358 ORAL ARGtTMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. C. M. P*. 



1149 fishing, Imnting, and to trade, in the Russian waters of the Pacific, and in reply 

 to tlie note which you addressed to me, dated the 15th (27th) March, I am now 



in a position to give you the following information. 



A Notice of the teiiour of that annexed to your note of the 15th March was, in 

 fact, published by our Consul at Yokohama, and our Consul-General at San Fran- 

 cisco is also authorized to publish it. 



This measure refers only to prohibited industries and to the trade in contraband; 

 the restrictions which it establishes extend strictly to the territorial waters of Rus- 

 sia only. It was required by the numerous abuses proved in late years, and which 

 fell with all their weight on the population of our sea shore and of our islands, 

 whose only means of support is by fishing and hunting. These abuses inflicted also 

 a marked injury on the interests of the Company to which the Imperial Government 

 had conceded the monopoly of fishing and hunting (" exportation") in islands called 

 the "Commodore" and the "Seals". 



Beyond the new Regulation, of which the essential point is the obligation imposed 

 upon captains of vessels who desire to fish and to hunt in the Russian waters of the 

 Pacific to provide themselves at Vladivostock with the peruuHsion or licence of the 

 Governor-General of Oriental Siberia, the right of fishing, hunting, and of trade by 

 foreigners in our territorial waters is regulated by Article 560 and those following of 

 Vol. XII, Part II, of the Code of Laws. 



Now, Sir, if you look to the bottom of that page headed " Inclosure 

 2", you will see the Articles. 



Article 560. The maritime waters, even when they wash the shores where there is 

 a permanent pojjulation, cannot be the subject of private possession; they are open 

 to the use of one and all. 



Art. 561. No exception will be made to this general rule, except under the form 

 of spvial privileges granted for the right of fishing in certain fixed localities and 

 during limited periods. 



Art. 562. The above Regulation regarding the right of fishing and analogous 

 occupations on the seas extends equally to all lakes which do not belong to private 

 properties. 



Art. 565. No restrictions shall be established as regards the apparatus (engines) 

 employed for fishing and for analogous operations in the high seas, and it shall be 

 permitted to every one to use for this purpose such apparatus as he shall judge to be 

 best according to the circumstances of the locality. 



Art. 571. Ships in quarantine are not permitted to fish. The same prohibition 

 extends in general to all persons in those localities where ships are lying undergoing 

 quarantine. 



Now you see. Sir, that this correspondence is between two Govern- 

 ment Departments of the United States. My friends had access to 

 this even more readily than we had access to it. There it is; and you 

 will now see how far they are founded in the observations they make 

 in their case on this subject. 



Now I conclude the matter by asking your attention to page 22 of 

 the same volume. The corresjwndence I have been reading, up to the 

 present time, you will observe, Sir, relates to the year 1882. 



Now on page 22 is a later letter in 1887, from Mr. Lothrop who was 

 I think — General Foster will correct me if I am wrong — then the 

 Charge d'Affaires? 



General Foster. — He was the Minister. 



Sir Charles Russell. — He was then Minister of the United 



1150 States at St.-Petersburg. He says, writing to Mr. Bayard who 

 was, as you will recollect. Sir, Secretary of State at that time: 



I have the honour to transmit to you a translation of a communication received 

 from the Imperial Foreign Office on the 1st February instant, relative to the seizure 

 of the schooner "Eliza". 



The Russian Government claims that she was seized and condemned under the 

 provisions of an Order, or Regulation, which took efi'ect at the beginning of 1882, 

 and which absolutely prohibited every kind of trading, hunting, and fishing on the 

 Russian Pacific coast without a special licence from the Governor-General. 



It is not claimed that the " Eliza" Avas engaged in seal-fishing, but that she was 

 found actually engaged in trading with the natives with the contraband articles of 

 arms and strong liquors. 



