Mr. Bayard to Mr. Olney.
London , April 14, 1896 . (Received April 25.)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge your instruction No. 1064, under date of 2d instant, informing me of the contemplated initiation of negotiations at this capital by the ambassador of Russia for an extension of the Paris award of 1893, for the regulation of the taking of fur seals in the Bering Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk and the North Pacific Ocean above the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude, and extending from the continent of Asia to that of America; that to these negotiations it is proposed the United States, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan shall all be parties, and that a desire has been expressed through the Russian minister at Washington that the United States shall be represented, and shall cooperate in such negotiations here.
[Page 286]I duly note and will endeavor to carry out your present instruction, that, in view of the value and benefit that would result from the projected treaty to the United States equally with Russia, I should take part on behalf of my Government in aid of such negotiations to such extent as in my judgment will be likely to conduce to the consummation of the objects in view.
I shall at once intimate to the representatives of the respective Governments above named my readiness to promote the important objects of such an arrangement, the necessity for which has become increasingly apparent with every season which has succeeded the award of the Paris Tribunal of August, 1893.
The sundry instructions already received at this embassy from the State Department, with their inclosures, giving the history of pelagic sealing in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea during the years 1894 and 1895 and the proven inefficacy of the present regulations to prevent the rapid progress of extermination of the seal species will greatly assist in the prosecution of this duty, and I will also ask that you will direct copies of any printed reports or orders, either of the Treasury Department or Department of State, or either House of Congress, relating to the sealing operations in the waters referred to since 1893 may be forwarded to me, for my assistance in carrying your instructions into effect.
I have, etc.,