246 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



Ou reference to the last-mentioned article, it will be found tliat the 

 writer states that : 



A trade to the northwestern coast of America and the free navigation of the waters 

 that wash its shores have been enjoyed as a conanou riglit by subjects of the United 

 States and of several European powers without interruption for nearly forty years. 

 We are by no means prepared to believe or admit that all this has beenon suflerance 

 merely, and that the rights of commerce and navigation in that region have been 

 vested in Russia alone. 



Further on he puts the question in the following manner (the italics 

 are his own) : 



It is not, we apprehend, whether Russia has any settlements that give her terri' 

 torial claims on tlie continent of America. This we do not deny. But it is whether 

 the location of those settlements and the discoveries of their navigators are such as the}/ are 

 represented to be; whether theg entitle her to the exclusive possession of the whole territory 

 north of 51° and to sovereigntg over the Pacific Ocean beyond that parallel. 



These passages sufficiently illustrate Mr. Adams's meaning, if any 

 evidence be"required that he used plain language in its ordinary sense. 

 Clearly he meant to deny that the Russian settlements or discoveries 

 gave Russia any claim as of right to exclude the navigation or fishery 

 of other nations from any part of the seas on the coast of America, and 

 that her rights in this respect were limited to the territorial waters of 

 certain islands of which she was in j^ermanent and complete occupation. 



Having distinctly laid down this proposition as regards the rights of 

 the case, Mr. Adams Avent on to state what the United States were 

 ready to agree to as a matter of conventional arrangement. He said : 



With regard to the territorial claim separate from the right of trafftc with the 

 natives and from any system of colonial exclusions, we are willing to agree to the 

 boundary line within which the Em))eror Paul had granted exclusive privileges to 

 the Russian American Company, that is to say, latitude 55°. 



If the Russian Government apprehended serious inconvenience from the illicit traflfic 

 of foreigners with their settlements on the Northwest Coast, it may be eifectually 

 guarded agninst by stipulations similar to those a dratt of which is herewith 

 subjoined, and to which you are authorized, on the part of the United States, to 

 agree. * * * 



The draft convention was as follows : 



DRAFT OP TREATY BETWEEN TUE UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA. 



e 



Article I. In order to strengthen the bonds of friendship, and to preserve in futur^ 

 a perfect harmony and good understanding between the contracting parties, it i 

 agreed that their respective citizens and subjects shall not be disturbed or molested' 

 either in navigating or in carrying on their fisheries in the Pacific Ocean or in the 

 South Seas, or in landing on the coasts of those seas, in places not already occupied, 

 for the purpose of carrying on their commerce with the natives of the country, sub- 

 ject, nevertheless, to the restrictions and proVisions specified in the two following 

 articles. 



Art. II. To the end that the navigation and fishery of the citizens and subjects of 

 the contracting parties, respectively, in the Pacific Ocean or in the South Seas may 

 not be made a pretext for illicit trade with their respective settlenu'uts, it is agreed 

 that the citizens of the United States shall not land on any part of the coast actually 

 occupied by Russian settlements, unless by permission of the governor or commander 

 thereof, and that Russian subjects shall, in like manner, be interdicted from landing 

 without permission at any settlement of the United States on the said Northwest 

 Coast. 



Art. III. Itis agreed that no settlement shall be made hereafter on the Northwest 

 Coast of America by citizens of the United States, or under their authority, nortli, 

 nor by Russian subjects, or under the authority of Russia, south, of the 55th degree 

 of north latitude. 



In an explanatory dispatch to Mr. Rush, the American Minister in 

 London, same date, Mr. Adams says : 



The right of carrying on trade with the natives throughout the Northwest Coast 

 they (the United States) can not renounce. With the Russian settlements at Kodiak, 



