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CORRESPONDENCE SB8PB0TIKO THS BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN NORTH AMERICA AMD THE TERRITORY OF ALASKA. 1886.; TABLE OP CONTENTS. No. I 9 S 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 31 32 33 24 3S 26 27 28 32 33 Num. To ar L. WMt To CoIodUI OiBM . . Mr. Pbalpi To Sir L. West Hudton't Bay Com- pmy To Sir L. West To Colonial Offi«e ., To Mr. Plitlpi To Hndton'a Bay Com- puiy To Colonial Office ., To Sir L. Wait Colonial Office Sir C. Tupper To Sir L. Weat To Colonial Office To Mr. Pbelpa Colonial Office To Sir L. Watt To Colonial Office CoDfldential Telegraphie 91 Confidential No. DM*. 8 a Jao. 13, 1886 20 To Sir L. West 31 Confidential 35 Confidential Confidential 38 49 To Colonial Office Colonial Office Major-General Laurie Colonial Office Mr. Kniglit-Bruce To Uecord Office To Colonial Office Colonial Office 16, 19, SO. 20, ts. as, 36. a«. 30, 30, Feb. 1, 3. 5. «. 6, 6. 11. IS. 28, 2«. Confidential Mar. 11, 16. 18, 29 To Colonial Office SO 31 Confidential To Major.Qeneral Laurie and Mr. Knight-Bi'uce Mr. Phelpg 18. 20, [123J • • « • ' 26. 26. 99. Sdbjiot. Page United Statea' Mi iiter propoaea Conmiaainii to tegulate boundary • . Copy of No. 1. What reply ahoald be made to Mr. Phelpa ? Exiatiog Treatiea do not properly define boun- dary. Preaiea for early anawer of Her Majeaty'a GoTernment aa to appointment of a Oammiuion . . . . . . To aend copiea of " United Statea' Coaat and Geodetic Survey " .. .. ..19 Send Memorandum on propoaed change of eaitem boundary of Alaaka .. 13 Refera to No. 1. Copiei of No*. 3, 3, and 6 . 14 Copiea of No*. 3 and 5 .. .. 15 Refers to No. 3. Proposal will roceiTe immediate attention .. .. .15 Refers to No. 5. Her Majesty's Government are now conaidering a proposal made by the United Stales* Government .. 15 Copies of Mapa inclosed in Noa. 3 and 5 . . 16 Ditto .. .. .. .. .. 16 Refers to Nos. 2 and 7. Propoaed despatch to Governor-General of Canada. If Oommia- sion is agreed on, should costs he shared by Her Majesty's Government and Canada! . . 16 Asks for loan of Map in No. 5 .. .. 17 Copies of Noi. 12 and 15. He should com- municate directly with Governor-General of Canada .. .. .. .17 Refers to No. 1?. Concurs in despatch to Governor-Oeneral of Canada. Will commu- nicate with Treasury.aa tu "xpenaea of Joint Commission .. .• ..17 Returns volume inclosed in No. 3 . . . , 18 Copies of confidential papers from High Com- missioner for Canada . , . , IS Interview with United States' Minister . . 20 Interview of United States' Minister with Lord Rosebery. Asks for British and Canadian Maps ' .. ..20 United Slates' Minister renews .equest for appointment of a Commission .. .. 21 Copy nf No. 20 . .. .. .. 21 Canadian Oovernment agree to prelimiuary survey. Colonel Cameron selected for the work .. .. ..21 Applies for appointment of Briiiat Commia sloner . . . . . • . . 32 Colonel Cameron's appointment approved. Pro- poses to telegraph to Canada that he has been appointed . . . . . . . . Applies for appointment on Commission Asks leave lor Colonel Cameron to examine ^. '.carreapondcnce •iC«py.<>/J^o.,93; What reply? ,A|wictti4Q*lr^t> Colonel Cameron to inspect : febuments ■ !. .' .. .. ' 'CoW of Memorandum by Mr. Hertslet of July '; : i8»3\; :.••;.: :■• .. :iCwy PriMtdfor tht u$t of the Foreign Office. April T887. CONFIDENTIAL. Correspondence respecting the Boundary between the British Possessions in North America and the Territory of Alaska. No 1. The Marquis of StUitbury to Sir L. Wett. (No. 8 a.) Sir, Foragn Office, Jonttory 12, 185§»^ THE United States' Minister called on me to-day and stated that fie'wlslied to speak to me with respect to the boundary of the State of JUaska. He read to me the Treaty between the United States and Bussia of the 30th March, 1867, under which the bouudanr was established which was now the frontier-line between the possessions of Great Britain and of the United States. It started, he said, from the head of the Portland Channel, followed a certain range of mountains, which was indicated upon Vancouver's Map, up to a certain meridian of longitude, which it followed to the north to the Frozen Sea. But, unfortunately, Vancouver's Map was wrong, and the»- w a " BO such range of mountains. Another indication was given by the Treaty that the boundary was at all points to be 10 marine leagues from the coast, b^t the indentations of the coast were so numerous that such a boundary was impossible. '^--' 'Itt. Phelps proceeded to inform me that the Government of the United States weret anxious that now, while the Territory was still of little importance and the land of little ' value, the boundary should be more satisfactorily drawn, and they wished to know whether Her Majesty's Government would consent to the appointment of a Commission for that I purpose. 1 said it was a matter upon which the Government of Canada must obviously be consulted, but that the proposition seemed to me, at first sight, very reasonable. Mr. Phelps pressea for an early reply, because, he said, an Appropriation Bill must pass through Congress before if separated, and also that the labours of the Commission must be undertaken in the early summer. I assured him that Her Majesty's Government would use all the dispatch possible ; but I should be glad, I said, if he would inform me what the latest day was upon which their answer could be received. For convenience of reference, a copy of the Treaty above referred to is forwarded herewith, and in connection with this subject I have to call your attention to the corre- spondence which took place in 1878 betweeiT'Great Britain and the United States respecting the boundary between Canada and Alaska, and was published in the State Papers, vol. Ixiv, pp. 589-599, and also to the correspondence between 1872 and 1877, concluding with Sur E. Thornton's despatch No. 388 of the 17th December, 1877, whuih will be found in the archives of Her lOtgesty's Legation at Washington. I am, &c. (Signed) SALISBURY. S^ p. O^/iiejb Sir lU Herbert. (Confidential.) Sir, ; ;•;: \ \ ' ' \ \ i.'/ j;: .•'•, ".V^feign Office, January 16, 1886. I AM directed by the Marquis of Salisliiity to traibsmit to you a copy of a despatch whkh ha* been addressed to Her Migesty's Minister at Washii^ton,* recording the sub- • No. 1. [123] B . r stance of a converaation which his Lordibip had, on the 12th instant, with the United States' Minister at this Court, relating to the boundary of the State of Alaslcn. You will observe that the Government of the United States are sinxious that a more satisfactory delimitation should be made of the frontier between the iiossessions of Her Majesty's Government and of the Unitcil States, in that direction, than is provided for by the existing Treaties; and they propose that a Commission should be appointed for that purpose, which should commence the task assigned to it in the early summer. I am to request that, in laying this letter before Secretary Colonel Stanley, you will move him to inform Lord Salisbury, at his early convenience, what reply should, in his opinion, be made to the proposals of the Unite(i States' Government. If communication with Canada is judged necessary, as Lord Salisbury presumes will be the case, it is desirable, for the reasons stated by Mr. Pheips, that they should be made as soon as p(Msible. I am, &c. (Signed) P. CURRIE. pi in No. 3. Mr. Phelps to the Marquis of Salisbury.'— (,Reeeived January 20.) My Lord, Legation of the United States, London, -lanuqrji J_0, 1886. REFERRING to the conversation held with your Lordship on the 12tli instant, relative to the boundary between the British possessions in North America and the territory of Alaska, I have the honour to transmit herewith a copy tif the statement of the facts contained in the instructions sent me by my Govcrrmcnt, together with copies of the Maps therein referred to. I think your Lordship will find in these documents the confirmation of the statements I made in the conversation above mentioned. In the Treaty between the United States and the Emperor of Russia, of the 30th March, 1867, whereby the territory of Alaska was ceded to the United States, the eastern boundary of that territory, which divides it from the North American possessions of Her Majesty, is designated by embodying in the Treaty, in terms, the language of Articles III and lY of the Convention between Great Britain and Russia, of the 28th February, 1825, whereby that boundary is established. Those Articles are as follows : — "Commencing from the southernmost j)oint of the island called Prince of Wales' Island, which point lies in the parallel of 54° 40' north latitude, and between the 131st d^ree and the 133rd 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 56th degree of north latitude ; from this last>mentioned point, the line of demarcation shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast as far as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude (of the same meridian), and finally, from the said point of intersection, the said meridian line of the 141st degree, in its prolongation as far as the Frozen Ocean. " IV. With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the preceding Article, it is understood : — " 1. That the island called Prince of Wales' Island shall belong wholly to Russia" (now, by this cession, to the United States). " 2. That whenever the summit of the mountains which extend in a direction parallel to the coast from the 56th degree of noi-th latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude shall prove to be at the distance of more than 10 marine leagues from the Ocean, the limit between the British possessions and the line of coast which is to belong to Russia as above mentioned (that is to say, the limit to the possessions ceded by this Convention) shall be formed by a line parallel to the winding of the coast, and which shall never exceed tiie distance of 10 marine leagues, therjefroni." The boundary thus indicated hasotsi ijSpantjntaialfiguity. But it was established and described when the region through wiiic)^' it runs ^v^9 entirely .unexplored. It was doubtless agreed upon in view of the Map known as .Yaiicoiiver's Map, then almost the oiily one available, which simvvs a range of. .mo]iMitab\s:ap{lai^tt3f|C(S]|]^GtU^s and sharply defined, J running parallel with the coast eApuf ^p-ioanneillaguesiiilati'd^: from 'the 56th degree of north ; latitude to their intersection with the 14l8t degree of west longitude, and forming a natural I and plainly obvioas permanent boundary. And probably the mountains, as seen from the r sea, present that appearance to the eye. Rut recent explorationi since the country has begun to be occupied, Hbow that na4 such boundary ai that described in these Treaties exists within the liu)itK above mentioned,^ or is capable of being determined. Afid that the monuments by whiclt it it< indicated int t)ie Treaties tend only to confusion and uncertainty. Instead of a continuous range of mountains along the summit of whicli a tangible and reasonably direct line can be run, the whole region proves to be broken into a sea of mountains, with spurs running in various directions, covering lutcraHy a very wide surface. By no criterioD, either of height, directiim, or continuity, can a line be laid down that could be regarded as "following the summit of the mountainK," and any approximation that should be attempted, to the line prescribed in the Treaties, would be no nearer than various other approximations that might be made, and which would be widely different from each other. The only other indication of this part of the boundary contained in the Treaties, the limit of 10 marine leagues from the Ocean, equally f^Is of practicable location. The coast proves upon survey to be so extremely irregular ond indented, witli such and so many projections and inlets, that it is not possible, except at immense cx|)ensc of time and money, to run a line that shall be parallel witli it, and if such a line should be surveyed it would be so confused, irregular, and inconsistent that it would be impossible of practical | recognition, and would differ most materially from the clear and substantially straight line \ oontcmplated in the Treaties. ' The result of the whole matter is, that these Treaties, which were intended and understood to establish a proper boundary, easy to observe and maintained, really give no bgupdary at all «Q fitc jis tbiii portion of tiia tsrjritory. is concerned. "^ A furtTier difficulty is discloscfi by the recent surveys in respect to this line. It is found that Portlnnd f fhm)''! does not extend so fur north as the 56th degree of north latitude. This, however, can probably be easily rectified upon proper survey by extending! the general line of Portland Channel some 4 or 5 miles further to the north. Under these circumstances I am instructed by my Government to propose, throuzh your Lordship, to Her Majesty's Government, that a Commission be. agre<;d uu by the Goyerjajjients of th'^ United States and of Her Majesty, to be composed of Commisslonera tb be appointed b] each, who shall, under such instructions and conditions as may be mutually concurred in and upon such surveys and examinations as may be found necessary and practicable, either designate and establish the boundary-line in question or report to the respective Governments such facts, data, and recommendations as may afiford a basis for its establishment by Convention between them. In addition to the statement of facts above mentioned, I have the honour to send herewith copies of the Maps therein referred to. The book called " United States' Pacific Coast Pilot " I must ask your Lordship to have the kindness to return at your convenience, us I have no other copy. But should you desire it, I shall be happy to send to the United States for a copy for the use of Her Majesty's Government. And I shall be much obliged if your Lordship will cause copies to be sent me of the British and Canadian official Maps mentioned in the statement. In the conversation with your Lordship before alluded to, reference was made to the time within which my Government must apply to Congress for the appropriation necessary for the expenses of the Commission on its part if sent out this year. I have since informed myself on that point, by telegraphic communication with the Department of State, and learn that if an agreement should he reached between the Governments by the '^■Ap"'i the appropriation can probably be obtained. I venture to suggest, however, in view of the reasons which will readily occur to your Lordship, for as early nn adjustment of this boundary as may be found practicable ; that as such an expedition can only make progress in the summer, and as some time must necessarily be occu])ied in its appointment, outfit, and arrangements, it will doubtless be for the mutual interests of the Governments that a decision in regard to it should be made as soon as may be coosistent. I have, &e. (Signed) E. J. PHELPS. Inclosures. 1. Statement from Instruction No. 144 of the 20th November, 1885, from Mr. Bayard to Mr. Phelps. 2 . Va ncouver's Chart No. 7 (Photographed). vf^ 3. United States' Coast Survey Chart of Alatika No. 960, 1884. 4. United States' Coast Survey Chart No. 710, Revilla Gigedo Channel, 1885. 6. •' United States' Pacific Coast Pilot,'' Alaska, Part I, 1889. G. Treaty between the United States and Russia fur the cession of Alaska, 30th March. 1867. > i Inclosure 1 in No. 3. Mr. Bayard to Mr. PkelpM. Sir, Departwifit of State, Waihington, November 20, 1885. SHORTLY after assuming the d jties of this Office, my attention was drawn to the circumstance that the existing boundary-line between the territorr of Alaska and Her Majesty's possession of British Columbia, is not only open to doubt in certain quarters, although not in doubt so far as this Government is concerned, in respect of the water* boundary from Prince of Wales' Islaod and through the Portland ChaUhet, but that if tfi; also, with rcgpard to the inland frontier, which is supposed to follow a mountain range, an impracticable one to survey, if not. a geographical impossibility. TfieTOTrttflty of Alaska was acquired hy the Unitnd States from Russia, subject to the existing deirarcatiou of the eastern frontier-line between Russian America and British America, under the Convention between Oreat Britain and Russia of the 16th (28th) February, 1825, and the description of the line contained in Articles HI and IV of that Convention was incorporated literally — as to the English text tliereof — in the 1st Article of the Treaty between the united States and Russia concluded on the 30th March, 1867. Copies of the latter Treaty arc hereto annexed for your infor- mation. I am not aware that any question concerning the true location of the line so stipulated ever rose at any time between Great Briuiiii and Russia prior to the (Kssion of Alaska to the United Sti^tes. If any such question had arisen, and was pending ut the time of the cession, the United States would naturally have succeeded to the Russian interest tlierein just as to any other right of Russia affecting the ceded territory. This Government, however, had no intimation then, and has had none since, from Her .Majesty's Government, that any such question existed. It is not thought likely, however, llthat question in this regard j;ould have existed, as the inlet, and the country through " . llwhich the boundary-line of 1825 ran, were in 1867 still practically unexplored. 1%e \^, \ \|boundary was then, ks it is still, a. theo retical one, based, as it is fair to be presumed, on jlthe charts which the negotiators ha3" before them in 18r ">, and which they doubtless llassumcd to be a substantialh correct expression of geographic il facts. >. It is certain that no question has arisen since 1867 between the Governments of the '(United States and Great Britain in regard to this boundary. The ascertainment of the true line of demarcation under the Anglo-Russian Treaty I would, however, appear to have been the subject of igfprmai . C(|awJtation soou after Russian Alaska passed tx> the United States, but no record of any official correspondence , between the two Goveraments is found. I In his annual Message to Congress, December 2, 1872, President Grant, after referring to the then vecent settlement of the San Juan Island dispute, said : — " Experience cf the difficulties attending the determination of our admitted line of boundary, aftet' the occupation of the territory and its settlement by those owing allegiance to the respective Governments, points to the importance of establishing, by natural objects or other monuments, the actual line between the territory acquired by purchase from Russia, and the adjoining possessions of Her Britannic Majesty. The region is now so sparsely occupied that no conflicting interests of individuals or of ' jurisdiction are likely to interfere to the delay or embarrassment of the actual location of the line. If deferred until population shall enter and occupy the territo^' some trivial contest of neighbours may again array the two Governments in antagon I recommend the appointment of a Comraif>sion, to act jointly witii . c ' appointed on the part of Great Britain lO determine the line b < rerr of Alaska and the coterminous possessions of Great Britain." An estimate of the probable cost and time of a survey o' the A'yVf'cr"! on the part of this Goven.ment, then made, fixed the cost at about 'i,5Cv /YV dollars, and the time required as nine years in the field, and at least one year u.-n, lor mapping tlie results ; which illustrates the magnitude of the labour. I therefore t*>at ma^ be s .■ temtory uudary-line ■"'W ' "^mtf^^t^ iipi.iHuw yl C 11 A R T ahewing'part of the ^»T or N.w America the tracks of His Majelly's Sloop ICC liranch. War OITkm ^fm ,.f. "HPT (:, ^„ Wrtl l.oiitfiltiiir ItTiin CliT«uwtch , .. ^ _ I , ^ 3B: irfi^caSJ=i-aS!i22E-feEE5SS6^£ ilfc3SEr£itrtEli!-^ .li,dLai.)! VTfcr i ' Ji-iLi l i UkUi ^ ■ImI'-iI-- UfcaltlUilj^ dull i r i i a . / Char t shewing* part oi" the Coast or n.w America with the tracks of His Majefty's Sloop '^D IS COVERyun^ Armed Tene/er CHA THAM Commanded Ij OROROK VANC OirVEH Efq.and prepared tuidar kij immedtatf mtprcHoH by Id eut Joseph Baker m whieA l/u f on/tflt'tl/a/t //lore Aoj vten correctfyhxtce^ nn// r/f/er>riimv//ft»n Lat. .ii. 4.i N.iuu'l Long-. %32:oSE. f4i Lat. Sj.3o N. um/ Long-. A 6' 44 E . (it (Ae pmVHls sfwtvti hv tfie 'Inuks The p4rts not slutdrd aiv taken irom S|>iini(h AutlionUrs . ^^ Jrnotcs the V»/srlf Inirk tfotlJnntrd '•'- (hrtr n^iiyt SoulJumnl . I I •■' ,/^A ^ -w*- 'v'/ .5'' ■ - • - • .yV ■' *:>■'/,, ■ir S^ ■F^ v^.";/ ^ -^^ ■ M • ^W' .Jlfi^ Pilot u/.im()j*i;iplird an'l pruit.Ml ;.i the OrtlMJMH'C SurVOV OnicO SoiUliaiM rtr"^ ^ ■).'■• ^>i-y^' m •^/« ^-i4^ I v«^-' -■ 'r',,:--'^A V T- ?"- ^- v''^'-\ iUJ 5>:^ *■•.'■-'_ '^-^ •<•,..., -^■^■:--"^-'- ■^- ' ' §fe.-' <« '-^ •^, r.-^. •■-•>■ V .>" • \-■.•-••>■ sr^V'i -"N^ .<*-•' A.^ ir^^-*' L! D ^ ?=:^ ter. «^- Ji- K-. ^.3 \Kjtn Lou^iUidr M ri\nn Orrrnwlfll ^y IS ■■f*y\ ;^:/vi:v > -fj* ■ . *■> -^-^>" 'V ■!«<: ■*"::^ '■**.'♦ fl.iprta T!r>- .^^^* '^: ^^^-J/V^^ k,^. .-f^^^'; > ;* ■* ♦^ i.- y p'l)^-.^ "^rr ^1^ ■Arf^ ^ :v .* •-i■• *f V ^ gTjJi r^i^jj r q mn; ^^ :'•.'■ =p ^m orn <•(' SouUiampton, ic.i tl.r bit cIlijijiMu c liranch. War onicc. ISH6 t^t^mf^i^mv ^^^ft^^mmm. 30t] I Sid circ ali it' exia Fel 1st 30t| mat] stipl intef Gov Mai thai \th hi| bou| the If Uni* |RubI ) refet off alleil^ 'by r I pur. tjuri: the coal recr appr of A i/A t the myw^^i^, „. " """»|| mm^mm ■'•'.' i'.',"'„ ■<-''- I : ^^Sri»l 'P #" O »• \* I ' ^&^: :*^^ ■y-w i^oetc .^'• IX-f *>'■ ^/ '*V^, .t^ s '5.Jfe m^ r .- < \\* ■y' J rf\ ^. \.J / ; T ■f / TTpr TV vr (J ^°t5*"*a,ar. »9s ■jjta'Uute^^ "ttk^j / JI3J ^' -Auxm "■-,-;;s.'.j.,„, ,(-Wu„„„, «-!v M-inu.. U. S. COi A VAND ADJ( Re-is COB CompiZ^cL froTTv cOL tncUutLng results of K. Berry, U.S.N. i Lieu the ofUcers of the. Va M ftO 70 &0 90 103 ai \ U. S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY J.E.HILGARD, SUPT. ALA S KA ^D ADJOINING TERRITORY 1884 Rn-isstLad with additions in- ApriL I88i C.O.SouteVLe-, Assistant irv dharffc of Office.. Compiled from. all. aaxsaibi*: data by W.H.DalL, Assist., U.S.C.S.aTid, tncUxd±ng results of recent, eocpLoratLoixs by Ca.pt>.L.A.Beardslee. and Liciit. B. Berry, U.S.N.-, Lleuts.Ray * ^cfuvathcv, U.S.A. j CapU C.L Hooper, U.S R.M ; tJui officers of the. Ve^a, ejcpeditiorv and- ofth^ Coast Survey , Drs. Arthur Sc A. JTrause; Messrs. Nelson, WooTfe, PetrofT, Turner, Sands,2£c. GLcrvehey, Rere.rulee.TV and. otfiers. Data, to October 2883. Dramm. by H.Linderi'ko'hl. 'lira '"'•■•ui'L, „ ? ■ "HL-?-.: ^ 23 5< ?? '^•■^. •'n^^ -^A ii /<' 2? 24 V .^l!f;;- ""tn^ '*^«».u ■J.S'il: J?*?''^ % ^a i^7 ^4 ^V «a 2D ^ « •■^''*;:?;' « ., p- .\V ,-0'~ .-,0^ , # #,.' ''^«^» Jo •■"S'.; "r» vd l^ m 'i^K't '■Kt't ..s'f y H '^.n "'"'li. \:.>^-^ ^ m; miS't U' uiik -■„ ■;■ ■•■•1 ^■■;. ^^j.... ;?-'-. '^^-.y, \ ^"•i/V ^>,:^^^^^ -m^ / ^^^hU. ,#^'' am- iloop" • p^?r j« \c~ '?«0'lf Ali, ^ • R i;W/,„..;;:r;;.X;,','' !/^/' ^«a*ti '^«'o*;''^'"ou^. tq J t\r^': :%j »■«*,, •T'v,„ Jin St^ti .^^ c. Avj-, Off t" :l. - ^■ *S^ > -14 &oO» ••Vc. ';°'.h«« u r 6\ f^-^ o^M i'li -VN'''ill .1^ l^ ^ ,':,i\ii;!i;iiii|" ■ ' 111 1 I ' ' ' ' ' 1 il II ' " ' I I I i I I ■ ' ■ , . . .■■■...■ .■:',,,,';,iu,T,,tiH,,,,.i\i ,;,,,ii JrVhi-.. y ,...;.-,;■. '..■-;^:'„:",,.^ :-;■;/;..•„,;■;. .■;--:;;;;;,.v<;^^ •■*^-.,„.;;.>''''"r-'''"""'^i '* ,,.',, lUri ' . .illlit'li/iJiUrf ","' ' u' .l>"'Tll<""lir' i' 'i.'iiirj '■o'\..i V.xot;;M.<.'.'/yii('.'.i.',,>;;w,'i!i' ;; xiTlwu-e 9&» nnv\'; %>'.'.''>'. ^%^|g» ■"/. iS >;>\Vrti,V" >'J .^nig ^ .# .^v^^' i«>« jiii.iiu i#' ^#' \..>.'|"" lMI|%//,. ;:w?^ ^Mll! '>%. ..||i''/3'.'.'l' ^M, ■■"'■■.iwA- ^J «!\vi»'/„\v.=l ■y/y -.•""XV'-.. ■-.'•>>, '%v^ -^//ir^-rT " *i^:i;^r ■§•■' Mt <%;^-, \ ,H«»* 4'. ■,v(«(",'" ,.^^^^ \ ^M««-* l*"* \ ».««J'- \ ^rrrwfiTmpmrr ■^•'^ J^^ 1" K-d, i- L •Tl«rrcnJ« Kliiiyxk I. j ».-^ ^5. U«nuogfA0|(' no * ^ ■•' " 70«***-V/. ^ i r H /' .1 •^ >o » ie 5o 6ci 70 A» 9o o/.incogtaphecl and pnuted at tlie OrdMilMCe SllfVOV Off lid' ttjA ■^^ m^mm i »..^ /' .1 lO 'io 5o fill 70 A' 9o p .1 c '0 V) "40 So Oi) ",., tv^ «» no 120 KaiiUcMl MiUvs Mllllll - ' y- . Ao r^ r '" lo '» So 6o T<) J,. 9o ino uo ISO ISo Ho UiO Ifio nb iftt, ao IBO •e Siirvev OCllB'"'^"*' S^»''vey Onico Soutliamptoii, foi tKu Intelligc 145' /• mm // Wv O ^^^^' ^S^^....'. ^' ligcncc Branch, \V;ii- Odicc. ISW;. ^ .:,v^t^,...a&«4;.L;j;i£i;>a No 710 PRICE 7h CENTS 131' 30' 131' 00' u> iw'ao' REVILLA GIGKDO CHANNEL S.E. ALASKA f="F^ Sl'lllc 2(1(1 11(10 iHRr, Sl:ilul<' MllPS NiiiiLiiul Miles rjinnriTPM^ l\ilunif Uuiuli-a Mt m^' 7s,viii.( ^'uvvev»■rf. iy iuw. C'o^'iJr // KNichoU. U SN. Assist, in 1803. H\ hdroyraphy v«i/. It Perry '/ <^>' n U K F i?' "JhVi Wllilr \ ^ Bee R. ^■•ll,iK3UrHar wo , V enl llucks ahrlfUk- ■ti At S hrkSh HEIGHTS IN FEET SOUNDINGS IN FATHOMS REDUCED TO MEAN LOW WATER TjdcH ^\ Cape Noi "'"^,. -ifiv » '^^iKiC Mnr\- IhIhiuI Alichoriij^v HnsHlvi- lltirliiii Wui'il ('ovc riirliigf Buy l^irt ToTig^sH I'ml rhesirr Tniu>5is Hiirbor Alibrrvialions 6 tor Cravrl .V f.-: Mud .S r«r i,„.;,i, Sh /hr.ShrJU on , .I'l-rn hit . hiokrr h,i . hh,c rh\ . rncM fnf- , Ctne- 1: '•'.!• 1 1- 37 t- 1)9 Vl 26 \'l /I'l 1 '' 3G 1 'L 27 Mcaa Ilitc It Mn 1.1 22 ft. 13 37 . 15 IH , U 08. 12 •n . \Z 36. 13 13. ,w. n.vii R 50' ',0 13130 Plioto/.incogT'aphcd ami nniitrd at rf. > 'A" ■ ' ^'1 ?«>■ n U K F, IS C-l Wvi Willi.. •^ \ . — ^•ltlM.UIl."k/i ^^ ^«» \ H V enl Rocks .91. it % hf*ak '* I ;•' 4i ' '-<^z 'Jt \ Cupfi Noi't humbe^ilii rid ^^7^ rv^ * ^ / ■■ ^-"^ ■ '7,. """t„ -^^^ •l^^'^^CUibKB. '^^jise '».lM?iA'' •V. ^♦•Y.Uow R. IM -WJi.. V Kin(^(y I'l V KXly'4 « ~~TC if ~-1 »^/0' Barren 1 J Mc. Ciilloiidi H. (Vrrakrrtl ek,-.*' A^ E. Devil Rock » / / D KifSO 20' 13l'00 and piintrd at tlio Ordnance Survey Office Soutluiiripton, io iIk; m L^. ^«- •aSBii mmmpim mmmmm^i^ mmmmmmmmro^nm The sug.^estion of Prescient Grant was not then acted upon by th6 Congress, and does not appea? to have been since revived before that body. Since that time the condition of increasing settlement apprehended by President Grant has assumed marliud proportions. A territorial Government has been organized for Alaska, aud enterprise and capital are slowly, but steadily, making their way toward those distant shores. In the jiidgment of the President, the time has now come for an understanding between the Government of the United States and th/ of Her Britannic Majesty, looking to the speedy and certain establishment of the bounu.;; y-Hne between Alaska and British Columbia. And this necessity is believed to be the more urgent, inasmuch as the Treaty-line is found to be of uncertain, if not impo :sible, location for a great part of its length. In the first place, the water boundary-line, from the southernmost point of Prince of Wales' Island to the 50th degree of north latitude, is not found uniformly located on the charts of different modern geographers. On a majority of sucii charts, as, for example, those of Staff-Commander D. ^nder's Survey for the Admiralty in 1868 u.id t'aose of the Geological Survey of Canada, recently published, the l)onndary follo' the central; line of the main channel, known as Portland Inlet, while in other charvs prepared by! British geographers, the line deflects to the northward from the broad waters of Dixon' Entrance, and passes through a narrow and intricate channel lying north-westward from Portland Inlet, known cm the United States' Coast Survey Chart of 1885 as Pearse Channel, until it suddenly deflects southward again at right angles, to re-enter Portland Inlet, thereby oppearing to make British territory of Pearse and Wales Islands, and throwing doubt on the nationality of several small islands at the snuth-western extremity of Wales Isluid. This latter construction is at the outset in manifest contradiction with the Treaties, which provided " that the island called Prince of Wales' Island shall belong wholly to Russia " (now, by cession, in 181)7, to the United States). There would seem to \h: ground, in the text of Vancouver, tho original explorer and f;((>graph£r of the region, for supposing that he at one time regarded Pearse Canal of ater g jgraphers as the lower \ art of Portland Canal. 3ut there are very evident reivsons for believing that this was not the construction intended by the authors of the Anglo- Russian Treaty of 1825, and that their purpose was the location of the natural boundary- line in the broader ciiannel called Portland Inlet on the Admiralty and the United States'; Coast Survey Chart impossible, except by Conventional compromise, to local e feuch a line as the Treaties prescribe. To illustrate this, a case nearer home may be supposed. Examine, for instance, an Ordnance! Survey Map of 8cotl;\ud, and attenijit to mark out upon it a line which, starting from the "intersection" of the mid-channel line of the Firth of 8t)lway and the 55tli parallel, shall thence follow the " summit ol the moun^ tains" northward, as far as the 68th parallel, ant! which, where such " suiinuit " shall be more than "10 marine leagues" from the Atlantic coast, shall follow the "■winding" thereof, if the tracing of such a line on paper, when every material fact of contour and altitude is precisely known, were found to offer difficulty, the obst^icles to the delimitation of an actual frontier, with landmarks and monuments, through a wholly unexplored country, much more broken than Scotland is, and with a sea-coast scarcely less intricate, could not fail to be many fold greater. As a rule, a theoretical frontier, based on the assumed contour of mountain-chains, is more difficult to determine with accuracy than one following known watercourses or bounded by right Hues having geodetic termini. Rude and inaccessible as is the " sea of mountains " of South-eastern Alaska, and forbiddir.g as it may appear for ordinary purposes of inland settlement, it should be remembered that it is a mineral-bearing region, the geological continuation of the gold and silver belt of California and Nevada, and may at any time spring into an importance not now calculable. It is of evident advantage to both countries to agree upon some boundary- line capable of survey at a reasonable cost, or so precisely and practically described that in case of need aliy given point thereon may be readily determined in advance of a general survey, and to do this while the whole question of local values is in abeyance. I am, &c. (Signed) T. F. BAYARD. Accompaniments. ' . '*, 1. Vancouver's Chart, No. 7. (Photographed.) 