During the Crimean war the Company's property was made neutral on condition of its taking no part in hostilities.

Two of its ships were captured and burned for an alleged violation of neutrality.
The Company leased a portion of its territory to the Hudson Bay Company, and allowed it to establish hunting and trading posts.

A strip of land bordering the ocean was thus in English hands, and gave access to a wide region beyond the Coast Mountains.

Not content with what was leased, the Hudson Bay Company deliberately seized a locality on the Yukon river when it had no right.

It built Fort Yukon and secured much of the interior trade of Russian America.
When our Secretary of State purchased the Emperor's title to the western coast of America, there were various opinions respecting the sagacity of the transaction.