isited Prince William Sound, but found no Russians. Haro, however, found a Russian colony at Three Saints, on Kadiak Island. This was the easternmost place which ad at this time a permanent Russian settlement. The oyagers took possession of Unalaska for Spain, but afterwards found Russian traders on the island. 270. 1 In the same year, a Russian vessel explored Prince Wil-Ibid., pp. 267iam Sound, Yakutat, and Lituya Bays, all of which had previously been examined by English or French voyagers. In 1788, vessels from the United States first traded on che north-west coast. Upon the conflict of interests at this time along this part of the American coast, and the rival claims to territory here, Bancroft makes the following remarks: North-west Coast, vol. i, p. 185. The events of 1787-'88 must have been puzzling to the natives of Alaska, p. 267. Prince William Sound. Englishmen under the English flag, Englishnen under the Portuguese flag, Spaniards and Russians, were cruizing about, often within a few miles of each other, taking possession, for one nation or the other of all the land in sight. Referring to Billing's Russian scientific exploring expedition, by which several voyages were made from 1787 to to 1791 in the Behring Sea region, Bancroft says: The geographical results may be set down at next to nothing, with the exception of the thorough surveys of Captain Bay in Illiuliuk Harbour on Unalaska Island. Every other part of the work had already been done by Cook. The complaints of natives, against the practices of independent traders and adventurers, brought back by this expedition, had much to do with the subsequent grant of a monopoly of the trade to the Russian-American Com 19 pany. Ibid., p. 296. In 1789, twelve vessels at least are known to have North-west been trading on the north-west coast.* The well-known "Nootka" seizures by the Spaniards occurred in this year. Coast, vol. i, pp. 204-212. Ibid., p. 325. In 1790, Fidalgo sailed from Nootka, then occupied by Alaska, p. 273. Spain, to examine the north-west coast, including Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, and Kadiak. The tradi 3vessel "Phoenix," Captain Moore, from the East Indies, was in Prince William Sound in this year. At this time also, Russia and Sweden being at war, a Swedish cruizer visited the Aleutian Islands, but finding no Government establishment to attack, and no Russians except traders living "in abject misery," her Commander refrained from disturbing them. In 1791, Malaspina, from Spain, under orders of his Government, visited several places upon what is now the Alaskan coast. Marchand, in the "Solide," from France, on a *In many cases no records exist of the trading voyages made to the north-west coast, and the existing records are very incomplete. It is in some cases certainly known that these traders extended their operations to the north of the limit mentioned in the Ukase of 1799, or that of the Ukase of 1821. In other cases the extent of the voyages made is unknown. The traders went, in fact, wherever skins could be purchased, and, if disappointed or forestalled at one place, at ouce departed for another. None of these trading-vessels were Russian. S. Ex. 177, pt. 4-2 Ibid., p. 285. Ibid., p. 274. Ibid., p. 275. Ibid., p. 248. North-west Coast, vol. i, pp.. 250-257. Alaska, p. 244. Vancouver, vol. iii, p. 498. voyage of trade and circumnavigation, also visited the coast, and Douglas, in the "Iphigenia," was in Cook Inlet in this year. Besides the above vessels, at least eight trading-vessels are known to have been on the coast, of which seven were from the United States. In 1792. Caamano, setting out from Nootka, explored Port Bucarelli, in South-eastern Alaska; and it is reported that in this year fully twenty-eight vessels were upon the coast, at least half of them being engaged in the fur trade. Vancouver gives a list of 21 vessels for the same year, Voyage of Dis divided as follows: From England, 6; from East Indies, 2; covery to the Pa- from China, 3; from United States, 7; from Portugal, 2; from France, 1. cific Ocean. London, 1798. Alaska, p. 296. Vancouver's voyage. Ibid., vol. iii, p. 199. North-west The "Halcyon," Captain Barclay, visited Petropaulovsk for purposes of trade, and a French vessel, "La Flavia," wintered there. 20 In 1793, Vancouver, who had been dispatched by the English Government with the "Discovery" and "Chatham" for the purpose of finally deciding the existence or otherwise of a communication between the Pacific and Atlantic, by the exploration of all remaining inlets on the north-west coast, was occupied in surveying operations on what now constitutes the south-eastern Alaskan coast. In 1794, he surveyed Cook Inlet to its head, and Prince William Sound, Kadiak, and the coast extending to Yakutat Bay, were in turn carefully laid down in detail. He ascertained that the easternmost Russian Establishment at this time was at Port Etches on Prince William Sound. Concerning the Russians here and there met with, Vancouver remarks that he Clearly understood that the Russian Government had little to do with these Settlements; that they were solely under the direction and support of independent mercantile Companies. Not the least attention whatever is paid to the