My Lord, Inclosure 1 in No. 295. Lord Stanley of Preston to Lord Knutsford. Government House, Ottawa, February 3, 1890. WITH reference to the Deputy Governor's despatch of the 20th September last relative to the seizure in Behring's Sea of the British schooner "Minnie" by the United States' Revenue cutter "Richard Rush," I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship a copy of an approved Report of a Committee of the Privy Council, submitting formal statements and claim of the owner, Mr. Victor Jacobson, of Victoria, British Columbia, amounting to the sum of 16,460 dollars. Report of a Committee of the Honourable the Privy Council, approved by his Excellency the Governor-General in Council on the 31st January, 1890. ON a Report dated the 16th January, 1890, from the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, submitting, with reference to the seizure in the Behring's Sea of the British schooner "Minnie" (the circumstances attending which were detailed in a Minute of Council dated the 14th September, 1889), formal statements and claims by the owner, Mr. Victor Jacobson, of Victoria, British Columbia, to compensation for loss incurred by reason of the seizure of the said vessel, and the forcible removal therefrom to the United States' Revenue cutter "Richard Kush" of 420 seal-skins, and guns, spears, &c., as well as for the value of the catch for the balance of the season had the vessel not been interfered with in the legitimate pursuit of her calling, which claim aggregates 16,460 dollars: The Committee, on the recommendation of the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, advise that your Excellency be moved to forward copies hereof to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, for transmission to the Government of the United States. I, VICTOR JACOBSON, of the city of Victoria, in the Province of British Columbia, Dominion of Canada, master mariner, do solemnly and sincely declare as follows: 1. That I am the owner and master of the British vessel "Minnie," 50 tons burden, registered at the port of Victoria aforesaid. 2. That in the first part of the month of May last I cleared the said "Minnie” at the port of Victoria for a sealing and hunting voyage in the North Pacific Ocean and Behring's Sea, and sailed immediately afterwards. 3. I had a crew of five white men and sixteen Indians, with two boats for white hunters, eight canoes for Indian hunters, and completely provisioned and equipped for a full season's hunting and sealing in northern waters. 4. On the 27th day of June last I entered the Behring's Sea, through Ounimak Pass, having then on board about 150 seal-skins caught on the way up from Victoria. 5. I immediately engaged in hunting, and sealing and continued to do so until the 15th July last, at which date I had on board 420 seal-skins in all. 6. On that day, the 15th July last, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I sighted a steamer bearing down upon us, which proved to be the United States Revenue steamer "Richard Rush." When within hailing distance, an officer on the said "Rush" called out to me to heave-to, and I did so; a boat was sent off from the "Rush" with two officers and ten or twelve men. The officer and five or six men came on board the "Minnie." The officer in command asked me for my papers, which I handed to him. He then asked me when I entered the sea, and how many skins I had. I told him, and he went back to the "Rush." In a short time he returned and told me he would take all the skins, seize my vessel, and send her to Sitka in charge of a man from the "Rush." He then ordered his men to open the hatches and take all the seal-skins, 420 in number, on board the "Rush," which was done. He also took two guns and all the Indian spears. He then went back to the "Rush," but soon returned to my vessel with a man, and said to me that this man would take charge of the vessel, except navigating her, and take her to Sitka, 7. At the time of the seizure the "Minnie" was about 65 miles north-west by west from Ounimak Pass, and about the same distance from Ounimak Island, the nearest land. 8. An hour or so after the "Rush" went away the man left in charge showed me his written instructions from Captain Shepard, of the "Richard Rush ;" as nearly as I can remember the directions he was to deliver the "Minnie" to the United States' authorities at Sitka, and place her captain, myself, and mate under arrest. I at once made up my mind to stay where I was and catch what seals I could. Next morning I made new spears for the Indians and sent them out sealing. I remained in the sea up to the 16th August following, and in that time caught 486 seals and eight sea otters. I did not see anything of the "Rush" after the 15th July. 9. In the season of 1888 I was in command of the schooner "Mountain Chief," with ten Indian hunters only. The said "Mountain Chief" was in Behring's Sea less than twenty days, and in seventeen days' actual sealing the ten Indian hunters caught 937 seal-skins. On the said schooner "Minnie," in 1889, I had sixteen Indian hunters and two white hunters, and but for the interference of the United States' Revenue cutter "Richard Rush," as aforesaid, the "Minnie" would have remained in Behring's Sea until about the 10th September, or a period of over two months. 