Mr. Eddy to Mr. Hay.

[Telegram.—Paraphrase.]

(Mr. Eddy reports the acceptance by the Russian Government of the proposal concerning the protection of seals in Russian territorial waters about the Commander Islands in the following terms:

The Imperial Government accepts with great satisfaction the above-mentioned proposal of the Government of the United States, which proposal shall be put in application during the war and in the absence of Russian war vessels, provided the British Government consents to this. It only remains, therefore, for the London and Washington cabinets to come to an agreement in regard to this, after which the question should be considered as definitely arranged. At the same time, the Imperial Government must bring up the fact that the expression “Russian territorial waters” applies in this case not only to the ordinary zone of three maritime miles about the coast of the Commander Islands and Copper Island, but in the full meaning of the prohibited zone established by the Russian-American arrangement of 1894. The Imperial Government desires, moreover, that the Government of the United States will immediately inform them of any case of marauding on the part of American ships.)