APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 4:6b 



The Imperial Govenimeut, in assigning- for limits to the Knssian pos- 

 sessions on the north-west coast of America, on the one side Behring- 

 Straits, and on the other the 51st degree of north latitude, has only 

 made a moderate use of an incontestable right, since the Russian navi- 

 gators, who were the first to explore that part of the American Con- 

 tinent in 1741, pushed their discovery as far as the 49th degree of 

 nortli latitude. The 51st degree, therefore, is no more than a mean 

 itoint between the liussian establishment of New Archangel, situated 

 under the 57th degree, and the American Colony at the mouth of the 

 Colnmbia, which is found under the 40th degree of the same latitude. 



All these considerations united have con(;urred in inspiring the 

 Imperial Government with an entire conviction that, in the last arrange- 

 ments adopted in Kussia relative to her possessions on the north-west 

 coast, the legitimate right of no foreign i*o\ver has been infringed. In 

 this conviction tlie Emjjeror, my august Sovereign, has judged that his 

 good right, and the obligation imposed by Providence upon him to pro- 

 tect, with all his power, the interests of his subjects, sulliciently justified 

 the measures last taken by His Im])eria] Majesty in favour of the Kus- 

 sian-American Com[)any, without its being necessary to clothe them 

 with the sanction of Treaties. 



1 shall be more succinc-t, Sir, in the exposition of the motives which 

 determined the Imperial Government to prohibit foreign vessels irom 

 api>r()aching the north Avest coast of America belonging to llussia 

 within the distance of at least 100 Italian miles. This measure, how- 

 ever severe it may at first view a])pear, is, after all, but a measure of 

 prevention. It is exclusively directed against the culpable enteri)rises 

 of foreign adventurers, who, not content with exercising upon the coasts 

 above mentioned an illicit trade, very prejudicial to the rights reserved 

 entirely to the Eussian-American Company, take upon them besides to 

 furnish arms and ammunition to the natives in the Russian possessions 

 in America, exciting them likewise, in every maimer, to resistance and 

 revolt against the authorities there established. 



The American Government doubtless recollects that the irregular 

 conduct of these adventurers, the majority of whom was composed of 

 American citizens, has been the object of the most pressing remon- 

 strances on the part of Russia to the Federal Government, from the 

 time that Diplomatic Missions were organized between the two coun- 

 tries. These remonstrances, rei)eated at different times, remain con- 

 stantly without effect, and the inconvenience to which they ought to 

 bring a remedy continues to increase. 



The Imperial Government, respecting the intentions of the American 

 Government, has always abstained from attributing the ill-success of 

 its remonstrances to any other motives than those which tiow, if I may 

 be allowed the expression, from the very nature of the institutions which 

 govern the national affairs of the American Federation. But the high 

 o[)inion Avliich the Empeior has always entertained of the rectitude of 

 the American Government cannot exempt him from the care which his 

 sense of justice towards his own subjects imposes upon him. Pacific 

 means not having brought auy alleviation to the just grievances of the 

 Russian-American Company, against foreign navigation in the waters 

 which environ their establishments on the north-west coast of America, 

 tlie Imjierial Government saw itself under the necessity of having 

 recourse to the means of coercion, and of measuring the rigour accord- 

 ing to the inveterate character of the evil to which it wished to put a 

 stop. Yet it is easy to discover, on examining closely the last Regula- 

 tion of the Russian- American Company, that uo sx)irit of hostility had 



