GENERAL ADOPTION OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT 585 



Behring Sea, the Russian officials on several occasions urged 

 their Government to preserve the sea as a mare clausum, 1 or 

 to prohibit foreign whalers from approaching the coast within 

 a distance of forty Italian miles. 2 The Russian Government 

 pointed out in reply that to fix such a limit would be contrary 

 to the conventions, and might lead to protests from other 

 Powers, "since no clear and uniform agreement has yet been 

 arrived at among nations in regard to the limit of jurisdiction 

 at sea." In 1847 the Government repeated the objections, and 

 expressed the opinion that "the limit of a cannon-shot, that 

 is, about three Italian miles, would alone give rise to no dis- 

 pute " ; and they further observed that no Power had yet suc- 

 ceeded in limiting the freedom of fishing in open seas, other 

 Powers never recognising such pretensions. Subsequently, in 

 1853, in consequence of continued complaints as to foreigners 

 fishing in the sea of Okhotsk, the Russian Government were 

 pressed by the influential Russian -American Company either 

 to close that great stretch of waters, as an inland sea, or to 

 prohibit whalers from approaching close to the shores and 

 whaling in the bays and among the islands. Instructions were 

 thereupon issued to the commanders of the Russian cruisers 

 to prevent foreign whalers from entering bays or gulfs, or 

 from coming "within three Italian miles of the shores" of 

 Russian America (north of 54 41' lat.), the peninsula of 

 Kamtchatka, Siberia, the Kadjak Archipelago, the Aleutin 

 Islands, the Pribyloff and Commander Islands, and the others 

 in Behring Sea, as well as Sakhalin and others ; and at the 

 same time it was declared that while the Sea of Okhotsk, from 

 its geographical position, was a Russian inland sea, foreigners 

 were to be allowed to take whales there. 3 Thus the Russian 

 Government adopted at first the principle of the range of guns, 

 then spoke of this or three Italian miles, and eventually ac- 

 cepted and enforced, on the great extent of coast referred to 

 above, the three-mile limit. 



Reference must now be made to some decisions in the courts 

 of law and to certain provisions in particular Acts of Parlia- 

 ment which bear upon the question of the extent of the terri- 

 torial waters. Owing to the long-continued peace on the sea 

 since the decisions of Lord Stowell at the beginning of last 



1 In 1842. Parl. Papers, ibid., 83. 2 In 1846. Ibid., 84. 3 Ibid., 87. 



