Class 
 Book. 
 
 F(f(Z 
 
 ( 
 
 GoRyii^htK" 
 
 COHVIIICHT DEPOSrr. 
 
Itepared in the Office qf the U. S. CoaM aud Oeodelic Survey. Treasury Department. 
 
 United States and ENOUsn Boundary Claims. 
 
 MAP No. 1. 
 
THE 
 
 ALASKO-CANADIAN 
 FRONTIER 
 
THE 
 
 AL ASKO-C ANA DI AN 
 FRONTIER 
 
 Thiis we wish to retain, and 
 the English Companies wish 
 to acquire. — Counl Nesselrode. 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS WILLING BALCH 
 
 A. B. (Habvakd) 
 
 Member of the Philadelphia Bar 
 
 The American Philosophical Society 
 
 The American Historical Association, etc. 
 
 Author of "The Brooke Family of Whitchdrch, Hampshire, England" 
 
 " The Alabama Akbitbation," etc. 
 
 Read at the Annual Meeting of The Franklin Institute, January 15th, 1902, 
 
 AND Reprinted fp.om the "Journal of The Franklin Institute" 
 
 FOB March, 1902 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 Press of Allen, Lane and Scott 
 1902 
 
r ^ 
 
 .-S7'BZ5 
 
 ir*«T t*i r * < 
 
 (joKr a 
 
 Copyright, 1902, by 
 THOMAS WILLING BALCH 
 
 v^ 
 
 
THE 
 ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER 
 
 At the end of May, 1898, the United States and 
 Great Britain agreed to appoint an Anglo-American 
 Joint High Commission to consider and arrange 
 upon a basis more favorable to both sides, such 
 important problems as the regulations of the North 
 Atlantic fisheries, commercial reciprocity, and the 
 Behring Sea fishery question. Soon after, " For the 
 first time a statement was presented by the British 
 Government to the Government of the United States 
 on the 1st of August, 1898, developing the fact that 
 a difference of views existed respecting the pro- 
 visions of the treaty of 1825 " between the United 
 States and the English Empire, concerning the 
 meaning of the Alaska frontier, as defined in the 
 Anglo-Russian treaty of 1825;^ and on August 23d 
 the British Government claimed^ that the eastern 
 
 1 The Alaskan Boundary, by the Hon. John W. Foster: The National Geo- 
 graphic Magazine, November, 1899 : Washington, page 453. Mr. Foster, 
 the able author of this article, was Secretary of State, 1892-93, in the 
 Harrison Adminstration, and has been from the beginning one of the 
 United States members of the Joint High Commission. 
 
 ^See map No. 1. In collecting maps on the subject of the Alaskan 
 frontier, I have received kind aid from Mr. P. Lee Phillijis, chief of the 
 Map Division of the Library of Congress, and Mr. Tittnian and Mr. 
 Andrew Braid, of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Office, 
 at Washington, D. C. 
 
I THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 boundary of Alaska should run from the extremity 
 of Prince of Wales Island at fifty-four degrees forty 
 minutes, along the estuary marked on recent maps 
 as Pearse Canal, up to the top of the Portland 
 Canal, from there straight to the coast, and then 
 along the mountains on the mainland nearest to 
 the shore and across all the sinuosities of the sea 
 that advance into the continent up to Mount Saint 
 Elias." 
 
 By the treaty negotiated at Saint Petersburg 
 and signed there on February 16/28, 1825,* the 
 Muscovite and the British Empires agreed in 
 Articles III. and IV. of that treaty upon the fol- 
 lowing divisional line between their respective 
 North American possessions. 
 
 " Article III. 
 
 "The line of demarcation between the posses- 
 sions of the High Contracting Parties upon the 
 coast of the continent and the islands of America 
 to the northwest, shall be drawn in the manner 
 following : 
 
 " Commencing from the southernmost point of 
 the island called Prince of Wales Island, which 
 point lies in the parallel of fifty-four degrees 
 forty minutes north latitude, and between the one 
 
 ' 77i<; Aloikan Boundary, by tlie IIoii. John W. Foster: The NcUional 
 Oeoffraphic Magazine, November, 1899: Washington, page 465. 
 
 * F\ir Seal Arbitration : Washington, Government Printing Office, 
 1895 ; Volume IV., pagea 42-43. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 3 
 
 hundred and thirty-first and the one hundred and 
 thirty-third degree of west longitude (Meridian of 
 Greenwich), the said line shall ascend to the north 
 along the channel called Portland Channel, as far 
 as the point of the continent where it strikes the 
 fifty sixth degree of north latitude ; from this last 
 mentioned point, the line of demarcation shall fol- 
 low the summit of the mountains situated parallel 
 to the coast, as far as the point of intersection of 
 the one hundred and forty-first degree of west lon- 
 gitude (of the same meridian) ; and, finally, from 
 the said point of intersection, the said meridian line 
 of the one hundred and forty-first degree, in its pro- 
 longation as far as the Frozen Ocean, shall form 
 the limit between the Russian and British Posses- 
 sions on the continent of America to the north- 
 west. 
 
 " Article IV. 
 
 "With reference to the line of demarcation laid 
 down in the preceding Article, it is understood : 
 
 " First. That the island called Prince of Wales 
 Island shall belong wholly to Russia. 
 
 " Second. That, wherever the summit of the 
 mountains which extend in a direction parallel to 
 the coast, from the fifty-sixth degree of north lati- 
 tude to the point of intersection of the one hun- 
 dred and forty-first degree of west longitude, shall 
 prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine 
 leagues from the ocean, the limit between the British 
 
4 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 Possessions and the line of coast which is to be- 
 long to Russia, as above mentioned, shall be formed 
 by a line parallel to the windings [shmo^iies] of the 
 coast, and which shall never exceed the distance 
 of ten marine leagues therefrom.'" 
 
 ' Owing to the importance of tlie French text, which the British 
 Government in its printed argument in the Bering Sea Seal Fisheries 
 Case {Fur Seal Arbilralion, Volume IV., page 500) recognized as the 
 official version, and the fact that French is the diplomatic language of 
 the world, which was probably much more the case in 1S2.5 than to-day 
 the French version is given here. 
 
 " Akticle III. 
 
 " La ligne de ddmarcation entre les possessions dee Hantes Parties 
 Contractantes sur la cute du continent et les iles de I'Amfirique nord- 
 ouest, sera trac^e ainsi qu'il suit: 
 
 " A partir du point le plus meridional de I'ile dite Prince of Wales 
 lequel point se trouve sous le parallele du 54" degr6 40 minutes de lati- 
 tude nord, et entre le 131" et le 133" degrd de longitude ouest (m^ridien 
 de Greenwich), la dite ligne remontera au nord le long de la passe dite 
 Portland Channel, jusqu'au point de la terre ferine oil elle atteint le 
 .56° degr6 de latitude nord ; de ce dernier point la ligne de demarcation 
 suivra la crfite des montagnes situees parallelement i\ la c6te, jusqu'au 
 point d'intersection du 141" degr6 de longitude ouest (mfme m6ridien), 
 et, finalement, du dit point d'intersection, la m6me ligne meridienne 
 de 141" degr^ formera, dans son prolongement jusqu'il la Mer Glaciale; 
 la limite entre les possessions Russes et Britanniques sur le continent de 
 TAm^rique nord-ouest. 
 
 "Article IV. 
 
 " II est entendu, par rapport A la ligne de demarcation determinee 
 dans I'Article precedent : 
 
 " 1°. Que I'ile dite Prince of Wales nppartiendra toute entidre d la 
 Russie. 
 
