42 



of Wales Island, whicli point lies in the parallel of fifty-fonr decrees 

 and forty minutes north latitude, and between the one hundred and 

 thirty-hrst and the one hundred and tliirty-third degree of west longi- 

 tude (meridian of Greenwich), the said line shall ascend to the north 

 along the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the point of the 

 continent where it strili^es the fifty- sixth degree of north latitude; from 

 the last-mentioned point the line of demarkation shall follow the sum- 

 mit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast, as far as the point 

 of intersection of the one hundred and forty first degree of west longi- 

 tude (of the same meridian) ; and finally from the said point of inter- 

 section, the said meridian line of the one hundred and forty-first degree 

 in its prolongation as far as the frozen ocean, shall form the limit 

 between the Eussian and British x)osscssions on the continent of Amer- 

 ica to the northwest. 



VII. 



It is also understood that for the space of ten years from the signa- 

 ture of the present convention the vessels of the two i)owers, or tliose 

 belonging to their respective subjects, shall mutually be at liberty to 

 frequent, without any hindrance whatever, all the inland seas, gulfs, 

 havens, and creeks on the coast mentioned in Article III, for the pur- 

 l)Ose of fishing and of trading with the natives. 



If Great Britain had understood that the treaty of 1824- Avith the 

 United States gave to their citizens the perpetual right of fishing and 

 trading with the natives in '"interior seas, gulfs, harbors, and creeks, 

 upon the coast" — "the northwest coast of America" — and "in the 

 islands adjacent " thereto^ " to the north of oio 40' north latitude," that 

 Government would not have accepted a limitation of this right to a 

 period of ten years. Under such a construction of the treaty of 1824 

 with the United States it would have been sheer folly for Great Britain to 

 have given Eussia the same privilege for ten years from Prince of Wales 

 Island, along Portland Channel up to 56° of north latitude, for Great 

 Britain asserted, with absolute confidence, that Eussia would not make 

 terms with her that were less liberal than she had made with the United 

 States. 



If Eussia yielded her dominion over her preserve of fnr-seal hunting 

 in i)erpetuity to the United States, and then to Great Britain, what 

 could have been the necessity that prompted them to insert these by- 

 provisions for the same rights for a period of ten years in their 

 treaties'? It is too clear for disputation that Eussia intended to 

 yield these rights, reciprocally, for ten years, because she was not will- 

 ing that they should extend beyond that period, except at her option. 

 A more forcible statement of the claim of Eussia to the exclusive right 

 of fishing and trading with the natives in those waters could not well 

 have been made. 



