try, or of making settlements there, subject to the following provisions:

1. That the British navigation and fishery should not be made the pretext for illicit trade with the Spanish settlements; and that British subjects should not navigate or fish within the space of ten marine leagues from any part of the coasts already occupied by Spain.

2. That in all parts of the north-western coasts of North America, or of the islands adjacent, situated to the north of the parts of the said coast already occupied by Spain, wherever the subjects of either of the two powers should have made settlements since the month of April, 1789, or should thereafter make any, the subjects of the other should have free access, and should carry on their trade without any disturbance or molestation.

3. That, with respect to the eastern and western coasts of South America, and the adjacent islands, no settlement should be formed thereafter, by the respective subjects, in such parts of those coasts as are situated to the south of those parts of the same coasts, and of the adjacent islands already occupied by Spain; provided that the respective subjects should retain the liberty of landing on the coasts and islands so situated, for the purposes of their fishery, and of erecting huts and other temporary buildings, for those purposes only. (a)

tween the

States and

respecting

western

§ 168. By an ukase of the Emperor Alexander of Rus- Controsia, of the 4-16th September, 1821, an exclusive ter- versy beritorial right on the north-west coast of America was United asserted as belonging to the Russian Empire, from Russia, Behring's Straits to the 51st degree of north latitude, the northand in the Aleutian Islands, on the east coast of Siberia, coast of and the Kurile Islands, from the same straits to the South America. Cape in the island of Ooroop, in 45° 51′ north latitude. The navigation and fishery of all other nations were prohibited in the islands, ports, and gulfs, within the above limits; and every foreign vessel was forbidden to touch at any of the Russian establishments above enumerated, or even to approach them, within a less distance than 100 Italian miles, under penalty of confiscation of

(a) Annual Register for 1790, (State Papers,) pp. 285–305; 1791, pp. 208, 214, 222-227. Greenhow, History of Oregon and California, 466, Proofs and Illustrations, K. No. 1.

the cargo. The proprietary rights of Russia to the extent of the north-west coast of America, specified in this decree, were rested upon the three bases said to be required by the general law of nations and immemorial usage; that is, upon the title of first discovery; upon the title of first occupation; and, in the last place, upon that which results from a peaceable and uncontested possession of more than half a century. It was added, that the extent of sea, of which the Russian possessions on the continents of Asia and America form the limits, comprehended all the conditions which were ordinarily attached to shut seas (mers fermées); and the Russian government might consequently deem itself authorized to exercise upon this sea the right of sovereignty, and especially that of entirely interdicting the entrance of foreigners. But it preferred only asserting its essential rights, by measures adapted to prevent contraband trade within the chartered limits of the American Russian Company.

All these grounds were contested, in point of fact as well as right, by the American government. The Secretary of State, Mr. John Q. Adams, in his reply to the communication of the Russian Minister at Washington, stated, that from the period of the existence of the United States as an independent nation, their vessels had freely navigated these seas, and the right to navigate them was a part of that independence; as was also the right of their citizens to trade, even in arms and munitions of war, with the aboriginal natives of the north-west coast of America, who were not under the territorial jurisdiction of other nations. He totally denied the Russian claim to any part of America south of the 55th degree of north latitude, on the ground that this parallel was declared, in the charter of the Russian American Company, to be the southern limit of the discoveries made by the Russians in 1799; since which period they had made no discoveries or establishments south of that line, on the coast claimed by them. With regard to the suggestion, that the Russian government might justly exercise sovereignty over the northern Pacific Ocean, as mare clausum, because it claimed territories both on the Asiatic and American coasts of that ocean, Mr. Adams merely observed, that the distance between those coasts on the parallel of 51 degrees, was not less than four thousand miles; and he concluded by expressing the persuasion of the American government, that the citizens of the United States would remain unmolested in the prosecution of their lawful com

merce, and that no effect would be given to a prohibition, manifestly incompatible with their rights. (a)

tion of 1824,

§ 169. The negotiations on this subject were finally Conventerminated by a convention between the two govern- between the ments, signed at Petersburg, on the 5-17th April, 1824, United containing the following stipulations:

Russia.

“ART. 1. It is agreed that, in any part of the great ocean, commonly called the Pacific Ocean or South Sea, the respective citizens or subjects of the high contracting powers shall be neither disturbed nor restrained, either in navigation or in fishing, or in the power of resorting to the coasts, upon points which may not already have been occupied, for the purpose of trading with the natives, saving always the restrictions and conditions determined by the following articles:

"ART. 2. With the view of preventing the rights of navigation and of fishing, exercised upon the great ocean by the citizens and subjects of the high contracting powers, from becoming the pretext for an illicit trade, it is agreed that the citizens of the United States shall not resort to any point where there is a Russian establishment, without the permission of the governor or commander; and that, reciprocally, the subjects of Russia shall not resort, without permission, to any establishment of the United States upon the north-west coast.

