250 APPENDIX to CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Its action, therefore, can only reach the foreign vessels which, in spite of the noti- 

 ficatiou, will expose themselves to seizure by infringiug- upon the line marked out iu 

 the Regulation. The GoA'ernmeut flatters itself that these cases will be very rare; 

 if all reinain as at present appears, not one. 



I ought, in the last place, to request you to consider, Sir, that the Russian posses- 

 sions in the Pacific Ocean extend, on the north-west coast of America, from Behring 

 Strait to the 51st degree of north latitude, and on the opposite side of Asia and the 

 islands adjacent from the same strait to the 45th degree. The extent of sea of 

 which these possessions from the limits comprehends all the conditions M'hich are 

 ordinarily attached to shut seas ("mers fermdes"), and the Russian Government 

 might consequently judge itself authorized to exercise upon this sea the right of 

 sovereignty, and especially that of entirely interdicting the entrance of foreigners. 

 But it preferred only asserting its essential rights, without taking any advantage 

 of localities. 



The ICmperor, my august Sovereigu, sets a very high value upon the maintenance 

 of the relations of amity and good imderstanding which have till now subsisted 

 between the two countries. The dispositions of His Imperial Majesty in this regard 

 have never failed appearing at all times when an occasion has presented itself in the 

 political relations of the United States with the European Powers, and surely in the 

 midst of a general peace Russia does not think of aiming a blow at the maritime 

 interests of the United States; she who has constantly respected them in those dif- 

 ficult circumstances in which Europe has been seen to be placed in the latter times, 

 and the influence of which the United States have been unable to avert. 

 I have, «&c. 



PlEKRE DE POLETICA. 



Before proceeding to remark on this letter, we must call the partic- 

 ular attention of our readers to tlie conformation of the west coast of 

 America, within the disputed limits, by which the confusion and appar- 

 ent contradictions in wliich the subject has been involved may be 

 avoided. We furtlier desire that our conceptions of tlie question really 

 at issue may be distinctly understood. It is not, we apprehend, whether 

 Russia has any Settlements tlmt give her territorial claims on the Con- 

 tinent of America. This we do not deny — but it is tckether the location 

 of those Settlements and the discoveries of Iter navigators are such as they 

 are represented to be; ichether they entitle her to the exclusive possession of 

 the whole territory north of 51°, and to sovereignty over the Pacific Ocean 

 beyond that ^parallel. The extremity of the Peninsula of Alaska is in 

 about the latitude 55^^ and longitude 162° west from Greenwich. On 

 the western side of the peninsula the land runs nearly north, to the 

 Straits of Behring; on the eastern side it tends northward and east- 

 ward to the entrance of Cook's River, in latitude 59°, longitude 152°, 

 and Prince William's Sound, in latitude 60° 30', longitude 140O; thence 

 east, southerly to the Behring Bay of Cook and Vancouver; and more 

 southerly to Cross Sound and IS^orfolk Sound, the latter iu latitude 57°, 

 longitude 135°. Cape Scott in the latitude of 51°, to which the Russian 

 claim now extends, is in the longitude of 128°; making a difference 

 between that and the points of Alaska of 34°, or more than 1,200 miles. 

 The coast between these two points forms an immense bay, which 

 extends north beyond the 01st degree of latitude, and is nearly twice as 

 broad across its entrance as the Bay of Bengal. The Aleutian Islauds, 

 lying southward of Alaska, are scattered between the Continents of 

 Asia and America, and extend to the latitude 51°. The large Island of 

 Kodiak, on whicli are the principal Russian Settlements, lies lu^.ar the 

 eastern side of tlie Peninsula of Alaska, between the parallels of 57° 

 and 58°. Having no disposition to question the claims of Russia, where 

 they have a plausible foundation, we shall, in this discussion, lix the 

 boundary at Behring Bay, in latitude 5t>o 30', and huigitude 110°; and 

 leaving her in undisputed possession of that bay, and the whole country 

 north-westward of it, shall continc our reiuiirks to thati)art of the coast 

 lying to the southward and eastward of it; which we undertake to 