10. I verily believe that if the "Minnie" had not been boarded, and the guns and spears taken as aforesaid, that the total catch of seal-skins by the hunters on board her for the season in Behring's Sea would not have been less than 2,500. 11. The value at Victoria aforesaid of seal-skins on or about the close of the sealing season for 1889, and for some time both before and after such close, was 8 dollars per skin. I claim damages from the Government of the United States of America for the seizure of the said "Minnie" as aforesaid, and for the taking and detention of the said 420 seal-skins, and for 1,594 seal-skins, the balance of an estimated catch of 2,500, by the "Minnie" in Behring's Sea for the season of 1889, also for the guns, spears, and salt taken as aforesaid, and for legal and other expenses incidental to and arising out of such seizure, and the preparation and submission of this claim therefor, and interest thereon at 7 per cent. per annum until paid, a statement in detail of which claim is hereunto annexed. And I, Victor Jacobson, make this solemn declaration, conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of the Act respecting extra-judicial oaths. (Signed) VICTOR JACOBSON. Declared by the said Victor Jacobson, at the city of Victoria, the 4th day of January, 1890. Before me, For damages for seizure, &c., in Behring's Sea, July 15, 1889, by United States' Revenue cutter "Richard Rush." 420 seal skins taken from "Minnie" by "Richard Rush." 1,594 balance of estimated catch of 2,500 in Behring's Sea in 1889 by Dollars. 16,112 65 30 3 250 16,460 And interest on said amount at 7 per cent. per annum until paid. Total claim This is the Statement referred to in the annexed declaration of Victor Jacobson, made before me the 4th day of January, 1890. (Signed) No. 296. ARTHUR L. BELYEA, Notary Public. Sir J. Pauncefote to the Marquis of Salisbury.-(Received by telegraph, February 23.) My Lord, Washington, February 22, 1890. WITH reference to your Lordship's telegram of to-day, I have the honour to report that I have telegraphed to Lord Stanley to inquire when I may expect the arrival in Washington of the Canadian Agent who is to assist me in the coming negotiations. Mr. Blaine, M. de Struve, the Russian Minister, and I, held a preliminary and informal meeting this morning, at which the question of the area of the possible arrangement was discussed. Mr. Blaine and M. de Struve then proposed the following area: "From a point on the 50th parallel north latitude due south from the southernmost point of the Peninsula of Kamtchatka; thence due east on the said 50th parallel to the point of the intersection with the 160th meridian of longitude west from Greenwich; thence north and east by a straight line to the point of intersection of the 60th parallel of north latitude with the 140th meridian of longitude west from Greenwich." The 50th parallel, as your Lordship is aware, was the southernmost limit proposed by Mr. Bayard, and it need only be extended on the west to the Kamtchatka Peninsula, as M. de Struve states that there is no seal fishery in the Sea of Ochotsk. I objected, however, to the limit on the east being extended beyond the 160th meridian of longitude, which was the limit proposed by Mr. Bayard, and is quite sufficient for the necessities of the case. I should be much obliged if your Lordship would inform me whether you approve of the area now suggested by Mr. Blaine and M. de Struve, provided it be limited on the east by the 160th meridian. Foreign Office, February 24, 1890. WITH reference to the letter from this Office of the 22nd instant, I am directed by the Marquis of Salisbury to transmit to you the accompanying copy of a telegram from Her Majesty's Minister at Washington,* giving the result of an informal conversation with the Secretary of State and the Russian Minister on the subject of an area within which the proposed arrangement relating to the Behring's Sea seal fisheries might be applied. I am to request that, in laying this telegram before the Secretary of State for the Colonies, you will move his Lordship to favour Lord Salisbury, at his earliest convenience, with his opinion as to the answer which should be returned to it. I am, &c. (Signed) T. H. SANDERSON. Sir, No. 298. Colonial Office to Foreign Office.-(Received February 28.) Downing Street, February 27, 1890. I AM directed by Lord Knutsford to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th instant, inclosing a telegram from Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, in which he reports the result of a preliminary and informal Conference on the subject of the area * No. 296. within which the proposed close season for fur-seals in Behring's Sea should be confined, and requesting instructions as to the distance to the eastward at which the line limiting such area should be drawn. I am to observe, in reply, that in order to avoid unnecessary interference with British subjects, it is desirable that the area no less than the period of the close season should be confined within the strictest limits absolutely essential for the preservation of the seals from extermination; and the line proposed by Sir J. Pauncefote appears to Lord Knutsford to include more of the open sea than is necessary, bearing in mind that the object of the negotiations is solely the sufficient preservation of