268 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



siaii American Company for tlie iuordiiiate profits which hacT flo^yed so 

 sloadily and for so long a period into their treasury fr(nii the fur trade*? 

 The fact that tlie ships of botli nations refrained, duriuo- that h)ng 

 period, from taking; a single fur seal inside the shores of that sea is a 

 ])resumptiou of their lack of riglit and their recognized disability so 

 strong that, independently of all other arguments, it requires the most 

 authentic and convincing evidence to rebut it. That English ships did 

 not enter the Behring Sea to take part in the catching of seals is not 

 all that can be said. Her acquiescence in Kussia's power over the seal 

 iisheries was so complete that during the forty years of llussia's suprem- 

 acy in the liehring Sea (that followed the treaties of l<Sl>4-'25) it is not 

 believed that Great Britain even made a i^rotest, verbal or written, 

 against what Bancroft describes as the "]lussian mono])oly." 



A certain degree of confusion and disorganization in the form of the 

 government that had existed in Alaska was the inevitable nccompani- 

 ment of the transfer of sovereignty to the United States. The Ameri- 

 can title was not made complete until the money, specified as the price 

 in the treaty, had been approj)riated by Congress and ])aid to the Kus- 

 sian minister by the Executive I)ei)artment of the Government of the 

 United States. This was eftected in the latter half of the year 1808. 

 The acquired sovereignty of Alaska carried with it by treaty "all the 

 lights, franchises, and ])rivileges" which had belonged to Kussia. A 

 little more than a year after the acquisition, the United States trans- 

 ferred certain rights to tlie Alaska Commercnd Company over the seal 

 fisheries of Behring Sea for a period of twenty years. Bussia had giveu 

 the same rights (besides i-ights of still larger scope) to the Bussian 

 American Company for three perinds of twenty years each, without a 

 l)rotest from the Jhitish (iloveinment, without a single interference 

 from British ships. For these reasons this Government again insists 

 that Great Britain and the United States recognized, res])ected, and 

 obeyed the authority of B-ussia in the Behring Sea; and did it for more 

 than forty years after the treaties with Bussia were negotiated. It still 

 remains for England to ex]>lain why she persistently violates the same 

 rights when transferred to the ownership of the United States. 



The sec{md arti(;le of the American treaty is as follows: 



Ahticlk II. With a view of preventing the rights of navigation ajid of fishing ex- 

 ercised npon the (ireat Ocean l)y the citizens and snbjects of tlie higli eoiitraeting 

 ])ower8 from becoiiiiiig the ])retext for an illicit trad(^, it is agrec(I that the citizens 

 ol'the Ihiiteil States shall not resort to any point where there is a Kussian estahlish- 

 nient, withont the permission of the governor or commander; anil that, recijiioeally, 

 the snhjects of Russia shall not resort, without permission, to any establisliiaeut of 

 the United States upon the Northwest Coast. 



The second article of the British treaty is as follows: 



Article II. In order to prevent the right of navigation and tishing, exercised npon 

 the ocean hy the subjects of the High Contracting Parties, from becoming the jire- 

 text for ail illicit commerce, it is agreed that the subjects oi' His ]{rit:iiiiiie IMajesty 

 shall not land at any jilace where there may be a Russian establishment, withont the 

 ])ermission of the governor or commandant; and, on the the other hand, the Russian 

 snbjects shall not land, without permission, at any IJritish establishment on the 

 Northwest Coast. 



In the second articles of the treaties it is recognized that both the 

 United Slates and Great Britain have establishments on the "North- 

 west C/oast," and, as neither country ever claimed any teriitory north 

 ol' the sixtieth pararell of latitude, we necessarily have the meaning of 

 the Northwest Coast significantly delined in exact accordance with the 

 A n un' i can coi i ten ti on . 



An argument, altogether historical in its character, is of great and, I 



