unreformed Julian Calendar, received from Russia, will give place to ours; old style yielding to new style.

An object of immediate practical interest will be the survey of the extended and indented coast by our own officers, bringing it all within the domain of science and assuring to navigation much-needed assistance, while the Republic is honoured by a continuation of national charts, where execution vies with science, and the art of engraving is the beautiful handmaid. Associated with this survey, and scarcely inferior in value, will be the examination of the country by scientific explorers, so that its geological structure may become known, with its various products, vegetable and mineral. But your best work and most important endowment will be the Republican Government, which, looking to a long future, you will organize, with schools free to all and with equal laws, before which every citizen will stand erect in the consciousness of manhood. Here will be a motive power, without which coal itself will be insufficient. Here will be a source of wealth more inexhaustible than any fisheries. Bestow such a Government, and you will bestow what is better than all you can receive, whether quintals of fish, sands of gold, choicest fur, or most beautiful ivory.

LEASE BY THE UNITED STATES TO THE ALASKA COMMERCIAL COMPANY.

This indenture, in duplicate, made this 3rd day of August, A. D. 1870, by and between William A. Richardson, Acting Secretary of the Treasury, in pursuance of an Act of Congress, approved the 1st July, 1870, entitled "An Act to prevent the Extermination of Fur-bearing Animals in Alaska," and the Alaska Commercial Company, a Corporation duly established under the laws of the State of California, acting by John F. Miller, its President and Agent, in accordance with a Resolution of said Corporation, duly adopted at a meeting of its Board of Trustees, held the 31st January, 1870;

Witnesseth, That the said Secretary hereby leases to the said Alaska Commercial Company, without power to transfer, for the term of twenty years, from the 1st day of May, 1870, the right to engage in the business of taking fur seals on the Islands of St. George and St. Paul, within the Territory of Alaska, and to send a vessel or vessels to said islands for the skins of such seals.

And the said Alaska Commercial Company, in consideration of their right under this lease, hereby covenant and agree to pay for each year during said term and in proportion during any part thereof, the sum of 55,000 dollars into the Treasury of the United States, in accordance with the regulations of the Secretary, to be made for this purpose under said Act, which payment shall be secured by deposit of United States bonds to that amount; and also covenant and agree to pay annually into the Treasury of the United States, under said Rules and Regulations, a revenue tax or duty of 2 dollars upon each fur seal skin taken and shipped by them, in accordance with the provisions of the Act aforesaid; and also the sum of 62 cents for each fur seal skin taken and shipped, and 55 cents per gallon for each gallon of oil obtained from said seals for sale on said islands and elsewhere, and sold by said Company. And also covenant and agree, in accordance with said

Rules and Regulations, to furnish free of charge, the inhabitants of the Islands of St. Paul and St. George annually during said term, 25,000 dried salmon, 60 cords of firewood, and a sufficient quantity of salt, and a sufficient number of barrels for preserving the necessary supply of meat.

And the said lessees also hereby covenant and agree during the term aforesaid, to maintain a school on each island, in accordance with said Rules and Regulations, and suitable for the education of the natives of said islands, for a period of not less than eight months in each year.

And the said lessees further covenant and agree not to kill upon said Island of St. Paul more than 75,000 fur seals, and upon the Island of St. George not more than 25,000 fur seals per annum; not to kill any fur seal upon the island aforesaid in any other month except the months of June, July, September and October of each year; not to kill such seals at any time by the use of firearms or other means tending to drive the seals from said islands; not to kill any female seal or any seal less than one year old; not to kill any seal in the waters adjacent to said island or on the beaches, cliffs or rocks where they haul up from the sea to remain.

And the said lessees further covenant and agree to abide by any restriction or limitation upon the rights to kill seals under this lease, that the Act prescribes or that the Secretary of the Treasury shall judge necessary for the preservation of such seals.

And the said lessees hereby agree that they will not in any way sell, transfer or assign this lease, and that any transfer, sale or assignment of the same shall be void or of no effect.

And the said lessees further covenant and agree to furnish to the several masters of the vessels employed by them, certified copies of this lease, to be presented to the Government revenue officers for the time being in charge of said islands, as the authority of the said lessees for the landing and taking said skins.

And the said lessees further covenant and agree that they or their agents shall not keep, sell, give or dispose of any distilled spirits or spirituous liquors on either of said islands to any of the natives thereof, such person not being a physician furnishing the same for use as med-. icine.

And the said lessees further covenant and agree that this lease is accepted subject to all needful Rules and Regulations which shall at any time or times hereafter be made by the Secretary of the Treasury for the collection and payment of the rentals herein agreed to be paid by said lessees, for the comfort, maintenance, education and protection of the natives of said islands, and for carrying into effect all the provisions of the Act, aforesaid, and will abide by and conform to said Rules and Regulations.

