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accept, Mr. Secretary of State, the assurances of my high consideration. STOECKL.

To the Honorable William H. Seward,

Secretary of State of the United States.

Alaska was the last portion of the American continent to be discovered, and Russia held the title to the territory by the right of discovery and occupation. Peter the Great, in 1725, was curious to know if Asia and America were separated by the sea or if they were twin continents attached by ties of land. To obtain this information he ordered an expedition to be equipped, but he died before the preparations were completed. His widow, Catherine I., did not permit the enterprise to be abandoned, and made Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator of experience, the commander of the party. Taking with him seventy sailors and some shipbuilders, Bering left St. Petersburg on the 5th of February, 1725, and crossed Siberia and northern Asia to the coast of Kamchatka. It took him more than three years to make the journey. When he reached the coast he built a small vessel and cruised along until he reached the frozen sea. Then he returned to his starting place and crossed overland to St. Petersburg, where he arrived in March, 1730, after an absence of a little more than five years. He was created commodore, and in 1741 repeated the expedition with a larger force and better equipments. On this journey he discovered and named Mount St. Elias, in honor of the saint on whose anniversary he saw it first. On the return Bering suffered desperate hardships, and his party were at last wrecked upon a desert island without a name, where, sheltered in a ditch and covered with sand to protect him from cold, he died on the 8th of December, 1841. Shortly after, Spanish and French voyagers visited the coast, but the Russians soon established military posts and colonies there, and their title to the country was recognized by the rest of the world.

The first proposition to purchase Russian America was made during the administration of President Polk, but it was not seriously considered. When Mr. Buchanan was President he authorized Senator Gwin of California, afterwards created duke of Sonora by Emperor Maximilian, to confer with the Russian minister at Washington on the subject, and $5,000,000 was offered as purchase money. The Russian minister replied that while the offer was not what might have been expected, it deserved mature reflection, and stated that the minister of finance had been instructed to make an investigation as to the value of the territory. Meanwhile the rebellion having begun and ended, attention was again directed to the Russian possessions, which by that time had become familiar to the fishermen on the Pacific coast and to the whalers and seal catchers that went all the way around from Gloucester and Newburyport, Mass. The matter was first brought officially to the attention of the government through a memorial presented by the legislature of Washington Territory in the winter of 1866, asking that the President would secure for the fishermen of the United States full privileges from Russia for the use of its fishing grounds. This memorial was forwarded to the Russian minister at Washington, Mr. Stoeckl, and as he was about to leave for St. Petersburg on a vacation he promised to bring the matter to the attention of his government and secure the most favorable terms. Archduke Constantine, brother and chief advisor of the late czar of Russia, was selected to confer with Mr. Stoeckl, and as a result the latter was authorized to treat with the United States for the purchase of the territory. He arrived in Washington early in March, had several conferences with Mr. Seward, and arranged with him the terms which were expressed briefly in the letter before mentioned.

When the purchase of Russian America became known to

the public it evoked a storm of protests and ridicule. It was declared to be a barren, worthless region, whose only products were icebergs and polar bears, where the ground was frozen six feet deep from year to year and all the streams were glaciers. It was called "Seward's Polar Bear Garden," and the administration was abused without limit for the alleged folly of paying $7,200,000 for an iceberg. Mr. Sumner, who had taken a great interest in the matter, made a speech in the Senate, which was one of the most remarkable ever delivered in that body. From the moment he decided to give his support to the treaty he commenced to study the condition and resources of Alaska and read everything that had previously been published concerning the Russian possessions in America. The treaty was ratified by a vote of 37 yeas to 2 nays, the latter being cast by Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, and Mr. Morrill, of Vermont.

A public proclamation of the treaty was made in the following June, and in August Major General Rousseau of the United States Army was appointed officially to receive Alaska from the Russian government. Although the funds had not been appropriated by Congress, Russia imposed perfect confidence in the good faith of the United States, and the delivery was made without waiting for the payment of the purchase money. Embarking from San Francisco on a man-of-war, General Rousseau, with General Jefferson C. Davis and about 250 troops, went to Sitka, where the Russian garrison received them with military honors. The two battalions exchanged flags, and then alternate salutes were fired from the American and the Russian batteries. The troops were then brought to "present arms," and the Russian banner was lowered from the flagstaff on the top of the garrison. The Russian representative then said:

"General Rousseau :-By authority of his majesty, the

emperor of all the Russias, I transfer to the United States all right and title to the territory of Alaska."

General Rousseau replied:- "By authority of the President of the United States I accept the transfer."

The United States flag was then hoisted above the barracks, and the ceremonies ended by a banquet on board one of the men-of-war.

Until its purchase by the United States the country had always been known upon the maps and in published volumes as Russian America, and while the treaty was pending in the Senate there were frequent discussions among the members of the cabinet and the officials of the State Department as to the name that should be bestowed upon the new territory. Several were suggested as appropriate, but Mr. Seward, with whom the decision rested, preferred Alaska, which was the title of the long strip of land that extends from the main territory into the Bering Sea. At the next session of Congress a bill was introduced to appropriate the money for the payment provided by the treaty, and on the 27th of July, 1868, it was finally passed, whereupon the secretary of state handed a draft for $7,200,000 in gold to the Russian minister.

CHAPTER XVI.

RELATIONS WITH ITALY.

THERE have been few diplomatic incidents in the relations: between the United States and Italy. The first treaty with any of the Italian nations was made with the kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1832; the next with the kingdom of Sardinia in 1838; another with the Two Sicilies in 1845; a third in 1854; a fourth in 1855; a treaty of friendship, commerce, and extradition with the consolidated kingdom in 1868, and another in 1871. The first minister was sent from the United States to the Two Sicilies in 1816; one was sent to the kingdom of Sardinia in 1840, and to the States of the Church in 1846.

During the years 1809 to 1812, when Prince Murat was king of the Two Sicilies, the commerce of the United States suffered much damage from the privateers that infested the Mediterranean, and at the close of the War of 1812 our government demanded reparation and indemnity for the losses sustained. William Pinckney was sent to the capital as a commissioner to conduct the negotiations, but he failed to accomplish any results and was recalled. The claims continued to be the subject of correspondence until 1832, when John Nelson succeeded in making a treaty under which the government of the Two Sicilies agreed to pay the sum of 2,115,000 ducats as indemnity for the destruction of vessels and cargoes. This money was afterwards distributed by a commission among

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