Hampshire, Edward Ashton Rollins. The Bureau for a time collected more
than half the revenue of the United States, and required in its
Commissioner integrity, administrative talent, and singular skill in
providing against every form of fraud. No department of the Government
had to contend against so many corrupt combinations to rob the
Government, and the slightest relaxation of vigilance on the part of
the Commissioner might involve at any time a loss of millions to the
National Treasury. In the complex and difficult duties of this
station, Mr. Rollins proved himself equal to every requirement.

The purchase of Alaska was completed by the Act of July 27, 1868, which
appropriated the amount agreed upon in the treaty of March 30, 1867,--
negotiated by Mr. Seward on behalf of the United States, and by Baron
Stoeckl representing the Emperor of all the Russias. The Russian
Government had initiated the matter, and desired to sell much more
earnestly than the United States desired to buy. There is little doubt
that a like offer from any other European government would have been
rejected. The pressure of our financial troubles, the fact that gold
was still at a high premium, suggested the absolute necessity of
economy in every form in which it could be exercised; and in the
general judgment of the people the last thing we needed was additional
territory. There was, however, a feeling of marked kindliness towards
Russia; and this, no doubt, had great weight with Mr. Seward when he
assented to the obvious wishes of that government. But while there was
no special difficulty in securing the ratification of the treaty by the
Senate, a more serious question arose when the House was asked to
appropriate the necessary amount to fulfill the obligation. Seven
million two hundred thousand dollars in gold represented at that time
more than ten million dollars in the currency of the Government; and
many Republicans felt, on the eve, or rather in the midst, of a
Presidential canvass, that it was a hazardous political step (deeply
in debt as the Government was, and with its paper still at a heavy
discount) to embark in the speculation of acquiring a vast area of
"rocks and ice," as Alaska was termed in the popular and derisive
description of Mr. Seward's purchase.

When the bill came before the House, General Banks, as Chairman of the
Committee on Foreign Affairs, urged the appropriation with great
earnestness, not merely because