 "2°. Que partout o\X la cr6te des montagnes qui s'^tendent dans une 
 direction parallule il la c6te depuis le 56 degre de latitude nord au 
 point d'intersection du 141" degr^ de longitude ouest, se trouveroit ii la 
 distance de plus de 10 lieues marines de roc(?an, la limite entre lea 
 possessions Britanniques et la lisicre de c6te mcntionnee ci-<le8SU8 comme 
 devant appartenir A, la Ru&sie, sera formde par une ligne pnrallele aux 
 sinuositds de la cote, et qui ne poura jamais en ftre eioignee que de 10 
 lieues marines." 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 5 
 
 The negotiations that resulted in the treaty of 
 1825 were originated by an Ukase issued in 1821 by 
 the Emperor Alexander the First, in which, in addi- 
 tion to claiming exclusive jurisdiction for Russia in 
 the waters of Behring Sea and a large part of the 
 northern part of the Pacific Ocean, he extended also 
 the territorial claims of Russia from the fifty-fifth de- 
 gree, as claimed by the Ukase of 1799 issued by the 
 Emperor Paul, down to the fifty-first degree of north 
 latitude. The United States and Great Britain both 
 protested against the pretensions of sovereignty as- 
 serted in the Ukase of 1821. In 1824 the United 
 States and the Russian Governments signed a treaty 
 in which, among other things, they agreed on the 
 parallel of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes as 
 the divisional line between their respective terri- 
 torial claims : all below that line Russia agreed to 
 leave to the United States to contest with Great 
 Britain, and all above it the United States consented 
 to leave to Russia to dispute with England. 
 
 Meanwhile, the course of negotiations between 
 Russia and England did not progress as smoothly ; 
 but finally, in February 1825, nearly a year after the 
 signing of the Russo-American Treaty, the Russian 
 and the English plenipotentiaries signed the treaty 
 containing the two articles above quoted. For more 
 than half a century the British Empire never con- 
 tested the interpretation openly proclaimed by both 
 the Muscovite and the United States Governments 
 
6 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 that under those two Articles, first Russia and 
 later — after the cession of Russian America or 
 Alaska in 1867 to the American Union — the United 
 States were entitled to a strip of territory (lisihe) 
 on the mainland from the Portland Channel or 
 Canal in the south up to Mount Saint Elias in the 
 north so as to cut off absolutely the British poses- 
 sions from access to the sea above the point of fifty- 
 four degrees forty minutes. In August 1898, for the 
 first time, the British Empire formally claimed at 
 the Quebec Conference that the proper reading of 
 those two articles entitled Canada to the upper part 
 of most or all of the fiords between the Portland 
 Canal and Mount Saint Elias." 
 
 A review of the negotiations during the years 1822, 
 1823, 1824 and 1825 between Count Nesselrode and 
 M. de Poletica in behalf of Russia, and first of Sir 
 Charles Bagot and afterwards of Mr. Stratford Can- 
 ning, later Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, for Great Brit- 
 ain, shows clearly that the agreement finally reached 
 as embodied in the treaty of 1825 was to exclude the 
 British North American territory from all access to 
 the sea above the point of fifty-four degrees forty 
 minutes. From the very inception of the negotia- 
 tions, the Russians insisted upon the possession for 
 Russia of a strip or lisibre on the mainland from the 
 Portland Canal up to Mount Saint Elias expressly 
 
 • The Alaskan Boundary by the Hon. John W. Foster: The National 
 Ocographic Magazine, November, 1899, Washington, page 453. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 7 
 
 to shut off England from access to the sea at all 
 points north of the Portland Canal. Sir Charles 
 Bagot, on behalf of England, fought strenuously to 
 keep open a free access to the sea as far north above 
 the line of fifty-four degrees forty minutes as pos- 
 sible.' First he proposed that the line of territorial 
 demarcation between the two countries should run 
 " through Chatham Strait to the head of Lynn 
 Canal, thence northwest to the 140th degree of 
 longitude west of Greenwich, and thence along that 
 degree of longitude to the Polar Sea." ' To this 
 Count Nesselrode and M. de Poletica replied with 
 a contre-projct in which they proposed that the 
 frontier line, beginning at the southern end of 
 Prince of Wales Island, should ascend the Port- 
 land Canal up to the mountains, that then from 
 that point it should follow the mountains parallel 
 to the sinuosities of the coast up to the one hun- 
 dred and thirty-ninth degree of longitude west 
 from Greenwich, and then follow that degree of 
 longitude to the north.^ 
 
 At the next conference Sir Charles Bagot gave 
 Count Nesselrode and M. de Poletica a written modi- 
 fication of his first proposition. In this new pro- 
 posal he first stated that the frontier that they de- 
 manded would deprive Great Britain of sovereignty 
 
 ' See map No. 2. 
 
 ' Fur Seal Arbitration, Volume IV., page 424. 
 
 " Fur Seal Arbitration, Volume IV., page 427. 
 
Prepared in the Office of Ihe U. S. COatt and Qeodetie Survey. Treasury Department. 
 Sir C. Baoot's Three Pr^^ed Boundaries, 1824. 
 
 MAP --No. 2. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 9 
 
 over all the a7ises and small bays that lie between 
 the fifty-sixth degree and the fifty-fourth degree 
 forty ^° minutes of latitude ; that owing to the prox- 
 imity of these fiords and estuaries to the interior 
 posts of the Hudson's Bay Company, they would 
 be of essential importance to the commerce of that 
 Company ; while on the other hand, the Russian 
 American Company had posts neither on the main- 
 land between those degrees of latitude, nor even on 
 the neighboring islands. Sir Charles proposed that 
 the line of separation should pass through "the mid- 
 dle of the canal that separates Prince of Wales Island 
 and Duke of York Island from all the islands situa- 
 ted to the north of the said islands until it [the line] 
 touches the mainland." Then advancing in the same 
 direction to the east for ten marine leagues, the line 
 should then ascend towards the north and north- 
 west, at a distance of ten marine leagues from the 
 shore, following the sinuosities of the coast up to 
 the one hundred and fortieth degree of longitude 
 west from Greenwich and then up to the north." 
 At the next conference the Russian plenipoten- 
 tiaries again insisted upon their original proposal 
 that the frontier line should ascend the Portland 
 Canal and then follow the mountains bordering 
 the coast line. 
 
 ' ° In the American edition, Fur Seal ArhUralion, Volume IV., page 428 
 "45"' is printed ; this is probably a typographical error for " 40'. " 
 
 ' ' Far Seal ArbUrcUion, Volume IV., page 428. 
 
10 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 Sir Charles Bagot then brought forward a third 
 boundary line that, passing up Duke of Clarence 
 Sound and then running from west to east along tlie 
 strait separating Prince of Wales Island and Duke 
 of York Island to the north, should then advance 
 to the north and the north-west in the way already 
 proposed. ^^ 
 
 But again the Russian diplomats insisted on their 
 original proposition. On April 17th, 1824, Count 
 Nesselrode addressed to Count Lieven, the Russian 
 Ambassador at London, a long and exhaustive review 
 of the negotiations with Sir Charles Bagot, and in- 
 structed Count Lieven to press the Russian views 
 upon the English Cabinet. In that communication, 
 after speaking of Russia's declaration at the begin- 
 ning of the negotiations that she would not insist 
 upon the claim to the territory down to the fifty- 
 first degree put forward in the Ukase of 1821, and 
 that she would be content to maintain the limits 
 assigned to Russian America by the Ukase of 1799, 
 he went on to say " that consequently the line of 
 the fifty-fifth degree of north latitude, would con- 
 stitute upon the south the frontier of the States 
 of His Imperial IMajesty, that upon the continent 
 and towards the east, this frontier could run along 
 the mountains that follow the sinuosities of the 
 coast up to Mount Saint Elias, and that from that 
 
 ' » Par Seal Arbitration, Volume IV., p-ige 4.30. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER, 11 
 
 point up to the Arctic Ocean we would fix the 
 limits of the respective possessions according to 
 the line of the one hundred and fortieth degree of 
 longitude west from Greenwich. 
 
