At the close of his negotiations with Mr. Phelps, in September 1888, his Lordship, still approving the "measures to prevent the wanton destruction of so valuable an industry," declared, apparently with regret, that "the Canadian Government objected to any such restrictions" (i.e., as those which his Lordship had in part proposed and wholly approved), and that, "until its consent would be obtained, Her Majesty's Government was not willing to enter into the Convention." It is evident, therefore, that in 1888 Lord Salisbury abruptly closed the negotiations because, in his own phrase, "the Canadian Government objected." He assigned no other reason whatever, and, until your note of the 2nd was received, this Government had never been informed that his Lordship entertained any other objections than those expressed in September 1888.

It is proper to recall to your recollection that at divers times in personal conversation I have proposed to you, on behalf of this Government, a close season materially shorter in point of time than was voluntarily offered by Lord Salisbury, and much less extended in point of space. Instead of going as far south as the 47th parallel, I have frequently indicated the willingness of this Government to take the dividing line between the Pacific Ocean and the Behring's Sea-the line which is tangent to the southernmost island of the Aleutian group-being as near as may be the 50th parallel of north latitude.

Early in April you will remember that you suggested to me the advantage that might follow if the sailing of Revenue cutters for Behring's Sea could be postponed till the middle of May. Though that was a matter entirely under the control of the Treasury Department, Secretary Windom promptly complied with your request, and by the President's direction a still longer postponement was ordered in the hope that some form of equitable adjustment might be proposed by Her Majesty's Government. Even the Revenue cutter which annually passes through Behring's Sea carrying supplies to the relief station at Point Barrow in the Arctic Ocean-72nd degree of north latitude-was held back, lest her appearance in Behring's Sea might be misrepresented as a non-observance of the understanding between us.

It is perfectly clear that if your claim for British vessels to kill seals within 10 miles of the Pribyloff Islands, directly after the mothers are delivered of their young, should be granted, the Behring's Sea would swarm with vessels engaged in sealing, not forty or fifty as now, but many hundreds, through the summer months. If that privilege should be given to Canadian vessels, it must of course be conceded at once to American vessels. If the rookeries are to be thrown open to Canadians, they would certainly, as matter of common right, be thrown open to citizens of the United States.

The seal-mothers, which require an area of from 40 to 50 miles from the islands on all sides to secure food for their young, would be slaughtered by hundreds of thousands, and in a brief space of time there would be no seals in the Behring's Sea. Similar causes have uniformly produced similar effects. Seal rookeries in all parts of the world have been destroyed in that way. The present course of Great Britain will produce the same effect on the only seal rookery of any value left in the waters of the oceans and seas of the globe. The United States have leased the privilege of sealing because only in that way can the rookeries be preserved, and only in that way can this Government derive a revenue from the Pribyloff Islands. Great Britain would perhaps gain something for a few years, but it would be at the expense of destroying a valuable interest belonging to a friendly nation, an interest which the civilized world desires to have preserved.

I observe that you quote Treasury Agent George R. Tingle, in your despatch of the 30th April, as showing that, notwithstanding the depredations of marauders, the total number of seals had increased in the Behring's Sea. The rude mode of estimating the total number can readily lead to mistakes, and other agents have differed from Mr. Tingle. But, aside from the correctness or incorrectness of Mr. Tingle's conclusions on that point, may I ask upon what grounds do the Canadian vessels assert a claim, unless they assume that they have a title to the increase of the seal herd? If the claim of the United States to the seals of the Pribyloff Islands be well founded, we are certainly entitled to the increase as much as a sheep-grower is entitled to the increase of his flock.

Having introduced Mr. Tingle, who has very extensive knowledge touching the seals in Behring's Sea, as well as the habits of the Canadian marauders, I trust you will not discredit his testimony. The following statement, made by Mr. Tingle in his official Report to the Treasury Department at the close of the season of 1887, is

"I am now convinced, from what I gather in questioning the men belonging to captured schooners, and from reading the logs of the vessels, that not more than one seal in ten killed and mortally wounded is landed on the boats and skinned; thus you will see the wanton destruction of seal life without any benefit whatever. I think 30,000 skins taken this year is a low estimate on this basis; 300,000 fur-seals were killed to secure that number, or three times as many as the Alaska Commercial Company are allowed by law to kill. You can readily see that this great slaughter of seals will in a few years make it impossible for 100,000 skins to be taken on the islands by the lessees. I earnestly hope more rigorous measures will be adopted by the Government in dealing with these destructive law-breakers."

Both of Mr. Tingle's statements are made in his official capacity, and in both cases he had no temptation to state anything except what he honestly believed to be the truth.

The President does not conceal his disappointment that, even for the sake of securing an impartial arbitration of the question at issue, Her Majesty's Government is not willing to suspend for a single season the practice which Lord Salisbury described in 1888 as "the wanton destruction of a valuable industry," and which this Government has uniformly regarded as an unprovoked invasion of its established rights. I have, &c. (Signed)

Sir,

Inclosure 2 in No. 363.

Sir J. Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine.

JAMES G. BLAINE.

Washington, June 6, 1890.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your official note of the 4th instant, commenting upon the reply which I returned to the inquiry contained in your letter of the 2nd instant, whether the Marquis of Salisbury would, in order to promote a friendly solution of the fur-seal question, agree to the total exclusion of British sealers from the Behring's Sea during the present fishery season. You expressed the regret of the President that "his considerate and most friendly proposal for the adjustment of all trouble connected with the Behring's Sea should be so promptly rejected."

