58 THE TREATIES OF 1824 AND 1825. 



By treaties Eiis- With reo^ai'd to wliat may be termed the terri- 



sia relinquished ^ -' 



coS claimed" ^"^ toi'ial dispute, it appears from an examination of 

 the correspondence and treaties that the southern 

 boundary of the Russian territories was fixed at 

 latitude 54° 40' N., whereby she rehnquished a 

 large portion of the Northwest Coast which she 

 had claimed by the ukase of 1821, and that the 

 coasts, interior waters, etc., upon and in wliich the 

 United States and Great Britain were allowed to 

 trade for ten years without restrictions, were 

 limited on the west by Yakutat Bay and Mount 

 St. Elias; that is to say, that this right was 

 restricted to the coast line, concerning the owner- 

 ship of which there may have been some possible 

 dispute.^ The specific declarations in the British 

 treaty of 18125 as to the line of coast and water 

 to which access and trade were thus granted 

 leave no room for doubt as to what coast was 

 intended; and that the above limitation was 

 understood by Russia is expressly stated by the 

 Minister of Finance in his communication of 

 September 4, 1824, already cited. 



It may be mentioned here that at the e:spira- 

 tion of this ten year clause, both the United 

 States and England made strenuous but futile 



' Art. IV of the treaty of 1824 and art. VII of the treaty of 182.5. 

 Compare art. Ill of the treaty of 1818 between the United States 

 and Great Britain, Vol. I, p. 34. 



