“Well, now, the mention of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, and for that matter, the North-Western Territories, brings me to what I said earlier about Seward and the Americans.”
“We hadn’t forgotten about that,” Macdonald reassured him. “You called it a Washington rumour.”
“Indeed, that’s all it is, a rumour. But it’s a very disturbing one, particularly from the point of view of your objective, which is also mine — the creation of a unified British North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific.”
“And the Arctic,” Macdonald added. “The Arctic is a frozen wasteland, but it is land. The Hudson’s Bay Company is there and has possession of it, but the Arctic must be ours.”
“It must indeed,” Henry Herbert agreed. “The rumour comes by way of Her Majesty’s most able envoy in Washington, Sir Frederick Bruce.”
Cartier nodded. “We all know Sir Frederick. He travelled to Quebec to visit us last summer. An impressive man. Speaks French, Parisian French, without an accent!”
“Splendid. The rumour Sir Frederick has reported, if true, could have serious consequences for your confederation plans. I have to put it as bluntly as that, gentlemen.”
“For God’s sake, Harry, what are you talking about?” Galt’s voice was at an impatient near bellow.
“Well, Bruce, through his diplomatic network, has heard that the Russian ambassador to Washington has been called back to St. Petersburg to talk with the Tsar and his advisors about the purchase of Russian America by the United States. It seems that the Tsar wants to talk about selling it because Russia is in dire financial straits. That’s what Bruce has heard and I thought you people should know about it.”
Their brains muted by the evening’s long drinking session, the Canadians did not respond immediately to what they had heard. There was an extended silence as they absorbed the implications of Lord Carnarvon’s words.
Finally Macdonald brought his hands together, fingertips touching, and rolled his eyes upward in a prayer-like position of frustration, saying, “Those bastards! That Seward sonofabitch! He’s going to buy Russian America and force British Columbia and Vancouver Island to join the United States as part of his Manifest Destiny expansion.”
The colonials well understood the concept: The United States should expand to embrace all of North America. Indeed, at every opportunity it should reach out and take in the Atlantic islands on the east and whatever it could find in the Pacific.
“If Seward gets Russian America,” Cartier pronounced. “He’ll get Vancouver Island and British Columbia. I mean, my God, why would the people of those colonies stay with us, join us thousands of miles to the east, if they are not connected in any way except by a treeless plain and an impenetrable mountain range?”
“And the North-Western Territories?” Galt’s mind was reeling. “If Seward gets Russian America, he will gobble up everything west of Lake Superior. Everything!”
Cartier said what everyone else was thinking: “If Sir Frederick’s rumour is true, our plan for a British North America confederation from sea to sea could be completely derailed. British Columbia, Vancouver Island, and the North-Western Territories will fall to the United States either by persuasion or by aggression. And who’s to stop it?”
“We are!” Macdonald was emphatic. “We should offer to buy Russian America!”
Carnarvon had to say, “Who are we? The only entity that could make an offer is Her Majesty’s Britannic government. You people have no status until the British North America bill is passed.”
“No status and no money,” Galt, the guardian of the Province of Canada’s treasury, affirmed.
“However, you’re absolutely right, John A.,” the young Earl agreed. “We, all of us together, with the government as the proposed purchaser, must get into the bidding for Russian America … whether or not the rumour Bruce has heard is true.”
Carnarvon stubbed out his near-dead cigar. “And odds are it is true. We do know that about six years ago the Americans, led by one Senator Gwin, put a proposal — in the interests of businessmen and entrepreneurs in the Pacific northwest states — to the Tsar through the Russian ambassador.”
“The renowned de Stoeckl. We’ve heard about him. He was in the thick of things, the Russian fleet in American ports during the Civil War …”
“Yes, John A. The renowned de Stoeckl. It was an offer to buy out the interests of the Russian American Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company’s licence to operate in Russian American territory. That offer was rebuffed, but only after careful consideration by Tsar Nicholas, the present Tsar’s father.”
Carnarvon paused for a moment, then continued. “Now the Russian American Company is losing huge amounts of money, and the Tsar’s brother, the Grand Duke Constantine, wants to have the Company dissolved. The subsidies to the Company are draining Russia’s coffers and killing the Russian navy’s opportunity to expand the way that its Grand Admiral, Constantine, insists it should expand.”
The Earl stood and went over to pull the tasseled cord hanging from the ceiling near the tall, ornately carved French fireplace. “I’m sure a touch of cognac would not be inappropriate, gentlemen.”
A servant appeared instantly through the library door bearing a bottle of golden Courvoisier and four crystal brandy snifters on a silver tray.
As the cognac was being served, Carnarvon settled back into his chair. “You should know, gentlemen, that at this moment de Stoeckl is in St. Petersburg. He arrived there on the American ship Union Eagle out of New York. The information reported by Sir Frederick is that his meeting with the Tsar will occur within the week.”
Macdonald threw the last of his cognac back, enjoying the searing movement of the powerful liquid flowing down his throat. “Let us be profoundly realistic, Harry.” His Scottish burr had been intensified by the alcohol he had consumed. “We canna go off half cocked over a wee rumour. But what we can do — and mind, we have a duty to do for the sake of the nation we are attempting to birth — what we can do is take the rumour seriously, as if it was a proved fact. We must prepare a plan of attack.”
“Agreed!” Galt interrupted.
“And so we have no choice but to put together two schemes. Yes, two, as I see it,” Macdonald said.
“And they are?” Carnarvon encouraged him.
“The first scheme is for the purpose of driving a wedge of distrust between the Tsar and the White House, or between de Stoeckl and Seward. I don’t know what the tactics would be but that’s the strategy. If we could do that, those two would never make a deal, even though Russia and the United States are close friends.”
“And, each of them, for their own reasons, detests Great Britain,” Cartier observed.
“Your point is well taken, John A. I can get the Foreign Secretary, the Earl of Derby, and his people to devise the tactics. They’re experts at that sort of thing. Now what’s your second scheme?” Carnarvon asked.
Macdonald tipped his glass to his mouth for the last drops of cognac. He did not protest as his host refilled the delicate crystal snifter.
“My second scheme? Ah yes. Well, as I said, we should prepare an offer to buy Russian America.”
“Since the Hudson’s Bay Company has been a licensee of the Russian American Company for God knows how long,” Galt suggested, “perhaps we could get their cooperation or advice on putting an offer together and presenting it?”
Macdonald shook his head. “No, if we’re going to do anything, we’re the ones who should put together an offer. But, as you said, Harry, the offer must be made by Her Majesty’s government. The governments of the colonies can be silent partners and can agree to repay the British government