io6 THE ROARING FORTIES 



such a protest a despatch that raspingly refused 

 to concede the American demand. 



With Aberdeen at the Foreign Office the tone 

 of the correspondence between the two govern 

 ments underwent a notable change. Webster, 

 after seeing the McLeod affair peacefully set 

 tled, went earnestly to work on the boundary 

 question. His plan was to drop all the great 

 mass of surveyors and historians data, to give 

 up trying to find out the meaning of the treaty, 

 and to reach an agreement by direct negotia 

 tion on a conventional line. It was deemed 

 necessary first to obtain the assent of Maine 

 and of Massachusetts (within whose jurisdic 

 tion Maine was originally included) to this 

 method of settlement. Though the govern 

 ment of Maine had declared in the most formal 

 way that it would never consent, it consented, 

 and Massachusetts raised no difficulties. The 

 British Government showed its sense of the im 

 portance of the whole situation by announcing 

 that it would send a special envoy to deal with 

 the pending questions, and manifested its ami 

 cable spirit by designating for the mission 

 Alexander Baring, Lord Ashburton, whose fit 

 ness was signified equally by his distinguished 

 public services in England and his well-known 



