Under these impressions of the inefficiency of
such a commission was the inquiry made in the letter of the undersigned
of 5th March, 1836, as to the manner in which the report of the
commission, as proposed to be constituted and instructed by Her
Majesty's Government, was expected to lead to an ultimate settlement of
the question of boundary. The results which the American proposition
promised to secure were fully and frankly explained in previous notes
from the Department of State, and had its advantages not been clearly
understood this Government would not have devolved upon that of Her
Majesty the task of illustrating them. Mr. Fox will therefore see that
although the proposal to appoint a commission had its origin with
this Government the modification of the American proposition was, as
understood by the undersigned, so fundamentally important that it
entirely changed its nature, and that the supposition, therefore, that
it was rather for the Government of the United States than for that
of Great Britain to answer the inquiry referred to is founded in
misapprehension.
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