CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 33 



to the Kussiaii-American Company the grant of a 



40 territorial concession down to the "j.^th degree of lati- 

 tnde, and l)y his jnstihcation of its farther extension 



to tlie olst degree on the American coast. 



He jiroceeds to defend the policy of exchision contained 

 in the Ukase of 1821 by explaining that, as Knssian pos- 

 sessions extend from Behring Strait to the olst degree 

 north latitude on tlie north-west coast of America, and on 

 the opposite coast of Asia and the islands adjacent, to the 

 45tli degree, the sea within those limits (viz., that part of the 

 Pacific Ocean) was a close sea, over which Russia might 

 exercise exclusive jurisdiction; but he goes on to say that 

 Russia i)referred asserting only her essential right without 

 "taking any advantage of localities,"' and on these grounds 

 the limit of 100 Italian miles is justified. 



The measure he declares to be directed: 



Against the culpable enterprises of foreign adventurers, who, not 

 content with exercising npon the coasts above mentioned an illicit 

 trade, very prejridicial to tlie rights reserved entirely to the Russian- 

 American Company, take npon them besides to furnish arms and 

 ammunition to the natives in the Russian jiossessions in America, 

 inciting them likewise in every manner to resist and revolt against 

 the authorities there established. 



The same view is expressed in the Confidential Memo- se,p. 42. 

 randum inclosed in the l^uke of Wellington's letter to Mr. 

 G. Canning of the 2<sth November, 1S22. 



Upon receiving communication of the Ukase, the British 

 and United States (iovernments immediately objected both 

 to the extension of the territorial claim and to the assertion 

 of maritime jurisdiction. 



PROTEST OP' CiREAT J5RITAIN. 



The Ukase was brought to the notice of Lord London- iiJ\'^J"-'^l''^,,'y 

 derry. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for Great eniiiunt.'" 

 Britain, in the letter already quoted of the 12th Xovember, voL'if^'i'a'rt'i' 

 1821, by Baron de Nicolay, then Russian Charge d'Afi'aires, N(.. i. 

 as connected with the territorial rights of the Russian 

 Crown on the north-west coast of America, and with the 

 commerce and navigation of the Emperor's subjects in the 

 seas adjacent thereto. 



COKRESPOXDKNCK lU'.TWKKX (iKEAT nUITAIX AND RUSSIA. 



On tl;e 18th of January, 1822, four months after the 



41 issue of the Ukase, Lord Londonderr}' Avrote in the 

 following terms to Count Lieven, the Russian Am- 

 bassador in London : 



In the meantime, upon the subject of this Ukase generally, andespe- Sec Ajjijendix, 

 cially upon the two main ])rincii>lcs of claim laid down therein, viz., y"'' ..''' ^'^^^ ^' 

 an exclusive soven-'ujulij alleged to belong to Russia over the territories 

 therein described, as also the escludve rujltt of vavh/atinf/ and tradhuj 

 irHhin flie maritime li^niis ihevein set forth, His Britannic Majesty must 

 be understood as hereluj reservitu/ alt his rij/his, not being prepared to 

 admit that the intercourse which is allowed on the face of this instru- 

 ment to have hitherto subsisted on those coasts and in those seas can 

 be deemed to be illicit, or that the sliips of friendli/ T'oircrs, even sup- 

 ]iosing an nnqualified sovereignty was proved to appertain to the 

 Imperial Crown in these vast and very imperfectly occupied terri- 



S. Ex. 177, pt. '1 3 



