70 RUSSIAN COKRESPONDENCE RELATING TO 



on liuiiting and fisliiug witlioiit the permission of our commanders or 

 governors. Tliese coasts of Siberia and of tlie Aleutian Islands are not 

 washed by the Southern or Paciti(? Ocean, of which mention is made in 

 article 1 of the convention, but by the Arctic Ocean and the seas of 

 Kamchatka and Okhotsk, which, on all authentic charts and in all 

 geographies, from no part of the Southern or Pacihc Ocean. 



8. In conclusion, we must not lose sight of the fact that the conven- 

 tion of April 5/17 settles all disputes to which the edict of September 

 4/lC», 1821, gave rise; an edict issued at the formal and repeated request 

 of the Russian American Comjiany, These disputes have become of 

 considerable importance, and might be renewed again if Russia should 

 fail to uphold the convention, and in that case it would be impossible 

 to foresee the end or the consequences. These weighty reasons induce 

 a majority of the members of the committee to record their opinion: 

 " That the convention of April 5/17 nmst be sustained, and that, in order 

 to aA^oid an unnecessary and unjustihable altercation over this act, 

 General Bai'on de Tuyll should, at the i)roper time, ofl'er a declaration 

 pursuant to the ])rqiect suggested in the communication of vjount Nes- 

 selrode." The Minister of Finance, and Actual State Councilor I)ru- 

 shinin agreed as to the necessity of sustaining the convention of April 

 5/17, but they presented and si)read upon the minutes a special opinion, 

 here apjieuded, to the effect that Baron de Tuyll should, on the ex- 

 change of ratifications, demand that the privilege of free trade and 

 fishery, granted by article 4 of the said convention, should extend only 

 from latitude 54° 40' to the latitude of Cross Sound. 



A majority of the members of the committee remarked that since 

 within the designated latitudes the Russian American Company pos- 

 sessed many settlements, the second article of the convention of April 

 5/17 would afford them the desired protection, and if nothing could be 

 done in those regions but hunting and fishing, it would be exceedingly 

 doubtful whether American citizens would incur the risk and exi)ense 

 of navigation for the ])urpose of carrying on trade which gave such 

 small promise of reward for outlays in those high northern latitudes, 

 in which they could enjoy their privileges for ten years only, and Avhere, 

 at any rate, they would in hunting and fishing meet with the active 

 competition of the Company, Avhich had x^receded them in those waters 

 by so many years. 



On the other hand, it would appear that the limitation contained in 

 the opinion of his Excellency the Minister of Finance and of the Actual 

 Councilor of State Drushinin would i)ut an end to the complaints ot 

 the American Conq)any, and conse(iuently the majority of the commit- 

 tee found it necessary to examine further into the character of tlie lim- 

 itations, in order to ascertain to Avhat extent they may be adoptetl 

 without infringing upon the rights and advantages resulting to Russia 

 from the convention of A])ril 5/17. 



Since the proposed limitation designates two different jwints, situated 

 under different degrees of latitude, namely (1) the Bav of Yakutat 

 (Bering Bay), on the parallel of 59° 30'; (2) the Bay or Strait of Krest- 

 noi (Cross Sound), on the parallel of 57°, the Russian American (Com- 

 pany desires that the subjects of the United States be prevented from 

 fishing or hunting at those two jjoints ; but the majority of the members 

 of tlie committee are of the opinion: 



As to the lirst of these points (Bering Bay), it is situated under a 

 latitude where Russia's rights have never been a subject oi' dispute, and 

 this important ciiciuustance leads us to the conchision that it is rightly 



