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Collins* #terknb ^th^mi^^i ta €xxxai^t & ^m» 
 
 
 TRIPARTITE AND CO-OPERATIVE GRANTS 
 
 BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF 
 
 RUSSIA, GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
 OP THE ItlQHT or WAY AND AID TO 
 
 PERRY McD. COLLINS, 
 
 For the purpose of establishing a Telegraph connecting Mirope with the United 
 States, by way of the North Pacific Ocean and Asiatic Hussia. 
 
 Imperial Russian Grant to Perry McD. Collins ; Might of Way and Aid for a 
 Telegraph from the Amoor River, in Asiatic Russia, to British Columbia. 
 
 CHIEF DIRECTION OF WAYB OF COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 
 
 No. 820.] Special Chancery of the General Director 3d Table, 
 
 St. Petersburg, May 23, 1863. 
 To Major Collins : , 
 
 In consequence of your petition of 24tli December, 1802, liy which you 
 solicit permission to form a company projected )jy yourself for the establish- 
 ment of a telegraph from America to the mouth of the Amoor liver, upon the 
 basis stated in your petition, I have tlie iionor to inform you that this affair lias 
 been examined by the oflicer |)crf<jrniing the duty of governor general of East- 
 ern Siberia, and it has been laid afterwards before the Siberian committee. 
 
 According to the decision i»f the said committee, confirmed on the ITitfi day 
 of May of this year by his Majesty the Emperor, it has been decided to inform 
 you as follows : 
 
 The choice of the most advantageous direction for constructing the tele- 
 graph line by your projected comi)any can bo letl, without the least impedi- 
 ment, to the option and minutest (!ons!deration of the undertakers. 
 
 Tho company will have the right to establish along the telegraph line propei- 
 and safe stations, convenient roads for surveys and repairs of the line, and 
 likewise ports at those places where large stations upon the coasts Avill bo ap- 
 
 234477 
 

 t 
 
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t 
 
 COLLINS' OVERLAND TELEGRAPH TO EUROPE AND ASIA. 
 
 S. 
 
 [le 
 
 m, 
 on 
 
 ay- 
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 ges, 
 ord- 
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 the 
 tion, 
 ve a 
 es or 
 
 •al of 
 ig the 
 ssible 
 ortant 
 rela- 
 
 tablish 
 can be 
 , begin- 
 jle line 
 ,se. 
 
 he Rus- 
 j^ neces- 
 ve from 
 ncnts in 
 ment es- 
 
 . natives 
 the local 
 llment of 
 
 y the full 
 1, but the 
 ' the teU^ 
 for worlc- 
 niako use 
 les, timber 
 
 h the rules 
 .tches must 
 onventions 
 the whole, 
 he example 
 
 of international conventions concluded between Russia and other powers. 
 Therefore, before the achievement of the undertaking of the company, and be- 
 fore the beginning of opei-ations of its line, the company must send to St. 
 I'etersburgh a deputy, with full powers for said special agreement upon the 
 aforesaid basis. At all events, the tariff, by which permission will be given to 
 levy payment for despatches transmitted by their line, must not exceed the 
 tariff adopted in Russia. 
 
 For the encouragement of the undertaking of the company, the Government 
 can allow a deduction (rebate) of 40 per cent, upon the net profits of despatches 
 transmitted along the Russian telegraph lines solely to America and back ; but 
 finds it inconvenient to pay an annual subsidy of one hundred thousand rubles, 
 because the mercantile intercourse of Russia with America is not very consider- 
 able. The principal benefits of the telegraph line projected by the company 
 will be derived by America, England and France, and by the great commercial 
 cities of Holland and the north of Germany, with whom the company should 
 make an agreement to obtain from them the subsidy required. 
 
 Besides, Russia on her part is giving aid to the company by having con- 
 sented, in view gf seeing the company's undertaking realized, to build a con- 
 necting line of tehigraph from Verchne Oredinsk to a point (mouth of the 
 Amoor river) wliere the company's telegraph will join ours, a distance of 
 ahout three thousand versts (2,000 miles), req)iiring an expense of about nine 
 hundred thousand rubfes (075,000 dollars). 
 
 To leave the construction of the intermediate line t<, you upon your proposed 
 conditions is considered inconvenient. 
 
 Finally. The Russian Government will not begin the construction of the 
 interhiediate line before you will have presented an act of final formation of 
 your company for the establishment of your projected telegraph, and likewise 
 proof as to the emission and sale of its shares, for at least one-half of the mini- 
 mum cost of your projected telegraph, and the production of a plan of the di- 
 rection of the line finally selected and approved by your company. 
 
 Fulfilling the duty of director-in-chief of ways of communication and public 
 
 build 
 
 U]g.s 
 
 BoiiiTCHKFFSKi, Director. 
 
 MELNIKOFF, 
 
 Lieutenant- General of Engineers. 
 
 Decision of Her Mojesifs Oovermnent granting aid and right of way for es- 
 tabiisliing a Teleiiraph across Her Majesty'' s dominions on the North Pacific, 
 
 , in connection with a line across Asiatic Russia and America, connecting Eu- 
 rope ivith the United States. 
 
