Section IL, 1915 [65] Trans. R.S.C. 



Treaty of 1825 — Correspondence Respecting the Boundary between 

 Russian America {Alaska) and British North America} 



By James White, F. R.S.C. 



(Read May Meeting, 1913.) 



The correspondence contained in the following paper is an interest- 

 ing contribution to the inner history of the negotiations that culminated 

 in the signing of the Treaty of 1825 and which determined the boundary 

 between Alaska and Canada. For a proper understanding of these 

 documents a brief statement of the occurrences prior to February 

 1825, is necessary. Anyone desirous of further information should 

 consult the Case, Counter-case and Appendices of "His Majesty's 

 Government before the Alaska Tribunal," 1903. 



September 16, 1821, Alexander I, Emperor of all the Russias, 

 signed a ukase granting "the pursuits of commerce, whaling, and 

 fishery, and of all other industry" on the northwest coast of America 

 between Bering strait and latitude 5 1°N. to Russian subjects exclusively, 

 and prohibiting foreigners, under heavy penalties, from approaching 

 these coasts within less than 100 Italian miles (geographical miles). 



In November following, this decree was officially communicated 

 to the'ljovernment of Great Britain by Baron de Nicolai. Sir Charles 

 Bagot, British Ambassador at Petrograd (St. Petersburg) , was informed 

 by Count Nesselrode that "the object of the measure was to prevent 

 the 'commerce interlope' of the citizens of the United States," who not 

 only carried on an illicit trade in sea-otter skins but traded prohibited 

 articles, especially gunpowder, with the natives of Russian America. 

 Sir Charles reported to the British Government that "this extraordin- 

 ary pretension has been adopted from, and is supposed to be justified 

 by, the Xllth Article of the Treaty of Utrecht."^ 



^ A summary of the below paper was presented to the Royal Society of Canada 

 in 1913. Through the courtesy of Dr. A. G. Doughty, Dominion Archivist, the 

 correspondence which forms the paper was copied from the Bagot papers in the 

 Archives. In the hope that it might be supplemented and the record thus made 

 more complete, pubUcation was suspended pending an attempt by Mr. H. P. Biggar 

 to procure additional correspondence in England. As Mr. Biggar was unsuccessful, 

 the contributor intended making a personal attempt to secure it when in Great Britain 

 in the summer of 1914. Unfortunately, the outbreak of war necessitated the aban- 

 donment of the idea. The correspondence is, therefore, published as presented two 

 years ago. 



2 By Art. XII, French subjects were excluded "from all kinds of fishing 



within 30 leagues" of the coasts of Nova Scotia. 



Sec. I and II, 1915—5 



