20th instant, accompanied by a copy of a letter from
Sir Archibald Campbell, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, to Sir
Charles R. Vaughan, and also a letter from J.A. Maclauchlan to the
lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, complaining of the "conduct of
certain land agents of the States of Maine and Massachusetts in the
territory in dispute between the United States and Great Britain."

The undersigned is instructed to state that it would be a source
of regret to the President should this complaint prove to be well
founded, and that he has caused a copy of Sir Charles's note and of the
accompanying papers promptly to be communicated to the governors of
Maine and Massachusetts, in order that the necessary steps may be taken
to enforce a due observance of the terms of the existing arrangement
between the Government of the United States and that of Great Britain
in regard to the disputed territory.

The undersigned avails himself of the occasion to renew to Sir Charles
R. Vaughan the assurance of his distinguished consideration.

LOUIS McLANE

_Sir Charles R. Vaughan to Mr. McLane_.

WASHINGTON, _December 17, 1833_.

Hon. LOUIS McLANE, etc.:

The undersigned, His Britannic Majesty's envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary, regrets that a letter received from His
Majesty's lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick should again require him
to ask the intervention of the General Government of the United States
to put a stop to certain proceedings of the State of Maine in the
territory still in dispute between Great Britain and the United States.
The inclosed letter, with the report which accompanies it,[19] shows
that the State of Maine has opened a road beyond the conventional
frontier, with the avowed intention of carrying it to the bank of the
river St. John.

The undersigned is convinced that the Secretary of State of the United
States will agree with him that the State of Maine must not be allowed
to take upon herself the right to define the meaning of the treaty of
1783, and, by aggressions such as those against which the undersigned is
called upon to remonstrate, to take possession, without reference to the
General Government of the United States, of territory which has been so
long in abeyance between the two Governments. Such conduct is calculated
to lead to collisions of a distressing nature between the subjects of
His Britannic Majesty and the citizens of the United States employed to
assert