a subsequent letter, expresses himself to the same effect. It cannot, he says, be too often repeated, or too forcibly impressed upon the mind of Sir Charles R. Vaughan, and upon the consideration of his Government, that any attempt to procure the consent of the State of Maine to a new conventional line, after the proceedings of the Senate, and while, in the opinion of so large a portion of that body, the ascertainment of the line called for by the Treaty of 1783 was practicable, would have been utterly hopeless.

The British Minister still urging the establishment of such conventional line, the American Secretary of State, in his letter of the 28th April, 1835, requested that as the President did not possess the power to establish a conventional boundary without the consent of the State of Maine, it would be greatly conducive to the preservation of that harmony between the two countries both are so desirous to cherish, and which is so liable to be impaired by unavailing negociations, that whatever proposition His Majesty's Government might feel disposed to make, should, before its submission to the authorities of that state, receive a form sufficiently definite to enable the President to take their sense upon it without embarrassment, and with the least possible delay (Correspondence, &c., &c.); to which proposition it was answered, that as to any proposition which it might be the wish of the Government of the United States to receive from

His Majesty's Government respecting a conventional substitute for the line of the Treaty of 1783, the constant allusion in the correspondence which had taken place to constitutional difficulties in the way of the Executive treating for any other line than one conformable to that of the Treaty until the consent of the State of Maine was obtained, seemed to point out the necessity in the first instance of attaining that object, which must be undertaken exclusively by the General Government of the United States; and as to the other difficulties which presented them, selves to the writer, they would more properly form the subject of a conference with the Secretary of State.

On the 29th of February, 1836, the American Government offered, if His Majesty's Government should consent to it, to apply to the State of Maine for its assent to make the River St. John, from its source to its mouth, the boundary between Maine and His Britannic Majesty's possessions in that part of North America.

The President, in his Message to Congress, of the 5th Dec. 1837, says, "It is not to be disguised that with full confidence often expressed in the desire of the British Government to terminate it, we are apparently as far from its adjustment as we were at the time of signing the Treaty of 1783. The sole result of long-pending negociations, and a perplexing arbitration, appears to be a conviction on its part that a conventional line must be adopted from the impossi

bility of ascertaining the true one according to the description contained in the Treaty (Correspondence, &c., &c., inclosure, No. 55).

The President of the United States having through the Secretary of State applied to the State of Maine for the expression of the wishes and will of that State in reference to the adjustment of this longpending question, the Governor of Maine, on the 14th March, 1838, sent to the Senate and Representatives, the Legislature being then in Session, the following Message, &c., &c. :

Governor's Message to the Senate and House of Representatives.

"I herewith communicate for your consideration a communication addressed to me by the Secretary of State of the United States, with the correspondence therein referred to, in reference to the NorthEastern Boundary. This communication is made by request of the President of the United States, and, in compliance with his suggestion, I ask your careful and deliberate attention to the facts and propositions therein contained. The duty devolving upon me would perhaps be performed by the simple communication of these documents, without any remarks or comments of my own. But this subject, always interesting to Maine, has become more so by this direct application on the part of the President of the United States, for the expression of the wishes and will of this state in reference

to the adjustment of this long-pending question; and feeling a deep interest personally and officially in every thing that relates to it, and anxious mainly that the rights and honour of Maine should not be jeopardized or impaired, I feel it to be a duty which I owe to the people who have assigned me my post of responsibility, to speak my honest opinions and views, plainly and unreservedly, upon the grave matters now submitted to you. I ask for my views no other weight or influence than such as their intrinsic value may entitle them to; and I desire only to be regarded as connected with you in guarding with watchful care the great interests entrusted to us, and doing my duty in this important crisis according to my best judgment. If my views are erroneous, or if I am in your opinion unnecessarily strict and severe in my judgment of intentions, or too limited in my suggestions of policy, I trust to you to correct or overrule me. I assume no right to dictate or control your actions.

In the communication from Mr. Forsyth, in connexion with a very lucid and interesting history of the negociations between the two Governments, we are informed that the discussions between the Federal Government and that of Great Britain have arrived at a stage in which the President thinks it due to the State of Maine, and necessary to the intelligent action of the General Government, to take the sense of this State in regard to the expediency of opening a direct negociation for the establish

ment of a conventional line, and if Maine should deem an attempt to adjust the matter in controversy in that form advisable, then to ask the assent of Maine to the same.

"The grave and important question therefore presented for your consideration, as you will more fully perceive by the document referred to, is whether you will clothe the Executive of the United States with the unlimited power of fixing a new and conventional line, in lieu of the treaty boundary.

"It is certainly gratifying to perceive that the right of Maine to be heard and consulted, before the treaty line is abandoned, is fully recognized by the General Government; and I have no doubt the Legislature of Maine will approach the consideration of the proposition in the same spirit in which it is offered, and with an anxious desire to terminate this long-pending and embarrassing question, if it can be done without too great a sacrifice of honour and right. Although the documents are somewhat voluminous, the proposition is single and simple in its character, and easily understood.

"I have given to the subject all the reflection and examination I have been able to bestow, since the reception of the documents; but with a most anxious desire to acquiesce in any feasible scheme of adjustment, or any reasonable proposition for a settlement, I feel constrained to say that I see little to hope and much to fear from the proposed departure from the Treaty line.