344 APPENDIX TO CASE OP GREAT BRiTAm. 



92 No. 8. 



ARTICLE FROM THE "FORUM," NOVEMBER 1889, BY PROf'ESSOR 

 JAMES B. ANGELL, RELATING TO AMERICAN RIGHTS IN BEH- 

 RING SEA. 



Alaska is uow furiiisliing- iis with two international questions of some 

 interest and consequence. The first concerns our right (freely exercised 

 of late under orders of our Treasury Department) to seize foreign ves- 

 sels engaged in catching fur-bearinff seals in Behriug Sea many miles 

 away from land, and to send them into port for condemnation and 

 forfeiture. The second concerns the determination of the boundary 

 between Alaska and British America. The former is just now engag- 

 ing public attention much more than the latter. Possibly the latter 

 may i)rove both the more important and the more difficult. JSTaturally 

 enough, some Canadians whose vessels have been seized, and others 

 who wish to annoy the Macdonald Ministry, are using sharp language 

 about the captures. Fortunately the British Government is proceed- 

 ing with much deliberation and freedom from excitement. If we are 

 reasonable, there is good ground to believe that we can come to an 

 understanding with England and other nations that will secure all the 

 protection we can proj^erly ask for our seals. 



What have we been doing to British vessels in Behring Sea? For 

 more than three years armed vessels of our Revenue Marine Service 

 have, in obedience to the commands of the Secretaries of the Treasury, 

 captured British vessels when it was evident that they were catching 

 seals in that sea, even though the vessels were 40, 50, 90 miles, or even 

 farther from shore. These seizures have been made for alleged viola- 

 tion of Section 1956 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, 

 which provides "that no person shall, without the consent of tlie Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury, kill any otter, mink, marten, sable, fur-seal, or 

 other fur-bearing animal within the limits of Alaska Territory, or in the 

 waters tliereof," under certain penalties. 



H. F. French, Acting Secretary of the Treasury, 12th March, 1881, 

 officially interpreted that expression, "in the waters thereof," as includ- 

 ing all the waters in Behring Sea within our boundaries, lie referred 

 to the description of the western boundary-line of Alaska found in the 

 Treaty of Cession by Russia, which reads as follows : 



The western limit within whicli the territories and dominion conveyed are con- 

 tained passes thvou^li a point in Belning Strait on the i);irallel of 65"^ 30' north lat- 

 itude, at its intersection hy the meridian which passes midway between tlie Ishmds 

 of Krusenstern, or Ignahiok, and the Island of Ratmanoff, or Noonarbook, and pro- 

 ceeds dne north without limitation into the same Frozeu Ocean. The same western 

 limit, bejjinning at tlie same initial point, proceeds thence in a course nearly south- 

 west, through Behring Strait and Behring Sea, so as to pass midw;iy between the 

 n(u-th-west point of the Island of St. Lawrence and the south east point of Cape 

 Choukotski, to the meridian of 172^ west longitude; thence, from (lie iiit(MS(Mtion, 

 of that meridian, in a south-westerly directtion, so as to pass midway between the^ 

 Island of Attou and the Copper Island of the Kormandorski couplet or group, in the 

 North Pacific Ocean, to the meridian of 193° west longitude, so as to include in thei 

 territory conveyed the Avhole of the Aleutian Islands east of that meridian. 



Mr. French then added: 



All the waters within th:it boundary to the western vnA of the Aleutian ArcBf- 

 ]udago and chain of islands are considered as comprised within the waters of Alask.** 

 Territory. All tlm penalties ])rescribed by law against the killing of fm-bcaring 

 animals would therefore attach against any violation of law within the limits before 

 described. 



