of peace, the extent of those limits, and the territory rightfully subject to our jurisdiction, should be a matter of dispute and difference. I feel it to be my duty, in this my first official act, to call your attention to that vitally important question, the true limits of our State, and to express to you and the people my views of the claim set up by a foreign State to the rightful possession of a large part of our territory.

I do not intend to enter into a historical detail, or an elaborate argument to sustain the American claim on our North Eastern Boundary. The whole subject has been for years before the people, and our rights, and the grounds upon which they rest, have been ably maintained, and clearly set forth, in our formal documents and informal discussions.

I will not trespass needlessly upon your time and patience by a recapitulation. If there is any meaning in plain language, and any binding force in treaty engagements, if recognition and acquiescence for a long series of years on the part of Great Britain in one uniform expression and construction of the boundaries of her Provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia, is of any weight, then the right of Maine to the territory in dispute, is as clear and unquestionable as to the spot upon which we now stand. It requires indeed the exercise of charity to reconcile the claim now made by Great Britain with her professions of strict integrity and high sense of justice in her dealings with other nations; for it is a claim of very recent origin, growing from an admitted right in us, and proceeding, first, to a request to vary our acknowledged line for an equivalent, and then, upon a denial, to a wavering doubt, and from thence, to an absolute claim.

It has required, and still requires, all the talents of her Statesmen, and skill of her diplomatists, to render that obscure and indefinite, which is clear and unambiguous. I cannot for a moment doubt, that if the same question should arise in private life, in relation to the boundaries of two adjacent farms, with the same evidence and the same arguments, it would be decided by any court, in any civilized country, without hesitation or doubt, according to our claim.

But Great Britain was anxious for a direct communication between her Provinces. She sought it first as a favor and a grant. She now demands about one third part of our territory as her right.

The pertinacity and apparent earnestness and confidence with which this claim is urged, in the very face of the treaty, and the facts bearing upon the question, have been increased, I fear, by the probably unexpected forbearance, if not favor,

with which they have been received and treated by the American authorities. It can hardly be a matter of surprise that the claim is pressed upon us, when, instead of standing upon the treaty-plain definite and capable of execution as it manifestly is, our own general government has voluntarily suggested a variation of that line, certainly in their favor, by running west of the due north line of the treaty, and there to seek the highlands; thus yielding up the starting point, the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, and throwing the whole matter into uncertainty and confusion. Fortunately for us, the English negotiators, thinking, probably, that a nation which would yield so much, would probably yield more, declined the proposition, unless other concessions were made. The remarkable adjudication made by the arbiter, selected under the treaty, resulting merely in advice, the movement on the part of Maine, in 1832, in the negotiation in relation to yielding up the territory for an equivalent, the apparent apathy and indifference of the general government to the encroaching jurisdiction by New Brunswick, her unopposed establishment of a wardenship over the territory -the repeated incarceration of the citizens of Maine, for acts done on this her territory, almost without a murmur of disapprobation or remonstrance, and the delay of the President to run the line as authorised by Congress, have all, I fear, served to strengthen and encourage the claim, which was first put forth with doubt and argued with many misgivings.

The commission and arbitration under treaty having failed, and our ultra liberal offers being either declined or neglected, the parties are turned back to their rights and their limits under the treaties of 1783 and 1814.

But in truth, the only question in dispute, or about which there was any difference between the two governments, until since the last war and the last treaty, was as to which river was the true St. Croix of the treaty. This being settled, and its head or source fixed, (as it has been) the line is to run due north to the south line of Canada, and the northwest angle of Nova Scotia. That line should be run without delay, as authorised by Congress.

We want the information and the facts; we wish to examine the heighth of land which divides the waters flowing into the St. Lawrence, from those running into the Atlantic, and ascertain its elevation and character. We wish to have our landmarks placed on our exterior limits, and maintain our own.

We wish to test the truth of the assertion, that there is no northwest angle of Nova Scotia, and no such dividing heighth of land as the treaty contemplates, by a correct and scientific

examination on the face of the earth. Surely rights of examination, which are secured to individual claimants, are not to be denied to Sovereign States.

Our situation in relation to this question, owing to the peculiar nature of our government and institutions, is interesting, viewed either with reference to the foreign power with which we are at issue, or our own general government. Our right and title, clear and perfect as we believe them to be, are, it must be admitted, subjects of dispute, and the first and great question is, how is this dispute to be settled? The line dispu ted is the Eastern boundary of the United States, and of the State of Maine. The general government is the only power which by the constitution can treat with a foreign government, or be acknowledged or known by that government, in negotiations. Maine acknowledges the right of the general government to establish the line, according to the terms of the treaty of 1783, and claims a performance of that duty without delay. But whilst she concedes that power, she insists with equal confidence upon the position, that no variation of the treaty line, no cession of any part of our territory, and no conventional line can be granted or adopted, without the consent of this State.

