Maine, since that period, have eign power and dominion in place ceased to assert their jurisdiction over the whole territory. The decision of the arbiter, advising a compromise of the matter, produced a great excitement in Maine. The legislature which was sitting, when the decision was promulgated, went into secret session on the subject, and strong resolutions were passed, expressing the unwillingness of the State to acquiesce in the decision. An act was also passed, authorising the inhabitants of Madawasca, (a small settlement within the disputed territory,) to organize a town government, and to send a member to the State Legislature. In pursuance of that act, a meeting was held on the 20th of August, at the house of Peter Lizotte, on the west side of the St. John's, and within the line as laid down by the award, to organize a town government. Several officers of the province of New Brunswick were present, who forbade the proceedings. The meeting then adjourned to the open field, where the act of incorporation was read by Walter Powers, and the town meeting formally opened. Barnabas Hunnewell was chosen Moderator; John Harford, Daniel Savage, and Amos Mattocks, Selectmen; Jesse Wheelock, Town Clerk; Randall Harford, and Barnabas Hunnewell, Constables; and the officers chosen were sworn in. Shortly after, the British authorities with a military force, repaired to the settlement, seized Hunnewell, Wheelock, and Savage, carried them to Fredericton, where they were indicted and tried on the 15th of September, 1831, for sedition in conspiring to subvert his majesty's authority, and to set up and establish a for thereof. Previous to the commencement of the trial, the Attorney General intimated to the defendants, that they were at liberty to have the trial postponed until the next term, by giving bail for their appearance, themselves in £100 each, and two sureties in £50 each; but after some consultation among themselves, they stated that they did not think it would be in their power to procure bail; and were desirous that the trial should proceed.-The defendants conducted their own defence without the aid of counsel. After a short deliberation the jury found a verdict of guilty, against all the defendants. On the 18th of October, they were brought into court to receive sentence, and being asked, whether they had anything to offer to the court, answered in the negative. His honor, Mr. Justice Chipman, addressed them, and observcd That it was sufficient merely to state the charge of which they had been found guilty, to show its aggravated character, without adding a word of comment. It was no less than a direct attempt to subvert the authority of the government, and to introduce the jurisdiction of a foreign State. That the defendants had to say, in their extenuation, that they were not the original authors of these proceedings; they appeared certainly to be instruments in the hands of others. They also set up in their defence a color of justification, which, they pretended, was given to their proceedings, by the acts and declarations of a person in the character of a British officer. These acts and declarations, however, went no further than to abstain from act came, this court must, and preventing by force, proceedings would maintain the jurisdiction it not amounting to acts of sovereign- had been accustomed to exercise. ty, of certain American Agents The learned Judge further stated, on the western side of the river that there was another consideraSt. John. The defendants ap- tion which should have been well peared to be persons not wanting weighed by the defendants as in understanding and discretion, cause of reflection. The defendand must have perceived the dif- ants, although professing to be ference between the proceedings American citizens, and, therefore, of the American Agents alluded not supposed to feel the same atto, and their own doings, which, tachment to the British crown, although they took place on the even while living within the limits western side of the river, were, of its jurisdiction, as to the counnevertheless, expressly founded on try of their birth, yet should have an act of the legislature of Maine, abstained from bringing into jeopwhich excluded the whole terri- ardy the numerous French intory on both sides of the river, the habitants of the Madawasca setextreme line, which, it was noto- tlement, by seducing them from rious, the Americans claimed as their natural allegiance. These their boundary, and which would, inhabitants were natural born doubtless, have been taken ad- British subjects, and so far as the vantage of, as being acts of juris- duty of allegiance were concerned, diction to the whole extent of such stood in the same relation to the claim. The learned Judge here crown, as the judges on this bench, repeated what he had stated to the or any other person in this court. jury on the trial, that no such proceedings as those he had alluded to, either on the part of the British or