 " In order not to cut Prince of Wales Island, 
 which according to this arrangement should belong 
 to Russia, we proposed to carry the southern frontier 
 of our domains to the fifty-fourth degree fortietli 
 minute of latitude and to make it reach the coast 
 of the continent at the Portland Canal whose mouth 
 opening on the ocean is at the height of Prince of 
 Wales Island and whose origin is in the lands be- 
 tween the fifty-fifth degree and fifty-sixth degree 
 of latitude." 
 
 Russia, by limiting her demands to those set forth 
 in the Ukase of 1799, simply defended claims against 
 which, for over twenty years, neither England nor 
 any other power had ever made a protest. England, 
 on the contrary, sought to establish her right to ter- 
 ritory which she had thus passively recognized as 
 Russian, and which lay beyond any of her settle- 
 ments. Count Nesselrode contrasted the policy of the 
 two states in the pithy sentence : "Thus we wish to 
 retain, and the English Companies wish to acquire." 
 
 The negotiators were thus brought face to face 
 with their rival claims. The Russians insisted, on 
 the one hand, that they must have possession of a 
 lisihe or strip of territory on the mainland in order 
 to support the Russian establishments on the islands 
 
12 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 and to prevent the Hudson's Bay Company from 
 having access to the sea and forming posts and settle- 
 ments upon the coast line opposite to the Russian 
 Islands ; while Sir Charles Bagot maintained, on the 
 other hand, that Great Britain must have such part 
 of the coast and inlets north of fifty-four degrees 
 forty minutes as would enable the English Com- 
 panies and the settlements back from the coast to 
 have free access to the fiords and estuaries opening 
 into the ocean. 
 
 After a few months, Mr. George Canning, the 
 English Foreign Secretary, instructed Sir Charles 
 Bagot to agree to the Portland Canal as part of the 
 frontier line ; but with the reservation, first, that the 
 eastern line of demarcation should be so defined as 
 to guai'd against any possibility, owing to subsequent 
 geographical' discoveries, that it could be drawn at 
 a greater distance from the coast than ten marine 
 leagues, and second, that the harbor of Novo-Arch- 
 angelsk (now Sitka) and the rivers and creeks on 
 the continent should remain open forever to British 
 commerce. 
 
 During the course of the new negotiations be- 
 tween Count Nesselrode and M. de Poletica in 
 behalf of Russia, and of Sir Charles Bagot for 
 England, the second of these two points was the 
 main object of discussion. Sir Charles was unable 
 to conclude a treaty with the Russian diplomats, 
 for the latter refused to agree to open forever the 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 13 
 
 port of Novo-Archangelsk to British commerce. 
 Neither were they willing to grant to the subjects 
 of England the right forever to navigate and trade 
 along the coast of the lisiere that it was proposed 
 Russia should have. The British Ambassador, 
 realizing that it was impossible for him to nego- 
 tiate a treaty in accordance with his instructions, 
 soon thereafter left Saint Petersburg. 
 
 In the latter part of the year 1824, Great Britain 
 appointed Mr. Stratford Canning, later Lord Strat- 
 ford de Redcliffe, one of the ablest of her diplomats, 
 to continue the negotiations left unfinished between 
 Sir Charles Bagot, and Count Nesselrode and M. de 
 Poletica. When Canning took up the negotiations. 
 Great Britain had receded from all contentions ex- 
 cept as to the width of the lisiere. In his instruc- 
 tions he received power to arrange for a line of 
 demarcation that should run along the crest of the 
 mountains, except where the mountains were more 
 than ten marine leagues from the shore, in which 
 case the frontier should follow, at a distance of ten 
 marine leagues inland, the sinuosities of the shore. 
 With these new instructions, Stratford Canning was 
 able to conclude a treaty to which Sir Charles Bagot 
 could not have agreed. And on the 16/28 of Feb- 
 ruary 1825, Stratford Canning on behalf of Great 
 Britain and Count Nesselrode and M. de Poletica for 
 Russia, signed a treaty definitely dividing Canada 
 and Russian America. 
 
14 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 George Canning, towards the end of his instruc- 
 tions to Stratford Canning, showed what was the 
 chief motive of England in the pending negotia- 
 tions with Russia. He wrote : 
 
 " It remains only in recapitulation, to remind 
 you of the origin and principles of this whole ne- 
 gotiation. 
 
 " It is not on our part, essentially a negotiation 
 about limits. 
 
 " It is a demand of the repeal of an offensive and 
 unjustifiable arrogation of exclusive jurisdiction over 
 an ocean of unmeasured extent ; but a demand qual- 
 ified and mitigated in its manner, in order that its 
 justice may be acknowledged and satisfied without 
 soreness or humiliation on the part of Russia. 
 
 " We negotiate about territory to cover the re- 
 monstrance upon principle. 
 
 "But any attempt to take undue advantage of 
 this voluntary facility, we must oppose." " 
 
 Thus the chief concern of the English Govern- 
 ment was to obtain from that of Russia an ofiicial 
 disclaimer of the assertion in the Ukase of 1821 that 
 the waters of Behring Sea and parts of the northern 
 Pacific were exclusively Russian waters. Russia 
 would not assent to formally recognize the right of 
 English ships freely to navigate those seas, unless 
 the boundary question was also arranged, and settled 
 
 " Fur Seed ArbilroUiun, Volume IV., page 448. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 15 
 
 SO as to insure to Russia an unbroken lisihe from the 
 Portland Canal up to Mount Saint Elias. And on 
 this last point, England, after a long and stubborn 
 resistance, finally yielded. 
 
 Much of the trouble that the negotiators of the 
 Anglo-Muscovite treaty of 1825 had in agreeing upon 
 the eastern boundary of the lisiere was due to a lack 
 of knowledge respecting the mountains along the 
 northwest American coast. According to Vancou- 
 ver's chart and other available imformation a moun- 
 tain range ran along the coast not far from the sea. 
 When Stratford Canning and Count Nesselrode and 
 M. de Poletica finally agreed upon the mountain 
 divide as the frontier between the two nations, Can- 
 ning, acting upon instructions from his cousin, George 
 Canning, who was British Secretary of Foreign Af- 
 fairs, insisted that should the summit of the moun- 
 tains prove to be, at any point, more than ten marine 
 leagues from the shore, then the line of demarcation 
 should be drawn parallel to the sinuosities of the 
 shore at a distance of ten marine leagues. This ten 
 league limit to the eastward was inserted on purpose, 
 as George Canning stated in his instructions to Strat- 
 ford Canning to guard England against a possibility 
 of having her territory pushed back to the eastward 
 a hundred miles or more from the sea in case the 
 crest of the mountains was found in reality to lie far 
 back from the coast instead of close to it as was then 
 supposed. 
 
