72 



(•misers appointed for the execution of said regulation. At the same 

 time it lias not been neg'lected to give all the timely publicity neces- 

 sary to put those iipon their guard against whom the measure is aimed. 

 Its action, therefore, cau oidy reach the foreign vessels which, iu spite 

 of the notitication, will expose themselves to seizure by iufringiug w^o?i 

 the line inarlced out hi the regulation. The Government flatters itself 

 that these cases will be very rare; if all remain as at present apiiears, 

 not one. 



"I ought, in the last place, to request you to consider, sir, that the 

 Russian possessions in the Pacific Ocean extend, on the northwest 

 coast of America, from Bering Strait to the fifty-first degree of north 

 latitude, and on the opposite side of Asia and the islands adjacent 

 from th-e same strait to the forty-fifth degree. The extent of sea to 

 which these possessions form the limits, comprehends all the conditions 

 attached to shut seas ('mers fermees'), and the Eussian Government 

 might consequently judge itself authorized to exercise ujion this sea 

 the right of sovereignty, and especially that of entirely interdicting 

 the entrance of foreigners. But it irreferred asserting only its essential 

 rights, without taking any advantage of localities." British Case, 

 Vol. i, App., x)P' 28, 30; U. S. Case, Vol. 1, AjJp., 133. 



Equally exi)licit were the declarations made by the Russian Gov- 

 ernment, to the British Government, in an official communication, dated 

 November 12, 1S21, addressed by Baron Nicolay, the Russian Ambassa- 

 dor at London, to the Marquis of Londonderry, then at the head of the 

 British Foreign Office. After referring to the complaints which the 

 operations of smugglers and adventurers along the northwest coast of 

 America belonging to Russia have more than once given rise to, which 

 operations had for their object ''a fraudulent commerce in furs and other 

 articles which are exclusively reserved to the Russo-American Com- 

 pany," and betrayed a purpose to excite resistance or revolt, upon the 

 part of the natives, to established authority, Baron Nicolay said : 



"It was, therefore, necessary to take severe measures against these 

 intrigues, and to protect the company against the hurtful prejudices 

 that resulted, and it was with that end in view that the annexed regu- 

 lation has just been published. 



" This new regulation does not forbid foreign vessels to navigate the 

 seas that ivash the shores of the Russian Possessions on the northwest 

 coast of America and the northeast coast of Asia. Such a prohibition — 

 which it would not have been difficult to enforce with a sufficient naval 

 force — would, of a truth, have been the most efficacious means of \)vo- 



