The Portland daily press., 1891-01-28
THE SEAL; The TROUBLES ABOUT HIM
A Diplomatic Correspondence Aged
Three Score Years and Ten.
6ehrIng Sea In the Days OF Old and in
the Days Of Pelagic Sealing.
Review Of the History Of the Claim to
the Hundred Mile Limit.
Especial to the Press j


the decision may be 1t will have an impor-
tant bearing upon the long. historic contro-
versy now pending. 1t is, therefore, a prop
er time for careful examination Of the con-
tentions OF all parties. Although much has
been published within few weeks, relating
to the dispute. 1t has all been In the form OF
diplomatic correspondence. which has con-
veyed information as to certain points only.
The most aged and venerable man In the
United States Senate was little more than
babe when the diplomatists of America and
Europe began TO write letters about Behring
Sea. The controversy was old when the
grandfather Of the present President, sat in
the executive chair. He who would under
stand the question In all its aspects must not
only understand the correspondence Of sew
eral generations Of diplomatists, but he must
study as well the voyages Of old navigators,
the trading expeditions Of fur-clad Russian
merchants. the hunting ventures of wild In
dians, whose histories are traditions aim Ist
as deceptive as diplomatic correspondence.
A great European diplomatist has declared
In effect, that language, when used properly
yerbage for the concealment Of thought. By
keeping In mind this thought Of Metfernich,
the reader Of diplomatic correspondence may
be able TO understand why so many things
are said which need not have been said, and
why so so many things that should have
been said are left unsaid.
Not alone Is It necessary to understand the
diplomatist. The >eal, too, Is a creature OF
peculiar ways; and his history for the last
hundred years has an important bearing
upon the present controversy. At the be-
ginning OF this century, the world looked for
It's, It's supply OF seal skins, not to Behring Sea
Falkland Islands, the South Shetlands.
Massafuera, South Georgia and other places
In the Southern Hemisphere. None Of these
rookeries were protected. The sailors Of the
they could when the animals were gathered
on the beaches at the breeding season. No
Que thought Of hunting for them In the water
with spears or firearms. 'Pelagic sealing"
as the latter mode is now called. Is an in
dustry Of later growth. In twenty or thirty
years indiscriminate killing In the Southern
rookeries, broke them up so that sealing
voyages were no longer profitable. But fr0m
1900 to 1885, United States vessels visited the
regions around the Cape Of Good Hope on
sealing voyages. No American then thought
of visiting BehriDg Sea for seals. There
were no Amer can settlements Of any ac-
count on the Pacific Coast at that time. To
reach Behring Sea. a voyage around Cape
Horn would have been necessary. And even
after that voyage had been taken. the Russ
ians would undoubtedly have prevented ac-
cess to the ro0keres as we now prevent &C
cess to them. Now the coast III British
Columbia is so we'll settled, that schooners
Can be fitted out with Indian hunters who
open sea by the method known rs ''pelasic
sealing" and get enough in season to pay
q profit on voyage from Victoria or Van
couver to Behring Sea. But 10 1885, vessel
trading from Bost0n would have found little
inducement to 60 to the Western coast OF
on crew Of Indian seal hunters. II such
could have been found, and proceed to
behrinx Sen for the dveorstx hundred seals
that might have been obtained by such a
voyage. Whaling In the Arctic or trading
with the natives paid bett r. especially as In
those days, the seal fur was not so fashion
able as now, and Behring sea did not, 10 all
probability, contain nearly so many Of the
animals. Upon the two little islands Of st
Pau and st. George, which are the only
the eastern side Of the line drawn by the
Treaty Of Cessi0n from Russia, the Russians
In no year from 1917 to 1884, took over 60000
skins; and from 1884, until the year 1850, the
annual yield only once rose as high as 10000
skins. Since the ownership BY the United
States, the Alaska Commercial Company
have been taking from those same islands,
the enormous number Of 100, 900 skins annu-
ally. Moreover, In recent years, the fur of
the seal has come into fashion so extensive
ly that the value Of the skins has increased
greatly. In the early days, when the rook-
cries Of the South Hemisphere were des-
tr0yed. China was the great market for seal
skins and the trade was profitable. But
from 1885 1t dwindled. largely because Of the
exhaustion Of the seals. Russia had de-
English and American hunters had done the
same by the nearer rookeries Of the Southern
Hemisphere. So the seal for period OF
many years had comparative peace because
his race had so dwindled as to no longer
tempt the cupidity OF man. In the seventy
years Of diplomatic controversy over Russian
rights In Behring Sea and on the northwest
coast Of America, the seal has had no prom
inence until tho last five years. 1t Is only
since the United States has possessed the
rookeries Of st. Paul aud st. George, that
they have become so valuable as to lead to In
ternational contentious, aid 1t Is only since
the Canadian settlements have grown up In
British Columbia that there have been mari
ners so situate as to organize expeditions for
"pelagic sealing" 1t Is the seal, now wear
all this disturbance Of the relations Of friend
ly nations.
