The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-11-26

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25.-The Brit
ish embassy today received from the
foreign office the full correspondence
respecting claims for compensation on
account Of British vessels seized in
Bering sea by United States cruisers.
Brief cable extracts from the report
have appeared, but the full correspond
ence is full of interest, as it brings out
the spirit with which Sir Julian
Pauncefote. the British ambassador.
answered the criticisms of Senator
Morgan. In informing Lord Kimberly
that the House of Representative had
defeated the measure for the payment
of claims. Sir Julian wrote:
Strong party feeling would seem
alone to account for the rejection of so
just and desirable arrangement, and
as your lordship will have noticed the
Enclosures in my dispatch, statements
have been made in Congress which are
entirely misleading both as to law and
the facts of the case. 1t is urged that
the present claims are principally made
out of indirect damages because they
include in some cases the loss of pro-
fits of the fishery seal only by sealing
vessels warned out of Bering sea-
Again, it is pretended that a great
majority of the sealing vessels on be-
half of which the claims were made,
were the property of United States citi-
zens. whereas. there is no evidence
whatever of any change of ownership
in those vessels, which all carried the
British flag and a British register.
One speaker represented the total
amount of the claims to be only $542,
000 whereas it was over 500, 900. An
other concluded from the fact that the
offer Of the lump sum and it's accept
ance appeared in notes of the same
date that the offer was made without
previous investigation and was instant
ly snapped at by her majesty's gov
eminent, whereas the compromise re-
corded in those notes was the result
of laborious negotiations which was
carried on during the whole summer.
'There can be no doubt that these
inaccuracies were calculated to preju-
dice the minds of many members Of
Congress and also to turn public opin-
ion against the settlement of the cues
ton which was both equitable and adj
vantageous to both parties"
On March Is Sir Julian wrote an
elaborate answer to Senator Morgan
criticisms on the claims. After an
swering one after another of the sena-
tors statements he said:
line VltuDerdClVG eplCnSCS uSeQ were
quite unmerited. and I will proceed
that the objection in question is not
well founded in fact and apparently
is based on a mistaken view of the
British navigation laws"
After quoting the British shipping
laws Sir Julian proceeds:
why should that American citizen
be called a rascal-what law has he
violated by advancing money for the
prosecution of a lawful Canadian in
dustry carried on by Canadians in
Canadian vessels-in what respect has
the United States government been
robbed considering that it has no prop
erty in the fur seal, as was solemnly
adjudged and declared by the tribu-
nal of arbitration at Paris?
''These are questions which 1 sub
nit, can only be reasonably answered
in sense absolutely fatal to Senator
Morgan's contentious"
Lord Salisbury, in acknowledging
the communications from Washington,
wrote:
81 need scarcely say that the argu-
ments which you bring forward in sup
port of the validity of those claims.
have the entire approval and concur
renee of her majesty's government. The
attempt made by Senator Morgan to
DISPUTE them seems to be largely
founded on misapprehension and her
maiesty's government cannot doubt
that when the full facts are before the
nublic in the United States the liabil-
itv of that country to make compensa-
tion which has never been denied by
the government will be generally rec
ognized both in and out of Congress.