These regulations are intended to apply only to the closed season of 1894, and are not to be regarded as a complete execution of the authority conferred upon the Executive by the act of Congress. Approved May 4, 1894. No. 106. GROVER CLEVELAND. Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Gresham. WASHINGTON, May 10, 1894. SIR: In accordance with the agreement arrived at during the recent negotiations in relation to the means of giving effect for the present year to the fishery regulations prescribed by the award of the Bering Sea Tribunal of Arbitration, I have the honor to inclose for your approval a memorandum recording the arrangements concluded on that subject and accepted by both Governments, and I shall feel obliged if you will be good enough to inform me whether the memorandum meets with your approval. I have, etc., JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. [Inclosure in No. 106.] Memorandum of the arrangements agreed upon between the Governments of Great Britain and the United States for giving effect during the year 1894 to the fur-seal fishery regulations prescribed by the award of the Bering Sea Tribunal of Arbitration. LICENSES. The special license to be issued to sealing vessels under article 4 of the regulations of the award shall declare that the licensee has given satisfactory evidence of the fitness of the hunters to be employed by him, as required by article 7. It shall be issued subject to the observance of the said regulations and to the penalties imposed by law for the violation thereof. It shall be in such form as each Government shall determine for itself. DISTINCTIVE FLAG. Every sealing vessel provided with a special license shall show, under her national colors, a flag, not less than 4 feet square, composed of two equal pieces, yellow and black, joined from the right-hand upper corner of the fly to the left-hand lower corner of the luff, the part above and to the left to be black and the part to the right and below to be yellow. REGULATIONS RESPECTING SEALING VESSELS LAWFULLY NAVIGATING THE MARITIME AREA OF THE AWARD DURING THE CLOSE SEASON. 1. No sealing vessel shall be seized or detained by reason of the absence of a license or of a distinctive flag, or merely on account of seals, seal skins, or fishery implements being found on board; but, unless there be evidence of unlawful sealing, the commander of the cruiser ivsiting such vessel shall deliver to the master a certificate of the numS. Ex. 67-9 ber of seals and seal skins found on board on that date (keeping a copy of such certificate) and allow the vessel to proceed on her way. 2. Any sealing vessel lawfully traversing, or intending to traverse, the said waters during the close season, for the purpose of returning to her home port, or of proceeding to any other port, or to or from the sealing grounds, or for any other legitimate purpose, may, on the application of the master, have her fishery implements sealed up and an entry thereof made on her clearing and log book, and such sealing up and entry shall be a protection to the vessel against interference by any cruiser in the said waters during the close season so long as the seals so affixed shall remaim unbroken, unless there shall be evidence of seal hunting notwithstanding. 3. The sealing up of fishery implements and the entry thereof may be effected by any naval officer or customs officer, or (in Japan) by any consul of the nation to which the vessel belongs. It may also be effected at sea, as regards United States vessels, by the commander of a British cruiser, and, as regards British vessels, by the commander of a United States cruiser. No. 107. Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Gresham. WASHINGTON, May 10, 1894. SIR: With reference to my note of the 8th instant and to your reply thereto of the 9th instant, I have the honor to inclose copies of the British Bering Sea award act and of the explanatory map therein mentioned, which you are good enough to state will be distributed by the United States cruisers among British sealers in the manner requested by Her Majesty's Government. I have also the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the amended naval instructions issued by the Secretary of the Navy on the 4th instant to the commanding officers of the United States fleet in Bering Sea, and of the regulations attached thereto, which I shall lose no time in transmitting to my Government. I have, etc., JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. No. 108. Mr. Gresham to Sir Julian Pauncefote. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 11, 1894. EXCELLENCY: In reply to your excellency's note of the 10th instant inclosing a memorandum of certain arrangements agreed upon between our respective Governments for giving effect during the year 1894 to the fur-seal fishery regulations prescribed by the award of the Bering Sea Tribunal of Arbitration, I have the honor to state that I approve of the memorandum as containing a correct record of the arrangements agreed upon. W. Q. GRESHAM. I have the honor to be, etc., No. 109. Mr. Gresham to Mr. Bayard. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Yours of the 27th ultimo* has been received. I note your citation of the reply, made in the House of Commons on the 26th ultimo by Sir E. Grey to an inquiry of Sir G. Baden-Powell, wherein the important announcement is made that the provisions of the award of the Tribunal of Arbitration, which Great Britain and the United States were bound to carry out, were matters of common knowledge in August last, and that "every possible means will be taken to give to sealers now at sea specific warning that the regulations will be enforced." Sir E. Grey added the equally positive statement that "any British or United States vessel contravening the provisions of the Bering Sea award act, 1894, will be liable to be arrested and sent to a British court for trial," the last phrase, of course, relating to the jurisdiction of the courts of the two countries over vessels of the respective nationalities seized under the provisions of the concurrent acts of Parliament and Congress. In this relation I may properly mention a conversation I had on the 12th ultimo with Mr. Goschen, Secretary of the British embassy, who called upon me in behalf of Sir Julian Pauncefote, then confined to his house by indisposition. Mr. Goschen stated that Sir Julian had received an instruction from Lord Kimberley interpreting subclause 