WEBSTER-ASHBURTON TREATY, com monly called the ASHBURTON TREATY. A name given to the treaty concluded at Washington be tween the United States and Great Britain in 1842. In 1838.30 the dispute over the northeast ern boundary had almost brought 011 a war be tween the two countries, but a conflict had been averted by a temporary arrangement which pro vided for joint occupation of the territory in dispute by both parties. In an attempt to arrive at a permanent' settlement of this and other points at issue, Great Britain in 1841 sent Lord Ashburton to Washington, where, after some months spent in negotiations with Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, the two at length, on August 9, 1842, signed an agreement. which was afterwards ratified by both govern ments. were exehanged in London on October 131h. and on November 10th the treaty was formally proclaimed. The treaty pro vided for the free navigation of the Saint John's River by both nations; gave about seven-twelfths of the 12,000 square miles of territory in dispute, as well as House Point. N, Y.. some other doubtful territory in New Hampshire, to the States; and contained a stipulation that, in consideration of the losses by Maine and Ncmssaehiwtts. the Federal Government should pay these States the sum of $300,000.
The t rya ty further provided for the mutual extra dition of criminals, and contained a. 'cruising convention' clause, which bound each nation to keep a oil the coast of Africa for the suppression of the slave trade. Other questions, such as thu Oregon boundary, the mime fair, and the Creole case, were passed over in silence. A curious feature of the negotiations leading up to the treaty was that each nation secretly had in its possession a map that was unfavorable to its own claims. The Americans withheld one that had recently been discovered in the Paris archives and that supposed to have marked by Franklin in 1782; the Brit ish withheld one made by Oswald, one of the commissioners who had negotiated the peace which had givi.n the United States its independ ence. Later each Government made use of the unfavorable map in its possession to convince its people that it had secured a good bargain. The text of the treaty is given in Macdmmld, Select Documents Illnstratire of the History of the United States, 1776-1311 (New York, 189S). Consult: Curtis. Life of Daniel Webster (2 vols., New York, 1870) ; and Schonler, History of the United States (0 vole., New York, new ed. 1899). See NORTHEAST BoUNDARY DISPUTE.