CASE OF THE LORIOT. 183 



tions of the fourth article should not be renewed. But another consid- 

 eration, not less decisive, here presents itself; this is the obligation 

 under which the Imperial Government is placed to protect the com- 

 merce and navigation of the Russian colonies, and to secure to them 

 henceforth the peaceable enjoyment of the advantages which, by virtue 

 of their privileges, they are destined to gather from the improvement 

 (exploitation) of the fisheries as well as from the trade with the natives. 



" These considerations, taken together, render itimpossible for the Im- 

 perial Government to accede to the proposition which has been made to it 

 to renew the stipulations of the fourth article. The regret experienced 

 by it on the occasion is, however, diminished by the conviction that the 

 United States would not themselves derive any especial advantage from 

 the longer continuance of these stipulations; since, according to the 

 statement of the navigation in these places, even whilst the fourth 

 article was yet in force, there were never more than four American vessels 

 arrived in the course of a whole year, and that even this number hardly 

 to be taken into account in the flourishing state of the mercantile marine 

 of the Union, was diminishing in proportion as enterprises on the north- 

 west coast offered fewer chances of success. It appears evident from 

 this, that the renewal of the fourth article could hardly contribute to 

 extend in a reciprocally useful manner the commercial relations between 

 Russia and the United States of America; or by consequence answer 

 the constant solicitude of the Imperial Government to cement more and 

 more and in a mutual interest the friendly intelligence which it is al- 

 ways happy to cultivate with the Government of the Union." 



A final request was made for permission to trade, if not with the 

 natives, then at least with the Russians. But this too was refused, as 

 appears from the following dispatch of Mr. Dallas' to the Secretary of 

 State, May 13, 183S 1 : 



" On the 9th inst. the communication of which I annex a copy, was 

 received from Count Nesselrode, in reply to my request, under date of 

 the 26th of March last, to be furnished with information as to the 

 measures adopted, or proposed to be adopted, by this Government re- 

 specting the admission of American vessels into the Russian establish- 

 ments on the northwest coast. 



"It will be perceived that the substance of Count Nesselrode's note 

 is distinct and definitive; and that the single and simple measure 

 adopted in relation to our vessels, is their absolute exclusion from what 

 are deemed the Russian possessions. The published order of Governor 

 Wrangel, to which Baron Krudener, in 1835, called your attention, is 

 confirmed unqualifiedly in principle and practice; and the cabinet at 

 Washington is invited to repeat the warning heretofore given by it to 

 the citizens of the United States not to contravene that prohibitory 

 notice, so that they may avoid exposing themselves to the consequences 

 of misunderstanding or collision. 



"Although my request for information was expressly limited to 

 Russian establishments, and Count Nesselrode's reply to it may not 

 strictly be extended beyond that limit, I can not help thinking that 

 the prefatory and peculiar reference he has made to the expiration of 

 the fourth article of the convention is meant as a reiteration of the 

 position assumed in the case of the Loriot, Capt. Blinn, to wit, that since 

 April, 1834, our right to frequent the interior seas, gulfs, harbors, and 

 creeks north of 54° 40' north latitude, whether actually occupied or 

 not, has ceased. The consistent brevity, indeed, with which the effect 



1 Ibid., p. 71. 