2. United States' Coast Survey Chart of Alaska No. 960, 1884. 3. United States' Coast Survey Chart No. 710, Revilla Gigedo Channel, 1885. 4. " United States' Pacific Coast Pilot," Alaska, Part I, 1883. 5. Treaty between the United States and Russia for the cession of Alaska, March 30, 1867. Inclosure 2 in No. 3. Treaty concerning the Cession of the Russian Possessions in North America by His Majesty th': Emperor of All the Russias to the United States of America. Concluded March 30, 1867. Ratified by the United States May 28, 1867. Exchanged .June 20, 1867. Proclaimed by the United States June 20, 1867. . -; By the President of the United States of America : A Proclamation. WHP^REAS a Treaty between the United States ot America and His Majesty the Emperor of All tlie Russias was concluded and signed by their respective Pleni potentiaries at the eitv of Washington, oa the 30th day of March last, which Treaty, being in tlie English and French languages, is, word for word, as follows:— ^ The United States of America and His Majesty the Enijjcror of All the Russias, being desirous of strcnijtheiiing, if possible, the good understanding which exists between them, have, (or that purpose, appointed as their Plenipotentiaries: the President of the United States, VVillmni II. Seward, Secretary of Stato ; and His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, the Privy Counsellor Edouard de Stoeckl, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States. Sa Majesty I'Empereur de Toutes les Russies et les Gtats-Unis d'Amerique, d6- sirant raffermir, s'il est possible, la bonne intelligence qui existe entre eux, ont nommd. h cet efFet, pour leurs Pli^nipotentiaires, savoir : Sa Majestd I'Empereur dc Toutes les Russies, le Counseiller Priv^ Bdouard dc Stoeckl, son Envoye Extraordinaire et Ministre Pldnipotentiaire aux Etats-Unis ; et le President des Gtats-Unis, le Sieur William H. Seward, Secretaire d'Eut, les- And the said Plenipotentiaries, having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in due form, have agreed upon and signed the following Articles : — ARTICLE I. His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias agrees to cede to the United States, by this Convention, immediately upon the exchange of the ratifications thereof, all the territory and dominion now possessed by His said Majesty on the Continent of America and in the adjacent islands, the same being contained within the geographical limits herein set forth, to wit: The eastern limit is the line of demarcation between the Russian and the British possessions in North America, as established by the Convention between Russia and Great Britain of the 16th (28th) February, 1825, and described in Articles HI and IV of said Convention, in the following terms : — " Commencing from the southernmost point of the island called Prince of Wales' Island, which point lies in the parallel of 54" 40' north latitude, and between the 131st and the 133rd 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 fieth degree of north latitude ; from this last- mentioned point, the line of demarcation shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast as far as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude (of the same meridian); and, finally, from the said point of intersection, the said meridian line of the 141st degree, in its prolongation as far as the Frozen Ocean. " IV. Witli reference to the line of de- marcation laid down in the preceding Article, it is understood — "1st. That the island called Prince of Wales' Island shall belong wholly to Russia," (now, by this cession, to the United States). * 2nd. That v,h°never the summit of the mountains whuh extend in a direction piiraliel to the coast from the 56th degree of north latitude to the '")inl of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude shall prove to be attnc distance of more than 10 marine leagues from thi ocean, the limit hct'veer the Rritish possessions and the line of coast which is to belong to Russia as above mentioned (that is^ to say, the limit to the possessions ceded by this Conventionl shall be formed by a Iuk' parallel to the winding of the coast, ano which shall never exceed the distance of 10 marine leagueR there- from," [123] (|uels, apres avoir ^changd leur pleins pouvoirs, trouv^s en bonne et due forme, ont arrfite et signe les Articles suivants : — ARTICLE ?'. Sa Majesty I'Empereur de Toutes les Russies s'engage, par cette Convention, i ceder aux fitats-Unis, immediatement apr^ r^change des ratifications, tout le territoire avec droit de souverainet^ actuellement poss^de par Sa Majesty sur le Continent d'Amerique ainsi que les iles contigues, le dit territoire etant compris dans les limites geographiques ci-dessous indiquees, savoir: la limitc orientale est la ligne de demai cation entre les possessions Russes et Britanniques dans I'Amdrique du Nord, ainsi qu'elle est etablie par la Convention conclue entre la Russie et la Grande-Bretagne, le 16 (28) Fevrier, 1826, et definie dans les termes suivants des Articles III et IV de la dite Convention : — " A partir du point le plus meridional de I'lle dite Prince of Wales, lequel point se trouve sous la parall^le du 54° 40' d( latitude nord, et entre le 131' et le 133' degr^ de longitude ouest (meridien de Greenwich), la dite ligne remontcra, au nord le long de la passe dite Portland Channel, jusqu'au point de la terre fcrmc, ou elle atteint le 56' degr<5 de latitude nord ; de ce dernier point la ligne de demarcation suivia la cr^te des montagnes situdes parall^lement a la cftte jusqu'au point d'intersection du 141' degre de longitude ouest (mSme mdridien) ; et, finalment, du dit point d'intersection la meme ligne m6ridienne du 141' degr# formeru. dans son prolongement jusqu'ii la Mcr Glaciale, la limito etitre les possessions Russes et Britanniques sur le continent de I'Am^rique Nord-Ouest. " IV, II est entendu, par rapport k la ligne de demarcation ddterminde dans I'Article precedent — "1. Que rile dite Prince of Wales appartiendra toute entiSre h la Russie" (mais des ce jour en vertu de cctte cession, aux l<;tats-Unis). " 2. Que partout ou la crfte des mon- tagnes (jai s'dtendent dans unc direction paranoic h la c6te, depuis le 56* degre de latitude nord au point d'intersection do 141' degn- dc longitude ouest se trouverait ;\ la distance du plus de 10 lieues marines de roc^an, la liniite entre les possessions Britanniques et la lisi^re dee6te mention n6e ci-dessus eomme devant appartcnir a la Kussie (c'est-a-dire la liraite des possessions ctJddes par cctte Convention), sera form^ jar une ligne paralldle aux sinuosite's dc la c6ie et qui nc pourra jamais en fitre eloignde que de 10 lieues marines." D 10 The western limit within which tiie terri- tories and dominions conveyed, are con- tained, passes through a point in Beiiring's Straits on the parallel of G5° 30' north latitude, at it^ intersection by the meridian hicii passes midway between the Islands of Krusenstcrn, or Ignalook, and the Island of Ratmanoff, or Noonnrbook, and proceeds due north, without limitation, into the same Frozen Ocean. The same western limit, beginning at the same initial point, proceeds thence in a course nearly south-west, through Behring's Straits and Beln'ing's Sea, so as to pass midway between tlic nortii-west point of the Island of St. Lawrence and the south- east point of Cape Choukotski, to the meridian of 172" west longitude ; thence, from the intersection of that meridian, in a south-westerly direction, so as to pass midway between the Island of Attou and the Copper Island of the Konnandorski couplet or group in the North Pacific Ocean, to the meridian of 193° west longitude, so as to include in the territory conveyed the whole of the Aleutian Islands east of that meridian. ARTICLE II. In the cession of territory and dominion made by the preceding Article arc included the right of property in all public lots and squares, vacant lands, and all public build- ings, fortifications, barracks, and other edifices which are not private individual pro- perty. It is, however, understood and agreed that the churches which have been built in the ceded territory by the Russian Govcrnn-.ent shall remain the property of such members of the Greek Oriental Church resident in the territory as m;iy choose to worship therein. Any Government archives, papers, and documents, relative to the terr;- tory ;iih1 dominion aforcsaif'. which may > now (.'xi^ting theie, will be let'i in the pos- session of the Agent of the United States, bul ini anthenlirated copy of sue' if them us may he n (iiijn.d will he at all tiirics given liy the (Jiiilid HIaies to the Russian tJovern- nient, oi to such Russian olliccrs or subjects, as they may :ipply for. ARTICLE III. The inhabilnnts of tl;e cecded territory, according to their choice, reserving their natural allegiance, may return to Russia within three years; but if they should prefer to remain in the ceded territory, they, with the exception of uncivilized native trilies, shall he admitted to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and innnunities of citizens of the United States, and shall he maintained and protected in the free enjoy- ment of tlieir liberty, property, and re'l^jon. La limite oceidentule des territoires cc'd^s passe par un point au detroit de Behring sous la parallele du 65" 30' de latitude nord il son intersection par le mi^ridien qui separc h distance dgalc les lies Krusensteru ou Ignalook et I'lle Ratmanoff on Noonar- book et remonte en ligne directe, sans limitation, vers le nord, jusqu'il ce qu'elle se perdedans la MerGlaciale. Commen(,'ant an meme ])oint de depart, cette limite occidentale suit \e \h un cours presque sud-ouest, i\ travers le de'troit de Behiing et la Mer de Behring, de maniere a passer -k distance ^gale cntre le point nord-ouest de rile Saint Laurent et le point sud-est du Cap Choukotski jusqu'au meridien 172° de longitude ouest ; do ce point, h partir de I'intersection de ce m^idien, cctte limite suit une direction sud-ouest de maniere 4 pa .,er i\ distance egale cntre I'lle d'Attou et I'lle Copper du grou|)e d'llots Korman- dorski dans I'Occan Picifi()ue Septentrional jusqu'au mdridicn de 193° de longitude ouest, de maniere i\ enclavcr, dans le terri- toire cede, toutes les lies Aleoutes situees a Test de ce meridien. ARTICLE II. Dans le territoire cede' par I' Article pr^- cedent a la souvcrainet6 des I'Jtats-Unis sont compris Ic droit de proi)riete sur tous les terrains et places publics, tcrres inoccupees, loutes les constructions publiqucs, fortifica- tions, casernes, et autres edifices qui ne sont pas proprietc i)rivee individuelle. II est toulefois entendu et convenu que les eglises construitcs par le Gouvernement Russe sur le territoire ced6 resteront la proprietc des membrcs de I'figlise Greceiue Orientale r^- sidant dan< ;e territoire et appartenant k ce culte. Tous les arcliivrs, papiers, et docu- ments du Gouvernement ayant trait du sus- dk territoire, et qui y sont maintcnant d^- jH»»^'* seront places entre les mains de (' >' ,viit des Etats-Unis, mais les fitats-Unis fuu'niront toujours, quand ij y anra lieu, des copies Idgalis^es de ces documents au Gouvernement Russe, au officiers ou sujets Russes qui pourront en faire la demande. ARTICLE III. II est reserve aux habituiits du territoire cede le choix de garder Icur nationality et dc rentrer en Russie dans I'espace de trois ans ; mais s'ils prefferent rtster dans le terri- toire c4d6, iis seront adinis, h I'exeeption toutefois des tribus sauvages, a jouir de tous les droits, avantages, et immunites des citoyens des Ktats-Unis, et ils seront main- tenus et protdgeg duns le plein exercice de leur liberie, droit de propriety, et religion. Les tribus sauvages seront assujeties aux %l The uncivilized tribes will he subjec'. to such Laws and Regulations as the Uni'xd States may from time to time adopt in regard to aboriginal tribes of that country. Lois et R6glements que les T^tats-Unis pourront ado{)ter de temps en temps h I'dgard des tribus aborigines de ce pays. ARTICLE IV. His Majesty the Emperor of Ail the Russias shall appoint, with convenient dispatch, an Agent or Agents for the pur- pose of formally delivering to a similar Agent or Agents appointed on behalf of the United States, the territory, dominion, pro- perty, dependencies, and appurtenances which are ceded as above, and for doing any other act which may be necessary in regard thereto. But the cession, with the right of immediate possession, is nevertheless to be deemed complete and absolute on the ex- cliange of ratifications, without waiting for such formal delivery. ARTICLE IV. Sa Majesty I'Empereur de Toutes les Russies nommera, aussit^it que possible, un Agent ou des Agents chargc^is de remettre formellement i\ I'Agent ou aux Agents nommds par les I5tats-Unis, le territoire, la souveraincte, les p'-oprietes, dependances, et appartenances ainsi c^d^s, et de dresse.- tout autre acte qui sera necessaire i I'accom- plissement de cette transaction. Mais la cession, avec le droit de possession imme- diate, doit tcutefois Stre consid<5r<5 complete et absolue a I'eeliange des ratifications, sans attendre la remise formelle. ARTICLE V. Immediately after the exchange of the ratifications of this Convention, any fortifi- cations or military posts which may be in the ceded territory shall be delivered to the Agent of the United States, and any Russian troops which may be in the territory sliall be withdrawn as soon as may be reasonably and conveniently practicable. ARTICLE VI. In consideration of the cession aforesaid, the United States agree to pay at the Treasury in Washington, within ten montiis after the exciumge of the riitificatioiis of this Convention, to the Diplomatic Rejiresenta- tive or other Agent of His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias duly authorised to receive the same, 7,200,000 dollars in gold. The cession of territory and dominion herein made is hereby declared to be free and unencumbered by any reservations, privileges, franchises, grants, or possessions by any associated Companies, whether cor- porate or incorpjrate, Russian or any other, or by aiij parties, except merely private individual property holders; and the cession hereby made conveys all the rights, fran- chises, and privileges now belonging to Russia in the said territory or dominion and appurtenances thereto. ARTICLE VII. When this Convention shall luive been duly ratified by the President of tlit United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, on the one pari, and or the other by His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, the ratifications shall be ex- ARTICLE V. Immediatement a[)res I'echange des rati- fications de cette Convention, les fortifica- tions et L's postes militciires qui se trouveront sur le territoire cede seront remis k I'Agent des Fluts-Unis, et les troupes Russes qui sont s;attonn(5es dans le dit territoire seront retirees dans un terme praticabic et qui puisse convcnir aux deux parties. ARTICLE VL En consideration de la susdi'ce cession, les payer k la Tre- Etats-Unis s'enjiagent sorerie a Washington dans le terme de dix mois apr^s I'echange des ratifications de cette Convention, 7,200,000 dollars en or, au Representant Diplomatique ou tout autre Agent de Sa Majeste TEmpereur de Toutes les Russies dilment autorise a recevoir cette somme. La cession du territoire avec droit du souveraincte faite par cette Convention est declaree librc et degagee de toutes reservations, privileges, franchises, ou pos- sessions par des Compagnies Russes ou tout autre, legaleinent constituees ou autrement, ou par des Associations, sauf simplemeut les propri(5taires possddant des biens priv^s individuels ; et la cession ainsi faite transfi^re tons les droits, fra'.ichises, et privileges appartenant actuellement h la Russie dans le dit territoire et ses d6pendances. * ARTICLE VII. Lorsque cette Convention aura ete dd- ment ratifife par Sa Majeste I'Einpereur de Toutes les Russies d'une part, et par le Frfeident des liltats-Unis avec I'avis et (e coasentement du S^nat de I'autre, les ratifi- cations en seront ichaa^ees h Washington 13 JT changed at Washington within three months from the date hereof, or sooner if possible. In faith whereof, the respective Plenipo- tentiaries have signed this Convention, and thereto affixed the seals of their arms. Done at Washington, the 30th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1867. (L.S.) William H. Sewahd. (L.S.) Edotiard de Stoeokl. dans le terme dc trois mois, k compter dii jour dc la signature, ou plus tot si faire se peut. En foi de quoi les Plenipotentiaires respectifs ont signd cette Convention, et y ont apposd le sceau de leur armes. Fait i\ Washin!;ton, le 18 (30) jour de Mars, 1867. {L.S.) Edouard db Stoeckjl. (L.S.) William H. Sewaed. And whereas the said Treaty has been duly ratified on both parts, and *.he resi)ective ratifications of the sumo were exchanged at Washington on this 20th day of June by William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, and the Privy Councillor Edouard de Stocckl, the Envoy Extraordinary of His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, on the part of their respective Governments. Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States of America, have caused the said Treaty to be made public, to the end that the same and every clause and Article tliereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States aiid the citizens thereof. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 20th day of June, in the year of our Lord 1867, and of the independence of the United States the ninety-first. (L.S.) ANDREW JOHNSON. 3y the President : (Signed) William H. Sbwakd, Secretary of State. No. 4. 77ie Marquis of Salisbur./ to Sir L. West. (No. 4.) (Tclcgiaphic.) Foreign Ojjice, Janunry 20, 1886, 4-.'3 p.m. SEND home six copies of " United States' Coast and Geodetic Survey, Pacific Coast Pilot, Alaska," Part 1 ; published Washington Government Print Office, 1883. No. 5. ^ , Mr. Armit to Sir P. Currie. — {Received January 21.) ". - Sir, Hudson's Bay House, London, January 20, 1886. I AM directed by the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company to transmit the accompanying Memorandum on the proposed change of the eastern boundary of Alaska, which, with the inclosed Map, they have received from the Company's Commis- sioner at Winnipeg. Tlie Company being interested in the trade of the territory adjoining Aliiska, as shown in the Map, will be glad to be favoured with any jjpopositions wiiich may be laid before Her Majesty's Government in view of the settlement of the frontier-line between Alaska and British Columbia. • I have, &c. (Signed) W. ARMIT, Secretary. ..-J ^1 13 ' ' ^' ' Inclosure in No. 5. Memorandum on the proposed Change of the Eastern Boundary of Alaska. '"V, - THE following appeared in the late Message of the President of the United States to Congress ; — " The frontier-line between Alaska and British Columbia, as defined by the Treaty of Cession with Russia, follows the demarcation assigned in a {)rior Treaty between Great Britain and Russia. Modern exploration discloses that this ancient boundary is impracti- cable, as a geographical factor, in the unsettled condition of the region. The question has lacked importance ; but the discovery of mineral wealth in the territory the line is supposed to traverse admonishes that the time has come when an accurate knowledge of the boundary is needful to avert jurisdictional complications. I recommend, therefore, that provision be made for a preliminary reconnoissancc by officers of the United States to the end of acquiring more precise information upon the subject. I have invited Her Majesty's Government to consider with us the adoption of a more convenient line, to be established by modern observations, or by known geographic features, without the necessity of an expensive survey of the whole. "The present boundarv between Alaska and British territory is that fixed by the Convention between Russia and Great Britain of the Kith (28th) February, 1825, and described in Articles HI and IV of the said Convention in the following terms : — " ' HI. — Commencing from the southernmost point of the island called Prince of Wales' Island, which point lies in Ihe parallel of 54° 40' north latitude, and between the 131st and the 133rd 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 56th degree of the north latitude ; from this last-mentioned point the line of demarcation shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast as far as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude (of the same meridian), and, finally, from the said point of intersection the said meridian line of 141st degree in its prolongation as far as the Frozen Ocean. " ' IV. — With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the preceding Article, it is understood — " ' 1. That the island called Prince of Wales' Island shall belong wholly to Russia' (now, by this cession, to the United States). " ' 2. That whenever the summit of the mountains, which extend in a direction parallel to the coast from the 56th degree of north latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st degree of the west longitude, shall prove to be at the distance of more than 10 marine leagues from the ocean, the limit between the British possessions and the line of coast which is to belong to Russia as above mentioned (thai is to say, the limit to the possessions ceded by this Convention) shall be formed by a line parallel to the winding of the coast, and which shall never exceed tiie distance of 10 marine leagues therefrom.' " In the Treaty by which Russia cedes her possessions in North America to the United States, dated the 30th March, 1867, Article I, in defining the boundaries, declares : — " The eastern limit is the line of demarcation between the Russian and British possessions in North America, as established by the Convention between Russia and Great Britain of the 16th (28th) February, 1825,'and described in Articles HI and IV" (as quoted above). From this it is clear that the maximum extent of American territory on the main- land is 10 marine leagues from the sea-shore. There can be no doubt Her Majesty's Government will give due attention to any proposal made by the Government of the United States, and will endeavour, as far as possible, to meet their wishes. The President, in his Message, does not indicate the frontier-line which will bo suggested. Until, there- fore, the views of the Washington Government are made known it will be impossible to do more than obtain some hints as to what their proposal probably may be. In the Report of thi- population, industries, and resources of Alaska, by lyan Pctrotf, p. 81, published officially in the tenth Censui of the United States, 1880, vol. viii, occurs a suggestion for the change of boniidary. From the similarity of the words used it seems probable that the President, when writing his message, had this Report before him. If this be so the next paragraph \n the Report may possibly throw some light upon the proposal to be made by the United States' Government. " It may be stated here '.hat a line from the point above mentioned on the 56th parallel to the intersection of the 65th parallel, with the 141st meridian, would nearlv follow the present line in South-Eastern Alaska, while it would give to the United [123] E \ 14 States one of the head branches of the Yukon River, the main artery of trade of the continental portion of Alaska, which is now crossed by the boundary at a point con- Biderabiy below the head of navigation." The result of the adoption of such a proposal would be for a considerable distance an almost entirely new frontier, giving a large tract of territory to the United States. This territory is acknowledged by the President, in his Message, to contain valuable mineral, deposits. It is also of great value for furs, as I am informed by Mr. Factor Alexander, the Company's officer in charge of Now Caledonia District, that this tract of country produces a considerable quantity of skins. The adoption of the proposed frontier would place the liead-quarters of the River Yukon in American territory. The river, after flowing tlirough British territory, again enters American Alaska. From such an arrangement questions would be likely to arise. At present the river, after crossing the boundary, never again enters into British territory. The present boundary, giving to the United States all the islands, and on the mainland 10 marine leagues from the coast, seems to be a boundary easily ascertained. In p. 165 of the Report, from which quotations have already been made, it is stated I that— ' " The inhabitants of the country, from the intersection of the 141st meridian to the ! southern boundary of Alaska, whicli is what is commonly called South-Eastern Alaska, are ; strictly confined to the sea-coast by the natural barrier of stupendous mountains that rise everywhere within a short distance of the shore along the whole length of the territory." Article VI of the above-named Treaty of 1825 is as follows : — " It is understood that the subjects of His Britannic Majesty, from whatever quarters they may arrive, whether from the ocean or from the interior of the continent, shall for ever enjoy the right of navigating freely and without any hindrance whatever, all the rivers and streams which, in their course towards the Pacific Ocean, may cross the line of demarcation upon the line of coast described in .\rticle III of the present Convention." To what extent, if at all, the United States are bound by this Article I am not able to state, but the right is one of importance, as affecting the Stickeen River on entry into British territory. A Map marking both the present boundary and the suggested boundary accom- panies this. Winnipeg, December 24, 1885. No. 6. January 23, 1886. I transmit, for your in London inclosing Th.e Marquis of Salisbury to Sir L. West. (No. 21.) Sir, Foreign Office. REFERRING to my despatch No. 8 a of the 12th instant, information, a copy of a letter from the United States' Minister a statement of facts embodied in a despatch which he has received from the United States' Secretary of State on the question of the delimitation of the Alaska boundary, together with a, copy of a letter from the Hudson's Bay Company on the same subject.* The maps referred to in this correspondence have been forwarded to tiie Intelligence Department of the War Office in order that they may be reproduced, and copies of them will be furnished to you as soon as they are completed. I also inclose a copy of a letter on this question, which has'been addressed to the Colonial Department.! I am, &c. (Signed) SALISBURY. * Noa, 3 aud 5. t No. 2. a 5I K -A. REGIONS io ffj 'M-,r )%'-'■;•. 'hitiilh -J.^— ^'=T ; ■<■ vi^y^::,' '\ ^^ «tt«*" .t^ T5fe' \^^'"^^^ T20 Rraiu'h, VVai- Odicc, issc, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) .V^ 1.0 I.I |£0 ■^™ ^ 1^ 2.5 2.2 20 1.8 L25 1.4 1.6 •• *" ► V] <^ /i 7: y /^ PhotDgraphic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. US80 (716) VJI-AWi % s o^ i. lt)0- I4-5' (4-0 135° >\\lU •4 >M ^^ ^'i^ »ii:^ -^^^ cf, '■1> ^w titxM V 05° 130' — t i2o' MAP OF Part of AND ADJOINING REGIONS ?. vi»^ y . ^ , ° ?/ .y- 3.^. o. J* •- t / z' .-*^^' 'C:v « ^w " I '^A rl -^ .--A >-^r^ / ••V 1^ ^.^ ^ ^ .. N \* \ ^ 5\ 5 |C?,s;-¥?'i^ '-"^^H>% ^ ' r- ■■■/■ , ■ , CS»,V.U«i PI ioto/.incoivr';iplu>(l ami pi'intcd ;it t li(> OrdlUUlCe SurVOy Ot'licC SoUtliaini) 7^ nice Souihampton, for iKo Intolligonro Branch. Wmt Office 188 c 15 \ \ No. 7. '■ Sir J. Puuncefole to Sir R. Herbert. {Confidential.) Sir, Foreign Office, January 23, 1886. WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 16th instant, I transmit herewith, for the information of Secretary Colonel Stanl.jy, a copy of a letter from the United States' Minister in London, inclosing a statement of facts embodied in a despatch which he has received from the United States' Secretary of State on the question of the Alaska boundary, together with a copy of a letter from the Hudson's Bay Couipany on the same subject.