Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-07-24

Behring Sea the coming season. The Min
lister writes that Lord Salisbury says that
the request presents constitutional difficult
ties which would preclude her Majesty's
Government from acceding to it, except as
part of q general scheme for the settlement
of the controversy and on certain conditions,
which are: That the Governments agree
forthwith to refer to arbitration the ques-
ton of the legality of the action of the
United States in seizing or otherwise inter-
fering with British vessels engaged in the
Behring Sea outside of the territorial waters
during 1856, 1887 and 1889; that pending
the award all interference with British
sealing vessels shall absolutely cease; that
the United States, if the award should be
adverse to them, will compensate the
British subjects for losses which they may
sustain by reason of their compliance with
the British proclamation.
NEGOTIATIONS NOT PRACTICABLE AT PRESENT.
In the next communication, dated the
lst OF the present month, Lord Salisbury,
referring to Blaine's criticism upon the alb
| rupt close Of the London negotiations,
quotes from a statement made to him by
United States Minister Phelps, us follows:
Under the peculiar political circumstances
of America at this moment" said Phelps,
with the general election pending, it
would be of little use, and indeed hardly
practicable, to conduct any negotiation to
its issue before the election had taken
place.
AN ERRONEOUS QUOTATION
On the last of June Secretary Blaine ad-
dressed TO the British Minister very long
letter in answer to Lord Salisbury's COM
municatioD. in which the latter stated that
Secretary John Quincy Adams protested
against Russias claim to the exclusive
jurisdiction over Behring Sea. Secretary
Blaine says: The quotation which Lord
Salisbury's makes is, unfortunately, a most
defective, erroneous and misleading one
The conclusion is separated from the prem
ises, comma is turned into period, and
the important qualification. as to the time,
is entirely erased, without even a sugges-
ton that it had ever formed part of the
text, and out of eighty-four words, logi-
cally and inseparably connected, thirty-fve
are dropped from Mr.. Adams paragraph
in Lord Salisburys quotation"
TREATY RIGHTS.
The Secretary says further Neither by
the treaty with Russia of 1925, nor by its
renewal Of 1913, nor by its second renewal
in 1859, did Great Britain gain any right to
take seals in the Behripg Sea. In fact,
those treaties were a prohibition upon her,
which she steadily respected SO long as
Alaska was a Russian province. 1t is for
Great Britain now to show by what law
she gained rights in that sea after the trans
fer OF its sovereignty to the United States
During all the time between the treaty of
1925 and the cession of Alaska to the
United States in 1867, Great Britain never
affirmed the rights of her subjects to cap
ture fur seal in the Behring Sea, and as
| matter of fact her subjects did not during
that long period attempt to catch seals in
| the Behring Sea. ! am justified, there.
fore, in repeating the questions which
| addressed to her Majesty's Government on
the 22d of January, and which still remain
| unanswered, viz: Whence did the ships of
Canada derive any right to do in
| from doing for nearly ninety years? Upon
what grounds did her Majestys Govern
| ment defend, in the year 1886, the course
of conduct in the Behring Sea which had
been carefully avoided ever since the dis
| covery of that sea? By what reasoning
did her Maiesty's Government conclude
then, that an act may be committed with
impunity against the rights of the United
| States which had never been attempted
against the same rights when held by the
Russian Empire?'"
THE LAST LETTER.
The thirtieth and last letter of the cor
| respondence, which would, if printed en-
tire, fill over twenty newspaper columns,
was addressed by Mr.. Blaine to Sir Julian
Pauncefote from Bar Harbor last Saturday.
In it the Secretary says: II am instructed
by the President to say that the United
States is willing to consider all proceedings
of April 16, 1888, ss Cancelled, so far as
American rights may be concerned. This
Government will ask Great Britain TO ad-
here only to the agreement made between
Lord Salisbury and Mr.. Phelps on the 25th
of February, 1888. That was an agreement
made directly between the two Govern
ments, and did not include the rights of
Russia, asking Lord Salisbury to adhere 10
the agreement of February 25th. We
leave the agreement of April 18th to be
maintained, if maintained at all, By Rus
sia. for whose cause and for whose ad-
vantage it was particularly designed"
Blaine also refers to Lord Salisburys
statement that political event in the
United States had caused an interruption
of the negotiations, and not Canadian OBJ
jection and closes the voluminous CORE
spondence as follows:
81 am justified in assuming that Lord
Salisbury cannot recur to the remark of
Mr.. Phelps as one of the reasons for break
ing off the negotiations, because the nego-
tiation was in actual progress for more
than four months after the remark was
made in answer. Phelps himself took a
large part in it. Upon this recital of the
facts | am unable to recall, or in any way
to qualify the statement which / made in
my note of June 4th, to the effect that Lord
Salisbury abruptly closed the negotiations
because the Canadian Government OBJ.
jected, and that he assigned no other rea-
son whatever. Lord Salisbury expresses
the belief that, even if the view had
taken of these transactions are accurate,
they would not bear out the argument
which l found upon them. The argument
to which Lord Salisbury refers, is, l pre-
sumo. the remonstrance which / made by
direction of the President, against change
of policy by her Majesty's Government
without notice, and against the wish of the
United States. The Interpretation of the
wishes of the British Province against the
conclusion of the convention between the
two nations, which, according to Mr..
Phelps, had been virtually agreed upon,
except as to details was, in the Presidents
belief, grave injustice 10 the Government
of the United States"
PRESS OPINION.
New YORK, July 23d.--The Tribune saws
that it believes the Behring Sea correspond
ehce WIZ oe Ieao Dy Americans with pro-
found satisfaction, and adds: If indisput-
able and inexorabie logic avail anything
with statesmen on Downing street, we
shall not be troubled much longer with
this yexing question. We bought those
seals; We paid for them; we Lave nour.
ished and protected them; our peo-
pie here and in Alaska obtain
a living from them. They are a source of
national revenue, and the British states.
men are unwontedly dull if they imagine
that we are going to lose all this, simply to
enable few persons in British Columbia.
without right or interest, to wrest illegal
fortunes during the few years that remain
before they shall have utterly exterminated
the seal herd, and Lord Salisbury cannot
too promptly convince himself of that
fact.