An Alaska Anthology: Interpreting the Past

"Hemmed In": Reactions in British Columbia to the Purchase of Russian America

"Hemmed In" Reactions in British Columbia to the Purchase of Russian America RICHARD E. NEUNHERZ As Richard Welch noted in his work on the popularity of the purchase of Alaska, American newspapers which favored the purchase often suggested that the acquisition ofAlaska might facilitate U.S. acquisition of British Columbia as well. Soon after the Alaska Purchase, William Henry Seward did in fact attempt to buy British Columbia, though unsuccessfully, motivated by his expansionist vision of America 's future. The fact that many residents of British Columbia also favored annexation of the province to the United States is less well known. Richard Neunherz received his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 7975. In the following article, based on his dissertation "The Purchase of Russian America : Reasons and Reactions, " he examines the short-lived but strong annexationist movement in British Columbia. Not surprisingly, Neunherz found support for annexation to be strongest among United States citizens living in B. C. But economic hardship there and British Columbia's distance from other British North American colonies generated support among other people as well, particularly those who lived on Vancouver Island. Yet, as Neunherz demonstrates, the true extent of that support remains problematical. The cession of Russian America to the United States in 1867 placed British Columbia in a precarious position. Flanked by Washington Territory to the south and Alaska to the north, the colony blocked direct land access between the U.S. and its new possession. The American republic, which had a deserved reputation for territorial aggression , had never before included noncontiguous continental lands within its domains. Consequently, many people assumed that British Columbia would soon be the target of Yankee expansion. This article appeared originally in Pacific Northwest Quarterly 80 (July 1989): WI-IIi it is reprinted here by permission. 118 Reactions to the Purchase of Russian America 119 Such a possibility had been foreseen by czarist advisers who had counseled Alexander II to sell Russian America. As an imperial rival of Great Britain in the Pacific, Russia would benefit from England's expulsion from British Columbia and its regional naval headquarters at Esquimalt on Vancouver Island. Edouard de Stoeckl, Russian minister to Washington and negotiator of the 1867 cession, had argued as early as 1860 that if the U.S. owned Russian America "British Oregon would be crowded on the northern side and on the southern side by the Americans and would escape with difficulty from their aggressions." The minister of finance, Mikhail Reutern, assured the czar that the sale would increase "the chances for a disagreement between the States and England." Prince Aleksander Gorchakov, minister of foreign affairs, believed that Britain had long feared such cession. In December 1866, he suggested that "this consideration is perhaps motive for us to cede our Colonies to the United States:-it is undoubtedly one for the Americans to acquire them."l Numerous American journalists and politicians, unaware of the Russian view, came to similar conclusions. Approximately 45 percent of the newspapers that endorsed the purchase of Russian America expressed the belief that the acquisition would increase the probability of obtaining British Columbia. No records exist of the Senate's executive session deliberations on the treaty, but notes from the meetings of the Committee on Foreign Relations indicate that members discussed the possible impact on the colony. In the House of Representatives the topic repeatedly arose in the debate on the appropriation bill for the Alaska Purchase; 13 of the 31 addresses considered the effects of the purchase on British Columbia, and several speakers asserted that the transaction would hasten its annexation . Such expectations coincided with the territorial ambitions of William H. Seward, secretary of state, who for some months after the Russian treaty intrigued to acquire the English colony.2 Considering the belief held by many American and Russian leaders that the cession of Russian America had compromised British Columbia, questions naturally arise about what the colonists thought. How did British Columbians, particularly government officials and the press, react to the sale? Did they interpret the transaction as a menace to their British community? If so, did residents oppose the idea of an American absorption of their settlements, or did some view the possibility with ambivalence , even enthusiasm? Historians have largely ignored such questions and have failed to consider the existence of an annexation movement in 1867. Instead, they have focused on agitations in 1866 and especially 120 RICHARD...