The famous ukase of 1821 was issued by the Russian Emperor on the
expiration of the twenty-year charter of the Russian-American Company.
It prohibited "to all foreign vessels not only to land on the coasts and
islands belonging to Russia, as stated above" (including the whole of
the northwest coast of America, beginning from Behring Strait to the
fifty-first 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) "but also
to approach them within less than one hundred miles."
After the Nootka Convention in 1790, the Northwest Coast was open to
free settlement and trade by the people of any country. It was claimed
by the Russians to the Columbia, afterward to the northern end of
Vancouver Island; by the British, from the Columbia to the fifty-fifth
degree; and by the United States, from the Rocky Mountains to the
Pacific, between Forty-two and Fifty-four, Forty. By the treaty of 1819,
by which Florida was ceded to us by Spain, the United States acquired
all of Spanish rights and claims on the coast north of the forty-second
degree. By its trading posts and regular trading vessels, the United
States was actually in possession.
By treaty with the United States in 1824, and with Great Britain in
1825, Russia, realizing her mistake in issuing the ukase of 1821, agreed
to Fifty-four, Forty as the limit of her possessions to southward. Of
the interior regions, Russia claimed the Yukon region; England, that of
the Mackenzie and the country between Hudson Bay and the Rocky
Mountains; the United States, all west of the Rockies, north of
Forty-two.
The year previous to the one in which the United States acquired Florida
and all Spanish rights on the Pacific Coast north of Forty-two, the
United States and England had agreed to a joint occupation of the
region. In 1828 this was indefinitely extended, but with the emigration
to Oregon in the early forties, this country demanded a settlement of
the boundary question.
President Tyler, in his message to Congress in 1843, declared that "the
United States rights appertain to all between forty-two degrees and
fifty-four degrees and forty minutes."
The leading Democrats of the South were at that time advocating the
annexation of Texas. Mr. Calhoun was an ardent champion of the cause,
and was endeavoring to effect a settlement with the British minister,
offering the forty-ninth parallel as a compromise on the boundary
dispute, in his eagerness to acquire Texas without danger of
interference.
The compromise was declined by the British minister.
In 1844 slave interests defeated Mr. Van Buren in his aspirations to the
presidency. Mr. Clay was nominated instead. The latter opposed the
annexation of Texas and advised caution and compromise in the Oregon
question; but the Democrats nominated Polk and under the war-cry of
"Fifty-four, Forty, or Fight," bore him on to victory. The convention
which nominated him advocated the reannexation of Texas and the
reoccupation of Oregon; the two significant words being used to make it
clear that Texas had belonged to us before, through the Louisiana
purchase; and Oregon, before the treaty of joint occupation with Great
Britain.
President Polk, in his message, declared that, "beyond all question, the
protection of our laws and our jurisdiction, civil and criminal, ought
to be immediately extended over our citizens in Oregon."
He quoted from the convention which had nominated him that "our title to
the country of Oregon as far as Fifty-four, Forty, is clear and
unquestionable;" and he boldly declared "for all of Oregon or none."
John Quincy Adams eloquently supported our title to the country to the
line of Fifty-four, Forty in a powerful speech in the House of
Representatives.
Yet it soon became apparent that both the Texas policy and the Oregon
question could not be successfully carried out during the
administration. "Fifty-four, Forty, or Fight" as a watchword in a
presidential campaign was one thing, but as a challenge to fight flung
in the face of Great Britain, it was quite another.
In February, 1846, the House declared in favor of giving notice to Great
Britain that the joint occupancy of the Oregon country must cease. The
Senate, realizing that this resolution was practically a declaration of
war, declined to adopt it, after a very bitter and fiery controversy.
Those who retreated from their first position on the question were hotly
denounced by Senator Hannegan, the Democratic senator from Indiana. He
boldly attacked the motives which led to their retreat, and angrily
exclaimed:--
"If Oregon were good for the production of sugar and cotton, it would
not have encountered this opposition."
The resolution was almost unanimously opposed by the Whig senators. Mr.
Webster, while avoiding the point of our actual rights in the matter,
urged that a settlement on the line of the forty-ninth parallel be
recommended, as permitting both countries to compromise with dignity
and honor. The resolution that was finally passed by the Senate and
afterward by the House, authorized the president to give notice at his
discretion to Great Britain that the treaty should be terminated, "in
order that the attention of the governments of both countries may be the
more earnestly directed to the adoption of all proper measures for a
speedy and amicable adjustment of the differences and disputes in regard
to said territory."
Forever to their honor be it remembered that a few of the Southern
Democrats refused to retreat from their first position--among them,
Stephen A. Douglas. Senator Hannegan reproached his party for breaking
the pledges on which it had marched to victory.
