JUKISDICTIONAL RIGHTS lU BERING SEA. 259 



[Inclosure 12.] 

 Lord F. Conyiujham to Mr. Lijall. 



Foreign Office, November 26, 1S23. 



Sir: I am directed by Mr. Secretary Canning to acknowledge tlie rcceijit of your 

 letter of tlie 19tLi instant, exi»ressing a liope tliat the nkaso of September, 1821, had 

 been annulled. 



Mr. Canning can not authorize me to state to you in distinct terms that the nkase 

 has been annulled, bocanse the negotiation to which it gave rise is still pending, em- 

 bracing as it does many points tif great intricacy as well as imjiortaiice. 



But I am directed by Mr. Canning to acquaint yon that orders have been sent out 

 by the conrt of St. Petersburg to their naval commanders calculated to prevent any 

 c(dlisi(in between Russian siiips and those of other nations, and in effect suspending 

 the ukase of September, 1821. 

 I am, etc., 



F. CONYNGIIAM. 



[Inclosure 13.— Extract.] 

 Mr. G. Canning to Sir C. Bagot. 



Foreign Office, Janxarg 20, 1S24. 



A long period has elapsed since I gave your excellency reason to expect additional 

 instructions for your conduct iu the negotiation respecting the Russian ukase of 

 1S21. 



That exiiectation was held out in the belief that I should have to instruct you to 

 combine your proceedings with those of the American minister, and the framing such 

 instructions was, of necessity, delayed until Mr. Rush should be in j)ossossion of the 

 intentions of his Government upon the subject. 



It remains, therefore, only for me to direct your excellency to resume your nego- 

 tiation with the court of St. Petersburg at the point at which it was suspended in 

 consequence of the expected accession of the United States, and to endeavor to bring 

 it as speedily as possible to an amicable and honorable conclusion. 



The questions at issue between (4reat Britain and Russia are short and simjjle. The 

 Russian ukase contains two objectionable pretensions: tirst, an extravagant assump- 

 tion of maritime supremacy ; secondly, an unwarranted claim of territorial dominion. 



As to the lirst, the disavowal of Russia is, in substance, all that we could desire. 

 Nothing remains for negotiation on that head but to clothe that disavowal in precise 

 and satisfactory terms. We would much rather that those terms sliould be suggested 

 by Russia herself than have the air of pretending to dictate them. You will, there- 

 fore, request Count Nesselrode to furnish you with his notion of such a declaration 

 on this point as may be satisfactory to your (jlovernmcnt. That declaration may be 

 made the preamble of the convention of limits. 



[Inclo.sure 14.— Extiiict.] 

 Mr. G. Canning to Sir C. Bagot. 



No. 29.] Foreign Office, July 24, 1S24. 



The " projet" of a convention which is inclosed in my No. 26 ha,ving been com- 

 municated by me to Count Lieven, with a re(|uest that his exeellency would note any 

 points in it upon which he conceived any difficulty likely to arise, or any explana- 

 tion to be necessary, I have received from his excellency the memorandum, a copy of 

 which is herewith inclosed. 



Your excellency will observe that there are but two points which have struck Count 

 Lieven as susceptible of any question; the first, the assumption of the base of the 

 mountains, instead of the summit, as the line of boundary; the second the extension 

 of the right of navigation of the Pacific to the sea beyo)id Behring Straits. 



As to the second point, it is perhaps, as Count Lieven remarks, new. But it is to 

 be remarked, in return, that the circumstances under which this additional security 

 is required will be new also. 



