102 



render more useful the success of tlie enterprises which will eventually 

 result in the discovery of a i)assage on the north of the American conti- 

 nent, consents that the freedom of navigation mentioned in the preced- 

 ing article shall apply, under the same conditions, to Bering Strait, 

 and to the sea situated to the northward of said strait. Art. VII. Any 

 itussian or British ships navigating the Pacijio Ocean and the sea 

 above mentioned tliat may be obliged, by storms or by damages, to 

 take refuge in the respective ports of the High Contracting Parties, 

 shall be allowed to refit therein, and to take aboard everything neces- 

 sary, and to sail away again freely, without paying any other charges 

 than port and lighthouse dues, which shall bo the same as those paid 

 by national vessels." British Case, Vol. 5, App., 68, 69. 



Is it not apparent from this cowwU^.v -projet that Russia regardod 

 the "sea situated to the northward" of Bering Strait, that is, the Arctic 

 Sea, as being separated from the Pacific Ocean only by the waters of 

 that Strait, and therefore that what is now called Bering Sea was 

 regarded by the Government of that country as jjart of the Pacific 

 Ocean? If Russia did not then regard Bering Sea as a part of the 

 Pacific Ocean, it would follow that the privilege given by Article VII 

 of the couwiox-projet to "Russian or British ships navigating the 

 Pacific Ocean and the sea above mentioned''^ (the sea north of Bering 

 Strait) to take temporary refuge, in case of storms or damage, in the 

 respective ports of the two countries, could not be exercised by a 

 British vessel navigating Bering Sea. A i)urpose to make such a dis- 

 tinction ought not to be imjDuted to Russia. It ought not to be sup- 

 posed that Russia intended to assent to the navigation by British 

 vessels of Bering Strait and the sea to the northward of it, and yet 

 restrict the right of navigation in the waters immediately south of 

 Bering Strait. This sui^position is entirely inconsistent with the 

 declaration in the counter -^roje^ that the treaty whicli the two govern- 

 ments were seeking to negotiate had in view the settlement of ques- 

 tions relating to commerce, navigation, and fishing by their respective 

 subjects "in the Pacific Ocean." 



The documentary evidence to which we have referred all tends to show 

 that Great Britain was chiefly concerned about the assumption by Rus- 

 sia, in the Ukase of 1821, of exclusive dominion over the Pacific Ocean, 

 and that it regarded the question of territorial limits on the continent 

 of America as subordinate and relatively unimportant. It earnestly 

 sought the repeal of an edict that asserted "exclusive jurisdiction over 



