Mr. Bayard to Mr.
Gresham.
Embassy of
the United States,
London, March 30, 1894.
(Received April 9.)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of
your several telegrams of the 17th, 22d, and 28th instant, all in relation
to the measures requisite for enforcing the Bering Sea award and
regulations.
An interview with Lord Kimberley was instantly sought on the 29th instant,
and promptly accorded at his residence, and was followed by a note from me
which restated with precision and fullness all that had passed between us on
that occasion in relation to the subject matter under consideration, a copy
of which note is now herewith inclosed.
[Page 160]
When we parted (about 2 p.m.) Lord Kimberley was immediately to meet Sir
Charles Russell, the attorney-general, for consultation upon this subject;
and, although I have not yet received a reply to ray last note, yet the
report of the proceedings in the House of Commons yesterday discloses the
fact that the attorney-general had introduced; the bill to enforce the award
and regulations as established by the Tribunal of Arbitration, that it had
been read the first time without opposition, and the second reading fixed
for Monday next, and to this effect I have to-day telegraphed you.
I am entirely confident of the intention of this Government to live up to
their agreement, and provide by law for the full and honorable execution of
the decree of the arbitrators.
Under their constitutional arrangements—differing from those of the United
States—a treaty has not the force of law, and legislative machinery is
requisite to put their conventions in operative force.
Last autumn, and throughout the session, until the recess in March, the Irish
home rule bill, and one or two other measures, domestic and political in
their nature, completely blocked the way of other business, and excluded all
other consideration.
Now and at last the path is clear, and I am not able to doubt that the
measure introduced will speedily become the law, and, once under legal
control, I believe all international friction will be at least minimized or
put an end to in Bering Sea.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Mr. Bayard to Lord
Kimberley.
Embassy
of the United States,
London, March 29,
1894.
Dear Lord Kimberley: Referring to our
conversation of this morning on the subject of enforcing the award of
the Tribunal of Arbitration in the Bering Sea fur sealing case, I beg
leave in this note to repeat what I then said.
I am this morning instructed by cable that the President is unable to
consent to the emendation suggested by you to paragraph 4 of the
Memorandum of Agreement between Sir Julian Pauncefote and Secretary
Gresham, at Washington, for the reason that it implies a possibility of
violation by the United States of the agreement and also of the
stipulations of the convention of February, 1892, and of the award of
the Tribunal of Arbitration at Paris. I am instructed to assure your
Lordship that the United States Government will enact legislation to
enforce the award completely, on its part, before the 1st of August
next, and that the President entertains no doubt that Great Britain will
equally do the same.
As stated by me in our last interview on this subject, it is the desire,
and manifestly it is essential to the interests of the United States,
that the results of the arbitration should be completely carried into
effect, and without delay; and this has been urged in their behalf ever
since the award was promulgated in August last.
The President has great satisfaction in believing that it is the equal
purpose of both Governments to carry into effect and enforce the decrees
of the Tribunal of Arbitration in letter and spirit; and he is not
willing that the force of the treaty which created the arbitration,
[Page 161]
or any of its results, should
be weakened or departed from in any particular.
It was with this purpose that it was proposed by the United States in
October last by a convention to accept at once and unqualifiedly the
award of the tribunal, and the regulations determined and established by
it for fur-seal fishing in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea; but
to this mode of action Her Majesty’s Government demurred, and therefore
they now desire, by cooperative legislation, and with the promptness
necessitated by the circumstances of the case, to effectuate the same
result.
Moreover, the welcome and hearty concurrence of your Lordship in the
solicitude expressed by me that international resort to arbitration
should not fail in completeness, nor its success in any degree be
impaired, give great confidence that the arrangements as proposed by the
two negotiators at Washington will be adopted.
Believe me, etc.,
