14 



at London, had an interview with the Marquis of Salisbury, British 

 Secretary of State for Foreii;n Affairs, iii which tlie former [)ro[)osed, on 

 the part of the Government of the United States, that by mutual 

 agreement of the two Governments a code of regulations be adoi)ted 

 for the preservation of the seals in Bering Sea from destruction at im- 

 proper times and by improper means by tlie citizens of either country — 

 swch agreement- to be entirely irrespective of any questions of conflict- 

 ing jurisdiction in those waters. In this view his lordship promptly 

 acquiesced, and suggested that the American minister obtain from his 

 Government and submit a sketch of a system of regulations that would 

 be adequate for that purpose. U. S. Case, A2)p. Vol. I, p. 171. 



The American Secretary of State, Mr. Bayard, being informed of 

 this interview, wrote to Mr. Phelps, under date of February 7, 18SS, 

 suggesting that the only way to preveut the destruction of the seals 

 appeared to be for the United States, Great Britain, and other inter- 

 ested powers to take concerted action restraining their citizens or sub- 

 jects from killing them with firearms, or other destructive weapons, 

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

 L70'^' of longitude east from Greenwich, during the period intervening 

 between April 1.") and November 1. To prevent the killing within a 

 marine belt of 40 or 50 miles from the islands during that i^eriod would 

 be ineffectual as a preservative measure. This would clearly be so dur- 

 ing the approach of the seals to the islands. And after their arrival 

 there such a limit of protection would also be insufficient, since the 

 rapid progress of the seals through the water enables them to go great 

 distances from the islands in so short a time that it has been calculated 

 that an ordinary seal could go to the Aleutian Islands and back, in all 

 a distance of 300 or 400 miles, in less than two days." 



In the s'ame letter Mr. Bayard, referring to the threatened extermi- 

 nation of these seals by pelagic sealers, using firearms, nets, and other 

 destructive implements, said : " That the extermination of the fur seals 

 must soon take place unless they are protected from desti'uction in 

 Bering Sea is shown by the fate of the animal in other parts of the 

 world in the absence of concerted action among the nations interested 

 for its i)reservation. * * * It is manifestly for the interests of all 

 nations that so deplorable a thing should not be allowed to occur. As 

 has already been stated, on the Pribilof Islands this Government 

 strictly limits the number of seals that may be killed under its own 

 lease to an American company, and citizens of the United States have, 



