Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-04-05
Hep. maj ; IG u u - 1O6
No United States Senator is to be elected
hy tie new Legislature
RMSSIan-AnlerEc

Twelve years ago negotiations we're first
opened with Russia by President Pierce
for the purchase Of the Russian Territory
IL North America. 1t has been reserved
for President Johnson to complete success
fully the movement then inaugnrated, for
OF the ratification OF the treaty Of purchase
there is but little doubt This acquisition
is an important one only III view of ulte-
rior events, and not from the prospect of
any present material advantage. The ter
ritory thus acquired is an immensc one,
composed as it is Vi an area Of about $50,
900 square mile. Ict the country is II
barren one, ani is but tfinIy settled, the
population upproxiln atinG only some soy
enty Thousand Of which tbou! two-thirds
arc Indiana and E.squimall&. New Arch
angel, the principal town, 2ituated upon
the ialand Of Baea1ov OF Sitka, contains
only about onc thousand inhabitants.
Some few nlaterial benefits may be ca
pected to follow immediately upon tlis ac-
QUESTION, yet thcy will be obtained at IL
cost entirely diopr"porionatc to their value.
! The most important item Of these benefits
is the protection which will be afforded to
the prosecution III the Flu Trade and to
our Whale Fisheries upon the Pacific coast
Yet this will require the support OF mill
amount each year to perhaps more than the
actual value Of the benefit derived from
them The whole annual value Of the for
mCr has never been TO Russia more than
half q million dollars Il year. whereas the
expense of maintaining military and naval
stations at the different ports on the coast
and throughout the country, added to the
yearly interest on the purchase money
! 81, 0OO 900 i'll gold will make al aggregate
of an annual expense Of fully one million
dollars. As to the expectation that any
advantages will be derived from Il CONNER
cial intercourse with the eastern countries
of Asia through that territory, the slight
est knowledge Of tie country itself viii be
sufficient to dissipate. The larger portion
of the country is totally uninhabitable. and
its distance from the consumers in the
States is too great to admit of any com
mercial competition with the mildor ports
Of this country.
The ulterior benefits are more important
and moro probable than those which many
sanguine persons seem to expect rs animme-
date consequence. In the event OF a war
with any foreign power, particularly with
| that Of Great Britain, the possession Of this
territory must be OF vast military impor-
lance. 1t very nearly completes the land
locking of the British possessions in Amer
lea, and, i'll the event of q rupture with
that power, would place its Western terri
tory at the mercy of the United States
With Il frozen sea to the North, and pow
erful nation upon the South and Southeast;
with but the small strip pertaining to Co
lunlbia washed by the Pacific ocean, and
with their great river, the st. Lawrence,
blockadcd 10y ice i'll the winter, and by dan
gerous fogs i'll the summer, the conquest Of
those possessions would naturally follow as
one of the first results Of war
Looking into the short future for the ex-
tension Of the Monroe doctrine, RS u con-
sequence OF the increasing volume of Amer
lean power and nationality, it is not unrea-
sonablc to suppose that the country now
lying north of tho present States will some
day form part and parcel of the common
union. Should pcaceable schemes Of an
neAation fail, and should d war ever be
declared between the two countries, the
possession Of Russian America will assist
greatly i'll the effort to annex the British
dominlons here to our own Government.