OORRESPONDENOE RELATING TO THE AFFAIRS OF 

 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY/ 



PART I.— ILLUSTRATING RUSSIA'S EXERCISE OF JURISDICTION 



OVER BERING SEA. 



No. 1. 



Abstract of letter from the Ilinister of Fiiiance to the Minister of Marine. 

 Written from St. Petersburg April 0, 1820. 



The committee of Ministers appointed by His Majesty on the 8th 

 day of July, 1810, instructed the Minister of Internal Affairs to collect 

 all information obtainable relating to the determination of the future 

 rights and privileges of the Russian American Comj)auy. 



Subsequently, upon highest request, the Department of Manufac- 

 tures and Internal Commerce, together with the Eussiau American 

 Comiiany, submitted statements on this subject supported by the an- 

 nual lejiorts of the board of administration and by the testimony of 

 the commanders of ships sailing in those regions, from which I learn 

 that the foreigners, especially the citizens of the North American 

 States, come to our Colonies in their shij)s andcarry on both openly and 

 secretly a trade with the native inhabitants, doing thereby great injury 

 and wrong to our settlements in their traffic, and also endangering the 

 general interests by furnishing the islanders with various arms and 

 ammunitions. 



In view of the recent establishment at these Colonies, and of the ab- 

 sence of forces required to prevent such irregularities, and of the small 

 number of Eussians scattered over an area of nearly 4,000 versts, the 

 Company finds it impossible to occupy all localities in sufficient num- 

 bers to prevent the foreigners from maintaining their illegitimate inter- 

 course with the native inhabitants, and from exercising their pernicious 

 influence upon them. In this connection I have taken into considera- 

 tion that the interests of the Company, its establishments and objects 

 are insejiarable from the interests of the Government, and it a])pears 

 of the most imperative necessity for the preservation of our sovereignty 

 in the northwestern part of America and on the islands and waters 

 situated between them to maintain there continuously two ships of the 

 Imperial fleet. 



This object will, in my opinion, be most readily accomiDlished in the 

 following manner. 



Starting in the month of August or September of the present year, 

 one of these armed ships can sail for the island of Sitka, and the other 

 for the harbor of Petropavlovsk, arriving there in the month of April 

 or May, 1821. The first having discharged at Sitka any cargo which 

 may be intrusted to the commander, should sail to the northward along 



' Fa c-similes of the original documeuts will be found at the end of this volume. 

 7 49 



