FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. XVII 



With reference to those portions of this ordinance which extended 

 Kussian dominion four degrees farther south, and prohibited foreign 

 vessels from approaching to Avithiu a distance of less than 100 miles 

 from the shore, the Governments of Great Britain and the United States 

 entered protests. 



Mr. Adams, then Secretary of State, conceded the boundaiy named 

 in the charter of the Russian-American Company, viz : The tifty-fifth 

 parallel on the coast of the North Pacific Ocean, but resisted wliat he 

 designates as "a new pretension," the claim of Russia to the coast be- 

 tween latitude 51 and 55. He also repelled the exclusion of American 

 ships from the coast of the North Pacific Ocean, stating that " with 

 the Russian settlements at Kodiak, or at New Arch Angel (Sitka), they, 

 the United States, may fairly claim the advantage of a free trade, hav- 

 ing so long enjoyed it unmolested, and because it has been and would 

 continue to be as advantageous at least to those settlements as to 

 them." 



The committee cite these extracts to show that the contention had 

 reference to a section of the coast of the North Pacific Ocean and en- 

 tirely remote from Bering Sea. 



In reply to the suggestions of Mr. Politica that " the extent of sea, of 

 which these possessions form the limits, comprehends all the conditions 

 which are ordinarily attached to shut seas {mersfermes),^^ Mr. Adams 

 replied, " It may suffice to say that the distance from shore to shore on 

 this sea, in latitude 51° north, is not less than 90° of longitude, or 4,000 

 miles ; " having direct reference to the Pacific Ocean. 



The committee have carefully examined the protests and the corre- 

 spondence in reference to the matters in controversy, as well as the treat- 

 ies of 1824 and 1825, which settled them, and find that they all had ref- 

 erence to that section of the coast and waters of the North Pacific Ocean 

 between the 51st parallel of north latitude and Mt. St. Elias, and east 

 of the 141st meridian. 



In all the correspondence, projects, and treaties there is no allusion 

 to Bering Sea or to any region of country within 1,000 miles of its east- 

 ern border ; so that the dominion asserted and exercised by Russia 

 over that sea from its discovery in 1725 to its partition by the treaty 

 of cession in 1867 had never been denied or questioned. (See treaty 

 between Russia and the United States, April 5-17, 1824, and the treaty 

 between Russia and Great Britain, February 28, 1825, published with 

 evidence.) 



EIGHTH. — THE VALUE OF THE MARINE TERRITORY ACQUIRED BY 

 THE TREATY OF CESSION. 



By referring to the debate on the purchase of Alaska, and the con- 

 temporaneous discussion of the subject by the periodicals and news- 

 papers of this country, it will be noticed that the acquisition of the 

 products of Bering Sea, its fur-bearing animals and fisheries, were re- 

 garded as an important if not the chief consideration for the purchase. 



Mr. Sumner, speaking for the treaty, said in the Senate, after enu- 

 merating the land furs of Alaska: 



The seal, amphibious, iiolygamous, and iutelligent as the beaver, has always sup- 

 plied the largest multitude of furs to the Kussiau Coinpauy. 



Speaking of the walrus he says these animals are found in these 

 waters in great multitudes, and are of great value for their ivory. He 

 then adds : 



I meutiou the sea-otter lasi, ; but in beauty and value it is the first. lu these re- 

 spects it far surpasses the river aud laud otter, cto, * * * I come now to the fisU- 



H. Rep. 3883 n 



