contains an article (p. 370) written by a person fully master of the subject; and for the view of it taken in England I refer you to the fiftysecond number of the Quarterly Review, the article upon Lieutenant Kotzebue's voyages. From the article in the North American Review it will be seen that the rights of discovery, of occupancy, and of uncontested possession, alleged by Mr. Poletica, are all without foundation in fact.

It does not appear that there ever has been a permanent Russian settlement on this continent south of latitude 59°, that of New Archangel, cited by Mr. Poletica, in latitude 57° 30', being upon an island. So far as prior discovery can constitute a foundation of right, the papers which I have referred to prove that it belongs to the United States as far as 59° north, by the transfer to them of the rights of Spain. There is, however, no part of the globe where the mere fact of discovery could be held to give weaker claims than on the northwest coast. "The great sinuosity," says Humboldt, "formed by the coast between the fifty-fifth and sixtieth parallels of latitude embraces discoveries made by Gali, Behring and Tchivikoff, Quadra, Cook, La Perouse, Malespièr, and Vancouver. No European nation has yet formed an establishment upon the immense extent of coast from Cape Mendocino to the fifty-ninth degree of latitude. Beyond that limit the Russian factories commence, most of which are scattered and distant from each other, like the factories established by the European nations for the last three centuries on the coast of Africa. Most of these little Russian colonies communicate with each other only by sea, and the new denominations of Russian America, or Russian possessions in the new continent, must not lead us to believe that the coast of Behring's Bay, the peninsula of Alaska, or the country of the Ischugatschi have become Russian provinces in the same sense given to the word when speaking of the Spanish provinces of Sonora or New Biscay." (Humboldt's New Spain, Vol. II, Book 3, chap. 8, p. 496.)

In Mr. Poletica's letter of 28th February, 1822, to me, he says that when the Emperor Paul I granted to the present American Company its first charter, in 1799, he gave it the exclusive possession of the northwest coast of America, which belonged to Russia, from the fifty-fifth degree of north latitude to Bering Strait.

In his letter of 2d of April, 1822, he says that the charter of the Russian American Company, in 1799, was merely conceding to them a part of the sovereignty, or, rather, certain exclusive privileges of commerce. This is the most correct view of the subject. The Emperor Paul granted to the Russian American Company certain exclusive privileges of commerce-exclusive with reference to other Russian subjects; but Russia had never before asserted a right of sovereignty over any part of the North American continent, and in 1799 the people of the United States had been at least for twelve years in the constant and uninterrupted enjoyment of a profitable trade with the natives of that very coast, of which the ukase of the Emperor Paul could not deprive them.

It was in this same year, 1799, that the Russian settlement at Sitka was first made, and it was destroyed in 1802 by the natives of the country. There were, it seems, at the time of its destruction, three American seamen who perished with the rest, and a new settlement at the same place was made in 1804.

In 1808 Count Romanzoff, being then Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Commerce, addressed to Mr. Harris, consul of the United States at St. Petersburg, a letter complaining of the traffic carried on by citizens of the United States with the native islanders of the northwest coast,

instead of trading with the Russian possessions in America. The Count stated that the Russian Company had represented this traffic as clandestine, by which means the savage islanders, in exchange for otter skins, had been furnished with firearms and powder, with which they had destroyed a Russian fort, with the loss of several lives. He expressly disclaimed, however, any disposition on the part of Russia to abridge this traffic of the citizens of the United States, but proposed a convention by which it should be carried on exclusively with the agents ot the Russian American Company at Kadiak, a small island near the promontory of Alaska, at least 700 miles distant from the other settlement at Sitka.

On the 4th of January, 1810, Mr. Daschkoff, chargé d'affaires and consul general from Russia, renewed this proposal of a convention, and requested as an alternative that the United States should, by a legislative act, prohibit the trade of their citizens with the natives of the northwest coast of America as unlawful and irregular, and thereby induce them to carry on the trade exclusively with the agents of the Russian American Company. The answer of the Secretary of State, dated the 5th of May, 1810, declines those proposals for reasons which were then satisfactory to the Russian Government, or to which at at least no reply on their part was made. Copies of these papers and of those containing the instructions of the minister of the United States then at St. Petersburg, and the relation of his conferences with the chancellor of the empire, Count Romanzoff, on this subject are herewith inclosed. By them it will be seen that the Russian Government at that time explicitly declined the assertion of any boundary line upon the northwest coast, and that the proposal of measures for confining the trade of the citizens of the United States exclusively to the Russian settlement at Kadiak and with the agents of the Russian American Company had been made by Count Romanzoff under the impression that they would be as advantageous to the interests of the United States as to those of Russia.

