I congratulate you upon this auspicious result, which marks a new era in the intercommunications of the nations, and which must greatly promote the civilization of our race, and tend to bind all to keep the peace of the world. As soon as the grant is formally reported, I will enclose you a copy in full. I have the honor to be your most obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. C. M. CLAY. P. S.-Mr. Hiram Sibley left for Berlin a few days ago, and Mr. Perry McDonald Collins will set out for the same place to-morrow, by whom I send you this despatch. CLAY. No. 57.] ССС. Mr. Clay to Prince Gortchacow. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, St. Petersburg, Russia, November 20, (Dec. 2,) 1864. The undersigned has the honor to enclose to his excellency Prince Gortchacow, vicechancellor and minister of foreign affairs, a paper marked AA, by Perry McD. Collins, esq., upon the subject of a Chinese telegraph. Mr. Collins, in completion of his design of the intercontinental telegraph now being built between Russia and the United States, desired to extend the Russian portion of the line into China; and at some future time, perhaps, into Japan, and other countries lying in that direction. The reasons for such extension are therein fully stated, and leave the undersigned nothing to add. He is assured that the Western Union Telegraph Company, of the State of New York, who are the corporators laying the intercontinental line, have the pecuniary means to make the Chinese line ready, and think they will be able to complete the said line in one year after commencing the work. The American minister feels that he will but anticipate the wishes of his government in asking the co-operation of the imperial foreign department in procuring from the authorities at Pekin the necessary grants to authorize the above-named company to undertake the work. The undersigned has reason to believe that England has already sought to connect India with China by telegraphic lines; and should she succeed, the commercial intelligence of those vast, populous, and wealthy regions might be permanently diverted from the Russian line, which is the natural route to western Europe. The American minister need not suggest to his excellency that the interests of Russia and America in this project are identical, nor urge upon him the necessity of joining our minister at Pekin in soliciting the necessary grants of power. The American minister begs leave to renew to Prince Gortchacow the assurance of his most distinguished consideration. A A. Mr. Collins to Mr. Clay. C. M. CLAY. ST. PETERSBURG, November 16-28, 1864. EXCELLENCY: The progress of telegraphs within the last fifteen years has been so eminently, practically successful, that we may assume that their usefulness has not as yet satisfied the wants of the whole world. When some eight or ten years since I proposed the construction of a telegraph to unite Europe with America across Asiatic Russia, but few persons could be found to listen attentively to a plan that appeared so difficult of solution. Since that time, however, the telegraph in natural development has outstripped even the hopes of many of its best friends, while its enemies have been left in utter dismay. I need not recount to your excellency either the history or the progress of the idea of telegraphic union between Russia and the United States, because you have been a co-worker and advo cate in this great undertaking. Russia, England, and the United States have united in according o me certain privileges, under which it is hoped, with the aid of ready capital, to achieve telegraphic union between Europe and the United States. In the general plan as originally indicated, a line of telegraph was proposed, branching from the Siberian telegraph, at Kijachta, and passing thence through Pekin to Tien Tsin, Nankin, Shanghai, Amoy and Canton, to Hong Kong. Passing over the history of what has been achieved within the last three years, both in America and in Russia, we find at this moment that the telegraph touches Kijachta, continuously, from Cape Clear, in Ireland-thus spanning the whole breadth of Europe, and more than half of Asia; while on the American side of the world, Cape Race has been united to the Pacific at Olympia, on Puget's sound, more than eight hundred miles north of San Francisco. Thus we have seen these two converging systems from opposite sides of the world tending towards a common centre-India and China. Russia stretches her wires towards the Pacific from the west; the United States reaches the Pacific from the east. When and where the union of these two forces shall take place must, in the nature of things, find a solution. Both systems need much encouragement, and all the aids of commerce, to make them remunerative in a commercial point of view. Telegraphic contact with China has always been one of the leading inducements in the construction of an overland telegraph from America to Europe. The commerce between China and America on one hand, and China and Europe on the other, is of gigantic proportions now. What will that commerce be when steam and telegraph have developed a tithe of its interior capabilities? England in