tlers at this place would have all perished from famine, had they not fortunately been supplied with provisions by the ship Juno, from Rhode Island. This ship was purchased for the use of the company, and Von Resanoff, embarking in her, sailed along the coast to California, endeavoring, in his way, but without success, to enter the mouth of the Columbia, where he proposed to form a settlement; and having spent some time in trifling at San Francisco, he returned to Kamtchatka, on his way from which to Europe he died.

Though not one of the commercial or political objects proposed by this expedition was attained, it was, nevertheless, productive of great advantages, not only to the Russians, but to the cause of humanity and of science in general; particularly by the rectification of numerous errors in the charts of the Pacific Ocean, and by the exposure of the abuses in the administration of the Russian American Company's dominions, which led to the immediate removal of many of them. No one could have been better qualified for the direction of such an expedition than Krusenstern, whose narrative is equally honorable to him as a commander, as a man of science, and as a philanthropist. Those who wish to learn at what cost of human life and suffering the furs of the North Pacific coasts are procured, will find ample information on the subject in his pages; while, at the same time, he presents instances of fortitude, perseverance, and good feeling, on the part of his countrymen, calculated to counteract, in a great measure, the unfavorable impressions, with regard to them, which his other details might have produced.*

In 1808, soon after the return of Krusenstern's ships to Europe, diplomatic relations were established between Russia and the United States; and in the following year, a representation was addressed by the court of St. Petersburg to the government of the Union, on the subject of the illicit trade of American citizens with the natives of the North Pacific coasts, by means of which those savages were supplied with arms and ammunition, to the prejudice of the authority and interests of the emperor and his people in that portion

* Accounts of this expedition have been published by Krusenstern, by Lisiansky, and by Langsdorf, the surgeon of the Nadeshda, all of which have been translated into English and other European languages.

Krusenstern was, soon after his return to Russia, raised to the rank of admiral. He still lives at St. Petersburg, honored by his government, and esteemed by all who know him. His communications frequently appear in the reports of the proceedings of various scientific societies in Europe; they are chiefly respecting the hydrography of the Pacific Ocean, to which subject his labors have been long and assiduously devoted, with results important and beneficial to the whole world.

of his dominions. A desire was at the same time expressed, that some act should be passed by Congress, or some convention be concluded between the two nations, which might have the effect of preventing the continuance of such irregularities. No disposition being shown by the American government to adopt any of those measures, Count Romanzoff, the minister of foreign affairs at St. Petersburg, proposed to Mr. John Quincy Adams, the plenipotentiary of the United States at that court, an arrangement, by which the vessels of the Union should supply the Russian settlements on the Pacific with provisions and manufactures, and should transport the furs of the company to Canton, under the restriction of their abstaining from all intercourse with the natives of the north-west coasts of America. Mr. Adams, in his answer, showed several reasons for which his government could not, with propriety, accede to this proposition; and he moreover desired to know within what limits it was expected that the restriction should be observed. This question was, doubtless, embarrassing to the Russian minister, who, however, after some time, replied, that the Russian American Company claimed the whole coast of America on the Pacific and the adjacent islands, from Bering's Strait, southward to and beyond the mouth of the Columbia River; whereupon the correspondence was immediately terminated.

There was, certainly, no disposition, on the part of the United States, to encourage their citizens in the trade which formed the subject of the complaints of the Russians, or to offend that power by refusing to coöperate in suppressing such a trade. But the American government properly considered that no means existed for enforcing the restrictions, with justice and regularity, even on the coasts which might be admitted to belong to Russia; while, at the same time, the right of that nation to the possession of the coasts so far south as the Columbia, could not be recognized, for reasons which will be made apparent in the ensuing chapter.

276

CHAPTER XIII.

1803 TO 1806.

Cession of Louisiana by France to the United States — Inquiries as to the true Extent of Louisiana-Erroneous Supposition that its Limits towards the North had been fixed by Commissaries agreeably to the Treaty of Utrecht - President Jefferson sends Lewis and Clarke to examine the Missouri and Columbia - Account of their Expedition from the Mississippi to the Pacific.

THE discovery, or rediscovery, of the Columbia River, by Gray, remained almost entirely unknown, until it was communicated to the world by the publication of the narrative of Vancouver's expedition, in 1798; at which time, and for several years afterwards, no one imagined that any thing connected with that river would ever become particularly interesting to the people or government of the United States of America.

The territories of the United States were, at that time, all included between the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Mississippi River on the west. In the north were the British provinces; in the south lay Florida, belonging to Spain; and beyond the Mississippi, the Spaniards also claimed the vast region called Louisiana, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico northward and north-westward to an undefined extent. Thus all communication between the States of the Federal Union and the Pacific was completely cut off, by the interposition of countries possessed by foreign and unfriendly nations.

The position of the United States, and of their government and people, with regard to the north-western portion of the continent, was, however, entirely changed after the 30th of April, 1803, when Louisiana, which had been ceded by Spain to France in 1800, came into their possession, by purchase from the latter power. moment, the route across the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific lay open to the Americans; and nothing could be anticipated capable of arresting their progress in the occupation of the whole territory included between those seas.

