CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 97 



Under these circnmstaiioes, and inviewof the common interests of 

 all nations iu preventing the indiscriminate destniction .ind conse- 

 qnent extermination of an animal whicli contributes so importantly 

 to the commercial u-ealth and general use of mankind, yon are hereby 

 instructed to draw the attentiouof the Government to wiiich you are ac- 

 credited tothesubject, and/»r(/eit to enter fH/os«(/i.fl« arrangement vs^ith 

 the Government ot" the United States as will prevent the citizens of 

 either country from killing seal in Bering 8ea at such times and places, 

 and by such methods as at present are pursued, and Avhich threaten 

 the speedy extermination of those animals and consequent serious 

 loss to mankind. 



The Ministers of the United States to Germany, Sweden and Nor- 

 way, Russia, Japan, and Great Britain have been each similarly 

 addressed on the subject referred to in this instruction. 



So to Mr. Wliite, Secretary of tlie United States Lega- 

 tion in London, witli reference to this proposition, lie wrote, 

 on the 1st of May, 1888: 



The suggestion made by Lord Salisbury, that it may be necessary II. id., j.. loi. 

 to bring other Governments than the United States, Great' Britain, 

 and Russia into the arrangements, has already been met by the action 

 of the Department, as I have heretofore informed you. At the same 

 time the invitation was sent to the British (^ovcrnnuMit to negotiate a 

 Convention for seal protection in Bering Sea, a like invitation was 

 extended to various other Powers, which have, without exception, 

 returned a favourable response. 



In order, therefore, that the plan may be carried out, the Conven- 

 tion proposed between the United States, Great Britain, and Russia 

 sliould contain a clause providing for the subsequent adhesion of otlver 

 Powers. 



And on tlie Ttli Febrnary, 1888, the Secretary of State, 

 in a despatch to the Minister at the Court of St. 

 ]27 James, after referring- to the killing of seals in Behr- 

 ing Sea, wrote: 



The only way of obviating the lamentable result above predicted SOthCong., 2nd 

 appears to be by the United States, Great Britain, and other interested Sess., Senate Ex. 

 Powers taking concerted action to prevent their citizens or subjects iy"'" ^"' ^*"^' !'■ 

 from killing fur seals with tire-arms or other destructive weapons, north 

 of 50 ' of north latitude, and between 160-' of longitude west and 170^ of 

 longitude east from (Greenwich, during the period intervening between 

 Ai)ril 15 and November 1. 



CONTENTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



.JUDGK DAWSOX'S DIKKCTIONS TO THE .JURY — CASE OF THE " THORN- 

 TON. " 



The Judge of the District Court of Alaska, the Honour- 

 able Lafayette Dawson, is reported, in summing up the Blue Book, 

 case to the Jury, to have quoted the 1st Article of the ^Y°9"ngoor^*i.'' 

 Treaty of Cession of the 30th March, 18G7, and to have 2i°* "see Appen- 

 continued as follows : '^*^' "''"^- ^"• 



All the waters within the boundary set forth in this Treaty to the 

 western end of the Aleutian Archipelago and chain of islands are to 

 be considered as comprised within the waters of Alaska, and all the 

 penalties prescribed hj law against the killing of fur-bearing animals 

 must therefore attach against any violation of law within the limits 

 heretofore described. 



CLAI.M OF .TURISDICTIOX IN HEHRIXG SEA EAST OF 193^ WEST LONGI- 

 TUDE. 



"If, therefore, the jury believe from the evidence that the defend- 

 ants did by themselves or in conjunction with others, on or about the 

 time charged in the information, kill any otter, mink, martin, sable 



S. Ex. 177, pt. 4 7 



