Sir Julian
Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine.
Washington
,
June 14,
1890.
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.,
[Inclosure.]
Protest.
(Received June 14, 12:35,
1890.)
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.
June 14,
1890.