American company, and sanctioned by his imperial majesty, relative to foreign commerce in the waters bordering the establishments of the said company on the north-west of America. The undersigned conceives it to be, moreover, his duty, to inform, Mr. Adams, that the imperial government, in adopting this regulation, supposes that a foreign ship, which shall have sailed from a European port after the 1st of March, 1822, or from one of the ports of the United States after the 1st of July, of the same year, cannot lawfully pretend ignorance of these new measures. The undersigned eagerly embraces this occasion of offering to Mr. Adams the assurance of his high consideration. PIERRE DE POLETICA. Mr. Adams, Secretary of State, [Here follows a copy of the edict, which will be found in our volume for the last year, p. 605.] The Secretary of State, to M. de Poletica. Department of State, Washington, Sir;-I have had the honour of receiving your note of the 11th instant, inclosing a printed copy of the regulations adopted by the Russian American company, and sanctioned by his imperial majesty, relating to the commerce of foreigners in the waters bordering on the establishments of that company upon the north-west coast of America. I am directed by the president of the United States to inform you, that he has seen with surprise in this edict, the assertion of a territorial claim on the part of Russia, VOL. LXIV. 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 seizure and confiscation, the approach upon the high seas, within one hundred 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 the government to preserve them in that state. It was expected, before an 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 that territorial jurisdiction extends, has excited still greater surprise. This ordinance affects so deeply the rights of the United States, and of their citizens, that I am instructed to inquire, whether you are authorized to give explanations of the grounds of right, upon principles generally recognised by the laws and usages of nations, which can warrant the claims and regulations contained in it. I avail myself of this occasion to assure you of my distinguished consideration. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. Extraordinary and Minister The Chevalier de Poletica, to the Sir;-I received, two days sinée, the letter which you did me the honour to address to me, on the same 2 P day, by order of the president of the United States, in answer to my note of the 11th current, by which I discharged the orders of my government in communicating to you the new regulation adopted by the Russian American company, and sanctioned by his majesty the emperor, my august sovereign, on the 4th (16th) of September, 1821, relative to foreign commerce, in the waters which border upon the establishments of the said company, on the north-west coast of America. Readily yielding, Sir, to the desire expressed by you in your letter, of knowing the rights and principles upon which are founded the determinate limits of the Russian possessions on the north-west coast of America from Behring's Strait to the 51 deg. of north latitude, I am happy to fulfil this task by only calling your attention to the following historical facts, the authenticity of which cannot be contested. The first discoveries of the Russians on the north-west continent of America, go back to the time of the emperor Peter I, They belong to the attempt, made towards the end of the reign of this great monarch, to find a passage from the icy sea into the Pacific Ocean. In 1728, the celebrated captain Behring made his first voyage. The recital of his discoveries attracted the attention of the government, and the empress Anne intrusted to captain Behring(1741) a new expedition in these same latitudes. She sent with him the academicians Gmelin, Delile de la Crayere, Muller, Steller, Fischer, Krasilnicoff, Kræcheninicoff, and others; and the first chart of these countries which is known, was the result of their labours, published in 1758. Besides the strait which bears the name of the chief of this expedition, he discovered a great part of the islands which are found between the two continents. Cape or Mount St. Elias, which still bears this name upon all the charts, was so called by captain Behring, who discovered it on the day of the feast of this saint; and his second, captain Tchiricoff, pushed his discoveries as far as the 49th degree of north latitude. The first private expeditions undertaken upon the north-west coast of America go back as far as the year 1743. as In 1763 the Russian establishments had already extended as far the island of Kodiak (or Kichtak.) In 1778, Cook found them at Oonalashka, and some Russian inscriptions at Kodiak, Vancouver saw the Russian establishment in the bay of Kinai. In fine, captains Mirs, Portlock, La Peyrouse, unanimously attest the existence of Russian establishments in these latitudes. If the Imperial government had, at the time, published the discoveries made by the Russian navigators, after Behring and Tchiricoff, viz. Chlodiloff, Serebreanicoff, Krasilnicoff, Paycoff, Poushcareff, Lazereff, Medwedeff, Solowieff, Lewasheff, Kremtsin, and others, no one could refuse to Russia the right of first discovery, nor could even any one deny her that of first occupation. Moreover, when D. Jose Martinez was sent in 1789 by the court of Madrid to form an establishment in Vancouver's Island, and to remove foreigners from thence, under the pretext that all that coast belonged to Spain, he gave not the least disturbance to the Russian colonies and naviga 1 tors. Yet the Spanish government was not ignorant of their existence; for this very Martinez had visited them the year before. The report which captain Malespina made of the results of his voyage, proves that the Spaniards very well knew of the Russian colonies; and in this very report it is seen that the court of Madrid acknowledged that its possessions upon the coast of the Pacific Ocean ought not to extend to the north of Cape Blanc, taken from the point of Trinity, situated under 42 deg. 50 min. of north latitude. When, in 1789, the emperor Paul I. granted to the present American company its first charter, he gave it the exclusive possession of the north-west coast of America, which belonged to Russia, from the 55th degree of north latitude to Behring's Straits. Hepermitted them to extend their discoveries to the south, and there to form establishments, provided that they did not encroach upon the territory occupied by other powers. This act, when made public, excited no claim on the part of other cabinets, not even on that of Madrid, which confirms that it did not extend its pretensions to the 60th degree. When the government of the United States treated with Spain for the cession of a part of the north-west coast, it was able to acquire, by the treaty of Washington, the right to all that belonged to the Spaniards north of the 42nd degree of latitude; but this treaty says nothing positive concerning the northern boundary of this cestion, because, in fact, Spain well knew, that she could not say that the coast as far as the 60th degree belonged to her. From this faithful exposition of known facts, it is easy, Sir, as appears to me, to draw the conclusion, that the rights of Russia to the extent of the north-west coast, specified in the regulation of the Russian