ball at which Baker announced another gathering on August 10 to consider ratifying a "Compact" government. Baker himself prepared the Madawaska Compact, assisted by Steven Grover. It called for a pledge of mutual support and dispute resolution through elected arbiters without recourse to British authorities. The government was to be led by Baker as "General" of the Republic and two other men, Charles Stetson and James Bacon. The General was to be invested with special confiscatory powers. After one year of existence, the "counterfeit republic" was to apply to the State of Maine for annexation. On August 10, a local magistrate arrived to confiscate "the paper which had been offered for signature" and call for Baker's submission to New Brunswick's authority. Baker refused, arguing he was on American soil. Mrs. Baker raised the Madawaska flag, and the magistrate ordered Baker to take it down, to be met again by Baker's refusal. The magistrate departed, after which Baker traveled to Portland to ascertain from the governor and legislature the extent of protection the State would provide. After being away for a month, he returned and three days later, on September 25, was arrested before dawn under a warrant issued during his absence. He was charged with high misdemeanors and spent the next 13 months in the Fredericton jail. Baker served the first seven months in jail because he could not afford both to post bail and, in a civil process, repay an overdue debt. In May, 1828, he was convicted by a jury "for violently opposing and resisting His Majesty's authority and the execution of the laws in the upper part of the parish of Kent, and attempting to seduce His Majesty's subjects there to depart from their allegiance to His Majesty", fined £25 and jailed for two months unless the fine was paid. After two months, Baker still refused to pay the fine and was held in jail until October 21, when he did post bond to pay his fine before year-end. The Baker situation became an international incident, with President John Quincy Adams asking Secretary of State Henry Clay to investigate the matter. Once informed, Clay exchanged letters with the British government regarding Baker. Both sides acknowledged that the U.S. could not be culpable for Baker's agitations. The events, however, did add impetus to the need to settle the boundary. In 1831, Baker led an effort to create a