Since the transfer of the negotiations, however, no definite communication in
regard to them has been received from Her Majesty’s Government, though they
have been deferred from day to day to await such a communication. The time
thus lost has brought us to the opening of another sealing season without
any definite steps having been taken for the execution of the Paris
award.
Under these circumstances the President does not think that he would be
justified in further awaiting a communication from Her Majesty’s Government.
The first object to be accomplished is to give immediate effect to the
regulations framed by the Tribunal of Arbitration. Those regulations, while
general in terms, are designed to attain the principal end which the parties
to the arbitration had in view—that of putting an end to the destructive and
indiscriminate slaughter of seals on the high seas. It is, therefore, the
opinion of this Government that they should be put in force without
delay.
Any supplementary rules which may be deemed to be requisite or desirable in
order to secure the more efficient execution of the regulations determined
upon by the Tribunal of Arbitration as necessary, may form the subject of
further negotiation which this Government will be prepared to enter upon
without delay. But if something be not done, and speedily done, to give
effect to the regulations already determined upon, it is needless to say
their object will be defeated. The United States would be glad to prohibit
entirely, for a period of three years, or for two years, or for one year,
the killing of seals, but unless Her Majesty’s Government should be willing
to agree to that measure it only remains for the two Governments, at once,
to give effect to the regulations determined upon by the tribunal as
necessary, in conformity with the treaty.
With a view to facilitate negotiations, I inclose herewith a draft of a
convention for the purpose of rendering operative those regulations.
The provisions of this draft are believed to be plain, and do not seem to
require extended comment. The first nine articles merely repeat, in
identical terms, the corresponding articles of the regulations decided and
determined upon by the Tribunal of Arbitration. The other five articles
contain stipulations essentially connected with the preceding nine, and
intended to secure their execution. They relate merely to the enactment of
necessary laws, the policing of the seas, the imposition of penalties, and
the identification of vessels, in the manner required
[Page 143]
by the regulations of the Paris Tribunal,
recited in the nine preceding articles.
I inclose herewith a copy of an act of Congress, approved February 21, 1893,
which was adopted for the purpose of extending existing statutes to any
waters in which the killing of seals might, either as the result of an
international arrangement, or of the arbitration under the treaty of
February 29, 1892, be forbidden. It is not doubted that Her Majesty’s
Government will respond to the disposition manifested in this act of
Congress to give effect to the results of the arbitration. Such further
legislation as may be required on the part of the United States to secure
those results this Government binds itself in the convention hereby proposed
forthwith to adopt, a like obligation being imposed on Her Majesty’s
Government to adopt laws necessary on their part.
I have the honor to request that this communication may have your early and
most earnest attention.
[Inclosure 1.]
draet minutes.
The United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, recognizing their obligation under
the treaty of February 29, 1892, to consider the award of the Tribunal
of Arbitration made under and by virtue of said treaty as a full,
perfect, and final settlement of all the questions by said convention
submitted to arbitration, including the regulations decided and
determined upon by said tribunal as necessary for the protection of the
fur seal in the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea outside of the territorial
waters, and to execute and perform the same as such settlement, have
appointed as their plenipotentiaries to conclude a convention for that
purpose, that is to say:
The President of the United States of America,—— ——, and Her Majesty the
Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, —— ——, who,
after having communicated to each other their respective full powers,
found in due and good form, have agreed upon and concluded the following
articles, to give full effect to the said award and the regulations
determined upon by the said tribunal:
Article 1.
The Governments of the United States and of Great Britain shall forbid
their citizens and subjects, respectively, to kill, capture, or pursue,
at any time and in any manner whatever, the animals commonly called fur
seals, within a zone of sixty miles around the Pribilof Islands,
inclusive of the territorial waters.
The miles mentioned in the preceding paragraph are geographical miles, of
sixty to a degree of latitude.
Article 2.
The two Governments shall forbid their citizens and subjects,
respectively, to kill, capture, or pursue, in any manner whatever,
during the season extending each year from the 1st of May to the 31st of
July, both inclusive, the fur seals on the high sea, in the part of the
Pacific Pecan, inclusive of the Bering Sea, which is situated to the
north of
[Page 144]
the thirty-fifth
degree of north latitude and eastward of the one hundred and eightieth
degree of longitude from Greenwich, till it strikes the water boundary
described in Article I of the treaty of 1867 between the United States
and Russia, and following that line up to Bering Straits.
Article 3.
During the period of time and in the waters in which the fur-seal fishing
is allowed, only sailing vessels shall be permitted to carry on or take
part in fur-seal fishing operations. They will, however, be at liberty
to avail themselves of the use of such canoes or undecked boats,
propelled by paddles, oars, or sails as are in common use as fishing
boats.
Article 4.
