These  treaties  were  therefore  a  practical  renunciation,  both  on  the  part
of  England  and  the  United  States,  of  any  rights  in  the  waters  of  Behring
Se^ during  the  period  of  Bussia's  sovereignty.  They  left  the  Behring
Sea  and  all  its  coasts  and  islands  pre(!isely  as  the  ukase  of  Alexander
in  1831  left  them — that  is,  with  a  prohibition  against  any  vessel  ap-
proaching nearer  to  the  coast  than  100  Italian  miles,  under  danger  of
confiscation.  The  original  ukase  of  Alexander  (1821)  claimed  as  far
south  as  the  fifby-first  degree  of  north  latitude,  with  the  inhibition  of  100
miles  ftt)m  the  coast  applying  to  the  whole.
