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



The diflfieulty tliat mj^ learned friends have to meet is this. Article 

 III specifies the northwest coast of America to the north of 54° 40', 

 which is the southern limit of liussian possessions, and extends with- 

 out any limitation wliatever to the north; and when Article IV is 

 framed it refers to the coast mentioned in the preceding Article with- 

 out any limitation. Therefore in the later article (to the limit and 

 extent of the northwest coast in the preceding article) it obviously 

 extends to the whole of the north-west coast right up to the Behring 

 Straits. I think that is all 1 have to say upon the subject of the 

 Treaty : except to read, from page 30, Volume I of the Ai)pendix to 

 the British Counter-Case*, a passage in a communication made by Count 

 Nesselrode in a letter dated the 11th of April, 1824, only six days after 

 the date of the Treaty. It is a considerable communication, and I may 

 tell the Tribunal that this was written apparently with the object of 

 allaying the apprehensions and toning down the objections of the Com- 

 mercial Company, as to the view that they should take of the effect of 

 this Treaty of 1824 upon their interests. The revised translation is in 

 the right hand column. 



In Article III — that is of this Treaty — the United States recognize the sovereign 

 power of Kussia over the western coast of America, from the Pohir Seas to Sf^ 40' of 

 north latitude ; while we on our part promise not to found Settlements below this par- 

 allel, as a matter of course only in those places, and without extending this provision 

 to the Colony of Ross, far distant to the south. 



Then at the bottom of the page: 



In Article IV we allow the American States, though for no longer than ten years, 

 to trade and fish in places within our dominions. 



There it is stated without any qualification whatever ; and this is writ- 

 ten, as I say, six days after the Treaty; it extends without any qualifica- 

 tion the whole way up; and the importance of Article IV is that it 

 gives a temporary advantage to the United States — that is to say, it 

 gives to United States subjects rights of access to interior seas, to gulfs, 

 to harbours, and to creeks, all of which, or the greater part of. which, 

 would be in strictly territorial waters; and, therefore, to which, upon the 

 general rule of international law, the United States would not have 

 any right of access at all. 



The President. — AVas this diplomatically communicated to other 

 Powers'? Did it come from the United States Minister, or where is it 

 taken from'? 



Sir Charles Russell. — The explanation is given on page 28. It is 

 a letter from Count Nesselrode to Nicholas Semenovitch, and I 

 890 gather from the communication that this gentleman was inter- 

 ested in the American Commercial Company, and that it was 

 written with a view of allaying the apprehension of, or justifying the 

 Treaty to, that gentlemen: that is the object of it. 



The President. — You are not aware how the British Government 

 came into possession of that document. 



Sir Charles Kussell. — Not at the moment. 



The President. — It is not of much importance, but I should to 

 know if it had any international value. 



Sir Kiohard Webster. — I think it is one of the documents which 

 came to light when the annexation to the United States took place. 

 This is the correct translation by the United States of that document. 



The President. — The purport of my question was, whether the 

 United States were officially apprised of the existence of this document 

 and of this interpretation. That is the point of my question. 



