possessors of Alaska in virtue of Treaties or the law of nations; and that if the United States' Government, after examination of the evidence and arguments which I have produced, still differ from them as to the legality of the recent captures in that sea, they are ready to agree that the question, with the issues that depend upon it, should be referred to impartial arbitration. You will in that case be authorized to consider, in concert with Mr. Blaine, the method of procedure to be followed.

I am, &c.

THE Undersigned has the honour hereby to acknowledge the note addressed to him by Baron de Nicolai, of the 12th November last, covering a copy of an Ukase issued by His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, and bearing date the 4th September, 1821, for various purposes therein set forth, especially connected with the territorial rights of his Crown on the north-western coast of America bordering upon the Pacific, and the commerce and navigation of His Imperial Majesty's subjects in the seas adjacent thereto.

This document, containing Regulations of great extent and importance, both in its territorial and maritime bearings, has been considered with the utmost attention, and with those favourable sentiments which His Majesty's Government always bear towards the acts of a State with which His Majesty has the satisfaction to feel himself connected by the most intimate ties of friendship and alliance, and having been referred for the Report of those high legal authorities whose duty it is to advise His Majesty on such matters, the Undersigned is directed, till such friendly explanations can take place between the two Governments as may obviate misunderstanding upon so delicate and important a point, to make such provisional protest against the enactments of the said Ukase as may fully serve to save the rights of His Majesty's Crown, and may protect the persons and properties of His Majesty's subjects from molestation in the exercise of their lawful callings in that quarter of the globe.

The Undersigned is commanded to acquaint Count Lieven that, it being the King's constant desire to respect and cause to be respected by his subjects, in the fullest manner, the Emperor of Russia's just rights, His Majesty will be ready to enter into amicable explanations upon the interests affected by this instrument, in such manner as may be most acceptable to His Imperial Majesty.

In the meantime, upon the subject of this Ukase generally, and especially upon the two main principles of claim laid down therein, viz., an exclusive sovereignty alleged to belong to Russia over the territories therein described, as also the exclusive right of navigating and trading within the maritime limits therein set forth, His Britannic Majesty must be understood as hereby reserving all his rights, not being prepared to admit that the intercourse which is allowed on the face of this instrument to have hitherto subsisted on those coasts, and in those seas, can be deemed to be illicit; or that the ships of friendly Powers, even supposing an unqualified sovereignty was proved to appertain to the Imperial Crown, in these vast and very imperfectly occupied territories, could, by the acknowledged law of nations, be excluded from navigating within the distance of 100 Italian miles, as therein laid down, from the coast the exclusive dominion of which is assumed (but as His Majesty's Government conceive in error) to belong to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias. (Signed)

LONDONDERRY.

Inclosure 2 in No. 382.

Memorandum by the Duke of Wellington.-(September 11, 1822.)

IN the course of a conversation which I had yesterday with Count Lieven, he informed that he had been directed to give verbal explanations of the Ukase respecting the north-western coast of America. These explanations went, he said, to this, that the Emperor did not propose to carry into execution the Ukase in its extended sense; that His Imperial Majesty's ships had been directed to cruize at the shortest possible distance from the shore, in order to supply the natives with arms and ammunition, and in order to warn all vessels that that was His Imperial Majesty's dominion, and that His Imperial Majesty had besides given directions to his Minister in the United States to agree upon a Treaty of Limits with the United States.

Inclosure 3 in No. 382.

Mr. G. Canning to the Duke of Wellington.

My Lord Duke, Foreign Office, September 27, 1822. YOUR Grace is already in possession of all that has passed both here and at St. Petersburgh, on the subject of the issue, in September of last year, by the Emperor of Russia, of an Ukase, indirectly asserting an exclusive right of sovereignty from Behring's Straits to the 51st degree of north latitude on the west coast of America, and to the 45th degree north on the opposite coast of Asia; and (as a qualified exercise of that right) prohibiting all foreign ships, under pain of confiscation, from approaching within 100 Italian miles of those coasts. This Ukase having been communicated by Baron Nicolai, the Russian Chargé d'Affaires at this Court, to His Majesty's Government, was forthwith submitted to the legal authorities whose duty it is to advise His Majesty on such matters, and a note was in consequence addressed by the late Marquis of Londonderry to Count Lieven, the Russian Ambassador, and also communicated to His Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburgh, protesting against the enactments of the said Ukase, and requesting such amicable explanations as might tend to reconcile the pretensions of Russia in that quarter of the globe with the just rights of His Majesty's Crown and the interests of his subjects. As such explanations will probably be offered to your Grace during the Conferences about to take place at Vienna, I hasten to signify to you the King's commands as to the language which you will hold on the part of His Majesty upon this subject.

