,  ammunition,  and  provisions 
were  supplied  by  contributions  openly  made.  All  this  was  in  direct  and  flagrant 
violation  of  the  express  laws  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  of  the  law  of  nations. 
The  civil  authority  of  Buffalo  offered  some  slight  shew  of  resistance  to  the  move- 
ment, being  urged  tq  interpose  by  many  of  the  most  respectable  citizens.  But  no 
real  impediment  was  offer^,  and  on  the  13th  of  December  some  htmdreds  of  the 
citizens  of  the  State  of  New  York,  as  an  armed  body  under  the  command  of  a  Mr. 
Van  Rensselaer,  an  American  citizen,  openly  invaded  and  took  possession  of  Navy 
Island,  a  part  of  Upper  Canada,  situate  in  tlie  Niagara  River. 
Not  believing  that  such  an  outrage  would  really  be  committed,  no  force  whatever 
was  assembled  at  the  time  to  counteract  this  hostile  movement. 
In  a  veiy  short  time  this  lawless  band  obtained  from  some  of  the  arsenals  of  the 
State  of  New  York  (clandestinely,  as  it  is  said)  several  pieces  of  artillery  and  other 
arms,  which  in  broad  daylight  were  openly  transported  to  Navy  Island  without 
resistance  from  the  American  authorities.  The  people  of  Buffalo  and  the  adjacent 
country  continued  to  supply  them  with  stores  of  various  kinds,  and  additional  men 
enlisted  in  their  ranks. 
In  a  few  days  their  force  was  variously  stated  from  500  to  1,500,  of  whom  a  small
Martin  Van  Buren  1680 
proportion  were  rebels  who  had  fled  from  Uppo:  Canada.  'They  bc^n  to  intrench 
themselves,  and  threatened  that  they  would  in  a  short  time  make  a  landing  on  the 
Canadian  side  of  the  Niagara  River. 
To  prevent  this  and  to  keep  them  in  check  a  body  of  militia  was  hastily  collected 
and  stationed  on  the  frontier,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Cameron,  assistant 
adjutant-general  of  militia,  who  was  succeeded  in  this  command  by  Colonel  McNab, 
the  speaker  of  the  house  of  assembly,  an  officer  whose  humanity  and  discretion,  as 
well  as  his  activity,  have  been  proved  by  his  conduct  in  putting  down  the  insurrec- 
tion in  the  London  district  and  have  been  acknowledged  in  warm  terms  of  gratitude 
by  the  misguided  persons  who  had  surrendered  themselves  into  his  hands.  He 
received  orders  to  act  on  the  defensive  only,  and  to  be  careful  not  to  do  any  act 
which  the  American  Government  could  justly  complain  of  as  a  breach  of  neutrality. 
An  official  statement  of  the  unfriendly  proceedings  at  BuflFalo  was  without  delay 
(on  the  13th  December)  made  by  me  to  his  excellency  the  governor  of  th^  State 
of  New  York,  to  which  no  answer  has  been  received.  And  after  this  open  inva- 
sion of  our  territory,  and  when  it  became  evident  that  nothing  was  effected  at  Buf- 
falo for  preventing  the  violation  of  neutrality,  a  special  messenger  was  sent  to  your 
excellency  at  Washington  to  urge  yom:  interposition  in  the  matter.  Sufficient  time 
has  not  yet  elapsed  to  admit  of  his  return.  Soon  after  his  departure  this  band  of 
outlaws  on  Navy  Island,  acting  in  defiance  of  the  laws  and  Government  of  both  coun- 
tries, opened  a  fire  from  several  pieces  of  ordnance  upon  the  Canadian  shore,  which 
in  this  part  is  thickly  settled,  the  distance  from  the  island  being  about  600  yards 
and  within  sight  of  the  populous  village  of  Chippewa.  They  put  several  balls 
(6-pound  shot)  through  a  house  in  which  a  party  of  militiamen  were  quartered  and 
which  is  the  dwelling  house  of  Captain  Usher,  a  respectable  inhabitant.  They  killed 
a  horse  on  which  a  man  at  the  time  was  riding,  but  happily  did  no  fiuther  mischief, 
though  they  fired  also  repeatedly  with  cannon  and  musketry  upon  our  boats. 
They  continued  daily  to  render  their  position  more  formidable,  receiving  constant 
supplies  of  men  and  warlike  stores  from  the  State  of  New  York,  which  were  chiefly 
embarked  at  a  landing  place  on  the  American  main  shore,  called  Fort  Schlosser, 
nearly  opposite  to  Navy  Island.  This  place  was  once,  I  believe,  a  military  position, 
before  the  conquest  of  Canada  from  the  French,  but  there  is  now  neither  fort  nor 
village  there,  but  merely  a  single  house  occupied  as  a  tavern,  and  a  wharf  in  front  of 
it,  to  which  boats  and  vessels  are  moored.  The  tavern  had  been  during  these  lawless 
proceedings  a  rendezvous  for  the  band  (who  can  not  be  called  by  any  name  moore 
appropriate  than  pirates),  and  was  in  fact  openly  and  notoriously  resorted  toastheu 
headquarters  on  the  maizdand,  and  is  so  to  this  time.  On  the  28th  December 
positive  information  was  given  to  Colonel  McNab  by  persons  from  Buffalo  that  a 
small  steamboat  called  the  Caroline^  of  about  50  tons  burthen,  had  been  hired  by  the 
pirates,  who  called  themselves  "patriots,*'  and  was  to  be  employed  in  carrying  down 
cannon  and  other  stores  and  in  transporting  men  and  anything  else  that  might  be 
required  between  Fort  Schlosser  and  Navy  Island. 
He  resolved  if  she  came  down  and  engaged  in  this  service  to  take  or  destroy  her. 
She  did  come  down  agreeably  to  the  information  he  received.  She  transported  a 
piece  of  artillery  and  other  stores  to  the  island,  and  made  repeated  passages  during 
the  day  between  the  island  and  the  main  shore. 
In  the  night  he  sent  a  party  of  militia  in  boats,  with  orders  to  take  or  destroy  her. 
They  proceeded  to  execute  the  order.  They  found  the  Caroline  moored  to  the  wharf 
opposite  to  the  inn  at  Fort  Schlosser.  In  the  inn  there  was  a  guard  of  armed  men 
to  protect  her— part  of  the  pirate  force,  or  acting  in  their  support.  On  her  deck 
there  was  an  armed  party  and  a  sentinel,  who  demanded  the  countersign. 
Thus  identified  as  she  was  with  the  force  which  in  defiance  of  the  law  of  nations 
and  every  principle  of  natural  justice  had  invaded  Upper  Canada  and  made  war  upon 
its  unoffending  inhabitants,  she  was  boarded,  and  after  a  resistance  in  which  some  des- 
perate wounds  were  inflicted  upon  the  assailants  she  was  carried.     If  any  peaceable
i68i  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
citizens  of  the  United  States  perished  in  the  conflict,  it  was  and  is  unknown  to  the 
captors,  and  it  was  and  is  equally  unknown  to  them  whether  any  such  were  there. 
Before  this  vessel  was  thus  taken  not  a  gun  had  been  fired  by  the  force  under  the 
orders  of  Colonel  McNab,  even  upon  this  gang  of  pirates,  much  less  upon  any  peace- 
able citizen  of  the  United  States.  It  must  therefore  have  been  a  consciousness  of 
the  guilty  service  she  was  engaged  in  that  led  those  who  were  employing  her  to 
think  an  armed  guard  necessary  for  her  defense.  Peaceable  citizens  of  the  United 
States  were  not  likely  to  be  found  in  a  vessel  so  employed  at  such  a  place  and  in 
such  a  juncture,  and  if  they  were  there  their  presence,  especially  unknown  as  it  was 
to  the  captors,  could  not  prevent,  in  law  or  reason,  this  necessary  act  of  self-defense. 
Fifteen  days  had  elapsed  since  the  invasion  of  Upper  Canada  by  a  force  enlisted^ 
armed,  and  equipped  openly  in  the  Static  of  New  York.  The  country  where  this 
outrage  upon  the  law  of  nations  was  committed  is  populous.  Buffalo  also  contains. 
I5,OOQ  inhabitants.  The  public  authorities,  it  is  true,  gave  no  countenance  to  those 
flagrant  acts,  but  it  did  not  prevent  them  or  in  the  slightest  degree  obstruct  them 
further  than  by  issuing  proclamations,  which  were  disregarded- 
Perhaps  they  could  not,  but  in  either  case  the  insult  and  injury  to  the  inhabitants 
of  Canada  were  the  same  and  their  right  to  defend  themselves  equally  unquestionable. 
No  wanton  injury  was  committed  by  the  party  who  gallantly  effected  this  service. 
They  loosed  the  vessel  from  the  wharf,  and  finding  they  could  not  tow  her  against 
the  rapid  current  of  the  Niagara,  they  abandoned  the  effort  to  secure  her,  set  her  on 
fire,  and  let  her  drift  down  the  stream. 
The  prisoners  taken  were  a  man  who,  it  will  be  seen  by  the  documents  accompany- 
ing this  dispatch,  avowed  himself  to  be  a  subject  of  Her  Majesty,  inhabiting  Upper 
Canada,  who  had  lately  been  traitorously  in  arms  in  that  Province,  and,  having  fled 
to  the  United  States,  was  then  on  board  for  the  purpose  of  going  to  the  camp  at  Navy 
Island;  and  a  boy,  who,  being  bom  in  Lower  Canada,  was  probably  residing  in  the 
United  States,  and  who,  being  afraid  to  land  from  the  boat  in  consequence  of  the  firing 
kept  up  by  the  guard  on  the  shore,  was  placed  in  one  of  the  boats  under  Captain  Drew 
and  taken  over  to  our  side,  from  whence  he  was  sent  home  the  next  day  by  the  Falls 
ferry  with  money  given  him  to  bear  his  expenses. 
I  send  with  this  letter,  first,  a  copy  of  my  first  communication  to  His  Excellency 
Governor  Marcy,*  to  which  no  reply  has  reached  me;  second,  the  official  reports, 
correspondence,  and  militia  general  order  respecting  the  destruction  of  the  Caroline ^ 
with  other  documents;*  third,  the  correspondence  between  Commissary-General 
Arcularius,  of  the  State  of  New  York,  respecting  the  artillery  belonging  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  State  of  New  York,  which  has  been  and  is  still  used  in  making  war 
upon  this  Province;*  fourth,  other  correspondence  arising  out  of  the  present  state  of 
things  on  the  Niagara  frontier;*  fifth,  the  special  message  of  Governor  Marcy.* 
It  will  be  seen  from  these  documents  that  a  high  officer  of  the  government  of  the 
State  of  New  York  has  been  sent  by  his  excellency  the  governor  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  regaining  possession  of  the  artillery  of  that  State  which  is  now  employed  in 
hostile  aggressions  upon  this  portion  of  Her  Majesty's  dominions,  and  that,  being 
aided  and  favored,  as  he  acknowledges,  by  the  most  friendly  cooperation  which  the 
commanding  officer  of  Her  Majesty's  forces  could  give  him,  he  has  been  success- 
fully defied  by  this  army  of  American  citizens,  and  has  abandoned  the  object  of  his 
mission  in  despair. 
It  can  hardly  fail  also  to  be  observed  by  your  excellency  that  in  the  course  of  this 
uegotiation  between  Mr.  Van  Rensselaer  and  the  commissary-general  of  the  State  of 
New  York  this  individual,  Mr.  Van  Rensselaer,  has  not  hesitated  to  place  himself 
within  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  the  government  whose  laws  he  had  violated 
and  in  direct  personal  communication  with  the  officer  of  that  government,  and  has, 
nevertheless,  been  allowed  to  return  unmolested  to  continue  in  command  of  American 
citizens  engaged  in  open  hostilities  against  Great  Britain. 
*  Omitted.
INCIDENTS  IN  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR. 
For  account  of  the  war  with  the  Seminole  Indians,  see  Encyclopedic  Index 
article  under  Seminole  Wars.  One  of  the  panels  in  the  preceding  illustration 
shows  the  capture  of  Osceola,  the  leader  of  the  Seminoles.  Osceola,  a  half- 
breed,  rallied  the  Indian  forces  under  his  leadership  soon  after  the  outbrea'k 
of  the  war  in  1834,  but  it  was  not  until  December  28,  1835,  that  his  strength 
was  realized.  On  that  day,  a  large  band  of  Seminoles  followed  Osceola  to  the 
place  shown  on  the  other  preceding  panel,  and  there  surprised  and  killed 
Major  Dade  and  all  of  the  force  of  110  men  under  him.  Osceola  was  finally 
captured  by  General  Jessup,  while  the  Indian  was  under  the  protection  of  a 
flag  of  truce,  the  United  States  commander  justifying  his  action  by  the  fact 
that  Osceola  himself  had  broken  treaties  on  several  occasions.
Martin  Van  Buren  1682 
The  exact  position,  then,  of  affairs  on  our  frontier  may  be  thus  desctibed  : 
An  anny  of  American  citizens,  joined  to  a  very  few  traitors  from  Upper  Canada,  and 
nnder  the  command  of  a  subject  of  the  United  States,  has  been  raised  and  equipped 
in  the  State  of  New  York  against  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  the  treaties  now 
subsisting,  and  are  using  artillery  plundered  from  the  arsenals  of  the  State  of  New 
York  in  carrying  on  this  piratical  warfare  against  a  friendly  country. 
The  officers  and  Government  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  State  of  New  York 
have  attempted  to  arrest  these  proceedings  and  to  control  their  citizens,  but  they 
have  failed.  Although  this  piratical  assemblage  are  thus  defying  the  civil  authori- 
ties of  both  countries,  Upper  Canada  alone  ia  the  object  of  their  hostilities.  The 
Government  of  the  United  States  has  failed  to  enforce  its  authority  by  any  means, 
civil  or  military,  and  the  single  question  (if  it  be  a  question)  is  whether  Upper 
Canada  was  bound  to  refrain  from  necessary  acts  of  self-defense  against  a  people 
whom  their  own  Government  either  cotdd  not  or  would  not  control. 
In  perusing  the  message  of  His  Excellency  Governor  Marcy  to  the  legislature  of 
the  State  of  New  York  your  excellency  will  probably  feel  some  degree  of  surprise 
that  after  three  weeks'  continued  hostility  carried  on  by  the  citizens  of  New  York 
against  the  people  of  Upper  Canada  his  excellency  seems  to  have  considered  himself 
not  called-upon  to  make  this  aggression  the  subject  of  remark  for  any  other  purpose 
than  to  complain  of  a  solitary  act  of  self-defense  on  the  part  of  Her  Majesty's  Prov- 
ince of  Upper  Canada,  to  which  such  unprovoked  hostilities  have  unavoidably  led. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  excellency's  most  obedient,  humble  servant, 
P.  B.  HEAD. 
Mr,  Forsyth  to  Mr.  Fox. 
DSPARTinSNT  OP  STATB, 
HWRY  S.  Fox,  Esq..  etc.  Washington,  February  13. 183B. 