* The maps referred to in this correspondence have been forwarded to the Intelligence Department of the War Office, in order that they may be reproduced, and copies of them will be furnished for the use of the Colonial Office as soon as they are completed. I am to add that Her Majesty's Minister at Washington has been instructed to procure copies of the work referred to in Mr. Phelps' letter of the 19th instant under the title of the " United States' Coast and Geodetic Survey, Pacific Coast Pilot, Alaska," Part I, and a copy of the same will also be supplied to you whenever it is received. I am, &c. (Signed) JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. No. 8. ' ' '' The Marquis of Salisbury to Mr. Phelps. Sir, Foreign Office, January 26, 1886. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th instant, forwarding a statement of the facts relating to the boundary between the British possessions in Morth America and the Territory of Alaska, as embodied in a despatch which yo'.i have received from your Government, accompanied by copies of the maps referred to in Mr. Bayard's despatch. In reply, I have the honour to inform you that the proposal of the United States' Government for the appointment of a Joint Commission for the purpose of arriving at an understanding in regard to the boundary-line separating the Territories in. question will receive the immediate attention of Her Majesty's Government. I beg leave, at the same time, to acquaint you that I have instructed Her Majesty's Minister at Washington to send home some copies of the work called " United States' Pacific Coast Pilot," and I shall not fail, on receiving them, to return the volume which yoii have been so good as to forward to this Department. In tLe meanwhile, application will be made to the proper Department of Her Majesty's Government for copies of the British and Canadian official maps referred t'> in the statem^int inclosed with your letter of the 19th instant, and I shall have much pleasure in supplying you with copies of the same as soon as I receive them. I have, &c. (Signed) SALISBURY. .■ ■ /;,> ■ No. 9. Sir P. Currie to Mr. Armit. Sir, Foreign Office, January 26, 1886. I AM directed by the Marquis of Salisbury to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th instant, inclosing a Memorandum and a map relating to the boundary between the British possessions in North America and the Territory of Alaska. In reply, I am to request that you will state to the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company that a communication on this subject has been received from the Government of the United States, which is now under the consideration of Her Majesty's Government. I am, &c. (Signed) P. CURRIE. • No8. 3 and b. m m 16 No. 10. Sir P. Currie to Sir if. Herbert. Sir, Foreign Office, January 30, 1886, WITH reference to my letters of the 16th and 23rd instant, I am directed by the Marquis of Salisbury to transmit to you, to be laid before Secretary Colonel Stanley, copies of the maps relating to the Alaska boundary, forwarded with Mr. Phelps' letter of the 19th instant, and with the letter from the Hudson's Bay Company of the 20th instant copies of which have already been furnished to the Colonial Office, , I am, &c. (Signed) P. CURRIE. If No. 11. The Marquis of Salisbury to Sir L. West. (No. 31.) Foreign Office, January 30, 1886. [Sending copies of the three maps inclosed in Mr. Phelps' note of January 19, and of the one inclosed in the letter from the Hudson's Bay Company of January 20.] No. 12, .. V ^ Mr. Bramslon to Sir P. Currie. — {Received February 2.) (Confidential.) Sir, Downing Street, February 1, 1886. I AM directed by Colonel Stanley to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of the 16th and 23rd ultimo, relating to the proposal made on the part of the Government of the United States for ascertaining and settling the boundary between the British possessions in North America and Alaska. I am to inclose, for Lord Salisbury's information, a copy of a despatch which Colonel Stanley proposes to address to the Governor-General of Canada on this subject. If the Government of Canada should agree in the proposals made by the United States' Government, Colonel Stanley thinks that it might be convenient that they should communicate through the Governor-General direct with Her Majesty's Minister at Washington upon the subject ; in order to save time, should Lord Salisbury agree in this course, Colonel Stanley will instruct the Governor- General accordingly by telegraph. Tha Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs will no doubt consider with the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury whether, in the event of a Commission being agreed upon, the cost of the British share of the expenses should not be divided equally between this country and Canada. I am, 8ic, (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. Inclosure in No. 12. Colonel Stanley to the Marquis of Lansdowne. (Secret.) My Lord, Downing Street, February , 1886. I HAVE the honour to transmit to your Lordship herewith copies of two letters irom the Foreign Office, with their inclosures,* relating to a proposition made on the part of thp Government of the United States, " that a Commission be agreed on by the Govern- icnts of the United States and of Her Majesty, to be composed of Commissioners to be appointed by each, who shall, under such instructions and conditions as may be mutually concurred in, and upon such surveys and examinations as may be found necessary and practicable, either designate and establish the boundary-line " between the British posses- sions in North America and Alaska, " or report to the respective Governments such facts, data, and recommendations as may ailbrd a basis for its establishment by Convention between them." As your Government t~e aware, difficulties connected with the Alaska boundary arose 17 :■•.••: ■ ■- ■ : .• in reference to the case of Peter Martin, which formed the subject of correspondence between the Secretary of State and the Governor-General of Canada in 1876 and 1877, to which correspondence I would beg to refer you. The papers now forwarded to you enter so fully upon the question of the present position of the boundary that it appears unnecessary for me to do more than to forward them to you, in order that you may lay them before your Ministers, with a request that Her Majesty's Government may be furnished, at the earliest possible date, with the expres- sion of their views in regard to the proposal of the United States' Government. You will observe that, with a view to providing for the expenses connected with the proposed Commission, the Government of the United States wish to arrive at an agreement respecting it before the 1st April next. I have, &c. No. 13. Sir C. Tv.pper to Sir Villiers Lister, — {Received February 2.) Office of the High Commissioner for Canada, Dear Sir Villiers Lister, 9, Victoria Chambers, London, February 2, 1886. I UNDERSTAND that the Hudson's Bay Company have addressed a letter (20th January) to the Foreign Office on the subject of the eastern boundary of Alaska, with which a map was inclosed. I am anxious to get a copy of the map in question, and should, therefore, be much obliged if you could kindly lend it to me for a day or two. I would then have a copy of it made, and return it to you. Believe me, &c. (Signed) CHARLES TUPPER. No. 14. The Marquis of Salisbury to Mr. West. (No. 36.) Sir, Foreign Office, February 5, 1886. WITH reference to my despatch No. 31 of the 31st ultimo, I transmit, for your information and guidance, copies of the correspondence as marked in the margin,* in regard to the question of the Alaska boundary. In accordance with the suggestion made by Colonel Stanley, I request that you will, in order to save time, place yourself in direct communication on the subject with the Governor-General of Canada, on hearing from his Excellency that his Government aire disposed to accept the proposals made by the Government of the United States in regard to this question. I am, &c. (Signed) SALISBURY. No. 15. Sir J. Pauncefote to Sir R. Herbert. (Confidential.) Sir, Foreign OJ ce, February 5, 1886. I AM directed by the Marquis of Salisbury to acknowledge the receipt of your letter cf the Ist instant, relative to the proposal made by the Government of the United States for ascertaining and settling the boundary between ihe British possessions in North America and the Territory of Alaska. In reply, I am to request that you will state to Secretary Colonel Stanley that Lord Salisbury concurs in the terms of the despatch which it is proposed to address to the Governor- General of Canada on the subject. Lord Salisbury also agrees in the view that it would be expedient, in order to save time, should the Government of Canada take a favourable view of the proposals made by the Government of the United States, that the Governor-General of the Dominion should [123] • Noi. 12 and 15. 18 communicate directly in regard to this question with Her Majesty's Minister at Wash* ington. Lord Salisbury would suggest, for Colonel Stanley's consideration, that it is desirable that copies of all the correspondence which may take place between the Marquit of Lansdowne and Sir Lionel West on the matter should be transmitted to this country. With reference to the (juestion as to the expenses to be incurred on account of any Joint Ccnmission being equally divided bctwaen this country and Canada, I am to request that you will inform Colonel Stanley that the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs no doubt \*ill place himseif in communication with the Lords of the Treasury. I am, &c. (Signed) JULIAN PAUNCEFOTB. No. 16. 3%e Marquis of Salisbury to Mr. Phelps. Sir, Foreign Office, February 6, 1886. REFERRING to the letter from this Department of the 26th ultimo, I have the honour to return to you, herewith, the volume entitled " United States' Pacific Coast Pilot," which accompanied your letter of the 19th ultimo, relative tc the question of the Alaska boundary. I U&V6 &C (Signed) ' SAUSBURY. No. 17. Mr. Wingjield to Sir P. Carrie. — (Received February .) (Confidential.) Sir, Downing Street, February 6, 1886. WITH reference to your letter of the 5th instant and to previous corresponflence relative to the Alaska Boundary question, I am directed by -the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, for the information of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, copies of certain Confidential papers which have been communicated to thia Department by the High Commissioner for Canada. I am, &c. (Signed) EDWARD WINGFIELD. Inclosure 1 in No. 1 7. Mr. Macpherson to Sir C. Tapper. My dear Sir Charles, Homburg, July 2, 1884. I RECEIVED the inclosed from Sir John some little time ago, and I should have sent it you ere now. Sincerely, &c. (Signed) D. L. MACPHERSON. Inclosure 2 in No. 17. ■':',', Mr. Ball to Dr. Dawson. - • United States' Coast and Geodetic Survey Office, Washington, My dear Sir, April 24, 1884. YOUR note is received. I am glad you are pleased witTi the mi:p. In regard to the Dease Lake region I have the 187C map, but the maps of that region are so contradictory that I thought it was best to take the river, Sic, from the W. U. Telegraph surveys, and so have all that part uniform, especially as the map of 1875 bears internal evidence of being a mere sketch. Hunter s map, the Russian maps, the Blake maps, and the 1875 map differ in the most extraordinaiy way among themselves. I^ew surveys are needed. 19 The matter of the boundary should be stirred up. Tlie language of the Treaty of 1825 is so indefinite, that were the region included for any eause to become suddenly of evident value, or if any serious international question were to arise regarding jurisdiction, there would be no mear.s of settlina; it by the Treaty. There being no natural boundary, and'the continuou.s range of mountains parallel to t.ie coast, shown on Vancouver's charts, like'a long caterpillar, Laving no existence as such, the United States would undoubtedly wish to'fall back on the "line " parallel to the winding of the coast, and which shall never exceed the distance of 10 marine leagues therefrom of the Treaty. It would, of course, be impractic- able to trace any such winding line over that " sea of mountains." I should think that the bottom of the nearest valley j)arallel to the coast might, perhaps, be traced, and its stream form a natural boundary ; even then it would be difficult to determine the line between one valley and the next. Before the question has attained any importance it should be referred to a Committee of Geographers, a survey should be made, and a new Treaty should be made stating determinable boundaries. Perhaps at some time you muv be able to set the ball in motion on your side, and it would be only a matter of time wnen it would follow here. Yours, &c. (Signed) WM. H. DALL. and Inclosnre 3 in ISo. 17. Mr. Cameron to Sir C. Tupper. Dear Sir Charles, Sheerness, November 12, 1884. I SBNT you last night my Memorandum on the Honourable Mr. Smith's letter about the eastern boundary of British Columbia. I had not the means by me of having it stitched, and, desiring not to delay its dispatch, sent it off unsewn ; will you oblige by having the stitching done ? I now send you the letter of Mr. Dall about the Alaska boundary, with Sir John MacDonald's indorsed instructions. Mr. Herbert, in his letter of the 29th July, referred to your communication to him as an application " to inspect any documents in this Departmen.. (Colonial Office) which may tend to show the intention of Parliament as to the true location of the eastern boundary of British Columbia." Mr. Meade, in writing to you on the 29th July, 1884, to comply with your request, used similar language ; and on the 2nd September, 1884, Mr. Winglield, telling me I might enter on the work, again used similar language. But I had no authority to investigate the Alaska Boundary question, and there is this difference between it and the British Columbian eastern boundary — the former is one affecting colonial interests only ; the latter is Imperial, having to do with an international boundary. I shall be glad to investigate it if desired. When engaged in marking the 49th north latitude parallel, I was called upon to make a Report on the Alaska boundary, and to render an estimate of the cost of its demarcation. This I did somewhat fully. My estimate would now have to be reduced by the difference of the cost of material, supplies, and labour which would wise from the increased faciUties offered by settlement of Vancouver's Island, &c. Upon Mr. Dall's suggestions I would remark that, before the question is opened with the United States' Government, it would be well for the Canadian Government to have a previous clear knowledge of the topography of the possible boundary-Une. To survey the country in conjunction with United States' people, and to agree to come to fresh terms on the result of such a survey, would be an invitation to them to dispute over every inch of the ground. The meridian line from Mount St. Elias is a simple enough matter, but not so the line from the south up to Mount St. Elias. The definition of the latter part of the line is, I think, sufficiently clear in the Treaty, j I can recall only one debatable point, viz., a reference to the sinuosities of the coast in ' marking the line. In the case of inlets, for which the coast is noted, and mouths of rivers, I at what point would the coast-line be taken to be ? Although this is, I think, speaking from recollection, the only indefinite description in the Treaty, there would be extreme difficulty in tracing any such line inland were it necessary to do so. The line is defined to run along mountain rauae, and, in the event of this failing, in a direction parallel to the sinuosities of the coast June, but in no case further inland than tea marine leagues. flO If it be determined to open the question with the United States, it would be highly desirable, before sturtirig parties to mark the line, to submit questions to the United States upon all possible (lebatablc points in the applicutiun of the Treaty, and to arrive at a common understanding about the interpretation by which the Boundary Commissioners should be guided. The instructions to the Commissioners on these heads should be alike from the two countries. I have kept a copy of the papers I am now sending to you, in ease you may desire to refer to me again about thein. i Yours, &c. (Signed) D. R. CAMERON. No. 18. 7%e Earl of Rosebery to Sir L. West. (No. 38.) Sir, ' Foreign Office, February U, 1886. AMONG the members of the Corps Diplomatique I received yesterday the Minister of the United States of America, who spoke to me on two matters : — 1. The rupture between Colombia and Italy respecting the case of Signer Cerruti, as to which he hoped that, when we had a substantial proposition to make on the subject. Her Majesty's Government would be prepared to join his Government in having recourse to arbitration. 2. He hoped that Her Majesty's Government would be willing to appoint a Joint Commission with the United States for the purpose of effecting a settlement of the Alaska boundary, which was known to be geographically unsound, and this he illustrated by various particulars. I said that, in regard to this latter question, it would be necessary to consult the Colonial Office and the Govemmeat of Canada. I am, &c. (Signed) ROSEBERY. No. 19, Sir J. Paunccfote to Sir R. Herbert, Sir, Foreign Office, February ] 5, 1886. WITH reference to my letter of the 5th instant, I am directed by the Earl of Rosebery to state to you, for the information of Earl Granville, that in the course of conversation on the 10th instant with the United States' Minister at this Court, he expressed a hope that Her Majesty's Government would be willing to appoint a Joint Commission with the United States for the purpose of effecting a settlement of the Alaska boundary, which was known to be geographically unsound, and this he illustrated by various particulars. Mr. Phelps was informed by Lord Rosebery, in reply, that in regard ;o this question it wonld be necessary to consult the Colonial Office and the Government of Canada. In connection with this subject, I am to call attention to Mr. Phelps' request, in his letter of the 19th ultimo, that he might be furnished with copies of the British and Canadian maps mentioned in Mr. Bayard's despatch, which was communicated to you on the 23rd ultimo ; and I am to request that the maps in question may, if possible, be forwarded to tins Department for communication to the United States' Government. I am to add that it would be convenient that copies of these maps should also be supplied for the use of the Foreign Office. I am, &c. (Signed) JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. No. 20. The Earl of Ro»ebery to Sir L. fTwr. (No. 49.) Sir, Forri(jn Office, February 23, 1886. I HAVE to sUite to you that, in the course of an interview with me to-day, Mr. Piielps reverted to the question of the Alaska boundary, and read to me the clause from the Treaty between the United States and Russia of the 30th March, I8'i7, for the sale of Alaska, which had been extracted rerbntim from the former Treaty between Great Britain and Russia of tlie Itith (28th) February, 1825. He pointed out, by copious reference to maps, that when tliis boundary was made the country had been inethciently and insufHciently explored, and renewed his suggestion that a Boundary Commission should be appointed, cither to fix a boundary or to survey the countr)-, or to recommend a boundary. I replied that he had alluded to this subject on a previous occasion, and that then I had requested the Colonial Office to consult the Canadian Government for their opinion on the matter. Mr. Phelps pointed out that time was of the essence of the matter, as the Commission could only do its work in summer, but that if Iler Majesty's Government could conclude arrangements for it before the Ist April, there would he time to obtain the necessary appro- priation from Congress for it I am, &c. (Signed) ROSEBERY. No. 21. . ' Sir J. Pauncefote to Sir R. Herbert. Foreign Office, February 25, 1886. [Transmits copy of No. 49 to Sir L. West, dated February 23, 1886 : ante, No. 20.] - No. 22. Mr. Bramston to Sir P. Currie. — (Received March 12.) (Confidential.) Sir, Downing Street, March 11, 1886. WITH reference to your letter of the 25th ultimo, and to previous correspondence, I am directed by Earl Granville to transmit to you, for the information of the Earl of Rosebery, a copy of a telegraphic correspondence with the Governor-tieneral of Canada relative to the determination of the Alaska boundary. I am also to inclose a copy of a correspondence with the War Office relative to the employment of Colonel Cameron, R.A., in connection with this question. I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. Inclosure 1 in No. 22. Earl Granville to the Morquio of Lansdowne. (Telegraphic.) Downing Street, March 6, 1886. ALASKA boundary. United States' Minister renews suggestion Commission. It is desirable conclude arrangements early, that appropriation may be obtained from Congress. Does your Government agree? [123] 82 Inclogurc 2 in No. 22. 7%e Marquis of Lansdowne to Earl Granville. (Tflegranhic.) [Received March 9, 1880, 10'2() p.m.] MY (lovcrnmcnt agree in principle to preliminary survey Alaska bouiuJary by Cam- misfion. AViii send despatch as to instructions and scope of in(|uiry. Have informed West. Inclosure 3 in No. 22. Sir R. Herbert to Sir R. Thompson. Sir, Downing Street, March 0, 1886. I AAI directed by Earl Graville to request thot you will inform Mr. Secretary CampbelUBannerman that it is in contemplation that a joint British and United States' Commission should be appointed for the settlement of the boundary l)etween Alaska and Canada ; and his Lordship would be ^lad if the Secretary of State for War would grant permis.sion that Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel Cameron, R.A., who has a sjxiciai know- ledge of this question, should give his services in connection with this matter, in exarainir.g the papers and records in this Department, and in arranging the preliminaries for the pro- posed Commission. I am, &c. (Signed) ROBERT G. W. HERBERT. Inclosure 4 in No. 22. Colonel Deedes to Sir R. Herbert. Sir, War Office, March 9, 1886. IN reply to your letter of the Cth instant, 1 am directed by the Secretary of State for War to acquaint you, for the information of Earl Granville, that Colonel Cameron has been directed to place himself in comniui)ication with your Office. I have, &c. (Signed) H. G. DEEDES. No. 23. Major-General Laurie to Sir J. Pauncefote. — {Received March 17.) Sir 47, Porchester Terrace, London, March 15, 1886. UNDERSTANDING that it is proposed to appoint an International Commission to define the boundaries between the Territory of Alaska, United States of America, and the Dominion of Canada, I have the honour to apply for the appointment of British Com- missioner. Having served in command of the militia in the Province of British Columbia, I am well acquainted with that section of country, and with the prominent public men both in that province and in the neighbouring United States, and having served in Canada more than twenty years, I have mixed much with the people of North America on both sides of the line. Should, however, the above-named appointment be tilled, I desire to place before the Riiiht Honourable the Secretary of State my earnest desire (or employment, and my willingness to accept a subordinate position until I shall have proved my titness for more responsible work. I was employed last year as second in command, and in charge of the base and lines of communication, during the rebellion in the Canadian North-west, and have only lately returned from Servia, where I was engaged during the Servo-Bulgarian war in hospital and ambulance work, and have now a fair acquaintance with the Sflrvians and their country. I am colloquially acquainted with the French and German languages, and have served y C;3m- West, Sd with Her Majesty's troops in everj- portion of tlic globe, and now seek work for its own sake, and as u timttcr of duty. Trusting tliat I may be ptrinitttd an upportuiiitv of doing u»fful siTvice, I liavc, &c. (Sif^ned)' J. WIMUUHNI-: LAURIE. :■ r. - •■ No. 24. Sir R. Herbert to Sir P. Currie.— {Received March 18.) Sir, Downinij Street, March 18, 1888. WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 1 1th instant, and to |)reviou8 correspondence relative to the Alaska Boundary (|uestion, I am directed by Farl Granville to acquaint you that, after communicating with the High Commissioner for Canada, i js Lordship is of opinion that no more suitable person, or more acceptable to the Dominion Government, could be found for the position of Hritish Commissioner foi the demarcation of the boundary than Colonel Cameron. The formal appointment of the British Commis- sioner will rest with tiic Eurl of Rosebery, and ii his Lordship concurs in thinking that Colonel Cameron should be selected, Lord Granville would propose to telegraph to the Governor-General of Canada the suggestion that Colonel Cameron should bo so appointed. Lord Rosebery will be aware that Colonel Cameron was, on a foViiier occasion, engaged on a similar boundary question on the recommendation of the Dominion Government, and that both Lord Dufterin and Lord Lome, as well as the present Governor-General, have reported favourably on his work in Canada. I am, &c. (Signed) ROBERT G. W. HERBERT. No. 25. Mr. J. C. Knight-Bruce to the Earl of Rosebery, — (Received March 1 9.) My Lord, Naval and Military Club, Piccadilly, March 18, 1880. PLEASE forgive my troubling you, but I am told the Government arc thinking of sending out a Commission for the purpose of fixing the boundary between Alaska and British North America. I had made arrangements, before I lieard of tiiis Commission going out, to leave England myself, with my instruments, about the beginning of next month for North British Columbia, going then up the Skeena River from Metlakatli, for the purpose of fixing points and surveying the country lying between the Skeena and Eraser Rivers ; but now that I hear a Commission is being sent out to those parts, I should like immensely to form one of its members, and am ready to start at a minute's notice. Do you think, my Lord, that it is possible for me to be appointed ? I am a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and inclose a certificate from Mr. Coles, of that Society, with whom I have been working. I may also mention that I am a photographer, and always travel with a photographic apparatus. I have many photographs taken during my last Ceylon trip. Again apologizing for troubling vou, I have, &c. (Signed) J. C. KNIGHT-BRUCE. Inclosure in No. 25. Certijicate. THIS is to certify that Mr. J. C. L. Knight-Bruee has received instruction from me in practical astronomy and surveying, and that he is able to use the plane table and sextant, and to fix positions astronomically by meridian altitudes and altitudes off the meridian. (Sigieti; JOHN COLES, F.R.A.S., Instructor in Practical Astronomy and Surveying, R.G.S. 1- Savile Row, Burlington Gardens, March 18, 1886. 24 ' ' ' ' ''' No. 26. Sir J. Pauncefote to the Deputy Keeper, Record Office. Sir, Foreign Office, March 20, 1886. I AM directed by the Earl of Rosebery to inform you that Colonel Camerom, R.A., has been appointed to assist the Colonial Office in collecting materials bearing upon the quci^tiou of the north-west boundary of America, for whicli purpose it is necessary that ho should consult certain papers in the Public Record Office ; and I am therefore to request that you will have the goodness to permit Colonel Cameron, who will be accompanied by a clerk or copyist, to peruse the correspondence of Russia for the years 1821 to 1826, volumes 129 to h<7, inclusive, and to take such extracts therefrom as he may desire. I am further to request that you will permit Colonel Cameron to examine the original ratification of the Convention between this country and Russia of the 28th February, 1825, No. 246. I am, &c. (Signed) JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. No. 27. Sir J. Pauncefote to Sir R. Herbert. Sir, Foreign Office, March 22, 1886. WITH reference to your letter of the 18th instant, I am directed by the Earl of Rosebery to transmit to you a copy of a letter from Major-General Laurie applying for the appointment of British Commissioner, or some subordinate employment on the Alaska Boundary Commission,* I am to request that in laying this letter before Earl Granville, you will move him to cause Lord Rosebery to be informed what reply should be returned to Major-General Laurie. I am, &c. (Signed) JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. No. 28. Mr. Bramston to Sir P. Currie.