The opinions given in November and December last by Lord Stowell and by His Majesty's Advocate-General (copies of which are already in your possession) will furnish you with the best legal arguments in opposition to the pretensions put forward in the Russian Ukase; and, as in both these opinions much stress is very properly laid upon the state of actual occupation of the territories claimed by Russia, and the different periods of time at which they were so occupied, I have obtained from the Governor of the principal Company of His Majesty's subjects trading in that part of the world the information which your Grace will find in the inclosed papers.

That information will enable you sufficiently to prove to the Russian Minister, not only that the point of prior discovery may be fairly disputed with Russia, but that the much more certain title of actual occupation by the agents and the trading servants of the Hudson's Bay Company extends at this moment to many degrees of higher latitude on the north-west coast of America than is claimed as the territory of Russia by the Ukase in question.

Enlightened statesmen and jurists have long held as insignificant all titles of territory that are not founded on actual occupation, and that title is, in the opinion of the most esteemed writers on public law, to be established only by practical use.

With respect to the other points in the Ukase which have the effect of extending the territorial rights of Russia over the adjacent seas to the unprecedented distance of 100 miles from the line of coast, and of closing a hitherto unobstructed passage, at the present moment the object of important discoveries for the promotion of general commerce and navigation, these pretensions are considered by the best legal authorities as positive innovations on the rights of navigation; as such they can receive no explanation from further discussion, nor can by possibility be justified. Common usage, which has

obtained the force of law, has indeed assigned to coasts. and shores an accessorial boundary to a short limited distance for purposes of protection and general convenience, in no manner interfering with the rights of others, and not obstructing the freedom of general commerce and navigation. But this important qualification the extent of the present claim entirely excludes, and when such a prohibition is, as in the present case, applied to a long line of coasts and also to intermediate islands in remote seas, where navigation is beset with innumerable and unforeseen difficulties, and where the principal employment of the fisheries must be pursued under circumstances which are incompatible with the prescribed courses, all particular considerations concur, in an especial manner, with the general principle, in repelling such a pretension as an encroachment on the freedom of navigation, and the unalienable rights of all nations.

I have, indeed, the satisfaction to believe, from a conference which I have had with Count Lieven on this matter, that upon these two points-the attempt to shut up the passage altogether, and the claim of exclusive dominion to so enormous a distance from the coast-the Russian Government are prepared entirely to waive their pretensions. The only effort that has been made to justify the latter claim was by reference to an Article in the Treaty of Utrecht, which assigns 30 leagues from the coast as the distance of prohibition. But to this argument it is sufficient to answer that the assumption of such a space was, in the instance quoted, by stipulation in a Treaty, and one to which, therefore, the party to be affected by it had (whether wisely or not) given its deliberate consent. No inference could be drawn from that transaction in favour of a claim by authority against all the world.

I have little doubt, therefore, but that the public notification of the claim to consider the portions of the ocean included between the adjoining coasts of America and the Russian Empire as a mare clausum, and to extend the exclusive territorial jurisdiction of Russia to 100 Italian miles from the coast, will be publicly recalled; and I have the King's commands to instruct your Grace further to require of the Russian Minister (on the ground of the facts and reasonings furnished in this despatch and its inclosures) that such a portion of territory alone shall be defined as belonging to Russia as shall not interfere with the rights and actual possessions of His Majesty's subjects in North America.

I am, &c.

(Signed)

GEO. CANNING.

Inclosure 4 in No 382.

Memorandum on Russian Ukase of 1821.

IN the month of September 1821 His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia issued an Ukase asserting the existence in the Crown of Russia of an exclusive right of sovereignty in the countries extending from Behring's Straits to the 51st degree of north latitude on the west coast of America, and to the 45th degree of north latitude on the opposite coast of Asia; and, as a qualified exercise of that right of sovereignty, prohibiting all foreign vessels from approaching within 100 Italian miles of those

coasts.

After this Ukase had been submitted by the King's Government to those legal authorities whose duty it is to advise His Majesty on such matters, a note was addressed by the late Marquis of Londonderry to Count Lieven, the Russian Ambassador, protesting against the enactments of this Ukase, and requesting such amicable explanations as might tend to reconcile the pretensions of Russia in that quarter of the globe with the just rights of His Majesty's Crown and the interests of his subjects.

