Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1886 — THE PURCHASE OF ALASKA. [ARTICLE]

THE PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

History of the Purchase—President Lincoln Alone Should Have Credit for It. I have lately seen it in print for the first time that Wm. H. fceward said that the one act of his life most to be proud of was the acquisition of Alaska. This, to those who are not ignorant of the facts, is a remarkable claim. As I was minister plenipotentiary from the United States at St. Petersburg, Russia, during the time of the purchase and addition of Alaska to the Union, and Seward Secretary of State —however, we might both claim to be the peers of Lincoln in ability—Lincoln was our chief, and the honor of that expansion of territory belongs to him It is the general-in-chief who wears the laurels or victory, however gallantly his subordinates may havfe fought. So far, then, as Seward and myself are concerned, I lay the facts before the world for the award of honor. Collins, having explored the route from America, through Alaska, the Aleutian Isles, and Siberia to St. Petersburg, united with Sibley, the President of the Western Union Telegraph Company, to extend their line to the Russian capital. They placed this project in my hands, and I got a very favorable charter from the Russian Government, one clause of which was the privilege of a “rebate,” or gratuity, in common phrase, for all words transmitted from the Pacific to St. Petersburg on Russian lines. Another project of mine was to secure to American citizens the perpetual lease of the splendid coal mines on the island of Saghalien, on the eastern coast of Russia. A third was a grant of the Russian Fur Company’s privileges—for an equivalent to an American company, in the vast regions of Alaska. Heretofore the Russian Pacific coast was not open even to foreign consulships, but an American consulship was now allowed. These projects of mine were all cognate. The telegraph would free us from dependence on the enemies of the Union by lines in our own possession. The coai mines of Saghalien were almost a necessity of our commerce with China. Japan, and the Corea. And our acquisitions in Alaska would offer a combined force of Americans and Russians against a war with England, which then seemed imminent. Collins and Sibley asked not only for a right of way through Alaska, but for land grants for the lines and stations, all of which were freely discussed by me and Russian officials in a private and personal way. I found the resources of Alaska to be beyond price in minerals, and fisheries, and forests, and furs, and c ommercial promise. I wrote to Gov. John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts, and other distinguished citizens and capitalists about these projects. A company was formed in San Francisco, and I was engaged to contract with the Russ an Fur Company for a transfer of its chartered rights to the Americans. Everything was favorable, when Seward opened up his unfortunate Perkins claim and completely disgusted the Russian autocrat and Gortchakoff with American projects. The Saghalien enterprise was cut short. The telegraph line was refused the “rebate” and dropped out, notwithstanding Collins, Sibley, and I did all we could to have the terms confirmed which had been made by the Minister of Telegraphs, Count Tolstoi. Still, the advantages of the transfer of Alaska were so apparent that, having sounded the Russian authorities, I had formal meetings with the Russian Fur Company, and the terms were all agreed upon. When the news came that Alaska was purchased outright by the United States, Seward sent me a treaty upon “trade marks,” which I signed and delivered; but he negotiated the Alaska purchase, for which he had no more reason to claim credit than for Jefferson’s acquisition of Louisiana. There was no American so odious to the Russians as Seward, and I had worked up the project and cultured the tree until the fruit was ripe and fell, by the necessity of the case, into his basket.— C. M. Clay, in New York Sun.