— {Received March 23.) Sir, Downing Street, March 22, 1886. WITH reference to my letter of the 1 8th instant relating to the proposed appoint- ment of a Joint British and United States' Commission for inquiring into the subject of the Alaska boundary, I am directed by Earl Granville to transmit to you, to be laid before the Earl of Rosebery, a copy of a letter from Colonel Cameron asking that he may be allowed access to certain Foreign Office papers and records. Lord Granville would be obliged if Lord Rosebery would give directions for a compliance with Colonel Cameron's application. I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. Inclosure in No. 28. Colonel Cameron, R.A., to Sir R. Herbert. Sir, 97, Cromwell Road, London, March 16, 1886. I HAVE the honour to request that authority may be obtained for me to procure extracts and copies of such documents in the Foreign Office as bear upon the determina- tion of the Alaska boundary. I refer more particularly to the correspondence preceding and during the negotiation of the Treaty of 1 82.5 with Russia. I should also be glad to be informed if there be any record of what maps were used during those negotiations. It is probable that the maps used by the Representative of Great Britain were supplied to him through the Foreign Office, aud that at least some of tbem were fcimiBhed by the Admiralty Office. • No.98 ^^F mm 25 The point is of considerable importance, as the United States, authorities appear to contend that the island to the north of the entrance to Observatory Inlet, the southern point of whicli island was named by Vancouver "Point Wales," is the Prince of Wales' Island referred to in the Treaty of 1825 with Russia. Tnere is clear authority, however, for stating that Point Wales was called after a gentleman of the name of Wales, an instructor of Vancouver when at school. At the same time there is no island on Vancouver's Chart called Prince of Wales' Island, I am, &c. (Signed) D. R. CAMERON. 1 IK ; No. 29. , Sir J. Pauncefote to Sir R. Herbert. (Confidential.) Sir, Foreign Office, March 24, 1886. WITH reference to the letter from this Office of the 23rd January last, and to subse- quent corresponden3e, I am directed by the Earl of Rosebery to transmit to you, to be laid before Earl Granville, two copies of a Memorandum drawn up by Mr. Hertslet, the late Librarian to this Department, in July 1835, explaining the circumstances which led to the conclusion of the Convention between Great Britain and Russia of the 16th (28th) February, 1825, relative to trade in the Pacific, and the limits of their possessions on the north-west coast of America. I am, &c. (Signed) JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. Inclosure in No. 29. 29,1821. Memorp.ndum of the Circumstances which led to the Conclusion of the Convention between Cheat Britain and Russia of 1 825, relative to Trade in the Pacific, and the Limits of their Possessions on the North-west Coast of America. IV September 1821 the Emperor of Russia issued an Edict, containing regulations g^,, p»pers, vol. «, relative to trade on the eastern coast of Siberia, the north-west coast of America, and the i82i-22, p. 472. Aleutian, Kurile, and other islands of the Pacific. These regulations granted to Russian subjects an exclusive right of commerce, whaling, and fishery in all the islands, jjorts, and gulfs from Behring's Straits to the 51st degree of nortU latitude, and from the Aleutian Islands to the eastern coast of Siberia, as well as riong the Kurile Islands, from Behring's Straits to the south cape of the Island of Urup, to the 45° 50' of north latitude. All foreign vessels were prohibited, under the penalty of confiscation, from approaching this territory vrithin 100 Italian miles, unless driven by stress of weather, fcc, and even then they were forbidden to carry on any trade whatever, either with the natives or with the Russian American Company. On the publication of the Ukase, the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs stated to sir charie» Bagot, Sir Charles Bagot that the object of it was to prevent the "commerce interlope" of the No. 56; No«inb« citizens of the United States, who were not only in the habit of resorting to the Russian cocsts and islands of the Pacific, for the purpose of interfering in the Russian trade with China, in the lucrative sale of sea-otter skins, but were also in the constant habit of introducing prohibited articles, and especially gunpowder, into the Russian dominions in that quarter The Russian Minister also said that representations had been repeatedly made upon this subject to the American Government, who had professed to be unable to control their citizens in those distant seas ; but had intimated that they should not take in ill part any measures which the Russian Government might deem it expedient to adopt for the protection of its own rights. Baron Nicolay communicated the Ukase officially to Lord Londonderry, and the question was then submitted to the King's Advocate. Sir Christopher Robinson reported that the object of Russia appeared to be to obtain, Kings AdTocato ; indirectly, the acknowledgment of territorial rights, assumed over a portion of sea that November 20,i8ai. might become of great importance with reference to trade, and in consequence of the diflcoveries which were niQ'nng in that quarter ; that a right of sovereignty over a sea of auch extent, merely because its opposite limits touched the possessions of the same Power, [123J H 215477 BaroQ Nicolay, November 13, 1821. 26 To Count Lieven ; January IB, 1932. Count Lieven, January 8i, 1823. To Sir Charles Bagot, No. 1 J Feb- n»iy B, 1823. To Sir Charles Bagot, No. 4 ; February 26, 1823. To Sir Charles Bagot, No. 12 ; July 12, Sir Charles Bagot, No. 3S ; August 21, 1823. Sir Charle Bagot, No. 48 ( Ictobei- 26, 1323. was much greater than was ordinarily recognized by the principles of the law of nations ; and that it might be expedient to declare the intentions of His Majesty's Government to adhere to those established principles, and to deprecate any infringement of the usual rights of commerce. Lord Londonderry accordingly acquainted Count Lieven that he was directed to make such a provisional protest against the enactments of the Ukase as was necessary in order to save the rights of His Majesty's Crown, and of the persons and property of His Majesty's subjects ; that the British Government were willing to enter into amicable explanations on the question ; but that, in the meantime, it could not admit that the intercourse which had previously existed in those seas could be deemed lo be illicit, even supposing that the vast and imperfectly occupied territories, which were considered as erroneously claimed by Russia, really belonged to His Imperial Majesty. Verbal communications afterwards passed between Count Lieven and the Duke of Wellington, in London and at Verona, in consequence of which it was proposed by the for'- cr that a negotiation upon the subject should be entered into at St. Petersburgh. Sir Charles Bagot was immediately instructed to open the discussion, and full powers to conclude a Treaty were forwarded to him. During the discussions an overture was made by the United States to join in the negotiation, vhich was accepted by the two Powers; and as it w?.s understood that Russia had waived !ier extravagant pretension of maritime jurisdiction, there was every prospect of the conclusion of a Tripartite Convention upon that point. With respect to the territorial question, it was intimated to Sir Charles Bagot that the British Government would picfer a fixed line of demarcation to a joint occupancy, and that a line drawn at the 57th degree between the Russian and British settlers would be an arrangement satisfactory to His Sjajesty, id would assign to Russia as much as she could justly !aim. Sir Charles Bagot, in conversation with Count Nesselrode, observed that, as the United States could make no pretension to territory so far north as the 5l8t degree, the question of boundary would rest between Russia and Great Britain alone ; that the pretension of Great Britain had always extended to the 59th degree of north latitude, but that His Majesty was disposed to consent to take as the line of demarcation the 57tl; degree, to the southward of which it was supposed that Russia had no settlement. The American Minister (Mr. Middleton) at St. Petersburgh, however, soon aftcr^vards received his instructions, from which it appeared that the United States asserted an equal jiretension, at least, to that of either Great Britain or Russia, to the whole ol the coasl as high as the 61st degree, and an absolute right to be parties to any subdivision of it which might he made. This pretension and right were stated to be grounded upon the Treaty of 1319, under which the Fioridas were ceded to the United States by Spain ; and it was alleged that the United States having by that Treaty l)ecome possessed of all claims which belonged to Spain, to the nort'n of the 42nd degree, and Russia having already disclaimed, in 1790, all interference with the pretensions of Spain south of the 61st degree, any division of the coast between the 42nd and Gist degrees ought, in strictness, to he made solely between the United St.ates and Great Beitain. The American Minister admitted that it was not the intention of his Government to push its pretensions to that extent. The United States were ready to acknowledge that no country had any absolute and exclusive claim to the territory; but they meant to assert that they, as heirs to the rights of Spain, had, in fact, the best pretensions to it of either of tliC th -ee Powers concerned. The American Government proposed that, a division being made between the three Powers, a joint Convention should be entered in^o, renewable at the pleasure of the parties, for tl:e purpose of mutually granting to eacii other, for a limited period, the freedom of fishei-y and of trade with the natives, and whatever other advantages the coast might afford ; and the American Minister at St. Petersburgh was furnished with v'ull powers to conclude such a Convention. But Sir Charles Bagot, whose instructions and powers did not contemplate the putting forward of such pretensions by the United States, thought proper to suspend the negotiation, so far as regarded the (juestion of territory. He had previously intimated to Count Nesselrode tliat Great Britain might be satisfied to take Cross Sound, in about latitude 57^°, as the boundary on the coast, and .. nieridianal line drawn from the head of Lynn Canal, or about the ISffh degree of wes' longitude, as the boundary in the interior. M. Poletica, the Russian Plenipotentiary, suggested the 55th dcprw as the boundary which Russia would desire to obtain, and stated mi^m 27 that it would be with extreme reluctance that Russia would consent to relinquish her settlement at Sitka, or New Archangel. In consequence of the unexpected pretensions of the United States, Sir Charles Bagot was directed to negotiate only with Russia, between which Power and Great Britain a satisfactory arrangement might be anticipated. It was observed by Mr. Canning that the intervention of the United States in the negotiation would obviously tend to complicate the question between Russia and Great Britain, and that a fresh agreement between Great Britain and the United States was unnecessary, because a freedom of intercourse for the subjects of the two Powers \vitli the country claimed by either, on the north-wef*: coast, was already established by Treaty. AVith a view to the conclusion of an arrangement with Russia, Sir Charles Bagot was instructed to obtain some record of the disavowal by that Power of the extravagant mari- time pretensions advanced in the Emperor's Ukase, and to require an equitable adjustment of the limits, first, by a line of demarcation, to be drawn between the soutiicrnmost settle- ment of Russia and the northernmost post of the North-west Company ; and, secondly, by another line, to be drawn through the channel which separates from the mainland the islands, upon one of which Sitka is situated. The Russian Plenipotentiaries, on entering upon the negotiations, expressed the repugnance of His Imperial Majesty to renounce pretensions which had been advanced in 1800 by the Emperor Paul, and which had hitherto been undisputed ; but Sir Charles Bagot successfully insisted upon liiaintaining as the basis of negotiation that which had already been agreed upon, namely, that the question of strict right should be provisionally waived on both sides. He was not, however, successful as to the limits ; for, although he had expressed every disposition to be acconnnodating as to the sea-line, the Russian Govern- ment laid claim to parts of the mainland over which Russia could not possibly have acquired any right, and which Great Britain, in fact, was partially occupying. Sir Charles Bagot had offered the .')5th degree as the line of demarcation upon the islands, in order to preserve to British subjects uninterrupted access to the Pacific Ocean, and in order to secure to Great Britain the iJGth degree of north latitude as the British boundary upon the coast ; but the proposition was rejected by the Russian Plenipotentiaries, and Sir Charles, in consequence, deemed it advisable to suspend the negotiation. The question between Russia and the United States was shortly afterwards brought to a conclusion by the signature of a Treaty stipulating that the subjects and citizens of the two Powers might resort, without restraint, to the Pacific Ocean and to the points of its coasts which were not already occupied ; that the Americans should not form any establishment to the north of 54° 40', or the Russians any to the south of that latitude; and that the citizens and subjects of botli Powcrs'might frequent, for ten years, the interior seas, gulfs, harbours, and creeks upon the coast. The objections of the Russian Government to Sir Charles Bagot's propositions having been considered, he was directed to consent tj include the south points of Prince of Wales' Island within the Russian frontier, and to admit, as the line of demarcation, a line to be drawn irom the southernmost pomt of Prince of Wales' Island, from south to north., through Portland Channel, till it should strike the mainland in latitude 56°; thence a line i'ollow- ing the sinuosities of the coast along the mountains nearest to the sea as far as Alount Elias in latitude G0°, and thence the l3')th degree of longitude asiar as the Polar Sea; the distance of the line along the mountains at no point to exceed 10 leagues from the sea. Sir Charles Bagot was also directed to obtain, if possible, a period longer than ten years during which the subjects of the two Powers should continue at liberty to resort to the possessions of each Power, and he was al>o directed to require ;i stipulation lor tlie permanent admission of British subjects to the harbour of New Archangel, and to the rivera, creeks, &c., on the continent (including the sea beyond Behring's Straits), as a compensa- tion for the perpetual right which would be granted to Russia to the territory included within the new boundary. The Russian Government positively refused to grant to British subjects a perpetual right of trading with the port of New Archangel, and with the ports in the Russian territory within the line of demarcation ; declaring that, although at the expiration of a period of ten years they might be disposed to renew the privilege, they could not consent to grant it in perpetuity ; and they e(iually declined to permit British subjects to resort to the Russian territory above the 60th degree, even for a limited period. They also required thai the right of freely navigating the sea beyond Behring's Straits should be accepted by Great Britain as a concession from Russia. Sir Charles B.igot, finding that he could not induce the Russian Plenipotentiaries to depart from their resolution upon either of these points, again suspended the negotiation, and soon afterwards returned to England. To Sir Charica Bagat, '.tabli8hment on the north-west coast. 31 .-' ■ ^:: ■■■ ARTICLE III. The line of demarcation between the possessions of tlie High Contracting Parties, upon the coast of the continent, and the islands of America to the north-west, 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 54° 10' north latitude, and between the ISlst and 133rd degrees of west longitude (meridian of Greenwich), the said line shall ascend to the north nlong the channel called Poitland Channel, as far as the point of the continent where it strikes the 66th degree of north latitude ; from this last-mentioned point, the line of demarcation shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast, as far as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude (of the same meridian) ; and, finally, from the said point of intersection, the said meridian line of the 141st degree in its prolongation as far as the Frozen Ocean, shall form the Hmii between the Russian and British possessions on the continent of America to the north-west. ARTICLE IV. i With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the preceding Article, it is understood : — 1. That the island called Prince of Wales' Island shall belong wholly to Russia. 2. That wherever the summit of the mountains that extend in a direction parallel to the coast, from the 66th degree of north latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude, shall prove to be at the distance of more than 10 marine leagues from the ocean, the limit between the British possessions and the line of coast which is to belong to Russia, as above mentioned, shall be formed by a line parallel to the windings of the coast, and which shall never exceed the distance of 10 marine leagues therefrom. ARTICLE V. It is, moreover, agreed that no establishment shall be formed by either of the two parties within the limits assigned by the two preceding Articles to the possessions of the other: consequently, British subjects shall not form any establishment either upon the coast, or upon the border of the continent comprised within the limits of the Russian possessions, as designated in the two preceding Articles ; and, in like manner, no establish- ment shall be formed by Russian subjects beyond the said limits. ARTICLE VI. It is understood that the subjects of His Britannic Majesty, from whatever quarter they may arrive, whether from the ocean or from the interior of the continent, shall for ever enjoy the right of navigating freely, and without any hindrance whatever, all the rivers and streams which, in their course towards the Pacific Ocean, may cross the line of demarcation upon the line of coast described in Article III of the present Convention. ARTICLE VII. It is also understood that, for the space of ten years from the signature of the present Convention, the vessels of the two Powers, or those belonging to their respective subjects, shall mutually be at liberty to frequent, without any hindrance whatever, all the inland seas, the gulfs, havens, and creeks on the coast mentioned in Article III for the purposes of fishing and of trading with the natives. ARTICLE VIII. The port of Sitka, or Nova Archangelsk, shall be open to the commerce and vessels of British subjects for the space of ten years from the date of the exchange oi the ratifications of the present Convention. In the event of an extension of this term of ten years being granted to any other Power, the like extension shall be granted also to Great Britain. ARTICLE IX. The above-mentioned liberty of commerce shall not apply to the trade in spirituous liquors, in fire-arms, or other arms, gunpowder, or other warlike stores; the High Contracting Parties reciprocally engaging not to permit the above-mentioned articles to be sold or delivered, in any manner whatever, to the natives of the country. 33 ARTICLE X. Every British or Russian vesssl navigating the Pacifie Ocean which may be compelled by storms or by accident to take shelter in the ports of the respectivu parties shall be at liberty to rcOt therein, to provide itself with all necessary stores, and to put to sea again, without paying any other than port and lighthouse dues, which shall be the a'lme as those paid by national vessels. In case, however, the master of such vessel should be under the necessity of disposing of a part of his merchandize in order to defray his expenses, lie shall conform himself to the Regulations and Tariffs of the place where he may have landed. ARTICLE XI. In every case of complaint on account of an infraction of the Articles of the present Convention, the civil and militaiy authorities of the High Contracting Parties, without previously acting or taking any forcible measure, shall make an exact and circumstantial report of the matter to their respective Courts, who engage to settle the same in a friendly manner and according to the principles of justice. ARTICLE XII. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London, within the space of six weeks, or sooner if possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms. Done at St. Petersburgh, the 16th (28th) day of February, in the year of our Lord, 182.5. STRATFORD CANNING. ■ (L.S.) THE COUNT DE NESSELRODE. {L.S.) PIERRE DE POLETICA. (L.S.) No. 30. Sir J. Pauncefole tq Sir R. Herbert. Sir, Foreign Office, March 24, 1886 WITH reference to your letter of the 22nd instant, I am directed by the Earl of Rosebery to transmit to you the accompanying copy of a letter, and its inclosure, from Mr. J. C. Knight-Bruce, offering his services on the proposed Commission for fixing the boundary between Alaska and British North America.* I am, &c. (Signed) JULIAN PAUNOEFOTB. No.30«. The Earl of Rosebery to Sir L. West. Foreign Office, April 3, 1886. [Transmits copy of Mr. Phelps* letter of March 25, 1886.] (No. 80.) No. 31. Sir J. Pauncefote to Sir R. Herbert. Sir, Foreign O^ce, March 26, 1886. I AM directed by the Earl of Rosebery to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 18th instant, in which it is suggested that Colonel Cameron, R.A., should be appointed British Commissioner for the delimitation of the Alaska frontier. In reply, I am to state to you that, before expressing any opinion as to this appointment. Lord Rosebery would be glad to be furnished with the views of the Canadian Government, which it is understood may shortly be expected in this countr}', in regard to the proposal of the United States for the demarcation of the limits of that territory. Lord Rosebery presumes that the question of the incidence of the expenses to be incurred, and the probable cost of the proposed survey, will engage the attention of the Colonial Office, and that in due time a communication will be addressed by the Colonial • No. 2J. 88 Office to the Board of Treasury on the subject, ns was done in the case of the Manitoba boundary, and reported in Sir Henry Hoihind's letter of tlie 1 4th December, 1870. I am, &c. (Signed) JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. No. 32. •' Sir J. Pauncefote to Mr. J, C. Knight-Bruce.^ Sir, Foreign Office, March 26, 1886. I AM directed by the Earl of Rosebery to acknowiedp;e the receipt of your letter of the 18th instant, offering your services in connection witli the Alaslta Boundary Commission, and I am to inform you, in reply, that your application will be borne in mind. I am, &c. (Signed) .TULIAJT PAUNCEFOTE. No. 33. Mr. Phelps to the Earl of Rosebery. — {Received March 29.) My Lord, Legation of the United Staten. London, March 29, 1886. WITH reference to my note of the i9th January last, respecting the boundary between tlie British possessions in North America and the Territory of Alaska, I have the honour to inclose herevnth, for your Lordship's information, the copy of a despatch which I liave just received from the Secretary of State, with that of the accompanying document referred to therein, in regard to this subject. I have, &c. (Signed) E. J. PHELPS. Inclosure 1 in No. 33. Mr. Bayard to Mr. Phelps. Sir, Department of State, Washington, March 16, 1886. WITH reference to my instruction of the 20tli November last, concerning the proposal for an International Commission for fixing a Conventional boundary between Alaska and British Columbia, preserving the intent of the Anglo-Russian Convention of 182.';, I now transmit to you herewith a copy of a note to this Department from Mr. Helyar, Charge d' Affaires ad interim of Great Britain, in which he states that the Canadian Government has agreed to the principle of a preliminary survey of the Alaska boundary by a Commission. In view of this action of the Canadian Government, it is hoped that you may be able to bring the negotiations for a Convention in relation to the matter to an early and favourable conclusion. I am, &c. ^ ■ ' (Signed) T. F. BAYARD. Inclosure 2 in No. 33. : '. ^ Mr. Helyar to Mr. Bayard. Sir, British Legation, Washington, March 12, 1886. WITH reference to previous correspondence on the subject of the Alaska Boundary question, i have the honour to inform you that I am authorized by his Excellency the Marquis of Lansdowne to state that he has communicated to Her Majesty's Government L123] * Alio to Major-General Laurie. K Si ' ■::*■ ■ ■ the agreement of the Government of Canada in principle to a preliminary survey of the Alaska boundary by a Commission. . I have, &c. (Signed) H. A. HELYAR. No. 34. iStV P. Currie to Sir R. Herbert. Sir, Foreign Office, March 29, 1883. Wl'J'H reference to your letter of the i 1th instant, i am directed by the Earl of Rosebery to transmit to you, to be laid before Earl Granville, the accompanying copy of a note from the United States' Minister at t'lis Court, inclosing a despatch from his Govenimciit on the subject of the Alaska bt ui lary.* From this communication it appears that Her Majesty's Charge d' Affaires at Washington has informed the United States' Government of the consent of the Govern- ment of Canada to the principle of a preliminary survey of the Alaska boundary by a Commission, and that the United States' Government are anxious to bring the matter to an early and favourable conclusion. 1 am, &c. ' (Signed) F. CURRIE. No. 36. Mr. Bramston to Sir P. Currie. — (Received April I.) Sir, Downing Street, March 31, 188(5. 1 AM directed by Earl Granville to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of the 26th and 29th instant relative to the Alaska Boundary question. I am to transmit to you, to be laid before the Earl of Rosebery, copies of a telegram and of a despatch received from the Governor-General of Canada, embodying the views of the Dominion Government on the subject ; and I am to suggest that the United States' Government should at once be informed, by telegraph, through Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, that Her Majesty's Government agree in principle to a preliminary investiga- tion, but that this must not necessarily be understood to imply that a Joint Commission is agreed upon. The exact form which the investigation must take will be a matter for further consideration. With regard to the question raised in your letter of the 26th instant, as to the expenses attending the survey, 1 am to state Lord Granville does not understand, from the Governor-General's despatch now forwarded, whether or not the entire cost of the preliminary inquiry, so far as Great Britain is concerned, will be borne by Canada ; he 'Ic^s not, however, propose to approach the Trea iry on the subject until this point has been cleared up by further communication with tiie Government of the Dominion. I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. Inclosurc 1 in No. 35. The Marijuis of Lansdowne to Earl Granville. (Telegraphic.) REFERRING to my telegram of 9th March and despatch 16th March, after United States' Government have been aware of our readiness to have preliminary investigation, no urtlier steps should be taken on our part until decision of Congress known, • No. 33. SB f Inclosure 2 in No. 35. The Marquin of Lansdownc to Earl GranvilU. {Confidential.) My Lord, Government House, Ottawa, March 1(5, 18HG. ON tlie 9th instant I telegraphed to your Lordship that my Government was |)repnred to aj;;ree, "in principle," that there should be a "preliminary survey" of the Alaska boundary by a Commission. I added that I would explain in a despatch the views of my Government as to the instructions to be given to the Commissioners, and the scope of the inquiry which they were to undertake. 2. In consideration of Mr. I'hclps' urgent request for an early intimation as to the decision of the Dominion Government, it is desirable that no time should bo lost in making your Lordship aware of the conditions under which it is proposed by my Government that the preliminary survey referred to in the above telegram should be undertaken. 3. Mr. Phelps' proposal was to the following effect : " That a Connnission be Jigrced on by the Governments of the United States and Her Majesty, to be composed of Com- missioners to be appointed i)y eacl), who shall under such instructions and conditions as may be mutually concurred in, and upon such surveys and examinations as may be found necessary and practicable, either designate and establish the boundary line in question, or report to the respective Governments such facts, data, and reconnnendntions as may sifford a basis for its estabhshment by Convention between them." 4. It will be observed that my Government in ihc telegram quoted above, while expressing its general agreement to a preliminary survey of the disputed frontier, lias not expressed its assent to such a Commission as that suggested by Mr. Phelps, which was to be (1) a Joint Conmiission composed of Representatives of both Powers, and (2) empowered not only to examine the boundary line on the spot, but possibly even to lay it down and establish it. Mr. Phelps' proposal is in these respects in somewhat marked contrast to the language of the President's Message to Congress in December 188.