Bankhead's note was not in harmony with the equitable rule from which
it is said to spring, and if it were in conformity with it could not
be accepted without disrespect to the previous decisions and just
expectations of Maine. The President was far from attributing this
proposition, the Secretary said, to the desire of His Majesty's
Government to acquire territory. He doubted not that the offer, without
regard to the extent of territory falling to the north or south of the
St. John, was made by His Majesty's Government from a belief that the
substitution of a river for a highland boundary would be useful in
preventing territorial disputes in future; but although the President
coincided in this view of the subject he was compelled to decline the
boundary proposed as inconsistent with the known wishes, rights, and
decisions of the State.
The Secretary concluded by stating that the President, with a view to
terminate at once all controversy, and without regard to the extent of
territory lost by one party or acquired by the other, to establish a
definite and indisputable line, would, if His Majesty's Government
assented to it, apply to the State of Maine for its consent to make the
river St.
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