File No. 861.0145/4.
The American Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
St. Petersburg, February 13, 1911.
Sir: Replying to the Department’s No. 185 of January 21 in reference to the despatch No. 863 of September 30 last in which I reported concerning the Russian law extending to twelve miles from low-water mark the area of supervision by the Russian customs authorities, I have the honor to report that in conversation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs to-day I took occasion to discuss this question and to read to him that portion of the instruction in which it is stated that “with reference to the general operation of the law over the marginal seas beyond the generally recognized three-mile limit and particularly as affecting American commerce, the United States is constrained to reserve all rights of whatever nature.” Mr. Sazonoff at the same time promised me a full reply to a memorandum which I then left with him, asking information as to the nature and extent of the jurisdiction assumed under the law in question.
In discussing with me this matter and the correlated question raised by the proposal to exclude foreigners from fishing within twelve miles from the shores of Archangel Government (reported in my No. 452 of January 16), Mr. Sazonoff took the view that territorial jurisdiction over marginal seas is based on the theory of control from the land, and that the delimitation of this area of control at twelve miles how corresponds more nearly with actual conditions than does the three-mile limit which represented the effective range of cannon at the time when this limitation of control over the seas was recognized as a principle of international law.
I enclose herewith a summary1 of an editorial article in the Novoye Vremya of the 11th instant, which embodies what I take to be the official Russian view of this question.
With reference to the proposed closure of the White Sea to foreign fishermen, I would note Mr. Sazonoff’s statement that this measure is necessitated by the insufficiency of fish in those waters, and is directed primarily against the competition of Norwegian fishermen.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