 Office of tue Secretary of State for the Colonies, ) 
 Downing Street, London, February 9, 1864. ) 
 
 Sir : I am directed by the Duke of Newcastle to convey to you the decision 
 of ller Majesty's Government with reference to the proposal submitted by you 
 in previous correspondence for establishing a company to construct a telegraph 
 across British Columbia. 
 
 Ills Gracje has perused with much interest and satisfaction the letter ad- 
 dressed to you on behalf of the Rugsiou Government, stating the terms on 
 which you will be enabJ'^d to construct a line of telegraph from the Amoor 
 
■•'■, 'I 
 
 II 
 
 • 4 COLLINS' OVERLAND TELEGRAPH TO EUROPE AND ASIA. 
 
 river to the western frontier of Her Majesty's possessions in North America, 
 and intimating the readiness of that Government to effect the works necessary 
 to connect your line with the European system of telegraphs. 
 
 His Grace perceives also, with pleasure, that you have reason to anticipate 
 the co-operation of your own Government in extending their own telegraphic 
 communication to the British frontier, and is desirous of affording you every 
 proper facility for connecting the Russian and American system by a line car- 
 ried across British Columbia, and thus completing the communication between 
 Europe and the east coast of America. 
 
 With this object I am directed to inform you that Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment will hold themselves prepared, in case the necessary negotiations with 
 Russia and the United States are concluded, and operations effectively com- 
 menced in British Columbia before the 1st day of January, 1867, to secure to 
 the proposed company, by crown patents or other sufficient methods, the fol- 
 lowing advantages : 
 
 1st. You will be empowered to construct a line of telegraph and public 
 road with the stations, block-houses, defensive posts, and other requisite works, 
 along a line to be determined by you,ln concert with the Colonial Government, 
 passing through Her Majesty's dominidris on "the North Pacif c, and connecting 
 Russian America with the United States. 
 
 You will further be empowered within limits, to be from time to time pre- 
 scribed by the Local Government, to occupy and use such unappropriated 
 crown lands, and to cut down, quarry and appropriate such timber and stones 
 in the neighborhood of the line as may be required for the construction and 
 I maintenance of the above works. It must, however, be understood that the 
 right of use only of the land is granted for the purpose of the telegraph ; that 
 the sop remains vested in the crown. 
 
 "Die Colonial Government will, therefore, retain full jurisdiction over the 
 lands, with the right of using, selling or otherwise disposing of them, as far as 
 may be done without interfering with the construction or working of the line, 
 but sublet to the obligation of reserving temporarily from sale such quarries 
 or forest land as may be reasonably required for the construction of the tele- 
 graph. "^It must be also understood that, in case of emergency, any block-house 
 or defensible post may be taken possession of by the Government. 
 
 2d. The Government will grant or allow the company such rights of way, 
 in connection with the telegraph line, as are necessary for its construction and 
 maintenance. 
 
 tSd. The company will be allowed to fence and occupy a certain_numj)er of 
 ' lots of cultivatable ground in the neighborhood of their stations ■6rT)lodk-houses 
 for the support of their servants. 
 
 4th. The Colonial Legislature will be recommended to allow all supplies, 
 materials, stores and clothing intended for the use of the company's service 
 or for the construction of the line, to be admitted free of duty until the period 
 fixed for the completion of the telegraph line, provided it be found that this 
 privilege can be accorded without fiscal inconvenieiiceT" 
 
 5th. The company will also be allowed, on some part of the coast to be se- 
 lected by themselves, subject to the approval of the Government, landing 
 places as ample and convenient as the localities will afford for importing the 
 al)Ove stores and materials. 
 
 6th. On the other hand, it is to be understood that all these privileges are 
 to cease on the Ist^ da y of January. 1870. unless before that date Vc telegraph 
 line is complctecl and communication esi&blished between the Attioor and the 
 
 ^ 
 
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 II 
 
 i^ 
 
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 f 
 
 !l 
 
 i^ 
 
 COLLINS' OVERLAND TELEGRATH TO EUROPE AND ASIA. 5 
 
 United States, in connection with the cast coast of America ; that the working 
 of the telegraph and the proceedings of the company in Rritish Columbia will 
 be subject to such general laws as may be passed for the regulation of tele- 
 graphic communication, which will probably provide that in the colony of 
 British Columbia messages to be sent on behalf of the Imperial or Colonial 
 Government will take precedence of all others, and that the Government may 
 take possession of the telegraph for its own purposes in case of emergency, sub 
 ject, of course, to reasonable compensation. 
 
 Lastly, it must be clearly secured, as a condition of the whole arrangement, 
 that the general arrangements of the telegraph shall be such as to place Eng- 
 lish, Russian and American messages upon an equal footing in regard to the 
 use of the line. 
 
 Her Majesty's Government do not doubt that these matters can be satis- 
 factorily arianged on the basis suggested by the Russian Government in thef 
 following extract from General Melnikoff's letter of the 23d of May, 1863 : 
 *' The expedition and tariff of despatches must be in accordance with the rules 
 generally adopted for telegraphs. Therefore the Government despatches must 
 have precedence over private despatches, as agreed upon by telegraph conven- 
 tion between Russia and the neighboring European Powers ; and, upon the 
 whole, the order of transmission and tariff must be arranged according to the 
 example of international conventions concluded by and between the different 
 Powers concerned." 
 
