New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-01-06
MR. BLAINE'S NEW DISPATCH.

that this question: so long pending and so sharp
" discussed, is still by many only imperfectly
understood: and in order that Mr.. BlalneS
letter, which should be read by every American
citizen. NAV be considered in the light of what
has gone before. we shall review the facts to
some extent and enable our readers to reach
a full and intelligent conclusion upon the whole
of the controversy. Our rights in the Behring
Sea, whatever they may amount to, were de-
rived from Russia by purchase in 1868. Inc
extent of the purchase Is shown IN the map
with which Mr.. Blainc'S dispatch Is illustrated
Russian authority in Alaska was derived from
discovery and sealed by occupancy. 1t extend
ed over the whole Of the Alaskan peninsula
and the Aleutian Islands, and down the North
west Coast of the continent to point which,
prior to 1924. had not been fixed by cOnven-
ton. The discoveries of Behring and his
lieutenants, however, as illustrated by the
charts issued after the expedition, ended at
point on the coast on the parallel of 81 degrees
40 minutes, and there Russian rights were
thought to terminate. The earliest Russian
legislation on the subject was in the form OF an
Imperial ukase, promulgated in 1893, claiming
jurisdiction to the 55th degree and chartcnng
a company with exclusive rights to trade and
fish as far south az that parallel.
Our claim in the present controversy is the
right to protect the herd Of fur-seal which in
habit our islands, the Pribyloif group, in Behr-
ing Sea. against persons who, during its passage
at the CESSATION period through the sea, inter
ccpt and attack it, The situation is unique.
The Sea is immense. but we own all the land
along It's eastern and southern shore. 1t has
no relation whatever to the world commerce.
No ship can have any induccment to enter lis
waters except TO cruise after whales or seal.
The seal is an amphibcan. 1t lives for third
of the year on our islands, where, at vast
annual expense, care for its rooke1es and
pursue our industry in its fur. The assertion
of such jurisdiction over the waters as VIII
enable us 10 protect ii during It's migratlons to
and from the islands cannot therefore interfere
in the remoteSt degree with the worlds COM
merce or with any lawful purpose that vessel
may have in approaching our Alaskan domln-
ions The British contention is that we do not
own the seal at all that the seal are theirs as
much as ours that the facts of their being born
and of their living for so much OF each year
upon our land give us no title in them after
they leave our shores that they are then wild
dUlUldlS III Juc III IN Std anu ~ liNp W '''''''
as American sealcrs, and that the law OF ma
tons confines our jurisdiction beyond the Sea
to a marine league, and allows us no authority
over the waters traversed by the seal.
In considering these contentious it is i'm
portant to know that Russia in 1868 under
stood she was selling and we understood we
were buying, not merely rookery but the seals
upon il, together with jurisdiction in the Behr-
ing Sea for 100 miles from the Alaskan and
Aleutian shore lines. Ii is admitted that Russia
transferred 10 us all the rights she had. and II
these rights were in fact herS-that j. 70 say.
if she had claimed and exercised thcm,) and II
her claim had been acGmeSccd in by other na
tons either by treaty agreement or ~ abstain
ing from attempts at It's invasion, it is clear
that Great Britain is called upon to explain the
ground upon which she denies to MS the au-
thority in Behring Sea which she conceded 10
Russia 1t has been the purpose of Mr.. BaineS
earlier dispatches to show that Great Britain, by
deliberate marks OF acquiesccnce plainly az
knowledged the Cars authority and continu-
ously respected it where now she denies ours
and that the Treaty Of 1925, with subsequent
conventions, was written testimony TO the valid
ity of the Russian claims. All this Lord Sails
buzz has denied, asserting that the cOntro-
vcrses between America and England on the
one hand and Russia on the other, which were
adjusted by the Treaties Of 1924 and 1879,
concerned. not merely the coast line and its
waters south of the Alaskan peninsula, but all
the coast to- Behring's Straits, and that the
privileges granted and rights acknowledged by
Russia in those treaties related to Alaska and
the Behrng Sea as much as to the Northwest
Coast and the Pacific Ocean
IL seemed to us that Mr. Blaine had disposed
of this assertion even before II was made by
the statement of history with which he resumed
negotiations upon the accession Of President
Harrison. Certainly he met it with most eff
fcctua proofs when il was formally presented.
lie showed That the Cars ukaSe of 1871 diff
fcred from the proclamation with which his
American sovereignty was originally advertised
only in two particulars. One was in the cX
tension OF his authority on the coast from the
18th degree down to the 50th, and the other
was in claiming jurisdiction in the Pacific Ocean
for 90 miles from the shore. Mr.. Blaine
showed that ii was these two claims which the
Cnited States and England resisted and which
the Car abandoned upon their demand. lie
brought forward in establishing the facts as
he alleged them vast mass oil testimony, not
the least significant Of which was the text of
the AnglO-RuSeian Treaty of 1875 fixing the |
boundaries between their possessions from 81
degrees 40 minutes to 60 degrees, and the I'M !
improbable fact that from that time until the |
transfer of Alaska to u.s. Russian dominion over
Behring sea and Russian control Of the seal |
herd had been exercised without the fainteSt !
note of protest from Downing Street. This, in
the judgment of Sir Robert Phillmore Eng |
lands greatest modern writer on the law of
nations, is OF itself sufficient 10 preclude the |
right of England thereafter to deny Russia |
assertions whatever may have been her right !
heretofore an incOmpetcncy rendered the more |
feeble if thar were possible, by the fact that |
without Il word Of objection she permitted |
Russia 10 transfer her dominion to us and Ms
TO exercise it for eighteen years.
But Lord Salisbury. mconVinccd by Mr. |