64 RUSSIAN CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO 



may be in want of, I have received a commuuication from the Minister 

 of Foreign Affairs. 



Count Karl Vassilievitch has been pleased to inform me that he has sub- 

 mitted the matter to His Majesty the Emperor, and that His Majesty, 

 finding that the solicitations on the part of the board of administra- 

 tion of the Eussian American Company concerning the renewal of inter- 

 course with foreigners in the Colonies were deserving of attention, has 

 most graciously ordained that intercourse and trade with foreign ships 

 in the Colonies may be carried on under established regulations, and in 

 one port designated for the purpose. 



Informing you of this gracious permission on the part of His Majesty 

 the Emperor, I will add that I am authorized to state that it is the in- 

 tention of the proper authorities to designate Sitka as the one port 

 which foreign vessels will be permitted to enter for the purpose of 

 trading with the Company only. 



Lieutenant-General Kankein, 



Minister of Finance. 

 Sergei Uvarof, 



Director, 



Ko. 12. 



Letter from Count Hesselrode to Nikolas Semenoviteli Mordvinof. Written 

 from M. Fetershurg April 11, 18:J-I. 



The communication of your Excellency, dated February 20th of this 

 year, in which you express your opinion on the subject of the rights of 

 the Kussian American Conipany to control certain parts of the north- 

 west coast of America, and on the threatening dispute over the limits of 

 such rights, I have had the honor to submit to His Majesty the Emperor. 

 His Ma;iesty, upon receipt of the communication, most graciously gave it 

 his immediate and careful attention. His Majesty was pleased to enter 

 into the subject with the thoroughness and promptitude which, as your 

 Excellency is well aware, he bestows upon all subjects relating to the 

 welfare of Enssian subjects, especially of those who by their enterprise 

 and energy have contributed to the enlargement and development of 

 the Empiie. The Emperor recalls with pleasure all that has been ac- 

 complished by our bold navigators m the discovery of islands and 

 coasts of America; their eiforts and successes, their losses and the 

 dangers incurred in the settlement of regions theretofore unknown, the 

 natural ri(thes of which they were the first to gather in and to lay be- 

 fore the civilized world. These achievements doubtless gave us the 

 right to look for commensurate advantages from those regions, and His 

 Majesty's ministers will not during the present negotiations ignore, nor 

 have they at any other time ignored, this point of view. But while 

 endeavoring to preserve the advantages gained under such difiiculties, 

 and while anxious to obtain others l)y all legitimate means, we must 

 not forget tliat thei'e may be other more important public interests and 

 requirements imposing other more important duties upon the Govern- 

 ment. 



I consider it Tinnecessary, my dear Sir, to exi>lain to you, who are 

 thoroughly versed in all branches of the science of government, that 

 in political negotiations we <;an not confine ourselves to weighing only 

 the greater or lesser immediate advantage involved in a question. His 