% in which, dealini; with the question of the Alaska boundary, he wrote as follows : — " I recommend, therefore, that provision be made for a preliminary reconnaissance by otiicei's of the United States, to the end of acquiring more precise mformation on the subject. I have invited Her Majesty's Government to consider with us the adoption of a more convenient line to be established by meridian observations, or by known geographical features, without the necessity of an expensive survey of the whole." The terms in which my telegram to your Ijordship was couched were intended to point rather to such a " preliminary reconnaissance " conducted on the spot, and possibly at the same time, by olficers of the United States on the one part and of Canada on the other, with the object of accjuiring for their respective Governments that precise information as to the geographical configuration of the country which is now wanting, than to the appointment of a formally constituted Joint Commission with all the powers suggested in Mr. Phelps' letter to Lord Salisbury. 5. The less formal "preliminary reconnaissance" indicated in the I'resident's Message would a()pear to he in all respects better suited to the requirements of the case as it at present stands ; such a reconnaissance would not be inconsistent with the free and friendly interchange of ideas between the two bodies of experts who might be intrusted with the investigation, while it would probably be the means of avoiding much of the contention which would be likely to arise were a Joint Commission to be instructed to agree, or to endeavour to agree on the spot, to the actual delimitation of the frontier line. Lieutenant- Colonel D. R. Cameron, who was employed in connection with the location of the eastern boundary of British Columbia, and who has given some attention to the matter under consideration, lias expressed, in a letter to Sir Charles Tupper, dated the 12th November, 1684) (of which I inclose a copy), his opinion that " before the question is opened by the United States' Government it would be well for the Canadian Government to have a previous clear knowledge of the topography of the possible boundary line." This opinion is shared by the Dominion Government, which has at present no such knowledge. The preliminary reconnaissance above suggested would, even if it led to no other result, afford valuable data for future action. If we were, as Lieutenant-Colonel Cameron says, to survey the country "in conjunction with the United States' people," and to pledge ourselves beforehand " to come to fresh terms on the result of such a survey," it " would be an invitation to them to dispute over every inch of the ground." 6. Assuming, then, that the preliminary survey is to be such as that above suggested, that the inquiry, though possibly simultaneous, is not to be a joint inquiry, and that the Conmissioners will be called upon to report to their respective Governments, and not to u find a frontier acceptable to both Commissinng, it becomes necessary to consider, la accordiincc wit!) tiie terms of my telegram, what instructions ssliouhl be given to the Canadian Commissioners, imd what scope should be assigned to the inquiry intrusted to them. ^ 7. The main object of the inquiry would be to prepare the way for the delimitation of a frontier according with the spirit, if not with the letter, of tlie Convention between Great Britain and Russia of 18iJ5. With regard to the intention of that Convention (Articles III and IV), there does not appear to be much room for doubt. Two indications are given of the line which the frontier is to follow to the north of the Portland Channel : (a.) From the point at which the Portland Channel strikes the G.'ith degree of north latitude the line is to follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast as far as the point of intersection with the Hist degree of west longitude, and is to run thence along the meridian line of the 14l8t degree as far as the frozen ocean. (ft.) Whenever the sunmiit of these mountains proves to be more than 10 marine leagues from the ocean the frontier is to be formed by a line parallel to the winding of the coast, .ind never running at a greater distance than 10 marine learues from it. 8. The papers now before us show that the former i-f these limits is one which may possibly prove inapplicable to the geographical features of the country. It is stated "by Professor Dull, in his Report (quoted by ^Ir. Bayarrl in his despatch of the '20th November, IS;^.")), that there is no range of mountains such as that which the framers of the Convention believed to run parallel with the coast line. In place of such a range there is, he says, a series of short ranges, with endless ramifications, dcscriljcd as " irregular, broken, and tumultuous to the list decree," with the further peculiarity that throughout the great part of them the summits are nearly imiform in height, without dominating crests. Even if it were lo he decided to take the highest summits of this sea of mountains as features in the boundary line, it would, Mr. Dall believes, be iv ccssary, before the proper summits could be selected, to determine the height of avast number of scattered peaks, clothed with dense limber, and accessible only at the cost of immense labour and expense. 9. These statements will require verification upon the spot by the Canadian Commissioners before they can be accepted as conclusively disjiroving the existence of a line of summits suitable as leading features in an international frontier. Should they be verified, we must be prepared to find ourselves obliged to fall back upon the second indication contained in the Treaty of 1826, viz., the line "parallel with the winding ol" the coast," and never more than 10 leagues distant from it. It is strongly urged by Mr. Dall, aid by Mr. Bayard in his comments on Mr. Dall's Report, that such a line could not be laid down in literal accordance with the language of the Convention without incurring enormous expense and delay, ;uid that when laid down it would afford a frontier grotesque in its iiitricncies and iriegnlc.itios. Should this, however, prove to be the case, it does not • bv any meant: follow that Unre would be any insuperable didict;lty in discoveiiiii; a line according with the obvious i;,tentions of the framers of the Treaty, and any Commissioners who may be appointed by the Dominion will certaiidy be instructed to make this their main object. Although neither Mr. Phelps nor Mr. Bayard, both of whom are content with showing the inapplicability of the definition contained in Articles III and IV, make any suggestion as to the principle by w hich the Commissioners are to be guided, it is presumed that those of the United States will be similarly instructed. iO. It has been suggested that, in order to get over the physical difficulties which present themselves, the international boundary might be determined at special points (these being selected by the Commissioners either on account of their importance as geographical features, or because they have, as in the case of the Stickine River, been already occupied by settlers) through the simple expedient of measuring the distance between such points and the ocean, and so ascertaining whether they come within or without of the Treaty limit of 10 leagues. These points having been thus established, any resulting irregularities in the frontier might, it is contended, be subsequently corrected by a conventional line involving mutual concessions where necessary. 1 1 . With regard to this suggestion, it should no doubt be borne in mind that if any i attempt is made at the present time to define the frontier, the definition should, if possible, be such as to avoid all prospect of future disputes, and that, considering the character of the British Columbian coast, any line based on measurements from different points inland to the nearest salt water might prove to be so irregular as to lead to hopeless confusion. In regard to many of the creeks and inlets by which the coast line is indented, it would probably be difficult to ascertain at what point the water became salt, while in some oases it might not be easy to ascertain which of the numerous Inlets of the sea were in reality nearest to the point in dispute. 12. On the other hand, the wording of Article IV of the Convention of 1825 does 37 I', in the usted not ncccasarily imply that tlie fiontier sliould run puiallet to every sinuosity of the coast line, and be an exact reproduction of it, ndvancinj; willi every headland, and recedinir witli every inlet, no matter how insignificant. Nor is the Dominion Government prepared to admit, in the absence of information such as that which its Commission would no doulit obtain, that the general contour or winding of the coast, excluding its sii^dlcr intlentations, could not bo laid down in such a manner as to atibrd a practicable basis for u frontier line running parallel with it. 13. Under these circumstances, I would suggest that if there is to be such a preliminary reconnaissance as that mentioned in the telegram, those to whom it is intrusted should be instructed, in the first place, to ascertain whether it is beyond question, as stated by Professor Dall, that there is no mountain range or series of summits sufficitMitJy defined to admit of its being made use of for the purpose of establishing a frontier in accordance with the Convention of 1825, and, failing such a range or series of summits, to make it their object to discover a natural boundary according substantially with the intention of Articles III and IV of that Convention. Such a boundary might possibly bo best obtained by following some of the valleys and rivers by which the coast range is intersected. It should be the endeavour of the Commissioners to ascertain whether there are in existence any such valleys or water-courses that might be used for the purpose of a frontier line, an attt-iiipt being made to discover a series of them running at an average distance of 10 leagues from the sea-board, the distance being computed without regard to the sinuosities of the latter, and any advantage given to one Power throughout a particular portion of the line scketed being compensated by an approximately equivalent concession to the other Power at oilier points. 14. A preliminary survey conducted with these objects need not involve any very large expenditure of public money. The work would be similar in kind to that which has been undertaken whenever a line of railway is carried through a mountainous district, and there would probably be no want of professional men of the class of those employed in the location of the Canadian Pacific Railway who would be fit to assist in such an operation. 15. If it should prove that no natural features lending themselves to the delimitation of such a frontier are in existence, that the valleys ^nd water-courses run rather at right an,;les to the coast line than parallel with it, it would probably be necessary to fall back upon the alternative apparently present to Mr. Bayard's mind when he wrote his despatch to Mr. Phelps, already quoted, viz. : — " A frontier bounded by right lines having geodetic termini," such termini to be selected at points where the geographical features of the coast were clear and distinct, and where it was easy to apply the language of the Treaty of 1825. It might be ultimately agreed upon that the frontier should consist of an air-line drawn between points so selected, no attempt being made to survey that air-line for the present. In the event of a question arising hereafter with regard to any particular mineral-bearing region or district open for settlement, there would be no difficulty in ascertaining whether it lay to the east or to the west of the air-line. 16. It is worthy of remark that an examination of the official papers (vide Sessional i Papers, vol. xi, iy78, No. 125), containing the history of the communications which passed during the years 1872-77 between the Governments of the United States on the one hand and those of Canada and Great Britain on the other in regard to the Alaska boundary, shows that during those years, although readiness was repeatedly expressed on the part of the Dominion to consent either to a partial or to a complete delimitation of the frontier, the proposal was again and again abandoned by the United States, chiefly upon the ground of the expense involved. The cost of the necessary surveys appears to have been then estimated at 1,500,000 dollars, and the time required to complete it at ten years. (Vide Presitient Grant's Message to Congress, 1872.) These figures, however, probably had reference to a complete survey of the whole line, with a view to its delimitation on the spot from end to end. 17. The above observations have no application to so much of the iiontier as would lie between the south point of Prince of Wales Island and the head of the Portland Channel, or betwen the point of intersection of the I41st degree and the Northern Ocean. As to the latter portion of the boundary no question has arisen. The former, however, still requires to be defined, and with this object a survey of the waters between Prince of Wales Island and the Portland Channel would appear to be desirable. I have, &c. (Signed) LANSDOWNE. 1138] Inclosure 3 in No. 35. Lieutenant-Colonel Cameron to Sir C. Tupper. Dear Sir Charles, Sheerness, November 12, 1884. I SENT you last night my Memorandum on the Hon. Mr. Smith's letter about the eastern boundary of British Columbia. I had not the means by me of having it stitched, and, desiring not to delay its dispatch, sent it off unsewn. Will you oblige me by having the stitching done. I now send you the letter of Mr. Dall about the Alaska boundary, with Sir John Macdonald's indorsed instructions. Mr. Herbert, in his letter of the 29th July, referred to your communication to him as an application " to inspect any documents in this Department (Colonial Office) which may tend to show the intention of Parliament as to the true location of the eastern boundary of British Columbia." Mr. Meade, in writing to vou on the 29th July, 1884, to comply with your request, used similar language ; and on le 2nd September, 1884, Mr. Wingfield, telling me I might enter on the work, again used similar language. But I had no authority to investigate the Alaska boundary question ; and there is this differenc3 between it and the British Columbian eastern boundary, the former is one affectiny colonial interests only, the latter is Imperial, having to do with an international boundary. I shall be glad to investigate it if desired. When engaged in marking the 49th N. lat. parallel, I was called upon to make a Report on the Alaska boundary, and to render an estimate of the cost oi' its demarcation. This I did somewhat fully. My estimate would now have to be reduced by the difFe.ence of the cost of material, supplies, and labour which would arise from the increased facilities offered by settlement of Vancouver's Island, &c. Upon Mr. Dall's suggestions I would remark that before the question is opened with the United States' Government, it would be well for the Canadian Government to have a previous clear knowledge of the topography of the possible boundary line. To EUivey the country in conjunction with the United States' people, and to agree to come to fresh terms on the result of such a survey, would be an invitation to them to aispute over every inch of the ground. The meridian line from Mount St. Elias is a simple enough matter, but not so the line from the south up to Mount St. Elias. The definitiuii of the latter part of the line is, I think, sufficiently clear in the Treaty. I can recall only one debateable point, namely, a reference to the sinuosities of the coast in marking the line. In the case of inlets, for ^iiich the coast is noted, and mouths of rivers, at what point would the coast line be taken to be? Although this is, I think, speaking from recollection, the only indefinite description in the Treaty, there would be extreme difficulty ill tracing any such line inland, were it necessary to do so. The line is defined to run along mountain range, and, in the event of this failing, in a direction parallel to the sinuosities of the coast line, but in no case further inland than 10 marine leagues. If k be determined to open the question with the United States, it would be higMy desirable, before starting parties to mark the line, to submit questions to the Unitec States upon all possible debateable points in the application of the Treaty, and to arrive at a common understanding about the interpreta^^^'in by which the Boundary Com- missioners should be guided. The instructions to the Commissioners on these heads should be alike from the two countries. I have kept a copy of the papers 1 am now sending to you, in case you may desire to refer to me again about them. ... •' Yours, &c. :. (Sigued) D. R. CAMERON. No. 36. , • Sir P. Currie to Sir K. Herbert. Sir, Foreign Office, March 31, 1886. I AM directed by the Earl of Rosebery to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22nd instant, and to state to you i.T reply, for the information of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, that, in aci;ord..nce with his Lordship's request, a 30 ■,-■-,-,■.- communicaiion has been addressed to the Public Record Office authorizing the Keeper of the Records to allow Colonel Cameron to inspect the correspondence bearing on the Alaska Boundary question in connection with the negotiation of the Treaty with Russia of 1825. ; ;, V. ' : I am, &c. ^^' . ; , , V (Signed) P. CURRIE. No. 37. Sir L. West to the Earl of Rosebery, — (Received April 1 .) (No. 73.) My Lord, Washington, March 20, ^S8fi. WITH reference to your Lordship's despatch No. 3.") of the .5th February, diiecting me to place myself in direct communic-.tion with the Governor-General of Canada in regard to the question of the Alaska boundary, I have the honour to inclose to your Lordship herewith oopy of a despatch from the Marquis of Lansdowne on the subject. The agreement of the Government of Canada in principle to a preliminary survey of the Alaska boundary was duly .lOtified to the Secretary of State by Mr. Ilelyar during my abeence, and upon my return from Ottawa I placed in Mr. Bayard's hand a Memorandum, copy of which is herewith inclosed, embodying the views of the Dominion Government ps expressed to me. Copy of my despatch to the Marqu .. of Lancdowne reporting my interview with the Secretary of State is herewith inclosed. , I have, &c. ' (Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST. !> Jnclosure 1 in No. 37. The Marquis of Lansdowne to Sir L. West. (Confidential.) Sir, Gonrnmevl House, Ottawa, March 9, 1886. I HAVE the honour to inform you that, in a despatch dated the 6th February, the Secretary of State for the Colonies communicated tc me the proposal of the Unitei? States' Government for the appointment of a Commissioner to deal with the Alaskan Boundary question, which proposal was described in Lord Salisbury's despatch to you No. 8 A of 1 2th January, of which a copy was inclosed in the above-mentioned despatch. It was intimated to me that, in the event of my Government agreeing to that proposal, I was at liberty to comniunicate directly with you u,.on the subject. 2. I now beg to forward herewith, tor your information, a copy of a cypher telegram wliich I addressed to Lord G; anville to-day in reference to this question. 3. You can, if you think projier, communicate the substance of this telegram to the Secretary of State of the United States. I have, &c. (Signed) LANSDOWNE. Inclosure 2 in No. 37. The Marquis of Lansdowne to Earl Granville. (Telegraphic.) March 9, 1886. Mi Government y.gree in principle to preliminary survey of Alaska boundary by Commission. Willscmd despatch as to instructions and scope of inquiry. Have informed Sir L. West. Incloscire 3 in No. 37. Memorandum. MR. PHELPS' proposal was for the appointment of a Joiiu CommisEion. The Dominion Government, however, while expressing its general agreement to a preliminary survey, has not expressed its assent to such a Commission. They consider that a preliminary survey, such as was suggested in the President's Message to Congress, is preferable to a formally constituted Joint Commission, which would involve a large expenditure of public money, and lead, perhaps, to interminable discussions. 40 They are of opiuion that the survey which they are prepared to agree to would enable the two GovernmentB to establish a satisfactory basis for the delimitation of the frontier, and demonstrate whether the conditions of the Convention of 1825 are applicable to the now more or less known features of the country. (Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST. Inclosure 4 in No. 37. Sir L. West to the Marquis of Lansdotme. My Lord, Washington, March 19, 1886. • HAVE the honour to report to your Excellency that at an interview which I had this day with the Secretary of State I placed in his hands a Memornndum, of which copy is inclosed, embodying the views of your Excellency's Government, as expressed to me, on the proposal of the United StaUis' Minister in London for the appoint;D< nl of a Joint Commission to define the boundary between British Columbia and Alas^'i. I pointed out to Mr. Bayard that neither in the President's Messt^' ph> '< note to Mr. Phelps, is mention made of a Joint Commission, and that a preli. »■ , t ay only is recommended. Mr. Bayard acquiesced, as I understood him, in this view. I have, &c. (Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST. No. 37*. Sir P. Currie to Sir R. Herbert. (Confidential.) Sir, Foreign Office, April 2, 1886. WITH reference to the letter from this Office of the 29th ultimo, I am directed by the Earl of Rosebery to transmit to you the accompanying copy of a despatch from Her Majesty's Minister at Wpshington,* inclosing a correspondence with the Governor-General of Canada and the United States' Government on the Alaska Boundary question. I am, &c. V , '^v (Signed) P. CURRI' No. 38. The Earl of Rosebery to Sir L. ir'.»(. Foreign Office, April 3, 18S6, 4-30 P.M. (No. 7.) (Telegraphic.) ALASKA boundary. inform United States' Government that Her Majesty's Government ngree in principle to a preliminary investigation, but that this must not necessarily be understood to imply that a Joint Commission is agreed upon No. 35). The Earl of Rosebery to Sir L. Wesi. (No. 75. Confidential.) Sir, Foreign Office, April 3, ii" 3«'l WITH reference to your despatch No. 73 of the 20th ultimo, I transmit herewith, for your information, copies of a telegram and of t» despatch addressed by the Governor- General of Canada to Her Aiajesty's Secre.iry t»f StVi' foi 'La Colonies, embodying the views of the Dominion Government relative to the Alaska Kf •'jaiy question. t" In accordance with a suggestion made by T.arl Granvii;^, ^ have requested you, by telegraph to>(Uy, to inform the United States' Qoverniixout tb«t Her Migesty's verD- ment agree in I am &c. (Signed) D. R. CAMERON. No. 42. Sir L, West to the Earl of Rosebery. — (Received April 10.) (No. 85.) My Lord, Washington, March 28, 1886. W ITU reference to the Memorandum on the proposal of the United States' Govern- ment for the appointment of a Joint Commission to define the boundary between British Columbia and Alaska, which, as repotted in my despatch No. 73 of the 20th instant, I placed in the hands of the Secretary of State, I have the honour to inclose copy of a despatch which I have received fi-om the Marquis of Lansdowne, stating that it expresses exactly the views of his Government in regard to this matter. I have, &c. (Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST. Inclosure in No. 42. The Marquis of Lansdowne to Sir L. West. Sir, Government House, Ottawa, March 24, 1886. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 19th March, inclosing copy of a Memorandum upon the proposal of the United States' m. 43 Minister in London for the appointment of a Joint Commission to define the boundary between British Columbia and Alaska. The Memorandum expresses exactly the views of my Government in regard to this matter. I have, &c. (Signed) LANSDOWNE. No. 43. ': I ; Mr. Brnmsf.on to Sir P. Currie. — {Received April 10.) Sir, Downing Street, April 9, 1886. I am directed by Earl Granville to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ultimo, inclosing a letter from Mr. J. C. Knight Bruce, offering his services on the proposed Commission for fixing the boundary between Alaska and British North America. Lord Granville would suggest that Mr. Knight Bruce should be informed that the arrangements connected with the proposal for an investigation of the Alaska boundary are at present incomplete, but that a note will be made of his application. I am, &c, (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. No. 44. Mr. Bramston to Sir P. Curris. — {Received April 12.) (Confidential.) Sir, Downing Street, April 12, 1886. WITH reference to your letter of the 15th February last, I am directed by Earl Granville to transmit to you, to be laid before the Earl of Rosebery, a copy of a correspon- dence with the Admiralty and the Governor-General of Canada relative to certain maps desired by the United States' Minister in connection with the Alaska boundary question. Lord Granville would suggest that the Chart accompanying the Admiralty letter of the 3rd instant should be communicated to Mr. Phelps, with an intimation that the other maps required by hii.i will be forwarded to him as soon as they are received from the Admiralty and the Canadian Government. I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. Inclosure 1 in No. 44. Mr. Bramston to the Secretary to the Admiralty. Sir, Downing Street, March 27, 1886. I AM directed by Earl Granville to state, for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that Her Majesty's Government are in communication with the Government of the United States with regard to the question of the appointment of a Commission for determining or inquiring into the boundary of Alaska, and in anticipation that such a Comnn sion will be appointed, Lord Granville has suggested to the Earl of Rosebery that Colonel Cameron, R.E., should, in this event, be the Briaish Representative on the Commission. The War Office have already placed Colonel Cameron's services at the disposal c " this Department for the purpose of making a preliminary examination of the documents and maps bearing on the question. The United States' Minister has requested that he may be supplied with a copy of the Admiralty Chart No. 2431, and their Lordships will perceive from the accompanying copy of a Memorandum by Colonel Cameron, that he considers that the Chart, when delivered to Mr. Phelps, should bear on the face of it a statement of the sources whence certain of the details have been derived. Two copies of the Chart are in.^Iosed, and I am to request that they may be referred, together with the Memorandum, tc the Hydrographer to the Admiralty, in oi-der that he may consider how effect may best be given to Colonel Cameron's recommendation. Mr. Phelps also wishes to be furnished with a copy of a Surrey by Staff Commander •■■■■• 44 Pender, relened to in the accompanying extract from a despatch from Mr. Bayard, and I am to state that Lord Granville would be obliged if their Lordships would furnish him with two copies of the Survey in question. I am to request that an answer may be returned to this letter at their Loruships' earliest convenience. I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. Inclosure 2 in No. 44. Memorandum. THE Admiralty Chart, "Port Simpson to Cross Sound," corrected to March 1884, proposed to be sent to the United States' Ambassador, should be referred to the Admiralty for consideration. It includes the names of Prince of Wales' Island and Portland Inlet ; it also shows the Cape " Co de Chacon," longitude 131° 56' west, to be in latitude ,54° 42^', and to have been surveyed eastward and westward. All these points affect the interpretation of the Convention with Russia of February 1825, but neither the Prince of Wales' Island nor the Portland Inlet indicated on the Chart appear to have been recognized by British authority in 1825, and it is not known by what authority Co de Chacon is placed in latitude 54° 42^- The Convention mentions 54° 40' as the southernmost point of Prince of Wales Archipelago. Vancouver describes Portland Canal as having a separate inlet to the north of Observatory Inlet. Similarly, a Russian Chart in the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty shows the Portland Canal as distinct firom the Observatory Inlet connection with the ocean. But the British Chart shows part of the Observatory Inlet as forming Portland Inlet. The United States' authorities have asked for the Chart with special reference to the boundary question, and it should, therefore, ou its face bear clear evidence that the details to which reference has now been made cannot jiossibly be allowed to affect the determina- tion of the boundary-line. This may, perhaps, be best accomplished by a reference on the face of the Map itself indicating the source and date of this determination. (Signed) D. R. CAMERON, Colonel. Colonial Office Library, March 22, 1886. Inclosure 3 in No. 44. Earl Granville to the Marquis of Lansdowne. (Secret.) My Lord, Downing Street, March 26, 1886. YOUR Lordship will observe from the inclosures to my predecessor's despatch. Secret, of the 6th ultimo, relative to the Alaska Boundary question, that the American Minister at this Court is desirous of being supplied with a copy of the Chart " of the Geological Survey of Canada, recently published." I presume that the reference is to the " Map of the Dominion of Canada, geologically coloured from surveys made by the Geological Corps, 1842-82." Only one copy of this Map is in the possession of this Department, and 1 have, therefore, to request that you will move your Government to supply me with further copies for the use of the American Minister, this Departmen*., and the Foreign Office. It is possible that this Map, being intended for geological purposes, may have been ; drawn without any great attempt at accuracy as regards the position of the boundary-line in the ncighbouriiood of Portland Inlet, in which case it would, of course, be undesirable that Her Majesty's Government should in any way appear to recognize this Map as an authority on tho question. I would therefore suggest that your Government should : consider the advisability of having the Map marked on the face of it, before being forwarded i to me, with a statement showing the source from which the position of the boundary-line Ihas been taken, or otherwise indicating the degree of authority which is to be attached to the Map on this point. I have, &o. (Signed) GRANVILLE. Inclosure 4 in No. 44. The Secretary to the Admiralty to Sir R. Herbert. Sir, Admiralty, April 3, 1886. IN accordance witli the request contained in your letter of the 27th ultimo, I am com- manded by my LorJ Commissioners of the Admiralty to transmit herewith, for Lord Granville's information, two copies of the Admiralty Chart No. 2431, with notes thereon showing the sources whence certain details have been derived on tiie subject of the boundar}' of Alaska. 