136 DIPLOMATIC COKRESPONDENCE. 



tlie publication of the ukase respectiug tlie IS". W. Trade, although 

 I refrained from taking any official steps until I should receive in- 

 structions so to do, yet I omitted no proper occasion of making known 

 my private opinion upon that subject in conversation with the secre- 

 taries and with all such persons as I knew were habitually consulted 

 upon questions of a similar nature. To Mr. Speransky, Governor-Gen- 

 eral of Siberia, who had been one of the committee originating this 

 measure, I stated my objections at length. He informed me that the 

 first intention had been (as Mr. Poletica afterwards wrote you) to de- 

 clare the northern portion of the Pacific Ocean as mare clausimi, but 

 that idea being abandoned, probably on account of its extravagance, 

 they determined to adopt the more moderate measure of establishing 

 limits to the maritime jurisdiction on their coasts, such as should se- 

 cure to the Eussian American Fur Company the monopoly of the very 

 lucrative traffic they carry on. In order to do this they sought a prec- 

 edent and found the distance of 30 leagues, named in treaty of Utrecht, 

 and which may be calculated at about 100 Italian miles, sufficient for 

 all purposes. I replied ironically that a still better precedent might 

 have been pointed out to them in the papal bull of 1493, which estab- 

 lished as a line of demarcation between the Spaniards and Portuguese 

 a meridian to be drawn at the distance of 100 miles west of the Azores, 

 and that the expression "Italian miles " used in the ukase very naturally 

 mightleadtotheconclusion that thiswas actually tl'.eprecedentlooked to. 

 He took my remarks in good part, and I am disposed to think that this 

 conversation led him to make reflections which did not tend to confirm 

 his first impressions, for I found him afterwards at different times 

 speaking confidentially upon the subject. 



For sometime past I began to perceive that the provisions of the 

 ukase would not be persisted in. It appears to have been signed by 

 the Emperor without sufficient examination, and may be fairly consid- 

 ered as having been surreptitiously obtained. There can be little 

 doubt, therefore, that with a little patience and management it will be 

 molded into a less objectionable shape. But in this, as in other mat- 

 ters, the revocare gradum is most difficult. Since the receipt of your 

 dispatch No. 12 I have had several conferences with the secretaries of 

 state and we have discussed fully and freely the state of the question 

 as left by Mr. Poletica with your letter unanswered in his pocket. At 

 length, on the morning of the 24th of July, having learned that prepa- 

 ration was making for the departure of the Emi)eror tor Vienna, I had 

 a conversation with Count Capodistrias, in which I informed him that 

 I intended to ask a formal interview with Count Nesselrode before his 

 departure, for the puri)ose of taking up this subject and urging some 

 decision upon it, as I never had been able to ascertain officially whether 

 the offensive provisions of the ukase would be revoked. I felt the 

 more anxious, too, because I had learned that a Kussiau Frigate was 

 shortly to sail for the N. W. Coast. I informed him further that 

 I had ]irepared a note verhale to leave with Count Nesselrode, which I 

 begged to be permitted to read to him (Count Capodistrias), as I was 

 well assured of his anxious desire that all things should go on smoothly 

 between us. (See paper No. 1.) 



After hearing this paper with attention he said to me: "Puisque 

 vous me faites I'honneur de me consulter, je vous dirai franchement 

 mon avis. Si vous voulez que la chose s'arrange, ne donnez point 

 votre note — I'Empereur a deja eu lebon esprit de voir que cette af- 

 faire ne devrait pas etre pousee plus loin. Nous sommes disposes ^ 

 ne pas y donner de suite. Les ordres pour nos vaisseaux de guerre 