The passage of the milk-and-water resolution restored to the timid of
the country a feeling of relief and security; but to the others, and to
the generations to come after them, helpless anger and undying shame.
The country yielded was ours. We gave it up solely because to retain it
we must fight, and we were not in a position at that time to fight Great
Britain.
When the Oregon Treaty, as it was called, was concluded by Secretary
Buchanan and Minister Pakenham, we lost the splendid country now known
as British Columbia, which, after our purchase of Alaska from Russia,
would have given us an unbroken frontage on the Pacific Ocean from
Southern California to Behring Strait, and almost to the mouth of the
Mackenzie River on the Frozen Ocean.
Many reasons have been assigned by historians for the retreat of the
Southern Democrats from their former bold and flaunting position; but in
the end the simple truth will be admitted--that they might brag, but
were not in a position to fight. They were like Lieutenant Whidbey, whom
Vancouver sent out to explore Lynn Canal in a small boat. Mr. Whidbey
was ever ready and eager, when he deemed it necessary, to fire upon a
small party of Indians; but when they met him, full front, in formidable
numbers and with couched spears, he instantly fell into a panic and
deemed it more "humane" to avoid a conflict with those poor, ignorant
people.
[Illustration: Copyright by E. A. Hegg, Juneau
Courtesy of Webster & Stevens, Seattle
A PHANTOM SHIP]
The Southern Democrats who betrayed their country in 1846 were the
Whidbeys of the United States. For no better reason than that of
"humanity," they gave nearly four hundred thousand square miles of
magnificent country to Great Britain.
Another problem in this famous boundary settlement question has
interested American historians for sixty years: Why England yielded so
much valuable territory to the United States, after protecting what she
claimed as her rights so boldly and so unflinchingly for so many years.
Professor Schafer, the head of the Department of American History at the
University of Oregon, claims to have recently found indisputable proof
in the records of the British Foreign Office and those of the old
Hudson's Bay Company, in London, that the abandonment of the British
claim was influenced by the presence of American pioneers who had pushed
across the continent and settled in the disputed territory, bringing
their families and founding homes in the wilderness.
England knew, in her heart, that the whole disputed territory was ours;
and as our claims were strengthened by settlement, she was sufficiently
far-sighted to be glad to compromise at that time. If the Oregon Treaty
had been delayed for a few years, British Columbia would now be ours.
Proofs which strengthen our claim were found in the winter of 1907-1908
in the archives of Sitka.
There would be more justice in our laying claim to British Columbia now,
than there was in the claims of Great Britain in the famous _lisiere_
matter which was settled in 1903.
By the treaties of 1824, between Russia and the United States, and of
1825, between Russia and Great Britain, the limits of Russian
possessions are thus defined, and upon our purchase of Alaska from
Russia, were repeated in the Treaty of Washington in 1867:--
"Commencing from the southernmost point of the island called Prince of
Wales Island, which point lies in the parallel of fifty-four degrees and
forty minutes north latitude, and between the one hundred and
thirty-first and the one hundred and thirty-third degree of west
longitude (meridian of Greenwich), the said line shall ascend to the
North along the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the point of
the continent where it strikes the fifty-sixth degree of north latitude;
from this last mentioned point, the line of demarcation shall follow the
summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast as far as the
point of intersection of the one hundred and forty-first degree of west
longitude (of the same meridian); and finally, from the said point of
intersection, the said meridian line of the one hundred and forty-first
degree, in its prolongation as far as the Frozen Ocean, shall form the
limit between the Russian and British possessions on the Continent of
America to the northwest.
"With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the preceding
article, it is understood:--
"First, That the island called Prince of Wales Island shall belong
wholly to Russia.
"Second, That whenever the summit of the mountains which extend parallel
to the coast from the fifty-sixth degree of north latitude to the point
of intersection of the one hundred and forty-first degree of west
longitude shall prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine
leagues from the ocean, the limit between the British possessions and
the line of coast which is to belong to Russia as above mentioned shall
be formed by a line parallel to the windings of the coast, and which
shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom.
"The western limit within which the territories and dominion conveyed
are contained, passes through a point in Behring Strait on the parallel
of sixty-five degrees, thirty minutes, 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 northwest point of the island of
St. Lawrence and the southeast point of Cape Choukotski, to the meridian
of one hundred and seventy-two west longitude; thence, from the
intersection of that meridian in a southwesterly 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 one hundred and ninety-three degrees west longitude, so as
to include in the territory conveyed the whole of the Aleutian Islands
east of that meridian."
