Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1839-07-04
10 Me Governor, from
Hon. Benjamin Hasard.

his Excellency the Governor OF Nassa-
chusetts to the Legislature OF that State,
at its present session, upon the subject
Of the boundary line controversy between
this State and that, now pending in the
Supreme Court Of the United States, ]
fn1 statement Of facts which, with
great Difference to that high authority, ]
believe to DO in some respect incorrect.
And as it may make an impression (not
intended certainly unfavorable to this
State and its counsel, in regard 10 the
MANA cement Of that contl oversy on our
part, il is proper that as one OF the coun-
sci Of Rhode Island in the cause should
point out briefly what i consider to be
erroneous in that statement.
The passage 1 refer to is in these
words, viz "The Counsel Of the Com
monwealth moved the Court Cat the last
term A. ID. 1889 that the bill Of Rhode
Island should be dismissed ,on the ground
that the Court has no jurisdiction of the
case. The Court affirmed lis jurisdic-
ton, and also granted to r. !. leave to
amend her bill. No information has
since reached the Counsel of this Com
monwealth Of any further action on the
part of Rhode Island. Should that State
persevere in the suit, it might in some
aspects Of the case, be grave question,
whether Massachusetts should not with
draw her appearance"
by this it appears that his Excellency
had not been informed, that Immediately
after the Court had rejected the motion
of Massachusetts to have our Bill Of
Complaint dismissed without a hearing,
her Counsel made second motion to
the Court for leave TO Withdraw her ap-
pearance and defence heretofore enter
ed /; and thereupon the Court at the
Same term, A. ID. 1888, made the follow
ing order, viz " 1t is now here consi-
dercd and ordered by the Court, that if
the Counsel for the State Of Massachu-
setis shall elect to withdraw the appear
ance heretofore entered, that leave be,
and the same is accordingly hereby gi-
ven and that the State of Rhode Island
may proceed er parie. But that, if the
appearance be not Withdrawn, that then,
as no testimony has been taken, the par
ties be allowed to withdraw or amend
the pleadings under such order as the
Court shall hereafter make in the prcmi.
ses."
Thus we see that the farther proceed
ings in the case depended upon the elec-
tion to be made by Massachusetts, !;
whether TO withdraw her appearance or
not But Massachusetts, did not make
her election as permitted at the last term,
nor has she done so to this day on the
contrary, at the present term of the
court, after the lapse ola year, her COun-
sci moved and urged the Court to allow
still further time to enable the l.egisla-
ture of that State, to deliberate and make
up their minds whether to withdraw or
not alledging "that great bodies move
slow ;" and the Court did allow that
State until next August to mako her
election, and again ordered that If she
withdrew, Rhode Island should proceed
er parie : and if not, she Massachusetts,
should answer our amended bill by the
second dav of next term. ii is very plain
that this great delay has not been sought
or caused by Rhode Island. AT the
last term, on the 10Th Of March, our mo-
ton for leave to amend our original bill
was renewed and granted, with an orde,
that the amendments should be made by
day certain in August last and the
amendments required were then immc-
diately drawn out at length and filed with
the clerk and were printed at the com
menccment of the present term for the
use of the Court And on the first mo-
ton day of the first week Of the term, a
motion was made by us for an order re-
quiring Massachusetts TO answer our
amended bill by short day. This mo-
ton was resisted by Massachusetts, and
was disposed of as before stated.
Perhaps had VIC pressed hard upon
Massachusetts, at the close OF the last
term, an order might have been obtain
cd, requiring her to make her election
to withdraw or not, on or before August
last, instead Of next August. But Mas
sachusetts cannot complain that she was
not so pressed upon. She was not obli-
gcd to wait for percmptory order Of
the Court, compelling her to make her
election. 1t was to be supposed that
when she asked leave TO withdraw, she
wanted what she asked for, and intended
to withdraw: or at any rate, that she
would not require much time to make up
her mind whether TO withdraw or not
Rhode Island has not hindered her do
ing so.
/ The same message contains tho fol-
lowing passage, viz:
"This suit is instituted by Rhode Is
land, in order, by the intcrposiiion of the
Federal Court, to divcst Massachusetts
Of considerable territory on her south
ern boundary, maintained by Massachu-
sets to have been in her rightful posses
sion from the first settlemt ut Of the coun-
try, and to have been admitted to belong
to her by Rhode Island, in a mutual ad-
lustment Of the question, about one
hundred and twenty years ago" IL this
is the true state Of the case, Rhode
Island is certainly very much in the
wrong, and Massachusetts very much
injured. But his ExceIIcncy will permit
me to remind him that Rhode Island has
always denied that there ever has been
any fair or valid settlement Of the line