striving to unite India by telegraph has already expended more than two million pounds, and yet the work is not fully accomplished. After India has been reached, will there not be every inducement to penetrate into China? Under the grants and privileges of the three powers over whose territory the telegraph has to pass in order to unite Europe with the United States, a company has been formed to construct a line so as to unite the United States with the Russian Siberian telegraph, and thus Europe with America. The actual construction of this line on the American side is now being prosecuted, and it becomes necessary to provide if possible for the construction of a line which shall unite China with the Siberian telegraph, and thus bring the commerce of China up to the Siberian line, and thus on to Europe and America as commerce may require. The construction of a telegraph from Kijachta to Pekin, and thence on through the great commercial centres of China, need not be discussed at any great length in order to prove its great importance, commercially and politically. Russia has constructed a great extent of telegraph on from the borders of Europe into the centre of northern Asia, through a country where the local business of a telegraph cannot be very lucrative. Therefore, if by any means great centres of population and commerce are brought in contact with a local non-productive line, great advantages must necessarily accrue. Thus, by the construction of a line from Kijachta on to Pekin and the commercial cities of China, a great number of despatches would come over the whole extent of the Russian lines in order to reach China, and, vice versa, Europe; and when the continuation of the Siberian telegraph shall have come in contact with the prolongation of the American system, the span will have become complete, and the whole telegraphic system of Russia will teem with the commerce of the whole world, and Russia will stand as the intermediary between Europe and America, uniting them with China and Japan through northern Asia. Your excellency is well informed of the wishes of our own government upon the proposition of intercontinental telegraphic communication through Russia; consequently, little need be said on that branch of the question. It is also well known to you what steps have been taken and what progress has been made in regard to the achievement of the intercontinental Russian American telegraph. Under the privileges accorded me, a company has been formed to construct a line of telegraph from the United States on to meet the Russian Siberian telegraph. This company has provided sufficient capital with a view to construct a line through China to connect with the Siberian line at Kijachta. Negotiations have been commenced to procure the action of the Chinese government, but we do not desire to proceed in this matter without first notifying his Imperial Majesty's government of our intentions, because we desire above all to be in perfect accord with Russia in this undertaking, which is to prove mutually advantageous and beneficial. Steps have been taken, and undoubtedly our minister, the Hon. Anson Burlingame, will be instructed in due time, by our government, to forward the views of our company so as to secure concessions and aid from the Chinese government with the view of uniting Canton, via Pekin, with Kijachta. It would be a very great step in the right direc tion if the imperial government of Russia would find it advisable to notify the imperial minister at Pekin of the facts in this case, and, if agreeable and advisable, that a joint effort be made by the Russian minister and the minister of the United States before the Pekin government in view of securing such rights and privileges as would ultimately lead to the construction of this proposed telegraph. We think further delay is now dangerous, because the progress of telegraphs has satisfied most inquiring minds that it is difficult to assign to the telegraph very narrow limits. If this telegraph is not quickly pushed up from southern China, so as to unite upon the Russian line, a new direction will be given to European contact with China, and a line will be pushed across southern China to India, and thus the despatches from China will reach Europe by a route avoiding the Russian lines altogether. This would be a great misfortune to all concerned, because the prosperity of the Russian lines will be so intimately connected with ours that both must be affected from like causes, and a failure to secure the Chinese business would be a very serious mistake on the part of all COL Cerned. I have the honor to be your excellency's most obedient servant, His Excellency C. M. CLAY, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary P. MCD. COLLINS. of the United States at St. Petersburg, Russia. No. 60.] ССС. Mr Clay to Prince Gortchacow. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, St. Petersburg, Russia, December 6-18, 1864. The undersigned has the honor to call the attention of his excellency Prince Gortchacow, vice-chancellor and minister of foreign affairs, to the extract from the London Times of December 12, 1864. It would seem so important does England deem the telegraphic communication with China, that a journal has been established called the London and China telegraph. That journal has taken advantage of an incautious statement in the St. Petersburg Journal, to say that no concession has yet been made to Mr. Collins by the Russian government, evidently with a view to encourage the friends of the English line to persevere in their China line; which if made in advance of the Russian line, into that rich and populous country, will forever, perhaps, divert the telegraphic communication with western Europe from this empire to the south of Europe, to the loss of millions of rubles to his Imperial Majesty's government, to say nothing of the political influence which England may thus gain, to react again upon the vast countries yet to be opened up in a land where, for ages, the wealth of all the world has accumulated. The merchants of the United States, whose interests are reciprocally identified with those of Russia for all time in this joint line, are fully awake to the importance of early and efficient action in this matter, to which the American minister would most respectfully urge the immediate attention of the foreign department. The undersigned begs leave to reassure his excellency Prince Gortchacow of his, most distinguished consideration. ссс. Mr. Clay to Prince Gortchacow. C. M. CLAY. No. 61.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, St. Petersburg, Russia, December 19-31, 1864. The undersigned has the honor to enclose to his excellency Prince Gortchacow, vice-chancellor and minister of foreign affairs, &c., copies of despatch No. 108 A, from the Washington government, and No. 99 B, to the Hon. Anson Burlingame, the American minister at Pekin. From these his excellency will see that the State Department fully indorses his previous suggestions to the Russian government in respect to the Chinese telegraph. The American minister reassures Prince Gortchacow of his most distinguished consideration. ССС. Mr. Clay to Prince Gortchacow. C. M. CLAY. No. 63.1 LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, The undersigned, minister plenipotentiary, &c., of the United States of America, begs leave to present to his excellency Prince Gortchacow, vice-chancellor and minister of foreign affairs to his Imperial Majesty, &c., the memorandum of the suggestions made in conversa. tion to-day with his excellency in regard to the Russian American telegraph grant, and which his excellency Prince Gortchacow was kind enough to request the undersigned to reduce to writing for the use of the council of ministers. This grant was made to Perry McD. Collins by the Siberian committee, and confirmed by his Imperial Majesty on the 15-27th day of May, 1863, and was made conditional upon the following stipulations: "Finally, the Russian government will not begin the construction of the intermediate line before you (Collins) will have presented an act of final formation of your company for the establishment of your projected telegraph, and likewise have proved as to the emission and sale of its shares at least one-half of the minimum cost of your projected telegraph, and the production of a plan of the direction of the line finally selected and approved by your company." Mr. Collins has produced the proofs required by this clause; which proofs are acknowledged by the imperial telegraphic department to be ample and satisfactory. Here, it would seem to the undersigned, this whole transaction should have at once been closed by a single declaration of the imperial government that the conditions of the grant had been complied with, and by a simple reduction, on the part of the government, of the original grant to the usual legal formulas. But Messrs. Collins & Sibley have been detained here three months, awaiting the action of the telegraphic department. In the mean time, the said department has submitted to Messrs. Collins and Sibley, the one a director, the other the president of the company, organized under the grant above named, a paper termed "Project of agreement" for the construction of telegraphic communication between Russia and America, dated December 7-19, 1864, in which twenty-six propositions have been introduced. Some of these are new. Some limit, and none of them enlarge, the franchises of the original grant. But the representatives of the company, in a liberal spirit, have acceded to all of these conditions, except the one in reference to the forfeiture of privileges, and except the propositions involved in the following clause of the aforesaid imperial grant: "For the encouragement of the company, the government will allow a deduction (rebate) of forty per centum upon the net profits of despatches transmitted along the Russian telegraph lines solely to America and back." this clause the telegraphic department insists that the expenses of the administration of the whole telegraphic system of Russia shall be taken into account, in order to ascertain "the net profits of the despatches transmitted along the Russian telegraph lines solely to America and back." This mode of reckoning would deprive the company of any "encouragement" whatever, and is utterly subversive of the language and