In January last Mr. Fox, the British minister at Washington, made a
communication to the Department of State, in which, with reference to
the objection preferred by the American Government that it had no power
without the consent of Maine to agree to the arrangement proposed by
Great Britain, since it would be considered by that State as equivalent
to a cession of what she regarded as a part of her territory, he
observed that the objection of the State could not be admitted as valid,
for the principle on which it rested was as good for Great Britain as
it was for Maine; that if the State was entitled to contend that until
the treaty line was determined the boundary claimed by Maine must be
regarded as the right one, Great Britain was still more entitled to
insist on a similar pretension and to assert that until the line of the
treaty shall be established satisfactorily the whole of the disputed
territory ought to be considered as belonging to the British Crown,
since Great Britain was the original possessor, and all the territory
which had not been proved to have been by treaty ceded by her must be
deemed to belong to her still.
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