Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-04


600, and it was suggested that 1t would be
found sufficient to fix the boundary at GER
tain determined points, and there were
named the head of Portland canal the
point where the boundary line crosses the
rivers Shoot Stakine, Taku Iselcat and
Chilkaht, Mount st. Elias etc. The legis-
titioning the Canadian government for
survey, refers to it as the boundary of the
3O-mile belt of American territory
''Sir Edward Thornton communicated to
the foreign office the result of his confer
erce with Secretary Fish, and it was then
submitted through the colonial office to the
Canadian government, by whom 1t was re-
ferred to the surveyor general, Dennis, who
reported favorably upon the plan. He re-
stated the points to be determined and
enumerates the rivers 'Skoot, Stakine,
Taku, Iselcat and Chilkaht,' and says that
in his opinion it Is unnecessary at present
(and it may be for all time) to incur the
expense of any other survey than that
named. It was thereupon determined that
such a joint survey should be made. the
total cost of which the British boundary
commissioner, Maj Cameron, estimated
might reach S2,230,000. The plan was not
at that time carried into execution because
of the failure of the United States Con-
gress to vote the appropriation This fact
is cited to show that in 1928 the British
and Canadian officials understood that the
eastern boundary of the strip crossed the
| mouths, which are at the head of inlets.
including Lynn canal, and that the bound
arv could not therefore, cross any of these
inlets.
Citation of an Incident.
I'm 1875 a Canadian official was conduct
ing one Peter Martin, charged with some
offense from Canadian territory across the
strip of American territory traversed by
the Stikine river Having camped for the
night at a point thirteen miles above the
mouth of the river, Martin, in an attempt
to escape, committed an assault on the Off
Ger, for which, on his arrival at Victoria,
B. c., he was tried and condemned to i'm
prisonment. Martin complained to the con-
sui that he was an American citizen, and
| the Secretary of State presented the case
| to the British government. A surveyor
| was dispatched to the Stikine river to To-
| cate the exact spot of the assault. which
| he reported to be in United States terri
| tory under the treaty of 1925. Thereupon
| the Canadian privy council, following the
| indication of the British foreign office, de-
cided that as the offense for which Martin
was convicted was committed in American
| territory, he must be released, and he was
accordingly set at liberty
| The speaker made several such citations
| to show that whenever the British govern
ment or those holding interests under it
| have had occasion to express their views
| as to the strip of territory secured to Rus
| STA under the treaty of 1S25 they have made
| it plain that they regarded it as an I'M
around the inlets of the sea, and that the
| interior waters inclosed in such strip were
| Russian or American territorial waters.
| when. in 1922, the Duke of Wellington
| was about to depart as the British pleni-
potentiary to the international congress of
Verona he carried with him an instruction
| from Secretary Canning to bring the pro
| test of his government against the ukase
| of 1921 to the attention of the Russian
| plenipotentiaries at that congress. After
| obtaining the opinion of the great English
lawyer. Lord Stoweli. he wrote:
| Enlightened statesmen and jurists
| have long held as insignificant all titles OF
| territory that are not founded on actual
| occupation and that title is, in the opin-
| ion of the most esteemed writers on public
| law, to be established by practical use
| '"There is no claim or pretenSe that the
| British authorities or subjects ever occu-
| pied any of the territory now in dispute
| except under the lease cited, or ever eXer-
| cised or attempted to exercise any acts of
| sovereignty over the strip of waters IN
| closed by it"
Russian and American Control.
| On the other hand, Mr.. Foster cited four
| teen instances of occupation and control
! by Russia and subsequently the United
| States including the statement that upon
| the transfer of Alaska a portion of the
| United States army was dispatched to oc-
| cupy the territory and q detachment was
stationed for some time on this strip of
| the mainland Since the cession post Of
| fees and post routes have been established
and maintained at various points on the
| strip. Custom houses have likewise been
| established and duties collected therein.
| Government and mission schools have been
| maintained. and notably so, for near twenty
years, at the head of Lynn canal The rev.
| enue vessels of the United States have con-
| tinuously since the date of the cession
| patrolled the interior waters surrounded
| tI,E -t,iFA ayNfC
other laws of the United States. The naval
| and revenue vessels of the United States
| have for the same period exercised acts
| of sovereignty over the Indian tribes IN
| habiting the strip, especially ABOUT the
| head of Lynn canal, and the latter nave
! yielded unquestioned allegiance to the
| United States The territorial government
! of Alaska has exercised various and re-
peated acts of sovereignty over the strip
| and interior waters inclosed by 1t, and the
| writs of the United States courts nave run
| throughout its whole extent. Under the
| territorial claim of the United States and
| the protection of the government, citizens
| of the United States have entered and oc-
| cupied the strip. built cities and towns, and
| established industrial enterprises thereon.
Coming to the work Of the high joint COM
mission, of which he is a prominent mem
| Der, Mr. Foster said: =
"All the foregoing acts have taken place
| without single protest or complaint on the
part of the British or Canadian govern
| ments EXCEPT that some friction has &C.
.
Cured between the customs outposts as 10
| the exact demarcation of the eastern line
| of the strip. For the first time statement
was presented by the British government
| to the government of the United States on
| the LIST of August, 1898. developing the fact
| that difference of views exist ed respecting
| the provisions of the treaty of 1873 relating
| to the strip of territory and the waters en-
| braced by 1t. Two months previous an
| agreement had been reached between the
| two governments for the appointment of
| joint commission for the adjustment of
| pending questions of difference between the
| United States and Canada. Soon after the
| commission met "a Quebec, on August %,
| 1895 it was made known for the first time
| that the British government would claim
| that the boundary line should run from the
extremity of Prince of Wales Island, along
| the passage known on modern maps as
| Pearse canal, to the head of Portland canal,
| thence directly 70 the coast, and follow the
| nearest mountains to the coast, crossing all
| the inlets of the sea, up to Mount st. Elias.
| Such a line would give the United States a
| strip Of average width of less than five
| miles, broken al short intervals by the arms
| of the sea, anu would transfer the greater
| portion of all the inlets to British territory.
| AS the Canadian government, with the con-
| sent of the British foreign office. has made
| public the protocol or official Journal of the
| Joint high commission showing the result