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And the said lessees, accepting this lease with a full knowledge of the provisions of the aforesaid Act of Congress, further covenant and agree that they will fulfil all the provisions, requirements and limitations of said Act, whether herein specifically set out or not. In witness whereof the parties aforesaid have hereunto set their hands and seals, the day and year above written.

WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON,

Acting Secretary of the Treasury. ALASKA COMMERCIAL COMPANY. (By JNO. F. MILLER, President.)

Executed in presence of J. H. SAVILLE.

ARTICLE FROM THE "FORUM," NOVEMBER 1889, BY PROFESSOR JAMES B. ANGELL, RELATING TO AMERICAN RIGHTS IN BEHRING SEA.

Alaska is now furnishing us with two international questions of some interest and consequence. The first concerns our right (freely exercised of late under orders of our Treasury Department) to seize foreign vessels engaged in catching fur-bearing seals in Behring Sea many miles away from land, and to send them into port for condemnation and forfeiture. The second concerns the determination of the boundary between Alaska and British America. The former is just now engaging public attention much more than the latter. Possibly the latter may prove both the more important and the more difficult. Naturally enough, some Canadians whose vessels have been seized, and others who wish to annoy the Macdonald Ministry, are using sharp language about the captures. Fortunately the British Government is proceeding with much deliberation and freedom from excitement. If we are reasonable, there is good ground to believe that we can come to an understanding with England and other nations that will secure all the protection we can properly ask for our seals.

What have we been doing to British vessels in Behring Sea? For more than three years armed vessels of our Revenue Marine Service have, in obedience to the commands of the Secretaries of the Treasury, captured British vessels when it was evident that they were catching seals in that sea, even though the vessels were 40, 50, 90 miles, or even farther from shore. These seizures have been made for alleged violation of Section 1956 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which provides "that no person shall, without the consent of the Secretary of the Treasury, kill any otter, mink, marten, sable, fur-seal, or other fur-bearing animal within the limits of Alaska Territory, or in the waters thereof," under certain penalties.

H. F. French, Acting Secretary of the Treasury, 12th March, 1881, officially interpreted that expression, "in the waters thereof," as includ ing all the waters in Behring Sea within our boundaries. He referred to the description of the western boundary-line of Alaska found in the Treaty of Cession by Russia, which reads as follows:

The western limit within which the territories and dominion conveyed are contained passes through a point in Behring Strait on the parallel of 65° 30' north latitude, at its intersection by the meridian which passes midway between the Islands of Krusenstern, or Ignalook, and the Island of Ratmanoff, or Noonarbook, 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 southwest, through Behring Strait and Behring Sea, so as to pass midway between the north-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 Kormandorski 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.

Mr. French then added:

All the waters within that boundary to the western end of the Aleutian Archipelago and chain of islands are considered as comprised within the waters of Alaska Territory. All the penalties prescribed by law against the killing of fur-bearing animals would therefore attach against any violation of law within the limits before described.

Secretary Manning, in 1886, indorsed and adopted this view. Early in 1887 President Cleveland ordered the discontinuance of proceedings against three British sealers which had been seized, the discharge of the vessels, and the release of the persons arrested. But seizures did not cease. Indeed, Secretary Bayard announced to the British Minister that the above action was taken "without conclusion of any ques tions which may be found to be involved."

At the last Session of Congress an Act was passed (approved the 2nd March, 1889) "to provide for the protection of the salmon fisheries of Alaska." In its third section it provides that "Section 1956 of the Revised Statutes of the United States [quoted in part], above, is hereby declared to include and apply to all the dominions of the United States in the waters of the Behring Sea." It makes it the duty of the President each year to make proclamation accordingly.

On the 22nd March last President Harrison issued his Proclamation, warning "all persons against entering the waters of Behring Sea within the dominion of the United States for the purpose of violating the provisions of said section 1956, Revised Statutes," and declaring that "all persons found to be or to have been engaged in any violation of the laws of the United States will be arrested and punished as above provided." 93

