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



Jt is sui)poso(l that altbouj>li we have got to tliat point, yet the questions 

 as to the intervening sea by which alone the Hehring Straits could be 

 approached were not already settled; namely, that there was free navi- 

 gation, according to the rules of general international law. 



In order to ]nit this matter beyond the possibility of doubt, will you 

 be good enough to turn back to page G3. 



Mr. Carter. — You do not read the letter at the bottom of the 

 page. 



906 Sir Charles Russell. — I am going to read it in a moment. 

 At the top of page 63 the projet which is there referred to is in 



these words: 



It is agreed between the High Contrarting Parties that their respective suhjects 

 shall enjoy the right of free navigation along the whole extent of the Pacilic Ocean, 

 compreheiidiiig the sea within Behring's Straits, and shall neither be tronbled nor 

 molested in carrying on their trade and fisheries, in all parts of the said ocean, either 

 to the northward or southward thereof. 



It being well understood that the said right of fishery shall not be exercised by the 

 subjects of either of the two Powers, nearer than 2 marine leagues from the respec- 

 tive possessions of the other. 



That is the only limitation there made. But the point, of course, that 

 I am upon is the other limitation, of the enjoyment of the right of free 

 navigation along the whole extent of the Pacific Ocean, comprehending 

 the sea within Bering Straits. 



Then says Mr. Canning the questions are limited to whether the base 

 or the summit of the mountains is to be taken as the inside boundary 

 of the lisirre. Secondly, the extension of the right of the navigation of 

 the Pacific to the sea beyond Behring Straits. 



I now turn to page Hi) to read what Mr. Carter drew my attention to, 

 and which I was going to read. There was, a (juestion whether or not 

 there should be any formal renunciation, or whether a formal renuncia- 

 tion was necessary, or whether the treaty should be left to speak for 

 Itself; and Mr. Adams, writing from Washington, says — 



A convention concluded between this Government and that of Russia for the set- 

 tlement of the respective claims of the two nations to the intercourse with the north- 

 western coast of America reached the Department of State a few days since. 



The main ])oints delermined by this instrument are, as far as I can collect from 

 the American Secretary ot State, (1) the enjoyment of a free and unrestricted inter- 

 course by each nation with all the settlements of the other on the northwest coast of 

 America; and (2) astipulation that no new settlements shall be formed by Russia 

 south, or by the United States north, of latitude 54 degrees 40 minutes. 



The qtiestion of the mare claiimm, the sovereignty over which was asserted by the 

 Emperor of Russia in his celebrated Ukase of 1821, but virtually, if not expressly, 

 renounced by a snhse(iuent declaration of that sovereign, has, Mr. Adams assures me, 

 not been touched upou in the above-mentioned Treatj'. 



Mr. Adams seemed to consider any formal stipulation recording that 

 renunciation as unnecessary and supererogatory. 



It had been renounced, and the Treaty was inconsistent with it; and 

 therefore, says Mr. Adams — and quite rightly, I think — any formal or 

 express renunciation would be simply requiring a great Power to do 

 something which might be regarded as more or less of a humiliation, 

 and was not at all necessary. 



Now I am enabled to hurry on. Let me just remind the Tribunal of 

 the dates. The Baron de Tuyl incident had occurred in July of 1824. 

 The Treaty with America had been signed, and, Mr. Adams having 

 declared that the treaty must speak for itself, had been signed without 

 any modification. The object of the proposed modification being, as 

 you will recollect, that north of 51) degrees 30 minutes, Russia 



907 would like to have it understood that there was no right to visit 

 the creeks, gulfs, interior seas, etc., for the ten years' period- 



