Mr. Gresham to Mr. Tateno.
Washington, December 5, 1893.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 20th ultimo*, in which you allude to the former correspondence looking to the participation of Japan with the United States, Great Britain, and other powers in an international agreement for the protection of [Page 137] fur seals in Bering Sea. In the course of your note you say, by direction of your Government, “that Japan is prepared to become a party to the agreement or regulations for the protection of far seals, made in pursuance of the Bering Sea award, and to enter upon formal negotiations for that purpose at such time and in such manner as maybe deemed suitable.” You intimate that as a condition to such future adherence to the agreement or regulations to be made in pursuance of the award, Japan would ask that they “shall be extended to the northernmost portion of the island of Yesso and to the Kurile Islands.”
The President is much gratified at the cordial disposition of His Majesty’s Government, as elicited by the preliminary inquiry to which your note adverts. The award of the Tribunal of Arbitration at Paris contemplates that the adhesion of other powers to the regulations reported by that high body shall be invited by the parties to the arbitration, and the President is happy to believe that the result of the pending negotiations between the United States and Great Britain for the application of the regulations so reported will be such as to permit the friendly concurrence of other powers toward the common interest involved in the protection of seal life, when formally invited by the two parties.
Accept, etc.,
- Not printed.↩