Mr. White to Mr.
Sherman.
Embassy
of the United States,
London, April 13,
1897.
No. 914.]Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith the
translation of a telegram which I received from you on the 9th instant,
relative to the Alaskan seal question, and of the reply which I sent you
yesterday.
I also inclose a copy of a note which I thereupon addressed to Her
Majesty’s Government, and which I handed at the foreign office, in the
absence on the Continent of the Marquis of Salisbury, to the Hon.
Francis Villiers, the assistant under secretary, who has charge of the
American department.
Mr. Villiers at once read the note, but was not in a position, of course,
to make any reply to the proposal therein made. He said, however, that
it should receive the prompt attention of Her Majesty’s Government. I
have since received a note from him to the same effect, of which I
inclose a copy herewith, together with two telegrams from the American
correspondent of the Times, and a leading article from that newspaper on
the subject.
I had previously seen the Russian ambassador, to whom I communicated the
views of the President and yourself relative to the seal question. His
excellency said that the matter is one in which his Government takes
much interest, and he promised to telegraph at once on the subject to
St. Petersburg.
I shall lose no time in communicating to you by telegraph the substance
of any answer which I may receive from the ambassador or from the
foreign office prior to the arrival of Mr. Hay.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
914.]
Mr. White to
the Marquis of Salisbury.
Embassy of the United
States,
April 10,
1897.
My Lord: I have the honor to inform your
lordship that as a result of the investigations made last year in
Alaskan waters by Dr. Jordan, with whose views Professor Thompson,
who was sent by Her Majesty’s Government to make similar
investigations, is believed to concur, the present state of the
Alaskan seals has forced itself, in the midst of the many cares
attending the organization of his Administration, upon the attention
of the President of the United States, to whom the depleted
condition and prospective early extinction of the herd are a matter
of grave concern.
I have received urgent telegraphic instructions, therefore, to bring
the subject to the immediate attention of Her Majesty’s Government,
and to communicate the President’s earnest hope and expectation that
effective measures may at once be adopted by the respective
Governments with a view to putting a stop to the indiscriminate
slaughter of the seals through pelagic sealing.
I am instructed to suggest to Her Majesty’s Government that, in the
opinion of the President, a modus vivendi based upon that of 1891,
with equitable provision for the various interests involved,
suspending all killing of seals during the season of 1897 in Bering
Sea, should
[Page 268]
be agreed upon
without delay, and that this should be accompanied by an arrangement
for a joint conference, at an early day, of the Powers concerned,
for the purpose of agreeing upon the measures necessary for the
preservation of the seals in the North Pacific from extermination
and of restoring them to their normal condition, with a view to
their continued existence.
To defer taking up the subject until after the termination of the
season of 1898, as contemplated by the award of the Tribunal of
Arbitration at Paris, would, in the opinion of my Government, be
fatal to the object in view, as, should the destruction continue
during two more seasons, there will be no occasion, owing to the
disappearance of the seals, for a conference.
The President sees, therefore, no escape from the conviction that
there is urgent necessity for prompt action, such as I now have the
honor to propose in his behalf, and in so doing I am instructed to
say that if Her Majesty’s Government should see their way to
agreeing to the modus vivendi herein suggested my Government will
have pleasure in giving full opportunity to Professor Thompson and
his assistants to visit the seal islands in accordance with the
request to that effect which has been made by the British ambassador
at Washington.
In view of the approach of the sealing season and of the consequent
importance that the President should be in a position to know as
soon as possible whether he may count, as he hopes, upon the
friendly cooperation in this matter of Her Majesty’s Government, I
have the honor, in accordance with instructions from the Secretary
of State, to ask your lordship to be so good as to cause a reply to
be sent to this note at the earliest date which may be
practicable.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
914.]
Mr. Villiers to
Mr. White.
Foreign Office, April 12, 1897.
Sir: I had the honor to receive the note
which you were good enough to leave at this office on the 10th
instant, conveying proposals from the United States Government for a
fresh “modus vivendi,” similar to that of 1891, with regard to seal
fisheries in Bering Sea, and for an arrangement for a joint
conference of the Powers concerned, to discuss the measures
necessary for the preservation of the seals.
Your communication will receive the immediate consideration of Her
Majesty’s Government.
I have, etc.,
F. H.
Villiers.
(For the Marquis of Salisbury).
