APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 565 
extending to the 51st degree of north latitude on this continent, and a regulation 
interdicting to all commercial vessels other than Russian, upon the penalty of sei- 
zure and confiscation, the approach upon the high seas within 100 Italian miles of the 
shores to which that claim is made to apply. The relations of the United States 
with His Imperial Majesty have always been of the most friendly character, and it 
is the earnest desire of this Government to preserve them in that state. It was 
expected, before any act which should define the boundary between the territories 
of the United States and Russia on this continent, that the same would have been 
arranged by Treaty between the parties. To exclude the vessels of our citizens from 
the shore, beyond the ordinary distance to which the territorial jurisdiction extends, 
has excited still greater surprise. 
This Ordinance affects so deeply the rights of the United States and of their citi- 
zens that I am instructed to inquire whether you are authorized to give explana- 
tions of the grounds of right, upon principles generally recognized by the laws and 
usages of nations, which can warrant the claims and regulations contained in it. 
The Russian Representative replied at length, defending the terri- 
torial claim on grounds of discovery, first occupation, and undisturbed 
possession, and explaining the motive “ which determined the Imperial 
Government to prohibit foreign vessels from approaching the north- 
west coasts of America belonging to Kussia, within the distance of at 
least 100 Italian miles. This measure,” he said, “however severe it 
may at first view appear, is after all but a measure of prevention.” He 
went on to say that it was adopted in order to put a stop to an illicit 
trade in arms and ammunition with the natives, against which the 
Russian Government had frequently remonstrated; and further on he 
observed : 
Tought, in the last place, to request you to consider, Sir, that the Russian posses- 
sions in the Pacific Ocean extend, on the north-west coast of America, from Behring’s 
Strait to the 51st degree of north latitude, and on the opposite side of Asia and the 
islands adjacent, from the same strait to the 45th degree, the extent of sea of which 
these possessions form the limits comprehends all the conditions which are ordi- 
narily attached to shut seas (‘mers fermées’), and the Russian Government might, 
consequently, judge itself authorized to exercise upon this sea the right of sover- 
eignty, and especially that of entirely interdicting the entrance of foreigners. But 
it preferred only asserting its essential rights, without taking any advantage of 
localities. 
To this Mr. Adams replied (30th March, 1822), pointing out that the 
only ground given for the extension of the Russian territorial claim 
was the establishment of a settlement, not upon the continent, but upon 
a small island, actually within the limits prescribed to the Russian 
American Company in 1799, and he went on to say: 
This pretension is to be considered not only with reference to the question of ter- 
ritorial right, but also to that prohibition to the vessels of other nations, including 
those of the United States, to approach within 100 Italian miles of the coasts. From 
the period of the existence of the United States as an independent nation, their 
vessels have freely navigated those seas, and the right to navigate them is a part of 
that independence. . 
With regard to the suggestion that the Russian Government might have justified 
the exercise of sovereignty over the Pacific Ocean as a close sea, because it claims 
territory both on its American and Asiatic shores, it may suffice to say that the dis- 
tance from shore to shore on this sea, in latitue 51° north, is not less than 90 degrees 
of longitude, or 4,000 miles. 
The Russian Representative replied to this note, endeavouring to 
prove that the territorial rights of Russia on the north-west coast of 
America were not confined to the limits of the Concession granted to 
the Russian American Company in 1799,and arguing that the great 
extent of the Pacific Ocean at the 51st degree of latitude did not invali- 
date the right which Russia might have to consider that part of the 
ocean as closed. But he added that further discussion of this point 
was unnecessary, as the Imperial Government had not thought fit to 
take advantage of that right. 
