New-York tribune., 1906-09-30

pany obtained a charter from King James CIV
ing II the exclusive right to fsh in Spitzbergen
waters. Armed with this document. the English
ships drove away all their foreign competitors,
but in the following year were driven out them
selves by a superior number of Dutch vessels
escorted by men-of-war and provided by the
Prince OF Orange with charter analogous TO
that bestowed upon the Russia Company by
King James. Tho Dutch seized various points
along the shore and established their headquar-
ters in large town which they constructed.
and TO which they gave the appropriate but
scarcely poetic. name Of Smeerenburg. which
may be translated as ''Blubbertown." From
then on there a constant struggle between
the English and the Dutch for the ownership OF
the islands, the honors being pretty equally d.
vided: and In the mean time there was so much
indiscriminate and reckless destruction Of the
whales of the walruses and of the seals that these
denizens Of the deep at length abandoned the
waters of spitzbergen. the archipelago being in
turn abandoned by the hunters. In the early
part of the eighteenth century. Russia. finding
the islands deserted. raised its nag for the first
time on Spitzbergen, and established penal
colony there in connection with a fur trading
concern, the latter managed by the monks OF
Solobetski. in the White Sea. But a hundred
years later it was deserted by the Russians in
the same way as it had been vacated previously
by the Dutch and the English, and then the
Norwegians descended upon the archipelago and
made it the centre of their eiderdown industry.
So important did this trade become that by the
middle of the last century the Spitzbergen trade
had developed into the chief source of prosperity
Of the Norwegian city of Hammerfest. Since
then the whole Spitzbergen trade has been in
the hands Of the Norwegians, and as the latter
constitute the entire population 1t IS only nat
ural that they should be anxious for the pro-
lection Of their home government and for the
administration OF its law throughout the islands.
But when. a few YEARS ago. King Oscar Of
Sweden broached the subject OF extending his
Norwegian sceptre over the archipelago Russia
and the Netherlands raised such storm OF pro-
test, on the grounds of their prior rights to the
islands that he was obliged to abandon his prof.
ect The matter remained in abeyance until last
summer. when the discovery of all sorts Of
valuable mineral deposits the islands, includ-
ing peculiarly rich veins OF gold, brought about
rush 10 Spitzbergen Of such crowd Of people
from various parts Of the world as to render alb
solutely necessary the immediate constitution Of
some form of government for the maintenance
of law and order.
That IS why the question Of the ownership Of
the islands ~tr have TO be settled without fur
tier delay by the international congress de-
manGed By King Haakon, and which King Leo
dency ut Brussels. The congress will on the
same occasion be called upon to agree upon
some scheme for the delimitation Of the various
sp;.csr,g II influence IN the Arctic and Antarctic
oceans, go as TO prevent the recurrence of such
p controversy as that which created by the
raising Of the German flag on Bear Island some
seven years ago. America, for instance cannot
afford TO have any foreign power taking possess
sion Of islands off the Arctic coast Of Alaska,
even If beyond the three-mile limit. Russia,
Denmark (Which includes Greenland among her
colonial dependencies), Norway and, above ALL
Great Britain. with her long range of the north
ern coast Of the Dominion of Canada and the
less adjacent islands. are similarly sit
uated. Great Britain, indeed. was considerably
disturbed some time back by the discovery Of
the fact that the American flag had been raised.
not only on islands along the northern coast of
Canada. but also the islands Of that great
inland sea known Hudson Bay. Three years
ago indeed. il actually found that the
American flag had been raised on the mainland
in the neighborhood of Portland Point on the
eastern shores of Hudson Bay. and that there
were number Of American settlers in possess
sion Of certain harbors and islands of the bay
who refused to be amenabe to Canadian law
on the ground that it had been No Mans Land
until they had raised the Stars and Stripes there
The matter is still the subject of diplomatic
negotiation between Great Britain and the
United States. as is also the claim Of England IN
regard to Hudson Bay mare clausum and
TO exercise exclusive sovereignty over the huge
100000 square miles OF inland sea. The issue is
in fair way Of being settled by means of
compromise, according to the terms of which
England's sovereignty over Hudson Bay is rec
ognized in return for special favors and advan-
tages being conceded to American fishermen and