I have this day transmitted a copy of your note to Lord Salisbury, and, pending further instructions, I will abstain from pursuing the discussion on the various points with which it deals, especially as the views of Her Majesty's Government on the main questions involved are stated with great precision in Lord Salisbury's despatch of the 22nd May, which I had the honour to read to you yesterday, and of which, in accordance with your desire, I left a copy in your hands.

I would only observe that, as regards the sufficiency or insufficiency of the radius of 10 miles around the rookeries "within which Her Majesty's Government propose that sealers should be excluded," no opportunity was afforded me of discussing the question before the proposals of Her Majesty's Government were summarily rejected.

I may mention also that I fear there has been some misapprehension as regards a request which you appear to have understood me to make respecting the date of the sailing of United States' Revenue cutters for Behring's Sea. I have no recollection of having made any suggestion with reference to those Revenue cutters, except that their Commanders should receive explicit instructions not to apply the Municipal Law of the United States to British vessels in Behring's Sea outside of territorial waters. I have, &c. (Signed)

J. PAUNCEFOTE.

No. 364.

Sir,

Colonial Office to Foreign Office.-(Received June 18.)

Downing Street, June 17, 1890.

I AM directed by Lord Knutsford to transmit to you, for the information of the Marquis of Salisbury, a copy of the Annual Report for 1889 of the Canadian Minister of Marine and Fisheries.

I am to call attention to the Report on the fur-seal fishery.

I am, &c.

Inclosure in No. 364.

Extract from the Annual Report of the Department of Fisheries, Dominion of Canada, for the calendar year 1889.

Marine Furs.

THE Returns show an increase in the catch this season of 5,587 fur-sealskins, and twenty-five sea-otters. There were 1,922 more sealskins taken on the coast by our vessels than in 1888, and 2,558 more by foreigners, who sold their catches in Victoria.

The following Table shows the detailed catch of the sealing fleet for this season:

RETURN showing the Number of Vessels, Boats, and Men engaged in the Marine Fur Fishery of British Columbia, with the Products and Values, for the Season of 1889.

FUR-SEALS caught by Foreign Vessels and disposed of in Victoria, British Columbia.

It will thus be seen that there are more vessels in the trade than last year. This was on account of an anticipated settlement of the Behring's Sea question. The vessels had been previously purchased on the Atlantic coast for the purpose of prosecuting this trade in Behring's Sea, but when they reached this coast and found the question was still unsettled, they paid more attention to hunting on the coast.

No. 365.

Sir,

Admiralty to Foreign Office.-(Received June 20.)

Admiralty, June 19, 1890.

I AM commanded by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to transmit, for the perusal of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, copies of two letters from Captain Hulton, of Her Majesty's ship " Amphion," respecting the Behring's Sea fishery.

I am, &c.

(Extract.)

Captain Hulton to Admiralty.

66

Amphion," at Esquimalt, May 28, 1890. WITH reference to your recent telegrams to hasten the repairs of Her Majesty's ship" Amphion," if possible, she being very much required, and your inquiries as to the movements of the sealing fleet to Behring's Sea, I have the honour to supplement my telegraphic replies as follows:

I inclose herewith a list of the sailing-schooners cleared from Victoria for this season's fishing, and about to clear, furnished me by the Lieutenant-Governor, his Honour Hugh Nelson, in reply to my letter of which a copy is attached.

The scaling fleet have just about finished their coast catching, moving slowly up from the Californian coast, and are now midway between Clayaquot Sound and the southernmost of the Shumagan Islands.

The vessels mostly cleared in February and March, and few of them return till the autumn unless in distress of some sort, owing to difficulties with their crews, with drunkenness and desertion. One or two vessels communicate with them from time to time, bringing back the catches of skins, &c.

As they work north they replenish at a sealing store in Clayaquot Sound, and by the end of June they have all assembled in the Shumagan Islands, and are mostly to be found in North-East Harbour, on the southernmost but one of the islands of that group.

A second point at which the vessels are then to be found is at Sand Point, about 50′ to the northward of North-East Harbour, where the vessels beach to clean and repair, revictual and water.

A third harbour which they use, a little north of Sand Point, is Falmouth Harbour, but it is smaller, and not so much frequented.

About the 20th June a small vessel (probably a small steam-tug) will go up to the above rendezvous with letters, &c., and to receive skins; she would arrive there about the 27th or 28th June, and the schooners would again weigh and get amongst the seals, working their way to the passes, principally the Unimak and the 72nd Pass, as it is called (172° west longitude). These passes the vessels all go through between the 1st and 10th July.

The time the vessels are in the Behring's Sea is from the 1st or 10th July to about the 15th or 30th September, though, if a vessel is lucky, she has frequently left by the latter half of August, not to return again that season.

Sir,

Inclosure 2 in No. 365.

Captain Hulton to Lieutenant-Governor Nelson.

"Amphion," at Esquimalt, May 23, 1890.

I HAVE the honour to request that you will be good enough to instruct the Collector of Customs to furnish me as quickly as possible with a detailed list of the sealingvessels owned by British subjects that have been cleared for the north presumably for Behring's Sea) for this summer's sealing.

On the list, I am anxious to have shown me the tonnage and rig of the vessels, names of the captains, numbers of their crews, and the names and addresses of their owners; and I further request that the Collector of Customs may be directed to give me every assistance in getting the fullest information possible.

The before-mentioned all of Victoria Registry.