cultivation of the land or to any other object but that of collecting furs, which is principally done by the Indians. Near Yakutat Bay he fell in with the "Jackal," an English trading vessel, which was then upon the coast for the third consecutive season; and further to the south-eastward he met with the "Arthur," Captain Barber, from Bengal. Vancover took possession of the coast southward from Cross Sound (latitude 58°) in the name of Great Britain. The results of his surveys were published in 1798. The names of four trading vessels on the north-west Coast, vol. i, P. coast, including the "Jackal," are known for this year. In 1795, a trading-vessel, named the "Phoenix," from Bengal, was on the north-west coast. Ibid., Ibid., Ibid., p. 306. Ibid. 306. In 1796, at least three trading-vessels are known to have been on the north-west coast. In 1797, the names of four trading-vessels on this coast are known, but these constituted probably but a small part of the fleet. P. In 1798, the names of six trading-vessels happen to have been recorded. In 1799, the "Caroline," Captain Cleveland, from Boston, rrived from Sitka shortly after a Russian post had been stablished there. Several other American vessels, among them the brig Alaska, p. 389. "Eliza," under Captain Rowan, visited Sitka during 1 the summer and "absorbed the trade while the Russians were preparing to occupy the field in the ature." Coast, vol. i, p. The names of seven vessels trading on the north-west North-west oast are recorded in this year. Nothing approaching to a complete record of the names -r nationalities of vessels trading upon this part of the -oast in the years about the close of the last century can now be obtained, and, in the absence of any published record of explorations, even incidental allusions to the presence of such traders become rare in the years after the Hate of Vancouver's departure. That such trade was, however, continuously practised is evident from the general complaints made by the Russians as to its effect on their operations. The following quotations from Bancroft's "History of Alaska" allude to complaints referring particularly to these years. Writing of the enterprises of Baranoff, Governor of Sitka, Bancroft says: At every point eastward of Kadiak where he had endeavoured to open trade, he found himself forestalled by English and American ships, which had raised the prices of skins almost beyond his limited means. Again, referring specially to the nascent Establishment at Sitka, Baranoff himself writes: 307. Alaska, p. 384. I thought there would be no danger with proper protection from the Ibid., p. 395. larger vessels, though the natives there possess large quantities of fire-arms and all kinds of ammunition, receiving new supplies annually from the English and from the Republicans of Boston and America, whose object is not permanent settlement on these shores, but who have been in the habit of making trading trips to these regions. On another page Bancroft writes: Baranoff's complaints of foreign encroachment appear to have been Ibid., p. 398. well grounded. Within a few leagues of Sitka the captains of three Boston ships secured 2,000 skins, though paying very high prices, each one trying to outbid the other. Further on Baranoff is quoted to the effect that the Ibid., p. 399. Americans had been acquainted with the tribes in this region for two or three years, and sent there annually from six to eight vessels. These vessels from the United States were at this time just beginning to supplant the English traders, who had in earlier years been the more numerous. 22. Once more Bancroft quotes Baranoff as follows: The resources of this region are such that millions may be Alaska, p. 399. made there for our country with proper management in the future, but for over ten years from six to ten English and American vessels have called here every year. It is safe to calculate an average of 2,000 skins on eight, or say six vessels, which would make 12,000 a-year, and if we even take 10,000 as a minimum, it would amount in ten years to 100,000 skins, which, at the price at Canton of 45 roubles per skin, would amount to 4,500,000 roubles. Alaska, p. 305. 379. CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH LED UP TO UKASE OF 1799. It will be convenient at this point to consider the circumstances which led up to the Ukase of 1799, the terms of that Ukase, and its effect. As early as 1786, the idea had become dominant with Grigor Shelikof, who had shortly before established the first permanent Russian colony at Kadiak, of creating a Company which should hold a monopoly of trade in the Russian possessions on the Pacific, and over all that part of the American Continent to which Russian traders resorted. Shelik of obtained but a partial success in the Charter issued for the United American Company; but after his death at Ibid., pp. 377- Irkutsk in 1795, his schemes were taken up by his son-inlaw Rezanof, who succeeded in carrying them to completion, and, in 1799, a Ukase was issued which granted the wished-for exclusive privileges to the New Russian-American Company. Before this time, in 1798, a consolidation of the Shelikof Company with several smaller concerns had been effected under the name of the United American Company; and at the date of the issuing of the Ukase there were but two rival Companies of importance in the field, the Shelikof or United American Company, and the Lebedef Company, and these engaged in active competition and hostility. Bancroft sums up the situation about 1791 and 1792 in the following words: Affairs were assuming a serious aspect. Not only were the Shelikof men excluded from the greater part of the inlet [Cook Inlet], but they were opposed in their advance round Prince William Sound, which was also claimed by the Lebedef faction, though the Orekhof and other Companies were hunting there. 