New-York tribune., 1891-05-26
who receives notice that he is dslked shouiu
do his fair share of determination.
THE BEHRlNG SEA SEALING FLEET

THE BEHRlNG SEA oEALlNb ILEHA'
An Ottawa dispatch reports that the Canadiah
Government has jhst been informed by its GUS
toms collector at Victoria that the piratcai
sealing feet this year consists Of 40 vessels with
a total tonnage of 3,O42 tons, as against 20
VESSELS last year of about half that tonnage.
This strong fleet will be further augmented by
three or four Nova Scetian schooners now on
their way to the Pacific coast. 1t is plain that
our Government must make up its mind to pro-
tect our National rights and interests in Behring
sea or to abandon them to immediate destruc-
ton. Whether Mr. Elliott is wholly right or
only half right in the shocking account he has
given of the ravages already accomplished by
these Canadian marauders, 1t is beyond all
doubt that if they are unhindered now this
season will witness the absolute rum OF our
rookeries We have spent many millions OF
dollars in the purchase and care OF this prop
erty. Ii has been to the Government fruitful
source of revenue. 1t has employed large sums
of private capital, which, through it, have been
enabled to furnish livelihood to large number
of the Alaskan natives. The question is-and
il must be decided within another week-sball
all this be handed over to persons who have no
interest in perpetuating but only in destroying
the property, who have no territorial relation to
it. who have done nothing to build it up, who,
in any moral view, are poachers and marauders
engaged in work of ruin as cruel and un-
necessary as it is dishonest and mean-shall it
be handed over to these persons merely because
a great and powerful Government upholds them,
or shall we protect our own and forcibly put
stop to their proceedings
In the prolonged controversy excited by this
poaching it cannot be denied that the United
States have been patient and tolerant to de-
gree which a statesman so arbitrary as LORD
Salisbury and a nation so bold as Britain may
we'll consider cowardly. The dispute Is unique
in that while it goes on the valuable cause OF
il is steadily being seized and used to the ad-
vantage of that dsputant whose conduct Is IN
question. England has had everything to gain
and we everything to lose by continuing the
controversy, and so cleverly has she prolonged
II that the end of the seal as we'll as OF the
quarrel is hard upon us. Every overture we
have made has in turn been discussed as long
as it possibly could be- and then declined WIN
an adroit proposition Of some kind OF impossloie
substitute. which in its turn has been worn
,hreadbare with discussion, and out OF this again
the same process of proposal and counter-pro-
rosoI has tediously evolved. Meanwhile the
nirates have gone on ruthlessly destroying our
property, urged to their utmost endeavor by the
fear that they may soon be interrupted. Through
two Administrations we have held open tne
offer once definitely accepted and then disgrace
fully repudated, to effect an International agree
ment Ly treaty. Every inducement diplomacy
could suggest has been offered to bring Eng
land TO fair terms but at no time, since her
abrupt withdrawal from the negotiations Mr..
Bayard instituted, has she been willing to ac-
cept any conditions which would not leave her
Canadian subjects free to continue their depre-
dations. Twice has she refused even to con-
sent TO restrain them during the pendency OF
the diplomatic dispute, and this year, though
advised of the extent of the damage they nave
already done, after holding our proposition OF
q closed season for three months, she has agreed
to il only upon conditions that render 1t neoes-
sarily Intellectual and after the piratical feet
has got safely off to sea.
VIII It not be great reproach to the United
States il they suffer their rights to be thus de-
stroyed? Were any real question OF inter-
national law involved, there might be an ex-
cuse for Englands conduct and for orr mac
ton. But how much longer will American
citizens tolerate the plea that because the seas
are free for all nations to sail upon, they are
also free for spoIiation acts of the kind that
are 50 rapidly destroying one of the richest of
our industries The responsible statesmen OF
both our political parties are united in advising
the President to take effectual measures to sup
press the marauders at once. IL Is plain that II
nothing is done the seal will be swept from the
sea and the rookeries rendered desolate.