Each sailing vessel authorized to fish for fur seals must be provided
with a special license issued for that purpose by its Government and
shall be required to carry a distinguishing flag to be prescribed by its
Government.
Article 5.
The masters of the vessels engaged in fur-seal fishing shall enter
accurately in their official log book the date and place of each
fur-seal fishing operation, and also the number and sex of the seals
captured upon each day. These entries shall be communicated by each of
the two Governments to the other at the end of each fishing season.
Article 6.
The use of nets, firearms, and explosives shall be forbidden in the
fur-seal fishing. This restriction shall not apply to shotguns when such
fishing takes place outside of Bering Sea, during the season when it may
be lawfully carried on.
Article 7.
The two Governments shall take measures to control the fitness of the men
authorized to engage in fur-seal fishing; these men shall have been
proved fit to handle with sufficient skill the weapons by means of which
this fishing may be carried on.
Article 8.
The regulations contained in the preceding articles shall not apply to
Indians dwelling on the coasts of the territory of the United States or
of Great Britain and carrying on fur-seal fishing in canoes or undecked
boats not transported by or used in connection with other vessels and
propelled wholly by paddles, oars, or sails, and manned by not more than
five persons each in the way hitherto practiced by the Indians, provided
such Indians are not in the employment of other persons, and provided
that, when so hunting in canoes or undecked boats, they shall not hunt
fur seals outside of territorial waters under contract for the delivery
of the skins to any person.
This exemption shall not be construed to affect the municipal law of
either country, nor shall it extend to the waters of Bering Sea or the
wafers of the Aleutian Passes.
[Page 145]
Nothing herein contained is intended to interfere with the employment of
Indians as hunters or otherwise in connection with fur-sealing vessels
as heretofore.
Article 9.
The concurrent regulations hereby determined with a view to the
protection and preservation of the fur seals shall remain in force until
they have been, in whole or in part, abolished or modified by common
agreement between the Governments of the United States and of Great
Britain.
The said concurrent regulations shall be submitted every five years to a
new examination, so as to enable both interested Governments to consider
whether, in the light of past experience, there is occasion for any
modification thereof.
Article 10.
The high contracting parties further agree that they will, respectively,
without delay, enact such laws as shall appear requisite to carry into
full effect all and every of the foregoing articles, and will from time
to time, respectively, enact such further laws as may hereafter appear
requisite to the like end.
Article 11.
The high contracting parties will also proceed to maintain now and
hereafter in the waters of Bering Sea and of the North Pacific Ocean,
from the —— day of March until the —— day of November in each year, a
sufficient force of vessels properly equipped and fitted for the service
of enforcing the stipulations herein contained and the laws agreed upon
as aforesaid.
Article 12.
It is further agreed that every vessel, citizen, or subject of the
nationality or under the jurisdiction of either of the high contracting
parties, offending against the prohibitions recited in any of the
foregoing articles, or violating any of the provisions of the laws
passed for the enforcement of the said articles, or any of them, maybe
seized and detained by the naval or other duly commissioned officers of
either of the high contracting parties, but they shall in case the
seizure be made by one party of the citizens, subjects, or vessels of
the other, be handed over for trial as soon as practicable to the
authorities of the nation to which they respectively belong. The
witnesses and proof necessary to establish the offense shall also be
sent with them.
The high contracting parties shall forthwith designate, each to the
other, a post or posts as near and convenient as may be to the area of
the high sea described in the second above article, at which each party
may deliver to the other for trial any vessels or persons seized or
detained and appoint a suitable officer or person to receive the same,
together with any proofs of guilt, and shall make due provision for the
immediate taking of the depositions of witnesses to be used, so far, as
the same may be used, at the trial or trials, so that such witnesses may
not be long detained.
The penalty for every such offense or violation to be imposed upon any
person convicted shall be a fine of not less than —–, nor more than —–,
or imprisonment for not more than —–, or both such fine and
imprisonment, and all vessels whose crew are found engaged
[Page 146]
in any such violation, their
tackle, apparel, furniture, provisions, and all seal-skins on board,
shall be condemned by proceedings in some court of competent
jurisdiction and forfeited to the government under whose laws such
condemnation and forfeiture shall take place.
Article 13.
It is further agreed that the distinguishing flag to be carried by the
vessels which may be licensed by either of the high contracting parties
under the provisions of articled, shall be white in color,——feet long
and —— feet wide, and have thereon in black a letter S, as large as the
said dimensions will admit, and shall always be conspicuously
displayed.
Article 14.
The present convention shall be duly ratified by the President of the
United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof,
and by Her Britannic Majesty, and the ratification shall be exchanged
either at Washington or at London as early as possible.
In faith whereof we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed this
convention and have hereunto affixed our seals.
