USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 38
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374
COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.
by the boy Nikita, who escaped with the diary and other papers to a Russian settlement, and delivered them into the hands of Father Veniaminof on his first visit to the Nushegak villages.
stating that the boys were to be intrusted to the charge of Father German, who had opened a girls' school at Pavlovsk, Baranof indulged in some obscene jokes, 'which put him into such good humor that he finally offered me some tea. I felt that I ought to refuse under the circumstances, but my longing for the beverage was too strong. I degraded myself before God and man for the sake of a drink of tea. Refreshed, but ashamed of myself, I left the wicked man to pray in my humble retreat for strength and pride in the sanc- tity of my calling.' p. 18-20. Nevertheless Juvenal's expressions are far more elevated in tone, temper, and diction than those of the archimandrite, a few of whose letters are still extant.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY. 1796-1799.
THREATENED EXHAUSTION OF THE SEAL-FISHERIES-SPECIAL PRIVILEGES GIVEN TO SIBERIAN MERCHANTS-SHELIKOF PETITIONS FOR A GRANT OF THE ENTIRE NORTH-WEST-HE IS SUPPORTED BY REZANOF-MUILNI- KOF'S ENTERPRISE-THE UNITED AMERICAN COMPANY-ITS ACT OF CON- SOLIDATION CONFIRMED BY IMPERIAL OUKAZ-AND ITS NAME CHANGED TO THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY-TEXT OF THE OUKAZ-OBLIGA- TIONS OF THE COMPANY.
IT will be remembered that after Bering and Chi- rikof had discovered the Aleutian Islands and the adjacent coast in 1741, their wealth in fur-bearing animals was soon made known to Europe and north- ern Asia. Trading, or, as they were termed, 'contri- bution' companies were quickly formed; some of the first vessels despatched from Okhotsk returned with cargoes that enriched their owners by a single voyage; and it was believed that in the far north a never-fail- ing source of riches had been discovered, greater and more certain than the mines of Española, which yielded their millions in the time of Bobadilla, or those of Castilla del Oro, where lay, as the great navigator believed, the veritable Ophir of the days of Solomon. Of course many of the fur-hunters found only a grave where they had gone in quest of wealth; but, like the Spaniards who followed Cortés and Pedro de Alva- rado, they set little value on their lives or on those of others. Moreover, the faint-hearted Aleuts offered no such resistance as was encountered by the con- querors of Mexico and Guatemala. The promyshleniki
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376
THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY.
could easily take by force what they had not the money to buy, or what the natives did not care to sell. They had no fear of punishment. Robbery, rape, and even murder could be committed with im- punity, for, to use their own phrase, "God was high above, and the tzar was far away."
Thus for many years matters were allowed to take their course; but toward the end of the eighteenth century the threatened exhaustion of the known sources of supply caused much uneasiness among the Siberian merchants engaged in the fur trade, and some of them endeavored to remedy the evil by solic- iting special privileges from the government for the exclusive right to certain islands, with the under- standing that a fixed percentage of the gross yield- usually one tenth-was to be paid into the public treasury. Such privileges were granted freely enough, but it was another matter to make the numerous half-piratical traders, who roamed Bering Sea and the North Pacific, respect or even pay the least atten- tion to them.
The encounters which took place between rival com- panies have already been related, and now only two remained-the Shelikof-Golikof and the Lebedef- Lastochkin. The former had established itself in Kadiak by force of arms, and Shelikof, by greatly exaggerating the importance of his conquest, and rep- resenting that he had added fifty thousand subjects to the Russian empire1 and as many converts to the Greek church, had so worked upon the authorities at St Petersburg that his petition for exclusive privileges for his company was favorably received. These priv- ileges amounted in fact to a grant of all the Russian discoveries in north-western America, and of the islands that lay between them and the coast of Asia,
1 There never were 50,000 natives at Kadiak at any period subsequent to its conquest. Golovnin estimates the number at the time of Shelikof's land- ing at 15,000. See p. 306, note, this vol. While the census taken by Baran- of's order, in the winter of 1795-6, showed only 6,206 natives. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 61.
377
REZANOF'S PLANS.
including also the Kurile Islands and the coast of Kamchatka.
