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



desire to speak witli all possible respect — the operation known as 

 " climbing down " began, as you will see, from this very letter. He says 

 on page 130: 



To Mr. Speranslcy, Governor General of Siberia, ■who had been one of the committee 

 originating this measure. I stated my objections at length. He informed me that the 

 first intention had been (aa Mr. Poletica afterwards wrote you) to declare the northern 

 portion of the Pacific Ocean as mare clauaum — 



I ask my friends, can there be any doubt what the " northern portion 

 of the Pacific Ocean" there meant, can there be any doubt that it 

 included Behring Sea? — 



but that idea being abandoned, probably on account of its extravagance, they deter- 

 mined to adopt the more moderate measure of establishing limits to the maritime 

 jurisdiction on their coasts, such as should secure to the Russian American Fur Com- 

 pany the monopoly of the very lucrative traffic they carry on. In order to do this 

 they sought a precedent, and found the distance of 30 leagues, named in treaty of 

 Utrecht, and which may be calculated at about 100 Italian miles, sufficient for all 

 purposes. 



I need not say that what was once done by Treaty is no justification 

 for what has been done without Treaty. 



I replied ironically that a still better precedent might have been pointed out to 

 them in the papal bull, of 1493, which established as a line of demarcation betAveen 

 the ^Spaniards and Portuguese a meridian to be drawn at the distance of 100 miles 

 west of the Azores, and that the expression " Italian miles" used in the ukase very 

 naturally might lead to the conclusion that this was actually the precedent looked 

 to. He took my remarks in good part, and I am disposed to think that this conver- 

 sation led him to make reflections which did not tend to confirm his first impres- 

 sions, for I found him afterwards at difi"erent times speaking confidentially upon the 

 subjt'ct. 



For some time past I began to perceive that the provisions of the iikase would not 

 be persisted in. It appears to have been signed by the Emperor without sufficient 

 examination, and may be fairly considered to have been surreptitiously obtained. 

 There can be little doubt, therefore, that with a little patience and management it 

 will be molded into a less objectionable shape. But in this, as in other matters, the 

 7'€vocare gradum is most difficult. Since the receipt of your dispatch No. 12, I have 

 had several conferences with the secretaries of state, and we have discussed fully and 

 freely the state of the question as left by Mr. Poletica with your letter unanswered in 

 his pocket 



I informed him that I intended to ask a formal interview with Coimt Nesselrode 

 before his departure, for the purpose of taking up this subject and urging some 

 decision upon it, as I never had been able to ascertain officially whether the offensive 

 provisions of the ukase would be revoked. I felt the more anxious, too, because I 

 had learned that a Russian Frigate was shortly to sail for the N. W. Coast. I informed 

 him further that I had prepared a note vtrhale to leave with Count Nesselrode, which 

 I begged to be permitted to read to him (Count Capodistrias), as I was well assured 

 of his anxious desire that all things should go on smoothly between us. (See paper 

 No. 1.) 



After hearing this paper with attention he said to me: "Puisque vous me faites 

 I'honneur de me consulter, je vous dirai franchement mon avis. Si vous voulez que 

 la chose s'arrange, ne donnez point votre note — L'Empereur a d€yX eu le bon 

 883 esprit de voir que cette affaire ne devrait pas etre poussee plus loin. Nous 

 sommes disposes a ne pas y donner de suite. Les orcires pour nos vaisseaux 

 de guerre seront born^s h enipecher la coutrebande dans les limites reconnues par les 

 autres puissances, en prenant nos ^tablisseinents actuels pour base de ces operations. 

 De cette manit^re, il n'y aura pas de complicatiou pour entraver la n^gociation (jue 

 pourra entamer M. le Baron de Tuyll dfes son arriv6e a Washington. Si vous dites 

 que vous faites protestation, vous ferez du tort il la n6gociation; il ne faut pas non 

 plus faire I'insinuation que nous ayous avanc6 une injuste pretention, mome en nous 

 complimentant sur notre politique pas86e; il ne faut pas nous sommer de revoqner 

 des ordres donnas ; nous ne r^voquons pas ; nous ne retractons pas. Mais dans le fait 

 il n'y a pas d'ordres donnas qui autoriscnt ce que vous craignez". 



Therefore, even at that stage, in 1822, the year after the Ukase was 

 promulgated, and when the matter is being discussed between politi- 

 cians, we find the Emperor's representatives saying that the jurisdic- 

 tion will not be exercised. 