From that

Before relating the measures taken by the government of the United States in consequence of the acquisition of Louisiana, it will

be convenient to present some observations respecting the northern and western limits of that portion of America.

The first discovery of the southern part of the Mississippi and the adjacent countries, by the Spaniards, in the sixteenth century, has been already mentioned. The northern branches of that river were explored in the latter years of the seventeenth century, by the French, from Canada; and before 1710, many French colonies and posts had been established on its banks, in virtue of which, King Louis XIV. claimed possession of all the territories to a great distance on either side of the stream. In 1712, the exclusive trade of the southern division of these territories, then called Louisiana, was granted by King Louis to Antoine Crozat, in a royal decree or charter, bearing date the 17th of September, which contains the earliest exposition of the limits of that region. The words of the decree are as follows:† "Nous avons par ces présentes, signées de notre main, établi et établissons ledit Sieur Crozat, pour faire seul, le commerce dans toutes les terres par Nous possédées, et bornées par le Nouveau Mexique, et par celles des Anglais de la Caroline, tous les établissemens, ports, havres, rivières, et principalement le port et havre de l'isle Dauphine, appellée autrefois de Massacre, le fleuve St. Louis, autrefois appellée Mississippy, depuis le bord de la mer jusqu'aux Illinois, ensemble les rivières St. Philippe, autrefois appellée des Missourys, et St. Hierosme, autrefois appellée Ouabache, avec tous les pays, contrées, lacs dans les terres, et les rivières qui tombent directement ou indirectement dans cette partie du fleuve St. Louis. Voulons

Jeffreys-or whoever wrote the history of the French dominions in America, published under the name of Jeffreys, in 1759- says, at p. 134 of that work, "The Mississippi, the chief of all the rivers of Louisiana, which it divides almost into two equal parts, was discovered by Colonel Wood, who spent almost ten years, or from 1654 to 1664, in searching its course, as also by Captain Bolt, in 1670."

"We have, by these presents, signed with our hand, authorized, and do authorize, the said Sieur Crozat, to carry on exclusively the trade in all the territories by us possessed, and bounded by New Mexico and by those of the English in Carolina, all the establishments, ports, harbors, rivers, and especially the port and harbor of Dauphin Island, formerly called Massacre Island, the River St. Louis, formerly called the Mississippi, from the sea-shore to the Illinois, together with the Rivers St. Philip, formerly called the Missouries River, and the St. Jerome, formerly called the Wabash, [the Ohio,] with all the countries, territories, lakes in the land, and the rivers emptying directly or indirectly into that part of the River St. Louis. All the said territories, countries, rivers, streams, and islands, we will to be and remain comprised under the name of the government of Louisiana, which shall be dependent on the general government of New France, and remain subordinate to it; and we will, moreover, that all the territories which we possess on this side of the Illinois, be united, as far as need be, to the general government of New France, and form a part thereof; reserving to ourself, nevertheless, to increase, if we judge proper, the extent of the government of the said country of Louisiana."

que les dites terres, contrées, fleuves, rivières et isles, soient et demeurent compris sous le nom du gouvernement de la Louisiane, qui sera dependant du gouvernement général de la Nouvelle France, auquel il demeurera subordonné; et voulons en outre, que toutes les terres que nous possédons, depuis les Illinois, soient reunies, en tant que besoin est, au gouvernement général de la Nouvelle France, et en fassent partie; Nous reservant néanmoins d'augmenter, si nous le jugeons à propos, l'étendue du gouvernement du dit pays de la Louisiane."

This description of the extent of Louisiana was sufficiently definite for the immediate purposes of the concession: as the trade and settlement of the country would necessarily be, for a long time, confined to the vicinity of the great rivers, the precise determination of its boundaries on the east and the west might well be deferred for future arrangement with Great Britain and Spain. Crozat relinquished his privilege in 1717; the Illinois country was then annexed to Louisiana, by a royal decree, and the whole region was granted to the Compagnie d'Orient, better known as Law's Mississippi Company, which held it until 1732: in that year it reverted to the French crown, and was governed as a French province until 1769. On the 3d of November, 1762, the preliminaries of peace were signed at Paris, between France and Spain on the one part, and England and Portugal on the other; and on the same day, "the most Christian king authorized his minister, the duke de Choiseul, to deliver to the marquis di Grimaldi, the ambassador of the Catholic king, in the most authentic form, an act, whereby his most Christian majesty cedes, in entire possession, purely and simply, without exception, to his Catholic majesty, and his successors in perpetuity, all the country known under the name of Louisiana, as also New Orleans and the island in which that city is situated." The cession accordingly took place in form, on the 23d of the same month, in precisely the same terms as to the extent of the territory ceded; * and on the 10th of February following, a treaty was concluded at Paris, between France and Spain on the one part, and Great Britain and Portugal on the other, by which Great Britain obtained possession of Canada, Florida, and the portion of Louisiana “east of a line, drawn along the middle of the Mississippi, from its source to

* The documents relating to this cession were kept secret until 1836, when copies of them were obtained from the archives of the Department of Foreign Affairs at Madrid, by the late J. M. White, of Florida; from which translations were made by the author of this History, and published by the Senate of the United States, in 1837.