Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1840-03-20
JOHN FORSYTH.
Mr.. Fox TO Mn. FoRsYTn.
Washington, March, T, 1910

Inc Undersigned, her DrltannlC Ma
iesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plcnipotentiary has the honor to acknowl-
edge the receipt of the official note of
yesterdays date, addressed to him by
MIR. Forsyth, Secretary of State of the
United States, to which is annexed the
copy of a report from Mr.. Benjamin
Wiggin, an agent employed by the State
of Maine to visit the British military post
at Lake Tcmiscouta /; and in which re-
ference is made to other papers upon the
same subject, which were informally
communicated to the undersigned by Mr..
Forsyth a few days before (; and the at
%tcntion of the undersigned upon which the
information contained in the said papers
is considered to be materially at variance
with that which vas conveyed to the Uni
ted State Government blythe undersigned
in his official notes of the Goth of last
January.
The undersigned had already been
made acquainted, by the Lieutenant Gov
ernor of New Brunswick, with the cir
cumstanecs of Mr.. Virgins visit to the
military post at Lake Temiscouta, where
the officer in command very properly
furnished to Mr.. Wiggin the requisite in
formation upon all matters connected with
the British station, which he appeared
DESTROYS to inquire about.
The alleged points of variance, after
dcducting what is %fanciful and conjectural
in the reports now produced, and after
comparing what is the stated in contra
diction to other reports before produced
from the same quarters, do not appcart to
the undersigned to be by any means SO
material as they seem to have been con-
sidered by the Government of the United
States. The British military detachment
stationed at Lake Temiscouta, which the
agents employed by the State of Maine
had, in the first instance, with singular
eXaggcration, represented as amounting
to two regiments, is now discovered by
the same parties to amount to us men,
which, instead of two regiments, is some
thing less than two companies. 1t is,
: indeed, true, should such a point be con-
sidered worth discussing, that the under
signed might have used a more teckni-
cally correct expression in his note of the
goth of January, if he had stated the de-
tachment in question to consist Of from
one to W companies, instead of stating
it to consist of n company.
But a detachment of her Majcsty's
troops has been stationed at the lake Te-
miscouta, from time to time eversince the
winter of 1887 and 1888, when the ne.
cessity arose from marching reinforce
ments by that route from New Brunswick
to Canada any it will be remembered
that a temporary right of using that route
for the same purpose, was expressly re-
served to Great Britain in the provisional
agreement entered in to at the beginning
o flast year.
1t is not therefore true that the station.
ing a military force at the lake Tennis
couta is a new measure on the part of hel
Majesty's authorities. Neither is it true
that that measure has hccn adopted fol
other purposes thar to maintain the secu.
rity of the customary line of communica-
ton, and to protect the buildings, stores,
and accommodations provided for the use
other Majesty's troops when on a march
, by that route !; and it was with a view tc
correct misapprehcnsions which appeared
!. TO exist upon these points, and thus to dc
| away with one needless occasion of dis.
f pute, that the undersigned conveyed tc
:. the United States Government the infor.
: nation contained in his note of the 26!l
/, of January.
f With regard again to the construction
, of barracks and other buildings, and the
, preserving them in an efficient state o
repair and defence, a similar degree o
. error and misrepresentation appears still
!. to prevail in the minds of the American
, authorities.
The erection of those buildings within
, the portion of the disputed territory now
, referred to for the shelter of her Majesty
troops while on their march, and for the
f safe Judgement of the stores, is no new
$ act on the part of her Majesty's author,
t ties. The buildings in question have
. been in the course of construction from
: period antecedent to the provision agree.
v mcnts of last year, and they are now
g maintained and occupied along the lint
of marcll, with a view to the same objects
t above specified, for which small dctach.
d mcnts of troops also referred to, are il
f like manner there stationed.
The undersigned will not refrain from
here remarking upon one point of com
$ p%arison exhibited in the present contro'
versy. 1t is admitted by the Unitcc
n States authorities that the armed band
stationed by the Government o Mainc il
: the neighborhood of the Aroostook river
q have fortified those stations with artillery
# and it is now objected as matter of com