the two
Governments; that whilst the American Government contended that rivers
falling into the Bay of Fundy were, the British Government contended
that they were not, for the purposes of the treaty, rivers falling into
the Atlantic Ocean, and that the views and arguments of the British
Government on this point had been confirmed by an impartial authority
selected by the common consent of the two Governments, who was of
opinion that the rivers St. John and Restigouche were not Atlantic
rivers within the meaning of the treaty, and that His Majesty's
Government therefore trusted that the American Cabinet would concur with
that of His Majesty in deciding "that the Atlantic rivers which are to
guide the commissioners in searching for the highlands described in the
treaty are those which fall into the sea to the westward of the mouth of
the river St. Croix;" that a clear agreement on this point must be an
indispensable preliminary to the establishment of any new commission
of survey; that till this point be decided no survey of commissioners
could lead to a useful result, but that its decision turns upon the
interpretation of the words of a treaty, and not upon the operations of
surveyors; and His Majesty's Government, having once submitted it, in
common with other points, to the judgment of an impartial arbiter, by
whose award they had declared themselves ready to abide, could not
consent to refer it to any other arbitration.

In a note from the Department of State dated 28th April, 1835, Sir
Charles R. Vaughan was assured that his prompt suggestion, as His
Britannic Majesty's minister, that a negotiation should be opened for
the establishment of a conventional boundary between the two countries
was duly appreciated by the President, who, had he possessed like powers
with His Majesty's Government over the subject, would have met the
suggestion in a favorable spirit.

The Secretary observed that the submission of the whole subject or
any part of it to a new arbitrator promised too little to attract the
favorable consideration of either party; that the desired adjustment of
the controversy was consequently to be sought for in the application of
some new principle to the controverted question, and that the President
thought that by a faithful prosecution of the plan submitted by his
direction a settlement of the boundary in dispute according to the terms
of the treaty of 1783 was attainable.

With regard to the rule of prac