Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine.

Sir: With reference to the note which I had the honor to address to you on the 11th instant, I desire to express my deep regret at having failed up to the present time to obtain from you the assurance, which I had hoped to receive, that during the continuance of our negotiations for the settlement of the fur-seal fishery question British sealing vessels would not be interfered with by United States revenue cruisers in the Behring Sea outside of territorial waters.

Having learned from statements in the public press and from other sources that the revenue cruisers Rush and Corwin are now about to be dispatched to the Behring Sea, I can not, consistently with the instructions I have received from my Government, defer any longer the communication of their formal protest announced in my notes of the 23d ultimo and the 11th instant against any such interference with British vessels.

I have accordingly the honor to transmit the same herewith.

I have, etc.,

Julian Pauncefote.
[Inclosure.]

Protest.

The undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty’s envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United States of America, has the honor, by instruction of his Government, to make to the Hon. James G. Blaine, Secretary of State of the United States, the following communication:

Her Britannic Majesty’s Government have learned with great concern, from notices which have appeared in the press, and the general accuracy of which has been confirmed by Mr. Blaine’s statements to the undersigned, that the Government of the United States have issued instructions to their revenue cruisers about to be dispatched to Behring Sea, under which the vessels of British subjects will again be exposed, in the prosecution of their legitimate industry on the high seas, to unlawful interference at the hands of American officers.

Her Britannic Majesty’s Government are anxious to coöperate to the fullest extent of their power with the Government of the United States in such measures as may be found to be expedient for the protection of the seal fisheries. They are at the present moment engaged in examining, in concert with the Government of the United States, the best method of arriving at an agreement upon this point. But they can not admit the right of the United States of their own sole motion to restrict for this purpose the freedom of navigation of Behring Sea, which the United States have themselves in former years convincingly and successfully vindicated, nor to enforce their municipal legislation against British vessels on the high seas beyond the limits of their territorial jurisdiction.

Her Britannic Majesty’s Government are therefore unable to pass over without notice the public announcement of an intention on the part of the Government [Page 436] of the United States to renew the acts of interference with British vessels navigating outside the territorial waters of the United States, of which they have previously had to complain.

The undersigned is in consequence instructed formally to protest against such interference, and to declare that Her Britannic Majesty’s Government must hold the Government of the United States responsible for the consequences that may ensue from acts which are contrary to the established principles of international law.

The undersigned, etc.,

Julian Pauncefote.