COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 13 



ground on whicli Russia could have successfully main- 

 tained any protest. The territorial right by itself 



11 was not thought worth disputing; and for practical ^"j^*^. :^meri. 

 purposes the coast, as far south as BehringBay, was '^'^British ^^case, 



then considered as worthless as a floating iceberg. Appendix, voi.i, 



It is submitted, therefore, that there is no foundation for Viiited states 



the assertion that— ^'-"^"^ »• ^^■ 



by first discovery, occupation, and permanent colonization the shores 

 and islands of Bering Sea, the Aleutian chain, and the Peninsula of 

 Alaska became, probably as early as 1800, an undisputed part of the 

 territory of the Russian Empire. 



While no other nation drew any distinction between the 

 title of Russia upon the American coast to the north and 

 to the south of latitude 60°, Russia herself made no such 

 distinction, but dealt alike with the whole north-west coast 

 from the 55th degree to Behring Strait, up to the year 

 1821. 



The Ukase of 1799 asserts this plainly. The following 

 is a correct translation of the original Russian document, 

 as given by Golovnin and Tikhmenieif: 



UKASK OF 1799, CORRECTLY TRANSLATED. 



We, Paul I, by the Grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of All the 

 Russias : 



[Here follows the full title of His Imperial Majesty.] 

 To the Russian-American Company under our hi<>h protection: 

 The profit and advantages accruing to our Empire from the indus- 

 tries and trade carried on by our faithful subjects in the north-eastern 

 sea and in that part of America have attracted our attention and con- 

 sideration; wherefore, taking under our immediate protection the 

 Company which exists for the purf)ose of carryiug on those iudnstries 

 and that trade, we order it to be called the Russian-American Comjiany 

 under our high protection, and we command our military authorities 

 to make use of our land and sea forces, at its request, in the way best 

 fitted to support the enterprises of the Company ; and having drawn 

 up for the Company such Rules !is are best fitted to assist and encour- 

 age it, we are pleased to grant to it, by this our Imperial Charter, the 

 following privileges lor twenty years from this date: 



1. In view of the discovery by Russian navigators in remote 

 12 times of the coast of North-Eastern America '^ from 55° north 

 latitude, and of the chains of islands extendiug from Kamtchatka 

 in a northerly direction to America and in a southerly direction to 

 Japan, and on the strength of the right of dominion over them which 

 belongs to Russia, we graciously permit the Company to enjoy the 

 jjrofiis of all industries and estahlishments now existing on the north- 

 eastern coast of America, from the aforesaid 55^ to Behring 8trait and 

 beyond that strait, as well as on the Aleutian and Kurile Islands and 

 the other islands situated in the north-eastern ocean. 



2. The Company may make new discoveries not only to the north of 

 55'^ north latitude, but also south of it, and may incorporate the ter- 

 ritories it discovers into the Russian douiinioni* under the conditions 

 laid down in the existing Rules, if those territories have not been 

 occupied by other nations, and have not become subject to them. 



3. The Coni]>any shall enjoy in the territory mentioned everything 

 which it has discovered or n)ay discover on the surface of the earth 

 or below it, and no one shall be entitled to dispute its right to this. 



*The above error, in the Ukase of 1799, appears to have originated 

 in the Agreement of 1778 between yhelikoft" and Golikoff. Golovnin 

 points out its occurrence in that Agreement, writing: — *' 'For north- 

 eastern and northern America.' This mistake arose irom the stupidity 

 and ignorance of geography of some Irkutsk writer or other, who 

 drafted the Agreement ; he ought to have said : ' to the uorth=western 

 shores ot America.' " ("Materalui," Part I, p. 55.) 



