THE FUR-SEALS AND THE BERING SEA AWARD 15 



Could the same exclusive dominion be established over that 

 sea that the United States exercised over Chesapeake Bay 

 or Long Island Sound, her right to control its waters would 

 be complete. Then, with Revenue cutters on guard during 

 the season of the migration of the seals, marauders could 

 be warned away or their vessels seized and condemned under 

 the statute laws of 1868 and 1870 (Supra). The temptation 

 to set up a claim of mare clausum was great. 



In 1881, D. A. d'Ancona, Collector of the Port at San 

 Francisco, disturbed by reports of sealing expeditions which 

 were being fitted out in British Columbia, wrote to the Treas- 

 ury Department (as had his predecessor, Mr. Phelps, in 

 1872), asking for more definite information regarding the 

 extent of American dominion in Bering Sea. The reply of 

 Mr. French, Acting Secretary of the Treasury, March 12, 

 1881, marks a complete reversal of the position assumed by 

 the government in 1872, as expressed in Mr. Boutwell's letter 

 already referred to. Mr. French wrote as follows : 



You inquire into the interpretation of the terms " waters 

 thereof" and "waters adjacent thereto," as used in the law, 

 and how far the jurisdiction of the United States is to be under- 

 stood as extending. 



Presuming your inquiry to relate more especially to the waters 

 of western Alaska, you are informed that the treaty with Russia 

 of March 30, 1870, by which the territory of Alaska was ceded to 

 the United States, defines the boundary of the territory so ceded. 

 The treaty is found on pages 671 to 673 of the volume of treaties 

 of the Revised Statutes. It will be seen therefrom that the limit 

 of the cession extends from a line starting from the Arctic ocean 

 and running through Behring Strait to the north of St. Lawrence 

 Islands. The line runs then in a southwesterly direction, so as to 

 pass midway between the island of Attou and Copper island of 

 the Komondorski couplet or group in the North Pacific Ocean, to 

 meridian of 193 of west longitude. All the waters within that 

 boundary to the western end of the Aleutian Archipelago and chain 

 of islands are considered as comprised within the waters of Alaska 

 territory." 



Thus it will be seen that in order to gain the right to pro- 

 tect seals while in Bering Sea, the United States yielded to 



