TO THE UNITED STATES. con territory ceded. between the Russian and the British possessions Boundaries in North America, as that line was established by the British-Russian treaty of 1825.1 On the west the line of demarcation is stated as follows: "The western limit, within which the territories and dominion conveyed are tained, passes through a point in Behring's Straits on the parallel of sixty-five degrees thirty minutes north latitude, at its intersection by the meridian which passes midway between the island of Krusenstern, or Ignalook, and the island of Ratmanoff or Noonarbook, and proceeds due north, without limitation, into the same Frozen Ocean. The same western limit, beginning at the same initial point, proceeds thence in a course nearly southwest, through Behring's Straits and Behring's Sea, so as to pass midway between the northwest point of the island of St. Lawrence and the southeast point of Cape Choukotski, to the meridian of one hundred and seventy-two west longitude; thence, from the intersection of that meridian, in a southwesterly direction, so as to pass midway between the island of Attu and the Copper Island of the Komandorski couplet or group in the North Pacific Ocean, to the meridian of one hundred and ninety-three degrees west longitude, so as to 1 Vol. I, p 39. of Cession unin include in the territory conveyed the whole of Article VI contains the following stipulation: cumbered. "The cession of the territory and dominion herein made is hereby declared to be free and unincumbered by any reservations, privileges, franchises, grants, or possessions by any associated companies, whether corporate or incorporate, Russian, or any other, or by any parties, except merely private individual property holders; and the cession hereby made conveys all the rights, franchises, and privileges now belonging to Russia in the said territory or dominion, and appurtenances thereto." Russia's rights over sealeries pass The conclusion is irresistible from a mere ed to United States reading of this instrument that all the rights of Russia as to jurisdiction and as to the sealeries in Bering Sea east of the water boundary fixed by the treaty of March 30, 1867, passed unimpaired to the United States under that treaty. In fact, the British Government has announced its readiness to accept this conclusion without dispute.1 Review of jurisdiction exercised The jurisdiction which Russia exercised over by Russia and her Bering Sea for a century prior and up to the date motives therefor. of the transfer of a portion of its coasts and waters 1 Lord Salisbury to Mr. Blaine, Feb. 21, 1891, Vol. I, p. 294. 1 Review of juris diction exercised by Russia and her motives therefor. no further amplification seems necessary. The controlling motive which inspired the exercise of this jurisdiction is also apparent from the foregoing historical review. It has been shown herein that the Russian American Company possessed a monopoly of the commerce of Russian territory in America, and administered its political affairs under the direction of the Imperial Government. It has also been seen that the great source of wealth of the Russian American Company was the fur-seals of the Pribilof Islands in Bering Sea, and that so jealously was this source of wealth guarded by the orders and authority of the Imperial Government that foreign vessels were prohibited from hunting seals in any part of Bering Sea, or in the passes of the Aleutian Islands; and that for the enforcement of this prohibition cruisers were employed in patrolling that sea so long as it remained Russian territory. A high authority on the subject estimates the Value of furs value of the furs (largely of seals) which were sion marketed by the Russians up to 1823 at a sum equal to about thirty-five million dollars1; and the same authority states that the furs taken and lost at sea and otherwise in those the number which reached a market. Veniayears exceeded minof, the Russian bishop, in his work on the 2716-10 1 Berg, p. 168. taken prior to ces Value of furs Pribilof Islands, on account of the great wealth taken prior to cession. Their value well known to Ameri and the chief in derived from their annual harvest of furs, speaks of them as the "golden islands." The tables which will be found in the Appendix 2 set forth the vast quantities of fur skins which were exported from the Colonies during the period of the Russian occupancy and how greatly they exceeded all other sources of revenue of the Russian American Company. Their value was well known to the American can negotiators, negotiators of the treaty of 1867, and while it ducement for pur- must be admitted that political considerations chase of Alaska. entered into the negotiations to a certain extent, yet so far as revenue to the Government and immediate profit to its people were concerned, it will appear from a careful study of the incidents attending the transfer of sovereignty that it was the fur industry more than all other considerations which decided the United States to pay thre sum of seven million two hundred thousand dollars required by Russia for the cession and transfer of her sovereign rights and property. What an im 1 Veniaminof, vol. I, p. 277: "These islands might be called golden on account of the high value of fur-seal and sea-otter skins shipped from there from their discovery up to the present time and of their promise for the future. mense capital is represented by all the skins obtained from these islands, and what sums they will bring in the future, even with the present limited scope of the industry. There are not many such places in the world affording such wealth in so small a space and in return for so little exertion on the part of man." 2 Vol. I, p. 125 et seq. TO THE UNITED STATES. gressional con com Report of mittee upon mo tives for purchase understood to have been acquired. In the Fiftieth Congress a committee of the House of Representatives made a long and thorough investigation into all the facts attend- and rights thereby ing the fur-seal industry and other interests of Alaska, including the history of its purchase from Russia. In its report, as one of the results of its lengthy examination, the committee made the following statement: "By referring to the debate (in Congress) on the purchase of Alaska, and the contemporaneous discussion of the subject by the periodicals and newspapers of this country, it will be noticed that the acquisition of the products of Bering Sea, its fur-bearing animals and fisheries were regarded as an important if not the chief consideration for the purchase." The committee then quoted the declaration of Hon. Charles Sumner, chairman of the Committee. on Foreign Relations of the Senate, in the speech which he delivered in advocacy of the approval of the treaty of 1867, as follows: "The seal, amphibious, polygamous, and intelligent as the beaver, has always supplied the largest multitude of furs of the Russian Company."2 1 The congressional committee, after making various quotations from official and other sources, xvii. House Ex. Doc. No. 3883, Fiftieth Congress, second session, p. Ibid. The speech will be found in House Ex. Doc. No. 177, Fortieth Congress, second session, p. 124. |