In the cession was included the right of property in all public lots and
squares, vacant lands, and all public buildings, fortifications,
barracks, and other edifices, which were not private individual
property. It was, however, understood and agreed that the churches which
had been built in the ceded territory by the Russian government should
remain the property of such members of the Greek Oriental Church
resident in the territory as might choose to worship therein. All
government archives, papers, and documents relative to the territory and
dominion aforesaid which were existing there at the time of transfer
were left in possession of the agent of the United States; with the
understanding that the Russian government or any Russian subject may at
any time secure an authenticated copy thereof.
The inhabitants of the territory were given their choice of returning to
Russia within three years, or remaining in the territory and being
admitted to the enjoyment of all rights, advantages, and immunities of
citizens of the United States, protected in the free enjoyment of their
liberty, property, and religion.
It must be confessed with chagrin that very few Russians availed
themselves of this opportunity to free themselves from the supposed
oppression of their government, to unite with the vaunted glories of
ours.
Before 1825, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, and the United States had
no rights of occupation and assertion on the Northwest Coast. Different
nations had "planted bottles" and "taken possession" wherever their
explorers had chanced to land, frequently ignoring the same ceremony on
the part of previous explorers; but these formalities did not weigh
against the rights of discovery and actual occupation by Russia--else
Spain's rights would have been prior to Great Britain's.
Between the years of 1542 and 1774 Spanish explorers had examined and
traced the western coast of America as far north as fifty-four degrees
and forty minutes, Perez having reached that latitude in 1774,
discovering Queen Charlotte Islands on the 16th of June, and Nootka
Sound on the 9th of August.
Although he did not land, he had friendly relations with the natives,
who surrounded his ship, singing and scattering white feathers as a
beautiful token of peace. They traded dried fish, furs, and ornaments of
their own making for knives and old iron; and two, at least, boarded the
ship.
Perez named the northernmost point of Queen Charlotte Islands Point
Santa Margarita.
Proceeding south, he made a landfall and anchored in a roadstead in
forty-nine degrees and thirty minutes, which he called San
Lorenzo--afterward the famous Nootka of Vancouver Island. He also
discovered the beautiful white mountain which dignifies the entrance to
Puget Sound, and named it Santa Rosalia. It was renamed Mount Olympus
fourteen years later by John Meares.
This was the first discovery of the Northwest Coast, and when Cook and
Vancouver came, it was to find that the Spanish had preceded them.
Not content with occupying the splendid possessions of the United States
through the not famous, but infamous, Oregon Treaty, Canada, upon the
discovery of gold in the Cassiar district of British Columbia, brought
up the question of the _lisiere_, or thirty-mile strip. This was the
strip of land, "not exceeding ten marine leagues in width," which
bordered the coast from the southern limit of Russian territory at
Portland Canal (now the southern boundary of Alaska) to the vicinity of
Mount St. Elias. The purpose of this strip was stated by the Russian
negotiations to be "the establishment of a barrier at which would be
stopped, once for all, to the North as to the West of the coast allotted
to our American Company, the encroachments of the English agents of the
Amalgamated Hudson Bay and Northwest English Company."
In 1824, upon the proposal of Sir Charles Bagot to assign to Russia a
strip with the uniform width of ten marine leagues from the shore,
limited on the south by a line between thirty and forty miles north from
the northern end of the Portland Canal, the Russian Plenipotentiaries
replied:--
"The motive which caused the adoption of the principle of mutual
expediency to be proposed, and the most important advantage of this
principle, is to prevent the respective establishments on the Northwest
Coast from injuring each other and entering into collision.
"The English establishments of the Hudson Bay and Northwest companies
have a tendency to advance westward along the fifty-third and
fifty-fourth degrees of north latitude.
"The Russian establishments of the American Company have a tendency to
descend southward toward the fifty-fifth parallel and beyond; for it
should be noted that, if the American Company has not yet made permanent
establishments on the mathematical line of the fifty-fifth degree, it is
nevertheless true that by virtue of its privilege of 1799, against which
privilege no power has ever protested, it is exploiting the hunting and
the fishing in these regions, and that it regularly occupies the islands
and the neighboring coasts during the season, which allows it to send
its hunters and fishermen there.
"It was, then, to the mutual advantage of the two Empires to assign just
limits to this advance on both sides, which, in time, could not fail to
cause most unfortunate complications.
"It was also to their mutual advantage to fix their limits according to
natural partitions, which always constitute the most distinct and
certain frontiers.
"For these reasons the Plenipotentiaries of Russia have proposed as
limits upon the coast of the continent, to the South, Portland Channel,
the head of which lies about (par) the fifty-sixth degree of north
latitude, and to the East, the chain of mountains which follows at a
very short distance the sinuosities of the coast."
