64 CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



nations, are rights which con8titnte<l a part of their independence as 



800U as they declared it. They are rights lonnded in the law ofuations, 



enjoyed in common with all other independent sovereignties, 



82 and incapable of being abridged or extingnished, except with 

 their own consent. It is unknown to the Undersigned that they 



have voluntarily conceded these rights, or either of them, at any time, 

 through the agency of their Government, by Treaty or other form of 

 obligation, in favour of any community. 



There is first a mutual and permanent agreement declaratory of their 

 respective rights, without disturbance or restraint, to navigate and 

 fish in any part of the Pacific Ocean, and to resort to its coasts upon 

 points which may not already have been occupied, in order to trade 

 with the natives. These rights pre-existed in each, and were not 

 fresh liberties resulting from the stipulation. To navigate, to fish, 

 and to coast, as described, were rights of e<iual certainty, springing 

 from the same source, and attached to the samequality of nationality. 

 Their exercise, however, was subjected to certain restrictions and 

 conditions, to the effect that the citizens and subjects of the contract- 

 ing sovereignties should not resort to points where establishments 

 existed without olitaining permission; that no future establishments 

 should be formed by one party north, nor by the other party south, of 

 54^^ 40' north latitude; but that, nevertheless, both might, for a term 

 of ten years, without regard to whether an establishment existed or 

 not, without obtaining permission, without any hindrance whatever, 

 frequent the interior seas, gulfs, harbours, and creeks, to fish and trade 

 with the natives. Tliis short analysis leaves, on the (juestion at issue, 

 no room for construction. 



The Undersigned submits that in no sense can the fonrth Article be 

 understood as implying an acknowledgment, on the part of the United 

 States, of the right of Russia to the possession of the coast above the 

 latitude of 54- 40' north. 



^Presidential! Iq transmitting the papers relative to the "Loriot" to 

 sage. December Congress, the President of the United States observed: 



3, 1838, State 



Paper.s, by Hert- The correspondence herewith communicated, will show the grounds 

 slet, vol. xxvi, p. upon which we contend that the citizens of The United States have, 

 ^^^°' independent of the provisions of the Convention of 1824, a right to 



trade with thenativesupou the coast in question at unoccupied places, 

 liable, however, it is admitted, to be at any time extinguished by the 

 creation of Russian establishments at such points. This right is 

 denied by the Russian Government, which asserts that, by the oper- 

 ation of the Treaty of 1824, each party agreed to waive the general 

 right to land on the vacant coasts on the respective sides of the degree 

 of latitude referred to, and accepted, in lieu thereof, thenuitual privi- 

 leges mentioned in Article IV. The capital and tonnage employed by 

 our citizens in their trade with the north-west coast of America 



83 "will, perhaps, on adverting to the official statements of the com- 

 merce and navigation of the United States for the last few 



years, be deemed too inconsiderable in amount to attract much atten- 

 tion; yet the subject may, in other respects, deserve the careful con- 

 sideration of Congress. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE CONTINUED. 



To return again to the chronological order of events — 

 ^^"rt^h^-west III 1S37, one foreign trading vessel is named as having 



342!^ ' ^^ ' '' ^' been on the north-west coast. 

 Aia8ka,pp.552, lu 1838, further explorations were undertaken in the 



^^^- north by Chernof and Mahikhof. Three foreign trading 



j^pj,(.i,..(^egt "vessels are noted as having been on the north-west coast 



Coast, vol. 1, p. in this year, and one is known to have visited Alaskan 



342 



A 1 ask. a, pp. waters. 

 556, 557. In 1839, a Commission met in London to arrange the 



dispute between the Hudson's Bay and Russian- American 



