Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-06

objections 10 the United States exercising her
jurisdiction beyond the three-mile limit in q
remote and unused sea for the sole purpose Of
preserving the most valuable fur seal fishery in
| the world from remedies Distraction
JOHN BULLS OWN MEDICINE PRESCRIBED YoR
| He also cites the British claim over the pearl
| fisheries and then says:
II am directed by the President to say that,
on behalf Of the United States. he is willing to
adopt the text used in the act of parliament to
| exclude ships from lowering nearer to the
island OF St. Helena than eight marine leagues
or he will take the example cited by Sir George
Baden-Powell where, by permission of her
majesty's government control over q part Of
| the ocean GOO miles is today authorized by Aus
tralian law. The President will ask the gov
eminent Of Great Britain to adhere to the dis
| lance Of twenty marine leagues-within which
no ship shall hover around the islands Of ST.
Paul and st. George from the 18th of May to
the 18th Of October Of each year. This will
| prove an effective mode Of preserving the seal
fisheries for the use Of the civilized worlds
mode which, in view of Great Britain's as
! sumption Of power over the open ocean, she
cannot with consistency decline. Great Britain
| prescribed eight leagues at st. Helena. but the
| obvious necessities in the Behring sea will, on
the basis of this precedent. justify twenty
leagues for the protection of the American seal
| fisheries'
ON THE QUESTION OF ARBITRATION
| Mr.. Blaine says: ''In the judgment of the Presi-
dent nothing Of importance would be settled
by proving that Great Britain conceded no
jurisdiction to Russia over the seal fisheries of
the Besring sea- 1t might well be proved
that Russia conceded no jurisdiction to Eng
land over the River Thames BY doing nothing
in each case everything is conceded. In neither
case is anything asked of the other. 'Conces-
sion, as used here, means simply acquiescence
in the rightfulness of the title, and that is the
only form of concession which Russia asked of
Great Britain, or which Great Britain gave to
Russia.
The second offer of Lord Salisbury to arbi-
| trate amounts simply to submission of the
question whether any country has right to
extend its jurisdiction more than one marine
league from the shore. No one disputes that
as a rule, but the question is whether there
may not be exceptions whose enforcement
does not interfere with those highways Of
commerce which the necessities and usage of
the world have marked out Great Britain.
when she desired an exception, did not stop to
consider or regard the Inconvenience to which
the commercial world might be subjected. Her
exception placed an obstacle in the highway be-
tween continents. The United States. in pro-
tecting the seal fisheries, will not interfere with
a single sail Of commerce on any sea of the
globe.
THE ISSUES.
at will mean something tangible. in the
Presidents opinion, If Great Britain will con-
sent to arbitratc the real questions which have
been under discussion between the two govern
ments for the last four years. L shall endeavor
to state what in the Judgment of the President.
those issues are:
First. What exclusive jurisdiction in the sea
row known as the Behring sea and what ex-
elusive rights in the seal fisheries therein did
Russia assert and exercise prior and up to the
time OF the cession of Alaska to the United
States?
Second. How far were these claims of juris-
diction as to the seal fisheries recognized and
conceded by Great Britain?
Third. Was the body of water now known
as the Behring sea included in the phrase Pa
cifc ocean,. as used in the treaty of 1925 be-
tween Great Britain and Russia. and what
rights if any. in the Behring sea were given or
conceded to Great Britain by the said treaty!
Fourth. Did not all the rights of Russia as
to jurisdiction and as to the seal fisheries in
Behring sea east of the water boundary. in the
treaty between the United States and Russia of
March 80 1867, pass unimpared to the United
States under that treaty.
Fifth. What are now the rights of the
United states ~ to the fur seal fisheries in the
waters of the Behring sea outside of the ordi-
nary territorial limits whether such rights
grow out of the cession by Russia of anv
special rights or jurisdiction held by her in
such fisheries or in the waters of Bchring sea,
or out of the ownership of the breeding islands
and the habits of the seals in resorting thi.her
and rearing their young thereon and going out
from the islands for food: or ont of any other
fact or incident connected with the relation of
those seal fisheries 20 the territorial possessions
of the United States?
sixth. IL the determination of the foregoing
questions shall leave the subject in such posi-
ton that the concurrence of Great Britain is
necessary in prescribing regulations for the
killing of the fur seal in any part of the waters
Of Behring sea- then it Ghall be further deter.
mined: First. how far. if at all. outside the
ordinary territorial limits il is necessary that
the United States should exercise an exclusive
jurisdiction in order to protect the seal for the
tine living upon the islands of the United
States and feeding therefromy. Second. whether
IA closed season during which the killing Of
seals in the waters of Behring sea outside ordi-
nary territorial limits shall be prohibited is
necessary to save the seal-iishing industry. so
valuable and important to manain |, from de-
terioratiOn or destruction? and. if 80, third
what months or parts Of months should be in
cluded in such season and over what waters il
should extend?
MARE cLAUsCM NOT CLAIMED.
"The repeated assertions that the govern
ment Of the United States demands that the
Behrin3 sea be pronounced mare clausum are
without foundation. The government. has
never claimed it and never desired it, 1t ex-
pressly disavows it,
Mr.. Blaine III conclusion SAYS that the line
of argument followed by Lord Salisbury would
furnish rs good a defense for piracy as for seal
poaching