101 



ence of our seamen lias been and is still employed in enterprises inter- 

 esting not to this country alone, but to the whole civilized world. The 

 protection giv^en by the convention to the American coasts of each 

 power may (if it is thought necessary) be extended in terms to the 

 coasts of the Russian Asiatic territory; but in some way or other, if 

 not in the form now prescribed, the free navigation of Bering's Straits 

 and of the seas beyond them must be secured to us." British Case, 

 Vol. 3, App. 65. 



Of course Mr. Canning, when he framed the above draft of a conven- 

 tion regarded the waters immediately south of "the sea within Ber- 

 ing Strait" as part of the Pacific Ocean. The same draft shows that 

 he contemplated the settlement of the rights of the two nations on the 

 entire coasts and in all the waters south of Bering Strait. And such 

 evidently was the purpose of Russia, which offered a counter-^^roje^ of a 

 convention, to settle, "according to the principle of mutual accommo- 

 dation, the boundary between their possessions and settlements on tlie 

 northwest coast of America, as well as divers questions relating to 

 commerce, navigation, and fishing by their resjiective subjects in the 

 Pacific Ocean." After defining the line of demarcation between the 

 possessions of the two high contracting parties on the northwest coast 

 of America and the adjacent islands, and according to the vessels and 

 the subjects of the two powers the right in the possessions of the two 

 powers, as defined, for ten j^ears " to freely frequent the gulfs, harbors, 

 and creeks in those parts of the islands and of the coast which are not 

 occupied by either Russian or English settlements, and there to engage 

 in fishing and commerce with the natives of the country," the Russian 

 couuter-projet proceeds: "Art. IV. In future no settlement shall be 

 formed by His Britannic Majesty's subjects within the limits of Russian 

 possessions set out in Articles I and II, and, in like manner, none shall 

 be formed by the subjects of His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias 

 outside of the said limits. Art. Y. The High Contracting Parties stipu- 

 late moreover, that their respective subjects will have the right to 

 freely navigate the tohole extent of the Pacific Ocean, both towards the 

 north and south, without any liindrance whatever, and that they will 

 enjoy the right of fishery in the high seas, but that this latter right shall 

 never be exercised \?'ithin a distance of two marine leagues from the 

 coast or possessions — whether Russian or British. Art. VI. His Majesty 

 the Emperor of all the Russias, being anxious to give a special proof of 

 his regard for the interests of His Britannic Majesty's subjects, and to 



