resolved once more to ask the Company to furnish him with more definite instructions in regard to the whalers, i. e., to define the rights of the Governor of the Colony with reference to those captains who, in spite of the prohibition, should enter the bays, harbours, and gulfs of the Russian possessions, or land on the islands. While awaiting a decision in the matter, he resolved to arm one of the ships of the colonial flotilla to act as a cruizer in the waters most infested by the foreign vessels. The cruizer was ordered to avoid most carefully anything which might give rise to a conflict, and to confine herself strictly to observing the whalers. She was on no account to resort to force unless it became necessary to resist an attack. Apart from this measure, M. Etolin suggested the expediency of obtaining the permission of the Government for the colonial cruizer to fly the flag of the Imperial Navy, as that flag would, in certain eventualities, inspire more respect. Finally, he considered that the claim of foreigners to take whales in Russian waters ought certainly to be limited by a line drawn at a distance of at least 3 leagues, or 9 Italian miles, from the shores of the Colony. As an example of the justice of fixing such a limit, and of the advantages to be obtained therefrom, he adduced New Holland and other British possessions, where no whaler would dare to take whales within the 3-league limit.

Unfortunately, these efforts to defend the rights of the Company were not attended with more success than those previously made. Although the Foreign Office, at the request of the Company, informed the Government of the United States of the establishment of cruizers in the Russian Colonies for the purpose of insuring the observation of the Convention of 1824 by foreign ships, no decision was arrived at in regard to the fixing of a limit for whaling, or with reference to the proposal that the Company's cruizer should fly the flag of the Imperial Navy. On the other hand, the Government took occasion to impress upon the Company the importance of great caution being observed by the colonial cruizers in all that concerned foreign ships.

The exact words of the letter from the Foreign Office are as follows: "The fixing of a line at sea within which foreign vessels should be prohibited from whaling off our shores would not be in accordance with the spirit of the Convention of 1824, and would be contrary to the provisions of our Convention of 1825 with Great Britain. Moreover, the adoption of such a measure, without preliminary negotiation and arrangement with the other Powers, might lead to protests, since no clear and uniform agreement has yet been arrived at among nations in regard to the limit of jurisdiction at sea."

In 1847 a representation from Governor Tebenkoff in regard to new aggressions on the part of the whalers gave rise to further correspondence. Some time before, in June 1846, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia had expressed his opinion that, in order to limit the whaling operations of foreigners, it would be fair to forbid them to come within 40 Italian miles of our shores, the ports of Petropavlovsk and Okhotsk to be excluded, and a payment of 100 silver roubles to be demanded at those ports from every vessel for theright of whaling. He recommended that a ship of war should be employed as a cruizer to watch foreign vessels. The Foreign Office expressly stated as follows in reply: "We have no right to exclude foreign ships from that part of the great ocean which separates the eastern shore of Siberia from the north-western shore of America, or to make the payment of a sum of money a condition to allowing them to take whales." The Foreign Office were of opinion that the fixing of the line referred to above would reopen the discussions

formerly carried on between England and France on the subject. The limit of a cannon-shot, that is about 3 Italian miles, would alone give rise to no dispute. The Foreign Office observed, in conclusion, that no Power had yet succeeded in limiting the freedom of fishing in open seas, and that such pretensions had never been recognized by the other Powers. They were confident that the fitting out of colonial cruizers would put an end to all difficulties; there had not yet been time to test the efficacy of this measure.

[Soon after this the whalers began to turn their chief attention to the Sea of Okhotsk.|

In 1850 the corvette "Olivutsa," of the Russian navy, was sent by the Government to cruize in the Northern Pacific. The Company were invited to offer suggestions with regard to the instructions to be given to cruizers.

The following is an extract from their suggestions: "In order to prevent the complete extermination of the whales in the Sea of Okhotsk it is most desirable that an armed cruizer should always be stationed at the Shantar Islands to keep away foreign whalers, at all events until such time as it is found possible altogether to prohibit whaling by foreign ships in that sea." (16th November, 1853, No. 970; Dielo Arkh. Kom. 1842 goda, No. 14, str. 181.)

