212 THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 



Spain and the United States of February 22,1819, 

 by wLicli the former ceded to the latter tlie two 

 Floridas, carrying our territory down to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and by which also a line of demarkation was 

 run between the territories of the respective Parties 

 west of the Mississippi. This line, commencing on 

 the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Eiver Sabine, 

 proceeds by that river, the Red River, and the Arkan- 

 sas, to its source in latitude 42° north; "and thence 

 by that parallel of latitude to the South Sea." And 

 Spain expressly ceded to the United States all her 

 " rights, claims, and pretensions to any territories east 

 and north of the said line, as thus defined and de- 

 scribed by the treaty." To the rights, claims, and 

 pretensions of the United States on the northwest 

 coast we could now add those of Spain. 



But another pretender to rights on that coast now 

 appeared in the person of Russia, whose actual occu- 

 pation came down to the parallel of 54° 40'; and 

 thereupon it was agreed between Russia and the 

 United States by Treaty of April 17, 1824, that the 

 latter would not permit any settlement by its citizens 

 on the coast or islands north of that degree, and that 

 no subjects of the former should be permitted to settle 

 on the coast or islands south of the same degree. 

 . Neither Government, however, undertook to make 

 any cession to the other. Nor was the country south 

 of the line described as a territory or possession of 

 the United States. 



During the next year, Russia and Great Britain 

 concluded a treaty for the demarkation of the limits 