Sm:  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  note  of  the  6th  instant, 
commtmicating  a  copy  of  a  letter  from  Sir  Francis  Head,  lieutenant-governor  of  the 
Province  of  Upper  Canada,  respecting  the  capture  and  destruction  of  the  steamboat 
Caroline  by  a  Canadian  force  on  the  American  side  of  the  Niagara  River  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  State  of  New  York,  together  with  the  reports  and  depositions 
thereto  annexed. 
The  statement  of  the  facts  which  these  papers  present  is  at  variance  with  the 
information  communicated  to  this  Government  respecting  that  transaction;  but  if  is 
not  intended  to  enter  at  present  upon  an  examination  of  the  details  of  the  case,  as 
steps  have  been  taken  to  obtain  the  fullest  evidence  that  can  be  had  of  the  particu- 
lars of  the  outrage,  upon  the  receipt  of  which  it  will  be  made  the  subject  of  a  formal 
complaint  to  the  British  Government  for  redress.  Even  admitting  that  the  docu- 
ments transmitted  with  your  note  contain  a  correct  statement  of  the  occurrence, 
they  furnish  no  justification  of  the  aggression  committed  upon  the  territory  of  the 
United  States — an  aggression  which  was  the  more  tmexpected  as  Sir  Francis  Head, 
in  his  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  parliament  of  Upper  Canada,  had  expressed  his 
confidence  in  the  disposition  of  this  Government  to  restrain  its  citizens  from  taking 
part  in  the  conflict  which  was  waging  in  that  Province,  and  added  that,  having  com- 
municated with  the  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  yourself,  he  was  then 
waiting  for  replies. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  remind  you  that  his  expectations  have  been  met  by  the  adop- 
tion of  measures  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  as  prompt  and  vigorous  as  they 
have  been  successful  in  repressing  every  attempt  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  frontier^ 
States  to  interfere  unlawfully  in  that  contest.  The  most  serious  obstacle  thrown  in 
the  way  of  those  measures  was  the  burning  of  the  Caroline,  which,  while  it  was  of  no 
service  to  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  cause  in  Canada,  had  the  natural  effect  of  increas- 
ing the  excitement  on  the  border,  which  this  Government  was  endeavoring  to  allay. 
I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to  renew  to  you  the  assurance  of  my  distinguished 
consideratwn.  JOHN  FORSYTH.
1683  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
His  Excellency  Maiitin  Van  BtmsN.  Bdiwam).  Decefnber  30, 1837. 
President  of  the  Unitea  States. 
Sir:  Inclosed  are  copies  of  affidavits*  which  I  have  prepared  in  great  haste,  and 
which  contain  all  that  is  material  in  relation  to  the  gross  and  extraordinary  trans- 
action to  which  they  relate.  Our  whole  frontier  is  in  commotion,  and  I  fear  it  will  be 
difficult  to  restrain  om:  citizens  from  avenging  by  a  resort  to  arms  this  flagrant  inva- 
sion of  our  territory.  Ever3rthing  that  can  be  done  will  be  by  the  public  authorities 
to  prevent  so  injudicious  a  movement.  The  respective  sheriffs  of  Brie  and  Niagara 
have  taken  the  responsibility  of  calling  out  the  militia  to  guard  the  frontier  and  pn« 
vent  any  further  depredations. 
I  am,  sir,  with  great  consideration,  your  obedient  servant, 
H.  W.  ROGERS, 
^Hstrict  Attorney  for  Erie  County,  and  Acting  for  the  United  Staies, 
To  the  Senate:  Washington,  April,  1838. 
I  transmit  a  communication  from  the  Department  of  War,  on  the  sub" 
ject  of  the  treaty  with  the  Stockbridge  and  Munsee  Indians  of  September, 
1836,  which  is  now  before  the  Senate.  ^  y^^  BUREN 
Washington,  Afril  75,  i8j8. 
The  President  of  the  Senate  op  the  United  States. 
Sir:  I  transmit  to  you  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  accom- 
panied with  the  papers  relating  to  surveys,  examinations  and  surveys  of 
light-houses,  sites  for  Ught-houses,  and  improvements  in  the  light-house 
system,  called  for  by  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  8th  of  March  last. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Hon.  James  K.  Poi^k,  Washington,  April  j6,  1S38. 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  to  you  copies  of  the  letters,  docu- 
ments, and  communications  called  for  by  a  resolution  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  7th  of  December  last,  received  from  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  to  be  annexed  to  his  report  of  the  5th  day  of  February  last, 
in  relation  to  the  delay  of  the  sailing  of  the  exploring  expedition. f 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  April  z8, 1838, 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  retiuTi  the  petition  and  papers  of  Econchatta  Nico,t  referred  to  me 
by  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  February  7,  1837,  ^i^^  transmit  a  com- 
♦Omitted. 
t  South  Sea  surveying  and  exploring  expedition. 
;  A  chief  of  the  Apalachicola  Indiana,  for  indemnification  for  kMica  anataincd  by  depredationa 
OB  his  property  lof  white  penoaa,
Martin  Van  Buren  1684 
munication  and  accompanying  papers  from  the  Acting  Secretary  of  War, 
showing  the  failure  of  the  attempt  made,  in  conformity  with  the  resolu- 
tion, to  obtain  indemnity  for  the  petitioner  by  prosecuting  the  depreda- 
tors on  his  property,  and  also  the  causes  of  the  failure.  The  papers  are 
returned  and  the  report  and  documents  of  the  Acting  Secretary  of  War 
submitted  in  order  that  Congress  may  devise  such  other  mode  of  relief 
as  may  seem  proper.  ^  ^^^  BUREN. 
Washington,  April  23,  1838, 
To  the  Hotcse  of  Representatives  0/ the  United  States: 
In  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  1 6th  instant,  relative  to  an  attack  on  the  steamboat  Columbia  in  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  by  a  Mexican  armed  vessel,  I  transmit  a  report  from 
the  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  the  resolution  was  referred. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  April  23 ^  1838. 
To  the  Senate: 
I  transmit,  for  the  consideration  and  action  of  the  Senate,  communi- 
cations from  the  Department  of  War,  accompanying  treaties  with  the 
Indians  in  the  State  of  New  York,  with  the  St.  Regis  band,  and  with 
the  Oneidas  residing  at  Green  Bay.*  ^  y^^^  BUREN. 
Washington,  April  26,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
In  partial  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  the  2ist  ultimo,  calling  for  further  information  on  the  relations 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Mexican  Republic,  I  transmit  a  report 
from  the  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  the  resolution  was  referred. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  April  27,  1838. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  to  the  Senate,  for  their  consideration  with  a  view  to  its  rati- 
fication,  a  convention  between  the  United  States  and  the  Republic  of 
Texas  for  marking  the  boundary  between  them,  signed  in  this  city  by 
the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  parties  on  the  25th  instant. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  April  30,  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  that  part  of  their  resolution  of  the  19th 
ultimo  requesting  the  communication  of  all  correspondence  with  any
1 68s  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
foreig^n  government  in  regard  to  the  title  or  occupation  of  the  territory 
of  the  United  States  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Department  of  State, 
Washington,  April  2S,  fSjS, 
The  President  oe  the  UNtTED  States: 
The  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  has  been  referred  so  much  of  the  resolution  of 
tiie  House  of  Representatives  dated  the  19th  ultimo  as  requests  the  President,  if  not 
incompatible  with  the  public  interest,  to  communicate  to  that  body  all  correspond- 
ence had  with  any  foreign  government  respecting  the  title  or  occupation  of  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Unit«i  States  beyond  the  Rocky  Motmtains,  has  the  honor  to  report  to 
the  President  that  no  recent  communication  on  this  subject  has  passed  between  this 
Government  and  any  foreign  power,  and  that  copies  of  the  correspondence  growing 
out  of  previous  discussions  in  which  the  question  of  title  or  occupation  of  this  ter- 
ritory was  involved  have  been  heretofore  communicated  to  the  House  and  will  be 
found  among  the  documents  printed  by  their  order.  Document  No.  65  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  contained  in  the  fourth  volume  of  State  Papers  of  the  first  ses- 
sion of  the  Nineteenth  Congress,  and  that  numbered  199,  in  the  fifth  volume  of  State 
Papers  of  the  first  session  of  the  Twentieth  Congress,  are  particularly  referred  to  as 
immediately  connected  with  this  subject. 
Respectfully  submitted. 
JOHN  FORSYTH. 
Washington,  May  7,  iSjS. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  a  report,  and  accompanying  documents,  from  the 
Acting  Secretary  of  War,  which  contains  the  information*  required  by 
the  resolution  of  the  i6th  ultimo,  respecting  the  oflScers  of  the  Corps  of 
Eiigineers,  the  works  upon  which  they  were  engaged  during  the  last  year, 
and  the  other  matters  embraced  in  the  resolution. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  May  2,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State  transmitted  by  me  to  the  House 
of  Representatives  in  compliance  with  their  resolution  of  the*  1 6th  ultimo, 
respecting  an  attack  alleged  to  have  been  made  by  a  Mexican  armed 
vessel  upon  an  American  steamboat,  having  stated  that  no  information  on 
the  subject  had  at  that  time  reached  the  Department,  I  now  transmit 
another  report  from  the  same  officer,  communicating  a  copy  of  a  note 
from  the  Mexican  minister,  with  an  accompanying  document,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  act  alluded  to,  which  have  been  received  at  the  Department 
since  the  date  of  the  former  report. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
*  iist  of  officers  of  the  Corps  of  Bnsrineers  and  of  the  works  upon  which  they  were  employed 
anrii/ff  the  year  1837.
Martin  Van  Buren  1686 
Washingih:>n,  May  7, 1838. 
Fo  the  Senate  of  the  Untied  StaUs: 
I  transmit  to  the  Senate,  for  their  consideration  with  a  view  to  its  rati- 
fication, a  convention  signed  at  Houston  on  the  i  ith  ultimo  by  Alc^e 
I^  Branche,  charg6  d'affaires  of  the  United  States,  and  R.  A.  Irion, 
secretary  of  state  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  stipulating  for  the  adjust- 
ment and  satisfaction  of  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  on  that 
Government  in  the  cases  of  the  brigs  locket  and  Durango.  This  con- 
rention  having  been  concluded  in  anticipation  of  the  receipt  from  the 
Department  of  a  formal  power  for  that  purpose,  an  extract  from  a 
dispatch  of  Mr.  La  Branche  to  the  Secretary  of  State  explanatory  of  his 
motives  for  that  act  is  also  transmitted  for  tiie  information  of  the  Senate. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  May  to,  1838. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: 
I  submit  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  a  statement  prepared  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  by  which  it  appears  that  the  United  States, 
with  over  twenty-eight  millions  in  deposit  with  the  States  and  over  fif- 
teen milUons  due  from  individuals  and  banks,  are,  from  the  situation  in 
which  those  funds  are  placed,  in  immediate  danger  of  being  rendered 
unable  to  discharge  with  good  faith  and  promptitude  the  various  pecun- 
iary obligations  of  the  Government.  The  occurrence  of  this  result  has 
for  some  time  been  apprehended,  and  efforts  made  to  avert  it.  As  the 
principal  dij£culty  arises  from  a  prohibition  in  the  present  law  to  reissue 
6uch  Treasury  notes  as  might  be  paid  in  before  they  fell  due,  and  may 
be  effectually  obviated  by  giving  the  Treasury  during  the  whole  year  the 
benefit  of  the  full  amount  originally  authorized,  the  remedy  would  seem 
to  be  pbvious  and  easy. 
The  serious  embarrassments  likely  to  arise  from  a  longer  continuance 
of  the  present  state  of  things  induces  me  respectfully  to  invite  the  earliest 
attention  of  Congress  to  the  subject  which  may  be  consistent  with  a  due 
r^ard  to  other  t>ublic  interests. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  May  iz,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives  reports  from  the 
Secretary  of  State  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  with  accompany- 
ing papers,  in  answer  to  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  the  30th  ultimo, 
relating  to  the  introduction  of  foreign  paupers  into  the  United  States. 
M.  VAN  BUREN.
i687  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Washington,  May  /p,  1838. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  Senate  the  copy  of  a  letter  addressed  to  me 
on  the  28th  ultimo  by  the  governor  of  Maine,  inclosing  several  resolves 
of  the  legislature  of  that  State,  and  claiming  reimbursement  from  the 
(General  Government  of  certain  moneys  paid  to  Ebenezer  S.  Greely, 
John  Baker,  and  others  in  compensation  for  losses  and  sufiEerings  experi- 
enced by  them  respectively  under  circumstances  more  fully  explained  in 
his  excellency's  letter. 
In  the  absence  of  any  authority  on  the  part  of  the  Executive  to  satisfy 
these  claims,  they  are  now  submitted  to  Congress  for  consideration;  and 
I  deem  it  proper  at  the  same  time,  with  reference  to  the  observations 
contained  in  Governor  Kent's  note  above  mentioned,  to  communicate  to 
the  Senate  copies  of  other  papers  connected  with  the  subject  of  the  north- 
eastern boundary  of  the  United  States,  which,  with  the  documents  already 
made  public,  will  show  the  actual  state  of  the  negotiations  with  Great 
Britain  on  the  general  question.  1^   VAN  BUREN 
[The  same  message  was  sent  to  the  House  of  Representatives.] 
Statb  of  Maink,  Executive  Department, 
Augusta,  April  28, 1838. 
His  Excellency  Martin  Van  Buren, 
President  of  the  United  States, 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  inclose  to  you  a  copy  of  a  resolve*  of  the  legislature  of 
this  State  in  favor  of  Ebenezer  S.  Greely,  also  a  copy  of  a  resolve*  in  favor  of  John 
Baker  and  others;  and  in  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  legislature  I  ask  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  a  reimbursement  of  the  several  sums  allowed 
thereby,  which  several  sums  have  been  paid  by  this  State  to  the  individuals  named 
in  the  resolves. 
The  justice  and  propriety  of  granting  this  request,  I  can  have  no  doubt,  will  be 
apparent  to  you  and  to  Congress  when  the  circumstances  under  which  the  allowances 
were  made  are  called  to  mind. 
Mr.  Greely,  acting  as  agent  under  a  law  of  this  State  authorizing  and  directing  a 
census  to  be  taken  in  unincorporated  places,  was  forcibly  seized  and  imprisoned  for 
several  months,  and  then,  without  trial,  released. 
John  Baker  and  his  associates  named  in  the  other  resolve  suffered  by  imprison- 
ment and  o^therwise  for  acting  under  a  law  of  this  State  incorporating  the  town  of 
Madawaska  in  183 1.  The  State  of  Maine  has  acknowledged  by  these  and  other 
resolves  its  sense  of  obligation  to  remunerate  in  the  first  instance  these  sufferers  in 
its  cause  and  to  satisfy  as  far  as  it  is  able  their  claims  upon  its  justice.  But  the 
wrongs  by  which  they  suffered  were  committed  by  a  foreign  power  with  whom  we 
are  now  at  peace.  The  State  of  Maine  has  no  power  to  make  war  or  authorize 
reprisals.  She  can  only  look  to  the  General  Government  to  assume  the  payment 
as  an  act  of  justice  to  a  member  of  the  Union  under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  to  demand  redress  and  remimeration  from  the  authors  of  the  wrong  in  the 
name  of  the  United  States. 
