Mr. Bayard to Mr.
Gresham.
Embassy of
the United States,
London, December 30, 1893.
(Received January 9, 1894.)
Sir: Immediately upon receiving your telegraphic
instruction to the effect that, yielding to the desire of Her Majesty’s
Government, the Government of the United States consented to conduct the
requisite negotiations at Washington, I addressed a note to Lord Eosebery
under date of December 5 and on the 11th received his lordship’s reply
thereto, and I inclose herewith copies of this correspondence.
Continued reflection upon the situation serves to confirm the opinion I have
already had the honor to submit to you—that an agreement that would bind
Great Britain (and especially her North American subjects) to a faithful
fulfillment of the regulations prescribed by the tribunal at Paris—would
under existing circumstances be accomplished with less delay and more
conclusively and satisfactorily at Washington than in London.
I have, etc.,
[Page 139]
[Inclosure 1.]
Mr. Bayard to Lord
Rosebery.
Embassy
of the United States,
London, December 5,
1893.
My Lord: Upon receiving your note of November
21, I at once cabled its purport to my Government, and stated at length
in a dispatch, your reasons for desiring Sir Julian Pauncefote, the
British ambassador, to continue at Washington his connection with the
Bering Sea negotiations, and assist in the concluding cooperative action
of the two Governments to carry into full effect the treaty of February
29, 1892, the award of the Tribunal of Arbitration at Paris, and the
regulations prescribed by that body for the conduct of fur-seal fishing
in the waters of Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean.
I have now the honor to inform you that I have to-day received by cable
from the Secretary of State an instruction to make known to you, that,
yielding to your lordship’s desire as expressed in conversation and in
your note of November 21, the President consents that the negotiations
needful to give effect to the decisions of the Tribunal of Arbitration
shall be conducted at Washington, and that Her Majesty’s Government
shall be represented therein by Sir Julian Pauncefote.
Your Lordship will, I am sure, appreciate this evidence on the part of
the President to facilitate in every way the accomplishment of the duty
yet remaining to be performed by the two Governments, of promptly and
‘thoroughly carrying into effect the decisions of the Tribunal of
Arbitration, and the mutual covenant of the two Governments to cooperate
in securing the adhesion of other powers to the regulations imposed by
the arbitrators.
The rapidly shortening interval before the next sealing season will
commence admonishes both Governments entrusted with the duty to expedite
the negotiations, and enact, respectively, the legislation needed to
execute the decisions of the tribunal, and I shall await with interest
your Lordship’s communication that Her Majesty’s ambassador at
Washington has been duly empowered and instructed in the premises.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 2.]
Lord Rosebery to
Mr. Bayard.
Foreign
Office,
December 11,
1893.
Your Excellency: I have had the honor to
receive your note of the 5th instant, stating that your Government had
consented that the negotiations for giving effect to the decisions of
the Bering Sea Arbitration Tribunal should be conducted at Washington by
Sir Julian Pauncefote.
Upon the receipt of your excellency’s note, I at once instructed Her
Majesty’s representative by telegraph to express my acknowledgments to
the United States Government for their courteous acquiescence in the
views of Her Majesty’s Government on this subject, and I avail myself of
this opportunity to ask your excellency to accept my best thanks for the
trouble which you have also taken in this matter.
[Page 140]
I beg to assure you that no time shall be lost in issuing the requisite
instructions to Sir Julian Pauncefote with regard to the
negotiations.
I have, etc.,