2 of section 7 of the British bill then pending, and read from a written memorandum as follows: In clause 7, subclause 2, of the British bill the following phrase occurs: "Where it is proved that the ship sailed from its port of departure before the scheduled provisions were published there," etc. The publication referred to is that of the provisions of the award, not that of the bill. Mr. Goschen added that it would please Sir Julian if I would make this statement to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, in order that the position of Great Britain might be correctly understood. After some conversation as to whether the "scheduled provisions" so referred to in the British bill were those of the Paris award itself, or of the regulations reported by the tribunal, I said to Mr. Goschen that it would be for the courts to decide what the words "scheduled provisions" mean; and that, in construing statutes and for the purpose of ascertaining the legislative intention, courts sometimes have recourse to the debates or discussions which occurred while the measure was under consideration, but that mere verbal communications from one government to another-such as that now made-would not be considered by a court. I preferred that any communication the British Government might desire to make on this subject should be official and in writing. I added that if I should inform the Senate committee of the interpretation which Lord Kimberley placed upon subclause 2, and British courts should subsequently give it another and different construction, Her Majesty's Government might feel somewhat embarrassed. I subsequently received from the ambassador under date of the same day, a personal note, of which a copy is inclosed herewith,† conveying Lord Kimberley's interpretation of the clause in question. Not the least gratifying incident of the protrated negotiations was the subsequent amendment of subclause 2, section 7, of the bill, so that as finally passed it provides for proof that "the ship sailed from its port of departure before the provisons of the award mentioned in the first schedule of the act were known there, and that such person or the master of the ship did not, after such sailing and before the alleged offense, become aware of such provisions" in order to exonerate them. I am, etc., W. Q. GRESHAM. No. 110. Mr. Uhl to Prince Cantacuzene. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 4th instant, and to express to you the gratification with which this Government accepts your declaration that the Imperial Government is prepared to negotiate and sign with the United States, England, and Japan a treaty in virtue of which the principles and regulations of the Paris Tribunal of Arbitration shall be applicable, indifferently, to all the waters of the Pacific Ocean north of the thirty-fifth parallel of north latitude. Accept, etc., EDWIN F. UHL, Acting Secretary. No. 111. Mr. Uhl to Mr. Bayard. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I inclose herewith for your information copy of an agreement* between the Government of the United States and the Imperial Government of Russia for a modus vivendi in relation to the fur-seal fisheries in Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, concluded on May 4, 1894. I also inclose translation of a note of the 4th instant † from the Russian minister in this capital, wherein he declares that the Imperial Government is prepared to negotiate and sign with the United States, England, and Japan a treaty, in virtue of which the principles and regulations of the Paris Tribunal of Arbitration shall be applicable, indifferently, to all the waters of the Pacific Ocean situated north of the thirty-fifth parallel of north latitude. I am, etc., *See No. 57. E. F. UHL, Acting Secretary. + See No. 100.. No. 112. Mr. Gresham to Sir Julian Pauncefote. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 28, 1894. EXCELLENCY: Referring to my note to you of the 7th instant regarding the joint invitation of foreign powers to adhere to the award of the Bering Sea Tribunal, I beg to inquire whether you have received instructions from your Government on the subject. In the judgment of the President prompt action is very desirable. I have, etc., W. Q. GRESHAM. No. 113. Mr. Bayard to Mr. Gresham. EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge your instructions dated May 12, with certain inclosures, all having relation to the international arrangements to carry into effect the award and regulations by the Paris Tribunal of fur sealing in the waters of the North Pacific and Bering Sea. Your expressions of appreciation and approval of my official action here, in assisting your efforts to make this resort to arbitration successful, are naturally gratifying and are fully appreciated by me. As the transaction has been conducted on both sides with honorable candor, and with the single purpose of performing a clearly stipulated class of international duties and obligations, it may reasonably be expected that the progressive execution of the treaty and the award, under the cooperative laws and regulations of the two high contracting powers, will be complete and satisfactory. I beg now to inclose copies of two notes, dated respectively April 30 and May 3, addressed by me to Lord Kimberley, in relation to the orders in council requisite to execute the British statutes, and prevent violation of the interdictions against pelagic sealing within the award area. These documents complete, I believe, the correspondence which has thus far taken place touching the arrangements between the United States and Great Britain for the policing of the award area recited in the regulations established by the Paris Tribunal. I have also the honor to acknowledge your instruction, dated May 14, transmitting a copy of an agreement between the United States and Russia for a modus vivendi, in relation to fur sealing in the waters of Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. This instrument runs upon the identical lines of the British arrangement with Russia, which was in force in 1893, and is renewed for the present year. The announcement in the note of the Russian minister at Washington of the readiness of Russia to join in a quadripartite convention with the United States, Great Britain, and Japan, to regulate sealing in all the waters of the Pacific Ocean north of the thirty-fifth parallel of north longitude is very satisfactory, and I can not doubt that Japan |