A  minute  recapitulation  of  the  facts  upon  which  these  resolves  are  founded  is 
deemed  entirely  unnecessary  and  superfluous,  as  they  have  heretofore  been  com* 
municated  and  are  well  known  to  the  Executive  and  to  Congress. 
•Omitted.
Martin  Van  Buren  1688 
Maine  has  suffered  too  many  irepetitions  of  similar  attempts  to  prevent  her  from 
enjoying  her  rightful  possessions  and  enforcing  her  just  claims  to  feel  indifferent  on 
the  subject,  and  we  look  with  confidence  to  the  General  Government  for  protection 
and  support  The  amount  of  money,  although  considerable,  is  of  comparatively 
small  importance  when  contrasted  with  the  principles  involved  and  the  effect  which 
must  result  from  an  immediate  and  ready  assumption  of  the  liability  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States.  Such  an  act  would  be  highly  gratifying  to  the  people  of  this 
State  as  evidence  that  their  just  claims  and  rights  are  fully  recognized  by  the  United 
States,  and  that  the  strong  arm  of  the  Union  will  be  stretched  out  for  their  protec- 
tion in  every  lawful  effort  to  maintain  and  enforce  their  claims,  which  they  know 
and  feel  to  be  just  and  unimpeachable  and  which  they  are  determined  to  maintain. 
I  trust  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  earnestly  m-ging  immediate  action  on  the  subject. 
I  had  the  honor  to  inclose  to  you,  under  date  of  the  28th  of  March  last,  a  copy  of 
my  message  to  the  legislature  and  of  the  resolves  of  the  legislature  of  Maine  in  rela- 
tion to  the  northeastern  boundary,  which  I  have  no  doubt  have  received  and  will 
receive  all  the  attention  the  importance  of  the  subjects  therein  discussed  and  acted 
on  demands.  You  will  perceive  that  in  accordance  with  your  wishes  I  communicated 
the  proposition  in  relation  to  a  conventional  line  of  boundary,  with  the  letter  of  Mr. 
Fpr^^  addressed  to  the  executive  of  Maine.  The  views  and  wishes  and  determi- 
nation of  the  executive  and  legislatiure,  and  I  think  I  may  safely  add  of  the  people, 
of  Maine  are  fully  and  distinctly  set  forth  in  the  documents  referred  to,  communi- 
cated to  you  heretofore  by  me.  The  proposition  was  distinct  and  definite,  and  the 
answer  is  equally  so,  and  I  consider  that  it  may  be  regarded  as  the  fixed  determine  • 
tion  of  Maine  to  consent  to  no  proposition  on  our  part  to  vary  the  treaty  line,  but  to 
stand  by  that  line  as  a  definite,  a  practicable,  and  a  fair  one  until  its  impracticability 
is  demonstrated.  It  is  needless  for  me  to  recapitulate  the  reasons  upon  which  this 
determination  is  founded.  I  refer  you  to  the  documents  before  alluded  to  for  my 
own  views  on  this  topic,  sanctioned  fully  by  the  legislature.  The  duty  devolving 
upon  me  by  your  request  I  have  endeavored  to  discharge  in  a  spirit  of  profound 
respect  for  the  constituted  officers  of  the  General  Government,  and  with  a«single 
eye  to  the  interest  and  honor  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  State  of  Maine.  The 
attitude  assumed  by  Maine  in  relation  to  the  survey  of  the  line  of  the  treaty  of  1783 
has  doubtless  attracted  your  attention.  I  feel  it  due  to  the  State  to  say  to  you 
frankly  and  unequivocally  that  this  position  was  taken  deliberately  and  with  a  full 
consideration  of  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case;  but  it  was  assumed  in  no  spirit 
of  defiance  or  resistance  and  with  no  design  to  embarrass  the  action  of  the  General 
Government.  Maine  feels  no  desire  to  act  alone  or  independently  on  this  question. 
She  knows  and  feels  that  it  is  a  national  question,  and  that  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of 
the  General  Government  to  move  forward  in  effecting' the  object  proposed. 
I  feel  fully  warranted  in  saying  that  Maine  does  not  intend  by  this  expression 
of  her  determination  to  run  the  line  in  a  certain  contingency  to  waive  in  the  least 
degree  her  well-founded  claim  upon  the  General  Government  to  run,  mark,  and 
establish  it.  On  the  contrary,  she  will  most  reluctantly  yield  the  hope  she  now  so 
strongly  feels  that  it  is  the  intention  of  that  Government  to  relieve  her  from  the 
necessity  of  throwing  herself  upon  her  own  resources  to  assert  and  defend  her  most 
unquestionable  right.  The  wish  of  this  State  is  that  the  first  act  should  be  to  run 
the  line  of  the  treaty  of  1783  to  ascertain  the  facts  in  relation  to  the  topography  of 
the  country  and  the  exact  spot  where  the  northwest  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  may  be 
found  according  to  our  construction  of  the  treaty  language,  and  to  place  suitable 
monuments  along  the  whole  line.  Such  a  survey  would  not  settle  or  determine  any 
rights,  but  it  would  express  and  declare  otu*  views  and'  intentions.  Such  a  stu^ey  is 
not  a  warlike  or  offensive  movement,  and  can  not  justly  give  offense  to  the  other 
party  in  the  controversy.  It  is  the  unquestionable  right  of  litigants  in  a  court  of 
justice  to  make  explorations  of  land  in  dispute,  and  if  either  party  declines  a  joint
1689  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
survey  it  may  be  made  ex  parte  ^  and  snrely  the  United  States  have  never  so  far 
yielded  the  actual  possession  to  Great  Britain  as  to  preclude  the  right  on  our  part  to 
ascertain  for  ourselves  the  absolute  facts  and  to  mark  out  the  limits  of  our  claim  and 
our  alleged  right.  This  act  Maine  asks,  and  asks  earnestly,  the  General  Govern- 
ment to  perform  without  delay.  Such  an  assumption  of  the  controversy  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States  would*  be  to  Maine  an  assurance  that  her  rights  were  duly 
regarded,  and  would  be  steadily  and  perseveringly  maintained.  We  want  the  name 
and  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  an  act  ema- 
nating from  that  source  would  be  regarded  by  those  interested  on  both  sides  as  of 
more  importance  than  any  act  of  an  individual  State.  So  far,  then,  from  any  indif- 
ference on  the  part  of  Maine  as  to  the  action  of  the  General  Government,  or  any 
desire  to  be  driven  to  assume  the  performance  of  the  duty  alluded  to,  she  looks  with 
intense  anxiety  and  confident  hope  to  be  relieved  from  this  position.  She  believes 
it  is  alike  due  to  the  honor  of  the  United  States  and  the  rights  of  Maine  that  t^e 
General  Government  should  go  forward  in  the  work,  and  that  there  is  less  to  appre- 
hend in  the  result  from  such  a  course  than  any  other.  But  Maine  feels  that  the  time 
for  decisive  action  has  come,  that  she  can  not  be  satisfied  to  have  the  claim  to  abso- 
lute and  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  a  laige  part  of  her  territory  longer  tolerated  and 
acquiesced  in.  She  knows  that  it  rightfully  belongs  to  her  jurisdiction,  that  it  is 
hers  by  a  clear,  perfect,  and  honest  title— as  clear,  as  perfect,  and  rightful  as  her  title 
to  any  portion  of  the  State — ^and  she  can  not  consent  to  have  this  title  impaired  or 
weakened  by  bold  encroachments  and  unscrupulous  demands.  She  can  not  consent 
that  a  title  transmitted  by  the  fathers  of  the  Revolution  shall  be  destroyed  or  defeated 
by  acquiescence  in  the  adverse  occupation  of  a  foreign  state,  and  that  what  was 
once  fairly  jrielded  shall  be  reclaimed  in  utter  defiance  of  a  solemn  deed  of  cession. 
I  am  confident  I  am  not  mistaken  in  stating  that  the  legislature  of  Maine  considered 
the  question  as  fairly  and  plainly  before  the  National  Govenmient,  and  that  if  the 
present  session  of  Congress  should  close  with  a  denial  or  postponement  of  the  pro- 
posed survey  and  no  commission  should  be  created  by  the  ^ecutive,  as  contem- 
plated ^in  the  resolution  referred  to,  we  should  have  a  right  and  be  bound  to  regard 
such  a  delay  or  refusal  as  evidence  of  an  indisposition  on  the  part  of  the  General 
Government  to  accede  to  our  expressed  views  and  wishes,  and  a  denial  of  justice,  and 
that  Maine  in  that  event  owed  it  to  herself  to  cause  the  survey  to  be  made  under  her 
own  authority.  The  duty  of  the  executive  of  Maine  is  plainly  pointed  out  and  made 
imperative  and  absolute  by  the  resolves  of  the  legislature,  and  I  certainly  can  not 
hesitate,  so  far  as  I  have  the  means  and  power,  to  execute  their  declared  will. 
The  people  of  Maine,  sir,  are  not  desirous  of  conflict  or  war.  Both  in  their  habits 
and  their  principles  they  love  and  wish  for  peace  and  quiet  within  their  borders. 
They  are  not  ambitious  to  win  laurels  or  to  acquire  military  glory  by  waging  war 
with  their  neighbors,  and  least  of  all  are  they  desirous  of  a  border  warfare,  which 
may  be  the  means  of  sacrificing  human  life  and  engendering  ill  will  and  bad  pas- 
sions, without  bringing  the  controversy  to  a  conclusion.  They  are  scattered  over  our 
thousand  hills,  engaged  in  their  quiet  and  peaceful  labors,  and  it  is  the  first  wish  of 
their  hearts  to  live  peaceably  with  all  men  and  all  nations.  They  have  no  anxiety 
to  extend  our  limits  or  to  gain  territory  by  conquest,  but  there  is  a  firm  and  deter- 
mined spirit  in  this  people  which  can  not  brook  insult  and  will  not  submit  to  inten- 
tional injury.  **They  know  their  rights,  and  knowing  dare  maintain  them"  with 
calm  determination  and  deliberate  purpose,  and  they  appeal  with  unshrinking  con- 
fidence to  their  sister  States  and  to  the  Government  which  binds  them  together  for 
effective  support  in  this  their  purpose. 
The  crisis,  as  we  believe,  demands  firm  and  decided  language  and  the  expression 
of  a  determined  design.  Maine  has  never  refused  to  acquiesce  in  any  fair  and  honor- 
able mode  of  fixing  the  line  according  to  the  treaty  0/1783,  I  have  no  doubt  (but 
upon  this  point  I  speak  according  to  my  individual  belief)  that  the  modf^  proposed
Martin  Van  Buren  1690 
tfj  Great  Britain  of  establishing  the  treaty  line  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  by  a  com- 
mission composed  of  impartial  and  scientific  men,  to  be  selected  by  a  friendly  power, 
would  be  satisfactory  and  acquiesced  in  by  this  State,  but  that  we  should  neither  ask 
nor  agree  that  any  preliminary  points  should  be  yielded  by  either  party.  We  should 
only  ask  that  the  treaty  should  be  placed  in  their  hands  with  directions  to  ascertain 
and  run  and  fix  the  line  according  to  its  plain  language  and  obvious  meaning. 
Maine  can  never  consent,  as  I  apprehend,  to  yield  the  main  points  of  the  case  and 
then  refer  it  to  enable  the  judges  to  divide  the  subject-matter  of  the  controversy. 
We  feel  that  we  now  stand  on  the  high  vantage  ground  of  truth  and  justice,  and 
that  it  can  not  be  that  any  nation  professing  to  act  on  the  principles  of  right  and 
equity  can  stand  up  before  the  civilized  world  and  contest  with  unyielding  pertinac- 
ity our  claim.  We  have  too  much  respect  for  the  nation  from  which  we  descended 
to  believe  that  she  will  sully  her  reputation  by  such  persevering  resistance. 
I  am  conscious  that  the  language  and  style  of  this  communication  are  unusual  and 
probably  undiplomatic;  that  tiiere  is  more  of  the  fervor  of  feeling  and  the  plain  lan- 
guage of  direct  appeal  than  is  usual  in  such  papers;  but  it  is  a  subject  of  such  yast 
importance  to  the  State  whose  interests  have  been  in  part  intrusted  to  me  and  whose 
organ  I  am  that  I  can  not  speak  in  measured  terms  or  indefinite  language.  On  this 
subject  we  have  no  ulterior  views  and  no  concealed  objects.  Our  plans  and  our 
policy  are  open  and  exposed  to  the  view  of  all  men.  Maine  has  nothing  in  either 
to  conceal  or  disguise.  She  plainly  and  distinctly  asks  for  specific  and  definite 
action.  In  performing  what  I  conceive  to  be  my  duty  I  have  been  actuated  by 
entire  respect  toward  the  General  Government  and  by  the  single  desire  to  explain 
and  enforce  as  well  as  I  was  able  oiu*  wishes  and  our  rights.  I  can  only  add  that 
we  trust  the  General  Government  will  assume  the  performance  of  the  act  specified 
in  the  resolution  and  relieve  Maine  from  the  necessity  of  independent  action. 
With  great  respect,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  most  obedient  servant, 
EDWARD  KENT. 
DSPA&TMKMT  OF  STATE, 
Washington  y  April  27 ^  iSjS, 
HSN&y  S.  Fdx,  Esq.,  etc.: 
The  undersigned,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  has  the  honor,  by  the 
directions  of  the  President,  to  communicate  to  Mr.  Pox,  Her  Britannic  Majesty's 
envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary,  the  result  of  the  application  of 
the  General  Government  to  the  State  of  Maine  on  thp  subject  of  the  northeastern 
boundary  line  and  the  resolution  which  the  President  has  formed  upon  a  careful 
consideration  thereof.  By  the  accompanying  papers,*  received  from  the  executive 
of  Maine,  Mr.  Pox  will  perceive  that  Maine  declines  to  give  a  consent  to  the  nego- 
tiation for  a  conventional  boundary,  is  disinclined  to  the  reference  of  the  points  in 
dispute  to  a  new  arbitration,  but  is  yet  firmly  persuaded  that  the  line  described 
in  the  treaty  of  1783  can  be  found  and  traced  whenever  the  Governments  of  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  shall  proceed  to  make  the  requisite  investigations 
with  a  predisposition  to  effect  that  very  desirable  object.  Confidently  relying,  as 
the  President  does,  upon  the  assurances  frequently  repeated  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment of  the  earnest  desire  to  reach  that  result  if  it  is  practicable,  he  has  instructed 
the  undersigned  to  announce  to  Mr.  Pox  the  willingness  of  this  Government  to 
enter  into  an  arrangement  with  Great  Britain  for  the  establishment  of  a  joint  com- 
mission of  survey  and  exploration  upon  the  basis  of  the  original  American  propo- 
sition and  the  modifications  offered  by  Her  Majesty's  Government. 
