CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 73 



contrary, most carefully conflued to territory with tlie right 

 of sovereisuty actually possessed by Kussia at the date of 

 the cession . 



Ill Article I the limits of a portion of the I>ehriug Sea 

 are defined in order to show the boundaries within which 

 the territory ceded " sur le Continent d'Amerique ainsi que 

 les lies contigucs" is contained. 



In Article VI, Russia again makes it emphatic that she 

 is conveying "les droits, franchises, et privileges apparte- 

 iiant actuellement a la Kussie dans le dit Territoire et ses 

 dependances." 



The tinal clause of Article I distinctly negatives any 

 implication of an atteni])t to convey any portion of the 

 high seas — for the said western line is drawn, not so as to 

 embrace any i)art of the high seas, but, as expressed in 

 the ai)t language of the Treaty — " ^/e manicre a enclaver, 

 dans le dit territoire cede, toutes les lies Aleoutes situees a 

 Vest de ce meridien.^^ 



Had the intention been to convey the waters of the Beh- 

 ring Sea eastward of the western limit, the words "ainsi 

 que les iles contigiies"' would not have been used, but 

 words would have been chosen to indicate the area of the 

 open sea conveyed, and it would have been unnecessary to 

 specifically mention the islands. 



CHARACTER OF THE WESTERN GEOGRAPHICAL LIMIT, AND REASON 

 FOR ITS ADOPTION. ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ETC. 



There was good reason i\n- a line of demarcation of the 

 character specified. 



The islands in the Aleutian chain and in Behring Sea 

 Avere not well defined geographically, and could therefore 

 not be used for the accurate delimitation of territory ceded. 



In fact, even the term Aleutian Archipelago was indefi- 

 nite in its signification, often including islands which were 

 on the Asiatic side of Behring Sea, and far from the 

 Island of Attn, the westernmost island of the Aleutian 



group intended to be ceded. 

 90 Greenhow, for instance, writes: 



The AleuHafi ^>TA?/if/rt//o is considered by tbc Russians as eonsisting 

 of thrie firotips of islands. Nearest Aliaska are tLe Fox Jfslatuls, of 

 wbicb tUe largest are l')ihnak, Uiialashka, and rmnak; next to tbese 

 are tbe Jiuh-eanowski/ Islands, among which are Afscha, To uag a, find ^ . 



Kanaka, with many smaller islands, sometimes called the Rat Islands ; toikalam^Polit- 

 the most western group is that first called the Ahmiian or -'//eoM/sA// ical.ofthe.North- 

 Jslaiids, which are Attn, Alediioi (or Copper Island), and Beer'nuj's Island west Coast of 

 (y, r,\ Nortli America, 



^^ '' &c., bv Kobert 



In the "History of Oregon and California," &c., by the ^^;«g^^^„^.«^;;^^ 

 same author, the Commander Islands (Copi)er and Behring Librarian to the 

 Islands) are again classed among the Aleutian Islands, statey""" Senate! 

 which are said to be included under two governmental dis- seth Cong., ist 

 tricts by the Russians, the Commander Islands belonging ^^^^ ' 

 to the western of these districts (p. 38). Greenhow also 

 states that the name "Aleutian Islands" was first applied 

 to Copper and Behring Islands. 



Indeed, in many mai)s of various dates, the title Aleu- 

 tian Islands is so placed as im})lic<l]y to include the Com- 



