which arrived here on the 3rd instant. This vessel is owned by Captain Solomon Jacobs, of Gloucester, who has taken command of her, and she sails to-day on a sealing expedition from off the mouth of the Columbia, following the herd north. Seals are reported as being unusually numerous this season and are in myriads. California steamers report running through one herd which extended 100 miles, and the seals appeared to be as thick as they could swim. After the sealing season is over the schooner will engage in the halibut and cod fishery and send their catch in ice to the Eastern markets. Another of Captain Jacobs' schooners, the "Webster," will be here in April, and several others will be here this season. Next year between fifty and sixty vessels are expected, and they will be followed by others, and within two years a colony of several hundred of these fishermen will be here to develop the wealth now dormant and hidden in our waters. Since I returned from Queen Charlotte's Island, in 1883, I have persistently urged on Professor Baird the necessity of sending one of the United States' Fish Commission steamers to the Pacific to develop our fisheries, and shortly before Professor Baird's lamented death he wrote me that the "Albatross" would be sent to our waters, and she is now on her way out. These Gloucester fishermen will render valuable assistance to Captain Tanner. It is to the fishermen of Gloucester, Cape Cod, and the coast of Maine that the United States' Fish Commission is largely indebted for much of the valuable information respecting the Atlantic fisheries, which has been published by that admirable Bureau of the Smithsonian Institution. Hitherto no protection has been given our Pacific fishermen by our Government. The Treaty of 1818 does not allude to the Pacific coast, nor does the present Treaty, so far as I am informed, make any provision for or allusion to the fisheries of the North Pacific. British Columbia is, as it were, sandwiched between Washington and Alaska; our interests are identical, and at present the most harmonious and kindly feeling exists between the people of British Columbia and ourselves. Every steamer for Alaska which takes the inside passage passes through the waters of British Columbia, affording a means of delightful recreation to thousands of tourists. This kindly feeling should be encouraged, and particularly in reference to our fishermen who wish to fish the waters of the coast from the Columbia to Alaska. But these New England fishermen ask more than to fish along the coast; they wish to explore the waters of Behring's Sea and the Arctic Ocean, and to be permitted to take any of the products of the ocean in American waters without the annoyance they have been subjected to for so many years on the Canadian coasts of the Atlantic. Ever since the lease of the Pribylov Islands to the Alaska Commercial Company, that powerful monopoly has persistently deceived the Congress of the United States and the American people by arrogantly asserting that all the fin seals of the North Pacific Ocean congregate on the Islands of Saint Paul and St. George, and that the indiscriminate slaughter of those seals would soon exterminate the race. The latter part of this assertion is true, but the first, I assert, is a physical impossibility. The seals of the North Pacific, in countless myriads, could not, by any process of their own, find room on those two comparatively insignificant islands, and I am prepared to prove that the southern seals, from the Gulf of Tehuantepec and Gulf of California, which come north every season, differ from the seals of the Pribylov Islands, and never "haul out" on that group. The indiscriminate slaughter of fin seals in early days on the Island of Massafuero, on the coast of Chile, and on the San Benito Islands of Lower California, drove the seals away from those once famous rookeries, and they seem to have acquired new habits. A paid writer of the Company, Henry W. Elliott, in an otherwise excellent monograph on the fin seal islands of Alaska, boldly asserts that the seals of the North Pacific all congregate on the Pribylov Islands. He further asserts that those seals have their pups on land, and that if a pup is thrown into the water it cannot swim, but will sink like a stone, and takes me to task for asserting that the pups of the seals taken at Cape Flattery can swim as soon as born and even when taken alive from the mother's womb.* In 1883 I was instructed by Professor Baird to investigate the habits of the fin seals and to make a Report thereon, which Report may be found in the Bulletin of the United States' Fish Commission (vol. iii, 1883, p. 201). In that Report I have shown by thirteen witnesses, some of them Government officials, that the fin seals of Cape Flattery do have their pups in the water, on the kelp and at other places not yet discovered, and that the pups swim as soon as born; this evidence as against Mr. Elliott's * United States' Commission of Fish and Fisheries, Special Bulletin 176, a Monograph of the Seal Islands of Alaska, by Henry W. Elliott, 1882, p. 166, last paragraph. unsupported, dogmatic assertion that the pups will sink like a stone. I believe that Mr. Elliott is correct so far as the seals of the Pribylov Islands are concerned, and I know that I am correct so far as regards the seals of Cape Flattery, and, believing that both of us are correct, it proves incontestably that the seals which come from the south to Cape Flattery differ in their habits from those of Behring's Sea. These eastern fishermen, knowing the value of the rookeries, are desirous that the law protecting the seals on the Pribylov Islands, as well as the provisions of the lease to the Alaska Commercial Company, should be rigidly enforced. But they do not believe that the term "adjacent waters" named in that lease ever meant or was intended to