14 COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



4. We graciously permit this Company in future to establish such 

 Settlements as may be required, and to erect such fortifications as it 

 may consider necessary for its security, and to send to those regions 

 without any hindrance ships conveying merchandize and its employes. 



5. The Company may make voyages to all neighbouring countries, 

 and may carry on trade with all neighbouring nations with the con- 

 sent of their Governments, and after obtaining our high sanction, in 

 order thnt greater power and profit may accrue to the Company from 

 its enterprises. 



6. The Company may employ for navigation, and for its industries 

 and establishments, persons of all classes who are free and of good 

 reputation, and who desire to make a lawful use of such liberty; in 

 view of the great distance of the places to which they will go, our 

 authorities- shall grant to State colonists and other free persons pass- 

 ports available for seven years; no serf's shall be engaged l)y the Com- 

 pany without the consent of their masters, and the Company shall pay 

 to the (jovernment the pi'oper dues for all persons whom it may take 

 into its service. 



7. Although our Imperial Decrees forbid the cutting of wood any- 

 where without the sanction of the College of Admiralty ; nevertheless, 

 in consideration of the distance which separates that body from the 

 Okhotsk territory, permission is granted to the Company to cut wood, 

 without making any payment, whenever they require it for repairing 

 their ships or for building new ones. 



8. The Company may obtain annually from the Government artillery 

 stores at Irkutsk from 40 to 50 poods of gunpowder, and from the 

 Nertshinsk mines 200 poods of lead, for ready money, at the market 

 price, for shooting game, for signals at sea, and for any unforeseen 

 contingency on the mainland of America or on the islands. 



9. If one of the shareholders of the Company has become a debtor 



of the State or of private persons, and if his property, apart 

 13 from his share in the Company, is not suthcient to meet his 



liabilities, his capital shall be seiiuestrated; but, as, according 

 to the constitution of the Company, the capital cannot be withdrawn, 

 the parties to whom it is assigned cannot realize it, but can only take 

 the place of the debtor and obtain their proper share of the profits 

 when a divis_ion takes place. At the expiration of the term of the 

 privileges of the Company, their share of the capital will be paid over 

 to them. 



10. In granting to the Company for a period of twenty years, 

 throughout the entire extent of the lands and islands described above, 

 the exclusive right to all acquisitions, industries, trade, establishments, and 

 discoveries of new countries, we declare that these advantages and 

 privileges shall not be enjoyed by any persons who may wish to make 

 voyages to those regions on their own account, or by any of those who, 

 having hitherto been engaged in this trade, and having their ships 

 and merchandize in those regions, some even holding shares in the 

 Company, refuse to join the latter. It is, however, open to these latter 

 persons, if they will not join the Company in the manner prescribed 

 by the Regulations, to continue to exercise these industries and to 

 enjoy the advantages connected therewith under the same conditions 

 as lieretofore, hut onhj until tlie arrival of their ships in liussia, after 

 which date no one shall have these privileges but the Company 

 alone, under the penalty of losing everything that is established for 

 its benefit. 



11. All Courts shall recognize the Board of Directors of the Russian- 

 American Company uuder our protection as established for the man- 

 agement of the afiairs of the Company, and all notices issued by Courts 

 in matters wliich concern the Company shall be served on that Board, 

 and not on one of the shareholders. 



In concluding this our Imperial Charter, we order all our military 

 and civil authorities and Courts not only not to prevent the Russian- 

 American Company under our protecti(m from enjoying all the privi- 

 leges granted by us, but also, if necessary, to protect it from any 

 losses or harm which may threaten it, and to aid and protect the 

 Board of Management in every way, 



