Neah Bay is in the State of Washington, and the Pathfinder was seized there on charges made against her in the Bering Sea in the previous year. She was released two days later. And whereas the Government of Her Britannic Majesty did ask the said arbritrators to find the said facts as set forth in the said statement, and whereas the agent and counsel for the United States Government thereupon in our presence informed us that the said statement of facts was sustained by the evidence, and that they had agreed with the agent and counsel for Her Britannic Majesty that we, the arbitrators, if we should think fit so to do, might find the said statement of facts to be true. Now, we, the said arbitrators, do unanimously find the facts as set forth in the said statement to be true. And whereas each and every question which has been considered by the tribunal has been determined by a majority of all the arbitrators; Now, we, Baron de Courcel, Lord Hannen, Mr. Justice Harlan, Sir John Thompson, Senator Morgan, the Marquis Visconti Venosta, and Mr. Gregers Gram, the respective minorities not withdrawing their votes, do declare this to be the final decision and award in writing of this tribunal in accordance with the treaty. Made in duplicate at Paris and signed by us the 15th day of August in the year 1893. And we do certify this English version thereof to be true and accurate. ALPH. DE COURCEL. JOHN M. HARLAN. JOHN T. MORGAN. HANNEN. JNO. S. D. THOMPSON. G. GRAM. [Inclosure 2 in No. 8.] [English version.] Declarations made by the Tribunal of Arbitration and referred to the Governments of the United States and Great Britain for their consideration. I. The arbitrators declare that the concurrent regulations, as determined upon by the Tribunal of Arbitration, by virtue of Article VII of the treaty of the 29th of February, 1892, being applicable to the high sea only, should, in their opinion, be supplemented by other regulations applicable within the limits of the sovereignty of each of the two Powers interested and to be settled by their common agreement. II. In view of the critical condition to which it appears certain that the race of fur seals is now reduced in consequence of circumstances not fully known, the arbitrators think fit to recommend both Governments to come to an understanding in order to prohibit any killing of fur seals, either on land or at sea, for a period of two or three years, or at least one year, subject to such exceptions as the two Governments might think proper to admit of. Such a measure might be recurred to at occasional intervals if found beneficial. III. The arbitrators declare, moreover, that, in their opinion, the carrying out of the regulations determined upon by the Tribunal of Arbitration, should be assured by a system of stipulations and measures to be enacted by the two Powers; and that the tribunal must, in consequence, leave it to the two Powers to decide upon the means for giving effect to the regulations determined upon by it. We do certify this English version to be true and accurate and have signed the same at Paris this 15th day of August, 1893. I approve Declarations I and III. I approve Declarations I and III. . ALPH DE COURCEL. HANNEN. JNO. S. D. THOMPSON. SIR: No. 9. Mr. Bayard to Mr. Gresham. EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, London, September 19, 1893. (Received September 30.) I have to-day received a note from the foreign office informing me that a letter has just been received at the colonial office from Sir Charles Tupper, in Canada, stating that he and the prime minister had been engrossed by arrears of business since their return, but that he was preparing a memorandum on the award in the Bering Sea Arbitration; and I am further informed that Lord Ripon has already telegraphed to Canada to expedite the memorandum in question and its receipt at the colonial office here. I have every confidence that an effective execution of the award will be agreed upon in as short a time as the complexity and magnitude of the subject, and the somewhat undefined nature of the regulations and recommendations of the Tribunal of Arbitration, will admit. Your instructions by cable duly followed. In an interview to-day secretary of state for foreign affairs fully responds to President's wishes for prompt action in executing Bering Sea award. No. 11. Mr. Bayard to Mr. Gresham. EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, London, September 20, 1893. (Received September 30.) SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of the 16th instant, with reference to the negotiation here of a convention to carry out the recommendations accompanying the award in the Bering Sea Arbitration. Lord Rosebery's absence from town until to-day prevented my seeing him until 4 p. m. I made known to him the purport of your last instruction by cable, and pressed upon him the importance of prompt and active cooperation by the United States and Great Britain to give effective and executive force to the Paris award. He instantly expressed his desire to do so, and said he had no doubt whatever of a similar intent and feeling on the part of Canada. While expressing this ready concurrence, he pressed me to convey his desire that, as the facts to be dealt with were all in America, Sir Julian Pauncefote, from his full knowledge of the whole business, should be employed on behalf of Great Britain in carrying out the decisions and recommendations of the tribunal. There is not time before this mail leaves for me to state with more fullness his remarks, which, however, I will do by the next mail; and have just telegraphed you