Nikolai Rezanof, of whom mention has already been made, and who later becomes a prominent fig- ure in the history of the colonies, making Shelikof's acquaintance at St Petersburg, was somewhat im- pressed with the scope of his plans. A man of parts and ambition, of noble birth but scant patrimony, he solicited the hand of Shelikof's daughter and was accepted. But the plans of Shelikof, bold as they seemed to many, were thrown into the shade by those of his son-in-law, who purposed to obtain for himself and his partners in America rights similar to those granted by the English government to the East India Company. Matters prospered for a time. Shares in the association were taken by members of the nobility, and after much astute intrigue had been brought to bear, Catherine II. was on the point of granting a charter, when her decease occurred in 1796.
Meanwhile Shelikof had returned to Irkutsk, where he died, as will be remembered, in 1795. After this event, his wife Natalia, who had accom- panied her husband in all his travels in the wilds of Siberia and even to Kadiak, and had always success- fully conducted her husband's business during his ab- sence, at once undertook the management of affairs, with Rezanof as chief adviser.
During the year 1797 an Irkutsk merchant named Muilnikof organized a company, with a capital of 129,000 roubles, for the purpose of engaging in the fur trade; but fearing that his capital was inadequate, and that complications might ensue from the fact that Shelikof's widow, who was to share in the enterprise, was interested in other associations already perma- nently established, Muilnikof proposed to join himself with the Shelikof Company. The offer was accepted, an agreement made which included all the partners, and on the 3d of August, 1798, an association, includ-
378
THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY.
ing two smaller concerns, and known as the United American Company, was organized at Irkutsk,2 with a capital of 724,000 roubles, divided into 724 shares of 1,000 roubles each. All hunters, or 'small traders' as they were more frequently called, in Russian America were invited to become partners in the company, on the same conditions as had been granted to other members, and were forbidden to hunt or trade in the territory claimed by the company with- out their permission.
If we can believe the report of the committee on the organization of the Russian American colonies, made by royal permission and extending back to the time of the earliest discoveries, the need of such an institution as the United American Company was greatly felt by the government. "Having received information from all sides," says this report, "of dis- orders, outrages, and oppressions of the natives, caused in the colonies by parties of Russian hunters, as well as of groundless claims advanced by foreign naviga- tors to lands discovered by Russians, it had some rea- son to hope that placing the business of that distant region in the hands of one strong company would serve on the one hand to perpetuate Russian suprem- acy there, and on the other would prevent many dis- orders and preserve the fur trade, the principal wealth of the country, affording protection to the natives against violence and abuse, and tending toward a gen- eral improvement of their condition."
Nevertheless it was at first feared that the decease of Catherine II. would be a death-blow to the ambi- tious schemes of the Shelikof party, for it was known that her successor, Paul I., was opposed to them. But Rezanof never for a moment lost heart, and with the versatility of a true courtier, quickly adapted himself to the change of circumstances. He had been a
2 The association included, besides the Shelikof, Golikof, and Muilnikof companies, the American and North-eastern and the Northern and Kurile companies. Report on Russ. Amer. Colonies, MS., vi. 13. The full text of the act of consolidation is given in Golovnin, Materialui, i. 55-63.
379
IMPERIAL OUKAZ.
faithful servant to the pleasure-loving empress, and he now became a constant companion and attendant upon the feeble-minded man who wore the crown. So successful were his efforts, that on the 11th of August, 1799, the act of consolidation of the United American Company was confirmed by imperial oukaz, and the association then received the name of the Russian American Company. "By the same oukaz,"3 continues the report above quoted, "the company
3 The following is a literal translation of the oukaz granted by Paul I. to the Russian American Company, taken from Golovnin, in Materialui, i. 77-80:
'By the grace of a merciful God, we, Paul the First, emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, etc. To the Russian American Company under our highest protection. The benefits and advantages resulting to our empire from the hunting and trading carried on by our loyal subjects in the north-eastern seas and along the coasts of America have attracted our royal attention and con- sideration; therefore, having taken under our immediate protection a company organized for the above-named purpose of carrying on hunting and trading, we allow it to assume the appellation of "Russian American Company under our highest protection;" and for the purpose of aiding the company in its en- terprises, we allow the commanders of our land and sea forces to employ said forces in the company's aid if occasion requires it, while for further relief and assistance of said company, and having examined their rules and regulations, we hereby declare it to be our highest imperial will to grant to this company for a period of 20 years the following rights and privileges:
'I. By the right of discovery in past times, by Russian navigators of the north-eastern part of America, beginning from the 55th degree of north lati- tude and of the chain of islands extending from Kamchatka to the north to America, and southward to Japan, and by right of possession of the same by Russia, we most graciously permit the company to have the use of all hunting- grounds and establishments now existing on the north-eastern [sic, this blun- der is made all through the document] coast of America, from the above mentioned 55th degree to Bering Strait, and on the same also on the Aleu- . tian, Kurile, and other islands situated in the north-eastern ocean.
