26 



Eiissia never exercised exchisivo riglits in tlic seal fislieries in Beliring 

 Sea outside tlie aforesaid limit. In 1821 she claimed, by tlie aforesaid 

 ukase, exclusive ri<j;lits of all kinds (as included in her claim of juris- 

 diction), extending for 100 miles along- the coasts of Uehring Sea; but 

 she withdrew the assertion on the dejnand of Great Britain and the 

 United States, and never afterwards asserted or exercised such rights. 



The only exclusive right which Russia subsequently exercised as to 

 the sea was the ordinary right conceded by international law for 3 

 miles from land. 



To qve.Htio)i 2. — Great Britain never recognized or conceded any claims 

 of Kussia of jurisdiction as to the seal fisheries, except as to the ordi- 

 nary 3 mile limit. 



To question 3. — The body of water known as Behring Sea was in- 

 cluded in the ])hrase "Pacific Ocean, "as used in the treaty of 1825 be- 

 tween Great Britain and Russia. 



Russia neither held nor exercised any rights in Behring Sea after 

 the treaty of 1825, save only such rights as were allowed to her by 

 international law within the ordinary 3-nnIe limit. 



To question 4. — That Russia liaving had no rights as to jurisdiction 

 or as to the seal fisheries in Behring Sea, except as to the lands ceded 

 and the ordinary 3niile limit bordering the same, it follows tliat 

 no other rights passed to the United States under the treaty between 

 the United States and Russia of March 30, 1807. 



STATEMENT PRESENTED BY BABON DE COVIICEL, JULY 25, IN ANSWER 

 TO POINTS 1, 2, 3, AND 4 OF THE TREATY. 



I. The extent of authority asserted and exercised by Russia in 

 Behring Sea, previously to the negotiations which led to the conclusion 

 of the treaty of February 10-28, 1825, between Russia and Great 

 Britain, does not appear with historical certainty, but it results from 

 a dispatch of Count Nesselrode to Count Lieven, in date of St. Peters- 

 burg, the 2(>th of June, 1823, communicated to the London cabinet on 

 the lltli of August ensuing, that the surveillance of the commanders 

 of the Imperial Russian navy was to be exercised henceforth, under 

 their instructions, in the region of Behring Sea over an extent of water 

 that should be within cannon shot from shore; and although those 

 instructions were stated as being provisional in the dispatch of Count 

 IsTesselrode, it does not appear tliat since that time n]) to tlie time of 

 the cession of Alaska to the United States the Imperial Government 

 of Russia exercised or asserted in Ijchring Sea, outside of tlie limit 

 aforesaid, any exclusive jurisdiction either of a general character or in 

 connection with the seal fisheries. 



II. Great Britain has not recognized or conceded any jurisdiction of 

 Russia as to seal fishery beyond the limit of territorial Avaters. 



III. The body of water now known as the Behring Sea was included 

 in the phrase "Pacific Ocean," as used in the treaty of 1825 between 

 Great Britain and Russia, and alter said treaty Rnssia neither held 

 nor exercised in the Behring Sea, outside of territorial waters, any 

 exclusive rights. 



IV. All the rights of Russia as to the jurisdiction and as to the seal 

 fisheries in Behring Sea east of the water boundary in the treaty 

 between United States and Russia of the 30tli of March, 1807, passed 

 unimpaired to the United States under that treaty. 