The  Secretary  of  State  is  therefore  authorized  to  invite  Mr.  Pox  to  a  confer- 
ence upon  the  subject  at  as  early  a  day  as  his  convenience  will  permit,  and  the 
^Omitted.
1691  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
undersigned  will  be  immediately  furnished  with  a  requisite  f uU  power  by  the  Preal- 
dent  to  conclude  a  convention  embracing  that  object  if  Her  Majesty's  minister  is 
duly  empowered  to  proceed  to  the  negotiation  of  it  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain. 
The  undersigned  avails  himself  of  this  occasion  to  renew  to  Mr.  Pox  the  expression 
of  his  ^  i^ipg*^^-''he<\  congid^ftiffUx 
JOHN  FORSYTH. 
Washington,  May  /,  1S3S, 
Hon.  John  Forsvth,  etc. 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  official  note  of  the  27th 
ultimo,  in  which  you  inclose  to  me  a  communication  received  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment from  the  executive  of  Maine  upon  the  subject  of  the  northeastern  boundary 
line,  and  in  which  you  inform  me  that  the  President  is  willing  to  enter  into  an 
arrangement  with  Her  Majesty's  Government  for  the  establishment  of  a  joint  com* 
mission  of  survey  and  exploration  upon  the  basis  of  the  original  American  proposi- 
tion and  of  the  modifications  o£Fered  by  Her  Majesty's  Government,  as  communicated 
to  you  in  my  note  of  the  loth  of  January  last,  and  you  invite  me  to  a  conference  for 
the  purpose  of  negotiating  a  convention  that  shall  embrace  the  above  object  if  I  am 
duly  empowered  by  my  Government  to  proceed  to  such  negotiation. 
I  have  the  honor  to  state  to  you  in  reply  that  my  actual  instructions  were  fulfilled 
by  the  delivery  of  the  communication  which  I  addressed  to  you  on  the  loth  of  Jan- 
uary, and  that  I  am  not  at  present  provided  with  full  powers  for  negotiating  the  pro- 
posed convention.  I  will  forthwith,  however,  transmit  to  Her  Majesty's  Government 
the  note  which  I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive  from  you  in  order  that  such  fresh 
instructions  may  be  furnished  to  me  or  such  other  steps  taken  as  the  present  situa- 
tion of  the  question  may  appear  to  Her  Majesty's  Government  to  require. 
I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to  renew  to  you  the  assuxance  of  my  high  respect 
and  consideration. 
H.  S.  POX. 
Dbpartmbnt  of  State, 
Washington,  May  8, 1838. 
His  Excellency  Edward  SIknt, 
Governor  of  Maine. 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  on  the  22d  ultimo  of  the  com- 
munication addressed  to  this  Department  by  your  excellency  on  the  28th  of  March 
last,  transmitting  a  printed  oppy  of  yotu-  message  of  the  14th  of  the  same  month  to 
the  legislature  of  Maine,  together  with  certain  resolves  passed  by  that  body,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  northeastern  boundary  of  the  State. 
Although  the  answer  thus  given  to  the  application  made  to  you,  by  direction  of 
the  President,  under  date  of  the  ist  of  March  last,  to  ascertain  the  sense  of  the  State 
of  Maine  in  regard  to  a  conventional  line  of  boundary  may  be  regarded  as  conclusive, 
I  still  deem  it  proper,  with  reference  to  your  excellency's  message,  to  mark  a  mis- 
conception which  appears  to  have  existed  on  your  part  when  communicating  to  the 
legislature  the  letter  and  documents  received  from  this  Department.  This  is  done 
with  the  greater  freedom  since  the  frank  and  liberal  manner  in  which  your  excellency 
invited  the  attention  of  that  body  to  the  subject  is  highly  appreciated  by  the  Presi- 
dent. The  question  therein  presented  for  consideration  was  not,  as  your  excellency 
supposed,  whether  the  State  of  Maine  should  *  *  take  the  lead  in  abandoning  the  treaty 
and  volunteer  propositions  for  a  conventional  line,"  but  simply  whether  the  govern- 
ment of  Maine  would  consent  that  the  General  Government  should  entertain  a  direct 
negotiation  with  the  British  Government  for  a  conventional  line  of  boundary  on  the 
northeastern  frontier  of  the  United  States.  Had  that  consent  been  given  it  would 
have  been  xeaaonable  to  expect  the  proposition  of  a  line  from  Great  Britain,  as  it  was
Martin  Van  Buren  1692 
that  power  which  particularly  desired  the  resort  to  that  mode  of  settling  the  con- 
troversy. It  was  also  the  intention  of  the  President  so  to  arrange  the  negotiation 
that  the  approbation  of  Maine  to  the  boundary  line  agreed  upon  should  have  been 
secured.  It  was  with  this  view  that  in  the  application  to  the  State  of  Maine  for  its 
assent  to  a  negotiation  for  a  conventional  line  express  reference  was  made  to  such  con- 
ditions as  she  might  think  proper  to  prescribe.  To  all  such  as  were,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  President,  required  by  a  proper  regard  for  the  security  of  Maine  and  consistent 
with  the  Constitution  he  would  have  yielded  a  ready  assent.  Of  that  character  was 
he  disposed  to  regard  a  condition  that  in  a  negotiation  for  the  final  establishment  of 
a  new  line,  with  power  on  the  part  of  the  negotiators  to  stipulate  for  the  cession  or 
exchange  of  territory  as  the  interests  and  convenience  of  the  parties  might  be  found 
to  require,  the  State  of  Mdine  should  be  represented  by  commissioners  of  her  own 
selection  and  that  their  previous  assent  should  be  requisite  to  make  any  treaty  con- 
taining such  stipulation  binding  upon  her. 
These  suggestions  are  not  now  made  as  matter  of  complaint  at  the  decision  which 
the]  State  of  Maine  has  come  to  on  a  matter  in  which  she  was  at  perfect  liberty  to 
pursue  the  course  she  has  adopted,  but  in  justice  to  the  views  of  the  President  in 
making  the  application. 
I  am  instructed  to  annoimce  to  your  excellency  that  by  direction  of  the  President, 
upon  due  consideration  of  the  result  of  the  late  application  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment to  the  State  of  Maine  on  the  subject  of  the  northeastern  boundary  and  in  accord- 
ance with  the  expressed  wishes  of  her  legislature,  I  have  informed  Mr.  Fox  of  the 
willingness  of  this  Government  to  enter  into  an  arrangement  with  that  of  Great 
Britain  for  the  establishment  of  a  joint  commission  of  survey  and  exploration  upon 
the  basis  of  the  original  American  proposition  and  the  modifications  offered  by  Her 
Majesty's  Government,  and  to  apprise  you  that  Mr.  Fox,  being  at  present  unprovided 
with  full  powers  for  negotiating  the  proposed  convention,  has  transmitted  my  com- 
munication to  his  Government  in  order  that  such  fresh  instructions  may  be  furnished 
to  him  or  such  other  steps  taken  as  may1)e  deemed  expedient  on  its  part. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  your  excellency's  obedient  servant, 
JOHN  FORSYTH. 
Washington,  May  21, 1838. 
To  ike  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
The  acxiompanying  copy  of  a  communication  addressed  by  the  Secretary 
of  War  to  the  Cherokee  delegation  is  submitted  to  Congress  in  order  that 
such  measures  may  be  adopted  as  are  required  to  carry  into  effect  the 
benevolent  intentions  of  the  Government  toward  the  Cherokee  Nation, 
and  which  it  is  hoped  will  induce  them  to  remove  peaceably  and  con- 
tentedly to  their  new  homes  in  the  West. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  May  24^  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  submit  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  explana- 
tory of  the  manner  in  which  extracts  from  certain  newspapers  relating 
to  the  introduction  of  foreign  paupers  into  this  country,  and  the  steps 
taken  to  prevent  it^  became  connected  with  his  communication  to  me  on
1693  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
that  subject,  accompanying  my  message  of  the  nth  instant.  Sensible 
that  those  extracts  are  of  a  character  which  would,  if  attention  had  been 
directed  to  them,  have  prevented  their  transmission  to  the  House,  I 
request  permission  to  withdraw  them. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  May  30, 1838. 
To  the  House  of  Repre,sentatives  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  28th  instant,  rela- 
tive to  the  claim*  in  the  case  of  the  ship  Mary  and  cargo,  of  Baltimore. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  May  31, 1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
In  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  28th  instant,  regarding  the  annexation  of  the  RepubUc  of  Texas  to  the 
United  States,  I  transmit  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom 
the  resolution  was  referred. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  June  7, 1838, 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
Negotiations  have  been  opened  with  the  Osage  and  Delaware  Indians, 
in  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  19th  of  January 
last,  for  the  relinquishment  of  certain  school  lands  secured  to  them  by 
treaty.  These  relinquishments  have  been  obtained  on  the  terms  author- 
ized by  the  resolution,  and  copies  of  them  are  herewith  transmitted  for 
the  information  of  the  Senate. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  June  4, 1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  report  from  the 
Secretary  of  State,  with  accompanying  papers,  relating  to  the  claim  of 
the  orphan  children  of  Peter  Shackerly,t  in  answer  to  their  resolution 
of  the  28th  ultimo. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
*  Affainst  the  Government  of  Holland. 
t  Killed  on  board  of  the  United  Statet  thip  Chssapsaiu  when  attacked  by  the  British  ship  of  war 
L9»P»d,  June  21,  ZS07.
Martin  Van  Buren  1694 
Washington,  June  6,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
In  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  4th  instant,  calling  for  any 
communication  received  from  the  governors  of  the  States  of  Georgia, 
North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  Alabama  in  reference  to  the  proposed 
modification  of  the  Cherokee  treaty  of  1835,  I  herewith  inclose  a  report 
of  the  Secretary  of  War,  accompanied  by  a  copy  of  a  letter  addressed  by 
him  to  the  governor  of  Georgia  and  of  his  reply  thereto.  As  stated 
by  the  Secretary,  no  communication  on  that  subject  has  been  received 
from  either  of  the  other  executives  mentioned. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  June  7,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives  an  account  against  the 
United  States,  presented  by  Heman  Cady,  of  Plattsburg,  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  for  services  alleged  to  have  been  rendered  as  deputy  marshal 
for  the  northern  district  of  New  York  from  the  20th  December,  1837, 
to  the  9th  February,  1838,  by  direction  of  the  attorney  and  marshal  of 
the  United  States  for  that  district,  in  endeavoring  to  prevent  the  arming 
and  enlisting  of  men  for  the  invasion  of  Canada.  I  also  transmit  cer- 
tain documents  which  were  exhibited  in  support  of  the  said  account.  I 
recommend  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  the  expediency  of  an  appro- 
priation for  the  pajrment  of  this  claim  and  of  some  general  provision  for 
the  liquidation  and  payment  of  others  which  may  be  expected  to  be 
presented  hereafter  for  services  of  a  similar  character  rendered  before 
and  after  the  passage  of  the  act  of  the  20th  March  last,  for  preserving 
the  neutrality  of  the  United  States  on  the  northern  frontier,  which  act 
imposes  important  duties  upon  the  marshals  and  other  dvil  officers,  but 
omits  to  provide  for  their  remuneration  or  for  the  reimbursement  of  their 
expenses.  ^  ^^^  BUREN. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States:  Washington,  June  7,  1838. 
Having  received  satisfactory  assurances  from  the  Government  of  Ecua- 
dor of  its  desire  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce  on  the  most  liberal 
principles  in  place  of  the  expired  treaty  made  with  the  Republic  of 
Colombia,  heretofore  regulating  our  intercourse  with  Ecuador,  it  is  my 
design  to  give  the  requisite  authority  for  that  purpose  to  the  charg^ 
d'affaires  of  the  United  States  about  to  be  appointed  for  Peru,  with 
instructions  to  stop  in  Ecuador  on  his  way  to  Lima  as  the  agent  of  the 
United  States  to  accomplish  that  object.  The  only  additional  charges  to 
be  incurred  will  be  the  expense  of  his  journey  from  Panama  to  Quito,  and 
from  thence  to  the  place  of  embarkation  for  Lima,  to  be  paid  out  of  the 
foreign-intercourse  fund.    I  make  this  communication  to  the  Senate  that
i69S  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
an  opportunity  may  be  afforded  for  the  expression  of  an  opinion,  if  it  shall 
be  deemed  necessary,  on  the  exercise  of  such  a  power  by  the  Executive 
without  applying  to  the  Senate  for  its  approbation  and  consent.  In 
debate  it  has  been  sometimes  asserted  that  this  power,  frequently  exer- 
cised without  question  or  complaint,  and  leading  to  no  practical  evil,  as  no 
arrangement  made  imder  such  circumstances  can  be  obUgatory  upon  the 
United  States  without  being  submitted  to  the  approbation  of  the  Senate, 
is  an  encroachment  upon  its  rightful  authority.  It  appears  to  have  been 
considered  that  the  annual  appropriation  of  a  gross  sum  for  the  expenses 
of  foreign  intercourse  is  intended,  among  other  objects,  to  provide  for  the 
cost  of  such  agencies,  and  that  the  authority  granted  is  the  same  as  that 
frequently  given  to  the  Secretary  of  State  to  form  treaties  with  the  repre- 
sentatives or  agents  of  foreign  governments,  upon  the  granting  of  which 
the  Senate  never  have  been  consulted. 
Desiring  in  this  and  in  all  other  instances  to  act  with  the  most  cautioua 
respect  to  the  claims  of  other  branches  of  the  Government,  T  bring  this 
subject  to  the  notice  of  the  Senate  that  if  it  shall  be  deemed  proper  to 
raise  any  question  it  may  be  discussed  and  decided  before  and  not  after 
the  power  shall  have  beai  exercised,  j^^  VAN  BUREN 
Washington  City,  June  ii,  1838. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  submit  herewith,  for  consideration  and  action,  a  communication  from 
the  Secretary  of  War  and  the  treaty  with  the  Otoe,  Missouria,  and  Omaha 
Indians  therein  referred  to.  ^  ^^  BUREN. 
Washington,  June  20, 1838. 
