APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 377 
this Imperial act no protest was made on the part of any of the nations, nor were 
Russia’s rights disputed or questioned. Thus tacitly, at least, all the nations con- 
ceded her rights, based first upon discovery, and next upon continued occupancy 
and peaceful and undisputed possession for nearly three-quarters of a century. 
In 1821, upon the complaint of this Company to the Russian Government that 
their rights under their Charter were being disturbed by the interference of for- 
eigners, the then Emperor Alexander issued his Manifesto, extending his dominion 
to the 51st parallel on the North American coast, and prohibiting foreign vessels 
from approaching within 100 miles of the shore. I quote from said Manifesto as 
follows: 
‘<< Section 1. The transaction of commerce, and the pursuit of whaling and fishing, 
or any other industry, on the islands, in the harbours and inlets, and, in general, all 
along the north-western coast of America, from Behring’s Strait _to the 51st parallel 
of northern latitude, and likewise on the Aleutian Islands, and along the eastern 
coast of Siberia, and on the Kurile Islands—that is, from Behring’s Strait to the south- 
ern promontory of the Island of Urup, viz., as far south as latitude 45° 50! north— 
are exclusively reserved to subjects of the Russian Empire. ; 
“See. 2. Accordingly, no foreign vessel shall be allowed either to put to shore at. 
any of the coasts and islands under Russian dominion, as specified in the preceding 
section, or even to approach the same to within a distance of less than 100 Italian 
miles. Any vessel contravening this provision shall be subject to confiscation with 
her whole cargo.” 
To this edict, the Governments of the United States and Great Britain entered 
protest, in so far as it extended the dominion of Russia 4° south, and to the 100-mile 
limit. Mr. Adams, then Secretary of State, conceded the boundary named in the 
Charter to the Russian-American Company, viz., to the 55th parallel on the coast of 
the North Pacific Ocean, but resisted the claim of Russia to the coast between the 
Bist and 55th parallels north, also the exclusion of American ships from the North 
Pacific Ocean, stating that ‘“‘ with the Russian Settlements at Kodiac, or at Sitka, 
the United States may fairly claim the advantage of a free trade, having so long 
enjoyed it unmolested, and because it has been, and would continue to be, as advan- 
tageous to those Settlements as to them.” 
Mr. Adams also said, ‘‘It may suffice to say that the distance from shore to shore 
of this sea, in latitude 51¥ north, is not less than 90° longitude, or 4,000 miles,” having 
exclusive reference to the Pacific Ocean. 
A careful examination of the protests before mentioned and the correspondence in 
reference thereto, as well as the Treaties which settled the controversy—that of 1824 
between Russia and the United States, and that of 1825 between Russia and Great 
Britain—will disclose the fact that they all had reference to the coast and waters of 
the North Pacific between the 5ist parallel north latitude and Mount St. Elias and 
east of the 141st meridian of longitude. In all the protests, correspondence, nego- 
tiations, and Treaties, there is no allusion to Behring’s Sea, the Aleutian Islands, or 
to any region of country or sea within 1,000 miles of its eastern border; hence the 
sovereiguty asserted and maintained by Russia over that sea from its discovery to its 
partition and cession to the United States, a period of over 140 years, has never been 
officially questioned or denied. 
At the time of and when negotiating these Treaties, the High Contracting Powers 
all knew of the existence of Behring’s Sea, the Aleutian Islands, the Prebilov Islands 
(St. George and St. Paul) within Behring’s Sea, and the valuable life on them and in 
their surrounding waters, and that these constituted the chief value of Russia’s pos- 
sessions on the North American coast and waters. Charts had been published before 
and as early as 1805 by England and Russia, as accurately bounding and defining the 
waters of Behring’s Sea on the north-west coast to the North Pacific Ocean, as do the 
Maps of to-day, Behring’s Sea then being called the Sea of Kamchatka. 
In these Treaties, there is no allusion to, or surrender of, Russia’s dominion over 
Behring’s Sea and the Aleutian chain of islands by expression or inference. Russia 
surrendered or abandoned her claim only to the control of the North Pacitic Ocean 
and to the north-west coast south of latitude 54° north, yet her title tothe Aleutian 
Islands, extending as far south as 51° north latitude and longitude 166° to 167° west, 
is not and never has been disputed or invalidated. 
343 It will be observed by the description of territory granted to us in our pur- 
chase of Alaska, that its western boundary divides Behring’s Sea between us 
and Siberian Russia, and the fact cannot be successfully denied, as it is a matter of 
history, that Russia, from her discovery of Lehring’s Sea down to the cession to the 
United States, has controlled the navigation of its waters and the taking of its 
marine life. To this end her navy has patrolled it, and, in pursuance of her laws, 
taken, confiscated, and burned marauding vessels; she has since pursued, and is 
now pursuing, the same policy on her part of Behring’s Sea. 
In confirmation of this, I quote from the official order issued by the Russian Gov- 
ernment, as late as the 13th January, 1882: 