'II. To make new discoveries not only north of the 55th degree of north latitude, but farther to the south, and to occupy the new lands discovered, as Russian possessions, according to prescribed rules, if they have not been previously occupied by any other nation, or been dependent on another nation.
'III. To use and profit by everything which has been or shall be dis- covered in those localities, on the surface and in the bosom of the earth, with- out any competition by others.
'IV. We most graciously permit this company to establish settlements in future times, wherever they are wanted, according to their best knowledge and belief, and fortify them to insure the safety of the inhabitants, and to send ships to those shores with goods and hunters, without any obstacles on the part of the government.
'V. To extend their navigation to all adjoining nations and hold business intercourse with all surrounding powers, upon obtaining their free consent for the purpose, and under our highest protection, to enable them to prosecute their enterprises with greater force and advantage.
'VI. To employ for navigation, hunting, and all other business, free and unsuspected people, having no illegal views or intentions. In consideration of the distance of the localities where they will be sent, the provincial author- ities will grant to all persons sent out as settlers, hunters, and in other ca-
380
THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY.
was granted full privileges, for a period of twenty years, on the coast of north-western America, be- ginning from latitude 55° north, and including the
pacities, passports for seven years. Serfs and house-servants will only be employed by the company with the consent of their landholders, and govern- ment taxes will be paid for all serfs thus employed.
'VII. Though it is forbidden by our highest order to cut government timber anywhere without the permission of the college of admiralty, this com- pany is hereby permitted, on account of the distance of the admiralty from Okhotsk, when it needs timber for repairs, and occasionally for the construc- tion of new ships, to use freely such timber as is required.
'VIII. For shooting animals, for marine signals, and on all unexpected emergencies on the mainland of America and on the islands, the company is permitted to buy for cash, at cost price, from the government artillery mag- azine at Irkutsk yearly 40 or 50 pouds of powder, and from the Nertchinsk mine 200 pounds of lead.
' IX. If one of the partners of the company becomes indebted to the gov- ernment or to private persons, and is not in a condition to pay them from any other property except what he holds in the company, such property cannot be seized for the satisfaction of such debts, but the debtor shall not be per- mitted to use anything but the interest or dividends of such property until the term of the company's privileges expires, wlien it will be at his or his creditors' disposal.
'X. The exclusive right most graciously granted to the company for a period of 20 years, to use and enjoy, in the above-described extent of country and islands, all profits and advantages derived from hunting, trade, indus- tries, and discovery of new lands, prohibiting the enjoyment of these profits and advantages not only to those who would wish to sail to those countries on their own account, but to all former hunters and trappers who have been engaged in this trade, and have their vessels and furs at those places; and other companies which may have been formed will not be allowed to con- tinue their business unless they unite with the present company with their free consent; but such private companies or traders as have their vessels in those regions can either sell their property, or, with the company's consent, remain until they have obtained a cargo, but no longer than is required for the loading and return of their vessel; and after that nobody will have any · privileges but this one company, which will be protected in the enjoyment of all the advantages mentioned.
'XI. Under our highest protection, the Russian American Company will have full control over all above-mentioned localities, and exercise judicial powers in minor cases. The company will also be permitted to use all local facilities for fortifications in the defence of the country under their control against foreign attacks. Only partners of the company shall be employed in the administration of the new possessions in charge of the company.