 I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 T. FRED'K ELLIOT. 
 
 P. McD. CoLUNS, Esq. 
 
 -J 
 
 \}& 
 
 Act of Congress of the United States of America, granting right of way and 
 aid to Perry McDonough Collins, for the construction of a line of tele- 
 graph connecting the United States with Europe by way of the North 
 Pacific and Asiatic Russia-: 
 
 38th Congress, 1st Session. 
 
 In the Cimgress of the United States. 
 
 * [Public Act— No. 171.] 
 
 An Act to encourage and facilitate telegraphic communication between the 
 Eastern and Western Continents. 
 
 WJiereas, the Governments of Russia and Great Britain have granted to 
 Perry MacDonough Collins, a citizen of the United States, the right to con- 
 struct and maintain a line of electric telegraph through their respective terri- 
 tories, from the mouth of the Amoor River, in Asiatic Russia, by way of Beh- 
 ring's Strait and along the Pacific coast, to the northern boundary of the United - 
 States, with a view of thereby imiting the telegraphic systems of both contin- 
 ents, and of promoting international and commercial intercourse ; and whereas 
 the Government of Russia, in furtherance of that object, is now constructing a 
 line of telegraph through its Asiatic territory to unite, at the mouth of the 
 Amoor River, with the line projected by said Collins ; and whereas the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States desires cordially to co-operate with Russia and 
 
 
6 
 
 COLLINS' OVERLAND TELEGRAPH TO EUROPE AND ASIA. 
 
 Great Brita'ni in the establishment and maintenance of such a line of commu- 
 nication : Now, therefore, 
 
 Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
 of America in Congress assembled, That Perry MacDonough Collins, of Cali- 
 fornia, his associates and assignees, shall have the right to construct and main- 
 tain a line or lines of telegraph from any point or points on the line of the 
 Pacific telegraph, constructed in pursuance of the act of Congress approved 
 June sixteen, eighteen hundred and sixty, northerly, through any of the terri- . 
 tories of the United States, to the boundaries of British America, with such 
 branch lines as may be needed to open communication with the various mining 
 districts and other settlements in said territories. And for the purposes afore- 
 said, the said Collins, his associates and assignees, shall have a permanent right 
 of way over any unappropriated public lands of the United States, together 
 with the right to take any timber and stone for construction purposes ; and for 
 the purpose of establishing and maintaining said lines, and the stations neces- 
 sary for the repair and working there(jf, there is hereby granted to said parties 
 the use of so much unappropriated public lands, not sold, granted, reserved, 
 pre-empted, nor occupied by homestead settlers, as may bo necessary for sta- 
 tions, not exceeding forty acres for each fifteen miles of line constructed across 
 the public lands of the United States, so long as the same may be used for the 
 said purpose : Provided, however, That so much of section one of this act as 
 authorizes the construction of telegraph lines to open comnmnications with the 
 various mining districts and other settlements in said territories shall be null 
 and void unless said branch lines shall be completed within five years from the 
 approval hereof. 
 
 Sec. 2. And be it further enacted. That, in order to encourage and aid the 
 construction of said line of telegraph beyond the limits of the United States, 
 the Se<*retary of the Navy is authorized Lo detail, for the use of the surveys 
 and soundings along that portion of the Pacific coast, both of America and 
 Asia, where it is proposed to establish said telegraph, one steam or sailing ves- 
 sel, in his discretion, to assist in surveys and soundings, laying down submerged 
 cable, and in tra'^.. sporting materials connected therewith, and generally aflbrd 
 such assistance as may be deemed best calculated to secure a successful promo- 
 tion of the enterprise. 
 
 Sec. 3. And b". it further enacted. That the Government of the United 
 States shall, at all times, have priority in the use of the line or lines, so far as 
 the same are within its territory, and shall have the right, when authorized by 
 law, to connect said line or lines by telegraph with any military posts of the 
 _ Un ited States, arid to use the same for Government purposes. And in order to 
 secure the same from injury by savages or other evil-disposed persons, to the 
 interruption of the public business, the Secretary of War is anthorized to direct 
 the commanders of the military districts or stations and other olHcers, ac;l.ing 
 under authority of the United States in the Territories traversed by said tele- 
 graph, to use any available force at their command to protect the same. 
 .^Subject to the right of prior use by the Government, as aforesaid, said line or 
 fines shalTbe at all times open to the publicamTto any other telegraph company 
 upon i/hs payment of the regular charges for transmission of despatches, and aff 
 despatches received shall be transmitted over said line and lines in the order of 
 their reception at the telegraph oflice ; and the answers to said despatches 
 shall be delivered to such parties as may be directed by the sender. 
 
 Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the better to accomplish the object 
 of this act, namely, to promote the public interest and welfare, by facilitating 
 
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 ^ international and commf>r»- i • 
 
 • ' « ' A.LINCOLN. 
 
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