77 



wa imglit on good grounds dispute with Eussia tlic priority of dis- 

 coverj- of these continents, we contend that the much more easily 

 proved, more conclusive, and more certain title of occujiatiou and use 

 ought to decide the claim of sovereignty." He explicitly declared 

 that Great Britain could not admit the right of any power possessing 

 the sovereignty of a country to exclude the vessels of others from 

 the seas on its coasts to the distance of 100 Italian miles. British 

 Case, Vol. II, p. 23. 



The Duke of Wellington, writing on the same day to Count Lieven 

 and repeating the objection of the British Government to the Ukase, 

 so far as it assumed for Russia an exclusive sovereignty in the conti- 

 nent of North America, observed: "The second ground on which we 

 object to the Ukase is that His Imi)erial Majesty thereby excludes from 

 a certain considerahle extent of the open sea vessels of other nations. 

 We contend that the assumption of this power is contrary to the law 

 of nations, and we cannot found a negotiation upon a paper in which 

 it is again broadly asserted. We contend that no i)ower whatever can 

 exclude another from the use of the o^ieu sea. A power can exclude 

 itself from the navigation of a certain coast, sea, etc., by its own actor 

 engagement, but it cannot by right be excluded by another." British 

 Case, Vol. II, App. 25. 



I am unable to find a single sentence in all the diplomatic corre- 

 spondence that took place between Russia and Great Britain, touching 

 the Ukase of 1821, showing, or tending to show, that Great Britain 

 modified, in the slightest degree the position taken by its representa- 

 tives from the very outset, namely, that the ujaritime jurisdiction or 

 authority claimed by Russia, upon whatever ground rested, to the 

 extent of 100 Italian miles from its coasts, was inconsistent with the 

 law of nations. On the contrary, after the expiration of more than 

 two years without an agreement being reached as to the disputed 

 questions of maritime supremacy and territorial sovereignty, and when 

 serious apprehensions were felt that no satisfactory solution of those 

 questions would be reached, Mr. Stratford Canning was sent by the 

 British Government to St. Petersburg as Plenipotentiary to effect, if 

 possible, a settlement of the pending dispute. He received a letter 

 of instructions from Mr. George Canning, in which will be found an 

 extended review of all previous efforts to accommodate the differences 

 between the two countries, and a fall statement of the grounds upon 

 which Great Britain stood in respect to this Ukase. 



