imposition to any extent which the wants of its treasury, or the cupidity of its government may demand. And if, under color of dealing with the productions of the United States as they deal with the productions of New Brunswick, they can impose a burdensome and oppressive tax, taking care to indemnify their own citizens by a drawbrack or a bounty, as in the present case, they have it in their power effectually to shut up, what was intended by the treaty as a common highway, which for certain purposes, should be mutually free to the citizens of both the conterminous countries. The productions of the soil, as well as of the forest, may be subject to similar inhibitions; and unless the encroachment be promptly and effectually resisted, a precedent will be established, by which the government of New Brunswick will not fail hereafter to profit. What measures, if any, the general government have taken to procure a repeal of the obnoxious act, and an acknowledgment of our rights under the treaty, I have no means of knowing. A memorial addressed to the President of the United States, containing a lucid and elaborate statement of the whole case, was forwarded to Washington in the month of April last. A copy of that paper will be found among the documents herewith communicated, marked G; and as it presents in an able and unanswerable manner, all the points involved in the case, and was drawn, as I have reason to believe, by one fully conversant with the whole negotiation, I beg leave particularly to bespeak for it the consideration of the Legislature. The subject is one of deep interest to a numerous class of our citizens, and as the joint owners of a large portion of the territory watered by the river St. John and its tributaries, the pecuniary interests of the States of Maine and Massachusetts are seriously involved. It is generally understood in that section of the State more immediately interested, that a considerable augmentation of the present duty is now in contemplation; and it is easy to perceive, that under the interpretation given to the treaty by the government of Great Britain, a considerable portion of the value of our forests may be annually transferred to the colonial treasury. If upon an inspection of the documents accompanying this communication, the views I have presented should be sustained by the Legislature, I would respectfully recommend that such an expression be given by the government of this State as shall tend to secure from the National Government that prompt and energetic interposition which the case demands. COUNCIL CHAMBER, } H. J. ANDERSON. CORRESPONDENCE. [COPY.] STATE OF MAINE. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, SIR: I have recently received a copy of a memorial addressed to the President of the United States by a number of highly respectable citizens of the city of Bangor in this State, representing that the Provincial government of New Brunswick have imposed an export duty of twenty cents per ton upon all timber shipped from the port of St. John in said Province. As this act of the Provincial government makes no exception in favor of timber cut upon territory belonging to this State-and indeed is supposed to have been adopted specially for the purpose of reaching it for taxation, it has occasioned no little uneasiness and alarm. By the third article of the Treaty of Washington, the people of this State had supposed the free and unrestricted use of the river St. John for the purposes therein specified was explicitly guarantied to them, and they perceive with surprise and indignation, a disposition evinced by the Provincial authorities of New Brunswick, and countenanced by the British government, to impose conditions and restrictions which will render that important article of the treaty wholly nugatory. The whole subject is so clearly and fully stated in the memorial referred to, that I can add nothing to its force by a recapitulation of its statements or arguments. In behalf of the people of this State, who are deeply interested in a scrupulous fulfillment of the terms of the treaty, I most respectfully request that such measures may be taken as may seem best calculated to secure the accomplishment of the object. I have the honor to be, With great respect, Your obedient servant, H. J. ANDERSON. HON. JOHN C. CALHOUN, Secretary of State. [COPY.] DEPARTMENT of State, 14.} Washington City, April 17, 1844. S SIR-I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th inst. calling my attention to an act of the Provincial government of New Brunswick, imposing an export duty of twenty cents per ton on timber shipped from the ports of that Province. In reply I have to state that this subject has been already brought to the notice of this Department, and that it shall receive its early and serious consideration. I have the honor to be, &c. &c., J. C. CALHOUN. MEMORIAL. [COPY.] THE following facts are understood to exist. In the winter of 1843 the Provincial Parliament of New Brunswick passed an act imposing an export duty of one shilling, equal to 20 cents per ton, on all timber shipped from any port in that Province, except such as might be shipped to the United States. This bill was sent to the ⚫ home government and was returned not approved, but with an intimation that if the proviso in favor of the timber and lumber shipped to the U. States was omitted, such a bill would be approved. It is now stated, upon good authority, that such a bill, imposing an export duty of one shilling per ton on all timber, and releasing all claim for the right to cut timber on the Crown lands, has been passed. The question is whether such a law and exaction is not a violation of the letter and spirit of the third article of the Treaty of Washington. That article is as follows: "ARTICLE III. "In order to promote the interest and encourage the industry of all the inhabitants of the countries watered by the river St. John and its tributaries, whether living within the State of Maine or the Province of New Brunswick, it is agreed that where, by the provisions of the present treaty, the river St. John is declared to be the line of boundary, the navigation of the said river shall be free and open to both parties, and shall in no way be obstructed by either, that all the produce of the forest in logs, lumber, timber, boards, staves, or shingles, or of agriculture, not being manufactured, grown on any of those parts of the State of Maine watered |