16 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 Thus a review of the negotiations that culminated 
 in the Anglo-Muscovite treaty of 1825 shows clearly 
 that the negotiators of that treaty intended to include 
 within the Russian territory a lisilre on the main- 
 land, stretching from the Portland Canal in the south 
 up to Mount Saint Elias in the north, and extending 
 between those points far enough inland to exclude 
 the English possessions absolutely from access to the 
 coast line above fifty-four degrees forty minutes. 
 
 The treaty was drawn in French, and an English 
 copy was also prepared. In the French version, the 
 language of diplomacy,'* it is said that the inland 
 frontier of the lisicre shall be a line drawn "paral- 
 lele aux sinuositfe [" windings " in the English ver- 
 sion] de la cote." The meaning of the phrase is made 
 absolutely clear by tlie use of the word smuosites. 
 Littr^, who was a member of VAcademie Frangaise, 
 defines in his Didionnaire de la Langue Frangaise, sin- 
 uosites as meaning: " Qualit6 de ce qui est sinueux. 
 Cette riviere fait beaucoup de sinuosit^s. II allait 
 dans une chaloupe avec deux ingc'nieurs cotoyer les 
 deux royaumes de Danemark et de Suede, pour 
 mesurer toutes les sinuosites, Font. Czar Pierre. Les 
 jeunes Deliens se melSrent avec eux [les Ath6niens] 
 pour figurer les sinuosites du labyrinthe de Crete, 
 
 ^* F\ir Seal Arbitralion, Volume IV., page 500, et seq. 
 
 Principes du Droit dca Gciia par Ali)lionse Rivier: Paris, 1896, Vol- 
 ume II., page 19. 
 
 Introduction to the Study nf MiTnalimwl Law by Theodore D. Wool- 
 sey : New York, 1888, fifth edition, page 270. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER, 17 
 
 Barthel, Anach. ch. 76.'"" Webster defines sinuosity 
 to mean ; " 1. The quality of being sinuous, or bend- 
 ing in and out. 2. A series of bends and turns in 
 arches or other irregular figures ; a series of wind- 
 ings. 'A line of coast certainly amounting with its 
 sinuosities, to more than 700 miles.' S. Smith.""' 
 
 Thus the use of the word sinuositSs, independently 
 of all other evidence, shows that the negotiators of 
 the treaty meant to include within the Russian 
 lisih-e the whole of the Lynn Canal and all other 
 fiords above the Portland Canal. 
 
 Aside, however, from the manifest intent of the 
 negotiators as thus revealed, the meaning and under- 
 standing of both the British and the Russians as to 
 the definite frontier for which they arranged between 
 their respective Empires in the treaty of 1825 is con- 
 clusively proved ; first, by the overwhelming multi- 
 tude of maps of the best cartographers of the vari- 
 ous leading powers of the world, including those of 
 England and Canada, in sustaining the boundary 
 always claimed in the beginning by Russia and after- 
 wards by the United States ; second, by the acts of 
 the British and the Canadian authorities until well 
 towards the close of the nineteenth century. 
 
 In the year 1825, shortly after the treaty defin- 
 ing the frontier between Russian and British North 
 
 1 ^ Littr6, Paris, Hachette et Cie, 1873. 
 
 • ^ An American Diclwnary of the English Language, revised by Profes- 
 sors Goodrich and Porter of Yale : Springfield, Mass., 1876. 
 

 ■•s- O. 
 
 f-Tf... 
 
 '^v. 
 
 y-^ 
 
 ^-V/ 
 
 ,W" 
 
 
 r ' i'< 
 
 'i^'e:'^^ 
 
 
 
 V ilA«<«t/'«l«V' 
 
 lales T 
 
 
 
 
 
 • il^y'; J. '•■' 
 
 
 
 .b^.. 
 
 
 Imperial Russian Map: " Drehsk par M. de Kritsenstern', Contre-Amiral » * * 
 pUBLift par ordrk de Sa Ma.ieste Imperiale. Saint pETERsnorRc;, 1827." 
 
 MAP No. 3. \ 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 19 
 
 America became known, A. Brue, one of the lead- 
 ing French cartographers, published at Paris a map 
 entitled : " Carte de I'Am^rique Septentrionale ; Re- 
 digee par A. Brue, Geographe du Roi ; Atlas Uni- 
 versel, pl. 38." On this map Bru(^ drew the bound- 
 ary of Russian America on the continent from the 
 top of the Portland Canal at the distance of ten 
 marine leagues from tide water round all the sin- 
 uosities up to the one hundred and forty-first de- 
 gree of longitude, and then along that meridian 
 to the north. Two years later, in 1827, the cele- 
 brated Russian Admiral and navigator, A. J. 
 de Krusenstern, published at Saint Petersburg, 
 "par ordre de Sa Majeste Imperiale," a "Carte 
 Generale de I'Ocean Pacifique, Hemisphere Boreal." " 
 Krusenstern drew on the mainland the frontier of 
 Russian America from the top of the Portland Canal 
 round the sinuosities of the shore at a distance 
 of ten marine leagues from tide water up to the 
 one hundred and forty-first degi'ee of longitude and 
 then northward along that meridian. Along the line 
 of the one hundred and forty-first degree is inscribed, 
 "Limites des Possessions Russes et Anglaises d' apres 
 le Traite de 1825." Two years later, in 1829, there 
 appeared at Saint Petersburg a map of the eastern 
 extremity of Siberia and the north west coast of 
 America. This was map " No. 58" (b) " of the "Atlas 
 
 ' ' See map No. 3. 
 
' Cahtk Ghnickalk * m: i,a iute N. W. {sic) de i.'A.mkhiqie," prepaiied 
 
 AT St. Petersduro in 1829, by Functionary I'iadisciieff 
 
 " AU DfipOr TOPOORAPHIQCK militairk." 
 
 MAP No. 4. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIEE. 21 
 
 G^ographique de I'Empire de Russie," etc., that 
 was prepared by Functionary PiadischefF. On this 
 map, Piadischeff drew the Eusso-British frontier 
 from Mount Saint Elias down to the top of the Port- 
 land Canal and then along that sinuosity down to 
 the sea at fifty-four degrees forty minutes/^ thereby 
 shutting off Britain from access to the sea above 
 fifty-four degrees forty minutes.^^ 
 
 The British Government made no protest against 
 the way Krusenstern and Piadischeff had marked 
 the boundary. On the contrary, a few years later, 
 in 1831, a map was prepared by Joseph Bouchette, 
 Jr., "Deputy Surveyor General of the Province of 
 Lower Canada," and published the same year at 
 London by James Wyld, geographer to the King, 
 and " with His Majesty's most gracious and special 
 permission most humbly and gratefully dedicated 
 
 ' ' Map " No. 60" (a) " of the atlas is entitled, " Carte G^n^rale de I'Em- 
 pire de Russie," etc. This is a map of the whole Kussian Empire in 1829, 
 and in the left hand lower corner the boundary of the Russian American 
 lisit're is given as on map " No. 58." Charles Sumner used this general map 
 of the Empire, " No. 60," in preparing his speech in support of the pur- 
 chase of Alaska in 1867. The copy that he used is now in the Harvard 
 Library. The reproduction of map " No. 58 " in this paper (see map No. 4) 
 was made from a copy of Piadischeflf's Atlas now in the possession of the 
 writer that belonged to Prince Alexander of Hesse, the brother of the 
 Empress Alexander the Second of Russia. The titles and nomenclature of 
 the Atlas are given both in Russian and French. The French title is : Atlas 
 Geographique de I'Empire de Russie, du Royaume de Pologm et da Grand 
 DucM de Finlande * * * par le Fonctionnaire de la 6" Classe Piadis- 
 cheff, employ^ au Depot Topographique militaire dans VEtat-Major de Sa 
 Majesti Imperude : Commence en 1830 et termini en 1827, rem et corrigc en 
 1834. 
 
