under the
provisions of the treaty of Ghent having been unable to agree, a
convention was made with Great Britain by my immediate predecessor in
office, with the advice and consent of the Senate, by which it was
agreed "that the points of difference which have arisen in the
settlement of the boundary line between the American and British
dominions, as described in the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent,
shall be referred, as therein provided, to some friendly sovereign or
State, who shall be invited to investigate and make a decision upon such
points of difference;" and the King of the Netherlands having by the
late President and His Britannic Majesty been designated as such
friendly sovereign, it became my duty to carry with good faith the
agreement so made into full effect. To this end I caused all the
measures to be taken which were necessary to a full exposition of our
case to the sovereign arbiter, and nominated as minister plenipotentiary
to his Court a distinguished citizen of the State most interested in the
question, and who had been one of the agents previously employed for
settling the controversy. On the 10th day of January last His Majesty
the King of the Netherlands delivered to the plenipotentiaries of the
United States and of Great Britain his written opinion on the case
referred to him. The papers in relation to the subject will be
communicated by a special message to the proper branch of the Government
with the perfect confidence that its wisdom will adopt such measures as
will secure an amicable settlement of the controversy without infringing
any constitutional right of the States immediately interested.

It affords me satisfaction to inform you that suggestions made by my
direction to the charge d'affaires of His Britannic Majesty to this
Government have had their desired effect in producing the release of
certain American citizens who were imprisoned for setting up the
authority of the State of Maine at a place in the disputed territory
under the actual jurisdiction of His Britannic Majesty. From this and
the assurances I have received of the desire of the local authorities to
avoid any cause of collision I have the best hopes that a good
understanding will be kept up until it is confirmed by the final
disposition of the subject.

The amicable relations which now subsist between the United States and
Great Britain, the increasing intercourse between their citizens, and
the rapid obliteration o