We object, first, to the claim of sovereignty as set forth in this Ukase; and, secondly, to the mode in which it is exercised.

The best writers on the laws of nations do not attribute the exclusive sovereignty, particularly of continents, to those who have first discovered them; and although we might on good grounds dispute with Russia the priority of discovery of these continents, we contend that the much more easily proved, more conclusive, and more certain title of occupation and use ought to decide the claim of sovereignty.

Now, we can prove that the English North-West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company have for many years established forts and other trading-stations in a country called New Caledonia, situated to the west of a range of mountains called

Rocky Mountains, and extending along the shores of the Pacific Ocean from latitude 49° to latitude 60°.

This Company likewise possess factories and other establishments on Mackenzie's River, which falls into the Frazer River as far north as latitude 66° 30', from whence they carry on trade with the Indians inhabiting the countries to the west of that river, and who, from the nature of the country, can communicate with Mackenzie's River with more facility than they can with the posts in New Caledonia. Thus, in opposition to the claims founded on discovery, the priority of which, however, we conceive we might fairly dispute, we have the indisputable claim of occupancy and use for a series of years, which all the best writers on the laws of nations admit is the best-founded claim for territory of this description. Objecting, as we do, to this claim of exclusive sovereignty on the part of Russia, I might save myself the trouble of discussing the particular mode of its exercise as set forth in this Ukase. But we object to the sovereignty proposed to be exercised under this Ukase not less than we do to the claim of it. We cannot admit the right of any Power possessing the sovereignty of a country to exclude the vessels of others from the seas on its coasts to the distance of 100 Italian miles. We must object likewise to the arrangements contained in the said Ukase conveying to private merchant-ships the right to search in time of peace, &c., which are quite contrary to the laws and usages of nations and to the practice of modern times.

Verona, October 17, 1822.

To Count Nesselrode.

(Signed)

WELLINGTON.

Inclosure 5 in No. 382.

Count Nesselrode to the Duke of Wellington.

(Mémoire Confidentiel.) Vérone, le 11 (23) Novembre, 1822. LE Cabinet de Russie a pris en mûre considération le Mémoire Confidentiel que M. le Duc de Wellington lui a remis le 17 Octobre dernier, relativement aux mesures adoptées par Sa Majesté l'Empereur, sous la date du (4) 16 Septembre, 1821, pour déterminer l'étendue des possessions Russes sur la côte nord-ouest de l'Amérique, et pour interdire aux vaisseaux étrangers l'approche de ses possessions jusqu'à la distance de 100 milles d'Italie.

Les ouvertures faites à ce sujet au Gouvernement de Sa Majesté Britannique par le Comte de Lieven au moment où cet Ambassadeur allait quitter Londres doivent déjà avoir prouvé que l'opinion que le Cabinet de St. James avait conçue des mesures dont il s'agit n'était point fondée sur une appréciation entièrement exacte des vues de Sa Majesté Impériale.

La Russie est loin de méconnaître que l'usage et l'occupation constituent la plus solide des titres d'après lesquels un Etat puisse réclamer des droits de souveraineté sur une portion quelconque du Continent. La Russie est plus loin encore d'avoir voulu outrepasser arbitrairement les limites que ce titre assigne à ses domaines sur la côte nord-ouest de l'Amérique, ou ériger en principe général de droit maritime les règles qu'une nécessité purement locale l'avait obligée de poser pour la navigation étrangère dans le voisinage de la partie de cette côte qui lui appartient.

C'était au contraire parce qu'elle regardait ces droits de souveraineté comme légitimes, et parce que des considérations impérieuses tenant à l'existence même du commerce qu'elle fait dans les parages de la côte nord-ouest de l'Amérique, la forçaient à établir un système de précautions devenues indispensables, qu'elle a fait paraître l'Oukase du (4) 16 Septembre, 1821.

La Russie serait toujours prête à faire part des motifs qui en justifient les dispositions; mais pour le moment elle se bornera aux observations suivantes :

M. le Duc de Wellington affirme, dans son Mémoire Confidentiel du 17 Octobre, que des établissements Anglais, appartenant à deux Compagnies, celle de la Baye de Hudson et celle du Nord-Ouest, se sont formés dans une contrée appelée la NouvelleCalédonie, qui s'étend le long de la côte de l'Océan Pacifique, depuis le 49° jusqu'au 60° degré de latitude septentrionale.