 1 9 See map No. 4. 
 
^•i 
 
 '^^i 
 
 
 Canadian Mai- of 1831: " Cdmi'ilkd * * * by Jixskpii Bouchette, Jk., 
 Deputy Suuveyok General of the Pkovince of Loweb Canada." 
 
 MAP No. 5. 4 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 23 
 
 * * * to His Most Excellent Majesty King Will- 
 iam IVth * * * compiled from the latest and 
 most approved astronomical observations, authori- 
 ities, and recent surveys."^" It reaffirmed the bound- 
 ary as given upon Krusenstern's Imperial map. 
 Again in a " Narrative of a Journey Round the 
 World, during the years 1841 and 1842, by Sir 
 George Simpson, Governor-in-chief of the Hudson's 
 Bay Company's Territories in North America" pub- 
 lished at London in 1847," a map in volume one, 
 showing the author's route, gives the line of de- 
 marcation between the Russian and the English ter- 
 ritories as it was laid down by Krusenstern in his 
 map of 1827." 
 
 Ten years later, in 1857, an investigation into the 
 affairs of the Hudson's Bay Company was held by 
 a special committee of the House of Commons. At 
 that investigation. Sir George Simpson, who was 
 examined, presented a map of the territory in ques- 
 tion, and, speaking for the Company, said : " There 
 is a margin of coast, marked yellow on the map, 
 from 54° 40' up to Cross Sound which we have 
 rented from the Russian Company." ^^ This map 
 shows that the strip of land on the continent 
 
 2 » See map No. 5. 
 
 ^' London; Henry Colburn, 1847: there is a copy in the British Mu- 
 seum. 
 
 '^ See map No. 6. 
 
 *« See map No. 7. 
 
5Iai> in " Narrative of a Journey Round the World," 
 BY Sir George Simi-son, London, 1847. 
 
 MAP No. 6. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 25 
 
 extended far enough inland to include all the 
 sinuosities of the coast so as to exclude, accord- 
 ing to the United States claims, the British terri- 
 tory altogether from any outlet upon salt water 
 above fifty-four degrees forty minutes. 
 
 Again, in 1867, about the time of the sale by 
 Russia to the United States of Russian America — 
 to which William H. Seward gave the name of 
 Alaska'^— " Black's General Atlas of the World" 
 was published at Edinburgh. In the introduction 
 of this work, the following description of Russian 
 America is given : 
 
 " Russian America comprehends the N. W. portion 
 of the continent, with the adjacent islands, extend- 
 ing from Behring Strait E. to the meridian of Mount 
 St. Elias (about 141° W.), and from that mountain 
 southward along the Maritime chain of hills till it 
 touches the coast about 54° 40'." 
 
 Then, on three maps of this atlas, ''The World," 
 No. 2, "The World on Mercator's Projection," No. 3, 
 and " North America," No. 39, the Russian territory 
 from Mount Saint Elias down to the end of the 
 Portland Canal at fifty-four degrees forty minutes is 
 marked so as to include within the Muscovite pos- 
 
 '■^ Seward cU Washhigton as Senator and Secretary of State, by Frederick 
 W. Seward : New York, 1891, Volume III., page 369. 
 
 Concerning tlie sale of Alaska by Russia to the United States, see 
 Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, on the cession of Russian- 
 America to tlie United Slates; 1867, passim; and The Alabama Arbitration, 
 by Thomas Willing Balch, Philadelphia, 1900, pages 24-38. 
 
l~-5 
 
 wm^^ 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 
 
 ^p^^ ^' ^^^H 
 
 |H^^H| 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 ■p 
 
 
 
 ^^^^^^^^H 
 
 i.<pi 
 
 
 
 
 K^ 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 Mr ..(■ flirluik''''' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 
 ■Y 
 
 
 ^^' 
 
 
 .^^'" 
 
 vV 
 
 ■.'^■ 
 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 > J / (1 
 
 /-•/in'. 
 
 V 
 
 
 1 
 
 ! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■'4 
 
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 5 
 
 1 
 
 Map of the Hidson's Bay ruMWASY: " ()i:iii:rki> iiy tiik llmsii m- Commons to de printed 
 
 31ffr July and IItii Aioist, 1857." The Rissian TERurronv, which is Darker than 
 
 THE Canadian in this Reproduction, is Colored Yelix>w on the Orioinai. Map. 
 
 MAP No. 7. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIEE. 27 
 
 sessions all the fiords and estuaries along the coast 
 and thus cutting off the British territory entirely 
 from all access to tide water above fifty-four degrees 
 forty minutes. In addition there is given a small 
 map marked at the top, " Supplementary sketch 
 map, Black's General Atlas, for plate 41," and at the 
 bottom, "■ United States after Cession of Russian- 
 America, April 1867, Coloured Blue." On this 
 sketch map the territory purchased by the United 
 States is marked, " Formerly Russian America," and 
 like the rest of the United States, is colored blue. 
 And the boundary of the new territory of Alaska 
 is given as upon the other three maps of this Atlas, 
 Nos. 2, 3 and 39, already cited, according to Brue's 
 map of 1825, and Krusenstern's map of 1827, and 
 the Canadian and the English maps already referred 
 to, and in accordance with the territorial claim that 
 Russia and the United States have always main- 
 tained and acted upon. 
 
 Many other maps can be mentioned in addition to 
 those above quoted against Britain's recent claim. 
 For examples, Petermann's map in the Mittheilungen 
 of April, 1869 ; Thomas Devine's map prepared and 
 printed in 1877 at Toronto by order of the Canadian 
 Government; Alexander Keith Johnston's map of 
 " North America" in his Handy Royal Atlas of Modem 
 Geography published at Edinburgh and London, in 
 1881 ; E. Andriveau-Goujon's map of " I'Am^rique 
 du Nord," published at Paris in 1887, and finally 
 
28 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN IKONTIEH. 
 
 the wall map (1897) of the "United States" by 
 Edward Stanford,-^ an important map maker of 
 London to-day, give to Alaska the limits always 
 claimed since 1825 b^' Russia and the United States. 
 Some maps — for example, "The World " by James 
 Gardner, published in 1825 and dedicated "To His 
 Most Gracious Majesty George the IVth"; "Nord 
 America, Entworfen und gezeichnet von C. F. Wei- 
 land," 1826 ; and a " Carte Physique et Politique par 
 A. H. Bru(^," 1827 — bring the Russian boundary on 
 the mainland from Mount Saint Elias down only to 
 a point about half way opposite Prince of Wales 
 Island at about fifty-six degrees and then along the 
 fiords so as to include all of Prince of Wales Island 
 in the Russian Territory, instead of carrying the 
 frontier to the top of the Portland Canal and then 
 down to the sea at about fifty-four degrees and forty 
 minutes. But for all the territory above the point 
 on the continent about half way opposite Prince of 
 Wales Island up to the one hundred and forty-first 
 degree west from Greenwich, these maps give the 
 divisional line between the Muscovite and the Brit- 
 ish territories far enough inland and around the 
 sinuosities of the coast so as to cut off the British 
 territory from all contact with tide water. Besides, 
 Weiland, in a map of 1843 corrected his error in his 
 map of 1826, in stopping a little short of the Port- 
 
