will be done then with facilities, such at least as neighborhood supplied to the natives even with their smalt craft. gether, according to the indications of the two charts, have an extent unsurpassed by any other in the world. There is another illustration full of instruction. It is a map of the world, in the new work of Murray on Mammals, showing ap: proximately the one hundred fathom line of soundings," prepared from information furnished by the Hydrographic Department of the British Admiralty. Here the British Admiralty. Here are all the sound In our country the Whale Fishery has been a great and prosperous commerce, counted by millions. It has yielded very considerable gains, and sometimes large fortunes. The town of New Bedford, one of the most beautiful in the world, has been enriched by this Fishery, and yet you cannot fail to remark the impediments which the business has been compelledings of the world. At a glance you discern to overcome. The ship has been fitted on the Atlantic coast for a voyage of two or three years, and all the crew have entered into a partnership with regard to the oil. Traversing two oceans, separated by a stormy cape, it reaches its distant destination at last in these northern seas, and commences its tardy work, interrupted by occasional rest and opportunity to refit at the Sandwich islands. This now will be changed, as the ship sallies forth from friendly harbors near the game which is its mighty chase. From the Whale Fishery I turn to another branch of inquiry. Undoubtedly there are infinite numbers of fish on this coast; but in order to determine whether they can constitute a permanent and profitable Fishery there are at least three different considerations which must not be disregarded. (1.) The existence of banks or soundings. (2.) Proper climatic conditions for catching and curing the fish. (3.) A market. (1.) The necessity of banks or soundings is according to reason. Fish are not caught in the deep ocean. It is their nature to seek the bottom, where they are found in some way by the fisherman, armed with trawl, seine, or hook. As among the ancient Romans private luxury provided tanks and ponds for the preservation of fish, so nature provides banks, which are only immense fish-preserves. Soundings attest their existence in a margin along the coast; but it becomes important to know if. they actually exist to much extent away from the coast. On this point our information is already considerable, if not decisive. The sea and straits of Behring as far as the Frozen ocean have been surveyed by a Naval Expedition of the United States under Commander John Rogers. From one of his charts now before me it appears that, beginning at the Frozen ocean and descending through Behring straits and Behring sea, embracing Kotzebue sound, Norton bay, and Bristol bay, to the peninsula of Alaska, a distance of more than twelve degrees, there are constant uninterrupted soundings from twenty to fifty fathoms, thus presenting an immense extent proper in this respect for fishery. The famous Dogger bank, between England and Holland, teeming with Cod and constituting an inexhaustible fishing ground, has ninety fathoms of water. South of Alaska another chart shows soundings along the coast, with a considerable extent of bank in the neighborhood of the Shumagins and Kodiak, being precisely where all the evidence shows the existence of Cod. These banks, north and south of Alaska, taken to the remarkable line on the Pacific coast, beginning at 40° of latitude and widening constantly in a northwesterly direction; then with a gentle concave to the coast, stretching from Sitka to the Aleutians, which it envelopes with a wide margin; and then embracing and cov|| ering Behring straits to the Frozen ocean; the whole space, as indicated on the map, seeming like an immense unbroken sea meadow adjoining the land, and constituting plainly the largest extent of soundings in length and breadth known in the world, larger even than those of Newfoundland added to those of Great Britain. This map, which has been prepared by a scientific authority, simply in | the interest of science, is an unimpeachable and disinterested witness. Actual experience is better authority still. I learn that the people of California have already found Cod banks in these seas, and not deterred by distance have begun to gather a harvest. In 1866 no less than seventeen vessels left San Francisco for Cod Fishery on the Asiatic coast. This was a long voyage, requiring eighty days in going and returning. On the way better grounds were discovered among the Aleutians, with a better fish; and then again, other fishing grounds, better in every way, were discovered south of Alaska, in the neighborhood of the Shumagins, with an excellent harbor at hand. Here one vessel began its work on the 14th May, and notwithstanding stormy weather finished it on the 24th July, having taken fifty-two thousand fish. The largest catch in a single day was twenty-three hundred.. The average weight of the fish dried was three pounds. Old fishermen compared the fish in taking and quality with that of Newfoundland. Large profits are anticipated. While fish from the Atlantic side bring at San Francisco not less than twelve cents a pound it is supposed that Shumagin fish at only eight cents a pound will yield a better return than the coasting trade. It remains to be seen if these flattering reports are confirmed by further experience. From an opposite quarter is other confirmation. Here is a letter, which I have just received from Charles Bryant, Esq., at present a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, but for eighteen years acquainted with these seas, where he was engaged in the Whale Fishery. After mentioning the timber at certain places as a reason for