Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-05-15
BLAINE TALKS BACK
He Explains His Position ON the
Behring Sea Question
Again.
Proves that the Rights of the
United States Cannot be
Questioned.
Great Britain Has Looked at Similar
Questions in the Same
Light.

| the qISSjlOlS loT tIhllrdllOn &c not wholly
meet the views of the president; but the
president changes the text in the third
and fifth in such a manner, it is
hoped, as will result in an agreement be-
tween the two governments
While Lord Salisbury suggests
that different mode of procedure
from that embodied in the sixth question
the president does not understand him ac-
tually to object to the question and there
fore assumes that 1t Is agreed.
The SIX questions now proposed 10y the
president are:
FirSt-What exclusive jurisdiction I'd
Behring sea and what exclusive rights in
seal fisheries therein did Russia assert ami
exercise up to the time of the cessiou of
Alaska to the United States.
Second-How tar were these claims con-
cpded by Great Britain.
Third-Was Behring sea. included in
the phrase Pacific ocean" used in the
treaty of 1925 between Great Britain and
Russia and what rights, if any, in Benr-
ing sea was held and exclusively exercised
by Russia after said treaty.
Fourth-Did not all rights of Russia
! pass unimpared to the United States under
| the treaty of 1867?
Fifth-HaS the United States any right,
and if so, what right of protection or
| property i'll fur seals frequenllng the
| islands of the United States III Behring
| sea when such seals are found outside the
| three mile limit.
Sixth---lf determination of the fOrrgO-
ing questions shall leave the subiec; in
! such position that the concurranc, of
Great Britain is necessary in prescribing
! the regulations for the killing of fur scll
~, nrtn nf hn nE tlal
then it shall be further datermined First
How far, if at all, outside of the orGi
nary territorial limits is it neces
sary that the United States should exercise
exclusive jurisdiction in order to protect
seal living for the time upon the islands
| of the United States and feeding there
from. SecCnd-Whether the closed season.
during which killing of seals in the
waters of Behring sea outside of the
ordinary territorial limits shall be pro-
hibited, is necessary to save the seal fish
ing industry so valuable and important to
mankind from deterioration or deshuc-
Ton, and if So Third What months or
pats Of months should be included in
such season and over what waters it should |
extend.
The president does not object to the ad-
dltional question respecting the alleged !
damage to English ships, if the condition
| can be added that If the United States
shall prevail in arbitration, all seals taken
by Canadian vessels during the pcriod
shall be paid for at the ordinary price for
which the skins are sold
In Lord Salisbury's dispatch of February
2l, he makes the declaration that ut IL
now quite clear that the advisors of the
president do not claim y hiring sea rs
mare clausum, and, indeed, repudilt" hat
contention IN express terms.
Mr. Blaine says that Lord SHisbury's
expression is in form TO imply that the
United States has been resting its
contention upon the fact that Behring sea
was mare clausum. If that was the in
tention it would have been well for his
lordship to specify wherein the United
States ever made the assertion.
Lard Salisbury complains that did not
deal with certain protests of Lord Lon
dondery and the Duke of Wellington in
| 1892 In my dispatch of December II, I
specially dealt with them; maintained, and
| think, proved from the text that there
was not single word in those protests
referring to Behring Sea; but that they
referred in the language of the Duke of
! Wellington, only to the lands extending
along the shOres of the Pacific Ocean from
latitude 40 to latitude 60 degrees north.
In Lord Londonderry's protest he
aIludes to the matters in dispute as espe-
ciaIIy connected with the territorial
rights of the Russian crown
on the northwest coast of America
bordering on the Pacific ocean and the
commerce and navigation of his imperial
majesty's subjects in the seas adjacent
thereto. Both protests referred to the
territ Dry south of Alaska peninsula, bOrd-
ering on the Pacific and gecgraph-
icalIy shut out from Bebring sea
In Lord Salisbury's judgment the conten-
ton of the United States now rests wholly
upon the ukase of 1921, hy the emperor
of Russia The United States has at no
| time rested its argument solely upon the
ground mentioned, and this government
regrets that Lord Salisbury should
have 50 mlsapprehended the
American position as 10
limit its basis of right in Bchring sea, 10
| the ukase of 1911. The United States ha
among other grounds insisted. without re-
curing to any of its inherited and supe-
rior rights in Alaska that this govern.
ment has as full authority for going beyond
the threemile line il case Of proved neces-
! sity, as Great Britain possesses.
Two or three instances of
the power which Great Britain
exerci es 4yond the three mile line has
already been quoted, but failed thus far to
| secure comment or explanation from Lord
| Salisbury. Another case can he cited per
| haps still more to the point. In 1889
| only two years ago-the British parlia-
ment enacted law, the effect of which is
| fully shown by a map enclosed herewith
! Far outside OF the three mile line the par
| r 1 I
| to control the body of water situated be-
| yond the northeastern section Of Scotland,
! two thousand seven hundred square miles
! in extent and to direct that certain
| me- hods of fishing shall not be used with.
! liz that great body of water under pre-
scribed penalty. The inhibition is rot
alone against the British subjects. bat
/ against amy person.
| Mr.. Blaine quotes from the parliamen-
| tary act in question and adds: If Great
| Britain may thus control an area Of two
| thousand seven hundred square miles cf
| ocean on the coast of Scotland why may
/ not the United States prescribe space
around the Pribyloff islands in which
| similar prohibitions may be enforced9
| The government Of the United States has
steadily held the reverse Of the position
Lord Sail bury lmpntes to it. 1t holds
that the o~nersnip or the ISLANDS upon
| which seals breed, that the hlbit OF the
| seals in regularly resOrting thitber and
rearing their young thereon. that their
! going out from the islands in
| search Of food and regularly
returning thereto, and all the facts and in
| cIdents Of their relation to the islands give
| 10 the United States a property interest
therein; that this properl. interest was
claimed and exercised by Russia; that
England recognized this property interest
50 far as recognition is implied by
abstairing from al interference
with 1T during the whole period of Rus
sis's ownership AMI during the first nine
| TEN years Of the sovereignty Of the United
States. 1t is 10 be determined whether
| the iawless intrusion Of Canadian vessels
| 1896 and subsequent years has changed
he law and equity Of the case heretofore
4 r,rpyailino