18 



In Lis letter to Sir Julian Panncefote of December 17, 1890, Mr. Blaine 

 said: 



"The United States, in protecting the seal fisheries, will not inter- 

 fere with a single sail of commerce, on any sea of the globe. 



"It will mean something- tangible, in the President's opinion, if Great 

 Britain will consent to arbitrate the real questions which have been 

 under discussion between the two Governments for the last four years. 

 I shall endeavor to state what, in the judgment of the President, those 

 issues are: 



"First. What exclusive jurisdiction in the sea now known as the 

 Bering' Sea, and what exclusive rights in the seal fisheries therein 

 did Russia assert and exercise prior and ux) to the time of the cession 

 of Alaska to the United States? 



"Second. How far were these claims of jurisdiction as to the seal fish- 

 eries recognized and conceded by Great Britain? 



"Third. Was the body of water now known as the Bering Sea in- 

 cluded in the phrase 'Pacific Ocean' as used in the treaty of 1825 

 between Great Britain and Russia; and what rights, if any, in the 

 Bering Sea were given or conceded to Great Britain by the said 

 treaty? 



"Fourth. Did not all the rights of Russia as to jurisdiction, and as to 

 the seal fisheries in Bering Sea east of the water boundary, in the 

 treatj"^ between the United States and Russia of March 30, 1807, pass 

 unimpaired to the United States under that treaty? 



"Fifth. What arenowthe rights of the United States as to the fur seal 

 fisheiies in the waters of the Bering Sea outside of the ordinary terri- 

 torial limits, whether such rights grow out of the cession by Russia of 

 any special rights or jurisdiction held by her in such fisheries or in the 

 waters of Bering Sea, or out of the owncrsliip of the breeding islands 

 and the habits of the seal in resorting thither and rearing their young 

 thereon and going out from the islands for food, or out of any other fact 

 or incident connected with the relation of those seal fisheries to the 

 territorial possessions of the Ujiited States? 



"Sixth. If the determination of the foregoing questions shall leave 

 the subject in such position that the concurrence of Great Britain is 

 necessary in prescribing regulations for the killing of the fur seal in any 

 part of the waters of Bering Sea then it shall be further determined: 

 First, how far, if at all, outside the ordinary territorial limits, it is neces- 

 sary that the United States should exercise an exclusive jurisdiction iu 



