Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/277

Rh not altogether a new idea. Negotiations for ceding it to the United States were begun at the instance of Russia in 1854, during the Crimean war, and in the administration of President Pierce. They were renewed by the United States during President Buchanan s administration, but were then declined by Russia. In 1867 negotiations were renewed between Secretary of State William H. Seward, and Baron Edouard Stoeckl, minister of Russia, which resulted in the cession of Alaska by the treaty made at Washington, March 30, 1867, which was ratified and proclaimed on the 2oth day of June following.

Russia had long evinced the purpose of curbing the territorial acquisitions of Great Britain. Alaska was not useful as a possession, and any hope that Russia may have ever entertained of acquiring valuable American possessions was frustrated by the Monroe doctrine. Alaska had been retained for many years only to keep it from the grasp of Great Britain. The wonderful power displayed in the Confederate war had the effect of allaying any apprehension which Russia may have entertained that the cession of Alaska to the United States might result in its ultimate acquisition by her rival, Great Britain. The cordial relations established between Russia and the United States during the progress of the Confederate war also contributed to the same result, and inclined Russia to entertain views similar to those expressed by Napoleon after the cession of Louisiana.

The peculiar relations of the European powers to each other made this war, like all our other wars, the cause and occasion of the cession of territory. Great Britain, France and Austria seized upon the American war as the opportune time to establish the monarchy of Maximilian upon &quot;the ruins of the Mexican republic.&quot; In pursuance of this policy it was suspected by the United States that these powers would acknowledge the independence of the Confederate States and would form an