Как англичане травили президента Линкольна за дружбу с Россией во время Гражданской Войны (1863)
Abraham Lincoln depicted (by the Britons) as a complaisant Mefisto - for alliance with Russia (1863)
Abe Lincoln in Caricature by Rufus Rockwell Wilson:
- captured "'HOLDING A CANDLE TO THE ****' (MUCH THE SAME THING)"
- where [****] stand for "bear" = Russia (in Imperial Crown)
- appeared in London "Punch", on November 7, 1863.
It proofs how the tacit alliance between Russia and the US grated on the sensibilities of certain high-placed Britons
- the artist sought to move the multitude to laughter
- by depicting the President Lincoln (killed in 1865) as Mephistopheles
- complaisantly saluting the Russian bear
- Mr. Lincoln was the victim of many forms of satirical abuse both at home and abroad
- but there is no any other instance, in which he was portrayed in Satan’s livery
- it stands to Tenniel’s credit that not he, but another was responsible for this vicious drawing
- (http://www.historygallery.com/prints/PunchLincoln/punchLincoln.htm)
Russian Alaska:
- for upward of a century Russia had held by right of discovery
- the vast stretch of North America now known as Alaska
- This territory had never been brought under direct rule of the Russian imperial government, but
- for 70 years its affairs had been directed by a monopoly, known as the Russian-American Company
- The charter of this concern, which had sublet some of its privileges to the Hudson Bay Company,
- expired in 1861 and renewal was delayed
The Russian imperial government pondered:
1. whether re-charter its American possessions to a private company
2. or, instead make them the basis of a Russian colonial system
3. or sell them at a fair price to some friendly European power
4. or to sell them to the US government
- the last alternative was finally decided upon by the czar’s government
The negotiations for purchase of Alaska by the US began in March, 1867
- after Mr. Lincoln had been 2 years in his grave
- between Mr. Stoeckle, the Russian minister at Washington and the US Secretary of State Mr. Seward
- a price of $7,200,000 was shortly agreed upon between them
- this was promptly accepted by the authorities at St. Petersburg
- and in a single night session, on March 29 a treaty of purchase took final form
- In the forenoon of March 30 the President sent this treaty to the Senate
- where it was adopted practically without debate, only 2 senators voting against it
- Formal transfer of the purchase, to which Seward gave the name Alaska, occurred on October 11, 1867
And 577,396 square miles of Russian land became the US territory
- because Russia wished to sell, and
- because a majority of the members of the US Senate believed
- that in 1863, during the US Civil War,
- Russia had been ready to go to war with France or Britain in our behalf
- so, the purchase of Alaska was the unexpected and surprising issue of friendship between the US and Russia
- Republics are not always ungrateful
A poem shown below accompanied the print in the same issue of "Punch":
- and will be included with the print and Wilson's description
- Price $50
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http://www.historygallery.com/prints/PunchLincoln/1863candle/1863candle.htm
Бонус
- Почему русских сравнивают именно с медведями: http://flourman.livejournal.com/649927.html