Some time before the Company had written to the Foreign Office (22nd March, 1853, No. 368, the same Dielo, p. 163): "If it is found impracticable entirely to prohibit for a time fishing by foreigners in the Sea of Okhotsk, as an inland sea, would it not, at any rate, be possible officially to prohibit whalers from coming close to our shores and whaling in the bays and among the islands, detaching one of the cruizers of the Kamtchatka flotilla for this service?"

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The instructions to cruizers were approved on the 9th December, 1853. The cruizers were to see that no whalers entered the bays or gulfs, or came within 3 Italian miles of our shores, that is, the shores of Russian America (north of 54° 41'), the Peninsula of Kaintchatka, Siberia, the Kadjak Archipelago, the Aleutian Islands, the Pribyloff and Commander Islands, and the others in Behring Sea, the Kuriles, Sakhalin, the Shantar Islands, and the others in the Sea of Okhotsk to the north of 46° 30' north. The cruizers were instructed constantly to keep in view that "our Government not only does not wish to prohibit or put obstacles in the way of whaling by foreigners in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, but allows foreigners to take whales in the Sea of Okhotsk, which, as stated in these instructions, is, from its geographical position, a Russian inland sea."*

* These words are in italics in the original.

EXTRACTS FROM THE "HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE FORMATION OF THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN COMPANY, AND THEIR PROCEEDINGS UP TO THE PRESENT TIME" (IN RUSSIAN), BY P. TIKHMENIEFF, ST. PETERSBURGH, 1863, PART I, PAGES 252, 250.

[Translation.]

According to reports from the Colony the number of Russians, halfbreeds, and natives under the administration of the Company was, on the 1st January, 1819, as follows:

SPEECH BY THE HON. CHARLES SUMNER, OF MASSACHUSETTS, ON THE CESSION OF RUSSIAN AMERICA TO THE UNITED STATES IN 1867. H. R. Ex. Doc. 177, 40TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION, PAGES 124-189.

Mr. PRESIDENT: You have just listened to the reading of the Treaty by which Russia cedes to the United States all her possessions on the North American Continent in consideration of 7,200,000 dollars, to be paid by the United States. On the one side is the cession of a vast country with its jurisdiction and its resources of all kinds, on the other side is the purchase-money. Such is this transaction on its face.

BOUNDARIES AND CONFIGURATION.

In endeavouring to estimate its character I am glad to begin with what is clear and beyond question. I refer to the boundaries fixed by the Treaty. Commencing at the parallel of 54° 40′ north latitude, so famous in our history, the line ascends Portland Channel to the mountains, which it follows on their summits to the point of intersection with the 1410 west longitude, which line it ascends to the Frozen Ocean, or, if you please, to the North Pole. This is the eastern boundary, separating this region from the British possessions, and it is

borrowed from the Treaty between Russia and Great Britain in 1825, establishing the relations between these two Powers on this continent. It will be seen that this boundary is old; the rest is new. Starting from the Frozen Ocean, the western boundary descends Behring Straits, midway between the two islands of Krusenstern and Ratmanov, to the parallel of 65° 30', just below where the Continents of America and Asia approach each other the nearest; and from this point it proceeds in a course nearly south-west through Behring Straits, midway between the Island of St. Lawrence and Cape Chonkotski, to the meridian of 172° west longitude, and thence, in a south-westerly direction, traversing Behring Sea, midway between the Island of Attou on the east, and Copper Island on the west, to the meridian of 1930 west longitude, leaving the prolonged group of the Aleutian Islands in the possessions now transferred to the United States, and making the western boundary of our country the dividing line which separates Asia from America.

Look at the map and see the configuration of this extensive region, whose estimated area is more than 570,000 square miles. I speak by the authority of our own Coast Survey. Including the Sitkan Archipelago at the south, it takes a margin of the mainland, fronting on the ocean 30 miles broad and 300 miles long, to Mount St. Elias, the highest peak of the continent, when it turns with an elbow to the west, and then along Behring Straits northerly, when it rounds to the east along the Frozen Ocean. Here are upwards of 4,000 statute miles of coast, indented by capacious bays and commodious harbours without number, embracing the Peninsula of Alaska, one of the most remarkable in the world, 50 miles in breadth and 300 miles in length; piled with mountains, many volcanic, and some still smoking; penetrated by navigable rivers, one of which is among the largest of the world; studded with islands which stand like sentinels on the coast, and flanked by that narrow Aleutian range which, starting from Alaska, stretches far away to Japan, as if America were extending a friendly hand to Asia. This is the most general aspect. There are details specially disclosing maritime advantages and approaches to the sea, which properly belong to this preliminary sketch. According to accurate estimates the coastline, including bays and islands, is not less than 11,270 miles. In the Aleutian range, besides innumerable islets and rocks, there are not less than fifty-five islands exceeding 3 miles in length; there are seven exceeding 40 miles, with Ounimak, which is the largest, exceeding 73 miles. In our part of Behring Sea there are five considerable islands, the largest of which is St. Lawrence, being more than 96 miles long. Add to all these the group south of the Peninsula of Alaska, including the Shumagins and the magnificent Island of Kodiak, and then the Sitkan group, being archipelago added to archipelago, and the whole. together constituting the geographical complement to the West Indies, so that the north west of the continent answers archipelago for archipelago to the south-east.

