y1 Letter addressed to President Hayes. 55 



The degree of success which has been reached in the schools at Fort Wrangel, 

 has already come to the knowledge of the Board, and needs not, therefore, to 

 be rehearsed . in this Report. I cannot dismiss the subject in this brief way, 

 without expressing my full approbation of the teachers, and my admiration for 

 the mental qualities, aptitudes, and progress of the scholars. The Common 

 School is the lever, and Christianity the power, which will lift this jieoplc to tho 

 (.onomon ground of our modern civilization. 



But this great work should not he carried out by the Church alone. The 

 expense is too great. As the advantages of the civilization of Alaska will 

 accrue to the people of the United States, so the Government of the United 

 States should provide the means, and support the agencies, for the education of 

 this long neglected people. 



In my next Report, I shall show the relation of these Schools to the Govern, 

 ment, and propose my plan for Congressional action, with such additional 

 enforcement as increasing knowledge of the situation is capable of imparting. 

 All of which, is respectfully submitted, 



A. L. LINDSLEY. • 



REPORT ON ALASKA. NO. V. 



Relation of the People of the United States to the Civilization of 

 the Native Alaskans. — A Letter addressed to President Hayes. 



EXPUNATORY. — 1 his Letter was published at Washington by authority of the President, and 

 circulated in Congress and among officers of the Government. Copies in manuscript had 

 previously been sent to a few influential citizens. The writer was compelled by arduous 

 professional labors, to condense his argument and abridge his illustrations, which together 

 might be expanded into a volume. The plea as it stands has already been so effective, that 

 the writer is induced to send it forth in this grouping, with the earnest hope that its influence 

 may be enlarged and decisive. 



SiTKA, Alaska, July 16, 1879. 

 To his Excellency, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States : 



Certain obligations were solemnly assumed by our Government upon extend- 

 ing our sovereignty over Alaska. In addition to the ordinary guaranties of 

 civil and political rights, the inhabitants were to be incorporated with the 

 inhabitants of our Country. No man questions this, who has read the treaty. 



Two things are plain as the sun that shines on the glittering dome of Mt. 

 St. Elias. I. That we are bound to extend a government over Alaska. II. 

 That we are bound to extend the means of enlightenment to the people of 

 Alaska. The Russian Government superintended this obligation through 

 officials and stipendiaries of its own. The genius of our institutions forbids 

 us to meet the obligations in the same way : but its stress is as great, and even 

 stronger. A despotism may survive without intelligence auiong its subjects ; 

 a republic, never. Nothing is more clearly settled than that the security of 

 our institutions is anchored in the intelligence of our citizens, guided by morality 

 and virtue, and sustained by a sense of obligation to the Supreme Ueing. The 

 paramount influence of this principle is seen in our System of Universal Edu- 

 cation. 



