No. 27.
Mr. Hubbard to Mr. Bayard
.
United
States Legation,
Tokio,
Japan
,
October 10,
1887. (Received November 2.)
No. 393.]
Sir: I have the honor herewith to inclose for
the information of the Department of State, copies, respectively, of my
note to Count Ito, and his reply thereto, relating to the fur-seal
fisheries in Behring Sea.
I am requested to call the attention of my Government respectfully and
especially to the proposed reciprocal protection of the sea-otter, and
to enlarge the protected zone so as to embrace the known habitat of that
animal.
I took occasion to say unofficially to Count Ito that I had no hesitation
in giving him the hopeful assurance that my Government would co-operate
with his excellency’s Government in the proposal to include sea-otter as
well as fur seal in any reasonable arrangement which would prevent
unregulated and indiscriminate slaughter of this valuable animal [Page 1847] in the waters of Behring Sea
as well as on the coasts of Japan and in their conterminous waters. I
shall have the honor to await, in deference to Count Ito’s expressed
request, your instructions in response to the respectful proposition of
the Japanese Government before entering upon any formal negotiations on
this subject. On receipt of this dispatch by the Department of State, I
have the honor to suggest that if the reply to my cablegram of the 29th
ultimo has been mailed to this legation by the Department, that in that
end a brief telegram signifying your willingness to include the
sea-otter in the said negotiations would advance the negotiations and
gratify this Government as well, who manifests a deep interest in
securing an early arrangement by our respective governments for the
better protection of the fur-seal and sea-otter fisheries in American
and Japanese waters.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
393.]
Mr. Hubbard to
Count Ito Hirobumi
.
United States Legation,
Tokio
,
October 6,
1887.
Sir: I have the honor herewith to forward
to your excellency, and to beg your early and favorable
consideration of, a copy of an instruction which I have had the
honor to receive from the Department of State of my Government.
The general proposition respectfully submitted in this instruction by
my Government, as well as the obvious and convincing reasons there
set forth in favor of its adoption by the friendly powers named
therein, will, I am sure, receive from your excellency’s Government
the same earnest consideration as they have received from the United
States.
As already indicated unofficially to the foreign office, I shall, in
furtherance of the wishes and instructions of my Government, be
gratified and obliged if your excellency will formally appoint any
future time and place when and where I may have the honor to confer
and discuss with your excellency, or any other representative of His
Imperial Majesty’s Government, the subject of an arrangement or
special convention between the United States of America and the
Empire of Japan having reference to the better protection of the
fur-seal fisheries in Behring Sea.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
393.—Translation.]
Count Ito
Hirobumi to Mr. Hubbard
.
Department for Foreign Affairs,
Tokio
,
October 8, 1887.
No. 8584].
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your excellenty’s note of the 6th instant, in which you
are pleased to inclose the copy of a communication from the
honorable the Secretary of State in reference to the seal fisheries
in Behring Sea, and, in pursuance of instructions contained in that
dispatch, invite His Imperial Majesty’s Government to enter into an
arrangement with the Government of the United States having for its
object the protection of fur seals in Behring Sea from
indiscriminate destruction and consequent extermination.
The unregulated and indiscriminate slaughter of the sea-otter as well
as the fur seal on the coasts of Japan and in their conterminous
waters is a subject which has for many years engaged the serious
attention of the Imperial Government.
The experience of His Imperial Majesty’s Government justifies the
belief that the end sought to be obtained can be best secured by
means of a co-operative international action, and they therefore
cordially approve of the suggestion of the honorable the Secretary
of State.
His Imperial Majesty’s Government would be willing to enter into an
arrangement for the purpose indicated, but they would wish, for the
reasons assigned by Mr. Bayard in favor of the protection of the fur
seal in Behring Sea, to extend the principle [Page 1848] of protection to the sea-otter as
well as the far seal, and to enlarge the protected zone so as to
embrace the known habitat of that animal.
I beg that you will bring this proposal to the attention of the
Government of the United States, and I would suggest that this be
done in advance of any negotiations on the subject.
I avail myself, etc.