American company, rest upon the three bases required by the general law of nations and immemorial usage among nations - 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 centuryan epoch, consequently, several years anterior to that when the United States took their place among independent nations. It is moreover evident that, if the right to the possession of a certain extent of the north-west coast of America, claimed by the United States, only devolves upon them in virtue of the treaty of Washington, 1819 (and I believe it would be difficult to make good any other title), this treaty could not confer upon the American government any right of claim against the limits assigned to the Russian possessions upon the same coast, because Spain herself had never pretended to such a right. The Imperial government, in assigning for limits to the Russian possessions on the north-west coast of America, on the one side Behring's Strait, and on the other, the 51st degree of north latitude, has only made a moderate use of an incontestable right, since the Russian navigators, who were the first to explore that part of the American continent in 1741, pushed their discovery as far as the 49th degree of north latitude. The 51st degree, therefore, is no more than a mean point between the Russian establishment of New 1 Archangel, situated under the 57th degree, and the American colony at the mouth of the Columbia, which is found under the 46th degree of the same latitude. an All these considerations united, have concurred in inspiring the Imperial government with entire conviction that, in the last arrangements adopted in Russia relative to her possessions on the north-west coast, the legitimate right of no foreign power has been infringed. In this conviction, the emperor, my august sovereign, has judged that his good right, and the obligation imposed by Providence upon him to protect, with all his power, the interests of his subjects, sufficiently justified the measures last taken by his Imperial majesty in favour of the Russian American company, without its being necessary to clothe them with the sanction of treaties. I shall be more succinct, Sir, in the exposition of the motives which determined the Imperial government to prohibit foreign vessels from approaching the north-west coast of America belonging to Russia, within the distance of at least 100 Italian miles. This measure, however severe it may at first view appear, is, after all, but a measure of prevention. It is exclusively directed against the culpable enterprises of foreign adventurers, who, not content with exercising upon the coasts abovementioned an illicit trade, very prejudicial to the rights reserved entirely to the Russian American company, take upon them besides to furnish arms and ammunition to the natives in the Russian possessions in America, exciting them, likewise, in every manner, to resistance and revolt against the authorities there established. The American government, doubtless, recollects that the irregular conduct of these adventurers, the majority of whom was composed of American citizens, has been the object of the most pressing remonstrances on the part of Russia, to the Federal government, from the time that diplomatic missions were organized between the two countries. These remonstrances, repeated at different times, remain constantly without effect, and the inconvenience, to which they ought to bring a remedy, continues to increase. The Imperial government, respecting the intentions of the American government, has always abstained from attributing the ill success of its remonstrances to any other motives than those which flow, if I may be allowed the expression, from the very nature of the institutions which govern the national affairs of the American Federation. But the high opinion, which the emperor has always entertained of the rectitude of the American government, cannot exempt him from the care which his sense of justice towards his own subjects imposes upon him. Pacific means not having brought any alleviation to the just grievances of the Russian American company, against foreign navigation in the waters which environ their establishments on the north-west coast of America, the Imperial government saw itself under the necessity of having recourse to the means of coercion, and of measuring the rigour according to the inveterate character of the evil to which it wished to put a stop. Yet it is easy to discover, on examining closely the last regulation of the Russian American company, that no spirit of hostility had any thing to do with its formation. The most minute precautions have been taken in it to prevent abuses of authority on the part of commanders of Russian cruisers appointed for the execution of said regulation. At the same time, it has not been neglected to give all the timely publicity necessary to put those on their guard against whom the measure is aimed. Its action, therefore, can only reach the foreign vessels, which, in spite of the notification, will expose themselves to seizure by infringing upon the line marked out in the regulation. The government flatters itself that these cases will be very rare; if all remains as at present-not one. I ought, in the last place, to request you to consider, Sir, that the Russian possessions in the Pacific Ocean extend on the northwest 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 ordinarily attached to shut seas (mers fermées); and the Russian government might consequently judge itself authorized to exercise upon this sea the rights of sovereignty, and especially that of entirely interdicting the entrance of foreigners. But it preferred only asserting its essential rights, without taking any advantage of localities. The emperor, my august sovereign, sets a very high value upon the maintenance of the relations of amity and good understanding, which have till now subsisted between the two countries. The dispositions of his Imperial majesty in this regard have never failed appearing at all times, when an occasion has presented itself in the political relations of the United States with the European powers; and, surely, in the midst of a general peace, Russia does not think of aiming a blow at the maritime interests of the United States, she who has constantly respected them in those difficult circumstances in which Europe has been seen to be placed in the latter times, and the influence of which the United States have been unable to avert. I have the honour to be, with high consideration, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, PIERRE DE POLETICA. Department of State, Washington, Sir;-I have had the honour of receiving your letter of the 28th ult., which has been submitted to the consideration of the president of the United States. From the deduction which it contains of the grounds upon which the articles of regulation of the Russian American company have now, for the first time, extended the claim of Russia on the northwest coast of America to the 51st degree of north latitude, its only foundation appears to be the existence of the small settlement of Nov Archangelsk, situated, not on the American continent, but upon a small island in latitude 57. And the principle upon which you state that this claim is now advanced is, that the 51st degree is equi-distant from the settlement of Nov Archangelsk and the establishment of the United States at the mouth |