Suggestion of Mr. In the American Almanac for 1840 there is a temperate and intelligent article by Mr. Nathan Hale, who was then the editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser. Admitting, said Mr. Hale, that the St. John was a river falling into the Atlantic Ocean in the sense of the treaty, yet the place claimed by the United States as the terminus of the due-north line divided waters flowing into the River St. Lawrence from waters flowing into the Bay of Chaleurs. There was no reason to presume that the framers of the treaty supposed that the waters of the Restigouche would be intercepted by the due-north line, nor was there satisfactory ground for regarding that river, whose general course was toward the River St. Lawrence rather than toward the Atlantic Ocean, and which actually fell into the Gulf of St. Lawrence near the river of that name, as belonging to the class of rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean as distinguished from those that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence. There appeared therefore, said Mr. Hale, to be no good reason why the range of highlands which ran between the sources of the Restigouche and the River St. Lawrence should be assumed to be the highlands intended by the treaty; and the fact that the United States claimed them might have given rise to the impression of the King of the Netherlands that the line was not susceptible of a literal and exact interpretation and execution. The true mode of interpreting the treaty was to ascertain the southern boundary of Quebec. This boundary ran along the highlands from the Bay of Chaleurs to the source of the Connecticut River. In the commission to Sir Guy Carleton, governor of Quebec, of April 22, 1786, it was defined as "a line from the Bay of Chaleurs along the highlands which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut river." These highlands, said Mr. Hale, were easily traced in a single but irregular range from the most. northwestern source of the Connecticut to the sources of the Restigouche, and formed the boundary delineated in Hale's Map of New England, first published in 1826. It was the only delineation that could be made according to the literal and exact interpretation of the treaty. The due-north line should therefore terminate at these highlands, and not, as claimed by the United States, after crossing them. New Surveys by the On the 20th of July, 1840, Congress appropriated $25,000 for an "exploration and survey" of the boundary line between the States of Maine and New Hampshire and the British provinces, and of the adjacent country. Under this act James Renwick, James D. Graham, and A. Talcott were appointed as commissioners. They were instructed (1) to explore and survey the lines respectively claimed by the United States and Great Britain, and (2) to examine and report upon the arguments contained in the report of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge. Their first report bears date January 6, 1841.2 It was neces sarily imperfect. They found and identified the point determined upon under Article V. of the treaty of 1794 as the source of the St. Croix, and prosecuted their surveys as far as the season would permit. An additional appropriation of $75,000 was made in February, 1841,3 in order that the work might be completed. On January 4, 1842, the commissioners presented a statement of what they had done, showing that their task was not yet finished. Only 81 miles of the meridian north from the monument at the source of the St. Croix had been surveyed, leaving 64 miles yet to be explored; the line claimed by Great Britain, and the line of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, had for the most part been surveyed, but had not yet been united; and a part of the highlands claimed by the United States near the source of the Rimouski had not been reached. Various other points remained to be determined; and they submitted estimates for another appropriation to enable them to complete their surveys and office work. On March 31, 1842, however, they presented what proved to be their last report. It covered all their operations up to that time, and contained an able refutation of some of the positions of Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, and particularly of their "axis of maximum elevation," which was found to represent eminences separated one from another by spaces of comparatively low and often swampy country so extended as to preclude the idea of a continuous range of highlands in the direction represented upon the map of those commissioners." 15 Stats. at L. 402. 2 H. Ex. Doc. 102, 26 Cong. 2 sess. 35 Stats. at L. 413. +S. Ex. Doc. 97, 27 Cong. 2 sess. 5 H. Ex. Doc. 31, 27 Cong. 3 sess. map of the disputed boundary, printed by order of the Senate in 1843. The amount asked for was $55,801.75. Border Strifes. While the negotiations and surveys were dragging along affairs on the border often gave rise to anxiety. In 1831 the attempt of certain persons to hold an election at the settlement of Madawaska under the laws of Maine led to their arrest and trial by the authorities of New Brunswick. They were convicted and sentenced to fine and imprisonment, but were afterward released on the request of the United States, their action having been disavowed by the authorities of Maine.' Disputes as to jurisdiction continued to occur. In 1836 one Alexander Rea, a Canadian justice of the peace, and one or more associates were arrested by a party under the command of an officer of the New Hampshire militia for attempting to execute process in the Indian Stream territory, which, on the supposition that the head of Halls Stream was the boundary of the United States, was within the American jurisdiction.3 In 1837 one Ebenezer Greely, who was engaged in taking a census for the State of Maine in the Madawaska settlement, was arrested by the authorities of New Brunswick on the ground that he was conducting his operation on British territory. In the same year a report that a railway was projected from Quebec to St. Andrews, through the disputed territory, under the patronage of the authorities of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, gave rise to a protest on the part of the United States. The British Government directed the colonial authorities to cause all operations within the disputed territory to be discontinued. In 1838-39 what was known as the "Restook The "Restook War." war" broke out in the district bordering on the River Aroostook. A land agent sent by the State of Maine with a posse to arrest British subjects who were cutting the fine timber in that district was seized and imprisoned by the authorities of New Brunswick. Other arrests followed, and something like a border war began. IS. Ex. Doc. 3, 22 Cong. 1 sess. 2 Br. and For. State Papers, XXII. 1030; XXIII. 404, 426. 3 Br. and For. State Papers, XXVII. 829. H. Ex. Doc. 126, 25 Cong. 2 sess.; Br. and For. State Papers, XXVII. 821, 935. Congress on July 7, 1838, appropriated $1,175 to reimburse the State of Maine for allowances to Greely for his sufferings and losses in consequence of his imprisonment, and to John Baker and others for a similar cause. b Br. and For. State Papers, XXV. 938, 943. 5627-10 Maine raised an armed civil posse, and erected fortifications in the territory. "There was Fort Fairfield, Fort Kent, and I do not know what other fortresses," said Mr. Webster, "all memorable in history." The legislature of the State placed $800,000 at the disposition of the governor, to be used for military defense. Bills were passed by Congress authorizing the President to call out the militia for six months and to accept 50,000 volunteers, and placing at his order an extra credit of $10,000,000.2 Mediation of General General Scott was dispatched to the scene of difficulty, but as a minister of peace rather than of war. Before the end of March 1839 he brought about an arrangement between the authorities of Maine and New Brunswick for the preservation of peace till the question of jurisdiction might be settled. He invited from the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick a declaration to the effect that it was not the intention of his government, without renewed instructions from the home government, to seek to take military possession of the disputed territory, or to endeavor by military force to expel therefrom the armed civil posse or the troops of Maine. If such a declaration should be received, he intimated that the governor of Mame would declare (1) that it was not his intention, without renewed instructions from the legislature, to attempt by arms to disturb New Brunswick in the possession of the Madawaska settlements, or to attempt to interrupt the usual communications between that province and Her Britannic Majesty's upper provinces; (2) that he was willing, pending negotiations between the United States and Great Britain, to let the question of possession and jurisdiction remain as it stood-Great Britain in fact holding possession of one part of the territory, and Maine in fact holding possession of another part, while each denied the other's right of possession-and (3) that, with this understanding, he would withdraw the military forces of the State from the disputed territory, leaving, under a land agent, only a small civil posse, armed or unarmed, to protect the timber recently cut and to prevent future depredations. These declarations were mutually and promptly made.3 Webster's Works, V. 93. 25 Stats. at L. 355. 3 Scott's Autobiography, II. 331–351. |