Sir Charles Bagot urged the line proposed by himself and offered, on the
part of Great Britain, to include the Prince of Wales Island within the
Russian line.
Russia, however, insisted upon having her _lisiere_ run to the Portland
Canal, declaring that the possession of Wales Island, without a slice
(portion) of territory upon the coast situated in front of that island,
could be of no utility whatever to Russia; that any establishment formed
upon said island, or upon the surrounding islands, would find itself, as
it were, flanked by the English establishments on the mainland, and
completely at the mercy of these latter.
England finally yielded to the Russian demand that the _lisiere_ should
extend to the Portland Canal.
The claim that the Canadian government put forth, after the discovery of
gold had made it important that Canada should secure a short line of
traffic between the northern interior and the ocean, was that the
wording of certain parts of the treaty of 1825 had been wrongly
interpreted. The Canadians insisted that it was not the meaning nor the
intention of the Convention of 1825 that there should remain in the
exclusive possession of Russia a continuous fringe, or strip--the
_lisiere_--of coast, separating the British possessions from the bays,
ports, inlets, havens, and waters of the ocean.
Or, if it should be decided that this was the meaning of the treaty,
they maintained that the width of the _lisiere_ was to be measured from
the line of the general direction of the mainland coast, and not from
the heads of the many inlets.
They claimed, also, that the broad and beautiful "Portland's Canal" of
Vancouver and the "Portland Channel" of the Convention of 1825, were the
Pearse Channel or Inlet of more recent times. This contention, if
sustained, would give them our Wales and Pearse islands.
It was early suspected, however, that this claim was only made that they
might have something to yield when, as they hoped, their later claim to
Pyramid Harbor and the valley of the Chilkaht River should be made and
upheld. This would give them a clear route into the Klondike territory.
In 1898 a Joint High Commission was appointed for the consideration of
Pelagic Fur Sealing, Commercial Reciprocity, and the Alaska Boundary.
The Commission met in Quebec. The discussion upon the boundary continued
for several months, the members being unable to agree upon the meaning
of the wording of the treaty of 1825.
The British and Canadian members, thereupon, unblushingly proposed that
the United States should cede to Canada Pyramid Harbor and a strip of
land through the entire width of the _lisiere_.
To Americans who know that part of our country, this proposal came as a
shock. Pyramid Harbor is the best harbor in that vicinity; and its
cession, accompanied by a highway through the _lisiere_ to British
possessions, would have given Canada the most desirable route at that
time to the Yukon and the Klondike--the rivers upon which the eyes of
all nations were at that time set. Many routes into that rich and
picturesque region had been tested, but no other had proved so
satisfactory.
It has since developed that the Skaguay route is the real prize. Had
Canada foreseen this, she would not have hesitated to demand it.
From the disagreement of the Joint High Commission of 1898 arose the
modus vivendi of the following year. There has been a very general
opinion that the temporary boundary points around the heads of the
inlets at the northern end of Lynn Canal, laid down in that year, were
fixed for all time--although it seems impossible that this opinion could
be held by any one knowing the definition of the term "modus vivendi."
By the modus vivendi Canada was given temporary possession of valuable
Chilkaht territory, and her new maps were made accordingly.
[Illustration: Copyright by E. A. Hegg, Juneau
Courtesy of Webster & Stevens, Seattle
ROAD THROUGH CUT-OFF CANYON]
In 1903 a tribunal composed of three American members and three
representing Great Britain, two of whom were Canadians, met in Great
Britain, to settle certain questions relating to the _lisiere_.
The seven large volumes covering the arguments and decisions of this
tribunal, as published by the United States government, make intensely
interesting and valuable reading to one who cares for Alaska.
The majority of the tribunal, that is to say, Lord Alverstone and the
three members from the United States, decided that the Canadians have no
rights to the waters of any of the inlets, and that it was the meaning
of the Convention of 1825 that the _lisiere_ should for all time
separate the British possessions from the bays, ports, inlets, and
waters of the ocean north of British Columbia; and that, furthermore,
the width of the _lisiere_ was not to be measured from the line of the
general direction of the mainland coast, leaping the bays and inlets,
but from a line running around the heads of such indentations.
The tribunal, however, awarded Pearse and Wales islands, which belonged
to us, to Canada; it also narrowed the _lisiere_ in several important
points, notably on the Stikine and Taku rivers.
The fifth question, however, was the vital one; and it was answered in
our favor, the two Canadian members dissenting. The boundary lines have
now been changed on both United States and Canadian maps, in conformity
with the decisions of the tribunal.
Blaine, Bancroft, and Davidson have made the clearest statements of the
boundary troubles.