 "» 77m; Vniied Slates: London ; published by Edward Stanford, 26 and 
 27 Cockepur St., Charing Cross, S. W., 15th July, 1897. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 29 
 
 land Canal in marking the Russo-Canadian bound- 
 ary ; and in Brue's maps of 1833 and 1839 the divi- 
 sional line is given as it was marked on his map of 
 1825. Gardner's map is overwhelmed by the multi- 
 tude of English and Canadian maps — governmental 
 and private — that followed Krusenstern's delineation 
 of the line of demarcation. And additional proof of 
 how far south the negotiators of the treaty of 1825 
 intended that the Russian lisiere should extend 
 when they used the phrase, " la dite ligne remontera 
 au nord le long de la passe dite Portland Channel, 
 jusqu'au point de la terre ferme ou elle atteint le 
 56^ degre de latitute nord," is clearly shown by 
 Vancouver's chart upon which he inscribed the 
 name " Portland Canal." -^ 
 
 Probably the most important English map as 
 showing what the best geographers of the British 
 Government thought, until very recently, was the 
 true boundary, is the British "Admiralty Chart 
 No. 787," giving the North-west coast of America 
 from " Cape Corrientes, Mexico to Kadiak Island," 
 prepared in 1876 by F. J. Evans, R. N., published 
 in 1877 and corrected up to Ajml, 1898.'" On this 
 Chart of the British Admiralty, the frontier of 
 the United States descends the one hundred and 
 
 26 ^ Chart showing part of the Coast of N. W. America with the tracks of 
 His Majesty's Sloop Discovery and Armed Tender Chatham commanded by 
 George Vancouver : London, 1798. 
 
 2' See Map No. 8. 
 
I I T 1 r ^r" ■!■* 
 
 
 iisii Admikai.ty Ciiakt, Publish icD June 21.st, 1s77, inuku the Siteuixtendence of C.mtain 
 F. J. Evans, R. N., HvDROGRAriiGB, and Corrected to Ai-kil, 1898. 
 
 MAP No. 8. ^ 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 31 
 
 forty-first degree of longitude west from Greenwich, 
 and then advancing on the continent but passing 
 round the sinuosities of the coast so as to give a con- 
 tinuous lisiere of territory cutting off the Dominion 
 of Canada from all contact with any of the fiords or 
 sinuosities that bulge into the continent between 
 Mount Saint Elias and the Portland Canal, the 
 frontier is drawn to the head of the Portland 
 Canal at about fifty-six degrees, and then down 
 that sinuosity, striking Dixon's Entrance at fifty- 
 four degrees forty minutes. Thus the British Ad- 
 miralty itself upholds the territorial claims held and 
 maintained by both the Russian and the United States 
 Governments.'^^ 
 
 The English and the Canadian Governments, 
 through their official representatives, have again 
 and again recognized the claim of Russia down to 
 1867, and since then that of the United States 
 that the area of Russian America or Alaska com- 
 prises an unbroken strip of territory on the con- 
 tinent, extending from Mount Saint Elias in the 
 north to the Portland Canal in the south ; that 
 this strip of land encircles all the sinuosities of the 
 shore; and that by this strip the Dominion of 
 Canada is cut off from all contact with the in- 
 
 2« I bought the copy of this chart, from which Map No. 8. is reproduced, 
 at Edward Stanford's, 26 and 27 Coclvspur, Charing Cross, S. W., London, 
 in September, 1901, showing that up to that date at least, the British 
 Admiralty agreed with the United States as to the frontier. 
 
32 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 dentations of the sea along the north west coast of 
 the continent between the Portland Canal at about 
 fifty-four degrees forty minutes north latitude and 
 Mount Saint Elias. From these numerous official 
 acts a few are presented here. 
 
 In 1857 a "Select Committee"-^ of the House of 
 Commons of the British Parliament was appointed 
 "to consider the state of those British Possessions in 
 North America which are under the Administration 
 of the Hudson's Bay Company, or over which they 
 possess a License to Trade." The Committee con- 
 sisted of nineteen members in all, among whom 
 were Mr. Secretary Labouchere, the chairman, Lord 
 John Russell, Lord Stanley, Mr. Edward Ellice, a 
 native of Canada and a Director of the Hudson's 
 Bay Company, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Roebuck and Sir 
 John Pakington. The Committee examined, among 
 others. Sir George Simpson, who for thirty-seven 
 years was the governor of the territories of the 
 
 2 Parliamentary Papers, 1S57. 
 Accounts a — Rep. XV. 
 Report from the Select Committee on the Hudson's Bay Company to- 
 gether with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, Ap- 
 I)enilix and Index. Ordered, hy the House of Commons, to be printed 
 31 July and 11 August, 1857. 
 
 Second Session, 1857. 
 
 Veneris, 8° die maii, 1857. 
 Ordered, That a Select Committee be appointed "to consider the 
 state of those British Possessions in North America which are under the 
 Administration of the Hudson's Ray Company, or over which they pos- 
 eess a License to Trade," (page II.). 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 33 
 
 Hudson's Bay Company. Part of Sir George Simp- 
 son's testimony was as follows : 
 
 " 1026. Besides your own territory, I think you 
 administer a portion of the territory which belongs 
 to Russia, under some arrangement with the Russian 
 Company? — There is a margin of coast marked 
 yellow in the map ^^ from 54° 40' up to Cross Sound, 
 which we have rented from the Russian American 
 Company for a term of years. 
 
 " 1027. Is that the whole of that strip ?— The strip 
 goes to Mount Saint Elias. 
 
 "1028. Where does it begin?— Near Fort Simp- 
 son, in latitude 54° ; it runs up to Mount Saint Elias, 
 which is further north. 
 
 " 1029. Is it the whole of that strip which is 
 included between the British territory and the sea? 
 — We have only rented the part between Fort Simp- 
 son and Cross Sound. 
 
 " 1030. What is the date of that arrangement? — 
 That arrangement, I think, was entered into about 
 1839. 
 
 " 1031. What are the terms upon which it was 
 made ; do you pay a rent for that Land ? — The 
 British territory runs along inland from the coast 
 about 30 miles ; the Russian territory runs along 
 the coast ; we have the right of navigation through 
 the rivers to hunt the interior country. A misun- 
 
 ' " See map No. 7. 
 
34 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 derstanding existed upon that point in the first 
 instance ; we were about to establish a post upon one 
 of the rivers, which led to very serious difficulties 
 between the Russian-American Company and our- 
 selves ; we had a long correspondence, and, to guard 
 against the recurrence of these difficulties, it was 
 agreed that we should lease this margin of coast, 
 and pay them a rent ; the rent, in the first instance, 
 in otters ; I think we gave 2,000 otters a year ; it is 
 now converted into money ; we give, I think, 1500£ 
 a year." 
 
 It will be observed from the foregoing questions 
 and the replies of Sir George Simpson, that the 
 Hudson's Bay Company in 1839 recognized by an 
 official act, to wit, a lease of Russian territory, that 
 Russia had a linhe on the continent from Mount 
 Saint Elias almost down to Fort Simpson, and that 
 owing to this strip of land the British territory was 
 pushed back about thirty miles " inland from the 
 coast." In addition it will be noted that Sir George 
 Simpson in describing the positions and extent of 
 the land rented by his Company from the Russian 
 company, referred to a map'^ that he showed the com- 
 mittee, and upon which the lisibre belonging to 
 Russia was marked so as to include the sinuosities 
 of the coast, the Lynn Canal and all the other fiords 
 above fifty-four degrees forty minutes, entirely, and 
 
 » ' See map No. 7. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 35 
 
 SO cutting off the British territory absolutely from 
 all contact with tide water. 
 
