[white] RUSSIAN AMERICA (ALASKA)— TREATY OF 1825 71 



Sir Charles Bagot to Mr. George Canning 



St. Petersburgh 



Febry. 17th, 1824 



Private, By Sardinian Courier to Berlin 



The Sardinian [minister] sends a Courier to-night to Turin via Berlin 

 which gives me the opportunity of sending this letter and a couple of despatches 

 to the care of Clanwilliam and thus avoiding at least the Russian Post Offices. 

 It sounds odd to tell the Secretary of State that I am too busy to write to him 

 to whom it is my particular business to keep writing, but such is the fact, and 

 like Rabelais' semiquaver friar, I must speak in monosyllables. 



I had yesterday my first interview with the Plenipotentiaries Nesselrode 

 and Poletica respecting our N. W. Coast Convention, and we meet again to- 

 morrow. As I was getting into my carriage to go to the conference, Mr Middle- 

 ton, to whom I had communicated the fact and the reasons of my being instructed 

 to treat separately in this afïair, and who had been mightily embarrassed by 

 the intelligence, called upon me and stated totidem verbis that he should think 

 it necessary to protest against any territorial division between Russia and Eng- 

 land of any parts of the Coasts in question as prejudicing more or less the 

 claims of His Government founded on the Treaty of Washington, and this, 

 notwithstanding the assurance which I had given him that I should insist upon 

 the insertion of a clause in any convention which I might conclude which should 

 save those pretensions. Upon arriving at Nesselrode's I thought it my duty 

 to acquaint him with what Mr. Middleton designed to do, and after discussing 

 what he could do, we agreed to proceed in our business. The fact is that he 

 could do nothing, nor does any agreement which we may make with Russia 

 preclude the United States from bringing forward hereafter any pretensions 

 which they may think they have to any privileges, or rights, territorial or other, 

 within the allotments assigned either to us or to Russia. I do not deny that 

 Russia would come to the discussion of any such pretensions with encreased 

 advantage after a Convention of Limits with us. This Russia sees, and it makes 

 Her as anxious as I am to conclude the business with us as soon as possible. 

 Pray do not conceive that I am not following your prescription as to the mode 

 of treating Middleton, or that I am not upon the best possible footing with him 

 when I tell you that I am not sorry that he should be both defeated and disap- 

 pointed in this business, not on his account, because he must ride to order 

 and do his best, but on account of the perfidious Adams. Middleton tells 

 me that he regrets the course which we take because he now feels in a scrape 

 for not having sooner executed his original instructions instead of waiting to 

 see the result of the proposal made to us for a concert of measures — and what 

 do you imagine those original instructions were ? Nothing less than to propose 

 to Russia to proceed to divide the whole coast in question between Her and the 

 United States to our entire exclusion. It is even so — I had it from his own 

 lips yesterday that such were his instructions, and an hour afterwards I had 

 from those of Poletica that he had actually made to him this proposal. Now 

 there does appear to me to have been a baseness in this business on the part of 

 Adams which nobody but Adams was capable of. But this trick has failed — 

 I shall conclude certainly speedily, and I think satisfactorily, our separate 

 arrangements, and Adams may bellow as much as he pleases. 