American authorities, could be admitted to change the sovereignty and national character of the place. That it had now, for the second time, been most satisfactorily proved in this court, (once before in the case of John Baker) that this province had exercised an uninterrupted jurisdiction, ever since its first erection, over the Madawasca settlement. That if the time should arrive when this territory, or any part of it, was to be given up to the United States, or any foreign country, this circumstance must, and would be announced, by some public act of the British government, which would make known to the inhabitants, the transfer of the country, and the change of their allegiance. That until such public He further said, that the doctrine which the Court now asserted with respect to the maintaining the actual jurisdiction of the Provincial authorities, was the same which it had acted upon in the case of John Baker. The correctness of it he conceived was unquestionable, and to his knowledge had never been denied by any authority, British or American. The defendants in the face of that case, had proceeded to attempt a further subversion of that jurisdiction; and, although the Court was not disposed to inflict upon them unnecessary pains and inconvenience, yet they must be prepared to bear the final consequences of their own acts. The court in awarding their punishment, aimed at an effectual, but at the same time, a temperate assertion of the authority of the laws, such as it appeared to them the case, un der all its circumstances, required; and concluded by pronouncing the sentence of the court, as follows: That each of the defendants do pay a fine to the King of fifty pounds, and be imprisoned in the common jail of the county for three calendar months, and stand committed until the said fines are paid. These proceedings added to the excitement prevailing in Maine, and some of the public journals, advocated immediate action so far as to liberate the prisoners. The Governor called the council to gether, by which body, the following report was made, and ordered to be published: The Committee of the whole Council, to which was referred the subject of the recent transactions at Madawasca, ask leave to report:-That in common with their fellow-citizens, they view with feelings of just indignation, the unwarrantable and oppressive acts of the authorities of the British Province of New Brunswick, in invading the territory of this State with a military force, and arresting a number of our peaceable citizens, compelling others to conceal themselves in the wilderness, and abandon their homes, in order to escape the violence with which they were threatened. In this violation of the sovereignty of the State, we perceive the continuation of that system of encroachment, which, by our forbearance, the Provincial Government have long been enabled to practise for the purpose of extending their possession, and afterwards relying on that possession, as the only foundation of the extraordinary claim they still persevere in making to a considerable portion of the State. In virtue of a warrant from a magistrate of the county of Penobscot, the inhabitants of Madawasca, on the 20th day of August last, assembled at a place southward, of the St. John's river, on this side of the line designated by the Arbiter as, in his opinion, a suitable boundary between the two governments, and proceeded peaceably to organize themselves, in pursuance of an Act of the Legislature of Maine, incorporating the town of Madawasca. On the 12th day of September last, they held a town meeting for the purpose of electing a Representative, as required by the laws and constitution of this State. For these acts, four of our citizens have been arrested by the authorities of New Brunswick, carried out of the State, and three of them, Barnabas Hunnewell, Daniel Savage and Jesse Wheelock, are now confined in jail at Fredericton, in execution of a sentence pronounced against them, after the form of a trial in a court of that Province. As these citizens were arrested by a foreign power, at a place which is claimed and known to be within the limits of this State, and for the exercise of a privilege guarantied to every citizen, we have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion, that the State is bound to adopt all proper and constitutional means within its power, to procure their release. It appears by documents in the office of the Secretary of State, of this State, that immediately on receiving information of these transactions, the facts were communicated by the Governor to Mr. Livingston, the Secretary of State of the United States, with an urgent request that the proper measures might be adopted by the general government to procure the We have caused an examination to be made, but no copy of the arrangement referred to, can be found among the archives of the State. And though allusion is made to such an arrangement in the correspondence between