Mr. Hay to Mr.
Sherman.
Embassy
of the United States,
London, July 30,
1897.
No. 86.]
Sir: Referring to your instruction numbered 139
of the 20th instant, and to previous correspondence relative to the
preservation of fur seals in Bering Sea, I have the honor to inclose
herewith the translation of a cipher telegram which I sent you
yesterday, stating that Her Majesty’s Government had assented to a
conference of experts on the seal question, at Washington, in October
next.
I also inclose copies of Lord Salisbury’s note, on which my cablegram was
based, and of my reply to the same.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 86.]
Lord Salisbury
to Mr. Hay.
Foreign Office, July 28, 1897.
Your Excellency: In the last paragraph of
the dispatch addressed to you by Mr. Sherman, under date of the 10th
of May last, and communicated by you to me on the 22d of that month,
a wish is expressed for a conference of the powers interested in the
fur-seal fishery of the North Pacific.
In reply I have to state that Her Majesty’s Government are willing to
agree to a meeting of experts nominated by Great Britain and Canada
and by the United States, in October next, when the further
investigations to be made on the islands during the present season
will have been completed.
[Page 301]
The object of the meeting would be to arrive, if possible, at correct
conclusions respecting the numbers, conditions, and habits of the
seals frequenting the Pribilof Islands at the present time, as
compared with the several seasons previous and subsequent to the
Paris award.
It seems to Her Majesty’s Government that Washington would be the
most suitable place for such a meeting.
The other portions of Mr. Sherman’s dispatch, in so far as they
require any reply from Her Majesty’s Government, have been answered
by anticipation in dispatches which I have addressed to Her
Majesty’s ambassador at Washington on the 22d of April and 7th of
May last, and which have been communicated to the Government of the
United States.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 86.]
Mr. Hay to Lord
Salisbury.
Embassy of the United States,
London, July 29, 1897.
My Lord: I have the honor to acknowledge
the receipt of your lordship’s note of the 28th of July, in which,
in reply to the suggestion of the President of the United States of
a conference of the powers interested in the fur-seal fishery in the
North Pacific, you acquaint me of the willingness of Her Majesty’s
Government to agree to a meeting of experts nominated by Great
Britain and Canada and by the United States, in October next, the
object of the meeting being to arrive, if possible, at correct
conclusions respecting the present condition of the seal herd
frequenting the Pribilof Islands, as compared with former seasons,
and that, in the opinion of Her Majesty’s Government, Washington
would be the most suitable place for such a meeting.
I shall lose no time in transmitting your lordship’s note to my
Government.
It may not be out of place for me to recall to your lordship that, as
I have already had occasion to mention, the President expects the
Governments of Russia and Japan, powers interested in the
preservation of the seal herds of Behring Sea, to be represented at
the conference.
I have, etc.,
