the time will come when he cannot propose to be the organ of the chivalrous and enlightened people of South Carolina.

He was not one of those who are looking out for what may "enure" to themselves. His course was nearly run. He had nothing to ask of the South, of South Carolina, or the country at large; but he will go into retirement with the undying conviction, that he had endeavored to serve and save the country, faithfully and honorably, without a view to his own interest and aggrandizement; and of that conviction no human being, nor all mankind, could deprive him.

Both Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay, aware that, in thus bandying personalities, they were exhibiting a spectacle unworthy of themselves, concluded it with disclaimers. of having sought or provoked it, and each ascribing it to his adversary.

It having been stated, in some of the journals, that the Secretary of War had ordered the importation of bloodhounds from the Island of Cuba, to be used against the Florida Indians, Mr. Proffit, of Indiana, on the twentieth of January, 1840, offered a resolution, in which the Secretary of War was required to inform the House whether he had authorised the use of bloodhounds against the Florida Indians, the number ordered, and the name of the officer under whose charge they are to be used; but some member objecting to it, Mr. Proffit withdrew it.

This day was occupied chiefly in debating the course to be pursued by the House towards petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. The principal point in dispute, whether such petitions should be laid on the table, or subjected to the motion of adoption or rejection, no decision was made.

VOL. IV.-24

A communication was made by Governor Fairfield to the Legislature of Maine, on the third of January, 1840, in which he complains that the spirit of the recent agreement entered into, respecting the north-eastern boundary, had been violated by stationing one or two companies of British troops at Temisconte Lake.

Sir John Harvey admitted the fact, but said that this small detachment had been stationed merely for the protection of certain buildings constructed for the accommodation of Her Majesty's troops, on their march from the Upper to the Lower Provinces.

In Governor Fairfield's letter to the President, he further states that the British were erecting barracks on both sides of the St. John's, near the mouth of the Madawasca, and that troops were collecting at Grand Falls.

On the thirteenth of January, Mr. Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, made a speech, announcing his intention not to obey the instructions received from the Legislature of that State to vote for the sub-treasury scheme, and also to resign his office of Senator.

The President communicated the information asked for by the Senate respecting the North-eastern boundary, which had been the subject of a correspondence between Mr. Forsyth and the British Minister, Mr. Fox.

The latter, in answer to Mr. Forsyth's inquiries, says that Her Majesty's authorities have rigidly adhered to the agreement entered into, respecting this boundary, in February and March last; but that the same correct and scrupulous observance has not marked the conduct of the people of Maine. He then details the particular acts on which he relies, and, protesting against the encroachments of Maine, appeals to the Government of the United States, that, whenever a practical adjustment of the boundary line shall be obtained, no minor occasion

of dispute may remain to obstruct a final and friendly settlement of the controversy.

Mr. Forsyth controverts the grounds of complaint urged by Mr. Fox, and the charge of violating the agreements urged against Maine; and he remonstrates against the stationing of troops on the St. Johns, as a clear violation of the agreement.

Mr. Fox, in his reply, in an amicable tone, urges the same points as before, and justifies the reinforcement of military posts as defensive and precautionary measures, without any intention of infringing the terms of the temporary engagements.

Mr. Forsyth, in his answer of the sixteenth of January, says, after replying to parts of Mr. Fox's letter, that he is instructed by the President to state that he sees no reason to doubt the disposition of the Governor of Maine to adhere scrupulously to the existing arrangements; but he is bound to declare that a persistence in the acts of Her Majesty's agents now complained of, would, if avowed by Great Britain, be considered as little in accordance with the friendly assurances made to the United States.

The Secretary of State then wrote to the Governor of Maine; and, after reciting the several complaints urged by Mr. Fox, of the proceedings of the State of Maine, in violation of the agreements heretofore made between the two Governments, concludes with expressing the President's "anxious desire that no occasion should be permitted to call in question the faithful observance, by the Governments of the United States and Maine, of the arrangements made on the subject; and a wish that the Governor would transmit such information as he may possess in relation to the acts referred to, that an appro

priate answer may be returned to Mr. Fox's communication.

The Governor of New Jersey forwarded to Mr. Hunter, not as Speaker of the House, but as Representative from Virginia, the resolutions of the Legislature of that State, touching the exclusion of her delegation. But Mr. Hunter, conceiving that he was addressed on account of the station of Speaker which he then occupied, said he could not receive a communication not made to him in that capacity, and of course declined presenting the resolutions.

The next day, after the journal was read, Mr. Randolph moved that they be inserted in the journal; on which a debate arose, and, before any vote was taken, the House adjourned.

The next day the Speaker proposed to read the correspondence between him and the Governor of New Jersey, which was accordingly done. The subject was again debated; and, on the question whether the report of the minority of the Legislature of New Jersey, which had been communicated by the Speaker, should be laid on the table, it was decided in the affirmative,

The discussion of the dispute between Maine and New Brunswick was renewed early in March, and the affair seemed to be as far from adjustment as ever. On the sixth of March, Mr. Forsyth wrote to Mr. Fox, inquiring as to the precise character and extent of the occupation of the disputed territory by Her Majesty's troops; and he referred to certain depositions which he had previously submitted to Mr. Fox, and which were at variance with a statement made by Mr. Fox in January preceding. He also referred to several facts which he said were inconsistent with the assurances previously given by the British Government.

Mr. Fox replies that the points of variance stated by Mr. Forsyth, after deducting what is "fanciful and conjectural," are not material. He says that the British force employed was only one hundred and seventy-five men; and he contrasts the acts of aggression on the part of Maine with those of mere defence on the part of his Government, which, he averred, had not strengthened its military means, though the attitude assumed by Maine would well justify such means.

This correspondence having been communicated to Congress, Mr. Williams, of Maine, in his comments on it, complained of the inaction of the General Government, while the adverse interest had been sustained, and seemed about to be enforced by the British Government. "Shall we be blind," said he, "to the recent augmentation of troops in the Provinces; to the construction of military posts upon our whole northern and eastern frontiers; to the making of roads for the speedy movements of troops, and the erection of buildings for their accommodation?" "Maine," he said, "does not desire, by any act of hers, to bring on a war; but she ought not and cannot suffer a portion of her territory to remain in the military occupation of foreign troops."

On the twenty-sixth of March, the President communicated the further correspondence between Messrs. Fox and Forsyth. Mr. Fox, on the thirteenth, writes to Mr. Forsyth, complaining of the frequent acts of aggression on the part of Maine, and urging that the British Government expects the people of that State to place themselves in the same situation as that in which they stood before the agreement of the preceding year was signed that they shall therefore retire from the Valley of the St. John's, and confine themselves to the Valley of the Aristook, for the stipulated purpose of preventing