COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 7 



RUSSIA'S FIRST ASSERTION OF SOVEREIGNTY WAS IN 1799. 



In a letter of the same date, addressed to Mr. Rush, umted states 

 United States Minister in London, Mr. Adams says: v!p*''446^T'7i 



dix, vol. i, p, 5(3. 

 HER RIGHT OF DISCOVERY FANCIFUL, 



It appears upou examiuation that these claims have no foun- 

 16 datioa in fact. The right of discovery on this continent, claimable 

 by Russia, is reduced to the probnbilitii, that in 1741, Captain Tchiri- 

 koff saw from the sea the mountain called St. Elias, in about the 59th degree 

 of north latitude. The Spanish navigators, as early as 1582, had dis- 

 covered as far north as 57° 30'. 



* # ' * If * 



It never has been admitted by the various European nations which 

 have formed settlements iu this hemisphere that the occupation of an 

 island gave any claim whatever to territorial possession on the conti- 

 nent to which it was adjoining. The recognized principle has rather 

 been the reverse, &c. 



NO CLAIM PRIOR TO 1821, TO EXCLUDE VESSELS OF 

 OTHER NATIONS FROM BEHRINO SEA. 



But whatever may have been the claims of Eussia, 

 whether admitted or not, in respect of the north-west coast 

 of America and the islands adjacent thereto, no claim had 

 ever been made prior to the year 1821 to exclude vessels of 

 other nations from navigating the waters of Behring Sea, 

 or to exercise jurisdiction over the waters of that sea as 

 mare clausum, or an inland sea. On the contrary, the 

 ground or justification for the attempted interference by 

 Kussia in the year 1821 was the competition with the Rus- 

 sian-American Company by the vessels and traders of other 

 nations. This is sufhcieutly shown by the authorities 

 quoted in Chapter I, Head (A), of the British Case, and by . Appendix, 

 the letters Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in the correspondence of "'^united 'st 

 the Russian-American Company, which contain numerous ^^f^i tp^^^^^i^' 

 references in the nature of complaints as to the presence of ' 

 foreign competitors in trade. 



CONTENTION THAT UKASE OF 1799 ASSERTED EXCLU- 

 SIVE RIGHTS, AND WAS ACQUIESCED IN BY FOREIGN 

 POWERS. 



UKASE IN FORM DOMESTIC AND NEVER NOTIFIED TO 



FOREIGN STATES. 



The fifth contention at the head of this Chapter, which 

 may be conveniently taken before the fourth, is in sub- 

 stance that the Ukase of 1799 called forth no protest or 

 objection from foreign Powers. To this it may be answered, 

 in the words of Mr. Middleton, that — Mr. Middieton 



to Mr. Adams, 

 this ukase, which is, in its form,* an act purely domestic, was never American State 

 notified to any foreign State with injunction to respect its provisions, l**}'®'-"' ^'""'''SJ^ 



In point of fact, Her Majesty's Government have beenP|^"^^^-g p^, ii_j3 

 unable to discover that the Ukase of 1799 was communi- British case," 

 cated to any foreign Government in any form whatsoever. ^^' ^^~^^' 



vol. 

 states 



* The italics are in the original. 



S, PT VIII 2 