spirit of the original grant, upon the faithful performance of which by his Majesty's government, only, could capitalists have been induced to risk their means upon this new and hazardous project. Under To avoid, then, further loss of time and useless discussion, Messrs. Collins and Sibley ask that the original clause of the imperial grant above named shall be inserted verbatim into the present "project of agreement" submitted by the department. The American minister is fully persuaded that it is neither the desire of his Imperial Majesty nor his Imperial Majesty's ministers to depart from the liberal spirit which has governed them in initiating this great work, in which the United States of America and Great Britain have co-operated so cordially, and which, though world-wide in its beneficence, must yet especially redound to the interests of Russia. H. Sibley is the president and director of almost the whole of the American telegraphic system, and his services are urgently needed elsewhere, and Perry McD. Collins is a director in the new company-has four vessels, men, and materials already on their way to the Pacific ocean to lay down the telegraphic line, and his services are all-important in the direction of the projected work. The American minister, therefore, feels that he can with propriety urge upon his Imperial Majesty's ministers in council speedy action for the benefit of all parties concerned. The minister of the United States avails himself of this occasion to express to his excellency Prince Gortchacow his sentiments of the highest consideration. ССС. Mr. Clay to Prince Gortchacow. C. M. CLAY. No. 64.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, St. Petersburg, Russia, March 1-13, 1865. The undersigned, minister of the United States of America, would respectfully inform his excellency Prince Gortchacow, vice-chancellor, &c., that by the act of Congress approved July 1, 1864, based upon the Russian grant (No. 820) to P. McD. Collins, esq., & Co., to build a line of telegraph connecting Russia and the United States, and confirmed by his Imperial Majesty May 15-27, 1863, the Secretary of the Navy was required to furnish to said company a suitable vessel to aid in the construction of said line. By reference to a telegram this day received by Hiram Sibley, esq., (a true copy of which is hereunto attached, marked B B,) his excellency will see that the Secretary of the Navy, being satisfied that said Collins & Co. have furnished the necessary evidence to the Russian government of the fulfilment on their part of the obligations imposed upon them by the said grant of the 15-27th May, 1863, (No. 820,) has ordered a steamer in the Pacific ocean to be put at the disposition of said company, in order to carry out, on the part of the United States, the stipulations of said act of Congress. The American plenipotentiary, therefore, begs his excellency Prince Gortchacow to give an order by telegraph to the Russian minister at Washington, or to some other suitable person, for the free and friendly admission of the said vessel, and all other ships, men, and materials used by said company for the construction of said line into Sitka and other Russian ports upon the Pacific ocean. The American minister seizes the present occasion to renew to his excellency Prince Gortchacow assurances of his most distinguished consideration. C. M. CLAY. Prince Gortchacow to Mr. Clay. ST. PETERSBURG, March 5, 1865. The undersigned makes it a duty to inform Mr. Clay, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, that he hastened to transmit the note which he did him the honor to address to him on the 1-13th March, 1865, to the director in chief of the administration of posts and telegraphs. The acting privy councillor, Tolstoy, has just informed him that the American undertakers of the establishment of the Russo-American telegraph have not yet signed the convention relative to that enterprise. Therefore, the undersigned is not able to answer at this moment to the wish expressed by the minister of the United States of America, and to ask for the despatch to the Russian authorities of the orders necessary for the reception of the vessels and American materials sent to Sitka. He seizes this occasion to renew to Mr. Clay the assurance of his very distinguished sentiments. GORTCHACOW. Mr. Clay to Mr. Seward. No. 73.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, St. Petersburg, Russia, April 2, 1865. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches to 132, inclusive. The "convention" between Messrs. Sibley and Collins and the Russian government has been signed and confirmed by the Emperor, and orders given for the admission of men and material of the company into the Russian possessions; of all of which I have been officially notified. I will write you further on that subject in a few days. St. Petersburg, Russia, April 5, 1865. SIR: I have the honor to enclose to you (AA) the protest of Messrs. Sibley and Collins in reference to the telegraphic grant of the Russian government, together with my note (B) to Prince Gortchacow. The two papers will explain the issues made. I must say, however, that whilst I know the construction |