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jarisdictiou from the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, on the Asiastic 

 coast, to the latitude of fifty-one north on the western coast of the 

 American continent; and they assume the right of interdicting tlie 

 navigation and the fishery of all other nations to the extent of 100 

 miles from the whole of the coast. The United States can admit no 

 part of tliese claims. Their right of navigation and of fishing is per- 

 fect, and has been in constant exercise from the earliest times, after the 

 peace of 1783, throughout the whole extent of the Southern Ocean, 

 subject only to the ordinary exceptions and exclusions of the territorial 

 jurisdictions, which, 'so far as Kussian rights are concerned, are con- 

 fined to certain islands north of the fifty-fifth degree of latitude, and 

 have no existence in the continent of America." if. S. Case, Vol. i, 

 Ap2y., 14:1. 



As tending further to show the construction placed by the United 

 States upon the Ukase of 1821, and its decided opposition to the pre- 

 tensions of Russia, reference may be made to the letter of Mr. Adams, 

 written under date of July 23, 1823, to Mr. Rush, the American minister 

 at Loudon. In that letter Mr. Adams said: "By the Ukase of the 

 Emperor Alexander of the 4th (16th) of September, 1821, an exclusive 

 territorial right on the northwest coast of America is asserted as be- 

 longing to Russia, and as extending from the northwest extremity of 

 the continent to latitude 51°, and the navigation and fishing of all other 

 nations are interdicted by the same Ukase to the extent of 100 Italian 

 miles from the coast. When M. Poletica, the late Russian minister here, 

 was called upon to set forth the grounds of right conformable to the 

 laws of nations which authorized the issuing of this decree, he answered 

 in his letters of February 28 and April 2, 1822, by alleging first discovery, 

 occupancy, and uninterrupted possession. It appears ujDon examina- 

 tion that these claims have no foundation in fact." 



In the same letter, after combating these claims and referring to the 

 peculiar relations held by the United States to the question of colonial 

 establishments on the North American continent, Mr. Adams said: 

 " A necessary consequence of this state of things will be that the 

 American continents henceforth will no longer be subjects of coloniza- 

 tion. Occupied by civilized independent nations, they will be accessible 

 to Europeans and to each other on that footing alone, and the Pacific 

 Ocean m every part of it will remain open to the navigation of all 

 nations in like manner with the Atlantic. Incidental to the condition 

 of National independence and sovereignty, the rights of anterior navi- 



