DIPLOMATIC AND OFFICIAL

PAPER S.

TREATY OF WASHINGTON OF 1842.

NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY.

A LEADING object sought to be accomplished, and which was accomplished, by the Treaty of Washington, was the settlement of the controversy between the United States and England relative to the northern and northeastern boundary of the United States.

The history of this controversy, from the Treaty of Peace, in 1783, to its final adjustment in 1842, is given in Mr. Webster's speech in the Senate, the 6th and 7th of April, 1846, which is contained in this publication. In the summer of 1841, Mr. Webster signified to Mr. Fox, the British minister at Washington, that, having received the President's authority for so doing, he was then willing to make an attempt to settle the boundary dispute, by agreeing on a conventional line, or line by compromise. In September of that year the ministry of Sir Robert Peel came into power; and Lord Aberdeen, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, having been informed of what had been said by Mr. Webster to Mr. Fox, invited Mr. Everett, at that time minister of the United States at the court of London, to an interview on that subject. The following correspondence immediately took place

Mr. Everett to Mr. Webster.-[EXTRACTS.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, December 31, 1841.

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At a late hour on the evening of the 26th, I received a note from the Earl of Aberdeen, requesting an interview for the following day, when I met him at the Foreign Office, agreeably to the appointment. After one or two general remarks upon the difficulty of bringing about an adjustment of the points of controversy between the governments, by a continuance of the discussions hitherto carried on, he said that her majesty's government had determined to take a decisive step toward that end, by sending a special minister to the United States, with a full power to make a final settlement of all matters in dispute. * This step was determined on from с

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a sincere and earnest desire to bring the matter so long in controversy to an amicable settlement; and if, as he did not doubt, the same disposition existed at Washington, he thought this step afforded the most favorable, and, indeed, the only means of carrying it into effect. In the choice of the individual for the mission, Lord Aberdeen added, that he had been mainly influenced by a desire to select a person who would be peculiarly acceptable in the United States, as well as eminently qualified for the trust, and that he persuaded himself he had found one who, in both respects, was all that could be wished. He then named Lord Ashburton, who had consented to undertake the mission.

Although this communication was, of course, wholly unexpected to me, I felt no hesitation in expressing the great satisfaction with which I received it. I assured Lord Aberdeen that the President had nothing more at heart than an honorable adjustment of the matters in discussion between the two countries; that I was persuaded a more acceptable selection of a person for the important mission proposed could not have been made; and that I anticipated the happiest results from this overture.

Lord Aberdeen rejoined, that it was more than an overture; that Lord Ashburton would go with full powers to make a definitive arrangement on every point in discussion between the two countries. He was aware of the difficulty of some of them, particularly what had incorrectly been called the right of search, which he deemed the most difficult of all; but he was willing to confide this and all other matters in controversy to Lord Ashburton's discretion. He added, that they should have been quite willing to come to a general arrangement here, but they supposed I had not full powers for such a purpose.

This measure being determined on, Lord Aberdeen said he presumed it would be hardly worth while for us to continue the correspondence here on matters in dispute between the governments. He, of course, was quite willing to consider and reply to any statement I might think proper to make on any subject; but, pending the negotiations that might take place at Washington, he supposed no benefit could result from a simultaneous discussion here.

Mr. Webster to Mr. Everett.-[EXTRACT.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 29, 1842. By the "Britannia,” arrived at Boston, I have received your dispatch of the 28th of December (No. 4), and your other dispatch of the 31st of the same month (No. 5), with a postscript of the 3d of January.

The necessity of returning an early answer to these communications (as the "Britannia" is expected to leave Boston on the 1st of February) obliges me to postpone a reply to those

parts of them which are not of considerable and immediate importance.

The President expresses himself gratified with the manner in which the queen received you to present your letter of credence, and with the civility and respect which appear to characterize the deportment of Lord Aberdeen in his intercourse with you; and you will please signify to Lord Aberdeen the President's sincere disposition to bring all matters in discussion between the two governments to a speedy as well. as an amicable adjustment.

The President has read Lord Aberdeen's note to you of the 20th of December, in reply to Mr. Stevenson's note to Lord Palmerston of the 21st of October, and thinks you were quite right in acknowledging the dispassionate tone of that paper. It is only by the exercise of calm reason that truth can be arrived at in questions of a complicated nature; and between states, each of which understands and respects the intelligence and the power of the other, there ought to be no unwillingness to follow its guidance. At the present day, no state is so high as that the principles of its intercourse with other nations are above question, or its conduct above scrutiny. On the contrary, the whole civilized world, now vastly better informed on such subjects than in former ages, and alive and sensible to the principles adopted, and the purposes avowed, by the leading states, necessarily constitutes a tribunal, august in character and formidable in its decisions. And it is before this tribunal, and upon the rules of natural justice, moral propriety, the usages of modern times, and the prescriptions of public law, that governments, which respect themselves and respect their neighbors, must be prepared to discuss, with candor and with dignity, any topics which may have caused differences to spring up between them.

