PERIOD PRECEDING THE TREATIES. 15 



THE SITUATION ABOUT BERING SEA AND ON THE 

 NORTHWEST COAST DOWN TO THE TREATIES OF 

 1824-5. 



Russia appears to have first definitely asserted Russia s coio- 



i . i i . -. . -r, nia l system. 



her rights to the territory surrounding .Bering 

 Sea, and to the Northwest Coast of America bor- 

 dering upon the Pacific Ocean, in the ukase of 

 1799. It was clearly the intention of the Russian 

 Government, as manifested both by this ukase 

 and by its subsequent action down to the time of 

 the cession of Alaska to the United States, to 

 maintain a strict colonial system in the regions 

 above mentioned. And the records show that 

 down to a period as late as 1867, the year of the 

 cession of Alaska, Russia persisted in this policy, 

 although the control she exercised over those 

 distant regions was not always vigilant enough 

 to prevent a certain amount of unlawful trade 

 with the natives from being carried on there in 

 disregard of her prohibition. 



The ukase of 1799 was directed against for- utaseofi799. 

 eigners. Upon this point a quotation is given 

 from a letter from the Russian American Com- 

 pany to the Russian Minister of Finance under 

 date of June 12, 1824, as follows: 1 "The ex- 

 clusive right granted to the Company in the year 

 1799 imposed the prohibition to trade in those 



1 A facsimile of this document was delivered to the British Gov- 

 ernment on November 12, 1892. 



