ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. C. M. P. 147 



America in this regard was a little singular. The boundaries, as I said, 

 between Russian territory on the coast and British territory, and 

 United States territory, were to a large extent undefined. It was 

 pretty clear — I do not think the United States ever suggested the con- 

 trary — that to some extent, at least, there would come in as a wedge 

 between Russian territory on the north and United States territory on 

 the south, some portion of British territory on the coast. The exact 

 point was not defined or limited. 



As I have said, the limit of the Russian claim to the south had been 

 vari usly advanced by Russia. In the Ukase of 1799, they had only 

 claimed to go down to 55°. In the Ukase of 1821, they had claimed to 

 go down to 51°. The Arbitrators will recollect that. On the other 

 hand, the exact point north to which the United States were prepared 

 to press its just claims to territory had been lett more or less undefined, 

 and it was a matter of only indirect interest to the United States of 

 what was to be the southern boundary of the Russian possessions. 

 The more they could squeeze the Russian assertions of sovereignty on 

 the coast further north, the greater chance it would give them of 

 squeezing British territory further north, and so extend their own claims. 

 It was only in that sense a matter of comparative importance to the 

 United States what should be the southern boundary of the Russian 

 possessions. 



Now the correspondence, so far as Great Britain is concerned, is most 

 conveniently set out in the 2nd volume of the Appendix to the British 

 Case, and it is all collected there as far as I desire to use it. It begins 

 with a letter from Baron Nicolay to the Marquess of Londonderry. 

 This is a long letter and I do not think it is necessary I should trouble 

 you by reading it in full. The fourth sentence begins: 



Le nouveau r^gletnent n'interdit point aiix bAtimens strangers la navigation dana 

 les mers qui baignent les possessions Russes sur les c6te8 nord-ouest de l'Am6rique 

 et uord-est de I'Asie. 



I merely read that to shew the extent to which it extends. Then it 

 goes on: 



D'uu autre cAt^, en considorant les possessions Russes qui s'^tendent, tant sur la 

 c6te nord-ouest de I'Am^rique depuis le d6troit de Behring jusqu'au 51" de latitude 

 sei>teutriouale 



It then proceeds to give the boundaries very much as in the corre- 



S])ondence of M. de Poletica with the United States which I have 



896 already read. He then goes on to claim that it would entitle 



Russia to treat the sea as a closed sea and then he finally says. 



II s'est born6, au contraire, comme on a lieu de s'eu couvaincre par le r<^gleraent 

 nouvellemeut public, ^ defend re k tout batiment (Stranger, non seulement d'aborder 

 dans les ^tablissements de la Campagnie Ara^ricaine, comtne dans la presqu'ile du 

 Kamtchatka et les c6tes de la mer d'Okhotsk, mais aussi de navi<>uer le long de ces 

 possessious et en g^ueral d'en approcher a une distance de 100 milles d'ltalie. 



On the top of the next page occurs another sentence which shews his 

 apprehension of the meaning of the Pacific Ocean. 



Car, s'il est d6montr6 que le Gouveruement Imperial eQt eu ^ la rigueur la facult6 

 de fermer entierement aux strangers cette partie de I'Oc^an Pacilique qui bordent 

 nos possessions en Amerique et en Asie 



unmistakeably referring to Behring Sea as part of the Pacific Ocean. 

 Now the Government of the King immediately took advice upon the 

 matter, and Mr. Christopher Robinson, the then King's Advocate, was 

 asked to express his opinion: 



In obedieuce to your Lordship's directions I have the honour to report that it 

 appears to be the object of this communication to obtain indirectly from liis Maj- 



