105 



Again, in 1<S43, tlie question was presented to tlie Russian Foreign 

 Office whether the cUiim of foreigners to take whales in Eussian waters 

 ouffht not to be limited by a line drawn at a distance of at least three 

 leagues, or nine Italian miles, from the shores of the colony. The Eus- 

 sian Foreign Office, in 18-13, said: "The fixing of a line at sea within 

 which foreign vessels should be prohibited from whaling off our shores 

 would not be in accordance with the spirit of the convention of 1821, 

 and tcould he contrary to the provisions of our convention of 1825 icith 

 Great Britain. Moreover, the adoption of such a measure, without 

 preliminary negotiation and arrangement with the other powers, might 

 lead to protests, since no clear and uniform agreement has yet been 

 arrived at among nations in regard to the limit of jurisdiction at sea." 

 British Case, Vol. 1, A})}). 41. 



Subsequently, in 181G, the governor- general of Siberia, in conse- 

 quence of what were regarded as new aggressions on the part of whalers, 

 expressed the opinion that, in order to limit the whaling operations of 

 foreigners, it would be fair to forbid them to come within 40 Italian 

 miles of the Eussian shores, the ports of Petropavlosk and Okhotsh to 

 be excluded, and a j^ayment of 100 silver roubles to be demanded at 

 those ports from any vessel for the right of whaling. He recommended 

 the employment of a cruiser to watch foreign vessels. But the Eussian 

 Foreign Office, in 1817, said: " T7e have no right to exclude foreign 

 shipa from that part of the Great Ocean to hich separates the eastern shore 

 of Siberia from the northwestern shore of America, or to make the pay- 

 ment of a sum of money a condition to allowing them to take whales." 

 British Case, Vol. 1, App. 41. 



Of course, the waters here referred to included the whole of Bering 

 Sea, and the language used by the Eussian Foreign Office leaves no 

 room to doubt that Eussia regarded Bering Sea as part of the "Great 

 Ocean." Nor can we suppose that Eussia, after the treaty of 1825, re- 

 garded the prohibition in the Ukase of 1821 against foreign vessels 

 approaching its shores nearer than 100 Italian miles as in force against 

 the subjects of Great Britain, or against the people of any nation at 

 the time of the cession of 1867 to America. 



It may be said that the official declarations of the Eussian Foreign 

 Office as to the spirit and meaning of the treaties of 1824 and 1825 

 had reference to the hunting of whales and not to the hunting of fur 

 seals. But there is no ground to supi)ose that foreign vessels employed 

 in hunting whales in Bering Sea had, in the judgment of the high 



