ArPl':NDTX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 251 



prove was first seen and explored by the navigators of other nations, and 

 that a commerce was carried on by them with the native inhabitants, 

 long before the Russians had any intercourse with them whatever. 



According to M. de Poletica the "rigiits of Eussia" to this coast 

 rest upon "three bases," viz., "the title of first discovery," " the title 

 of first occupation," and " upon that which results from a peaceable 

 and uncontested possession of more than half a century." We shall 

 examine these " titles" in the order in which they are placed. 



It is not pretended that Behring extended his excursions beyond the 

 bay which bears his name, and his discoveries are therefore irrelevant 

 to the discussion; but the assertion that "his second captain, Tchiri- 

 coft' (in 1741), pushed his discoveries to the 49th degree of north lati- 

 tude," is deserving particular consideration, because it will be found 

 that the asserted llussian "title of first discovery," rests wholly on the 

 voyage of this navigator. We have not met with any account of this 

 voyage from which the slightest inference can be drawn that Teh iricoft" 

 saw the American coast in the parallel of 49°; but, on the contrary, all 

 the accounts which we have seen concur in fixing the southern limits 

 of his continental researches north of 55°. The earliest account we can 

 find is in a Memoir of Philippe Buache, read to the French Academy 

 in 1752, and published at Paris in 1753. This Memoir is accompanied 

 by a Chart, prepared by M. de Lisle, formerly First Professor of Astron- 

 omy in the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburgh, and brother to Belile 

 de la Cro^'Cre, one of the Academicians who accompanied Tchiricoff*. 

 On this Chart is marked the route of that navigator from Kam- 

 31 tchatkato America, and of his return. It appears from this that 

 they discovered the coast of America on the 15th July, 1741, 

 about the latitude 55° 30', and sent a boat, with the pilot Dementiew 

 and ten men, with orders to land. This boat not returning after several 

 days a second one was sent, with four men, who shared the fate of the 

 first, and nothing was heard of them till 1822, when they were fortu- 

 nately discovered by M. de Poletica in the latitude of 48"^ and 49° ! After 

 waiting in vain for the return ot his boats, Tchiricotf left the coast of 

 America, and on his return discovered land in latitude 51°. This could 

 be no other than the southernmost of the Aleutian Islands; and the 

 circumstance of the natives coming oft" to him in slcin canoes confirms 

 this supi^osition, as no canoes of that description have ever been found 

 on the American ooast in that ])arallel. The authenticity of this account 

 of Tchiricoft^'s voyage can hardly be questioned. It was published a few 

 years only after his return, and it is stated that M. de Lisle had received 

 the manuscripts of his brother, who died at Kamtchatka shortly after 

 the termination of the voyage. Possibly this Chart and Memoir may 

 not have met the eye of M. de Poletica, or he would not have asserted 

 that " the first Chart of these countries was published in 1758." Miiller, 

 who was in the expedition on board Behring's ship, gives nearly the same 

 account as the above of Tchiricoft's voyage, placing his land fall in lati- 

 tude of 50°. Cox, Ijurney, and all writers on this subject whom we have 

 met with have adopted these accounts, and we cannot even conjecture 

 on what authority M. de Poletica pushes Tchiricoff 's discoveries to 49°. 



The formidable host of navigators cited by M. de Poletica does not 

 apijal us. If our readers will look into "Cox's Account of the Russian 

 Discoveries," and examine the relation there given of most of these 

 voyages, they will find it difficult to believe that any discoveries result- 

 ing from them remain unpublished, or that they have any bearing on 

 the question before us. There is not the slighest probability that any 

 of those navigators penetrated so far eastward as Behring Bay. In 



