In view of the divergence between the two reports, it was necessary, in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Ghent, to submit the matter to arbitration; but this step was not taken until yet another Convention had been signed on the 29th of September, 1827, providing that new statements of the case on either side should be drawn up for submission to the arbitrator. It was laid down that the basis of the statements should be two specified maps, one of which was referred to as the map used in drawing up the original Treaty of 1783. The inaccuracies in this map, Mitchell’s map, had been the origin of all the difficulties which had subsequently arisen. The King of the Netherlands was selected to arbitrate. In 1830 the statements were laid before him, and in January, 1831, he gave his award. It was to the effect that it was impossible, having regard either to law or to equity, to adopt either of the lines proposed by the two contending parties, and that a compromise should be accepted which was defined in the award. The line which the king proposed was more favourable to the Americans than to the English, but the Americans declined to consent to it, on the ground that, while the arbitrator might accept either of the two lines which were presented for arbitration, he was not empowered to fix a third and new boundary. [Sidenote: Collision in the Aroostook region.] [Sidenote: The Ashburton Treaty.] [Sidenote: Final settlement of the Maine boundary question.] Thus this troublesome matter was still left outstanding, and yet the necessity for a settlement was more pressing than ever. The new state of Maine maintained the American claim with more pertinacity and less inclination to compromise than the Government of the United States had shown; the United States Government was ready to accept a conventional line, but Maine objected, and meanwhile the result of the uncertainty and delay was that the backwoodsmen of Maine and New Brunswick were coming to blows. About the beginning of 1839 the disputes in the region of the Aroostook river nearly brought on war between the two nations, which was only averted by the mediation of General Winfield Scott then commanding the American forces on the frontier. Immediately afterwards two British Commissioners, Colonel Mudge and Mr. Featherstonhaugh, were deputed to survey the debatable territory and reported in April, 1840,[235] their report being followed by a survey on the part of the American Government. At length, on the 9th of August, 1842, Daniel Webster then Secretary of State for the United States, and Lord Ashburton, sent out as special Commissioner from Great Britain, concluded the Treaty of Washington, which put an end to the long and dangerous controversy. By the First Article of that Treaty the present boundary was fixed; the North line from the monument at the head of the St. Croix river was followed to the point where it intersected the St.