Sir Julian
Pauncefote to Mr. Olney.
British
Embassy,
Washington, February 6,
1896.
Sir: On the 6th of September last the Acting
Secretary of State addressed a note to Viscount Gough, Her Majesty’s
chargé d’affaires, on the subject of the proposals which had been made
to the United States Government by Her Majesty’s Government for a
partial delimitation of the frontier between Alaska and Canada along the
one hundred and forty-first western meridian. Her Majesty’s Government
had proposed that the United States Government should take part in a
joint survey; or, in the alternative, should recognize provisionally the
results of a survey actually in progress by a well-known Canadian
surveyor, Mr. William Ogilvie. Mr. Adee inquired whether the proposed
survey could not be delayed until Congress had “had an opportunity to
act upon the alternative proposition for a joint survey, and to make the
proper appropriation therefor.” This suggestion was at once communicated
by Lord Gough to the Canadian Government, and I have now received a
dispatch from the Governor-General, in which his excellency transmits to
me copy of an approved minute of the Canadian privy council, which I
have the honor to inclose herewith. In that minute it is represented
that it would not be possible to communicate with Mr. Ogilvie before
next summer, when a considerable portion of the one hundred and
forty-first meridian should already be marked on the ground.
In view of this fact, and of the delay that must necessarily ensue before
a joint survey can be begun, it is suggested that the United States
Government might consent to recognize Mr. Ogilvie’s demarkation for the
present.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Extract from a report of the committee of the
honorable the privy council, approved by his excellency on the
23d January, 1896.
The committee of the privy council have had tinder consideration a
dispatch, hereto attached, dated 12th September, 1895, from Her
Majesty’s chargé d’affaires at Washington, representing that the
Acting Secretary of State of the United States has inquired whether
the survey of the boundary between Alaska and the adjoining
territories of Canada, now being made by Mr. William Ogilvie, under
the authority of the order in council of the 1st June, 1895, could
not be delayed until Congress has had an opportunity at its next
session, to act upon the alternative proposition for a joint survey,
and to make the proper appropriation therefor.
[Page 290]
The minister of the interior, to whom the matter was referred,
reports that when the dispatch from Her Majesty’s embassy was
received, the season was too far advanced to communicate with Mr.
Ogilvie, and that instructions to delay his survey would not reach
him before next summer, when a considerable portion of the one
hundred and forty-first meridian should he marked on the ground.
The minister, in view of this circumstance, and of the fact that if
Congress were to act upon the alternative proposition for a joint
survey, such a survey could not possibly be commenced before the
fall of 1896, and probably not before the spring of 1897, suggests
that perhaps the Government of the United States may consent to
recognize for the present Mr. Ogilvie’s demarcation of the one
hundred and forty-first meridian, until such time as a joint survey
can be made—the Government of Canada being ready to join in such a
survey whenever the Government of the United States is in a position
to act in the matter.
The minister further states that from information received from
General Duffield, superintendent of the United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey, it appears that the difference between the United
States surveyors and Mr. Ogilvie is only 600 feet at the crossing of
the Yukon River, and 6 feet at Forty-Mile Creek; so that the
proposed arrangement does not involve any considerable extent of
doubtful territory, so far as can be ascertained from the
information available. The Dominion Government desire only to be in
a position to maintain law and order in this distant territory, and
will favorably consider any proposal from the Government of the
United States.
The committee advise that your excellency be moved to forward a
certified copy of the minute to Her Majesty’s ambassador to the
United States with a view to ascertaining whether these suggestions
are acceptable to the Government of the United States.
All of which is respectfully submitted for your excellency’s
approval.
John J. McGee,
Clerk of the Privy
Council.
[Subinclosure.]
Lord Gough to
the Earl of Aberdeen.
British Embassy,
Newport, R.
I., September 12,
1895.
No. 67.]
My Lord: With reference to your
excellency’s dispatch No. 30 of the 22d June, on the subject of a
suggested cooperation of the United States Government in determining
a portion of the treaty boundary line between Canada and Alaska, I
have the honor to inform your excellency that on the 20th ultimo I
addressed a note to the United States Government in the terms of the
privy council minute approved by your excellency on the 1st of June,
and that I have now received a reply, of which a copy is inclosed,
inquiring whether the proposed survey could not be delayed until
Congress meets.
I have the honor to call your excellency’s attention to the
concluding paragraph of the note of the Acting Secretary of State,
undertaking, if the survey can be so delayed, to bring the matter to
the attention of Congress upon the assembling of that body.
I have, etc.,
