THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY.

Bush Advocate, Volume XIV, Issue 301, 23 March 1903, Page 2

THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY.

The appointment of Britain's representatives on the Alaska Boundary Commission has again brought into prominence a dispute which involves the settlement of important claims by Canac7a. The dispute is, in brief, Whether the foounctary line of the Alaska " pan-handle " which lies between Canada and the ocean for more than 500 miles, is 30 miles from the coast's windings and indentations, or 30 miles from the coast's general line. If the former, it cuts off Canada from the water fcr all that distance ; if the latter, it gives Canada Dyea, Skagway, Pyramid Harbour, and other ports on Lynn Canal. It appears that until recently the former course of the boundary was undisputed. Frederick W. Seward, who was Assistant Secretary of Stata under his father, William H. Seward, and took part in the negotiations for the pureli&so of Alaska, points out in a letter to the New York Tribune that the acceptance of the Canadian claim \vould cut that part of our territory in two, and give Great Britain a harbour that could be made into an impregnable naval station. He pronounces the Canadian claims absurd. The Baltimore Sun, however, is not so sure tk&fc the Canadian claim has not a leg to staud on. It sa.ys :— v It is not reasonable to assume that Canada, whoso contentions are supported by the British Government, would have challenged the American title to the territory without substantial grounds. There are two sides to every question, and it must be admitted tfcat '

the Canadians make out a plausible, if not a convincing case. Their interpretation of the Anglo-Rnssmn treaty of 1825 iB in sharp conflict with the American understanding of that convention, and it differs materially from the Russian Government's interpretation as embodied in the Russian oflicial map of 1627. Did Russia, in that treaty, intend to bar Great Britain's free access to the Pacific ? That is the effect of the treaty, as our diplomatists construe its provisions. Tho Canadians deny that this was the intention of the Czar's. Government.