nce with the arrangement referred to,
and has insisted also upon its observance on the part of Great Britain.

Considerations of a similar nature have induced the President to refrain
hitherto from exercising the discretionary authority with which he is
invested to cause the boundary line in dispute to be explored, surveyed,
and monuments to be erected thereon. Coinciding with the government of
Maine on the question of the true boundary between the British Provinces
and the State, the President is yet bound by duty to consider the claim
which has been set up by a foreign power in amity with the United States
and the circumstances under which the negotiation for the adjustment
of that claim has been transmitted to him. It could not be useful
to examine the foundation of the British claim in a letter to your
excellency. Respect for the authorities of a friendly nation compels us
to admit that they have persuaded themselves that their claim is justly
grounded. However that may be, the present President of the United
States upon entering on the discharge of the duties of his office found
that a distinct proposition had been made by his predecessor for the
purpose of amicably settling this long-disputed controversy, to which no
answer has yet been received. Under such circumstances the President was
not able to satisfy himself, however anxious to gratify the people and
the legislature of Maine, that a step like that recommended by them
could be usefully or properly taken.

The clause containing the specific appropriation made by the last
Congress for exploring, surveying, and marking certain portions of the
northeastern boundary of the United States, to which your excellency
alludes, is by no means imperative in its character. The simple
legislative act of placing a sum of money under the control of the
Executive for a designated object is not understood to be a direction
that it must in any event be immediately applied to the prosecution of
that object. On the contrary, so far from implying that the end in view
is to be attained at all hazards, it is believed that it merely vests a
discretionary power in the President to carry out the views of Congress
on his own responsibility should contingencies arise to render expedient
the proposed expenditure.

Under existing circumstances the President deems it proper to wait for
the definitive answer of the British Government to the last proposition
offered by the United States. W