2. The copies of Staff Commander Pender's original Survey, also asked for in your letter under reply, are being prepared, and will be forwarded as soon as they are ready, but being large sheets, they cannot be supplied immediately. I am, &c. (Signed)' EVAN MACGREGOR. Inclosure 5 in No. 44. > ', v - The Secretary to the Admiralty to Sir R. Herbert. THE Secretary to the Admiralty presents his compliments to the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and in reference to the Admiralty letter of the 3rd instant, begs to transmit herewith the copies of the original Surveys of Observatory Inlet and Portland Canal in British Columbia, which were requested in the Colunial Office letter of the 27th ultimo, in connection with thr Alaska Boundary Commission. Admiralty, April 7, 1886. Inclosure 6 in No. 44. Mr. Bramston to the Secretary to the Admiralty. (Confidential.) Sir, Downing Street, April 12, 1886. I AM directed by Earl Granville to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of the 3rd and 7th instant, forwarding maps in connection with the Alaska Boundary question. I am to request that you will lay before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty the accompanying copy of a Memorandum by Colonel Cameron upon the copies of Staff Commander Pender's Surveys which were forwarded with your letter of the 7th instant, and that you will move their Lordships to consider how effect may best be given to Colonel Cameron's recommendation. The copies of the Surveys are returned herewith. I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. Inclosure 7 in No. 44. Memorandum. WITH regard to the copies of Captain Pender's original Surveys of Portland Canal and Observatory Inlet, a set of which has been procured for transmission to the United States' Government, the following remarks are submitted. The United States' authorities have applied for these Charts, expressly with a view to the determination of the international boundary. They have already laid sti^ss on the circumstance that the embouchure of Observa- tory Inlet is called Portland Inlet on British Charts, and have made use of this circumstance in support of their contention that the international boundary leaves the ocean, in accordance with the Convention of February 182.5 between Great Britain and Russia by Portland Inlet. The United States' authorities have also referred, in their communications with Her Majesty's Foreign Office, to the supposed error in the Convention with regard to the position of the head of Portland Canal relatively to the parallel of ."jG" north latitude. In connection with these points, it is desirable that nothing should be furnished [123] N ' ■■ . . ':,■•^ 48 which, under the circumstances, may naturally be construed by the United States* authorities as a formal and official acquiescence in their arguments. Consequently, on the face of Chart No. VIII, Port Simpson to Naso, 1868, to be sent to the United States' authorities, there should be an official record that the name Portland Inlet, given to the connection of Observatory Inlet with the ocean, and the name, Portland Canal, given to the northern connection between Observatory Inlet and the northern part of Portland Canal, are of comparatively recent application. Also, the note by Navigating Lieutenant Coghlan, R N., on the face of the Chart, explanatory of a supposee' mistake on the part of Vancouver in recording the latitude of the northern extremity of Portland Canal, requires revision. The explanatory note attributes the alleged mistake to a misprint of ^5° 45' north latitude for 55° 55' north latitude; and supports this view by stating that Vancouver records his having made the best of his way back from the head of the canal, to which he had assigned 55° 45' north latitude, to a position which he noted as 55° 43' north latitude, a distance of approximately only 2 miles, although he occupied a day in accom- plishing it. But the misprint does not appear to have occurred, and the movements of Vancouver have been misread. The text of Vancouver's " History " agrees with his Chart, and the Chart would not have been made from the History. , Vancouver's "History" records the latitude of the head of the canal as 5.5° 45' north, and of his next position as 55° 42' north (not 55° 43', as noted by Lieutenant Coghlan) ; and it notes the time between his reaching the head of the canal and his return to latitude 55° 42' as two hours only; that is, from 10 a.m. to noon on the 29th July, 1793, and not a whole day, as attributed by Lieutenant Coghlan. Assuming the latitudes recorded in Vancouver's " History " to be relatively correct, ia those two hours, including stoppages, he made 3 nautical miles of southing — a very fair rate of travelling under the circumstances. Thus, so far as Vancouver's Chart and the text of his " History " are concerned, they are perfectly consistent with one another. Moreover, if his determination of latitude at one of the two stations referred to was erroneous, it may be concluded, from the short time occupied in work and passing between them, that an error of nearly equal amount affected his determination of latitude at the other station. Such a coincidence could hardly have happened if Vancouver's calculations were based on separate observations of the sun's altitude at the respective stations. On the other hand, if he deduced the latitude of the head of the canal from the results of the observations taken by him at the second station, both would of course be affected by the same error, but this would not be the result of a misprint, nor is it the least likely that the relative latitudes of the two stations, as recorded by Vancouver, are far wrong. (Signed) D. R. CAMERON, Colonel, R.A. Aprin,188Q. ' ..i' - ' No. 46. Afr. Bramston to Sir P. Currie. — {Received April 12.) Sir, Downing Street, April 10, 1886. I AM directed by Earl Granville to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22nd ultimo, inclosing a letter from Major-General Laurie, applying for the appointment of British Commissioner on the Alaska Boundary Commission, or for some subordinate employment under Her Majesty's Government. I am to transmit a copy of an application wh^'^h Major-General Laurie has addressed to this Office, together with a copy of the reply v. ;h has been sent to him ; and I am to suggest that a similar reply should be made to the application which he has sent to the Foreign Office. I am, &c. (Signrcl. JOHN BRAMSTON. 47 Inclosurc 1 in No, 45. MajoT'Oeneral Laurie to Earl Granville. My Ivord, 47, Porchester Terrace, London, March 20, 1886. UNDERSTANDING that it is proposed to appoint a Commission to define the boundaries between the Territory of Alaska, United States of America, and tiic Dominion of Canada, I have the honour to apply for the appointment of British Commissioner. Having served in command of the militia m the Province of British Columbia, I am well acquainted with that section of country, and with the prominent public men both in that province and in the neiijhbouring United States ; and as I have held a Staff appoint- for more than twenty years in Canada, and mixed much with the people on both sides of the line, both east and west, my extended acquaintance should give me special qualifica- tions for this duty, of which, however, the Honourable Sir Charles Tupper, G.C.M.G., C.B., can also speak. I also served as second in command and Commandant of Base and Lines of Communi- cation during the recent Iforth-west rebellion. I have heard that it is probable Colonel Cameron, Royal Artillery, may be designated for this appointment, and if this be so I should not wish to place my name as a competitor with him, but would then respectfully submit my name for any employment in connection with the Colonial Service for which my varied experience may fit me. I am quite willing to accept a subordinate position until I have given satisfactory proof of my fitness for more responsible office. My principal degire is for employment. (Signed) ' J. WIMBURN LAURIE. Inclosure 2 in No. 45, '' ' Mr. Bramston to Major-General Laurie. Sir, Downing Street, April 10, 1886. I AM directed by Earl Granville to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th ultimo, applying for the appointment of British Commissioner in connection with the proposed survey of the boundary between Canada and Alaska, or for some other appoint- ment in the Colonial Service. Lord Granville desires me to inform you, in reply, that the arrangements connected with the proposal for an investigation of the Alaska boundary are at present incomplete, but that in the event of a British Commissioner being appointed the post will probably be offered to another oflScer. With regard to your application for general employment, I am to inclose a printed paper relating to Colonial appointments, and to state that his Lordship fears that he is not likely to have any opportunity of offering you employment. I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. No. 46. The Enrl of Rosebery to Sir L. West. (No. 84.) Sir, Foreign Office, April 12, 1886. IN the course of conversation to-day, the American Minister said that he would be glad if I would send him a communication as to the present position of the Alaska Boundary question. Mr. Phelps stated that he only wished to know whether the appointment of a Commission was decided upon in principle, so that his Government might procure from Congress an appropriation for its expenses. The actual duties of the Commission, he said, might be left to future consideration. In his viow the Commission might be one of two things ; it might either propose a frontier after investigation, or else it might collect facts bearing upon the case and report upon them. The second course, he thought, would lead in all probability as directly to the ascertaining of a frontier as the first. 48 I transmit herewith a copy of a letter whicli has been addressed to Mr. Phelps in reply to his inquiry.* I am, &c. (Signed) ROSEBERT. No. 47. Mr. Bramston to Sir P. Currie. — {Received April 14.) (Confidential.) Sir, • Douming Street, April li, 1886. WITH reference to previous correspondence respecting tV.z Alaska Boundary question, I am directed by Earl Granville to transmit to you, for the information of the Earl of Rosebery, a copy of a Memorandum which has been drawn up by Colonel Cameron in anticipation of his Report, embodying the views he has formed on the subject after a preliminary examination of the documentary evidence at present accessible to him. I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. I Inclosiire in No. 47. Meynorandum. THE United States' Minister having communicated to Her Majesty's Secretary o^ State for Foreign Affairs the views of the United States' Government with regard to the location of the British-Alaskan boundary-line, and the Canadian Gorernment having the subject under consideration, the Undersigned, — in order to guard against the expression of opinions which might militate against Imperial and Canadian interests, — has the honour, in anticipation of the completion of the Report upon which he is engaged, to submit the following results of his examination of correspondence and records connected with the negotiation of the Convention of February 1825 with Russia. 2. The southernmost point of the Prince of Wales' Island may or may not be found to be in latitude 54° 40' north, as noted in the Hlrd Article of the Convention of 1825. 3. Cape Chacon is generally assumed to be the point at which the line described by the Convention begins, but there is no authority for this. In some Maps and Charts Cape Muzon is shown to be more southerly than Cape Chacon, and no particular headland is named in the Convention. 4. " Portland Channel,'' referred to in the Convention, is quite distinct from the Portland Inlet of modern Charts and Maps. Portland Inlet is a modern name given to water which at the time of the Convention was known only as Observatory Inlet. Portland Channel has its own separate connection with the ocean, and Russian Charts about the time of the Convention show Portland Canal, or Channel, to be wholly distinct from that part of Observatory Inlet called in recent years Portland Inlet. On Vancouver's Charts, and in the 4to edition of his " Voyages," Portland Canal is applied to the same arm of the sea as " Portland Channel " is applied to in the 8vo edition. In a Contre-Projet submitted by the British Plenipotentiary to the Plenipotentiaries of Russia, he refers to the latitude of the southern point of coast-line claimed by Russia (that is, at the Portland Channel) as being in latitude 54° 45'. A reference to Vancouver's Chart will show that this is practically the mouth of Vancouver's Portland Canal, of which the northern side is described in the text of his " Voyages " (4to edition, vol. ii, p. 344 ; 8vo edition, vol. iv, p. 146) as being in latitude 54° 45|'. 5. In the sentence of the IlIrd Article of the Convention — " La dite ligne remontera au nord le long de la passe dite Portland Channel jusqu'au point de la terre ferme oil elle atteinl le 56' degr6 de latitude nord," — tlic words " ou elle atteint la 56'^ degr^ de latitude nord " have been interpreted to mean, " where Portland Channel reaches the 56th degree of north latitude," whereas the correct translation would appear to be, " where the line reaches the 56th degree of north latitude." T\o read these last words as referring to the Channel involves the assumption that the Plenipotentiaries ignored the Maps they consulted. —^■^■ 6. In the next sentence of the llird Article — "De ce dernier point la ligne de demarcation suivra la crete des montagnes situees parallfelement k la c6te, jusqu'au point • No. 49. ^'intersection du 141° degr6 de longitude ouest," — is meant to indicate a line marked out by the tops of the mountains next to the sea. The gap between the point on the parallel of 56° north latitude to which the line, had previously been carried and the crest of the mountains next the sea — if any such gap^ there should prove to be — is left to be filled in by a direct line, just as in the case of the» boundary extending between the southernmost point of the Prince of Wales' Island and the) mouth of Portland Channel is described by the words, "ft partir du point le plus meridional j de llle dite Prince of Wales, la dite ligne remontera au nord le long de la passe dite ( Portland Channel." It^is to be observed that the text of the Convention makes no reference to a chain of mountains^ and it uses the adverbial form of the word parallel, which has been mistrans- lated in the English version. There is as much diflFerence between the expressions, " les montagnes situ&s parallel ement h la c6te," and " les montagnes qui se trouvent parallelen k la c6tc," as there is in English between " a line running north-weslerlij " and " a north- west line." There are expressions in the correspondence connected with the negotiations which show that, while the writers were not quite familiar with map-reading, and were inclined to attribute to the old conventional signs for unsurveyed mountainous regions a meaning which could never have been dreamt of by the experienced men who made the Charts, they (the writers) did not consider the conventional signs at all reliable with respect to the signification they attributed to them. Moreover, the Plenipotentiaries were aware that rivers rising inland in British territory traversed Russian Alaska to the ocean, and, in fact, by Article VI made provision for freedom of navigation along the streams. Consequently, it is quite impossible the Plenipotentiaries had any belief that a oon« tinuous mountain ridge generally parallel to the coast would be found from Portland Channel to the 141st degree of west longitude. The history of the mountain summit line is shortly as follows : — It was first proposed by the Russian Plenipotentiaries at the second meeting of the negotiators, when in a Contre-Projet they desired that the line should run through Portland Channel — "jusqu'aux montagnes qui bordent la c6te. De ce point la limite remonterait le long des montagnes parallMement aux sinuosites de la cote jusqu'^ la longitude du 139' degr6 (mdridien de Londres "). The British negotiator objected to the extent of southing claimed by the Russians, and proposed to substitute a line from a point on the continental shore north of Duke of York's Island (reserving Prinw''%*«vr''i****., No. 59. i»iiin««i»»'>'7' •• ' Sir R. Morier to the Earl of Rosehery. — (Received May 10.) (No. 164.) My Lord, ^ _ St. Petersburgh, May 5, 1886. ON receipt of your Lordship's despatch No. 98 of the 21 st ultimo, I caused a careful search to be made throughout the archives of this Embassy for the original documents and maps used during the negotiations precedent to the conclusion of the Convention between Great Britain and Russia of the 16th (28th) February, 1825. The search for the above has been greatly facilitated by the carefully made catalogues of the archives drawn up by Mr. Adam during his period of service at this Embassy, and I am enabled to account for the fact that no trace has been found of the original papers wanted, by referring your Lordship to a despatch addressed on the 20th November, 1825, by Lord Strangford to Mr. Secretary Canning, stating that not even then did the archives of the Embassy posj^ess the correspondence in question. On the 20tn December, 1825, copies of the papers were furnished to his Lordship by 55« No. 60«. Sir P. Carrie to Sir B. Herbert. Sir, Foreign Office, May 25, 1886. ON the 19th January last the American Minister at this Court, in a note to Lord •Salisbury on the Alaska Boundary question, of which a copy was forwarded to your Department on the 23rd of that month, asked to be supplied with copies of the British and Canadian official Maps mentioned in a " Statement " which he inclosed. In that "Statement" reference was made to the geological survey of Canada, recently published, on which it was shown that the " boundary followed the central line of the main channel, known as Portland Inlet." As it was not possible to procure a copy of this Map in London, an order was sent to Canada (through Messrs. Stanford) for two copies, which have just arrived. In transmitting to you a copy of the Map in question, 1 am directed by the Eai'l of Rosebery to request that you will inform Earl Granville that his Lordship is of opinion tliat it would be advisable before sending a copy to Mr. Phelps, that it should be submitted to Colonel Cameron, for any observations he may have to offer on it, as it epared by British geographers ; and I am to inquire, , illc is prepared to admit that the Map in question is appears to differ from othci Maps j at the same time, whether l.arl Grai an official one. 1 am, (Signed) &c. P. CURRIE. [123] P» 56 Mr. Secretory Canning, but these copies, whose receipt was duly acknowledged on the | 17th January, 1825, are not now forthcoming. I have the honour to forward herewith copies of the two despatches above referred to, namely, Lord Strangford's despatch of the 22nd l^ovember and Mr. Canning's reply. I have, &c. (Signed) R. B. D. MORIER. Inclosnre 1 in No. 59. . Viscount Strangf or d to Mr. Canning. Sir, St. Petersburgh, November 10 (22), 1825. j IN my intercourse with my colleagues at this Court, and in one instonce in a conversation with Count Nesselrode, I have felt myself under some difficulty and embarrassment when reference has been made to the Special Mission of Mr. Stratford Canning, and to the transactions of that period. There do not exist any traces either of Mr. Stratford Canning's correspondence with | the Foreign Office or of your instructions to him in the archives of this Embassy. I had | not the advantage of seeing the former previously to my departure from England, and I f confess with regret that ray recollection of the precise terms of the latter (with a perusal of which you had the goodness to indulge me) is too imperfect to be relied on. I nave therefore respectfully to request that you would cause me to be furnished with : such copies or extracts of those documents as you may think necessary for my guidancft^ in conducting the affiiirs of this Embassy. T Hayo &C i (Signed) ' STRANGFORD. Inclosure 2 in No. 59. Mr. Canning to Viscount Strangford. * My Lord, ' ' Foreign Office, December 20, 1825. IN compliance with the request contained in your Excellency's despatch, I transmit herewith copies of the instructions with which Mr. Stratford Canning was furnisheci, and also copies of bis despatches to this Department, durii^ his Special Mission to St. Petersburgh at the end of last year. four Excellency will have the goodness to place these papers in the archives of His Majesty's Embassy at St. Petersburgh. I have, &c. - , (Signed) GEORGE CANNING. 1 : No. 60. . .;■ Sir P. Currie to Sir R. Herbert. ■•■■■ ' ' ' Foreign Office, May 15, 1886. [Transmits copy of Sir R. Morier's No. 164 of May 5, 1886 : ante, No. 59.] • No. 61. Mr. Bramston to Sir P. Currie. — {Received May 26.) Sir, Downing Street, May 25, 1886. WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 12th ultimo relative to the Alaska Boundary qnostion, I am directed by Earl Granville to transmit to you, for the use of the United States' Minister, the accompanying maps which have been received from the Admiralty I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. y.1 m 56 No. 62. The Earl of Bosebery to Sir L. West. (No. 118.) Foreign Office, May 29, 1886. [Transmits copy of Colonial OflSce letter of April 8, 1886 : ante, No. 41.] \i*0 No. 63. -Sir L. West to the Earl of Rosebery. — {Received May 31.) 131.) My Lord. Washington, May 21, 1886. WITH reference to my despatch No. 91 of the 3rd ultimo, I have the honour to transmit herewith the following document which I have reoeived from the United States* Government, viz., a message from the President recommending an appropriation of 100,000 dollars for a preliminary survey of the Alaska boundary. Copies of the Report therein alluded to shall be forwarded as soon as published. I have, &c. (Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST. Inclosure in No. 63. 49th Congress, 1st Session. — Ex. Doc. No. 143. Senate. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a Report of the Secretary of State relative to the Frontier Line between Alaska and British Columbia. I May 17, 1886. — Read and ordered to b*; printed. The accompanying documents referred to the Committee on Printing. To the Senate and House of Representatives : WITH reference to the paragraph in my Annual Message to Congress, in which I called attention to the uncertainty that exists as to the location of the frontier line between Alaska and British Columbia, as defined by the Treaty of Cession with Russia of the 30th March, 1867, I now transmit* herewith, for the information and consideration of Congress, a Report of the Secretary of State upon the subject, with accompanying papers. In view of the importance of the subject, I recommend that provision be made by law for a preliminary survey of the boundary line in question by oflScers of the United States, in order that the information necessary for the basis of a Treaty between this country and Great Britain for the establishment of a definite boundary line may be obtained ; and I also recommend that the sum of 100,000 dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be appropriated for the expenses of making such survey. (Signed) GROVER CLEVELAND. Executive Mansion, Washington, May 17, 1886. No. 64. The Earl of Rosebery to Mr. Phelps. Sir, Foreign Office, June 2, 1886. WITH reference to my note of the 15th April last, I have the bjnour to transmit to you the further maps requested in your note of the 19th January last in connection with the Alaska Boundary question.* I D&TG &C (Signed) ' ROSEBERY. Indoaed in Colonial Office letter of May 35, 1886. 57 No. 65. Sir P. Currie to Sir R. Herbert. , • Foreign Office, June 3, 1886. [Transmits copy of Inclosure in Sir L. West's No. 131 of May 21, 1886 : ante, Inclosure in No. 63.J No. 66. Mr. Bramston to Sir P. Currie. — (Received June 11.) Sir, Downing Street, June 10, 1886. I AM directed by Earl Granville to acltnowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th ultimo, forwarding a Canadian map in connection with the Alasica Boundary question. I am to request that you will state to the Earl of Rosebery that Lord Granville has not thought it necessary to refer this map to Colonel Cameron, who is understood to be now at Sheerness engaged in drawing up his Report. The map in question has already been before Colonel Cameron, and a reference to the Secretary of State's despatch to the Governor-General of Canada of tlie 26th March (a copy of which accompanied the letter from this Department of the 12th April) will show tiiat it was thought advisable that the map should be received from the Dominion Govern- ment, with an explanation of the sources of information made use of in compiling it. Lord Granville learns by telegraph tliat the map will probably be ready by next mail, and in the meantime, he would suggest that no communication should be made to Mr. Phelps. The inclosure to your letter is returned herewith. I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. No. 67. Mr. Bramston to Sir P. Currie. — {Received June 29.) Sir, Downing Street, June 28, 1886. WITH reference to your letter of the 3rd instant, forwarding a copy of a Message from the President of the United States with reference to the proposed survey of the Alaska boundary, I am directed by Earl Granville to transmit to you, to be laid before the Earl of Rosebery, a copy of a letter from the High Commissioner for Canada on the subject. Lord Granville would be glad if Lord Rosebery could supply the papers asked for by Sir Charles Tupper. I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. Inclosure in No. 67. Sir C. Tupper to Sir R. Herbert. Sir, 9, Victoria Chamliers, London, June 18, 1886. T BEG to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1 Ith instant, transmitting, by direction of Earl Granville, a copy of a Message from the President of the United States, recommending an a|)propriation of 100,000 dollprs for a preliminary survey of the Alaska boundary. I beg to state that if his Lordship is able to cause me to be furnished with a copy of the Report of the Secretary of State upon the subject, with accompanying papers, referred to in the Message, I shall be much obliged. I am, &c. 2d) CHARLES TUPPER. (Signer! [123] Q 58 No. 68. The Earl of Rosehery to Sir L. West. (No. 139.) Sir, Foreign Office, July 3, 1886. WITH reference to your despatch No. 131 of the 2l8t May, inclosing copy of the Message of the President of the United States with reference to the proposed survey of the Alaska boundary, I have to remind you that the copies of the Report therein alluded to have not yet reached this Office. It is desirable that they should be sent as soon as possible. I am, &c. (Signed) ROSEBERY. No. 69. Sir P. Currie to Mr. Bramston. Sir, Foreign Office, July 3, 188«. I AM directed by the Earl of Rosebcry to acknowledf?e the receipt of your letter of the 28th ultimo in regard to the Message of the President of the United States with reference to the proposed survey of the Alaska boundary ; and I am to .state that the Report, with the papers referred to in the Message, for which Sir C. Tupper asks, has not yet been received from Her Majesty's Minister at Washington. Sir L. West has been dir&sted to send home copies of the Report as soon as possible. I am, &c. (Signed) P. CURRIE. No. 70. Sir L. West to the Earl of Bosehery. — {Received July 5.) (No. 152.) My Lord, Washington, June 21, 1886. WITH reference to my despatch No. 113 of the 20th April last, transmitting copies of a Report of a military reconnaissance in Alaska by Lieutenant Schwatka, I have the honour to inform your Lordship that an exploring expedition has been organized by the " New York Times " newspaper which is under the command of that officer assisted by Professor Libbey of Princeton College, who will have charge of the scientific work. The expedition appears to have left Port Townsend (Washington Territory) on the 14th instant, and has for its object the exploration of the St. Elias Alps. I inclose herewith copies of the notice which has appeared m the " New York Times," and which contains an Article written by Lieutenant Schwatka himself. I have, &c. (Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST. Inclosure in No. 70. Extract from the "New York Times" of June 21, 1886. The Secrets op Alaska. — ^The "New York Times " Alaskan exploring expedition ■which sailed or. the Alaskan steamer " Ancon " from Port Townsend, Washington territory, the 14th June, has for its obiect rhe exploration of the almost wholly unknown St. Elms A1d|, stretehins; for nearly 300 miles fi'om the upper part of that pictureque ene ofwatei" cnlied " the i nland passage to Alaska " to Mount St. Elias, the highest peak of the North An.3 "can Continent, and which throws its name over the whole range, and even beyond. The ejjpedit'on, therefore, will have to do with mountain climbing, and should opportunity present, which is very likely, attempts will be made to ascend in whole or in part some of the numerous peaks that project from that high range ; although, strictly speaking, this is not its main object, still it woulcTtJe'consiJered no small victory to crown the King of the American continent, Mount St. Elias, with shoe leather of American make : 59 and but a littlo way behind this to reach the summits of any of the othcrs^Crillon, Fnii- weather, Lu Perouse, Vancouver, Lituya, d'Agelet — all higher than any peal* sliort of tlic Rocky Mountain range. Should the top of the main range be gained, at 8,000 to 10,000 feet above sea-level, it is hoped — and the probabilities arc great — that a bird's-eye view in the interior will compensate for all the trouble taken, and especially if tiiis bi' done at several points along the main ridge. Bad weather, of course, could defeat mucii of this part of the plan, but during the summer montiis this is not very likely. The interior slopes may be descended if the prospect is at all flattering for important I'cscarch and discovery of any kind : for towards the interior absolutely nothing is known of the country whatever. It (the interior) is on British soil as far west as the 141st meridian, anJ Unitfid States' territory on the seaward slopes of the great range, where it is likely the explorations will be confined. Professor William Libbey, .Junior, Professor of Physical Geography in Princeton College, will have charge of the scientific work, and especially the hypsometrical and topographical part of it. He has been identified with considerable practical Alpine work in the past, both in our own and other countries. 