To  the  House  0/ Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit,  in  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  House  ^f  Represent- 
atives of  the  nth  instant,  reports  from  the  Secretaries  of  State,  Treas- 
ury, and  War,  with  the  documents  referred  to  by  them  respectively.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  outrage  committed  on  the  steamboat  Sir  Robert  Peel ^ 
under  the  British  flag,  within  the  waters  of  the  United  States,  and  on  the 
steamboat  Telegraph,  under  the  American  flag,  at  BrockviUe,  in  Upper 
Canada,  have  not  been  followed  by  any  demand  by  either  Government 
on  the  other  for  redress.  These  acts  have  been  so  far  treated  on  each 
side  as  criminal  offenses  committed  within  the  jurisdiction  of  tribunals 
competent  to  inquire  into  the  facts  and  to  punish  the  persons  concerned 
in  them.  Investigations  have  been  made,  some  of  the  individuals  incul- 
pated have  been  arrested,  and  prosecutions  are  in  progress,  the  result  of 
which  can  not  be  doubted.  The  excited  state  of  public  feeling  on  the 
borders  of  Canada  on  both  sides  of  the  line  has  occasioned  the  most 
painful  anxiety  to  this  Government.  Every  effort  has  been  and  will  be 
made  to  prevent  the  success  of  the  design,  apparently  formed  and  in
Martin  Van  Buren  1696 
the'sourse  of  execution  by  Canadians  who  have  found  a  refuge  within  the 
territory,  aided  by  a  few  reckless  persons  of  our  own  country,  to  involve 
the  nation  in  a  war  with  a  neighboring  and  friendly  power.  Such  design^ 
can  not  succeed  while  the  two  Governments  appreciate  and  confidently 
rely  upon  the  good  faith  of  each  other  in  the  performance  of  their  respec- 
tive duties.  With  a  fixed  determination  to  use  all  the  means  in  my 
power  to  put  a  speedy  and  satisfactory  termination  to  these  border  trou** 
bles,  I  have  the  most  confident  assurances  of  the  cordial  cooperation  of 
the  British  authorities,  at  home  and  in  the  North  American  possessions, 
in  the  accomplishment  of  a  purpose  so  sincerely  and  earnestly  desired  by 
the  Governments  and  people  both  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  June  28, 1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
In  compUance  with  a  resolution  passed  by  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives on  the  23d  instant,  in  respect  to  the  new  Treasury  building,  I  stib- 
mit  the  inclosed  report  from  the  commissioners  charged  with  a  general 
superintendence  of  the  work,  and  which,  with  the  documents  annexed, 
is  believed  to  contain  all  the  information  desired. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington, /««^  28,  1838, 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States : 
I  nominate  Lieutenant-Colonel  Thayer,  of  the  Corps  of  Engineers,  for 
the  brevet  of  colonel  in  the  Army,  agreeably  to  the  recommendation 
of  the  Secretary  of  War.  ^  ^^^  BUREN. 
War  Department,  June  28^  1838. 
The  President  oe  the  United  States. 
Sir:  In  submitting  the  name  of  Brevet  Lieutenant-Colonel  S.  Thayer,  of  the  Corps 
of  Engineers,  for  the  brevet  of  colonel  for  ten  years'  faithful  service  in  one  grade  it 
may  be  proper  to  state  the  circtmistances  of  his  case. 
When  the  law  of  181 2  regulating  brevets  was  repealed  by  the  act  of  June  30, 1834,  all 
the  officers  of  the  Army  who  were  known  to  be  entitled  to  the  ordinary  brevet  pro- 
motion for  ten  years*  faithful  service  in  one  grade  received  on  that  day,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  the  brevet  promotion  to  which  they  were 
respectively  entitled.  The  regulation  which  governed  the  subject  under  the  law 
had  reference  only  to  service  with  regularly  organized  bodies  of  troops,  and  valid 
claimh  arising  under  it  were  generally  known  and  easily  understood  at  the  Adjutant- 
General*s  Office.  If  incidental  cases  occurred  for  which  the  written  regulations 
could  not  provide  the  rule,  although  equally  valid,  such,  nevertheless,  may  not  in 
every  instance  have  been  known  at  the  War  Department  until  specially  represented 
by  the  party  interested.  The  case  of  Brevet  Lieutenant-Colonel  Thayer  happened 
to  be  one  of  those  incidental  claims,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  submitted  for  considera- 
tion its  validity  was  clearly  seen  and  acknowledged.  Had  it  been  submitted  to  the 
Department  when  the  list  was  made  out  in  June,  1834,  it  may  not  be  doubted  that  this 
his^hly  meritorious  and  deserving  officer  would  at  the  time  have  received  the  brevet
1697  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
of  colonel  for  "having  served  faithfully  as  brevet  lieutenant-colonel  and  performed 
the  appropriate  duties  of  that  grade  for  ten  years,*'  which,  it  may  be  seen,  was  due 
more  than  a  year  before  the  passage  of  the  act  repealing  the  law. 
In  presenting  now  this  deferred  case  for  3rour  favorable  consideration  justice 
requires  that  I  should  advert  to  the  valuable  services  rendered  to  the  Army  and  the 
country  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Thayer  as  Superintendent  of  the  Military  Academy 
at  West  Point.  In  181 7  he  found  liiat  institution  defective  in  all  its  branches,  and 
without  order;  in  1833  he  left  it  established  upon  a  basis  alike  honorable  to  himself 
and  useful  to  the  nation.  These  meritorious  services  constitute  another  claim  which 
entitles  this  officer  to  the  notice  of  the  Government,  and  as  they  come  fairly  within 
one  of  the  conditions  of  the  law  which  yet  open  the  way  to  brevet  promotion,  the 
incentive  it  provides  is  fully  realized  by  the  services  that  have  been  rendered. 
I  am,  sir,  with  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 
J.  R.  POINSETT. 
Washington,  July  2, 1838, 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  Hotise  of  Representatives  a  report*  from 
the  Secretary  of  State,  together  with  the  documents  therein  referred  to 
in  answer  to  their  resolution  of  the  28tli  of  May  last. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  July  j,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  a  report  from  the  War  Department,  in  relation  to  the  inves- 
tigations of  the  allegations  of  fraud  committed  on  the  Creek  Indians  in 
the  sales  of  their  reservations  authorized  by  the  resolution  of  that  body 
of  the  ist  of  July,  1836.  ^  ^^^  BUREN. 
Washington,  July  /,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
In  further  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  the  2ist  of  March  last,  requesting  papers  on  the  subject  of  the 
relations  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  I  transmit  a  report  from 
the  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  the  resolution  was  referred,  supplemen- 
tary to  the  report  of  that  officer  communicated  with  my  message  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  27th  of  April  last. 
M,  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  July  7, 1838. 
The  President  of  the  Senate. 
Sir:  In  conformity  with  the  resolution  of  the  Senate,  I  transmit  here- 
with the  report  of  Major-General  Jesup,t  together  with  a  letter  from  the 
Secretary  of  War.  ^   ^^^  g^^j^ 
*  Transmitting:  reports  of  the  commissioners  appointed  under  the  sixth  and  seventh  articles  of 
the  treaty  of  Ghent  to  ascertain  and  fix  the  boundary  between  the  United  States  and  the  British 
possessions  in  North  America,  etc. 
t  Relating:  to  operations  while  commanding:  the  army  in  Florida.
Martin  Van  Buren  ^698 
PROCLAMATIONS. 
[From  Statutes  at  I^rge  (Little,  Brown  &  Co.).  Vol.  XI,  p.  784.] 
By  thk  President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
A  proci^amation. 
Whereas  information  having  been  received  of  a  dangerous  excitement 
on  the  northern  frontier  of  the  United  States  in  consequence  of  the  civil 
war  begun  in  Canada,  and  instructions  having  been  given  to  the  United 
States  oflBcers  on  that  frontier  and  applications  having  been  made  to  the 
governors  of  the  adjoining  States  to  prevent  any  unlawful  interference 
on  the  part  of  our  citizens  in  the  contest  unfortunately  commenced  in 
the  British  Provinces,  additional  information  has  just  been  received  that, 
notwithstanding  the  proclamations  of  the  governors  of  the  States  of  New 
York  and  Vermont  exhorting  their  citizens  to  refrain  from  any  unlaw- 
ful acts  within  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and  notwithstanding 
the  presence  of  the  civil  ofl&cers  of  the  United  States,  who  by  my  direc- 
tions have  visited  the  scenes  of  commotion  with  a  view  of  impressing 
the  citizens  with  a  proper  sense  of  their  duty,  the  excitement,  instead  of 
being  appeased,  is  every  day  increasing  in  degree;  that  arms  and  muni- 
tions of  war  and  other  supplies  have  been  procured  by  the  insurgents 
in  the  United  States;  that  a  military  force,  consisting  in  part,  at  least, 
of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  had  been  actually  organized,  had  con- 
gregated at  Navy  Island,  and  were  still  in  arms  under  the  command  of 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  that  they  were  constantly  receiving 
accessions  and  aid: 
Now,  therefore,  to  the  end  that  the  authority  of  the  laws  may  be 
maintained  and  the  faith  of  treaties  observed,  I,  Martin  Van  Buren,  do 
most  earnestly  exhort  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  have  thus 
violated  their  duties  to  return  peaceably  to  their  respective  homes;  and 
I  hereby  warn  them  that  any  persons  who  shall  compromit  the  neutral- 
ity of  this  Government  by  interfering  in  an  unlawful  manner  with  the 
affairs  of  the  neighboring  British  Provinces  will  render  themselves  liable 
to  arrest  and  punishment  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  which  will 
be  rigidly  enforced;  and,  also,  that  they  will  receive  no  aid  or  counte- 
nance from  their  Government,  into  whatever  difficulties  they  may  be 
thrown  by  the  violation  of  the  laws  of  their  country  and  the  territory  of 
a  neighboring  and  friendly  nation. 
Given  under  my  hand,  at  the  city  of  Washington,  the  5th  day  of  Jan- 
uary, A.  D.  1838,  and  the  sixty-second  of  the  Independence 
[SBAI..]     of  the  United  States.  M.  VAN  BUREN. 
By  the  President: 
John  Forsyth, 
Secretary  of  State.
1699  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
[Prom  Statutes  at  I^rge  (IJittlc,  Brown  &  Co.)i  VoL  XI,  p.  785.) 
By  ths  President  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
a  proclamation. 
Whereas  there  is  too  much  reason  to  believe  that  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  in  disregard  to  the  solemn  warning  heretofore  given  to  them  by 
the  proclamations  issued  by  the  Executive  of  the  General  Government 
and  by  some  of  the  governors  of  the  States,  have  combined  to  disturb 
the  peace  of  the  dominions  of  a  neighboring  and  friendly  nation;  and 
Whereas  information  has  been  g^ven  to  me,  derived  from  ofl&cial  and 
other  sources,  that  many  citizens  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States 
are  associated  or  associating  for  the  same  purpose;  and 
Whereas  disturbances  have  actually  broken  out  anew  in  different  parts 
of  the  two  Canadas;  and 
Whereas  a  hostile  invasion  has  been  made  by  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  in  conjunction  with  Canadians  and  others,  who,  after  forcibly 
seizing  upon  the  property  of  their  peaceful  neighbor  for  the  purpose  of 
effecting  their  unlawful  designs,  are  now  in  arms  against  the  authorities 
of  Canada,  in  perfect  disregard  of  their  obligations  as  American  citizens 
and.  of  the  obligations  of  the  Government  of  their  country  to  foreign 
nations: 
Now,  therefore,  I  have  thought  it  necessary  and  proper  to  issue  this 
proclamation,  calling  upon  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  neither  to 
give  countenance  nor  encouragement  of  any  kind  to  those  who  have  thus 
forfeited  their  claim  to  the  protection  of  their  country;  upon  those  mis- 
guided or  deluded  persons  who  are  engaged  in  them  to  abandon  projects 
dangerous  to  their  own  country,  fatal  to  those  whom  they  profess  a  desire 
to  relieve,  impracticable  of  execution  without  foreign  aid,  which  they 
can  not  rationally  expect  to  obtain,  and  giving  rise  to  imputations  (how- 
ever unfounded)  upon  the  honor  and  good  faith  of  their  own  Govern- 
ment; upon  every  ofl&cer,  civil  or  military,  and  upon  every  citizen,  by 
the  veneration  due  by  all  freemen  to  the  laws  which  they  have  assisted 
to  enact  for  their  own  government,  by  his  regard  for  the  honor  and 
reputation  of  his  country,  by  his  love  of  order  and  respect  for  the  sacred 
code  of  laws  by  which  national  intercourse  is  regulated,  to  use  every 
effort  in  his  power  to  arrest  for  trial  and  punishment  every  offender 
against  the  laws  providing  for  the  performance  of  our  obligations  to  the 
other  powers  of  the  world.  And  I  hereby  warn  all  those  who  have 
engaged  in  these  criminal  enterprises,  if  persisted  in,  that,  whatever  may 
be  the  condition  to  which  they  may  be  reduced,  they  must  not  expect  the 
interference  of  this  Government  in  any  form  on  their  behalf,  but  will  be 
left,  reproached  by  every  virtuous  fellow-citizen,  to  be  dealt  with  accord- 
ing to  the  policy  and  justice  of  that  Government  whose  dominions  they.
Martin  Van  Buren  x^l^o 
have,  in  defiance  of  the  known  wishes  of  their  own  Government  and 
without  the  shadow  of  justification  or  excuse,  nefariously  invaded. 
Given  under  my  hand,  at  the  dty  of  Washington,  the  21st  day  of 
November,  A.  D.  1838,  and  the  sixty-third  of  the  Independ- 
[SBAi..]     ^^  ^^  ^^  United  States. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
By  the  President: 
John  Forsyth, 
Secretary  of  State. 
SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 
Washington,  December  j,  1838. 
Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: 
I  congratulate  you  on  the  favorable  drcmnstances  in  the  condition  of 
our  country  under  which  you  reassemble  for  the  performance  of  youi 
official  duties.  Though  the  anticipations  of  an  abundant  harvest  have 
not  everywhere  been  realized,  yet  on  the  whole  the  labors  of  the  hus- 
bandman are  rewarded  with  a  bountiful  return  ;  industry  prospers  in  its 
various  channels  of  business  and  enterprise ;  general  health  again  pre- 
vails through  our  vast  diversity  of  climate ;  nothing  threatens  from 
abroad  the  continuance  of  external  peace ;  nor  has  anything  at  home 
impaired  the  strength  of  those  fraternal  and  domestic  ties  which  consti* 
tute  the  only  guaranty  to  the  success  and  permanency  of  our  happy 
Union,  and  which,  formed  in  the  hour  of  peril,  have  hitherto  been 
honorably  sustained  through  every  vicissitude  in  our  national  aflFairs. 
These  blessings,  which  evince  the  care  and  beneficence  of  Providence, 
call  for  our  devout  and  fervent  gratitude* 
We  have  not  less  reason  to  be  grateful  for  other  bounties  bestowed  by 
the  same  munificent  hand,  and  more  exclusively  our  own. 
The  present  year  closes  the  first  half  century  of  our  Federal  institu- 
tions, and  our  system,  differing  from  all  others  in  the  acknowledged 
practical  and  unlimited  operation  which  it  has  for  so  long  a  period  given 
to  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  has  now  been  fully  tested  by  experience. 
The  Constitution  devised  by  our  forefathers  as  the  framework  and  bond 
of  that  system,  then  untried,  has  become  a  settled  form  of  government; 
not  only  preserving  and  protecting  the  great  principles  upon  which  it  was 
founded,  but  wonderfully  promoting  individual  happiness  and  private 
interests.  Though  subject  to  change  and  entire  revocation  whenever 
deemed  inadequate  to  all  these  purposes,  yet  such  is  the  wisdom  of  its 
construction  and  so  stable  has  been  the  public  sentiment  that  it  remains 
unaltered  except  in  matters  of  detail  comparatively  unimportant.  It 
has  proved  amply  sufficient  for  the  various  emergencies  incident  to  our
I70I  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
condition  as  a  nation.  A  formidable  foreign  war;  agitating  collisions 
between  domestic,  and  in  some  respects  rival,  sovereignties;  temptations 
to  interfere  in  the  intestine  commotions  of  neighboring  countries;  the 
dangerous  influences  that  arise  in  periods  of  excessive  prosperity,  and 
the  antirepublican  tendencies  of  associated  wealth — these,  with  other 
trials  not  less  formidable,  have  all  been  encountered,  and  thus  far  suc- 
cessfully resisted. 
