274 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



tion of the coast above that point stretching along the Behring Sea from 

 hititude 00° to the straits ©fthe Bering. 



The seventh article of the Anglo -Russian treaty, whose provisions 

 have led to the principal contention between the United States and 

 (Ireat Britain, is as follows : 



It is also understood, that for the space of ten years Ironi the sisnature of the 

 present convention the vessels of the two powers, or those beh)n.!iing to their re- 

 spective subjects, shall mutually be at liberty to frequent, without any hindrance 

 wliatever, all the inland seas, the gulfs, havens, and creeks on the coast mentioned 

 in article 3, for the purposes of fishing and of trading with the natives. 



In the judgment of the President the meaning of this article is alto- 

 gether plain and clear. It provides that for the space of ten years the 

 vessels of the two powers should mt(tuaUi/ be at liberty to frequent all 

 tlie inland seas, etc., "o?^ the coast mentioned in article 3^ for the purpose 

 of fishing and trading with the natives^' Following out the line of my 

 argument and the language of the article, I have already maintained 

 that this i)rivilege could only refer to the. coast from 54° 40' to the point 

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

 1 )n;iitude, that, therefore, British subjects were not granted the right 

 of frequenting the Bering Sea. 



Denying this construction. Lord Salisbury says: 



I must further disseut from Mr. Blaine's interpretation of article 7 of the latter 

 treaty (British). That article givers to the vessels of the two jjowers "liberty to 

 fre([uent all the inland seas, gulfs, havens, and creeks on the coast mentioned in 

 article 3, for the purpose of fishing and of trading with the natives." The expression 

 '• coast mentioned in article 3" can only refer to the first words of the article, " the 

 line of demarcation between the possessions (jf the high contracting parties upon 

 tlfe coast of the contineut and the islands of America to the northwest shall be 

 drawn," etc. ; that is to say, it included allthe possessions of the two powers on tlie 

 Northwest Coast of America. For there would have been no sense whatever in stip- 

 ulating tliat Russian vessels should have freedom of access to the small portion of 

 const, which, by a later part oi' the article, is to belong to Russia. And, as bearing 

 on this point, it will be noticed that article 6, which has a more restricted bearing, 

 Bi)t'aks only of '" the subjects of his Britannic Majesty" and of "the line of coast de- 

 iscribed" in article 3. 



It is curious to note the embarrassing intricacies of His Lordship's 

 language and the erroneous assumj^tion ujion which his argument is 

 based. He admits that the privileges granted in the sixth article to 

 the subjects of Great Britain are limited to " the coast described in arti- 

 cle 3 of the treaty." But when he reaches the seventh article, where 

 the privileges granted are limited to " the coast mentioned in article 3 

 of the treaty," His Lordship maintains that the two references do not 

 mean the same coast at all. The coast described in article 3 and the coast 

 mentioned in article 3 are therefore, in His Lordshi^j's judgment, entirely 

 different. The '' coast described in article 3 " is limited, he admits, by 

 the intersection of the boundary line with the one hundred and forty- 

 first degree of longitude, but the " coast mentioned in article 3 " stretches 

 to the straits of Behring." 



The third article is, indeed, a very plain one, audits meaning can not 

 be obscured. Observe that the "line of demarcation" is between the 

 possessions of both parties on the coast of the continent. Great Britain 

 had no possessions on the coast line above the point of junction with 

 the one hundred and forty-first degree, nor had she any settlements 

 above ()()o north latitude. South of (!()"° north latitude was the only 

 ])lace where (Jreat Britain had possessions on the coast line. North of 

 tliat point her territory had no connection wliatever Avith the coast eith<>r 

 of the Pacific Ocean or the Behring Sea. It is tlins evident that the only 

 coast referred to in article 3 was this strip of land south of 00° or 59° 30'. 