the seals, and not the maintenance in its integrity of the monoply claimed on behalf of the lessees of the Pribyloff Islands. It appears to his Lordship that this object might be attained sufficiently by fixing an area round these islands within which sealing should be prohibited during the period when the female seals are on these islands, or in their near neighbourhood, and also possibly in the immediate vicinity of the passes of the Aleutian Islands. The matter is one, however, on which the Secretary of State for the Colonies could not undertake to express any definite opinion without that information which the Government of Canada is alone able to supply; and his Lordship would suggest, in order to save time, that Sir J. Pauncefote should be desired to confer with Mr. Tupper, the Dominion Minister of Marine and Fisheries, who, it is understood is now at Washington, before committing Her Majesty's Government to any line of demarcation which the Government of Canada may hereafter object to as undesirable. I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. No. 299. The Marquis of Salisbury to Sir J. Pauncefote.(Substance telegraphed.) Foreign Office, February 28, 1890. Sir, I HAVE had under my consideration, in communication, with the Secretary of State for the Colonies, your telegram of the 23rd instant, reporting the result of a preliminary discussion with Mr. Blaine and the Russian Minister at Washington respecting the area within which it is proposed to prohibit seal fishing in Behring's Sea during a fixed period of each year. Before coming to any decision with regard to the area now proposed, Lord Knutsford would be glad to know what view of it is taken by the Government of Canada. I have accordingly to request you, in order to save time, to consult the Canadian Minister of Marine, who is now at Washington, on the subject, and to inform me of his opinion by telegraph. No. 300. I am, &c. Sir J. Pauncefote to the Marquis of Salisbury.-(Received March 5.) My Lord, Washington, February 11, 1890. WITH reference to my despatch of the 7th instant, I have the honour to report that I had a further interview this day with the Secretary of State, at his request, on the subject of the proposed arbitration, and provisional assessment of damages. Mr. Blaine said that it might be convenient if he were to put in writing, informally, his views as to the question to be arbitrated, and the procedure to be followed in regard to the assessment of damages. He accordingly, in my presence, drew up a Memorandum, of which he afterwards handed me a copy. It is in the following terms:— "The first question to be arbitrated is whether, under the circumstances existing at the time, the Government of the United States was justified in arresting and detaining the vessels that entered the Behring's Sea for the purpose of killing fur-seals in the open sea. "In the event of the arbitrator finding that the Government of the United States was justified in arresting and detaining the vessels before described, the case would "In the event, that the Government of the United States was found not to be justified, the second question would be the ascertainment of the amount of damages due to the Government of Great Britain. If that amount could not be amicably determined by the British Minister in Washington and the American Secretary of State, it would be left to the determination of the arbitrator, who should find the amount according to certain principles previously agreed to by both Parties." My Lord, Sir J. Pauncefote to the Marquis of Salisbury.—(Received March 5.) Washington, February 20, 1890. I HAVE the honour to inclose an extract from the "New York Herald" of yesterday stating that the Russian Government has confirmed the renewal of the lease of the Russian seal islands in Behring's Sea to the Alaska Commercial Company. I am, &c. (Signed) JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. Inclosure in No. 301, Extract from the "New York Herald" of February 19, 1890. THE FUR-SEAL MONOPOLY.--RUSSIA RENEWS THE ALASKA COMPANY'S LEASE OF ISLANDS IN BEHRING'S SEA. [By Telegraph to the "Herald."] San Francisco, February 18, 1890. A PRIVATE despatch received here to-day announces that the Imperial Russian Government has confirmed the renewal of the lease of the Russian seal islands in Behring's Sea to the Alaska Commercial Company of this city. This action is understood to be based upon a persuasion that the Government of the United States will take a similar course with regard to its own seal islands, and that the control of the seal-fur industry may thus be vested in a single management. INCORPORATION OF AN ALASKA COMMERCIAL COMPANY IN NEW YORK. Albany, New York, February 18, 1890. The New York Commercial Company of Alaska (Limited), formed with a capital of 1,000,000 dollars, for carrying on mining, fishing, building, and commercial enterprises generally in the Territory of Alaska, filed a certificate of incorporation with the Secretary of State to-day. The incorporators of the Company are William B. Pope, Thaddeus D. Bradford, William T. Davis, and John H. Droge, of New York; and Henry S. Tibbey, of Unga Island, Alaska. No. 302. The Marquis of Salisbury to Sir J. Pauncefote. Foreign Office, March 8, 1890. Sir, Your language on the occasion is approved. I am, &c. (Signed) SALISBURY. |