Your dispatch of the 31st of December announces the important intelligence of an intention of dispatching a special minister from England to the United States, with full powers to settle every matter in dispute between the two governments; and the President directs me to say, that he regards this proceeding as originating in an entirely amicable spirit, and that it will be met, on his part, with perfectly corresponding sentiments. The high character of Lord Ashburton is well known to this government; and it is not doubted that he will enter on the duties assigned to him, not only with the advantages of much knowledge and experience in public affairs, but with a true desire to signalize his mission by assisting to place the peace of the two countries on a permanent basis. He will be received with the respect due to his own character, the character of the government which sends him, and the high importance, to both countries, of the subjects intrusted to his negotiation.

The President approves your conduct in not pursuing in England the discussion of questions which are now to become the subjects of negotiation here.

(Signed),

DANL. WEBster.

Lord Ashburton arrived in Washington, April 4, 1842; and shortly after Mr. Webster addressed the following letter to the Governor of the State of Maine :

Mr. Webster to Governor Fairfield.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 11, 1842. Your excellency is aware that, previous to March, 1841, a negotiation had been going on for some time between the Secretary of State of the United States, under the direction of the President, and the British minister accredited to this government, having for its object the creation of a joint commission for settling the controversy respecting the northeastern boundary of the United States, with a provision for an ultimate reference to arbitrators, to be appointed by some one of the sovereigns of Europe, in case an arbitration should become necessary. On the leading features of a convention for this purpose the two governments had become agreed; but on several matters of detail the parties differed, and appear to have been interchanging their respective views and opinions, projects, and counter-projects, without coming to any final arrangement, down to August, 1840. Various causes, not now necessary to be explained, arrested the progress of the negotiation at that time, and no considerable advance has since been made in it.

It seems to have been understood on both sides that, one arbitration having failed, it was the duty of the two parties to proceed to institute another, according to the spirit of the treaty of Ghent and other treaties; and the President has felt it to be his duty, unless some new course should be proposed, to cause the negotiation to be resumed, and pressed to its conclusion. But I have now to inform your excellency that Lord Ashburton, a minister plenipotentiary and special, has arrived at the seat of the government of the United States, charged with full powers from his sovereign to negotiate and settle the different matters in discussion between the two governments. I have further to state to you, that he has officially announced to this department that, in regard to the boundary question, he has authority to treat for a conventional line, or line by agreement, on such terms and conditions, and with such mutual considerations and equivalents, as may be thought just and equitable, and that he is ready to enter upon a negotiation for such conventional line so soon as this government shall say it is authorized and ready, on its part, to commence such negotiation.

Under these circumstances, the President has felt it to be his

duty to call the serious attention of the governments of Maine and Massachusetts to the subject, and to submit to those governments the propriety of their co-operation, to a certain extent, and in a certain form, in an endeavor to terminate a controversy already of so long duration, and which seems very likely to be still considerably further protracted before the desired end of a final adjustment shall be attained, unless a shorter course of arriving at that end be adopted, than such as has heretofore been pursued, and as the two governments are still pursuing.

Yet, without the concurrence of the two states whose rights are more immediately concerned, both having an interest in the soil, and one of them in the jurisdiction and government, the duty of this government will be to adopt no new course, but, in compliance with treaty stipulations, and in furtherance of what has already been done, to hasten the pending negotiations as fast as possible, in the course hitherto adopted.

But the President thinks it a highly desirable object to prevent the delays necessarily incident to any settlement of the question by these means. Such delays are great and unavoidable. It has been found that an exploration and examination of the several lines constitute a work of three years. The existing commission for making such exploration, under the authority of the United States, has been occupied two summers, and a very considerable portion of the work remains still to be done. If a joint commission should be appointed, and should go through the same work, and the commissioners should disagree, as is very possible, and an arbitration on that account become indispensable, the arbitrators might find it necessary to make an exploration and survey themselves, or cause the same to be done by others, of their own appointment. If to these causes, operating to postpone the final decision, be added the time necessary to appoint arbitrators, and for their preparation to leave Europe for the service, and the various retarding incidents always attending such operations, seven or eight years constitute, perhaps, the shortest period within which we can look for a final result. In the mean time, great expenses have been incurred, and further expenses can not be avoided. It is well known that the controversy has brought heavy charges upon Maine herself, to the remuneration or proper settlement of which she can not be expected to be indifferent. The exploration by the government of the United States has already cost a hundred thousand dollars, and the charge of another summer's work is in prospect. These facts may be sufficient to enable us to form a probable estimate of the whole expense likely to be incurred before the controversy can be settled by arbitration; and our experience admonishes us that even another arbitration might possibly fail.