CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 25 



edfjed lights of .Spain;* but at that moment the Emperor Paul 



29 had declared war against that country as being an ally of 

 France. This Ukase, which is, in its form, an act purely domes- 

 tic, was never notified to any foreign State with injunction to respect 

 its provisions. Accordingly, it appears to have been passed over unob- 

 served by foreign Powers, and it remained without execution in so 

 far as it militated against their rights. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE RESUMED. 



The accuracy of the views expressed by Mr. Middleton 

 appears clearly from the facts disclosed by the chronolog- 

 ical statement relating to the period subsequent to the year 

 1700 : 



In 1800, the ship " Enterprise," from Kew York, arrived -^la^ka, p. 389. 

 at Kadiak. 



The name of the seven trading-vessels on the north-west co^gYtoi.\^ p.* 

 coast are given in this year. ^oh. 



In 1801, there were at least thirteen United States vessels ibi,i.,p.3io. 

 on the north-west coast. These vessels exchanged with j.,,,^^^ oreen- 

 the natives of the coast for furs parts of their cargoes, and, how, Librarian of 

 ])roceeding to China, returned to their respective countries {^"pa*r1ni1>nt**o^f 

 witli cargoes of teas, ^c. Upwards of 18,000 sea-otter i^tu'"- "History 

 skins, besides other furs, were in 1801 collected by United camwrna"- pp!* 

 States traders alone for the China market, "^^Tti a 



In 1802, the Russian Establishment at Sitka was de- can lie view, 1822, 

 stroved, and nearly all tlie Kussians there were massacred tll"^^xr.^^7}^' 



•' ' AT- r • • 1 • Appendix, 



by the natives. According to Lisiansky, the natives were vol. i, No. 3. 

 assisted by three deserters from a United States vessel, 

 the "Jenny," which liad called at Sitka not long before, ^las'^a, pp. 

 Shortly afterwards, an English vessel, the " Unicorn," Cap- 

 tain Barber, arrived at Sitka, and two other vessels, reported 

 by the IJussian survivors as English, but one of these Ban- 

 croft believes to have been the United States vessel "Alert." 



]n this year also Krusenstern, having visited China, 

 ]>resented a Memorial to the Russian Government calling- 

 attention to the ad\'antages ottered by the trade in furs 

 from America direct to Chinese ports, and suggesting that 

 Russia should engage in it. 



Of the vessels trading on the north-west coast in this^.^'^rth-west 



, '7. , Coast, vol. I, pp. 



year, the names ot ten have been recorded. .11,312. 



30 In 1803, Baranoft contcmi)lated the abandonment 



of Unalaska, owing to disease and nonarrival of i''"' - 1'- ''i'^- 

 supplies. He ordered that the best men should be moved 

 to the Pribilof islands to collect there the furs accumulated 

 by the natives. These islands had not been visited for 

 many years. 



Captain O'Cain, of the United States vessel "O'Cain," 

 exchanged goods for furs with Baranoff at Sitka, and also 

 took Aleutian hunters to the Californian coast to hunt fur- 

 seals and sea-otters. "Thus was inaugurated a series of ,„4^'''^'^'*'PP'*'''^' 

 hunting expeditions beyond the borders of the Russian 

 Colonies, which continued for many years.'' 



The names of live vessels trading on the iioi'th-west^^^g^^^^J^j^Y pp* 

 coast are known. 312-317. 



" The rights of Spain are liere mentioned because, by the I'kase of 

 1799, Russia claimed territory wliich Spain was ;ilso understood to 

 claim. In 1824 the United States was committed in its own interest 

 to support the old Spanish claim, in consequence of the Spanish ces- 

 sion to the United States in 1819. 