It is necessary now to say that this impression was erroneous; that the traffic of the citizens of the United States with the natives of the northwest coast was neither clandestine, nor unlawful, nor irregular; that it had been enjoyed many years before the Russian American Company existed, and that it interfered with no lawful right or claim of Russia. This trade has been shared also by the English, French, and Portuguese. In the prosecution of it the English settlement of Nootka Sound was made, which occasioned the differences between Great Britain and Spain in 1789 and 1790, ten years before the Russian American Company was first chartered.

It was in the prosecution of this trade that the American settlement at the mouth of the Columbia River was made in 1811, which was taken by the British during the late war, and formally restored to them on the 6th of October, 1818. By the treaty of the 22d of February, 1819, with Spain, the United States acquired all the rights of Spain north of latitude 42°; and by the third article of the convention between the United States and Great Britain of the 20th of October, 1818, it was agreed that any country that might be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America, westward of the Stony Mountains, should, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from that date to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers, without prejudice to the claims of either party or of any other State.

You are authorized to propose an article of the same import for a

term of ten years from the signature of a joint convention between the United States, Great Britain, and Russia.

The right of the United States from the forty-second to the forty-ninth parallel of latitude on the Pacific Ocean we consider as unquestionable, being founded, first, on the acquisition, by the treaty of February 22, 1819, of all the rights of Spain; second, by the discovery of the Columbia River, first from sea, at its mouth, and then by land, by Lewis and Clarke; and third, by the settlement at its mouth in 1811. This territory is to the United States of an importance which no possession in North America can be to any European nation, not only as it is but the continuity of their possessions from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, but as it offers their inhabitants the means of establishing hereafter water communications from the one to the other.

It is not conceivable that any possession upon the continent of North America should be of use or importance to Russia for any other purpose than that of traffic with the natives. This was, in fact, the inducement to the formation of the Russian-American Company and to the charter granted them by the Emperor Paul. It was the inducement to the ukase of the Emperor Alexander. By offering free and equal access for a term of years to navigation and intercourse with the natives to Russia, within the limits to which our claims are indisputable, we concede much more than we obtain. It is not to be doubted that, long before the expiration of that time, our settlement at the mouth of the Columbia River will become so considerable as to offer means of useful commercial intercourse with the Russian settlements on the islands of the northwest coast.

With regard to the territorial claim, separate from the right of traffic with the natives and from any system of colonial exclusions, we are willing to agree to the boundary line within which the Emperor Paul had granted exclusive privileges to the Russian American Company, that is to say, latitude 55°.

If the Russian Government apprehend serious inconvenience from the illicit traffic of foreigners with their settlements on the northwest coast, it may be effectually guarded against by stipulations similar to those, a draft of which is herewith subjoined, and to which you are authorized, on the part of the United States, to agree.

As the British ambassador at St. Petersburg is authorized and instructed to negotiate likewise upon this subject, it may be proper to adjust the interests and claims of the three powers by a joint convention. Your full power is prepared accordingly.

Instructions conformable to these will be forwarded to Mr. Rush, at London, with authority to communicate with the British Government in relation to this interest and to correspond with you concerning it, with a view to the maintenance of the rights of the United States.

Draft of treaty between the United States and Russia.

ART. I. In order to strengthen the bonds of friendship and to preserve in future a perfect harmony and good understanding between the contracting parties, it is agreed

that their respective citizens and subjects shall not be disturbed or molested, either in navigating or in carrying on their fisheries in the Pacific Ocean or in the South Seas, or in landing on the coasts of those seas, in places not already occupied, for the purpose of carrying on their commerce with the natives of the country; subject, nevertheless to the restrictions and provisions specified in the two following articles. ART. II. To the end that the navigation and fishery of the citizens and subjects of the contracting parties, respectively, in the Pacific Ocean or in the South Seas, may not be made a pretext for illicit trade with their respective settlements, it is agreed that the citizens of the United States shall not land on any part of the coast actually occupied by Russian settlements, unless by permission of the governor or commander thereof, and that Russian subjects shall, in like manner, be interdicted from landing without permission at any settlement of the United States on the said northwest coast.

ART. III. It is agreed that no settlement shall be made hereafter on the northwest coast of America by citizens of the United States or under their authority, north, nor by Russian subjects, or under the authority of Russia, south of the fifty-fifth degree of north latitude.