the acquisition of these possessions, he says: "But the chiefest value, and this alone is worth more than the pittance asked for it, consists in its extensive Cod and Halibut fish grounds. To the eastward of Kodiak or Aleutian islands are extensive banks or shoals nearly if not quite cqual in extent to those of Newfoundland, and as well stocked with fish. Also west of the Aleutian islands, which extend from Alaska southwest half way to Kamtschatka, and inclosing that part of land laid down as Bristol bay, and west of it, is an extensive area of sea varying from forty fathoms in depth to twenty, where I have found the supply of codfish and halibut unfailing. These islands furnish good harbors for curing and preparing fish, as well as shelter in storm." Kodiak. It had for a long time been customary on this island to dry seal flesh in the air, which could not be done on the main land. Thus the opportunity of curing the fish seems to exist near the very banks where they are taken. But the California fishermen carry their fish home to be cured, in which they imitate the fishermen of Gloucester. As the yearly fishing product of this port is larger than that of any other in North America, perhaps in the world, this example cannot be without weight. (3.) The market also is of prime necessity. Fish are not caught and cured except for a market. Besides the extended coast, where an immediate demand must always prevail in proportion to an increasing population, there is an In another letter Mr. Bryant says that the shoals east of the entrance to Cook's inlet widen as they extend southward to latitude 50°; and that there are also large shoals south of Prince William sound, and again off Cross sound and Sitka. The retired ship-master adds that he never examined these shoals to ascertain their exact limits, but only incident-existing market in California, which is attested ally, in the course of his regular business, that he might know when and where to obtain fish if he wished them. His report goes beyond any charts of soundings which I have seen, although the charts are coincident with it as far as they go. Cook particularly notices soundings in Bristol bay and in various places along the coast. Other navigators have done the same. Careful surveys have accomplished so much that at this time the bottom of Behring sea and of Behring straits as far as the Frozen ocean, constituting one immense bank, is completely known in its depth and character. Add to all this the official report of Mr. Giddings, acting surveyor of Washington Territory, made to the Secretary of the Interior in 1866, where he says: "Along the coast, between Cape Flattery and Sitka, in the Russian possessions, both Cod and Halibut are very plenty, and of a much larger size than those taken at the cape or further up the straits and sound. No one who knows these facts doubts that if vessels similar to those used by the bank fishermen from Massachusetts and Maine were fitted out here and were to fish on the various banks along this coast it would even now be a most lucrative business. The Cod and Halibut on this coast, up near Sitka, are fully equal to the largest taken in the eastern waters." From all this evidence, including maps and personal experience, it is easy to see that the first condition of a considerable Fishery is not wanting. (2.) Proper climatic conditions must exist also. The proverbial hardihood of fishermen has its limits. Elsewhere weather and storm have compelled the abandonment of banks which promised to be profitable. On a portion of this coast there can be no such rigors. South of Alaska and the Aleutians, and also in. Bristol bay, immediately to the north of Alaska, the fishing grounds will compare in temperature with those of Newfoundland or Norway. It is more important to know if the fish when taken can be properly cured. This is one of the privileges of northern skies. Within the tropics fish may be taken in abundance, but the constant sun does not allow their preservation. The constant rains of Sitka,|| with only a few bright days in the year, must prevent the work of curing on any considerable scale. But the navigators make frequent mention of dry or preserved fish on the coast, and it is understood that fish are now cured at by long voyages to Kamtschatka for fish and by recent attempts to find fishing grounds. San Francisco at one time took from Okhotsk nine hundred tons of fish, being about one eighth of the yearly fishing product of Gloucester. Her fishing vessels last year brought home from the fish and ten thousand gallons of cod liver oil. Shumagin banks fifteen hundred tons of dried There is also a growing market in Washington and Oregon, too, unless I am misinformed. But beyond the domestic market, spreading from the coast into the interior, there will be a foreign market of no limited amount. Mexico, Central America, and the States of South America, all Catholic in religion, will require they must look northward for a supply. The this subsistence, and being southern in climate two best customers of our Atlantic fisheries are Hayti and Cuba, two Catholic countries under a southern sun. The fishermen of Massachusetts began at an early day to send their Cod to Portugal, Spain, and Italy, all Catholic countries under a southern sun. Our "salt" fish became popular. The Portugese minister at London in 1784, in a conference with Mr. Adams on a commercial treaty with the United States, mentioned "salt fish" among the objects most needed in his country, and added, 'the consumption of this article in Portugal is immense, and he would avow, that the American salt fish was preferred to any other on account of its quality." (John Adams's Writings, vol. 8, p. 339.) Such facts are more than curious. But more important than the Pacific