CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 47 



It has been contended, however, on the i)ait of the 

 United States, that the rennneiation of chiinis contained 

 in the Articles above quoted did not extend to wiiat is 

 now known as Behriug Sea. 



On this point Mr. Blaine, Secretary of State for the 

 United States, writes:. 



60 The United States conteiKls that the lieliriiig Sea was not Mr. Blaine to 

 mentioned, or even referred to, in either Treaty, and was in ^'f" '^; I'auu'"^- 



no sense included in the phrase " Pacitie Ocean." If Great 1 5ri tain unUell ''stated' 

 can maintain her position that th(^ Behring Sea at the time of the No. i, 1891, p. 37*. 

 Treaties with Russia of 1824 and 1825 was included in tlie Pacilic See Appendix, 

 Ocean, the (iovernnient of the United States has no well-grounded ^''*'- '■'• 

 com])laint against her. 



NOHTH-WEST COAST. 



In order to uphold the contention thus advanced by the 

 United States, it is, however, further found necessary to 

 maintain that tlie words "north-west coast'' and "north- 

 west coast of America," which frequently occur in the cor- 

 respondence connected with tliose Conventions, refer only 

 to a i)ortion of the coast of the continent south of Behring 

 Sea. This ])ortion of the coast Mr. Blaine endeavours to 

 detine precisely in his letter, wiiich has just been quoted, 

 illustrating his meaning by maps, and seeking to restrict 

 the application of the term to that i)art of the coast which 

 runs southward continuously from the (JOtli parallel. ibi<i.,p.:i8. 



The nieaning of the phrase " Pacific Ocean '' and that of 

 the term "northwest coast" are thus intimately asso 

 ciated in the contention of the United States, and it will 

 be convenient to treat them together. 



MEANING OF THE PHRASE "PACIFIC OCEAN" AND THE 

 TERM "NORTHWEST COAST" IN THE TREATIES AND 

 CORRESPONDENCE. 



It will be found that such a construction of these phrases ^i- 'i*^ Poietica 

 as Mr. Blaine has striven to place upon them cannot be F.i)riiary28,ig22'. 

 reconciled with the correspoiulence. ^J|[ fi^'i'irf ii' 



In the first place, it has already been shown that Russia's No.' i. ' ' 

 object was not the acquisition of the control of the sea be- 

 tween Behring Strait and latitude 51° — this she distinctly 

 denied — but the exclusion from her coasts in Asia and 

 America, and on the islands, of the traders whose ventures 

 threatened the success of the liussian-American Company. 



No claim had been advanced by Bussia which could pos- 

 sibly render a distinction between Behring Sea and the 

 main Pacific of the slightest importance. 



On the contrary, in the Ukase of 1799, Russia asserted 



jurisdiction over her subjects on all hunting grounds and 



establishments on the coast of America from the oo^ north 



latitude to Behring Strait and thence southward to 



61 Japan, and on the Aleutian, Kurile, and other 

 Islands in all the "north-eastern" ocean. 



In 1821, Russia was endeavouring to assert a title to the 

 whole coast from Behring Strait to olo north latitude on 

 the American, and latitude 45° 50' on the Asiatic coast. 



