272 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



It is evident, tlierefore, without further statement, that neither the 

 vessels of tlie United States nor of Great Britain nor of any other 

 power than Kussia had traded ou the shores of Behring Sea prior to 

 the negotiations of these treaties. No more convincing proof could be 

 adduced that these treaties had reference solely to the waters and 

 coasts of the continent south of the Alaskan peninsula — simply the 

 "Pacilic Ocean" and the " Northwest Coast" named in the treaties. 



The third article ot tlie llritish treaty, as printed in the British State 

 papers, is as follows: 



The liiic of cleniarcation liet'wecii the possessions of tlie hij^h contracting parties 

 iipou the coast of the continent, and the islands of America to the northwest, shall 

 he drawn in the niiinner following: 



Commencing from the sonthcrnmost point of the island called Prince of Wales 

 Island, which point lies in the parallel of 54° 40' north latitude, and hetween the 

 one hundred and thirty-tirst and the one Imndred and thirty-third degree of west 

 longitude (meridian of Greenwich), the said line shiill ascend to the north along 

 the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the ])oint of tlie continent where it 

 strikes the fifty-sisth degree of nortli latitude; I'rom this last-mentioned point the 

 line of demarcation shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to 

 the coast, as far as the point of intersection of the one hundred and forty-iirst degree 

 of west longitude (of the same meridian) ; and, tiually, from the said point of inter- 

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

 longation as far as the Frozen Ocean, shall form the limit hetween the Russian and 

 the British possessions on the continent of America to the northwest. 



It will be observed that this article explicitly delimits the boundary 

 between British America and the Eussian possessions. This delimita- 

 tion is in minute detail from 54° 40' to the northern terminus of the 

 coast known as the Northwest Coast. When the boundary line reaches 

 that point (opposite (iO° north latitude) where it intersects theone hun- 

 dred and forty-first degree of west longitude, all particularity of de- 

 scription ceases. From that point it is projected directly northMiud for 

 GOO or 700 miles without any reference to coast line, without any refer- 

 ence to points of discovery or occupation (for there were none in that 

 interior country), but simply ou a longitudinal line as far north as the 

 Frozen or Arctic Ocean. 



What more striking interpretation of the treaty could there be than 

 this boundary line itself 1 It could not be clearer if the British nego- 

 tiators had been recorded as saying to the Eussian negotiators: 



" Here is the Northwest Coast to which we have dis])uted your claims — 

 frcmi the fifty-first, to the sixtieth degree of north latitude. We will 

 not, in any event, admit your right south of 54° 40'. From 54° 40' to 

 the point of junction with the one hundred and forty-first degree of 

 west longitutle Ave will agree to your possession of the coast. That will 

 cover the dis])ute between us. As to the body of the continent above 

 the iJoint of intersection at the one hundred and forty-first degree of 

 longitude, wo know nothing, nor do you. It is a vast unexplored wil- 

 derness. We have no settlements there, aiul you have none. We 

 have, therefoic, no confiicting interests with your (Jovernment. The 

 simjdest division of that territory is to accei)t the prolongation of the 

 one hundred and forty first degree of longitude to the Arctic Ocean as 

 the boundary. East of it the territory shall be British. West of it 

 the territory shall be Eussian." 



And it was so fimdiy settled. 



Article 4 of the Anglo-Eussian treaty is as follows: 



With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the ])receding artich^ it is 

 nnch'i stood: 



First. Th;ut the island called Prince of Wales Island shall belong wholly to Russia. 



