and very able discussion of the subject, which produced no result, they reported their disagreement to their respective Governments.  Since that time the two Governments, through their ministers here and at London, have had a voluminous correspondence on the point in controversy, each sustaining the view of its own commissioner and neither yielding in any degree to the claims of the other.  In the meantime the unsettled condition of this affair has produced some serious local disturbances, and on one occasion at least has threatened to destroy the harmonious relations existing between Great Britain and the United States.  The island of San Juan will fall to the United States if our construction of the treaty be right, while if the British interpretation be adopted it will be on their side of the line.  That island is an important possession to this country, and valuable for agricultural as well as military purposes.  I am convinced that it is ours by the treaty fairly and impartially construed.  But argument has been exhausted on both sides without increasing the probability of final adjustment.  On the contrary, each party seems now to be more convinced than at first of the justice of its own demands.  There is but one mode left of settling the dispute, and that is by submitting it to the arbitration of some friendly and impartial power.  Unless this be done, the two countries are exposed to the constant danger of a collision which may end in war.

It is under these circumstances that the British Government, through its minister here, has proposed the reference of the matter in controversy to the King of Sweden and Norway, the King of the Netherlands, or to the Republic of the Swiss Confederation.  Before accepting this proposition I have thought it right to take the advice of the Senate.

The precise questions which I submit are these:  Will the Senate approve a treaty referring to either of the sovereign powers above named the dispute now existing between the Governments of the United States and Great Britain concerning the boundary line between Vancouvers Island and the American continent?  In case the referee shall find himself unable to decide where the line is by the description of it in the treaty of 15th June, 1846, shall he be authorized to establish a line according to the treaty as nearly as possible?  Which of the three powers named by Great Britain as an arbiter shall be chosen by the United States?

All important papers bearing on the questions are herewith communicated in the originals.  Their return to the Department of State is requested when the Senate shall have disposed of the subject.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

WASHINGTON, February 23, 1861.

To the Senate of the United States: 

In compliance with the resolutions of the Senate of the 17th and 18th February, 1858, requesting information upon the subject of the Aves Island, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it.