if the character in which the Restigouche and
St. John were to be regarded was a question to be submitted to the
commissioners the President's proposition would assume the character of
a new arbitration, which had been already objected to by the Secretary.
Sir Charles also stated that while His Majesty's Government had wished
to maintain the decisions of the arbiter on subordinate points, their
mention had not been confined to those decided in favor of British
claims; that the decisions were nearly balanced in favor of either
party, and the general result of the arbitration was so manifestly in
favor of the United States that to them were assigned three-fifths of
the territory in dispute and Rouses Point, to which they had voluntarily
resigned all claim.

Sir Charles acknowledged with much satisfaction the Secretary's
assurance that if the President possessed the same power as His
Majesty's Government over the question of boundary he would have met
the suggestion of a conventional line, contained in Sir Charles's note
of 31st May, 1833, in a favorable spirit. He lamented that the two
Governments could not coincide in the opinion that the removal of the
only difficulty in the relations between them was attainable by the last
proposal of the President, as it was the only one in his power to offer
in alleviation of the task of tracing the treaty line, to which the
Senate had advised that any further negotiation should be restricted.
He said that he was ready to confer with the Secretary whenever it might
be convenient to receive him, and stated that as to any proposition
which it might be the wish of the United States to receive from His
Majesty's Government respecting a conventional substitute for the treaty
of 1783, it would in the first instance, to avoid constitutional
difficulties in the way of the Executive, be necessary to obtain the
consent of Maine, an object which must be undertaken exclusively by the
General Government of the United States.

Mr. Bankhead, the British charge d'affaires, in a note to the Department
dated 28th December, 1835, stated that during the three years which had
elapsed since the refusal of the Senate to agree to the award of the
King of the Netherlands, although the British Government had more than
once declared its readiness to abide by its offer to accept the award,
the Government of the United States had as often replied that on its
part that award could not be agreed to; that the Brit