244 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



by treaty between the parties. To exclude the vessels of our citizens from the shore, 

 beyond itlie ordinary distance to which the territorial jurisdiction extends, has ex- 

 cited still greater surprise. 



This ordinance aftects so deeply the rights of the United States and of their citi- 

 zeus that I am instructed to inquire whether you are authorized to give explana- 

 tions of the grounds of right, upon principles generally recognized by the laws and 

 usages of nations, which can waxTant the claims and regulations contained in it. 



TheEnssian representative replied atleiigtli, defoiKling the territorial 

 claim on grounds of discovery, first occu})ation, and undisturbed pos- 

 session, and explaining the motive "which determined the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment to prohibit foreign vessels from approaching the Northwest 

 Coasts of America belonging to Russia within the distance of at least 

 100 Italian miles. This measure," he said, "however severe it may at 

 first view api^ear, is after all but a measure of prevention." He went 

 on to say that it was adopted in order to put a stop to an illicit trade 

 in arms and ammunition with the natives, against which the Russian 

 Government had frequently remonstrated; and further on he observed: 



I ought, in the last place, to request you to consider, sir, that the Russian posses- 

 sions in the Pacific Ocean extend, on the Northwest Coast of America, from Behrings 

 Strait to the fifty-first degree of north latitude, and on the opposite side of Asia and 

 the islands adjacent, from the same strait to the forty-fiftli degree. The extent of 

 sea of which these possessions form the limits comprehends all the conditions which 

 are ordinarily attached to shut seas ("mers ferm6es"), and the Russian Government 

 might, consequently, judge itself authorized to exercise upon this sea the right of 

 sovereignty, and especially that of entirely interdicting the entrance of foreigners. 

 But it preferred only asserting its essential rights, without taking any advantage of 

 localities. 



To this Mr. Adams replied (30th March, 1822), pointing out that the 

 only ground given for the extension of the Russian territorial claim was 

 the establisliment of a settlement, not upon the continent, but upon a 

 small island actually within the limits prescribed to the Russian Amer- 

 ican Company in 1799, and he went on to say: 



This pretension is to be considered not only with reference to the question of ter- 

 ritorial right, but alvso to that prohibition to the vessels of other nations, including 

 those of tlie United States, to approach within 100 Italian miles of the coasts. From 

 the period of the existence of tlie United States as an independent nation their ves- 

 sels have freely navigated those seas, and the right to navigate them is a part of that 

 independence. 



With regard to the suggestion that the Russian Government might have justified 

 the exercise of sovereignty over the Pacific Ocean as a close sea, because it claims 

 territory both on its American and Asiatic shores, it may suffice to say that the dis- 

 tance from shore to shore on this sea, in latitude 51° north, is not less than 90° of 

 longitude, or 4,000 miles. 



The Russian representative replied to this note, endeavoring to prove 

 that the territorial rights of Russia on the Northwest Coast of America 

 were not confined to the limits of the concession granted to the Russian 

 American Company in 1799, and arguing that the great extent of the 

 Pacific Ocean at the fifty-first degree of latitude did not invalidate the 

 right which Russia might have to consider that part of the ocean as 

 closed. But he added that further discussion of this ])oint was unnec- 

 essary, as the Imperial Government had not thought fit to take advan- 

 tage of that right. 



The correspondence then dropped for a time, to be resumed in the 

 following spring. But it is perfectly clear from the above tliat the privi- 

 leges granted to the Russian American Company in 1799, whatever 

 effect that may have had as regards other Russian subjects, did not 

 operate to exclude American vessels from any part of the coast, and 

 that the attempt to exclude them in 1821 was at once resisted. Further, 

 that the Russian Government had no idea of any distinction between 



