180 CASES OF THE PEARL, LORIOT, AND HARRIET. 



which the Emperor sees this affair as to the principle of right, and to 

 declare especially that His Imperial Majesty accedes to the wishes of 

 the Government of the United States only with the view of evincing 

 his favorable dispositions to cement those amicable relations to which 

 the convention of April 5-17 April has just added new value. 



I have the honor to be, with the most distinguished consideration, sir, 

 your most humble and obedient servant, 



Nesseleode. 



St. Petersburg, 22 April, 1824. 



CASE OF THE LORIOT. 



On May 19, 1835, the Department of State at Washington was 

 officially notified by the Eussian minister that the ten years trading 

 privileges upon the Northwest Coast of America, which were conferred 

 by the treaty of 1824 between the United States and Kussia, had come 

 to an end, and that the captains of two American vessels at Sitka had 

 already been requested to take notice of this fact. 1 



On June 24, 1835, the Secretary of State wrote to the Eussian minis- 

 ter, as follows: * * * "I am instructed to apprise you that the 

 President would prefer not to take any active measures to interrupt 

 the commercial intercourse between the United States and the Eussian 

 settlements on the Northwest coast of America, unless, in your opinion, 

 there is reason to believe that a proposition on the part of this Govern- 

 ment for a renewal of the article referred to would not be met in a 

 favorable spirit by the government of His Imperial Majesty at St. 

 Petersburg." 2 



On July 30, 1835, the Secretary of State notified Mr, Wilkins, the 

 United States minister at St. Petersburg, of the foregoing, and requested 

 him to endeavor to obtain a renewal of the ten year's privileges; which 

 request was repeated April 19, 1837, to Mr. Dallas, Mr. Wilkins' suc- 

 cessor. 3 



Soon thereafter there was received the news of the seizure by the 

 Eussian s in the preceding year of the brig Loriot in a harbor situated 

 in latitude 54° 55' north upon the Northwest coast, i. e., just above the 

 southernmost limit of latitude 54° 40', referred to in the treaty of 1824. 

 The United States Government protested vigorously and demanded 

 reparation of the Eussian Government. Its views are found embodied 

 in the letter addressed by the Secretary of State to Mr. Dallas, May 4, 

 1837." 



The material issues involved in the case are concisely stated as fol- 

 lows in a letter from Mr. Dallas to Count Nesselrode, dated March 5, 

 1838. 5 



"Avoiding a repetition of details heretofore enumerated as well as 

 their aggravating features, the leadingfacts of reclamation are that of the 

 brig Loriot, owned and commanded by American citizens, sailed from the 

 Sandwich Islands on the 22d of August, 1836, bound to the Northwest 

 Coast to procure provisions and Indians for hunting sea-otter ; that hav. 



1 Senate Ex. Doc. No. 1, Twenty-fifth Congress, third session, p. 24. The whole of 

 this document will be laid before the Tribunal. 



2 Ibid., p. 26. 

 s Jbid., p. 30. 



*Ib\d., p. 33, and British Case, p. 80. 

 *Ibid. } p. 60, and British Case, p. 81. 



