St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-06

commerce stipulated in favor of citizens
of the United States for ten years. This
seems only natural consequence of
the stipulationS agreed upon, for the
coasts Of Siberia are washed by the Sea
of Okhotsk, the Sea of kamSchatka and
the Icy sea, and not by the South sea
mentioned in the first article OF the con-
vention of April j-17, 1924. The Aleu-
tian islands are also washed by the Sea
of Kamschatka, or Northern ocean. 1t
is not the intention of Russia to impede
the free navigation of the Pa
cific ocean. She would be satisfied
with causing to be recognized. as we'll
understood and placed beyona all man
ner of donbt, the priniple that beyond
50 degrees so minutes no foreign vessel
can approach her coasts and her island,
nor fish or hunt within the distance of
two marine leagues. This will not
prevent the reception of foreign vessels
which have been damaged or beaten by
Storm"
OF this note Secretary Blaine says:
''The explanatory note of the Russian
government disproveS and denies in
detail the three assertions of Lord Sails
bury. [ think they are completely
despatch, but the explanatory note is
them"
Further the secretary says:
Maritime Jurisdiction.
"The United States. having the most
extended seacoaSt of all nations Of the
world, may be presumed TO have paid
serious attention to tire laws and usageS
which define and limit maritime juris-
diction. The course of this government
W N M RI
ing the recognized law of nations on
that subject. While Lord Salisbury's
admonitlons are received in good part
by this government, we feel justified in
asking his lordship if the government
of Great Britain has uniformly illus
trated these preceptS by example, or
whether she has not established at least
one notable precedent which would
Justify Us in making greater demands
upon her majesty's government touch
ing the Behring sea than either our
necessities or our desires have ever
suggested ~ The secretary here cites
the action Of Great Britain in excluding
vessels from he waters within eight
leagues of st. Helena when Napoleon
was confined there, and refers to the
protection exercised over the Ceylon
pearl fisheries by Great Britain, and
says:
u am directed by the president to say that
on behalf of the United States he is willing
10 adopt the text used in the act of parlia-
ment to exclude ships from lowering nearer
to the island of 81. Helena than eight marine
leagues. or he Will take the example cited by
Sir George HadenPoWell, where, by permits
sion of her majestys government, control
over a part of the ocean 600 miles wide is to-
day authorized by Australian law. The pres
ident will ask the government of Great Brit
nj n in ar n distance m
leagues, within which no ship shall hover
around the islands Of St Paul and ST. George,
from the 18TH of May to the 10Th of October
of each year This will prove an effective
mode of preserving the seal fisheries for the
use of the civilized world. mode which, in
view of Great Britain's assumption of power
over the open ocean, she cannot with con-
sisteney decline"
The secretary describes the destruct-
i've effects upon seal life of unrestricted
sealing, anG says:
Seal Life in Alaska.
"Great Britain has been informed,
advised, warned over and over again of
the evil effects that would flow from her
course of action; but, against testimony
that amounts to demonstration. she has
preferred to abide by personal repre-
sensations from Ottawa, by reports of
commissioners who examined nothing
and heard nothing except the testimony
of those engaged in the business,
against which the United States has
earnestly protested. She may possibly
be convinced of the damage If she will
send an intelligent commissioner to the
Prlbyloff islands"
Respecting the British proposition
looking to arbitration, the secretary
says:
I'm the judgment of the president,
nothing of Importance would be set
tied by proving that Great Britain con-
ceded no jurisdiction to Russia over the
seal fisheries of the Behring sea. 1t
might as we'll be proved that Russia
conceded no jurisdiction to England
over the Thames. By doing nothing in
each case everything is conceded. In
neither case is anything asked of the
other. Concession as used here,
means simply acquieScence III the right
funess 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 arbitrate amounts
simply to submission of the question
whether any country has a right to eX-
tend its jurisdiction more than one mar
inc league from the shore No one dis
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 incon-
venience to which the commercial
world might be subjected. Her excep-
ton placed an obstacle in the highway
between continents. The United States,
in protecting the seal fisheries, will not
interfere with single sail of commerce
on any sea of the globe. 1t will mean
something tangible, in the presidents
opinion, if Great Britain will consent to
arbitrate the real questions which have
been under discussion between the two
governments for the last four years
shall endeavOr to state what, in the
Judgment of the president, those ISIS ues
are:
'First-What exclusive jurisdiction in the
sea now known as Behring sea, and what ex
elusive rights in the seal fisheries therein
did Russia exert and e xercise prior and up
to the time of the cesslon of Alaska to the
United States?
"Second-How far were these claims of
jurisdiction as to the seal fisheries recog-
nlZeQ dflk conceded Dy treat Brlta1nf
'Third-Was the body of water known as
the Behring sea included in the phrase pa
cifc ocean, as used in the treaty of 1925
between 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 30. 1867 pass unimpared
to the United States under that treaty?
''Fifth-What are now the rights of the
United States as to the fur seal fisheries in
waters OF the Behrng sea outside or the or
binary territorial limits, whether such rights
grow out of the cession by Russia Of any
special rights or jurisdiction held by her in
such fisheries or in the waters of Behring
sea, or out of the ownership of the breeding
islands and the habits of the seals in resort
ing thither and rearing their young thereon
and going out from the islands for food, or
out of any other fact or incident connected
with the relation of those seal fisheries to the
territorial possessions of the United States?
''Sixth-If the determination of the forego-
gI1on