552 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
It is very plain that Mr. Adams’ phrase ‘the Continent of America,” in his refer- 
ence to Russia’s possessions, was used in a territorial sense, and not in a geographical 
sense; he was drawing the distinction between the territory of “America” and the 
territory of the ‘‘Russian possessions.” Mr. Adams did not intend to assert that 
these territorial rights of Russia had no existence on the Continent of North America. 
He meant that they did not exist as the Ukase of the Emperor Alexander had 
500 attempted to establish them, southward of the Aleutian Peninsula, and on 
that distinctive partof the continent claimed as the territory of the United 
States. ‘‘America” and the ‘‘United States” were then, as they are now, commonly 
used as synonymous. 
British statesmen at that time used the phrase precisely as Mr. Adams did. The 
possessions of the Crown were generically termed ‘ British America.” Great Britain 
and the United States harmonized at this point, and on this territorial issue, against 
Russia. Whatever disputes might be left by these negotiations for subsequent set- 
tlement between the two Powers, there can be no doubt that at that time they hada 
common and very strong interest against the territorial aggrandizement of Russia. 
The British use of the phrase is clearly seen in the Treaty between Great Britain 
and Russia negotiated in 1825, and referred to at length in a subsequent portion of 
this despatch. A publicist as eminent as Stratford Canning opened the IlIrd Article 
of that Treaty in these descriptive words: ‘‘ The line of demarcation between the 
possessions of the High Contracting Parties, upon the coasts of the continent, and 
the islands of America to the north west.” Mr. Canning evidently distinguished 
“the islands of America” from “the islands of the Russian possessions,” which were 
far more numerous, and by the use of the phrase ‘‘to the north-west,” just as evi- 
dently limited the coast of the continent as Mr. Adams limited it in that direction 
by the Alaskan Peninsula. A concurrence of opinion between John Quincy Adams 
and Stratford Canning touching any public question left little room even for sug- 
gestion by a third person. 
It will be observed, as having weighty significance, that the Russian ownership of 
the Aleutian and Kurile Islands (which border and close in the Behring’s Sea, and 
by the dip of the peninsula are several degrees south of latitude 55°) was not dis- 
puted by Mr. Adams, and could not possibly have been referred to by him when he 
was limiting the ‘‘island” possessions of Russia. ‘This is but another evidence that 
Mr. Adams was making no question as to Russia’s ownership of all territory border- 
ing on the Behring’s Sea. The contest pertained wholly to the territory on the 
north-west coast. The Emperor Paul’s Ukase, including his sovereignty over the 
Aleutian and Kurile Islands, was never questioned or denied by any Power at any 
time. 
Many of the acts of Mr. Adams’ public life received interesting commentary, and, 
where there was doubt, luminous interpretation in his personal diary, which was 
carefully kept from the 3rd June, 1794, to the Ist January, 1848, inclusive. The 
present case affords a happy illustration of the corroborative strength of the diary. 
During the progress of this correspondence Baron Tuyl, who had succeeded M. 
Poletica as Russian Minister in Washington, called upon Mr, Adams at his office, on 
the 17th July, 1823, six days before the date of the despatch upon which I have been 
commenting, and upon which Lord Salisbury relies for sustaining his contention in 
regard to the Behring’s Sea. During an animated conversation of an hour or more 
between Mr. Adams and Baron Tuy], the former said: 
“‘T told Baron Tuyl specially that we should contest the right of Russia to any 
territorial establishment on this continent . . .” 
It will be observed that Mr. Adams uses the same phrase in his conversation that 
has misled English statesmen as to the true scope and meaning of his despatch of 
the 23rd July, 1823. When he declared that we should ‘ contest the right of Russia 
to any territorial establishment on this continent” (with the word ‘‘any” italicized), 
he no more meant that we should attempt to drive Russia from her ancient posses- 
sions than that we should attempt to drive England from the ownership of Canada 
or Nova Scotia. Such talk would have been absurd gasconade, and Mr. Adams was 
the last man to indulge in it. His true meaning, it will be seen, comes out in the 
next sentence, when he declares: 
“TY told Baron Tuyl that we should assume distinctly the principle that the Amer- 
ican continents are no longer subjects for any new European colonial establishments.” 
In the Message of President Monroe to the next Congress (the eighteenth) at its 
first Session, the 2nd December, 1823, he announced that, at the proposal of the 
Russian Government, the United States had agreed to ‘‘ arrange, by amicable nego- 
tiations, the respective rights and interests of the two nations on the north-west 
coast of this continent.” A similar proposal had been made by Russia to Great 
Britain, and had been likewise agreed to. The negotiations in both cases were to 
be at St. Petersburgh. 
It was in connection with this subject, and in the same paragraph, that President 
Monroe spoke thus: 
