54 RUSSIAN CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO 



liibitall foivioii mercantile vessels fi^om visiting' these points, or trading 

 in any oftlie ports of Eastern Siberia, except in case of disaster, Avlien 

 the strictest vigilance nuist be exercised to ]>revent the disposal of any 

 of the vessel's cargo, nnder pain of confiscation of both ship and cargo. 

 At the same time the Englishman Davis at Okhotsk and Dobello's 

 agent at Kamchatka must be informed that the Government does not 

 permit them to reside at those places, much less to acquire houses or 

 other immovable pro]»erty. The local authorities are instructed to 

 allow them damages lor the inunediate disposal of what i)roperty they 

 have already acquired, and to see to their immediate departure. Mr. 

 Dobello is to be informed that the ship he has pr()])oscd to dispatch 

 from the Phili])])ine Islands to Kamchatka with in'ovisions and articles 

 of luxury will not be allowed toAisit Kamchatka, unless it be trans- 

 ferred to the ownership of a Kussian subject, i)reference to be given to 

 the liussian American Company, operating under highest protection. 



3. ]?ermission is also denied to Mr. Dobello to despatch any ships to 

 Kronstadt with teas or other Chinese goods, such transactions being 

 iu direct contlict with the views of the Government, lie is also in- 

 formed that no further intercourse is possible between him and the au- 

 thorities of Eastern Siberia, and that even if supplies should be needed 

 from Manilla or any other adjacent foreign country, such transactions 

 would be intrusted to the hands of our American Compauy. 



Having iufonued \'ou of these highest views, the board of administra- 

 tion adds the toUowing ex])lanati(>n: 



The contract which was disapproved by the Im])erial Government 

 was concluded with IMgott on the 18th of Jnue, 1819, for a period of 

 ten years by Mr. Eiccovd, commander of the Kamchatka district, and 

 Court-Councillor Dobello on behalf of the Go\ernment, parties of the 

 tirst part, and the above nanunl Enj;lishmeu Pigott on behalf of himself 

 and his partners, Davis, Ebbets and ^leek, captains of American mer- 

 chant vessels, of the second part, for the purpose of whaling and hunt- 

 ing marine animals for their furs and oil on the coasts of Kamchatka 

 and of Eastern Siberia, in the harbors, bays and straits, and on the 

 islands, for their own benefit and profit, without any duty or royalty, 

 and with the privilege of carrying the Russian flag, and with the addi- 

 tional privilege of fishing and of shipping the catch from Kamchatka 

 on payment of fifty ko]»eks per poud on salted fish. This contract 

 was naturally considered by the Government to be injurious to the in- 

 terests of the Conq)any, since all the benefits .accrued to foreigners, 

 and no provision was made to ])r()tect the native inhabitants of those 

 regions who depend for their ]U'incipal nu'ans of subsistence upon fish, 

 which under this contract would have been carried aAvay by foreigners 

 before their longing eyes. 



Having thus reached the conviction that the real object of these 

 scheming foreigners, with whom it appears that Dobello was allied on 

 terms of intimacy, was not only to obtain the privilege of killing whales 

 and of trying out their blubber, or the chase of other marine animals 

 which frequent our waters that wash the coasts of Eastern Siberia, but 

 rather to j;radually obtain control over our Kurile and Aleutian Islands 

 for the purpose of hunting sea-otters and fur-seals, which object, had it 

 been obtained, would have crii)})led tlje Kussian American Company, 

 the board of administration e\])resses the following opinion: 



As soon as the Imperial Government ascertained that the contracts 

 made were in open violation of the ]:)riviK'ges granted the Company, it 

 prohibited at oiwe all foreigners not oidy from settling in Kanudiatka 

 or Okhotsk, but also from all intercourse with those regions, enjoining 



