16 COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



on that paper the negotiations for the settlement of the question 

 which has arisen between the two Governments on this subject. 

 We object to the Ukase on the grounds : 



GUEAT BRITAIN WILL NOT ACKNOWLEDGE EXISTENCE OR EXTENT OF 

 RUSSIA'S EXCLUSIVE SOVEREIGNTY IN NORTH AMERICA. 



1. That His Imperial Majesty assumes thereby an exclusive sover- 

 eignty in North America of which we are not prepared to acknowledge 

 the existence or the extent. Upon this point, however, the Memo- 

 randum of Count Nesselrode does not afford tlie means of negotiation, 



and my Government will be ready to discuss it either in London 

 15 or St. Petersburgh whenever the state of the discussions on the 



other question arising out of the Ukase will allow of the dis- 

 cussion. 



EXCLUSION OF VESSELS OF OTHER NATIONS FROM OPEN SEA, 



OBJECTED TO. 



2. The second ground on which we object to the Ukase is that His 

 Imperial Majesty thereby excludes from a certain considerable extent 

 of the open sea vessels of other nations. 



We contend that the assumption of this power is contrary to the law 



British Case, of nations, and Ave cannot found a negotiation ujjon a paper in which 



Appendix, vol. ii, j^ jg again broadly asserted. We contend that no Power whatever can 



^ '^'' ■ exclude another from the use of the open sea. A Power can exclude 



itself from the navigation of a certain coast, sea, &c., by its own act or 



engagement, but it cannot by right be excluded by another. This Ave 



consider as the law of nations, and Ave cannot negotiate upon a paper 



in which a right is asserted inconsistent with this principle. 



" I think, therefore, that the best mode of jiroceeding would be that 

 you should state your readiness to negotiate upon the whole subject, 

 without restating the objectionable principle of the Ukase, Avhich we 

 cannot admit. 



Ever yours, «fcc., 



(Signed) Wellington. 



Finally, on the 29tli Kovember, 1822, the Duke reports 

 to Mr. G. Canning-, British Secretary of State for Foreign 

 Affairs, that the Memoramluni of the 11th (23rd November) 

 is withdrawn, and that the Emperor of Eussia is ready to 

 negotiate upon — 



the whole question of the Emperor's claims in North America, reserv- 

 ■'^' ■ ing them all if the result of the negotiation should not be satisfactory 

 to both parties. 



UNITED STATES CONTEST RUSSIA'S RIGHT TO ANY 

 TERRITORIAL ESTABLISHMENT IN AMERICA. 



See "Memoirs That the Government of the United States did not rec- 



of John Quiucyognize as "undisputed" the claim of Eussia to the coasts 



p. It!™**' ^" ■ ^ ' of Behring Sea, is also clear from the statement made by 



Mr. Adams, the United States Secretary of State, on the 



17th July, 1823, to Baron Tuyll, the Eussiau Minister at 



Washington, that — 



we should contest the right of Russia to any * territorial establish- 

 ment on this continent. 



British Case, Mr. Adams reiterates this contention in a despatch to Mr. 

 P*^*- Middleton, the United States Minister at St. Petersburgh, 



dated the 22nd July, 1823, in Avhich, referring to the Ukase 

 of 1799, he declares that— 



Ibid., Appen- Russia had ncA^er before asserted * a right of sovereignty over any 

 dix, vol. ii, Part part of the North American continent, 

 n, p, 4. 



* The italics are in the original. 



