London was startled on Monday by a telegram stating that
Russia had ceded all Russian America to the United States, and the treaty needed only the ratification of the Senate, which, by the way, is reported doubtful, the price to be paid by the Union being 1,400,000/. Cessions of territory by Russia are so unusual that the world was ready to suspect a plot, more especially as the telegram added that Sir Frederick Bruce intended to remonstrate, the cession "blocking up British Columbia." It does not block-- up British Columbia, and the transaction does not matter at all -(-1 except to Russians, who by it surrender the design attributed to them of conquering the whole world, and to Americans who have to pay half the price of Louisiana for a vast territory producing chiefly ice, otter furs, and Esquimaux. Except to a hunting company, the whole territory is not worth five shillings, and will be a burden on the Treasury of the United States. The only important feature in the business is the evidence it affords of friendly feeling between the Union and Czar Alexander.
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