A Roman Catholic bishop, with one priest, also came to Fort Wrangel in 1879 to establish a mission, but it is believed that the work has now been stopped and the priest withdrawn.
It must be remembered that all that has been cited of the missions so far has only to do with the Indians in the neighborhood of Sitka and Fort Wrangel, along the southern coast, and on the Lower Yukon. So far, the great continent, with its vast and almost unexplored interior, has only been trimmed around the edges. Full 40,000 of the possible 60,000 natives are yet without Christianity, and one might as well establish a mission in Cuba to evangelize Spain, or in the Jerseys to reach the Mahometans, as to sit down in a mission at Sitka and hope to reach the scattered tribes of Alaska. If we should send missionaries to that neighborhood it would only be to make of it a Fort Wrangel indeed, but the whole country is open to us, and on the Grand Yukon and its tributaries and among the Eskimos of the northern coast there is work enough, yet untouched, for all the men the church could send.
Here, then, in as small a compass as possible, is the field, its past history and its present condition; a few Greek priests, whose congregations are decreased by removals and will eventually die out; eight or ten Presbyterians, men and women, who confine their labors to Sitka and Fort Wrangel, and have enough to do there; and one clergyman of the Church of England, on a river 2,500 miles long, whose banks from end to end are his parish; 11,000 members of the Greek Church, 700 or 800 Presbyterians, and between 2,000 and 3,000 Church of England folk familiar with her services and loving her ritual; and at the very least calculation 5,500 natives that might be reached and cared for, and should be cared for. Here is a chance to show the people of America that the church does know how to deal with the Indian question. There will be a clear field and no favor for several years to come. A fund of $15,000 appropriated by Congress in 1878 for educational purposes, but never called for, might be claimed by any party proving to Congress by their works that they meant to educate the people. A government of some sort, military perhaps, will soon be established. Prospectors after everything valuable will overrun the country as soon as it is safe and profitable to do so. What shall be done by Christian people for all these heathen souls?
OUR NAVAL FORCE.
By Lieutenant G. W. MENTZ, U. S. Navy.
Beside torpedoes and fortifications there should be always at hand for the defense of our coasts, a sufficient number of as good iron-clads and torpedo boats as any nation in the world possesses, vessels that can go to sea, so that we can meet the enemy with the same kinds of weapons he opposes to us, and with enough of them to prevent the first hard blows. Then with this as a nucleus, and our ship-builders and our mechanics skilled in the work necessary to keep up such an establishment, we could build up a sufficiently large navy as the war progressed.
If we wait until war is upon us before we provide ourselves with such modern weapons, and such as every nation of any importance, except ourselves, possesses, our officers and men would have to fight with weapons with which they are unfamiliar, while their opponents are trained in their management.