226 DIPLOMATIC COERESPONDENCE. 



To that end a brief review of certain public transactions and a brief 

 record of certain facts will be necessary. 



At tlie close of the year 171)9 the Emperor Paul, by ankase, asserted 

 the exclusive authority of llussia over the territory from the Behriiig 

 Strait down to the lifty fifth degree of north latitude on the American 

 coast, following westward "by the Aleutian, Kurile, and other islands" 

 practically inclosing the Behring Sea, Tothellussian AmericanComiiany' 

 wliich was organized under this ukase, the Emperor gave the right "to 

 make new discoveries" in that almost unknown region, and " to occupy 

 the new land discovered" as "Eussian possessions." The Emperor M^as 

 assassinated before any. new discoveries were announced, but his suc- 

 cessor, the Emperor Alevander I, inherited the ambition and the purpose 

 of his father, and, in a new ukase of September 4, 1821, jisserted the 

 exclusive authority of llussia from Behring Strait southward to the 

 Hfty-first degree of north latitude on the American coast, j)ro(*laiming 

 his auth(U'it.v, at the same time, on the Asiatic coast as far south as the 

 forty-fifth degree, and forbidding any vessel to approach within 100 

 miles of land on either continent. I quote the two sections of the ukase 

 that contain the order and the jjunishment: 



Section 1. The traasactiou of commerce, and the jjiirsait of whaling and fishing, 

 or any other industry ou the islands, in the harbors and inlets, and, in general, all 

 along the northwestern coast of America from Behring Strait to the iitty-tirst parallel 

 of northern latitude, and likewise on the Aleutian Islands and along the eastern 

 coast of Siberia, aiul ou the Kurile Islands ; that is, from Behring Strait to the south- 

 ern promontory of the island of Urup, viz, as far south as latitude forty-five degrees 

 and fifty minutes north, are exclusively reserA'cd to subjects of the Russian Empii'e. 



Sec. 2. Accordingly, no foreign vessel shall bo allow ed either to put to shore at 

 any of the coasts and islands under Russian dominion as specified in the preceding 

 section, or even to approach the same to within a distance of less than 100 Italian 

 miles. Any vessel contravening this provision shall be subject to confiscation with 

 her whole cargo. 



Against this larger claim of authority (viz, extending farther south on 

 the American coast to the fifty-first degree of north latitude), Mr. Adams 

 vigorously protested. In a dispatch of March 30, 1822, to Mr. Poletica, 

 the Ivussiau minister at Washington, Mr. Adams said: 



This uhase now for the first time extends the claim of Russia on the northwest 

 coast of America to the 51st degree of north latitude. 



And he pointed out to the Eussian minister tliatthe only foundation 

 for the new pretension of llussia Avas the existeiu-e of a small settle- 

 ment, situated, not on the American continent, but on a small island in 

 latitude 57° — Novo Archangelsk, now known as Sitka. 



Mr. Adams protested, not against the ukase of Paul, but against the 

 ukase of Alexander; not wholly against the ukase of Alexander, but 

 only against his extended claim of sovereignty southward on the con- 

 tinent to the fifty-first degree north latitude. In short, Mr. Adams pro- 

 tested, not against the old possessions, but against the newpreteuvsious 

 of llussia ou the northwest coast of America — pretensions to territory 

 claimed by the United States and frequented by her mariners since the 

 peace of 1783 —a specification of time which is dropped from Lord Salis- 

 bury's (piotatiou of Mr. Adams, but which Mr. Adams pointedly used 

 to fix the date when the power of the United States was visibly exer- 

 cised on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. 



The names and phrases at that tinie in use to describe the geograi)hy 

 included within the area of this dispute are confusing and at certain 

 points apparently contradictory and irreconcilable. Mr. Adams's denial 

 to llussia of the ownership of territory on "the continent of America" 

 is a fair illustration of this singular contradiction of names and i^laces. 



