British Cast^, 

 p. 16. 



30 COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



2. That the said liberty of commerce shall not include the trade 

 in spirituouy liquors, iu fire-arms, swords, bayonets, &c., gunpowder, 

 or other warlike stores. The High Contracting Parties reciprocally 

 engaging not to jiermit the above-mentioned articles to be sold or 

 transferred, in any manner whatever, to tlie natives of the country. 



It will be observed tliat, iu this first draft Couvention, 

 Article I purported to give to the subjects of each Power — 



the right of free navigation along the whole extent of the Pacific 

 Ocean, comprehending the sea within Behring Straits. 



AppencHK.voui; ^^ ^^^ suggcstcd by Count Lieven, in a Memorandum 

 Parti, p! 66. ' communicated to Mr. Gr. Canning in July, 1824, that the 

 Imperial Government might hesitate to admit this con- 

 dition — 



sans en modifier Tenoned actuel pour ne point exposer les c6tes de 

 ses possessio7is Asiatiques dans la Mer Glaeiale aux inconv6nien8 qui 

 pourraient naitre de la visite des batimens strangers. 



The objection, therefore, related wholly to Behring Strait 

 and the Eussian Asiatic possessions beyond them, and not 

 to Behring Sea. 



With reference to Count Lieveu's objection, Mr. Canning 

 on the 24th July, 1824, wrote : 



SHUTTING UP OF BEHRING STRAITS NOT TO BE TOLERATED BY 



ENGLAND. 



TbicL, Appen- The Powev which could think of making the Pacific a mare clausnm 

 dix,vol. ii, pi 66. may not unnaturally be supposed capable of a disposition to apply 

 the same character to a strait comprehended between two shores of 

 which it becomes the uudisputud owner; but the shuttinr/ up of Beh- 

 rinq's Straits, or the power to shut thciii up hereafter, would be a thinfj not 

 to be tolerated bij England. Nor could we submit to be excluded, either 

 positively or constructively, from a sea in which the skill and science 

 of our seamen has been (and is still) employed in enterprises interest- 

 ing not to this country alone, but to the whole civilized world. 



32 It cannot be supposed that Mr. Canning, while 



insisting upon the freedom of Behring Strait and 

 the Arctic Ocean, was at the same time conceding to Rus- 

 sia the right to exclude vessels from the nou-territorial 

 waters of Biehring Sea. 



In August 1824 the Eussian Plenipotentiaries delivered 

 to Sir C. Bagot a "Contre-Projet," containing the following 

 Articles : 



Article V. 



British Case, Les Hautes Puissances Contractautes stipulent en outre que leurs 



Appeii(]ix,vol. ii, sujets respectifs iiavigueront librement, snr toute I'etenduede I'Ocean 



Part I, p. 69. Pacifiquc, tant an nord qu'au sud, sans eutrave quelconque, et qu'ils 



jouiront du droit de peche en haute mer, mais que ce droit ne pourra 



, jamais etre exerc^. qu'a la distance de 2 lieues marines des cotes on 



possessions, soit Rueses, soit Britauniques. 



Article VI. 



Ibid., p. 70. Sa Majesty I'Empereur de Toutes les Russies, voulant meme donner 



une preuve particuliere de ses cgards pour les interets des snjets de 

 Sa iMajeste Britannique et rendre plus vitile le succes des entreprises, 

 qui auraieut pour resultat de decouvrir un passage an nord du Conti- 

 nent Am^ricain, cousent a ce que la liberto de navigation mentionnee 

 en I'Article pro'cMeut s'^tende sous les memes conditions, au Detroit 

 de Behring et a la mer situee au nord de ce dotroit. 



Ibid., p. 67 The negotiations, however, w ere broken off, as reported 

 by Sir C. Bagot, who wrote that on certain points differ- 

 ences had arisen which ai)peared to be irreconcilable. 



