THE EUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY. 69 



wliieli heretofore bad been in donbt; tliat on tlie strength of this agree- 

 ment these rights had been acknowledged by the Government which 

 wonhl have been most benefited by contesting them, and which could 

 most easily have injured us; that by means of this agreement the 

 undisputed sovereignty of Russia has been established eA^en beyond the 

 point mentioned in the original privileges and charter granted to the 

 Eussian American Company. 



2, Tliat through the absolute prohibition of trade in arms, ammuni- 

 tion and strong liquors with the inhabitants of the Northwest Coast, 

 established by this agreement, the llussian American Company has 

 secured an amount of protection for which it has repeatedly clamored, 

 but which it has not heretofore attained. 



.'». That this last consideration is all the more important because 

 such prohibition, affecting only Russia, ])revents distuibances and 

 open hostilities among the native trilies inhabiting our possessions, 

 while at the same time it makes prolitable trade on the i)art of foreign- 

 ers within our domain impossible. 



4. That the agreement of Ajnil 5/17 contains also another not less 

 important point, namely, the agreement on the part of the Americans 

 to establish no settlement on the Nortlnvest Coast above latitude 54° 40'. 

 By this concession alone our own territorial claim is placed upon a 

 permanent basis.^ 



5, That one of the most important points of the agreement, and one 

 of very great advantage to Russia, lies in the assurance that at the 

 expiration of ten years the subjects of the United An»erican States 

 will cease altogether to navigate the waters of the Northwestern coast 

 above latitude 54° 40' and to carry on their fishery and trade with the 

 native inhabitrints. If, on the one hand, it could not be sup])osed that 

 the States would willingly agree to such a concession without any cor- 

 responding advantage, on the other hand, all that the Imperial jVIinistry 

 ha<l desired or demanded will be accorded and fulfilled at the end of a 

 few years as specified. 



C. Concerning the iniluence which the agreement concluded on the 

 5th of April may have upon Russia's trade with China, it is necessary 

 to consider that in this trade there is invested on both sides a capital 

 of 50,000,000 rubles, of which only 800,000 rubles fall to the Russian 

 American Company's share, and even if the Company could bring to 

 Kiakhta a much greater number of furs, otters, and fur seal, it would 

 be found impossible to dispose of them, and they would fill the market 

 to the injury of other goods. At any rate, viewing the limited scope 

 of its trade, it can not be considered that the agreement of April 5/17 

 can in any way injure the trade of Russia with China. 



7. That since the sovereignty of Russia over the shores of Siberia 

 and America, as well as over the Aleutian Islands and the intervening 

 seas, has long since been acknowledged by all powers, these coasts, 

 islands, and seas just named could not have been referred to in the 

 articles of the above mentioned convention, which latter concerns only 

 the disputed territory on the Northwest Coast of America and the 

 adjoining islands, and that in the full assurance of such undisputed 

 right Russia has long since established permanent settlements on the 

 coastof Siberia as well as on the chain of the Aleutian islands; conse- 

 <iuently American subjects could not, on the strength of article 2 of the 

 convention of April 5/17, have made landings on the coast or carried 



' The southernmost settlemeDt now occupied is situated in latitude 57° ; conse- 

 quently this agreement will enable them to locate new stations further to the south. 