'In conelusion of this our most gracious order for the benefit of the Rus- sian American Company under highest protection, we enjoin all our mili- tary and civil authorites in the above-mentioned localities not only not to prevent them from enjoying to the fullest extent the privileges granted by us, but in case of need to protect them with all their power from loss or injury, and to render them, upon application of the company's authorities, all necessary aid, assistance, and protection. To give effect to this our most gracious order, we subscribe it with our own hand and give orders to confirm it with our imperial seal. Given at St Petersburg, in the year after the birth of Christ 1799, the 27th day of December, in the fourth year of our reign.
' PAVL.'
Then follows a copy of the company's rules and regulations, for which the emperor's approval was solicited before the oukaz was granted. At the beginning of them is written in the emperor's own handwriting, 'Be it thus.'
381
ORGANIZATION.
chain of islands extending from Kamchatka north- ward to America and southward to Japan; the exclu- sive right to all enterprises, whether hunting, trading, or building, and to new discoveries, with strict prohi- bition from profiting by any of these pursuits, not only to all parties who might engage in them on their own responsibility, but also to those who formerly had ships and establishments there, except those who have united with the new company." All who refused to join the company, and had capital invested in fur adventures, were allowed to carry on their business only until their vessels returned to port.4
In addition to the original capital, a further issue of one thousand shares was authorized; but it was for- bidden that foreigners should be allowed to invest in the enterprise. Subscriptions flowed in rapidly, and the entire amount was quickly absorbed, most of it probably in St Petersburg; for by oukaz of October 19, 1800, it was ordered that the headquarters of the company, which had formerly been at Irkutsk, should be transferred to that city. Two years later, the em- peror, empress, and Grand Duke Constantine each sub- scribed for twenty shares, giving directions that the
4 All the private trading and hunting parties in existence at the end of the eighteenth century were merged into the Russian American Company, and so far as is known, with little difficulty. Politoffsky differs materially in his description of the privileges granted by Paul I. to the Russian American Company. First of all, he says they were conferred on the 8th of July, 1799, while Dall, who follows Tikhmenef closely, though with frequent blunders, gives June 8, 1799, as the date. According to the former authority, 'the company was empowered to make discoveries not only above latitude 55° north, but also south of that parallel, and to incorporate the lands thus dis- covered with the Russian possessions, provided that no other power had pre- viously seized them or established a claim to them. It was empowered to establish settlements wherever it was most convenient for its business, or most advantageous to the country at large, and also to erect fortifications for the protection of the inhabitants, and to make voyages to all neighboring lands and nations, and maintain commercial intercourse with all surrounding powers, with their free consent and under permission of the emperor. All the locations selected as sites for settlements by the general administration for business purposes were to be respected as such. In conclusion, all mili- tary or civil authorities stationed at those places were enjoined, not only to throw no obstacle in the way of enjoyment of all the rights and privileges granted, but also to endeavor, as far as was in their power, to protect the company against loss or injury, and to offer in this intercourse with the com- pany's officers every assistance, protection, and means of defence.' Istor. Obos., Ross. Amerik Kom., 4-S.
382
THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY.
dividends be devoted to charity. The company was allowed to engage all classes of free labor, and to em- ploy serfs with the consent of their masters;5 but nothing was mentioned in the text of the oukaz of 1799 as to the obligations of the company in relation to the native inhabitants. The only regulations on this subject are contained in the first paragraph of the act of consolidation, in which "the company binds itself," to quote the words of the report once more, "to maintain a mission of the Græco-Catholic church in America, members of which were to accompany all trading and hunting expeditions, and voyages of dis- covery which were likely to bring them in contact with known or unknown tribes, and to use every en- deavor to christianize them and encourage their alle- giance to Russia. They were to use efforts to promote ship-building and domestic industries on the part of Russian settlers who might take possession of unin- habited lands, as well as to encourage the introduc- tion of agriculture and cattle-breeding on the American islands and continent. They were also to keep con- stantly in view the maintenance of friendly relations with the Americans and islanders, employing them at their establishments and engaging in trade with them."
