Foreign Relations of the United States, 1894, Appendix I, Chinese-Japanese War, Enforcement of Regulation Respective to Fur Seals, Mosquito Territory, Affairs at Bluefields, Claim of Antonio Maximo Mora, Import Duties on Certain Products of Colombia, Haiti, and Venezuela, Affairs in the Samoan Islands

Mr. White to Mr. Gresham.

Legation of the United States,
St. Petersburg, April 3, 1894. (Received April 19.)

Sir: I inclose a copy of a note just received from the imperial minister of foreign affairs proposing a modus vivendi similar to that now in operation between Russia and Great Britain, which the Imperial Government understands from the recent telegram of the State Department to this legation that our own Government is ready to adopt.

It will be observed that the method of putting the proposed arrangement into force suggested by the imperial minister is very simple, and I may be allowed to suggest that, if our own Government take the same view, a brief dispatch by cable to me to that effect would be well received here by the Imperial Government as showing that we are ready to meet their views with promptness.

I am, etc.,

And. D. White.

[Inclosure.]

Mr. Giers to Mr. White.

Mr. Minister: The Government of the United States of North America, having agreed to an arrangement concerning fur-seal fishing similar to the one which already exists between us and Great Britain, I consider it my duty to address you the present note on the subject, accompanied by the reservations which we have formulated toward England.

1. It is understood, in the first place, that the understanding established between our two Governments leaves unimpaired all the rights of Russia in its territorial waters.

2. In delivering to the authorities of the United States the American ships engaged in hunting far seals in the prohibited waters, we do not in any way intend to prejudice the question of the rights of maritime power to extend its territorial jurisdiction in certain special cases beyond territorial waters properly so called.

3. The Imperial Government reserves its entire liberty as to the choice in the future between the two systems of protecting fur seals, either by means of a prohibited zone or by means of complete prohibition of pelagic hunting, or by regulating it on the high seas.

4. The present arrangement shall only be in force until further orders, will only have an essentially provisional character, and shall in no way be used as a precedent.

Under these reservations we consent to the following conditions:

1. The. Government of the United States of North-America shall forbid its subjects hunting fur seals within a zone of 10 nautical miles along all the Russian coasts of Bering Sea and the Northern Pacific Ocean as well as in a zone of 30 nautical miles around the Commandorski and Tiulenew islands (Robbin Island).

2. Ships belonging to subjects of the United States of North America occupied in fishing fur-seals in the above-mentioned zone outside of the territorial waters of Russia may be seized by Russian ships of war to be delivered over to ships of war of the United States or to the nearest American authorities. In case that this can not be done, or where there arises difficulty in doing so, the commander of the Russian ship may confine himself to seizing the ship’s papers of the above-mentioned vessels to the end that they may be handed over to a ship of war of the United States or sent to the nearest American authorities at the earliest opportunity.

3. The Government of the United States agrees to have tried by the ordinary tribunals offering all necessary guarantees American ships, which shall have been seized for fishing fur seal in the prohibited zones outside of Russian territorial waters.

4. The Imperial Government will limit the catch of fur seals on the coast of the Commandorski and Tiulenew (Bobbin) islands to 30,000 head during the present year.

5. An agent of the Government of the United States may be allowed to land on the above-mentioned Commandorski and Tiulenew islands, so as to collect from the local authorities all necessary information bearing on the working and results of the present agreement, but the local authorities shall be previously informed of the date of his visit which shall not be for a greater length of time than a few weeks.

6. The present agreement shall have no retrospective force as to the seizure of American vessels which may have been previously seized by ships of the imperial navy.

The above-mentioned points being based exactly on the texts of our arrangements with Great Britain to which the Government of the United States of North America has already adhered, we do not doubt that the latter will accept it (i. e., the present agreement). A simple acknowledgement conveying the formal acceptance by your Government would be sufficient in our eyes to establish that the agreement between the two Governments concerning fur-seal fishing is provisionally agreed upon until further order.

Please accept, etc.,

Giers.