to acknowledge your telegram and state the interview directed by it had been held. I have, etc., T. F. BAYARD. No. 12. Mr. Bayard to Mr. Gresham. EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, London, September 30, 1893. (Received October 9.) SIR: I have now the honor to acknowledge your letter of the 13th instant, stating the present condition of affairs arising out of the results of the Paris Arbitration in relation to our interests in Bering Sea and the fur-seal fisheries therein. And, as connected with the same subject, I have also the honor to acknowledge your letter of the 19th instant, inclosing copies of the final award and decision of the same tribunal. The contents of both these communications have received the careful consideration which their importance demands. My dispatches of September 19 and of September 30 can both be properly referred to in this communication as bearing upon the relations of the United States with the Dominion of Canada, in which the interests are conducted under the name (nominis umbra) of Great Britain, and which in a large degree, but not wholly, include the business of fur sealing, and although the capture of the fur seal (in the high seas) is chiefly carried on by Canadians, yet the dressing of the skins is almost entirely a London industry, and it is said that some ten thousand people are here engaged therein. Lord Rosebery left London to be in attendance upon the Queen at Balmoral on the day I last had an interview with him, as reported to you, and is expected to return to London next week. I shall without delay seek another interview with Lord Rosebsry upon his return to London, and endeavor to come to a distinct understanding on the subject under consideration, in order to proceed promptly to carry into practical effect the award and the recommendations with which it is accompanied. To suspend wholly, even for a single year, the seal catch on the islands might be highly prejudicial to the United States, or their lessees, and as in the provisional or temporary arrangement of May, 1893, between Russia and Great Britain, a limit of 30,000 seals on the Russian islands was agreed to, it would seem a very reasonable figure to adopt for the catch on the Pribilof islands, whose product has been supposed to be about double that of the Russian islands. I would respectfully ask for an expression of your views on this subject and how far we ought to go in restricting the seal catch on these islands. The mail closes in an hour and I will withhold other comments until I may have had some communication from the foreign office, and received some intimation of the Canadian views. I have, etc., No. 13. T. F. BAYARD. Mr. Gresham to Mr. Bayard. [Telegram.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Yours of September 20 received. Lord Rosebery's suggestion has been carefully considered, and the President still prefers that all negotiations for concurrent action by the two Governments necessary to make the award and recommendations of the Bering Sea Tribunal effective be conducted by you at London, and my instructions cabled September 16 are repeated. No. 14. Mr. Gresham to Mr. Bayard. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Referring to my telegrams to you of the 16th ultimo and the 3d instant, relative to negotiations for carrying into effect the regula tions proposed by the Bering Sea Arbitration Tribunal, I inclose, as of probable use to you in conducting the business, a copy of a letter, dated the 4th ultimo, from the Hon. E. J. Phelps, commenting on the award made by the arbitrators; also a copy of suggestions by Mr. James C. Carter on certain branches of the subject. I am, etc., [Inclosure 1 in No. 14.] W. Q. GRESHAM. Mr. Phelps to Mr. Gresham. BURLINGTON, VT., September 4, 1893. SIR: Having been engaged as counsel for the United States before the Tribunal of Arbitration recently convened at Paris, under the treaty with Great Britain of 1892, in reference to the preservation of the fur seals frequenting the Pribilof Islands in Bering Sea, I deem it proper to place before the Department my views in respect to the award that has been made by the arbitrators. I regard the regulations which it establishes as amply sufficient, if properly carried into effect, for the preservation of the herd of seals resorting to those islands. The only months in which pelagic sealing is or can be carried on to any considerable extent are May and June in the North Pacific and July and August, and perhaps the first half of September, in the Bering Sea. A small number of seals may be taken in the North Pacific earlier, and possibly later, than those months, but not large enough to warrant the fitting out of vessels for that purpose, if the pursuit during the months named is prohibited. The business must therefore, in that event, cease, because it will become unprofitable. Nor would the number that could be taken outside of those months be great enough to endanger the existence of the herd or seriously to interfere with the profits of the industry on the Pribilof Islands. The award prohibits altogether the killing of the seals in the water, either in the North Pacific or in Bering Sea, during the months of May, June, and July, and prohibits during the remainder of the season in Bering Sea the use of firearms, nets, or explosives, or the taking of seals at all within sixty miles of the Pribilof Islands. This is practically a prohibition of pelagic sealing during the whole season in Bering Sea, because without firearms the seals can not be taken. The Indians manage to secure a few near the shores with spears; but |