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



the statement that the traffic was unlaw ful and irregular, Mr. Adams 

 continues: 



It is necessary now to say that this impression was erroneous; that the traffic of 

 the citizens of the United States with the natives of the north west coast was neither 

 clandestine, nor unlawful, nor irregular; that it had been enjoyed many years before 

 the Russian American Company existed, and that it interfered with no lawful right 

 or claim of Russia. 



This trade has been shared also by the English, French, and Portuguese. In the 

 prosecution of it the English settlemt-nt of Js^ootka Souud was made, which occasioned 

 the dili'erences between Great Britain and Spain. — 



Of course it is quite right to say that that trade was mainly a trade 

 to the south of the Aleutian Chain, and in that great bight south of the 

 Aleutian Chain. 



Then he proceeds, at the top of page 144, to justify the claim of the 

 United States from the 42nd to the 49th parallel of latitude on the 

 Pacific Ocean. I do not think it is important that I should trouble you 

 with that. But enclosed in that letter was a suggestion for an agree- 

 ment that would meet the difficulty : 



Article I, 



In order to strengthen the bonds of frienflship and to preserve in future a perfect 

 harmony and good understanding between the contracting parties it is agreeil tliat 

 tlieir respective citizens and subjects shall not be disturbed or molested, eitber in 

 navigating or iu carrying ou their fisberies in the Pacific Ocean or in the South Seas, 

 or in landing ou the coast of those seas, in places not already occupied, for the i)ur- 

 pose of carrying on their commerce with the natives of the country; subject, never- 

 theless to tlie restrictions and provisions specified in the two following articles. 



885 Art. II. 



To the end that the navigation and lishery of the citizens and subjects of the con- 

 tracting parties, respectively, in the Pacific Ocean or in the South Seas, may not be 

 made a pretext for illicit trade with tiieir respective settlements, it is agreed that 

 the citizens of the United States sliall not land on any part of the coast actually 

 occupied by Russian settlements, unless by permission of the governor or com- 

 mander thereof, and that Russian subjects sliall, in like manner, be interdicted from 

 lauding without permission at any settlement of the United States on the said 

 northwest coast. 



Art. III. 



It is agreed that no settlement shall be made hereafter on the northwest coast of 

 America by citizens of the United States or under their authority, north, nor by 

 Russian subjects, or under the authority of Russia, south of the lifty-iifth degree of 

 north latitude. 



Is it not absurd — I am not putting it too strongly — to suggest even 

 that the Behriug Sea was excluded from that: that when we speak of 

 the ''Northwest Coa-t", which has been again and again referred to, 

 wliich is used in the original Ukase, which is used in the Charter, 

 which is used in the correspondence without limitation, to say that that 

 northwest coast, forsooth, is a bit of the coast south of the Aleutian 

 Chain, and stops there? Of course one may take too sanguine a view 

 of these matters, but I do submit that that narrower contention is 

 absurd, and quite inconsistent with the tenor of these documents and 

 this correspondence. 



Mr. Justice Harlan. — Sir Charles, what effect on that view would 

 the words near the top of page 144 have, in the letter which enclosed 

 the memorandum, which are: "The right of the United States from 

 the forty- second to the forty ninth parallel of latitude on the Pacific 



