The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-03
Russo-AmerIcRn Purchase-The Climax
of Mr.. Stewards Foreign Policy.
III

Russo american Purchase-The Climax
of Mr.. Stewards Foreign Policy.
From The Herdld.
The treaty Just concluded between the high
contracting parties at Washington for the
transfer Of Russian America to the United
States for the cash equivalent of seven millions
of dollars in gold, may be considered the dis
tinguishing and crowning achievement of Mr..
Stewards foreign policy. With laudable am
bition to leave some conspicuous and enduring
landmark behind him in connection with his
name as the head of our Executive Depart
ment on Foreign Affairs, he has at last made
decided hit in this acquisition from Russia of
a landmark which covers a superficial area
greater than that of the empires of France and
Austria combined, and which embraces a
mountain peak (Mount st. Elias) two thou
sand feet higher than Mont Blanc, ''the
monarch" of the mountains of Europe. With
Mount st. Elias, then, at the very head of the
mighty backbone of the American continent,
| away up yOnder under the brilliant auroral
| lights Of the Arctic circle-with Mount st.
| Elias, we say, as Mr.. Seward's diplomatic
monument may he not ioyously eXclaim, with
| good old Simeon, ''Now, Lord, lettest Thou
| thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes
| have seen thy salvatiOnE'
We are inclined to be enthusiastic over this
achievement, like the heroic Dutch veteran in
his description of the great battle of Blenheim.
| We remember, however, that he was cooled
| down as with a wet blanket by that direct
| question from ''his little grandchild, Wilhel-
mine, y "What good came,of it F' And what
| was his answer y
"Indeed. ! cannot tell" quoth he;
"But twas a famous victory"
So, if we are asked, what advantages or
equivalents do we get for Mr.. Stewards pro-
posed seven millions in gold for Russian
America we are constrained to answer that
we cannot tell, but it is a tremendous acquisi-
tion of territory. 1t is larger than the original
thirteen United States of America all put
together Only think of that. And ali for
seven millions in gold May not this amount
ten times multiplied be hid away under the
seventeen thousand feet of perpetual snow of
Mount st. Elias p He is the head and front of
the gold and silver chain of California, Nevada,
Mexico, and Central and South America, and
why, therefore, should not old st. Elias dis
close the richest placer of them all, provided
you can get it ! 1t may be a white elephant,
a costly keepsake; but there can be no mis-
| taking its political bearings. 1t points to an
| alliance, political, commercial and military,
| offensive and defensive, between Russia and
| the United States, against England and France,
| in the future adjustments of the balances of
! power in both hemispheres.
In this broad and important view, leaving all
| statistics Of beaver skins, seahorse teeth and
| fish oil, Mount st. Elias and all coniectures of
| gold and silver mines, out of the question, Mr.
| Seward has fanked England from the north
| pole or northwest passage, and has gained the
| icebound key Of Behring's Strait between Asia
| and America. He has only to purchase the
| Strait of Magellan, the islands ON the one side
! and the mainland on the other, in order to
| place both extremes of this continent within
Data 1g
| try for the development of the human form;
for there the halt-starved aborigines are said to
| grow eight feet high. But Russian America,
| with Mount st. Elias, Behring's Strait and its
majestic icebeTgs, are glory enough for one
| day. Mr.. Seward thus looms up in bold relief
| as an encouraging example OF diplomatic per-
| severance for grand result. lie worked very
hard through all the war, op the Rebellion,
the slavery question, the Mason and Slidell
question, ell neutral rights, belligerent rights,
the Monroe doctrine, and the French interven-
tion in Mexico, and he has accumulated a
mass of diplomatic correspondence ON these
subjects which would occupy one printer at
least hundred years to put in type; and what
does it all amount to muddle and a med
ley of positions, promises, doctrines, demands,
concessions, facts, and arguments that would
puzzle even Prince Gortschakotf to make head
or tail of, much as he is said to admire Mr.
Stewards diplomacy.
Satisfied that all these labors were doomed
to the eobwebs, Mr.. Seward, since the collapse
of the Rebellion, has been aiming at something
in the way Of diplomacy more tangible, posi-
tive, and enduring. And so for the last two
years he has been nosing about in the West
Indies for the purchase of an island, or hal
an island, or a naval station, or a coaline
depot, and has failed only for the want of the
ready cash. Next we find him as mediator
contrivipg South American peace convention
in Washington; and then we have him plan
ming a grand surprise for Macmillan, which
| ends I'm tha wild gonsa ohasa of Cnmnhell anG