12 COUNTEE-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



RUSSIA'S SO-CALLED SETTLEMENT, NUSHAGAK, WITH FIVE 

 RUSSIAN INHABITANTS. 



The only Russian settlement, if such it can be called, 



upon the eastern shore of Behrin^ Sea mentioned in the 



United states United States Case, is that of Nushagak, in Bristol Bay, 



British Case, which ajjpears not to have been established until 1818, 



Appendix, voi.i, ^j^^j ^^ havc Contained in 1819 no more than five Russian 



inhabitants, 

 di? vol. iii^'''""" Mr- Blaine himself, in a despatch to Sir J. Pauncefote, 

 "United states dated 17th December, 1890, says: 



No.l (1891)," p. ' ' 



44. At tlie time these Treaties [of 1824 and 1825] were neffotiated, there 



was only oue Settlement, and that of Russians, on the shores of Beh- 



ring 8ea. 



United States The inability of the Russian- American Company to 

 vori, p.''49^"*'^' niaintain any effective hold upon the territory which it 



^cUx"voi f ^V*'^'^'^"^^^' ^'^ fi'eely confessed by the Minister of Finance in 

 pencix, Ao . 1, p. j^.^ i^ii^Y to the Minister of Marine, dated the 9th April, 



1820. 

 piom"^'*of the 10 In the discussion of the Convention of 1824 which 



Dnited states,' ^\\\ lyQ found iu " Lymaii's Diplomacy of the United 



ton, 1828, vol. ii, Statcs," it IS explicitly stated : 



p. 297. 



We have said nothing of the coast to the northward of Bristol Bay, 



because it has never been pretended, that the Russians had any set- 

 tlements on that side. 



NO RUSSIAN SEl'TLEMENT IN OR TO THE NORTH OP THE 



ALASKAN PENINSULA. 



British Case, Upon the official Russian Mnp published in 1802, which 



^ppGiuiix vol.11 ■*■ -*■ ■* 



Parti, IK 4. ' will be found in Appendix IV to the British Case, there is 

 a manuscript note iu the following words: 



La Compagnie ne possf^de point d'^tablissemens dans et an nord de 

 la Presqu'lle Alaska, quoiqne ses vaissoanx visitent ces regions. 



laMoI'TppendLx^ ^^ ^^ ^^^0 to bc uotcd that, wheii the questions raised by 



vol. i,'p. 34. ' the Russian-American Company on the Treaty of 1821 with 



the United States were referred to a Committee of Russian 



Dignitaries, tliis Committee on the 21st July, 1824, limited 



their assertion to the statement: 



That .... Rtissia has established permanent settlements, not 

 only on the coast of Siberia, bnt alsoon the Aleutian group of islands. 



Had there existed any settlements on the eastern coast 

 of Behring Sen, it is obvious, from the nature of the Report, 

 that these would have been mentioned. 



The fact is, that upon the entire north-west coast of 

 America from Behring Straits to the Alaskan Peninsula, 

 up to 1824 practically no title by occupancy had been 

 established at all, and any title by discovery was open to 

 doubt and dispute. 



Had any other Power taken possession of any part of 

 the coast which Russia did not actually occupy, Russia 

 could not have su(;cessfully asserted any claim thereto; 

 and if other nations had ]>ushed their trade north of, as 

 they did up to, the Alaskan Peninsula, there was no 