Mr. Clay, former Secretary of State of the United States, and the late Governor Lincoln, it was at that time asserted to have been violated by the British authorities, and we are satisfied that in numerous instances, it has been totally disregarded by them. In order to show the views of the general government, with regard to the measures to be adopted by this State, which are now the subject of our consideration, we refer to the following extracts from Mr. Livingston's letter before referred to. The President desires me to reiterate to you, his anxious desire that you would use your authority and influence to prevent any further collision with the British authorities, in the firm persuasion that the wisdom of Congress will direct such ultimate measures, as will bring the controversy to a close, consistent with the interest and dignity of the United States, and particularly of the States interested in the question. He receives the strongest assurances from the Representative of the British government, that no innovation will be countenanced on the part of its provincial functionaries; and on our part, good faith as well as the protection of the frontier, from unauthorized mutual inroads, require the same course of conduct. In a previous letter to the Governor, dated October 5th, Mr. Livingston observes, the President directs me to say, that he relies on your Excellency's prudence to avoid any unnecessary exertions of authority over the contested ground, and to repress, as far as lies in your power, all such acts as may endanger the quiet of the bordering territory. Congress will meet in the course of a few weeks, and it will be a source of deep regret if the moderation and forbearance, which have hitherto characterized the government and people of Maine, should cease to guide them, when its further continuance for so short a period is of such consequence to the nation. 'After a full consideration of all the facts and circumstances within our knowledge in relation to the subject submitted to us, we are of opinion that every proper and constitutional measure, at present, in the power of the Executive of this State, to procure the release of our citizens confined at Fredericton, has been adopted. And if the Committee have forborne to recommend more efficacious means for their immediate release, it is because they believe the State is not in possession of the constitutional power to exert them, without the concurrence of the general government. 'Believing that Congress, which is soon to meet, will adopt the necessary measures to bring this controversy to a close, consistently with justice, the peace of the nation, and constitutional rights of the State, which we believe will never be voluntarily surrendered, and from a desire to conform to the wishes of the general government, we do not deem it expedient at this time, to recommend measures which might lead to collision with the British authorities. 'But from the exposed situation of our frontier settlements, and the dangers to which they are subjected by encroachments from the neighboring province, we recommend that the Governor be advised to issue a General Order, requiring the Militia of the State to hold themselves in readiness, to meet such requisitions as the President may deem necessary, to protect our territory from invasion, and our citizens from capture. ISAAC LANE, PER ORDER. In Council, November 7, 1831.' NEW HAMPSHIRE. 110 20cts. ELECTIONS. At the gubernatori- 4 years, 20cts. Cows 4 years old, al election in this State, which took 15cts. Neat cattle 3 years old, place on the 2nd Tuesday of 8cts. do. 2 years, 5cts. Sheep, 1 March, 1831, the votes stood for cent. Orchard land yielding 10 Samuel Dinsmore, (Jackson,) 23,503 barrels of cider or perry, 20 cents; Ichabod Bartlett, (opposition,) 18,681 arable land producing 25 bushels Scattering, LEGISLATION. Forty-nine public of corn, 20cts. Mowing land proand private acts, and nine resolu- ducing one ton of hay, pastions were passed at the June Ses- ture land sustaining one cow, sion, 1830. Among the acts was Mills, carding machines, wharves, one authorising Commissioners to ferries, and toll bridges, one twelfth be appointed, in any of the other of income; other lands, one half States, to take acknowledgments of per cent. of their value; bank deeds. $45,000 was ordered to stock, stock in trade, pleasure carbe raised by general assessment, riages, one half per cent.; funded and the poll tax was fixed at $1,10. property, and money loaned, three The other taxes were as follows: fourths per cent. 2 20cts. $10,00 Commissioners were appointed ,50 to make a report, in relation to the 35 existing laws on imprisonment for debt. ,20 10 GREAT FALLS-SOMERSWORTH, Jacks, $5. Jills, 50cts. do 2 Seven years since, this village conyears old, 30cts. mules, 50cts. do tained but a single farm house, and 4 years, 35cts. do. 3 years, 20cts. was entirely a swamp. do. 2 years, 10cts. Oxen, 30cts. do. contains about two thousand in It now |