"ART. 3. It is moreover agreed, that hereafter, there shall not be formed by the citizens of the United States, or under the authority of the said States, any establishment upon the north-west coast of America, nor in any of the islands adjacent, to the north of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north latitude; and that, in the same manner, there shall be none formed by Russian subjects, or under the authority of Russia, south of the same parallel.

"ART. 4. It is, nevertheless, understood, that, during a term of ten years, counting from the signature of the present Convention, the ships of both powers, or which belong to their citizens or subjects, respectively, may reciprocally frequent, without any hinderance whatever, the interior seas, gulfs, harbors, and creeks, upon the coast mentioned in the preceding article, for the purpose of fishing and trading with the natives of the country."

(a) Annual Register, Ixiv. 576-584: Correspondence between Mr. John Q. Adams and M. Poletica.

Conven

between

ain and

§ 170. Great Britain had also formally protested against tion of 1825 the claims and principles set forth in the Russian ukase of Great Brit- 1821, immediately on its promulgation, and subsequently Russia. at the Congress of Verona. The controversy, as between the British and Russian governments, was finally closed by a convention signed at Petersburg, February 16-28, 1825, which also established a permanent boundary between the territories respectively claimed by them on the continent and islands of North-western America.

This treaty contained the following stipulations:

"ART. 1. It is agreed that the respective subjects of the high contracting parties shall not be troubled or molested in any part of the ocean commonly called the Pacific Ocean, either in navigating the same, in fishing therein, or in landing at such part of the coast as shall not have been already occupied, in order to trade with the natives, under the restrictions and conditions specified in the following articles :

"ART. 2. In order to prevent the right of navigating and fishing, exercised upon the ocean by the subjects of the high contracting parties, from becoming the pretext for an illicit commerce, it is agreed that the subjects of His Britannic Majesty shall not land at any place where there may be a Russian establishment, without the permission of the governor or commandant; and, on the other hand, that Russian subjects shall not land without permission, at any British establishment on the north-west coast."

By the 3d and 4th articles it was agreed that "the line of demarcation between the possessions of the high contracting parties upon the coast of the continent and the islands of America to the north-west," should be drawn from the southernmost point of Prince of Wales's Island, in latitude 54 degrees 40 minutes eastward, to the great inlet in the continent called Portland Channel, and along the middle of that inlet to the 56th degree of latitude, whence it should follow the summit of the mountains bordering the coast, within ten leagues north-westward, to Mount St. Elias, and thence north, in the course of the 141st meridian west from Greenwich, to the Frozen Ocean, "which line shall form the limit between the Russian and the British possessions in the continent of America to the north-west."

"ART. 5. It is, moreover, agreed that no establishment shall be formed by either of the two parties within the limits assigned by

the two preceding articles to the possessions of the other. Consequently, British subjects shall not form any establishment, either upon the coast, or upon the border of the continent comprised within the limits of the Russian possessions, as designated in the two preceding articles; and, in like manner, no establishment shall be formed by Russian subjects beyond the said limits.

“ART. 6. It is understood that the subjects of His Britannic Majesty, from whatever quarter they may arrive, whether from the ocean or from the interior of the continent, shall for ever enjoy the right of navigating freely, and without any hinderance whatever, all the rivers and streams which in their course towards the Pacific Ocean may cross the line of demarcation upon the line of ▾ coast described in article 3 of the present Convention.

"ART. 7. It is also understood, that, for the space of ten years. from the signature of the present Convention, the vessels of the two powers, or those belonging to their respective subjects, shall mutually be at liberty to frequent, without any hinderance whatever, all the inland seas, gulfs, havens, and creeks on the coast, mentioned in article 3, for the purpose of fishing and trading with the natives.

"ART. 8. The port of Sitka, or Novo Archangelsk, shall be open to the commerce and vessels of British subjects for the space of ten years, from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of the present Convention. In the event of an extension of this term being granted to any other power, the like extension shall be granted also to Great Britain.

"ART. 9. The above-mentioned liberty of commerce shall not apply to the trade in spirituous liquors, in fire-arms, or other arms, gunpowder or other warlike stores; the high contracting parties reciprocally engaging not to permit the above-mentioned articles to be sold or delivered, in any manner whatever, to the natives of the country."

The 10th and 11th articles contain regulations respecting British or Russian vessels, navigating the Pacific Ocean, and putting into the ports of the respective parties in distress; and for the settlement of all cases of complaint arising under the treaty. (a)

(a) Greenhow, History of Oregon and California, 469: Proofs and Illustrations, I. No. 5.