38 Kcnnctli S. Latoiircttc, 



however, evaded the question by asking the Russians to specify 

 a definite hne of demarcation, a step whicli the latter were not 

 prepared to take/'' On May 5th, the Secretary of State, in a 

 note to DaschkofF, expressed his unwilHngness to come to an 

 agreement unless such a line were agreed upon. Even then a 

 prohibition by the United States, said he, would be needless, 

 for if the Indian tribes were under Russian jurisdiction the 

 United States would surrender her merchants to the "penalties 

 incurred by those who carry on a contraband trade in a foreign 

 jurisdiction," and if they were independent, Russia could not 

 "prevent foreign trade with them unless it were in time of war 

 and in contraband articles."*" The negotiations thus closed at 

 Washington, were reopened by Romanzoff at St. Petersburg, 

 August 28th. He proposed to John Quincy Adams, the United 

 States minister, that American ships be given the privilege of 

 carrying furs from Russian posts on the Northwest Coast, and 

 that in return the United States should agree not to furnish 

 fire arms to the natives. When Adams asked for the boundaries 

 which the Russians claimed, Romanzoff said that their charts 

 showed that the entire coast as far south as the mouth of the 

 Columbia River belonged to them. Adams seemed to feel that 

 behind the plea for humanity there was an attempt to win an 

 acknowledgment of the Russian claim for territory and courte- 

 ously declined the offer. He reminded the minister that there 

 was no real reciprocity in the proposed arrangement, as the 

 Americans already had free access to the proffered trade, and 

 that a prohibition could not be enforced on a coast which pos- 

 sessed neither ports nor custom houses."'*" After this reply, 

 made early in October, 1810, the matter was dropped for eleven 

 years. 



Closely allied to the Northwest Coast trade were the fur-seal- 

 ing voyages. They owed their origin to the same motives, the 

 obtaining of pelts for the China market. They were quite dis- 

 tinct, however, being undertaken by different firms, and different 

 towns. They went out from New London, New Haven, Stoning- 



'" Note of April 24, 1810. Ibid. 

 ^" Am. State Papers, Foreign Relations, 5 : 455. 



■'■"Am. State Papers. For. Rel., 5:455. Adams, Diary, 2:151. 178. See 

 a secondary account in Winsor, Narrative and Crit. Hist, 7:510. 



