St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-06
BLAINE And The LION
England's and Americas Pre-
miers Engage in a Word
Duel.
Full Text Of Their Core
spondenee on the Behring
Sea Troubles.
England Differs With Blaine
Upon the Seal Waters in
Question,
Blaine Insists Upon the Cor
rectness Of This Coun-
try's Position.

try's Position.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5.-The pres
ldent to-day transmitted to the
house of representatives further cor
respondence on the subject of the Behr-
ing sea controversy between the Unit
ed States and Great Britain. The cor
respondence transmitted by the presl-
dent is made up Of two very long let
tiers and a number of enclosures, COM
prIslng treaties, notes and extracts from
previous correspondence which, Secre-
lary Blaine says, conclude the corre-
spondence touching the fur seal ques
lion up to date. One of these letters is
from Lord Salisbury to Sir Julian
Pauncefote, the British minister, dated
Aug. ,, 1880, and the other was addressed
by Secretary Blaine to the British min
lster Dec. II last. Lord SaIiSbury's let
ter is confn to a discussion of the
Russian ukase and the treaty OF 1925.
He argues at length that Mr.. Blaine has
msinterpreted Nh. Adams position and
says:
SaIIsbuTy's letter.
II do not suppose that il is necessary
that | should aIgne at length upon so
elementary point as that claim to
prohibit the vessels of other nations
from approaching within distance of
100 miles from the coast is contrary to
modern international usage. Mr..
Adams and Mr.. Canning clearly thought
that the matter was beyond doubt or
i. 10 I, Oh
niZed at that time. ana which has been
generally admitted both by publicists
and governments, limits the Jurisdiction
of a country in the open sea to three
miles from its coast, this having been
considered the range Of a cannon shot
when the principle was adopted. The
correspondence extracted from the ar
chiyes of this Office make it very diff
cult to believe that Mr.. Blaine has not
been altogether led into error. 1t re-
suits from them that not only did her
majestY'S government
Formally Protest
against the ukase on its first issue as
contrary to the acknowledged law of
nations, but that the Russian govern
ment gave verbal assurance that the
claim of jurisdiction would not be eXer-
clsed. In the subsequent negotiations
great Importance was attached to OBJ
tanning a more formal diSavOWal of the
claim in the manner least huTtful to
Russian susceptibilities, but so as
pffectually to preclude its revival. And
tins security the British government
undoubtedly considered that both they
and the United States had obtained by
the conventions of 1924 and 1925"
In conclusion Lord Salisbury cites the
Instructions oiVpp IN tha british nlppi-
potentiarv who negotiated the treaty of
1926 and says:
"These extracts show conclusively:
q That England refused to admit any
part of the Russian claim asserted by the
ukase of 1921 to a maritime juriS-
diction and exclusive right of fish
ing throughout the whole extent of
that clam, from Behring's staralts to
the tifty-hrSt parallel; (2) That the
convention of 1925 was regarded on both
sides as remuneration on the part of
Russia of that claim in its entreaties;
and 90 that though Behring's strait
was known and specifically provided
for, Behring's sea was not known by
that time, but was regarded as part of
the Pacific ocean. The answer, there
fore, to the questions with which Mr..
Blaine concluded his dispatch is that
her majesty'S government has always
claimed the freedom of navigation and
fishing in the waters of Behring's sea
outside the usual territorial limit of one
marine league from the coast; that it
is Impossible to admit that a public
right to fish, catch seals, or pursue any
other lawful occupation on the high
seas can be held to be abandoned by a
nation from the mere fact that for a
certain number of years it has not
suited the subjects Of that nation to eX-
erciSe it. 1t must be remembered that
British Columbia
has come into existence as a colony at a
comparatively recent date, and that the
first considerable influx of population,
some thirty years ago, was due to the
discovery of gold. and did not tend to
p an immediate development of the ship
ping interest. | have to request that
you will communicate copy of this
dispatch and of its enclosures to Mr..
Blaine. You will state that her mai
eSty'S government has no desire what
ever TO refuse to the United States any
jurisdiction in Behring's sea which was
conceded by Great Britain to Russia,
and which properly accrueS to the pres
ent pOSsesSOrS of Alaska, in virtue of
treaties or the law of nations; and that
If the United States government, after
examination of the evidence and argu-
RentS which | have produced, still diff
fer from them as to the legality of the
recent captures in that sea, they are
ready to agree that the question, with
the issues that depend upon it, should
be referred to impartial arbitration.
You VIII, in that case, be authorized to
consider. in concert with Mr.. Blaine,
the method of procedure to be fol-
lowed"
RlainesS Position.
Secretary Blaine's letter begins with
IN insiStence upon the correctness of
the position assumed by the United
States. He believes that the controversy
turns upon one point-whether the
phrase Pacific ocean," used in the
treaties of 1924 and 1925 included Behr-
ing's sea, as contended by Great Britain.
If the United States can prove the con-
trary her case is complete and undenl-
able. Therefore Mr.. Blaine enters into
all exhaustive argument based on Ban
croft's History and maps to show that
Mr.. Adams and his contemporaries had
distinct understanding that the phrase
Pacific ocean" excluded the waters of
Behring's sea, then known to all the
world as the Sea of Kamschatka. The
secretary points 10 the large wealth of
the Russian-American company, which
he says would have been carelessly
thrown away by the Russian nobility in
phrase which merged Behring sea with
the Pacific ocean. He cites the long
wears of abstinence from thoe waters by
the adventurous people of the United
States and Great Britain as a presump-
ton of their lack of right to enter. As
stronger evidence of his correctness.
MIR. Blaine cites the protocols of the
treaty of 1924 to show that Russia's re-
linquishment of jurisdiction applied
only to the territory between the fiftieth
and siXtieth degrees. Also an explana-
tory note from Russia to Mr.. Adams in
1924, positively excepting the AIeutian
islands and country north of SO degrees
and 3 minutes from the concession to
the United States of right to fish and
trade. The explanatory note above re-
ferred to reads: