CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 41 



The right cannot be denied of shutting a port, a sea, or even an 

 entire country, against foreign commerce in some particular cases. 

 Hut the exercise of such a right, unless in the case of a colonial sys- 

 tem already established, or for some other special object, would be 

 exjiost'd to an unfavourable interpretation, as being contrary to the 

 liberal sjiirit of modern times, wherein we look for the bonds of amity 

 and of reciprocal commerce among all nations being mt)re closely 

 cemented. 



Uni^■ersal usage, which lias obtained the force of law, has estab- 

 lished for all the coasts an accessory limit of a moderate distance, 

 which issuflicient for the sccni-ity of the country and tor the couvcn- 

 ienci^ of its inhabitants, but whicli lays no restraint upon the univer- 

 sal rights of nations, nor upon tlu3 freedom of commerce and of 

 navigation. ( Vattel, Book I, Chapter 23, section 289.) 



At tlie tburtli Conference (8tli 3Iarcli, 1824) which pre- Americ.in state 

 ceded the sig-nature of the Treaty of the .">th (ITtli) April, itri'iur.ns, "ol'v! 

 1824:, Mr. Middleton, tlie United States Kepresentative, i'i'-^''^-466. 

 submitted to Count Nesselrode the following" paper: 



(Translation.) 



The domininn can not be ac<|uired l)ut by a real occnpation aiul ])os- 

 session, and an intention (' animus') to establish it is by no means suf- 

 ticient. 



Now, it is clear, according to the facts established, that neither 

 Russia nor any other Enropean Power has tlie right of dominion u])on 

 the Continent of America between the 50tli and (!Oth degrees of north 

 latitude. 



.'Still less has she the dominion of the adjacent maritime territory, 

 or of the sea which washes these coasts, a dominion which is only 

 accessory to the territorial dominion. 



Therefore she has not the right of exclusion or of admission on 

 these coasts, nor in these seas, which are tree seas. 



The right of navigating all the free seas belongs, by natural law. to 

 every independent nation, and even constitutes an essential ])art of 

 this independence. 



The United States have exercised navigation in the seas, and com- 

 merce upon the coasts above mentioned, from the time of their inde- 

 pendence ; and they have a perfect right to this navigation and 

 52 to this commerce, and they can only be deprived of it by their 

 own act or by a Convention. 



CONVENTION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA. 



TIIK THKATV ( l.'USSI.V AND TlIK UNTrKD STATKS), Al'Hll. 17, 1S24. 



The result of these negotiations between the l^^i'ited^g^'^"''gpg'^'j,",^\|' 

 States and IJussia was the Convention of the 17th April, dix/voi. ii, Part 

 1821, which i)ut an end to any further pretension on the^^BHiVbook, 

 l)art of Kussia to restrict navigation or fishing in Behring ''United states 



i< ,. ... .. ,, i^*^.^ -, ^y^ J. «^ ^o. 1 (1891)," p. 



Sea, so far as citizens ot the u nited States were concerned. 57. 



The English version of the Convention is as follows: App.iidix.voi. 



'^ III. 



Article I. 



XAVIGATION OF PACIFIC TO BE FREE. 



It is agreed that in anypartof the Great Ocean, commonly called the 

 Pacitic Ocean, or South Sea, the respective citizens or subjects of the 

 High Contracting Powers shall be neither disturbed nor restrained, 

 either in navigation or in fishing, or in the ]tower of resorting to the 

 coasts, upon ]ioints which may not already have been occupied, for 

 the purpose of trading with the natives, saving always the restric- 

 tions and conditions determined by the following Articles: 



AltTlCLE II. 



With a view of preventing the rights of navigation and of fishing, 

 exercised ui)on the Great Ocean l)y the citizens and subjects of the 



