Early Diplomatic Negotiations Of The United States With Russia

CONTENTS. PAGE. CHAPTER I. Danas Mission to Russia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . g CHAPTER 11. The Beginning nf Formal Relatinns. . . . . . . . . . j r CHAPTER 111. Adamss Mission ......................... 3 . 4 . . CII PTER IV. rlI e Russian Offer of Mediation.. . . . . . . . . . . . 58 CHAPTER V. The Question of Co isular T mmui ity . . ........ gr CHAPTER VI. Pinkncys h, iission.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 CHAPTER VlT. Spanish-American Affairs.. ........... ... ... . l r g CHAPTER V IlI. Russian Arbitration in Rcfcrel cc t o the Treaty of G h c .. t . ............................... 1 46 CHAPTER IX. he Treaty of 1824. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 57 PREFACE. In this introductory study of the relations of the United States 114th Russia it is proposed to narrate the l istory of the rise and progress of the early diplomatic relatio ls o f the hizzerican government to that country and the steps by which . . the negotiations were carried forwarcl. The policy of a nation cannot be rcad in its treaties alone. Nor is diploinatic history to be written merely from negotiations that have been brought to a successfu1 canclusion. It is in the unsi ccessful negotiations together with the completed ones that the aiins and ambitions of a governmerit are shown. In this investigation the chief sources of information arc in the diplolnatic archives of the Department of State, at Washington. iUherever any of these have bccn published I have endeavored, for the co lvenienceo f the readcr, to give the reference to the most available printed source. 1 am decply grateful to R h . Pendleton Ring, Chief of the Bureau of Indexes and Archives of theDepartment of State, for permission to ex arnirie the archives in his charge, and to Mr. George H. Schultze, of the samc Department, for his very courteous assistance. I am also obliged to Professors J. II. Vincent, W. TV. Willot ghby, and Dr. J. S. Reeves for rcading my manuscript and Ear their suggcstiotls, and also to Professor A. C. LIcLatrghlin for information as to the letters of William Short. This study was the outcome of reports in the American History Seminary of the Johns Hopkins University, and I am under the greatest obligatiolls to Professor J. C. Eallagh, without whose schoIarly advice and constant encouragetnent it vould never have been completed. As early in the Revolutiorl as December, I T G, Congress thought of sending a 11 inister to Russia. l The America commissioners at Paris liatl advised that, if expense was no objection, Russia should not be neglected with regard to a mini tcr. B ut lloiie was sent. This -as tluc possibly to thc expense and probably to thc opinion which lastid down into 1779 that Russia was at least apathetic, if not hostilc ta the United Colonies. It was known that England was negotiating with hcr for an alliance and it was widely re ported that she rould scnd twenty thousand Russian sol liers to A ncrica. ut as time I JCII on it became known that Et glal cdou ld not secure any assistance from Russia, while the Anlerican agents in Europe reported that the Empress Catherine was no longer favorabl disposed toward Great Britain. - - - Committee of Secret Correspondeltcc to Commissiot ers at Paris. Dec. 30, 1776. iVIiartotl, niplomatic Correspondence of the Ameri can Rcval rtiou. vol...