By the President:
RICHARD OLNEY,
Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas on June 21, 1890, the President of the United States by proclamation reserved certain lands in Juneau and Douglas City, Fort Wrangell and Sitka, in the Territory of Alaska, for public buildings, barracks, parade grounds, parks, wharves, coaling stations, etc., which are fully set forth and particularly described in said proclamation; and
Whereas a treaty of cession was exchanged and proclaimed on June 20, 1867, whereby the Russian Empire ceded to the United States the Territory of Alaska; and
Whereas said treaty, by Article II, provided, inter alia, that—
It is, however, understood and agreed that the churches which have been built in the ceded territory by the Russian Government shall remain the property of such members of the Greek Oriental Church resident in the territory as may choose to worship therein.
And whereas there were included among the lands hereinbefore referred to as reserved on June 21, 1890, certain lands in and about the town of Sitka, in said Territory of Alaska, which are claimed by the Holy Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Oriental Church, commonly styled the Greco-Russian Church, and described in the said treaty as the Greek Oriental Church:
Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority in me vested, do hereby declare, proclaim, and make known that the Executive order of June 21, 1890, making said reservations of lands in the Territory of Alaska, therein particularly described, is hereby modified, and said reservations are diminished so that the following property, described in Inventory B attached to and referred to in the protocol of transfer signed by the representatives of Russia and the United States on October 26, 1867, and being in and about the town of Sitka aforesaid, be excluded therefrom, to wit:
The Cathedral Church of St. Michael, built of timber, situated in the center of the city.