mean all the waters of the North Pacific Ocean. They believe that they, as American citizens, have a right to fish or hunt in the American waters of Behring's Sea, outside of 3 nautical miles from any island or the mainland of Alaska. They believe that William H. Seward did not purchase Alaska for the Alaska Commercial Company, but for the whole nation. These fishermen from New England demand as a right that they be permitted to pursue their honourable business in the American waters of the North Pacific, Behring's Sea, and the Arctic without being treated as criminals and hunted down and seized and imprisoned by the piratical Revenue cutters of the United States, at the diction and for the sole benefit of the Alaska Commercial Company. These fishermen already here, and the colonies which will be here next year with their fleets of schooners, are of vastly more importance to the American nation than the monopoly of the Alaska Commercial Company. And they have requested me to address you, Senator, and other Senators, respectfully asking you to kindly look into this question, and have it ordered by the Treasury Department that American citizens can take any of the products of the ocean outside of 3 marine miles from any island in Behring's Sea or the coasts of the mainland of Alaska. An Hitherto the outrageous arrogance and assumption of the Alaska Commercial Company has been only met by feeble protests from merchants of San Francisco and a few Portland traders. But now a new order of things is about being inaugurated. intelligent and valuable class of New England fishermen are coming here to reside among us and become citizens of Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. They know their rights as American citizens, and they are determined to have their rights. It is time that the farce played by the Alaska Commercial Company was ended, and that the sorry sight of American Revenue cutters hunting down our own citizens for the benefit of that huge monopoly should for ever cease. I have given this subject careful attention for many years, but have had no occasion to take any particular interest in it until now, and now is the time to speak and act. These determined, energetic fishermen of New England are here, and more coming. All they ask is their right as American citizens to hunt and fish in American waters outside 3 miles from land. Strictly enforce the law prohibiting the taking of seals on the Pribylov Islands; strictly enforce the law prohibiting the introduction of spirits or firearms among Indians; but give the fishermen the right to develop the wealth in our waters, encourage them to make new discoveries, aid them in every legal manner to pursue their avocations, and they will prove a new source of wealth to our Pacific States, and add to our population a new and a most desirable element. I have had the honour, Senator, to address Senator Mitchell and Senator Stanford upon this important question, and if there are any points on which you would like further information, I shall esteem it an honour if you will address me, and I will give you all the information I possess. I want to see Behring's Sea and all American waters open to American fishermen, and I earnestly and respectfully solicit your kind consideration of the question. The Hon. Joseph N. Doiph, Senator in Congress from Oregon. I have, &c. (Signed) JAMES G. SWAN. My Lord, No. 118. Sir L. West to the Marquis of Salisbury.-(Received April 16.) Washington, March 31, 1888. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch of the 17th instant, and to inclose herewith copy of a note which I addressed to the Secretary of State in the sense of that despatch, as well as copy of the reply which I have received thereto. WITH reference to the proposed concerted action by Great Britain, the United States, and other interested Powers, in order to preserve from extermination the fur seals which at certain seasons are found in Behring's Sea, I am requested by the Marquis of Salisbury to inform you that the Russian Ambassador in London has been communicated with on the subject, and that he has referred to his Government for instructions. But in making this communication to you, I am instructed to state that this action on the part of Her Majesty's Government must not be taken as an admission of the rights of jurisdiction in Behring's Sea exercised there by the United States' authorities during the fishing seasons of 1886-87 and 1887-88, nor as affecting the claims which Her Majesty's Government will have to present on account of the wrongful seizures which have taken place of British vessels engaged in the seal-fishing industry. I have, &c. (Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST. Inclosure 2 in No. 118. Mr. Bayard to Sir L. West. Department of State, Washington, March 30, 1888. Sir, I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 26th instant, in which you inform the Department that the action of Her Majesty's Government in respect to the proposal of this Government for an arrangement to protect the fur-seal from extermination in Behring's Sea is not to be taken as an admission of the jurisdiction of the United States over Behring's Sea, nor as affecting the claims which Her Majesty's Government will have to present on account of the seizure of certain British vessels in those waters. I have, &c. (Signed) T. F. BAYARD. No. 119. Sir L. West to the Marquis of Salisbury.