Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Gresham.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of this date on the subject of our recent negotiations for the adjustment, by means of a mixed commission, of the claims of Great Britain against the United States in respect of the seizure of British sealing vessels by United States cruisers in Bering Sea.
You state that the President, after full consideration, is of opinion that it would be in the interest of both Governments to effect the direct settlement of the claims by the payment of a lump sum, in order to avoid the delay and expense of a mixed commission, and that you have been instructed to propose the sum of $425,000.
You also state that the proposal is made subject to the necessary appropriation by Congress, to which it would be submitted at the beginning of its session in December next, with a recommendation that the money be made immediately available for the purpose above mentioned.
You add that if at any time before the appropriation is made Her Majesty’s Government shall desire it the negotiations for the establishment of a mixed commission shall be resumed.
I have the honor to state in reply that Her Majesty’s Government concur in the views of the President as to the expediency of effecting a settlement by the method proposed, and that they are indeed so fully sensible of the great advantages presented to both Governments by that course that they are willing to accept the sum offered, coupled with the assurance of prompt payment, although the amount is much [Page 226] below their estimate of the compensation, which might fairly be awarded by a mixed commission.
It should be understood, therefore, that if the negotiations for a mixed commission should be resumed the acceptance of your proposal shall in no way prejudice the claimants in the further prosecution of their demands.
It only remains for me to express my gratification at this amicable solution of the, last subject of discussion in the long Bering Sea controversy.
I have, etc.