254 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



his hunters and defeat his plans. He further stated that a hunting 

 party having a short time before extended their excursion to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Norfolk Sound, had found the sea-otters so abundant as 

 to induce him to undertake what he considered a most perilous enter- 

 prise, and he expressly declared that this was the first attempt ever made 

 by the Btissians to establish a post so far to the southward and eastward. 

 This, though not a "historical fact," is one for the correctness of which 

 we hold ourselves pledged. It would thus seem that M. Baranoft' knew 

 nothing of the- extensive liussian establishments in 48° and 49°, and 

 Ave may, without injustice, regard as wholly gratuitous on the part of 

 M. de Poletica the discovery of the long-lost companions of Tchiricoff. 

 We are tempted, moreover, to dwell a moment on the unparalleled 

 increase ascribed to this party. Four hundred and sixty descendants 

 from fifteen men in forty-seven years would afltbrd a duplication of num- 

 bers in a little more than nine years, a statement we should not dare 

 to make in the hearing of Mr. Godwin. But what has become of these 

 "eight establishments" at the present time? By the same ratio of 

 increase they Mould now contain about 4,000 souls; Avhy are they left 

 without the pale of Imperial protection? If they do not exist, why, 

 when, and to what place were they removed? The plain truth is, that 

 in fixing the situation of the eight establishments dist-overed by Cap- 

 tain Haro, M. de Poletica has made the mistake (a trifiing one it may 

 seem on a Russian Map) of ten degrees of latitude. They were actually 

 found in latitude ./i/Y^/eiS'lit and fifty -niuG, instead of 48° and 49°, and 

 distant more than 1,(K)0 miles from the situation assigned them by the 

 Eussian Minister. This fact appears beyond a doubt from the account 

 of the voyage of Captain Haro given by M. Fleurieu in the " Histor- 

 ical Introduction " before referred to. It is there stated, on the authority 

 of two original letters, the one from San Blass, dated the 30th Octo- 

 ber, 1788 (a few days after the return of Haro), the other from the city 

 of Mexico, dated the 28th August, 1789, that Don Haro found, between 

 the latitudes yi/%- eight and /i/j^y-nine, eight Eussian establishments, 

 each composed of between sixteen and twenty families, forming a 

 total of 402 individuals. It is added, "that the strangers had suc- 

 ceeded in habituating to their customs and manners (iOO of the natives 

 of the country, and received a tribute from them for the Empress of 

 Eussia." For this part of the account M. de Poletica has substituted 

 his own speculations concerning the lost companions of Tchiricoff. In 

 a note M. Fleurieu remarks that, " in the letter from St. Blass, it is 

 mentioned that the Settlements are situated between the latitudes of 

 48° and 49°, but it is either the fault of the coi)y, or it is by design, 

 that the latitudes have been improperly indicated." M. de Humboldt, 

 in his " Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain," vol. ii, p. 320, 

 mentions the voyage of Don Haro in the " St. Carlos," and essentially 



confims the account already given. As he had access to the 

 33 manuscript account of the voyage, we presume his authority 



will not be questioned. Page 339 he says, "No Euro])ean nation 

 has yet formed a solid establishment on the immense extent of coast 

 from Cape Mendocino (latitude 42°) to the fifty-ni nth degree of latitude: 

 beyond this limit the Russian factories commence,''^ »&c. We have been 

 thus particular respecting the discoveries made by Captain Haro, 

 because M. de Poletica considers them as "dispelling even the shadow 

 of a doubt" in relation to the Eussian "title by occupati(m" even 

 farther south than 51°. As we fully agree with him that they do dis- 

 ])el all doubt on the subject, and as this is probably the only point in 

 which w(> shall agree, we trust our readers will pardon us for dwelling 

 ou this coincidence of opinion. 