It  was  reserved  for  the  American  Union  to  test  the  advantages  of  a 
government  entirely  dependent  on  the  continual  exercise  of  the  popular 
will,  and  our  experience  has  shown  that  it  is  as  beneficent  in  practice  as 
it  is  j  ust  in  theory.  Each  successive  change  made  in  our  local  institutions 
has  contributed  to  extend  the  right  of  suffrage,  has  increased  the  direct 
influence  of  the  mass  of  the  commimity,  given  greater  freedom  to  individ- 
ual exertion,  and  restricted  more  and  more  the  powers  of  Government;  yet 
the  intelligence,  prudence,  and  patriotism  of  the  people  have  kept  pace 
with  this  augmented  responsibility.  In  no  country  has  education  been  so 
widely  diffused.  Domestic  peace  has  nowhere  so  largely  reigned.  The 
close  bonds  of  social  intercourse  have  in  no  instance  prevailed  with  such 
harmony  over  a  space  so  vast.  All  forms  of  religion  have  united  for  the 
first  time  to  diffuse  charity  and  piety,  because  for  the  first  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  nations  all  have  been  totally  untranmieled  and  absolutely  free. 
The  deepest  recesses  of  the  wilderness  have  been  penetrated;  yet  instead 
of  the  rudeness  in  the  social  condition  consequent  upon  such  adventures 
elsewhere,  numerous  communities  have  sprung  up,  already  unrivaled  in 
prosperity,  general  intelligence,  internal  tranquillity,  and  the  wisdom  of 
their  political  institutions.  Internal  improvement,  the  fruit  of  individual 
enterprise,  fostered  by  the  protection  of  the  States,  has  added  new  links 
to  the  Confederation  and  fresh  rewards  to  provident  industry.  Doubtful 
question^i  of  domestic  policy  have  been  quietly  settled  by  mutual  for- 
bearance, and  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures  minister  to  each 
other.  Taxation  and  public  debt,  the  burde^s  which  bear  so  heavily 
upon  all  other  countries,  have  pressed  with  comparative  lightness  upon 
us.  Without  one  entangling  alliance,  our  friendship  is  prized  by  every 
nation,  and  the  rights  of  our  citizens  are  ever3rwhere  respected,  because 
they  are  known  to  be  guarded  by  a  united,  sensitive,  and  watchful  people. 
To  this  practical  operation  of  our  institutions,  so  evident  and  success- 
ful, we  owe  that  increased  attachment  to  them  which  is  among  the  most 
cheering  exhibitions  of  popular  sentiment  and  will  prove  their  best  secu- 
rity in  time  to  come  against  foreign  or  domestic  assault. 
This  review  of  the  results  of  our  institutions  tor  half  a  century,  with- 
out exciting  a  spirit  of  vain  exultation,  should  serve  to  impress  upon  us 
the  great  principles  from  which  they  have  sprung— constant  and  direct 
supervision  by  the  people  over  every  public  measure,  strict  forbearance 
on  the  part  of  the  Government  from  exercising  any  doubtful  or  disputed 
powers,  and  a  cautious  abstinence  from  all  interference  with  concerns
Martin  Van  Buren  1703 
which  properly  belong  and  are  best  left  to  State  regulations  and  indi- 
vidual enterprise. 
Full  information  of  the  state  of  our  foreign  affairs  having  been  recently 
on  different  occasions  submitted  to  Congress,  I  deem  it  necessary  now  to 
bring  to  your  notice  only  such  events  as  have  subsequently  occurred  or 
are  of  such  importance  as  to  require  particular  attention. 
The  most  amicable  dispositions  continue  to  be  exhibited  by  all  the 
nations  with  whom  the  Government  and  citizens  of  the  United  States 
have  an  habitual  intercourse.  At  the  date  of  my  last  annual  message 
Mexico  was  the  only  nation  which  could  not  be  included  in  so  gratifying 
a  reference  to  our  foreign  relations. 
I  am  happy  to  be  now  able  to  inform  you  that  an  advance  has  been 
made  toward  the  adjustment  of  our  differences  with  that  Republic  and 
the  restoration  of  the  customary  good  feeling  between  the  two  nations. 
This  important  change  has  been  effected  by  conciliatory  negotiations 
that  have  resulted  in  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  between  the  two  Govern- 
ments, which,  when  ratified,  will  refer  to  the  arbitrament  of  a  friendly 
power  all  the  subjects  of  controversy  between  us  growing  out  of  injuries 
to  individuals.  Ther^  is  at  present  also  reason  to  believe  that  an  equi- 
table settlement  of  all  disputed  points  will  be  attained  without  further 
difficulty  or  unnecessary  delay,  and  thus  authorize  the  free  resumption 
of  diplomatic  intercourse  with  our  sister  Republic. 
With  respect  to  the  northeastern  boundary  of  the  United  States,  no 
official  correspondence  between  this  Government  and  that  of  Great 
Britain  has  passed  since  that  communicated  to  Congress  toward  the 
close  of  their  last  session.  The  offer  to  negotiate  a  convention  for  the 
appointment  of  a  joint  commission  of  survey  and  exploration  I  am, 
however,  assured  will  be  met  by  Her  Majesty's  Government  in  a  con- 
ciliatory and  friendly  spirit,  and  instructions  to  enable  the  British  min- 
ister here  to  conclude  such  an  arrangement  will  be  transmitted  to  him 
without  needless  delay.  It  is  hoped  and  expected  that  these  instruc- 
tions will  be  of  a  liberal  character,  and  that  this  negotiation,  if  success- 
ful, will  prove  to  be  an  important  step  toward  the  satisfactory  and  final 
adjustment  of  the  controversy. 
I  had  hoped  that  the  respect  for  the  laws  and  regard  for  the  peace  and 
honor  of  their  own  country  which  have  ever  characterized  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  would  have  prevented  any  portion  of  them  from  using 
any  means  to  promote  insurrection  in  the  territory  of  a  power  with  which 
we  are  at  peace,  and  witt  which  the  United  States  are  desirous  of  main- 
taining the  most  friendly  relations.  I  regret  deeply,  however,  to  be 
obliged  to  inform  you  that  this  has  not  been  the  case.  Information  has 
been  given  to  me,  derived  from  official  and  other  sources,  that  many  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  have  associated  together  to  make  hostile  incur- 
sions from  our  territory  into  Canada  and  to  aid  and  abet  insurrection 
there,  in  violation  of  the  obligations  and  laws  of  the  United  States  and
1703  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
in  open  disregard  of  their  own  duties  as  citizens.  This  information  has 
been  in  part  confirmed  by  a  hostile  invasion  actually  made  by  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  in  conjunction  with  Canadians  and  others,  and 
accompanied  by  a  forcible  seizure  of  the  property  of  our  citizens  and  an 
api^lication  thereof  to  the  prosecution  of  military  operations  against  the 
authorities  and  people  of  Canada. 
The  results  of  these  crimhial  assaults  upon  the  peace  and  order  of  a 
neighboring  country  have  been,  as  was  to  be  expected,  fatally  destructive 
to  the  misguided  or  deluded  persons  engaged  in  them  and  highly  injuri- 
ous to  those  in  whose  behalf  they  are  professed  to  have  been  undertaken. 
The  authorities  in  Canada,  from  intelligence  received  of  such  intended 
movements  among  our  citizens,  have  felt  themselves  obliged  to  take  pre- 
cautionary measures  against  them;  have  actually  embodied  the  militia 
and  assumed  an  attitude  to  repel  the  invasion  to  which  they  beheved  the 
colonies  were  exposed  from  the  United  States.  A  state  of  feeling  on 
both  sides  of  the  frontier  has  thus  been  produced  which  called  for  prompt 
and  vigorous  interference.  If  an  insurrection  existed  in  Canada,  the 
amicable  dispositions  of  the  United  States  toward  Great  Britain,  as  well 
as  their  duty  to  themselves,  would  lead  them  to  maintain  a  strict  neutral- 
ity and  to  restrain  their  citizens  from  all  violations  of  the  laws  which 
have  been  passed  for  its  enforcement.  But  this  Government  recognizes 
a  still  Mgher  obligation  to  repress  all  attempts  on  the  part  of  its  citizens 
to  disturb  the  peace  of  a  country  where  order  prevails  or  has  been  rees- 
tablished. Depredations  by  our  citizens  upon  nations  at  peace  with  the 
United  States,  or  combinations  for  committing  them,  have  at  all  times 
been  regarded  by  the  American  Government  and  people  with  the  great- 
est abhorrence.  Military  incursions  by  our  citizens  into  countries  so 
situated,  and  the  commission  of  acts  of  violence  on  the  members  thereof, 
in  order  to  effect  a  change  in  their  government,  or  under  any  pretext 
whatever,  have  from  the  commencement  of  our  Government  been  held 
equally  criminal  on  the  part  of  those  engaged  in  them,  and  as  much 
deserving  of  punishment  as  would  be  the  disturbance  of  the  public  peace 
by  the  perpetration  of  similar  acts  within  our  own  territory. 
By  no  country  or  persons  have  these  invaluable  principles  of  interna- 
tional law — principles  the  strict  observance  of  which  is  so  indispensable 
to  the  preservation  of  social  order  in  the  world — ^been  more  earnestly 
cherished  or  sacredly  respected  than  by  those  great  and  good  men  who 
first  declared  and  finally  established  the  independence  of  oi-'r  own  country. 
They  promulgated  and  maintained  them  at  an  .early  and  critical  period 
in  our  history;  they  were  subsequently  embodied  in  legislative  enact- 
ments of  a  highly  penal  character,  the  faithful  enforcement  of  which  has 
hitherto  been,  and  will,  I  trust,  always  continue  to  be,  regarded  as  a  duty 
inseparably  associated  with  the  maintenance  of  our  national  honor.  That 
the  people  of  the  United  States  should  feel  an  interest  in  the  spread  of 
political  institutions  as  free  as  they  regard  their  own  to  be  is  natural.
Martin  Van  Buren  1704 
nor  can  a  sincere  solicitade  for  the  success  of  all  those  who  are  at  any 
time  in  good  faith  struggling  for  their  acquisition  be  imputed  to  our  citi- 
zens as  a  grime.  With  the  entire  freedom  of  opinion  and  an  undisguised 
expression  thereof  on  their  part  the  Government  has  neither  the  right 
nor,  I  trust,  the  disposition  to  interfere.  But  whether  the  interest  or  the 
honor  of  the  United  States  requires  that  they  should  be  made  a  party  to 
any  such  struggle,  and  by  inevitable  consequence  to  the  war  which  is 
waged  in  its  support,  is  a  question  which  by  our  Constitution  is  wisely 
left  to  Congress  alone  to  decide.  It  is  by  the  lav/s  already  made  criminal 
in  our  citizens  to  embarrass  or  anticipate  that  decision  by  unauthorized 
mihtary  operations  on  their  part.  Offenses  of  this  character,  in  addition 
to  their  criminality  as  violations  of  the  laws  of  our  country,  have  a  direct 
tendency  to  draw  down  upon  our  own  citizens  at  large  the  multipUed  evils 
of  a  foreign  war  and  expose  to  injurious  imputations  the  good  faith  and 
honor  of  the  country.  As  such  they  deserve  to  be  put  down  with  prompt- 
itude and  decision.  I  can  not  be  mistaken,  I  am  confident,  in  counting 
on  the  cordial  and  general  concurrence  of  our  fellow-citizens  in  this  sen- 
timent. A  copy  of  the  proclamation  which  I  have  felt  it  my  duty  to 
issue  is  herewith  communicated.  I  can  not  but  hope  that  the  good  sense 
and  patriotism,  the  regard  for  the  honor  and  reputation  pf  their  country, 
the  respect  for  the  laws  which  they  have  themselves  enacted  for  their 
own  government,  and  the  love  of  order  for  which  the  mass  of  our  people 
have  been  so  long  and  so  justly  distinguished  will  deter  the  compara- 
tively few  who  are  engaged  in  them  from  a  further  prosecution  of  such 
desperate  enterprises.  In  the  meantime  the  existing  laws  have  been 
and  will  continue  to  be  faithfully  executed,  and  every  effort  will  be 
made  to  carry  them  out  in  their  full  extent.  Whether  they  are  sufl&cient 
or  not  to  meet  the  actual  state  of  things  on  the  Canadian  frontier  it  is  for 
Congress  to  decide. 
It  will  appear  from  the  correspondence  herewith  submitted  that  the 
Government  of  Russia  declines  a  renewal  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  con- 
vention of  April,  1824,  between  the  United  States  and  His  Imperial 
Majesty,  by  the  third  article  of  which  it  is  agreed  that  **  hereafter  there 
shall  not  be  formed  by  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  or  under  the 
authority  of  the  ^d  States  any  establishment  upon  the  northwest  coast 
of  America,  nor  in  any  of  the  islands  adjacent,  to  the  north  of  54°  40'  of 
north  latitude,  and  that  in  the  same  manner  there  shall  be  none  formed 
by  Russian  subjects  or  imder  the  authority  of  Russia  south  of  the  same 
parallel;  '*  and  by  the  fourth  article,  **that  during  a  term  of  ten  years, 
counting  from  the  signature  of  the  present  convention,  the  ships  of  both 
powers,  or  which  belong  to  their  citizens  or  subjects,  respectively,  may 
reciprocally  frequent,  without  any  hindrance  whatever,  the  interior  seas, 
gulfs,  harbors,  and  creeks  upon  the  coast  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
article,  for  the  purpose  of  fishing  and  trading  with  the  natives  of  the  coun- 
try.''   The  reasons  assigned  for  declining  to  renew  the  provisions  of  this
1705  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
article  are,  briefly,  that  the  only  use  made  by  our  citizens  of  the  privi- 
leges it  secures  to  them  has  been  to  supply  the  Indians  with  spirituous 
liquors,  ammunition,  and  Rearms;  that  this  traffic  has. been  excluded 
from  the  Russian  trade;  and  as  the  supplies  furnished  from  the  United 
States  are  injurious  to  the  Russian  establishments  on  the  northwest  coast 
and  calctdated  to  produce  complaints  between  the  two  Governments, 
His  Imx)erial  Majesty  thinks  it  for  the  interest  of  both  countries  not 
to  accede  to  the  proposition  made  by  the  American  Government  for  the 
renewal  of  the  article  last  referred  to. 
