Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-05-08
THE BERING SEA DISPUTE.
Secretary Blaine's Latest Contribution 10 the
CorreepoodencN.

CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THE UNITED STATES
WILL AGREE TO ARBrTRArrox-srx QUESTIONS
PROPOSED BIT THE PREsrDKSr-A BRITISH CASE
CITED IN SUPPORT OF THE AMERICAN CLAM.
In the note Of Secretary Blaine TO Sir Julian
Paunoefote. bearing date Of April IA and just
made public, the conditions under which the
government Of the United States il willing 10
submit the dispute over the Boring seq seal
fisheries to arbitration are clearly and sue
cinctiy stated The note Is as follows.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
WASHINGTON, April Il, 1891.
SIR: The notifications which Lord Salisbury
suggests in the questions for arbitration do not
wholly meet the views Of the President; but
the President changes the text Of the third and
hfth In such manner, it is hoped, will re-
suit in an agreement between the two govern
ments. While Lord Salisbury suggests a differ
ent mode OF procedure from that embodied in
derstand him actually TO object to the question
and ne therefore assumes that il 10 agreed TO.
SIX QUESTIONS.
The six questions as now proposed by the
president are as follows:
First-what exclusive jurisdiction in the sea
now known as the Bering sea. and what exclu-
sve rights in the seal fisheries therein did Rus
STA assert and exercise prior and mp 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 Boring sea included in the phrase Pacific
ocean, as used In the treaty of 1925 between
Great Britain and Russia, and what rights, if
any, IN the Boring sea were held and exclusively
| exercised by Russia after said treaty?
Fourth-Did not all the rights of Russia as to
jurisdiction and to the seal fisheries in Boring
sea east of the water boundary described in the
treaty between the United States and Russia of
March so, 1867, pass unimpaired to the United
States under that treaty?
Fnth-Has the United States any right and
II SO, what right OF protection or property, in
the fur seals frequenting the islands Of the
United States IN Boring sea, when such seals are
found outside the ordinary three-mile limit?
Sixth-H 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 the Boring then it shall be furt deter
mined First, how far, if at all, outside the
ordinary territorial limits it is necessary that
| the United States should exercise an exclusive
jurisdiction IN order to protect the seal for
the time living upon the islands of the
United States and feeding therefrom? Second.
whether closed season during which the
killing OF seals in the waters of Boring sea
outside the ordinary territorial limits shall be
prohibited) is necessary to save the seal fish
ing industry, SO valuable or important to
mankind, from deterioration and destruction?
And, if so, third, what months or parts of
months should be included in such season, and
over what waters should it extend?
A CONDITION IMPOSED.
The President does not object to the addi-
tional question respecting alleged damages to
English ships, proposed by Lord Salisbury, if
one condition can be added, namely: That
after the issues Of the arbitration are Joined
If the United States shall prevail, all the seals
taken by Canadian vessels during the period
shall be paid for at the ordinary price for which
skins are sold. This seems to the President to
be the complement of Lord Salisbury's propo-
sltion, and he doubts not that it will secure his
| lordship's assent.
In the first paragraph Of Lord Salisbury's
dispatch Of February II he makes the following
declaration:
1t is now quite clear that the advisers Of the
| President do not claim Boring sea as mare
ciausum, and, indeed, that they repudiate that
contention in express terms.
Lord Sallsburys expression is put in such
| form as to imply-whether he SO intended L
know not-that the United States had hitherto
been resting Its contention upon the fact that
the Bering sea was mare clausum. II that was
his intention 1t would have been well for his
lordship to specify wherein the United States
| In my dispatch of December IL last was in
tended to put an end to the iteration of the
charge and to eliminate it from the current
discussion.
| LORD SALISBURY CORRECTED.
Lord Salisbury complains that 1 did not deal
with certain protests written by Lord London
derry and the Duke of Wellington in 1922, which
he had before quoted. II he will recur to the
twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh pages of my
dispatch OF December IL he will observe that
| specially dealt with these; that maintained,
and, think, proved from the text that there
was not a single word in those protests refer
ring to the Boring sea, but that they referred,
In the language Of the Duke of Wellington Of
the 18th OF October, 1922. only to the lands
| extending along the shores of the Pacific
ocean from latitude 40 degrees to latitude 60
| degrees north" In the first paragraph of Lord
| Londonderrys protest Of January Is 1922 ad-
dressed to Count Lieven of Russia, he alluded to
| the matters in dispute as especially connected
| with the territorial rights of the Russian crown
on the northwest coast OF America bordering on
| the Pacific ocean, and the commerce and navi-
cation of his imperial majesty's subjects in the
seas adjacent thereto. From these and other
pertinent facts it is evident that the protests Of
Lord Londonderry and the Duke of Wellington
| had nothing whatever to do with the points
now in issue between the American and British
governments concerning the waters of the Ber-
| ing sea. They both referred in different but
| substantially identical phrases to the territory
south OF the Alaskan peninsula bordering on
the Pacific and geographically shut out from
the Boring sea. regret that my arguments on
point which Lord Salisbury considers of great
Importance should have escaped his lordship's
notice.
In Lord Salisbury's Judgment the contention
OF the United States now rests wholly upon the
nkase of 1871 by the Emperor Alexander of
Russia. The United States has at no time rested
| Its argument solely on the ground mentioned.