DISCOVERY OF RUSSIAN AMERICA BY BEHRING, UNDER INSTRUCTIONS FROM PETER THE GREAT.

The title of Russia to all these possessions is derived from prior discovery, which is the admitted title by which all European Powers have held in North and South America, unless we except what England acquired by conquest from France, but here the title of France was derived from prior discovery. Russia, shut up in a distant

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interior, and struggling with barbarism, was scarcely known to the other Powers at the time they were lifting their flags in the Western Hemisphere. At a later day the same powerful genius which made her known as an Empire set in motion the enterprise by which these possessions were opened to her dominion. Peter the Great, himself a shipbuilder and a reformer, who had worked in the ship-yards of England and Holland, was curious to know if Asia and America were separated by the sea, or if they constituted one undivided body with different names, like Europe and Asia. To obtain this information he wrote with his own hand the following instructions, and ordered his Chief Admiral to see them carried into execution:

One or two boats with decks to be built at Kamtschatka, or at any other convenient place, with which inquiry should be made in relation to the northerly coasts, to see whether they were not contiguous with America, since their end was not known; and this done, they should see whether they could not somewhere find a harbour belonging to Europeans or an European ship. They should likewise set apart some men who should inquire after the name and situation of the coasts discovered. Of all this an exact journal should be kept, with which they should return to St. Petersburgh. (Müller's "Voyages from Asia to America," by Jeffreys, p. 45.)

The Czar died in the winter of 1725, but the Empress Catharine, faithful to the desires of her husband, did not allow this work to be neglected. Vitus Behring, a Dane by birth, and a navigator of some experience, was made Commander. The place of embarkation was on the other side of the Asiatic Continent. Taking with him officers and ship-builders, the navigator left St. Petersburgh by land on the 5th February, 1725, and commenced the preliminary journey across Siberia, Northern Asia, and the Sea of Okhotsk to the coast of Kamtchatka, which they reached after infinite hardships and delays, sometimes with dogs for horses, and sometimes supporting life by eating leather bags, straps, and shoes. More than three years were passed in this toilsome and perilous journey to the place of embarkation. At last, on the 20th July, 1728, the party was able to set sail in a small vessel called the "Gabriel," and described as "like the packet-boats used in the Baltic." Steering in a north-easterly direction, Behring passed a large island, which he called St. Lawrence, from the saint on whose day it was seen. This island, which is included in the present cession, may be considered as the first point in Russian discovery, as it is also the first outpost of the North American Continent. Continuing northward, and hugging the Asiatic coast, Behring turned back only when he thought he had reached the northeastern extremity of Asia, and was satisfied that the two continents were separated from each other. He did not penetrate further north than 67° 30'.

In his voyage Behring was struck by the absence of such great and high waves as in other places are common to the open sea, and he observed fir trees swimming in the water, although they were unknown on the Asiatic coast. Relations of inhabitants, in harmony with these indications, pointed to "a country at no great distance toward the east." His work was still incomplete, and the navigator before returning home put forth again for this discovery, but without success. By another dreary land journey he made his way back to St. Petersburgh in March 1730, after an absence of five years. Something was accomplished for Russian discovery, and his own fame was engraved on the Maps of the world. The straits through which he sailed now bear his name, as also does the expanse of sea which he traversed on his way to the straits.

The spirit of discovery continued at St. Petersburgh. A Cossack Chief undertaking to conquer the obstinate natives on the north-eastern coast, proposed also "to discover the pretended country on the Frozen