States of the American continent are the great empires of Japan and China, with uncounted populations depending much on fish. In China one tenth subsist on fish. Notwithstanding the considerable supplies at home, it does not seem impossible for an energetic and commercial people to find a market here of inconceivable magnitude, which will dwarf that original fur trade with China that was once so tempting. From this survey you can all judge this question of the Fisheries, which I only state without assuming to determine. You can judge if well-stocked fishing banks have been found under such conditions of climate and market as to supply a new and important Fishery. Already the people of California have antici should be preserved unimpaired. While this proposition was under discussion Elbridge Gerry, who had grown up among the fishermen of Massachusetts, repelled the attacks upon their pursuit in words which are not out of place here. "It is not so much fishing," he said, "as enterprise, industry, employment. It is not so much fish; it is gold, the produce of that avocation. It is the employment of those who would otherwise be idle, the food of those who would otherwise be pated the answer, and their enterprise has arrested attention in Europe. The Journal of Peterman, The Geographische Mittheilungen, for the present year, which is the authentic German record of geographical science, borrows from a San Francisco paper to announce these successful voyages as the beginning of a new commerce. If this be so, as there is reason to believe, these coasts and seas will have a new value. The future only can disclose the form they may take. They may be a Newfoundland, a Norway, a Scotland, or perhaps a New Eng-hungry, the wealth of those who would otherland, with another Gloucester and another wise be poor." After debate After debate it was resolved New Bedford. by Congress that "the common right of taking fish should in no case be given up.' For this principle the eldest Adams contended with ability and constancy until it was fixed in the treaty, where it stands side by side with the acknowledgment of Independence. Influence of Fisheries. An eminent French writer, an enthusiast on fishes, Lacepéde, has depicted the influence of Fisheries, which he illustrates by the herring, calling it "one of those natural products whose use has decided the destiny of nations." With-umphantly the argument for the Fisheries was In the discussions which ended thus tri-. stated most compactly by Ralph Izard, of South Carolina, in a letter to John Adams, dated at Paris, 24th September, 1778; and what he said then may be repeated now: Since the advantages of commerce have been well understood, the fisheries have been looked upon by the naval Powers of Europe as an object of the greatest importance. The French have been increasing their fishery ever since the treaty of Utrecht, which has enabled them to rival Great Britain at sea. The fisheries of Holland were not only the first rise of the Republic, but have been the constant support of all her commerce and navigation. This branch of trade is of such concern to the Dutch that in their public prayers they are said to request the Supreme Being that it would please Him to bless the Government, the lords, the States, and also the fisheries. The fishery of Newfoundland appears to me to be a mine of infinitely greater value than Mexico and Peru. It enriches the proprietors, is worked at less expense, and is the source of naval strength and protection."-John Adams's Works, vol. 7, p. 45. out adopting these strong words it is easy to see that such Fisheries as seem about to be opened on the Pacific must exercise a wonderful influence over the population there, while they give a new spring to commerce and enlarge the national resources. In these aspects it is impossible to exaggerate. Fishermen are not as other men. They have a character of their own, taking its complexion from their life. In ancient Rome they had a peculiar holiday with games, known as Piscatorii Ludi. The first among us in this pursuit were the Pilgrims, who even before they left Leyden looked to fishing for a support in their new home, on which King James remarked: "So God have my soul, 'tis an honest trade; 'twas the apostles' own calling." As soon As soon as they as they reached Plymouth they began to fish, and not long afterwards appropriated the profits of the I have grouped these allusions that you may Fisheries at Cape Cod to found a free school. see how the Fisheries of that day, though comFrom this Puritan origin are derived those paratively small, enlisted the energies of our Fisheries which for a while were our chief fathers. Tradition confirms this record. commerce, and still continue an important sculptured image of a Cod hanging from the element of national wealth. The Cod Fisheries ceiling in the hall of the Massachusetts House of the United States are now valued at more of Representatives, where it was placed durthan two million dollars annually. Even they ing the last century, constantly recalls this are inferior to the French Fisheries, whose industrial and commercial staple with the great annual product is more than three million dol-part which it performed. And now it is my lars; and these again are small by the side of the British Fisheries, whose annual product is not far from twenty-five million dollars. Such an interest must be felt far and near, commercially and financially, while it contributes to the comfort of all. How soon it may prevail on the Pacific who can say? But this Treaty is the beginning. Of course it is difficult to estimate what is so uncertain, or at least is prospective only. Our own Fisheries, now so considerable, were small in the beginning; they were small even when they inspired the eloquence