APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 249 



right to .ill tlii'.t, I)(;l()na,ed to tliu Spaniaids north of the 42n(l deorco of latitude; but 

 this Treaty siiys uothiug positive concerniug the uortheni boundary of thia cession, 

 because, in fact, Spain well knew that she could not say that the coast as far as the 

 60th degree belonged to her. 



P'rom this faithful exposition of known facts it is easy, Sir, aa appears to me, to 

 draw the conclnsiou that tiie rights of Russia to the extent of the north-west coast, 

 specified in the Regulation of the Russian American Company, rest upon the tiiree 

 bases required by the general law of nations and immemorial usage among nations, 

 that is, upon the title of first discovery; upon the title of first occupation; and, in 

 tiie last place, upon that which results from a yjeaceable and uncontested possession 

 of more than half a century; an epoch, consequently, several years anterior to that 

 when the United States tooli their place among indpendent nations. 



It is, moreover, evident that if the right of the possession of a certain extent of 

 the north-west coast of Ainerica, claimed by the United States, only devolves upon 

 them in virtue of the Treaty of Washington of the 22nd February, 1819, and I 

 believe it would be difficult to make good any other title, this Treaty could not con- 

 ier upon the American Government any riglit of claim against the limits assigned to 

 the Russian possessions upon the same coast, because Spain herself had never pre- 

 tended to similar right. 



The Imperial Government, in assigning for limits to the Russian possessions on the 

 north-west coast of America, on the one side Behring Strait, and on the other the 51st 

 degree of north latitude, has only made a moderate use of an incontestable right, 

 since the Russian navigators, who were the first to explore that part of the American 

 Continent in 1741, pushed their discovery as far as the 49th degree of north latitude. 

 The 5l8t degree, therefore, is no more than a mean point between the Russian estab- 

 lishment of New Archangel, situated under the 57th degree, and the American Colony 

 at the mouth of the Columbia, which is found under the 46th degree of the same 

 latitude. 



All these considerations united have concurred in inspiring the Imperial Govern 

 ment with an entire conviction that, in the last arrangements adopted in Russia 

 relative to her possessions on the nortli-west coast, the legitimate right of no foreign 

 Power has been infringed. In this conviction the Emperor, my august Sovereign, 

 has judgcnl tliat his good right, and the obligation imposed by Providence upon him 

 to ])rotect with all his power the interests of his subjects, sufficiently justified the 

 measures last taken by His Imperial Majesty in favour of the Kussian-American Com 

 pany, witliout its being necessary to clothe them with the sanction of Treaties. 



I shall be more succinct, Sir, in tlie exposition of the motives which determined 

 the Imperial Government to prohibit foreign vessels from approaching the north- 

 west coast of America belonging to Russia, within tlie distance of at least 100 Italian 

 miles. This measure, however severe it may at first view appear, is after all but 

 a measure of prevention. It is exclusively directed against the culpable enterprises 

 of foreign adventurers, who, not content with exercising upon the coasts al)ovo 

 mentioned an illicit trade very prejudicial to the rights reserved entirely to the 

 Russian- American Company, take upon them besides to furnish arms and ammunition 

 to the natives in tlie Russian possessions in America, exciting them likewise in every 

 manner to resistance and revolt against the authorities there establislied. 



The American Government doubtless recollects that the irregular conduct of these 

 adventurers, the majority of whom was composed of American citizens, has been the 

 object of the most pressing remonstrances on the part of Russia to the Federal Gov- 

 ernment from the time that Diplomatic Missions were organized between the two 

 countries. These remonstrances, repeated at difi:erent times, remain constantly with- 

 out efiect, and the inconveniencies to which they ought to bring a remedy continue 

 to increase. 



The Imperial Government, respecting the intentions of the American Government, 

 has always abstained from attributing the ill-success of its remonstrances to any 

 other motives than those which flow, if I may l)e allowed the exi)ression, from tlie 

 very nature of the institutions which govern the national afl'airs of the American 

 Federation. But the high opinion which the Emperor has always entertained of the 

 rectitude of the American Government cannot exempt him from the care which his 

 sense of justice towai'ds his own subjects imposes upon him. Pacific means not 

 having brought any alleviation to the just grievances of the Russian American Com- 

 pany against foreign navigators in the waters which environ their establishments on 

 the north-west coast of America, the Imperial Government saw itself under tlie 

 necessity of having recourse to the means of coercion, and of measuring the rigour 

 according to the inveterate character of the evil to which it wished to put a stop. 

 Yet it is easy to discover, on examining closely the last Regulation of the Russian- 

 American Company, that no spirit of hostility had anything to do with its formation. 

 The most minute precautions have been taken in it to prevent abuses of authority 

 on the part of Commanders of Russian cruizers appointed for the execution of 

 30 said Regulation. At the same time, it has not been neglected to give all the 

 timely publicity necessary to put those on their guard against whom the 

 measure is aimed. 