Whatever rights the United States has in
the seals Of Behring Sea are derived from
Russia. The question Is as TO how many
rights were so derived. Mr.. Blaine Claims
that Russia ceded to the United States, not
st. George. but also the right to exclude seal
hunters to distance 100 miles from the
coasts Of those islands. The English people
admit that the United States has dominion
over the islands and over so much OF the
Ocean as Is within the three mile limit; but
Lord Salisbury insists that Russia had nc
right To cede jurisdiction over the seas SO
extensive as Is included In an area bounded
by line drawn 100 miles from the shore,
As this point Is the one upon which the
greatest stress has been laid In the course Of
the diplomatic correspondence between Mr.
Blaine and Lord Salisbury, Its historic rela.
ti0ns are important.
Russia based her claim to Alaska upon the
discoveries If her explorers aud fur traders
10 the eighteenth century. About l799 the
Russian Emperor Paul. granted to the Russ
ian American Company, the exclusive right
OF hunting, trade, industries and discoveries
OF new land on the northwest coast OF Amerf-
ca from Behr'ng Straits to the ffty-fttn de-
gree OF north latitude. A glance at the map
will show that these limits included all the
Alaskan Peninsula and the strip OF land
/ which extends down along the coast In from
OF the present possessions Of the British. to Q
point considerably south OF where Sitka Il
| At present This action Of the Emperor
Paul attracted little attention. The United
ance, even had she felt that any encroach.
| ment had been made upon her rights and
| the nations of Europe were very busy VIII
| the disturbances brought about BY the Freach
| Revolution. The Emperor Paul said nothing
| about any dominion over the sea. lt was
| nearly quarter Of q century later that the
| Emperor Alexander, In 1871, Issued his Ia
| nous Ukase, wherein he announced:
| The pursuits OF commerce, whaling, and fish
| inp and of all other industry, on all Islands
Do,ts and CULTS, including tine whole OF the north
l west coast OF America, beginning from Behrimgl
i St, ait TO the 61st degree OF northern latitude
| siso from the Aleutian Islands TO the easier,
| Islands from Behring's strait to the south cap,
| Of the island OF Urup, viz. TO 45o SOY northerl
latitude, are exclusively granted to Russian sub
IL is therefore prohibited to all foreign vessel
i not only 10 land on the coasts and Islands be
longins to Russia as stated abuye, but also TO ap
| proach them within less than 100 Italian miles
tion, along with the whole cargo.
This Ukase caused storm. Here was tn
Russian Emperor claiming the northwes
coast OF America from the Behring strait
down 10 point not many miles north Of tn
present boundary between the state o
washington and British Columbia. No
only this. Alexander claimed also dominion
over tne great seas TO distance Of 100 mile
from the shore. Both England and Unite'
states protested. They did not care fer an.
seals In Behring Sea. Tnat question wa
not involved. But from Vancouver Islant
northward, both the English and American
mad trading stations The general fur trad
| OF the region was very valuable. The pro
nts whicn the Russian American Compan.