—(Received April 16.) My Lord, in the case of certain seal-skins ordered to be sold at Sitka, from which your Lordship will perceive that the matter has been satisfactorily adjusted. I have communicated this Memorandum to the Marquis of Lansdowne. I have, &c. THE District Judge for Alaska having refused to admit British Columbian claimants to the privileges of the Attorney-General's Order of last December, prescribing that condemned sealing-vessels and cargoes might be released to their late owners, pending appeal, upon supersedeas bonds, with sureties, residing in Alaska, California, Oregon, or Washington Territory (said District Judge contending that the Order related only to the cases of American claimants), I laid before the Attorney-General, on the 31st ultimo, the case of the British owner of 1,400 seal-skins, ordered to be sold under Condemnation Decree at Sitka on the 18th instant, said owner having tendered a valid appeal bond with sureties, residing at San Francisco. To-day, during my attendance upon the Attorney-General, he sent a joint telegram to the District Judge and the District Attorney at Sitka, advising them that his Order of last December was intended to apply to all claimants, irrespective of nationality. The telegram will go by mail from Port Townsend, and will reach Sitka before the day of sale in due course. The Attorney-General expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the officers at Sitka in putting so narrow a construction upon the original Order. Washington, April 4, 1888. (Signed) No. 120. CHARLES F. BENJAMIN, Sir L. West to the Marquis of Salisbury.-(Received April 16.) My Lord, Washington, April 6, 1888. WITH reference to your Lordship's despatch of the 30th March, I have the honour to inclose herewith copy of a note which I addressed to Mr. Bayard, representing the importance of enabling Her Majesty's Government to contradict the report that orders had been issued by the United States' Government for the capture of British ships fishing in Behring's Sea. I had previously received a communication in the above sense from the Marquis of Lansdowne, and at an interview which I had with the Secretary of State he stated to me that no such orders had been issued, which information I telegraphed to your Lordship on the 3rd instant. I have since received a further telegram from the Marquis of Lansdowne, copy of which is inclosed, requesting to know whether his Government is to understand that sealers will not be molested except within the marine league from the shore. I accordingly again called on Mr. Bayard, and he repeated to me, in reply to my question in the above sense, that no orders had been issued for the capture of sealers in Behring's Sea. He presumed that the orders I alluded to as having been issued some years ago were instructions under Statute (see 1,956 Revised Statutes) for the regulation of the seal fishery in the waters of Alaska. Pending international negotiations on this subject, he did not think it was expedient to answer my question in so far as it related to the marine league limit, as these negotiations had for object the general protection and preservation of the seal in all waters. He did not wish to see another British or American sealer seized, and hoped that no such seizures would occur. I have, &c. (Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST. Sir, Inclosure 1 in No. 120. Sir L. West to Mr. Bayard. Washington, April 2, 1888. I HAVE the honour to inform you that the Marquis of Salisbury has received intimation from the Canadian Government to the effect that orders have been issued by the United States' Government for the capture of British ships fishing in Behring's Sea, and that he has telegraphed to me to represent earnestly the extreme importance of enabling Her Majesty's Government to contradict this rumour. I have, &c. (Telegraphic.) Inclosure 2 in No. 120. The Marquis of Lansdowne to Sir L. West. April 5, 1888. IN reply to your telegram of the 3rd April, there is an impression here that orders were issued some years ago by United States' Government to Collector at San Francisco for seizure of vessels found in Behring's Sea, and that these orders have never been withdrawn. May we understand our sealers will not be molested except within the marine league from shore? Sir, No. 121. The Marquis of Salisbury to Sir R. Morier.* Foreign Office, April 16, 1888. THE Russian Ambassador and the United States' Chargé d'Affaires called upon me this afternoon to discuss the question of the seal fisheries in Behring's Sea, which had been brought into prominence by the recent action of the United States. The United States' Government had expressed a desire that some agreement should be arrived at between the three Governments for the purpose of prohibiting the slaughter of the seals during the time of breeding; and, at my request, M. de Staal had obtained instructions from his Government on that question. At this preliminary discussion it was decided provisionally, in order to furnish a basis for negotiation, and without definitively pledging our Governments, that the space to be covered by the proposed Convention should be the sea between America and Russia north of the 47th degree of latitude; that the close time should extend from the 15th April to the 1st November; that during that time the slaughter of all seals should be forbidden; and vessels engaged in it should be liable to seizure by the cruizers of any of the three Powers, and should be taken to the port of their own nationality for condemnation; that the traffic in arms, alcohol, and powder should be prohibited in all the islands of those seas; and that, as soon as the three Powers had concluded a Convention, they should join in submitting it for the assent of the other Maritime Powers of the northern seas. The United States' Chargé d'Affaires was exceedingly earnest in pressing on us the importance of dispatch on account of the inconceivable slaughter that had been and was still going on in these seas. He stated that, in addition to the vast quantity brought to market, it was a common practice for those engaged in the trade to shoot all seals they might meet in the open sea, and that of these a great number sank, so that their skins could not be recovered. I am, &c. (Signed) SALISBURY. Also to Sir L. West. |