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. Lon

don, 1798.

Alaska, p. 296.

Vancouver's

voyage.

Ibid., vol. iii, p. 199.

North-west

297.

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 1 Indians.

Near Yakutat Bay he fell in with the "Jackal," an Eng. lish 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.,
p. 304.

Ibid., p. 305.

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, arrived from Sitka shortly after a Russian post had been established there.

Several other American vessels, among them the brig Alaska, p. 389. "Eliza," under Captain Rowan, visited Sitka during

21 the summer and "absorbed the trade while the Russians were preparing to occupy the field in the

future."

Coast, vol. i, p.

The names of seven vessels trading on the north-west North-west coast are recorded in this year.

Nothing approaching to a complete record of the names or nationalities of vessels trading upon this part of the coast 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 date 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

22

numerous.

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 Compaay, 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

with the natives of the islands and coasts visited by them, and this not in the most scrupulous manner. Tribute in furs was exacted from the Aleuts on various pretexts, and whenever the traders came in sufficient force these people were virtually enslaved. Not only were the companies of traders under no sufficient or recognized control by the Russian Government, but they even disliked and resented in some measure the advent or presence among them of Ibid., p. 301. commissioned officers of the Government.

The effect of the reports of the subordinate members of Billing's expedition, as to the unsatisfactory state of Ibid., p. 299, affairs in the Aleutian Islands and on the American coast, tended to favour the project of the establishment of a monopoly, by disclosing the abuses which existed by reason

24

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 never published.

In the end, however, it became in a degree imperative for the Russian Government to put a stop to the scandals and abuses which flourished in this remote and practically uncontrolled portion of the Empire, and the easiest way in which this 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, the absorption of the smaller concerns still existing appears to 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. 208. 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 Shelik of 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

Alaska, pp. 379380.

25

Russian traders. The increasing trade by foreigners, together with the numerous exploring and surveying expeditions dispatched to the north-west coast of America by various Powers, were no doubt distrusted by the Russian traders; but at the same time these traders were often obliged to depend on such foreigners for support and assistance.

Nowhere in the annals of the times previous to, and during the operation of the Ukase of 1799, do we find any reference to attempts to interfere with or restrict the operations of foreigners upon the American coasts or in the Aleutian Islands. Even the scientific expeditions of the period were often largely interested in trade as well as in exploration, but all vessels meeting with the Russians report a favourable, if not a hospitable, reception.

Such an attitude on the part of the traders and the Company is, in fact, strictly in accord with the Ukase of 1799, which is purely domestic in its character, and in which no exclusive rights against foreigners are asserted.

UKASE OF 1799.

The following is a literal translation of the Ukase in question, taken from Golovnin, in "Materialui dla Istoriy Russkikh Zasseleniy," i., 77-80:

By the grace of a merciful God, we, Paul I, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias, &c. To the Russian-American Company, under our highest protection, the benefits and advantages resulting to our Empire from the hunting and trading carried on by our loyal subjects in the north-eastern seas and along the coasts of America have attracted our Royal attention and consideration; therefore, having taken under our immediate protection a Company organized for the above-named purpose of carrying on hunting and trading, we allow it to assume the appellation of "Russian-American Company under our highest protection;" and for the purpose of aiding the Company in its enterprises, we allow the Commanders of our land and sea forces to employ said forces in the Company's aid if occasion requires it, while for further relief and assistance of said Company, and having examined their Rules and Regulations, we hereby declare it to be our highest Imperial will to grant to this Company for a period of twenty years the following rights and privileges:

1. By the right of discovery in past times by Russian navigators of the north-eastern part of America, beginning from the 55th degree of north latitude and of the chain of islands extending from Kamschatka to the north to America and southward to Japan, and by right of possession of the same by Russia, we most graciously permit the Company to have the use of all hunting grounds and establishments now existing on the north-eastern [sic] coast of America, from the above-mentioned 55th degree to Behring Strait, and on the same also on the Aleutian, Kurile, and other islands situated in the north-eastern ocean.

26

2. To make new discoveries not only north of the 55th degree of north latitude but farther to the south, and to occupy the new lands discovered, as Russian possessions, according to prescribed rules, if they have not been previously occupied by any other nation, or been dependent on another nation.

3. To use and profit by everything which has been or shall be discovered in those localities, on the surface and in the bosom of the earth, without any competition by others.

4. We most graciously permit this Company to establish Settlements in future times, wherever they are wanted, according to their best knowledge and belief, and fortify them to insure the safety of the inhabitants, and to send ships to those shores with goods and hunters, without any obstacles on the part of the Government.