20 ARGUMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



The British Treaty of 1825. 



It is submitted that tlie Treaties of 1824 and 1825 declared 

 and recognized tlie rights of the United States and Great 

 Britain to navigate and iish in all parts of the non-terri- 

 torial waters over which the Ukase puri)orted to extend: 

 that the body of water known as Behring Sea was included 

 in the phrase "Pacific Ocean" as used in the Treaty of 

 1825; and that the limited meanings placed on the term 

 " north-west coast " or "north-west coast of America " in 

 the United States Case are incorrect. 



Throughout the negotiations which preceded the Trea- 

 ties, the words "north-west coast" were used to include 

 not less than the whole of the North American coast 

 20 from Behring Straits to 51° north. If it had been 

 intended to limit this general term to a certain por- 

 tion of the coast, expHcit language would have been used. 



One contention of the United States, in eifect, limits tlie 

 "north-west coast" to the lisiere defined in the Ilird 

 Article of the Treaty of 1825. 



While on the one hand Article VI of the Treaty was 

 confined to the lisiere i7idiquee, on the other hand, the recip- 

 rocal liberty of access and commerce with each other's 

 territories secured by Article VII was clearly not con- 

 fined to the lisiere; the main proj)osals made with regard 

 to this related to its possession by Russia. The other pro- 

 posals, including that as to reciprocal liberty of access, 

 related to the whole of the north-west coast. In the words 

 of Mr. Canning, writing in 1824, the object was to secure 

 reciprocal access to the territories of the respective Powers. 

 British Conn- This was effected by adopting, as Article VII of the 

 tcr-case, p. 4'j. British Treaty, Article IV of the United States Treaty, 

 which gave to Russia and the United States a reciprocal 

 right of frequenting for ten years the interior seas on the 

 coast mentioned in Article III of that Treaty. This coast 

 was clearly the whole of the north-west coast from Behr- 

 ring Strait southwards to about 54^ 40', Russia agreeing 

 not to form any establishment south of 54° 40', and the 

 United States agreeing not to form any to the north of that 

 latitude. 



It is submitted, therefore, that Behring Sea is clearly 

 included in the term " Pacific Ocean " in the Treaty of 

 1825. 



ANALYSIS OF THE TREATY. 



Article III of the Treaty of 1825 traces the line of 

 demar(;ation between the two Powers on the coast of the 

 continent and the islands of North-western America. 



Article IV defines the Eastern boundary of the lisiere 

 which was to belong to Russia. 



Article V emphasizes the possession of the lisiere by 

 Russia by reiterating that the reciprocal prohibition against 

 forming establishments in the i)ossessions of the two parties 

 respectively applied in the case of the Russian possessions 

 both to the coast aud to the lisiorc comprised within those 

 possessiQus, 



