SELECTIONS FROM CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE 

 UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA, 1822-87. 



No. 1. 



The Chevalier de Poletica io the Secretary of State. 



Washington, Fehruary 28, 1822. 



Sm: I received two days since the letter wiiicli you did me tlie 

 honour to address to me on the same day, by order of the President of 

 the United States, in answer to my note of the 11th current, by which 

 I discliar<;cd the orders of my Government in com numica tiny' to you 

 the new lvci;n]ation a(k)pted by the Knssian American Company, and 

 sanctioned by His Majesty the Emperor, my aiii^ust Soveieign, on tlie 

 4th (KJth) Septcndjer, 1821, relative to foreign coniinerce in the waters 

 which border upon the establishments of the said Comi)any on the 

 north-west coast of America. 



Readily yieldinii', Sir, to the desire expressed by you in your letter 

 of knowin<^ the rights and principles upon Avhich are founded the 

 determinate limits of the IJussian possessions on the north-west coast 

 of America from Behring Strait to the 51st degree of north latitude, I 

 am happy to fulfil this task by only calling your attention to the fol- 

 lowing historical facts, the authenticity of wliich cannot be contested. 

 The tirst discoveries of the Eussiaiis on the north-west continent of 

 America go back to the time of the Emperor Peter I. They belong to 

 the attempt, nmde towards the-end of the reign of this great Mouarch, 

 to find a passage from the icy sea into the Pacific Ocean. 



In 1728 the celebrated Captain Behring made his first voyage. 



The recital of his discoveries attracted the attention of the Govern- 

 ment, and the Empress Anne intrusted to Captain Behring (1741) a 

 new expedition in these same latitudes. She sent with him tbe Acade- 

 micians Gmelin, Delile de la Crayere, Miiller, Steller, Fischer, Krasil- 

 nicoff, Krpecheninicott", and others; and the first Chart of these countries 

 which is known was the result of their labours, published in 1758. 

 Besides the strait which bears the name of the chief of this expedition, 

 he discovered a great part of the islands which are found between the 

 two continents. Cape or Mount St. Elias, which still bears this name 

 upon all the Charts, was so called by Captain Behring, who discovered 

 it on the day of the feast of this saiTit; and his second, Captain Tchiri- 

 coflf, pushed his discoveries as far as the 49th degree of north latitude. 



The first private expeditions undertaken upon the north-west coast 

 of America go back as f'Av as the year 1743. 



In 176:3 the Russian establishments had already extended as far as the 

 Island of Kodiak (or Kichtak). In 1778 Cook found them at Oiinalaska, 

 and some Russian inscriptions at Kodiak. Vancouver saw the Russian 



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