APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BPJTAIN. 297 



for the ('ompany and for tribute; the Commissary's department; 

 conntinjif-house; all in this building, at one end of which is J3elareff's 

 habitation." (//>/>/,, p. 173.1 If this pietnre is not overdrawn, and it 

 surely is, affairs here did not improve with time. 



It seems that there were varions small Companies, of which that at 

 Kodiak was the most considerable, all of which were finally fused into 

 one larue trading- Ccmipany, known as the liUssian-American Company, 

 which was organized in 171l!», under a Charter from the Emperor Paul, 

 with the power of administration throughout the whole region, includ- 

 ing the coasts and the islands. In this respect it was not unlike the 

 East India Company, which has ]ilayed such a part in English history; 

 but it may be inore properly compared to the Hudson Bay Company, 

 of which it was a Russian counter]>art. The Charter was for a term 

 of years, but it has been from time to time extended, and, as I under- 

 stand, is now on the \)oh\t of e\])iring. The ]>owers of the Comiiany 

 are sententiously described by the "Almanach de Cotha " for J8(!7, 

 where, under the head of Ilnssia, it says that "to the ju'csent time 

 liussian America has been the propcrUi of a Company.'''' 



I know no limitation upon the Coini)any, except that latterly it has 

 been bound to ai»i>oint its chief functionary, called "Administrator- 

 General,'' from the higher ofiicers of the Imperial Navy, when he 

 becomes invested with what are d(M'lare(l the j^rerogatives of a Gov- 

 ernor in Siberia. This requirement has doubtless secured the superior 

 order of Magistrates which the country has latteily enjoyed. Among 

 these liave l)een Baron Wraiigel, an A/lmiral, who was there at the 

 time of the Treaty with Great iiritain in 1825; Captain Koupreanoif, 

 who had ccmimanded the "Azof," a ship of the liiiQ, in the lilack Sea, 

 and S])oke P^nglish well; Captain I^tholine: Admiral Enjurelm, who, 

 after being there five years, was made Governor of the Province of the 

 Amoor; Admiral Wodski ; and Prince j\IacksontotV, an Admiral also, 

 wdio is the ])resent Administrator (4eneral. The term of service is 

 ordinarily five years. 



The seat of Government is the town of New Archangel, better known 

 by its aboriginal name of Sitkii, with a harbour as smooth and safe as 

 a pond. Its preseut population cannot be far from 1 ,000 souls, although 

 even this is changeable. In the spring, when sailors leave for the sea 

 and trapjiers for the chase, it has been reduced to as few as 180. It 

 was not without a question that Sitka at last prevailed as the metrop- 

 olis. Liitke sets forth reasons elaborately urged in favour of St. Paul, 

 on the Island of Kodiak. (" Voyage," Tom. 1, ]>. loli.) 



The first Settlement there was in 1800 by I>aranow, the Superin- 

 tendent of the Company, whose life was passed in this c(mntry, and 

 whose name has been given to the island. But the Settlement made 

 slow i)rogress. Lisiansky, who was there in 1804, records that "from 

 his entrance into Sitka Sound there was noli to be seen on the shore 

 the least vestige of habitation" (p. 145.) The natives had set them- 

 selves against a Settlement there. Meanwhile, the seat of Govern- 

 ment was at Kodiak, of which we have an early and friendly glim]ise. 

 I quote what Lisiansky says, as exhibiting in a favourable light the 

 ining of that Government which has been transferred to the 

 Uurted States: 



The Island of Kodiak, witli tlie rest of the Russian Settlo.inents along tLe nortli- 

 west coast) of America, are superintended by a kind of (iovernor-Cileneral or tJom- 

 inander-iu-chief, who lias agents under him, appointed, like himself, by the Com- 

 pany at Petersburgh. The smaller Settlements liave each a Russian overseer. Tliese 

 overseers are chosen by the Governor, ;ind are selected for the ollice in conseqnence 

 of their long services and orderly conduct. They have the power of punishing, to 

 a certain extent, those whom they superintend; but are themselves amenable to the 



