39 
on the New England coast. The rotten monarchies of Europe, 
long kept together by the “ cohesive power of public plunder,” 
have, by the prestige of public opinion, been forced to withhold 
special privileges from any special class. The British Parlia¬ 
ment, half a century ago, refused to renew the charter of the 
wealthy East India Companya few years ago they withheld 
all special privileges from the powerful Hudson’s Bay Company ; 
no class legislation has passed that body for many years. The 
despotic government of Bussia appears to have caught the in¬ 
spiration of our day and generation, and against the power and 
blandishments of the great fur company, sold out Alaska, root 
and branch, to our government. The Congress of the United 
States, like the Bourbons, “ never learns nor forgets it is high 
time that this body should see the handwriting and give heed. 
It is to be hoped that wiser counsels may yet prevail and that 
this odious law may be repealed before it is too late; u other 
men in other times ” will repair the damage ; in the meantime 
our diminutive Congressmen may learn “ that there is a greater 
power behind the throne than the throne itself.” Sincerely 
believing that the u Fur Franchise” in Alaska is obstructive to 
the development of the vast resources latent in those regions, 
subersive of the best interest of the people of that territory, 
and embarrassing to the traders and fishermen in and around 
those shores, w r e most earnestly ask Congress to repeal that 
odious measure and let “justice be done though the heavens 
fall.” 
Walrus are abundant around the Behring Sea ; they are very 
large and fat, yielding considerable oil and ivory. Walrus hides 
have, of late years, been used for various purposes; it makes 
good belting for mills; when properly tanned it polishes well, 
and is very generally used in burnishing cutlery, ivory and sundry 
hard surfaces. The island of St. Lawrence affords a genial 
nursery for those animals, and many are slaughtered annually by 
the whalemen. This business offers profitable rewards to am¬ 
bitious young men of nerve and money. “ Walrus ivory. Coal 
harbor, on the north side of the island of Unga, has been the 
point for receiving the tusks obtained from the walrus islands, 
on the north side of the Alaska peninsula. During the winter 
the walrus is said to be driven by great bodies of ice into the 
bay, thirty miles long and ten miles wide, embracing the walrus 
islands. Here the natives kill them, secure their tusks and trade 
