FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 85 



Mr. Morrill further said : "Were the settling lands of Massa- 

 chusetts not free from taxation, the whole tract of which I have 

 been speaking would be of no value to her; and if she ever 

 received any considerable amount from the sale of these lands, 

 it will be done by holding them for years, unsettled, while jMaine 

 is improving around them. 



"It may with much force be asked, would it be honorable — 

 would it be generous in iMassachusetts to adopt such a course? 



"She has already received two million of dollars from her 

 sales of lands and timber in Maine, since the separation; she can, 

 therefore, well afford to be generous in the future management 

 of these lands, and throw them open to settlement on the most 

 liberal terms. 



"If she is not disposed to go with us, as joint owners, in mak- 

 ing improvements, which must be made, to advance the settle- 

 ment of the country, let her release her interest in those lands 

 to j\laine, that they may be thrown open to settlement, without 

 money and without price." 



By a law passed in 1832 the lands owned in common by 

 Massachusetts and Maine were left to the joint action of the 

 Land Agents of the two states. In 1850 Massachusetts enacted 

 a law that the land agent be given authority to sell permits to 

 cut timber, but, in no case, to sell and convey the soil. 



In his report in 185 1 Air. Morrill said that the law of 1832 

 having been abrogated by Massachusetts, it now only remained 

 for Maine to take such action as would best protect her interests 

 in the public domain. 



Mr. Morrill said : "I may not go back and examine the just- 

 ness of that provision in the act of separation, which gave to 

 Massachusetts that vast territory in Maine, that has already 

 yielded to her some two millions of dollars, but it may not be 

 improper for me to say, that, if a consideration were paid in any 

 form it is difficult to determine what that consideration w^as, 

 other than her consent -that the then District of Maine might 

 become an independent state, and cease to be an appendage to 

 Massachusetts." 



Speaking of a plan for Maine to buy the lands of Massachu- 

 setts, Mr. Morrill commented : "A purchase of Massachusetts' 

 interest in these lands has been suggested, but I cannot believe 