Thus was the famous Russian American Company established on a firm basis, and little did Shelikof dream, when representing an obscure company of Si- berian merchants he founded on the island of Kadiak the village of Three Saints, that he was laying the basis of a monopoly which was destined, as we shall see later, to hold sway over a territory almost as vast as was then the European domain of the tzar.6 As yet, how-
5 After Shelikof's decease, his widow, being possessed of a small estate in Russia, petitioned Count Zubof, one of the emperor's ministers, for permission to transfer the serfs upon her estate to Alaska, to form there the nucleus of an agricultural settlement. At the same time she entered into correspond- ence with the metropolitans of Moscow and Novgorod, and other church dig- nitaries, on the subject of missionary enterprise in the new colonies, and thus secured their assistance in furthering the plans of the company. Count Zu- bof not only granted the request, but offered to send an additional force of a hundred serfs from crown lands in Siberia for the same purpose.
6 In 1821, when the charter of the company was renewed, as will be men-
383
SUBJECTION OF THE NATIVES.
ever, the boundaries of this territory were not clearly defined, and its inhabitants were for the most part un- subdued. The Aleuts were indeed held in subjection, but none of the warlike tribes that peopled the penin- sula and the adjoining continent had yet been con- quered. The Russian colonies at Yakutat and else- where on the mainland were constantly threatened, and, as will presently be described, a settlement that was founded about this time near the site where now stands the capital of Alaska was attacked and de- stroyed by savages.
tioned in its place, the emperor issued a oukaz, in which the whole north west coast of America north of 51° was declared Russian territory.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE FOUNDING OF SITKA. 1798-1801.
BARANOF'S DIFFICULTIES AND DESPONDENCY-SICK AND HOPELESS-ARRIVAL OF THE 'ELIZAVETA'-AN EXPEDITION SAILS FOR NORFOLK SOUND- LOSS OF CANOES-THE PARTY ATTACKED BY KOLOSH-TREATY WITH THE SITKANS-YANKEE VISITORS -- A FORT ERECTED-THE YAKUTAT BAY SETTLEMENT-BARANOF DESIRES TO BE RELIEVED-HIS OFFICIAL TOUR OF THE COLONIES-THE CHIEF MANAGER'S PIETY-HIS COMPLAINTS OF FOREIGN ENCROACHMENTS-BRITISH AGGRESSIVENESS.
THE news of the final organization of the Russian American Company, the granting of its privileges by the emperor, and of his own appointment as chief manager, reached Baranof at a time when he was plunged in despondency. Nearly every undertaking of the preceding seasons had failed. He had lost numbers of men, both Russians and natives, during the long voyages to distant hunting-grounds. A spirit of revolt was still alive, especially among those who had transferred their allegiance from former op- pressors. At every point eastward of Kadiak where he had endeavored to open trade he had found him- self forestalled by English and American ships, which had raised the prices of skins almost beyond his lim- ited means. In his attempts to hunt with his Aleuts, he had also been unfortunate, whole parties having been surprised and slaughtered by the warlike Thlin- keets. One of his sloops built at Voskressenski Bay foundered during her first voyage, while others had been injured on the shoals lining the mouth of Copper River, and he had just returned to Pavlovsk, in the
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385
HARD TIMES AND RELIEF.
damaged sloop Olga, intending to repair the vessels as best he might, in order to carry out during the fol- lowing spring his cherished plan of locating a perma- ent settlement in the vicinity of Norfolk Sound.1
He landed, suffering the agonies of inflammatory rheumatism and depressed in spirit, only to meet with upbraidings and complaints on the part of his subor- dinates, who were on short rations, owing to the non- arrival of the supply-ship. Certain leaders of the malecontents openly refused obedience unless provis- ions were first given them. Sick and dejected, he was unable to address them as he was wont to do, and retired to his wretched little cabin and to bed, when a little later the cry was heard, "A ship in the offing!" Once more inspired with life and hope, the sick man rose from his couch and climbed the mountain overlooking the settlement of St Paul. It was true; a large vessel, the brigantine Elizaveta, commanded by Bocharof, was standing in under full sail, and soon was lying at anchor in the roadstead, with Baranof on board. She had sailed from Okhotsk the preceding autumn, and had wintered on one of the westernmost Aleutian Isles, where the passen- gers and crew had lived on what they could gather; so that the cargo remained intact, and plenty reigned once more in the half-famished settlement. Fifty- two laborers and mechanics were now added to Bar- anof's force; and though the season was far advanced, a small party was at once despatched to Prince Will- iam Sound to complete another sloop.
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