332 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



can United States to oliserve, witli a view 

 to the maintenance of friendly intercourse 

 "witliout injnry to the vast interests of our 

 Company and those of the native inhab- 

 itants of that country. The Rules to be 

 proposed will probably imply that it is 

 no longer necessary to prohibit the navi- 

 gation of foreign vessels for the distance 

 mentioned in the Edict of 4th September, 

 1821, and that w e will not claim jurisdic- 

 tion over coastwise waters beyond the 

 limits accept ed by g-^ yotherMaritime 

 PoweF[for the whole of our coast facing 

 the o pen ocean. Over all interior Wiiters, 

 however, and over all waters inclosed 

 by Russian territory, such as the 8ca of 

 Okhotsk, Bering Sea, or the Sea of Kam- 

 chatka, as well as in all s'ulfs, bays, and 

 estuaries withi n our possessi ons, the right 

 to the stric test control will always be 

 maintained.] 



In informing me of the highest will on 

 these points, the Managing Chief of the 

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the 

 desire to obtain a full and clear descrip- 

 tive statement of all localities which are 

 at the present day occupied by the Rus- 

 sian-American Company, and over which 

 the same Company is now enjoying its 

 exclusive privilege of trade, navigation, 

 and fishery, in order to make it possible 

 to asceTtaiiTdefinTtely the points to which 

 forei gn vessels may be admitted without 

 injury to the Compan y's vested rig hts. 



The Managing Chief of the Ministry of 

 Foreign Affairs adds that when, in the 

 Charter granted to the Russian-American 

 Company in the year 1799, the 55th degree 



of northern latitude was settled 

 27 upon as the southern boundary, this 



line was looked upon as well to the 

 northward of any possessions claimed by 

 other Powers, and one which could safely 

 be changed in case our Russian-American 

 Company should be found occupying ter- 

 ritory farther south. 



For this reason, Privy-Counselor Count 

 Nesselrode suggests that it would be well 

 for the Russian-American Company to 

 compile in addition a list of its stations, 

 the time of their establishment and main- 

 tenance, together with any information 

 they may possess of the situation, 

 strength, and importance of any estab- 

 lishments maintained in the vicinity of 

 our possessions by English or North- 

 American Trading Companies. 



In order to enable me to comply with 

 these various suggestions, and in view of 

 the urgency of the matter in hand, I now 



Government of the United States of Amer- 

 ica to take, in order that the sources from 

 which the Company derive their revenue 

 may not suffer, and in order that the 

 native inhabitants of those regions may 

 not disturb our Settlements by carrying 

 on prohibited trade. These measures 

 should be of such a nature as to make it 

 unnecessary for us any longer to insist on 

 the distance stated in the Rules of the 4th 

 September, 1821, to be that within which 

 no foreign ship may come, and such as to 

 enable us to confine ourselves to exercis- 

 in g a control over such an extent of water 

 only as is by common custom considered 

 to be under the jurisdiction of any Power 

 which has possession of the seaboard, and 

 to introducing on the coast such a system 

 of surveillance as may be found necessary 

 for the protection of our territory from 

 attack, and for the prevention of illicit 

 trading. 



In communicating to me the Emperor's 

 orders in this matter, the Head of the 

 Foreign Office desires that the Company's 

 statement may be accompanied by an ac- 

 curate account of the localities where the 

 Russian- American Company has hitherto 

 exercised the right of hunting, fishing, 

 and trading, as well as an indication of 

 the parallel of latitude which can be 

 fi xed as the furthest limit of our domin- 

 ions, without giving rise to remonstrances 

 a nd pretensions such as those which have 

 lately been evoke d. 



The Head of the Foreign Office adds 

 that, when the Charter granted to the 

 Russian- American Company in 1799 fixed 

 as this boundary the 55th degree of lati- 

 tude north, and gave permission to the 

 Company to establish new stations even 

 south of this line, except in places belong- 

 ing to other Powers, no foreign Govern- 

 ment objected to these two points, but 

 that, on the other hand, it appears that 

 two English Companies, the North-west 

 Company and the Hudson's Bay Compa- 

 ny, have long had trading stations estab- 

 lished on the north-west coast of the 

 American continent, beginning from 54"^ 

 north latitude, and extending, according 

 to some accounts, to 56°. 



Under these circumstances. Privy Coun- 

 cillor Count Nesselrode thinks that it 

 would be useful if the Russian- American 

 Company would communicate all the in- 

 formation in its possession with regard to 

 the existence of these stations and the 

 time of their establishment, as he con- 

 siders such information indispensable in 

 order to avoid claims being advanced by 

 Engl3,nd when we proceed with the 

 United States to the delimitation of our 

 respective territories. 



In bringing what is stated above to the 

 notice of the Board of Administration 

 of the Russian-American Company, in 



