Seven years later the dispute was referred to the King of the Netherlands as arbitrator. In his decision of 10 Jan. 1831. he drew a line due north from the source of the Saint Croix to the middle of the Saint John, up that river and the Saint Francis to the source of its most southwesternmost branch, and then cut the disputed territory in half, awarding the northern part to Great Britain and the southern to the United States. This award aroused great indignation in Maine, whose legislature on 28 Feb. 1831 refused to submit to the decision. Massachusetts too was an interested party, and on 15 Feb. 1832, her legislature resolved that any act purporting to deprive a State of any territory was null and void and not obligatory upon the government or people of the State. Meanwhile Great Britain agreed, if necessary, to modify the line in any manner agreeable to the ernments. For many months propositions were bandied back and forth without any ap preciable result and finally the Massachusetts legislature called upon the President to hasten the settlement. Shortly afterward Congress appropriated $20,000 to survey and mark a line due north from the source of the Saint Croix River.
At this stage of the controversy the nego tiations were almost upset by the so-called Aroostook War. The Aroostook country was in the most northerly part of Maine and along the Aroostook River Great Britain had no year land agents of Maine and Massachusetts would sell timber in this region, grant permits to cut down trees and expel trespassers. In 1838, however, the trespassers refused to depart and a force of 150 men under a land agent, Rufus McIntyre, was sent to the mouth of the Aroostook where 300 armed trespassers were found prepared to resist, but they retreated toward New Bruns wick and later McIntyre was arrested. On 13 Feb. 1839, Lieut.-Gov. John Harvey of New Brunswick denounced the presence of the Maine troops as an invasion of British terri tory, demanded their removal and ordered the militia to be ready for action. Gov. John Fairfield of Maine refused, and instead hurried reinforcements to the scene of conflict, the legislature appropriating $800,000 for the military defense of the State. Congress up held Maine by authorizing the enlistment of 50,000 volunteers to repel invasion and ap propriating $10,000,000 for that purpose. But on 27 Feb. 1839, Secretary of State Forsyth and the British Minister, H. S. Fox, agreed to arbitrate the dispute, and Gen. Winfield Scott was ordered to Augusta. On his arrival he proposed to Harvey that, if he would not at tempt the military occupation of the disputed territory or seek to expel the Maine troops, Fairfield would not disturb New Brunswick in her possession of the settlements on the Madawaska River or seek to dislodge the British by force of arms. Both governors
assented to this proposition, the troops were sent home and war was averted. This hastened the final adjustment.
:Jut In the spring of 1842 Lord Ashburton was sent to negotiate, but before his arrival Sec retary Webster obtained Maine's consent to a conventional line in return for certain con cessions. Webster had been placed in posses sion of a letter written by Benjamin Franklin to Vergennes 6 Dec. 1782, and a map on which Franklin had marked "with a strong red line the limits of the United States as settled by the preliminaries between the British and the American plenipotentiaries." As regards the Maine boundary the line almost exactly con formed to the British contentions, and if the map were authentic, Maine's claim was ground less. Accordingly Webster used this to compel Maine to modify her demands and to accept a conventional line, but in the subsequent nego tiations with Ashburton he kept secret the existence of such a map. On 9 Aug. 1842, the Webster-Ashburton treaty was signed; as a result of which Maine was forced to accept 893 square miles less territory than the King of the Netherlands had awarded her. As stated in the treaty this line was exceedingly complex hut in brief was as follows: From the monument at the source of the Saint Croix the line runs north to the Saint John River, up the middle of this river to the mouth of the Saint Francis, and up the middle of this river and of the lakes through which it flows to the outlet of Lake Pohenagamook; thence southwesterly in a straight line to a certain point on the northwest branch of the Saint John River, from that point in an irregular line to the southwest branch of the same river, and along this branch to the neighboring high lands which form the watershed; thence along these highlands to the head of Hall's Stream, and down this stream to the 45th degree of north latitude, which was understood to be the line of actual division between Canada and the States of New York and Vermont ; and thence along said dividing line to the Saint Lawrence. This line has remained the north eastern boundary to the present time. On 18 June 1822 the line from the intersection of the Saint Lawrence and the 45th parallel west ward to the Neebish Rapids was laid down by a commission. Up to 1827 agreements were made regarding portions of the line from Saint Mary's River to the Lake of the Woods and under the treaty of 9 Aug. 1842 the northern boundary line was finally settled as follows. See CANADA — DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES WITH.