'I'he well-known hypsometrical and other scientific Tables compiled by the late celebrated Professor Guyot (to whose chair at Princeton Professor Libbey succeedetl on the former's death), and published by the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, were recently revised under Professor Libbey's care, and brought up to the requirements of scientific advance- ment in that line since Professor Guyot's death. Many of the hypsometrical and other scientific instruments taken were once those of that celebrated geographer. Of the Commander of the expedition, Frederick Schwatka, it is sufficient to say that he writes this article. This is the personnel of the small expedition as it now stands. Once in Alaskan territory, the party will be increased by an Indian interpreter, two or three more white men, a half-dozen to a dozen Indians, with a war-canoe lor getting around in the by-ways and highways, for it must be remembered that the highways of Alaska are all channels of water, the minute one steps ashore he being generally confronted by high precipitous hills and mountains, or at least that part of Alaska the expedition will visit. The exact number of Indians the party will need is not known till the ground is reached. At present it is contemplated to take Chilkat Indians, who are known to be good Alpine workers, carrying loads of 100 to 150 lbs. of trading material on their backs across the glacier-clad and snow-bound passes of the Alaskan coast range of mountains of their country, in order to trade with the interior Indians of British America for furs of animals with which that region abounds. TUese furs were again put into rolls and bundles and carried back over the same perilous paths, and sold to the white traders, the Chilkats monopolizing this profitable commerce of the interior by preventing the white men from entering to trade, and the interior Indians from coming out for the same purpose. Years oT this have made them good Alpine climbers, although there may be found as good help in this line among the Indians lying along the seaward feet of the St. Elias A.'os. Of the Indians living here but very little is known, and this very fact is somewhat in favour of the expedition, as among these little-knowii savages there is every reason to suppose that a rich ethnological collection can be made, which will not only shed some light on the people themselves, but adjoining tribes that are somewhat spoiled for ethnological purposes by long contact with white men and civilization. They are known to be of the great family or nation of T'linkits, certain tribes of which are known about as well as the Sioux and Pawnees of the western United States. Among these are the Chilkats, the Chilkoots, the Takoos, the Stickeens, the Hoonyahs, the Kakes, the Awks, the Sitkas, the Kootznahoos, the Tongass, and probably half-a-dozen others. They have been known for decades, and worked upon with more or less success by successive students, till it is only in minute matters that anything new can be learned. It is known that the T'linkits — the above being sub-divisions — wore skin clothes in the far past, when the whites first came among them, and when they were but carelessly studied, and yet so long has civilization been among them that not one living T'linkit of the present has probably worn such clothing from necessity as of yore. With the Indians to be visited by the "Times" expedition it is thought that the T'linkits of many years ago may be encountered, and while it can hardly be hoped to see them as they were before white men came to their country, they will certainly be found in a far less advanced state than the other well-known tribes of the T'linkits, and correspondingly more interesting. Even their tribal name is almost unknown, and I have seen it mentioned in but one place that I can recall. Mr. C. E. S. Wood and Mr. Taylor attempted the ascent of Mount St. Elias about 1873 or 1874, and the former, in an able article in the "Century Magazine," gives an interesting account of his trip, speaking of the Indians encountered as the Asungues. Whether there are other tribes yet unknown or not remains to be proved. The As6ngues 60 were found just north of Cape Spencer, the northern boundary cape nf the Pacific entrance to Cross Sound. When I was among tlie Chilkat T'linkits, in 1863, tlicy spoke to me of a tribe (as I understood tiiem) on Yakutat Bay called the Yakutats. This may give another sub-division of the T'linkits. Whatever the Indiana may be in this district, on the seaward slopes of the St. Elias Alps, they will undoubtedly prove interesting in the extreme, "vlr. Wood's attempt to ascend Mount St. Elias is the only one of which I know. Ho started in a war-canoe from Sitka, and after a few days' travel his party was off Mounb Fairweather and Crillon, in the southern part of the Mount St. Elias Alps, and here his Indian helpers, (cr some of those unexplainable reasons so coaunon in using that kind of service, diopped anchor and positively refused to proceed further. Mr. Wood and Mr. Taylor were bent on trampin;; down some of the snow on St. Elias, hut theT'linkit assistants (?) pointed to Mount Fairweather and informed the white men that one mountain was as good as another to climb, if a person was foolish enough to get beyond tiie limit where game was to be found. Under such circumstances, Mr. Wood's attempt was fruitless in the main object, though very interesting in many other ways. Mount St. Elias, therefore, as far as we know, has never had a white man's foot on even its lower slopes. It is, of course, I always to be expected, should any attempt to ascend it prove successful, that old Chinese records will prove that Hi Lo Jak.or Wo Haw Gee, in the reign of the Emperor Meen fun, 2222 B.C., ascended Mount St. Elias to the very top, and returned to China next year in his junk. The glacier system of the Mount St. Elias Alps is undoubtedly the most extensive south of the Arctic regions themselves. Just how extended it is cannot be told until further exploration gives more data. It will probably be many years before it is well outlined, as no one exploration could encompass the whole of it. One bay alone has some six or seven glaciers coming down from the southern spurs of these Alaskan Ali)s just off the summits of Mounts Fairweather and Crillon, which, dipping into the sea, snap off into icebergs that float away nearly as high as the masts of the excursion steamers that visit this bay — calitd Glacier Bay — monthly during the sjiring and summer. From Glacier Bay rorthward to beyond Icy IBay (just scawanl from Mount St. Eli&s) there can be seen these huge rivers of solid ice coming down to the sea ; one, Le Grand Plateau, so named by La Perouse, its discoverer, being probably the largest one of the immense group covering so wide a territory. It is quite evident if the expedition accomplishes anything, that no small share of it will be in this particular field of research. Between the St. Elias Alps and the sea — the Pacific Ocean — is a narrow strip of flat lands where the Indians live, and which, Irom the ocean, seems to be heavily wooded. It is j)roposed to find out tiic status of this timber, and that on the foothills of the Alps, as far as it is possible without spending too nmeh time upon it. If tine forests of merchant- able timber arc found, and which is not at all unlikely, it is known that there are good harbours here which will make it quite accessible, and give value to the discovery. If anything near as valuable as the present yellow cedar forests of the shores of the inland passage of Alaska can be found, the expedition will be a double success from this very fact. In the way of precious minerals there is the usual prospect of seeing them, and while the search for them is probably the last on the list of undertakings, if at all, the party will not go by any mountains of gold or silver without at least taking a photograph of them. Miners will be taken in the party after Alaska is reached, more for the reason of their well-known familiarity with woodcraft and frontier travelling, than for any use that may be expected of them in " prospecting." I had a miner on ray first Alaskan explora- (tion, and I was quite gratuitously mentioned by a few sore-heads as conducting a " prospecting party," one of them even getting a chance to fling a little mud tak£P,.from his brain in a leading scientific publication. If I can make known any of the resources of that poorly understood territory, I shall be only too glad to have that to my credit, and only hold them subordinate for the pure and simple reason that they are not the object of the expedition. It is hardly to be hoped that the country is much richer in furs than the general average of the Alaska mainland, but sliould it fortunately prove otherwise the public shall know of it in due time. Agriculturally there is little to be expected in such a rough Alpine country, but if the low flats known to exist along the coast are not too marshy and have fertile soil, there is nothing to prevent their being cultivated to the fullest extent ; in which case it would be doubly valuable by there being no other agricultural lands near by. The climate of all Alaska facing the sea is very temperate, far more so than equal latitudes on the eastern or Atlantic shore, owing to the warm Japanese current throwing heat upon this shore, and having the same or similar efitct to the well-known action of the Atlantic Gulf Stream, «I wliicli niaki'S Europt so mucli milder in climate than the same latitude on our side ot the Atlantic Ocean. All that is needed, therefore, for a good agricultural district in iiiiy part of the seaward face of Alaska is u fertile and partially level soil. The last re()uiienK'nt is unfortunately seldom to he had on that part of the Ahi'-Lan coast facing the Pacific Ocean, the Alaska coast range of mountains shoving their bold faces into the very sea cm nearly its whole stretch. In fact, where they dip so low into the Pacific that tlic waters of that sea fill their valleys, we have an interminable network of waterways, flanked by high mountains, forming the picturesque inland passage to Alaska, showing some of the grandest and most imposing scenery of the world. Between the Chilkat and Chilkoot Inlets, m the very northernmost part of this inland passage, lies the Seduction Peninsula, said to be the only piece of level ground of any considerable extent in South-eastern Alaska. It seems to have a fertile soil, and if this much-neglected Territory ever gets any form or semblance of law by which rights to the domain can be aeijuired, it will be rapidly taken up. It is this sparsity of good land that would make the flats lying like a glacis ofT the St. Elias Alps so v^iiuable. The meagre reports of that part, however, seem to indicate that they are marshy and unfit for agricultural purposes. It is probable that where the foot-hills of the Alps fade into these flats the land may be found much better. Then, to resume, the main object of the expedition is general geographical research in the St. Elias Alps, coupled with a strong determination to try and make the ascent of some of the peaks of that great range, Mount St. VA'ms preferred, and to collect all scientific information that is possible in making these efforts, while if any industry, fur, fishery, mineral, or otherwise, can be found that seems likely to pay in this region it will be placed before the public through the " New York Times." In short, it is an exploring expedition in the widest sense, in the particular field selected, and, like entering any unknown field, sometimes the most unexpected and valuable information is acquired. The route to be taken across the United States is, of course, immaterial and uninteresting to my readers. The Puget Sound country being reached, land traveUing ceases for a while, and we become sailors for a week to ten days. From Port Townsend, the American port of entry to Puget Sound, a most picturesque sheet of water, to Alaska the travel is by ocean steamer, but by a most peculiar phase of it to those used to its more common aspects. It is not merely a trip out of port, then days on the limitless ocean, where a squawking gull or < transient sail forms all the food for conversation of things that are to be seen, but for over .000 miles the trip is the same as if on a river varying from a few hundred yards to a few miles in width. This is " the inland passage to Alaska," of which I have already spoken quite often, and is simply a congeries of narrow ocean channels set back in the land so far that their waters are always quiet however great a gale may be raging on the broad Pacific Ocean outside. During the summer months it may be said that the Pacific well deserves its name, and a trip even on " the outside passage " is not likely to prove very squally. The main object in taking the inside passage is the beautiful Alpine scenery encoimtered the whole length of the main channel taken over 1,000 miles, with, of course, a strong subordinate object of preventing sea-sickness to the tourist passengers, making this one of the pleasantest jaunts that can be taken. In fact, the " Times " Alaskan expedition will be a jolly lot of tourists almost till the tug of war begins with the St. Elias Alps themselves. Through the inland passage cf Washington Territory, British Columbia, and Alaska, visiting Victoria en route, then coming to the little shipping ports of Alaska Territory, Wrangell, Killisnoo, Juneay, Chilkat, and Sitka, the expedition probably disembarking at one of the latter two ports. Then the personnel will have to be increased by two or three frontiersmen, trappers or miners being the only two classes available in Alaska, the gay and festive cowboy being uakuown there from sheer lack of his peculiar occupation. A T'linkit Indian interpreter and three or four Chilkat or Sitka T'linkit Indians will also be added, and the personnel will be about completed, except the few Indians that may be hired from time to time in their own country around the mountains to be explored. Then comes the struggle up the coast facing the St. Elias Alps after emerging from Cross Sound into the Pacific, which sound is the northern limiting channel of the inland passage, as it connects with the outside. There are several methods presented of over- coming this part till Yakutat or Icy Pay, near the base of Mount St. Elias, is gained, and probably any of them will be succes'.ful. Beyond this it is very hard to make any, or at least many, definite plans, as they will probably vary with the unknown obstacles to be overcome. I think it is a questionable way of acting to have a too complex and rigid series of instructions to guide the action of an exploring party, which, above all others, should have the widest limit of individual action. I think it has proved even fatal to many distant expeditions in the past, and especiallv is this the case where these complex [123] ^ . ^ • R iiihtructiont) have originated with tliusc unfamiiiur with true exploration, and carried out by those with u iiigli sunsc of duty bordering on a too rigid obHcrvancc of technicalities 08 deserving of close attention. Tiicre is oftentimes, however, a p^reat proximity between the enforcement of u bad idea and the equally injudicious extreme on the other end, and tiuH should not be forgotten in an art where there are few rules indeed to guide a pernon, except those he may hove formulated from his own experience. Whatever may l)e the true status of this abstruse subject, the " Times " Alaskan expedition has more rations and ammunition than it has orders. In the way of food the common field rations of miners, trappers, and frontiersmen generally will be provided, supplemented by the game of the country, either fish or animal, if there be any, ai d it can be killed or purchased from the Indians among whom we move. In the way of arms and ammunition the party is, or will be, armed throughout, with Winchester repeating rifles, a kind with which I am familiar through my Arctic and Alaskan expeditions, discarding the Government arm as far as I could for it on the latter trip. It will be a well-enough armed party should it at any time pivot on these necessaries, as was so much the case on my Arctic trip. A couple of photguns and a revolver a])icce, for their peculiar use, should it occur, complete the complement of arms. Common rough but serviceable clcMiing, supplemented by a lew Esquimaux sack coats of reindeer skin for high Alpine work, has been provided. When the expedition returns will depend largely upon its measure of success, and when that success has been attained, for I shall try and hang on to some of our [dons till the party has attained something worth showing lor the time and money expeude ' for certainly the field is rich enough to expect such an end. As near as can be 'id now, September will probably see us back in the inland passage and eonneotcd v-im n.e telegraph and daily mails a month later. I can only hope that the largest ii mount ot my correspondence to the "Times " will be needed at that end of the undertaking explaining; what the party has accomplished rather than what it expects to accomplish One tiling is sure: If we can gain the backbone ridge of the St. F.lias Alps we will have tlu' coolest summer of any American citizens in America, which, when I think of the op[)rcssive summer I spent last year in New York and adjacent summer resorts, makes mc feel sure of a selfish victory at least. One may think that I write rather warmly now of the prospects, but this may be my last chance to do so, both the surrounding atmosphere and the prospects making it hard to use a fervent strain. But leaving light matters aside, we can only hope that if we fail, as often happens to explorers in their duty, the successful explorer who comes after, and does what we have failed to do, may need more improved appliances than those of the present day at our disposal. (Signed) Fukuerick Schwatka, No. 71. Sir P. Currie to Sir R. Herbert. Foreign Office, July 24, 1886. [Transmits copy of Sir L. West's No. 152 : ante, No. 70.] No. 72. Mr. Brumston to Sir P. Currie. — {Received .July 2S.) (Confidential.) Sir, Downing Street, July 27, 1886. WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 10th June, respecting the desire of the United States' Government to be furnished with a copy of a Canadian Geological Survey Map in connection with the Alaska Boundary (juestion, I am directe> ii from widely separated local indications. But even the geological representations of the Map are not to be accepted unquestioned. Dr. Selwyn, the Director of the Geological Uepartment of Canada, has informed me that the country near Alaska has barely been visited, much less has it been examined by any one competent to report upon it geologically. I am, &c. (Signed) D. R. CAMERON. No. 77. The Earl of Iddesleigh to Mr. Phelps. — ■ ■ii Jn l l ii H i W W Un'H K!*.- . Sir, Foreign Office, August 27, 1886. IN the note which you addressed to the Marquis of Salisbury on the 19th January ^ last, you requested that you might be furnished with a copy of the Map of the Dominion t)f Canada, geologically coloured, from surveys made by the Geological Corps, 1842-82, alluded to in Mr. Bayard's statement of the 20th November, 1885, with reference to the question of the Alaska frontier. In forwarding to you a cppy of the Map in question, 1 have the honour to invite your attention to the fact, that the Alaska boundary line shown therein is merely an indication of the occurrence of such a dividing line somewhere in that region. It will, of course, be clearly understood that no weight could attach to the Map location of the line now denoted, inasmuch as the Convention between Great Britain and Russia of the 28th February, 1825, vhich defines the line, making its location dependent on alternative circumstances, ti occurrence, or the non-occurrence, of mountains, and, as is well known ' to all concerned, the country has never been topographically surveyed. Her Majesty's Government therefore feel that they aie bound distinctly to disavow the recognition of the correctness of the line shown on the edition of the Map in question, forwarded herewith as the boundary line between the Province of British Colombia and Alaska. I am, &c. (Signed) IDDESLEIGH. No. 78. Mr. Phelps to the Earl of Iddesleigh. — (Received August 31.) My Lord, Legation of the United States, London, August 30, 1886. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 27th instant, and to express my thanks to your Ix)rdship for the two Maps, geologically coloured, of the Dominion of Canada therein contained. (Signed) ' E. J. PHELPS. .I^^i^^^— ^^11^— — ^i— — ^— i*>«— "i*-— — — W— — ^^^— ^— ^ ■■■!■ I1»- W I I ■! ^H^— I I I ■■■III! IIIIIIB I No. 79. Sir P. Carrie to Sir R. Herbert.* Foreign Office, August 31, 1886. [Tn>.nsmit8 copy of Mr. F. St. John's No. 61 of July 22, 1886.] * Alio to Home Office. 67 No. 80. Sir L, West to tfie Earl of IddcsleUjh. — (Received October .) (No. 237.) Washington, October 22, 1886. [Transmits copy of President's Message with Report on Alaska Boundary Question.] No. 81. Sir P. Currie to Mr. Bramston. Foreign Office, November 6, 1886. [Transmits copy of Inclosure in Sir L. West's No. 237 of October 22, 1886.] No. 82. Sir P. Currie to Mr. Bramston. (Confidential.) Foreign Office, November 20, 1886. [Transmits Alaska Boundary Confidential Print, Nos. 1 to 79, 1886.] No. 83. Sir R. Herbert to Sir P. Currie. — {Received December 2.) (Confidential.) Sir, Downing Street, December 1, 1886. WITH reference to your letter of the 20th ultimo, and to previous correspondence respecting the British Alaskan Boundary question, I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, for the consideration of the Eavl of Iddesleigh, copies of two Reports from Colonel D. R. Cameron, C.M.G., on the subject. Mr. Stanhope would be glad to be favoured with an .expression of Lord Iddesleigh's opinion with regard to the suggestion made in the second Report. I am, &c. (Signed) ROBERT G. W. HERBERT. Inclosure in No. 83. Colonel Cameron to Sir R. Herbert. -i- Sir, LoJidon, October 29, 1886. IN the Report ("North America No. 119 of 1886") o . the location of the British Alaskan boundaiy, which 1 had recently the honour of being permitted to prepare, the subject was considered purely as one of Treaty interpretation ; and it was pointed out that the passage from the ocean, by Tongas Island, through Pearse's Channel, is part of the Portland Channel, of which the medial line is — in accordance with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1825 — a portion of the international boundary. The United States' Government, however, assume that the passage from the ocean through the Observatory Inlet entrance is the line indicated by the Treaty, and Mr. Secretary Bayard records his opinion that this can never be called in question. (See Report, p. 76, 5th paragraph.) In the discussions which are likely to occur — as to this and other parts. of the line — between Her Majesty's Government and the Government ol the United States, it is not in)possible ilia* a report to the principle of reciprocal concession may suggest itself as a means of arriving at a settlement. It is consequently of the greatest national importance — I would humbly submit — that a just estimate should be formed of the value to be set on the sole possession by the British of the ocean entrance to Observatory Inlet. This entrance has, since !853 only, been more or less generally known as Portland Inlet. h-y I > lU Atr; . ) r fi XX^'*- 68 \ Knowledge of the topogiaphical features, and of the geological and general commercial \ values of inland British territory touched by Portland Channel and by Observatory Inlet 1 is not at the present time sufficiently detailed and ))reci8e to enable one to arrive at an I absolutely definite opinion with regard to them ; but the mere geogi-aphical relation of I those inlets to a British area of vast extent, as the nearest deep water communication with the ocean, suffices to demonstrate the possible extreme importance to Canadian and to Imperial interests of the decision to be arrived at. Strongly impressed with this view — while fully sensible of want of qualifications to justify my intruding my opinions, as deserving of weight — I venture respectfully to note the following remarks for consideration. Assuming, as may justifiably be done in the present advanced state of engineering, that routes of communication can be opened up between the interior and Portland ilnlet, there are the strongest motives for maintaining sole British control over Portland ""nlet. From the bead of this arm of the sea British territory stretches northward for about 1 1,000 miles — without access to the Pacific. The inlet is, indeed, the nearest ocean J communication for a vast British area of about 480,000 square miles. The area of France is 204,000 square miles. From the ocean through Portland Inlet to the head waters of Portland Channel and of Observatory Inlet there are channels 70 miles long, varying in breadth from 1 to 3 miles, and nearly uniformly over 40 fathoms in depth, protected on all sides by mountains, and having deep water at the shore lines. Its capacity for shipping is consequently of enormous extent. The Dardanelles are 40 miles long and from | to 4 miles broad. Tlie present ocean terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway is about 390 miles to the south of Portland Inlet. I I believe that the inlet is nearer to Japan and China than the present railway terminus, and that at no very distant date one mav reasonably expf^ct this remarkable i waterway to become the channel of a very large volume of trade. Bui if only a small portion of the traffic which imagination may not unreasonably ])icture as pussing through the inlet should be developed in the future, there would still be abundant ground for regarding sole control over it as of extreme importance. t Reasoning from experience gained elsewhere of rival interests on common waterways, i joint property in Portland Inlet would be a fruitful source of international dispute. I So soon too, as communication between the inl irior and tlie inlet is opened up, sole I possession of it becomes of very great strategic importance. It would then afford a second line of communication for Canada and for the Empire remoce from attack. The Cnited States can control the passage way from the Pacific Railway terminus by the south of Vancouver's Island ; the alternative route by the north of Vancouver's Island is circuitous and intricate. The position of Portland Inlet is not exposed to either of these objections, if it be held as solely British tcmtory. Both shores of Portland Inlet being in the possession of one Power, its defence would be easy, for the natural features of the contiguous If.nd require but slight forti- fication to render the position well nigh impregnable aganist any combination of enemies. \ On the other hand, tlie possession by an enemy of the islands between Pearee's \ Channel and Portland Inlet would make the position useless if not quite untenable. And \ even in the hands of a neutral Power, the possession of those islands uould be so obstructive, and furnish such easy means of observation to an enemy, that the position, if not absolutely insecure, would, at least, be very much less useful during war time. Any settlement of the boundary quj!Stion on the principle of reciprocal concession would probably take the form of a modification of the bouiulary as defined by the Convention of 1825, and resolve itself into a consideration of the relative importance, commercially and strategically, of the proposed respective concessions. \ In the foregoing remarks attention has been directed to some oj the most strikinjf ' disadvantatics to British interests involved in their exclusion from tlio Pacific coast-line. In contrast with these may be considered the motives ^ich would probably influence the United States in dealing with the matter. These motives are most likely to bts included under one or nmre of the followhig hea.ls : — A natural desire to obtain all the positive udvantag'^s whieh can be secured. Objection to the concession of any point that may Iw; disadvantageous. Disinclination to withdraw from any pretension already fcrmally advanced. The positive advantages and the disadvantages are either commercial, administrative, or strategical. 