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V

occasion to make a detailed statement of the facts and arguments, which conclusively demonstrate that territory to be within the limits of Maine, according to the boundaries of the United States, as defined in the treaty of 1783. The Validity of our title has also been admitted by the General Government, and in a letter of Mr Clay, former Secretary of State, it is declared, that the "government of the United States is fully convinced that the right to the territory is with us, and not with great Britain. The convictions of Maine are not stronger in respect to the validity of our title than are those which are entertained by the President." After the true St. Croix river, and its source, intended by the treaty of 1783, were ascertained in pursuance of the provisions of a subsequent treaty, it would be supposed that the other boundaries were so clearly and definitely described, as to preclude the possibility of a doubt respecting "the highlands which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic ocean from those that fall into the River St. Lawrence," designated in the treaty, and which are claimed as constituting the northern boundary of this State. They were also rendered absolutely certain by reference to "the Northwest angle of Nova Scotia," the point at which angle, by successive acts and documents of the government of Great Britain for many years previous as well as subsequent to the treaty of 1783, is proved to be at the highlands which bound the sources of the rivers that fall into the river St. Lawrence and divide them from the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean, which highlands also constitute a part of the boundaries of the Province of Quebec, or Lower Canada. Accordingly it appears by the report of our agents, recently appointed to procure information respecting this territory, that after the true St. Croix river and its sources ascertained in 1798, the British