APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT ISRITAIN. 437 



on either side, witliont previously euo-aa;- et d'autre, sans se permettre au pre- 



ing themselves in any violent or forcible alable aucune violence ni voye de fait, 



Uieasures, shall make an exact and cir- seront tenns de reudre un rapport 



cnmstantial report of the matter to their exact de I'affaire et de ses circou- 



respective Courts, who will arranf^e the stances, anx Cours resi^ectives, lesquel- 



same, according to justice, in a friendly les la termineront selon la justice et k 



manner. I'amiable. 



Article IX. Article IX. 



The present Convention shall be rati- La prt^scnte Convention sera ratifi^e, 



fied, and the ratifications sliall be ex- et les ratitications en seront 6changees a 



changed at within the space of dans I'espace de mois, ou 



months, or sooner, if possible. plutot si faii'e se pent. 



In witness whereof, therespectivePleni- En foi de quoi les P16nipotentiaire3 



potculiaries have signed tlie same, and respectifs Tent eign^e, et y out appos^ le 



haveaffixtd thereto thesealsoftheirarnis. cashet de leurs armes. 



Done at the day of , Fait a le I'an de Grace 



in the year of Our Lord 1824. 1824. 



No. 44. 



Mr. G. Canning to Sir C. Bagot. 



No. 20.] Foreign Opfice, July 24, 1884. 



Sir: The "Projet" of a Convention which is ineh).sed in niy No. 20 

 having" been commnnieated by nie to Coniit Liev<Mi. with a request that 

 ]iis ExcolkMicy would note any points in it upon whi(;h lie conceived any 

 dilliculty likely to arise, or any explanation to be necessary, I have 

 received from his Excellency the Memoraiiduni a copy of which is here- 

 with inclosed. 



Your l^xcellency will observe that there are but two points which have 

 struck Count Ijieven as susceptible of any question. The first, the 

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

 line of boundary; the second, the extension of the right of the naviga- 

 tion of the Pacific to the sea beyond Behring's Straits. 



As to the first, no great inconvenience can arise from your Excellency 

 (if pressed for that alteration) consenting- to substitute the summit of 

 the mountains instead of the seaward base, provided always that 

 QQ the stii)u]ation as to the extreme distance from the coast to which 

 the lislere is in any case to run, be adopted (which distance I have 

 to rei)eat to your Excellency should be made as short as j)ossible), and 

 provided a stipulation be added that no forts shall be established or for- 

 tifications erected by either party on the summit or in the i>asses of the 

 mountains. 



As to the second ])oint, it is perhaps, as Count Lieven remarks, new. 

 Put it is to be remarked, in return, that the circumstances under which 

 this additional security is required will be new also. 



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

 become ])ossessed, in acknowledged sovereignty of both sides, of Beh- 

 ring's Straits. 



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

 may not unnaturally be supj)osed capable of a disposition to apply the 

 same character to a strait comprehended between two shores of which 

 it becomes the undisputed owner; but the shutting up of Behring's 

 Straits, or the power to shut them up hereafter, would be a thing not 

 to be tolerated by England. 