(For other inclosures, see American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. v, pp. 436–438.)

Mr. Adams to Mr. Rush.

No. 70.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, July 22, 1823,

SIR: Among the subjects of negotiation with Great Britain which are pressing upon the attention of this Government is the present condition of the northwest coast of this continent. This interest is connected, in a manner becoming from day to day more important, with our territorial rights; with the whole system of our intercourse with the Indian tribes; with the boundary relations between us and the British North American dominions; with the fur trade; the fisheries in the Pacific Ocean; the commerce with the Sandwich Islands and China; with our boundary upon Mexico; and, lastly, with our political standing and intercourse with the Russian Empire.

By the third article of the convention between the United States and Great Britain of October 20, 1818, it is agreed that any "country that may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America, westward of the Stony Mountains, shall, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same be free and open for the term of ten years from the date of the signature of the convention to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers; it being well understood that this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claims which either of the two high contracting parties may have to any part of the said country, nor shall it be taken to affect the claims of any other power or State to any part of the said country. The only object of the high contracting parties in that respect being to prevent disputes and differencies amongst themselves." On the 6th of October, 1818, fourteen days before the signature of the convention, the settlement at the mouth of Columbia River had been formally restored to the United States by order of the British Government. (Message of the President of the United States to the House of Representatives, April 15, 1822, page 13. Letter of Mr. Trevost to the Secretary of State of November 11, 1818.)

By the treaty of amity, settlement, and limits between the United States and Spain of February 22, 1819, the boundary line between them was fixed at the forty-second degree of latitude, from the source of the

Arkansas River to the South Sea: by which treaty the United States acquired all the rights of Spain north of that parallel.

The right of the United States to the Columbia River, and to the interior territory washed by its waters, rests upon its discovery from the sea and nomination by a citizen of the United States; upon its exploration to the sea by Captains Lewis and Clarke; upon the settlement of Astoria, made under the protection of the United States, and thus restored to them in 1818; and upon this subsequent acquisition of all the rights of Spain, the only European power who, prior to the discovery of the river, had any preteuses to territorial rights on the northwest coast of America.

The waters of the Columbia River extend by the Multnomah to the forty-second degree of latitude, where its source approaches within a few miles of those of the Platte and Arkansas, and by Clarke's River to the fiftieth or fifty-first degree of latitude; thence descending southward, till its sources almost intersect those of the Missouri.

To the territory thus watered, and immediately contiguous to the original possessions of the United States, as first bounded by the Mississippi, they consider their right to be now established by all the principles which have ever been applied to European settlements upon the American hemisphere.

By the ukase of the Emperor Alexander, of the 4th (16th) of September, 1821, an exclusive territorial right on the northwest coast of America is asserted as belonging to Russia, and as extending from the northern extremity of the continent to latitude 51°, and the navigation and fishery of all other nations are interdicted by the same ukase to the extent of 100 Italian miles from the coast.

When Mr. Poletica, the late Russian minister here, was called upon to set forth the grounds of right conformable to the laws of nations which authorized the issuing of this decree, he answered in his letters of February 28 and April 2, 1822, by alleging first discovery, occupancy, and uninterrupted possession.

It appears upon examination that these claims have no foundation in fact. The right of discovery on this continent, claimable by Russia, is reduced to the probability that, in 1741, Captain Tehirikoff saw from the sea the mountain called St. Elias, in about the fifty-ninth degree of north latitude. The Spanish navigators, as early as 1582, had discovered as far north as 57° 30'.

As to occupancy, Captain Cook, in 1779, had the express declaration of Mr. Ismaeloff, the chief of the Russian settlement at Unalaska, that they knew nothing of the continent in America; and in the Nootka Sound controversy between Spain and Great Britain it is explicitly stated in the Spanish documents that Russia had disclaimed all pretension to interfere with the Spanish exclusive rights to beyond Prince William Sound, latitude 61°. No evidence has been exhibited of any Russian settlement on this continent south and east of Prince William Sound to this day, with the, exception of that in California, made in 1816.

It never has been admitted by the various European nations which have formed settlements in this hemisphere that the occupation of an island gave any claim whatever to territorial possessions on the continent to which it was adjoining. The recognized principle has rather been the reverse, as, by the law of nature, islands must be rather considered as appendages to continents than continents to islands.

The only color of claim alleged by Mr. Poletica which has an appearance of plausibility is that which he asserts as an authentic fact, "that