The  correspondence  herewith  communicated  will  show  the  grounds 
upon  which  we  contend  that  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  have,  inde- 
pendent of  the  provisions  of  the  convention  of  1824,  a  right  to  trade 
with  the  natives  upon  the  coast  in  question  at  unoccupied  places,  liable, 
however,  it  is  admitted,  to  be  at  any  time  extinguished  by  the  creation 
of  Russian  establishments  at  such  points.  This  right  is  denied  by  the 
Russian  Government,  which  asserts  that  by  the  operation  of  the  treaty  of 
1824  each  party  agreed  to  waive  the  general  right  to  land  on  the  vacant 
coasts  on  the  respective  sides  of  the  degree  of  latitude  referr^  to,  and 
accepted  in  lieu  thereof  the  mutual  privileges  mentioned  in  the  fourth 
article.  The  capital  and  tonnage  employed  by  our, citizens  in  their  trade 
with  the  northwest  coast  of  America  will,  perhaps,  on  adverting  to  the 
official  statements  of  the  commerce  and  navigation  of  the  United  States 
for  the  last  few  years,  be  deemed  too  inconsiderable  in  amount  to  attract 
much  attention;  yet  the  subject  may  in  other  respects  deserve  the  careful 
consideration  of  Congress. 
I  regret  to  state  that  the  blockade  of  the  principal  ports  on  the  east- 
em  coast  of  Mexico,  which,  in  consequence  ofdiflFerences  between  that 
Republic  and  France,  was  instituted  in  May  last,  unfortunately  still  con- 
tinues, enforced  by  a  comi)etent  French  naval  armament,  and  is  neces- 
sarily embarrassing  to  our  own  trade  in  the  Gulf,  in  common  with  that 
of  other  nations.  Every  disposition,  however,  is  believed  to  exist  on  the 
part  of  the  French  Government  to  render  this  measure  as  little  onerous 
as  practicable  to  the  interests  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  to 
those  of  neutral  commerce,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  an  early  settlement 
of  the  difficulties  between  France  and  Mexico  will  soon  reestablish  the 
harmonious  relations  formerly  subsisting  between  them  and  again  open 
the  ports  of  that  Republic  to  the  vessels  of  all  friendly  nations. 
A  convention  for  marking  that  part  of  the  boundary  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Republic  of  Texas  which  extends  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Sabine  to  the  Red  River  was  concluded  and  signed  at  this  city  on  the  25th 
of  April  last.  It  has  since  been  ratified  by  both  Governments,  and  sea- 
sonable measures  will  be  taken  to  carry  it  into  eflFect  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States. 
The  application  of  that  Republic  for  admission  into  this  Union,  made  in 
August.  1837,  ^i^d  which  was  declined  for  reasons  already  made  known
Martin  Van  Buren  1706 
to  you,  has  been  formally  withdrawn,  as  will  appear  from  the  accompa- 
nying copy  of  the  note  of  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  Tex^s,  which 
was  presented  to  the  Secretary  of  State  on  the  occasion  of  the  exchange 
of  the  ratifications  of  the  convention  above  mentioned. 
Copies  of  the  convention  with  Texas,  of  a  commercial  treaty  concluded 
with  the  King  of  Greece,  and  of  a  similar  treaty  with  the  Peru-Bolivian 
Confederation,  the  ratifications  of  which  have  been  recently  exchanged, 
accompany  this  message,  for  the  information  of  Congress  and  for  such 
legislative  enactments  as  may  be  found  nece&ary  or  expedient  in  relation 
to  either  of  them. 
To  watch  over  and  foster  the  interests  of  a  gradually  increasing  and 
widely  extended  commerce,  to  guard  the  rights  of  American  citizens  whom 
business  or  pleasure  or  other  motives  may  tempt  into  distant  climes,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  cultivate  those  sentiments  of  mutual  respect  and 
good  will  which  experience  has  proved  so  beneficial  in  international  inter- 
course, the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  deemed  it  expedient 
from  time  to  time  to  establish  diplomatic  connections  with  different  for- 
eign states,  by  the  appointment  of  representatives  to  reside  within  their 
•respective  territories.  I  am  gratified  to  be  enabled  to  announce  to  you 
that  since  the  close  of  your  last  session  these  relations  have  been  opened 
under  the  happiest  auspices  with  Austria  and  the  Two  Sicilies,  that  new 
nominations  have  been  made  in  the  respective  missions  of  Russia,  Brazil, 
Belgium,  and  Sweden  and  Norway  in  this  country,  and  that  a  minister 
extraordinary  has  been  received,  accredited  to  this  Government,  from  the 
Argentine  Confederation. 
An  exposition  of  the  fiscal  aflFairs  of  the  Government  and  of  their 
condition  for  the  past  year  will  be  made  to  "you  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury. 
The  available  balance  in  the  Treasury  on  the  ist  of  January  next  is 
estimated  at  $2,765,342.  The  receipts  of  the  year  from  customs  and 
lands  will  probably  amount  to  $20,615,598.  These  usual  sources  of  rev- 
enue have  been  increased  by  an  issue  of  Treasury  notes,  of  which  less 
than  $8,000,000,  including  interest  and  principal,  will  be  outstanding  at 
the  end  of  the  year,  and  by  the  sale  of  one  of  the  bonds  of  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States  for  $2,354,871.  The  aggregate  of  means  from  these 
and  other  sources,  with  the  balance  on  hand  on  the  ist  of  January  last, 
has  been  applied  to  the  payment  of  appropriations  by  Congress.  The 
whole  expenditure  for  the  year  on  their  account,  including  the  redemp- 
tion of  more  than  eight  millions  of  Treasury  notes,  constitutes  an  aggre- 
gate of  about  $40,000,000,  and  will  still  leave  in  the  Treasury  the  bal- 
ance before  stated. 
Nearly  $8,000,000  of  Treasury  notes  are  to  be  paid  during  the  coming 
year  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  appropriations  for  the  support  of  Gov- 
ernment. For  both  these  purposes  the  resources  of  the  Treasury  will 
undoubtedly  be  sufficient  if  the  charges  upon  it  are  not  increased  beyond
1707  Messages  *and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
the  annual  estimates.  No  excess,  however,  is  likely  to  exist.  Nor  can 
the  postponed  installment  of  the  surplus  revenue  be  deposited  with  the 
States  nor  any  considerable  appropriations  beyond  the  estimates  be  made 
without  causing  a  deficiency  in  the  Treasury.  The  great  caution,  advis- 
able at  all  times,  of  limiting  appropriations  to  the  wants  of  the  public 
service  is  rendered  necessary  at  present  by  the  prospective  and  rapid 
reduction  of  the  tariff,  while  the  vigilant  jealousy  evidently  excited 
among  the  people  by  the  occurrences  of  the  last  few  years  assures  us 
that  they  expect  from  their  representatives,  and  will  sustain  them  in  the 
exercise  of,  the  most  rigid  economy.  Much  can  be  eflFected  by  postponing 
appropriations  not  immediately  required  for  the  ordinary  public  service 
or  for  any  pressing  emergency,  and  much  by  reducing  the  expenditures 
where  the  entire  and  immediate  accomplishment  of  the  objects  in  view 
is  not  indispensable. 
When  we  call  to  mind  the  recent  and  extreme  embarrassments  pro- 
duced by  excessive  issues  of  bank  paper,  aggravated  by  the  unforeseen 
withdrawal  of  much  foreign  capital  and  the  inevitable  derangement 
arising  from  the  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  among  the  States  as 
required  by  Congress,  and  consider  the  heavy  expenses  incurred  by  the 
removal  of  Indian  tribes,  by  the  military  operations  in  Florida,  and 
on  account  of  the  unusually  large  appropriations  made  at  the  last  two 
annual  sessions  of  Congress  for  other  objects,  we  have  striking  evidence 
in  the  present  efficient  state  of  our  finances  of  the  abundant  resources  of 
the  country  to  fulfill  all  its  obligations.  Nor  is  it  less  gratifying  to  find 
that  the  general  business  of  the  community,  deeply  affected  as  it  has 
been,  is  reviving  with  additional  vigor,  chastened  by  the  lessons  of  the 
past  and  animated  by  the  hopes  of  the  future.  By  the  curtailment  of 
paper  issues,  by  curbing  the  sanguine  and  adventurous  spirit  of  specula- 
tion, and  by  the  honorable  application  of  all  available  means  to  the  ful- 
fillment of  obligations,  confidence  has  been  restored  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  ease  and  facility  secured  to  all  the  operations  of  trade. 
The  agency  of  the  Government  in  producing  these  results  has  been  as 
efficient  as  its  powers  and  means  permitted.  By  withholding  from  the 
States  the  deposit  of  the  fourth  installment,  and  leaving  several  milUons 
at  long  credits  with  the  banks,  principally  in  one  section  of  the  country, 
and  more  immediately  beneficial  to  it,  and  at  the  same  time  aiding  the 
banks  and  commercial  communities  in  other  sections  by  postponing  the 
payment  of  bonds  for  duties  to  the  amount  of  between  four  and  five  mil- 
lions of  dollars;  by  an  issue  of  Treasury  notes  as  a  means  to  enable  the 
Government  to  meet  the  consequences  of  their  indulgences,  but  affording 
at  the  same  time  facilities  for  remittance  and  exchange;  and  by  steadily 
declining  to  employ  as  general  depositories  of  the  public  revenues,  or 
receive  the  notes  of,  all  banks  which  refused  to  redeem  them  with  specie — 
by  these  measures,  aided  by  the  favorable  action  of  some  of  the  banks 
and  by  the  support  and  cooperation  of  a  large  portion  of  the  community,
Martin  Van  Buren  1708 
we  have  witnessed  an  early  resumption  of  specie  payments  in  our  great 
commercial  capital,  promptly  followed  in  almost  every  part  of  the  United 
States.  This  result  has  been  aUke  salutary  to  the  true  interests  of  agri- 
culture, commerce,  and  manufactures;  to  public  morals,  respect  for  the 
laws,  and  that  confidence  between  man  and  man  which  is  so  essential  in 
all  our  social  relations. 
The  contrast  between  the  suspension  of  1814  and  that  of  1837  is  most 
striking.  The  short  duration  of  the'  latter,  the  prompt  restoration  of 
business,  the  evident  benefits  resulting  from  an  adherence  by  the  Gov- 
ernment to  the  constitutional  standard  of  value  instead  of  sanctioning 
the  suspension  by  the  receipt  of  irredeemable  paper,  and  the  advantages 
derived  from  the  large  amount  of  specie  introduced  into  the  country 
previous  to  1837  afford  a  valuable  illustration  of  the  true  policy  of  the 
Government  in  such  a  crisis.  Nor  can  the  comparison  fail  to  remove 
the  impression  that  a  national  bank  is  necessary  in  such  emergencies. 
Not  only  were  si)ecie  payments  resumed  without  its  aid,  but  exchanges 
have  also  been  more  rapidly  restored  than  when  it  existed,  thereby  show- 
ing that  private  capital,  enterprise,  and  prudence  are  fully  adequate  to 
these  ends.  On  all  these  points  experience  seems  to  have  confirmed  the 
views  heretofore  submitted  to  Congress.  We  have  been  saved  the  mortifi- 
cation of  seeing  the  distresses  of  the  community  for  the  third  time  seized 
on  to  fasten  upon  the  country  so  dangerous  an  institution,  and  we  may 
also  hope  that  the  business  of  individuals  will  hereafter  be  relieved  horn 
the  injurious  effects  of  a  continued  agitation  of  that  disturbing  subject. 
The  limited  influence  of  a  national  bank  in  averting  derangement  in 
the  exchanges  of  the  country  or  in  compelHng  the  resumption  of  specie 
payments  is  now  not  less  apparent  than  its  tendency  to  increase  inordi- 
nate speculation  by  sudden  expansions  and  contractions;  its  disposition 
to  create  panic  and  embarrassment  for  the  promotion  of  its  own  designs; 
its  interference  with  poHtics,  and  its  far  greater  power  for  evil  than 
for  good,  either  in  regard  to  the  local  institutions  or  the  operations  of 
Government  itself.  What  was  in  these  respects  but  apprehension  or 
opinion  "when  a  national  bank  was  first  established  now  stands  confirmed 
by  humiliating  experience.  The  scenes  through  which  we  have  passed 
conclusively  prove  how  little  our  commerce,  agriculture,  manufactures, 
or  finances  require  such  an  institution,  and  what  dangers  are  attendant 
on  its  power — a  power,  I  trust,  never  to  be  conferred  by  the  Ameri- 
can people  upon  their  Government,  and  still  less  upon  individuals  not 
responsible  to  them  for  its  unavoidable  abuses. 
My  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  further  legislative  provisions  for  the' 
safe-keeping  and  disbursement  of  the  public  moneys  and  my  opinion 
in  regard  to  the  measures  best  adapted  to  the  accomplishment  of  those 
objects  have  been  aheady  submitted  to  you.  These  have  been  strength- 
ened by  recent  events,  and  in  the  full  conviction  that  time  and  experi- 
ence must  still  further  demonstrate  their  propriety  I  feel  it  my  duty,  with
1 709  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
respectful  deference  to  the  conflicting  views  of  others,  again  to  invite 
your  attention  to  them. 
With  the  exception  of  limited  sums  deposited  in  the  few  banks  still 
employed  under  the  act  of  1836,  the  amounts  received  for  duties,  and, 
with  very  inconsiderable  exceptions,  those  accruing  from  lands  also,  have 
since  the  general  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the  deposit  banks 
been  kept  and  disbursed  by  the  Treasurer  under  his  general  legal  pow- 
ers, subject  to  the  superintendence  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
The  propriety  of  defining  more  specifically  and  of  regulating  by  law  the 
exercise  of  this  wide  scope  of  Executive  discretion  has  been  already 
submitted  to  Congress. 
A  change  in  the  oflSce  of  collector  at  one  of  our  principal  ports  has 
brought  to  light  a  defalcation  of  the  gravest  character,  the  particulars 
ot  which  will  be  laid  before  you  in  a  special  report  from  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury.  By  his  report  and  the  accompanying  documents  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  weekly  returns  of  the  defaulting  officer  apparently  exhib- 
ited throughout  a  faithful  administration  of  the  aflFairs  intrusted  to  his 
management.  It,  however,  now  appears  that  he  commenced  abstracting 
the  public  moneys  shortly  after  his  appointment  and  continued  to  do  so, 
progressively  increasing  the  amount,  for  the  term  of  more  than  seven 
years,  embracing  a  portion  of  the  period  during  which  the  public  moneys 
were  deposited  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  the  whole  of  that  of 
the  State  bank  deposit  system,  and  concluding  only  on  his  retirement 
from  office,  after  that  system  had  substantially  failed  in  consequence  of 
the  suspension  of  specie  payments. 
The  way  in  which  this  defalcation  was  so  long  concealed  and  the  steps 
taken  to  indemnify  the  United  States,  as  far  as  practicable,  against  loss 
will  also  be  presented  to  you.  The  case  is  oue  which  imperatively  claims 
the  attention  of  Congress  and  furnishes  the  strongest  motive  for  the 
establishment  of  a  more  severe  and  secure  system  for  the  safe-keeping 
and  disbursement  of  the  pubHc  moneys  than  any  that  has  heretofore 
existed. 
