The Landward Boundary of Alaska. Norman race to possess the whole of Russian America, however wild and inhospitable it may be, as it has been the destiny of the Russian North men to prevail over northern Europe and Asia. As the Wandering Jew and his phantom in the tale of Eugene Sue, so will the Anglo-Norman and the Russian yet look upon each other from the opposite side of Behring Straits. Between the two races, the northern half of the Old and New World must be divided. America must be ours. "The present development of the precious metals in our hyperborean Eldorado will most probably hasten the annexation of the territory in question. It can hardly be doubted that the gold region of the Stikine extends away to the western source of the Mackenzie. In this case the in crease of the business and of the population will exceed our most sanguine expectations. Who shall reap the profit of this? The mouths of rivers have as well before as since [since as before?] the time of railroads controlled the business of the interior. For our national pride the thought, however, is unbearable, that the Russian eagle shall possess a point which owes its importance to the British lion. The mouth of the Stikine must be ours, or at least an outer harbor must be established on British soil, from which our steamers can pass the Russian girdle. Fort Simson, Dundas land, Portland Canal, or some other convenient point, must be selected for this purpose. The necessity of speedy action in order to secure the control of the Stikine is apparent. If we let slip the opportunity, so shall we permit a Russian state to arrive at the door of a British colony." Charles Sumner comments on this article as follows : — "Thus, if we may credit this colonial ejaculation, caught up and preserved by German science, the Russian possessions were destined to round and complete the domain of Great Britain on this con tinent. The promises of gold on the Stikine failed, and it is not improbable that this colonial plan was as unsubstantial." "During the Crimean war," adds Mr. Sumner, "there seemed to be in Canada a spirit not unlike that of the Vancouver journalist, unless we are misled by the able pamphlet of Mr. A. K. Roche, of Quebec, wherein, after describing Russian-Amer ica as richer in resources and capabilities than it has hitherto been allowed to be either by
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the English who shamefully gave it up, or by the Russians who cunningly obtained it, the author urges an expedition for its conquest and annexa tion. His proposition fell on the happy termina tion of the war; but it exists as a warning, with a notice also of a former English title ' shamefully ' abandoned." The English " title " rested only upon a more detailed exploration of the coast, which the Russians had several years earlier discovered and formally taken pos session of, by which action, according to established European usage, the designated region became Russian territory. It had ever since stood in Russia's name, and no subsequent effort to impugn her title was made until the recent period when the re gion was discovered to possess materials of wealth other than peltries. Both the pam phlet and the quoted article show such assur ance as might be derived from government approbation. Since the acquisition of Alaska by the United States, this three hundred or more miles of seacoast, thirty miles in width, has not lost value in the view of either the col onial or the home government, nor of the colonists, whose enterprising nature England knows well how to use. The desire of its possession has now reached that stage, so frankly shown in the colony journal, when any scheme which has in it the capability of effacing old landmarks, receives fond consid eration. Accordingly we have recently seen in approved Canadian journals the assertion that the "ten leagues from the sea" (which is given in the treaty as the greatest width of this Alaskan strip of coast) were intended to begin at the western side of the border ing archipelago, the outer shores of the fringe of islands; which mode of measure ment would leave the mainland entirely un touched by the boundary line, so that the latter would fall far short of the eastern shores of some of the islands, dividing these into sections of different nationality. As the terms of the treaty extend the
