The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1897-09-22
ATTAINED ITS OBJECT
That Sherman Letter Which
Caused John Bull to Feel So
Melancholy, or Something.
STATE DEPARTMENT NOT WORRIED

Over the Attempt of the British Colonial
Once to Answer the Ohio Diplomats
Imputations-view Held by "a London
"special"-Chamberiai Appeal to His
tory-Attorney General Said To Have De-
cided Against Section Twenty-Five.
Of the state department are not disposed
10 comment on the fur seal correspond
ence given out by the British foreign
office and summarized I'm the London
Times further than 10 say that IL shows
the object sought by the government
OF the United States for the past three
years has been attained by the agree
ment OF Great Britain to participate in
the conference 10 be held in October.
The British government has seen fit TO
limit its part in the conference to an
entertainment OF the facts in dispute as
10 seal life. 1t was precisely this result
which was contemplated by Secretaries
Gresham and Olney when they pro-
posed the creation of a commission of
scientists to ascertain whether under
the operation of the existing regulations
the seals were or were not on the road
TO determination. If such a commission
should report in favor of the contention
OF the United States. this government
did not doubt that Great Britain would
consent to such modification of the regu-
lations as would save the seals from ex-
termination. The continued refusal of
the British government TO consent TO
such commission and conference led
TO the transmission TO Ambassador Hay
OF Secretary Shermans note of May 10,
which was followed by Lord Salisbury's
reply agreeing TO conference.
State Department Expresses Surprise.
Surprise is expressed at the state de-
partment that the London papers should
publish only the concluding paragraph
Of Secretary Sherman's note and de-
vote four columns to a communication
from the colonial office which is referred
To as Chamberlain's answer TO Sec
rotary Sherman, paper which has not
been communicated to the American
government and therefore, TO which an
official reply cannot be made That
however, Is exactly the position the
British government occupied regarding
Sherman's letter. That letter was not
intended for nor addressed to the British
government, but for and to Ambassador
Hay and somehow got into the papers.
II is not at all probable that Hay used
the terms OF Shermans letter 10 adj
dress the British foreign office. Chamber
lain's reply is unofficial" The British
government could not officially reply
10 words that We're not addressed TO
that government. The publication of
the Sherman letter was unofficial" also
"a piece of newspaper enterprise"
that was an embarrassment 70 the chief
Of the paper that printed the letter.
Whitelaw Reid-who was at that very
time our special representative at the
Queens jubilee.
"The Case I'm "a Nutshell"
A special from London saysof the mat
ter: The colonial secretary tries TO
support Lord Salisbury by a long re-
iteration of the premiers past defense
Of Canadian sealers Yet he gives away
his whole case when he repeats Lord
Salisbury's declaration Of May last, that
the English interests have for some
years exceeded the American In the
fur sealing industry This excess is
precisely what the United States finds
fault with. Not for what it is now, but
for what it might and must entail In his
dtltIHpl " answer the SHERMAN note
Mr.. Chamberlain simply makes Mr..
Sherman's logic appear more forcible.
The colonial secretary is hoist by his
own petard Apart from this amusing
result, the blue book achieves nothing.
The situation is unchanged. Mr.. Cham
berlain has only emphasized the fact
that Lord Salisbury, by agreeing to the
conference after refusing to do so, re-
treated from a position he found I'M
tenable. This is the case in a nutshell"
Chamberlain Appeals to History.
In the course of his reply Chamberlain
says: The nation which is now
jealous for prohibiting pelagic sealing
was, in 1882. with equal zeal, asserting
the claim of the right for its citizens
not only to kill seals on the high seas
but to land and slaughter them on the
shores Of friendly nation" Chamber
lain Celebrates on this point at some
length, relating the incident OF the
seizure Of the sealing vessel Harriet, at
Buenos Ayres. i'm 1892 and adding: The
shores of the Prbyloff islands today
are equally as uninhabited as the shores
Of the Falkland islands and Terra Del
Fuego were fifty years ago. but no Brit
ish subject has ever claimed the right
TO land and kill seals there, as the
United States did on the South Atlantic.
under the protection OF the guns of an
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