It  seems  proper,  at  all  events,  that  by  an  early  enactment  similar  to 
that  of  other  countries  the  ap^ilication  of  public  money  by  an  officer  of 
Government  to  private  uses  should  be  made  a  felony  and  visited  with 
severe  and  ignominious  punishment.  This  is  already  in  effect  the  law  in 
respect  to  the  Mint,  and  has  been  productive  of  the  most  salutary  results. 
Whatever  system  is  adopted,  such  an  enactment  would  be  wise  as  an 
independent  measure,  since  much  of  the  pubUc  moneys  must  in  their 
Collection  and  ultimate  disbursement  pass  twice  through  the  hands  of 
public  officers,  in  whatever  manner  they  are  intermediately  kept.  The 
Government,  it  must  be  admitted,  has  been  from  its  commencement  com- 
paratively fortimate  in  this  respect.  But  the  appointing  power  can  not 
always  be  well  advised  in  its  selections,  and  the  experience  of  every 
country  has  shown  that  public  officers  are  not  at  all  times  proof  against
Martin  Van  Buren  17  lo 
temptation.  It  is  a  duty,  therefore,  which  the  Government  owes,  as  well 
to  the  interests  committed  to  its  care  as  to  the  officers  themselves,  to 
provide  every  guard  against  transgressions  of  this  character  that  is  con- 
sistent with  reason  and  humanity.  Congress  can  not  be  too  jealous  of 
the  conduct  of  those  who  are  intrusted  with  the  public  money,  and  I 
shall  at  all  times  be  disposed  to  encourage  a  watchful  discharge  of  this 
duty. 
If  a  more  direct  cooperation  on  the  part  of  Congress  in  the  supervi- 
sion of  the  conduct  of  the  officers  intrusted  with  the  custody  and  appli- 
cation of  the  public  money  is  deemed  desirable,  it  will  give  me  pleasure 
to  assist  in  the  establishment  of  any  judicious  and  constitutional  plan  by 
which  that  object  may  be  accomplished.  You  will  in  your  wisdom  deter- 
mine upon  the  propriety  of  adopting  such  a  plan  and  upon  the  measures 
necessary  to  its  effectual  execution.  When  the  late  Bank  of  the  United 
States  was  incorporated  and  made  the  depository  of  the  public  moneys,  a 
right  was  reserved  to  Congress  to  inspect  at  its  pleasure,  by  a  committee 
of  that  body,  the  books  and  the  proceedings  of  the  bank.  In  one  of  the 
States,  whose  banking  institutions  are  supposed  to  rank  amongst  the  first 
in  point  of  stability,  they  are  subjected  to  constant  examination  by  com- 
missioners appointed  for  that  purpose,  and  much  of  the  success  of  its 
banking  system  is  attributed  to  this  watchful  supervision. 
The  same  course  has  also,  in  view  of  its  beneficial  operation,  been 
adopted  by  an  adjoining  State,  favorably  known  for  the  care  it  has 
always  bestowed  upon  whatever  relates  to  its  financial  concerns.  I  sub- 
mit to  your  consideration  whether  a  committed  of  Congress  might  not  be 
profitably  employed  in  inspecting,  at  such  intervals  as  might  be  deemed 
proper,  the  affairs  and  accounts  of  officers  intrusted  with  the  custody  of 
the  public  moneys.  The  frequent  performance  of  this  duty  might  be 
made  obligatory  on  the  committee  in  respect  to  those  officers  who  have 
large  sums  in  their  possession,  and  left  discretionary  in  respect  to  others. 
They  might  report  to  the  Executive  such  defalcations  as  were  found  to 
exist,  with  a  view  to  a  prompt  removal  from  office  unless  the  default  was 
satisfactorily  accounted  for,  dnd  report  also  to  Congress,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  each  session,  the  result  of  their  examinations  and  proceed- 
ings. It  does  appear  to  me  that  with  a  subjection  of  this  class  of  public 
officers  to  the  general  supervision  of  the  Executive,  to  examinations  by  a 
committee  of  Congress  at  periods  of  which  they  should  have  no  previous 
notice,  and  t^  prosecution  and  punishment  as  for  felony  for  every  breach 
of  trust,  the  safe-keeping  of  the  public  moneys  might  under  the  system 
proposed  be  placed  on  a  surer  foundation  than  it  has  ever  occupied  since 
the  establishment  of  the  Government. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  will  lay  before  you  additional  informa- 
tion containing  np.w  details  on  this  interesting  subject.  To  these  I  ask 
your  early  attention.  That  it  should  have  given  rise  to  great  diversity 
of  opinion  can  not  be  a  subject  of  surprise.     After  the  collection  and
171 1  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
custody  of  the  public  moneys  had  been  for  so  many  years  connected  with 
and  made  subsidiary  to  the  advancement  of  private  interests,  a  return  to 
the  simple  self-denying  ordinances  of  the  Constitution  could  not  but  be 
difficult.  But  time  and  free  discussion,  eliciting  the  sentiments  of  the 
people,  and  aided  by  that  conciliatory  spirit  which  has  ever  characterized 
their  course  on  great  emergencies,  were  relied  upon  for  a  satisfactory  set- 
tlement of  the  question.  Already  has  this  anticipation,  on  one  important 
point  at  least — the  impropriety  of  diverting  public  money  to  private  pur- 
poses— been  fully  realized.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  legislation 
upon  that  branch  of  the  subject  would  now  be  embarrassed  by  a  difference 
of  opinion,  or  fail  to  receive  the  cordial  support  of  a  large  majority  of  our 
constituents. 
The  connection  which  formerly  existed  between  the  Government  and 
banks  was  in  reality  injurious  to  both,  as  well  as  to  the  general  interests 
of  the  community  at  large.  It  aggravated  the  disasters  of  trade  and  the 
derangements  of  commercial  intercourse,  and  administered  new  excite- 
ments and  additional  means  to  wild  and  reckless  speculations,  the  disap- 
pointment of  which  threw  the  country  into  convulsions  of  panic,  and  all 
but  produced  violence  and  bloodshed.  The  imprudent  expansion  of  bank 
credits,  which  was  the  natural  result  of  the  command  of  the  revenues  of 
the  State,  furnished  the  resources  for  unbounded  license  in  every  species 
of  adventure,  seduced  industry  from  its  regular  and  salutary  occupations 
by  the  hope  of  abundance  without  labor,  and  deranged  the  social  state  by 
tempting  all  trades  and  professions  into  the  vortex  of  speculation  on 
remote  contingencies. 
The  same  wide-spreading  influence  impeded  also  the  resources  of  the 
Government,  curtailed  its  useful  operations,  embarrassed  the  fulfillment 
of  its  obligations,  and  seriously  interfered  with  the  execution  of  the  laws. 
Large  appropriations  and  oppressive  taxes  are  the  natural  consequences 
of  such  a  connection,  since  they  increase  the  profits  of  those  who  are 
allowed  to  use  the  pubHc  funds,  and  make  it  their  interest  that  money 
should  be  accumulated  and  expenditures  multiplied.  It  is  thus  that 
a  concentrated  money  power  is  tempted  to  become  an  active  agent  in 
political  affairs;  and  all  past  .experience  has  shown  on  which  side  that 
influence  will  be  arrayed.  We  deceive  ourselves  if  we  suppose  that  it 
will  ever  be  found  asserting  and  supporting  the  rights  of  the  community 
at  large  in  opposition  to  the  claims  of  the  few. 
In  a  government  whose  distinguishing  characteristic  should  be  a  diffu- 
sion and  equalization  of  its  benefits  and  burdens  the  advantage  of  indi- 
viduals will  be  augmented  at  the  expense  of  the  community  at  large. 
Nor  is  it  the  nature  of  combinations  for  the  acquisition  of  legislative  influ- 
ence to  confine  their  interference  to  the  single  object  for  which  they 
were  originally  formed.  The  temptation  to  extend  it  to  other  matters  is, 
on  the  contrary,  not  unfrequently  too  strong  to  be  resisted.  The  right- 
f ul  influence  in  the  direction  of  public  affairs  of  the  mass  of  the  people  is
Martin  Van  Buren  17 12 
tlierefore  in  no  slight  danger  of  being  sensibly  and  in jtiriously  affected 
by  giving  to  a  comparatively  small  but  very  efficient  class  a  direct  and 
exclusive  personal  interest  in  so  important  a  jxjrtion  of  the  legislation  of 
Congress  as  that  which  relates  to  the  custody  of  the  public  moneys.  If 
laws  acting  upon  private  interests  can  not  always  be  avoided,  they  should 
be  confined  within  the  narrowest  limits,  and  left  wherever  possible  to 
the  legislatures  of  the  States.  When  not  thus  restricted  they  lead 
to  combinations  of  powerful  associations,  foster  an  influence  necessarily 
selfish,  and  turn  the  fair  course  of  legislation  to  sinister  ends  rather 
than  to  objects  that  advance  public  liberty  and  promote  the  general  good. 
The  whole  subject  now  rests  with  you,  and  I  can  not  but  express  a  hope 
that  some  definite  measure  will  be  adopted  at  the  present  session. 
It  will  not,  I  am  siue,  be  deemed  out  of  place  for  me  here  to  remark 
that  the  declaration  of  my  views  in  opposition  to  the  policy  of  employing 
banks  as  depositories  of  the  Government  funds  can  not  justly  be  construed 
as  indicative  of  hostility,  official  or  personal,  to  those  institutions;  or  to 
repeat  in  this  form  and  in  connection  with  this  subject  opinions  which 
I  have  uniformly  entertained  and  on  all  proper  occasions  expressed. 
Though  always  opposed  to  their  creation  in  the  form  of  exclusive  privi- 
leges, and,  as  a  State  magistrate,  aiming  by  appropriate  legislation  to 
secure  the  community  against  the  consequences  of  their  occasional  mis- 
management, I  have  yet  ever  wished  to  see  them  protected  in  the  exer- 
cise of  rights  conferred  by  law,  and  have  never  doubted  their  utility  when 
properly  managed  in  promoting  the  interests  of  trade,  and  through  that 
channel  the  other  interests  of  the  community.  To  the  General  Govern- 
ment they  present  themselves  meriely  as  State  institutions,  having  no 
necessary  connection  with  its  legislation  or  its  administration.  Like 
other  State  establishments,  they  may  be  used  or  not  in  conducting  the 
affairs  of  the  Government,  as  public  pohcy  and  the  general  interests  of 
the  Union  may  seem  to  require.  The  only  safe  or  proper  principle  upon 
which  their  intercourse  with  the  Government  can  be  regulated  is  that 
which  regulates  their  intercourse  with  the  private  citizen — the  con- 
ferring of  mutual  benefits.  When  the  Government  can  accomplish  a 
financial  operation  better  with  the  aid  of  the  banks  than  without  it,  it 
should  be  at  liberty  to  seek  that  aid  as  it  would  the  services  of  a  private 
banker  or  other  capitalist  or  agent,  giving  the  preference  to  those  who 
will  serve  it  on  the  best  terms.  Nor  can  there  ever  exist  an  interest 
in  the  officers  of  the  General  Government,  as  such,  inducing  them  to 
embarrass  or  annoy  the  State  banks  any  more  than  to  incur  the  hostility 
of  any  other  class  of  State  institutions  or  of  private  citizens.  It  is  not 
in  the  nature  of  things  that  hostiUty  to  these  institutions  can  spring 
from  this  source,  or  any  opposition  to  their  course  of  business,  except 
when  they  themselves  depart  from  the  objects  of  their  creation  and 
attempt  to  usurp  powers  not  conferred  upon  them  or  to  subvert  the 
standard  of  value  established  by  the  Constitution.     While  opposition  tc
1 7 13  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
their  regular  opersttions  can  not  exist  in  this  quarter,  resistance  to  any 
attempt  to  make  the  Government  dependent  upon  them  for  the  success- 
ful administration  of  public  affairs  is  a  matter  of  duty,  as  I  trust  it  ever 
will  be  of  inclination,  no  matter  from  what  motive  or  consideration  the 
attempt  may  originate. 
It  is  no  more  than  just  to  the  banks  to  say  that  in  the  late  emergency 
most  of  them  firmly  resisted  the  strongest  temptations  to  extend  their 
paper  issues  when  apparently  sustained  in  a  suspension  of  specie  pay- 
ments by  public  opinion,  even  though  in  some  cases  invited  by  legisla- 
tive enactments.  To  this  honorable  course,  aided  by  the  resistance  of 
the  General  Government,  acting  in.  obedience  to  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  United  States,  to  the  introduction  of  an  irredeemable  paper 
medium,  may  be  attributed  in  a  great  degree  the  speedy  restoration  of 
our  currency  to  a  sound  state  and  the  business  of  the  country  to  its 
wonted  prosperity. 
The  banks  have  but  to  continue  in  the  same  safe  course  and  be  content 
in  their  appropriate  sphere  to  avoid  allr  interference  from  the  General 
Government  and  to  derive  from  it  all  the  protection  and  benefits  which 
it  bestows  on  other  State  estabhshments,  on  the  people  of  the  States,  and 
on  the  States  themselves.  In  this,  their  true  position,  they  can  not  but 
secure  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  the  people  and  the  Government, 
which  they  can  only  lose  when,  leaping  from  their  legitimate  sphere,  they 
attempt  to  control  the  legislation  of  the  country  and  pervert  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Government  to'  their  own  purposes. 
Our  experience  under  the  act,  passed  at  the  last  session,  to  grant 
preemption  rights  to  settlers  on  the  public  lands  has  as  yet  been  too 
limited  to  enable  us  to  pronounce  with  safety  upon  the  efl&cacy  of  its  pro- 
visions to  carry  out  the  wise  and  liberal  policy  of  the  Government  in  that 
respect.  There  is,  however,  the  best  reason  to  anticipate  favorable  results 
from  its  operation.  The  recommendations  formerly  submitted  to  ypu 
in  respect  to  a  graduation  of  the  price  of  the  public  lands  remain  to  be 
finally  acted  upon.  Having  found  no  reason  to  change  the  views  then 
expressed,  your  attention  to  them  is  again  respectfully  requested. 
Every  proper  exertion  has  been  made  and  will  be  continued  to  carry 
out  the  wishes  of  Congress  in  relation  to  the  tobacco  trade,  as  indicated 
in  the  several  resolutions  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the  legis- 
lation of  the  two  branches.  A  favorable  impression  has,  I  trust,  been 
made  in  the  different  foreign  countries  to  which  particular  attention  has 
been  directed;  and  although  we  can  not  hope  for  an  early  change  in  their 
policy,  as  in  many  of  them  a  convenient  and  large  revenue  is  derived 
from  monopolies  in  the  fabrication  and  sale  of  this  article,  yet,  as  these 
monopolies  are  really  injurious  to  the  people  where  they  are  established, 
and  the  revenue  derived  from  them  may  be  less  injuriously  and  with 
equal  facility  obtained  from  another  and  a  liberal  system  of  administra- 
tion, we  can  not  doubt  that  our  efforts  will  be  eventually  crowned  with.
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