15 



durinfj the past year, been arrested and ten American vessels seized 

 for kdling fnr seals in Bering- Sea. Enuland, however, has an 

 especially great interest in this matter in addition to that which she 

 must feel in preventing the extermination of an animal wliicli con- 

 tributed so mucli to the gain and comfort of licr i)eo[)le. Kearly all 

 undressed fur seal skins are sent to London, wliere they are dressed 

 land dyed for the market and where many of tliem are sold." U. S. 

 Case, App. Vol. I, pp. 173^ 174. 



This proposal was communicated to the Marquis of Salisbury and 

 became the subject of conference between the representatives of Great 

 Britain, the United States, and Russia. U. S. Case, App., Vol. r, -p. 

 175. A counter proposition was made by the Marquis of Salisbury to 

 the effect that " with a view to meeting the Eussian Goverment's wishes 

 respecting the waters surrounding Robben Island," the "whole of 

 Bering Sea, those portions of the Sea of Okhotsk, and of the Pacific 

 Ocean north of north latitude 47° should be included in the proposed 

 arrangement." He further said " that the period proposed by the 

 United States for a closed time — April 15 to ]!^ovember 1 — might inter- 

 fere with the trade longer than absolutely necessary for the protection 

 of the seals, and he suggested October 1, instead of a month later, as 

 the termination of the period of seal protection." U. jS. Case, Vol.I^ 

 A2)p., p. 179. 



The result of the above conference is thus stated in a letter from the 

 Marquis of Salisbury to the British Minister at Washington: ''At 

 this iireliminary discussion it was decided, provisionally, in order to 

 furnish a basis for negotiation, and without definitely pledging our 

 Governments, that the sjjace to be covered by the proposed convention 

 should be the sea hetween America and Russia north of the forty- 

 seventh degree of latitude ; that the close time should extend from the 

 15th April to the 1st November; that during that time the slaughter 

 of all seals should be forbidden, and vessels engaged in it should be 

 liable to seizure by the cruisers of any of the three powers, and 

 should be taken to the port of their own nationality for condemnation; 

 that the traffic in arms, alcohol, and powder should be prohibited in 

 all the islands of those seas; and that, as soon as the three powers 

 had concluded a convention, they should join in submitting it for the 

 assent of the other maritime powers of the northern seas. Tlie United 

 States Charge d' Affaires was exceedingly earnest in pressing on us the 

 importance of dispatch, on account of the inconceivable slaughter that 



