As these extensive possessions, constituting a corner of the continent,
pass from the imperial government of Russia, they will naturally
receive a new name. They will be no longer Russian America. How shall
they be called? Clearly, any name borrowed from classical antiquity
or from individual invention will be little better than misnomer or
nickname unworthy of the historic occasion. Even if taken from our
own annals, it will be of doubtful taste. The name should come from
the country itself. It should be indigenous, aboriginal, one of the
autochthons of the soil. Happily such a name exists, as proper in sound
as in origin. It appears from the report of Cook, the illustrious
navigator, to whom I have so often referred, that the euphonious
designation now applied to the peninsula which is the continental link
of the Aleutian chain was the sole word used originally by the native
islanders, “when speaking of the American continent in general, which
they knew perfectly well to be a great land.”[225] It only remains,
that, following these natives, whose places are now ours, we, too,
should call this “great land” Alaska.[226]
Another change should be made. As the settlements of this coast came
eastward from Russia, bringing with the Russian flag Western time, the
day is earlier by twenty-four hours with them than with us, so that
their Sunday is our Saturday, and the other days of the week are in
corresponding discord. This must be rectified according to the national
meridian, so that there shall be the same Sunday for all, and the other
days of the week shall be in corresponding harmony. Important changes
must follow, of which this is typical. All else must be rectified
according to the national meridian, so that within the sphere of our
common country there shall be everywhere the same generous rule and one
prevailing harmony. Of course, the unreformed Julian calendar, received
from Russia, will give place to ours,--Old Style yielding to New Style.
An object of immediate practical interest will be the survey of the
extended and indented coast by our own officers, bringing it all
within the domain of science, and assuring to navigation much-needed
assistance, while the Republic is honored by a continuation of national
charts, where execution vies with science, and the art of engraving
is the beautiful handmaid. Associated with this survey, and scarcely
inferior in value, will be the examination of the country by scientific
explorers, so that its geological structure may become known, with its
various products, vegetable and mineral. But your best work and most
important endowment will be the Republican Government, which, looking
to a long future, you will organize, with schools free to all, and
with equal laws, before which every citizen will stand erect in the
consciousness of manhood. Here will be a motive power without which
coal itself is insufficient. Here will be a source of wealth more
inexhaustible than any fisheries. Bestow such a government, and you
will give what is better than all you can receive, whether quintals of
fish, sands of gold, choicest fur, or most beautiful ivory.