INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 675 



Mr. Watkins. John W. Foster? 



Air. Elliott. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Watkins. Read what he has to say. 



Mr. Elliott. He published this translation which he thought, he 

 says, was an authentic translation, and printed it. Then word got 

 to him, before his case got into court, that it was a forgery, and he 

 prepared this letter, dated "Washington, November 19, 1892." 



Mr. Watkins. Do you mean a forgery or a false translation ? 



Mr. Elliott. Either. I suppose those words are interchangeable. 

 If words are put in there that are not there it becomes a forgery, 

 does it not ? 



Mr. Watkins. I do not know. 



Mr. Elliott. Well, he calls it a "false translation." 



Mr. Watkins. Well, that is what I want to understand. 



The Chairman. That is the term you speak about? 



Mr. Elliott. I am going to use his statement. 



Washington, November 19, 1892. 



Sir: Under date of the 2d instant I advised you that I had discovered that a number 

 of documents belonging to the archives of Alaska and referred to in the Case of the 

 United States before the Tribunal of Arbitration were incorrectly translated from 

 the Russian language; and I promised to give you at the earliest practicable date a 

 detailed statement of the erroneous translations and to indiacte the pages in the Case 

 of the United States where they are quoted or referred to. 



Before complying with that promise I deem it due to my Government and to 

 myself to state the circumstances under which these translations were introduced 

 into the Case of the United States. When I entered upon the work of preparing the 

 same I learned that there existed in the archives of the State Department a large 

 collection of documents entirely in the Russian language, which had been turned 

 over by the Russian authorities in the Territory of Alaska at the time of the transfer 

 of that Territory to the United States, in accordance with the treaty of cession of 1867. 

 These documents I found to be unclassified and without indices. Desiring to ascer- 

 tain whether they contained any information relevant to the work I had in hand, 

 I made inquiry for a competent person to undertake the needed research. After 

 considerable investigation my choice fell upon Ivan Petroff. I learned that he 

 was a native Russian, educated in St. Petersburg, that he had several times visited 

 Alaska as an agent of the United States Government and had been in the employ 

 of this Government for several years in responsible positions. He was represented 

 to me as an accomplished linguist and the best-informed person obtainable in the 

 Russian language and history, and I was also told that he had performed a large part 

 of the labor in the compilation of H. H. Bancroft's History of Alaska. Having entire 

 confidence in his capacity and integrity, I intrusted to him the examination of the 

 Alaskan archives, with the result shown in the use made of them in the Case of the 

 United States and Volume i of its Appendix. 



Only a few weeks ago my suspicion was for the first time aroused as to the correctness 

 of some of the passages translated by Petroff, and a careful examination has revealed 

 an astounding series of false translations. As soon as I was prepared to do so, I brought 

 Petroff into my presence and confronted him with the proofs of his infidelity and 

 false translations. 



Mr. Watkins. Are yon reading from the same statement that 

 Mr. Clark referred to before this committee as the authority which is 

 now repudiated ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. [Reading.] 



The evidence of his dishonest conduct being overpowering, he acknowledged his 

 guilt in the presence of witnesses and signed a full confession, of which I inclose you 

 herewith a copy certified to by the witnesses. The only motive which he has alleged 

 for his conduct is that he supposed by making the false translations and interpolations 

 he would so ingratiate himself into favor and impress upon this Government the 

 importance and value of the Alaskan archives as to secure his employment to classify, 

 translate, and index that voluminous collection of documents. 



In making this explanation I desire again to direct attention to the fact mentioned 

 in my note of the 2d instant that photolithographic reproductions of all the original 



