152 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE 



Mr. Foster to Mr. Tupper. 



"Washington, November 19, 1892. 



Sir: Under date of tlie 2d instant I advised you that I had discov- 

 ered that a number of documents belonging to the archives of Alaska 

 and referred to in the Case of the United States before the Tribunal ol 

 Arbitration were incorrectly translated from the Russian language; 

 and I promised to give you at the earliest practicable date a detailed 

 statement of the erroneous translations and to indicate the pages in the 

 Case of the United States where they are quoted or referred to. 



Before complying with that promise I deem it due to my Govern- 

 ment and to myself to state the circumstances under which these 

 translations were introduced into the Case of the United States. When 

 I entered upon the work of preparing the same I learned that there 

 existed in the archives of the State Department a large collection of 

 documents entirely in the Russian language, which had been turned 

 over by the Russian authorities in the Territory of Alaska at the time 

 of the transfer of that Territory to the United States, in accordance 

 with the treaty of cession of 1867. These documents 1 found to be un- 

 classified and without indices. Desiring to ascertain whether they 

 contained any information relevant to the work I had in hand, I made 

 inquiry for a competent person to undertake the needed research. 

 After considerable investigation my choice fell upon Ivan Petroff. I 

 learned that hewas a native Russian, educated in St. Petersburg, 

 that he had several times visited Alaska as an agent of the United 

 States Government and had been in the employ of this Government for 

 several years in responsible positions. He was represented to me as 

 an accomplished linguist and the best-informed person obtainable in 

 the Russian language and history, and I was also told that he had per- 

 formed a large part of the labor in the compilation of H. H. Bancroft's 

 History of Alaska. Having entire confidence in his capacity and in- 

 tegrity, I intrusted to him the examination of the Alaskan archives, 

 with the result shown in the use made of them in the Case of the United 

 States and Volume I of its Appendix. 



Only a few weeks ago my suspicion was for the first time aroused as 

 to the correctness of some of the passages translated by Petroff, and a 

 careful examination has revealed an astounding series of false trans- 

 lations. As soon as I was prepared to do so, I brought Petroff into my 

 presence and confronted him with the proofs of his infidelity and false 

 translations. The evidence of his dishonest conduct being overpowering, 

 he acknowledged his guilt in the presence of witnesses and signed a 

 full confession, of which I inclose you herewith a copy certified to by the 

 witnesses. The only motive which he has alleged for his conduct is that 

 he supposed by making the false translations and interpolations he 

 would so ingratiate himself into favor and impress upon this Govern- 

 ment the importance and value of the Alaskan archives as to secure 

 his employment to classify, translate, and index that voluminous col- 

 lection of documents. 



In making this explanation I desire again to direct attention to the 

 fact mentioned in my note of the 2d instant that photolithographic 

 rei>roductions of all the original documents, of which translations were 

 cited or made use of, were introduced in Volume I of the Appendix to 

 the Case of tbe United States, following page 593, and that the British 

 Government and its representatives were thus furnished with the means 

 of testing the correctness of the translations. 



