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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895. Excerpt:... desire to speak with all possible respect--the operation known as "climbing down" began, as you will see, from this very letter. He says on page 136: To Mr. Speransky, Governor General of Siberia, who hadbeen one of the committee originating this measure, I stated my objections at length. He informed me that the first intention had beeu (as Mr. Poletica afterwards wrote you) to declare the northern portion of the Pacific Ocean as mare olausum--I ask my friends, can there be any doubt what the "northern portion of the Pacific Ocean" there meant, can there be any doubt that it included Behring Sea?--but that idea being abandoned, probably on account of its extravagance, they determined to adopt the more moderate measure of establishing limits to the maritime jurisdiction on their coasts, such as should secure to the Russian American Fur Company the monopoly of the very lucrative traffic they carry on. In order to do this they sought a precedent, and found the distance of 30 leagues, named in treaty of Utrecht, and which may be calculated at about 100 Italian miles, sufficient for all purposes. I need not say that what was once done by Treaty is no justification for what has been done without Treaty. I replied ironically that a still better precedent might have been pointed out to them in the papal bull, of 1493, which established as a line of demarcation between the Spaniards and Portuguese a meridian to be drawn at the distanoe of 100 miles west of the Azores, and that the expression "Italian miles" used in the ukase very naturally might lead to the conclusion that this was actually the precedent looked to. He took my remarks in good part, and I am disposed to think that this conversation led him to make reflections which did not tend to confirm his first...