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boundaries of the territory are described in the accompanying quotation from the treaty:

Commencing from the southernmost point of the island called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in the parallel of 54° 40′′ north latitude, and between the one hundred and thirty-first and 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.

IV. With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the preceding article it is understood

1st. That the island called Prince of Wales Island shall belong wholly to Russia (now, by this cession, to the United States).

2d. That whenever the summit of the mountains which extend in a direction 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 (that is to say, the limit to the possessions ceded by this convention), shall be formed by a line parallel to the winding 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's Straits 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 Noonerbook, 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's Straits and Behring's Sea, so as to pass midway between the northwest point of the island of Saint 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 Attore 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 west of that meridian.

The consideration paid for Alaska was $7,200,000 in gold. There is no possibility of a misinterpretation of the language of the above treaty concerning the portion of the boundary running along the one hundred and forty-first meridian from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to the neighborhood of the coast near Mount St. Elias, and in recent years points upon this boundary, notably at the crossing of the Yukon, have been established by the United States and Canadian surveyors by astronomic means and marked.

Concerning the remaining portion of the boundary, however, from the neighborhood of Mount St. Elias southeastward to the mouth of Portland Canal, question has been raised in recent years by Canadian authorities,

It has long been known that the coast of this part of Alaska is extremely broken, containing many fiords extending far inland, and that no continuous range of mountains parallels the coast. It was for many years tacitly admitted by both sides that the second alternative of the treaty, that the boundary should follow a line 10 marine leagues distant from the coast and following its windings, should be the one finally adopted when the question of marking the boundary arose. This position was taken by the United States and consistently followed from the time of the acquisition of the territory to the present. All maps, United States and Canadian, agreed on it. Many acts of sovereignty were performed by the United States within this territory, no question being raised by the Canadian authorities, and the claim of the United States to a strip of territory 10 marine leagues in width from the main coast was universally admitted by the Canadian authorities. The discovery of gold in the basin of the Yukon, in Canada, and the fact that the only feasible means of access to this region lay through United States territory, made it extremely desirable for Canada to possess a port or ports on this coast as the starting points of routes to the Yukon mines, and it was only when this necessity appeared that any question arose concerning the interpretation of the definition of limits in the treaty.

The claim made by the British Government, before a joint commission on the boundary, on behalf of Canada, in August, 1898, was that this portion of the boundary, instead of passing up Portland Canal, should pass up Pearse Canal, connecting with Portland Canal, up which it follows to the summit of the mountains nearest to the coast, and then should follow them, regardless of the fact that they do not form a continuous range, crossing all the inlets of the sea up to Mount St. Elias. This, of course, was refused by the United States commissioners. A proposition made by the British commissioners to refer the matter to arbitration was also refused by the United States commissioners, on the ground that there was nothing to arbitrate, since the territory in question was in the possession of the United States, and had been for many years without dispute, such possession being in full accord with the terms of the treaty. The commission was then dissolved, the only outcome being an agreement that the summits of White and Chilkoot passes and a point upon the Chilkat, above Pyramid Harbor, were temporarily adopted as points upon the boundary.

The treaty of January 24, 1903, created an Alaskan Boundary Tribunal, to consist of "six impartial jurists of repute," three to be selected by each of the two parties to the controversy, to attempt a settlement of this boundary question. The United States was represented by Messrs. Elihu Root, Henry Cabot Lodge, and George Turner. The Canadian side was represented by Baron Alverstone, lord chief justice of England, Sir Louis A. Jetté, and A. B. Aylesworth, of

Canada. After argument and discussion the majority of the tribunal, consisting of Baron Alverstone and the three Americans, agreed on a boundary which satisfied the American claims. The boundary thus adopted may be defined as follows: Its commencement is at Cape Muzon. Then it crosses in a straight line to the mouth of Portland Channel, this entrance being to the west of Wales Island, and thence passes up the channel to the north of Wales and Pearse islands, to the fifty-sixth parallel of latitude. Thence the line runs from one mountain summit to another, as shown on the accompanying map (Pl. XV), passing above the heads of all fiords. At the head of Lynn Canal it traverses White and Chilkoot passes. Then by a crooked southwesterly course it reaches Mount Fairweather, and thence follows the higher mountains around Yakutat Bay to Mount St. Elias. It can be clearly described only by a map.

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

The Republic of Hawaii, comprising eight inhabited and seven uninhabited islands in the Pacific, voluntarily joined the United States in 1898.

PORTO RICO, GUAM, AND PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

The next accessions of territory made by the United States were the islands taken from Spain following the war of 1898. These were relinquished to the United States by the treaty of peace of December 10, 1898. They were as follows:

Porto Rico and other Spanish West India islands which were ceded to the United States.

The island of Guam, in the Ladrones.

The Philippine Islands, which comprise all the islands lying within the following line, as defined in the words of the treaty:

A line running from west to east along or near the twentieth parallel of north latitude, and through the middle of the navigable channel of Bachi, from the one hundred and eighteenth (118th) to the one hundred and twenty-seventh (127th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich; thence along the one hundred and twenty-seventh (127th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the parallel of four degrees and forty-five minutes (4° 45′) north latitude; thence along the parallel of four degrees and forty-five minutes (4° 45′) north latitude to its intersection with the meridian of longitude one hundred and nineteen degrees and thirtyfive minutes (119° 35′) east of Greenwich; thence along the meridian of longitude one hundred and nineteen degrees and thirty-five minutes (119° 35′) east of Greenwich to the parallel of latitude seven degrees and forty minutes (7° 40′) north; thence along the paralled of latitude seven degrees and forty minutes (7° 40′) north to its intersection with the one hundred and sixteenth (116th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich; thence by a direct line to the intersection of the tenth (10th) degree parallel of north latitude with the one hundred and eighteenth (118th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich; and thence along the one hundred and eighteenth (118th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the point of beginning.

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