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Subject Area: Political Theory

GALLATIN TO C. P. VAN NESS. - Albert Gallatin, The Writings of Albert Gallatin, vol. 2 [1879]

Edition used:

The Writings of Albert Gallatin, ed. Henry Adams (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1879). 3 vols.

Part of: The Writings of Albert Gallatin, 3 vols.

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GALLATIN TO C. P. VAN NESS.

New York, 22d March, 1829.

Sir,—

Your letter of 3d January reached Washington after I had left it, and was after a while forwarded to me. An accident to my right hand prevented an immediate answer, which has since been delayed longer than was necessary or proper. I pray you to excuse this, and to ascribe it to anything but the respect justly due to you.

When at Ghent it was not known to me, and I believe my colleagues to have been also unacquainted with the fact, that the boundary-line between the then provinces of New York and Quebec had been officially surveyed, with the sanction of the Crown and by the competent provincial authorities. The treaty accordingly assumes and declares as a fact what was not really true, that no part of the line from the source of the river St. Croix to the river St. Lawrence had been surveyed. I perceive no other circumstance on which to ground our claim to the old line; and the argument, founded rather on equitable considerations, is far from being conclusive. I need hardly add that the pretension drawn from the geocentric latitude is altogether untenable, and that it is a matter of regret that it ever was advanced.

I did not perceive any trace of the embarrassment to which you allude in your decision respecting the north-westernmost head of the Connecticut River. And although it is true that our abandoning the claim to the old line along the 45th parallel of north latitude would remove one of the main objections to Hall’s Stream being considered as the branch of Connecticut River, designated by the treaty, I still incline to the opinion that, independent of that, it will be safer to insist on Indian Stream. I have, however, on the map agreed on at London, laid down Hall’s Stream as the boundary claimed by the United States; and whether this or Indian Stream should in our statement be ultimately insisted on is a question not yet settled between Mr. Preble and myself.

You have certainly taken true ground in your decision of the most important question, that of the boundary of Maine, which depends on the situation and not on the elevation of the highlands. The only portion of the proceedings on the part of the United States which I regret is so much of the surveys as seems to admit that that elevation was one of the considerations on which the decision ought to depend. More from respect to the opinion of others and to the expectations of the State of Maine than from any belief that our argument would be much strengthened by new matter, I had a provision inserted in the new convention allowing both parties to adduce fresh evidence. We are now in possession of that of the British as well as our own. Neither party will be essentially benefited by this addition. We must still resort to the treaty of 1783, and to the intentions of the parties as derived from its expressions and from Mitchell’s map, now admitted to have governed the proceedings of the negotiators. It appears to me that it is most clearly established that the line claimed by the United States is the only one that is consistent with those expressions and those intentions; and the whole of our argument must be made to bear on that point. I apprehend no difficulty in repelling the captious objections of the British, and I have in that respect been able to bring some additional evidence and authorities which may not be altogether useless, and of which, not having been laid before you, you could not avail yourself; but they are not really of any great importance.

Whilst in London I took several opportunities, in my correspondence with our government, to do that justice to which you were so fully entitled, not only for the soundness of your decision and of the arguments on which it was founded, but for the impartiality which you evinced throughout the whole of the proceedings under the commission. I think it highly honorable to the country that the commissioner appointed on the part of the United States should have sustained the character of a judge, bound on his oath to decide as such, and according to evidence and the general principles of law, and should in no instance have permitted himself to act as a partisan.

It is my intention, if Mr. Preble agrees to it, and with the approbation of government, to annex to our statement the whole of your report, so much only excepted as relates to the incidental question about the surveys, with which we need not trouble our arbitrator. Mr. Barclay’s report is swelled to more than three hundred pages; but the greater part consists of quotations from the arguments of the agents; and I have extracted so much as consists of his own arguments and constitutes his decision. Thus reduced, it will not exceed in bulk your own report, and I intend to annex also that extract to our statement. The contrast will be entirely in our favor, and it will also be advantageous to tie the British, as far as practicable, to their old ground, and to preserve some precious admissions of Mr. Barclay.

I have written this letter with so little reserve, that it may also perhaps contain some admissions not intended for the eye of our opponents. I pray, therefore, that, with the exception of what is personal to yourself, you will be pleased to consider it as confidential until the decision of the arbiter shall have been obtained. It is of course understood that on this subject I write nothing which may not be communicated to the President and to the Secretary of State.

I have the honor, &c.