 Subsequently, in the course of Sir George Simp- 
 son's examination, the question of the lease in 1839 
 by the Hudson's Bay Company of the Russian lisiere 
 again came up, and the following questions and 
 answers were asked and given : 
 
 " 1732. Chairman. I think you made an arrange- 
 ment with the Russian Company by which you hold 
 under a lease a portion of their territory ? — Yes. 
 
 " 1733. I believe that arrangement is that you 
 hold that strip of country which intervenes between 
 your territory and the sea, and that you give them 
 1500£ a year for it?— Yes. 
 
 " 1734. What were your objects in making that 
 arrangement? — To prevent difficulties existing be- 
 tween the Russians and ourselves ; as a peace offering. 
 
 " 1735. What was the nature of those difficul- 
 ties? — We were desirous of passing through their 
 territory, which is inland from the coast about 30 
 miles. There is a margin of 30 miles of coast be- 
 longing to the Russians. We had the right of navi- 
 gating the rivers falling into the ocean, and of set- 
 tling the interior country. Difficulties arose between 
 us in regard to the trade of the country, and to 
 remove all those difficulties we agreed to give them 
 an annual allowance. I think, in the first instance, 
 2000 otter skins, and afterwards 1500£ a year. 
 
36 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 " 1738. During the late war [the Crimean] which 
 existed between Russia and England, I believe that 
 some arrangement was made between you and the 
 Russians by which you agreed not to molest one 
 another? — Yes, such an arrangement was made. 
 
 "1739. By the two companies? — Yes; and Gov- 
 ernment confirmed the arrangement. 
 
 " 1740. You agreed that on neither side should 
 there be any molestation or interference with the 
 trade of the different parties? — Yes. 
 
 " 1741. And I believe that that was strictly 
 observed during the whole war ? — Yes. 
 
 " 1742. Mr. Bell. Which Government confirmed 
 the arrangement, the Russian or the English, or 
 both? — Both Governments." 
 
 This additional information shows that the Eng- 
 lish Company rented the lisibre from the Russian 
 Company, because the lisi^e shut off the English 
 Company from access to the fiords of the sea that 
 advanced into the continent. And further, these 
 questions and replies prove that the English Govern- 
 ment — by confirming the agreement of the English 
 Company with the Russian not to interfere with 
 each other while their respective Governments were 
 busy waging war in other parts of the world during 
 the years 1854, 1855 and 1856 — recognized and 
 sanctioned the claim of Russia that she had an 
 unbroken Hsicre on the mainland extending far 
 enough inland so as to envelop within her own 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 37 
 
 domains, the Lynn Canal and all the fiords that 
 penetrate into the continent above the Portland 
 Canal. 
 
 Some twenty years after the investigation by the 
 House of Commons into the affairs of the Hudson's 
 Bay Company, the Canadian Government, through 
 the intermediary of the British Foreign Office, for- 
 mally recognized that the lisihe of Alaska shut ofi" 
 Canadian territory from access to the sea. 
 
 It was in 1876, while taking a prisoner named 
 Peter Martin, who was condemned in the Cassiar dis- 
 trict of British Columbia for some act committed in 
 Canadian territory, from the place where he was con- 
 victed to the place where he was to be imprisoned, 
 that Canadian constables crossed with the prisoner 
 the United States territory lying along the Stickine 
 River. They encamped with Martin at a point some 
 thirteen miles up the river from its mouth. There 
 Martin attempted unsuccessfully to escape, and made 
 an assault on an officer. Upon his arrival at Vic- 
 toria, the capital of British Columbia, he was tried 
 and convicted for his attempted escape and attack 
 upon the constable; and the court sentenced him. 
 The Secretary of State, Hamilton Fish, protested 
 against this infringement of the territorial sovereignty 
 of the United States in the Territory of Alaska. In 
 a letter to Sir Edward Thornton, the English Minister 
 at Washington, he said : " I have the honor, there- 
 fore, to ask again your attention to the subject and 
 
38 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 to remark that if, as appears admittedly to be the 
 fact, the colonial officers in transporting Martin from 
 the place at which he was convicted to his place of 
 imprisonment, via the Stickine River, did conduct 
 him within and through what is the unquestioned 
 territory of the United States, a violation of the 
 sovereignty of the United States has been committed, 
 and the recapture and removal of the prisoner from 
 the jurisdiction of the United States to British soil 
 is an illegal act, violent and forcible act, which 
 cannot justify the subsequent proceedings whereby 
 he has been, is or may be restricted of his liberty." 
 The transit of the constables with their prisoner, 
 Martin, through American territory was not due to 
 a mistake on their part, as to the extent of Canadian 
 territory, for J. B. Lovell, a Canadian Justice of the 
 Peace in the Cassiar district of British Columbia 
 wrote to Captain Jocelyn in command at Fort Wran- 
 gel, saying : " The absence of any jail here (Glen- 
 ora, Cassiar) , or secure place of imprisonment neces- 
 sitates sending him through as soon as possible, and 
 I hope you will excuse the liberty we take in forward- 
 ing him through United States territory without spe- 
 cial permission." After an investigation into the 
 facts of the case, the Dominion Government acknowl- 
 edged the justness of Secretary Fish's protest by 
 " setting Peter Martin at liberty without further 
 delay ; " and thus recognized that the Canadian con- 
 stables who had Martin in their charge when they 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 39 
 
 encamped on the Stickine thirteen miles up from the 
 mouth of the river, were on United States soil, and 
 so that Canada's jurisdiction in that region did not 
 extend to tide water. •^" 
 
 Another recognition by the British Empire that 
 the lisiere restricted Canadian sovereignty from con- 
 tact with the sea, occurred shortly after the case 
 of Peter Martin. 
 
 Owing to a clash between the United States and 
 the Canadian customs officials as to the extent of 
 their respective jurisdiction on the Stickine River, 
 their two Governments agreed in 1878 upon a pro- 
 visional boundary line across that river. The Ca- 
 nadian Government had sent in March 1877 one 
 of its engineer officers, Joseph Hunter, " to exe- 
 cute " in the language of Sir Edward Thornton to 
 Secretary Evarts "a survey of a portion of the 
 Stickine River, for the purpose of defining the 
 boundary line where it crosses that river between the 
 Dominion of Canada and the Territory of Alaska." 
 This Canadian engineer, Hunter, after measuring 
 from Rothsay Point at the mouth of the Stick- 
 ine River, a distance ten marine leagues inland, 
 determined — in the light of Articles HI. and IV. 
 of the Anglo-Russian Treaty of February 16/28, 
 1825, which two Articles he was instructed ex- 
 pressly " by direction of the minister of the inte- 
 
 ' 2 Papers relating to tlt£ Foreign Relations of the United States : Washing- 
 ton ; Government Printing Office, 1877, pages 266, 267, 271. 
 