Whatever territory is included within the line running from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia westwardly along the highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the northwesternmost head of the Connecticut river, and the line running directly south from said angle to the established source of the river St. Croix, is within the State of Maine.

If there is a dispute as to the location of that angle, and those lines-that question, and that question only, is to be settled by the general government.

In making this assertion, we do not more distinctly acknowledge a power, than claim the performance of a duty. In the first sentence of the Constitution of the United States, one of the important objects in the formation of that constitution, as there expressed, is, "to provide for the common defence," and this duty is afterwards in the same instrument, more specifically pointed out in the provision, that "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion." Under that constitution, the exercise of certain rights was denied to the States; all not expressly taken away were reserved to the States-and certain new rights were created.

Foremost, and most important, of these newly created State

rights, is the right, on the part of each State, to demand the aid of all, by the action of the general government, whenever any foreign power interferes with the territorial rights of such State.

No State is to be left to defend its soil and maintain its just rights single handed and alone,-to engage in border skirmishes and partizan warfare, and sustain that warfare at its own expense.

It is the duty of a State to claim and assert its rights to jurisdiction, and it is the duty of the general government to protect and maintain them, if just and well founded. The acknowledgement of this State right to protection is particularly important to Maine, environed by foreign territory, and forming a frontier State in the Union. Denied the power to negotiate with foreign governments, or to declare and carry on war in defence of her rights, this State can call, in a strong voice, upon that government to which has been delegated those high powers, for protection in the exercise of her jurisdictional rights. Perfect unity of purpose and frankness in disclosures ought to characterize all intercourse between the State and National Governments, on this topic. No course is so well calculated to lead to distrust and embarrassment, and to inspire confidence in the opposing claimants, as diplomatic evasions and jarring and discordant correspondence. We would use no threats of disunion or resistance. We trust that it will never be necessary for a State to assume a hostile attitude, or threatening language, to enforce practically its claims to protection.

But Maine has a right to know, fully and explicitly, the opinion and determination of the general government, and whether she is to be protected, or left to struggle alone and unaided. I see little to hope from the forbearance or action of the British government. Their policy, it is apparent, is to delay a settlement of the question, and to extend their actual jurisdiction over the territory, that it may ripen into a right, or at least, in future controversies give them the advantage of possession.

The loose and extremely undefined jurisdiction over the small French settlement at Madawaska, has been the foundation of a claim to actual jurisdiction, and the establishmeut of wardenship over the whole territory. In pursuance of this plan and policy, they have seized, at various times, heretofore, American citizens, and thrust them into prison, for alleged offences, and during the past season, the Lieut. Governor of New Brunswick has visited the territory in person, and received the loyal assurance of such of its inhabitants as were ready

to acknowledge their allegiance. A citizen of our State, Ebenezer S. Greely, now lies imprisoned at Fredericton, seized, as it is said, for exercising power delegated to him under a law of this State. The facts connected with this arrest, are unknown to me, and I therefore forbear to comment at this time upon them.

If the facts are, that he was so seized, for such a lawful act, the dignity and sovereignty of the State and Nation demand his immediate release.

I am aware that we are met by the assertion that the parties have agreed to permit the actual jurisdiction to remain, pending the negotiation, as it existed before. I have yet seen no evidence that such an agreement was ever formally entered into by the parties. But certainly Maine was no party to such an understanding, and at all events it could never have been intended to be perpetually binding, or to extend beyond the termination of the then pending negotiation. That negotiation is ended. The old ground of claim at Mars Hill is abandoned; a new allegation is made-that the treaty cannot be executed, and must be laid aside. In the mean time this wardenship is established, and the claim to absolute jurisdiction, not merely at Madawaska, but over the whole territory north, is asserted and enforced.

If this jurisdiction is to be tolerated and acquiesced in indefinitely, we can easily see why negotiation lags, and two years elapse between a proposition and the reply. They have all they want, and the jurisdiction is claimed by them so absolutely that we cannot send an agent to number the people, and must hesitate before the disputed line can be run, to fix our limits and ascertain important facts.

The first duty of Maine, as it seems to me, is to claim the immediate action of the General Government, to move efficiently and decidedly, to bring the controversy to a conclusion. We have had years of negotiation, and we are told that we are apparently no nearer to a termination than at the commenceMaine has waited with most exemplary patience, until even her large stock is almost exhausted.

ment.

She has no disposition to embarrass the action of the General Government, but she asks that some action be had—some movement made with a determined purpose to end the contro

versy.

She cannot quietly submit to have her territory wrested from her, her citizens imprisoned, her territorial jurisdiction annihilated, and her rights lost by the bold and persevering and unopposed claims of a foreign power. She cannot consent to be