280 DIPLOMATIC CRRRESPONDENCE. 



imperial master, Emperor of all the Eussias, bearing date 4t]i September, 1821, for 

 various jiurposes therein set forth, especial! i/ connected with the fcrritorial rifjhts of his 

 Crown on the Northwest Coast of America ^ordering on the Pacific Ocean, and the commerce 

 and navigation of His Imperial Majesty's suhjects in the seas adjacent thereto. 



It is altogether apparent that this dispatch is limited to the with- 

 drawal of the provisions of the nkase issued by the Emperor Alexan- 

 der, especially connected with the territorial rights on the JSforthicest Coast 

 bordering on the Pacific Ocean. Evidently Lord Londonderry makes no 

 reference, direct or indirect, to the Behrino' Sea. The whole scope of 

 his contention, as defined by himself, lies (mtside of the field of the 

 present dispute between the British and American Governments. This 

 Government heartily agrees with Lord Londonderry's form of stating 

 the question. 



The Duke of Wellington was Enghind's re]>resentative in the Con- 

 gress of Verona, for which place he set out in the autumn of 1822. His 

 instructions from Mr. G. Canning, British Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 

 followed the precise line indicated by Lord Londonderry in the dispatch 

 above quoted. This is more plainly shown by a "memorandum on the 

 Kussian ukase" delivered by the duke on the 17th of October to Count 

 ISTesselrode, Russia's representative at Verona. The duke was arguing 

 against the ukase of Alexiinder as it affected British interests, and his 

 language plaiidy shows that he confined himself to the "Northwest 

 Coast of America bordering on the Pacific Ocean.'''' To establish this it 

 is only necessary to quote the following paragraph from the duke's 

 memorandum, viz : 



Now, we can prove that the Euulish Northwest Company and the Hudson's Bay 

 Company have for many years estal)lished forts and other trading- places in a country 

 called New Caledonia, situated to the west of a range of mountains called the Rocky 

 Mountains and extending along the shores of the I'acijic Ocean from latitude 49^ to 

 latitude 60° north. 



The Duke of Wellington always went directly to the point at issue, 

 and he w^as evidently not concerning himself about any subject other 

 than the protection of the English territory south of the Alaskan 

 peninsula and on the Northwest Coast bordering on the Pacific Ocean. 

 England owned no territory on the coast north of the Alaskan penin 

 sula, and hence there was no reason for connecting the coast above the 

 ])eninsula in any w^ay with the question before the Congress. Evidently 

 the Duke did not, in the remotest manner, connect the subject he was 

 discussing with the waters or the shores of the Behring Sea. 



Tlie most significant and important of all the inclosures is No. 12, in 

 which Mr. Stratford Canning, the British negotiator at St. Petersburg, 

 comnninicated, under date of March 1, 1825, lo Mr. G. Canning, Minis- 

 ter of Foreign Affairs, the text of the treaty between England and Bussia. 

 Some of Mr. Stratford Canning's statements are very important. In 

 the second paragraph of his letter he makes the following statement: 



The line of demarcation along the strip of land on the Northwest Coast of America, 

 assigned to Russia, is laid down in the convention agreeably to your directions. 



After all, then, it appears that the "strip of land," to which we have 

 already referred more than once, was rei)orted by the English pleni- 

 ]»ot('ntiary at St. Petersburg. This clearly and undeniably exhibits the 

 field of controversy between Bussia and l*>nghnid, even if we had no 

 otlier ])roof of the fact. It was solely on the Northwest Coast bordering 

 on the Pacific, Ocean, and not in th<' IJehring Sea at all. It is the same 

 strijj of land which the U nitcd States acijuired in the purchaseof Alaska, 



