The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1867-06-12
MIR. SUMNER ON RUSSIAN AMERICA.

ty, delivered in executive session of the
United States Senate. Ifprintedin full
it would occupy about two and q half
pages of The Tribune. We have there
fore consulted the comfort of our rea-
ders by republishing only the most inn
portant parts of it.
Mr.. Sumner is not able to say when
the idea of this cession first took shape.
He has heard that it was as long ago as
the administration of Mr.. Polk. He
knows that advances were made to the
Russian Government in the time of Mr..
Buchanan, when the sum of S., 900, 900
was offered; but the Gar thought it
not enough, and the matter was allow
ed to drop. The revival of the subject
seems to have been owing to the efforts
of the people of Washington Territory
TO obtain licenses to fish in Russian
waters, and of certain persons in Ca
ifornia Company to secure from the
Imperial Government the trading fran
chise now held by the Russian Ameri-
can Company, but soon about to expire.
Negotiations respecting these privileges
had been carried on for some time
through our State Department, when
an offer suddenly came from St. Peters
burg to sell out the whole concern, and
Mr.. Seward promptly concluded the
bargain. The considerations which
prompted the Secretary of State to this
ready acceptance of the Cars propo-
sal are summed up by Mr. Summer as
follows: l. The possession of Russian
America will be good thing for the
Pacific coast, and will help us in secur-
ing the trade of the East. 2. We have
always had passion for extending our
domain. 8. Our buying this land will
contribute to the spread of Republican
institutions. 4. 1t will bother the Bri-
fish. 5. 1t Will please the Russians.
These reasons are not all as good as
might be, but they are the best to be
had; and having dilated upon them at
some length, Mr.. Sumner proceeds to
examine at much greater length the
character and value of our new acquisi-
ton.
The territory is under the absolute
control of the great Russian American
Trading Company. The receipts of
this company during the ten years from
1850 to 1860 amounted to S,528,55 sill
yer roubles, S6,426,4l3 of our money,
nearly one half being derived from the
tea-trafic, and over one-quarter from
commercial licenses. Its expenditures
during the same period were 7,173,947
roubles, leaving l,s94,604 roubles, or
about s1,o17, 900, to be divided among
the shareholders. What capital the
company now have invested in their
mammoth adventure we do not know;
but in 1888 it was about 1000, 900;
and on this sum the dividents we have
mentioned would be equivalent to only
5per cent per annum.
The population probably does not
exceed $4,000, all told; and of these
the Russians and halfbreeds number
about $500. That there are SO few of
these settlers is perhaps one of the best
things MIR. Sumner has told us about
the colony for, as he very sensibly re-
marks, "the early Russians here were
not Pilgrims and Russian America
has never been celebrated as a school of
the virtues. Of the Esquimaux and
Indians, quick, intelligent, ingenious,
apt at learning, and ready to copy the
y refnements of civilization. He draws
5. rosy picture, into which, however, he
throws some pretty dark shadows; for
the savages, it appears, are all slavehol-
9 ders, and many of them warlike and
= cruel, while there are stories OF canni-
balls in the interior.
We may condense Mr.. Sumner'slong
essay on the climate by sayile that ow-
ing to various causes, and especially the
thermal current of the Pacific, it is very
much milder both in Summer and in
Winter than that of regions in the same
latitude on the Atlantic coast. The
temperature of Sitka in winter is almost
exactly like that of New York; but the
almost perpetual rains which prevail
there, with the fogs and dampness
characteristic of the climate, must con-
vert every inhabitant into what Mr..
Mantalini was so fond of describing as
" demned damp, moist, disagreeable
body" The forests are so wet that
they will not burn the houses are
soaked with moisture; and sometimes
there are not more than forty fine days
in whole year.
In the matter of vegetation, the chief
product OF the territory is pine trees
There is also grass. La Perouse, who
visited the country in lat. 5sdeg. 37sec.,
was delighted to find celery, sorrel,
chicory, and all the other ingredients of
a"French bill of fare.n Wheat. rye.
and orchard fruits, we regret to say,
will not grow; but there is some chance
for barley and cabbages, while potatoes
are not unknown. The list of mineral
products include silver, gold, copper,
lead, coal, and perhaps iron; but very
little is known about the minerals, and
OF most OF them it is uncertain whether
they exist under such conditions as to
render their working profitable. The
great sources of wealth are the fur trade
and the fisheries, for the fullest attain
able information concerning which we
must refer our readers to the latter part
OF MI. Summers speech. He has avery
fine episode on the moral and political
influence Of fishing, and a descriptive
catalogue of some of the principal
members of the animal kingdom. both
OF which we have been reluctantly com.
PEELED to omit. q. 80
MI: Sumner closes with two or three
practical suggestions. He proposes
that the country shall be called Alaska.
that the calendar shall be refnrr,aa -