23 Thus the history of Cook Inlet during the last decade of the eighteenth century is replete with romantic incidents-midnight raids, ambuscades, and open warfare-resembling the doings of medieval raubritters, rather than the exploits of peaceable traders. Robbery and brutal outrages continued to be the order of the day, though now committed chiefly for the purpose of obtaining sole control of the inlet, to the neglect of legitimate pursuits. Again, in another place, the same author writes, with regard especially to the position of Baranoff, Governor of Sitka, when he took charge of the Shelik of Colony of Kadiak: Thus, on every side, rival establishments and traders were draining the country of the valuable staple upon which rested the very existence of the scheme of colonization. To the east and north there were Russians, but to the south-east the ships of Englishmen, Americans, and Frenchmen were already traversing the tortuous channels of the Alexander Archipelago, reaping rich harvests of sea-otter skins, in the very region where Baranoff had decided to extend Russian dominion in connection with Company sway. It was only in the later years of the competition between the rival Russian Companies that they began to assume hostile attitudes to one another. The growing power of some of them favoured aggression, and the increasing scarcity of the sea-otter, which was already beginning to be felt, accentuated it. At first, and for many years after Behring's initial voyage, the traders from Siberia were sufficiently occupied in turning to advantage their dealings ith the natives of the islands and coasts visited by them, nd this not in the most scrupulous manner. Tribute in rs was exacted from the Aleuts on various pretexts, and henever the traders came in sufficient force these people ere virtually enslaved. Not only were the companies of aders under no sufficient or recognized control by the ussian Government, but they even disliked and resented some measure the advent or presence among them of Ibid., p. 301. ommissioned officers of the Government. The effect of the reports of the subordinate members f Billing's expedition, as to the unsatisfactory state of Ibid., p. 299. ffairs in the Aleutian Islands and on the American coast, ended to favour the project of the establishment of a onopoly, by disclosing the abuses which existed by reason 4 of the existing competition. Bancroft more than hints that the superior officers of the expedition were induced to keep silence from interested motives; and Billing's Report, whatever its tenour may have been, was ever published. In the end, however, it became in a degree imperative for he Russian Government to put a stop to the scandals and buses which flourished in this remote and practically unconrolled portion of the Empire, and the easiest way in which his could be done, and the least expensive, was to vest exclusive rights in the hands of the most powerful of the existing rival Companies. This, being also in the interests of the Company in question, was not found difficult of achievement, and, as a consequence of the Ukase of 1799, he absorption of the smaller concerns still existing appears co have followed without any great difficulty, Baranoff, as the executive head of the new Corporation on the American coast, coming to the front as the natural leader. When Shelikof presented at St. Petersburg his original Alaska, p. 308. petition for the right to monopolize the trade, a Report was requested on the subject from Jacobi, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, and in Jacobi, Shelikof found an able advocate. Jacobi stated that it would be only just to Shelikof to grant his request, and that it would be unfair to allow others to enjoy the benefits of the peace which Shelikof had established at Kadiak. The Empress then ordered the Imperial College of Com- Ibid., p. 309. merce to examine the question, and a Committee of this body endorsed Jacobi's Report and recommended that the request of Shelikof and Golikof for exclusive privileges should be granted. Though, among the arguments naturally advanced in favour of the grant of a monopoly, we find it urged that the benefits of trade accruing would thus be reserved to Russian subjects, the history of the occupation of the coasts and the records concerning it, show conclusively that this was not the object which to any great extent induced Shelikof to apply for such a monopoly. His Company had the utmost difficulty in sustaining its position against hostile natives, while not less serious were the difficulties arising from the competition, and scarcely veiled hostility of rival |