40 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 rior" to consider in locating the boundary — that the 
 frontier crossed the Stickine at a point about twent}'- 
 five miles up the river and almost twenty miles in 
 a straight line from the coast. "Without consider- 
 ing whether, owing to the break in the water shed 
 caused by the passage of the Stickine through the 
 mountains, the United States territory extends in- 
 land to the full extent of thirty miles, Hunter 
 decided that the line should cross the river at a 
 point twenty miles back from the coast, but still 
 far enough back from the mouth of the river to 
 shut off Canadian territory from contact in that 
 district with the sea. He came to this decision, 
 because he found that at that point a range of 
 mountains, parallel to the coast, crossed the Stickine 
 River, and, as he stated expressly in his report to 
 his chief, he acted upon the theory that this moun- 
 tain range followed the shore line within the mean- 
 ing of the treaty of 1825 as he understood it. In his 
 report to his Government he said : "Having identi- 
 fied Rothsay Point on the coast at the delta of the 
 Stickine River, a monument was erected thereon, 
 from which the survey of the river was commenced, 
 and from which ^vas estimated the ten marine 
 leagues referred to in the convention." The Ca- 
 nadian Government sent a copy of this report to- 
 gether with a map explaining it through the Brit- 
 ish Foreign Office to Sir Edward Thornton at 
 Washington, who communicated it to Secretary 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 41 
 
 William M. Evarts, with the purpose of obtaining 
 his acceptance of this boundary. Mr. Evarts agreed 
 to accept it as a provisional line, but with the reser- 
 vation that it should not in any way prejudice 
 the rights of the two Governments, whenever a joint 
 survey was made to determine the frontier. By this 
 voluntary proposal of a provisional boundary across 
 the Stickine River, the British and the Canadian 
 Governments showed that in 1877 and 1878 they 
 considered that Canadian territory above the point 
 of fifty-four degrees forty minutes was restricted 
 by the meaning of Articles III. and IV. of the Anglo- 
 Muscovite Treaty of 1825 from access to the sea.'^ 
 
 The foregoing review of the negotiations that 
 resulted in the treaty of 1825, and the subsequent 
 acts of the nations concerned in the Alasko-Cana- 
 dian frontier, shows clearly that, from the very 
 inception of the negotiations, Russia insisted upon 
 the absolute possession of a continuous, unbroken 
 lisiere on the continent down to the Portland Canal 
 for the openly expressed purpose of shutting out 
 England from access to the sea above fifty-four 
 degrees forty minutes ; and that England finally 
 yielded the point. 
 
 During Polk's Administration (1845-49), when the 
 United States and Great Britain advanced conflicting 
 claims to the territory lying between the Rocky 
 
 '■■' Papers rekiting to the Foreign Relations of the United States: Washing- 
 ton; Government Printing Office, 1878, page 339. 
 
42 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, now known as 
 British Columbia, and the supporters of Polk took 
 up the cry of " Fifty-four forty or fight," Russia 
 ofiered her American possessions to the United States 
 if they would maintain their claim to the territory 
 west of the Rockies up to fifty-four degrees forty 
 minutes, the most southern point of Russian America, 
 thereby shutting out Britain entirely from access to 
 the Pacific Ocean.** But owing to the jealousy of the 
 Slave Power, our Government yielded all the country 
 west of the Rockies and above the forty-ninth degree 
 of north latitude, and thus permitted the British 
 Empire to obtain an outlet on the Pacific. Not con- 
 tent with this successful territorial extension, the 
 English Empire, after having allowed without a 
 protest for almost three quarters of a century the 
 inclusion by the Muscovite and the United States 
 Governments within their sovereignty — as is shown 
 both by the maps and other official acts of these 
 two nations — of all the sinuosities or fiords along 
 the coast of the mainland above fifty-four degrees 
 forty minutes, the English Empire now lays claim, 
 since the discovery of gold in the Klondike, to a 
 large and to us most important part of our 
 Alaskan domain. The American and the British 
 contentions to-day are well expressed by the pithy 
 
 '* Papers relating to Foreign Affairs, accompanifing the annual message of tlie 
 President to the second session of the Fortieth Congress : 1867 : Part I., Wash- 
 ington : Government Printing GflTicc, 1SG8, page 390. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 43 
 
 sentence in which Count Nesseh'ode over seventy- 
 five years ago contrasted the efforts of Russia and 
 Britain when they were seeking to agree upon a 
 frontier between their American possessions: "Ainsi 
 nous voulons conserver, et les Compagnies Angloises 
 veulent acquerir." (Thus we wish to retain, and 
 the English Companies wish to acquire.) 
 
 Canada wishes, and she has the support of Eng- 
 land, to have her claim — that she is entitled to many 
 outlets upon tide water above fifty-four degrees forty 
 minutes — submitted to the arbitration of third par- 
 ties.'^ The United States should never consent to any 
 such arrangement. If such a plan were adopted and 
 a decision were given altogether against Canada, she 
 would be no worse off than she has been from 1825 
 to the present day, while anything decided in her 
 favor would be a clear gain to her. This countr^^ 
 on the contrary, cannot by any possibility obtain 
 more than she now has, viz., that which she pur- 
 
 '^ A letter by the writer, entitled, "Canada and Alaska" briefly touch- 
 ing on the boundary question, was printed in the New York Nation, Jan- 
 uary 2nd, 1902, and the New York Evening Post January 4th. Another 
 letter, also under the same title, written by a gentleman at Ottawa, ap- 
 peared in the same papers, January 16th and 18th respectively. Still 
 another letter, under the title of "Facts about the Alaskan Boundary" 
 was published in the Nation of January 23rd, and the Evening Post, Janu- 
 ary 27th : this communication was written by a gentleman in California, 
 evidently either an Englishman or a Canadian. The Hon. William H. 
 Dall, of Washington, D. C, followed with a strong letter " The Alaskan 
 Boundary," in the Nilion, January 30lh, and the Evening Post, February 
 1st. Then another communication by the writer "Canada and Alaska" 
 was given a place in the Notion, February 6th, and the Evening Post, 
 February 7th. 
 
44 THE ALASKO-CANADIAN' KKONTIER. 
 
 chased from Russia in 1867 and to all of whose rights 
 she succeeded ; at the same time the United States 
 can lose heavily. For the inclusion in Canadian 
 territory of only one port, like Pyramid Harbor or 
 Dyea on the Lynn Canal, would greatly lessen for 
 the United States the present and future value of the 
 Alaskan lisicre. The evidence in the case is over- 
 Avhelmingly on the side of the United States and 
 shows that they are entitled, Ijy long, uninterrupted 
 occupancy and other rights, to an unbroken strip 
 of land on the continent from Mount Saint Elias 
 down to the Portland Channel. There is no more 
 reason for the United States to allow their right 
 to the possession of this unbroken Alaskan lisicre 
 to be referred to the decision of foreign judges, 
 than would be the case if the British Empire ad- 
 vanced a claim to sovereignty over the coast of 
 Georgia or the port of Baltimore and proposed that 
 this demand should be referred to the judgment 
 of subjects of third Powers. For if the claim of 
 Canada to Alaskan territory is referred to foreigners 
 for settlement, the United States can gain nothing, 
 while they will incur the risk of losing territory 
 over which the right of sovereignty of Russia and 
 then of the United States runs back unchallenged 
 for more than half of a century. If France ad- 
 vanced a claim to the Isle of Wight and then 
 asked England to refer her title to the island to 
 the arbitration of foreigners, would Great Britain 
 LofC. 
 
THE ALASKO-CANADIAN FRONTIER. 45 
 
 consent? And for the English Empire to advance 
 a demand to many outlets upon tide water on the 
 northwest coast of America above fifty-four degrees 
 forty minutes and then ask the United States to sub- 
 mit this claim to the arbitration of the citizens 
 of third Powers, is a similar case. Whether the 
 frontier should pass over a certain mountain top 
 or through a given gorge is a proper subject for 
 settlement by a mutual survey. But by no possi- 
 bility has Canada any right to territory touching 
 tide water above fifty-four degrees forty minutes. 
 The United States should never consent to refer 
 such a proposition to arbitration. 
 
1 1902 
 
r 
 
 3 . 71) A A'a^iA' 
 
 3 Jl>-n ■ 
 
 /< .y{ III nj. 
 
 3 .Set