CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 51 



In the earlier part of the same paper. Mr. Middletou 

 observes : 



The Ukase even goes to the shutf'nif/ np of a strait which has never 

 been till now shut np, and which is at iiresent the principal object of 

 discoveries, interesting and useful to the sciences. 



The veryterms of the Ukase bear that this pretension has now been 

 made for the tirst time. 



"pacific ocean." 



The same appears from Mr. G. Canning's despatch to Sir ^J^'^jf J'^j.'JJf 'f ; 

 C. Bagot of the 24th of July, 1824 (which has been already ^'o- 44. 

 quoted in any other connection): 



Your Excellency Avill observe that there are but two points which 

 have struck Count Lieveu as susceptible of any question. The lirst, 

 the assumption of the base of the mountains, instead of the summit 

 as the lino of boundary; the second, the extension of the right of 

 nar'Kjaiion of the racijir to the sea 1>eijond Beliring Straits. 



65 As to the second point, it is perhaps, as Count Lieven remarks, 



new. But it is to be remarked, in return, that the circumstances 

 under which this additional security is i"e(|uired will be new also. 



By the territorial demarcation agreed to in this " Projet," Russia 

 will become possessed, in acknowledged sovereignty of both sides, of 

 Bchriug Straits. 



The Power which could think of making the Pacilic a mare clausum 

 may not unnaturally be supposed capable of a disposition to apply 

 the same character to a strait comprehended between two shores of 

 which it becomes the undisputed owner; hut the shutting up of Behring 

 Straits, or the potcer to shut them up hereafter, would l)e a thing not to he 

 tolerated by England. 



jN^or could ice submit to be excluded, either positivehj or construciiveh/. See ante, p. 32. 

 from a sea in ivliich the skill and science of our seamen has been and is still 

 employed in enterprises interesting not to this countrij alone, hut to the whole 

 civilized world. 



The protection* given by the Convention to the American coasts of 

 each Power may (if it is thought necessary) be extended in terms to the 

 coasts of the Russian Asiatic territory; but in some way or other, if 

 not in the form now prescribed, the free navigation of Behring Straits, 

 and of the seas beyond them, must be secured to us. 



It would have been of little advantage to secure the right 

 to navigate through Behring Strait unless the right to 

 navigate the sea leading to it was secured, which would 

 not have been the case if the Ukase had remained in full 

 force over Behring Sea. 



The frequent references to Behring Strait and the seas 

 beyond it show that there was no doubt in the minds of 

 the British statesmen of that day that, in obtaining an 

 acknowledgment of freedom of navigation and fishing 

 throughout the Pacific, they had also secured this right as 

 far as Behring Strait. 



As corroborative ])ro(>f of the usual practice of the British 

 naval authorities, in the nomenclature of these Avaters, 

 reference may be made to the instructions given in 1825 

 by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, which will 

 be found in the "Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and 

 Behring Strait," &c., under command of Captain F. W. 



*(i. e.) By the extension of territorial jurisdiction to two leagues, as 

 originally proposed in the course of the negotiations between Great 

 Britain and Russia. 



