extension of the treaty provision," and also sought to recover damages for the expulsion by a Russian armed brig of an American vessel, the Loriot, in August, 1836, which had entered Russian waters from the south. The correspondence upon the subject was concluded in 1838 by Russia's refusal to continue the trading privilege or to recognize the claim of the Loriot." To that decision the United States submitted, and on September 26, 1845, gave official notice warning American vessels against the violation of treaty stipulations "by resorting to any point upon the Russian American coast where there is a Russian establishment, without the permission of the governor or commander, nor to frequent the interior seas, gulfs, harbors, and creeks upon that coast at any point north of the latitude of 54° 40'." Thus, whatever question had been previously raised by the United States it finally recognized the complete sovereignty of Russia over the Northwest Coast of America north of latitude 54° 40'. C RUSSIAN OCCUPATION. After the treaty of 1825 went into effect, one of the first acts on the part of the Russian Government in the assertion and enforcement of its title to the territory guaranteed to it by that treaty, was the preparation and publication by that government of a map, in 1826, upon which the boundary line was distinctly laid down as extending from the head of Portland Canal, at a distance of 10 marine leagues around all the inlets of the sea, to the 141st degree of longitude, and thence along that parallel to the Arctic Ocean. (See Map No. 11 in the Atlas accompanying this Case.) The next year another map was pub lished by the Russian Government with exactly the same boundary line laid down. (A description of this second map will be found in the Appendix, page 513, No. 18.) Up to the time of the cession of the Russian possessions in America to the United States all Russian maps, official or otherwise, marked the boundary uniformly in the manner described. The exercise of sovereignty and occupation by Russia in the terri tory known as the lisière, aside from the exclusion of foreign vessels and citizens from trading with the natives, already noticed, may be a @ Appendix, p. 248. Appendix, p. 249. C Appendix, p. 250. classified as follows: (1) Control over the Indian tribes; (2) the conduct of trade; (3) the establishment of posts and forts; (4) the maintenance of its territorial rights against foreign encroachments; and (5) the survey of the straits, inlets, and rivers. RUSSIAN CONTROL OF THE INDIANS. The control of the Indian tribes on the continental shores began many years before the treaty with Great Britain of 1825. In the accounts of the voyages of the Russian explorers who were laying the foundation of the imperial possession in America during the latter part of the eighteenth century, frequent reference is made to the measures taken to secure the allegiance of the native chiefs and to the plans inaugurated to convert them to Christianity. One of the most noted of those events was the submission to Russian authority of the chief of the Chilkat tribes. In the year 1788, Ismailof, a lieutenant of Shelikof, one of the founders of the Russian American Company, anchored in the Yakutat Bay and spent some time in that vicinity. He met there the Chilkat chief, who had come from his home on the Chilkat River, near the head of Lynn Canal, to visit portions of his tribe inhabiting the region about that bay. He established friendly relations with the chief, explained to him the purposes and power of the Russian Government, presented him with a coat of arms, an insignia of the Russian double-headed eagle, and portraits of the imperial family. The chief in return pledged his devotion to the Russian Crown by presenting the Russian officer with a sacred iron crow's head and other evidences of his allegiance." In 1795 Baranof, governor of the Russian American Company, visited the same bay, renewed the amicable relations with the Indians, and with great éclat planted the Russian flag on the shore. Thence he passed on to Chilkat Inlet, where he repeated his experience, and erected crosses with the inscription, "This land is Russian territory." During the Russian occupation of the islands and adjoining lisière active efforts were put forth to lead the natives to accept Christianity, and various schools were established among them. Two priests claimed that up to 1860 they had baptized 447 of the Stikines and others of that vicinity. When the territory was transferred to the United States in 1867, the Russian department of the interior reported b Appendix, p. 257. a Appendix, pp. 252, 255, 256. that nearly all the tribes of the Thlinkits inhabiting the mainland were Christians, but this statement must be taken with some reservation. a The authorities, in addition to the encouragement of the clergy, exerted their influence to correct the brutal and barbarous practices of the Indians, one of which was to offer up as sacrifices at funerals the lives of their slaves. The chief of the Stikines was induced to abandon the bloody rite in 1837, and in recognition of his noble act the Emperor presented him with a gold embroidered caftan and he was given a certificate of honor by the governor." The officials of the colony labored earnestly to exclude intoxicating liquors, and the illicit traffic of the American and British traders among the natives gave them much trouble. The Chilkat and Stikine tribes were in constant enmity, and the authorities were kept on the alert to prevent war or restore peace among them. Such of the chiefs as manifested special loyalty to the Imperial Government were decorated with a silver badge and were entitled "Allies of Russia." In order to bring about a closer union between the Thlinkit tribes and the government a supreme chief of all these tribes was appointed in 1842, and the colonial council in 1862 exercised its authority in appointing a chief over the Stikines." In order to protect their exposed establishments on the lisière, the authorities sometimes resorted to the expedient of taking the chiefs or their sons as hostages. So great was the influence established by the Russians over the natives that even after the Hudson's Bay Company had taken possession of the lisière, when the post at the mouth of the Stikine was besieged by the Indians in 1846, the mere appearance of a vessel of the Russian American Company is said to have saved the post from destruction. A similar danger was averted in 1862 by a Russian naval officer securing the promise of the chief to restore order. Tikhmenief, the historian of the Russian American Company, published in 1861 a census of the native tribes, called by the Russians the Koloshes and known by later ethnologists as the Thlinkits, who inhabited the mainland up to Prince William Sound and the adjoining a Appendix, pp. 259, 318. d Appendix, p. 309. Appendix, pp. 258, 316. ƒ Appendix, pp. 266, 274. 9 Appendix, p. 317. islands. In this enumeration of Indians are found the Chilkat, Taku, and Stikine tribes." It is thus seen that the Russian Government exercised authority over the native inhabitants of the lisière from the date of the treaty of 1825 up to the cession of its American possessions to the United States. THE CONduct of THE FUR TRADE. During the same period the Russian American Company carried on an active barter with these Indians, and, after the expiration of the ten years' privilege granted to the Americans under the treaty of 1824, the trade with the natives was strictly confined to that company. So jealous were the authorities of their exclusive sovereignty that they construed the attempt of the captain of one of the American vessels, even before the ten years' privilege had expired, to introduce a missionary among the Indians as a violation of the treaty.' For some years after the treaties the company maintained no permanent establishments within the lisière, making the central post at Sitka, or New Archangel, the base of operations, and thence sending out annual expeditions to the head of Lynn Canal, Taku Inlet, the mouth of the Stikine River, and other appointed places of rendezvous, where the barter for furs was conducted. But events occurred which compelled a change of methods. By 1829 the Hudson's Bay Company had reached the coast of the Pacific Ocean and established a post on Vancouver Island. From that post it dispatched an agent, Lieutenant Simpson, to Sitka early in 1829, with a letter addressed to the manager of the Russian American Company, giving him notice of the intention to establish another post on the northern limit of the British coast, and proposing that a friendly understanding be reached as to the future conduct of trade. Among the matters suggested were a joint agreement to put a stop to the sale of firearms and liquor which was injurious to the natives and embarrassing to trade, and an offer to exchange with the Russian company European goods and supplies at fair prices for furs. The Hudson's Bay Company's agent was hospitably received, and sent back with a civil answer. This led to correspondence between the head offices at a Appendix, p. 316. Appendix, p. 235. e Appendix, p. 259. London and St. Petersburg and a reference of the subject to the Russian Government, but no definite action was had respecting the proposition." Meanwhile the new post of the Hudson's Bay Company had been established at Naas, on Observatory Inlet, just in front of the boundary at Portland Canal, and the Russian company began to feel the damaging effects of this close competition among the Indians of their southern frontier. But this was not the worst of the evils which threatened the Russian company. In 1832 news was received of the intention of the Hudson's Bay Company to establish a settlement up the Stikine River "at such a distance from the sea as not to infringe upon" the treaty of 1825, the British having "a right to settle at a distance of 30 Italian miles from the sea on the river." This was followed the next year by the information that an English expedition had actually ascended the Stikine and selected a spot for the new settlement." These movements greatly alarmed the Russian company for the safety of its trade, and it at once adopted energetic measures which essentially changed the methods of its traffic. The vessel which had been engaged in the trade within the lisière was "put on a war footing," and dispatched to the mouth of the Stikine, with orders to there erect a redoubt and fortify it. A new vessel was built with all speed to look after the trade in the Chilkat region, named the Chilkat. In addition to the redoubt at the mouth of the Stikine, called St. Dionysius, the board of directors reported to the government at St. Petersburg that the safety of that redoubt "as well as the continuous maintenance of trade with the natives, demand that a chain of stations be established from the southernmost redoubt of our possessions, St. Dionysius at Stikine, to the north to the Chilkat Strait, named Lynn Canal by Vancouver."c From this time forward until the lease of the lisière to the Hudson's Bay Company, the Russian American Company carried on its fur trade with the Indians mainly through its permanent establishment at the mouth of the Stikine River and through the other settlements up to the Chilkat Inlet in Lynn Canal. a Appendix, pp. 260–264, 313. |