Now, whatever may be the nature of our acts of which the British complain, it is obvious that we have not been claiming an exclusive jurisdiction for all purposes over Behring Sea, as in 1821 Russia claimed it for 100 Italian miles from the coast all the way from Behring Strait down to the 51st degree of latitude. The Czar, by his Ukase, excluded foreigners from pursuing "commerce, whaling, fishing, and all other industry” in those waters and on the adjacent lands. Under Mr. French's ruling, followed by Mr. Manning, our revenuecruizers have been directed to arrest foreign vessels only to prevent them from killing fur-bearing animals. The chief object of the legislation by Congress is to prevent the indiscriminate slaughter and early extinction of the fur-seals, which chiefly resort to the Pribyloff Islands to breed. If sealers are allowed to catch them ad libitum, while they are on their way to their breeding place, these animals will soon be exterminated, as they have been elsewhere. Therefore the number that the Alaska Cominercial Company, which has the exclusive privilege of taking seals on the Islands of St. Paul and St. George of the Pribyloff group, is allowed by contract with the Government to catch is limited to 100,000 a-year. It is, of course, for the interest of many nations that the race of seals should not be destroyed. It is especially for the interest of Great Britain that the race should be perpetuated, for all the seal-skins procured by us in Behring Sea are sent to London to be dressed and prepared for use.

The question is, whether for this laudable purpose of preserving the fur-bearing seals from extinction, and maintaining our undisputed right to control the taking of these animals on the Pribyloff Islands, we may rightfully board, search, and seize foreign vessels in Behring Sea more than 3 miles away from land. The equal right of all nations to use the high seas for any lawful purpose of commerce, navigation, fishing, or hunting is now so universally recognized; the United States have been so constantly the staunch defender of this right; we have so vigorously opposed all attempts of Great Britain to search our vessels in time of peace; we have claimed so vehemently the right of fishing in Canadian waters sharply up to 3-mile line from shore, that obviously we must show some very plain and cogent reasons to justify our course in Behring Sea. What reasons have been or can be given?

Our Government has given, so far as is known, no other formal statement than that of Acting Secretary French (above quoted in part), to inform either our citizens or foreign Powers of the precise grounds on which the seizure of British sealers is to be justified. No defence of our action by Secretary Bayard, nor up to the time of this writing by Secretary Blaine or Secretary Windom, has been published.

But in our newspapers editorial writers or contributors have suggested lines of defence of our action. The ground they have generally taken as the strongest is that Russia exercised exclusive jurisdiction in Behring Sea, and that by the cession of Alaska she transferred to us the right to exercise the same jurisdiction. Undoubtedly, by the Edict of 1821, the Czar claimed the right to exclude foreign vessels from navigating that sea within 100 miles of the shore for any purpose; but through the pen of John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, we stoutly and successfully resisted that claim. The first two sections of the Edict read as follows:

Section 1. The pursuits of commerce, whaling, and fishing, and of all other industry, on all islands, ports, and gulfs, including the whole of the north-west coast of America, beginning from Behring Strait to the 51st degree of northern latitude; also from the Aleutian Islands to the eastern coast of Siberia, as well as along the Kurile Islands from Behring Strait to the south cape of the Island of Urup, viz., to 45° 50' northern latitude, are exclusively granted to Russian subjects.

Section 2. It is therefore prohibited to all foreign vessels not only to land on the coasts and islands belonging to Russia, as stated above, but also to approach them within 100 Italian miles. The transgressor's vessel is subject to confiscation along with the whole cargo.

Mr. Adams, replying to the note in which M. Poletica, the Russian Minister at Washington, communicated this Edict, said (25th February, 1822) that the President had seen with surprise this assertion of a territorial claim by Russia down to the 51st degree of latitude on our continent, and added: "To exclude the vessels of our citizens from the shore beyond the ordinary distance to which the territorial jurisdiction extends has excited still greater surprise."

It has been said by some that the controversy between us and Russia did not pertain to Behring Sea, and so that Mr. Adams' contention cannot be pleaded against a claim to jurisdiction by us now over that sea. It is true that the action of Russia in issuing the Edict was chiefly directed against alleged illicit trading by our citizens on the coasts below the Aleutian Islands. There was then little or no trade above them. But the language of the Edict plainly applies to what we call Behring Sea as well as to other parts of the Northern Pacific, although the name Behring Sea was then rarely, if ever, used to designate the waters which we know by that name. Mr. Adams, in sending instructions to Mr. Middleton, our Minister at St. Petersburgh, to guide him in negotiating the Treaty of 1824, wrote (22nd July, 1823) as follows: From the tenour of the Ukase the pretensions of the Imperial Government extend to an exclusive territorial jurisdiction from the 45th degree of north latitude on the Asiatic coast to the latitude of 51° north on the western coast of the American continent; and they assume the right of interdicting the navigation and the fishery of all other nations to the extent of 100 miles from the whole of that coast. The United States can admit no part of these claims.

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And again, in a paper accompanying the above instructions, he said: The right of navigation and of fishing in the Pacific Ocean, even upon the Asiatic coast north of latitude 45°, can as little be interdicted to the United States as that of traffic with the natives of North America.

After reading such language from Mr. Adams, can any one doubt what his answer would have been to a proposition by Russia to concede