La Russie ne parlera point des établissements qui peuvent exister entre le 49° et le 51° parallèle; mais quant aux autres, elle n'hésite pas de convenir qu'elle en ignore jusqu'à présent l'existence, pour autant au moins qu'ils toucheraient l'Ocean Pacifique. Les Cartes Anglaises même les plus récentes et les plus détaillées n'indiquent

absolument aucune des stations de commerce mentionnées dans le Mémoire du 17 Octobre, sur la côte même de l'Amérique, cntre le 51° et le 60° degré de latitude septentrionale.

D'ailleurs, depuis les expéditions de Behring et de Tchirikoff, c'est-à-dire depuis près d'un siècle, des établissements Russes ont pris, à partir du 60° degré, une extension progressive, qui dès l'année 1799 les avait fait parvenir jusqu'au 55° parallèle, comme le porte la première charte de la Compagnie Russe-Américaine, charte qui a reçu dans le temps une publicité officielle, et qui n'a motivé aucune protestation de la part de l'Angleterre.

Cette même charte accordait à la Compagnie Russe le droit de porter ses établissements vers le midi au delà du 55° degré de latitude septentrionale, pourvu que de tels accroissements de territoire ne pussent donner motif de réclamation à aucune Puissance étrangère.

L'Angleterre n'a pas non plus protesté contre cette disposition; elle n'a pas même réclamé contre les nouveaux établissements que la Compagnie Russe-Américaine a pu former au sud du 55° degré, en vertu de ce privilège.

La Russie était donc pleinement autorisée à profiter d'un consentement qui, pour être tacite, n'en était pas moins solennel, et à déterminer pour bornes de ses domaines le degré de latitude jusqu'auquel la Compagnie Russe avait étendu ses opérations depuis 1799.

Quoiqu'il en soit, et quelque force que ces circonstances prêtent aux titres de la Russie, Sa Majesté Impériale ne déviera point dans cette conjuncture du système habituel de sa politique.

Le premier de ses vœux sera toujours de prévenir toute discussion, et de consolider de plus en plus les rapports d'amitié et de parfaite intelligence qu'elle se félicite d'entretenir avec la Grande-Bretagne.

En conséquence l'Empereur a chargé son Cabinet de déclarer à M. le Duc de Wellington (sans que cette déclaration puisse préjudicier en rien à ses droits, si elle n'était point acceptée) qu'il est prêt à fixer, au moyen d'une négociation amicale, et sur la base des convenances mutuelles, les degrés de latitude et de longitude que les deux Puissances regarderont comme dernières limites de leurs possessions et de leurs établissements sur la côte nord-ouest de l'Amérique.

Sa Majesté Impériale se plaît à croire que cette négociation pourra se terminer sans difficulté à la satisfaction réciproque des deux États; et le Cabinet de Russie peut assurer dès à présent M. le Duc de Wellington que les mesures de précaution et de surveillance qui seront prises alors sur la partie Russe de la côte d'Amérique se trouveront entièrement conformes aux droits dérivant de la souveraineté, ainsi qu'aux usages établis entre nations, et qu'aucune plainte légitime ne pourra s'élever

contre elles.

(Confidential Memorandum.)

(Translation.)

Verona, November 11 (23), 1822.

THE Cabinet of Russia have taken into mature consideration the Confidential Memorandum forwarded to them by the Duke of Wellington on the 17th October last, relative to the measures adopted by His Majesty the Emperor, under date of the 4th (16th) September, 1821, for defining the extent of the Russian possessions on the north-west coast of America, and for forbidding foreign vessels to approach his possessions within a distance of 100 Italian miles.

The overtures made on this subject to the Government of His Britannic Majesty by Count de Lieven at the moment when that Ambassador was about to leave London must already have proved that the opinion which the Cabinet of St. James' had formed of the measures in question was not founded on an entirely accurate appreciation of the views of His Imperial Majesty.

Russia is far from failing to recognize that custom and occupation constitute the most solid title upon which a State can claim rights of sovereignty over any portion of the mainland. Russia is still further from having wished to arbitrarily transgress the limits which that title assigns to her dominions on the north-west coast of America, or to exalt into a general principle of maritime law the rules which a necessity of purely local character had obliged her to lay down for foreign navigation in the neighbourhood of the portion of that coast which belongs to her.

It was, on the contrary, because she regarded those rights of sovereignty as legitimate, and because imperious considerations involving the very existence of the commerce which she carries on in the latitudes of the north-west coast of America compelled her to establish a system of precautions which became indispensable, that she caused the Ukase of the 4th (16th) September, 1821, to be issued.