69 Of the commercial uspticts it may be confidently assumed that no concession to be sought for by the British would be of a character to injure United States' interests. Of Alaska generally, it may be said that its fisheries — principally its seal fisheries — alone make any return to the United Status. These fisheries, it is believed, are of much importance only in the neighbourhood of the Aleutian Isles. At all events it is indubitable that the peopling of the continental coast would rapidly put an end to any seal fishery there may now be tliere; for the seal, a very timid animal, brings forth its young ashore, and remains with them on land for some time. To a peopled coast, then, the seal cannot continue to resort. Revenue returns from seal fisheries and from general commerce are, therefore, possible only alternatively from the same region. In order to avoid disputes wifh the Russian American Company, the Hudson's Bay Company — for many years, commencing in 1839 — acquired sole control of the coast strip, now United States' territory, from Pearse's Channel to the meridian of 141° west longitude, by an animal payment of 1,500/., at first liquidated by 2,000 otter skins. This was the price paid, with the approval of the Russian Government, to a Company, who thoroughly understood the fur-bearing value of the legion at a time when the retreats of the animals sought after were undisturbed by immigration — a Company, nmreover, who had stop])cd the Hudson Bay traders from access to the coast. During part of the time the Hudson's Bay Company leased the coast strip, Russia was actually at war with England, and it is generally understood that at a prior jieriod furs travelled eastward across the continent to England, and were thence reshipped for the China market. With the rival Company so favourably situated, the Hudson's Bay Company could not there have negotiated on equal terms. Thus 1,500Z. a-ycar — a payment which when capitalized at 3 per cent, is represented by a sum of only .50,000/. — was deemed the equivalent, not only for the fur productiveness of the coast strip, but of the serious damage to be sustained by the Hudson's Bay Company if they declined to agree to the terms. B!'l If the coast strip he of little value to the United States as a fur-bearing country, it promises little else, for it is of extremely limited breadth, and is walled in by mountains of which the valleys in the northern part are blocked by permanent glaciers. Timber, which is plentiful throughout, is too remote from places of consumption to be of important value. Much nearer to United States' markets to the south of 40° north latitude, unlimited supplies are available of timber in greater variety and bettor in quality than occur on the continental coast north of Peai-se's Channel. The Administration of the United States cannot well be beneficially att'ccted by having to legislate and provide for a remote region of (juestionable value. Nor is there apparent any single strategical advantage to be derived by the United Statcu in connection with territorial supremacy over the coast strip. It cannot serve the United States strategically — it could not be so used against them were it in other hands. Under these circumstances, it is not probable that any practicable modification of the iidand boundary could be regarded by the United States as really offering positive advan- tage to them. On the other hand, amongst the proposals that might be made on the British side, is the cession by the United States of this coast strip. Even if no reciprocal concession were made, Canadian and Imperial interests would not be nmch benefited directly by the arrangement. The United States would not be great losers. But in one respect both Powers would derive advantage, for the result would he a natural boundary of the clearest and most useful kind as regards Governmentaii administration. It is, therefore, open to consider the financial aspect of such an arrangement as might assign the coast-line boundary to the British territory. The United Stales' estimate of 1873 for marking the British- Alaskan boundary throughout proposed an expenditure of 1,531, (!8!) dollars (about 300,000/.). This is understood to he exclusive of a large amount on account of wa^es, transport, &c., which would, in accordance with previous practice, be debited to United States' Departments — chiefly that of military administration. My c-timate for the work to he done on the liritish side is 300,000/. Thus the total expenditure would most probably not be less than 600,000/. Of this sum, 100,000/. might suffice for the demarcation of that portion of the line v^hich is determined by the meridian of IdiT west longitude. Conseipiently, so far as the British side is concerned, an expenditure of 250,000/. oa [123] T 1^ the line from Portland Channel to the neighbourhood of Mount St. Elias may be regarded Jis inevitable. But, on the United States' side, the corresponding expenditure is not inevitable, since, by ceding the coast strip, it might avoid the necessity for the outlay. If. then, the United States should be prepared to consider the question of the cession of the coast strip, the peculiar circumstances of the case are such that mutually advan- tageous terms might possibly be arrived at. The United States paid for the whole of the vast territory ceded to them by Russia about 1,500,000/. The cession included the Aleutian Isles and the New Archangel establishment. The coast strip from Pearse's Channel to Midwest longitude, formed but a small and unimportant fraction of the ceded territory, very much less than one-fifth of the whole in area, and in value hearing a still smaller proportion to the total purchase- money. Consequently, regarded as a mere financial transaction, the cession of this strip by the United States to the British, only witli the object of avoiding the further expenditure of 230,000/. upon thi demarcation of its boundary, could not be regarded as imprudent. But if in addition the \Jnited States received from 50,000/. to 100,000/. out of the 250,000/. which would be the British expenditure in marking the line, the financial transaction would be a remunerative one to both Powers. The result of it would be that the United Stales would, in effect, benefit immediately to the extent of, say, 360,000/., and avoid future unrcmunerative outlay, while the British would have to pay, out of an otherwise inevitable expenditure of 2.50,000/., 100,000/. to the United States, and 150,000/. towards the organization of the newly-acquired territory. I have, &c. (Signed) D. R. CAMERON. No. 84. Sir L. West to the Earl of Iddealeigh, — {Received December 18.) (No. 268.) My Lord, Washington, December 1, 1886. WITH reference to my despatch No. 213 of the 2 1st September last, I have the honour to your Lordship herewith a Report, accompanied by maps and charts, upon the history and resources of the Territory of Alaska, which I have compiled from the official documents of the Tenth Census and other sources. I have, &c. (Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST. Inclosure in No. 84. Report on the History and Eesources of Alaska, PREVIOUS to the discovery of the Straits which separate the American and Asiatic continents by Behring in 1 728 Alaska may be said to have been unknown. It was not until after the second expedition of this celebrated navigator, and in which he perished, that the Russian Givernment obtained information respecting the coE/,t 'n the vicinity of latitude 58° north and some of the islands which form the Aleutian Group, as well as with the greater portion of those which form the Kurile Group. It would seem, however, that as early as the sixteenth century the islands had been visited by adventurers and traders in search of furs, but up to the year 1743, when Basso /visited Behring and Copper Islands, there is no account of any organized expedition in this direction. In 174.5 the Russian trader Glottof advanced as far as the Island of Ounumak, «nd subsequently discovered the whole group of islands, including Oonalashka. Id 1 760 Andreian Tolstykh landed on and surveyed the Island of Adakh, as well as several smaller adjacent ones. In 1 762 an expedition arrived at Oonalashka, but it would seem that on account of the bad treatment to which the natives had been subjected by the Russian traders >ince their first arrival on the coasts and islands they rose and massacred their oppressors. In the same year an expedition under Glottof to the Island of Kudiak met with 71 a similar fate, and until the year 1824 the Russian occupation is a historj' of outrage, oppression, and disputed territorial jurisdiction. In the year 1824, however, the Boundary Treaty between Eus.sia and tin; United States was concluded under General Muraviev's administration, and in 1826 the Treaty with England, designating Prince of Wales' Island, in latitude .")4° MY north and between longitude 131° and 133° west from Greenwich, as the southern line of the Russian possessions, and as the eastern boundary a line running from the head of the Portland Canal northward along the summits of the coast-line of mountains to a point where it intersects the 66th degree of latitude, from thence the line running to the Arctic Ocean niong the Hist meridian. In the year 1826 General Muraviev was succeeded by Captain Chistiakof, who was succeeded in 1831 by General Wrangel. It was at this time that the dispute with the Hudson Bay Company occurred, on account of the damages claimed for the detention of the Company's bark "Dryad," which had been sent to establish a fort on the River Staklin. An amicable arrangement was, however, subsequently come to by General Wrangel and the Hudson Bay Commissioners. In 1842 an extensive exploration of the Nukon and Kuskokvim regions was made by Lieutenant Zagokin under the administration of Governor Etholin, and from this time to the date of the final cession of the territory to the United States in 1867 successive exploring expeditions added much valuable information, both as to its geographical features and natural resources. For statistical purposes, Alaska has been divided into six geographical divisions as follows : — Sqtinre niilcs. llie Arctic dmaion, containing .. .. .. ., ., .. 125,245 TheZykon „ ., .. ,. ., .. .. 176,715 The Kuskokvim „ . . . . . . . . , . . . 1 14,975 The Aleutian „ ,. .. .. .. .. .. 14,610 ThH Kndl'ik „ . . . . . . . . . . . . 70,884 The South- 'astern „ .. .. .. .. .. .. 28,980 Total area 531,409 Arctic Division. Little is known of the vast interior of this division. Important discoveries have, how- ever, lately been made by the United States exploring expedition under Lieuteimnt Stoney. The head waters of the Colville River have been reached, and another large river flowing north, and which carried the explorers into the Arctic Ocean, has been discovered. Large and extensive lakes hitherto unknown have been found. The coast Settlements between Cape Prince of Wales and Barrow Point are frequented annually by whaling ships, hunters, and fur traders. The natives on these coasts have considerable commercial enterprise, and carry on an extensive traffic with the natives of the Arctic coast of Asia, meeting them on the common trading ground of Behring Straits and the Diomede Islands. The only mineral which has as yet been discovered in this division is coal, in the vicinity of Cape Lisburne. Whales, walrus, seals. Polar bears, reindeer, moose, musk rats, and foxes abound. Aquatic birds swarm, and salmon are plentiful. M. Ivan Peti'ofF, in his Report (1882) to the Superintendent of Census, says of this division, "There is no foundation upon which to build hopes for future improvement, and that it is beyond the range of possibility. The bulk of the trade has fallen into the bands of illegitimate traders, who clear from American ports for the coast of Siberia, touch at the Sandwich Islands for spirits, and vinally cruize along the Alaskan coast purchasing furs, fossils, and walrus ivory. No statistics of this trade, wliich is considerable, are obtainable." The population is only 3,094, or 1 inhabitant to 40^ square miles, and there is not a white man or woman. The Zukon Division. This division, according to M. Petroff, comprises the valley of the largest river .^r. the North American Continent. He says that the River Zukon discharges every hour om- third more water into the ocean than the Mississippi. The fur trade is in tiie hands of t'li Cahfornia Companies, which have from fifteen to twenty trading stations on the banki- ol the Zukon. The total value of furs shipped does not, however, >..vcced 75,000 dollars per annum. Of the valley of the Zukon M. Pctroft' says, "Much has been said of the great 73 agricultural region here awaiting development in the near future. The real facts do nofc warrant any such expectation. The whole valley of the Zukon lies within a few degrees of the Arctic Circle, and the soil, where it is level, is always swampy, and tiie heat of summer has no cftect beyond an astonishing growth of native grasses and weeds, and bringing into life dense clouds of mosquitoes." The Aleutian Division. Range. The islands of this division are a mere continuation of the main Alaskan They are all mountainous, with peaks of from 1,000 to 8,000 feet in height. The Shuinagin Group is the great resort of the sea otter, of which about GOO are secured annually. The Pribylof Islands contain the breeding-grounds of the fur-seal, but the " rookeries " are found only on the Islands of St. Paul and St. George, and are the subject of an interesting Report by H. W. Elliot, under the direction of the Superintendent of Census. These islands ai-e situated 1,400 miles west-north-west of Sitka, and nearly 200 miles from Oonalashka on the Aleutian Islands. They were first peopled by natives from Oonalashka, brought over by the Russians in 1786. There are eighty families and as many dwellings on the Island of St. Paul, and twenty-four families on the Island of St. George.* The Alaska Commercial Company has its fur-seal fishery organization here. The breeding-grounds are carefully watched and protected; 1,000,000 seal-pups are born every year, but there is a loss of ;jO ]ier cent, by whales, sharks, and other predatory fish. Seals are in their prime at from 4 to 5 years of age. An average seal will measure Oj^ feet long, and weighs 400 lbs. It is estimated that there are over 3,000,000 .seals on each island during the breeding season, not counting the non-breeders. The Company is permitted by the Government to tske 100,000 seals annually, and this catch is made between the 14th June and the 1st iugust. More than 4,000,000 seal-skins have been taken since 1797. When tlie killing season has arr.ved squads of men rush in between the sleeping seals and the surf-wash and drive them slowly to designated slaughtering grounds, halting them occasionally to rest and cool dow.i, for heating injures the fur. Finally the .slaughter grounds are reached, the seals arc told off in detail, and at a given signal the men fall upon them with clubs and Ii.y *'";.ii out right and left, after which work they are knifed and skinned at the rate of one in four minutes. The Alaska Company has stations all over the Aleutian Islands west and north of Kadiak, and employs lour steamers and a dozen ships, barks, and sloops, besides working boats. The blue fo.\ has bcca introduced into these islands, and some 200 are killed annually. The sea otter is scarce. ■■•'•I'''- The Katliulc Divi.sion. . This division comprises the south side of the Alaskan Peninsula as far west as the narrow isthmus between Port Moller and Zaakharof Bay. The Settlements are small and widely scattered. The walrus frequents these coasts in large numbers, and supplies the principal food of the inhabitants. The Island of Kadiak was discovered by the Russians in 1762, but was abandoned on account of the hostile disposition of the natives, and was not permanently occupied until twenty years later, when the first missionaries arrived. The Report says that a century of uninterrupted presence of Christianizing influences has so transformed these natives that not a vestige of their former fierce and savage nature can now be found. The climatic conditions of the island are favourable for the cultivation of vegetables and rearing of cattle. Large game abounds. Black and brown bears, the latter measuring from 10 to 12 feet in length, are killed in great numbers. A species of reindeer, the woodland cariboo, moose, mountain sheep, the beaver, the porcupine, the whistling marmot, black and grey wolves, the lyn.v, the wolverine, the marten, minx, and nuisk rat are also plentiful. Aquatic birds swarm. The easternmost part of this division comprises the coast bordering on the Gulf of Chugatch or Prince William's Sound, and from thence to Mount St. Elias. Thi.s is essentially an alpine region. The superficial area is approximately 70,884 square miles, and the number of inhabitants 4, o52. The South-eastern Division. This division comprises the narrow strip of coast-line from Mount St. Elias to Portland Canal, and partakes of the character of the coast of British Columbia. It is. • See Report on History and Origin of . (Sir L, West's No. 212.) 78 dennely wooded and exceedingly mountainous. The Alaska spruce, and the most valuable of all the northern trees, the yellow cedar, is found in great quantities. The area is 28,980 square miles, and population 7,748. The total population of Alaska is given as follows : — ^ White Creole Eakimo Alento Athabiukan Thlurkets Hydah Total 430 1,7«« 17,617 2,145 8.997 6,763 788 33,426 I'roni fish. asurc on is killed Tiie FuT'bearing Animab of Alaska. The fur seal (^Callorhinus ursinus), found on the Islands of St. Paul and St. George. The 8ea otter (Enhydra manna) exists chiefly on a line parallel with the Japanese current from the coast of Japan along the Kurile Islands to the coast of Kamschatka. The land otter {Lubra canadensis). The beaver {Castor Jiber). The brown bear (Ursiis Richurdsonii). The black bear {Ursus Americanus). The red fox {Vulpesfulvus). The black or silver fox {Vulpes fulvus argentatus). The cross fox {Vulpes fulvus decussatus). The Arctic fox {Vulpes lagopus), black and white. The minx {Putorius visoi^. The marten {Musteta Americanus). The London market value of the annual yield of furs in Western Alaska is given as tbllows : — Number. Price. Value. Dol. c. Dollars. Seu otter . . . . . . . . . . 4,500 100 00 450,000 Fur seal .. .. .. .. .. .. 100,000 16 00 1 .500,000 Land otter. . .. .. .. .. .. 2.S00 3 00 7,600 Beaver fl,800 3 00 17,400 Hlackfox .. 920 30 00 27,600 Cross fox . . . . . . . • . . 2,560 3 00 7,680 Bed fox .. 11,400 I 50 17,100 Artie fox, blue 1,190 4 00 4,760 „ white 1,580 3 00 4,740 Black bear.. 100 5 00 500 Brown bear 711 2 00 1,422 Minx 10,300 30 3,090 Marten . . . . . . . . 10,500 3 50 36,750 Musk rat . . 6,800 10 680 Lynx 870 3 00 2,610 2,081,832 To which value must be added about. 1 00,000 dollars for the value of the furs of South-eastern Alaska. The Fisheries. Mr. Tarleton Bean, of the Smithsonian Institution, enumerates seventy-five species of food fishes existing in the waters of Alaska, of which the codfish stands foremost in Quantity as well as commercial importance. Professor G. Davidson, of the United States' 'ourt Survey, stated soon after the purchase of A\aska that the soundings of Behring Sea, and of the Arctic Ocean north of Behring Straits, indicated the largest submarine plateau yet known. Soundings of 50 fathoms over an extent of 18,000 square miles were found. Over this marine area the codfish range in unlimited numbers. The cod fislieiy of the North acific has been carried on for the last sixteen years with the result of a catcli of 12,9.52,300 tish. This quantity might, it is thought, be nearly doubled by t!ie introduction of the methods of fishing on the eastern coasts. Of the various species of [123] U 71 codfish, there is one familiarly kno-.vii in Alaska as tie black cod (Anoplopoma Jimhria), which seems likely to prove a valuable addition to the list of food fishes. It is caught chiefly by the Hnidah Indians, 'vho extract the oil and grease, which is of the colourant! consistency of soft lard, a, id is used by them for food. The fishing-lines employed aro made from a f^igantic kelp (Neriorystis), which has a stem 300 feet long, and when cut and bleached equals the best hempen line. " The quantities of salmon found in Alaska," says Mr, Hallock in his book "Our Alaska," "are simply enormous, perhaps a hundredfold greater than in the rivers of Canada. I have seen," he asserts, "the outlet of Lake Loring, which is a rivulet 2 miles long and 2 rods wide, connecting the salt water with the fresh, so choked with living salmon that if a plank were laid across thcii protruding backs n man could walk over dry- shod." The proportion of Alaskan fish brought into the markets of the world, when compared with the consumption by the natives, is very small. The Kadiak and Aleutian divisions, however, ship annually from 4,000 to .5.000 barrels of salted salmon, worth 9 dollars per barrel. Codfish shipments from tiie y nagin Islands and Behring Sea amount to nearly 600,000 fish annually. The Timber of Alaska. Mr. Hallock says, " The visible wealth of Alaska lies in her forests. Alaska is the great timber reserve of the continent. Trees of such size and comniercial value exist nowhere else on the globe in such numbers and extensive areas of growth. There is a supply here of 5,700,000,000 feet at once accessible for shipment. We are, he continues, approaching a time when the timber resources of the Union will be overtaxed and timber will be scarce, but with a reserve of 300,000,000 acres of the noblest timber in the world tliere is a source of wealth upon which the people may draw for geneiations to come. The Douglas pine is found 9 feet in diameter at the base, and the Indians make canoes dug out of the red cedar 60 feet long and 18 feet beam." M. Petroflf says, "The Sitka spruce and yellow cedar are the most valuable trees. Clumps of the latter are found 100 feet high, with a diameter of from o to feet. The lumber obtained from them is of the very finest texture, odour, and endurance, and is highly prized by cabinet-makers and ship-builders ;" and yet, he says that "as long as the immense forests of Oregon, Washington Territory, and Southern liritish Columbia stand as they exist to-day, tiiere will practically be no market for Ala-kan timber." In this opinion, however, Mr. Hallock does not coincide. Minora Is. M. Petroff reports that coal is found, chiefly or wholly of a lignite composition, at u great many points throughout the southern and western coasts of .Alaska and the islands, but in rcgard to reputed findings of large paying gold mines and other precious minerals, there is nothing of the kind in Western Alaska, (lold is found about Cook's Inlet and ia other localities, but it would seem, according to Lieutenant Doroshia's Report, in the propor- tion only of 16 grains to 30 lbs. of dirt. Mr. Hallock, on the other hand, asserts that the total output of mining operations in 1885 was 261,000 dollars, or 3^ per cent, on the purchase price of the Territory. Afp-iciilture. M. Petroff prefaces his Report on agriculture with the remark that it is a well- ascertained fact that cereal crops cannot be grown in Alaska, and comes to the conclusion that the extended coast islands and mainland cannot support any considerable number tif immigrants as agriculturists, and that the raising of stock, cattle, sheep, and hogs, i.s attended with great difficulties. This statement seems to be justified by the failure uf agricultural experiments which have been tried near the coast and on some of the islands, but if is possible ihat the valleys may prove more fertile. Mr. Hallock describes the upper waters of tiie Zukon River in glowing terms: "Flowers bloom, beneficent plants yield their berries and fruits, majestic trees spread their umbrageous fronds, and song-birds make the branches vocal. The watt^r is pure and pellucid, the banks resplendent with verdure and with grass and shining pebbles." Such a region may be capable of cultivation, but it is more than 1,000 miles distant from the sea, and the middle country is broken uj» by the glacial nmd washed down from the mountains. The delta of the Zukon is, moreover, a labyrinth of channels and islands which are piled with drift-wood and debris brought down by the current, and there is therefore no outlet for the produce of the interior country. As already pointed out, the real value of Alaska consists in the fur- si Iienring animals wliicli freqiiiiif. tlie islmuls in ndiring Sea. Tin; I'ui- trado on llic niain- land is not tu the same extent as profitable, m the i>ativc8 still continue to trade witii the British possessions through the posts established by the Hudson Bay Company. For the exclusive right of catching seals tlie Alaska Company pays the CJovernment h total sum of 31A,000 dollars (;very year, and when the lease expires in 1890 it will have paid into the United States' Treasury 6,340,000 dollars, a sum e(|uul to six-sevenths of the original purchase-money. The Company has therefore established a monopoly which it is clearly in the interest of the Government to support, and which, it is contended, oilers the only means of preventing the indiscriminate slaughter of seals and their ultimate extirpation. The jurisdiction which the Company thus claims over Behring Sea involves questions which are foreign to this Report. Annexed to this Report arc the following Maps and Charts (no duplicate published by the United States' (>overnment) : — 1 . United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Alaska and adjoining Territory. 2. North-west Coast of America. Cape Flattery to Dixon Entrance. 3. Dixon Entrance to Cape St. lilias. Jey Bay to Sumdi Islands. No. sa. Sir R. Herbert to Sir P. Citrrie. — (Rfceiue.d December 18.) Sir, Dmiminij Street, December 17, 188G. WITH reference to your letter of the 20th ultimo, I am directed bv the Secretary of State for the Colonies ti transmit to you, for the information of the Karl of Iddesleigh, copies of despatches which have been addressed to the Governor-CJeneral of Canada relative to the Alaskan Boundaiy question. I am, &c. , (Signed) ROBERT G. W. HERBERT. Inclo ire 1 in No. 85. Mr. Stanhope to the Marquis of Lanndowne. My Lord, Downimj Street, December 7, 1886. Wl'TK reference to previous correspondent; respecting the (piestion of the Alaska Boundary, I have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your I-iordship'.s Government, the accompanying copies of Colonel Cameron's Report on the subject.* I have, &c. (Signed) EDWARD .STANHOPE. Inclosure 2 in No. 85. Mr. Stanhope to the Marquis of Lunsdowne. (Secret.) My Lord, Downiny Street, December 7, 1886. WITH reference to my despatch of this day's date respecting the Alaska Boundary (luestion, I have the honour to transmit to you, for confidential communication to your Government, copy of a letter from Colonel Cameron on the subject. I n&vc &c * (Signed) ' EDWARD STANHOPE. No. 80. The Earl of Iddenleiyh to Sir L. West. (No. 256.) Sir, Foreiyii O/fin; December 21., 188<;. 1 HAVE received your despatch No. 268 of the 1st instant, inclosing a Memo* randum, accompanied by Maps and Charts, which you have conq)iled on the history and resources of the Ten-itory of Alaska, and I have to convey to you my thanks for thii valuable Report. I am, Ike. (Signed) IDDESLEIGH. * See Inclosure in No. 83.