98 ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. C. M. P. 



This assertation of dominion by Russia was reiterated in 1820, when, by an Impe- 

 rial Ukase, Alexander I granted the second charter to the Russian American Com- 

 pany, renewing its privileges for twenty years, and was again asserted in 1844 by the 

 granting of the third charter, which not only increased the privileges of the com- 

 jiany, but also provided a system of colonial government lor the Russian American 

 colonies for the twenty succeeding years. 



Russian Ordinance- of 1821. 



All these assertions of jurisdiction and dominion ])assed unchallenged, but in 1821 

 the Imperial Government had issued s:a ordinance regulating traflic in its Asiatic and 

 American possessions, and reserved exclusively to subjects of the Russian empire 

 *' the transaction of commerce, the pursuit of whaling and fishing, or any other indus- 

 try, on the islands, in the harbors and inlets, and in general along the Northwestern 

 coast of America, from Behriiig Strait to the 51st Parallel of North Latitude, and in 

 the Aleutian Islands, and along the coast of Siberia and on the Kurile Islands from 

 Behring Strait to the Southeastern promontory of the Island of Urup — viz, as far 

 south as latitude 45 degrees and 50 degrees North". 



This Ordinance called forth the protests of the United States and Great Britain, 

 and protracted discussions followed. A critical examination of the dii)lomatic cor- 

 respondence between the United States and Great Britain on one side and Russia 

 upon the other will disclose that the points in dispute in the controversy were the 

 assertions of Russia to exclusive jurisdiction over the Pacific Ocean, the assertion of 

 dominion over the coast of North America from the 55th parallel south to the 51st. 

 (See note of Mr. Adams, American Minister to Russia, to the Russian Minister March 

 1822.) 



Following these discussions came the Treaty of 1824, between Russia and the 

 United States, and the analogous Treaty of 1825 between Russia and Great Britain. 

 By these Treaties Russia receded from her assertion of exclusive jurisdiction over 

 the Pacific Ocean, and abandoned her claim to possessions on the coast of North 

 America, south of 54° 40'. 



The Treaty. 



The following are the Articles of the Treaty between the United States and 

 Russia germane to the questions involved in the case: 



Article I. 



"It is agreed that in any part of the Great Oce.an, commonly called the Pacific 

 Ocean or South Sea, the resj)ective citizens or subjects of the High Contracting 

 Powers sliall be neitiier distuibed nor restrained, either in navigation or in fishiTig, 

 or in the power of resorting to the coasts upon points which may not already have 

 been occupied for the purpose of trading with the natives saving always the restric- 

 tions and conditions determined by the following Articles." 



Article II. 



With a view of ^ 

 the Great Ocean by 



preventing the rights of navigation and of fishing exercised uj»on 

 ..^^ ^.^..v ^^^^^ oy the citizens and subjects of the High Contracting Powers from 

 becoming the pretext of an illicit trade, it is agreed that the citizens of the United 

 States shall not resort to any point where there is a Russian establishment without 



the permission of the Governor or Commander, and that reciiirocally the sub- 

 838 jects of Russia shall not resort without permission to any establishment of the 



United States upon the north-west coast. 



Article III. 



It is, moreover, agreed that hereafter there shall not be formed by the citizens of 

 the United Statics, or under authority of the said States, any establishment upon 

 the north-west coast of America, nor in any of the islands adjacent to the north of 

 54° 40' north latitude, and that in the same manner there shall be none formed by the 

 Russia subjects, or under the authority of Russia, south of the same parallel. 



Article IV. 



It is, nevertheless, understood that during a term of ten years, counting from the 

 siguitture of the present Convention, the ships of bodi Powers, or wliich belong to 

 their citizens or subjects respectively, may recipvocall^,• fre(iueut, without any hin- 

 drance whatever, the interior seas, gulfs, harbors, and creeks upon the coast men- 

 tioned in the preceding article, for the purpose of fishing and trading with the 

 natives of the country. (AVheatou's Internalional Law, vol. I, pp. 2-112.) 