of Burke in that most splendid page never equaled even by himself. But the Continental Congress, in its original instructions to its commissioners for the negotiation of peace with Great Britain, required as a fundamental condition, next to Independence, that these Fisheries The duty to remind you that these Fisheries, guarded so watchfully and vindicated with such conquering zeal, had a value prospective rather than present, or at least small compared with what it is now. Exact figures, covering the ten years between 1765 and 1775, show that during this period Massachusetts employed annually in the Fisheries 665 vessels amounting to 25,620 tons, and only 4,405 men. In contrast with this interest, which seems so small, although at the time considerable, are the present Fisheries of our country; and here again we have exact figures. The number of vessels in the Cod Fishery alone in 1861, just before the blight of the war reached this business, was 2,753 amounting to 137,665 tons, and with 19,271 men, being more than four times as many vessels and men, and more than five times as much tonnage, as for ten years preceding the Revo lution was employed annually by Massachusetts, representing at that time the fishing interest of the country. any name borrowed from classical history or from individual invention will be little better than a misnomer or a nickname unworthy of Small beginnings, therefore, are no discour- such an occasion. Even if taken from our agement to me, and I turn with confidence to own history it will be of doubtful taste. The the future. Already the local Fisheries on this name should come from the country itself. It coast have developed among the generations should be indigenous, aboriginal, one of the of natives a singular gift in building and man- autochthons of the soil. Happily such a aging their small craft so as to excite the fre- name exists, which is as proper in sound as in quent admiration of voyagers. The larger origin. It appears from the report of Cook, Fisheries there will naturally exercise a corre- the illustrious navigator, to whom I have so sponding influence on the population destined often referred, that the euphonious name now to build and manage the larger craft. The applied to the peninsula which is the conti beautiful baidar will give way to the fishing-nental link of the Aleutian chain was the sole smack, the clipper, and the steamer. All things will be changed in form and proportion; but the original aptitude for the sea will remain. A practical race of intrepid naviga || word used originally by the native islanders "when speaking of the American continent in general, which they knew perfectly well to be a great land." It only remains that, following too, should call this "great land" Alaska. tors will swarm the coast, ready for any enter these natives, whose planes are top twingon prise of business or patriotism. Commerce will find new arms; the country new defenders; the national flag new hands to bear it aloft. SUMMARY. Mr. President, I now conclude this examination. From a review of the origin of the Treaty, and the general considerations with regard to it we have passed to an examination of these possessions under different heads, in order to arrive at a knowledge of their character and value; and here we have noticed the existing Government, which was found to be nothing but a fur company, whose only object is trade; then the Population, where a very few Russians and Creoles are a scanty fringe to the aboriginal races; then the Climate, a ruling influence, with its thermal current of ocean and its eccentric isothermal line, by which the rigors of that coast are tempered to a mildness unknown in the same latitude on the Atlantic side; then, the Vegetable Products, so far as known, chief among which are forests of pine and fir waiting for the ax; then the Mineral Products, among which are coal and copper, if not iron, silver, lead, and gold, besides the two great products of New England, "granite and ice;" then the Furs, including precious skins of the Black Fox and Sea Otter, which originally tempted the settlement, and have remained to this day the exclusive object of pursuit; and lastly, the Fisheries, which, in waters superabundant with animal life beyond any of the globe, seem to promise a new commerce to the country. All these I have presented plainly and impartially, exhibiting my authorities as I proceeded. have done little more than høld the scales. these have inclined on either side it is because reason or testimony on that side was the weightier. WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE. ours, we, Another change must be made without delay. As the settlements of this coast came Eastward from Russia, bringing with the Russian flag Western time, the day is earlier by twenty-four hours with them than with us, so that their Sunday is our Saturday, and the other days of the week are in corresponding discord. This must be rectified according to the national meridian, so that there shall be the same Sunday for all, and the other days of the week shall be in corresponding harmony. Important changes must follow, of which this is typical. All else must be rectified according to the national meridian, so that within the sphere of our common conntry there shall be everywhere the same generous rule aud one prevailing harmony. Of course, the 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 honored 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 organIfize, 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. As these extensive possessions, constituting a corner of the continent, pass from the imperial Government of Russia they will naturally receive & new name. They will be no longer Russian America. How shall they be called? Clearly a |