AMENDED TRANSLATIONS. 157 



5. That it is not less advantageous to Russia to be assured by a 

 mutual and amicable convention that after the expiration of ten years 

 the subjects of the United States of America will abstain entirely from 

 visiting the waters of the North American coast beyond 54° 40' and 

 from fishing and from trading therewith the native inhabitants; for, on 

 the one hand, it Avould be impossible to suppose that the States would 

 voluntarily consent to such a concession without any compensation 

 whatever, and, on the other hand, all the wishes expressed to the im- 

 perial ministry are thereby fulfilled after the expiration of a certain 

 period. 



6. That as regards the influence, however, which the treaty concluded 

 April 5 might exert on the trade of Russia with China, it must be re- 

 marked that in this trade on both sides a capital of 50,000,000 roubles 

 is invested, and that the Russian American Company participates in 

 it only to the extent of 800,000 roubles, or thereabouts; that even if it 

 brought to Kiachta a larger quantity of furs, otter skins, and sealskins, 

 it would not be able to dispose of them, or would cause material injury 

 to other exported goods by glutting with its merchandise a market 

 which is already very limited, owing to the nature of its trade, and 

 that consequently the treaty of April 5-17 can in no respect injure the 

 trade of Russia with China. 



7. That as the sovereignty of Russia over the coasts of Siberia and 

 the Aleutian Islands has long been admitted by all the powers, it follows 

 that the said coasts and islands can not be alluded to in the articles of 

 the said treaty, which refers only to the disputed territory on the north- 

 west coast of America and to the adjacent islands; that, even sup- 

 posing the contrary, Russia has established permanent settlements, not 

 only on the coast of Siberia , but also on the Aleutian group of islands ; 

 hence American subjects could not, by virtue of the second article of 

 the treaty of April 5-17, land at the maritime places there nor carry 

 on sealing and fishing without the permission of our commandants or 

 governors. Moreover, the coasts of Siberia and the Aleutian Islands 

 are not washed by the Southern Sea, of which alone mention is made 

 in the first article of the treaty, but by the Northern Ocean and the 

 seas of Kamchatka and Okotsk, which form no part .of the Southern 

 Sea on any known map or in any geography. 



8. Lastly, we must not lose sight of the fact that by the treaty of 

 April 5-17 all the disputes to which the regulations of September 4-16, 

 18U1, gave rise are terminated, which regulations were issued at the 

 formal and reiterated request of the Russian American Company; that 

 those disputes had already assumed important proportions and would 

 certainly be renewed if Russia did not ratify the treaty, in which case 

 it would be impossible to foresee the end of them or their consequences. 

 These weighty reasons impel the majority of the members of the com- 

 mittee to state as their opinion — 



That the treaty of April 5-17 must be ratified, and that for the pre- 

 vention of any incorrect interpretation of that act, Gen. Baron Tuyll 

 may be instructed at the proper time to make the declaration men- 

 tioned in the draft of the communication read by Count Nesselrode. 

 The Minister of Finance and Acting State Councilor Drushinin, while 

 admitting the necessity of ratifying the treaty of April 5-17, express 

 and place on record the special opinion hereto annexed in the protocol, 

 to the effect that Baron Tuyll should be instructed at the exchange of 

 the ratifications of that treaty to stipulate that the right of free hunt- 

 ing and fishing granted by the twelfth article of the said treaty shall 

 extend only from 54° 40' to the latitude of Cross Sound. 



