22 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
6 [Inclosure 7 in No. 3.] 
Extract from the ‘ Daily British Colonist” of April 6, 1886. 
ALASKA SRAL CaTcHuING.—The story goes that some poachers were fitting out in 
San Francisco to kill seals on the Federal preserves in Alaskan waters. To warn 
all such parties Secretary Manning addressed the following note to Collector Hager: 
“TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 16, 1886. 
‘Sir: I transmit herewith, for your information, a copy of a letter addressed by 
the Department on the 12th March, 1881, to D. A, D’Ancona, concerning the juris- 
diction of the United States in the waters of the Territory of Alaska, and the pre- 
vention of the killing of fur-seals and other fur-bearing animals within such areas, 
as prescribed by Chapter 5, Title 23, of the Revised Statutes. The attention of your 
predecessor in office was called to this subject on the 4th April, 1881. This commn- 
nication is addressed to you, inasmuch as it is understood that certain parties at 
your port contemplate the fitting out of expeditions to kill tur-seals in these waters. 
You are requested to give due publicity to such letters, in order that such parties 
may be informed of the construction placed by this Department upon the provision 
of law referred to. 
“Respectfully yours, 
(Signed) “D. MANNING, Secretary. 
“COLLECTOR OF Customs, San Francisco.” : 
Upon reference to back files we find the full explanation of this note in the letter 
referred to, which is as follows: 
“TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 12, 1881. 
“Sir: Your letter of the 19th ultimo, requesting certain information in regard to 
the meaning placed by this Department upon the Law regulating the killing of fur- 
bearing animals in the Territory of Alaska, was duly received. 
“The Law prohibits the killing of any fur-bearing animals, except as otherwise 
therein provided, within the limits of Alaska Territory, or in the waters thereof, 
and also prohibits the killing of any fur-seals on the Islands of St. Paul and St. 
George, or in the waters adjacent thereto, except during certain months, 
“You inquire in regard to the interpretation of the terms ‘waters there’ and 
‘waters adjacent thereto,’ as used in the Law, and how far the jurisdiction of the 
United States is to be understood as extending. 
“‘Presuming your inquiry to relate more especially to the waters of Western Alaska, 
you are informed that the Treaty with Russia of the 30th March, 1870,* by which 
the Territory of Alaska was ceded to the United States, defines the boundary of the 
territory so ceded. ‘This Treaty is found on pp. 671 to 675 of the volume of Treaties 
of the Revised Statutes. It will be seen, therefore, that the limit of the cession 
extends from a Jine starting from the Arctic Ocean, and running through Behring’s 
Strait to the north of St. Lawrence Islands. 
“The line runs thence in a south-westerly direction, so as to pass midway between 
the Island of Attou and Copper Island of the Kormansborski Couplet or Group of the 
North Pacific Ocean, to meridian of 173° 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. 
‘All the penalties prescribed by law against the killing of fur-bearing animals 
would therefore attach against any violation of law within the limits before described. 
“‘Very respectfully, 
(Signed) “HH, F. Frencu, Acting Secretary. 
“Tt. A. D’ANCONA, 
717, O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, California.” 
All parties are warned that the rule laid down by the Secretary of the Treasury of 
the United States in 1881, and reaffirmed in the note of Secretary Manning to the 
Collector of this port of date of the 16th March, 1886, will be rigidly enforced against 
all who attempt to poach upon the Federal preserve by killing seals within its limits, 
there laid down and defined, in the waters of Alaska. From that preserve the Fed- 
eral Government derives revenue, and its lessee is entitled to the protection proffered 
by the note of the Secretary referred to. 
* ? 1867. 
1 imine, aie 
