brought to bear all the considerable influence
he was able to command, called upon all his resources of brain and
address, and brought Catherine to the point of consenting to sign the
charter he needed. Before it was ready for the imperial signature she
died. Rezanov was forced to begin again with her ill-balanced and
intractable son. Natalie Shelikov, his famous mother-in-law, the old
shareholders of the Company, and the many new ones that had subscribed
to Rezanov's ambitious project, gave themselves up to despair. For a
time the outlook was dark. The personal enemies of Rezanov and the
bitter and persistent opponents of the companies threw themselves
eagerly into the scale with tales of brutality of the merchants and the
threatened extirpation of the fur-bearing animals. Paul announced his
attention to abolish all the companies and close the colonies to
traders big and little.

But the enemy had a very subtle antagonist in Rezanov. Apparently
dismissing the subject, he applied himself to gaining a personal
ascendancy over the erratic but impressionable Tsar. No one in the
opposing camp could compare with him in that fine balance of charm and
brain which was his peculiar gift, or in the adroit manipulation of a
mind propelled mainly by vanity. He studied Paul's moods and
character, discovered that after some senseless act of oppression he
suffered from a corresponding remorse, and was susceptible to any plan
that would increase his power and add lustre to his name. The
commercial and historic advantages of prosperous northeastern
possessions were artfully instilled. At the opportune moment Rezanov
laid before him a scheme, mature in every detail, for a great company
that would add to the wealth of Russia, and convince Europe of the
sound commercial sense and immortal wisdom of its sovereign. Without
more ado he obtained his charter.

This momentous instrument granted to the "Russian-American Company
under our Highest Protection," "full privileges, for a period of twenty
years on the coast of northwestern America, beginning from latitude 55
degrees north, and including the chain of islands extending from
Kamchatka northward, and southward to Japan; the exclusive right to all
enterprises, whether hunting, trading, or building, and to new
discoveries; with strict prohibition from profiting from any of these
pursuits, not only to all parties who might engage in them on their own
responsibility, but also to t