Mr. Blaine to Sir Julian Pauncefote.
Washington , June 11, 1890.
Sir: I have shown to the President the extract from the telegram of Lord Salisbury of June 9, in which his lordship states that “it is beyond the power of Her Majesty’s Government to exclude British or [Page 434] Canadian ships from any portion of the high seas, even for an hour, without legislative sanction.”
Not stopping to comment upon the fact that his lordship assumes the waters surrounding the Pribylov Islands to be the “high seas,” the President instructs me to say that it would satisfy this Government if Lord Salisbury would by public proclamation simply request that vessels sailing under the British flag should abstain from entering the Behring Sea for the present season. If this request shall be complied with, there will be full time for impartial negotiations, and, as the President hopes, for a friendly conclusion of the differences between the two Governments.
I have, etc.,