Mr. Adam to Mr. Sherman.
Manchester, Mass., September 22, 1897. (Received Sept. 25.)
Sir: In reply to your note, No. 768, of the 31st ultimo, I have the honor, in compliance with an instruction received from Her Majesty’s principal secretary for foreign affairs, to draw your attention to the fact that Her Majesty’s Government have merely agreed to a meeting, to be held at Washington, of experts nominated by the United States, Great Britain, and the Dominion of Canada, in order by due consideration of the reports drawn up by the said experts to arrive at correct conclusions respecting the condition of the seal herd frequenting the Pribilof Islands.
In agreeing to such a meeting Her Majesty’s Government never, of course, anticipated that their doing so would be construed as an assent to a proposal for an international conference.
I am at the same time directed to point out that neither Russia nor Japan have any experts in a position corresponding to that of the commissioners who have been carrying on their investigations upon the Pribilof Islands during the past two years; and, moreover, that neither of the two countries in question possesses any direct interest in the herd frequenting those islands.
I have, etc.,